Argenti's Palace

[beautifulknight]

The stage is set they say;
They don their masks and shields,
Shadows creep and cover their minds;
Now, what beautiful role shall they play?

𝓜𝓮𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮


♫

Comments

FIRST BATTLE PHASE ROUND 1

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti suddenly raises an armored hand in front of everyone as a silent, but rather intentional command to "stop" or "be quiet", no matter how presumptuous the action is.

Or perhaps it isn't presumptuous at all. They can't solve all of this by talking. Whatever remnants of barely clinging gentleness dissipate. ]

In the end, nothing compares to that of which must be exchanged on the battlefield. Once I witness the beautiful rivers of blood that run with your conviction, I imagine you shall feel regretful for your choices.

...But, do not fear. Even in the darkness, there is Beauty. The admirable silence, and the bright light of death as you fall unto its sweet embrace like my dear friend Jordi surely must have witnessed.

May you take this as a symbol of how much I cherish each and every one of you.

[ The words sound doubtlessly twisted as he bows and then for a moment all of you are blessed with one image of Argenti standing in front of a glass painted window, that shatters soon enough, and from behind him the figure of a cloaked figure emerges, wrapping her arms around him.

The image disperses immediately from the mind of everyone's eyes. Argenti then begins to rise into the air, after which he will shimmer and his form shifts with a blinding white light that will necessitate people to look away.

Either way, once the light dims, before everyone's eyes is a large female-like figure carved in marble stone, adorned in bright, yellow but soft fabrics. In this figure's hand is a large, rose-like staff, spiked with thorns. At the base there seem to only be the copious flowing of robes, with wisps of fog spilling out as if to cover the Shadow's feet.

The marbled knights seem to come alive, the stone turning pitch black until their forms are changed completely into lion-like creatures with piercing orange eyes, long spiked tails, and forked tones. They hiss in a way that seems not too dissimilar from human speech, yet is far more close to something too unfathomable to be understood. It's obvious that these are more demons than knights.

It appears in addition to the boss, There are two Lion Demon flunkies to deal with.

13 mirrors rise even higher from where they were to hang above and behind the larger being, each reflecting within them a single flower meant to represent all of the people currently assembled.

A female's voice rings out, beautiful and melodic:

♫ (Until 3:53)

To dawn til dusk,
The flower rises;
L'heure bleue bells toll,
therein the Red Queen rose.

Then, there are voices that speaks from the shadows, distorted, as it rings out throughout the arena: ]

...I am the Shadow, the True Self.

I shall make you submit yourselves to the Conclusion of this wretchedly Beautiful Path!

[ Immediately, one of the lions lashes out with a primal strike (Heat Wave), enacting a heavy amount of physical damage, starting with Fray (20), missing Richard (4), landing a hit on Aerith (13), and missing Izou entirely (1). The second one lets out a roar, casting Matarukaja to raise the attack of the entire party. Then it lashes out at Aaron. (11)

Then, the large Shadow in its beautiful form sings a charming refrain that makes those taken under having quite a difficult time to contend with considering it their enemy. For the most part, it fails to charm many, but not if your names are Céleste Narcisse and Kirumi Tojo! They are now Brainwashed and willing to take an action that will benefit the enemy! It will last for two rounds if not cleared.

After that, it casts Mapsiodyne on Eli (9) just missing, hitting Maika pretty hard (17), Mafuyu as well (15), and McGillis (20), a spell with heavy psy damage. We're off to an amazing start!

But fortunately, everyone has something to help them as well... ]

[kandata]

[Woah, the battle has started and Kirumi gets Brainwashed! Kirumi had been on the ready, having let people say their pieces to Argenti, and now that it starts, she with her axe prepared, first thing that happens is that she steps forward, swings her axe while her Persona activates -- or at least the supernatural light covers her indicating there's a skill at use.

Rakukaja! Congrats to Argenti, his defense has been boosted. She's helping!]

[beathollow]

--Kirumi!? No-

[kandata]

[Thank goodness her brainwashing got dispelled fast! She grits her teeth once she realizes what she did]

That was extremely unpleasant...

[Don't get brainwashed, Mafuyu, it sucks for multiple reasons]

[bloodweapon]

[Fray's eyes flash at the hit; seems Argenti's minions aren't going to play nice here. Fine, he can take a 20, but first things first: Energy Shower for Kirumi and Céleste to clear up that Brainwashed status! It's followed by a Marakunda to lower the enemies' defenses to try to counteract Kirumi's action.

Finally, time to hit things!! Fray launches himself at the lion that had the audacity to hit him with a Thunderous Rage. (13)]

[goei]

Yeah we'll fucking see about that! You can say all the fancy words ya want but at the end of the day it ain't mean shit if you can't back it up! Medea, lets kick this freaks ass!

