Persona: A Less-Than Cinematic Tale (Starring Hikari of PQ2)

Adhoc vote count started by SeekerofDreams on Sep 3, 2020 at 6:03 AM, finished with 7 posts and 7 votes.

  • [X] She'd scan the maze, to try and get an idea of the layout.
    [x] She would try and get a closer look at something in the area.
    -[x] The gears.
    [X] She'd press the button, and activate the mechanism.
 
Okay! First step: look at the maze.


-Vote Closed!-


See some of what lurks inside before sending friends there.
 
Clockwork Maze: An Overview
...Well. The first step had to be getting a good measure of their surroundings didn't it? Hikari summoned Gullveig, and asked for something very simple: A map.

The maze was large, but not expansively so, at least in the sense of how much space it took up. There were still enough pathways for getting lost to be the most likely outcome without a map, which showed many twisted corridors, some of which simply looped back around to where they began.

With this map, the twisted passageways would be little issue for her friends to navigate, though Hikari would still rather stay where it was safe.

There were a number of points inside the maze that were of interest to her. First, in both of the far corners of the maze, there were large bonfires. She couldn't get a proper picture of them, but she knew that they existed, even though the walls of the maze stretched up so high there was no sign of any smoke... or that it was a proper maze at all, come to that.

There were also a number of enemies lurking, though the types differed between the north and south sections of the maze.

In the north section, there weren't a lot of enemies, and the paths were fairly straightforward. However, in certain areas, she could detect what seemed to be a great amount of dormant power, which would presumably activate if given a specific trigger. Sadly, there was no sign as to what that trigger would be.

The south section had only one huge source of power, but what seemed to be a large number of smaller enemies all around, and passageways that were, altogether, more numerous and twisted than there were in the north.

Both bonfires appeared to be the same- fire taken from one would work exactly the same as fire taken from the other.

This information would probably be very helpful... Hikari just needed to figure out how she was supposed to use it.


[ ] She'd send at least one friend into the north section of the maze.
-[ ] Shinjiro.
-[ ] Ribbon.
-[ ] Both.

[ ] She'd send at least one friend into the south section of the maze.
-[ ] Shinjiro.
-[ ] Ribbon.
-[ ] Both.

[ ] She'd take a closer look at things in this area.
-[ ] The barrier.
-[ ] The gears.
-[ ] The spiderwebs.

[ ] She'd press the button, and activate the mechanism.
 
[X] She'd send at least one friend into the south section of the maze.
-[X] Both.

They good at beating things up.
Puzzles not so much
 
Adhoc vote count started by SeekerofDreams on Sep 5, 2020 at 6:04 AM, finished with 5 posts and 4 votes.

  • [X] She'd send at least one friend into the south section of the maze.
    -[X] Both.
    [X] She'd take a closer look at things in this area.
    -[X] The spiderwebs.
    [X] She'd press the button, and activate the mechanism.
    [X] She'd take a closer look at things in this area.
    -[x] The gears.
 
Okay, I'm pretty sure that one vote not having X's was an accident, so I'm taking it so we can actually progress.


-Vote Closed-


Let's see the gears, next. They're probably important.
 
The Clockwork Maze- Part 1
Having a map of the maze was useful, and probably important, but Hikari wanted to look at a few things close by before sending any of her friends in there. More specifically, she wanted to take a closer look at the gears, which were embedded into the walls of the maze.

The gears came in all sorts of colors and sizes. There were silver gears the size of a small coin, and golden ones as large as Ribbon's head. There was bronze the size of a person's hand, and an odd bluish metal that matched the size of a cat's paw.

All of them were meshed together, as if they were all connected to the same mechanism, though they did not move. Several sections of gears were completely covered in spiderwebs.

"I do not believe you could get those gears to move," Ribbon remarked. "Those spiderwebs are just too thick."

