Onyx Empire 13

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KakitaKaori
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Onyx Empire 13

Postby KakitaKaori » Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:22 pm

I was feeling very discouraged by having these stories moved, but the game hasn't stopped, so I might as well bring you all up to date.

Background and Characters and game 1:
Games 2, 3, and 4:
Games 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9:
Games 10, 11, and 12:
Interlude story - Lessons of Shourido:

Onyx Empire Game 13
When the party had recovered sufficiently, Kitsu Chiyori led them up into the central pagoda of the Lion Hall of the Ancestors. Her hope was to seek out the spirit of the ancestor that she and her father shared, first, in the hopes that she might determine if any of her family lived. The halls were empty, but seemed brushed with the sound of whispers. Each doorway was barred with a single red cord.

This portion of the Halls, the group discovered, had been structured by the Kitsu to be a place of testing and learning for young Lion, especially young Kitsu. As the group approached each doorway, each, in turn, whether Kitsu or not, were able to sense within them the touch of the ancestors asking of them a question about the nature of Bushido. Those who answered in a way favored by the ancestors won honor, at least in their eyes. The questions varied, and some were more successful than others. The only question Shourai was offered was 'Which is more important: being truthful with yourself and your understanding, or being truthful to your lord?" Shourai answered that it was more important to truthful with ones lord, because your knowing the truth about something is not always necessary, and is sometimes a hindrance to accomplish it. Your lord can use your communication made honestly but in ignorance to combine with that of others to achieve something beyond your own understanding. The answer seemed to please the ancestors.

At the top of the pagoda, Chiyori was fully able to communicate with the spirit of her grandfather, and the spirits were so close there, that, for that one moment, all could watch as she did so. Her grandfather told her that her mother had been killed by the Moto, but that her father and Daidoji Shourai's younger brother had, in fact, survived the Motos' assault and had fled. They would be found in Phoenix lands. There were other warnings and blessings, but it was with great thanks that Chiyori made her leave and the group left the pagoda, burning incense for their own ancestors before they left.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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KakitaKaori
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Re: Onyx Empire Game 14

Postby KakitaKaori » Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:12 pm

Feeling a little better at the glimmers of hope offered by their time in the Halls of the Ancestors, the erstwhile group of samurai descended from the Pagoda, took another short rest, and then descended the spiral staircase below the halls, leading to the catacombs and the temple of the Jade Dragon, where Matsumoto Natsuo was to ask the secret question the old monk had requested.

Were they really challenged by the spirits of their ancestors? The corridors were dim, and the nearness of the catacombs pressed around them. It is hard to say what was truth and what was imagination, but the Togashi and the Scorpion both felt themselves challenged and found wanting as they moved in the darkness.

Kitsu Chiyori had led them down. There were glimmers of light outside, and side passages that lead to places unknown, but they were not followed. Soon Matsumoto Natsuo took the lead, following some instinct that carried him through the darkness until he reached a large, jade door in the darkness. The group joined together to push it aside.

The scene within in itself could have been half dream, or vision from the realm of slaughter. The room was filled with the undecayed bodies of fresh battle-dead, heaped upon heap like sheaves from a dread harvest. However, in the center of the slaughter, a single column of light arose. Kitsuki Gamen went first, speeding past the corpses towards the light. Matsumoto Natuso called upon his own inner talents to shelter himself in purity as he went to the light. The others followed as best they could, but first Daidoji Shourai swept up Kitsu Chiyori into her arms, unwilling to allow the corruption of the room to touch the shugenja, especially not here. She stumbled, and Chiyori's geta trailed through the blood. Shourai took the shugenja's shoe for herself and continued on until Chiyori was safely deposited in the light in the center.

There, in the light, knelt a very old, old woman. She wore armor, and across her lap lay an open blade, a ken. The circle of purity extended from her, keeping the corruption of slaughter at bay. As Natsuo approached she looked up, and they recognized each other. This was Matsumoto Eiko, hero of a time long past, and Natsuo's grandmother. She was using much the same spell he had been when the group had first met him in the cliffside kuyden. She smiled as she saw him approach. "You are late."

"Grandmother...? How are you here? Have you been here all this time? Why?"

"I have been. I know why you are here. It's an important question. There are things you need to know, and only Tengoku has the answers. You have already passed from Ningen-do to Yomi to Meido. I have held this passage between Meido and Tengoku open against the incursion of Gaki-do, but my time to do so grows short. You did not come too early, that is certain."

It was in no small amount of awe that Natsuo bowed deeply to his grandmother, and the others bowed also.

She gave a crooked smile. "I must say...I'm glad it was you. " She held up the blade she bore towards Natsuo with her frail hands. "Take this and bring this into the light for me. Seek the light of the Celestial Heavens and return it to the Empire."

Natsuo took the blade from her hands. "Grandmother...."

With that, all of the party began to be lifted up, towards the ceiling of this dark chamber, then higher and higher within the column of light until it seemed they passed completely through, leaving the charnel-house below them in darkness.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Kakita Kasukaru
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Re: Onyx Empire 13

Postby Kakita Kasukaru » Tue Oct 04, 2016 11:22 pm

I like the poetry in that scene.
Kakita Kasukaru
RPG mostly / French * Greece


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