[IC] Persona - Deva System

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was torn between feeling abashed and feeling defensive. On one hand, she could certainly see where Sanae was coming from. She had taken a risk by performing the test. There was the chance that she could have been plunged right back into the sort of situation they'd been in at the station. She'd thought about that herself. That was part of why she'd volunteered to do it herself.

The impression she'd gotten from the encounter at the station was that she was, individually, probably the most survivable member of the team; given that, along with the unpredictability of any of the at-the-time hypothetical outcomes of the test, it seemed quite reasonable to her that the assumption be that anyone involved in the test could easily be rendered functionally alone, and from there that they shouldn't risk everyone at once and furthermore that they only had three "fighters" so they could really only spare one at that point, and from there that if anyone was going to go it alone, it might as well be her.

And of course she couldn't help but feel that if Sanae was going to flip so f****** badly over this then she could have said something yesterday when they were talking about it. She couldn't stop her head from hanging slightly, but she was, from experience, pretty damn good at projecting negative emotions, such as righteous displeasure, and did so with a stern glare of her own. "OK first off, I volunteered to try the milk thing, not type it into Google. Which probably wouldn't have worked because Google doesn't like searching for s*** that long. Second, you should have said something yesterday if you were gonna get so worked up - double checked the plan, something. Third? There was no f****** guarantee that we'd all have been together. What if we got Town Without A Voiced, all dropped in different places, or just got split up right away? Or just had to fight our own little personal boss things in our own heads, like representatives of our own 'inner darkness' or some s*** to 'gain control over our other selves'? Mary and Allen can't fight, which leaves us with only three fighters. You're a mage, Halden's a healer. I am the only non-squishy in this party, so if anyone was gonna do it, it was gonna be me!"

She paused and took a deep breath to steady herself. She was getting too angry; she'd been dangerously close to shouting at the end. Sanae's concern was still perfectly valid. She was trying to make the point that Sanae couldn't simply assume everyone would do as she expected, not putting her on trial for murder. Another good breath. "Look. You are not in charge here. So you're gonna have to talk more if you're going to get up in arms whenever someone does...." She gestured vaguely, trying to somehow encapsulate the general concept of "basically anything anyone could conceivably take issue with that could likely have been at least somewhat alleviated through better communication". "....whatever. Especially if you flat misheard them in the first place." She paused. "And yeah, notes should be fine."

Having said her piece, Sasha relaxed. She'd flared up pretty badly there for a moment; hopefully this closed the matter nicely. She resumed eating her pepperoni-and-sausage pizza with an emphatic bite. As her brain unwound from its sudden defensive stance, she realized with belated embarrassment that quite a bit of her younger sister's vocabulary had snuck into her little tirade; how much gaming had she been doing?

[Philemonite]

"Enough!" Halden tried to imitate his father, but his tone wasn't stern and commanding enough.
"You have both made your point and this argument is going nowhere. Can we get back to our investigation?"
He remembered what his father said, when you are trying to command someone always maintain eye contact. Instead, Halden choose to look down and continue writing his notes. The day before was unproductive, and he had a lot to make up for.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius was rather concerned, not so much over the mention of combat as the use of game terms to describe them. Whta had the others not told him yet?

Regardles, Sasha's logic was sound. Hers was indeed the best aproach.

He didn't know why nobody had questioned his presence, but he stood quietly at the side, ready to keep mental notes.

[Daimbert]

Sanae realized something: this was a group of very different people, with very different ideas of things. She didn't really disagree with Sasha's reasoning ... but an equally valid case could be made for not going in alone. Or taking reasonable precautions. It was just a misunderstanding, and yet Sasha seemed angry -- perhaps because she felt, as she said, that Sanae was trying to dictate what had to be done -- and Halden seemed more upset at the argument than at the situation itself. Sanae didn't want anyone to be hurt or God forbid killed because they didn't consider all the options or ensure that everyone was protected, but they clearly wouldn't be able to assume that they were all on the same page. At least, they needed organization, and they might end up needing official leadership ... and none of them seemed willing to seize it or even really open to having it.

