We headed back into the shadow realm once again for a walkabout. I have lost track of which god is trying to get me to do what. Who knows which wants us to save O-Sayumi.

The clues left by O-Sayumi almost seemed as if she was leaving the clues to someone like me. I am fairly sure we would have run into a lot more of these shadows had we deviated from the path. The mirrors turned out to be a very interesting trick. It was fascinating that looking at them would trigger a semi real trap. I felt like I was hogging all of the fun with the mirrors trigger so I asked if anyone else wanted to also experience the wonder. Kali just gave me the “Are you nuts look” and I noticed that the others did not at all seem interested in the mirrors.

My companions don’t seem to enjoy the simple moments in life and these are the type of experiences that I am glad the gods provided me. I am not sure why my companions get so overwhelmed with dread at times like these. It was the same out on the ice. I still can’t figure out why they didn’t enjoy our time at the top of the world. Most people never get to experience the wonders of the crown of the world and yet I traveled with a group that could not wait to get off the ice. Always looking ahead and not enjoying the moment and at times they seem a little broody.

Looking into Aiemko’s eyes t was clear that she believed that things here would kill her. At that moment I realized that everyone else was likely thinking the same thing. Huh looks like once again Amieko has provided me with some insight about myself.

In truth beyond this point everything would have killed Ameiko before she could get herself out of the way. It didn’t look like fear but it just seemed that she decided to trust us to take care of the situation. Well that is what I hope that look was about.

The pearl merchant seemed over confident about his chances. He seemed to be under the misconception that we needed him. It seems like he knew why we were there but did not seem concerned. I don’t understand why he didn’t send all of his forces against us at once. Dealing with the shadows, the tiger thing, and the women would have been a big challenge for us. Yet he let us take them on in small groups which was to our advantage.

When Kali said there was a white pearl I blurted out “That’s the one” even before Qatana could determine that it was magical. It just seemed like she would be the white pearl. I am not saying that she is or is not pure of heart. It was more about not being dark and broody.

The response from the sending of the special message from O-Sayumi seems to point to her being O-Sayumi and not the wife of the pearl merchant. Something about O-Sayumi seems mysterious and the gods are being very quiet. I am not sure if that means anything or not.

I am not sure what a group of Oni is called but it looks as if there was a group of them on the boat. O-Sayumi used the spell to hold a monster and one of the oni fell from the sky. I like what I was seeing but I was also wonder how often in her line of work she actually had to use these spells. I really hope that she never has to use them while working.

I find myself more than a little confused. I have been pushing Amieko a little bit to see if the old Amieko will show up. I now have to consider that she is still the same old Amieko and that it is me that is different. She has an entire country of people to save so she has to rise up and become the type of leader that I expect. I just know that it is somewhere there insider her.

Having the extra armor is just holding onto the past. She’s gone so there is no reason to hang onto it any longer. I suppose it could be my backup armor but I think maybe it would just be best to get another set of armor. I think it is time to see if Ameiko can be the leader that I hope she can be and these two mithral shirts will help keep Ameiko and Shalelu just a bit safer.

Ameiko looked at me strangely when I asked about armor but that changed completely when I showed her the mithril armor. She seemed to have just a little bit more bounce in her step after putting on the new armor. I put her old armor in my bag so she didn’t have to carry it.

I think it is time to find out what kind of woman she is. Wow I shouldn’t say it like that out loud as she may misunderstand.  I have decided it’s time to give Ameiko another chance to show that she can be the type of leader and person that I would be proud to call a friend.

I have been so caught up in the whole Sesi thing that I haven’t really process the information about having daughters. Mom is over joyed that Samantha and Jennifer both gave birth to daughters and they have welcomed them all into the family including calling Samantha and Jennifer daughter in-laws. I tried to explain that they knocked me out and then drugged me but mom explained that they already told her the whole story. I have discovered that it is very difficult to have a back and forth conversation in 25 word chunks. In this case I don’t have all of the details but it seems that everyone has decided that all of Samantha’s and Jennifer’s children will have the same father. They are all convinced that I will never settle down so visiting Samantha, Jennifer and the children occasionally is the best thing for everyone. I think kali said we were a thousand mile or more away from Standpoint so this is not something I have to worry about any time soon.

Kali obsession with fighting underwater hasn’t really come true. Having undead dive for pearls is actually an interesting idea. Yea it’s not good for the people turned into undead but maybe skeletons wouldn’t be look down on as much. Who am I kidding Kali and the others have certain things label as so called EVIL. They really confuse me with the good against evil thing. Sometimes it seems like they are doing the very thing that they said was evil. The undead creatures coming out of the water looked a little creepy so I decided that it would be better to just move away and let Radella take her frustrations out on these creatures. It might actually be hatred more than frustration but in either case they were on the wrong end of her sword.

I could see Zosi with his skills stepping into the pearl business. I still don’t fully understand why undead creatures are so look down upon. If I had undead creatures they would be kind to people, well maybe not rich merchants. If there is this so called Evil in the world I am convinced that it was because rich merchants were trying to make a buck and cheated someone.

