The Scorched Contract Recap

First Session: Converging Starts.

A festival is being held in Anshin, and a human teacher is having some fun with her friend. A small cough interrupts her, and her patron appears off in the distance. She confers with her in private. She, Chihiro, has lost her comb in Ramui. And it absolutely MUST be found, no exceptions or excuses! "Get that comb." She kept repeating over and over in between other sentences. The sorceress, Merem-Sho, agrees, and heads off to the harbor to get a ride.

In the harbor, a Tabaxi bard is just finishing up cleaning from her performance when her best friend, Katsu Tora, and elf Merchant, asks her to help him draw in his boat. The bard, Terra, climbs on a line and lands on the ship, but, being incredibly weak, can only ask boys across the harbor for help. They hop over and help her, with her pointing out what to do and where to move. After Katsu paying them, they are ready to head off!

They wind up picking up Merem-Sho, who was almost stiffed by Terra's friend. But they came to an agreement, and set off. During the trip, it starts to storm and Umi-Bozo appear. One hops up on the ship, and heads for Katsu, who is trying to steer using his wind magic as best he can, with Merem-Sho assisting him. Terra plays for it's attention, and then panics and runs around the ship distracting it. This only works for a while, as a giant Umi-Bozo appears, and the ship is torn assunder, rending the three unconscious...



At the same time, a human ninja is keeping careful watch over a scroll. Suddenly, a one-armed man appears through a portal! He moves his guan-dao with such finesse and force that the very wind from it can cut. The ninja, Koga, moves to dodge it, but that was all apart of the plan. Mr. Windakata uses this chance to steal the scroll and leap through a portal, but Koga follows through, determined to get it back! He chases him across rooftops, jumping with perfect ninja-ness! He even notes at one point it appears he switches the scroll with another, but Koga thinks it's just a trick, and continues to pursue him!

Slightly beforehand, a human samurai is asleep. She has a dream where a fiend summons four elemental lords, and wakes up in a cold sweat. She goes outside for some fresh air, only to find some skeletons ready to attack the town. Though she tries to defeat them, they keep resisting. Luckily, at that point Mr. XVGilgamesh appears through a portal and slices both of them in two, and lays something at Reika's feet. He then vanishes, and Koga appears through the previous rip in space.. right as a giant oni appears, crushing several of the buildings. The two, who had not met before this, decide to team up and take it out!

The best solution was Alcohol. To be more precise, flaming alcohol flails. Right to the giant eye. The two clear out a whole tavern, and wind up setting the Oni's head on fire. They climb up to it to start damaging it, as the Oni notices a giant Umi Bozo in the ocean and starts clambering to it...

On the beach where it was, Terra and Merem-sho wake up. Making sure her Lute and Violin are fine, Terra immediately goes to look for Katsu, while Merem-Sho summons her familiar to ask for help. She just looks at the giant umi bozo and tells Merem-Sho to run. Not do anything else, just run. But a scream for help from Terra convinces her to stay, and she rushes off to help her lift some torn boat off of Katsu. He looks pretty weak, but a cure from Terra puts him at least okay. Thankful that he's okay, the three are startled by... an ONI WITH A FLAMING HEAD?!

Luckily, the three just see Reika, to them a blob in the distance, but off the head and pentasect it. "Omae Wa Mo SHINDERU!" She screams. Terra, just looking at the devastation, could only utter...

"NANI?!"

Anyways, it falls and the five people meet up and introduce themselves. Terra knows Reika is lying when she says her last name, but isn't one to pry. Koga is in civillian clothes fit for Oma Natue after a quick disguise change. Needing to rest, Terra leads the four to her humble abode, which was so close to be destroyed, several bricks were laying dangerously close.

Koga proclaims he is a doctor, and fixes up Katsu Tora. Then, he and Terra go out to heal any wounded citizens. During which Reika is pulled aside and told she should probably due her duty. Koga overhears this but says nothing. After, they all turn in for the night at Terra's place.



Second Session: Choking Catacombs

The party wakes up, Reika and Koga look at the damage the demon did, then peer over the scroll. It has a poem on it about swords, sounds like a puzzle, and it has Reika's name on it. Terra and Merem-Sho go to a professor, who says he's busy for four days but he'll scry for her comb after. The party all arrive at the market. Merem buys a really ugly jacket thing to keep her warm, Reika and koga talk with her uncle and get tasked with finding more pieces of a blueprint so he can make a weapon. Koga tells the man to make Kunai and leaves behind one as a mold. The party then set off for the catacombs

There, they don't investigate much and thus are met with four skeletons. Terra almost dies on the miasma they exude and one stabs her in the stomache. Blood is everywhere. Koga does some cool ninja shit with some torches and they are no more. He then gets to work on Terra. She'll make it but she's walking slow the rest of the day,

The party then have to swim, and on the other side are met with a ghost, who, in echange for her husbands magickal weapon, gives Reika two magickal weapons that must be attuned to her. The party then goes deeper and finds the piece of the blueprint they were looking for, then leaves.



Third session: Skullies and the Tengus.

The party are outside the catacombs, they spot that weird bird-like-manarism person there. After some hesitating, the group approaches. After some minor dialogue, the party is given a diagram... and Terra is chosen to investigate it, but she cannot make anything of it, having rolled a pretty terrible investigation check.

the party travels for a bit, but due to Terra's injuries they are forced to move slowly. Eventually the party camps for the night, the four taking shifts in Koga, Merem-Sho, Reika, Terra order. On Merem-Sho's visit, she is met With Yuki Yuki, a traveling herbalist. Offering her Ivory Comb, Merem-sho denies that it's the one she's looking for, as it is a Jade comb. Flashing her wares, Merem asks Yuki Yuki to wait for her party to wake up.

Eventually they do, and the party-Read, Reika- buys a recipe for Lesser Healing Potions, and a Caligraphy for an Entangle spell. Terra offers her the map to read, and she is in shock that a cave she had just found was already on the map. Koga makes sure Terra's wounds are looking okay, and, other than a nasty scar, she's fine. Terra mentions here that she actually comes from far away, which is why her complexion is unlike other Nekomata/Tabaxi in the area.

After some minor dialogue, the party decides to accompany her, seeing as they were given the map which mentioned this area. The party of five go back to the catacombs, and see a guardian of the dead, a lizard-like spirit. The party is going to introduce themselves somewhat, but Koga comes off and admits he isn't actually a doctor in the conversations that ensues. As well, the spirit notices Reika has the hilt of a weapon called the Zantetsuken. Eisuru decideds to temporarily accompany the party.

The party goes into a cave. Eisuru flies up to a ledge and notes that there is a nest that looks like it belongs to a Tengu. She hops down and the party continues on. The party comes across an Oni-Bi, a flaming skull. Though there was an attempt to ask it something, it spouts a gout of flame. Koga dispatches it with a shuriken. He moves forward, two shuriken in his hand. Eisuru moves next, getting next to one and casts Tongues, ready to talk to it. Her target just spouts a gout of flame at Eisuru, but she's fine, tilting the brim of her hat down and redirecting the flames. Reika moves to the next skull, draws her Fire Fang, and cleaves one in two. Terra rounds the corner, and, seeing another, strums her lute and casts dissonance whispers on it. It panics and just dies from the panicking.

Eisuru flies off and spots another skully. As she comes into the room, a large wind kicks up around the skull and obscures the area. Light doesn't pierce the thick fog. Eisuru has none of it and dispells the fog. The skull, at the bottom a thirty foot ledge, looks upset. Terra is going to move ahead a bit and strum her lute, casting Bardic Inspiration on everyone. Reika is going to move ahead and wait herself. Koga is going to throw one shuriken at a Bigger skully that appeared when Reika got into view. It sticks in the skull, shaking violently, but it isn't dead. Koga hides in the shadows. The skull is going to headbutt and get even bigger. It sucks in a whole bunch of air, but Reika, thinking on Terra's words, covers her mouth just in time. Another skull, looking to be water affiliated, pops out. Merem-sho spins her staff, foxfire comes out of her staff and she thrusts it forward. A nova coalesces and destroys two of the skulls, but the bigger one is only a little damaged. Eisuru takes it from here, plunging her staff down to its head, killing it. Terra, noticing the skulls coming from a hole in the wall, strums her lute once more and casts Shatter, sealing it up. Merem sho uses Ro to grab a Wind stone and a fractured oni horn. The party ventures on, eventually going across a bridge, and comes across the spirit that flew from before. Her cloak seems to be a part of her body, like leather. She approaches Reika and nods.

Reika asks a question, and the thing flies off, only to come back with what appears to be the last piece of the paper. It appears to be for a daikatana named Whisper. Notably, Yuki Yuki seems to have buggered off somewhere without the party noticing. The spirit seems to assume that the blueprint is very important. It does seem pissed that they brought along Eisuru, like some plans were foiled, but it bids them farewell. Koga tells Reika to be careful, and Eisuru bids the party farewell, striking up a conversation with the spirit. She doesn't seem to be in the mood for talking, however, just saying that people are good and most monsters are bad. She goes to add to her map, looking to be a rudimentary map of Ramui. Eisuru leaves through a hole in the cave.

As the party goes to leave, a MASSIVE BEAK COMES OUT AND GRABS RO, PULLING OUT. It dissapears and Koga immediately cloacks himself, searching for where it could be. Merem Sho, screaming, calms down with dome words from Koga. She shoots an Eldrtitch Blast at the wall, and it... doesn't hit the cave wall. Terra casts Shatter where she saw the spell hit. Rubble comes from it, and bonks on the Tengu. "There!" She says, noticing that some rubble doesn't move. The Tengu flits about, dispelling its invisibility. Koga, ready for it, tosses three shuriken into it! It picks Reika up and goes to toss her down to the ground, but Reika is having none of this and remains on it's lower body. The tengu attacks, trying to claw Reika off. It hits, and propels her 70 feet in the air.

Another Tengu pops out and tries to swipe at her, but she pulls out rope out of her pack and rope harnesses the Tengu! Koga runs up, kicks off a wall, and throws three shuriken at the second tengu, but they all miss. Merem goes underneath a tengu, and casts Hex on it. Then, she spins her staff once more and casts Eldritch blast. It barrel rolls out of the way. One of them lands and goes to kick Reika off, and Reika's hands lose her grip, but she holds on with her feet, trapeezing. She's about 40 feet up. The other one is going to summon a wind tunnel, and Koga, Merem, and Terra take some damage. It then becomes invisible. Terra casts Dissonance whispers on the one that just attacked her, and it took a little bit of damage. Reika cuts the rope she was dangling from and move against a wall. More skulls float in. Koga goes to grab a rope, kicking a wall, and tosses shuriken at three skulls. They all hit, and slump down, dead. The Tengu shreds the rope, and they both go to hit Merem-Sho, dealing heavy damage to her and carrying off her prone body. Koga takes this chance to toss a kunai at it, and it embeds itself in its neck. Terra goes to cast dissonant whispers on it and hits, but it's still hanging on, if only barely. Reika carves through the other tengu with Fire fang, nearly crippling it's wings and dealing nice enough damage. Koga rushes up, does a ninja wall jump, aims his last weapon at the one with Merem Sho, and connects! The Tengu dies, goes into a freefall, but juuuust misses Merem-Sho. As she falls, her shoulder just breaks her collarbone, and she's in pain. Terra strums her lute once to heal the party, and then tosses a shuriken at the tengu. it's bloodied. Reika follows up immidiately, leaping up, springing off of it, and slices the tengu straight in half. Koga sees three more skullys, and stoically mentions he may not make it out alive. He picks up most of his shuriken that he's missed, cracks his neck a bit, and tells the other two to handle Merem-Sho, as he goes to hold the line. He tosses three shuriken, they all hit, and they all sink down to the ground. They were coming from somewhere! and DAMMIT, he wasn't going to let his friend die!

Two skulls hit another one, and it grows huge! It headbuts koga, but he dodges out of the way smoothly. Merem sho crawls to where she sees Ro, and whispers soothing words in her ear. Terra Catdashes over and heals Merem-Sho. Reika summons her ki to dash and then attack the big skull with Ice Fang. The Skull clatters to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Koga leaps off the big skull, tosses two shuriken, killing the two fire heads, and then kicks the other one. It drops down, but there's three more down the hallway. One of which headbutts and it becomes bigger. Merem Sho casts Hex on them. Terra looks like she wants to heal Merem sho again, but Merem tells her to go on, she'll be alright. Terra mentions she's been in pain like that before, but nods, running off and tossing a shuriken at a skull. It hits and dies. Reika finishes one off, and the party can breathe, seemingly having dispatched them all.

With the party having some time to breathe, Koga gets to work doctoring on MErem Sho while the rest look for any loot. 3 Fire, 2 Cold, 3 Cracked Horns, 1 Tengu Eye. Koga then finds his kunai. Merem Sho uses Ro to search and look around. She spots two tengu eggs, yet the party can do nothing. Eventually the party comes to the exit again... and is met with the body of Yuki Yuki. upon investigstion, the party see another hole. They make the conclusion that the hole Terra had shut and that hole were connected. Terra, distraught that she kind of caused it, is beside herself with grief. Merem uses Ro to travel into the caverns, finds an intrument. It's actually a yokai, intent on killing the Tengu the party just fought. Telling him it's dead, Ro books it out of there. The party take Yuki Yuki and place her in an empty crypt in the "Graveyard", and then travel back to Mokyomi... where they see a ship being consttructed, and Katsu Tora there to greet them.

"You don't even have to tell me. I know you're behind this." Terra says.



And that was session three.



Session 4: LIGHTNING TIGER BLADE

At the gate, the party encounters Katsu Tora. He didn't expect the party to be back so soon, and he's acting rather sheepish and a little meandering. Terra has delt with this before, however, and knows he's all out of money. Squidward.jpg So he confesses that he may be barred from the ship building part of town, and he may or may not have shouted and caused a scene. Point is, he's flat broke and already is 3000 gold down. He'd like Terra to also haggle for the price, but just being allowed back in would be an amazing enough.

So the party goes to the marketplace again. Terra goes for the shipbuilder, and Koga and Reika go for Reika's uncle. Koga and Reika reveal they got the blueprints, but after he looks at it, he mentions there's still some information missing. Koga determines it's nothing some Mending can't fix. He also slides a bag of three kunai toward Koga.

Terra, on the other hand, starts talking with the shipbuilder. He's rather pissed that no more work can get done because his suppplies and time are limited. Terra reveals the reason why, and, though she can't fully convince the shipmaster that she can take care of it, he does slide some contracts her way, for interest toward Katsu Tora, with Terra effectively being a cosigner. She looks over the contract...

Reika pulls her uncle aside and asks for some Dragonmaws, but he has to think about it before he gives anything. So those two exit, and see Terra signing a contract. She's asking for something less, but the shipmaster doesn't really want to give one to her, sense she's affiliated with Katsu-Tora. However, Reika speaks up and says that she's with her. The shipmaster hates that she's endangering the life of Reika, but given that she's not lying, he does lower it down to 600 gold. So Terra goes to sign it, but rips it somewhat. She mends it with ease. Reika notices this and pulls out the blueprints, and asks her if she can mend those. Terra does so with something of a confident flourish.

Meanwhile, Koga goes to buy some quills, inkwells, tomes, and parchment. He's a bit curious as to why some is at a discount, but he figures out that it's kind of a Bulk issue. So he buys a tome of parchment, a full inkwell, and a couple quills. The group go back to the blacksmith, who says that it wasn't good. He couldn't forge it by himself. He'd need a spellcaster to help him. The party look at Terra, but she can't help; she knows nothing about blades, so she doesn't feel comfortable with helping. So the party go off to the school underneath the shrine of amaterasu.

They go into the Necromancy door, Shi. The sensei there is only teaching three people right now. He greets them with a hello. Koga gets right to the point and says that he has some bussiness. The sensei's eye flicker to Terra's abdomen, and Koga explains that he'd like to keep peoples vitals intact. The sensei pulls out a large healer's kit and hands it to Koga. He mentions that he prefers payments of potential favours over any gold coin. Koga stowes away the medicine kit and bows. Reika mentions that they are looking for a magic user to help, and the sensei suggests they seek the enchanter of the school. He goes back to his desk and resumes teaching.

So the party goes next door. Only part of the room is illuminated, with the sensei in a spotlight. He points at a student and light shines on them. Terra, to announce their own presense, casts dancing lights on herself. The guy is in very good spirits, and a short battle of dancing lights and dispelling engages, but upon hearing Reika's voice and a spotlight shone on her, concedes somewhat, and spreads Terra's dancing lights to all three of them. The party show him the blueprints, and he eventually offers them an ultimatum; He can assist with the silver, or he can assist with the creation of the Whisper. Reika says that she will have to look around her house for enough silver, but. He presents a counter offer: He'll do both, but only if he gets to keep the blueprints. REika agrees, but Koga is a bit unsure; he doesn't know that he'd trust him, but after glancing in his direction, Koga dismisses it. Reika hands over the blueprints. She also asks if he can make sense of the scroll XVgamesh gave her. He reads it and a smile broadens on his face. He mentions he forged one of these four Forlorn blades. He mentions that the one he had forged was lost in the Kami forest, and mentions it appears to be one that koga could use. "You know" He says with a wink, "A scalpel." Reika mentions that it may have been stolen by one of amatarasu's children. The sensei mentions that it would be best to follow his own lead. The second might be in Anshin, the third in Omoe Natue, and the third deep in a cave somewhere. He says he knows who did it, but urges Reika to play the game and find out. He asks if she would arm the country and send them to war. Reika hopes it doesn't come to that. When he asks of the first leader that vanished, REika responds by pulling out the hilt of Zantetsuken.

"All the leaaders disappered, and he's the only one that came back. If he is the one responsible, than his life will be forfeit." She responds. He looks serious for a moment, and asks her what she knows of him. All she knows is that he's an enchanting teacher who tiptoes around his past. With that, he decides to get back to teaching, saying he will be done with the katana in a day or so.

So Terra goes to inform Katsu of her success, and Reika goes to the manor, telling her to meet up with them with Katsu in tow. The party wander in the manor, Reika with a mission in mind, when her uncle comes in to talk with her about Whisper. He informs the party that he can make the weapon into several different forms, and Reika, saying she has magic weapons already, differs to her other members. Koga mentions that a nodachi would be nice. The blacksmith mentions that he could make a pair of Sai to go with them. Koga reminds Terra of the time she got in close range and orders the two sai for her. Reika then turns to the party and confesses that she is actually Reika Ramui, the interim leader for Ramui. This doesn't suprise Terra or Koga in the least, as Koga had heard everything with one of her aides, and Terra knew her last name from the instant she introduced herself. She tells them to make themselves comfortable, and goes off to find one of her brothers.

He was sleeping, and didn't appreciate being woken to much, coming with a bunch of snark and pessimism. He's only eleven, but very good at polics, with an ear to the ground regarding them. Reika mentions that she may be gone for some time, and requests him sit on the council in her place. He doesn't want to, but he is convinced eventually. She lets him go back to sleep, and rejoins the party.

She asks Katsu how many people he'd need to make his ship work, and after some discussion, with Terra teasing Katsu that he keeps burning all their bridges. Reika forms an order to get some crew together. Katsu is appreciative, and Reika opens her house to the party, and Koga slinks off to a tavern to get some information.

He doesn't learn much, other than the fact he probably has escaped the island by now. He goes off to another place, and asks if he's seen a one armed man. No student there has ever lost an arm, only taken them. The Bushi school may be a good idea. but he dismisses it and heads back to the mansion.

Reika heads over to her uncle's shop, and shows her the shattered hilt of Zentetsuken. He's rather bemused, and a little pissed even, that she did not show him this EARLIER BECAUSE SHE'S BEEN HERE LIKE A MILLION TIMES WHAT THE FUCK, but... She wonders if he can fix it, but her uncle says that fixing it would literally take away his soul. The spotlight Sensei from earlier mentions that it may have been forged in the fires of... but the information would be too dangerous. He doesn't want to see her get hurt, given that Daizo is dangerous and the information could be calling to him. he says the same energy that created the land, could have created the blade. She wonders if she could reforge it, and Kiramei mentions that if she wanted to find GOD and ask him to create enough ENERGY TO MAKE A WORLD and then CONDENSE IT ALL INTO A BLADE, please do. REika is unsure if he's kidding, but looks at him and sees he's quite serious. She asks if there is a way. Kiramei mentions that he was trying to say no, but if she actually wants to find a way, she's welcome to it.

Koga goes to make ninja charms during the night. Reika wakes up in the middle of the night, hearing distant strings. Reika follows the noise, and Koga follows her stealthily. Katsu Tora is being held Hostage by three floating skulls. It was the not-mimic from earlier! A skull manifests above the Bua, its strings plucking melodically. Koga sneaks his way to it, and dives down with his kodachi. He winds up hitting a branch, but the music seems to be originating from this point. Koga goes to hide again. Reika goes to draw FireFang, and cuts both the skulls pinning Katsu in half. She asks if Katsu is alright, but he's too afraid to speak. He does, however, shakily point in the direction of some bushes. She asks him if he still has that parchment she gave him, and katsu doesn't remember. Reika walks off... and sees koga appear from the bushes. Koga also sees (Illusion)Koga. The real one does a ninja flip and throws a kunai at his illusion. Reika just sees Koga fall dead from a kunai impaled in his forehead. Reika draws her sword and looks up to roughly the direction the weapon came from. She kneels down to look at the body. I!Koga's arm shoots up to grapple around her neck, and it pulls her down. The arm shrivels away, and a floating skull appears, mocking her. Reika stabs the skull, saying "Koga would have dodged it." It bites it. Koga jumps back to the tree he was previously in. He tosses a shuriken into a branch, and it sticks in. Katsu Tora jumps in the air, sticks his fingers in his ears and blows a raspberry.

"Gotcha!" He says before disappearing. Koga jumps down from a branch and mutters angrily. Reika expresses that at least they learned something from it. Reika mentions that Katsu wouldn't have dared to lose a parchment, and Koga would have dodged. The two look to see if it's truly gone. They cannot find it, nor hear any music being played.

In the morning, Koga and Terra recieve their weapons. they coral toward the western gate, buying some rations, and they set off. It looks like it may rain soon, and in fact does soon after they leave. Terra complains that she hates the rain, but koga says it builds character. He asks if Reika has ever been before, but she hasn't. The journey is just too dangerous, given what the obelisks are connected to. The party come to a fork in the road, and upon Koga looking at the left or right path, and they go to to the left... and are met with a Lightning Tiger!

Reika goes to get toward it, and koga hops up on a cliff overlooking it. The Lightning Tiger leaps toward Reika, and Reika attacks twice. Once misses, but the other hits. Her Firefang flares to life and sears the flesh around the being. But it's claws are around Reika, and it rakes over her. She takes a pretty heavy hit and is lying prone. Merem-Sho casts Hex on it, and then summons her foxfire to blast into it. Terra goes to blast at it with Shatter, and it hits it's hind legs. Reika, lying prone, thrusts upward. Both thrusts fail to get purchase, but Reika plunges it into it's mouth, and lights it up with Fire Fang. It goes to back away. Reika goes to attack it as it flees, but misses. Koga, in a running leap, starts a run, somersaults off, tosses three shuriken, and slides to a hiding stop next to Reika. The first two shurikens skitter off its horns, but the third goes into its neck and gores all the way through to the other side. The Lightning Tiger rears back its head and shoots out lightning breath. Koga avoids most of it, but Reika is caught right in the blast. Ro flits off toward Reika and casts invisible on her. Terra gets closer to the party, and with her lute, heals the party somewhat, and then casts Shatter on the damn thing once more. It hits pretty bad. Reika goes to carve it up, slicing a few horns off and diving her weapon into its shoulderblade. It's looking bad. Koga pulls out Whisper and carves along it's shoulder, then kicks it twice. The first one pops it in the jaw, and the second one lands in its underbelly. it's still not dead. It straightens itself up somewhat, roars into the sky. It disappears as a lightning bolt strikes it in the back, and then reappears up on a ledge. He roars again and a small bolt of lightning strikes Terra, stunning her for a bit.

A Tengu appears and slashes at Koga, and then picks him up. Merem-Sho Blasts the tiger twice with Foxfire blast, as a large missile of foxfire destroys the lightning tiger, rending it in half. Reika, with gashes in her stomach, falls forward. Koga maneuvers up over its back and escapes the grapple. He goes to kick off its back and land on the grass, landing prone, but he rolls back to his feet. Merem-Sho Hexes the Tengu, then double Foxfire's it, but they skitter off into the cliffside. The Tengu dive attacks the prone Reika, causing several gashes along her chest. It then tries to pick her up, but misses. Terra dashes over to Reika and heals her. She doesn't look okay, but she's up. Koga tosses two kunai into its back and thigh, wounding it pretty badly. Merem-Sho misses with two more Foxfire Blasts. The Tengu goes to dive toward Reika, but it misses. Reika dashes off to the side and attacks twice, but the rain and pain make her not find any purchase. The Tengu goes to dash off, and Reika slashes at it. It hits it pretty hard, and Terra goes to slash at it with Dulcet, one of her two magick sais. She misses, but then finds extra strength in her friend almost dying, and slashes again. It finds purchase, and it's looking pretty bad as it soars into the air.

Koga whips out a rope, jumps up, ties it, throws it, but the wind aura of the tengu shred 20ft off the rope. Ro finds two Shuriken and delivers them to Koga. Merem Double Foxfires. One misses, but the other one hits! The tengu takes the opportunity to land and go invisible. Reika moves, keeping her eyes out for it, but Reika falls once more. Koga dashes over there and picks her up, stabilizes her with his faux-doctor skills, then dashes off toward a somewhat safe location. Merem-Sho summons two more foxfires and the first hits. the second misses. A wind picks up in the basin, and Terra is briefly obscured from view. The winds cut at her for a bit, and she is knocked away and prone. She waves her hand from where it came from, and dispells the invisibility of the Tengu, who didn't seem too happy about that. Ro finds more shuriken, and drops them at his feet and then curls up in pain. Merem-Sho combines two more Foxfire blasts and SLAMS it into the bastard, and it drops down, dead.

Koga, using his new medicine kit, patches up Reika. Her injury should only last a day. Terra goes to look at what the tiger dropped, finding a lightning fang and a mysterious yellow crystal. They also find the Tengu's staff, and sling it over a horse. Really its more fit for a battering ram. The party find the obelisk, and its littered with fragments of Kirin, one of two beings that represent true balance. They basically turn out to be catalyst of tearing open the veil. The party goes to approach the obelisk...

Session Five: Trials of the Six-Tailed Fox

The party, a mile away from the obelisk, observe that it is really really tall, expanding as it gets lower and lower. Koga, ever the look out, notices a hut of some kinda somewhat near it on the right. The party reach the base of the stairs leading up to it.

Koga points out the hut, and tells the party to be respectful, as those are likely the shrine attendants. "No Littering." He says with a smirk before vanishing off to scout. He notices that things are avoiding him. A tengu is resting on a Kirin statue, and doesn't seem to care about Koga. Some Kodama are sitting down having a grass party. Nothing seems hostile here. The spirit life seems plentiful and at peace.

The rest of the party inspect the hut. Reika notices that there's a lot of cartoony foxes scrawled in the hut. Amusingly, there seem to also be foxfire-covered eldritch blast depictions covering the hut. The door seems to be a somwhat more intricate base. Reika knocks. It creaks open, and a man looks between the two. "You guys on a pilgrimage?" Some minor confusion on if they actually are, but eventually they are invited into the hut. They notice a white fox appears to be snoozing on a bed. He says he'll assist the party anyway he can, if they are actually on a pilgrimage. Merem asks if he's a child of Amaterasu, and he quips she must not be from around here. He also asks if she has a baker friend, to which Merem-sho responds positively.

Dingan doesn't see the white fox, but the party does. He looks at Reika, and they explain they fought a Nué. He's surprised they are alive, but goes to scrawl out a couple of spells to heal. Koga takes that time to knock, and Koga slips through and closes the door behind him. Koga takes a seat and respectfully nods. Reika takes this time to introduce herself. He tells ms. Ramui to not get any funny ideas. Reika informs him that they came here because there are evil spirits roaming the land. She shows him the map that Not-Garuda had given them. He mentions that the fox on it is amusing looking and it reminds him of the hut. Then Reika brings out the scroll.

Dingan's eyes widen and he mentions that the parchment is from Oma Natue. He hastily wants the party to leave upon seeing it. Reika and Koga stare at him. He had said the party smelled like death, he did not see the fox (or lied about it), He was unfamiliar with this land, He knew the corronation of the Nué and the storm, and he doesn't want to do anything with people who don't have anything to do with the pilgramage. They know he's been lying!

Reika narrows her gaze and asks if he knows about the scroll. He says he does, a lot. The fox is watching what's going on. Dingan seems more uncomfortable. He says the spirits will leave them alone and to do their prayers. Koga bows politely and leaves. Reika wonders why he at least claims he can't see the fox, and if they should even be addressing him at all.

Merem-sho, meanwhile, asks the fox if they know Chiharu. It nods and shake's Merem-sho's hand, then turns its attention back to the showdown. Merem-sho takes this time to leave, and joins koga in eavesdropping. Reika wonders why he is lying to them, and he all but states that he wants nothing to do with Spirit-killers, even if they were attacked fist. Reika states that Daiza has returned and brought a declaration of war against the lands, her lands. He seems moved a little, but only offers that he was taught on scrolls like that. He mentions Oma Natue would likely be the best place to learn about the scroll. Reika walks over to his bead and inclines her head toward the fox... which sneezes on her and tries to go back to sleep. Terra points at the tails on the map, and Reika goes to unfurl the tails. She notices it has six tails, but the fox doesn't like being pet there, and her arm is encased in blue foxfire. She has severe burns on her arm for a bit. Reika jumps back, and Dingan's eyes go wide.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! DID YOUR ARM JUST LIGHT ON FIRE?! This hut IS flammable!"

"I'M FLAMMABLE!"

"THATS WHY I WANT YOU OUT!"

The fox goes back to sleep. Reika apologizes, but the fox doesn't seem to care. Reika and Terra leave. Reika slaps the scroll of cure wounds on her arm and it heals. Koga glances at her hand. She mentions that she touched all six fluffy tails. Koga tells her to not touch fluffy tails. He then informs the party of his findings while he had scouted. Reika goes to bandage her hand, and Koga helps. The party then go up to the obelisk and they notice carvings, a basin-like structure is behind them. Koga approaches the basin-thing. It looks to be made out of jade. He doesn't seem to recognize anything. Merem-sho walks over to koga and they both look. There's a bit of discoloration, and a strange symbol in the middle. Merem-sho notices it looks like a thing that was burnt on Reika's arm. Koga is slightly annoyed he didn't catch it himself, but gestures Reika over. He points to the seal in the middle, and, although hesitant, she touches it and blue fire travels through and eventually opens a door in the center of the obelisk. She mentions that maybe she should be touching tails. Koga's fine with that, as long as it makes progress in their quest.
The party enter, and rather than one large room, it's a long hallway of a sort. Koga notes to himself that it looks something like a ninja temple. Reika notes it looks like her home, and Terra and Merem-sho see their homes as well! The party don't see what the others see. "Be careful. This place is like a house of daggers."

---Reika---

Reika starts to walk, and the party follow. She notes that the steps seem longer than the obelisk on the inside, but koga mentions for her to hush. "Like I said, house of knives." Reika gets a feeling and goes out of the obelisk, and the party follow. She goes back in, and observes it looks more and more like Ramui manor. She goes to where her room would be and sees a corpse. She flips it over. It has the face of a cat, but the body of a human. Reika notices her companions have become wooden dummies, with parchment drawings in typical stances.

Reika realizes she's been talking to a dummy, and cuts them down, mangling their paintings. She notices out of the room the One-Armed Man and a portal. He gestures to the portal and she hops in...
to see her dead body and two Forsaken Soldiers. Reika springs into action with Firefang, slashing at one with such ferocity it shatters into pieces. She then moves forward again, draws Ice Fang, and she jams the wakizashi into it's collarbone. It isn't dead. The miasma hurts her, and then it takes its daikatana and goes to jam it into her back. She takes a strong blow to the back. She's had enough. She draws FireFang and swings! She misses the first, but bisects it with a flaming explosion. The image fades. Her vision blurs and the One-Armed Man is there, with the rift closed. He nods and walks off. A dark door opens, and Reika walks through.

---Koga---

Koga tells his party that he should scout ahead. Terra says that's a good idea. Koga walks, presses a depressed wall, and pops into another hallway. It seems this one leads to a large chamber; a rectangle balcony. There appears to be two exits, looking like they lead into staircases. He follows the balcony and pushes into an indented wall. It leads him to a storeroom closet, and there's a skull imprinted with a bone key. He picks it up and slips back out, going to the left staircase. He takes notes of three keys, and chides Skully for not telling him he had friends.

As he goes to explore, he sees a man tuning a Beewa. As koga approaches, the man looks up, with a Keyhorn. "Sorry about your friend." He quips, holding up Skully. The man unleashes a Fireball, and destroys most the room, blasting Koga something different, then dives into the wall, sinking as if it were water.

"Your friends really need to work on their hellos." He snarks to the skull as he goes to investigate a wall. It seems to be normal, so he treats his burns without interruption. He does see another skull roll out the destroyed Basin. He picks it up and walks to some stairs, but feels an indent in the wall. He nudges it with his foot and he's in a dusty corridor. He goes to be stealthy, and sees the Flame Bewaman nomming face. He doesn't seem to notice Koga, who throws his sais at his back. They hit, and the creature falls over. Koga hops on some shelves, creeps along, and peers down. His foe looks dead, eating a rotten corpse.

"Ah, Table manners to match." He deadpans, beheading it. He makes his way back and plunks the three keys in. A massive door opens and it leads into darkness. Koga walks through.

---Merem-Sho---

Merem-sho feels a little homesick, and then feels even more homesick when it leads to the streets of her hometown. She starts walking down a street and, from an alleyway, Chiharu appears... with six tails. She picks up on this, and Chiharu's form melts away to a young man. He says she picked up on that quickly, and offers her a jade comb and a rod. Merem-sho bows, but he says formalities aren't going to win him any favours. He says he'll play a game. If she wins, good things happen. If she loses... He snaps the comb in half. Merem-sho suggests a Limerick Writing contest, and tells him to go first.

"There once was a man who liked fighting, and thought he was quite biting. It was severe, No sounds did he hear, Now his death is tighting." Merem-Sho is nonplussed

Merem-sho Says the Limerick about the man eating the shoe. The boy is nonplussed too.

:There once was a girl who liked backing, though not as much as basket making. She liked to be first, and was considered the worst, unable to resist dangerous undertakings."

"There once was a fox with six tails, who possessed many fails. He got over his head, the competition cut him dead, and was sent to bad limerick jail."

"You win." He surrenders, offering her three answers true. She asks him where Chiharu's comb is. He says its right here. She asks how to repair it. He says you can't. He lets her start again. She asks where her real comb is. He doesn't know. She asks if he has a clue to find it. He says there's a divination in Moki-Yomi. She then asks why he does this. He says it's a little fun, and to enunciate the barrier between Kavaii-Washu and the mortal realm. But he doesn't mess with people. He kills those who aren't good, and Merem-sho was good enough to not have her soul forfeit. She asks if they will let her friends go, and he says if they succeed, informing her that the ninja and the samurai already have.

She says he's really good, and butters him up a bit. He mentions that the Samurai is a good fighter, the ninja likes his stealth, and the bard knows their way around non-violence. Merem asks to see, but her party has completed their challenges. A gate to darkness opens and Merem-Sho walks through.

---Terra---

Appearing to be in Reika's manor, she stumbles around before going to the room she had slept in. It's a bit diagonal, with a flute playing in the background. No matter how she turns, she doesn't see where it's coming from. She decides to play her lute, and the flute gets louder, two large eyes popping out of the wall. Terra plays louder. This causes the room to somewhat form a humanoid form and bow to her as a cave appears.

Terra goes into the cave, inching her way along the right wall. It leads down. At the bottom of it, she sees Yuki-Yuki's corpse next to a Bewa playing music. She promises something of vengeance on the Bewa, and carries on, going into a larger cavern. She sees a large Oni weaving with human skin, and it certainly gets angry when it sees her. But it stops, noticing her instrument. She then somewhat yells that it wasn't her fault, and this startles the Oni, who goes to attack. Terra flees, and comes back in a second. She stealthy makes her way to see what it was weaving; an instrument and a sad face. Terra busts out Price of Freedom, and the Oni starts crying.

"We've all lost good men. Good soldiers. It's up to musicians to ease the pain a little." She says, as a dark abyss opens and she walks through.

--Reunited--

The party are magickally several hundred feet in the air, with four pillars in the cardinal directions. Reika pokes Koga who winces that she poked his burnt wounds. The party reflect on their time there. Reika mentions she had to fight the past and prove she was stronger. Koga reveals he had to sneak around a Nuki-Kubi. Merem-Sho revealed that she had to deal with the six-tailed fox who did it. Terra just says she had to play music. Reika notes the disparity of the challenges, but Terra says it prolly would have to deal with their strengths. Reika's eyes go wide when Merem-sho mentions hers. "Arakikara?! I poked the tails of Arakikara?!"

The party look at the Ruby in the Apex. In Elvish, it says The First of Three. Reika pulls out the map and points to the second and third obelisks. The party note the ruby, and, for a brief second, the party all feel a small increase in their capabilities. Reika walks over to the ruby, kneels down, lays her swords next to her, and starts praying. Koga kneels down before it and prays as well, laying out three gold coins and bow his head. Merem-Sho prays to Amaterasu while the six tailed fox sits next to her, curling up and yawning. Terra, too joins in prayer, though only for a few minutes. Reika hears a voice proclaiming she is level five. The fox, while most everyone was in prayer, doodled on Reika's face while Terra watched.

After some time, Reika and the rest of the party get out of prayer. Koga and Merem-Sho notice her face, and she wipes it off. Reika appears a little sad that it didn't do anything., and Terra reminds her that it's more of the peace of mind than any actually effects. Merem-Sho takes a look at the gem and wonders if anyone has light. Reika reflects the near-setting sun's light off her blade, and Terra casts dancing lights on it, but they do nothing. They think about it, waiting and focusing on their religion. Suddenly, as the party are waiting, Koga's eyes go wide and he reflects the moonlight with Whisper, saying the command word. The Ruby lights up, and a thin beam of red light shoots up into the sky.

Reika feels a burning sensation on her palm, the mark is disappearing. She shows everyone and the party take the staircase down. The spirits are relaxing, and Reika talks to a Tengu about the Umi-Bozu. Merem-sho asks if it's far away from home, and it looks offended. Merem-sho says she didn't mean to offend, and it nods slowly. It thinks to itself for a moment, and then thwacks it against a drawing of the Umi-Bozu. Merem inferrs that it can't go home because of the thing, and she relates the same sentiment.

The party look around at the spirits all playing and ponder their next move...

Session Six: Yet more Shrine Tests

Reika approaches the Tengu and informs it that they were going to try and rid the ocean of the giant umi-bozu, and asks if it would like to help. Terra helps and seamlessly weaves a dance to the tengu to help convey the point. The tengu seems inspired by the performance, beats his chest, and flies off to the east! The party hopes it understood to wait for them.

Reika suggests they spend the night, and it passes with Koga and Merem-Sho finding ingredients for potions.. The party wake, and Fox!Arakikara is next to Reika, and whispers something in her mind. Reika nods, and Arakikara yawns in her face and walks off. The party wander back to Mokiyomi, Koga once again apologising for the Fragment of Nué incident. The party decide to accompany Merem-Sho with her task toward Urakara. The Omi-yo school is bustling, and class is in session everywhere it seems. Merem-Sho knocks on his door and the lecture going on stops. A small child, Tien, opens the door and Urakara bekons Merem-sho to be an example for their next lesson. He asks if anyone has heard of Scying, and after deducing it goes over their heads, tells her that it's in front of Ine Tamare, yet not. He then waves her off. Reika asks if he was vague as always, and Merem-sho nods. She then says she's off to infront of Ine Tamari and yet not, but Koga tells her that the better idea would be to prepare, and the party head off to the markets to do just that.

Koga and Reika decide to look for the Leatherworker, on the grounds they need skeins for their potions. He goes down the line of houses, asking if the residents within are a leatherworker. The people think he's crazy. Reika, on the otherhand, goes right to his house and knocks on his door twice. Nothing. She concludes that he must be tired from the reconstructioning effort. Koga buys two gin flasks from a tavern, saying he has redeemed himself for failing to locate the leatherworker.

Terra, while they are gone, goes to Katsu Tora, who is porking out over complementary food. He reveals his ship is done so they can leave for it at anytime. Terra tells him they are off to Ine Tamare, and she leaves, as Katsu Tora looks forward to Egg Ramen.

Reika goes to buy a ranged weapon from her uncle, and purchases a longbow, 30 regular arrows, and ten Torch Arrows. Koga also appears, going to buy one Kunai, and he throws in two shuriken for free. Koga buys four Shuriken and the uncle tosses in yet another one, in exchange for showing him how he throws it. Uncle, noticing koga's arm extended, just kinda thunks it against and it bounces harmlessly. Koga decides to give him a few pointers, and Terra darts in, buys three shuriken, and darts out.

So the party set off, south, on the roads to Ine Tamare! They notice a purple hue, and Koga asks if it's always been there. Reika mentions that it's been there for a year. She mentions how it used to look great, and now worries that it will infringe on her island. She asks if Koga is thinking of going there, and the ninja responds that he will go wherever he needs. Koga looks away, but Merem-Sho knows he's upset about something, but decides not to pry. The party set up camp, Koga with first as always. He notices a Forsaken Soldier, looking away, and not noticing Koga. He tosses a Shuriken at it's head, and the bones crumple to the ground. They try to manifest again, but Koga sprints up, draws Whisper, and kills it in one strike. "Be Purified!" He whispers with Whisper back in its sheath. The rest of the night passes uneventfully, and they continue along.

Koga's been quieter than usual. They set up camp after an uneventful day, and Reika asks if Merem-Sho's contacted her... thing. She says no, as she can be a little... eeehhh... Nothing happens during the night shift. The party, with Ine Tamare in the distance, notice a looming tower. Merem-Sho seems impressed with it, but Reika and Terra think it seems just too weird. Reika brings up the Comb, and gestures to the tower. Merem-Sho says she'll take the grasslands, and Reika looks awfully confused. The party all set off over the grasslands, and they get to Ine Tamare!

They notice, just outside the city there is a man sitting on a small stool, wearing nothing but a set of trousers. He nods in their direction. Reika greets the man. "Hello Reika." He says. Reika admits to the man having advantage over knowing who she is compared to her knowing him. Merem-Sho notes the man is very magical, and the tower more-so. Koga says they should address the tower. The man tells the tower to tell it's name, but then mentions it himself "Shomi-Kokyo", Koga notes that means The Proving Grounds. The man tells him that it's once per day. He then pulls out Merem-Sho's comb, and tells her that she should start now. She asks for the rules, but he tells her to walk in and she'll see. The man admits he's just messing with Merem-sho's patron, and tells her regardless of the outcome she will get the comb.

"Oh, an Ex-lover then." Terra quips, only to be lightly smacked on the back of her head by Reika. The man chuckles and explains that there's only one lover for her. Merem-Sho decides to go in first, and the rest of the party sit down.

Inside, Merem-Sho notices a Button and three dummies. She pushes the button and they spring up, then fall back. Merem-Sho pushes the button and blasts two foxfires. One hits and a latern lights up, but the other one misses. The Three Laterns turn black and the door to the outside opens up. As soon as she leaves, the man flicks Chiharu's comb at her and she wanders off to Meditate.

Reika is next, with a small grumble that Merem-Sho could have told them what was up. She enters the tower and notices the same setup, testing the button a few times. She SLAMS the button, pulls out her longbow, gets the arrow lit, and they shut down. She hits the button again, launches the arrow, and Flurry of Blows the other two. The door opens up.

The next one has two quills, two basins of ink, two canvases. One of each flit into the air and writes a math problem, 2+2=. Reika solves the problem, and one of five candles light up. The next is 1+1? Reika Misses, writing 2. It then writes 3+3? She gets this one wrong writing 6. The next one the answer is 7, and she gets it right. Reika writes 7. It lights up and the door opens.

The third room has a floor of nails, with a rope hanging near her entrance. Reika just Wind-steps past it.

The Fourth room has some carvings on seperate glyphs, corrolating with the shrine of Omi-Yo. It's blocking the other door. Reika looks at the glyphs and pulls out FireFang. She taps it against Bakuhatsu and the glyph lights up, and stays lit. She taps Genju, and it lights up. She taps others, but they all turn red and fade. She taps them with Ice Fang, but the same thing happens. Reika is a little frustrated, but, out of options, exits out.

She informs the party of what she encountered. Koga bows out quickly, and Reika asks if Terra knows any necromancy, to which the bard shakes her head. Reika offers a signet ring to the older gentleman, and he boops it with a finger, telling her to use it sparingly. The Three wait for Merem-Sho to show up.

Merem-Sho contacts Chiharu. She mentions that she almost thought she had died, but expresses relief that she found the comb, even if they cannot currently be given to her. Merem-Sho mentions that there's been a lot of foxes, and Chiharu says that are probably her siblings.When she mentions the guy she got the comb from, she hangs up in presumably anger. Merem-Sho goes to join the party, and they enter the Ine Tamare.

Two men, arguing over the price of a melon, and one of them waddles to the party. He mentions that his loss is great, as his brother, the blacksmith, has just passed. He's suprised that the news hasn't reached Mokiyomi, and tells the party that he'll be in his Manse to discuss. Reika questions the man he was arguing with, and finds that Mira might be in the market.

In The Market, Terra notices a fellow outsider with a fishing shop. Reika goes off to talk with Mira. She thinks that something in a magickal locked chest may hold answers to an inheritance issue. She mentions that a figure in black stole off with blueprints that may unlock it. Reika connects the two and informs her that they may have forged it. The two go and talk to Koga, and they make a plan to unlock the chest, if it's truly the weapon, of course. They mention that they want to go to the second obelisk, but Mira mentions that they should go to another location first. She then takes off.

Koga and Merem-Sho go to talk to the foreigner, Graydolf Bjoarno, who says he's from Canaan. Terra is keeping an eye on him from afar. He and his friend washed up on shore some years ago. Koga asks if he's ever met his One-armed Foe, and he says his friend had seen him! One particularly floppy handshake for Koga later, and introductions around for Reika, Koga, and Merem-Sho. Going back to his business, the party disperse to look around the market. Koga looks wistfully at the dynamite recipeh, and mutters maybe he does need to climb the damn tower. Reika buys the recipeh.

Merem-Sho notes some instruments being sold, and looks curiously at the Violin on sale. The woman pulls it out and mentions her Canaan friends had brought it with them. Terra notes it and pulls out her own. When asked how she got it, and knew what it was, She mentions she too is from Canaan.

