2025-08-09: Fly Close to the Sun: Side B
- Log: Fly Close to the Sun: Side B
- Cast: Umie Akabane, Yukari Takeba, Shinobu Shimizu, Akari Hoshi, Remi Ryuuja
- Where: Kaneshiro's Palace
- OOC Date: August 09, 2025
- IC Date: June 23, 2012
- Summary: The Cardboard Dragon party enters Kaneshiro's palace, but find themselves separated from each other. Team B makes their own way in relatively well, but as more becomes clear just what they're dealing with, conflicting feelings threaten to steal the party's momentum.
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 1: Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path - Challenge Level 1 =====-
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Charm |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1 and Smooth - Charm Up L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Getting to Kaneshiro's Palace is difficult, given that it is a flying bank.
However, all it takes to enter it is find someone who is indebted to Kaneshiro
or possesses something that he wants -- whether a person traveling with you, or
one of the cognitively-created ATM machines with arms and legs wandering the
darkened streets of a cognitive version of Shibuya.
Now, though, you need to enter. The front door is risky, as there are a large
number of those cognitive people -- all ATM's -- standing in line to enter.
Fortunately, you see a few ways in along the side of the building. There is a
set of large, golden statues of pigs -- almost a statue garden -- along the side
of the building. There are also ledges and windows, along the side, which lead
inside.
There is a security guard here -- a masked Shadow, walking to and fro, that
looks quite serious. You dont want to alert it... though you might be able to
talk it into leaving.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
In the distance for Myunghon's group is now Umie's. At the very least, the floating bank is coming down; it'll make their job easier!
Except, it's a party of one.
"Ugh... It's Tartartus all over again." Umie's already pulled the hood of her windbreaker over her head, drawing out a half mask; this one paper maiche painted a matte black. (She grimaces; if only she had more time to actually get a design down. Nothing seems to be working!!)
Scanning around for any resonance, she tries to locate at least half the people she remembers. Somehow, she's still coming up short. ".... Fine. Right." With a second of concentration, Umie manually pulls back the shroud over her own, in an attempt to pull others in.
"C'mon, over here! I'm not going up there by myself!" She points up towards the flying bank with a half-gloved hand, her sunset red nails still peeking through at the ends, while the other hand snakes out the kyoketsu shoge from the lining of her jacket. "We need to sneak in. I can't sense Myunghon, but we have to assume they're getting on themselves. Follow after me, and don't get distracted; you'll lose me if you do." (She can't help it if hiding has become a habit, can she?)
Sneaking on is, of course, just *one* way to get in. The second is the Masked Shadow, which you may be able to convince, one way or another. If you lose sight of Umie, it may be your only hope, unless you're willing to chart your own way in. It's not like she knows the best way in either, besides; this *is* her first time here.
MONAD: Umie Akabane has acted with Proficiency toward Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"... Why are there walking ATMs?"
"THEY TALK!?"
"Uhhh - are they supposed to be falling from the sky!?"
"That's... a UFO. Why is a bank a UFO?! What's WRONG with this guy?"
Suddenly Yukari is wishing she were in Tartarus. They have exploring cognitive dungeons at home. Where things are just less weird than this.
Looking at the line of 'ATMs' at the door, Yukari just makes a face as she stands at the back of them. "... Never had to stand in line to get into Tartarus."
She at least does see the Shadows talking to the ATMs, which she files away. Sorta like Mementos.
It's still a weird experience thinking you can talk to Shadows, so...
"Oh there you are!" As Yukari veers away from the Line to move over to Umie, listening to her... "Got it."
And she does follow, but as they survey their surroundings, "Hmmm... let me try something? Might as well learn what works and what doesn't as we go." Yukari signals for them to keep going, as she steps out to distract the Shadow.
"Hey there! Iiii think I got lost on the way to the bathroom? Would you mind helping me find my way back out front?"
Yukari smiles at the Shadow, feeling all weird about it given it's weird insectoid eyes, "I'd really appreciate it... I was here to take out a loan for a new bag."
Palming her Evoker, she waits until the Shadow is leading her away and they cross near a hedge that would lead them right back to the front.
"... I just think it's better to go all in when you're young, you know? That right now is just the best timing to pull-" She puts the Evoker to her head and pulls the trigger while facing away from the Security Guard "-the trigger."
Which is the moment Io appears, and a big Gust of Wind sideswipes the Shadow to attempt to try and bowl it up - in an arc over the hedge and off the side of the Bank.
It might be closer to the Ground, but that's still quite a fall.
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Mall Trawl toward Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path! Empathy and Friendliness!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"...Whoa. I figured it was going to be somewhere up high, but... the hell kind of nightmare zone is this?" Shinobu mutters to herself, as she stares out over the ledge. The bank serving as Kaneshiro's palace floats high over the city. She frowns, shaking her head, and pulls herself back. "Well, least we're here. Except..."
Shinobu looks around. There's no 'we', right now. Somehow, they all got separated when they went in. She's not going to be able to get out the same way she went in, so she might as well see what she can do on her own...
...Though, fortunately, she won't have to. Shinobu hears Umie's voice, and nods.
"Right. On my way. Thanks for the lead." Shinobu replies. She veers off, heading toward the direction she feels the pull. But before they can get any closer, though... They have to deal with guards. Shinobu frowns for a moment. ...Starting a brawl is tempting, but it might mean they get thrown out before even making it properly get inside. And so...
"Hey. I'm here to see your boss about a property dispute. Cardboard Dragon, over in Hirasaka? I'm sure he'll be wanting to hear what we have to say." Shinobu says. Hopefully the Shadows don't compare notes - she wouldn't be surprised if Myunghon does the same.
...And at some point, she sees the gust of wind that tries to blast a Shadow right out of the building. Shinobu whistles appreciatively.
"Nice shot." Shinobu compliments Yukari, when they meet up.
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has acted with I Know A Guy toward Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
As the group ascends, there is another person up there. An actual person, not an ATM human or a Shadow.
Nobody invited Akari Hoshi along, and so Akari Hoshi isn't here. The middle schooler Yukari and Shinobu saved from herself (or, at least, her annoying the criminals enough to do something) was not invited to Benny's - why would you? - and does not know the first thing about Palaces. Presumably.
But instead...
"Halt!"
Somebody jumps out of one of the money trees (???) that line the entryway in front of the Palace, landing neatly on the ground with a dramatic pose before she rises up to her full height. She somehow manages to get her cape to billow behind her despite the lack of wind.
To most people, she is a rangy dark-skinned teenager, wearing a short-sleeved, short-legged costume in cream and grey with large decorative buttons. Overtop she wears a gold-buckled belt reminiscent of a tokusatsu belt, heavy gold bracers, and a cloak clasp that supports a pectoral plate resting against her chest. All of it is gold, and all of it is shaped and engraved. And finally, she has a half-helmet; red, with a tinted visor, covering her upper face.
"I am the magical warrior Ixquic! And I am here... to hunt demons and those who act like demons! To battle criminals who would do evil! To stop the ill-gotten theft of a kingdom of cardboard and paper, even if I must stand in the the night to do it!"
Look. Akari thought about what to say and how to say it - to Kaneshiro. She didn't exactly plan a speech for someone on her own side.
"Let us fight together! And - hey. Hey!" Ixquic recognizes Umie! She even knows her name, but she doesn't use it, because this is, however technically, a bank robbery. Yukari and Shinobu too, though she didn't expect to see either of them here; she startles, then stands up straighter.
If they have Personas, then they're like her, she thinks. Wait, is THAT why they were trying to stop her from getting close to the crooks? They had this plan all along and just wanted to keep her safe, because they didn't know her secret! Ixquic nods to herself, firm in her belief that she has Solved This Mystery. "I approve of your plan! Let's work together!"
But that gives her an idea. "You want to go in? Watch this!" And then she steps forward, addressing the Shadow guard. "Behold! I, the magical warrior Ixquic..."
