The Swamp of Sorrows [D5 LN]

[Doji Kakuro]

Kakuro, where are you? We're here, please... help... The former wanderer could hear as he went deeper into the waters. The voices of his parents, the village chief and other of his original people, pleading for help.

Doji's companion thought that he had forgotten their voices, but now they were there, decades after he was taken prisioner and turned into a slave by raiders. '' Mother...Father!...'' He shouted as he continued to hear their voices.

We're here, please... help us...

'' I'm coming, i'm coming!...'' He shouted again.

Suddenly there was an earthquake in his vision. His eyesight became blurry as someone started to shake him. He turned around and noticed that a big burly man was there right next to him, grabbing him from the arm.

'' Taochusu-san?'' He said, still confused. Kakuro once again turned around, looking to the direction of where the voices of his people came from, but now it was only silence and the sound of water splashing.

[Inga]

"Papa?" She snapped out of it and noted the others around. The Shoji blinked a few times as she tried to stay alert of any danger that would be around. The others were going to help allies that had gotten into the murky waters of the swamp. "Hurry, people we don't know what is out here to get us?"

[Jin]

"Jin..."

This was wrong. Why was this wrong? What was it?

"Come to me Jin..."

Jin... Jin? Why would she call me Jin? She never knew me as Jin!

The daimyo startles out of the trance only to find himself floundering in water and muck. His one good hand not providing the leverage needed to pull himself free as he felt in pulling him down deeper. Even safely out of the spell was he still doomed?

Then he heard the boisterous voice of Nanzi and felt himself being pulled free. For once it was a relief to hear... even if Jin knew he would be stuck featuring in one of Nanzi's stories from here on out.

(Rolled as for story purposes: I wanted to know if he would have snapped out on his own. Thanks for the save Nanzi)

[Canary]

[Given that one more round in the swamp won't hurt anyone, the event will close here and open for roleplaying]

[All characters were saved, granting +20 Purity]

[Seppun Dawei]

Dawei hauls himself back onto stable footing, panting.

"What...was that?"

[Nozomi]

Miuna came to, the slap jolting her out of her trance. She yelped, clinging to the hooded woman like a wet cat. She looked even more so as she launched herself onto the bank, rolling onto her side, coughing up dark and viscous liquid. She continued to cough, expelling the water as best she could from her lungs, peering up at her savior with confused gratitude. Her hair was plastered to her face and she shivered uncontrollably. She spotted several others in and around the swamp and wondered why they were all here. Where is Aono, what's happening? She thought, disoriented.

Once the girl was out of the water, Phi was fast behind her, hauling herself out of the reeking mire and offering a hand down to her to get her up. She wasn't soaked or drenched herself, having not actually fallen into that filth but in this moment, she muttered to anyone who would hear her. "I think I might put up with one of those Seido's cushy baths right about now, gah. Let's get you up and out of there." As of yet, she seemed utterly unaware that what she was saying was going to be lost on this woman unless she could read lips and even then... the fact that she had a mask over her face probably wasn't going to help much at all.

"Is everyone alright? Starting tomorrow. Guard rotations need to watch for sleepwalkers damnit." This was the second creepy dream she'd had in three days and she was having no more of this crap. Damn her eyes for drooping at the start of her shift. She was awake and alert now for sure. She personally had no idea that it was a dream that had brought them here. She knew only that it was a dream that brought her here, and she was not liking this one bit.

You couldn't shoot dreams in the face.

[Taochusu]

"You good?" he asks Kakuro as he wades back to shore. He heads towards Miuna in an effort to try and get the group all together. He assumes she's gonna have a hard time of it without her sister to talk for her. Waving the Crane to follow him.

"Can everyone walk?" he asks, loudly to everyone that was out there. "Did anyone see anybody from the expedition out here that they don't see anymore?"

[Jin]

Jin is observing how many were ensnared... and the strange dark swamp that shouldn't be.

His voice is low and very, very concerned, "I think... I think this was a trap. All of it." He looks to the others, "A swamp that should not exist. Bewitchment in the night. An attempt to remove a significant portion of out group..." He shakes his head as if trying to shake the feeling but it doesn't depart, "I think we have underestimated the danger our enemy poses in this realm. We knew it was strong enough to hold a god within its own lands but I did not foresee how much power it would already have in ours."

[Nanzi]

"Nanzi can walk,v he said warmly. Nonce out of the water he said to Phi, "Name yourself, stranger. You speak with Nanzi, daimyo of the Nanzi family and Lord within the Crane."

"Name yourself so I can know who speaks with disdain of Emperor Shiba."

[Seppun Dawei]

Dawei coughs, spits to the side. And he shudders as he feels something slip away.

"How, though, could it send...what it sent, Jin? Did it have such things?"

[Jin]

Jin shakes his head, "It is a realm of evil and deception. I do not truly know what it can do but this seems to fit such a description. It seems too much to be a coincidence."

[Seppun Dawei]

Dawei's eyes go wide.

