Please Help

Please Help
Date	7/7/25
Storyteller	Slayzo
Tier	Expert
Player Characters	Swaying Petals, Anima, Peaches, Seskro, Sanaa
Rewards	400 xp
Result	Failure
Author	Swaying Petals (Cloyster)
Downtime	45

(associates face desperate odds in the Old Country)

Log

Log penned by Swaying Petals

Day 1

Oh my gosh, I’m so excited for this trip! Ever since the rift in the sky opened up, I’ve been training and now I get to put my new abilities to the test! The Round Table got a note from the Old Country written in Tien, and Anima tells us that the mayor of a group of refugees needs help! The note was vague on the details, but it must be serious! My last trip to the Old Country didn’t go so well, so I’m hoping that this one will go better! And I get to travel and see the land on the way there! Can you say road trip?

Going on this trip with me are some faces I hadn’t seen before! There was Anima the barbarian, who was part hungerseed Oni, I think. She looked intimidating and she did not share pleasant details about the Old Country (there are apparently giant beetles out there????), but she is not so bad. Next was Peaches, a beautiful Nagaji Magus who spoke softly and carried a big stick, and I love her dresses! There was also Sanaa, a less snake-like Nagaji who was an Alchemist, as well as Seskro, the Destroyer of Men, a Kobold ranger who very excitedly observed the countryside, wagging her tail. It is going to be a bit of a girls trip with all of us here, and I look forward to traveling with them!

Day 30

We’ve crossed into the Old Country now. The ground is very warm and dry and it looks like wildfires swept through the area a while ago. Seskro stands on Peaches shoulders for a better view, but I’m not sure how much it helped her. I asked Anima about any traveling songs but she only told me about a war march. We’re here to help, not make war, silly! We eventually found a sign pointing to a town called Ascended Steps, and we headed down the road that way.

Day 45

We see smoke in the distance. I and some others want to rush forward in order to help, but Anima says we’ll need to make sure to get there first and not be ambushed before we get there. So we maintain our pace.

Eventually, we find a large group of civilians led by a knight who only spoke in Tien, he was really beat up and Anima said he had been making trips into the city to evacuate people. You see, there was a clan of Oni that were besieging the village who were called Nikushoku-sha clan, or The Flesh Eaters. Eek! Talk about scary, but I tried to put on a brave face. He said that the Oni were flanking the town defenders and he needed our help to stop those Oni before they caused more damage. Peaches ponders giving away our meat statue that had been molded into the shape of Seskro, but Anima dismissed the idea because an offering would only temporarily satiate them. We need to help save this town from those awful monsters! I just hope none of them are interested in eating a salad… gulp.

Day 45 - 1

It was a tough battle. I’m gonna make some quick notes here while I patch us up; I think there are more Oni nearby. There was a large red Oni and two blue ones in the town square and we could only watch as they ripped someone in half! Wordlessly, we ran at them and we took down the big red guy at first, but the two blue Oni kept fighting and we were unable to land a hit! We eventually whittled them away, but everyone was beaten and bruised. There’s still more to come, so I hope we can improve our pace because we can’t last too much longer like this.

Day 45 - 2

[The writing is noticeably more messily scribed. The page is wrinkled as if hit with drops of water and there is a leaf-print of a blood stain on the margins.]

Seskro is dead. Anima was taken away. I tried to look for her but the Oni must have dragged her off. Sarenrae protect her, if she’s still alive out there.

We fought more blue Oni who were led by this one with red skin. I think Anima mentioned an old legend about an Oni warlord named the Man Slayer who long ago united the Oni and waged war to get the eye of Zuryl. But I noticed that the symbol he was wearing was a red hand with a white sword, rather than the symbol from the legend that was a pale hand with a black sword.

But that didn’t matter much. They rushed us with their katanas and they one-by-one start cutting us down. I fall and Sanaa throws a healing bomb to get several of us back up, but the Oni knocks us down again. My vision went dark as I was filled with terror that my worst fear was coming to pass: I was going to be eaten.

But, a while later, I woke up. The Oni spared me, but Seskro wasn’t so lucky. It seems the Oni… bit her in half, leaving only her legs behind. Such senseless death and violence… If only I could… Every mission I’ve gone on has gone topsy turvy. Can’t I do anything right? I didn’t run this time, but Seskro is still dead, along with the people we failed to protect in the village.

I didn’t see Sanaa or Peaches anywhere, so after looking for Anima I took Seskro’s remains and walked back to where the refugees were, hoping that they made it out.

I made it back to the hillside and Sanaa and Peaches were okay and talking to the mayor-knight-man, who looked really beat up, with his arm all jelly like. I couldn’t hide the sadness on my face as I cried when I told them what happened. I am grateful I managed to escape, but Anima’s fate is still left in the air. She is part hungerseed, so she has some relation to the Oni, so I can only hope she is still alive.

Since Seskro follows Apsu and she wanted to travel the world, we decide that we should cremate her remains once we have the proper facilities. I’m sorry Seskro.

…

I don’t think Seskro would want to have us be bummed out like this, so maybe I’ll write a few verses of a calming song to make myself feel better. Someday, things will be better and brighter. They have to. This is for you, Seskro.

♬

Ooh-oo child

Things are gonna get easier

Ooh-oo child

Things'll get brighter

Some day, yeah

We'll get it together and we'll get it all done

Some day

When your head is much lighter

Some day, yeah

We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun

Some day

When the world is much brighter

♬