Nearing the Peak [OPEN, party of 2]

[Lucretia Odovacar]

Lucretia was finally nearing the end of her mapping investigation.  She wasn't sure exactly what it would reveal in the end, but if there was anything to be found, she would find it.  The differences were becoming more pronounced as she went up the spire, and according to the map she had, the area she was in should be the last floor.  This was clearly not the case for the portal world version because there were very obviously several more floors in this version.  It at least meant she wouldn't have to scrutinize every detail anymore and could just go back to normal investigation when she decided to go higher.  Perhaps soon she would reach the top.

[Kate Minola]

Kate had joined Lucretia's expedition once again, after coincidentally meeting her at the Spire again. Kate was grateful to Lulu for her abilities as a Persona user, being able to scan the enemy and her support, so giving her any assistance she could when possible felt natural.

She also rather liked the quiet nature of the girl, how she focused on the task at hand. It put Kate at some ease to know she didn't have to babble much unless there was a specific point she wished to discuss. Simply exploring the place was enough. She'd taken to carrying a small art book with her and would occasionally sketch a quick and rough diagram of places that were particularly distorted, or of the form of particularly interesting demons they came across.

They were nearing the top of the structure by now and Kate was curious as to what could possibly be up there. So far, the demons had put a valiant effort to keep them from reaching the top, so she suspected that there must've been something they were protecting up there.

[Alice]

More like half-way.

Nekomata
Null: Fire
Weak: Lightning
Skills: Agilao, Viper Smash, Fatal End, Sexy Dance

Griffon
Null: Wind
Weak: Pierce
Skills: Fatal End, Twin Shot, Garula, Rakukaja

[Lucretia Odovacar]

Sadly, it seemed she couldn't avoid fights.  Fortunately, there was some other human following her for some reason, and that user happened to have offensive skills, so all she really had to do was let her take care of it as usual.  Lucretia understood that her place wasn't in battle, it was supporting the ones that could actually fight.  So, she simply scanned the enemies and relayed the information to the other user.  Rather than going in, she stood back and just healed when necessary, and when it wasn't she'd send in the occasional pot shot to help her bring down the enemy a little quicker at least.

[Kate Minola]

Frankly, Kate had gotten rather good at telling when she was about to get attacked. It wasn't anything like the sense of the 'scanner' Persona Users, of course; she just had gut feelings about when the air grew tense and stifling.

Kate nodded at Lucretia's information and drew her bow without hesitation. "Got it, thanks. I'll take care of them," she said.

She decided to take the griffon down first, given that she could damage it better with her bow than the cat-woman. She fired the first arrow at the griffon cast a spell that seemed to buff its defenses, similar to the one she was capable of using and which deployed automatically when she began fights. Her arrow struck true and brought the soaring beast to the ground with an ugly shriek just as the cat-woman conjured a big blast of fire on her... which Kate of course let wash over her without incident.

Taking advantage of the cat-woman's momentary need to regroup herself, Kate fired another arrow at the griffon just as it was getting back up and winced at its high-pitched shriek of pain. She whipped around just to catch the cat-woman leaping at her with her hand balled into a fist. Kate cringed, raised her arms and guarded herself, feeling the impact of the attack but not as much pain as she expected. She pushed the cat-person away from herself and summoned Antiope to assault her with a vertical slash of her spear, sending her reeling backwards with a yowl.

Leaving Antiope to scuffle with the cat-woman Kate turned around and finished the griffon with another arrow just as it sent a powerful blast of air at her. She weathered it and her arrow killed it off at last with a terrible shriek. She could now focus on the cat better and turned just as she swung her claws at her. The attack was caught on Antiope's shield and the force bounced back at the feral creature, which stumbled backwards. Kate fired an arrow at her and caught her in the shoulder, causing her to yowl and swing her arm at Kate again. Kate shrugged as the hit caught her in the shoulder but landed a relatively shallow cut. Antiope's hit on the other hand was a finishing blow that ended the fight.