The Festival of Souls

Billgar · The Festival of Souls

Finally as the sun starts to set, the decorations are up and a warm glow from the red lanterns surrounds the marketplace. The air is dense with spiritual energy and The excitement is starting to mount.

A stage erected directly in front of the palace has a young girl standing upon it singing away. Some vendors have finally started to arrive. It is truly a marvelous event.

The Emperor Rides in on the back of his lacrimabilis with Gerald on top of his head.

Smoking his kiseru, he eyes up the Noodle shop and makes his move.

After making his order, he begins to drink right from the bowl.

Archaic

*Archaic arrives to the festival walking from the dig site from a few days ago. The lights are flashy and it almost appears that the souls are visible in the light. Its quite astonishing really and Archaic just can't help but looking around. Seeing the noodles and the yakatas, Archaic checks how much money he has and sees that although its a lot, he should spend sparingly.*

"Wow great job with these festivities."

Schmall

After waking from a nap, Schmall drops down from a tree and looks around. He is quite amazed by the spiritual display going on above the market place. He spots the free punch bowls and heads in that direction with a grin spreading across his face in anticipation of upcoming events.

Billgar

The emperor approaching schmall.

"Just be careful not to spike it." Bending over, the Bird atop his head grabs a cup by its rim with its beak. the emperor stands back up and puts his hand forward a bit. the cup falls from the birds beak, and the emperor catches it.

Schmall

"I have no intentions of doing so your Eminence," repsondes Schmall, "Littles one will be drinking also. If I desire such a drink, I will remove myself from the market and march myself back to the tavern!"

Schmall then whistles to Lumpy who is still napping up in the tree. After a couple of times and a dire threat or two, Lumpy finally flies back down. "See him," Schmall points at the Emporer's pet bird, "I need you to be more like him. We will have to work on it some more for sure my feathered friend"

Archaic

*Archaic walks up to the punchbowl and sees Billgar with Gerald and Schmall. Approaching it he takes the cup and takes a sip. It is very refreshing and a smile crosses his face.*

Ah emperor, you did a great job setting this up. Congrats.

Billgar

"Yes We pushed quite a few merchants into uncomfortable situations in order to get them here. More should be arriving as the night wanes on, but for now, let us enjoy ourselves!!"

Koku

Approaching I feel the presence I make my way to the festivities. "Ah the energy here is thick, this will be a good time."

Billgar

"Koku!" The emperor waves his hand. His clothing is almost brighter than the lanterns.

"Join US!"

Koku

"As you wish." I head over towards Billgar and grab some punch." All your planning seems to have paid off well. Good job with this, I am intrigued with the amount of spiritual energy here. How did you manage to summon up all the energy?" With that I look at him and take a small sip of punch.

Billgar

*Billgars eyes turn dark for a second then he looks cautiously up towards the sky.*

* a warm smile creeps across his face as he looks back at Koku.*

"I didnt."

*sipping his punch he pull out a classic fan and pushes some air onto himself.*

*gerald clups*

Koku

"Well then that is interesting. My scythe is happy and anxious about it. Surely this must be some time of omen. For now I guess there is nothing to do," I continue to drink my punch, "but to enjoy the time for now."

Schmall

"hmmm, I wonder if anyone invented a soul catching net yet?" Schmall pounders outloud. "I have this huge empty jar designed just for the purpose of holding some, but no way of getting them in here. hmmmm"

Koku

My scythe is trying to absorb some of the spiritual energy, but there seems to be too much and it is having trouble. It is like trying to suck up a whole lot at once, it just ends with it being temporarily clogged. I will tell you this, my scythe is not happy about it at all.

Billgar

"Dont worry too much about it, souls come in time and free souls are the hardest ones to capture. We hear it is easiest to obtain them immediately after a human mortal dies."

Archaic

"Oh well than Koku, I suppose you may need to switch to an other weapon and let your scythe digest the souls it already has first eh. Still the presence of all this souls is worrisome. Perhaps I should invest in that weapon sooner as opposed to later when it could be too late."

*Archaic begins to ponder at the situation.*

Lord_Obagon

"These do seem to be quite troublesome to catch," says a voice from an unknown direction.
"But I guess I can wait till the arena to catch some souls, for now I shall just enjoy there company." Most of the crowd is now looking at Obagon as he stands on a nearby rooftop with a rather large flask in hand.

