Treebore
First Post
This is my write up of our latest Legend of the 5 Rings 4E session. It lasted over 7 hours and has 4 players, and my daughter is the GM. I wrote this up on another forum, so am copy/pasting it all as one post here.
Had a really good session after a overly long hiatus. We finally got to actually start investigating a house that we had already verified was definitely haunted by ghosts due to some horrible events. We had no idea just how horrible those events were, let alone how much time they spanned across, when we went in.
As the only spell caster, a Shugenja of the Mantis clan, I already knew I had no spells meant to directly deal with ghosts. The only thing I had going for me was a Numerani that gives the "Crystal" descriptor to any spell I cast. So at the very least I should be able to hurt them, even if I can't permanently banish them. I also felt comfortable since I had 3 very good Samurai with me. My personal Yojimbo of the Crab clan, a Tsurichi Archer, also of my clan, and his Yojimbo, of the Unicorn Clan.
Prior to coming to this house we had been at a "hospice" where experts in Exorcism were treating a number of people who had gone insane in recent weeks. While there they told us things that the insane people had said, and a couple of phrases seemed connected to the house, in my mind. So I asked if we could talk to one "crazy" in particular, who had said most of the sentences I found interesting. This man was possessed by one very sick spirit.
At this point the Exorcists said they were no longer possessed, just mad with the memories left behind by the possession. Considering the memories we were "hearing", I don't blame the man for being insane.
So we did our best to get the man as lucid as possible, and with lots of difficulty, and back tracking many times, we got the framework of the possessing spirits story. To sum up, he was a Serial Killer who targeted male children, somewhere between the ages of 8 to 12 year of age. He pretty much literally butchered them after luring them into his home. Which was easy to do since he was Samurai, and all his victims were of the peasant or Eta social classes. His "signature" was to remove their tongues, and put them in pouches on which he wrote their names. He then hid them in various locations throughout the house, both the tongues and the bodies. Some were even buried out in his yard. He told us it would be easy to find the bodies, because most were hidden in the support pillars. In particular the ones which were not solid beams, but planking. The rest were to be found in the basement, his usual "killing" location.
This story was also of interest to us because we were drawn to this house because of the killing of a whole family, of which only the husband survived. He said he escaped the slaughter, which was all done by ghosts. He was believed because after this event, people could enter the house, but no one came back out, alive or dead. The spirits were so brazen they opened and shut the door for those foolish enough to enter.
So now we wondered, was it the house that was cursed, and drove more than one person to heinous murders? Just how many mass murderers had lived in this house down through the 100 or so years it has been there? Did the house become cursed by their actions, or were they driven to these actions by some malevolent spirit possessing the house?
The Exorcists gave us a means by which we could hold the evil spirits at bay. Incense. They told us of several incense scents that would keep the spirits from being able to attack us, at least directly. We had to hope that the bags of pure Crystal dust and these scents would keep us from becoming the spirits next victims, and be added to the list of the foolish who had entered the home.
Even so, I was questioning my new status as a Jade Magistrate. I sought this station to fight the taint or the Lying Darkness, not ghosts. Despite my lingering doubts, we are agents of the Jade Magistrate now, and this was our duty, no matter how foolish it seemed.
So as prepared as we could be, we went to the home. We decided to take care of the bodies in the yard first. We knew of at least 7 that were supposed to be buried there. We decided to dig up the one to the North first. Once we found it we went to the East.
Since I was most powerful in Earth Kami spells, I asked my partners to wait while I attempted to summon an Earth Kami. After some time, and much to my surprise, I was answered. I was sure the corruption caused by all the death would have chased them away, but I was wrong. It took the form of a human as best it could. After thanking it for answering my call, I told it, in the language of the Kami only we Shugenja could speak or understand,
"We are here to uncover the remains of humans beneath this house and the surrounding yard, out to the fence line. Would you be willing to help me do this, so I can send their souls back to the Wheel?"
"Yes. This sounds like something worthy of my time."
I was immediately relieved that it was so willing, and that I would not have to entice it with gifts. Then it caught me off guard.
"Do you want just the human remains, and how far down do you want me to go?"
"What other kinds of remains are down there, and how far down?"
"There are many remains, of many creatures, some of which have been in the Earth since before you humans existed."
"I am only interested in those of humans. So please only bring up those remains with arms, legs and heads like us humans have."
Thinking about it, since I was not sure just how long these things were going on at this house, I added,
"Go down as far as you have to, since I do not know for sure who is and is not a victim here."
"Very well, I will do as you have asked."
Then we waited and watched as the Kami brought up a body. And another. And Another. Then many more. 50 in all. One was clearly not human. It looked to be a Troll, which until now I thought had only ever existed in the Shadowlands beyond the Great Wall. So how did one die so far into our homeland? Something for me to ponder later, right now Ghosts and murder victims were our concern.
The Kami had piled up the bodies as I had asked, since we had no Eta around to do such unclean work for us. We then dusted the bodies with the powdered crystal and I performed the last rights. Many of the bodies were apparently malevolently possessed, because they burst into flames of purification. Others just burned for normal reasons. After this was done I thanked the Kami and invited it to gather up as much of the Crystal dust as it wished as my thanks for its aid. Apparently it liked my offer because it quickly did so and went back to the Earth.
Now we looked at the house. The house which many had entered in recent weeks, but none were known to have come back out. Even those we believe to have been possessed were possessed outside of the house.
Now we were going to enter. Would we be added to the list of those who never returned?
So we entered.
The door immediately went to shut behind us. My fellow Clan member, the Tsurichi, quickly slid his Katana into the door frame, stopping it from shutting. However it obviously angered the spirits, because his Katana was soon glowing with heat. Concerned that this could eventually destroy his Katana, he switched it out with the forearm piece of his armor, which was also made of fine metal.
We then went on to investigate the house. We had a map, drawn by a mad man we had determined was possessed by an evil spirit from this house who had performed horrible acts of murder. His map is supposed to lead us to many little bags with names written on them. Inside would be the tongues of the young boys who he had hideously murdered.
Now inside the front door, we could put the veracity of this map to its first test. We searched for a loose floor board immediately inside the door. We found one. We pried it up and found out that the map may be accurate. We used tongs to take the bag out of its hiding place, and put it inside one of our own sacks. We then looked at the map and headed down the entry hall to its next marked location.
At the end of the hall, at the foot of the stairs, we found a gruesome discovery. Blood was all over the wall and floor, with even more spatter on the ceiling. On the floor was a set of remains which were hard to identify let alone look at. Eventually I spotted a piece of a broken staff with Jade on it. I then realized what we were looking at. The remains of a Kuni Witch Hunter who had entered this house over a week before. The remains looked to be only 3 days old. As a Holy Man I performed last rights over his body, hoping to release his soul to the Great Wheel. In my mind I only heard a horrific scream. A death scream.
In anger, my Crab Yojimbo lashed out at the wall next to him with his mighty Tetsubo. The wall shook with the blow, but remained intact. Even unscratched. In disbelief my Yojimbo struck the wall again and again, to no effect other than the noise. Nothing should have been able to stand against my Yojimbo's blows, let alone a thin wall made of bamboo. We looked at each other in disbelief.Our concern about the power of the evil in this house grew considerably.
