Starday, Sarenith 8, 4713 late night
Enganoka

Dasi had spent some hours researching the back ground of our shadow, the ninja assassin. Luck (or skill) was with him and he discovered that he came from an obscure and insignificant background, but after joining the Oni’s Mask clan his star rapidly rose. He was known for being an out rider and frequently clashed with his fellow ninjas, thus earning the title “the ninja of chaos.”

“Well that’s interesting,” Timber quipped, “but he’s still gotta die.”

Meanwhile Ameiko was having second thoughts about her doppelganger. More specifically she was worried how it would appear for her to condone its existence. Right. So it was ok when she felt the need for added protection, but now that she felt safe it was bad.

I looked over at Zos who seemed not to care, but I distinctly heard Beorn hiss “Coward!” under his breath.

Sunday, Sarenith 9, 4713 evening
Jiro’s Fort

We left Enganoka on the early morning wind and flitted south to Kimoto Kiyomasu’s home town of Kokomugi. Or what was left of it. Hulking mounds of charred timbers lined the streets, and the acrid smell of smoke filled our lungs. Some skeletal remains showed that many of the inhabitants had been burned alive, but most had been buried in a mass grave outside the ex-village. It was not clear if they were all dead before they had been flung into the pit and covered with earth.

We buried the doppelganger here and created a stone marker upon which we had carved fitting words using Stone Shape and Kali’s artistic skills.

We then turned to the northeast and flew to Jiro’s Fort. Once there I took the time and expense to set up various Glyphs of Warding along the heights, and also created a powerful Symbol of Sleep before the main gate.

Dasi spent time scrying on the regional governor, who was on his way to the resort where we hoped to ambush him. Kali and I focused on our ninja assassin, who was back wasting time at Sakakabe because of several strategic phrases we let drop while we knew he was scrying on Ameiko.

Naturally I have prepared a Nightmare for his bed time enjoyment later on.

Dasi also found that the governor had once been a successful naval commander and that he was known as “The Epitome of Honor”

And still today, even after weicked and cruel things he has done, he was known as a man of impeccable honor.

My friends and I were silent for a moment before Takoda said what we were all thinking, “Then Minkai is a land devoid of any actual honor.”

Moonday, Sarenith 10, 4713 evening
Jiro’s Fort

We spent the day scouting about and helping the guards at the fort prepare for the expected attack. The extent of our scouting trips were greatly extended by Wind Walk and still they turned up nothing within several days march.

Ivan took advantage of his mobility and traveled all of the way to the governor’s camp. Thus it was confirmed that he was where we expected him to be and on the way to where we needed him to be.

This was a clever use of resources and I wish I had thought of it!

Toilday, Sarenith 11, 4713 late night
Jiro’s Fort

We’re back at the fort again, although this was not where we had intended to end our day.

We left (again via Wind Walk) before sun rise and whisked ourselves west to the governor’s resort, arriving past mid day. We scouted up the road along the way to the lodge itself before finding a sheltered spot in the woods some half a mile beyond where we made our camp.

We had prearranged with “the Nine” to look for a raven at the lodge and speak with it if they saw it. Obviously the raven was to be Nihali, and after several uneventful hours of perching on a gate post a servant finally approached and spoke to her. A meeting was arranged for later on after dark at our camp.

While we waited for night fall we had a disturbing conversation. Dasi said that because the governor was honorable that he must be given a chance to serve Ameiko. I thought he was joking and said something to the effect that he would serve her best by being dead. But no, he was serious. I looked over to Ameiko and she was clearly considering this as a distinct possibility.

Let’s review, shall we? Less than two days before we had been at a village that the governor had ordered be burned to the ground. Innocent men, women and children had been slain, burned alive, and possibly buried alive. This is not the first time the governor has destroyed a town in this way. The governor’s own brother said he was unfit to rule (but of course would not take any action of his own for reasons of “honor”).

And now we were considering allowing him to continue to govern under her rule?

Star angrily spat out, “Then Ameiko would be no better than the Five Storms!”

Darkness fell (both literally and metaphorically) and soon the Nine visited us. We reviewed details of the plan, and learned what we could of the governor’s retinue. The intent was to attack him while he was in the lodge and so we decided to send a scouting party to the resort to check it out in person.

Radella, Dasi and Ivan were chosen both for their abilities to move relatively quietly (or in dead silence in the case of Radella) and for their varied skills in case anything went wrong.

I’ve never been so good at creeping about in silence. There’s always a twig underfoot at the wrong moment, or my cuff gets hung on some bric-a-brac that inevitably falls to the floor with a thud (or crash). I think I am better at it than Olmas, but then he moves around like a goblin in a glassworks.

Earlier in the day Ameiko had been scried upon once again by our ninja and so now Kali returned the favor. “He looks really tired,” she announced. I smiled. He was in a small wood with tents and camp fires in what looked like a refuge camp.

Suddenly Kali sat bolt up right and said, “He’s at the fort!”

We were deciding what to do when Radella’s scouting team returned in a rush. They had been spotted on the way out from the lodge– hmm, maybe I could have gone along afterall — and quickly made their way back to camp.

Ivan said, “I’m returning to the fort now. I can take three others with me. Who is it going to be?”

I said, “Returning to the fort is a good idea, but before we just pop in we should have a plan and take care not to alert the ninja that we knew where he was.”

I had hardly said this when Ivan and three others popped out. Badger chuckled, “Oh, okay so now it is.” Kali used Teleport to take the rest of us over to the fort’s inner chapel, and we arrived in the midst of Ivan’s squad. Jiro and Hautsue were listening as Ivan explained the current state of affairs, and we made a hasty plan in which most of the group would head to the druid grove and find the assassin.

