[IC] Persona - Deva System

[MageofMystra]

Have a Good Dream!

also formerly the unnamed campaign using the Deva System

Here be the IC thread. Use it for like, IC stuff. Links, character tables, and everything back on the OOC thread.


OOC Thread! *bang* (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?338682-OOC-Persona-Deva-System)

Campaign Details
Setting Document (as of 2014-04-01) (https://db.tt/AvVU7ItD)
System Rules (https://persona.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page)
Deck Script (https://script.google.com/macros/s/AKfycbzXKWAMwniO9gBE3yRl0rWFEWp4Og9OFKtS_um_InvmYc XCWTM/exec)

Notes on how we're dividing time:
On weekdays, we're dividing it into Morning, Daytime, Lunch, Afternoon, After School, Evening, Nighttime. The first four are all consumed by school, and Nighttime is usually unavailable. On weekends or days without class, you get Daytime, Afternoon, Evening (the other times are again, not usually available for use.) Prioritize as normal.

[MageofMystra]

The first day begins!


Tuesday September 5, 2017
Morning
Summer vacation ended with the ringing of the bell at Peter Bilman High School. The warm air wafted in through the windows and hung about in the hallways. The air was punctuated by sighs and chatter, followed soon by an exclamation from the instructor—or, in some rarer cases, words of agreement. Occasionally, a thunderous wave of chatter would wash slowly through the hallways, moving as lazily as the clouds on that end of summer day, as students moved from one class to another.

The new students, plucked freshly from their last summer of middle school, were huddled into the stuffy auditorium at around 10 A.M., to listen to the principal drawl onwards about the four years that lay ahead of them—followed by words from the vice-principal, then one teacher, then another teacher, then another—an endless, unceasing line with no end in sight.

Classes moved slowly as every teacher tried to bring their students back into the world of academics, and to minimize the damage caused by the yearly summer brain drain. Many students were in a slow dread over the events of tomorrow—the same long drawling speech from the principals, reserved first for the tenth graders, then the eleventh and twelfth graders.

Another school year had begun in Ketel Falls. Another boring, uneventful, year.

Daytime
You arrive at your first classes. A short blurb accompanies each course. Mathematics and English are compulsory courses, unfortunately.

Senior Calculus
The class began fairly dully. A middle-aged man with a walrus moustache walked to the front of the classroom. As for attire, he dressed fairly plainly, donning a wrinkled beige, short-sleeved dress shirt. Below that were a pair of pants so utterly ordinary that they could be described only as “pants”, without any adjectives. Just pants. The pants were almost mesmerizing in how utterly ordinary and nondescript they were.
“...then from limits, we'll move onto...” Oh crap, he was talking. His voice was thoroughly boring. “...differentiation, applications of differentiation including basic optimization, curve sketching which is kinda pointless given the fact you're allowed graphing calculators...”
Behind him, on the chalkboard, was written “Mr. Boring.” How fitting. You remember hearing he taught lower years as well, but you had managed to avoid him. Until now. Wait, right, he's still talking.
“...will most likely be covered...”
Besides the occasional rumbling of freshmen in the hallways, the class passed by in a haze. Thank goodness.

Sophomore Mathematics
Rumours had been flying amongst the sophomore class of the dreaded teacher they had—one whose name was only whispered in dread tones and statements of hope that their schedule had been wrong. Alas, these hopes were shattered brutally as a middle-aged man with walrus moustache walked into the room, carrying a pile of papers and an attendance sheet.
The dread would only mount as after introducing himself as Mr. Boring, the teacher handed out first course outlines... then first day pop quizzes.
And thus began the semester.

Senior English
Many students had arrived early, and were jabbering amongst themselves. There seemed to be some excitement over the teacher they had gotten. A figure bounded through the door, and in one moment, you immediately realized what the chatter was about.

A relatively young man in a flamboyant poet shirt and puffy breeches bounded in. Above that was a massive frilly neck collar disc tube rolodex thing. A... ruff collar! That was it! Why did you remember this? Either way, the man strode to the front of the room, and wrote what was presumably his name--”Mr. Fischer”--on the blackboard in large, curly writing that you might not have even thought was possible on a blackboard.

He spoke in a booming, theatric voice. “I am Mr. Fischer, and this is Senior English! This is where the cool stuff and fun stuff begins! Shakespeare might not have made a good impression on you before, but grade twelve is when the school board says we're allowed to show you the awesome plays! We'll take a look at Hamlet, King Lear, and between those two, we'll take a small peek at Titus Andronicus! But before that, we'll be looking briefly at the poetic works of Robert Frost.

“Incidentally, I was amazed we got approval for Titus Andronicus, so that'll be fun.”

And so, a semester of English began on an interesting note.


Sophomore English
It was often said in Peter Bilman than sophomore English is the worst of all years, created by a trio of difficulties—a multitude of essays, boring Shakespearean plays, and a multitude of essays on boring Shakespearean plays. Evidently, many of the students had already heard of this, and thus, the class began in a chatter—a chatter that was not stopped by the mousy teacher, Ms. Brun.

After a few minutes of chatter, the class began in earnest, as the teacher handed out sheets of paper and gave instructions. It took only one glance at the handout to know what was to happen next.

Classmate bingo.

And thus, what was called the worst semester of English began with a group of teenagers wandering around asking each other the names of their cats.


Lunch
Lunch was relatively quick. This year, you had a reduced lunch every Monday and Tuesday. Whether you volunteered for it, or whether you were conscripted (“conscripted”), this year, you were part of a new pilot program—the cross-year circle. Students from every year would spend the time gained from these reduced lunches to convene and discuss coursework. According to the board, the program would focus on philosophy and history.

Either way, you had to head off.

Cross-year Program
The class was far smaller than you were used to (especially if you're not a senior)--containing 16 students. About five of them were senior. Four were definitely freshmen. The other seven were either sophomore or junior—it was hard to tell nowadays. [all player characters are in the same section.]

You sat around with lunch, waiting for the teacher to arrive. A few minutes later, he did—a relatively young man, but who was beginning to show signs of age, dressed like an admiral.

“Hi, I'm Mr. Alfredson. I'll be uh... teaching. Leading? I'll be leading the cross-year program, or at least this segment. I also teach senior and sophomore history here.

“No, go ahead and keep eating lunch. Anyways, this is the cross-year program, and it's the first year the board's trying this. Something about better understanding, cooperation, reducing bullying, something something. Anyways, we're just waiting on Mr. Erli... Ehrlichmann, I think it was to arrive.”

He looked around, and checked his desk.

“Huh, no attendance sheet. Well, whatever. We can wait.”

A few minutes passed, a young man who you didn't recognize walked in. He introduced himself as Mr. Ehrlichmann. He was “an inspector from the school board who would drop in once every few weeks and monitor the program.” He then handed around a clipboard for attendance. At the top was written “Cross-Year Program Attendance”, and below it was some multilingual text. Either way, you signed off.

And so began a year of... whatever the cross-year program was supposed to be.



Afternoon
Pick one or two courses from below. If you're not a senior, then pick two.

Senior Physics
Physics was a known quantity. If you had taken junior physics (which you had to have, if you're taking this course), you will have already had the teacher, Mrs. Orlich. She was a short woman who was beginning to show signs of age. Today, she wandered in in a grey sweatshirt and track pants.

“Heavens, it's chilly,” she said to the room of teenagers sweating like pigs. “Either way, I see some familiar faces...”

And then she introduced herself, and then began explaining the curricula, as she handed out course outlines. Everything seemed fairly normal, and seemed much like a direct continuation of junior physics. Newtonian mechanics, circuit electricity, electromagnetism...

And thus began the course.

Senior Chemistry
The class began with an unusually tall fellow entering the classroom, clad in safety goggles and a massive lab coat. He introduced himself hastily as Mr. Brandt, a new teacher at Peter Bilman. As he wandered the desks to hand out course outlines, you noted that he must have towered at least one and a half heads over you—a tall teacher indeed.

He began to explain some of his own work experience, then what you would be covering in the course. He announced with a tinge of sadness in his voice that there would be minimal lab work in the course, though there would be a few demonstrations. He then began giving an overview of the units in the course—a review of nomenclature, organic chemistry, equilibrium reactions, orbitals... all the usual stuff that was already on the piece of paper right in front of you.

And thus, the course began.


Sophomore Sciences
Sophomore science was the last dying breath of the generalized science courses that you had studied since elementary school. As you looked over the course outline, it seemed very much like a showcase of the different fields that you would have to specialize in next year (assuming you even took any more science courses.)

Mr. Brandt, the new teacher, taught this section as well. There was nothing else much to say. An overall boring course with overall boring content.

And so began of a semester that wouldn't really have much of worth.


Senior Economics
In truth, there wasn't anything senior about senior economics. Juniors could get into the course just fine, and there wasn't any sort of junior economics course. That was a fairly good deal for them, of course—an early senior course to show on their transcript.

Amidst chatter, a relatively young man in dress shirt and glasses entered the room, chalking his name on the board. He introduced himself as Mr. Becker.

“Uh, hi. Hello?”

The chatter continued. The teacher, ignored, simply handed out course outlines and sat at his desk for a few minutes, before he began the class.

“...in this course, we learn the principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics. The principles. Just the principles. I just want to emphasize right now: the principles. Basic stuff.”
And so began a semester of economic principles.



Senior Accounting
Mr. Becker taught this course as well. He began by explaining the purpose of accounting, as most people simply ignored him and looked over the course outline and mark spread. You would be learning the principles of financial accounting, it seemed.

And so began a semester of accounting.


Senior History
Mr. Alfredson walked into the room, still dressed as an admiral. The classroom was large, and well decorated. Many maps hung around the room, of different areas, in different projections, and even from different eras (there were at least three which still had the USSR on them.) The teacher walked to the front of the room, and spoke with a voice that commanded attention.

“I'm Mr. Alfredson. This semester we'll be learning about early modern world history—from the Napoleonic Wars to World War II. Our major topics are the Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and World War II. Our smaller topics will be the colonization of Africa, and let's see, what else... the Spanish Civil War, and some other boring stuff you guys probably won't care about. Sadly, not much on Napoleon. It's all in the outline, anyways.

“Anyways, let's get going right away. We'll start from the top with a bit of review from last year on slavery in the United States...”

And so began a semester of military history.


Sophomore History
Mr. Alfredson taught this class too. He walked in, in all his massive-hatted splendour, in the same room as Senior History (albeit at a different time, obviously.) He introduced himself, and the course.

“This is a course all about good ol' 'murica. There's less focus on military history here, and more on domestics—but that doesn't mean the course isn't interesting. Don't get that idea at all.

“Either way, this course is a brief overview, from when we established Jamestown, all the way to the end of the Vietnam War. We're not going any further than that. Either way, let's get started...”

And so began a semester of non-military history.


Write-in
If there's a course that you must have for your character, make note of it. I tried covering the big ones. Other courses appear second semester—most electives do, anyways.

After School
Last bell rang. Students flooded out the school in droves—extracurriculars had not begun yet, after all. How would you spend your day?

[Daimbert]

Senior Mathematics: If it wasn't for it being a mandatory class, Sanae wouldn't be taking the course; the courses and training materials provided by her parents' school were far better, and she'd already completed most of them, and so knew most of what was going to be taught this semester. There was a process that she could have gone through to get exempted from the course, but she preferred to stick to the rules instead of trying for exceptions. That being said, at least it would be a relatively easy course for her, and the problems would be a nice review of what she'd already learned.

Senior English: Sanae had already read and analyzed King Lear and Hamlet; those were the standard ones that everyone did. She'd never come across Titus Andronicus, though, so at least that might be interesting. However, she grimaced inwardly on hearing that they were going to cover Frost; she'd never been a fan of poetry.

Lunch: Sanae shrugged at the Cross-Year program. If the board thought that it was useful, then she thought it reasonable to go along with it, even though she wasn't at all sure what "it" was yet.

Senior Accounting: Having access to better materials meant that she could skip the science classes -- as they were optional -- but accounting was going to be useful if she was going to work at her parents' company; she knew that her mother wished her father was better at accounting so that she didn't have to do all of that herself. After this, maybe she'd know enough to be able to help her mother with the books on occasion.

Senior History: Sanae almost felt guilty taking this course, as this was pretty much purely an interest course for her. She consoled herself by noting that there weren't any other offerings that would be more practical, and hoped that it would be interestng, and focus on the politcal/philosophical reason behind the conflicts and not just be a litany of famous battles.

After School: Sanae checked her schedule, and noted that for today her after school scheduling was for ... free time. And her parents were insisting that for at least the first week she had to stay at school and try to do something there, and not just bury herself in her room or with extracuriculars. So, she thought with a bit of an ironic smile, she could bury herself in the library for the week. But she knew that wasn't what her parents wanted; they wanted her to do something more social, but outside of clubs and teams she wasn't very good at that. So she thought she'd give it a try today, even though she didn't know how. She could always bury herself in the library later.

But simply standing around didn't seem like a good idea either. so she found a spot that was near where all of the people were passing but was still a bit out of the way, and pulled out a book to read until she thought of a better idea.

[AkaiNeko]

Sophomore Mathematics
Sasha hated math. She was also terrible at it. Every semester she barely scraped by - her mind drifted away without fail every class, lessons leaked out of her brain almost as soon as the end-of-period bell rang, and hell if she knew how to properly study the damned material. In a way, she was happy to realize how bad this teacher was likely to be; at least this year there would be a good excuse for sucking. She sighed and started in on the quiz, praying to anyone and/or anything that would listen for mercy.

Sophomore English
....Sasha liked English, actually. Shakespeare wasn't her favorite, but maybe this wouldn't be too bad? Hopefully? Please oh dear god why? Even those final, sad, desperate vestiges of hope screamed in despair as she looked at the....

....classmate bingo? Seriously?....well, her cat's name was Anvil. She got some odd looks for that. This looked to be a long semester already.

Lunch/Cross-Year Program
Sasha didn't particularly mind the "Cross-Year Program", whatever it was. Not yet, anyway....seriously, what even was it supposed to be? But no. No. No, what Sasha minded - what she might even call UN-F***ING-FORGIVABLE - was that they cut her precious lunch period short for it. That was several minutes of trying to locate friends from last year (largely out of a sense of duty, but still) or just having some time to think, or catch up on reading....aaaah, this was annoying.

Sophomore Sciences
....science was ok, even as general as this looked to be. A good teacher could make it fun. Not that that seemed likely. Sasha settled in for what was probably a fairly easy course. At least she could probably do some reading in her down-time.

Sophomore History
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF NON-MILITARY HISTORY
THERE WAS NO POINT
WHY
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS

It was hardly impossible for the non-military aspects of history to be interesting, of course, and in fact many of them were absolutely fascinating. But....but....WARS WERE SO INTERESTING and she was actually starting to worry herself.

....yeah, maybe she should try and enjoy this. Maybe some nice, non-violent (as non-violent as history could be, anyway) history would be good for her what the hell was the teacher wearing? That haaaat....OH, this was that guy from....this was just going to be one of those semesters, wasn't it? Well, at least he might be interesting....

After School
I'd rather wait till I get an answer OOC....

[MageofMystra]

Tuesday September 5, 2017
After School
In the end, it was the first day of school. Many people met up with friends and caught up with each other, while many others found themselves without much to do, heading home.

After all was said and done, most people just headed back. Sanae didn't really meet anybody. A thoroughly boring day.


Evening
There wasn't much doing in the evening. Autumn television was nice, at least.


Nighttime
Nothing of particular interest, outside of a few odd dreams. All school related. How thoroughly dull.


Wednesday September 6, 2017
Daytime
The morning was relatively dull. Almost all teachers held off on doing any actual work on account of an assembly later in the morning. Almost all teachers, anyways--the exception was Mr. Boring, who tossed a pop quiz at the senior calculus class (which was a fairly thorough review of junior mathematics--everything from trigonometry to quadratic functions to logarithms.)

The assembly started at around 10:30 A.M, as each year was slowly called down. In a fair difference from the usual, however, it seemed that you were separated from the rest of your year--it seemed that the participants in the cross-year program would be sitting in groups according to, well, their groups.

The odd bunch of sophomores and juniors were already seated when the seniors had arrived--the freshmen, you knew, would not be arriving, on account of having had this assembly yesterday. This was an assembly that was a waste of time--and this was something known by everyone in the audience. Even the teachers standing on the sides had a look of disinterest--others having pulled out phones to amuse themselves with whatever mobile game was the flavour of the day. Many students had followed their cue--those that had not were conversing, filling the gym/auditorium with a loud static.

After a few minutes, the rather plump principal and other members of administration arrived on the stage--the principal standing front and center, as he arrived at the podium, tapped the mic, and cleared his throat in a futile effort to gain the attention of the few hundred disinterested people ahead of him. After having done so by some miracle (or disaster, depending on perspective), he began.

"Hello, Peter Bilman High School. Another year has begun and I am proud to be here to share it with you

With that, your brain began tuning out. No matter how exceptional or determined you were, it was simply too much boredom to handle. A speech you would have heard a hundred times already, which in the end, conveyed close to no information. A dull, monotone, droning voice that was not even so awful to be aggravating. The hot haze of the auditorium did not help manners.

A nap sounded nice. Yessirree, a nap sounded very nice indeed...

...

You awoke some time afterwards. It was quiet. Extraordinarily quiet--no talking from other students, and (to your probable relief) no principal. No other speeches. You felt extraordinarily refreshed--like you had just woke up after sleeping in on a slow Sunday morning. The air was also much more pleasant now...

No way. Was the assembly over?

After opening your eyes, to probable disappointment, the assembly was not, in fact, over. The principal was still there, the teachers were still looking uninterested on the sides, and the students, surely enough, were all still there. Yet no sound. No nothing. What a weird place. Maybe you were dreaming or something?

Everyone and thing seemed utterly still, and completely silent--excepting three other students who seemed to be discovering the strangeness of the same scene as you.

BZZZ. BZZZZZ. BZZZZ.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket--a text message, sender unknown. There were three other buzzes, as the other three students, with a stir, seemed to also have received text messages. It was worth checking (either immediately or otherwise.) How curious the message was--being only three words long.

"Change the world."

[Philemonite]

Morning

The start of a new school year was always interesting for Halden. It was a perfect opportunity to observe people, so many things were happening at once. Sticking to the metaphorical shadows it was easy to stay unnoticed. After all, he was just another nerd reading his books or checking his phone. Information was a powerful tool, and you can gather a lot more information if people don't know you are observing them.

Daytime

Halden wasn't a big fan of calculus, but not every class needs to be fun. Tried to keep up and at the end he was quite proud of himself for not falling asleep.

English was one of Halden's favorite classes and this one was promising to be very fun.
"I need to dust of my Shakespeare. It has been a while."
Something in the back of his mind was screaming "school play".

Lunch

Halden was a big fan of social experiments. Granted, he liked them more as an observer, but sometimes it's good to participate. The teacher, Mr. Alfredson was an interesting person. His first impression is that this class (or whatever you might call it) will be a lot more relaxed then a usual class. A friendly discussion over lunch. It was an interesting idea, and Halden was really excited to see how it works out.


Afternoon

Halden was a bit disappointed there will be minimal lab work, he was hoping there would be a lot of fun experiments. Still, when Mr. Brandt mentioned organic chemistry his mood was improved considerably. There was something about the patterns and organization that clicked with him.

Military history was one of Halden's fascinations, and getting graded on something you like is always great. He was hoping to expand his knowledge of military tactics, so he payed close attention to what the teacher was saying, failing to notice anything that was going on around him.


After School

Halden was torn. His two favorite spots in the entire school were the library and the roof, and he didn't know where to go. He optioned for the library, to check out all the new books. Gathering an impressive stash, he made his way to his usual spot on the upper level of the library. He stayed there for some time, checking the books he picked out and observing the few people that were in the library today.


Wednesday September 6, 2017


Calculus test was brutal. Well, to be fair, it was more unexpected then brutal, but Halden still had trouble with it. Logarithms were especially tough, he really needed to hit the books. At least his afternoon is free, so he can dedicate it to calculus.

A expected, the assembly was very boring, and throughly unimportant. Halden felt extremely tired, his eyes started to close. For a split second he felt like he was loosing consciousness, and the fatigue was taking over. It's not the first time he has felt something like this, slipping out of consciousness and waking up a second lated, only to find out that hours have passed. It was usually the best rest he ever had, probably due to his mind shutting down almost completely. But this time it was different. When he came to there was no more sound. As he opened his eyes he realized everything was frozen in place. As if someone has hit the pause button. His first thought was that it was all just a dream, but a buzzing sound brought him back to "reality".

"Change the world."

That was all that was written on his phone's display. He looked at the the other three students, that looked as surprised as he is, and then at his surroundings. He was hoping to find some kind of clue to what is happening.

[Daimbert]

Sanae didn't have any problem with the surprise calculus test. After all, she'd done a review of junior mathematics, and most of her other classes, before school started to make sure that she was prepared. She'd thought that there'd probably be a review in most of the classes anyway, but it didn't hurt to do it herself to make sure that she was comfortable with the material, and it didn't take that long to do anyway ...

...

"Maybe I DO need a life", she thought to herself.

Sanae was very surprised at falling asleep in the assembly. It had never happened before; no matter how boring the lecture was, at worst she'd slip into her own thoughts. She'd never fallen asleep before ... or, at least, not without having a major cram session first. Which she never did, since she diligently reviewed the material as the term advanced instead of waiting until the last minute.

The buzzing of her phone jolted her out of her thoughts. She read the text that said nothing more than "Change the world", and looked around at the frozen students ... and those that weren't frozen.

One thing was certain: this was no ordinary dream.

"Um, hello?" she ventured quietly.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was normally very good at resisting her frequent-in-school urges to fall asleep. But this....this was something different. It was like some kind of....some kind of reality-distortion field, or something, something weird and unnatural spreading itself over her, the warmth, perfectly quiet-but-not-too-quiet surroundings and gentle drone of the exceptionally boring voice and its accompanying (and approximately equally boring) speech combining in a perfect storm of....

....of....

....of WHAAAASHE wasn't asleep yeah she was asleep. Had been asleep. Whatever. What was going on?! Assembly! Was the assembly over? Dammit, Sasha, focus.

The assembly wasn't over.

OK. This was....neeeewwww. For a precious couple of seconds she simply existed in a state of mild-and-growing shock, the signals from her eyes and ears taking longer than usual to be interpreted and accepted by the rest of her brain. Then the adrenaline started to flow as the bottom of her stomach dropped away, realization setting in alongside a fast growinBZZZZ

She jumped slightly as her phone buzzed solidly against her leg. She quickly pulled it out, flipped it open and read the message to herself in a small whisper.

"Change the world."

She jumped again when, moments later, she heard another voice, female and very close. She called out in a guarded voice: "Who's there?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae raised her hand. "Um, me, I guess. And a few others, right?"

[oblivion6]

Sorry, not very long. Fortunately my schedule should be quieting down.

The second day of school was just as boring as the first for Sophia Hastings. It was always like this; she didn't start to branch out and tear people down until about a week in, normally. The first few days were spent observing her classmates and what made them tick - figuring out the most entertaining students and how best to get inside their minds and break them. She hated to admit it, but tearing people down and leaving them an emotional wreck was one of her favorite pass times. It probably made her a lot of enemies but she didn't really care all that much. She was convinced she probably wouldn't survive the year so she might as well enjoy herself.

