as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Oathday, 5 Sarenith

Dasi told us there were five basic districts in the city, but he wanted to spend a day or so learning more about them by strolling through them.  He hoped he might get a better sense of the city, and maybe even news of the allegedly legendary assassin stalking us. Zos and Radella thought that sounded like a good way to spend the day so they went along.

They were learning little more than we already knew, when a curious thing happened.

Kali was scrying the scryer and she saw what could have been a monk, in a simple gray tunic, walking through streets that looked like Sakakabe.  He wandered down an alley and, looking around quickly, pulled out a cloth that was wrapped around a vial and some blowdarts. Kali hastily ended the scry and yelled for Ivan.

In town, a city guard leaned in to watch the three out-of-towners soliciting stories about an assassin. They entered a shop.

Ivan sent a message to the three …

The guard suddenly slumped over and fell to the ground.  Inside, the shopkeep was going on about these stories about assassins started by riffraff and how safe this city was when they were startled by a minor disturbance outside. Zos, Dasi and Radella exited the shop and gaped.  The crowd started murmuring, and one voice said, “What’s up with HIM?”

Ivan sent another message.

They rushed over to the guard and found, as expected, a blowdart in his neck.  Zos was able to quickly identify the substance on it as blue whinnis.  He also quickly scanned the crowd looking for lawful evil, but found none.

Other guards quickly arrived, and questions were asked.  Dasi is great at snatching weapons out of your hand, and he can sing like a bird, but when it comes to just talking he sometimes sounds like he’s trying to explain badly why it wasn’t him that broke the window.  The guards were shaking their heads a bit and eyeing him and especially the foreign looking Radella, but Zos stepped in and vouched for her and eventually they all were able to leave.

The duality of having been scrying and seeing an attack possibly intended for us from both sides was a bit eerie.  But it did underscore the threat was real …

Not too long after this, Kali detected another scrying.  In an effort to draw the assassin closer, she “accidentally” let slip we’d be at the geisha house that night, and the scrying immediately ended.  Kali was happy about this, but that didn’t generally extend to others.  In particular, O-kohaku was not happy about her business doubling as a killing field.  Kali angrily said something like you don’t overthrow the regent and expect it to be completely incident free.  She made Qatana look tactful.

Expecting trouble now, Zos gave Ameiko a delay poison to drink that would provide 12 hrs of protection.  We then created an illusion of Ameiko and surrounded her in relaxed and incidental poses while the image not-that-skillfully played the samisen in contrived disregard for the world around us.

Nothing happened.

Freday, 6 Sarenith

However, around 12:30 that evening, our vigilance was rewarded. The swing of a bladed instrument cut through the paper wall of the room we were in, narrowly missing Kali.  Ivan had his bow drawn in a flash as Kali created an interposing hand between herself and the threat.  I threw open the door and started searching for the intruder.  It was Kali’s imposing hand, though, that quickly revealed the threat was gone.  Careful searching did reveal some faint traces of a person and the path they took but that only confirmed what the slit in the tissue paper wall already told us.  We’d been attacked, and he’d missed.

Nothing else happened the rest of the night, but it was the next morning that Kali kind of lost it.  We detected a scrying again and so Kali hastily scrawled a sign that read, “C’mon, prick.  Is that the best you can do?”  She added another message questioning his courage, and possibly his heritage.

Receiving no reply, Kali returned the favor by scrying him, and found a dark cloaked figure leaving the entertainment district.  He turned into a shadowy figure, but the scry held as he apparently entered the shadow plane.  Emerging in a forest somewhere, he quickly changed his garb to that of a farmer.  He seemed to be slim, with short, fuzzy gray hair – rather ordinary looking overall, according to her.

When Kali sent a message to him, he responded with a soundless but universal gesture of digital disrespect.

It was about 9:30 when we left the teahouse and Kali decided to make leaflets with the assassin’s image on it – “Have you seen this ninja?” and spread this over the town.  That done, we all reconvened outside of town and flew or windwalked to Enganoka. We hired 3 adjacent rooms to spend the night in and started planning for the big meeting with the Three Monkeys. We decided to check out the venue as well as make our “reservations”, and discovered the proper protocol was to buy the table with the Three Monkeys a drink and wait for them to invite you over.  Oh, and each person seated for dinner that night would be required to provide a 100gp reservation fee. We reserved 4 seats.

We’d already decided we could not take the whole group there.  Not only might all personalities not be welcome, but now we found it out it would be a little expensive.  The 3 would be Dasi, Ameiko, and Radella.  I wanted to be there but had to admit that Suishen is not a subtle sword.  Radella promised to look out for Ameiko.  So we paid 300gp and decided to check out the market.

Frst, we had to pay the guards 10pp + 10gp to enter with our weapons.  That seemed a bit steep but nobody batted an eye.  We did not, after all, wish to draw attention to ourselves.

At least, that is, for the next ten minutes.  After that, apparently, we abandoned that premise.

We’d only been in the market a few minutes when the guards came in and surrounded some man and accused him of being a spy. He was certainly the most frightened looking spy ever born if he was one.  He shakily denied it, but the guards announced that because he was lying to them, the punishment would be death. Out of the corner of my eye I saw both Kali and Qatana step forward.

I was tempted to jump in but I hesitated, mindful of our need to keep a low profile. I turned to Ameiko and said, “You can’t be seen around this.  We should leave.”  She also seemed torn before nodding yes.  I did not want to leave my friends but it was not the first time that Qatana, and increasingly of late, Kali, had taken matters into their own hands without consulting the group first.  And now, in my role as protector of the Heir, I would need to do the same.  Ameiko and I (and several others in the group) moved away from the disturbance.  Glancing back I saw

• an increasingly panicked crowd
• a flash of what surely had to be chain lightning
• at least one body already on the floor

Later I would learn that Kali, Qatana and Zos together defeated the 8 guards before disappearing (literally, apparently, via either teleport or invisibility) and taking the dead commoner with them.  Worse, they discovered during battle that the guards were all oni.  Nobody at the market seemed surprised by that; it is apparently an open secret that the guards are magical demons.

It’s different here, I guess.

Upon returning, Qatana and Kali kind of kept to themselves.  I assume they were talking about how to get the body to the appropriate party.  For my part, I talked with Ameiko and said this provided a good opportunity to set the tone.  Although she is not sitting on a throne yet, I told her, my job is to keep her alive so she can.  I will defer to her wishes if she expresses them, but my default actions will tend to be the ones that keep her out of harm’s way.  She agreed that our roles are changing, and she herself is having to consciously stop herself at times.  This was one of those times.

Qatana, this time, attempted a scry and succeeded, seeing a wealthy-ish woman entering the mall we’d left earlier.  She asked about the mess and disarray and was told that some evil wizards had attacked a man and killed all the guards.

Kali tried scrying the assassin and connected. He was simply walking through city streets somewhere.

Starday, 7 Sarenith

It wasn’t long after midnight that Qatana cast a special spell.  Because she’d been able to scry on the assassin, she was also able to send him nightmares that would leave him tired and exhausted the next morning.  Her plan was to do this every night now, leaving him at a disadvantage for any battle or even using his skills.

After rising that morning, Dasi and Radella returned to the market on the theory that they would neither be recognized nor even associated with the fracas the previous day.  After all, we still didn’t get to scout the area.  One vendor seemed friendly andd they chatted some time with her.  She read some tarot for Dasi, but the longer he was with her, the more his gut told him something was up.  When he declined some tea she’d brewed and he asked her some pointed questions, she simply vanished.

Looking around her area, Dasi found an unconscious woman on the ground.  Reviving her, they learned she’d been accosted while arriving at the market that day.  Dasi brought back some of the tea and napkin he’d been offered and Zos later identified it as being tainted with oil of taggit, a poison that would have caused him to fall unconscious.  That suggests the assassin might be looking for a hostage rather than a corpse. Hmmm.

Speaking of corpses, Zos had a crazy idea to steal a corpse and “sculpt” a replica of Ameiko that he could animate, on the theory that it could be an alternate target.  Sort of a living mirror image spell.  Ugh.

