Pagma looks in surprise as Kamo tells these people all there names, but she sees the strain in his face before she yells at him. Her attention turns back to the youngest of the chanters.
The ghostly alchemist leans forward, her big inquisitive eyes on his "Why are you doing this? We are just trying to save our town, not hurting anyone, but what you are doing..." she wasn't sure, but she felt they were trying to banish them "Why are you doing this?" her voice implores, asking again, hoping he answers.
The young exorcist doesn't respond, but Pagma can sense his eagerness and relative naivete.
Kamo follows up on Pagma's information, speaking to the young exorcist as clearly as he can, "In Daikitsu's name, release us! We need to return to aid the people of Willowshore. We should not even be affected by this ritual."
Sakura focuses on the leader of the exorcists, Cao Chen, trying to persuade. She takes a calm and respectful tone attempting to sway him with reason.
"Master Chen, we are not your enemies. We, too, are victims of a cycle that binds us in this mindscape. Our town, Willowshore, is trapped by a terrible force. We seek to restore balance and prevent an even greater disaster. If you banish us, you risk letting something far worse take root-something beyond even your power to control. Help us, and together we can stop Kugaptee."
"Agents of The Lady of Graves have contacted us! Were we your enemies, they would have undone us already! Instead, they've given us a chance, a brief window of time, to undo this awful ordeal!"
Now who would believe that?
Sha frowns at Kamo's words but doesn't respond. both Sakura and Jing-De appeal to Cao Chen. At the mention of Kugaptee, a flicker of worry crosses the faces of the other two exorcists. Cao Chen becomes pensive, then raises a hand. “Fear not, my students. We are perfectly safe. Without a focused purpose, these century-old phantoms can no more affect the material world than a fish can light a fire."
He turns to Sakura and asks a question of her. "What do you want?"
Sakura hadn't planned on answering trutfully, but finds the words leaving her mouth outside of her control "We seek to come back to life!"
The exorcists murmur and chant again...
"Release us, or Kugipee will surely escape. We are ardently conducting rituals to fight him," Kamo pleads again to the youngest exorcist.
Sakura tries again to plead her case to Cao Chen again, but this time her words seem to falter. "But...but.. we need to be free!"
Pagma focuses her attention on the nervous exorcist, hoping to find something to in her that will help convince her to stop this horrible ritual.
"We've been given the means to right a horrible wrong! We've met with psychopomps, and our actions bear their blessing! We are not your enemy, and you should not be ours!"
Cao Chen gives Sakura a wary look. "I sense your strength, spirits, but our holy bell, infused with light from your own Eternal Lantern, prevents your fell influence and magic from seeping through to our world. As long as this bell shines in Karahai, you cannot harm us. We have time to be patient and methodical, so you would do well to simply comply and answer our questions truthfully."
Sha Guanghao frowns. "But master, if the bell and the light keeps the spirits trapped, why can’t we just ignore them and get to harvesting all the trees in the region?" This question gets an exaggerated eye-roll and a motion to shush from Cao Chen.
Pagma studies Pan Fenfang, realizing that trickery would be the best way to get her to reveal something.
Finishing their chanting, Cao Chen turns to Jing-De. "Why haven’t you moved on?" he asks.
Jing gives in to their desire to learn the truth, but when he speaks, it hits him that these people aren't interested in the truth. Rather, they're approaching the matter with ill-conceived notions of how it should be. "Because we're stuck! Kugaptee's presence has perverted the natural order of things, and other individuals and their actions have only made it worse! We are trying to undo this mess because we're stuck in an alternative hell!"
"You can't cut down the trees! The kami and kodama in the forest are the only thing holding back Kugipee."
"We have trees! Spiritual trees trapped in here with us, but keen on protecting their once home." Pagma not good at lying, so she just starts babbling. "They might bless someone that helps do that." the alchemist scrunches her nose at the bad taste in her mouth from lying.
"We may be trapped, but we’re not powerless. We cling to life because we have unfinished business-protecting Willowshore and making sure Kugaptee doesn’t return to wreak havoc on the living world. You think we're dangerous spirits, but it’s the tree and the land that’s holding back true devastation. If you cut it down, you’ll release something far worse. We’re not the threat here, Kugaptee is."
