WEEKS 5 & 6

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WEEKS 5 & 6

THE CALM BEFORE...

The city has more or less bounced back after the disastrous Go-Kart race. While there are still some people recovering, no one’s hospitalized and there were thankfully no casualties - although there were more injuries than might have been expected, on accounts of some brawls that broke out among the competitors and the audience.

In spite of that, the Shopping District is feeling distinctly friendlier these days. Shopkeepers will take notice of repeat customers and be openly happy to see the better-behaved ones. They may even cut characters a discount on the sly for their patronship!

Perhaps as a result, the Nekyia Shopping District has become clear of haze much like the Nekyia dormitory started. While Shadows still lurk there, they are much fewer in number. Should characters choose to explore some more, they will find that the haze has become thinner in the Nekyia Entertainment District, allowing them to work on cleaning out the various Shadows that reside in that area.

WHAT THE FLUFF.

Meanwhile, back at the dormitory…

…trouble is amiss, but the fun kind of trouble.

On Sunday, September 1st, it seems like there's an event for pets being hosted at the parks near the dorm! That's fine and dandy, but the trouble comes from owners being careless and letting their animals run loose. That's right, some of them have been given free rein to explore, and a number of them have taken a liking to the dormitory!

You might be able to blame Dawn – that cat from the Nekyia who also appears to give you strange items! – because she's got bowls of cat food around her that she's feasting on. It's attracted some pet cats and strays alike. As for the dogs, well, they like people. Enough said.

Why not treat yourself to some animal therapy while you can? And if not, wrangling any animals that manage to get free works too!

SUMMER DAYS.

As summer break draws to a close, the Arcade is desperate to not only redeem its reputation, but also squeeze the last bit of pocket change out of people while they’re still on vacation. As a result, there is an ongoing discount on point cards allowing people to play competitive arcade games - Classics like Mirmo Kart and Street Slayer, as well as shinier rhythm games like Dancerun Stardom and LaiLai Universe Plus!

Of course, the hope is that characters drawn in by the arcade games will stick around for the other offerings - karaoke, bowling, ufo catchers, and even a bar (for those 21+!) And if none of these attractions are enough to catch a character’s eye, there’s plenty of other activities to be found in Carnation Court. Besides the restaurants and bars, there are many themed pop-up cafés and events, and even a few empty buildings with a very reasonable lease fee, should someone want to run an event of their own...

While the mood isn’t as open and friendly as the shopping district, it’s still worth a visit to relax and unwind a bit, preferably alongside Braphine’s other chosen. After all, there are Shadows looming on the horizon...

MESSAGE FROM YOUR RA!

Huh...? That's weird. It looks like a really big Shadow took up residence in the Nekyia. Hold on, I'll set things up so the app will give you the coordinates! Could you please check it out?

COMMISSIONS

NEKYIA COMMISSIONS

FETCH QUEST

I messed up…Mom's gonna be so mad at me for losing track of her dog at that event…

There's a shadow in the Nekyia that's taken the form of a Level 25 Nue. It seems to be growling in despair, and echoing the thoughts of this commissioner. Apparently this person lost his mother's dog at the event and hasn't made an effort to find it yet. Fight the Nue and try to knock some sense into this guy, either by shaking some sense into him or by defeating him; they've got a dog to find, after all.

YOU KNOW THAT WE'RE TOXIC

Leave, Braphine. Leave this world to the people. We don't need anyone. We've only got ourselves.

Seems like someone who might be involved with the vandalism incident might have a shadow here, too, in the form of a Level 24 Mokoi. She sounds like she's going to do something more extreme to the place if she isn't stopped. However, be careful… characters hit with Dazzler from this particular Shadow cannot be cured with magic, and must instead be healed by another person’s touch. It’s time to get cozy with your companions.

