The Oni in this city are worse than an infestation of rats. It seems to Ivan that in Kasai the rats have taken over the city. These Rats have taken it upon themselves to weed out those that do not conform to their whims. They even had the nerve to try to make Hatsue their latest public execution. Regret shows on Ivan’s face as his thoughts go back to the woman at the city entrance when they first arrived in the city. He faces the fact that doing nothing likely resulted in her death and that he is partly to blame for not taking action.  Ivan is not really sure how long he was staring at the spot on the wall behind Ameiko but his view was suddenly blocked by someone.  Ivan’s eyes quickly adjust and refocus on the person standing before him.

“If we can’t get a boat until tomorrow I want to go shopping for new clothes.  It’s not safe for a woman like me to wander alone in Kasai so I will need an escort” says Koya excitedly

Before Ivan even has a chance to respond Koya continues with “I should be safe with you and Hatsue as my escorts.”

“Ah” replies Ivan

“I am trying to decide if Hatsue would look good in pink or not. What do you think about Hatsue in a pink outfit?” continues Koya in a cheerful voice

“Shouldn’t you make sure she likes pink first?” replies Ivan

Ivan is relieved when Isao quickly finds a boat and he learns that they will be departing later today. Maybe Koya will change her mind about buying Hatsue clothes by the time we get back from the island Ivan thinks to himself. Realizing that this is a battle that he cannot win Ivan decides to leave this in the hands of fate.

As they walk through the city to the docks Ivan wonders why the group so easily accepted allowing Hatsue to come with us to the island.  He is very surprised that no one voiced an objection. Ivan concludes that they must be thinking that he is just doing this to keep her close. Admittedly there judgement about him is correct but he decides to keep the other reason hidden for now.

“Fate is very strange. It seemed impossible to find a way to get Hatsue to the island and yet fate makes it all seem like it was preordained.” thinks Ivan to himself

Passing through each of the gates Ivan can’t help but notice that Amieko seems a little nervous and unsteady. Olmas is dutifully standing next to her and Ivan hopes that Olmas will notice if she starts to fall out of the boat. Ivan ponders on the question of who would be the first to save Olmas if he falls into the water and what would happen if he dropped sushen.

After passing through the final gate the island reveals its true nature. To Ivan’s surprise he can still since Isao back in the city. Ivan just observes the others as they step onto this mystical island. Everyone seems to be a little bit excited about the island of the kings but Ivan can clearly see the toll this is having on Ameiko. Ivan finds the whole heir situation very confusing as his instincts are to comfort her and tell her that we are all with her but he is pretty sure that is not appropriate anymore.

The Jade regent guardians apparently were lonely according to Olmas’s recount of what he overheard. Ivan could not help but notice that the guardians seemed to target the males with their curses. For a just a moment after hearing Olmas say that he is not worried about the supposed curse Ivan considers not interfering. Ameiko did not say a word but her eyes sent the clear message to Ivan that Olmas is acting like an idiot. Ivan removes the curse from Olmas and ponders whether this was a lust curse or as Kali suggests would turn them into one of them.

“At least I am not the only person that stupidly walked into a graveyard not expecting shadows. I should have at least protected Ameiko and Koya from undead but luckily the antimagic spell saved most of the group. I am really glad that the gods decided to give me deathward, Radella with deathward would be even more dangerous than Hatsue. I better just keep that part to myself. ” Ivan thinks to himself.

Ivan heads through the streets on his way to meet up with Hatsue. She has not moved for some time so he suspects that she has already arrived at the meeting location.

Ivan walks into the room and meets Hatsue’s gaze. After a few seconds her eyes soften as once again Ivan seems to have successfully passed the Hatsue judgement greeting. Ivan often wonders if he also has a strange look in his eyes when he first sees her. Maybe he is the problem and she is just reacting to him. Or maybe he thinks to himself that this is just her way of making sure he is ok.

Ivan sits down next to Hatsue. “First I should get you caught up on the plans” says Ivan. The two of them exchange the latest news whispering quietly to prevent their conversation from being overheard.

While Ivan had a good game it was not enough to overcome the skill of Hatsue. He must be getting better he thinks to himself as he notices Hatsue’s eyes light up as she moves in for the kill.