......

She was awakened by the vibration of the phone in her pocket. She looked around in alarm, not realizing it had only been her phone at first.

Everybody was... frozen? Everybody except for three others - all confused as she was. With a growing sense of dread and doubt, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages.

"Change the world.""

How odd...

She looked around again. There had been no change. "Somebody tell me this is a dream? This can't be real."

[Daimbert]

Sanae, after pondering for a moment, said, "Since the four of us are all aware of it, it's almost certainly not a dream ... but that doesn't mean it's real, either."

But if this isn't real, she thought to herself, How do we get out of it?

[MageofMystra]

Apologies for the long, loooong delay in posting.

What a bizarre text message it was, and what a bizarre situation you were in. The auditorium (in reality, just the gymnasium with chairs set up in rows) seemed perfectly still, and still perfectly quiet, excepting your own light chatter. After a few more moments passed, you became aware of other movement in the auditorium--more people seemed to be uh... unfreezing. Is that the right word?

Surely enough, you heard more buzzes (extremely faintly--the general silence of the area helped, of course.) Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps you didn't even notice at all, but there was a bizarre thing happening indeed--most of--nay, all of the people unfreezing seemed to be sitting in sections for cross-year program groups. As if there could be any sort of deviation from the usual curriculum that wasn't sinister in some way.

You didn't recognize many of them. You'd been at the school for a while, but it was a big school. Maybe you were faintly aware of who they were--maybe you'd seen their faces, but no names came to mind. How odd.

The silence was dissipated suddenly with a clicking and a whirr, as if someone were running an old-timey movie projector. A large screen (appropriately enough, the kind that dropped down to be projected onto) was behind the still-frozen principal--a screen which you were sure had not been there prior. A faint light appeared upon it--and flickering, grainy images flashed by. Faces. People. Places. Corridors. More faces. Was that your face just now? It was gone too fast--maybe it wasn't. Didn't seem like you. But maybe it was. Oddly, one face kept flickering. You weren't quite sure who it was--looked like someone who went to Peter Bilman.

The odd silent film continued running for a few moments longer, as you committed that face to memory. It was likely you'd see it again soon. It was an odd feeling, but it felt as if that face'd only appear again in a grim context. An odd feeling indeed.

The odd place seemed to vanish in an instant--in a flash of black, you were back in the auditorium, and (perhaps to your horror), the principal was droning once again. How abrupt. The hot haze of the gym once again washed over you.

"...and the standards shall be no less than excellence--and no less than excellence they shall be. When you speak of excellence, it ought to be..."

--

Afternoon
The assembly passed without much other incident. For the most part, it seems like nobody else had noticed--though you heard the occasional murmur and snatches of conversation from what you could only assume to be cross-year students--"freezing" this, and "projector" that. Who knew who those people were--trying to find them afterwards was troublesome indeed, as almost all conversation was heard in the hustle and bustle of the hallways between periods.

There was no cross-year program meeting today (on account of it being Wednesday.) After lunch, classes were dull--while before, the teachers had the excuse of having an assembly afterwards, now, teachers were beginning review of content from the previous year. Conservation of energy. A = L + SE. Mercantilism. Names of presidents. Dull, dull, and dull.

--

After School
You heard some clubs were starting up--in particular, the men's soccer team was starting (the men's football team on the other hand, had started in the summer.) Nobody really cared about soccer around these parts, sadly. There was also talk of a few smaller clubs starting up later in the week--a cooking club, a drama club, a music club (which in turn, managed the two school bands, and various other smaller ensembles)--heck, you even heard about a quizbowl meeting somewhere.

On the other hand, there was, as always, the allure of slacking off. Rubaker Mall, though out of sight, was singing a slow siren song--though heavens know what you'd do there. Or maybe you could look around for the other folks in the cross-year program. Hey, why not combine those two?

You had a few hours to kill. What did you do?

[Daimbert]

Sanae had to hang around school again for this week, but now had a purpose: to wander around and see if she should spot any of the people she saw at the assembly. If for no other reason than to see if they had had the same experience as she had.

[MageofMystra]

Wandering around school, Sanae quickly found a few of her cross-year buddies (basically, the playable party.) After a little more searching, she also finds two other people that look vaguely familiar from the assembly--they introduce themselves as Mary Wilt, freshman, and Allen Ho, a senior. Actually, Allen she had probably seen before--he was one of the popular kids, so to speak. Sanae found a few more people, but they didn't seem to know what she was talking about (possibly with an odd look or two.)

Allen and Mary both said they were free, but as for the other cross-year people? Who knew. Either way, it might've been a good idea to find somewhere to go for some serious talking and party-forming.

[Daimbert]

Sanae thought for a moment, and decided that somewhere outside was probably the best place for this discussion. It was a nice enough day -- if perhaps, a bit warm -- and out there no one would overhear or interrupt them, and it would be quiet enough that they wouldn't need to shout to have a discussion. When all who were going to show up did, she first turned to Allen and Mary, and asked "Could you please describe what you experienced during the assembly?"

[MageofMystra]

SUDDENLY THERE IS A WARP IN SPACETIME THAT CAUSES THE PLAYER CHARACTERS TO BE ASSEMBLED, ALONG WITH MARY AND ALLEN, OUTSIDE SOMEWHERE.

Wednesday September 6, 2017
After School
Somehow, everyone was assembled--Halden, Sanae, and Sasha, Sophia, and the two NPCs, Mary and Allen. The odd group of four plus two was assembled in some park near Peter Bilman, on a hot, yet otherwise lovely September afternoon. Once in a while, some person jogs by, but for the most part, between the wind and the rustling of leaves caused by said wind, it's unlikely that anyone can eavesdrop. Because that was apparently on your mind.

Everyone, probably still somewhat confused by the warp in spacetime that may or may not have occurred (it definitely didn't), began to return to reality. It was Sanae who spoke first:
"Could you please describe what you experienced during the assembly?"
And certainly, there was thinking! Much thinking began.

It was Allen who spoke first, ever the dauntless fellow he was:
"Well, it was weird. I dozed off, 'cos of the air, and the principal, you know, and then when I woke up, it was weird. Everyone was frozen, y'know, like totally stuck, like some guy hit pause or something. And then it was the weirdest thing, I felt this little buzzing thing. I knew this was my phone, 'cos, you know, I know my phone, and I got this text, saying 'change the world', or something. I think I still have it on my phone, actually."
He pulled out his phone, and showed the text. Indeed, the contents seemed to be the same--though the sender was still as unknown as it was before.
"Then, like, there was some kinda projector, and it was flashing like, pictures. Faces, or something. I thought I heard someone whispering 'Miwalte park' behind me, or something, but I'm not really sure about that one. It was weird, y'know."

And so, it was confirmed that you weren't the only people who were nuts.

Mary next, more or less repeated Allen's story, minus the Miwalte park bit--she claimed to have heard some kind of whisper about Rubaker Mall. You didn't hear any sort of whispers, so that's even more odd. On the other hand, it was technically four to two with respect to hearing things (four to one, if you count each separately!), so maybe they were just hearing things.

There was a short moment of silence, while everyone [presumably] tried to figure out what to say, or what to do next.

[Daimbert]

Sanae pondered for a minute in silence, as everyone else did. Then, she said "I don't recall the statement about the park."

Then, she paused as a thought came to her. "Wait ... what's the name of this park?"

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded at Mary and Allen's stories. It was good to know she wasn't completely nuts.

Well, actually, no it wasn't, said a part of her. Now she knew that something really crazy had happened, and she had a terrible feeling that thi swasn't the last of it. Just what she needed right now.

All in all, the conversation seemed to be progressing fine without too much input from her. She seemed to've had about the same experience as the others, minus the weird voice. Sanae's question threw her for a moment, though. "Aren't we just in the plaza near school?"

[MageofMystra]

Wednesday September 6, 2017
After School
The leaves rustled briefly from a lazy gust of wind, on that Wednesday afternoon.

Allen gave a look around after Sasha spoke--and surely enough, not too far from where everyone was gathered, was a tall chain fence, on the other side of which stood the back wall of the ever-popular plaza and a small parking lot. A small truck drove across the lot, as if on cue. "Well, uh, yeah, it looks like it. Well, this is just as good a place as any, right?

"But yeah, I thought I heard something about Miwalte Park, y'know, that place further up the river, with the tennis courts? I think there used to be a petting zoo there or something."

The conversation undoubtedly went on longer, perhaps drifting to more menial, everyday topics. The afternoon passed lazily, as the group soon split up, but not before agreeing to keep each other apprised of any other strange happenings that may or may not involve time freezing randomly. The rest of the afternoon passed without much incident, as each person left to spend their time however they pleased. Soon enough, the sun set, and not one thing really changed.

Evening
It was a cloudy evening. A popular television channel decided to broadcast a made-for-television movie marathon. The local news was mostly filled with the minutiae of a day's passed, reporting over topics such as the new sprinklers installed in a small garden downtown, or about some local man being declared the best dog groomer in the country. Mostly boring, and definitely not important events.

The weather later cleared up, later at night, at around maybe 10:00 P.M.. A brilliant full moon shone in the newly cleared night sky. A great big, bright full moon that could only interpreted as a sinister omen (if you were a bit of a quack, that is.) Not much else of interest happened that night.


--

Thursday September 7, 2017
Morning
It was a dim and dreary evening. Sometime overnight, rain clouds had moved in. The weather forecast indicated that the rain would most likely not end until late in the evening. You hadn't gotten a particularly good sleep, either, so there was that, too.

Morning classes weren't particularly exciting. Senior calculus began with Mr. Boring handing back the previous day's quizzes, an impressive turnaround. Sophomore mathematics began in much the same way, with him returning the first-day quizzes. In both courses, he indicated that everybody was in dire need of review, and so, in a strange convergence, both courses focused upon basic algebra and numeracy. Perhaps a little too basic, actually.

Lunch
It was either Allen or Mary who found you, indicating that there was something interesting to talk about. Apparently they had a bizarre dream that night (oh, what a trivial thing to speak to you about) rather akin to the bizarre random time-stopping event yesterday. This was, of course, minus the random time-stopping, given that they were dreaming. It would be hard to tell if time had stopped while asleep. Really quite difficult, actually. Come to think of it, though, maybe you had a weird dream like that too [details in PM being sent out later tonight or tomorrow.]

Either way, they went around and tried to drag everyone together for lunch to talk about this. They both mentioned some weird stuff, then about someone telling them: "Ketel Station, tomorrow, 9:00 P.M."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha sighed, nodded and moved to follow Mary. There was no real reason to avoid this; she was caught up in it already. Que sera, sera. Her dream....well, it should have been the best night's sleep she'd had in weeks, based on numbers alone, but the dream itself had f***ed that up somewhat. But she'd had it, and apparently others had as well, and damn it all, she wanted to know what in hell was going on, no matter how hard she tried not to.

She decided to take the initiative while following Mary. Tact was certainly called for, she thought - she didn't really want to disclose and/or discuss the content of her own dream, and the others might well feel the same. But there were questions that needed answering, and the sooner they were, the sooner the god of the internet could write herself out of existence, the alien could fly away on her Vespa, the chick could break out of its egg and revolutionize the world, and she herself could get back to her normal existence.

Really, it didn't seem to her like this weird whatever-it-was could last more than another couple of days at most.

....what was she thinking about? Right, asking Mary about s***. Do that. "Mary. Was there....did anything else seem relevant in your dream? I....don't think there was anything else in mine."

[MageofMystra]

Mary thought for a moment while walking. After a few seconds of thought, she muttered in a low voice, as if still thinking: "Something about changing the world again. Hm. Do you think that might be relevant, Sasha? I'm not sure of anything else that seemed important.

"C'mon, we should get going."

--

The following event occurs when everyone's ready:

After a fair bit of gathering and chattering, the group (if you could even call it that, consisting of the player characters, Allen, and Mary) gathered about a small table. Maybe they were eating lunch, maybe they weren't--who knows. The two NPCs were trying to touch base with everyone--in both of their dreams, apparently, they had had some sort of message about Ketel Station, at 9:00 P.M., and changing the world and changing people's minds, and all that sort of fancy jazz. The two had suggested everyone meet at Ketel Station before 9:00 P.M. (though they noted with confusion that 'tomorrow' was a bit ambiguous--but they were apparently choosing to interpret it as yesterday's tomorrow), and to be gathered by 9:00 P.M.. This inexplicably seemed like a good idea, because whether you knew it or not, the plot (or whatever passed for one these days) was likely over there. Of course, you didn't know that in-character, but it was no doubt a niggling feeling--with time stopping, then having a sudden ominous shared dream, there had to be something of import there.

The group was making light conversation this point, no doubt.

If you[r character] has anything to do before 9:00 P.M., then be sure to note it. Otherwise, time will skip, uh, soonish.

--

UPDATE/T-T-T-T-T-TIMESKIP!

Evening
Your watch read 8:43 P.M.. The sun had set almost an hour and a half ago, and by this time, the last traces of reds and oranges in the sky had long ago faded into the horizon.

Ketel Station. It was busier than it ought to have been, being a Thursday evening at the start of September. People walked by in a constant flow--busy men and women walking away from the station, and equally busy men and women walking to the station. Ketel Station wasn't a big station, nor was it was small. It was originally the centre-point of Ketel Falls--a half century, or maybe even a full century ago. Time had indeed marched on, though the station still held an important role in the city. The station, you heard, had been massively renovated and rehauled some time in the 60s--which might explain the facade of the station. It was peculiar, to say the least (though to many Ketel Fall residents, 'an eyesore' would be the common descriptor)--supposedly a very much brutalist style. It rose about two storeys tall, and was grey, grey, grey all the way up, and all the way down. The second floor jutted outwards, with occasional massive concrete columns running upwards, integrated into the first floor facade, supposedly supporting the second story from the ground. Windows ran about each floor, all equally sized and spaced, with a black stripe above, and a black stripe below. The building was definitely nothing particularly pretty to look at.

The group had finished assembling a few minutes ago--no doubt you were admiring the station or the parking lot, or the odd number of people at the station while you were waiting. After waiting about and decided there was nothing to do, you eventually opted to enter the station. Whatever was happening at 9:00 P.M. could certainly do it inside too, right?

The inside of the station was far more pleasant than the outside. The floors were large stone tiles which were both shiny and smooth (though oddly reminiscent of elementary school.) The walls were a nice mix--sometimes they looked like a faux stucco, sometimes they looked like smooth stone, and sometimes they looked like warm cherry wood paneling. In the main hall was a small stretch of wall comprised of televisions--further up and down the station, there were occasionally similar installations, albeit with projectors on a large white screen rather than televisions (consequently, they were rather hard to see at many times during the day.) However, viewed as a whole, the station's main area was fairly open--and as such, the random walls looked a bit odd, if nothing else. Along the wall towards the tracks were waiting areas, there were doors, stairs to reach the second level and cross the tracks, etc., etc.. It was a train station at the end of the day.

The group kinda just stood around and made idle chit-chat--for the most part, nobody seemed to really care. The television wall panel was split between showing train schedules (a task made somewhat redundant by many other screens and boards dedicated the exact same task) and showing advertisements ("Bowl-a-cola - it's right down your alley!", "Lodestone Body Spray - Guaranteed to make you more attractive", etc.) Eventually they fixed upon one particularly long movie trailer--some sort of action movie.

After a minute or two of acting thoroughly clueless, Mary seemed to have noticed something. Oh, no, nevermind, nothing important, just someone selling hats on the second floor. You know, why not, there was nothing better to do. It was... let's see. 8:51 P.M.. The movie trailer was showing off action scenes now--with loud constant gunfire that would be very concerning in any other context, and some muscle-bound hero yelling ("you're not who you used to be!") With that as your soundtrack, you and the group bravely moved about the station towards the escalator to the second floor. Nobody really seemed interested in the second floor, and so the mass of people thinned out to nearly nothing by the time you were upstairs.

All along the walls of the second floor was a large advertisement for what was apparently a bug show at the museum starting in October. Their advertisement took the form of millions of butterflies painted along the wall, in large streams moving across the wall. There was a sea of orange, rivers of yellow, and the odd single stream of brilliant blue butterflies streaking along the wall. Every few metres was the explanation--a butterfly exhibit at the museum.

It was only about now that you noticed it had gotten quieter. Only the televisions seemed to still be going. Suddenly cluing in, you checked your watch, which ticked over to 9:00 P.M. almost a second later. Surely enough, something stupid was happening again, and that took the form of... right, there was nobody on the second floor. Except for the guy selling hats--no wait, he was gone too. Go figure. The rest of the group seemed, well, puzzled. The only sound you could really hear now was the movie trailer finishing up the only way it knew how--guns ablazing. The narrator finally said "COMING THIS FALL", and the trailer ended with a loud BANG. Then it was silence.

Silence that was quickly broken by Allen, who yelped out in pain, hand against the back of his head. "What the--OW! The heck was tha--oh crap, am I bleeding!?" He had brought his hand back, and taken a look at it, and surely enough, there was red on it. "The hell just happened!? D... did the movie trailer just freakin' shoot me!?"

The oddness quickly continued, as the butterfly painting on the wall seemed to come to life, with thousands of red, orange, and yellow butterflies suddenly deciding that being on the wall was the height of lameness--and accordingly, fluttering away in a massive, chaotic flying swarm. Boy, were your eyes ever overstimulated by that. However, your eyes seemed to be drawn to one blue spot in the swarm, slowly fluttering downstairs for a moment before you lost track of it.

Deciding to follow it downstairs, you stopped at the escalator to view quite the sight. Everyone was frozen again--but that wasn't it (in fact, that was already wearing thin by the second time), but odd black blobs moved about the floor, shrouded in a black fog all about the floor. You heard a cacophony comprised of what sounded like hundreds of distinct voices, all whispering and muttering things. "That movie's going to be dumb." "Who even designed this station?" "There's too much sugar in my coffee." All very mundane things indeed. But still, the black blobs. They looked kind of like tar, with arms. Arms that dragged themselves along. There were two red points on each, which were presumably eyes. Very very cliched evil eyes. Who could've figured?

After observing for a stunned moment, you realized that uh, something certainly was happening. And during this something happening, standing at the top of some escalators dumbfounded was probably not the best course of action.

What did you do?

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha rather liked the station's facade, and in a mostly non-ironic way at that. She found something endearing in it's bold ugliness and it's oddly stylized pseudo-pragmatic minimalism - like that weird friend that you get used to and couldn't imagine being any other way, perhaps. Still, while she might normally have enjoyed a walk in the area, that wasn't really an option just now, and surrounded as she was by people she had only a passing familiarity/awkward friendliness with, she was pretty bored outside, and didn't object to moving in.

Sasha also liked the inside of the station, for largely different reasons - it was a lively, bustling place, very good for such diverse activities as loitering, hanging out and people watching. It'd been too long since she'd been here - she quickly made a mental note to drag her sister down here sometime soon. As they moved upstairs, her mood continued to improve, up from a not-so-great "bored and sullen" to a decent "quiet but content", upon reaching the second floor and the frankly very awesome mural advertisement.

It promptly tanked once more when she realized along with the others that time had stopped - or something - again. She was as startled as anyone when the mural freaked out, and at the sight of the whatever-they-were-s below her breath caught as she felt the familiar lightheaded rush of adrenalin.

Decision time. Fight or Flight?

....she swung her backpack around and pulled out the pair of scissors she kept in the main pocket in case of surprise arts-and-crafts-related situations or other things, which had served her quite well over the years. She nervously tapped her boots on the ground, suddenly feeling the weight very clearly. She adjusted her backpack and jacket. And she took a step forward, down to the first floor, eyes wide, heart pounding, with a vague motion indicating that the others were welcome to join her.

Her mom and sister were waiting for her at home. As far as she could tell from the supremely limited information available, the only way out was through. Whatever those things were, they at least looked dangerous, but looks could be deceiving. But the door out, her target for the moment, wasn't going to walk to them (probably?); may as well get started now, before things had a chance to get worse. Life or death situations weren't all that new anyways.

[Daimbert]

Sanae stayed quiet most of the time, letting the others engage in small talk that she barely listened to. She wasn't all that great at small talk, and there was a lot to think about. Unfortunately, while there was a lot to think about, there wasn't a lot of data to work with, and so no conclusions could be formed from it, which she found frustrating.

Still deep in thought, she was yanked out of her reverie by Allen's yell, and then very, very weird things happened. Which was even more puzzling, although that confusion made sense. Upon seeing the blobs, she noticed Sasha yanking out a pair of scissors to use as a makeshift weapon, and wondered if fighting was really the right response here. However, she didn't normally carry anything that could be used as a weapon, and despite being scared and confused dropped into her normal default mode: she sidled back a bit behind Sasha and tried to analyze everything that she could see going on around her.

[MageofMystra]

September 7, 2017
Evening
Against the far wall of Ketel station, an odd new light streamed in, sweeping across as if spotlights constantly whizzed by the station. Beyond that was a dimly lit dusk--the sun had only recently set.

However, it was the interior of the station that deserved a second look. Hundreds of commuters frozen in time forming an almost surreal tableau. Between those were dark creatures, almost shadow-like--black blobs with arms and menacing red eyes (or rather, they would be menacing if not so trite.)

Sasha, no doubt badassfully sliding down the escalator or something (or maybe she just ran--who knows), charged forward with a pair of scissors, with Sanae slowly but purposefully moving behind here in a manner that could almost be described as sneakily.

The first floor was far dimmer from the bottom than the top. There was an odd atmosphere hanging about it--almost describable as a black fog that made it seem that the station, excepting a ring about you was completely unlit and plunged a thousand feet beneath the earth. Maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but suffice it to say that the atmosphere was rather unpleasant. The static-like noise persisted in the background, and indeed, almost seemed louder--a multitude of indistinct voices muttering. All in all, it was kind of annoying, if not worrying.

Sasha and Sanae had reached the bottom of the escalator and landed on the first floor, no doubt noticing the sound slowly growing louder, and the area around them growing darker. The herd of commuters was far thinner by the escalator than further down by the large entrance doors--only about six commuters were near the escalator (rather than the odd hundred further away.) Oddly, there were proportionally less of the shadow-like creatures (which I'm just going to start calling shadows, because honestly.) There were three by the small group of commuters, who seemed to turn to notice the two girls bounding down to ground level.

Then an odd thing happened indeed. For a moment, the whispers seemed to grow louder, but nobody really noticed that--for something odder was happening to the shadows. One seemed to swell like a rapidly inflating balloon (complete with silly sound effect), and much like a rapidly inflating balloon that didn't know its limits, popped. However, unlike the balloon, the shadow burst and sent what was more or less a rapid drizzle of ichor about it. At the base of the now exploding, former shadow was a pool of black substance, from which an arm extended itself. Followed by another. And another. And another. That was a lot of arms. The pool expanded, and the arms raised then turned their hands so as to reveal their palms (almost reminiscent of a flashy magician showing that he was hiding nothing in his hands)--on which were odd blue masks.

The other two shadows followed suit quickly.

The station got darker, and a depressing air settled in very quickly. It seemed almost as if your emotions were being sapped by the area--what might have previously been an inkling of fear had turned into strong dejection. The shadows begin to move... slither? towards Sasha and Sanae, who might have, at the time, been pretty darn terrified. Or maybe they weren't.

