jigokulogs | APRIL 2022 EVENT

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

No, I haven't. Nothing aside from public knowledge, really... I haven't seen anything to suggest that she had anything to do with it but we're outsiders. These people all have a history with one another that none of us have clearance to learn yet.

[It's enough to make him consider actually applying himself to his work for Tenkohime, just to get into a position where he has more access to information that could be helpful to their survival in this city.]

The motive could be revenge, a power grab by an internal or external source... It's hard to say. Is there a confirmation that it was the Daitengu who was killed?

[Maybe it's wishful thinking on his part but people usually don't wear masks without a tactical reason for doing so, metaphorical or otherwise.]

The other Tengu sure say so, but how are us newcomers supposed to know? They've been masked every time I've seen them, and I only met them in person once, when I got recruited. Asking around only goes so far.

[Clearly Huaisang's not the only one feeling those frustrations.]

There's not a lot of leads. If it's internal...the assassins weren't Kappa but they wore similar gear to the Kappa workers to conceal themselves; apparently there's some kind of feud going between the ones who work in the sewers and a different group of Kappa, too? I haven't found a good way to follow up on either of those, though.

And if it's external, your guess is as good as mine.

Hmm...

[That is good information to know about the similar gear the assassins were wearing. If they weren't the Kappa, it still suggests some sort of tie to them.]

It's still good to know there's internal conflict there between the groups. The gear being similar suggests a shared link of some kind between the assassins and the Kappa. Perhaps what the assassins were wearing was crafted by the same artisan?

The same artisan or weapons specialist, yes. Which helps if one can access records of such things for the city! Unfortunately, I bet you anyone selling something that high-tech for anyone to use isn't going to just set up shop and publicly advertise it. We should be so lucky!

[He stretches, gingerly, feeling his stiffened muscles pull and hissing out a breath.]

If you catch wind of such things in your area, could you let me know, though? I bet gossip travels fast in Tamamo.

[It doesn't always serve the faction members to be insular; the more help he has from other non-Sutoku he knows, the better. Even if they only turn up breadcrumbs, those can sometimes come together in interesting ways.]

Edited 2022-04-24 23:23 (UTC)

I'll let you know what I can, Wei-xiong.

[While Nie Huaisang agrees that it doesn't do well to be insular, he's also aware of just how much leverage these clan leaders have over them all. Tenkohime holds the future of his clan in her palm and as long as she holds his contract, he's bound to follow her orders, regardless of his personal feelings toward her or about the work he's doing. His duty as the clan leader of the Qinghe Nie comes before all ties that bind him in this place.

However, a deal is a deal and he owes Wei Wuxian information for what was given to him.
It's only fair.]

I don't know where to start inquiring about artisans or weapons dealers but perhaps Shuten territory might be the best place to start investigating. Though they seem not to enjoy such tactics... It's possible that they might know of a supplier on the black market that deals with such goods.

Don't worry too much about it. It would be nice to get more information if you can, but I'm not out here to get you in trouble with Tenkohime, either.

[Huaisang's wish is important, after all. Not that Wei Wuxian thinks his own isn't equally so, but a vital difference is that Huaisang is, as far as they both know, still alive and with responsibilities to the living to return to. Wei Wuxian, meanwhile, can afford to hang out down here in Hell, and to fuck around and find out if he wants to, to a degree Huaisang can't. He's aware.]

You're right that Shuten is a good place to start, with combat items...I don't have a lot of contacts there either, but I'll see what I can dig up.

Though I'd have thought you'd taken down the names of all the best artisans in Tamamo territory by now. They're really not leaving you much time to even window-shop, ah?

[He can't resist teasing a little; an attempt to cheer them both up, really.]

[Nie Huaisang chuckles a bit, unoffended by the teasing. It's honestly nice. It feels like he has a friend again and it's been a long time since he's had that experience.]

I'm not a fast learner like you, Wei-xiong! It takes me longer to adjust and wrap my mind around things. That hasn't changed.

[Though as he's grown older, he's come to understand that his learning struggles during his youth weren't because he's stupid. He's just a creative learner and had to break away from the norm to figure things out on his at his own pace.]

Jin Guangyao's been helping me a lot. That Shuten thug almost broke my rib and he's been making sure that I get plenty of rest so it heals properly. So I haven't had much time to get around and explore this place yet. I've only barely begun to understand how to use my phone and I still can't do much with it.

[He sighs, just stretching out his legs.]

I'm establishing a contact with the Department of Enma, though. I think she'll be very useful in the future. She's pretty cute, too. She rescued me when I got hurt my first day here.

[Even he doesn't have a whole lot of useful information yet, he can open up about himself, at least.]

Enma, huh. Strict folks, but I'm not surprised one of them came to your rescue. Shame about the injury, though; having our powers sealed is a real pain here. And we've mostly got to take care of ourselves if we get messed up...

[Was this contact the same person who'd posted about Nie Huaisang's services on the network? He considers asking, then decides that while he can't avoid knowing that Nie Huaisang is in Tamamo and the nature of much of Tamamo work, he doesn't really want more details about those things unless Huaisang volunteers them himself. Looking at porn together is one thing; picturing your old friend in bed is another entirely.

