Post 2/2 for Labor I Post 4/4 for Labor II Post 4/4 for Clerical Work Day 1/6 for Tending the Land
An overwhelming sense of oppression weighed down on Bast as she sped up and down the rows of weeds, clearing the unwanted plants with a haste heretofore unseen in the farming community. In one deft movement, she would reach down, pluck a stalk from the ground, shake the dirt off of it, and toss it into a basket behind her. The reason for this efficiency was, of course, her visitors: Kazunori had brought company. The woman recognized most of them from positions of authority in the city, many of them shopkeepers. She couldn't imagine why all of them had come, and she had the distinct impression that slowing or stopping would mean interacting with them. The moment of truth came when she had to stop for lunch.
"Hey, Community-Minded Woman," Kazunori called as she pulled a cooked fish from Mononoke's waiting hands. "Get over here, we're feeding you. We have some questions for you."
What followed was a series of probing questions about forgeries and a few boxes of the most delicious meat-and-vegetable dishes she had had in weeks. While she enjoyed the food and thanked them for it, she felt their questions continued for much longer than was necessary, pushing on well into the afternoon, when she was busy felling trees again. Eventually, though, the crowd meandered back to the shade by the water cask, leaving only Kazunori.
"You got an explanation for that?" she asked derisively. "I'm not too fond of people interfering with my work. I'm sure you can understand."
"I do, I do. I'm sure you'll understand if I tell you they do too. Counterfeiting could ruin the economy if it gets out of hand."
Bast let down the last of the trees she needed to clear--as far as she could tell, at least--and headed over to her table to write out the day's work logs. Kazunori orbited the table at a distance, looking pensively at the ground as he paced. Her script was a bit stilted due to the speed at which she wrote, but legible.
"Is there a crime problem here in Takumi?" she asked no one in particular. "It never struck me as a bad neighborhood whenever I visited, but there's trouble now. There's not much of a surface presence, I suppose."
"Hard to tell." Kazunori's tone was enigmatic and elicited a tense quiet from the peanut gallery. "It does seem like shaky employment prospects hasn't been the healthiest for the community."
Bast remained quiet. Her report was done, and she expected her guests would leave soon and leave her alone. As she rose to go and deliver the report, a swarthy older man walked over and grabbed it from her without a word. About an hour later, she received her payment via runner, alongside a boxed meal. She ate it for dinner under the setting sky, wondering just what the hell was going on in this city.
AandOE
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 3:57 pm
Ergo War
Tao-Benshin
In between mumbles, Bast would hear '93% counterfeit' and 'Kumo scoundrels'. She couldn't not hear it even if she wanted to, the strength of the sensory perceptions had increased to the point that her non-chakra senses were naturally clinging to the same details as those that were. Kazunori also seemed to be quite the chipper companion lately, much more worthy of Bast's attentions than usual, despite her increasing exhaustion. His mere presence would be noted from at least 30 meters away, and much, much more of a glowing presence than others around him, though he tended to blur in with others while in crowds. There were other larger presences that Bast would be able to sorta feel, too, but they all tended towards the docks' deeper water depths. After reaching a new rank, the compulsion within her shadow had fully split, producing an eerie double shadow, though it was only truly visible when a contrast in light existed.
93% counterfeit? Kumo? Is the Cloud dealing in forgeries? Such were the woman's thoughts as she drifted off to a restless sleep.
When Bast awoke in the morning as the first rays of dawn were just beginning to peek over the horizon and looked around herself, she noticed that she was almost completely finished weeding the fields, having made some 2 fields' worth of progress the day before. Her exhaustion told her not to finish the job that day, and what was more, there was a strange entity in the water that seemed to be calling out to her--or, at the very least, it was something that demanded her attention, given that she could feel its presence without being a sensor. So, she got dressed as she usually would, but then affixed a breath mask to her face and headed to the docks. The way the early morning crowds swam back and forth as though they weren't made of distinct individuals made her feel queasy. Luckily, though, whatever was in the water demanded much more of her attention than anything else.
"Here we go," she mumbled to herself, kneading Chakra in case she had to activate Douka at a moment's notice. Then she dove down into the river, making slow progress toward the presence she felt down there and keeping her eyes peeled for movement.
AandOE
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:30 am
Ergo War
A few meters down was all it took for the sunlight and warmth to be drained from the surrounding waters. Continuing down, Bast would have to find a way to keep warm, as at least the overhead light could show her a way up. Looking into the depths, though, only her new ability to roughly sense things was helping the situation. In the deepest, most light resistant beds, a long circle of something twitched, flailing its tail out. Buffeted by the momentary shockwave, when Bast was able to 'see' again, the circle now had a tail long enough to not be visible clearly in the depth's distance. Soon, she would have to emerge for air, not to breathe, but to keep from entering death's cold embrace, the now meek warmth from above calling out to her.
