The Day of Thunder

[Chuchu]

Otaku blinks at the uncanny sight. "Well, that looks... wrong."

Chuchu will sniff at the possible dreamstone, curious to see how corrupted it is. Her face scrunches up as she makes a coughing sound -- yep, corrupted.

(D4EM) Perception/Lore:Corruption rank 3 TN30, Nezumi Scent +1k1 | 6k3 ⇒ 30 (TN: 30) SUCCESS

[Otaku]

Chuchu will sniff at the possible dreamstone, curious to see how corrupted it is. Her face scrunches up as she makes a coughing sound -- yep, corrupted.

(D4EM) Perception/Lore:Corruption rank 3 TN30, Nezumi Scent +1k1 | 6k3 ⇒ 30 (TN: 30) SUCCESS

"What's the matter?"

Otaku's head is on a swivel already; she snaps to attention when the little furry creature makes a weird noise. Is she... sick? Or is that the Nezumi language?

[Chuchu]

Otaku's head is on a swivel already; she snaps to attention when the little furry creature makes a weird noise. Is she... sick? Or is that the Nezumi language?

"It's corrupt," Chuchu answers. "Do you want me to try to purify it now? Or should I sniff for the writer?" She holds up the scroll for emphasis.

[Otaku]

"It's definitely corrupt? Touched by Jigoku?" Reflexively, Otaku pats a spot over her breastbone, where a lozenge of jade hangs under her outer kimono.

Her gaze sweeps the other members of the little group, wordlessly cautioning them to take care around the stuff.

[Chuchu]

"It's definitely corrupt? Touched by Jigoku?"

The nezumi nods. "Mmhmm! I can smell it. Bad bad smell." Again her nose scrunches up.

[Haka Tae-soo]

At the sight of the underground lake and the coloured reflections around it, Tae-soo immediately halts. "This... this is it"

He looks more and more troubled as he hears the small rat-child. A nod. "... this much, and right at the source..." He looks around, shakes his head. How could they even help, with this much corrupted material seeping out?

"Tai-sshi... do you think there's anything that could be done to purify the Earth here? I... I'd like to help if so."

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai takes a long moment to look around. Stone as beautiful as this shouldn't be corrupted, and yet she doesn't doubt what the Nezumi smells. Beauty can be a temptation and deception. Still, for a moment she'll admire it...and trust to her jade.

She shakes off the spell of it, noticing the drowsiness trying to creep in as well. "Hai, I think it would be well to ask if the earth itself has any ideas. If there is, it's likely to need a longer ritual and more than one of us to manage somethin' so large." She looks to Chuchu as well..."But if Chuchu has rituals for purification, that might be a place to build from. But..." she holds up a hand to pause the eager little one. "I think sniffing for anything else left by our writer first might make sense."

She looks to Naraku, "and if you remember where the diagrams were found here, it may be that the water there would show Tae-soo more than it showed me of the writer."

Lowering herself to kneel, she rests her stone knife in her palm and seems to almost purr as she addresses the well-known kami within. She cuts into the meat below her thumb after a few moments, and presses the hand against the ground, the purr becoming more of a growl. "Rouse earth, though this is a place of slumber. Rouse that we might aid you in removin' the corruption creapin' in with traces of the dream realm. How can we help clear the traces of Jigoku, from this place?"

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D4 EM: Commune Earth +1k1 for Friendly kami 2 raises for clarity and 1 for an additional question. | 9k5 ⇒ 58 (TN: 25)

Question 1: straight to the point. How to cleanse the taint from here?

[Canary]

The earth groaned and rumbled. There's so much... So much of it buried in our skin... We will need to be many, with the purity of jade... It cannot return whence it was, but it can be cleansed...

[Kaiu Tai]

The earth groaned and rumbled. There's so much... So much of it buried in our skin... We will need to be many, with the purity of jade... It cannot return whence it was, but it can be cleansed...

Tai nods, asking, "many. We need to call or bring more earth spirits here, particularly those of jade. Will it require the physical stone, or the sacrifices that can call forth jade's purity?*"


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* actual rocks, or much spellcasting in the vein of Jade Strike/enhanced Earth Becomes Sky? Since the GM always has raises active for clarity.

[Canary]

Tai nods, asking, "many. We need to call or bring more earth spirits here, particularly those of jade. Will it require the physical stone, or the sacrifices that can call forth jade's purity?*"

_____________
* actual rocks, or much spellcasting in the vein of Jade Strike/enhanced Earth Becomes Sky? Since the GM always has raises active for clarity.

Yes... You must Purge the Dream of Evil....*

[Clarity: It wants the actual rocks and specifically the Purge the Taint spell.]

