Field Mission 5: Il Prigioniero, Part 2

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Once you sacrifice something here, you don't get it back. NAVIGATION Click here for the RNG thread! 1. THE MANAGER'S CHALLENGE A. MEET THE BOSS Once upon a time, there was a man, a woman, and a little boy. They were a family. They loved each other very much. Once upon a time, there was a monster, a protector, and a dreamer. They never asked to be a family. One by one, they fell under the pressures of each other. There are always layers to any story. There are at least two sides to any reality. When a man kills his wife with no consequences, what is the end of the story? Will the universe allow such an unhappy ending? Or are there forces that drag it on long past its natural span? With a single act of resistance, four Reclaimers have Remembered and thereby broken the cycle of the Night Show. But this isn't the end. This is barely the middle. Because the Wonderland you've seen so far is a layer of new pink skin over an ugly infection, one that goes deeper than anything the Bureau has seen so far. You can see what's underneath, now, as the theme park is whipped away in an implosion of void-space to show you . . . Emptiness. A space that is no space, blank and white in all directions. Free of gravity, every Reclaimer in the park — and, shockingly, Angus McDonald — is held in place with hands cupped and outstretched in front of them, all facing the same way. They cannot move. They cannot speak. They are the audience. Before them stands a man. Slim, tall, nondescript. He wears a bow-tie with a pattern of Rolands on it. And he is smiling. "Welcome to my Wonderland! My name is Adrian Morgenstern, and I am the Manager. It's a pleasure to meet you. Each and every one of you have had a very interesting effect on my Wonderland in my absence. Some more than others, and at greater cost to yourselves — but I encourage individual choice in Wonderland, and ownership of personal consequences. Suffering is a part of life. It builds character. "So, I am proud of you. So proud, in fact, that I've decided to bring you all backstage. You kept trying to see behind the curtain, didn't you? You'll really enjoy it. There is a great deal to do, so much to explore, and so many games to play. Every second you breathe in Wonderland is a game with stratospheric stakes. You're very brave to take the risk. "And to make things more interesting, I have set up a very special game for you little detectives, who so love to stick their noses into strange secret corners. I challenge you to a Scavenger Hunt. You accept, because you have no choice. Here is what you must gather: "The vacant bodies of Leonardo da Vinci, Minato Arisato, and Henrik Merryweather. The people who have been lured here after your carelessness shattered their livelihood. Have you located them all already? Or did you miss a few? Ten lost little elves, misled and apprehended. And, lastly— "My son. Bring me my son. Bring Niel to me, and I will give you the Compact." There's a crack in the facade. A literal crack; something in the structure of his face is off suddenly, like something has fractured and slid. One cheekbone higher than the other, a hairline fracture underneath his eye. You blink, and it's fixed. His smile is wide, but his face is whole. Suddenly, in each Reclaimer's outstretched hands (and in Angus's), there is a single three-sided die. On each side is written a word: BODY, MIND, or SPIRIT. "Don't lose these, now! These are your cheat codes. If you find yourself struggling with the scavenger hunt and in need of a little help, you can play a little game of chance to give Wonderland something of yours. It won't take anything that will kill you, don't worry. But it will take things that matter, and it won't give them back. "One more thing, and then I'll let you go. I've given you some cheats, but in order to keep you from finishing the game too quickly, I'm taking something away, too. Everyone, please take good care of yourselves while you're here. You're all precious cargo. And there's no healing in Wonderland." He winks. And blinks out of existence. And suddenly, the nonspace you occupied is gone, and you are Somewhere Else. Back to top 2. WONDERLAND, UNDER THE SKIN B. THE ILLUSION COMES DOWN CW: Emetophobia, body horror, reality caving in on itself For a short time after Adrian leaves, everything is as it should be. Wonderland is Wonderland, but quiet and still aside from the background music. After a few breaths, heartbeats slowing, the music warps and bends like rotting wood, going further and further off key until it grinds. Clangs once, loudly, down to your bones, and halts. The world freezes in absolute silence. Then. A sizzling noise. Burning paper. The illusion starts to die. To your left, the floor peels up like it's made of paper, mist, waving like a mirage before your eyes. Colorful red velvet floors reveal dark green