Author Topic: Invitation to the Mountains  (Read 28386 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

veekie

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 9034
  • WARNING: Homing Miko
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #140 on: May 18, 2010, 11:26:46 AM »
Mira glances about the table, "The prophecy seems to say that the seal will crack, so um...I don't think we're going to be able to stop her...so, we need to stand by at the opening to see if shes bad? "
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

Agita

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5465
  • SFT is mai waifu.
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #141 on: May 18, 2010, 02:51:39 PM »
Kagura's eyes narrow at the mention of Bai Suzhen, but she siletnly listens to Xiao Qing's speeck and Mira's question. "Not necessarily. After all, the prophecy said 'crack', not 'break'. 'Cracked' means 'neither broken nor whole'. It is easier to 'break', but can yet be 'mended' without permanent damage. Therefore, we must hurry and talk to this girl before she does something brash. Thank you for clearing up the situation, Xiao Qing-sama." Sure enough, Kagura subtly avoids looking in Maiko's direction when the youkai woman mentions the taboo. The miko herself is aware of it, but the tengu... even if she was, she's the type to ignore such things.

[spoiler]Abusing quotation marks in explanations is fun. So that's why mangakas use them so much. :P[/spoiler]
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

Agita's Awesome Poster Compilation
Lycanthromancer's Awesome Poster Compilation

Flay Crimsonwind

  • Hong Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 1310
  • Watching the World Burn in Magnificence
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #142 on: May 18, 2010, 10:57:59 PM »
"So, any idea how we should go about fixing the problem, Xiao Qing." His speech uses honorable suffixes, but it's when he says the youkai's name that his voice seems odd. It's like he was rolling the name across his tongue to ensure proper pronunciation, making it sweetly sticky, like honey. Internally, Ushitora listened, considered, worked their combined memory to try and see if he couldn't come up with something about Bai Suzhen and this mysteriously 'unimportant' Xiao Qing. While the demon thought and pried and scraped, Rinzen spoke up to buy time and narrow things down. "I'm not much of a player in the field of binding magic, but if it's going to be cracked, we need a way to fill the crack up again. That's for you all to determine, I suppose.

My question, Xiao Qing, if you do not mind my asking, is that, being a friend to this unfortunate youkai, do you wish that she should be released, given the attempt to redeem herself of this prophecy? Or should we stop the child from rescuing her mother?"


[spoiler]Not that I think she is, but I'll just note here that I have a feat that makes me auto-roll sense motive if I hear a deception. Just for future reference.
Knowledge (Cosmology): 18 - For reference of either of our two new names.[/spoiler]

Nick

  • King Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 772
  • Cheese plz?
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #143 on: May 19, 2010, 01:20:10 AM »
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Xiao Qing raises a question.

"I had expected some moral dilemma to be issued from the revelation of this situation. One would think most of you have hearts made out of steel.

Would all of you have the heart to stop a child's quest to release her mother? Or deny a mother the chance to fulfil the duty she was forced to abandon by the actions of another, a person who thinks its more important to seal a mother up for breaking a taboo than to think about a wailing baby whom I was forced to pick up and escape from the mountain because he would probably do the same to that baby too.

The sealing blade is an artifact powerful beyond even my ken. And it is probably so powerful that it could either seal Suzhen's evolution, or seal her ability to stop her evolution. I do not know.

So descendant of the Yayoi exorcists. Is the love and bond between family, friends and lovers stronger or some silly Mandate of Heaven that forbids such in a inter-species context?"


Turning to Rinzen, Xiao Qing laughs a little. "Fancy asking a person who brought someone to break a seal on how to fix the problem. Sir, you would do well to ask yourself, being invited to partake in this mission. How would you fix this problem knowing that every action has a consequences, and good intentions do not always bring good solutions."

Helping herself to a long drink, Xiao Qing responds again.

