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Over the past several centuries, the balance between life and death has been (generally) maintained. However, dark forces have been in motion to disrupt the flow of the river of life and release the desperate dead from their horrible, dark underworld. Izanami, the Goddess of Death has slowly been gathering her power to escape from Yomi and reap revenge upon Izanagi and the rest of the world above that found her so repulsive to leave her sealed away in the darkness. Over the past millennia, she has slowly worked her minions across the earth, manipulating those on the brink of death by keeping them alive in a state of total suffering until they could finish her bidding (think Gabriel in the Prophecy). These minions, along with her demonic servants, have been searching the world over for 11 mystical Magatama beads created from the souls of Izanagi’s children. Using these, her power will become so great that she will be able to maintain an existence outside of the realm of the dead and even disrupt the paths of life and death. It just so happens that 4 of these beads, the last four needed to complete the Yasakani no Magatama reside somewhere within Hyakuji. Several strange men have been seen wandering near the borders of the school described as being strangely pale and thin, like death, and reported sightings of bird-like Tengu have been seen in the skies above the city. The forces of darkness are gathering within this city and its up to the students and teachers to uncover the plot and keep the Magatama from falling into Izanami’s hands!

Enemies involved

Izanami

Appearance: Izanami

(in this form, she is massive in size, her individual eyes being about the size of two people. her humanoid form will appear to be whatever is most physically desirable to the viewer)

Personal History: Once the legendary Goddess of Creation and wife of Izanagi, she died during childbirth and was sent to Yomi. Her husband was horribly distraught and vowed to do anything to get her back, even venturing to Yomi to retrieve her. Unfortunately, in the land of the dead his once beautiful wife had rotted and decayed, becoming a visually twisted, insect-ridden corpse of her former self. Izanagi fled in fear at the sight of her, sending her into a sadness-driven rage as she chased after him before being sealed by the great deity in the underworld. Since then, she has become the Goddess of Death, embittered and vengeful at the world that dwelled in the light. Love became as dead a concept as her servants, who were slowly growing in number as she vowed to kill scores of people everyday. Then, one day, many millennia ago, a dying monk came to her realm speaking of an ancient and powerful necklace of Magatama whose power could free her from this prison. The monk was horribly beaten and tortured for the location of the necklace, even though his karma was clean, but he refused to tell her anything more. He would become her first near-dead servant (Gaki), preventing him from entering reincarnation having his soul put to rest with her power. The monk was forced into her service, unable to resist the need to feed on negative emotions inherit to this half-dead state. He would eventually become the leader of her demonic armies of Gaki, created from the dying souls of the greedy and contemptuous. The forces of light scattered the Magatama across the world at random, but many of them seemed drawn to places of intense magical or spiritual energy, four of them landing within this very city. She has dispatched her most powerful servants, including the Dead Monk to search for these last four pieces of the puzzle.

Abilities: Izanami can take the soul of someone on the brink of death and trap their souls between worlds. If they are evil, their natural greed will make them into horrible, mindless beast with no other thought than to follow the orders of higher-ranking Gaki and devour the souls of the living. Those turned into Gaki who are benevolent in spirit become stronger, higher ranking Gaki, but are still victims to the horrible urge to consume souls. Being good natured, they maintain their sense of self, but will almost always resign themselves to Izanami’s will so they can pass on before they’re hunger makes them hurt more innocent people. The more defiant Gaki are often given souls by Izanami to keep them compliant.

She is a powerful magical deity and is capable of the usual magical offensive and defensive spells. Her element is shadow (meaning all her magical blasts and shields and seals will appear shadow-like in nature).