Well, maybe things would settle in once they all got to know each other better.

"Halden, it's definitely better to have these sorts of inter-personal conflicts here than, say, in battle. But I think we can all agree that this one is resolved, since I don't think anyone here is going to object to us having more communication and making sure that we're all clear on what we're all doing.

"Speaking of which, Ignatius, I know you're confused, but could you fill them in on what your experiences were, and then we'll fill you in on what we know?"

[Xhosant]

Ignatius noded.

Ahem.

"I am called Ignatius Slepens." He took a small bow at that point, in lieu of a handshake.

"I experienced the same things that you did during the opening ceremony, where everyone seemed frozen in time -with some exceptions, of course-, the projection and the odd text message. I dismissed that as a dream, initially, until I experienced it again, 2 nights ago. I knew it wasn't a dream that night, for I saw information I shouldn't possess but were accurate. I also saw some sort of shadow-like oozes in the street, emanating malice. Fortunately, they did not. Hearing the news of the park's assault, I thought of how it all fit together and tried to investigate, and that brought me to Sanae."

His tale at an end, Ignatius tried to decipher the expressions of those around him.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was satisfied with this resolution. She could happily agree to disagree on methodology for now, so long as everyone was ok with talking about such things in the future. She was mildly concerned with Halden's apparently very strong aversion to conflict, however; she didn't particularly like shouting matches herself, but give their situation, she was pretty sure this wouldn't be the last they had to deal with.

Sasha nodded at Ignatius' story. It made sense; there was no reason to assume that everyone who hadn't been frozen had managed to find each other so easily, of course. And he seemed the investigative sort. He would likely prove valuable.

Of course, the question of whether or not he could fight remained, but that could wait. "Good to have you, Ignatius."

[Xhosant]

"Likewise. I understand there's danger involved, correct? Care to elaborate?"

He paused, as he looked around the others, then to Sasha again. "And of your foray, as well."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded again, quite emphatically. "Yeah, there's some danger. Those shadow things attacked us during the time-stop on Thursday, at the train station. That's when we...." She gestured to Sanae, Halden and herself, "awakened our....I'm not even gonna try to explain what a Persona is right now, since we don't really know either, but they help us fight those things. Um, and for the record, we don't know what the actual....risks are with this s***, since none of us got seriously hurt - for all we know we'd just 'wake up', like from a dream or something - but for obvious reasons we're sort of assuming it would be bad, for now.

"So....the milk thing. We....were given these business card things with a rhyme on them about drinking a glass of warm milk with sugar before going to bed 'with intent to dream'. So I volunteered to try that." She paused awkwardly. "Obviously there was some miscommunication in there somewhere. But anyway, I tried it, and, um...." Another pause. She tried to think how to explain what had happened. She decided showing them the obviously out-of-place app on her phone might make a good end-point for this introduction. "I wound up - in the dream - in a weird place called 'Otherworld'. And it was all very confusing and dreamlike, trust me. Apparently it's everyone's minds or something, which I guess makes sense. It kinda looked like the mall, and I talked to some guy called the Director, and then this weird app appeared on my phone." Here she pulled out said fossil, flipped it open for all to see and selected the Otherworld Hub app. "Then I woke up." There was more, of course, lots of certainly interesting details that she'd left out for the sake of time and privacy, but those she didn't mind sharing could wait. She navigated to the messages, specifically the second in her inbox. It seemed a good place to start from.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius read through the message, and thought for a moment. Some lines, in particular, drew his attention, namely the ones about the two worlds interacting, Otherworld's structure, and the last bit about actions and responsibility...

Do they...project on each other in some way? Could I alter this world through the other? Or people's mentality?

Could I gaze at someone's thoughts?

Ignatius shook the thoughts away, then focused back at the issue at hand. He drew attention to the first paragraph:

"Should we take a look at the help documents?"

