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Mezcla had absolutely accidentally found the last room and false wall by accident. He had just rushed headfirst all the way in, as he had been a little skittish that whatever had grabbed him might be coming back for him. It sent him skittering into the room and he thought right into the wall, but the crash never came. It left him feeling awkward and like the rug had been pulled out from under him. But then he felt excitement replace everything else and he yipped out a call to everyone else. He was hopping about eagerly as the others joined him in the room and then rushed forward down the hallway. He stuck by Amia as she provided a light source and he didn't want to be caught tripping over his paws while he was still proud of himself for finding this first. He stared at the fog, more than anything he was curious about it. And Amia seemed to be thinking the same thing, and he nodded a response to her comment about it. "I'm curious about the fog as well..." He said softly, fighting the urge to walk over and look closer. There was still some memories too fresh in his mind to get the nerve to do that.

Good luck charm

Amia walked with the others further into the garden, closer to whatever the shape was on the other side. Oh, a building, but when they tried to get in, it was locked up tight and covered with talismans. Well, guess there was no getting a look inside the place, she sighed sadly. Well, it seemed they would need somewhere to rest, til morning, when they would need to get back to the beach. She supposed they had found everything they possibly were going to tonight, having all tried their best.

As they were headed back to the tunnel they came out from, her ears picked up on the sound behind them. She looked back and saw a figure, hunched over and she tried to make out what she could of them. She could tell it was taller than she was used to seeing humans (least when it stood up), plus she thought she saw tails and ears similar to their own. Her light was too small and far from the middle of the garden to get more than that. She saw the figure looking this way and something about the gaze sent shivers down her spine, it felt familiar. Then before they could react, she watched in astonishment as the figure leapt over the wall and out of sight. It did seem to drop something, so she headed back over to see what it was.

"That being dropped a bag,"she said softly, getting closer to it. She wanted to examine it, so with a breath, got even closer.

4 Ofuda so far: here Ofuda here and here

Getsumei had eventually wandered back inside the main shrine building. He could hear the call of the others that a new room had been found and he followed the sound of their voices until he came to a stop in a room full of paintings. Many of which had trees and a mountain. Mezcla had stumbled across a false wall in the room! Thinking they must have stumbled across something important, Getsumei followed the others down a hallway that was revealed. They arrived in a garden.

"Wow we walked really far but...it still feels safe here. Not anything like beyond the boundary where that ...THING was." He whispered, referring to the creature that had reached out to touch him earlier. He looked around, taking everything. In the distance he could make out another building in the dark.

When the group approached the building, the door in front was coverd in talismans and locked. "How odd.." Getsumei said, as he looked it over. Was something sealed in there? Or.... well who knew what it could be? He could only wonder.

When they decided there was nothing more they could do here. They all hunkered down to get some rest. And once they were full of energy to get going again they set back off towards the tunnel. That's when Getsumei felt eyes on them. The gaze of something awfully familiar. His head swiveled. And there in the distance was a dark figure. Taller than a human and with many tails. It jumped over the wall. But a soft 'womp' sound of something falling got the fox's attention.

He saw Amia moving closer. She had obviously seen the thing drop something too! "Let's go check it out!" he agreed, following her, and urging Mezcla to come too. "After all I think we should stick together."

1 ofuda here

"Sticking together is the best choice, I think." Mezcla nodded. With the other two next to him he wasn't so anxious and was walking with more confidence. He was curious about the bag but figured Amia and Getsumei could investigate while he kept an eye out for the creature to return. He was curious of course, but someone needed to be the lookout he thought.
"Can you see what's inside?" He asked, glancing at them for a second before turning back to watch where the creature had disappeared from. He wasn't sure if Amia's light was enough to properly illuminate the bag or if they should grab it and return to the group.


Good luck charm

Erina_Nobara

Dea and #Teddy#

Galatea had decided that she had enough fun for the night and was ready head back to the main building. The noise had been enough for her and the awfully familiar feeling was not something she liked either. The shiver that ran down her back was well warranted in that moment. She did not want to look at the bag or into even though she was a might curious. Surely the others would report on what the contents were if they were brave enough.

"I am definitely heading back. I think I'm spooked enough." She said to no one in particular in the group.

Ofuda: One

The small group who went towards the bag were able to grab it and take it back with them to the relative safety of the inside of the shrine building. Taking the bag back into the room with the false door, one of the group shut the false door partially to help keep the strange creature who dropped the bag from easily getting in and also to hide their tracks that they were even here.

The curiosity of what was in the bag would get to be too much to take for someone (perhaps the brave Amia or maybe the curious Mezcla or Getsumei?). Upon reaching into the bag a hard item was felt. Pulling it out revealed a cracked mask, one of the ones that all Makogis come from. It was badly damaged, mostly white in color with a few spots of brown, and as it was held by whoever reached into the bag, it broke fully into several pieces. As it shatters a wisp of smoke emits from the mask before revealing a strange creature before them. It was a fuzzy little fox like creature with two little front paws but no back legs, just a strange wisp like body. The creature hissed at the group before disappearing with a shimmer of flame. Some of you may recognize this little poof of a flame or a similar furry body shape from the daytime.



