…a knowing look between Vekka and his teammates verifies what’s on everyone’s mind that Vekka is able to put together…
How do you know we would have done nothing. We've learned so much about what is going on in Willowshore since this all began. I think we want the same thing!
If Yami seems dubious or unconvinced Vekka may reference Zoudou's notes as a concrete example of their efforts.
In this desperate situation, Vekka might be trying to convince himself just as much that... they might want the same thing. He hopes.
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"Yeah. C'mon, Lan! The more the merrier, amiright?"
"Yeah!"
Lan will take the lead in approaching Yami with newfound expertise in Diplomacy.
"We want to see, too! Cats aren't the only curious ones. Come on ... I'll scritchy-scratchy your back?"
Nobody knows how that works. Maybe Lan is a polymorphed cat. Or spent his last 9 lives not being a human. In any case.
"There is time enough for back-scratching" she plays coy, but marks the future date none-the-less "Help me Open the Wall of Ghosts - the Monastery lies just beyond!" with a quick circle/bunt around each party member (except Kazuki - whom she pauses a moment to smell...), she dashes behind where she was standing, lights some incense, and starts purr-chanting!
And so, Yami and the party fully cooperate to perform a ritual strong enough and weird enough to break a tiny crack in the mysterious "Wall of Ghosts" that surrounds - traps! - the town of Willowshore from it's neighboring geography!
Cast: 1 day
Cost: rice grains and incense worth 60 gp
Secondary Casters: 3
Primary Check: Occultism or Religion (expert)
Secondary Checks: Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation
She agrees to be a secondary caster to the strongest party member who is at least an expert in Occultism or Religion!
[ dice=Ho Lan's Occultism (T)]1d20+7[/dice]
[ dice=Sigurd Kolphan's Occultism (T)]1d20+7[/dice]
[ dice=Auntie Wu's Religion (T)]1d20+12[/dice]
[ dice=Ho Lan's Religion (T)]1d20+7[/dice] (Shining Dawn)
[ dice=Sigurd Kolphan's Religion (T)]1d20+11[/dice]
[ dice=Kazuki Sato's Religion (T)]1d20+7[/dice] (1)
"Who is the best as magic?"
"Auntie Wu, you may be best at this..." Sigurd looks at the wall. There was something Auntie Wu saw as he fought Zoudou...
That... proceeded quickly.
Vekka gulps and steels himself for the ritual to commence.
I hope we're doing the right thing.
Yami steps back "Okay, one back scratch before we go - for good luck!" she curls up to Lan, and lets the party do their thing!
Level: 2
Cast: 1 day
Cost: rice grains and incense worth 60 gp
Secondary Casters: 3
Primary Check (DC 21): Occultism or Religion (expert)
Secondary Checks (DC 16): Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation
Secondary casters attempt their checks before you attempt the primary check; no matter their results, the ritual proceeds to the primary check. Secondary checks affect the primary check depending on their results.
Critical Success: You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the primary check.
Success: No bonus or penalty.
Failure: You take a –4 circumstance penalty to the primary check.
Critical Failure: As failure, and you reduce the degree of success of the primary skill check by one step.
Sigurd tries, but the spirits are so daunting... visions of Zoudou's dagger distract him.
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Blowing out a deep breath, Auntie Wu steps into the ritual circle. All the hairs on her neck stand on end. Even Mogu is squirming on her head. The energies of life and death are in flux here, and neither of them like it.
She closes her eyes and silently begs: Pharasma, I truly don't know if what we're doing is right. Please show us the way. Please.
Vekka's natural feathers and vellum spell feathers both stand on end as the ritual commences.
Too late to turn back now...
vs DC 21
Lan scratches Yami's back one more time, and scatters the rice grains on the ground. He looks around - making sure that everyone is ready. One by one, he lights the incense, and the aroma fills the fogless pocket.
It's hard to tell whether Lan is asleep or concentrating heavily, but eventually, his eye twitches, and breaks into a smile ...
"I'm going to stay back here, if you don't mind!" Kazuki calls out to the others from behind the bush with a look of worry across his face as they begin to prepare for the ritual. By the sound of his trembling tone, it's obvious to his friends that Kazuki thinks something bad is going to happen.
It opens.
Fogs part and mists dissipate to create what appears as a cylindrical "tunnel" that goes right through the wall, perhaps the height of two of you stacked high in diameter.
The soft night breeze slows to a halt, as if holding her breath. The ambient sounds of animals abruptly stop, and, a nagging, nary imperceptible sensation of being "watched" tugs at the hairs on the back of your necks...
...and without a thought, Yami dashes through, and fades behind a cloud of foggy mist which swallows her!
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There are some things mortals cannot comprehend. But they may observe.
Sigurd draws his katana and shield.
"Not what I had in mind when I volunteered to watch Yami."
He looks to his companions, and then raises his shield before entering the tunnel...
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"I don't like this." Kazuki murmers as the wall opens.
Afraid of what's happening, Kazuki wants to run away, back to the relative safety of the town. He suddenly steels his resolve knowing he can't leave his friends.
Kazuki comes out from behind the bush to join his friends. He cautiously approaches his friends, a worried look on his face.
"Do you think it's safe to go in? Who's going in first?" he inquires with a nervous grin.
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"Hoo!" Good job, guys." Auntie Wu takes a deep pull from her gourd, offering it to the others if they'd like a drop of liquid courage, too.
Shaking her head in a combination of disbelief, exasperation, and sheer overwhelmed-ness, Auntie Wu gives Kazuki a playful punch to the thigh. "We'll tackle it together. C'mon." She begins walking with him through the Wall.
vs DC 30
vs DC 30
Lan lets Yami ride on his shoulder as they pass through the tunnel.
Just when he thought they'd succeeded, Vekka's feathers seem to have a new reason to stand on end. The eye of the storm? The silence before... what?
With much trepidation Vekka attempts to follow the group through the tunnel.
As the party steps through the tunnel, they no longer feel the light of the Eternal Lantern shining bright before them…
A bit freaked out about going into the wall, Kazuki holds Auntie's hand as she leads the way in.
"This is so... weird. We're actually going into the wall? Or is this just a tunnel to the other side?"
The party steps through another world...
...another... ...something...
...and after what feels like an hour, or perhaps a year, or perhaps a minute of travel...
...emerge.
Into a vast grove, itself surrounded by it's own "wall" of "ghosts" who seem to lurk just beyond the mist... ...watching... ...Sigurd and Auntie Wu are the first to arrive...
Behind, just as the others push (or fall?) through, , sealing behind them.
Ahead, what the party recognizes as the Pilgrim's Path unfolds here, but something is different: Less a formal "path" or "trail" and more a simple convenient lower density of foliage that seems to make a "path" relative to the surrounding trees that stand tall. This forest is old. (But how old?!?).
And yet further ahead, perhaps some 150+ feet "northwest", , looking more like it was "placed" than part of the natural course, and reaching, up, up, up.
The players catch their breath - the air is cool, still - and press on the only direction forward...