A Rose by Any Other Name (mission)

[Tristan Carter]

Why does that lady send people to do her bidding? It's not like she wouldn't be able to do it herself... Is it?

A rose. That's what Tristan was being sent to retrieve. A simple rose. Of course, it was on display. And outside of the safe zone. Maybe it makes sense to force others to do her dirty work. Wonder if I can get in on that somehow... Still, appealing thought or no, he had a rose to grab. And he was to receive some assistance in grabbing it. 

I wonder... Why would I be getting help on this? It seems simple enough. 

Either way, he was prepared to go in and loot as soon as his backup arrived.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn had never been fond of museums, but this place just looked even more unpleasant when falling apart and seen through purple fog. It was the kind of place Jaelyn would have never wanted to visit if there wasn't anything in it for her. But of course, there was. Money was involved, and all she had to do was bring back some kind of rose sculpture or...something. And apparently she needed help for that. Just great.

She caught sight of the guy who was supposed to be her 'partner' for this mission the moment she approached the dreary museum. She gave him a glance over, and wasn't particularly impressed. Wasn't he the guy from the school who had a pumpkin for a persona? But he would be fine for this...probably.

"Hey. I'm Jaelyn. That's all you need to know about me," she said. "Let's get started."

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

You begin your search for the vase of roses in the art gallery section of the museum. Its not too much of a walk from where you are, but there's quite a few turns and different paths that you'll be taking. Luckily, the blonde woman prepared you a nice little map of where to go, which you are following. However, as you make your way through one of the hallways, you notice a few of the paintings begin to move. Not a moment later, they detach from the wall and begin to attack you!

Crawling Painting

• Bufula
• Fatal End

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Fire

Shambling Painting

• Garula
• Twin Shot

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Elec

Shambling Painting

• Garula
• Twin Shot

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Elec

Crawling Painting

• Bufula
• Fatal End

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Fire

[Tristan Carter]

Wandering the halls, wandering the halls...

Tristan was sure they were lost. Even if they had a map, it seemed like they were going in circles. It didn't help that most of the paintings looked almost exactly alike. They either looked like random blobs or weird people. I'll never understand modern art...

He didn't pay much attention to them or the girl who was here to help. She had barely introduced herself when they met. As such, Tristan was sure that his efforts would be better suited to following the map. He rounded every corner carefully since he knew that this was a shadow-infested area. But nothing seemed out of place until he saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

He barely had enough time to look up before four of the paintings lunged at him and Jaelyn. He jumped out of the way, and payed attention to their movements. He noticed that two of them were barely crawling, while the other two were more limping. "I've got one shambler and a crawler, you take the other two." He didn't know or care if she would pay any attention, but it was a simple plan that would be hard to screw up.

Deciding that it would be best to see how they react to fire, Tristan summoned Pyro Jack and commanded him to send a boosted Agilao at his two. One of the paintings, the crawler, seemed to be in an extreme amount of pain. He figured that one was weak to fire. The other one was hurt, but not quite as much. "Pyro," Tristan started to say, but he was caught off guard by a burst of wind that threw him into a wall. When he stood up, he noticed that the area he had been standing at had froze over. They attacked at almost the exact same time. If it weren't for the wind appearing first, I would have been hit by both.

With a grin, Tristan summoned Pyro Jack again. "Agilao at the crawling one. That should finish it." He was correct, as the painting burnt to a crisp that time. He was hit by another burst of wind, but that time he was able to stand his ground. "And let us burn down this one as well!" Another burst of flame enveloped the shambling painting, burning it as well. Tristan then turned to provide assistance to the girl if need be.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

This place was such a maze. The sheer fact that they needed to be given a map, rather than simply told "it's in this section" spoke volumes about how unpleasant this would be. And thus far, it was not failing to 'deliver' at all. And the decor was just as unpleasant to look at as she could have expected. They had found their way into some kind of modern art exhibit. And, apparently, the simple act of framing something and displaying it in a museum was enough to call something 'art'. Jaelyn was sure that she could have made something more appealing to look at by stabbing holes in the canvas or setting it on fire.

...Actually, that wasn't a bad idea.

But, as though responding to her thoughts, some of the paintings came floating off the wall to attack them. Her partner immediately took two of them, leaving Jaelyn with the other two. "Fine. Time to light some 'priceless' art on fire, then," she said, summoning Andras. Taking note that on the boy's end one of the shadows was reacting more adversely to the fire than the other, Jaelyn targeted it first, igniting it in a burst of flames. It countered with a blast of ice, while the other painting stabbed at her with the corners of its frame. Jaelyn turned on the stabby painting next. Andras materialized again with a spear of light in his hand, and impaled it through the canvas. The spear remained stuck in it and, in a surprise move that brought a smile to Jaelyn's lips, it turned around and blew a gust of wind at the other painting. The fire-weak painting had just enough time to swipe at Jaelyn before being blown into a wall. Meanwhile, Jaelyn called forth another Agilao to light the charmed painting on fire as well. It then went crashing into the other painting again, destroying it and leaving itself open. One more fireball later, and both paintings were down.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

After dealing with the painting and ruining whatever picture they must have been, you continue your way down the hall towards the exhibit that you need to take on. It ins't long before the display is in plain sight. The vase containing the three roses is protected by a glass covering, but that should be easily disposed of with your persona as long as you take care to not destroy the vase itself.

