May 2022 Mini Event

[jigokumods]

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As the Haniwa continue to pop up in the city and the turf war rages on, life goes on in the city.

1. SHUTEN CLAN

Remember the Isonade? Yeah, those guys. The surly shark-dudes who were no doubt involved in some black market smuggling along the banks of the Sanzu. They were too tough to fight off in order to figure out what they were up to, last time.

Well, Toraguma has caught wind of them now. Despite the ongoing turf war, he’s not about to lose out on an opportunity here! He wants his Shuten Clan operatives to scour the river looking for these guys. They will be a lot harder to find without the rabbits’ help, though. If you find them, you are to “inform them” that the Shuten Clan will be taking over their operation. If they have problems with that, well… you know what to do.

Don’t forget that they’re quite strong and that they aren’t too keen on giving up the information on their supply line without a fight. You’ll need to use teamwork to get what you need out of them.

Should you manage your way to their warehouse, you’ll find a fresh shipment of their products: specialized herbs, mineral-rich clay, and rarefied ore. None of these products can be found in the city naturally. The Isonade won’t dare name their primary buyer but they will let slip that all of this is being smuggled into the city from the outer Wastelands.

The Shuten Clan will demand their cut out of this operation, but you may get the impression that this is only one small piece of a much larger shadow creeping over the city…

Art by Alejandro Gonzalez Agudelo

2. SUTOKU ALLIANCE

The death and subsequent “rebirth” of the Daitengu has caused a considerable amount of chaos. Many of the subsidiary tribes have struggled under the weight of uncertainty during this debacle. The Daitengu has decided that an apology tour is owed. It’s good for the sake of the Alliance, after all.

Oh, but they’re not going to be doing it themselves. You, the Sutoku Lost Souls, will be fully responsible for it. ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

Sutoku Souls are tasked with going to various businesses and tribe centers with an offering of gifts and deference to any and every group within the Alliance who will agree to meet with you. The gifts have been provided by the Daitengu, and are mainly snacks and coupons. Which will not be enough to please everyone. Some clans will demand more and some, in their rage, will try to take their anger out on you. You are an (lowly) ambassador right now, better to turn the other cheek.

This all boils down to be less of an apology tour and more of a bribe tour. What the Daitengu has provided won’t cover everything and you’re going to have to go out of pocket to truly placate the other clans. If you don’t have enough cash on hand, you may be asked to do various unpaid tasks and labors: washing dishes, scrubbing floors, cleaning windows, taking out the trash, serving kids’ birthday parties; any amount of the lowest work you can imagine.

It’s rough! But somebody’s gotta do it

3. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA

The chaos of the Night Parade has caused a resurgence of unaffiliated gangs popping up around Jigokucho. They can usually be found identifying themselves through the use of basic colors and mascots. They are made up almost entirely of violent youths with uncertain futures, who are lashing out at an uncaring world. The antics of the Daitengu, the accusations against the Enma, and the squabbling between Shuten and Tamamo is not inspiring their confidence nor loyalty.

In addition to this problem, the retrieval of the Haniwa is going poorly. Most residents are too uncomfortable to even touch the statues and their appearances don’t seem to be slowing down. There are too many for the Department to collect.

With an abundance of cursed objects in town, the petty gangs have decided this is an ample resource for them. They are using the Haniwa to harass the general public and against one another. They have weaponized the excess Haniwa and are using them as “curse bombs”, hurling them at both each other and the residents they want to intimidate. It’s getting nasty.

It’s the Department’s job to keep the Haniwa figures from falling into the wrong hands and to keep some semblance of order. The official orders from the Office of the Enma are directing all hands to converge against the youth gangs. Use any force necessary and retrieve those figurines.

4. TAMAMO CLAN

How inconvenient! In addition to the complications of the turf war, an extremely important time of the year has arrived for the Tamamo Clan.

It is time for the yearly visit of one of the clan’s greatest benefactors: the Tennin. These Celestial Immortals descend from the Heavenly Realms to spend time (and incredible amounts of money) in Hell’s Playground, Jigokucho. Hell simply offers the sort of delights you just can’t get in Heaven. Due to Tenkohime’s connections with them, the Celestials have had her host them for several years in a row now. She emphasizes how incredibly important it is to keep them happy.

The Celestials want entertainment and delights of every variety. It’s up to the Tamamo Clan’s Lost Souls to entertain them. Your entertainments can take many forms: keeping the Celestials company, putting on a performance, showing off your cooking and skills, tea ceremonies, and other exhibitions. Should you choose the carnal and kinky route for entertainments, know that you won’t be laying down with any Celestials themselves. Oh, no no no, they’re Heavenly, after all! This is still performance, so you may need a partner to help you out.