The static grew louder, and for an odd moment, one voice seemed to rise amongst them. The area had, at this point become dark, and the three shadows, showing two blue masks each were charging quickly. However, the six pale blue masks were not the only blue--in the distance, against the veil of darkness was a point of vivid blue light wafting lazily. Maybe it was a butterfly? It seemed familiar.

Then there was overwhelming pain.

No doubt the party had grabbed their heads or their knees had buckled or something (or maybe they didn't), as a horrific headache wracked through their temples--like burning knives directing invading their skulls. Against the din of voices, one voice suddenly boomed amongst them.

The next events are experienced differently by each player character.
The bizarre scene had unfolded before your eyes as you, no doubt stunned or just indecisive, could only watch. The shadows had drawn closer and closer to those two people downstairs that may have either been your friends or some random chicks you had met like two days ago. Funny thing, that. There was an odd fear niggling in the back of your mind--a small malicious voice slowly telling you that after those two, would be you. Then the headache. Your vision faded to blackness--except for one odd point of blue that remained. Then a flash of blue light, as your headache suddenly spiked--and you feeling very much like your head was about to very forcefully erupt lava. Then, in an infinitesimally short time that seemed to stretch on and on, a loud voice boomed--feminine, yet almost regal in a way:

"SHUNNED BY THE LANDS ERE I BROUGHT
"SPURNED BY THE SEA LEST I MADE
"TWO BEINGS OF DIVINE MIGHT
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME,
"I AM LETO,
"A MOTHER OF AN ERST ERA"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to a spectral, yet magnificent matron-like lady in long flowing robes and hair. She seemed to be without legs--and her robes, though they fluttered, seemed to fade away into faint wisps of smoke. No doubt that was this Leto--and it was the oddest feeling looking at her. It felt like she was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What an awesome power it was.

About one yard behind Sasha, you watched the shadows charge. What good would scissors do. Though you had mulled, this was probably more than enough to make you lose your cool--you were on the path of the big-cliched-shadow-express here. Then, a powerful headache--what timing! The headache was more powerful than any sort of headache you'd had in the past (and there were surely many to compare to)--enough that your vision seemed to leave you with a tableau of nothingness--except for, oddly, one single point of blue. It was on that point that your mind seemed to fixate, as the headache hit its maximum--feeling very much like your forehead was fighting to liberate itself from the inferno-like pain. Then a voice boomed--a powerful, masculine one that seemed to echo through every corner of your mind:

"THE STONE BURDENS OF ALL THE HEAVENS
"ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM EARTHLY MAN
"ARE MY TASK TO BEAR
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM ATLAS,
"THE TITAN WHO BEARS THE HEAVENS"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a massive titan of a man, hunched over slightly, as grey as stone. Contrary to your usual image of Atlas, though, this one had his arms far apart, and upon each hand, he bore a massive sphere--the left of dark marble, and the right of Earth. Well, he certainly seemed like Atlas--but it was the oddest feeling looking at him. It felt like he was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What an impressive power it was.

Scissors in hand, the shadows seemed to charge you first. Your vision blurred from the intense pain--the last thing you saw before vision had almost left you were the shadows, perhaps 10 yards away, and closing fast. As your vision turned dark, there was only a single point of blue that remained, that rapidly spread. Then the headache hit its peak, and a loud voice boomed--a majestic, yet oddly monstrous sounding voice:

"UNFETTERED BY CHAIN AM I,
"FEARLESS OF GODS AM I,
"THE WORLD SHALL BE BETWIXT MY FANGS
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM FENRIR
"A WOLF OF UTMOST MIGHT"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a massive spectral wolf--a massive, magnificent spectral wolf. No doubt a wolf that was worthy to be called Fenrir--and it was the oddest feeling looking at it. It felt like it was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What a fearsome power it was.

Downstairs, the shadows had gone through their little exploding trick and had begun to charge. No doubt schemes were being brewed in your mind--but honestly, it was an odd feeling. Very hard to guess for outsiders. The shadow had charged, and gotten quite close to the two downstairs, when the headache came. A really awful splitting headache that had shut out many other sensations--in fact, your field of view was going blank at an alarming pace. Well, blank except for one tiny thing--like a blue point of light. Then the headache all but exploded (into some sort of super-headache, no doubt), and a voice boomed--a horrifying female voice that gave you goosebumps from just how awful it was.

"CHAOS IS MY FOOTPRINT
"STRIFE IS MY TRAIL
"AND SUFFERING DOGS ME
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM ERIS,
"AN APPLE OF YOUR EYE?"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. No blue butterfly could be found--but there was light all about you. Above you, was what seemed to be a spectral woman in rough, disheveled rags of clothing, with an equally unkempt head of hair. The rags seemed to be of every colour. In her left hand was a golden apple which sure looked great. Yup, that was Eris alright, if your memory of mythology served you--but it was the oddest feeling looking at her. It felt like she was a part of you. You instinctively knew, somehow what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape your lips: "Persona."

What a terrifying power it was.


There were flashes of light in your eyes, which subsided soon enough. You weren't sure what happened to everyone else, but they seemed to have blank stares and were still reeling a little. Looks like they also had a headache.

Down on the first floor, the three shadows seemed to have been held at bay for a moment, but as Sasha and Sanae recovered, the shadows seemed to begin to move again. There was only one way out, they knew--and the four on the second floor knew.

But luckily, you had the tools now.


COMBAT BEGINS
The camera, fixated upon the wall of windows on the second floor with light streaming by, rotates downwards to view Sasha, Sanae, and three shadows beginning honourable battle.

Enemies
Deceitful Jester x3

Scan Information
Deceitful Jester:
Wk: Fire, Ice, Electricity
No strengths, nulls, reflects, or absorbs.

As a quick note, I've prepared your deck and already drew initiative to speed things up.

Turn Order (being maintained for entire combat, because honestly)
15 - Sanae Yamamoto (drew 13 of Wands)
14 - Halendor Queldius (drew 11 of Cups) [currently not in combat]
11 - Deceitful Jester 1, 2
9 - Sasha Richter (drew 7 of Wands)
8 - Deceitful Jester 3
7 + ? - Sophia Hastings (drew 6 of Swords; agility unknown.) [currently not in combat]

Support Character Says:
"Use fire, ice and electricity against them! They're weak to that!"

Out of combat - Allen and Mary, who are apparently useless

---

UI Says:
Sanae Yamamoto
HP: 42/42
4-Swords, 2-Wands, 14-Cups, 8-Swords, 1-Cups, 10-Coins. NEXT: 8-Cups

Halendor Queldius
HP: 35/35
13-Swords, 10-Swords, 9-Wands, 7-Cups, 5-Cups, 4-Wands. NEXT: 2-Cups

Sasha Richter
HP: 56/56
7-Cups, 4-Cups, 8-Cups, 3-Coins, 9-Coins, 14-Coins. NEXT: 2-Wands

---

Filled with a surge of confidence and armed with the power of PERSONA, Sasha and Sanae are like, totally ready to fight the blobs. Up above, the other two player characters are certainly preparing themselves as well!
Wielding the mighty power of PERSONA, Sasha, Sanae and Halendor are all making battle with the blobs--enemies of mankind, the SHADOW! Our brave heroes have already defeated one minion--but can they brave the rest?

Action Log
15 - Sanae Yamamoto used Scholar's Sight.
14 - Halendor Queldius grabs a wooden stick and enters the battlefield!
11 - Deceitful Jester 1 uses Bash on Halendor for 19 strike damage. Deceitful Jester 2 uses Garu on Sanae for 11 wind damage.
9 - Sasha Cleaves Deceitful Jester 1 [presumably] for 27 slash damage.
8 - Deceitful Jester 3 uses Bash on Sasha. It misses.
7 + ? - Sophia idles on account of player being currently away.
-- New round.
15 - Sanae Yamamoto uses Garu on Deceitful Jester 1, dealing 22 damage. Deceitful Jester 1 dies.
14 - Halendor Queldius uses Dia on himself, healing himself for 39 damage.
11 - Deceitful Jester 2 attempts to use Garu on Sanae, dealing 17 damage.
9 - Sasha Cleaves Deceitful Jester 2 for 22 slash damage.
8- DJ3 attacks Sasha normally. It misses.
-- New round.
15 - Sanae Yamamoto uses Garu on Deceitful Jester 2, dealing 19 damage. Deceitful Jester 2 dies.
14 - Halendor Queldius uses Dia on Sanae, healing her for 40 damage.

Sasha Richter to move.

[Daimbert]

Effectively, a semi-dispassionate analysis of everything around her was the equivalent of freezing for Sanae. In general, her body stopped moving except by rote while her mind raced and raced. As the thoughts swirled inside her head, they ran more and more and more rapidly until she was sure that she was going insane.

The blinding headache, then, was almost a relief.

After the intense experience, she knew that she had a thing called a Persona, and knew what it could do. As it seemingly exploded out of her head, she seemed to see through its eyes as it gazed upon the strange threatening shadows ... and then she knew even more. She knew their strengths, their weaknesses, and how to exploit the latter and avoid the former. And so she yelled, "Use fire, ice and electricity against them! They're weak to that!".

[Philemonite]

The scene that was unfolding before his eyes stunned Halendor. He was still not sure if he can trust his senses, this was all too much for him. And then the pain came. It was unlike anything he has ever felt, like something was burrowing in his skull. He was quite sure he screamed in pain for a moment, not his proudest moment.
And then there was relief. The voice and the figure that appeared helped him calm down. There was one word stuck in his mind, night. He didn't really understand why. He didn't know much about Leto, and he couldn't realize how could she be connected to him. But there was no time for that, there were people in danger. He shook his head trying to get some clarity. In a moment his shyness melted away and his military training (courtesy of his father) kicked in.
"Not while I'm here!" He screamed looking around for a weapon.
Before he could realize what was going on he was running down the stairs with a wooden stick in his hand.

[MageofMystra]

Enemy turn!
Deceitful Jester 1
The blob of arms goes "rrgh" or something. Its palm-mask things turn to face Halendor, armed with a mighty shadow-busting stick entering the battlefield. Shadows being classy, it bounds towards Halendor and attempts to Bash him with its many hands.

"Rrgh", it goes, as it attempts to bash Halendor. The attack deals a base of 27 damage. Halendor may either attempt to dodge or withstand the attack, using those rules.

Deceitful Jester 2
Evidently unpleased by being scanned, the creature raises its many arms and does what only be described as a little dance. A little dance of fearsome magic, of course.

With its arms in the air as if it did not care, Sanae, probably still scanning, knew that it was summoning a wind attack, Garu. What a weird name. Either way, yeah, wind attack.

Garu deals a base of 28 wind damage. Sanae may attempt to either dodge or withstand, using those rules.


(speaking of which, we should maybe pre-establish whether you want to dodge or withstand attacks, and pre-draw cards or something.)

[Daimbert]

As the monster attacked, Sanae felt Atlas crouch over her, standing between her and the winds, although some of the attack was still getting through.

OOC - Sanae will block this attack.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha felt something flow through her as the pain dissipated, heard the voice in her mind, saw the spirit....wolf....thing above her (a Stand....?), and noticed the Shadows coming for her. She squeezed her scissors and felt the power surging through her. She spotted that one guy runnin down to join them with a....stick. How helpful. Well, she appreciated the thought, anyway....

And then she saw Sanae get hurt and decided it was time to hurt something.

Instinct took over as she rushed down the thing that had attacked her companion and she screamed out the name of the spirit (Stand?): "FENRIR!"

[MageofMystra]

Invoking her Persona with a roar, Fenrir bounded forth and clawed a shadow asunder!

(Queen of Wands converted to Queen of Swords; base 32 damage [15 + 4 + 13]); 27 damage dealt. Roughly 30% HP remains.)
(new card drawn on her new turn is Queen (13) of Coins)

The shadow reforms after being torn, though it looks significantly runnier and damaged.

--

ENEMY TURN!
Deceitful Jester 3
Probably disturbed by the new power of persona demonstrated, the creature lunges forward and attempts to Bash Sasha.

(Bash attempt; to-hit value of 8; base damage 25 [striking])

--

A new turn rolls around. After her thorough inspection, Sanae is due to move again.

[Daimbert]

Sanae grunted in pain as the attack hit, but knew that Atlas had absorbed a good bit of it. Seeing Sasha attack with her Persona, and noting that the creature she attacked seemed weaker, she hoped that a strong attack might finish it off. These things seemed to hit pretty hard, and she definitely didn't want to give them too many attacks on them while the numbers were only even.

So, she screwed up her courage and felt that she could attack with a Wind based attack as well, and yelled "Atlas! Blow him!"

Atlas looked at her in puzzlement for an instant, and then a surge of wind leaped out at the enemy that Sasha had hit.

OOC: Garu on the enemy Sasha had attacked, discard Queen of Coins to make the attack.

[Philemonite]

The attack hit Halendor pretty hard, but thanks to Leto he was still standing. However, he knew that he won't be so lucky if he didn't do something. He took a deep breath and whispered:
"I need you."
Within seconds Leto appeared above him. With a smile on her face, she covered his bruise with her cloak, and Halendor felt some tingling. Before he could realize what was going on his bruise was gone, and it appears that Leto was gone too. The confusion on his face was instantly replaced by determination. There will be time to ask questions later, right now he needed to do his part.

Using that sucky 3 of Swords to cast Dia. He might survive another round.:smalltongue:

[MageofMystra]

(sorry about the very long delay--I don't really have excuses at this point)

Previous move results

Deceitful Jester 3
The shadow's lunging forward met nothing but air, as Sasha evaded the attack incredibly well. (King (14) of Cups, which beats to-hit singlehandedly.)

Sanae
With a mighty motion, a vortex of green wind formed and buffeted the already battered Deceitful Jester 1. (Drew: 2 of Swords; to-hit of 4)
The creature attempts to hold strong with an endure move (Drew: 8 of Cups; 11 total defense)
The vortex is mighty indeed (15 base + 5 MAG + 13 (Queen of Coins) = 33 - 11 = 22 damage), utterly shredding the pool of black... liquid... stuff. It was strange, it was icky, and it was even a little sticky, as you might have found out later if you stepped in the pools of shredded shadow that had been strewn about by the tempest.
Deceitful Jester 1 is destroyed.

Enemy turn!
Deceitful Jester 1
No longer just one pile of goo, it is now like fifty smaller piles of goo. Needless to say, this isn't conducive to doing anything of value.

Deceitful Jester 2
Worryingly enough, it seems to target Sanae next. Luckily, however, it doesn't seem capable of putting two and two together, as it waves its arms to attempt to strike Sanae with a Garu spell (yay randomized attack patterns.)
(Garu: drew 10 of swords on damage; 27 wind damage. To-hit score is 13.)

[Daimbert]

As she felt the wind build over her again, she resolved to stand firm again against the onslaught, and Atlas again moved to cover her with his own body.

OOC - Block again,

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
Deceitful Jester 2
Sanae fails to defend against the worst of the windstorm and boy, does it hurt.
(Drew Ace (1) of Wands; final endurance of 5. 22 - 5 = 17 base damage. No resistances.)

Sasha Richter to move.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha cursed rather loudly as Sanae was struck....by a blast of....wind....?....focus. Whatever it is, just don't get hit. The other girl - and Halendor - both seemed to have some particular abilities granted by their, um, Personas, but both also seemed more delicate than her. OK. So she needed to try harder, work a stronger defense while they did what they did.

The wolf grinned furiously as she gripped her scissors tighter. She could do that. She moved forward, for the thing that had blasted Sanae. Nothing fancy yet. Hopefully, she just needed to keep finding her sea-legs and doing what worked for now. "HEY, YOU! EAT THIS!"

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
Sasha Richter
Tightly gripping her scissors, Fenrir lunges forward and mauls the blob of shadow.
(To-hit irrelevant; DJ2 attempts to defend.)
(27 base slash damage; 15 + 3 + 9 = 27. Enemy blocks 5 damage (3 + 2 (2 of Cups) = 5). 22 damage total.)

The shadow seems damaged.

Enemy Turn!
Deceitful Jester 3
Shadow three suddenly slides with surprising speed, seemingly striving to strike Sasha (though softly.)
(Performs regular attack; to-hit of 3 (2 + 1 (Ace of Cups)); damage of 10 (8 + 2 (2 of Coins)).)
UPDATE: Hit automatically misses; Sasha's natural AGI exceeds a to-hit value of 3.

[Daimbert]

Atlas was too slow, and didn't manage to block the wind swirling around her. It hurt. A lot. She felt battered and bruised, and weak. But she had to endure, and had to make sure that everyone made it through. That meant another attack.

"Atlas, blow again!" she cried, and focused the winds again on the monster that Sasha had attacked.

OOC - Use the 10 of Swords to use Garu again on DJ2.

[MageofMystra]

Previous turn results
Sanae
Invoking a great gust of wind about the second strange shadowy type object, Atlas shreds the shadow asunder.
(Hits!: to-hit: 2 + 12 (Knight of Swords) = 14. Enemy endures; 3 + 8 (8 of Swords) = 11. Base damage is 15 + 5 + 10 (10 of Swords) = 30. 30 - 11 = 19 damage.)
Deceitful Jester 2 is destroyed.

Card to be drawn at the start of next turn: 8 of Cups

Halendor to move.

[Philemonite]

As the second enemy fell down Halendor started to feel better, they were wining. Granted, he didn't really do anything, but he was trying to help. He looked at the remaining enemy and then at Sanae.
"Let's play it safe, shall we?" He whispered to himself. Hoping that the stick will help him channel Leto's powers, she turns towards Sanae, sending a wave of positive energy in her direction.

Casts Dia on Sanae, using that pathetic 4(Cups or Wands, it doesn't really matter).

[MageofMystra]

Previous turn results
Halendor
Waving the stick in his hands, and invoking his Persona, Sanae's wounds spontaneously mend, healing 40 health.
(30 base + 6 MAG + 4 discarded = 40 points)

Enemy Move!
Deceitful Jester 2
He does nothing because he is dead.

Sasha to move.

[AkaiNeko]

Panting slightly, Sasha couldn't help but pull a face when Sanae finished off the second of the shadowy....things. That should have been her kill, dammit, said the newly-awakened wolf-ish voice within her. But no, this was no game and there was no reason to focus on such things, so far as she knew - as long as she contributed properly and things got done, it should be fine, right?

....well, she could find some way to rib the other girl afterwards, at least.

With only one target left and the situation looking well in hand, Fenrir seemed to be guiding her to try something different. She followed the instinctive directions and held her hand towards the final foe, feeling a different flavor of power surge through her and releasing it with a shout.

[MageofMystra]

Previous turn results
Sasha Richter
With a roar, Sasha channeled some new power. The light about the last shadow faded (whatever that means)--then multiple balls of purple flames sprung into existence, floating about and tracing a set of runic rings arranged as if to create the wireframe of a globe. Slowly revolving and pulsing with its very dark, evil, and edgy light, the purple flames burst into a blast of darkness.

(DJ attempts to dodge; fails; effect hits: 4 + 4 of Coins = 8 vs. 2 + 3 of Wands = 5; attack hits. Damage = 20 + 2 [MAG] + 7 + 9 (discarded cards) = 38; 38 - 3 (END) = 35 final damage + 5 fudge damage because I'm lazy and want to finish this encounter = 40 damage HEY WHOA!)

The shadow's dark ichory substance seems to have burst along with the light.

All enemies defeated! *victory music*

----------------------------------

The first floor by the escalators had been cleared of immediate threats--or so it seemed. There were many more shadows on the floor--a near absurd amount, actually. However, they seemed to be backing off now--was it fear, or something else?

Then you noticed a light. It was you, actually. You felt stronger--more experienced, even. Stepping forward (perhaps cautiously) showed that the shadows here seemed to be afraid--backing off slowly as you moved forward. Everything seemed quite clear--then you noticed something odd, seemingly very much like red orbs laying upon the ground. As you approached, they seemed to fade. Oddly, you seemed to instinctively knew you could access them later (though hell if you knew what they were.)

[B]COMBAT REWARDS:
10 BP
15 unknown red orbs

You seemed to have the all clear. You and the group advanced towards the door, pausing for a moment as a group of shadows didn't seem to back off (though they soon changed their minds as you grew closer--the stick and scissors of the group evidently being very effective intimidation tools.) Perhaps more oddly, contrary to what you perhaps expected, there was no boss fight--no gigantic shadow bursting out of the ceiling. No nothing.

You stepped out of the railway station, and were greeted by a sight that would become all too familiar over the next year. The sky was completely dark, and the entire world covered in a sickening and disturbing shade of light that was somewhere between purple and green (despite the fact that they were disparate colours--now that was truly worrying.) You had a far view, and could see commuters and the streets frozen in time--businessmen frozen mid-stride, cars stopped mid-turn, children mid-skip. Streetlamps were on, emitting a faint yellow light that was vaguely reminiscent of pus. On the horizon, the last slivers of the sun could be seen--however, here it was a glowing orb of pure orange-red, seeming wholly unnatural compared to rest of the scene surrounding you. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was an odd scene. A terrible, awful scene.

"Here."

The group turned wildly to see no one. It was a voice hard to describe--masculine, and a little gravelly, except... not. It was a voice you could recognize at an instant if you ever heard it again, but to describe it is... odd. And in that moment of thinking, Halendor seemed to noticed something in his hand that was not there before--a small business card sized piece of cardstock. Written upon it was:

"A glass of warm milk with sugar ere you slumber;
Drink it with intent to dream
And through sleep shall you lumber
Into a world without regime!"

That just figures. Everything has to rhyme around here.

Time started again. A din of noise roared all about you. What now...?

[Daimbert]

Sanae had long held that there was a rational explanation for everything, and that you could systematize all events into one overarching theory that would fit all the facts reasonably well.

This .... this was going to take some work.

(Assuming that Halendor shows the card to everyone).

"Are these intended to be ... instructions for coming back to the world we just experienced?" she commented.

[Philemonite]

"I guess it's some kind of riddle. Maybe we are supposed to go to sleep and we will come back here in our dreams. Or, maybe we're supposed to sing the tune together. That might work."

[Daimbert]

Sanae winced. "It's just ... I don't LIKE warm milk."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha sighed, starting the process of releasing the adrenalin, fear, excitement, frustration, stress and so on that this situation was causing her. She glanced at her watch to check the time and remembered to tune back in to the others; she couldn't space out quite yet.

Looking at the card Halendor held, something struck her. She doesn't know the people she's with particularly well, and thus there was a certain anxiety as she asked, "So....why would we do it at all? Do we want to get back into whatever the hell it was we just got out of? I mean....risking your life and s*** when you have to is one thing, but for no reason's a different story. And I don't know what just happened, at all, but I do know that we were seriously in danger."

[Philemonite]

Sanae winced. "It's just ... I don't LIKE warm milk."

"Why not? It's essential for healthy nutrition."


Sasha sighed, starting the process of releasing the adrenalin, fear, excitement, frustration, stress and so on that this situation was causing her. She glanced at her watch to check the time and remembered to tune back in to the others; she couldn't space out quite yet.

Looking at the card Halendor held, something struck her. She doesn't know the people she's with particularly well, and thus there was a certain anxiety as she asked, "So....why would we do it at all? Do we want to get back into whatever the hell it was we just got out of? I mean....risking your life and s*** when you have to is one thing, but for no reason's a different story. And I don't know what just happened, at all, but I do know that we were seriously in danger."

