|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:02 pm
 ~::The Workshop of the Damned - Dr. Rokuro Mogami's Palace (Metaverse)::~The Workshop of the Damned is an almost uncomfortably sterile and high-tech laboratory that descends deep beneath the surface of the Metaverse; all throughout the halls of the laboratory, however, shamble undead things and creatures which bar the path of those who wish to reach the heart of the workshop and discover the source of Rokuro Mogami's distortion. Appearing in place of the Tokyo Metro Hospital when crossing over into the Metaverse, it can be accessed via the keywords "Rokuro Mogami", "Tokyo Metro Hospital", and "???" or "???". Outside the hospital, the city surrounding it is surprisingly gray and monotone, but otherwise looks much like Tokyo as it would be. But instead of a hospital where Tokyo Metro stands, there is a plain stone building with no signs or insignia to give away what may lay within...it is suspiciously plain, with only dim lights visible from the outside...and yet it is large, extending deep beneath the streets in a web from the central elevator. Pure, sterile white walls line each level, with an increasing infestation of undead things the further you descend...many paths branch, and with no signs to tell the uninitiated where to go, you may be forced to follow your nose to find your way forward. This is the distortion of Dr. Rokuro Mogami, whose career as a medical practitioner has become little more than a heartless, never ending experiment with the walking dead...the people of Japan, in other words...as his undead research materials.
The base level of the lab is plain, with white walls and sterile smells. There are 5 descending floors from there, each with their own challenges. The B1 Level was a barracks for researchers and subjects prior to experimentation. Anyone is permitted there. B2 Level was a basic examination level for low-interest subjects, a general population floor filled with a vast number of undead things...again, reaching the level is easy. But beyond B2 there are items required to advance through clearance. B3 requires a 'Storage Level' clearance, and has 3 wings: Cold Storage for storing viruses, vaccines, and other drugs. Mixing Room for the examination of viruses, vaccines, and materials before mixing to create new medical materials. And the Morgue for the disposal of failed experimentation subjects. To reach B4 requires 'Special Level' clearance; this floor is for Top Secret projects alone and contains the most successful...and deadly...experiments produced by the Lab. And B5 requires 'Project Head' Clearance. This contains a single observation level...bleachers separated by plexiglass from an operation room with a single bed at the center, a place for the Project Head to show off his latest experiments and procedures for those deemed worthy to learn directly from him. Beyond the operation room is a single remaining room, a small office...the 'Project Director's Office'...and it is likely that therein will lay the treasure.
...To change the heart of this twisted man, this is where you must go. Society, and Tamao Uehara, a desperate young woman in need of change, await your victory...
Can you take this heart?!Quote: -Only Levels 1, B1, and B2 are currently available due to missing ID Cards! To access lower levels you must find keycards!-
*~The Treasure Has Not Manifested. No Path to Treasure Secured. No Calling Card has been sent.~*
NOTE: Palaces or areas within the Metaverse are only accessible using the keywords for each specific Palace and its ruler. After the core, or treasure, of a Palace has been taken, that Palace will crumble and cease to exist, making it inaccessible forever. Thus, a Palace is a temporary space within the Metaverse patrolled by shadows, and lorded over by a ruler until a Phantom Thief might steal their heart. In addition, some areas may require a change of cognition in the real world in order to be accessed, and some treasures can only be accessed after sending a calling card to force it to manifest.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:47 pm
[12/14 - After School] [Outside the Palace]  Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 7:13 am
[12/14 - After School, Tokyo Metro Hospital]  
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."As promised by the principal, it wasn't a tremendously long walk from the Hotel to the Hospital where their target worked, and with the number of people coming and going from the large facility and passing by on the busy streets of Shibuya, there were few, if any people who would give a small group like their own a second glance. But if they wanted to get inside of the Palace unseen they were going to need a little bit of cover to do so, which meant finding a spot just around the corner from the outpatient entrance, the least-watched area aside from a few windows upstairs who probably had more important things to view than the people outside on the ground level below. Quickly flipping open their phones as they got there, Saji's mind was already a whir of ideas and potential keywords by the time that they made the garage across the street...with more than a few having been tested by the time they got to the spot where they planned to make their entrance. Meanwhile Kaede had already considered a few options; Shiori was almost certainly on the right path already, what with the lack of respect for lie the doctor's reputation seemed to reflect. They already had the location and the man...now all they needed was the distortion and/or what it represented to him. Waiting until the team had fully gathered, he was about to take charge when the younger, ashen-haired team took care of that for him.
