jigokulogs | APRIL 2022 EVENT

1. HANAMI

The week of the Night Parade is marked by the traditional symbols of Spring in Japan. Somehow, several city blocks have been turned into cherry blossom groves as a show of goodwill by the Sutoku Alliance. These cherry trees don't feel normal. They are more like spectral manifestations. Rumor has it they grew so quickly because they're planted on top of a graveyard. That's just a rumor, though. Don't pay it any mind! Don't listen to any whispers you might hear if you walk through the rows of trees alone and certainly don't dig under them for proof of their provenance.

Accompanying the hanami are copious amounts of food and drink. Such as dango, specialized bento, sake, and festive drinks. They are all available to purchase from stalls near the spectral grove. The refreshments may have a little something special added to them:
Ingredients that promote peace (calming any angry or upset feelings)
Ingredients that promote romance (gives soft, warm feelings towards the first person you see).
These effects are mild and only last as long as you're in the boundary of the grove. Eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow lost souls.

2. KANAMARA MATSURI (NSFW IMAGERY)

In addition to the simple joys of flower viewing and the cherry blossoms blooming, new festivals pop everywhere. They are inspired by various regional festivals from all over Japan. Some of these are benign and feature your normal festival fair. Others are a little more unusual, such as the Kanamara matsuri-inspired treats. You can thank the Tamamo Clan for this. Don't mind the giant phallus being carried down the street or the wooden phalluses you can ride on or the interesting mascots walking down the sidewalk, or the suggestive vegetable carvings.

Surprisingly, none of these foods are spiked, at least not more than the experimental recipes had been during the parade preparations. The spirit of the thing is more just the amusement of genital-based foods rather than anything meant to entice a sexy sort of good time. That will come as the parade rounds out onto the bath district...

3. HADAKA MATSURI

cw: nonsexual nudity

If that cheeky festival isn't your kind of fun, maybe the hadaka matsuri is more your speed. The Department of the Enma are probably the most stressed out faction in the entire city, so the Enma has allowed them to put on a festival to blow off some steam! It's a bit different from the traditional celebration: it's not contained to just men and it's not contained to a shrine.

This event is a mobile mob of nearly naked people and youkai running after a cart with a masked person throwing out small sticks. They represent good luck for the people who manage to nab them. There are far fewer sticks than there are people present and everyone will do a lot to get one of the coveted prizes. Try not to get in their way!

Or you can get caught up in it all and try to snag one yourself to see what your fortune holds. (No, the Enma isn't participating. Too dirty, for his tastes.)

4. FESTIVE FUN

A. SUMO
Some other festivities you might come across are miniature sumo tournaments put on by the Shuten Clan. Raised dirt circles with chalk rings on the outer perimeter pop up seemingly everywhere. Two people are allowed in the ring at one time and there are strict rules to be followed. If you disobey the rules, you may find yourself suddenly ejected from the ring with magical or physical means, and at the mercy of a Shuten enforcer.

Play by the rules to beat your opponent and victors will find themselves rewarded with a strong bottle of booze. The winners of each bout are handed out a commendation by Toraguma himself, which comes in the form of a commemorative sake gourd. This is probably the kind of prize you'd expect from an Oni at a festival like this.

B. FOOD RUNNERS WANTED
If you're in the mood to pad your pockets, maybe you want to help the Tamamo Clan out by running food delivery. This opportunity is available to anyone regardless of affiliation. Runners will be fitted with a contraption to carry the food orders on their person and may proceed either on foot or on a small motorbike. Be careful and make sure not to drop anything! Any ruined or undelivered orders will come directly out of your pay.

It's harder than it looks not to drop the food with all the excitement going on and your delivery recipient may be similarly hard to locate.

C. HOT BATHS (NSFW + cw: optional aphro)
The Tamamo Clan has set up a sanctioned orgy in one of their larger brothels. Rooms are available for whatever your heart desires, including one with exposed windows if you like being watched or if you want to watch in kind. Baths and pools are available for all your indulgent fantasies. Everything you could need is at your disposal: toys, restraints, costumes, lubricants, condoms, aphrodisiacs in many forms. It's a proper bacchanal celebration!

All that matters is your consent and enthusiasm.

5. NIGHT PARADE

One of the primary highlights of the Night Parade are the fantastical floats depicting scenes of legendary events. Keen-eyed observers may note that the humans are portrayed as the bad guys in most of them. While a few of these are mounted on motorized vehicles, most of them are carried by people. That means you'll probably be called on to help carry one along the parade route. It's a fun job, if exhausting.

If you're not the type to wear yourself out carrying a float, ride on one instead! There's plenty of things to toss out into the crowd along the street; candies and trinkets. Dress up in a fitting costume and walk around the float. Have fun scaring bystanders or just have fun hamming it up and celebrate the peaceful night.

5. FIREWORKS

The parade's central stop is the festival square in the heart of the city, just under the shadow of the Kaigo no Bou Tower. There is a stage set up here where the four faction leaders and their personal entourages have assembled. All of them are giving pretty typical speeches. The Enma has declined to give one, having no patience for unnecessary oration. Tenkohime gives praise to the unifying factors of love in the city, while Toraguma rallies the crowd like a sports hero; encouraging them to get stronger and do better in the coming year.

The Daitengu is the last to speak and they also seem to have the largest entourage. The entourage is quite conspicuous: White Wolf Tengu, each standing well-taller than the Daitengu themselves. They are carrying massive broadswords strapped to their backs and hunting about the area for anything suspicious with keen eyes that seem to see right through the crowd and the heat of night.