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017

Afternoon
The discussion had turned towards whatever this 'otherworld' was--and the only sign of its existence, the 'otherworld app' that, despite overwhelming empirical evidence, Sasha (and anyone else who looked at her phone, mind you) still did not believe was capable of running on her phone. Frankly, that in and of itself was practically a more mysterious phenomenon than time stopping whenever it seemed to feel like.

Either way, Sasha started up the program again for the first time since... last night... sorta. Technically speaking, she was running it for the first time. Either way, it didn't ask for her to agree to the terms of usage again (which seemed to indicate that she had indeed run it once before), and instead, showed a significantly cheerier main screen.

The background was some nice farmland countrysidey type of picture, with clouds slowly rolling by. Again, it was a mystery how it was running. Either way, overlaid atop that was familiar text and buttons:

"OTHERWORLD HUB
Welcome, sricht47! You have [0] new messages.
h: 15 [there was a little red orb icon next to 15]

Unable to determine current location."
Then below, buttons:
"[SALES] (the words 'HOT DEALS' was overlaid)
[News]
[Photos]
[Profile]
[Friends]
[Help!]"

Now, of course, neither Sasha nor anybody else sitting at that table knew what this app did, and so, being curious, and preparing an experiment with the utmost caution, Sasha pressed every button one by one.

(strictly speaking, order doesn't matter here:)

Spoiler: SALES

Show

LIMITED EDITION DEALS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3-10:
Snuff Soul [2 max per person!] : 5 h (the same red orb icon appears)
Revival Bead (1 max per person!) : 12 h (as before)
Massive Frying Pan : 25 h (as before)

Spoiler: News

Show

No news sources have been collected yet!

Spoiler: Photos

Show

No photos have been taken!

Spoiler: Profile

Show

sricht47
Hanged Man
Fenrir
Nothing is on display.

Spoiler: Friends

Show

Total friends: 0
"Sucks to be you, I guess."

Spoiler: Help!

Show

Welcome to the Otherworld Hub help screen!

FAQ:

What is Otherworld Hub?
Otherworld Hub is a by-invitation only service to allow otherworld explorers to coordinate between their life and another!

Is my device compatible with Otherworld Hub?
Seeing as you have to be running it to access the help screen, yes.

What's this h [red orb icon] stuff?
Macca (well, really, New Macca) is the currency of choice for otherworld denizens and otherworld explorers! This currency is non-convertible, but can be used to purchase goods and services in Otherworld! Additionally, it is the only currency accepted by Otherworld Hub.

How do I earn this Macca stuff?
Besides obtaining it from otherworld denizens, you can find it scattered through the lands. Shadows, demons, and other creatures all release it upon defeat as well!

Isn't macca technically based upon animal cruelty, then?
No, not really. Shadows don't particularly care if you beat them up.

Why is it scattered in random chests?
Look, this is an Otherworld Hub FAQ, not a Macca FAQ.

Can I opt out of Otherworld Hub?
I suppose, yeah.

How can I enter Otherworld?
Whoever invited you should have given you entrance details. Moreover, you can set an entry timer via this app by...
[list of instructions here]


FORWARDED HELP DOCUMENTS

Welcome to the extended Otherworld FAQ!

Otherworld Entry
The glass of warm milk is required for first-time entry. The entry timer is the preferred method of entering otherworld (unless you like warm milk, of course.) Be warned that you can't enter around the new moon and the full moon.

Is Otherworld dangerous?
Yes and no. Except in very rare circumstances, you cannot die permanently in Otherworld if you are not a resident of it. However, you can bet it'll hurt if you "die" in otherworld. You can bet it'll hurt lots. Ayup.

No seriously, isn't macca technically based upon animal cruelty?
No, not really. I mean, yes, very technically, but you're doing everyone a favour, trust me.

