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

[kokuyoyo]

"Are you strong enough to be just as fast?" Chikusa fires back, not looking at Ken anymore as he quickly puts away his first aid equipment. With how fast his hands can move all on their own, it hardly takes a minute before he's shoving it back into his bag and pushing himself up onto his feet.

"I'll be right here. Let's just move." And with that, he himself starts to take off. No sense in staying in a building that might collapse, after all.

But even as he's starting to run... He has to admit that he's half expecting his partner to just grab him before he can get a good speed started.

[junkyarddog]

"Yeah I am!" Ken rages, even as Chikusa takes off ahead of him. And Chikusa knows his partner well, because Ken is charging after him and yanking the other boy right off his feet, tucking him under his arm like the world's longest football. (This is hardly ideal, and Chikusa is going to have to lift his legs to keep his shoes from constantly banging the ground, but. Ken sure is carrying him, as promised.)

Holding the old woman one-armed against his chest, and carrying Chikusa under his arm, Ken charges his way out of the building. It's not easy, and maybe he is a touch slower than he would be otherwise...but it's not hugely noticeable. And in the end, the three of them do make it all the way outside without further incident...where Ken promptly drops to his knees and lets Chikusa thud onto the grass while he catches his breath.

[kokuyoyo]

Yep. Perfectly as expected.

Chikusa doesn't even bother to lift up his legs, partially because that's some exercise he sure as hell hasn't asked for today, partially because this is Ken's dumb idea. If Ken wants to drag him around instead of allowing Chikusa to use his own two feet for once, then he's not going to make it any easier on his partner. This is his choice.

Once they're finally outside, a decent distance away from the building that's likely to collapse in on itself at any moment, Chikusa accepts the drop for what it is. If there's any scrap of silver to the lining of this situation, it's that he has enough energy to get right up onto his knees again. "You're dumb," he tells his partner plainly, even as he reaches over to take the old woman himself. Patiently, he gets out the first aid kit again and gets to work. Time for some slightly better medical treatment this time.

[junkyarddog]

"You're dumb," Ken counters, a witty comeback if ever there was one. It comes complete with an angry huff. He crouches down near Chikusa and the woman, watching his partner's work grudgingly.

"What're we gonna do with her, Kakipi?"

[kokuyoyo]

"Interrogate her," Chikusa says plainly as he works, seeming to move in an almost automated matter. Keeping their hostage alive is the most important thing right now, so he has to work as quickly as possible.

"Depending on things, we might just kill her." Actually he might definitely kill her if Hakkai doesn't object to it. After all, she's part of this whole mess. In other words, he's following the same tactics that he once used with mafia.

[junkyarddog]

"Are we gonna take her to Hakkai-sama?" This is Ken's first instinct. He watches Chikusa work, tail swishing back and forth slowly. It's hard to say if he thinks they should take her to Hakkai for medicine or for interrogation, but his answer would probably be 'yes'.

[kokuyoyo]

"Yes." He could go into a whole lot on his reasons for this decision, on how Hakkai would like to be a part of this, and how it's probably the most secure place while also being the most potentially dangerous, and those two balance out... But Chikusa knows that Ken doesn't need to hear any of those reasonings. Ken only needs to be told what they're doing, and how. Speaking of....

"I want to make sure she can't be sure of how to get to our temple... Or where it is. So I'm going to need to take care of her senses. Then, can you haul her back, Ken?"

[junkyarddog]

To be fair, even as simple as Ken is, he can reason a few of those things out for himself. He's sure in his own mind that Hakkai will want his own chance to interrogate this woman, after all.

At the question, he openly snorts. "Course I can! She hardly weighs anything anyway when I'm in Kong Channel." He'd only gotten tired out carrying her and Chikusa in Lion Channel because Lion Channel isn't really made for that kind of hauling, and Ken's relative size to the woman and Chikusa hadn't been big enough for him to do it in a way that was comfortable or convenient.

wrap up around here?

[kokuyoyo]

"Good." That's about the amount of energy Chikusa will waste on talking right now, instead focusing on getting the woman not only cleaned up healthily but also blocking her sight and ability to hear. It's a good thing that Chikusa has started to become the type to keep things on hand while a shinki. From the basic things like first aid kits... to a pair of large headphones that he can stuff over her ears.

He hopes she likes EDM, because that's all she's getting.

When he's finally done, he slowly pushes himself up to his feet and rolls his head a little bit. "How troublesome... Then, let's go, Ken." It's a long way home.