"I have made a vow to help my bond-sister to stave off her evolution. And failing so, I am free to rethink my loyalty. This is her one and only demand made to me. My demand in return was for her to do her utmost in seeking her happiness, whether or not I would agree with her. My obligation to her child is seperate from this, I only demand that she makes her own choices and live with it, in return I will bring the child here. Whatever happens later, is my own volition. So you see, either way, I sidestepped no obligation and have in fact, placed myself in a position to fulfill both at the same time. This is why I have made no overly powerful attempts to hinder your progress so far, only delay the rest of you enough..."

A boom echoes from the mountain as a series of hissing sounds rush down like a sonic-charged torrent of air.

"This lunch is about over. You will have just enough time to reach the summit. What you will do there, I will not dictate nor will I guide. I have no obligations to the rest of you. I have infact buried my hatred with the Yayoi clan for their ancestor's mule-headed stubboness in upholding some stupid Mandate of Heaven over something more tangible like family and I will not do anymore than for my own purposes. Go now."
"You'll still be living in caves."
"Hell I don't mind that."
[spoiler][/spoiler]
befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.

Flay Crimsonwind

  • Hong Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 1310
  • Watching the World Burn in Magnificence
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #144 on: May 19, 2010, 02:35:03 AM »
Rinzen wastes no time. Moving with impressive speed, he comes to Ayu, between the boy and the woman. A flash of pure, unadulterated anger crosses his eyes like electricity, made all the more frightening by his softly smiling face. He had no time to tell her what he thought of her theory on good intentions and solutions. No time to tell her how pretentiously she'd opened the wounds of the past. Inside, Ushitora sighed, an almost truly sorry sound; Rinzen ignored him. He had someone to bury, no matter how this situation played itself out. "We will talk later" is all he says, as he grabs Ayu around the waist, and as he had before during their first ascension, heaves him bodily from the table under one arm. Shortly after, Marko is under the other arm, and Rinzen is half running, half flying up the hill.

As soon as he's up a ways, his head half turns to Kagura, , and their new companion Mira. "I don't give half a crap about tradition, I'm just here to ensure the worst doesn't come to pass. Kagura, can you use that damn sword to seal away the mother's 'evolution?' If not, we might have to kill her daughter, and if that happens the mother will most certainly go to town on us. I'd prefer less danger and bloodshed, if it's all the same to you."

Nick

  • King Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 772
  • Cheese plz?
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #145 on: May 19, 2010, 01:41:32 PM »
Xiao Qing nods to herself as she tosses a scroll at Kagura.

"It was 'borrowed' from the Yayoi Archives several generations ago. You can have it back now. But here's the condition. If you read it, the small harmless charm temporarily embedded into the scroll will inform me of your decision to uphold the condition.

Basically, you must promise for yourself and on behalf of your team that you never kill the child. You may hurt her to advance your goals, but not kill. If anyone or yourself violates this..."
Xiao Qing never finishes her words, but there is little need to. The implications are clear enough.
"You'll still be living in caves."
"Hell I don't mind that."
[spoiler][/spoiler]
befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.

veekie

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 9034
  • WARNING: Homing Miko
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #146 on: May 19, 2010, 02:04:57 PM »
Mira glances at the scroll intently, "Well, I don't approve of killing anyone when theres many ways to capture her."
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

Agita

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5465
  • SFT is mai waifu.
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #147 on: May 19, 2010, 02:35:28 PM »
Without hesitation, Kagura breaks the seal even before Xiao Qing warns against the promise's violation. "Such a thing cannot even be called a condition. You are basically asking me to restate about half of the vows I have made. In the absolute worst case, the child would be sealed as well. Surely if you fought my ancestor, you must be familiar with the bloodless cut." She gets an uneasy feeling she can't quite place when talking about this, but decides to ignore it. "...There is also the practical matter of killing being illegal."

[spoiler]So, what's the scroll say?[/spoiler]
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

Agita's Awesome Poster Compilation
Lycanthromancer's Awesome Poster Compilation

AlterFrom

  • Donkey Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 561
  • Super Special Awesome
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #148 on: May 19, 2010, 08:26:23 PM »
Quote
"We will talk later" is all he says, as he grabs Ayu around the waist, and as he had before during their first ascension, heaves him bodily from the table under one arm. Shortly after, Marko is under the other arm, and Rinzen is half running, half flying up the hill.