We then went up the stairs, heading towards the Master bedroom. Just a few steps up we found another body. A woman, judging by the remaining clothing. The body had been here a long time, and was very dessicated. I performed the last rights over her, despite my doubts about it doing any good. No scream this time. That was a relief, at least.
We went the rest of the way up the stairs, and entered the Master Bedroom.
It was immediately obvious something horrific had happened here. The bed was covered in blood. Which also looked to be about 3 days old. We wondered if this may be where the death of the Kuni started. We soon concluded it was unlikely since there was no blood trail from here to his body down stairs. So we suspected this was from yet another victim.
Just in case the soul was tied to the bed we dusted it with crystal and I performed last rights. In anger my Yojimbo then used his mighty Tetsubo to destroy the bed and the dais upon which it lay. Much to my, and our, surprise, he soon had it laying in shattered splintered and torn pieces. So not everything about this house was indestructible. I also wondered if the dust and the last rights had anything to do with it being weakened, or if it simply was not protected in the first place.
We then looked around and decided to open a door to what was likely a storage closet. We immediately wished we had not. Inside was a horrific sight involving chains and what took us nearly a minute to recognize as a body. Once we recognized it for what it was, it was rather obvious. What had been done to it our minds simply did not want to acknowledge, so took as long as they could to identify what we saw before us. As gruesome as it was, it became even more horrifying once we realized the remains were of a woman, who had been pregnant at the time of her murder. I will not go into more details, since the gruesome horror of it has already been given too much light of the day with my description already.
Besides, even more horror was about to occur.
My fellow clansman, Tsurichi, dusted her remains with the crystal, and I started performing last rights. Our minds really did not want to acknowledge what began to happen. The remains began to move, to writhe, to struggle, making the chains rattle out her agony, since she had no lungs or throat with which to do it.
I struggled to finish her last rights, hoping it would free her soul and end this horror. It did not. So I did the next thing I could think of, and splashed lamp oil over her remains as best I could. I then called on the Kami of fire to give me a Katana made of pure fire, and struck her. Her remains burned. It took a long, horrifying, period of time, but the flames finally consumed her enough to make her stop moving, and eventually turn to dust. We noticed the chains immediately rusted.
We stood there for an unknowable amount of time, trying to process this horror. Here we were, 4 Samurai, 3 Warriors and a Shugenja, who had all fought numerous horrors of the Taint and the Lying Darkness, struggling to keep this horror from breaking us. Some how, this was far worse than the monsters we have fought. Some how, these poor tortured victims being made such enduring victims of whatever evil possessed this home was worse than anything we had faced before. I do not know how my companions did it, I assume in much the same way I had, but I lashed myself to my Honor, and hung onto it with all my will, and refused to give this evil any kind of victory by letting myself break, and brought myself back to reality and continued to deal with the situation. My companions were able to do the same.
We looked to the map which had brought us to this room in the first place. It had a location marked in this little storage closet. So we searched the floor boards, seeing if this little room had yet another horror to reveal. It did. We removed the pouch. We could not read the name because it had been smeared and destroyed by the blood of the poor woman that had seeped beneath the floor boards. Thanks to the tongs, we did not have to touch the impurity of this evil.
We then turned to leave this room and go to the next location marked on the map. We immediately stopped.
Before us stood a boy.
As we looked at him certain details became apparent to me. This boy was dead. An apparition of one of the poor victims. I wondered which name was his, and how he got pulled into this web of hideous evil.
The apparition startled us when it began to move. Rather than attacking us like we initially thought, it was gesturing. It wanted something. We quickly realized what he was asking for. His tongue. We quickly guessed the last tongue we found was likely his, since he appeared after finding it and not the first. We decided to give it to him.
His ghostly visage was able to take it from us and remove his tongue from the pouch. It looked like some kind of dessicated flower with many pedals. All I could think is that the murderous bastard did everything he could to be as sick and evil as possible to these poor children.
The boy then put his tongue inside of his ghostly mouth and something completely unexpected occurred. The boys body became solid. At least in appearance, since none of us dared to touch him.
Then we received another shock.
"Thank you, Honorable sirs."
The boy talked! We all heard him! And he thanked us!
"Your welcome.", we all stuttered, more or less in unison.
"Are you here to stop the old Samurai?"
"Yes. We are here to stop his evil, and hopefully put his victims souls to rest, if we even can." I said. Being the Holy Man I was apparently the one to talk to the dead. Lucky me.
"He is in the basement." the boy told us. "He killed himself soon after getting me, because he was too old to catch more. He knew this because I nearly escaped. He caught me just inside the front door."
I pondered this for a few seconds, then asked, "So you stopped him, by showing him he had become too weak?"
The ghost seemed to think about my words, and apparently liked them, because a smile seemed to curl the ends of his mouth.
"Yes, I guess so. It did not stop the evil of this house, though. The next family to move in was soon destroyed by it."
"You mean the old Samurai did not cause it?"
"No. It is the great evil, down below the basement, that causes it."
This changed things. Up to now we were believing that the house was cursed by the actions of the first murderer, if at all. Now this boys ghost was saying there was something else, below the basement.
Another thought occurred to me.
"Is that why you have not passed on? Does the evil hold you here?"
"I wish to help. I was the old Samurai's last victim, but I can help you find those of the family who were murdered by the husband."
"Is that bastard still alive?", Tsurichi asked with much heat in his voice.
"No.", my Crab Yojimbo answered, "He died not long after he claimed to escape."
I then looked into the eyes of the boy and asked, "Do you know if these men, the Samurai, and the Husband, if they were evil themselves, or did the great evil you talk about make them commit such acts?"
"The evil made them into bad men. It enjoys death, especially painful death. It makes it feel.... happy when the murders happen."
"Do you know where the evil came from?"
"No. I just know it has always been here, since even before the house."
It became clear to me at this point that this "Great Evil" was the true cause of all the problems here, the murders, as well as all the ghosts, and even making the house "alive" and apparently indestructible. The rest were just victims perverted even after death by this evil. Even the murderers were victims. This evil problem enjoyed their internal anguish as they, presumably, struggled against the evil influence that made them commit such heinous acts, even against their own children, when the children of others were not available. I came to strongly suspect that if I were to find people who knew the husband, and even the Samurai, before moving into this house, that they would both believed to be good men who loved their respective families, and children.
This evil has already shown me it likes to be as sick and perverted as possible. Turning such men to such acts would definitely fit in with that. I'll probably never know.
"OK, we have a map of all the tongues, but we do not know, precisely, where all the bodies are hidden."
"I can definitely help you find the rest of the family. There was a total of 8 victims. You already found the mother and the unborn child. I can show you the rest."
With that, and making sure we still had plenty of incense burning, we left the Master Bedroom. The boy led us to other bedrooms, where we found two more of the children, then to the dining room downstairs, where we found two more children. Then the kitchen, where we found the last. We dusted all of them, and gave them all last rights, and burned them where we found them. They were all definitely affected by supernatural powers, because the fire only burned the bodies. The house was never in danger of catching fire. That or the Evil Spirit protected the house. We knew from what we were told of the Kuni Witch Hunter that the house is apparently impervious to fire, even fire called into being via the Fire Kami. I even struck the house with a spell, and even with the touch of Crystal given to my spell by the Numerani, I only scorched the house. Then we watched as the house healed itself after several minutes.
