"We were able to help other ghosts, when we didn't know we were ones too." Pagma argues with Kamo. But she doesn't have any idea either.
There isn't much you can do for the poor kitsune girl now. But you could invite her to stay in Willowshore for now instead of walking the woods alone--if you can convince her to put aside her hatred for humans.
"Humans are just like every other kind of people, some really good, some really bad, but most are simply okay. You could come back to town, and we can show you the good ones."
The girl sniffles and wipes at her eyes, but she nods. "Okay. You are very kind. I... I think I can help you by giving you a part of myself." She reaches down to pick up a flat stone off the ground, the stone floating and then igniting with fire in her incorporeal hand. She drops the floating burning stone into Pagma's hand, whereupon it instantly cools—revealing itself to be a runestone now etched with a flaming weapon rune.
"My name is Rin, by the way," she adds, managing a wan smile.
The citizens of Willowshore are initially wary of a ghost following you home! However, over the next few days, Rin can be found often playing with local youths, alternating between screaming and throwing things at them or helping them with their nighttime pranks. Over time, the locals' admiration of the tenacious young ghost and her playful antics causes the locals to realize not all ghosts are cruel.
• Reduce Hope Points by 1d4.
• Reduce Food Points by 1.
• Reduce Security Points by 1.
Unexpected Troubles: At the start of every week, attempt a DC 16 flat check. On a success, Willowshore faces additional wintery complications. Perhaps someone in town has been eating more than their share, or perhaps decay has spread through some of the food stores. A powerful storm might have done damage to several roofs in town, or sudden rains could’ve caused some flood damage. Or perhaps rumors of hopelessness and doom have been spreading through town as the citizens begin to realize the gravity of their situation.
The girl's words make Jing wonder if they can apply the basics of Heh's ritual to pull the girl back into their world, but as he starts trodding down that path of thought Jing quickly comes to the realization that this is the path to madness. What's done is done, and for better or worse it is up to us to find acceptance.
"Jing. Know that you're amongst friends, Rin. We're more like you than you'd think."
***
Jing tends to his moon garden in an attempt to unwind. Since he's dead, why is he still so stressed and worried? Sure, there's a clock ticking, but their spirits have finally found a way forward. If they are to fail this time, they'll find that way forward again, he is sure of that.
After a few days, you are approached by a nervous-looking Aruka—the kitsune woman who you rescued during the Cloud Paper House's collapse. She
has recovered from her ordeal at the paper mill but worries about her boss, Myna Kawaka, explaining that the structural damage to the building also destroyed Kawaka’s personal quarters on an upper floor. While the building is being repaired, Kawaka relocated to his humble and traditional home on the outskirts of town—a small structure that was left unoccupied after his parents died and he moved into accommodations in the paper mill.
Aruka says that Kawaka hasn’t left that house in a few days, and that upon investigating, she and a few other paper mill employees found him sitting in the middle of the ruined building, shivering from exposure and apparently delirious. When Aruka stepped into the house to try to drag him out to get him to shelter, he fought back and cried out, “No! I need to stay here, at home, where I’ve always belonged!” When bits of rubble and debris began to fly about the place, she knew the building was actually haunted and, with the aid of a few coworkers, managed to drag Kawaka to safety.
Since then, the guild leader has been uncommunicative and sullen; he’s safe now in Aruka’s guest room, but she and the other workers fear that Kawaka’s home is infested with an evil spirit. Aruka’s coworkers were ready to burn the ruin down, but she managed to prevent this by promising to ask you for help; she would rather not destroy her boss’s family home if there’s another possible solution. Aruka asks you to investigate the situation and find out if you can convince the “evil spirit” to let Kawaka go.
"Let's go wrangle that spirit," Kamo suggests. "It will help out Kawaka, but I think it will also cheer up the other workers."
You make your way to Kawaka's house and step inside. To your surprise, the interior of the humble abode is richly decorated, with comfortable amenities and a spread of tasty food arranged enticingly on a long table.
You quickly realize that the environment is illusory. A faint compulsion tickles at your minds, but you resist its effects. A few moments later, the illusion fades, revealing the house's true rundown state. A figure glides out of the wall, a slender, childlike shimmering spirit with a headpiece resembling a warm and welcoming house.
