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

[replicatedform]

[When the splinters come spraying out, Yamanbagiri quickly grab his cloak, stand in front of Tsuzuki and hold the cloth up to cover his face. He winces when they hit him, and possibly tearing some holes in his cloak. That's fine, but this really make him wish Sakura's here to use him.

Lowering his cloak, Yamanbagiri blinks when he see the other person on the crow's back. A god? The fact that she's actually attacking and seems to be hurting the ayakashi seems to suggest it.]

There's someone on its back!

[Whoa! He step backward to avoid the wing strike.]

They—They're probably a god! [With a sword, so probably a shinki. Which means... Oh, he can see the god is a girl.] Let's help her by distracting it!

[Letting go of his cloak, Yamanbagiri quickly shift his hand and draw a borderline right at the left wing.]

[sweetdeath]

Yeah! [Tsuzuki's gaze flicks to her -- the crow's thrashing around, but she seems to be okay, for now, so he focuses on helping Yamanbagiri. Distracting it seems like a good idea.

He throws another borderline at its head, aiming to cut through its beak this time rather than simply block it from pecking. The beak looks like its biggest weapon, if it really acts like a crow.]

[creeping_spirit]

[Yamanbagiri's borderline slashes so close to its left wing that it sends a scattering of severed feathers flying from the creature's body. Each feather shatters into purple goo as it falls, splashing across the ground and wisping away into vapor. Tsuzuki's whips in front of its plunging beak, but the ayakashi recoils, saving all but the very tip of its beak from being cut away by the edge of the borderline. It opens its mouth in a shriek of frustrated rage, banging its newly blunted beak against the borderline in front of its face twice, then three times, before turning on the two shinki and advancing with feathers ruffled and eyes rolling furiously.

It shuffles briefly, as if trying to take flight, but one of its wings is still trailing, incapacitated by the injury. Instead, it only spreads its good wing and hops, clawed feet aiming towards them as its massive body descends.]

[replicatedform]

[His eyes quickly seek out the goddess, but she's not on its back. Where did she go? Until he sees her again, he'll have to be careful of what to do next.]

Is that all you got? Prove me wrong!

[And that's why he raised his voice, taunting the crow directly and standing his ground. He quickly swipe his hand, this time to draw a defensive borderline in front of the crow to bar its way.

And he sees Maria appears, stabbing the crow from above. So that's where she is.]

[sweetdeath]

[Yamanbagiri is keeping a borderline raised in front of the crow, and Maria is stabbing at its wing and rolling underneath it as it screams. Tsuzuki leaps to one side, rolling and coming up on his feet at the edge of the borderline with a handful of the small summoning papers he keeps in his coat. The spirits they call forth are weak and temporary, but they might be enough to keep the crow distracted while Maria continues to cut at it.]

Come forth!

[He throws the cards, and as each strikes the ground, a shadowy white wolf-shape boils up from the paper, snapping at the crow's wounded wings and snarling.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The ayakashi is throwing itself down, trying to crush Maria-- and as it falls, Yamanbagiri's borderline goes up, and it crashes into it, face-first, with a massive, earthshaking squawk and a scattering of feathers and purple goo from the point of impact. The wolves nip and harry at its wings, but it stays where it is, briefly stunned.]

[replicatedform]

[Loud. It's so loud, he can still feel the tremors on the ground and the sound ringing in his ears. Yamanbagiri stand his ground, watching the fallen ayakashi carefully.]

It's not moving.

[For now. So it's probably their best chance right now strike it down for good, before it snaps out of it. Or make sure Maria have the chance to do it. He hold his hand ready, in case he need to launch more borderlines.]

We should keep it down until she finishes it off.

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki responds with a sharp nod, pulling out another handful of his prepared ofuda and looking up at Yamanbagiri as he angles around the crow.]

If it tries to move again, block it with a borderline!

[Maria's going for the attack. As his first spell-wolves fade away, their energy depleted, Tsuzuki throws out another ofuda, then another.]

I'll keep it distracted.

[creeping_spirit]

[The crow's beak spears down towards the wolves, picking them off with the accuracy of a robin eating worms, but its wings trail uselessly and Maria's hacking through one of its legs to leave it helpless and immobile. It caws, furious, and stretches its neck in an attempt to snap up the caster beyond the harrying wolves.]

[replicatedform]

Got it!

[It might be immobilised, but there's still the rest of its to deal with. Seeing that it's stretching its neck, Yamanbagiri quickly draws up a borderline between it and Tsuzuki.]

Be careful, Tsuzuki!

[He draws another borderline to its side, trying to trap the crow and cutting off its escape one by one.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki leaps back, swearing, as the crow's beak plunges towards him and the line flashes across.]

Thanks--!