Reika also buys a Gust of Wind scroll for Koga to Caligraphy. Koga goes to Caligriphy an Entangle Spell, and Terra Performs for temporary keep. Braydolf notices her, but doesn't confront her.

Midnight comes, and the party eventually arrive at said chest. Koga draws Whisper and taps against it. Nothing happens. He holds it up, says Hikari, and the lock opens, and the chest opens automatically. It appears to be full of parchment.

The will says "I leave everything but this chest and the context for my eldest, and this chest I leave to Koa." Mira furrows her brow and asks for the documents. She's handed them and mentions that Legislature should have a kick of it, getting Boa kicked out of the family will. This should also pass on his wives to Mira, who happens to swing that way. On the way out, Mira gives the party 300 gold. The party is a bit unsure of it, with Koga particularly mentioning that he couldn't imagine it, being from the country. The party, at 12:01, note the tower looking like a flame pillar that's terribly unsafe, and discuss what was in the rooms ahead. Merem-Sho mentions that in the quiz room, it seems there's a kamitachi there that has the key. She confesses that it prolly doesn't help the math problem. Merem-Sho and Reika discuss that the other two Kamitachi are probably audience members, with them switching off. Reika asks Merem-Sho to look at her ring, but the two don't discern anything from it other than it has a spell.

Reika mentions that they have two choices with how late it is; retire for the night, or go to Mada Utsemada. They decide to set off, since it's only a small hike. It seems like a pretty spoopy place. Down a side path, They meet a Fragment of Tsuedo. Koga realizes what it is, and informs the party that it's a Tsuedo, or a fragment of rather, that can only understand written Ramuinian. After They pass a greeting, he responds with them Praying for their reverence. Reika prays first, then Koga, Merem-Sho, and Terra last. The Fragment hands a Staff to Reika and a Latern to Koga. The next side path has a lot of fog, but Koga raises his latern and it disperses somewhat. The next shrine appears to be made of ice, with a water basin and a gasseous form appearing crosslegged from them. Try as Koga might, he doesn't know the exact name, but knows written sylvan. Koga scrawls a message in sylvan. The being passes his watery katana over the parchment. "Who Addresses me?" He asks in that same parchment. Koga replies, and it replies back after regarding him for a long time. Koga tells the party he wishes for an offering. When asked what type, Koga looks back at the spirit and thinks. Given all the mist, there are certain similarities between the two. Koga uses his disguise kit and puts on his ninja uniform. The being nods, and tells them through the parchment to pray. Afterward, he hands both his watery katana to Koga, and tells him its name is Sinjid.

They go down the third side path. The shrine is a large kiln. Koga cannot recall the name. Terra does an interpretive dance to say hi, and it gestures toward the Odachi. Koga believes that he wants the party to pull the sword from the ground, and, after handing the water weapons to Terra, pulls off his coat and wraps it around. He gives it a good heave, but only pulls it up about a foot. The being pulls it out, then sinks it back in. Merem-Sho and Ro give it a shot, getting it halfway before having to give it up. Once again he pulls it out and then jams it back in. Reika, after frostbiting her hands, gives it a pull, getting it halfway, the Step of Fujiin's The sword stays, tearing off some skin from her hands. Terra attempts to ask it if Reika can get another try, but the being gestures toward Terra, who sighs and plants her feet. She PUUUUUULLLLS up, and, in a burst of wanting to make sure the party get this, PULLS harder and removes the sword! The being plants it down... but bows to the party. He extinguishes the flame on the odachi and hands it to Terra, who drags it along after a quick song to heal the party. Everyone is pretty impressed with the clear weakest being able to do it.

The fourth side path has another girl. Koga tells them they don't understand any language, but love entertainment. Terra passes off the Odachi to Reika, and performs a masterful song on her lute. The spirit claps with a smile, then PLUCKS OUT ITS EYES and hands them to Terra, who holds them, and the party venture off back to the main path.

Eisuru, fresh from killing some things, notices the party approach, and waits. The party approach, and Eisuru reveals that she had to put some forsaken soldiers down. Her and Koga spot a figure descending with a torch in hand. Terra recognizes it as another foreigner, wearing steel armour, adorned with crimson hair and three swords. He extends his hand for a handshake, and Koga goes to Judoflip him. "KOGA NO THAT'S A HANDSHAKE!" Terra says as the two are in a stance to not relenquish their grips.

The two break apart, and Koga mentions that Graydolf told him to fight it. Adol, upon hearing that Eisuru had trouble in the catacombs, draws a magickal sword. Eisuru tells him the catacombs are fine for now, and he mentions that Uzu is waiting. The party are lead up, and Koga talks to him about the one armed foe. He mentions that the OAF let him survive, but he had gotten the impression that the arm wound must have been fresh. He didn't talk at all, and didn't let him see his face. He thinks he was pretty nice, but Adol made a boat because he had left. Koga mentions that he had stolen something from him. The Canaanite mentions that maybe it was to lead him to him, but...

Terra, over the meal, recognizes him as Adol Brinvolf. He had tended to restoration efforts during the revolution, and with his three enchanted swords, had taken a lot of foes down. He doesn't seem to recognise her, however.

Merem-Sho, on the other hand, is openly wondering about her endgoal. She wants to get strong enough to get home. Reika tells her that's exactly what they plan on doing, and adds that after that, she's going to impale Daiza on her blade. Koga asks who Daiza is. Reika is a little incredulous, but explains that the leaders of their two continents have also disappeared. But Diaza has reappeared and declared war. So it is up to Reika to stop him, as when he appeared, so too did more monsters. "He is a threat to this land. I will find him. And I shall exact my vengeance upon him." Koga contemplates this, but doesn't say anything.

Adol chimes in, eating his third serving of soup. "You know, this isn't the first time I've been sucked into trouble. Maybe... Maybe I'm not supposed to be couped up here. Is there anything you would have me do? When... I first arrived here, There was a guy. Kinda like Uzu. But he had more tails. If... you guys run into him... Maybe you can swing back, give me an update?"

The color in his face drains a little bit as he is told he's protecting a child of amaterasu. "The world's in a bad place right now, right? So... " He pulls out Eruksill, the rapier Terra had seen put to use before.

"You would give Eruksill away?!" Terra says, speaking for the first time toward him.

"How did you?" Terra remains silent, and he smiles. "I must have mentioned it earlier, haha!"

"But yes, if the world is in such peril, you'll need it. It's the least I can do for now. But, if you see that guy... Ask him for a Pardon for me. If that can be granted, I'd like to join you, Reika." He nods toward her. "Ah. I'm afraid Hers is the only name I could catch." The party state their names, with Terra reluctantly, hesitatingly, doing it last. He doesn't Seem to recognize her name. and pats his chest.

"Reika. Terra. Koga. Merem-sho. Adol. Man, it's nice to have friends!" He laughs, and the party eagerily await for Adol's charge to wake up.

Session 7: Ominous Thunder.

Adol konks out shortly before the sun rises. There's a sole sound of thunder far to the west, and an ominous feeling in the clear sky air. Koga sits up in a gasp upon hearing it and looks off to the west. Gradually Uzu is waking up. Eisuru notes that it was something else, likely a mad spirit. Uzu doesn't seem to care for the other people, but gradually forgoes trying to get sleep and sits up. He waves a silent hand, and Eisuru bows majestically. The tyke wakes up fully and stands up, taking a formal bow. The party give polite greetings, and is returned one in turn. He sits down and makes a bracelet out of leaves. Reika tells him that Arakikara sends his greetings. Uzu counts on his fingers for a bit, then holds six up. Reika nods. Koga sits down, noting it's a loud neighborhood. Uzu confusidly looks around, saying it's typically quiet. Merem-sho mentions there was a loud noise an hour back, but he doesn't care too much. Reika mentions where they met Uzu's brother, and if they could get to the second obelisk. Uzu offers up information regarding the obelisk, saying it's less likely for them to run into humans. Spirits are docile around there. He forgets how you get to the top, but he knows you're supposed to. Reika asks if he knows if his siblings are guarding the obelisk, but Uzu says that only he, Arakikara, and the eldest are typically on this island. Uzu offers up a leaf bracelet he was working on, and tosses it toward Reika. Merem-Sho says it's a very pretty bracelet. Uzu sniffs in her direction and asks if she knows Chiharu. Reika is incredulous when Merem-Sho confirms as much. Uzu mentions that Chiharu is actually his favourite sibling, as she's the only one that plays with him. Eisuru glides down and gives Uzu the Dreamcatcher she was making during the night.

Koga hops off to pray in solitude, contemplating where he is going to go from here. He recalls that Adol had told him his OAF had lost his arm a year ago, and Reika has mentioned that leaders have disappeared since. Why would he throw a Decoy to Reika? Not only is he trying to get Reika wrapped up, but others... and he tossed the scroll to him to get him to stay. Koga returns to the rest and seeks out Eisuru. Koga approaches her, and she looks at him. "You know The one Armed Fiend, don't you?"

Eisuru narrows her eyes and remains silent for a few moments, but then gives a slow nod. "When we befriended each other, he still had both his arms. I do not know what would have caused him to become embroiled in these affairs." Koga asks why he would storm into a solitary monastary, steal their most valuable scroll, and lead Koga astray. Eisuru looks at him for a moment. "Why do you seek to know my relation to him?" She asks. Koga tells her that the OAF owes him something. "All I can say to you is that he has his reasons." Koga furrows his brows and stares at Eisuru. He discerns that she doesn't seem to care for the group, aside from Reika seeming to hold an important artefact. She appears to be stubborn because she wasn't shown the proper respect, what with Koga only slightly bowing while Yuki Yuki Prostrated herself. Koga thinks for a minute of how to best deal with this. He asks for Eisuru to follow him, and she does. Uzu tries to look over the branches, though he isn't being very stealthy. Ro also moves to eavesdrop.

On the side, Reika doesn't understand what a ninja is. Terra understands that he's like a guerrilla outfit that she was primarily involved with, but the undertstanding only goes one way. Also on the side, the party notices the Tower of Tests walking a little bit, wobbly and half-hazard as ever. The party is a little confused, and when Reika asks if Uzu knows what it is, he says he doesn't have a clue, other than that it isn't normally there. Reika informs him that the man guarding it apparently stole a comb from one of his sisters. Uzu doesn't remember his name, just that his big brother told him to stay away.

"What do you know of Izanami?" Koga asks. Eisuru gives him a flat "The fuck do you mean" look. Koga whispers something and then asks what he took. The two get engaged in a very hush hush conversation.
Reika assmbles the party's loot and asks if this catches his eye. He says it's missing something, and gives another leaf bracelet. He asks if she has any toys, and Reika mentions there's plenty in her manor. Uzu shakes Adol awake, and the Red asks what's up. The child says we're going to Mokiyomi to get some toys. Adol says they'll just buy some from his friend and lays back down. Reika looks very offended, and approaches Adol and he stands up, figures that she was offended, and says that they were going to Mokiyomi. Uzu bolts off and Adol follows with a sigh. Eisuru follows with questions on her mind. The party head back their way to Ine Tamare, giving the spirits that they triald a wave as they pass.

As the party get back, they hear Bonza yelling and being pulled by legislature people. Mira, holding the documents, glances at the party and shrugs. She's excited to get recognition, and is pretty grateful for the help. Koga asks if it were okay to hold on to Whisper, and Mira tells him to keep it. Koga, while he has her ear, notices that the tower is moving. Mira is fine with it, as she was telling her guests to leave. She notes there was a particularly loud boom, and wonders if the tower had fallen over. They spot the tower now south and briefly think on persuing it, but decide against it. Koga looks at some glass vials, but decide against them. He does however, buy ingredients to make potions in case they can't scavenge for items. Koga passes some of the potions around he has made, and the party set off for the obelisk!

They are met with another Giant Oni fighting a fuckton of spirits, and an Ice Spirit of sorts. The party prepare for battle! Koga opens up a scroll and realizes that there's only one good spirit in this fight. One skull explodes, and the Oni staggers as gashes on its shoulders appear. Terra pulls out her lute and blasts the Oni in the head with Shatter, causing major damage to it's head. A Tengu comes crashing down near Reika, who deftly dodges. Koga flips off to some trees and waits. Merem-Sho gets close to two Forsaken and blasts them with Eldritch blasts, then hops out of their way. Reika notes that the Tengu next to her is in an animalistic Frenzy, and attempts to administer a health potion to it. The Tengu eats the potion and it heals some. She bows to the Tengu, points to the skeletons and draws her swords. The tengu sees this and appears to appreciate it. Koga hops up to more trees, and goes to toss three shuriken atr the Big Skull that NotShiva is fighting. They all thunk into the skull. The Tengu whips up a Tornado around itself and blows three foes away, exploding the two Forsaken, but making the Wind Skull better. Two fresh wounds open up on the Oni. Terra blasts another Shatter at the Oni's legs, and winds up blasting another skull apart. The NotShiva Spirit gets close to koga. It feels pretty cold, but he steels himself and he's fine. Merem-Sho blasts the wind skull apart with two Foxfires. The Tengu looks pleased with itself. Reika hops up on the skull's... skull? and points to herself, then points to the Tengu, then points to the oni and motions up. A glint of recognition is in his eye. The skull notices NotShiva and Koga and floats close. Koga and NotShiva both begin to suffocate. The giant oni swings its axe and catches NotShiva on her back. A massive wound opens up and a Tengu goes flying. It turns and slams its massive axe down. Koga produces a potion and holds it out to Notshiva. She takes it, and the glass shatters. She's now holding a potion popcicle. Koga goes to attack the skull with Whisper. It dies. Koga holds the pose for a moment, then says that he hopes we're friends to her. She doesn't appear to be paying attention to what he said, but she is ogling him. AS Koga starts to move away, Notshiva starts to tug him back to her, but Koga breaks free. She seems upset. The Tengu picks up Reika, then dives to attack the Oni. He buries it's claws into a fresh wound. Reika, taking this opportunity, slashes at the Oni's Neck, and decapitates it majestically. Terra moves closer. Not Shiva blasts an Ice Spear at the remaining skull. Reika notices a different NotMimic instrument, draws firefang, and plunges it into its body. It screams and turns to ash.

The Yuki-ona looks somber. She seems to ignore Koga's bow, and begins walking south. As koga rejoins the party, they see the Tengu making a makeshift grave for his crushed friend. Reika lays out a bowl of sake and makes an offering and a small prayer. the Tengu doesn't seem to notice. Merem-Sho tries to help, but the Tengu slashes at her and scowls. The group somewhat loot, finding some trinkits. The party go off to the south. Merem-Sho asks what just happened, and Koga replies that they helped slay an oni. While Terra tunes her instrument and Reika broods over a lost companion, Merem-Sho notices a fuckton of spirits, all trying to stay all out of each others way. Koga notices many not Shivas decending. Merem-Sho wonders if she could talk to some of these spirits. She breaks off and runs off toward a Kodama, which, in its suprise, accidentally blesses Merem-Sho, then adopts a fetal position to hide. Merem-Sho goes down to reassure it, it tosses a silver coin and runs off.

It's reaching dusk. The party has crossed many battlefields. About a third of the way up, the obelisk has been cleaved apart! Merem-Sho swears. Reika is puzzled and bewildered. The party carefully approach. The same goopy residue that take away forsaken and Oni appear on the obelisk. and there's absolute ton of spirits. Merem-Sho approaches an Ino-Hima, sitting down and hugging its knees. It doesn't notice when Merem-Sho speaks. When she goes out to touch it, it looks aggravated and scoots to where its cant see her. When she asks what happened, she doesn't respond. Reika turns to Merem-sho and asks her to contact Chiharu. There's a thick veil, but Merem-Sho makes through it. Her patron makes it clear she thought it was an eyesore, and tells her she should depart to give her her comb. Reika remarks that she should never meet her heroes, and looks for spirits that may know what the hell happened. She approaches Bladed Weasels. One had just lost has Reika's attention, and Reika gestures for Terra to make out what had happened as a question. She does, and Koga comes over to translate. They mention that the north is much much worse. Reika bolts for her horse and the party ride north. Koga tells Reika that they should pace themselves to not lose their heads. Reika goes on regardless. Merem-sho tries to convince her as well, but again she keeps going. Even Terra tries to tell her that they need to hold their heads level or they will be at a disadvantage, but again Reika pushes her off and they go off, riding through the night.

It's silent. The party are not confronted by someone who would take their weapons. Midday the party see the third obelisk. It's broken, yet still standing. The upper portion, shattered into a million pieces, is floating above it. AS they reach the foot of the platform, there's a humanoid wearing the same robes that Reika does. It turns out to be Tsaiyetsu Ramui, corrupted and holding a black Zantetsuken. Many of the trees have sunken into the Black Goop, and Forsaken have appeared. At his feet, Ozuma's body lies with tails cut off and broken.

Reika Ramui, a samurai who practices the ways of the monk, Acting leader of Ramui, prepares herself for one of the most important fights of her life... and it's against what appears to be her possessed father.

An epic clash of steel. A fated duel of Father and Daughter. Who will come out on top? The fate of the world hangs in the balance...

Session Eight: Hagane no shototsu

Saiyetsu takes a step forward, manifesting a black covering over his skin that pulses into an orb. This makes one Forsaken fall off the cliff, and two more get pulled into his range, lying prone. One forsaken runs up to Reika and slashes, but misses. Reika mentally notes that if the party stay within their choking aura, the parties healing would wound them, and their miasma would make stabilizing a down member near impossible, as well as the choking, which the party already know.

She goes to slam Firefang into the current attacker, mangling it, then attempts to kick it in the face. It clings to her leg, but she takes this opportunity to slam Firefang into it, and it erupts in a gout of flames. The bones crumple, but rather than dissapear, they get bigger. Reika tells the party to get some distance! Merem-Sho notes that they are rising like dough, and goes to blast it twice with foxfire. They hang in the air. Koga hops away and goes to hide behind the remnant of a tree, readying three shuriken. Reika, knowing how her companion is, tells him not to throw any of his weapons at... him. Terra, at a loss for words, just strums her lute, moves back a bit, and holds Ericcil, asking it for help if the need arises. Saiyetsu appears, almost appearing to crawl out of the bones that were rising, Merem-Sho's foxfire goes off, hitting him. Saiyetsu blasts through them and turns to Merem-Sho, bringing his zantetsuken down and then to go through her stomach, but a mysterious hole prevents her from being pierced throw. small black smoke appears on her wound, and the vapor around Saiyetsu  manifests into fists, pummeling Terra brutally.

Reika dashes into her father's range, slashing twice at him. One misses, but the other one hits. She then brings her hilt of the katana down, stunning him, and then punches the possessed father right in the face. She then dashes off out of range of his miasma. Merem-sho looks at the corpse and places a hex on it, then spins her staff around and blasts two fox fires at him, teeming with darkness, which dissapate. She then runs out of the thick fog range.

Koga runs up and, upon spoting a firecracker canon, yells at the party to take cover from it. He sprints off to take cover himself, hiding. Terra dashes away from Saiyetsu, touches her wounds, and then strums her lute to heal more. Merem-sho feels the effects as well. The Firecracker cannon erupts where Koga just was. One Forsaken shoots at Reika, but it just misses. Forsaken slams their weapon into Merem-sho. Reika dashes again, and slashes at Saiyetsu, then slams her weapon into his face again. He seems very offguard at Reika's attacks. She then dashes out of his range. "How many days have I prepared for this? Yet... by my hand it will be done."

Merem-Sho calls for Ro to bind it, then she steps back and blasts two foxfires at her skeleton foe, causing it to die. She advises Ro to mess them up if she sees an attack of opportunity, but Ro chirps happily, just happy to help. Koga runs up the tree, backflips and lands on the top of the cliff. He sprints up and takes out whisper, jamming it into the Forsaken's ribs. He clacks menancingly, but light blasts through him and he explodes violently. Terra, noting that Reika could be in trouble, strums her lute and pours magic into it, whispering madness. It's eyes go wide and it attempts to run, but Reika takes this chance to slash the hell out of it and it explodes.  She then dashes into her father's range and slashes at him, and punches him in the face, but this time he isn't stunned. Reika sprints out and beckons Saiyetsu to her, but he shakes his head and summons does the Ness!Pocket thing again, attempting to pull most the party in. The only one it gets is Reika. Merem-Sho whispers to Ro that she may want to poison Saiyetsu, and she flits off to do it. But Saiyetsu stabs Ro and flings her off the blade. Her body falls to the ground. Merem-Sho cries out, and, in anger, double Firefox Blasts Saiyetsu. Both land right in the face.

Koga notes the Forsaken fleeing, picks up the cannon, and, with a minor thought of accidentally exploding a holy corpse, aims a little better and blasts the cannon. It lobs through the air. Terra, with her foe appearing, casts dis whispers on her skeleton. It starts to run away and Terra goes to stab it with Ericcil. Lightning disintegrates it. Koga's missile, on the other hand, lands right on... Saiyetsu, who appeared where it would have hit. He holds Zantet aloft and life energy is sucked from Merem-sho and, strangely, Ro's corpse. Saiyetsu summons more skeletons. Reika stands back up and hits the sekeleton that appeared in front of her. She chops one, punches it in the face, and chops at it again. It dies. Merem-Sho notes that her wound probably helped heal Saiyetsu. She downs a potion and goes to dismiss Ro. She then blasts a double combined foxfire at a skeleton, tears in her face, and Kamehemeha's the damned forsaken, destroying it. Koga aims his cannon down and blasts the skeleton. Terra dashes up and strums her lute, healing herself, Merem-Sho, and Reika. "We've got this!"

Saiyetsu warps through the last remaining skeleton, climbs up the cliff, and goes to slash at Koga, who parries with the cannon. He then summons two Forsaken toward the rest of the party. Reika points at the other skeleton and says that she'll leave that to them. She then goes for the double chop-chop. The first attack misses, but she moves in with the otherhand and uppercuts it. She then brings down firefang and it's bisected. Merem-Sho Blast at the one they were directed to, which knocks it back. With another blast, she destroys it and angrily strides forward. Koga goes to battering Ram him with his firecracker cannon, but Saiyetsu knocks it out of the way. Koga gets the hell out of dodge.

Terra strides forward and starts playing her lute. No sound comes out. But then in Saiyetsu's direction, a high pitched noise happens and the foundation beneath him shatters. Saiyetsu rides the landslide that happens and lands in the fire. He looks bloodied. As he goes to slash at Reika, who parries aside his attacks but gets bludgeoned by the same fists that had wounded Terra, Four wells of corruption spring up, and Terra and Koga are caught in the auras.

"I trained to defeat the greatest swordsman in the world... AND YOU ARE NOT HIM!" Reika says as she does a fancy manuever to slash at his abdomen. It hits. She plonks him on the head, but he furrows his brow and summons a skeleton, which immediately explodes and Saiyetsu appears, shadow plates around him. Merem-Sho double FoxFires Saiyetsu, one missing but knocking him back, and the other one hitting. Saiyetsu goes to slash at Terra, but she barely dodges. Koga holds whisper aloft, and tosses it right through Saiyetsu. It shatters his last shadow plate, and light is eminating from the stab wound. "Fiiiiniiiiissshhhh iiiiiiiit" He says slowly toward Reika.

Terra recognizes that she has no chance of surviving a hit, being the frail healing girl, and slowly runs away. Saiyetsu ALSO recognizes that she's the frail girl that's been healing everyone, and vader walks toward her. He slashes twice, one gets her back, and as she turns around in agony, the other slice lands across her shoulder. She falls, and two large bludgeoning fists go to squish Terra...

and Erricil, loaned out by a former companion of hers, glows and a barrier erects around her. Saiyetsu notices this and turns his attention away from her, uppercutting Merem-Sho. Saiyetsu holds up Zantet, and though Ericcil's barrier prevents Terra's essence from being dragged out, Merem-sho and some skeletons suffer, and he appears to heal somewhat.

Reika slashes through a Forsaken and it explodes. She then dashes toward another one and then  it also explodes. Merem-sho hops off the cliff and grabs Terra, then hops away. Koga hops out of the slow field and "Hiiiiikaaaaaarriiiii" A light blasts through the Hikari planted on his shoulder, and moonlight pours through his wound.

A skeleton tries to grapple Merem-Sho, but she shrugs it off. Saiyetsu Does the Pull! action, and slashes at Merem-Sho and Koga. Merem-Sho goes down. Koga gets dragged off the cliff and into a new slow field. Reika gets up, and looks her father in the eyes. "Is this how it ends then? Legend of the Great Saiyetsu, Killing his daughter and his friends?" He looks away. "LOOK AT ME!" She says. A dark energy picks up Merem-Sho and tosses her toward her. Reika pulls koga out of the slow field and pours a minor healing potion down Merem-Sho's throat. Merem-Sho then downs a potion on her own. Koga, noticing something about magic as she prepares two blasts, warns Merem-sho that her magic might do a lot of damage to Saiyetsu. Koga draws both his sais and runs through a skeleton. "Does your legend end as a fiend?!" Koga says, throwing a sai at Saiyetsu, who turns to look at him as the sai lands harmlessly near him.
Terra wakes with a start, Ericcil floating above her. She slowly makes her way to her friends, and strums her lute, healing and inspiring the party. Saiyetsu goes to doublechop Koga, who falls down. Three fists manifest, but disapate in the presence of the moonlight. Reika jumps down the cliff, grabs hikari, and sprints up to saiyetsu, slashing at him with Hikari. The minute Saiyetsu's attention is on her, she decks him in the face. "Do you remember what you said?! The blade is to protect, not to destroy!" Saiyetsu's response is to attack Reika, slashing at her and giving her a wound seeping with black misty energy. Merem-sho, anger evident all on her face, blasts him with Foxfire twice. Once it misses, but gets his attention. The other one blasts toward him, and it almost shows something underneath the corruption. Terra places her hands on Koga and heals him. Saiyetsu goes to attack Reika, who parries one blow and buries the other one into her shoulder.

"Since the day I could first hold a sword, I dreamed of protecting this land, with you. But if I have to strike you down to protect this land... SO BE IT!" Reika plants hikari in the ground, feints with Firefang, stabs it in his hand, goes to use icefang to parry the blow, then stabs him with hikari in the stomache. She then pulls out the blade her father gave her, and, adopting a stance, lunges and beheads him. She drops to her knees as Koga, holding his stomache, nods at her. He places his hand on her shoulder, then walks over to inspect Ozuma, who... isn't dead, but severly fucked up.  Dr. McNinja administers a potion, which doesn't rejuevenate him. After a couple of seconds, he regurgitates the potion as a thick black liquid.

Merem-sho, attempting a ritual to summon Ro, doesn't appear. She notices that the fallen DarkZantet is safe to pick up, but only because it's in Hikari's light. Reika mentions she has to borrow this, and Koga just nods.  Reika puts the evil!Zantetsuken down on the ground and looks up at Kanai Owashu.

Merem-sho, meditating and praying for Chiharu, is only a little suprised when an image appears of her crossed legged. "I don't know what to do! Ro... Ro he isn't appearing and... I don't know what to do!" Merem-sho is in tears, and, after waiting for her to calm down, Chiharu tells her to break the comb. Merem-sho is confused, but she does so. "But... won't you be needing this?"

"Break the comb." Chiharu urges, and she does. "It can bring Ro back. " She does, and Chiharu mentions that she won't be in Anshin when she returns, as she has responsibilities to assume.  Merem-sho asks if there was another mission for her to complete, and Chiharu mentions that a conglomeration of dead monk souls are in the sea, blocking travel. Merem-sho reveals she knows about the Umi-bozu, and Chiharu mentions that she must not believed her at the time.  Ro flits by Merem-sho's side happily.

---

Meanwhile, Eisuru has landed in Kanai Owashu and... it's silent. No animals, gods, or anything. She goes in and spots a Ryujin, whose upper torso and head, close to the forge, the eyes are dimply lit, but he does regard Eisuru and says it's fortunate it was one of yours. Eisuru asks what defiles him, and he answers that she knows. "He sought to sink the Kanai Owashu, but I managed to prevent it. In his fury, he stole from me Amaterasu... I know not where she dwells."

"How was he able to come to this power?'

"Izanami is in fragments, and Izanagi is slumbering at the apex. He continues to reaquire my wife, and to recover my condition, they will have to be brought up to speed. and "He rolls his eyes. "You will have to make them reconcile. As for right now... it is all I can do to keep these lands from descending. I will remain here. If he were to amount a second assault, with greater numbers, even I would require help. The disturbance with reincarnation is likely where he gets his numbers, and I can't do anything about it."
"Why did she fragment herself?"  Eisuru thinks before the answer comes to her, then she rolls her eyes. "Zantetsuken has been broken."

"Well, my dentist isn't going to like that." Ryujin snarks. "We shared so many ideas, and I wanted to assist with that, hence why he has the sword. ..." Eisuru, after being told that he will try to tell her sisters, heals Ryujin, who likens it to a bubble bath. Eisuru bows, casts regenerate on him, and asks what kind of strength it would take to break a sword made of his tooth. "The kind that that bastard had." Eisuru nods, and she flies off to Mokiyomi.

What's next for the party?

Session 9: Back to Mokiyomi

Koga offers to take the first watch, but Reika wants to take it, and, after Terra burns all her concentration into healing her wounds, the samurai does. The bard promptly passes out soon after, completely exhausted. During her watch, she finds that Koga is unshakable from his slumber.

---

His eyes slowly struggle open, and he is not in the landscape he just was... He notes the OAM is standing at the Lip of the Chasm, and he is holding his moonlit guan-dao. Shadowy wounds seep around him, and he feels a million times heavier. Koga flexes his abs as hard as he can, and he gets a full four inches, chains appearing to bind him, but with Whisper cutting, he eventually manages to somewhat stand up.

He says the command word to wake Hikari, but nothing happens. OAM begins to pivot, moving the guan-dao, and the scroll of Shadows wobbling on it over the chasm. Koga stares the man down, waiting to see what he'll do. OAM seems dramatic, and tilts the blade. Very slowly, the scroll slides off the blade... but right beforehand, he hits it and spins the scroll. Where his lack of arm was, a new one blasts into place, looking as corrupted as Saiyetsu's arm, and he holds the scroll in his new hand. He holds the scroll out, and the weight on Koga slightly ebbs. He tiptoes toward the edge of the chasm and reaches his hand toward the scroll... He ninja's it out of the corrupted hand, and it sinks back into his body and the bandages form... and Koga wakes up.

---

Reika asks him if something is the matter, but he mentions that sometimes dreams remind us what's at stake in the real world. He takes his watch, but finds it somewhat hard to focus on anything five feet ahead of him.  

But nothing happens on his shift. On Terra's shift, however, she gets an ominous feeling and, upon some investigation, notices that a Kodama has been watching them this entire time. She corrals the party to talk to them about it, and they talk about it a little, before sprinting off toward the Kodama, which runs off. Koga spots it and bounds after it through the tree tops, but mislands it and has to catch up to the party. Reika thinks about where it would go in the Kami Forest, but they lose track of where it is. However, Merem-Sho taught classes on them, and knows they would like to go toward a shrine. Terra, thinking about ways to stop it in it's tracks, jams a harsh cord on her Lute. The Kodama shoots up, 200 feet away, and looks at the party. Faintly hearing Merem-Sho, he decides the party is too insane to really be a threat, and starts plodding along. The party quickly catch up to it, and are lead to a hut, with a sole futon and a sheathed Katana in it. Koga picks it up and studies it, unsheathing it. He feels the blade scraping along the sheathe, but the blade doesn't appear to be there. The weights there. Reika draws firefang, and swings, but it passes without contact. Ro and the kodama begin playing Go as Merem-sho attempts to discern about the blade. She notes that it's obvious magickal, but it doesn't put off any magic. Reika asks Merem-Sho to make an illusion, and she makes a happy dancing kitty! Then Reika asks Merem-Sho to stab it. Terra pointidly looks away. Nothing happens, however. Koga and Terra breathe sighs of relief. Merem-Sho mentions that it could be used as an arcane focus, and Koga wordlessly hands it to her.

The Party head back to check on Ozuma, who is resting, and didn't really notice the party was gone. Reika looks up at Kanai Owashu and wonders about it. The party try to approach the obelisk, but ascending the stairs doesn't work.  Koga looks back and forth, then turns around and then TURNS AND SPRINTS and... finds himself on the same step as the rest of the party. Reika asks if Merem-Sho knows what magic is going on affecting the stairs. It seems to be an extremely potent enchantment. She mentions that Amantsu Anshin herself would even need help, and Merem-Sho is actually getting quite angy at not knowing this.

Koga mentions that with what Ozuma is, he'll have to recover on his own. Still, Merem-Sho suggests that the party should put him in Uzu's Shrine, where he can be somewhat protected. They enter Ine Tamare, and Mira looks very concerned at the figure drapped across Reika's horse. The samurai says that there were complications, and Mira says that Reincarnation may be faster. The party mentions that again, complications have arisen.  They mention that the Obelisk toward the west is broken, and Mira knows that, trying to coral the spirits to Kami Forest.

Mira asks if they found Saiyetsu, and Reika solemnly nods, saying he wasn't the man he used to be. Reika says they are going to fight the Umi-Bozu, and Mira says that she would help. but if she were lost, it would be bad. Koga mentions there are times when one hides their hands, and one where they must show them, and this time they need to show. Mira helps Ozuma off to another horse and says that she will send him to the shrine. Reika buys the scroll of infuse, Koga scrounges up some potions, and Merem-Sho, after paying 50 gold, gets a scroll of Mage Armour. The Party head off toward Mokiyomi.

---

Eisuru, traveling with Uzu and Adol, enters Mokiyomi. A farmer took notice and warned them, and all the Senseis give deep, respectful bows. She bows back. Urikara reverantly approaches, and says "I don't know How to say this, but, my eyes are, I would say, about half open to what's currently going on. I don't have an accurate measure of it yet, but..." Eisuru mentions that it is indeed tough, and they talk a little about Kanai Owashu. He shows them the way to a wing of a shrine for hospitality reserved for VIPs.

Urikara asks if Uzu's purpose is seperate, and Eisuru affirms as much. Urikara mentions that he is indecicive, and Eisuru says she has something to ask, giving a long drrawn out sigh. "Izanami has seperated herself, and I want you to help find them." He mentions that he would be glad to, and hurries off. She then goes to gather information, and easily does so. She goes to investigate the scorched shrine of Izanami, and notes that a barrier has been erected. She isn't certain when the barrier was put up near the sword break or after. She flits inside and notes a buuuuunch of stuff. She then checks out the coast

She notes that this is presumably where the world may have began, but nothing too significant is out of place here. She feels the presence of the Umi Bozu about twenty miles out. She notes that normally they aren't aggressive. The fact that one is attacking might have correlation to the other dead things.

---

The Party arrive, and see Adol the Red talking to the Harbour Master. Koga goes to talk to Adol, who asks if they managed to get Ozuma's permission for him to join the fray. Koga mentions that there were a few complications... Terra is given a big hug by Katsu, who runs up doing that and excitidly informs them that they are ready to go whenever. Katsu informs them that he can make dynamite and, after getting the empty shells, get to work. Reika and Merem-Sho go to ascend the steps to the shrine of Amaterasu, who immidiately notices Ozuma's sword, and demands them to answer why they have that sword. Reika says that Ozuma won't be using it, and Eisuru concludes that they couldn't have harmed Ozuma, and Merem-Sho mentions they got it from "Scary Undead Stuff" and they "Nearly Died."

Reika mentions that she got it from her father, and Eisuru peices that she's Reika Ramui. Reika shows the Sheathe of the Dark!Zantetsuken. Eisuru looks very repulsed. She mentions it bears powerful corruption magic, and wonders how Reika hasn't been turned into a Forsaken. Merem-Sho backs up a couple steps. Reika asks if Eisuru can break it or Purify it.  She places it on the ground next to Eisuru and, like Merem-Sho, backs the hell up.  The skies darken. The light in the sky is sucked into a pillar around Eisuru, and very gently touches her staff. She brings it down and a seal manifests on top of the stairs. As soon as she touches the sword, the corruption writhes and burns away as a crowd gathers to see what's going on. Koga pushes his way to the front and spots Eisuru and the Katana, which is now... just a normal Katana.  Eisuru looks a little hopeful, than a little crestfallen.

Merem-Sho goes to ask if Eisuru knew about why Ro couldn't come back. Eisuru states that Daiza has done irreversable, unforgable things to the natural flow of life. He has disrupted the cycle of reincarnation. Reika asks how he gained the power to do that, and Eisuru says she can't divulge it, giving a mysterious shrug. Reika mentions that she was always under the impression that Daiza would strangle her dog. Eisuru notes that is an incredibly apt description. Reika informs her of the fate of the obelisks. In turn, Eisuru informs her of the barrier outside the scorched shrine. Reika shows the Keeper that she can pass through, and Eisuru turns to leave. Koga prostrates himself and asks for forgiveness, and this suprises Eisuru. He says he would like a word in private, and Eisuru goes to follow. Reika tosses Whisper back at Koga, who catches it without looking.

Koga talks about his dream. Then, he asks if the OAM is an enemy. Eisuru's answer is no. Koga says that there are things to think about. He says that ever sense that dream he feels like something is off, and wonders if she can peer into the soul of man. She looks at him, and says he has a touch of undead about him. Koga looks a little panicked, and asks if he should be worried. Eisuru's answer is that she ASSUMES he should be worried for his life, yes. She tells him to keep it in check.

With those words of warning, Koga goes to head back to the party.

Terra appears like she has something to say...

Session ten: The End of Act One!

Koga looks to see if he can spot the Umi Bozu, but he doesn't. He does find fifty feet of rope.

Reika and Merem-sho look for sensei Kiramei. He doesn't appear to look as sassy when he's off the clock. He isn't paying her any mind, so she coughs politely. He says that she gave up her duties to her brother, but she just gestures to Merem-sho, who pulls out the lack of a Forlorn blade. Reika and Kiramei get into a small back and forth about the "Lack of Stabby Stab" in the blade. Reika wants to ask him about what it does, and he asks himself what information he wants to give her. He passes it off as information that she shouldn't know just yet, but Reika sees through this, and accusses him of not knowing what it does. He agrees, saying that the forge doesn't know where the blade goes next, now does it? He says that Saiyetsu asked him and four others to forge them, but he doesn't know them at all. Reika informs him of what happened at the obelisk. He sinks further and further down. "That's fucking unfortunate." He mentions. Merem-sho snarks that he's not going to be cryptic about this, and he agrees, saying its not so fun to be cryptic about what other people know.

Reika shows him the now-normal-Zantetsuken, and although he initially dismisses it, when she tells him what it was, he says that although it is barren now, if she finds a good powerful enchantment, Kiramei is willing to help. Reika pulls out the mysterious yellow crystal, and Kiramei says that that could act as a catalyst to put up an enchantment. Merem-sho pulls out the broken halves of Chiharu's comb. After some major disbelieving from Kiramei, along with some major snark from him, he says that since they are "The god's chosen ones that everything cool happens to.", he will give them a discount, and ship the finished product to them since they are leaving, and it will take a week. They agree on the lightning crystal. Reika asks who forged the original zantetsuken, and he mentions its something about Ryujin's tooth. This information freaks Reika out, and she's going to go and find Eisuru.

Merem-sho asks about the comb, and Kiramei says that it was basically her casting medium. Kiramei dithers about it, and Merem-sho sees that he's not answering. She promises that she won't bite, but her teeth appear sharpened to a point to Kiramei's perspective. He mentions that Chiharu may be faking the type of person she is to Merem-sho. Merem-sho chuckles, and he chuckles in frightenedness with her. They leave.

At the time this is going on, Eisuru is talking to the least eccentric of the group of teachers, Judomaru, The spirit guardian informs him of the North Obelisks fate, and he pulls out aged paper, mentioning he had encountered this once before. He says the same phenomenon appears in the Walk of Ponshu, but even in his most agile years he could only stay there for a couple of minutes. He asks if it's safe at the Obelisk, and Eisuru mentions that he'd have to ask Reika's party... of which, the two walk in at that moment. Reika is still kinda wide-eyed about Zantetsuken being Ryujin's tooth, and Eisuru confirms it. Judomaru mentions that he'll take Halifax with him, as he would appreciate the walk. He then tells Eisuru that he may contact her if they are needed to dispell the barrier around the shrine of Izanami. Reika mentions that she walked through it, so it couldn't have been that bad. Judomaru says that it's possible it's a protective barrier that sprung up due to Zantetsuken breaking, but he isn't entirely certain. He thanks Merem-sho for bringin up children in Anshin, and she thanks him for continuing some of their educations. Reika tells Eisuru of Ozuma's condition, and she mentions that was probably the best place for him to be. Reika says she's worried of Kanai Owashu, and the spirit guardian says that it won't fall, even if Diaza attacks a second time. This freaks Reika out even more, as she didn't think he would ACTUALLY attack there. She asks if everyone up there is alright. Eisuru says that everything there is gone, having fled the wilds, save for the dragon king himself.

Merem-sho, thinking about it, is just happy magic still works. Reika then realizes that this means that Lady Amaterasu is gone, and she thinks she needs a moment, walking over to a nearby corner, sitting down and hugging her knees for a moment.

Eisuru says that if Judomaru needs her, she will be in Oma Natue. Reika unleashes a loud scream, and Merem-Sho asks if she feels better. The samurai says she'll probably never feel better again. They exit. Terra appears and asks Reika to meet in private. The samurai, beyond exasperated and clearly having one hell of a week, says sure. Terra asks her whats wrong, and she explains that her quest has pretty much gotten ludicrously bigger than she imagined it would. Terra's just glad magic still works. So the Tabaxi asks Reika if she views herself as a great leader, or speech giver. Reika says to think haughtily of herself would be unbecoming, and the citizens certainly wouldn't tell her otherwise. Terra dithers a little, and says that she has a responsibility to the people and... Reika asks if Terra would like to give a speech. "No. I want you to do it. I have it written down and everything." The bard says bluntly. "I was considering doing it, but you are the leader of these people, not I. So it would be better if you were to do it." She hands the piece of parchment to her, and they make way to the pier.

Katsu finds Terra and mentions that after they defeat the Umi-Bozu, they will just give him the ship! He wonders what he should name it, and starts a chant for Boat Name! Adol mentions that this isn't how they did it on the main land, and Terra snorts, knowing better. Eventually, the party settle on Claw of The White Tora! The volunteers turn toward Reika. Who, having had a very long week, just kinda gives them a thumbs up. Terra facepalms, but pats her back and tells her she did her best. She then turns to address the crowd.

"Volunteers of Mokiyomi and beyond. First, I want to thank you for meeting here at Katsu's request. I also wish to thank you for volunteering for the mission we will be undertaking tomorrow. I know it isn't the easiest of things to do. But, as it turns out, I know the sevret to winning this fight. No, the secret to winning all fights. It's an iron will. True resolve, which I see in each and every one of you. However, I am not going to lie; even with such resolve, it will still be difficult. To those that are having doubts, I ask that you now leave. Go home, and pray for our success with your loved ones."

The bard scans the crowd and waits about five seconds.

"Those of you that stay, I thank you. I ask that, you be joyful. Celebrate your life. Cherish your loved ones. Get guidance and offer prayers for our victory. The battle will be difficult, so I'd hate to have anyone go in with any last minute regrets. Tell your friends that are staying of any wishes you may have unfilfilled, and maybe even see what you can do tonight. Live life one more night, as we may not have it tomorrow..."

She looks downcast. Then, summons that fire in her eyes, the resolve she once had. "I know that we fight for many different things tomorrow. Some to get home. Some for the trade routes. Others for answers. Yet others for vengeance. Others still just because its the right thing to do. Yet, no matter your reason, we all wish to see our foe defeated. So I tell you now: We WILL triumph. We will show them what it means to have resolve! We will show them our iron will, and we will not back down! Together, with your help, we WILL DEFEAT HIM!"

She Raises Ericcil up in a cheer.

"TO VICTORY!" The volunteers take it well. Koga is kinda dumbfounded, wondering where the hell THAT came from. Adol has approval written all over his face. So the party then set out. It takes a while, but they eventually do come across the Umi Bozu. Three Tengu flock to the mast and wait. Reika recognizes one of them as the one from Anshin, and they get prepared.

Merem-sho tells Adol to stealth the ship, and readies her action. Reika mentions that the option for the Tengu flying them over to start stabbing it exists. Koga looks at the Umi-Bozu and shakes his head. "Um. No." Terra nods her head in solidarity. Reika pouts a little and Koga says that they'll try it his way. Koga and Terra wait for them to get in range. Katsu negates the current. One of the Tengu flies off, going invisible. The others stay on the ship. Terra and Koga wait again. The Umi Bozu rises up, and a deep slimy noise starts to shake the bones in the party's bodies. Merem-Sho, Adol, and Katsu take some damage. Merem-sho 's vision begins to cloud, but she just moves out of the way. Reika climbs up to the crow's nest with Koga and helps to aim the cannon. The invisible Tengu goes down to attack the Umi-Bozu, and hits, then thwaps it twice with his staff. Pieces of the umi-bozu sloop off to the ocean. Koga fires his dragonmaw, and more goop gets sent into the ocean as the party hear a muffled explosion. The Umi Bozu sinks down into the ocean. Tentacles the same viscosity of the Umi Bozu start squeezing the ship. Merem-sho Double Foxfire Blasts the tentacle, and it moves it, but some acidic splatter gets on Merem-Sho. Reika shoots her longbow at the tentacle, misses, and then shoots again, hitting this time. it writhes. The first tengu attacks the umi-bozu. The second picks up merem-sho and unleashes a ripple of wind, killing one tentacle. The third offers to take either Reika or Koga to fight the Umi-Bozu. Koga says he'll cover her. Reika hops on and she takes off. Terra moves away a bit and strums her lute, whispering madness into it. The tentacle grip weakens. Koga tosses three shuriken, and one hits, causing the tentacle to turn into black sludge which sludges off the ship. He tells Katsu to do the windy thing.

Reika sees a shadow move in the water, and the rest of the party feel a lurch as something hits the hull of the ship. Adol charges his weapon, and it glows a brilliant red. Katsu blasts the tentacles with his wind magic, missing one but hitting the other. Adol swings his sword forward, and a coiling tendril of fire engulfs and incinerates them. Merem-sho spots five bozu in the water, and foxfire blasts the one nearest to her. it makes a hole, blasting good chunks out of it. The Tengu ferrying Reika dashes toward it. As she gets closer, she starts seeing peices of broken structure sticking out of its hide. She lights an arrow on fire and shoots it at the Bozu, which hits. Fire seems effective. The Tengu carrying Merem-sho drops her off at the helm, then dashes off and cuts into a tentacle, which writhes and sludges away. Terra takes this opportunity to hop over to the helm and steers the ship forward. Koga slides down the crow's nest and goes to check on damage below deck. He sets to work repairing the hull, and does so. Adol gets munched on by a bozu, his legs are sticking out. Merem-sho gets wacked by a bo staff from one of the Bozu. Adol breaks free, and starts charging his weapon again. Katsu Tora says he's going to negate the current so Terra can get them closer, and she agrees. Fissuring flame procs, and he blasts through all three of them, literally cremating it. MErem-Sho grabs Terra's arm and pulls herself up. "I'm... I'm okay. I can... take it."

