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

[redotiertwo]

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.]

[rockthemonkey]

[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.]

[sweetdeath]

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....