Keep in mind that the legends are true! The Celestials are deeply deeply fond of peaches. Both literal and metaphorical. 🍑

The Celestials love to chat and gossip, so keeping them entertained is also an excellent way to hear some interesting information. Tamamo artisans will likely learn that many Celestials openly trade with Tenkohime. In fact, the aphrodisiac goods that the Tamamos so famously deal in come, in large part, from the Celestials. Tamamo isn’t the only clan they do business with either. They also have connections within the Sutoku Alliance and are the land owners of several Alliance properties. They are considered one of the primary sources of capital in the real estate market.

Why would the Celestials want properties in a world they literally can’t live in? Doesn’t that just reek of capitalism.

5. TURF WAR (ALL FACTIONS)

The turf war between the Shuten and Tamamo clans is at a simmer right now. Which doesn’t mean that it’s over – not even close. Minor magical traps, similar to those found in the sewer, have been found in Shuten territory. Frustrated Shuten enforcers have been taking out their anger on anyone that so much as looks at them funny. Bars in both districts are regularly getting smashed up. Knife fights are breaking out in the streets. Cars known to belong to members of both clans turn up with slashed tires. There’s even rumors of hits being taken out on higher ranking members.

Watch your step if you’re out and about in either territory. Faction affiliation doesn’t matter when tensions are running high. What’s more, rumors are flying all over about which of the two warring clans is going to be the one to escalate the violence further.

Will tensions boil over at any moment? At what point does the Department of the Enma have to step in? Why haven’t they already?

It’s all getting too much to handle…

6. CURSED OBJECTS (ALL FACTIONS)

The presence of the Haniwa is having increasingly frightening effects. There are whispers about blood coming out of the walls and the floors in apartments, about black ooze pouring from faucets and coming up from storm drains. There are even whispers of terrible household hauntings.

These aren’t just rumors though. Bars are having to close early due to the presence of wailing ghosts inhabiting the toilet or blood pouring from the taps. People run screaming out of alleyways pursued by ghostly hands.

These curses and hauntings seem to be fairly localized; kept to one building or one block at a time. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason as to when these accursed sightings will take effect.

Be careful out there! Who knows what could happen with so much terrible energy running rampant.

Welcome to the mini event!

• If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
• FOR THE PURPOSES OF REWARDS, since all of these prompts tie into the main plot in some way, we will count all qualified threads in this post as 2 point threads!
• If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Comments

[baofeng]

[He tilts his head at Julieta’s conclusion- Chrysalises, organic?

… but he realises why she might come to that conclusion, as he goes over his own memories.]

Come to think of it, I don’t know if Hundun shells are organic or inorganic. We call it “spirit metal”, and it’s metal-like, but it also responds to a pilot’s qi and can be manipulated by someone with a strong enough spirit pressure. The exact material composition is classified information though.

[It would not be unthinkable for there to be an organic component in spirit metal. He has touched it, it feels like metal, but he remembers how Zetian and Shimin can fold the Bird’s exterior like clay or muscle. But then Julieta adds-]

You fight… other humans?

[Oh, you hate to hear it. He’s no fool, he can wrap his head around that concept, though it disturbs him to imagine the innumerable sacrifices of Chrysalis-pilots being caused by fighting other humans. It’s bad enough in Huaxia where they have- seemingly- a justified cause to stick teens in robots. Governments really should stop doing that.]

[sharpestsword]

[ She's not sure she's grasping just what these things are. A look of concern crosses her expression. None of the possibilities that come to mind are very comforting to think about. It sounds about right that a lot of this would be classified. She isn't sure how much of it he's privy to and how much he's willing to share. Personally she's gotten to the point she can speak more freely about such things. None of it means much of anything to anyone outside of where she's from and that specific time. ]

We try to avoid all-out war after what happened last time, but there have been conflicts between planets and colonies that want independence.

[baofeng]

[He doesn’t mind sharing what he knows, to be honest- he doesn’t have much respect for the army at this point- what’s holding him back is a concern for Julieta’s sensibilities. It’s not that he doesn’t think she can’t handle it, but it’s so awkward to spring this on a new acquaintance. There’s really no good time to bring up the number of dead women pilots the Chrysalis conflict sees.

It will come up on its own, eventually. Skeletons sink, but their secrets will always float to the surface.]

Planets- as in, the heavenly bodies in the sky?

