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

[revolutionfalcon]

I'm not wasting time on letting them down gently. [Shun says that even as he turns to focus on the other cultist, pivoting on one foot and driving the heel of his other one into the cultist's jaw hard enough to rattle bone and knock them unconscious to one side. He's surprisingly flexible when it comes to this sort of thing.

They seem to have cleared at least a small gap of time to handle the sigil now, though, and Shun drives both the flaming weapons into the lines once again, dragging and scuffing them so the etched line is obliterated out of the ground.]

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku follows, still keeping aware of any oponents around them. For now they have a moment and he follows suite on burning the lines with the flaming brand he is holding once again.

The sigil is coming apart gradually and Suzaku just hopes that this will stop whatever is happening here in the clearing. He glances up] More to the left

[The soulless shinki clearly have orders to not let the sigils be destroyed, there are another three approaching and as soon as he speaks he is rushing towards them, to stop them reaching the sigil and Shun]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun can see some movement out of his peripherals, but at Suzaku's warning, he looks over with a faint hiss of annoyance. Even though Suzaku is already charging for them, it's three on one, and Shun won't say he isn't a little too engaged with the possibility of taking out his anger on anyone who had anything to do with harming so many people.

He rams the ends of both flaming weapons into the ground again - except this time he uses them as a vault to leap at one of the shinki feet-first, slamming them into the ground hard enough to knock them out on impact. While he's still crouched from that, he swipes one of his weapons out to take the legs out from underneath another of the shinki so Suzaku has an easier time of dealing with them while he darts back to keep working at the sigil.]

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku has already kicked one of the shinki back when Shun slammed another down and kicked the third. Suzaku kicked the first one again, knocking them down before turning his attention on the one that Shun had left concious.

He noted that Shun had gone back to the sigil, that was good. It was best one of them was focussed on destroying it. These shinki were being sent as a distractions to stop them from interrupting the spell that the cultists were trying to cast, the goal they were trying to achieve.

Suzaku slammed his elbow into the shinki, winding him and leaping up to kick at the first one who had gotten back to his feet.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[While Shun finds it difficult not to focus on a fight that's happening in his near vicinity even if he's not actually participating in it, dragging the flames across the line of the sigil isn't too difficult a process. The furrow in the ground is easy to feel out with the ends of the weapons, and he twists and digs in as hard as he can to try and rip apart the etching as much as he's burning it out.

There's another shinki near Suzaku trying to creep closer to seize a fallen weapon, and Shun gives a short, sharp whistle to catch Suzaku's attention considering his voice isn't really up to a proper call out right now.] Rear left.

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku is focussed on the two shinki, trying to knock them out- though he is still trying not to hurt them too much he is not letting them get anywhere near the sigil.

He moves very quickly at the whistle and the call, rear left. Another shinki, Suzaku jumps towards them kicking their side and sending them sprawling. He kicks the weapon they had been reaching for away, towards the sigil and Shun.] Thanks

[It's called out and quick as he finally manages to knock the two shinki down for a while, they don't get up. He turns to the new shinki who is just scrambling back to his feet]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Figuring Suzaku can probably get rid of the shinki himself even if he needed the warning, Shun continues dragging the flames over the sigil. It's slow work, but it's working, at least - the only problem is that they don't seem to have the numbers here that some of the other sigils have.

Still, that's not a reason to give up, as far as Shun's concerned, though he does seem increasingly irritated at the various soulless shinki interruptions.]

You'd think they'd take the hint and go to another damn sigil.

[swordofzero]

I guess the figure this one is an easy target [They are wrong. He runs past Shun to the other side of the sigil to take out another shinki. It does seem that they don't have the same numbers here and that is probably what is attracting the attacks, it seems like they will be easy to over run.

Suzaku is determined to prove them wrong. He kicks the shinki's legs out and twists to punch another, they double in pain as Suzaku goes back to the first.]

[revolutionfalcon]

Then they're either blind or stupid. [Even before Suzaku had shown up, Shun had been taking them out at a rate of knots, so now that Suzaku is also here and also taking them down reasonably effectively - if less permanently than Shun would like considering the circumstances - they mostly just look persistent to the point of idiocy.

It's not too much of an issue as long as they're focusing on Suzaku, though, because it means Shun can keep most of his attention on burning out the sigil.]

[swordofzero]

Or just too far brainwashed. [That they attacked madly with no thought that all their fellows so far have been downed.

He continued fighting, he's fast and he uses it to his advantage darting around taking out cultist after cultist, shinki after shinki to prevent them from reaching the sigil]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun gives a faint, non-committal hum as he focuses on moving across the sigil lines. It's frustrating that he can't just take his ire out on the surrounding shinki and cultists, but he has to keep reminding himself this is a higher priority. Either way, he needs to be doing something to keep himself upright, he'd just prefer the something wasn't this.

Dragging the flames through dirt was going to run into some problems eventually, though, and Shun lets out a faint hiss through his teeth after a while.]

Fire's going out. [And the weapons are starting to burn down a bit, too, though he admittedly didn't notice that as much in the state he's currently in.]

[swordofzero]

[They needed more fire... Suzaku knocked another shinki down and cast a glance around the clearing. There were still lanterns lit around the clearing, a few that hadn't been taken by the rescuers.

Another cultist rushed at him and Suzaku swept her legs out from under her before kicking her again, to keep her down.

He grabbed one of the spears from a downed shinki and ran towards the nearest lantern, trusting that Shun could take care of any more shinki that approached the sigil.

The blunt end of the spear was soon burning and he ran back towards the god] Here, there's not many lanterns left.

[They had to be quick]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun is more than fine with beating away the shinki that come to try and intercede while Suzaku is gone, again handling his weapons with very little in the way of mercy. The dying fire means there's less burns left behind, but there's still going to be some bruises and possibly broken bones among their number tomorrow.

Once Suzaku returns with the spear, Shun drops one of the mace-like weapons and reaches for it.]

Doesn't surprise me. [And there's still shinki bearing down on them.] Let's focus on finishing this.

[He drags the spear through another line of the sigil, breaking it up and scarring the ground. Who knows how much longer they'll have to do this...]

[swordofzero]

[He hands it over and turns to kick away an approaching shinki. It felt like they were never ending, the shinki, the cultists. The prisoners seemed to be all freed now and everyone who could do was fighting, the clearing a mess of fire and noise.

The sigil at the centre seemed to be glowing brighter, Suzaku could see out of the corner of his eye the light that grew stronger. He elbowed another cultist in the face as the light goes out and the sigil that Shun was destroying shines brighter.

Good or bad? Suzaku didn't know, he just kept fighting]