and glowing violet moss and fungus. Gold tile floors give way to ebony wood, gone rock solid in atrophy. Disease. A small black vine reaches from the floor towards you, towards Life, but withers and hardens before your eyes. You need to leave. To your right, a wall bleeds. Is it actually blood? Sap? The color seems to run away from your eyes - goldredwhiteyellowblackblackblack - covered with an iridescent sheen, an oil slick, pouring out and up and towards in ways that burn your eyes and soul. You need to leave. All around you, the Wonderland you've come to know burns like shadows in sunlight, or sunlight to shadow. The ceiling and walls and everything morphs to the inside of some unfathomably large tree. Roots and branches and gouged out holes, forming paths of the most non-ecludian sort. Some... things out of sight climb up and down in the darkness, looking for purchase, escape, travel. Far too many limbs, or none at all. You need to LEAVE. Not yet. You want to help. You need to help. You grab the nearest non-reclaimer - an elf, a visitor, someone - and they are both far too light and far too heavy. Stiff like wood in your hands. Their skin is gray, ashen, black veins in porcelain skin. Eyes gone solid black, they try to say something, but all that comes out is a spew of thick black tar - leaking from their eyes, ears, nose, vomit, cracks in their joints and once-flesh. The amorphous Black they just expelled pulses, then skitters down between the wood at your feet. You look at your skin. Your veins are too dark. Visible. Present. A weight builds in your heart, The Reclaimers (and Angus) can still move, bolt for what was once a cascade of colors, lights and joy. Now it's a gaping maw, jagged edges like splintered teeth around a hole like a cavity, sap like pus seeping out of the edges. The once-elevator now-branches bring you back to Shadowdale, covered in a charcoal smog that seems to smile at you from every angle. C. THE CAVALRY ARRIVES Lucretia, after receiving Sans' text about the current state of affairs within Wonderland, is faced with a decision that only she could make. Years ago, she came upon this place and lost decades of her life, all in an attempt to stop the mechanations of this horrific landscape. Her biggest failure, a thorn in her pride, she assembled the Bureau of Balance not long after her visit in order to take down places like this. People or things who obtain a power they should not have. She doesn't know why Wonderland is the way that it is, she can only guess that the Grand Relic has corrupted the World Tree down to its core. But more than that, more than the years she put onto her life for a wager of chess, more than the meticulous, maddening obsession she has with destroying every single one of these objects that threaten the world- her Reclaimers are here. Her Reclaimers. Against the judgment of most of her advisers and Moon Base employees, she grits her teeth and holds tight to her staff. Carey, Killian, and Lucretia descend upon the forests of the Cormanthor region. It takes them far, far too long to make it through the wilds. The forest can sense when someone is coming to destroy it, and thus, sends everything it can against them. Enchantment after enchantment gets flung their way, but she knows better. She's seen Wonderland before and she reckons that no one has ever visited this place twice. Arriving in Shadowdale, she looks up to see Yggdrasil in its sad, sorry state. Clasping her staff in place, finally here, she is resplendent in her detestation of this unholy place. A few of you might be there at the base of the tree when Wonderland transforms into its hellscape, and you might see her approaching, purposeful, as if every step is one of reclamation and poise. Angus McDonald looks upon her and tilts his head, trying to figure out what exactly it is that's going on. Lucretia warmly smiles at him. "Hello, Angus. I've heard much about you." "Ma'am?" But her attention is turned to another little boy, terrified otherwise. His face is darkened, sickly colors rooting through his veins and showing up against a pale skin. Niel. Ah, she remembers him, too. Her face gives no sign of anger, of fear, or resentment. "Don't worry, Niel. We'll free you from that monster." She doesn't renege on her promises. Lucretia slams her white oak staff on the ground and in an instant, a flash of brilliant luminescence fills all of Shadowdale, expelling the darkness that lingers around the corners of the sleeping town. She erects a magic dome from the center of her origin, expanding out from her as she concentrates on her magic. Lucretia's gifted in the arcane herself, you see, and a giant Globe of Invulnerability spell now blocks entrance nor exit from this zone. And for the first time in centuries, Shadowdale sees sunlight. Carey and Killian flank her. She needs to concentrate on this spell in order to keep it active, and they're there to stop anyone who