"...would like to *make a deposit*!" She holds up her arm... which its heavy, thick gold bracer. And then the other arm, with its matching bracer. The pectoral plate on her chest also shines, bright and golden and highly polished. She is carrying how many pounds of (cognitive) gold, exactly?
(Pay no attention to the buster-style sword, which is also apparently gold, and currently slung over her back. You can still see it though. It's as wide as her torso; she couldn't conceal it even if she wanted to.)
Of course, Yukari throwing the guard over the edge might make this irrelevant. But Ixquic is, if nothing else, a fantastic distraction.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Cosplay Talk toward Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
'Ariel' had departed the Benny's, promising to take care of matters in the mudane world while Myunghon and his cohort took care of the supernatural.
She had even promised to bring the car around!
She might still do that lter, but for now... she'd had to beat a quick retreat and make... a costume change.
She'd managed to keep herself just close enough for Myunghon's activation of the Meta-Nav app... stilling herself as she took in the sensation of the transition.
She takes a look around, from her place of hiding. The bank in the sky... Of course. He believes himself unassailable. And then she spots the human ATMs... Something boils in her blood, cold and angry. Her Resonance might flare for a moment before she manages to calm herself again.
So this is how he views people... Disgusting.
She takes stock of the situation. Kaneshiro is a prideful man, one used to getting his way... She steps out in her all black suit and black face mask, rapier on one hip and Evoker (dark gray, heavy revolver style) on a thigh holster.
And she just walks up to one of the masked shadows wandering around, her voice suddenly much warmer than one might expect. "Excuse me, but I have an appointment to speak to your esteemed employer, Kaneshiro-sama. I am excited to work with a man of his business accumen and would hate to be late. Could you give me directions to his office?"
A little bit of flattery is like honey to the vain. Maybe this will work.
... But it's not immediately clear who this actually is, unless you start trying to do a headcount of who was at Benny's, but... surely Myunghon's trusted aide 'Ariel' can't be the mysterious and masked Tsurugi, can it??
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has acted with Flattery toward Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path! Friendliness and Efficient! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Bank Entrance - Taking the Scenic Path - Round 1 ========================- Yukari Takeba Charm Success Mall Trawl Empathy and Friendliness Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Umie Akabane Proficiency Success Proficiency Base Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobu Shimizu Charm Success I Know A Guy Specialty Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remi Ryuuja Charm Success Flattery Friendliness and Efficient Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akari Hoshi Proficiency Success Cosplay Talk Specialty Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Clumsy-2 and Smooth-2 Final Conditions: Clumsy-1 and Smooth-1 -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 1/6 |= | =====================================================- (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
If it weren't for the freakiness of Mementos to begin with, as well as the rush of plunging into a new area, Umie would be just as flummoxed by the surroundings as Yukari and Shinobu. As long as she feels safe within her shroud of 'confidence' she'll be fine, but she will likely later need a long, hot bath to deconstruct whatever the hell is happening here. She didn't even take a moment to point out the golden piggybanks, even! (Besides, everyone, including Yukari, was pretty busy, and they're just statue-sized.)
"... SEES types really are something else..." Umie has to give Yukari some credit, taking the initiative like that. Popping her head back from behind a money tree as Shinobu, equally as successful in convincing a Shadow Guard to let her get by, appears, Umie says, "<Nice!> So now we--"
'Let us fight together! '
Oh no it's that magical girl person. Wait, no, this is good, it's _that magical girl person_, and she's *loaded* with cognitive gold. "You're... from that fight, against Strega," Umie murmurs, dumbfounded. "Okay, yeah, come with us. The more the better. We'll just need one more per... ah."
There is a Tsurugi here, and Umie recognizes her. Thankfully, this might be to Remi's advantage! "... Considering where we first met? I'm not surprised you're here. If you're here to figure out how to take Kaneshiro down, come along. If you're not... then stand aside. Choice is yours." This mysterious person may be a dog of the NWO, but she made a good first impression. Umie's going to let it slide, for now.
Assuming Remi tags along, Umie shrugs, temporarily lifting the bottom of her mask up for Akari and Remi's sakes, trying to get ahead of her anti-navigation. "Let's get a move on, then."
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 2: Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards - Challenge Level 2 ======-
| Approach Options: Charm or Academics |
| Conditions: Bothersome - Charm Down L1, Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1, |
| Educational - Academics Up L1, and Smooth - Charm Up L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
Once you've gotten inside, your infiltration of the bank's frontmost area is
fairly straightforward, if lengthy. You need to skirt along the entrance proper
-- fortunately, while Shadows guard the area, there are numerous furniture
pieces (tables, benches, and chairs for a waiting area) and columns to hide
behind.
Then, you find a set of stairs leading upward. There is an elevator there... but
it requires a keycard.
The other path forward is a door in the back of the bank's entrance. This is
marked, in large capital letters, "LAUNDERING OFFICE." It seems that Junya
Kaneshiro's subconsciousness is quite shameless.
The laundering room proves to be a large, white set of offices. The hallways can
be twisting and turning, more than an ordinary office would be. The offices need
to be searched -- to find a keycard that opens the way to the elevator. Desks
are scattered about the offices and may need to be overturned... and it may be
necessary to think like a banker about where such a keycard might be stored.
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
A Magical Warrior arrives!
"Uhhhh... sureeee?" Yukari says of Ixquic, looking troubled, "Hey uh, and just how old is Magical Girl Ixquic?" She's not gonna shoo her off, probably, but she's definitely not feeling good about a Middle Schooler being involved in this.
Yukari is surprised when Shinobu steps out too, considering the matter, "The Cardboard Dragon? Oohhhh I've heard about that place, Yeah!" She says, as if acting like Shinobu is someone she doesn't know, before being taken aback by Ixquic joining in... "Huh? Oh wow. That's gotta be at least... 22 karats right?"
And ARIEL JOINS IN TOO!? Now Yukari is just sweating some by the sheer volume of people who are 'trying to talk to the Shadow.
"I guess a lot of people get lost on the way to the bathroom around here." Yukari chuckles awkwardly while internally going 'Oh no.' in her head.
After the Shadow is taking a fall, Yukari releases a breath as Shinobu and Umie compliment her, "Whew. Didn't know that that'd work... honestly? Kinda makes things a lot easier if the Shadows in these Palaces are all that dumb."
One thing that is different too? The whole sneaking around bit, it's not like you can't hide from Shadows completely, it's just more urgent around here. The positions they're walking in cause her to adjust her skirt self-consciously every so often, just to be sure.
Shadows pace and patrol, but eventually they make their way to an elevator and - "It won't open." She says after she tries it, "Let's search the offices."
THE LAUNDERING OFFICES.
"Hmmm, if I were going to hide a keycard..."
Yukari suspiciously produces a Golden Piggy Bank from a Desk Drawer, holds it to her ear, shake shake, shake shake. "I'm not sure how someone would even get a card in here but..." With a shrug, that pig is smashed against the desk without much care, "Oooo hey, not bad."
As she pockets 1722 yen.
It's probably gonna take a dedicated search or some questioning to figure out where the key card is.
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Suspicion toward Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards! Focus and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
There were a lot of things Shinobu expected going into this. Confounding security systems, robbing a bank, beating up Shadows...
And then a teenager in an elaborate costume leaps out in front of them, requesting to fight with them.
"Uh?" Shinobu starts, taken aback. Ixquic? Didn't she hear that name somewhere else...? She glances toward Umie and Yukari to gauge their reactions.
A part of her isn't sure that she's real, and not something created by the Palace - she's like something directly out of a show she might've watched as a kid. ...But she does seem real, alright. Shinobu massages the back of her neck awkwardly.
"...This is gonna be dangerous. If you're really set on this, then stay close, alright?" Shinobu says. She'd shoo her off if she thought it'd work - but she knows the type. Even if they tried, she'd probably tag along from the shadows. Might as well make it easier on all of them.
...And it happens, there's one last person that wound up on there side of the bank.
