The Day of Thunder

[Haka Tae-soo]

"Hisomu Reo-nim... Tai-sshi knows the Earth better than I ever will, so she may know better. But the River and the Rain have been my friend for as long as I can remember, and what my friend has told me is that the cave, and the stones, are hurting the river. So unless we can move the cave from the cave, or move all the stones that make the cave...."

He looks at the water again, wondering, his eyes watching for any ripples.

"I... don't think the Lake would interfere with the cleansing. And it may be that it's not just 'parts of the cave' that need cleansing, but rather the Earth itself here?"

He shifts his eyes to Tai for a moment, as if asking her opinion, before looking back at the water table.

[Hiruma Naraku]

Naraku had remained silent for most of the exchange, before nodding at the Otaku's words.

"Lady Otaku speaks the truth," he looked towards the pool. "The corruption has seeped deep into this cave bringing forth a corruption of sufficient magnitude as to corrupt a whole vein of Jade. Even if we were to purify this it feels as if it would be moot if we do not deal with the root cause of that corruption."

[Canary]

Getting closer to the water if possible, touching it even if so, or still from a distance if not, Tae-soo will start whispering.

"This is the place you've shown me, isn't it, friend? I... we want to help. So now that we're here, I'd like to talk to you again..."

He takes one of the knives hanging from his hip, traces a line on his arm. The blood slowly falls.

"The stories we've heard tell of a two-legged being-of-water, like ourselves, who used to come here some time ago. They'd look around, worry, think, and write of their thoughts, worries and plans. The Water here probably remembers them, friend? Could you, and the spirits of Water here, please tell us more about this two-legged being?"

----
D4 EM - Commune with Water. 3 Raises, 2 for Clarity, 1 for extra question. | 10k5 ⇒ 25 (TN: 25) - my dice on D4, god... XD

4 wounds taken, 5/57 atm.
1/4 Water slots used.

First question of three asked!

The path leads to a narrow ledge on this side of the underground lake, the water coming up to its lip. The water shows an image from its perspective, looking up as a brunette woman in a kimono paces above it. She pauses, and he can see her shoulders shake as if coughing. It's impossible to see the face from the angle it has, and a little hard to interpret build.

[Perception/Investigation TN 25]

[Haka Tae-soo]

The path leads to a narrow ledge on this side of the underground lake, the water coming up to its lip. The water shows an image from its perspective, looking up as a brunette woman in a kimono paces above it. She pauses, and he can see her shoulders shake as if coughing. It's impossible to see the face from the angle it has, and a little hard to interpret build.

[Perception/Investigation TN 25]

The young man tries to concentrate, shifts his footing, looks at the water from a different angle. A strange way to ask a friend to tell you more, perhaps, but that's quite clearly what's happening.

-----
OOC: D4 EM - Inv/Perception. Tradition Keeper. 1 Raise called, 1 VP spent. | 8k5+4 ⇒ 37 (TN: 30)
Passed with 1 Raise!

(2/3 VP spent for the day - 1 here, one at EN)

[Canary]

The young man tries to concentrate, shifts his footing, looks at the water from a different angle. A strange way to ask a friend to tell you more, perhaps, but that's quite clearly what's happening.

-----
OOC: D4 EM - Inv/Perception. Tradition Keeper. 1 Raise called, 1 VP spent. | 8k5+4 ⇒ 37 (TN: 30)
Passed with 1 Raise!

(2/3 VP spent for the day - 1 here, one at EN)

Now that he's looking from a different angle, he can see some identifying marks - it appears to be the village headwoman.

[Haka Tae-soo]

When he makes sense of the marks, he nods to the water, respectfully, as if asking for a moment, then immediately turns his head slightly to the others.

"The scroll... the headwoman. She's the one who's been coming here. But why..."

Snip

Then, casting his eyes on the water again. "This place, the lake, the river... it wasn't always like this, was it, friend? What was it like here... before? Before the corruption, or... before this all started to happen?"

----
Question 2 asked! 1 to go

[Canary]

When he makes sense of the marks, he nods to the water, respectfully, as if asking for a moment, then immediately turns his head slightly to the others.

"The scroll... the headwoman. She's the one who's been coming here. But why..."

Then, casting his eyes on the water again. "This place, the lake, the river... it wasn't always like this, was it, friend? What was it like here... before? Before the corruption, or... before this all started to happen?"

----
Question 2 asked! 1 to go

The water's reflection shifts to show, instead of the surreal effects of the dreamstone, streaks of translucent green in the walls of the cave. Little movements, like the dim reflection of the water on the roof of the cave, move quickly, showing a long time of the area being undisturbed.

[Haka Tae-soo]

The water's reflection shifts to show, instead of the surreal effects of the dreamstone, streaks of translucent green in the walls of the cave. Little movements, like the dim reflection of the water on the roof of the cave, move quickly, showing a long time of the area being undisturbed.

"... Jade, then? And... it got corrupted?", he says, mostly to himself, as one does when told something surprising in a conversation.

He had heard the connection by now, though, so... it made sense. Still led to further questions, of course.

The others had mentioned another group had been coming here... that might be important. But before that...

