Dealing With the Dead [John] [Mission]

[Phoebe Minola]

"Ugh. I was hoping not to come back here so soon..." Phoebe groaned as she set foot into the catacombs again, far too soon after her horrifying encounter with the giant scorpion Shadow.

However, this was the job the strange blonde lady asked her to do and she had agreed to it. After all, it wouldn't be so bad, she'd have a partner. She had the advantage of knowing who it was as well and felt a bit safer. She didn't know Mr. Nicholson very well but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

She padded down the stairs into the catacomb, dodging around rubble. She stopped near where that big fight had happened and groaned. That place was filled with bad memories. She unconsciously brought her hand over her stomach. Following that fight she'd had a rather horrible time; she had vomited a lot and felt weak and ill, but fortunately it went away without her having to go to the hospital. She'd been terrified of going there and doctors finding some weird-ass alien poison in her system.

She assumed that it was having a Persona that helped her recuperation and hoped she'd never have to deal with that again. She studied the paper outlining the job again.

Robbing graves? I'm not sure I'm totally down with that...

[John Nicholson]

John had received a message from that lady he met in the outer circle a few days earlier. Apparantly she was in need of assistance with some kind of job at the cemetery. Of course, having nothing better to do, John was happy to comply. Although he was quite uncomfortable with the details of the job. Thus, he geared up and set off to meet up with her.

He had arrived just as Phoebe had descended into the catacombs. After some searching aboveground he decided she had probably gone on ahead. His guess was right as he found her standing in a part of the catacombs that seemed to have been the site of a great battle. "Hey phoebe, I got your message. So... Did this happen just now or did you find it like this?" The small talk was mostly to calm his own nerves. He had never liked this place one bit. And now they were going to dig out one of the people that were interred here.

"So, what are we looking for exactly. I got that we have to dig up someone and loot something valuable of his corpse. But what is so valuable that someone would be willing to rouse the dead for it?" It was a good question, nevertheless. He had somewhat stopped questioning all the weirdness happening around him since the last few days.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

You start to make your way down the hall specified by the blonde woman towards the supposed tomb of the "rich guy" that you will be looting tonight. Though all of the tombs look exactly the same, your map clearly specifies one in particular. Though, it doesn't seem to be for quite a way down the hall.

As you progress, you hear something to both sides of you. It seems that a few shadows are popping out of the graves.

Death Twins

• Mudo
• Agilao
• Dormina

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Light

Death Twins

• Mudo
• Agilao
• Dormina

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Light

Skeletal Hand

• Hama
• Zionga
• Poisma

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Dark

Skeletal Hand

• Hama
• Zionga
• Poisma

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Dark

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe turned around when John arrived and greeted him with a wry smile.

"Good to see you John, I hate being down here on my own," she said and shook his hand. "Heh, this happened the last time I was here. Me and two other girls picked a fight with a huge, angry scorpion Shadow. Nearly kicked our butts," she huffed.

She pulled out the map that the blonde woman had given her. "Well, the blonde lady said she wants us to get a certain ring of a dead guy. I'm not cozy with the idea of disturbing the dead, but she must have some reason for it. I don't think that woman does anything by chance. Come on, I'm pretty sure its this way."

They followed the roughly-drawn map down the burial halls and just as they were approaching the location of the tomb... Phoebe heard a hair-raising crackling noise, like bone-dry, loose dirt being disturbed.

"Oh. Crap. John, be ready," she blurted and reached for her sledgehammer. "We have company. Eww they're coming out of graves..."

Indeed two Hand types and two...things that looked like two people conjoined by shackles and spears clambered out of dirt graves on the floor and scuttled over to them menacingly. Phoebe willed the glowing card into existence and tapped it with her hammer.

Antiope rushed forward, just to get hit by this strange, wispy haze. Phoebe felt like she'd been hit by heavily alcoholic fumes and everything swayed for a moment. She felt like she was about to topple over and pass out but then she shook her head vigorously and shook herself down.

"Ah! Look out John, these things are trying to put us to sleep! Maragi!"

A barrage of fiery bursts spread through the area and four of them hit the Shadows, staggering them a little but not by much.

"Damn, they're tough little bastards. John, focus on the hands, I'll take care of the big ones! Keep your distance!"

Antiope surged forth at the thought of attacking and attacked one of the Twin types with a barrage of Rapid Needle stabs. The Shadow tumbled backwards from the impact but got back up again. Phoebe saw the other coming for her and with a grunt she powered through the burst of fire it hit her with. She actually walked through the flames and slammed it straight in one of its faces with her hammer. The impact knocked it down and Phoebe raised her hammer overhead again, slamming it onto the Shadow. It uttered a shriek of pain but wriggled out from under her.

Phoebe felt the harsh sting of a spell; it was familiar and as a cloak or darkness surrounded her she was sure it was a dark-type spell, like the kind of thing the scorpion had used. She had cut her teeth on those in that fight so she grit her teeth now and took it like a champ.