My job was to start a Scry spell, which took an hour to cast, in case the assassin had fled and we needed to find what he was up to. Ameiko stayed behind because she is a coward and Shalelu remained to guard Ameiko and me.

Short story: the ninja assassin was found among the refugees where Kali had last seen him and my friends very quickly and efficiently killed him.

I arrived moments after the final blow and stayed behind with Radella to search his tent while the others hauled his body back to the chapel. We gathered up his valuables, including a portable hole, and followed the others.

He carried surprisingly little beyond the basic needs of an assassin. Poison. Some potions. Armour. A weapon. It was all of good make, but nothing outstanding. Except for one thing.

An ancient Minkai coin was pierced with a hole through which a leather cord was strung, making a crude amulet. But through Detect Magic it blazed forth with a bright aura. We could not identify it by the usual means, and so Dasi peered thoughtfully at it before announcing that it was an artifact of unusual powers, tailored for ninja.

“Perfect!” I exclaimed, “this is just what we need to buy the services of the ninja clans.”

Much to my surprise my companions did not agree. It was must too dangerous to let anyone else have it. In fact Dasi did not want anyone else (other than himself) in our group to even handle it. He looked directly at me and said, “I do not trust her.”

Seriously? The one person in this group not likely to be swayed by the mental pull of a powerful object? And yet you trust the sniveling coward posing as the heir of Minkai?

Dasi did finally set the coin on the ground and Ivan encased it temporarily in a dome of thick stone.

But by then I had had more than enough. I wandered outside into the dark courtyard.

“Guys,” I asked, “what the hell are we doing here?”

There was silence. And I prompted again, “Guys?”

Long moments passed before Pookie finally spoke.

“We have all been waiting for you to ask this question. Ameiko has proven herself unfit to rule. All she is interested in is getting to the throne of Minkai. She cares nothing for people other than how they can best serve her needs.”

“This land has a twisted notion of honor determined by only the most trivial of words and actions, while acts of villany and cowardice are ignored or justified. Perhaps Minkai deserves the Five Storms.”

I stood staring up into the starlight and was taken back to that first night in the slave pens of Kaer Maga. Then I was alone and powerless with no clear direction or purpose. And here on the other side of the world and a decade later I had found myself similarly without direction.

But only momentarily. My fundamental purpose had not changed. The slave markets would be closed. But my needs were much the same as when I first joined this journey north and south to the east.

I needed more power and money.

The first had not been an issue and I can continue to gain more using my skills and abilities. But I did not need to debase myself by doing so in support of a dishonorable cause.

The second had been more difficult given my team’s inclination to hang onto everything we find of any real value, whether we could use it or not. Each item was too important or too dangerous, or maybe at some point someone might want to use it, maybe once. Or someone just wanted to hang onto it, taking it with them when they left the group.

Yeah. It was clear that my goals no longer aligned with my companions’ goals. It was time to leave and make a new start. Somewhere else.

Wealday, Sarenith 12, 4713 no time
Astral Plane

It is calm here and quiet. I am drifting in the near emptiness of the astral plane and contemplating life.

This morning I had prepared a number of spells in anticipation of my actions. I then found my way back to my companions and faced Kali.

I had intended to explain why I was leaving and my concerns for the rest of the party. I had planned to let them explain why I should not leave.

But when it came down to it all I could say was, “This is nuts.” And then I released the held Plane Shift and I was here.

It is a wonderful place to just drift and think and am surprised I had not visited before. I must have been here for hours before thinking about my next actions.

Magnimar. Major port. Trading center. Historically iconic. Gathering place for those seeking fame and fortune. Home.

All of these reasons make it the perfect place to start again.

Wealday, Sarenith 5, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

Dasi spent much of the morning wandering the streets of the city (with Zos and Radella remaining at a discrete distance and out of sight, but ready to come if needed), popping in and out of markets, pubs (sorry, I meant teahouses), and shops trying to find information about any known ninja assassins operating in the city.

He heard a variety of anecdotes about a mysterious figure that sounded more the stuff of legend than reality, but he deduced there was probably a kernel of truth to them. As is often the case, preexisting stories had probably been attached to a real present day person who vaguely fit the mold.

But to what use can we put this information?

While this was going on Kali used Scry to snoop on the ninja and found him walking the streets of Sakakabe. He was near, but we already expected that. Presently he ducked into a narrow alley and pulled out a poison dart and blow gun.

Dasi and company soon found his victim: one of the city guards. Locals gathered around his body and saying things like, “He just slapped at a fly that bit him and down he went, like a jumble of bricks.” He was still alive, but what purpose knocking him out served remained a mystery.

Other guards arrived and sniffed around for clues, but when Zos pointed out that the victim had been darted they immediately became suspicious. As usual with town guards around the world their suspicion zoomed in with razor sharp focus on the bearers of the bad news.

This made sense when using what must pass for guard logic: there was a crime here, these people are here, these people know more than me, these people’s presence threaten my self worth, it would be really appealing to lock these people up and then go find the nearest waffle house.

Meanwhile back in the teahouse Kali detected another scrying on Ameiko. She decided to push the assassin into action and let drop where we were staying. We then set up a watch and waited. And waited.

It may be that the ninja saw through our ruse (and our little illusion of Ameiko performing on the street in front of the tea house), or it may be he was busy somewhere else, taking advantage of the town guards’ preoccupation with their downed comrade.

However we are fairly sure he will try something tonight, and so we’ve set up the watches with extra care and have moved into a large tea room (rather than the sleeping chambers, where we can all be together.