GET HEE OUTTA HERE

A powerful Shadow has appeared in the Nekyia and needs to be eliminated asap! Black Frost is a tenacious (if cute?) little guy, and can only be fought after taking down three Level 28 Jack Frosts beforehand. Make sure you ration out your spiritual energy and healing spells, this little Shadow can pack a real punch, being at Level 30! That said, for those who manage to defeat him, he should drop a mascot trading card. Turn this in to the priest or priestess at the temple to unlock a bonus new skill for your Persona!

(OOC: Please turn in your threads for this commission on the rewards page to unlock the new skill, which is separate from your leveling skillset! You may select one elemental skill for light damage to apply permanently to your character's persona. When turning in the skill will be effective immediately once rewarded.)

REAL WORLD COMMISSIONS

FINE DINING

Various restaurants, from fast food and fast casual grub to the fine dining establishments in Carnation Court are trying to outdo each other in terms of promotion, and as such are on the prowl for any free hands to help entice potential customers with free samples and food challenges galore. Grab a buddy and help hawk some bite-sized treats! Or maybe try to beat the record for the biggest burger ever eaten, if you dare.

ALL HANDS ON STAGE

A number of performers were involved in the Go-Kart incident and have yet to fully recover enough to do their parts for the show! For the next two weeks, the Sunset Grand Theater is looking for understudies for roles, as well as stage hands who are willing to ninja around and maneuver props and sets for the actors. The production is a fanciful tale of starcrossed lovers, evil stepmothers, political feuds, and for some reason, a dragon.

PREPARE THE PETS

The pet store in Vermillion Village is looking for some volunteers to help socialize the pets through playtime, as well as feed some of the more persnickety ones. Those who want to pet some adorable balls of fluff and energy can work with the kittens, puppies, and bunny rabbits, while those who are brave enough can try their hand at feeding the reptiles their meals of live crickets and frozen rats.

OOC

READ ME!!!!

Welcome to your log for Weeks 5 and 6! Feel free to use this log for any developments that happen during the next two weeks. There will be no log next week, but we will still be posting a small mini-event on Saturday.
For plotting, please feel free to head over to this post on the OOC comm to post your plotting top levels.
For Nekyia commissions, you can assume that the Shadows will respawn until they've been beaten enough times to go back to normal.
Palaces start this week! Please refer to the Palace schedule here and sign ups for this week's capped Palace here

ic comm | inboxes | ooc comm | full nav

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Comments

ROUND 2

[emptyself]

[ in all his years, his trainings never really dealt with attacks from multiple people. a pack of wild dogs is a dangerous thing, as the scars on soujuurou's arms can attest to, but even that's possible to survive with good training. they don't do magic, for starters.

argenti's swing of his sword gives soujuurou a quick trip, but it's almost inhuman the way that soujuurou twists his body to escape from further sword damage. his mind focuses on nothing but the calculations needed, manually sending the signals to his muscles to move as he wishes. the fruits of their folk treatment, one would say.

and yet, the ice attacks from both eli and shalem connect well enough, dealing a damage that should be able to at least put a pause on any normal human-- and yet soujuurou doesn't. not even schneider's perfect storm, despite pushing him back considerably further, seems to fully stop him. he doesn't even make any sound that might tell whether or not he's in pain. the only proof that he's even alive are his movements and the quiet sound of his extremely relaxed breathing. is he not injured? of course he is! though impacted by atem's agility debuff, he's still extremely fast, moving farther back to take a deep, calm breath--

and he swings to sou once more. even with jesse's attack debuff, he'll receive a powerful punch to the gut (20+3-1=22). and from there, he moves onto yuri, who reminds him so much of those bears in the mountains that he'll twist his body to go behind him slam an elbow as hard as he can against his spine (13+3-1=15), followed by a hop to shalem, who gets to see him up close. an eye for an eye they say, and soujuurou tries to connect a punch, but the hits from before were simply not enough to land anything good-- (7+3-1=9).

so he'll cross over to haruka, a more appealing prey, and throws a kick to his head with surprising animosity (10+3-1=12). ]

[beautifulknight]

[ Thanks for the raise in agility Fray, it's definitely helped him out here!

