Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[vogelfrei]

[ HIS ROBOT.... Welp. Here go his chances of using the Exisal's strength to brute force climb up the cave walls instead...

McGillis just kind of looks down at his arms for a moment. His right arm is still... not good. It works fine in general life, but it gets shaky when he tries to grip something tightly and he has trouble raising it above his head. Surely that is... great for climbing.

And nevertheless. An attempt to ascend is being made. ]

[kandata]

[You get the terrible 1 roll, congrats.

McGillis seems to be targeted very intently! Did Monokuma sense that McGillis wasn't taken aback in a way Monokuma had hoped for, when he showed Kirumi's sins? Maybe.

An entire skeletons forms and starts climbing the thread McGillis is at. With a screen, it clamps its bony hands onto McGillis' leg, trying to tear to reach and cause grievous damage. The bones of the fingertips are sharpened, for some reason, and the weight is unnaturally heavy, for a skeleton.

Yeah, while some are accosted by varied bones, McGillis gets an entire skeleton to deal with]

[vogelfrei]

[ Well. THIS JUST FUCKING SUCKS.

McGillis is barely any way up the thread and already... already his leg is bleeding heavily! Great!! Neat!!

He tries to cast a Garudyne on the skeleton but the pain and concentration seem to distract him (9) - so he at least tosses a Dia at himself to... uh, heal his leg up in the middle of getting shredded some more. Better something than nothing. ]

[imperiosity]

[McGillis this is why you don't shrimp your way through palaces!!

He will toss a Dia over... I'd say subtly but his Persona is a woman riding on a giant phoenix so uh.

the skeleton can have a Garula too, as a treat]

[kandata]

[A skeleton is powerless in the face of women riding phoenixes, turns out. It didn't see coming at all the attack. The skeleton's skull falls down, wrecking a pile of bones that seemed to be angling for Aaron. Being helpful helped you this once, pal]

[imperiosity]

[you could say those bones got some head, huh]

Serves you right, asshole!

[kandata]

[no fishy i dont think i could say that]

[kandata]

[It's a good thing these skeletons don't even have as much power as even the weakest Shadows do. All they have is physical power, the Garudyne destroys the skeleton. Its hands, though, stay clinging to McGillis.

You got healed...but these hands, they insist in trying to climb upwards, even if it means using McGillis as a ladder. Can you imagine how utterly uncomfortable and unnerving it's to feel these sharp hands trying to ascend up your legs and towards your torso, while you're clinging to an extremely thin thread?

You have two failures! You'll be able to ascend to the next leg once you deal with this.]

[vogelfrei]

[ Between Aaron's much-appreciated (and slightly surprising) assist and his own efforts, McGillis is somewhat saved.

He attempts to kick the hand off his leg but fails to fully dislodge it (7), which means he now has skeleton figures cutting into his side. Ow.

Everything hurts. This palace SUCKS.

But after a well-placed Lunge (17) from Fenrir towards the hand, McGillis is finally free again and ascends to the second leg.

The true question is... can he go further? ]

[kandata]

[Oh, looks like he can go further indeed. Congrats, the roll for your ascent will give you a success.

What's going on on this leg for McGillis? The wall opens, revealing Monokuma]

By the way, you were cheating while you were fighting in the kitchen, weren't you? Not so tough when you're out of the tin can, I bet.

[Monokuma brandishes a frying pan]

This one goes for Irving's honor, cheater!

[Monokuma doesn't even bother to get Arven's name right while he attempts to hit McGillis right in the face with the frying pan. Once McGillis gets the satisfaction of Monokuma failing to get him, McGillis will be able to ascend to the third leg, with that one and one more to go]

[strawsandals]

[ From somewhere else: ]

It's Arven, you asshole!

[ Preemptive Diarama for McGillis, also! ]

[vogelfrei]

You're expecting fairness in murder?

[ Come on, Monokuma. He thought better of you. Especially because you can't even hit him.

Yoon's Diarama also does very well to prepare him for whatever the third leg has in store for him. His wounds from the skeleton run-in no longer impede him now. Let's ascend once more! ]

[kandata]

[He expects fairness only whne it's convenient for him!

Somehow, McGillis is proving not to be hopeless without his mecha, much for Monokuma's frustration. It's this frustration what makes Monokuma decide he had enough of McGillis.

From the edge of the pit, far above, Monokuma looms. McGillis is at the third leg, meaning there's this one and one more ahead, but Monokuma decides to use the big weapons]

Megidola.

[The dumbbell voice had warned Sayaka Monokuma is powerful, but this is proof of that. The purple, almighty energy descends towards McGillis, intending to fry him! Good luck rolling!]

[vogelfrei]

[ So. Here's the thing. McGillis fully realizes that he is clinging to a very mobile thin line right now. When Monokuma readies his attack, McGillis leverages his body weight and sends the thread swinging - managing to completely escape the blast by a hair's breadth (20).

Sucks to suck, Monokuma!

McGillis is absolutely going to try and ascend the fourth leg as well. ]

[kandata]

No no no no!

[Okay, he's pissed off! McGillis is swinging around wonderfully, avoiding the almighty attacks, and Monokuma is fed up with several of you already. He slams his claws onto the stone bricks of the pit and, with a shout of wrath, dislodges several blocks as big as McGillis' head, holding them aloft.

He piled them, so when he throws them, the blocks would all cover several spots at once, intending to stop McGillis from doing more fanciful swinging!

I can't believe it, it didn't work. Monokuma is losing points so fast this phase. The blocks, form a pattern McGillis will be able to see. Against anyone else this would be effective...but it will prove powerless against someone as trained as McGillis! He'll be able to get to the edge of the pit safely]

[vogelfrei]

[ God. He's made it.

Unless there are any dramatic dangers here, McGillis is going to take a moment to just... breathe. This was pretty stressful even with how fortunate he was in terms of obstacles faced.

But then, he's going to peer back down to see if he can send Fenrir to help anybody else fend off attacks. ]