Today our plan is pretty straight forward. Invade the pearl merchant’s home and save the girl.

Well maybe a little more complicated than I expected as those night time undead women sound very nasty. Ripping themselves in half at night to become powerful undead seems very odd. How do you deal with half of a woman? I also wonder how they put themselves back together in the morning. It is one thing to go searching for your clothes but I can just imagine a conversation like “Hey Miki have you seen my legs this morning, I have look everywhere and I just can’t find them”

These women just don’t seem like the mindless undead that you always hear about. So how do the so called good people justify to themselves killing these women? Being undead doesn’t seem like enough reason to kill them and why isn’t being a rich pompous merchant enough justification.  I would say that these undead women have done less harm than the rich pompous merchants. Shouldn’t we be killing them both? It all comes down to rich people using their money to corrupt those that make the laws.

So undead seems to be the theme for the pearl merchant. So if he is creating all of these undead he must have either found a way to create undead without them eating him or he is himself undead. The question is how his daughter would fit into his plans. We don’t even know what his plans are! I hesitate to bring this up as Kali and Dasi would talk this to death.

The game board is amazing. As far as I can tell we were put into the shadow plane to combat the shadow creatures. I wonder who that guy was the appeared just before we were sent to the shadow plane. He said the game was already in progress. He sounded like this game somehow was related to the struggle going on in this country but how can a game effect an entire country .Is the game controlling what is happening or is this just a reflection of the current state? Was that guy just a shadowy image or is this a being of some sort. Maybe he is the Kami of the board game.

Yea the ghostly things were not fun but then again Irori did decide to bring a shadowy version of Hatsue into the game board. Hatsue seemed kind of confused by the board and it looked like she was just going to let Kali die. Why does Irori keep doing this? While Hatsue was helpful in getting rid of the shadow creatures I can help but feel she didn’t fully embrace the situation. As Hatsue passed through me on the way to a shadow creature I couldn’t help but wonder if she was trying to get me to stop barking orders at her or if she even noticed someone was there. I am starting to understand why Irori is so concerned about Hatsue but at the same time it is not really clear how Irori expects me to help her.

Abby and mom keep telling me that I should surround myself with smart people but they certainly couldn’t have been talking about Hatsue. I am pretty sure Abby and mom expect these smart women to tell me when I am doing something stupid and not to remind me that I am not very smart. Speaking of smart people during the trial of the board game I was about to use a touch spell on Kali without any thought to the consequences of actually touching Kali.

I created a passages to allow others to get out of the game after I realized Ameiko had pushed her way to the outside wall and left the game board. Some took the opportunity to leave while others stayed behind. I was glad to see Radella grab the drained Zosi and take him out of the maze. He had an odd grin on his face as they passed by me. Clearly he is up to something.

It all comes back to what to do about the Ameiko situation? Maybe we should just send her back to stay with Koya.

I believe that today the gods were trying to teach me a lesson. I am just not sure I know what the lesson was supposed to be. I have never really thought about traveling to other planes but in light of what has unfolded I shouldn’t be surprised if I suddenly end up on another plane. I need to buy more attuned forked for as many planes as I can find. I will likely run into people trying to get back so I should take some extra ones for the material plane.

I just can’t wrap my head around it all. I don’t even no where to start looking. How can you search for something if you don’t know what you are looking for? I tried to get Dasi or Kali to help but they seemed confused by the questions.

Sitting staring out the window a face suddenly appeared nose to nose with me. The familiar green eyes of Remi sparkled as she said “Hey were are going to cheer you up”. I was pulled into the kitchen area to help them prepare food. These previously timid women seemed to be more comfortable being themselves around at least me as I suddenly have 7 bosses. You know you can never get it right when you have 7 bosses slapping your hand when you don’t prepare it the way they want. Yea I admit that it took me awhile to break out of the fog and realize that they were just doing it to cheer me up. Hanging around them reminded me that things are not that bad.

Hatsue arrived and I took her to meet the women. When I asked what to do about these women she said “either death or some form of poetic justice”. What the hell. Well it appears that Hatsue was more concerned with the raiders then these women. Somehow she thought I was talking about the raiders even though we were standing near the women. Luckily I don’t think they heard Hatsue. When I asked Hatsue about the women for a moment it looked like she was going to express anger about them being abused but that look quickly faded. Maybe she was just pretending to care just to make it look good. Apparently common folk are beneath her as she did not give any appearances that she cared one way or the other.

I learned that she is a follower of Irori. I told her about this irori thing but once she found out I was not a devoted follower of Irori I was no better than the common folk that she sees as beneath her. The fact that she was passionate that the ronin should have killed the Daimyo and then himself shows she can be passionate but it seems as if the fate of common folk are not worthy of her time. I have no reason or willingness to talk with Hatsue any further. She seems to get along with Kali but that is not surprising as Kali continually strives to become one of those important people in the world. Too bad most of them just walk on the backs of others to get ahead.

