IsleOfJade/SessionNineteen

Into the Marsh of the Undying Twilight

Yeled: Yukio arrives at the place in the marsh where he and Gao attacked the bandits of the Demon Toad Gang and rescued (some) of the farmer children who had been captive.

He was supposed to meet Gao here, when he had been in on that plan, and on Master Li's suggestion had come here in the hope of catching up to him. It took him hours of running at incredible speeds, but it seems he arrived in time.

Only a moment ago he had heard several voices engaged in speech. By the time he stalked up to the place where they came from, only one person remained...Grunau the Bandit.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader is looking away from Yukio; peering at or past a large, chalk white plinth that marks the edge of the Marshlands of Undying Twilight. He seems uncertain. It appears that he does not want to go in that direction.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader: Somewhere behind the bandit, something screeches in the night. Grunau literally flinches at the sound. He whips his head about this way and that, but has no clue where the sound came from. He starts creeping uneasily toward the white plinth. It takes all his will, but Grunau somehow manages to move past that marker. He literally shivers the moment he does, let's out a terrified but unintelligible sound, and runs clumsily forward. A moment after he does so, he is swallowed up by a dense mist and the marsh grows quiet.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader: It is about three hours until sun up.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader: Unlike Grunau, Yukio was not frightened by the screech of the marsh crow. Yukio had spent years in the marshlands and was used to strange sounds. And he had seen enough marsh crows that he was not afraid of them, even if they were ravenous scavengers and on the large side as crows go.

Yukio walks towards where Grunau disappeared, hoping to inquire about Gao.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader: There is no sign of Grunau now. There is only the chalk-white plinth marking the edge of the Marshland of Undying Twilight and the mist beyond it. All Yukio hears is the chirping of rice crickets and croaking of yellow speckled frogs. ((btw, don't lick the yellow speckled frogs. Sure, you'll see some pretty crazy stuff if you do, but they are highly toxic and you could die. Rice crickets, on the other hand, are considered a tasty snack by the local rice farmers)).

Yukio walks around the area a little bit, in search of anyone.

Grunau, the Bandit Leader: There is no sign of anyone. They have likely entered the mists.

Yukio makes his way towards the mists.

Yeled: Only ten paces beyond the white plinth, the foul smelling, necrotic haze rolls hastily in and obscures your vision beyond a yard or so. All you can see are your own two feet transversing the spongy, sodden ground and periodically sinking from view into wide pools of filthy water, as well as the sparse, greasy weeds that for whatever reason prefer to grow in the most detrimental of places. The light of an unhealthy green moona moon that is much too prominent in the night sky and was not there a moment agoseeps through the haze and provides you an inconsequential glow by which to see; enough only to illuminate the miasma and not pierce it.

There are no sounds here, other than your feet sloshing through the muck. No insects sing in the night. No night birds break the eerie silence. The normal sounds that fill the swamplands even at this time of night, even a few yards back, are notably absent, and this fact alone raises the hairs on the back of your neck. There is something unwholesome about this place. Of that you are certain.

Yukio: "Gao?" Yukio says loudly.

Yeled: There is no response. You don't even hear the chirp, chirp, chiiir-up call of the yellow speckled frogs.

Yukio continues walking through the mist, slowly.

Yeled: To walk through the haze is to walk blind. Its hard to tell where you are going or where you've been. Its hard to tell if you're going straight or if you are veering off.

Yukio makes his way back towards where he believes he entered the mist.

Yeled: ((roll per + survival)) Yukio: [3d10.vs(7)] => [8,4,4] = (1)

Yeled: You turn and make your way in a direction you think is "back." After ten minutes of walking, you realize that you might not be heading the way you thought you were and the mists are all that you see.

It is after many minutes of walking in near total blindness that you hear the first actual sound that originates in the swamp from something other than yourself. You're not sure where you are, or if you could find your way back to the plinth, but you're sure something is in the water with you. It's very close and moved only as you drew near.

Yukio immediately makes his way towards the noise, slowly.

Yeled: It splashes hurriedly through the water toward you.

Yukio draws his blades, preparing himself for what ever is moving towards him.

Yeled: "Is someone there?" asks a terrified voice. It sounds like an elderly woman, but it is faint and hollow. "You must help me. Please!"

