"Alright, let's move out." she says more of a command than she intends to. "We don't know what we're walking into, but we know it's our best shot to break this cycle."
She glances over at Pagma, her expression serious but laced with a hint of concern. "Pagma-chan, do you have the right bombs for this trip? We can't afford to be caught off guard. We might be facing more than just phantoms and shadows in there."
The ritual is a resounding success. Not only do you open a door into Heh Shan-Bao's mindscape, you are able to leave behind a portal back to your original mindscape, giving you a way to come and go as you please.
As you step through the portal from the Cerulean Teahouse, you find yourselves in the other mindscape's version of it. The Teahouse here is still in ruins, as the repairs you performed on it did not occur here. You head out into this version of Willowshore, where it appears to be a lovely day. The early winter air still holds a trace of damp warmth, and crickets can be heard chirping in the grass. The streets smell sweet with incense, wood smoke, and the scent of cooking food.
The residents all seem to be in excellent moods and greet you warmly, though they prioritize their daily routines over conversation. In fact, the townsfolk seem a little too friendly--even the most quarrelsome residents are now more playful than argumentative, and their standard jibes lack any true acrimony. Perhaps most of unsettling of all is the fact that none of the townsfolk seem to recognize you. Instead, they treat you as welcome but unknown visitors to Willowshore.
"Oh, hello to you, as well..." Kamo says quizzically to Amitabo, whom he used to chase through the fields when they were kids.
"Something very strange is going on here. Let's go to the governor's house before these residents start to question the "strangers" in town."
Once they have some privacy and discuss the eerie situation they find themselves in, Jing nods at Kamo's suggestion and then adds his own two coppers to the conversation. "It's like we're looking into one of those spooky mirrors they had at the carnival years ago! They are not who they think they are, they are weird flawed facsimiles of real people. It might be wise to keep that in mind going forward ..."
Sakura watches the townsfolk with a furrowed brow, concerned. The familiar faces, the cheery greetings-it... it just all felt wrong. These people, her neighbors and friends, don’t recognize them at all.
"Jing's right." she says, her voice low and cautious. "We can't let our guard down here. This might look like Willowshore, but it’s not our Willowshore. They may seem friendly, but we don’t know how they’ll react if they realize we’re not supposed to be here. Let's keep a low profile and head straight to the governor's house. The sooner we find Heh Shan-Bao, the sooner we can figure out how to end this nightmare."
She leads the group carefully through the eerily cheerful streets, keeping a wary eye on the townsfolk as they pass.
"Will we run into ourselves?" Pagma wondered "Or did we die in here where we were supposed to, or had in other iterations?"
"They don't seem to know us at all, so I wonder if our awakening in the forest is connected?" Kamo questions. "For whatever reason, it seems we were left out of this version of reality."
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It seems that the four of you aren't totally unfamiliar in this version of Willowshore. Some of the villagers you pass give you strange looks and ask if you've forgotten something. These interactions seem to imply that these people just met you even though this is your first time encountering them.
Indeed, more strange occurences happen as you walk through town. As you pass a market stall, a villager bits into a large ripe persimmon. The torrent of juice that flows down their mouth and chin smells overwhelmingly sweet and looks exactly like blood. Across the way, another person minces river fish to prepare them for fermentation into fish paste. The fish have glassy human eyes and prominent human teeth in their mouth. And a few minutes later, a crimson butterly emerges from an old woman's cup of tea. It flutters around you for a few moments before it drops to the ground and melts into a bloodstain.
The governor's manor stands tall and intact in the place it is supposed to be in downtown Willowshore, exactly where it is missing from your original mindscape. But the governor isn't at home--the guards inform you that he is out shopping at the Hand of Spring in the eastern part of twon. You should probably try to find him quickly before this disturbing realm unleashes any more surprises...
1: Where is the Governor?
"Maybe we can cut him off if we take the alley behind Han's shop?" Kamo suggests as they hurry through the market. "Or maybe at the intersection of the southern and western aisles?" His dithering slows him down.