Irori if you are listening then I shouldn’t have to tell you the obvious. I am not exactly sure what you really wanted from me but I think it might be better if you found someone else push your agenda forward. It is just a thought but maybe you should use one of your devoted followers. I have heard those that claim to be good to use the phrase “for the greater good” as justification so you should be able to manipulate your followers with the same justification. Why is it that you don’t have faith in your own followers?

Zosi when to get his wagon so I had a couple of days to enchant Dasi’s armor. I just told Dasi to pay me when he has the money. No more strange conversations over the last couple of days. I can’t figure out if the two things are related but I don’t see how they could be related. Unless Hatsue has talent for planer travel I just can’t see any way that these are linked and I definitely wouldn’t take her with me to another plane.

We made it to the city of Sakakabe and the first thing we have to do pretend to be upper class. Qatana refused the clothes and found her own clothes. Going from a black to a grey is a big step for Qatana but she still looked out of place compared to the rest of us.

Kali has been getting really freaked out about someone scrying on Ameiko. She keeps saying someone is going to teleport to us and that we have to hide. I wonder if it wouldn’t just be better to let them teleport to us so that we can deal with it. Ameiko seems to be tired of playing the baby doll and looks to be ready to join in on the fight. A leader that just hides until the danger is over does not deserve to be the ruler. If she dies and resurrection doesn’t work then she was not meant to be the ruler.

We had some time today so I got some shopping done. The first weapons shop was mostly empty except for a middle aged man who was trying to decide which dagger to buy. He had small paintings of his daughter and son in-law that he was setting next to the daggers to see which one would look best. The price they agreed upon was why too high and I noticed that his weapons were more for show. I decided to try another shop.

The next shop had exactly what I was looking for. The shop keeper was very helpful and I didn’t have to wait for some rich guy to figure out which overpriced daggers to buy. I actually spent more time showing his 13 year old twins Shachi and Tashasho the how to properly use a shortbow than I did shopping. His wife showed up and immediately started sharing the latest gossip. When she took notice of me she introduced herself as  Yukarumiko and continued with the gossip without missing a beat. So besides getting my purchases I now have some useless information on the latest gossip. I realized that the shop keeper never had a chance to introduce himself.

Next was the magic shop which was empty save for a hooded woman barking out the things from her list to the two shop keepers? The shop keepers a man and a woman were hastily bring ingredients out from the back room and placing them on the counter for their customer to inspect.

I walked up to the woman and said “Those are interesting ingredients”

Still looking at the ingredients on the counter the Woman said “It’s none of your business. By your looks you are just here to find some brutal new weapon”

I replies “Nope I am here to look through the tuning forks for planer travel”

She turned towards me and said “Wait, what. Did you really say planer travel?”

I Replied “Yes of course”

The woman barks out “You there girl bring the tuning forks for planer travel”

Without hesitation the shop keeper dashed off and returned moments later with a box full of the tuning forks for planner travel.  She introduced herself as Midori and pulled back her hood to reveal the scars on her face. For the next hour or so we sorted through the box of forks making sure to set aside the forks that I did not already have. As I put aside a new fork Midori would describe with great detail information about the plane for that fork. I am not exactly sure why she was so enthusiastic about planner travel but having someone help me sort through the tuning forks made the job a lot easier

I asked about the scars and Midori said “One of my alchemy projects didn’t go as I planned.”

Midori looked at me and barked out “I suppose you are going to be like my father telling me that a woman should know her place in the world. And that these scars are not becoming of a lady.”

I simply replied with “Sounds like to me that you have already found your own place in the world and I find the swirling of those scars a little mesmerizing”

Midori replied “I know another shop that might have more tuning forks”

I followed Midori through the streets to the seconds shop. We found a couple of additional tuning forks that I did not already have.  Midori talked about how she would love to travel to the plane of air and see one of the metal spheres in person.

Midori wanted next to go to the tavern for drinks and more discussion on planner travel but I told her it would have to wait for another day as my companions were waiting for me. I also told her that I may not be in town long but when I get back we can have that drink.

I made my way through the streets and back to the others. It occurred to me that the gods must have known that both Midori and I must have needed someone to talk with and forget about our own troubles. It is clear that I am never going to find the one plane tuning fork that I need.

The strangeness of the day continued as we met with O-Kohaku. O-Kohaku is a geisha that owns a teahouse in the city that is supposedly very upper class. I found Qatana’s tone and aggression towards O-Kohaku a little bit creepy. I know that is who she is but I noticed back at the fort that Remi and the others seemed a little uncomfortable around her. We were lucky that O-Kohaku did not take exception to someone in the role of a servant speaking to her in that tone.

Ok what the hell is with all of these followers of Irori? Now we find out that the wise Kappa is also a follower of Irori. Kali acts as if this is really impressive but if the followers of Irori were so impressive then why are they allowing the Oni to control their country. We also learned that the woman we are searching for spent time at the monastery of Irori as an orphan.  Kappa seems to talk in riddles so I will just let Dasi and Kali talk with him.

I have decided it might be time to start moving on. Shalelu was in need of armor so I gave Qatata the mithril chainshirt back to her so she could give it to Shalelu. I don’t really need this armor anymore so it makes since to give it to someone who can use it.

