Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

January 12th, 2019


January 1st, 2019

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal – Sarenith 2 – 4, 4713

Sarenith 2, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

In the Enganoka province there is a fishing village. This village found itself under a crushing tax burden, and when they could no longer afford to pay their daimyo he called nine of his best samurai and ordered them to raze it to the ground. These samurai were loyal to their daimyo, but they were also honorable men. Because there was no honor in burning a village and killing its residents as punishment for a debt, these samurai instead returned with the tax money that was owed. By satisfying the village’s debt, the daimyo was properly served and their honor remained intact. The daimyo, however, expected his orders to be followed, and the nine had deliberately disobeyed him so he insisted they they be punished. Though he had a reputation for cruelty, in a rare moment of mercy, the daimyo merely dismissed the samurai from his service.

This is the story that Itsuru told us. The ronin call themselves The Nine Pawns, and the daimyo is, of course, his brother Sennaka.

So why tell us this?

Because The Nine Pawns are seeking retribution for the years they spent, trapped by honor, serving an unjust and unworthy man. Because Itsuru is sick of his brother’s cruelty and the Jade Regent’s hubris. Because all of our interests are aligned. Because an opportunity has presented itself, and as foreigners, we are in a position to act on it.

We have limited time. Sennaka is setting out for a resort at a hot springs that he uses as a private retreat. The Nine Pawns have infiltrated this resort as servants while it is being renovated. We can coordinate with them—if they are willing to take a chance on foreigners that they have never met—and increase our odds of success. He’ll meet with them and get word to us, either personally or through someone bearing one of our talismans.

This meeting was important enough that asked Jiro to join us. Itsuru needed to see we were building a real army with real people, led by men of honor; that we weren’t just a group of miscreants taking advantage of Minkai’s instability. It turns out Jiro and Itsuru knew each other, or rather, knew of one another, and that helped give weight to our claims. Especially since O-Sayumi started things off with a hammer blow: “These are scions of the Amatatsu family.”

Note that she said scions, not scion. We haven’t told anyone that, which just underscores that O-Sayumi is the real deal. It caught us off guard, and we had to back up nearly a year to explain it.

Getting Jiro here was easy, but not without drama. He and Hatsue had intercepted a messenger carrying a request for troops to quell a certain rebellious ronin in the north. Combined with some other intelligence, Jiro believes the fortress will come under attack in the near future. This is, of course, the big problem with fortresses: they aren’t mobile. We’ve always been most vulnerable when we were sitting still. A fortress doesn’t have the option of moving around.

Sarenith 4, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

Over the past few days, when we weren’t stuck in meetings, Dasi and O-Sayumi have been combining their skill at divination magic in an attempt to learn something about who is spying on us, and why. It was a fascinating process: with each casting, they’d get small pieces of information that could be fed back the next time to refine their sight. By the third or fourth day, an answer emerged, and in answering the question of who we so answered the one of why.

We’re being followed by a legendary assassin. One who is believed to work for the Oni’s Mask clan, and is rumored to have extraordinary magical powers. This would explain the disguises and the constant scrying. So far we’ve been able to thwart them by moving around and using magic of our own, but that has come to an end: we are going to be in Sakakabe for several days, and they will eventually figure out where we are. We are a pretty ripe target.

So there is that to look forward to.

Itsuru delivered the message to us personally: his brother leaves for the resort in just a few days, and will arrive in a little over a week. The Nine Pawns have agreed to ally with us, and they are setting traps in the forest to isolate the lodge from the company of soldiers that serves as his traveling “guard”. They will hold off the soldiers, giving us the time we need to deal with Sennaka and his retinue. It’s not a bad plan, especially for one that was put together in just a couple of days.

Now we just need to live long enough to pull it off.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 29 Desnus

It would be too much to ask, of course, for us to simply board the barge and head back to the mainland.  These gods that Kari, Ivan, and Qatana speak of were clearly idle and bored this day.

It began typically enough.  We had rescued the maiden and soundly defeated a dozen enemies.  It was time to sail into the harbor, victorious amidst a cheering crowd.  We boarded the boat and found, to MY surprise at least, that Dasi knew how to operate a boat!  I mean, anyone can take up a pair of oars, but this was a bit more than that.  He helped arranged rowers and watchers and flyers (Kali and Qatana do so like floating above the ground) and took the tiller.

Before we left, Kali announced we were being scried. Of course.  She tried doing that thing where she gets a glimpse of the scryer. It worked, sort of. She got an image of what seemed to be a beggar, hunched over.  Probably a disguise.

We were just far enough from shore to be in some of the deeper water, when Zos, He of Small Stature but Sharp Vision and positioned at the front of the boat, pointed at a wake heading for us from the right side.  Defensive postures were struck.

I can now say I have met my first “dragon turtle”.  It is not a dragon.  It is not a turtle.  It’s as if somebody took all the gracefulness of a turtle on land and combined it with all the social graces of a dragon missing 10 copper pieces.  They were kind of ugly, and more than a little ornery.  They could actually speak (Dragon, I’m told) and they claimed we were going the wrong way. And so we had to die.

They? Sorry, did I say they?  Yeah, two more showed up seconds after the first.  All of them tried to tip the boat.  All of them could breathe scalding steam.  And all of them did this, before all of them died.

Can we rest now?  Zos reminded us there was some distinct advantage to resting right now, because he could do the old ‘make a treasure map out of their skin’ trick which sounds so disgusting but has proven useful more than once.

So we reached the dock safely, with the added weight of one turtle-dragon corpse. One hour later, Zos was able to announce that there was indeed “something valuable” (at least to a dragon turtle) underwater near one of the islands.  Since we would want more spells available to us for that effort, we decided to go visit turtle-uncle Numataro-sama.  There was much joy when he and O-sayumi saw each other again.

Oathday, 30 Desnus

This day was dedicated to finding out what is valuable to a dragon turtle.  Thankfully, they value (or at least, these valued) the same things we do.  In an underwater cave, aided by an air bubble spell, we found 3 piles of mixtures of pearls, precious shells, and gemstones … about 18000 gp worth.

I need to consider what item(s) might make more effective (or less defective.)

We will spend another night at the kappa’s place before windwalking back to town.

