28 - The Hungry Forest (Final Battle)

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: At the heart of the mysterious forest lies a magical trap.
When: Nov 14, evening
Where: Within the forest
Summary: Working together, and with the (reluctant) help of some menaced cultists, the rescuers have pierced the wooden wall into the heart of the forest.






The sky is clearly visible here, but it’s an evening one – it’s taken the day to work their way through this far. Those with some astronomy knowledge will also be able to tell it’s a sky on Earth, and anyone who can climb up above the treeline will see a vast, mountainous and wooded area, with the lights of roads, train tracks and small towns glittering here and there. They're clearly not in the Heavens anymore. Somehow, in their journey through the forest, the rescuers have emerged onto the Near Shore.

An icy breeze is blowing, and although the vegetation is unseasonably green and lush in this clearing, there are patches of snow visible at the foot of some of the trees, hinting that they're fairly far up the mountain.

Rescues

The clearing here at the heart of the forest is vast, and five colossal sigils are etched into the earth, each one holding an incredible amount of power. It’s on these sigils, North, South, East, West, and Center, that the trapped gods and shinki can be found. Those unlucky enough to be at the Center sigil are bound by hypnosis, each staring at a firefly spirit that hovers before their unblinking eyes. These victims are still and unresponsive, and the spirits will need to be destroyed to free them. The firefly spirits can be harmed by both physical and magical attack, though they likely won’t stay still to let themselves be easily extinguished.

The captives trapped on each of the other sigils are around the edges of the clearing, entangled in vines, brambles or whatever other limbs the trees could provide to bind them to this place. Some may also be under the effects of the hypnotic fireflies if they’ve been particularly troublesome, while others who have fought less might have only those bindings needed to prevent them fleeing. Regardless of how tightly they're restrained, all of the kidnapped gods and shinki on all of the sigils look drained, the severity depending on how long they’ve been there. Some are merely tired-looking, whereas others are barely clinging to consciousness. Whether their power is being used to feed the spell or being stored for something else to come, one thing is clear – those trapped need to be freed before anything more can be done.

Sigils

Those sigils beneath each group of trapped gods and shinki are powerful constructs, brimming with energy and meticulously maintained by the cultists up to now. It’s the same power as what blankets the entire forest, but it's focused on each of those five points. They must be the source of the spell that's caused all of this.

If the spell is to be broken, the sigils need to be broken as well, but it’s going to take more than just scuffing out the etched lines to break the magic. Attacking with shinki in their vessel forms or using blessed water to wash away the magic will be most effective, but for those who didn't bring blessed water or don't have the energy left to transform, there's one other option. The clearing is lit by traditional paper lanterns hanging from the trees all around, and any object set aflame with these lanterns can be used to burn the spell out of the ground bit by bit.

The trees and any remaining soulless shinki are still furiously opposing the rescue efforts, the surviving cultists are continuing to work on maintaining the spell, and it will take time to fully destroy the sigils. However, as the sigils deteriorate, the effects of the spell will begin to fade, and characters will find it easier to access their supernatural powers to speed the process along. Gods' and shinki's powers (that is to say, the special power they gained as a god or shinki, rather than canon powers) will be as effective as a shinki or blessed water against the sigils.

But be careful. As each sigil breaks, some of the magic escapes, but some is captured by the remaining sigils. For the spell to fully disappear, all five must be destroyed – and quickly, because there’s only a matter of time before this power becomes unstable.

Comments

Sigil Attack OTA

[declamando]

[Though she'd come to rescue Elfnein, Maria does have other people here that she's worried about too. Particularly, she comes by the East Sigil to ensure Yona's friends have made it to her before she turns her attention to dealing with the sigils themselves. While she has two shinki on her, she's been using Natsuru's powers enough on the way in that she's unsure it's particularly safe to continue using them here, so instead, she holds Uta's short sword vessel form in her hand, gouging at the sigil and destroying the fine-edged work of the cultists to the best of her ability.

The cultists and remaining soulless shinki aren't exactly being the most conducive to that end, though, but Maria's still alert enough to catch sight of anyone trying to get one over on her...or trying to creep up on anyone else attacking this sigil.]

Behind you! [She's already grabbing a loose bit of tree from where someone's been hacked free and swinging it in the direction of the attacking party.]

[hellishrabbit]

[ Kamui ducks fast enough to avoid her attack. ] That's a pretty good idea.

[ Walking over to the same tree, he pulls the whole thing off the ground, the roots ripping out loudly. The next wave of attackers will be greeted with a wide swing , being thrown around across the floor. ]

[declamando]

[Well, that's...certainly one way of disrupting the attacks. Maria has the benefit of very strange experience in this area, so she only looks surprised for a very brief moment before focusing her attention on gouging out the sigil further.]

I don't suppose you could light that up and burn the sigil with it? [It's not entirely serious, but...well, it'd make their lives a lot easier to have something that large.]

[hellishrabbit]

I don't see why not.

[ Turning his attention to where the lanterns were, Kamui brought the top part of the tree down onto them, crushing that stand and the lanterns, but making lighting up the trees a lot easier. If the fire spreads..well..didn't seem like anyone liked this forest anyway.

Lifting the tree up again, starts heading towards the sigil. There's a new wall of soulless shinki getting in his way, but he didn't seem too worried about it. ]

I suggest you all move unless you want to end up like your friends over there, except on fire.

[declamando]

[It seems like the trees are a bit too damp for the fire to spread, but the abrupt drop into the lanterns has at least caught alight the leaves on this one. It's hardly a towering inferno, but it's fine for their needs.

Letting out a sharp, bracing breath, Maria turns to face down the soulless shinki herself.]

I don't think they're in the mood to listen to reason right now.

[hellishrabbit]

That's too bad.

[ Kamui didn't want to risk putting the fire out, so rather than swipe at them again, he simply dodges by jumping over them, sometimes jumping on them as well. ]

I was wondering if something was up since the others looked so tired, but you seem alright. Is it just them then?

[ He talks to her casually while continuing to evade the soulless shinki. He hadn't felt any changes himself, although the forest did give off a weird feeling. ]