For now dealing with the Oni is something that needs to be done, I am still not sure about this Jade regent stuff.

A new day and a new challenge from Irori. This new challenge goes by the name of Hatsue .Of course this could be a common name in Minki so it may not be a unique name but I have a feeling that if Irori wants me to interact with her then she is probably a unique person. The fact that she didn’t say anything when Omlas butchered the language tells me she may be forgiving of strangers so there is hope that she won’t get too mad when I ask her about Iroir.

All through the conversation with the Ronin I watch Hatsue so that I could make my decision on her. Her passionate outburst claiming unquestioning respect for her master made my decision easy. She is someone worth knowing.

I still don’t know what Irori expects of me but I have decided that killing her is something that I will not do.  Didn’t Kali dress as a follower of Irori when her and Dasi teleported to town to sell stuff? The fact that Kali was willing to impersonate a follower of Irori probably means that she irori would likely not be the type of god to have someone killed. Is Irori a female or a male god? People tend to think knowing the gender of there gods is important but either way they are still a god. At least for today I can avoid that “are you stupid” look from Kali by putting off the question until another day. Hopefully Dasi or kali will refer to Iroir as he or she and thus I won’t have to ask.

So now I have to figure out how to talk with Hatsue about Irori or talk with her to figure out what Irori wants. The direct approach is the simplest but I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought that the whole idea was crazy. It would be for the best if I wait until we return from the fort. Maybe then there will be some good will and she will be willing to at least listen.  I wouldn’t blame her for ignoring something coming from some seemingly random goddess.

I wanted to go adventuring to meet interesting people and whether she likes it or not Hatsue is next. I don’t think she would try to kill me over this but it still could be painful. Building the bonds of trust with Hatsue likely will not be easy and we may each need to demonstrate we are worthy through actions. I don’t yet know what action will make her worthy in my eyes but then again I am also not sure what will make me worthy.  So help me if she wants to do I Kali type discussion on the topic I may just not help her. I have faith that this will be settled in a more physical or brutal manner.

I have to tell the others about the mission from the god Irori even if they don’t believe me. I will leave out the discussion that testing our faith could be brutal, don’t want Kali to have a brain aneurysm.

I have some thoughts about Hatsue that may explain why I am supposed to be connected with her but I need to talk with Jiro first. I don’t want to risk these pages falling into the wrong hands so I will keep my theories to myself. I suspect that I am completely wrong but it might explain some things.

Jiro provided us with a test questioning the honor of a Daimyo. I let the knowledgeable ones take the question because it didn’t make since to me. How could it be honorable to follow such an order from the Daimyo if this goes against your god. Maybe the point was for the Daimyo to feel like a god. I am not sure I fully understand the whole kill yourself for honor thing. But if it saves retribution against the family then I guess that makes some since. The problem again is that those in power are abusing it.

Jiro told us about a special room that holds his family sword that can only be open by a member of the royal family. This brings up so many question such as why was it locked up? Is this one of the royal ancestral weapons? Do have to give it back? Is Jiro planning to cut someone in half with the sword? Is Jiro the kind of honorable man that Amieko would be interested in? I wonder if the kids would look more like her or like him? Is Jiro already romantically involved with Hatsue? Somewhere in the back of my mind I could since that Sparna is listening to my thoughts and rolling his eyes.  I am sure that Sparna wasn’t really listening but he surely would have told me to keep this to myself.

Finally I was able to experience windwalk. Not a bad spell but may not be good in bad weather.  I think there is a different spell that works like teleport that would be better for me. I just have to wait to see if the gods decide to give it to me.  Although he gods tend to give me what I need instead of what I think I want.

We hurried to arrive at the fort and scouted out the area around the fort. Looks like the ability to fly greatly simplifies attacking the fort.

After spending a day scouting we finally proceeded to capture the fort.. With sneaking I worked to improve my skill so that someone could always sneak forward with Radella. Zosi clearly demonstrated that his natural skill with sneaking is far better than mine. If we can make it better with enchantments than it may be time for me to hand over protecting Radella’s back to Zosi on sneaky missions where more than two is not reasonable.

With the guard in the makeshift tower dead we were able to move forward. Apparently Olmas decided that sneaking wasn’t necessary any more. Down the stairs we came to a room with 3 sleeping guards. I suggested that we slit their throats expecting to get objections to attacking helpless people but Olmas charged into the room and started beating on one of the helpless guards. The others followed suit and soon all the helpless guards were dead. All I had to do was just watch as they massacre the once sleeping guards.

With Munasukaru dead we were able to get the large group of victims back to the world above. It was slow going but we were able to get all of them back into the sunshine. The brute strength of Olmas and Radella is kind of scary. I watch as they carried the injured people across the dangerous areas with ease, If it were me I would have been worried about dropping them.

We have decided to give money to each of the survivors so that they can start a new life or get back to their old life. There were so many that it took Kali 3 days to teleport everyone to the nearest city.  Next I turned my attention to Kusatsu Yuka and putting her remains to rest. After a bunch of make whole spells her body and cloths finally shed the look of being torn apart. I did this not just for her but also for all those that now call the pit there tomb. I know that we have to focus on the living but a lot of common folk did not make it out of there. I suspect that for the ones that died in there it was probably a release from the constant torture. Everyone else but me, Sandru and the brothers went to the city so we made sure our guests were fed and comfortable while they wait for their turn to go to the city.