"Dunno how they'd have gotten this way." Shinjiro, too, was inspecting the gears, if not closely. "You'd think someone would have come around to get rid of them before they could get this bad."

"It didn't look like anyone was taking care of the outside, either, though," Hikari pointed out. "Or... maybe someone was supposed to, but... then the webs... those normally come with- come with spiders..." She let herself trail off, not particularly wanting to think about that possibility, particularly given the powerful presences she'd sensed lurking inside the maze.

"Either way, I doubt you could remove the webs by hand. Perhaps if you had a knife..." Hikari had no idea why the little robot would jump straight to wanting a knife, but this probably wasn't the time to ask about it.

Shinjiro gave a short laugh, but there wasn't any humor to it. "'Fraid I'm all out of knives. I know how to use an axe, but... that might just cause more problems." Right. Attacking the webs with something like that would probably damage the gears underneath, completely defeating the purpose of removing them in the first place.

...Also, Hikari remembered reading something once about how spiders could sense when insects landed on their webs, and she really didn't want to deal with a spider that could somehow make webs that were that thick. Assuming an army of them didn't just swarm out from between the gears...

...Okay, definitely time for a new train of thought.

"Maybe... we could burn them away?" She found herself suggesting. "I... know there's some sources of fire in the maze, but it's not really safe..."

"And wandering around a world full of Shadows is?" She had to admit that he had a point. "And you're a Navigator. You're probably the safest person here." This, however, was not particularly reassuring.

"I'm pretty small compared to either of you," Ribbon remarked, as if this could somehow be news when she was so tiny. "And... I believe Shadows prioritize Persona Users? Is that correct?" If it was, it'd be news to Hikari as well. They both looked to Shinjiro.

"Dunno where you would have heard that... but they do tend to ignore normal people if there's someone with a Persona around. Probably so they don't get hit with an Agidyne while hunting, or something..." For a moment, Hikari wondered what an Agidyne was, before remembering the fires that the Flowing Sand had brought with it had been called Agi-something. Presumably, it was the same basic kind of thing, even if it wasn't that exactly.

"It... might not be safe for you to go on your own," She remarked. "But... I guess someone will have to go into the maze." The question was which entrance to send them through... Either path they took would lead them to a flame that was just as good as the one on the other path.

On the north path, there weren't any smaller Shadows to deal with- just strong presences. However, the paths themselves were mostly straightforward, with only a few loops that were placed near to the strong presences. If Hikari sent her friends there, they would have to beware of anything that could wake those presences from their dormancy.

On the south path, there was only one powerful presence, but it was practically swarming with smaller Shadows, and the paths themselves were more twisted- it was obviously a maze where people were meant to get lost in, and never find the way out. If Hikari sent her friends there, she would have to give them help navigating, or they could easily get lost and never return.

This... was not an easy decision. However, a decision would have to be made.


[ ] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the northern maze.
-[ ] Shinjiro.
-[ ] Ribbon.
-[ ] Both.

[ ] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
-[ ] Shinjiro.
-[ ] Ribbon.
-[ ] Both.
 
[X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the northern maze.
-[X] Ribbon.
 
[X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
-[X] Shinjiro.

Hey, navigating is what we do. It'll be fine. Probably. Sending Shinjiro alone because Ribbon may not be fully recovered yet. It's only been two days when she estimated three to return to full capacity. She does say it might be shorter and she says she can use Orgia mode but I'm not sure it's the best idea to test that. It's an emergency function anyway. Plus maybe Ribbon can look around this area for us while we're guiding Shinjiro or just chat.
 
So, I think that, for the sake of maybe stirring up people interested in voting so Hikari can keep doing things, I'll give you a few hints as to things that may lay ahead in the plot.


