Kwan proceeds with his somber and earnest efforts to provide an honorable burial for the deceased. "It seems strange that the cloak doesn't show any sign of decay." When Nínghu examines it closer, Kwan agrees with the unspoken idea. "Infused magic counters time and age."
When the graves are dug and the remains placed in them, Kwan offers a prayer to Shizuru to request her light be granted to the fallen. "Goddess of the sun, may your sunlight lay upon the fallen and grant them light for their journey to the afterlife."
Kwan glances at the rest of the party to see if they have any words or prayers to aid in the spirit's passage. Then, Kwan finishes the burial proceedings by covering the graves with dirt and rocks to provide some protection to the final resting place.
Giving the two bodies a proper burial seems to have the desired effect as you each feel a faint sense of gratitude and an easing of burdens.
Spending some time, you identify the cloak and name it as Hongrui's Gratitude
"Are we finished out here so we go back now, or is there anything else we must do first?"
Ayane sings a traditional burial song during the burial ceremony Kwan leads.
Ayane sings a traditional burial song during the burial ceremony Kwan leads.
The Sylph closes her eyes as she hums along. A sudden breeze fills the area, cool, relaxing. Comforting
Níng smooths the last of the earth over the new graves and straightens, resting both hands on his staff. The cool breeze moves through his whiskers and he closes his eyes briefly.
"My teacher used to say- 'the river does not wait for the thirsty man to finish his other errands.'"
He picks up his pack and looks toward the road.
"Gourd Lake, then. While we have the light and the will to use it."
Kwan looks closely at the cloak along with the rest of the group. "Does anyone want to claim it?"
"Gourd Lake isn't too far. Plus, heading that way gives us the opportunity to test the mists every so often to see if there is a path to the east."
Following the road South to Gourd Lake you're able to make good time, eventually though the way becomes blocked by the impenetrable fog forcing you into the jungle. Though you make decent time and aren't at risk of getting lost skirting the fog line you're able to push through to the other side and arrive at the Southern road by nightfall.
Your brief trip through the woods is uneventful.
Looking around the area Ayane pipes up, "This seems as as good as any spot to make camp for the night. I can whip up a quick meal!"
Like Ayane, Kwan looks around the area surrounding Gourd Lake for any clues about where the missing boats might be. "It can't be too hard find some boats. They will be hard to fully hide."
Níng sets his pack down at the edge of camp and turns toward the water, scanning the shoreline in the failing sunlight and under the rising moon.
The lake is still, the full moon cutting a pale line across its surface.
He moves along the bank quietly, reading the ground the way he reads a patient- looking for what does not belong.
"I will walk the shore before we sleep," he says back toward the others. "The boats did not vanish. They went somewhere."
He ventures, not out of voice range of the camp, finding restoration in the peace of the moment.
Ren has yet more questions. Since Ayane seems very outgoing, She asks the Tanuki. She also offers to help with cooking.
"The mist, why is it a barrier? Is it not possible to penetrate it, like a wall? Or is it harmful to those who go into it, like a poison?'
Kwan proceeds with his somber and earnest efforts to provide an honorable burial for the deceased. "It seems strange that the cloak doesn't show any sign of decay." When Nínghu examines it closer, Kwan agrees with the unspoken idea. "Infused magic counters time and age."
When the graves are dug and the remains placed in them, Kwan offers a prayer to Shizuru to request her light be granted to the fallen. "Goddess of the sun, may your sunlight lay upon the fallen and grant them light for their journey to the afterlife."
Kwan glances at the rest of the party to see if they have any words or prayers to aid in the spirit's passage. Then, Kwan finishes the burial proceedings by covering the graves with dirt and rocks to provide some protection to the final resting place.
Yuranosuke bows his head and adds a prayer to Tsukiyo in turn.
"God of the moon, soothe the pain of the lost and be a light to them when all other lights have gone out."
Then he joins Kwan in completing the burial.
When they approach Gourd Lake, he stops for a moment.
"The kappas from the bathhouse mentioned they live here. We're going to need some cucumbers. I doubt they are responsible; they were easygoing when given respect, but what they have or have not seen will be valuable information all the same."
"Evil mist, makes you conbobulated. Confused. Turns you around. Not the relaxing mist when we fish" she gives her view "I want to go fish with father again, but when the good mist is back" she huffs
Shen you walk yourside of the shore, luckily with it being a clear full moon tonight, there is actually a fair amount of light reflecting off the lake, with your low light vision it might as well be dim daylight.
