20 | Shopping Frenzy!

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Helping a grand opening go well
When: August 21
Where: The Near Shore
Summary: The owners and employees at a new shopping center are begging for help. Bad luck has plagued them, and their grand opening is this weekend! Gods and shinki alike have been asked to respond to their prayers on Opening Day, find the source of their misfortune and ensure that the opening goes smoothly.



The Yamada Corporation is opening a new, high-class department store in a Tokyo suburb. They've been running advertisements for weeks and excitement among their prospective customers is at a fever pitch. Unfortunately, things inside the project aren't going so well. Construction has been delayed, deliveries are wrong, employees keep getting sick or hurt on the job and it's starting to look like the grand opening will be a grand disaster. Their fervent prayers for help have reached the Heavens, who are passing them along to you to be granted... but with an addition: Heaven, too, is very interested in learning where that bad luck is coming from.



Maintenance Madness

For a brand-new building, Yamada Department Store is having a lot of maintenance issues. Toilets are overflowing, lights are burning out, stair railings are coming loose, and either the air conditioning is set so cold there's frost on the vents or it's not working at all. The overworked maintenance crew needs all the help they can get! How many gods does it take to change a light bulb?

Secret Shoppers

Are you really going undercover to make sure you stop problems before they start, or just enjoying a day of high-class shopping on Heaven's dime? Whatever your real motivation is, all expenses are covered... but you'll still want to keep an eye out for mishaps. Unfortunately, the grocery and bakery in the basement are under construction (they've had some flooding problems) but there are still six floors of designer clothes, consumer goods and restaurants to enjoy.

Retail Rescue

Between mysterious accidents and that nasty flu that seems to be going around, the department store is badly understaffed. Grab an employee uniform and someone else's nametag and pitch in before the lines get too long. There are positions open in every department, from the restaurant on the top floor to book sales on floor one.

It's not just sales and service you have to worry about: thanks to the store's misfortune, displays are toppling over, the wrong orders are coming in, fancy candies are melting all over the shelves and ink tags are exploding on their own. This is hard work!

Intrepid Investigators

The Heavens aren't just sending so much supernatural help to this department store to keep their faithful followers happy. They have reason to suspect that there's something more sinister behind this mysterious streak of extra-bad luck. Between keeping the lights on and the customers happy,
you've been asked to search the store and investigate all of the "unlucky" incidents in order to determine what's going on. The shinki who brought you this request hinted that Heaven would look favorably on anyone who uncovered something particularly useful....

If your character is investigating the department store and needs to know what they have found, please comment to the "Investigations" thread below with a link to your thread. Your hint will be provided.

Investigation threads longer than 10 comments will earn 200 followers for every god in the thread and 20 exp for every shinki. Once your thread reaches that length, please turn it in by replying to your hint under the "Investigations" thread to let us know you've earned the bonus.

In Summary:

• Keep the lights on
• Take some time out to enjoy a shopping trip
• Make sure the customers are happy
• Discover the cause of the bad luck
• Have fun~

Comments

C

[nibelungvalesti]

And?

[The Valkyrie has little sympathy for his complaints, and little care that she is in the men's room. These investigations will not handle themselves, after all.]

Can you fit in it, or not?

[photoshooter]

I-I... maybe?

[But he grimaces pathetically and looks down at her.]

But I don't really do tiny, narrow spaces? I mean, what if I get stuck? How would I get out?

[nibelungvalesti]

I will free you, or I will locate your god and bid them summon you.

[She has absolutely no sympathy for his complaints, regarding him with a cool and distant look that awaits his action.]

[photoshooter]

[He winces, looks into the darkness once more, then swallows and wedges the flashlight between wristband and wrist so he'll be able to see.]

I, um, I could use a boost to get up there.

[nibelungvalesti]

[Quick as a flash, the Valkyrie hurls a small blue crystal into the bathroom stall's wall. It erupts outwards, forming what looks like ice in a growth protruding from its point of impact.]

Do you require a step larger than that?

[photoshooter]

[Oh!]

Nope!

[And for all his whimpering, Prompto's quick to plant his boot on the crystalline growth and hop up, wriggling awkwardly into the vent with little noises of effort.]

Huff--pretty cool, by the way! The magic, I mean.