Meanwhile, Dasi tried a scry himself … but failed.  He did squeeze a divination from the samisen …

HOW CAN WE BEST BE PREPARED FOR THE NEXT ATTACK?
-= stay together =-

Well, ok.

Qatana did a scry, and caught him down at the docks, chatting wth someone who was moving cargo.  He spent a fair amount of time there before moving back into the city .. maybe a noodle shop.

And that evening, Qatana gifted him with nightmares again.

Sunday, 8 Sarenith

The big day.  We timed a tea ceremony with the magical tea set to maximize our chances with the Three Monkeys.

Zos rolled out an animated – oh my god, he DID make a copy of Ameiko.  So that means he DID steal a corpse and .. so he was serious?  Well too late now but this pushes the envelope a little.  I didn’t really envision us as grave robbers …

Dasi brought 3 of the really good sake bottles he took from the pearl merchant’s collection, to impress our hosts with.

When the time came, they were impressed.

i wish I could have gone along, but Dasi, Radella, and Ameiko summarized the meeting for us.

5,000gp to any clan we wished to remain neutral.
15,000gp to any clan we wished to actually engage.

So 15,000gp just to keep them all out of it.  Wow.

One hitch, of course.  They won’t make any deal with us at all so long as there is a contract out on us.  Professional courtesy, I guess.  Well, that’s fine … we’d rather planned on taking care of that problem anyway.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 29 Desnus

It would be too much to ask, of course, for us to simply board the barge and head back to the mainland.  These gods that Kari, Ivan, and Qatana speak of were clearly idle and bored this day.

It began typically enough.  We had rescued the maiden and soundly defeated a dozen enemies.  It was time to sail into the harbor, victorious amidst a cheering crowd.  We boarded the boat and found, to MY surprise at least, that Dasi knew how to operate a boat!  I mean, anyone can take up a pair of oars, but this was a bit more than that.  He helped arranged rowers and watchers and flyers (Kali and Qatana do so like floating above the ground) and took the tiller.

Before we left, Kali announced we were being scried. Of course.  She tried doing that thing where she gets a glimpse of the scryer. It worked, sort of. She got an image of what seemed to be a beggar, hunched over.  Probably a disguise.

We were just far enough from shore to be in some of the deeper water, when Zos, He of Small Stature but Sharp Vision and positioned at the front of the boat, pointed at a wake heading for us from the right side.  Defensive postures were struck.

I can now say I have met my first “dragon turtle”.  It is not a dragon.  It is not a turtle.  It’s as if somebody took all the gracefulness of a turtle on land and combined it with all the social graces of a dragon missing 10 copper pieces.  They were kind of ugly, and more than a little ornery.  They could actually speak (Dragon, I’m told) and they claimed we were going the wrong way. And so we had to die.

They? Sorry, did I say they?  Yeah, two more showed up seconds after the first.  All of them tried to tip the boat.  All of them could breathe scalding steam.  And all of them did this, before all of them died.

Can we rest now?  Zos reminded us there was some distinct advantage to resting right now, because he could do the old ‘make a treasure map out of their skin’ trick which sounds so disgusting but has proven useful more than once.

So we reached the dock safely, with the added weight of one turtle-dragon corpse. One hour later, Zos was able to announce that there was indeed “something valuable” (at least to a dragon turtle) underwater near one of the islands.  Since we would want more spells available to us for that effort, we decided to go visit turtle-uncle Numataro-sama.  There was much joy when he and O-sayumi saw each other again.

Oathday, 30 Desnus

This day was dedicated to finding out what is valuable to a dragon turtle.  Thankfully, they value (or at least, these valued) the same things we do.  In an underwater cave, aided by an air bubble spell, we found 3 piles of mixtures of pearls, precious shells, and gemstones … about 18000 gp worth.

I need to consider what item(s) might make more effective (or less defective.)

We will spend another night at the kappa’s place before windwalking back to town.

Fireday, 31 Desnus

There was another happy reunion when O-sayumi returned to the teahouse with us.  True to her word, O-kohaku arranged meetings over the next several days with key merchants, nobles, and  other contacts from the area.  Each would arrive secretive and skeptical, and each needed to leave pleasantly surprised and hopeful.  We need to have our presentation well polished.  Suishen will undoubtedly be a part of many of these meetings as he offers concrete proof that the Amatatsu line survives.

In gratitude, O-sayumi offered the magical samisen.  We declined it at first, but it seemed to only make her more determined.  Both Dasi and Ameiko are able to play it so nit wouldn’t sit idle … in the end we accepted it.  But then she gave us an even greater gift. As discussion turned to overthrowing the daimyo, she offered that she had connections to the general of his army .. his brother.  She believed she could arrange a meeting with tsuru

We have the ninjas to get in our corner yet, but things are moving better than we might have expected.

We were again surprised when O-kohaku asked her servants to bring out a green box.  She offered it as a gift, and when we opened it we found an exquisite tea set.  (Ivan whispered that it radiated magic.)  “It’s been at the tea house since before I was here.  Those who perform the tea ceremony using this set, find it easier to recover from illnesses and consummate deals.”

[669] tea set decorated with willows and flowers

Starday, 1 Sarenith

Although I’ve been in this side of the world for months now, I am still amazed at the culture here.  Between her wizardly skills, her musical skills, her social skills, and her attractive person, I find O-sayumi to be a most intriguing representation of that culture, and I asked her if she would like to enjoy a meal with me this evening. She has agreed.

Before then, though, she arranged the meeting with Itsuru.  She believes that Jiro can expect substantial support from him once he understands the situation.

We were scryed upon again, and this time Kali detected a man in clerical robes within 10 miles of us.

Das tried a divination using our new samisen.  “What can we do to improve our conversations with the ninjas?”  The non-specific reply he got was “stop the scrying.”

Sunday, 2 Sarenith

We sent a message to Jiro today to arrange for him to meet with Itsuru.  He was surprised and agreed, but warned he had intelligence that the fort was soon to be attacked.  Consequently, he would come but Hatsui would remain to fortify their position.  If it were not that Suishen will play an important role in the meetng, I would go to the fort to assist.  Dasi tried a divination again – Does Jiro coming here put the fort at risk?  The terse response was: fort will still be there if he’s not there.  Cryptic, but we’ll take it as a positive sign.

So later in the day, the following people met in a large room in s private part of the teahouse:

Jiro
Ameiko
Qatana
Dasi
Itsuru
myself
Kali
Radella
and of course O-sayumi

Itsuru appeared confident and hesitant at the same time.  He nodded politely to Jiro.  He paled and looked doubtful though when O-sayumi introduced “the Amatatsu heirs”.  This is why I was here, and I withdrew Suishen from his scabbard and bathed him in flame.

From that moment the meetng took on renewed energy.  Itsuru offered that there may be a moment soon when the daiymo would be less guarded.  He is leaving soon to his vacation retreat with minimal staff.  There are nine other ronin who know of this as well, and together we may be able to overcome the staff and bodyguards .. and kill the daiymo.  Family honor prevents Itsuru from doing this himself, but it does not prevent him from being conspicuously unsupportive of his brother.

We have opportunity.

Moonday, 3 Sarenith

Another day, another divinaton.  Both Dasi and Ameiko used the samisen, and got related responses.

THERE IS A NINJA OF GREAT RENOWN FOLLWNG AMEIKO.  and
NEUTRALIZE THE STALKER.

That’s getting pretty direct.  The new Mask Clan of ninjas is rumored to have a superhuman ninja.  The puzzle is coming together.

Toilday, 4 Sarenith

Itsuru returned briefly.  In 10 days his brother will  set out for his retreat.  The 9 have infiltrated his staff and are ready to provide the necessary distraction which will separate him from most of his retinue.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 29 Desnus

(still)
Our encounter with shadows in the chessboard trap made us feel we might well run into more of the same in what appeared to be a trip thru the Shadow plane.  We prepared with two separate Hide from Undead spells, expecting that the (usual) fighters would likely break that spell by attacking than the other group of, well, Kali.