"When we were back at the Hotel, Kuzuyama-sensei said something about a former co-worker who testified that Mogami views everyone around him as the living dead," Saji mused quietly, leaning back against the a pillar as he considered what that might mean, "Maybe his distortion is...a morgue?" It didn't take but a moment for the phone to return to him an answer.
"...No match found..."
He swore under his breath. Kaede considered the evidence and gave it another moment of thought.
"He's a man who will take any request, do any procedure. If the complaints online are to be believed, he has little regard for human life," the older man folded his arm under his other as his fingers touched his chin, "Consider that his life's work used to be research into how to extend human life; yet now he holds so little regard for life that he doesn't even care if he hurts his patients. The hospital where he worked to help people has become something twisted...something of a testing ground..."
"...No match found..."
"I've got it!" Saji smirked suddenly, snapping his fingers as he glanced at his companions with all the confidence that they would have come to the same conclusion as he had, "If his patients are just his test subjects...undead raw material or whatever...then what this hospital is to him should be obvious. Right, Shiori, Chell?" He looked at her expectantly. All that was left now was to make the call with style. Phantom Thief Style.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2017 8:56 pm
[12/14 - After School] [Outside the Palace] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" "Well it's probably not a graveyard..." Shiori noted, thinking over the many terms that might be used in a situation like this. Exact connotation could be more important than many people realized, especially when you considered how important their personal views seemed to be to the formation of palaces. So, some kind of factory, perhaps, or a laboratory or experimentation ground...
As she thought, Shiori idly put a hand on some of the things she'd managed to pick up in the last Palace. Odd... relics, they might be called, out of place but quite useful overall. Having some tools was comforting - and more importantly, they helped her really get into the role. What was a phantom thief without a few gadgets? The axe was kind of funny, actually, but the weird gem was better for putting on a show...
Ah, but she was getting sidetracked. They needed to focus on finding the right keyword.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:50 am
[12/14 - After School, Tokyo Metro Hospital]
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."They were definitely on the right track now; their adult teammate smirked proudly as they poured over the details that they knew and began to whittle out the wrong answers, narrowing their field of vision until at last, the ash-haired artist was convinced that the had found the right one. Turning to his teammates for confirmation, the teen smirked and hummed in assent as Shiori ruled out a graveyard. Sure, someone like the doctor might view people as undead or raw materials, but it was hardly the place for the twisted sorts of ambitions that he likely held still locked somewhere within his heart. Having come to his own conclusions, Kaede remained silent and watched...had kids this bright and promising always been going to Kosei Academy the last couple of years, right under his nose? He was aware of them as students and the reputations that they had been given, but as the Principal he hadn't been able to see past that to the immense talent that they possessed now that he saw them. It made him wonder...what else was his missing, overlooking, because of his distraction in exile and his preconceived notions? Something told him if he kept his eyes on this team, these kids, he would find the answers.
"No, not a graveyard," Saji nodded with a smirk in return to his pinkish-haired companion, looking down at the MetaNav with a confident expression settling across his soft features, "Are you guys ready?" He asked, but he already knew the answer inside his heart. They had come here for a reason, and they had come here with determination to do something right, something just, to change the world one heart at a time. They were the Phantom Thieves now; this was what they did!
"Be ready," the principal warned them, picking up the Metaverse Communication Gear that he had brought with him in the trunk of his car...making sure that it wasn't left behind in the real world without them when they made the transition, "Mogami's cognition will be much different from Ogasawara's. We don't know what we're walking into..." It was a simple idea, and yet very important at the same time. Saji nodded, hand tightening around his phone for just a moment.
"Tama-chan...I'll save you," his blue eyes burned with determination, a passion much different from his easygoing nature, "Dr. Rokuro Mogami...Tokyo Metro Hospital...secret laboratory."
