"I am the Emperor's majordomo. You can call me Mr. Han." and he bows and smiles.
"What is your business here, Honorable Ms. Miem?"
"The Emperor?" She looks at the others in the party, some mild confusion apparent.
"Mr. Han, this place has been the sight of much trauma and conflict over the years. Many spirits and much magic has blurred the lines and the times. The Lord my friend spoke of died in the Year of the _____, many years before we spoke to his spirit outside this very door. This is an odd question, but what year is this for you?"
Elgan sits down on CLaws' shoulderpad and munches on a handful of nuts, his feet swinging idly as he observes the goings-on.
"The Emperor?" She looks at the others in the party, some mild confusion apparent.
"Mr. Han, this place has been the sight of much trauma and conflict over the years. Many spirits and much magic has blurred the lines and the times. The Lord my friend spoke of died in the Year of the _____, many years before we spoke to his spirit outside this very door. This is an odd question, but what year is this for you?"
"This year has not yet been named. But last year was the Year of the Boar Banner."
(Em counts on her fingers; that would mean he thinks it's 459 years ago).
Elgan sits down on CLaws' shoulderpad and munches on a handful of nuts, his feet swinging idly as he observes the goings-on.
He nods, smiling, like the whole scene isn't totally bizarre.
But,.....he's a ghost, so what's gonna freak him out?
"I am the Emperor's majordomo. You can call me Mr. Han." and he bows and smiles.
heh heh......
called in to work. Be here alllllllllllllll day.
Dok and Colu slip into the room, hugging the wall. Dok's eyes are trained on the ghost, his right hand atop Colu's furry head as they move into the room to help keep her calm in the presence of the spirit.
Emrael looks at the mage, "That confirms my thought - we have gone farther back in time than Lord Fukumitsu's day. Altai, have you any idea what would cause this travel backwards in time?"
Colu's hair stands up on the back of her neck.
She don't cotton to no ghosts.
Elgan hums a little tune, whispers in cat-speech.
'It is all right mighty Colu. Even if the spirit was capable of harming us, I do not believe it means us harm. I assure you, my friends and I shall protect you and your friend.' He reassures the hunting cat in a purring language.
'Just Imagine the story you will be able to tell your great-great-great-great-grandkittens. And leave the rest to us!'
The cat calms down some.
Purrs back; "no like meatless people."
Mr. Han asks, "so good lady, and servants, what business brings you here to the Emperor's summer palace?....."
The cat calms down some.
Purrs back; "no like meatless people."
'Well, I have to agree with you there my friend. They give me the 'willies'.' Elgan confides. Colu can tell that despite Elgan's relaxed attitude and dangling toes, the druid is ready to spring into action instantly if his friends are threatened.
Mr. Han asks, "so good lady, and servants, what business brings you here to the Emperor's summer palace?....."
"Wah'll, weze jes' passin tru mainly." ELgan waves friendly-like from atop Claw's shoulder.
"We did run inteh a spot uv,... whatchu maght call 'weeerd-magic-lahk' wethuh recent-lahk. Seems deh locals have sum funny stories 'bout dis place, an' we wunnured if dere maghht be a connecshun." The little elf looks around casually."Ah'm t'inken dere' maght be wun,..." He says straight-faced.
"Humh. The weather's been quite pleasant actually. It's why the emperor is fond of summering here."
He smiles;
"would you like to come in and dine? It's so rare that a Miem is about the place, unlike in oldentimes. And.....two of them........SO SPLENDID!!!"
heh heh.....
"We may not necessarily have shifted backwards in time. The ghost may be temporally contiguous with, um, our, ah, original time. He might originate from well after our cursed samurai. Maybe the Emperor seized the place, fixed it up and then re-abandoned it?"
Altai shrugs his shoulders in exasperation. "I have no idea where or when we are actually located. I will say this - this place is located in an area where reality flows differently than normally. But you already knew that."
I will say this - this place is located in an area where reality flows differently than normally. But you already knew that."
heh heh....
Elgan blows a raspberry.
"Choot yeh. Even ah knewed dat!" He whispers to Claw confidentially.
"Wah'll Altee? Whut's deh wurd un eatin' ghost-provided vittles? Dis heah gennulmun' dun offered us hospitality. An' it ain't lahk deh reg'u'lat'urs to leave an invite untooken!" The elf declares with a child-like grin.
The ghost floats up and down a little bit.
"Well, why not? After all, we don't want to offend our ectoplasmic host. And, seriously, at this point, things can't possibly get any stranger."
Altai cracks his knuckles before striding forwards. "Lead the way, Mr. Han."
"Follow me then......"
He leads you into the doorway. Once you enter, the place is filled with thick fog. There are partitioned rooms with flimsy wooden and paper walls; he leads you down a wooden floored hallway to the left. The hall then goes north and south; he pulls back a paper door on the west though.
The room he enters is rectangular, with the longest walls running north and south. To the north is a regal figure, dressed in verdant, expensive silk kimono, and wearing a golden headpiece with a crane device.
There are about 20 people, on the left and right, all kneeling and facing inward. The four nearest the emperor wear light armor and bear katana and wakizashi.