"What the hell...? You're here, too?" Shinobu mutters. She sees Tsurugi - and has no reason to think she's anyone she knows. "I don't really get you. What's your angle this time?"
Umie extends an offer... and while Shinobu will frown and grumble about it, she does recognise that they need all the help they can get, if Tsurugi's in a helping mood.
Yukari acts like she doesn't know her, and Shinobu plays along.
"Yup. Seems like we're going all the same direction, so let's make things easier..." She says.
And then the Shadow is blown away. Shinobu looks toward Yukari and shrugs.
"Guess it only goes so far. I'm not gonna complain. I didn't have an out if he tried to call me on it." She replies. "If he sees people as ATMs... I wonder if that's just how he sees his guards."
That might not be how it works. But it sounds smart to say.
They're able to proceed further... but the elevator that'll take them further in needs a keycard.
"...No subtlety on this one, huh?" Shinobu comments. Makes it easier for them, she supposes. She's not a very subtle person, herself - so she just starts going through the offices, pushing or breaking anything that might seem significant.
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has acted with Academics toward Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
"I am!" Ixquic is pleased to be recognized by Umie. How could you forget her charming face? Wait, half her face is under a mask. How could you forget her charming self?
Ixquic does *not* recognize Tsurugi, but she's willing to accept Umie vouching for her, apparently. Such as it is. She seems slightly suspicious, though... but Ixquic is pretty trusting, perhaps to nobody's surprise.
Yukari asks her a question. She just asks, straight-up, what her age is! How rude! "I have been reincarnated from the depths of eternity! My age is as irrelevant as yours is!" She looks, very deliberately, toward Yukari's 'gun'. High schoolers aren't supposed to have those! "And anyway, I can't reveal any of my secrets," she adds, wiggling one finger.
The actual answer, though, is that given Akari is so tall for her age - she does not have to look *up* at Yukari - Ixquic could be anywhere between fourteen and sixteen. She's probably not much older than that because she has the kind of build that suggests she's had a growth spurt not too far back and hasn't quite gotten used to it yet; she's definitely not any younger. So she might be a middle schooler, or a first year high schooler on the outside... it's hard to tell. She's older than Ken, at least!
(Poor Ken.)
She looks pleased when they actually gain access to the bank, and Ixquic hustles on in, only to slow down once they're inside to look around. It's pretty fancy, but what do you expect from a bank cool enough to take off and fly? Unfortunately, 'access' does not mean 'access to the whole building'. They need a keycard...
Ixquic considers this for a moment. Then a longer one.
And then she walks into an office and... sits in the chair. Banker, she thinks to herself. How to think like a banker? Ixquic attempts to think rich thoughts. Money, she thinks to herself. Investment. Mortgage. That's a good banker word. Indemnity, that one's even better. *Liquidation*.
Thinking deep economic thoughts in an attempt to reach a banker's state of mind, Ixquic absently checks the entire desk. She's thorough, at least. Even if...
"Hostile takeover!" she blurts out, as she overturns a drawer.
...yeah okay.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Academics toward Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie, for some reason, seems to have no problem with a middle school-aged girl sneaking around-- at least, until Yukari points it out. ... oh, *right*. Yeah, this is a little different from her own adventures. "It's okay. I've seen her fight before. We're going to need what she's got. Besides," she adds, a grin snaking on her lips as she shrugs, "it's not like we can escort her out, eh?" Helpful, logical adult Umie Akabane, present. "We're scouting, besides."
Shinobu may be thinking of things a touch more critically, but... "We don't even know how we're getting out," Umie says. "I didn't even think about asking back at Benny's, but I don't recall any of you asking, either. But yeah. A group of five? I think this is a good size."
She's already walking ahead, as if that was the end of the conversation.
The sneaking part, at least, is a little easier for Umie, as she ducks down behind one furniture piece to the next. Her height and abilities are a lot more useful here that in Tartarus, for sure, and there's something fun about the challenge of it, as long as she can keep her head in it and not think too hard.
Like here: "LAUNDERING OFFICE". "... Wh.... _seriously_?" she hisses, below her breath, then follows behind the group.
"That money's probably going to be play money by the time we get out of here," she says, behind Yukari's shoulder, as she keeps a lookout through the door. "Though..." Didn't that load of yen that one guy in the black mask and getup found turn out to be real money?
So there's Umie, looking for a golden piggy bank now. She's searching, honest. "I estimate we got... let's see, I saw a row of..." She does the math in her head, as she goes, hefting a piggy bank up and shaking it. Hearing crashing in the other office (that must be Akari), Umie tries to time hers to drop at the same time. "Some rent money would be nice at the very least..."
MONAD: Umie Akabane has acted with Academics toward Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Remi is a Dog of the NWO, but she is not complacently so. Umie recognizes her... from the time that she attacked the Grim Reaper in Mementos to protect Shinjiro.
This is clearly not a woman that will be deterred easily.
But she looks to Shinobu. That masked head turns to look at her, regarding her silently. "I have no quarrel with you today," she says in stern, flat voice. That... maybe means she's in a helpful mood?
Tsurugi wouldn't fault Akari for being suspicious. She's here dressed in all black, with a stern, intimidating aura... Well, it might not take too much effort to imagine her as a villain.
But Tsurugi regards Ixquic for a moment and then nods.
Umie brings up leaving. "The palace cannot extend indefinitely." ... probably, at least. Worry about that later.
Umie offers an olive branch, and Tsurugi regards her ilently for a moment before nodding. "Do not slow me down."
She hasn't spent a lot of time in Palaces, but all the same her movements are still swift and silent. Silent enough for Shadows, at least.
The way forward is blocked... but the find a door labeled Laundering Office. Tsurugi stares at it for a moment... and then snorts quietly in disgust. "His own mind betrays him so readily."
While the others have searching covered, Tsurugi instead chats up the various Shadows wandering around, schmoozing them up to attempt to get them to let slip some secrets.
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has acted with Charm toward Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards! Base! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Laundering Office - Finding Key Cards - Round 2 =========================- Yukari Takeba Academics Success Suspicion Focus and Patra Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Umie Akabane Academics Failure Academics Base Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobu Shimizu Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remi Ryuuja Charm Failure Charm Base Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akari Hoshi Academics Success Academics Base Fatigue: 0 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Bothersome-2, Clumsy-1, Educational-2, and Smooth-1 Final Conditions: Educational-1 -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 2/6 |== | =====================================================- (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 3: Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break? - Challenge Level 2 -
| Approach Options: Understanding or Academics |
| Conditions: Box - Add 1 Item/Money/Gear., Educational - Academics Up L1, and |
| Stupor - Academics Down L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
After retrieving the keycard, you start to make your way back to the elevator.
On the way, you notice something shown on a small digital readout by the door
leading out into the front of the bank: "R=C=0, I=1, H=2"
The elevator leads down into the Palace. It goes far, far down -- long enough
that it might make your stomach drop and give you some concern. When it opens,
you find yourself inside of an enormous circular room. Ahead of you, there are
circular walls.
You realize, then, that you are /inside/ a massive lock, and the curving walls
ahead of you must be manipulated. To do that, there is a panel with a 10-key
numeral pad (like a touchtone phone) and the word "RICH" over it. Entering it
makes the wall slide along, until an opening is revealed...
...and a new keypad, with the word "REAP" over it. Fortunately, there is a
stairwell here.
The stairway leads down into a dimly lit set of hallways. You manage to duck and
dive behind some corners from a couple of guard Shadows approaching. Then, you
find a large room, that glitters despite the dim lighting. There are nearly
twenty golden pig statues here -- which need to be destroyed, to find something.
But spend too much time here, and the guards will notice. How do you find the
correct one?
The lucky pig statue has a tablet inside of it. The following note is engraved
on it: "P=1, E=9, A=3."
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Is it though?" Is Yukari's instant response to Ixquic on age being irrelevant, as she looks at the Gun, "It's not a real Gun either - anyway." Is her reply to Ixquic.