thinks about getting in her way. D. NEW RULES OF WONDERLAND It's a zero-sum game here that Adrian is wagering. Lucretia didn't bring Dr. Tank down to Shadowdale for a very specific reason; an expert chess player herself, she always thinks in terms of move by move encounters. She figures that the rules would change quickly once the Reclaimers had figured out what was behind the curtain, so to speak. There's no way that Wonderland would allow healing or restoration of a body within its confines. She aims to cut this place off from the outside world. To quarantine it away from escape and cage it inward like an animal. No, Dr. Tank would be useless here, and if anything... dangerous, to put their chief of medical staff here in the middle of the mission. And thus, no one can come in or out of the area once she's erected the barrier. Returning to base is no longer an option for the remainder of the mission, including any and all facilities provided by its administration: Bender's food, Fantasy Costco, items you may have left behind, etc. Those of you who have opted out of the horror plot for the month will most likely be spending your time in Shadowdale for the next two weeks, providing back up and support to Lucretia. The work you do out here is equally as important as the work that needs to be done on the inside. Whereas the forest was quiet and still before, it seems to have taken on a new life of its own, now that it senses the Source of its life deeply threatened. Killian takes command from here on out. Anyone not willing to go up to Wonderland needs to stay down here and stop the encroaching darkness from attacking. And she means that, literally. As you look around the outskirts of town, the dome extending well beyond the vantage point you can see, there are creatures, made of darkness, dripping a deeply red sap that sparkles in the newfound texture of light Lucretia's spell provides. One bounds forward from the edge of a building, four legs crawling and made of pure shadow, and attempts to make an attack towards the Director. Carey cuts it down as it splits into two and vanquishes into a dark dust. "What the hell are these ugly gods-damned things?!" Some of you might've noticed it before in your rolls, but in the light provided by Lucretia's spell, there's no denying it. Negativity forms a dark cloud straight from Carey's mouth, as her eyes go wide at the sight of it. The monster at her feet, now a cloud of dust, seems to feed on it as it reassembles back into its form. What the actual fuck. Back to top 3. A TASTE OF GOOD SUFFERING E. REEDS GROWING OUT OF MY FINGERTIPS The Wonderland the Reclaimers and Angus find themselves in now looks nothing like the Wonderland they left behind. The feel of it is similar, except that the creeping dread has officially crept. It's here now, fully-formed and breathing down the back of every single neck. What was whispered before is screamed now: Wonderland is here to hurt you. The fun it seeks is not for you, but fuel for something else, something you haven't found yet. Nonetheless, you're here to feed it. And so, you begin to realize, is Yggdrasil. The naturally-minded among you begin to realize it with sickening certainty: the roots, the veins, the stiffness and the ever-present tarlike substance stem from the sickness of the World Tree. Wonderland, and all of you, are within Yggdrasil's rot now — and as much as it tries to reject this magic, the insidious power of the Compact has taken over too far. The tree is dying. Inside of it as you are, you can practically feel it. The entire place is a warren, structured like the tree it's draining the life out of. From the central trunk, the central locations that used to be Squares slide off from the main body in long, twisting branches that turn in nonsensical directions before abruptly coming to a halt. Each Square exists in uncomfortable parody here — or maybe the original was the cruel joke, because the purpose of Wonderland is suffering. At any turn in your path through the channels of Wonderland, you'll be swimming through darkness creeping in on all sides. No light can penetrate past your periphery, with very few exceptions; you are a moving lantern in this blackness, functioning on faith that whatever comes at you, a mystery until the last moment, will be something you can handle. Stumble into Battle Square and find yourself face-to-face with a monster of vicious intelligence and amorphous shape, delighted to cut you to ribbons over a period of hours while telling you every secret shame you've ever harbored. In Event Square, a knot midway up the endless trunk, time goes taffy-sticky as you trip through loops of memory blasted on every wall, loud and confusing and overwhelming, going on for what seems like forever. There's more, of course — more discrete spaces than you could even see in Wonderland. Any manner of horror you can consider can be found here, as vast as Yggdrasil