Yukio: "Hello?"

Terrified Voice: "I can feel your warmth. I can smell your blood. Can it be that you still live? Oh please help me. They are not far behind. Please lead me from this vile place!"

Yukio: "Who are you? What has happened?"

Yeled: A figure materializes from the haze. She is bent and elderly, and wears the simple clothing of a rice farmer. She is otherwise unrecognizable, perhaps even as human. She lacks any defined features and her skin appears to have been exposed to a terrible fire. Every inch of her body is covered in burnt flesh, and her nose and mouth are completely melted away. Only her white eyes have been spared, and she looks imploringly at you as she stumbles through the marsh toward you, reaching out with bony, burned hands.

Terrified Voice: "I don't know. I'm so confused. I don't know where I am. I'm lost. They're after me."

Yukio awaits her touch. "Who? Who is after you?"

Terrified Voice: "Soldiers... and monks."

Yukio: "How many?"

Yeled: Her claw-like hands take hold of your robe and she clings to you, using you as support for her unstable legs.

Yukio: "Do you know which way they went?"

Burnt Figure: "I don't know. A dozen. Twenty. Forty... But you are a student at Master Li's school!" says the woman, apparently surprised and relieved. "Thank the gods, I am saved."

Yukio: "How do you know me to be a student there?"

Burnt Figure: "I have seen you, many times. But do you not recognize me?"

Yukio: "I... I am afraid not."

Yeled: "It is I, Tam Zyan."

Yukio is somewhat suspicious. A peasant to be handling the pain of burns like this so well... He uses observer awareness method to see if anyone is around him.

Yeled: ((Yukio, roll Perception + Larceny)) Yukio: [7d10.vs(7)] => [10,3,10,8,4,2,6] = (3)

Yeled: Two observers are moving through the swamp in your direction from your left. They're attempting to do so quietly, but you've detected them before they got too close. Tam Zyan is oblivious, and continues her desperate pleas. "Please, we must go."

Yukio: Before he respondes to Tam Zyan's obnoxious whining, Yukio takes off towards the two oberservers to his left, as silently as possible.

Tam Zyan: "Wait, where are you going!" yells Tam Zyan. The moment she says this, the two figures stop.

Yukio continues towards the two figures, drawing his blades should they become necessary.

Yeled: ((Roll Perception + Awareness, Yukio.)) Yukio: [7d10.vs(7)] => [4,3,1,9,7,4,1] = (2) Yeled: [6d10.vs(7)] => [5,2,1,8,4,5] = (1) Yeled: [6d10.vs(7)] => [5,3,1,4,4,10] = (1)

Yeled: Whoever they are, they seem aware of Yukio moving toward them. As he moves toward them, now able to hear them moving in the water, he notices them move to either side of him. They're still out of sight but they are close.

Yukio continues until he can make out their figures, looking for familiarities.

Yeled: The figures move to counter Yukio's own movement, but Yukio manages to get close enough to one that he can see him. He is dressed in the simple robes of an Immaculate Monk of the Lotus Monestary, save that his robe is black as midnight. His head is shaved and his body supple and lean. His skin is pale and white, and he holds in cold fingers a garrote of slick rope.

Black Robed Monk: "Stand aside!" he says in a horse, hollow voice. "We don't want you, we just want the spirit."

Yukio: "A monk eh? You did this to her?" Yukio says, keeping his blades down, but ready.

Black Robed Monk: ((Roll perception + awareness)) Yukio: [7d10.vs(7)] => [3,6,6,4,2,6,5] = (0)

Black Robed Monk: "I doesn't matter who did it to her. She is a captive and slave of Death's Hand. She is none of your concern. Stand aside."

Yukio: "What good is she to you?"

Yeled: Tam Zyan screams! "No! Let me go!"

Yukio: "Release her!" yells Yukio, as a subtle orange aura appears around him, before flickering out.

Yeled: The black robed monk steps slowly toward you. "Don't make a move to help her. I can feel the warmth of your body. I wouldn't mind tasting your blood. Stay very still and let her go, and maybe you'll survive this."

Yukio: "I warn you, I will not hesitate to kill you. However, perhaps we can save us both some trouble. Do you know where Gao is? Or Dawnstar perhaps?" Black Robed Monk: "Gao? You think he would come to a place like this? No. He sends only minions. If you want to find Gao, I suggest you try Tien's Landing." Tam Zyan's cries fall silent.