And it is true! Her height does not lend Yukari to thinking that on it's own - it's more her vibe. Yukari sure knows what a Chuunibiyou is.
"Nope." Yukari responds to Shinobu, "I guess it could be a problem when the Shadows
get on shift but-" Pause, "-What am I even saying right now? Yeesh."
As several of them start turning over the Offices... Tsurugi starts questioning Shadows. It all goes well until-
"Hey you sure you're not- INTRUDER!"
And suddenly a couple of the Office Shadows become Orobas!
~*ONE BATTLE SEQUENCE LATER*~
"I'll never turn on Kaneshiro! I'm no rat!"
Umie searches through Piggy Banks and finds-!
... Receipts!?
Also 'IOU 5234 yen - Black Ooze'
They might take a little exhaustion just from her mind wrapping around this. Meanwhile, the rest engage in Ixquic's HOSTILE TAKEOVER and-
"Well that's one way to do it." Yukari says, and after they've tossed enough of the room-!
Shinobu gets the key card, "Oh there we go, good work-" She double takes when Tsurugi gets back... "You okay? Looking a little scorched there..."
One use of the Evoker and a cast of Dia later, they're sliding the key card in the elevator.
"Any idea what the plan even is once... we find him?" She asks all of them, hoping to get some insight.
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Ixquic pauses, as if she wasn't expecting her argument to not work on Yukari. "Well," she says, "I guess?? I'm old enough to have come here, and young enough to have a maiden's dreams...!" A beat. "Also you can't keep me out," she adds, "I have a phone app and I know how to use it."
"See? She understands!" Ixquic nods at Umie. "Don't worry, though. I, Ixquic, will protect you if it comes to that! All of you," she adds, generously. "I can whoop all the demons' asses!"
Yukari may know what a chuunibyou is, but she has missed one important factor: chuunibyou can be forever, if only you believe.
"Have you ever scouted a 'Palace' before?" Ixquic asks, a little more conversationally. And then, perhaps surprisingly: "They're a place of the mind! That's why you need to know what they think it is before you can get in..." She brandishes her cell phone (with the Meta-Nav up, of course - see, Yukari? She DOES have a phone app).
"I read about them!" Ixquic is an occult fan. Of course she reads Dark Side of Sumaru. "They're led by a 'ruler', which is Kaneshiro, and all the Shadows fit his world, his imagination! But they'll swarm if you make them mad. And if you see people in here they're not people really," she adds. "...except me. I'm a people. I'm *definitely* a people and not part of a Palace. I'm not sure about her though," she adds, looking at Tsurugi. "Doesn't she look a little like a bank guard?"
Who knew that Ixquic was actually knowledgeable...? About things other than bank guards, anyway.
Ixquic pauses when she sees the digital readout. At first she thinks it is a card slot, and she prepares to 'borrow' the key from Shinobu to put it in, but, nope! Just a readout. She looks at it for a few moments instead, pushes a button (which does nothing), and passes on. Down, down, down, into -
"Hey, wait a moment," Ixquic says. "This is further down then there is down to go. The Palace flies! It doesn't have this much down! We must be getting deeper..." She wiggles her fingers, spookily. "Surely this is how we reach his secret lair!"
Akari. This WHOLE PLACE is his secret lair.
"Once we find him," she replies to Yukari as the door opens, "we can - oh wow!" This room, strangely shaped as it is, makes her think only one thing: "It's a maze of twisty passages, all alike!" All alike except for a keypad.
Ixquic stares at the RICH keypad. "He wrote his password down," she says, and laughs. "Bwa ha ha! Truly, justice will prevail, because evil has bad computer security!" She types in 7424 and is rewarded with a buzzer.
"...oh," she says, thinking back to the previous panel, and tries again. At least 0102 works. She didn't have any other ideas. "Right! So he writes it down in TWO places." Which means that, for the next part of the lock, they need to find some letters...
...she stares at the twenty golden pigs in dismay. "Can't we just break all of them?" she whines, before staring at them as if they would reveal their secrets as to which one to break. Eventually, she will select at random.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Understanding toward Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Umie points out that they don't know how they're getting out. And... that's a good point.
"Merry probably knows, but... I don't think any of us were expecting to get split up like this. Guess we're going to just have to try and meet up with them." Shinobu replies. "...But yeah. You're probably right."
As for Tsurugi, though... Shinobu frowns at her.
"...Yeah, let's see that it stays that way, then." She replies. It might be a bit too combatative, but...
Well, some things don't change, for her.
And as it happens - Ixquic not only has the phone app Merry mentioned, but is also more knowledge about Palaces than she is, at least.
"...Huh. That all makes sense." Shinobu considers thoughtfully. She doesn't mind that a teenager knows more than she does. Shinobu knows what she's best at.
Eventually, she finds the keycard, and after taking a moment to patch up from the fights, they're on the way deeper into the bank. ...But Yukari raises a good point.
"...I dunno." Shinobu admits. "If Merry lead us here, it's 'cause they thought it'd help somehow. If this is a place of his mind, maybe we'll find ourselves a magic bullet we can use to get him to call it off if we root around long enough. Something incriminating."
And if it comes down to a fight... at least here, they'd be fighting him on more even grounds. Here, they can fight back.
For now, though, they go down, down, and down, finding themselves in the bank's vaults. There's a puzzle here. A puzzle, but...
"...I like the way you think after all, kid." Shinobu says, glancing toward Ixquic. She draws her staff from her bag and starts going to town on the statues. If somebody does figure out the answer they can point her toward the right one, at least.
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has acted with Understanding toward Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Tsurugi is trying her best to ply information, but...
'INTRUDERS!'
Behind the mask, Tsurugi's eyes narrow. Calmly--too calmly--she says, "Keep searching. I will dispatch these Shadows."
The fight is short but brutal, though she is panting by the end of it. She did, however, summon her Persona with the use of a revolver aimed at her head, and act that might be very familiar to Yukari. Her Evoker doesn't look like the standard Kirijo-issue one, though.
She returns to the others, still breathing a little hard. "The Shadows are dispatched. I'm fine." Interesting set of priorities, there... But she does nod to Yukari for the Dia. "Thank you."
But she does answer Yukari's question. "I am conducting reconnaissance." I, not we. Even though she is working with everyone else, for now.
But Akari speaks about Palaces, and Tsurugi turns her head to look at her. She doesn't say anything but... is she listening? Maybe so. "If they are a place of the mind, then it is a reflection of the same, yes?"
"... I am no mere bank guard." You can't see her voice but the narrowing eyes comes through in the voice.
There isn't that much 'down.' "You said it is a place of the mind. The mind can imagine a space with more 'down' than there ought to be."
She stares at the golden piggy banks... and snorts. "They appear identical. We should not hesitate, or the guard will find us." She draws her rapier and charges forward, making wide, arcing sweeps of her blade to smash up the piggy banks.
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has acted with Academics toward Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"... Black... ooze...?" Umie stares at the receipt in her hands, black wavy lines drawn over her white outline. What even is this place...?
====
"I'm with Shimizu-san there. We double back and try to find the others," Umie answers Yukari as she rejoins, throwing a crumpled up piece of paper over her shoulder. "We don't know how this is connected to the real world; Kaneshiro may be a greedy bastard, but he doesn't deserve to *die* for it. That much might happen if we charge in." This is an important distinction to make. "It could be a dead end, but it's still a lead, and a better one than trying to take him on in the physical world. Even if the Cardboard Dragon is in a space that we can access our Personas, it's not going to do a lot of good against a mob of Yakuza."
Akari explains, but it only enlightens Umie to further thought... and that's dangerous, here, when it invites doubt.
Is this what the Phantom Thieves use, perhaps? ('It's... not far removed from, say, for example... Honjou-san changing your heart to have you happily walk down the aisle in a bridal gown,' said Akechi, not too long ago.)
And, for the first time since coming here, Umie looks... conflicted. Sick, even. "... I wonder if we're opening Pandora's Box here..."