Ivan is still looking into her eyes has Hatsue looks up and says “What”

“Nothing. I am just enjoying being able to play the game of shogi with you” replies Ivan

“Well I would like to spend the day playing shogi with you but we both have things that we need to do. Maybe someday I will be able to watch you play a challenging game “ says Ivan

“That would be fun” replies Hatsue

“Ok now remember these will last for just over a day so we will need to meet up again tomorrow.  Don’t forget that a single minor injury is the signal to contact you and two minor injuries is that you need urgent help. “ says Ivan as he cast beacon on Hatsue and himself.

“Yes I do remember” replies Hatsue

“Ok that will do it” says Ivan as he finishes casting the last of the spells on Hatsue

“Good luck tonight” says Hatsue

“You be careful too” replies Ivan

The two part ways each heading to a different part of the city. Ivan makes his way through the city back to the hero’s.

The day progresses very slowly as Ivan can only just wait for the appointed time to arrive. This would be a great time for playing shogi Ivan thinks to himself but looking around the room he decides that it would be best if he didn’t start pestering the others about playing shogi. Someday maybe he can teach Abby how to play shogi.

Simple math seems to confuse this group as Ivan always assumed that when you are counting down to one that you go on 1. Apparently you go on two and not one. Hero’s make their own rules.

The sounds of battle fade as Kali, Hatsue, Ivan, and friend appear back at the granary. Ivan kneels down close to Hatsue placing his hand on her cheek while casting his spell to heal all in range that required healing.

As Hatsue opens her eyes Ivan see the momentary panic in her expression. This quickly changes to a look of relief as it is obvious to him that she recognizes that she is with friends. After a few seconds Hatsue appears to have regained her composure again and Ivan moves back to give her some space. After giving her a few moments to get her bearings Ivan offers out his hand and helps her off the ground.

Exiting the portable hole Ivan hands a cinnamon roll to Koya before heading over to Hatsue .

“You know we could use an extra pair of hands to help get everything ready for tomorrow” whispers Ivan to Hatsue as Ivan hands her the last cinnamon roll and then proceeds to cast beacon (status) on Hatsue.

“Be right back” says Ivan has he walks over and retrieves his quiver and bag of holding from Radella. Ivan is unclear if the response from Hatsue was an acknowledgement or if she was simply enjoying the cinnamon roll.

“Thanks” Ivan says as Radella hands over the equipment. He can’t tell if she suspects something or not. It’s the same feeling that he gets each time and thus far she hasn’t felt the need to interfere.

Hatsue finishes up the cinnamon roll as they arrive at the doorway to the storage room. They only had to wait a few minutes before the door opened and Akiko, Honamiyo, Miiko, Tamae, Yoire, Naomi, and Remi enter the storage room.

“Ok. As normal we will start with your treats” says Ivan as he hands out a cinnamon roll to each of the women.

“Don’t worry I also picked up one so that you can give one to Jiro” continues Ivan as he sets the cinnamon roll down on the shelf.

“I saw Jiro heading back to his office so once you finish your treat you can go present your gift. Today I brought help so we will start getting everything ready while you talk with Jiro.” Continues Ivan

“ok” replies Remi

“So this time is a little different than the ones in the past. I know this is old hat for all of you but since we have someone new let’s just review everything while you eat your cinnamon roll” says Ivan

“Firstly everyone gets a ration of food which today is your containers filled up 6 times with dried beans. I know that I am repeating myself but this is each person and not each family.” Says Ivan

“I still insist that pregnant women get an additional ration as they are eating for two and it is important for mother and baby to get plenty of food. Like before I leave the decision of determining which women are pregnant completely up to you. I am not qualified to figure out which women are pregnant and I am not about to start asking women if they are pregnant.” continues Ivan

Ivan pulls another bag out and sets it down “What is new this time is that we are also going to give everyone in the fort 3 pieces of these sweets, including Jiro and his people. These are tough times and everyone deserves something a little special. You can of course give the children an extra piece of candy“

“In the past I have asked you to not share where this food is coming from to anyone. Except I did tell you to always tell the truth to Hatsue, Jiro, and Amieko. It was important to me to let my companions discover their own path. You can now honestly tell people that this food is provided by those that follow the heir.  If you are question by my companions you are free to tell them the truth” says Ivan

Ivan motions towards the door “Ok now go talk to Jiro while he is still in if office”

Hatsue describes in details the ideas behind the end game Tsume shogi as the two of them get the food ready for distribution in the morning. Just as they were finishing up the preparations  the door opens and the women re-enter the storage room.