"Please don't go," the spirit says tearfully. "I am so lonely here by myself. Will you stay with me?"
Jing gets the feeling that they ought to be very careful with what they say and promise this spirit. Everything about this place is meant to lure them in and then keep them in, and Jing doesn't like that. They're already caught in one prison and he doesn't care to add another layer of incarceration to that. "We can stay for now, sure. I am Jing. Who are you?"
"I am Tenon. I was once joined with the Myna family household, and for many years there, I was happy. But that all came to an end when Kawaka moved out a few months after his parents passed on. I mourned the loss of a happy home, so I came to this place, a farm the Mynas built that never got started, to try to feel some sort of connection again. I have lived alone in this abandoned ruin for years until Kawaka's recent return.
"I am not trying to hurt Kawaka. But I am bound to this home, and if there are no tenants, then I will be lonely forever. Worse, once this home finally crumbles to pieces, then my life will cease to exist. I only want someone to come live in this home, to repair and restore it, so that its tradition as a place of rest and safety can continue."
Pagma looks around "I could live here?" she says with a little doubt "I live with Papa now" in a separate little room off the main shack, so her experiments do not cause it all to go up in smoke. "I like fixing things. Do you mind chemicals and smells and occasional fires?" ghosts have been bothering her less and less, since they've met many pleasant ones and also since they found out they are ones as well.
"I do not mind at all!" Tenon says with a hopeful tinge to his voice. "Do you mean it? Really and truly? Oh, how exciting!"
The small spirit hops back and forth happily and claps his hands. "There is much to do! I hope this home will be to your liking."
There is some doubt still lingering in her heart about abandoning her grandfather, who never seems to want her around anyway. But the joy in Tenon is enough to make the alchemist beam back. "Yes. We can do this. I'll get help to fix it all up, I know just the right people." turning to her friends, "Someone keep him company a bit, I'll go get tools and help."
Whether she is too eager or just the right amount is up in the air.
Working with Kawaka, Old Matsuki, and several artisans in town, Pagma manages to recruit enough support to begin work on shoring up the old farmhouse immediately, ensuring that it will survive the winter. Many townsfolk pitch in to help shore up and protect the building from the winter storms yet to come, at no cost to you.
Tenon is overjoyed by the response. "This is wonderful! You cannot imagine how happy you have made me! There is a secret here that I will share with you."
He gestures to a loose floorboard, which pries itself open to reveal a hollow beneath it. Hidden there is a +1 thundering shortbow, a weapon that belonged to Kawaka's mother that he had assumed was lost. After holding the shortbow for a moment, Kawaka hands it to you, saying he would be honored if you took this weapon as a gift from him and that his mother would approve of it being in such heroic hands.
"I get a roommate" Pagma beams back, "I've never had one of those." Tik scurries up to her shoulder and Pagma quickly amends "One with only two legs, I mean."
Bowing humbly to Kawaka, she says "Thank you for the honor of your mother's bow." meaning it will all sincerity, though she has no idea what she'd do with it, having never fired one in her life.
"Ah, Pagma! This is so great for you," Kamo congratulates his friend. "You'll have to tell me what it's like to sleep without having to hear Sakura's snoring."
"Great start on the house. We should build some kind of fireproof shed or laboratory!"
Several days pass after Pagma moves into her new home. The winter days are getting colder, but Willowshore's spirits remain relatively high. However, even though the town's food stores are robust, there are some locals who aren't satisfied with the options available. When one such local hunter encounters a large crane, they kill the bird for food and return home to cook an extravagant meal. Word spreads, and while some in Willowshore might be jealous of this hunter’s unexpected bounty, a larger reaction is one of worry. Stories say that cranes mate for life, and one old story tells of a hunter who killed a crane in the winter, only to be visited by a grieving spouse who asks to be killed as well.
Sure enough, the day after the hunter’s meal, a newcomer arrives in Willowshore—an unusual event for a town that, for the past half year, has been cut off from the outside world. No one recognizes the strange, beautiful woman as she strides through town, sobbing and calling out your names.