The phones on each member of the team buzzed. A mechanical voice filled the air around them.
"...Target found. Beginning navigation..."
...
The world seemed to twist and melt, the ground falling away around them.
...
And soon, the world had changed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:35 pm
Tamao Uehara
She wasn't even sure why she had written that desperate post in that blog. Did she actually believed the Phantom Thieves would come and save her? Tamao wasn't actually sure. It was like a dumb dream, asking help from some mythical heroes from the internet... it sounded childish, even. And yet...she had done so in a moment of desperation and helplessness that morning, just after getting the news from her mother that she would visit the doctor that afternoon to make sure everything was in order.
She had protested, she had tried making her mother see this wasn't what she wanted. And then... she was reminded all her mother had ever done for her, that her mother sacrificed so much for her, and that it was her duty as a daughter to obey. So the teen had only lowered her gaze and said nothing, even if her chest felt like exploding.
Even now, she felt the knot in her stomach. A sigh escaped her lips as she pushed herself away from the wall outside the doctor's office, where her mother was making some things clear -funny how it was she wasn't even needed inside...considering it was her life and her body being discussed inside there. The thought made her sick, and Tamao turned away, walking towards the window. A small distraction...if that was even possible. She wondered... if she were to fall from this height, would it all be over?
She shook the dark thoughts away from her mind, her eyebrows knitting together when she saw a small group walking into the hospital, not using the front door like everybody else. What was most strange though, was the white haired guy leading the group. Saji... What was he even doing here? Was he in trouble? Was he hurt?
Not really thinking about it, the teen model stepped away from the window, and made a beeline to the stairs, climbing down two stairs at a time. Her heart raced against her chest, and her head spun a little, as her weakened body protested against the exertion. Still, she reached the first floor, and as her fingers touched the heavy door, she heard her childhood's friend distinct voice on the other side...even if she didn't catch what he said.
A strange feeling washed over her then. Like a cold bucket of water falling over her head... like a roller coaster making her sick...as if the floor was pulled from under her feet.
It was only a second... and the brunette shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, pushing the door open, hoping to see Saji and company there.
What she found was something entirely different.
"H-huh? What...is this...place?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:46 pm
[12/14 - After School] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" "Da-" Shiori cut herself off before she said an unladylike word. She did, however, duck her head down a bit as she heard another voice - for what little help with the disguise that was worth. Aside from that... a secret laboratory, huh?
How twisted was that? Doctors were supposed to help people with the many problems that plagued them, not treat them as disposable subjects they could do anything they wanted to. Anybody who twisted and abused the special position they were in... a position where children were brought to receive help... oh yes. Oh ho ho ho yes. This was one of the reasons she'd decided to stick around with this team, and to work to change the hearts that needed to be brought back to a more sensible place.
Part of that may have been her own experiences talking. She was used to figures in positions of power abusing that to do what they wanted to other people's bodies... to her body. It wasn't quite the same as sticking an injection in a child to see what happened, but in the end, she might not have been so different from the victims of this monster.
"...You're the one who asked us to come here. Got a plan, Soma?" she asked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:18 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - Entrance/1st Level]  
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."It was still something that took some getting used to, feeling the world shift and change into something different when traversing from the real world into the Metaverse. The first time Saji had been unceremoniously dumped on his a** on the cobblestone walk before the gate of Ogasawara's twisted mansion. This time, however, he landed in a half-crouch upon the blackstop street leading up towards what was once the hospital...now it stood eerily quiet and unassumingly bland, a brick building with nothing but dim lights on its single floor and pasty white walls beyond the glass front door that stood before them. It could have been any building on any street in all of Tokyo for the utter blandness of it, but that's what made it all the more suspicious. The hospital stood tall, bright, and always somewhat busy with the coming and going of the sick and wounded, but this was utterly quiet...and from the front the sterile smells of drugs and cleaning already filled the air. Yet that wasn't the only thing in the air tonight...a faint ripeness, a subtle but unpleasant note, drifted along as well...and that the team could sense both of them was both interesting and alarming. This was definitely not a normal building, and it definitely wasn't the Tokyo Metro Hospital anymore. This was a lab, the doctor's lab...a place where a healer's twisted desires reflected his utter disinterest in helping people anymore. This was where they needed to go in order to help Tama-chan, and as he stood to his height and shifted in his freshly-transformed costume, he glanced back at the team, ready to go.