Exploring Otherworld
Otherworld is filled with strange twists and turns. Whenever you first enter Otherworld, you manifest yourself in some sort of waiting room--usually a dream-like equivalent to your real room, where you can store any supplies needed for journeying. Upon exiting the waiting room, you will be brought to a convenient location, where you can more or less pick up where you left off.

Regarding items
Items left in your room and brought into otherworld are removed in real life as well, generally speaking. Many mundane everyday objects take on new abilities in Otherworld--for instance, many ordinary objects turn into weapons capable of fighting shadows with.

What's Persona, exactly?
Persona is a power within you, that manifests as some mythological creature or something. It's kinda weird, but it's unique to each person, and based upon their personality, temperament, and a host of other factors. By establishing friendships with people in the real world, of different temperaments to you, you can augment the power of your Persona.

Persona is both your shield and sword in Otherworld, and is your mask against it.

What're Shadows, exactly?
Shadows are supposedly born from malign thoughts in humans, but past that, we're not really sure either. Either way, they've strongly established themselves throughout Otherworld, and can shape its structure. Extremely powerful shadows are born from thoughts of Persona-users, and often gather legions of weaker ones.

What's Otherworld, exactly?
Otherworld is like a world of subconsciousness. It's like one giant collective dream. Except not really. Except it sorta is. Either way, we're not really sure either, so good luck!

[Philemonite]

"Well, that barely answers any questions and raises so many new ones. And it doesn't help with the time stop and the stabbing. At least we can all go there together tonight, if I understood it correctly. And we know it's not dangerous, even though it could be painful. But Leto and I can take care of that, and we learned a new trick after our first battle."
Halden tried to sound cheerful, in spite of all the insecurities plaguing his mind.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha looked around at the others. "Well, at least that makes the planning for tonight easy, right? What time would work best for y'all?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae had been pondering the help notes silently, and then burst out, "Training?".

[Xhosant]

Ignatius pondered, then nodded.

"It would be wise. If the documents are accurate, the best place might be that Otherworld. It's ultimately safe, and we'll grow accustomed to its rules."

[Daimbert]

Sanae blinked, "You grasp my thinking, but not the totality of it. A place where you can fight, and feel pain, but not die? What else would it be for except for training? So despite how lighthearted the help files seemed, it seems that it has no other purpose than to train us for something. The question is 'For what?'"

[Xhosant]

Ignatius tilted his head.

"Well, if the place is manufactured, and indeed serves no other purpose, that might be true. But I'm not sure we know enough yet to be certain."

"That said... you mentioned you got in a fight, and you haven't been to that place yet. Does that perhaps help?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "Given the fight and the murder, it seems that there are at least some extraworldly elements that aren't as safe. But why they exist, and why we are the ones able or chosen to fight them, and what they represent ... this is still up in the air. We should be cautious; sometimes the Devil wears an Angel's face ...

"We do need to explore this world, and find out what's going on, and so we should go tonight. But let's not just accept what this says at face value."

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017
Afternoon
With discussion of Otherworld going on, the party seemingly resolved to try it out in the evening.

*t-t-t-time skip*

Nighttime
You had figured out arrangements--you had gotten the glass of milk ready, and figured out a time for everyone to go to sleep at (though not everyone falls asleep at the same pace, so that was an interesting problem, to say the least. Either way, whatever this Otherworld was, they could sort through that problem.

Time passed

Almost everybody went through a fairly similar process, with them "waking up" in their rooms, running out to some bizarre and definitely somewhat familiar dreamscape, having a surreal encounter, and waking up with something installed on their phone that rightfully should not at all be there.

Well this time, not everyone woke up immediately after, so that raised some questions. Maybe it was the fact that everybody was intending to actually venture into this world proper? Who knows--though either way, it wouldn't be too difficult to just set a wake up (wake... down? sleep... at...? timer?) timer for like 5 minutes later.

--

By one process or another, everyone had grabbed something from their room that seemed... vaguely like it could be a weapon. I mean, you had one person who had used a wooden stick, and another person who had used a pair of scissors (not even half of a set of scissors--everyone knew that was an effective weapon), so it was fairly clear that absolutely anything went when it came to clobbering shadows. Whatever those were.