itself. One or two places, though, will be particularly easy to recognize — and difficult to escape. F. THIS IS NOT FOR YOU Sometimes, investigation gives us little tips and tricks for solving the next stage of the puzzle. For example: Michael found a map to the mirror maze, back in the first iteration of Wonderland. But unfortunately, sometimes the setting also cheats. Ghost Square is still here — but maps aren't going to do you any good. Enter this section of Wonderland and the door behind you doesn't exist anymore. It doesn't pop out of existence; it just isn't, like it never was, like maybe you imagined it in the first place. A hallway, apparently manmade, stretches out in front of you, dark and cold. It appears to be approximately 60 feet long. The walls are black. When you reach out to touch them, they are freezing to the touch and too smooth to be natural, not shiny enough to be polished, too hard to be plant matter. You have no idea what they are, but touching them saps the warmth out of you, so you stop. You keep walking, a halo of light around you but stretching no further than a few feet in any direction. You walk for 60 feet. The hallway keeps going. It hasn't gotten longer, but it hasn't gotten shorter, either. It keeps going. It keeps going. You continue until your feet hurt or you get sick of this bullshit, whichever comes first, and then you turn back the way you came. Maybe you think you'll see a door, or maybe you're not thinking very clearly anymore. Back the way you came, there is a staircase. It wasn't there before. You certainly didn't pass it. It spirals down into the depths. It could be a story deep or a hundred. You have no way to know. You turn back towards the direction you originally walked, and there is only a wall. It's the spiral staircase or it's nothing. You go down. As you descend, it gets colder. Colder and darker, and the darkness and cold press against you, creep under your skin and make you shake. The halo of light around you begins to dim the deeper you go. If you go deep enough, it will be hard to tell what's light and what's your imagination. Because really, honestly? The longer you stay in this place, the more you begin to think you're hearing things. Whispers just beyond your ability to decipher. A soft laugh, like that of a child or someone trying to stay quiet. And if you stop, or rest, or feel something negative — anger, frustration, sorrow, despair, it doesn't matter, because a black fog drifts out from between your lips. And in the distance, something roars. Just a little bit closer every time. Every once in a while, as you descend the staircase, you will pass a mirror with a red X taped near the top. Sometimes you'll see yourself in it. Sometimes you'll see something worse. When you get right down to it, what you get out of the world has a lot to do with what you put in — so we hope you're staying positive, or you might see something really nasty. G. THE SONG BEYOND THE SONG The aftermath of MARIA's destruction, the Area That Was Once The Night Show is a blasted husk. More than anywhere else, the walls ooze Yggdrasil's lifeblood from where something... was. Something large used to be chained here. Open gashes and empty sockets line the walls and floor. A large root knotted like a spine shoots through the very center of the room, a support pillar, entwined into the ceiling and floor and Everything of this cavern. Growths like tumors rise from the floor - what was once gambling tables look more like grasping hands. A few curl into themselves, knocked over, shattered to splinters in the wake of what was once there. Maria is gone. She is free. There is a sob. Small. Weak. Mortal. At the base of the pillar, half-absorbed into the plant matter of Yggdrasil is Stylosa. Black roots creep up through her arms, chest, face. Her tears are tinged black, but the eyes are still hers. One arm reaches out. She whispers 'please help, it hurt̷̟͂s̶͕̓ ̵̻͂ĩ̸̺t̸͔͐ ̴͙̍ḧ̷̜́ù̸̘r̶̢̓t̶́͜s̸̫͒ ̸͑ͅî̶̺Ṱ̴̿ ̵̠̃H̷̙͊U̸̻̒R̶̯͛T̸͓͠S̸̢͌`- The world goes static, right then wrong then right again, and the original Wonderland surrounds you. Silent - for a second. An explosion of color and canned applause comes from behind you. What was once a stage opens once more. There is the Henrik some of you were searching for, skin plaster, eyes matte black, a rigor mortis smile across his face. His voice booms out of speakers that aren't there. "Welcome, one and all, as we embark on this, our first night! To the new and improved Night Show, with one hundred percent more audience participation!!! Guaranteed to keep you rooted to your seats, haha!" Confetti falls from nowhere, more false cheers from an invisible audience. He bows, stiff and chipped as a wind-up toy. It gives you a chance to angle your gaze to where there used to be an exit. It is there no longer. Doors appear and disappear in wrong places. Chandeliers swap between designs. The new Show is still trying to