However your examination reveals what looks to be the boats in question. . .on the far southern side of the shore.
Níng follows the bank until the moonlight opens up across the water, his eyes adjusting easily to the reflected light.
He stops. There.
He stands a moment, looking across the lake at the dark shapes huddled on the far shore, then turns back toward camp.
"I found the boats," he says, matter-of-factly. "They are on the southern shore- the far side."
He glances at Yuranosuke. "If your kappa friends live here, now might be the time to ask about cucumbers."
Ren has yet more questions. Since Ayane seems very outgoing, She asks the Tanuki. She also offers to help with cooking.
"The mist, why is it a barrier? Is it not possible to penetrate it, like a wall? Or is it harmful to those who go into it, like a poison?'
"Thats the tricky thing! we don't know much about the mists! after the initial days after the Reenactment Festival, after we cleared out the monsters, we were asked to go and find help. As we left town the mists rolled in and WE GOT LOST and somehow were right back where we started. It was SO WEIRD! Oh! and we had stayed on the road out of town the whole time. Something strange is happening we just dont know what." She mused on the last part and chewed slightly at the end the cook spoon handle.
Níng follows the bank until the moonlight opens up across the water, his eyes adjusting easily to the reflected light.
He stops. There.
He stands a moment, looking across the lake at the dark shapes huddled on the far shore, then turns back toward camp."I found the boats," he says, matter-of-factly. "They are on the southern shore- the far side."
He glances at Yuranosuke. "If your kappa friends live here, now might be the time to ask about cucumbers."
"Yes, indeed."
"We should probably see if the markets have some cucumbers to buy, or if one of the townsfolk can spare a few," Yuranosuke says. "We can make camp and return tomorrow."
"Give them their treats and they will help us, I agree. If they can get us across safely without the evil most turning us around, it would be best"
Níng returns to the fire and settles cross-legged near the edge of it, close enough for warmth, far enough to still see the lake. The moon sits fat and bright over the water.
"Town, then cucumbers, then kappas, then boats..." he says, mostly to himself. He reaches into his sash and begins sorting through his herb bundles with two fingers, an old habit. "There are worse plans."
He glances toward Ayane. "What did you make for dinner?"
Agreeing to camp for the night under the stars by the lake, it isn't long before camp is set up, a fire crackling, frogs croaking and bugs buzzing.
The night passes by without incident, In the morning you tread a familiar road though last time you were on horse back and it went much faster the last time. At least you cleared a shortcut which cuts down on your travel time, you make it back to Willowshore after about 8 hours of walking. Its mid afternoon, but your able to make it to the market and procure a couple of cucumbers.
Free of charge too, as the one selling them is the same family you rescued from being held hostage by Jinkin Gremlins and returned their run away daughter.
Ren is somewhere between troubled and bemused by all the things she's learning about the forest.
The dead rise as stick bundles, murders maybe, the mist, cucumbers...
"Has the forest always been so strange? Aside from the mist I mean, that I know is new. But I never thought of it before as such a weird place. Granted I have rarely entered it, and then only a little to gather wood. But I don't recall the forest as something that was ever talked about as so... mystical?"
Kwan tries to assure Ren that the group of them can handle what's in front of them for the good of the town.
"One of the reasons Willowshore has continued the tradition of the Reenactment Festival is to keep spirits and ghosts away. Keep them focused elsewhere. Perhaps, this year's festival wasn't successful for some reason. Or, perhaps, the spirits came to Willowshore just because. And, mists certainly aren't that strange around here. But, mist that you can't walk through is new to all of us."
Kwan pauses, unsure if he is helping. "Spirits, ghosts, mists, and whatever else. We can face all of it if we stick together and face it as a group."
"Since we are back in town we should check in with both Granny Hu and Old Matsuki. Then we can rest up here for the night and head back into the forest and the lake in the morning?"
"If everything wasn't so mean and nasty, I would say it was fun. But they aren't, so it isn't" she crosses her arms in a huff
Kwan nods in agreement with Ayane's suggestion. "Some rest would do all of us well. And, yes, we should certainly inform the town elders of our progress."
"Yes," Yuranosuke replies quietly.
Níng rises, brushing off his knees, and shoulders his pack.
"Granny Hu first," he says. "She will want to hear what we found at the inn."
He falls into step with the others, staff finding its rhythm on the road.
