Spirits Are Always With You

Spirits Are Always With You
Date	9/17/26
Storyteller	Tire
Tier	Expert
Player Characters	"Stone-Fist" Houzen, Theodore Leafchewer, Raiya, Sanaa, Crows, Hogo Pok'sharr
Rewards	740 gold, 30 silver, Kami Blessed Rope, Aeon Stone Crescent, and Brazier of Harmony
Result	Temple cleansed, Hogo got 10 concussions, Houzen almost got beheaded, and Raiya died... But she got better.
Author	"Stone-Fist" Houzen Augus
Downtime	4 days

The associates kill some oni desecrating a kami's shrine and help close off a path to it.

An excerpt from Houzen's personal journal

Autumn 233 Xth Day of the Xth Month

Today's tale: Crushing Oni, Vengeful Sprit. Or, The Demons, The Warrior, The Sacrifice, and The Scroll.

This one was... intense. A close one to be sure. Actually, not even that generous. I can't lie, I've had to take some time to collect myself before retelling this story in my journal.

The associates chosen were Raiya and Egg, Hogo, Crows, Theo, Sanaa, and myself. We were summoned to head back to the old country and help clear out a temple of oni influence then afterward, close it off so it is not disturbed afterward. We gathered, went through the portal, and began our journey to the temple. TYhe trip itself was uneventful which I can't say for the what comes later, but eventually we arrived at the temple. Its was an ancient building in rough shape. Rubble, overgrowth, but through it all was a pristine fountain that seemed to double as the main shrine of the kami worshiped here. Thefirst thing that caught our eyes was an ornate silver wakizashi. Now I'm no blacksmith but even I could tell that the quality of that blade was unmatched. I considered borrowing it for our mission but our guide advised against it.

As we inspected the temple, Hogo noticed the fiends desecrating the temple, and with them, a massive oni. Hogo, being part oni decided to try and reason with the invaders. It did not work. The fight began, and while I could sit here and recount every minute detail of the encounter, frankly, that stuff was to stressing to think about in that much detail again so for I will just go over the important details. There were two hell hounds, that big oni, and two freaky fiends that liked inflicting pain on themselves and others. Since Hogo opened with trying to talk to the enemies, he unfortunately became their main focus. And unfortunate it was because Hogo took multiple heavy hits that nearly killed him. Luckily, his wife Sanaa, Crows, and I had healing on hand. The monsters were also just brutal in general. The biggest challenge was definitely the two fiends. They both shared a regeneration ability, even after death. Sanaa determined that holy or silver were their weaknesses. With that, I decided to run and take the wakizashi from before, much to the guides dismay. A curse tried to befall me but it was not the time for concerns, we needed silver and it was the only reliable means of silver based attacks. I grabbed the weapon and ran back.

Raiya took the dagger in hand and the first fiend stayed down. I struck the second and raiya finished that one off as well. All that was left was the oni. Egg had taken a lot of hits and was bleeding out. So I used my last heal to save them. I couldn't bear the idea of Raiya losing their closest friend, so it seemed like the appropriate choice.The oni, having thoruoghly beaten Hogo to near death, made its way toward Raiya. She also took a violent strike. Crows was next, and they drove the oni away from Raiya, to which I then followed up with some needle darts to distract it more. The moment had arrive, I faced the oni, prepared to die with a hero's heart and will. We both wound up our attacks until suddenly, to shots struck and killed the beast. I could tell from the style of the arrows that these came from a samurai's longbow.

After I caught my breath, I looked and saw a golden samurai spirit warrior. It didn't take long for me to realize that was the kami/spirit of the temple. It also wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that he was not happy. Looks like my taking of the weapon counted as desecration most foul. I had to be quick, and try to appeal to the kami's sense of mercy. I quickly grabbed and cleaned the sacred item and did something I hadn't in a while. Offered an apology for my actions. Unfortunately, the kami was not please enough and he got into the position of a ritual execution. While I was terrified, I chose to face my death with pride. In my heart I know I did the right thing, and I did not regret it. Besides, as elder Hanuman always said, "You may one day die, but Stone-Fist lives forever."

It was then that Crows, began to speak on my behalf. The samurai heard them out and in the meantime I overheard that Raiya had tragically died. I was definitely shaken by this news but I couldn't waver in my resolve, not yet at least. I listened to the kami and to say they sounded exhausted. Given the state of our surroundings and why we were here, I guess I could understand. Eventually, he gave me a chance to speak for myself. I told him to please consider that the dagger was used by a noble warrior that sacrificed herself purging fiends from his sanctum, and that perhaps they could see that enough blood had been spilled this day. Despite all the odds, the spirit was convinced. As thanks I left the spirit an offering of peaches, hoping they would ease his burden for a bit.

As for Raiya, all hoped seemed loss, when suddenly Sanaa spoke up of a scroll of resurrection. We used it and Raiya was brought back to the world of the living. I need to make a note of offering Sanaa some kind of appreciation for such an act of selflessness. She insisted on receiving no reward but I think I'll leave some peaches on hers and Hogo's door, but I digress. We closed off the path and received our rewards from the local woodland sprites. I myself got a strange prayer rope. Hopefully it will come in handy. After all was said and done, we finally returned home. While the adventure ended on a positive note, I will remember the dangers I faced this day. Might have to withhold this one from Sai though. We'll see.