Eventually, everyone bumped into each other by some sort of coincidence. As many of your characters may have noticed, their "friends" list on whatever this Otherworld hub thing was no longer empty--and through a series of trying every button and sending a lot of annoying notifications to each other, everyone managed to somehow materialize themselves. It wasn't elegant, for sure--nor was it quick. That was something to improve on later.

Everyone had gathered on what looked like a ghostly version of one of Ketel Falls' streets--towering across the road was a familiar yet unfamiliar sight--some sort of twisty, crazy, and obviously sinister (because let's face it, you've played enough video games to know what buildings are dungeons and which ones are) version of Rubaker Mall. Some might consider it scary--but on the other hand, the scene was so utterly absurd it would be difficult not to have at the very least snickered. At the very least, this scene wasn't full of frozen people.

Either way, the front doors of the mall beckoned. There would surely be answers inside--or at least some sweet loot (it was a mall, after all.)


Once entering, it was abundantly clear that the place was inspired--very loosely--by Rubaker Mall. The regular... hallways? Aisles? Whatever the walking area between and down stores would be called, were far wider, and in much poorer condition than the real life version. Benches and planters were placed haphazardly, with other strange objects strewn like rubble--massive shopping bags, huge crumpled trendy clothing, and a ton of kitchen utensils that must have weighed a tonne. All in all, it looked like a massive windstorm blew through some sort of blown up version of Rubaker Mall. It was worth looking around--not like you were in any real danger.

Checking your phone, you were in "Rubaker Halls? F1". Spooky.

Either way, after walking around a little, the hallway ended, and split to your left and right. You found yourself in front of "Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbhocolate oy's", which was... actually you weren't really sure. Either way, you could go left or right--the right seemed a bit more ominous, for whatever it was worth.

[Daimbert]

Sanae said, 'Before we move on, we should see if we can summon our Personas. Ignatius ... I don't think you've ever summoned yours, so after we try to summon ours, if we succeed, then we might be able to help you do that ... and talk you through the, well, odder parts of it."

After saying that, she closed her eyes and tried to reconstruct what she was feeling at the time ... and then stopped, realizing that that was mostly fear and it would be better to try to summon it without having to depend on that strong an emotion. So instead she tried to recall the presence that she had experienced when her Persona was out, and then recalled his name. "Atlas ...", she whispered.

[Xhosant]

As Ignatius fell asleep and 'woke up' again, he looked around his room.

Things were surely odd, but... not in a weird way, if that made sense. Like you couldn't tell what was off, or it were in just the right way.

It was slightly unnerving, regardless, and Ignatius immediately berated himself for not planning ahead to get a weapon within reach. His gaze traveled along his room, skipping the corners -something was off about them, hurting his eyes when they focused. Eventually he came upon his umbrella, a slender object of above-average length, even in the hands of a person of a less diminutive build. Something about its metal tip felt much sharper and dangerous than he remembered, so he picked it up.

After sorting through the newly-installed app and the messages (and making his way out of his house, as the averagely-sized apartment had turned into something more akin to the works of Escher than habitable architecture), he journeyed to the rendezvous point, umbrella held as a cane, where he eventually met the others.

He followed the group through the mall, where he listened to Sanae and nodded in agreement. He then awaited for her demonstration's results.

[Daimbert]

As she whispered his name, a glowing card appeared before her eyes, and she reached out for it. As she did so, she felt an overwhelming urge to say, just as she grabbed it, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing!".

Instantly, Atlas appeared in front of her. He turned slowly to look at her, gave a small nod with a very small smile ... and then faded away again, his purpose, at this time, completed.

Sanae panted a little bit from the exertion of her concentration, but felt exhilarated from both the success and from the new understanding of her link with Atlas. The fact that it seemed to trigger from appropriate pop culture phrases was a bit embarrassing, though ...

