Xiung-Lau nods. "Yes, this does seem to be quite a problem ... I am sure we can help with it."
Xiung-Lau quickly devises a strategy to lure the snakes out of the outhouse with bait. When you arrive, it's clear that the swarm of vipers has made its way out of the pit and are infesting the outhouse. Matsu gingerly unlocks the door then flees to watch the events from the safety of his window. He occasionally shouts out things like "please be careful!" and "you’re doing better than I could!" as Xiung-Lau enacts his plan.
Fortunately, the plan works, and soon the vipers have left the outhouse. Matsu is overjoyed by your success. He turns out to be an excellent cook, and the promised dinner he delivers on is a significant reward all on its own. As dinner concludes, Matsu presents you with a family treasure he has kept locked up and hidden for years—he figures the you are more deserving of it than he is since he can’t even take care of a few snakes in his outhouse. He presents you with this treasure, a fiend bane rune, with a heartfelt thank you.
***
As the third week of fall begins, First Long Night approaches. First Long Night is one of the most anticipated holidays in rural Shenmen, and Willowshore is no exception—particularly now when the townsfolk could really use a day of celebration and distraction from the unsettling situation they find themselves in.
You spend the week helping townsfolk get ready for First Long Night, either by preparing food for the celebration, cleaning and preparing downtown’s town square to host the event, or helping to craft outfits and other accessories for locals to wear during the festivities. To Aid Festival Preparations, attempt a DC 17 Lore (any Food, Games, Labor, or Willowshore), DC 19 Crafting, or DC 21 Society check.
Critical Success: Your time preparing for the festival is not only efficient and helpful, but also highly enjoyable. During First Long Night, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to all skill checks to resolve the effects of any contests you take part in. The party gains 2 Hope Points.
Success: Your assistance has helped Willowshore prepare well for First Long Night. The party gains 1 Hope Point.
Failure: You did your best to assist but weren’t able to contribute anything particularly helpful.
Critical Failure: Your attempts to help backfire, with you getting in the way more than actually providing assistance, spreading frustration through the townsfolk. During First Long Night, you take a –1 circumstance penalty to all skill checks to resolve the effects of any contests you take part in as a result of being nervous about making more embarrassing mistakes. The party loses 1 Hope Point.
Having spent two weeks studying on his own, he spends the final week studying alongside Igawa Jubei.
The Nagaji begins to laugh at the mentioning of Vipers nesting inappropriately!
DOWNTIME MANIPULATE PREPARATION
You spend the week helping townsfolk get ready for First Long Night, either by preparing food for the celebration, cleaning and preparing downtown’s town square to host the event, or helping to craft outfits and other accessories for locals to wear during the festivities. To Aid Festival Preparations, attempt a DC 17 Lore (any Food, Games, Labor, or Willowshore), DC 19 Crafting, or DC 21 Society check.
Critical Success: Your time preparing for the festival is not only efficient and helpful, but also highly enjoyable. During First Long Night, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to all skill checks to resolve the effects of any contests you take part in. The party gains 2 Hope Points.
Success: Your assistance has helped Willowshore prepare well for First Long Night. The party gains 1 Hope Point.
Failure: You did your best to assist but weren’t able to contribute anything particularly helpful.
Critical Failure: Your attempts to help backfire, with you getting in the way more than actually providing assistance, spreading frustration through the townsfolk. During First Long Night, you take a –1 circumstance penalty to all skill checks to resolve the effects of any contests you take part in as a result of being nervous about making more embarrassing mistakes. The party loses 1 Hope Point.
The Alchemist happily takes out his hammer, saw, bacon stretcher and he begins to whistle while he works....
"I know that your perspective has gained much from your long years, but some haste may be required. What can you tell me of this curse?"
***
Kwan Tai takes a moment to consider helping with the festival preparations, his wistful gaze falling on a tall boy carefully painting a screen with festive decorations.
No. That's not you.
He returns to the fields.
Amid the festival preparations, Kwan Tai and Xiung-Lau make some headway into researching the curse.