Then later, my Yojimbo showed us even his mighty Tetsubo could not harm this house. Not while the Evil Spirit still had power.
We then found in total 20 tongues and 15 of the bodies of the young boys by the time the sun was going down. We were definitely not staying here in the night. So we headed for the door. Tsurichi's armor was glowing cherry red, like it was back in the forge, from holding the door open. My Yojimbo and the Unicorn Yojimbo of Tsurichi then held the door open while I jumped out as well as Tsurichi, after he used his armored foot to kick his armor out of the house. The spirit fought to keep us inside, but our Yojimbo were very strong, and together, prevailed against the spirits.
Once outside of the house we left without the house trying anything. We knew it could, because of the story we were told of the one who almost got away. They had almost reached the gate, when the door to the house opened and they were mysteriously pulled back inside by something unseen, and the door slamming shut. Nothing like that even began to happen to us. Maybe us finding and properly burning all the bodies before entering had severed its reach out into the yard.
The boy went with us. He walked out the gate with us, said good bye o us, and then walked up the street towards the old palace. I expected him to fade from sight, but he did not. He walked out of view.
We looked at each other, and Tsurichi said, "I hope we didn't just make a big mistake."
I looked back at where I last saw the boy and quietly agreed.
Our first order of business was to get as far away from the house as we could before the sun went out of sight. After that we headed for the bath house. We needed to get as clean and pure as possible after all we had been through and done.
We reached the bath house and took off our respective armors and in my case, Robes. We then cleaned everything and I then did a cleansing ritual over all our possessions. We then stripped of our undergarments and ordered those burned. Then we stepped into the bath and cleansed ourselves. We then stepped out and I did a purification ceremony over us. We then got new undergarments and dressed again, including the armor and Robe.
"I think we should do a Tea Ceremony. I think I can help cleanse our minds and souls if I do it well enough." My Yojimbo Hida Kuwabara offered.
"Nothing can calm my mind. I have been cursed with nightmares since I was a child Today will just give my nightmares a new way to torment me.", the Unicorn Yojimbo Moto Mohammed said.
"Well, join us anyways. It may help, it may not, but worth trying." Hida countered.
"Very well, I will."
So we then ordered some hot water and Kuwabara got out a pack of his specialty teas and his Tea Set that he never goes without. Once everything was ready we sat and he began to lead us through a Tea Ceremony, of which I believe him to be a true Master, because I have never seen anyone do a Ceremony better. It felt very cleansing and my mind was very clear, and my soul felt like it might be as well. Hopefully even Mohammed will find peace in his sleep tonight. I believe I will, despite the horrors of the day. Kuwabara's ceremonies have proven very potent many times over in the time we have been together.
We then ate a simple meal. During which we decided, despite how late it was getting to be, to go back and visit the Exorcists at their hospice. We needed their insights before returning to that house again tomorrow. Due to Tsurichi's commitments tomorrow night, we needed to finish up with the bodies and hopefully at least the spirit of the Old Samurai well before the sun sets tomorrow.
So we finished our meal and settled up with the Bath House for their services and headed back to the Hospice.
Once there we found that they were still awake themselves because interesting things were happening. One of their patients had awakened and their mind seemed to be relatively clear. We were told that they were themselves again, but remembered the memories of the possessing spirit.
So we had to talk to him, despite him being an Eta, he may give us critical information. We found out he had been possessed by a female child. One of the family that had been murdered by their father. All he was able to tell us is how she was killed and that she could not believe her father would do this to her, or the rest of the family. At least it gave me evidence that I may be right, that these murderers, however many there actually are connected to this house, likely started out being very good men who were twisted into evil tools of the Evil Spirit we have learned about.
We then sat and talked with the Exorcists, and told them about all that happened today, including the shocking number of bodies we recovered from the yard, and that there is a greater evil spirit behind everything, below the basement.
The Exorcists then told us that they believed our finding and releasing the souls of the dead was probably doing us an extra service. They told us that this greater Evil Spirit was likely empowered by all the murdered souls, and that we have probably weakened him, hopefully a great deal. Just how much is hard to say without knowing how many dead are involved. With how many bodies we already unexpectedly uncovered, how are we to know just how many more there are?
We then discussed the origins of this great Evil Spirit. The most plausible story the Exorcists and we worked out was that this spirit was probably trapped inside of something and was buried in that yard long ago, well before there was a house or any other structure. Then, when the house was built, the container was probably damaged, allowing the Spirit to influence things beyond their containment. Eventually it drove someone to murder, and with each murder the Spirits power grew, as did its reach. Just how long this went on, and how many souls were needed to give it its current power was unknown. It is even just a guess that our work has been weakening it so far. The Spirit may have already drawn out all the power it could from the souls, and we may have taken nothing away from it.
However, the fact that we were able to get out of the house and leave the yard seemed to be good evidence that we have weakened it. That, or the spirit knew we would come back, so didn't put too much effort into keeping us there this time around. Or maybe the incense was just that effective at keeping it at bay.
I guess we ill find out tomorrow. For now we returned to our residence and went to bed ourselves, allowing our two hired Ronin to watch over us.
We obviously were not meant to get a good nights sleep. It was not due to nightmares, at least for me. My dreams were good, probably due to the incredible Tea Ceremony. No, I was awakened by one of our Ronin Guards, the former Lion Beserker. They told me my Yojimbo wanted me to come down to the main room, because he had a very unexpected visitor he needed my help with.
So I quickly dressed in my Robes and gathered my things, prepared for anything. Of course I ended up being wrong, but how was I to know?
I went down to see that all my companions were awake, and also dressed for anything.
I was introduced to a woman who had come calling on my Yojimbo just past Midnight. Her name is Agasha Eyona, a Shugenja of the Phoenix clan. I mentioned I thought she was of the Asahina family, of the Crane Clan, and she asked, "How did you know?"
I answered, "I didn't, just guessing." I really had no idea as to why I thought she was of the Asahina. Hopefully it was just a lucky guess, but I was to become very unsure about that.
As my Yojimbo caught me up I became aware of several very peculiar things. First off, Eyona thought my Yojimbo was"Satoshi", her betrothed. Second, she believed my Yojimbo to be a simple actor. Third, she apparently thought it was about 9 PM at night. Fourth, she thought the year was 200 years ago. Fifth, she thought my Yojimbo owned this house. 6th, my Yojimbo was trying to convince her of the factual truth, but she thought it was just another of her beloved's great "Acts". He asked if I would please help him convince her.
I think we had more important issues to work out than convincing her, but I also thought it was as good a path as any to walk down to find out what we needed to know, so went along.
"My dear lady, I assure you he is telling you the truth. He is my Yojimbo and has never acted a day in his life."
She countered with, "Are you one of his acting friends? Are you "in role" too?"
A bit flustered I responded with, "No. No one in this house is an actor. We are all Samurai Warriors or Shugenja, not actors."
"Satoshi, your play acting, along with your friends, can be so confusing. So often I never know what to believe."
"My lady, I know this is confusing, I am confused. Let me repeat, I am not Satoshi, I am of the Hida family, of the Crab clan, but I am a Warrior, not an actor!"
I found it somewhat humorous that my Yojimbo seemed much more insulted about being thought of as an actor than anything else that was going on here.