Fireday, 31 Desnus

There was another happy reunion when O-sayumi returned to the teahouse with us.  True to her word, O-kohaku arranged meetings over the next several days with key merchants, nobles, and  other contacts from the area.  Each would arrive secretive and skeptical, and each needed to leave pleasantly surprised and hopeful.  We need to have our presentation well polished.  Suishen will undoubtedly be a part of many of these meetings as he offers concrete proof that the Amatatsu line survives.

In gratitude, O-sayumi offered the magical samisen.  We declined it at first, but it seemed to only make her more determined.  Both Dasi and Ameiko are able to play it so nit wouldn’t sit idle … in the end we accepted it.  But then she gave us an even greater gift. As discussion turned to overthrowing the daimyo, she offered that she had connections to the general of his army .. his brother.  She believed she could arrange a meeting with tsuru

We have the ninjas to get in our corner yet, but things are moving better than we might have expected.

We were again surprised when O-kohaku asked her servants to bring out a green box.  She offered it as a gift, and when we opened it we found an exquisite tea set.  (Ivan whispered that it radiated magic.)  “It’s been at the tea house since before I was here.  Those who perform the tea ceremony using this set, find it easier to recover from illnesses and consummate deals.”

[669] tea set decorated with willows and flowers

Starday, 1 Sarenith

Although I’ve been in this side of the world for months now, I am still amazed at the culture here.  Between her wizardly skills, her musical skills, her social skills, and her attractive person, I find O-sayumi to be a most intriguing representation of that culture, and I asked her if she would like to enjoy a meal with me this evening. She has agreed.

Before then, though, she arranged the meeting with Itsuru.  She believes that Jiro can expect substantial support from him once he understands the situation.

We were scryed upon again, and this time Kali detected a man in clerical robes within 10 miles of us.

Das tried a divination using our new samisen.  “What can we do to improve our conversations with the ninjas?”  The non-specific reply he got was “stop the scrying.”

Sunday, 2 Sarenith

We sent a message to Jiro today to arrange for him to meet with Itsuru.  He was surprised and agreed, but warned he had intelligence that the fort was soon to be attacked.  Consequently, he would come but Hatsui would remain to fortify their position.  If it were not that Suishen will play an important role in the meetng, I would go to the fort to assist.  Dasi tried a divination again – Does Jiro coming here put the fort at risk?  The terse response was: fort will still be there if he’s not there.  Cryptic, but we’ll take it as a positive sign.

So later in the day, the following people met in a large room in s private part of the teahouse:

Jiro
Ameiko
Qatana
Dasi
Itsuru
myself
Kali
Radella
and of course O-sayumi

Itsuru appeared confident and hesitant at the same time.  He nodded politely to Jiro.  He paled and looked doubtful though when O-sayumi introduced “the Amatatsu heirs”.  This is why I was here, and I withdrew Suishen from his scabbard and bathed him in flame.

From that moment the meetng took on renewed energy.  Itsuru offered that there may be a moment soon when the daiymo would be less guarded.  He is leaving soon to his vacation retreat with minimal staff.  There are nine other ronin who know of this as well, and together we may be able to overcome the staff and bodyguards .. and kill the daiymo.  Family honor prevents Itsuru from doing this himself, but it does not prevent him from being conspicuously unsupportive of his brother.

We have opportunity.

Moonday, 3 Sarenith

Another day, another divinaton.  Both Dasi and Ameiko used the samisen, and got related responses.

THERE IS A NINJA OF GREAT RENOWN FOLLWNG AMEIKO.  and
NEUTRALIZE THE STALKER.

That’s getting pretty direct.  The new Mask Clan of ninjas is rumored to have a superhuman ninja.  The puzzle is coming together.

Toilday, 4 Sarenith

Itsuru returned briefly.  In 10 days his brother will  set out for his retreat.  The 9 have infiltrated his staff and are ready to provide the necessary distraction which will separate him from most of his retinue.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal – Desnus 29 – Sarenith 1, 4713

Desnus 29, 4713 (late afternoon, Namidakame Lagoon)

OK, now the island is unoccupied. We were attacked by, of all things, dragon turtles on trip back. They were aggressive, belligerent and unwilling to listen to reason, so we ended up killing them. This sucks. I don’t want to be killing dragon turtles. Why are we killing dragon turtles?

The answer to that is about as surprising as gravity. It’s because Yugureda Shosaito made a deal with them. They said as much: they threatened us, and when we tried to explain his daughter was aboard, they insisted we were lying because we weren’t taking “the arranged way”. The “arranged way”? Are you fucking kidding me? Was it not enough to own an island? Did he have to control the whole lagoon, too? How many boats did they sink? How many people did they drown or kill because this lunatic wasn’t satisfied with prosperity?

OK, fine. Dragon turtles can be a menace to anything both on or in the water. They are territorial and not above extorting “offerings” from sailors in exchange for safe passage. But encouraging them like this is reckless and dangerous, just like everything else in Shosaito’s life. And it encouraged conflict and violence that led to their deaths, too. It’s all such a waste.

For what it’s worth, we saved one of the bodies and Ivan is harvesting it for meat while Zos prepares that creepy treasure map spell. May as well put it to use. It’s certainly better than just letting them all rot.

Dasi is an endless source or surprises. Piloting a barge is not a simple matter of picking up oars and rowing, and yet he made guiding it out of the docks look pretty easy. He even kept it afloat as the dragon turtles were ramming into it, intent on sending everyone into the water. I could hear dad’s voice in my head, telling me how I’d regret not learning to sail some day. How do my parents keep being right about these things?

I finally got a good look at our voyeur. They were spying on Ameiko again, and this time I was able to trace it back to what I assume was Sakakabe. I got a vision of a man or woman dressed as a beggar, hunched over like they were sleeping on some street corner. I’m going to suggest that there’s more to this than appearances.

You think?

We’ll be spending the night at Numataro-sama’s home again, assuming of course he’s up for extended company. We’re all pretty spent, and if Zosi’s map pans out we won’t be in any shape to pursue it until the morning. That, and everyone is just tired. It’s been a long day, and being scalded by steam several times over did little to help with that.

Desnus 30, 4713 (late afternoon, Namidakame Lagoon)

Zosi’s map led us to an enormous, underwater cave beneath the small island that neighbored Shosaito’s home. Inside was an extraordinary hoard of pearls, seashells and gemstones that was hauntingly beautiful even in the silty water of the cave. I’ve never seen anything like it.

