37 - A Call To Arms

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Help the Heavens go after the cultists' compound
When: April 1
Where: A converted farm on the rural edge of the Tokyo metro area
Summary: Between Amaterasu's shinki observing the known cultists, and the work that the new gods and shinki have done, a rural property that might be the cultists' compound has been identified!






After months of investigation, Amaterasu's shinki still haven't found the rebel gods she's searching for -- but, with the help of the new gods and shinki, following the cult has revealed their rural meeting place! It was once a farm, but has recently been rebuilt into a compound with a big central building, heavy concrete walls and plenty of outdoor spaces for ritual magic. The new gods, and some of the old, have been asked to descend to the Near Shore and find out everything they can about this mystery compound.

High Walls

It's not just concrete that protects the compound. The walls are engraved with magical symbols, and any god or shinki who gets too close to them finds themselves feeling increasingly sick, weak and repelled from the structure. Even flying over won't work. There's only one exception: when the front gates are opened to allow cultists, or scheduled deliveries, a careful few gods or shinki can sneak through without being blocked by the spell. How will they get in? Shadow a cultist? Pretend to be a pizza delivery driver? Or will they risk alerting the cultists by trying to break down some other part of the wall?

Booby Traps

The problems don't end when they get inside the compound. Dozens of cultists seem to live here -- or maybe they're just visiting for the weekend? Either way, there's a lot of people inside, and while most of them overlook the presence of Far Shore beings, that doesn't mean there's no danger. Magical booby-traps and seals are dotted around the grounds and throughout the big, sprawling, two-story manor at the end of the driveway. Some of them blight any god or shinki who triggers them. Others glue their feet to the ground, or make them instantly noticeable to any passing cultist, or weaken them by draining their energy away.

The traps have clearly been made by several different people, and some of them have weird senses of humor! Almost any effect might be inflicted on the unwary characters who stumble across a booby-trap, although most of them won't cause serious injury or death, and the effects wear off within a few minutes to a few hours after either they get away from the trap, or someone else helps them by destroying it.

The First Fight

Not every human cultist in the compound is blind to the presence of gods and shinki -- and with all the traps being triggered, it's just a matter of time before they're caught. The first warning that the cultists know they're being invaded is the piercing sound of a bell. The second is the appearance of lashing ayakashi tentacles that rise up from the ground all throughout the manor house. As the humans flee, the tentacles will wrap around any gods or shinki they can catch, trying to drag them further into the house and down. Although they can be cut and destroyed, the main body of the creature is out of reach: it lurks far below, in the building's basement, gnashing a massive, serrated octopus beak that's ready to rip apart and devour any souls who can't struggle free of its grip in time. Follow the spectral tentacles down to the beast's lair, and slay it before it can kill all the invaders!

Please comment to the First Fight thread below if your characters are trying to rend the ayakashi. Each character can only be in ONE First Fight thread. RNG will be used to determine which fighters manage to strike the final blow, but RNG will only select a single thread; players are free to negotiate how the final blow happens within that thread.

The Second Fight

As the octopus ayakashi dissolves, finally free from the magical bondage that forced it to guard the cultists' compound, a mysterious door is revealed set into the far wall of the manor basement. A strange glow emanates from within. Enter... if you dare!

To participate in the second fight, please comment to the Second Fight thread below with the character(s) who will be participating in your thread. A top-level with further details will go up on February 7.

In Summary:

• Investigate a cult compound
• Watch out for traps
• Battle a giant octopus
• Uncover a mystery
• Have fun~

Questions? Leave us a question on the OOC Plotting Post and we'll do our best to answer ASAP.

Comments

[artificialrose]

Oh! [From where he's been carefully looking over one of the larger trees, just to see if there's anything hidden amongst all the wood, Garry perks up.] I know her! I've worried about her eating right, actually.

[Because he just can't help himself fussing, apparently.]

Has your temple been able to eat meals regularly, and have them be healthy too?

[myblueskies]

You have? [Romeo looks worried. He's been trying his very best to be a good shinki, but he knows there's lots of things he doesn't know yet.

He nods though.] I can cook sir! And I make food and I know all about eating things in moderation and how you can't just eat sweet things all the time because it makes you poorly! I make Elfnein food that's not just sweet things!

[artificialrose]

A little bit, when I've seen her every now and then.

[It's not like they see each other every day, after all... Although that just makes him more concerned sometimes. Still, he has to smile at Romeo explaining things like this- clearly using larger words that someone else definitely told him.]

That's very good! Cooking can be pretty hard, can't it? After all of this is over, I can show you some of the easy recipes I use. I have to keep things simple for my god, after all.

[The quicker or simpler, the better. Or maybe that's just him having a superstition of sorts...]

[myblueskies]

That would be really nice of you sir! [Romeo loved learning new things and he liked making Elfnien happy so learning new tasty recipes would be really good!

Romeo circled another tree, bending down to look at the bottom of it in case there was any sign of a secret passageway. There wasn't...]

Does your god like simple food best?

[artificialrose]

Well...

[Pausing in his own inspections, Garry rubs the back of his neck.]