[With Medea summoned, Izou actually first tosses out two Rakukajas at Mafuyu and McGillis, before attempting to take a swing at our beauty queen, though he just barely misses (9)]

[vogelfrei]

[ He is not actually in any place to notice this right now, which is SO SAD... Izou's unsung heroic acts of kindness (????) ]

[goei]

[WOW HE JUST DOESNT WANT YOU TO DIE BEFORE HE CAN KILL YOU!!!]

[beathollow]

Thank you... Please, be careful.

( there's a lot of monsters it feels like, right now! )

[goei]

[He gives her a thumbs up.]

Couldn't call myself a bodyguard if I went down before the fight was over!

[beathollow]

( ... does it count as heavy when she's psy herself? regardless. ow. bitch.

mafuyu holds back any audible sign of pain but does recoil. but she has to steel herself- )

Snow White-

( the princess manifests, casting marakukaja upon herself, izou and mcgillis and celeste. she then casts diarama on mcgillis because that was a fucking crit-

but more importantly, she's launching mapsi at all enemies for light psy damage 10. )

[gardenful]

[ First things first—Aerith casts Media twice on herself, Fray, McGillis, and Maika to heal their wounds.

Then, she launches a Makouha (20) at the lion that hit her. ]

[bloodandstars]

[ That's how it's going to be? That's fine. This is how Maika prefers to do things, anyway.

Since the knights chivalrous refilled their SP, Maika has no reservations (but also no aim) launching a Mazionga (4, 10, 13) at both Lion Demons and the Shadow, followed up with a claw to the face (16) for the Lion Demon Aerith just clobbered. ]

[imperiosity]

[Ouch! Well, that hurt a little more than it probably ought to thanks to that Matarukaja, but he definitely got off lightly compared to the others. He will trust that the others have the buffs and heals covered and go on the offence, starting off with a Magarula at the two flunkies and Argenti (13, 5, 5), which will only land on one of the lions. Oops.

But he’s not letting that stop him, because there is a Giant Slice (20) aimed straight at Argenti almost immediately after.]

Eat that, asshole!

[ledbythewind]

Lambda.

[Richard, meanwhile, will cast Tarunda one one lion, then on the other as well. The faster they can get them down, the better, because it's clear these are going to be a pain to have to deal with.

That done, he'll dart forward to strike with his rapier (8), but it's clear that for today at least, he's better off sticking to Utility--]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis begins this battle with great grace by... immediately being brought to his knees by that fucking crit psy damage. Ow.

To his credit, he doesn't scream and instead just silently grits his teeth. To his even greater credit, he's back on his feet before those first heals even start hitting him and he's... grinning a little? Don't mind the bloody lip from where he accidentally bit it while trying to tough this out. ]

Heh. You also... like to taint yourself.

[ Grandstanding (or genuine enjoyment?) out of the way, let's get to business here. First, he casts Magarula on all enemies and... misses entirely (7, 10, 5), thanks to the whole having been crit-ed business. This does not actually deter him though, because there's a Giant Slice aimed at one of the lions immediately after, which... also misses. (3).

Maybe he is not doing so hot yet. ]

[beathollow]

( honestly i'm imagining him moving immediately while mafuyu's just GET BACK HERE AND LET ME HEAL YOU??? because of this. )

[vogelfrei]

[ This is precisely what is happening... ]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ The mirrors are somewhat worrying when they begin reflecting the same flowers everyone received, but... no time for thinking now, Eli chooses fight! He lunges forward alongside his Persona, the great red wolf, towards the statue and its demon lions but they won't close the gap at first. ]

Garm! Mabufula!

[ Instead, he stops short and launches an area attack (Mabufula) against all three (15 - lion, 7 - statue , 17 - lion).

Having missed the statue with his Mabufula, he'll follow up with a direct attack towards it using Giant Slice (9). This, too, misses. Oops. ]

[beathollow]

( ... )

[fullmoonmutt]

[ what an ominous ellipsis ]

[chimken]

[ Falin is almost annoyed at first with the wide range of attack. She felt weakened herself but she's quick to act, holding her staff up and casting another round of Media to bolster the group.

Carefully, she weighs her options. It would be easier to get the lions out of the way first then do a more focused attack on Argenti. Holding her arm out, a ball of light forms as her Red Dragon appears behind her. She says "Bon Apetit!" as it swallows up one of the Lions, spitting it back out with light Bless Damage (14) ]

[bloodandstars]

[ Anubis is... okay. Symbolic. Kinda stylish. She doesn't hate it.

But did that persona just eat a whole monster???? Even temporarily????

Damn. ]

[cirquedesang]

[Unfortunately, in contrast to Kirumi's impulse to give Argenti a buff, Celeste elects to attack under the influence of the brainwash spell, casting a Maeiga for medium curse damage. Fortunately, with them running about, he misses Maika, Richard, and Fray (7, 3, 10), but does land a solid hit on Falin (16) before Fray's energy shower can take effect.]

[chimken]

[ Falin lets out a grunt before falling to her knees, quickly using Diarama on herself and taking in a few quick breaths. It wasn't the worst pain she'd been in but it certainly didn't feel great. ]