"To change the world?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae raised an eyebrow at Halendor's response, but decided it wasn't worth pursuing. Milk was indeed nutritious ... but that didn't make drinking warm milk pleasant.

After Halendor's comment about changing the world, she replied, "But ... for the better, or the worse? Blundering into this without sufficient information is more likely to produce disaster rather than a utopia, and without evidence of a real threat it may be best for us to leave it be.'

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded, glad that her concerns were being considered. Glad that her....teammates, or whatever they were, weren't brushing her off and running half-cocked into disaster for the sake of "adventure" or something.

"We don't know what the hell is going on here. We don't know how the hell we ended up in this mess. We sure as hell don't know what's at stake, what impact we could have, who or what we'd be fighting against, or for, and all that s***. We need more to go on." Then something occurred to her. She concentrated and, after a furtive glace around, attempted to bring out Fenrir.

[MageofMystra]

Thursday September 7, 2017
Evening
Discussion ensued after the ordeal. Sasha seemed to be unable to summon Fenrir after the fact. Life resumed quickly around them--nobody seemed to have even noticed what had just happened.

With that, no doubt exhausted, you headed home and slept, without any of that warm milk nonsense.


Friday September 8, 2017
Morning
Maybe you turned on the news in the morning, or maybe you heard about it from whisperings everywhere in the hallway. The entire school was abuzz, and even many of the normally staid teachers had joined in on the chatter. There had apparently been a stabbing in Miwalte Park last night, at roughly 9:00 P.M.. The victim, identified as one Johnathan Mason, was rushed to hospital and is in intensive care.

While a crime like that was worth noting, it was this particular one that captured everyone's attention--it seemed to happen without any warning or culprit. One moment was normal, then the next, someone screamed, because the victim's body was on a heap in the ground.

Very spooky.

Lunchtime
By chance or just by plain ol' gathering, the group was assembled again today at the library, after lunch (or maybe even during--though you ostensibly weren't allowed to eat in there, nobody seemed to care.) At least for Allen and Mary, the stabbing was of the utmost interest today--because, oddly enough, they had a hunch on it that you might have realized as well--that it was performed during that odd frozen time you encountered at the train station last night.

Very spooky...

Either way, you probably should figure out something to do at lunch. Or figure out a plan of action. Who knows!

[Xhosant]

Ingatius Slepens was being poked at by a thought the last two days, and that had moved up to a haunting since yesterday.

Firstly, it was the odd event in the opening ceremony. At first, he had dismissed it as a dream, but it didn't quite feel like it. And he wasn't even one to sleep out of boredom before, so what's with that?

Secondly, there was yesterday night's event. It looked like everything froze, just like the ceremony, minus the unfrozen people and the film. He could tell for sure, though, this wasn't a dream: for one, as he wandered around the house, he saw stuff he couldn't have known, and which checked out after the fact, such as the flowers his mother brought today. And most disturbingly, he thought he saw... something... moving outside in the street. He hadn't taken a good look, but something deep and subconscious, primal even, had warned him it was dangerous.

Thirdly, today's news. Obviously, whatever he was experiencing, others were, too. That he could deduce from the first and second clues, but this was conclusive.

Whatever the case, he had to make sense of it. He combed through the library, picking everything that could be relevant, from works on hallucinations to clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences to quantum space-time theories. He was missing a couple key titles, but somewhere through all that there had to be a hint.

He pushed his light blonde hair aside, fixed his glasses and drifted out of his thoughts and back to the half-conquered fort of knowledge sprawling on the desk around him. Then he brought his face down onto his hand.

This is hopeless.

[AkaiNeko]

After splitting from the others, Sasha worked her now very tired way home.

The train ride seemed much longer than usual, and much louder. Her head was starting to hurt. She held off on calling home; no need to worry anyone; as far as Mom and Jacky knew, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the evening, and it was best to keep it that way for now.

When the doors opened she gratefully stepped out of the crowded press of bodies and into the cool night air. The stop nearest her home was, fortunately, rarely crowded, but also fortunately was rarely deserted. As she walked she looked herself over. Now that she thought about it, she looked more than a little worse for wear; she hadn't taken any big hits, but she had obviously been doing more than just hanging out at the station with friends. Also she didn't really have friends, not right now, but Mom would probably be sensitive enough not to say anything....? Jacky might, but she could trust her. Not necessarily with the actual truth, yet, but maybe some version of it.

....well, she'd have to deal with it, because she was home now.

(-_-)ZZZ

An hour later, after deflecting questions as to why she was so tired and wolfing down dinner, she lay on her bed, thinking. Her mother and sister were clearly concerned, but that was what family was for, right?

Why hadn't she been able to summon Fenrir earlier, and what did it mean? Was she only able to do it in that strange alternate space? Was that a risk? Could something happen out in the normal world that would need a "Persona", leaving her helpless? Was she simply not strong enough yet? How stron was she, any, and the others for that matter, relative to....something or other? She had felt noticeably more powerful at the end than the beginning, as had the others, apparently; maybe she should look at it like a JRPG for now?

....hehe, maybe her sister's gaming habits would prove useful here. Come to think of it, it had been a while since they'd played together; she should really do something about-

"Sasha, come here right now!" Mom's voice broke through her thoughts. OK, then. She got up with a sigh and poked her head into the living room.

"What's up?" Her mother gestured to the TV screen she was staring pensively at. Apparently there'd been a murder. A stabbing. In the park.

At 9 PM. Sasha's blood ran cold.

She didn't have to fake the surprise, so her Mom was reassured that it hadn't had anything to do with Sasha's state. Now she had more to think about. She rolled over with a sigh and tried to get to sleep; it would probably be more productive to talk with the others tomorrow.

....she really needed to call up some old friends again. Having her only friends be the other people involved in the weird supernatural s*** was such a cliche.

(-_-)ZZZ

The next day, she sat in the library with her lunch, quietly munching away at a chicken sandwich and waiting for the others to start the discussion. She didn't always have to be the proactive one, dammit.

[Daimbert]

Sanae's parents, in their normal, overprotective way, had made her very much aware of the murder that had occurred during that strange time that she and some others had experienced. Truthfully, she was more concerned than they were, but for different reasons. She needed more information about all of this in general ... but it wouldn't be a good idea to express too much curiosity about the murder around her parents. That would just worry them more ... if for no other reason than that they'd start to worry that she'd worry TOO much about the murder.

Parents were funny sometimes.

So, at lunch, she headed straight to the library. If things hadn't been so serious, she'd have been relieved about getting back to her normal routine ... but there was nothing routine about this. She grabbed copies of the local newspaper, as many as she could find, and then turned to her biggest clue: "Persona". The most interesting correlation with that word was in Jungian philosophy, so she grabbed a couple of books on the subject and headed to a table, figuring that the others would probably join her later.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius raised his head off his palm. This was all wrong, for the slightest allusion to be so far out of reach, he must have been searching in the wrong place, or rather, for the wrong thing.

He shouldn't be investigating the delusion, for nothing of it would be found if nobody had talked of it, and he, for one, wouldn't. Rather, it was the murder his pursuit ought focus on. But then, he was at he wrong place; it wasn't books he needed, but newspapers.

He then blinked, slowly. While his mind was occupied with those thoughts, his vacant eyes had been affixed on nothing other than newspapers. A pile of them, of all kinds, and not like those one might encounter in the archives either, for those looked new. And next to that column was a girl, working her way through a psychology thesis.

He knew not the book's purpose, but such a collection would only form with research in mind. Might she be intrigued by the murder yesterday? And in either case, might he peruse the collection, should it be current?

He approached the desk, and a swift glance revealed the newspapers to be his morning's, indeed.

"Excuse me", he said, hesitantly."Might I take a look at those?"

I went for a more sophisticated style with Slepens, since i seemed to fit him. Of course, he'll try not to use the same vocabulary in speech, as that confuses his fellows :smalltongue: If I'm going overboard or flat out failing, do nudge me :smallbiggrin:

[Daimbert]

Sanae looked up from the chapter linking Persona to Tarot cards, and replied, "Of course. Please look at any you wish."

[Xhosant]

The offer seemed more eager than Ignatius had anticipated; he formed a slight yet earnest smile.

"Thank you."

He claimed the chair across from her, then started perusing the documents. Sure enough, all of them were this morning's, and all had elaborate reports on the incident. Yet essentially, what all of them could be summed up to was, there was no sign of what happened or who the culprit was. As if the victim just appeared there, already wounded and unconscious.

Which would be sensible, assuming the man had found himself in that queer, timeless state along with the perpetrator. But who might that be? And was it them that had invoked the phenomenon to the deed's end, or was it mere opportunism?

After a few uneventful minutes, he considered whether the papers' owner had found something beyond his own findings, assuming it was that event she was investigating.

"Did you hear about yesterday's attack?", he asked, still focused on the files. "It's rather odd, don't you think?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae looked up again at his comments, and thought for an instant. She had never really been one for small talk, and there certainly would be interest in this recent news ... but she didn't want to reveal to anyone that she was especially interested in it. That being said, she didn't really want to offend anyone, either.

"Well, before thinking of it as 'odd', I'd think that 'tragic' or 'frightening' would come to mind, first." she said, trying to make that sound more inquisitive instead of snarky or annoyed.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius was rather startled. It was a sensible remark, but it hit him as odd nonetheless.

"Well, surely, do not get me wrong. But next to every murder is, and most at least make sense. Besides, it's not a murder yet, is it?"

He gazed at the paper in his hand for a short moment.

"Weren't you curious about it, too?", he wondered.

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "'Curious' isn't the right word. But sometimes you can have a ... need to understand, especially the things that don't seem to 'make sense'"

[Xhosant]

"That is what I feel, as well. But try as I might, I see no way it could have happened, sort of time pausing..."

He pronounced those last words almost inaudibly, addressed to his own thoughts rather than the eprson whose fleeting companionship he was enjoying, yet not so much that they were sure not to have perceived them. Thus, he rushed to add:

"Don't mind that, I just... had an odd dream yesterday."

Truly, this wasn't that great a falsehood.

[Daimbert]

Sanae caught the "Short of time pausing" part of his comment, and her mind raced. Was he hinting that he had experienced the same thing that they all had? If this was someone else able to experience that strange no-time, then they definitely needed to find out what his experiences were like. But if he hadn't, then again she didn't want to simply ramble on about the whole thing and get strange rumours start. No, this called for subtlety ...

She indicated one of the psychology books she was reading. "This book might be of interest, then. It talks about analyzing your dreams and how that analysis relates to your ... Persona."

She watched him very closely to see if he had any reaction to the term "Persona".

[Xhosant]

Ignatius, with no means yet to know of the word's intended implications, revealed no more of a reaction than someone who had merely inquired on the subject.

"Well, let me try...", he said.

He knew of the Tarrot, of course, and with a moment's hesitation thumbed across the pages of the chapter and to the section on Number 10, The Fortune.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha took another bite of her sandwich. Mom had really done a good job; maybe her concern over the situation had cranked her maternal instincts into overdrive or something? She'd need to reassure her somehow, particularly if this s***** situation kept up. She wasn't sure yet what to make of the newcomer; he seemed to have slightly more of a clue than the average Joe off the street, but that was about all she could get from him - though his possibly-a-dead-giveaway, possibly-a-weird-coincidence comment about time stopping that he didn't seem to think she or Sanae had heard and his general demeanor tipped her towards the assumption of greater knowledge rather than less, both for the purposes of caution and information management.

That he had yet to meaningfully acknowledge her presence didn't really incline her to be overly polite to him, either, but that was just being petty. He'd been attracted by Sanae and her research materials, after all, not the quiet, sleepy, grumpy and kinda grungy girl eating with her.

She took another bite. These were good, sharp pickles; she'd have to tell Mom that the new brand was a keeper. Sensing a lull in the exchange, she asked the newcomer around a mouthful of delicious chicken: "So what's your theory? And your name?"

[Xhosant]

Ignatius turned to the second girl, who until now he had assumed was a stranger to his companion, and had try not to annoy.

"Oh, you are a company? 0y apologies, I hadn't realised..." he trailed off, as his surprise allowed a more formal tone than his preferred to intrude.

"Regardless," he replied, now facing both girls,"my name is Ignatius. Ignatius Slepens.", as he extended a handshake.

"It is not really a theory, much flimsier than that. But it sounds like we only know part of the event, as if the first half happened somewhere nobody could see, then suddenly the rest of the scene played out in the middle of the park. But that would require one of a number of things we don't know to be possible, such as the body being there, invisible, or getting there instantaneously. At least from the witnesses' perspective, that is."

Ignatius sighed.

"And that silly thought is tugging on me, and won't let me think up anything else..."

[Philemonite]

Halden waked into the library a little later then the girls. As always when he didn't have company, the headphones were in his ears, and when he heard "Don't let your shadow spoil the view of what's around you" something in the back of his mind clicked.
"Damn, this day hasn't even started, and it's already weird." He whispered to himself. "Staying late last night was probably a bad idea."
He stopped the music, and looked around the library. He didn't expect any familiar face, and he was pleasantly surprised to see Sasha and Sanae there. Putting his phone in his pocket he made his way towards them.
"Good morning, I did not expect to find you here, but it's a pleasure to see you. What are you researching?"
There was something else he wanted to ask, but his gaze turned towards the new guy and he heard Leto's voice in his head: Secret!
Her voice startled and confused him, and he ended up staring at the boy, forgetting to introduce himself.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius turns to the newcomer, offering a handshake to him as well.

"Hello. A friend of the two, I presume? I would be Ignatius. They were helping me understand yesterday's event."

[Daimbert]

While she thought he could have been simply masking his reaction, having no reaction to the word "Persona" suggested that it was more likely that he was just someone bothered by the strange event than someone who had any connection to it. That being the case, it wouldn't be a good idea to talk openly in front of him, but she couldn't really think of a polite way to move him along.

"Maybe it's better not to dwell too much on the strange and incomprehensible,"she replied. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? And how they express that?"

[Xhosant]

Been waiting for Leto to get us out of the bind, but I guess it'll might make for a better plot to just re-meet the team down the line.

"Perhaps you're right," exclaimed Ignatius. "Thank you for the help, regardless. The Tarot material was quite interesting."

With a motion of gratitude, he turned around and took his leave. Next time, perchance?, he thought.

[Daimbert]

Sanae waited until Ignatius was out of earshot, and then commented to the others, "I presume you've all heard about the murder, and the likelihood that it occurred during that strange, frozen time that we experienced?"

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded to Sanae. "I guess the question is who. And how. And why." She paused. "So, questions, I guess. Whatever." She sighed and took another bite and, because f*** politeness right now it was lunch time dammit, spoke through it. "Which probably means that we need to stay involved a little longer, doesn't it?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "How is the most important question. After all, we know that Allen was hit during that time, and seemed to be mostly unhurt, and while it's clear that the monsters could have killed us, we were able to take a surprising amount of hits. That could indicate that the event wasn't really in the frozen time, or that something else happened around that time to cause that. Of course, it could also mean that those who do not have the power of Persona are more vulnerable, and thus more in danger. There are a lot of unknowns and risks here that we need to work out before proceeding."

She then turned to Halden, "What are your thoughts?"

[MageofMystra]

Friday, September 8, 2017
Lunchtime
The group, clustered around a table in the library, talked about the stabbing that had supposedly happened last night--supposedly, right around the same time that the ever bizarre time stopping occurence had occurred (thus stopping time bizarrely, of course.)

There was a silence--a silence that stretched on for an unnatural time--feeling like four weeks, almost (though in reality, it was only a minute or so, tops)--how, indeed?

Sanae had raised some interesting points--though Allen had ostensibly been shot, there was only light bleeding. If you had examined him afterwards (as you did, once time resumed), you wouldn't have even suspected anyone had tapped him there--much less shot him there. Those shadows had beaten the tar out of you, shot windstorms at you, and hit you over the head with large blunt objects, yet there wasn't any lasting damage.

Yet somehow, every clue you had so far indicated that this incident had occurred during the odd frozen time situation.

Halden had an odd feeling--then he heard a whisper in his ear. "Maybe it wasn't a shadow that stabbed him."

Oh, that was a terrible feeling.

You snuck a glance at the clock--lunch was about to end soon. There were still mysteries afoot--you agreed to meet with each other again after school.

After School
For the most part, after school, most people file away to clubs or home. The library wasn't a particularly popular way to spend time after school, yet there you were--since, of course, there was plenty of room, it was quiet, and you wouldn't've been eavesdropped on (on account of very few people being there.) Today, there was a meeting of some club--very soon after the start of the year, you noted. Those people--whoever they were, chattered away, as your group relegated itself to a table somewhat out of sight.

Yes, there were still problems, niggling away in your brain--what was persona, why did time stop, and how did that guy on the news get stabbed? All very serious questions--but you had a feeling, this strange feeling, that all three of those questions would be resolved by the same answer.

...just what was that answer, exactly?

Either way, you had to learn more. You had a few leads at present...

There was, of course, that dude in the hospital, but given that you're high schoolers with no relation to the guy, you had a feeling you wouldn't be able to go in and see him. Besides that, who knows if he would actually be useful (Halden--or maybe it was Leto, in this case? Either way, one of them somehow seemed to think he wouldn't be particularly useful.) There was also that silly business card you had received yesterday with silly rhyming lines. Lastly, there had been that bloke that Leto was yelling "secret" about earlier in the day--could he have known something?

So really, there were only two leads. All the better for you--you could follow them, then go back to having a normal life all the quicker.

[Philemonite]

The silence made Halden feel very awkward. He was used to being the silent one, just listening to others and analyzing them. The silence, coupled with the voice in his head, that he could only hope was Leto, made him speak up. But not too loudly, because they were in the library.
"So, let's make a summary of what we know."
He takes a large peace of paper and starts writing notes.
"First, we all saw those things yesterday. Whatever it was it was real, and we all felt it.
Second, the time stopped. Just like those shadowy things, this is something that we are certain happened.
Third, that stabbing happened at the same time as the time stop. The chances of it being a coincidence is are extremely minimal, especially because of the way he was stabbed.
Fourth, whatever this persona thing is it is real, and as far as we know it is on our side."
He pauses for a moment, surprised that so many words came from his mouth in such a short time. Looking at the paper in front of him he tried to make a connection between the 4 notes.
-Shadows
-Time Stop
-Stabbing
-Persona
"The only thing we can do is speculate. The shadows were aggressive, and they showed no sign of sentience. It is possible they were acting on more then just instinct, but I doubt it. There's not much else I can speculate about them without further information.
We have no information about the time stop, not even a speculation.
There is one thing that is bothering me about the stabbing, besides the assumption that who or whatever stabbed him was not affected by the time stop. He wasn't slashed, he was stabbed. Coupled with the very weird feeling I am having, it makes me think that he was not attack by shadows, but rather something else. I don't know why.
What do you guys think?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae raised an eyebrow. "The most obvious candidate for that something would be someone like us, who could be active in the frozen time. So maybe both of them were like us, and one decided to kill the other. Which would suggest that at least one of them knows a lot more about it than we do ... or else has a serious problem with impulse control."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded and spoke up. "I think the really important thing here is to look at this practically. So....um, I was thinking." She shifted uncomfortably. Public speaking still wasn't fun. "The murders are our immediate concern, right? Or, well, the murder and the possibility of more. Sure, there might be something else going on behind that, and I feel like there probably is, but really, figuring out the first would probably help us get at that."

She paused. It felt like she was forgetting something. Whatever, focus. Come on, Sasha. "So, speculation is fun, but the fact is, we don't know what's going on with any of this s*** - the time stop thing, Shadows, Persona, the killing and so on. Which means that we have almost no way of stopping any hypothetical future murders. Because we can't predict them, we can't chase whoever's doing it, anything like that. Can't even call the cops to get help - either they think we're crazy, or we somehow get them to believe us and now we're the prime suspects because they don't exactly have any other time-stopping magic-users to question, right?"

She paused to breath. Something moved inside of her; it felt like Fenrir was getting impatient. That probably meant the others were, too. "So, um, what I'm getting at here is that we need to focus on getting information. Like, all the information we can, as fast as we can. So we need to be following up on the leads we have - those cards, that kid from lunch, the guy in the hospital, books on....I don't know, personality theory or dream interpretation, meditation. Whatever we can find. And we need to try using our Personas, or talking to - with them, or something. Who or whatever they are, they might know something, right?"

....she petered out rather pitifully. "So, um, thoughts?"

[Xhosant]

Yesternight's mystery haunted Ignatius' psyche yet still, and no amount of delving in the library could shed light on the queer happenstance.

As he withdrew a book from its place, he spied none other than the fellows he chatted with earlier. Trying as he may, he could not shake the feeling they knew more than he did about the objective of his endeavors.

Now accompanied by a dozen of titles yet more diverse (and far removed from relevance, he sensed) than those of his last expedition, he walked past them, claiming for his own a seat they might see him from. He knew he could not pursue their aid for now, but mayhaps they would pursue his.

[Philemonite]

"A glass of warm milk with sugar ere you slumber;
Drink it with intent to dream
And through sleep shall you lumber
Into a world without regime!"

He recites the verses before writing it down.

"I believe that is our best chance. We just need to figure out what it represents. There is one more thing that is bothering me. That boy from this morning..." He stops mid-sentence, realizing that that boy he was talking about was actually quite close. "There is something about him I can not really define. He has a secret."
His last sentence was spoken a little differently, as if it was two voices speaking as one.

[Daimbert]

Sanae raised an eyebrow at Halden's words. She had been prepared to dismiss him as nothing more than someone with a rather macabre interest in a tragic and horrible event, and had even started to say so ... but something in what Halden said changed that. Something about it resonated within her, and she felt that Ignatius was somehow important, if she didn't know how.

"Okay, then let's divide up the work. I've already started doing some research on Personas and things related to it, but I haven't started looking specifically at the text on the card. A fresh perspective might be valuable. And we need someone to go talk to ... that person. I've spoken to him the most, but I might not be the best candidate ... and Halden's insight might be valuable. I don't think we should mob him, so if we have two people doing the same thing, it had best be research. So, what do people want to do?"

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha raised a hand. "I volunteer to try the milk thing. I definitely do not volunteer to talk to some guy I know even less than you guys." She lowered her hand. "And I could probably manage something in research, if not much."

[Daimbert]

Sanae turned to Sasha, "Good. I suggest that you might want to look at fairy tales ... and perhaps a bit of science. Not a normal combination, but this isn't a normal situation."

She then turned to Halden. "Perhaps I'll go and talk to him. I think I have a way to find out more about his interest, and it would be interesting to see if someone else might have a reaction."

[Daimbert]

Hearing no objections, Sanae looked over the books she had been looking at, grabbed one, and approached Ignatius.

"Hello. Have you had any luck with interpreting your dream?"

[Xhosant]

Internally, Ignatius grinned in triumph. As anticipated. Let us see, now...

Sorry, Log Horizon getting to me.

"Oh, hi! Sanae, was it not? None at all, sadly. It was a very weird dream, it would seem."

Mayhaps she knows something more than you? Mayhaps, were you to elaborate, she could partly enlighten you? Ought you tell her?

Indeed

This particular stream of thoughts was uncharacteristic of Ignatius, and that final one seemed... off. Not unlike hearing another's thoughts, but still his own.

It was a queerly potent inclination, however, and he decided to submit to it.