I wanted to go to the city with the others but deep down I needed time to myself to figure things out. It felt like if I went I may not come back. After the last of the survivors were teleported to the city I finally figured out that spending time with these people is what I needed. These are the kind of people that are going to be most hurt if the Oni win. I know if was only a couple of days but a lot of them shared their plans for the future. The talking seem to help them but the pain of those that did not make it out still seem to be a burden in their hearts.

The grove of the Kami is amazing. I spent hours investigating and at times just sitting in the dirt watching and listening. As much as I wanted to spend more time in the grove I felt as if something was pulling me forward to Minkai.

Koya and Amieko clearly had fun shopping. Their bright faces shown of two happy women. Shalelu and Olmas looked to be sporting new scarfs and they did not look happy about it. By the style and color I would guess that Koya picked them out. It wasn’t long after returning that both scarfs were out of sight.

I just learned that Sessi and grandmother are in Sandpoint.  In fact they have been staying with Abby for the last couple of weeks. It never occurred to me to use the crystal ball to view Sessi or Abby. It would have been nice to see their faces. From what I can tell from the sending spells Sessi and Abby are getting along very well. Apparently Koya’s journey inspired grandmother and she insisted that they not wait. I don’t understand why Sesi didn’t tell me she was going to Sandpoint, she just told me that her grandmother said that I needed to focus on getting Ameiko to Minkai. Grandmother said getting Ameiko to Minkai but said nothing about defeating the Oni. Is grandmother trying to tell me that my part ends when Ameiko arrives in Minkai?

Something doesn’t make since. I thought my sending a couple of weeks seemed like she was with her friend in Iqaliat.  How could she get to Sandpoint that quickly? There is an explanation for this but I just can’t see it. Some questions are just best not asked.

It has been a week since we left the grove of the Kami and this part of the journey has been peaceful but I just feel uneasy about something. The others seem to be going about their daily lives as normal, at least normal for a group heading to Minkai.  I feel like a bruised myself right on top of one of the god symbols.

The enchanting of Qatana’s armor has been completed. I was telling her that the armor looked to new and pristine for an adventure like her. We spent some time breaking in the armor so to speak and now this looks like the armor of a warrior. Thankfully Qatana didn’t seem to mind going along with my obsession in regards to metal armor.  She looks really good in this Mithril armor but she would look even more kick ass in something like dark Mithril, is there such a thing as dark Mithril? I was thinking about mice or skulls on the armor but things like that tend to scare people away.

It makes me happy to see Olmas, Redella, and Qatana each having a good set of armor.  I continue to struggle with weather or not to get a mithril breastplate but my role is to shoot arrows. If I upgrade to a mithril breastplate I don’t know if I can resist not picking up a big weapon and heading into melee. If the gods truly didn’t want me to be an archer then I would not be good at archery.

Today something seems to be different about Sesi. Her grandmother says that everything is fine but I just can’t shake this feeling. Abby seems to be fine so I have to wonder if I am seeing something that is not there. I have been having odd dreams about Sesi and that god symbol with the hand, Qatana says it is the symbol for Irori. Sometimes that symbol itches and other times it almost feels like I have a bruise right on the symbol of Irori. Good thing it’s not one of the symbols for the lustful gods as that would be more uncomfortable.

Thanks to Qatana I was able to keep busy working the next enchantment on my bow. Qatana providing the needed spell really help out and I always enjoy her company. Having to buy the materials for 9 true seeing spells really up the price on the enchantment but it just seems right. I always enjoy doing things with Qatana and her protectors.  I would not be surprised if Amieko and dealing with the Oni is just the beginning of our adventures together.

I still have the feeling that something is up with Sesi but she just keeps telling me that everything is fine and that we can’t control fate. Abby just laughed at this and told me that I have always been protective of the people I care about.

The forest has peaceful as Miyaro said it would be. I am glad that the Kami are on our side. I still don’t fully understand why the Kami created a prison for the Oni of the five storms instead of wiping them out. The only thing I can think of is that they were hoping that the Oni would change.

We have made it to the river. I thought building a bridge over the water would be a lot fun. Turns out that there is a lot more to bridges then just creating a stone path across the water. Luckily I seem to be traveling with some smart people. Truthfully I didn’t even understand half of what they were saying. The bridge safely allowed us to cross the water, not sure how many caravans will be taking this path in the future. I guess if Sandru leaves Minkai this could be a safe path, assuming Miyaro is his guide.

Wow it has been a couple of weeks since we crossed the river. Our travel has been peaceful. I have learned a lot about the forest from Miyaro

Kali says that we have just about reached Minkai. I have kept myself busy by creating and upgrading magical weapons and armor for my friends. It is odd to finally admit that I consider all of the friends.