Billgar

* the female singer from before descends from the stage and a rather fat individual takes his place. Staring to sing his voice is horrific and sweat pours down his face as he tries to dance. Billgar Hums along*

Koku

I quickly go up to Obagon, "You think we should give him motivation to sing better?" With that I grab my scythe and hold at above my head as if about to throw it. A smirk come across my face as I fake throwing it.

Billgar

Billgar laughs at the sight of obagon trying to capture the should. Once again however his face goes dark and eh looks off down the street.

Schmall

Schmall, noting the dark look that passes over the Emporer's usual joyful, carefree face, begins to worry a little. He checks his new bisento that is strapped to his back, and climbs a tree to get a better vantage point of the surrounding area.

Billgar

*koku feel something smack into his head, then a wetness over the hood of his cloak*

*looking down from the roof he see the emperor with his arm still extended*

*Gerald Clups*

Billgar. "clup?"

Archaic

*Archaic walks down the street and heads to the singing. It was a rather boring and poorly skilled performer thus Archaic grew bored. The festivities were good until they forgot the screen the singers. Oh well, at least it was entertaining to see everybody's reactions. Archaic pushes his way through the crowd and stands in the front of the audience. Glaring at the guy he tries to scare the performer off the stage*

"Would you shut up already, you are awful."

Koku

"Clup Clup to you too. I suppose that is what I get for threatening the performers." With that I jump down, doing a front flip mid air and lading nicely on my feet.
"Is there any problems you would like to discuss. No one seems to be paying attention to anything but the events, so I think we are in good shape. Still it is eerie, oh well."

Billgar

"Yes, the knife throwing seems to be particularly popular! We can abrely keep up!"

Koku

"indeed, and the fight looks like it will be a good one. I can not wait to see how it turns out. The energy seems to be dancing with anticipation too."

Lord_Obagon

You can see Obagon looking around fiercely. He jumps down and walks over to Lord Billgar. "It seems that the new Captain has yet to make his appearance."

Koku

"If you meant bean, I sent him to get a lot of punch. He may return any time now, or some other time perhaps. It was a lot, and it may be a tad bit heavy for him to carry. We shall see.

Archaic

*Archaic walks away and notices a hooded figure next to the emperor. Looking in his pack he holds the koku doll and decides to walk over to the group. When he gets there he notices that Obagon is also with them.*

"Hey Koku, they're handing out dolls of you and I was wondering... are these vodoo dolls? Like if I were to set it ablaze, would you also burn?"

Koku

"They better not be, if they are then I will have an issue on my hands wouldn't I? Sir these are not what he speaks of right?" I look back to Archaic and especially Obagaon, making sure they do not try anything finny.

Lord_Obagon

Overhearing Archaic's words, you notice Obagon crush one of the dolls in his hand.

Billgar

*Billgar Laughs*

"we would never allow a voodoo doll of Koku to be distributed through the kingdom."

*He bends down to look at the doll in obagons hand. gerald pecks at it*

Koku

"I start to hold my ribs as if in pain after seeing what Obagon did. I get right up his his face with an anger mark on my forehead, "Why would you do that?! Idiot what happens if it was really a voodoo doll?!" With that I back off and start mumbling things under my breath.

Lord_Obagon

Obagon looks slightly depressed, and puts the doll back in his pocket.

Archaic

*Archaic looks at Obagon.*

"Guess these things are pretty useless then. Oh well it was worth a shot, plus you have an extra one."

Billgar

"Maybe we shall try to win a prize now that the throwing seems to have quieted down a bit!"

Billgar Walks towards the stand.

Koku

"good luck. Win it for Gerald." With that I approach Obagon and punch him lightly on the top of the head, "That is for trying to crush my ribs!" I go back on the rough to see the sites.

Lord_Obagon

"Ribs?" says Obagon as he pulls out the plushy. The stuffing sticking out of its side is clearly visible, the head is falling off, the scythe is torn and there are peck marks all over it.

Billgar

*Billgar Returns*

*cough*

"Yes, we forgot about the divine powers and all that. Evidently a common knife turns into a golden sphere for US....so we couldnt play."

