[IC] Persona - Deva System

[MageofMystra]

Have a Good Dream!

also formerly the unnamed campaign using the Deva System

Here be the IC thread. Use it for like, IC stuff. Links, character tables, and everything back on the OOC thread.

OOC Thread! *bang*

Campaign Details
Setting Document (as of 2014-04-01)
System Rules
Deck Script

Notes on how we're dividing time:
On weekdays, we're dividing it into Morning, Daytime, Lunch, Afternoon, After School, Evening, Nighttime. The first four are all consumed by school, and Nighttime is usually unavailable. On weekends or days without class, you get Daytime, Afternoon, Evening (the other times are again, not usually available for use.) Prioritize as normal.

[MageofMystra]

The first day begins!

Tuesday September 5, 2017

Morning
Summer vacation ended with the ringing of the bell at Peter Bilman High School. The warm air wafted in through the windows and hung about in the hallways. The air was punctuated by sighs and chatter, followed soon by an exclamation from the instructor—or, in some rarer cases, words of agreement. Occasionally, a thunderous wave of chatter would wash slowly through the hallways, moving as lazily as the clouds on that end of summer day, as students moved from one class to another.

The new students, plucked freshly from their last summer of middle school, were huddled into the stuffy auditorium at around 10 A.M., to listen to the principal drawl onwards about the four years that lay ahead of them—followed by words from the vice-principal, then one teacher, then another teacher, then another—an endless, unceasing line with no end in sight.

Classes moved slowly as every teacher tried to bring their students back into the world of academics, and to minimize the damage caused by the yearly summer brain drain. Many students were in a slow dread over the events of tomorrow—the same long drawling speech from the principals, reserved first for the tenth graders, then the eleventh and twelfth graders.

Another school year had begun in Ketel Falls. Another boring, uneventful, year.

Daytime
You arrive at your first classes. A short blurb accompanies each course. Mathematics and English are compulsory courses, unfortunately.

Senior Calculus
The class began fairly dully. A middle-aged man with a walrus moustache walked to the front of the classroom. As for attire, he dressed fairly plainly, donning a wrinkled beige, short-sleeved dress shirt. Below that were a pair of pants so utterly ordinary that they could be described only as “pants”, without any adjectives. Just pants. The pants were almost mesmerizing in how utterly ordinary and nondescript they were.
“...then from limits, we'll move onto...” Oh crap, he was talking. His voice was thoroughly boring. “...differentiation, applications of differentiation including basic optimization, curve sketching which is kinda pointless given the fact you're allowed graphing calculators...”
Behind him, on the chalkboard, was written “Mr. Boring.” How fitting. You remember hearing he taught lower years as well, but you had managed to avoid him. Until now. Wait, right, he's still talking.
“...will most likely be covered...”
Besides the occasional rumbling of freshmen in the hallways, the class passed by in a haze. Thank goodness.

Sophomore Mathematics
Rumours had been flying amongst the sophomore class of the dreaded teacher they had—one whose name was only whispered in dread tones and statements of hope that their schedule had been wrong. Alas, these hopes were shattered brutally as a middle-aged man with walrus moustache walked into the room, carrying a pile of papers and an attendance sheet.
The dread would only mount as after introducing himself as Mr. Boring, the teacher handed out first course outlines... then first day pop quizzes.
And thus began the semester.

Senior English
Many students had arrived early, and were jabbering amongst themselves. There seemed to be some excitement over the teacher they had gotten. A figure bounded through the door, and in one moment, you immediately realized what the chatter was about.

A relatively young man in a flamboyant poet shirt and puffy breeches bounded in. Above that was a massive frilly neck collar disc tube rolodex thing. A... ruff collar! That was it! Why did you remember this? Either way, the man strode to the front of the room, and wrote what was presumably his name--”Mr. Fischer”--on the blackboard in large, curly writing that you might not have even thought was possible on a blackboard.

He spoke in a booming, theatric voice. “I am Mr. Fischer, and this is Senior English! This is where the cool stuff and fun stuff begins! Shakespeare might not have made a good impression on you before, but grade twelve is when the school board says we're allowed to show you the awesome plays! We'll take a look at Hamlet, King Lear, and between those two, we'll take a small peek at Titus Andronicus! But before that, we'll be looking briefly at the poetic works of Robert Frost.

“Incidentally, I was amazed we got approval for Titus Andronicus, so that'll be fun.”

And so, a semester of English began on an interesting note.


Sophomore English
It was often said in Peter Bilman than sophomore English is the worst of all years, created by a trio of difficulties—a multitude of essays, boring Shakespearean plays, and a multitude of essays on boring Shakespearean plays. Evidently, many of the students had already heard of this, and thus, the class began in a chatter—a chatter that was not stopped by the mousy teacher, Ms. Brun.

After a few minutes of chatter, the class began in earnest, as the teacher handed out sheets of paper and gave instructions. It took only one glance at the handout to know what was to happen next.

Classmate bingo.

And thus, what was called the worst semester of English began with a group of teenagers wandering around asking each other the names of their cats.


Lunch
Lunch was relatively quick. This year, you had a reduced lunch every Monday and Tuesday. Whether you volunteered for it, or whether you were conscripted (“conscripted”), this year, you were part of a new pilot program—the cross-year circle. Students from every year would spend the time gained from these reduced lunches to convene and discuss coursework. According to the board, the program would focus on philosophy and history.

Either way, you had to head off.

Cross-year Program
The class was far smaller than you were used to (especially if you're not a senior)--containing 16 students. About five of them were senior. Four were definitely freshmen. The other seven were either sophomore or junior—it was hard to tell nowadays. [all player characters are in the same section.]

You sat around with lunch, waiting for the teacher to arrive. A few minutes later, he did—a relatively young man, but who was beginning to show signs of age, dressed like an admiral.

“Hi, I'm Mr. Alfredson. I'll be uh... teaching. Leading? I'll be leading the cross-year program, or at least this segment. I also teach senior and sophomore history here.

“No, go ahead and keep eating lunch. Anyways, this is the cross-year program, and it's the first year the board's trying this. Something about better understanding, cooperation, reducing bullying, something something. Anyways, we're just waiting on Mr. Erli... Ehrlichmann, I think it was to arrive.”

He looked around, and checked his desk.

“Huh, no attendance sheet. Well, whatever. We can wait.”

A few minutes passed, a young man who you didn't recognize walked in. He introduced himself as Mr. Ehrlichmann. He was “an inspector from the school board who would drop in once every few weeks and monitor the program.” He then handed around a clipboard for attendance. At the top was written “Cross-Year Program Attendance”, and below it was some multilingual text. Either way, you signed off.

And so began a year of... whatever the cross-year program was supposed to be.



Afternoon
Pick one or two courses from below. If you're not a senior, then pick two.

Senior Physics
Physics was a known quantity. If you had taken junior physics (which you had to have, if you're taking this course), you will have already had the teacher, Mrs. Orlich. She was a short woman who was beginning to show signs of age. Today, she wandered in in a grey sweatshirt and track pants.

“Heavens, it's chilly,” she said to the room of teenagers sweating like pigs. “Either way, I see some familiar faces...”

And then she introduced herself, and then began explaining the curricula, as she handed out course outlines. Everything seemed fairly normal, and seemed much like a direct continuation of junior physics. Newtonian mechanics, circuit electricity, electromagnetism...

And thus began the course.