Mr. Han kneels, bows with his face on the ground, and announces you;
"great emperor of all of Wa,......you have guests. Two miem, and their cohorts."
And now,......none of these people look like translucent ghosts. They all look real. The mist in the room is the only evidence that all is not kosher.......
Being 'local', Emrael will try to emulate proper behavior in greeting the emperor for the others.
Elgan has hopped of Claw's shoulder during the trip down the paper-lined hallway. He seems non-plussed by the visions (after all, he has seen stranger with this group!) until they suddenly turn reaal. Or seem too. He eyes the fog warily.
"Wah'll. Dis heah's iz wuurd. Even fur us!" He murmurs to 'Altee' behind a raised hand.
Satari gives the appropriate greeting and prostration from a monk of the Fourth Turning to an emperor, and then settles back on his heels to see what comes of this meeting out of time.
Emrael acknowledges the nobles with a slight nod of the head.
Elgan bobs his head, chewing something he presumably found on a tree outside. He adds a little short wave of his hand and a grin.
"Howdy!"
Dok crouches down onto the balls of his feet beside Colu and nods at the assemblage before them.
The ghostly emperor considers you all, and everybody in the room does as well.
The soldiers especially. Their faces, impassive....
The emperor speaks.
"Greetings. Not just one, but two Miem! Mr. Han,.....windows, please!" Mr Han and two others rush to the western wall, and open up all the doors there; to the west there is a small enclosed garden, verdant with bushes and trees.
The Emperor rises; "I know our efforts are meagre compared to the gardened palaces on the Isle of One Thousand Pines, but we do try,.....please, join me?"
he looks at his four bushi; "it's okay. They're miem," and he walks into the garden calmly, serenely.
Then, "well, you know who I am. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting? And what do you wish?" the young ghost emperor asks cheerfully.
Emrael walks alongside the Emperor as though she does this all time.
"Honored one, my friends here are known as the Regulators in the land from which they come. I am Emrael Bladewalker. My parents are from their far-off land, but I know nothing of it. I have spent my time recently serving the Lady of Isle of One Thousand Pines."
"She has asked me to come to your land to investigate something odd that the diviners could not identify. Have your people reported strange happenings in the area? We were beset by strange creatures in a small village to the northwest before we came here."
You can't see the sun. All is fog. It's light out, but the sun's position is unbeknownst.
He still looks normal though.
"This place is strange. Always has been, these southern woods. It is close to the......First World.
What have you found out, Knight of 1,000 Pines? Does this....strangeness threaten Wa?"
He looks concerned.
"We do not know yet. It seems that the First World is closer now that usual. Many things, many times seem to be happening together. We have met and fought enemies that should have been dust 100 years before. You yourself and your entourage are from centuries earlier. We do not know the significance of this, but it is certainly curious."
He smiles a little; the mention of time doesn't seem to phase him. Something in the mists, perhaps?
He looks serious for a second.
Then,
"I suppose you're here to talk to the nereid. If you like, she's in the catacombs below. Don't worry, she's safe. Has plenty of water.
Would you and your friends like to dine? I won't have it said that an emperor of Wa gave the spiritfolk bad hospitality."
Emrael looks around at the others to see if they wish to accept the invitation. "Perhaps the nereid would be able to share some information."
"She's in the catacombs below. I'll have Mr. Han show you; will you and your friends dine with us?"
huzzzah!
"Not hungry, but you have my thanks for the offer." The idea of eating ghostly vittles is NOT appealing to the half-orc.
"As you wish," he replies, smiling cordially.
"Choot yeh! Ah'll luv teh tawk tew deh Neriad!" Elgan pipes up happily.
"An' if'n ah knows muh frens', an' ah dew, We'se bee honred teh chow down wit' yeh!" He adds with a grin.
"Dew yeh min' if'n ah go an' tawk tew deh Neriead now? Ah hasn't seen wun in, wah'll a long time now."
huzzah!
"We would very much appreciate speaking with the nereid, not to mention dining with you and your court. Thank you for your offers."
Altai turns back to the other Regulators at an opportune moment. "Chances are, time flow s differently here. Eating their food shouldn't be dangerous - instead, the danger might be that if time passes in a way that is not, ah, synchronous with our bodies, we might starve to death having eaten only ghost fare. So make sure to top up with our own rations, no matter how depressing that thought is."
yummmm......
rice,.....sake,.....tea;
then fruit, some of which don't have earthly or Oerthly equivalents;
then
kushiyaki, and motoyaki, and ???yaki that don't have earthly or Oerthly equivalents.
And then fugu.
The emperor waves his hand when the fugu is brought out;
"I feel,....with so many non native guests; I must warn you: there is always the slightest of chances that the fugu has a chance of being lethal."
He then digs in to the pufferfish.....
Pip bows to the emporer
"May this humble one entertain the court with some of our foreign melodies?"
A serene instrumental melody wafts over the court
"Splendid! Your playing.....is odd to us, yet exceedingly pleasing.
It has been royally edicted that there are 5 notes. Good Pip, would you tell me how many notes there truly are?"
Pip ponders the question
"in my land we use a scale of ..."
"... But it is hard to say what constitutes a note, and what a variation"
"I just want a scientific basis of a new royal decree....."