This strange woman seeks you out. "My husband was slain. I have come to seek death myself," she says in between sobs. "Please, do the merciful thing. Put me out of my misery." The nameless woman is quiet and polite in her sorrow but refuses to leave until someone kills her...
"There, there..." Kamo comments, extremely awkwardly. He tries to recall what happened to the Crane Wife in the story, hoping for a happier ending.
Sakura steps forward cautiously, feeling a deep sense of empathy for the grieving woman. "I'm so sorry for your loss. But killing you isn't the answer. I know the pain you're feeling right now is overwhelming, but you can heal, even if it feels impossible. Let us help you find another way."
"We are sorry" Pagma feels those three sentences are inadequate to the extreme. "There are many in our town that have felt loss like yours that tears and rends. Please let us bring you to them, to talk, and share. There is a tree and a spider, fox lady with her kit, a lonely soul in a house and so many more, and those are only a few."
Jing backs Sakura up and offers the nameless woman his services as a therapist. He has struggled with death and its implications his entire life, and genuinely thinks he can help the woman get away from these dark thoughts. "Please, give us a chance to help you."
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Kamo cannot recall any stories about crane-wives that don't end in their tragic deaths. Fortunately, the woman responds well to the rest of the party's kindness. "Very well. I'll stay here in this town, with you. Perhaps, in time, I will be able to learn to live with this crushing despair."
The people of Willowshore view your solution as the right call to make. The townsfolk exhibit sympathy for the strange woman and do their best to make her feel comfortable and welcomed.
***
More time passes. Although the past few weeks have featured stark weather and the looming season, it isn't until the 21st day of the month that winter arrives with the solstice. As this day nears, Ouh Ba-Ming, caretaker of Nine Ear Shrine, approaches you with a proposition. Last season’s First Long Night festival did wonders for the town’s morale, and even though things seem grim and somber, she suggests that Willowshore participate in another old tradition to celebrate the first day of winter: the Claylight Festival.
Claylight is a much less involved festival than First Long Night but still requires an entire day. On this first true day of winter, the townsfolk create small clay huts and set them out in the fields or along streets with a small light inside. Once the fields are lit up with the tiny huts, the residents grill vegetables over fires and pray for good fortune to come.
Jing jumps on the opportunity to do something with his hands. It's not that he hates talking, he loves it honestly, but the hours spent with the nameless woman talking about soul-crushing loss and mind-numbing pain have left him eager to do something.
Sakura commits to assisting with preparation for the festival, but her week is full of nothing but ridicule and mockery, making her feel like she's wasting her time here.
Kamo tries to participate in the ritual, but he's distracted by all of the people mocking Sakura. "That's my job."
While the siblings try and 'help' Jing with the rituals, Pagma works on helping people practice hut making. It is a thing, yes, hundreds of little attempts each night with different people, some look hut like, some like poo, but at the end of each day is beaming with tired glee.
To Tenon, she returns with some of the more memorable attempts, lighting them in their windows for fun.
The Yuzuki siblings' creations aren't the best, but Pagma's and Jing-De's more than make up for that. The people of Willowshore are delighted by the festival, and the next morning, you find two moderate healing potions left anonymously on the doorstep of the Cerulean Teahouse.
You also find a squished lemon that Yami has thoughtfully brought to Sakura!
Things in town remain as good as could be expected, all things considered...
Over the past week or so, the townsfolk have noticed that local flocks of sparrows have begun to behave strangely. Whenever something dangerous occurs, the sparrows grow particularly loud and agitated. They report spotting four strange crows with glowing green eyes near the sparrows. Sightings of these eerie birds swiftly increase, and it doesn’t take long before the townsfolk interpret them as a terrible omen, since four is an unlucky number in Shenmen.
A few days after the Claylight Festival, the four crows approach you at the Cerulean Teahouse. They drop their disguises, revealing themselves to be nosoi psychopomps. "I am Yamaguchi," the first nosoi says. "My compatriots are Sakaguchi, Iguchi, and Noguchi. We are colleagues of Yix, who accompanies the shinigami Shinzo."
