August 2022 Event

[jigokumods]

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Toraguma and Tenkohime were not exaggerating when they said that Sai no Kawara was bound to attract extraordinarily deep pockets. The Celestials are already familiar to the Lost Souls, but among the crowds of customers are humans and yokai of wealth that can only be calculated in the billions, and even trillions. Powerful executives have come out to play, the sort of power brokers that almost exist beyond faction politics, the tier who makes the most money out of the city's dealings.

The event has an air of class that is far beyond what the average Lost Soul will have ever imagined…

1. GAMBLING PROBLEM (1 POINT)

The main event comes in the form of the games. This is where the Shuten Clan shines, as they offer up a plethora of gambling opportunities for the rich and powerful to partake in. There might be a Lost Soul or two at the tables, if they're feeling particularly lucky. Buy-in to a game isn't cheap, but if you're low on cash, you can substitute a handful of stellar Stardust to the pot.

Western games like Poker, Blackjack, and Roulette share space with Eastern standards like Cee-lo and Cho-han. Shuten Clan dealers have been training hard for this moment. They have learned to cheat on behalf of the House to scrape as much from these high rollers as they can. Those Shuten attendants who win big for the House will be duly compensated for their fine efforts.

If you're very clever, or very lucky, you might just be able to secure quite a payout for yourself as a player too. Just don't get caught pulling any funny business. The Shuten Clan bouncers have also been training quite thoroughly for this event. If you're not one of the fabulously wealthy tycoons, the bouncers have little incentive to play nice with you.

Should fighting break out, there is an arena onsite. Bets are flying there, too. Are you willing to wager your own pretty face?

2. PLEASURE PALACE (1 POINT)

Tenkohime wasn't exaggerating when she called her turf in the newly renovated underground a palace. The attendants at the Palace of Sai greet their wealthy clientele warmly, and they have a host of wondrous and rare delights to offer. As a rare treat, the Lost Souls are encouraged to indulge in this decadence. If the prices make you choke, remember that a little bit of Stardust will go a long way this season.

Food and drinks are of the highest quality. Delicacies from across Japan and the world abroad have been prepared, including many dishes not even of the Earth as you might know it. Particular favorites from the drinks menu are:

• Side Cars that have been made with cognac from a 300,000 yen bottle.
  
• Platinum Passions that have been made with L’esprit de Courvoisier; 800,000 yen per bottle.
  
• Eightfold Blessing is a captivating and aromatic mix considered to be Tenkohime's very own specialty. It grants the vigor to fulfill any desire; 1,000,000 yen a glass.

The pricey and fabulous drinks are just an encouragement. The Tamamo's best trained consorts are ready to offer their private services, usually in pairs. They have some Tanabata wishes of their own, and want to make them come true through their talents and skills. Not every encounter is sexual, some consorts simply wish to spend time with their clients and make them feel like the most important person in the world today. With the big price tags on their hours, the customer might very well be.

In addition to expensive meals, sex, and company, the Tamamo Clan also offers theater and performances. They have contracted with the highest caliber performers in the city, even those on loan from other factions. Dancers, musicians, and entertainers of all varieties are waiting in the wings to put on a show.

3. GOSSIP (1 POINT)

One of the performances gracing the stage in the Palace of Sai may seem familiar! The band Moonday played at the food truck festival last month. As it turns out, the lead singer -- a wolf girl named Ringo-chan -- is the daughter of one of the wealthiest executives within the Alliance's network of finance kings; Kaberou. She's run away from her restrictive life to rough it with her band. Big money is riding on convincing her to come home. There's another rumor floating around that the pirates attacking the supply lines have been putting pressure on Kaberou. Is he securing buyers for these pirated goods?

Rumors are flying: the kind of rumors that can bring riches or ruin. The Daitengu has commanded their people to keep their ears open. Do they happen upon a juicy lead? Do they find a way to reconnect Kaberou with his estranged daughter? Do they discover more about the pirates? Do tell, do tell!

Even the staff of the Enma Department will find lips much looser than usual around them. When you're this rich, you think you're above the standards of the law. There's plenty of conversation that might be of interest to the Department. In particular, one name does keep coming up...

It comes up when discussing Kaberou's dealings with these pirates, and how much of a wrench his daughter's negligence to the life has been for his business. It's spoken of in hushed tones, even by the Celestials. It is an ominous name: "Iron Bear"

4. TANABATA (2 POINTS)

The grand opening of the underground is the centerpiece of an otherwise familiar Tanabata celebration. Using the accumulated Stardust, the Tamamo Clan's onmyouji have collaborated with Kappa engineers and the Shuten Clan's resident blacksmith to create a truly wonderful spectacle for the festival.