Dead Monk and low level Gaki

Appearance: Dead Monk, Humanoid Dead Monk, Gaki Lord

Gaki, Humanoid Gaki, Unbound Gaki, Unbound 2 Gaki, Unbound 3 Gaki, Unbound 4 Gaki, Unbound 5



Personal History: The first Gaki, he was once a peaceful monk, who, while in the land of dead, spoke of the Yasakani no Magatama, leading to his forced conversion. He is a quiet man and always maintains a look of deep sadness on his face. He is the only Gaki that appears remotely human, but his once kind nature does not make his hesitate in his duties as the leader of Izanami’s army. In fact, as his quest gets closer to its conclusion, he will become more malevolent and desperate to finally rest. Gaki (in this case) are created from the souls of the dying, trapped between life and death by Izanami’s power. They endure constant intense spiritual and emotional suffering as well as a constant, driving hunger for negative energy and human souls that can never be satiated.

Abilities: Gaki can move on the astral plane as well as the physical, allowing them to keep their body in one place while moving their souls about separately. The physical body is vulnerable in this state, but the astral body can summon it to itself at will. In combat, they will often use this ability to make it seem like they can teleport by quickly moving their astral body to a strategic location and then summoning their physical body to avoid an attack. They are superhuman in strength, speed and endurance and feel no physical pain. Mental attacks are somewhat effective, but weapons of a spiritual nature seem to be the most potent weapons to combat them. In many ancient texts (for all the mages characters that read those out there) it is said that it is possible to sever the two bodies while they are separated, temporarily making both bodies vulnerable to attack. If a Gaki manages to get its hands on you, it can (and almost always will) absorb negative energy from your body; this is usually done by biting the neck, or thrusting their sharp nails into an area like the heart or head. The Dead Monk can summon low level Gaki and fire off medium to large blasts of shadow energy by using corrupt versions of Hindu and Buddhist mantras to focus the negative energy he has absorbed; his negative energy is almost limitless.

Daitengu and low level tengu

Appearance: Daitengu Tengu

Personal History: Humanoid Bird-like masters of illusions and lies, they are troublesome spirits created from Izanami’s unbound fury. The Daitengu is the leader of the Tengu armies and are Izanami’s air support. They are cruel beasts that are masters of illusions and lies that enjoy possessing people to make them do horrible things. They are also often known to take the form of attractive females with seductive abilities almost magical in nature. The Daitengu was first formed from Izanami when she was rejected by Izanagi. Her anger was so intense, a monstrous bird-creature flew from her mouth, with horrific fangs the dripped venom and horns covered in blood. The Daitengu became Izanami’s right hand and was the one who tortured the Dead Monk; he lives only to serve his master’s will and inflict pain and suffering on humanity.

Abilities: Tengu are angry, tricky souls who enjoy luring their victims into sin. They are masters of illusionary magic and can bend the five physical senses to their whims. However, anyone with moderately powerful magical senses can see through their tricks for the most part and those with lower level abilities will at least get a sense of unease. They are also capable of possessing weakened souls, either of those people they’ve beaten to a weak enough state, or are emotionally vulnerable to their possession. They are easily removed either by rendering the possessed unconscious or by magical or spiritual means. The Daitengu has all of these abilities only much more potent. His illusions are capable of tricking the brain into injuring the body (a form of hysteria) and his possessions are much stronger and more difficult to detect. He can even enter someone’s soul and hide there until the situation turns to his advantage to possess them.

Jorogumo and her spider children

Appearance: Jorogumo, Humanoid Jorogumo, spider form

Personal History: A spider demon in league with Izanami. She was created when her mother fell in love with a spider because of its beautiful web. When they had children, the people of her village killed her parents and siblings out of fear, but she managed to escape by pretending to be dead. She rose from the corpses of her family a vengeful and enraged woman. She took the form of a beautifully seductress and seduced every man in the village, killing them after using them to create her children. Her spider children fed on the corpses of all the men in her province before she was finally put down by a powerful warrior priest. Upon her death, she struck a deal with Izanami who agreed to keep her from dying if she would enter her service. So, Jorogumo was allowed to remain on the earth and spread her children as long as helped search for the Magatama jewels.