"My lady, my Yojimbo speaks the truth. I give you my word, on my honor as a Samurai of the Mantis clan and Holy Man of the Kami, a Shugenja, none of us here are trying to deceive you."
Obviously flustered, she responded with, "How am I to know, Satoshi and his friends always play such tricks on me!"
"My lady, you are also a Shugenja, correct?"
"Yes."
"Have we ever been known to participate in acting?"
"No. Our duties to our clan and the Kami prevent us from doing such things."
"Right. So let me prove to you that I am a Shugenja, and you will in turn know that all I say to you, especially as a Shugenja as well, is true."
With that I decided on which spell to invoke, and pulled forth the proper scroll, since I did not have it committed to memory. Calling on the Fire Kami was harder for me to do at night, but it was a relatively easy spell to use. So I called upon the Kami of Fire to create a Katana of pure fire in my hands, and they did as I asked.
I then looked at the poor woman, and said,
"Have I now satisfied you? Do you now believe that we are not in any way deceiving you?"
The woman looked at the Katana of Fire, obviously very stricken with what is really going on. Couldn't say I could blame her, being two hundred years from her time, the man she believed to be her beloved, not being him. Her world, all that she knew, is two hundred years in the past. But how is she here?
"Yes. As hard as it is, I believe you now."
"Good. Now we need to determine how and why you are here. How did you get here?"
"I walked, like I always do, from the city."
"Did anything at all unusual happen on your way here?"
"Not that I remember."
"Nothing? Was everything the same? The people? The scenery you normally see, it was all the same?"
"All the tree's near this house are missing."
"That is all you noticed to be different?"
"Well. This house doesn't look to be in nearly as good a shape as when I was last here."
"What about the city itself? Did it look the same?"
"Yes."
Well, whatever kind of transition she went through, it was apparently somewhere between the city and here, because those tree's have been long gone, and the city proper has long been in ruins as well.
"She looks real, have any of you touched her?"
"Um, no. We have quickly suspected she was a ghost, so have been careful not to touch or be touched by her."
I looked at her from several directions.
"She seems to be completely solid. Yojimbo, your closest to being someone who knows her, so it is most proper for you to be the one who touches her, if she allows?" I looked at her, as I was asking her for permission to be touched by my Yojimbo.
"Yes. Yes, I will allow it."
My Yojimbo gave me one of his "Warrior faces", but after so long together, I knew it was a look of disapproval. Yet, as always, he did as he was asked, and touched her with no hint of fear.
"She feels solid to me." He verified. I then looked at her and asked, "How much do you know of ghosts and spirits?"
"Only what I know about the Kami, and as a fellow Shugenja, you know even that is not all that much."
"I know mostly only what I have learned in the last few days from some Exorcists. So I suppose it is possible you are in your body, some how transported through time. However, I consider it far more likely that you are a ghost, possessing someone."
"A ghost? Wouldn't that mean I am dead? Wouldn't I remember dying?"
"I don't know. If one is killed almost instantly, would their soul, or ghost, remember dying?"
"Perhaps not. If I am truly dead, I do not remember my death.Why would I come here? Why now?"
"That is a very good question, and I can think of only one answer. The house."
"The house?", she asked.
"Yes. We are dealing with a house that is haunted. As near as we can tell it has been haunted for about 100 years. Since you last lived about 200 years ago, I do not see how you can be connected to it, yet I suspect you are, somehow. With you being here I also suspect it is a very important connection too."
"I never dealt with a haunted house around here."
"Since this house was only built a hundred years ago, I suspect you are connected to the Evil Spirit under the house. I suspect you ran into this evil spirit during your life time, 200 years ago."
She looked to be thinking really hard. "I may have. I seem to have flashes of such memories, but I cannot remember them with any clarity."
"I am not surprised. Kami seem to like to reveal information only when it is directly relevant. Maybe ghostly spirits, or whatever you may be, act in a similar fashion. So hopefully you will remember, and tell us, when we really need to know it."
She shook her head in agreement. "Lets hope so. I would certainly like to know why this is happening to me. This is all so incredibly distressful."
"We can only imagine. Are you by chance feeling tired? We have a very important day ahead of us and should be as rested as possible."
"Yes, I actually do feel like I could sleep."
"Good. Then let us all rest until morning, and see what tomorrow reveals to us."
I then turned to one of our Ronin, a former Scorpion. "Please get the lady situated in her own room, and then continue on with your watch duties." The Ronin acknowledged the assignment, and led our new guest upstairs to the spare rooms. The rest of us then went to our respective rooms and did our best to rest and sleep.
We made it back to the house a few hours after sunrise. It looked the same as it did yesterday when we left. The big burn area with the ashes of the dead was still there, all the disruption to the earth caused by our digging and the Earth Kami was still all there.
A brief vision of leaving this house in burnt ruin passed through my mind. Probably wishful thinking. Todays plan was find the last 5 bodies of the boys and then destroy the remains of the "Old Samurai". Hopefully, if we accomplish that, we will permanently close the book on two of the serial murders this house has produced. Tomorrow, we will hopefully bring an permanent end to the evil spirit literally underneath all of this.
First, today. We entered the house. This time we had to open the door ourselves. A good sign, or a bad sign? Only one way to find out. We propped the door open with a finely crafted sword made by a peasant we sponsor, named Bu, after our Empires silver coinage. It immediately started to heat up. So the spirit still had some power left.
We hurried, using the map to find the last 5 bodies down in the basement. We saw no sign of the Old Samurai's remains, so we may have to get dirty digging him up. The boys first.
Once we found all of them we put their tongues with each set of remains, not sure if we had the right name with the right body. We just hoped it was good enough, Kami willing. We then dusted them and I gave last rights. They burst into flames. We watched as the remains were consumed. I prayed for the return of their souls to the Wheel.
As the flames died out a body became visible. Hanging from the floor beams above, pretty much in the center of the basement area.
We did not hesitate.
Tsurichi fired his bow with blinding speed and incredible accuracy. He did something I had never seen him do before, firing 3 arrows. I dd not know he fired 3 arrows until I saw them hit the body. Two of them cut through each side of the neck. Being flesh cutter arrows they did a good enough job to sever the neck, and the body fell. An arrow was already through where the heart would be before the body even started to fall. My clansman was unbelievably good with his bow, when he put his mind to it.
I struck the body with a spell normally called a "Jade Strike", but due to my numerani this was actually a "Crystal-Jade Strike", and the energies the Kami answered with lashed the body. Our Yojimbo, my Crab and the Tsurichi's Unicorn, went forward and, to put it simply, destroyed the body with the Crabs mighty Tetsubo and the Unicorns strange but highly effective Scimitars, as he called them.
Even so it was quickly obvious the spirit of the Old Samurai was trying to pull his remains back together. So we dusted them with crystal, I gave last rights, and then poured lamp oil over his remains, and burnt them. It took a long time. The remains were obviously resisting being destroyed, even by flames. Eventually they lost their battle and were turned to a black ash.
I used a stick to push the ash around, ensuring nothing solid remained. I hit something metal. We pulled our shovels out and started removing dirt. We hit metal many times. We uncovered what looked like a drainage grate. Yet that isn't all it was. Within its framework it held a pattern, with 5 points, traditionally called a "star". Each point representing Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Void. This pattern is usually used by the Shinto priests.