acclimate itself. "Now, I know some of you have had a bad time here before, but please romaine calm. We-" And then Da Vinci's Body, appearing from nowhere, the same black eyes and battered smile, smacks him upside the head. A slapstick comedy in all the worst ways. "That one doesn't work! We're in an ash tree!" "No, we're in a cactus!" "Ahahaha! Oh, Henrik, you know I'm a succa for your jokes!" Both them and the invisible audience crack out into raucous laughter, doing matching poses like they're both on the cover of Vogue magazine. They whisper something to each other and 'Da Vinci' runs off stage to prepare. "Tonight, in celebration, we'll be holding our first ever... talent show!!! Our main acts are just boooring now. You know what I mean? Look at this mess-" A hand waves out, and Minato unfolds up from the floor, harp welded into his hands, painted and decorated and held in place with pipes and wire. 'Da Vinci' waves her arms, unveiling the elaborate music box. His hands play against his will, plinking out the sad notes to a certain Velvet Room theme. He gets left alone in tired silence for a bit before a note goes off key. 'Da Vinci' yanks his face into the same smile, freezing it in place. TODAY IS A JOYOUS DAY, we are all so very HAPPY, and the eyes of 'Minato' go black. The room is filled with cheers and rainbows, an excited irish jig played out by their wind-up stage musician. 'Henrik' doesn't wander the room, choosing instead to make sure the background music keeps going. The statues and paintings once lining the walls bend before your eyes - reforming into memories from your home, replays of your failures, but all done up in catchy pop-art style and played for hilarity. Rather than Marias, all newcomers are visited by a black-eyed ghoul wearing a human skin. They hand out drinks and paperwork, what would you like to participate with in our talent show? The winner not only gets a job but- One wish from the Compact. Surely that's way more interesting than trying to get out, right? Back to top 4. OOC In order to keep to our goal of providing the most personalized Wonderland experience for all of you, we're setting a limit of 1 RNG attempt per character this log. Additionally, please be aware that while some mundane rolls will have standard-level DCs, many rolls, including those with the potential to uncover plot information, will be high-risk high-reward and will have a very high DC along with steep penalties for failure. As always, we will let you know of this before we roll, and you have the option to decline any roll at any time. If you would like to gain a bonus of +2 on any given roll, those who have opted in to horror content may make the choice to sacrifice something of body, mind, or spirit. We will determine your sacrifice based on your horror homework. It is up to you whether this sacrifice is for the duration of the mission or a permanent sacrifice. As an additional reminder, there is no healing in Wonderland. To a few of you, this will be even more detrimental than usual. To those of you who went too far with your debts or your choices, who have lost your very Selves to Wonderland. A list: ○ Michael ○ Kaede Akamatsu ○ Minato Arisato ○ Akira Kurusu ○ Guido Mista ○ Ryuji Sakamoto ○ Leonardo da Vinci ○ Willard H. Wright Despite Lucretia's spell, the Light won't effect you guys. Over the course of part 2 you'll find you're slowly falling prey to what hit everyone else in wonderland. Your skin will turn pale, your veins will turn dark, you'll start vomiting viscous Abyss that occasionally comes to life, and eventually your eyes will turn black and you will Petrify. Should you as a player not want to play out the vomiting part, it can be exchanged with breathing out black mist. Whichever's cool with your school guys. The speed/intensity of this change and all of its symptoms is also up to you. There are two exceptions. Da Vinci, while she is still a Roland, will simply start going rotten, seams growing old and fur collapsing away. Constant Mending will mitigate this, but she's on a timer to get her body back now. Willard will find that as the hardening of the glass continues, it will start to lose all color and begin to crack in places. These cracks will leak the same tar infecting the other players. Minato, despite being a Music Box right now, is still in his physical body and is not an exception. On a more general note, we encourage you to make your own mini-horrorscapes in this setting! The entirety of Wonderland is available to dark-side, with the exception of what we've already laid out for Ghost & Wonder Squares. Improvise and make a mess. Just make sure to tag anything warning-worthy. Anything on the OOC post is fair game, and if there's something you'd like to try, please don't hesitate to let us know on the RNG thread. Should you have any questions, please direct them to the OOC post linked above. Back to top blurb code by photosynthesis

