we'll take the world back from the heart-attacked

[sageprincess]

Who: Zelda and anyone who has been investigating the cult or is interested in learning about their activities.
When: December 21
Where: The Temple of Metis
What: Zelda holds a council to discuss the cult and get everyone on the same page regarding them and other related incidents.
Warnings: Cults generally aren't pleasant things. Please mark any threads with relevant warnings.

[The message goes out two days prior.

it has come to my attention that several among our number have been pursuing their own investigations regarding the organization responsible for the forest incident and their activities. as such, i would like to propose a gathering to share and discuss our findings as well as subsequent courses of action and, if necessary, potential defensive measures to ward against future strikes against us. to this end, the temple of metis will be open to all willing to participate in this sharing of information in two days time, with formal discussion beginning after noon. as the bbs is not the most secure vector for distributing information, i would ask all recipients of this message to please pass it along to any interested parties that i myself might not be aware of. thank you for your time, zelda, princess of hyrule p.s.; chikusa, i will have a new hat for you if you extend our deal to this meeting.

In summary, come to Metis Temple in two days for an asskicking if you wanna talk shit about cultists. Tell your friends.]

[The day comes and the dumb puzzle door that usually bars outsider entry into the temple's underground complex has mercifully been left open. Luminescent crystals light the way as visitors descend a stone spiral staircase that eventually opens up to the temple's main living area. A large dining table is the central focus and many chairs surround it, including some that were clearly brought from other spaces to accommodate a large group. Some couches off to the side have also been turned away from the fireplace that banishes winter's chill in order to provide further seating for those in attendance. A beanie sits unclaimed on one of the chairs. For refreshment, a kettle of tea is available in the kitchen, as well as a plate of festive sugar cookies. Store-bought, unfortunately for those who are picky about those kinds of things, because any attempts made by the temple's current residents to cook are met with utter and complete disaster.

Speaking of festive, the entirety of the temple's interior is currently covered in glitter, tinsel, and mistletoe. Dear Amaterasu, there is so much mistletoe, and you likely aren't leaving here without finding glitter still stuck to your person hours later. Zelda would really prefer if you would not point any of this out. Minako is just very... enthusiastic about the season, that's all. Be thankful she couldn't get a tree down here.

At a certain point in time, Zelda will formally call the meeting to begin, but until then everyone is free to mix and mingle at their leisure. Just... please don't ruin her house, okay.]

_{(ooc; so this is a free-for-all meeting to discuss various aspects of the metaplot! anyone and everyone is invited; you can just say your character learned about it from word of mouth if they don't know zelda that well or at all. and if you've got any other questions, you can reach me via pm or at jamizoid!)}

Comments

MEETING

[sageprincess]

[Zelda is seated at the head of the table, because of course she is. This whole thing is kind of nerve-wracking for her, being the first time she's ever presided over anything remotely resembling court, but she puts a brave face on regardless because no one needs to know about that fact. Fake it 'til you make it, and so on.

When the time comes, she stands, and draws attention to herself with the clinking of her spoon against her teacup.]

Excuse me, if I may have your attention, please.

Thank you all for coming here today. I understand that there might be some reluctance to share what has been learned about this organization for fear of those findings falling into the wrong hands, or because of resentment held towards the Heavens' bureaucracy, but it is my belief that remaining secretive even from each other will only serve to weaken us. We might not have been asked to take up the roles we currently occupy, but as this group seems to wish for nothing less than our complete destruction regardless of that fact, we will need every advantage we can get against them. That much, I hope we can all agree on.

That said, I would like to establish a few ground rules before we begin discussion proper. Namely, I shall reserve the right to remove anyone from the premises who proves themselves to be more of a disturbance than one providing productive commentary. I understand some of you may have some grievances with others that are in attendance, but within these walls I would ask that we attempt to remain civil with one another for the sake of our common goal.

[NOOOO FIGHTING. Violators of this rule will be teleported into the near-freezing canals just outside her temple.]

Now, then. [She sits, gesturing to the group as a whole.] Who would like to begin?