My first thought was that these pearls were his end of whatever bargain they had struck, but I quickly realized that dragon turtles could get pearls far more easily than he. Since they didn’t need him for pearls, he must have been offering them something else. The range of possibilities here is limited, and most of them are awful. I am choosing not to dwell on it.

We’re spending another night with Numataro-sama. I am not complaining as the change of pace is welcome, though we made the decision out of an abundance of caution and not a desire for extended sightseeing. Our daily preparations were geared for any threats we might have faced under water—again, out of caution, though as it turns out there weren’t any—and not for safe transport back to Sakakabe. With someone out there watching for us, and potentially waiting for us at our destination, an abundance of caution seems like the right idea.

Ivan sent ahead to O-Kohaku to let her know when—and how—to expect us. I am sure she’s seen wind-walking before, but having a large group unexpectedly coalesce in the middle of her business would probably be equal parts alarming and rude. We are trying to make friends here, after all. That, and causing a small panic would seriously crimp our triumphant return.

Desnus 31, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

O-Kohaku is arranging a series of meetings with notable figures in Sakakabe: from aristocrats to merchants to nobility to social and political mavens. Apparently, that list is quite long as there is no shortage of people who are fed up with Minkai’s economic decline and the leadership responsible for it. What they’ve been lacking to date was a credible alternative, and credible alternatives is basically our whole business.

Having their support is, of course, both welcome and necessary. But, I pointed out that it fell short in one, key area. “This is all moot if we don’t deal with the daimyo here in the north. He has to go.”

O-Kohaku shook her head sadly. “I can’t do anything about that.”

Then O-Sayumi surprised us all. “I can help with that.”

O-Sayumi knows Sennaka’s younger brother, Sikutsu Itsuru. She assured us that he’s both an honorable man and a capable leader, and is itching to see Sennaka tossed aside. The problem is, the code of honor binds him to Sennaka’s service. He couldn’t take arms against his own family even if he had the military strength to do it, as that would be no better than Sennaka’s own disregard for the same. However, if Sennaka were to be removed from power? Then Itsuru would eagerly fill that void.

More importantly, Itsuru’s code of honor does not compel him to intervene should someone make that move for him, and he would be more than willing to look the other way. We can work with that. O-Sayumi is, you guessed it, setting up a meeting.

It occurs to me that I keep coming full circle. One of the reasons I left home, and wanted out of the family business, is that I didn’t want to spend my time in meetings.

I have spent the last few evenings studying Shosaito’s spell book. He specialized in illusion magic, but there is a load of necromancy in it as well. It makes me want to throw up. There are spells here to animate and create undead, and of course death magic because the first step when doing the former is the latter. That being said, some of what’s in here is actually useful. I’ll just have to hold my nose while I work.

Sarenith 1, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

Olmas took O-Sayumi out for dinner last night. I am not the best judge of these things, but I got the impression he was on a date and she wasn’t. Not that it went poorly, or anything. Though I get the impression she gets taken to dinner quite often and has considerable experience at gently disappointing suitors.

We took Koya to one of the larger temples to Desna. For the immediate future, she will be staying there as a religious pilgrim from the west. Since that’s primarily why she signed on, we didn’t even have to lie to them, which is, of course, a plus.

The way we figure it, there’s few places safer than being surrounded by clergy in a huge temple to a major deity. And they were thrilled to have her, too. It’s not exactly unheard of, but a visiting high priestess from Avistan is something of a rare event. It was clearly a red-letter day.

I got another look at our voyeur today. It’s just dumb luck I happened to catch it, too, as the last thing we need is me being tied to Ameiko every minute of every day. We both need space and privacy, and to not feed each others’ anxiety.

This time, he—or, I suppose, she—was dressed in generic, brown clerical robes and wandering through the woods about 10 miles outside of the city. So they are close, but they obviously left, so whoever this is they know who we are, but don’t have a good grasp on our schedule. Though that’s not really surprising: I don’t have a good grasp on our schedule, and I don’t think anyone else does, either.

We have a new sense of urgency about all of this. Dasi did this divination, just trying to get advice on our upcoming trip to see the Three Monkeys. The answer he got back? “End the scrying.”

I am not wholly ignorant about these sorts of spells. A response this direct is almost unheard of.

 

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s Journal for Desnus 29 through Sarenith 4, 4713

Wealday, Desnus 29, 4713 evening
Jikko River

It turned out that Dasi knew how to helm the barge. Seriously, what doesn’t he know? Six of us would need to man the oars, three on a side, for the short trip from the island to the dock on the main land.

The day was quite pleasant, especially now that the shadows and mists surrounding the island had evaporated, and we were making good progress on the flood tide when Zos called out, “Something large is heading toward the barge on the starboard side!”

That “something large” turned out to be a dragon turtle. It rammed the barge hard, causing it to list heavily to port, the side on which I had been sitting. The impact was so violent that it launched me into the air, but fortunately Overland Flight kept me from harm, and I soared up to assess where I could be the most help.

I quickly cast Blessing of Fervor on most of my companions and Ivan used Air Bubble on the crew still at the gunwales while Dasi began to sing a song of courage.

The dragon turtle was taking some abuse, but was dishing out at least as good as it got. It breathed out a massive cone of steam, causing much mayhem and shouts of pain. It made me reconsider serving steamed clams for dinner as I had originally planned.

Just as those of us from the port side of the barge had worked out how best to assist those on the other side, another DT plowed into us from the port.

“Oh, this is just going great!” Timber snorted.

Dasi called out and pointed astern, and from my vantage point in the air I could see a third DT heading our way.

Star growled, “Don’t just stand… er, hover there, do something!” She was right, and so I flew over and blocked the latest arrival, slamming it mightily with my flail. It reacted by breathing more steam up at me.

Before too much time the first DT was dead and floating inertly beside the barge, and the second was soon doing the same. Radella flew over and clobbered the DT beneath me, sending it beneath the waves.

We spent a lot of time healing our wounds (lots of those) and resumed rowing until finally we reached the mainland dock a short time later. We then walked the mile or so from there to the Jikko River, where the old kappa dwelt.

The original plan was to return to Sakakabe with O-Sayumi tomorrow, but like regular dragons, apparently dragon turtles were known to hoard riches, and so we planned to search for their lair in the morning.

