29 - Autumn Leaves

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Uncover the remaining secrets of the mysterious forest.
When: Nov 29 - 30
Where: Chichibu National Park & the Central District
Summary: A heavily forested wilderness area in Chichibu National Park is attracting dangerous numbers of ayakashi, and Heaven's forces suspect that this might be the mortal forest that was connected to the Heavens in order to kidnap gods and shinki a few weeks ago.






Walk in the Woods

On the morning of the 29th, Heaven's messenger doves drop off small folded cards at the doors of every temple. The cards read,


We believe that we have identified the location on the Near Shore where the human accomplices were working. As it is a large area, we offer you this information, in case you are able to assist us in searching for clues to the identity of the culprit. Please investigate with caution: there are reports of ayakashi in the area.


Attached is a map to a large national park in the Kanto region, with a section of the park cross-hatched in red pen. Anyone who goes to investigate the marked area will discover that it is heavily forested and contains about a mountain and a half; the ground is steep, muddy with autumn rain, and slick with dead leaves, though some red and orange colors are still grimly clinging to the branches overhead. Watch your step! The supernatural menace seems to have faded, but the purely natural hazards can do almost as much damage.

Heaven's forces, wearing white short jackets with gold chrysanthemum emblems over much more sensible jeans and hiking boots, can be seen here and there throughout the forest, searching for clues themselves. If somebody gets in a real jam, they might be willing to lend a hand.

Mysterious Trees

Towards the center of the cross-hatched area, investigators may begin to see some familiar signs. Are those bits of torn-down spell papers still fluttering from nails driven into the trees? Vines and tree branches cut and broken by the hostage rescuers breaking through? Footprints, torn bits of black hooded cloaks... there are clues aplenty here.

There's something else, too: a mysterious presence still seems to haunt the forest. The trees might not move when anyone's watching, but it seems like they're in slightly different positions every time you look away and back. And what was that flicker of movement in the underbrush? Is there still someone here?!

Comment on the NPC REQUEST/CLUE SEARCH thread below to request specific details, or to go hunting for that mysterious presence.

Ayakashi Attacks

There's more than one mysterious presence in these trees... and some of them are definitely not friendly. The forest's aura is unsettling and creepy enough to partially mask their approach, but ayakashi of all types and sizes seem to have been drawn here. Some wind along tree branches or soar through the air on fleshy, wide-spread wings. Others crawl or even burrow in the ground.

And all of them are excited at the possibility of a divine meal. Look out!

Autumn Leaf Viewing

An area of the Central District planted with maple along a stone-walled canal has been decorated with hanging lanterns, comfortable spread mats and cushions, and an abundance of delicious food and drink on the afternoon of the 30th. Everyone is invited: new gods and old, those who helped investigate the Near Shore forest and those who didn't. For those who did investigate, though, one or two of the white-robed shinki who are helping with the party preparations and enjoying the food and drink themselves will take the opportunity to pull them aside and ask about their findings.

The party includes games as well as food and drink. Kites, poetry games, tag, hide-and-seek, card games and dice games are going on all over. There's even some determined board game and mahjong players who have brought their favorite game to the outdoor venue and are setting up on mats with immense care.

At one edge of the landscaped area where the party is being held, the ground slopes up, and is planted with a riot of bright gold, white and rust-red chrysanthemums. Like the ones that bloomed everywhere a few months ago, these flowers exude a sense of peace, confidence and security to anyone nearby, and especially those who pick the blooms to wear in their hair or their buttonhole.

In Summary:

• Investigate a wild forest
• Watch out for nasty trees
• Exorcise an ayakashi infestation
• Enjoy some hard-earned relaxation
• Have fun~

Comments

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, she's kinda hard to miss, so your odds on that one are pretty good. [She might as well be wearing a flashing neon sign that says "magical rainbow horse" at all times, really.

Davesprite continues floating that bit of fruit to his mouth once Romeo is talking again, though his mouth takes a briefly amused turn when Romeo introduces himself.]