"Now, you should try it as well. Don't worry; I think that the Persona will do a lot of the work. Just concentrate on your Persona and do what comes naturally" she said to the others.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was a little nonplussed to be back in the dreamworld, she found. There was something very off, to her, about being somewhere so dreamlike while in her right, waking-esque mind. The first time had been suitably confusing and she couldn't remember it perfectly anyway, so that was fine, but now it was all a bit too much like a witch's barrier or something.

....she wondered briefly what the likelihood was of there being anything substantial in that comparison and quickly decided that it was not a healthy line of inquiry at all. Filing it away for future perusal, she focused instead on the path before them and somewhat eagerly agreed with Sanae's proposed course of attempting to invoke their other selves before advancing.

She focused on the memory of her persona. She had only actually summoned (or whatever the appropriate word was) Fenrir once. Almost immediately, she felt a reaction from somewhere inside herself, the wolf-like sensations of rage and hunger and alertness frighteningly unmistakable. But she couldn't quite seem to draw it out. Maybe it was like an anime? She had to say its name or something? She quietly breathed the name: "Fenrir."

She started slightly when the glowing card appeared before her. For a moment she was confused, but then the notion came to her, wordlessly, perhaps from the card itself, that she should do....something. Here she stalled a moment, but she got, at least, the impression of something physical, something emphatic. Hm. Well, this was all pretty fantasy genre (Magical Girl was her first thought, but Halden and Ignatius' presences confused that somewhat; perhaps some Seinen deconstruction of common Shonen Monster Fighting archetypes?) as it was, so maybe a pose of some kind? Settled upon a course of action, she nodded to herself and, without bothering to think things through further, crossed her arms, straitened her back and stomped her foot down to just outside shoulder width, stared her Persona's card down and said the name once more, with rather more force this time: "Fenrir!"

Immediately there was a drain from within her as the wolf materialized properly before her, nodded once, and promptly disappeared again. She felt a surprising tiredness creep into her, but it was easily outweighed by the exhilaration. Then she remembered where she was and looked around surreptitiously to see how much attention the others had paid to her little display. Hopefully Ignatius and Halden were focusing on summoning their own Personas. And hey, at least she didn't seem to need a catchphrase, unlike poor Sanae. That was just embarrassing.

[Xhosant]

Seeing the other 2 summon those creatures, Ignatius assumed they were the aforementioned Personae. They expected he was able to pull this off too, didn't they?

His mind started analyzing the others' methods, trying to figure what was important. It was an odd process; as if his thoughts were guided by a hand down the right track, one that knew the answer but didn't wish to reveal it itself. One not unlike the influence that got him to talk openly with Sanae.

They seemed to exert willpower, and some sort of motion was also important. He thought for a brief moment, and felt a shade of doubt. They knew the names of their creatures, while he didn't.

... but he knew they were Personae.

He brought both hands to the top of the umbrella's handle and brought it down from half an inch's height, not forcefully, but rather how he'd use a cane to punctuate a point or draw attention. A clear 'tak!' sound came from the impact, and a glowing card appeared before him. He offered the hook of his umbrella towards it, and as the card became suspended in its center, he let loose a simple word: "Persona!".

He felt the guiding influence drain away, and instants later a splitting headache. The nightmarish mall around him faded, as darkness closed in around a small, blue-tinted point of his vision, one that then grew, along with the headache's magnitude. Had this lasted more than an instant, his feet would have given way. But through the pain and blue, a voice came, one that would be gentle if not filled with the booming rage of a storm.

"EXILED TO THE SOUTH
"AN UME AT MY DEATHBED
"SCHEMERS KNEW MY WRATH
"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 TENJIN,
"A SCRIBE THAT POINTS TO THE TRUTH"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. Ignatius leaned on his umbrella--and there was light all about him. Above him, was what seemed to be a treant, with the kind face of a wizened old man shaped from the white-gray bark of an ume tree. A long beard of white blossoms from the same tree nearly touched the floor in front of him, and on his back hanged a backpack-like bookcase made of bamboo, filled with writings of every time, material, style and subject. Without a mistake, this was Tenjin--but it was the oddest feeling looking at him. It felt like he was a part of Ignatius, who instinctively knew, for sure, what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape his lips again: "Persona."