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Kaede is able to sign up, of course! The more talent, the better. Pianodog follows her up on stage and Minato is released to step down. However, once his toes touch the floor and hers touch the stage, she’s trapped — that’s all for Kaede for now in terms of path actions. She is The Entertainment. By taking his place, she has become the Performer.

One last thing before she goes full feral piano gal, though: Kaede rolls a NATURAL 20 on Bardic Inspiration! This means that not only is everyone inspired as fuck and fighting like hell, but someone will have advantage on a bad roll later in this rescue attempt! Stay tuned.

Unfortunately, Know Your Enemy does very little. All Shinjiro learns is that Henrik is pretty much ready to kill somebody at the least provocation, or no provocation. His motives are: The Show. His goals are: The Show. He is very likely to fight. Pretty much guaranteed, in fact.

In terms of the fight, everyone is remarkably successful! Blake is a vision, Naruto-ing it up with all of her shadow clones, throwing shit at Henrik, Da Vinci, and the assorted tar monsters, and zipping around keeping out of range of all comers. As it happens, Shinjiro is also a vision, albeit a less funny and more brutal one. With a combo of Improvised Weapon + Champion + Disarming Strike, he rips a branch out of the wall and attacks fake Da Vinci. There’s no way to remove the weapon of a creature made of pure negativity, unfortunately — so, with Disarming Strike, he just knocks her arm off of her body.

Get it?

With appropriate levels of irony, Minato puts on the most impressive performance. Using Orpheus to weaken his opponents, he casts Sleep on Henrik very successfully with a 19. His Bardic Inspiration is an unsuccessful 6, and his first attempt at Vicious Mockery is a critical failure — but, inspired by Kaede’s own Bardic Inspiration, he tries again and gets another natural 20. This is good enough, in fact, that the psychological hold on Kaede shrinks back away from her, and she is freed from the stage.

Well done, everyone! You’ve performed remarkably. There’s just one problem.

There’s still no door. And while Henrik and Da Vinci are down for the count, there are still a lot of shadows spawning. What do you do?

[gotyourbach]

The same thing we do every night, Pinky, brute force our way through every problem.

Quite literally! Upon realizing that they can't just waltz out even with "Henrik" and "da Vinci" taken out, Shinjiro is going to summon Castor. Castor and Orpheus are going to work together to try to bust their way out of this place; even if it's a not a physical wall, they are magical Persona themselves.

If it's at all possible, Kaede is going to try to move her Shield of Faith to Stylosa to make sure that whatever her group is doing on the inside won't harm their favorite(? in Wonderland, anyway) cactus lady. If it seems that their brute force efforts are in danger of hurting Stylosa, Kaede would try to stop them to see what the results of Mista and co. on the outside are going to be.

Otherwise, while the Persona are working to break down the wall, the others will try to defend them and buy time with the same strats and abilities mentioned above. As Orpheus is trying to break down the wall, he won't be able to cast spells, but that won't stop Minato from using his own skills with a sword to fight, and Shinji from being the good fighty boy he is.

Seeing how Minato keeps spitting up shadows, though, and feeling them starting to rise in her throat when she starts feeling like they might not be able to succeed, she'll move to the piano to try to play an inspiring song for them all. Literally, with a final attempted burst of Bardic Inspiration to try to fill everyone with resolve that no matter what, they'll be able to do this, and they'll all get out, together.