'It's too late to go back now. You said so yourself.'
"... But it probably doesn't matter," Umie says, adjusting her mask against the sheen of sweat that developed there. "We're probably not the first ones to discover this place, if there's an app for it, and, well." She gestures vaguely to Akari's... Ixquic-ness. "Also, greatly appreciated, uh... Ix.....qui...cu?" She squints. "Looking forward to hiding behind you if things get rough."
Listen, this is a _realm of belief_. Akari's probably the mightiest one here because of it! And maybe Remi.
...... _oh no_ they really are opening Pandora's Box
"Then we'll just leave it at that," Umie says, fighting to keep her voice neutral, rather than dip into disdain. "Better we know how to get in and out, if *they're* looking into here."
Is she being a little careless destroying those piggy banks?
Yes, Umie is. Just let her work it out.
MONAD: Umie Akabane has acted with Academics toward Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break?! Base!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"A maiden's dreams...?" Yukari says in that dry tone of disbelief like she can't believe someone actually said that. "I'm not gonna try to keep you out. You're not gonna listen anyway."
Is her simple response, because she of course knows that trying to drag Ixquic out by her ear is going to get her following them anyway.
"Just it's important to know, all the same. For... making battle plans." Aka put the Kid in the Back Row, or so the theory in her head works out.
Ixquic speaks of Palaces! And shows her Phone App...
Her parents really spoil her huh?
She doesn't say that aloud, but she's a bit jealous, she's still using a FLIP PHONE!% r
"Hmmm..." Is all she says to Ixquic explains it all, even though she actually is listening and filing it away. She can't claim to know much about these places yet.
"Isn't this a bank? A bank doesn't really seem like a... secret lair at all. Pretty public really?"
Shinobu answers her point earlier on what they're gonna do, as does Umie having some misgivings, "Well... okay." Really, she's here for a fact finding mission. There's so much out of Tatsumi Port Island that she just doesn't know!
And she really kinda needs to know, she can't take the Kirijo Group on their word. And if she learns enough... maybe she can figure out a way to find out what went on between them and her Father.
Case in point, Tsurugi having an Evoker. She's not about to ask flat out, but she files it away.
"I'll go along with it for now." If things aren't... something she approves of, she guesses she can just go after. She didn't like how Kaneshiro treated all of them, but something about this whole thing makes her uneasy.
As they come upon the twenty pigs, Yukari considers something as Ixquic and Shinobu express impatience, and well - "Hmmmmmmmmmm. No need, I think?" Even as the others are destroying some.
Yukari picks up a Golden Piggy Bank, then crouches down and moves up, replacing it with one on the Guard's path, and taking another, which she brings back with her.
Then she brings it back and smacks it lightly with the side of her bow, checking. "This is the only one both Guards were passing by every round."
She explains. Of course, it's just a theory. But at least she's trying to narrow things down to find the code more efficiently.
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Suspicion toward Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break?! Focus and Patra! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Underground Vault - Outer Ring - Which Golden Piggy to Break? - Round 3 =- Yukari Takeba Academics Success Suspicion Focus and Patra Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Umie Akabane Academics Failure Academics Base Fatigue: 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobu Shimizu Understanding Failure Understanding Base Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remi Ryuuja Academics Failure Academics Base Fatigue: 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akari Hoshi Understanding Failure Understanding Base Fatigue: 1 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Box-0, Educational-1, and Stupor-2 Final Conditions: -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 3/6 |=== | =====================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ============================================================- Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0 (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari has a giant sword! You can't put her in the back row!
But generally, people seem to be listening to her. Ixquic shoves her phone away after a while (it is a nice phone) and draws herself up, proudly. "Well, I did *research*," she says. "That's how I got in myself, after all! I just ... hadn't broken in yet, that's all." Did she know whether someone else was going to show up? Well, she had an idea, though admittedly she didn't know exactly when they were going to arrive. SHE didn't show up at Benny's.
Can you imagine Ixquic at Benny's?
Unfortunately for Umie, Ixquic brightens. "We're definitely not," she says. "Some people think that's how the Phantom Thieves do their Change of Hearts! There was a Rumourmonger who said that he'd been on the Phan-Site - I mean, the Phantom Thieves Aficionado Website - and that's how he'd figured out how to get in." She means Baofu. "They're really cool! I thought - maybe I could beat the evil out of him...?"
Ixquic, perhaps surprisingly, knows a lot of things; it's not that she's dumb (she's not), she just only pays attention to things that interest her. She does not know exactly how the Phantom Thieves do their magic. Maybe some day...
Ixquic is lucky that her rolling her eyes is not visible under her mask.
"Obviously!" she replies to Tsurugi. "That's why we know we're in his secret lair! Hidden beyond normal sight, a mysterious world beyond the ordinary! At the deepest point of infinity, that's where we'll find him! That's also the part that makes it secret," she adds to Yukari. "Would YOU believe if someone said there was a magic flying bank and you could go down an elevator that went down like... a skyscraper number of floors, while it was flying, to get to a giant lock room with golden pigs?"
Speaking of -
"Hey, if you break all of them, the guards will notice! That's why I said we can't!" Sort of. She sort of said that.
Sadly, Ixquic is, in this, right. There are *several* scuffles against guards, with only Yukari able to slip away from the active party to break what turns out to be the correct pig after all.
They can all meet up at the keypad afterwords. "Bleeeeh." Ixquic's energy is still high but her attitude is, temporarily, down. "That's why we shouldn't do that in here. I said! The guards gang up!"
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 4: Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead - Challenge Level 3 -
| Approach Options: Charm or Guts |
| Conditions: Boss - Add 1 Fatigue on failure., Bothersome - Charm Down L1, |
| Shuffle - Draw 1 Minor Arcana., and Terrifying - Guts Down L2 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
The second pin pad, once the numbers for REAP are entered, causes the circular
walls to shift again. This opens forward another way, which leads even deeper
into the room-sized lock. You're approaching the center of that room, and
realize the center must be where the heart of this place is.
The next pin pad is ahead. This one has the text "HUGE" over it, and there is
another stairway leading down into shadowed corridors.
You begin moving through the corridor, but as you do, you spot a massive Shadow
ahead -- and on the wall behind it is a tablet, like the others that provide the
clues. The Shadow is guarding it, and it glows with a faint red light. When you
engage it, it shifts into a golden-haired humanoid with a snarling face and a
huge sword. This Shadow is known as Take-Minakata, and is quite powerful.
Once defeated, you can examine the tablet for the following clue: "U=A, G=P."
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
'Reconnaissance'. Shinobu gives Tsurugi a critical look. She says that like she's flying solo, this time... She guesses her Navigator isn't around right now, then.
"...Just don't cause any trouble." She says.
Shinobu considers Umie's words. Kaneshiro doesn't deserve to die, huh...
"...I don't think I'd lose sleep over it, but it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth, I guess." Shinobu admits. It's a different situation than coming across a random guy in Mementos. Kaneshiro has ruined lives - gleefully. It's a harder decision to make, but... "...Besides. It'd probably make trouble for the boss if he turned up dead after threatening them. They'd make an easy scapegoat."
There are a lot of people with Kaneshiro's same attitude, after all.
Shinobu gets a little too into smashing the banks - and after they someone manage to scrape by(thanks, Yukari), she offers Ixquic an apologetic look.
"Sorry. Figured it'd be fine if we did it quick enough, but they were a lot tougher than I thought." She admits. She might have misinterpreted her words.
At least they have what they need now, and the walls of the room-sized lock shift and allow them to proceed a little further.
"Another pad..." Shinobu considers with a frown. "Guess we gotta look for another part of the cipher."
They proceed down the stairway, and eventually, they come to a dead end - and here, there's a massive Shadow guarding a tablet, like the ones from before.
It glows faintly red. ...She's reminded of the dangerous Shadows in Tartarus... and sure enough, this one shifts into a monstrous humanoid form.