"We are aware of Shinzo's involvement with this strange mindscape," Sakaguchi says. "It is our belief that Shinzo has become biased towards you mortals in a way that is unbecoming for an arbiter of death."
"This ghostly mindscape is an anomaly," Iguchi declares. "It would be best to banish it and file the whole thing away in our resolved incident records."
Noguchi bobs his head. "Indeed. But first, we have come to see what you have to say for yourselves--and to fill our stomachs with sweets and tea!" The other nosois caw in agreement.
Step 1: One PC must prepare the tea powder or leaves with a successful DC 22 Tea Lore or DC 24 Crafting check. Other PCs can Aid this check with a Tea Lore or Crafting check or with Athletics (representing that character grinding the tea leaves into fine powder before the ceremony starts).
Step 2: In addition to the usual ritual meal and sweets, the nosois demand a mountain of sweet mochi. One PC must prepare this treat, either by pounding the cooked rice with a DC 22 Athletics check or preparing the meal with a DC 24 Crafting check; other PCs can Aid this check.
Step 3: The ceremony should be performed flawlessly by a character who succeeds at a DC 22 Tea Lore or DC 24 Society check; other PCs can Aid this check.
Step 4: Despite the nosois’ own lack of etiquette, decorum must be kept on the hosts’ side. One of the participating PCs must attempt a DC 24 Deception or Diplomacy check; other PCs can Aid this check only with Diplomacy.
"I'll help prepare your meal. We quite enjoy existing, thanks." Kamo starts grinding up tea leaves for the ceremony as he talks to the psychopomps. "I would say that we are trying to resolve the problem ourselves, and we have it pretty well in hand."
Leaving the niceties of the tea ceremony to the others, Kamo goes out to pound the rice for mochi. "I like it better when other people do the work for this. I know you always say it's sweeter when you make it yourself, Sakura, so you don't have to say it now!"
With food prepared, Kamo helps hand Pagma what she needs. It's a lot more fun to do it with volatile chemicals, but he can help here, too.
Kamo just tries to keep his mouth shut while the nosoi are eating.
"We serve all who are need of refreshment and nurishment." Pagma says with simple proud pragmatism. "My friends and I will prepare, feel free to take comfort in the house until we serve." she has been practicing her service. Before the house, she had only been about the flavors.
"Okay, Kamo and Sakura, please grind... these and these." the alchemist opens their wall of drawers, one after another, smelling, considering, then deciding.
Then moves on to prepare the mochi as her friends help with force or pallet.
When everything is ready, Pagma sets the tray with exacting precision, balancing colors and flavors.
And then stands back, knowing while when it comes to food she is the expert, but not when it comes to being proper.
As Kamo and Pagma take care of the drinks and snacks, Jing feels up the birds. For some reason, he is quite at ease around these otherworldly harbingers of death. Had he met them before?
"Are you here on the behest of the Lady of Graves, or have you come here out of your own volition? I imagine the line between the two might be quite blurry when your work takes over your life."
He tries to keep the crows' attention on him and readies himself for a dance of dangerous words and implications.
"We serve the Lady in all things," Noguchi says, preening his feathers.
"Though, we are not technically authorized to take action in this case," Sakaguchi confirms.
"Surely, though, she will reward us for resolving this situation, since your existence is in blatant violation of divine law," Iguchi chirps.
"Yes, surely," Yamaguchi echoes.
Jing-De grits his teeth at the nosoi's lack of decorum, but somehow remains a pleasant host. The psychopomps are dismissive when they first sniff the tea that Pagma brings out, but she performs the ceremony with grace and aplomb, and there is no denying that the mochi she made is delicious!
Though they remain somewhat snippy and rude, the nosois relax enough to shamelessly gossip among themselves and to their hosts. They spend much of their early conversation speaking about Shinzo, loudly opining that the shinigami is too soft and indulgent toward the dead. They also gleefully inform you that Shinzo is still being punished for an infraction against Pharasma and that his punishment prevents him from directly interfering with the fate of mortals. Each nosoi confidently declares they know what Shinzo did to offend the Lady of Graves, but they all have a completely different story—one claims that Shinzo abused his powers for his own benefit, while others insist he spared a mortal life he shouldn’t have, let a powerful fiend escape his grasp, or fell in love with a human.