In the split second before being heaved up again, Ayu realized Rinzen's intentions. Aware that he was in no position to resist, Ayu simply resigned himself to the indignity of the process. Unable to speak over the rush of wind, he drew inwards to contemplate the task before them. Essentially, the choice existed between destroying a protective seal and destroying a daughter's wish. Neither option was particularly appealing -- but surely the safety of the world was worth more than the happiness of one half-youkai girl?

Noting the resolve of the two senior members of the team, Ayu stays his tongue. He merely shoots Marko a light scowl to convey his distaste for the entire situation.
Siggy
[spoiler]TIRED OF TRYING TO MANAGE FILES ACROSS SEVERAL COMPUTERS? GET DROPBOX AND SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS!


xkcd. It Rocks.

Tick, tock, Tick, tock...

FYI: I lose a couple years off my life anytime I see I have a PM.

Quote
We're ALL rules lawyers here. The BEST at what we do, too. It's like a Tom Grisham novel in which everybody at the top law firm is a dirty crook, but they all know the rules so well that TECHNICALLY speaking, they aren't breaking them...:eh

[/spoiler]

veekie

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 9034
  • WARNING: Homing Miko
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #149 on: May 20, 2010, 04:42:09 AM »
Mira nods at Kagura's decision, "Shall we go up to the top now?"
The orbs on her gloves pulse green, as a brilliant, man-sized, square magic circle unfolds in the air and the center shimmers into view.

OOC:
Casting a Portal from the plateau to the mountaintop, assuming nothing misdirects or blocks it.
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

HeadofVecna

  • Ring-Tailed Lemur
  • **
  • Posts: 68
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #150 on: May 20, 2010, 06:26:40 PM »
Scooped up and bouncing along beside Ayu, Marko raises his eyebrows at the other's scowl. Jumping to the wrong conclusion he says, "Sorry about, um, earlier. It was the only way I could be sure this was real. But all this magic, prophecies and seals and ancestral curses. I, ah, think I'm out of my depth."

Nick

  • King Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 772
  • Cheese plz?
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #151 on: June 23, 2010, 09:36:21 AM »
Sorry guys. Game on!

This is what the scroll says:

I, Grandmaster of the Yayoi Exorcist Clan, the Founder of the Firsts, solemnly record a great secret, a source of our magical pride and a seed of doubt that has haunted me for a greater part of my life even today.



This is the appearance of the seal which binds the Snake Spirit Bai Suzhen up on the sacred mountains.  This is however not the real seal.

The sealing sword that will serve as the legacy I will leave behind to my descendants, is merely a catalyst that releases its ability and power. The real seal is not the sword either.

This is the real seal
(upon which a magical image hovers above the scroll)

[spoiler][/spoiler]

The Eight Trigrams Sealing Spell Array is powerful magic, a combination of traditional magical theory and ritual magic that draws and sustains a large amount of energy for whatever purpose the ritual attempts to accomplish. The sealing sword, although an artifact of great power, is not as powerful enough to seal deific-level of creatures for long. Such beings are frankly beyond the abilities of even the best of mortals, though in times to come, this difference in power could very well change.

The Eight Trigrams Array is massive but size is not merely an expression of power or capacity, but a calculated assessment for the ability to strike a balance between expending and gathering power. The uniqueness of this Array also helps vent excess magical power to the surroundings, and would by its nature, never harm the environment. As such, even the magic-less mountain where this Array is erected, its magical spillover effect has allowed the development of a highly dense spritiual environment, allowing what was once a bare mountain with hardly a blade of grass to flourish and grow and harbor creatures and spirits safely and carefully. I believe in due time the mountain may itself gain sentience.

The dreaded secret and doubt however, concerns Suzhen. By violating the Mandate of Heaven which prohibits spiritual beings from loving a mortal, Suzhen bore a child from such union as well, a deeper level of violation that has effectively closed all doors of mercy and second chances. As an exorcist commanded by the Powers Above, what was I to do?