Senior Chemistry
The class began with an unusually tall fellow entering the classroom, clad in safety goggles and a massive lab coat. He introduced himself hastily as Mr. Brandt, a new teacher at Peter Bilman. As he wandered the desks to hand out course outlines, you noted that he must have towered at least one and a half heads over you—a tall teacher indeed.

He began to explain some of his own work experience, then what you would be covering in the course. He announced with a tinge of sadness in his voice that there would be minimal lab work in the course, though there would be a few demonstrations. He then began giving an overview of the units in the course—a review of nomenclature, organic chemistry, equilibrium reactions, orbitals... all the usual stuff that was already on the piece of paper right in front of you.

And thus, the course began.


Sophomore Sciences
Sophomore science was the last dying breath of the generalized science courses that you had studied since elementary school. As you looked over the course outline, it seemed very much like a showcase of the different fields that you would have to specialize in next year (assuming you even took any more science courses.)

Mr. Brandt, the new teacher, taught this section as well. There was nothing else much to say. An overall boring course with overall boring content.

And so began of a semester that wouldn't really have much of worth.


Senior Economics
In truth, there wasn't anything senior about senior economics. Juniors could get into the course just fine, and there wasn't any sort of junior economics course. That was a fairly good deal for them, of course—an early senior course to show on their transcript.

Amidst chatter, a relatively young man in dress shirt and glasses entered the room, chalking his name on the board. He introduced himself as Mr. Becker.

“Uh, hi. Hello?”

The chatter continued. The teacher, ignored, simply handed out course outlines and sat at his desk for a few minutes, before he began the class.

“...in this course, we learn the principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics. The principles. Just the principles. I just want to emphasize right now: the principles. Basic stuff.”
And so began a semester of economic principles.



Senior Accounting
Mr. Becker taught this course as well. He began by explaining the purpose of accounting, as most people simply ignored him and looked over the course outline and mark spread. You would be learning the principles of financial accounting, it seemed.

And so began a semester of accounting.


Senior History
Mr. Alfredson walked into the room, still dressed as an admiral. The classroom was large, and well decorated. Many maps hung around the room, of different areas, in different projections, and even from different eras (there were at least three which still had the USSR on them.) The teacher walked to the front of the room, and spoke with a voice that commanded attention.

“I'm Mr. Alfredson. This semester we'll be learning about early modern world history—from the Napoleonic Wars to World War II. Our major topics are the Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and World War II. Our smaller topics will be the colonization of Africa, and let's see, what else... the Spanish Civil War, and some other boring stuff you guys probably won't care about. Sadly, not much on Napoleon. It's all in the outline, anyways.

“Anyways, let's get going right away. We'll start from the top with a bit of review from last year on slavery in the United States...”

And so began a semester of military history.


Sophomore History
Mr. Alfredson taught this class too. He walked in, in all his massive-hatted splendour, in the same room as Senior History (albeit at a different time, obviously.) He introduced himself, and the course.

“This is a course all about good ol' 'murica. There's less focus on military history here, and more on domestics—but that doesn't mean the course isn't interesting. Don't get that idea at all.

“Either way, this course is a brief overview, from when we established Jamestown, all the way to the end of the Vietnam War. We're not going any further than that. Either way, let's get started...”

And so began a semester of non-military history.


Write-in
If there's a course that you must have for your character, make note of it. I tried covering the big ones. Other courses appear second semester—most electives do, anyways.

After School
Last bell rang. Students flooded out the school in droves—extracurriculars had not begun yet, after all. How would you spend your day?

[Daimbert]

Senior Mathematics: If it wasn't for it being a mandatory class, Sanae wouldn't be taking the course; the courses and training materials provided by her parents' school were far better, and she'd already completed most of them, and so knew most of what was going to be taught this semester. There was a process that she could have gone through to get exempted from the course, but she preferred to stick to the rules instead of trying for exceptions. That being said, at least it would be a relatively easy course for her, and the problems would be a nice review of what she'd already learned.

Senior English: Sanae had already read and analyzed King Lear and Hamlet; those were the standard ones that everyone did. She'd never come across Titus Andronicus, though, so at least that might be interesting. However, she grimaced inwardly on hearing that they were going to cover Frost; she'd never been a fan of poetry.

Lunch: Sanae shrugged at the Cross-Year program. If the board thought that it was useful, then she thought it reasonable to go along with it, even though she wasn't at all sure what "it" was yet.

Senior Accounting: Having access to better materials meant that she could skip the science classes -- as they were optional -- but accounting was going to be useful if she was going to work at her parents' company; she knew that her mother wished her father was better at accounting so that she didn't have to do all of that herself. After this, maybe she'd know enough to be able to help her mother with the books on occasion.

Senior History: Sanae almost felt guilty taking this course, as this was pretty much purely an interest course for her. She consoled herself by noting that there weren't any other offerings that would be more practical, and hoped that it would be interestng, and focus on the politcal/philosophical reason behind the conflicts and not just be a litany of famous battles.

After School: Sanae checked her schedule, and noted that for today her after school scheduling was for ... free time. And her parents were insisting that for at least the first week she had to stay at school and try to do something there, and not just bury herself in her room or with extracuriculars. So, she thought with a bit of an ironic smile, she could bury herself in the library for the week. But she knew that wasn't what her parents wanted; they wanted her to do something more social, but outside of clubs and teams she wasn't very good at that. So she thought she'd give it a try today, even though she didn't know how. She could always bury herself in the library later.

But simply standing around didn't seem like a good idea either. so she found a spot that was near where all of the people were passing but was still a bit out of the way, and pulled out a book to read until she thought of a better idea.

[AkaiNeko]

Sophomore Mathematics
Sasha hated math. She was also terrible at it. Every semester she barely scraped by - her mind drifted away without fail every class, lessons leaked out of her brain almost as soon as the end-of-period bell rang, and hell if she knew how to properly study the damned material. In a way, she was happy to realize how bad this teacher was likely to be; at least this year there would be a good excuse for sucking. She sighed and started in on the quiz, praying to anyone and/or anything that would listen for mercy.

Sophomore English
....Sasha liked English, actually. Shakespeare wasn't her favorite, but maybe this wouldn't be too bad? Hopefully? Please oh dear god why? Even those final, sad, desperate vestiges of hope screamed in despair as she looked at the....

....classmate bingo? Seriously?....well, her cat's name was Anvil. She got some odd looks for that. This looked to be a long semester already.

Lunch/Cross-Year Program
Sasha didn't particularly mind the "Cross-Year Program", whatever it was. Not yet, anyway....seriously, what even was it supposed to be? But no. No. No, what Sasha minded - what she might even call UN-F***ING-FORGIVABLE - was that they cut her precious lunch period short for it. That was several minutes of trying to locate friends from last year (largely out of a sense of duty, but still) or just having some time to think, or catch up on reading....aaaah, this was annoying.

Sophomore Sciences
....science was ok, even as general as this looked to be. A good teacher could make it fun. Not that that seemed likely. Sasha settled in for what was probably a fairly easy course. At least she could probably do some reading in her down-time.

Sophomore History
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF NON-MILITARY HISTORY
THERE WAS NO POINT
WHY
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS

It was hardly impossible for the non-military aspects of history to be interesting, of course, and in fact many of them were absolutely fascinating. But....but....WARS WERE SO INTERESTING and she was actually starting to worry herself.

....yeah, maybe she should try and enjoy this. Maybe some nice, non-violent (as non-violent as history could be, anyway) history would be good for her what the hell was the teacher wearing? That haaaat....OH, this was that guy from....this was just going to be one of those semesters, wasn't it? Well, at least he might be interesting....

