36 - Dragon Dance

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Help the Heavens cover for a missing goddess at her temple festival.
When: March 18
Where: Near the Sensou-ji temple in Asakusa
Summary: After Kannon's disappearance last year, the Heavens are concerned that things might go wrong at her temple's March 18 omikoshi festival. They've asked new gods and shinki to attend the festival and keep an eye out for trouble. Meanwhile, trusted newcomers and older gods and shinki alike are watching over the cultists that have been identified.






The Festival

Shrine-carriers, musicians and dancers congregate early in the morning in their matching outfits to get organized into their parade. Luckily, all of the parade participants this time are alive and well. There aren't even any troublesome ayakashi hanging around... so why is everyone having such bad luck?! Laces are breaking, costumes tearing, small children are getting sick from nerves, and even the drums seem to have gone out of tune. It looks like this parade is going to need a whole lot of help to prevent disaster.

For those who aren't busy with the parade preparations, food and souvenir booths throng the area in front of the temple. There's traveling games, too, and plenty of people showing up early with their families to find a good spot to watch the parade. This is one of Tokyo's most popular temples, so it's quite a crowd!

The Stakeouts

Any gods or shinki who were told about the cult problem by Amaterasu -- or anyone who might have heard from friends and allies about the plans -- can help Amaterasu's shinki keep a tight watch on all of the known cult members. Her shinki are looking for any sign of the young gods who she believes are behind all of this trouble, but are there other clues that might be found by a keen observer? Join in on staking out a cult member, and see what you can see.

Current cult members that the shinki are watching include:

• Mitsui Ryou - lives alone in a medium-sized apartment, appears to work a 9 - 5 schedule with occasional late nights.
• Imai Takeru - lives in a small two-story house by himself, has an unpredictable schedule.
• Shimoda Tsuki - lives alone in a small apartment with a lot of plants, works retail with varying shifts.
• Oota Saburo- lives in a medium-sized apartment with his wife and two young children, works a 9 - 5 schedule with frequent work trips.
• Maeda Shinnosuke - lives alone in a small, messy apartment, works construction (early mornings, long days.)
If your character is taking part in the surveillance of any of these people, please feel free to comment to the Cult Clues thread below with the name of the character they're watching, and the times that they're watching that character, in order to learn what they might see. (Note: surveillance doesn't have to take place only on the 18th. Characters can take part in watching the cult members at any time after Amaterasu's announcement on March 8.)

The Parade

At noon, the parade begins. Misfortune is still dogging the participants and the crowds around them, but it looks as though everything will go all right up until the final turn as the heavy, gilded shrine turns back towards the main temple building, tips, and slowly falls over sideways, straight for the crowd.

What's worse, when the shrine hits the ground, it cracks open -- and a huge, jellyfish-like ayakashi wearing a giant white mask with a single black eye inscribed on it heaves its way out and begins lashing its tentacles in every direction. People stung by the tentacles are driven into a furious frenzy, and fights are breaking out everywhere. Stop the humans from fighting, take care of the injured, and destroy the ayakashi before the situation gets any worse.

The Pursuit

In the middle of the fighting crowd, two white-robed shinki are chasing after a very average-looking salaryman in a tan coat. He doesn't seem to know that the shinki are chasing him, but he is moving fast, and they're in danger of losing track of him. They're calling out to any Far Shore denizen close enough to hear, shinki or god:

"Don't let that guy get away! He knows what happened!"

Anyone who has met or spent time staking out Mitsui Ryou will recognize him as the escaping salaryman. If your character takes part in the pursuit, please comment to the Cult Clues thread with a link to your thread - the character who successfully catches Mitsui will be determined by RNG on January 6, 2019.

In Summary:

• Attend the Sensou-ji festival
• Enjoy food and games
• Help Amaterasu's shinki stake out the cult
• Fight a masked ayakashi
• Have fun~

Comments

[smilingbullet]

[ D2 does a quick little salute. ]

Yes, sensei~

[ There'll be a lot of use of borderlines to separate the people, section them off. ]

[replicatedform]

[Respecting their recently made decision, Yamanbagiri quickly move in to start knocking people out. While his sword isn't drawn out from its sheath, a strong enough strike from any blunt object is still, well, force.

Some of the people might look startled when they see the person they're fighting just suddenly fall over.]

[smilingbullet]

[ Startled people are distracted people, so that's just convenient. One by one they start to drop, which of course is insulting to the ayakashi (thinks the ayakashi if they can think) and they detach from their humans.

They might not exactly do quick work of the mortals, but they ought to manage to get through some of them at least. ]

[replicatedform]

[As more of the people fall to the ground, it slowly get easier to deal with. Stepping around bodies? No problem, as long he's being careful.

Between the two of them, they would make good progress for this particular spot.]

How many left?

[smilingbullet]

[ You can always step over bodies as well.

D2 surveys the area as he releases another human. ]

Three people at 7 o'clock, two at 1 o'clock.

[ Any other people in the area not taken out already are either from the Heavens (useless white robed shinki for the most part) or confused mortals who either stumbled upon the scene, or people who are waking up not possessed any more. ]

[replicatedform]

[It's not exactly hard for him to tell them apart. Fellow Far Shore residents are easy to sense. Innocent mortals are usually confused and watching.]

Got it. I'll take those three.

[So focus on those who are fighting. Yamanbagiri head for the three people D2 pointed out.

In a single move, he knock out two of them.]

[smilingbullet]

Roger!

[ He'll leave those three to Yamanbagiri then, and take the other two meanwhile.

He makes them break apart with a borderline, and goes for them one at a time. Through the corner of his eye, he glimpses Yamanbagiri- Sensei is so cool. ]

[replicatedform]

[Anyone who can see—well, you know, see—Yamanbagiri in action can tell he's a skilled swordsman. Strong, practical and no wasted movement. Especially once he use his sheath, instead of his sword's sharp edge, to strike at the rioters.

The one remaining person looks startled, as if suddenly noticing Yamanbagiri right there. Only for him to join his unconscious comrades after a solid blow knocking him out.

All in all, that technically didn't take Yamanbagiri very long to deal with. His hand still gripping his sword, he glances over at D2.]

[smilingbullet]

[ The last person falls from D2's grasp as he release them, and he looks around just to make sure that for the time being there are no more people to take care of. ]

I think we're in the clear for the moment.

[ In the end, that didn't take all that long; Yamanbagiri and D2 are both effective soldiers it seems. ]