The only issue is that there seems to be some shadows not too far away from it. They are unaware of your presence right now and you could likely get the roses without being seen. But you need to be quiet while you open the case. So, What'll it be?

A) Dispose of the shadows.

B) Attempt to sneak the roses out. (Roll D-10)

[Tristan Carter]

With a sigh, Tristan looked at his companion. He had seen her fighting capabilities and knew she could handle her own. He also knew that the vase might break if they got into a fight. However, he guessed one thing would probably go wrong; just because he didn't trust the blonde woman when she said not to be concerned with it. The alarm system would probably be fully functioning, and attract the attention of the shadows.

With a sigh, he went and stood between the shadows and the vase, being careful not to attract their attention. He then looked at Jaelyn in a way that said up to you. Go for it.


((left the choice up to Jaelyn))

[Jaelyn Callahan]

And here they were. A fancy-as-hell vase covered by a glass case, and a few shadows lurking nearby. There wasn't a good way to get at the vase without triggering some kind of alarm system, and although the crazy lady said it shouldn't be an issue...well, stealth wasn't her strong suit. She glanced toward her partner, who had gone to position himself between the shadows and the vase (really? He was going to put the thing they were supposed to bring back without breaking in their line of fire?) but otherwise taken absolutely no initiative whatsoever.

Useless.

She signaled the boy, pointed in the general direction of the shadows, then gestured towards herself. Hopefully he would comprehend nonverbal cues well enough to get 'funnel them towards me' out of that. Then, she made her way towards a corner of the room, and summoned her Persona. "Time to burn," she said, while thinking to herself that these things had damn well better take the bait.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

You decide to simply grab the attention of the shadows and fight them ahead of time! Go you.

Abstract Gigas

• Gigantic Fist
• Fatal End

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Fire
Colorful Giant

• Garula
• Zionga
• Hamaon

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Slash, Strike
Abstract Gigas

• Gigantic Fist
• Fatal End

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Fire
Colorful Giant

• Garula
• Zionga
• Hamaon

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Slash, Strike


After you take care of these guys you should be able to help yourself to the vase with no problem.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan summoned Pyro Jack and had him send an Agilao at the closest shadow, one of the wrestler things. Except that it seemed to be multicolored and made of paintings, it looked very similar to Hulk Hogan. Oh, and it reacted rather well to the fire- for Tristan. The boosted fire blast did a wonderful bit of damage to it, unlike with his first encounter with their kind. It didn't disappear, but it was definitely in pain.

Taking advantage of his luck, he blasted it again; it vanished that time. With the other Shadows coming towards him, Tristan ran towards Jaelyn. As he ran past one of the other Shadows, something he could only describe as a Giant, he swung out with his scythe. It reacted to it in a similar fashion as the wrestler to the fire.

Waiting until he was near Jaelyn and the Shadows were running towards him, he then summoned Pyro Jack again. "Pyro Jack, Mind Slice!" He watched as the Persona sliced through all of the enemies, dissipating one giant, harming the other, and confusing the Gigas. He turned to face Jaelyn. "Have fun!" He prepared to give back-up, if needed.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Perfect. The shadows went straight for her and her partner moved to take down half of them. Maybe he wasn't so useless after all. Jaelyn turned first to the stone giant, summoning Andras to hurl a spear of light at it. She had seen the boy do well with physical attacks on the giant and fire on the muscle man, so she decided to try doing the same. Unfortunately, the spear didn't seem to damage the giant more than normal, but it did stick in the shadow's stonework and cause it to bow its head toward her. Meanwhile, Jaelyn turned toward the wrestler-looking shadow, avoiding a straight chop from it only for Andras to get hit by it instead, then had her persona summon a mass of flames to ignite it with. Sure enough, the shadow recoiled from the attack and took a nice chunk of damage.

The charmed giant, meanwhile, turned on its wrestler companion and swung the sword it carried down, calling a bolt of lightning from somewhere up above to strike it. Laughing quietly at the display of shadows attacking each other, Jaelyn directed Andras to surround the two of them in a mass of darkness, which started to eat away at both of them. The muscle man, still reeling from the confusion of the boy's attack, struggled to get out and attack Jaelyn again but instead managed to trip and damage itself. The giant, meanwhile, managed to get an attack off in the form of a flare of light, hitting Jaelyn. Jaelyn retaliated with another wave of darkness, eating into the giant even more while finishing off the muscle man. She then moved in on the giant, searching out the best weak point in its stone body and stabbing at it with one of her karambits. The giant's body started to crumble, but it still held off long enough to get one more attack off: an ordinary physical attack from its massive sword. Again, Jaelyn managed to dodge but still felt a flash of pain as her persona took the hit.

"Agh...hahaha. That's enough playing. Burn," Jaelyn said, calling forth another mass of flames to incinerate what remained of the giant.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

After dealing with the enemies, you are able to safely grab the vase of roses from the display without any trouble! With that out of the way, you decide to return to the blonde woman to claim your reward.

Mission accomplished!

You received your reward: Tier 1 Elemental/Physical Boost (+25% damage) accessory of choice, 1,000 FP