*he sobs a little and Gerald clooooooos a comforting noise*

Koku

Looking down and hearing the plight I can't help but snicker while shaking my head. "It is ok, I am sure you just get a doll if you really ask. What I am curious about is where he is getting the souls from..."

chippit

*walking past your group of guys I stop and laugh a little*

"haha look what I have and none of you do!"

* holding up my Billgar doll I wave it at you guys before walking off*

Lord_Obagon

Obagon's head perks up and he walks toward the throwing knives table. To watch the next few matches to see if there are anymore souls given out.

Koku

I go over to Chippit quickly and whisper to her, "Please do not rub it in Lord Billgar's face, he is distraught by not being able to get one already."

chippit

"I wasn't trying to rub it in Lord Billgar's face.... maybe someone can win him one since he isn't able to do it himself."

Archaic

*Archaic approaches Billgar with one of his Koku dolls out.*

"Here you go sire, since we know that you can't win one on your own, I shall give you one of mine for gerald to play with."

*With that Archaic extends his hand to the emperor holding the doll."

Billgar

*We ignore the doll a look into the distance.*

"Its here." *the dark look in billgar's face shows once more*

A large beast leaps down from the sky devouring a soul midair.

Eigetsu

"What is all of this commotion on my most precious night of feating. Wha. HAHAHA, it appears that there are powerful souls within many of you. I shall be waiting outside of the area to take those on who are willing to serve as my nourishment."

The beast vanishes.

Lord_Obagon

Obagon walks slowly over. "What is a Hachimangu doing here?" as he looks to Billgar.

Billgar

"we have heard legends of them long ago, supposedly on rare occasions when the souls in the air are plentiful they venture into the mortal world in search of powerful souls to consume. However We have never seen or heard of another seeing one."

Lord_Obagon

Obagon draws his ax and rests it on his shoulders. He begins to walk out to meet the Hachimangu.

Koku

Well I guess it is worth a shot.

Archaic

*Archaic is startled by the beast and grips onto his blade tightly. The pressure of these beasts presence alone was enough to nearly bring Archaic to his knees.*

"Gah, what was that. Its presence was too powerful for it to be a normal enemy. As much as I would love to fight it, I feel as though I would simply get murdered in a hit. This sucks."

Billgar

"Well hopefully it wont spoil our night too much, i hear that a magnificent display of fireworks is going to be displayed later on." Billgar picks up a cup of tea from a a tray that a worker is carrying and begins to sip upon it.

Schmall

Schmall feeling the overpowering aura of the Hachimangu, moves to gain a better vantage point. Seeing Koku and Obagon gear up in battle, schmall decides he will do what he can, knowing that he may do little in the upcoming fight. So he hangs back and waits for his chance.

Archaic

*Archaic notices Schmall is observing the battle and can only shake his head.*

"Schmall don't even think about fighting that thing. It is not a fight for us, it is a beast that can purely only be fought off by the immortals and the emperor. However, as the emperor is enjoying himself, let us leave it to the immortals. now get down here and enjoy the festivities."

Billgar

"Yes, we agree with what archaic has said."
*Billgar places down his cup of tea, and starts to walk towards the stage. As he moves forward Gerald flutters off his head and lands on the table that the tea was on and starts to drink from it.*

*After getting on the stage, billgar begins to sing. Starting off slowly at first it is quite beautiful*

"The song of the lump sings slowly,
Yet only the world can know its tune...."

*Suddenly the pace picks upa nd it becomes quite rapid and alot more enrgetic*

"But-then-from-the-sky-descends-the-clouds-of-fate-and-sweeps-away-its-call
Only-destiny-can-head-its-pleas-else-all........"

*the crowd begins to tune out his ridiculousness as they are not impressed*

Koku

Before heading to the battle I quickly ask Billgarm "Sir this is a big emergency, I am requesting your help with this fight. It seems as if Obagon and I will not stand a chance alone, we need your help."

Archaic

*Archaic shaking his head at Billgar approaches the stage. Putting a hand on his shoulders Archaic makes a gesture that says to get off the stage and redeem yourself.*

"Do you really wish to have your followers upset with you because of your... advanced singing skills. Perhaps it would be best if you had Gerald perform for the crowd."