_{(ooc; rather than try to keep everything in one huge unmanageable thread, reply to this header with anything your character wants to bring up and then everyone can hop around discussions as necessary. think murdergame trial rules but without the time limit. threadhopping is both allowed and encouraged!)}

ota ♔ plz don't permanently destroy her new regain (the goats are a-ok)

[priforprince]

[ I. butterspy ]



[ A purple butterfly is hiding in the copious decorations currently decking the halls. It's small, and inconspicuous, and perfectly-positioned to hear everyone's conversations. ]

[ II. pond, james pond ]



[ Just outside the meeting room, someone is standing with their body half in shadows, eyes closed as they listen to something being played into their purple headphones. These proved ineffective at drowning out sentence enders, but their Plutooth signal works just fine...

Arriving at the meeting before it's necessary wouldn't be smart. ]

[ III. goldpringer ]



It's all connected.

[ This pronouncement comes at a lull in the conversation. The doors blow open.

(Okay, they're pushed open by a pair of goat toys on wheels. These are the last two left mobile, and they're being used for nothing but very important duties.)

Shikyoin Hibiki stands in the door. Once she's sure all eyes are on her, she holds up a small plastic bag. ] The proof is in here.

OTA - Blighted city, spell tags/straw dolls, cultist activity, Votelli

[unlucky7]

[People want information? Get ready for information. With a laptop set up in front of her, Ginia stands, nodding at Archer and waiting for the signal back he's ready translate for her. She steadies herself with a breath and begins to sign, Archer's smooth voice relaying her words for the sake of everyone that doesn't know sign language.]

[Blighted City]
As most of us are aware, on October 30th, an area of blight was placed within a Tokyo suburb late in the evening, draining the life of anyone caught in the area. Because of the similarity to the energy drain experienced by those captured by cultists and the forest, as well as a previous incident in April, Archer and I decided to investigate the area as a possible connection. Through pulling up surveillance footage, we found the following.

[Ginia starts a video and turns the laptop around for people to see. The footage is of assorted quality and clarity depending on the camera, a mixture of angles too, but there is a clear through-line; a number of people with backpacks moving through the suburb well before the hour of the blighted area, faces obscured with sunglasses, scarves, and even parasols. They form up in a rough circle around the area, don dark robes from their backpacks, and unfortunately none of the footage has any sound or is otherwise drowned out by street noise, but they appear to be talking or chanting. After fifteen minutes, based on the time stamps, they disperse.]

For anyone that would like any of the video footage and photos we have, please speak to Archer afterward.

[Spell Tags/Straw Dolls]
Moving to the forest itself, Archer and I have researched the spell tags and straw dolls, with insight from Shun and Hakkai, thank you, and determined the following things.

[Ginia pulls up a picture of two intact spell tags side by side.]

The spell tags are being individually written instead of copied due to the slight differences in writing. While fatigue will gradually vary handwriting, it'll still remain constant. The differences are closer to different people copying the same script.

While most of the writing and symbol are unidentifiable, a few characters have been identified; "forest," "barrier," "connection," and "heaven" to be exact, but they do not form any identifiable sentences or phrases.

Of the straw dolls [here, Ginia changes to a collage of pictures showing a step-by-step dissection of a straw doll], we found a spell paper folded around a maple leaf tucked into the head or torso. We have not been able to translate the spell paper or find significant meaning behind the maple leaf.

[Cultist Activity]
Of the cultists themselves, we were able to identify an individual within the group and make contact with him. Mitsui Ryou, part of the sales and marketing department at Kubo Advertising Company. His involvement with the cult stretches to around a year or more with regulars at the bar he frequents noting a change in mood and hints about how "things will be turning around soon."

He believes the cult will bring about a new religion that will dethrone the old gods and put gods who care about everyone in Heaven. Archer and I are keeping continued surveillance on him and his apartment.

[Votelli]
[Ginia pulls up another set of pictures on the laptop, this time of a young girl who looks around twelve, with long, tangled black hair, a muddy face and bare feet, and a thin sundress.]

Finally, while investigating Chichibu National Park for clues relating to the cultist, Nia and I came upon an individual known as Votelli. She is a god and claims responsibility for manipulating the forest, though also takes orders from a human man she refers to as "Sensei." By her own words, she is around ten years old and has always been under the care of Sensei. She is not allowed to leave the forest or have other company, and does not seem to know anything about the cult beyond having seen them. I believe she is the rogue god the Heavens are searching for, but I do not think we should take action against her.