The kappa was delighted to see O-Sayumi again, and we were more than welcome to stay with him, or nearby on the river bank.

For the rest of the day Ivan and I put together a large smoker using willow and fern fronds as the frame and covering it with a bit of unused (by us) sailcloth from the barge. Luckily we were at the mouth of the Jikko and we found alder and maple trees growing nearby, and using dead fall from these trees we began to smoke some of the dragon turtle meat.

Yes, Ivan saved flesh from these creatures to cook later. His original desire was to make bacon, but I pointed out that sea food bacon sounded awful, and that we should smoke it instead.

Technically speaking to have real bacon you needed the proper ratio of fat and muscle only found (naturally) in the belly of a pig. From what I could tell bacon was not a thing in Minkai, or Tien. Sure, they had smoked meats, and even smoked pig, but nothing that we would have called bacon back home.

Thus Ivan’s and my obsessions over turning any sort of animal flesh into that wonderful delicacy.

Zos had used his treasure map skill from the dragon turtle hide and confirmed what we had suspected: there was a nearby hoard to find on the small island we had flown over on the way to the big one.

Oathday, Desnus 30, 4713 evening
Jikko River

We waited just for the sun to rise high enough to fully shine down upon the waters of the lagoon, and with Life Bubble, courtesy of Ivan, we simply walked into the water and along the bay floor toward the right direction.

We were basically “loaded for bear” (or dragon turtle, or anything in between) with powerful offensive and defensive spells prepared, but we encountered nothing other than the occasional curious fish and oyster bed.

Once at the island it did not take long to find the underwater entrance to a cave, and two piles of treasure awaited us within (one larger than the other, indicating two of the DTs we had killed had been a mated pair).

Takoda said, “I just don’t get the whole hoard thing.”

He had a point. What good was all this wealth doing the DTs? They weren’t buying anything useful or desirable with it. They weren’t taking trips to exotic locations with it (“I hear Korvoso is lovely this time of year”). About the only purpose it could serve would be to lure potential meals out to the DTs when legend of their hoard reached the general population. But how was that supposed to work with the treasure hidden underwater and all the local population chased away by a wicked sorcerer, his undead or oni servants and hostile dragon turtles?

Anyway we hauled the lot of it back to the shore and estimated the total value of our find at over eighteen thousand gold coins.

“And let that be a lesson to them,” Badger said to no one in particular.

Later on that day Ivan and I stumbled across an ancient apple orchard from an abandoned farmstead. The early apples, small and both sweet and tart, would make a welcome addition to our meals, and we smoked some more of the DT meat using apple wood.

Now that the lagoon area was safe again I hoped that people return here to live. Perhaps a series of none too quiet conversations in the tea houses of Sakakabe could encourage it.

Fireday, Desnus 31, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

We arrived back at O-Kahaku’s tea house around mid morning via Wind Walk. Ivan had used Sending the previous evening to let her know the time and manner of arrival, and so there was no alarm when we materialized in the middle of the court yard.

There were emotional reunions, especially with the younger geisha to whom O-Sayumi was effectively a big sister, but after an hour or two everyone’s public displays of affection settled down and we were able to discuss other matters.

But first O-Kahaku gave us a very ancient and magic tea set in thanks for returning O-Sayumi safely to her. The tea set was really quite lovely and granted various benefits if used for a formal tea service.

But I think it is of little use for us, other than as a source of income. We can’t use the set to influence others without risking them being offended if they discovered the tea set was magical.

In fact we had this very discussion later on in the day, when we decided we would have O-Sayumi perform tea services for our upcoming meetings (more on those later) using a regular tea set.

This leaves us with a very expensive set of paper weights. A better use for the tea set would be to sell it and use the proceeds for financing our primary goal or putting Ameiko on the throne of Minkai.

“Yeah,” interrupted Pookie, “and that staff of Wind Walk isn’t going to pay for itself!”

Yes, well that was true too.

O-Sayumi then gave us her musical instrument, which was also highly enchanted. Ah, but here was a gift we could make direct use of, or at least Dasi can.

Anyway, not too long after all of the pleasantries of O-Sayumi’s return were done, O-Kahaku got down to the business at hand concerning Ameiko.

She knew most of the big movers and shakers in the social and financial circles of Sakakabe, and she would arrange for meetings between them and Ameiko so she could make the case for becoming empress. Apparently business had been bad since the Jade Regent took control of Minkai, and things were only getting worse, and so this was an opportunity to gain powerful (and wealthy) allies.

O-Kahaku was friends with Itsuru Sennaka, the younger brother of the regional governor, Sikutsu. According to her Itsuru was nothing like his despotic sibling, and would be a much better leader. But the local culture prohibited Itsuru from taking any direct actions against his brother… however if outside events (“Meaning us!” exclaimed Beorn) removed Sikutsu from power (“Meaning killed!” exclaimed Beorn) then Itsuru would be more than happy to step in.

Progress! I felt fairly good about our chances, and quite content that we did not need to do something else to prove our worth or the authenticity of Ameiko’s claim.

And then something very odd happened.

We were all lingering over dinner at O-Kahaku’s place — which we had rented for both lodging and for the upcoming meetings — when Kali and Dasi wandered over to where I was sitting and humming softly to myself.

“Qatana, it is really important the Ameiko present her case for both our planned actions in the north as well as for her taking the throne of Minkai.” Kali started. “It is very important that she speak well and show herself to be a strong and insightful leader.”

She and Dasi looked at me meaningfully for a few more moments before wandering off.

“Uh, what the hell was that?” Star asked.

I honestly had no idea, but there must have been something very important they wanted me to do to assist Ameiko in the upcoming meetings.

“Yeah,” Pookie said, “but it’s clear they want any advice we have to offer to be given very discreetly.”

All of a sudden Huffy opened his eyes wide and said, “Oh my gosh! You know what they want? They want you to lend us to Ameiko for her meetings so we can offer advice directly to her.”

It was a good thing I was sitting down, because this revelation was staggering. And yet it made perfect sense. My companions knew how valuable the advice from my mice friends were, and they wanted to ensure Ameiko’s success by making sure she had the very best advice possible.

Only they were too afraid or shy to ask directly, and thus the subtle hints.

I looked around the room and found Ameiko and Shalelu sitting at the head of the table looking over at me. Ivan was just walking away.

Huffy gasped and exclaimed, “See, even Ivan knows about it and he must have just told Ameiko what you are going to offer.”