"Mazio!"

Bolts of lightning came down hard on the Shadows and jolted them, but to her annoyance, they still wouldn't just up and die. She angrily swung her hammer at one of them and smashed right through the head of one of the Twin types. The rest of the Shadow toppled over backwards and dissolved. Another blast of fire hit her and she yelped but willed Antiope to go forth and attack the last one with Rapid Needles. At the last blow the Shadow went flying and dissolved upon slamming against the wall of the catacomb.

Phoebe whipped around to see if John needed any help.

[John Nicholson]

And there it went again with the weirdness. The shadows crawling out of graves were like something out of a B-list horror movie. Phoebe took the initiative, focusing her attention on 2 of the shadows and commanding him to fight the other two. It seemed like a sound strategy. John turned to the remaining two, they were a pair of disembodied skeletal hands. Intent on finishing them quickly, he called forth Ippon-Datara with the usual motion of conjuring the card and shattering it.

"Tentafaroo"

The shockwave of confusion washed over both shadows, one seemed to be unaffected but the other was swaying around in confusion. This was a good oppurtunity to eliminate them one by one. His thinking was interrupted as the unaffected hand shot a beam of light at him. It hurt more than whatever he had felt from the shadows attacks so far. He flinched from the attack, but retaliated with a blast from his shotgun."Whatever you just did to me, you won't get to do it again" Spoken like a clichéd action hero. He noticed the other hand attempt to get off another attack, however, the confusion John had inflicted upon it seemed to have messed up its aim as it unleashed a flurry of lightning bolts upon itself and its counterpart. John, taking this welcome oppurtunity, called forth his persona to again strike at his foes.

"Mamudo"

The wave of darkness blasted over the disembodied appendages, quite literally blasting one of them apart. The other, though heavily affected. Still tried to ineffectually project some kind of noxious cloud at John. He simply held his breath as he finished it off with another shotgun blast. The poisonous mist dissapating soon after. He turned around to Phoebe just as she turned to him. "Well, it appears not everything in these catacombs is dead enough to just stay still."

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

After dealing with those enemies, you continue down the way until you make it to the supposed tomb of the person that you need to loot. Fun. The lid of the tomb should come off easily enough at least. Though, as you reach the tomb, a few spirits pop out and begin to attack!

Phantom Mage

• Agilao
• Bufula

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Fire, Ice Wk: Wind, Elec

Phantom Mage

• Agilao
• Bufula

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Fire, Ice Wk: Wind, Elec

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe grinned at John when the last of the Shadows was dead.

"Good job. You're the man, old man," she chuckled playfully. "I think we're almost there."

They plugged on further into the catacomb and approached what, according to the map, was the tomb they were looking for. The stone sarcophagus looked simple enough and Phoebe felt that between them they'd be able to slide it aside and then put it back when they were done.

"Oh of course. Christ, don't these things ever get tired?" she grumbled when two more Shadows rose out of the graves around them like ghosts.

She summoned Antiope but she didn't have to ask her to do anything because one of the Mages hit her with an ice spell that staggered her and she landed on her ass, shivering.

"Oh! Ow, ow, ow!!" she blurted and quickly ordered Antiope to counter with a fire spell, just to blurt something different than her usual.

"Agilao!"

Antiope struck her shield with her spear and then pointed it at one of the Mages. It exploded with a singular, yet powerful blast of fire. The Mage didn't appear to be particularly bothered so Phoebe changed tactics.

"Makajam!"

Really, there was no reason to shout the attacks but when she was frustrated, like now, Phoebe got shouty. Antiope obliged and a flurry of green, ethereal chains swirled around the Mage. It raised its arms to cast another spell but nothing happened. It was silenced. Phoebe followed through with a Rapid Needles attack which sent the Mage on its ass. It tried to cast another spell again in vain and Phoebe finished it off with a few precise hammer strikes about the head until the mask cracked and shattered and the Shadow faded.

"Phew! Hard work for one lousy ring!"

[John Nicholson]

John was not particularly caught off guard by the shadow's sudden appearance. Once phoebe started attacking one of them he moved to catch the attention of the other shadow. Of course the thing just had to use a fire spell. Did these things know he was scared of fire or something? Regardless, he siply took the attck head on. There was no time to be scared right now. Although it still hurt something fierce. He retaliated with a death glare to the mage's masked face as he conjured and shattered the glowing card. Summoning Ippon-Datara to strike at the enemy with extreme prejudice. The masked blacksmith tackled the mage to the ground with an assault dive. Immediately making way for John's shotgun fire.

The mage seemed to be quite resilient however, as it stubbornly withstood the gunfire. It picked itself up and used the same ice spell its partner had used on Phoebe. John had however already seen the attack in action and knew what to expect. "Heh, this isn't really that cold you know. I am not impressed" Of course this was a simple bluff as the ice attack really had hurt like hell. John was not going down without a fight however. So he defiantly shot the spectral humanoid again. He had not expected the shot to have the effect it did, as it blasted apart the mage's mask and struck it down. "Heh, all bark and no bite eh?"  He looked over at phoebe, who had just finished off her own opponent.

