OOC: You know if you are supposed to be here
_______

An unlikely group passed into the Desolation through guarded gate, the papers provided by the shrine allowing them a passage, even if the Scorpion bushi had spent a good while staring at the documents, the two men paying particularly close attention to the nun. "Yeah, I know her. I've seen her." had been the last words they had heard, one of the guards pointing at Yakumo.

The Desolation was quiet, shimmering moths fluttering somewhere in the distance. The sky was clear after the punishingly hot day, some of the heat still lingering in the dry air, causing clothes stick to the skin. Occasionally a small gust of wind would whip up a cloud of dust, reducing the visibility for minutes at time and forcing everyone to pay attention to their footing. Yet, they made good pace - the dark crooked tower in the distance serving as a landmark.

Yakumo was nervous as hell... after they had passed the checkpoint. The checkpoint was the easy part, she felt, confident not only in herself to handle the talking but also in the papers that the monks of Kyoso's Shrine had arranged.

When she got back from this, she was dumping a considerable donation into that place's alms box.

Underneath the black robes of a monk, she wore the most sensible clothes she owned for something like this; jeans, boots, sports top with a sturdy jacket over. Her wakizashi and gunbelt had been placed so to avoid suspicion while wearing the monk's robes, but out here she could take off the robe and stuff it into the small bag she had with her, and adjust her weaponry.

"I think I might have... some idea, of where to go." Maybe. She was looking around, trying to get her bearings.

Nearby Koyuki was bundling the assorted face wrappings, hat, and heavy monk robes which concealed her armor and weapons well enough not to draw suspicion. Into a neat little ball of cloth they went that was then pushed underneath a piece of rubble at a particularly recognizable landmark of destroyed building along near the gate they'd come through. Close enough that if they were coming back in a state enough to care for the deception any longer she'd be able to collect it with ease, and if they weren't it really wouldn't matter would it?

Stepping forward beside Yakumo, Koyuki would heft the sheathed blade around at her side. It'd been a long time since she'd properly worn a katana at her side. Honestly, felt a little strange. Yet here she was and this was the kind of thing she was meant for. With that she carried the confidence of a Crab warrior, resplendent in her battleworn silksteel armor and poise of the strength of the wall against Jigoku that the Crab embodied, now more spiritually than physically.

"I'm behind you. Whatever comes next."

Scenery was exceedingly bleak, much like downtown sometime 4 am on Tuesday morning. Everything seemed dead or decaying. Plasteel bars exposed by the explosion were slowly rotting, taste of iron and other impurities heavy in the air. Lichen of sorts grew on the cracked concrete slabs, but looked off, the small whimsy stalks either iridescent orange or glowing in sickly purplish light. Occasionally small rodents, with all too many limbs, could be seen scurrying among the ruins.

Disguising herself as a Dark Fortunist monk was not on Seika's lifetime bucket list, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Unlike Koyuki, she doesn't have any armor to free up, but she does unwrap most of the layers, letting the robes hang open over her practical street garb with its many pockets (into one of which she stuffs away the monastic veil), and the gunbelt on which the ancient Crab-death hangs heavy alongside her personal sidearm.



And her holorecorder, of course. "Damn, this place is even creepier than Dai's vids made out." Frivolously, she wishes she'd thought to ask the ronin for some tips on lens and aperture settings in here. These aren't exactly normal night conditions.

However, since photography is not an actual compulsion and she's had ample warnings from multiple sources about the dangers to be found in here, she spares only a limited amount of attention for her holorecorder. "Lead the way, I guess, Susumu-san. Any idea what our target looks like? A ruined tower, you said before?"

---
D11 EN--did you really think Seika was going in here and not getting any pictures? Artisan: Holorecorder/Awa | 5k3 ⇒ 17 (TN: ?)

As they approached the dark tower, a ominous green glow could be seen somewhere in the horizon, shimmering moths fluttering around the unlikely trio, the thrumming of their wings making it a little hard to hear what others were saying. The ground was weird, covered with rubble with occasional splashes of glass - remnants of the all too powerful explosion that had turned the district into ruins. Occasionally, they would pass a Glimmerstone stuck in the ground or on a decaying building, small empty holes on structures a telltale sign of scavengers.

"Yes... the dream led me deep in, where I saw a ruined tower. And the portal." Seeing Seika with the holorecorder she couldn't help but to supress a chuckle.

Yakumo looked so very out of place here, even with her wakizashi and side-armed, with the pendant hanging around her neck, and the lantern secured in her backpack. She didn't want to risk walking around with it and accidentally damaging the ancient artefact.

She gave a nod and appriciative smile to Koyuki. "Alright, let's do this."

-

It was a dismal walk the entire way, and while Yakumo never complained, she was not enjoying the hike. She was used to performing on stage, not traipsing into a desolate wasteland. "Should we... do anything about the glimmerstones, Yoritomo-sama?" Yakumo asked, stepping in close to the smaller shugenja. She wasn't sure if Seika wanted to bring them with her to put the souls to rest somehow, or leave it for another time.