Shinobu frowns, sizing him up before looking back toward the others.
"Looks like we aren't getting through until we deal with this..." She says. "He looks tough. Let's be careful."
...Which means, if they can at least put him off balance through intimidation or charming to lower his guard, this'll go a lot easier.
Shinobu strides forward, crossing her staff over her shoulder as her arms hang off it casually.
"...Hey, asshole. You're in the way. Mind moving aside? I'd say I'd introduce your face to the floor if you don't... but you kinda look like someone's already done that. So don't make me get creative." Shinobu starts. It's not her best work, but it'll have to do.
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has acted with Former Delinquent toward Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead! Efficient and Bravery!
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Don't worry, Yukari. Tsurugi has also taken notice of your Evoker.
She did promise Mitsuru, at Tartarus, that they would meet again. (At least, she did so in French.)
She looks to Ixquic. "We do not have an infinite amount of time to search."
Tsurugi almost seems liks she would rather be fighting, when the guards come to stop their progress. Fighting, at least, is her specialty.
"I do not fear the guards," Tsurugi says to Ixquic.
Tsurugi might juts be here solo. Then again, she was flying solo in Mementos too, wasn't she? She only looks to Shinobu as she's warned not to cause trouble, but doesn't reply.
But Shinobu goes for intimidation, and Remi watches her performance with quiet appreciation. She appreciates confidence.
For her part though... she just steps forward, lokcing eyes with the Shadow. You can't see her face through her fencing mask but it's the type of thing you feel more than anything else.
And suddenly there's a fierce killing intent flooding from her towards the shadow. "Move," she says. "And you will be spared."
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has acted with Unflinching Stare toward Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead! Focus and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Well I would now?" Re: Believing in this place existing.
Yukari just sighs in the aftermath, like she's not entirely unused to these circumstances. But they get past the keypad, and deeper and deeper they go until...
... Shinobu surprises her, by that language and change in her whole vibe, "Whoa. Uhhhh..."
Yukari considers, before she walks forward, "Geez Shimizu-san... Tsurugi-san, there's no need to antagonize the guy. He's just working right? This whole thing caught him really off guard."
Yukari smiles at Take-Minakata as she steps out in front of them both, "Sorry about that, they can come on a little strong at times. You see we're the Vault Inspectors... here on behalf of the Boss. And you just passed-! The test that lets us know our security is right where we want it."
Yukari claps several times, "Congratulations!" Before she walks up to Take-Minakata and produces...
... a fashion magazine, licking a fingertip and turning the pages until she gets to the men's sections.
"So take a few days off as a reward, and pick..." Her eyes flick at his lack of arms and, "... any vest you want from the Fall line in here too, as part of it! Just be sure to expense it to the Boss afterwards."
DID SHE JUST GOOD COP THEIR BAD COPS!?
"Uhhhhhh..."
She'd hand it over but now it occurs to her she's not sure how. So instead she stands on her tip toes and offers the magazine up towards...
... HIS MOUTH!?
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Mall Trawl toward Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead! Empathy and Friendliness!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"You mean... this is..." Umie blinks. "Well, if Pandora's box is already being blown wide open, then I guess it's better we're here."
What Akari says, next, however, changes Umie's demeanor in an instant. "No, we're *not* beating up anything like that," Umie firmly says, to Akari. Oh, *now* she's complaining about the middle schooler using her youthful enthusiasm and bravado to scale impossible odds? "If we're in Phantom Thief territory, and we screw up, not only does that come with consequences, whatever happens is going to be blamed on them. If we get to a certain point, we pull back. Got it?"
That... could have gone better. She awkwardly glances to the side. "Sorry, just..." Umie's mask tilts slightly off her face as she sighs; she pulls a hand up to adjust it back into place. "We don't know. Not about the Phantom Thieves, about this whole Change of Hearts deal... so the only way to gain the advantage *is* to know."
If she knew how to Change a Person's Heart... no. That'd be the scariest thing of all. "... Up to a point," she adds, softly.
She couldn't trust herself with that.
Shinobu's taking control of the situation, thankfully, which allows Umie to pull back. It was a lot easier to strike ahead when she didn't know.
Now, it's better to make sure she's not dragging everyone behind.
As Shinobu, Remi, and Yukari pull the Take-Minakata's attention to them, and Umie rushes in at an angle, flowing like water underneath and beside the guard's scope of focus.
Leaping up on the backside of the guard, with no arms to tie, she instead lets the momentum of the hoop of her kyoketsu shoge do the work for her, swinging it around to make it wrap around the guard's muscular neck so she could jerk it back and downwards.
She's trying to pin it, but... "... Never tried this with someone with no arms..."
MONAD: Umie Akabane has acted with Bird's Eye View toward Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead! Automap!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Well, at least they listened to her eventually, Ixquic thinks. They won't be getting into any more fights for a while!
(wrong)
"Well, now, you would, but most people never go somewhere like this," Ixquic says, surprisingly sensibly given her... Ixquic-ness. "If you told the other people in your class you went to a magic flying bank vault UFO, I bet most of them wouldn't believe you." If she's wrong, it's only because she doesn't know about SEES. Even then, it's kind of hard to believe.
But then Umie scolds her.
Ixquic is not the sort of person to take that without a response. They keep trying to put her in a box: too young, too *weird*. She bottled it up when people kept telling her she was too young, but she's had enough of that. The visor on Ixquic's modified mask gleams as she lets her rebellion loose. They can't tell her what to do, or how to do it!
She doesn't even think about it: "Then why are you here if you don't want to DO anything? If you aren't going to stop him, it's not going to change anything! I don't mind going away and coming back," Ixquic says, "because that's just a strategic regroup." She knows those words? "Even the Phantom Thieves have to think about it, I bet... and that's fine. I want to see the others anyway, I know some of them are here. But I *am* going to come back, and I *am* going to stop him!"
"It's not *right* that people like him get to - to do whatever," Ixquic says, fumbling her words, "and nobody can stop them. The police can't, and they wouldn't even if they could. 'That's just the way things are'... but that's stupid! The way things are is bad! It's like the Strega," she says, even if she gets her plurals wrong. "You fought them, because they hurt people with bombs and chains. Well Kaneshiro hurts people with money and rules, and if I have to kick his ass to make him stop, I will!"
It's in that attitude that Ixquic encounters the Take-Minekata. Amped up and wanting to take it out, she rushes in immediately and, perhaps surprisingly given what she just said and who she said it to, works *with* Umie; she uses her sword, but she uses it reversed, like an enormous club, to sweep his legs out from under him and send him sprawling while Umie tries to take him down.
So much for the good cop-bad cop routine. Sorry, Shinobu, Remi, Yukari.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with High Energy toward Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead! Patra and Efficient! (|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|) -==== Underground Vault - Middle Ring - Powerful Shadow Ahead - Round 4 =======- Yukari Takeba Charm Success Mall Trawl Empathy and Friendliness Fatigue: 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Umie Akabane Guts Success Bird's Eye View Automap Fatigue: 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobu Shimizu Guts Success Former Delinquent Efficient and Bravery Fatigue: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remi Ryuuja Guts Success Unflinching Stare Focus and Patra Fatigue: 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akari Hoshi Guts Failure High Energy Patra and Efficient Fatigue: 3 -============================= Party Conditions: ==============================- Starting Conditions: Boss-0, Bothersome-2, Shuffle: Sword-0, and Terrifying-2 Final Conditions: -======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====- -==== Reach: 4/6 |==== | =====================================================- -==== Loot So Far: ============================================================- Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0 (|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu glances toward Ixquic. The Phantom Thieves? Are they connected to all of this, somehow? She's been following the stories, sure - but she never planned on following their footsteps. And then to Umie, who has a strong reaction... and then to Ixquic, who has an equally strong one.
She turns her attention back to the situation at hand. It's probably better if they figure this out themselves. Right now...
...it's time for bad cop-bad cop-good cop.