Pagma pulls her eyes from the fish, trying to figure out if she could brew a potion that makes you lose all your memories. Then she gives Kamo a strange look"Are you okay?" before grabbing his tunic and pulling him to the south.
It takes Jing a lot of effort not to gag and panic when they pass by the grotesque sights this version of Willowshore has to offer to them. Focusing on the chase is all he can do to keep his mind from falling apart, and focus on it he does. "No, the alley. It's faster. "
Sakura takes a deep breath, trying to push the unsettling images from her mind. The grotesque sights gnaw at the edges of her focus. But she forces herself to concentrate. This isn’t the time to get distracted.
She nods at Jing-De’s suggestion,”Jing is right. The alley behind Han’s shop is a shortcut. If we hurry, we can cut him off before he gets too far.”
You get closer to the Hand of Spring, catching glimpses of the governor's robes among the crowd. He ducks into the spa and out of your sight...
The familiar streets and alleys make it easy for Jing to keep track of the governor, but doubt besets him when the governor enters the spa. "I ... should we split up? No, no we really shouldn't split up, but maybe one of us can go inside and ask if the governor is taking a bath?"
"No!" Pagma almost shouts at the idea of splitting up. The shout is more of a squeak though. "We're the only sanity in this place. If we split up, maybe our bubble of normalcy won't be enough to hold on to that and we'll... end up... like them" her eyes look at the smiling placidity.
"We go in together. Side entrance?"
"Yes, let's still together. You know how Sakura likes to wander off in search of opportunities for heroism!" Kamo teases, nervously.
You make it to the Hand of Spring, but the governor has already left, and the place is in chaos! Doctor Dami is in a panic as he and his assistants work to calm down an irate phantom gecko. This creature, a magical guardian of the Hand of Spring, has manifested in a frenzy after Governor Heh slashed at a small paper shrine devoted to Qi Zhong in the clinic’s courtyard, knowing this act would create mayhem and hoping it would give him time to get a head start on the race back to his manor!
2. Qi Zhong's Ire
Jing tends to Doctor Dami and apologizes sincerely, if only because he is terrified of what Heh's disruptions might mean for all of them. While this is a twisted mirror of their reality, Jing can't help but feel he's dealing with real people. Perhaps what happens here echoes through into their world? He doesn't know, but the thought does make him wonder - and worry.
Sakura gets distracted and unnerved by what's going on around her. Her usefulness disappears and she searches for opportunities of heroism instead.
R2:
R3:
"Hush now, spirit, move on to gentler parts of the cycle. Sleep in water."
With the spirit calmed, you hurry on!
3. PLOWING THROUGH CROWDS
The governor slips through a throng of haggling merchants who are blocking the way on a bridge that crosses a narrow creek, as if he knew every movement you were going to make in advance. You are met with congested traffic on the bridge and streets, with the merchants and other frustrated travelers forming dense crowds that are difficult to navigate.
"Oh, for Heaven's sake. It's never this busy." Kamo mutters as he shoves through the crowd.
The crowd of merchants and travelers quickly gets on Jing's nerves as he wants to do nothing but spring after Heh. Especially now that it's become apparent that Heh is on to them! Is the realm reacting to his emotions and wants? Is the crowd turning itself against them because Heh wants it to?
Whatever the answer might be, Jing is so annoyed that all he can do is be angry. And the anger shows when he starts elbowing his way through the crowd, occasionally using a casting of the shield spell to hammer his way through the menacing mass.
Sakura tries to follow Kamo, but keeps getting pushed, bumped and jostled by all manner of merchants.
Pagma struggles at first to get through the crowd as well. Eventually, you are able to make it through, but the governor's lead is significant.
4. Which Way Did He Go?
It seems like there are multiple versions of the governor wandering around downtown Willowshore! These copies move through the area at different intervals, but the rushed illusion is imperfect, and you may be able to spot the flaws in the facsimiles.
Try as he might, Jing fails to see through the forest of copies and spot the solitary single true governor Heh.