"Would you... mind hearing about it? Perhaps you'd hold a key I've missed?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae nodded. "I was about to suggest that myself. Sometimes even just describing it to someone else can reveal things that you didn't think of or remember."

She sat down and leaned forward, intent on his description.

[Xhosant]

"Well, it was quite queer. It didn't quite feel dream-like, save for its content, and although it ought be my memory filling the gaps, it seemed to contain info I didn't, yet."

"It was as if everything stood still in time, save for me. Save for me, and... somethings outside, whose sight awakened a primal dread. They were not unlike crawling blobs of shadow. "

Ignatius sighed.

"It's not the first time I dream of the time stop, either. And it just so happens to fit the gaps of the murder's puzzle, so my thoughts about it always steer there... It's quite annoying. "

[Daimbert]

"What do you mean by 'it fits the gaps of the murder's puzzle'?", Sanae asked, fishing for more details.

[Xhosant]

"A person shows up in the middle of a crowded park, stabbed, out of nowhere? Nonsense. A person gets stabbed somewhere, or sometime, where he couldn't be witnessed, then shunted to the middle of the crowded park? Sensible, save for the 'where' part", shrugged Ignatius.

"Where the experience not a dream, it would be the answer. And queerly enough, I saw it at the murder's time."

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "What I read didn't say that the person appeared from nowhere, necessarily. There was still speculation as to where they came from. Surely it's more likely that the wound suddenly appeared. That would impact your theory, would it not?"

She was stalling a little bit, trying to think of a way to talk more about the blobs and less about the murder, as that was the more interesting part of his dream.

[Xhosant]

"Well, certainly. People tend to gloss over normalcy, and nobody would have noticed him before the event. But the wound wasn't inflicted right before the person was found, or so I heard. He was, after all, found unconscious. It's certainly possible he had somehow hidden, or not even realized, his wound in the crowd... but how likely does it seem?"

[Daimbert]

"Well, it might be a bit early to try to link your dream to the murder. Let's think about those blobs for a bit, if we may. Did you sense in them some kind of hostile intent? Did you ever battle them?"

[Xhosant]

"It's not like I am, it just drags my track of thought away from other answers."

"I did not fight them... thankfully. They stirred a deep dread within me, as if I knew they were something horrid, deep down. I was well-hidden out of their sight, however I believe they would attack, had they perceived me."

[Daimbert]

Sanae decided to go all in on this (although she didn't really know what that phrase referred to). "Given your persistent feeling that this is somehow linked to the murder, have you ever asked yourself whether this really was a dream, or something more than a dream?"

[Xhosant]

"I have, although I don't know for sure what it could be. But I don't recall falling asleep, and I saw things in my dream I shouldn't know but where true. And it also happened during the ceremony, too, but there were no blobs in sight."

[Daimbert]

Sanae perked up at the mention of the ceremony. "Did it seem like anyone else wasn't stuck in time at the ceremony?"

[Xhosant]

"That'd be true, but it was too crowded and they were too far apart to be able to recognize them."

Ignatius was quite more straightforward than he tended to be, feeling somehow spurred to trust this stranger with details.

[Daimbert]

Sanae thought for an instant, and then thought of the one thing that she could say safely that might settle Ignatius' secret ... or, at least, one of them. "Does the phrase "Change the world" mean anything to you?"

[Xhosant]

"Right once more. The phrase appeared in that dream, as well..."

"Which, considering just how accurate your guesses were, would mean it's something you've experienced. One of the unfrozen people, I presume?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae didn't answer right away; she still wasn't quite sure that he wasn't someone who had heard a few things and was trying to attach himself to something interesting. "How did you hear about 'Change the world', if you wouldn't mind my asking? How did it come up in the dream?"

[Xhosant]

She's testing me... Which means she knows something, and she's mistrustful. Just as well, so would he be, if not for that spurring feeling.

"Let's see..." The queerness of the experience had distracted him from that detail back then, and he'd soon realize the folly of that.

"It was... a text message, I believe. I received it... hold on a minute."

He was foolish not to realize that sooner, for proof of the experience's actuality was with him all along.

Sure enough, the message awaited in his phone's inbox. 3 words: "Change the world."

Ignatius felt a deep disappointment, and a little bit of relief, and worry, after seeing it.

Disappointment for missing a clue so obvious. Should his future hunts go better, he ought not fall to such a mistake again.

The other feelings welled from a realization he voiced as he shewed the message to Sanae. As his body slumped in a sort of resignation, he said:

"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

((Shewed is old english, not a typo. I'm getting too obscure :smalltongue:))

[Daimbert]

Silently, Sanae takes out her phone, and shows her copy of the message to him. "I'd say that it wasn't, no. And this is only the beginning of the madness."

[Xhosant]

Ignatius nodded, seriously. Offering his hand, he introduced himself once more, this time as a co-traveler, rather than a stranger.

"Slepens Ignatius. If you'll take my aid, we'll be allies through this mystery."

"But you mentioned that there's more? And I assume the people back there researching with you", he said with a gesture towards them, "experienced the same?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae accepted his handshake a little awkwardly; she wasn't really sure what the second introduction was for, but if he wanted to do it she wasn't really going to complain. "Before I answer that question, one more thing, just to make sure that I have all of the pieces: were you at Ketel Station last night? Even in a dream?"

[Xhosant]

"No, actually, I was at home. Was that where the phenomenon caught you?"

Ignatius paused for a brief moment.

"That would mean it's at least city-wide, or almost-so."

[Daimbert]

"Perhaps. And there is more to it, more ... dangers, than you seem to have experienced. You should join us when next we discuss this, but for now suffice it to say that those blobs are indeed a threat ... but you may be able to use a special power to fight them, a power that we ourselves don't fully understand. A power called 'Persona'", Sanae said.

[Xhosant]

"And that's why you asked about it this morn, is that correct?"

Ignatius thought for a moment. This was a lot to take in, but he had a feeling he should trust her.

So, there is more than meets the eye in this? Let us see...

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "Yes. And that you didn't react to it suggests that either you don't have one, or that you haven't fully awakened to it yet. It was quite obvious to me what that was when I awakened."

[Xhosant]

"Awakened? No, I certainly haven't experienced anything of the sort."

[Daimbert]

Sanae shrugged, "Perhaps you need to go through the sort of event that we went through in order to awaken it. Who can say? This will require some experimentation, I think; hopefully, safely."

[Xhosant]

Ignatius nodded.

"Hopefully. Do you have such a safe experiment in mind?"

((Bring on the milk and cookies! :-P))

[Daimbert]

Sanae shrugged. "Again, we don't understand it ourselves ... but I think it clear that the next time we experiment in bringing forth our Personas, we should bring you along and let you experiment as well."

It was still possible that he was involved in the murder itself, but that didn't seem that likely given his reactions ... and if he did, she thought it safest that the others be around, just in case.

[AkaiNeko]

While Sanae went to talk to the boy, Sasha left the table to grab more books - keeping in mind Sanae's recommendations, she looked for one on psychology, preferably a certain colleague of Freud's, and one on Norse mythology to augment her sparse knowledge of (what she assumed was) her Persona's namesake. After locating an introduction to Jung and an encyclopedia of world mythologies, she returned to the table and read for a time with the others.

Eventually, of course, it was time to head out. She gathered her books and, having determined that they were worth the time, got them checked out, said her goodbyes to anyone from the group that was still in the library and walked out to catch the train home.

At home, she waved off her family's attempts to engage her and headed straight for her room, claiming she had studying to do (which was technically true); she was too distracted by thoughts of what might (probably not - but might) lay in store for her later in the evening. Her mother and sister could wait one day, even if she felt a little bad about it. Not that she really got anything done stewing in her room. She couldn't decide whether or not to keep her scissors with her, and started to realize that she was far more worried about the possibility, however slim, that this might actually work. After all, with everything that had happened already, did she really have a good reason to doubt?

After a quiet dinner of something fried, she waited a few minutes and quietly announced that she was tired and was turning in for the night. After a quick shower, and ignoring the odd looks Jacky was giving her, she heated a glass of milk in the microwave (which she hoped was an acceptable method) and poured some sugar in. Then she carried it to her room, texted the others ("Trying teh milk, wish me luck."), drank it down and crawled into bed with her scissors under her pillow, fully intending to dream.

[Daimbert]

Sanae was reviewing some of her own research on the matter when she received the text from Sasha. She texted back "Wait! Don't!"

Getting no reply, she considered trying the method herself in an attempt to reach Sasha. But she didn't know enough about the process to decide if that was more or less dangerous. Reluctantly, nervously, she decided to wait to see what, if anything, happened.

[MageofMystra]

Friday September 8, 2017
After School
The conversation continued for a while. The gang was brought together--each with tasks to investigate the strange happenings. Unbeknownst to them, one of them was to become an experimental oneironaut.

Evening
It was a bizarre experiment to be sure, but a worthwhile one. Sasha crawled into bed with a pair of scissors under her pillow (a bizarre choice, if anything), with a stack of dry boring books that, in all probability, had never been read, let alone checked out before lying somewhere nearby.

It took a little while to fall asleep--maybe due to nerves, anxiety, or a warm glass of milk just not sitting well with you. Eventually, though, sleep swept over you (though you certainly didn't know that--after all, you were asleep.)

No dreams, no nothing. Just waking up in disappointment in the middle of the night. Judging from the window, it definitely was the middle of the night. Sasha no doubt peered about in disappointment. Yep, this was her bedroom alright. It might not have been a bad idea to inform the others. Yep, that seemed like a good idea--though this thought was interrupted by the sound of... something... smashing downstairs. Or upstairs. Or on the same floor. Actually, that was kinda weird. You'd think you'd be able to tell. Either way, smashing--it sounded kinda like something slamming against a wall. Then some glass shattering, and some yelps of "ouch" from a familiar voice. It sounded kinda like Jacky.

So yeah, that was bad.

No doubt at this point, Sasha bounded out of bed, if not for concern over family, then to distance herself from the utter disappointment of the experiment. She lunged through the door with the speed of an exploding rocket into--no wait, I meant a successful rocket, let's not think you're exploding or anything--what was very distinctly not her house, unless there were some serious renovations done in the last hour. Come to think of it, maybe you were awoken by the noise? Sasha vaguely recalled her mom talking about renovating their house. Wait, was that right? That didn't make much sense.

Actually, this place looked kinda like Rubaker Mall, if Rubaker Mall stretched infinitely forwards and backwards and vanished in a pale haze and had like.. benches and knives littered everywhere. Also, last time you checked, the mall didn't sell elephant saddles or clown shoes. Maybe it was for the circus? You remember something about the circus coming to town.

Come to think of it, everything was a little strange. For one, you were doing a lot of thinking, given that you just burst through the door. Or, rather, that Sasha did. Anyways, back to Sasha. Sasha had just burst through the door, and was evidently doing a lot of thinking, then oddly, not a lot of thinking. It was strange. Very strange--for a few reasons, actually. Firstly, she wasn't even sure why she just burst out of her room like a rocket--something about Jacky? That didn't seem right. Secondly, the mall was a little strange. Thirdly, there was a very bizarre internal monologue going on. She stood around, looking around, utterly confused at what just happened.

"CUT!"

That... was new.

Sasha wheeled around to see some weirdo standing around behind her, holding one of those film slates--apparently they're called clapperboards, she thought. Did she just manage to contradict her own thoughts?

Oh yeah. Dreaming. Definitely dreaming. The haze around Sasha faded just slightly--the weirdo who was apparently a film director was still standing in front of her (formerly behind, but she turned around, of course.) The director, we'll just call him, was dressed in a disheveled pinstripe suit, wearing a small beret. His facial features were odd--a larger than normal nose--thick eyebrows--and a forehead of considerable size that jutted both outwards and downwards, as if the rest of his face struggled to perform the Atlasean feat of holding up his forehead. By the looks of it, the forehead was winning.

"Who's the new guy?", the director asked to nobody in particular. He checked a clipboard that Sasha was certain he was not holding before. "Let's see here... you're... Sasha Richter, it looks like. Yep, you're on the list. A little late, but whatever."

It was a strange sensation--Sasha was sure she was dreaming at this point, yet didn't seem to particularly care. It wasn't as if she was dreaming, and aware of it--it was more as if she was dreaming of being aware of dreaming. The director talked about some other stuff that she certainly didn't remember upon waking up, and then beckoned or... something... to a set of turnstiles that led to the subway--only except instead of leading to the subway, it led to a small office.

She wandered around some more, but seemed to lose track of the director. Then, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Speaking of which, how long as her phone been in her pocket?

She gave it a flip open to check, and found a pleasant message: "Application installed: Otherworld Hub." Well, that was downright mysterious--she was pretty sure her phone couldn't install any apps of interest. Either way, curious, she found it simple enough to open it up.

The screen said:
"OTHERWORLD HUB TERMS OF USAGE"

Yeah, not reading that. "ACCEPT."

"OTHERWORLD HUB
Welcome, sricht47! You have [2] new messages.
h: 15 [there was a little red orb icon next to 15]

Current Location: Rubaker Tunnels"
Then below, buttons:
"[SALES] (the words 'HOT DEALS' was overlaid)
[News]
[Photos]
[Profile]
[Friends]
[Help!]"

...yeah, Sasha was pretty sure her phone couldn't run this program, so that was weird. Speaking of which, sricht47? What kind of a username was that? She woulda chose something way cooler. In fact, she went over to profile, and changed her name to 'scissorsgirl'. That was even weirder. Why'd she just do that? That was an even stupider name. This was a pretty stupid dream she was having. Either way, after changing her name back, she decided to read the new messages she had apparently received.

"Sender: Otherworld Hub Administration
Welcome to the Otherworld Hub service! Thank you for activating your account; you have been approved for pre-registry by [NAME REDACTED]. As a welcome gift, you will have 50% off your first purchase. Feel free to explore Otherworld."

Ooh hey, a coupon. It said it expires beginning of November, so that's a bummer, but hey. Either way, next message:

"Sender: [NAME REDACTED]
sricht47:
Welcome to Otherworld. You can come back the same way you entered. Otherworld and the waking world interact in strange ways. Otherworld is made up of thoughts and dreamscapes of people--especially those with the potential of Persona. I've forwarded some information under the help documents.

Otherworld and the waking world interact and cross--particularly during the full moon and a little while before. Otherworld is not dangerous--you will wake up if anything goes really wrong. Talk to your friends.

You must assume responsibility for your own actions here--but there is no right or wrong choice. The next you return you will able to do as you wish. Change the world."

Sasha felt a shock, and suddenly jolted awake. Yep, she was still in bed. The details of the dream started flooding in. Just to be safe, she checked outside her bedroom, and it was indeed her house (no crashing, either.) It might be a good idea to tell everyone else what happened--Sasha grabbed her phone, and discovered she had barely been asleep for an hour. Also, oddly, she had some app called "Otherworld Hub" installed--and surely enough, it was the exact same one from the dream. She was still pretty sure her phone couldn't run it, but hey, apparently it does. If she ever sold her phone, the next guy's due for a surprise.

So it turns out Sasha doesn't just have boring and dumb dreams--weird stuff happens in them, too.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius, of course, couldn't have had an inkling of what his future ally was experiencing.

Instead, knowing of his research's nature and how unlikely he was to find something of use, he waited. He was definitely capable of patience, but it still didn't sit well with him.

As a means of distraction, he tried to research the few threads he had, such as the words 'persona'. The word came from psychology, being a partial, incomplete personality, either because it is artificial (as an actor's role' personality), or because it's a partial projection of one's own personality in a situation (like their behavior in front of superiors).

Its roots, and essence, meant 'mask'.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha stared at her phone for a bit. Then she sent another text: "S*** definitely happened. I'm fine. We need to talk soon." Then she closed her phone and got up.

It wasn't that late. And she had a lot to think about. But right then, she didn't feel like doing any of it.

Tomorrow she would discuss Otherworld with the rest of the group. Tomorrow she would start looking through the new app her fossil of a phone was apparently capable of running. Tomorrow she would start figuring out some sort of training routine for herself. Tomorrow she would get on a number of important things that she very much needed to do to help herself and the group that she found herself a part of to find their footing and stay safe and informed and other good adjectives in the very strange situation that was encroaching ever more on their lives.

But right then, rubbing her eyes and feeling rather indignant that the nap entailed by her strange experience had lasted for such an awkwardly short length of time, she just went to see what her sister was doing. Tomorrow was a whole night's worth of sleep away yet.

[Daimbert]

Sanae started awake as her phone beeped near her ear. She'd fallen asleep at her desk, waiting nervously to hear something about Sasha, one way or the other. Nervously, she read the message ... and felt both relieved and infuriated by it. She took a deep breath, and then went to bed. It looked like Sasha wasn't going to say anything else tonight, and they would have a LOT to talk about tomorrow ...

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017
Morning
You know, it's only a week into the school year, but dang, was it a slow week. Either way, there were no classes today on account of it being the weekend. Given what had happened over the past week, though, meeting up with everyone may have been a good idea.

Afternoon
Rubaker Mall, Food Court
Nobody was feeling particularly creative that morning, and so, it ended up being the case that everyone met at the food court--presumably while having lunch--but hey, maybe not. Don't let me tell you what to do.

Either way, the topic for today, was, of course, everyone's discoveries regarding the incidents that had been happening over the past few days. There was discussion of what 'persona' meant, talk of myths, and eventually, talk of "Otherworld", whatever that was. That was a bit of a doozie, to say the least.

[Daimbert]

Sanae

Before things got started, Sanae glared at Sasha with a cold, almost authoritarian countenance, and said, coldly, "Why didn't you tell us that you were going to try that?"

[AkaiNeko]

It had been a pretty normal Saturday morning for Sasha, all things considered. She'd slept like a rock after letting Jacky drag her through several hours of some JRPG (how many of them could she possibly play, honestly), and gotten up around 9:30. Then she'd shoved some frozen waffles in her mouth for breakfast and gotten wailed on in a fighting game by Jacky, who seemed to've picked up on her sister's odd mood and taken it upon herself to give her a comfortingly normal morning. Just before noon, via agreement over text, she'd headed out to meet the others at the mall's food court and grabbed lunch.

Now Sasha blinked at Sanae's downright accusatory tone, her pizza slice pausing halfway between her plate and her mouth. "Huh? I, um, did. Yesterday. In the library, remember?" Damn, had she not been clear with that? She'd thought it was pretty obvious; there was no good in waiting after all, not with lives at stake, and no one had said anything. "I volunteered to try the milk thing?" Now concerned that she had seriously breached some unspoken code of conduct and jeopardized the newborn team's functioning, she waited for Sanae to speak, while unfolding her pizza and sprinkling more red pepper on before refolding and taking a large, worried bite.

[Daimbert]

Sanae blinked. "I thought you volunteered to INVESTIGATE it, not ATTEMPT it. Do you realize how dangerous it was to try that alone? All of the other times, we were together, and we even managed to fight off the monsters together. Who knows what might have happened to you ... and we wouldn't have been able to help.

"Clearly, we need to be better organized in what we attempt and experiment with."

She paused, and then pulled out a pad. "I think I'll take notes at this meeting, and then after it we can read off all the next actions to make sure that everyone is on the same page on who is doing what. Is that acceptable?"

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was torn between feeling abashed and feeling defensive. On one hand, she could certainly see where Sanae was coming from. She had taken a risk by performing the test. There was the chance that she could have been plunged right back into the sort of situation they'd been in at the station. She'd thought about that herself. That was part of why she'd volunteered to do it herself.

The impression she'd gotten from the encounter at the station was that she was, individually, probably the most survivable member of the team; given that, along with the unpredictability of any of the at-the-time hypothetical outcomes of the test, it seemed quite reasonable to her that the assumption be that anyone involved in the test could easily be rendered functionally alone, and from there that they shouldn't risk everyone at once and furthermore that they only had three "fighters" so they could really only spare one at that point, and from there that if anyone was going to go it alone, it might as well be her.

And of course she couldn't help but feel that if Sanae was going to flip so f****** badly over this then she could have said something yesterday when they were talking about it. She couldn't stop her head from hanging slightly, but she was, from experience, pretty damn good at projecting negative emotions, such as righteous displeasure, and did so with a stern glare of her own. "OK first off, I volunteered to try the milk thing, not type it into Google. Which probably wouldn't have worked because Google doesn't like searching for s*** that long. Second, you should have said something yesterday if you were gonna get so worked up - double checked the plan, something. Third? There was no f****** guarantee that we'd all have been together. What if we got Town Without A Voiced, all dropped in different places, or just got split up right away? Or just had to fight our own little personal boss things in our own heads, like representatives of our own 'inner darkness' or some s*** to 'gain control over our other selves'? Mary and Allen can't fight, which leaves us with only three fighters. You're a mage, Halden's a healer. I am the only non-squishy in this party, so if anyone was gonna do it, it was gonna be me!"

She paused and took a deep breath to steady herself. She was getting too angry; she'd been dangerously close to shouting at the end. Sanae's concern was still perfectly valid. She was trying to make the point that Sanae couldn't simply assume everyone would do as she expected, not putting her on trial for murder. Another good breath. "Look. You are not in charge here. So you're gonna have to talk more if you're going to get up in arms whenever someone does...." She gestured vaguely, trying to somehow encapsulate the general concept of "basically anything anyone could conceivably take issue with that could likely have been at least somewhat alleviated through better communication". "....whatever. Especially if you flat misheard them in the first place." She paused. "And yeah, notes should be fine."

Having said her piece, Sasha relaxed. She'd flared up pretty badly there for a moment; hopefully this closed the matter nicely. She resumed eating her pepperoni-and-sausage pizza with an emphatic bite. As her brain unwound from its sudden defensive stance, she realized with belated embarrassment that quite a bit of her younger sister's vocabulary had snuck into her little tirade; how much gaming had she been doing?

[Philemonite]

"Enough!" Halden tried to imitate his father, but his tone wasn't stern and commanding enough.
"You have both made your point and this argument is going nowhere. Can we get back to our investigation?"
He remembered what his father said, when you are trying to command someone always maintain eye contact. Instead, Halden choose to look down and continue writing his notes. The day before was unproductive, and he had a lot to make up for.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius was rather concerned, not so much over the mention of combat as the use of game terms to describe them. Whta had the others not told him yet?

Regardles, Sasha's logic was sound. Hers was indeed the best aproach.

He didn't know why nobody had questioned his presence, but he stood quietly at the side, ready to keep mental notes.

[Daimbert]

Sanae realized something: this was a group of very different people, with very different ideas of things. She didn't really disagree with Sasha's reasoning ... but an equally valid case could be made for not going in alone. Or taking reasonable precautions. It was just a misunderstanding, and yet Sasha seemed angry -- perhaps because she felt, as she said, that Sanae was trying to dictate what had to be done -- and Halden seemed more upset at the argument than at the situation itself. Sanae didn't want anyone to be hurt or God forbid killed because they didn't consider all the options or ensure that everyone was protected, but they clearly wouldn't be able to assume that they were all on the same page. At least, they needed organization, and they might end up needing official leadership ... and none of them seemed willing to seize it or even really open to having it.

Well, maybe things would settle in once they all got to know each other better.

"Halden, it's definitely better to have these sorts of inter-personal conflicts here than, say, in battle. But I think we can all agree that this one is resolved, since I don't think anyone here is going to object to us having more communication and making sure that we're all clear on what we're all doing.

"Speaking of which, Ignatius, I know you're confused, but could you fill them in on what your experiences were, and then we'll fill you in on what we know?"