"The Metaverse Communications Gear is up and running," Zen spoke calmly from behind the group, already having set down and begun to activate his gear to help guide the group on their investigation within the lab. He, too, had transformed, but he wasn't a persona-user like the rest of them. Going inside was impossible for him in the way that it was possible for the others, but Kaede would do his part as best he could. It would be up to Shiori, Chell, and Saji to get the job done once they were inside. Securing a route, locating the treasure, and getting out so that they could send the calling card for the Heist the next day. That was how it worked the first time, and if they didn't want to run into any unforeseen complications, that's how they would want to keep doing it, he assumed. It was time to get to work. "Codenames only from here on. ...Marvel's right. Soma, are you ready?" All eyes turned to the one who had asked them on this mission. And now that they were here, he couldn't run from this...he had to attack it head-on, together with his friends.
Soma adjusted his scarf and let his lips curl into a faint smirk, drawing out his segmented blade smoothly.
"I was thinking we go in...find the treasure...and steal it," he answered simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. If they were looking for something more complex than that right now, it was a bit early. Inside there was likely to be all sorts of security, but they had no choice right now but to go in and find out for themselves. Zen would keep an eye out for ambushes from here. Between the three of them on the inside, they would have to figure out how to handle whatever came for them. "Let's go inside for now and scout it out a bit. We don't know what's in there, but if we work together, I know we can handle it. And I want to go as far as I can today."
He nodded at the duo fighting alongside him, and then locked eyes with their support. Offering a nod of support as he held the microphone and earphone to his ear as he tested the Comm Gear, he raised a thumb to let them know that he was ready on his end.
"Go as far as you feel you can, but if you get overwhelmed, don't hesitate to pull back," he assured them, doing his best to look confident and strong in spite of the growing feeling of unease at having to leave the most dangerous parts of this to the kids, "Good luck, everyone."
...And with that final bit of encouragement, the ashen-haired Phantom Thief smiled in return, before turning and pushing the glass doors of the lab open, leading the team inside of the first level without any further hesitation.
...
On the inside of the first level it was entirely empty; white walls, a front desk with an empty wooden chair, and on one side of the room a set of steel doors leading into an elevator with only one button on the wall...down. But more than anything, the overwhelming sterile smells...like alcohol, used to rub down the skin before a needle pierced the skin...it was like a prelude to pain. Saji glanced around the lobby as if waiting for the trick that was yet to come, but nothing wandered down the halls or jumped out of the ceiling. It was...too quiet, unsettling. Moving through the area, Soma came to rest in front of the elevator...the only thing in the entire lobby that stood out from the normal. Tapping his foot, he considered whether or not to push the button...he should, right? There was nothing else to do. But why did it feel almost for certain that they were walking into something awful?
"...No guts no glory, right?" he glanced over his shoulder with an almost sheepish smile...and pressed the button, no questions asked. It filled the lobby with a metallic 'Ding!' that was louder in the silence of the empty halls. Before they knew it, the doors slid open revealing a white-wooden box with six buttons and a card-reader right under the panel. Each button in the elevator read '1', 'B1', 'B2', 'B3', 'B4', and 'B5'. It seemed they were currently on Level 1. That meant that the next floor down was... "Going down...let's start on B1." Waiting for his teammates to file into the elevator with him, he pressed the button and let the doors close around them. This wasn't a trap...probably. Almost certainly. ...Right?
A female voice came over the PA as the elevator came to a stop. The doors hummed as they slowly slid open, and replacing the sterile smells from the upstairs room, suddenly, a creeping, gagging rot slowly filled their nostrils...
"B1 - Employee and Inpatient Barracks Level. ...Warning, B1 is...Contaminated...Biohazard Threat Level: Yellow! Be advised, Biohazard Threat Level: Yellow."
...
Well, that was promising...