Yukio: "Very well then, one more question if I might? Which way to get out of the mist, back towards Master Li's school...?"

Black Robed Monk: "Oh, I don't think you want to go there now."

Yukio: "Oh, and why is that?"

Black Robed Monk: "Because," says the monk, "there is no way to the land of the living. Not for a few hours, at least."

Yukio: "I beg your pardon?"

Black Robed Monk: "Where exactly do you think you are?"

Yukio: "The Marshlands of Undying Twilight.... I suppose that explains the name then?"

Black Robed Monk: "You're in the borderlands between the land of the living and the land of the dead. There's no escape back to your land until the light of the sun's rays penetrates the mist. If you last that long. It was enlightening conversing with you. We have what we need. I'll be leaving. Good luck finding your way back."

Yukio: "Hmph...." Yukio is unsure what to do, besides wait.

Yeled: The monk backs away and disappears into the mist.

Yeled: ((Roll Intelligence + Lore)) Yukio: [3d10.vs(7)] => [4,10,5] = (1)

Yeled: Five minutes after the monk disappears, and Yukio is alone in the silence of the marsh, he remembers that Gao's father name is also Gao.

Yeled: ((And Scene)) Yukio: ((God damn it all))

Aftermath

Yeled: It was only after Kiami destroyed the remaining six inanimate statues that the intense, oppressive energy of the room dissipated, and Kaimi fell to the ground either unconscious, or asleep, on the barque. (It's been 5 minutes since the last scene here ended.)

Mou-Shendu looks to where Kaimi had fallen on the barque for a moment. He then turns his attention to Sook, who is badly injured and in the water. Mou hurries toward Sook across the surface of the water. "Ayame, help me."

Ayame swims over to Sook to help

Mou-Shendu helps Ayame pull Sook to dry land.

Ayame: "Uff... he needs to cut down on the snacks"

Sook shrugs off any attempts at help...and as he gets out, you see why....except for the water and the rends in his clothes, it appears as if he has suffered naught from the battle

Sook: "I’m not some old crone....i can handle myself," Sook smirks and heads onto the barque

Mou-Shendu shakes his head and smile in admiration of Sook's incredible healing. Mou-Shendu follows after him. "Of course you can."

Sook: "and i get the feeling....so can she....now...." Sook doesn’t sound entirely thrilled by the idea that things have been flipped, and now he is the 'weak' one

Mou-Shendu looks up where the glowing sun once was, to see how it appears now. He does not reply.

Yeled: The sun's luminosity has returned, although the red sun in its center is gone so that there is now a dark hole in its middle and the sun appears to be a ring of light.

Ayame pulls herself out of the water and looks around "So does anyone know exactly -what- happened?"

Mou-Shendu: "I may have an idea, " Mou replies, but he leaves it at that for now, as he follows Sook onto the barque.

Sook doesn’t hurry up the gang plank, but instead sops up it steadily, "not a clue." Sook looks around for kaimi when he reaches the end.

Yeled: Kaimi is lying in the middle of the deck, directly below the pedestal that catches the liquid sunlight.

Sook hurries a bit, kneeling at her side

Ayame walks over to her and looks down at her limp body, then prods her with a foot "Hey" prod prod "get up"

Mou-Shendu stands back and waits.

Sook slowly reaches out to shake her

Kaimi shifts and her eyes flicker open. For a moment she stares up at her companions as if she does not know them. Then she sits up.

Sook backs away a bit, standing, as she gets up

Kaimi: “Well that was informative. Disturbing, but informative.” Kaimi looks around and blinks

“Informative?" Sook is blank faced.

Mou-Shendu: "You spoke to him, then?"

Kaimi: "Did I miss something?"

Sook: "it was more than that" Sook is kind of looking at kaimi like she might explode or something.

Kaimi: "Speak to... This is..."

Ayame leans forward in front of Kaimi, peering at her silently.

Kaimi stands up quickly staring around her, eyes wide.

Mou-Shendu: "Yes. We have much to share with each other. But first, are you alright?"

Kaimi: "I'm fine. Did I do ... I thought it was a dream!"