At the end of the ceremony, the psychopomps argue for a few minutes among themselves over which one of them should “pay the bill,” with each loudly proclaiming that they’ll cover it. They finally compromise by deciding to split the payment, then argue about the specifics of who should pay what. Finally, they rifle through their feathers, producing a pile of trinkets as compensation. These items consist of a gallows tooth, a jade bauble, a silver and sapphire ring worth 800 gp, and a runestone etched with a frost weapon rune.
"We seem to have been hasty in our initial judgment of you mortals," Yamaguchi declares. "We will trouble you no further, provided the residents of this mindscape do not further offend the Lady of Graves."
"We will do what we can to aid you," Iguchi chirps. "Should you find yourselves in the living world once more, take the time to purify yourselves at any shrine of Pharasma you might encounter. Until then, farewell!"
The nosois caw and fly off from Willowshore.
The townsfolk's spirits remain high as winter continues. Another couple of weeks and the sakaki slats will be ready for the transmigrate ritual...
***
One day during the fourth week of winter, screams fill the air! Panicked villagers flee from an enormous bright orange centipede, nearly a hundred feet long, that has trundled into Willowshore's outskirts from deeper in the woods. As it scuttles unerringly in your direction, the behemoth roars out words: "Meat... flesh... bones... fingers... hair... skin... eyes..."
When the massive insect spots you, its words change, and its lumbering voice, it thunders out a few complete sentences. "You must pay! Kugaptee will rise! Time to die!"
"Well, at least it's not a spider!" Kamo mutters as he circles the creature. He looks for a weak spot in the gargantuan creature.
"Didn't we fight talking centipede's that first day at the glade?" Pagma remembers out loud as rifles through her bag for the proper bomb.
Maybe Sakura has gotten over her fear of spider-like creatures or maybe she's just had enough talk about Kugaptee, either way this creature takes the full brunt of the warrior's wrath. Assuming her stance, she inspires her allies before delivering a massive blow intent on knocking the creature to the ground.
Kamo identifies the creature as a titan centipede, colossal, solitary centipedes that claim vast hunting grounds. Aside from its enormous size, it functions as a normal centipede would.
Sakura enters an inspiring stance and delivers a critical hit, spilling ichor from the insect's belly. Roaring in anger, the massive creatures snaps at her with its mandibles!
Sakura shrugs off the effects of the venom and swings twice more.
◈
◈
◈Dueling Parry: +2 circumstance bonus to AC until the start of your next turn
"Nice hit, Sakura!" Kamo peers around the bulk of the centipede to see his sister slashing away at it.
Pagma goes with a collection of various elemental effects, hoping at least one of them hurts the creature trying to crush her friend.
Despite its enormous size, the massive centipede is no match for you. Jing-De burns it with holy light, Pagma sears it with acid and scorches it with fire, Kamo batters it with conjured rocks, and Sakura delivers the killing blow with her katana! The ground shakes as the massive insect collapses, its many legs twitching feebly before it goes still.
The townsfolk erupt into cheers at your decisive victory!
As the centipede collapses, Sakura stands there breathing heavily, blade clenched tightly in her hands. She remains standing there, tense and ready, half-expecting the enormous creature to twitch back to life. But when the massive insect's legs finally fall still, she lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
Sakura drives her blade into the ground to clean off the thick ichor, then turns to check on the others. "Is everyone alright?"
"Everyone except you, it looks like," Kamo says, not unkindly. "Thanks for charging that thing. I couldn't find even a small flaw in its armor!"
Given time, Kamo will bind up Sakura's wounds.
Jing shakes his hands in an attempt to shake out what active magic still lingers in his system. He gives Sakura a pained look when she asks if he is okay. "I'm alright. A little disgusted and possibly unable to look at cute tiny insects the same way ever again after battling this monstrosity, but I'm alright."
At the end of the week, Yami brings Sakura another gift: a greater hat of disguise, currently taking the form of a zhanjiao putou.