“Are you still talking about the game?” says Akiko

“Yep, maybe someday I will get far enough into a game with Hatsue to try one of these strategies. Anyway perfect timing as we are done.” replies Ivan

As Ivan and Hatsue leave the store room Ivan says “how about you show me one of those moves on the board before we play an actual game”

Ivan and Hatsue head back to the common area.

Like the wind Radella moved through the rooms on the way to the horses. Ivan only paused for a moment to pick up a couple of pastries for later as he hurried to keep up with the determined Radella. Dead guards lined the path way as Ivan and Radella made their way to the battle ground.

Holding the head of Sennaka up high Radella tried to get the attention of the soldiers. Ivan looks across the battle field thinking to himself “Clearly they do not understand they need to listen to Radella”. The illusion of the fire dragon hovering about Radella provided the proper motivation for the soldiers to stop and listen to her.

“The samurai have all agreed to follow Itsuru. If you guys can come back to the house then I can heal up you guys and the samurai.” Says Ivan as they head back to the house.  By the time Radella, Ivan and the others returned to the house the portable hole was pretty much filled up by Zosimus. “So much for travel by portable hole” thinks Ivan to himself.

The party parts ways with the samurai and teleports back to the fort.

“I think it is best to stay in tonight” Ivan thinks to himself as he picks up the Shogi board and sets it on the table. Sitting down at the table Ivan does not have to wait very long for the usual opponent to join him in a game of Shogi.

“Tonight I hope to be able to make 18 moves before you win. Don’t you dare insult me by going easy on me” says Ivan to Hatsue.

After failing to get past 9 moves in the first game Ivan recounts the story about the night he created the circle and the two people that he interacted with on that night. Ivan casts an illusion to show each of the people that showed up in his vision as he tells the story. As soon as Ivan brings up that Kali’s says she follows Lamashtu Hatsue immediately interrupts Ivan with “No, No, No you are not to have anything to do with her or anyone else that follows Lamashtu!”

After Hatsue finishes explaining the reasons why he should not have anything to do with the followers of Lamashtu Ivan simple looks at Hatsue and says “Ok, I trust your judgement”

As they begin the second game of shogi Ivan pulls pastries from his bag and offers one to Hatsue. “I picked these up at Sennaka’s house, he’s dead so he didn’t need them. If it really bothers you I can pay his brother for the pastries” says Ivan

“I think this one time it will be ok” replies Hatsue as she takes a bite out of the pastry.

Game after game Ivan played against Hatsue but he was not able to progress past move 11 in any of the games.

“Well I guess 18 moves was a little too ambitious. That just means that when I get there it will be that much more special “says Ivan with a smile

“Well I am going to turn in” says Hatsue as she stands up.

“Good night” replies Ivan

In the morning Ivan is walking through the camps when he is interrupted by the young Musha sisters Chie and Arisa as they take his hand and guide him to the tent which obviously is not very usable.

“They broke the tent again” says their pregnant mother Yuri holding the youngest of the three daughters.

“Ok let me take a look” says Ivan as he climbs into the tent.

“I can fix this but I will need a couple of brave helpers” says Ivan as he sticks his head out of the collapsed tent.

“We’ll help” reply the girls as they climb into the tent.

“There the tent is all fixed” says Ivan

“Can we play tag now” replies Arisa

From outside the tent a voice says “Not in the tent”

“Thank Ivan for fixing the tent” says Yuri

“Thanks” says the two girls

“Your welcome. You know I couldn’t have done it without …” replies Ivan but the girls were already long gone before he could finish the sentence.

“Thank you Ivan. Would you like to stay and have some tea?” says Yuri

“Oh sorry I can’t today maybe next time” replies Ivan

Ivan parts ways with Yuri and heads back to the others.

The discussion at hand was how to get Ameiko back to Enganoka. Portable hole once again seems to be the only good option to get everyone to Enganoka. Ivan just watches as it is explained to Ameiko that traveling via portable hole is the best option to get her back to Enganoka.