Certainly, the mystery below was intriguing, but nowhere in the academy handbooks was there something described like this one. Looking around again, the potency of the arisen situation made itself apparent: the general lack of sea life for such a large corridor was astounding! There may have been plenty of fish seen at the surface, but that was a byproduct and a lie about the status below, far into the darkness. Overhead, a shadow danced as a seagoing vessel drifted towards its destination.
The cold was something she hadn't prepared for. Sure, it was a perfectly obvious transition in hindsight, but living in a desert for so long had taken her mind off of the effects of deep water. The cold, the shockwave, and the strange creature were enough to convince her it was time to surface, so after weathering the shock with the fortitude of her trained body, she swam upward. When at last she broke the surface, she floated on her back and took in the warmth of the sun for a few minutes, being careful to swim out of the way of any passing ships. Eventually she climbed up onto the water's surface and just walked back to shore, wondering all the while what the creature she had seen was.
As soon as she was on dry land again, Bast relaxed the Chakra she had kneaded for Douka and looked around. It felt like Kazunori was back near her camp, and rather than interact with anyone else, she decided to head straight for him. When she arrived back at her camp, she found him sitting next to Mononoke and talking, some of the notables from yesterday off lounging in the shade.
"Oi, Kazunori," she opened, her tone slightly harsher than she intended. She took up a spot on a tree stump and draped her hair over one shoulder to wring it out before continuing. "How has the fishing been around here recently?"
"I can ask, if you'd like," he offered magnanimously before rising and walking over to the others.
"Mononoke, report on any trouble you've had while fishing," the woman ordered her golem as soon as the man was out of earshot.
"Surface fishing has been yielding steadily less, while deep drop fishing below three meters has not yielded a single fish. Moreover, surface traffic makes fishing on the near shore very difficult, necessitating trips to the far side."
"Thank you. Remain on standby."
It was at this point that Kazunori sauntered back over and confirmed that information, leading her to conclude a number of things, the first of which was that the creature down there needed to die, and the second of which was that she needed clothes that would keep her warm down there.
"Alright, Kazunori, it's been a while, so I need to know where I can find a glass forge. I can pay provide the materials I need, but the forge is necessary. I also need to know where to find wholesale cloth and an infusion artificer's forge. Can you point me in the correct direction?"
AandOE
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 4:23 pm
Ergo War
This is Takumi, baby! There are so many shoppes and forges all over the place, this is like the greatest village in the world! Booya~ He couldn't actually say that, but his thoughts were still there. "Over this way," he started, walking a few steps ahead of her. "There's actually quite a few places, if you don't mind the trek..." It may not have been a yellow brick road, and it wasn't Oz, but at least the rows upon rows of endless Kansas weren't going to shown up during the tour.
Post 2/2 for Labor I Post 4/4 for Labor II Post 4/4 for Clerical Work Day 6/6 for Tending the Land
Bast's heart throbbed in her throat as she toiled under the gray sky. Rain pattered hollowly on the barrier she was using as a canopy overhead. Next to her was a pile of weeds that had started popping up in the fields she had already picked over. She was getting very close to finishing weeding the fields, at long last. She imagined the city would reclaim them as soon as she was done, and then she'd be functionally homeless once more. Part of her wanted to continue this work endlessly and not have to work with anyone else, but the ache in her fingers said otherwise. Backbreaking labor was not her lot, or at the very least, she couldn't see herself performing this kind of labor for much longer.
That afternoon brought strong winds and fiercer rains than she had seen in a while, and kept much of the business of the city indoors. The relative peace gave her pause as she dragged a boulder out of the ground at a little past one. The rock undoubtedly would have been a problem when it came time to dig out the river to make the canal, so naturally it had to go. While the rock's weight was hardly a problem, the mud from the rain constantly threatened to suck her under, and it was with great relief that she finally dragged herself out of the sinkhole where the rock had been. As soon as she was in the clear, she set the rock down next to the mound of logs and walked back under the barrier canopy. It was at this point that she decided to break for lunch.
The previous day, Bast had considered Kazunori's offer to go with him, but had been suddenly overcome with an intense antipathy toward the thought. Something had anchored her feet in place. Instead of going herself, she sent Mononoke ahead to scout the place out. The golem had returned the night prior, but headed out again early in the morning at the woman's beck. It felt like Mononoke would be back soon. It always felt that way around these times, ever since she had started fishing for food. It would be some time yet before the golem returned, though.