"That doesn't look right..." the alchemist says, but is unsure
Sakura studies the illusion, trying to find the duplicate. She points out the flaws that she notices to her allies "Ignore those over there and the ones with those defects! Notice the ripples and discoloration!"
Kamo can't quite shake the illusion, but he follows the real governor.
By the time you see through the illusions, Governer Heh Shan-Bao has made it to his manor and locked himself within. It looks like you're going to have to break in in order to speak to him. However, as you get closer, you can see that the maonr's walls are nearly covered with fulus and other charms. The fluttering strips of paper create a ward that prevents you from getting within 5 feet of the walls.
Kamo is able to determine that these wards are meant to bar the approach of undead, evil spirits, and supernatural creatures from other realms, but has no explanation as to why the wards work against you (other than, perhaps, as visitors from a different mindscape, these wards interpret you as spirits).
Jing weaves a spell to bolster Kamo's abilities and then taps into the power of his blood to tether Kamo to this cursed. He expends a great deal of magical energy, but hopefully, this will help Kamo overcome the wards that stand between the group and their objective.
Pagma considers the wards, which makes little to no sense. "All yours" she grins at the male Yuzuki. "Talk it through, we'll listen." she knows from experience just talking through a problem helps immensely. Even if the person you are talking to just stares blankly at you then goes away to practice her sword swinging some more.
She does offer to throw vials of acid in key places to help disrupt the charms. Unfortunately she didn't brew enough to cover the entire building.
"Well, I'll give it a shot," Kamo frowns. "These charms look pretty potent."
"Well, I'll give it a shot," Kamo frowns. "These charms look pretty potent."
"Ha! They were all tied to this fulu!" He stabs his silver dagger through the thin piece of paper and it crumples up into smoke. "Sort of a silly way to set wards, if you ask me."
With the wards dispelled, you are able to enter the governor's manor. Within the manor, things appear clean and tidy but strangely sterile and empty of life. The internal walls are made of paper and decorated with scenes of idyllic country life or wilderness landscapes.
You find the governor in the manor's central courtyard. His hair and beard are unkempt, his black robes of office disheveled. His eyes widen when he sees you. "No, no, you should not be here! Leave my home at once!" Heh Shan-Bao demands.
Sakura steps forward, katana still sheathed but her hand resting on its hilt. "Governor, we didn’t come here to cause trouble. But you need to listen to us. We know what happened with your ritual, and we’ve fought through so much just to get here."
"You’ve trapped all of Willowshore in this... cycle, and we’re not leaving until we understand why, and how to end it. We’re here to help. But if you won’t talk, we’ll do whatever it takes to stop this madness, with or without your cooperation."
She glances at her friends, hoping her words will soften the governor's resistance or at least buy them some time to get through to him.
Heh looks at you for a few moments before sighing and slumping his shoulders. "Very well. Let us adjourn to the meeting room."
He leads you to the manor’s meeting room in the southeast corner, asking you to be seated with him on the cushions that surround one of the long tables. His disheveled appearance and the way he moves without his former precise grace are all the more apparent here in the sterile environment of what looks like an unused meeting room. Despite the lack of any servants in the manor, a spread of food and drink, including hearty meat dishes, hot tea, and plenty of alcohol, waits on the table, a development the governor accepts without surprise (if asked, he shrugs and says, “My servants are gone, but my needs are attended nonetheless in this place,” as if that’s all that needs to be said).
After pouring for everyone at the table with shaking hands the sudden, tiny squeak of a small black cat breaks the silence as the feline peeks out from a nest of pillows. The cat’s appearance causes the governor to finally speak, his voice now soft and trembling slightly. "You remember my cat, Black Bean? Such an excellent cat. Such a little cat. You wouldn’t be cruel to Black Bean, would you? She would hunt mice for you. She could play with the children."