Despite Sai no Kawara existing underground, the overhead sky is full of brilliant stars on display. It is a one-to-one recreation of the cosmic tapestry of the Milky Way streaking through the sky like the astral river from the Tanabata legend.

The stars Vega and Altair, also known as Orihime and Hikoboshi, are highlighted in the tapestry. They take form and dance together above everyone, they encourage the feelings of love to fill the air. Romantic love, platonic love, familial love: it doesn't matter. This is the product of peace, hard work, and cooperation. This is the dream of the Daitengu and their lieutenants. Dance to the music. Drink your fill. This is a celebration of love, and there's so much love here, for everyone.

Attendees are encouraged to write their wishes on the colorful talismans distributed. Bamboo trees decorate the central square, waiting to be draped with wishes. Even if you are not familiar with Tanabata, it will be easy to pick up on the ritual. The magic in the air tonight is incredibly strong, these wishes might even come true.

5. "WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE" (2 POINTS)

Late into the evening, the Daitengu takes to the stage. They welcome everyone and hope that they have had a good night. Toraguma and Tenkohime flank them, and each says a few words to the crowd. Then, Sutoku lieutenant Sakamoto is called up to the stage for the moment of truth.

Toraguma, regretfully, announces that Sakamoto has made good on his promises. The holes in their supply lines have been uncovered found, the black market is becoming less of a bleed on their finances, and the road to finding out who -- or what -- is causing the disruption is becoming clearer. The great oni will always honor a promise kept, and reaches out his hand to shake Sakamoto's in a gesture of gratitude.

The timing, as usual, is a little dramatic.

A group of shadowy figures wearing rough-spun gear storm the stage. Several of them snatch Ringo-chan from where she is waiting to perform and drag her away. Another lunges at Sakamoto with a make-shift sword of crude metal. Just before the blade can cut Sakamoto, the would-be assassin is stopped by Toraguma. With their wrist snatched and broken, the assassin screams out:

"We come on behalf of the Iron Bear, and we know who you are!"

In his rage and fury, Toraguma breaks the assassin's neck, slamming him down to the stage. He dies within moments, while the rest of the attackers flee. They've kidnapped Ringo-chan.

Sai no Kawara is quickly flooded with armed and armored officers of the Enma Department. They instruct everyone to remain calm. No one panic. The Enma himself has arrived, and he is going to start questioning everyone about what just happened. Who is the Iron Bear? What in hell do they want? It's time for some answers.

Well… As far as parties in Jigoku-cho go… this one could have been worse, yeah?

Welcome to the August event!

• Art in the final prompt by Yang Tuo
  
• If you have any questions about event content, please ask them here!
  
• Each prompt is labeled for it's value in terms of qualifying threads for Rewards.
  
• If your character is in the Shuten Clan and cheating on behalf of the house, find out how well they pulled it off by posting here! Those that do well will get a special bonus from Toraguma.
  
• If your character is trying any of the games of chance, find out how they paid out here!
  
• If your character put on a performance at the Palace of Sai's stage, find out how the crowd reacted here! Regardless of clan affiliation, those that do well will be rewarded by Tenkohime!
  
• For results on the gossip floating around the festival, post here!
  
• For Department members, if your character is going to interrogate NPC festival goers, let us know here and we can post some more specific results!
  
• TANABATA WISHES! POST THEM HERE!
  
• If you have questions about the game itself, please check out the premise, FAQ, and rules pages.

Comments

THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS (shuten)

[jigokumods]

Cheating on behalf of the house? Post here to see if your character manages to pull it off!

Note if they were present for training or not, and who they trained with if possible. It could weigh your results! Toraguma will reward those who do well.

[pitfight]

NISHITANI IS WILLING TO HELP SHUTENS OUT!!

while he is not going to deal, he is playing. hmu/send me a plurk ( BUSSY ) if you want Nishitani to team up with your character!! having a player cheat at the on the same table as the dealer, both in favour of house can be a ... potent mix :)

[osake]

Motivated merely by the entertainment of messing with people, Shuten will do her best here on the player side of things, using her charms and looks to distract potential victims at the tables. She'll play the cute seductress for the most part, but she'll throw in the odd criticism or two to try to break their concentration by having them second guess themselves, too. Winning for herself isn't the goal, but she'll still be trying to earn a little fancy drinks money.

I plan to throw up a prompt for potential pair ups for this, but as a note, Shuten was real lazy with the training, as with most things.