[Her hands stop as if she wants to say more, but instead she bows her head.]

Once more, if anyone would like the video and pictures shown for themselves, please speak to Archer.

overseas cult activity, Heavenly traitors

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai has no prepared photos or evidence; he simply stands, offering a polite bow to the room, when there's a pause between speakers.]

Good afternoon. I'm afraid I wasn't in a position to gather much information regarding the forest itself [having been entranced and tied up by a tree] but there are some things that appear closely tied to the cult that I have observed earlier in my time here.

First, several months ago, many of the new gods at the time found that they suddenly sensed a connection to shrines in countries outside Japan -- places that had historically been the site of worship of the gods whose positions they filled. At the time, I was a shinki, and accompanied my goddess to visit her new temple.

Flyers reading 'Down with Amaterasu' had been posted heavily throughout the area of that new temple. It's the same slogan that was seen earlier on scraps of paper in the Heavens, accompanying a mysterious fire in the cherry grove, and when I asked around, it seemed that black-robed, hooded strangers had been seen posting and handing out the flyers. That same evening, late at night, Amaterasu's temple caught fire and she was nearly killed in the blaze.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that the same people organizing what appeared to be cult activity on the ground throughout the world at that time had also had access to the Heavens, and significant enough access to penetrate Amaterasu's defenses. The lack of follow-up attacks may indicate that they no longer have that access, or it may be that they're simply biding their time.

-- Furthermore, the area of Tokyo that was affected by the blight was very similar to an area Suijin asked me to investigate around the time of the fire in Amaterasu's temple. It was on an island off the shore of England, in a wilderness area, and was drained of life and attracting powerful ayakashi. Suijin believed it could be connected to the appearances of new gods; I think that it appears to be a magic very similar to what we saw in Tokyo. Although it could be wholly unrelated -- we were unable to determine the cause of the island circle -- considering that the cult is known to have international reach, I believe it's more likely to have been an earlier trial of that same spell, perhaps conducted in a remote location to confuse the situation and avoid drawing the Heavens' attention.

Further suggestions of ties between the Heavens and the activity of that cult may be found in a strange coincidence I noticed -- in the middle of March, not long after the first of us were drawn here, the Heavens gave us boxed chocolates and told us to distribute them to mortals. The chocolates proved to contain trapped ayakashi, which poisoned or manipulated anyone who consumed them. There was a logo on the inside of the boxes -- "Fujisaki."

I can't help but note that the supposed supermarket that was to be built in that ill-fated store was also branded "Fujisaki." It's not an uncommon surname, of course, and the chocolates were found to be the work of shinki experimenting with forbidden magic, who Suijin says were caught and punished for their actions. But why would shinki, experimenting on their own, choose to put a brand on their handiwork? And why would they choose the same brand that was used later to hide an altar in a construction area? That, I can't explain, unless the shinki were being manipulated, or were simply scapegoats for the actions of another.

It appears to me that at least some gods or shinki in trusted positions must be working with this cult, or must have worked with them in the past.

more cult stuff, blighted areas, forest maps

[revolutionfalcon]

[Unsurprisingly, Shun has some information to share here too, and the biggest problem is knowing where to start. He's done a considerable amount of research with various groups, and been here quite a while to gather information to boot.]

I'll start with what's most relevant right now, with so many people looking into the cults: Suijin recently sent me to investigate an area on the northeastern coast of Iceland where cult activity had been spotted. Apparently, a local woman had managed to get video of them at work, but disappeared immediately afterwards - there's not much to it, but I still have the video if anyone wants a copy. I checked the area with two others, and all we found left was a blighted area attracting ayakashi, similar to what showed up in the middle of Tokyo the other week, and from what little of the spell is audible in the video, it sounds like it was connected to the creation of new gods, like the forest incident. Another member of the cult that Zelda took me to follow up with also attempted to make us plant a charm at one of Amaterasu's major shrines, similar to the bad luck charms that were planted at the failed department store opening a while ago. [As he says this, he opens his phone to show an image of a neatly knifed-open charm from the department store, with a piece of paper with incomprehensible writing and a piece of acrylic inside.] There's clear connections between all these incidents, knowing the cult and the charms are connected. Izuku and I also followed up on the department store incident - two of the employees, Oota Saburo and Maeda Shinnosuke, seemed to have been preparing for the incident together for a while beforehand, but fled their apartment not long afterwards. There was evidence of a third person living there, but no trace of their identity, and they'd received an unmarked postcard congratulating them for their work. So someone sponsored that attack, Fujisaki or otherwise.

