jigokulogs | June 2022 Event

June 2022 Event

1. SWIMSUIT TROUBLES (1 POINT)

As the city goes through its daily motions, the heat bears down harder and harder while bringing out some increasingly overheated behavior from the local population. Summer is here and the natives are flocking to the shopping district: both as a respite from the scorching temperatures and to stock up on the needed supplies to beat the heat.

That means one noticeable problem: the bathing suits left on the racks aren’t the most fashionable at this point! Suits are scarce and what is left over are the skimpy, the oddly-patterned, a size too small, or all of the above. Then again, you are probably just feeling lucky you aren’t in the Shuten Clan, who have been provided their own precious supply of freshly laundered tiger stripe bikinis. And nothing else.

You may be able to borrow around within your own faction, where the pickings might not be so slim, but are still unlikely to match your personal style. Better hope you ran out to buy something nice when the Daitengu first announced the party.

2. BEACH GAMES (1 POINT)

The indoor beach facility that the Alliance has provided is extraordinary. It’s massive! It seems to extend to the size of an entire soccer field. With the combinations of Kappa tech and Tengu magic, the experience has been made as close to a natural one as anyone could ask for. The heat of the beach feels true to the real world, the sand is white and pure, and the waves rolling in and out are just like the mortal realm. Even the palm trees and beach scrub seem entirely authentic. The vibe is immaculate.

Each faction has their own area set up for meeting and mingling but everyone is welcome to let loose and interact among all the groups.

SHUTEN CLAN

The Shuten Clan has set up their beach fort with food and drinks. The drinks on offer are a particularly strong Oni beer and a few spirits (especially sake). These drinks have been mixed so that anyone who imbibes them will feel a heightened sense of competition and the need to prove themselves!

There are plenty of opportunities to show off:
Learning surfing with a few knowledgeable Oni.
Volleyball matches.
Shoulder chicken tournaments.
Beer pong.
Drinking contests that never seem to stop.
And friendly scuffles with some of the Shuten who are feeling more rowdy than usual.
In particular, the volleyball matches appear to be the Shuten Clan’s sport of choice. They’re taking these matches deathly serious. With all powers allowed in play, the game is truly deadly with how powerful, how fast, and how fierce those spikes and volleys are. Hold nothing back and leave it all in the ring!

Toraguma himself is here in his tiger striped best! He’s observing the games and taking note of which Shutens do well and which ones shame the clan with their defeat. He’ll give out rewards to those he thinks are exemplifying the pride of the clan. Don’t worry though, if you’re not up to snuff you won’t be punished; except with Toraguma’s obvious disappointment.

TAMAMO CLAN

The Tamamo Clan doesn't disappoint either. Their tiki bar is set up with a far greater variety in stock than the Shutens. Every drink seems to be made to that Lost Soul’s exact tastes. Watch out, this may compel you to pound them back more quickly than normal. The drinks will make you feel much closer to those around you — either in camaraderie, or something more intimate. The Tamamos have arranged a number of floats, inner tubes, and water wings lounging in the water. Enjoy your time together!

When you aren’t relaxing, the Tamamo Clan has also arranged huge buckets of water balloons and have filled their water guns. The instructions are clear: whether sniping from afar or going in on a full assault, go nuts. Especially against the Shutens. Lady Tenkohime herself has a high-caliber, sniper-grade water rifle with her at her lounge chair. She will occasionally pick some unlucky soul to fire off devastating rounds against. She is not soaking them in just water, of course. This is the Tamamo clan’s patented ‘perfume’, which inspires the most amorous feelings.

Finally, the Tamamo have also inspired a spicy wet t-shirt contest. It’s essentially a sexy beauty contest, but given the variety of bodies and hidden ‘talents’ tucked away under everyone’s clothes, it should prove interesting! Tenkohime has described the simple rules:
One must wear the provided white shirt and only that shirt.
The crowd will soak them down.
And the crowd will judge how well they pull it off.

SUTOKU CLAN

The Sutoku Clan has been given free reign on a fleet of jet skis and paddle boats; perfect for two. There are boogie boards and larger inner tubes ready to be attached to different jet skis. Just be careful, ok?

A large snack bar has been provided with cheerful yokai behind the counter ready and willing to serve up your heart’s desire. There are some strange candies towards the end of the bar, they taste a bit funny but once you eat one you’re compelled to have a few more. These sweets will give you the power to breathe underwater. What is the meaning of this power? Well, you’re in the Alliance, after all, you figure out what’s under the waves.

Sutoku games include things like kan jam and frisbees, but Sutoku Souls are also very much encouraged to participate in the Shuten Clan’s volleyball tournament. Much to Toraguma’s frustration, the Alliance has planted a Tengu referee who seems to really favor the Alliance players over his own. Use your powers liberally.