Sidenote, if Shinjiro starts losing control of Castor for any reason, Kaede can and will put that boy to Sleep. Good night, Shinji.

As Kaede and Shinji's dice weren't used earlier, I assume that +4 (spirit from both of them) would still be applicable here? Minato will also roll his, for mind, to get a total of +6.

edit: I FORGOT MAYA we have maya now too, thanks mista! as mentioned below

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Two small things before we continue! Or one point five. The point five is re: the demon dice. This is a confirmation that Kaede and Shinji's rolls weren't used earlier. Kaede, as she gave herself to the POWER OF MUSIC and ascended to true Feral Piano Girl, gave up all ability to act for that roll. As such her demon dice, as well as all other path actions, were removed from consideration. In Shinjiro's case, none of this three skills required a dice roll on his part, so the demon dice didn't apply.

Number two! As per her punishment in Mista's roll, Maya is now reduced to only one Path Action to help you guys out. Let me know how you want to weaponize your small migraine-riddled warlock and then we'll kick this dice party off.

[feytality]

OKAY WELL i would like to note that if Da Vinci is in danger of bleeding out, Maya is going to do first aid and lend her a hand even though she's mostly 'armless.

For path action she's gonna use Wild Shape to be metal af, help with fighting shadows, and also drag people/give wolf piggy rides to safety to whoever needs it!!!! Rescue woof

Nick Junior can also probably help w fighting and rescuing if he counts as separate from her

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Don't pun me like this. I will wipe your party. :beegun:

Okay, not really. Maya's roll as Rescue Bork has been noted. Nick Junior hasn't been desummoned, but he's flying around in spurts of feather-y confusion, so he'll be off the table for this. For similar reasons, the Sex Xxxxxxx that Mista sent in with Maya are equally confused and just kind of screaming at each other. Thanks guys.

Now then! With the success on Mista's team, Stylosa was ripped out from her place in the tree. To Kaede's squad, they'll hear one moment of the same deafening scream Maya heard - only now, within the illusion, they can easily tell it's Stylosa's pained cries. The area around them pops like a soap bubble, revealing to all the same dark cavern there was previously. Henrik and Da Vinci's bodies lay sprawled on the ground, as do one or two random workers from Kaede's side of the dice roll, but the vast majority of the Human-esque Shadows in the talent show are gone.

Or, rather, Farnese aggro'd them all and got dusted. Alex and Mista are unharmed, and Stylosa is harmed only as far as being welded into a dying tree harms someone. From the bodies of the unconscious Henrik and Da Vinci, ink bleeds out. Coalesces. Reforms. Wonderland needs to be Fixed. And here we have a cluster of brats in our way.

In short, rather than breaking out of the illusion? Your rolls are all being repurposed into breaking out of lovecraftian barfight you've started.

Kaede's bardic inspiration, after throwing her dice onto it angrily, gives her an 18. The keys are starting to bend, slightly offtune, the piano seemingly curling into itself as it dies. Her hands go to an autopilot of the song she hates most, that haunts her nightmares, ensnaring her neck. It doesn't bother her as much anymore. The word SPIRIT shines up at her, and this is fine too. The fear and cost of death flees in time to her keystrokes. What's Wonderland if not another Killing Game anyway?

Everyone else gets a +1 for their rolls. Shinjiro, against a DC15 to not have Castor go apeshit, rolls a 13. But he throws the cursed dice like Kaede does, rolls SPIRIT and keeps control. In the worst way possible. All of the fear of using Castor flees his body in one smooth wave and he syncs up like never before. He'll be able to look back on this moment and realize that this is what using a Persona feels like. No fear, no regrets.

Maya manages to get a 16 out of her roll, so Maya and her 1990's furry earring successfully manage to drag each body out one of a time. She gets hit a few times, but only from the occasional scrape of someone's spell going to far or a monster kicking her in the leg. She'll be bruised and have a sick headache, but nothing worse.