Ginia and I also recently followed up with the man responsible for the school incident I arrived during, where he attempted to sacrifice students to a demon. Apparently he was sent a spellbook with no hint of a source, and he gave us a copy of the ritual he used to summon the thing. So if anyone's looking into that sort of thing, I can give you copies of it as well.

Regarding some of the other recent incidents, Lavi told me he found maps of the forest that was linked to the Near Shore during the kidnappings. They're severely outdated, so we're looking at potentially mapping it ourselves when we've got the time so we have more to work with if anything similar happens again. The shinki responsible for the increased patrols after the incident at the moon viewing a few months ago also mentioned the involvement of someone who should not have been in the Heavens - in light of the new things we've learned recently, I'd consider the unknown god Votelli or the man she calls "Sensei" potential leads for what happened that night, even if the actual culprit was apparently a young boy.

More generally, I've heard talk from the old gods about a "Sorcerer" who bends ayakashi to his service using cursed masks. Ebisu was unjustly executed for falling under blame for his acts, but I've encountered masked ayakashi in the Heavens myself since then, and Bishamon and Yukine certainly don't seem to believe it was him. Considering they've been some of the more useful contacts for the newcomers before getting caught up in their work, I'd say there's weight to their suspicions. I've been trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the execution since then, since apparently it wasn't long before we started arriving.

[That's probably not everything, but it's most of what he knows of that others haven't already raised.]

OTA | Soulless Shinki

[pure_radiantics]

[ Kairi waits for the others with better information to speak up. From what she hears, she can't contribute anything new... that's directly related to the cults. However, she's in attendance at the meeting with Joy, the Soulless Shinki friend of hers that several people met during the incident. She was encouraged by several people to make what she knows public... and this seemed as good a time as any to reach several people with the sensitive information without going to the BBS.

Once some of the talking has died down again, she looks to Zelda and gestures at Joy, seeking nonverbal approval to bring up this other very serious topic. Zelda consents with a nod.* So Kairi speaks up: ]

Excuse me, everyone... I have something else I'd like to tell you all about while you're here. I've been trying to figure it out for some time now on my own.

[ She gestures to Joy, who is a young woman without any distinguishing features, but a few people have seen her by now - some many months ago. ]

This is Joy - that's the name I've chosen to call her in lieu of anything else. Awhile back, a few of us found Joy at the Soulless Shinki temple. She'd been blighted in an ayakashi attack - yes, one of them somehow managed to get into Heaven. There was some kind of magical doorway they could get through - I've heard them called Vents. Anyway, a couple of shinki were able to perform an ablution on her. She spoke about regretting being able to protect her god when the ayakashi attacked here in Heaven, and he dismissed her.

After that, she came to the temple of Artemis, where I lived when Roxas and Sora were here. Eventually, that temple... vanished when Roxas did, and Baldr's when Sora did too.

[ Kairi does get a little quieter and subdued at that, but she continues, placing a hand on her chest. ]

In my quest to keep what remained of the Baldr-Artemis temple family together, I searched for Joy. Eventually I found her again - Forrest was with me at that time. Another ayakashi found us then, at the Soulless Shinki temple, and attacked us. For personal reasons, we did not want Forrest to name me. In my panic, I asked Joy to help us, thinking that she would be able to perform the Rend spell as Forrest's shinki.

[ She takes a breath and prepares for the more relevant information now that her backstory to the event is complete. ]

Instead, Joy obeyed the order that I gave her, and looked to me instead of Forrest for further instructions. So I tried to say the words I knew to name a shinki, but I did say Lakshmi during the incantation - that's Forrest's godly name - thinking if I just said them for him, maybe Joy would go to him instead. But Joy didn't respond, so I tried my own name. To my shock - and many of yours - she came to my hands as a vessel.

Onki.

[ And Joy turns into her vessel form, a ribbon-stick, just so that everyone believes what Kairi's saying. ]

I was able to successfully cast the Rend spell with Joy's vessel form, and Forrest and I were saved thanks to her.

