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

[declamando]

[The sound of the coughing stirs Maria to further action - she has to bottle it into this area if she wants to avoid more humans being hurt. And to do that, she'd be best served getting rid of its best means of transport.]

Well, if you insist! [She disappears from in front of the crow to reappear right near the join of one of its spread wings, ramming Uta's blade form right down at the curve of where the wing attaches to its body.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The creature's beak opens wide in a distorted, too-human scream as Maria's blade sinks deep into the join of its wing. Purple goo spurts from the wound, and its wing crumples to the ground, branches cracking and snapping under the weight of the impact.

It twists towards her, feathers bristling all around her to draw thin lines of blight wherever they strike flesh, as it tries to carry her down with the weight of its body and crush her against the ground.]

[declamando]

[Maria hisses in pain as the feathers scrape and spread blight over her, but she's not unused to fighting monsters on this tier, even if they're not usually ayakashi. Quickly, she manages to claw her way up and off the wing, touching the crow with as little bare skin as possible to try and avoid blight.

She manages to leap off just as it hits the ground, landing clear but prepared for it to try and strike again. Right now, she doesn't even want to risk the time it would take to grab for some blessed water to get rid of the blight.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The ground shakes with the impact of the crow's body, and it thrashes, wounded wing still half-spread and dragging on the ground as it staggers back up to its feet.

One yellow eye focuses on Maria, pupil blowing wide, and its head whips to the side, beak spearing towards her again.

This time, it spreads its wounded wing wider behind her, as if scooping her towards its red maw.]

[declamando]

[Maria prepares to scramble up the wing again, but Tsuzuki's borderline blocks the impact of the beak, giving her more time to get clear without having to blight herself further.

However, she doesn't stay that way long. Seeing the bird going for the two shinki also fighting it, she disappears from her position to teleport above it once more, stabbing towards its other wing and trying to drag the sword the entire way down it with her weight.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The crow is hopping towards the two shinki, and not paying attention to the goddess at its side. Her sword sinks deeply into the wing that Yamanbagiri's borderline had scraped, and cuts a long slash down it. Purple ichor erupts from the injury as the crow shrieks harshly, and both its wings are now trailing helplessly to its sides, crushing the shrubbery below.]

[declamando]

[It's a good start, at least - not being able to move its wings means it can't create as large of a shadow if it tries that move again. As soon as she feels her feet touch the ground, she charges forward to try and take out one of its legs as well.

Better she do that than the two shinki who wouldn't be able to teleport away if it tried to come down on them.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The crow screeches again, hopping awkwardly as Maria slashes at its leg to try to avoid the blow. It's slow, and the blade's edge cuts a thin line along its shin, but the foot still holds as it lands.

With a cry that sounds strangely satisfied, it throws itself forward, trailing wings out to either side to prevent Maria's escape, massive body bearing down towards her.]

[declamando]

[Maria ducks down, ready to teleport if she needs to, but Yamanbagiri's borderline blocks the ayakashi from actually dropping onto her, and she straightens herself out a little, glancing back over to the leg she tried to slash. While the chance is there...

She darts over in that direction again while the borderline holds and the ayakashi is stunned, going at the leg again to try for a deeper cut even if she can't take it off entirely.]

[creeping_spirit]

[Her blade bites deeply this time, jarring on bone, and the claw jerks and spasms with the blow. Tsuzuki's spell-creatures are snapping at its wings, and the crow croaks but stays down, for now, shuddering as it turns its head to begin pecking at the harrying wolves.]

[declamando]

[Since the two shinki seem to be drawing the crow's attention for now, Maria focuses on trying to break through the bone in front of her. It's not going to be an easy thing, but maybe the crow's weight might work in her favour.

Rather than go at it with the blade, though, she reverses her grip on the shinki vessel sword in her hand and drives the pommel of it hard into the bone. If the bird is still distracted after the first shot, she'll keep hitting that same place, trying to break through.]

[creeping_spirit]

[Between the cut and the blow, the bone snaps, and the crow shrieks with a human voice, its attention snapping back to Maria. It's still down, lolling on the pavement, but it's not wholly helpless yet; it convulses, instead, beak reaching under its body to snap at Maria while she has little room to escape.]

[declamando]

[Maria definitely isn't going to try to hold her position for that one, and she teleports out to the empty air behind it. As she drops, she spins to adjust her position, landing on its tail and then leaping off before slashing her sword at the outermost feathers.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The feathers explode out in a shower of goo as her blade severs them, and the crow croaks again, more weakly this time. Its movements are beginning to slow, and with its leg broken and its wings dragging, it can't turn to strike at Maria. It focuses its helpless fury on the shinki in front of it, instead, leaving her free to continue attacking.]

[declamando]

[That's a good start, though Maria grits her teeth a bit as the crow goes for the two shinki instead. She doesn't want them hurt as a result of it not being able to get to her, but it can't seem to turn to her either...

There's one more thing to try, though, now that it's weakening. Setting her jaw, Maria moves to try running up its back so she can slash at the back of its neck.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The blade cuts deep across the back of the crow's neck, and its cry is cut off as its head droops forward. It's still struggling, but weakly, unable to resist any attempt at rending, and no longer able to attack either the shinki or Maria.]

[declamando]

[It's weakening, and Maria's not planning to let up, especially with the other two having done so much to keep its attention on her. When her first slash hits home, she brings her shinki blade up once more, driving it down with intent different to her previous attacks.]

Rend! [It feels more certain to call it in a situation like this, and she plunges the blade deep into the slashed area at the back of its neck.]

[creeping_spirit]

[Purple blood spews from the fresh wound -- and then, cascading out from the point of impact, golden and white cracks propagate down and across the crow's body.

Its feathers blow away in a silent explosion of black plumes and dirty-gray down. A second later, the lines of light meet, and the ayakashi, too, explodes beneath Maria's feet, blood and unidentifiable bits of the spirit spattering everywhere across the park and trees.]

[declamando]

[The explosion under her feet is a little abrupt, but not unusual, considering what she deals with in her own world. Maria flips in the air to land on her feet on the ground where the ayakashi once stood, surveying the scattered pieces with a grimace before they start to disappear.]