I was one of the first into the shadowy passage but it took only seconds for all of us to enter.  The colors may have been muted, but the sound seemed the same.   Ivan had a theory that the inro was actually a map of sorts to lead us through this shadowy world.  There were gates of certain colors, or materials, that seemed to match up with items in the inro.  We made a couple of wrong turns and got hit by lightning and ice storms, but by and large I think we avoided a large amount of grief.

We came upon a largish room, and the entrance to the room seemed also to be an exit from the shadow plane.  I entered the room and observed two women on the floor.  I immediately moved to check out the women.   In one corner was a life size statue of a female in the lotus position, and in the other corner was a monkey – no, tiger – no, snake.

Actually it was all three, and did not seem friendly.  In fact it had a yell that actually hurt.  The women seemed .. not dead but not alive and I announced that.  But the first issue was the montigersnake.  Actually, Kali later said it had an explicit name too but I don’t remember what it was anymore.  The usual suspects (myself, Radella, Qatana) moved in to attack it.  It was going to take me a few seconds longer to reach it, having spent time first checking on the women, but Kali magically moved me and I started beating on it in earnest.

Suishen informed me again, in an almost accusatory manner, that it was not an oni.

But when we cut it, it did bleed, and despite some bizarre capabilities (it could make us feel incredibly tired just by waving its paws) we managed to best it with some wicked good swings and some good arrows by Ivan.

There was a door in the room, and it seemed to lead to a study. A quick search uncovered several magical items.

[669] magic samisen
[670] ivory plectrum
[671] potion of bull strength
[672] potion of cure moderate wounds
[673] potion of protection from cold
[674] potion of water breathing
[675] scroll of bestow curse
[676] scroll of ice storm
[677] scroll of lightning

There were also some

[678] business records

A quick read through the notes completed the story of what had happened.  He had tried to move his wife’s soul into his daughter’s body, but any fool knows that a body can only hold one soul so the whole thing fell apart – his wife’s soul seems to have disappeared while his daughter’s soul – O-Suyami’s soul, we could now confirm – occupied a pearl instead of her body.  He was reluctant to return hers to her body because he feared it might make it impossible to recover his wife’s.

About this time, Radella said, “aHA” and a portion of a shelf moved.  “There’s a secret door here” she announced.  And we again prepared ourselves for battle, although at this point the preparation was entirely mental and not magical.  Arranging ourselves we entered the narrow passage.

The passage led first to what Zos readily identifed as an alchemical lab.  His eyes lit up as he looked over the room.

But it was not our main interest right now.  We anticipated that we would be finding a dark mage of some sort, holding his daughter’s soul captive.  We moved on.

The next room again had muted colors and a grey appearance to it, even though it was not in the shadow plane.  There was a man sitting at a table on the far side of the room who observed us entering in an almost unconcerned manner.

“My wife is gone forever,” he remarked in a strangely flat voice, taking a sip of tea.  “I was trying to move her into my daughter’s beautiful body, but something went wrong.  I have so far been unable to reverse the effect.”  He glanced at Radella, who had moved next to him. He glanced up at her. “I assume you do want to save the girl, don’t you?”  He casually tipped a container of pearls over and they spilled across the floor.  “Be careful you don’t crush her soul by stepping on the wrong pearl” and he began to chant in earnest.

While Zos hasted us all, I hurried over to interrupt his spell with Suishen.  Unfortunately, the discarded pearls acted as marbles and I fell on my way there.  He gestured at a shadowy alcove at one end of the room and a number of shadows appeared.  Kali quickly threw up a wall of force but warned, “they’ll probably go underneath it so it won’t work for long.”  I regained my footing and attacked the man, while Qatana cast a greater dispel magic at him to render him more vulnerable.  It did not take long for us to finish him off, but it too longer to deal gingerly with the shadows he’d welcomed onto our plane.  I lost strength several times to the foul things, but Qatana was able to help me recover.

On the man and in the room, we found

[680] pearls picked up from the floor and left in the jar
[681] an inro (darkwood + embedded emeralds forming a dragon and turtle, with 3 compartments)
[682] blue-green aquamarine (magic)
[683] black pearl
[684] large white pearl (magic)
[685] potion of water breathing
[686] scroll of resist energy
[687] MW dagger
[688] cloak of resistance +4
[689] dusty rose ioun stone +1 insight bonus to AC
[690] ring of protection +2
[692] spell components
[691] ring of swimming
[693] spellbook
[694] 250gp of diamond dust

and of course the previously discovered

[695] alchemy lab

We tried to decide our next step.  We needed to revive O-Sayumi but none of us were sure how this might work.  Eventually we decided dispel magic might do the trick … and it did.

O-Sayumi told us how she was brought there by threats to harm the monks if she did not.  There was a brief discussion and we decided to leave by barge, now that it was safe, rather than waste more magic flying.

Upon approaching the barge, however, a company of hobgoblins challenged us and we shook our heads at each other.  Really?

Qatana created a blade barrier to hem them in, but much to our surprise, one after another flew ABOVE it to escape it.

The first one I laid Suishen into made him practically tremble with excitement. “ONI!!!”  ah, a dozen overconfident, underpowered oni.

Time was when that would have been a problem for us but even O-Sayumi joined in the battle, casting spells no less!  Clearly not your ordinary geisha.

With that taken care of, we are preparing to board the barge.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 29 Desnus

So we traveled without incident to the kappa-uncle, but along the way we had an open and honest discussion of how best to protect Koya.  While both Ameiko and Shalelu were trained and experienced fighters, that was not at all Koya’s strong suit.  The difficult question was not resolved enroute.

The kappa, Numataro-sama, greeted us pleasantly and told us a story and history that suggests there are familial ties at play here.  Is O-Sayumi related to the pearl merchant, whose name we now know to be Shosaito?  Numataro-sam suggested strongly that it might be a father-daughter relationship.  The circumstances seem to indicate that O-Sayumi felt compelled to come, but compelled emotionally or compelled magically we cannot say at this point.  Mysteriously, he gave us a shogi piece “for luck” and said it had the power to summon the greatest shogi player in all of Minkai.

We did come to one conclusion, however.  With Numataro-sama’s permission we will leave Koya here inside a Mage’s Private Sanctum. She should be safe from most things, including scrying.  Long term, however, we will need to come up with another plan.

The island looks dim, and seemed pervaded by gloom and doom.  I judge this to be a way of discouraging visitors, and while that may prove true, I’d also not be surprised if it turned out to be an ominous side effect from somebody or something living here.

(later)

Like undead.

We used fly rather than try to take a more mundane method of reaching the island.  It has been our experience that appearing at the entrances made explicitly to greet visitors, like front doors and docks, usually are the worst way to introduce ourselves.  Geisha houses excepted.   On our way in we saw what we assumed to be pearl divers at work (and they saw us).  They stayed underwater a surprisingly long time but when they walked up on shore they were not interested in welcoming us.  They attacked us, and while I suppose in a sense we were trespassers, I think most civilized places will agree that employing undead as laborers is the greater offense.

After dispatching them (Kali said they were mastodons, I think, which I have always believed to be larger, but …) we examined their crude village.  Surprise surprise, we found a secret door in the floor which I’d be willing to bet will lead us to our next problem.   By the way, both Qatana and Kali say this place is bathed in faint magic. No, really?

(later)

aaaand spot on.  This time it was manangles (I think – Kali speaks so softly) masquerading as servants.

We seemed to be exploring, perhaps, the basement of the only house on the island.  We found one room  (before we even met the manangles) that immediately drew Dasi’s attention, since it seemed to be filled with some very fine bottles of sake.  One passage looked even more shadowy and ominous than the rest of the basement.   We decided to save that for last.

It was about then we ran into the first manangle.  We tried to convince her, and the rest eventually, that we were part of the security testing team. They almost bought it (we even had one in manacles “so it would look authentic”, but in the end one of them doubted it enough to attack us and that meant the others no longer cooperated.  Ivan called out they are undead, but they seemed especially difficult to kill.  Suishen confirmed to me, after cutting into one, that these were not oni. (I realize he only speaks telepathically but he almost sounded disappointed.)  According to Kali, these things are really nasty at night so I’m glad we came when we did.