[nibelungvalesti]

It is not magic so much as divine power. The Valkyrie must be able to wield such abilities, that I might perform my duties.

[Speaking of, she is pleased in her distant and imperious way that he is not shirking his.]

Should you encounter ayakashi, retreat immediately.

[photoshooter]

[He freezes, but he's already too far in to back out now.]

Th-there could be ayakashi in here?!

[He's jumped half an octave in pitch, but after allowing himself this moment of sheer, undiluted terror, he just whines and keeps crawling forward.]

Why are all my ideas bad ideas?

[nibelungvalesti]

You consider performing your duty a bad idea?

[She doesn't have an excessive amount of space for compromise in her head. But in fairness, she's only not up there because he already is.]

[photoshooter]

If I can't actually perform it, yeah!

[Even so, he's still pressing on.]

I can't--nnh--even draw a borderline yet!

[nibelungvalesti]

You can perform it better than any of the Near Shore, who cannot spot the ayakashi. And you can perform it better than anyone who is not here in the first place.

[She has no problems lecturing him by speaking up through the vent, even as he presses on, it seems.]

[photoshooter]

Those are very low standards of performance!

[Just keep crawling, just keep crawling--but then he sets his hand down at the next vent and immediately recoils.]

Oh--! Oh, gross! ...I just touched something sticky. [He hesitates, then reluctantly touches it again, rubbing at the tacky surface with his thumb.] Like... like old glue, or if you rip off a piece of tape.

[nibelungvalesti]

Has it caused you harm or blight?

[If not, why is she hearing about this, really?]

[photoshooter]

[Oh crap, has it? Prompto yanks his hand back and quickly examines it, but no, he seems fine.]

No, but it's kind of weird, right? Why's there tape stuff inside an air duct? ...I'm going further in.

[nibelungvalesti]

I shall attempt to find the next vent in the line. Continue to speak so I may hear.

[Judging its path with her eyes to the best of her ability, the Valkyrie stalks unceremoniously out of the bathroom to do just as she said. Perhaps the next bathroom over?]

[photoshooter]

Keep talking. Yup, I can do that. No problems on that front, I can talk all day.

[And so, he crawls along until the icy air from the fritzed-out air conditioning unit hits him.]

Oh, shit. [He flinches and bangs his elbow along the side of the duct.] Wow, it's... it's really cold here. I-is it cold there?

[nibelungvalesti]

To the contrary -- the temperature in this building is erratic. Cold in some places, too hot in others. It sounds as though you may be drawing closer to the reason.

[Out of the bathroom, following the trail on. A janitor's closet? She has no problems pushing open that door to follow his voice.]

[photoshooter]

...You can fight, right? If I get close to this thing and it turns out to be a monster or something, you can stab it with your ice? I barely have room to move in here, never mind throw a punch...

[nibelungvalesti]

If you encounter an enemy, I shall take battle to it to the best of my ability. In that case, I would advise exiting the tunnel through the nearest vent.

[She isn't familiar with the term 'duct', okay?]

[photoshooter]

Okay. Here I go.

[Biting his lip against the cold--for some reason, it makes something clench up in his throat and chest, something he can't remember--Prompto inches all the way forward until, shivering, he finds...]

There--there's some k-kind of... good luck charm?

[?????]

[nibelungvalesti]

A charm?

Those were being distributed for a recently holiday, and some of them had terrible effects. Could this building be cursed as well?

[This may not be a reassuring thing to tell a shinki that just put his hand on one...]

[photoshooter]

C-cursed?

[There's a bang as Prompto's elbow hits the side of the duct, but rather than panic and flee, he reaches forward and quickly yanks the charm off the bottom of the A/C unit.]

I've got it! C-can you open the vent for me?

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie leaps into the air, drawing her sword in the same motion to hack at the nearby vent, sending it clattering off to the side.]

[No, doing it more subtly or even in a different way never occurred to her.]

[photoshooter]

[Prompto drops nimbly out of the vent, though he stumbles a bit on the landing and then plops onto his butt, rubbing his arms furiously to warm back up.

When he registers she's got her sword out, he makes another wincing face.]

D-did you cut the vent open?

[nibelungvalesti]

I merely struck it hard enough to dislodge the cover.

[As if that was better!]

[She sheathes her sword with the reflexive grace of one so accustomed to the weapon that simple motions like that are pure reflex.]