Pagma helps the farmers collect more food while Kamo and Sakura, with a bit of help from Jing De, finish restoring the Cerulean Teahouse! The people of Willowshore are happy to have the beloved local business up and operational again.
HOST CEREMONY
CONCENTRATE DOWNTIME MANIPULATE PREPARATION
You spend the week preparing to host a tea ceremony for paying customers, then perform the ceremony for attendees on the last day of the workweek, providing them with tea, light snacks, and scintillating conversation. Spend 10 gp on supplies. If, instead, you spend 100 gp on supplies, treat a failure as a success. Attempt a DC 19 Performance check or a DC 21 Society check.
Critical Success: The ceremony is an overwhelming success! You make a bit of money and earn 15 gp. The party gains 2 Hope Points.
Success: The tea ceremony is a success! The party gains 1 Hope Point.
Failure: The tea ceremony was disappointing. If another PC attempts to Host Ceremony this week, that attempt suffers a –1 circumstance penalty.
Critical Failure: The ceremony was a disaster. No one can Host Ceremony again this week, and any attempt to Host Ceremony next week suffers a –1 circumstance penalty to the check. The party loses 1 Hope Point.
***
Meanwhile, Kamo finally makes more headway with Zoudou's notes. The name Kugaptee is associated in certain old texts with the Tan Sugi monastery and was the name of a powerful nindoru fiend defeated hundreds of years ago by a hero named Tan Sui-Jing. The old legend says Tan Sui-Jing also perished in the battle and that she reincarnated into the towering sugi tree that served as the focal point of the Tan Sugi monastery. Perhaps more information about Kugaptee—including the possibility that the curse might be associated with the fiend—still resides within the abandoned monastery walls?
***
At the end of the week, a local proprietor approaches you with a harrowing problem. Nakamura Yu Ming, known affectionately as “Mama Bao,” is the owner of a small steamed bun shop near downtown Willowshore. As the week began, she started finding clumps of hair dangling from the ceiling of her shop that reappeared each morning no matter how often she cleaned them up. At first, she assumed the culprit was a mischievous kami or children playing pranks on her—at least until today, when her customers all bit into their steamed buns only to spit out clumps of hair mixed in with their fillings. Distraught, Mama Bao has closed her shop and sought your aid. She asks you to come back to her shop to help solve the strange mystery by spending the night and seeing if you can catch the culprit.
Upon arriving at Mama Bao’s shop, you can swiftly confirm that all of the buns prepared the evening before have had hair mixed in with their fillings. The hair strands are all around the same length and seem to have come from the same head.
Their findings cause Jing to gag and, after digging through some of the buns with his fingernails, might come at the cost of Jing never being able to enjoy a simple bun ever again. "Whoever put this hair into the buns plucked it right from the scalp. It's revolting."
The thought of having to spend the night here, surrounded by hair-stuffed buns and the looming threat of their nasty maker, gives Jing the creeps. "So, how do we do this? Do we hide and wait? We could perhaps prepare some fresh dough, and leave it on the counter, as bait."
"That's a great plan, Jing." Kamo nods. "We have to catch this monster! I NEED Mama Bao's food!"
Kamo is thinking with his stomach again, but good bao buns are rarer than kirin horns.
'"Oh thats... thats... unpleasant." Pagma says with great stress on the last word. "No sleeping I guess is a good idea as well."
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You wait in the shop as night falls, restless and wary. An hour after midnight, the ghostly form of a young woman with long hair drifts into the shop through one of the doors. She slowly moves to the center of the shop, then she proceeds to pull out her hair by the roots. She holds out handfuls of hair, and they slither through the air like worms to infest tomorrow’s steamed buns and to form strange, braided patterns tangled in the rafters. She seems oblivious to your presence...
Sakura is a bit put off by this series of events, it's not at all what she was expecting. There is something about her that reminds her of a tale she heard once, so she aks speaks cautiously "Hinode Akari, is that you?" She approaches tentatively, unsure what to expect. "Is there something we can help you with?"