For obvious reasons Ameiko and Shalelu seemed to be a little nervous about getting into the portable hole. After taking off all extra-dimensional equipment Ivan steps into the portable hole to show them it is ok. Casting life bubble Ivan reaches through the doorway and takes a hold of both Ameiko’s and Shalelu’s hands and then gently pulls them into the portable hole.

“See this is not so bad, there is most likely enough air in here for this short trip but this spell will provide 8 hours of breathing. Don’t worry I will keep you both safe” says Ivan to Ameiko and shalelu as they enter the portable hole.

“Damn they spotted us” thinks Ivan as the three of them escape over the wall and head back to the rest of the group.

“Why is Ameiko trying to hurt herself?” asks Ivan as they walk into the camp.

“What do you mean he is at the fort” say Ivan

Sending “The assassin is at the fort. He is very dangerous so do not engagement him until we get there”

Second sending “I will be there soon and we will keep everyone safe. You have to trust me.

“I’m going to the right now, Radella..” Ivan says but in interrupted by Radella

“Yes I am going” replied Radellla

“I am going too” says Ameiko closely followed by “not without me” from Shalelu

“I can read his thoughts so I will go to” says Dasi

Ivan thought Kali and Qatana might be still trying to explain the benefits of their plan as his group vanishes. Halfway down the hallway it is obvious that Olmas has arrived as he still seems to be complaining about being separated from Ameiko.

“This is the person” says Hatsue

“No Dasi says this is a common theft not the assassin” whispers Ivan into Hatsue left ear.

The group moves around until Dasi points out the assassin and most engage.

“Hatsue that’s the assassin. Trust me” says Ivan

“But he is not Evil” says Hatuse

“But he has weapons” says Olmas’s voice from above.

The corpse of the assassin into the alter room. After a few minutes pass Dasi starts freaking out about the Amulet

“Dasi just drop the Amulet on the ground” says Ivan

“No one should touch it, you can’t have it” says Dasi

“Just put it on the ground” says Ivan

The moment the amulet hits the ground Ivan covers it in a dome of stone so that no can grab the amulet.

Ivan heads out of the room and motions to Ameiko asking her to follow him.

“Ameiko can I speak with you for a moment” Ivan says as he is looking down at Hatsues blood on his hand.

Ivan and Ameiko move away from the others. In the background the discussion on what to do with the amulet continues. The door closes and an eerie silence fills the room.

“Wah Wah WAH., WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH, WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH” Rambles Ivan speaking so fast that Ameiko is struggling to understand him.

“Wah Wah WAH., WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH.” continues Ivan

“Wah Wah WAH., WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH. “Wah Wah WAH., WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH. WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH.” continues Ivan

Ivan suddenly stops which Ameiko presumes was to take a breath but then says “I’m sorry” as he gives her a good bye hug.

Ivan opens the door and steps into the main room. Avoiding eye contact Ivan moves across the room to the stairs and starts heading up. No one seems to notice that he is leaving or he thinks maybe they just don’t care that he is leaving. They are busy with the amulet so they have other things to worry about. The ghost sounds seem to be getting louder and louder and Ivan is surprised that the others have not notice. Ivan gets to the top of the stairs and then walks off into the darkness of the woods.

Ivan works his way through the woods until he reaches the little clearing near the edge of the cliff.  He just immediately gets the inspiration to put shapes in the rocks. He pulls down his goggle and just lets the magic create the shapes in the stone. One by one Ivan moves around shaping the stones until he has eight of them.

Ivan suddenly feels like someone pushes him off the cliff. He is thinking “why did someone push me, wait wh..” as everything goes black.

Ivan wasn’t sure how long we was out. He slowly opens his eyes and immediately notices that someone is standing over him with their feet next to his ears.

“Oh you’re finally awake” a female voice says as she taps the sides of Ivan head with her feet.

It is then that Ivan realizes that he seems to be tied up and can’t get up.

Ivan doesn’t recognize the voice and looks up to get a view of the person but her positioning only provides a view up her skirt.

“Why is your underwear blue with flowers” ask Ivan out of curiosity

“Blue! These are sky blue with white daisies” the female voice flippantly responds.