Mou-Shendu: "I believe you may have broken the seal that the ancient houses used to take away Jia Bouyu's red sun."

Kaimi: "Huh?"

Yeled: Kaimi sees that Mou is injured, and that Sook's clothing is torn bloody.

Kaimi: "Are you alright?!"

Ayame pokes Kaimi on the nose. "Are you crazy now?"

Kaimi: "Hey! Cut that out."

Ayame: "Hey look what I found" Ayame pulls out a pearl

Mou-Shendu: "If I am right, you may have restored Jia Bouyu's essence to him in some way."

Kaimi grimaces at Mou's last comment.

Kaimi: "No. He's dead." Kaimi turns abruptly to Ayame. “A pearl, huh? Nice!"

Sook is still staring at her like she has three extra heads growing out of her butt

Mou-Shendu glances at Ayame's pearl. He says to Kaimi, "You did speak with him, then."

Kaimi shrugs without turning around.

Ayame scrunches her face up and sticks her tongue out at Mou "Yeah-huh. A horny nymph gave it to me."

Mou-Shendu: "Kaimi, do you know what transpired here?"

Kaimi: “How can I speak with someone who's... Say what Ayame?"

Ayame: "You heard me!"

Kaimi: "... ok then. That was nice of her.... well her loss your gain."

Mou-Shendu sighs. But he knows how to get her attention. "Kaimi. You just battled alongside us, with power to make the exalted quiver. But you don't remember, do you?"

Kaimi 's eyes brighten and she grins widely. "So it wasn't a dream then! HA!"

Mou-Shendu: "It wasn't. And it is possible to speak with the dead... as Dawn Star can. Help me to understand what happened here."

Kaimi: "Did I really do all I think I do remember doing? I mean with the jumping and the shooting rays, hey you know what?" Kaimi, without warning, whirls around and points her swords out toward a half broken statue with a yell. Although Kaimi looks graceful doing this, no rays of light shoot from her weapons.

Sook is continuing to look at her like she currently has active monkeys flying out her butt.

Mou-Shendu: "You did incredible things, Kaimi... but I don't know what it is that you remember. Why don't you tell us... from the beginning."

Kaimi looks mildly disappointed as she resheathes her swords and turns back to Mou. "Well so much for that then. What were you saying now?”

Mou-Shendu: "Help me to understand how you got this incredible power, and why we are all down here," he says patiently. "What do you remember after you reached up for the sun?" Mou gestures toward the damaged orb above them.

Kaimi regards Mou for a moment. Then she looks away. Ss she answers there is an odd tension in her voice. "He died." Kaimi sighs.

Mou-Shendu shifts a little, trying not to glance toward the body strewn akwardly across his coffin in the cabin.

Kaimi notices this and continues. "He was helped along though. That is what I saw." Kaimi turns to face Mou again and her whole face looks tense and harsh

Mou-Shendu returns her gaze with compassion. This is obviously hard for her.

Kaimi: "So when I said it was informative well it was. But only if you want to know what if feels like to…." Kaimi breaks off and she shrugs again.

Kaimi: "Those that were represented by those statues killed him. For doing something wrong. Or something they thought was wrong at least. I don't really know what it was but they said it could not be endured anymore. So they killed him. Simple as that."

Mou-Shendu nods. "This more or less elaborates upon what the murals indicated." He allows her to continue.

Kaimi looks slightly annoyed that this is obviously not enough for him but immediately exchanges the expression for a thinly genially one

Mou-Shendu: "Did he tell you anything before you joined the battle? Did he tell you he would help us? Did you learn anything about your destiny from him?"

Sook: "how did you......do all that....stuff?"

Kaimi: "It was amazing really. They were his friends and they betrayed him but more than that they waited until he was awake to tell him they were going to betray and murder him. I dunno I guess they thought that giving him the courtesy of informing him of betrayal would make it all better." Kaimi laughs shaking her head but her expression turns bitter.

Ayame: "People seem to like those about to be slaughtered to know who is ending them....That they won."

Mou-Shendu frowns for a moment. "I am beginning to believe that the Sun Tyrant may have earned his name, 'Tyrant', only because his betrayers, the ancient houses, were the ones that got to wite the history books."

Ayame: "Kind of like the "Immaculate" Order. Blood-stained more like it."