O-Kahaku was none to happy after we had told her what we were trying to do, and so we have planned to leave her house (and Sakakabe) in the morning. It was nice to see someone commit to a cause and stick to it right up until it caused them inconvenience.

“Ooh, sarcasm,” quipped Badger.

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 morning
Sakakabe

He came at night, attacking once before quickly scampering away. We’d only known he had been there from the hole he made by plunging his sword through the wall next to Kali.

We reacted quickly. Ivan fired a set of arrows that ripped through the paper walls of not only our room, but all the other rooms between us and the outer wall — fortunately everyone else on our floor was laying down alseep. I flew through the door, smashing the flimsy wood and paper in the process. But he was long gone.

I had my companions wait within while I flitted about the halls and found only the barest of tracks leading down from the ceiling and back up again. They simply appeared and then vanished, and so clearly he had access to some amount of teleportation magic.

At that moment Kali detected more scrying and she performed her own Scry on the ninja and watched as he entered the shadow plane before stepping out into a field, where he changed clothes to look like a farmer.

Despite the nuisance of having our very own professional stalker we needed to travel today. The leaders of the ninja clans held a semi-public meeting each month on the night of the new moon in the city of Enganoka. Our plan was to walk out of Sakakabe and some distance away use one of Kali’s spells to skirt along the fringes of the shadow plane, which would provide fast transport for us all.

Huffy quickly added, “But first, breakfast!”

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 mid day
Enganoka

The only drawback to Kali’s shadow plane transport spell is that the accuracy of where you enter the material plane is not that great. But a walk of a few hundred yards is a small price to pay for the convenience of covering so much ground so quickly.

We popped out in a field about a quarter mile from the gates of Enganoka. This city was larger than Sakakabe and it sprawled across a wide area uneven land overlooking the Xidao Gulf. Unlike Sakakabe, where the social status of each neighborhood was directly related to its height upon the city hill, in Enganoka there was a jumble of city districts next to one another. In some ways it reminded me of Magnimar.

We found rooms at a nondescript inn in one of the merchant class neighborhoods. The rooms had comfortably solid wooden walls. Apparently the more exclusive and expensive the accommodation in Minkai the less privacy and security it offered.

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 midnight
Enganoka

After getting our bearings in the new city we made our way to the Kuroi Yane market where the Ninja clans were said to hold their monthly audience. We arrived, paid the entry fee (in less honorable lands we would call it “bribing the guards”) and made our way over to the restaurant. There we paid the 100 gold pieces per person fee (we only paid for four, because clearly not all of us would actually need to speak with the ninja clan leaders) and received instructions on how to arrange a meeting with the clan leaders when we returned in two nights.

We then went out into the market place proper to see what sort of items were available.

We had not gone far when a commotion from a stall caught our attention. A merchant was haggling loudly with a stall owner when a troop of guards marched up and surrounded him. The leader asked the merchant if he was from Kokomugi, and when he answered “yes” the guard cried out, “Liar! There is no such town. You are a spy!”

I heard Dasi say quietly, “But Kokomugi is a town in Minkai,” and knew that something was wrong and the guards were simply out to murder the merchant.

Before I could take action Kali put into place a whirling wall of wind around the merchant, buying us precious seconds.

And then things took an unexpected and seriously disappointing turn.

Rather than helping or encouraging us to defend an innocent citizen — one of her potential subjects — all Ameiko could say was “This is wrong, this is wrong. We cannot get involved.”

“Bullshit!” roared almost all of my mouse friends, and I concurred. I flew over and above the circle of guards and shared my knowledge of the future Groetus held for all.

As usual, most people were unprepared to face the brutal honest truth, and they became confused, mostly standing around idle, attacking one another, or injuring themselves.

One of the guards shoved the merchant out from the circle of winds and another screamed out “Spy!” and beheaded him with a single stroke of her sword.

At that moment Kali blasted the guards with a powerful bolt of forked lightening.

And still Ameiko could only say, “We should not be doing this,” as many of my other companions circled around her and led her away from a horrific injustice in her own land.

I looked down upon the corpse of a guard (whom had just been cut down by one of his own) and realized they were not human! I called out, “These aren’t guards, they’re oni!”

Zos joined in the battle, shooting the oni in range. I created a spiritual ally and soon all the guards lay dead. But Ameiko had fled along with everyone but Kali and Zos.

I swooped over to a stall owner who recoiled in horror, and I told him, “Don’t worry, these are not real guards: they are oni. Once the real guard shows up they will see that we stopped enemy forces who had infiltrated the city.”

But he shook his head and said, “That’s just the way things are now. Many of the guards are oni.”

Star took that moment to express what we were all feeling, “Well shit!”

I grabbed the dead merchant’s body and head and Kali used Teleport to quickly take the three of us back top our room, leaving Zos to snoop around and discretely see what he could find.

I was furious.

“They did nothing! They were completely happy to just stand there and look the other way while an obviously innocent citizen was hacked down. And Ameiko condoned and then justified the action! But more disturbing is that only you and I, and then and after the guards were shown to be oni, Zos took any action against this injustice and cruelty. And Ameiko ran away like a coward, interested in protecting her own skin, and acting offended because some innocent bystander had the audacity to be murdered in front of her! The Amatatsu family is without honor.”

Star then reminded me how both Ameiko’s father and brother had behaved in Sandpoint some years earlier. “Yes Star, her family caused no end of sorrow in Sandpoint for much the same reasons: personal wealth and safety above all others at any cost.”

Huffy tried to make sense of it all by wondering if that’s just how people in leadership roles behaved. “No, Huffy, that’s not how a real leader would behave. At least not one we’d support, much less follow.”