We immediately suspected we had found the container of the Evil Spirit.
Had a really good session after a overly long hiatus. We finally got to actually start investigating a house that we had already verified was definitely haunted by ghosts due to some horrible events. We had no idea just how horrible those events were, let alone how much time they spanned across, when we went in.
As the only spell caster, a Shugenja of the Mantis clan, I already knew I had no spells meant to directly deal with ghosts. The only thing I had going for me was a Numerani that gives the "Crystal" descriptor to any spell I cast. So at the very least I should be able to hurt them, even if I can't permanently banish them. I also felt comfortable since I had 3 very good Samurai with me. My personal Yojimbo of the Crab clan, a Tsurichi Archer, also of my clan, and his Yojimbo, of the Unicorn Clan.
Prior to coming to this house we had been at a "hospice" where experts in Exorcism were treating a number of people who had gone insane in recent weeks. While there they told us things that the insane people had said, and a couple of phrases seemed connected to the house, in my mind. So I asked if we could talk to one "crazy" in particular, who had said most of the sentences I found interesting. This man was possessed by one very sick spirit.
At this point the Exorcists said they were no longer possessed, just mad with the memories left behind by the possession. Considering the memories we were "hearing", I don't blame the man for being insane.
So we did our best to get the man as lucid as possible, and with lots of difficulty, and back tracking many times, we got the framework of the possessing spirits story. To sum up, he was a Serial Killer who targeted male children, somewhere between the ages of 8 to 12 year of age. He pretty much literally butchered them after luring them into his home. Which was easy to do since he was Samurai, and all his victims were of the peasant or Eta social classes. His "signature" was to remove their tongues, and put them in pouches on which he wrote their names. He then hid them in various locations throughout the house, both the tongues and the bodies. Some were even buried out in his yard. He told us it would be easy to find the bodies, because most were hidden in the support pillars. In particular the ones which were not solid beams, but planking. The rest were to be found in the basement, his usual "killing" location.
This story was also of interest to us because we were drawn to this house because of the killing of a whole family, of which only the husband survived. He said he escaped the slaughter, which was all done by ghosts. He was believed because after this event, people could enter the house, but no one came back out, alive or dead. The spirits were so brazen they opened and shut the door for those foolish enough to enter.
So now we wondered, was it the house that was cursed, and drove more than one person to heinous murders? Just how many mass murderers had lived in this house down through the 100 or so years it has been there? Did the house become cursed by their actions, or were they driven to these actions by some malevolent spirit possessing the house?
The Exorcists gave us a means by which we could hold the evil spirits at bay. Incense. They told us of several incense scents that would keep the spirits from being able to attack us, at least directly. We had to hope that the bags of pure Crystal dust and these scents would keep us from becoming the spirits next victims, and be added to the list of the foolish who had entered the home.
Even so, I was questioning my new status as a Jade Magistrate. I sought this station to fight the taint or the Lying Darkness, not ghosts. Despite my lingering doubts, we are agents of the Jade Magistrate now, and this was our duty, no matter how foolish it seemed.
So as prepared as we could be, we went to the home. We decided to take care of the bodies in the yard first. We knew of at least 7 that were supposed to be buried there. We decided to dig up the one to the North first. Once we found it we went to the East.
Since I was most powerful in Earth Kami spells, I asked my partners to wait while I attempted to summon an Earth Kami. After some time, and much to my surprise, I was answered. I was sure the corruption caused by all the death would have chased them away, but I was wrong. It took the form of a human as best it could. After thanking it for answering my call, I told it, in the language of the Kami only we Shugenja could speak or understand,
"We are here to uncover the remains of humans beneath this house and the surrounding yard, out to the fence line. Would you be willing to help me do this, so I can send their souls back to the Wheel?"
"Yes. This sounds like something worthy of my time."
I was immediately relieved that it was so willing, and that I would not have to entice it with gifts. Then it caught me off guard.
"Do you want just the human remains, and how far down do you want me to go?"
"What other kinds of remains are down there, and how far down?"
"There are many remains, of many creatures, some of which have been in the Earth since before you humans existed."
"I am only interested in those of humans. So please only bring up those remains with arms, legs and heads like us humans have."
Thinking about it, since I was not sure just how long these things were going on at this house, I added,
"Go down as far as you have to, since I do not know for sure who is and is not a victim here."
"Very well, I will do as you have asked."
Then we waited and watched as the Kami brought up a body. And another. And Another. Then many more. 50 in all. One was clearly not human. It looked to be a Troll, which until now I thought had only ever existed in the Shadowlands beyond the Great Wall. So how did one die so far into our homeland? Something for me to ponder later, right now Ghosts and murder victims were our concern.
The Kami had piled up the bodies as I had asked, since we had no Eta around to do such unclean work for us. We then dusted the bodies with the powdered crystal and I performed the last rights. Many of the bodies were apparently malevolently possessed, because they burst into flames of purification. Others just burned for normal reasons. After this was done I thanked the Kami and invited it to gather up as much of the Crystal dust as it wished as my thanks for its aid. Apparently it liked my offer because it quickly did so and went back to the Earth.
Now we looked at the house. The house which many had entered in recent weeks, but none were known to have come back out. Even those we believe to have been possessed were possessed outside of the house.
Now we were going to enter. Would we be added to the list of those who never returned?
So we entered.
The door immediately went to shut behind us. My fellow Clan member, the Tsurichi, quickly slid his Katana into the door frame, stopping it from shutting. However it obviously angered the spirits, because his Katana was soon glowing with heat. Concerned that this could eventually destroy his Katana, he switched it out with the forearm piece of his armor, which was also made of fine metal.
We then went on to investigate the house. We had a map, drawn by a mad man we had determined was possessed by an evil spirit from this house who had performed horrible acts of murder. His map is supposed to lead us to many little bags with names written on them. Inside would be the tongues of the young boys who he had hideously murdered.
Now inside the front door, we could put the veracity of this map to its first test. We searched for a loose floor board immediately inside the door. We found one. We pried it up and found out that the map may be accurate. We used tongs to take the bag out of its hiding place, and put it inside one of our own sacks. We then looked at the map and headed down the entry hall to its next marked location.
At the end of the hall, at the foot of the stairs, we found a gruesome discovery. Blood was all over the wall and floor, with even more spatter on the ceiling. On the floor was a set of remains which were hard to identify let alone look at. Eventually I spotted a piece of a broken staff with Jade on it. I then realized what we were looking at. The remains of a Kuni Witch Hunter who had entered this house over a week before. The remains looked to be only 3 days old. As a Holy Man I performed last rights over his body, hoping to release his soul to the Great Wheel. In my mind I only heard a horrific scream. A death scream.
In anger, my Crab Yojimbo lashed out at the wall next to him with his mighty Tetsubo. The wall shook with the blow, but remained intact. Even unscratched. In disbelief my Yojimbo struck the wall again and again, to no effect other than the noise. Nothing should have been able to stand against my Yojimbo's blows, let alone a thin wall made of bamboo. We looked at each other in disbelief.Our concern about the power of the evil in this house grew considerably.
We then went up the stairs, heading towards the Master bedroom. Just a few steps up we found another body. A woman, judging by the remaining clothing. The body had been here a long time, and was very dessicated. I performed the last rights over her, despite my doubts about it doing any good. No scream this time. That was a relief, at least.