Exploring, we found several rooms – all looked dusty like they’d not been used for a while.  We still have no firm confirmation that O-Sayumi is even here.  One room had a shogi game set up and apparently in progress, and Radella detected a trap of some sort, but Kali was sure it was an important clue.

She was wrong.   Touching the board threw all of us into a sort of grid – a shadowy shogi board? – and about the time figured out how to maneuver within it, we also found we were sharing it with extra things – shadows themselves.  I don’t know who held the lucky chess piece that Numataro-sama gave us, but they apparently activated it and a hazy figure of Hatsue, appeared and although confused by our presence in what she said was HER dream, went to work destroying shadows.

Other than Hatsue, the things that helped us best was recognizing that by DISBELIEVING the grid one found oneself in, it became noncorporeal.  The second was that Dasi had this capability he called “ghost purge” which made our weapons much more effective against the shadows.  (I have to say, he continues to amaze me.)

Having put that behind us, we regrouped to return to the shadowy pathway.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Starday, 25 Desnus

It is hard to believe that all the drama with the prisoners happened before noon had even passed.  But we had made a point of starting while it was still dark, so it only made sense that we had most of the day ahead of us yet.  Even taking 4 hours for some people to recover their spells put us only at 1:30 or so.

We set Nehali to task looking for returning parties.  The aerial surveillance would likely give us ten or maybe even fifteen minutes advance notice to prepare for them.  From what the prisoners told us, we might see 3 or 4 parties return.

However, all we saw was one wounded horse return. That’s it.  Qatana healed it some, and Radella spoke with it, learning it was the only one that survived.  Apparently Jiro had been very successful at attacking the raiding parties.  Three or four parties, and all that’s left is a single horse.  Wow.

While waiting, Dasi did his blood thing on the weretiger.  We learned … well, nothing new but it cost nothing to try.  The weretiger was female and (surprise) a ranger.  She was obsessed with how we “took her fortress”.  I guess that was a little surprising – it’s no more hers than ours – but whether her position was from arrogance or ignorance I guess we’ll never know.

Word was sent to Jiro and he will come to the fort with Hatsui and Ameiko (and the others in his party) by more mundane means.  I understood that Ameiko was hanging back to talk with Jiro, but it hadn’t been made clear that she was going to be in active battle.  Humph.

About 3:45, Qatana went with Kali to retrieved Koya and the seal.  They all had to windwalk back, of course, because the seal could not be teleported.  Hatsui and about ten recruits arrived not too long after that, and Jiro, Ameiko, and their party about an hour after that.

We already knew that we, as scions, apparently could not open the vault. Ameiko, as Prime Scion, we thought might have a different effect.  But no, she didn’t. It wasn’t until, with some trepidation, that we took the seal out of the warding box and Ameiko tried again while holding the seal that we were successful.  A circular portion of the floor opened outside the room, and revealed armaments, including the family sword that Jiro had mentioned.

Given how nervous we were, we’d arranged ourselves very particularly, expecting an oni or twenty might teleport in as soon as the seal revealed itself.  While that didn’t happen, Kali did detect scrying just mere minutes after it was unveiled, and utilized her previously-prepared anti-magic field to block it.  But now they knew.  They knew.  Their worst fears were still true … a true heir still lived and would be a significant obstacle to their stolen throne.

Inspecting the weapons, Dasi confirmed the antiquity of the swords in the revealed armory.  I caught a glance at Jiro and tried not to smile. As Dasi performed the analysis we’d so often asked of him, it escaped him that the best means of identifying the authenticity of this find was already in the room, and had in fact already validated it.  The look on Jiro’s face was one that registered a mix of astonishment and mild anger.  It clearly said, “What?  REALLY?”

But seeing all this transpire, Jiro turned to Ameiko and bowed, accepting her as the eventual Empress.  And became a fount of helpful information.

He reminded us that simply announcing an heir wouldn’t necessarily throw everybody behind her.  We needed to fan the flames of rebellion before striking at the target, so that we’d either have massive support or, at the least, have few others opposing her. He outlined three key factions we needed behind us or neutralized.

One was the military.  While they were currently firmly on the side of the Regent, there were plenty of indications that support was not as strong as it appeared.  In particular, the local daimyo, Sikutsu Sennaka, had few on the military who supported him for any reason other than honor.  The daimyo and the Regent both seemed unfamiliar with maintaining and growing military careers, and plum assignments and promotions were going to the wrong (in the minds of some military leaders) people.  Seeing those undeserving individuals disappear or actually die might make many in the military feel things had improved … so long as they also felt this improved their chance at recognition and promotion.  It would require the right timing, and the right people, and so would probably be one of the last groups we’d win over.

Another was the merchants.  They were chafing under the Regent’s regime, again largely because their traditional role (and the wealth that went with it) was not being honored.  Trade with other provinces was disrupted by squabbles and taxes.  The decrease in income was keenly felt, and roundly hated.   While this group was not as well armed as the military might be, they had other methods at their disposal.  Economic pressure – who they bought and sold from and to – might prove as wounding as a sword.  They also knew of ways to get into markets – be that countries, harbors, or buildings – that they might be willing to share.  That is, once they believed.

Lastly was the ninja groups.  While ninjas tended by their nature to be a bit reticent and difficult to access, if they didn’t have some way of contacting them they’d have no business at all.  Jiro mentioned there had been four main groups: the Black Lotus, the Dragon Shadow, the Emerald Branch, and the Ruby Crypt.  Recently, though, in perhaps the last few decades, a new order had appeared: Oni’s Mask.  The other four considered the newcomer to be ruthless (even for ninjas) and without honor, which ninjas are fanatical about.  Helping restore the order may be a welcomed option.  Jiro was not so bold as to predict we would get allies, but even a promise not to interfere would be welcome aid.

To touch base with the merchant faction, Jiro advised us to make an appointment with a high level geisha, O-kuhaku. She was considered a geisha with sufficient connections that, were she to support us, we’d have a decent chance of both contacting and winning over the merchants.  Take a nice gift, he advised, so that you don’t wait a month to see her.  She is in Sakakabe.

To reach the ninjas, we would need to approach their council.  They meet once a month, on the night of the new moon in Enganoka.  We could learn more in the Korrang Market.

We definitely had our work cut out for us.  The geishas were first on the list, since the new moon is some two weeks off.

Based on all this, Zos and Kali would teleport back tomorrow to get his cart and our horses, including Kasimir.

Sunday, 26 Desnus

As promised, Zos and Kali left in the morning.  They rolled in around 11pm.  The cart and the horses will stay at the fortress because most of our travels will likely be by windwalk or teleportation in the near future.

We have great concern about leaving the seal here, right where it was last detected, but it would be even more foolish to take it with us.  In the end, Qatana and Ivan fashioned a place for it deep within rock using Stone Wall and Stone Shape.  It’s now not accessible to anyone who doesn’t know exactly where it is and either is willing to undertake a great deal of physical labor, or has the capability to use magic to reshape the stone again.  It’s about as safe as it can be, and arguably safer than it was before.

Because Jiro was fascinated by the idea that magic could compel a person’s direction in life, he offered the remaining prisoners quick and merciful death, or magic by Qatana that would compel them to a new life.  They all chose the latter, so Qatana placed them under a Geas that had them serving Jiro.  I had said that if Jiro passed this judgement upon them I would be fine with it and I will honor my statement but I have to admit it does still bother me.  I can’t really explain why.

Moonday, 27 Desnus

With Qatana’s generosity, we all received windwalk and proceeded to Sakakabe.  In windwalk we move much faster than normal, but it still took most of the day.  We materialized outside the city so that we could walk in normally like any other group of travelers.

I am used to seeing social orders in a society, but in this town they are physical.  The most prestigious actually live higher on the hill, and that’s where we will find O-kuhaku.  We discussed what roles we should play – probably “supporters of the true heir” were not positions we wanted to emphasize just yet.