It seemed obvious, and so quite reluctantly I stood and walked over to Ameiko. I slowly pulled off the necklace upon which my friends’ skulls hung and held it out to her.

“Ameiko, the others have been talking about your upcoming meetings with the merchants and local lords, and they seemed quite concerned about your ability to handle these discussions successfully. I don’t understand what they are worried about, but Kali came to me and specifically asked for me to provide you with discreet counseling if needed. I later realized that what she was really asking was for me to lend you my little friends during these negotiations.”

There was a moment of silence before Ameiko replied.

“Oh! Oh, Qatana, that’s… really such an honor. That would be such a tremendous boon to have on my side. I think, however, it’s best that your… friends… stay with you. I think they are more comfortable where they are for now. I’m sure the others will understand.”

“Pfft, I thought so,” smirked Pookie, “if she wasn’t able to handle these negotiations she would hardly be fit to be empress, now would she?”

I had thought the same thing, and with great relief I placed my friends back around my neck and said, “I could arrange for some other form of unobtrusive communication between you and I, if you wanted to have my advice available during your meetings. But again, I personally have every confidence that you could manage without anyone else butting in unasked.”

Ameiko answered, “Thank you for your confidence. I hope I can show that confidence to the merchants and nobles. Maybe we could agree on some kind of signal I can give you to let you know if I need advice on something? Probably just an extra precaution, though, because I think I’ll be fine, and have the ability to pause talks on some pretense or other if I need to regroup or consult with you and the others.”

I quickly replied, “Perhaps you could just ask, ‘What does Pookie think?’ and then we’d all know you would like a private consultation with us.”

Ameiko nodded, and Pookie crowed, “I am the official advisor to the future Empress of Minkai!”

Yes, well if it actually came to that, then I suppose that would be so.

I returned to my chair in the corner and flashed a grin with a big thumbs up toward Dasi and Kali to let them know I had understood their message, and that everything was taken care of.

Toilday, Sarenith 4, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

There has been meeting after meeting over the past few days, and through it all Ameiko handled herself as a true heir to the throne.

We decided that it would be a good idea for Jiro to be present for these meetings, especially given that he was a ronan of the north, where we planned to take action, and because he could speak to Ameiko’s claim to the throne. Thanks to a couple of teleports he was once again with us in person.

He brought some troubling news. His patrols captured messages between the local brigands and the governor indicating that the Sikutsu was planning a major move against Jiro’s family fortress in order to cast him out and restore the status quo (ie. raping and pillaging).

It seems we needed to give some thought to the fortifications of Jiro’s ancestral home. I had some ideas concerning glyphs of warding and a symbol of sleep, but we have not yet agreed upon a final plan.

While the merchants and nobles vowed financial support, it was Itsuru Sennaka who provided us with a clear course of action.

Through his usual cruelty and uncivil behavior his brother had managed to alienate (and exile) a number of ronan, who now called themselves simply “The Nine Ronan,” with whom Itsuru was in contact. The Nine were dedicated to the removal of Sikutsu from office. Itsuru said that he would notify them on our behalf and see if we could coordinate our efforts.

A day later Itsuru returned to us with news.

These ronan had learned the governor’s habits well, and knew he would soon journey to a luxurious resort — one whom he had recently took over as his own pleasure palace, throwing everyone else out. While at the resort Sikutsu had the bulk of his guards stay at a set of out buildings some distance up the road from the resort itself. Can’t have his imperial pasty white ass seen by those forced to protect it. Besides, they might actually enjoy themselves somewhat in the clean mountain air. Can’t have that, for sure.

Tactically this made sense, because the resort itself was in a steep mountain valley, and the only way to approach it in force was up the road, and his guards would be between any approaching force and the governor.

But the Nine had infiltrated the staff at the resort, and were planning to assassinate Sikutsu. This was a high risk plan with no small risk of failure. But if we were to attack Sikutsu’s small entourage as it made its way along the narrow path between the garrison and the resort, they could see to it that no aid would come from the resort.

Sikutsu had already set out for the resort, and was expected to arrive within the next ten days or so. The Nine recommended that we arrive early and scout out the location for the ambush and then wait.

And so we’re working out the details for that trip plus what to do about Jiro’s fort. But once again Wind Walk will give us a quick mode of nearly invisible and relatively safe travel.

“And just when are you going to make that staff of Wind Walk?” Timber asked politely.

Just as soon as I have the skill and money, obviously.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 29 Desnus

(still)
Our encounter with shadows in the chessboard trap made us feel we might well run into more of the same in what appeared to be a trip thru the Shadow plane.  We prepared with two separate Hide from Undead spells, expecting that the (usual) fighters would likely break that spell by attacking than the other group of, well, Kali.

I was one of the first into the shadowy passage but it took only seconds for all of us to enter.  The colors may have been muted, but the sound seemed the same.   Ivan had a theory that the inro was actually a map of sorts to lead us through this shadowy world.  There were gates of certain colors, or materials, that seemed to match up with items in the inro.  We made a couple of wrong turns and got hit by lightning and ice storms, but by and large I think we avoided a large amount of grief.

We came upon a largish room, and the entrance to the room seemed also to be an exit from the shadow plane.  I entered the room and observed two women on the floor.  I immediately moved to check out the women.   In one corner was a life size statue of a female in the lotus position, and in the other corner was a monkey – no, tiger – no, snake.

Actually it was all three, and did not seem friendly.  In fact it had a yell that actually hurt.  The women seemed .. not dead but not alive and I announced that.  But the first issue was the montigersnake.  Actually, Kali later said it had an explicit name too but I don’t remember what it was anymore.  The usual suspects (myself, Radella, Qatana) moved in to attack it.  It was going to take me a few seconds longer to reach it, having spent time first checking on the women, but Kali magically moved me and I started beating on it in earnest.

Suishen informed me again, in an almost accusatory manner, that it was not an oni.

But when we cut it, it did bleed, and despite some bizarre capabilities (it could make us feel incredibly tired just by waving its paws) we managed to best it with some wicked good swings and some good arrows by Ivan.

There was a door in the room, and it seemed to lead to a study. A quick search uncovered several magical items.