As usual Pookie got right to the heart of the matter and asked what we should do now. “Pookie, we should still get rid of the Jade Regent and the Five Storms, but yes, putting Ameiko on the throne is no longer our concern, although using her as an ends to the means is a good idea. And I wanted to keep an eye on Shalelu. She is loyal to a fault and will let Ameiko lead her into danger with no regard for her safety.”

Kali was more calm than I and said, “I’m upset about this, too, but I don’t think Ameiko had a choice here. She’s bound by the same code of honor as Itsuru. It’s the same reason why he can’t just kill his brother and take over as governor. The people here won’t accept a leader that tarnishes their honor to become a leader.

She continued, “Once Sennaka is gone, and Itsuru is in charge, that can change. They’ll have authority. They’ll have legitimacy. It is completely fucked up and wrong; I know. But it’s the way it works here. She had to get away before she was caught up in it. And she couldn’t just leave without someone protecting her…”

Kali shook her head sadly. “I just thought…I thought…we’d have more help. Even discreetly. Ameiko needs us. While her hands are tied, we can do the things she can’t. But I guess not everyone sees that.”

I looked at Kali for a long moment before replying, “So in Minkai ‘honor’ is nothing but a hollow shell that provides a convenient excuse for the nobility to let others do the unpleasant work of defending the weak and innocent while they stand idly by and simper about how ‘this is not right’ when someone actually tries to do what is right.”

“Hiding behind tyrannical laws has always been the way of the despot and the coward.”

“But like you, I am both saddened and disappointed that of our other companions, only Zos — the one with no real reason to have intervened — was the only one to come to our aid. The others have put the will of Ameiko above everything else, even when the will of Ameiko tells them to cravenly run away from a cause they would have rushed to support in the past.”

There really was nothing more to say. Ameiko was no more fit to rule Minkai than the drunken lout who picks fights in the bar and runs away when the brawl breaks out. But she was the heir to Minkai, and that in and of itself was an ends to a means: we could use her to gain support for kicking out the Five Storms. What came after was of no concern of mine.

The others returned a short while later, but I had little to say.

One cause of continued concern was the assassin/ninja/stalker who we learned, courtesy another Scry from Kali, had followed us to Enganoka. Personally I could give two shits (“Or even one shit!” Beorn gleefully exclaimed) if he killed Ameiko. But I was tired of him, he was a threat to people I did care about, and I had already resigned myself to the fact that we still needed “Our Little Coward” (Star’s new pet name for Ameiko).

It was time to take direct action against him, and so I used Nightmare against him. It took a while to catch him sleeping, but it was with some satisfaction that I felt the spell reach its target.

Fireday, Sarenith 7, 4713 evening
Enganoka

We kept a low profile throughout the day, although it was not without its excitement.

Overnight posters had been put up around town with a description of an attacker who had killed the guards in the market the day before.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Badger said, “that’s you!”

“Does the drawing make your butt look big?” Timber asked.

The drawing was just a crude sketch of a dark haired woman who could have been anybody. The description provided more details about my clothing, but really, “dark robes and dark pants” wasn’t going to single me out.

It did show, however, that nobody had noticed Kali or Zos participating in the fight, which was a plus, because only I needed to be careful about being seen about town. With that in mind I added Wind Walk to my usual all day casting of Overland Flight, and included Kali just in case.

Dasi and Radella returned to the market to purchase supplies for enchanting items, and at the first stall they were greeted by a friendly shop keeper who offered to tell Dasi’s fortune. Something about her seemed off, but Dasi went along.

She was clearly fishing for information about us, and Dasi soon realized she was the assassin, but when he called the old crone out she simply vanished.

The real stall owner was tied up in back, and was so happy with Dasi and Radella for setting him free that he gave a good price break on what they bought.

Both Kali and I used Scry on the assassin, and found he had a network of spies all around the city, including at the docks where I watched him thank an informant for some bit of information he had provided, and say he’d be back later for more. He then went to a noodle shop for lunch. Even the bad guys needed to eat.

The group spent a lot of time discussing how to keep the OLC safe during her meeting with the ninja clan leaders the next night. I paid little attention until Zos suggested creating a body double, and suddenly I was interested.

“All I need is a body and I can sculpt it into something that looks just like Ameiko and wanders around on my command.”

Most of the others were reluctant, but I thought it was a great idea to have a spare in case something happened to the real Ameiko.

I wisped away in cloud form to the city morgue and fetched back a fresh corpse. Someone screamed when they saw that the body was missing, but I promised myself that this fellow would get a much better burial than what had been awaiting him… once he had served his purpose. The others thought he would be proud if only he knew he was serving his future empress.

Takoda scoffed “Stuff and none sense!” and I agreed.

Zos got to work and presently we had a second Ameiko.

Later I sent another Nightmare to our assassin.

Starday, Sarenith 8, 4713 night
Enganoka

Today was the “big day” but mostly we kept to our rooms at the inn until nightfall.

Kali and I were prepped as usual and used Scry on the assassin. At one point he was sleeping, and so I sent him another Nightmare, after which Kali watched him toss and turn un-restfully.

Ameiko, Radella and Dasi were the ones to speak with the leaders of the ninja clan, and so they were led to the special table for which we had paid the fee. The others would sit nearby at regular tables with Ameiko’s doppelganger cloaked and ready to stand in for the real thing as needed.

Kali and I remained back at the inn waiting in case we were needed with Overland Flight and Wind Walk active.

