A report on the death of Lord Riki, and of the events on the wedding island |
A report on the death of Lord Riki, and of the events on the wedding island |
Jul 19 2013, 10:43 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Militiaman Group: Members Posts: 632 Joined: 3-May 08 From: Over there! *points* Member No.: 497 |
Most honourable Black Dragon Clan,
Yogo Sai-san is correct, I was with Lord Yogo Riki on his final days. As such, I am compelled to tell all those in the clan the details relating to his death. This report shall also serve to tell the story of all events I know occurred over the course of the days myself and Yogo Riki spent on the island. I have briefly mentioned his passing publically to allow those outside of the clan to pass on their wishes, however I have not gone into specifics on how he died. I feel that this is a clan matter, and that such information should be kept within our walls. If this is not acceptable, however, I shall of course pass on this information to others. I shall start by reassuring you, Yogo Sai-san. There are none who remain who require punishment. In fact it is that very fact that Yogo Riki chose to leave this world. For those that knew Yogo Riki well, you will know that he had been tainted by undeath in one of our first excursions as a clan. Specifically, he was transformed into a vampire by another, who also stole the ancestral blade which Lord Riki carried. This taint was one of the worst insults that could have been levied upon him - for he was once a speaker for our ancestors, who would call upon the aid of our ancestors to help us in our moments of need. Yogo Riki made his position on the matter clear: He was disgusted by the taint that had been put upon him, and wished nothing more than to end his un'life' so that he could rid himself of said mark of undeath. However, he was bound by his honor to not leave this world until he had reclaimed the ancestral sword that was stolen from him, and made the scourge of undeath responsible to pay for his transgression and insult with its 'life'. Yogo bore the pains of undeath for the honor of the clan - such is a shining example of a man who always put the needs of the emperor and the needs of the clan above the needs of the self. We may all learn something from this selfless act. I have marked where my report goes into details of his death – however a complete report is provided as requested. My report begins a few days prior to us arriving at the island – while on the boat en route to the destination we were caught in a storm of sorts. The captain was unfortunately thrown overboard during the storm, and we were forced to dock at a nearby port. Upon doing so we became aware that somehow we had travelled into Crane lands, and arrived at a time where the local lord of the lands had adopted an extreme..er..western approach to dealing with troublemakers. Those that caused problems were imprisoned in a small hamlet of sorts surrounded by an array of wards that prevented the use of power –a ward each for magic, spirit, mind power, earth power and so forth – and left inside, as clearly the one who imprisoned them did not know what to do afterward. One of the imprisoned was a druid of sorts, and had managed to find a way to break the earth power enchantment and brought a number of trees to life in order to break him out (along with all the others imprisoned as a result). It was decided that we would spend the remainder of the day aiding with removing these blights that had been released on the lands, most of which I cannot recall specifically but which are not important – since they were all dealt with swiftly over the course of the day. A couple of our number fell in some of the fights which ensued, but all were brought back with little problem. The reward for aiding in ridding these blights was an artefact that improved the life force of some of the weaker bodied of the group (myself included) and a number of incense sticks which I believed aided in meditation. Both of these would surely benefit us in the days to come. It is to my great and terrible shame that I cannot say for certain what occurred during the first day on the island – for the day before while aiding the sea-men on deck I was caught off guard by an unexpected rock, and fell overboard. I imagine none saw what occurred, for the ship continued on its way without halting, and I was left clutching a piece of old ship debris for my life for the best part of the afternoon. Come the evening, when I miraculously washed up on-shore, I was attacked through the night by a series of beasts (which thanks to the skill of our clan I determined could only be slain by a blow that would harm the spirit), which looked like a much more bestial type of wolf than that I had ever seen before. These creatures were numerous, and as I wasn’t able to finish off more than a couple, I was forced to retreat and hide in the forest for the night. In the morning I was fortunate to finally find the camp which the other of the group – Yogo Riki included – were staying for the duration of the wedding. However, I was unfortunate to miss these important events, which I heard about second hand that morning: -Around the island were a number of altars, each responsible for an inhibition of power similar to the inhibition we saw at the prison in the Crane lands, which spanned the entire island. Each would need to be destroyed for powers to be usable on the island. This meant that until this was done, spiritual, magical, earthpower, neuronic and even