After that, I mentioned to a few more people what happened, in the hopes I might find another shinki who was able to command a Soulless Shinki like I did. I also tried to see if it was just temporary... maybe Joy would leave again, but she hasn't. She's stayed at my side, just like she did for Roxas when he'd named her following her ablution.

I also tried to see if there was some limit to how often Joy would respond to me during this last effort in the forest to find cultist activity. So far, the only thing I know for sure is that when I'm with Hajime in my vessel form - and Roxas before her - I could feel a kind of power that they could wield with me. I don't have that with Joy. Additionally, I know that gods can feel some of their shinkis' strongest emotions. I don't seem to have that connection with Joy either.

I didn't mean to hide this from anyone. I was just scared that Hajime or Forrest would get in trouble for something I'd done. So please... if you're a shinki, don't try this recklessly. I agree with the sentiments of what several people told me when they found out... that if the Heavens had wanted us to know about this, we'd have known already.

I'll try to answer any other questions as best I can, but that's about all I know about this situation on Soulless Shinki and other shinki wielding their vessel forms.

[ *OOC: Checked with Zelda's player on this. ]

There's no kill like overkill | OTA

[boneofsword]

[First and foremost Archer does bring several bento boxes full of simple snacks he knows the residents can't cook that he drops in the kitchen.]

[Afterwards he simply waits for the right moment so speak.]

Ginia has already summed up all of our findings regarding the cult itself. I'll gladly welcome any help with shadowing the cultists we've identified. The cult doesn't use a single method of communication, opting for social media and different phone numbers without direct contact, which makes identifying their leaders much harder.

I want to point out several things in regards to spell tags. [Archer uses Ginia's laptop to show magnified photos of several spell tags - some with chinese kanji and some without.] I've got a few charms from the burned department store thanks to some of you. All of them are written on the same kind of paper and use the same type of ink. All contain that unknown script, which serves as additional connection. One of the cultists said they don't make the tags themselves, only put them up.

I had contacted Amaterasu's shinki to give them intact charms, spell tags and straw dolls I had, in hopes someone can identify the language or tell us more about the nature of the spell itself. Unfortunately they weren't able to recognize it, but will check Heavenly records in attempt to decode them. If you wish to know more, ask Caster or Kurosaki, who are officially the gods investigating this matter. [because old shinki are too bound to hierarchy rules. Sorry to dump it all on you guys.] Amaterasu's shinki was able to tell me that all of those are indeed spells, those from the forest were meant to connect both the forest of Far Shore and 'the forest where a god lives' on the Near Shore, since the place must be sacred in order to establish such connection. Of course I didn't mention Votelli to him. [shrug. Heavens can investigate all on their own, he merely gave them samples.] Ones from the department store were meant to bring down misfortune.

If any of you have experience with decoding ciphers or unknown languages any help is welcome. There are several written samples as well as phonetic sample available.

I have been considering several methods to lead us closer to the real culprit. Given how the cult itself seems to be around for a year or so, and the structure is clearly established to hide its leaders, there are several possible paths.

First is Votelli's sensei, who clearly is closely acquainted with the cult leaders and has knowledge of the Far Shore. Establishing contact with the girl and getting her to trust someone aside her caretaker is first step, although with the way she's certainly set up to take the blame for the forest incident there may be not much time before Heavens find her.

Another possibility is finding a human follower of either an obscure god or one associated with mystery and get them to post a photo of spell tag to a social media. They will have to be watched closely, since the cultists will surely contact them.

There's of course shadowing the known cultists to find their next target.

MINGLE

[sageprincess]

[For clarity's sake, use this top-level for all your assorted nonsensical chatterings that might not necessarily pertain to the metaplot. And be on the lookout for glitterbombs - you never know when a certain shinki might decide everyone is being a bit too serious for their own good...]

grumpy bird ota

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hasn't been to Zelda's temple before, so he's keeping a close eye on the surroundings of the area the meeting is being held in. It's kind of hard to see some of it under the sheer volume of decorations and glitter in here, though, and as such he's taken the cautious seating option.

That being sitting on a blue metal bird with flat, somewhat short wings that create a convenient platform. The bird's exhaust pipes are pointing at the ground, keeping it floating in a relatively static position, but it is drifting around a little bit, trying to scope out the area in a similar manner to how Shun is.