For the record Miyaro is truly amazing. Her secret is absolutely amazing and it makes me mad that she feels that she has to hide it from stupid humans. I was really considering showing her the symbols the gods decided to put on me but it just seemed too creepy. I am not exactly sure how to explain them without sounding creepy.  Hopefully I have was able to properly explain to Miyaro that her abilities are amazing and that I am jealous of them.

Minkai! We arrived and nothing happened. Even the hand symbol has stopped bothering me. I remember Sesi used to talk about how interesting it is that a god picked a hand as his symbol. She would trace the symbol of the hand and talk about how interesting it would be to meet a followers of Irori. Come to think of it she even once asked if I would be upset if someday she became a follower of Irori. I had completely forgotten about that conversation but with what is going on I have to wonder if that means something.

Stepping foot into Minkai feels like the end of chapter one of a book. I spent some time taking in the sounds and smells of the area. Standing here I now get that Sesi was trying to tell me that I have to go were fate takes me even if I can never return. Worrying about it just makes me miserable. When did I start trying to go against fate?

Now we are heading to the camp of a Ronin named Hirabashi Jiro. This will be Amieko’s first test.  Dasi explained about Ronin’s so it should be interesting to meet Hirabashi. I am interested in talking to those that follow the Ronin.

It has been several weeks since Sesi or her grandmother have responded to sending. Abby says that they are no longer there in Sandpoint but now she seems odd. I tried to push it with her but she just told me to knock it off. Which in Abby speak means I am not going to tell you anything. She did tell me that it may be several more weeks before she responds.

I am not sure how I feel about my relationship with Sesi. It took me all this time to realize that her grandmother wasn’t the real reason she did not come along. As usual Abby kept feeding me clues until I figured it out for myself.  All of this still does not help me to understand what is happening.

This morning after our first night in Minkai I feel like some weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  Ameiko on the other hand looks a little tense this morning. I can’t imagine what she is going through. While I was there to cast beacon I reassured her that all your friends are here to help her. Bring stability to Minkai and defeating the Oni are worthy causes but you have to take it one day at a time.

I explained to Ameiko that scouting is relaxing and that I have been trying to figure out a way that she could spend some time away from the caravan scouting. Getting her away from the caravan without anyone seeing isn’t the problem. I told Ameiko that for this to work I would need her to figure out how we can do this without me getting into a heaping pile of trouble with the others.  So today I scout alone.

Night two in Minkai was the might of strange dreams.  The only thing I really remember is the hand symbol of Irori watching me and then suddenly the hand waved goodbye and disappeared. I guess that is a sign that I am not the right path.

It is time to regroup and for the others to regain spells. We don’t have any evidence that those below even know we are here, if they know we are here then they should hit us during the night. I can hear Dasi and Kali discussing the pictures on the walls all the way other by the traps, they are clearly excited about analyzing the meaning of those pictures.

Dasi asked me what my plan was for combat and I didn’t tell him the entire truth. Sparna’s attempts to bring order to these people is what drove him away. Everyone wants to be the Hero and the hero is always the one the turns the tide of battle. So how to you create a plan so that everyone can be the hero? You can’t. I have come to realize that my only option is to adjust to the situation at hand, luckily the gods have provided me with gifts that are good for managing controlled chaos.

What is a Hero anyway? I guess it depends on who is telling the story. During this journey we could be looked upon as both hero and villain depending on the point of view. Kali would tell me that the authority would be the judge but what about the city we were kicked out of? I really don’t have any use in becoming a hero so I will let the others be labeled as hero’s.

I have learn to view darkness as a trusted ally. Being able to see in the darkness gives me an advantage over those that use lights. The wand the others were using is just about used up with only 11 charges, not quite enough for two uses on all six of them. That’s only 3 hours until we are at a disadvantage. It still seems strange that I can write in complete darkness.

I can’t help but wonder what the gods sent me here to do. Our first goal was to get Ameiko safely to Minki so that she could take over the throne. How can the people just accept the unknown Ameiko as there empress. Why is her family bloodline so important? The seal is crazy powerful yet it seems to be bound to her bloodline. The big question is why are the Oni of the five storms so worried about her? And how does her taking the throne help defeat the Oni? Dasi and/or Kali may have some ideas on the subject but I am not sure I have the stamina needed to listen to the long winded theory. Or do they call them facts, I can’t remember. I think the first thing to do is consult with the worldly Pookie.

So I keep coming back to trying to figure out the path that I am supposed to walk. I have to just stop thinking about it and wait to see what happens after we deliver Ameiko. So apparently according to Dasi I shouldn’t be treating Ameiko as a normal person, those with royal blood should be referred to by title and not by sweetie.

A few minutes ago a mouse came scurry along in my direction and suddenly changed direction over towards the bear trap. This mouse spent several minutes searching around the bear trap, apparently some bits of food must have fallen out of my pack. The bear trap was totally beyond its comprehension, it’s like me trying to understand what the gods are planning.  The mouse seemed totally clueless that its original path would have let it directly to me. The fact that the bear trap was there changed the mouse’s fate and steered it away from danger, even though the mouse was totally clueless about the danger. I have a feeling the gods won’t use something as obvious as a huge bear trap.

