jigokufever | AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

1. SHUTEN TERRITORY - Muscling In

art by tohdraws

In the aftermath of the curse crisis, the Shuten Clan forgave a bunch of protection payments in the region, and helped cover the costs for rebuilding. Unfortunately, some of the street gangs in the area are much less civically minded. They have used the Shuten's relaxed policies as an opportunity to turn their own screws on the local business owners. These unaffiliated youth gangs have been much rougher with the locals, and have been asking for even larger collection fees. This has pissed off the folks who are just trying to get their lives and businesses back on track!

Unfortunately, the opening of Sai no Kawara in the underground drew so much of the clan's focus and manpower, that the issues up top just slipped through the cracks. Until now! Toraguma is in a bad mood and is looking for people to take it out on: the youth gangs will do just fine.

Volunteers are being solicited to join the regular Shuten enforcers in driving these interlopers out of Shuten territory. The gangs are wise to the usual Shuten tactics, though, and they're prepared for a fight. They are also appealing to the influx of Lost Souls: they act as though they're the victims of the factions' power struggles! They propose that taking up arms against the Shuten Clan will win them favor with the other groups in the city. (It will look less good with the Shuten Clan, should you be assigned to them.)

Fight with the Shutens, or with the gangs. Either way, a fight is coming.

2. TAMAMO TERRITORY - Throat Goat (NSFW)

at by akai riot

This prompt is overtly sexual in nature. Please use the proper NSFW labelling in your top levels and threads.

While the Palace of Sai in the underground is doing well, that doesn't mean the other businesses in the Tamamo Clan's collection have been slacking. One of the least "classy" soaplands has decided they're going to hold a contest to drive up business for themselves! They are partnering with some of the other sex clubs in the area for the sleaziest of events.

The Hyottoko Cup is looking for volunteer participants! The competition is pretty straightforward: a ruler is drawn on the throat of each participant and an array of members is presented to swallow. Whichever contestant can take the guests deepest and longest will take home the "coveted" Hyottoko Cup! Ok, there's a little judge favoritism involved too, so put on a show.

The guests have likewise been pulled in as volunteers, with instructions that they don't have to make this easy on the participants. Guests are provided with special seals that they can use for the length of the competition to enhance their natural assets. For those lacking the equipment entirely, there's a seal for that too.

Have fun and play nice.

3. TAMAMO TERRITORY - Strike a Poise (GEN)

Other businesses looking to jump start this month's earnings are also getting in on the spirit of competition! Businesses less oriented towards sexual service have come together as a means to draw in the high dollar clients, and one local club has proposed something old school.

Sign up for the Poise Contest, where contestants are placed into more and more ridiculous geta while tasked with serving drinks to the guest. Spills are expected, and the guests are cheerfully kitted out with cheap club-branded ponchos to protect their clothes. (Marketing, am I right?) While spills are expected, the contestant will lose points for each of the spilled drinks. Try to keep your balance as you attend to increasingly absurd drink orders. The intensity of the traditional footwear will only make your job that much harder.

Do you have what it takes to pour a champagne fountain while wearing teetering tengu geta? Prove your balance and dexterity is the best and the take home prize is some sweet cash. For Lost Souls freshly in the city, the chance to win some extra money can't really be passed up, huh…

4. SUTOKU TERRITORY - Jigokucho's Got Talent

Ever since Moonday's beloved singer – Ringo-chan – was kidnapped at the Tanabata festival, the band has had to cancel all of their scheduled gigs. Unfortunately, they were a hugely popular act, booked solid in most of the Sutoku Alliance's various nightclubs. This has left a ton of empty spots that need to be filled quickly, before the crowds get upset and demand… refunds.

That's where you come in, Lost Souls! Desperate promoters and talent bookers are literally grabbing Lost Souls off the street and begging, pleading, with them to perform a set for the night. They just need to have something to fill the space Moonday would have otherwise occupied. At least give the crowd something to see!

Acts do not need to be of the musical variety. Any performing talent is accepted, no matter how esoteric or bizarre! If it can fill out a 15-30 minute set, the club owners will be happy and the customers will at least see something interesting; even if it's a bad kind of interesting. So get on stage and show this city what you've got!

( Help us fill our time slots, please! We're desperate! 😩)

5. DEPARTMENT OF THE ENMA - Sticky Paws II: Outta the Bag

The Enma Department is busy: they have a kidnapping to investigate, a primordial god to pin down, and the crisis of their ever-shifting public image to manage. However, crime never sleeps and is always there to add to the troubled Department's workload. Worse still, we thought this little crime spree was over six months ago! But here it is again, much to the Enma's chagrin.

Cat cafés are a popular tourist attraction all across Jigokucho. About six months ago, a gang of bakeneko infiltrated several of the cafés to rob customers occupied with kitty bliss. Wallets, jewelry, and anything else those sticky paws could snatch away were being picked in droves. The cat capers are afoot once more!

Are you a hapless victim of these furry thieves, or are you helping the Department of the Enma track down these cat burglars? Unfortunately, the bakeneko are exceptionally clever and are using a seal to disguise their secondary tails. This makes them look just about like any normal cat. Better make sure your lead is good, or you'll be chasing down an ordinary Felis Catus. Soft to pet, but not going to return your pilfered cash.

Of course, the café staff might be in on this caper too… It's never easy to tell who's getting a cut of the profits. Be careful who you trust out there.

6. ALL OVER - The 100 Billion Yen Man (PLOT RELEVANT)

The local TV news has been announcing that Kaberou Kannazaki – the legendary finance wolf and the father of kidnapping victim, Ringo-chan – will be making an announcement this week. People have flocked to television sets throughout the city; at the squares, around TVs in bars, electronic stores, each other's phones, and any other venue with a connection. The kidnapping has been a highly public ordeal and the talk of the town. Many of the locals were present at the festival and witnessed the crime. They want to hear what the word is!