Checking the rest of the bag will reveal more broken almost whole masks and lots of various shards of what is now easily identified as mask pieces. A few of you had found shards like these during the day and now know where or rather what they came from. Without much else to do besides talk and theorize the group heads to bed. Some may find sleep easily while others may struggle to sleep after learning what they've learned so far.

Morning comes soon enough and the group heads back to the beach to meet Tadashi with plenty of time before the first ferry shows up with the shrine caretakers. Reaching the beach the group sees Tadashi's boat, it looked like two of the group were already on it, maybe they had decided at the last moment to not go on the search or maybe they just woke up really early and headed out before everyone else. But whatever the reason the whole group was together again with Tadashi securing his little dinghy to the beach.

"Good to see y'all back in one piece." He called out to everyone, "So are y'all ready to head back?" Someone must have felt that the information about the broken masks was too important to wait on reporting and quickly presented the bag with broken masks and explained what had happen to the mask that fully broke. Tadashi got very upset over this, his face turning red and his form seeming to shimmer?! That couldn't be right but as he sputtered in outrage the image of Tadashi disappeared. In his place was a tall, white with red markings creature that had nine tails. He was still distraught over the broken masks, flickers of flames appearing around the area.

Once he calmed down, the creature looked to the group. "I am sorry if I startled you but this is very bad if someone is gathering Makogis masks and breaking them. That's what those shards are. A Makogis mask that was on it's way of becoming a Makitsu. Breaking a mask before a Makogis can fully inhabit and be born prevents them from existing." He took a breath and gave a bow, "I thank you all for taking up my duty of searching the shrine for what is happening to our brethren. My name is Shiro, we very briefly met yesterday when I was disguised as Tadashi's nephew. I'm a Makitsu much like you but I've been around for much longer and as I've aged and grown in power I've reached the point of being considered a god, back when Makogis were seen as gods and not curses upon the land. I would have done the search myself but.... the followers of the cult of the true god would have instantly known I was here and I can't risk them finding me right now. They'd love nothing more than to get rid of me."

Shiro takes a few moments to stare at the bag, his tails flicking in agitation. "This definitely explains why Tadashi hasn't been finding many masks. We were fortunate to find two today before you all arrived.... I think it may be best for one you to take one of them with you. But that can wait until we get back to the mainland. Tadashi is on the boat getting ready for us to depart. Let's go back and if you have any questions we can talk on the ride back." His form shimmered again and soon the younger boy from yesterday was in his place. He moved towards the dinghy ready to take whoever wanted back to the boat. "Oh if you all want to wait your turn I can take you back on the dinghy in turns."



((With this the meta is over! People are free to do any wrap up posts or ask questions to Shiro, I'll leave this unlocked and open for about a week. In the sign up thread I will be posting the meta prizes! Since everyone has posted at least once everyone is free to enter the raffle for one of the two masks. Anyone who didn't find a Pimatsu shard during the meta can enter in a separate raffle for one of the remaining Pimatsu familiars. The familiar guide entry for Pimatsu will be filled out this weekend with their basic information.))

Amia had decided she should be the one to check the bag, hoping the other two did not mind. So had reached inside and felt around, feeling a hard object, which she carefully pulled out. There in her paws was a mask, one that looked like it had been put through the ringer. She then saw it break even more from her paws, which made a cry of sadness come from her. What she did not expect was smoke to issue from it and a little creature appear. She gasped at how it looked, before it hissed and disappeared into flames. Wait, wasn't that the furry form she would see appear and disappear during the day? Was this little being the cause for all the broken things from earlier?

She looked into the bag more, pulling out more shards and broken masks. Seeing it hurt, who would have broken all of these, for what purpose? She just felt sick to her stomach with each piece she pulled out. At least now she knew where that piece she had found came from, it had to be from one of these masks. She wondered if there was other creatures like the one they had just seen that were tied to these mask remnants. She supposed she might not know, they may not want to come out. For now, it was time for some sleep, so she made her way back inside with the others, to get rest before they would meet Tadashi at the beach. She didn't know if she would be able to sleep with all the things in her mind, but she supposed she would wait and see.

When morning came, she had slept at least a little, but her mind had been all over with the stuff that had happened. Her mind still all over the place as they headed for the beach, where she could see Tadashi's boat. As they got closer, she noticed two of their group was already onboard, had they gotten there before they did or maybe had just stayed behind, she wasn't sure. When they got to him, she showed him the bag they had found and her own piece that she had found earlier in the day. Then she was stunned as he seemed to change, her eyes widen. He looked similar to them, but different at the same time. She took in what he said and how they had met him before.

"Does Tadashi know you are a Makitsu?"she asked, hoping it was not too personal.

4 Ofuda so far: here Ofuda here and here

She had been horrified to learn of the broken masks, but the strange creature that popped out of the bag seemed gentle and wanted to stay with her so she kept it close by. Interesting that this Shiro was pretending to be Tadashi and that they had such control over their illusion. Being a god seemed to have its perks.

"Is there anything we can do to help prevent this sort of thing?" She asked, not sure if there was more than what they had done there already. The question that Amia had asked weighing on her too, did Tadashi know and not want to tell them this secret because it could jeopardize Shiro's plan to remain hidden from those who followed this true god.

"I will wait for the dingy this time. Swimming and me seem to be at odds with one another."