Shinobu intimidates and Remi glares... and Yukari walks forward, saying there's no need to antagonize him. She stares at her for a moment before realizing - oh, right.
"Congratulations." Shinobu joins in. She can't quite get the same excitement in her tone she can. Yukari offers the fashion magazine to Take-Minakata's mouth - and it's hard tell if he buys it or is just super surprised buy it.
It's enough of a distraction that he isn't ready when Umie rushes in wrap her hoop around his neck and pull him to the floor. Ixquic moves in, working in tandem with her, going for a leg sweep with her sword.
Take-Minakata crashes to the ground - but he won't be taken it so easily. He starts to thrash, forcing himself up. Shinobu readies her staff and rushes in - Remi and Yukari may need to join in, too, but thanks to the surprise attack, it goes a lot more smoothly than it would have if they tried to attack him outright.
"...Good work." Shinobu says. "Should be one step closer..."
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has drawn a new Challenge!
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 5: Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts - Challenge Level 2 -
| Approach Options: Proficiency or Guts |
| Conditions: Clumsy - Proficiency Down L1 and Heartening - Guts Up L1 |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
You enter the numbers for HUGE on the third pin pad. This causes the walls to
turn again, leading into the penultimate ring of the massive lock-room. Here,
once again, you see a pin pad and a stairwell leading downward. The pin pad has
the word "GOLD" written over it.
The stairway leads down into a crowded storage room, filled with crates and
dusty boxes. This makes a maze in and of itself. When you look at the crates,
you see they're labeled "JUNK" and "TRASH." If you open one, it's filled with
mementos like cheap toys, notes, and other sentimental objects. These are not
what Kaneshiro cares for or feels a need to hoard.
Fortunately, you spot a way to navigate through the room of crates. By climbing
atop a few stacked large ones, you see an open air duct. You'll need to go
through it single file -- and slowly and /carefully/. Quiet, now! There are
vents, with prowling Shadows below... and you could easily be caught. But don't
freeze up, either, as this is not a safe place to stay for long.
After getting through the maze of crates, containing discarded memories, you
find a tablet on the wall. It has the final clue: "L=U+G, D=G, O+H=10."
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
There is a barest turn of Tsurugi's head as she looks to Yukari stepping in front of them. She is paying attention to her, but not in the same way that she is Paying ATtention to the Shadow.
"Hmm," is about all she has to say of Yukari's approach. Well, if it's going to work, she's doing her best to sell it, she thinks. Even if she doesn't vocalize it.
There is a glance behind her as Umie reacts very strongly to potentially being in Phantom Thief territory. Is that where this is headed...? From what she's heard nobody else knows how it works, so... This could potentially be a lot more intersting than she thought.
Ixquic has words for Umie though, and Tsurugi's attention slowly slides over to her as well. It's not right that people like Kaneshiro get to do whatever they want, and that nobody can stop them... "Ixquic." Her voice is perhaps a bit subdued, but still short and terse.
She turns to face Take-Minakata. "... do not lose that spirit."
She doesn't join in on the 'congratulations.' She will, however, draw her rapier and appraoch to join in the fight.
But with the tablet they can press forward into the next area... creates and boxes, maze-like, fill the room. Tsurugi opens one to find sentimental photographs. Another one a childhood toy. "... This is a man who cares for nothing but his own avarice," intones Tsurugi.
She clearly does not approve.
But as she scans the room, there is a stack of crates leading to a vent. "There. We will bypass the maze." It's easy enough to climb up--she doesn't even wait for the others to follow. And she stops to take a deep breath at the top, steadying her nerves as she cralws into the vent.
No hesitation, no fear. Just a smooth, steady motion as she calmly passes over the Shadows patrolling below.
MONAD: Remi Ryuuja has acted with Unflinching Stare toward Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts! Focus and Patra!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It hurts, to hear Ixquic's words, and not be able to explain *why*. "We're not taking this lying down," Umie says dully, a moment after Akari finishes and Take-Minekata is taken down.
Akari's right in the spirit of things. Umie was the one who ran into her with her guilt. (How old was Umie, when she.... yeah, it'd be about that age, wouldn't it? Maybe a little older. The mask makes it hard, but she can at least guess Akari's age.)
The chariot begs to be taken ever forward, but when it gets derailed, the driver has to take stock of what went wrong, and how to get back on track. Akari can agree to a tactical retreat, but she *is* going to stop him.
They're all going to. (But where does it stop?)
No. There's a better way of going about this. Turn the thought around, just the same as she'd do for Tatsuya, a few years back. She's no detective; she told Akechi as such, but that doesn't mean she can't *think* when there's a problem in front of her. Think. "Okay, so, you heard about the tale of Greek hydra, right? If Hercules just charged right in and fought the hydra just head on, he'd be at it for days. Two heads would pop up for every head he cut off. A real Sisyphian task." Which is another Greek myth, but Umie's wheels are beginning to spin.
What started as an analogy to encourage Akari to consider logic in the face of adversity has become something else.
".... That's it."
A delighted smile curls her lips, sharp as the curve of a scimitar, as Umie begins idly spinning a small length of the kyoketsu shoge. "This isn't *just* about Kaneshiro. If the Phantom Thieves could solve this, they would've by now, right? The first guy was a coach, right? The second, a name in the fine art world." She switches hands. "But this is a member of the Yakuza. *This* is the hydra. We don't know how many Phantom Thieves there even are; it could just be one person, for all we know. .... That's... not enough hands, is it?"
Umie starts walking forward. "Someone's got to take care of those heads. Several someones. Like we did just now with that guard."
Following Remi, Umie's demeanor shifts as soon as she sees the vents; she follows after, quiet as a shadow. Inside, she summons the ghostly form of Badb, trying to use its sight to gain an advantage over which path to go forward on.
The forward momentum doesn't quell the gadfly that asks, constantly, where it all stops. For now, all Umie can do is quell it and move forward.
MONAD: Umie Akabane has acted with Bird's Eye View toward Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts! Automap!
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Umie scolds Ixquic, who takes it about as well as Yukari expects really, "Hey let's not fight about this in here."
But it doesn't quite work either.
Join them? Of course Yukari does. As soon as Umie pulls that head back, the bow is out and...
... no hesitation she puts two arrows right in his chest at point blank range.
"There you have it."
She holds her bow behind her as she walks forward, down the stairs.
The back and forth between Umie and Ixquic? She's not sure how she feels about it, nor does she respond on the matter of the Hydra, instead she just speaks after. "I don't know anything about the Phantom Thieves - I just know I'm not... really a fan, if they're doing things like I think they're doing. I'm not saying don't fight... I'm just saying, maybe we be careful when we're not really sure what we're doing." She says quietly, "Who knows what could happen?"
Through vents? Yukari sighs, "Well at least we're all girls here." And then she crawls into the vents.
Slowly... gradually.
She stops at a grate to hear two Shadows talking.
"Keep it up. You don't want to disappoint Kaneshiro."
"You think I don't know? If anything happens - it'll be both our asses."
Yukari considers that for a time, as she moves forward, considering, considering.
'JUNK'
'TRASH'.
"Hmmm." Getting an idea, she reaches for her bag, for a Red Gem. Before she whispers along the way, "I've got an idea. Cover your mouths and get ready to move faster." Then the next time they're at a grate...
... she slides it out from the bars and lets it fall.
The glittering Gem falls and then... bursts into a torrent of flame, catching all the crates of junk.
"What happened!?"
"Put it out! Put it out!"
"Get the extinguisher!"
"Where!? They didn't cover that during orientation!"
"Go get Sui-Ki! Hurry!"
"I think he's on break!"
"WHO CARES ABOUT THAT! GO GET HIM!"
It's immediate Pandemonium, while they're all unseen, but Yukari crawls a bit faster due to you know... well, smoke.
It's only once they are out, and she's coughing, "Well m-maybe didn't... think that through as well as I should have but... they're distracted."
A beat.
"And probably going to be fired?" Yukari freezes, then adds hastily, "That was not a pun."