The Daitengu's speech is also pretty typical, although much more humble than their fellows. Mostly, they just wants to hurry up and get to the fireworks. Just as they finish speaking, the sky lights up.
There are a few peaceful moments beneath this spectacle as the crowd enjoys the display of unity and phantasmal wonder that this unique and strange world has created.

But the explosions aren't just in the sky. One particularly loud boom seems to rattle the very earth beneath the crowd. That is the only warning anyone gets before...

6. A NIGHT PARADE TO REMEMBER

Every manhole cover on the street bursts open, injuring anyone that was standing nearby. Far worse is the deluge of steam that rushes out from the underground. Pillars of hot, blinding steam spill into the air, quickly filling the streets. The luminescence of the festival lamps and city lights are diffused and blurred into singular blobs of color, obscuring all vision and making it impossible to see what's going on. The panicked cries of the crowd also make it impossible to hear. Everything happens so suddenly, so violently, that ascertaining what's going on takes time.

Too much time.

In the chaos, gunshots are heard. They seem to come from several directions. Fighting is breaking out. It's difficult to tell from where and who is in the brawl. Previously unseen figures in full-body black coverings appear from nowhere, rushing the stage. They zoom past any Lost Souls nearby, ignoring their presence. They are focused on a singular goal. The barking of the White Wolf Tengu further indicates the goal of the attack.

Struggle in the steam, help others get to safety, get caught up in fighting the other factions, try to protect the Faction leaders, or try to keep up with the black-suited youkai rushing the stage; do as much as you can.

When the steam finally begins to clear, however, there will at least be one thing that is certain: the Daitengu has been killed.

Welcome to the April event!

If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
We also have OOC top levels for Shuten Sumo Results, Tamamo Partner Cards, and Hadaka Luck Draws!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clearly, everyone is dumb if they think Toraguma is behind this.

ANOTHER Q: I saw that the bullets don't leave casings... is there an actual bullet. Are they normal...

asking because I'm having Hizen get shot and someone asked if they could get the bullet from Hizen and we panicked on the detail because the guns aren't normal asdfghjkl;

There is an actual bullet, though it will not be made of the usual material one expects.

There is also evidence that there was a symbol carved on the bullet, but the morphing from being fired (and hitting Hizen) will have erased evidence of what that symbol could have been.

Jumping in here because potentially very funny-

Ydris absorbed two bullets with their wax head. Could that have absorbed this mystery symbol? Just stamped right to the side of their temple.

They melted one bullet right into their face so that's not an option, but the idea the other left a mark is something I left open aha.

Just like with any high-caliber rifle bullet, the warping started as soon as it hit a surface, even if it was "wax". But it *will* leave a clearer indication of what sort of symbol it was.

It appears to be a very, very ancient character, one that might predate current known Japanese *and* Chinese alphabets.

That's interesting! Could the symbol be accurately lifted from Ydris' head and reproduced? They would definitely try to research it if so, or share it with fellow Sutoku members also searching for leads.

Part of the problem of the character being as ancient as it is; basically no one is going to be able to identify it, much less suss its meaning. Plus it will be warped and incomplete.

It's a crumb, but not much to go on. Something to keep in their back pocket, rather than actively pursued.

Since Emily's thinking to save the bullet from Hizen, if they started searching around for weapons experts/shops, would they be able to tell them what it was made from?

Most of them won't be able to. They can tell it's unusual, but identifying the material will be beyond the average weapons dealer's ability. That being said, a lot of them will say that if anyone knows, it's probably the Shuten Clan's personal weapon's expert, a kasaobake by the name of Jiro.

Finding him will require Shuten cooperation, since he deals exclusively to Shuten upper brass.

Kamui’s Shuten and would be willing to help follow up on the lead! He would try asking around the clan for a meeting with Jiro— beginning with an oni whose ass he and Hizen (mostly Hizen lol) saved during that March casino gig.

For what it’s worth, if he finds Jiro, he will actually inquire about getting a gun, too, in addition to bringing up the bullet. He’s probably outpriced and outranked, but whatever gets him that intro…

Jiro will not give a weapon even to fellow Shutens without the boss's approval, so ixnay on that for now.

BUT the guy they saved will get them a meeting with the weaponsmith, and Jiro will examine the bullet if Kamui's got one.

So does he have a bullet?

HELL YEAH HE DOES. Emily dug one out of Hizen and one out of Musashi: he’s bringing along Musashi’s since Hizen kept his.

Looking it up, Musashi had a shoulder injury, so that bullet is nice and mushed by now. Still, Jiro has something to work with!

He says it's not typical bulletsmith work, and after enough time examining it, he's going to start to freak out a little, namely because... these bullets have an alloy component he hasn't seen in a long time. It's Hihi'irokane, a legendary scarlet metal. Namely, it can conduct soul energy.

Oh god oh man. Would Jiro be able to share any details about when / where he last saw Hihi’irokane in use? Kamui presumes this is bad news, seeing as… they’re all technically souls here…

Ancient weapons, the sort used in the age of Native Gods, before the proliferation of Shinto and the spread of Yamato rule. He wasn't there for it, but we're talking weapons like the Kusanagi Blade, the Ama-no-Sakahoko, the Onimaru. Legend shit.

He has no idea how anyone was able to find ore like this in the modern age, much less enough to use in the alloy for these bullets. He's getting at the prospect of extracting some, though, and wants Kamui to recover as many bullets as he can!

WOAH. Thanks for all the cool info, mods - Kamui will also be thanking Jiro profusely!! Fetch quest time, I guess?! 💪🏽

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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