Seems that Argenti is going to use it to catch up to Soujuurou's high speed movements - granted, he's always been a quick person already, so this is supremely helpful against someone who moves as swift as the wind.

So, here he is, coming at the side, swinging as hard as he can - less a slash, less a stab - and more aiming to whack the man with his giant spear so he can try to stop his reign of terror. The force behind it is pretty up there - for a pretty man, he is not lacking in arm strength, or power in general (18) ]

[pointzeropercent]

[He is healed twice-over, and he's up and ready to fight!

And then he gets punched in the gut with a nat 20 plus modifiers and goes right back down again. He's gasping for air as he casts diarama on himself again. Maybe someday he'll stop getting hit by freight trains, but today is not the day.]

[ledbythewind]

[It's fine, Richard can just be a healbot for this with another Diarama because boy this sure is not Sou's day, huh?]

[pointzeropercent]

[He is the weakest noodle that ever noodled and has no business being on the front line. Honestly if 'navigator' was a role choice in this game that would have been him right there.]

[bloodweapon]

[Here's another Media for our injured; this sure is going places, huh. Well, no sense wasting that agility buff; Fray's going to press the offensive - swinging that massive greatsword at Soujuurou's side (12).]

[supherb]

[Every single strike sends a shiver down Arven's spine and he's not even the one being hit. He orders Hestia to send out another Media, this one toward Sou, Yuri and Haruka.

This might continue to fall on deaf ears, but Arven can't help but call out to Soujuurou.]

Come on, Soujuurou! This can't be what you want to do to us! Not after Jordi's palace!

Hestia, let's keep helping! If we can just get him to stop attacking...!

[Matarukaja, an attack-raising spell, is sent out to Aaron, Yuri and Celeste.]

[goei]

[Not getting kidney punched a third time allows Izou to simmer down enough to remember it's probably best to hit Soujuurou with magic, so he actually takes a step back, and pointing his sword at Soujuurou yells;]

MEDEA!

[Casting Eiga for medium curse damage on Soujuurou (14). And then turns to look at Celeste;]

How's THAT fer genius level work, huh!?
[It worked....]

[cirquedesang]

Good man.

[Hey, he knew the goading would work! And now, because we Learned Things in Izou's palace, he gets praise for doing good. Because he's a dog.]

Keep it up.

[goei]

[Arf]

Like I need you to tell me that!!
[He's clearly pleased.]

[cirquedesang]

[At some point, he'll point out that he might not need something to like it.

For now, Izou will get the quickest smile and shake of the head before focus goes back to the fight.]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Damn it, this guy is hitting people so damn fast... Eli's been trying to close the gap between them. If only briefly, he gets close enough to strike out with a series of icy punches, using Bufula to hit (13).

Not quite as directly as he'd like, it's more like glancing blows... ]

[metagame]

[The debuff barely slowed Soujuurou down.

Bones can heal.

Atem reminds himself as he arcs his khopesh to attack Soujuurou (18)-- a sword more suited for crushing and disarming than cutting.

Bones can heal, but another thought sticks out raw to Atem: does that even matter? They've all seen in Soujuurou's memories.]

[prozaic]

[Whoever is within melee range of Soujuurou, and thus the starting point of this fight, might just hear a terrible hissing noise. Maybe you've heard it on TV, or a movie, but hearing a snake in person is far different from hearing a stock sound that's been processed for audio recordings.

Especially a snake this large.

Shalem lunges bodily at Soujuurou, doing what people tend to think of his kind but rarely expect. He wraps his arm tight around the boy's neck, and his tail around the boy's arm in a grapple from behind. (20,1) The quarterstaff is at their feet, though not forgotten.]

1/???