After School

Spoiler

Show

I'd rather wait till I get an answer OOC....

[MageofMystra]

Tuesday September 5, 2017
After School
In the end, it was the first day of school. Many people met up with friends and caught up with each other, while many others found themselves without much to do, heading home.

After all was said and done, most people just headed back. Sanae didn't really meet anybody. A thoroughly boring day.


Evening
There wasn't much doing in the evening. Autumn television was nice, at least.


Nighttime
Nothing of particular interest, outside of a few odd dreams. All school related. How thoroughly dull.


Wednesday September 6, 2017
Daytime
The morning was relatively dull. Almost all teachers held off on doing any actual work on account of an assembly later in the morning. Almost all teachers, anyways--the exception was Mr. Boring, who tossed a pop quiz at the senior calculus class (which was a fairly thorough review of junior mathematics--everything from trigonometry to quadratic functions to logarithms.)

The assembly started at around 10:30 A.M, as each year was slowly called down. In a fair difference from the usual, however, it seemed that you were separated from the rest of your year--it seemed that the participants in the cross-year program would be sitting in groups according to, well, their groups.

The odd bunch of sophomores and juniors were already seated when the seniors had arrived--the freshmen, you knew, would not be arriving, on account of having had this assembly yesterday. This was an assembly that was a waste of time--and this was something known by everyone in the audience. Even the teachers standing on the sides had a look of disinterest--others having pulled out phones to amuse themselves with whatever mobile game was the flavour of the day. Many students had followed their cue--those that had not were conversing, filling the gym/auditorium with a loud static.

After a few minutes, the rather plump principal and other members of administration arrived on the stage--the principal standing front and center, as he arrived at the podium, tapped the mic, and cleared his throat in a futile effort to gain the attention of the few hundred disinterested people ahead of him. After having done so by some miracle (or disaster, depending on perspective), he began.

"Hello, Peter Bilman High School. Another year has begun and I am proud to be here to share it with you

With that, your brain began tuning out. No matter how exceptional or determined you were, it was simply too much boredom to handle. A speech you would have heard a hundred times already, which in the end, conveyed close to no information. A dull, monotone, droning voice that was not even so awful to be aggravating. The hot haze of the auditorium did not help manners.

A nap sounded nice. Yessirree, a nap sounded very nice indeed...

...

You awoke some time afterwards. It was quiet. Extraordinarily quiet--no talking from other students, and (to your probable relief) no principal. No other speeches. You felt extraordinarily refreshed--like you had just woke up after sleeping in on a slow Sunday morning. The air was also much more pleasant now...

No way. Was the assembly over?

After opening your eyes, to probable disappointment, the assembly was not, in fact, over. The principal was still there, the teachers were still looking uninterested on the sides, and the students, surely enough, were all still there. Yet no sound. No nothing. What a weird place. Maybe you were dreaming or something?

Everyone and thing seemed utterly still, and completely silent--excepting three other students who seemed to be discovering the strangeness of the same scene as you.

BZZZ. BZZZZZ. BZZZZ.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket--a text message, sender unknown. There were three other buzzes, as the other three students, with a stir, seemed to also have received text messages. It was worth checking (either immediately or otherwise.) How curious the message was--being only three words long.

"Change the world."

[Philemonite]

Spoiler: Previous day, sorry I'm late

Show

Morning

The start of a new school year was always interesting for Halden. It was a perfect opportunity to observe people, so many things were happening at once. Sticking to the metaphorical shadows it was easy to stay unnoticed. After all, he was just another nerd reading his books or checking his phone. Information was a powerful tool, and you can gather a lot more information if people don't know you are observing them.

Daytime

Halden wasn't a big fan of calculus, but not every class needs to be fun. Tried to keep up and at the end he was quite proud of himself for not falling asleep.

English was one of Halden's favorite classes and this one was promising to be very fun.
"I need to dust of my Shakespeare. It has been a while."
Something in the back of his mind was screaming "school play".

Lunch

Halden was a big fan of social experiments. Granted, he liked them more as an observer, but sometimes it's good to participate. The teacher, Mr. Alfredson was an interesting person. His first impression is that this class (or whatever you might call it) will be a lot more relaxed then a usual class. A friendly discussion over lunch. It was an interesting idea, and Halden was really excited to see how it works out.


Afternoon

Halden was a bit disappointed there will be minimal lab work, he was hoping there would be a lot of fun experiments. Still, when Mr. Brandt mentioned organic chemistry his mood was improved considerably. There was something about the patterns and organization that clicked with him.

Military history was one of Halden's fascinations, and getting graded on something you like is always great. He was hoping to expand his knowledge of military tactics, so he payed close attention to what the teacher was saying, failing to notice anything that was going on around him.


After School

Halden was torn. His two favorite spots in the entire school were the library and the roof, and he didn't know where to go. He optioned for the library, to check out all the new books. Gathering an impressive stash, he made his way to his usual spot on the upper level of the library. He stayed there for some time, checking the books he picked out and observing the few people that were in the library today.

Wednesday September 6, 2017


Calculus test was brutal. Well, to be fair, it was more unexpected then brutal, but Halden still had trouble with it. Logarithms were especially tough, he really needed to hit the books. At least his afternoon is free, so he can dedicate it to calculus.

A expected, the assembly was very boring, and throughly unimportant. Halden felt extremely tired, his eyes started to close. For a split second he felt like he was loosing consciousness, and the fatigue was taking over. It's not the first time he has felt something like this, slipping out of consciousness and waking up a second lated, only to find out that hours have passed. It was usually the best rest he ever had, probably due to his mind shutting down almost completely. But this time it was different. When he came to there was no more sound. As he opened his eyes he realized everything was frozen in place. As if someone has hit the pause button. His first thought was that it was all just a dream, but a buzzing sound brought him back to "reality".

"Change the world."

That was all that was written on his phone's display. He looked at the the other three students, that looked as surprised as he is, and then at his surroundings. He was hoping to find some kind of clue to what is happening.

[Daimbert]

Sanae didn't have any problem with the surprise calculus test. After all, she'd done a review of junior mathematics, and most of her other classes, before school started to make sure that she was prepared. She'd thought that there'd probably be a review in most of the classes anyway, but it didn't hurt to do it herself to make sure that she was comfortable with the material, and it didn't take that long to do anyway ...

...

"Maybe I DO need a life", she thought to herself.

Sanae was very surprised at falling asleep in the assembly. It had never happened before; no matter how boring the lecture was, at worst she'd slip into her own thoughts. She'd never fallen asleep before ... or, at least, not without having a major cram session first. Which she never did, since she diligently reviewed the material as the term advanced instead of waiting until the last minute.

The buzzing of her phone jolted her out of her thoughts. She read the text that said nothing more than "Change the world", and looked around at the frozen students ... and those that weren't frozen.

One thing was certain: this was no ordinary dream.

"Um, hello?" she ventured quietly.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was normally very good at resisting her frequent-in-school urges to fall asleep. But this....this was something different. It was like some kind of....some kind of reality-distortion field, or something, something weird and unnatural spreading itself over her, the warmth, perfectly quiet-but-not-too-quiet surroundings and gentle drone of the exceptionally boring voice and its accompanying (and approximately equally boring) speech combining in a perfect storm of....

....of....

....of WHAAAASHE wasn't asleep yeah she was asleep. Had been asleep. Whatever. What was going on?! Assembly! Was the assembly over? Dammit, Sasha, focus.