The meeting went smoothly and we discovered that our assassin was a member of another clan and had been hired by the Jade Regent himself to find and stop us. The other clans could do nothing for us while a rival clan held a contract against us (because of another one of those “dishonorably honor” things that permeate Minkai). However if we ended the assassin’s contract (a euphemism for killing the assassin) then we could hire the ninja clans to either not take any contracts against us (for a mere 15,000 gold pieces) or they themselves could act on our behalf (for a hell of a lot more).

I thought the first option made the most economical sense, but we needed to get rid of the assassin ninja first.

The others returned safely to the inn, which freed Kali and I up for one last form of business for the day. Yesterday I had used Divination to determine that the merchant who had been slain in the market wanted to come back.

“I would rather perform the ceremony in private, with only those who tried to help the deceased present.” I said, and looked meaningfully at Kali and Zos.

We moved to the next room and the body was laid out on the floor of a room, with its head placed and stitched upon the shoulders in the same position as if it had not been severed. I then brought forth a finely knit length of green fabric with an arrow embroidered in silver thread, and laid the cloth over the corpse with the arrow pointing toward the head. Kali handed me the diamond. It was unlike the gem I had used to raise Bevelek, which had been a very large white stone with a visible occlusion: this diamond was small and pale blue, but perfectly clear.

I began to chant and sway as I kneeled over the body, speaking the name Groetus many times as I called upon the power to restore life into the lifeless form before me.

The gem stone darkened to a deep cobalt blue and then vanished in a flash of azure light. A layer of mist formed above the body and wispy tendrils descended, wrapping the corpse in a web of fog that quickly tightened and stretched over its features, revealing a grinning skull at the head. The mist cleared and the merchant lay upon the floor, breathing deeply with his head firmly attached, although a scar stretched around his neck.

His eyes opened suddenly and he sat up with a gasp.

“I have some good news and I have some bad news,” I said, “Which would you like to hear first?”

He stared wild-eyed at me, like his brain was struggling to make sense of too many things at the same time. “Oh, by the gods… I… was… Did I dream it? I have a fading memory of… no… no, it’s gone. What is that you say? If there is news, I better hear it, does it matter which comes first? But right now I think, on second thought… I… oh, I don’t remember feeling half of these aches and pains before… what were you saying again?”

I gave as warm and friendly of a smile as I knew how and began…

“Well, the good news is that you have a really good excuse to go back home and visit your family. Now. Right now.”

“Some other good news is that you are alive.”

“That brings us ’round to the bad news. There was about fourty eight hours there where you weren’t. You know, alive.”

“What was your name, again?”

“… I am Kimoto Kiyomasu. I…” He swallowed hard and looked straight at me. “Was it true, my memory of the Daikan Tetsuku confronting me in the market? Oh… you said I was dead. So…”

His eyes defocused as he looks into the vague distance past me, tears welling. “I left Kokomugi a month ago on a trading journey. My family, friends, home… When the soldiers said it didn’t exist, that can mean only one thing. They were, I’m certain, telling the truth. Kokomugi does not exist… any more. I wonder what my village did to displease the governor?”

Kali replied, “We have heard shocking stories about your governor, including that he has ordered villages burned for not meeting their tax burdens. It is even more shocking that he would extend this punishment to its residents, and go as far as to hunt them down.”

“That being said, we should check on your village to be sure. If it has been razed…” Her voice trailed off for a moment. She sighed sadly and then added, “We can send you somewhere safe, here in the north, but out of reach of your daimyo. And we are sorry about your family. And your friends.”

Kali was thinking Jiro’s fort as being safe, which probably made sense even though it was under imminent threat of attack. If we went tomorrow I could put into place some of the defensive wards I had been planning to use.

Wealday, Desnus 29, 4713 evening
Jikko River

It turned out that Dasi knew how to helm the barge. Seriously, what doesn’t he know? Six of us would need to man the oars, three on a side, for the short trip from the island to the dock on the main land.

The day was quite pleasant, especially now that the shadows and mists surrounding the island had evaporated, and we were making good progress on the flood tide when Zos called out, “Something large is heading toward the barge on the starboard side!”

That “something large” turned out to be a dragon turtle. It rammed the barge hard, causing it to list heavily to port, the side on which I had been sitting. The impact was so violent that it launched me into the air, but fortunately Overland Flight kept me from harm, and I soared up to assess where I could be the most help.

I quickly cast Blessing of Fervor on most of my companions and Ivan used Air Bubble on the crew still at the gunwales while Dasi began to sing a song of courage.

The dragon turtle was taking some abuse, but was dishing out at least as good as it got. It breathed out a massive cone of steam, causing much mayhem and shouts of pain. It made me reconsider serving steamed clams for dinner as I had originally planned.

Just as those of us from the port side of the barge had worked out how best to assist those on the other side, another DT plowed into us from the port.

“Oh, this is just going great!” Timber snorted.

Dasi called out and pointed astern, and from my vantage point in the air I could see a third DT heading our way.

Star growled, “Don’t just stand… er, hover there, do something!” She was right, and so I flew over and blocked the latest arrival, slamming it mightily with my flail. It reacted by breathing more steam up at me.

Before too much time the first DT was dead and floating inertly beside the barge, and the second was soon doing the same. Radella flew over and clobbered the DT beneath me, sending it beneath the waves.

We spent a lot of time healing our wounds (lots of those) and resumed rowing until finally we reached the mainland dock a short time later. We then walked the mile or so from there to the Jikko River, where the old kappa dwelt.

The original plan was to return to Sakakabe with O-Sayumi tomorrow, but like regular dragons, apparently dragon turtles were known to hoard riches, and so we planned to search for their lair in the morning.