I had to create an Array such as this, abduct the child as bait and lure the mother into this designated spot, where I will leave Mother and child together for all eternity. Though the plan was a success, another creature too quick for my reflexes snatched the child away from me. Thankfully that creature did not attempt to break the Array, for in my condition at that moment in time, I would have been helpless to stop her.

An exorcist is not a free ticket to ignorance. I know that there will always be talented beings that may far outstrip my abilities. This scroll nonetheless will be stolen for anyone who thinks they can reduplicate the creation of the Array. Sad to say, I'll be taking that secret to my grave. I will not reveal too what are the secrets and weaknesses of the Array. Figure it out for yourself.
"You'll still be living in caves."
"Hell I don't mind that."
[spoiler][/spoiler]
befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.

Agita

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5465
  • SFT is mai waifu.
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #152 on: June 24, 2010, 11:20:34 AM »
Kagura takes a few seconds to study the image of the Array and think on the theory behind it. Five layers, stacked so as to achieve maximum security, guarding a single being and venting excess energy into the surroundings. She doubts such a thing is within her capacity... but then, that's the point. "Figure it out yourself." A test, of course. Everything is a test. It's frustrating, really.

None of those thoughts are visible on her face, however - she reads the scroll, pausing a few seconds to contemplate the magical image, then rolls the scroll up and stores it in her robes, all without twitching an eyebrow. Supressing another yawn, she finally manages to shake off the fatigue. She doesn't remember tonight's nightmare anymore, but the effects it had on her sleep have lingered for longer than she would have liked. Finally, she nods to Mira. "Let us meet at the top of the mountain then, du Vaul-chan. I'll tell Uramote-san to take your portal instead if I see him on my way up." With that, her hair and uniform start fluttering, buffeted by a sudden wind, then she is gone in a gust of violent wind. She quickly catches up to Rinzen, and slows down briefly to match his pace and tell him, "You will be faster if you take the portal that du Vaul-chan has prepared." Having relayed that message, another gust of wind blows, strong enough to pull a fair number of leaves from the trees, and Kagura accelerates again with a loud bang and soon disappears from view among the forest.

With everyone else out of sight and running to the mountaintop at full speed, Kagura allows herself to furrow her brow. She doesn't have much time to think on the matter, but that's just as well. The Itachi-Mai style requires the ability to think quickly and make split second decisions. If the mind is slower than the blade, the best-case scenario is losing only an arm or a leg. That is why heirs of Yayoi are trained from the instant they learn to stand on two feet. Everything - every technique, spell, or mystic seal - employed by Yayoi has been patched together out of bits and pieces of magical traditions, martial arts, and natural magic such as youkai abilities from all over the world, combined in such a way as to create the best possibly synergies between the disparate methods for one singular purpose. In a way, the Grandmaster's Array is the perfect and original example of this. The combinations cannot truly be called Japanese, Chinese, or even Western, and the end result is so complicated that no-one who has ever studied anything else or even just started training too late could ever hope to master the style. The various vows and laws are similar. The descendants are raised to accept them as nearly equivalent to laws of nature. This is an issue that shouldn't even have to be thought on. The mixed child must be stopped, and Suzhen kept inside the seal at all costs. But...

No matter. The time for thinking is over. Taking a step forward, Kagura leaps off the wind current she rode to the peak and decelerates on a different current. She lands on the highest point of the mountain, with nothing in the way of conservation of momentum or the like - aside from the little remaining snow being flung through the air by her arrival, there is no sign she has ever stood elsewhere. Overseeing the landscape, she looks out for the rest of her group as well as the arriving child. But the doubt that even her ancestor expressed and the words of Xiao Quing nag at the back of her mind. What did really happen back then? Was Suzhen really dangerous, or imprisoned only for her affair? Not that that is not grounds enough, she swiftly corrects herself halfheartedly. Still, the curiosity is there, and so she starts extending her senses into the past, towards the sealing and, more importantly, the Snake Spirit Bai Suzhen.