He is absolutely debating this for way too long in order to put off the next natural question, but he can't hold it off any longer.]

So...Jin Guangyao?

[It totally is. Honestly, Nie Huaisang wouldn't be bothered by questions about his sex life at all. He has about as much filter there as he did about his lack of cultivation talent in their younger years - or in other words, barely any at all. He doesn't want to push boundaries though, even if he is already feeling pretty comfortable around Wei Wuxian now. It feels good to have a friend he can talk to about stuff again; he hasn't had that in a very long time.

At his question, he smiles a bit.]

I guess you could say we have a history... After the war, we were pretty close. He'd come to Qinghe with presents for me and we'd spend a lot of time talking about things or decorating my room. And he helped me with my brother a lot... You know how he was. Da-ge was coming down really hard on me all the time at the end.

[There's a flicker of sadness and regret in his eyes, smile wavering slightly before he continues.]

After my brother died, he was there for me. I was really struggling with my new position and he'd drop everything, sometimes in the middle of the night, to come to Qinghe to help me out. And whenever I went to Lanling in need, he always accepted me and gave me whatever help and advice he could.

[While he's phrasing things like a fond personal anecdote, there's a strong undercurrent of pain bleeding through that he can't quite mask. Clearly, there's something more to their relationship than what he's saying.]

[He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Tension visibly raises his hackles as Huaisang speaks, before he consciously wills himself to relax and lets it bleed back out of his shoulders. His tone's still gone a bit terse, clipped.]

If he doesn't get in my way here, I'm willing to leave him alone, but you know it's hard for me to see him in a sympathetic light. I apologize.

[Lianfang-zun is not the worst possible target of his wrath -- that would be Jin Guangshan -- but he is the one who is here, within strangling reach, and fox-ears and fox-tails and the slight tells of added years don't dim the undiluted rage Wei Wuxian feels when he looks at him. Wei Wuxian's memory is not so poor that he's forgotten who poured out ashes on the stage of the Nightless City, who had declared it only the beginning of the pain to be visited on the Burial Mounds.

He finds it...very hard...to reconcile Huaisang's fond(?) recollections with that, no matter how willing he is to settle with Huaisang himself, and he frowns down at his folded hands as he picks through the words and the tone.]

It sounds like...he's been a great help to you, indeed. But it also sounds like there's something you're not saying, Nie-xiong.

[He's torn. Wei Wuxian had told him not to worry about being honest with him but it's hard not to be wary when he's keenly aware of the effects resentful energy must be having on him. Of course, he's sympathetic and understands how it can influence the mind, clouding it with rage and altering perceptions of others into enemies. The tragedy that befell Nightless City is far more immediate for his old friend, the feelings it sparked much more raw. It's been well over a decade for him and Jin Guangyao; the cultivation world had moved on from the decimation of the Wens and he'd moved on with it, swept up in his own troubles and responsibilities.

But despite everything, he still wishes to be kind.]

My situation with Jin Guangyao is complicated, Wei-xiong. We've been many things to one another since you've been gone. Friends, family, enemies... I understand that it's difficult for you to see him sympathetically. I, too, have struggled with that kind of rage. Overwhelming hatred and desire for justice, for revenge... A passion so all consuming, I could see and think of nothing but satisfying it.

[Had he wielded his saber as he should, Nie Huaisang has little doubt that he would've followed his brother to the grave before he could avenge him. His refusal to cultivate with his saber probably saved him from his own qi deviation. He pauses, trying to think of the best way to phrase things. He's been hesitant to reveal Jin Guangyao's secrets to anyone here, especially to one who holds such anger toward him but this isn't a conversation he's going to be able to avoid.

Finally, he sighs.]

Jin Guangyao has been punished for his crimes already. I brought retribution down on him myself. Now he is on a journey to face himself and learn how to do better before his next life.

Edited 2022-05-13 03:09 (UTC)

...it's hard to imagine you killing someone. He did mention he'd already died, though...

[The words are thoughtful, not a denial. He doesn't think Huaisang is feeding him anything but the truth here, but it's also hard for him to imagine Huaisang bringing retribution down on anyone. It's another thing about their time being out of joint. On the one hand, he hasn't had over a decade of watching Huaisang turn into the Head-Shaker, and he knows from their student days that Huaisang is clever in what suits his interests, even if he's studiously poor at what doesn't. On the other hand, he mostly remembers him as his more carefree younger self.

Well. Huaisang went through the war too, even if he avoided the front, and Chifeng-zun is dead, and Wei Wuxian is all too bitterly aware of how much a well-placed death can change the living around it. He supposes that if this added 'revenge' to Huaisang's interests, Huaisang would be clever about it, too.

(He also wonders, uncomfortably, if others of their dead have been here before them. Did Chifeng-zun pass through Jigokucho, work off a contract, and move on? Did the Jiang disciples who fell at Lotus Pier? Did Wen Ruohan, or Wen Chao? Yikes.)]

To help him is generous of you. I hope, at least for your sake, that it goes well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

APRIL 2022 EVENT

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