Part 15: Part Thirteen: Fuckloads of Rumors - The Sequel

Part Thirteen: Fuckloads of Rumors - The Sequel

Last time on Persona 2...

Everybody and their Mom had a new rumor for us, and, in case anybody's just joining us or somebody was lazy and forgot, in Sumaru City rumors tend to become reality very quickly. We got so many rumors, in fact, that I left it to the readers as to which ones to spread. Let's see the results.
First off, Toa Armory in Hirasaka.

The shopkeeper here is an asshole. He should hook up with that bitch Mizuno.

The stuff he sells isn't that great either - Protectors are unique in that they're only sold here before the rumor is spread, much like the clothes Rosa Candida used to have, but they don't do enough to be worth a purchase. Time to go and spread that rumor about Toa Armory actually having armor.

Sadly there's no rumor we can spread to make the shopkeeper less of a dick.

After the rumor's been spread, Toa has this selection instead of the Protectors. This is actually pretty badass for this stage of the game, but it's painfully expensive - compare the cost of that Drunkard Suit to my total money if you need an idea of how much so.

Next up, we head to Tony's - this guy doesn't seem like he's got mob ties at all, does he?

All he sells are Silver Earrings, which cost the equivalent of fifty bucks or so and only raise a character's LUC by one point. Whee.

Oh Baofu, what won't you say? This isn't going to do - let's head by Kuzunoha and see what we can do about this.

Because I am a smuggler, I can do anything. Now, I'm selling very rare items...I guess. ...Wanna buy?
Lovely, we turned this guy into a smuggler and he barely knows what a smuggler is. Well, whatever, let's see what his selection looks like.

The various flavors of accessories each boost a given stat by two or five, respectively. Not too bad if you really need said boost, but again, most of this stuff is pretty expensive, and none of it's going to make any huge difference at this point. Still, it's nice to know it's here.
Mu Continent is next - I'd have gotten some screenshots of this place pre-rumor, but it was basically empty, so you're not missing much. After we spread the rumor, however...

...it's a full-fledged Casino, with coins and prizes and all that jazz.

Coins are fairly expensive, so we just buy a hundred of them. Let's see what we can get with that.

...oh. Well, let's see if we can double our money over time! If we keep at it, maybe we can get that Miracle Object within the year.

Blackjack turns our 100 coins into 1,170...

...Slots turns that into 4,670...

...and Poker turns it into 13,639. That was easy.

We could get the Miracle Object if we wanted, but all it does is add fifteen to the LUC stat; this is handy for Maya, whose luck stat determines how often we get items from battles and things like that, but it's not worth 12,000 coins. Instead, we pick up the "Styx" Material Card and haul it back to the Velvet Room.

This card produces Charon, a Dark Persona from the Death Arcanum. He reflects Dark attacks and is weak to Holy; this is a trait that may or may not come in handy depending on which branch of the plot we end up following. His spells aren't bad at all - he's got group versions of both types of instant death spell, Grydyne does a solid chunk of damage to groups, and Magic Seal is very handy against demons that like to cast spells. Since he lacks any straight elemental spells, though, he'd need a decent Spell Card before we were to summon him as he wouldn't be very fusion-friendly otherwise (not like we'll be doing that for awhile, since he's level 47.) Honestly, we basically picked up his card because he looks fucking .
Hey, speaking of Spell Cards, I wonder what Miracle Magazine's giving away...we spread the rumor about the Spell Card sweepstakes, then head to Satomi Tadashi to pick up the latest issue.

The list consists of Maha Agionn, Maha Aques, Maha Garula, Maha Magnus, Freila, Gryva, Megidola, Estoma, Bersac, Raku Kaja, Taru Kaja, Mafui, Recarm, and Media. I'm aware you don't know what any of those do, but we'll be seeing most of them over the course of the game; for later reference, the only card from that list we'd really want, and the one that made the rumor worth spreading, is Estoma, which stops random encounters with all demons with levels below that of your highest-levelled character.
Hey, while we're checking out the magazines, let's see what Battle Master is giving away.

Pure White Bandana, Spirit Source, Synchronize Gear, Mutation Gear, Adjustment Gear, and Police Glove. The big winner item out of those is the Police Glove, which increases item drops from battles; this alone makes the rumor about accessories from Battle Master worth spreading, as the boost is incredibly useful and I'm unsure if there's any other way to get the Glove.
We also spread a rumor about the Seedy CD and a "Secret CD" they're selling.

...Anyway, Secret CD 1 is now on sale. It's under Erste, so go buy it! CDs are actual music that you play back at Maya's apartment - yes, Maya has an apartment, I just haven't felt you guys are worthy to see it yet. Yeah, that's right. We'll get screenshots of that up when it's beneficial to stop by. As for the CDs themselves, they're decent enough; I'll put samples up if somebody lets me know about the legality of doing that.
Aside from the CDs, the Seedy CD is also considered a dungeon, for some reason. Who knows why? Maybe we'll find out later on.
We also recieved rumors about the Sumaru Genie, as well as the Shiraishi lady and her private investigation service, but those are deep enough to merit mini-updates of their own, so we'll go into them between story segments.

Instead, let's head into Kasugayama High School in Hirasaka. Why? Because it's there, duh! Exciting things tend to happen in high schools.

We're not five steps into the school before this guy runs up and starts talking to us. Dad works at a temple called Gouketsuji. He sent me here to gain experience exorcizing demons. I didn't think the rumor was true...I'll die before I gain any experience! Especially that Bomb Shelter...It's way too dangerous! I'm getting outta here! If you don't wanna die, you should head back too. Unless you can fight demons, of course...
Bomb shelter, eh? Demons, eh? DANGER, EH?! How can we resist?

Kasu High is laid out almost exactly the same as Seven Sisters was; the primary difference is that there's a basement here. That's where Bomb Shelters usually are, so we head down into it.


There, we meet this guy here. Keep him in mind, he becomes important later on. What?! Don't talk to me...!! For now, he's just an asshole. We talk to the guy next to the door leading into the Bomb Shelter instead, because he's probably nicer than Sugimoto.

Besides being old and dangerous, they say monsters lurk here. Well, our school has been treated like a haunted house lately. Well, it's old, so it's off limits. To tell you the truth, once you enter here, you can't get out! You need a map or you'll get lost...As a Conduct--...Eh, you want the map? You're still going to go...? Well, you're all grown-ups...But I don't have the map. The last guy who went in lost it. It should be somewhere inside the shelter, but it's not my fault if something happens! I warned you, OKAY?! Sounds like fun.

Katsuya comments on the Shelter and Makimura. Oh Katsuya you card.


Inside, we find a bunch of notes all over the walls. The first area upon entering the Bomb Shelter is the "hub" - there's no random encounters, just a couple of traps that deal minor damage and aren't that big of a deal.


The Bomb Shelter is built around a single big puzzle that we'll piece together using clues from each of the dungeon's eight areas. By "we", I mean "you" - I'll provide the clues as we continue through it, and we'll see if you all can figure it out before I post the solution.


Here's the third note. Starting to see a pattern yet?


...well, you're not supposed to, as we don't have enough information to determine one yet you fools. I can tell you're all itching to dig up the answer to this problem, so let's start with the first area...

...or not. Well fuck. Actually all of the areas are locked right now.

Some of them even have huge path-blocking boulders set up in front of them so we can't get past and fail to open the still-locked doors. Oh well. Maybe someday...for now, though, we're done with Kasu and nearly done with shopping.

COMING UP NEXT: We're just about done with preparing for GOLD so we just might go! Just maybe! Could be! Never know!