Zhēnzǐ watches to see how the others react to his friend showing them his true form. He walks over and stands beside his friend. He produces the fruit that Jing usually requests Zhēnzǐ makes for him when Zhēnzǐ creates normal produce for him and offers it up to Jing.
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Lady Lao nods sagely, trying to keep up a calm facade even though her mind's racing. "Crud. There's another shapeshifter in the village? Do they know about me? Better try and downplay the reveal." Frantic thoughts run through her head as she tries to come up with something normal to say.
"Why...there's nothing to be worried about, young Jing! Kitsune aren't a rare sight from where I come from, though it is rare for your kind to reveal yourselves so you had better keep it on the down-low from the rest of the village. " Lady Lao forces a neutral expression.
"It's a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I doubt there are any more shapeshifters in this village, haha! If you think that your...true form will help these Buso and Jinkins to accept your presence, then all the better!" She says, doing her best to not sound suspicious.
"That might not be a bad idea," Yue says of Jing's suggestion, undisturbed by the kitsune's revelation. He looks at Lao with confusion. "There are several in town."
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Denkō seems rather amused with the transformation: Between me, you, and Zhēnzǐ, we're quite the motley crew, eh? next thing you know we're going to learn Yue and Lao aren't humans either! I can't blame you though, if I could look like a human so easily I certainly would; as proud as I am of my current form; familiarity can really help smooth things over.
That's quite the plan though. Can you turn all the way into a regular fox? having a pair of woodland creatures come deliver spoils probably wouldn't set off any alarms given the circumstances.
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Jing takes the peach from Zhēnzǐ and feels relieved that the others didn'T freak out at his transformation. He replies to Denkō "No, unfortunately no, although I've been trying to find it inside myself."
He takes the spiked tea and approaches the theatrical scene and says "Good morning, fellow spirits! I bring you the best of gifts. More tea!"
Yue takes note of the Buso's posture from hiding in the nearby trees.
Zhēnzǐ stealths and climbs up into a tree that will give him clear line of effect to the buso for shooting his signature bow.
Denkō also stealths, moving into the bush .
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As Jing and Lao approaches, you here the cheers and jeers of the Jinkins all hiding behind the large figure. The Buso looks amusingly at you, and speaks with a slur, "Weeellllll, Yassssss, FINALLY, something no as boring as you lot." He turns back and stares at the Jinkins, and they all back down a little. "eeeelllll, well, wwwwwlll. Always cud youse moreeeeeeeee drankk." His walk is crooked, his posture as well, and he snatches the drink without even looking at it, and starts gulping it down. Immediately he waves you off.
"Blekk Gluakk, this is grosss." He looks a bit annoyed.
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After dropping the gift, Jing and Lady Lao step away from and disengage Buso to hide behind the bushes with the rest of the party, to observe if there would be any effect on him. After the first chug, he clearly becomes a little bit more wobbly, his footing seemingly more uncertain that before. He lurched back toward the bridge, stumbling over himself a few times terrain but he eventually makes it back to his makeshift throne slurring profanities about how awful the drink is and how useless the Jinkins are to him.
After a minute passes, the buso slumps over, and falls off the furniture, unconciously to the ground. It makes a huge thunk noise. For a second the Jinkins look over in silent, but once they realised what had happened, they start screaming and running, as far as they possibly can from the bridge.
From a safe distance, Lady Lao watches the big Buso drop into unconsciousness. She releases a long, held breath that she was holding, the tension instantly leaving her body.
"Phew, looks like the gambit paid off." She whispers to the others. "Quickly!" Pointing a wrinkled yet manicured finger to the Eternal Lantern; "Let's relight the lantern before putting the Buso down. Try not to make loud sounds, he may be unconscious but loud noises could still wake him."
Yue nods.
Denkō nods in agreement as well; he'll quietly move to regroup with the rest before moving towards the lantern with them. That went more smoothly than I thought It would, honestly. Let's hope it stays that way.
As they start to cross south across the bridge, Zhēnzǐ moves to the area where the jinkins were and looks around for clues that might indicate what other parts of town the jinkins that were here have been to before gathering at the bridge.
When they cross the bridge and the others attend to the relighting the lantern, Zhēnzǐ thinks of the stones he created to place the other bridge lantern on.
"Flat rocks are sufficient for the lantern we relit at Ugly Cute's post while he is protecting the town. This is the eternal lantern. It should have something memorable to mark the occasion of it being relit." Zhēnzǐ tells his companions. He walks a bit south from the southern end of the bridge, and a small hazelnut tree appears in the grass by the edge of the the road.