[emptyself]

[ throughout the barrage of attacks, soujuurou barely so much as whispers in pain. atem's khopesh breaks his shoulder, the ice punches from eli bruise his ribs, and fray's greatsword attack certainly hits its mark as soujuurou's clothes are quickly stained red with blood. and though he stumbles back a bit with the slam of argenti's lance at his back, he manages to twist his body once more to dodge the barrage of other attacks.

even with his bones broken and blood loss impeding him, it looks like he's taking another breath, isn't he? as if he's ready to continue going until his own body gives out entirely? that surely is the case.

until shalem attacks him and not only grapples him, but also wraps his arm around his neck. only then, does the shadow's eyes widen in horror, as all sense of fight leaves his body and he simply starts trying to struggling in a desperate attempt to survive. his breathing is ragged, he's kicking, fuck it, he's biting shalem's arm in the sheer panic that he's in. if he could scream, he would.

shalem, what will you do? ]

2/???

[prozaic]

[Ouch, ow, okay. Being bitten has always hurt, but at least he doesn't have the fangs that many Terrans have, the ones that feel like thick hypodermic needles. He doesn't break skin, which is also a small comfort in and of itself-- no one needs to get infected today.

But in response, he tightens up, squeezing Soujuurou more. He has to control his arm from breaking the boy's arm and loosens there slightly... though he exerts just a little more pressure on Soujuurou's neck to threaten his breathing. (12)]

[townmusician]

[Why is he so fast?? It's not giving him much time to react, and the kick makes Haruka stagger backwards.]

Fuck!

[The odds of him being able to hit Soujuurou are incredibly low, and he tries to put distance between them as he casts Marukukaja, boosting defense for himself, Shalem, Céleste, and Yuri.]

[unweathered]

[Since her first attack that hit dead on didn't do much, Schneider will fire another shot (6) that obviously misses, but will hang back again and cast a media for more heals. She's not interested in getting up close and personal]

[imperiosity]

[Welp! He appreciates the attack buff Arven but also attack buffs don't do shit if you can't hit oops

Because even if he does note that Schneider's attack hits Soujuurou harder than usual and tries to go for a Wind Cutter so he can slash at Soujuurou's legs with his wind-covered blades, it'll miss the mark (8).]

[strawsandals]

[ Yoon pulls himself up (thank you Argenti!) and hesitates. But, he ultimately decides to cast Dragon's Claw (18) and hit Soujuurou with it.

They won't kill him. This is just to snap him out of it.

Right? ]

[gardenful]

[ She doesn't want to do this, but he at least needs to be subdued, which is why she will use her own special attack, Aroma-terror-py (7), to send light Bless damage his way via a floral scent imbued in her staff. ]

Soujuurou. Can we talk? All we want is for you to be safe.

[cirquedesang]

[Ultimately, he's indifferent to the outcome of the fight. There's no desperation in his attacks like some others, no trying to break through... and when he feels the attack buff come over him, he...

Doesn't attack right away.

Because attacking necessitates getting close, so he repeats casting Rakukaja on himself, just to prepare for the next round.]

[privatedomicile]

[Oh...this isn't him at all, is it? At least not mentally. It looks close enough to Soujuurou to make Jesse hesitate.]

Come on, mountain man...

[Jesse casts Media on the remainder of the injured, but he completely whiffs his attempt to just slap Soujuurou (9).]

Snap out of it before someone gets too fucked up?

[ledbythewind]

[Given that physical attacks don't seem to be doing much of anything, Richard is just going to attempt to cast Tarunda on Soujouurou in the hopes of taking those nasty blows down at least a peg or two...]

[silentfury]

[Yuri feels the impact of the blow all too well, gritting his teeth and falling down on one knee. But this beast of a man isn't going down without a fight. Standing back up, he manifests Kimun Kamui once more. The persona gives him a swift punch to the back, delivering a Dia as a satisfying spinal crack.

Newly invigorated, Yuri makes his way over to Soujuurou and attempts to give him a heavy punch to the gut (13).]