Dasi – merchant leader.  His knowledge of Minkai made him a natural choice.
Kali – advisor to Dasi.  Having a woman in this role might raise some eyebrows but at this level, it’s likely nobody will raise the issue.
Radella, Ivan, and myself – bodyguards.  Allows us to openly take our weapons most places.
Qatana – spiritual advisor.  While a legitimate position, t made me smile.  I think few merchants have Groetus advising them.

There were armed guards at the gates to this upper crust society, but they were willing to let us in to spend money.

First up was shopping.  We did not yet look the part. Several of us, and I’ll include myself in that, were dismayed at how flamboyant the garb was.

And thankfully, our fine gift for the geisha got us an appointment late the next day.  We could get this all started.

And on a down note, in the late afternoon, Kali quietly announced, using codespeak, that we were being scryed upon again.

Toilday, 28 Desnus

The guards this time were a bit more surly; they seemed reluctant to let us in even with ‘fine garb’ on us.   But Kali figured out that they responded well to 10-15gp in ‘tips’ for their fine work.   At that point, they agreed that we did, in fact, seem fairly harmless.

We had some tea at a tea house while waiting for our appointment.  Kali again pointed out, partway through our tea, that we were being scried upon.  It lasted, she noticed, more than 15 minutes which, she said, made the scrier a pretty powerful mage.

Eventually 5pm rolled around and we, in our garb and in our roles, went to see the geisha.  Dasi tried to gently ease into the topic of a possible heir returning, but he was going too slowly for Qatana who eventually burst out, “we plan to overthrow Sikutsu Sennaka, and Jiro suggested we enlist your help.”  Although this demolished irreparably several layers of protocol, it did get her attention.

She slowly offered that one of her girls, O-siyumi.  Unfortunately, she’s gone missing, and she would like our help in finding and retrieving her.   Sigh.  Everything around here is tit for tat, quid pro quo, and I don’t even understand those words.

Against her better judgement, she may have gone to visit a local pearl merchant on his private island north of here.  He is apparently obsessed with her, which doesn’t bode well.  Strangely, her uncle is some sort of turtle-man … I must admit my mind wandered here and I must have misunderstood.  Perhaps he is a turtle hunter?  Or maybe just very shy (doesn’t ‘come out of his shell’?)

Anyway, tomorrow we will windwalk there and investigate.  We are doing most of the overplanning tonight, the night before, in an effort to be more efficient tomorrow.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Starday, 25 Desnus

Today was one of the worst battles we’ve had in some time. It wasn’t the physical damage, although there was, of course, some of that.

It was the emotional damage, and how close we came as a group to fighting among ourselves.

But let me back up.

As I wrote earlier, in order to demonstrate both our intentions and our skills, we had agreed to liberate an outpost that had been taken over by bandits. The local daimyo seems indifferent to their presence. That is troubling enough, but Jiro revealed that he is familiar with that particular location, and there is is a vault there, which will yield only to one with royal heritage, that contains an ancestral weapon.

Ameiko said she intended to stay behind and learn more about these people and this area. I think, with Jiro also staying behind, I can trust that she’ll be in good hands. I remember hoping I don’t regret that decision; Suishen would be extremely vocal about it, I’m sure, should it backfire.

Defeating the bandits did not trouble us terribly. After our victories in the sleeping area, we continued slowly and carefully through the rest of the outpost. At one point we discovered a number of women that appeared to be enslaved or at the very least treated as servants; we cautiously introduced ourselves, reassured them and asked what might be ahead. We then tailored our actions to keep them safe behind us.

As we set out, Qatana again went in a different direction than myself and we again found the group split. She encountered both the magic user Kamuy-Paro, and the chief Gangasum, along with several more bandits. Meanwhile I and Zos had discovered the captive female were-tiger (TosKatun), and since she seemed a captive and non-threatening, we released her. It was Dasi who finally brought it to our attention that a major battle was developing around Qatana. Toskatun intercepted a bandit coming from her north and crushed him with her bite. Meanwhile, alerted by Dasi, I started heading to the other battle. By the time I got there, Qatana, Ivan and Radella had been whittling away at the bandits, and Kali had summoned a dire tiger. She also dropped a wall of force to keep the magic user isolated while we finished off the bandits and the chieftain. One of the bandits surrendered and saved his life by doing so, but everybody else paid the ultimate price. When the wall of force dropped, Kamuy-Paro immediately hit us with a dispel magic, which affected some of us worse than others. But he too fell, ultimately to one of Ivan’s many arrows.

Qatana questioned the disheartened bandit. He revealed there was only a small number of bandits remaining, and that the daimyo not only knew of them, not only permitted them to operate, but charged them a fee to do so. He was making money from it!

So we knew we had the guard in the remaining outlook, plus two on the wall, but otherwise we were done. The captured bandt, named Hashashi, amiably agreed to go along. Qatana, Radella, and I prepared to bring in the last few.

Before leaving we examined the corpses and retrieved

[646] MW scimitar
[647] MW dagger
[648] wand CMW [36]
[649] wand speak w/animals [30]
[650] armor [+2]
[651] wooden shield [+1]
[652] wooden holy symbol
[653] spell components
[654] ironwood key
[655] diamond dust (500gp)
[656] amulet of natural armor [+2]
[657] studded leather MW
[658] scimitar [+2]
[659] comp short bow [+2]
[660] potion, CSW
[661] leather armor [+3]
[662] white wooden shield [+2]
[663] MW dagger
[664] +2 belt of dexterity
[665] ironwood keys
[666] +2 lance

However, we were not very far into our tour when Qatana stopped suddenly with a briefly distant look, and then informed us that Ivan was injured – there must be a battle going on. I stayed to watch the bandits we’d collected so far and Qatana and Radella hastened back.

When they returned, they told me that the were-tiger had decided NOT to cooperate anymore and had attacked the group. Even with the fighters mostly gone, our group’s magic was more than the weretiger could handle. The weretiger, Qatana informed us, was now dead.

We returned with three more bandits for a total of four prisoners, although they were still laboring under the impression that this was a change of command, not a defeat.

Ivan, Radella, and Qatana wanted to give the rescued women a tour to not only show them it was now safe, but ask them more questions about the area. This was a good idea in general, but unfortunately the tale of their experiences there awakened old memories in Qatana, I fear. When one of the bandits hesitated at voluntarily entering a cage, Qatana exploded – and the man died, gibbering slightly.

He just died. Qatana had cast a spell at him and that killed him, with a horrified look on his face.

I turned to look at Qatana but it was as if nothing had happened to her. She again demanded the bandits get into the cages, and they did.

An alcove off to one side seemed like it might be the “vault” we’d been told about – it was a desecrated shrine to Shizuru, and one of the statues there had an inscription “touch me with your grace”. I touched it – nothing. Qatana touched it – nothing. Perhaps this actually will require Ameiko, as the current heir. The plan is to request (and retrieve) Jiro and Ameiko: Jiro to dispense with the bandits, and Ameiko to test this statue. If successful, that will reveal her to be a legitimate heir to Jiro … but perhaps this is exactly the way it should happen, to prove to Hiro what we’ve told him.

However …

At the moment that Qatana killed the bandit with a few words and a gesture, I was shocked. Kali looked like she felt strongly about it too, although she said nothing and did nothing. I couldn’t tell from her face if she was aghast or if she had the same thought but Qatana beat her to it. i did not expect that from either. We are a collection with different backgrounds and different motivations, joined by a few commonalities like Shalelu and Ameiko, but never have our differences been more lethal. I don’t know what the rest of the group felt about that, but I felt very uncomfortable executing a helpless prisoner. I’m surprised nobody else did or said anything, but perhaps they were shocked just as I was. Or perhaps I just learned something important about my companions. If Qatana had started casting another spell at another prisoner, I would have interrupted her to prevent the same.

Would I have drawn blood? I am troubled by a question for which I have no answer.