Now just because of how much this involves, we're going less prose for the rest. All fights are at DC18, all with a +1 from Kaede's sick piano bass drops. Failure by 5 or less will be minor-to-major injuries, no death. Failure by 10 or less will be major injuries, death if the player is into it. More than 10 is corpse city. Otherwise there'd be a lot more bodies.

Shinjiro spent his dice on keeping Castor in check, so he only gets the +1. That's for a total of 16. Castor and the Spirit roll combined has him channel his inner Berserker and he just goes off on a rampage. At least here it helps.

Minato is nowhere near so lucky and rolls his dice out of desperation. This barely scoots him into an 8. He effectively gets maimed so hard he'll need to be brought for medical help immediately. Next to him lies the word MIND, and he blacks out on the cold hard floor of Tartarus' roof, Nyx with her wings spread over the bodies of him and his compatriots. The entirety of his time here washes away in her breeze.

Blake is even less. That's the worst time for a critical failure huh. Even with Kaede's piano, a 1 is a 1. All of her evasion skills are just a rehash of Farnese's Blinking, at least to these monsters, and they all have a lovely cat and mouse game that ends in her getting a claw with too many nails plowed right through her chest. She gets tossed unceremoniously to one side, sliding to a small heap, finding only the sound of roots growing in her soul.

Mista and Alex, at first helping Maya drag out bodies, join in on trying to smash the rest of the monsters. With an 11 for Mista and a 15 for Alex, they're not too good at it. Mista gets slammed into the floor so hard he feels a rib snap, as well as the arm underneath it. Alex doesn't really get harmed so much as, at some point, part of the ceiling caves and smashes into his head in a way that he will know exactly what it is referencing. Enjoy the concussion.

Overall, despite the myriad failures and your extra corpses to show for it, that's enough general success to make the wraiths mutually agree it's not worth it. The survivors melt away into the roots, the walls, the air itself. With one massive wretch, the remainder of the tar in Kaede's body flee with it, splattering on her piano keys. It cries, strings snapping, and melts under the black pool of acid, one last corpse for your adventure.

The rest is silence.


Your final tally:
- Unconscious Henrik, Da Vinci, and some soulless NPCs.
- The corpses of Farnese and Blake
- The near corpses of Minato and Stylosa. Better get on that.
- And everyone else needs a whole lotta painkillers.

Good job team!!

[feytality]

do we need to roll to first aid on Minato and/or Stylosa?

[balancemod]

Normally, I'd say yes, but I did kind of near-kill most of your rescue squad. So have one last kindness.

Stylosa doesn't need a roll since all of her injuries are mostly puncture wounds, bleeding sluggishly. She will be an emotional wreck, but it's the type of first aid anyone who took the Combat Class would know about.

Minato I leave up to Kel's discretion, but he is definitely more worse off. I'll only ask for a roll if she doesn't want to be on a makeshift hospital bed until post-CTA.

[napstar]

this bitch is bedridden until the mission's over, so sayeth the sidekick bot.

all hail the dice

[balancemod]

Don't hail the dice, it's what got you maimed in the first place.

That said, since you're here and Minato was taken out of his music box, his Petrifying is no longer an issue. Congratulations, bud!

[napstar]

The dice giveth and they maimeth away. It is not our place to question their wisdom. You just have to take the good with the bad and roll with it.

Does he still have the slowly creeping petrification that everyone else on the list has?

[balancemod]

Slowly creeping, yes. But not the full stop black-eyes-corpse combo yet. He's back at stage one and will slowly advance through the stages at you/Kel's discretion. Kaede is not affected at all.

[protegge]

just to make sure, because you know what they say about assumptions: is it fair to figure that they are able to get stylosa to the (relative) safety of lucretia?

[balancemod]

Yes, Stylosa has been safely rescued from the helltree and can be given first aid without a roll. Mista has saved the day. For one person anyway.

[protegge]

[balancemod]

Pictured above: Stylosa's gratitude to Mista.

[feytality]

another question sorry

how long will nerf headache last? is she just going to be hearing screaming in her head constantly?

[balancemod]

It will be impossible to deal with for a full 24 hours, then slowly wear off over the course of the next two days. Essentially, she got a migraine made entirely of screaming.