We went the rest of the way up the stairs, and entered the Master Bedroom.
It was immediately obvious something horrific had happened here. The bed was covered in blood. Which also looked to be about 3 days old. We wondered if this may be where the death of the Kuni started. We soon concluded it was unlikely since there was no blood trail from here to his body down stairs. So we suspected this was from yet another victim.
Just in case the soul was tied to the bed we dusted it with crystal and I performed last rights. In anger my Yojimbo then used his mighty Tetsubo to destroy the bed and the dais upon which it lay. Much to my, and our, surprise, he soon had it laying in shattered splintered and torn pieces. So not everything about this house was indestructible. I also wondered if the dust and the last rights had anything to do with it being weakened, or if it simply was not protected in the first place.
We then looked around and decided to open a door to what was likely a storage closet. We immediately wished we had not. Inside was a horrific sight involving chains and what took us nearly a minute to recognize as a body. Once we recognized it for what it was, it was rather obvious. What had been done to it our minds simply did not want to acknowledge, so took as long as they could to identify what we saw before us. As gruesome as it was, it became even more horrifying once we realized the remains were of a woman, who had been pregnant at the time of her murder. I will not go into more details, since the gruesome horror of it has already been given too much light of the day with my description already.
Besides, even more horror was about to occur.
My fellow clansman, Tsurichi, dusted her remains with the crystal, and I started performing last rights. Our minds really did not want to acknowledge what began to happen. The remains began to move, to writhe, to struggle, making the chains rattle out her agony, since she had no lungs or throat with which to do it.
I struggled to finish her last rights, hoping it would free her soul and end this horror. It did not. So I did the next thing I could think of, and splashed lamp oil over her remains as best I could. I then called on the Kami of fire to give me a Katana made of pure fire, and struck her. Her remains burned. It took a long, horrifying, period of time, but the flames finally consumed her enough to make her stop moving, and eventually turn to dust. We noticed the chains immediately rusted.
We stood there for an unknowable amount of time, trying to process this horror. Here we were, 4 Samurai, 3 Warriors and a Shugenja, who had all fought numerous horrors of the Taint and the Lying Darkness, struggling to keep this horror from breaking us. Some how, this was far worse than the monsters we have fought. Some how, these poor tortured victims being made such enduring victims of whatever evil possessed this home was worse than anything we had faced before. I do not know how my companions did it, I assume in much the same way I had, but I lashed myself to my Honor, and hung onto it with all my will, and refused to give this evil any kind of victory by letting myself break, and brought myself back to reality and continued to deal with the situation. My companions were able to do the same.
We looked to the map which had brought us to this room in the first place. It had a location marked in this little storage closet. So we searched the floor boards, seeing if this little room had yet another horror to reveal. It did. We removed the pouch. We could not read the name because it had been smeared and destroyed by the blood of the poor woman that had seeped beneath the floor boards. Thanks to the tongs, we did not have to touch the impurity of this evil.
We then turned to leave this room and go to the next location marked on the map. We immediately stopped.
Before us stood a boy.
As we looked at him certain details became apparent to me. This boy was dead. An apparition of one of the poor victims. I wondered which name was his, and how he got pulled into this web of hideous evil.
The apparition startled us when it began to move. Rather than attacking us like we initially thought, it was gesturing. It wanted something. We quickly realized what he was asking for. His tongue. We quickly guessed the last tongue we found was likely his, since he appeared after finding it and not the first. We decided to give it to him.
His ghostly visage was able to take it from us and remove his tongue from the pouch. It looked like some kind of dessicated flower with many pedals. All I could think is that the murderous bastard did everything he could to be as sick and evil as possible to these poor children.
The boy then put his tongue inside of his ghostly mouth and something completely unexpected occurred. The boys body became solid. At least in appearance, since none of us dared to touch him.
Then we received another shock.
"Thank you, Honorable sirs."
The boy talked! We all heard him! And he thanked us!
"Your welcome.", we all stuttered, more or less in unison.
"Are you here to stop the old Samurai?"
"Yes. We are here to stop his evil, and hopefully put his victims souls to rest, if we even can." I said. Being the Holy Man I was apparently the one to talk to the dead. Lucky me.
"He is in the basement." the boy told us. "He killed himself soon after getting me, because he was too old to catch more. He knew this because I nearly escaped. He caught me just inside the front door."
I pondered this for a few seconds, then asked, "So you stopped him, by showing him he had become too weak?"
The ghost seemed to think about my words, and apparently liked them, because a smile seemed to curl the ends of his mouth.
"Yes, I guess so. It did not stop the evil of this house, though. The next family to move in was soon destroyed by it."
"You mean the old Samurai did not cause it?"
"No. It is the great evil, down below the basement, that causes it."
This changed things. Up to now we were believing that the house was cursed by the actions of the first murderer, if at all. Now this boys ghost was saying there was something else, below the basement.
Another thought occurred to me.
"Is that why you have not passed on? Does the evil hold you here?"
"I wish to help. I was the old Samurai's last victim, but I can help you find those of the family who were murdered by the husband."
"Is that bastard still alive?", Tsurichi asked with much heat in his voice.
"No.", my Crab Yojimbo answered, "He died not long after he claimed to escape."
I then looked into the eyes of the boy and asked, "Do you know if these men, the Samurai, and the Husband, if they were evil themselves, or did the great evil you talk about make them commit such acts?"
"The evil made them into bad men. It enjoys death, especially painful death. It makes it feel.... happy when the murders happen."
"Do you know where the evil came from?"
"No. I just know it has always been here, since even before the house."
It became clear to me at this point that this "Great Evil" was the true cause of all the problems here, the murders, as well as all the ghosts, and even making the house "alive" and apparently indestructible. The rest were just victims perverted even after death by this evil. Even the murderers were victims. This evil problem enjoyed their internal anguish as they, presumably, struggled against the evil influence that made them commit such heinous acts, even against their own children, when the children of others were not available. I came to strongly suspect that if I were to find people who knew the husband, and even the Samurai, before moving into this house, that they would both believed to be good men who loved their respective families, and children.
This evil has already shown me it likes to be as sick and perverted as possible. Turning such men to such acts would definitely fit in with that. I'll probably never know.
"OK, we have a map of all the tongues, but we do not know, precisely, where all the bodies are hidden."
"I can definitely help you find the rest of the family. There was a total of 8 victims. You already found the mother and the unborn child. I can show you the rest."
With that, and making sure we still had plenty of incense burning, we left the Master Bedroom. The boy led us to other bedrooms, where we found two more of the children, then to the dining room downstairs, where we found two more children. Then the kitchen, where we found the last. We dusted all of them, and gave them all last rights, and burned them where we found them. They were all definitely affected by supernatural powers, because the fire only burned the bodies. The house was never in danger of catching fire. That or the Evil Spirit protected the house. We knew from what we were told of the Kuni Witch Hunter that the house is apparently impervious to fire, even fire called into being via the Fire Kami. I even struck the house with a spell, and even with the touch of Crystal given to my spell by the Numerani, I only scorched the house. Then we watched as the house healed itself after several minutes.
Then later, my Yojimbo showed us even his mighty Tetsubo could not harm this house. Not while the Evil Spirit still had power.