He pointed over at the sarcophagus containing the bounty they were here for. "How about we crack that thing open and wrap this job up." He had done quite a bit more combat than usual in this outing and was starting to get quite tired out.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With those shadows taken care of, you finally decide to check inside the tomb. Lifting the lid, a fair amount of dust flies about you as you reveal the corpse inside. Just as the blonde woman told you, the corpse has a ring on it. However, before you can take it, the body starts to move! specifically, the legs of the corpse begin to move independent of the top half. The two parts of the shadowy remains begin to attack!

"Top Half"

• Mudoon
• Fatal End
• Auto-Taru

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Light

"Bottom Half"

• Mudoon
• Viper Smash
• Auto-Suku

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Light

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe dropped into a coughing fit when they managed to get the lid off and all that dust just poured out, as thick as treacle. She waved her hand in front of her face and gagged. The dust was bad enough but the stench was unbearable. It was more than mere decomposition and death; it was the stench of old, moldy and gassy death.

"Ugh! Augh!" she dry-heaved. "That's nasty! Anyway, I suppose that's the ring so let's-- Oh, brilliant."

 The body in the tomb started moving. It actually jumped out of the grave, in two pieces and started attacking them!

"OH BLOODY CHEEK, REALLY--" Phoebe blurted and before descending into a stream of swearing, she eyed John. "What is this, a Hammer Films revival? This is ridiculous. John, kindly handle the legs, I'll deal with the torso..." she sighed but she was smiling wryly. "So ridiculous..."

She summoned Antiope, just in time to catch a heavy bladed attack that materialized from the arms of the corpse. It crashed onto Antiope's shield with a loud smash and Phoebe shuddered from head to toe in pain. That had really hurt, more-so than usual with bladed attacks. Phoebe suspected this thing was boosting itself somehow.

"Rakukaja!" Phoebe shouted and Antiope obligingly cast a spell that fortified her and John's defense, making their skin tougher.

She rushed the torso and smashed her hammer into it, punting it away and into the corner, where she followed it. It sent a blast of darkness at her but Phoebe just grunted and took it. It hurt very much but she could manage.

"Rapid Needles!"

A flurry of stabbing attacks struck the torso and slammed it repeatedly against the wall. It flailed and took a swipe at Antiope, but the Persona dodges well out of its reach before blasting it with a plume of fire. Phoebe came down on it with another strike of her hammer, after it had another go at her with that blade-attack, but it was Antiope that finished it off with another hailstorm of spear stabs, finally pinning it to the floor, where it flopped lifelessly and started to decompose at an alarming rate.

"Ewwww...!" Phoebe muttered, disgusted.

[John Nicholson]

John was equally startled at the reanimated corpse's attack. This was really starting to feel like a cheap B-movie. Phoebe commaned him to destroy the legs then threw herself at the torso. John took a good look at the seemingly harmless set of legs awkwardly stumbling at him. He decided to first try to hit the universal male weak spot. And kicked it square in the groin. It gave way much more than he expected as his foot was now stuck in the body part's rotting flesh. "Well, this is awkward."

The legs then decided to go on the offensive as they kicked at John with a surprising nimbleness, probably because there was no torso weighing it down. It kicked John right in the face, throwing him back, dislodging his foot and leaving an imprint of its shoe on his Johns face. "Ok, I had reservations about disturbing your grave right up until now!" John was quite tired of all this cheap horror nonsense. He dashed off the ground, blasted off one of the legs's kneecaps. Of course, this didn't do anything to deter the driving force behind the undead body part. It scampered around with such speed that it was unlikely John would be able to get a second hit in. It was time to bring out the big guns. He bought forth his persona once more.

"Tentafaroo"

The wave of confusing energy washed over the possesed appendage. It seemed unaffected and retaliated with another hysical attack. Doing a jump kick aimed right at John. owever, the confusing power had affected it more than it had anticipated as it failed at hitting John with the Kick Instead, it kept going and crashed into a wall. John laughed at its stupidity as it struggled to dislodge itself from the hole its impact had created in the wall. It did succeed but fell from quite a heigth which, combined with the damage it had sustained, was enough to finally bring it down. It hit the ground with such force that it fell apart. Suddendly decomposing as if whatever was preserving it had been removed. "Well, that was a lot more effective than I anticipated."


He turned to phoebe, who had just finished off the other part of the corpse. He walked over to the now inanimate body and grabbed the ring off of its finger. He waited around expectantly. "Any more haunted house props to throw at us?!"

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the dead rich guy defeated, you steal the poor guy's ring and bring it back to the blonde woman who is certainly not using this newly acquired qealth in an irresponsible way.

Mission accomplished!

You received your reward: Level 2 Armor, 500 FP