[669] magic samisen
[670] ivory plectrum
[671] potion of bull strength
[672] potion of cure moderate wounds
[673] potion of protection from cold
[674] potion of water breathing
[675] scroll of bestow curse
[676] scroll of ice storm
[677] scroll of lightning

There were also some

[678] business records

A quick read through the notes completed the story of what had happened.  He had tried to move his wife’s soul into his daughter’s body, but any fool knows that a body can only hold one soul so the whole thing fell apart – his wife’s soul seems to have disappeared while his daughter’s soul – O-Suyami’s soul, we could now confirm – occupied a pearl instead of her body.  He was reluctant to return hers to her body because he feared it might make it impossible to recover his wife’s.

About this time, Radella said, “aHA” and a portion of a shelf moved.  “There’s a secret door here” she announced.  And we again prepared ourselves for battle, although at this point the preparation was entirely mental and not magical.  Arranging ourselves we entered the narrow passage.

The passage led first to what Zos readily identifed as an alchemical lab.  His eyes lit up as he looked over the room.

But it was not our main interest right now.  We anticipated that we would be finding a dark mage of some sort, holding his daughter’s soul captive.  We moved on.

The next room again had muted colors and a grey appearance to it, even though it was not in the shadow plane.  There was a man sitting at a table on the far side of the room who observed us entering in an almost unconcerned manner.

“My wife is gone forever,” he remarked in a strangely flat voice, taking a sip of tea.  “I was trying to move her into my daughter’s beautiful body, but something went wrong.  I have so far been unable to reverse the effect.”  He glanced at Radella, who had moved next to him. He glanced up at her. “I assume you do want to save the girl, don’t you?”  He casually tipped a container of pearls over and they spilled across the floor.  “Be careful you don’t crush her soul by stepping on the wrong pearl” and he began to chant in earnest.

While Zos hasted us all, I hurried over to interrupt his spell with Suishen.  Unfortunately, the discarded pearls acted as marbles and I fell on my way there.  He gestured at a shadowy alcove at one end of the room and a number of shadows appeared.  Kali quickly threw up a wall of force but warned, “they’ll probably go underneath it so it won’t work for long.”  I regained my footing and attacked the man, while Qatana cast a greater dispel magic at him to render him more vulnerable.  It did not take long for us to finish him off, but it too longer to deal gingerly with the shadows he’d welcomed onto our plane.  I lost strength several times to the foul things, but Qatana was able to help me recover.

On the man and in the room, we found

[680] pearls picked up from the floor and left in the jar
[681] an inro (darkwood + embedded emeralds forming a dragon and turtle, with 3 compartments)
[682] blue-green aquamarine (magic)
[683] black pearl
[684] large white pearl (magic)
[685] potion of water breathing
[686] scroll of resist energy
[687] MW dagger
[688] cloak of resistance +4
[689] dusty rose ioun stone +1 insight bonus to AC
[690] ring of protection +2
[692] spell components
[691] ring of swimming
[693] spellbook
[694] 250gp of diamond dust

and of course the previously discovered

[695] alchemy lab

We tried to decide our next step.  We needed to revive O-Sayumi but none of us were sure how this might work.  Eventually we decided dispel magic might do the trick … and it did.

O-Sayumi told us how she was brought there by threats to harm the monks if she did not.  There was a brief discussion and we decided to leave by barge, now that it was safe, rather than waste more magic flying.

Upon approaching the barge, however, a company of hobgoblins challenged us and we shook our heads at each other.  Really?

Qatana created a blade barrier to hem them in, but much to our surprise, one after another flew ABOVE it to escape it.

The first one I laid Suishen into made him practically tremble with excitement. “ONI!!!”  ah, a dozen overconfident, underpowered oni.

Time was when that would have been a problem for us but even O-Sayumi joined in the battle, casting spells no less!  Clearly not your ordinary geisha.

With that taken care of, we are preparing to board the barge.

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s journal

We headed back into the shadow realm once again for a walkabout. I have lost track of which god is trying to get me to do what. Who knows which wants us to save O-Sayumi.

The clues left by O-Sayumi almost seemed as if she was leaving the clues to someone like me. I am fairly sure we would have run into a lot more of these shadows had we deviated from the path. The mirrors turned out to be a very interesting trick. It was fascinating that looking at them would trigger a semi real trap. I felt like I was hogging all of the fun with the mirrors trigger so I asked if anyone else wanted to also experience the wonder. Kali just gave me the “Are you nuts look” and I noticed that the others did not at all seem interested in the mirrors.

My companions don’t seem to enjoy the simple moments in life and these are the type of experiences that I am glad the gods provided me. I am not sure why my companions get so overwhelmed with dread at times like these. It was the same out on the ice. I still can’t figure out why they didn’t enjoy our time at the top of the world. Most people never get to experience the wonders of the crown of the world and yet I traveled with a group that could not wait to get off the ice. Always looking ahead and not enjoying the moment and at times they seem a little broody.

Looking into Aiemko’s eyes t was clear that she believed that things here would kill her. At that moment I realized that everyone else was likely thinking the same thing. Huh looks like once again Amieko has provided me with some insight about myself.

In truth beyond this point everything would have killed Ameiko before she could get herself out of the way. It didn’t look like fear but it just seemed that she decided to trust us to take care of the situation. Well that is what I hope that look was about.

The pearl merchant seemed over confident about his chances. He seemed to be under the misconception that we needed him. It seems like he knew why we were there but did not seem concerned. I don’t understand why he didn’t send all of his forces against us at once. Dealing with the shadows, the tiger thing, and the women would have been a big challenge for us. Yet he let us take them on in small groups which was to our advantage.

When Kali said there was a white pearl I blurted out “That’s the one” even before Qatana could determine that it was magical. It just seemed like she would be the white pearl. I am not saying that she is or is not pure of heart. It was more about not being dark and broody.

The response from the sending of the special message from O-Sayumi seems to point to her being O-Sayumi and not the wife of the pearl merchant. Something about O-Sayumi seems mysterious and the gods are being very quiet. I am not sure if that means anything or not.

I am not sure what a group of Oni is called but it looks as if there was a group of them on the boat. O-Sayumi used the spell to hold a monster and one of the oni fell from the sky. I like what I was seeing but I was also wonder how often in her line of work she actually had to use these spells. I really hope that she never has to use them while working.

