The Parade of Envy - Mission Start

[phantommods]

“This is Candace Sierra with Wolf News. We’re here again with a special feature on Todd Woodrow Jr. His club, Fight for America, is planning a rally for February 28th right here on the UCLA campus. Todd, what can you tell me about this rally?”



“Thanks Candace. Our rally, Fight to be Right, is our answer to the neo-liberal infection that has taken over college campuses across the country. We conservatives have been silenced and denigrated by the liberal elites for far too long, and we’re here to push back against their narrative of erasure and silencing! We’re going to blow the lid off these safe spaces and remind folks what real America looks like!”



“That’s fantastic! Sounds like it will be quite a gathering.”



“Absolutely! Several groups have already pledged to join our cause, including the Citizens for an Armed America, the Freedom Militia, and Bikers for Jesus. We’re going to show this campus that we will not be silenced any longer!”

The interview, a complete fluff piece, continues for some time but what is most striking is the hollow, malicious smile barely concealed by a veneer of false sincerity painted on Todd’s face.

In the metaverse, the Parade Grounds have accelerated to a fever pitch. The tanks swerve and dive around the pathways as the Shadow of Todd extols his “virtues” on the podium with greater fervor.

[We will commence with the action logs for the February Palace event. Due to this post going live later than anticipated, players will have until March 1st at 11:59 PM EST to resolve their threads. All threads below will be marked with the group that has been selected to take part in it, as well as the opening scenario and who is going to be running it (if anybody). On your first tag, please indicate the Persona you are bringing with you if you have any available through Social Links or Player Plots besides your own. For threads run by Moderators, we will be tagging to advance it once every 24 hours and we recommend players running threads do the same.

Due to the amount of sign-ups and the requirements of completion for the current plot, we are not running a Calling Card plot segment this month, the cards will be considered to have already been sent at a timely manner and will be noted in the current events.

The Palace is ICly assumed to take place over the course of a few nights as the Phantom Thieves are able to congregate and assail it, characters are still free to make IC posts or plots not pertaining to the main Palace during this month.]

Comments

[conquerorofwaves]

"Vepar's pretty flashy, and I've been told I can be pretty obnoxious if I want to." He answers. "And guys like that, they seem like the sort that get twitchy if they hear something being yelled in a foreign language." He added almost as an afterthought, going over what possible tools they had on hand.

[cybermaskara]

Engkanto grinned when Rose mentioned him as he removed himself from the wall.

"Other than Manaul's spells, I think I can try to insult them in Tagalog to get those Shadows annoy them out of the podium. Woodrow doesn't like anything that isn't American, right?"

[returnher]

"I think Rose might be on to something," Hunter says, scratching his chin.

"There are several vantages on the building overlooking the podium, if we seek higher ground we might be able to come in from above."

moving on

[conquerorofwaves]

He nods, it seems like a sensible idea to move upwards. "I think three of us should head up to the roof, and the forth to rush them while they're busy defending from above." Then a thought occurred to him.

As they speak, there's a bright flash above them, a strobe light circling, but it didn't illuminate their hiding spot. "Looks like we might have some people to take out from above first..."

Re: moving on

[returnher]

"On it."

Hunter moved quickly and silently, hugging the wall until he can safely jump up onto the platform where the light is shining, leap onto the shadow and tear its mask off.

[runicking]

Rose's head whirls back as she turns toward the spotlight. Of course, this wouldn't be easy would it? Unsheathing the jeweled sword at her side, a trail of frigid light follows her blade before beginning to coalesce into ice shards.

"Shiva!"

She trusts Hunter to get to the shadow in time, and thankfully he doesn't prove her wrong. Launching the spell upward, she aims for the search light, with the intent on shattering it.

[cybermaskara]

Well, there is no way he can object to that plan. If he does, he feels that his plan might be riskier than Rose's. Regardless, he decides what to do next. "Guess that means I'm breaking that another spotlight as well."

With that, he joins Hunter as jumps up and rushes over the next spotlight on the other side. Ripping off his mask, Manaul appears right behind him as he shouts, "Manaul, bakbakan na! Garu!"

With his hopes that the others work on their roles, he hopes that the spell will damage the shadow that Hunter just attacked with.

[conquerorofwaves]

There was an audible crack as Shiva's attack hit true - the spotlight going black as Hunter lands on the shadow, which howls and tries to buck him off, nearly falling off the roof in the process. It wouldn't take much to send it over.

Tempest watches as the podium guards started to get antsy as they noticed it's darker than it should be. Then as Engkanto attacked the second spotlight, it swung off the podium, trying to pin the thief in it's gaze - and Engkanto may have a sense that it might not be a good idea to let himself get illuminated.

Sinbad frowns as he considers, the three look like they got the rooftop guards handled, with the dimmed lights - it'd be easier to lure them away, but that'll only be useful if the others can join him immediately. With that, he leaps up the fire escapes, trying to rush the second spotlight guard, unsheathing his blade to swing down on it's back.

[returnher]

With the Shadow off-balance as it is, Hunter flips over it to the other side and rushes it, smashing it with his elbow in an attempt to knock it off.

[runicking]

Seeing the spotlight swing wide in an attempt to catch Engkanto in its beam, Shiva flies above and past the spotlight, encasing it—stand and all—in a pillar of solid ice. Tempest will have to deal with the shadow guards on his own, however.

Her focus pulling away from the battle above, Rose looks toward the treasure podium. Had they managed to pull the guards away yet?

[conquerorofwaves]

The shadow Locke tackled gave a vicious, angry... whinny? as it topples, though it tried to grab Hunter to drag the man down with it.

