thenearshore | 28 - The Hungry Forest (Final Battle)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[What is Sakura worried about this is a great time to meet in person. They're rescuing friends and setting things on fire! What could be better than that?]

Show off! [That's. At Davesprite. Telekinesis is super cool and Goku can't do it. It's just friendly teasing.]Hold on, I've got another one!

[Just because he doesn't have fancy magic powers, doesn't mean he can't grab one more lantern from the tree and put it in place. Now the fire is starting to build up. Wow, whatever Sakura is doing looks pretty impressive too.]

Alright, Sakura, go for it!

[So she's planning to destroy the circle -- or, at least, to attack it, even if one shot won't be enough to fully destroy the power Tsuzuki can feel lowering down against them. He skids to a stop just behind her, reaching into his own jacket pocket for a handful of ofuda.

One good thing about hardly being able to use his magic through the forest: he has plenty left.]

If it needs another hit after that, I think I've got one in me.

[He tosses a quick nod to the other two -- he'd spotted them both in the forest too, and it's good to know they'd gotten here in one piece themselves.]

Thank you, everyone.

( Even in the middle of a battle, she's as polite as ever. She'll give Tsuzuki a special smile, though. She'll be counting on him after this. )

Here goes nothing! Answer me, Hitsujigami-sama!

( The light of her own magic circle brightens and there's an energy in the air that just feels like magic. From talismans, a spirit bursts forth, charging through the flames. As it charges, the energy created by the spirit seems to drag some of the flames with it as if setting itself on fire, creating a burning line across the sigil. The further it goes, the less concentrated the fire becomes, smoldering away as the spirit itself reaches the end of it's summon and disappears. In it's wake is a path through part of the sigil. Where the flames had burned brightest in the beginning, the markings on the ground are gone but it's easy to tell there the magic began to lose effect. At least, there's still a pile of burning lanterns on the ground and smoldering brush and grass along the path.

The light of her circle goes out like a candle and the ofuda recollect themselves and she reaches out with shaking hands to catch them. She's winded but she remains standing, willing herself not to fall lest others worry. She'll be fine. )

Hey, far be it from me not to join in the stunted dick-waving power contest. [Though those are much more effective when everyone's powers are at full capacity and aren't being pressed down on by whatever weird magic it is these sigils are generating.

Davesprite gives Tsuzuki a brief thumbs-up, but sidles a bit further out of the way of Sakura's spell just to be sure - his head is swimming a little bit now, and he'd rather not risk hanging around anywhere that might get embers.

The charging spirit is observed with a surprisingly impassive look, considering the general weirdness Davesprite is experienced with. It's not over yet, but wiping out part of the sigil is definitely better than nothing.]

We took a chunk out of the fucking thing, I'll take it. Someone get the mistress of magic over there before she falls over, though.

[Davesprite, in the meantime, picks up the wooden mace and lights it up again to see if he can keep working at this.]

You think it'll catch quicker if we put a bit of that underbrush over the lines, or that the extra layer is just gonna protect it from the fire.

[Goku jumps out of the way of the flames, landing neatly beside Davesprite. His eyebrows shoot up as he watches the magic with an impressed look on his face- that's some pretty cool magic. He leans towards Davesprite.]

Her power is way cooler than yours. [He can't win weird magic power dick-waving, but he can provide commentary. Goku kicks at the edge of the sigil, careful to avoid getting singed.]

Maybe some stuff between the flames would help? So it doesn't have to jump around too much?

[Tsuzuki reaches out to take Sakura's shoulders, supporting her as she catches her breath.]

Yeah -- do either of you have anything that might catch? Like, lighter fluid? Alcohol?

[He watches the flames lick at the sigils. They're making a mark, biting sooty chunks out of the bright lines. If they could spread the fire further....]

I'm pretty sure Gojyo had some lighter fluid in that bag.

( She can only really give them a shy smile at first. She hadn't done much, at least, it hadn't felt like much to her. Her magic is weaker than what it should be and she isn't able to help as much as she can... but she's glad that she could do something.

She braces herself against Tsuzuki, waiting for everything to stop spinning so she can catch her bearings again. Does anyone have lighter fluid? Alcohol? No, she only has water, )

The fire... ( It's hard getting her words to make sense but she's doing her best, ) Even if... it doesn't b-burn the circle on it's own, we shouldn't let it... go out.

( It's probably the most effective thing they have right now and they only have what's left burning on the ground and in the lanterns. )

I have other powers. [From the very deadpan way in which Davesprite says that back to Goku, it's pretty clear he's taking it in some kind of good humour.

But Tsuzuki's question makes him shake his head.] I was just lamenting earlier that I didn't think to bring petrol or some shit while going into an angry forest. If we can borrow lighter fluid off someone else, sure, but I don't have any on my own.

[Sakura is also right in saying that they shouldn't let the fire go out, so with a long hiss of breath to brace himself - and very pointedly moving out of the vicinity of where he might fall into the flames if he drops, Davesprite focuses his attention on a couple of the burning grass clumps. The orange glow appears again, and he shifts some clumps together to make for more fuel before depositing them on the sigil lines.

The energy required makes him turn a little yellow - essentially his equivalent of going pale, considering he's orange - but it at least gives the fire something to feed off for now.]

[Snarky commentary is the kind of conversation Goku's used to having during serious situations. All this helpful brainstorming is just weird.]

Yeah, Gojyo's got a ton of that stuff. I had ta talk him outta setting everything on fire before we found those guys.

[Gojyo is... somewhere. Probably wherever Hakkai is, if Goku's any judge. In the mean time, Goku grabs a couple of stray, dry branches and moves to carefully add them to the fire, trying to link the different burning clumps and help the fire spread.]

You know, you can just use your hands for this stuff.

[Show off.]

Not for the burning ones, he can't! [Tsuzuki squeezes Sakura's shoulders reassuringly, before letting go to join the others in piling up some dry branches. There are leaves, too, and he tosses a few handfuls of them on top of the flame to catch in brief, but quick flares.]

Not like we should set the whole forest on fire, but any help we can get setting this bit on fire....

28 - The Hungry Forest (Final Battle)

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