"Yeah, sure, and I'm the queen of Canaan." The bard retorts.

"I don't... know where that is."

Merem-sho Tolls of the Deads a Bozu. It seems to be taking the normal amount of damage from it. The Tengu grabs her and darts off, turning them both invisible. Reika and the Tengu carve through some of the umi-bozu. She notes a spherical thing off to the side of it. Terra, heeding Katsu's words, gets the ship closer. Koga hops up the steps and tosses three shuriken, killing the bozu. Another Bozu hops up on the ship and lobs a ball of something at koga, but he just unsheathes whisper and the ball splatters around him harmlessly. The Umi-Bozu surges up, and Reika gets much closer to the core. The Umi-Bozu yells out again and everyone but the tengus, Adol, Katsu-Tora, and Merem-Sho take quite a bit of damage. Katsu blasts the umi-bozu with three lightning balls. the thunder didn't seem to do much. The fire pillar from Brilliante lets loose, striking the umi-Bozu. Merem-sho tosses a torch at the Umi-Bozu, and it catches fire even more. Reika shoots an arrow at what is assumed to be a core. She then lights a torch arrow and shoots. The fire doesn't seem to do anything, but the bludgeoning is good. The Tengu with her turns them invisible. The tengu next to the umi-bozu attacks. On the ship, Terra plays a small tune healing the group for a little. She then steers close. A Tengu picks her up. Koga aims a cannon armed with a bombshell, and blasts into the umi-bozu. The Umi Bozu roars again. The core turns to look at Reika, and a dull light begins to builds into a blinding illuminscence, and a huge beam tears through the air she was just occupying. Adol charges up as much as he can and blasts fissuring flame into the bozu. Katsu loads a cannon. A blue light starts to build up into the core. A wave of frost shoots out and engulfs Reika and her Tengu. the tengu plummets to the ground, and it is pissed.

The Tengu carrying Merem-sho dashes, and the teacher double Foxfire Blasts the core. Reika dashes off and slips herself a potion, then stabs straight down twice. the slashing doesn't seem all that effective. Terra's Tengu brings her closer to the core. The core shoots out a beam of light, and Terra drops down. Koga aims a shell and Katsu helps, he shoots, and it lands. It seems to inconvienence the umi-bozu only a little. They see plating start to manifest around the core. Merem-Sho recognizes it as Mage Armour. The core lobs a projectile at Terra, but Ericcil glows again and a barrier is erected. Three fire projectiles shoot out, one toward Reika, and two to the other Tengus. Reika pictures it hitting, but she barely avoids it. Adol is Roy'ing his way up the sides. Katsu is helping Koga. Merem-sho blasts it with two Foxfires, and the Core pulls up a shield. colourful patterns appear in front of Reika, but she shuts her eyes and looks away. She then dashes toward Terra and administers a potion. She then dashes off. The Core looks at one of the Tengus and it twists in pain, then changes into a squirrel. Both Tengus start shrieking madly. Koga takes aim with a cannon. The Core blasts at Merem-Sho and the two non-squirrel Tengu, and the Tengu and Merem-Sho both drop. Koga launches his shell. It takes out quite a huge chunk of the core. They feel the Umi-Bozu shudder, and hailstones shudder around Reika, Merem-Sho, and the Tengu. Reika drops. Merem-sho gets a hailstone to the head. The tengu squirrel points at intself and at Ro, and then punches itself. Ro kinda pecks at it, and it turns back into a Tengu, then brings back Adol. Adol tells it to throw him at the core. The tengu picks him up, puts him near it, then backs away. Adol dashes up and slams Brilliante into the core four times. Koga aims the cannon, and tells Katsu to aim the cannon. Katsu is worried as all hell about it, but he does so eventually. Koga steps off at the exact time, and goes flying with the cannonball. At the apex, he yells and tells the Core to fuck off, kicking the cannon right into it. The core explodes violently, and Katsu picks up all the party. Koga tends to their wounds, and the party have five molten shards and a Pulsating core.

The party land in Shima Kie, and Katsu mentions that he'd be happy to ferry the party, or get some things, or sell some stuff. Terra just makes him promises to pay the people she gathered the loan from. Katsu grumbles, but nods. Uzu wonders why he's here, and Adol clasps his shoulder, saying the call to adventure brought him with him. Reika is annoyed at this, and coughs. Adol offers his hankerchief, but Terra leans aside and whispers to him. "It's not that she has a cough. It's that your touching him. He's kinda a holy child."

"Oh. Like Jesus?" He whispers.

"Yes, like Jesus." Terra says. Merem-Sho asks who that is, having been near her, but the Tabaxi dismisses it.

Adol wanders off to find alchohol.

Uzu asks if Reika has a mansion here too, but she says no. The kid pouts, but Reika mentions that the next person they need to talk to is Tenshen, who seems more friendly than he is. Terra says having more friends isn't so bad.

So the party, uzu, and Katsu Tora look off the pier, and wonder what Anshin has in store...

Session 11: The beginning of Act 2!

The party look around, and Merem-sho introduces them to Shima Kie. The Tengu with them had flown off to the northern grounds. Someone appears to be approaching the party. Terra recognizes him as Sho-Shun Jao, the harbormaster. He asks for the captain of the ship, and Koga points him toward Katsu Tora, who is rigging the ship still. He seems in disbelief at the younger looking one being the captain, but he wanders off and tells them to point Katsu in the right direction when its time to discuss ship matters.

The party note that someone is trying to keep people out from the sewers. The person standing guard tells them that an explosion took out some of the sewers, and some of the residential district with it, so he's trying to keep people like gangs from going in. Reika asks if Merem-Sho's college runs everything, but she dismisses it and says that the college of excavation is the one that pulls most of the strings.

Terra decides to stay near Katsu Tora and let him know about the harbourmaster. She catches the tail-end of the conversation, which seems to be that Adol's asked where Uzu would be able to stay, and Katsu "Doesn't fucking know. I'm not an almanac." Terra approaches, and Katsu greets her. Terra mentions that there's paperwork to be done, and she's not the captain. She also wants to drag Adol along because the harbourmaster scares her, so he comes with.

The three approach the harbour master and He Libra's them, then deduces that they did beat the Umi-Bozu, and he's safe to inform his ships that they can leave. He beckons Katsu over and they do the paperwork. Adol wonders why Terra doesn't look like Sho-Shun, and why he doesn't look like her. She retortingly asks why Adol has Red hair, and he gets the point. Katsu, eager to get out of here, hands Terra the keys to his place so she can check on his wares. He asks where Terra wants Adol to go, and Adol says its more a matter where Uzu goes. Katsu tells her that Uzu seemed to like it on the ship, but Terra dismisses that as an option, saying its entirely unshafe. So Katsu tells Adol to go get him so the child can travel with them. He then books it and runs off. Adol tells Terra that he'll meet her at the marketplace with Uzu, and he heads off.

Terra meets up with the rest of the party there, and they encounter an Artifact seller. He's quite mumbly under his mouth bandanna, but eventually the party sell the Tengu Battering Ram for 200 gold. He then asks the party for a sponsership, but after Merem-sho informs them of what that would entail, the party wisely say no. Tokugawa says that her friends are disgusting, and Terra, ready to offer Diminuindo, huffs and nopes away. He then remembers the baker friend of Merem-Sho and says her friends are good. He also says he's sorry to hear about Merem-Sho's house, who runs off to check.

Her house is in rubbles, and Ro is trying to excavate her treat bag. She doesn't find it, and whimpers sadly on Merem-Sho's shoulder.

With the alchemist, Koga and Reika are trying to buy lesser healing potions, and beckon Terra over to help them negotiate. Eventually. an agreement is came upon without much help from the cat, and they walk away with three lesser healing potions at the cost of two fire oils, two cold oil, and the promise of exchanging two more cold oils for two more lesser healing potions.

Koga and Reika enter the fortune tellers tent. No refunds, she can remove curses and intepret dreams and fortunes. Koga sits down and recounts his dream. Her eyebrow furrows at the mention of the OAM. She shuffles the deck a couple times, and says theres two potentials behind this dream. A self Opposed Challenge, or... She tells Koga to take a card, and when he does, he sees the OAM on the card. His eyes widen, and he nearly drops the card. She tells him it may be a test of destiny. The outcome of the dream will only lie in the future. She tells him that the card is his to keep. For ten gold. He slides it to her, and offers to let him peek into his future. He declines. Reika sits down and offers her dream, but the fortune teller can't interpret the dream. She asks for a fortune, and draws three cards. one showing a close up of Hikari, one showing the Forsaken Saiyetsu, and one showing aa desert on a moonlit night. She mentions that they've already happened, and the fortune teller says it may happen again. She takes the cards back from her and charges her ten gold. Reika pays and they leave.

Just to see Merem-Sho arrive. She informs them that her house has been destroyed and Terra remembers that Katsu asked her to check on her house. She darts over, and finds its been boarded up. The key doesn't work, ruffians appear to have taken it over. She asks to be let in, but nope. She angrily huffs off, then drags her companions back. The ruffian mentions that she brought friends. Someone mentions to Koga that he has an improvised thieves tools, and Terra mentions that she COULD just Shatter the damn house and be LET in, but she hears KAtsu's voice in the back of her head and sees his little puppy dog eyes and she just can't bring herself to ACTUALLY destroy his house. So she tells them about the sewer entrance and storms off. Adol asks where Uzu should go, being in the marketplace at the time, but seeing Terra leading them to the sewergate, decides to just take him to the northern temple for now.

The guy standing guard won't let them in. Merem-Sho bares her teeth and says she will kill him, but Terra interjects with kindness and hugs and she'll hire a tutor for his son so he can get an A and the party is thus let in.

The party travel down, and see some Red-Sand Contructy things. Reika scouts ahead and informs them of how many there are. Koga spots a chest and opens it. it says its the property of the Tailess. He shares this information with the rest of the party, and Terra comes to the conclusion that those must be the ones in Katsu's house. the scrolls are Hellish Rebuke, Ilusory Scrip, Cure Wounds, Unseen Servant

Reika, dashing off notes one of them going to the rest, hiding in the alcove. Koga and Merem-Sho make a wall, but it just stumbles through it, spots Merem-Sho, and stabs her. Then stabs twice. Reika dashes through, and a gust of wind dispells the flame it had summoned.Reika then swings her katana down, but it catches on the armour. She makes another swing with the force, thrusting into its sandy body. It doesn't seem affected. She then goes to punch the armour, but it didn't do anything either. Koga dashes and prepares his wind cannon. Terra inspires the party and heals them, then Merem-Sho. She feels a little better, and then Foxfire Blasts into the thing. it seems to be quite effective. He goes to knock Koga out, but he just brings his kunai up and parries it effortlessly. He then casts burning hands, and Koga's wind tunnel BLASTS through, and the fire pillar, though it chars Koga's new toy, certainly makes it pretty bad. Glass shatters through, and though most the party dodge it, Reika, knocked prone, does get hit though. This seems to have attracted attention though, and one of his buddies walks RIGHT INTO THE FIRE PILLAR, knocking him prone and sending glass through his body.

Reika uses some Fire Oil on her katana, tossing it into the air and slashing through it, lighting her katana on fire. She then slashes through it, and it tears through, then again. Glass shards blast throughout, but the party is mostly fine. Koga goes off to look, but upon seeing another one, stealthily backtracks. Terra heals Merem-sho again, who goes for two Foxfire Blasts, which both get sucked up into the fire tornado, which damages the foe and then dissapates. He disperses into sand, which flies alongside the wind tunnel and then dissapears. The one that Koga noticed gets closer, noticing Reika.

Reika goes to attack, but he was prepared, chopping twice. Reika was prepared, and hopdodges his moves. She then attacks twice. Once misses, but the other one digs in. Glass goes flying off, but Reika and Koga just deflect the missiles. She then does another stab, widening the thrust damage. Koga goes to summon a fireball as a distraction, which, with Terra playing, makes a scary face and causes it to turn around. MErem-Sho goes to blast it twice, and one does hit. The thing is confused, and tries to chomp on the fire, but just breaks the illusion. The thing goes to slash at Reika, then Burning Hands her and Koga. Koga manages to dodge some of it, but Reika takes the full force. The other one goes to slash at Ro, who takes the hit and dissapates. He then summons a fireball launcher. Reika slashes at hers, which blows up into glass, then dashes up and slashes toward the other.

Now that they are all defeated, Terra heals Reika, who chugs a potion. Koga goes sluething about. He finds mostly dead-ends. The party go to the only possible way through, and upon seeing a new one of the sasnd demons, devise a plan to lure it. While doing so, another one appears. The first one takes a bite, which dispells it. he blames his friend and lays into him, who, as a response, turns into sand and gets the hell away. Koga notes that it likes money, and lays a minor illusion to trick him. He goes to investigate it, and Reika and Merem-Sho lay into him as his damaged friend pops up behind Terra, who is too afraid to do anything.

They blast the one, killing it, and the other one loots Terra without her noticing. Terra books it, and down the hallway they see a REd bladed guan-dao and another Tabaxi Body. Reika reflexivly covers Terra's eyes, and then apologizes when the cat says she's seen this all before, and way worse. REika takes the Red bladed Guan-Dao and tosses her old green one toward Koga, who catches it.

Eventually the one that materialized behind Terra approaches, and, since they realize it speaks backwards Elven, after a brief teaching moment, Terra asks him about his position. He says he's guarding, and she bought it for a day. He launches a fireball at the last one and accompanies them up to Katsu's House.

People are sleeping, tailless. One person comes back in, and seeing the red bladed Guan-Dao, gives a hairball out of fear. Terra, seething with anger and brimming with confidence, tells them to get out. Simba, seeming to be their leader, begs to be heard out. Terra doesn't want to, but Koga tells him to go for it. He says a rival gang took their sewers, their old HQ, and went to blow it up. So they had a hand in here. However, now that they have one staring at them, they're all just going to leave. Terra stops the man, and asks if he's taken anything from her friend. He lies, but Terra sees through it. Finally, he asks for one day to leave, and then her giant friend is free to tear them up if they aren't gone. The oni says he'd like that. Terra agrees, and they get to work. As they leave, Terra asks her mercenary if, even though she was only paid for a day, he would like to not only guard the house, but make sure they leave promptly. He agrees, and the party goes to the tavern, Koga tells Reika that they will drink, and he will not take no for an answer. They have much to discuss.

Refugees from the city are all in the tavern. They're all happy to see Merem-Sho, the children chanting that Substitues Suck! Then they Notice Terra, and demand she perform. She draws upon the anguish of the past month and plays. Everyone is crying and sobbing, heads in their hands. Reika and Koga have a serious conversation, where he reveals to her that he is not a doctor, rather, he is a ninja, servants of Izanami. In turn, she reveals of how dire her quest is. Both have been downing their sake with increased fevor. Then Merem-Sho's Baker friend comes in. Everyone loves the rolls, and the party take a load off from the long month...

Then Koga wakes up, hands bound. Someone from behind him asks where the scroll is. He says it was stolen, but he didn't take it. Who he was talking to does not believe him, and knocks him off the building as Ninja are set upon him. He tricks one into cutting him free, and deflects kunai left and right. Some explode. One grapples him with a long rope weapon. One summons a barrier around the entrance of Dragon's Flagon. A kunai explodes again, knocking the ninja who was grappling him dead. Another explosion occurs, this one waking Merem-Sho up. Ro drags her out the window. "NO INTERFERENCE! THIS IS THE PASSING OF SUPERIOR JUDGEMENT!" as a ninja lands in front of her. a magic looking sword is pointing at her. she tells him that she won't, while telepathically sending a message to Ro to rouse the others, and she flits away to wake Reika.

Koga fucking SHADOWWALKS through a building and points his weapon at shen, who is the one with the sword. "Enough Shen! There is no need to pay the blood of others when mine will work as well!"

"Ah, our wills align."

"I do not plan on dying here. I have a mission to fulfill." Shen seems unconvinced. Shen turns toward Koga and Ninja's him. A shadowy mark forms above his head. He then places a single hand on the handle of the blade.

Reika, awake, goes to attack Shen, whose blade spins and carves through her, making her head ring. She thrusts Fire Fang toward him once, but he catches it. She does it again, then goes to whop him with her fists, which land. A ninja notices that Reika went to attack Shen, and tosses a kunai at her. She effortlessly deflects it away. A ninja goes to grapple Koga, but he Judo flips him away. He expresses sadness that they were caught up in his troubles, then goes to attack Shen. Despite the flurry of blows, Shen takes it with no problem. He then grasps his blade and warps away. He's standing on a ledge, and the three party members take powerful damage, Koga going down. Terra wakes up and hops through her window, Erricil and her Lute in hands. She heals her friends, inspiring them, then heals koga, who is then forced to fall asleep due to a sleep charm on a kunai. Koga is then whisked away. Reika leaps after Shen. The two agree that they are not each others mark, but Reika is ready to fight, and she does, landing a few blows. Merem-Sho blasts two foxfire blasts through Ro at the ninja carrying Koga. Terra casts dissonant whispers on Shen. He returns the favour by Marking her. He then turns and attacks Reika, but she blocks it. Still, purple fire envelops her. She swings Fire-Fang Twice, but he blocks it.

A ninja leaps to the roof that Merem-Sho and Terra are on, and Smokebombs the area. Terra stabs him with Erricil, which pulses with a small spark of electricity. Shen then goes to attack REika, and knocks her down. He then carries her behind a building. Merem-sho blasts two more firefox blasts at Shen. Terra double jumps across buildings and heals Reika. She then whispers into her lute and strums, causing Shen to leap away. He then leaps back toward Reika, who stands and downs a potion. She asks Shen why he's doing it, and he responds that he's going to retrieve the scroll. Reika pulls out the fake she was given, and he dismisses it. She asks why doesn't he just search him. He says he'll be taking Koga. and the rest of the party as well, seeing as they are pretty adept. He then invites her to hit him again. She does. Really really hard. He's actually impressed. However, he blasts REika with his weapon, knocking her down. Terra wants to fight valiantly, but a sleeping charm knocks her out.

With everyone asleep, the party are thus whisked away, kidnapped by ninjas.

Session 12: Just a misunderstanding friend, just a misunderstanding.

Koga, Terra, and Reika wake to the biting wind. In front of Koga, Shen is sitting, crosslegged, his hands balled into a fist. The party can feel the frustration from eminating from him. Koga realizes that Shen having the Spirit Blade is really bad, as it's from a different clan.

"You wouldn't be stupid enough to have hidden it." Shen says. Koga looks at the sword and says simply that their clan is not the only one missing a relic. "Well then. I suppose I should fill you in." Koga agrees, saying they both have news.

Shen takes the spirit blade out, and it hovers. He gestures to the surrounding ruins. "This place I have dubbed Himishi-no-basu. It's our current base of operations." He starts explaining of the ninjas around, saying about nine names. "This is all that remains of the clan. We went to the Sut clan, because we needed the spirit blade to help us with our quest. I ended up getting the blade, but as a result, the Sut clan, working with the Wood clan, all but wiped the Mist clan out. This is our tenth night in Anshin. We saw your ship dock. This makes us curious as to the fate of the umi-bozu."

Koga informs him that they did defeat the Umi-Bozu, and then recaps to Shen what had happened on the night that he had vanished. He also shares his dream with Shen. Shen curiously brings the spirit blade to him, but upon seeing that he doesn't glow, deduces that he didn't become one with the scroll. Shen informs them of one ninjas being unconconscious. It appears they hope for Koga to wake them.
Shen tells them that they are free to leave if they can, but with the undead horde, it may be difficult, especially with the gate being down.  Ro pops her head out from the bag next to Reika. Shen seems to be rather impressed, noting that he didn't stuff her in the bag.
---

Merem-Sho, last night, runs into the inn and informs the inn's patrons that "Rogues are attacking! Invisible Rogues!" The innkeep busts open a bag of flour and spreads it around, but nothing happens. Merem-sho begs the innkeep to help, since they kidnapped her friends, and she tells her to ask the professors. Merem-sho tries to ask Ro, but breathes and focuses. She feels herself being jostled around. Fear coursing through her, she runs off to an old ex-friend's house. Ashitara, a simple maths teacher, doesn't take her seriously at first, reminding Merem-Sho that she still has her frying pan. Merem-sho says that her house was destroyed, but she'll buy her a new one. So Ashi thinks on it, and talks her down with logic. Merem-Sho goes off to inform the authorities. She sees several boards, but no person. Merem-sho runs off to the college walks, but sees absolutely no one is awake at this time.  She goes off to try and sleep, but feels Ro settle. Transferring her senses, Ro pops out her head. MErem-sho says wait, but it comes out as a small chirp.
---

As Shen leaves, a more portly ninja, Hideo with a large pot sets out to feed them. He says he's glad that Koga isn't their enemy. Koga starts stress eating, helping himself. "You might, well, This is, as you can see, something of my problem. So I understand if you'd rather not get involved in it." Ro is chirping, and Reika remembers that Merem-Sho can do that.

"Either Merem-Sho is communicating through Ro, or Ro wants a treat.... probably both. Definitely both." Koga passes his bowl to Ro, who gets to eating.

"This is my debt." Koga says.

"Well it's not like we can go anywhere else." Reika says.

Merem-sho, asking through Ro, wonders whats up. Koga informs her of whats going on, and Merem-sho says she'll try to get to them as soon as possible. Ro then sits to eat the stew, filling it up a couple of times.
Koga walks over to the comatose ninja and looks over him. He looks stone cold dead, and it appears to be outside his medical expertise. He asks about the nature of what got at him, and the alchemist says that it may have been something to do with his spell he was casting. Reika recalls that when a certain kind of thing kills you, it knocks you unconscious and a shinigami tries to persuade you to deaths edge.
Reika informs Koga of this. "Well, ever since the scroll got stolen I've come to accept that. What of it?"
Kohei, the one overlooking the comatose ninja, asks if it's something on the physical plane they can deal with. Reika knows that they did have to manifest in this plane of existence, so it must be around here somewhere. Kohei takes out two cases and afixes them to her hands. "Let me know when we're going." Reika tells her that it's not entirely certain where it would be. Kohei goes to talk to Shen, but he's in a trance, so she leads them to the ninja drawing in the sand, Akihiro. He informs them that Shotoro is missing. Kohei tells the two that Shotoro is his apprentice. Reika mentions that she's not sure that there's enough of the mist clan left to be so blassé about this, but he says they couldn't likely recover the body. He says that he is the head scout, and could maybe find him without dying. Akihiro tells them that if he's not back in an hour, it probably didn't work.  Koga tells him to walk within izanami's shadow, and he poofs away.

The cartagropher and Archeologist, Tatsuo and Hidiaki welcome them, and Reika asks where exactly they are. He pulls out a map and shows them. Reika quips that it's a bit too far to walk. Tatsuo leads them through a large sandstone doorway. It's pretty cramped, single file. Eventually they come to a large magickal barrier, crimson, looks more condensed.  Reika looks at Koga, who shrugs. She thinks on it a little, but she doesn't have a clue. He says he's thinking about drilling a magickal hole, but that could cause a cave in, so that's really a last option.  Reika mentions that a tomb raider could have set it off, but... Reika goes back up, picks up some rubble, and goes back down, about thirty feet away. She lobs the rock, and it dematerializes into dust with a loud cracking sound. Tatsuo says he is thus glad they didn't stab it. Reika turns to Koga and mentions the barrier she was told there was in Mokiyomi, and how it didn't affect her. Koga raises an eyebrow in concern. Reika cuts off some of her hair, bundles it up, and tosses it through the barrer. The hair disintigrates. Reika turns to Koga and shrugs. "No special bloodline priveleges here, I see." He snarks. Koga looks around, and notes a carving. He gets the urge to touch it, since it speaks to him. He almost zombily walks to it, touching it.

His mind flashes back to the time he accepted the scroll, and the symbol glows a purple black. All other similar carvings light up, but five other distinct carvings remain dull. Tatsuo goes to touch the symbols, looking at Koga. Koga touches the other five, but nothing happens. Reika tries to, yet nothing. AS they emerge, Akihiro approached them, telling him he was successful. He says that their quarry is in the north. He looks around at the party, and notices that they are pretty beat up. He suggests that they could rest, but the problem seems pretty urgent. Koga approaches Kohei and tells them that they have their target, but they are in bad condition. Kohei spreads salve amongst the party and a potion on Reika. Koga, needing a weapon, takes the Spirit Blade. "Forgive me. I might Need this for our Clans survival."
Outside, Ro casts invisibility on herself and flits above the party. Koga warns Kohei to not stand near the Forsaken for too long.  He goes to slash at a Forsaken and realizes that he feels fine. The Spirit blade goes through like butter, and the forsaken's bones fall to the ground, unmoving. He then tosses a spirit kunai, but it misses.  Terra strums up inspiration for the party, then whispers madness into another forsaken, killing it. Reika dashes over to a forsaken and chops at it with Firefang twice. It dies. Kohei dashes north and tosses a Kunai at the Shinigami's back, and then it explodes.  This gets the Shinigami's attention and it turns around.

Ro flits up and looks around. The Shinigami floats a little, and appears behind Koga, wrapiing his arms around him. Koga feels his strength sapped away. Koga takes the spirit blade to attack, thrusting it into its abdomen. The Shinigami evaporates into a black mist. Koga then moves a little and tosees a chakra kunai. It misses. Terra goes up closer and whispers madness yet again. This one runs away as a ripple of psychic energy goes through it. Reika dashes through to it with some monk prowess and slashes with Firefang. It falls, defeated.

More forsaken appear, one approaches Kohei, bringing it up, but Kohei swings it to the side. In reaction, Kohei throws a smokebomb down at her feet, knocking her attacker prone.  She then pops up beside Terra and tells her that since the shinigami is defeated, they should leave. She then grabs Terra by the elbow and drags her away. Reika whips up a sandstorm to cover for their escape, looting three Forsaken along the way. Koga dashes south and knocks a charkra kunai into another forsaken. A dampening field surrounds it and it starts to sink down.

Koga approaches Shen, taking off the spirit blade and sinking it into the ground next to him. Koga awkwardly pulls it up some. Kairu is no longer lieing prone, in a much more sleeplike position, with colour having returned to his skin. Kohei walks over to Akihiro, and quitely mentions that she didn't see any signs of the other two ninja.
Reika and Ro take a look at the purple pulsating crstal and discover its both a catalyst and fuel, noting that it's aligned with the south.
---

Merem-Sho wakes at the Dragon's Flagon, the innkeep telling her that someone's here for her. She asks who, and he says Shamiwa Anshin. After she gets ready and down, she goes out and sees that he has four bodyguards. He says that he received word that she had been with the leader of Ramui. Merem-sho tells him what went on, and he assumes that she may have had something to drink, but the innkeep informs that she's correct.

Shamiwa leads her away, and he asks what exactly is going on. he then clarifies that he wasn't asking for a synopsis, and asks her how she came to be of Reika's company. Merem-sho gives a stuttering summary, with Shamiwa asking questions every now and then.  Shamiwa says that the college will be at her disposal, as soon as they rescue Reika.

Eventually they come to a bridge that leads to the seperate islands. Or would, if the bridge wouldn't be broken. He says that Tibalt has been working with him to get cloaks imbued with constant invisibility. He says he's been close to finishing, and he was going to meet with Tibalt, but other things always get his attention away. He asks if Merem-sho has other plans for the day, and after Merem-Sho determining that Ro is sleeping, She agrees to be lead away to Tibalt.

He looks like he hasn't been awake for very long, and Merem-Sho introduces herself. She's kinda elated to know that he knows her, even if briefly. He tells her of what he's going to do, then questions how she got involved. She says that she got involved due to Metaphysical shenanigans. He says that he should be done with the finishing touches by about midday, and that she should definitely accompany them. Jaeshala mentions she needs a divination spell or a scrying spell or something. Tibalt says she's lucky he can do that.

and they spend an hour trying, but doesn't come up with anything. Finally, Shamiwa asks if she has anything to do today. She mentions that she'd like to look up information of gods or reincarnations or something, and goes off to find some books.
She finds out a lot of information about gods and various undead, and even about the Umi-Bozu.
---

The party wake, and Kairu, with two others, approach. Shen, and the Spirit Blade, are both gone. He mentions that because he was woken, he was able to find the other two with a divination spell. He says that a gate prevented them from entering Shima Kie, wiht Yokai on the other side. Koga mentions that he felled them. Kairu says that he can try again, with measures in place now. He says that most of the ninja don't blame him, the way Shen does. Koga expresses some hope for rebuilding, but Kairu says there's nothing to rebuild. Kiga says they will find a way, perhaps a new home.

Kairu says that there's a thought of one shard of izanami gone, and the the other not in his rightful place, things may be changing. Koga stops, cupping his chin. "Well... Mist rarely stays in the same shape." Kairu then informs them of the ancient sigils, saying that they are representations of reality. He says Kuro is the fifth of the sixth.
Ro chirps around, and gives an update to the situation to Merem-Sho.
---

Merem-sho, having this information, goes up to inform Tibalt and Shamiwa of what's going on, saying that a teleportation circle shall appear in the sewers. Merem-sho asks if undead will come through to Ro, and Koga says those aren't a problem. Merem-sho asks if Tibalt can go through, and Koga says that Authorities probably aren't that good an idea. Tibalt then pulls out crumpets and treats her to a very sugary lunch.

Merem-sho, afterwards, goes to meditate to get in contact with Chiharu... and Chiharu climbs through the window to her room and sits on her bed.  She says that she knows she was going to go back to Ramui as soon as she could, but she got a case of the cold feet. Merem-sho says its alarming, but she says that change is hard. Merem-sho asks if she knows where exactly her friends are, and Chiharu nods, showing her where on a map.

Merem-sho asks hos she is, and Chiharu's response is that she's a little salty, since Merem-sho used to be such a pipsqueak and yet now she's doing good. Chiharu thanks her for trying to help Ozuma, and tells her that he isn't doing any better. She then asks if Katsu-Tora would be a good friend to her. Merem-Sho thinks about it, and affirms it, while warning her that he may take advantage of her looks. Chiharu then approaches her and hands her an emerald shaped like her comb. "Thanks for everything you've done."  And then she climbs out and away, after casting a minor blessing on her.
---
Koga goes to help Kohei with medicine, not wanting to be restless. She expresses a lot of gratitude for helping, and gives him the recipeh for lesser healing potion.
What lies in store for them now? Will the party reunite, or the spell backfire?

Session 13: Playing by the Hand.

Koga approaches Shen, and asks for a word. The ninja comes out of meditation. Koga asks if Merem-Sho and her assocciates could come here, and Shen says it would be better if a few of the ninja go with the party. Koga asks for Shen, Karou, and Tatsuo to help; Shen leaves the spirit blade with one of the other ninja. Hideyaki asks how it's important to them, and Koga says that the support they could garnish would be excellent. Tatsuo seems a little excited to be getting new information. Karou is just finishing the teleportation sigil, and correctly deduces that he is going with them. He then decides to make a few alterations to the sigil.

Koga informs Merem-sho that he and a few ninja will teleport to her instead of the other way around. Merem-sho appreciates this information and gets a volunteer to tell Shamiwa of the information while she goes to the sewers to meet them.

Koga goes through the sewers, and notes that he's in his doctor's uniform. Kaoru goes through and is wearing onmiyoji clothing. Shen is an Instrumentalist, and Tatsuo has some archeology clothes. He thinks that's pretty nifty. Reika and Terra follow, but nothing happens to their clothes.

Merem-sho goes through the only unguarded entrance, in Katsu Tora's house. Merem-sho finds herself face to face with the oni Mercenary that hired itself to Terra. After Merem-sho freaks out and seems to dig herself a pretty big hole, the mercenary prepared for battle until Merem-sho suddenly realizes that she needs to pay the mercenary. She pays him ten gold, and he saunters out the door. Screams and running are heard, but no bloodshed is heard.

She hops down into the sewers and meets her friends. She says to Shen that if he ever tries to attack her friends that she will pour an Eldritch Blast in the closest oriface she can find. Shen seems to approve of all the fiesty women that Koga attracts, and starts tuning his Biwa as the party plus climb up.

Merem-Sho returns their belongings, and Koga notices he has a kodama teacup, and Terra a kodama sushi dish. She then tells the party that they will be meeting Shamiwa. Reika does not seem to be too happy about this, going over why she doesn't really like him. Terra quips that it may be an ex-boyfriend, which, while sounding like an aassumption and a half on her part, makes sense given how she's been with her relationships. Still, it earns her a smack on the head from Reika. This information gives Merem-sho some serious problems, as she realizes that she's been manipulated. Reika says that a drive for power isn't inherently a bad thing, but it can still be somewhat concerning. Koga tells Shen to start hiding, but keep his ears open for any possible attacks. Reika, noticing Koga back in his doctor's outfit, asks if He could just do it for her. He says that he couldn't but he opens up his disguise kit and starts to apply make-up to Reika.

The result is breathtaking. Reika, looking at her reflection, approves and wonders outloud if Koga's talents may have been wasted on ninjitsu. This seems to hurt koga's feelings just a bit. Still, the party are beckoned in. Reika beckons her a servant and tells them to deliver a message to Shamiwa. He says it will take about an hour, and Merem-Sho takes this time to try and sell the emerald she was given by Chiharu. Still, she doesn't find the one she wanted to sell it to, but she does find the fortune teller. She goes in and is met with an unfamiliar face, though eventually it dawns on her that she has wandered around during a festival. Merem-Sho asks what kind of divination magic she uses, and she says she doesn't use any that merem-sho would know, but rather  the deck of cards.

Merem-sho asks about her fortune for the upcoming meeting, and the outcome therein, what she should do to keep it a disaster. She clarifies about what she means, and selects a card.  She pulls it up and sees a characature of a  group of people inside the palace, with a friendly looking shamiwa approaching with open eyes. She sees a shadow in the corner with two glowing red eyes watching the party, and Shen in the corner watching them. Merem-sho says it raises more questions, but it does answer a few questions. She notes a symbol on the cards and writes it on her hand after she leaves.

She goes back to the party, glancing up at where she saw the ninja in her card, and there shen is, she then informs the party about the card she gained. Koga says that maaaaybe he shouldn't put too much stock into talking about our aggressors when they are in the room with us.

Shamiwa comes in with Tibalt, and while Koga and Terra don't recognize them, they do recognize that Tibalt is foreign. Koga thinks to himself that Tibalt is one well fed dragonborn, and Shamiwa says they get down to business as he sits on his throne. He asks how the party got here. Reika thinks about his motives, and she gives a well mannered chuckle, informing him that they got here by ship. He then clarifies and asks how they got past the Umi-Bozu.

When Reika tells him that Koga had done the deed, Shamiwa dismisses it, saying he cares not for how exactly it was dispatched, just that it had dispatched. Reika asks if the leader of Anshin had come back, and Shamiwa denies this. Reika says that her father is still missing, and Shamiwa says that es, poor Saiyetsu.

They then get to discussing the Forsaken in the desert, and the party note that they didn't seem to dissappear in the sands. Shamiwa turns around, and MErem-Sho notes that the same engraving on his blade is written on her hand. The party are told they have three devices to go, and Shamiwa and Reika are two of them. Reika looks at the party, and though Koga steps up, Terra places a hand on his shoulder. She was used to people with ulterior motives, and Shamiwa definitely had some. He wanted to take the leader of Ramui alone to somewhere? She wouldn't have that, and volunteers with her restorative magic being most helpful. Shamiwa agrees on that, and after Reika tells him that they would need time to prepare, tells them that he will be waiting by the bridge in the morning after. He then tells the party to help themselves to a few bags in the treasury. They do, and Merem-Sho and Reika go to talk to Tibalt.

Tibalt informs them that the symbol is for enchantment, likely having been passed down through the times. He mentions that Shamiwa's blade is said to have passed down through his family. When Reika asks how proficient Shamiwa seems to be with magic, Tibalt says that frankly the elementary teacher seems to have more power, though he could be keeping the power under wraps.

Reika then asks how he Shamiwa is with Divination, recieving looks from both Tibalt and Merem-Sho. Reika then goes on to explain that Shamiwa couldn't have known that Reika specifically would be on the ship. Reika grills Tibalt some more, and eventually he just recommends someone from a higher quarter, as Shamiwa wouldn't talk with a peasant. Merem-Sho mentions that her ex could possibly know some divination. Tibalt's eager to get to his books, but Koga then asks him about his kinda-undead ailment. A couple of magics later, Tibalt asks if he's pulling his leg. Koga then demonstrates infront of the party, putting his arm though a shadow in a wall. Terra seems pretty impressed. Tibalt mentions that he knew a guy once who did that, carried a dark sword. He asks if Koga can go through his shadow, but he denies it. The party then leave. At the forest, Shen appears in front of the party and asks how it went. Reika informs him that Shamiwa is hiding something because of everything he knew before they told him.

Shen then informs the party that he didn't notice Merem-Sho leave until twenty minutes later, as there was SOMETHING that appeared to take her place. The party didn't know it, or even acknowledge it. The only thing Merem-sho could think of is some kind of Yokai...

Kaoru asks if Reika can get one of the "Cloaks" so he could study them. Reika asks how Kaoru did his thing, and he says that it was a thing passed down through his family. This gets Reika even more curious about Shamiwa and how he could possibly know something that is even close to similar. She then thinks on the the ruins at Ninja Camp, and realizes that the symbol on Shamiwa's scabbard is the same as the symbol on the red barrier. Tatsuo asks if he's free to go to the college of excavation, but the party stops him, given who is currently running the college has massive red flags for the party.

Koga and Reika break off from the party, looking for a way to repair his cannon. They look around, and a villager passing by notes that maybe it could be mended with the spell, well, mending. Koga makes a note to ask Terra, and then asks Reika about the plan. She says it's a very loose definition of plan, but if she takes Terra along, perhaps Koga and the others can follow in the shadows.

Koga affirms that it's worth a shot, and then asks Reika for some advice regarding his clan. He says one way is to just disolve the clan, let everyone get on to normal lives. Reika asks him how he was raised, and Koga goes on to talk about his life a little. Reika then clarifies that she was asking if he would be okay with being a doctor the whole rest of his life. Koga affirms this, then says he wonders if Reika would like his services as a doctor. Reika tells him to cut the foreplay and just ask if he would like his clan to be in ramui. He says that it's up to Shen where the rest of the members go, but yes, he would like to be under Reika's house if it comes to the clan dispersing. Reika tells him that he and his clan are welcome in Ramui anytime.

Merem-sho goes to Tokigawa to appraise the emerald comb. He tells her that it isn't magic, although it is beautiful.

Terra goes through the harbour, seeing that the Claw of the White Tora is being altered some more. She calls for Katsu and tells him that his house has has been taken up by squatters. He angrily hops down and storms into his house, using "Expetive" instead of any swears or the word expletive. They get into his house and he's mad already, looking around. They do seem to have not taken anything, though they did rearrange the silverware. He then tells her of the trade routes, asking for her advice on it. He also informs her that more Umi-Bozu are still out there, blocking potential trade routes. Ramui would give them plenty of money, but if they went to Oma Natue, where its more trade and bartered goods, they have the chance to aqquire artifacts. Terra says then that the best method is to take a few trips toward Ramui, and then go off to Oma Natue. Getting a windfall of money is epecially important as Katsu needs to repay his debts, both the one from Ramui and the one he's incurring here, since he's changing the ship.  Katsu doesn't seem very happy about it, and Terra and Kastu go "Eeeehhhhh" To each other before laughing and saying that it's good that things are back to normal, even if Terra's scary when she's angry.

So she goes back to the party and informs them of that situation, Reika doesn't seem too happy about it, and slightly less so when Terra reminds her that the the starving people of Ramui will be grateful for the aid, and likely very beneficial and eager to pay money wise. Nonetheless, because Terra believes in him even when her wallet doesn't, Reika does pony up the dough.

Merem-sho divulges the information about the cards while the party go on to the fortune tellers tent. Reika realizes then that she's seen her before; when she was young, with her father. She realizes that she hasn't aged a day. Reika says she remembers her talking to him over a decade ago, and says she hasn't aged a day since. Reika asks who she is, and she responds with "That's a Trade Secret" Ro lands on Reika and narrows his eyes, and Reika figures out that it isn't quite a secret. She asks if they were looking for a blessing, but Merem-Sho asks about the cards. She says that they were a gift from a friend, and the person who gave them to her put the symbol they see there. Merem-Sho says that she'd love to meet the friend, and she says it's a little preoccupied. Merem-Sho asks if her friend had one arm, and she says maybe. After being entertained, she says that they will only have to pay 50 gold for blessings. The party all agree. Terra feels very sure of her next attack, Koga feels a sense of tranquility when envisioning him and his friends around a campfire. Reika feels pretty lucky, flipping a coin absentmindedly, and Merem-sho feels like she can take any attack and be fine.

When Terra goes to pick a card, she sees herself sitting crosslegged on the ground, her back toward an ocean and a flaming continent behind her. In front of her, a town that looks like Anshin and a man in Western Armour with a bow and flaming arrow pointing back to the continent. Terra realizes that this means that the past she left behind will have to be faced if she is to have a normal life. Still, she seems pretty shaken, and this appears to bring the fortune teller some measure of enjoyment, and she offers some water. Terra takes it.

Koga talks to Shen, who was helping Katsu-Tora load up. Koga goes to sign in thieves cant to get Katsu away so they can talk. Koga asks Shen what he's planning on doing, and he says that going to Oma Natue and Rebuilding was the plan. But if the scroll is gone, maybe their job is done. He says that he wouldn't like to see the clan so easily dispersed, but he's glad that he didn't have to kill Koga, and is proud of him for coming as far as he did. Koga says that he was thinking on what he'd do if they were disbanded. Shen says that having Koga see these world views may be the very thing that has made him grow. Shen says that he's going to help in Anshin, and then, when things are tidied up, they can confront the rest of the storm. Koga says that he'd love to have them trail, but Shen informs him that the undead seem to come from the ruins in Ninja Camp. He says that it would be good to go along with Shamiwa's plans for now, make him see like he's holding all the cards. Shen says that the ninja will likely relocate to the sewers, since it seems like they are a bit of a safe haven. Shen says that he's thinking of going with Katsu for a little bit, and asks if Koga can think of anything. The smaller ninja mentions that if they are going to Oma Natue, they may be able to salvage something of their old home. Shen says that is a great idea, and they will likely go with him when he goes there.

The next morning, Reika and Merem-Sho get down to the bridge, meeting Shamiwa next to a tent. He looks pretty geared up. He asks if they are ready to go. Reika says that they are going to need about a week, and Shamiwa says that's fine, and that he'll be around there. Reika then goes to Tibalt and asks if she can borrow one of the ignoring charms. Kaoru's pleased when he gives it, checks it over, and sends it back to Tibalt, and gives Reika 2,000 G for remembering about it.

The party take a week to study under some colleges. Merem-Sho, halfway through the week, feels a pull toward the northern temple grounds in the middle of the night. She follows, munching on some pastries. Getting to the top of the steps, she sees Uzu cuddling with Chiharu. Adol seems to be nearly dozing, Brilliante on his knees. Merem-sho asks Chiharu if she had called her, and the kitsune mentions that she was having a good dream, and it must have been about her. She asks if Merem-Sho had sold her emerald comb, and the warlock denies as such. This doesn't suprise Chiharu, since that's a friend of hers. Merem-sho asks why she hadn't left with Katsu, and she gestures toward Uzu. "He brings a sense of home with him. It's nice..." Merem-sho asks if she knows of the symbol, and Chiharu says that it's dangerous, but she wouldn't quite know. She does know that is comes from the kirin, and has a sence of esoteric ancientness about it. Chiharu says that Uzu has reminded her of the value of innocence, and that this is something she should retain her innocence from. Chiharu tells her to tell Tokugawa to "Get rid of that stupid fucking try and know-it-all urn."

Merem-Sho goes to leave, and that's when Adol wakes up. He tells her that he may take his job too seriously. He says he has a bad feeling about this, and when Merem-Sho asks what type of feeling it is, He asks if they have known war. Merem-sho says that the islands have been at peace for many long years. Adol tells her that this feeling feels like right before war breaks out. He asks if "Her friend" Had taken care of Ericcil, and Merem-sho tells him that she is pleased with it and it's keeping her safe.

The day after, Reika goes to find Ashitara, and is let in after she says that she's Reika Ramui. Ashitara didn't know who she was, so that occurs to Reika that she obviously isn't a suspect. Ashi perhaps thinks that maybe there was a professional that their mutual... person... knew that gave the information to him. Reika realizes this means the professional fortune teller is a very real possibility, and goes to interrogate her. Tenshin affirms that she did indeed read his fortune, though she doesn't know what exactly fortune he drew.

Tenshin does reveal a part of her backstory, saying that she came from Tenshin Natue, despite the rumours of nothing but trickery spirits there. Reika says that she isn't mortal, but not quite a spirit either. She asks if she knows what she is, and Tenshin says she doesn't think she has a name for what she is.  Reika thanks her for helping, even if it raises more questions than answers.

Reika goes to Tibalt and asks if he can take a look at her signet ring, handing it over to him. He says it has quite a bit of unchecked potential, a latent magickal item. He says it's a puzzle of a sort, and if he does it wrong it could lock it out forever. So he'd rather instruct her how to use it. He says that she needs to bring this ring fuel of every direction. The hard part is that the fuels must be of similar strength. He says he's pretty curious, and wants a stake in this, giving her three red feathers as Potent Eastern fuel.  He wants her to find the other fuels and try it out, then let him know how it goes.

Katsu gets back, with Raikiri and 1634 gold. Terra looks happy that he actually paid his debts.

With a week of preperation under their belts, the party look out and wonder what will happen on this expedition...

Session 14: The word of the day, is Kuro

During the week, Merem-sho meets with the headmistress of the merchants guild, asking to file an insurance claim on her house. Asking if it was one of the lost and getting confirmation on it, she hands her a paper. "This entitles you to financial compensation within 2 weeks. If you do not get your compensation you may take it up with us. Would you prefer it in liquidated assets or items of equal value. Unfortunately, due to the surplace of request, the liquidated assets will take longer, while the items of equal value will be delivered in just a couple days." Merem-sho says that she will have to talk with here friends, and she goes off to do that.

The party notice what appear to be the Tower of Trials, slightly submerged, and head off to investigate it. Shosun Jaio and the mystery man from before seem to be talking, yelling at each other even. Reika looks at the tower and turns to the owner, saying "I do hope you realize there are few people here who will hold their breath for the first part."

