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

[abgrund]

[ Praise isn't something to be rationed, though. Humans crave approval by their very nature, after all. Cruelty isn't in Ain's blood. ]

She needs friends.

[ — is all he'll say on that, for now. ]

I don't feel anything yet, by the way.

[reloves]

[ Minako blinks. ]

Not yet? [ She looks around. ] Hmm, maybe over there near the costumes for the dancers.. [ And so she starts wandering off into that direction instead, only then returning to another thought she just got from what Ain just said-- ]

That being said, are you and Zelda friends then?

[abgrund]

[ Are they friends?

Hopefully, but he wouldn't go so far as to presume it without actually hearing it from Zelda herself. It seems rude. ]

We work together often. I consider her a friend.

[ Or as much as an eldritch entity can have a friend. ]

[reloves]

[ Eldritch entities totally deserve friends. And so do poor lonely princesses. So Minako's eyes light up in excitement at this news, temporarily forgetting all about their little hunting ayakashi quest here. ]

You do?! That's so great! If you haven't told her that yet, please make sure to do so! [ She will make Zelda all the friends. Somehow. ]

[abgrund]

I will.

[ When the time is right, perhaps. They have not seen each other for a while and he had been hoping to see Zelda today. ]

Shall we go somewhere else?

[ Ain casts a look around. This area is absent of anything malicious, too. ]

[reloves]

Still nothing?

[ At least the excitement from just a moment ago keeps her from completely deflating, but there's still a hint of disappointment in her face as she looks around, as if she might be able to discern something after all. ]

We've already covered quite a bit of ground here though.. If it's not an ayakashi, then what could be going on here?

[abgrund]

I don't know.

[ That much he admits. The lack of anything is more unsettling than the presence of something. Though, his calm manner doesn't change. It's almost as if he isn't capable of not being calm. ]

I have not encountered beings with power over luck before I came here. So I do not know what else to look for, other than ayakashi.