[Xhosant]

Ignatius noded.

Ahem.

"I am called Ignatius Slepens." He took a small bow at that point, in lieu of a handshake.

"I experienced the same things that you did during the opening ceremony, where everyone seemed frozen in time -with some exceptions, of course-, the projection and the odd text message. I dismissed that as a dream, initially, until I experienced it again, 2 nights ago. I knew it wasn't a dream that night, for I saw information I shouldn't possess but were accurate. I also saw some sort of shadow-like oozes in the street, emanating malice. Fortunately, they did not. Hearing the news of the park's assault, I thought of how it all fit together and tried to investigate, and that brought me to Sanae."

His tale at an end, Ignatius tried to decipher the expressions of those around him.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was satisfied with this resolution. She could happily agree to disagree on methodology for now, so long as everyone was ok with talking about such things in the future. She was mildly concerned with Halden's apparently very strong aversion to conflict, however; she didn't particularly like shouting matches herself, but give their situation, she was pretty sure this wouldn't be the last they had to deal with.

Sasha nodded at Ignatius' story. It made sense; there was no reason to assume that everyone who hadn't been frozen had managed to find each other so easily, of course. And he seemed the investigative sort. He would likely prove valuable.

Of course, the question of whether or not he could fight remained, but that could wait. "Good to have you, Ignatius."

[Xhosant]

"Likewise. I understand there's danger involved, correct? Care to elaborate?"

He paused, as he looked around the others, then to Sasha again. "And of your foray, as well."

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded again, quite emphatically. "Yeah, there's some danger. Those shadow things attacked us during the time-stop on Thursday, at the train station. That's when we...." She gestured to Sanae, Halden and herself, "awakened our....I'm not even gonna try to explain what a Persona is right now, since we don't really know either, but they help us fight those things. Um, and for the record, we don't know what the actual....risks are with this s***, since none of us got seriously hurt - for all we know we'd just 'wake up', like from a dream or something - but for obvious reasons we're sort of assuming it would be bad, for now.

"So....the milk thing. We....were given these business card things with a rhyme on them about drinking a glass of warm milk with sugar before going to bed 'with intent to dream'. So I volunteered to try that." She paused awkwardly. "Obviously there was some miscommunication in there somewhere. But anyway, I tried it, and, um...." Another pause. She tried to think how to explain what had happened. She decided showing them the obviously out-of-place app on her phone might make a good end-point for this introduction. "I wound up - in the dream - in a weird place called 'Otherworld'. And it was all very confusing and dreamlike, trust me. Apparently it's everyone's minds or something, which I guess makes sense. It kinda looked like the mall, and I talked to some guy called the Director, and then this weird app appeared on my phone." Here she pulled out said fossil, flipped it open for all to see and selected the Otherworld Hub app. "Then I woke up." There was more, of course, lots of certainly interesting details that she'd left out for the sake of time and privacy, but those she didn't mind sharing could wait. She navigated to the messages, specifically the second in her inbox. It seemed a good place to start from.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius read through the message, and thought for a moment. Some lines, in particular, drew his attention, namely the ones about the two worlds interacting, Otherworld's structure, and the last bit about actions and responsibility...

Do they...project on each other in some way? Could I alter this world through the other? Or people's mentality?

Could I gaze at someone's thoughts?

Ignatius shook the thoughts away, then focused back at the issue at hand. He drew attention to the first paragraph:

"Should we take a look at the help documents?"

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017

Afternoon
The discussion had turned towards whatever this 'otherworld' was--and the only sign of its existence, the 'otherworld app' that, despite overwhelming empirical evidence, Sasha (and anyone else who looked at her phone, mind you) still did not believe was capable of running on her phone. Frankly, that in and of itself was practically a more mysterious phenomenon than time stopping whenever it seemed to feel like.

Either way, Sasha started up the program again for the first time since... last night... sorta. Technically speaking, she was running it for the first time. Either way, it didn't ask for her to agree to the terms of usage again (which seemed to indicate that she had indeed run it once before), and instead, showed a significantly cheerier main screen.

The background was some nice farmland countrysidey type of picture, with clouds slowly rolling by. Again, it was a mystery how it was running. Either way, overlaid atop that was familiar text and buttons:

"OTHERWORLD HUB
Welcome, sricht47! You have [0] new messages.
h: 15 [there was a little red orb icon next to 15]

Unable to determine current location."
Then below, buttons:
"[SALES] (the words 'HOT DEALS' was overlaid)
[News]
[Photos]
[Profile]
[Friends]
[Help!]"

Now, of course, neither Sasha nor anybody else sitting at that table knew what this app did, and so, being curious, and preparing an experiment with the utmost caution, Sasha pressed every button one by one.

(strictly speaking, order doesn't matter here:)



LIMITED EDITION DEALS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 3-10:
Snuff Soul [2 max per person!] : 5 h (the same red orb icon appears)
Revival Bead (1 max per person!) : 12 h (as before)
Massive Frying Pan : 25 h (as before)



No news sources have been collected yet!



No photos have been taken!



sricht47
Hanged Man
Fenrir
Nothing is on display.



Total friends: 0
"Sucks to be you, I guess."



Welcome to the Otherworld Hub help screen!

FAQ:

What is Otherworld Hub?
Otherworld Hub is a by-invitation only service to allow otherworld explorers to coordinate between their life and another!

Is my device compatible with Otherworld Hub?
Seeing as you have to be running it to access the help screen, yes.

What's this h [red orb icon] stuff?
Macca (well, really, New Macca) is the currency of choice for otherworld denizens and otherworld explorers! This currency is non-convertible, but can be used to purchase goods and services in Otherworld! Additionally, it is the only currency accepted by Otherworld Hub.

How do I earn this Macca stuff?
Besides obtaining it from otherworld denizens, you can find it scattered through the lands. Shadows, demons, and other creatures all release it upon defeat as well!

Isn't macca technically based upon animal cruelty, then?
No, not really. Shadows don't particularly care if you beat them up.

Why is it scattered in random chests?
Look, this is an Otherworld Hub FAQ, not a Macca FAQ.

Can I opt out of Otherworld Hub?
I suppose, yeah.

How can I enter Otherworld?
Whoever invited you should have given you entrance details. Moreover, you can set an entry timer via this app by...
[list of instructions here]


FORWARDED HELP DOCUMENTS

Welcome to the extended Otherworld FAQ!

Otherworld Entry
The glass of warm milk is required for first-time entry. The entry timer is the preferred method of entering otherworld (unless you like warm milk, of course.) Be warned that you can't enter around the new moon and the full moon.

Is Otherworld dangerous?
Yes and no. Except in very rare circumstances, you cannot die permanently in Otherworld if you are not a resident of it. However, you can bet it'll hurt if you "die" in otherworld. You can bet it'll hurt lots. Ayup.

No seriously, isn't macca technically based upon animal cruelty?
No, not really. I mean, yes, very technically, but you're doing everyone a favour, trust me.

Exploring Otherworld
Otherworld is filled with strange twists and turns. Whenever you first enter Otherworld, you manifest yourself in some sort of waiting room--usually a dream-like equivalent to your real room, where you can store any supplies needed for journeying. Upon exiting the waiting room, you will be brought to a convenient location, where you can more or less pick up where you left off.

Regarding items
Items left in your room and brought into otherworld are removed in real life as well, generally speaking. Many mundane everyday objects take on new abilities in Otherworld--for instance, many ordinary objects turn into weapons capable of fighting shadows with.

What's Persona, exactly?
Persona is a power within you, that manifests as some mythological creature or something. It's kinda weird, but it's unique to each person, and based upon their personality, temperament, and a host of other factors. By establishing friendships with people in the real world, of different temperaments to you, you can augment the power of your Persona.

Persona is both your shield and sword in Otherworld, and is your mask against it.

What're Shadows, exactly?
Shadows are supposedly born from malign thoughts in humans, but past that, we're not really sure either. Either way, they've strongly established themselves throughout Otherworld, and can shape its structure. Extremely powerful shadows are born from thoughts of Persona-users, and often gather legions of weaker ones.

What's Otherworld, exactly?
Otherworld is like a world of subconsciousness. It's like one giant collective dream. Except not really. Except it sorta is. Either way, we're not really sure either, so good luck!

[Philemonite]

"Well, that barely answers any questions and raises so many new ones. And it doesn't help with the time stop and the stabbing. At least we can all go there together tonight, if I understood it correctly. And we know it's not dangerous, even though it could be painful. But Leto and I can take care of that, and we learned a new trick after our first battle."
Halden tried to sound cheerful, in spite of all the insecurities plaguing his mind.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha looked around at the others. "Well, at least that makes the planning for tonight easy, right? What time would work best for y'all?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae had been pondering the help notes silently, and then burst out, "Training?".

[Xhosant]

Ignatius pondered, then nodded.

"It would be wise. If the documents are accurate, the best place might be that Otherworld. It's ultimately safe, and we'll grow accustomed to its rules."

[Daimbert]

Sanae blinked, "You grasp my thinking, but not the totality of it. A place where you can fight, and feel pain, but not die? What else would it be for except for training? So despite how lighthearted the help files seemed, it seems that it has no other purpose than to train us for something. The question is 'For what?'"

[Xhosant]

Ignatius tilted his head.

"Well, if the place is manufactured, and indeed serves no other purpose, that might be true. But I'm not sure we know enough yet to be certain."

"That said... you mentioned you got in a fight, and you haven't been to that place yet. Does that perhaps help?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae replied, "Given the fight and the murder, it seems that there are at least some extraworldly elements that aren't as safe. But why they exist, and why we are the ones able or chosen to fight them, and what they represent ... this is still up in the air. We should be cautious; sometimes the Devil wears an Angel's face ...

"We do need to explore this world, and find out what's going on, and so we should go tonight. But let's not just accept what this says at face value."

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017
Afternoon
With discussion of Otherworld going on, the party seemingly resolved to try it out in the evening.

*t-t-t-time skip*

Nighttime
You had figured out arrangements--you had gotten the glass of milk ready, and figured out a time for everyone to go to sleep at (though not everyone falls asleep at the same pace, so that was an interesting problem, to say the least. Either way, whatever this Otherworld was, they could sort through that problem.

Time passed

Almost everybody went through a fairly similar process, with them "waking up" in their rooms, running out to some bizarre and definitely somewhat familiar dreamscape, having a surreal encounter, and waking up with something installed on their phone that rightfully should not at all be there.

Well this time, not everyone woke up immediately after, so that raised some questions. Maybe it was the fact that everybody was intending to actually venture into this world proper? Who knows--though either way, it wouldn't be too difficult to just set a wake up (wake... down? sleep... at...? timer?) timer for like 5 minutes later.

--

By one process or another, everyone had grabbed something from their room that seemed... vaguely like it could be a weapon. I mean, you had one person who had used a wooden stick, and another person who had used a pair of scissors (not even half of a set of scissors--everyone knew that was an effective weapon), so it was fairly clear that absolutely anything went when it came to clobbering shadows. Whatever those were.

Eventually, everyone bumped into each other by some sort of coincidence. As many of your characters may have noticed, their "friends" list on whatever this Otherworld hub thing was no longer empty--and through a series of trying every button and sending a lot of annoying notifications to each other, everyone managed to somehow materialize themselves. It wasn't elegant, for sure--nor was it quick. That was something to improve on later.

Everyone had gathered on what looked like a ghostly version of one of Ketel Falls' streets--towering across the road was a familiar yet unfamiliar sight--some sort of twisty, crazy, and obviously sinister (because let's face it, you've played enough video games to know what buildings are dungeons and which ones are) version of Rubaker Mall. Some might consider it scary--but on the other hand, the scene was so utterly absurd it would be difficult not to have at the very least snickered. At the very least, this scene wasn't full of frozen people.

Either way, the front doors of the mall beckoned. There would surely be answers inside--or at least some sweet loot (it was a mall, after all.)


Once entering, it was abundantly clear that the place was inspired--very loosely--by Rubaker Mall. The regular... hallways? Aisles? Whatever the walking area between and down stores would be called, were far wider, and in much poorer condition than the real life version. Benches and planters were placed haphazardly, with other strange objects strewn like rubble--massive shopping bags, huge crumpled trendy clothing, and a ton of kitchen utensils that must have weighed a tonne. All in all, it looked like a massive windstorm blew through some sort of blown up version of Rubaker Mall. It was worth looking around--not like you were in any real danger.

Checking your phone, you were in "Rubaker Halls? F1". Spooky.

Either way, after walking around a little, the hallway ended, and split to your left and right. You found yourself in front of "Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbhocolate oy's", which was... actually you weren't really sure. Either way, you could go left or right--the right seemed a bit more ominous, for whatever it was worth.

[Daimbert]

Sanae said, 'Before we move on, we should see if we can summon our Personas. Ignatius ... I don't think you've ever summoned yours, so after we try to summon ours, if we succeed, then we might be able to help you do that ... and talk you through the, well, odder parts of it."

After saying that, she closed her eyes and tried to reconstruct what she was feeling at the time ... and then stopped, realizing that that was mostly fear and it would be better to try to summon it without having to depend on that strong an emotion. So instead she tried to recall the presence that she had experienced when her Persona was out, and then recalled his name. "Atlas ...", she whispered.

[Xhosant]

As Ignatius fell asleep and 'woke up' again, he looked around his room.

Things were surely odd, but... not in a weird way, if that made sense. Like you couldn't tell what was off, or it were in just the right way.

It was slightly unnerving, regardless, and Ignatius immediately berated himself for not planning ahead to get a weapon within reach. His gaze traveled along his room, skipping the corners -something was off about them, hurting his eyes when they focused. Eventually he came upon his umbrella, a slender object of above-average length, even in the hands of a person of a less diminutive build. Something about its metal tip felt much sharper and dangerous than he remembered, so he picked it up.

After sorting through the newly-installed app and the messages (and making his way out of his house, as the averagely-sized apartment had turned into something more akin to the works of Escher than habitable architecture), he journeyed to the rendezvous point, umbrella held as a cane, where he eventually met the others.

He followed the group through the mall, where he listened to Sanae and nodded in agreement. He then awaited for her demonstration's results.

[Daimbert]

As she whispered his name, a glowing card appeared before her eyes, and she reached out for it. As she did so, she felt an overwhelming urge to say, just as she grabbed it, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing!".

Instantly, Atlas appeared in front of her. He turned slowly to look at her, gave a small nod with a very small smile ... and then faded away again, his purpose, at this time, completed.

Sanae panted a little bit from the exertion of her concentration, but felt exhilarated from both the success and from the new understanding of her link with Atlas. The fact that it seemed to trigger from appropriate pop culture phrases was a bit embarrassing, though ...

"Now, you should try it as well. Don't worry; I think that the Persona will do a lot of the work. Just concentrate on your Persona and do what comes naturally" she said to the others.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha was a little nonplussed to be back in the dreamworld, she found. There was something very off, to her, about being somewhere so dreamlike while in her right, waking-esque mind. The first time had been suitably confusing and she couldn't remember it perfectly anyway, so that was fine, but now it was all a bit too much like a witch's barrier or something.

....she wondered briefly what the likelihood was of there being anything substantial in that comparison and quickly decided that it was not a healthy line of inquiry at all. Filing it away for future perusal, she focused instead on the path before them and somewhat eagerly agreed with Sanae's proposed course of attempting to invoke their other selves before advancing.

She focused on the memory of her persona. She had only actually summoned (or whatever the appropriate word was) Fenrir once. Almost immediately, she felt a reaction from somewhere inside herself, the wolf-like sensations of rage and hunger and alertness frighteningly unmistakable. But she couldn't quite seem to draw it out. Maybe it was like an anime? She had to say its name or something? She quietly breathed the name: "Fenrir."

She started slightly when the glowing card appeared before her. For a moment she was confused, but then the notion came to her, wordlessly, perhaps from the card itself, that she should do....something. Here she stalled a moment, but she got, at least, the impression of something physical, something emphatic. Hm. Well, this was all pretty fantasy genre (Magical Girl was her first thought, but Halden and Ignatius' presences confused that somewhat; perhaps some Seinen deconstruction of common Shonen Monster Fighting archetypes?) as it was, so maybe a pose of some kind? Settled upon a course of action, she nodded to herself and, without bothering to think things through further, crossed her arms, straitened her back and stomped her foot down to just outside shoulder width, stared her Persona's card down and said the name once more, with rather more force this time: "Fenrir!"

Immediately there was a drain from within her as the wolf materialized properly before her, nodded once, and promptly disappeared again. She felt a surprising tiredness creep into her, but it was easily outweighed by the exhilaration. Then she remembered where she was and looked around surreptitiously to see how much attention the others had paid to her little display. Hopefully Ignatius and Halden were focusing on summoning their own Personas. And hey, at least she didn't seem to need a catchphrase, unlike poor Sanae. That was just embarrassing.

[Xhosant]

Seeing the other 2 summon those creatures, Ignatius assumed they were the aforementioned Personae. They expected he was able to pull this off too, didn't they?

His mind started analyzing the others' methods, trying to figure what was important. It was an odd process; as if his thoughts were guided by a hand down the right track, one that knew the answer but didn't wish to reveal it itself. One not unlike the influence that got him to talk openly with Sanae.

They seemed to exert willpower, and some sort of motion was also important. He thought for a brief moment, and felt a shade of doubt. They knew the names of their creatures, while he didn't.

... but he knew they were Personae.

He brought both hands to the top of the umbrella's handle and brought it down from half an inch's height, not forcefully, but rather how he'd use a cane to punctuate a point or draw attention. A clear 'tak!' sound came from the impact, and a glowing card appeared before him. He offered the hook of his umbrella towards it, and as the card became suspended in its center, he let loose a simple word: "Persona!".

He felt the guiding influence drain away, and instants later a splitting headache. The nightmarish mall around him faded, as darkness closed in around a small, blue-tinted point of his vision, one that then grew, along with the headache's magnitude. Had this lasted more than an instant, his feet would have given way. But through the pain and blue, a voice came, one that would be gentle if not filled with the booming rage of a storm.

"EXILED TO THE SOUTH
"AN UME AT MY DEATHBED
"SCHEMERS KNEW MY WRATH
"HEED MY VOICE, FOR IT IS YOURS
"KNOW MY NAME, FOR IT IS YOURS
"THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU
"FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL, I COME
"I AM TENJIN,
"A SCRIBE THAT POINTS TO THE TRUTH"

The headache abated as quickly as it had came. Ignatius leaned on his umbrella--and there was light all about him. Above him, was what seemed to be a treant, with the kind face of a wizened old man shaped from the white-gray bark of an ume tree. A long beard of white blossoms from the same tree nearly touched the floor in front of him, and on his back hanged a backpack-like bookcase made of bamboo, filled with writings of every time, material, style and subject. Without a mistake, this was Tenjin--but it was the oddest feeling looking at him. It felt like he was a part of Ignatius, who instinctively knew, for sure, what it was--the words seemed to be chomping at the bit to escape his lips again: "Persona."

What an intriguing power it was.

With a kind nod, the tree-sage faded away.

Ignatius was left feeling curious, but not confused, this teacher's influence once again in him.

[Philemonite]

Lost in his thoughts, Halden failed to notice what was happening around him. His attempt to communicate with Leto wasn't really successful. Not that he was expecting her to tell him which way to go, but a little hint wouldn't hurt. So he decided to summon her, because that might help.
Focusing his energy into his Mighty Staff (actually a stick he found along the way), and a slight grunt, it started glowing before Leto manifested right in front of him.
"So, which path do you guys want to try out?"

[Daimbert]

"Does the right seem more ominous to anyone else?" Sanae asked.

[Xhosant]

Verily.

Ignatius shook his head at the surprising voice, but recognized it.

"Yes, it does to me. To Tenjin, too, I think."

[Daimbert]

"Maybe for our first time here, we should avoid the ominous-seeming path, until we know what we're dealing with." Sanae suggested.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha nodded in agreement; it was probably best to save the higher level area for later. "We're not power-leveling here. I vote left, too."

[Xhosant]

It was odd that his allies thought of this place in gaming terms, but it seemed there was some degree of wisdom in that. He nodded.

"I propose left too. It would be an unnecessary risk to go right, yet. For all we know, there is no pressure. Even if there should be no risk. "

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017

Nighttime
Chatting a bit amongst themselves, the group found themselves at a fork in the mall hallway (the mallway?) The right side, seeming more ominous with a faint red glow, and a sound that sounded very suspiciously like demonic cackling, didn't very much appeal to the group, who decided to run off to the left, instead, deciding that the right side was for chumps.

They moved down the hallway, in no particular rush. The scenery seemed somewhat suspicious--someone realized after a while that the stores and scenery were being repeated every hundred metres or so. The group walked for a while, choosing the right path upon meeting another fork in the road. The path led to a dead end, which, quite frankly, looked kinda silly. At the end of the hallway was a set of large shopping bags, stacked in piles. For the most part, they were empty and open--though the one at the top's shut was sealed shut by what looked like a thin strip of cellophane top, going from one side to the other, over the middle of the mouth of the bag.

It practically screamed treasure, so the obvious choice was to bust that bag open, shake it, and see what fell out.

Red orbs burst out, along with a suspicious looking plastic jar full of a white substance that was quickly identified as... mayonnaise. The label looked quite similar to a particularly odd brand you might have noticed at the supermarket before--some sort of strange imported French mayonnaise that you were sure that nobody ever bought. The stuff itself wasn't bad, but it was a bit pricy, for a container that was around 200 mL or something (~6.72 fl oz.) However, rather than the usual branding and name on the logo ("Really, It's Nice Mayo!"), it was instead called "Medical Mayo". You felt a vibration from your phones--Otherworld Hub sprouted a new button, labelled "Productpedia." Medical Mayo was listed under "Healing Items (Other)"--apparently that specific brand of mayonnaise would turn into a medical item when brought into Otherworld.

Apparently this medical mayonnaise recovered 50 hit points and oh god you were going to have to eat mayonnaise to heal oh god no someone please find a better healing item soon please this was going to be horrible why why why

Add to inventory:
Medical Mayo x1
Macca x15 (per person.)

Ahem.

Stowing away those horrid thoughts at the end of the hallway, the group decided to turn around and take the other fork they didn't take, in hopes that they didn't have to go back to that fairly blatantly evil corridor from waaaay at the start of the dungeon. I mean mall.

The hallway widened a bit, with a change in store variety on the sides. You saw what looked like a fairly large fountain down the hallway--it actually looked very much like one in the real Rubaker mall. The pool was large and rectangular, and probably large enough to park four cars in, in a 2x2 formation. There was a second tier, with an area roughly the quarter of the first tier, centred in the fountain. Several large jets fired with staggered timings, in a zig-zag. Oddly, you noticed that the jets were far flatter than the real world--in fact, you could almost call them "water blades", so to speak. They looked kinda like blades.

The fountain was placed in a much more open part of the mall, which... made sense. It looked very much like one of those junctions--with a directory off on one side, and a bunch of haphazardly strewn benches. Two odd figures moved into view on the other side of the fountain--they looked very much like shadows, on account of, well, being a black blob with glowing red eyes dragging itself along the ground. That bit was a bit of a giveaway.

The group was no doubt considering whether or not to actually start battle, but the shadows seemed to notice them, and began... morphing. Luckily, however, while the morphing process was very dramatic and spooky, it also took time--time which you no doubt used to summon personae and start wailing on the very dramatic creatures.