Sha Guanghao bristles at Kamo. "Careful, spirits! If you try anything funny, Lord Mago will come in here with his magic bell ringer and banish you away! Like this—hwahhh!" Guanghao mimics forcefully ringing a bell and then is slapped on the back of the head by Fenfang, after which Cao Chen says, "That’s not how it works! Did you even read the codex scroll like I told you?"[/b]
Meanwhile, the rest of you try to influence Pan Fenfang. The more you mention Kugaptee's name, the more nervous she appears to get. She scowls and turns to Cao Chen. "Like most spirits, they refuse to listen to reason, Master Cao. We must simply accept that this will be a difficult job and get back to it." The use of his name prompts a scowl from Cao Chen.
Cao Chen chants again and asks his final question: "How did you die?"
Pagma slams her hand over her mouth, trying to not speak, but she cannot stop it. "Our governor tried to imprison Kugaptee and failed! Killing all of us!"
"Sort of," Jing quickly adds to Pagma's answer. "It triggered a loop of sorts, if you will, during which we continued and to this, continue to struggle against Kugaptee. Now, for the first time since the start of it all, we've managed to beat and subdue Kugaptee. The arrival of the psychopomps and what they shared with us confirms that we've finally made it to an important crossroads. But your interference threatens to undo our progress, and give Kugaptee a way back in!"
"That light is from our lantern, and we are trying to help our town. It won't banish us. You should release us from this ritual."
Sakura tries to build upon Jing-De and Kamo's arguments. "You claim to be servants of the divine, protectors of the sacred order. But surely you see that we are not evil spirits. We are victims of an ancient, fiendish power-Kugaptee-that has perverted the natural order of life and death. Our governor tried to imprison this fiend, but the ritual failed, trapping us in this mindscape. We’ve been struggling for over a century to stop Kugaptee’s corruption from spreading."
Pan Fenfang sneers. "There is nothing that can return you to life beyond the most sinister forms of magic, and we will not permit that. Make peace with your fate and pray that Pharasma shows mercy for your sins in death." As she speaks, her face flashes doubt, and you catch a deeper glimpse into her mind—seeing the crimson butterflies that seem to flutter therein. You realize that this exorcist is being unknowingly influenced by nindorus.
Cao Chen utters a final prayer and then taps the bell above softly with his torch. The sound of the bell ringing out is unexpectedly overwhelming given such a small tap, and you are hurled back to wherever you were in Willowshore when the seance began. You discover that, for the past several minutes, you've been lying unconscious and unresponsive on the floor.
Somehow, the bell Cao Chen rang has been infused with the light from Willowshore’s Eternal Lantern, confirming that the lantern must be unlit in the living world. As long as this remains the case, you'll only be able to cast the less powerful version of the transmigrate ritual.
***
As the week ends, the sakaki slats are finally finished. The time has come for transmigration. You feel stronger from your recent experiences.
"You're lost in a sea of assumpti- ... !"
Jing can't finish the sentence before his voice and then the world is drowned out by Cao ringing a bell. Back in their own world, Jing finds himself staring at the ceiling with not a single thought occupying his mind. All that he can do is feel and the overwhelming feeling is disappointment.
When you are ready, you begin the ritual. The townsfolk have constructed a kiln made of earth and stone that is large enough for all of you to lie down inside of. There are beds of clay for you in the kiln, each one surrounded with heron feathers placed upright in the clay around the bed. Kamo leads the four-hour ritual, with Jing-De and Pagma assisting him. At the end of the incantation, you become infused with spiritual energy and must lie down on the still-wet clay beds, after which assistants come in to encase you in a three-inch-thick layer of additional clay. Short lengths of bamboo held in the mouth allow the you to continue breathing. The incense and sakaki wood is then placed atop each of you, the kiln is closed, and the fires lit.
As the flames burn around you and bake you in your clay shells, you feel a baleful voice in you minds that vaguely resembles Governor Heh Shan-Bao's—the voice orders you to give in to your desires, to be consumed by emotions strong enough that you can rip yourselves free from the clutches of death!
Fear grips Jing's mind when the fires are lit and he finds himself stuck in what has to be hell. The inability to move while every fiber of his being is screaming at him to run is tearing his mind to tatters. His breathing becomes ragged, but he somehow manages to hang on, knowing that this is but a temporary state of being, and that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
Perhaps it's the lack of oxygen that's making him delirious, or perhaps Jing has found peace in being encased in clay whilst inside a lit oven, but he finds himself dreaming of floating in the space between the two celestial lovers, Shizuru and Tsukiyo. Around him is nothing, nothing at all, and he's at peace with that for on either side, well outside of his reach but there nonetheless, is the eternal and overwhelming love of the one for the other.
And even though Jing is stuck in limbo, he can't help but feel alive and loved.