When Sakura speaks to Hinode Akari, the ghostly woman suddenly shrieks! She rises into the air as her hair grows swiftly, snaking through the shop to tangle into the rafters and weave through the seating area. Tendrils of hair reach for you as well!
Sakura sighs in disappointment as she dodges the hair. She was hoping to solve this without violence. Her hand slides to her katana and she slowly draws it out. She calls to her friends "I will strike her down if I must, but I would prefer one of you try to talk her down first?"
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◈Dueling Parry: +2 circumstance bonus to AC until the start of your next turn
The hair wraps around Kamo, and he cries out: "By Daikitsu, Hinode Akari, you must rest! Leave this place and move on."
Kamo’s conviction is strong as he invokes Daikitsu’s name. Hinode Akari wails once before all of the hair retracts back towards her. The spirit crumples in on herself and vanishes!
”Yes! We should take our reward in lifetime boa bun supplies!” Kamo pats his stomach in anticipation.
Pagma's mouth drops in astonishment, looking at Kamo in awe "You just shouted at her and She Disappeared?!?"
Jing rushes forward and starts collecting what hair she left behind. Disgusted with what he's doing, yet must do, he presses his mouth against a shoulder to keep himself from expelling the contents of his stomach.
He doesn't intend to burn what hair remains, even though it is tempting. "I plan to put what's left behind in a jar filled with holy water and give it a proper burial in consecrated ground."
Jing De is able to collect some remnants of the haunt to properly put Hinode Akari to rest. The next morning, when you reveal the identity of the haunt to Mama Bao, she grows pale and then curses in shock as the pieces fall into place. She reveals that a few nights before the body of the herbalist found, her grandfather came into a sudden windfall of money which he used to build the steamed bun shop. He told her parents that the money came from selling “an old collection of wigs to a puppet maker in Sze,” but now Mama Bao recalls how evasive grandfather had been and suspects the awful truth. Mama Bao promises to see to it that Hinode Akari’s memory is honored to atone for her grandfather’s cruelty.
With the tea shop finally open, Kamo decides to help out his neighbors a little bit.
"It's nice to get out into the air again," he comments to Pagma after spending time cutting down deadfalls. " My clothes are still covered with sawdust, though."
In his spare time, he tries to make out the rest of the notes that have eluded him.
"This book! I'll through it in the fire. Grr." Despite his frustration, Kamo puts the notes away carefully.
Pagma shares a couple of rice balls with Kamo next to his conquered trunks. She makes a humming sound of agreement "It is the sunlight, I believe. It soaks into our skin and makes us brighter." whether she is speaking of vitamins or disposition, she does not clarify. "Mine is covered in soil instead of sawdust, not sure which is better"
Throughout the week, Sakura dedicates herself to the laborious but fulfilling task of helping the local farmers with their harvest. Each day, she's out in the fields at dawn, working alongside the farmers to gather grain, rice, fruits, and vegetables.
In the evenings, Sakura shifts her focus to the intellectual challenge of studying Zoudou's notes with Kamo. Despite the physical exhaustion from the day's work, she remains keenly interested in unraveling the mysteries hidden within the cryptic text. Kamo helps translate and interpret the notes, but the Abyssal sections still pose a significant challenge. Their study sessions often run late into the night, filled with discussions, theories, and the occasional debate over the meaning of a particularly obscure passage. Little Kamo helps pass the time by constantly stealing Kamo's food.
Pagma and Sakura have great success in aiding with the harvest. Kamo helps out a lot with security, though Jing De is less successful. Sakura helps her brother puzzle out the last bits of Zoudou's journal while Jing De performs his own investigations, using his knowledge of Sangpotshi to find out more about the Tan Sugi Monastery.
Before the Tan Sugi monastery was abandoned, the monks performed daily rituals to ensure the health of the sugi trees, but now that the place has been left to fall into ruin, the most likely source of the curse seems to be Kugaptee’s influence seeping out into the region—particularly given the fact that the monastery appears to be hidden inside a cursed shroud of its own. By spending a little more time researching and drawing upon methods the noppera-bo were attempting to utilize, it's possible that you could develop a specialized ritual that might allow passage through the Wall of Ghosts.
