July 2022 Mini Event

[jigokumods]

MAIN NAVIGATION


Tanabata is on the horizon, and the city seems to be recovering well from last month. But there's work to be done, and it's time to get to it...

1. SHUTEN CLAN - THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS

With construction wrapping up, the new Shuten Clan casino will be opening soon. The casino has a number of new staff positions opening. It is a golden opportunity for anyone looking for a cash rich position. The money promised upon assignment to the underground casino is bound to be life-changing. Given the potentials in clientele, Toraguma is expecting the very best. Shutens are to report to the above ground Celestial Phoenix casino for their training.

They will be taught all the traditional casino fare, both Japanese and abroad. This includes being taught how to cheat at these games as well. For example:

• Blackjack dealers will learn card count, and how to catch others doing the same.
  
• Roulette attendants will learn both how and when to discreetly adjust the wheel.
  
• Craps and Cee-lo dealers will learn how to feel for loaded dice and how to switch in the house's dice without notice.
  
• Cee-lo dealers are also taught a specific way to line the dice tray to cause more lost throws.
• Cho-Han dealers will learn how to distract players as they adjust the dice.

That's not all the Shutens will be learning. The clan needs skilled bouncers as well: people who can handle rowdy customers or haughty celestials. The more tenured Shutens will take up the roles of rude customers and challenge the trainees in how to handle them.

While not everyone will receive employment in the casino, they are all expected to participate in training. Shuten officers are expected to guide and oversee their juniors.

2. TAMAMO CLAN - CHARM SCHOOL

The Tamamo Clan also has preparations to make in anticipation of the underground's opening. The clan is opening their own brothel and cabaret, as well as providing food and drink services to the new Shuten casino.

All Tamamo Clan members must report for training at Mizukume. The lesson of the day is to use one's charisma to secure a huge payout. For example:

• Hosts and hostesses will learn the art of schmoozing away clients' money.
  
• Performers will learn more provocative means of soliciting large tips.
  
• Oiran are taught the erotic arts; the perfect balance to both please a client, and how to leave them begging (and paying) for more. There's no technique Tenkohime finds too shameful. Money is power, and power is freedom.
  
• Food service workers are provided master classes in mixology, plating, and how to serve high-profile clients without breaking a sweat.

Each role comes with its own set of pressures, but also the promise of great reward. Everyone is going to get rich, if everyone plays their part well.

Tenured Tamamo are asked to roleplay as clients for the benefit of those Lost Souls new to the work. While not everyone will be selected to work in the Underground, everyone is expected to train for it.

3. SUTOKU ALLIANCE - BLACK MARKETS AND BACK ALLEYS

After months of meetings, it's finally time for some real action. Sutoku Lieutenant Ryouma Sakamoto has made some pretty big commitments on the Alliance's behalf. His temerity comes from his earnest belief in the other Sutoku Lost Souls! No pressure, though!

To succeed, the Alliance must determine who is behind the current black market operation. Ryouma is relying on the Alliance's extensive information network and the hard work of the Lost Souls to make it happen.

This is the work that Ryouma mentioned when he welcomed the new arrivals recently.

This assignment is all about what you know. The Sutoku need to learn more about the competition, through any means necessary. The Alliance wants to know everything about what goods are moving around the city and who is moving it. Time to follow the money. You might even discover an unfulfilled niche in the market through your investigations.

The current influx of Stardust in the city is a great opportunity to investigate the existing dealers and supply lines. The Alliance is gathering Stardust just like everyone else, but it is becoming increasingly scarce as the factions vie for it. The value of this commodity is shooting up every day. Take some cash or other compelling bartering tools with you to grease the palms of a few shady dealers. Try to convince them to be more honest about their supply lines, beyond just the sparkly stuff. Stick the landing, and you might just be closing in on the heart of those shipping loopholes.

This is no easy undertaking. Creativity and tenacity will determine just how far you can go. Be careful not to be too obvious, the threat of unwanted attention will cause your sources to clam up.

4. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA - CRACK DOWNS

The Stardust's street presence has shifted naturally over the past few weeks: from an easy resource to simply scoop up in garbage bags overnight to a hot commodity. The street value of the material has increased considerably, and that means that the unaffiliated street gangs are greedy to get in on the action.

Enma officers are called upon to round up any black market dealers of Stardust and confiscate as much of their supply as they can find. This might just bring them into some direct conflict with the Sutoku Alliance members hoping to connect with market insiders. That's just how things boil out sometimes, though.