"Why do you think I'm here? I can make people breathe underwater." The party listen in as eventually the harbourmaster walks away, muttering that he doesn't technically have any rules against a parked tower. Reika realizes that this man is the Man With No Name, who stripped his name from history. He was a former god, but now has no one to worship him. He asks if any of the party want to do the tower. Terra, looking down into the water, decidedly wants no part of it. Merem-sho is all for it though, and enters, diving into the docks after a spell is cast into her.

The first floor has a bowl filled with stones. Merem-Sho takes a black stone and inserts it into the indentation, and the door opens. The second door has a gambling table, and though Merem-sho wins a couple times, she eventually bottoms out. She asks if they can take an item of equal value, but they are interested in only money. Merem-Sho then decides to risk it, and starts betting with illusionary money. She plays for about 25 minutes total, and Merem-sho puts in 999 gold. The door opens. The next room... seems to be a narrow corridor, and it turns to the left. She follows the path. It loops around. After a minute, she finds the end of the maze, but it's locked. Ro has the key, and she unlocks it.

The door opens with a mysterious black spirit sitting crosslegged. Merem-sho looks at it, and deduces it speaks infernal. She writes out "Hello, what do I need to do?" The guy touches his chest, and then points up, then makes a begging motion. Merem-Sho touches his chest. She then asks if he wants her to cast fly. He nods. Merem-sho casts fly on him, and he stands up. The door opens. There's a seal in the middle. Merem-sho deduces that it would summon a docile Anshin Tengu. She does it. She then asks if it knows how to get out. The two investigate. The Tengu his a wall, and it sounds like there's a hollow spot in the wall. Merem-sho goes to hit it, but doesn't produce the same noise. Then the Tengu casts invisible, and lifts her up. there's a door. she opens it. She gets visible, and a hole in the wall where the door was. She warns the Tengu that others may summon it as she leaves.

And is met with the door slamming behind her and the walls comming in, going to close in on her. There's a lever and an hourglass with sand in it. Merem-Sho tries many different ideas, even going to take a hammer and crowbar to one, breaking it. Six remain. She lets an eldritch blast at the hourglass and it breaks. She then pulls the lever, hoping to time the walls just right... by closing her eyes. Eventually, the walls stop. And Merem-sho dashes later and picks up an emerald, getting teleported to the bottom. The Man with No Name seems frustrated that Merem-sho won as they change the tower each time. He reveals that the last person who won was, Reika discovers, Daiza. This spurs Reika on, and she believes that if he did it, then the whole party can, and she kinda glares at Koga in an attempt to get him to volunteer, but TMwNN, henceforth called Susano'o in this recap, says that in order for no cheaters, he'll just have to wait for the next time.

Kaoru approaches and says that they have broken the seal due to Shen buying Tokugawa's urn. Reika and Koga seem annoyed that this worked, but the party go through the sewers and emerge in the ruins. The runes are all lit up, but Koga sees a hulking Oni. JUST Koga. The two ninja previously guarding the ruin approach and say that they have a problem that Koga may be able to help. Koga goes off to look at the oni, who seems uncomfortable with every step Koga takes closer to it. It's eyeing him wearily. Finally, it bellows and pillars knock down, it picks up Shen and a whirlpool of Sand encases him and then settles calmly. Shen is gone. The ninjas all wonder what happened, and Akihiro and Koga dash into the ruins. The party follow him.

Koga looks around, and Reika follows. She sees a desecrated corpse, but it's actually just a spirit pretending! Akihiro whispers to Terra that she will protect their flank. The corpse's eyes glow red and it vomits at her, but she ducks to the side! It then dashes away, and Reika follows, giving two mighty slashes. It seems like it heals a little with each cut. Reika then punches it in the face. It grows bigger. Terra strums her lute with whispers, but it didn't seem to do much. Then it speaks in Elvish. "Ah, this one will make a fine rug! But first, the stabby one!" Terra takes offence to that. The ninja flips over her and slashes at it with his Kusirigama. The wound seems to heal a little. Koga then blasts it with Wind Fury Cataclym's iron shell. The iron shell smacks into its head, and it almost breaks it, but the wound starts stitching together. Koga then stabs it with his Guan Dao. He has a bit of trouble pulling it out, since the wound was already closing. Merem-Sho blasts it with two Eldritch blasts. The thing grows bigger, looking like it's healed substantially, and then tries to pick up Reika and Koga. Reika dodges, but Koga is grabbed and begins shoving it into its chest. Reika goes up to punch it thrice. Terra does more dissonant whispers. Akihiro goes to throw a sleep charm, but misses. Reika catches it for him. Koga breaks free, slashes at it, then jams his fist in the wound, pulls out his heart, and the thing dies.

Terra spends a bit mending everyone's weapons that got damaged while Koga quaffs a potion. Koga touches the door and it opens. The party decide to move quietly, and Koga informs them that it would be best if they took them out in one hit. Koga has a plan. He asks if Akihiro has any firecharms. he has two. Koga produces his oil charm, and Akihiro likes this plan. Koga tosses the oil charm, and then the fire charm. The two are incinerated. A third one, hearing the commotion, comes plodding down the corridor. Reika spins and kicks it four times. Terra strums her lute. Reika smashes it in the face, thrice, killing it. The party then go down the hallway, Akihiro staying near a door. They see a Big boi. Koga wants none of that, but Reika aks him to summon an illusion, The ninja begrudingly does so, and its quickly smashed. The ninja goes to nope out of there. Terra mentions that if the stoic ninja is afraid, she wants no part of it. Reika says that Koga's just being cautious.

"Nope. I am afraid." The ninja says. Still, Reika goads him into at least throwing something at it. Koga gets in range to do it, and a tongue shoots out 35 feet and nearly hits him. The ninja all but runs away, saying tongue. Reika seems to be annoyed that they didn't go to the big boi. They get to the door and open it. Rubble blocks the way. The party hide and tell Terra to Shatter the rock. Akihiro doen't move, and helps her. She shatters just enough, and the party move on.

Koga thinks on it. "This is the symbol for Kuro." He says. Reika asks if the symbols mean he has a bit of undead in him, and he shakes his head. He feels a bit of relief as he touches the symbol, and the party hear something shifted. They travel down a new path, and koga hears something behind the door. Reika strategizes with the party. Koga opens the door and drops to the floor Everybody does the dinosaur Most the party duck, but Merem-show is caught in the fire. Terra tosses a shuriken and then inspires the whole party. The shuriken misses. Merem-sho blasts twice with a foxfire blast, and Reika shoots a torch arrow down its throat, then a normal arrow. Koga whips out Windfury and shoots the target with an iron shell. It knocks its jaw off. Another one seems to want to regenerate, but the fire stops it. Koga whips three shuriken at it, but two miss. Akihiro disengages and dashes off. Another Big Boi sees him and starts beating the fuck out of him. Terra blasts the on fire boi with a dissonant, and it sprints off. Akihiro tosses a sleep charm at it, and its put into a deep slumber.

Merem-Sho blasts the Big Boi twice with Foxfire, he's knocked back by the magickal force. Reika shoots another fire arrow at the Big Boi. it hits and lights him on fire. Reika then shoots another arrow at the Sleepy Boi and passes a Sleep Charm to Koga. Koga tosses the Guan Dao at the Sleepy boi, and he explodes. Then he tosses a sleep charm at the Big Boi. Akihiro dashes off and downs a potion. The Big Boi beats the fuck out of Koga. Terra strums her lute, healing Koga. Koga gets up and mutters his approval, and Terra cheerfully says she took some lessons. She then dashes off to heal Akihiro, who says he'll be back in the fight in no time. Merem-Sho blasts the Big Boi with two Foxfires, and as it is repelled away, Reika launches two arrows and it explodes violently. The party then Stabby Stab the final sleepy boi.

Koga notes a gauntlet on the altar and, upon inspecting it, sees the Kuro symbol on the palm. He puts it on, and the party take a short rest. They then get into a corridor and spot another of the Growy boys. Koga thinks, and tells them that they love performance. Terra thinks nothing on it and starts playing, not freaked out at all by her audience. He's appeased, and the party go into another room after Koga disarms the traps. Inside, another button with Kuro. Koga presses it and another wall opens. as the party rounds the corner, they see more Corrupted Auras. Merem-Sho sends Ro off to investigate, and the poor thing gets shot by arrows. Reika then steps up to blast the skeleton with a torch arrow. the fire fails to catch. Reika then shoots a normal arrow and his body crumples to the floor. Merem-sho is upset that Ro's faded from this plane, and blasts one of them twice with Foxfire. It knocks him down the stairs and he lies prone. Terra casts Whispers on one Forsaken, and Akihiro kills one with his Kusirigama. The Purple one dashes close to the party, and they start coughing. However most of them get their bearings.

Reika draws Raikiri and gives a slash, then a stronger one. Merem-sho blasts him with an eldritch, and then Terra takes a shuriken in her hand and tosses it. It cleaves the head clean off. Koga flashes her a thumbs up. Terra remarks "I can see why you throw so many of them."

The party approach a big door, and Koga ninja climbs his way up and touches the Kuro seal. The door falls back and reveals a massive cavernous sandstone undercity, meant for beings much larger than the party. At the centre, they see a giant big ass boss monster, chained to the pit. It spots the party and a roaaaar echoes through the city. The party prepare.

ession 15: The Demon, the Ninja, and the Urn

Koga looks toward Reika. "Perhaps we should tiptoe around this one." The party turn around and talk about it. Merem-sho suggest that maybe it wants to talk, but Terra says its likely chained up for a reason. Still, the party tiptoe around it to investigate the other temples. Koga pulls out a scroll of Scrying, trying to locate Shen. He sees some murky, inky blackness, and far off there's a lone flickering candlelight, though it doesn't seem to be putting off enough illumination...

Reika pulls out the fake scroll of shadows, and she does see the symbol on the scroll. Merem-sho notes that the symbol seems to be reflective on the nature of duality. Reika suggests that Merem-sho and Terra try and open it, but nothing happens when they touch it. Ro gives it a shot, but nothing. Reika touches it with her Twin fangs, and it flickers a little. The party touch it in duos, and it turns out that Koga is putting in half the work. Reika gets an idea and has Koga give her whisper. Saying the command word to turn it on, the moonlight emitting from it is sucked up and Whisper dims as Koga touches it. Terra pokes around and moves a few rocks, but she's a weak little shit so the party eventually help her and in ten minutes they appear to have cleared a path. They start heading up. Its unnerving having Demonboi at their backs, but they make it up some. It really seems to be more a cave, with little architecture. The party only spend a few minutes before going out of the antechamber. The demon doesn't look angry, but it appears to be doing something. Reika thinks about it and tries to recall positioning and relations to exits and entrances, but she becomes rather confused. She focuses again and asks Merem-Sho about this door. "It seems to be the other half of the duality." Koga notices that two doors close on their own.

Merem-sho notes that the next symbol isn't related to the other three. Reika touches the door with the Twin Fangs and Raikiri, but nothing happens. Merem-sho tries touching it with Forlorn blade, but nothing happens. They go through to the next symbol, and Merem-sho can't quite remember what this one was. They touch a few items to it, but nothing happens. The next one, though, Merem-sho knows it's assocciated with life. Terra tries to cast Cure Wounds, and the symbol flickers, but it doesn't do anything. Reika wonders if Koga could find out where the spirit blade is since he was attuned to it. Koga tries, but fails. Reika tries to use the infuse scroll and cycle through the schools of magic, but it only lightly flckered for Shi.

While she's doing this, Koga looks down at his feet, then his party members feet, and he doesn't feel so good. The ninja shakes his head and says that something feels off, suggesting the party to withdraw. The rest of the party debate a little bit about the door, with Terra wanting to flee too. Though Reika believes that the door is the only way to get through to Shen, when Koga says that he's seeing debris start to fly. The party start to run, and a sandstorm kicks in! Sandstone pillars block the way. Terra summons a shatter spell, but after it gets off, her vision darkens. Koga slaps his palm against the now-free door, and Reika picks up Terra and the party leave!

Akihiro asks them what they were met with, and they reply a wall. The other ninja mentions that the party had helped him with the first wall, the umi-bozu. Akihiro suggest that the party perhaps rest before they make an attempt to take on this wall. The party think about how to go about it. Merem-sho eventually sends Ro invisible to investigate, and they find that the Demon Boi now has copies of Raikiri and Whisper in its hands. Merem-sho speaks through Ro and says Greetings. The Demon Boi asks if Ro was one of the ones that disturbed him, and Merem-Sho apologizes. He looks at his copy of Raikiri and he turns invisible. Ro flits out and Merem-Sho informs the party. They wait just a little bit, and he pops back into visibility, with his copy of Raikiri gone.

Koga takes a good hard look at this Demon Boi. He looks to be in pretty bad shape, which isn't really a common thing with Yokai, and him being chained means that the one who did it was very strong and had very loose morals. Koga asks, through Merem-Sho and Ro, what he'd do with his freedom. The Demon opens his eyes and looks contemplative. Ro looks at the chains, and they have the symbol from the Barrier. Merem-Ro asks him again what he would do with his freedom. and he asks if they are afraid if him. Merem-Ro asks again, and he stares at Ro, and says that they didn't answer. When she replies that they only want to respect them, he scoffs and says that in that case they would see him in person. Reika and Koga get up to meet him, while Terra stays behind with Merem-sho to make sure she's okay.

Still, the Demon Boi feels its a little insulting to only send half the party. But, discussions do get underway. When asked if they thought themselves safe, Koga says that "No. Any moment could bring a dire threat. However, we are on a mission to rescue someone."

"The one corrupted." When Reika describes Anshin, The demon nods. Reika asks if she's down here, and the Demon says she's not in Ishe-kay-musho.. "She is underneath. Below me. I begrudgingly guard passage to her."

They talk more about the thing that Koga had seen. The Yokai boi says that he knows of it, but hadn't seen it. However, because it follows the path of Kuro, it must be in the temple somewhere. Reika asks what two of the doors mean. Duality is Kukio, and Light is Ningin.

Reika asks why it didn't work, and the Boi responds with her not being on the Path. Reika asks how Koga had gotten on the path, and Koga suspects that it had gotten to him. Reika wants to confirm that the demon wants to be free, and that they don't want to have to fight them. Reika asks him again if they wouldn't harm the party, and he says he'll think on it if they can manage to free them. Having no where else to go to find the Kuro demon, the party excuse themselves to go and fight the Big Boi they had missed. Koga grumbles about it all the way to it, muttering how Reika always gets her damn way.

Merem-Sho blasts him twice with Foxfire Blasts, Koga runs up and slashes at it twice, jumping up and going for the eyes. Reika launches a fire arrow and then a normal arrow, and Terra inspires Koga. Merem-Sho blasts two firefoxes, and Koga jumps up and slashes. It explodes. Ro gets his and dissaperates, and Koga and Merem-Sho both get splattered. Koga downs a potion and Terra heals him up with a spell. Koga touches a Kuro symbol and it reveals a hidden room. Shen is there. He's asleep, but he's there. The party stagger back out, and Koga sees a message to him that informs him they've returned to Shima Kie. Suddenly, Merem-sho realizes, with prompting from Reika, that this means that Anshin, the missing leader of the islands, is down there. This seems to freak her out a little.

Koga thinks about it, and comes to the conclusion that the thing seems to have been trying to protect Shen? Reika shakes Shen up. He looks around for his Spirit Blade and finds it on his back. He then asks if the party had to deal with it. Reika and Koga fill him in, and he nods slowly. He then asks why it didn't hurt him, and Reika says its a very good question. When Koga describes the thing that kidnapped him, Shen turns to his fellow ninja and says something in Sylvan to Koga. Though he understands Sylvan, it still sounds like random words. Now that he understands, he mentions he may be safer there, and says he should gather the ninjas up.

And then Merem-Sho sees the urn that Tokigawa tried to sell to her. She knocks on it, and the spirit inside the urn gets to talking. When asked how it dispelled the barrier, the urn retortingly asks how Merem-sho lifts chopsticks. Merem-sho, ever oblivious, says she does it with her fingers. The mimic retorts that there are spells he could do for that. Reika, wanting to be patched in, asks. The mimic informs Merem-Sho that he doesn't like people from Ramui because they are too big for their britches and too stuck up since they are close to the god's island. Still, nonetheless eventually Reika does get to talking and the urn says he will dispell the barrier. Reika says the party has to prepare, since if her thoughts are correct, what lies down there is miss Anshin herself, in a similar state to her Father.

The party head back to town, gathering the disguised ninja and going over what they've learned so far. Shen says that he wasn't aware of the thing watching over him, and only a few people would even be aware of him on Anshin. He says that he might have a few theories about things, and he will act on them, but he cannot share the secrets he has. Reika nods and says it makes sense, and then asks Merem-sho to talk with Chiharu and see what she thinks of it all. Chiharu says that the demon could be a force to terrorize the desert, but she's not entirely certain. She does offer to converse with it remotely, but she doesn't know what a ninja is.

Terra offers up that it's basically a spy or reconnisance force, and Koga actually kinda informs her. Chiharu seems to have checked out of the conversation though, and soon Merem-sho is pulling out the urn and looking at Koga's left arm. She inquires how that works, and he demonstrates a shadow shuriken. Reika wonders how safe that could be, since he just picked it up and slapped it on in a desolate shrine. Koga retorts that she just picked up two blades from some random ghost strangers. Reika fails to see the corrolation. Still, the urn informs Merem-sho that it is indicative of an acolyte going up the ranks, and that there's another matching one.

Terra and Merem-sho, curious of this, go off to do research about the Sixth paths that keep being mentioned. Eventually they find a book, and it seems Western-ish. Terra offers it to Headmaster Tibalt, who takes a look. He says it may be encrypted, but after some checking and different spells, it comes to light with actual words, and Terra says that they'll be renting the book out. Tibalt jokingly says that if she doesn't return it, Tibalt will have to hunt her down and kill her. Terra, who has been and technically still is in that situation already, is incredibly unsure that was a joke, and swears she'll return it.

Information in the book about them: The only real way to get on one of the paths is to be invited; there's basically no way to get invited except by a yokai on the path. if you are a yokai, you can choose to get on the path, but its a pretty big commitment that changes them, and most yokai don't like that thought. It seems more consequential for Yokai to do it, and you cannot be on two paths.

So, the party start to make all kinds of preparations...

Session 16: Nightmares in a Garrison


At breakfast, Terra and Merem-sho are going over the book with the other party members. Koga and Reika are confused over it not being a scroll, and Koga even more confused as to why "Its backwards" Terra has to explain to him that in Canaan, that's how things are.


Akihiro informs Koga that Shamiwa appears to have done business on the southern island of Anshin, and is taking a ferry back. Reika looks to Merem-sho and she explains that it's mostly desert out there, along with a few people picking up sand to study it. Akihiro asks where Shen went, and Koga tells the ninja that Shen went off on his own inquisition. Akihiro says that he will then be in the sewers, and the party set out to the marketplace, doing some minor shopping.


Merem-Sho guides the party to the ferry dock. They get off the elevator and just manage to see Shamiwa comming in on the 'Ferry', though it's more a fancy raft. Shamiwa says that it was a nice vacation, but it's time to get back to work. Koga just manages to note that the fortune teller is on the raft. Shamiwa turns to Reika, nods in her direction, and leads the way to the raft. The party note how well armed the excavationists are. Koga's checking everywhere, but he doesn't see the fortune teller now, and didn't see her get off. It then sets off to Morou. This is curious because the ninja hideout is on the northern island. Koga stops looking with his eyes, and pays attention to how the raft moves. The most likely scenario is that she's invisible on the left side of the raft. Koga leans up against the wall and says outloud "I wonder what his lordship would need with a fortune seer?"


"Are you looking for another card?" He hears whispered, although he doesn't feel the bouyancey shift. Koga says that he's musing to himself, and the fortune teller tells him to be careful where he sticks his nose. She says that if he's selling the glove... Koga says that he may stay on this path for a bit longer. He recieves no response.


Merem-sho goes up to one of the armed sailsman and asks if he's seen anything interesting. He says that Shamiwa had a few errands to run, but nothing too weird. No real combat. Weird stuff, but just the usual weird stuff. It seems to be impossible to get a good nights sleep around here. Merem-sho thinks on it, and recalls the Daidarabotchi. They aren't pleasant, but they're way too big to get into the mortal realm. They may not even be real. Merem-sho brings it up with a small scoff. The sailsman says that he'll leave the thinking to her, and tells her to point him in the direction of things that need killed. He then starts some small talk.


Shamiwa and Reika are going over some hides with caligraphy in them. Reika recognizes that one of them is Infernal, but two others she has no clue. Reika expresses at one point, how weird it is that Western reads left to right, and Shamiwa agrees, saying something about Manga over in the western region. Reika says that Merem-sho may be able to recognize the script, and Shamiwa calls her over. Merem-sho analyzes the hides, but can't say that there's anything dangerous. If its broken the wrong way, and there's lot of ways to break it the wrong way, the thing inside it is destroyed. "If it's dangerous..." Shamiwa goes to drop it overboard, and Merem-sho reaches out to take it.


"You could be killing something innocent!" She says. "At least let me read it!" Shamiwa lowers his eyelids at her, but does abstain. MErem-sho notes a signature hidden in the writing; probably put there by the person who made it. "Tokugawa Machiro? Next time we see him we can ask him what they do." Shamiwa scoffs that a common citizen made these.


The party then arrive at the banks of the island, Shamiwa leading them up a large dune, and the party see a large wooden establishment. "Welcome to Tsurigo Maki." Shamiwa says. Merem-sho looks impressed, Ro starts chirping in her ear and tugs on her sleeve, wanting to lead her to the northwest. Shamiwa explains to the party that they had cleared some undead, and undead hadn't returned to the place since. Ro is tugging wildly at her sleeve, but Merem-sho doesn't really see. Merem-sho trusts her familiar, and lets her guide her hand. She seems to touch a rough, leathery hide. And it's alive. "Should I be concerened?" Ro looks at where she's touching, and then seems to engage in conversation with something. Suddenly, something touches her back and the world shifts into a purple scale. Merem-sho sees the thing infront of her. It's really tall, wearing a cloak around its neck.


"Your companion is curious. He has convinced me to give you an audience. What is your purpose here?" Merem-sho takes a bow, and he returns it.


"I am Geki Kenko. Is your companion yours by choice?" Merem-sho affirms this, and Geki pets Ro. She seems to like it. "You seem different than the rest in this encampment. Allow me to explain who I am. I am something of a Sentinel, a specific portion of it. This place, it concerns me in more than a few ways. I am unsure of its purpose here, and I am attempting to find out what it means amongst any other crises."


"I have a test of magickal aptitude, that, if you'd like to undergo, can be facilitated." Merem-sho says she'd be honoured. "If you pass it, I shall extend an invitation. It isn't an easy task. I've sent others on it, and they have died." He extends a pipe to Merem-sho, who takes a small puff. It makes her feel good. Geki notes how it affects her and gives a small nod. "I don't know if it's caught your attention, but these students seem to be woefully lethargic. Those that stay longer than three days seem to be affected." MErem-sho says it might be the Daiadarabotchi, but Genki says if it were that simple he could take it. It's also the reason why the undead aren't flowing in. He is not sure of the relation. Merem-sho takes another puff an lies down, her legs crossed. "We don't want the Daiadarabotchi to bring back the undead." Genki tells her that she's welcome to stay as long as she likes...


MEanwhile, Shamiwa leads the rest of the party to a tent. "As we've been doing research, we've come across something that seems to be related to the undead. We seem to have lost a few men to it. It only appears at night. Mm, what to call it... A tower of sorts, that stretches into the sky. A large, pokey thing, not like that wobbly thing. WE've been doing a lot of research. I nor any of my students do not know what it could be. I assume your curiousity has piqued."


"A structure that only appears at night? That's not troubling at all, is it?" She says sarcastically. Shamiwa doesn't catch the sarcasm, and Reika mumbles a bit. Koga says that you get used to it. Koga notes that Shotaro is watching him from 3,000 feet, subtly letting him know he knows. Shamiwa lets them know he will reconvene at night.


Koga and Terra note Merem-sho's state. Koga asks if he should fetch her, and Terra says it would probably be best to leave her alone. Koga expresses his concern over the heat on her, and Reika dismisses it, saying she's from Anshin and she'll be fine. She notes the Tengu she had helped before hand in Ramui has some college of excavation clothes on. "Oh, you've moved up in the world." The Tengu raises his eyebrows twice as if to say "Hell Yeah I did" He then goes to talk with Reika, but she doesn't understand his tongue. This frustrates both of them, and Reika remembers that Merem-sho talked to him last. So she goes off to get her....


And is met with Ro guarding Merem-sho's stomache. Reika wonders what's going on, and Merem-sho, high out her damn mind, informs her of the Trunk man. Reika expresses her concern, but says that over the past few weeks she's learned to expect the unexpected. Ro guides Reika to where Geki was, but upon not seeing any contact, Ro throws a little dragon hissy fit and sits down next to Merem-sho's head. Terra and Koga note that the wall must be very interesting, and Terra goes over to investigate. Ro immediately guides Terra to Geki, and gets even angrier when Terra affirms his existance. Geki fills Terra in on whats going on offers her the pipe. Terra declines. Geki tells her that his offer does not extend to her, but she might find one someday. He also tells Terra that Merem-sho will be fine with a bit of rest. Terra thanks him for his time, and goes over to Reika. She explains that she saw her try to converse with the Tengu, and touches her shoulder. She then tells her to try again, and Reika does.


This startles the Tengu, and they get to talking. He says that he'd like to accompany them, and the tower may have a magic green rock that the Tengu is looking for. He also says that theres a pillar that seems to be akin to the one from Ramui. So the party wait for Merem-sho to get better, and she surfaces at near dusk. She goes to properly explain what the Baku told her, but Terra says that she already informed them. She also advises Merem-sho to not imbibe substances from strangers. The party decide to find out about the Daiadarabotchi, and split up to investigate.


All the people they talk say that their nightmares begin with them in their beds in Shima Kie, with tentacles wrapping them and sucking on their flesh, speaking in the voices of their family. The party think about where massive tentacles would be, and go to the Tengu and, with interpretation, he and Merem-sho take off. They fly till around ten, and see a large grotto, where they see the Daiadarabotchi. It's a biiiig guy, about ten miles west.


"Good news, I found it. Bad news, its one ugly mofo." Reika doesn't know what that word means, and suggests she's been hanging around Terra a bit too much. Terra takes a little offence to that, and the party go to aquire camels and take about an hour to go west to the Nightmare Fiend.


But as the party are traveling, they are beset upon by Forsaken! Reika draws her longow and fires. it hits, taking off its entire left arm! Reika shoots again and it falls, dead. Murokka dashes to pick up a forsaken, but starts coughing and misses, sliding into the sand. Merem-sho double Foxfire blasts a forsaken and causes its head to be blasted off. It wanders off in its confusion. Terra plays her lute with whispers, and the forsaken she was targeting shakes. Koga dashes up to the same one and tosses his Guan-Dao at it. it sticks into it. Two forsaken get close, and Reika starts coughing. The head Forsaken shambles toward Koga, but he sees it coming and brings up his shirt. He makes three attacks, all of them missing Koga, and then pukes up Tar over Koga.


More Forsaken pop up. Reika puts her bow away and starts throwing punches. She misses twice, but shatters his collarbone. Reika goes to run off, and the Forsaken tries to hit her. Reika dodges both hits. Morukka turns invisible, squawks a good luck to Koga, and goes to divebomb a Forsaken. His claws tear him apart, and the momentum causes him to kill another forsaken with his staff. Merem-sho pops an eldritch blast, killing one and knocking the one near Koga away. Terra strums her lute with whispers and a Forsaken shakes and flees from her. Terra groups up with Merem-sho. Koga goes to grapple the Captain Forsaken, but misses. He takes a step back. A forsaken gets close to MErem-Sho and Terra. It slashes at Merem-sho, hitting her. The captain gets to Koga and slashes at him, hitting him once. Reika dashes up and fires an arrow at a Forsaken, knocking his head off. Morukka flies through the air and brings his pillar down with a Wind slash. One is knocked away into nothing. The other is heavily damaged. It shambles to Merem-sho and Ro pulls its arms to block it. MErem-sho moves her hand over her face and shoots two Foxfire, but misses. Terra strums her lute and heals Merem-Sho, then whispers into her lute, causing the captain to flee from the battlefield. The party realize they need to leave and come back with the cloaks, and make plans to get out. Reika dashes over to Merem-sho and smacks a forsaken enough to where it dies. Reika then shoots another, and the arrow shatters its skull. Suddenlt, an inky black tentacle SMASHES DOWN AND KILLS THE FORSAKEN. On the underside is what appears to be a woman's face. She looks like she's in pain.


"Greetings" Reika says.


"You... You come from the camp." Reika nods and gives a small bow, thanking it for it's assistance. "I wasn't helping. I was just eating."


REika notes it seems to be eating the Forsaken out of desperation. She tells him that they had heard of her from nightmares. Reika learns that something stops it from eating the camp. It doesn't eat the nightmares, but it would eat the people through them. However, going after the undead seems to have corrupted it. Reika converses with the party after it leaves, and says that if they wait too long, it might launch a desperate physical attack on the camp. Koga says that if we know what keeps it from the feast, that could help us. Reika says that they already know, and Merem-sho chimes in that the Baku at the gate. So he's at least protecting them from being actually eaten. This reminds Terra and Merem-sho of the sandstorm legends that could rip open the veil for a bit. Reika tries to pantomime to Morukka what to do, but gets frustrated and goes to drag Terra into a performance. This annoys the tabaxi because she has a better answer at her fingers. "Oh for Christs sake."


"I have no idea who that is." Reika says, right before Terra clasps her shoulder again, muttering about how he's Canaanian. Reika then properly discusses with Morukka about the wind stone, and he says that while his four great stones might be mighty, they might just be stones. They would need a Kirin. And Morukka is noooot following them there. The party discuss about their next move, and decide to at least inform the Baku about it. When the party get back, they see Geki. The whole party. This suprises Koga. Geki talks about how he knows how the Daiadarabotchi got there, implying the Fortune Teller did it. He asks if Merem-Sho is interested in his path, and when she says yes, he says to meet him in the morning. He implies that the yokai with Koga closed the doors to the Kuro temple, and Koga says that makes Geki the gatekeeper. He says that he's keeping them alive, but he doesn't trust them. After Koga confirms that he likes the darkness, Geki says that he does trust the party. The party go to rest.


In the morning, Merem-Sho goes to Geki, and he inducts her into the path...

Session 17:

While they had long rested the night before, Terra had approached Koga and asked if she could learn to throw shuriken like he does. Koga figures that there's no harm, with his ninja clan being a bit on the low side, and the fact that he had taught a shopkeep how to properly throw kunai, decide that there isn't much harm in it now, and a training montage ensues.

The four gather around and go to discuss their options. Merem-sho mentions that she feels for the Diadarabotchi, since it's in a foreign land. Terra jokingly says that it isn't all that bad, and Merem-sho says that she had chosen to come here. Koga says that maybe they could use something that has been touched by Izanami, like perhaps Shen's blade.  Koga says that the journey would take a day and a half, and then the journey back. Terra says that's just too much time the other people are suffering through. Merem-sho asks if she should contact Chiharu, and Koga says to give it a shot.  

In the end, she says that she will try to find him to pass a message, even if she has to talk to the other ninja to try and find him. Merem-sho suggest the Tatsumaki, and the party go to Morrukka to gather more information about it.  "It's aligned with storms. Coordinated with the Dragon direction. Supposidly made of a concotion of materials like sulfer, emerald, and Jade... Pretty celestial."

Koga recalls seeing a particularly green star the night they were looking for the Diadarabotchi, and that the dragon direction is the east.  Merem-sho asks if Koga will lead the party tonight to where he had said it. They get the Forsaken cloaks, and a sandstorm whips up.  The party grab some sandstorm masks and set off, Koga noticing a being off in the vicinity of the encampment. As they approach, the sandstorm seems to thin slightly. The party comes upon a woman in black robes, sitting down with a white clay mask on her. A snake is coiled around her, eyeing the party. The snake's mouth opens, and she displays... some wares? Koga recognizes a Genki Shonin, a spirit merchant. Merem-sho notices an Onmiyoji sigil of sacrifice. It's something that appears to those entwined with Fate. Koga tells the party of what this merchant is, and that they give their wares to people in exchange for a part of themself, whether it's metaphorical or Physical he cannot say.

Reika walks up and greets the shopkeep. The woman doesn't seem cognizant, and the snake eyes her wearily. She tries to talk to him, but gets no response.  Merem-sho bows and asks about the wares. No real response, but she does reorganize the weapons.  She gestures to the far right and makes a "Little" motion, and the far left she makes a "Big" motion.  Merem-sho indicates that she would like the earrings. The snake nods toward them. Merem-sho picks up one. The Gisai symbol starts to disappear, and a new peircing appears on her right ear. The snake bites her gently, and absorbs some blood from Merem-sho. She figures that wasn't too bad, so she takes the other one too, with the same result, different ear.  Reika picks up the Tabbi that were on the ground. Her shoes melt into the ground, and she feels stabbing pains on her feet. The shoes form. Koga, ever the doctor, asks if Reika feels fine.

"I don't mean to be rude, but shoes did just grow out of my feet. What do you think?" She snarks.  Terra looks between Merem-Sho and Reika, and violently shakes her head. Reika asks Koga if he's "Buying" anything, and she says that it might hurt him less, since you can't get less cursed.  Koga says that he'll take a pass on it.  The party leave, and Koga finds the path once again. As they are on the path, the ground begins shaking, and something seems to disturb it, off to the north.  Koga turns around to see if he's passed any shelter, and a grain of sand flits into his eyeball, and he tries to wipe it away with his sand covered fist.

"We'll have to wait until the sandstorm passes." Koga says. Morukka talks with Merem-sho, and says that even if the sandstorm wasn't there, he likely wouldn't be flying anyways. "If this isn't the common variety sandstorm, then we'll have to deal with it. To the north." The party climb atop a dune. They can barely see the sky, and dark clouds are coming from the south. The clouds get absorbed by something. Two massive shapes are at the base of where the clouds were sucked down, and the party is faced with a sandstorm whirlpool. Merem-sho tries to recall something about it, but she's being tossled back and forth. Koga takes a look around and sees a petrified tree trunk they can use as an anchor. Koga tosses a rope at just the right time as Reika Step of Fujiin's out toward the tree. Reika and Koga both lose Firefang and the fancy scroll case. Terra tries to acrobatics her way to the rope, but her head hits a stone, she gets winded and sucked under almost instantly.

"TERRA!" Koga yells. Merem-sho thinks on it, and tells Reika to use her lightning sword on the sand. It turns to glass, and the party minus Terra go to pick out the sand.
"Well, do we rush in like fools? As much as I want to save our friend, discretion is the better part of valor." Koga says. He gets his rope, anchors it, and starts to climb down the pit. Merem-sho approaches the pit and looks down it. She recognizes that the blue one is basically a six-armed oni like they met in Ishe-ke-musho. Reika does the same as Koga.

Terra sees some giant spirits fighting, and sees Reika's Firefang off in the distance. She dashes off to grab it, and then dashes behind a rock. One of the spirits carves downward with a copy of Firefang, but the other one doesn't seem to take much damage from it.  The wind looking fucker casts Shatter on the rock, and rubble gets on Terra. It then brings down another arm and summons a lightning bolt on top of his foes head.

Koga swings in, leaping to the ledge. Reika shortly follows. Terra touches her shoiulder and becomes invisible. Koga runs up and casts Darkness as cover for Terra. He then yells out at her to let her know they've arrived, and gestures to the Darkness right behind her.  One of the yokai casts Encanting Words, getting Reika's attention, charming her. It attempts it on the big foe, but he shakes it off. The six armed one summons two copies of Zaki and tosses six Giant black shuriken at it. This dispells the barrier, but it reconjours it very easily.  It summons some lightning bolts, and one streaks past Terra, singing her fur a little. The other lands on the arms of the oni, and one of its left arms fall off. Terra's concentration breaks, and she becomes visible again. She disengages and dashes into the Darkness that Koga provided.  Merem-sho casts Spiderclimb and starts climbing down.  

Koga dashes over to Reika and shakes her out of her stupor. "THIS WAY!" He yells. Terra hears his voice from up and south. Reika presumes that it's killing time, and the two talk about what Koga's learned. Reika then slides down some of the cave, then dashes up to the orbiting darkness, losing sight of the Whirlwind Oni.  The Six, now Four-armed Oni, holds a copy of Raikiri aloft, then goes invisible.  It appears next to the Whirlwind, and gives a mighty slash, thunder coalescing and helping massively damage it. Whirlwind boi summons some Ice storms, freezing Terra in place, and then he shoots off some Ray of Frosts at his giant opponent.  Koga shoots off some of his Black Stars, and two damage it badly. Koga takes cover behind his Darkness dome. Reika climbs up and jabs Whirlyboi in the eye three times. She tears through him, and it disapates. A large white emerald lands on the ground. Reika looks up at the Four-armed and sheathes her sword. It pulls up a sigil and dispels the darkness koga had made.  Merem-sho makes it down and asks Koga what's going on. He responds that it appears they were caught in the middle of a tiff. He advises her to keep a foxfire blast ready, and she does. Koga dashes off, picking up his scroll case.

Reika looks up at the oni and gestures toward the white emerald. "I'm content to sheathe my blade if you sheathe yours." The oni adopts a wry grin, then steps over and plucks off two arms, then the giant green emerald, and starts climbing up the walls. Merem-sho and Reika try to talk to it, but it doesn't seem to stop. Koga dashes over and administers a health potion to Terra. Reika tries to chase after the oni. The oni clambers up, gets about 90 feet up, but loses is grip and lands smack dab into the floor. Koga winces. Merem-sho asks if she can help. The Oni asks that if she can make him fly, then yes.

Her and Reika and the Oni all get into a discussion. Reika says that it won't be of any use to him down here, and he takes offence to this! He narrows his eyes, but Koga sees it coming and shoots three black stars at him. Merem-sho casts calm emotions on him as Terra heals her wounds.

"You should choose your words carefully." He says, then informs them that he was the victor here. Merem-sho recalls that they are very honour bound.

Koga sneaks off and heals and stabilizes Morrukko, then slips him a potion. The Oni slashes up two stalags and sees the Tengu. "Ah, a Tengu. Things are falling into place. You befriended a Tengu. Now, use him, before I attack you again. Reika asks Morukko why he wants it, and he says that it's a sacred heirloom, an object of pilgramage. If you guys plan to let him leave with it, then I cannot join you."

Reika goes to meet up with Koga. "There is a problem, you see.  As I recall, you were not the one who bested him. " She says, then draws her blade. The oni smiles.

"Ah. That's more like it." He prepares for battle! Merem-sho blasts him with Foxfire, but only the second one hits. Koga jumps up and makes his way to the Oni's shoulder, and goes to Stab him right in the neck with Zaki. He pulls out his weapon and the wound immediately closes. He draws Whisper and says the command word, slashing into it. The hide is pretty tough though. Terra inspires her allies, then heals herself and dashes off behind a corner.

Reika uses Patient Defence, saving her attack for if it attacks her. Morruko flies over to Koga and asks if he wants off, and the ninja acceepts, being deposited over by Terra. He thrusts Raikiri toward Reika, but she was ready, and thrusts Lightning infused Raikiri into his arm, however, he brings it down and it slams into her. The foxfires around it slam into her as well. He then starts to walk toward where Koga, Terra, and Mokkoru are. Merem-sho casts Toll the Dead, and it works. Koga throws a Masterwork Oil Charm Kunai on him, and it soaks him. Koga then whips out the fireball scroll from the case. "Return to Ash." A massive ball of fire arcs up like a basketball and nearly incinerates the poor bastard.  Terra tries to use her practice from earlier today, buuuut the shuriken misses. Reika thrusts, once, twice, , carving its back up. It doesn't quite seem dead, buuuuut the Tengu discreetly kills it so it looks like Reika delt the finishing blow.

The party obtain 600 gold worth of obsidian rock, a Yokai bone, a Wind Crystal, and a Soul Anchor. The party wait a little bit to catch their breath, and then Merem-sho casts fly on Morroku, and with a couple of trips, the party make it out... and see a black obelisk just a little to the north of them...

Session 18: The journey of the Obelisk


The party arrive to what appears to be a carbon copy of an Obelisk from Ramui. Atop the staircase is one humanoid figure cloaked in shadows, and atop two statues is two others, they stare at the party. Koga immediately goes to summon his Zaki stars, waiting for a specific one to act aggressively. One of the figures leaps down, pointing his sword at the group and getting within range of Ro.


One of them, they don't seem to be Yokai, goes to leap off and take off his mask, Koga immediately shoots off his three black stars. They don't seem to be too effective. There's a black void behind his mask, and a scream emminates from the foe. Terra seems frightened by it, backing away in pain... or is it fear?... and healing herself of a little of the nosebleed that the thing caused.  Merem-sho casts an eldritch blast with repelling force, and it knocks one away, but the thing seems relatively okay.


Reika goes to deliver some powerful slashes, but it's almost like dragging her sword through water. Koga poofs over to the other side of Reika's target and thrusts Whisper in its direction, but misses. As he slashes, he says "Hikari." The beings, Samurai Shades, seem to wince at this, but not too much.  The seeming-forsaken comes down on Merem-sho, who summons a barrier to deflect the first blow, but the second blow hits and appears to drain some sort of force out of Merem-sho. Two of the Samurai Shades go to attack Koga, but he's all ninja about dodging, using his weapons in just the right positions. Terra backs away in fear, healing herself yet again.


Merem-sho turns invisible and backs away, allowing Ro to go for a bite and sting combo, but she just flails at empty air, just missing. Reika slashes up a fire oil on Raikiri and lays into the Shade. She gets two really good hits in and this seems to be a good thing as it cracks their armour. Koga goes to grapple the one not surrounding him with his Kusirigama, but the Shade just does some fancy kicks to send it away. Koga then slashes through one with Moonlight.  The shade Koga tried to grapple runs up to Terra and delivers a strong upward slash, which Terra barely dodges, but then a shadow wave comes up from it, hitting her bad. Koga gets bodied by the two Shades.  Terra, no longer frightened by the Shade, heals up Koga and traces a Blade Ward in the air. Merem-sho Foxfire blasts a Shade, repelling it away from Terra. Suddenly, the shades are surrounded by purple slashes, and Shen appears next to Terra. "There's more up the stairs!" He says as Koga complements his stylish as always entrance.


Reika goes to stab at a Shade, and it kills it, some life essence returning to Koga. She goes to slash at the other one, but just misses. Koga goes to stab with Whisper and misses, but then follows through with a stab on Zaki, which easily plunges into them,and he drops to his feet.  The one who had attacked Terra struggles to go back to her, provoking an attack from Shen. The one Koga had just attacked struggles to his feet and lets loose with an attack, damaging Koga badly. Terra heals him with a melody, and then whispers madness into an attack at the one next to her. Merem-sho blasts two foxfire blasts, killing one shade and damaging another. Shen tosses two Chakra kunai, destroying the next one and going to another to toss another, but it misses.  The remaining Shade melts into the wall, allowing Koga to draw some interesting conclusions as he pops out and tries to attack Shen, who just ninja dodges. Reika shoots a fire arrow at the one, then a normal. It catches fire, but the smoke from it messes with her aim and her normal arrow misses.


Reinforcements appear. Koga downs a lesser health potion. Koga alerts Shen of a figure trying to sneak, and the ninja just says that he knows. Koga then tries to grapple one again, but it's the same result as last time.  One shade moves closer, and Terra lumps in with her companions and casts Shatter, getting two of the three in a 10 foot sphere radius. It seems effective. Shen waylays on his opponent, killing it, and then dashes to the party. Reika goes to slash twice at one, but misses. In response, Reika gets bodied by two of the shades. Koga runs up to one of them surrounding Reika and slashes at it with Whisper, the light dealing quite a bit of damage.  The seventh Shade flips over Reika, who tries to give it a small swipe with her blade,  and Koga and goes to attack him, missing both times.  


Terra runs over to Reika and heals her. "I've got you." She says as Merem-Sho fires off two Repelling Foxfires, knocking them back. Ro goes to the seventh one for a Sting and Bite combo, both of which hit. The Shade getting hit slumps forward, losing consciousness. Shen goes to attack the mysterious thing, but the spirit blade doesn't seem to do anything to it. The thing he was fighting opens a yellow eye, then a blue one. The yellow eye shoots out a laser at Shen and he slumps forward, unconscious. The blue eye shoots toward Terra, who is lifted thirty feet off the air. Reika asks for Koga's silver oil, and he wordlessly hands it to her. She applies it and slashes at the thing, fucking it right up and it loses an arm. She swings again and it dies. The fifth one runs over and hits his buddy, then goes to hit Koga, but misses. Koga responds with a blow from Zaki and Whisper, both of which miss. Seven tries to run off. Terra, up in the air, tosses a shuriken at Five, and is elated when it hits. Koga's proud of her. Merem-sho blasts two Repelling Foxfires, hitting it backwards. Reika runs up to five and slashes at it, killing him.  Reika then dashes up toward Shade Seven, and cuts him down as well. Terra falls from the sky, but Koga catches her. He stands up.


"That creature that moved past us. It is not of this world. It pained my senses to look upon it, and we should be careful. It's a Dodomechi. It does not beliong in the world of the living. What or why it's here, I do not know, but it can breach the defences of our minds."  The party quickly gather things from the Shades; four uses of Shadow oil and three Shadow shards, 3rd level Southern fuel. Shen gets up. Reika and Shen cut off some rope and use them as makeshift blindfolds. The party dash up and Koga goes to throw three Black stars at him, but they all miss. In response he gets a blast from an eye.  Terra, thinking about it, grabs Reika and asks if she's ready for a trip. Reika is concerned, but aquisces. Terra uses a new spell and warps her and Reika ahead of it.  Merem-sho tries to look at only a little bit of it, but even just a small glance hurts her. Still, she blasts a successful Foxfire at it. Shen goes off to grapple it, but it casts a spell and runs off. Terra goes to slash at it as it blurs past, and in response it lifts her up into the air and tosses her over the railing of the stairs. Reika leaps into action as Terra starts screaming, running up the wall and catching Terra. They tumble 110 feet down, Terra holding on for dear life and screaming all the while. They land safely on their feet because Reika knows what she's doing. She then dashes up the wall with Step of Fujjin, and juuust barely scrapes on to the ledge. Shen informs Koga that they've been tossed aside, and Koga wants to get a better look, so he tosses his Kusirigama and then wham, Reika uses it to get down.


"Where's Terra?" Koga asks. "Is she okay?"


"Am I okay?" Reika asks, shaken from the long fall. "I think I'm okay." Reika says to herself before shaking her head.  Merem-sho hears the taptataptaptaptap of feet and Terra bolts up near her.


"Terra, are you okay?"


"No!"


"Do you need help?


"No!"


"Do you want a lesser healing potion?"


"I have some, we need to catch the thing first!" Terra says.