What an intriguing power it was.

With a kind nod, the tree-sage faded away.

Ignatius was left feeling curious, but not confused, this teacher's influence once again in him.

[Philemonite]

Lost in his thoughts, Halden failed to notice what was happening around him. His attempt to communicate with Leto wasn't really successful. Not that he was expecting her to tell him which way to go, but a little hint wouldn't hurt. So he decided to summon her, because that might help.
Focusing his energy into his Mighty Staff (actually a stick he found along the way), and a slight grunt, it started glowing before Leto manifested right in front of him.
"So, which path do you guys want to try out?"

[Daimbert]

"Does the right seem more ominous to anyone else?" Sanae asked.

[Xhosant]

Verily.

Ignatius shook his head at the surprising voice, but recognized it.

"Yes, it does to me. To Tenjin, too, I think."

[Daimbert]

"Maybe for our first time here, we should avoid the ominous-seeming path, until we know what we're dealing with." Sanae suggested.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded in agreement; it was probably best to save the higher level area for later. "We're not power-leveling here. I vote left, too."

[Xhosant]

It was odd that his allies thought of this place in gaming terms, but it seemed there was some degree of wisdom in that. He nodded.

"I propose left too. It would be an unnecessary risk to go right, yet. For all we know, there is no pressure. Even if there should be no risk. "

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017

Nighttime
Chatting a bit amongst themselves, the group found themselves at a fork in the mall hallway (the mallway?) The right side, seeming more ominous with a faint red glow, and a sound that sounded very suspiciously like demonic cackling, didn't very much appeal to the group, who decided to run off to the left, instead, deciding that the right side was for chumps.

They moved down the hallway, in no particular rush. The scenery seemed somewhat suspicious--someone realized after a while that the stores and scenery were being repeated every hundred metres or so. The group walked for a while, choosing the right path upon meeting another fork in the road. The path led to a dead end, which, quite frankly, looked kinda silly. At the end of the hallway was a set of large shopping bags, stacked in piles. For the most part, they were empty and open--though the one at the top's shut was sealed shut by what looked like a thin strip of cellophane top, going from one side to the other, over the middle of the mouth of the bag.

It practically screamed treasure, so the obvious choice was to bust that bag open, shake it, and see what fell out.

Red orbs burst out, along with a suspicious looking plastic jar full of a white substance that was quickly identified as... mayonnaise. The label looked quite similar to a particularly odd brand you might have noticed at the supermarket before--some sort of strange imported French mayonnaise that you were sure that nobody ever bought. The stuff itself wasn't bad, but it was a bit pricy, for a container that was around 200 mL or something (~6.72 fl oz.) However, rather than the usual branding and name on the logo ("Really, It's Nice Mayo!"), it was instead called "Medical Mayo". You felt a vibration from your phones--Otherworld Hub sprouted a new button, labelled "Productpedia." Medical Mayo was listed under "Healing Items (Other)"--apparently that specific brand of mayonnaise would turn into a medical item when brought into Otherworld.

Apparently this medical mayonnaise recovered 50 hit points and oh god you were going to have to eat mayonnaise to heal oh god no someone please find a better healing item soon please this was going to be horrible why why why

Add to inventory:
Medical Mayo x1
Macca x15 (per person.)

Ahem.

Stowing away those horrid thoughts at the end of the hallway, the group decided to turn around and take the other fork they didn't take, in hopes that they didn't have to go back to that fairly blatantly evil corridor from waaaay at the start of the dungeon. I mean mall.