COMBAT BEGINS
The camera, fixated upon the top of the water jets of the fountain, pans back and out, giving a wide view of the area, as the party bounds towards the two transforming shadows.

Enemies:
Superdimorphic Brawler x1 (36 damage.)
Even-handed Speaker x1 (not any more!)

Initiative
15 - Halendor (3 AGI + 12 (Knight of Coins))
13 - Ignatius (5 AGI + 8 (8 of Coins); wins tie owing to higher AGI)
13 - Sasha (4 AGI + 9 (9 of Swords))
6 - Sanae (2 AGI + 4 (4 of Cups))
0 - Superdimorphic Brawler (too busy transforming)
0 - Even-handed Speaker (too busy transforming)


UI Says:
Sanae Yamamoto
HP: 42/42
4-Swords, 8-Cups, 8-Swords, 10-Coins. NEXT: 7-Coins

Halendor Queldius
HP: 35/35
9-Swords, 10-Swords, 9-Wands, 7-Cups, 5-Cups, 4-Wands. NEXT: 12-Cups

Sasha Richter
HP: 56/56
7-Cups, 4-Cups, 8-Cups, 3-Coins, 2-Wands, 14-Coins. NEXT: 2-Coins

Ignatius Slepens
HP: 35/35 (pretty sure)
5-Cups, 8-Wands, 3-Wands, 2-Coins. NEXT: 13-Wands


Halendor bounded into action, as the shadows were busy transforming into intimidating creatures. The one closest to the party--which was still a fair distance, to be honest--was rapidly expanding in a black fog. The figure quickly morphed to something in the vague shape of a massive man, perhaps 10 feet tall. It was excessively muscular--to the point where it looked very much like its sheer muscular bulk was more of a detriment, than anything. It wore colourful boots, a massive belt that reminded one of a wrestling prize belt, and a big silly mask.

The other shadow burst into a black fog as well, quickly morphing. This one was a bit more... abstract. It wasn't in the shape of a person at all--instead, it looked very much like a large mallet--then you noticed that it was in the shape of a large judge's gavel, perhaps 5 feet tall. On one side, on the main cylindrical smashy part, was a mask. On the two striking surfaces on the gavel, were large mouths, gibbering away about something.

Of course, while they were transforming, the party was getting ready to get their clobber on.

Action Log
15 - Halendor uses Bufu against Even-handed Speaker; 16 cold damage.
13 - Ignatius uses Double Fangs against Even-handed Speaker; 30 piercing damage.
13 - Sasha uses Cleave against Even-handed Speaker; 9 slash damage. Even-handed Speaker defeated.
6 - Sanae uses Garu against Superdimorphic Brawler; 30 wind damage. Brawler is weak, and is knocked down!
6 - All-out attack deals 23 damage.
0 - Superdimorphic Brawler 1 uses Power Charge on itself.
15 - Halendor uses Bufu against Superdimorphic Brawler; 13 cold damage is dealt.
13 - Ignatius to move.

[Philemonite]

For some odd reason Halendor was the first to react. He wasn't sure of, but he thought he heard a voice in his head, telling him to be careful. Maybe it was just his imagination, but whatever it was he was grateful for it. Knowing that nobody was hurt, there wasn't really much for him to do. He focused on his Mighty Staff, summoning Leto to assist him. As the staff began to glow a figure clad in darkness appeared above him. As she touched his staff cold started spreading. Without much time to think he directed it towards the inhuman looking shadow.

Using that sweet 13(of Swords) to cast Bufu on Even-handed Speaker

[Xhosant]

Ignatius had never been in a situation like this. He would have hesitated, for he did not know what to do.

But Tenjin did.

With his influence seeping into him, and thus the confidence of someone who's said this a thousand times before, Ignatius pronounced the word, "Persona!", and the wise old tree-sage was right behind him.

Flipping his grip on his staff-rapier-umbrella (this place was crazy indeed), he leaped forward and thrust its now needle-like tip at Halendor's target. Right behind it, with the slowness and stability of someone who knows there's no reason to hurry, extended Tenjin's hand, driving the tip of one of his bamboo pens into the same enemy.

Ok, let me see if I get this:

I use Double Fang. I discard 1 of coins, the value of which is entirely unimportant, and use the King of Coins, which dictates my damage. Correct?

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
Halendor
With a flourish of his mighty staff and a quick invocation of his Persona (well, it was probably the latter doing most of the work, but hey), a massive chunk of ice formed in midair around the gavel, complete with silly sound effect.

15 (base) + 6 (MAG) + 13 (card) = 34 base damage
Defense: 18 (5 + 13 [Queen of Wands])
Final damage = 16. No elemental affinities.

The gavel was knocked backwards for a moment, but returned to its... handle. It was still up, is what I mean.

13 of Swords discarded; next card is 9 of Swords.

[B]Ignatius
With a cool confidence, he invoked his persona, before performing a flying lunge, assisted by Tenjin. The two strikes pierced deeply into the gavel, and this time it recoiled twice.

8 (base) + 2 (STR) + 14 (card) = 24 base damage, twice
Defense 1: 11 (5 + 6 [6 of Coins])
Defense 2: 7 (5 [base] + 2 [2 of Wands])
Final damage = 13, 17: 30, final.

The gavel returned to its handle. You had a good feeling that it was fairly damaged by now, though, admittedly, you didn't have a whole lot to back that one up.

1 of Coins, King of Coins discarded; next card Queen (13) of Wands


[B]Sasha to move.

[AkaiNeko]

Sasha stepped forward. She tried not to think about it, but she was sort of looking forward to getting into another fight. She saw that the strange gavel-esque being looked to be on its last legs, and decided that it would be tactically prudent to finish it off. As she'd hoped, she found it comfortingly easy to summon Fenrir; she braced herself and charged the enemy.

9 of Coins to use Cleave on Even-Handed Speaker.

[MageofMystra]

Sorry for the long delay. ^^;

Previous move results
Sasha
With a quick move, Fenrir bounded forward and smacked up the gavel... thing.

15 (base) + 4 (STR) + 9 (card) = 28 base damage
Defense: 19 (5 [base] + 14 [King of Coins])
Final damage = 9. No affinities.

With a swipe of its claw, the gavel burst into a viscous black smoke.

Even-handed Speaker is destroyed.

9 of Coins discarded; next card is 2 of Coins.

[Daimbert]

Sanae decided that while knowing the weakness of the enemy might be nice, that her ability to determine that was limited, and with only one enemy left it would be best to go on the offensive. She did her flourish again, and said "Whatcha gonna do, when Atlasmania, runs wild on you!" and Atlas appeared. He did an arm flex similar to that of some wrestler somewhere, and then focused a huge wind attack on the remaining enemy.

OOC: Garu on the remaining enemy, discard 14 - Cups to attack, if there isn't some reason why a 14 isn't more powerful than a 9 or something. It's been a while since I did combat [grin].

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
Sanae
Making a silly reference along with Atlas, a green windstorm bursts up around the Superdimorphic Brawler.

15 (base) + 5 (MAG) + 14 (card) = 38 base damage
Defense: 23 (9 + 14 [King of Swords])
Final damage = 15 * 2 (WEAK!) = 30 wind damage

The little storm batters the poor muscled man, and tosses him around a bit. He falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

14 of Cups discarded; next card is 7-coins.

[B]!!

Potential all-out attack!
(to quote: "The PCs may discard as many cards as they wish into a common pool. This is added to their combined persistence and weapon values, divided evenly among enemies and dealt as damage ignoring endurance.")

[Xhosant]

& of cups to the pool, or 8 of wands+2 of coins for Hama!

[MageofMystra]

ALL OUT ATTACK RESULTS
A big ball o' violence erupted!

BASE: 4 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 13 damage
CARDS: 7 + 2 + 1 = 10 damage
23 base damage; cannot be reduced. One target (Superdimorphic Brawler).

The party rushed forward and mobbed the very large, very muscular shadow.


MONSTER MOVE!
Superdimorphic Brawler
After tossing away the attack, the muscle-clad creature chuckled, flexed, and stamped his feet a bit, preparing to really lay on the hurt next turn.



[S]Previous move results
Ignatius
Quickly falling back from the attack, he summoned Tenjin with a flourish. A great light emerged around the shadow, followed by a ring of cards.

BASE: 20 (base) + 5 (MAG) + 8 + 2 (cards) = 35 damage
DEFENSE: 9 + 7 of cups = 16 defense
[B]Final damage: 19 damage. No weaknesses or strengths.
EDIT: Well, that's next turn, I guess.

[Philemonite]

"Well, that one went down sooner then expected. Let's help this one follow suit."
Maybe it was the strange world, or maybe just the excitement, but Halendor felt he needed a cool one liner. Unfortunately, this one was pretty lame.
Bufu using my lowest card, I think it is 2 of Cups.

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
Halendor
With a few words and a flourish, Leto appeared, and then there was ice, etc., etc.. Either way, the shadow wasn't really dressed for the occasion.
15 + 6 + 2 = 23 base damage
Defense: 10 (9 + 1 [Ace of Swords])
13 final damage; no elemental affinity.

The shadow recoiled, but otherwise showed no signs of slowing (spooky)

[B]Ignatius to move; though he already knows the results of a Hama if he uses it. Sasha moves after.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius likes the results. He'll use this odd precognition Tenjin likely granted and go with it :-P

[MageofMystra]

Previous move results
It got posted before. Yep.

Out of interest of not stalling further, it is defeated! Hoorah!

Not for the first time before, the shadow burst into a black sludge--which promptly exploded, spilling its contents (which, oddly enough, were red orbs and what you were sure was spare change) over the room, accompanied by chunks of the aforementioned black sludge. When all was said and done, it raised a whole lot of questions--but hey--it was money, and red orbs which your phone helpfully identified as macca. So really, it seemed that the currency of otherworld was shadow viscera, which was really quite
BATTLE REWARDS
10 BP
15 macca (per person.)
Enough change for a bus fare or two


Saturday September 9, 2017
With the threat of the shadows taken care of over an oddly long time, the uh, dream mall was ready to be explored again.

The scene was more or less the same, though everything was taken with a little more caution--after all, you knew for a fact now that nasties were in the area. Or at least the unique looking bits. Either way.

The crew continued moving. From the fountain room, they proceeded forward--there was really only one way out. The hallway went dead straight, with the same monotonous repetition of store fronts that you had come to expect by this point--five bookstores in a row, five coffee shops in a row, and all that good stuff. The hallway led into a much larger one--one of the main aisles (so to speak) of the mall, looking quite familiar to how Rubaker did things. The large hallway was about six times as wide as normal--and in the interior, about four times as wide as an ordinary hallway, was space that was open to above, and below, such that there was effectively a balcony (deck?) to either side of it, one hallway wide. Of course, there were railings to both sides, and stores to either side. There were benches too--though nowhere near as many as you were used to in your real life mall.

The massive hallway stretched in one direction for a disgusting distance--so far that the haze of Otherworld more or less erased it from existence, far in the distance. The other direction, was far more tempting--for one, you could see the ending! In the other direction, the open to above/below space ended. One giant store took up the end of the hallway--an anchor store. In big, bold lettering was "CROISEMENT", the name of the absurd hypermarket that, in its horrific hunger for business, had consumed half of Rubaker Mall, and made the other half all but redundant. You noted that in the dream world, Croisement seemed to have entered the end game of its world domination plan--because when you stepped over to the railing, to peer up and down, you could see that dream-Rubaker Mall was probably more than a hundred floors tall--and on every floor, was another "CROISEMENT" sign.

Goodness.

Looking around, it wasn't really obvious where to go. The infinite corridor to your right was just plain dumb, and was, all things considered, probably actually infinite, so that was a no-go. Croisement, on the other hand, was pretty obviously closed down. Like, there was the metal bars and everything. There was a large, tantalizing keyhole over the metal screen. You were pretty sure that was not how those metal bar slidey door things worked, but hey. Below the keyhole were the letters "XII", engraved.

You felt a buzzing from your phone. Giving it a quick check, it looked like Otherworld Hub had something to say about this MYSTERIOUS OBSTACLE!

"Sender: [REDACTED]"
Oh, joy. That was a good start.
"Subject: Otherworld Locks and Social Links
"Otherworld is built upon the psyches of people in your world, and common ideas between all of them.
"Often times, sections of Otherworld might be barred to you. The only way to break them is through Social Links--a friendship, rapport, or what have you with someone who understands and lives through these common threads.
"Once you have established an understanding of these social links, you may find the seals easily broken. Some seals are simple to break, while others can be extraordinarily difficult.
"Of course, that is not the only things these social links might be used for. As said before, Otherworld is built upon the minds of people in your world--and as are your personae. As you come to understand another person, your own persona might become more powerful, and take on additional aspects. I think I covered that in the FAQ, but hey, it's here too. I'm repeating it, so you know it must be reeeeeaaallllly important...
"Also, these locks align themselves according to the major arcana of your tarot. Who knows if that's what they actually operate on, but either way, it's a very useful shorthand. Whatever arcana the seal corresponds to is the one that will break the lock.
"Also needless to say, you generally can't break locks of your own arcana--otherwise you'd have already broken it! Ha ha."
Who was this guy, and how did he know exactly what obstacle you just hit? Was he the tutorial guy?

Putting aside the sudden doubt and uncertainty, you at least found one consolation prize--a pile of shopping bags, covered in a "PETER BILMAN HIGH FRESHMAN HOODIE." The hoodie wasn't your prize, no. That'd be a really crappy prize. No, the prize was inside the shopping bags!

Add to inventory:
Colossal Potato Peeler x1 (Weapon; +5 power.)

The thing was surprisingly easy to wield--anybody could wave it around. The thing itself was like five feet tall, so honestly, that just raised a lot of questions. It looked like a massive y-peeler. It could no doubt dish out some serious damage.

Either way, leaving aside the oversized vegetable peeler, it seemed you were at a dead end.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius walked up to the closed shop, touching the lock and looking up in disapointment. Whatever the path may be, it was not here, at least for now.

If the 'redacted' person was to be trusted, this door wouldn't yield on this visit. Regardless, he examined the lock, inquiring as to what arcana this particular lock could correspond to.

What he did not examine, was the peeler. Surely it looked potent, and maybe even effective, but he could not make proper use of a weapon as large and awkward. He would not lay claim on it.

Exhaling in frustration, he turned to the rest. "It would seem this path is insurmountable, at least for today. Where shall we try to proceed from? The endless-looking corridor is one option, and mayhaps we could backtrack to the crossroads, and investigate the more perilous path?"

He somewhat allowed his more formal vocabulary of thought through to his speech, despite knowing it oftentimes made people uncomfortable about him, perhaps because the puzzle at hand drew both patience and attention.

[Philemonite]

The endless corridor send chills down Halendor's spine, so he turned towards the bags, but the contest didn't really manage to hold his attention. However, the mysterious message, coupled with the strange lock did. After reading through it twice he focused on the symbol on the lock and started searching through his mind for any useful information.
"XII... Hanged Man... Sacrifice... Survival...Stagnation..." He whispered silently. To anyone who actually heard him it would sound like he was in a trance.

[Daimbert]

Sanae picked up the oversize potato peeler. It seemed awkward, but somehow it reminded her of ... something. She then quickly whirled it around in a fairly complex set of motions ... overhead, across, sweeping in front, sweeping behind, and a number of other routines. Finally, she tapped the end on the ground, standing it blade up beside her with a small smile of satisfaction.

"I used to play field hockey, " she explained.

[Daimbert]

Seeing with slight embarrassment that no one was paying attention when she picked up the weapon, Sanae decided to prod Halden for his opinion. "Halden? Do you have an opinion on what we should do next?"

[Philemonite]

Halden gave Sanae a strange look, as if he was just awoken from a deep sleep. He looked at the weapon in her hand and blinked as if he was just realizing where he was.
"I think we should get back and pick the other path. There is something disturbing here, and I don't have any desire to stay." He answered, while trying not to look in the direction of the endless corridor.

[Daimbert]

Sanae said, "Assuming that we don't just want to sit here and stare at this barricade, we have essentially three options. We could try to take the long corridor, but we have no idea how long that is or what we might face on it, and no quick way back should we run into too much trouble. We could take the more perilous path, but we don't know what we'll face there either. We could also take what we've gained, return home, and try again later hopefully well-prepared.

"I'm somewhat in favour of returning home and coming back later. At the very least, it would make it clear that we CAN return home and come back later, and I don't know that we have any time pressure on finding out everything today.'

[Xhosant]

The thought forming in Ignatious' mind would be unlike his cautious nature, or was it that what seemed to be caution and what was did not align?

"There is no point worrying about our ability to retreat, and neither is there reason to. For all we know, we can leave at our leisure, and it's too late if we can't. No, retreat would not be prudent right now. Remember the mail? We are not in danger, except for certain days. We cannot risk to find ourselves besieged in here and ignorant, not at that date. We ought to forge ahead, while there is nothing at stake but time off of this deadline."

A part of this nascent thought lingered in his mind. All the consolation they received was for naught, for that one exception would suffice. They had found themselves spirited to this place against their wills before, and that would happen again. If this world held malice to them, which it seemed to do, it would, indeed, force them in here at a time they should not. This was most unnerving, and there was no consolation to be felt by his guardian, only a serious nod.

"Re-regardless. I propose we walk down that path for a set amount of time. Should nothing come of it, we can turn back and to the path we chose against at first."

[Philemonite]

Halden listened to the both sides of the argument, and somehow they both felt right, but at the same time both felt wrong. There was no simple answer here. He tried to find a similar situation to draw inspiration from, but even without the whole persona thing there was nothing he could think of. Still, that endless corridor was bugging him, and he wasn't really willing to try it out.
"I think it would be best to retreat for now. Losing one day of exploration is meaningless compared to knowledge that we can return home at any time. Right now we can only speculate, what we really need is some confirmation of our suspicions. If that help information is to be trusted Persona is a manifestation of our mental state, so we could use a morale boost."

[Xhosant]

Ignatius pondered for a moment, then talked.

"Then, it would seem majority agrees; we ought retreat now. However, I have a favor to ask, beforehand. May I walk down the corridor a bit before you guys step out, or stay and do so after you leave? This will earn us a better understanding of this place, for our next visit."

[Daimbert]

Sanae commented, "If you really want to, then I suggest that you walk up it now, but don't go out of sight of us. See if you can see an end or anything of interest, and if you can't by the time we start to lose sight or you can't hear us anymore, turn back. That way we can help you if you get into trouble and we might find out a little more with little risk. I STRONGLY suggest that you not walk down that path without us here."

[Philemonite]

"I don't mind waiting for a few minutes, but w-w-why would you want to do that? Exploring an unknown location on your own is not an optimal course of action."

[Xhosant]

"There should be no risk", replies Ignatius. He does not reply that he's scared of the next moon's cycle, of course.

Turning to the corridor and with ears ready and 'weapon' in hand, he begins marching down. he looks behind him every now and then, to make sure he can see the others, and intends to go on until something can be seen, his allies fall out of sight, or 10 minutes elapse.

[Daimbert]

Sanae inwardly winced a bit at Ignatius' insistence that there would be no risk; in a strange place like this, there always was.

As Ignatius walked down the corridor, she watched closely, looking for any sign of danger. She was very nervous for him, but it barely showed on the outside; she had long ago learned to school her features to hide her emotions. Most of the time, anyway.

[MageofMystra]

Saturday September 9, 2017
Nighttime
Though the party found themselves stopped at one side of the hallway, there was still another hallway to explore, and well, couldn't very well let that opportunity go by.

Ignatius departed down the hallway. The scenery along it was much the same as the previous hallway--and indeed, much of the mall. The same conspicuous loop of stores, the same haphazard benches and strange items, the same... everythings, really. Checking back periodically, he saw his companions fade away a lot faster than expected in the haze of Otherworld. The deep, deep, everywhere-you-look-there-it-is haze of Otherworld. He kept walking--after all, everything seemed to still be safe. Then he met the end of the corridor.

That isn't to say Ignatius found some sort of wall in the way, or a door, or anything of the sort--he encountered the end of the corridor in the exact same way he saw it a few several hundred metres ago--vanishing into haze. It looked very much like the entire hallway simply faded into fog. Out of curiousity, Ignatius pressed forward for only a little longer, and found that the foggy hallway was indeed solid--just unnavigable (on account of fading (?) into fog, and all.) As one final off-hand thought, before heading back, might as well check Otherworld Hub.

Apparently this was "Rubaker Halls Exit, F1". Spooky.

Either way, the group re-assembled, and after several strange and potentially painful attempts to wake up, they finally, well, woke up. They found themselves lying in their bed, thoroughly exhausted--both physically and mentally. It was rather odd--the trip didn't feel particularly stressful at the time, but, well, apparently things just work strangely there. Best to get some rest.


Sunday September 10, 2017
Morning
You woke up, only slightly less tired than last night. Either way, the events of last night were, overall, pretty darn strange--but there were more important details to attend to for the time being (like eating breakfast, or brushing your teeth, or whatever it was that you did in the morning.) The trip as a whole might have raised more questions than it answered, and by the looks of it, a lot of those questions wouldn't be answered for a while.

Anyways, you had an entire glorious Sunday to spend--and a little bit of fatigue and drowsiness certainly wasn't going to rob you of it. Nosirree. What did you do?

[Philemonite]

As he opened his eyes Halden realized he was beyond tired. His attempt to get up was rather unsuccessful, but he at least managed to turn his head towards the clock. More then an hour until his alarm goes of, that should be enough to recover. But then he realized it was Sunday, and he decided go back to sleep. Two hours later he was still exhausted, but he decided to get up anyway. He tried washing the fatigue from his face, but it didn't really work. He tried again just in case, but the result was still the same. He gathered enough strength to send a text to his new friends (a simple "Meeting today?") before going downstairs to try and have some breakfast. Hopefully, this was something he can accomplish, in spite of the fatigue...

[Daimbert]

Sanae woke up tired. Not as tired as the night before, but still tired. Unfortunately, she knew that at this point she had slept as much as she was going to right now, so she summoned up the strength to get out of bed and get through her morning routine.

This only validated her concerns about taking exploring that other world carefully. This fatigue was probably related to what they had done over there, and seemed like more than just being tired from walking around and fighting. And they'd never really noticed it until they'd "returned", which meant that they weren't going to be able to just know when they were pushing too hard.

She decided that she would do some light studying and maybe catch a nap later in the day to try to recover. She saw the text from Halden and replied "Sounds like a good idea", waiting for Ignatius to reply so that they could arrange something. Then she picked up her text and started reading.

OOC - Sanae will be studying her weakest subject, which is not math.

[Xhosant]

Ignatius, too, felt the effects of fatigue, and though he could endure it, his curiosity having forced him in many an all-nighter, he couldn't just shake it off. All things considered, he was rather able to function, although he'd need a proper rest soon. Perhaps he couldn't return to that place yet tonight, though he was loathe to let his probable deadline dry out wasted.

That aside, he got up as his habits commanded. He would likely study some History today, but since he was going pretty well on that subject, he could afford to prepare for his other duty without traveling to the otherworld. To that end, he scanned through his bookcase, looking for the old manual that had given him the basic insights to fencing that had served him the night before.

Plenty of pages and footwork-memorizing later (mostly guards and ripostes), his phone rang with a text.