I sought out Qatana later, hoping to impress upon her the magnitude of what she had done. It had to be a gentle conversation, because I already know that Qatana would not accept lecturing. I’d hoped to get her to admit that her emotions had gotten the better of her, and that she felt some delayed remorse for her action. But sadly, she continued to assert she was justified in her action. I don’t know if she understood the point I was trying to make; she seemed more puzzled than angry with me.

My mind went back to the carnage I’d witnessed when the drow attacked our village, so many years ago. I’d vowed then to not be defenseless again …. but I had not anticipated the day when my skills would improve to the point where I myself could devastate an opponent in one or two swings. In the heat of battle it all seems perfectly justified, but when does the battle haze fade from your eyes? When is the correct action to ease up and be satisfied with victory rather than exacting vengeance? When does strategy dictate that all must die? Why has this not occurred to me before?

I will not sleep easy tonight.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 23 Desnus

After a few more questions, we knew a bit more about the bandit problem.  There was a stronghold some fifty miles distant that at one time was a center of law in the area.  But times change, and the bandits had taken it over and made it their stronghold. The local daimyo seemed unable (or unwilling) to rout them.   Jiro mentioned that, should we be successful, there was a vault or safe that could only be opened by a member of the royal family, inside of which was another ancestral weapon.   Chances are good that after the orb’s actions, any of us could open it, but that’s fine – it will keep Ameiko’s identity secret a while longer while still revealing that an heir exists.  The logical choice to paint the target on his back, of course, would be me.  I carry the sword and the misdirection is one of the easier ways of keeping Ameiko safe.

Jiro had incomplete information about the bandits, but said from reports there may be at least one magic user among them.  Since the bandits regularly went out on patrol and harassed other residents, he insisted he stay behind to protect this group and others.  In fact, it was one reason he had not been able to personally fix this problem himself – he couldn’t be in two places at once.  Well, that, I thought, and the fact that ronin or not, he was still only one person and unless you’re talking squirrels, there’s a limit to how many battles he can carry on at once.

It’s only noon, and with some of us in Kali’s magic chariot, and some of us using windwalk we should easily be able to get there yet today.  Since windwalk is so much faster (less than an hour trip), those using it (Qatana, Radella, and Ivan) arrived first and did some scouting.  Since the windwalk spell had the capacity for one more, Qatana included me in the spell but I travelled with the chariot on the thinking that while it seemed reasonable to split the group for a short time, it didn’t seem reasonable to put all the fighters into one group.

[later]
The scouting revealed there were two high lookouts which would easily spot (and probably attack, by bow) anybody approaching by ground.  But if it’s one thing we’ve learned through Ravenscrag and the oni prison in the woods and countless other incursions – it’s always better to skip the front door.  And people often don’t look up.  The plan will be to observe when the shift changes and take over a lookout right after it changes, so that we have the maximum time before the incursion is discovered.

Beyond those lookouts set away from the main base, there appears to be a courtyard and structures which may be built into the surrounding cliff.  It is possible that we can enter right from a lookout if the stairs there enter the complex.

It got dark about 7:00.

Fireday, 24 Desnus

The watches tend to run about 5 hours, but tend to run longer during the day.  Sunrise was about 4:30am, and we’ve now decided to attack after the midnite shift change.  Which means we’ll be waiting almost 24 hours for the “right” time. It’s not my first choice, but so far as we know there’s no particular urgency so it’s not worth arguing over.

During the day we kept a low profile and saw one party of bandits return and another, separately, go out.  They clearly are still active but not with such frequency that we’d run into any when we take out the lookout.

Kali is preparing Nehali with a thunderstone or two in case we need a diversion; she can airdrop them over on the other side of the compound and the hope is that the bandits will split their resources to deal with that.  It’s unlikely they will find, let alone hit, Nehali at night with spells or arrows but her instructions, nevertheless, will be to drop and go.

Starday, 25 Desnus

And sure enough, midnite found Zos, Radella, and Ivan sneaking up on the southernmost outlook post just a few minutes after the shift changed.  It took all of six seconds for the lookout to be relieved permanently of his duty, and the rest of us ready to rush in were not necessary.  The burned and pincushioned body was placed to one side, and the team entered.

The lookout was small, with a descending stairway.  We went down to a large room that had water running through it – we think it is part of the stream we observed earlier when scouting – and was a trifle surprised to find nobody there.  The previous lookout had, fortunately for him, apparently continued and had perhaps left the area.  Oddly, there were carpentry tools on a table and an elaborate wooden chest in one corner yielded, after some manipulation by Radella, additional items one might find with a master carpenter.

[626] MW carpentry tools
[627] 2 sacks of shellac flakes
[628] ivory palm box
[629] 2 applications of slipperiness salve inside 628
[630] 3 oz of sovereign glue in bronze flask

There were stairs here going up (not to the lookout post) so up we went.  At the top we paused, and found basically a storeroom, with bales and boxes of things – but with a door to one end.  Listening at that door, we heard snoring. Ivan quietly opened the door, looked inside, and indicated “many”.  Kali got a strange look on her face, smiled, and stepped forward.  We all knew what was coming next – cloudkill!

As the cloud spread over about 60% of the room, we could see that while many were sleeping, three others were near the center of the room, standing, and talking quietly. They obviously reacted to this opaque cloud but before they could take any action beyond gaping, Kali cast another spell and suddenly they were surrounded by a wall of ice that reached almost to the ceiling.

Now of course while the cloudkill could have an impressive effect over a large area, it also made the area unapproachable by most of us since it was both poisonous and opaque.  Ivan seems to have a constant delay poison going on so he could move through it, but he also prefers archery and when you can’t see anything until it is right next to you, that’s not optimal.

Most of the bandits had to get themselves out of bed before they could even attack, and even then many had to try to run out of the cloud.  The surprise and even a brief exposure to the cloud certainly counted in our favor, and although it took longer than our “battle” with the lookout, it still took a surprisingly short amount of time. Qatana threw in an aura of madness, always a crowd favorite, as her contribution to the magicks.  One disappointing side effect of all this was that one bandit managed to sound an alarm by throwing a thunderstone out the window, which resulted in a large boom.  We were a little concerned but then we heard, from outside, another, more distant boom.  And it occurred to us – Nehali had dropped hers!  We’d intended it be a distraction, but we had no way of knowing that thunderstones were the alarm signal – the whole compound would now think there were intruders from multiple directions!  If we had to be discovered, this was the way to do it!!

I and a few others were injured during battle, of course, but never really near death.  We healed up using the CLW wands and took inventory:

[631] Scimitar (magic)
[632] composite short bow (magic)
[633] breastplate (magic)
[634] shield (magic)
[635] 20 arrows
[636] 5 whistling arrows
[637] dagger
[638] spear x 15
[639] studded leather armor x 15
[640] kokuri x 15
[641] oil x 15
[642] potion x 15
[643] thunderstone x 14
[644] MW composite longbow x 15
[645] 40 arrows x 15

We’ll identify these things later; we have to keep in mind that an alarm HAS been given and we can expect that sitting still too long will reward us with an attack, eventually.

It made me wish I could just go outside and see the confusion!  But first we had to clean up in here.  We took out many of the weakened bandits before the enclosed ones

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Fireday, 29 Pharast

We turned our attention to the double doors at the north. Radella performed her usual inspection for locks and traps and found none.  We had surprisingly little planning beforehand – surprising because we usually have a carefully orchestrated series of spells and buffs and a equally carefully choreographed entrance. We either getting better at this, or we are getting overconfident at this.

In this case, we were just better.  There were, still, six Sisters of the Broken Path in the room to protect her royal Leastness and they should have had some inkling we were coming.  Kali opened with some glitterdust that disoriented a third of them.  But Radella, Ivan (via air), Zos, and I all rapidly opened some wounds on them.  Dasi started singing and Qatana did that thing where she drives people batty.  Some of the ninjas immediately obliged.