“I would prefer to be able to see the people that I am talking too” replies Ivan

At that she sits down on Ivan’s chest and disappointedly responds “Is that better? I just came here to help you and this is how you treat me”

“I am here to give you everything you ever wanted. There is just a small little matter that you need to do for us and then you can have everything” says the woman sitting on Ivan’s chest.

“I am sure you know where to find the seal, right. If you just do us this small favor you will want for nothing” continues the woman

A woman appears that he immediately recognizes as O-Sayumi. The dress she is wearing is just not the right color for her, Ivan doesn’t even think Koya would wear something with this color combination.  Clearly the woman with the strange underwear thought this was a good combination.

“We can make her your slave to do with as you wish” says the woman

“Why would I ever let you make a slave of one of my friends?” angrily responds Ivan

“That’s ok we have plenty of other women for you!” she says sounding pretty sure that she is close to sealing the deal.

“What no that is just wrong” response Ivan is frustration

“Oh I see. I didn’t realize you preferred men” she tries to say seductively as her body transforms into the form of a man. The blue underwear with flowers took on a new level of creepy as she changed into a male.

O-sayumi vanishes and is replaced with Sandru dressed in skin tight clothes.

“No I do like females” Ivan says in a creeped out tone.

“So do we have a deal? You go get the seal and you can have want ever you want” he/she says as the voice changes from male to female mid-sentence.

“I don’t think so. Can you please leave” says Ivan

“I can do this all night if we have too” says the female form still sitting on Ivan’s chest.

“You know some people are never going to fall for your old tired tricks” says a male voice from somewhere behind the woman.

Ivan realizes that his hands are now free and pushes the woman off him and can now see a man standing on the other side of the room. He recognizes the symbol on his left cheek as one of the symbols representing the gods but he doesn’t remember which god.

“Go away I was here first” the woman says angrily

The scene changes and Ivan finds himself in a big lavish room. Tapestries cover the walls to scenes of men and women in victory poses. The man with the symbol on his cheek is to his left while the woman is to his right. Sun light shines into the room from a row of cathedral windows. Lavish carpets line the floor.

“Can’t you just imagine yourself living this type of life” says the woman standing next to Ivan.

Ivan looks around and says “were is the doorway to the alchemy laboratory”.

One of the young female servants walks over to one of the tapestries and pulls it to one side revealing a door. Above the door a sign says alchemy Lab. Just then the door opens and Zosi steps out followed by three attentive women shrunk down to his size.

“No but I think this would be perfect for Zosi.” replies Ivan

The area around them changes and Ivan finds that they are back at the village of Kokomigi. Kimoto is directly in front of Ivan mourning the death of his family.  Ivan just sits there watching Kimoto as he says goodbye to his family.

The scene shifts back to the cave.

Suddenly Ivan notices that Ameiko is now in the cave with him but she is wearing the same clothes that he saw in the vision from the seal. In fact he is pretty sure this is the vision.

“You can become the ruler and possess all of them if you just take the seal” the woman says in response to the image of Ameiko.

“Ivan you are linked to the seal and your friends. Until the seal is used to proclaim the ruler of Minki the gods expect you to follow this path. Are you going to abandon your friends?” says the male voice

“So are you going to also tell me that I need to save the hero? Do you really think a commoner should be walking the path with Heroes and royalty? ” asks Ivan

“I don’t know about their status as heroes but I suspect that at some point you might have to save one of your friends” replies the man

The woman vanishes with the parting words “You haven’t won yet”

Ivan makes his way out of the cave and climbs up the cliff back to his meditation spot. When he gets to the top he is greeted by Hatsue.

“Ameiko asked me to come check on you.” says Hatsue as she sets up the game board.

“You still owe me a game, it’s your move” says Hatsue

“Well that was a pretty good move” says Hatsue as Ivan moves a piece to the right side of the board.

Hatsue moves her piece into position as Ivan just watches and waits

“I will move this piece over here” says Ivan as he moves his piece

“Well you’ve lost already” says Hatsue as she makes the move to end the game.