Heh Shan-Bao then turns to the food, setting out small bowls of rice, black chopsticks plunged upright in the center of all of them. He places them down sharply next to each teacup before abruptly sitting down at his place at the head of the table. The governor’s cat squeaks again, scampering from its soft palace into the man’s lap, and the governor hesitates before petting the fuzzy creature.
You recognize that rice with incense sticks or upright chopsticks is meant as an offering for the dead...
Kamo thinks the governor is acting oddly, but he can't put his finger on what precisely is wrong.
Sakura furrows her brow as she watches the governor’s actions. The upright chopsticks in the rice and the spread of food intended for the dead ... She stays silent for a moment, staring at the scene, and then quietly leans toward her companions.
"He’s not treating us like we’re alive." she whispers. "The food, the chopsticks—it’s all for the dead. He thinks we’re already gone. Ghosts. He’s giving us offerings, like we’re just another part of this cursed cycle."
It is that Sakura points out that the governor is treating them like they're bothersome undead spirits or else Jing would've completely missed it! Black Bean is to blame because Jing wants to do nothing but pet the cute void fluff.
"Believe it or not, governor Heh, but we're very much alive, and not an angry collection of spirits come to haunt you. Your actions have ..." and Jing pauses for a second as he weighs his words. Should he be blunt and drop the hot and heavy truth on Heh's plate? Or start with a small starter? Jing opts for the former. "Your actions have thrown Willowshore into great spiritual disarray. This place, this mirror of reality you've moved yourself into it, this facsimile will be the end of the real Willowshore if you do not return with us. It will restart the whole cycle again! And we've never gotten this far before! We have a real chance of undoing the curse once and for all!"
If Heh is willing to listen, Jing will elaborate on his statement in greater detail.
Heh Shan-Bao scoffs. "The real Willowshore? Don't be ridiculous. You've been here all along. Death does things to the mind, you know. It's okay, I understand. We are all dead. We are nothing more than hungry ghosts. We have no breath to cry now. That time is behind us. We've been dead since the last day of spring. Since Kugaptee killed us all.
"He lashed out from his grave beneath the Tan Sugi. What’s it they say? ‘Cut off the head of an eel and it can still bite.’" The governor sips from his cup of tea, then stares into the liquid for a moment. "Did you know he was down there? Surely you must have at least suspected. Willowshore is a strange place. Who would have thought a backwater village would have such a saintly presence, or such an unfathomable evil?"
Governor Heh pauses a moment, hanging his head in shame. "You said it was my actions that caused this. You are correct. What a terrible thing I’ve done. Go ahead, hate me for it. Let your rage turn you from ghosts into vengeful spirits, and devour all who threaten our town!"
He lapses into unhinged laughter. It takes a while for him to calm down, but eventually, he sobers and and explains, his voice low and ragged. "It was foolish. I wanted to protect Willowshore from Kugaptee, to hide him before the jorogumo found him. An evil as powerful as Kugaptee can’t be stopped, only sealed. The more of him that shakes loose, the more he will try to consume us. And so long as that sacred tree remains sickened by his poisons, one of the spider women will be drawn to Kugaptee’s grave eventually. They think like me, do you understand? They love powerful servitors and beautiful people. Well, I’m a sinful man, but I’m a thousand sins short of jorogumo. You never loved me or my empire, but you have no idea what jorogumo will do to you when they arrive.
“I sought to heal the Tan Sugi, to help it to keep the fiend imprisoned, but even in death, Kugaptee was too powerful for me to overcome. I thought I could control him like a mere spirit, but he was beyond what I could have possibly imagined. What a magnificent being! What magnificent evil! A pure-hearted priestess, free of earthly attachments, might have stood a chance. I was nothing to him. He devoured me, every part, inside and out. Do you see now? I am Kugaptee, the beast that slaughtered you all. I am the villain who keeps you imprisoned here!"
Heh's words sour Jing's mood. Has the man gone mad? Everything he says gives Jing the impression that Heh sees himself as a hero, the one person who can make everything right, even though all the evidence screams that Heh has only made things worse by going at it all alone.