Someone called out to keep one alive and I tried, but Suishen isn’t used to simply injuring enemies of the Crown.  In less than half a minute, five of the six were dead.  Dasi tried to interview the remaining one – tried to gain her confidence even – but on the heels of a significant whupping by the party, she wasn’t having anything of it.  Then to my surprise, Dasi gave her a sword and squared up opposite her.  I thought he was going to embarrass her by taking the sword back in midstroke and singing at her or something, but apparently he has some sword skill himself.  She was already near death, of course, but after trading a couple of blows he got through clean and honest and laid her down.

Reminds me we still don’t know everything about Dasi.

There were doors leading out of this room, but we still had possible danger to the south, so we turned there first.  But it turned out the only danger there was that some of our magic users would drool too much and dehydrate themselves.  It was a library with not just reference books but contributions from the Oni who’d lived there – and also the one who remained.  A journal of sorts started out nice and neat, and it noted when the Oni left, but having left Munasukaru behind, there was only one possible scribe after that.  The handwriting seemed to deteriorate with the state of her mind, and the last entries were barely legible scrawls.

There was also a jade plaque [613] commemorating the day when 99% of the Oni left.

After a half hour of library time, we returned to the north.  We anticipated meeting Munasukaru this time, so we did buff a little.  I asked Suishen for protection from cold, and we entered.

Munasukaru was poised over a bound figure – an arachnid similar to those we’d defeated several times before.  But it seemed to be alive yet, and Munasukaru was flaying it and eating the flesh even while it was alive and moaning.  For her part, Munasukaru cackled regularly.

Her first reaction was to drop the human form and fly into the air.  My air walk was still functioning so I nodded at Kali and she teleported me right next to her and I nailed her with a swing from Suishen (much to her discomfort.)  I swung twice more and hit, and saw that she was bleeding.  Zos tried to dispel magic on her weapon and seemed to have succeeded; she gestured with it and then briefly looked at it, a bit confused, before continuing.  Soon there was both izata and shadows fighting together – who could have seen THAT coming? – as Kali’s and Qatana’s summonings completed.

As with the six Sisters … the battle was over in under 30 seconds.  Injuries were mild on our side. She had called out something about Anamoron as she died; it sounded like she felt one of the Oni who’d left was pretty stupid.   Somebody told me later that there’d been more m’s in her scream (Anamuramoron I think) and she apparently had high thoughts of him.  I’ll bet he told her he was leaving the next day and he might not see her again and then left her hanging.  Or something; who knows how Oni work.

Suishen did tell me, after we’d killed her, that in the future I’d kill Oni easier.  Apparently another secret of Suishen had been that he was Oni-bane.  Can’t blame him given the history and all, but sure would have been nice to know earlier.  He apparently finds me highly acceptable now (my words, not his).

From Munasukaru and the sisters, we retrieved

[614] a naginata – Dasi recognized this as the Thundering Blade of the House of Sujamoto
It is a +1 thundering naginata that once per day can produce the effect of
a Shout spell by striking it on the ground.  It also imposes a -1 level loss if
you do not bear it with honor.  This is another royal house weapon.
[615] 9 screaming bolts
[616] MW repeating crossbow
[617] do-maru of broken flesh +2 – heals 4d8 + 9 and various afflictions once per
day, but also creates scars that cost you CON
[618] crystal ball
[619] clear spindle ioun stone (sustenance)
[620] ring of protection +2
[621] MW nunchuks (6)
[622] amulets of natural armor +1 (6)
[623] bracers +2 (6)

This was clearly the room the Oni had left from – our clerics said it radiated magic.  Around us, 20 golden figures in various expressions of agony indicated that the portal had likely been powered by torture and death.  It appeared to be sealed now.

With her quest completed, the spirit inhabiting Kali left – but not before bestowing upon her the knowledge of how to wield and expertly use a naginata.

Ivan sent a brief note to Ameiko, letting her know we had cleared the house of oni.  She replied the kami would leave immediately and be there as quickly as possible.

We had a quick discussion.  Given where we were we probably weren’t 100% safe, but the most present dangers seem to have been removed.  We discussed the various prisoners we’d discovered and freed that needed to be somewhere other than the middle of the forest.  We returned to the library, looking for value this time and retrieved

[624] antique gold lions ~3500gp
[625] hinged silver bracelet w/emeralds & turquoise – probably 1000’s of gp

Some of the documents seemed to indicate that Anamoron was obsessed with creating 1/2 human progeny so he could insert them into human society.  How worrisome – and I can’t imagine any part of that being consensual.

Zos used the flesh of our slain enemies – eeeyew – and some alchemical formula to create a treasure maps, to see if we’d missed anything.  These maps took hours to produce but ultimately didn’t lead us to anything more valuable than what we’d already found.

We returned to the surface, collecting refugees along the way.  The kami came quicker than I’d thought but then, this forest is their element I imagine.

We will set guards of course, but for the first time in a while, tonight our sleep may be both uninterrupted and quite restful.

Starday, 30 Pharast

The day seems brighter than I remember.

We returned to the magic clearing, and assessed all we’d found. We were running out of ways to carry all that we’d found.  I wish Kali hadn’t made us sell the extra bag of holding.  But the nearest town (Muliwan) is still pretty far away.  Kali will likely be the teleport master, and given the refugees we want to resettle there, she will be the teleport master for several days.  I’m looking forward to the rest here in the clearing so it doesn’t matter to – oh wait.

[…]

I just checked with Ameiko and she wants to go to town.  Which means there goes my rest.  I can only hope that one day will be sufficient for her; maybe I can relax on the other days.  I made the mistake of mumbling out loud and that gave Suishen leave to provide his sage advice about my duties and responsibilities. So I said to him, “What you’re taking so long to say is, it’s my duty as bearer of the royal sword to accompany her and prevent harm from coming to her.”

“Absolutely!” he proclaimed imperiously.

“Her safety – and really, at this point – her anonymity, is paramount,” I added.

“Paramount!” he agreed.

“You think there would be unnecessary danger if we were recognized?” I asked.

“It would be foolish if you did not change your appearance in some way.”

“Who do you think is more likely to be recognized in Muliwan – you or me?”

Suishen faltered and paused.

“I believe we will need to disguise YOU even more extensively than I.”

If it were possible to convey suspicion without a face, Suishen managed it. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

Koya had some very original ideas about how to modify and disguise Suishen’s scabbard, as well as, of course, his visible hilt, all of which involved some brightly colored fabrics and decorations.  At one point he suggested that an effort to hide him should involve a less flamboyant appearance, but I pointed out that attempts to hide him at the markets might draw attention to us as thieves or other kinds of troublemakers.  Only if he appeared to be a brightly colored prop – hiding in plain sight, as it were – would Ameiko be safe.  If I ever had to draw him, all of it would be for naught I imagine, but if I had to draw him I probably wouldn’t care.

For her part, thank gods, Ameiko smiled and fully agreed.  Suishen was as sullen (and silent) as a child caught stealing pastries the entire time we were there.  It made my disguise seemed all the easier to bear.  Koya couldn’t resist purchasing a brightly colored tunic and scarf for me.  I’d half expected this to happen, but I hadn’t expected the fabric to be so itchy.  I spent a fair amount of time scowling and ditched the scarf – er, folded it and put it away – when it was prudent to do so; the tunic touched less sensitive skin and I was able to wear it a little longer before doing the same. I hate “dressing up”.

Sunday, 7 Gozran

We have finished both our market and refugee duties and are leaving the clearing finally.  Oh, I forgot to mention we reunited the kami with his tree and he was quite grateful.  He told us if we continued to take care of it, we could take it with us on our trip and he would accompany us.  We could heal more quickly by sleeping near it.  Interesting.

Fireday, 26 Gozran

We’ve reached the river.  Ordinarily this would be an issue, but our magic users talked among themselves briefly and decided they’d simply create a bridge.  They’d done this in the city of the dead, but this seemed a larger bridge to make.  No problem for them.

It gave cause to chat with Miyaro about what we might find.  I was pretty sure we could not simply deposit the heir at the throne and expect the court to adjust.  She agreed – we would need to develop some grass roots support.  She had to be the people’s choice.  That may not be as hard as it sounds given the current state of much of the population but it couldn’t be skipped.  The people needed to know there was a viable alternative to the Jade Regent.

