25 - Troubled Waters

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Alleviating the troubles caused by conflict in Heaven
When: October 10
Where: Orihime's meadows in the Far Shore, as well as various places in Japan, China and Ireland
Summary: Orihime has been tasked by the Heavens with resolving the conflict caused in the mortal world by the new gods' struggles against one another. Several gods have been killed recently, and their violent deaths have led to dangerous corruption being released in the mortal world. Help Orihime expunge the corruption and return the human world to a peaceful existence.







Orihime's Meadows

Before traveling to the Far Shore, gods and shinki can meet and make plans near Orihime's modest home at the edge of the Southeastern District. Her dwelling is too small to accommodate even one team of gods and shinki arranging something as serious as this, let alone several. It is obvious she thought about this fact, and has crafted four cloth tents out in the meadows surrounding her home. The sounds of the milky way river are now joined by rustling fabric in the wind, for each tent has a flag mounted atop it and standing in front of it:

• The blue tent belongs to the team for Ksitigarbha. It has a sigil in black on the flag.
  
• The green tent belongs to the team for Li Tieguai. On its flag, a mortar and pestle in white, but the visible part of the pestle resembles a staff crook.
  
• The red tent belongs to the team for Cu Chulainn, with an impressive reproduction of a two-headed dog celtic knot in shining silver.
  
• The brown tent belongs to the team for Loki. Its flag bears a two-headed snake in gold.
All four tents are spread out in cardinal directions. Near each tent, she has a few stacks of wooden prayer tablets related to each of the problems, as well as maps and supplies for those who might need them.

In the center of all four tents is a simple chair and table where Orihime herself is generally sitting, talking to others nearby, or writing notes based on those conversations. She does a lot of listening when people ask her for new supplies she hadn't thought of previously, but has only been supplied with four shinki runners to get those supplies, one per group. Additionally, she cannot teleport down to the Near Shore herself, nor can anyone use her home to teleport down to where each of the troubles are; that is a problem for each group to solve on their own, with Orihime only able to mediate and provide suggestions.

Child's Play

Kshitigarbha, protector of children and of hell beings, is one of the recent casualties. Without his protection, it seems that babies' fears are giving rise to new and awful ayakashi throughout the city of Xi'an. Shadows on the wall above the crib, oversized stuffed animals, monsters hiding in the closet or rattling the windows at night -- all the fears of earliest childhood are taking real, malicious form. Babies are panicking, parents are exhausted, and all this stress is pulling in even more ayakashi! Someone needs to lure out these nursery nightmares and defeat them before the situation gets worse.

As gods and shinki work to rend the ayakashi tormenting children, they may notice a strange shadow passing by in the street outside, or scratching noises at the nursery window. Something more seems to be waiting outside....

Flu Season

With sky-high living costs and limited space, Tokyo has a large homeless population. Li Tieguai, protector of the poor and patron of medicine, was another recent death: now, winter's coming, and without his protection it seems like everyone's getting sick at once. They're suffering from everything ranging from plain old head colds and 'flu to more serious things like pneumonia or infections. Help pass out tea, soup and blankets, make sure they get the right medications, and get the sickest people to the hospital.

Carrion crows crowd close around the sick and croak, watching the gods and shinki helping them.

Wild Hounds

As if honoring the fall of the Hound of Chulainn, stray dogs have begun to form into large, dangerous packs in rural and suburban areas of Ireland, and even well-trained housepets have started breaking their leashes and joining them. They're starting to chase and bite humans, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed. Gods need to defeat the ayakashi possessing the "leaders of the pack," and get the pets back to their worried owners.

The groves of trees where the dogs are lairing seem unusually dark and shadowy, and footsteps seem to echo those of the gods and shinki tracking them down.

Prank War

Teenage pranks are turning unusually cruel and dangerous lately: with Loki gone, a few groups of bored kids have coalesced into more serious gangs in Chiba, and they've been seen setting fires, tormenting animals, vandalizing businesses and intimidating or robbing people walking alone at night. Someone needs to stop them from causing trouble, put them on a better path, or turn them in to the police before someone gets badly hurt.

Even as they're working to stop the teenagers' mischief, something seems to whisper to them and encourage them to join in and cause a little trouble. After all, it's just some fun....

Boss Battles

Those who helped to resolve the problems caused by the gods' deaths have one final enemy to face. Four dangerous ayakashi are behind these conflicts. Each character can participate in one boss battle, but it's fine for characters to form multiple different groups (i.e. multiple threads under one boss's comment.) To ensure that the NPC knows when to respond to your characters, please indicate which characters will be in a thread in your first comment.

