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."
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
Li Jie happily takes out his trusty tools and begins making lanterns!
Xiung-Lau comes up a bit short in the admiring the moon competition. Kwan Tai wings the bundle-cutting contest, to the townsfolk's delight. Lie Jie does well a the lantern-making contest, but Yo So-Jin of Graveside Manners slightly edges him out for the grand prize. Still, Lie Jie is rewarded with three elixirs of life.
The festivities last long into the night, but unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The next morning, it's back to preparing Willowshore for the winter to come...
DOWNTIME MANIPULATE PREPARATION
You spend the week cleaning, repairing, and restoring the Cerulean Teahouse. Attempt a DC 19 Crafting, DC 21 Architecture or Labor Lore, or DC 24 Athletics check. If you expend 10 gp on resources to help, increase the result of your check by one degree of success. Once the PCs earn a total of 5 Restoration Points, the Cerulean Teahouse is fully restored; they earn 80 XP and 1 Reputation Point with both factions.
Critical Success: You make excellent progress, and the PCs gain 2 Restoration Points.
Success: You make normal progress, and the PCs gain 1 Restoration Point.
Failure: You fail to make any progress.
Critical Failure: Setback! You’ve accidentally damaged the building, and the PCs lose 1 Restoration Point.
The Nagaji is seen whistling while he sweeps!
Blue decides to help his struggling Alchemist.
Kwan Tai returns to his forge, putting in some work on his own gear, but still doing what he can to fortify those militia-members willing to keep up through rigorous drill.
Xiung-Lau spends his days reinforcing the buildings around town against the coming winter weather.
Though he found his studies with Igawa Jubei insightful, Xiung-Lau resumes studying alone in the eveings ... well, with Crawler, at least.
You make no progress on the research, but make significance strides towards fortifying the town.
***
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.
Kwan Tai examines the hairs, but can make neither head nor tail of them. "Hooli? This seems like your sort of japery," he says, hoping it is a mere prank and not something more in Xiung-Lau's domain.
"This hair has been plucked from the root, not cut ... although I am not sure what that signifies." He casts detect magic to see if he detects anything mystical in the area, and will attempt to view the buns with the hairs themselves with read aura in case it can detect anything.
To Mama Boa, he says, "You prepare the buns daily, I assume? Are they left unattended at all? Perhaps to cool?"
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"Not the buns!" Hooli cries, racing ahead of the others to the shop to investigate. She doesn't mind hair that much -- when you have fur like a kitsune, you get used to it to a degree -- but the buns are good enough that she doesn't want them disrupted.
She looks and sniffs around to see if there's anything else she might be able to find in the rafters.
The Chirugeon ponders the misplaced hair in buns mystery....
Appears that we may be dealing with premature spontaneously balding critters. Only in Willowshire.
The Nagaji does follow Hooli 's plan.
Mama Bao confirms that she leaves the buns unattended at night. Hooli and Lie Jie sniff around the shop but don't discover anything unusual. Perhaps the culprit may reveal themselves overnight.
Xiung-Lau holds up his spider. "Crawler would make an excellent spy for the evening and can alert me to any intruders."
The Nagaji finds some plush cushions to slither into for the stake out....
"I am not a man of subtlety; I will wait for your shouts."
You wait in the shop as night falls, keeping a wary eye out. 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...
Li Jie frowns at the obviously upset, although distasteful apparition.
The Alchemist writes down his suspicions, passing it to Hooli.
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In fox form, Hooli shivers at the creepy apparition. She decides to just wait and see if they ghost leaves -- as she suspects -- so they can discuss what to do. She sniffs at Li Jie's note, but doesn't react any further, trying to maintain the impression she is nothing more than a simple fox here to bring good luck.
Perhaps the note will contain something useful they can discuss later, some way to turn the ghost away.
Xiung-Lau is aware from his empathic connection to Crawler that something is happening inside and taps Kwan Tai to listen carefully if there's a call for help or anything.
As you sit and watch, the ghostly woman completes her uncanny rite over the course of a minute. Then, she fades away.
As Xiung-Lau joins together with the others and hears the information, he nods to Hooli. "Yes. Perhaps she and the herbalist had some animosity toward each other, and this is some sort of lingering revenge." He shrugs, clearly uncertain of the guess.
Li Jie nods at Hooli 's suggestion.
Anyone skilled at ghossst hunting?
When Mama Bao returns to open the shop, she is disappointed to find the long hairs in all of her baos again. When you mention your suspicions of the culprit's identity, however, Mama Bao grows pale and then curses in shock as the pieces fall into place.
"Hinode Akari... I remember when they found her body. A few nights before that day, my grandfather came into a sudden windfall of money which he used to build this shop. He told my parents that the money came from selling an old collection of wigs to a puppet maker in Sze, but I recall how evasive my grandfather had been. So that must mean... He killed Akari and took her hair to sell! Oh, how awful!"
"But this has not been a problem prior to now? Has anything happened recently that could explain why the spirit has suddenly become restless and seeks some sort of revenge?"
Mama Bao shakes her head. "Nothing that I can think of. Can you try to speak to Hinode's spirit? Maybe you can apologize to her on my family's behalf to try to grant her peace."
Xiung-Lau nods. He glances at the weapons of the others. "If it should turn to combat, do your weapons have ghost-touch runes to affect a spirit? I can summon my spiritual armaments."
Once everyone has done any preparations, Xiung-Lau also waits within the building with the others until the spirit arrives the following evening.
Kwan Tai sighs. "My hammer will not work, but Ugly Cute's Gift should suffice."
The Alchemist seems a bit busy preparing for the inevitable combat with a ghost....
Item 3
Source Player Core 2 pg. 285
Price 10 gp
Bulk L
You gain a +1 item bonus to attack rolls. The bomb deals 2d8 vitality damage and 2 vitality splash damage, and the target is enfeebled 1 until the start of your next turn.
The Nagaji actually does whistle as he works.
Before having a conversation with a Ghost, the Alchemist hands a Numbing Tonic to Kwan.
Drink this so when you fall down you can get up again.
You wait until night falls again. Sure enough, an hour after midnight, the ghostly woman appears again, sending her hair to infest the latest batch of baos...
When Hooli calls out to Hinode Akari, the ghostly woman suddenly whirls on you and 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!