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

[trustheart]

It's not about worth, it's about fighting smart, but... you've made your call regardless.

[Chris isn't going to debate anymore. She's just going to support him, blasting tentacles where he chooses to strike, and also taking shots at any of them moving to strike him.]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ Strategy is nothing against pure brute strength. This is the man that throws his spear with enough force to literally rip his arm off, after all. The ayakashi attempts to retreat from their assault, but Berserker refuses to let it, relentless in his pursuit. ]

Don't let it get away...

[trustheart]

Trust me, I'm not about to let it do anything like that!

[Chris charged forward, following the ayakashi and strafing it with bullets and clusters of missiles.]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ Berserker ran after it, a vicious smile on his face. It's not that he's enjoying himself, more that...this is what he's good at. This is what he knows. To destroy this creature entirely was his single purpose now, his own well-being be damned. If he died here, so be it. That was how determined he was.

He threw his battle standard with an incredible amount of force at the ayakashi. The sound of bone breaking and muscle tearing was audible and Berserker felt every single bit of the pain, but his face didn't show it. Runes glowed on his body to heal the damage. The kind of person he was is made abundantly clear in that moment. ]

[trustheart]

[Chris couldn't help it. The sound of bone breaking... it made her feel nauseous. But it was also something she had to ignore, and right now, she needed to focus on the fight.

Her Armed Gear transformed into a longbow, and from it, she fired a single arrow, which flew alongside Berserker's battle standard. In flight, it doubled in size, and moments later, both her Arthemis Spiral and Berserker's attack landed, impaling the ayakashi in close to the same spot, causing it to scream out in agony.]

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ Pinned in place now, he could properly rend it. Just like everything else, it's needlessly violent. To ensure total destruction is his goal, to finish the job thoroughly.

Violence is what he's good at. It's all he's good at.

His work done, he calms down to his default state of apathy once again. ]

[trustheart]

[At least now it's over. Chris breaths a sigh of relief as she catches up to him. Time to give credit where credit is due.]

Good job.

[curruid_coinchenn]

[ He simply shrugs as Chris speaks to him, turning his head just enough to look at her. ]

Hm...My thanks to your for the back up.

[trustheart]

No problem. Now, I guess I'd best get to seeing what I can do for damage control.

[She nodded to him.] See you around, alright?

[curruid_coinchenn]

Go, do what you need to.

[ Berserker turns away and walks off. It's good to have an ally around. He measured Chris's ability and found it useful, plus she didn't flinch at his violence. A good thing to note for the future. ]