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

[ofnovalue]

I am inclined to agree. [ Ovelia mumbled under her breath. ]

Milord! While you would be unable to rend them, you should at least have me as your sword so that your hands suffer less blight!

[fauxcalibur]

I suppose I could do something about that...

[The air around him begins to shimmer with golden light as his armor manifests. He could have been wearing it all along, he supposes, but somehow that would take the challenge out of things as well.]

I do have a sword of my own, but...

[He's kind of pouting. Using his own sword isn't much fun, either.]

[ofnovalue]

If you could do that from the beginning... [ Ovelia was practically growling, holding back the worse of her scolding, given it wouldn't serve either of them well in the current crisis. ]

My vessel is a sword. A blade known as Save the Queen.

[fauxcalibur]

Is that so? I would imagine your god must be looking for you right now if that's the case!

[He seems completely immune to scolding. And taking the rational course of action, apparently.]

[ofnovalue]

My goddess is not so foolish to face the enemy with no weapon, even if we did become separated. [ Spoken confidently, a bit surprising given the lack of certainty so many of her other words often had. ]

[fauxcalibur]

Well, I do have a weapon, but...

[It's just not possible to kill an ayakashi with. Which is a bit vexing because one highly destructive beam of light should be more or less the same as another, one would think.]

[ofnovalue]

And you refused to use it, exposing your very own hands to the blight?! [ Okay, now she was in full scolding mode. ]

[fauxcalibur]

It's not much of a challenge to strike things with a sword or to use my Noble Phantasm...

[He's not chastened. He may be pouting a little, but it's not because he's learned even this slightest bit of a lesson.]

And Suzaku's vessel form is a gun, which is even easier to defeat ayakashi with...

[ofnovalue]

Ser! Lives are in danger, and you speak of only wishing for challenge?! [ Scolding AND angry. ]

[fauxcalibur]

I don't believe I ever said I was a particularly well-regarded king!

[For exactly this reason.]

I'm sure it will all sort itself out, though! If it looks like things are getting too dire, Suzaku is no doubt around here somewhere and I did think to bring my cell phone.

[ofnovalue]

[ As if it wasn't obvious how much her indignation had changed her from the shy, meek girl he'd met before into something else entirely, her sudden approach and hard slap aimed at his face would drive the point home. ]

Do not think your transgressions are undone simply because you admit to them! If you cannot carry yourself as a king, then call yourself one no longer!

[ Whoa. ]

[fauxcalibur]

[He reels back for a second, eyes wide, then raises his hand to his cheek and looks at her with wide, sparkling eyes.]

You hit me! Even my own father never hit me!

[While it's true that he's absolutely delighted any time someone stands up to him and genuinely makes an effort to set him straight, purely because so few people ever did, he's probably even more excited to have a perfect opening to use that line.]

[ofnovalue]

[ His reaction was enough to take the righteous angry wind right out of her sail, though, causing her to visibly deflate. ]

What a strange man you are...