During the week, Yami approaches Sakura with a gift for her. Unlike the previous gifts of coins, though, this time the cat brings her an ornate silver dagger with an inlaid emerald! It is a beautiful weapon and worth quite a bit!
***
One morning, Elizeth Candora, the head priestess of Her Fluvial Lady of Souls, requests a moment of your time in private. An elderly villager died from the flu the previous night; the corpse went missing sometime ater that same evening, “as if it just walked away on its own.” She suspects that You So-Jin, the elven herbalist who minds Graveside Manners, animated the body with some sort of “alchemical concoction” but doesn’t have any proof one way or the other. She wants you to investigate what happened to the missing body and offers gifts from the temple in exchange for solving the mystery.
Pagma's eyes go round as tea cups at the idea of animating a corpse through alchemical concoctions. She manages to not verbally state how much she is interested in knowing more, since she gathers Lady Candora doesn't agree.
Once the others ask any questions that would not cause a stern disapproving look, Pagma practically insists on talking to You So-Jin. Pagma loves Graveside Manners, being an alchemist and finds a reason to go as much as possible.
Respectfully she bows deeply to the elven woman, greets her warmly, then bluntly asks "A body went missing and Lady Candora suspects alchemical concoctions as the cause, meaning either you or me. Do you know anything about it, Mam?"
While Pagma chats with You So-Jin, Tano confirms his Lead on the wandering corpse. He wonders if CAndora's hunch is probable.
Jing-De feels obligated to honor the Lady's request. In his time of need, she was there for Jing, and if the deceased truly has been reanimated, something has to be done. Pagma feels the same way and unlike Jing, tact is not a hill Pagma is willing to climb to tackle this particular problem. She takes a more sledgehammer-esque approach.
With Pagma asking the questions, Jing focuses his attention on the herbalist's reaction.
You So-Jin raises an eyebrow. "I am the prime suspect, am I? Well, as fascinating as reanimating a corpse through sheer alchemy might be, it is not something that I am capable of doing. So, no, it wasn't me. Sorry to disappoint." Jing-De gets the sense that the woman is telling the truth.
Meanwhile, Kamo surmises that such a reanimation would be highly improbable. Although, if the corpse just "walked away on its own," there should be tracks to follow. Indeed, the investigator discovers what appears to be a set of shambling footprints leading north from the temple of Pharasma.
The trail leads to the south bank of the Ceiba River, about 200 feet west of the Dawnstep Bridge. Investigating the opposite shore, Kamo picks up the trail again; the shambling prints emerge from the river into mud and head northwest. The prints lead through town to, of all places, the Cerulean Teahouse!
Indeed, in the bushes behind the treehouse, you see the zombified corpse of the elderly woman crouched down in the shrubbery. It glances up at you when discovered but doesn't move.
"Wow, word about the teahouse has really gotten out." Kamo mentions when they track down the walking corpse. "We can say 'Tea to Die For!' when we advertise."
Pagma IS clearly disappointed but is happy You So-Jin is not responsible. "Maybe with an elixir of life to mend the muscles and an electrical current from a lightning bomb to contract them... but regulating the contractions in such a way to cause movement???" she asks the other alchemist but then sighs.
When Kamo suggests his marketing strategy, she looks his way. "That is not funny" Pagma says, while suppressing a smile.
At the teahouse, she pauses while looking at the corpse. All thoughts of experimenting on moving a corpse flee her mind in the presence of an actual corpse. A person. Not a subject.
With a shaky voice she asks "Can we help you, Miss..." She tries to remember her name.
Pagma recognizes the old woman as Chuntao, a farmer who lived on the outskirts of town. The zombie does not respond. However, as you stare at her, Yami the cat emerges from the teahouse and walks over. She sits down next to the zombie, then looks up at you. "I suppose I have some explaining to do," the cat says in a silky voice!