“Ok since I won you have to do something for Me.” says Hatsue

“Who are you, you are clearly not Hatsue.” says Ivan

Hatsue’s form gives way to that woman as she says “I just want you to get the seal for me”

“Ivan she can only talk with you because you are still on the ground unconscious and bleeding. You’re not afraid of snakes right?” says the now familiar male voice

Ivan wakes up and slowly gets up from the ground as to not upset the snakes. He thinks to himself that there is no need to hurt these snakes. Ivan feels a little dizzy and stumbles over to the nearby wall. A quick heal and his head begins to clear up. Looking up Ivan sees the outcropping of rocks that he most likely hit this head on.

Ivan makes his way back up to the meditation spot. Looking around he sees that he created a circle made out of symbols. Four of the symbols he knows as Irori and opposite each of the symbols of Irori are the same symbol that he saw on the man’s cheek. He should know this symbol Ivan thinks to himself.

Ivan lays down in the middle of the circle looking up at the stars as he drifts off to sleep. He wakes up just in time to regain his spells.

Sitting there Ivan sees a rock just outside the circle that catches his attention. He walks over, picks up the rock, and uses magic to allow the proper shape to manifest itself. Ivan searches his bag until he finds what he feels matches the new shape of the rock. He sets this new item down just outside the circle.

Ivan picks up his pack and quickly heads towards the fort. Ameiko has only been hurt a little but he better head back to the fort and check.

About the halfway point on his return Ivan pauses for a moment. “Oh god what did I say to Ameiko before I left. I really wish I could remember what I said” Ivan says out loud to himself as he hurries back to the fort.

Ivan makes his way down the stairs and then glances at Ameiko, he is relieved that she is not holding any weapons. He then diverts his gaze to avoid eye contact.

The talk is consumed with news of Qatana leaving. Ivan realizes that he does not since Qatana but remains silent and continues to avoid eye contact.

Ivan has dried blood starting at the top of his head, across his face and down his neck. His clothes are tattered and ripped. He is also covered from head to toe with dirt, sticks and various local plant material.

I am really not sure how to respond to Hatsue.

I thought it was completely ridiculous when O-Sayumi was telling me stealing the bodies of the dead is wrong. Who would have guessed that this would actually be a thing?

Although I can’t fully understand how the people of this country think I accept the fact that the fear of undead is a cultural thing that is not accepted in any country. So I have given up on Undead.

It is confusing why Zosi’s new form of undead is ok with the party. These are sill unliving monsters created from once living creatures and controlled by a master. Isn’t that the same necromancer? It just seems that he has found a way to alter undead so that enough to fool even those searching for undead.

There is nothing to prove that this new type of necromancy does or does not bind the soul back to the creature but if I have learned anything about people, common people will view this as necromancy.

Deep down prefer to interact with living people more then I want to experiment with reanimated creatures. Living in the world requires us to adapt to the people around you.

We have been traveling around thinking that everyone what to fix the Oni problem. The people of the city know the guards are Oni. Their reaction to Kali and Qatana attacking the guards was a little surprising. I heard the crowd speak as if Kali and Qatana were interfering with the guards just doing their job.  As the two of them fled the people seemed to be grateful to the guards for saving them from being killed. I think the people fear that Kali and Qatana were going to turn on them next. Kali seems to care a lot about whether she is considered good or evil. Maybe I should start calling Kali the evil wizard of Enganoka.

Sparna did always talk about following the laws of the land. Now there are going to be stories about how the two evil wizards went through the market killing off people. I can just see the stories about how the brave guards killed their master but paid with their lives. As it would happen these two evil wizards brought their evil master back from the dead. Once again the three of them will rain terror over the land until some brave heroes can finally put an end to the evil wizards.

So we have two evil wizards and their evil master that they brought back to life. Oh we can’t forget about Zosi the necromancer. I guess I should be more correct and say one evil wizard and one evil cleric so as to not upset Qatana.

So in truth I have no idea if they are evil or not but it was funny thinking about Kali’s reaction to being called the evil wizard of Enganoka. Hatsue has not freaked out about the gorgon so Zosi might not be using necromancy. I trust that Hatsue would take action if there was obvious necromancy. I still think that most people will view his creations as unnatural and likely use the work necromancy and undead to describe the creatures.

It just seems like common since the people get upset about stealing bodies. How can we ever attempt to fix the grief we have caused the family.

Well I will just have to face it and ask Hatsue how stealing the body affects this family.

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.