Story So Far - Late August

[jigokumods]

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The Story So Far!

July and August were called on to be more chill than the early summer event cycle, so not a huge amount happened, but there's stuff worth pointing out!

At the end of June, The Enma announced that the source of the curse was a being called Haniyasu. Several clever folk, and also just anyone with a passing familiarity with Japanese creation myth, figured out that this is one of the primordial gods, specifically of the earth itself. Considering their primary means of transmitting their cursed energy was via haniwa, this makes sense!

Not much about the Haniyasu has come out since then, but there IS something important that we'll touch on in a bit.

Another development in late June was negotiation of a truce between Shuten and Tamamo over the Underground. The conclusion Ryouma Sakamoto, on behalf of Sutoku, was able to negotiate was that the Shuten and Tamamo clans would "share" the territory while Sutoku tied up the breakdowns in the supply chain in the black market. This shapes a big part of the rest of the next two months!

Stardust! A magical substance caused by a stellar phenomenon started showing up in the city. The magical substance turns out to be a hot commodity and is quickly gathered up by several parties. The factions had their Lost Souls collect it, and it's been used for parties, for trade, and for recreational purposes throughout.

July's Mingle was built around the Daitengu announcing the truce Sakamoto had managed to negotiate. Some within the Sutoku Alliance didn't take to their necks being put on the line without their say, so some conflict broke out, but the Daitengu managed to smooth things over, for the most part.

As the month rolled on, Stardust became rarer, as everyone was hoovering up as much as they could and it was no longer manifesting freely. But some black market negotiations turned out some interesting facts about trade in Jigokucho; other realms are in open trade with Jigokucho, and some group of bandits/pirates/whathaveyou were the cause of the breaks in the supply chain.

Tanabata! happens, with the gathered stardust being used to create a connection to the stars underground and give everyone's wishes some boosted power! This all coincided with the opening of Sai no Kawara, an underground casino and pleasure palace run jointly, for now, by Tamamo and Shuten. The party goes well, with a lot of interesting gossip spreading around...

That is, of course, until the Iron Bear makes their presence known. The daughter of a wealthy power broker is kidnapped, an attempted assassination is thwarted, and the Department of the Enma kick into overdrive. What's more, the assassin has an interesting tattoo of Jomon-era line work around an unknown character. Lots of stuff covered here as well.

What does this all come to mean? A few things.

The Iron Bear is Kaneguma, a former disciple of Shuten Douji and blood brother of Toraguma

They've kidnapped someone, and dad wants his daughter back, despite him pissing off Iron Bear is what caused this in the first place

Iron Bear's gang is connected with Haniyasu in a yet unknown way

Iron Bear's gang operate out of the Wasteland, but evidence suggests there is at least somewhere out there that's hospitable to life...

Questions if you have questions, feel free to ask!