Mou-Shendu sighs, and decides to offer something of himself to Kaimi -- something that he hasn't spoken of in years. "One of those houses is my ancestry, you know."

Kaimi: "No. As ridiculous as they were they claimed to have a reason for their betrayal. Something about Baoyu's duplicity. They didn't say what it was but we shouldn't rule out the possibly that their complaints were legitimate."

Mou-Shendu: "No. We shouldn't. This temple was originally built to praise Jia Bouyu. Eventually, it became his secret burial ground... a place to seal him and his enchanted treasures away. They left those statues here to guard him, and when you broke the seal that separated the red sun from the rest of the solar essence, the statues came to life..." Mou trails off, as if in thought.

Ayame: "Big deal, hey maybe there's a story about my cool pearl on these walls. Why do you look for that, huh?!"

Mou-Shendu: "What if Jia Bouyu was a fraud...?" Mou's mind races to recall each detail of Jia's origin that were depicted in the murals.

Ayame shuffles behind Mou and pokes her chin over his shoulder "You should look for something about my pearl"

Kaimi: "uh!" Kaimi curls over, hugging her chest Kaimi breaks out in an intense sweat. Her face is literally dripping.

Mou-Shendu: "Kaimi!'

Kaimi: "What the hell!" she grunts out

Mou-Shendu turns to Sook. "Sook, help her! She needs you!"

Kaimi: "Hot. its really hot!"

Ayame: "Hey I konw what to do!"

Ayame grabs Kaimi, hauls her into her arms and tosses her into the water

Kaimi allows her to do this but grabs the side of the pier as she goes in, just to keep herself oriented in the water.

Yeled: The water rushes over Kaimi, and Ayame sees that there is literally steam rising off her body.

Ayame waves her arm at the water, swirling it around, pulling a funnel of water up and pouring it over Kaimi's head

Sook breaks from his stupor, "kaimi! whats happening?"

Ayame uses her other arm as well now, giving Kaimi a waterfall to cool off under. Ayame makes it refreshingly cooool

Sook runs over to look at where she is in the water

Yeled: Kaimi is burning up, but the water helps a bit. Its not a cure, though

Mou-Shendu: "Sook, can you help her?!"

Ayame: "You know I'm mostly doing this so she doens't explode all over, you should still try and figure something out. No rush or anything"

Sook: "i dont know"

Mou-Shendu: "Try."

Sook leaps over the edge and into the water

Mou-Shendu turns to the ceiling, at the glowing essence there.

Ayame: "Well come on, get on with it Sook!"

Sook assesses her situation as best he can.

Yeled: ((roll per + Med)) Sook: [8d10] => [2,1,3,6,5,4,9,7] = (37)

Yeled: From all appearances Kaimi appears to be suffering from an intense fever. The differences lie in that she doesn't describe herself as feeling cold and she is much hotter than any fever you've encountered

Sook lays his large, rough hands on her shoulders, and tries to see if he can help her with the only thing he has the power to activate

Sook: "i dont know what is wrong with her..."

Mou-Shendu: "Red Sun! That is enough! Release her!" He grabs the side of the barque and throws his legs over the side, dropping down beside Sook and Kaimi.

Sook pulls himself out of the water and shakes off his belt...he begins going through the semi wet items looking for herbs and preparations to fight fever.

Yeled: Slowly, Kaimi seems to relax. Steam ceases to rise from her form. She straightens.

Sook looks up from his herbs as she does this

Mou-Shendu squats down above Kaimi on the water's surface. "Kaimi?".

Kaimi: "Ugh. Yuck. What was that all about?"

Mou-Shendu: "Are you alright?"

Kaimi sits up easily as if nothing had happened "Fine."

Kaimi she stretches and shrugs. "Better than fine."

Ayame stops the funnel of water

Sook glances at her again like she’s an alien, and scoops his herbage into his pouches and reattaches them to his belt, which he re-dons.

Yeled: ((Due to a game disconnect, some comments were lost. The following is a summary: Kaimi said she's wet, ayame took credit, kaimi tried a fancy spin move to shake it off, which didn't work...ayame used her power over water to pull all the water from kaimi's clothing))

Mou-Shendu: "Kaimi, there is something I want to show you. Back in the other room."

Kaimi cocks her head "sure."