  • A character who is vaguely based on one of my recruits in PMD DX, who happens to be Tsukane's counterpart, in a way.
  • The other currently accessible locations in Phantasmagoria, named as follows: Backstage, Field of Hearts, and Melody Rafters.
  • Puzzles incorporating just about everything I learned from playing Etrian Odyssey, except without the game itself attempting a total party kill.
  • Returning FOEs! Usually the very scary ones. I'm still not sure if the Reaper will show up, though.
  • Shinji low-key needing therapy throughout the whole story. (...Okay, it probably won't always be low-key...)
  • A non-zero chance of sidestories involving the question of why there are barely any ghosts in Tokyo, discovered while pursuing the answer to a different question entirely.
  • Modern Persona has a distinct lack of Zio girls. I'm going to fix that.
  • Akumu High gaining some amount of relevance to the narrative.
  • At least one character trying to find an official phone number for the Shadow Operatives. If a number is found, the character will be put on hold for the next six hours. At no point do they actually manage to talk to Mitsuru.
  • Hikari's online friend list slowly filling up with almost all of the Persona Users she used to know, as well as a few extras, with this fact only being revealed at the worst possible moment.
  • A proper attempt at figuring out what the name for a group of Persona Users is. It ends up being a surprisingly contentious topic.
  • Just why are there so many names for FOES!???
 
[X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
-[X] Both.

A character who is vaguely based on one of my recruits in PMD DX, who happens to be Tsukane's counterpart, in a way.
Hmm. I'm afraid I've never played PMD DX. A quick search tells me that is the Switch remake for Red&Blue, so I don't know if the characters from Red (which I've played) are the same as the remake.
A non-zero chance of sidestories involving the question of why there are barely any ghosts in Tokyo, discovered while pursuing the answer to a different question entirely.
Well that should certainly be quite interesting.
 
I have no idea what most of the above means.

[x] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
-[x] Both.
 
At least one character trying to find an official phone number for the Shadow Operatives. If a number is found, the character will be put on hold for the next six hours. At no point do they actually manage to talk to Mitsuru.
I can only assume Fuuka has accidentally started Mitsuru down the path of being a hardcore MMORPG player who waved off taking the call because her guild was going for a world-first.
 
Adhoc vote count started by SeekerofDreams on Sep 6, 2020 at 6:10 AM, finished with 7 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
    -[X] Both.
    [X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the northern maze.
    -[X] Ribbon.
    [X] Hikari would send at least one of her friends through the southern maze.
    -[X] Shinjiro.
 
All right... the southern maze...


-Vote Closed!-


Less FOEs, more random encounters. ...Potentially a lot more random encounters... Okay, where'd I put that random encounter table...? Whatever, I'll figure something out.
 
The Clockwork Maze- Part 2
While the southern maze was more twisted, and had a large number of smaller Shadows, there was only one of the dormant powers lurking there, and Hikari was very, very wary of those dormant powers. If something happened to wake them... it wasn't impossible that the others could get away safely, but it just wasn't something she wanted to risk.

"I think... it'd be better if you went through that part of the maze," She decided, moving to stand next to one of the entrances to the south. "I think... I could have Gullveig focus on you, and I'd get a clearer picture of exactly where you are? I'd just... have to try and work with the map, too..."

"You believe it will be easier for us to reach our objective this way?" Ribbon checked, and she nodded. "I see. Will you send both me and IW-5, or only one of us?"

This, also, took a few moments to think about. She didn't really want to be left alone here, but... it was being in the maze that was actually dangerous, right? And Gullveig should have been able to help her communicate with them... "...You should both go... I think. With so many Shadows in there... it'd be better for you both to go. You can... protect each other."

Sort of like her adventuring party online. Except they didn't have a Lucia for healing, or an Alibaba on buffs.

It was just her. And her powers... all Gullveig gave her was the ability to scan.

Admittedly, it was a very useful, very versatile ability, able to get a read on both the environment and the beings within them, but if Shinjiro and Ribbon got into combat... Hikari wasn't sure she'd be all that helpful.

Still, the decision was made, and both of Hikari's friends departed into a maze filled with Shadows.


