APRIL 2022 EVENT

[jigokumods]

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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.

Comments

[psionicmolotov]

It is a novelty to talk to others without the usual assumptions, yes. [ Is it really a relief? He doesn't know. But it's interesting, and he won't turn down interesting - provided it doesn't bite too hard. ] I am presented with an array of fresh ones that say more about other people than myself, but I can accept that.

...What my capabilities say about me to the rest of my people is an entirely different thing. [ His tone is a little bitter, a little prideful; otherwise, he does not elaborate. ]

[ He is in fact sort of a well-mannered (??) murderer because that's the sort of thing that happens when you're a drow mercenary, but he's a lot less murdery now. In practice, anyway. ]

[aceslow]

Oh?

[ Kim gestures for Kimmuriel to walk with him with a flick of his head. They really ought to stay together for the time being, he thinks, but there's no point in lingering here when their demonic opponent could wake up at any moment -- or when there's more to be done elsewhere. Still, they can walk and talk. Now that Kim's addressed the elephant in the room, he's admittedly curious about Kimmuriel, from his odd behaviour to his distinct species. ]

I'd assumed... [ That his powers were linked to his biology. ] Mm, well. I shouldn't have. Are those powers of yours rare?

[psionicmolotov]

You assumed it was an innate power. It is a fair guess, [ he concedes, after a moment's silence, finding that he's not as...instantly offended as he thought he might be, ] even if it is an incorrect one.

[ He has no objections to following the human's lead. He's proven capable enough, and it's practical to get out of the way of this demon before it decides that it's had enough of being unconscious.

He eyes him for a moment and then decides that sure, why not. He might as well say something. ]

Among my kind? Vanishingly so. There is only one other who can wield it, and only because I taught him...and his mind was exceedingly well disciplined as it was. There were once more of us, but [ here, he shrugs ] I have been the last, for a century at least. I am an uncomfortable, inconvenient reminder for my home city.

[ His whole family was dragged into the abyss, it's just a thing that happens. What can you do, right? ]

[aceslow]

[ Throughout his stay in Jigokucho, Kim has been spared the surreal feeling that he's been dropped into a storybook due to the sheer unfamiliarity of the setting. None of these demons, none of these places, none of these names bear any significance to him, neither in folklore, nor in the fiction that he favours. Kimmuriel's story is different -- not to say that he doesn't believe him, but to say that it sounds like something out of the sort of stories he indulged in, gleefully reading daring tales of magical humanoids and their magnificent powers underneath the covers, hands sore by the time he fell asleep through the effort it took to keeping the hand-pumped flashlight on.

Now he's faced with a story much like those, but in the form of a real person, who has presumably suffered because of it. It's an odd feeling, to be sure. He rolls that idea over in his mind, to have some rare power, to be singled out for it, to be in some way the last of a legacy. ]

I see. Why is that? I can only imagine if a power like that was possible where I am from, people would be desperate to learn how to use it. Even if they were to fail if they did not have a... disciplined enough mind, they would still make the attempt. I assume there's some history here that I'm missing.

[psionicmolotov]

[ He sort of shrugs. He's not about to dump every single bit of context on the man, more because it's too much effort right now than out of any sort of consideration, but he did ask and Kimmuriel sees no particular reason to withhold some facts about his life. ]

They had power enough as it was - through the goddess that my birth city serves, and through the latent magic that is inherent to our kind. And they did not understand the powers that only my House - my family - held and cultivated - they were alien, and non-drow, and thus an aberration.

[ His mouth twists in a bitter sort of smile; he waves a hand. ] Though I do not mean to imply that we were blameless victims, or much different from any other family that held any modicum of power there. My family killed one another as much as they killed their enemies. [ He says it completely casually, has been saying all of this pretty casually, like this is just...normal?? ]

My mother yearned for the hour when magic failed, so she could finally murder her rivals and take what she believed as her rightful place in the city - at the top.

[ He shrugs again. ] She reached too high for comfort, and failed. The entirety of the city rallied against her and all of us. For her brazen actions, she, along with the rest of my family, paid with their lives. And I continue to live on, the only reminder that my House once existed.

[ His tone has not changed even slightly during this entire little speech. ]

[aceslow]

[ It all seems wildly complicated to Kim -- and wildly foreign as well. The mere idea of being that intimately involved with families of power, true power, of actually possessing power both literal and political is far, far beyond his reach, even if you put aside the existence of magic and otherworldly races alike. He has no reason not to believe that Kimmuriel is telling the truth - especially not with his delivery, flat affect making it abundantly clear that he's not expecting any particular reaction - but it is nevertheless difficult to wrap his head around. ]

...you have had an interesting life, Kimmuriel.

[ He wonders if he should offer his condolences. Kimmuriel's demeanor suggests that they are unnecessary at best, unwelcome at worst. Or perhaps Kim has yet to gain any skill in reading him. He likes to think he's a fairly good judge of character, but Kimmuriel has thus far given him precious little to go off of, save for that despite his suspicious demeanor, he is willing to put his own life on the line to help spare the lives of others. ]

And a difficult one, whatever exceptional power you might have. Victims or not, that couldn't have been easy to live through. Though... you make it sound as though it happened a long time ago.

[ With the strange familiarity of the rest of his story... well. Kim has an inkling, anyway. ]