We then found in total 20 tongues and 15 of the bodies of the young boys by the time the sun was going down. We were definitely not staying here in the night. So we headed for the door. Tsurichi's armor was glowing cherry red, like it was back in the forge, from holding the door open. My Yojimbo and the Unicorn Yojimbo of Tsurichi then held the door open while I jumped out as well as Tsurichi, after he used his armored foot to kick his armor out of the house. The spirit fought to keep us inside, but our Yojimbo were very strong, and together, prevailed against the spirits.
Once outside of the house we left without the house trying anything. We knew it could, because of the story we were told of the one who almost got away. They had almost reached the gate, when the door to the house opened and they were mysteriously pulled back inside by something unseen, and the door slamming shut. Nothing like that even began to happen to us. Maybe us finding and properly burning all the bodies before entering had severed its reach out into the yard.
The boy went with us. He walked out the gate with us, said good bye o us, and then walked up the street towards the old palace. I expected him to fade from sight, but he did not. He walked out of view.
We looked at each other, and Tsurichi said, "I hope we didn't just make a big mistake."
I looked back at where I last saw the boy and quietly agreed.
Our first order of business was to get as far away from the house as we could before the sun went out of sight. After that we headed for the bath house. We needed to get as clean and pure as possible after all we had been through and done.
We reached the bath house and took off our respective armors and in my case, Robes. We then cleaned everything and I then did a cleansing ritual over all our possessions. We then stripped of our undergarments and ordered those burned. Then we stepped into the bath and cleansed ourselves. We then stepped out and I did a purification ceremony over us. We then got new undergarments and dressed again, including the armor and Robe.
"I think we should do a Tea Ceremony. I think I can help cleanse our minds and souls if I do it well enough." My Yojimbo Hida Kuwabara offered.
"Nothing can calm my mind. I have been cursed with nightmares since I was a child Today will just give my nightmares a new way to torment me.", the Unicorn Yojimbo Moto Mohammed said.
"Well, join us anyways. It may help, it may not, but worth trying." Hida countered.
"Very well, I will."
So we then ordered some hot water and Kuwabara got out a pack of his specialty teas and his Tea Set that he never goes without. Once everything was ready we sat and he began to lead us through a Tea Ceremony, of which I believe him to be a true Master, because I have never seen anyone do a Ceremony better. It felt very cleansing and my mind was very clear, and my soul felt like it might be as well. Hopefully even Mohammed will find peace in his sleep tonight. I believe I will, despite the horrors of the day. Kuwabara's ceremonies have proven very potent many times over in the time we have been together.
We then ate a simple meal. During which we decided, despite how late it was getting to be, to go back and visit the Exorcists at their hospice. We needed their insights before returning to that house again tomorrow. Due to Tsurichi's commitments tomorrow night, we needed to finish up with the bodies and hopefully at least the spirit of the Old Samurai well before the sun sets tomorrow.
So we finished our meal and settled up with the Bath House for their services and headed back to the Hospice.
Once there we found that they were still awake themselves because interesting things were happening. One of their patients had awakened and their mind seemed to be relatively clear. We were told that they were themselves again, but remembered the memories of the possessing spirit.
So we had to talk to him, despite him being an Eta, he may give us critical information. We found out he had been possessed by a female child. One of the family that had been murdered by their father. All he was able to tell us is how she was killed and that she could not believe her father would do this to her, or the rest of the family. At least it gave me evidence that I may be right, that these murderers, however many there actually are connected to this house, likely started out being very good men who were twisted into evil tools of the Evil Spirit we have learned about.
We then sat and talked with the Exorcists, and told them about all that happened today, including the shocking number of bodies we recovered from the yard, and that there is a greater evil spirit behind everything, below the basement.
The Exorcists then told us that they believed our finding and releasing the souls of the dead was probably doing us an extra service. They told us that this greater Evil Spirit was likely empowered by all the murdered souls, and that we have probably weakened him, hopefully a great deal. Just how much is hard to say without knowing how many dead are involved. With how many bodies we already unexpectedly uncovered, how are we to know just how many more there are?
We then discussed the origins of this great Evil Spirit. The most plausible story the Exorcists and we worked out was that this spirit was probably trapped inside of something and was buried in that yard long ago, well before there was a house or any other structure. Then, when the house was built, the container was probably damaged, allowing the Spirit to influence things beyond their containment. Eventually it drove someone to murder, and with each murder the Spirits power grew, as did its reach. Just how long this went on, and how many souls were needed to give it its current power was unknown. It is even just a guess that our work has been weakening it so far. The Spirit may have already drawn out all the power it could from the souls, and we may have taken nothing away from it.
However, the fact that we were able to get out of the house and leave the yard seemed to be good evidence that we have weakened it. That, or the spirit knew we would come back, so didn't put too much effort into keeping us there this time around. Or maybe the incense was just that effective at keeping it at bay.
I guess we ill find out tomorrow. For now we returned to our residence and went to bed ourselves, allowing our two hired Ronin to watch over us.
We obviously were not meant to get a good nights sleep. It was not due to nightmares, at least for me. My dreams were good, probably due to the incredible Tea Ceremony. No, I was awakened by one of our Ronin Guards, the former Lion Beserker. They told me my Yojimbo wanted me to come down to the main room, because he had a very unexpected visitor he needed my help with.
So I quickly dressed in my Robes and gathered my things, prepared for anything. Of course I ended up being wrong, but how was I to know?
I went down to see that all my companions were awake, and also dressed for anything.
I was introduced to a woman who had come calling on my Yojimbo just past Midnight. Her name is Agasha Eyona, a Shugenja of the Phoenix clan. I mentioned I thought she was of the Asahina family, of the Crane Clan, and she asked, "How did you know?"
I answered, "I didn't, just guessing." I really had no idea as to why I thought she was of the Asahina. Hopefully it was just a lucky guess, but I was to become very unsure about that.
As my Yojimbo caught me up I became aware of several very peculiar things. First off, Eyona thought my Yojimbo was"Satoshi", her betrothed. Second, she believed my Yojimbo to be a simple actor. Third, she apparently thought it was about 9 PM at night. Fourth, she thought the year was 200 years ago. Fifth, she thought my Yojimbo owned this house. 6th, my Yojimbo was trying to convince her of the factual truth, but she thought it was just another of her beloved's great "Acts". He asked if I would please help him convince her.
I think we had more important issues to work out than convincing her, but I also thought it was as good a path as any to walk down to find out what we needed to know, so went along.
"My dear lady, I assure you he is telling you the truth. He is my Yojimbo and has never acted a day in his life."
She countered with, "Are you one of his acting friends? Are you "in role" too?"
A bit flustered I responded with, "No. No one in this house is an actor. We are all Samurai Warriors or Shugenja, not actors."
"Satoshi, your play acting, along with your friends, can be so confusing. So often I never know what to believe."
"My lady, I know this is confusing, I am confused. Let me repeat, I am not Satoshi, I am of the Hida family, of the Crab clan, but I am a Warrior, not an actor!"
I found it somewhat humorous that my Yojimbo seemed much more insulted about being thought of as an actor than anything else that was going on here.
"My lady, my Yojimbo speaks the truth. I give you my word, on my honor as a Samurai of the Mantis clan and Holy Man of the Kami, a Shugenja, none of us here are trying to deceive you."