The woman's envoy reappeared halfway through writing the daily report. Covered from head to toe in rainwater, the stone lady arrived with less trepidation than a drop falling from the sky.
"Report," the woman ordered.
"Facilities present at a nearby store. I notified the owner of the situation in the river, per your instructions. Rather than charging you directly, he'll be negotiating with a few of the fishing companies to pay the facilities fee. No materials will be provided. Anything you need can be purchased as normal. Additionally, you have been invited to use the facilities at the seamstress', should you require them for your endeavors."
As the curtain closed on the verbal report, Bast signed the written log of her activities and sealed it with a flourish.
"Good work. Deliver the letter, then warm up dinner."
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 8:42 pm
Wood creaked and soft dirt shifted as Bast, in the wee hours of the morning, hoisted a tree stump onto her shoulders. Mononoke had packed up the woman's tools meticulously over the course of the night, and was now busy affixing the tool pouch to her creator's waist. At this hour, the streets would be mostly empty and it would be a simple task to pop over to the tool shop the Kazunori had mentioned to work on a variable marble; so, without delay, the woman started jogging toward the shop with a stump on her back.
Ergo War Vice Captain
Enduring Guildsman
Offline
Ergo War Vice Captain
Enduring Guildsman
Offline
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:25 am
Bast's clone strolled up nonchalantly to the main warehouse of the river port and placed an order for about 200 lbs. of orichalcum, set to be delivered to nearby farm fields. After receiving a quote for the delivery time--about two hours--it headed back to the place it had been created. At that same time, Bast and her other clone were arriving at the fields, the former looking worse for wear. As soon as they had arrived, the woman sat down on a stump and her clone stood opposite her.
"Let's go over what we know," the clone opened, facing its otherwise silent creator. "The purported symptoms of this thing are as follows: antipathy for people, though this is slightly tenuous given how much it varies; some sort of mild extrasensory abilities; trouble kneading Chakra, possibly manifesting in how difficult it is to perform techniques; and exhaustion, though this is also tenuous and could be attributed to any number of things."
The woman remained silent, mastering all her faculties to keep her feet planted on the ground and her hands clenched together. During this brief pause, the clone made sure the shadow was still present on the ground behind its creator.
"In cases with sensory manipulation--" The clone's hands blurred, one of them coming to rest on its creator. A strong pulse of Chakra echoed through the woman's Tenketsu network as a powerful Kai sought to disrupt any Genjutsu she might have been under. "--trying to release a Genjutsu is the best opening move."
The energies rippled through the woman's system, but left her conscious. It would be a moment before she could adequately assess whether she was feeling better, worse, or about the same as before, so for the time being, she continued to focus on the feeling of her palms against each other.
Chakra: 1865/2185 Stamina: 1305/1325 Jutsu used: Ugoki no Jutsu, Kai (S+)
Ryou spent: 1000
AandOE
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:35 pm
Ergo War
Whatever was affecting the lady in blue was now having a rather difficult time of it. The extra shadow seized at the attempted Kai, but between her troubles with amounting her chakra, and whatever the shadow was doing, Bast's efforts looked as if all hell was springing loose. All around her, crates, people, the docks, seagulls, everything, suddenly had two shadows, except for her. The immediate, personal effect was that her constant exhaustion felt lighter, and an overwhelming sense of total isolation, as the rudimentary sensory ability vanished. A chill went over her skin.
A scream from the other side of the embankment carried over the winds, to the docks near Bast. Rather than being a damsel in distress, it was a manly sort of scream, withholding itself from sheer terror for its own sake. Kazunori was sprinting away from what looked like an endlessly long salamander, easily bigger than many of the docked boats, combined! Raising up, the beast attempted to n** the man in half, but only got his lucky hat. What to do, what to do? As silly as it sounds, there were two problems: a rapid infestation of shadows, and a very angry monstrosity bearing down quickly upon Kazunori.
It was like the day had finally dawned for Bast, as though she were seeing the light with unadulterated eyes for the first time in years. A single peaceful thought floated through her head before everything around her started going to hell. There were strange double-shadows everywhere, and Kazunori seemed to be having a tough time with an uppity lizard.
"Kai seemed effective," the woman muttered to herself as she stood up and shrugged off her shivers.
Sensing that Kazunori was probably in more immediate danger, Bast committed herself to his rescue before all else. She plunged her hands into the earth and caused the earth under the lizard to move away quickly like a conveyor belt backward and slightly to one side, hopefully at least tripping the beast up and allowing Kazunori to escape. Then, when he had hopefully gotten at least a bit more of a head start, she stood up again.