Kshitigarbha - Child's Play

Li Tieguai - Flu Season

Cu Chulainn - Wild Hounds

Loki - Prank War

In Summary:

• Check in with Orihime and your new teams
• Save scared children
• Help the sick
• Tame stray dogs
• Stop pranks from going too far
• Watch out~

Comments

Flu

[saiyanhybrid]

Do you need any help?

[Long time no see, Hakkai.

Gohan lands beside the other god, carrying a few blankets himself as he looks over at him, curious.]

[reformedsinner]

Oh, hello, Gohan. [Hakkai glances up at him, with a quick flicker of a smile.] I'm afraid she may be too feverish to wake up and swallow any meds just now.

[Which does cause a problem, considering that all of the medicines he's brought, magic though they are, still have to be swallowed. He reaches out to check her temperature with the back of his head, and exhales, frowning in concern.]

She may need to be taken to a doctor's office.

[saiyanhybrid]

[Gohan rubs his cheek in thought before:]

I can take her while you look at the others. I'll have her ride on Nimbus.

[Because Gohan, sadly, can't help with any of this exactly, but he can help transport them.]

[reformedsinner]

Thank you, that is helpful.

[With a murmured apology to the woman, although she doesn't seem to understand, he carefully kneels and scoops her up into his arms before rising back to his feet. He turns to Gohan.]

Do you know where the nearest clinic is?

[saiyanhybrid]

[He nods.]

I passed by one on my way here. It's not too far.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai nods briskly in return, stepping close enough that Gohan can take her from his arms without too much difficulty.]

If you could take her there, then...? There are still some others here I should check on, but I think she needs attention as quickly as possible.

[It's cold out here, she's not young, and this disease seems serious.]

[saiyanhybrid]

[Gohan accepts the child into his arms, keeping her carefully braced.]

I'll be back then. [Guess he'll have to settle for some quick-gentle flying. Either way, he's off!]

[reformedsinner]

Thank you. [Hakkai's returning to checking each of the patients in the area, testing temperature, offering them medicine, and fetching water and blankets if necessary. It's not a quick task; he'll still be working at it by the time Gohan returns, helping a badly congested older man prop himself up with a folded blanket behind his back to make it easier to cough up the phlegm clogging his throat.]

[saiyanhybrid]

[It isn't too long before Gohan returns, landing beside Hakkai. In his hands, he has more medicine.]

I've managed to get some more medicine. The clinic offered.

[reformedsinner]

Ah? Thank you, that will help.

[Unlike Hakkai's, it's not divinely effective. However, also unlike Hakkai's, it's not limited by what he was able to compound by hand over the last week.]

Let's give what I have to the worst off, then, and that to those who are doing a little better.

[saiyanhybrid]

Just direct me to who and how much to give.

[The only person he took care of was Goten and they usually used homemade medicine.

Otherwise, he's a little...uncertain.]

[reformedsinner]

There may be directions on the bottles...?

[He turns one in his hand to check.]

Ah, yes. Here. One or two pills every six hours, it seems. With the medicine I've made, it's just one pill at a time.

[He rummages out a bottle of his own medication, and hands that over to Gohan.]

-- and you should have one, in case you run into anyone here who needs more help than the other medicine can provide.

[saiyanhybrid]

[A nod and he accepts the bottle.]

Alright. Thank you, Hakkai.

[reformedsinner]

Thank you.

[More seriously, he glances up at Gohan, and adds:]

... I very much appreciate it. Considering, technically, all of this trouble is my fault.

[saiyanhybrid]

[Gohan grows a little more solemn at that.]

But you're making up for it now. That's enough.

[Even if not everyone will be saved.]

[reformedsinner]

No, I wouldn't say it is... but I wasn't warned of what my death could mean in advance, so I suppose there's no helping it.

I'll start with the worst off -- if you can hand out some of the mundane medicine to the less ill?

[He turns, scanning the sick, before going to one of the more badly-off patients he'd spotted before, bending to murmur quiet reassurance to the old man as he helps him sit up and swallow a pill from Hakkai's bottle.]

[saiyanhybrid]

Not sure if anyone would be aware of that.

[But he does nod.

Gohan goes off, administering medicine to those that doesn't look as bad as others, sometimes gently helping them up to take the medicine and murmuring soft words to any children who's been afflicted as well.]