Fear is strong in Pagma, being encased it horrifying to the extreme, but through it all the alchemist holds on to a bright hard light of emotion inside her chest.
All of this, every trial they have been through has been for the people of this town, and for the three others now suffering through this horror.
So loyalty is her strongest emotion, a fierce desire to see these people LIVE again.
Outrage has been growing in Kamo ever since he began preparing for the ritual, and as the fires rise around him, the feelings intensify.
How dare Heh Shan-Bao doom the town?! There must have been another way. All he had to do was ask for help investigating the danger. Everyone's life was ripped away most unfairly, and he finds himself glowing with the desire to defeat Kugaptee and give the townsfolk the lives that they deserve!
Just when you think you're going to be cooked alive by the flames, they suddenly vanish. The ritual has ended in success. When you emerge from your clay shells, though, you don’t emerge into the living world—instead, you wake inside a hallway of carved stone.
Two wooden sliding doors cap the ends of this drab, thirty-by-sixty-foot stone-walled chamber. The wooden doors are ornately carved with depictions of a misshapen giant brutally bludgeoning people to death. Despite the relatively smooth the walls and ceilings, the stone floor is crisscrossed with shallow gashes. In the center of the chamber is a ritual altar covered in incense, candles, and other accoutrements.
Kamo realizes you;ve emerged in a mindscape wedged between Willowshore and the living world that acts as metaphysical “crumb catcher” for souls not fully consumed by Kugaptee. You can feel the living world calling to you.
As soon as you stand up, the light seems to flicker and unsettling whispers fill the air, voices that issue mocking decrees about you abandoning Willowshore for the living world, of how the people you left behind feel betrayed, and of how you'll never be able to regain their trust.
Heavy footfalls can be heard from somewhere beyond the doors...
Kamo draws his sword, slides quietly up to the wall on one side of the doorway, and prepares to defend himself.
Pagma moves over quickly to Kamo and holds up a flask of inspiration coffee "Drink up, can't have you falling back to sleep in this fight."
Sakura draws her sword and enters an inspiring stance as she moves up beside Kamo and Pagma.
Moments later, the door opens, revealing a hunched over humanoid wearing a heavy bundle of hay strapped to its back. The creature's head and neck are tucked in tight between its shoulders and are entirely obscured. However, upon spotting you, the bundle vanishes, revealing the being's long neck and fanged mouth! It lurches forward and attacks Sakura with a broken kusarigama and and its teeth!
Kamo looks for a weakness in the strange creature, slices at it, and parries.
for and and
Jing knows that they mustn't die in this place, this accursed realm that tries so hard to hide from the gods. He stays close to his companions and uses the power of his blood to cast a powerful spell of protection.
Sakura swings twice before attempting to parry.
◈
◈
Pagma has been working on her bombs a little before coming to this place, smaller more renewable bombs, so she seems to be more prone to chucking bottles in this 'farmer'.
Kamo recognizes the creature as a kagekuma. Known in some regions as “shadefiends,” this nindoru’s ability to appear as uninteresting figures in the crowd allows them to feed even in populated areas. The kagekuma personifies the cycle of trust being built and broken over and over again through the course of a complex relationship. Like most nindorus, they are weak to silver weapons and resist negative damage.
As Jing-De raises a protective aura, Sakura attacks, scoring a critical hit and following up with a second slice! Kamo delivers a precise slash, then Pagma batters it with bombs until it collapses, its flesh scorched and sizzling with acid.
No sooner has it fallen, though, than another creature emerges from the hallway, carrying a heavy bundle. Like the first one, it quickly drops its bundle and charges forward to attack! It slashes Sakura with its kusarigama but she parries its gnashing teeth!
At the opposite end of the room, the double doors open to reveal yet a third bundle-bearing kagekuma. This one is, luckily, has arrived to late to attack before you have a chance to act again.
Jing calls upon the warmth of the stars above to come crashing down on their foes.
As Kamo explains what they are, Pagma attempts to banter, but throwing bombs at such a reckless rate is taxing "They are... drawn to Sakura AND embody complex relationships ..." she leaves the rest of the statement with a gasping squeak as a third one bursts in.
Kamo looks for weaknesses in the distracted creature, feeling confident about the weapon he brought to this fight!
for and and
for and
Jing-De's divine wrath wreaks havoc on the nindorus. Sakura slices and dices while Kamo delivers two precise stabs to take down the fiend that was second to arrive. Pagma hurls bombs at the last enemy, landing only one direct hit and splashing it twice.