The assembly wasn't over.

OK. This was....neeeewwww. For a precious couple of seconds she simply existed in a state of mild-and-growing shock, the signals from her eyes and ears taking longer than usual to be interpreted and accepted by the rest of her brain. Then the adrenaline started to flow as the bottom of her stomach dropped away, realization setting in alongside a fast growinBZZZZ

She jumped slightly as her phone buzzed solidly against her leg. She quickly pulled it out, flipped it open and read the message to herself in a small whisper.

"Change the world."

She jumped again when, moments later, she heard another voice, female and very close. She called out in a guarded voice: "Who's there?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae raised her hand. "Um, me, I guess. And a few others, right?"

[oblivion6]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Sorry, not very long. Fortunately my schedule should be quieting down.

The second day of school was just as boring as the first for Sophia Hastings. It was always like this; she didn't start to branch out and tear people down until about a week in, normally. The first few days were spent observing her classmates and what made them tick - figuring out the most entertaining students and how best to get inside their minds and break them. She hated to admit it, but tearing people down and leaving them an emotional wreck was one of her favorite pass times. It probably made her a lot of enemies but she didn't really care all that much. She was convinced she probably wouldn't survive the year so she might as well enjoy herself.

......

She was awakened by the vibration of the phone in her pocket. She looked around in alarm, not realizing it had only been her phone at first.

Everybody was... frozen? Everybody except for three others - all confused as she was. With a growing sense of dread and doubt, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages.

"Change the world.""

How odd...

She looked around again. There had been no change. "Somebody tell me this is a dream? This can't be real."

[Daimbert]

Sanae, after pondering for a moment, said, "Since the four of us are all aware of it, it's almost certainly not a dream ... but that doesn't mean it's real, either."

But if this isn't real, she thought to herself, How do we get out of it?

[MageofMystra]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Apologies for the long, loooong delay in posting.

What a bizarre text message it was, and what a bizarre situation you were in. The auditorium (in reality, just the gymnasium with chairs set up in rows) seemed perfectly still, and still perfectly quiet, excepting your own light chatter. After a few more moments passed, you became aware of other movement in the auditorium--more people seemed to be uh... unfreezing. Is that the right word?

Surely enough, you heard more buzzes (extremely faintly--the general silence of the area helped, of course.) Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps you didn't even notice at all, but there was a bizarre thing happening indeed--most of--nay, all of the people unfreezing seemed to be sitting in sections for cross-year program groups. As if there could be any sort of deviation from the usual curriculum that wasn't sinister in some way.

You didn't recognize many of them. You'd been at the school for a while, but it was a big school. Maybe you were faintly aware of who they were--maybe you'd seen their faces, but no names came to mind. How odd.

The silence was dissipated suddenly with a clicking and a whirr, as if someone were running an old-timey movie projector. A large screen (appropriately enough, the kind that dropped down to be projected onto) was behind the still-frozen principal--a screen which you were sure had not been there prior. A faint light appeared upon it--and flickering, grainy images flashed by. Faces. People. Places. Corridors. More faces. Was that your face just now? It was gone too fast--maybe it wasn't. Didn't seem like you. But maybe it was. Oddly, one face kept flickering. You weren't quite sure who it was--looked like someone who went to Peter Bilman.

The odd silent film continued running for a few moments longer, as you committed that face to memory. It was likely you'd see it again soon. It was an odd feeling, but it felt as if that face'd only appear again in a grim context. An odd feeling indeed.

The odd place seemed to vanish in an instant--in a flash of black, you were back in the auditorium, and (perhaps to your horror), the principal was droning once again. How abrupt. The hot haze of the gym once again washed over you.

"...and the standards shall be no less than excellence--and no less than excellence they shall be. When you speak of excellence, it ought to be..."

--

Afternoon
The assembly passed without much other incident. For the most part, it seems like nobody else had noticed--though you heard the occasional murmur and snatches of conversation from what you could only assume to be cross-year students--"freezing" this, and "projector" that. Who knew who those people were--trying to find them afterwards was troublesome indeed, as almost all conversation was heard in the hustle and bustle of the hallways between periods.

There was no cross-year program meeting today (on account of it being Wednesday.) After lunch, classes were dull--while before, the teachers had the excuse of having an assembly afterwards, now, teachers were beginning review of content from the previous year. Conservation of energy. A = L + SE. Mercantilism. Names of presidents. Dull, dull, and dull.

--

After School
You heard some clubs were starting up--in particular, the men's soccer team was starting (the men's football team on the other hand, had started in the summer.) Nobody really cared about soccer around these parts, sadly. There was also talk of a few smaller clubs starting up later in the week--a cooking club, a drama club, a music club (which in turn, managed the two school bands, and various other smaller ensembles)--heck, you even heard about a quizbowl meeting somewhere.

On the other hand, there was, as always, the allure of slacking off. Rubaker Mall, though out of sight, was singing a slow siren song--though heavens know what you'd do there. Or maybe you could look around for the other folks in the cross-year program. Hey, why not combine those two?

You had a few hours to kill. What did you do?

[Daimbert]

Sanae had to hang around school again for this week, but now had a purpose: to wander around and see if she should spot any of the people she saw at the assembly. If for no other reason than to see if they had had the same experience as she had.

[MageofMystra]

Wandering around school, Sanae quickly found a few of her cross-year buddies (basically, the playable party.) After a little more searching, she also finds two other people that look vaguely familiar from the assembly--they introduce themselves as Mary Wilt, freshman, and Allen Ho, a senior. Actually, Allen she had probably seen before--he was one of the popular kids, so to speak. Sanae found a few more people, but they didn't seem to know what she was talking about (possibly with an odd look or two.)

Allen and Mary both said they were free, but as for the other cross-year people? Who knew. Either way, it might've been a good idea to find somewhere to go for some serious talking and party-forming.

[Daimbert]

Sanae thought for a moment, and decided that somewhere outside was probably the best place for this discussion. It was a nice enough day -- if perhaps, a bit warm -- and out there no one would overhear or interrupt them, and it would be quiet enough that they wouldn't need to shout to have a discussion. When all who were going to show up did, she first turned to Allen and Mary, and asked "Could you please describe what you experienced during the assembly?"

[MageofMystra]

SUDDENLY THERE IS A WARP IN SPACETIME THAT CAUSES THE PLAYER CHARACTERS TO BE ASSEMBLED, ALONG WITH MARY AND ALLEN, OUTSIDE SOMEWHERE.

Wednesday September 6, 2017
After School
Somehow, everyone was assembled--Halden, Sanae, and Sasha, Sophia, and the two NPCs, Mary and Allen. The odd group of four plus two was assembled in some park near Peter Bilman, on a hot, yet otherwise lovely September afternoon. Once in a while, some person jogs by, but for the most part, between the wind and the rustling of leaves caused by said wind, it's unlikely that anyone can eavesdrop. Because that was apparently on your mind.

Everyone, probably still somewhat confused by the warp in spacetime that may or may not have occurred (it definitely didn't), began to return to reality. It was Sanae who spoke first:
"Could you please describe what you experienced during the assembly?"
And certainly, there was thinking! Much thinking began.