I find myself more than a little confused. I have been pushing Amieko a little bit to see if the old Amieko will show up. I now have to consider that she is still the same old Amieko and that it is me that is different. She has an entire country of people to save so she has to rise up and become the type of leader that I expect. I just know that it is somewhere there insider her.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s Journal for Desnus 29, 4713

Wealday, Desnus 29, 4713 mid day
Yugureda Shosaito’s Island

We found the “master” a short while ago, and I found the encounter to be more than a little disappointing.

I was expecting to find a wizened sage of incredible talent who had spent his long years in a pursuit of arcane (if not forbidden) knowledge. Someone who had forced back the nature of death itself to bring some resemblance of life to the creatures with which he surrounded himself.

“Nope!” Pookie chirped.

Instead we found a sad and pathetic post middle aged man with the a case of the hots for his own (possibly illegitimate) daughter so bad that he tried to force the soul of his wife into her body.

That’s not just sad and pathetic, but seriously perverted, and I was happy to play a part in his death.

And his wife was no angel either. She was apparently just fine with (and indeed assisted) him in creating their undead servants. Her soul is now forever lost and good riddance to it!

I realize that good help can be hard to come by, but it is not that to find.

Of course as soon as those words hit the parchment I looked over at Zos and wondered if maybe they didn’t have a point. But still… I mean these were real undead, right?

We had gathered in the saki cellar before the portal that we assumed led to the Shadow Plane (even Beorn finds the place disturbing) when Ivan said, “Hey, wait up. Maybe O-sayum actually left clues for her potential rescuers in those things she had crafted, but didn’t take with her.”

We all paused for a moment and exchanged looks that said, “Why the hell didn’t we think of this earlier?”

Takoda helpfully pointed out, “Well he is an oracle.”

He then explained which different materials and colors we should look out for while searching for O-sayum.

This made Kali very happy. Prior to this we would have been just be randomly wandering about looking for a geisha. But now we had a Plan. Kali likes plans.

With that we were ready to enter the gateway. Olmas went first, and he faded to a what amounted to a charcoal sketch of himself. Each of us followed in turn, the colors ebbing out from my companions as they passed through, but not so much for myself.

We followed down corridors, noting the various passageways and “moon gates” we passed along the way and which materials and colors were used for each.

Sometimes a passageway would dead end, and sometimes at those ends was a mirror which sent either lightening bolts or ice storms at us. Ivan and I seemed particularly adept at dodging the worst of the effects, and so we often did the honors of looking around the next corner.

But because we were following the Plan, we did not need to go down all of the passageways, and indeed we skipped at least half of them.

Presently the corridor ended at a room in the middle of which, on a nice rug, were two woman kneeling and facing one another.

“That rug really ties the room together,” quipped Takoda. “Not helping, buddy,” I replied.

Olmas entered the room, and as he did so the color flowed back into him. He looked closely at the women and said, “They may not be dead.”

Suddenly there was a loud shout, growl, screech type of a noise from elsewhere in the room, and Olmas braced himself, holding Suishen before him.

I ran into the room and saw and odd monkey-tiger creatures slavering in the corner. We did the usual thing we do with such friendly critters, and soon it lay dead.

We then had more time to examine the women, who were under the influence of a Gentle Repose spell. One of them looked like the drawing we had seen of O-sayum, and we assumed we had found our goal. But the problem was that while she may not have been dead, she wasn’t truly living either.

A door led to the east, which opened into an a nicely decorated office. We searched around and found a number of interesting items, including the master’s journal. Kali and I poured over the later entries.

That’s when we realized what a sick jerk he was, but Pookie also realized something and exclaimed, “O-sayum is his daughter!”

Well that explained some things, but not the fact that her father had the morals of a kobold.

Meanwhile Radella had been busy searching the book cases and discovered a secret door. We gathered up everything that looked useful.

669 samison (O-sayum’s and highly magical)
670 ivory plectrum (to go with the above)
671 potion of Bull Strength
672 potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
673 Potion of Protection from Cold
674 Potion of Water Breathing
675 Scroll of Bestow Curse
676 Scroll of Ice Storm
677 Scroll of Lightening Bolt
678 Business records and maps of Minkai

We opened the door and followed a corridor east. To the north was an alchemical lab (“We’ll come back for the rest later”).

679 shards of mother of pearl

Further east was another door, beyond which was a large chamber with an alcove to the north and a table set against the far wall. A man stood next to the table sipping tea.

He knew why we were there, but like most egotistical megalomaniac’s he had to posture and boast, totally convinced of his own invincibility. He picked up a vase filled with pearls and said that the souls of the two woman were each trapped in one of the pearls (we already knew he was lying about that). He implied that only he could return their souls, and we would do well to deal with him in a friendly fashion. He then dumped the pearls onto the floor.

Timber said, “Man, we know you’re not going to help us or return the girl, so quit pretending!”

Olmas strode forward into across the room to show just how friendly he could be, but slipped on the pearls and fell.

At about that time four large shadowy figures formed in the alcove. Kali called out that she’d deal with them, and so the rest of us closed in on the old man or launched ranged attacks at him.

“Consider this friendly fire,” Star raged as I cast a greater Dispel Magic on him.

We were winning the battle against the old man, but losing the war. Kali had put up a wall of force, sealing the shadows in the alcove, but soon they phased down into the marble floor and rose back up around us.

Naturally the old man gloated. They always gloat.

They were eerily attracted to Olmas, and kept clawing at him as his strength ebbed away. Kali telekinetically moved Olmas over to me so I could heal the damage.

The old man fell first, and some time there after we managed to destroy the shadows. We looted the corpse.

680 collection of pearls
681 A lacquered dark wood box inset with emeralds forming a dragon turtle — it has three compartments
682 compartment 1: magic (conjuration) blue green aquamarine
683 compartment 2: large black pearl
684 compartment 3: magic (necromancy) large white pearl
685 potion of Water Breathing
686 scroll of Resist Energy
687 master work dagger
688 +4 cloak of resistance
689 dusty rose ioun stone (+1 insight bonus to AC)
690 +2 ring of protection
691 ring of swimming
692 spell component pouch
693 spell book
694 250 gp diamond dust
695 professional master work alchemy lab

We moved back into the room with the women and after a brief conversation we determined that O-sayum’s soul was in the large white pearl, and that casting Dispel Magic upon it should restore her soul.

I performed the casting and moments later O-sayum began to stir. We told her why we came, and she was thrilled that we used the clues she had left behind to find her. I simply pointed at Ivan and said, “Thank him.”