"...Biohazard, huh?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:37 pm
[12/14 - After School] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" "Yyyyyyup." Shiori muttered, wrinkling her nose at the smells as they looked at the first level. It was... well, a nice way of putting it was that it definitely wasn't going to pass any kind of cleanliness inspection. More accurately, quite a few of the walls were covered in what could only be described as the remnants of previous experiments, and since the test subjects were human... her stomach heaved a bit, and she winced as she fought down the urge to vomit. This wasn't a real place... but it was the kind of world one man who called himself a doctor saw.
The immediate entry area was something of a welcome zone, of course, with doors that headed further in. Moving carefully, Shiori made her way around the room and poked her head into two of the waiting rooms off to the side. At the second one, she whipped her head out much faster than before, looking even paler. "...I don't like this man." she said quietly. He saw children as experiments. So what, then, did he see mothers as? Well, nothing she wanted anyone else to be looking at.
"So the first thing we should do... try to find a map, I guess?" she suggested. "Labs usually have that kind of thing, right? If we can find out where the most important places are..." the sooner they got this done and got out of this hellhouse, the better. With that, she pulled off her hat and rummaged inside of it, pulling out an axe that she hefted onto her shoulder in case she needed to bust a door down.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:04 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - B1]
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!...""Soma, Marvel...this is Zen, can you hear me?" a voice came over the intercom after the warning on the PA alerted them to the dangers they could find on this floor. Looking up, almost as if he thought he might see their support member's face overhead talking to them as he spoke, Soma nodded (despite that he couldn't been seen) in return. Fortunately, Zen got the point and kept speaking anyway. "From what I can gather using the Support Gear, there are 5 Underground Levels in this Lab; you're on the first one. I don't imagine getting to the lower levels will be as easy as the first, however. Marvel has the right idea for now. Find a map and maybe it will tell you how you can reach the lower levels of the lab." It was a simple plan, but it made as much sense as anything else. If they knew how to get to the lower levels, then they would be able to get to the treasure more easily...and that was the entire point of the venture. Before he left them alone, however, his voice broke through again. "Also, I heard the warning over the PA. Be on guard...I'm not sure where exactly, but I can definitely sense shadows."
Well, there wasn't any doubt about that, right?
"Got it. Thanks, Zen," the ashen-haired teen nodded and smirked in response, but the expression was fairly forced when he took a look around the level and saw much of the same gore and grime that his companion was discovering right now. Blood, remnants of failed experiments, and this was only the barracks...what did the lower levels look like if this was the case up here? He followed the form of his female teammate as she peeked into a room and reeled back almost immediately, not intent on searching through there any further. Saji decided not to explore it himself and glanced down a long hallway filled with unlocked doors, smears on the walls, and the scent of sterile medicines and what could only be described as death. And it was quiet. Too quiet. He glanced into a room on the left and saw inside a corpse strapped into a bed, a look of horror etched upon his face and a gaping wound upon his neck that had bled out onto the floor. Saji shuddered...and he tried to forget the bolt sticking out of the 'patient's' neck on the other side and the stitches along his bare, gray-skinned chest. This place was truly Hellish. "There should be a map somewhere on this floor. Marvel, should we split up and look for it?" he asked, suggesting that they might cover more ground if they did. The other logic behind it was that this being the first floor, they were less likely to encounter stronger enemies here...and time was of the essence. Splitting up later would likely be a death sentence, but here there was a chance they might survive it...if the first Palace they were in was anything to go by.
He let the suggestion linger and peered into another door; down the hall he heard something and quickly pulled his head back out, the echoes of shuffling...of something like a windy gasp...or a wheeze...reached him. And a chill rolled down his spine just as the lights in the hallway flickered. Oh, he really didn't like this...
...
As the Phantom Thieves looked down the hall, the layout of the B1 Level began to clear up; there were 7 doors on either side of the Hall, and the first two on either side had already been examined. Inside each of the rooms was a bed; the left side of the hall was set aside for employees who lived on sight or were staying overnight. On the right side there were rooms for inpatients who were undergoing lesser-priority experiments. Those were the rooms like the one that Saji had seen the wounded, dead body strapped to the bed. The employee rooms were a little nicer, but unlocked now, they were subject to the carnage as well. Each room had a dresser by the bed, and a tall boudoir for clothes. There were no windows. The closets were small and bare. The beds were simple, but mostly unmade now...or worse. And at the end of the long hall with the white, stained walls and flickering lights, there were a double doors...locked tight and bolted with a chain. Above the double doors was a sign reading 'Cafeteria'. And the further they progressed towards that door, the stronger the smell of rot grew...and the sound of distant shuffling, a muffled moan?...grew louder, more distinct.