It is more important to the Department to get Stardust out of the hands of the black marketeers… and into their own lockers.

Officers are given permission to use any amount of force against individual actors, and members of the Law and Records Department are expected to draft up warrants (no matter how doctored) to obtain access to buildings they otherwise would never be allowed into; even Mizukume and the Arena. The Department's orders are clear: if it's not an approved market, shut it down.

This is in the name of maintaining Order, so get out there. Move at least in pairs, or you're likely to meet some serious resistance, and keep an eye out for the newbies.

5. ALL FACTIONS - LUNAR RABBIT RETURNS

It isn't just the factions, dealers, and petty gangs who are interested in the Stardust now that it's a premium item.

A familiar face has resurfaced: the mysterious gyokuto medicine woman and her army of white rabbits. While her little kin have managed to gather a healthy amount of Stardust for her "research", she still needs more. She is willing to pay a huge premium to those who retrieve more materials for her.

She understands that this will require you to either pilfer from one of the factions, or potentially someone even more dangerous. She will be providing samples of one of her drugs, which can grant temporary invisibility in moonlight. Use it for whatever hijinks you want, but she really would prefer if you brought her the goods in the end.

If invisibility doesn't cut if for you, she can provide another sample that provides 10 times your normal strength. While you can KO anyone who gets in your way, it wears off within 5 to 10 seconds. She is very clear that you should not take more than 3 doses of this, or you will very possibly die. Probably. Maybe? It will be unpleasant. So use it only when you need to.

The reward for getting her some Stardust, depending on the amount, can easily pay all a character's expenses for a month, if not longer. The temptation is great, but do you trust this strange rabbit woman?

Welcome to the mini event!

• If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
• Looking for a partner for your prompt? Post 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

[getting_better]

He clicked his tongue in annoyance as the lock was old, heavy, effective, and an over all inconvenient lump of metal to deal with. He was almost tempted to rip the while thing in half with his strength but then goes the element of surprise with the metal.

Thankfully with one last twist the lock clicks open and he pushes the door open, grabbing the unconscious tengu as well and dragging him in with Tenshi, then closing the door with the padlock propped up just enough to make it look like its still up as he closed the door.

Inside, he leaned against the door and sighed whth relief. "That was too close..." He whispered. "But well worth it." Before them was exactly what they were after, a pile of cash neatly organized on a table next to jars filled with stardust.

Immediately he took off the pack he had which he unrolled into a duffel bag. "C'mon. We have about ten seconds to nab as much as we can before those buzzards come knocking." At least he assumes, there's likely a hidden camera here or some kind of sensor.

[swordofhisou]

Even if there wasn't a sensor inside of this? They had thirty seconds before someone noticed that there wasn't a guard on duty. Maybe a minute. She went and grabbed the stardust jar nearest before beginning to fill the duffel bag with it and its compatriots. The cash? If he wanted to grab some he could. She viewed it as more of a liability, though she might consider picking a single brick of it up before the end. Make this look like more of a normal robbery, but... a thought occurred to her as she worked.

"Think they have any protections on these?" She didn't know about dye packs.

[getting_better]

He quickly looks at the entrance of the store house and shakes his head.

"No, and we're not exiting through the front door anyway." He says as he piles the cash into ziplocks, seals, then into the duffel bag. He evens out the load between his and hers so they get a fifty-fifty split even if something goes wrong.

"I hear movement. Make it quick, grab whatever else you can." He zips up the duffel bag before going over to the door, kicking the stirring tengu they dragged in to knock him out again, before getting a rolled up piece of metal string which he ties around the door.

"Two minutes. Ready to leave?"

[swordofhisou]

She used the aarm sweep motion to grab whatever she could at that point, closing the duffel bag up and shouldering it before nodding at him. "Whenever you are," she said, her eyes narrowed. What was the plan? She hadn't thought they were doing anything but getting out the front way and knocking a few heads, but if he had another idea...

Well, she was game for it, though she was watching what he was doing with the string, deciding it best not to ask stupid questions, even as someone was calling out for 'Shinji' and the voice was getting closer. Apparently the now unconscious tengu's name was Shinji. Well, good to remember.

[getting_better]

"Up there." Above their heads was a grated window for ventilation. It's likely sealed shut but it doesn't matter. "Right across from that is the roof of the nearby wall, that's our ticket out. C'mon. Climb, you first." Positining himself, hands joined together to boost Tenshi up, there's a sudden knock on the door.