The woman tapped her clone on the shoulder, then rapidly formed a few hand seals. This climate was much more suitable for Ukojizai than Sunagakure was, but there weren't many any clouds, so she had to alter her strategy from long ago--back when mechanical pirates near Saraswati were a major problem--and used Korabo with herself. She and her clone fused together a high-level Kai and Gravity's Double Helix, intending to fill the air with a song of disillusionment and weightlessness. The song would serve as the conduit for the Kai while simultaneously reducing the gravity to about two-thirds normal.
Chakra: 1660/2185 Stamina: 1305/1325 Jutsu used: Tsuchi Tou Tou, Inryoku no Nijuurasen, Kai (S)
AandOE
Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 3:57 pm
Ergo War
The long beast tripped over the moving earth, plunging chin first to the ground. Skidding through the track, from its massive weight, it would've grumbled if it had the capability to do so. Now at a more comfortable space ahead, Kazunori glanced over his shoulder, and then slowed up to catch his breath. Looking around, he spied his rowboat that had carried him to the far shore, and made a light dash over to it, hoisting the oars and rowing full tilt out to the middle of the river.
At the sound of the song, boats began to lift slightly, their buoyancy gaining a helping hand. Crates, people, cats, and even affected water also began to lift, until the cacophony of oddities hit an all time high. The choppy waters also made rowing more difficult, and now the far lizard-thing was standing back up again. Back on the near side, shadows turned goopy, then runny, and while many began to evaporate, most were getting absorbed into the earth. Strange indeed!
It seemed everything had more or less gone according to plan. The lizard had tripped--allowing Kazunori to get away--and the shadows had seemed to dissociate into a strange mess. Investigation would have to wait until the lizard was dealt with, however; much to her dismay, the beast seemed to be rather sturdy, and she didn't want to risk it going after Kazunori again.
As the last echoes of the woman's voice faded away, she leaped into action. In a flash, the woman took off toward the beast, her clone tailing a short distance behind, having gone to fetch a bucket. On its way past one of the pools of shadow goop, it scooped up some of the goop and the soil underneath it into the bucket, then wrapped the bucket in a Chakra-impeding barrier and set it aside, hoping to have a sample for later analysis. Meanwhile, on the near shore, Bast whipped out a length of wire and leveled it for the feet of the recovered lizard. She charged up Chakra as her clone launched itself over the river, landed next to the creature with a slam of its feet, and sent a wave of earthen spears up at the creature to hopefully pierce it and impede its movement. At that point, Bast herself unleashed the Ayametori she had prepared, sending the slicing wave straight for the--hopefully captured--creature's legs.
Chakra: 1550/2185 Stamina: 1305/1325 Jutsu used: Kekkai Houin (B), Fuuton Shunshin, Ishi no Yari, Ayametori (B)
AandOE
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:02 pm
Ergo War
With all of the ambient chakra, it took little effort for the insanely long beast to recognize it, and begin absorbing. Quietly and easily, the gravity returned to normal, and with each passing moment, it grew steadily larger. Whipping around back towards its tail, the deep sea creature's properties were too much to handle for the clone, popping it before the earthen spears could jab. At this point, going after Kazunori was too much effort, but the blue clad lady on the other side was posing a grand threat. Filled with so much chakra, the incoming Ayametori lopped off one of its legs at the knee before the grand beast breathed out, releasing the swollen energy in a Suijinheki [ Water Encampment Wall ] to block the rest of the attack. Injured and bleeding now, it took advantage of the Suijinheki to retreat, diving into the depths. Kazunori, riding the wave of the plummeting beast, arrived earlier than expected on the near shore, his boat and himself making it back in one piece. "Oi! You gave me quite the haircut," he yelled to Bast, pointing to where the Ayametori had just barely flown over his head.
Suijinheki [ Water Encampment Wall ] Rank: B Official Description: Suiton • Suijinheki is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Water Element. The Shinobi will first do a string of hand seals and then proceed to blow out a jet of water from their mouth to act as a water barrier from incoming attack. Guild Description: See official description. Barrier can repel Shinobi, as well as Ninjutsu under A-Rank.
As soon as Kazunori arrived Bast pulled him up and out of the boat, then a few feet ashore before hitting him with a Kai as well, just to be sure.
"Apologies, I'll try to make it up to you later," she opened as soon as that was done with. As she talked, she backed away from the water, keeping an eye on it all the while. "That lizard just used Ninjutsu. I recommend listing this thing in the Bingo Book. For the time being, I need a map of the city and this whole area needs to be evacuated. Can you help me with that?"