Pain washes over Jing's visage when Kamo's quip hits him like a sturgeon to the face. His discomfort doesn't end there. When Yami enters the scene and confesses she has an explanation for this all, Jing's mood hits rock bottom. "You don't say. Now, please, indulge us, what is the reason for this deceased woman to be out and about, enjoying a stroll?"
"You see, I am not an ordinary cat," Yami says. "I have lived a very long life, and as the years have passed, my intellect has expanded and my magical powers have awakened. I am what your people refer to as a bakeneko. Despite my abilities, I have a fondness for the people of Willowshore, and so I continue to live among you.
"My magical powers trend towards necromancy, and I've had urges to experiment with them. I've been resisting those urges for many months, but I couldn't hold back my curiosity any longer. Chuntao was always kind to me, leaving food out for me to eat. So when she passed on, I wanted to return the favor. I knew some of the locals might not see things the same way, so I hid Chuntao here behind the teahouse."
Yami slowly blinks her eyes, her tail wiggling behind her. "Can I keep her? She is a lovely zombie, and she dances well in the moonlight!" The cat looks to the animated corpse, which begins to shimmy and sway.
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"Sakura, this is why I'm a cat person, and you're a dog person. Could that bloodthirsty pooch you keep around accomplish such a thing?" Kamo is delighted that the cat can talk, but he does have some misgivings.
"Yami, what would Chuntao say about this? Or her family? It just seems like a lot of trouble waiting to happen. We're all very impressed, though!"
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Sakura stands there, her initial shock over the talking cat she befriended suddenly transitioning into a blend of awe and concern. She glances from Yami to the gently swaying Chuntao, trying to reconcile the sight before her with the natural order of things as she understands it.
Finally, she addresses Yami, her voice tinged with the authority of someone who’s spent her life upholding the peace and safety of Willowshore. "Yami, this is extraordinary, and I can't say I've ever seen anything like it. But we must think about the balance of nature and the rest that the dead deserve. Chuntao was loved, and her family deserves to mourn her passing in peace."
She then turns to Kamo with a pointed look. "And you." she says with a mix of frustration and a slight touch of fondness, "just because Little Kamo hasn't mastered necromancy doesn't mean he isn't a valuable member of this team!" She gives the dog, who has been quietly observing the scene, a gentle pat.
Turning back to Yami, Sakura continues, "We appreciate your fondness for Willowshore and its people, Yami. And your powers are indeed impressive. But using them to animate the dead... it's unsettling. It's not just about what Chuntao would say or what her family might think. It's about respecting the cycle of life and death."
She kneels down to be at eye level with Yami, her expression softening. "Can you undo what you've done? Can Chuntao be laid to rest properly? It's important for the living and the dead to find peace."
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Jing shares Sakura's discomfort and he's happy she explained the issue to the cat calmly and clearly. "Sakura is right, Yami. It is as the adage goes, just because you can doesn't mean you should. I must admit, it's hard to not get angry over this, but you're a creature of the spirit world, where things are different, and morality adheres to different colors. What is black and white in ours, might not be in yours and so we must find ones that work for both of us."
He sighs and understands that this is most likely but the first in a series of 'misunderstandings'. If the people of Willowshore are to live in harmony with the spirit world, Jing must show patience and a willingness to build bridges. "I'm sorry I got angry at you. Let's fix this, Yami?"
Little Kamo whines a bit as Sakura pats him, unsettled by the zombie's presence.
When Sakura kneels down to meet Yami at eye level, the bakeneko looks into her eyes before slowly blinking. "Okay. I will do as you ask," the cat says. She turns to Chuntao and stands up on her hind legs, letting out an eerie yowl. Chuntao slowly lays down on the ground and then goes rigid, the necromantic power animating her corpse fading away.
Yami gets back onto all fours and walks over to Sakura. "I hope we can still be friends. I really like living with you in the teahouse." She rubs her body against Sakura's legs.