Maybe it'll come scope you out next.]

open to all who are brave enough

[reloves]

[ Lightening the mood is exactly the task Minako has decided to pick up today. She's not been here long enough to have any information about the serious situation they're discussing today, after all.. let alone something Zelda wouldn't know already. So she's decided to at least make sure people don't come here or leave here with a heavy or bad feeling due to the topic at hand. Besides, Zelda seems kind of tense about this whole "leading a super duper serious meeting" thing, and maybe she can help her goddess out by making sure everyone relaxes before it starts.

Granted, Minako's idea of "relaxing" is.. slightly more high-energy than most people's.

Once you've descended the staircase and entered the main area of the temple, you might find a girl quickly making her way over towards you wearing a reindeer headband and a red, round nose. She's the Rudolph. It's her. (And why yes, those are brightly flickering lights on the antlers. She'll turn it off when the meeting starts, but enjoy the personal disco for now.) ]

Welcooooome to the temple! What can I help you with until everyone's ready? Tea? Cookies? Finding the comfiest chair?

[ There's probably at least two or three more options in there, but she's rattling them off so quickly it's impossible to make them all out. ]

Or could it be.. [ She gasps dramatically, holding her hands over her mouth for a moment. ] .. the company of one of the cutest girls around until the meeting starts?!

[priforprince]

[ They haven't started talking yet. For what purpose is Hibiki lurking out in this hallway already, then....? Ah, her life is so hard. Woe is she.

She'll assuage the storm in her heart by looking at herself in this tinsel. The multifaceted reflection of her own visage can surely never fail to calm her down....

Don't mind her. Just standing outside the happenin' room, absorbed in the decorations. It's all good. ]

Yona | OTA

[darkestbefore]

[ The moment Yona had heard there was a meeting about the happenings in the forest and the investigations into them, she had made time to come, even if she wasn't very familiar yet with those hosting it. She had a personal interest in this, of course, having been one of the ones taken, and she sits and listens quietly to all the information that had been gathered by those looking into it.

Afterwards, she can be found sitting in the meeting room, lost deeply in thought, but she's more than happy enough to speaks with anyone who approaches her, although she does look deeply troubled by all of this. ]

Trying to get ahead

[lookingforhead]

[Celty is here. She's heard things on and off about the cultists and the murders and she keeps saying to herself that she'll keep an eye out to do her part.

And then one of her friends gets hurt and she's too late to prevent it from happening. Even showing up late to help is just...

She's here right now mostly to get caught up on things, and since she doesn't have much to offer to the investigation she drifts about to try to learn what she can from listening to others talking.

But that beanie does over a momentary distraction, and amidst her mingling she can be found near the chair, trying to figure out who might have left it there.]

GUESTBOOK

[sageprincess]

[There is not actually a guestbook, but comment here to mention that your character was present for the meeting! Just so we have an idea of who all is in attendance.]

[boneofsword]

Archer provides information, though atm I'm waiting for confirmation from mods regarding part of said information. Will tag once I have gathered all.

/waves from new comp o7

[unlucky7]

Ginia was present and gave information. She also stayed the whole time (barring any other fights).

[kokuyoyo]

Chikusa is present and will be providing information once my rp companion and the mods get back to me. Will tag when I get it.

[reloves]

Minako has no information, but she's definitely there during the actual meeting part too and listening in while hanging out near Zelda.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku was there. He had a little bit of information but nothing new really. He did a lot of listening.

[reformedsinner]

Hakkai is here, with information about overseas cult activity and a tenuous "Fujisaki" connection.

[roundtablerebel]

Mordred was there and stayed to the end. She mostly listened and (miraculously) didn't start any trouble. Continued to loiter around for a bit after it was over.

[kuroi_taiyo]

Judar showed up- he didn't really have information or anything in particular to share. He just wanted to figure out everything that was going on.

Definitely also stuck around until he's kicked out.

[priforprince]

Hibiki listened to the whole thing unless anything in ongoing threads make her flounce, but only busted in after the first round or so of information had been shared. She provided information.

[erogappa]

Gojyo was present! And behaved poorly.

[revolutionfalcon]

Shun was around and also gave information eventually after my internet stopped being a lemon