Rather, it's because... If something takes too long, then there's more of a chance of it going wrong.

[myblueskies]

Oh. [Romeo nodded thoughtfully, there was definitely no secret passageway in this tree!] Cooking can be tricky and you got to watch it all the time in case it burns and goes on fire!

[And if it takes a long time there's more chance that you might get distracted with one of the many many other exciting things to do.]

[artificialrose]

Something like that!

[Moving on from the tree, he starts to gently part some bushes.]

However, well. Nagito, my god, has some rather... unusual luck, you see. So accidents seem to happen a lot more around him.

[myblueskies]

Unusual luck? [That didn't sound good? Romeo crouched down to look under the bushes, it didn't look like there was a secret passage way here either!] Is he a god of bad luck?

[artificialrose]

No, it's... Rather, he's connected to, well. All luck.

[Good and bad. He lets out a slow breath, tugging his sleeve free of a branch.]

So it can be very... strange sometimes.

[myblueskies]

So a god of all luck!

[That does sound a little strange. Like bad and good things would be happening all the time.

He sighed, no secret passages to be found, maybe they needed to go round further.]

[artificialrose]

Yes. And disaster, and making sure disaster doesn't happen.

[So it's arguably a good thing. However, Garry has lived with Komaeda long enough to know that things can get very strange there. Instead, he perks up at the sigh.]

Nothing found yet, hm?

[myblueskies]

No... There's no passage way here. Maybe if we keep going round to the back?

[There was bound to be one somewhere! And he and Garry would find it he was sure!

He thought about what Garry had said about his god.] So a god of bad things and good things all at the same time?

[That was confusing.]

[artificialrose]

There certainly is a lot more space to cover. They certainly have found a pretty large place to live in.

[Which is... admittedly a little worrying. That they have this many resources... Garry shakes his head, moving on. Either they'll find something or they won't, and there's only one way to be sure.]

Yes, that's right. I believe it worked... Well, a long time ago when he was worshipped a lot more, people would pray to him and give him offerings, and that would have him keep bad things from happening. But if they didn't, then the bad things would still happen.

Ah, but not because he was bad. [...Probably. Garry has to admit that he still doesn't know a lot. It seems like Averruncus was a minor god, or at least not as well known.] Rather, I think it was just a way to let him know when a place needed help, and that way he could focus on it.

[myblueskies]

Oh so he didn't make bad things happen but if he wasn't stopping bad things happening they would happen! [Romeo nodded, he knew that not even a god could be everywhere at once and if they didn't know about bad things then they couldn't help stop them!

This place was huge! Romeo followed the walls round, making sure to not get too close.]

There's some more trees over there!

[artificialrose]

Yes, I believe so.

[Probably how it works... Well, that's how it works right now with Komaeda, so Garry will work with what he has now in the present. Whatever the actual Averruncus did in the past isn't really his concern. Either way, he follows after Romeo when something occurs to him.]

Oh... Be careful of traps while you're looking, alright?

[myblueskies]

Traps? [Romeo nodded, it would be bad to be caught in a trap. These bad cultists might have put traps around, their walls had bad magic in them so if there was a secret passage way there might be traps too.]

I'll be careful mister Garry! You be careful too!

[artificialrose]

Mhm. If they're going through the trouble to make secret entrances, then they'll definitely want to make sure they're kept safe.

[After all, well... They are indeed already up to that with the walls alone.]

You don't have to worry about me. I know what I'm doing.

[...Probably.]

[myblueskies]

Do you do things like this a lot? [He did seem to know what he was doing! More than Romeo did anyways. Romeo wouldn't have even thought of traps!]

[artificialrose]

Well.. Not exactly. At least, I don't think so.

[It's rather hard to say when he's a shinki, after all. For all he knows, he was part of a bomb squad in his life.]

Rather... I'm just trying to put myself in the other party's shoes. What I would try to do, if I was trying to hide something, and didn't want anyone to find it.

[myblueskies]

Oh so pretending to think like the bad cultists so you know how they would try and stop us?

[In their shoes... Romeo thinks for a moment, if he was a bad cultist where would he hide his secret tunnel.]

That's very clever of you mister Garry!

[artificialrose]

That's right. Not exactly like them, because that would be hard, but... If I wanted to hide something, or make sure no one else could use it. Things like that.

[Hopefully it'll be good enough, although he admits it has some flaws. Who knows what they know, and all of that.]

Trying to think from the other person's position can be helpful in a lot of things.

[myblueskies]

It is helpful! [So Romeo thought hard. If he was a bad cultist and didn't want anyone to find his secret passage, where would he put it?]

I think I would put it where no one would normally walk, so all the way at the back away from the gates...

[artificialrose]

Good idea! Do you want to go ahead and see if you can spot anything suspicious? And I can continue working back here, just in case there's something we missed. Or the other way around, if you'd like.

[myblueskies]

Okay! [That was a good plan! If they both looked in different places they were twice as likely to find the secret passage!] If you see anything just shout my name okay!

[Maybe that wasn't too sneaky... But the cultists couldn't really see them so it was fine.]