The kappa was delighted to see O-Sayumi again, and we were more than welcome to stay with him, or nearby on the river bank.

For the rest of the day Ivan and I put together a large smoker using willow and fern fronds as the frame and covering it with a bit of unused (by us) sailcloth from the barge. Luckily we were at the mouth of the Jikko and we found alder and maple trees growing nearby, and using dead fall from these trees we began to smoke some of the dragon turtle meat.

Yes, Ivan saved flesh from these creatures to cook later. His original desire was to make bacon, but I pointed out that sea food bacon sounded awful, and that we should smoke it instead.

Technically speaking to have real bacon you needed the proper ratio of fat and muscle only found (naturally) in the belly of a pig. From what I could tell bacon was not a thing in Minkai, or Tien. Sure, they had smoked meats, and even smoked pig, but nothing that we would have called bacon back home.

Thus Ivan’s and my obsessions over turning any sort of animal flesh into that wonderful delicacy.

Zos had used his treasure map skill from the dragon turtle hide and confirmed what we had suspected: there was a nearby hoard to find on the small island we had flown over on the way to the big one.

Oathday, Desnus 30, 4713 evening
Jikko River

We waited just for the sun to rise high enough to fully shine down upon the waters of the lagoon, and with Life Bubble, courtesy of Ivan, we simply walked into the water and along the bay floor toward the right direction.

We were basically “loaded for bear” (or dragon turtle, or anything in between) with powerful offensive and defensive spells prepared, but we encountered nothing other than the occasional curious fish and oyster bed.

Once at the island it did not take long to find the underwater entrance to a cave, and two piles of treasure awaited us within (one larger than the other, indicating two of the DTs we had killed had been a mated pair).

Takoda said, “I just don’t get the whole hoard thing.”

He had a point. What good was all this wealth doing the DTs? They weren’t buying anything useful or desirable with it. They weren’t taking trips to exotic locations with it (“I hear Korvoso is lovely this time of year”). About the only purpose it could serve would be to lure potential meals out to the DTs when legend of their hoard reached the general population. But how was that supposed to work with the treasure hidden underwater and all the local population chased away by a wicked sorcerer, his undead or oni servants and hostile dragon turtles?

Anyway we hauled the lot of it back to the shore and estimated the total value of our find at over eighteen thousand gold coins.

“And let that be a lesson to them,” Badger said to no one in particular.

Later on that day Ivan and I stumbled across an ancient apple orchard from an abandoned farmstead. The early apples, small and both sweet and tart, would make a welcome addition to our meals, and we smoked some more of the DT meat using apple wood.

Now that the lagoon area was safe again I hoped that people return here to live. Perhaps a series of none too quiet conversations in the tea houses of Sakakabe could encourage it.

Fireday, Desnus 31, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

We arrived back at O-Kahaku’s tea house around mid morning via Wind Walk. Ivan had used Sending the previous evening to let her know the time and manner of arrival, and so there was no alarm when we materialized in the middle of the court yard.

There were emotional reunions, especially with the younger geisha to whom O-Sayumi was effectively a big sister, but after an hour or two everyone’s public displays of affection settled down and we were able to discuss other matters.

But first O-Kahaku gave us a very ancient and magic tea set in thanks for returning O-Sayumi safely to her. The tea set was really quite lovely and granted various benefits if used for a formal tea service.

But I think it is of little use for us, other than as a source of income. We can’t use the set to influence others without risking them being offended if they discovered the tea set was magical.

In fact we had this very discussion later on in the day, when we decided we would have O-Sayumi perform tea services for our upcoming meetings (more on those later) using a regular tea set.

This leaves us with a very expensive set of paper weights. A better use for the tea set would be to sell it and use the proceeds for financing our primary goal or putting Ameiko on the throne of Minkai.

“Yeah,” interrupted Pookie, “and that staff of Wind Walk isn’t going to pay for itself!”

Yes, well that was true too.

O-Sayumi then gave us her musical instrument, which was also highly enchanted. Ah, but here was a gift we could make direct use of, or at least Dasi can.

Anyway, not too long after all of the pleasantries of O-Sayumi’s return were done, O-Kahaku got down to the business at hand concerning Ameiko.

She knew most of the big movers and shakers in the social and financial circles of Sakakabe, and she would arrange for meetings between them and Ameiko so she could make the case for becoming empress. Apparently business had been bad since the Jade Regent took control of Minkai, and things were only getting worse, and so this was an opportunity to gain powerful (and wealthy) allies.

O-Kahaku was friends with Itsuru Sennaka, the younger brother of the regional governor, Sikutsu. According to her Itsuru was nothing like his despotic sibling, and would be a much better leader. But the local culture prohibited Itsuru from taking any direct actions against his brother… however if outside events (“Meaning us!” exclaimed Beorn) removed Sikutsu from power (“Meaning killed!” exclaimed Beorn) then Itsuru would be more than happy to step in.

Progress! I felt fairly good about our chances, and quite content that we did not need to do something else to prove our worth or the authenticity of Ameiko’s claim.

And then something very odd happened.

We were all lingering over dinner at O-Kahaku’s place — which we had rented for both lodging and for the upcoming meetings — when Kali and Dasi wandered over to where I was sitting and humming softly to myself.

“Qatana, it is really important the Ameiko present her case for both our planned actions in the north as well as for her taking the throne of Minkai.” Kali started. “It is very important that she speak well and show herself to be a strong and insightful leader.”

She and Dasi looked at me meaningfully for a few more moments before wandering off.

“Uh, what the hell was that?” Star asked.