"Trapped in stones here, or trapped in stones someplace else... it's not gonna make that much of a difference for them, I think." Seika rubs her nose, frowning. "Unfortunately. Haven't worked out a process to release them safely yet. Best we'd be doing is keeping them safe from the scavengers, I guess..."

She bends to poke carefully at a stone on the ground, finding it (presumably?) embedded enough that she'd have to take some time to pry it out.

"Right now, we got a date waiting. And it didn't sound like they're going to be too patient about it."

"Best not to weigh your mind or body down with them anyway," she offers, perhaps a touch coldly. Hand resting on the edge of the katana with a sorta familiar unfamiliarity to it. Just trying to get herself a sense of how it really feels to wear the thing at her hip. Inhaling deep, she finds that moment to center herself slowly while looking out over the wastes ahead. Taking a quick moment to kick over a sharp piece of metal sticking in the path with the weighty side of her boot.

"Right..." she said, drawing a deep breath and adjusting some clothes below her bust slightly. Maybe should've asked the embassy for any armor, Yakumo thought briefly, before realising that it would just been heavy and uncomfortable. Especially for someone so unused to it.

"Let's keep going on ahead."

Eventually the trio would reach a small clearing at the base of the dark and crooked tower, the portal Yakumo had seen in her dreams shimmering on the other side, nested in ruins of what once might have been a small temple. The shimmering nightmoths around them scattered even as spiritual miasma began seeping from the portal...

____
OOC: Roll for initiative, list stance and armor TN.
Portal is 120' away from the players with an open clearing in between.

Good luck kid.

You got this.

Don't die a fool.

Inhaling deep, she breathes out slow as the moment descends upon them. Koyuki was ready, and alert. Now was the easy part, all she had to do was fight her hardest. With two little ducklings in tow that she had to protect. Easy.

[Mech:]

Day 11, EN | Initiative, Defense Stance | 5k3 ⇒ 24 (TN: ?)

24 Initiative
Defense Stance
ATN: 29
Healthy: 0/15
Void Use: 0/3
Sidearm: 6/6

"That's it, huh? I'm not gonna be stupid enough to say it looks easy..."

Seika is light on her feet, alert.

---
D11 EN--childe Hoshi to the dark tower came... (Init) | 6k3 ⇒ 34 (TN: ?)

Defense stance, ATN 24
Void: 3/3
Wounds: 0/57

"Mm, you're right. It does feel like a trap," she agreed with Seika, but... well, they had come this far, and they couldn't turn back now.

No way to go but forward.


----

D11 EN Initiative Roll | 4k3 ⇒ 34 (TN: ?) (gotta go fast!)
Defense Stance, ATN 24 (29 vs spirts and tainted creatures [Crystal Star])
Void: 3/3
Wounds: 0 (Healthy)
Sidearm: 6/6
Lantern of Sacred Light: functional

Even as the three samurai step into the clearing, the unearthly portal flickers in sickly green light, allowing dark miasma pool on the ground. Soon, the eerie quiet is broken by a disturbing laughter, a monstrous figure stepping out of the billowing miasma, fetid vapors coiling around its unnatural form.


Oh, playthings, prepare for trouble!

Another, equally disturbing spirits steps out of the darkness, grinning lasciviously as she greets the characters.


You sweet little fools, make it double!


Pretty, pretty, darlings, why are you so shy?


You silly humans, you have come here to die!


Playthings playthings, come join out dance!


Do well and we might even give you a chance!


Ranshin!


Haiso!


Run now, or prepare to fight!

The presence of ancient gaki reflecting the primordial fears fills the minds of the samurai, each and everyone suddenly drawn into a drawn into a personal hell of sorts. Koyuki has to witness her team being attacked by overwhelming enemy, her friends cut down left and right around her - fear filling her mind even as she turns her back to the unseen enemy and runs, panic filling her mind even as she loses the control of her body.

Meanwhile Yakumo and Seika are plagued by visions of insanity, both women having to witness just how they could fall into madness. Yakumo is tormented by a visions where she hurts everyone she cares for, watching them to bleed to death even as she keeps stabbing them time and time again, blood running down along her pristine hands with twisted laughter echoing around her. Seika for her part sees herself at feet of an obese Crane lord, somehow knowing that she is serving as his concubine - the nightmarish vista is made worse by a nagging sensation that keeps telling Seika that this is the life she craves, crumpled gum pack laying on the ground.
_________________

OOC: Yakumo, Seika and Koyuki are 110' from the portal and the two ancient gaki.
Koyuki suffers Fear 3 effect.
Yakumo and Seika take Fear 2 effect.

Initiatives.

Yakumo 34
Seika 34
Koyuki 24
Haiso: Initiative | 6k4 ⇒ 22
Ranshin: Initiative | 6k4 ⇒ 19

Yakumo quickly dispelled those visions with a fierce shake of her head. "I will not fear you!" Her long legs gave her an advantage to move swiftly, finding herself with a second wind of energy now.

