014 | A Whole New World

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Exploring the world
When: All day June 26
Where: The Near Shore (All Over)
Summary: So many shrines have popped up! Go visit your homelands!



The Heavens have received reports of many shrines to the "new gods" they are harboring appearing all over the world. These shrines seem to be additional, new shrines to those gods. Older shrines to those gods still exist, but these ones are shiny, new, and way more compatible with the "new gods". God characters, as well, will have felt the sudden pull towards their homelands and be compelled to travel to them. But the Heavens have taken it a step farther, offering the Meeting Hall as a place for gods and shinki to group up and go out for the day to the various places that are now calling out to them.

Please ignore the fact that they are mostly doing this so that you all will collect information for them without their begging for it or having to reward you.



Meeting Hall

The Meeting Hall is being used as a sort of hub right now. Any groups that are planning to meet up and travel together can meet here, but you might also find someone who's going somewhere you'd like to and tag along with them. Additionally, the Heavens have provided packed lunches for everyone to take with them, should they desire to. This also serves as a meeting place for all of the new gods and shinki.

Locals

Local pantheons have been alerted to the impending visitors. They are happy to welcome their brethren home and are likely to make a big fuss about their brothers and sisters staying with them. Local gods are welcome to be interpreted however you would like, just be sure not to NPC any god that is already taken by a god player. Also, you may find yourself running into some local spirits during your sight-seeing - including local ayakashi and various folklore spirits.

Flyers

They may not stick out at first, but those who are paying attention will notice that there are a large number of flyers being left around at their new shrines. Heck, even walking through the human towns, you will find flyers scattered on the ground and pinned to cork boards and nailed to telephone poles. All bear the same message: "Down with the Heavens. Down with Amaterasu." The locals gods are well versed in the flyers, saying that there have been some strange characters around throwing these flyers at anyone who will give them the time of day. Even humans will note that some shady-looking people have been putting up these strange posters.

Destruction

Whether you return early because of boredom, never left because you're uninterested, or late because you've been having fun, the middle of the night will bring an interesting sight to all. The Heavens will find themselves under attack - in the form of a large fire set at the temple of Amaterasu herself. The entire home is going up in flames and no one knows where Amaterasu is. They're asking for help in dousing the fire or even entering the burning home to find the small goddess and possibly look for the saboteurs, though the only people who are still around are Amaterasu's shinki, in varying states of distress and consciousness.

Note: Who will discover Amaterasu will be decided randomly on 3/20/17 OOC. At that point, a follow-up post will be made by Amaterasu herself.

In Summary:

• Explore the world
• Get to know your homelands
• Investigate insurgents
• Deal with a riot
• Save Amaterasu
• Have fun~

Comments

[nibelungvalesti]

[At the strike of the final blow, power gathers around the Valkyrie, the excess radiating off her in waves.]

It shall be engraved upon your soul! Divine Assault--

[The power focuses in her hand, and the Valkyrie crashes into the mummy in a dazzling flurry of blows that ultimately flings it into midair -- and then a lance of radiant energy explodes upwards from the ground, impaling it. Two more slam down into the creature at angles, leaving it transfixed in midair.]

[Lenneth leaps backwards, then rises into the air some two stories or so as the cold blue light of her wings streams out of her back. Sparkles of light rush out from it, then stream into her hand to form into a massive spear twice her height. As she spins it in her hand to bring it into position for a throw, more light gathers around it, forming into the shape of a great dragon with a roar.]

Nibelung Valesti!

[She hurls the spear. It slams into the mummy, bright enough to blind, but when the glow clears the purifying energy has not yet dissipated. Instead, it gathers around the mummy, wrapping it from all sides. The final detonation, with all the fury of a goddess and her shinki behind it, leaves nothing behind. The mummy is gone as if it never was, as Lenneth drops back down to the ground.]

Such is your fate.

[revolutionfalcon]

[As soon as his hit lands, Shun flips neatly out of the way so as not to block the final attack. Even if he's not one to stand down to powers greater than his own, an attack like that isn't one he wants to pointlessly put himself in the way of, or even in the near vicinity of.

As Lenneth's attack decimates the creature as completely as any could hope to do, Shun watches with a certain dispassion born of having seen combat and destruction over and over before this. However, by the end of it all, he turns his attention from the now non-existent body back to Lenneth with a note to his expression that may be respect or just plain interest. It's difficult to tell when he generally elects not to be overt about it.]

It seems like you could have handled that thing on your own. [He doesn't sound annoyed with being brought along, merely slightly curious as to why she needed the backup.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Einherjar dissolve into light as their materialization ends, and the Valkyrie pays them little heed as she turns to face Shun.]

That is not true. Only with a coordinated attack such as we launched can I or my Einherjar gather strength enough to perform such an assault... and my Einherjar are not yet skilled enough to do so on their own, without my shinki's aid.

[revolutionfalcon]

[The disappearance into light makes Shun stiffen and recoil very slightly, the lines of his eyes tensing for a moment, but he recovers himself after a moment. It seems to be part of the summoning, so he reminds himself of that to push his thoughts away from the comparisons it strikes for him.