The noppera-bo who dwelt in the abandoned lumber camp seemed to believe a “paradise” awaited them beyond the Wall of Ghosts, but perhaps the truth is something else entirely? Others among them worshipped something named “Kugaptee”—a name that sounds familiar but that likely requires more research to learn more about.
***
At last, the time has come to celebrate. As autumn’s days yield to the burgeoning night on the fall equinox, those who dwell in Shenmen’s countryside begin preparations for winter. These preparations are organized around rural families’ observation of First Long Night, an evening spent together in solemn commemorations of deceased kin as well as witnessing the community’s hopeful aspirations.
First Long Night is a very physical event, even before the date of the festival arrives. As anticipation builds, locals work more exuberantly in hopes of getting ahead of duties so as to have time to prepare for the festival, working to the tempo of resonant folk songs with the lyrics and cadence often containing insights into traditional farming techniques or local legends. Fall’s crisp breeze carries the scent of wood-smoked preserved meat and rendered lard as townsfolk prepare food stores, while the noise of construction for temporary festival grounds goes on well into the evening. Everything is vivid, loud, and fun, and everyone is a little more spirited than usual in ghost-haunted Shenmen. The pulsing sweat and pouring blood, the songs, the race to beat the turn of seasons... all intended to remind both the living and dead of the tenacity of life—be it a life still being lived or one that exists only in a spirit’s memory.
As you look around the festival grounds, you spot a familiar face--the merchant Shinzo stands behind his cart of supplies, along with his strange raven companion, Yix. He smiles and waves at you while Yix caws and cocks his head.
"Hello, friends! What a joyous celebration! I am glad to see that, even in the tough times Willowshore has found itself in, your spirits are not broken. I have brought new wares for you to peruse, should you be so inclined."
***
Hot desserts (such as sesame and peanut soup) and brewed tea are shared between all, along with mooncakes, glutinous rice balls, and fruits. Local syncretic beliefs encourage such generosity, stating such warmth and unity are sure to impress visiting ancestors or benevolent spirits who might then return in future years and bring good fortune with them.
COMMUNAL REVIVALS
While a history of brutal regimes have fractured many social bonds, First Long Night is a time when communities reforge these connections. From checking on neighboring villages to feeding the families next door, each small step brings Shenmen’s community closer again.
ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST
First Long Night sees many embarking on dangerous journeys to do good deeds, clean graves, and perform last rites. Helping others this way also helps oneself; after all, it’s simpler to feed or bury neighbors rather than deal with undead arising from their starved corpses.
GHOSTS... OR ANCESTORS?
Some in Shenmen fear becoming undead less than witnessing loved ones undergoing such pitiable transformations. Regardless, by cleaning ancestral graves, they prevent the sleeping dead from arising as violent undead. Some seek to exorcise undead who were once family, and thus return their purified spirits to the fold as respected ancestors.
BRIBING FUMEIYOSHI
Many scatter silver dust near grave sites to bribe Fumeiyoshi, hoping he would accept these offerings and not feel the need to create more undead. Greedy bandits might lurk in wait to rob villagers or pocket the strewn silver dust; villagers often don’t mind (providing they escape unharmed), as that simply draws Fumeiyoshi’s wrath upon the thieves instead.
SEASONAL MARKETS
The hubbub of a village’s celebrations often draws merchants, priests, and other visitors; locals are quick to host such travelers and offer to purchase their goods and services with food, drink, and hard-hoarded silver dust.
AGILITY UNDER OPPRESSION
Releasing colorful lanterns into the sky, cutting ropes, poetry praising the moon—these traditions might appear irrelevant oddments. However, they fulfill twofold purposes: one, they allow isolated villages to bond over shared imaginations of a Shenmen identity; two, they allow surreptitious honing and preservation of practical knowledge and skills.
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Hooli, as always, gets fully into the spirit of First Long Night, particularly the food, which she's happy to share with as many people as possible ... assuming they're the ones supplying it.
She comprises a poem to the moon: "Goodnight moon, goodnight oni jumping over the moon, goodnight light and the red sky lantern in flight..."