I wonder if Miyaro is the bear trap? Clearly the Kami see her as friend so that does not seem likely. Although it is strange that somehow she added color to her hair like Kali. For that matter why didn’t the first Kami we saw not recognize her? The color in her hair couldn’t be enough to make her look different. Can the Kami even be tricked by someone that looks different? Maybe Miyaro is hiding her true form.  She has been hanging around Kali a lot, almost like an infatuation, so Kali must know something about it. Kali is way too smart not to figure out secrets about Myaro. The question is whether she is keeping the information secret out of friendship or leverage. Dasi is way too smart as well, I wonder if he thinks there is anything hidden about Miyaro? He really hasn’t been hanging out with her so maybe not.

The kami grove is big enough to be the bear trap! No that is ridiculous. Well it’s my turn to sleep.

Well I will have to say that the gods continue to surprise me. I can make my skin like iron once per day now. After talking with Kali I realized that this why I have adamantine arrows. I am not sure what to use it for but it still cool.

So far today the trek to the head Oni has been going pretty well. Although I am really confused about the Oni trying to pay us off. She didn’t seem to know that we are with Ameiko and that the family sword was here as well.  The Oni seemed to know things I assumed that had a way to communicate, maybe the Oni in here don’t have a way to communicate with the Oni on the outside.

My arrows shattered the defenses of this Oni causing almost instant death and the thing that attacked me chose to die by the hands of Radella, or should I say Radella claimed the kill. The thing is I could help but wonder what it would take to let it go. I thought about it for a little bit and there is nothing that they can give me. The things I care about in the world are in danger from the Oni. I really hope it is the will of the gods that I am allowed to help stop the Oni.

But I also have to think about the other taking bribes. So Dasi, Kali, and Olmas are definitely safe.  I want to believe Radella and Qatana is the same as well but they are not as emotionally attached as the other three. Zosi is new and the weakness could be giving him great alchemy knowledge or power. I wonder if they are wondering about me. I suppose it would be a bad idea to share that I spend some of my spare time figuring out different ways to take or disable each of them. I was warned that this is common for battle oracles and that I should use the information learned from allies to my opponents.

For a moment the world around me stopped and I could hear voices speaking in some foreign tongue. Suddenly I realized I could understand the words, it was Minkaian the language Dasi has been teaching me. I could not tell if the voices were male or female as they seemed to almost naturally blend together as if it was one voice. Just for a moment I thought that I could make out the figure of a man and then a woman but the area was so bright that it was hard to see. The voices told me that a hero can call upon strength from within to accomplish extraordinary things. These voices told me that one of the spells that I have been practicing could help turn the tide against the sound attacks. Suddenly I could hear Sesi’s voice telling me to call forth communal protection from energy and use it to protect the others.  This voice went on to tell me details about the spell so that I was ready to use the spell immediately.  Everything is kind of fussy but the last thing I remember is being told that I have to return followed by a kiss on the cheek. I thought that I was gone for a minute or so but it was as if it never happened. It’s not for me to question the methods of the gods. Wow this is actually the most information that I have ever gotten about a new spell without asking Qatana for help. I wonder what the 4 other spells from the gods will be, luckily I have Qatana to help me out and she doesn’t judge me. Since we are going into a dangerous situation I should make sure I know what my new spells do, even if it means asking Kali. For some reason Kali seems to expect that I should know every detail about a spell before even learning how to cast it, wizards are very strange.

It still puzzles me how the other spellcasters know all that information about their spells. Kali seems to spend a lot of time either reading or writing in her spellbook.  I still don’t really understand how she can use a book to cast spells…  The way they have to figure out which spell and how many to use each day seems very complicated. I don’t understand how they are able to figure out which spells they will need later in the day.

This day has been interesting, with a lot of sex and violence. Well to be honest we are reason for the violence although violence could be an everyday thing for hobgoblins. I am not going to put the exploits of the naked aroused hobgoblin Oni onto paper, some things are just best not written down.

Where to begin, Oh in the beginning there were two dead giants, Zosi through some mysterious power of alchemy turned them into golems. They did not make it through the entire day and were eaten whole by some type of water monster. Although soon after losing his golems we defeated an Oni riding a gorgon. Zosi instantly had to have the gorgon as his next golem. He was so excited that we stopped and packed up the gorgon, luckily Qatana has a spell that shrinks an area of stuff. She said that it consumes a carpet but it is still a cool spell, although it is on the expensive side for getting goods to market.  I was considering seeing if Gorgon meat was edible but I don’t think Zosi wants his new toy butchered.

The lice infested living area for the Oni and Gorgon makes me wonder what other kinds of bugs are living on these hobgoblins. As with everything in life I am posed with the problem of getting rid of lice and other bugs and the gods provided the solution. On this day the gods worked through Kali to help me solve my bug problem. Standing in the poisonous cloud took care of any bug problem that I might have had.

I called upon my new protection spell to keep the others safe from the sound attack of these odd creatures. Clearly getting this spell early was a boon. These are not creatures that I would want to face by myself, luckily I don’t have to do this alone.