Lenneth's explanation helps, because it seems a little strange to him and definitely requires some thought.] So you get stronger the more you fight, or at least that's what it sounds like. Usually it's the other way around in the short term.

[Obviously fighting over a long period strengthens someone, but in a standard fight, exhaustion sets in after a while for most people.]

[nibelungvalesti]

It is not simply duration. The blows must be struck together, or shortly in sequence. That is the only way to properly resonate the energy necessary.

[The Einherjar have physical bodies only at the Valkyrie's behest; otherwise, their souls dwell within hers, awaiting their call once more.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I suppose that makes more sense as a matter of skill. I'll take your word for it, since magic never existed in my world.

[To his knowledge, at least. The closest he's seen is just advanced technology. In any case, it sounds like an annoyingly specific way to gather power, even if sequenced blows is at least more productive than having to recite a spell or something.]

[nibelungvalesti]

I would not expect you to be familiar with it. [Since he isn't an Einherjar, chosen by a Valkyrie -- or the Valkyrie herself.]

[Speaking of her, she steps forward to investigate the sarcophagus from which the chief mummy emerged.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[There's a slight shrug from Shun at that, as if it doesn't make much difference to him, but he does follow her up to look at the sarcophagus. If the vessel was some kind of magical artifact instead of just the creature it was holding, it'd be worth destroying it just to ensure this didn't repeat.]

Are you still sensing anything?

[nibelungvalesti]

[She draws a hand to her breastplate, shuts her eyes, and concentrates. Though they aren't properly in the spirit word, her hair and the edges of her skirt ripple nonetheless, as if touches by an unseen wind.]

No. That was the foe I sense.

[revolutionfalcon]

Then this thing probably isn't more than decoration. [Shun eyes up the sarcophagus even as he says that. If it was emitting dark magic or anything of the sort, Shun figures it would have to be making some kind of mark on this woman's senses.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[No doubt it has value in material coin, but the Valkyrie cares nothing for that.] On occasion, I found treasures that were rightfully Vahalla's, guarded by the undead. I did not expect to find any here, yet failing to check would have been foolish.

[revolutionfalcon]

This looks more like it was here all along. We should probably leave it. [While Shun isn't exactly a reverent sort of person, he doesn't particularly want to know how peeved the Egyptian pantheon is going to get if they pointlessly ruin one of their artefacts.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Why would we take it? [She straightens up from her examination to shoot a curious look at Shun. Of course, she can understand why a mortal would wish such an item, but that doesn't even begin to apply to the pair of them.]

[revolutionfalcon]

I meant leave it in one piece, since it isn't magical itself. [Given Shun's only real monetary concerns are whether he has enough to buy basic food for himself and his shinki, he gives her a rather flat look right back as if to question what she was thinking.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Why would destroying it even come to mind? [They both have this look for the other, then, as she tries to puzzle out why such a thought would come to his mind even in the negative.]

[revolutionfalcon]

It's not like I can pick dangerous magic items from benign ones. [There's an uncaring shrug at that, like it shouldn't even be an issue anyway. He already decided not to break it.]

[nibelungvalesti]

It is only a sarcophagus. Why would it be magic?

[Well, at least they worked well together in battle.]

[revolutionfalcon]

If magic items exist in this world, I don't see the problem with suspecting a sarcophagus that was holding an undead sorcerer might have been one.

[His tone is more than a little dry at this point, because to him, it just seemed like an assumption that would have been on the table from the start.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Why would it need a magic sarcophagus? It was itself a mage.

[And the Valkyrie continues to believe it is a baffling assumption to make.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[And that's about the point where Shun's patience runs out on this argument. Waving a hand, he turns away and starts heading out.]

There's no point making an argument that's irrelevant now anyway when you're that narrowly focused.

[nibelungvalesti]

It is a strange argument to begin with. Can you exit the pyramid without difficulty?

[Changing topics midstream, but she isn't going to leave him stranded in here.]

[revolutionfalcon]

That's what I mean by narrowly focused. [In any case, he shrugs unconcernedly in answer to her question.]

I got in here fine. I can get out just as well. [Watch him wall-jump his way up that chute when they get back there.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Very well.

[She will not watch him, because the Valkyrie can take her own way out. She simply disappears, fading out as she ceases to maintain her physical form.]

[The goddess is not heartless, however; once he reaches the top of the pyramid, he will find her waiting, just to be certain he does indeed make it out without difficulty.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[She won't be waiting long - after only a minute or two, there's a rhythm of faint impact sounds up the chute that leads into the pyramid, something rebounding from side to side. After a few moments of that, Shun comes into view, making one last kick off the wall to propel him out of the chute and neatly onto the small ledge on the outside.

Dusting off one of his sleeves, he spares Lenneth a brief glance.]

You can leave any time you like.

[nibelungvalesti]

[Satisfied that he had indeed escaped without further trouble, she does just that -- vanishing once again as her form dissipates.]

[They really are masters of the social graces, aren't they.]