"Why do I get the feeling the map we're looking for is behind those double doors?" Soma felt his lips curl ruefully, stepping up to the third door on the patient's side and pushing it open slowly, poking his head inside to survey for something useful, "...Nothing in here except some old, broken equipment. Your side?" He moved on to the 4th door, and progressed down the hall like that slowly...inching ever-closer to the double doors. As they moved closer, a Small Vent appeared up and to the right of the cafeteria door, large enough for One Person to fit inside. Thinking back to the Hunter's Quarry, he remembered a pass like that during their escape to which he had lifted Shiori. She could likely reach that one with his help as well, but that would mean she'd go in alone and try to approach the room solo, using stealth. Or they could cut the chains and bust into the room together, guns-blazing.
...The 7th Patient Room turned up nothing of value. If the others searched the other side, that left only the Cafeteria, as he had feared. The choice was upon them now.
"...Marvel, what do you think?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:19 pm
[12/14 - After School] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" Shiori was less alone than some might have thought, and she pet the pale blue shark that briefly appeared in the air around her as she advanced on her own side. For her part, however, she was mostly giving each room a brief once-over, and the more she saw, the more it seemed like this place was just somewhere for people to wait until it was their turn to be experimented on. And they were expected to be obedient about it, too, by the look of things... frowning a bit, she picked up what looked like some kind of instruction for people who were waiting, telling them that they'd wait two, four, ten, even twenty-four hours, in one room, if they were told to. All for the sake of experiments, apparently.
"I think this guy needs to have a change of heart as soon as possible. Real people will get hurt every day we wait." she said, voice a bit sour. She shook her head a moment later, listening to Saji's description of the area and what their options might be. "Okay, but more seriously now... no maps yet. For now, if we're not sure an area is clear, we should probably work together. How about I boost you up to that vent, then bust open the main door and distract anything inside while you get the drop on them once they're focused on me?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:53 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - B1]
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."If their first run through a Palace was anything to go by, then it was safe to say that Saji had learned a bit about each of his companions and the abilities that they had when it came to this whole 'Phantom Thief' thing; he had a keen eye for details and was able to pick out things in the environment that they could use against their enemies. Chell's skill was definitely very...uniquely Chell, he couldn't help but smirk as he remembered it. But when it came to reaching high places or getting into vents like the one above the door, the only one with the agility and limberness to get up there and squeeze through was Shiori. Back during the escape in the Hunter's Quarry the ledge they had reached was a much larger, much more open space, so the three of them had all been able to fit...but this vent was only going to be able to fit one of them with its size. Feeling a little bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck, the ashen-haired thief smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders, looking up at the vent after a beat before moving to the wall and turning his back to it.
"I don't think I can reach it," he admitted, cupping his hands like he had back in Ogasawara's Palace and nodding up at the vent and then back to Shiori, "I'll boost you. Don't jump down until I've got whatever is inside's attention." He waited for confirmation from the girl...and then with a quick run and a boost from the taller young man's arms lifted her into the vent in one smooth motion. Waiting until his companion had disappeared into the hole, Soma shared a nod with his other companion and moved to the large double doors, taking a deep breath before coughing in disgust. The stench of rot was so thick here he could almost taste it...and it was absolutely horrid. He really didn't want to go in there, but if they were going to find a map, it was almost certain now it was going to be inside.
"Soma, King...I can sense enemies behind that door. Be ready when you break it open," a voice warned through their ear buds, and the teen nodded in response once again. A sigh escaped him; they couldn't avoid this, so it was time to rip off the bandage. Drawing out his weapon, he spotted the chain on the door and knew that with the right leverage in his swing he could break it open and let the door swing open with it. He let the moment breathe...and stepped forward. "Marvel is just about through. Now is the time!"
