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

A

[junkyarddog]

[Snatcher may eventually become aware of a scruffy blond teenager who's slowly crept closer during his performance, until he's only a few yards away, crouching and listening intently with his head cocked; the posture is mildly animalistic. Ken has quite possibly never heard classical music played live before on anything other than a microwave clarinet, and that's assuming M.M. ever bothered playing something highbrow for the Kokuyo gang, which would be like casting pearls before swine, and certainly any memories of doing so are gone. This is a new experience for him, and while it's rather over his head, it's being played well enough that it'd be hard for him to dislike it.

He listens all the way to the end. But if Snatcher was hoping for compliments, or even any sort of informed opinion, he's going to be rather disappointed.]

That thing's really big, byon. [Ken's never seen a cello, either.]

[subconmodo]

[Snatcher glances up at him]

Nice to hear my performance was appreciated.

It's called a cello.

[junkyarddog]

How come you're playing it, anyway?

[Ken sniffs at the air, then wrinkles his nose. Something about this guy smells...different...

Even when not channeling, Ken's senses are far sharper than a normal human's. And he smells something...unidentifiable off of Snatcher, perhaps because he's not human.]

You smell weird, byon.

[subconmodo]

Wow. Thanks for the compliment. Really appreciate it.

[don't mind him. Salt is just a natural part of his being.]

Anyway, I'm playing because the guy who was here before couldn't play the cello to save his life. And as I consider myself a relatively merciful god, I thought I'd give the people here a performance that would leave them with their eardrums intact.

[junkyarddog]

You don't smell like a normal person, byon. [Ken detects the salt, but he's neither put off by it nor particularly apologetic in the face of it. Why should he feel guilty about a true statement of fact?

You have to climb up Ken's friendship ladder a few rungs before you unlock tact and a general concern for how you think of him. Snatcher hasn't even left the ground yet.]