The nindoru drops its bundle and charges at Pagma with a roar! Jing-De's protection spell saves her from a critical hit, but she is still slashed and bitten.
Kamo rushes to Pagma's aid, rushing up behind the creature that attacked her.
for and ,
Jing tries to aid Pagma, but the vicious melee denies him an opportunity to help her. Instead, he calls upon the power in his blood once again to smite their foes.
Pagma lets out a scream of pain as she is bitten, trying to smash the bottle of sparking accelerant that she was holding in the creatures face, then retreat as quickly as she can.
Jing-De blasts the final nindoru with more divine wrath. Pagma burns it with a bomb, then the Yuzuki siblings finish it off with a combination attack!
Once the final kagekuma is slain, the shimmering aura above the altar grows clearer, then flickers and solidifies into a portal. As you step through, you complete your transmigration to the living world!
Part 3: This Place is Ours
As you emerge from the borderland between life and death, you find yourselves stepping off of the southern side of Dawnstep Bridge into a town much different than the one you know. This place is the real Willowshore—one that has been in ruins for over a century.
You swiftly realize that your apparently solid bodies are, in fact, temporary constructs of ectoplasm. All of your gear has come with you. You realize that you have gained some new and interesting powers...
Over the last 115 years of neglect, Willowshore has fallen to ruin. The roads are overgrown with foliage, many buildings have crumbled, and Willowshore Dam has collapsed, leaving Woodraft Lake little more than a stinking swamp. Dawnstep Bridge still stands, but the stone structure looks on the verge of collapse. Near to where you have emerged stands the Eternal Lantern, overgrown with moss but still mostly intact—yet it’s unlit, and the inner receptacle that once held blessed coins is missing entirely.
Exploring the town, you find the remains of your home to be hollow, empty, and tragic. Nothing of value remains, but here and there, you find evidence of recent camps—particularly at the collapsed ruins of Cloud Paper House—that are evidence of Mago Kai, his employees, and exorcists periodically spending time in the ruins over the past several months.
You can feel something pulling you eastward, away from Willowshore and towards Karahai. This sensation feels like a compelling memory combined with an almost physical tugging in the gut. The coastal fortress of Karahai and its surrounding village is only a moderate trek southeast along the Duyue River. As you exit Willowshore, you pass smashed pieces of a stone guardian spider near the wreck of Willowshore—the remains of Ugly Cute.
The trip to Karahai is uneventful. You see more evidence of recent activity along the way, places where fallen trees have been cut or pulled away from the road, or the sign of foot and wagon traffic in areas where the road has turned mostly to mud. Not far from the point just past Gourd Lake that served as the mindscape’s eastern border, you come to Karahai Bridge, once a wooden structure that crossed a gorge through which the Ceiba River flows on its way out to sea. The bridge is gone, but there is a temporary replacement of planks and ropes that you can cross with ease. Less than an hour after crossing the bridge, you turn a final bend and set your eyes on Karahai.
A tiny village sits on the edge of the Sea of Ghosts. Only about three dozen villagers appear to make their home here. The village buildings are one story, constructed of packed clay with thatch roofs. A small dock supports the operation of a few rickety fishing boats.
Nestled in the middle of the village, Mago Kai’s fortress is a round structure made of packed earth and stone, completely enclosed except for four outer gates, one at each cardinal direction. The building is fortified and clearly built with defense in mind. Tiny lookout windows ring the top of the outer walls, each large enough to stick a head or crossbow through, with a slanting bevel on the inside for ease of access. The exterior wall is 25 feet high, with a steeply sloped roof that angles upward toward the center and reaches a height of 40 feet.
Kamo's face becomes fixed in a frown as they explore the town, "What happened?! Is this downfall for our town inevitable?"
Outside the fortress, he says, "So: Do we infiltrate this place?"
"We'll bring everyone back and then fix up the town again." Pagma says, somewhere between hope and stress, but attempting to assure Kamo's frown. She does wrap her arms around herself as they walk past Ugly Cute, her own spider watches its bigger cousin with pale multiple eyes each step until the destroyed guardian is out of sight.
Jing flinches when Pagma boldly states her ambitions, knowing that hope is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. He himself isn't sure yet what to make of all this, other than that the world has moved on ever since they were phased out all those years ago. And why wouldn't it?
"Should we come up with a basic cover story before head on in? Something gives me the impression this place doesn't see a whole lot of visitors ... we could be pilgrims?"
Pagma looks at Jing with surprise. She wiggles her ghostly arm. "I don't think that would work."