"I heard...someone I knew was dead. I washed his wounds clean with my own hands" and my tears, "laid him to rest myself. How?"

A shudder goes through him.

"This...this isn't right. It should not be."

[Shinjo Miuna]

Miuna accepted the help to her feet. She clung to Phi like a lifeline, shivering. The form she was wrapped around felt distinctly female, and well toned. She knew not who she was, though she saw no malice in her eyes, the sharp red mesmerizing soft green. She stared for several moments, until she realized she was staring and busied herself looking anywhere else, a bush creeping up against her cold, pale cheeks.
Suddenly her eyes were on someone she recognized. It was Jin and he was speaking. She concentrated hard on his mouth. A trap? She thought with alarm. The darkness reached through, even here? She barely noticed as the mountain that was Taochusu came upon them, jumping when he came within her visual range. She stared at him, soaking wet and wide eyed. When Nanzi appeared, she somehow remembered the Doji etiquette and she bowed, though she still did not let go of Phi. His body language suggested offense, and she sighed. She just wanted to go back to camp and find her sister, whom was probably sick with worry.

[Nanzi]

Nanzi listened to Dawei and Jin, he did not relent but he understood their trepidation even if he did not show it.

[Nozomi]

"Nanzi can walk,v he said warmly. Nonce out of the water he said to Phi, "Name yourself, stranger. You speak with Nanzi, daimyo of the Nanzi family and Lord within the Crane."

"Name yourself so I can know who speaks with disdain of Emperor Shiba."

She grunted and looked at him pointedly. "I have no disdain for Shiba," she corrected. "I am Phi of the Hikaru, and if a Hikaru cannot stand on their own, they are a dead person and not worth having as a servant. We do not rely on others' strength. We must live and die by our own."

A second's thought and then she grunted out. "But I will apologize if it sounded as if I speak ill of him."

Miuna accepted the help to her feet. She clung to Phi like a lifeline, shivering. The form she was wrapped around felt distinctly female, and well toned. She knew not who she was, though she saw no malice in her eyes, the sharp red mesmerizing soft green. She stared for several moments, until she realized she was staring and busied herself looking anywhere else, a bush creeping up against her cold, pale cheeks.
Suddenly her eyes were on someone she recognized. It was Jin and he was speaking. She concentrated hard on his mouth. A trap? She thought with alarm. The darkness reached through, even here? She barely noticed as the mountain that was Taochusu came upon them, jumping when he came within her visual range. She stared at him, soaking wet and wide eyed. When Nanzi appeared, she somehow remembered the Doji etiquette and she bowed, though she still did not let go of Phi. His body language suggested offense, and she sighed. She just wanted to go back to camp and find her sister, whom was probably sick with worry.

She didn't bow when the Shinjo did. She'd spent her life in the mountains. Those sorts of things really weren't common in the lingering, far tribes. She did look down at Miuna and let her cling for a moment, the little woman seeming wet and confused. "We should get this one away from the water in case something else comes out of it. Something worse than rot and decay."

[Jin]

Jin rested his good hand on Dawei's shoulder in an attempt to comfort, "I think it reached into our minds. Found our weaknesses. But not too deeply. The voice I head was right... the name it called me though was not. It was not her anymore than what you heard was him."

He heard the potential conflict behind him. Hopefully Phi's words would solve it. They could not afford strife now... or spilling blood here he suspected.

[Nanzi]

Nanzi said, "Then make it so, speak the words with Sincerity, Phi of the Hikaru, and know that you travel under the banner of Emperor Shiba in the future."

[Seppun Dawei]

Dawei draws a deep breath, releases it.

"I've seen death, many times, and been its source no few. But things and people are supposed to stay dead."

Another.

"I hope you're right, that that wasn't him."

Because if it was, oh, no, no, no.

Hiro.

You can't be there.

[Taochusu]

"Not really an argument for a place where something is trying to mess with our heads," Taochusu says. "If everyone is here we should start walking back. Better to talk about such things in the safety of the camp if it's gonna get talked about."

He looks to the Shinjo. "This one likely needs her sister to talk about what she saw anyway. We probably want to spend time trying to clarify what exactly happened, but this ain't the place. I can watch the rear."

[Nozomi]

Nanzi said, "Then make it so, speak the words with Sincerity, Phi of the Hikaru, and know that you travel under the banner of Emperor Shiba in the future."

"Very well." Her first two words sounded clipped, but they still came out cleanly enough. When she spoke up afterwards, it was with authority behind her words, firm in her resolve. "I spoke in the rush of concern. I am here to help save the Emperor's brother and this one may yet have a vital part to play. I could not leave her to whatever... did this to us. So, I spoke in haste the words my people know. I mean no disrespect to one whose brother I wish to present myself. I wish only to be worth having as a servant, and so I must be strong enough on my own, lest I fail in my duty. I will not fail your brother... or Bayushi, to whom I will present myself if he will have me when this is done, if Meido has not claimed me first."

"Hail the Emperor Shiba and long may he reign. Now, can we please get them away from the bog?"