The hallway widened a bit, with a change in store variety on the sides. You saw what looked like a fairly large fountain down the hallway--it actually looked very much like one in the real Rubaker mall. The pool was large and rectangular, and probably large enough to park four cars in, in a 2x2 formation. There was a second tier, with an area roughly the quarter of the first tier, centred in the fountain. Several large jets fired with staggered timings, in a zig-zag. Oddly, you noticed that the jets were far flatter than the real world--in fact, you could almost call them "water blades", so to speak. They looked kinda like blades.

The fountain was placed in a much more open part of the mall, which... made sense. It looked very much like one of those junctions--with a directory off on one side, and a bunch of haphazardly strewn benches. Two odd figures moved into view on the other side of the fountain--they looked very much like shadows, on account of, well, being a black blob with glowing red eyes dragging itself along the ground. That bit was a bit of a giveaway.

The group was no doubt considering whether or not to actually start battle, but the shadows seemed to notice them, and began... morphing. Luckily, however, while the morphing process was very dramatic and spooky, it also took time--time which you no doubt used to summon personae and start wailing on the very dramatic creatures.

COMBAT BEGINS
The camera, fixated upon the top of the water jets of the fountain, pans back and out, giving a wide view of the area, as the party bounds towards the two transforming shadows.

Enemies:
Superdimorphic Brawler x1 (36 damage.)
Even-handed Speaker x1 (not any more!)

Initiative
15 - Halendor (3 AGI + 12 (Knight of Coins))
13 - Ignatius (5 AGI + 8 (8 of Coins); wins tie owing to higher AGI)
13 - Sasha (4 AGI + 9 (9 of Swords))
6 - Sanae (2 AGI + 4 (4 of Cups))
0 - Superdimorphic Brawler (too busy transforming)
0 - Even-handed Speaker (too busy transforming)


UI Says:
Sanae Yamamoto
HP: 42/42

Spoiler: Deck

Show

4-Swords, 8-Cups, 8-Swords, 10-Coins. NEXT: 7-Coins

Halendor Queldius
HP: 35/35

Spoiler: Deck

Show

9-Swords, 10-Swords, 9-Wands, 7-Cups, 5-Cups, 4-Wands. NEXT: 12-Cups

Sasha Richter
HP: 56/56

Spoiler: Deck

Show

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

Ignatius Slepens
HP: 35/35 (pretty sure)

Spoiler: Deck

Show

5-Cups, 8-Wands, 3-Wands, 2-Coins. NEXT: 13-Wands

Halendor bounded into action, as the shadows were busy transforming into intimidating creatures. The one closest to the party--which was still a fair distance, to be honest--was rapidly expanding in a black fog. The figure quickly morphed to something in the vague shape of a massive man, perhaps 10 feet tall. It was excessively muscular--to the point where it looked very much like its sheer muscular bulk was more of a detriment, than anything. It wore colourful boots, a massive belt that reminded one of a wrestling prize belt, and a big silly mask.

The other shadow burst into a black fog as well, quickly morphing. This one was a bit more... abstract. It wasn't in the shape of a person at all--instead, it looked very much like a large mallet--then you noticed that it was in the shape of a large judge's gavel, perhaps 5 feet tall. On one side, on the main cylindrical smashy part, was a mask. On the two striking surfaces on the gavel, were large mouths, gibbering away about something.

Of course, while they were transforming, the party was getting ready to get their clobber on.

Action Log
15 - Halendor uses Bufu against Even-handed Speaker; 16 cold damage.
13 - Ignatius uses Double Fangs against Even-handed Speaker; 30 piercing damage.
13 - Sasha uses Cleave against Even-handed Speaker; 9 slash damage. Even-handed Speaker defeated.
6 - Sanae uses Garu against Superdimorphic Brawler; 30 wind damage. Brawler is weak, and is knocked down!
6 - All-out attack deals 23 damage.
0 - Superdimorphic Brawler 1 uses Power Charge on itself.
15 - Halendor uses Bufu against Superdimorphic Brawler; 13 cold damage is dealt.
13 - Ignatius to move.