39 - Where Do We Stand?

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Help the Heavens investigate what remains of the cult and their compound
When: May 2
Where: A converted farm on the rural edge of the Tokyo metro area
Summary: Characters can discuss what they know about the cult, choose how much or how little they tell the Heavens' representative Suijin, and help make decisions about where to go from here.






This place was once a farm, then rebuilt into a compound with a big central building, heavy concrete walls and plenty of outdoor spaces for ritual magic. Now, the rooftop has caved in, and the main floor has collapsed as well, leaving a basement open to the skies above. All around, police tape from a local Near Shore department has quarantined off the area. Amaterasu's shinki, in cooperation with those from Suijin, Fuujin, and Raijin have managed to take shifts warning miscreants and the police away from the area, but left the tape to help with those efforts. Just beyond the tape, they've now put up Borderlines to safely guard against ayakashi for the duration of this meeting, but they're pretty far out of earshot and very focused.

Letter of Invitation

Everyone should have seen the digital letter that Amaterasu sent out, but just in case, later that day each temple receives a single letter, with a wax seal on it with Amaterasu's chrysanthemum as the emblem. It is a reproduction of the same digital letter that Amaterasu crafted the day before; it's not printed out, but rather handwritten with painstaking accuracy. The shinki could be from Amaterasu, Suijin, Raijin, or Fuujin, and they will not force anyone to take the letter, in particular if they're told that the god/dess already saw the message on their phone earlier.

Early Arrival

There's a set time that Suijin will arrive - Noon - but as everyone is encouraged to come early, it is possible you are one of the first or last to arrive among the "early" crowd. How did you get there? Was it by stealth or impossible to miss, even by any Near Shore people in the area?

Topics of Discussion

Now is your chance to discuss with your fellows what you know, don't know, wish you knew, etc. about the cult or their compound. Do your characters think they are still being spied on by Heavens and want to hold back, or are they reasonably confident speaking out with the protecting shinki so far away? At the very least, none of the shinki are making very obvious attempts to return to the compound itself. For the very paranoid, there are little alcoves out of visual range or a small room that still has a door on it, albeit not a ceiling.

Suijin's Arrival

Suijin arrives at the appointed time, stepping onto the compound's front drive and under the police tape at precisely Noon. She comes in the capacity of official counselor for Amaterasu. OOCly, this thread will be free-form individual threading.

After her arrival, we will have mirrored top-level comments with Suijin supplying a piece of information as a jumping off point for discussions about each topic. From that point, it will be individual threading, or multi-character threads if you would like. All of these threads will still be addressed to the group at large, loud enough for them to hear and jump in if players would like.

Redacted April 7th via OOC post: We will run this similar to how we ran the Compound's Second Fight: there will be an opportunity for Suijin and/or her shinki to speak, then characters will be given free reign to respond to her and amongst themselves for a period of time. Then, another "round" will begin with Suijin and/or her shinki's responses to the characters. This structure allows for characters to still react with late comments or reactions to anything being said, or jump in whenever they feel comfortable speaking up.

In Summary:

• Talk amongst yourselves before Suijin arrives
• Check out the damage inflicted on the Compound
• Discuss next steps with Suijin, if you would like
• Have fun~

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

It's not ideal, but there's not a lot of options in terms of keeping an eye on her shinki. Especially when her exemplar is with her constantly, even when she parts from her other shinki, so if it turns out to be the one who could literally be whispering in her ear all the time? That's going to be a problem.

[Shun understands Ain's concern, and he definitely sounds a little irritated with the difficulty of actually investigating it as well, but they do have to start somewhere.]

In terms of the history of her shinki, I'm pretty sure Lavi mentioned while he was investigating the history of the Heavens that he kept running into gaps in books where parts of Amaterasu's history had been removed. It seems to me like one of her shinki would be the most likely culprit for that as well.

[boneofsword]

It's also possible that this shinki is not working alone, and their loyalty is to someone else. THat's another reason for Amaterasu not being stung. [Archer supplies dryly from the side. He's been listening to the exchange for quite some time.]

[fortunesmiles]

[Talking too much is one of Komaeda's numerous fatal flaws.]

Monitoring Amaterasu's shinki certainly wouldn't be easy, and we'd need a lot of eyes to do it...but if Amaterasu refuses to look herself, what choice do we have? I think it's obvious by now that whatever issues the heavens are facing, the old gods either can't or won't solve them...but we have to take the brunt of whatever backlash those problems cause. It may be that we have to do whatever we can to track down the traitor - or traitors - in the name of our own self-interest at this point...

