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Journal of Ide Ishiro


Shiba 10th


Yoritomo's quest has brought us to the Great Kaiyu wall - specifically to a small Hiruma fort manned by a motely garrison made up of many different clans, including a number of descendants of Osano-Wo, long lost kinsmen of Yoritomo to whom his quest has brought him. The garrison stands at half strength, so they must make use of all capable men who come their way. Even now my compainons are away scouting the shadowlands - the decision has been made that I will be of more use here. It would be uncharitable to report that I overheard someone talking about "having to rescue the damned fool while he inisists on counting the teeth of a great beast", so I am sure I imagined it. Night gathers, and so my watch begins.

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A messenger bird has arrived from Kato, saying that the scouts have run into unusually large numbers of undead. The watch commander will not risk more men now the light is fading, so all we can do is pray.

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Fortunes be praised! All but one of my companions have returned safely. There is little time to celebrate their safe return as all are exhausted and retiring immediately. I should get some rest too.

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Shiba 12th


Fortunes preserve us, the wall is breached! Shortly before dawn, the legion came out of the mist, moving with a speed and grace entirely unlike the undead we had seen before, and bearing siege ladders. Their creation must have been a tremendous magical event, possibly connected to the blood-red sky we saw Kato threw up a wall of flame that stretched for a hundred yards, immolating scores and yet the horde swarmed onwards, pouring over the walls. Short of total destruction, only jade seemed to slow them down. After the first wave of ladders had been repulsed, Juichi spotted a group of about fifty coming over the cliff to the west and took (didn't lead, he's quite insistent on that) a small force to deal with them. When we returned the fort was lost. Countless hordes overwhelmed the east wall. Before I knew what was happening, Yoritomo had rallied his men and led us off into the mountains to continue his quest. From a hollow in the foothills we watched the fort's beacon gutter and die. My intended death poem shall be repurposed to be a tribute to the brave Hida warriors.

The walking dead Rise
All swallowed by great tide
A Crab does not flee.

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Shiba 13th


We appear to have evaded the undead legion for now, but only by venturing deeper into the mountains. Sammo believes the direct path back to civilisation to warn the empire exposes us to too much risk from the undead legion, and seems to consider the quest to be a greater priority - perhaps this is the will of the gods.

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Shiba 15th


Yet another troubling discovery. The first sign of human habitation we have encountered since leaving the fort is an abandoned village nestled in the mountains. The village shugenja's - or should I say shugenjas' : for there appear to be three different hands - notes revealed that several months ago a visitor arrived to stay at the village, matching the description of Kuni Nisei from Shiro Ide. While I was studying the notes - there are many fascinating geological diagrams I'd want to copy - Sammo found a great many tracks leading south towards the Shadowlands and a single track leading west, deeper into the mountains. If anything here is relevant to Yoritomo's quest, this track is.

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The trail ends at a squat stone building, deep in an ovegrown forest through which a path has been apparently burnt. A great stone door stands open, with the four masks from Shiro Ide placed in recesses on its face. Beyond the door lies a room with four samurai statues, two doorways in the left and right walls and two doors at the head of a flight of stairs, matching the Kaiu ancestor's map. Everything is coming together - this must be where Yoritomo's destiny comes to fruition. One of the doorways in the left wall is closed over by a stone slab. The other left doorway leads to a room labeled "be quick". Our plan is for one of us to take the crystal sword and hurry through, then find a way to open the door for the rest. Sammo has volunteered - while I might have the edge in pure speed, his agility is superior and he argues that we can't risk my spells.

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As Sammo leaves, the a slab slams across the doorway behind him. He could well be on his own now.

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Kuni Nisei has appeared, dressed in white funeral robes and surrounded by an overwhelming supernatural aura that rendered us incapable of action. He claimed that he was Iuchiban, the founder of the bloodspeaker cult and that the building we were in was his tomb. He said that he hoped our friend succeeded, as once the link to the original body was severed "it" would become Iuchiban's, then left and the great doors slammed shut behind him. Do we take another path and try to find what has become of Sammo - that would leave the only path back through the room the Kaiu ancestor has labelled "don't look", and we have no idea how far Sammo got. Perhaps it is time to find out why the doors at the top of the stairs aren't on the map.

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I have found out why the doors aren't on the map. The merest touch triggers a cave in. The embrace of Kenro-ji-Jin was no help due to some kind of anti-magic effect. I was able to find my way to the right hand wall, the others were missing and the second door, to the room marked with the wiggly lines was sealed. There was no way out through the main doors, so I screwed my eyes shut and made my way through the "don't look" room. I rejoined Juichi and the others in the room labelled "fear the goblin". A series of alcoves decorated as Oni heads lined a corridor, and at the end a grinning goblin above a small pressure plate. At Juichi's suggestion, I bowed low before the goblin and crawled over the pressure plate while everyone took cover in the alcoves. As the plate clicked into place, a stream of darts flew out of the goblin head and immense pistons shot out of the alcoves on either side. Somehow the others made it alive through the hellish gauntlet. We seem to have peace in this room - enough time to heal my companions. The floor is decorated with the symbols of the Children of Amataresu and Onnotangu, and appears to be some form of sequence puzzle. The note, remember your lessons here, prompts Juichi to recall the order in which they fought following their fall to earth.

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We have crossed the floor of the clan founders, been detained by a ghost until Yoritomo poured out his whole story, crossed over a giant mincer on an invisible bridge, and survived the room in which "they drink you", where Tagashi and I were dropped down the sides of an inverted pyramidal pit towards an ominous pool and ecaped with the aid of a braced bo-staff and a hasty prayer to the air kami to grant the power of flight. We are reunited with Sammo, before a vast jade shrine devoted to Osano-Wo. Sammo tells of his ordeal with corridors of blades, grinding wheels over unknown drops, moving walls and saltwater spraying skulls. Immediately before the shrine, I feel a sense of cosmic connection. My magic may well be stronger here. Perhaps the spirits will help us escape and prevent Iuchiban's reign of terror.

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This is it. My last entry. Osano-wo has answered my questions. I asked how we would stop Iuchiban, and he told me I already knew. I asked him how we could excape from this place, and he told me that I already knew, but that I now only had two spells and that the air in the room is so old and stale it can only sustain us for three more hours. We chose Yoritomo and Kato to travel through the earth - Yoritomo as he is the man of destiny, Kato as he is slightly better at air magic than I am and represents the best chance of getting a message to allies in the Plains above Evil before being intercepted by Iuchiban's forces.

We rest now in the inner crypt. A withered body lies decapitated and chained in a coffin of rotted jade, with an ornate dagger in its heart and bloodied runes around it. Perhaps there is more air in here. Perhaps, just perhaps, I can regain enough spells to get some of the others out.

Life flickers and fades
Still darkness is eternal
The wheel turns again.

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