The Daitengu is in attendance with sunscreen marks on their mask, for some reason. They’re being a total busybody, as usual. They’re really taking the time to chat up Tenkohime and Toraguma, even if the two want to rip each other’s throats out. Could a resolution to the turf war be on the way? One can only hope!

ENMA DEPARTMENT

The Enma is instructing the members of the Department to volunteer (aka voluntold) for lifeguard duty. The shifts are short — it is ultimately a party — and participation will net you both free food and drink from any of the vendors, as well as license to let loose for the rest of the party! The fare provided by the Enma vendors is pretty staid, but it does fill you with the odd need to run down the beach shallows in slow motion. Not sure what that’s about.

There is one further task that is expected of the Enma Department: suikawari. It is a big deal and to be taken seriously! This is the Enma’s favorite beach activity and the only diversion that he cares about. Your guess is as good as anyone’s, but it’s probably because the game resembles a form of execution. Regardless! Every officer is expected to do at least one round of the game as a form of initiation to the Department itself. Captain Shiki hosts the game in the absence of the Enma. Someone should tell her to chill out with that whistle, though.

3. BONFIRE (1 POINT)

As the hosts of the event, the Sutoku Alliance has set up a massive bonfire as the sun begins to set and stars light up the magical sky. There’s a romantic feeling in the air. Things seem as chill as they ever could be, there are no Haniwa in sight! Things feel peaceful for the first time in a while.

A final happy hour is declared, with free libations for everyone to close out the night. It’s time to finish this party in style. For anyone particularly watchful, they may spy the extraordinary sight of Toraguma and Tenkohime together. Off in the shadows while the party rages on, they are sitting together and watching the waves roll in. What could they be discussing? It will remain a mystery, getting any closer to them would be a deadly mistake.

The evening closes without any major incidents. Nothing seems like it could spoil the mood. It almost feels too good to be true.

4. AND THEN... (2 POINTS)

As all the party goers change back into their clothes and exit the facility, there is a rumble of thunder over Jigokucho. The stars are quickly swallowed by a darkening sky and the ground shakes. A minor earthquake? That’s not unheard of but the sky above is looking threatening. Evil. Darkness washes out over the entire city, none of its many bright lights able to cut through. Something is wrong. Something is happening.

A warm rain begins to fall, spattering across you and your surroundings. It becomes quickly apparent that you are not doused with water, but with blood.

The silence is shattered suddenly when a scream cuts across the whole of Jigokucho. An accursed miasma pours out from every direction. Then you see them: the Haniwa. They are everywhere, gazing from every direction, pressing in. Something has gone terribly wrong.

Captain Shiki is the first to act. She makes a call to Kaigo no Bou, but what she hears is enough to freeze her in her tracks.

The containment center deep beneath the tower where the Haniwa were being stored has been compromised. All of the cursed energy that was stored there has leaked out into the city from below. The guards below are dead. No one is answering their radio. It is not just the containment center that has been compromised, but all of Kaigo no Bou.

Captain Shiki struggles to remain calm as she gives out orders. Her entire command structure has been decimated, but she has to keep these people safe. She urges everyone to seek shelter, immediately. Everyone needs to partner up and stick together.

None of the faction leaders present arguments and they enforce this ruling with their Souls. They direct everyone to make their way back to their home base. Shuten to the Arena, Tamamo to Mizukume, and Sutoku to Konoha. There, their faction leaders can protect them.

As for the Enma officers: they are on rescue duty. You will be heading out into the city to rescue as many people as possible from the nightmarish effects of the cursed energy on the city. Captain Shiki will act as their point of command at the indoor beach.

Good luck, everyone.

5. IN THE CURSED NIGHT (2 POINTS)

A rain of blood is sprinkling all around you. It pings off sign posts and garbage bins, it splatters wetly onto the concrete and your face. The scent is pungent and thick; spoiling. It is soaking in to your hair, your clothes, your skin. It is driving you mad: your pulse spinning, breathing short.

There are noises in the impenetrable darkness. Fox feet on the pavement, crow wings shifting on a perch, a stranger's cruel laughter. The dark energy that has swallowed you is bemused by your smallness, is lurking at the edges and waiting for the moment to strike. Hold tight to your fellows, lest in the darkness another hand be placed in yours. Do you know who you walk with? What you walk with?

The Haniwa are watching you from every surface; crowded together as one with their empty eye sockets and open mouths. Their dark eyes turn to follow where you go as you stumble through your nightmares and your delusions. They breathe in your suffering on the air.