It was Allen who spoke first, ever the dauntless fellow he was:
"Well, it was weird. I dozed off, 'cos of the air, and the principal, you know, and then when I woke up, it was weird. Everyone was frozen, y'know, like totally stuck, like some guy hit pause or something. And then it was the weirdest thing, I felt this little buzzing thing. I knew this was my phone, 'cos, you know, I know my phone, and I got this text, saying 'change the world', or something. I think I still have it on my phone, actually."
He pulled out his phone, and showed the text. Indeed, the contents seemed to be the same--though the sender was still as unknown as it was before.
"Then, like, there was some kinda projector, and it was flashing like, pictures. Faces, or something. I thought I heard someone whispering 'Miwalte park' behind me, or something, but I'm not really sure about that one. It was weird, y'know."

And so, it was confirmed that you weren't the only people who were nuts.

Mary next, more or less repeated Allen's story, minus the Miwalte park bit--she claimed to have heard some kind of whisper about Rubaker Mall. You didn't hear any sort of whispers, so that's even more odd. On the other hand, it was technically four to two with respect to hearing things (four to one, if you count each separately!), so maybe they were just hearing things.

There was a short moment of silence, while everyone [presumably] tried to figure out what to say, or what to do next.

[Daimbert]

Sanae pondered for a minute in silence, as everyone else did. Then, she said "I don't recall the statement about the park."

Then, she paused as a thought came to her. "Wait ... what's the name of this park?"

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded at Mary and Allen's stories. It was good to know she wasn't completely nuts.

Well, actually, no it wasn't, said a part of her. Now she knew that something really crazy had happened, and she had a terrible feeling that thi swasn't the last of it. Just what she needed right now.

All in all, the conversation seemed to be progressing fine without too much input from her. She seemed to've had about the same experience as the others, minus the weird voice. Sanae's question threw her for a moment, though. "Aren't we just in the plaza near school?"

[MageofMystra]

Wednesday September 6, 2017
After School
The leaves rustled briefly from a lazy gust of wind, on that Wednesday afternoon.

Allen gave a look around after Sasha spoke--and surely enough, not too far from where everyone was gathered, was a tall chain fence, on the other side of which stood the back wall of the ever-popular plaza and a small parking lot. A small truck drove across the lot, as if on cue. "Well, uh, yeah, it looks like it. Well, this is just as good a place as any, right?

"But yeah, I thought I heard something about Miwalte Park, y'know, that place further up the river, with the tennis courts? I think there used to be a petting zoo there or something."

The conversation undoubtedly went on longer, perhaps drifting to more menial, everyday topics. The afternoon passed lazily, as the group soon split up, but not before agreeing to keep each other apprised of any other strange happenings that may or may not involve time freezing randomly. The rest of the afternoon passed without much incident, as each person left to spend their time however they pleased. Soon enough, the sun set, and not one thing really changed.

Evening
It was a cloudy evening. A popular television channel decided to broadcast a made-for-television movie marathon. The local news was mostly filled with the minutiae of a day's passed, reporting over topics such as the new sprinklers installed in a small garden downtown, or about some local man being declared the best dog groomer in the country. Mostly boring, and definitely not important events.

The weather later cleared up, later at night, at around maybe 10:00 P.M.. A brilliant full moon shone in the newly cleared night sky. A great big, bright full moon that could only interpreted as a sinister omen (if you were a bit of a quack, that is.) Not much else of interest happened that night.

--

Thursday September 7, 2017
Morning
It was a dim and dreary evening. Sometime overnight, rain clouds had moved in. The weather forecast indicated that the rain would most likely not end until late in the evening. You hadn't gotten a particularly good sleep, either, so there was that, too.

Morning classes weren't particularly exciting. Senior calculus began with Mr. Boring handing back the previous day's quizzes, an impressive turnaround. Sophomore mathematics began in much the same way, with him returning the first-day quizzes. In both courses, he indicated that everybody was in dire need of review, and so, in a strange convergence, both courses focused upon basic algebra and numeracy. Perhaps a little too basic, actually.

Lunch
It was either Allen or Mary who found you, indicating that there was something interesting to talk about. Apparently they had a bizarre dream that night (oh, what a trivial thing to speak to you about) rather akin to the bizarre random time-stopping event yesterday. This was, of course, minus the random time-stopping, given that they were dreaming. It would be hard to tell if time had stopped while asleep. Really quite difficult, actually. Come to think of it, though, maybe you had a weird dream like that too [details in PM being sent out later tonight or tomorrow.]

Either way, they went around and tried to drag everyone together for lunch to talk about this. They both mentioned some weird stuff, then about someone telling them: "Ketel Station, tomorrow, 9:00 P.M."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha sighed, nodded and moved to follow Mary. There was no real reason to avoid this; she was caught up in it already. Que sera, sera. Her dream....well, it should have been the best night's sleep she'd had in weeks, based on numbers alone, but the dream itself had f***ed that up somewhat. But she'd had it, and apparently others had as well, and damn it all, she wanted to know what in hell was going on, no matter how hard she tried not to.

She decided to take the initiative while following Mary. Tact was certainly called for, she thought - she didn't really want to disclose and/or discuss the content of her own dream, and the others might well feel the same. But there were questions that needed answering, and the sooner they were, the sooner the god of the internet could write herself out of existence, the alien could fly away on her Vespa, the chick could break out of its egg and revolutionize the world, and she herself could get back to her normal existence.

Really, it didn't seem to her like this weird whatever-it-was could last more than another couple of days at most.

....what was she thinking about? Right, asking Mary about s***. Do that. "Mary. Was there....did anything else seem relevant in your dream? I....don't think there was anything else in mine."

[MageofMystra]

Mary thought for a moment while walking. After a few seconds of thought, she muttered in a low voice, as if still thinking: "Something about changing the world again. Hm. Do you think that might be relevant, Sasha? I'm not sure of anything else that seemed important.

"C'mon, we should get going."

--

The following event occurs when everyone's ready:

After a fair bit of gathering and chattering, the group (if you could even call it that, consisting of the player characters, Allen, and Mary) gathered about a small table. Maybe they were eating lunch, maybe they weren't--who knows. The two NPCs were trying to touch base with everyone--in both of their dreams, apparently, they had had some sort of message about Ketel Station, at 9:00 P.M., and changing the world and changing people's minds, and all that sort of fancy jazz. The two had suggested everyone meet at Ketel Station before 9:00 P.M. (though they noted with confusion that 'tomorrow' was a bit ambiguous--but they were apparently choosing to interpret it as yesterday's tomorrow), and to be gathered by 9:00 P.M.. This inexplicably seemed like a good idea, because whether you knew it or not, the plot (or whatever passed for one these days) was likely over there. Of course, you didn't know that in-character, but it was no doubt a niggling feeling--with time stopping, then having a sudden ominous shared dream, there had to be something of import there.

The group was making light conversation this point, no doubt.

If you[r character] has anything to do before 9:00 P.M., then be sure to note it. Otherwise, time will skip, uh, soonish.

--

UPDATE/T-T-T-T-T-TIMESKIP!

Evening
Your watch read 8:43 P.M.. The sun had set almost an hour and a half ago, and by this time, the last traces of reds and oranges in the sky had long ago faded into the horizon.

Ketel Station. It was busier than it ought to have been, being a Thursday evening at the start of September. People walked by in a constant flow--busy men and women walking away from the station, and equally busy men and women walking to the station. Ketel Station wasn't a big station, nor was it was small. It was originally the centre-point of Ketel Falls--a half century, or maybe even a full century ago. Time had indeed marched on, though the station still held an important role in the city. The station, you heard, had been massively renovated and rehauled some time in the 60s--which might explain the facade of the station. It was peculiar, to say the least (though to many Ketel Fall residents, 'an eyesore' would be the common descriptor)--supposedly a very much brutalist style. It rose about two storeys tall, and was grey, grey, grey all the way up, and all the way down. The second floor jutted outwards, with occasional massive concrete columns running upwards, integrated into the first floor facade, supposedly supporting the second story from the ground. Windows ran about each floor, all equally sized and spaced, with a black stripe above, and a black stripe below. The building was definitely nothing particularly pretty to look at.