physical powers failed to function. -There were Ronin (bandits) located in a camp nearby who attempted to kill off the party early in the morning – who needed to be dealt with. -There were druids who were causing the animals and trees of the island to attack us, because they believed us to be a threat of some kind. -The two that were to be married (Toshimoko and the Lady Dansu) had already been married. Whilst dead. I do not know the specifics of this, only that it was somewhat inappropriate. -Finally, and most importantly: There was an old woman who had appeared before the party, claiming some ownership of the Crane clan. (Again apologies, the details I gathered were hazy). She intended to destroy the Crane clan, and had powers enabling her to draw Toshimoko to her from anywhere. She would return in 2 days to complete this dreadful task. In order to defeat her, a ritual had to be performed which would take Toshimoko and others to the celestial realm, where they would undergo fierce challenges in order to obtain artefacts that would aid in defeating her. This ritual required 5 willing sacrifices, 5 gems and five candles from the realms of chaos and logic, and a piece of something called ‘living wood’. If this was not done, the only other option would be for Toshimoko to banish all crane from the clan, and allow himself to be killed by the woman so that everyone else would live. All in all, it appeared I had missed a great deal in the time I was lost, but nevertheless I did my best to see what else I could do that would be of use. The decision was made that we would first deal with the Ronin who first attacked us in the morning, and on the way to deal with them we would destroy some of the shrines of power that we encountered on the way. We travelled as a group with myself and Crane clan member Kakita Kumi-kin (who has transformed into a part-cat or something of the sort) pairing up as we scouted ahead. At this point I shall attempt to recall all those that were with us in our party, just in case it becomes relevant later in the report. We had myself and Yogo Riki from the Black Dragon. Others were Kakita Toshimoko, the Lady Dansu, Kakita Kumi-kin, Kinjo (who you will recall left a message for our clan previously), an ex shaehan priest called Tirack, the alchemist Gideon, a wujen of bronze magic , a demon who I believe worked for the empire but I believe could use communication miracles, a druid (and magistrate for the empire) who was really unhappy with the idea of chopping down a tree for living wood, and a number of other westerners who’s names escape me. I digress…The shrines we came across were warded, and each needed to be dealt with in similar ways. Power use is not my speciality – suffice it to say they were dealt with by the Wujen of our group and one by one the powers were restored. One exception: the physical shrine, was defeated instead by the demon warrior diving upon it and crushing it under the weight of his armour. An interesting solution. The Ronin were powerful fighters, and their leader was also impressively strong for a dishonourable being. After fighting some of them to reach their camp, the leader challenged Toshimoko to a duel rid us from the island. Toshimoko agreed, not realising that he would be tricked and stabbed in the back by the rest of the camp after he begun the fight. The entire party was drawn into a prolongued battle, during which both myself and Lord Riki fell – but eventually the Ronin were dealt with and those that fell were restored to life. It also bears mentioning that during our travel to the camp we came upon a witch, Tobias, who had travelled from the west and set up shop on the island making potions for those that would buy them (mainly the Ronin) in exchange for goods no doubt stolen by the bandits. We were able to barter for supplies, and in exchange gained an ally of sorts, who was willing to explain to us some more about the history of the island later that evening. On returning to our own camp, we set about preparations to obtain the five gems of the ebony dragon and five candles of the...uh..crystal phoenix? Or something simiar – the name escapes me at the moment. These artifacts were to be found on two different planes, one which revolved around principles of law and the other on the rocky foundations of chaos. In order to open the gate to these realms an effigy of the dragon and the phoenix fighting over a flame needed to be constructed – and it so happened that the evening before, a child had entered the camp along with what was initially believed to be a broken toy but was determined to be the effigy that needed construction. I spent some time restoring it to a useable condition, while the rest of the party organised who would travel to what plane. It was determined that for one member to enter one realm, another would have to enter the other realm at the same time, so we would have to enter the portal in pairs. Myself and Yogo Riki and other travelled to the realm of law along with others, and so I can only explain precisely what occurred in this realm. After travelling through what seemed remarkably similar to the mittlenacht and fighting through the creatures that emerged from the mist around the path we were following, we finally arrived at a clearing. We were met by the guide of Law, who explained there were a series of tests that needed to be completed in order to gain access to communion with the ebony dragon who possessed the gems we needed. The first test was a duel, of sorts. Each member would