It was time to leave. The maze through the shadow plane was gone, and so we had no trouble returning to the house and making our way down to the dock. We would take the master’s barge back to Sakakabe.

But the old codger had another surprise for us. A band of hobgoblins filed out from the barge and charged.

“Well, at least they aren’t undead,” squeaked Takoda. “Yeah, but they’re not hobgobs either, ” Pookie said as one of the attackers flew up and over the wall of whirling blades with which I had encircled the troop.

More oni. But lesser, runty oni. We had delt with these before, and quickly killed the lot of them.

We’re taking a moment to familiarize ourself with the barge and how to sail it, and then our first stop will be a visit to O-sayum’s turtle-man uncle.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal – Desnus 29, 4713

Desnus 29, 4713 (early afternoon, Yugureda Shosaito home)

Shosaito obviously didn’t want anyone stumbling across his unseemly research, but living on a private island with a murderous pet nue while surrounding himself with undead of his own making apparently wasn’t secluded enough. To fix this galling error, he created a maze in the shadow plane and linked it between his sake cellar and his laboratory. Because that’s where everyone puts their shadow plane mazes, obviously.

I don’t know what he was thinking. The shadow plane is dangerous, and leaving it open to the material plane like that is equal parts brazen and blithe. Shadows, kytons, nightshades…these creatures and worse could literally just wander through at any time, placing untold numbers of people in very real danger. But from what I can tell from his research journal and personal diaries, Shosaito did not have a strong grasp on the concept of consequences. Frankly, I am surprised he survived his own recklessness.

O-Sayumi’s clues led us almost straight to her. It was Ivan that figured it out. It wasn’t just the objects inside her inro, but their numbers: one silk cocoon, two rings, and three camphorwood beads. She had divined the correct path through the maze and left us a tactile map of the gates in their correct order. We have no idea what would have happened had we chosen a wrong path, but if the mirror traps were any indicator we would have been licking some wounds at best.

While we did find O-Sayumi, what we weren’t expecting was to see another woman with her; their bodies sat, unmoving, on the floor of a lavishly decorated sitting room. Ivan’s spell said they were neither alive nor dead, but I could tell there was a spell in place to prevent them from decomposing. We later learned that the elderly woman was Shosaito’s current wife, and that’s when the whole story came into clear focus.

He tried to place her soul in O-Sayumi’s body. In his journals, he comments on how much O-Sayumi resembles her long-dead mother, Kaori, the woman he had murdered. I don’t understand what goes through the mind of someone who would kill his first wife, then lust after his own daughter to the point of placing the soul of his second wife in her body. What is wrong with people?

Maybe it’s best not to ask because I really don’t want to know the answer. We’ve confronted many people who have corrupted themselves thoroughly for a supposedly higher cause, but none that had done so purely for their own, selfish reasons. And I am not sure which is worse. There’s no scale for something like this.

I was not surprised to learn that a man careless enough to create a portal to the shadow plane was also overconfident in his own abilities. His spell went awry, and though his wife’s soul was pulled from her body it did not enter the pearl he used as the magical jar. Unwilling to return O-Sayumi to her body, as that would permanently break the spell and leave his wife’s soul lost forever, he simply…kept them here, like this, and continued his work, desperately searching for magic that would safely reverse what he had done.

That magic was far beyond him, and it is far beyond us as well. We did the only thing we could do: forcibly break his spell, and return O-Sayumi. His wife is now lost forever, her soul condemned to wander the planes, unable to pass on, out of even Pharasma’s reach, and unable to return to life. It’s a terrible thing.

At first, I was upset about this, to the point where someone—I don’t remember who—asked why I was spending so much time trying to figure out how to fix it. I answered, “Because it was not her fault.” And that’s true. Shosaito’s notes show he tried to get his wife to support what he was doing, but she refused. But he did it anyway, without her knowledge. It’s sickening.

But, then we spoke with O-Sayumi and learned his wife knew that he had corrupted the lives of the others on their island. That she was complicit in turning the villagers and their house staff into undead. It was not that, but this business with her soul, that was the bridge too far. And that is what did it for me. “That was where the line was?” I said to no one in particular. “Not ‘let’s make undead from our house staff’, or ‘let’s unleash ghoul fever on the village’?” Eternal punishment may be disproportionate to her crime, but she was certainly no innocent.

Perhaps, some day, Ashava will find her and lead her home.

The island is empty now. Yugureda Shosaito is dead. His wife is dead. His nue companion, the one that killed O-Sayumi’s mother, is dead. The manananggal and lacedons have been destroyed. It’s probably the first time in years that this island has seen fresh air.

I can’t wait to leave it.

(mid-afternoon, Namidakame Lagoon)

I stand corrected. Now, this island is empty. Much to our surprise, Shosaito’s personal barge was crewed by ja noi oni. Because of course it was. Oni are the flies in humanity’s garbage heap.

Destroying ja noi oni is something we’ve recently gotten pretty good at, to the point where it was impossible for me to take them seriously. There were only a dozen of them, which was about as threatening as a petting zoo. Of course they were too dim to figure this out, even as we were mercilessly grinding them up. But what really gets me is, they weren’t sent here to kill us. They didn’t know who we were or who was with us. The Five Storms wasn’t ordering them around. They were just some random oni, fighting to the last man to protect a barge. Did it not occur to them that this wasn’t something worth dying for?

Maybe, like goblins, they really think that, no matter how bad the odds, they’ll be the one that turns it around. That they’ll succeed where their companions have failed and died. It makes a certain kind of sense.

I wish I’d had more lethal spells prepared, and said as much after the last of them had been cut down. This earned me a number of looks, and a bizarre debate with Ivan when he asked me why I thought it was OK to kill oni but not, say, people.

“They’re not real.”

“What do you mean, they aren’t real? Of course they’re real.”

“They’re not from here. Not from our world or our plane. They aren’t real people.”

“They’re both outsiders and native to this plane.”

“They’re evil spirits, manifested in humanoid bodies. They don’t count.”

Obviously, he doesn’t get it. But then again, none of the others seem to, either. Except maybe Ameiko. And sometimes I wonder even about her.

There’s a saying about how if you can’t get anyone to see reason, then maybe you’re the one who is being unreasonable. This is not a comforting thought.