"We ought", he replied, expecting the others to present the specifics.

[Philemonite]

After managing to have some breakfast (huge success in his current state) Halden decided to shake his fatigue off with something his father calls "light exercise". So, his made his way towards the back yard, and to his father's surprise finished the entire obstacle course. Granted, it was what his father called level one, and Halden did have some experience with it, but it was still a surprise, considering his father gave up on Halden as a soldier years ago. After he was finished, Halden looked at his phone and chuckled at the reply he got. You send a short message, you get a short answer, that's how it goes. He answered with a simple "Doose's Cafe, 15:00?", deciding to take a really long bath, and do some studying before the meeting.

[Daimbert]

Sanae got the message, and texted back "See you then." She then studied for a little bit, caught a quick map, grabbed a quick meal, and arrived at the cafe, as usual, about 10 minutes early. She ordered a tea, grabbed a table, and waited for the others to arrive.

She felt much better after the nap than she had earlier in the day.

[MageofMystra]

Sunday September 10, 2017
Afternoon
The scene is Doose's Cafe, a pleasant, lightly upscale cafe nestled in a corner of downtown. The entire place was just a little bit small, but otherwise felt quite nice. The cafe was about three-quarters full, with most residents sitting around and lazing away on a chilly September afternoon.

Sanae arrived first, of course. She had quite a habit of doing that. The other members of the group [presumably] walked in one by one later, and presumably got something to warm up with--or, barring that, something to occupy themselves with while talking. There was a light sea of conversation that served as the usual backdrop to the cafe--if nothing else, it'd at least lower the chances that someone'd accidentally say something that, while making complete sense in context, seemed objectionable outside of it. So that was nice, at least.

Either way, there were a lot of details from the previous night that, honestly, deserved a bit of attention.

There had been a bit more information making its way around the rumour mill earlier that day--apparently details of the stabbing victim had gotten out. You had a name (which, admittedly, wasn't particularly familiar), and an idea of occupation--the guy was apparently a local emissions standard inspector (that is to say, by the sounds of it, he enforced environmental regulations on businesses.) The news was that it was definitely a stabbing, with some sort of knife--though the weapon was, predictably, yet to be found. Given the circumstances, it'd be highly unlikely that it'd ever be found. So that was bad.

Of course, there were more matters, such as Otherworld, or that lock in Otherworld, or... well, the point was, there were a lot of issues. That's what discussion was for, probably. To figure out what to do about these issues. Chart a course through these unknown waters, you know. That was the plan, anyways.

[Daimbert]

After everyone had settled in, Sanae decided to broach the subject of their strange fatigue. "So, am I the only one who became utterly exhausted after we returned from the other world?"

[Xhosant]

"I, too, felt quite drained as I awoke", responded Ignatius. "It might be that our exertion is amplified in that place, or perhaps it is that world itself that drains us."

[Philemonite]

Halden was surprised to be the last one to arrive, even though he did come three and a half minutes earlier. He nodded to one of the workers, and pointed to the booth where his new friends were sitting. The worker nodded in response, and Halden made his way toward his friends. There are perks to being a regular, and one of theme was never having to order.
"Guess it's unanimous, that place is really draining. It felt like the day after one of my dads "fun camps"."

[Xhosant]

A shadow passes over Ignatius' eyes at hearing Halden, but he said nothing.

[Daimbert]

Sanae commented, "What's interesting is that we didn't feel exhausted until after we returned. Why that is, I don't know, but that does mean that it's possible that we could greatly over-exert ourselves and not realize it until we return. So we should measure our time and actions in that world as best we can."

[Xhosant]

Ignatius fell in thought for a moment. His ponderings led him to a conclusion, and he felt a now-familiar presence hesitantly agree.

"Our fatigue awaits us in the waking world, and our wounds don't follow us there. Considering we can reach that place through sleep, might it be that it's not our true bodies that we bring to the Otherworld, but rather a projection. Our wounds affect that projection, yet our efforts drain a body we don't feel from..."

"I wonder how deep our sleep is while in that place. Would we sense a disturbance in our room? Could we be awakened?"

"Anyway, back on topic. Did any of you figure if your fatigue was physical or mental?"

In light of the projection theory, that's a reasonable question, but it did not occur to me to see when I was at my most drained. But then...

A plan started formulating in his mind, an as of yet nascent thought to counter the conundrum Sanae brought to light.

[Philemonite]

"That actually makes a lot of sense. Considering what we know about personas it fits."

[Daimbert]

Sanae commented, "It seemed somewhat general to me; I was able to get some studying done, so I wasn't completely mentally exhausted.|

[Xhosant]

Ignatius sighed.

"If you could focus and stay awake to do it, it can't have been mental. And that means your worry is a plausible point."

Pressure, temperature, what was it? I'll have to inquire further on the details, thought Ignatius as he made a mental point.

"Then, we need to conduct one or two experiments, both simple and safe to be sure. I most likely will be able to perform those on my own, or primarily so."

"Our next issue would be how to proceed through the Othermall. Would anyone have a suggestion to make?

[Daimbert]

Sanae shrugged. "We know so little about that world that it could be some kind of soul or spirit energy that's drained, leaving us with a general malaise and not with either sort of fatigue. I definitely agree that we should experiment with this more ... but carefully."

[Xhosant]

After a short, awkward pause, Ignatius continued.

"Alright. So, what is our next goal? How do we proceed from here?"

[Daimbert]

"I suggest that we not go on two days in a row, to give ourselves some time to recover between visits. And since the message talked about a full moon being important, I suggest we try to maximize our time between full moons, and plan to be rested for the full moon, just in case." Sanae replied.

[Xhosant]

"I agree to that. The full moon is a dangerous time. We must be sure to be strong and prepared, lest we be dragged there against our wishes."

[Xhosant]

After another short pause, Ignatius continued.

"Now, then. Without a doubt, should we wish to inquire further down the path we explored yesternight, we'll need to forge a so-called 'social link', was it?"

He paused for a moment more.

"Ought we look for someone whose personality would align with that lock's arcana, supposedly?"

[Daimbert]

Sanae commented, "Going out and asking random people if their personalities match a description of a Tarot Arcana isn't likely to go over well ..."

She then grew thoughtful. "There are a lot of odd and interconnected elements in play here. For example, we were all literally yanked out of reality into some kind of frozen moment to meet each other initially. With the lock being tied to a specific Arcana, the S-link might tie into a specific person. If that's the case, then likely we just need to look closely and eventually the right person will become obvious to us."

[Xhosant]

"Well, surely, but we could keep our eyes open... Well, no matter, with an open path before us, pursuing another's key is not a priority."

Ignatius turned to both of those present.

"So, then. When should we venture over again, and what ought we do before that?"

[MageofMystra]

Sunday September 10, 2017
Afternoon
The conversation went on in Doose's Cafe. Time flew away, and the scenery melted into barely a blur as the group laid down what they went, and what it could possibly mean.

First, there was the matter of the exhaustion seemingly caused by Otherworld--luckily, it wouldn't (hopefully) be too tricky to get to the bottom of it. A visit to the hardware store, or the science store, or barring all that, stealing from the school labs could probably get all the equipment needed. Either way, that wouldn't be too tricky to set up.

And then there was the matter of the full moons, supposedly very dangerous times indeed. Of course, the question of why (and for that matter, what) was unanswered, but it never hurt to be careful. Perhaps you checked a lunar calendar--or perhaps you decided to mark down the date on your fancy electronic calendar phones. New Moon on the 20th--full moon on October 5th. And if you checked a lunar calendar, maybe you found it funny--full moon on the 6th--last Wednesday.

Same day as the first weird time freezey bits. It was the day right before your encounter in the train station--and the mysterious stabbing.

So, that pretty much confirmed your suspicions right away that the full moon was at least a little bit important. Granted, you were making an inference from a grand total of one data point, but frankly, one data point was enough when it came to people getting stabbed.

Then there were the matter of social links. Quite frankly, who even knew about that one--making friends with some random dudes who just happened to have the right personality? Surely there'd be more to it than that. How silly.

And of course, there was the matter of when to head back... but ultimately, that was a decision that could be made later (and honestly, should be made later, given how little information everyone seemed to have...)

Either way, without even realizing it, it had gotten late. You all had other things to do today (presumably), and so, well, you went and did them! (presumably)


Monday September 11, 2017
Morning
The morning began on a sombre note as you remembered today was Patriot Day. Or maybe you didn't remember, and somebody told you. Or maybe neither happened, and you were just wondering why the air was just so sombre today. Sombre enough to get you down? Or maybe you didn't care much. I don't know. I'm not the boss of you.

Either way, you began the usual march to classes. Luckily, it had cooled down a bit today, so, well, that was nice.

Maybe Ignatius had done testing last night, and had something to report. Maybe he didn't. But if he did do some testing last night, then he would surely have been met with success. If he did testing that night.

That aside, there was still a day of class to go--and the cross year program today at lunch. So great. You didn't even have lunch break to look forward to.

Daytime
Senior Calculus
Mr. Walrus Boring paced back and forth by the chalkboards in the front of the room. Your eyes began to glaze over--this man radiated so much boring-ness that it was almost like staring at an optical illusion. He was blazing through review of what had effectively been the last four years of your mathematical life--algebra, functions, trig, and uh, actually, that was pretty much it. Today was the first two years--tomorrow was the next two years.

Regardless, it was kinda clear how rusty half the class was. Either that or sleepy. It was hard to tell in this class.


Sophomore Mathematics
You know, it was pretty much like the above. Is that a lame way to describe it?

GETTIN' META


Senior English
The first day, when Mr. Fischer had bounded in dressed like Shakespeare, it was kinda funny. The second day, it was questionable, but still kinda funny.

This was the fifth day, and you weren't really sure what to think any more. Was this how he normally dressed? Was he not dressing up the first day?

Regardless, he was reviewing grammar again, and it was clear that he was struggling to maintain character here--struggling and failing, because "thou" certainly wasn't correct nowadays.


Lunch
The crushing realization that you only had half your lunch today was all too real. A lesser man would have dropped to his knees and wailed to the sky. Well, probably not--that was maybe Mr. Fischer influencing you.

Cross-year Program
Mr. Al...fred...son? Alfredson? That sounded about right. The cross-year program guy. Taught history, too. Wore a gigantic admiral's hat the first day. Was still wearing that gigantic admiral's hat, in fact. Right at this very moment. You didn't even think it'd be able to fit through the door, but there you have it. He did it. Must be from years of experience, of wearing gigantic hats.

Either way, he read off the attendance, then began a short informal lecture, from a set of notes he had.

"Cross-year Program is intended to mentally stimulate students and allow them to look at the world in entirely new ways...
"...over basic philosophy, and in particular, epistemology...
"...but really, it's about whatever topics are of interest to both the students and instructor. But sadly, the director said I'm not allowed to derail this into Napoleonic history class...
"...well, that's the first page. Content for today supposedly starts on the second. Let's see here..."
He flipped over the first page, then immediately broke into laughter.
"I guess we're learning about tarot! Wow! What a course, guys! Totally worth your lunch!
"An entire year of this, everyone!"
He showed the page to everyone, as if to say "no, really, I'm not making this up!"

"Alright, alright, alright. Let's get started, I guess. We're starting with the major arcana..."

He read out the list of the major arcana (the Rider-Waite-Smith's 22, anyways), with a brief description. "These arcana might be interpreted many ways, but might serve to highlight one facet of a person, or a situation... in fact, most people can be categorized by one or the other.
"Ask your students to think about which they might be, then have a surVEY."
The last syllable punctuated because Mr. Alfredson burst into laughter again.

"Alright, alright, alright. Let's... let's do the survey, then.", he finally said, barely holding back his derisive laughter. "One whole year of this, everyone!"

You had a handout on all of the 22 major arcana before you--and everyone else did. Some chatted to their neighbours--others looked deep in thought. Funnily enough, you noticed a QR code in the top right corner--labelled "learn more!" Some would consider that concerning.

Either way, what did you do?

[Xhosant]

Sunday September 10, 2017
Nighttime

Ignatius was rather concerned by the realization that the stabbing occurred on a full moon. I can't believe it took me that long to check this. Why didn't you say something?, he thought, almost addressing the guiding tug on his mind.

Regardless, he got home, went on with his routine, and turned into bed early. That's cause he had something to do before sleeping, something draining. First, he rigged his computer to text his phone in 10 minutes' time, then set his phone to ring an alarm in 30. Finally, he took a cup of warm milk and went to sleep, at least for now.

He'd 'wake up' in that place, he'd wait in his room, receive the text then wake up from the alarm's ring or vibration, or so he assumed it would happen. Which parts he was right on remained to be seen.

Monday September 11, 2017

Waking up, and hopefully hardly affected by laying down for twenty minutes in the otherworld, Ignatius sailed through the day in the usual manner of calm diligence. or so he would, if it wasn't for the special cross-year surprise. Frankly, if Tenjin hadn't jolted him to action, it felt like he'd still be staring at his teacher. instead, he was staring at his book now.

What are the odds? Is this even a coincidence?

Regardless, he jumped at the opportunity to scan the QR. That was exactly what they needed, he wouldn't let an unexpected delivery make it pass ignored.

[Daimbert]

Sanae scanned over the descriptions, and felt something akin to an electric shock when she read the one for the Hierophant. In her research on the signs, she'd never really considered which one she fit into, but as the assignment was to do just that, for the first time she tried to place herself into one of the categories ... and that one, for some reason, stood out to her, as if Atlas himself was indicating that that was, in fact, the one.

She would have done it anyway, but now she was compelled to scan in the code and find out more ... about herself, and about others. Perhaps later they'd have to do more research on what Arcana each of them represented, and what interactions they could expect because of that.

She sighed to herself, though. This sounded SO much like astrology ... but could it, in fact, actually be accurate?

[MageofMystra]

Sunday September 10, 2017
Nighttime
Ignatius found himself again in Otherworld--though this time, he wasn't really here for any of the sights and sounds (ha.) Instead, he simply sat around in his room. Maybe he decided to read a dream-book (which, if he did, he would find to be a rather frustrating experience, given that, you know, dream world and all that junk.) After sitting around for what felt like an hour or two, his phone buzzed. That was certainly the text he was waiting for. Checking his phone, however, Ignatius found that it wasn't quite... operating as usual.

He received a text, that was true. It just... didn't really say from who, or regarding what. Just said that he got an "important text from outside."

So uh, that was kinda good, kinda bad. Maybe that only happened under certain circumstances? Who knows. For all you know, it was related to like... otherworld experience or something. Or maybe to the phases of the moon. Or maybe to the position of Jupiter with respect to Mars. Really, it was open season at this point.

After sitting around for another hour or two, nothing seemed to be happening. After a while, he was faintly aware of some sort of ringing in his ears, and felt a faint buzzing at his phone. That... was his alarm. He was pretty darn sure about that one. Normally that'd wake him right up, so if it really was going off in real life, then...

...ooh, that had some rather nasty implications...

...but ignoring those for now, Ignatius woke up, and found that his phone was indeed going off. Giving the phone a quick check, he had indeed received his own text message about... 20 minutes ago.


Monday September 11, 2017
Lunch
Seeing as it was just a QR code, Ignatius and Sanae gave the code the good ol' scan. Their phones spat out a URL, which was promptly fed to their browser--which promptly sputtered and crawled (owing to excellent school wi-fi, needless to say), before spitting out some web page that had most likely not been updated since 1999.

"PHIL'S TAROT SITE", the banner said, in bright yellow. Behind it was a slightly duller blue. With the tones of each colour used, the page bore a striking resemblance to the Swedish flag (albeit with text on it, and without the cross, so, really, nothing like the Swedish flag.)

Your phone buzzed. Otherworld Hub had some sort of notification--but let's check this page out first...

"LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARCANA IN YOUR VOYAGES IN LIFE
"KNOW YOUR TRUE SELF!"

This one was in some sort of faux modern font. Oh, how could this page possibly get better?

"READ ABOUT THE... MAJOR ARCANA, MINOR ARCANA"
Those were anchor links, of course. Scrolling further down, was an array of the 22 major arcana, with pictures (Rider-Waite-Smith illustrations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Waite_tarot_deck#Major_Arcana) and ordering), and little descriptions. Very educational, that's for sure.

You faintly heard the sound of other phones buzzing.

Wait, that's right, yours did too. Let's check that notification.

"Otherworld Hub has installed the following modules: Tarot-Pal (TM), Phil's Newsstand (TM)."

Ooh, how could that be a bad sign? You get to read newspapers formatted by this Phil guy.

You quickly checked everyone else. Everyone--Mr. Alfredson included--was on their phones. Granted, Mr. Alfredson looked like he was playing Candy Crush or something, but hey.

After opening up Otherworld Hub, you were greeted by a familiar screen. The background now was of some generic classroom--except it was outside, in a bright sunny field. Oh, how nice that'd be...


"OTHERWORLD HUB
Welcome, idusle17/syamam73! You have [0] new messages.
h: 30 [red orb icon]

Unable to determine current location."
Then below, buttons:
"[SALES (NEW!)] (the words 'HOT DEALS' was overlaid)
[News (NEW!)]
[Photos]
[Profile]
[Friends (NEW!)]
[Help!]"

Oh, this was promising!

all deals include free, instantaneous shipping to one otherworld address (so fast, it's like a dream!)
Snuff Soul (Max 2/person): 5 h [draw 3 cards]
Electric Zio Bead (Max 1/person): 10 h [deal 30 electric damage]
Gigantic Spatula (Max 1!) : 25 h [weapon; +5 power]
Phone-a-not-friend Card (Max 2!) : 30 h [reveals the whereabouts of one social link who is present (usage may not be effective upon unknown location links)]


There were a lot of headlines here, but none of them seemed to be of interest (that and there didn't seem to be actual... articles attached.)
Shadow Rights Commission Begins 10-Day Investigation of Macca Production
Increased Outsider Activity in Rubaker Mall; Easterner's Castle
Massive Shadow Activity Reported in SeLo Game Centre

The other members of your persona-using troupe were here--and hey, looks like you were assigned arcana.

But no, that's not what's interesting. Below that, was a table. It was titled "SOCIAL LINK CONTACTS". It was a 22-celled table. Oh, oh, this was a good start...


Fool
N/A
Magician
Downtown
High Priestess
Unknown (ambiguous)
Empress
Downtown
Emperor
Not present


Hierophant
Not present
Lovers
Miwalte Park
Chariot
Not present
Strength
Not present
Hermit
Unknown


Fortune
Not present
Justice
Not present
Hanged Man
Nearby Plaza
Death
Otherworld
Temperance
Not present


Devil
Not present
Tower
Miwalte Park
Star
Downtown
Moon
Rubaker Mall
Sun
Not present


Judgment
Downtown
World
N/A





No... names. Or descriptions. Only a... very broad location. You've got to wonder how they chose to demarcate those regions, but whatever.

[Xhosant]

Sunday September 10, 2017
Nighttime

Ignatius sighed. No text means he couldn't give a detailed report from this side, but at least it was a notification, like a pager. And it might be for the best that the alarm didn't force him awake, but he'd have to make it a tad stronger.

Send a text, buzz around the wrist, maybe earphones... Ignatius took a couple mental notes, then turned over and fell asleep, properly this time.

Monday September 11, 2017
Cross-Year

Isn't this a big deal? Let's see... Apparently, we're the Mall outsiders. Someone took an interest in us, that's not good. But this... 'Easterner's castle', is it a part of the mall, or another place entirely? A place where... our fellows were exploring?

Also, SeLo Game Center. That's a place to visit at night.

He then idly looked at the grid bellow, before suddenly having his eyes grow wide. The lock was marked, 'XII', twelve, 'The Hanged Man'. Location: Nearby Plaza, probably the most specific option, barring the huge and convoluted 'Rubaker Mall'. Swapping to a texting app, he indicated the find to the others.

[Daimbert]

Sanae had noticed the entry for the Arcana of the lock as well, and so merely blinked at bit at the text. Ignatius was stating the obvious ... but sometimes it was good for the obvious to be stated.

[MageofMystra]

Monday September 11, 2017
Lunch
Sanae and Ignatius stared at their phones for a little bit. Well, that was neat, wasn't it! Apparently some Hanged Man guy was in "Nearby Plaza"--which sounded vague, but luckily, you knew exactly where that was. You were pretty sure that that plaza had an actual name, but, uh, you couldn't remember it. Nobody could. The one with the pharmacy and the Chinese food. You know. That one.

Uh.

Well, moving on, that was pretty handy. There were a lot of other people. You had to wonder what "ambiguous" meant for the Priestess arcana meant. Maybe it meant the location was ambiguous. That was interesting.

"...r arcana comes in four suits, which are the ancestors to our playing card suits..."

Right, class was still going. Well, sorta. The class proceed, with Mr. Alfredson only bursting into laughter two more times, before the cross-year program wrapped up for the day, and you could have the one half of your lunch break that was miraculously spared. Now that was nice!


Afternoon
Outside of a bizarre incident in Senior Chemistry, where Mr. Brandt went on a rant about potassium, the afternoon passed without incident. Classes were as boring as they tended to be. Yawn. Dull stuff. Not even worth discussing, really.


After School
Free at last!

By a consensus that was not reached, but which would mostly likely be reached, you headed off to that nearby plaza to, uh, do... something.

Nearby Plaza
After about five minutes' stroll, you arrived at that nearby plaza. The place was fairly familiar. Wide parking lot, half-full. Asphalt was uneven and cracking in quite a few places. Stores arranged in a line, with seemingly random height changes. Bigger second level that overhung a few feet forward, over the first level. The second level, of course had all the signs. The thing as a whole was fairly plain--random benches, plants and signs on the sidewalk in front of the actual stores. The fact that everything was a dull beige stucco didn't really help matters.

You know, when you got right down to it, this was more of a strip mall than a plaza. But really.

Either way, apparently the hanged man person was here... somewhere...

You had no idea how this was going to work, but either way, you no doubt fanned out and looked for candidates. Maybe. Maybe you just bought some fried rice instead. After a while, though, you noticed a familiar face you hadn't seen for a bit--some senior named Andy, or something along those lines. He was in the senior string ensemble at school, and was considered an all-around cool guy. Maybe you chatted him up for a little, while he was eating.

If you did, it would be mostly small talk.
"...ensemble's starting up again, first meeting later today, going to be exciting...
"...how about Mr. Boring again, huh? Jeez, I thought I saw the last of him last year...
"...oh, my younger brother's actually taking his first year of high school now. Bert's his name. If you see him, be nice, because, you know, I can't, on account of being his older brother and all. Actually, I'm waiting for him here today, show him around the plaza and all, you know..."
More small chit-chat.

After a bit, a small, slightly mousy teen walked over. He was about half a foot shorter than Andy, but the family resemblance was clear. He clearly had no idea who you guys were, and clearly had an issue with that--but either way, there were a few rounds of introductions.

"I gotta run--ensemble meeting started ten minutes ago! Nice talking with you guys--be nice now, see you guys."

And with that, Andy was off. From an outsider observer's perspective, he just ditched his little brother with some friends. That was a good start.

"So, uh..."

You felt your phone buzz.

That was almost certainly Otherworld Hub updating. Great. You could tell right away that this was going to be a very uphill battle.

Either way, there was an odd silence that probably oughtn't be there. What did you do?

[Daimbert]

Sanae decided to go for one of the more standard questions, "So, how are you finding high school so far?"