Sakura lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, relieved at Yami's willingness to correct the situation. She reaches down to gently stroke the cat's fur. "Of course, Yami. We're still friends. I'm glad you understand, and I appreciate your quick action to make things right."
She stands, looking down at the now still form of Chuntao. "We'll make sure she's laid to rest properly," she promises.
Turning to Jing-De and Kamo, she nods, signaling it's time to inform Elizeth of what transpired and to arrange for Chuntao's proper reburial. "Let's take care of Chuntao. Then, we can all help Yami understand our ways a bit better."
With a final pat to Little Kamo she remembers something suddenly, turning to Yami and asking "Since I know you speak now, maybe you can tell me where you keep getting those gold coins from? Not that I am complaining, but now I want to make sure they don't belong to someone else."
Yami's tail wiggles behind her. "Some careless merchant keeps dropping those coins. I figure you would put them to better use," she says coyly, refusing to go into further detail.
Elizeth Candora is grateful for the return of Chuntao's body. She asks who took the corpse, but she doesn't press too hard for details. She rewards you with four lesser healing potions and a disrupting property rune.
With his typical eclectic attention, Kamo switches to a new task this week, helping the town guards repair the local watch town and reinforce the bridges.
In the evenings, he does some research on Igawa Jubei.
Pagam splits off from the offers to visit Gravesight Manners, to tell So-Jin that it was magic, benign magic, just a little misguided. Then returns to the fields. She settles into the routine, missing her lab and the tea house and her friends, but this is important.
Bothered by the fact he knows so little about how to maintain a house, let alone build one, Jing once more offers his help to the villagers leading the effort of reinforcing the homes and defenses of Willowshore.
Under the autumn sky Sakura finds Jing amid the scaffoldings and lumber piles, his usually steady hands fumbling with the tools of carpentry. The sight is endearing yet out of place, reminding her of a scholar attempting the dance of warriors without the music to guide his steps.
Approaching with a light step, Sakura claps Jing on the shoulder, offering a warm, encouraging smile. "Hi there. Let me help you with that." she says, her voice soft and cheerful. Working together, they bend to the tasks at hand, Sakura's physical prowess complementing Jing's analytical mind. Where Jing hesitates, Sakura's strength and training lends confidence.
Later, as the hustle of the day gives way to the tranquility of evening, Sakura finds solace in the quietude of her room, lit only by a small, flickering candle. The gentle light casts her shadow against the wall, a solitary figure kneeling in prayer.
She has a simple shrine to Daikitsu, adorned with autumn flowers and rice offerings, embodying her devotion. As she prays, Sakura's voice is soft but filled with earnestness, seeking guidance, strength, and the wisdom to protect those she holds dear. She asks for Daikitsu's blessing on Willowshore, for the prosperity of its fields, and the safety of its homes.
Pagma continues to support the harvest efforts. Kamo increases the town's security and makes more progress researching with the sorceress Igawa Jubei at Serpent's Coil. He feels like he may be close to a breakthrough.
Yami visits Sakura often at her shrine. At one point during the week, the bakeneko brings her another gift. This time, it is a pair of enchanted spectacles: glasses of sociability.
***
Ho Jeong-hui, a town guard known as one of Willowshore’s most eligible bachelors, was cooking a late dinner at home an hour after sunset when he saw a figure outside his window. He grabbed a sword and headed outside, ready to confront the figure, expecting a prowler or miscreant. What he found was neither, and his encounter sent him fleeing to ask you for aid!
Upon reaching you, the still-shaken guard describes what he at first took for a long dark robe to be a vaguely humanoid shape made of mist and smoke, and when it turned to face him, the featureless stone mask it wore filled him with fright. He asks you to head to his home and investigate the “faceless ghost” that’s lurking in his backyard, refusing to go back home until you have done so.
"Of course, we will help, Honrable Mr. Ho." Pagam bows to the esteemed guardsmen. She is still in a state of slight disbelief that a member of the guard who protected them and ordered them about when they were kids, were now running to them when trouble burst out.