“Hobgoblins having sex is something I am not sure I want to see. Clearly the sexual habits of Hobgoblins does not interest Dasi or Zosimus ether, I guess the three of us will stand watch while the others head into the love cave.”

“Ok is it my imagination or have they just paused to peek over the panels, maybe there is a hidden side to my companions that I never knew about. Well at least everything out here is clear. A wall of fire pointing up the stairs should do the trick if a hoard of Hobgoblins descends upon us from the upper floor.

“Oh I see Kali casting a spell, weren’t they just going to charge in and kill the hobgoblins. Ok now I can see the webs, maybe they decided to keep them alive for questioning. Wait what Oni!”

Ivan glances over at Dasi “can I have fly”

“Let’s see if I can get into the room without getting caught in the web. Ok now which one did they say was the Oni, oh it’s the naked male hobgoblin. Not really a good shot at any of them with the web in the way. “

“Qatana looks to have that one, the other is still stuck in the web so I will help Radella with the Oni.”

Ivan shoots several arrows into the Oni.

“Wait what he’s begging Redella to keep him alive. Since when do Oni try to bargain for their life?  It may be a mistake but if that is what Radella wants. Uh that was a nice hit from Olmas. “

Ivan moves over and shoots an arrow at the Hobgoblin engaged with Qatana.

“Well now that his sex slaves are dead I’ll stay over here and just search through the stuff. “

“Oh my god this guy is so full of himself.  The fact that Qatana and Redella haven’t killed him is amazing, from over here I want to kill him. Oh god there he goes again, he seems to think that every woman wants him.”

“The map he is drawing will be very useful but I think he spent most of the time describing which females he had sex with in each area. Either these women really liked having sex with him or they were really devoted to the goddess. “

“Ok this information on his sisters and what his mother can do gives of something to prepare for. This is not going to be easy. I can see why his sisters do not like him. So knowing what the sisters are and that there are two of them is helpful, although I am not sure if he can count above 2.  ”

“So Manasukaru has a lot of magic.  Sounds like she might be able to control people as well. I wonder if that is what the dreams were warning me about. If kali does get controlled by Manasukaru the only thing I can do is maybe try to dispel the magic. I know that three of my new spells can be cast on other people, and I think one of the spells can be spread across the group. Why do the gods seem to gain enjoyment from showing me how to cast spells and then just giving me a name and only if I am lucky very basic information on the spells? It’s a good thing that I can rely on Qatana to help me understand my spells. “

“Interesting that Manasukaru can also do elemental damage spells. It seems like we already knew this but I can’t think of how we would know that. I seem to remember something about having to protect the group from chain lightening, was that in a dream. Why can’t I remember anything about her using elemental magic or why this sounds so familiar? Since she can use any of the elements I don’t see how we can protect against her elemental magic.“

“Well like the monks he doesn’t have a lot of valuable stuff. Maybe I should go out with Dasi and let them deal with it.”

Ivan attempts the intimates the Oni.

“Oh my god I threaten him and he just acts like its foreplay.  Maybe I should just leave this up to Radella and Qatana. Hopefully I can find a secret stash of stuff like Radella does. “

Ivan spends some time searching the wall of the other side of the room for any hidden compartments but only finds a pair of underwear that was most likely flung aside by one of the sisters.

“That’s a long way for the underwear to be flung. What are the chances that these panties would get stuck on the wall? They really should wash their cloths more often. Maybe the panties were caught on a secret catch.  Darn there is nothing here or maybe I just can’t see it. Maybe if Redella were to take a look.”

Ivan glances over to look at Radella.

“Oh my god is that naked fully aroused Oni really making a pass at Radella?  This takes examining the goods before purchasing to a different level and Redella doesn’t seem to be getting upset, although it is hard to tell only seeing the back of her head. Does he have the ability to control people like his mother? Maybe all of these women are throwing themselves at him because he controls their minds. Are we next to fall under his spell?  If he gets out of here what is to stop him from doing this to my wife and sister just to prove a point. The Radella I know would not put up with this unless she was interested in the offer. The only way the Radella I know would be interested in him at all is if he was beginning to control her. Is there any other reason that Radella hasn’t removed his manhood? Maybe his control over people gets stronger the longer you are around him. Are we soon going to be his guards? Are Radella and Qatana going to be his next lovers?”

Ivan quietly whispers to himself “No I won’t let that happen”

Arrows fly across the room and the mind controlling Oni falls to the ground breathing his last breath of air in this world. Ivan takes the body over to the pit and drops the dead half-oni into the pit. Pausing for a few moments to look down into the pit.

“At least this should make it more difficult for anyone trying to bring him back from the dead. “

“I will truly never really know if he could control their minds but given the situation this had to be done. He admitted his mother can control people so there is a chance that he also has the ability to control people. The followers of Gorum once told me that in battle sometimes you have to make a split-second decision, you can’t hesitate once you make the decision or the battle will be lost. I am beginning to understand what they were trying to tell me.  I’m never going to know if this was necessary but in that split-second it was the right decision so that I could keep them safe. ”