[He nods in acknowledgment to Shun.] It'd be ideal to have Amaterasu's cooperation, of course. It'd be ideal to have any help at all from the old gods. But I really haven't seen them do much of anything except give orders and excuses since I arrived here, so I'd rather not rely on them anymore. It hasn't gotten us anywhere so far.

[Komaeda looks briefly thoughtful at the mention of parts of Amaterasu's history being expunged.] Is there any sort of oversight on the books that contained the omitted information? Any restrictions to who would have access? Or could anyone in the heavens have done it?

[unlucky7]

[Ginia lightly waves her hand and resumes typing again. The suit she's wearing is identical to the Ebisu's retinue in attendance.]

I might be able to find help among the old gods or at least information. The old gods are less connected to each other and far more private, but there are still alliances.

Daikokuten is favorable toward Ebisu and upon speaking to his shinki, they were agreeable in arranging a meeting between my temple. I was already hoping to using the opportunity to learn of any history that might be expunged from the library and pinpointing when the change in clan name occurred.

I plan on cross-reference what I learn from Daikokuten with what the older members of my temple might know. I cannot say when the meeting will take place or what I may learn, but it's a possibility.

[revolutionfalcon]

I'm definitely not relying on the old gods for anything at this point. [Shun puts that somewhat bluntly. There are definitely ones who can be good allies, but unfortunately, they're more exceptions than rules.] I've spoken to Daikokuten myself before, but not about this issue specifically, so having a second attempt - and with the support of Ebisu's temple - could definitely be useful.

[As for Komaeda's point on the books, Shun has to shake his head.] I don't get the impression there's restrictions on access if Lavi could get hold of so many of them, but those stupid library goblins that used to be there meant you couldn't take books out of the library for more than a day. Someone would have to know what they were looking for already and probably have removed them to take those sections out...or they were someone of high enough status they wouldn't have had to worry about the security.

[fortunesmiles]

I have to agree that while some of the old gods may indeed prove somewhat useful, at this point I wouldn't care to make any plans that rely upon them, either. What help we can get from them is welcome, of course...but as something supplementary to whatever we arrange for ourselves. And in particular, I don't expect any of them - even those friendly to us - to help us track Amaterasu's shinki. I'm guessing that they'd be risking a lot more than we would, doing something that could be seen as spying on Amaterasu...and they're all likely a lot more loyal to her than we are, as well. But then I suppose it's easy to be loyal to someone who's overseeing a system that benefits you...which is more than we can say.

[Komaeda blinks at Shun.] Library goblins...? You don't suppose they could have been responsible themselves, do you? Either for their own reasons, or at the command of a god...? I've never seen or heard of such things, but I assume as denizens of the heavens they'd be subject to being ordered around by the old gods.

I suppose the question of who actually removed the material matters a lot less than who caused it to be removed...so it might be the question of access isn't going to tell us anything. Oh well...

[unlucky7]

[Ginia frowns at the mention of the goblins. She remembers a brief mention of them in Shun's history post, but nothing in detail.]

I know it's a little off-topic, but can you expand on the goblins too? Mostly, if there was something in place keeping such a close eye on the books, it's strange such a system isn't in place now.

[Better for them, but still.]

There's also the fact it's impossible finding anything in the library on a good day. So if someone is managing to edit information, it means they have a greater understand of how books come in and come out.

[Ginia pauses as something occurs to her.]

Does anyone know what's behind the locked door in the library?

[revolutionfalcon]

I suppose it's possible, but I'm not sure we ever found out who oversaw them, and we certainly wouldn't be able to find out now unless someone was incredibly careless with their information.

[And that answer to Komaeda's theory kind of leads into what Ginia wants to hear anyway, so he goes on to that without much of a hesitation.] A while ago, one of Add's experiments caused some kind of snarl with the flow of time here. If I'm remembering right, all of the goblins ended up dead of old age after that. I certainly haven't seen any of them since.

[So it was an accidental incident, at least. He's not sure anyone could actually predict the outcome of Add's experiments, not even Add himself.] About the locked door, I'd ask Chikusa about that. With Lavi gone, he's the main person I can think of who spends enough time in the library to know something about it. If anyone does, that is.

[fortunesmiles]

Chikusa? [Komaeda looks surprised, and then faintly, bitterly amused.] I don't believe he likes me much... [Not that Chikusa likes anyone much, but Komaeda is on a slightly higher tier of dislike than most.]

Well, in any case, if anything did happen with the goblins, I suppose there's no way of knowing now. We can hardly interrogate them if they're dead...