[jigokumods]

Honestly, someone like Shuten probably doesn't need to know the exact techniques. And she might notice that the actual oni members of the clan don't really participate in the cheating itself; it's left to other members of the clan and lower swear-ins. The oni workers in the casino have methods a lot closer to Shuten's; not direct sleight of hand, but rather throwing off people's games with remarkable subtlty. It almost feels like part of her legacy is alive and well.

Toraguma will notice. He'll personally buy her a drink.

[karumic]

Kazuma will (reluctantly) be doing a spot of this!

He'll insist on being above board at first (as in, dealing/playing WITHOUT cheating) but Nishitani will be getting on his case about it, after which he'll fully commit out of 1) a desire for some pull with Toraguma, 2) a refusal to ever settle for being less than #1 at anything. If he really has no other option than to participate in this, then by god he will be THE BEST at doing it.

He did attend training but was kind of salty about the whole idea and didn't take it super seriously. He does have a lot of natural craftiness and agility and a good poker face but he's also competitive, single-minded, and easily riled up, so how successful he is could go either way.

[jigokumods]

He never gets caught, at least, but his frustration with some smarmy players might get the best of him, and he'll likely forget to even do his tricks. But more than that, he's trying, and if Nishitani puts in a good word for the kid, Toraguma will grant him a nice bonus for his efforts.

[frogmarched]

Eiichi is dealing and cheating with gusto.

He didn't attend much of the training because of his stupid boyfriend personal reasons, but he's working with and learning from Nishitani on the fly. He's already pretty crafty and dexterous, and my god does he have plenty experience in lying to people and keeping up a poker face.

He'll also try and rile up and hotheads to get them to think less about their bets and moves (whether from anger or from pulse). Somehow he really is trying his best.

[jigokumods]

Outright lying is not the most favored technique of the Oni, but he gets a pass because he ain't one. But his technique of tilting the players may win the house some big stacks, but it also might start some fights with some drunks.

He'll get his bonus, and probably a black-eye for his trouble.

[harimaya]

Hizen hates dealing, he hates people, and he hates dealing with people. He tries to stick to bouncing but gets pulled into covering for a few tables. It's a good thing he tried at training but maybe he should have gotten more practice because,

+ Good at being sneaky when it comes to things like fiddling with the dice and so on. He's a natural sneak.
+/- Excellent poker face until he loses his cool then he's very easy to read
~ Not the best at reading other players in the sense that he's bad at reading emotions exactly but he can catch little ticks and quirks
-/~ Actually bad at distracting other players unless he's threatening to turn someone out for cheating/being a pain in the ass.
- Struggles counting cards, especially as the games go on and get more difficult. Honestly, blackjack is hard.

Sorry, boss, he's just not great at games. Let him stick to kicking people out and being a feral gremlin instead.

[jigokumods]

Yeah, Toraguma agrees. He'll mention to Nishitani that Hizen's got no place on the floor like that. He'll get a small bonus for his trouble, but nothing big. Mostly just some gratitude for at least trying, but Toraguma knows his boys, and Hizen works well better as a bouncer.

[watermemory]

WELL, as much as he's a wears-his-heart-on-his-sleeve country mouse, Minato really does have a poker face when he puts his mind to it, and even if he didn't really do the cheat training compared to bouncer...ing, t b h he probably could pick up card-counting in blackjack pretty fast?? So while he doesn't have the actual sleight of hand to cheat, he can tag-team with someone else on the table (probably Eiichi. fun date ideas: fleecing casino patrons *~together~*) to look like an easy mark, while his partner cleans the table out.

[jigokumods]

Minato's natural talent caries him far, particularly when working with Eiichi, however Eiichi's tendency to rile up the players does eventually start a few fights, and puts a hard ceiling on just how well they do.

Still, it's enough for a healthy size bonus. And unlike Eiichi, no black-eyes for Minato!

[unalign]

lumine would've shown up for training like a diligent member of the clan and studying up on the, uh, mechanics. i'm happy for anyone who would/could train her. her poker face is pretty good and she's pretty sneaky when the situation calls for it, but she'll try to let down the losers very gently. very friendly, very sweet.

... and then later at night, she'll go off to bounce crazy losers out of the casino.

[jigokumods]

Lumine's natural Main Character charisma and pretty looks make her a big success at fleecing. She'll probably find she does gangbusters as a cho-han dealer, turning a lot of rich saps into poor saps with what she's learned and just the fact that she's really cute.

This might have been why Toraguma brought in more women, tbh.