Merem-sho dashes off. Shen goes to grapple it, and succeeds. But it vanishes off. Reika expends some charges on Raikiri and dashes up....


And the Forsaken body of Amatsu Anshin is there, Daiza having just walked away through a portal. Terra and Merem-sho dash up.


At the heart of the altar is a large black crystal.  Shen goes to grapple the Dodomechi, but misses. Reika swings twice, missing and then hitting, bisecting it with the radiant force of her silver oil. Anshin extends a hand toward Shen, the dark energy appearing to take the form of a dragon coiling around her.


"Shen! Look alive!" Koga says, climbing up and readying some Shadow Shuriken. Merem-sho and Terra both arrive at the rooftop, but Anshin is blocked by the Altar. Merem-sho climbs up the altar and looks on in shock as she sees the leader of the island. Terra downs a potion. Shen tries to move, but he's in an invisible barrier.


Reika looks toward Amatsu. "So what are you and your new master planning here?" No response. "I should've expected that. Try and do something about that crystal, I'll keep her occupied. " Reika dashes over and attacks twice. Anshin follows the sword with a finger and her dragon intercepts. She casts Shocking grasp, which gets Koga to thrwo his three shuriken, however, only one of them go through. As she shocking grasps, an aura pulses out of her body and two firebolts converge on where she used to be. Koga backflips off the altar, pulls out Windfury, and blasts the crystal, shattering it. The ground starts to crumble. Koga tosses three shuriken, and Anshin erects a shield. However, the last one pierces through it and hits her. Terra dashes over to Shen and tries to dispel it, but nothing. Merem-sho appears, the invisibility worn off, and she blasts two foxfire blasts at Anshin. The dragon eats one of them, but the other hits Anshin, though it seems to have no effect. Anshin teleports away. Reika slashes both the orbs summoning firebolts, and the both die. She then dashes away. Anshin summons three firebolts toward Reika, but they all collide with each other. The floor teeters, and Merem-sho slides and gets knocked prone. Anshin is floating ten feet in the air, and the rest just manage to keep their footing. Koga fires Windfury, and it goes through the shield. Seemed effective. He thinks about how he can help Shen, but he doesn't know.


Terra inspires Reika, then shatters the two replacement orbs Anshin summoned. Reika feels some forceful talons, but shrugs it off. Merem-sho gets in position and waits. Shen bangs helplessly on the barrier. Reika shrugs off the talons again. Reika jumps on top of the barrier and shoots Anshin with a torch arrow, then a normal one. Her shield prevents damage. Anshin moves up and her aura FLARES to life. No one seems bothered by it, but they do all feel slugish. Terra stances and strums her lute, casting shatter. But it has no effect! This unnerves Terra. Merem-sho goes to throw a Kunai as Ro does the Sting and Bite, but all three attacks are knocked aside.


Amatsu's Dragon fires a HUGE LIGHTNING BOLT at Koga, and it splits off to the others. Reika cuts her lightning bolt with Raikiri, but Terra drops, Ericcil at the ready. Koga tosses three Shadow shuriken at the orbs, and they explode. He then pops two lesser healing potions. Reika feels that force, and this time cant fight it. Terra's barrier shines a little. Merem-sho tosses a Kunai and steps outside the aura. Ro tries to, but cant get away. Anshin warps toward Koga and summons more orbs. They let loose three fireballs, all aimed toward Terra. But her barrier shines brightly, and this frustrates Anshin. Koga attacks with Whisper. It connects, and this causes Anshin's aura to flare to life, darkening in colour as her dragon grows bigger. Merem-sho gets out of the aura, and sends two foxfire blasts at two orbs, exploding them. Reika leaps into the aura, Radiant Raikiri drawn, and gives it a powerful slash! Anshin summons two fireballs and blasts Reika and Koga to unconsciousness.


It leaves the Sorceress and the former teacher. Blows are exchanged, back and forth between them, Merem-sho bonking her with her Bo staff and Ro helping her. Finally, Merem-sho goes to bonk Anshin, and Ro flits behind her and chomps down on her neck, killing her. This fills Merem-sho with a calmness, and she casts fly on her companions, and they float down gently. Merem-sho administers aid to Reika, and Koga wakes on his own. Koga surveys his wounds, and he and Terra get to dressing his wounds and Reika's. Reika's wounds are pretty bad, having torn and singed clothes, but with Terra's guidance they did it. Merem-sho gained some loot, mostly for Koga. The party rest, and Shen falls gracefully. He explains that Chiharu had contacted him, and he rushed over as quickly as possible. When Koga says what they needed the spirit blade for, Shen says that isn't as simple as he would like, and Koga goes on to explain even more. Shen has an idea. "Kairo, the one who erected the barrier... I believe I can use him to erect a barrier to prevent things from getting out or in. Where is it?"


Koga says that the party is beaten and need to rest, and they head to the encampment... which is destroyed. Morroku and the Tatsumaki are not present.  The party ask Gekki what happened. It seems Shamiwa was acting with an agenda. "Never trust a noble." Terra says bitterly as Koga clinches his fist. Reika doesn't seem suprised that Shamiwa had an agenda.


"So Shamiwa destroyed everything here?"


"No, it wasn't him. He didn't seem to have much agency. He had errected a beacon here that summoned several giant oni.. The giant Tengu said that he is taking it to Oma Natue. If you head over in that direction he will find you. It had to have been something more sinister, from some sort of woman." Koga's eyes widen. "I think the beacon had something to do with his sword."


Reika draws some conclusions and comes to a startling realization...

Session 19: The End of Act 2!

"In addition, acoompanying this perturbing development, the nightmares seem to have halted." Geki informs the party. Merem-sho asks if that means the creature is gone or dead, and he says he doesn't know. Merem-sho asks if they can tend to the wounded, but Geki says that they are covered here because of Shosun-Jiao, a yokai. This is the first that they are hearing that he is a Yokai. He asked for Reika by name.

Suddenly , Terra's pocket begins to burn, and Koga's equipment bag burns as well. Despite Terra not having kept the tarot card that she drew, it finds itself in her pocket. Despite it burning, it's cool to the touch. Koga manages to see a glimpse of Terra's card, but Terra's too transfixed on hers. They both stare at their cards and come to the conclusion that they could perhaps use these as if using a spell. Reika opens her mouth to talk about the coorelation of the fortune teller and Daiza, but Tokugawa Machiro, who had set up shop, starts to loudly brag about his wares as if he were a passerby.

"Welp, the moment is ruined. Daiza and the Fortune Teller are connected." Reika says, throwing her hands up in the air. Geki then points to a tent in the middle of the encampment, and the party go on in. There they see Shosun-Jiao, who informs them that Shamiwa had been apprehended. He had been acting frenzied, and his hair appeared to be turning black. He mentions about how the OAM had found his way onto their boat, but is gone now. Koga looks around and yes, sure enough he's gone.

He then asks Reika about what she thinks about who should lead Anshin in both Shamiwa's and Amatsu's absence. So they get to talking, Shosun-Jiao putting himself forward as a candidate. Terra asks for Merem-sho's opinion, and she says that she keeps away from politics. Reika eventually gets a list going on in her head, and says that if there was nothing on this island left, then they should go to Shima Kie and talk to the other candidates. Merem-sho mentions that they had to keep their promise to the Oni in the pit, but Reika says that isn't on this island.

Koga catches where they are going to hold Shamiwa, and note that it's on the eastern docks. He ninja's off to look for the One Armed Man, but the party all see him and go to approach him. He draws something in the sand, and then stands up to face the party, flowing green robes with black oriental trim. Everywhere that isn't a robe is bandaged. His eyes glow a golden colour with black Scelera. Reika goes to approach him, but he ignores her and goes for Terra. The towering man leans over and hands her a withered, yellow parchment. It is a Bounty, with her name on it. He leans in and speaks in a low voice. "You are familiar with the Bloody General, yes?" Terra is quite familiar with the Bloody General, Maximillian Lynqesterre. He was a hard force for the rebellion to topple. Yet he seems to have been found in good graces... Silver armour with a lion helm, and a massive blood red cloak, said to be white until it was bathed with the blood of his enemies.

"This man that calls himself the bloody general. He has been laying seige to the northern coast, seeming to be looking for something. You are a primary motive, are you not?" Terra nods, paralyzed with fear.

"I'll have to stop him." She whispers to herself as the OAM goes to Koga.

Koga is handed the scroll of Shadows from the OAM, and when Koga checks that is appears to be authentic. When Koga asks why, the OAM says that he needed an audience for Izanami. Reika asks for clarification on the Forsaken Blades, and the OAM says that the Forsaken Blades would be useful for nullifiying the fields that Daiza generates. He goes to cut through a portal and Koga stops him. "This does not make us even. But thank you for the transparency." Faintly, he thinks he hears a chuckle.

The party then walk away to Tokugawa. Shen is talking to him, and he reveals that he had got sponsorship from the ninjas, and together they  will be making a new College, the College of Skill. Koga goes to pull Shen away to converse, and they talk about what next to do. Shen says that this new college is a good way to retire. As to the Scroll, Koga and Shen discuss that it would be best to keep the scroll and the sword separated, as that's the whole reason why the ninja clans were separated.

The rest of the party talk with Tokugawa, who is absolutely giving them hell over well, everything. Some-fucking-how, with a lot of badgering, and Bribery on the future of Anshin, he hands over Shamiwa's sword and Sheathe to Reika, who also gives him the Fire and Ice fangs in exchange for the recipes for Completed Ice and Fire Oils, and some arrows, and some torch arrows. She also goes to buy, with more gold, some extra oils. He also presents them with an esoteric scroll, which Reika buys for 650. Tokugawa also presents some cannisters to Koga, and says that since he's with his ninja friends, he could also sponsor him in exchange for these things that can launch from the fire cracker cannon. Koga sweats a little, but eventually decides against it. Tokugawa grumbles that he just wants Koga to sell out but fine whatever take the damn cannisters and let him know what happens.

Reika goes to talk to Shen about his opinion on the things she's seen. He mentions that with the OAM, he's not entirely certain if it's friend or foe. Reika asks if his sword could maybe create portals. Try as he might, it does not. He says that he has as many questions as she does, with no answers.

Reika calls Merem-sho over and they investigate Shamiwa's sword and sheath. The conclusion is that the sword is an especially sharp katana, but it doesn't quite seem to fit in the sheathe...

The party go to rest, Koga making some potions. Shen approaches him and asks where the Diadarabotchi is, and Koga points him in the direction. He comes back at the end of the rest, a lightning shaped scar on his back. He said he sent it back, though a kirin isn't very fun. Luckily he can run very far and very fast. Then the party notice that, even though they've rested, and even though they've traveled far, the moon, nor the sun, hasn't came up yet. Koga thinks that the thing ferrying the sun and moon, Otatsu, may have dissappeared. This massively annoys Reika, though she doesn't quite think it's real.

When they go to Geki, Reika does ask if it was real. Geki affirms this. He asks to talk to Merem-sho in private.

"You are familiar with your relationship with Chiharu, yes? Now that you are on the path of Seishin, you may communicate with me in much the same way. When I feel you have grown, I shall contact you in order to advance." He informs her. So the party have some options; going into the Pit, finding a ruler of Anshin, and dealing with Katsu Tora. The party blast off to Shima Kie. The place seems to be doing well despite not having a ruler.

Reika goes to schedule a meeting for the next ruler for the afternoon, inviting everyone. When she goes to Tibalt, she says that they are holding an impromptu ceremony to get a new leader. She also passes the sheath of Shamiwa's sword, and asks if he can deal with some of the magic stuff. He says that if he sees a sword that would fit, he would let her know. When he asks what she knows of the symbol, Reika tells him that it's Daiza related. She pulls out the primordial scroll and asks if he could translate it, and he says he could in a month. She says that she'll have to think about it, and also shows him the Soul Anchor. Tibalt says that it would be good in the hands of the smith, explaining to her that a smith would be able to upgrade any weapon.

They get to the Ninja land, and see people working on construction, a building of sorts. When they go to the ruins, Koga does have to re-open all the doors. When they get to the pit, they see their six armed friend dead, impaled with a black, shadowy sword. It looks a lot like the black obelisk, but in sword form. It gives off the same vibe as Koga. Reika says that it makes no sense, since Amatsu and Daiza needed him. Koga says that maybe they were not satisfied with him, and Reika says that something else might be in the pit.

As Reika goes to meet Koga, inspecting the Oni's body, She is suddenly beset upon by visions of a fog, horrifiying things going into all her senses. Koga looks at Reika, but she's just climbing down the stairs.  She asks Koga if his weird dream happened suddenly, and the ninja affirms that he was actually asleep. While she explains this to him, he nods slowly and asks if she feels different. "Nothing I can see for now."

Koga peeks into the pit and sees a spiral staircase. He points it out to the party and they descend into the pit. A massive eye is staring at the party. "Ah, more visitors."

"Well um... Greetings?" Reika says.

"You are the second ones to wake me up. Why are you coming down here."

"We are in persuit of a forlorn blade."

"What a needlessly macarbe name to put on a sword."

"Well, things haven't been bright and sunny on the surface."

"I see. Make less noise on your way up."

"And who do we have the honour of addressing?"

"The Sleepy Turtle."

"Um... why do you bring the land down?"

"That's where it started."

"Is this really the first city?"

"It's not something I've thought of."

"I haven't either, before the past two and a half months."

"I'm going back to sleep. Ooh, what happened to the first set of people that visited? They haven't come up yet. Take them out when you go."

So the party keep going. Eventually the wall stops, but the staircase continues. Two green and REd orbs floating, two thousand feet down. Reika's sandals start feeling comfortably warm. Next to a prayer mat is a sword hilt and a burnt scroll. Reika kneels down on the prayer mat and looks at the scroll. Burnt beyond repair... and her vision scrolls once again, back to the fog of terror.

She feels a gnarled, inhuman hand push against her back, slowly prodding at her, crawling up her spine and grasping her shoulder. "Do you fear me?" It rasps, griping harder. "Do you Resent me? Hate me?" Reika feels a false memory, a mother of some sort, head landing on the floor. the same head creeps around on an impossibly long neck. "Do you miss me?" It smiles with its cheeks, gapy and thousand needly teethy.

And then the vision is gone. Reika is confused, looking for her sword, but stopping. Merem-sho asks Koga to check her, and he does. Reika has a fevor, though he says it may be induced by the spiritual stress of the place. Reika does find the forlorn blade, and finds it slides effortlessly into the sheath

Terra is knealing over a mangled and mishapen corpse in the fog, knowing more of those faces. The body's bamboo hat is bloody. Her hands, appears to be a child, pulls out a bloody katana. She steps over a corpse, and tosses it into the pit, the same pit that she knows she had thrown countless ones before. "We only need a few more for the flames darling." A voice says. And thus, the wraith stumbles away, numb, but a drop of life in a valley of death.

Terra comes to. She tells herself to get it together, since she's seen this stuff before. Koga checks her and sees she too has a fever. Reika feels a compulsion to step on the empty void, and does so, walking on the empty void. The party then leave, getting back to the ninja hideout. "So, what's the plan?" Koga asks. Reika says that they have to go back to Anshin and choose a leader. "I do not Envy you. I just know my duty."

"Yeah, politics are a real bitch." Terra says. Koga gets to crafting two Cure Wound scrolls. They then make their way back to Shima Kie. Terra pointidly splits off to go and talk with her friends, wanting no part in this, and Merem-sho goes off to her baker friend, leaving Koga and Reika to deal with the council of potential leaders.

Chiharu isn't certain why she's here, and Tokugawa is there just to remind people he is a valuable asset. The rest all go to introduce themselves, quite a few of them automatically declining. Reika crosses her arms. "Some of you don't want to rule, some think you'd be best as advisors. All of you think that elevating you to the station would be upsetting to the heirachy of the colleges." She asks Tibalt to privately meet with her. He does so, and Reika asks why they can't just do the Western thing and democracy! As they  converse, the others all vote for Tibalt to be the first leader.

Terra goes over to the harbour right as Katsu pulls in. He pays her the money, and she informs him that the party will be going to Oma Natue, so she would appreciate him waiting for them. He agrees to wait for them, and asks if Adol is coming with them. Terra says that she was just going to talk to him. Katsu wants her to let her know, and she goes off to talk with Adol. He asks about the sun, and as soon as Terra mentions that, Adol waves his hand. "Nevermind, I don't want to know. "  He then notes that Erricil seems to have changed, and asks to hold it. Terra lets him hold onto it, and he reveals that it's fully unlocked. She says that she remembers stories of him wrecking havoc, and he says that he indeed kicked all kinds of rear end. Terra affirms then that he does in fact remember her, and he says that she was fighting for the good guys. She then asks if he remembers The Bloody General, and as soon as she mentions that the colour drains from his face

He immediately straps Brilliante and Laevarte to his sides. "Okay. Say no more. You know, I almost had him myself, one on one all those years ago. Think he's stronger now?"

"With all the fuckery going around, definitely."

"Well I may need a little help then." Adol says. "Let me know when we depart. Chiharu, you're watching Uzu. I'll go inform Katsu."

"Don't let him get to you. Especially if he talks about those Wrymspear books. They just aren't good for his mental health, he's always talking about Stats and Levels and stuff."

"Done. I'll replace it with porn."

"What?"

"Nothing, he says, running off toward the docks. Terra, thinking about how since she already had to muster up the courage to talk about one thing, goes to Tibalt and asks how easy it is to transform a body. He looks at her, scanning into her soul, and nods. He says he could do it, and easily. Terra eagerly allows him to cast True Polymorph, and after a big hug, walks away happily.

Merem-sho head over to her parent's house, and they appear to be adopted by Umatsi, currently regaling them with stories on the patio. She sees Merem-sho and says that she hasn't made enough Cinnabuns! Merem-sho's mom givers her a huge hug as her dad gets a single tear in his eye. "So, what about the sun?"  And then Merem-sho regales them with stories as her dad makes sure she's been a good kid. Her mom says that she'd forgive at least five years of jail time. Umatsu had run off and then comes back with even more cinnabuns, and Merem-sho regales with even more stories.

Koga and Reika make their way to the makeshift cell that Shamiwa is held. Shamiwa's whole head of hair is black with white streaks, he's lying on his side, his skin large patches of charcoal black. One of his eyes is missing, and the other is glowing with white energy. It seems like he was in the process of becomming like Saiyetsu and Amatsu. "We might need someone to keep an eye on this..." Koga says.

"It might be a good thing for the new college to do." Reika says, and Koga agrees and they go to the future College of Skill. Tokugawa is there, and he, without his mask on, ask who would be the head of the new college. Koga considers walking away, but tells him that Shen would do. Shen sighs, complaining that Koga couldn't cover for him even once. Then Koga and Shen get to talking about Shamiwa, and Shen asks how he wants to go about it, informing Shosun-Jiao or being covert about it.  Koga thinks about it, and says that it could be a good demonstration of what he can offer for the community.

"If he becomes like... my father, or like Amatsu... don't give him the chance."  Reika says, and Shen says that his ninja will keep the land safe.

The party long rest, and as they do, Terra and Reika both find that they have written the visions they had in their entirety. Then the party head off for Oma Natue! On the boat, sipping tea, Koga asks Terra if she's feeling alright, since her voice is a tad of an octave higher. Terra chokes on her own cup for a bit and dismisses it, smiling to herself...

Session 20: The beginning of Act 3

Adol goes to Reika. "We need to land at the first opportunity." He says. Reika asks why, and he says that they need to follow those ships. Reika looks to the ships oncoming, and decides that they are foreign. Reika wonders how the ships move without sails, but Adol dismisses it as magic in the purple shit.

"They're blocking Inga." Reika says, and Adol asks if she understands the urgancy. Adol says that the western fleet are problematic at the least. He casts a glance at Terra, and she asks to have a word. Reika nods that he's free to go, and Terra and Adol go off to talk in a secluded corner.

"I'm thinking of asking Katsu what he has in store for an emergency, and then you and I set off while everyone sleeps." She confesses.

"Wow, I think of a lot of impulsive things. But that really tops it." Adol says.

"It's not an impulse. I've been thinking about it for the past couple of days." Terra admits. "It isn't their problem. I don't want Ko-" She shakes her head. "I don't want my friends hurt. This is our problem."

"Terra. Let me put it like this. Back then, it was hard enough on my own. There's a huge list of failed assassins that tried to do the same thing to the Bloody General. Furthermore, say we did set off, just us. What would happen if we were set upon? The best thing would be to take the Claw with us. You know... The Rebellion won. And this is curious as to why Maximillian is here. You must be wanted to both sides. Dead or Alive, after all. I'm not usually a Machieavallan guy, but... If you want to

The first Eldritch blast hits the kappa, but the second skitters along the scales. It falls back in the water, repelled. Reika draws her Windbow, conjuring up a peircing arrow and "That would be a kappa. They have a taste for human flesh. Oh, and they really love cucumbers." Koga says, readying himself to attack. Terra inspires the party and readies Erricil. The Kappa appears and Reika fires off twoo arrows, one with some magic oomph behind it. They land squarely, then the kappa slashes twice with its claws at Merem-Sho. A foxy shield springs up, blocking them. It dashes off and swipes at Reika, knocking her prone. Another Kappa beats the shit out of Katsu, scoops up his unconsious body, and dives into the ocean. Another kappa, with a Foxfire blast scorch mark, hops up on the ship. Koga takes this chance to stab at it with whisper, and then he dashes off, saying he'll deal with Katsu Tora. He looks into the water, but can't quite see him. The Kappa emits a sticky wet substance, damaging Adol, Reika, and Terra. The sticky substance causes Adol and Reika to be unable to move.

Adol is frustrated that he can't move. Reika pops a healing potion and slashes into the Kappa with Raikiri. Merem-sho conjures an illuision of a cucumber and tosses it overboard. The kappa follows and Reika takes the chance to slash at it. It stumbles, and Adol just barely positions his sword right to where the Kappa falls on it, and it dies.

Koga leaps into the water and administers a potion to Katsu, then gestures toward the ship. Terra heals herself, then steps forward and goes to stab with her awakened weapon. The Kappa knocks it aside and lays into Terra visciously, knocking her out. Adol watches horrified. Underwater, Katsu just manages to break free. Adol, seeing that Reika's got this, dives into the water to save Koga and Katsu. Unfortunately, he's going the wrong way. Reika rolls under the Kappa and shoves it through his jaw, and skull. It flops down, defeated. Reika then dashes over to the side, summons a wind arrow, and yells that Adol's going the wrong way. She also sees the Yokai merchant from the desert.

Koga grabs Katsu and speeds off to the ship. Reika lowers a ladder and Katsu climbs up, running below deck. Koga also climbs up. The Kappa speeds off to Adol and tears into him. Merem-sho fires two Foxfire blasts, but misses. Adol tears into him back. Reika shoots a lance of wind at the Kappa, and it just about disentigrates. Ro helps Adol back to the ship, and Koga and MErem-sho tend to Terra and Katsu's wounds.

The merchant approaches the party. Adol looks like he wants to buy something. Koga warns him that there's sacrifices to be made, and Terra just smacks his hand. "Don't." She warns. "Bad Juju." Adol winces and Koga gives Terra an eye. Adol reaches for a vial and Terra sighs wearily.

"I didn't get here by playing it safe, Terra. And neither, I'll remind you, did you." Adol says. Terra nods, but says nothing as the snake bites into Adol gently.

Koga goes to buy the Prayer beads, and he feels a very sublte yearning for the moon. Terra, seeing her friends all buy something, grumbles and grabs two vials, wincing when the snake bites into her. Reika then buys a bamboo sword. It gets stabbed into her, and she summons it from her palm, wolverine style.

"What just happened is an excellent example of why we shouldn't split up." Adol says. Terra shows him her card, and explains that she's there. Not so much her friends. "Maybe we're both being selfish." Adol says, rounding up the party and going back to Terra. "Now, do you want to tell them, or should I?" Terra looks frightened. "The way I see it, Miss Terra, is that you are excellent at running away from what you shouldn't be."

Terra lays out her pain and frustration, saying that she doesn't want the party to get hurt. Adol not quite saying what exactly she was, but telling the party that she was wanted. They also explain who the Bloody General was and how ruthless war is in Canaan. Terra mentions that she could even sacrifice herself to him so that he doesn't hurt them. Adol explains that Max being here would be bad if they didn't deal with him.

"It's not simple where you're from? Here, it is simple. Your war is coming to my homeland. I will fight for my homeland." Koga says. "As to being hurt, well I daresay we have been hurt in the journey so far. We've been knocked down and knocked out. Had multiple wounds that we've both treated. Pain's a part of the adventure."

"If we stand no chance against him, then we stand no chance against Daiza." Reika says. "Pain? Where you not there when I cut down my own father?"

"You're our friend. Sacrificing you is unacceptable." Merem-sho says.

Terra seems to silently accept that she isn't going anywhere without the rest of the party, and they dock on the beach near Inga. Merem-sho pulls out the urn and asks it about her rings, and he explains that both earrings are essentially a get out of death free card. Terra looks, and sees the rebellion flag she once stood under and happily flew, and then the alterations that was made to note this area was under management by the bloody general.

"Mess with MY FLAG, WILL YOU?! DISRESPECT EVERYTHING I FOUGHT FOR WILL YOU?! THAT'S IT! IMMA KILL HIM! THEN, IMMA KILL HIM AGAIN!" Terra says, practically frothing at the mouth.

"From what Adol says, I don't think that's such a high chance." Reika tells her gently. She surveys the environment. There's a couple of times where she blinks and she's back in the Forboding Valley. She blinks again and is back on the beach.

Terra leads the party up, and they notice there's eight corpses thirty feet ahead. Koga zips off to investigate. The corpses look like they were mangled. Koga recognizes these wounds as from a massive wolf. They typically don't bother hunting humans because they're boney. When a human is killed by these, it's typically because they are starving. Koga looks in and sees a pretty mangey looking one digging through the rubble. Koga also surmises that this probably isn't the only one. Digging through it, it seems to be monastic all around, with nothing really special to note. The rumbling gets a little more extreme as Koga peaks around the other building. Koga tips off and warns the party of the Shita Okami.

Koga realizes that they'll attack when the party has their guard down. He tells the party to ready their weapons. This huge wolf errupts from the ground, the spines along its back glow orange, and then it howls fire toward the party. Everyone sans Reika is burnt at least a little from it. Terra inspires Reika and heals herself. Reika backflips over the flames. She looks pretty happy. "DOG!" She says, punching it in the snout. and then beats the shit out of it. "SIT!" She says. It snarls angrily.

"Spread out!" Adol says, running off, but getting a bite from one of them in return. He makes a combo with Livart. "HEY, WHY DO THESE WOLFS HAVE FIRE POWERS?" He yells and gives off a whirlwind attack. It knocks the big one off its ass. Another one pops up and smacks Reika around.

"Play dead!" Merem-sho says, blasting one close to her with an eldritch blast. It just misses. "Fine. YOU PLAY DEAD!" She says, shooting off a foxfire, knocking one upside the head and down the cliff. It yelps as it hits the bottom.

"IF WE FOCUS ON THE BIG ONE IT'LL DEMORALIZE THE REST!" Koga says. Adol asks what that has to do with the fire thing, and Koga just shrugs, going off to stab the Alpha with Whisper. It hurts. He tries to follow it up with a stab from Zaki, but it glances off the bone. One of the pups goes to monch Ro. Adol sees an opportunity to strike, and does. Pup monches, and Ro takes quite a hit. The Alpha howls in pain and munches a bit on Koga. Terra takes this opportunity to make the Alpha flee, whispering madness into her violin, playing a tune. It hurts it, and in fleeing, it is ganged up on by most the party. Reika dashes up to it.

"I SAID SIT!" She says, punching the hell out of it, though she's pulling her punches. Adol asks what she's doing, but she seems to have it handled, and he goes to beat up another puppy. "I don't really feel good killing animals, after all the ghosts and stuff." He says. "Sit!" He bonks it with the hilt of his sword.

Merem-sho shoots off an eldritch blast toward the Alpha. Reika gives her a look, and she fires it off at another pup. Koga thinks about it and he feels pretty bad about it. The pup tries to bite at Koga, who flips off and onto a roof to heal. The wolf goes to bite Ro, and a shield pops up infront of her. The scared little familiar goes neener neener neener, and then she gets pliped across the face. She vanishes into the Aether. The alpha unleashes a wave of fire, and kills one of the pups. Reika backflips over the fire again, raises a hand, daring it to move. She smacks the piss out of it. Terra heals everyone, and then herself. Adol, seeing Reika intent on training a dog, dashes off to combo the pup. Most attacks miss, but the pup then shoves Adol down. Merem-sho launches two foxfires at the pup, killing it. Koga downs a potion and flips over, ready to smack the alpha, but it lands just a little awkwardly. Terra has Ericcil at the ready, but one look from Reika and she skitters off to heal Adol. Reika double slaps the dog. It passes out, and Reika ties a leash to it. Terra skins the pups, getting a pelt and a tooth. She looks entirely too happy to have a pelt from a pet.

Koga feels that the party were being watched. "Keep your eyes open. We aren't the only ones here." He holds a funeral for the wolves and the monks that have passed. Koga and the pup find some elk and go hunting, coming back with food for a week. Koga's preparing food for the pup, and asks what they're going to name her. Adol says that should go to Reika by right, since she bopped it the most. Reika is too busy fawning over it and petting it. Merem-sho says that she had two cats named floofy and Boopsy. Terra feels a little indignant. "Whatever you name it, I'm calling it dog." She says, as far away from it as possible.

"That's fine. Enjoy the cold." Reika says, fawning over it more. Terra begrudgingly moves a bit close to the fire. MErem-sho pulls out Tsukomo and aks what the prayer beads do, stuffing them in to the urn and shaking it. He says they'll make you strong, but he doesn't want anything to do with it, so if Merem-sho was to put them on then he'd want to be given to someone else.

So the party, seeing something resembling moonlight, decide to set off toward the east.

Session 21: The one where Terra says "Fuck" a lot.

Adol approaches Terra and Koga during the rest. "I think that stakes are not nearly as high for me as they are for you." He begins, then goes on to explain that he could split from the party to try and play democrat with Max, or sail around with Katsu. He says that if Max is here for Terra, it's likely to bring her back so he can be put in good graces with the nobility. So if he goes, he can offer himself. Terra counters that he's more likely to be killed, but Adol counters that if there were witnesses then he wouldn't. Still, with a look from Terra, he surrenders and says that he's just fine staying with Katsu Tora. Terra says that he's responsible for him, and Adol complains, saying that Katsu is two and a half handfuls. Terra lightly mocks him, saying he's a hero of the people and whatnot. Katsu pokes his head off the bow and yells at them to stop talking about him. Terra dismisses him and stares worriyingly to the north. Koga, pulling out and making his potions, tries to tell her that it'll all be okay, northerners or no. She says that they haven't seen war like she has, but Koga reassures her that the islanders are tough. So saying, he takes the first watch and lets her try to get some sleep.

Koga notices that Reika is asleep, but not really. She's scrawling something in the dirt, and Koga copies it as best as he can. Reika's dream consists of not-her affixing a wax seal to an envelope. A woman comes in, gives a bow, and takes it, leaving. Not-reika wrapt against the floor, and knows that the chasm of swords kept going. She finishes and lays down, going back to sleep. Merem-sho is now in the Spoopy dream Vision thing, looking down at the katanachasm. "Don't worry, almost all of them are down here now." Merem-sho's body, no  not quite hers, takes a tea cup and takes a long drink. Then, she wakes up. There's a translucent shimmering veil surrounding her body, despite her Sheishin feature not being activated by herself. She asks for tea, and koga brews it. She asks the party if they've had weird dreams, and Terra correlates with her that yes, they appear to have had the same dream. Koga worridly wonders if he should be concerned that he hasn't had any weird dreams. MErem-sho thinks on it and asks if this island has a library. The ninja says that if it's still standing, Shingin may have a repository of scrolls. The wolf, Ammy, then wakes up and yawns. Terra recoils from the smell as Merem-sho tries to pet it and explains to the party what's going on with it. Koga explains that though he was feeling like they were being watched, it didn't seem malicious here. Terra says that there are Northerners to be worried about, but the white cresent could be restoring the moon, and that's far more important than her foe.

So the party set off, not knowing what time it is and just walking. The landscape is unidentifiable, various things in the way. Reika recalls that the charms left around small shrines are an offering to FengWong, vibrant birds. In times of strife they are known to hide, but will typically bless someone if they can find them.  Soon the party come across a river. Koga realizes that they are in wood clan territory, a clan who prefers blunt weapons, their leader is said to like fighting with large studded tonfas, and is half tiger, though Koga's never met them. Koga explains to the party some of what he knows. "They can blend in with the trees too, so be careful." Terra scoots away from the tree she's next to, and comments that those things would certainly be helpful to her in the past. She pulls out her map and looks down, muttering to herself about locations and maps. Koga and Merem-sho both note to themselves that despite the immense pressure she must be under, Terra's acting like a completely different person. Less a bard, and more a tactician. So they travel on and then rest. During Koga's watch at the end, He notes that Terra and Merem-sho are both gone and Ammy is staring down an Ammy-but-from-a-different-pack. As Koga notices, out of the corner of his eye he spots a wood ninja eyeing the party.

Terra's eyes open and she is face down in some hard dirt with her arms. She's gagged. Every so often she sees a very large wolf walk past her. Merem-sho is in the same situation, but leaning against a tree instead. Terra sits herself up and a wood ninja, looking right at her, tosses two kunai at her, which land in the dirt. The charm attached to it turns to ash, and a wave of lethargy comes over her, but she shrugs it off. Terra pulls out a shuriken and starts sawing at the rope. the ninja next to her hops down and goes to knock her with a wooden odachi, but Terra does a small roll. The ninja looks sad that he couldn't hit a target bound. "Think this is my first time being bound? Try harder bitch." She says, even though it's muffled with her gag.

The enemy Shida Okami looks like it will attack Reika, but Reika is ready and surges forward, knocking the Shida with a foot as a Kunai comes from the direction Koga noticed a ninja. Reika shakes a little and her knees buckle as the charm goes off. The shida she elbowed goes to bite and claw at her, and blood is spilled. Two more ninja reveal themselves. Merem-sho breaks out of the rope and sees Terra and her ninja friend, along with a ninja close to her watching from the trees. Merem-sho tries to climb the tree, but cant reach the first branch and goes around the tree. The wolf circling her stops and looks confused at the tree. The ninja with Terra goes to smack her with the odachi. It hits this time, and then it pulls out a Kusirigama and wraps Terra around. Terra uses the momentum to spin herself around and frees herself completely! There's a fire in her eyes, and she grins. "Fine, if you really want to play, then I'll play!" She says as she stabs him with Erricil, a small jolt courses. He goes to counter with an odachi, but she's ready and pushes it aside with her offhand, stabbing into his collarbone as a bigger jolt courses through him. She then takes another stab and lightning courses through the rapier. The body drops down. Terra eyes the ninja in the branch. "COME GET SOME BITCH!" She yells as she downs a potion. The ninja, terrified, whistles and Terra hears snarling behind her as the ninja books it the hell out of there.

Koga turns to face the ninja. "Come now, why must we fight?" The ninja pulls out a paper with Terra's face on it, and charges Koga. "Can your branches carry the weight of your guilt?" He says as he poofs behind the ninja. Another ninja goes to toss a kunai. Koga catches it, reads that it's a daze charm, and tosses it back. Reika charges forward and smacks a ninja with her fist. Merem-sho activates her Path.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! DOWN BOY!" Merem-sho calls as two foxfires blast their way toward the wolf near Terra. The first one hits and sends it barreling through some of the trees. The next one hits it, and a patch of its skin is gone. With Reika and Koga, the ninja is trying to beat both Koga and Reika. And though he gets a good hit on Reika, he seems to be having quite a bit of difficulty.  He tries to leap away.  Koga stabs at him with Zaki. The ninja's eyes widen.
"The path of Kuro!" He says as he retreats.

Terra pulls out her violin. "I suggest. You leave." She says as she whispers madness into it. The hound books it.

"Fight or flee! Your choice!" Koga says as he stabs a sai into him. Ammy pounces onto the ninja that leapt away, biting its head off. "Or, you can end up like that guy."

The ninja looks like he's about ready to flee, but Reika leaps over the campfire and starts beating the shit out of him. Merem-sho gestures for Terra to follow her. "Terra's behind me." Merem-sho says as she slides down a slope and blasts two foxfire blasts at the remaining ninja, immolating it. Terra rifles through the ninja she fried the living hell out of and finds a bounty. She quietly pockets it. The party loot the rest of the island and go on to establish what happened. Koga thinks  that the wood clan may have aligned themselves with the northerners because they proved their strengeth to them. He says that there's the Mist, Wood, Soot, and Beneath the Waves. As Reika informs the party of the charms along the road, Reika and Koga note a torso on a branch down the road. They get closer and see that it's Morruka, looking like he was crushed and pulled apart. The Tatsumaki is nowhere to be found. The party make a bonfire, a refreshing sight amidst all this darkness, and set his body ablaze. Reika asks what could have done this, and Koga says that a Storm Giant could have done it. He'd pass it off as a legend, but given the past few days... Terra is playing the Price of Freedom. Koga thinks it's possible that the storm giant killed Morruka for the Tatsumaki. He postulates that the storm giant could have been called here by someone with enough capability. That, or ingenuity beyond reason. The party carry on after their mourning.

Koga is the first to see a Bokua. There's a herd of them around a watering hole. It seems like two of them are heavily injured.  Terra looks to go heal, but notices that their wounds are seeping with a dark purpleness. Terra recognizes it as Emelas, a fancy crystal that can be used for all sorts of things, from Airships to armour to even Erricil. Terra heals up the wounds and, while Koga goes to bandage them, Terra goes with Merem-sho and, after just a few minutes, sees what appears to be a giant. wearing what appears to be Max's armour. And his Lance. This freaks Terra the fuck out, and she goes to the rest of the party and, with plenty of explitive's and even a Christmas mention, starts to talk about how freaky it is and how bad it could be. She asks to have a parchment and writing utensils, but Koga is off in his own world for a second, staring at the silver cresent of moonlight with his prayer beads gleaming. He then snaps out of it and hands her the supplies, and she gets to work, lost in thoughts.

The party go back to investigate "Maximillian" and Koga realizes that it's not actually him, but rather a sort of mimic. And mimics can't mimic what they haven't seen, so he must have some sort of information on Maximillian. No sooner than the thought leaves his mouth does Terra start marching down the hill toward him.

The Yokai wants a fight. Terra's sick of fighting and just wants answers. He says he'll give the party answers if one of them defeats him in single combat. He says he will not fight against Merem-sho, since she is on the path of Seishin. Reika makes a point to shrink the giant to honourable combat, and they engage.

Reika goes to attack, deftly knocking aside his greatshield. and bopping him twice. He retaliates by slamming it down on her. He then backs up, giving Reika a chance to slash at him. He sees this coming and knocks her with the sheild. "Interesting tricks you have. up your sleeve." Reika says. The Yokai maintains that it's honourable combat. As Reika comes into range, he thrusts his spear into her, and she notices purple run into her. "Interesting." She says as she comes crashing into him, knocking his helmet aside and stabbing into the knee joints. He slams his shield back once, misses, and then does it again. She swipes at him.

"Impress me. You have yet to do so." He says, adopting a stance.

"Alright then." She says as a fire lights in her eyes. She stands up and dissapears with Raikiri.

"Show yourself! No tricks!" He says, running around and thrusting, hitting empty air as Reika drinks a healing potion. She applies a silver oil to her sword, and then leaps up and attacks! It tears huge gouges out of the yokai. He falls foward onto one knee. He drops his shield and slowly gets up, bowing. "Well done." He says as he grows again and re-adopts the crosslegged stance. "Now, what would you ask of me?"

Reika bows her head. "What do you know about Maximillian?"

"What do I know about myself? I am bloodthirsty, slaughtered thousands and maimed tens of thousands."

"I hear you're quite busy up north." Reika says. The yokai shakes his head.

"I've been down here." Reika affirms this. "Looking for a fight."

Reika thinks that it's possible that he's been conforming to the legends, less the man itself. She goes to ask the rest of the party about their opinions, but he says that they have not earned the right to answer since they did not fight. Reika goes to grill him some more. He then gives an offer to place her on the path. Reika says that it's an interesting propsal and takes out a small decorative katana, about as long as a candy cane. She takes it, and it places her on the path of Ningin. "Unsheathe that, and I will hear your words. Now, go and find other Maximillian. Bring them to their knees. Oh. But do not fight Bokua. They hurt very badly."

Reika nods and turns to the party. Koga goes to talk to him, and the yokai goes to grab his prayer beads, saying they are very dangerous. "Be very weary of the north. Do not confront it with company. It is best to do so in solitude. The Odakamuru is on the path of Maximillian." He says. Koga asks if he defeats him if he could information on the path he put his friend on. The yokai agrees, and Koga flicks a sai at him. It lands on his face, and he surrenders and gives him a little bit of information. So saying, the party leave, resting. Koga breaks down a Daze charm in the meanwhile.  Terra brings Reika over to pour over the Book of Paths with her, since she's on the Ningin path. They learn that Izanagi is the head of it, and it stands for Man.

The party the next "Morning" Come over a massive crater. Sitting in the middle of the crater, near filled with ocean water, a massive, glowing, fragmented sphere. Kinda looks like a snake coiling in on itself. The moon is named Tsukiyomi. It looks to be just sitting there. IT doesn't look like it's made of scales, but they appear to be shining stone. In front of it, we see Daiza. As they pass over the crater, he turns to face the party...

Session 22: Sonshitsu

Daiza stands up from his crosslegged position, rolls up a meditative mat, and slings it across his back. He clasps his hands in front of the party, not amicably, but not hostile either. Koga feels the hair on his arms and legs prick and he feels the sense of someone looking over his shoulder; a tangible feeling of predator prey dichotomy. Koga's eye's widen. He looks over his shoulder. He becomes an Otakemaru. The rest of the party, sans Reika, see a veil of darkness cover koga before they see him become it.

Reika starts laughing, draws her bow, makes a special arrow, takes aim, and fires at Daiza. Daiza opens his mouth as if to start talking, but both arrows land. He pulls the arrows out and drops them at his side. "A pity. I was going to persue some sort of discussion."


"Put the moon back and we'll persue discussion!" Merem-sho says as a veil of shimmers covers her. She blasts two Eldritch blasts, one knocking him off the cliff and the other one curving to follow it.

Koga plants his odachi weapon in the ground and looks confused. A red fog passes in his vision, unable to diffrentiate between friends and foes, but he shakes it off. He leaps ontop two cliffs. He's angrily jabbing at the air and then sits down.

Terra comes to the conclusion that the person Reika shot must be Daiza, and tells her that she has this. She then approaches a little more. Daiza flies up and is followed by four dark red orbs. He sits down on his prayer mat. "Even your father was more civil than this." Reika draws Raikiri. "You've seen what happened to him. Do not make the same mistake." He warns her. Reika taps the boots, and frost coils around her foot. She tries to yank her foot out, but it isn't moving. So instead she draws her bow and fires twice. Only one of them hits, since he plucks the first arrow out of the air. He sits down the conjured wind arrow and plucks the second arrow out, laying it down to the next.

"The only talking we will do is when you are dead!" Reika hisses.

"Dead people cannot talk." A pause as he thinks for a second. "Well, I guess they can. Or they used to, rather."

Merem-sho surges a foxfire toward Reika and melts all the ice. She then fires a second foxfire blast at one of the dark red orbs, but one of them absorbs the foxfire. "WATCH OUT" She warns. "Those are Eldritch Blasts! Prepare your shields or whatever!"

Koga flips off the first cliff, plunges his odachi into the clifface, slides down it somewhat with his feet, lifts up and delivers a powerful slash to Daiza. But he misses as Daiza ducks underneath it. Koga does manage to dig into his scalp a little though, creating a sizable wound on his forehead. It seems to seer it a little bit, as his body temperature is super high. He transforms back and dashes back to join the party. Terra tells Koga to be more careful, and dispells the Eldritch blast that Merem-sho's foxfire had hit. Daiza kneels again. "I will give you one more chance. Surrender."

Ammy leaps off the cliff, chomps down on Daiza and tosses him into the cliff. He shakily kneels down again. Reika runs over with a primal yell and thrusts Raikiri into Daiza's torso, plunging it into the dirt. She then pulls out, putting all her body weight into it, and then decapitates Daiza's head from his body. "It's over." Koga says.

"Cut off the head and you win." Terra quips.

"It is over, right?" Koga says, looking at the decapitated head. "It seems to be." He takes a closer look, thinking it may be pretending to be dead, but no, it appears like its over. He whips three shuriken over to the eldritch blasts, but nothing seems to happen.

Terra goes to poke the prayer matt, and it seems that it's familiar, since it's the same one from the visions Reika, Terra, and Merem-sho have had. She calls for Merem-sho to come look at this. And then Daiza's body pulls out two blades of energy, one white, one black, and then slashes at Reika. While she is hit by the first blow, she parries the second. Ammy jumps down and goes to bite at Daiza's corpse, but stops and shudders in her tracks.

"If I must dismember every facet of your being, then so be it!" Reika says, managing to hit him with Raikiri. Merem-sho blasts the prayer mat with a foxfire, and Daiza slashes out at the one aimed for her. Then the three eldritch blasts coil around and blast Reika over the wolf, and she drops to the floor.

Koga throws a smoke charm kunai, but it doesn't go off. This confuses Koga, but he picks up Reika's body. The ground frosts around him and it climbs up to his waist, but Koga walks through it anyway with the path of Kuro. Terra runs over to heal Reika, and though the energy pours into her, it seems to hurt her more than anything. This takes Terra by surprise, her eyes going wide. She didn't notice the infected wound.

Daiza goes over to slash at Koga, taking some hits from the wolf, who effortlessly parries the blows. "I will not let you harm Reika." He says. As Daiza walks past his head, he picks it up and fastens it to his neck again. A fourth eldritch blast spirals forth from the cliff, and they convelece on Terra, blasting her back. Merem-sho blasts two foxfires toward Daiza. One repels him back but the other misses. The four Eldritch Blasts seperate into two groups and go for the mages. Merem-sho teleports away as soon as she's hit, appearing close to Terra, who is blasted back to almost the cliff edge.

Koga lights a latern and sits it near Reika. He pulls out a Sai and Whisper. "I don't know what your goals are. But I have a charge to protect. and I will protect her." He sticks whisper straight into his chest. Daiza places his hand on his wrist. He looks thoughtfully down at whisper, then follows up his arm, and looks Koga right in the eyes. He looks almost sympathetic.

"This world is not so romantic as to where an attack between my aggressor and myself will go unabated." He says, blasting three eldritch blasts at Reika. One goes to Terra, and Terra barely avoids it. Koga turns and just reaches out, but it is too late for Reika Yuzuka Ramui.