Obviously flustered, she responded with, "How am I to know, Satoshi and his friends always play such tricks on me!"
"My lady, you are also a Shugenja, correct?"
"Yes."
"Have we ever been known to participate in acting?"
"No. Our duties to our clan and the Kami prevent us from doing such things."
"Right. So let me prove to you that I am a Shugenja, and you will in turn know that all I say to you, especially as a Shugenja as well, is true."
With that I decided on which spell to invoke, and pulled forth the proper scroll, since I did not have it committed to memory. Calling on the Fire Kami was harder for me to do at night, but it was a relatively easy spell to use. So I called upon the Kami of Fire to create a Katana of pure fire in my hands, and they did as I asked.
I then looked at the poor woman, and said,
"Have I now satisfied you? Do you now believe that we are not in any way deceiving you?"
The woman looked at the Katana of Fire, obviously very stricken with what is really going on. Couldn't say I could blame her, being two hundred years from her time, the man she believed to be her beloved, not being him. Her world, all that she knew, is two hundred years in the past. But how is she here?
"Yes. As hard as it is, I believe you now."
"Good. Now we need to determine how and why you are here. How did you get here?"
"I walked, like I always do, from the city."
"Did anything at all unusual happen on your way here?"
"Not that I remember."
"Nothing? Was everything the same? The people? The scenery you normally see, it was all the same?"
"All the tree's near this house are missing."
"That is all you noticed to be different?"
"Well. This house doesn't look to be in nearly as good a shape as when I was last here."
"What about the city itself? Did it look the same?"
"Yes."
Well, whatever kind of transition she went through, it was apparently somewhere between the city and here, because those tree's have been long gone, and the city proper has long been in ruins as well.
"She looks real, have any of you touched her?"
"Um, no. We have quickly suspected she was a ghost, so have been careful not to touch or be touched by her."
I looked at her from several directions.
"She seems to be completely solid. Yojimbo, your closest to being someone who knows her, so it is most proper for you to be the one who touches her, if she allows?" I looked at her, as I was asking her for permission to be touched by my Yojimbo.
"Yes. Yes, I will allow it."
My Yojimbo gave me one of his "Warrior faces", but after so long together, I knew it was a look of disapproval. Yet, as always, he did as he was asked, and touched her with no hint of fear.
"She feels solid to me." He verified. I then looked at her and asked, "How much do you know of ghosts and spirits?"
"Only what I know about the Kami, and as a fellow Shugenja, you know even that is not all that much."
"I know mostly only what I have learned in the last few days from some Exorcists. So I suppose it is possible you are in your body, some how transported through time. However, I consider it far more likely that you are a ghost, possessing someone."
"A ghost? Wouldn't that mean I am dead? Wouldn't I remember dying?"
"I don't know. If one is killed almost instantly, would their soul, or ghost, remember dying?"
"Perhaps not. If I am truly dead, I do not remember my death.Why would I come here? Why now?"
"That is a very good question, and I can think of only one answer. The house."
"The house?", she asked.
"Yes. We are dealing with a house that is haunted. As near as we can tell it has been haunted for about 100 years. Since you last lived about 200 years ago, I do not see how you can be connected to it, yet I suspect you are, somehow. With you being here I also suspect it is a very important connection too."
"I never dealt with a haunted house around here."
"Since this house was only built a hundred years ago, I suspect you are connected to the Evil Spirit under the house. I suspect you ran into this evil spirit during your life time, 200 years ago."
She looked to be thinking really hard. "I may have. I seem to have flashes of such memories, but I cannot remember them with any clarity."
"I am not surprised. Kami seem to like to reveal information only when it is directly relevant. Maybe ghostly spirits, or whatever you may be, act in a similar fashion. So hopefully you will remember, and tell us, when we really need to know it."
She shook her head in agreement. "Lets hope so. I would certainly like to know why this is happening to me. This is all so incredibly distressful."
"We can only imagine. Are you by chance feeling tired? We have a very important day ahead of us and should be as rested as possible."
"Yes, I actually do feel like I could sleep."
"Good. Then let us all rest until morning, and see what tomorrow reveals to us."
I then turned to one of our Ronin, a former Scorpion. "Please get the lady situated in her own room, and then continue on with your watch duties." The Ronin acknowledged the assignment, and led our new guest upstairs to the spare rooms. The rest of us then went to our respective rooms and did our best to rest and sleep.
We made it back to the house a few hours after sunrise. It looked the same as it did yesterday when we left. The big burn area with the ashes of the dead was still there, all the disruption to the earth caused by our digging and the Earth Kami was still all there.
A brief vision of leaving this house in burnt ruin passed through my mind. Probably wishful thinking. Todays plan was find the last 5 bodies of the boys and then destroy the remains of the "Old Samurai". Hopefully, if we accomplish that, we will permanently close the book on two of the serial murders this house has produced. Tomorrow, we will hopefully bring an permanent end to the evil spirit literally underneath all of this.
First, today. We entered the house. This time we had to open the door ourselves. A good sign, or a bad sign? Only one way to find out. We propped the door open with a finely crafted sword made by a peasant we sponsor, named Bu, after our Empires silver coinage. It immediately started to heat up. So the spirit still had some power left.
We hurried, using the map to find the last 5 bodies down in the basement. We saw no sign of the Old Samurai's remains, so we may have to get dirty digging him up. The boys first.
Once we found all of them we put their tongues with each set of remains, not sure if we had the right name with the right body. We just hoped it was good enough, Kami willing. We then dusted them and I gave last rights. They burst into flames. We watched as the remains were consumed. I prayed for the return of their souls to the Wheel.
As the flames died out a body became visible. Hanging from the floor beams above, pretty much in the center of the basement area.
We did not hesitate.
Tsurichi fired his bow with blinding speed and incredible accuracy. He did something I had never seen him do before, firing 3 arrows. I dd not know he fired 3 arrows until I saw them hit the body. Two of them cut through each side of the neck. Being flesh cutter arrows they did a good enough job to sever the neck, and the body fell. An arrow was already through where the heart would be before the body even started to fall. My clansman was unbelievably good with his bow, when he put his mind to it.
I struck the body with a spell normally called a "Jade Strike", but due to my numerani this was actually a "Crystal-Jade Strike", and the energies the Kami answered with lashed the body. Our Yojimbo, my Crab and the Tsurichi's Unicorn, went forward and, to put it simply, destroyed the body with the Crabs mighty Tetsubo and the Unicorns strange but highly effective Scimitars, as he called them.
Even so it was quickly obvious the spirit of the Old Samurai was trying to pull his remains back together. So we dusted them with crystal, I gave last rights, and then poured lamp oil over his remains, and burnt them. It took a long time. The remains were obviously resisting being destroyed, even by flames. Eventually they lost their battle and were turned to a black ash.
I used a stick to push the ash around, ensuring nothing solid remained. I hit something metal. We pulled our shovels out and started removing dirt. We hit metal many times. We uncovered what looked like a drainage grate. Yet that isn't all it was. Within its framework it held a pattern, with 5 points, traditionally called a "star". Each point representing Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Void. This pattern is usually used by the Shinto priests.
We immediately suspected we had found the container of the Evil Spirit.