Mou-Shendu stands on the surface of the water, and starts to lead Kaimi back up the stairs toward the room with the chariot.

Kaimi almost skips over to him, then shudders. "Oh no not the murals again, Mou! There has to be more interesting stuff in this room. Like that sarcophagus. What about that?"

Mou-Shendu: As they walk, he tells her, "You will be interested. For whatever reason, the noble houses at the time took away the Red Sun from Jia Bouyu. They sealed that red sun up there on the ceiling. When you touched the seal on the Red Sun, you freed it. I don't know what it is, but you let it out."

Kaimi sighs.

Mou-Shendu: "When you did that, you vanished. I do not know to where, but somehow, you wound up here again a bit later."

Kaimi: "Just by touching it huh? Some prison. You'd think it would be a little more difficult than that." Kaimi says somewhat sarcastically. "Hang on I vanished? How did that happen?"

Mou-Shendu: "You did. You returned to the room a short time later, and I'm not sure how. Ayame found you, and you were unconscious. The statues along the wall back there started coming to life. They were probably a defense left by the noble houses to protect that seal, so yes, it does seem strange that you broke it so easily." Mou-Shendu leads Kaimi across the chariot room, toward the first two murals he looked at when they entered this room the first time.

Mou-Shendu: "When you awoke, the solar essence was gone from the ceiling. It was surrounding you, and you looked like that..." Mou-Shendu beckons to the mural depicting Jia Buyou when he first appeared with the Red Sun. The glow around him, his eyes rolled back in his head.

On the wall that separates this room from the dark well are a sequence of two images. The second image, divided from the first by the door, shows the Sun tyrant without his normal trappings. All his men are dead and laying on the ground, slain by the monsters and men from the first image. These now hover at the edges of the scene. In this scene the sun has reappeared in the sky and its light is shining on the figure. Faint, translucent images of the leopard and the falcon are literally superimposed over the figure of the Sun Tyrant, giving them a ghostly quality. The red sun that normally appears over the Sun Tyrant’s heart is instead floating above his head in this scene. His eyes are rolled back in his head and a golden aura surrounds him.))

Kaimi: "Well it seems to be gone now. ‘cept that I can do the eye rolling part." Kaimi rolls her eyes up into her head for moment then looks at Mou and shrugs.

Mou-Shendu: "Look here," Mou says, pointing at the mural that procedes this one...

The first, on the left, shows a figure that must be the Sun Tyrant, as it clearly looks like him. But he is not shown with his normal trappings or symbols. The red sun does not appear over his heart, and there is no sign of the leopard or the falcon. Indeed, the sun does not shine on him at all, as it often does. He instead is wearing full plate armor of a dull steel color and leading a group of men brandishing swords against deformed men and strange monsters.

Kaimi: "No glowing aura. So it must be over with. Cept it leaves one hell of a kick with a fever that makes you feel great afterwards..."

Mou-Shendu: "What I'm trying to say, Kaimi, is that I don't think that Jia Boyou did all his heroic deeds by himself. I think this Red Sun is separate from him. It may be a powerful being of some kind. I don't know. Whatever it is, I think it is here, with us. With you. It let you fight like none of us could. Sook, Ayame and I, we were having a tough time battling those statues. We were slowly chipping them away. You smashed them to pieces."

Kaimi: "So... you are telling me that I have an uninvited guest ... what inside me? And it tried to burn me up! How does that work into your theory then?"

Mou-Shendu: "I'm not sure. The fever started after we suggested Jia Buyou was a fraud. And it ended when I demanded of the Red Sun that it stop. And you were left as good as new. It could be a coincidence... but fate sent you down here for something... Look what the Red Sun did for Jia Boyou!"

Kaimi: "What! I was just trying to review the options. This red sun and I are going to have to review some ground rules! Starting with no more fevers just because it doesn't like what I say. Are you sure about this Mou?"

Mou-Shendu: "No. And if I'm right, I don't know what the Red Sun even is." Mou-Shendu starts walking back down toward the others.

Kaimi: "Great. So then with the first rule reviewed, if it turns out to be bad..." Kaimi trails off lost in thought . She eventually follows after Mou, catching up with him easily.

Mou-Shendu walks in silence as they head back down to the barque, letting Kaimi think things over...