Abilities: In woman form, she can create and throw powerful threads of silk from her fingers which, depending on what she is using them for, can be wrapped around her opponent to hold them, or sharp enough that it could easily sever flesh from bone. She is always covered in her spider children (who appear as normal spiders), even if they are hiding and at her will, attack her enemies, leaping on them and biting them with an intense neurotoxin. In spider form, Jorogumo is much stronger and can use her many limbs as sharp and powerful weapons as has a venomous and acidic bite that is often lethal. It can be cured magically or spiritually if treated quick enough. If treated immediately, some modern medicine can be effective. When preparing for battle, she will often hole up in a building or a particular district, which she will cover with trapped webbing, some of it being sticky or sharp or even connected to large pieces of debris which will fall on whoever trips the wrong wire.

Ushitora

Appearance: Ushitora

Personal History: One of Izanami’s most reliable henchmen, she is the master of the underworld’s discipline and torture division (yes, they are organized). She enjoys her work and doesn’t have much of a personality as she was created solely to break and mangle things. Even so, she is often annoyed at her master who underestimates her intelligence and often insults her by talking to her like a slow or deaf person.

Abilities: Ushitora is the only demon general that does not have her own henchman, as she does not feel she needs them. She is a pretty straightforward fighter, her inconceivable strength being her main form of combat. Ushitora is almost invulnerable to physical attacks and is extremely physically dense, making it almost impossible to knock her off her feet. Her attacks are slow because of the size of her weapon, but an impact almost always means severe injury (in her legends, a flick of her finger was supposed to be able to remove a human head from its neck). Against ranged enemies, she has shown the ability to spit fireballs from her mouth that don’t burn, so much as hit with extreme physical force. They are capable of tearing through buildings or cars or crowds of people without stopping and pulverize whatever they touch. However, most of her physical strength and endurance comes from her magical kanabo. Removing that from her hand unleashes a whole new type of fighter. Without it, she is more unrestrained and much less dense, allowing her to make use of her superhuman speed. Of course, in this state she is unusually light and can be knocked away at the slightest attack and her own punches and kicks are much less powerful (quantity taking the place of quality).

In this plot, four characters will come across the four final Magatama jewels just as Inazami’s armies begin their invasion. Those four characters will each engage the four demon generals (with the assistance of anyone else who enters the topic) and their soldiers. Whether they win or lose, they will still lose the Magatama jewel to Izanami who will eventually form the Yasakani no Magatama, allowing her to manifest herself on earth. However, as each demon general is defeated, their souls will be left behind in the form of four magical pearls. With these pearls, Izanami can be defeated.

Rewards (only of two of them will be used)

Izanami’s cowl – a cloak that allows the wearer to control their own Gaki (a super-deformed version of one anyway). It is quite adorable and likes to nibble on peoples necks.

Beads of the Dead Monk – A powerful necklace that allows the wielder to erect an intense magical barrier that is nearly impenetrable. However, it does not allow anything (including air) to get in or out, and the user must maintain a meditative state, therefore, they cannot move. It covers a 10 foot radius.

Tengu Wings – A pair of wings that grant up to mach 1 speed flight to the wearer (not recommended that you fly at that speed though). It also lets the user possess people for five minutes at a time, but does not grant them access to their powers of abilities, just bodily functions. The possessed are aware of their possession at all times and can control their own mouth when the user isn’t using it.

Jorogumo’s fang – A sword fashioned from one of the spider queen’s fangs. It is the length and style of a standard katana and is highly venomous. However, no longer attached to a venom gland, the poison will not regenerate and will slowly become less potent before running out.

Jorogumo’s Web – By holding onto Jorogumo’s soul pearl (which will making fighting Izanami much more difficult btw), you can add the pearl to your own soul, which will grant you the power to fire spider webbing from your fingers. Unfortunately yours is just sticky. You can also talk to spiders!