Beware the onibi, they will lead you astray.
Beware the grasping hands in the trees.
Beware the whispers in the distance.
Beware the slope to the river.
Beware. Beware.

Welcome to the June event!

Art by astrono77153462
Special shoutout to vandalisto for coming up with the meat of this event; the beach party. They approached us with this as a player plot, and it was good enough that we made it into the full event for the month. Excellent work, Vandal!
If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
If your character participated in the volleyball games, see here! If they participated in the wet t-shirt contest, see here!
If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( Are the shadows shifting, or is it just her paranoid mind? Kate's breath comes in short, ragged inhales, her eyes flicking between Andy (yes, she does recognise this woman) and the darkness beyond her. )

A-aye... ( She hates how shaky her voice is, how every nerve in her body seems alight, muscles tense and legs uneasy. She reaches out, fingers trembling, and snatches the bottle, her other hand twisted into the bag at her side as a comfort until she needs to peel it away and open the lid to take a drink. )

I— ( ... what? Her voice dies on that word. What do you even say in this situation? ) ... Stay away from th' walls.

( Pretend it's a general thing. Pretend she isn't hearing a feminine voice continue to whisper nasty little words between the beating of the rain against the pavement. )

[ The girl still seems a little unsteady. But who the fuck can blame her? Most people would be. Even Andy's felt a twinge of vague anxiety since the blood rain started. Being nearly seven thousand years old prepares you for a lot of things, but not for this. This shit — it's new, and not in a good way either.

At Kate's warning, Andy glances over her shoulder at the wall she'd just freed her from, eyes narrowing slightly. She doesn't see anything, but... There's that ominous feeling of unease that refuses to abate. Maybe she shouldn't turn her back on it for too long. ]

...I'll be careful. [ She looks back at Kate. ] Are you hurt?

( The whispers aren't stopping. Even being free from the clutches of those hands didn't manage that, and the worst part is that there's no body, no face, attached to that familiar voice. At least you can punch a body.

Maybe it won't bother Andy. Maybe it's just fucking with her because it knows she can be fucked with. Because she still hasn't managed to burn out those memories and let them stop bothering her. )

No. ( Shaken, slimy and broken. A liar and a coward. But not injured. ) I'm fine—

( ... Wait. )

What's that?

( Kate nods at a point behind Andy, where two bright, slowly blinking eyes watch them both. )

[ She's seen a dozen different kinds of nightmares by now — fought some, ran from others. Each one is unique, tormenting individual Lost Souls in a way that seems specifically tailored to them. Makes that shit unpredictable. Dangerous. Even when the torment isn't meant specifically for her. Andy knows she has to keep her wits about her.

At Kate's warning, she's quick to move, catching the girl by the arm and pulling her back, putting herself between Kate and — whatever the hell that is, watching them. ]

You tell me. [ Andy's other hand goes to the hilt of her katana. Standard issue shit from the Department, and not the best quality, but better than nothing. ] Probably coming from your fucking head, kid.

( The eyes are a particular shade of blue. Bright, clear, the kind of blue that's just a little too perfect. A blue which is the last thing you see before you stiffen and swallow the thing in your mouth, all amusement drained from it.

The kind of blue that leaves Kate's knees locked, her legs stiff and unwilling to move even as instinct screams to. And this time her mouth is full of fucking blood, not a chalky pill, and nausea is rolling over her in waves.

Whether it's the blood or those eyes — now attached to... something trying to be a man, twisted into a vaguely human shape as it stumbles out of the shadows — she doesn't know. But she does know that the knife in her bag is now in her hand and she's not here to cower in fear every time something goes shit.

If her contract's fulfilled, these memories will disappear, right? She has to believe that. )

Kill it.

( She makes the decision just as an arm twists, extends outwards in a vulgar mimic of a childhood toy, and tries to slip right past Andy. )

Little girls shouldn't play with knives. They should do what I ask them to.

[ It's unnerving to look at — the way that thing starts to mutate its form, moving in an unnatural way as it lurches towards them, looking just human enough to disturb. At least the girl has the sense to be armed. The glint of her knife catches the corner of Andy's eye when she draws it. Hopefully she knows how to use that thing — because as much as Andy would prefer to protect her, shit happens. Shit's been happening, and she can't control one bit of it.

Kill it, Kate says, and Andy can think of no better plan than that. ]

Stay close to me.

[ The thing from Kate's nightmare moves fast, but Andy's reflexes are honed by the centuries, and it only takes a flick of her wrist to cut her katana across that twisting limb. Without waiting for a second attack — and trusting that Kate will stay at her back — she lunges forward towards that vaguely human shape with her blade drawn and killing intent. ]

( She's been practicing. You can find all sorts of shit on the internet, but the difference between following tutorials in your shitty starter apartment and potentially having to stab a twisted ass nightmare is big enough to make her nervous.