I honestly had no idea, but there must have been something very important they wanted me to do to assist Ameiko in the upcoming meetings.

“Yeah,” Pookie said, “but it’s clear they want any advice we have to offer to be given very discreetly.”

All of a sudden Huffy opened his eyes wide and said, “Oh my gosh! You know what they want? They want you to lend us to Ameiko for her meetings so we can offer advice directly to her.”

It was a good thing I was sitting down, because this revelation was staggering. And yet it made perfect sense. My companions knew how valuable the advice from my mice friends were, and they wanted to ensure Ameiko’s success by making sure she had the very best advice possible.

Only they were too afraid or shy to ask directly, and thus the subtle hints.

I looked around the room and found Ameiko and Shalelu sitting at the head of the table looking over at me. Ivan was just walking away.

Huffy gasped and exclaimed, “See, even Ivan knows about it and he must have just told Ameiko what you are going to offer.”

It seemed obvious, and so quite reluctantly I stood and walked over to Ameiko. I slowly pulled off the necklace upon which my friends’ skulls hung and held it out to her.

“Ameiko, the others have been talking about your upcoming meetings with the merchants and local lords, and they seemed quite concerned about your ability to handle these discussions successfully. I don’t understand what they are worried about, but Kali came to me and specifically asked for me to provide you with discreet counseling if needed. I later realized that what she was really asking was for me to lend you my little friends during these negotiations.”

There was a moment of silence before Ameiko replied.

“Oh! Oh, Qatana, that’s… really such an honor. That would be such a tremendous boon to have on my side. I think, however, it’s best that your… friends… stay with you. I think they are more comfortable where they are for now. I’m sure the others will understand.”

“Pfft, I thought so,” smirked Pookie, “if she wasn’t able to handle these negotiations she would hardly be fit to be empress, now would she?”

I had thought the same thing, and with great relief I placed my friends back around my neck and said, “I could arrange for some other form of unobtrusive communication between you and I, if you wanted to have my advice available during your meetings. But again, I personally have every confidence that you could manage without anyone else butting in unasked.”

Ameiko answered, “Thank you for your confidence. I hope I can show that confidence to the merchants and nobles. Maybe we could agree on some kind of signal I can give you to let you know if I need advice on something? Probably just an extra precaution, though, because I think I’ll be fine, and have the ability to pause talks on some pretense or other if I need to regroup or consult with you and the others.”

I quickly replied, “Perhaps you could just ask, ‘What does Pookie think?’ and then we’d all know you would like a private consultation with us.”

Ameiko nodded, and Pookie crowed, “I am the official advisor to the future Empress of Minkai!”

Yes, well if it actually came to that, then I suppose that would be so.

I returned to my chair in the corner and flashed a grin with a big thumbs up toward Dasi and Kali to let them know I had understood their message, and that everything was taken care of.

Toilday, Sarenith 4, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

There has been meeting after meeting over the past few days, and through it all Ameiko handled herself as a true heir to the throne.

We decided that it would be a good idea for Jiro to be present for these meetings, especially given that he was a ronan of the north, where we planned to take action, and because he could speak to Ameiko’s claim to the throne. Thanks to a couple of teleports he was once again with us in person.

He brought some troubling news. His patrols captured messages between the local brigands and the governor indicating that the Sikutsu was planning a major move against Jiro’s family fortress in order to cast him out and restore the status quo (ie. raping and pillaging).

It seems we needed to give some thought to the fortifications of Jiro’s ancestral home. I had some ideas concerning glyphs of warding and a symbol of sleep, but we have not yet agreed upon a final plan.

While the merchants and nobles vowed financial support, it was Itsuru Sennaka who provided us with a clear course of action.

Through his usual cruelty and uncivil behavior his brother had managed to alienate (and exile) a number of ronan, who now called themselves simply “The Nine Ronan,” with whom Itsuru was in contact. The Nine were dedicated to the removal of Sikutsu from office. Itsuru said that he would notify them on our behalf and see if we could coordinate our efforts.

A day later Itsuru returned to us with news.

These ronan had learned the governor’s habits well, and knew he would soon journey to a luxurious resort — one whom he had recently took over as his own pleasure palace, throwing everyone else out. While at the resort Sikutsu had the bulk of his guards stay at a set of out buildings some distance up the road from the resort itself. Can’t have his imperial pasty white ass seen by those forced to protect it. Besides, they might actually enjoy themselves somewhat in the clean mountain air. Can’t have that, for sure.

Tactically this made sense, because the resort itself was in a steep mountain valley, and the only way to approach it in force was up the road, and his guards would be between any approaching force and the governor.

But the Nine had infiltrated the staff at the resort, and were planning to assassinate Sikutsu. This was a high risk plan with no small risk of failure. But if we were to attack Sikutsu’s small entourage as it made its way along the narrow path between the garrison and the resort, they could see to it that no aid would come from the resort.

Sikutsu had already set out for the resort, and was expected to arrive within the next ten days or so. The Nine recommended that we arrive early and scout out the location for the ambush and then wait.

And so we’re working out the details for that trip plus what to do about Jiro’s fort. But once again Wind Walk will give us a quick mode of nearly invisible and relatively safe travel.

“And just when are you going to make that staff of Wind Walk?” Timber asked politely.

Just as soon as I have the skill and money, obviously.

Wealday, Desnus 29, 4713 mid day
Yugureda Shosaito’s Island

We found the “master” a short while ago, and I found the encounter to be more than a little disappointing.

I was expecting to find a wizened sage of incredible talent who had spent his long years in a pursuit of arcane (if not forbidden) knowledge. Someone who had forced back the nature of death itself to bring some resemblance of life to the creatures with which he surrounded himself.

