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

let's go for a clue!

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite doesn't really get what there is to be appreciated about that - it just kinda makes sense not to make a big mid-air scene about it. So he mostly just shrugs and continues dipping down until he's almost skimming some of the treetops, eyes on the ground for now.]

Might as well keep an eye on shit down here if we're not getting taken from behind right now, we might be able to catch shit the peasants on the ground are gonna miss out on.

[Obviously that's the important part of being in the air: reminding people on the ground that they're plebs.]

Clue Arrived!

[pure_radiantics]

[ OOC: Clue! ]

[ As they're flying along, the two come much closer to the edge of the forest than the center as they follow some of the trails leading away from the heart of the greenspace. Kairi notices the color more than anything from this high up. ]

So far all I see is that this winding path over here-

[ She points a little. ]

Is browner than some of the other ones we've seen. Doesn't that mean there's less rocks and bushes around it? Like, the kind of path that would look wider and more open - easier to walk through - if you were down there looking straight at it?

[redotiertwo]

[The gap in the trees does mark the presence of some kind of walking trail there, and Davesprite starts to descend towards it once Kairi points it out.]

It's an actual trail, yeah, not some piece of shit foot track semi-stomped winding between the trees. Probably isn't gonna be much left if it's this open to the sky, but we can check it out.

[If the rain's been even half as bad here as the slushy ground has made it look, they've already shot any chance they have of finding clues that aren't garbage, but it might give them a direction the cultists fled in.]

[pure_radiantics]

Oh no, that's a good point...

[ Sure enough, the flyer would think about stuff like that. ]

I wish there was some kind of spell that let shinki track things better... I can only hope to notice when ayakashi are close, but that's not the same as bad people who just don't like Ammy-chan. How far do you think we can go before we should turn around?

[redotiertwo]

Wow, you sure sound close with our glorious child leader. [Davesprite puts that in a rather deadpan manner. Prior to her reveal at the reception, Davesprite had only met Amaterasu once, which had mostly entailed flying over a burning sakura grove while teaching her about swear words.]

If we don't find shit in the first few hundred metres, we're probably not finding it any further on than that, so I guess it depends on whether there's any actual point in going far or not.

[pure_radiantics]

[ She frowns at that but can't say anything in response. She's more or less resigned herself to the fact that she's just going to keep rubbing Davesprite the wrong way today, worse than usual. So she figures the best thing she can do is not defend herself - that she talk to Amaterasu and she didn't want Kairi to call her by her full name, so they started using nicknames for one another. It didn't automatically make them close, it was just the start of a friendship, barely anything more. That was one thing nicknames did and one of the reasons she wanted to give him a nickname.

So instead, she figures that if she just focuses on the task at hand, that will be the best thing to regain any respect from him. ]

I don't mind going further, if there's a chance it'll help us learn anything more. I can keep going alone if you'd prefer to look somewhere else too.

[ Let him make the choice. Surely that will make things better? ]

[redotiertwo]

[In this case, it's less so rubbing him the wrong way as Davesprite's discomfort with the system being led by a kid. Ageless reincarnating god or not, that seems like it's waiting to go wrong in about seven hundred different ways.

It's ultimately the obvious strategic angle that Davesprite takes in answering Kairi's offered options, and he shrugs slightly as he rolls over so he's skimming along on his back.]

The advantage of investigating on the wing is that you have a better view than the plebs on the ground, so having both of us on the one potential waste of time seems like...well, a waste of fucking time to me. [As ever, his tone is neutral despite the abundance of swear words and vague insults.] So I can branch out and start looking somewhere else if you're cool to take your little Lakitu cloud there and go check this path.

[pure_radiantics]

[ OOC: Hint here of what they can find while separated and catch up later. ]

Okay. I'll just keep my eyes pealed even more than normal, then. Since there won't be two of us looking in the same spot.

[ She's not sure what a Lakitu is but she also knows Davesprite well enough that telling him the name is Nimbus would be pointless. He's clearly making a reference to something. ]

Where do you want to meet up and how long? An hour, or less maybe?

[redotiertwo]

Make it half an hour, it's not gonna take us that long to cover this kind of ground while we're flying. [Especially considering he's got flashstep and the weird cloud seems to go at a respectable speed. Time isn't likely to be an issue, and they're more likely to run out of forest than anything.]

Might as well meet back here to avoid the risk of trying to figure out somewhere else and then completely fucking misunderstanding what the other person is talking about. [Directions are relative, and all that unfortunate business.]

[pure_radiantics]

Alright, half an hour back here. Sounds like a plan.

[ She hesitates, then adds: ]

I'd give you a hug for good luck if you were the hugging sort, so... [ She waves instead, drifting backwards on the cloud. ] Good luck, Davesprite.

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite gives her a thumbs-up back, already drifting off as soon as the idea of hugging comes up. He gets enough of that from Hajime, since she's somewhat less concerned with personal boundaries.]

Yeah, we're gonna fucking need it, you too.

[pure_radiantics]

[ She smirks a little as he drifts backwards, like 'See? I knew better than to do that without asking.'

She opens up Maps and leaves a pindrop where she needs to return. It's not perfectly on top of herself, but it's close enough that she can find her way, and she knows that if she just gets close then she'll be able to see Davesprite over the tops of the trees just fine.

Kairi sets her phone timer for 28 minutes. During all of that, she takes photographs on her phone of the footprints that she finds. When her alarm goes off, she puts her phone away and starts heading back, unsure if she'll arrive at the same time or not.

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite doesn't bother so much with photos, figuring footprints are going to be reasonably useless in the grand scheme of things. He does, at least, pick up a few of the fabric scraps - who knows, maybe someone can pull some magic bullshit with them and track down the original owner.

He also didn't bother with a timer, but he has a pretty good sense of time for other reasons, so he arrives back at the designated point at almost exactly half an hour from when they departed.]

[pure_radiantics]

[ Kairi meanwhile takes a video of the paths where she found footprints in addition to pictures of the prints themselves. It's the sort of traditional detective-ing that she can think of, without any kind of outside direction.

Then off she goes, riding the cloud with her head lowered to follow her Map back to the point she started at. She definitely wouldn't have found the spot otherwise, not with how far away she flew. Once she gets close though - maybe a mile or so - she can raise her head and see Davesprite hovering there. ]

Heeeey!

[ Skidding to a halt near him, she holds up her phone. ]

Do you think the investigators will know how to get video off here? [ She chuckles a bit. ]

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite turns towards her when she calls out, though that's about all the reaction he gives to the return. As for the matter of the phone, he holds out one arm in a bit of a lazy shrug.]

I mean, they can always ask someone who actually knows what the fuck they're doing, there's no shortage of newcomers who can. If you don't want to melt the old gods' brains, though, maybe put it on a flash drive for them. Or even a disc.

[Floppy disc? Surely they're not that backwards. In any case, Davesprite just opens one hand to reveal the few fabric scraps he found.]

Not exactly a fucking goldmine around here, in any case.