He brought his blade down and shattered the chain, the double doors swinging open, outward towards them with a surprising force! And when they opened, the reason why they burst the way that they had was clear.
Zombies! No, shadows! Their flesh was black inside, but on the outside it was rotting and stunk unbelievably! Dripping, ripping away from what looked almost like bones, they moaned and lunged out at the duo beyond the doors, gnashing their mangled jaws and cracked teeth in an attempt to get a bite! Three of them rushed both Soma and King, and three more lumbered slowly behind them. It was an ambush! A small horde! And yet none of them had noticed Shiori slip in the vent behind them, giving the team an opportunity to catch them by surprise in a counter-ambush! Leaping back away from the horde's first attack, Saji landed smoothly and reached up to his X-shaped mask, fingers curling around the edges. He wasn't going to waste time with his blade on these ones; it had been too long since his persona had gotten the chance to stretch his legs. As he tore the mask away, he felt a rush of power and blue flames all around him! His body suddenly gushed with power, feeling more durable and quicker all at once, and it made him smirk with renewed confidence. His voice echoed in the halls as he embraced the first challenge of this new mission. This was for Tama-chan!
"Zombies! Why did it have to be zombies?" Saji bemoaned as he called upon his persona, the spirit rising up behind him with a few notes from the persona's flute, "Scaramouche, thin 'em out! Makouga!" Light damage on zombies seemed natural, didn't it? Spikes of pure light pierced the first three zombies and stumbled them slowly backwards, having clearly done a bit of damage right from the off. Saji drew his weapon and prepared for the coming rush of retaliation. It was time to get dangerous.
"Six enemies...they're immune to Dark!" Zen's voice echoed in their ears a moment later, warning the others as best he could. They closed in on the duo slowly, but surely...unaware of what lay now behind them. Or whom...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:07 pm
[12/14 - After School] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" Shiori was actually hanging onto the inside ledge as the door was smashed open, looking down at the shadows inside the chamber as their team sprung an ambush on the horde of shadows. If they'd been immune to Psy damage, her options would have been rather more limited... but she knew exactly what to do for large groups of enemies she could hurt.
"Medb! Bring them down!" Shiori ordered as blue fire flickered around the edges of her mask - and her Persona appeared in the air beside her, looking faintly disgusted by the Shadows before sending a burst of psychic energy - via Mapsiodyne - rippling through them. As that happened, Shiori had a brief moment of concern... in fiction, undead were often resistant to mental abilities because they didn't really HAVE brains, but maybe her power was a little more telekinetic as well as telepathic, because it managed to deal some fairly decent damage. It did not, however, annihilate the group outright... but it did take down the three that Saji had already damaged, and left the rest wounded enough for a solid followup. "...Eh, close enough. King! Soma! They're all yours!" Shiori said, letting go of the vent and dropping down to the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:12 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - B1]
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."It wasn't something he'd ever had occasion to tell his friends about, but when it came to zombies...Saji wasn't exactly the best at dealing with them. At least in movies, he always found them creepy, scary without inspiring unimaginable terror. Seeing a horde of the real thing suddenly shambling at him had certainly sent a shock through his system, but seeing the damage that his light magic had done to them was a good start in easing his nerves. Yet there was still a little remaining...until Shiori's sneak attack finally launched, the Psychic damage from her perch behind them literally exploding the heads of the three leading the pack and stumbling the ones behind them. It was true that psychic status effects would likely prove ineffective against these types of shadows, but fortunately, the raw damage of her mental assault had more than done the intended effect. And with divided attention for the already mentally-disabled enemies, it was much easier for the ash-haired persona-user to take advantage of Shiori's distraction to dive back into the fray! As the trio that remained turned, he took advnatage of the situation to rush forward and drew his blade, segments extending as he whipped it with a metallic crack across the back of the first enemy, the force causing it to stumble pathetically forward onto its face...a critical hit! He smirked as the opportunity for 1 More! presented itself and let the segments of his blade retract, spinning in close to cut the tendons of the back of the knee on the second zombie...another critical attack that brought it down to its knees as well! That left him 1-on-1 with the last remaining zombie, and his roll of motion brought him face-to-face with the object of his fears. Feeling a sudden shock to his chest, he recovered admirably when it lunged forward at him...and reaching out with a kick, he caught the zombie in the chest and sent it tumbling over backwards!