She has heard there was a ronin – an independent samurai – in the area who might be sympathetic to our cause.  Whether we could get his attention and support will be up to us.

Fireday, 17 Desnus

Today we emerged from the Forest of Spirits, and found ourselves entering what Miyaro called the Asogen Grasslands.  The area is sparsely settled and is part of northern Minkai, ruled mostly by northern barbarians.  Miyaro pointed out on our map where we’d be most likely to run into the ronin she mentioned,

Oathday, 23 Desnus

Near a river, we have come across a cluster of wooden huts.  The area seemed fairly inhospitable – this was not prime farmland nor did there seem to be an abundance of game.  Sharp hunting was probably important here, and as if to drive the point home, there were some youngsters training on bow and arrow nearby.  An older figure seemed to be their instructor – at least he was more imposing than any of his students.  Could this be the ronin?

But he was a she, and she noticed us observing his class, and came over to talk and check us out.  It was largely small talk with Dasi and I until Qatana blurted out, “we’re looking for the ronin.”  Sigh.

Hbesuta Hatsue, as she was called, recognized the royal weapon that Kali was carrying.  Still uncertain, she invited us in and sent off a messenger.  While we were hosted by her, a visitor arrived.

It was indeed the ronin, named Hiraboshi Jiro.  He slowly warmed to us and suggested that ridding a nearby fortress of its bandit inhabitants might both enhance our image and restore some hope to the people living here.

That, then, is what we will do.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

Upon consulting with our magic users, we felt we were a little lighter on magic than we’d like. Additionally, we counted up our wands and their charges and discovered we were getting a bit low on darkvision – which could be key to most of us in a battle. Because of this, we set up a couple of simple traps behind us, used the flowing water in front of us as a natural barrier, and, after setting up the usual guard duty, rested.

We collected 7 sets of hobgoblin garb that we might later redeem at the Bank of Hobgoblin Haberdashery for some modest number of gold pieces and silently thanked the hobgoblins for their contributions to our fund.

Fireday, 29 Pharast

We decided it prudent to leave Nehali and the bonsai behind. Putting the latter into a haversack or bag of holding might well kill it in its current state of health, and exposure to one fireball or cone of cold could do the same.

It looked to be about 100′ down the ‘drain’. We decided some scouting was in order, so Kali called up an arcane eye and off it went. We discovered that the drain emerged into the ceiling of a small lake with stone pillars and cages that seemed to hold human captives. A couple of oni were poking them. The water here appeared to only be about a foot deep. That pool/pond itself emptied through another hole in the floor, dropping 20′ into another pool which seemed to be four-five feet deep and also had pillars – although no apparent prisoners here. We did see one or two naga which we presumed were Munasukaru’s daughters. That pool also led into a lower one, although, mysteriously, water apparently did not except in drips through the ceiling. This third chamber was moist and possibly muddy but seemed to have little standing water. It also contained some blue creatures which Kali called kite-ons. They are apparently known in the church for their affinity for torture and m
utilation (and chains!) but I’ve never run into them before.

The arcane eye could go no further, since all other egresses were blocked by closed doors. But we knew to prepare for water (Qatana had prepared some spells that could manipulate water). In hindsight this was an outstanding idea; many of us didn’t fully understand how fighting even in small amounts of water can make the battle so much more difficult.

As we prepared to drop into the first pool area, Qatana detected a magic field across the opening. We couldn’t tell for sure if it was simply an alarm, or if it would harm us. But Qatana was able to dispel it, making our arrival a bit more secret than it might otherwise have been.

Our ability to control water made it relatively easy to dispatch the two oni in the first pool. The 1-foot deep water was reduced to virtually nothing. They managed to hit us with a cone of cold but Radella, Ivan, Qatana, myself, and even Zos were more than a match. 15 seconds after entering the room there were two oni corpses. We recovered

[596,598] studded leather armor +2
[597,599] MW composite longbow, strung for +6 ST
[600,602] MW katana
[601,603] +1 rings of protection

With little delay we moved on to the next pool. Again Qatana detected a magic field across the opening, and this time Zos dispelled it. The nagas, giant snakes with women’s heads, quickly noticed the water disappear and also noticed Suishen’s flaming presence. The battle went a bit longer this time – the nagas had some magic at their disposal – but after suffering a couple fireballs, some magic missiles, and one naga’s annoying mirror image spell, “the usual suspects” defeated them in seconds, including an amazing series of arrows that Ivan shot in a single round that left that killed one of them. Qatana brought in a flamestrike on the other.

I would not call our entrance subtle.

Kali was concerned enough about the kite-ons on the next level that she threw a cloudkill down the hole before us. While the scrubbing bubbles cleansed the room, Qatana channeled new energy to we who were injured. A quick survey of what was on the nagas:

]604] pendant, inlaid with platinum and jade
[605] trio of porcelain pots
[606] carved incense burner w/gold edges (inside pot 1)
[607] pair of silver armbands (inside pot 2)
[608] feather token (swan boat) + over 1000gp (inside pot 3)

Figuring surprise was no longer on our side, we went down as soon as we calculated the cloudkill would have moved out of the way. We did not, unfortunately, find a large number of dead bodies, but we did meet a couple and several ashen and nauseous creatures. Before we could assist any of them to their version of afterlife, an oni claiming to be a representative of Munasukaru offered us riches just to stop now before there was any more killing. The offer was never formally withdrawn, but I’m sure that informing the “ambassador” that we represented the Amatatsu family and killing him on the spot may have voided it.

“I am the mouthpiece of Munasukaru. Welcome to these lands. When the storm breaks and the tide turns, you may go where you wish.”

That’s all I remember. It was a short conversation. The messenger actually challenged me! I challenged him back and it was on. I had mixed feelings, though, when Ivan fired five fierce arrows again and took him out in five seconds. Frustrated, I killed several kite-ons and other hobgoblins before it was over. and we freed the victims on the walls. We were able to heal their physical wounds but I fear their experiences down here may be far more difficult to make go away.

We retrieved

[609] MW katana
[610] MW silver wakasashi
[611] MW composite longbow strung for +9 ST
[612] MW tatami-do, large

and turned our attention to the double doors at the end of the room.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

The strangest thing happened today. I seem to have gaps in my memory. I have to wonder if there isn’t some sort of foul magic involved. I’m not familiar with the intricacies of magic spells so I thought I’d consult with Kali. She told me there are spells that can take away a few minutes of your memory, but not whole hours. I consulted with Suishen, who thoughtfully described me as a “substandard but occasionally acceptable samurai-like warrior likeness.”

I clearly remember flying silently to the far side of the lake to take out the two guards there. I’m PRETTY sure we did; I’m pretty sure I remember the look on their face when we descended (they were looking horizontal, not vertical). And, having taken care of that, we … we …

… did something more. Gods! It happened only a few hours ago, but all I remember is finding myself near a river or body of water with the rest of the party and … and … oh right! Zos’s giants had just become fish food. Right! and yes, we had killed a monstrosity called a gorgon, and then there were more hobgoblins who foolishly challenged our right to be there! Dead in a minute they were.

While searching the rest of the area, we found little except for a door which seemed to be swollen shut physically rather than kept shut magically. Not surprising in this moist environment but Radella and I forced the door open anyway out of sheer stubbornness.

And much to my surprise we found inside a struggling bonsai tree.

We carefully continued on and eventually found ourselves in a wide hallway while approaching us were more hobgoblins and at least one giant. This did not look to be a painless introduction, but Kali had been itching to send cloudkill at somebody and could wait no longer. I still had airwalk going and thought I might be able to travel above it near the ceiling, but it was too high. Ivan, on the other hand, utilized his Delay Poison and simply walked through it – repeatedly emerging from the cloud like a gruff siren, to lure creatures back into the cloud and their deaths.

And then … and then … there’s blankness again. I’m sitting here now, getting ready to rest, but I KNOW more happened.

This is disorienting. I hope this doesn’t happen again. Maybe a ward or something.