"And that... it must have happened when the bleeding started? From the dreams? Can I ask you how that happened, friend lake? That bleeding... was it always corrupted? Do you know why, or [/i]what[/i], or who made it happen?"

----
3rd question asked! And we may have a few more, depending (needing another casting, of course!)

[Canary]

"... Jade, then? And... it got corrupted?", he says, mostly to himself, as one does when told something surprising in a conversation.

He had heard the connection by now, though, so... it made sense. Still led to further questions, of course.

The others had mentioned another group had been coming here... that might be important. But before that...

"And that... it must have happened when the bleeding started? From the dreams? Can I ask you how that happened, friend lake? That bleeding... was it always corrupted? Do you know why, or [/i]what[/i], or who made it happen?"

----
3rd question asked! And we may have a few more, depending (needing another casting, of course!)

It shows many years, but the passing of time finally slows down to show an image of a very tall woman with gracefully curving horns and hair made of green flame and lava. Her outfit looks like it's made of ash and stone cracked to reveal veins of glowing green. She smirks as she surveys the lake from the spot Tae-soo currently occupies. Then she looks down into the image, directly into Tae-soo's eyes, and winks.

[Haka Tae-soo]

The unsettling visage seems to draw the young spirit-caller's face even closer to the water. He squints slightly, but keeps unshaken as his eyes meet the woman covered in green flames, The wink makes him furrow his bow, then blink... and the image is probably gone by then.

"This woman... tall. Horns. Hair of lava and green flame. Wearing... ash? And glimmering veins of... something, green." Again, he doesn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular. "Who is she?"

He might have heard rumours about the harbonger by now, but right there, right then, he was drawing a blank. Maybe it was the unflinching stare, maybe it was the wink.

But maybe someone around might make the connection.

"That still leaves some questions, though..."

His feet unwittingly bring him even closer to the water, and the knife to his skin again. The palm of his hand, this time. As soon as the blood flows, he sets it to the surface of the water, as if caressing it, or embracing a friend.

"Thanks, friend. For all that. We will do what we can, that we will. To heal you, that which touches you, and all that you touch..."

"If you'll allow me a couple more questions so we can do that, friend..."

The blood mixes into the water, starts creating patterns of the water's own volition.

"There were... others here. Other two-legged beings of stillness-and-flow. Other than us who visit you today. After this fire-green lady, after the artist drawing and writing by your margins. But before those of us who visit you now. Do you... know these other two-legged still-stream beings, friend?"

-----
D4 EM - Commune again. 3 Raises for Clarity this time (so only 2 questions). 4 wounds (to 9, 11 after EE), 2/4 Water slots used (3/4 after EE). | 10k5 ⇒ 61 (TN: 25)

1 question asked. 1 to go.

[Kaiu Tai]

"Well, if it wants stone to purify it, I have been meaning to take samples to work on."

Reo does his very best not to roll his eyes

"We need them out of the water to cleanse it no? That was the point of what our priests have said. Otherwise, we are throwing in a load of jade to do absolutely nothing then, no?" Reo points to the deposit over the water. "And even if you are willing to dump an Empire's fortune worth of jade in to this project what happens when there is an earthquake and more falls in? If we are going to invest a fortune, perhaps we should do it right."

"It means we will need to bring clean jade to purify the space, all the space, not just the water. I know of a way to cleanse small areas, a ritual. But for so much...I can understand it needing something more. No point in tryin' the ritual on a small space at a time and havin' corruption bleed back in from the space you weren't workin' on." She pauses a moment to modify blunt words, not everyone has any understanding of how the spirits work. "If I can convince the spirits to toss a rock over a hill, I can certainly convince them to purify stone beneath the water. They can stay where they lie. Nobody should risk themselves pryin' 'em out, even if it pains me to see the earth rottin' like this. A day, a week, such time won't matter much to spirits of earth or water."

She listens to Tae-soo, nodding...the headwoman would match the hands the water had shown her, most likely. And it offered a likely target for Chuchu's nose. Quietly, and without moving, lest vibration of the stone disturb the water, she asks, "Chuchu, have you caught the headwoman of the village's scent before? To match against these papers?"

[Chuchu]

Listening to the humans, Chuchu considers things. If the source of the corruption needs to be blocked before this place can be purified... she hugs the scroll to her chest, ears lowering. She loses herself to her thoughts.

And then all at once they perk up as her eyes grow wide. Her tail begins to vibrate as she chirps out, "Grandmother!" Scampering over to Tai, she holds up the scroll, jumping up and down excitedly. "Grandmother! The scroll! The scroll!" She starts chittering, talking fast, repeating squeaks often, eyes boggling as the understanding hits her. "Grandmother, this place and its dream are about to overlap overlap! But! The scroll scroll! You can put the dream dream into the scroll scroll! And then they can't overlaplap!"

Once she's got it out of her, Chuchu can't help but fall on her bum onto the ground, cheeping.

"...is she the lady who made this scroll? I don't think I've met her... oh... I'll sniff for her soon soon... one minnit..."