"Shinji? Shinji! Are you in there?!" Bishop clicked his tongue. "Hurry, we've got less time than I thought."

[swordofhisou]

She nodded, but she also said nothing. The knock wasn't met with an immediate second knock. They were giving just a second clearly, but that would not last. The celestial took the boost and hauled herself up to the roof next to the window and reached down to offer him a hand getting up.

As she did, though, she could hear the next knock, this time an insistent one. Yeah, they'd start battering at it soon. The structure was tough, but it was only so tough. They needed to rush.

[getting_better]

Up she went and he followed after, grabbing the offered hand and then going right next to the window. It was grated as they could see but it was also a permanent fixture and couldn't be removed without breaking it, or making some noise.

Oh well, not that it mattered that much. Bishop punched one corner and broke it to pull off the rest of the wooden grate. "Okay, give me your bag, you leap over first, I'll throw the bags, then I'll go." He says reaching to take her duffel bag as the knocking when to and full fist bang against the door. The tengu on the ground began to stir, but a quick look for something heavy and throwable and he was out like a light. He is going to have such a headache.

[swordofhisou]

Such an absolute headache. She gave him the bag and pushed through the entry before dropping down to the ground. As soon as she hit the ground, she looked left and right. nobody, not yet, but there were seconds. They'd realize as soon as the door was opened. Crouching low she held her hands out for the bags to get tossed down, keeping as quiet as possible.

So far so good, but they didn't need to fight them all. That'd just lead to all kinds of trouble, wouldn't it?

[getting_better]

His eyes followed her down and once she was ready he dropped the first bag, looking back, then dropping the second, checking again, then following himself. Once on the ground he paused and looked around before getting his bag from her.

"Let's move." He dashed right up to the wall, getting back into the position to throw her up and over then after, it was all a matter of making their getaway. The soonest she's over the wall, he leapt using the strength he has to land right on top and -

"OVER THERE! HEY YOU!"

There's a giant ruckus as the tengus circled around the storage house and spotted Bishop as he was leaving. It might have been night, but a figure on the wall was still pretty hard to miss especially since he was carrying a giant bag. He signaled her to start running, and fast, before dropping down and following up behind her.

[swordofhisou]

She didn't question. Dropping down to the ground, she waited only for him to start dropping before she was running herself. Moving at a quick, harsh pace, she sprinted to get as much distance as she could, grabbing a rock in the process and throwing it in the direction of an alley across the street. A little force, all she could control the little pebble with, and it clattered against one of the trash while she ducked down a completely different path.

Nothing like a distraction to send those tengu in the wrong direction, hopefully.

[getting_better]

It was indeed enough to buy some time. It was dark enough that the little shadows could hide them even in the open, and the heightened sense of urgency clouded the judgement of the tengus as they ran down the street where the noise came from.

"Hey!" He called coming to a stop in the shadows. "From here out we gotta split up. See the cross section up ahead? There's gonna be more of them, so I'll go right, you go straight ahead. Head towards tech district, into the crowd, but lets cross paths whenever we can to confuse them. Two shadows running past each other in a busy street is bound to throw them off."

There's more commotion from behind them, meaning more tengu about to catch a whiff of their tail.

"Once you lose the tengu, we meet up at the agreed place but stay hidden. If neither of us shows up after fifteen minutes, steal some clothes and lose the disguise then head home. Good luck." He says sticking a fist out for a bump before a group of tengu spot them and Bishop bolts.

[swordofhisou]

He got that fist bump and a grin before she charged right off into the direction that he'd indicated. She was going to be just fine at disappearing into a crowd, mostly because a blue-haired immortal fading into a crowd of confused youkai was perfectly normal around here. Tenshi kept her hands on a few pebbles here and there, using those as darts to do the job of sending distractions here and there, whenever she didn't see one of them directly watching. One knocking out a cart's leg. Another hitting a trash can. The distracting sounds were doing their job, but she had to keep moving.

Those Tengu were absolutely not giving up, and at one point, she came on one who happened to whip out in front of her. Before they could get anything out, though, she whipped in with a wooden sword to slam them hard in the gut, driving the air out of their lungs before a blow to the back of the head sent them sprawling. Someone else would have a headache tomorrow.

It took time, but she did get to the meetup point... about ten minutes after the appointed arrival time. Not much time left before they were supposed to run off, but she was still new to this, so hopefully he was waiting for her, if he was there already.