[spoiler]First of all, spending my single Hero Point to shake off the Fatigued condition, leaving me with zero left.
Next, Kagura will take a Full action for an Accelerated Move to reach the mountaintop in a single round (500 mph at quadruple speed makes 2000 mph, more than enough to cover the last mile in under six seconds).
Finally, I'll give Postcognition another try and look for clues as to what Bai Suzhen really was like. An Inu Yasha-style youkai/demon, or a Touhou-style youkai/demon? :P Here, have a Concentration check to activate and a Notice check to see something useful.
Concentration, Notice (1d20+10=26, 1d20+10=23)[/spoiler]
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

Agita's Awesome Poster Compilation
Lycanthromancer's Awesome Poster Compilation

Flay Crimsonwind

  • Hong Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 1310
  • Watching the World Burn in Magnificence
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #153 on: June 24, 2010, 02:22:32 PM »
Rinzen stops dead, sees the incredible speed Kagura moves at, and sighs. Looking back down the hill, still holding the two men aloft, he seems to be falling backwards for a second, then flying backwards, at roughly the same speed he'd been running forward. Twisting in midair, one might realize he IS flying... no questions made Rinzen happy.

Slipping through the portal, as soon as he smells the air from the mountaintop, he drops Marko and Ayu somewhat unceremoniously, focusing his arms on holding his blade ready for a draw. He didn't want to use Ushitora, but it might be the edge he needed if things got bad...

veekie

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 9034
  • WARNING: Homing Miko
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #154 on: June 24, 2010, 04:01:00 PM »
Nodding at Kagura's decision, Mira waits for Rizen, Marko and Ayu to pass through before letting the portal dissolve behind her, green light fading into thin air as it rotated out of existence.
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

Nick

  • King Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 772
  • Cheese plz?
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #155 on: June 24, 2010, 10:56:37 PM »
@ Kagura
[spoiler]Kagura notices a massive cave opening that the sonic boom of her speed managed to reveal by dispersing the heavy cloud cover that surrounds it. The cave opening is a fair distance from the tip of the mountain which has nothing.

Furthermore she seems to have thought she saw someone walking into the cave, her good memory did not recall seeing anyone walk in, just that she seemed to have seen someone walk in. Confusing? Yeah. This is the result of your Notice check.

As for Postcognition.

Shinto legends do talk about a mythical creature known as the Yamata no Orochi, which was killed by Susanoo. The various mythical legends of serpents with more than a single head are usually highly evolved spiritual beings, and most of them are quite malicious while others, who have transitioned properly to dragons, retained their higher being intelligences and wisdom.

The legend surrounding the Orochi however are in dispute. Scholars are not sure (due to translation) whether the Orochi is a dragon or merely a snake spirit with so much spiritual cultivation and energy that it had to develop extra heads to contain it properly (and somehow perhaps did not transition into dragonhood).

Given the accounts from the Grandmaster and Xiao Qing, Suzhen seems eager to halt her spiritual evolution, plus she is capable of love, this shows a level of higher order thinking that is both mortal-low and spiritual being-high.

The Mandate of Heaven is a series of spiritual laws set down by the deities for deific beings. Because such mighty beings must be held to a code of conduct and law lest they unleash their deific might at their whim and fancy and cause the destruction of the world as we know it.

Therefore the Mandate of Heaven rarely bothers with what the Mandate seems as the 'lowly spiritual beings' where an eye is closed and sometimes both in cases that do not directly or indirectly involve deific-level beings. This is why half youkai beings like Maiko while frowned upon, do not deserve any serious action to be taken.

This then suggests that Suzhen 'knows' that her destiny is to evolve into a spiritual being of a deific classification, and the simplest explaination would be that like the balance and order of all things, the loss of a Yamata no Orochi can be rectified by the creation of another.

So the implications of having a destiny like that, versus one's determination to express one's free will and freedom, I'll leave it to Kagura's personality to come to her own conclusion.[/spoiler]

The portal opens from the other end as everyone else arrives at the mouth of an immensely huge cave. The mouth is about as big as the length of the dojo's underground training chamber and extends nearly equidistant inside. Despite this huge opening, it seems that the Sun's position does not allow much illumination inside.

The Trigrams symbol with a multi-headed snake is carved onto the top of the cave mouth (the symbol above).