[The crow's snapping viciously, and Maria's slashing at its back. Tsuzuki swallows, and waves at Yamanbagiri.]

You go left, and I'll go right! Let's distract it!

[He begins running as he speaks, throwing more ofuda, one at a time, to draw the crow's attention around to its right.]

[creeping_spirit]

[The crow is starting to whip around, flinching from Yamanbagiri's borderline and following Tsuzuki's movement as he runs out around the side of the area that Yamanbagiri had protected, when Maria dashes sure-footed to the back of its neck and brings her blade down it a scything arc.

Purple blood bursts from the wound, and its head droops forward helplessly as its screech is cut off mid-sound. Its struggles begin to grow weaker.]

[replicatedform]

[Yamanbagiri immediately went around to the left, driven by pure adrenaline to keep moving and drawing another borderline to block this side.

It seems like they're getting close, he can see it. After stopping for a moment, panting under his breath, his eyes are carefully watching the crow. Quickly, he glance over to where the goddess is.

This would be the perfect moment to take it out, he thinks,]

It's almost over...

[sweetdeath]

We can get it!

[Tsuzuki stuffs the last few ofuda back into his pocket, so hastily that one crumples, and slashes his hand across, aiming to cut one wing away with a borderline. Maria's up on the creature's shoulders now, which means she's safely out of the way.]

Line!

[creeping_spirit]

[Yamanbagiri's line slashes to one side, and Tsuzuki's to the other, as the ayakashi's screams are abruptly cut off by Maria's blade driving deep into its back.

Its feathers explode outward from its body, and, a moment later, white-glowing lines net the purplish skin beneath, and the crow's body, too, explodes in a blaze of purifying magic.

Purplish blood and bits of the creature's flesh spatter trees, ground, and bushes all around, leaving specks of blight behind-- but not too many, for they're evaporating almost as soon as they come to rest, steaming into ghostly curls of vapor and then to nothing at all.]

[replicatedform]

[Yamanbagiri quickly raise his cloak to cover his face, once he realise the crow's body exploded. And listens.

After a moment, he lowers his hand, letting go of the tattered cloth to see... nothing. Nothing is left behind, as much as he can see.]

It's... [Over. Once he thought of that, exhaustion comes crawling up to him. Yamanbagiri rest his hands on his knees, panting when he finally feels tiredness hitting him. Tired, but also a sense of relief.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki reels back, but with no cloak -- not even long sleeves -- there's not much he can do to keep himself away from the ayakashi's explosion. Blight sears his cheeks and arms, but the goo is already wisping away into nothing even as he tries to wipe it away, so he straightens up, wincing, and tosses Yamanbagiri a grin.]

She did it!

[Though -- shit, Yaman's half-falling over. Tsuzuki jogs towards him, starting to reach out before he realizes his hands are blighted and stops with a sheepish grin.]

Are you okay?

[replicatedform]

I'm... I'm okay. Just tired.

[Looking up, Yamanbagiri can see Tsuzuki and his blighted hands. In return, Tsuzuki would be able to see how tired he is. Oh and how his cloak have seen better days.]

Tsuzuki, your hands...

[Slowly, he straightens up and feeling his sore muscles get stretched. Ah, man. He brings his hands to his own waist, as if looking for something. Where did he put that bottle of holy water.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki looks down at his hands, and laughs ruefully.]

Yeah -- I guess I should do something about that, huh?

What about you? [He aims a concerned look at Yamanbagiri. The other shinki's obviously exhausted, scuffed and muddied from the battle, but with his cloak it's hard for Tsuzuki to see if he's got any blight.]

Did you get blighted? We should go wash off.

[replicatedform]

[Finding the bottle, Yamanbagiri take it out and takes it for a moment. Hearing the distinctive water inside, he hands it over towards Tsuzuki.

Blinking, Yamanbagiri looks at himself before he opens his cloak some more to look at his body. There's scratches and some blight around them. Unsurprisingly, since the attacks did get through his cloak... and he's not even transformed.]

... Yeah, I got blighted. [Obviously.] Let's head back.

[The water bottle probably isn't enough for both of them.]

[sweetdeath]

Oh, geez, that looks bad.

[Tsuzuki winces at the scratches; the blight's not too terrible, but it must hurt. His does, anyway, and he's careful not to offer Yamanbagiri his own blighted hand to pull his junior shinki along.]

-- Let's. I think we're pretty much done here, and anyway, we should clean up before we do anything else. Do you know where Sakura is?

[replicatedform]

[He nods and follows along.]

I haven't seen her for a while, but she should still be helping out with the sick people.

[And it would probably take a big, important reason to remove her from helping the ill.]

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki nods, and summons up a smile.]

Okay. Wash up first, and then let's go find her and make sure she's okay.