"You thought you could do it alone, but we know that all of Willowshore needs to band together to stand a chance against what's to come. Your shoulders, governor Heh, cannot carry this burden alone and even now, after all that has happened, Willowshore is still willing to accept you back into the fold and give you another chance at doing what's right."
Jing refuses to reiterate the point that what's right is to work together with the rest of the town. If Heh can't come to that conclusion, he is beyond help. Surely his sob story about being devoured by Kugaptee is simple dramatics and it is not what actually happened!
Heh shakes his head. "It is too late for forgiveness. We’re all dead. In the end, I couldn’t protect anything. I failed as a governor. I failed as a savior. I failed as a human being. Were you hoping I could somehow save you? That my magic could bring you back to life? Or do you want to have it out? Punish me for my crimes?"
"We have a portal back to town. The real town. You can come with us, we can show you, that the eternal lantern still burns, that the great willow has been cleansed, that the tea house has been repaired... please honorable governor, come with us." she then looks down at the adorable black bean "At least try for your cat."
"A portal? An escape... An escape from this purgatory..."
The governor's shoulders slump and he draws in a long sigh. "Perhaps. There is a way. We’re dead. Kugaptee slew us all. That is to say, I slew us all. But our souls didn’t move on to the afterlife. We became trapped here, in cages forged from Kugaptee’s dreams and our own fears.
"But with the right tools, any cage can be opened. Alas, those tools lie beyond my reach. I can see them, but I can’t use them." His eyes turn hopeful for the first time, and he holds out one gloved hand.
"Perhaps, though... you could finish what I’ve started? Yes. Yes! You aren’t Kugaptee. Your souls and minds remain your own. You can still transmigrate back to the living realm, still reincarnate back from death. Finish what I started! We can all escape if you find the way!"
With that, Governor Heh pulls at the palm of his glove of storing and withdraws a thick journal filled with loose pages and scribbled scrolls. Once the governor hands over his notes, he asks one final time, "You won’t be cruel to Black Bean, will you? She didn’t choose her master. She didn’t do anything wrong."
You don't have time to react to the governor's plea. Suddenly, Heh Shan-Bao’s body lurches and thrashes as he goes into convulsions. A moment later, his body rips open to the sound of tearing fabric, and a cloud of crimson butterflies erupts from his hollow shell to fill the air around him!
The sounds of shrieks and howls fill the manor. There is a stampede of feet, then the doors to the meeting room burst open as a crowd of townsfolk pour in! They yell and snarl, their eyes wide and hungry. The crowd parts, and four people stride forward to confront you. They are--you! At least, they appear to be you, doppelgangers wearing the same clothes and brandishing the same weapons. The one key difference is that these impersonators have completely blank faces. They have neither eyes, nose, nor mouths.
The other townsfolk cheer on their champions as the faceless doubles move to attack!
Jing taps into the power of his blood and unleashes his fury on the faceless mob.
Sakura tries to quickly enter her inspiring stance to lead the way for her allies, but the return of the faceless in their form is a little too much and throws her completely off her game.
Instead, she charges ahead with her katana and strikes her doppelganger.
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Jing-De's own doppelganger resists the sorcerer's spell, but the others are hit hard by it, especially Kamo's, who is sickened and slowed!
Sakura rushes in and slices her double, scoring a critical hit!
Jing's duplicate casts a healing spell to ease the wounds of its companions.
Kamo's double tries to recover from Jing-De's sickening magic, but is unsuccessful.
Pagma's impersonator hurls a trio of bombs at her!
Sakura's faceless twin attacks with its own katana, landing a critical hit of its own!
Jing mirrors Jing as he uses the wellspring of his soul to nurture and sustain his companions.
Sakura, still reeling from the critical strike, steadies herself as she wipes the blood from her mouth. "There can be only one." she growls through gritted teeth, her voice raspy with pain and determination. She swings her katana with twice more before raising it defensively.
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◈Dueling Parry: +2 circumstance bonus to AC until the start of your next turn