MONAD: Yukari Takeba has acted with Mean Girl toward Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
When the Shadow is defeated, one thing remains. Ixquic snags it with the tip of her sword and flips it toward herself, catching it out of the air.
>GET: 1x Take-Minekata Rope
...what is she even going to do with that? It's kind of a pointless item, isn't it?
But...
"I think they have courage! When nobody else is willing, a hero - or heroes - strike from the darkness!" That's Ixquic's read of the Phantom Thieves. "Maybe they're not perfect either, but at least they're not letting anyone stop them. And..." And they're cool, she thinks. So cool. Even for a Sumaru girl, what they do is one of the most interesting things to happen to Japan in a while.
Tsurugi needn't fear: Ixquic holds onto that feeling no matter what. It's like being hit by a battering ram - and it derails Umie, as she tells a different story. Ixquic remains standing, spinning the rope in almost the same way Umie is idly spinning her kyoketsu shoge, though with her other hand, in the opposite direction - Ixquic is either left-handed or ambidextrous enough to off-hand something like that.
"Maybe they don't know his name," Ixquic says. "Maybe they don't know about him and they're trying to find the Joker Killer or something. Maybe they're secretly here and we don't know it!" She looks at Tsurugi, then Shinobu, then Yukari, as if trying to check them for Phantom Thief-ness. "But *we're* here. I'm here. And I'm not running! I, Ixquic, will never flee in panic!" Pause. "Tactical retreat is okay," she adds, more quietly, because she promised.
It looks like they're going to take the vents.
"I'll go ahead," Ixquic offers to Yukari. She's tall, but she's skinny and vents don't scare her. The hardest part is her sword - she has to push it in front of her, which is why she wanted to go first, so that she didn't poke someone else with it. The remnant of Take-Minekata rope is away - she doesn't need to spin it around anymore. But she has an idea... she seems slightly distracted. Maybe if she - no, that won't work. But if -
(Also Ixquic is in shorts. She's equipped for this.)
Yukari has a great plan: fire. It snaps Ixquic back, and she can't help it - she giggles. "It should have been," she says, about the pun. "Come on! We can make good time now!" She's pulled her cloak around to cover her mouth from smoke, which means that Akari is once again happy to lead the way, or almost - she doesn't push ahead of someone if they're determined.
For someone who is wearing multiple pounds of cognitive gold and carrying an enormous sword, Ixquic is *remarkably* good at sneaking. She's doing it the simple way (for her): what would the Phantom Thieves do? She's probably not entirely correct, but it's making her aware of noise she would make more than she would be on her own.
She wishes she had some thieves' clothes, though. Maybe a different mask... but then she'd have to take her Ixquic mask off! No way.
MONAD: Akari Hoshi has acted with Cosplay Talk toward Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts! Specialty!
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
It's true - this is a dangerous situation. They can't be sure what'll happen. If things spiral out of control...
"...Yeah, fair enough." Shinobu says, as Yukari concludes they should be careful. "I think at minimum, we try not to do anything rash until we meet back up with everyone."
...Says the person who threatened a Shadow like a punk, before.
"...Something's gotta be done, though. That's true, too." She nods her agreement with Ixquic. They are here, after all. She was prepared to deal with whatever the consequences might be when they got in her.
They proceed forward. The next stairway down leads to a crowded storage room, filled with crates and boxes labeled 'JUNK' and 'TRASH'. The contents of which are... Shinobu makes a face.
"Asshole. If we do end up fighting, I'm going to make him hurt." She says. She looks toward Tsurugi. ...For once, they seem to be on the same wavelength.
They'll be there forever if they try to go through the entire maze - but fortunately, and opportunity presents itself. An air vent... Shinobu starts toward it, glancing toward Yukari at her concern.
It takes her a second for it to click.
"...Wanna go last?" Shinobu offers. And when Shinobu does eventually reach the vents...
"...Wait. Hold up a sec - before we go any further." She leans in for a closer look. "Think I've installed some of these before. ...Not these specifically, obviously, but I know the company. If they've got the same flaws they do in the real world... they tend to come loose pretty easily if something gets stuck inside."
She pauses for a second.
"...Obviously that's usually a rat or a raccoon or something. People can't fit into the real ones, these are bigger. Uh, point is... try not to put all your weight onto one point if you can help it? Spread it out a little. Might help reduce the sound, too." She says.
And with that, she takes her turn in line, moving forward as quietly and carefully as she can. And partway through... Yukari has an Idea.
Shinobu watches - and watches as a room starts to go up in flames.
"Didn't think you had it in you, Takeba." Shinobu says approvingly - her voice a little muffled from covering her mouth. Is that something to be proud of?
MONAD: Shinobu Shimizu has acted with Esoteric Skillset toward Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts! Patra and Focus!
(|============================= Monad - Results ==============================|)
-==== Underground Vault - Inner Ring - Creeping Through the Ducts - Round 5 ===-
Yukari Takeba Proficiency Success
Mean Girl Specialty Fatigue: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Umie Akabane Guts Success
Bird's Eye View Automap Fatigue: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shinobu Shimizu Proficiency Success
Esoteric Skillset Patra and Focus Fatigue: 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remi Ryuuja Guts Success
Unflinching Stare Focus and Patra Fatigue: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Akari Hoshi Proficiency Success
Cosplay Talk Specialty Fatigue: 3
-============================= Party Conditions: ==============================-
Starting Conditions: Clumsy-2 and Heartening-2
Final Conditions: Heartening-1
-======================================== Party Result: Success: Reach Up! ====-
-==== Reach: 6/6 |=====| =====================================================-
-==== Loot So Far: ============================================================-
Items: 1, Money: 1, Gear: 0
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
(|======================== Monad - Kaneshiro's Palace ========================|)
-==== Round 6: Infiltration Route Secured - Time to Go - Challenge Level 1 ====-
| Approach Options: None |
| Conditions: Passage - Completion. |
-==== Challenge ===============================================================-
The last pin pad, with GOLD written over it, causes the roo to turn one more
time. This causes the lock to unlock -- and you see a large elevator ahead, as a
circular column at the center of the room.
You take the elevator downward. This one, thankfully, doesn't need a keycard.
When it lets out, you find the lowest level of the vault. There are stacks of
gold bullion, sealed vault doors with promised riches, and more.
...but you aren't alone here.
TO BE CONTINUED... in Reservoir Dogs on August 15!
Final Loot: 1 Item and 1 boxes of Money!
(|============================================================= Monad 1.1 ====|)
<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.
Umie has an example from Greek mythology. That's easy enough to acknwoeldge, at least. It's not like that's a terribly niche mythology. Tsurugi glances back to Umie. "... It will take more than fire to kill a Hydra such as this."
Because you burn the stumps to keep the head from growing back, you see.
Trying to find the Joker Killer... Tsurugi doesn't dare glance at Ixquic, though several here will know her role in attempting to kill a cop... whther or not they know what the real cover-up was for.
Tsurugi is definitely not the Phantom Thief type. She's more of that one weird antagonist who will be your worst foe but also, sometimes, for her own unknowable reasons, help yuou out of a jam.
They might agree about more than you think, Shinobu.
But Shinobu has some helpful advice about how to advance through the vents, and Tsurugi does actually apply it as she gets in. Umie and Badb are their navigational aide for this portion, which helps as they don't have a map of the room.
Ixquic can ponder the fine details and functionality of her costume, cognitive though it may be, and oerhaps come up with some new ideas for stealth down the line.
Yukari, though, has a pretty good plan (minus the part with accidental smoke inhalation.) A Fire Gem draws the notice of the guards... and then immediately immolates them.
Tsurugi crawls faster, then.
They get out, find the last tablet, and the pincode.. "Gold." Tsurugi snorts. "Of course."
She lets the others enter in... but she stays behind when they enter the elevator.
She's got a different destination in mind.
> Tsurugi has left your party! (Not that she asked to join it in the first place...)