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With the threat momentarily incapacitated, the party moves quickly to the lantern to attempt to relight it. The glowing copper pieces are placed one at a time. As the third one is place, almost instantaneously, you feel as if you've been transported.
The fog lifted, as if it never happened. Sun shines on every part of the town. Birds chirp with some rhythmic harmony, insects buzz. Strong sound of flowing water from the river. All the whispers, and creaks, and howls, seemingly gone without a trace. Additionally, the party feels some form of blessing:
The fourth coin has no effect.
But, realisation hits soon after, the blood still soaks the stones of the bridge, the bodies of the fallen are there, and the unconscious Buso still lies before you.
Along the makeshift throne, there are a few treasures, silver scepter set with semi-precious stones worth 15 gp and a full-pack cantrip deck. The creature itself carries four javelins, a kukri, and studded leather.
Some of the town may feel safe again, but downtown still remains laden with creatures, it would be wise to plan the advance, but knowing the town's faction, both would want to have a different approach. Who would the group prefer to ally with? The traditionalist of Southbank, or the progressives of Northridge.
The jolt of the town's malady lifting shocks Lady Lao like a jolt of electricity. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, she holds it before exhaling. "Ah...now this is the Willowshore I remember. Peace at last." She touches her head a little. "I feel a little more silver-tongued and intelligent than usual, don't you all? Praise be to the Celestial Court for lifting this fog." The Tanuki intones reverently.
Pointing to the Buso, Lady Lao gets the urge to pull another mischievous Tanuki prank. "Now as for him...why not push him into the river? Give him a nice bath, freshen him up a little and with some luck he'll be washed away with the current, never to be seen again." The Tome-wielding Thaumaturgist gestures with her book towards the bank.
Regardless of what happens, Lady Lao stands over the riverbank, watching the now strongly flowing current rush through the structure. But she doesn't just see the flow of water. Lady Lao's eyes dilate as she sees a different flow - the flow of time. She sees timelines where the party were destroyed, devoured and defeated by the powers that have sought to stop them so far. She sees timelines where she never existed. She sees brief - so brief that she barely remembers any of it - glimpses of her party member's past and how they arrived at Willowshore. Oddly enough, she doesn't see any of her past at all. She sees glimpses of the future - and in all of those she witnesses, the progressives of Northridge were the ones leading the rebuilding of the town.
Eventually - whether through her teammate's intervention or after her visions have grown too extreme to bear - Lady Lao snaps back to reality. She voices her visions out loud, focusing on the most consistent feature of the timelines - her continued support of Northridge.
"Hmm? Sonny, what did ye say to me? We should support Northridge, ya know. The way I see things - and being an old lady, I see things real far into the future - Northridge is the best choice. [u]Trust me on this.[/u] " Lady Lao's voice deepens with a serious edge that wasn't there before as she Intimidatingly Glares at those who would prefer a Southbank alliance.
Edit: "Ah yes, we still need to find Ugly Cute. Where was that young lass...what's her name, the Hunter. She said she'd have more information for us today."
Yue watches the sleeping buso like a man watching a poisonous viper or rabid wolf while and until he is decisively dealt with.
”I agree that Granny Hu seems more organized,” he starts. ”But there has always been something about her that makes me nervous. Like she is always holding something back. Old Matsuki always seems genuine. I trust him to help us take back the town.”
Lady Lao’s mortal glare is not particularly effective in changing Yue’s opinion after he has spent the past day facing oni and ghosts.
"How do you see things that will not happen yet for a long time?" Zhēnzǐ asks Lady Lao. He does not pause to wait for her explanation as he continues, "Old Matsuki treated us all with respect and did not question what we had witnessed and done. Granny Hu told us that the Ugly Cute could not have moved and that we were wrong, when all five of us knew Ugly Cute's tracks shows he was not dragged to the river but walked to the river himself. We cannot trust someone who does not trust us to do what is best for the town instead of being what is best for themself personally."
Zhēnzǐ, being aware after saying so many words, that fewer words could make his point clearer, "Old Matsuki seems to genuinely want to help us protect the town. Granny Hu seems more like wanting to know what we can do to help her, and her interests. She wanted us to bring the doctor to where she was. That sounds selfish to me. The doctor was already helping the town from his place. What if Granny Hu insisted that we had gone back to persuade the doctor to leave his patients behind while he risked his life to travel to Granny Hu, or to risk his and his patent's lives because Granny Hu wants to be in control?"
Zhēnzǐ sighs, and tries again.
Zhēnzǐ creates a small twig in each hand, and raises each of them towards his companions, "Imagine each twig is the town and how the town recovers based on Old Matsuki or Granny Hu being in charge affects the town."