The public doesn't have to wait long. Wolf-eared Kaberou sits at a press desk, surrounded by microphones, and dazzled with flashbulbs. He clears his throat and, as he begins to speak, he is direct and to the point; not unlike a wolf lunging for the throat.

"As of today, I am issuing a bounty on the man known as the Iron Bear, who has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of my daughter, Ringo Kannazaki. The payout to the party responsible for bringing me Iron Bear, dead or alive, is 100 Billion Yen. Individuals or groups, I don't care. Just bring my daughter back to me, and the money is yours."

Well! The Department of the Enma's hopes of an orderly investigation have been dashed, but this is certainly an opportunity for anyone brave enough – or, more accurately, stupid enough – to traverse the Wasteland. Maybe one of you out there will find the legendary Iron Bear and bring him to some form of justice.

Local businesses are quick to leap at this opportunity, too. They begin to aggressively push sponsorships at would-be bounty hunters. Weapons? Armor? Survival gear? All at discount prices! Each faction has their interest in collecting the massive bounty as well. They will all be putting a lot of pressure on recruits to get ready to head out to the Wastes.

If you just got here? Well, it would definitely be in your interest to start finding gear, and finding people willing to collect that bounty with you. It could mean a big step forward toward your eventual contract, after all.

Welcome to the test drive meme!

First of all, big thanks to our discord chat for the "Throat Goat" prompt idea. Stay golden, gang.
IF YOU'RE TOP-LEVELING A NEW CHARACTER, post it here!
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Threads here can be considered game canon.
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If you have any questions about the TDM content, please ask them here! You can find information on the story so far here!
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Reserves are open until September 5th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It is entirely likely that Kisara, being caught up as she is in the matter at hand (which consists of a more proper plan to deal with thieving furry friends), that she doesn't immediately take notice of one relatively graceful Dohalim. Or that his priority is delivery of his drinks with eloquence and less really focusing on the faces of patrons.

Beneath her hands, gloves off to the side, she's in the midst of scribbling something down with relative quickness. A diagram of some sort? Probably layout of the area and notes about where she's checked, what she's found, what's remaining, and so on. All in all, very detail-oriented.]

Tea, please, if you—

[No. She knows that voice. Knows it. Lifting herself to sit a little more proper, she pauses rather suddenly when she puts familiarity of voice with familiarity of face. A plethora of different feelings run through her at just the mere sight of him. Ambivalent ones that she supposes she has mostly herself to blame for. She was the one, after all, who followed him blindly.

This is not the time. So instead, she opts for what she thinks might be more appropriate, and falls right back into old habits.]

You don't need to do that, Lord Dohalim.

[But it doesn't take her too long to figure out what he's up to and she can take a guess or two as to why. Never mind that she's still digesting that he's actually here. And Alphen isn't in the immediate vicinity to keep her from losing her cool, again. She'll have to figure out her own discipline.]

[ah, he'd figured that blond hair had been familiar, but perhaps it had been the chaos of everything around them that Dohalim didn't catch on to who exactly the next person he would be serving is. but now that it's revealed to be Kisara, he raises an eyebrow briefly at the formality of his title, before offering her a warm smile]

Ah, you and I both know that formalities between the two of us are not necessary. I almost have to ask why you're so punctilious.

[they haven't been for a while. unspoken (unless very drunk) are his feelings for the woman, but in their silence he'd come to his own conclusions to whatever emotions are shared between them. certainly, on his end, Kisara holds such a special place in his heart, a place that warms him at the very thought of being around the Dahnan. a bright light that shines within the darkness.

though, there is that stern tone to her voice, a tone he also hadn't heard in a while, one that takes him back to their days in Menancia, when she was but a captain in his guard. had he done something to offend her before they both found themselves spirited away to this strange place? Dohalim himself wouldn't put it past him if he did say something that would vex her. perhaps he should apologise when he's not in the middle of this silliness and chaos]

However, it is nice to see a familiar face here. Please, allow me to bring your tea. It seems like you will need it for... Well, whatever it is that you're pouring your attention over.

[How can he look at her that way? With all of the radiance in his expression? In a way, she supposes it is not at all a crime for them to find happiness when it is available to them. She doubts that what follows in Dahna will continue to be of joy in the face of what they may further discover under the thumbs of Renan Lords.

It is harder, she thinks, to be faced with one that she, not so long ago, would have warmed greatly to be met with. A childish infatuation, perhaps? Simply a guard's devotion? Is not devotion some form of affection? She can hardly know for certain, understanding only that their roles made him forever out of her reach. A foolish ideal for a young woman who has longed to be just a touch more refined, a bit more elegant.

Kisara draws in a breath, studying him in her conflicted silence. She can't really remember a time in which she's not paid him in the formality he's been 'owed.' But it's true that in some way, the actions of Kelzalik, standing against Dohalim in battle, have torn asunder whatever illusion of lordship that might have been. She doubts she will be the only Dahnan to struggle with the concept of true freedom.]

I was just--

[There's the thing with the tea again and it's already very hard to wrap her mind around all of this going on. There's something just not right about him serving her. But he sounds serious. Surely he doesn't think she's inclined to forget things as they are so easily.

Instead of arguing, she opts for clearing her throat.]

I was mapping the area. Some of the people here have had items going missing. I was planning to investigate.

[Because leave it to Kisara to never take a moment for herself.]

AUGUST 2022 TEST DRIVE

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