The group had finished assembling a few minutes ago--no doubt you were admiring the station or the parking lot, or the odd number of people at the station while you were waiting. After waiting about and decided there was nothing to do, you eventually opted to enter the station. Whatever was happening at 9:00 P.M. could certainly do it inside too, right?

The inside of the station was far more pleasant than the outside. The floors were large stone tiles which were both shiny and smooth (though oddly reminiscent of elementary school.) The walls were a nice mix--sometimes they looked like a faux stucco, sometimes they looked like smooth stone, and sometimes they looked like warm cherry wood paneling. In the main hall was a small stretch of wall comprised of televisions--further up and down the station, there were occasionally similar installations, albeit with projectors on a large white screen rather than televisions (consequently, they were rather hard to see at many times during the day.) However, viewed as a whole, the station's main area was fairly open--and as such, the random walls looked a bit odd, if nothing else. Along the wall towards the tracks were waiting areas, there were doors, stairs to reach the second level and cross the tracks, etc., etc.. It was a train station at the end of the day.

The group kinda just stood around and made idle chit-chat--for the most part, nobody seemed to really care. The television wall panel was split between showing train schedules (a task made somewhat redundant by many other screens and boards dedicated the exact same task) and showing advertisements ("Bowl-a-cola - it's right down your alley!", "Lodestone Body Spray - Guaranteed to make you more attractive", etc.) Eventually they fixed upon one particularly long movie trailer--some sort of action movie.

After a minute or two of acting thoroughly clueless, Mary seemed to have noticed something. Oh, no, nevermind, nothing important, just someone selling hats on the second floor. You know, why not, there was nothing better to do. It was... let's see. 8:51 P.M.. The movie trailer was showing off action scenes now--with loud constant gunfire that would be very concerning in any other context, and some muscle-bound hero yelling ("you're not who you used to be!") With that as your soundtrack, you and the group bravely moved about the station towards the escalator to the second floor. Nobody really seemed interested in the second floor, and so the mass of people thinned out to nearly nothing by the time you were upstairs.

All along the walls of the second floor was a large advertisement for what was apparently a bug show at the museum starting in October. Their advertisement took the form of millions of butterflies painted along the wall, in large streams moving across the wall. There was a sea of orange, rivers of yellow, and the odd single stream of brilliant blue butterflies streaking along the wall. Every few metres was the explanation--a butterfly exhibit at the museum.

It was only about now that you noticed it had gotten quieter. Only the televisions seemed to still be going. Suddenly cluing in, you checked your watch, which ticked over to 9:00 P.M. almost a second later. Surely enough, something stupid was happening again, and that took the form of... right, there was nobody on the second floor. Except for the guy selling hats--no wait, he was gone too. Go figure. The rest of the group seemed, well, puzzled. The only sound you could really hear now was the movie trailer finishing up the only way it knew how--guns ablazing. The narrator finally said "COMING THIS FALL", and the trailer ended with a loud BANG. Then it was silence.

Silence that was quickly broken by Allen, who yelped out in pain, hand against the back of his head. "What the--OW! The heck was tha--oh crap, am I bleeding!?" He had brought his hand back, and taken a look at it, and surely enough, there was red on it. "The hell just happened!? D... did the movie trailer just freakin' shoot me!?"

The oddness quickly continued, as the butterfly painting on the wall seemed to come to life, with thousands of red, orange, and yellow butterflies suddenly deciding that being on the wall was the height of lameness--and accordingly, fluttering away in a massive, chaotic flying swarm. Boy, were your eyes ever overstimulated by that. However, your eyes seemed to be drawn to one blue spot in the swarm, slowly fluttering downstairs for a moment before you lost track of it.

Deciding to follow it downstairs, you stopped at the escalator to view quite the sight. Everyone was frozen again--but that wasn't it (in fact, that was already wearing thin by the second time), but odd black blobs moved about the floor, shrouded in a black fog all about the floor. You heard a cacophony comprised of what sounded like hundreds of distinct voices, all whispering and muttering things. "That movie's going to be dumb." "Who even designed this station?" "There's too much sugar in my coffee." All very mundane things indeed. But still, the black blobs. They looked kind of like tar, with arms. Arms that dragged themselves along. There were two red points on each, which were presumably eyes. Very very cliched evil eyes. Who could've figured?

After observing for a stunned moment, you realized that uh, something certainly was happening. And during this something happening, standing at the top of some escalators dumbfounded was probably not the best course of action.

What did you do?

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha rather liked the station's facade, and in a mostly non-ironic way at that. She found something endearing in it's bold ugliness and it's oddly stylized pseudo-pragmatic minimalism - like that weird friend that you get used to and couldn't imagine being any other way, perhaps. Still, while she might normally have enjoyed a walk in the area, that wasn't really an option just now, and surrounded as she was by people she had only a passing familiarity/awkward friendliness with, she was pretty bored outside, and didn't object to moving in.

Sasha also liked the inside of the station, for largely different reasons - it was a lively, bustling place, very good for such diverse activities as loitering, hanging out and people watching. It'd been too long since she'd been here - she quickly made a mental note to drag her sister down here sometime soon. As they moved upstairs, her mood continued to improve, up from a not-so-great "bored and sullen" to a decent "quiet but content", upon reaching the second floor and the frankly very awesome mural advertisement.

It promptly tanked once more when she realized along with the others that time had stopped - or something - again. She was as startled as anyone when the mural freaked out, and at the sight of the whatever-they-were-s below her breath caught as she felt the familiar lightheaded rush of adrenalin.

Decision time. Fight or Flight?

....she swung her backpack around and pulled out the pair of scissors she kept in the main pocket in case of surprise arts-and-crafts-related situations or other things, which had served her quite well over the years. She nervously tapped her boots on the ground, suddenly feeling the weight very clearly. She adjusted her backpack and jacket. And she took a step forward, down to the first floor, eyes wide, heart pounding, with a vague motion indicating that the others were welcome to join her.

Her mom and sister were waiting for her at home. As far as she could tell from the supremely limited information available, the only way out was through. Whatever those things were, they at least looked dangerous, but looks could be deceiving. But the door out, her target for the moment, wasn't going to walk to them (probably?); may as well get started now, before things had a chance to get worse. Life or death situations weren't all that new anyways.

[Daimbert]

Sanae stayed quiet most of the time, letting the others engage in small talk that she barely listened to. She wasn't all that great at small talk, and there was a lot to think about. Unfortunately, while there was a lot to think about, there wasn't a lot of data to work with, and so no conclusions could be formed from it, which she found frustrating.

Still deep in thought, she was yanked out of her reverie by Allen's yell, and then very, very weird things happened. Which was even more puzzling, although that confusion made sense. Upon seeing the blobs, she noticed Sasha yanking out a pair of scissors to use as a makeshift weapon, and wondered if fighting was really the right response here. However, she didn't normally carry anything that could be used as a weapon, and despite being scared and confused dropped into her normal default mode: she sidled back a bit behind Sasha and tried to analyze everything that she could see going on around her.