The halls of the maze were twisted, and it was impossible to see, from the ground, what might have lurked around a corner. Every time that the two in the maze stopped, Hikari would have to tell them where to go next.

She wasn't sure how good she was at mazes, but they hadn't encountered a dead end so far.

"This place is... unnerving," Ribbon remarked, glancing around at the maze's gear-covered walls. "It's nothing like the lab, really, but all those gears..."

"They are a bit off," Shinjiro agreed. "Though... they're also sort of familiar, for some reason."

"Familiar?" Hikari asked, Gullveig allowing her to project her voice to where it bounced around the maze's halls. "What do you mean?"

He paused. "I... I don't know. I definitely don't remember being anywhere like this before..." He sounded oddly disturbed by it. "But it... feels like I've been someplace like this. I'm pretty sure I haven't, though. It's definitely the sort of thing I'd remember."

"Is it really? If you think it's familiar, but don't remember why-"

"Ribbon, please. I'm doing things that I thought I was done with nearly a decade ago. Don't give me any more personal crises."

"Understood."

Something shifted up ahead, and Hikari pulled her attention away from the other two in order to see what it was. "Um... So, there's a couple of Shadows heading your way right now?"

"What kind?"

"It's a couple of, um..." She checked again. "Monopolizing Cupids?" What kind of name was that? At least the Flowing Sand had a name which had been simple to say.

"...Monopolizing?"

"Monopolize: Verb. To obtain exclusive possession or control of a good or service. OR: to have or take the greatest share of. OR: to get or keep exclusively to oneself."

"I know what the word means, I just haven't heard it used to describe a Shadow before."

The Shadows flew around the corner, and caught sight of Shinjiro and Ribbon. At the very least, no one was arguing about their being classified as cupids.

Of course, agreement or not, that didn't change the fact that they'd have to battle.

"Okay, how are we going to handle this?" Shinjiro asked. Hikari supposed she needed to give the others some sort of direction...


[ ] Full Assault

[ ] Guard

[ ] Act Freely
 
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Mechanics- Battle Tactics
For the sake of improving the flow of the story, combat will be done by selecting your party members' tactics at the start of the battle, with options to change tactics later on during longer fights. As the party grows and learns new things, more tactical options will become available.

The tactics currently available to Hikari's group of Persona Users are as follows:


Act Freely- Party members acting under this tactic will use any and all of their powers based on their own best judgment. Each character has different priorities, so use of this tactic will mean a different thing for each of them.

Full Assault- As the name suggests, party members acting under this tactic will focus on dealing as much damage as possible. They will not use healing spells, attempt to inflict ailments, or apply most buffs/debuffs. They will, however, make use of skills such as Power Charge and Mind Charge.

Guard- Party members acting under this tactic will pass a few turns without doing anything, but their defenses will be increased during this time, and they won't deal with most of the drawbacks of being attacked by their weaknesses. The option to stop guarding for another tactic will appear after everyone else on the battlefield has moved at least three times, or when the option for everyone else to change tactics appears.

Orgia Mode (Ribbon only)- Under this tactic, Ribbon will enter her Orgia Mode. All of her combat stats will increase, and binds and ailments become more likely to land. However, with every action she takes, there is an increasing chance of her overheating, making her unable to continue fighting. The option for Ribbon to disengage Orgia Mode will be presented whenever she defeats an opponent, or if she takes a certain amount of damage.

Heal/Support- Party members acting under this tactic will prioritize buffs and healing spells. They will not use offensive magic. If everyone is buffed and healed to the best of their abilities, and the enemy cannot be hurt by physical attacks, they will not do anything. They will not make use of Power Charge or Mind Charge.

Debilitate- Party members acting under this tactic will prioritize debuffs and bind/ailment infliction. They will not use healing or defensive magic. They may occasionally use offensive magic, but are more likely to use physical attacks. They will not make use of Power Charge or Mind Charge.
 
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