[space mechas???? it’s more likely than Yizhi thinks. after all, blueprints for advanced technology do literally come from the heavens even in Huaxia… which, come to think of it…]

Your world sounds very different from mine. As you saw, all our machines fight on the ground- only the Vermillion Bird deals with high enough qi pressures to fly. Have you been to a planet?

[What’s it like? Yizhi’s intrigued.]

[sharpestsword]

That's right. Earth isn't so different from this place, only I never saw any yokai there. I spent most of my time in space out near Earth's moon so you're better off asking someone who would consider themselves more of a resident.

[ Which is probably most people not them. On the subject of the bird... ]

Why is that one so much bigger and unstable?

[baofeng]

[“In space near Earth’s moon” still sounds like a whole new world to him. If they were to talk again another time, or even later today if the conversation steers to the topic again, Yizhi would want to know more. But he’s not in a hurry.]

Okay, so- we classify Chrysalises by weight class. I don’t know if you do the same where you’re from? But the Vermillion Bird is- well, it’s in its own weight class. I guess it’s because the Hundun husk it’s made from was particularly large and powerful? It’s the exception, not the norm, I just never downloaded the normal broadcasts because they’re always available online. It’s…

[He frowns down at the screen, sliding the playhead on the video’s time bar back and forth to jump between timestamps.]

It’s very difficult to pilot. For the longest time they could only find one person who could pilot it without perishing from the strain. What do you mean by “unstable”?

[He’s not a pilot; he doesn’t see what Julieta sees.]

[sharpestsword]

The way it moves. It barely looks under control. I can imagine it would put a lot of strain on the pilots. So some have died that way?

[ It sure sounds like not an isolated incident from how he describes it. What's that about? Everything she learns just seems to lead to more questions. ]

[baofeng]

[Secrets float to the surface, indeed.

Yizhi doesn’t respond immediately. He replays part of the video again, the sounds of combat squeaking out of his tablet speakers.]

Wow… I never noticed.

[He’d only noticed “mecha bird kill good” when he was watching this to research on Li Shimin, really.]

Piloting a Chrysalis does put a lot of mental strain on pilots, yes. Even with two pilots, sometimes maneuvers or bringing the Chrysalis into a more advanced form takes too much energy, and one pilot doesn’t survive. [His gaze slides to the ground, though his voice doesn’t change with the gravity of what he says next:] None of Shimin’s previous partners survive a fight. The survival rate for his co-pilots is 0%.

[Pause. Yizhi abruptly realises he needs to reassure Julieta that the entire events of his novel happened and ITS ALL DANDY NOW.]

-it’s better now, though!!! We found a co-pilot that didn’t die!! They’re doing great!!!

[sharpestsword]

[ Oh. None of them. That sounds bad actually. She'd be shocked if she wasn't so familiar with how easily weapons can become less than ethical in the pursuit of more power. The stakes must really be high for things to end up that way. She looks to the screen again. ]

What's different this time?

[baofeng]

They found someone uniquely incredible.

[Even when trying to be neutral, he can’t help the edge of pride and admiration from slipping into his voice.]

Or rather, she found her way there herself, I wouldn’t give the army any credit for this. But, uh, yeah-[rein it in, loverboy.] -the Vermillion Bird has proper pilots now. We were in the middle of a mission before this, actually.

[sharpestsword]

A mission, like fighting more of these? So what do you do if not pilot?

[ She wants to make sure she's understanding. At least the basics of it. There seems to be way more going on here than can be discussed here right now. She'll have to get his contact information. Maybe invite him over. ]

[baofeng]

[Of course, there’s always a lot going on in the military. More than he’s comfortable sharing with a complete stranger, sympathetic as she may be.]

I’m basically ground support. [that’s the closest official thing, anyway.] It’s complicated, there’s a lot of politics involved, so it might seem kind of confusing... it wasn’t the best, I’m afraid. We all did the best we could.

[sharpestsword]

Seems like politics are a nightmare no matter where you go. I was just starting to get involved in that when I came here. One of my friends, Nie Huaisang, is helping me learn how to navigate that nonsense.

[ She thought she hated it as an observer but she has come to a whole new understanding. ]

[baofeng]

In your world, too? That’s unfortunate.

[How unfortunate that politics, like war, seems more and more like part of the human condition.

Still, he perks up at the mention of Nie Huaisang.]

Senior Nie Huaisang? Yeah, I’ve heard from clanmates that he’s very accomplished in things like that. You two are friends?

[He’s a little curious about how his senior is like outside of the Tamamo meeting room.]