Terra panics, and grabs Merem-sho. "I have a destiny to fulfill. I must see it done. Merem-sho. Do you aquiece?" Terra has a calm demeanor about her. Merem-sho nods, and the two blink out and away. Koga turns, and doesn't see them. He and Ammy are then waylaid into by Daiza. Ammy passes off the cliff. Suddenly, the One-Armed Man appears, rides down the wind, cuts open a portal, and yanks Koga through the portal. He reaches out to Reika as the portal closes. Reika, with the last bit of muscle she has left, tosses the Forlorn Blade she was carrying through it. The brave samurai looks at Daiza.

"'I may have fallen here... and for my failures, cast to the depths of Yomi...'"Reika looks up at Daiza, hate in her eyes. "But I've a feeling we'll see each other again soon enough." Reika then breathes her last.


---
Koga is pulled into the same chamber he began his journey in. It's dilapitated. The smell of charcoal still fills the air, even now. The hillside is barren, with little pockets of where pockets where reduced. The one armed man kneels down, and places a hand to his face. Koga takes a minute and clenches his fist, so hard that you can hear the creaking. He has lost everything. He speaks to Tachicawa Oma. "So tell me. Why aren't you a puppet of meat like the rest of the leaders have become?" Koga feels a pain in the wounds. Tachi points to them.

"Take a good look. What do you think those wounds become?" Koga looks down. He hadn't registered that he had even been cut.

"frostbite?"


Tachi slowly shakes his head. "No. Not frostbite. Something much more sinister.

"Hikari." Koga says, raising whisper. The wound stops burning. He drops the sword and starts to tend to his own wounds. It takes him about ten minutes. Tachi pulls out his cloak and begins to pull his bandages off. Underneath is sickly looking, black, corroded flesh. He sits his broad bamboo hat off and reveals the same on his face.

"This is what happens to an individual when they are... Well, it's the prologue to Reika's father." Koga nods solemnly. Tachi begins to reapply his bandages and armour, taking a look around. "I am sure you share the sentiment... but I do feel this is my fault. He was not there to address Tsukiyomi. He was there to address you four. And I could do nothing. Despite setting you on your path, and all the events that I have done, my hand was outplayed. I chose Reika because she could be a leader. Yet now I have doomed her to a fate worse than death."


Koga takes a minute to process it, then scans the room. "She's gone. There's nothing that can be done. But we set out for a purpose. And that Purpose is the only thing I have left. I will meet Daiza again. And by the end of it, either he will fall or I will. What will you do?"

"I have been dealing with the northerners. Their presence has upset the spirits... You have met with Eisuru, correct?" Koga nods slowly. "She perhaps has a better grasp on the correct things to set in motion at this juncture than I do. Everything I've done has been met with failure. I have yet to make a trip down south to Ina, where I believe many keys to the conflict lie. Eisuru is vigilant, and self assured, and honorable. I pray she does not see my weakness."

"I have two things I need to seek now before Daiza." He winces. "Seek Eisuru. And Seek Power."

"I would advise you to not let such a persuit consume you." Tachi looks at koga and takes out a scroll, handing it to him. "I will no longer be able to oversee your path, Koga of the Mist. But, should you have need of me, I will not let someone else bolster Daiza's ranks." Koga's mind goes to Anshin, and the temple of Kuro beneath it. He feels like there's something there for him. "Our first place is the Temple of Kuro. Can you take me back there?"

"You wish to retrieve nothing?" Tachi says, looking at him a bit cross while stretching his arms out to the ruins of his home. Koga finds quite a bit of stuff, but also some bodies. Tachi and Koga both set about burying their dead ninja brethren, and then Tachi cuts open a portal and they walk on through.

Koga and Tachi come out in the ninja school. Right there is Shen, most of the other ninja, Tibalt, and the college of architecture. The general hubub stops and all eyes fall to Koga. Shen looks at Koga for five seconds and the Spirit Blade approaches. "What's going on?"
"Shen. This man is the one who took the scroll. But. His intentions were, let's say they more or less align with ours."
"I'm confused. The man who almost single handidly decimated our clan, and you say his views were aligned with ours?" Koga says that he will leave Tachi to explain it. Shen puts his hand on his hips and waits.
"I am not seeking a conflict. I am merely delivering this one to eek out his justice."

"What about the other two? The clans are fractured. If they are working in tandem, it is almost blashpemy. Do they still have the other two shards?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't, unless they aligned with the Northerners."

Shen asks koga, and Koga confirms this. Tachi opens a rift and leaves. Koga is making his way for the ruins and Shen is keeping pace. "What's going on? You're acting strangely. What's down there for you?"

"Something to kill Daiza with, for starts. Cutting off his head didn't seem to work."

"You met him?! Are the others..." Koga shakes his head and says that he doesn't know.

"You said to me that the mist rarely keeps its shape. The mist too has a veil for hiding blades. Though we are few, we are still usefull. Our clan's strength was not in its numbers."

Koga nods at the sand at his feet. "Reika... is fallen." This catches Shen hard, and he winces. "I failed to protect her." Shen nods.

"Then it will not only be us. I will fetch the onmiyoji in Ramui. I will find Susano'o in his tower. Her death will not be in vain." He goes to leave, but Shen stops and tosses him the spirit blade. "Here." Koga deftly catches it and keeps walking, a mission on his mind...

---

Terra, Merem-Sho, and Ro are ejected out a magickal door that Terra has conjured. Merem-sho has several questions, but Terra buffs them away and they travel for eight hours at a fast pace, seeing yokai corpses along the ground. Terra also sees the northerner ships and an encampment. Terra approaches Merem-sho, who's freaking out about running away from Koga and Reika. Terra tells her that she saw Reika get destroyed by the eldritch blasts, but Merem-sho doesn't listen. Terra informs Merem-sho that sometimes retreating is the only option in war. Jaeshala, upset, falls asleep. Terra makes a fake camp to distract some of the ninja, but in her reverie she doesn't spot someone coming, and he clasps his hand around her wrist. He asks Terra why she is wanted by the northerners, and she responds that she wanted to do bad things for the right reasons, for the sake of the world. This seems to convince the hand behind her, and he lets go and sheathes his sword. Terra turns to face him. He's a short man, looking to be of the Ash clan. He looks Terra up and down, and asks her why she's still on the island. The tabaxi points toward the northerner camp. "I have a duty to attend to. I must see it done for the sake of the world, if not this island."

The ninja pulls out a scroll, seems to be notes he's taken. "Let me tell you of all the reasons you are stupid. Right. But Stupid. " He then proceeds to list various reasons that Terra had already expected, namely that they used her as a scapegoat and villifiy her. The conflict is big with them." Still, at the end of it Terra nods, but she doesn't waver. The ninja says that his name is Oda, and he will help Terra get into the encampment and keep others from off their trail. So he does, and they rest. Terra throws some shuriken during it, and Oda notes that its weird she has the bag full of them, as the Mist clan is disintergrated. Terra says that once her friend said that Mist comes in Many Shapes. Barely visible but still there is a shape. Still, she eventually turns in for herself as Merem-Sho wakes up. She sees the ninja and takes it suprisingly well, all things considered. They bond over talking with the Tsukogami.

The Tsukogami reveals information about the Scorched Contract, namely that there's a primal malevolence, the evil of man even, that someone is trying to break through.Merem-sho also gets the feeling that the urn and Tokugawa Machiro are the same person. In the morning, because yes time has resumed for once, Merem-sho tells this to Terra, but Terra doesn't really care, pointing at the northerners. "That's the evil of man. Seen it all the time." She says as the party travels off. Terra notes that there's three ships docked, and the one in the middle Terra recognizes can fly. Which means that either the place they are on is important, or the person on board are important. Oda informs Merem-sho and Terra that there is a secret passage in the docks they made tha will bring them right to the middle of the camp. Terra notes that there is generally where the general or leader will rest, so she nods.

"Let's Go." She says.
---
A ninja, now on a quest for power to avenge his fallen charge.

A Bard, on a quest to stop the Northerners from wrecking the rest of the island.

And a Warlock, on a journey with the bard thinking about her place in the conflict.


What will happen to the three, now seperated and without Reika? Will Koga find the power he needs? Will Terra stop the Northerners? Will Merem-sho deal with her guilt?

Find out next time, on The Scorched Contract!

Session 24: Terra's an idiot and Koga has questions.

Koga comes up out of the ruins. Tachikawa, Shen, and Uzu are around. As Koga comes about, Shen and Tachi nod and Tachi opens a portal and he, Uzu, and Kairu go through. Shen informs him that he and the other mist ninja will return to Oma Natue and begin a campaign of Ninja Unification. Koga asks if Shen has passed on what he learned, and Shen says he did not for he wants to keep the people optimistic. Koga looks eastward. He says that if they are to negotiate then they will need some leverage. Shen straight up says he was going to kidnap the leaders. Of course, first they would set up a base, and then look for the clan beneath the waves. Koga says that he would like to see the fate of his comrads, since he cannot confirm the death of the other two. Shen says that it's good to see the spark of hope still in him, since he can live a fruitful life. Koga muses that it could also lead to a meaningful death. He sees Shen talking, but it's muffled, like as if he's underwater. Then, his vision goes black...
---
Terra and Merem-sho look down a ridge. Oda says that he can keep the campfire going for two hours, and the entrance to the middle would be best served as an exit. Terra is ready, and Her and Merem-sho head down into the camp after accidentally setting off some explosives. They get into the encampment, sneak along the left, and enter the armoury. A captain comes into the armoury and accosts Terra, who is wearing a size too big for her tiny body.  The tabaxi intimidates the guard, who leaves. She complains about her armour to a soldier next to her, who says that the grunts aren't their concern. They make their way to the pit, where the smell of burning yokai flesh almost puts Merem-sho down. It does unsettle Merem-sho how there is yokai propaganda, but it's nothing new for Terra. The tabaxi sees Maximillian and heads off to him, but she's intercepted by the same guard, who yanks off her helmet and rouses the ones around him to battle upon seeing the fugitive. It's over swiftly, however, with Terra knocked out and Merem-sho pleading for their lives. The grunt says it isn't up to him, but rather Maximillian. Merem-sho says that she just wants to talk to the leader. And then the captain knocks Merem-sho out. It appears the Merem-sho has returned the favour of Terra saving her life.
---
Back with Koga, he cannot see at all and there's the distant plinking of water. His clothes seem kind of damp, he's been lying down for who knows how long. He feels the texture of carved stone. Koga draws out whisper and says Hikari. It doesn't emit light, but blue torch sconches do start to illuminate the area around them. Koga feels the back of his neck to see if he was hit by a sleep dart. He hears a very faint feminine voice in the back of his head, but he can't tell. He picks a direction and starts walking, moving cautiously. The corridor ends in a wall and a turn to the left. Koga sees a steep staircase descending. Koga glances at the kirin statue. "Well there's some sapience to this place it seems." He starts to descend. The left wall gives away after five minutes, and with another five minutes he finds the end of the stairs. "What, you don't want me going this way?" He snarks at the irritated, indistinct voice. Out from his clothes pops the Kodama he had befriended. It gives him a couple of reassuring pats. Koga asks where the kodama wants to go, and it points forward. He keeps going. Eventually floating blue flames help him out.  Nothing seems to be here, and Koga starts to double back. Deep beneath him, he starts to hear some collisions. He continues to double back, and eventually makes it to an upward staircase. After some climbing, he is incredibly high up. Out splayed infront of him is the entire Oma Natue Region. It appears he is in the Uru Masimata. He keeps going up. He sees one spire missing, one cut in half, and the other two appear to be similar to the Ramuinian obelisks.

Koga carefully approaches a figure, and feels a very thick spiritual pressure. The figure doesn't have any defining features, other than a humanoid manifestation of shadows coalesced with a being of pure light. As Koga gets closer, it takes the figure of a man with a ponytail in samurai armour. In front of him is Izanagi himself. "Well. I've come to meet the other half." He says. Izanagi doesn't stir. "I don't know if I'm so insignificant that you don't even register my presence, but on behalf of Izanami, I greet you." He says with a bow. The left eye opens, closes, opens again, the other eye opens, he falls back, and is purely flabbergasted at Koga being here. Eventually its clarified that Koga knows Eisuru and means him no harm. Nagi asks if Eisuru informed him of what happened and what he's doing here. Koga says that it's been more than a month since he talked with her. He then expositions all the things. The most important thing being that his sister keeps the biggest baddest yokai she makes her. Nagi asks Koga what he thinks he's doing here. Koga wonders if they were there to reconcile or if he were to take his sisters power.
Nagi says that he's actually hiding up here away from Daiza, since if he were to fall then that could give Daiza too much control over humanity as well. Izanagi asks what the hell is up with the invaders, and he tells him what little he knows of the situation. Nagi says that the barrier around him that Koga popped through is to keep Daiza out. He hopes that Daiza is dead since he hates being cooped up here. Koga says that Daiza has a weakness, and he holds up the Forlorn Blade. "There is also the possibility that he is a puppet to something far greater." Nagi nods and says that there's a film of a sort that's eeking up between the two places, though he doesn't know what exactly it is.  They talk a little bit about the forlorn blades, and Izanagi offers to pick out Merem-sho, if it's true she has a forlorn blade. Koga's eyes show a spark of hope and he agrees. After a while, the god says that Merem-sho and Ro are just down there, and Koga asks if he can also see Terra. Izanagi informs him that it isn't quite that easy, and she's surrounded by a lot of other white specks.
Koga asks if the solar and Lunar birds have changed, and Izanagi settles down and begins to communicate. He tells Koga that it'll be a while. "Hold on for me." Koga says, looking down at the three specks that would be the Northern ships. He then takes a look around the top half of his somewhat-home, finding a recipe for a mysterious ninja charm. He sets to work on it, and completes about half of it before izanagi regains his senses.
"Suzaku is very troubled. He was threatened with Tukiyomi's well being, and had to go in a long sleep. There's another blade in Tenshin Natue." Koga nods. "So uh, why do you have two of my sister's pieces?"
Koga tells him of his adventures so far. During some of it, Izanagi offers to summon Ozuma, and does so. He's conscious again, and joins the talk. Ozuma looks great, and thanks Koga for taking care of him. Koga asks the now nine-tailed fox of the fate of Mokiyomi. Ozuma informs him that things are doing well, and that Tachikawa came back with Uzu to situate him at the island. Koga says that when it is over, he will probably make his home there. Koga looks at Izanagi.
"When it comes down to it. And the fate of the world hangs in Daiza's hands, are you sure that you cannot reconcile with your sister?"
"Oh, I can. But you never answered my question of why you have two pieces of my sister."
Koga informs him that there used to be some aversion, and that now there isn't a problem, since she is silent. Her brother asks that they could always speak through him. Koga hears a voice in his head. "Tell him to Fuck off."
Koga tells Izanagi that the mistress would rather not. He then makes the mistake of saying that he questions his mistress. "Do you question me? You think you know more than I?" Koga feels some fear in his body. "I, the only one who saw this coming, seperated so that Daiza could not find and corrupt me. And you question that wisdom? How about, you just fuck off?" And with that, the spirit blade yeets off into Uru Masimada.
Ozuma and Izanagi just watch as it happens.
---
Terra wakes up first. She's in a damp cell with no gear. A dead tengu is also down here. She rattles the bars of the cell. A guard tells her to shut up and walks away. Terra laments her situation, but accepts it and begins to pray. Merem-sho wakes up and breaks an Emelas Bracelet. Terra and Merem-sho split up, breaking some doorlocks and going through holes and investigating. At one point Merem-sho talks with Geki Genko. He mentions that he has a friend who could planeshift, but that may take weeks. He asks if the two girls have tried tricking them into opening the doors. Merem-sho thanks him for the advice, and does so. The guy leaves the door that merem-sho knocked on open, and the party is reunited with their equipment. They also find a wood ninja in the treasure pile. He agrees to help them escape, and the four initiate combat after he throws a silence kunai. The ninja misses with two swings of an odachi, and Ro just misses with a bite and sting combo. Terra charges in-as much as she can, and does a triple stab with ericcil, finishing one of them off. Merem-sho's eldritch blasts make short work of the other enemies. They loot the three, but don't find the key. So the four members begin to approach the other three...
--
A ninja talking with a god, and two girls trying to escape from captivity...

Session 26: Welcome back to the Stage of History
Koga, in the Northerner's camp, looks for tracks and pokes around, remaining stealthy all the while. It's very cluttered. He sneaks his way to the mines, putting on his doctor's outfit and just humming down, minding his own business as he heads into the cave, grabbing a flashlight along the way. He comes to a large cavern with plenty of glowing purple crystals. He picks up a small one and pockets it, then explores the cavern...
---
In the prisons, Terra and Merem-sho get ready. Merem-Sho asks Terra what happened to the Ninja, but Terra's response is a blank stare. MErem-sho's head gets foggy, and she forgets all about the ninja. Merem-sho sends Ro to scout ahead, and they find a boy, who holds an amulet up and dispells Ro's invisibility. Merem-sho sends her Familiar running, but she's caught. They discuss where she came from, and say that there's some weird chanting going on with Matthias, and that the general is currently away. They take Ro away and lock her up, and then she hears humming. Merem-sho relates it to Terra, and she recognizes it as Katsu Tora's humming! The two make a plan to get him out. Upon telling Terra that there are six  people down here, the cat warns her to be careful.
"If... If you end up like Reika... I'm sorry." Terra softly says  as she gets ready. Merem-sho distracts the two that had taken Ro, leading them up the stairs. Terra takes this opportunity to sneak up and poke her head around a corner, but is immediately spotted. One of the guards squint at her, and then says that she must be the alchemist. Terra agrees and says that she's there to administer a potion to stop some humming that may be magickal in nature, and the two let her pass after informing her of the Demon they caught. She says that it must be annoying and evil, and they say that the Demon is kinda cute. Terra harshly dismisses it.
-
Merem-sho gets invited to the cafe, and she accepts. Matthias is there, with a half eaten burrito. He stares at Merem-sho, and then dismisses it as she goes to heap up her plate with mashed potatoes.
-
Terra pokes her head in Ro and Katsu's cells, freeing them. She attempts to free some ninja as well, but they have nothing to do with it. Merem-sho pops up and Terra as well, and they lie and decieve their way through some guards, exiting, and then lie their way past others, and Terra stops and stares. Adol the Red is on a crucifix, bleeding out and suffering many wounds.
---
Leo, Fuyuki, and Sasha are all in a cave or chasm of a sort, and Sasha talks all about what may have happened there. The mage, Sasha, spreads out Dancing Lights and illuminating the cavern.
Koga comes across them, though they are facing away. He sees something in the core, similiar to the Tatsumaki that Mokkuro wanted so desperately to have. He recognizes it as the YamiKajii. He looks at Leo and Sasha and yells at them to state their business. They manage to pick out a few words, and Koga vice versa. They manage to cobble up a language and start talking. He asks if they stand with the Bloody General, and the two deny it, though Leo says that Bloody General is a bit too on the nose.
Koga sheathes his sais and they talk it out. Koga takes out some Emalite and Leo holds up his axe, which has Emalas in it. Koga remarks that it's impressive. Koga says that he's looking for two people, a Tabaxi and an Elf. Leo asks for the name of the tabaxi, and he says that she goes by Terra.
This surprises the two and they ask of his intentions, and he says that he wants to prevent her from being killed. They also ask if Koga has seen any others. and he says that he's seen one who goes by Adol The Red.
The two northerners simultaniously bury their heads in their hands. "Of fucking course." They say. They also discuss the likelihood of him surviving. It's very low.
The four head up to the encampment, Koga filling them in somewhat on the way.
---
The Bloody General comes out of his tent and nods toward Terra. He draws a line in the sand and beckons her to fight for her survival. She does, fueled by determination and hatred for him. He asks her why she thinks he's chasing her, and she replies that it's likely for status. He says that it was merely a coverup. Terra and him swap blows, but he heals her when she drops.
"Do you not think I have family?" He asks. "Family that I have failed to protect from you?"
Terra nods, and Max nods. He assaults Adol, for all intents and purposes killing him. Terra screams out, and then she sits down. She places her Tarot card on the ground and adopts the pose depicted.
"No, I understand. You take your anger out." She says. "I deserve it. I've done the right thing for the wrong reasons, and the wrong thing for the right reasons." Max goes to sit across from her.
"So you've been seeking atonement then?" Max asks.
"No. I've just been... Running. It''s what I do. What I've always done." She says softly.
"Then, perhaps we are not as similar as I thought." Max says, smashing the Tarot card in half.
At this point, the four crest the hill. Leo recognizes the man as Balboa. He asks to pass, and Balboa summons up flaming fists. Leo says that his quarrel is with Max, and Balboa responds that he'll just have to knock him out good. So the two engage in combat!
Maximillian goes to stab at Terra, but misses twice. Terra scrambles to her feet. "So you will continue this fight?"
"I will kill you in this ring, Terra." Maximillian softly states. "And then, We will bring the holy fires of God to this accursed land."
Koga disengages and tosses a smoke bomb at Max. It stuns both Max and Terra. "I will not let you die here, Tabaxi!" Terra, stunned, looks as surprised as she can. Merem-sho grabs Terra and dashes over to Koga."It's good to see you again, friends." He says.
"ADOOOOOL!" Katsu yells, dispelling the invisibility and shooting a wind gust at Max. It dispells the smoke and the fighting ring. "Oops."
"Focus on surviving!" Koga yells, as Katsu starts to run over to them, taking a spear in the back for his troubles.
The mooks, one of them tosses a spear at Terra, and it hits. The rest try to cut off the avenue of escape.  Balboa beats the ever loving shit out of Leo, but he doesn't seem to mind, returning the favor. He then drinks a lesser healing potion. Max shakes off the effects he was under. Sasha runs away from the spearmen, taking some hits. She returns it with a GIANT WALL OF FIRE, immolating the four guards. Koga summons a living breathing shadow, Zoga. He then administers a Cure Wounds scroll on Terra. "It's really you..." She says.
Zoga summons three black stars and rolls behind the tents. Merem-sho activates her path.  Terra appreciates that Koga came, and gives a cheapshot toward Max. "I appreciate you coming, Koga. But it's time to leave."
"I agree." He says. Terra thusly warps them away.
Zoga blasts the everloving hell out of anyone around him with Windfury Cataclysm. MAny people are knocked down, and Leo and Balboa are left standing. Leo strides up to Balboa and smacks him, and he deflects the other blow. The two talk a little, and then Max starts sprinting off after Terra and Koga...
Who tells her that he will hold the line. Terra's sick of him doing this to her, and implores him to just run away with her. Koga says that he's tired of running, but he will see her to safety... switching with Zoga.
And he sees Adol rise up, Lavartte in hand. He shakily goes to his feet, and Koga inspects him for wounds. He's reaaallly battered and bruised. But he manages to help him to his feet and helps out the other ninja. The people here seem to be having only followed orders to a point. Koga notices that a ship, the Fairweathers. The party, minus Terra, all talk about it. Balboa chucks a rock at Max. It hits and Balboa goes to exchange blows with him as Zoga and Koga switch places again. He informs Terra that everyone is running and she smiles. "Y'know, I thought I was going to be alone after this, or dead. It's nice to know I have friends again." She cracks a soft smile and starts sprinting off.
The party all meet up running toward the ship. Terra expresses joy and surprise that Adol is alive. They meet up with the ship and the entire party is slowly ferried accross. As they all get up, the skies darken and Basically Sin pops up from the yokai pit and goes off in the direction of Max and Balboa.
"So what is that?" He points.
"Not a usual occurance." Koga snarks.
"Welcome to our country." Terra also snarks.
---
Session 27: Exposition and Planning

The party are talked by the captain, who looks out for the leader of the three. Koga tries a bow, but doesn't have his sea legs. Terra gives the man a handshake and starts talking Northern.  The man questions her, and the Tabaxi says that she considers this her home now. He offers them to teleport to Canaan's capital city, but Terra denies this, saying that she has stuff to accomplish. The captain says that they will discuss this with their crew, and Koga tells them of a safe place they can travel to, and they float off.

Terra makes some new magical clothes, and Koga goes off on his own to talk with Izanami. There's some discussion involving if he's the leader or not, and he admists that for now she could consider him the leader. The goddess offers to deal with BasicallySin, and not a second later the thing gets stuck up to his waist. Koga informs her that the thing seemed to be made more of Yokai, and the goddess wonders what the fuck are these Canaanites. She wonders of their next move, and offers that they get the next fragment while they are closer, rather than double back with the Forlorn Blade in hand.  

Merem-sho attempts to talk to Chiharu or Geki-Genko, but she falls asleep soundly.

Terra goes down to where Adol is being operated on, and meets the surgeon named Gustave, who, while she somewhat helps tend to Adol's surgery, gives her quite an information dump. The rebellion came down to one on one combat. Alver lost his head thanks to being unable to grip his sword properly. This makes Terra directly responsible for his death. He asks her why she fled, and she responds honestly. Perhaps too honestly. There's a poor metaphor regarding Omelette's and Terra's hand in them.  Gustave says that the king is a figurehead, and is very good at Go Fish. Somewhat satisfied, the two finish Adol's operation and they retire to bed.

Merem-sho wakes up and contacts Chiharu, who has four tails. She doesn't know when that happened, and upon hearing Merem-sho's update, she just kinda, slides out and away. She also contacts Geki, and he tells her that as a follower of his path, she has the responsibility of defeating Demon!Max, since he could bring irreparable damage to the veil between the Spirit and Human planes. Geki does offer some information.

The three gather and talk about what to do next. The discussion goes to Maximillian's destination. Terra points at herself, but it seems like he's looking for some sort of power.  He could be going after the Tatsumaki. Koga is reminded of a comb he got, and hands it to Merem-Sho... whom passes out. Koga catches her and gently lays her on the ship.

Merem looks around in the astral plane, and is very confused.  Geki's voice comes out and he tells her to just think of where she wants to be. She thinks about Max, and finds herself following him. He's running south. At one point he blinks in and out of  existance, appearing 600 feet further south. Worrying. She thinks about Sin and finds herself looking at him. He's given up the struggle, arranging stones in amusing patterns. Merem-sho tries to interact, but nothing. She feels a tug on her Astral cord, and spots a katame gently tugging on it. He talks a little about how he's going to be the one to cut her chord. This freaks Merem-sho a little out and she warps to her body, waking up with a start.
---

Session 28: Terra Tells a Terrible Tale, Koga Confesses Chronicles.

The party get into the cove. The captain, Serras, gathers the crew and the party around him. He says that they can have a better conversation now. He'd like to leave, but his region does seem responsible for it, and he'd hate to let demons lie.

Koga says that he had a mind to not let unfinished bussiness get in the way. Serras says that certainly isn't the fairweather way. Serras says that Katsu's ship seems to be unrecoverable, and the exact method of it escapes the two. The captain asks Koga is it is possible that the clan under the waves could have done it. Koga takes a moment to think about it. He says they could, but it doesn't match their character, as they prefer to observe. He postulates that it could be Max, but it could also be Daiza. The captain asks who Daiza is, and Koga says that he is the one responsible for much of the problem. The captain asks if Terra intends to return to Canaan, and the tabaxi denies it. He asks if the party need a lift to Max, and Merem-sho explains that he was going inland. Serras says that they will attempt to salvage from the Claw's wreckage. In an effort to keep the party in touch, he sends Leo and Sasha with them. Sasha to teleport them to the ship, and Leo to protect her. Sasha introduces herself and Leo, and after the Fairweathers return to the ship, the party sits down to talk.

Koga says that he thought that he would have faced Daiza alone, but says that the OAM, leader of Oma Natue, whisked him away. He tells them that the Forlorn blades are the best bet. He says that after he was spirited away, he talked with Tachikawa. He says that part of his mission is to recover the shards of Izanami. He mentions the Ash ninja, and Terra and Merem-sho wince as they remember Oda, the ash Ninja they met. Leo asks if he can just ask the goddess what the others look like, and Koga says he will ask when the lady wakes. He says that he found himself in Iru Masimada. He says that there is another presence there, one that would like to keep their presence unknown.  He says that he sat down with Izanagi and talked. He says that he was bid to find them, and glad to do so, for he is but one man.

Suddenly, his vision goes funky, and he looks at the cave entrance again. There's a thing there. It receeds yet again, as if it didn't expect to see him seeing them. Terra and Merem-sho get a sinking feeling in their stomaches. Sasha looks visibly shaken and goes to draw around the rocks. Ro curls up around Merem-Sho, comforting her. Koga says that they can leave. Terra says that it seems like storytime is over. Koga sends his shadow out to investigate, but Sasha finishes her circle. The bad feelings vanish, as does Ro. The party watch as it goes down and watches the ship leave. It seems a bit frustrated. Merem-sho takes special note of it, since what fur it has seems to look like Chiharu's, and there was some foxfire around the spine. It then retreats. Koga thinks about it and it kinda looked like a dragon, but it was hella weird. Leo says that with the foxhead on it he could try talking to it. Terra seems impressed that he can talk to beasts. Sasha says she could teleport them to the ship and avoid it, but Merem-sho wishes to investigate it a little. Koga says he should go off to investigate, and Merem-sho steps out of the circle to contact Chiharu, who has to reassure Merem-sho that she had a calm emotions spell. She uses it and they talk about the fuckywucky. Chiharu has a few ideas on it, but nothing concrete. She tells Merem-sho to gather more accessories, and she will tell her more later. A bit of minor discussion, and communication stops. Koga nods and goes off.

He crouches along. He sees Zoga, his shadow, impaled on the wall. A detatched Talon is through his chest. It slipped through and falls to the ground. Koga funnels some essense into it, and the shadow doesn't move at all. Koga swaps places with his shadow, continuing to play dead, staring at the enemy. The shadow goes off a bit, and gets chomped. Then it sounds like the thing is singing. Koga examines it a little, and then decides to get out of there. He returns to the party and they decide to get the hell out of there. Sasha provides the party with a Teleport, and they appear below deck.

They go to Serras and inform him that they need to go to a different inlet, and he agrees.  TErra suggests that storytime continue. Koga finds himself amiss with words, so Terra tells her tale. Aldo cannot believe that Maximillian threw the fight. Merem-sho takes this particularly hard, especially the torture and kidnapping, and goes below deck. Koga says that it would be better to have her as an ally than a rival, and the two talk a little about the future and plans. Katsu Tora goes to Terra and wants his key back. She offers it and he leaves below deck. Terra softly explains that Katsu was her first friend.

Katsu and Merem-sho get drunk and they talk to each other. Katsu gets angry as he gets drunk, and marches back up. He taps into his magic and, after challenging Terra, manages to send her flying off the ship. Koga fetches her, and when Katsu asks why, he says that he has to put his feelings on the matter aside and get help where he can take it. He retrieves her, and the tabaxi, after speaking some Northern traditions with Leo, goes off to dry herself.

Koga takes out Raikiri and gives it a few practice swings.  He talks to Leo about Reika. Leo says that he has a wife and daughter, the daughter about ten and a mage to boot. He says that Koga could get along with the wife due to professional interests.


Merem-sho, drunkenly rambling to Ro, gets close to the Spirit World, close enough to cause Geki Kenko to appear. He imparts some words to Merem-sho about Terra, and how she should show her how wrong she is. "You have a duty to your friend. Show her the side of life she was not blessed to grow up with. Show her the kindness that man is capable of. True love is unconditional. And true love is a part of your soul." He gives her the Mega Sake, she takes it, and almost immediately flopped over, unconscious.

---
Session 29: Kidnapped by ninjas yet again

Koga trades the cannon for some munition. Sasha elects to stay behind. Merem-sho asks the urn version of Tokugawa about the comb she was given, and he divulges the information. She also somewhat picks on the weird yokai thing by making fun of his human form. Leo helps Gustave with lowering the dingy. Gustave mentions that one of them is looking to intergrate Katsu Tora. Koga grabs a bit of climbing supplies too. Katsu says that he is coming with the party. This relieves Terra, since she didn't reeeaaally want to leave him under the Fairweather's care. He's still pouting at her though.

The party go up. Merem-sho spiderclimbs up the cliff and ties the rope to the trees. The rest of the party climb up. Koga stares at the moon and feels a little funny, and the prayer beads he has form into a mini-moon thingy. Still, he shakes out of it and the party walk off.

They come to a Forrest and Oda and two wood ninja appear. They ask to talk with Merem-sho and basically kidnap her. Terra believes she'll be able to talk her own way out. Merem-sho does appear to begin talking her way out, mentioning her path and Geki-kenko. Still, Katsu wants them to save "The only other decent member of the party", and Koga and Leo go off to scout.  Terra and Katsu Tora talk a little, but Katsu is having none of it. When Terra tries to pull Katsu out of his funk, he only responds with hate. So Terra eventually gives up and clasps a hand on his shoulder. "I suggest. You just forget everything in the past 48 hours." Katsu's eyes glaze over, and then he greets Terra with a smile. She decides to tell him what's up as they set up camp.

Merem-sho gets some of the uptake on Ninja things, and they say if Koga doesn't leave the shards, then they will kill Merem-sho regardless. They toss a Sending Scroll at her, and she gets in contact with Koga. Koga responds with saying he will negotiate, but the other ninja are firm and do not wish to. Merem-sho says that she can likely teleport to them if they are nearby once they start hurting her.  Koga says that he and Leo are drawing near, but to tell them he will leave the shards. She does, but it appears that the ninja are on to Koga and Leo coming to get her, and give her a cut on her thumb. Merem-sho takes this opportunity to Misty Escape, and appears almost in front of Koga and Leo.

"Well I guess they didn't just let you walk out." Koga snarks as Leo picks up Merem-sho.  "Take her and go. It's time for some negotiation."

"I've seen some heroic sacrifices. How about no. Your other negotiator died, right?"

"By rushing headlong into battle, yes."

Still, Merem-sho wiggles down, determined to stay with Koga. The ninjas descend with chains and various bombs, some sleep and some smoke. The three are ultimately no match for the onslaught, and get captured and whisked away.

Terra and Katsu get worried about their friends, and Terra says that it's time to go check on them. Katsu complains that he just made a seafood soup, but Terra convinces him anyways, noting to herself that she's going to miss this, and off they go. When they get to the combat scene, Terra grumbles. Katsu, looking at the giant tree, points and says it's incredibly likely. He then pulls out two Wood ninja outfits. "You're going to hate me for this." He says. Terra internally winces, knowing once the spell ends he'll hate her even more. Still, they put on the outfits and get going...

Leo wakes up in a cage suspended above air first, and then Koga wakes up, noticing what the wood clan leader, Geimushi, the wall. Oda seems to be whispering something to him about him having only two shards.  The two ninja start talking, Geimushi thankful that others survived the Mist Clan Razing. Koga explains that Izanami, whom contacted him first, would have the shards reunited. Geimushi says that he does hold the Ash clan's shard, the Charm of the Tempest. The leader says that he will send word to bring the three items together for Koga, as he knows Koga is speaking the truth. Koga looks around and sees they have pragmatically applied a zone of truth spell. Geimushi goes on to talk about how if the clans are to be united, it needs done by their leaders. With Shen in the Forbidden Forest, he needs to be getting back to it. Geimushi asks for his name, and he says that to his Allies, he is Koga of the Mist. But his name is Keichi Kogamaru. But he prefers Koga. Geimushi nods, and says that since Izanami has spoken to him, he can be the leader of Mist so he chooses. He does, and the three start to get escorted. After Leo breaks some fingers from a guy to see if he could have broken the cage. A couple of punches, and yes, yes he could have. So the three start to get led up.

As Katsu and Terra pretty much walk through. It appears the scouting outfits bring them some modicum of respect. When they get to the tree, Terra just phases through with the help of Dimension door and goes on through, meeting up with the rest of them. None of the wood ninja care, and their disguises even fool Koga and Geimushi. So the party get escorted to the temple and Koga takes back the scroll. He says that he will leave the sword and charm with their people, and they summon a  bonfire to teleport them. Terra and Katsu take off their disguises to much humour, even from Koga and, to Terra and Merem-sho's surprise, Mocha is there with a big grin, and waves them through.

The party go enjoy a meal, Merem-sho exitedly informing Terra how cool she was and how great it must have been to sneak in without killing anyone. Terra says that that is obvious, and goes back to eating the food. Leo notices that Katsu seems much chipper, and Terra tells him to not think about it cuz nothing happened. Leo asks her what she did, and she just says that she wanted to enjoy him not looking at her with hatred. Leo says that might be why people don't like what she does, and Terra responds it's necessary for survival. The two argue just for a bit to see who is right, but Leo cows her into silence, and she goes off to play a small song and the party discuss their plan. Then a bird that Geimushi had pet appears and makes a gate. The party decide to pass through it and see a ruined version of Mokiyomi. They go in after expressing their concern, and Yuki yuki is there. This confuses the party, and Yuki yuki, as she has no idea who they all are. Well, she appears to have a passing knowledge of Terra and Katsu Tora. Still, she leaves and dissipates into mist outside of the gate. Then the blacksmith, Reika's uncle appears, forming from mist and muttering an apology as he kinda bumps into the party. Terra thinks about it and suggests that they go to Ramui manor. Leo asks why, and Koga fills him in on some of the details of their journey.  The party head further into town.  As they get further into town, They see a golden obelisk right behind the manor. The party go up further and further, and they see Marroka. Merem-sho starts to cry and apologies and talks to him, and Marroka says that Saiyetsu has always been good to the yokai. Merem-sho asks him if his wing is okay, since it looks kinda stitched together.

"What wing?" He says as the wing dissipates from existence. Merem-sho apologizes, and the tengu climbs back up the tower he had flown down from.  Merrem-sho informs the party, and the party thus inform Leo. As they step through the gate, they see a younger looking Reika. Koga's breath hitches a bit, but wishes to see her father.  The samurai leads her future friends to her father. Koga notices a corrupted(?) Arakikara, who says they shouldn't be here. Arakikara mirrors all of Saiyetsu's movements, but says different things. Koga says that he is looking for a bladeless sword. Saiyetsu pulls out his zantetsuken, and Arakikara pulls out a forlorn blade. It dissipates into mist as they both sheathe. Saiyetsu says that He'll do everything he can. Arakikara finishes it to say that he'll stop them. Saiyetsu pets a puppy, while Arakikara pets a foxsnake, and they say they will speak at the shrine of amaterasu. They both turn and leave the dojo, and Reika dissipates into mist.

Session 30: The one where Koga questions everything and the first part of the fight with Max.

Koga thinks for a minute and decides to leave, turning as soon as he and the party leave. He glances at the parties shadows, and notes Terra's shadow is not her own. Koga says some words, and the red eyes blink once, blink twice, and stay closed, the features leaving Terra's shadow.  Merem-sho takes a look around and, upon getting closer to a gardener, notes that he's looking awfully low-res. Plants immediately around her should not be in Ramui, as they are only available in Anshin. In addition, the basket he was pulling his tools out of seem to be the same basket of Merem-sho's friend sweets. Merem-sho reports this to the group, and Terra goes to look. She seems to be seeing Ramuinian flora and fauna, and when she explains to Merem-sho what she's seeing, the things transform in front of Merem-sho's eyes.

While those two are investigating, Katsu tora and Koga are talking about lodgings and how much they'd like to just leave, but are likely already caught in a yokai's web. As koga feels for the same forlorn blade that "Arakikara" held, he finds it isn't there. "Arakikara", looking right at Koga exaggeratedly points at it. Koga's brow twitches but he displays nothing. Merem-sho and Terra get back, and Merem-sho offers her official scholarly opinion that this place is weird. Katsu nods and they talk a bit more. Terra says that the best thing to do with that is to play their game. At their most confident, they will lower their guard.

Leo closes his eyes and thinks. He's seen some different things than the rest of the party, with some of the scenery being that of Canaan lands. It's quite frankly giving him a headache. The shadows grow darker to Koga, and "Arakikara" tiptoes over and places the forlorn blade, then takes residence back in Terra's shadow. He points to the shadow blade again and koga checks to see he still has his. He does. The party head toward the resting area and the door shuts behind them. Merem-sho peaks out the window and sees the ever-changing landscape. The party look behind them and they all notice "Arakikara". Koga takes a closer look and recalls his path. He sits a few paces away from him and addresses him in earnest.  "Arakikara" finds a scroll and starts writing out his responses. When Koga asks what his goals are, he says that it was a show of respect for Koga being so far along the path as he is. He seems to be hiding something, but Koga says that his secrets are his own.  Koga says that he must be quite powerful to take their memories and make this scene out. "Arakikara" says that it isn't him doing this.


Leo interrupts, asking if anyone else sees the Canaanian in the architecture. Terra takes a look around, but it's just a normal ramuinian resting room. "Arakikara" says that he came for the forlorn blade, and Koga nods, saying they need it to rid of Daiza.  "Arakikara" says that he has respect for him. Terra interrupts with asking for his name. He says his name is arakikarA.  He says that he does not know the full extent of this land, only that he shouldn't be here. So he tells them not to go underground, and he leaves. The party set up watch, Merem-sho volunteering her and Katsu to go first. Katsu complains, and Terra says that she'll take his watch first. He seems thankful and Terra gives a small smile.

Koga divulges a little bit of mythos about the area, and the party eventually manage to rest. Terra has a bit of anxiousness on her watch, but it's nothing she can't smother down.  She does eventually manage to rest though, as Koga takes his watch. He goes to make some potions, and comes back to Terra having a fit. She's tossing and turning, trapped in a nightmare about her past. She bolts up from it and calms herself fairly quickly. She says she's done sleeping, but Koga isn't having any of that and brews her a potion to help her sleep. She cracks a joke about it not being poison, but he tells her to shut up and drink it before he forces it down her throat. She takes a sip and commits that it didn't work, but passes the hell out right after. Koga seems miffed she doubted his intention, but wakes Katsu for his shift.

The elf takes his watch with arikikarA, and finds some breakfast stuff for Leo to cook on his shift. Leo does so and the party wake up to breakfast. Katsu implies that he's dropped it and Terra gives a big grateful smile, and the two hop through the window to the Obelisk after Koga suggests they go there next.  When they do, they see Koga's Beast form, pointing a sword at Koga. "You blame yourself." He says as blood drips down from his blade. This drives Koga into a frenzy and he changes into said form. Terra gives Koga inspiration and Leo gets ready.  The Beast dashes past and engages Koga with a copy of Raikiri, fighting like her. Terra is hit by a lightning bolt that Koga dodged. Merem-sho dashes off, but the Beast follows. "Now, because of you again, another will die!" He savagely chops into Merem-sho, who fires a bit of an eldritch blast to protect herself.

Terra runs past and yells at the Beast. "HEY! IF ANYONE IS TO BLAME FOR REIKA'S DEATH IT'S ME! SO COME HERE AND WRECK ME UP!" She intimidates the Beast and and starts playing a song to drive him to attack her.  When it takes the chance, it leaps at Terra, but Leo, Merem-sho, and Koga all gang up on it and beat the everloving shit out of it. It's body reveals red cloth that Koga ties to the hilt of Raikiri, and his Beast appears yet again, only to him.

"Your rage puts your companions in danger. Think on it before you call upon my power." It says.  Koga looks at Terra, and thinks about that brief moment when she said it was her fault. He thinks about how he would almost have went for her next. And then the Beast dissapates into ash. Katsu pops out from behind a boulder after Terra assures that it's over. Katsu makes his way to the cottage next to him, but Terra and Koga stay behind to talk. Terra assures him that it really was her fault, as upon reflection she knew Daiza just wanted to talk. And yet she didn't stop either of them is a true folly of her talents. Koga looks at her, calculating, and raises Raikiri at her. Terra doesn't flinch.

"Go ahead. We know I've done terrible things. If cutting me down brings you some retribution, then feel free."  Terra says softly. Koga raises the katana, and brings it down, narrowly missing her. Three blades of grass drift around her hand before fluttering off. He walks off as Terra nods. "I understand."

So they enter the cottage, which looks like Leo's home, and Daiza is there. He talks to Koga about how the thing he wants is freedom, and Koga says that he will take away what he loves.  A brief crack in DAiza's face says that he'll be ecstatic, and he leaves. The shack starts to do spooky things, leaving the kitchen open. Then, written in confetti, in Canaanian, is "Just kidding, even I can't scare him." And then the cottage dissapates. A Fei Wong appears and, after Leo talks with it, it blesses the party with a feather. They all know immediately that this is a Phoenix Down. It can revive one person from the dead, no conditions. The party move on.

They're met with the scene from Terra's dream. Terra freaks out a bit, but Leo shakes her out of it.  Terra casts Heroism to no longer be afraid, and casts it on the whole party. She marches forward, and eventually they are met with a distracted Max. Terra prepares herself, going into something of a spiel, mentioning Ericcil to go back to Adol and for Koga to learn the song she plays on her Violin, The Cost of Liberation.  Katsu tells her to just shut up and fight the damn thing. Terra curtly tells him to get the hell out of here before he's fucked, and he does. She then mentions for Merem-sho to take care of Katsu.

The party all line up. Merem prepares a Foxfire, Koga the kunai and the Zaki stars, and Leo the cannon he holds. Terra firmly steps up and places Erricil on her violin. "Everyone. This may be the last time I say it. So... I believe in you!" And she plays a single sharp cord. The attacks all hit, and Shatter explodes the armour all over the place. But it reforms, and the fight begins in earnest. Leo runs down with his axe and gets to chopping. The torrential of Blood counters with a stab, and Leo mutters.

"Your rage at Terra would not have been so if you hadn't went for the throne." Leo says  A glob of blood gets spat near him as the blood lance drains some life essence. Merem-sho hexes Max and blasts two foxfires his way. Koga creates Owoga and summons him near Max, but he gets bodied and stomped on. Koga prepares something. Max strides forward in a rush of blood, getting it on leo's white clothes. Terra backs up and prepares herself. Max brings his spear down on Merem-sho but she summons a shield to block it all. Leo  runs up and moves him, but he just bloodrushes past and goes for Terra again. Merem-sho pushes him past her and Terra takes the chance to do her multi-lightning stab attack. She gets one stab in before it tosses ericcil aside and bodies the hell out of her, keeping her pierced on the spear. Owoga tries to free Terra, but it doesn't work.  Leo tells them to prioritize their friend, and he slams the hell out of Max. Max responds by tossing the spear down and it forms into a weird line of blood that burns the three. This causes Terra to go down, but Koga escorts her to safety. Leo takes this opportunity to slam into Max. "For the man you were. I will take great pleasure in this." And he hacks into him.

And then all hell breaks lose. the ground turns sideways. Koga just barely manages to hold the unconscious Terra to the ground. The real fight...

starts now!