The light landed on Engkanto, giving a sensation that could be comparable to a deer caught in headlights, almost a compulsion to freeze. Thankfully, Rose's quick thinking with Shiva quickly shattered the lights, freeing the young man.

With both lights out, the Podium guards started trembling, fear coming off of them in almost palpable waves, but slowly they moved away towards the sounds of fighting.

Tempest leaps and dodges, hissing as one of the shadows managed to catch him in the side, sending him skidding across the roof. "Vepar!" He calls out, as the colorful persona appears, sending a bolt of electricity, blasting the guard closing in on him.

Late... Sorry...

[cybermaskara]

Well, attacking the Shadow wasn't a good idea as Engkanto found himself in the middle of the spotlight. Thankfully, Shiva's timing was perfect as the light disappeared just as he starts to panic about being caught.

Regardless, it isn't enough to scare the young teen as he glares at the now frightened Shadows. "Scared, huh? Guess I might blow your fears away. Manaul!"

With his mask disappears once more, his Persona then flaps his wings in an attempt to blow the Shadows away.

[returnher]

"Whoa!"

Locke slashes at the shadow but is unable to prevent getting pulled off the ledge. As he starts to fall he kicks away from the Shadow and drives his daggers into the building wall in an attempt to slow his fall.

Little help?

[runicking]

Help will come in the form of a sheet of ice sweeping in underneath Hunter... which doesn't seem as helpful initially, as it doesn't so much break his fall as it keeps him moving. But instead of continuing to fall (even at a slower rate), it propels him forward, and circuitously directly toward the treasure platform.

After all, chaos needs to be taken advantage of, and this might just be their chance to strike.

It's why Rose will vault forward herself, moving to catch up with Hunter's momentum. Either he's going to act as a means to keep heat off her so she can swoop in, or she will cut a path for him to steal this treasure from below.

[conquerorofwaves]

The shadow that attempted to pull Hunter down went splat. As Manaul's attack strike, the guard shadows hunker down, shouting barely coherent orders trying to buffet themselves from the winds.

Tempest kicks and struck at the enemy attacking him, watching as it vaporize. With a grunt, the young man pulls himself up to his feet, scanning to see what the situation was, he quickly darts to follow Hunter and Rose down.

[returnher]

"PERSONA!"

Locke tears the mask from his face as Ifrit emerges, hitting the ice path hard and sliding along it.

"Agi!"

Ifrit launches a blast of fire behind him, blasting him forward as he makes a diving lunge for the treasure.

PALACE BGM :

LOCKE'S THEME REMASTERED - NOBUO UEMATSU (arr. Sean Schafianski)

[cybermaskara]

After that attack, Engkanto then rushes to the gathered thieves with Manaul still beside him. Yet as he joins them, he can see that some of the guard Shadows are still attacking them.

"Okay, this chase better ends here right now! Evil Touch!"

His Persona flaps his wings as he cries out to the sky, shooting out a black beam to one of the Shadows in an attempt to scare it off.

[conquerorofwaves]

The shadow struck by the evil touch feel a chill, immediately turning to flee from the terror that was overwhelming it. Tempest's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he lands, before running, performing a somersault to cut off the enemy's escape route.

"You're not going anywhere - Zio!" The young man shouted as Vepar makes it's appearance again, the third eye opening as a streak of lightning appears, stunning it.

Meanwhile, Hunter's gambit paid off, the extra boost from flames sent him right to the podium - in fact, crashing right smack into it if he doesn't act quickly.

[returnher]

Welp.

Hunter tucks and lands with a roll to try to soften the pain, before snapping to his feet, or at least, as quickly as he can move after that spill. He starts scanning the platform for the treasure, and if it can be found and reached he's going to grab it.

[runicking]

Unfortunately, Rose won't be able to help Hunter this time around (maybe she can ice his shoulder after that spill). Watching the Zio bolt come crashing down, however, she skids to a stop, pulling out her gun from its holster.

Careful to aim above Hunter and away from both Tempest and Engkanto, she fires a few rounds, with the intent of knocking any remaining shadows pressing toward them off balance.

[cybermaskara]

That's one more Shadow down, but he knew he can't rest easily. Upon seeing Hunter up the platform and Rose using her gun to shave off some of the remaining Shadows, Engkanto decided to use another Evil Touch on a Shadow that may attack Tempest or Rose. The others are still distracting Todd's Shadow, they need to do everything to steal the Treasure.

[conquerorofwaves]

The podium topples upon Hunter's landing, the microphone letting off a rather horrific squeal upon crashing. At first nothing seems amiss, but something bright white and glowing stuck out from under the podium - an envelope of some kind.

One of the shots hit and vanquished the shadow Tempest stunned and seriously wound another, while Engkanto caused another to freeze in place in fear, opening it up for a follow up attack from Tempest, who went in like a whirling dervish.

[returnher]

Locke rolls to his feet and grabs the envelope.

"Got it! Someone get the other team on the line it's time to move!"

[runicking]

"I'm on it!"

With one hand still holding her gun, she makes a quick motion to grab her phone, maneuvering deftly despite being partially encumbered. She won't be able to ward off an attack if it happened, but she might be able to fire at anything directly in front of her. Pocketing the phone just as quickly, she puts a few fingers against the earpiece in her ear.

"Lifegiver? It's Rose. We've secured the treasure, tell your group to disengage and head for the exit. This place is about to come down on our heads."

[cybermaskara]

Upon seeing Hunter took the envelope and Rose contacting the other team, Engkanto knew that the mission is successful just as he draws out his gun and shoots the remaining Shadows in pursue.

"Should we get out of here as well? Mabagsak ang mission natin if we don't get the Treasure out of here ASAP!"