godsoffortune: (Default)
The Far Shore Mods ([personal profile] godsoffortune) wrote in [community profile] thenearshore2018-05-03 07:07 pm

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.

kokuyoyo: (Apparently I kept telling people I was)

aaaand split

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2018-05-15 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Chikusa is easy to catch up with, especially when him and Ken are so in sync. He's taking the time to absorb the whole situation, and get photos now that Hakkai has a babysitter on him.]

[People are trying to burn or cleanse the sigil away, huh....]

[He won't say anything if Ken doesn't.]
junkyarddog: (The darkness that you fear)

[personal profile] junkyarddog 2018-05-21 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Of course, Ken does say something, looking over at Chikusa almost immediately.] Did I do good?

[He looks a little uneasy. Going against the orders of both Hakkai and Chikusa isn't something Ken can do lightly, or without doubts. And even though it was Chikusa's wisdom he was contradicting, now he's looking to Chikusa for reassurance that it was the wise thing to do...because Chikusa's still the primary intellectual authority he looks to for guidance.]

Also, what do we do now?
kokuyoyo: (I don't do stupid things anymore.)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2018-05-21 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[It figures he'd be worried about that.... considering he hardly ever does it. Lowering his camera a little, Chikusa looks down to Ken.]

Yeah... This is probably good. I wanted to talk to him.... but I can do that whenever.

For now... We just have to take care of these sigils.
junkyarddog: (Every motherfucking thing I touch)

[personal profile] junkyarddog 2018-05-24 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ken frowns at them.] Yeah...but what do we do about 'em, byon? Can we just...scratch 'em out or something? They're weird. And creepy. And if they're magical - [Ken what else could they possibly be] - then bad things could happen if we mess with them, right?
kokuyoyo: (Tell him next time I'm going to be)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2018-05-25 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah... So you probably shouldn't touch them with your hands.

[Or claws. Or mouth. He knows how you are, Ken. After a thoughtful moment, he starts digging through his pockets for a canteen of temple water.]

This has helped with cursed things before.... Go pour some on it. I'm going to take more pictures... for later. When we get out of here....
junkyarddog: (Before I ever give up)

[personal profile] junkyarddog 2018-06-05 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Okay. [Ken takes the canteen without argument. He'd briefly considered it - it's occurred to him that he might be getting used as a guinea pig - but he doesn't like the idea of Chikusa being in danger if he does it...so maybe Chikusa is right and it's better this way.

He goes over to the closest line of the sigil, sniffing at the air near it for a moment before wrinkling his nose. Then he uncaps the canteen and pours a bit of the water directly on it, watching to see what happens.]
kokuyoyo: (Apparently I kept telling people I was)

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2018-06-06 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[As the water hits the sigil line, it seems to actually hiss.... and the line begins to become muddy, unclear. Stepping closer, Chikusa decides to take a risk, and swipes one shoe across where the water has gathered into the dirt to make it mud.]

[...Easy enough to swipe through, it looks like. But now he's looking everywhere else, too.]


....I don't have enough water for this.
junkyarddog: (A desire to leave the mire)

[personal profile] junkyarddog 2018-06-13 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Do we need to wipe away the whole thing? [Ken frowns.] I mean, we only messed up one line, but...if they only needed one line for whatever it is these stupid things do, they wouldn't've drawn a whole pattern, right? Isn't messing up parts of it enough?
kokuyoyo: (At which point did I decide that it)

end around here?

[personal profile] kokuyoyo 2018-06-13 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
...Maybe. Only one way to find out.

[Which means more work.... Well, he knew coming out that this would be a pain in the ass. Sighing, he begins to slump off further around the sigil. They'll figure this out one way or another...]

[Even if it means arson.]