Holding your bag of fresh cucumbers, you guys head to the Northridge to find Granny Hu, asking around you're eventually direct to the Trade Office (W21) where you find her conferring with her right hand aide, the Kofusachi cleric Kim Gu-won.
Looking up from a map of willowshore and the surrounding area, she asks sternly, "You're back, good, what do you have to report? Did you find the missing governor yet?"
Yuranosuke bows to Granny Hu as they enter.
"Regrettably, the inn's ruins showed no sign of having been disturbed or passed through recently. Wherever the Governor is now, he did not travel that way. There were unquiet spirits there that attacked us, but they have been laid to rest."
Frowning, "unpleasant news, confirms there was angry spirits still from that nasty business but they had no part in the Governor's disappearance now,"
She spreads the map thing again, "look here, we need to determine if this fog is preventing us from reaching the Coast and Karahai or if it has trapped us entirely. It'd be long, dangerous and pointless to walk the edge of the fog for the whole region, no. Instead, I think you pay a visit to the Great Willow(W29) and beseech the spirit that lives in it for whatever wisdom it has on what's affecting us,"
Ayane in the moment of Granny Hu's request ot visit the Great Willow completely forgets everything she has ever learned out the ancient tree
Níng listens to Granny Hu with both hands resting on his staff, ears angled forward. When she finishes, he dips his head in a quiet bow.
"We will go to the Great Willow."
Something stirs at the back of his memory- old stories, the kind passed between travelers at roadside fires.
"The Great Willow is old," he says, more to the group than to Granny Hu. "Older than the town, if the stories are right. The spirit that lives in it is not easily roused- and it notices those who come without respect." His whiskers shift. "The cucumbers may have been better spent here." A broad smile crosses his face, and a light chuckle at his own dry humor.
"We should bring some sake with us to appease the spirit, and a shimenawa if one can be made. These types of spirits often have use for such religious emblems"
He glances toward Granny Hu. "The boats on Gourd Lake- we found them on the southern shore. Something moved them there and kept them from returning. You should know that, whatever it means."
"Oh the Tree Spirit! I like hearing the wind Russle through the trees. I'm sure a tree spriti will like that too" she agrees with a big smile
Kwan attempts to remember anything about Great Willow that would help the party. "Normally, the town brings a gift of sake or wine to show our appreciation for the kami." Turning to Shen, Kwan frowns slightly at the unknown term. "What is a shinenawa? I don't believe I am familiar with that."
Yuranosuke smiles a bit at the mention of the Great Willow.
"The Willow is a treasure of this town," he says. "I climbed it once as a kid, and I've meditated beneath its branches once in a while. The spirit never appeared to me, though. I think I was so quiet my presence didn't disturb it...or if it did, it knew I was there to simply be within nature and left me in peace as I left it in peace."
He pauses.
"But yes. If we are to propitiate it instead of simply visit, an offering will be important."
"Dad said I'm a child of the storm, so not sure how the spirit would like me, but I'm happy to contribute in any way I can" she smiles happily
Kwan isn't certain he can help, but he attempts to assist in the construction. Perhaps, between him and Yuranosuke, they will help out.
Ayane can also help with the crafting of the Shimenawa. "Weaving can be very fun and also relaxing, my mama always was weaving ropes, or baskets, or sleeping mats..." Ayane keeps talking and rambling on about weaving while the party crafts the shimenawa.
Ayane, Kwan and Yuranosuke work together to make a pretty nice quality shimenawa that you believe will make a fine offering.
Setting out, its only a 25 minute hike up the hill to reach the Great Willow, its about a mile but all up hill. As you start to reach the top The forest thins around the hilltop, leaving an eighty-foot-diameter clearing at its summit. Atop the hill in the center of the clearing grows the Great Willow—the only willow tree present in much of the forest. Looming at a height of nearly ninety feet, the Great Willow is also quite large for its kind. Yet the reason the Great Willow has held such a place of reverence in Willowshore’s history has more to do with the spirit said to dwell within it. At least a few years have passed since anyone has visited the Great Willow, but even from the clearing’s edge, it’s apparent that something seems amiss with the tree, for some sort of gray fungal growth has seemingly infested its lower roots.
Standing there, admiring the tree, a small wood like creature emerges from the roots, standing defensively, tiny fists upraised ready to defend its tree. It isn't much taller than Ayane. Before you're able to get within 30 feet of it, it calls out "Who are you that dares approach the Great Willow!"