“Nope!” Pookie chirped.

Instead we found a sad and pathetic post middle aged man with the a case of the hots for his own (possibly illegitimate) daughter so bad that he tried to force the soul of his wife into her body.

That’s not just sad and pathetic, but seriously perverted, and I was happy to play a part in his death.

And his wife was no angel either. She was apparently just fine with (and indeed assisted) him in creating their undead servants. Her soul is now forever lost and good riddance to it!

I realize that good help can be hard to come by, but it is not that to find.

Of course as soon as those words hit the parchment I looked over at Zos and wondered if maybe they didn’t have a point. But still… I mean these were real undead, right?

We had gathered in the saki cellar before the portal that we assumed led to the Shadow Plane (even Beorn finds the place disturbing) when Ivan said, “Hey, wait up. Maybe O-sayum actually left clues for her potential rescuers in those things she had crafted, but didn’t take with her.”

We all paused for a moment and exchanged looks that said, “Why the hell didn’t we think of this earlier?”

Takoda helpfully pointed out, “Well he is an oracle.”

He then explained which different materials and colors we should look out for while searching for O-sayum.

This made Kali very happy. Prior to this we would have been just be randomly wandering about looking for a geisha. But now we had a Plan. Kali likes plans.

With that we were ready to enter the gateway. Olmas went first, and he faded to a what amounted to a charcoal sketch of himself. Each of us followed in turn, the colors ebbing out from my companions as they passed through, but not so much for myself.

We followed down corridors, noting the various passageways and “moon gates” we passed along the way and which materials and colors were used for each.

Sometimes a passageway would dead end, and sometimes at those ends was a mirror which sent either lightening bolts or ice storms at us. Ivan and I seemed particularly adept at dodging the worst of the effects, and so we often did the honors of looking around the next corner.

But because we were following the Plan, we did not need to go down all of the passageways, and indeed we skipped at least half of them.

Presently the corridor ended at a room in the middle of which, on a nice rug, were two woman kneeling and facing one another.

“That rug really ties the room together,” quipped Takoda. “Not helping, buddy,” I replied.

Olmas entered the room, and as he did so the color flowed back into him. He looked closely at the women and said, “They may not be dead.”

Suddenly there was a loud shout, growl, screech type of a noise from elsewhere in the room, and Olmas braced himself, holding Suishen before him.

I ran into the room and saw and odd monkey-tiger creatures slavering in the corner. We did the usual thing we do with such friendly critters, and soon it lay dead.

We then had more time to examine the women, who were under the influence of a Gentle Repose spell. One of them looked like the drawing we had seen of O-sayum, and we assumed we had found our goal. But the problem was that while she may not have been dead, she wasn’t truly living either.

A door led to the east, which opened into an a nicely decorated office. We searched around and found a number of interesting items, including the master’s journal. Kali and I poured over the later entries.

That’s when we realized what a sick jerk he was, but Pookie also realized something and exclaimed, “O-sayum is his daughter!”

Well that explained some things, but not the fact that her father had the morals of a kobold.

Meanwhile Radella had been busy searching the book cases and discovered a secret door. We gathered up everything that looked useful.

We opened the door and followed a corridor east. To the north was an alchemical lab (“We’ll come back for the rest later”).

Further east was another door, beyond which was a large chamber with an alcove to the north and a table set against the far wall. A man stood next to the table sipping tea.

He knew why we were there, but like most egotistical megalomaniac’s he had to posture and boast, totally convinced of his own invincibility. He picked up a vase filled with pearls and said that the souls of the two woman were each trapped in one of the pearls (we already knew he was lying about that). He implied that only he could return their souls, and we would do well to deal with him in a friendly fashion. He then dumped the pearls onto the floor.

Timber said, “Man, we know you’re not going to help us or return the girl, so quit pretending!”

Olmas strode forward into across the room to show just how friendly he could be, but slipped on the pearls and fell.

At about that time four large shadowy figures formed in the alcove. Kali called out that she’d deal with them, and so the rest of us closed in on the old man or launched ranged attacks at him.

“Consider this friendly fire,” Star raged as I cast a greater Dispel Magic on him.

We were winning the battle against the old man, but losing the war. Kali had put up a wall of force, sealing the shadows in the alcove, but soon they phased down into the marble floor and rose back up around us.

Naturally the old man gloated. They always gloat.

They were eerily attracted to Olmas, and kept clawing at him as his strength ebbed away. Kali telekinetically moved Olmas over to me so I could heal the damage.

The old man fell first, and some time there after we managed to destroy the shadows. We looted the corpse.

We moved back into the room with the women and after a brief conversation we determined that O-sayum’s soul was in the large white pearl, and that casting Dispel Magic upon it should restore her soul.

I performed the casting and moments later O-sayum began to stir. We told her why we came, and she was thrilled that we used the clues she had left behind to find her. I simply pointed at Ivan and said, “Thank him.”

It was time to leave. The maze through the shadow plane was gone, and so we had no trouble returning to the house and making our way down to the dock. We would take the master’s barge back to Sakakabe.

But the old codger had another surprise for us. A band of hobgoblins filed out from the barge and charged.

“Well, at least they aren’t undead,” squeaked Takoda. “Yeah, but they’re not hobgobs either, ” Pookie said as one of the attackers flew up and over the wall of whirling blades with which I had encircled the troop.

More oni. But lesser, runty oni. We had delt with these before, and quickly killed the lot of them.

We’re taking a moment to familiarize ourself with the barge and how to sail it, and then our first stop will be a visit to O-sayum’s turtle-man uncle.