Xiung-Lau says to his walking cauldron, "Looks like I could have saved a bit on you if I had waited. Ah, well, that is how we learn."
He joins in many of the activities, but notably takes care in both cleaning the ancestral graves and scattering silver dust, to avoid the presence of undead.
ADMIRING THE MOON
Admiring the Moon is a game with roots in Yixing courtier culture. Facing the harvest moon, participants gather to enjoy mooncakes and tea while composing poetry to extol the moon’s grace and beauty. Elegant wordplay and evocative verse win accolades and praises, while more labored metaphors and epigrams spur encouragements and critiques. As the night goes on, tea is invariably replaced with wine and spirits, and poetry gives way to discussions on metaphysics and political philosophy.
A typical bout of Admiring the Moon involves an hour of eating, drinking, and composing poems.
ADMIRING THE MOON
CONCENTRATE EXPLORATION
Skill Checks DC 17 Art Lore, DC 19 Performance, DC 21 Religion
BUNDLE-CUTTING
Encouraged by onlooking fellows, participants strive to cut hanging bundles of straw loose from tightly-woven lattices. There’s an additional twist to this contest, as each participant begins the contest bound in twine ropes. Stone daggers are laid on the ground some distance away so that participants must first undo their own bindings, then dash to retrieve daggers, and finally run back to cut as many bundles free as they can within a time limit.
Bundle-cutting evolved from training exercises to help villagers deal with being captured and bound by bandits or caught in woodland traps—techniques that are equally useful in escaping the webs of the giant spiders and similar creatures who have long posed dangers to the locals. Once a participant escapes their bindings, the cutting of other bindings represent swift action to rescue and release allies who have been bound.
This contest is much faster-paced than the others with a typical bout of bundle-cutting resolving over the course of 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the song chosen (regardless of the time, the contest still resolves via four skill checks).
BUNDLE-CUTTING CONTEST
CONCENTRATE EXPLORATION
Skill Checks DC 17 Thievery, DC 19 Athletics, DC 21 Survival
Special: Before any skill checks can be attempted, a participant must Escape (DC 17) from their bonds. If a participant Escapes on their first attempt, they can attempt the four skill checks to win bundle-cutting without penalty. If a participant requires two Escape attempts to get free, they take a –1 circumstance penalty to their four skill checks. If a participant requires three or four Escape attempts to get free, their following skill checks take a –2 circumstance penalty. A fifth Escape attempt is always successful, but after this, the participant takes a –3 circumstance penalty to their following skill checks.
LANTERN MAKING
Sky Lanterns were originally developed during the days of Shu for sending military signals. The ancient practice now has a different cultural significance: representing reunions and people’s wishes finding their ways to the heavens.
These sky lanterns have bamboo frames and are made of oiled rice paper. They incorporate designs of fanciful shapes like birds, dragons, and other flying creatures.
In a fitting nod to its military, functional origins, villages now also use lantern making ceremonies for basic communications. On First Long Night, if the horizons are filled with flying lights, it reassures many to know their neighbors are still alive and able to construct sky lanterns. On the contrary, if a nearby village doesn’t release its own sky lanterns on this important festival, it’s very possible they’ve fallen to ghosts or worse. In such situations, neighboring villages might dispatch their bravest members to investigate, bring aid, and, if necessary, provide exorcisms for the unquiet dead.
A lantern making ceremony involves two hours of designing and crafting lanterns, culminating in the lighting and release of them all at once; the winner of the contest is the one whose lantern evokes the most admiration from the spectators.
LANTERN MAKING CEREMONY
CONCENTRATE EXPLORATION
Skill Check DC 19 Crafting
Xiung-Lau decides to participate in the Admiring the Moon poetry contest.
He sticks with it through the whole event, but some sub-par verses early on make him lag a bit behind the best in the competition.
"Hmp," Kwan Tai grunts in sour satisfaction. "The idea is to escape first, Hooli. Keep your mind focused on one task at a time and you might do better than your usual foolishness."