As they walked to the man's house, she shook her head, then strode quickly to Sakura's side, out of earshot of the guardsman and their companions "The most eligible bachelor comes running to the town's most skilled swordswoman for help in his time of need. Just like in All the stories, just usually with the genders switched, but still a wonderful 'how we met story'"
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"It's a ghost! We'll have to find a priest to do an exorcism on your house." Kamo says, confidently.
Kamo nods when Kamo shares his knowledge on the matter. "I think Kamo might be right. It might even be a benign, though misunderstood, spirit."
Sakura's response to Pagma's teasing is a mixture of amusement and mild exasperation, her cheeks coloring slightly under the lantern light. "Pagma!" she exclaims with wide-eyes, "I think you've been reading too many of those romance novels again. Surely, he has no interest like that." She chides gently, her tone light but her eyes darting nervously at the notion of any romantic entanglements.
As they approach Ho Jeong-hui's home, Sakura listens intently to Kamo's assessment and Jing-De's agreement on the nature of their ghostly quarry. "A dalgyal gwishin, then." she muses aloud, her expression turning thoughtful. "They're lost souls, really. Angry and envious, yes, but more than anything, they're just... lost. It's not their fault they've been forgotten."
"We'll need to be careful. This spirit's anger could be dangerous, but if we can somehow ease its loneliness, remind it that it hasn't been completely forgotten, we might be able to help it find peace. Or at least, convince it to leave Mr. Ho's backyard without resorting to an exorcism."
Sakura knows that as a spiritual undead, the dalgyal gwishin will resist all damage except for force, ghost touch, or positive.
Once you are ready, you head to Ho's house. Sure enough, it isn't long before you discover the lonely spirit floating around in the yard. It turns to regard you with its featureless stone mask, and a wave of fear washes over you...
Before you can react, the ghost surges towards you! It flies straight for Jing-De, sensing his strong personality, and it enters a jealous frenzy as it bashes him with its mask!
Jing was wrong, horribly wrong! The ghostly creature is anything but benign and as it wraps its otherworldly presence around Jing, the young sorcerer withers away. Feebly, Jing projects positive energy at the creature.
"Stand strong!" Sakura shouts, her voice cutting through the thick air of apprehension. "Remember, it feeds on fear and jealousy. Show it we're united, not rivals to be envied!" Her rallying cry urges her companions to overcome their innate dread of the ghostly figure before them.
She charges forward to attack but misses. Afterwards, she tries to take on an inspiring stance but fails to do that as well.
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Seeing the lonely creature, even enraged, makes Pagma feel sympathy instead of fear. As Jing and Sakura battle fiercly, Pagam tries to think who this might be.
As she mind whirls with questions, her hands are not idile. She reaches up to Tik who makes a horrid retching sound, throwing up a mass of white gunk into its master's hand, who pushes it into a flask, mixes it with something and then something other, then throws the whole thing at the ghost.
"Told you it was a ghost!"
Kamo, "well-informed" about the ghost, isn't very scared.
He tries to find a good angle of attack, but the wispy form of the creature stymies him.
He moves over to give Sakura a flank, then touches the eerie eye pendant hanging around his neck to give his sister a bit of luck.
Pagma doesn't recognize the ghost as anybody familiar. Her bomb weakens the ghost, but it resists Jing-De's spell. Dodging Sakura's attack, the jealous spirit steps to follow Jing-De, continuing to bash the sorcerer with its stone mask!
"Its not a ghost, it is a dalgyal gwishin!" Pagma repeats to Kamo, even though she had no idea what a dalgyal gwishin was before Sakura told them about us. "Force, ghost touch, and positive?" she goes over the list of things Sakura said could hurt this thing, wincing as she said Ghost, knowing Kamo will catch that. "I have nothing so..." She grabs one of the healing potions Miss Candora gave them, rushes to Jing's side, and in a moment of pause pours it down his throat.
Kamo steps back to the side and looks for a good place to attack.
His luck just won't change! He positions his staff in a defensive position.