[MageofMystra]

September 7, 2017
Evening
Against the far wall of Ketel station, an odd new light streamed in, sweeping across as if spotlights constantly whizzed by the station. Beyond that was a dimly lit dusk--the sun had only recently set.

However, it was the interior of the station that deserved a second look. Hundreds of commuters frozen in time forming an almost surreal tableau. Between those were dark creatures, almost shadow-like--black blobs with arms and menacing red eyes (or rather, they would be menacing if not so trite.)

Sasha, no doubt badassfully sliding down the escalator or something (or maybe she just ran--who knows), charged forward with a pair of scissors, with Sanae slowly but purposefully moving behind here in a manner that could almost be described as sneakily.

The first floor was far dimmer from the bottom than the top. There was an odd atmosphere hanging about it--almost describable as a black fog that made it seem that the station, excepting a ring about you was completely unlit and plunged a thousand feet beneath the earth. Maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but suffice it to say that the atmosphere was rather unpleasant. The static-like noise persisted in the background, and indeed, almost seemed louder--a multitude of indistinct voices muttering. All in all, it was kind of annoying, if not worrying.

Sasha and Sanae had reached the bottom of the escalator and landed on the first floor, no doubt noticing the sound slowly growing louder, and the area around them growing darker. The herd of commuters was far thinner by the escalator than further down by the large entrance doors--only about six commuters were near the escalator (rather than the odd hundred further away.) Oddly, there were proportionally less of the shadow-like creatures (which I'm just going to start calling shadows, because honestly.) There were three by the small group of commuters, who seemed to turn to notice the two girls bounding down to ground level.

Then an odd thing happened indeed. For a moment, the whispers seemed to grow louder, but nobody really noticed that--for something odder was happening to the shadows. One seemed to swell like a rapidly inflating balloon (complete with silly sound effect), and much like a rapidly inflating balloon that didn't know its limits, popped. However, unlike the balloon, the shadow burst and sent what was more or less a rapid drizzle of ichor about it. At the base of the now exploding, former shadow was a pool of black substance, from which an arm extended itself. Followed by another. And another. And another. That was a lot of arms. The pool expanded, and the arms raised then turned their hands so as to reveal their palms (almost reminiscent of a flashy magician showing that he was hiding nothing in his hands)--on which were odd blue masks.

The other two shadows followed suit quickly.

The station got darker, and a depressing air settled in very quickly. It seemed almost as if your emotions were being sapped by the area--what might have previously been an inkling of fear had turned into strong dejection. The shadows begin to move... slither? towards Sasha and Sanae, who might have, at the time, been pretty darn terrified. Or maybe they weren't.

The static grew louder, and for an odd moment, one voice seemed to rise amongst them. The area had, at this point become dark, and the three shadows, showing two blue masks each were charging quickly. However, the six pale blue masks were not the only blue--in the distance, against the veil of darkness was a point of vivid blue light wafting lazily. Maybe it was a butterfly? It seemed familiar.

Then there was overwhelming pain.

No doubt the party had grabbed their heads or their knees had buckled or something (or maybe they didn't), as a horrific headache wracked through their temples--like burning knives directing invading their skulls. Against the din of voices, one voice suddenly boomed amongst them.

The next events are experienced differently by each player character.

Spoiler: Halendor

Show

The bizarre scene had unfolded before your eyes as you, no doubt stunned or just indecisive, could only watch. The shadows had drawn closer and closer to those two people downstairs that may have either been your friends or some random chicks you had met like two days ago. Funny thing, that. There was an odd fear niggling in the back of your mind--a small malicious voice slowly telling you that after those two, would be you. Then the headache. Your vision faded to blackness--except for one odd point of blue that remained. Then a flash of blue light, as your headache suddenly spiked--and you feeling very much like your head was about to very forcefully erupt lava. Then, in an infinitesimally short time that seemed to stretch on and on, a loud voice boomed--feminine, yet almost regal in a way:

"SHUNNED BY THE LANDS ERE I BROUGHT
"SPURNED BY THE SEA LEST I MADE
"TWO BEINGS OF DIVINE MIGHT
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME,
"I AM LETO,
"A MOTHER OF AN ERST ERA"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to a spectral, yet magnificent matron-like lady in long flowing robes and hair. She seemed to be without legs--and her robes, though they fluttered, seemed to fade away into faint wisps of smoke. No doubt that was this Leto--and it was the oddest feeling looking at her. It felt like she was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What an awesome power it was.

Spoiler: Sanae

Show

About one yard behind Sasha, you watched the shadows charge. What good would scissors do. Though you had mulled, this was probably more than enough to make you lose your cool--you were on the path of the big-cliched-shadow-express here. Then, a powerful headache--what timing! The headache was more powerful than any sort of headache you'd had in the past (and there were surely many to compare to)--enough that your vision seemed to leave you with a tableau of nothingness--except for, oddly, one single point of blue. It was on that point that your mind seemed to fixate, as the headache hit its maximum--feeling very much like your forehead was fighting to liberate itself from the inferno-like pain. Then a voice boomed--a powerful, masculine one that seemed to echo through every corner of your mind:

"THE STONE BURDENS OF ALL THE HEAVENS
"ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM EARTHLY MAN
"ARE MY TASK TO BEAR
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM ATLAS,
"THE TITAN WHO BEARS THE HEAVENS"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a massive titan of a man, hunched over slightly, as grey as stone. Contrary to your usual image of Atlas, though, this one had his arms far apart, and upon each hand, he bore a massive sphere--the left of dark marble, and the right of Earth. Well, he certainly seemed like Atlas--but it was the oddest feeling looking at him. It felt like he was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What an impressive power it was.

Spoiler: Sasha

Show

Scissors in hand, the shadows seemed to charge you first. Your vision blurred from the intense pain--the last thing you saw before vision had almost left you were the shadows, perhaps 10 yards away, and closing fast. As your vision turned dark, there was only a single point of blue that remained, that rapidly spread. Then the headache hit its peak, and a loud voice boomed--a majestic, yet oddly monstrous sounding voice:

"UNFETTERED BY CHAIN AM I,
"FEARLESS OF GODS AM I,
"THE WORLD SHALL BE BETWIXT MY FANGS
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM FENRIR
"A WOLF OF UTMOST MIGHT"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a massive spectral wolf--a massive, magnificent spectral wolf. No doubt a wolf that was worthy to be called Fenrir--and it was the oddest feeling looking at it. It felt like it was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What a fearsome power it was.

Spoiler: Sophia

Show

Downstairs, the shadows had gone through their little exploding trick and had begun to charge. No doubt schemes were being brewed in your mind--but honestly, it was an odd feeling. Very hard to guess for outsiders. The shadow had charged, and gotten quite close to the two downstairs, when the headache came. A really awful splitting headache that had shut out many other sensations--in fact, your field of view was going blank at an alarming pace. Well, blank except for one tiny thing--like a blue point of light. Then the headache all but exploded (into some sort of super-headache, no doubt), and a voice boomed--a horrifying female voice that gave you goosebumps from just how awful it was.

"CHAOS IS MY FOOTPRINT
"STRIFE IS MY TRAIL
"AND SUFFERING DOGS ME
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM ERIS,
"AN APPLE OF YOUR EYE?"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a spectral woman in rough, disheveled rags of clothing, with an equally unkempt head of hair. The rags seemed to be of every colour. In her left hand was a golden apple which sure looked great. Yup, that was Eris alright, if your memory of mythology served you--but it was the oddest feeling looking at her. It felt like she was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What a terrifying power it was.