choose a weapon –sword, axe or mace– and fight one of three beings that would only be affected by one type of weapon. When the creature was defeated, that person was deemed to have passed and could move on. One could additionally offer to be the champion for one of the other members who were not specifically combat specialists, and that person would have to fight two opponents instead, or all three if they were the hero to two champions. Those that were more able to handle themselves fought an opponent alone. Others were able to tackle more opponents, namely the lady Dansu elected to be the champion for three, and used her power to render her invulnerable to their attacks, passing the test through stalemate. Shortly before the next test, one of our number disappeared from this realm. We discovered when we returned that this occurred because one of the other group had fallen, and the realms had ejected both the dead party member and the one who entered at the same time. The next test was one that we may all be familiar with – we came across a statue that demanded we each present a poem about a specific subject. A haiku. For those not familiar with these please look at my past reports, but suffice to say this was a similar situation to that with the dishonourable Red Falcon Clan. If a poem could not be recited quickly enough your soul was sundered, something I don’t like the sound of but was fortunate enough not to endure. We determined that the poems did not have to be particularly impressive – in fact Lord Riki provided a quick and easy way to solve this test: First line: A comment on the subject Second line: A set line saying your name Third line: “Cherry blossom falls” This proved an effective method, and we all eventually passed to the next test, which included a warding, a number of lit candles and a barrier to the next test. The third person to pass the warding was the victim to the effects that blowing out or turning a candle over would cause – a damaging effect that doubled each time another candle was put out. The solution involved a lot of moving back and forth to allow each of us to take a certain amount of damage, but this was eventually done and we progressed to the next test. This test included training dummies – and I write this with a notion of fear in my heart as I recall these were similar to the beings which I first fell to in my journeys. These beings, designed to provide a challenge to any opponent at the level that they can cope with, are capable of reflecting the blows that are struck on them. Sadly my recommendation to, how we say, “swing lightly” was ignored in favour of casting an electrical spell at them, which they promptly reflected and begun nearly killing all of us. I am not one to point out fault in communication in these events, but I must admit I felt my voice ignored despite my protests. We were fortunate enough to survive. Nevertheless, we proceeded to the final test: judging the punishment of a crime. We were presented with the case of one found guilty of manslaughter and theft, and were told to determine what the appropriate punishment. This was handled by our Lord Riki, who ensured the correct punishment was meted out using his supreme knowledge of the laws of the orient. On completion of this task we were permitted access to the ebony dragon, and Yogo Riki spoke with the great creature and requested his permission to acquire the five gems we required. We returned, along with those that travelled to the realm of chaos. They had also been successful – although Kumi-kin had fallen during the fights with the nacht-beasts, which explained the disappearance of one of our number. -----This is the point, Yogo Sai-san, where important details regarding lord Riki’s death begin.---- At this point it had grown dark, but we pushed on. I did not know why at the time, but our travels led us to an old castle that stood on the island. The castle was filled with undead, mostly the souls of fallen Crane clan warriors who had been raised to defend the castle. Hiding within this castle, like a parasite, was a vampire - the same vampire that turned Yogo Riki and stole the ancestral sword. Yogo Riki gave the creature one chance to return what it had stolen. The creature refused, and Lord Riki bravely charged into combat with the vampire, destroying it's physical form and, when it had turned into a gaseous form, destroying its spirit and sending the creature back to whatever plane of despair it came from. Yogo Riki picked up the ancestral sword and stood proud, knowing he had completed that which he allowed himself to be brought back to unlife for. Our Lord Riki had planned to enter the wheel, I believe, at the end of the events on the island. However, he was able to do one last, great thing for many before he passed on, which I shall describe in a moment. With the vampire dealt with, we could return to camp and progress with the ritual. At this point, all that was needed was the living wood, which was taken from somewhere in the crane lands (the details I do not know specifically of) in order to avoid issues with the druid magistrate, and for those willing to go through with the ritual to present themselves. Our lord Yogo Riki led the ritual, Toshimoko, Lady Dansu, Kumi-kin, Gideon and myself offered ourselves as sacrifices to allow our spirits to enter the celestial realm. The ritual involved us announcing are willingness to lay our immortal souls to the celestial beings to be judged by their strict criteria, and at a precise point, killing