Session 31: Diable Peut pleurer

Leo shoots with his cannon, but it glances off. A geyser of flame hits Terra and Koga, destabalizing the girl. A flash of light blinds Merem-sho and Leo. Merem-sho climbs over and blasts him with Lightning and Ice Blasts. Koga grips Terra between his legs to administer a scroll of cure to her, and she wakes back up. She's recovering, and then a claw comes down to her lower half, and her vision blacks out. Owoga ties a rope to Merem-sho. Leo climbs toward her and shoots again, but the canon jams. The ground quakes a bit, but the party is fine. Merem-sho's vision returns, and she casts Fly on Leo and herself. Another flash of light and it blinds Koga, who crams a cure light wounds paper into Terra's mouth. She wakes up just in time to see Erricil, the legendary lightning rapier, plummet into the abyss. A claw then lands into her, knocking her out again. Pillars of Fire envelop the party, but shadows shield Koga. Leo flies in and unjams his cannon.

Stormax opens up a horizontal iris and Ro starts to dematerialize, but she shakes it off. Owaga dissapates. Merem-sho sees for a fraction of a second her being rent to death and Leo going soaring into the abyss, but she pops a shield up and barely deflects it. Merem-sho hands a potion to Ro and sends her off to heal Terra, but afterwards she's caught in the magic away eye and poofs out of existance. Koga crams another potion in Terra and she's stabilized. Stormax blinks infront of Leo and slams the sun into him. He tanks it. Leo lands on his arm and shoots him right in the face. He blasts a horn off but it doesn't do much. Max rears back and punches Terra unconscious again. Merem-sho prepares to dodge, but Max grabs her. Koga sighs. He knows that reviving Terra is just going in a loop. So he pulls out the scroll of shadows and holds it out to Max. A sigil pops up, but nothing happens. Max slams Merem-sho into the ground, and koga barely avoids getting hit by the shockwave.  Max prepares his ultimate attack, Meteor Spear, and launches it at the now gathered party.

And then the sigil activates, canceling it completely out. A field of Anti-magic envelopes Stormax. Leo happily goes to town hacking into him, and Merem-sho blasts him with some Seishin blasts. Koga tries to do some cool shit but gets him and Terra flung off into a free fall. Leo blasts Stormax's head off and the tops of his shoulders. A crystal pulses in the shell of his body. Merem-sho's fly drops and Leo and Merem-sho start to fall. Leo winds up clutching a rib like protrusion and chugs a potion. Merem-sho slams into a solid seal and reappears on the astral plane, lying down on a grassy field. Ro starts screaming at Merem-sho, clearly panicked. Koga stabilizes Terra yet again and begins to make his way to the pulsing crystal, but it's a little hard to find the proper footing.

Leo starts falling, grapples onto a foot, and aims at Stormax. "Hm. Jackpot." He mutters and blasts the canonfire into the core, shattering it.

The ground takes a sharp 90degree turn and the three remaining party members land sharply into the ground. Terra breaks her legs on impact, but it's a hard enough impact that the pain wakes her up. She sits up and looks around.

The hellish landscape of war is what she sees. Every waking moment is agony for her. And yet, there's a comforting blanket like feeling surrounding her. It's some true dissonance, and not the duality she was expecting. She stares at her forearm and sees a sigil-like tattoo, Comet Spear, come up. To everyone else, they see nothing. Koga notes, for a moment, that her eyes are blackened scelera. Then, when they return to normal, Terra sees the feather in her hand... and blacks out yet again as Merem-sho hands Koga her Healer's Kit. He tries to doctor up the wounds, but doesn't get anywhere with the torso. He does however, make a good splint for her legs, so they'll be healing faster.

Katsu Tora comes over and freaks out, explaining his point of view, and then looks at Terra with horror. "What the fuck happened to you guys?" He asks. The sun shining on the party, all wounded but alive, Koga begins to talk to Katsu, as the armor of Max is off in the distance...
---

Session 32: Gisei to kōman'na mono

Merem-sho decides to take the time to have a mental breakdown, lying down and screaming into the ground. Terra is unconscious and being tended to by Katsu Tora. Leo goes over to Max's armour and inspects it. Merem-sho finds a small, beating stone, and Leo decides to smash it into peices. The conscious members of the party hear a small pitiful wail as Maximillian definitely fades from existance. Leo pulls out the Big Bonks, and they've turned into orbs. Koga surmises they've won the yokai game, and Merem-sho pulls out that the prize is theirs. Unfortunaley, the prize is the temporary merging of the spirit and physical worlds, which does more good for their enemies than the party.


Merem-sho contacts Geki-genko, and finds it difficult, like something is blocking their way. Geki improvises a solution, and begins to talk with Merem-sho. He explains that the best thing to do is to keep the orbs together, and he's going to parade their names around because they're kind of celebrities. He says Chiharu has something to say to Ro, so Merem-sho puts her on the line. She stares off in the distance for a second and then begins happily chirping. Koga and leo converse a bit, and the four settle in for the night. During which, Koga pins a scroll, slides it in Zangan-xun, and lays down his weapons. He walks away from the party and summons Tachikawa Ouma.

"You know why I'm here. I will not lie, a part of me does feel fear." He says before being guided through the portal. Keichi Kogamaru sees Izanagi lying a bit away, a trail of blood. And holding a guan dao similar to Tachikawa's... is Shen Iyasu.
---
Merem-sho wakes up an hour later because Koga isn't there. She sees his stuff and opens the scroll, reading it. It details how Koga is going to replace what has been lost. Merem-sho screams, and this, plus the pain, wakes Terra up, who forces herself to her feet and stumbles up. She sees Ericcil in the distance and stumbles to it, but it vanishes some teen feet before she can get to it. She goes back to Merem-sho and reads the scroll. Terra, who typically does this stuff, is immediately furious. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" She cries out. "IF I DON'T GET TO SACRIFICE MY LIFE NEITHER DO YOU!" She says, falling to her knees. "Not your life. Please, no...." She begins to break down. Merem-sho breaks down too.

This leaves Leo stuck between two crying women and a snoring Katsu. Eventually he manages to talk some sense into them, and they move out after Terra grabs Koga's stuff, saying she will return it to him. They travel south, and eventually meet another child of Amaterasu, Sayako. Whom notices Katsu and Merem-sho, and begins running toward him. The elf freezes up and Terra gets clarification on his relationship with the Kitsune. He was the one person who ever had the balls to ask her out, and she glomps him. This makes Terra *very* jealous and she gets off Leo and slides in between the two.

Eventually, Sayako forces herself into the party, Terra and Katsu Tora incredibly upset with her. They think it might be better in the land of Forboden, but Leo picks them up and they all shuffle south to the next town, running into some carts. There's a bit of foolery, but eventually they go on their way.

Then they pound on the gate. They're let in after some confusion. The guard looks at Sayako. "Ah, I see you have a Kitsune with you."

"WHERE?!" Sayako says, trying to flatten her ears and hide her tails. This makes Terra laugh her ass off and she mocks her. Sayako sticks her tongue out and marches into town, and Katsu wheels at Terra.


"What the hell are you doing?!" He asks, and the catgirl huffs and messes up some words, before finally saying that what makes her mad is that Sayako thinks he's cute. She storms off in a huff and Katsu looks *incredibly* happy before rushing in.

They decide to stay in town for a couple of days, going into a nice cafe. Leo teaches the chefs there how to make Gravy. They love it. Sayako tucks in, very messily, and Terra snarks that she's such a princess. Katsu unironically agrees and Terra punches him for it. They tuck in and then they all talk about what's next. Sayako contacts her brother Ozuma, and he gives them their next destination; the isle of Ina, during the Dragon Hunt Festival. They go to chart a carriage and get hired on as bodyguards. Sayako leads them to the inn, and Terra and Merem-sho split off to go shopping, only to immidaitely re-coralle and check their equipment and attunement by going to the inn.  Sayako gets a free suite from her friend that works here, and Terra, Merem-sho, and Katsu get to work with a shopping list. They make a list and Terra couldn't find Katsu, so she pokes her head out. Sayako gives away his position and he angrily intimidates her and drags her off shopping...

When they return, Sayako has lost badly at Go, and is naked with the hotspring ladders pulled up. Terra doesn't care, laying out all the purchases. Katsu does manage to get her up though. They pass along their spoils of war, and set out to enchant their clothing...

---
Session 33: Some much needed downtime.

So the party pool their items together and make some good shit. Katsu seems to hide the robes he made, and after pressure, he reveals he made a backup outfit for Sayako. Terra has none of this and yoinks the outfit, huffily putting it on. Katsu decides to mediate for once in his life, and they come to some hesitant conclusion that Sayako is not Terra's enemy and the party all get absolutely shitfaced, Terra losing plenty of her gold to Katsu in the games. Merem-sho, drunk, contacts Geki-genko. She's too drunk to absorb any information, so he just gives her a hit off his pipe and her world goes fucky.

The party all wake the next morning feeling refreshed, and Merem-sho properly contacts Geki-genko. He informs her that some stuff is going on in Mokiyomi. No casualties, but it's still pretty dangerous. There's a big black Sphere, but some On-miyoji should be able to deal with it in a week. The party discuss that they have about two days to discuss and lean back. Terra says she may need some of her money back. Katsu hesitantly hands her money back, and the girl promises to deliver what she doesn't use since she is a woman of her word. Sayako asks if she can accompany her, but Terra says that her errands are rather personal. Still, she does have an idea, and asks her what she knows of the six paths, and Sayako eventually manages to contact Ozuma and informs him of the sphere over ramui. He informs them that they are now on a time limit. Ozuma says he's going to meet up with their ninja friends. When Sayako gets around to asking about Terra's Path, he says there's a seventh, invisible hand of Pangu. He ominously says that he will have to meet the party now.

Terra looks for a scroll to contact Adol, but doesn't find anything. She also goes to a blacksmith to fuse Raikiri and Whisper, and upon a bit of dialogue, the blacksmith says that she is not good enough to do it, but writes a commendation to Xin where she won't have to pay for the process. She heads back to the inn.

Sayako goes to the temple of Izanagi and begins a dialogue with a snowy Tengu. The two then spar, trading blows and quips! The tengu gets a good hard blow in on Sayako, and in return She does plenty back. He scatters swords around, but Sayako takes control of them and directs them. He's impaled, but he still has something up his sleeve. He unleashes a bevy of attacks, but Sayako deflects it. The tengu conceeds, saying his name is Tsi-ken as Merem-sho and Sayako tend to his wounds. He explains that he's going to the Dragon Hunt Festival as well, and decides to head off with the two. Merem-sho, right before leaving, notes that a presence doesn't feel as strong. She can't place a reason why.

They all meet up at the Hotel, and Terra is pulled aside and informed that Daiza will be coming to the hotel to prepare the place for the Ina Dragon Festival. So naturally Terra panics and informs the party, minus Merem-sho who gets an overall update with Chiharu. Merem-sho, once she gets to the party, says that Daiza's had control of the chess board every time they've met, so it is likely that whatever it is, it's a trap. Merem-sho contacts Shen and gets an ominous message from Shen...

The party talk and eventually decide that Leo and Katsu should stay at the inn and save the children while Sayako, Terra, and Merem-sho, along with Tsi-ken, will leave the town and go to Ina, where they know a forlorn blade will be. Terra and Sayako seem very hesitant to leave Kastu behind, so when Leo decides to remain with him, Terra nods. Katsu says that it was nice to meet Sayako again and hugs her, giving her a fistbump. As Terra looks on in jealousy, Leo picks her up, saying that he needs to talk to her. But Katsu says that he has something important to give her, and the big man sits her down. Katsu gives her a hug, and then plants a kiss on her lips.

"You need to stop running away from your problems." He whispers. "And maybe use that feather to revive Reika." He gives a wave, and leaves.

"Whatever gods are out there..." Terra says. "Please protect him."

"He's right you know. You do need to stop running away. You need to gather your old strength, and bring it to the forefront. I hope, one day, that you can return to Canaan with your held head high. And these will help you." Leo says as he hands her a gauntlet. "Gather your strength." He encourages her
.

"Leo. If Katsu dies... I will eviscerate you." Terra softly says, but nods. "I will find my strength once more."  And with that, Leo leaves. The party gather their gear and leave Kosa behind. As Terra plays the violin, a little Shida Okami runs up and licks her on the face.

So a Revolutionary bard, a Fiend Pact Warlock, and a Daughter of Amaterasu Sorceror, along with a master Tengu path of Ningin, hop on a cart and they head down to the docks, hoping to meet the Fairweather crew.

Session 34: Saikai

As the three head down, guarding the two caravans, Merem-sho notes Ro getting pretty chilly, and she hides in her coat to keep warm.  The party all keep eyes on three points, Sayako to the west, Terra to the east, and Merem-sho to the north. Sayako notes the Shida-okami pulling the carts wanting to dine on herbivores, Terra is keeping an eye on a large thing that seems to be heading to the same destination, and Merem-sho is eyeing the black orbs floating above Kosa.

Merem-sho thinks about contacting Geki kenko, but doesn't. The Caravan pulls off to the side for the night. Sayako goes to help one of them start a fire, and eventually Terra goes over to warn Sayako of the danger she saw. But she finds nothing, and Tsi-ken asks why she dares disturb his practice. Sayako duly notes that he had to have run hella far to say this line, but Tsi-ken eventually lets her hop on and they scout. The chill is to the bone however. Terra counts all the swords that clatter to the ground, briefly wondering why all the men in her life are now dorks. As soon as they land, Sayako heads off to the fire.

Merem-sho contacts Geki, and doesn't learn anything about the black spheres. Merem-sho says she's worried about Chiharu, but trunkman practically dismisses the concerns. He also asks how Terra is doing, and Merem-sho says that there's been murder in her eyes but she hasn't actually killed anyone. He wonders why they even hang out together, and then warns her to be wary of Terra's charms if she cannot show her the path of Light. Geki also tells her to find a blind tailor friend of his and to try his tea.  She pulls out of her trance and asks Sayako if she's had experience with a Black sphere, and the kitsune says that such a sphere tunneled to the world in Ishei Kei Musho. She says the spheres are related to Pangu, and says it does not bode well.

Merem-sho also talks with Tokugawa, and says that it's a corrupted sphere of Pangu, and it's sacrilegous to mess with it. They seem to be evil big bad peices of shit. Terra feels her Gisei arm twitch a little and notices Ozuma off in the distance. Once the urn is done, the three party members get up and go to him. Terra has some difficulty, like pushing repulsive magnets toward each other.

Ozuma looks, for all intents and purposes, like the few times Sayako has seen her mom. He asks in her mind why she traveled to the forbidden land, but will hear no apologies. Terra talks, just a little bit, and Ozuma says this means he has to make a difficult decision, but he must not waver. He turns to Terra and tells her that the path was all in her and wrath and not a plague and yadda yadda.  He then leaves, mentioning to his sister that the forlorn blades can sever any ties with gods.

They then gather around the Phoenix Down, and Terra has misgivings about using it while Koga and Reika are both down.  A kodoma appears and holds out a tiny scroll for Terra. In Koga's handwriting it says "good luck with the dragon hunt." Terra passes a message along, and they think about who to use it on, Amaterasu or Reika. They can't come to a good conclusion, so Merem-sho contacts Geki-genko. He says that Merem-sho should follow her heart, and then she asks about Terra's path. Geki warns her it's very dangerous to be friends with her in that state, as Daiza is also on that path, and advises her that Amaterasu would be the best choice to revive.

So they manage to settle down and want to bring back the goddess, but it doesn't work. They realize that it must mean she is alive, but without her celestial powers. So they then revive Reika.

They catch her up, Terra purposefully avoiding her own story while giving what information she can. Reika asks for Raikiri, and Terra gives it back, blushing about how cool it was going to be to intertwine their blade's souls, and Reika thinks that is an absolutely amazing idea. She also gains a Persona in the armour of her Father.

Then Terra goes to slice her hand off with the Forlorn blade, but Reika interrupts her, and eventually she gets the whole truth out of Terra. Reika takes the forlorn blade she was holding-along with several other mundane blades-and goes to slice... only to be interrupted by a gnarled hand blocking it. Terra panics and asks her to do it with both the blades they have, but Reika stops after raising them. She tells her it wouldn't do any good, not without all four of them. The party settle in for the night. Reika and Sayako stand guard, and Reika looks at the moon.

The moon fucking looks back. And it blesses Whisper, turning it into Tsukiyomi, a far stronger version. Reika looks grateful toward it, and she eventually turns in. As Sayako turns in, she can't focus, an tries to contact Chiharu, almost falling asleep. But she wakes with a start, and sees Ozuma, looking like his old self.  "I need your help." He whispers. She tells him to name it, please. and he gives her a hug. "Keep talking to me. Check in, okay?"

She nods, and says that she'll even yell his name out really loud. Ozuma frowns himself and shakes his head. "Please don't. I'll forget about the Forbidden Land stuff just... just keep an eye on her." She tells her brother that they cannot do anything without all the blades. He nods, and says that Daiza once told him, as he was beginning to fight the corrupted Saiyetsu, that Tradition is the corpse of wisdom. It makes him think that they need to be careful. He tells her to not worry about Terra, and tell her not to be afraid. He says their paths may head in opposite directions, but he will call for her if needed.  He hands her a tanto, and says that he will leave a part of mom for her.

This reminds her of what happened with the Phoenix Down, and she informs her brother. He says that she might as well be dead, and he leaves.

Reika, in her dream, finds herself in the dummy room in Ramui Manor. She is face to face with her father in his armour. He tells her that this is what he never wanted the people to see. He offers her tea, and she drinks it. A bit too sweet for her, but he says that it was her mothers. He tells her that this part of him was the drawn blade, and the part that was capable of showing mercy. Reika tells him that she has done her reflecting, since it isn't often you get a second chance of life. She pulls out Raikiri. "It isn't Zantetsuken, but it is mine."

"And that's what makes it better." Her father says, and Reika hugs her. And that ends the dream.

Merem-sho and Tsi-ken bond, talking about their paths and their respect for each other. After a while Tsi-ken leaves, then comes back with a large oni head. "Dragon Hunt Started early!" He says as he explains that some corrupted shit has gotten into the oni. They share some Sake, but Merem-sho notes its just water, though she neglects to tell him this.

The party wake up in the morning, and head to Kisa Kisharo. On the cart ride there, Sayako and Terra have a little chat. At it's core, Sayako is worried that the path of Gisei's power will doom her lands if abused, and Terra believes that the same power may be needed to save the lands. In the course of the conversation, Sayako finds herself becoming attuned to the path of Chakra.

Session 35: Port town!
The coachmen stop and tell Sayako that they could pay them back at the town, but Sayako says that this is where they split up. So they dole out the payments. Merem-sho seperates from the party, and Terra tells her that she'll be waiting at the docks for her. Merem goes to Geki's friend, and the tailor tells her to bring her friends. Terra heard this so she does join, and the rest of the party as well. He introduces himself as the only human master of the path of Seishen, and he says that it's not just a visit. He says he is here to guide Merem-sho to the final trial of Seishin, as well as read the party's fortunes. This reminds Reika of the fortune teller working for Daiza, and Merem says they haven't, but Terra hopes that cutting down her demon back

Terra: Never have I seen someone so carefree, a self sacrificing spirit weighted down with black thorny chains. A prisoner, yet your own captor. You hide from a noose that may not exist. You fear it has become inevitable. Yet despite this you have immersed yourself, unknowingly, with the love of friends most will never be able to boast of. You are not your sins. You are more than your shame. However even as I tell you this know that a heavy toll will be exacted before you know what I say is true. MY advice?

Do not fear anything in this world. You have overcome many impossible odds, exceeded expectations, seen oceans your kin could only dream of.  Learn to believe that you are no slave to fate, but the hero you have proven yourself to be.

Merem-sho, pupil of my own friend geki-kenko: Your soul rests in this reading like bread, ready to be buttered. You hold enough kindness for the world over. No darkness will ever be able to seperate youself from that. While your will remains stedfast and your aim true, you will find the justice you seek as long as it is meeted out with the consideration of your foe.  Your foe may be more kin than you are willing to reconcile with.
Do not rely so heavily on your mentors; while there advice is valuable, you have grown to be their equal. Find your confidence, Merem-sho, for it is a deserved Confidence.

Sayako of Amaterasu: Despite social tenativeness or clumsilness, you are wise and worthy of all your tails. You have a rare independence about you, it is this independence that will emblazon your future with gold, all will recognize you with love, and will get the love you deserve.
I am sorry. There's something in your eyes that says  didn't touch upon something you hoped I would. You are worried, anyone can see that. Do not worry. Continue looking after your brother; for you are the only one he trusts. He has seen many harrowing things, brutalities neither of us can imagine.

Reika Ramui: I have never beheld so bright a light, so feirce a willpower. To see it as a brilliant gold... I know little of your future. But you are much  more than a second chance. You are here because the world willed it. You are here to fill a void. You are justice. You are Retribution. I pity the one you seek.
I will not ask should you wish my advice, as it's necessary. Justice is equal parts Ruthlessness and Mercy. Stride Powerfully.

He notes that Reika shared a moment with the moon, and thanks Terra for dutifully giving the commendation. Spiritual energy gathers around him, and it travels like a slow moving energy, imbuing itself within Tsukiyomi. This will ensure it lives within it's potential.
He looks toard Merem-sho and says that they are welcome to stay, but he knows they have much to do. He tells Merem-sho to go to Ishe Kemusho, and enter the path of Seishin, and act as a yokai. Then answers will be made clear. He says that his daughter would have loved the lot, and Merem-sho offers her condolences, but he says that she isn't dead, just never visits. Reika asks for her name, and Chi says that her name is Mira, and she's off in Ina. Sayako asks about the smoked meat she's smelling, and He says there's some on the counter. He tells her to check in on Ozuma often. She says she will, she must. And then she departs for errands. Chi gives Terra a hug, and the tabaxi recipricates it hestantly. As Terra and Merem-sho leave, Reika asks for information on her foe.
"Up until he was 12, he was the kindest boy. Little awkward around girls, but aren't they all. He wasn't the best study, but he loved swinging his Bokken. Not a resentful bone in his body. I don't know when, but something changed him. Deep in the mountains, south of the capital, a great many yokai rose in the night, and they were nor themselves. It was something some could call a Massacre. It took the balance we enjoyed for granted. When this tragedy struck, I was killed. You do not look upon a living man. Daiza is one of the only survivors. Mira, my daughter, is a foster child from a ninja clan. I don't know what happened. I don't know why Diaza lived, but there was a predigious quality after he emerged from the wreckage. He was not the quaint soul he once had been, but he could weave such amazing spells at a tender age of 15. He commanded such respect, that after he came of age, he found himself the head of the council. But the sides of Daiza's eyes were tainted. Whatever gave him those abilities, whatever tainted him, that is your foe. Not my grandson. Unfortunately, his is a life that must be taken in that goal. On that coast, when you attempted to take him down... that was a cry for help. I don't even know if that part of him still lives."

Reika says that when she fought him there, there was something decididly off." I am a disciple of the blade, and yet for all of Daiza's great power, were it not for his inability to sense the arms of death, My blows certainly would have sent him there. And yet for some reason, strikes that should have been clear where not. Things that should have happened failed to do so. "
"You are a keen one. I have also picked up on this subtle interference, with the way this world is expected to work. I think there is an affiliation between Amatsumikoboshi and this fact."
Reika thinks that that one is the one to overcome, and Chi says that it may not be that way if Terra does not abuse her newfound power. He says that she should have faith in her, but not be afraid to smack her around a bit.

--
As the three others get closer, they see a familiar sight. A large multifloored Tower is coming out of the ocean again. Sitting on his chair is Susano-o. Sayako and Merem-sho seem happy to see him, and Terra panics that the entrance is in the ocean again. They go to the god, and he raises a tankard. He informs them that there are no more emeralds to collect. He explains who all got the emerald, and Terra doesn't believe that Tokugawa got one. But he explains that his name is Susano-o. Terra seems surprised he got his name again, but then he says that it wasn't coincidence he's here.
He then updates them on Ramui's situation. He says there was a being that seemed to copy their abilities. He talks about how there was a horned dragon that ate Amaterasu. He says they were able to fracture it into three peices though. Reika joins them at that point. Susano-o says that Ja Reiji, his tower, is currently being held hostage by a sea dragon. He requests the party help him defeat it. They eventually manage to agree, and Susano-o says he'll recharge the comb if they tell koga he says hi. Merem-sho agrees and starts scrunching up to think. While she's thinking, Reika and Susano-o talk about her mom. They establish that Reika's mom built that armour. Merem sends a message and gets "Fuck" in response. And then a little delayed, gets "Reika? Reika?!! Wha-.. Right. Daiza's Natuean influence dealt with. Hi Susano-o. Don't worry about the siblings. Ozuma doing good job. Corruption isn't what you think." Merem-sho, getting a recharge from the god, asks for some clarification and relays another message from the god. She pulls out the urn to let it talk, and it goes silent. This infuriates Susano-o, and he shatters the now-useless urn. It seems Tsukomigami/Tokigawa Machiro left upon realizing he was with the god. Merem-sho is actually furious that he would do that carelessly, but he does repair it.
Reika goes to the blacksmith, and he says that  He'll need a soul Anchor to do it in one day, otherwise it would take him a month.  She asks around, and Terra thinks that there may yet be one in ishei keimusho. Reika asks to go there, And Terra nods. She says she needs a moment with Merem-sho.
They meet at the docks. Terra is looking out at sea, determination on her face. She begins to explain to Merem-sho how much the half-elf's support means to her, and meant to her on her journey. She expresses gratitude that she's been there for her, and always believed in her. And she says that she is her best friend. And as her best friend, she is privy to this. She pulls out Max's helmet, and tosses it up in the air as Wraithguard glows. Merem-sho gives her a boost up, and she twirls in the air before kicking the helmet. As it crests the horizon, it disentegrates. Terra lands with a flourish. She hugs Merem-sho, saying it was because of her support and what Chi said that drives her to do this. Merem-sho nods and says that she's better than she thinks. Terra affirms this, and says that she'll be happy to do whatever she can to prepare for the future, and how she'll see Merem-sho safely to the future, one her and katsu tora and Terra all can go to Canaan and sample the sweets and see the shops! And in order to prepare for the future, Terra says they will go to ishei keimusho and procure the artefacts needed on the paths, like with Koga had.
Sayako meets up with a fan and some dongo sticks, asks whats up, and they all get off to the place. Reika takes the Six Eyed Oni's Soul Anchor. Merem-sho and Reika go into her meadow, and they see the giant Oni. He's happy to be in the meadow. To their surprise, they also see Murkuro, happy to be here, even if he can't leave. Then they leave the meadow.
Reika walks up to the path of ningen. She opens the door to her path's temple. It's a bit rubbled, but it's okay. The floor looks a lot like a dojo's training space. She's greeted by stone statues, each seeming to be reflectting. Reika takes that cue and sits, meditating. Before long her attention is pointed toward an empty scabbard. And as she takes it, it disolves and manifests. She nods and leaves toward the meeting point.
MErem-sho enters the path of Seishin. She inserts the astral comb, and a bridge pulls out. She tells Ro to guard the comb and keeps marching. She feels magic wear off, but she keeps pressing on. She finds heself face to face with Tsuedo. In front of him is three shapes made of wood. It motions for her to sit. She does, writing in the dirt, "Greetings" It looks like he's waiting for her to do something with the shapes. She takes the circular one. He stands up, and he begins to follow her. The next one she sees is Singid. In both it's hands are two katana. It splays the hand for her, and displays the sword, clothing, and circle. Merem-sho takes the clothing, and it forms around her. Singid dissapates, and Tsuedo follows. She then comes to the Fire one. She's offered a odachi, a circle, and a horn. She picks the nodachi. It manifests in her hands. She gets to the little girl, who extends her hand, and she takes it. The three arrive at a clearing. IT solidifies as Ozuma. He looks at Merem-sho, and he takes a deep bow. He straightens and says "I am proud. You are one of three."  As he gets closer and closer, he extends his hands. He takes a deep inhale, exhales, and Merem-sho feels awash, like a waterfall of magic.  The two others disintegrate, the robes fade, the odachi vanishes, and she feels four presences made in her arm. The Odachi, The Cloth, The horn, and a Spiral. Each one glints in recognition. Ozuma nods, and tells her she may leave. Merem-sho bows, and when she stands up, she's back with Ro. She's completed the path of Seishin.
Sayako finishes the funeral rights for the Six Armed Oni. She ascends the stair to the path of Chakra. It burns her palms getting near, and she can't bare to get close. She looks up and notes some thin spirit trails. She traces the source and starts following the path, climbing up. Very gradually, she finds herself at the entrance to the temple.  She looks at where she came from and notes that it was basically a maze. The door was a bit stuck from rubble. It tries to open, but the rubble is preventing it. She casts Animate Objects, and half of the door pops out., it a bit much, but she does manage to get through. She sees a basin. The basin is vibrating slightly, thrumming. As she looks at her palms, the chakra symbols light up, and she sends the magic that comes out of it into the basin. She looks at the marble, now like a basic rock, and notes the basin seems fine. She assumes that is her artifact, and she steps back and gets out of there.
Terra is walking for six hours. She doesn't feel the same energy as she did once then, and there's corrupted energy lining it. As she gets to the final stair that stops before nothingness, she feels a presence. In front of her, an eye opens. Rippling out around that eye are black scales, and then a thick hide manifest, and out of comes white foxfur. This layering continues to unravel until the head of a march larger foxdragon is She asks if it was the one who cursed her. It smiles, and dark helix fire bursts from her hand, casting a Comet Spear. It vanishes in the dark as Terra looks at her arm, now aching a little. She grumbles that it was a waste of time and climbs back up, and then they teleport out, back to the port town.
Reika pulls out a Soul Anchor  and gives it to the blacksmith. He's impressed they actually got one from a six armed oni, but get one they did. Sayako and Terra look around and come to the tavern. Sayako notes Terra's chakra is off, and offers to see if she can't fix it, pooling her magic into the basin. Terra and Sayako both realize that if that is her magic in the bowl, then putting in the Gisei path could be nothing but trouble for them, and Terra doesn't want her to risk her own magic for it. Sayako nods, but resolves to help once she is further, or even a master, of the path of Chakra. Terra nods, and the two enjoy food.
While Reika gets the shit beaten out of her for sparring against Susano-o. Terra heals her with a quick song, and then they go off to Ramui. This is their first time seeing the spheres up front.  Sayako butchers some explanations about the spheres and metaphores, but Terra seems to get it after looking at her arm. Sayako flies up and looks at it, and then they look at it on the ground. It appears to be tar. The party puzzle over this, and then they all corrale the sensei's and update them. In return, they get an update that the islands have fallen, and no one has heard anything from Ryujin. They tell the party that they have to keep an eye ahead. Sayako needs a moment to process this, and she leaves the shrine, stepping outside. There's a kodama blocking her way, and eventually it turns around and sits down. Sayako asks for it's purpose, and it responds by consoling her. Sayako explains to the little thing that she wanted to strike out and find her purpose. She says she wanted to be great and mighty, but she thinks herself weak. She says that she will bring herself to her limits for what she must.  She says that she wants to bring about good change in the world, but always finds herself helpless. As she touches the kodama to console it, she vaguely recalls how just an hour and a half ago she was wanting to help Terra. The Kodama gets up and goes to deliver the message it was out to give.
Reika gets the message. In the finest penmanship, it says "I'll be waiting". Reika asks who wrote it, and the kodama performs an interpretive dance. The party figure out, through it and Reika looking at it, that Daiza was the one who wrote it. Sayako pops back in and asks if they can have the Emeralds Halifax won, and the northerner, who won them through means of deceit, happily hands them over.  Terra says she REALLY wants to sleep in her own bed and let the violin recharge, and leaves before any of them can dissent.
Reika goes to visit her mom's house, and gets awashed with memories. She finds the armour her mom made for her father hidden away, and she takes it. "It's always darkest before the dawn. No matter what Daiza is planning. I'll figure it out. I may not have your strength, or your compassion, but I have my own strength." And she goes to the manor, tucks in all her siblings, including Shingin, and goes to sleep.
Sayako lays down in the shrine of amaterasu, and has a dream to contact Ozuma. He seems to have nodded off, and Sayako leans against him. He says that he expended quite a bit of energy today and it took a lot out of him. He congratulates her friend, and says a few of the spells he used and even shows her one of them in a vision. Ozuma says that he believes Ryujiin is alive. He says the hardest part is keeping himself from walking straight to Hirino Masu and killing him. He says that is Sayako's job. He then teases her that he's still ahead of her by 68 wins in gomaku.

Session 36: Siiiiide questing?

Sayako wakes up to offerings scattered around the room she slept in. She's reminded why she set off away from all this, and then gets to inspecting. Mostly half eaten candy and the like. She peeks out the door, and sees one of the orochi-kame with a group of about thirty The sensei explains that it was due to the kids placing those offerings. He says that he will leave divine retribution to her. Sayako activates her path and discerns who exactly was responsible, and activates Thaumatergy to flare up her robes and hair. All hell breaks loose as half the class, plus a few more, begins panicking. Orochikame locks the door infront of them and watches, deadpan. She tells the kids that a lady needs her sleep, but she is thankful for the gifts. The kids who didn't do anything get to leave, and soon the troublemakers do as well. Sayako tells OK to remind them to better adhere to their bedtimes. OK offers Sayako to eat with the other senseis, and she agrees. One of them, Urikara, tells her that he has lost his magic, and he's thinking of Daiza being to blame. Halifax asks her what the plan is, and she explains. Then she takes the basin out and places it on the bowl. Urikara says he's ready when she is, and they do the thing, his chakra pure white. No magickal potential. Sayako offers some of her power, but Urikara declines. Sayako expresses her delight at the ramen, wondering if the spices was from Canaan. Halifax isn't saying shit. Urikara gives her a sending stone-bamboo chute, and says he willl think about her offer. She then leaves.


Reika wakes up in her childhood room, and washes and such. As Shingin passes by, Reika strikes up a conversation. Shingin says it's a lot to take in, and Reika notices that this is a 14 year old kid who is active governor during the end of the world. So she tries to cheer him up, and Shingin begins to talk bussiness, since Reika doesn't mind. He says it may be good to pay Tibalt a visit, as he might have information about the Forsaken. He wants a hug, and Reika gives it to him. She also places Saiyetsu's armour on the stand in his room. Shingin gives her a very proper training bow, and he says he will find time to practice. The samurai says it will be nice, like as if Father is watching over him and helping guide him on the path. He contemplates this, then sits on his futon to meditate. He offers Reika to join him, and she does. She feels Saiyetsu's presence over both of them in equal merit, and smiles softly. Shingin says that he wants her to give him one for him. She nods and says that she will, and then leaves toward the shrine.

Terra wakes in her home, and she looks around, a flood of memories all around. It's a little bit of a bastardization of Canaan culture along with what souveneirs her and katsu got when times were simpler. She takes some time to appreciate it, noticing a few things here and there misplaced. She follows it, realizing it's a path, and spies a shuriken laying on a shelf. She muses that it must be Koga's way of telling her to continue her training regardless of him being there. So she sits in silence for a bit afterward, and then heads off to the shrine.

They all meet back up at the shrine, and Sayako leaves a note for any of her siblings to find. They then head off to Shima'kie and go to talk with Tibalt; Merem-sho goes off to her parents. Tibalt has a deluge of information with the party to share, namely his theories on the corruption of the forsaken. Reika has something of an idea and asks Terra about Emelas, and through a group discussion, they discover the Stormking was corrupted before he ever met Max. They wonder on ways to purifiy it, and Terra mentions they could talk with Eisuru. But as she does, she pops a neutral stance. She thinks she hears Mother's voice, and begins walking toward it... bumping into Tibalts desk. Her vision returns to normal, and then she explains what's up with that, while gleaming information about the fate of Shamiwa. He's dead, but had a huge boost of earth control before then. Terra also returns the book, and he removes a scroll in its place. Sayako wants to have a word with him alone, and she asks to fix problems. He gives her a page of Wish, and explains that the citizens of Anshin can mass teleport with his aide. Reika asks for means to anchor someone from teleporting, and asks about Terra's bullshit. He says he's curious about it, and wants to try something for science. Terra says sure, and Tibalt says he will fix this momentarily. Then Terra gets stupid, and Tibalt throws a force cage over her, teleports in, powerword Kills her, and carves a hunk of her arm out with a diamond. Then, he makes a clone of her, but without the Gisei path, and restores sanity to that Terra, fixing her bullshit. Tibalt seems smug that it worked, and gives his explanation. Terra wants to specifically repay him. He mentions he's hungry, and sends her off to retrieve it. Sayako goes with, then goes off to talk with Uzu and Chiharu.
When Terra comes back, Reika wants her to retrieve the weapons from her corpse. Terra tells her that things could go horribly wrong with a teleport to a location she wasn't too familiar with. They bicker about it a little bit.

Sayako checks in with Uzu. He's fishing without bait, but enjoying it. He says he misses Adol, and Sayako tells him to chin up and maybe they'll meet again. She goes to poke Chiharu, who seems pretty mopey right now. It all broils down to her not being able to measure up. Eventually, Sayako manages to console Chiharu by explaining all the things she's better at than Sayako. And, after they get together, they leave for Reika's equipment.
And find themselves at the glade... no body or weapons to be found. They discuss it and figure if anything, Koga took her stuff and is sending it to Ina. They decide to get going, after Terra prompts the group that they are all in fact ready and looking forward. Terra asks Susano-o if he happens to be on the path of Kukyo, but he says the paths are overated. Reika shows the three emeralds they got, and Susano-o kinda dismisses them since they didn't get them legit. Then, he's kinda grumpy, so he sends them off to fight the sea dragon without the tower.  It's over in twelve seconds, after some horrible bullshit, with Reika delivering the finishing blow. They begin to make their way back to Susano-o.

Session 37: The Crowded Place.

The party climb back up to the town. Susano'o says he's too hungover to think of any good enchantments, and Terra rolls her eyes and casts Lesser Restoration. He forgets that works. He takes one of Reika's really cool looking swords, and decides to enchant it as a windblade the likes of his giant blade. Reika's high pitched squee causes a bit of pain to Sayako and Terra. They decide to visit Chi before they leave. Sayako asks if he knows a guy who could use the basin. He says yes and to make sure they pack warm clothes. He offers his hand to her, and she takes it. Then he puts two fingers on her forehead. "It'll go well."

Merem-sho wants to ask about the blessings on his arm. He says that it was basically them asking how they should think of her as reverence. So he informs her of why he picked the three he did. He then looks at Reika, and says that he mispoke. He looks at Terra and his stance changes. He asks how she did that, and she responds that's what friends can do. She then thanks him for his advice. He says it was no trouble, and a big relief to him that she does not have to bear that burden. They then hop into the Ja'reji and, after plenty of climbing they enter the top floor, with a ladder down to connect the roof.tsi-ken flies in and tells Reika that there's something to look forward to. Merem-sho goes down to some privacy and contacts Chiharu. The first thing she does is give her a big hug.

Chiharu says she's got a new modus operandi. She can't undo what was done due to Trauma, but she can focus on what to do with it. The two girls notice Ro off in the corner, and then Merem-sho is knocked out of her meditative state. She clambers up and looks out. Ja'reji is moving the iceflows to their path.

Tsi-ken tells Reika that it's time, and tells her to leave all her weapons behind. She does so in a shower of steel. They then go to an iceberg nearby, and Reika's persona/stand/fatherspirit decides to just watch, moving away from her. The snow is like two feet deep. Tsi-ken takes a scroll and punches through it, and ice pillars plow through the iceberg. Reika pulls down her hood and beckons Tsi-ken. He responds by throwing a snowball and hiding behind a pillar. She punches it out of the air, moving and waiting. He pops out on top of a pillar, and Reika takes that chance to pop a snowball in his face. He divebombs her with six snowballs, but she dodges four of them and catches two. She moves and then BLAM, gets him right in the face. He says he was expecting that to last longer, then lobs two more and kicks up a flurry of snow. More snowballing, complete with a giant snowball being lobbed on both sides. After a bit, Tsi-ken gives her one of his common swords. They then fight, and Reika gains a bit of understanding into the path of Ningen.

Terra asks Sayako if she can see her chakra, and the kitsune aquisces. The latter notes that it is healing, and mentions that if time permits there is a friend she'd like Terra to meet. She tells her to be careful when casting, since something could possibly go wrong. They land at Ina, and Sayako, Merem-sho, and Terra all sink in the deep snow. This causes the catgirl to let out a yowl and she immediately casts Levitate on herself. Tsi-ken lets the party into Inatown, and warns them to not mention Daiza. Someone berates Tsi-ken for being late, and asks why they should still be permitted to join. The party manage to produce Reika, who produces Dragonslayer. That gets them enough faith, and she puts down Tsi-ken as the leader. He then explains how sucky it would be to get caught into a blizzard, then prepares a list. Tsi-ken mentions he's going to grab some Shida-okami, and Reika's eyes light up and she decides to go with him. The other three decide to get other supplies, Terra noting it's a lot like a rebellion camp.

Reika and Tsi-ken beat the shit out of their shida-okamis, Naming them Mari and Masamune. Tsi-ken says that name carries weight. Merem-sho looks around for Rations, getting the attention of a man in an oni mask, Jirobashi. He explains that the mask is the mark of one who has slain a dragon, and invites her into a table. They get into a conversation about the Stormking of all things. He says Merem-sho reminds him of a friend he once had, and that he will provide them their provisions.  He then escorts her to Mokimoki. Terra, short and dimure as she is, is paid almost no attention and bowled over. Finally she's fed up with it and shouts for people to give her some fucking room. They do, giving her a wide berth and pointing her to where she can get her tents. She picks two up and leaves, and people continue giving her a wide zone. Jiro and Merem look at this, and Jiro kinda wonders if that is one of Merem's crew. Merem-sho affirms it, and Jiro says that is indeed one hell of a crew if this short person is commanding that much respect. Sayako goes out to gather food and the like, and it's ruined by spears zipping past her. Sayako rattles them and sends the spears back with magic. Eventually, there is a discussion with Sayako and the attacker, and he says he'll give back half. After some failed discussion, He takes *all* the food, but gives her a spear with an oni mask on it. She hitches a ride on Arashi and is the last to arrive in Mokimoki.
Terra complains that this place sucks. Sayako, pouting by the fireplace, seems to agree. Tsi-ken grabs some sake and chocolate and tries to calm her down. Terra mentions she can just create food with Spiritaide, and Merem-sho mentions that she has a friend who will give them supplies. Reika asks if Terra knows Locate objects, and Terra says that the spell would likely do no good anyways. Reika asks if she should sic the wolves on him, and Sayako says she's more inclined to let it go. Merem-sho pulls out the Urn. Terra decides that it's finally time, and she asks the Urn to start talking. It starts talking, reading off a dictionary. Terra slaps on Wrathguard on Reika, and she goes to town with the urn, filling it up with snow. Terra asks what exactly the Urn is, and, through a mouthful of snow, it says it's a bastion of knowledge. Terra asks what a bastion of knowledge is. He said he already explained it for the day, so try again tomorrow. Then the urn pivotes to Terra, and asks where's the path of Gisei. She said they got rid of it with the help of a friend. This prompts a long silence from the Urn, and then Machiro himself comes in and stares at Terra. "HOW THE FUCK?"

The party explain exactly how the fuck, and then he looks at Terra, looks at Sayako, and goes "Man, poor Katsu. Of all the women, he gets these two, and he picks the worst one." Murder flashes in Terra's eyes and she reaches into the pack, but Tokugawa gets up and leaves before any harm. This unsettles Terra, and she begins complaining she doesn't look that bad. Reika says she can help, and Terra, butthurt though she is, eventually aquiesces. While Reika almost literally beats her into make-up, she explains the reason why she tries to take care of her appearence; she was born male, but identified at a young age. Outward appearence is a big thing for her because of it. Reika says she doesn't mind because she introduced herself as a girl and that's how she respects it. Terra mentions what she heard of Reika and Koga's plan, and then that she and Merem-sho, along with Katsu, are going to Canaan. Reika says, after thinking it over, that it might be a good idea to send them as abassadors of Ramui. Terra nods and says that would probably help in giving her some diplomatic immunity since there may or may not still be an active bounty on her. Reika says that's part of what inspired her to think of it, but, it's for the future, after they triumph. Terra nods and says they will triumph, together. Sayako pokes her head in and wonders if the two have any recommendations for her to learn, and Terra says Sending would be a huge help. This reminds Merem-sho to talk to Koga, and he tells the party to be careful and view Shen as a competitor.

So the party begin to rest...

Session 38: Out to the bitter cold.

Tsi-ken corrales the group after they wake. He gives them the game plan, and then they grab the provisions. Terra asks what the catch is, and Jirobashi says there is no catch. He also offers a bit of advice; be wary of the other hunters. Some may attack while they're in the middle of combat. Jiro helps them tie their provisions, and then they set out to the west. It's hard going, and not too soon after a blizzard sets in. Sayako thinks it's not a natural one, and Terra believes she saw, just for a second, a figure with long black hair. So the two ask the others to prepare, and they do. It's a quick bevy of Ice and snow and moving winds; Reika thinks it might be something akin to the moving whirlwind they fought in Anshin, and Terra recalls Susano-o's words about the thing split into three. So she focuses a Graviton Lance above. Sayako finds where it's chakra is and focuses on that. Reika starts slashing through the blizzard, coming into contact, and then Merem-sho, Terra, and Sayako get expunged. Terra's Graviton Lance goes off, killing the thing.

Sayako and Terra are both down. Merem-sho and Reika administers a few potions to the two, and Reika plants her feet, ready to attack another oni. Merem-sho administers medicine to Sayako, whom gets up. She looks around. Tsi-ken is thrown down and looks like he's having some fun. Reika zips up the tree and prepares to attack. Sayako administers a cure wounds on Terra, and then looks at the oni approaching. It doesn't have a chakra. Merem-sho gives it an Eldritch Blast or Two, and Terra group heals everyone and then gives an additional healing to Sayako. The fucked up Oni roars at Reika. Her breath catches and she feels her insides made of dust. She's stunned, deafened, and Blinded. The oni strides over to the other three girls, and Sayako positions herself then does some Chaos metamagic to it, and it's just vaporized. Terra complains that every fight better not be like that. Reika says it'll be worse than that. Tsi-ken and Sayako talk a bit, and Merem-sho pops into her garden. Ro's there, resting and recuperating. Merem-sho lets the elemental into the Meadow and punts Ro back out into the material world. The four there talk about the figure Terra saw and Reika's face she had seen. Merem-sho pops out as Terra heals Sayako, and she drags the kitsune to her meadow.
Sayako talks with the Blizzard oni, after it appears, and whilst it is expressive, it eventually storms off. Sayako complains that trying to find some sort of deep insight into this path is hard. Terra, once they're back, asks Tsi-ken how you even win. He mentions that the more you kill, the higher a bracket you get into. As they set off, Terra sees the figure again and points her out. The rest of the party look, and get a feeling of dread. As they stare, another figure climbs up the hill. It's Shen. And then they leave. Terra briefly wonders if perhaps Shen is getting help from what she assumes to be a fragment of Amatsu-miko-boshi, and Tsi-ken says he'd rather not think of what that implies. As they get to the coast, they see decay and a wounded Spirit Dragon, as well as several sea dragons. Sayako and Reika are the first flown to it, and Sayako spends about an hour healing it. It informs the party that Shen and his friend did it, with his forlorn blade. The spirit dragon says he was more clever than they. He says he'd appreciate to rest, but there's nowhere to rest too. Merem-sho offers it into the comb, and it agrees.
Sayako lets herself in and watches it come in. She says there's another matter she needs to follow up on; the matter of her father. Kimon says that he has been forced to retreat, though his strength yet lingers. He says that her concern for others is touching, and that maybe its a good thing the human world has touched her so. Then Sayako pops out. Merem-sho wonders if she shouldn't ask Koga stuff, and the other girls suggest it. He says to not take on Shen as he's strong.  Tsi-ken says he will put the provisions in a hut and they can get back to it when they need it. So they begin to set forward.