His companions see him spread his fingers out on the twig in his left hand, "Old Matsuki in charge," he then grips it tighter in his hand, the twig remaining whole, "the town remains whole." He then moves his fingers close together on the twig in his right hand, "Granny Hu, who is focused on what she thinks is the only important things for the town," as he grips the twig tighter it breaks into two pieces, each falling from his hand to the ground.
I'll throw my proverbial hat in the ring for Northridge as well, actually; aside from it being my home, the considerable amount of injured there has me more worried, I think Southbank is under better control. That, and Northridge has more in terms of facilities that produce the things we'd need to put everything back together; getting them back on their feet first should help the whole town rebuild faster. I must cede that Matsuki seems more genuine and selfless than Hu, though. She's definitely got some kind of agenda.
Denkō thinks on it harder after saying that, before starting to speak again: At the end of the day, it seems that we're going to be the driving force more than either of them, though. Not to toot my own horn too much, but we have, up to this point, basically resolved this situation entirely on our own, even if we've gotten some help in terms of supplies and directions. If things continue to go that way - and I don't see any indication of them not doing that - whatever agenda either party may have shouldn't get too far in the way, and we're going to end up helping that both of them either way. Jing, I believe that means you've got final say in who we side with, then.
"Would not that Southbridge has weathered this curse better be a reason for them to lead the recovery?" Yue asks, puzzled by the kobold's logic.
I was thinking less in terms of who will lead and more in terms of who we should be helping recover. Honestly though, I'd expect neither to be keen on letting the other lead, or otherwise have any control over them; Even at a time like this, you know how prideful people can be about that divide.
”We should be helping everyone recover,” Yue replies. ”Regardless of which side of a river they live on.”
Oh, certainly, you'll hear no argument from me on that front. I meant that we should focus our efforts with Northridge first. It'd be unconscionable to leave either end high and dry, but for the time being we'll have to prioritize one or the other; the handful of us can't fix the whole town at once, as much as I'd like to.
"I agree with Master Denkō. And besides, who better to quickly rebuild a town than a industrialist?" Lady Lao chimes in.
To Jing, the person whose vote decides everything, she decides to play a card in her deck by revealing her true identity. Placing a hand on his shoulder, the old lady begins to speak in a kindly tone.
"Young Jing, you mentioned earlier that you were concerned about the way others may react to your true form. I too...have similar concerns." She snaps her fingers and in a puff of smoke, the medium sized human woman is replaced by a small Tanuki woman, who struggles to lift the medium sized Warhammer in her paws. The loss of height causes her free hand to slip off Jing's now much taller frame.
"By Callistria's sting, I should have stowed my Warhammer before transforming...Yes, I'm not human either. Master Denkō was correct. Now let me be upfront about why I don't support Old Matsuki and the committee of Elders whispering into his ear." Lady Lao spits the term Elders out with a bit of venom. "They will never tell you this to your face, but the Elders would have more reservations towards unsuual races like you and I. Old Matsuki may not express those reservations outwardly, but he listens to those that do. Granny Hu and I don't see eye to eye on everything but I'll take open disagreement over hidden hostility any day."
She ignores Zhenzi and his long-winded ramblings for he did not even give her the time to explain herself. Besides...she's not quite sure how or when she gets her visions.
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Jing agrees with siding with Northridge. Despite Granny Hu's lack of straightforwardness, he's not a fan of Matsuki's traditionalism. Additionally, he is, himself a bit deceptive more often than not. That doesn't mean bad intentions. He makes his opinion heard and looks at
Zhēnzǐ trying to transmit that he's sorry for not siding with him.
In response to seeing Lady Lao shift and shrink down in size, though still larger than he is by a fair bit. "A fox, a raccoon, a squirrel," he looks at Denkō, "are you more like a lizard or a dragon?", then looks at Yue, "Your turn to show us what your natural form looks like."
As Denkō and Yue respond to him, he conjures a hazelnut and starts to unconsciously clench and unclench the hand he is holding it in.
Zhēnzǐ then looks at Jing, his snout slightly scrunched up, then it unscrunches before saying, "We live north of the river."
Zhēnzǐ creates a peach for Jing and hands it to him, "Do not eat it yet." Jing notices that the peach is larger than the peaches Zhēnzǐ has created for him before.
He then asks his other three companions what their favorite fruits are and produces one and hands it to them, telling them to not eat it yet. Like the peach, it is a larger version of a typical fruit of its type.