Only a few steps forward, near some rocks for some minor measure of cover, she retrieved the stored lantern. This was the creature she had seen in her dream, so she knew they were in the right place now.


------------

D11 EN Rout and Madness. Fear Roll! Crystal Star (using Void instead of Willpower). +1k1 Void. TN 15 | 4k4+3 ⇒ 56 (TN: 15)
PFFFFFT you think that's scary???

Complex Action: Retrieving the Lantern of Sacred Light from her pack.
Free Action: Move 10ft forward (Yakumo is 100ft from the portal and the gaki)
Free Action: Speak 5 words!

Defense Stance, ATN 24 (29 vs spirts and tainted creatures [Crystal Star])
Void: 2/3
Wounds: 0 (Healthy)
Sidearm: 6/6
Lantern of Sacred Light: functional
Ghosting

Has: Wakizashi, sidearm, Crystal Pendant, Lantern of Sacred Light.

"Ew, you've gotta be kidding me..." Seika shakes her head furiously, shooing away the cobwebs of confusion. The fear is endurable, but that mental picture is going to linger for a while.

Internally cursing her short legs, she jogs forward... still further from the scary creatures than any shot she's ever managed at the range. And who knows whether this old gun Yakumo was given--nemuranai though it may be--even has the range of a modern sidearm.

Instead, she frees her densai from her pocket and intones a prayer for aid in the fight ahead.

---
D11 EN Double Trouble!--round 1, Fear 2. | 3k3+4 ⇒ 34 (TN: 15)
Passed!

Free action: Move 5' toward the gaki (lol)

Complex action: spell casting
D11 EN Double Trouble!--round 1, cast Reversal of Fortunes (Water rank 1) 1 raise for duration | 5k3 ⇒ 26 (TN: 15)
Should be K2 instead of K3, but still passes with 18 in that case. RoF on self, lasts for 4 rounds.

Defense stance, ATN 24
Void: 3/3
Wounds: 0/57

Tatsunosuke leaves her behind, again, felling some creature that shouldn't have deserved the opportunity to claim his life. Toma smashed to bits. Rikako broken and mangled. Rei maliciously devoured by thousands of rows of teeth churning out of a devilish head. Yakumo leaving her, like she said she would, and Moriko watching on while she too turns away. Everyone always leaves her in the end.

Always alone, always doomed to end up alone.

Shaking her head out of it, wide eyes grasping everything around her Koyuki pushes forward with effort. Coming to stand up close to Yakumo who was pushing on ahead. Pulling the sword from her side the blinding the sacred light of the blade is revealed, and Koyuki comes to stand in front of Yakumo with it in a guarding posture. Panicking, sweating, and eyes darting around toward every potential threat.

--------------

Day 11, EN | Fear Three, Void +1k1 | 4k4 ⇒ 15 (TN: 20)
[-3k0 to all rolls!]

Notable Free actions:
Move 10/15' to stand in front of Yakumo.

Simple Action: Draw Yoake
Simple Action: Guard Yakumo

+10 to Yakumo's ATN

24 Initiative
Defense Stance
ATN: 29 (Effectively 24 this Round)
Healthy: 0/15 [0/57]
Void Use: 1/3
Sidearm: 6/6
Ghosting Instructions

"Spider-girl, your strings are mine!" Rout quipped, dancing across the clearing as if she was striding into a ball, sweeping her clawed hands in wide arcs.



"Itsy-bitsy-titsy Spiderrrrrr...." Ranshin chanted, his mouth frothing as he ran towards Yakumo on all fours.


_______
OOC: Rout dances 70' towards Yakumo.

Rout is 30' from Yakumo and Koyuki, 15' from Seika
Ranshin is 30' from Yakumo and Koyuki, 15' from Seika


Yakumo 34 <- is up.
Seika 34
Koyuki 24
Haiso: Initiative
Ranshin: Initiative

"Fuck..." Yakumo saw how fast these monsters were, and with some fumbling remembered how to activate the lantern, directing it's light towards one of the advancing terrors!

"Koyuki I got your back!" quite literally too as she stepped behind the Crab, putting some distance between herself and the approaching danger, and also staying close to the Crab that had taken up a defensive position.


----------

D11 EN. Rout and Madness. Round 2. Lantern of Sacred Light on...Ranshin! 3k2 Damage | 3k2 ⇒ 11 (TN: ?) 11 damage (ignores reduction) on Ranshin

D11 EN. Rout and Madness. Round 2. Lantern of Sacred Light power? | 1k1 ⇒ 9 (TN: ?) (Lantern is still functionable

Complex Action: Shine Lantern on Ranshin
Free Action: Move behind Koyuki (still adjacent to her for purposes of guard)

Defense Stance, ATN 24 (29 vs spirts and tainted creatures [Crystal Star]) [Currently: 39 from Guard]
Void: 2/3
Wounds: 0 (Healthy)
Sidearm: 6/6
Lantern of Sacred Light: functional