Billgar

"Verywell....Anymore that are willing to come and fight i suggest you do."

*Gerald clups as the situation turns from joyous to serious*

"No, im afraid you will have to stay here, for You see, we will have my hands full protecting this one."

Billgar grabs archaics arm and pulls him along to the arena.

Schmall

Schmall disappears among the crowd, but last seen heading straight for the arena. SAll warriors noticing his composure realize that he has embraced death and goes to meet it knowingly.

Archaic

*Archaic feeling a bit beat up returns to the crowd until he feels the harsh presence vanish. In excitement he runs around till he can find someone he knows and finds Beanbaker and Schmall.*

"Guys, did you feel it! The presence is gone, the beast has been defeated! Although many died and we three may not have done as much, we were all part of vanquishing it. Today is worthy of a celebration."

Billgar

*Billgar returning*

"well it seems now at least that the commotion is over"

*Billgar picks up gerald and pets him on the head.*

Looking up, fireworks light the evening sky. It is truly a magnificent sight.

Beanbaker

"Well, that was... interesting... and gruesome... I think I need a shower now..."

I walk off scratching things that aren't there on my head.

Lord_Obagon

Obagon walks in eating more of his Lumpbird and candy. He just mumbles to himself for a while.

Koku

Walking in I can not believe what happened. "So close, we were so close and yet it still beat us." Feeling ashamed I get punch and go onto the roof again.

Archaic

*Archaic runs up to Obagon and notices him eating candy and mumbling to himself.*

"What's wrong Obagon, didn't you fell the beast with Koku? Shouldn't that be something to cheer about. It's not like you got overkilled... I swear I died three times from just one hit from the beast."

Lord_Obagon

"It still got away," Obagon mumbles.

Archaic

"Why mumble then... it just means that you get to slaughter it again some day, and when that day occurs you will be even more powerful and truly seek vengeance on it."

Lord_Obagon

"Have you ever tried to talk while eating?" says Obagon as he pulls more Lumpbird of the stick.

Archaic

*taking the hint Archaic walks away feeling content that he probably cheered the guy up, and yet upset that he couldn't do more in the battle.*

"Well onwards to my next plan."

Billgar

*Billgar Buys some shabu shabu and enjoys eating it.*

Lord_Obagon

Obagon looks at the shabu shabu and heads over to the stand, "I think I will need some of that" and drops the gc.

Billgar

"Ah, glad you could join me!" Exclaims billgar as he moves his head down to consume some meat as gerald perches on the side lapping at the broth.

"Just closing up" explains the man working as he puts the shabu shabu platter in front of Obagon.

Lord_Obagon

This will be a good meal after that fight.

Schmall

Schmall, finally snapping to after his death experience, again,, speaks, "Well, I may have done no damage to the thing, at least I allowed the superior warriors to gain free strikes on it. I was hoping to ride it by holding on my embedded bisento. Oh well, didnt quite work. Like I said, the others got free strikes."

Lumpy, sitting on Schmall's shoulder, glares at Obagon as he eats his lumpbird on a stick.

"Well, I bet we all learned a thing or two after that," finishes Schmall.

Billgar

"Yes it is just a shame that i had to lose such a gorgeous lacrimabilis."

Lord_Obagon

"I am sure you shall find a new mount."

Koku

"indeed, I heard gnarls are a great mount, and they are purple so it will match your outfit (?)" Saying that I pat him on the back and begin to walk away from his loaction to my own retreat.

Billgar

*Billgar looks up at gerald then smiles. Gerald Clups angrily.*

"I guess your right.....it wouldnt work."

Archaic

*Archaic walks around town and finds Billgar. Walking up to him he begins to lightly speak.*

"Sir shall we return to the land with the Susicivi tomorrow as to continue working on canal? If so may I recommend bringing more mounts to be used as plows?"

Billgar

"Hmmm.......we shall see how we feel then, perhaps another venture awaits?"

*the fireworks finally stop.*

Billgar

"Ah, it seems that it has come to an end." Sighs Billgar as his Kiseru extinguishes itself.

The various merchants begin to pack up their belonging and head home after an eventful evening.

Lord_Obagon

This event is at a wonderful end and my match has almost reached its end as well. Overall a good day.

Billgar

"In-deed"