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

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa grips her sword a bit tighter and frowns. She hasn't tracked down Rita yet, and... that's really just it, that's her problem. She's starting to understanding the logistics of how much she's at a disadvantage here.]

That's my goal, for now. Until I can find my shinki in this mess, at least...

[Her eyes flick over, noting the hammer. And its crack. She doesn't quite understand the full meaning of that, but given what he's saying...]

...but I wouldn't plan on handling this alone, even then.

[She shifts her stance then, swinging the blade up as he sends the raptors to intercept the tentacle. Not wanting to interfere with them, she aims a bit lower on its length, and a large cleaving blast of electrical power surges from it. It might only do insufficient damage for now, but... The combined impact of everything should at least be enough to deflect it, and maybe piss it off more. Which is fine if it keeps it off of people.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[The tentacles rear back, the damage seeming to have discouraged them from attacking this area temporarily, but that only means they need to keep moving to cover wherever they might be attacking more in the wake of it. Shun starts to circle around the base of the ayakashi in an almost strafing movement, still partially facing the ayakashi in case it makes a sudden movement. The three summoned forms of Impale Lanius follow him at a distance, ready to intercept.]

Any ayakashi this size isn't a good idea to take on alone. Even if you're technically capable of it, it's unnecessarily risky when they're as unpredictable as they are.

[Has it stopped him from doing exactly the same sort of thing in the past? Absolutely not, but then, Shun has always been very much a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of person.]

The last masked one I fought was stronger than I would've expected it to be at its size, too.

[beyondtheblade]

[Tsubasa nods at what he says, as she follows, shifting her sword back down to its katana form for speed.]

Yes, I could imagine. I'm well past when I'd think tackling something like this alone would be a good idea. I would rather have help and be there to fight future enemies than go it alone and not be able to do so, regardless of whether or not I won.

[Which implies she has, of course, thought it was a good idea before.]

Size does not mean everything. Any enemy can be deadly. Are these masked ones stronger than normal ayakashi in general?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun notes the detail, but he's not really surprised - a lot of the capable fighters he's met here have had that mentality either currently or in the past. It seems to be almost a rite of passage if someone wants to protect others.]

That's what I meant. Ayakashi vary a lot in strength, but usually you can expect a similar result from ones that are similar types or builds. The masked one I ran into last was a lot stronger than any other ayakashi I've met in that kind of range.

[He sends one of his birds to slash at a passing tentacle as he continues.] I know any enemy can be deadly, but more powerful ayakashi are often larger as well. If we get swarmed with smaller ones, it's usually the numbers that are the problem.

[beyondtheblade]

So the masks increase their strength regardless of size... [Which is good to know. In fact, her first ayakashi encounter being something strong enough to fend off this many gods and shinki at least means she shouldn't be expecting things of this strength normally.

She snaps the arm holding he blade out, fire dancing along its edge. She swings out at a nearby swatting tentacle, leaving it singed a little as it recoils.]

...that raises a frightening possibility, depending on how easily or not they could access these masks.

[Because one big one is a huge problem. One small one is evidently a problem too. Multiple, normal small ones are also an issue - what would happen if those masks got slapped onto multiple ayakashi at once?]

[revolutionfalcon]

Using the masks is-- [Shun breaks briefly to jump over a tentacle that does a rather better job of snaking its way past his birds at just the right angle than most of them have so far, before sending one back around to slash at it.] --ridiculously dangerous, from what I've heard. It's a form of curse, but it needs you to name the ayakashi.

[He has to break off again to forestall another tentacle up ahead that sweeps towards a crowd of still lingering humans, but he's figuring for now, saying that should be enough to highlight the gravity using a mask has. Any god would probably die from the sheer blighting that would result, but it seems that magic of some kind is required to do it, so it should be beyond the scope of mortals at the same time.]

sorry for lateness, my last week has been a mess :D;

[beyondtheblade]

[That one she does a double take at, flinching and nearly missing the need to deflect another striking tentacle herself.]

Name it?!

[She's new, so one will have to forgive, she didn't think such a thing possible. Still, she can put enough together from what she knows that it's not something you could just casually do.