"There are five of us, so try to make it take five bites to eat the fruit I gave you," Zhēnzǐ tells his companions, as he creates an oversized raspberry in his own hand and raises it in the air above his head, "To restoring our entire town." He waits for the others to raise the fruits he gave them, and after they all do, he takes a bite of the raspberry, then looks at Lady Lao to continue the impropmtu toasts he hopes each of companions will add to.
After everyone has added to the impromptu toasts, Zhēnzǐ asks Lady Lao, Yue and Denkō to each to hold out an open hand, and he creates anoher large version of their favorite fruit in their open hands, which grows larger before their eyes and gets heavier in your hands . "Eat it quickly before the fruit and its healing magic withers away."
He then makes such a peach for Jing and a soft-shelled hazelnut for himself.
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Chapter 2: Reclaiming Willowshore
Pressed on time, and limited in knowledge, the group recoups at the Trade Office to strategize the next steps. At your arrival, cheers and claps all around for the heroes who lit the Eternal Lantern. Kim Gu-Won personally greets you at the entrance, and enquires about the ritual, and how you pulled it off.
Granny Hu, reluctantly admits that relighting the lantern was a good idea, although she would potentially argue if it was more important than reclaiming downtown post-facto. "We can't return Willowshore to normal unless we reclaim downtown!" She paces frantically around her map of Willowshore moving her game pieces, shifting a number of pieces towards the downtown area.
"I admit, I do not have the resources for this expedition, but I trust the heroes who defeated the monsters on the bridge might be in a better position than I am."
Meanwhile, the cleric appears with ten minor healing potions and eight potency crystal talismans. "Something for your troubles.." Granny Hu speaks as the Gu-Won passes the items over. She looks over to the map again, pointing at the armory . "Securing the armory should be prioritized."
Lady Lao answers immediately. "I do love a good Persimmon." Upon receiving one, Lady Lao transforms back into her Human Form and chows down. "Delicious!" She exclaims in-between messy bites.
Upon receiving the impressively large Persimmon, Lady Lao's eyes widen in surprise before she chuckles with amusement. "My my, I haven't had to do one of these in a while. In sharing our food from the same tree (or squirrel), we bind ourselves as sworn comrades. Very well!" Lady Lao lifts her Persimmon dramatically like a drinking cup, looking at each and every member of the party before offering her heartfelt desire. "To returning to our peaceful lives."
"You flatter us, Granny Hu. We aren't heroes - merely townsfolk from both sides of the town willing to take a stand. Of course I'll be willing to reclaim downtown." The older Tanuki says humbly, emphasising the bit about both sides.
The Thaumaturge grabs 2 minor healing potions but when faced with the potency crystal, hesitates. "I'm not sure how to fasten these to my Warhammer." She turns to Yue. "Young Master Yue, do you have any way of doing so?"
Amused, Denkō says: Ha, I was joking earlier when I said we'd learn you weren't a human, that's quite funny. I truly had no inkling that that was the case.
to Zhēnzǐ: We kobolds generally like to think of ourselves as closer to dragons, but me especially - I hatched in one's den. his fruit of choice is a lychee That's a toast I can get behind! We've our work cut out for us, but it'snothing we can't do!
At Hu's: I don't know, I think I could get used to the whole 'hero' thing, even if we're just hearing that to convince us to help more. Has a nice ring to it.
Receiving the mission and gear: The armory, huh? I've never been one much for weapons myself, but I see why that's a priority. Sweeping the stragglers out from downtown shouldn't be too bad.
"Certainly, Lady Lao," Yue answers. He sets down his pack and rifles through it until he finds and removes a leather wrap. He unwraps it reveal a few small tools, twine, copper links, and a few small vials. He looks to the others and considers. "We should split the crystals between us, Lady Lao. From what I've seen, they will serve the others little. We can divide the potions evenly so that we each always have at least one at hand."
He proceeds to affix a potency crystal to Lao's hammer and his own staff. "I've never met a tanuki. Are you a kami like the stories suggest?"
"Certainly, Lady Lao," Yue answers. He sets down his pack and rifles through it until he finds and removes a leather wrap. He unwraps it reveal a few small tools, twine, copper links, and a few small vials. He looks to the others and considers. "We should split the crystals between us, Lady Lao. From what I've seen, they will serve the others little. We can divide the potions evenly so that we each always have at least one at hand."
He proceeds to affix a potency crystal to Lao's hammer and his own staff. "I've never met a tanuki. Are you a kami like the stories suggest?"
"I agree, Young Master Yue. All you youngun's love your magicks too much, I say...at least you're good with your hands and your Khakkara, though I've only seen monks carry such a weapon. I once met this purple and yellow haired nun who was really good with her Khakkara...You thinkin' about joining a monastery?" Lady Lao responds. She starts talking about her past while waiting for Yue to finish tinkering with her hammer.