[Kaiu Tai]

Yes... You must Purge the Dream of Evil....*

[Clarity: It wants the actual rocks and specifically the Purge the Taint spell.]

Tai nods and thinks a moment. "We hope to do so. But it might be good for this area to wake again. Do you know if there is a way to keep the Dream from bleedin' into the mortal realm here?" After all, there was no guarantee that whatever was coming would actually cleanse all of Yume-do of Jigoku's influence. And clearing the evil here would only be temporary if it kept bleeding back in.

[Canary]

Tai nods and thinks a moment. "We hope to do so. But it might be good for this area to wake again. Do you know if there is a way to keep the Dream from bleedin' into the mortal realm here?" After all, there was no guarantee that whatever was coming would actually cleanse all of Yume-do of Jigoku's influence. And clearing the evil here would only be temporary if it kept bleeding back in.

The die is cast and the veil melts away... The dream and the real will overlap... but dreams may be bound away into legend... leaving only the land...

[Kaiu Tai]

Sitting back on her heels she rummages one-handed in her sack, coming out with a slip of paper to lay on the ground. Murmuring to Akemi..the knife, she uses its tip to scoop at the blood still welling on her hand and write, very crudely, the kami's words; there's no time to mix ink. She speaks them aloud while writing, so the rest can hear.

"The die is cast and the veil melts away... The dream and the real will overlap... but dreams may be bound away into legend... leaving only the land..."

"Sounds a bit like some of Chuchu's talk, hmm?"

[Chuchu]

The little shaman watches Kaiu Tai with wide, reverent eyes, her little tail wagging. What a human strong in Name!

[Hisomu Reo]

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

Reo pulls out some tools, intent on mining some of the Dreamstone.

(OOC: Craft/Mining to take chunks of Dreamstone?)

[Haka Tae-soo]

She looks to Naraku, "and if you remember where the diagrams were found here, it may be that the water there would show Tae-soo more than it showed me of the writer."

Hearing the Crab lady's words, Tae-soo looks at Naraku, then at the lake, as if indirectly asking.

He doesn't speak for now, though, just listening and observing instead as Tai talks to the stones.

"The die is cast and the veil melts away... The dream and the real will overlap... but dreams may be bound away into legend... leaving only the land..."

"Sounds a bit like some of Chuchu's talk, hmm?"

The young spirit-caller nods, very slowly. "Dreams may be... bound."

He seems thoughtful for a long while. "That... I wonder if that's related to that scroll in any way. But then... will that binding have to be done before we can hope to purify the Earth then?"

He looks at Naraku again. "Hiruma Naraku-nim, do you remember where you found the writings?" He then casts his sight on the lake, and it remains there for a long time. The lake must be hurting... but there hardly seemed like there was anything he - they - could do other than healing the Earth itself.

Snip

He looked around. Could they get closer to the lake? Perhaps reach its margin, even?

[Haka Tae-soo]

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?"

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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!

[Hisomu Reo]

Reo looks at the setup and shakes his head at what he sees.

"I really thought it might be easy. But no, no matter what we want to do, it's looking troubling." He points at the stones in the water.

"In theory, someone could swim down, pick one up, and remove them. But that would mean prolonged contact and trying to swim holding something heavy." Reo pauses.

"If we want this stuff out, it's going to take protracted work. I am pretty sure that I can build out scaffolding over the lake on pontoons. Maybe make a crane based out of counterweights to fish out the stones if we can hook them, or have someone swim down purely to fit them on a net. But that would take material and time. With not knowing how to break the cipher" Reo grimaces his teeth after all his rushing. "Perhaps we should regroup, make a plan and come back tomorrow."

Even then, he heads to the water and scoops out a bit, dunking in his jade to see the extent of any corruption.

[Otaku]

"We don't want it out. We want it cleansed." Otaku says quietly but firmly. "Taking any more of this stuff out of this cave than the villagers already have only means spreading the corruption to somewhere else."

She steps back away from Tae-soo so the young priest can concentrate uninterrupted before continuing, "Perhaps most of them didn't know what they have been meddling with. We will see about that. But we know better now than to disturb this place." She looks intently at Tai--and the bloody notes in the old priest's hands. "Close the rift to the nightmare realm, somehow, then purify these cursed stones with pure jade and Earth magic. That sounds like a plan. If we can figure out the first part."

She nods at Reo. "Try thinking instead of how to get enough pure jade and move it all in here."

((Drawing on the fact that this bushi character actually has a bit of Spellcraft to keep up with this conversation... )

[Hisomu Reo]

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."