[D4EM] Intelligence/Lore: Spirit Realm (Yume-do), Can the connection be closed? W/ Bless Name active for reroll if fail + Name point | 7k4 ⇒ 31 (TN: 30, adjusted by Canary) SUCCESS

3/4 Name left for today

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai looks up, startled, at the little ratling's vehemence. "overlap...so something even more than the constant bleed of Yume-do into this realm?" The ways the realms work is not her strong point. She'd like to bring that Yuzuru in to look at all this too, but that could wait. "Locking that piece of the dream realm onto the scroll sounds really interesting though.

She rises, brushing her hands off a bit. "sniffing her can happen back in town, neh?" she says, reaching to help Chuchu up mostly on instinct before wondering just when she decided to let a ratling touch her.

***********
ooc I imagine that will feed into the later thread some folks have for figuring out the way these work. The joy of PbP and all things happening at all times.

[Hiruma Naraku]

Naraku's brow wrinkled with each of the discoveries they made. The headwoman had written the scroll and the cave had been, as he had guessed, a jade mine that had been corrupted by a great evil. The question that remained was if the second page of the scroll was of help or not.

"To purify this place we should first eliminate whatever I caused Yume-Jigoku to seep in such great quantities here," he commented. "It's not the best of answers but this influence managed to correct a mine full of jade."

"Locking a dream in a scroll..." he pressed his finger on his chin. "How do you take a dream and you tie it down?"

His head was hurting from the hypotheticals.

[Haka Tae-soo]

Snip

Question up here!

(OOC: Had posted on GM Request yesterday, but I hadn't tagged, so doing it now! One question asked and one to go, so as we're already on D5 it's probably good if we deal with them soon

Thanks!)

[Canary]

The unsettling visage seems to draw the young spirit-caller's face even closer to the water. He squints slightly, but keeps unshaken as his eyes meet the woman covered in green flames, The wink makes him furrow his bow, then blink... and the image is probably gone by then.

"This woman... tall. Horns. Hair of lava and green flame. Wearing... ash? And glimmering veins of... something, green." Again, he doesn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular. "Who is she?"

He might have heard rumours about the harbonger by now, but right there, right then, he was drawing a blank. Maybe it was the unflinching stare, maybe it was the wink.

But maybe someone around might make the connection.

"That still leaves some questions, though..."

His feet unwittingly bring him even closer to the water, and the knife to his skin again. The palm of his hand, this time. As soon as the blood flows, he sets it to the surface of the water, as if caressing it, or embracing a friend.

"Thanks, friend. For all that. We will do what we can, that we will. To heal you, that which touches you, and all that you touch..."

"If you'll allow me a couple more questions so we can do that, friend..."

The blood mixes into the water, starts creating patterns of the water's own volition.

"There were... others here. Other two-legged beings of stillness-and-flow. Other than us who visit you today. After this fire-green lady, after the artist drawing and writing by your margins. But before those of us who visit you now. Do you... know these other two-legged still-stream beings, friend?"

-----
D4 EM - Commune again. 3 Raises for Clarity this time (so only 2 questions). 4 wounds (to 9, 11 after EE), 2/4 Water slots used (3/4 after EE). | 10k5 ⇒ 61 (TN: 25)

1 question asked. 1 to go.

It shows another reflection up from the water, showing the party that investigated the cave most recently.

[Haka Tae-soo]

It shows another reflection up from the water, showing the party that investigated the cave most recently.

(OOC: Just to clear up - can I see 'who' that was exactly? Anyone other than those of us there now? Asking b/c it had been mentioned that people other than PCs would have been visiting, and I kinda tried to include in the question that I'm asking about people other than those of us who went now. I called 3 Raises for clarity hoping to get that through... but there may be an OOC misunderstanding on my part there! Thanks!)

[Haka Tae-soo]

Snip

He nods as he looks at the surface of the water and tries to figure out who he might recognise among the figures moving in it. Then, his hand still spread across the water, he speaks again.

"I see. Thank you, spirit of the source, thank you friend. One last question today, if I may. This lady of green flames you showed me. Has she visited after that first time? Could you tell me about the last time you saw her, and what she was doing then?"

----
Last question. Not expecting much, but who knows

[Canary]

Snip

He nods as he looks at the surface of the water and tries to figure out who he might recognise among the figures moving in it. Then, his hand still spread across the water, he speaks again.

"I see. Thank you, spirit of the source, thank you friend. One last question today, if I may. This lady of green flames you showed me. Has she visited after that first time? Could you tell me about the last time you saw her, and what she was doing then?"

----
Last question. Not expecting much, but who knows

He can see the flaming figure scowling as she entered the cave. She looks into the water and then, with little fanfare, jumps in.

[Chuchu]

She rises, brushing her hands off a bit. "sniffing her can happen back in town, neh?"

"Locking a dream in a scroll..." he pressed his finger on his chin. "How do you take a dream and you tie it down?"

"Mmhmm!" Chuchu's little hand feels strange, with its fleshy bumps on the palms, but it's as warm as any other child's. "I can do it! I can helping help!" Her little tail wags again as she opens the scroll and begins explaining the theory behind the binding she's suggested, but... it's almost painfully difficult to follow, especially given the longer she goes on the more words of her own tongue get peppered in.