ourselves so that we may transcend to another realm. While we were ‘gone’ I believe the others in the party were left to defend themselves from incoming undead and other unpleasentries. At the celestial realm we were each presented with a number of tests, each based on lore from the Crane clan. Not my strongest of topics, but nevertheless myself and all involved did what we could to each pass as many tests as possible. The reward for completing these tests was an artefact: a banner which provided boons to those that received them. These boons would aid us in the battle with the old woman the following day. The tests were: A test on ancient sayings (a verbal test) A test on the different aspects of the crane warrior class (a written paper) A test on restraint (surviving for a time without attacking an undead being) A test on diplomacy (being willing to offer yourself for the good of the clan) A test on logic (a paper on riddles and number sequences) Each challenge failed leveed a price to pay – a portion of vitae – if we wished to still claim the banner at the end of the challenges. All those involved were willing to pay the price in order to secure these banners - and thus victory - but at the last moment myself and others experienced the sensation of the failures being lifted off of us, moments before I saw Yogo Riki fell to the ground. Lord Riki chose, of his own will, to take all the failures upon himself, and as each failure cost a portion of life-force, this sacrifice killed him. The celestial beings, in their kindness, brought Yogo Riki back so that he may stay with us for the final day, knowing that he would pass onto the wheel at the end of it. Returning back into our mortal bodies, we realised we had missed the fighting, and so all turned in for the night (not so easy with an enormous banner supernaturally strapped to your back…). The following morning there were a few last details that needed clearing up before the old woman arrived: -The druids, responsible for causing the trees and animals to attack us – needed placating and persuading that we meant no harm. They believed us to be those that came before us, that hunted the creatures on the island – but the druid with us was able to persuade them that we were no longer a threat. -The leader of a fellow clan – The red dogs I believe? – arrived and insulted Toshimoko for getting wed without his presence and, not listening to Toshimoko’s explanation that he was dead at the time, publically announced his defection from the Crane. This rebellion was dealt with swiftly, and his body guard was replaced as the more worthy daimyo to their clan. This may require more information to confirm, but I do not wish to speak with the Lady Dansu at this time, such questions may be…inappropriate considering the circumstances. -There was a brief demonic invasion at about mid-day, though they seemed to be rudimentary cake eating demons who wished to partake of the wedding cake. They ate happily and left. -Finally, the honourable duel between Kinjo and Toshimoko had still not occurred at this time, though I was unsure if it was still going to go ahead at this point. Sometime in the early afternoon the sky suddenly darkened and a sense of impending doom settled upon us all. We quickly judged this to be a sign of the old woman and unsurprisingly she appeared not long after. After brief banter with her, she and her hoards of undead then begun to attack us. There was panic throughout as many were blinded by undead early in the combat. The group fractured soon after and we were left defending for ourselves while those capable of defeating her were brought to aid one by one. As far as I am aware, she had to be killed by very specific powerbases in a particular order. Those capable of dealing with this -Lord Riki, Lady Dansu and some of the western party members- did so while the rest of us attempted to regroup defend against the roaming undead. About this point, I noticed Kinjo return from the forest with the decapitated body of Toshimoko – who had a blade sticking from his chest. When the two left to duel I was not aware, but it seems they tried to deal with this privately so as not to involve others. I am told he wrote a letter to Kinjo, which was read by Yogo Riki. The contents are not important, and Lord Riki burnt the letter after reading it, as it was not for anyone else to see. But it is important to note that communications determined that Toshimoko did not wish Kinjo to be outlawed, and that he felt that his death had been an honourable one. The old woman was finally defeated and with that the Crane clan survived to fight another day. Sadly this also meant that our Lord Riki was nearing the end of his time. During this time he informed the Lady Dansu of the sepuku of Tohsimoko, and said his farewells to those in our party. In private, he impressed upon me that in his absence Yogo Sai would watch over the clan, until such a time he is born again and can take his place as Clan Daimyo once more. After his farewells, he faded from existence…and after some time we eventually returned to the ship which brought us here and returned. Yogo Sai-san, this concludes my full report on the events regarding Yogo-Riki's death, along with other occurrances. I hope my report is as full and enlightening as it can be, but if there are other details you wish me to mention you need only ask and I shall provide if I can. Shosuro Yang-To -------------------- - Matt
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 17th April 2024 - 09:29 PM |