"You'll still be living in caves."
"Hell I don't mind that."
[spoiler][/spoiler]
befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.

AlterFrom

  • Donkey Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 561
  • Super Special Awesome
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #156 on: June 25, 2010, 01:12:43 AM »
This time, Ayu was prepared for Rinzen's rough treatment. As the chiseled warrior removed his arm from his midriff, Ayu managed a rough somersault and came a to halting stop on one knee, then propped himself up with a wince. He satisfied his self-concern with a quick pat-down of his extremities.

Kagura's expression was incomprehensible as always, with perhaps a hint of perplexion? Whatever. This entire expedition was beginning to drag on his nerves. Supernatural organizations, secretive police forces, ancient spirits, people from . . . other dimensions? Walking, no, falling out thin air? And then there was the impetus behind the entire mess; some kind of strange forbidden lovechild or something. Ayu was beginning to long for the droll normalcy of his Uncle's mansion again.

Marko seemed to be about as excited as Ayu, but at least Rinzen looked to be in good spirits. And the new girl . . . what was her name? She still seemed a little disoriented from her arrival. Like some sort of interdimensional jet lag. Hopefully her frequent-plane-hopping miles got her a nice hotel to crash at in this plane of existence.

Hands in his pockets, Ayu sidled casually up to the mouth of the cave. Turning back to look at the rest of the party, "Ladies first, right?"
Siggy
[spoiler]TIRED OF TRYING TO MANAGE FILES ACROSS SEVERAL COMPUTERS? GET DROPBOX AND SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS!


xkcd. It Rocks.

Tick, tock, Tick, tock...

FYI: I lose a couple years off my life anytime I see I have a PM.

Quote
We're ALL rules lawyers here. The BEST at what we do, too. It's like a Tom Grisham novel in which everybody at the top law firm is a dirty crook, but they all know the rules so well that TECHNICALLY speaking, they aren't breaking them...:eh

[/spoiler]

Agita

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5465
  • SFT is mai waifu.
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #157 on: June 25, 2010, 11:01:35 AM »
Kagura joins the team in short order as well, arriving with a gust of wind facing the cave. "It seems I misjudged the distance from the cave to the top. I have not been here in a long time." Even then, she's never actually entered the cave, so she is unsure as to the proper etiquette. Just in case, she decides to take off her sandals and sets them down next to the cave entrance. afterwards, with a nod to Ayu, she wordlessly enters the cave.
It's all about vision and making reality conform to your vision. By dropping a fucking house on it.

Agita's Awesome Poster Compilation
Lycanthromancer's Awesome Poster Compilation

Nick

  • King Kong
  • ****
  • Posts: 772
  • Cheese plz?
    • Email
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #158 on: June 25, 2010, 11:47:07 PM »
As the party walks into the cave, it apparently takes them about 30minutes, which is spatially impossible, this is nearly the tip of the mountain, one could have seen the end of the other side without even walking in. Perhaps the same magic that gave the dojo its underground chamber can be found here too.

After such a long walk, a small glimmer of light can be seen, upon which as the party moves closer, the spot of light enlarges in view until this spectacular scene is found.

A series of round pillars clustered around each other, glowing like soft jade with an inner light, ring a circular chamber in this massive under-mountain complex, the floor glows with the various symbols of the trigram as the domed shaped building rises easily 5-7 stories high and remains as wide as the cave mouth earlier.

It seems that what Kagura saw on the scroll was not just the seal.

It is the top-down appearance of an entire complex that functions as a seal.

The entrance to this complex is a single unremarkable and incredibly dust-covered stone door where a raised pedestal with a small pool of a strange heavy liquid stays undisturbed can be found at the right side.
"You'll still be living in caves."
"Hell I don't mind that."
[spoiler][/spoiler]
befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.

veekie

  • Organ Grinder
  • *****
  • Posts: 9034
  • WARNING: Homing Miko
Re: Invitation to the Mountains
« Reply #159 on: June 27, 2010, 01:12:23 PM »
Mira looks at Kagura questioningly, "I'm sure the mountain wasn't this big..."
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."