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

(Stop, he doesn't like this. He isn't equipped to deal with a possession. The only way he knows how is to beat things up until the spirit leaves and he can't do that to Izo. :( )

You did this to him...

(Turned him into some crow hybrid. Something he'd wanted to ask about but didn't know how.

His grip on Izo's clothes loosens. He really isn't sure what to do anymore.)

Yeah, I made things a little more comfortable for myself.

[ Karasu is amused by all of this. Hizen's reaction is much more entertaining than Ryouma's was, so of course he's going to be a bigger pain in the ass. ]

You should be glad I kept him from dying.

[ Not out of care for Izō, but rather out of self-preservation. He has a vested interest in Izō's survival. ]

(Stop leave him alone why is he being bullied,)

Don't tell me what to do.

(Or how to feel? He isn't going to feel glad? Shut up, Karasu,)

Why the hell are you out now?

It's a party, that means I can get as drunk as I want and stretch my wings a little bit. Gets cramped just sitting around, you know?

[ He grins viciously. ]

You can relate, can't you? Heard you're a sword...That body's a lot better than sitting cramped in a sheath all the time, right?

Knock it off. You don't know me.

(If anything, his sword form is the one he feels most comfortable in considering his true form. He doesn't have to worry about going hungry or really needing to be awake to do anything. Sure, there were downsides but in a lot of ways, being a sword is easier than being a person. Steel heart, empty head, letting others take command.)

And ya owe me.

(HIS DRINK...)

I don't owe you anything! That's my fee for not just eating you.

[ Hard to tell if a youkai's joking or not. ]

I'm not buying you another one unless you make me.

(Even if it is a joke, Hizen has no sense of humor.)

Try me, ya overgrown chicken.

(Try eating him!!!)

[ Well, Hizen asked for it, so.......he tries to bite him. ]

(He fucking tried it so Hizen aims a punch at his mouth.)

[ It connects and Karasu just laughs. ]

You know we share a body, right? I'm not going to stop you if you keep going, but...

I told ya you don't know me!

(He'll fight Okada Izo 500 times if he has to? And he'll fight a chicken a thousand times.)

You're pissing me off.

How's it going to feel when you look him in the face and he's bleeding because of you?

[ Yes, he's going to escalate this because it's funny. ]

Why do I make you so mad? You know Izō is better off with me, right?

You know I don't give a shit about you.

(No comment about the first point? He'll cross that bridge when he gets there. Anyway he's getting his next punch ready. He's ready to throw hands.)

Hit me already! If you want to fight so bad, hit me!

[ What a pain in the ass. ]

(A real fucking pain in the ass and Hizen is more than happy to accept the invitation. He even smiles(?!),)

Just remember ya owe me.

(And here comes another punch.)

[ That one cuts the inside of his mouth so Karasu spits blood on the ground. ]

All this for a lost beer? Come on...Hit me harder.

Nah. Just don't like your face.

(Even though it's Izo's. It's different to him. There are nearby festival goers watching two Shuten punks go at it in the middle of what's supposed to be a good time.)

And you piss me off. (He flexes his hand. Fighting isn't really any fun if the other guy isn't fighting back and he can tell this is just a plan to piss him more later but well... he's already mad now.) Stop looking at me.

(He's going to punch Karasu's lights out. )

[ Karasu finds this all very funny, which is why he keeps laughing at Hizen's anger. It's fun to push buttons and see how far someone is willing to go to make him shut up.

Izō, on the other hand, hates it. ]

I thought you liked this face. Changed your mind about this asshole, huh?

I told you, you don't know me.

(He clenches his fist tight and growls,)

Fight back or something already.

Why? Would that make you feel better?

[ Karasu has no intention of fighting back and every intention of making Hizen more upset with him. ]

Worried about my feelings?

(He's trying to not let this get to him more than it already is but

Hizen is not the best at this.)

I'm worried you're too afraid to act on your feelings.

[ Yes, he's calling Hizen a coward for not punching him in the face. ]

What feelings?

(Besides annoyance and irritation and that bit of concern he showed in the beginning and--)

If I really wanted to kick your ass, it wouldn't matter.

Oh, now you're boring. You really are just like him.

[ He could keep poking Hizen, but it doesn't seem like he's going to get what he wants out of this. ]

All bark and no bite.

You're one to talk.

(Considering Karasu hasn't done anything but talk!!!)

(no subject)

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