Either way, she gets a nice big bonus.

[inspiteful]

Skylark got pulled for a few tables and decided he was going to cheat to the best of his ability. He went for dealer training because he knew he'd suck as a bouncer, and already had experience cheating at gambling games even before that, so he's already familiar with many of the tricks and mostly just had to learn the rules.

He'd be using his apparent age and mild first impression to see which patrons will let their guard down or underestimate him, and lets them win a round or two first before he starts cheating in earnest to try and keep them playing. He's naturally very dextrous (and thus good at sleight of hand), will be putting on his best friendly poker face, and overall good at reading people.

Notably, he will try to dodge being a cho-han dealer because he's not gonna go shirtless, but he's perfectly fine with any of the other games.

Afterward, when he's done his time at the tables he'll go melt somewhere for a bit. Keeping up the customer service face is hard work.

[jigokumods]

Skylark's lack of presence and natural dexterity go miles for him. It's easiest to pull these tricks, after all, when no one even thinks to look at you (except in cho-han, but he's passed on that for obvious reasons). Either way, he manages very well for the clan!

Toraguma is impressed, and thinks the kid has a future ahead of him.

[bananaoni]

She was present for the training!

But kind of got bored and did whatever she wanted. But in this case things could be a fun prank. She'll go ahead and use her shapeshifting abilities and charm to lure patrons towards tables that she has an in at with the dealers and other players. Encouraging them to continue to roll higher and higher and continue playing at rigged tables, until they have nothing left. Not even the shirt on their back.

Sucking them dry so to speak and potentially gaining the ire of more than one. Then shaving a cut of the profits off for herself before finding someone else.

[jigokumods]

It's an old trick, but there's a reason why it works. Plus, by Oni standards, it's not lying.

Toraguma appreciates the oldschool approach, and gives Ibaraki a nice little bonus to go with it. Some play money to make sure she and Shuten have a good time.

[metafictions]

Kamui showed up for the training, all right: he's genuinely intrigued by the strategic nature of the cheating and paid close attention. He's got the advantage of not looking like much at first glance as well as having a solid poker face... but he's also dipping for bodyguard duty as soon as he gets either a string of successes or failures. He's just so-so with people and doesn't wanna push his luck too far.

[jigokumods]

Another dealer benefiting from their lack of presence. Kamui does well! But of course, his dipping out early cuts into the profits he can generate, so Toraguma's a little disappointed, but not upset. Kamui gets his bonus, though it's not as much as he would have gotten had he stuck with it.

[sleepinglyra]

Sheliak will reluctantly do his part. He does not agree with cheating but unfortunately he's good at it and with his noble background, he knows how to carry himself around the rich customers. You would never guess he didn't want to be here with the radiant smile he hides his frustration behind.

Sheliak prefers to control his table through subtle suggestions and feigning sympathy for players down on their luck over cheating but after training with Nishitani, Sheliak will reluctantly throw in some sleight of hand as well when the stakes are high enough not to risk it. Satisfied? An important skill for nobles, and one Sheliak has perfected over the years, is only showing people what you want them to see. This helps with his sleight of hand and a bit of flashy water magic doesn't hurt, usually in the form of a small watery dragon circling him. On the slim chance someone notices something suspicious, he's just maintaining his magic trick. No one needs to know he can easily use his mind for that.

[jigokumods]

Distaste for the art or not, Sheliak has a notable talent for it, and he manages to do VERY well for the clan, fleecing away quite a load of cash for them.

Toraguma is very impressed, cutting Sheliak a heft bonus, as a result.

Re: THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS (shuten)

[pervy_kappa]

Hey all! A bit late but Gojyo is 100% cheating for the house~

He helped take part in the training last month as well and actually taught both Sheliak and Felix on how to properly slip their decks as needed.

[jigokumods]

Yea, Gojyo's a natural at this. Honestly, Toraguma expected nothing less of the guy. Gojyo may not be someone who outwardly takes a lot seriously, but when it comes to earning, Toraguma knows he's reliable. That's probably more important.

Gojyo's bonus is fat. Very fat. Probably the biggest Toraguma gives out for the night.

[horrifictie]

Harry will cheat for the house and with a certain dramatic to it. Mainly he plays the fool and acts like he doesn't know what he's doing for a couple rounds, losing pitifully to encourage the high rollers to bet larger, but then gradually begins to win it back. At the end of the night he doesn't bring in the biggest winnings, but it's perhaps a better show than expected. However, he won't bring in any stardust - he's keeping it for himself.

Note: He did not take part in any training. This is just his way.