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

[cloak]

[Although he knows little of himself, Roxas is of the impression that he is durable, and nothing has contradicted this yet. For this reason, he doesn't fear the size of their enemy, and suspects that it's nothing especially new to him. It also means he has no hesitation.

As the Ayakashi howls in pain and whips around to face Ain, Roxas strikes again. This time, he uses it as a conduit for a Thunder spell, eletricity bounding along the blade and hitting its target with a thunderous boom.

He may be no more aware of how he does it, but he knows he can, and it drags the Ayakashi's attention toward him once more.

Ever the better, since Ain's viable attacks are more varied than his own]

[abgrund]

[ Cautious as he is of the Ayakashi, its attention has turned towards Roxas and it makes him hesitate. Maybe he should try and get its enmity back, since he considers himself to be durable as well... but he trusts Roxas to know what he's doing, so he won't.

Using any of his void abilities in the physical world would be too risky, so he has to do something more direct. He retracts the blade and splits it into several thinner sections, working on slicing off the tentacles and hopefully reducing the Ayakashi's physical reach.

Someone's bound to set the loose tentacles on fire, too. Like the mythical hydra, perhaps. ]

[cloak]

[Although Roxas is occupied with keeping the Ayakashi's attention, there's no missing the writhing limbs on the pavement as they drop. It serves as proof that Ain can effrctively damage the enemy, which comes as no surprise.

He imagines that, like himself, Ain doesn't tire. In that case, they need only wear their opponent down.

Roxas keeps this in mind as he evades another swipe aimed at his middle, countering with a sharp clout from his black Keyblade]

Its bulk's a weakness.

[He notes, as it seems far less swift than either of them, though its reach is a problem while more limbs remain]

[abgrund]

[ A pause as Ain rams his spears into the octopus' body, then retracts them. It doesn't bleed per se, but there's some pretty gross liquid flowing out in its place. ]

It won't be able to escape. The more people come, the faster it will die.

[ Surely everyone will come. ]

Then we need to find out who made it.

[cloak]

People can make these things?

[It's news to Roxas, and more than a little disturbing at that. But he knows he doesn't have time to ponder it now as he avoids flailing limbs and attacks it in-between. Their job is to keep this enemy in one place.

That will make it easier to dispatch it, as any help arrives]

So then...we weaken it as much as we can.

[They can do that]

[abgrund]

[ People definitely can make these things. All Roxas gets will be a feeling of affirmation before Ain turns his attention to the battle again - needing all his focus to keep himself together and attack at the same time. Being on the Far Shore was difficult enough; the dimensional resistance here is even stronger. ]

Be mindful of your condition too. The blood is poisonous.

[ Said as he had elected to simply stand (hover?) in place and tank one of its slaps. The blood of the ayakashi drips across him, giving an obvious hissing sound. ]

[cloak]

You should too.

[Roxas expects that Ain knows what he's doing, but at the same time, he can't help noticing that his tactics don't seem to avoid direct blows or damage taken. It makes him wish he could heal the sort of damage that ayakashi cause, but only certain water does that, so far as he knows.

He strikes the ayakashi and circles around again, casting a glance toward their surroundings. Others are surely on their way, but at this rate, he's concerned about Ain]

[abgrund]

[ There's silence as he tries to assess the damage he's taken. He had gone into the battle with the belief that his similarity to the ayakashi should protect him, but it seems like it only extends to his spiritual presence. His vessel still corrodes here regardless. ]

I will.

[ He can't shake off the poison, so he'll have to bear with it for now. ]

We just need to hold out until the others arrive. Then, I intend to retreat.

[ Normally, he wouldn't need to, for his vessel would regenerate. But there appears to be some kind of external influence preventing it from doing so normally. ]