Still. It's not like she has an option, other than to hope that Andy knows how to get past the defences of something that seems to be able to twist itself into anything it wants. And it seems like it goes that way — the limb tumbles to the floor, twitching and convulsing at her feet, and Kate steps smartly to one side, away from it and closer to where Andy is.

Closer to... that thing. That thing which turns its attention to the human trying to kill it, rather than the one keeping a wary eye on its now detached limb, and its other reaches forward, trying to twist its way around the weapon and grab Andy, broken-looking fingers splayed out into claws that will vice into her face if she doesn't manage to stop it.

Meanwhile, that hand? The one cut off? It's still moving, almost as though its trying to find purchase to take root among the concrete and Kate shudders, quickly kneeling to drive her knife through it. )

Stop— ( Again and again, slicing through whatever it is like cutting through paper until it stops fucking twitching ) moving!

[ Andy is unfortunately no expert in fighting curses. Back home, she was the most cursed thing around, and she doesn't have shit on some of the nightmares that have been walking these streets. But she can fight. She sure as fuck can fight, and that's a hell of a lot better than nothing. A couple thousand years is a long time to hone your reflexes — and a good thing too, because it's mostly by instinct that she manages to side-step that vicious hand, those claw-like fingers so narrowly missing her face that she can feel them graze the skin of her cheek.

Fuck. She has to stay focused. Pay attention. Otherwise she's going to get her fucking eyes gouged out or worse. Normally she wouldn't even mind that — but she's mortal these days, and that means her body parts aren't nearly as disposable as they used to be.

But then she hears the girl's voice, catching her violent motions from the corner of one eye, and she turns towards her, distracted for a moment — ]

( Each stab comes from a place Kate knows all too well, a rage which calcifies to numbness, until she's just acting out of repetition, the thing still beneath her and something new staining her clothes, eyes glassy and hands aching with how tightly they grip the knife.

She barely even notices what's going on with Andy, the way that momentary distraction allows the creature a second to slip around her attacks and dig its claws into her shoulder, head tilting as it seeks to drag her closer, to trap her in its grasp, that parody of an arm expanding like a rope as it does. )

Fuck —

[ She curses as those shadowy claws sink into her shoulder, tugging her towards that thing with enough force that it yanks her off her feet and drags her across the ground. Her boots scrabble against the pavement, trying to gain some purchase as she thrashes, twisting around in an attempt to get her blade at an angle that would allow her to cut herself free. But that damn creature is strong, and she's struggling to get her katana between it and herself as it pulls her in closer — ]

Kid!

( Andy's voice comes in from a distance, registering precious seconds later than it should. Enough time for that mangled approximation of a human to drag Andy flush against it, waiting until Kate turns her head to look, the glaze slowly leaving her stare, to speak; )

She won't save you. She can't.

( Kate's hand tightens around that knife. The hands are shifting —up towards Andy's throat, her mouth, those same motions which pinned Kate to the wall not too long ago — and her own tremble. )

... See?

( The thing raises its head, flashing a too-white smile at Kate, all teeth and threat, and her trembling hands still to stone.

A single, simple taunt on the part of the thing trying to torment them, but somehow just enough to shake the fear away from Kate. Or perhaps she's just so scared she no longer knows how to feel scared. She's not sure. Point is, she can move again. She can push herself to her feet and rush forward with no plan more refined than find an opening and stab the bastard.

Which she does. Right in the thigh. Or what it tried to make into a thigh, anyway. )

[ Her next curse is cut off by a dark appendage stifling her voice, leaving only her eyes wide and angry as she makes muffled noises, digging her blade into the ground to try and fight from being dragged any closer to that fucking thing in the wall —

She almost doesn't notice Kate move. She wasn't sure Kate would be able to fight on her own — to save herself, let alone save Andy. But there she is, knife in hand, shoving that determined blade right into the nightmare's leg. Andy feels its grip loosen on her. She pulls herself free, swinging her borrowed sword around to help Kate.

Brave fucking girl. ]

( There's one thought which rings louder than anything else, louder than the fear, or even the catharsis which comes from causing something with that face to yowl in pain when her knife digs into its appendage:

if you don't fight this, nothing changes.

Her contract will not be destroyed by ice blue eyes. Not like the rest of her was.

Desperation grips the creature in the face of two blades, tables turning and mangled limbs turning to claws as it strikes wildly at anything it can reach, the animal unpredictability which catches Kate off guard, slashing across her cheek and sending her stumbling back. )

...Dammit.

( Her knife is still in that thing. )

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June 2022 Event

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