I'm trying really, really hard not to make a Romeo and Juliet joke, but you know, if I make one later, I blame the literary canon in its entirety and not my feeble self-control.

[myblueskies]

[Romeo blinked at him.] What's a Romeo and Juliet joke?

[Was this another metephor? Also what was literary canon while they were on words that Romeo didn't understand. He was starting to think he should just remember all the words Davesprite said that made no sense and ask Elfnein about them later, it might be easier. She was very good at explaining things to him.]

[redotiertwo]

Basically once upon a time some dude everyone can't get enough of wrote a play that was supposed to be a romance except both the romantic leads died at the end, and then people called it a tragedy instead and that's why people are still talking about Romeo and Juliet however many hundred years later.

[Davesprite does not appear to be in pursuit of making himself any more comprehensible, even considering the fact that he's talking to someone who's clearly very young and only seems to half-get what he's talking about at best.]

[myblueskies]

[He looks a little confused through all of that explanation to be honest but he gets the gist. There's a play and it was mean to be romantic but both the main characters died and so it was a tragedy. That was right, of course it was a tragedy if the characters died! That was really sad?

But people still spoke about it even after hundreds of years, it must be a very good play!] Why is it a joke them, mister Davesprite? It's not funny if the characters are dead.

[Then again, he's dead too and he doesn't find that sad. He can still be happy. Maybe it's fun because they get to be together afterwards in the heavens.]

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite offers a broad shrug in response.] That kinda depends on the situation, doesn't it, though in this case it's because black comedy exists and sometimes people make jokes about really morbid shit. Though in my defense, I probably would've been joking about part of the play prior to the whole "everyone dies" thing.

[See, at least he has some measure of the kind of content it's appropriate to expose children to. Sort of. Or maybe he's just covering his own ass since it's all theoretical right now anyway.]

[myblueskies]

What's black comedy and morbid shit? [He looks down as he asks, fishing out some more pieces of orange out of his bowl to eat. The rest of the play must be better then, with fun things to make peope laugh and that's where the jokes came in.]

[redotiertwo]

Black comedy is when people make jokes out of bad shit like death or violence or whatever. Morbid just means invested in the weird and disturbing and potentially also dead.

[Basically, there's a lot of death jokes going on here, though they were just talking about a play where everyone dies at the end.]

[myblueskies]

Oh so some people like laughing at bad shit? And dead people. [That all sounded really bad, Romeo didn't think any of those things were funny at all! But he knows that not all stories can end in happily ever after even if that would be a nice thing.

It still didn't mean people should be happy about such bad things happening.] Do you like bad and morbid shit, mister Davesprite?

[redotiertwo]

Kind of, yeah. [Davesprite has the impression this kid doesn't quite understand it properly, which makes the follow-up seem like a bit of a leading question.]

Sometimes, you know, as long as there's no actual real dead people involved. You gotta draw the line somewhere.

[myblueskies]

[As long as there were no real dead people involved. That made it a bit better. That made it just weird and disturbing rather than worrying. Davesprite didn't seem like a bad person and so Romeo was glad he didn't find real dead people funny.]

I think I like jokes about nice things and silly things better.

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, well, there's nothing wrong with that, my dude, different people laugh at different shit, that's why comedians have such a hard time of it.

[Something that's hilarious to one person might fall flat on or even offend someone else, so it's not exactly an easy thing to navigate. As someone who fancies himself a comedic enough shitposter to count, Davesprite knows the feeling.]

[myblueskies]

I bet it's hard being a comedian. [Said like he knows what a comedian is, but he figures it's someone who makes people laugh. He grins and jumps to his feet.] I'm going to go and see if I'm allowed more food, do you want some too, mister Davesprite?

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, tough crowds and sneaky joke-stealers and all that shit, it's a rough gig. [At the offer, Davesprite waves a hand.]

I'm good for now, go forth and gorge yourself, kid.

[myblueskies]

[He grinned.] Alright! It was nice to meet you, mister Davesprite! [And with that he's off, running towards were the food was happily.]