"Now, I wouldn't say that I am a Tanuki but I do know a lot about them." She blurts out loudly while dropping a hairpin at Yue's feet. "Whoops! Pardon me! Let me pick that up." With a hand and arm that displays the blotches and wrinkles of aging, Lady Lao reaches down to pick up her hairpin while letting her mouth get very close to Yue's ear. "Keep that knowledge on the down-low, Young Master Yue." The old woman hisses into his ear.
"Where was I! Ah yes, Tanuki. I once watched a play about those amazing little creatures. The one I really liked was when a certain Tanuki named Futatsuiwa-sama convinced an entire prefecture of Humans that she was a Kami." She sighs long and hard, as if thinking about a fond memory. "Oh, but the play ended on a sad note when a Human - with the help of some meddling Kitsune - saw through the whole operation and chased her out. The point is...Tanuki aren't Kami, even though many a Tanuki will claim to be Kami."
She admires Yue's handiwork.
Zhēnzǐ accepts two of the healing potions from Gu-Won hands out, "The others can make better use of the crystals than I could."
"We will get downtown back for Willowshore, Granny Hu, and the rest of the town as well."
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The opulent Governor’s Manor, just yesterday the crowning jewel of downtown, has vanished without a trace. The only indication that there was once a building in this empty lot are the two guardian stone lions that once guarded the entrance of the manor. Both have been defaced and damaged. While this is a cause of concern, no matter how hard you look, whether it be via detect magic, survival or searching the area, there seems to be no signs or trace of the manor.
The mural on the back wall of this open-air stage has been heavily chipped and defaced. On the roof of the stage, three jinkins are roughousing, wearing costumes and props, likely stolen from the backstage of the stage, they boastfully shout at each other. "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a human! I'm so scaredd of ghost!'
Looking at the where the governor's manor should be, "Is the governer's place a protector guardian like Ugly Cute?"
As they near and see and hear the jinkins, "We should avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We do not know how many threats are around in addition to those three."
Yue turns to Lao. "We can try to slip past them for now, but it is better to take out the few when they are separate from the many when we find them. And we know the jinkin are not harmless," he says quietly.
Denkō whispers: I must agree; I'm feeling emboldened by our recent success, and the last thing we want are for these to drop in on us while we're otherwise indisposed. If we can find a good position to get the drop on them - and we're sure that they don't have nearby backup - I say we take the opportunity to eliminate the threats. Zhēnzǐ, I don't think they'd be able to clock you as being particularly out of place; would you be comfortable looking around to confirm they're alone?
Yue turns to Lao. "We can try to slip past them for now, but it is better to take out the few when they are separate from the many when we find them. And we know the jinkin are not harmless," he says quietly.
"Fine, let's go squash some bugs." Lady Lao knows she can't sneak up to them. She boldly approaches the enemy with Tome and Warhammer in hand, destabilising her timestream so she can potentially get the jump on all of them.
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Upon observing Lady Lao approach the stage, the Jinkins on the rough shouts out to her below. "Hey! Hey! Look at us, we're ACTORS!", the begin to laugh at their own amusement and start to engage in a play of their own making. One of the Jinkins wears a dress "I'm Xin Yi, I'm a hoooman, look at me, I go shopping, hahahaha." Another Jinkin, dressed as... a Jinkin, like wearing Jinkin masks, goes "Boo!", the dressed Jinkin pretends to fall in fear in some dramatic but bad acting. "Ahh I'm a hoooman, I'm so scared of mighty powerful Jinkins!", they continue the play as long as you observe them.
"That's actually quite funny and charming." Lady Lao remarks, holding back a laugh. "But couldn't you perform somewhere else? We would really like to have our town back."
Lady Lao affixes the Jinkin with an Intimidating Glare.
"I said, we'd really prefer to have our town back...or else." She says with a cheerless, thin smile painted on her face.
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The Jinkins aren't looking for a fight, they moan and groan as the climb down the roof and head off. "Human's aren't very fun, aren't they supposed to be scared of us?"
Someone had the foresight to board up the shrine to the Eternal Rose. Through the cracks of the board, it’s apparent that the ceramic statue of Shelyn inside is intact and well.
[ooc]B14? B15? or skip the bathhouse completely to investigate the other areas of downtown?
Yue frowns sternly as he watches the jinkin withdraw.
Afterwards, finding the shrine of the Eternal Rose boarded, he says, "It could not hurt to have more of the gods' blessings."