There were flashes of light in your eyes, which subsided soon enough. You weren't sure what happened to everyone else, but they seemed to have blank stares and were still reeling a little. Looks like they also had a headache.

Down on the first floor, the three shadows seemed to have been held at bay for a moment, but as Sasha and Sanae recovered, the shadows seemed to begin to move again. There was only one way out, they knew--and the four on the second floor knew.

But luckily, you had the tools now.


COMBAT BEGINS
The camera, fixated upon the wall of windows on the second floor with light streaming by, rotates downwards to view Sasha, Sanae, and three shadows beginning honourable battle.

Enemies
Deceitful Jester x3

Scan Information
Deceitful Jester:
Wk: Fire, Ice, Electricity
No strengths, nulls, reflects, or absorbs.

As a quick note, I've prepared your deck and already drew initiative to speed things up.

Turn Order (being maintained for entire combat, because honestly)
15 - Sanae Yamamoto (drew 13 of Wands)
14 - Halendor Queldius (drew 11 of Cups) [currently not in combat]
11 - Deceitful Jester 1, 2
9 - Sasha Richter (drew 7 of Wands)
8 - Deceitful Jester 3
7 + ? - Sophia Hastings (drew 6 of Swords; agility unknown.) [currently not in combat]

Support Character Says:
"Use fire, ice and electricity against them! They're weak to that!"

Out of combat - Allen and Mary, who are apparently useless

---

UI Says:
Sanae Yamamoto
HP: 42/42

Spoiler: Deck

Show

4-Swords, 2-Wands, 14-Cups, 8-Swords, 1-Cups, 10-Coins. NEXT: 8-Cups

Halendor Queldius
HP: 35/35

Spoiler: Deck

Show

13-Swords, 10-Swords, 9-Wands, 7-Cups, 5-Cups, 4-Wands. NEXT: 2-Cups

Sasha Richter
HP: 56/56

Spoiler: Deck

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7-Cups, 4-Cups, 8-Cups, 3-Coins, 9-Coins, 14-Coins. NEXT: 2-Wands

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Filled with a surge of confidence and armed with the power of PERSONA, Sasha and Sanae are like, totally ready to fight the blobs. Up above, the other two player characters are certainly preparing themselves as well!
Wielding the mighty power of PERSONA, Sasha, Sanae and Halendor are all making battle with the blobs--enemies of mankind, the SHADOW! Our brave heroes have already defeated one minion--but can they brave the rest?

Action Log
15 - Sanae Yamamoto used Scholar's Sight.
14 - Halendor Queldius grabs a wooden stick and enters the battlefield!
11 - Deceitful Jester 1 uses Bash on Halendor for 19 strike damage. Deceitful Jester 2 uses Garu on Sanae for 11 wind damage.
9 - Sasha Cleaves Deceitful Jester 1 [presumably] for 27 slash damage.
8 - Deceitful Jester 3 uses Bash on Sasha. It misses.
7 + ? - Sophia idles on account of player being currently away.
-- New round.
15 - Sanae Yamamoto uses Garu on Deceitful Jester 1, dealing 22 damage. Deceitful Jester 1 dies.
14 - Halendor Queldius uses Dia on himself, healing himself for 39 damage.
11 - Deceitful Jester 2 attempts to use Garu on Sanae, dealing 17 damage.
9 - Sasha Cleaves Deceitful Jester 2 for 22 slash damage.
8- DJ3 attacks Sasha normally. It misses.
-- New round.
15 - Sanae Yamamoto uses Garu on Deceitful Jester 2, dealing 19 damage. Deceitful Jester 2 dies.
14 - Halendor Queldius uses Dia on Sanae, healing her for 40 damage.

Sasha Richter to move.

[Daimbert]

Effectively, a semi-dispassionate analysis of everything around her was the equivalent of freezing for Sanae. In general, her body stopped moving except by rote while her mind raced and raced. As the thoughts swirled inside her head, they ran more and more and more rapidly until she was sure that she was going insane.

The blinding headache, then, was almost a relief.

After the intense experience, she knew that she had a thing called a Persona, and knew what it could do. As it seemingly exploded out of her head, she seemed to see through its eyes as it gazed upon the strange threatening shadows ... and then she knew even more. She knew their strengths, their weaknesses, and how to exploit the latter and avoid the former. And so she yelled, "Use fire, ice and electricity against them! They're weak to that!".

[Philemonite]

The scene that was unfolding before his eyes stunned Halendor. He was still not sure if he can trust his senses, this was all too much for him. And then the pain came. It was unlike anything he has ever felt, like something was burrowing in his skull. He was quite sure he screamed in pain for a moment, not his proudest moment.
And then there was relief. The voice and the figure that appeared helped him calm down. There was one word stuck in his mind, night. He didn't really understand why. He didn't know much about Leto, and he couldn't realize how could she be connected to him. But there was no time for that, there were people in danger. He shook his head trying to get some clarity. In a moment his shyness melted away and his military training (courtesy of his father) kicked in.
"Not while I'm here!" He screamed looking around for a weapon.
Before he could realize what was going on he was running down the stairs with a wooden stick in his hand.

[MageofMystra]

Enemy turn!
Deceitful Jester 1
The blob of arms goes "rrgh" or something. Its palm-mask things turn to face Halendor, armed with a mighty shadow-busting stick entering the battlefield. Shadows being classy, it bounds towards Halendor and attempts to Bash him with its many hands.

"Rrgh", it goes, as it attempts to bash Halendor. The attack deals a base of 27 damage. Halendor may either attempt to dodge or withstand the attack, using those rules.

Deceitful Jester 2
Evidently unpleased by being scanned, the creature raises its many arms and does what only be described as a little dance. A little dance of fearsome magic, of course.

With its arms in the air as if it did not care, Sanae, probably still scanning, knew that it was summoning a wind attack, Garu. What a weird name. Either way, yeah, wind attack.

Garu deals a base of 28 wind damage. Sanae may attempt to either dodge or withstand, using those rules.


(speaking of which, we should maybe pre-establish whether you want to dodge or withstand attacks, and pre-draw cards or something.)

[Daimbert]

As the monster attacked, Sanae felt Atlas crouch over her, standing between her and the winds, although some of the attack was still getting through.

OOC - Sanae will block this attack.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha felt something flow through her as the pain dissipated, heard the voice in her mind, saw the spirit....wolf....thing above her (a Stand....?), and noticed the Shadows coming for her. She squeezed her scissors and felt the power surging through her. She spotted that one guy runnin down to join them with a....stick. How helpful. Well, she appreciated the thought, anyway....

And then she saw Sanae get hurt and decided it was time to hurt something.

Instinct took over as she rushed down the thing that had attacked her companion and she screamed out the name of the spirit (Stand?): "FENRIR!"

[MageofMystra]

Invoking her Persona with a roar, Fenrir bounded forth and clawed a shadow asunder!

(Queen of Wands converted to Queen of Swords; base 32 damage [15 + 4 + 13]); 27 damage dealt. Roughly 30% HP remains.)
(new card drawn on her new turn is Queen (13) of Coins)

The shadow reforms after being torn, though it looks significantly runnier and damaged.

--

ENEMY TURN!
Deceitful Jester 3
Probably disturbed by the new power of persona demonstrated, the creature lunges forward and attempts to Bash Sasha.

(Bash attempt; to-hit value of 8; base damage 25 [striking])

--

A new turn rolls around. After her thorough inspection, Sanae is due to move again.