For the first time in awhile, Tsubasa is feeling more than a little out of her depth. In dealing with her alchemist opponents back home, she thought she'd seen quite a bit in the last several months, but... this is going to require a lot more research.]

It would seem I yet have a lot to learn. Once this is over, I will endeavor to do so. [She bursts off the ground, leaping over the tentacle he's stalling, slashing at it.] I do not like fighting blind! [And... she lands.] So, thank you, for the information.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun runs a little ahead to more effectively blockade that tentacle, but his birds are doing a solid job of stalling it. It's a bit large for them to easily send packing with one hit, so the help of Tsubasa's sword is an asset to that effort.]

It's not common knowledge. I had to learn it from one of the old gods' shinki. But it's becoming more and more relevant, so maybe I'll have to spread the word a little more.

[He doesn't generally take to the network for this sort of thing since he knows there are people who might take advantage of the information, but he does have a few people he trusts as a network who he can pass it on to.]

[beyondtheblade]

[She gives a nod, and she takes another leap up. A number of small, electrical energy blades form around her and rain down at the tentacle. Death by a thousand cuts, or so one would hope. Either way it'll piss it off more, and without her shinki and not wanting to touch it much, that's something. As she lands, she gives him a glance.]

I figured as much, but I can understand that as well... [She casts her gaze back at the monster.] These do not strike me as things that should be too widely known. I know a little too well that too much information can be dangerous.

[Which is also why she hadn't really spent much time ON the network. She's not entirely sure how much she trusts security of the things she might say.

Either way, whether her knows it or not, she'll be getting quite a bit of information dumping later that night by one of those few people.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[The tentacle is ripped into segments by the assault of blades - it'll probably grow back later, but as far as Shun's concerned, one less tentacle for now is still an acceptable outcome.

He gives a faint hum of assent to Tsubasa's point, bringing his birds back in so he can spot for any other locations they might be needed.] That's the problem. There have been people here and might still be people who'd take advantage of that kind of information, so I don't trust the network with it. But organising in-person meetings to do that sort of thing is a hell of a lot of trouble to do regularly. And even then, you're still using some kind of trust system.

[Having to trust that everyone is a good judge of character, for the most part, which unfortunately isn't always the case.]

[beyondtheblade]

Hmm...

[She understands that, pretty well. Her own organization had to deal with a lot of dodging around authorities, be it the ones above them or abroad, and that's when she had some power of authority. They seem rather under the Heavens mercy here, far more than she's used to.

She snaps another blade out of her armor on the side, chucking it off at a further off tentacle, because stopping her attacks at any point seems like a waste of her time in her armor.]

Aye, that makes sense. So I understand if certain things are left off the table for the time being.

Hopefully, I'm able to in due time earn enough people's trust here to be worthy of that.

[revolutionfalcon]

[With that particular tentacle out of the way for now, Shun sends two of his birds circling overhead just in case there's anything on the other side that needs dealing with that they might not have spotted from here.]

It's not that difficult, honestly. Pull your weight and contribute when it's important and most people will decide you're probably trustworthy before too long.

[Not Shun necessarily, since he tends to take a bit longer to completely warm to people, but it's a pretty common phenomenon he's observed while he's been here. Even newer people have found their place in that inner network of those who keep each other informed.]

[beyondtheblade]

Hm. Well, then.

[She pulls up yet another small blade. Just... how many has she pulled out of her armor by now? It seems like an awful lot, for how thin that actual armor is. She chucks it up and down in her hand and considers that.]

I have something specific to endeavor to, then. Thank you, this has been a very enlightening talk.

[While... fighting a giant monster.

Yep.

This is super normal to her.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Considering Shun doesn't exactly seem fazed by the whole thing either, it's probably safe to assume it's pretty normal for him as well. Or at least that it's become normal while he's here.

A moment or two after Tsubasa finishes talking, one of Shun's two birds lets out a metallic-sounding cry from where they've flown around the ayakashi, and Shun beckons his third over with a quick movement so he can leap onto its back.]

If you say so. I'm heading around to see what's happening on the other side. [He's guessing someone's probably covering it, but if one of his raptors has spotted something, it's worth checking out.]