Session 39: Into the Caves?
Over the duration of their watch as they camp, Sayako goes into Merem-sho's comb and talks with the blizzard chimimorio, where she furthers herself on the path of chakra. She talked to the spirit dragon for a while, and it offered some wisdom to her. It also told her that her father is alive. Gone, but alive. Sayako was also confronted by Half; whom says he won't be able to pay her back. The two reconciled a bit, he told her his name was Hiro, and he gave her the half of the provisions. He also gives her a wooden map.

Reika's watch entailed her stealthily lying in wait. She find Shen and they talk a little. It is made apparent that they are at odds, and he's travelling with the shard out of necessity. He pointidly mentions that it makes no difference to him who falls, because no matter what, one of them is a pawn meant to fall. Reika goes into Merem-sho's comb and the spirit confirms that the yokai would tell tales of scary humans, her being a good examply.
Merem-sho asks a question of the Urn, and Tokugawa appeared. He gave her some cryptic information, and told her that in the caves, a certain name will mean something to someone in there. He also confirms that he is indeed the urn. Sayako is the first to wake, and then the rest of the party does. Reika confirms that Tsi-ken went into the caves. Sayako says that Ozuma and Tibalt both didn't contact her, and while Terra dismisses Tibalt's absence, she does say she's worried about Ozuma. Reika asks about Merem-sho's friends, and she tries to contact them.  Nothing happens, and this worries her. So she sends out a Sending to Chiharu.  She gets back, in response "Who's This"
She informs the party. The party are all concerned. Terra wonders if they should teleport, but Merem-sho tells her that Machiro said they were alright. Sayako also adds that she might lose the will to pursue the path. Terra nods, and mentions that people have told them to keep moving forward and not look back. Sayako picks up a twig and pokes at some tar. She feels a sense of dread, and shares this with the party. Terra says that she's used to that feeling, a bit of an expert in running away. But she assures the kitsune that they have this. They head to the mouth of the cave, and Reika offers a few words about Shen. She says they talked last night, and Shen believes it's acting on instinct. Reika says that Shen says it has an Egg, and Merem-sho feels the urn ever so slightly tremble. Sayako voices that she can't help but feel that once they enter the cave, they may be irrevocably changed, or maybe even the world itself. Terra nods. "Well then. The blade of justice, the wandering daughter, the beacon of light, and me. Are we ready?" The group nods, and they enter the cave.
And appear on a more desolate section of where they just left. Sayako wonders if her friend will be alright. Merem-sho and Terra go ahead, Sayako summons dancing lights, and Reika just follows behind her. Terra notes that eventually the "trees" seem to be kinda undeady looking. A dancing light brushes past one and a hole pops into the "tree". Reika notes that Tsi-ken did indeed come this way.  The path eventually stops, and they're in a bowl or canyon.  They see a shadowy owl like figure, and it flies out. Reika thinks about it and tries to call out in her minds eye. She sees a tengu with black feathers, and sure enough it seems like it's tsi-ken. But then she's evicted. Sayako wonders about it, and looks around. She sees the corrupted Trees come to follow, and asks if they should fight or flee. The group decides to flee, and eventually come to a line. Then the floor gives out about six feet. Past the blackness to the right, there's a similar ledge. An antlered fox peaks out and scans the group, but seems to ignore them. Terra sees a figure, then hears metal on metal. She voices that it's something scraping, and Tsi-ken's voice calls out.

"Really? I thought you'd know me better by now. Sharpening." he says as he flies to them. There's heads as beads, one of them being Jirobashi, but looks older. He pulls out four swords, and the party gets ready to battle. "Sorry about this, but you'll look good in Red."  Sayako acts first, quickening a haste on Reika and throwing a shocking grasp on Tsi-ken, who tanks it with a mirror image. Reika goes invisible and uses this opportunity to slash at him, and Tsi-ken, with the sense of smell, slashes wildly at where she is; nothing hits. Reika's Stand cuts down two mirror images, and Reika gives a slash directly to him. Merem-sho does the Eldritch blast, and it becomes an ice sculpture. Terra tells everyone to be on their guard and inspires the group, and watches carefully. Then the dragon kicks up and blasts a fire breath at the party.  Then a tornado kicks up and kidnaps Terra, sending her falling into the chasm. Sayako urges Arashi to go get her. Reika dashes over and slashes another ice sculpture, then bops the dragon. Merem-sho shoots the ice sculpture.  Sayako realizes it casted Haste on something. Tsiken pops up and shadowclone cut barrages Reika. Only one of the attacks hit, but it was a pretty bad cut. Reika takes this to annoy, and she cleaves yet another ice sculpture. Sayako sees Tsi-ken replace himself with an ice sculpture. She counters by dispelling the haste from the dragon.
Reika sees a fake Raikiri and picks it up, pointing at where Sayako and her guestimated it would be. "That was a pretty good storm of blades. Hope you don't mind if I respond in kind?" She says, gesturing for Merem-sho to move out of the way.  She does, and Reika uses Cloud to toss several blades at him. She adds Faux-Raikiri to the toss, and Tsiken catches it and looks Reika dead in the eye. The dragon is also caught in the wall of winds. Tsi-ken cuts two eldritch blasts in half from Merem-sho, and then takes a perfect Iajutsu stance. Reika mimics it as she hears Terra's violin. And then, Tsi-ken dashes north. The fox-dragon also retreats, but leaves a parting gift of a landslide.  Reika dissapears from the rest's view as she starts dashing north. She grabs a weapon on a chain, and something pulls her up. A strange yokai is there, sitting against the wall, composed of different peices of rock. "Good job" it says. "So, you got answers?"
The other three explore a little bit, and then kunai blasts spring out. Shen is running, and throwing more kunai. Sayako and Terra summon some spells to deflect, and then they dodge as another trap comes scrunching down. Shen hops further into the chasm, and the three think on whether to follow him or not. They decide not to, and Sayako blends in and says she'll scout ahead. Merem-sho sends Ro with her.

Reika gets introduced to the yokai, who gives his name and then the obsidian elemental opens up his hand and punches a doorway through the rocks. "Come, Reika Ramui. We will find your friends." He then gets to a room, and he asks her if she's a friend that's come, or stayed? and Reika asks if time really passes like what Tsi-ken makes it appear like. Thankfully, the elemental denies that. He says that something, the thing that makes the cave what it is, is in Hirino Masu, and it's spreading. A rune glows, and he tells Maug there's no time for tea. the thing grumbles that it's just more fucking fighting, and the three move on. They come to Terra and Merem-sho. Merem-sho, seeing Reika, gives her a big hug. Reika gets a mouthful of afro.

Sayakko goes off to scout. She comes across a dias, and she sees a large four-armed statue. it looks like it's holding four weapons, or should be. In one of its four hands, it's holding a massive tanto.  She creeps closer. It's a really big tanto, but not inconcievable that she could take it. She inspects the statue. The only thing that seems familiar to her is the mask, but she can't recall where she's seen it before. "You know, we've been on a quest to take these blades and use them... but it appears there's a proper place where they belong." She briefly thinks that it might be a good idea to leave it, but thinks better of it, knowing Shen's also in the area, and she takes it.  She goes to leave, and sees the Female fragment, She looks up and smiles. "You don't wear that face well. Only one person can wear that face." She says as she looks at what could only see her mother's face. "or come to end me now?"

"Mother's waiting." the fragment says. Sayako says she'll be back soon, and meets up with the rest of the party.  She's glad to see Okarai. She shows off that she obtained the tanto, and also mentions that she obtained something else, though she doesn't go into specifics here.  When Maug says he's a novice of Kukyo, Terra's ears twitch. The party get back to Okarai's.  While there, Sayako explains that she did come across the Female Fragment.
Okarai says that he is the last of the kukyo, and Terra leans forward. Maug leans over to her and asks what's wrong. Terra wonders if there can be more than one pupil at the time, and Maug goes to ask. Terra stops him, saying there's more important things to worry about. Sayako says that she met with Hiro, and Okarai says that's strange, since he's been dead for centuries. He asks if Sayako fears for his home, and she says she fears for all the homes. Okarai says it is at his doorstep, but maybe his fate is not to be met with normalcy. Merem-sho asks if they know of Horosha,  and Okarai asks how she knows the name. She says a friend told her, and he asks the party what they know of the forlorn blades. He says that the forlorn blades where meant to act as a balance. Whereas Man can slay Yokai, and Yokai can usurp man, they had nothing to deal with gods who had erred. Untl Horosha gave man blades.

Okarai asks if Terra is interested in the path of kukyo, and she nods. He asks if she could kill Reika, and Terra responds that she has quite the strength, and she likely couldn't. She says that she feels she embodies kukyo, since she's gotten so much duality experience, but Okarai tells her that she is too shortsighted. Terra hangs her head a little, and Sayako says it'd be best to listen.

Okarai informs them that Horosha was the one who created Ishe-ki-musho. He looks at Merem-sho's comb and shakes his head. "Now is the time for action. I shall stay in my home, as that comb is far too placative. Now then. We have a ninja to hunt." Merem-sho asks why they must fight Shen instead of working together, and Reika muses that maybe it's because they're dealing with Daiza, who isn't the true threat. Okarai tells her that the problem is the chains that perforate the earth. The problem lies in Hiruno Masu, and the forlorn blades are the key. He asks what the plan is then, and Terra says she has a lot to think about, but can do so in only a short time as they bandage their wounds. Sayako gets to casting ritual Death Wards, and asks Okarai of his advice. He says were he had the choice, he'd make it to where Man can forge their own path and not rely on yokai. Sayako thinks that it'd be selfish for her desire, and she looks up, thinking that things will be alright.  He tells her that he is an elemental, and shares with her a bit of knowlege.

Reika brings out two of the forlorn blades. She asks if he knows how best to wield them, and he says that it's actually simple. The same as any other blade. She asks if the real question was who she uses it against. Okarai says that it is the party's choice, as the weapons are made for them.  Terra is listening. Maug comes over and says that all her experiences don't mean anything if she isn't on the path anyways. Terra nods and continues listening.

Session 40: Revelations?

Okarai informs them that the first plan of action is to realign the chakra of the land, and they all set off. Terra is watching Maugh and Okarai intently. Maugh at first takes some offense to this, but when Terra explains what she's doing he lets the subject drop and indulges in some light conversation with her. Okarai comes to the middle of a ruined city, and Sayako looks worried that all the ruins happened when she just protected the place some thirty years ago. Okarai looks at her funny and prepares the ritual. This one goes off without a hitch.

On the way to the next one, Maugh seems a bit slower than normal, and Terra finally talks something out of him. It was this spot that he had met Okarai in, and it was this spot that his friend had passed away. Terra offers to help him remember and mourn for his fallen friend. At first it seems like he doesn't really want to hold anyone up, but Okarai stops the group there and Maugh, while setting up defences, does indulge in a few stories about his fallen friend.

Alas, this time they are beset upon by more oni, and the battle is fierce. At one point, Reika notices a kunai with a charm get near, and then her vision gets dark, her legs constrict, her throat swells, and her hearing goes out. Still she is determined to not lie down and die, so she prepares a stance. Terra notices one of the fuckers prepare the same attack that hurt them all the last time, and properly warns the party of this trick. This enables them all to better dodge it, and Sayako and Maugh finish it off. Terra heals Reika's condition and Reika surmises that Shen pulled a dirty trick on them while they were otherwise occupied.

They head off to the next waypoint, and it was here that Okarai revealed Tsukiyomi fell a hundred years ago. And Saiyetsu a year or so before that. This news hurts the party, and Sayako tries to contact herself. She comes into contact with a corpse, though strangely four-tailed instead of the five she now has. Still, she shakes herself out of it and tells the party to keep Home in their thoughts, close to them, so they may remember it during these dark times.

Maugh, having adopted a stance, proceeds to tell them that there's something really fucky going on here. The party collectively give him a "no shit" look, and he elaborates through a metaphor. Terra seems to understand it and, upon Reika asking her for her interpretation, she offers another similar metaphor. Reika doesn't quite get it and asks Sayako to explain, and Maugh and Terra share a sigh at the Southerners.

While they remain looking out for anythign coming, Reika gets landslided away from the party and comes face to face with the dark tsi-ken. His emotions are high and he thnks her naught but a ghost, but one he must defeat nonetheless. There's a pitched quick battle, and then the two samurai adopt a stance. They lunge at each other...

And Tsi-ken falls down, defeated. Reika's body almost splits in two, but a Death Ward Spell from Sayako earlier had saved her. She seems alight with new energy, and has mastered the Path of Ningin. They spend a bt of time mourning over the dark tsi-ken. While they do this, Merem is frothing at the mouth about her always running off, while Terra calmly assures her that she's fine and will be back in no time.

With the next seal done, they travel back to the third one. The party is pretty bushed, and settle in for a rest. When they wake, there's the fox dragon right there. At least it was considerate enough to let them sleep?

Session 40: Musume no hōfuku
Sayako goes to contact Ozuma, and does see him, seeming to be at mind. However, she also sees a globe further past, with a different Ozuma blasting appart shadow monsters. But that Ozuma is not looking good; With 13 tails intact, and ten other tails tied to his arm, he looks at her with his one good eye, and Sayako decides to get the hell out of dodge.

Maugh sleeps away from the rest of the party. Reika has some concerns for Okarai regarding Terra. He says he is not eager to see his path compromised. Reika says that she is stronger than even Terra thinks she is. Okarai says that he has matured his view, and says that it would be quite anticlimatic if he inducted her into it. She will find the path, but she doesn't necessarily need it where the party will go. He says the path of kukyo is like glass to Daiza's hammer. He counters with a question of his own: how often does Reika cry? She responds that she never does it around the party, but she does in solitude, with everything that she has lost.  When Reika wakes her up, Sayako confides in her what she had seen. Reika briefly wonders if there might be two of them in this universe, before going back to bed as Sayako takes her watch.
She senses some movement and goes to warn Okarai. He asks her what she's worried about, and she asks if he meant spiritual or literal. He confirms literal, and then the two decide to investigate. Okarai turns his glance to the camp suddenly and tells Sayako to check on Merem-sho, and she sees the urn rolling away. Sayako goes to stop it, and it turns the part she met to dust. It keeps rolling, and Sayako follows it. Eventually, it stops, and Tokugawa appears, no mask. He wants to express his thanks for how she's helping okarai anchor the land. He says it's helping him alot, and she says it's helping the world a lot. He says that is what he said, and Sayako offers a wry smile. She then asks if he would talk with her, about how the world looks on the outside. He says that she has her terms wrong. It's not outside, but beneath. She says that it must all seem very synthetic, and Makiro says that sometimes it's all we got. Are dreams any less real than the world you wake up to? Sayako expresses her determination once more. Makiro tells her to not use the word inevitable.  Makiro reminds her that the real foe is Amastu mikaboshi. He puts a hand on her shoulder and establishes eye contact with her.
"Do not face that foe outside these caves. But inside... Inside you can do it." He manifests two more arms and folds the bottom two. He pops out his mask and mumbles that he will see them all later. Sayako says she will give them his regards, and Okarai tells them they are expecting company. So she rouses the others and tells them to prepare. She prepares by going into the temple and animating the statue of Horosha-Which Sayako notes looks similar to Makiro right as he was leaving-and gives it the Forlorn Tanto. Merem-sho athletes up to the roof of the shrine, and the party prepare!

Magh climbs up over a wall and gets to attacking the arm. About an inch behind the slashes, it reconstitutes itself faster than they. Merem-sho fires off three blasts, but only one, a cold looking ball, hits. It doesn't seem to be regenerated.She calls out to the party to deal elemental attacks. The fox dragon locks eyes with Reika and she finds herself unable to move. And then it breathes out some fire. It hurts a little. "Listen up!" Sayako says. "This bastard ate my mother. It's likely the only chance we have to take this thing down!" She blasts a Guiding Bolt and hits, but it doesn't seem as effective. The thing counters with it's own Guiding Bolt at Magh, and Terra grumbles as she realizes this thing can mimic magic.
Terra heals Reika of her paralysis and inspirs the group. a tail manifests and swipes at the group. Reika backflips over it all and Terra dodges most of it. The tail takes out the building, pinning Merem-sho. Sayako barely dodges it. When the thing fires out three Eldritch blasts, Sayako cancels it. Terra informs her that means the fox can now cancel their magic. Sayako looks annoyed, but doesn't say anything. At one point it looks like its going to take over the golemn, but Sayako cancels it with her charisma. Reika and Maugh team up and deal a wombo combo fire attack. It fires a ray that looks like a fireball, and Merem-sho absorbs it into herself. Sayako dual-summons two Spiritual weapons and swipes at AMB, and it misses. In response, it summons its own weapon and strikes at Terra, who blocks with Spiritaid. The ground turns into Tar and then, once they are sunk in, back to stone. Reika prepares, and shouts at the party what she sees the dragon planning. She then slashes with the dragonslayer and mitigates some attacks. Sayako sees Terra in some danger and counterspells it before it hits, even as a tail comes slamming into her. She gets tired of getting beating by this tail, so she throws up a blade ward and grins at Sayako. "Hey. Remember when I said we'd deal with this bullshit together? Well look at us now? We got this!" She says, inspiring the kitsune.
When Sayako activates her chakra sight, she sees a bunch of different chakras, and notes that her mother's is there, looking like the blackest of the black. Reika douses her blade in fire and the wombo combo happens again. She looks at the thing and a horrifiying realization occurs to her. It's going to merge. So Reika waylays into it. Sayako pulls out the wish scroll. "ARE YOU SURE THAT'S A GOOD IDEA?!" Terra calls out. "THIS THING CAN MIMIC SPELLS, AND YOU SAID THERE WERE CREATURES IN IT, THEY CAN PROBABLY TALK!" Still, Sayako seems undettered and sits down. She thinks about why when her mother was eaten the AMB didn't absorb all the power. So she looks at her basin. "I wish... all the power that AMB got from my mother. All the power Pangu gave me. I wish to be contained in the vessel." A thin white line escapes, and power unfurls through Sayako.

"I cannot hold this for long. But I will do what must be done. Because... I am mad." She proceeds to haste herself and blasts AMB, and Merem-sho and Reika finish it off.... and then the cavern explodes, and it reconstitutes itself. Sayako acts immediately. "ZA WARUDO!"

"Wait isn't that my phr-" Time stops, and Sayako unleashes a massive amount of Disintegrates. Time resumes, and Sayako offers the forlorn blades to Reika, who hops on Arashi and slashes right through it. It disintegrates, and the power granted to Sayako leaves her exhausted. Terra tries to heal it, but it doesn't work, so she settles over guarding her. Reika notes that Shen could still be nearby, and also notes that Okarai is acting funny. He says that the ritual worries him, but that's divisionary. Finally Shen pulls his arm out.

"instincts as sharp as ever." Shen says as he discards Okarai as a puppet. "The time for conversation is long in the future... or long past. But I will not fight you with her in that condition. " He leaves behind a map, and dissapates into the shadows. Magh is distraught over Okarai's death, and they start the long walk back. Along the way, the statue of Horosha, now animated, carries Sayako.
"Nice new duds, yes?" Horosha asks Terra. The feline's eyes go wide.
"Oh hell, it's Makiro." She says. There's banter, and exposition. Horosha tells them that if they want everyone to be happy, he tells them to not touch the egg. When Reika finally asks him which of the realities is real, he tells them that he saw them fail, and he wanted the party to try again. He tells them that Amaterasu is gone, distributed. He tells them to not mind the corpses along the way, and that the end goal is Daiza. Finally, he reveals one last secret: Terra is from this Now. She's been living in a gift-wrapped wasteland without even knowing.
Over the course of the next few days... Terra certainly contemplates her existence, her relationship with Katsu, and the existance of her friends. She also spends time talking with Magh.

Sayako and Reika, in Merem-sho's comb, talk with Ryujiin. Sayako tells Ryujiin that Mother is gone. He reminds her that once, Amaterasu needed his help. And he was glad to know that he can rely on her much the same way. He says that he wishes Daiza had taken the pilgramage the same way Saiyetsu had, he might have turned out differently. He asks Reika why she carries the antler, and she replies in a matter-of-fact way. He tells his daughter to raise her chin, and tell her to not look sad. She's the only one who got his eyes, after all, and it would be a waste to not use them. He tells Sayako that he will remain confidant in Sayako. Reika presents Zantetsuken's hilt to Ryujiin, and he says he can try to produce something for her in the next couple days. She says it would be a pleasure to fight alongside more of him.
Reika and Sayako spend time talking about their mothers. When they get out, Magh tells Sayako that she will have to be the one to finish the ritual...

Session 41: The Ninja
Merem-sho mentally steels herself and attempts to contact one of her patrons. She aims for Chiharu first. She doesn't see her, so she tries the sending comb. When she fills her in, she asks why is she fighting Daiza. As Merem-sho brrods on this, about an hour and a half later she gets a message back. It's Tibalt, wondering what's up with Chiharu, since shouldn't the two be well aquainted? He menions that this means she wont be here for the town hall meeting with Shamiwa, and Merem-sho says that, while it's hard to explain succinctly, she tells her reality is falling apart at the seams. Tibalt tells her to tell Ro to watch Merem-sho's back.
She then attempts to contact Geki-kenko, and she sees him, but he does not respond. There's a weird sort of wateryness going on, and she goes to talk with him but eventually the ritual circle breaks. She goes to fret over Sayako. Sayako, confined to the bed, has been throwing dancing lights out. When Merem-sho tells her about the messages, Sayako tells her to not worry too much. She tells her to think it through about where, and when, they are. And while she doesn't know where the last alignment will place them, what matters is if worse comes to worse it's not as bad as what it could be. The kodama get annoyed she stopped playing, and she continues while talking with her. She says it's good it arrived to Tibalt. Merem-sho asks if she can do anything to help, and Sayako says she would like some sleep. Merem-sho calls for Ro to help entertain the Kodama, and the dragon familiar does so.
Terra tries to lift the Horosha statue to the middle of town, but her heart's not in it yet and she sees a Kodama that looks similar to the one that the party had first met. This causes her to suffer an existential crises, and she flops on the ground floor and murmers "What the fuck" for thirty minutes. Eventually Magh walks by and the two get to talking. Terra brings up she wants to see cool things from Magh too, and he demonstrates Truenamer power. Terra thinks that's really cool.
Reika studies the writing on the kunai Shen had thrown, and thenmakes a bow out of petrified wood. The party are proud of her efforts at least?

The next day, Sayako walks out and activates her path, and studies it carefully. She feels a pull, but jars herself aware. This gives her some insight, and she gets by as Reika walks by with her... "bow".  Sayako invites Reika to sit with her, and says she's been thinking about the state of the world. If she completes this ritual she can patch all the cracks in Izuni as they know it, their home. But there's still an Izuni here. And she doesn't know what will exactly happen if Now!Izuni is taken over by Home!Izuni. Sayako says she doesn't know if we can save both. Reika says that if Terra got in they can maybe get out? Sayako says that her, Reika, and Merem-sho exist because of Horosha's blessing. And she doesn't know the extent of how that can go. When she eyes the statue of Horosha she wonders why it stopped midwalk. Reika's first instinct is he's fucking with them, but Sayako dismisses that as he's been awfully serious in his recent dealings.  They get up and walk around a bit, and Sayako notices an old home, Ayame's residence. Sayako remembers coming in and out several times. She tells Reika of her, and leads her to her grave. She mentions that the True!Sayako is the one she was based off of, and the way she can come to grips with that is by moving forward.
The final day, Terra practices her shuriken training with Magh. One embeds itself in his forehead, and she apologizes. He doesn't take it personally and uses it to shave off a toenail. Terra looks at it dulled and dryly states she doesn't want it back.
Sayako gathers the party together and tells her that she wants to have a word with each of the party members.
"Reika. Thank you for fighting for this world. And for not sparing the second chance you had been given. I didn't get the chance to know you as much as my siblings might have but I feel you've grown up a lot."

"Merem-sho, I want to thank you too. You've considered not only the well being of man, but Yokai as well. This microcosm dream bubble we exist in, what evern you want to call it it is one we share."

"And I want to thank you for fighting for this world, Terra. That you would consider it home does me a great honor."
"And Magh, the same goes for you."
"We have defeated Amatsu Mikaboshi, and Mother has returned to her place in the world. So given our accomplishments, I think a celebration is in order." And she casts Heroic Feast. "Eat up Everyone." Sayako offers with a smile. The party, for the first time in a long while, have a moment to themselves. And then they set out, determination in their eyes.
Eventually, the stone walls close at their backs, kunai all about, and Shen appears. Chakra seems cut off here. Merem-sho asks him why he would do this, and he tells her that she will not  do what he can. He says that Daiza has seen everything. And he is the only one deserving of his trust. The delusions that the party have about his strength have helped him well. Reika calls him a samurai, and asks what strength he has by his own hands. He pauses, and he says the only strength he has is of his resolve. Reika does some things with her swords, and she kicks over one of Tsi-ken's blades to him.
"Shen. If anything, this fight, whether we win or lose, it's proof that we existed. and we continued to exist, and we will. If we are going to determine that, then let it be by our strength. No tricks. Just my strength, and yours. I will warn you of this though. If you use this blade against me, you will lose."
He replaces the spirit blade on his back, and says that since she made the first strike with her cutting words, he will go next. And he slashes twice. The battle begins! Reika strikes twice, but misses. Sayako looks around with her chakra vision, but nothing is there at all. "We are well and truly stifled in here." She says. "If I really have to do this. Know that I'm fighting for this world. and I'm giving it all I got." She rushes forward and gives a slash to Shen. It glances along some of it's clothes. Sayako looks a bit remorseful. "Sorry. But I fight for Okarai too."
"If I cannot fight you with my magic, then I will fight you with my staff. And if I cannot use my staff, then I will use my teeth and nails if I must! For the sake of the world!" She goes to bonk him with her staff, but he deflects it with Tsi-ken's pommel. "Ro. Get ready. When I find an opening for you, take it."

Magh leaps up above and lands, then rips them both down in a crossslash. One part slashes across Shen's shoulder, the ninja only managing to deflect half of it.
Shen lands two hits on Merem-sho as she takes thirty three bludgeoning damage, and he throws a paper charm at her feet. Terra sees this and kicks it away, where it explodes. She begins to chide him on honour, but he lays into her and then throws a bunch of kunai at the party. Reika grabs one that was headed to Terra and throws it back at him. He catches it. Reika moves to Shen and gives him a bring it direction, and prepares to move. Shen takes that chance to course electricity out, and the tabaxi drops. Sayako rushes to Terra's side and pulls out the basin, trying to channel some of her energy into it. It doesn't seem to take affect. So she whips out her basin and casts slow around Shen. He doesn't seem to affected by it, and the scroll around his side, recognized as the scroll of shadows, begins to glow. Merem-sho's Fire Odachi spellsword summons a fire whirlwind that Shen can't seem to get out of in time, just blocking the actual slash. Magh uses the pain he's aquired, and his Truenamer power, to slash down at him, but Shen gets out of it completely unmarred. He goes to give a flying kick to Merem-sho, but Ro barrels into him. Shen seems unpreturbed by this and follows it up with some monk bullshit. Ro chirps furiously as she and the blade dissapate. Shen follows it up by throwing a kunai at Sayako with a charm on it. It lands, and she's cursed with blindness, deafedness, etc. He turns to Reika and points the melted sword at her.
"By all means. Show me what you can really do." She says.
"Don't goad him, he's kicking the shit out of us!" Magh says.
"One samurai to another then. Come, let's see what you can do with that sword." She says as she begins to focus.
Sayako, though she can't do much, senses some Chakra.
"Hey!" Magh says. "What's this all about? What did Okarai have to do with all of this?! I'm not saying we're the type to walk away.."
"I'll not deny that I don't know what your doing. But I'm glad what you are doing is unconnected." Shen says as he takes out some kunai and stabilizes the two girls. "I was going to go after you next, but the fates have determined otherwise." Things shift around him and he goes to cleave Reika in twain with a much larger spirit blade, but it's stopped by a shadowy figure and it's shattered, the chakra concealing circle broken a little as the comforting form of Okarai manifests. "What did you do... Koga." He says.
"Really? Must you steal my thunder?" The samurai says with a sigh, going to attack. The shadowy koga holds his hand up.
"What are you doing? Let her ruin everything?!"
"What are you fighting over now, Shen?"
"Everything. I fight to get it all back. Things that were never there."
"We are the manifestations of a god who's motives we can scarcely comprehend. But we are real."
Koga fades.
"Are you ready for this?"
"One Samurai to the other."
Reika draws her sword, and goes to chop at his neck, stopping just short. "Where you go. What you do from now on? It's not because of some cosmic scheme. It's what you choose to do that what matters." Okarai slowly moves forward and nods at Reika, then picks up Shen and walks off, leading him. Eventually Terra and Merem-sho wake up, and Terra does the magic boop to bring back Sayako's senses.  They decide to camp up and heal before the next ritual since they know it'll attract monsters. While they do that, Magh gathers the other three and, with Reika's help, describes what had happened. The talk devolves into them taking the piss out of each other, and Sayako laughs at being able to do so.
AFterwards, Sayako ascends the staircase and opens the door, steeling herself. Everyone else notices a sigil starting to appear. She continues to steel herself., and her eyes blink open; it's been an hour later. She's mastered the path of chakra.
They see a tunnel filled with light, and Sayako asks for a moment, and flits off using Chakra to Ine Fujin. She asks where Okarai went, and the kodama give directions. She sees Shen, in the process of bleeding out from Harakiri, and he tells her to go away. "Reika Ramui gave you a second chance, and this is how you chose to use it?"
"Who are you to judge me?"
"It's not a judgement. But you have a choice. What will it be?" She says as she prepares a healing spell. He closes his eyes, tears glinting. "I haven't readily ended a human life. They are precious things." She casts Spare the Dying, and he lies there for a second. "I'm sorry. If you seek redemption through release. It won't be through me. Apologies."
Shen slowly pushes himself up. "You watched me put my arm through his chest."
"I mourned his loss." Shen stands in front of her as a human, and he takes a step toward her. "Do you truly think this world a fake? Or... The way I choose to see it is it's a canvas, one where we can write our history and future upon."
"Whatever may be the truth of things, you have saved me the burden of choosing. That lies on you now." He says as he hugs her. Sayako gives him a pat on the shoulder.
"You can begin anew as well." She says as he seperates slowly, approaching a small rock and sitting on it. "Have you seen Okarai?"
"He's..." The tears a flowing freely, and he points toward Ayame's house.
"Wherever you chose to walk next. I wish you well." She then goes to Okarai, and says that she had given him a fright even with her spell. He asks her why she had come to see him when her duty is out there, and she says she had to respond with a proper farewell at least. He does tell her that the world they will exit to is the same one that they had left coming in. He tells her that when they leave, he wants Magh to choose his own fate. When she reappears, Magh tells her he has to get back to training.
"You guys are good people. I have a feeling this is going to be the only thing Master Okarai and I are going to talk about for a long time. And after I finish, Back North." And then he dissapears.
As the party climbs up and out, Terra wonders how they are supposed to get to Hiruno Masu. Sayako, with a big shit eating grin, says nothing as they begin the multi-day journey down the mountains. There's many light hearted conversations had about between them, and Tibalt even checks in from time to time. With Ozuma, Sayako bonds with and they share their divinity. She asks him if he thinks she did the right thing, and he asks her if she means leaving home. She says yes, and He says yeah. Finally, they come to a cliff, and Sayako ferries them aboard the Urn. It plummets downward, and slowly, with the momentum gained from the fall, they start drifting off toward Hiruno Masu....

Session 42: The Choice.

The party all reflect on their legacy and reasons why they have come, all burning silently with determination. Sayako is the first to feel the gourd stop, and they all get off. There are unanswered question, and ones they might not get any sort of answers to. They all take a look at the world around them, and Merem-sho takes a moment to tell the party that she loves them and is grateful for the journey and the people she met. She clings a bit tighter to Terra than the others, and Ro pops out of her afro to chime in as well. Sayako lends her words to it, and Terra says that the determination that carried them this far will have to carry them a bit farther beforehand. So the team begins to head out. After some time, they see a trail of blood. Merem-sho, Terra, and Reika, seeing Sayako investigate it, also see Koga, as he was beforehand, mimicking her movement. Terra briefly wonders if this is an effect of the mirrored world, and they follow the trail. They see a the forlorn Guan-dao and a robed individual covered in darkness, fully obscured. The black orb doesn't appear to be moving. Merem-sho and Terra approach cautiosly as Sayako takes a long look at the sky eyes that have appeared. Sayako says it must be a little folly to approach the Seer stealthily, and Terra says that she had no illusions about sneaking in, since he's been waiting for the party.

Reika says she'll close the gap as soon as possible, and goes to take off. But she feels a rumble and a spire of obsidian, of the same holding the cathedral, turns into an arm and goes to grapple her. Reika, undetered, raises her blades and cuts it in half. Merem-sho takes the time to manifest three foxfires. Each land on the arm and it slowly falls to the ground.  Sayako blasts some Eldritch blasts and hastes herself. Terra gets on all fours and starts dashing.

Reika does her dash and heads for an arm, cleaving it. Merem-sho blasts three more and keeps going. Sayako notes one of the arms preparing to cast a spell, and dispells it. She absorbs the spell into herself and notices it's the Radiant Meteor swarm spell. Terra gets an idea and calls the party to get together, and she simply Teleports them past, right to where she sees the Guan Dao. Several of the Obsidian arms form and start to come down, but shadowy figures of the previous leaders come to the rescue and break down some of the arms. Reika starts hacking away at the sphere, and they see a man missing an appendage. He flops back down and the barrier covers him again. Sayako tells Merem-sho and Terra to give the leaders some help and casts a Graviton Lance. Terra nods and backs her up with one of her own. Reika slashes through with the four blades, slowly gaining ground. Ephemeral Saiyestsu is weilding two ephemeral forlorn blades and mimicking her stance. "How long will you muster this feeble resistance?" She says.

The mages keep blasting, Sayako noticing that Amatsu Anshin is helping the mages buff their spells.  Tachikawa summons up a windstorm and wrecks the arms. Reika finally breaks through and leaps through, impaling Daiza. His hood falls back and his eyes are pits.

He slowly reaches an arm out, and rests an arm on the metal. Reika takes his hand, and he starts trying to form words. His face contorts with the effort. "Is that you Saiyetsu? Did you finally come back for me?"

"Yes. Rest now Daiza."

"Wait." He points to the top room of the cathedral. "The Egg. You have to. Please." Tears well up in the pits that used to be his eyesockets, and he collapses against the back, smiling.

"I will put an end to this my friend."

They talk about the egg, and Reika asks if Terra knows Speak with Dead to get out of this muddled mess. Sayako thinks for a minute and then comes to a horrifiying realization. She asks Reika to recount what Horosha said on the path back as she was asleep. Sayako offers that the Horosha that talked wasn't really Horosha, and Reika offers an insight of her own regarding the Forlorn Blades. Sayako thinks, and then she thinks harder. Horosha was created because Pangu was lonely, and Horosha told him he'll always be there for them.  A creation, but an equal one, one that can stand side by side. She says it'll be just a moment, and she focuses.  Shen appears in a mental space and Shen appears in the mental space. some foxfire appear in his blade, and she asks about Daiza and his goals. Shen tells her to not touch the egg. "It's not what you would want." His fists are clenched.

"Can I take a guess? I might be a bit off, but... touching the egg would cause this world to dissappear, wouldn't it?"

Shen nods. "Depending on how you do it. But you have to. If you touch it, you have to. There's technically a choice, but nothing good comes of the alternative." Sayako asks what Shen desires, and he asks if Daiza is dead. Upon confirmation, Shen says he has no desire.

"I'm glad it was you that found me in ine Fuijin and not Reika." He says.  

Sayako opens her eyes and shares the little insight he gave, and the party discuss what the egg means, what it could do, why some don't want it destroyed and Daiza, freed from the grasp, does. They talk and talk, and Reika eventually says that she needs to just see the egg. The party go into the cathedral and into the tower, and into the highest room of the tallest tower.  They see it, and Sayako offers to stay and watch over it in case something ever changed. Reika asks her about Okarai, and sayako goes to talk to him of his opinion. Okarai says that the Real is dead, ashen, but peaceful. It deserves consideration just as much as the dream does.  Okarai says that the dream is not permanent. Daiza, and you in his stead, would be shouldering the burden of being it's battery. He tells her that her and her friends have done well, and what many could not do. She asks how much time the dream has, and Okarai is silent for a minute, but he asks what Daiza looked like, and then he follows it up with how much is she willing to give?

Shen tells Okarai that he didn't give her the estimate, and Okarai says that it could get another hundred years. Sayako gets up and they all talk It's a serious, heavy discussion. They decide to leave the egg alone and get in touvh with their loved ones. Terra teleports them all to Ramui.

Ozuma talks with Sayako. She asks if he knew, and he says he knows very little. She says she wants to thank him for raising her. She asks if he can try to do one last thing for her. She wants him to try to remember himself, remember Ozuma. He tells her that she needs to leave, his voice breaking, and he gives her a hug. As he goes to leave, she gives him a more firm hug. She tells him to remember who he is, and he tells her to not eat too much pocky. The siblings exchange I love yous, and Sayako asks if theere's anything he liked to add. He says to tell them he's sorry but he'll do his best to make sure they don't have to do what he has to. Sayako says she would gladly have taken the burden, more than her fair share. Ozuma says yeah, look what his stupid ass did. He tells her that he's proud she managed to cast the spell. She tearfully says goodbye, and Ozuma grabs his ninth tail and hugs it.

Merem-sho talks with Matsu, her baker friend, and then her parents. She tells them that she loves them, and she tells them that she has to leave for a while to save the world. Her mom is incredibly annoyed and tells her that she'd better come home soon since she had already been on a quest in regards to the world. But she's given some more sweets and plenty of hugs. She then goes to Tibalt and explains everything. This sends the Dragonborne in for quite a shock, and he says that it sounds a familiar spell, but it was sealed off due to a great calamatiy it caused. He says there is a spell called Avatar, functionally on a spell level of twelve. He says there's nothing we can do other than lament it being out of our reach. Merem-sho asks if Tibalt will help her connect herself to the egg. Tibalt says that if it's a spell he's thinking of, then touching it will give her the choice. Tibalt says that Merem-sho reminds him of someone he once worked with, someone fearless. He says that her name was Jaeshala. Merem-sho leaves, and she bumps into Terra.

Terra kinda flafs about, saying that the people she care about are kinda right here, barring Katsu and y'know that's a whole can of worms she doesn't really want to open right now since there's the weird bubble shit going on, but Merem-sho hushes her and squeezes her hand. She tells the tabaxi that she'll gladly be there for her, her and the rest of her friends. Terra tells her that whatever happens, in regards to the Canaan outside the dream bubble, she will spread Merem-sho's legacy. The elf gives her a comforting forehead kiss, and Terra tells her that she does love her too.

Reika visits her family and updates her family. Then they all have a nice calm dinner. Shingin tells her that Tibalt's helped him quite a lot, and Reika tells him that Tibalt makes all her lives easier. Reika finally tries some mashed potatoes, and she tells Shingin to take care of them. She's got one last thing to do, and then she'll be home for good. They clean up and Reika finds Terra, whom teleports her to Shen. Reika questions him more on the egg. He asks her if she knows why Daiza wanted the forlorn blade, and he tells her it's so he could kill himself. He said that he's wanted to touch it this entire time. He tells her that if he were there, she could do what he could not, which is walk away. He tells her that Daiza was a prisoner, and he doesn't know what she will see, but it was something Daiza wanted. He thinks that this whole time he just wanted the forlorn blades delievered to him. He needed us like that sinister dragon needed him. Shen says he doesn't think she needed him to give her any answers.

And then the party gathers at the top of the cathedral with the egg. Reika asks them to have their say. Merem-sho says that a brief life is better than no life.Terra says that as much of a wild card as she is, she doesn't think she can properly judge what will happen. Whatever everyone else decides, she'll back it. Sayako says that she will fight for this world. Reika says it's unfortunate, and throws three kunai. While it impacts Merem-sho, Sayako has blue foxfire cover for her, and Terra catches hers. Sayako warps the four to a roof away from the egg.  Reika and Sayako exchange some words, and it eventually ends to the two crying. Reika says she would come to the conclusion regardless. And they all take turns touching the egg. Merem-sho gives herself, and the other three take energy out.

Then they see the Corrupted Gang in the Real World.

The Final Session
Reika asks Sayako how much time they have, and Sayako says they will have enough. Merem-sho says that she didn't want this, and now she's unable to help them. Terra tells her that along this whole journey, she's lit the way. Well now it's time for the rest to light her way. Upon Terra saying that, The ground shifts above them and Ro, now a massive Spirit Dragon, and Reika leaps off and waylays into Susano-o, who turns to ash. Amastu-sha plants one of the forlorn blades, and two more appear. Reika begins to fight them.
Sayako tosses Arashi toward Terra and tells her to take good care of it, and Terra nods, hopping up on her and flying up. "Alright Koga, Help us out one final time!" She says, letting lose the Black Star Shuriken, hoping for Obliteration. It cleaves into Amatsu-sha, who plants more forlorn blades. It's looking hurt, though not as bad as it was in the caves.
Sayako flies to Ozuma and unleashes some serious oomph on Ozuma, and Ro helps her and in a battle of lazers, slowly overcomes him, though he's still around. Merem-sho talks with Geki kenko, who seems a little off point. Ro is in a grapple with the Ruined Tower, and everyone sans Terra feels a little worse for wear. Reika takes this chance to even the field and stops time. She turns on her heel and runs up the tower as massive blades of her weapons cut into it, cleaving it in half in what is but a single instant to everyone else.
Terra, focused on the threat that caused all this, spreads her arms wide. "Behold the fires of war!" She proclaims as a massive fire storm overtakes Amatsu-sha. It's definitely looking horrid now.
Sayako and Ozuma enter a fox-like dance, and then she summons a weapon and they engage in a duel. Sayako uses Eldritch blasts in an attempt to distract him, and then she cleaves past him. Her eyes remain focused on the horizon as she hears his body thud into the ground. Merem-sho talks with geki kenko about how she just lost everything she held dear too, but she can keep going, and she can hold onto dear memories, and so can Geki.
This causes him to turn around and place a sigil under Amatsu-sha's body, and a barrier stops it from attacking as Sayako blasts away some forlorn blades. Reika asks for the others to grant her an opening, and they do. Terra causes a Graviton Lance to pick it up, and Ro winds her arm up and punches through the barrier, making a ramp for Reika. She runs up, and Stops time yet again. She monologues toward the Amatsu, and then offers it one last chance. It refuses.
"Very well. I figured one last dream. But everyone has to wake up eventually." She says as she cleaves the darkness in twain. Merem-sho makes it down to Geki and hugs him. He hugs her back, and then slowly fades away. Merem-sho looks at her hands, also slowly fading. Arashi and everyone else gather, and Sayako pulls out her basin.
"I need you all to trust me. Let's make our last moment worth it. For this world, and the next." She says as they form a ring. She tries to pull out some of the chakra, but can't quite summon it up. She opens her eyes, and locks eyes with Terra, and then summons a well of reserve.
Ro is the first to go. She slowly dissapears into a star of power, then Merem-sho, then Reika, and finally Sayako. The basin swirls, and then turns to dust. Two feet to Terra's left, the emerald comb shines, and she picks it up and turns around to hear footsteps. She sees Koga, holding Uzu, and they walk.
Green slowly returns to the land, and life as well. A large ship comes down from the north, comming to dock on the shores. Mezeryn Romestadt looks around and doesn't see any heretics, and he leaves to the north. Terra, after seeing life start to return, leaves for the north as her hand glows, placing her on the path of Kukyo. Eventually, she pulls herself up by her bootstraps and buys a small ship, the SS Katsu-sho, in memory of Katsu (Who had dissapeared along with Adol), and Merem-sho, who she felt a strong connection with, and sails the world as a merchant. She comes in contact with Magh, and they strike up an actual friendship. being sure to stop at Izuni and talk with Koga, who is watching over his adopted kids of Reika, Sayako, and Merem-sho. He introduces medicine into the curriculum. Tibalt activates his contigency, nothing happens, and he does research, eventually becoming a part of the canaanian magistrate.
The world turns, life returns, and Grandma Terra (who always brings the best gifts from around the world), Papa Koga (who does in fact get his doctorate via Canaan), and the reborn heroes of Izuni (Reika, who embraces being a ninja, Merem-sho, who has fun with her schooling, and Sayako, who can't keep her eyes off any man) are able to enjoy a life of peace.

The End

Awards given out as decided by the players and DM
Ramui mvp: Reika
Anshin: Koga
Oma Natue: Leo
Ina: Sayako
Hirino masu: Merem-sho
Character develepment: Terra
Protagonist syndrome: Reika Merem-sho tie
The World (and it's dice) hate me: Terra
Bloodthirsty: Reika
Babysitter: Terra, honorable mention to Koga since unconscious carrying
Damage sponge: Reika
Diplomacy: Merem-sho
I like the shadows more than people: Koga, honourable mention to the entire ninja clan
Beastmaster: Reika/Merem-sho
Best boss: Storm!Max
Hardest boss: Storm!Max
Favourite NPC arc: Shen
Favourite player arc: Punished!Koga/ Defeat your past! Terra
Most Memorable NPC death: Tsi-ken
Most Brutal moment: Egg Conflict
Most Emotional moment: Everything Merem-sho does
Favourite Magic Item: The Comb
Most infamous magic item: The Urn
Most Creative spell usage: Sayako's wish
Most Climatic moment: Seeing Corrupted Saiyetsu
Most Tuxedo Mask NPC: Fuyuki
Most popular ship: Terrem-sho/Shenyako
Most Yandere: Terra
Most Tsundere: Shen
Literally Jotoaro Kujo: Reika
Literally Goku: Sayako
The only Mary Sue Erik will ever be okay with: Merem-sho
The only Bard that has ever Made it to the End of Erik's campaign: Terra
Best Boi: Magh
Most overpowered npc: Tibalt
Most obnoxious npc: Makiro
Most underutilized magic item: Vials of moonlight