Three in a row! He leaped back and cracked his knuckles, humming in amusement as the three zombies thrashed helplessly on the ground and his teammates surrounded them! They all knew what time it was now...!
"All enemies down! Soma, cue the band!" Zen smirked on the other end of the comms, and the artist didn't need to be told twice.
"Let's put on the finishing touch!" he called out as he leaped into the air...and behind him, each of his teammates would join in, a cloud of dust emerging around their foe as redness filled the air, streaks of color, steel, and shrieks of the enemies and the sounds of combat echoing loudly as the All-Out Attack commenced! Caught up in such a whirlwind of attack, the zombies really had no prayer of survival; soon, the lithe form of the tall artist fell from the sky at a distance from his motionless enemies, a wall of bricks landing, forming one after the other in front of him...in his hands a spray-paint can suddenly hissed to life as an ugly bunny and a quotation left their mark upon the wall and at last, the artist nodded and smirked in approval, glancing back over his shoulder (at the hard game), eye flashing in amusement as time seemed to stop for that one brief moment. 'The Finishing Touch' one part of the wall read, and another, 'The Writing is on the Wall!' And as time seemed to freeze, suddenly, black blood burst forth from the necks of the enemy shadows! And in that moment the battle was complete.
...
Brushing his hands clean of any grime from the battle, Saji smiled faintly, grateful for the combat to have come to such a swift and decisive close. His breath escaped him in a sigh as each of the members of the team could hear words of praise from their support in their ears. One battle was done, but the night was still young and the Palace had a lot more secrets left to offer before they were done. And now that the battle was over they could see the full inside of the cafeteria, the mess that had been made inside...the spilled food, the mess of human remains, destroyed tables, and a pile of forgotten supplies in one corner where the 'survivors' likely had holed up against the mad creations of the doctor...before finally succumbing to whatever infection had managed to sneak inside of their hiding place. Whatever happened here was more than just nasty experiments...it had gone terribly wrong for everyone involved. And if the Doctor was still in here performing his experiments on a lower level...then it was likely he didn't even care. What kind of a man were they dealing with, after all?
"I know it's a lot to take in," the voice in their ears comforted them calmly, not seeing everything from where he was but sensing enough to get the picture that it wasn't pretty, "But you need to focus on the task at hand and remember that this isn't the real world. The shadows you encounter weren't real people...but real people might be seriously hurt if we don't stop Mogami while we can. Look around the room and find that map if you can. We need to know what's on the lower levels, and if you can get that map, I should be able to form a better picture of this Palace using the MetaGear." It was a short message, things they already knew, but the reminder was enough to put Saji back in the right frame of mind to ignore the sad scene in front of them and focus on what needed to be done. Looking at Shiori and Chell, he nodded at the pile of discarded junk in the back as it looked like the most likely spot to find what they were looking for.
"I'll check the bodies for anything useful," he told them, taking on the grimmest task...throwing himself into the grimy thick of it because he knew that he needed to get used to this if they were going to clear this whole Palace, "You two search the supplies for the map...and anything else useful."Quote: Shiori OR Chell may roll 1-20 when searching the pile!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rednal generated a random number between
1 and 20 ...
9!
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 1:49 pm
[12/14 - After School] Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel" "Oh boy, all kinds of junk." Shiori said, heading over to the pile and starting to toss the things that were definitely junk aside. Some people might have asked if that was really the right job for a girl to be doing... but those people hadn't seen her lugging things around for some of the many art classes back at Kosei. Her athleticism wasn't limited entirely to high jumping, after all, or even marathon running... she was quite capable of lifting and carrying moderately heavy items when need be.
She did, however, end up tossing quite a few pieces of junk away, including what looked like containers of experimental nutrient foods and tubes marked only with numbers. Most of the packaging was cheap plastic, with an emphasis on 'cheap' - there didn't seem to be any consideration at all for the environment or even proper recycling, just whatever could get the job done in the most affordable manner. This... definitely didn't seem to be a man who cared too much about the process of what he was doing. "Let's see, we've got..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