Unfortunately, the enormous centipede's appearance has unsettled many of Willowshore's citizens who had hoped the threat of Kugaptee had been put to rest. Rumors of hopelessness and doom have begun to srpead as the citizens begin to realize the gravity of their situation.
Pagma spends days at working on clean up for the 100 foot rotting corpse. Nothing can help making that task into a happy one (other than a big boom which will just make a bigger mess). She notices her fellow workers fear and depression as they work together, so she starts telling stories. About dragons, oni, giants with a hero valiantly defeating them. At the end of each she muses aloud about the clean up of that One. "Dragons have digestive tracks too, can you imagine???" she manages to get a few to laugh and join in discussing their favorite defeat the bad thing legend and how messing the aftermath would be for the poor townsfolk to chop up.
Jing goes about town talking to whoever wants to hear him out. Unlike most people, Jing isn't too worried about Kugaptee's return. Beaten and buried, for now, Kugaptee will need time, a lot of time, before they can strike at Willowshore again. This flimsy form it took wasn't much of a match for them, it couldn't possibly threaten Willowshore! And it's the best they could do!
Jing's carefree attitude and Pagma's stories help to bolster the townsfolk's spirits, preserving their hope!
***
It is the fifth week of winter. The time has almost come to cast the ritual of transmigration. However, on this day, you feel yourselves suddenly yanked away through layers of reality, as if flying at great speed through Willowshore, the forest, and then into a small windowless room that’s dimly lit by burning torches and mostly occupied by a massive bronze temple bell that hangs from the ceiling. Five small cages containing colorful birds are set in a large circle, and four scrolls lay on the ground inside this circle. Flickering but strangely familiar-looking light radiates down from the bell above to illuminate those scrolls, containing you within the circle.
You realize that you've been pulled east from Willowshore into a chamber somewhere within the coastal fortress of Karahai. Jing-De and Kamo note that you've appeared in the center of a type of seance, and that the temple bell above you is a powerful holy item that wards against ghosts. The bell's presence can interfere with any magic coming from spiritual or undead sources.
A moment later, the ghostly images of three priests appear. Each wears the same black-sleeved crimson robes as the apparitions you saw at the start of winter, but this time without the frightening four-eyed masks. One of the priests is a middle-aged bald human man, the second is a middle-aged human woman who bears an old scar on her right cheek, and the third is a young human man with a well-trimmed beard.
"Who are you?" the first priest asks, and Kamo feels compelled to answer...
Step 1: Chen asks that round’s question, and a randomly determined PC is compelled to reply (once selected, that PC shouldn’t be selected on future rounds). That PC must attempt a DC 26 Will save. On a success, any PC in the group can reply to the question however they want, but on a failure, the targeted PC must reply to the question as truthfully as they can. If a PC is compelled to reply truthfully, ask that player how they would like to answer, then adjust that answer to match, thematically, the compelled answers listed further below.
If a PC isn’t compelled to answer, one PC can attempt to answer with a DC 24 Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check (the other PCs can Aid this check) to determine the result of their reply. On a success, all checks attempted to Influence and Discover that round during step 2 gain a +2 status bonus (or a +4 status bonus on a critical success). On a critical failure, these checks instead take a –2 status penalty.
Step 2: The priests spend a few moments chanting and focusing before moving on to the next question (or if this is the final round, focusing on ending the seance), during which the PCs realize they can sense each priest’s thoughts. Each PC can attempt to Influence or Discover information about the priest of their choice. When an exorcist is successfully Influenced, the PCs’ presence causes them to say something out of turn or take an unanticipated action that reveals more to the PCs than they intend.
Kamo feels the ritual taking hold, forcing him to gasp out the truth about himself.
Kamo reveals his name along with the rest of your names. He also informs the exorcists of each of your roles in the party, and reveal that you are citizens of Willowshore.
The three priests begin to chant and focus...
Discovery: Occultism, Perception, Religion
Influence Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidation, Religion
Pan Fenfeng, Nervous Exorcist
Discovery: Occultism, Perception, Religion
Influence Skills: Deception, Intimidation, Religion
Sha Guanghou, Young and Brash Exorcists
Discovery: Occultism, Perception, Religion
Influence Skills: Deception, Diplomacy, Religion