[LE, D16] Closing the Portal

[Canary]

This is it - everything else has been done that can be. It's time to close the portal to Jigoku created with Fu Leng's fall.

Location: The Edge of the Pit

Participants: One shugenja that is capable of using each element, for five in total. They do not need to have an Affinity in the Element to use it, they only need to be able to cast spells of the element.

Time: Late Evening. This event will begin as soon as The Descent is resolved.

Rules:
Those who wish to participate in this event must first post in the thread with the element they will be using.

Balancing the Elements: One each person has joined, they must each make a Spellcraft/Ring roll using the element that they are representing. Each roll must hit within 2 above or below the TN of 15, or 15 exactly. This means the range for success is 13-17. Players will have to carefully choose which of the numbers they roll to include, rather than simply taking the highest.

If they fail the first time, only the person who failed needs to retry. However, this draws out the battle between Shinjo, Koyama, and the Maw, which will have consequences.

Closing the Portal: The characters must choose a ritual leader from among them.

Each character not leading the ritual will make a Spellcasting roll for the element they are representing, equivalent to a Spell Mastery Level of 3. A successful roll adds +2 to the ritual leader’s roll, +1 per raise. They do not have to be capable of casting Level 3 spells in their element to do this.

Once they are finished, the ritual leader will make a Spellcasting roll for the element they are representing, equivalent to a Spell Mastery Level of 5. They do not have to be capable of casting Level 5 spells in their element to do this.

With success on this roll, the elements come together and the portal to Jigoku is closed.

[Seidou Haruyo]

Haruyo stands for Earth.

[Jin]

Jin stands for Water.

[Hanzou]

Hanzou gave Miuna's hand another squeeze before releasing it.

"Go help anyone wounded." he signed, knowing she wouldn't just leave for somewhere safer.

As she departed, he turned his attention to the next ritual, ready to call on the spirits of Air.

[Shoji Haka]

Haka was there, ready to call upon the Void to help close the portal.

[Togashi Nadare]

Earth had been satisfied. Now it was time for fire. But would the flames heed his call?

Nadare stands for Fire.

[Hanzou]

Hanzou listened for the Air spirits, trying to find the proper balance. They surrounded him, however, eager to assist. Among them, he could hear the other, more sinister, whispers.

There were just too many.

- - -
[LE, D16] Closing the Portal, Balancing Air, Spellcraft, Keeping 3: 4d10o10 30
6+7+8=21

Fail

[Jin]

Since he had gained his power Water had been as natural to Jin as breathing and today it served him well.

It took only a few moments of centering and breathing for Water to come into balance.

(Keeping 3 = 7, 8, 1 = 16 - success)

[Togashi Nadare]

Togashi's blood was not needed for this. It gave him power, but what was needed here was control. His tattoos calmed and grew still.

Nadare called out to Fire. Just enough, and no more.

The flames giggled as they came to his aid.

---

D16. Closing the Portal. Balancing the Elements (Fire): Spellcraft/Fire roll TN15. Rolling 6k3.: 6d10o10 29

Keeping 6, 8, and 1 for a total of 15: Success!

[Seidou Haruyo]

All around her Haruyo felt the Earth cry out in pain with the invasion of the corruption. Standing firmly among the others she took her place and attuned herself with Earth. Feeling their pain, hearing their cries, she inhaled and accepted it all. Holding it in with the breath she stood still as stone. Tapping into her inner resolve she shared it with the Earth. Joining the surrounding spirits to her inner calm.

Exhaling slowly, "This is where I was always meant to stand, with you. This corruption will flow no further."

Roll: [9, 5, 1, 1, 1] 19, 15, 9
17 = Success

[Shoji Haka]

Haka sliced her knife across the back of her arm and reached out toward the Great Emptiness, but from the moment she made contact with it, she knew something was wrong. They stood at the knot of destiny, with too many powerful people pulling at potential futures, each in their own direction. It was a maelstrom of potential, of futures and might be and cannot be, possibilities birthed in a breath, entire dynasties toppled and erased in the blink of an eye.

"It is too much!" She shouted, a bloodied hand going to her head as she reached out to steady herself on Nadare.


(1, 7, 7, 8, 18, 6 - lowest I can get is 21.)

[Hanzou]

Hanzou focused on the whispers of Air. He knew not all of the spirits surrounding him were the playful kami he needed. There were darker voices, more malignant than mirthful. They were misleading him.

It took longer than it should have, and he hoped the delay would not be costly, but Hanzou finally isolated the pure spirits needed and began preparing his part of the ritual.

- - -
4+5+6=15

[Shoji Haka]

Haka steals herself against the outpouring of the void and focuses upon her own future, her own path forward; the options diminished as the other twists and loops disappeared like smoke, twisting around her, but indistinct in their potential.

She reached forward, and then she was through, like a drowning woman breaching the surface and gasping for air. "Now!" she cries, trying to channel the currents of destiny around her toward a thin glimmer of possibility.


(9, 2, 1, 3, 7, 1 - 9, 3, 2, 1 = 15, pass)

[Jin]

It's funny. Jin had expected to be straining. To be gritting his teeth versus the fury of the magic they called upon. But the truth was he was calm, he was still, Water flowed into him and through him, channeled in a controlled fashion into the ritual leader.

(Casting - success with 1 raise gives +3 to Ritual Leader's casting)

[Hanzou]

Ssscccrrreeeeeeeeee......!

An inhuman cry passed through Hanzou's lips as he drew an arrow. The final part of the ritual had begun.

"Kaze-no-Kami, Jikoju of the East, Komoku of the West, Tamon of the North, Zocho of the South, Guardians of the Four Winds, lords of the sky and spirits of the air, hear my call. Sweep away the corruption before me. Return the evil that plagues these skies to its proper place and restore balance to our world!"

As he spoke, the small man's robes began to billow. He tore the fletchings from his arrow, tuft by tuft, casting them into the air to dance with the wind. Finally, he sliced his palm with the arrowhead, drawing out blood and offering it to the spirits, as he made the signs for air, balance and purity.

Ssscccrrreeeeeeeeee......!

- - -
[LE, D16] Closing the Portal, Casting Air ML 3, TN 20, VP for +1k1: 6d10o10k4 24

Pass: +2 to ritual

[Shoji Haka]

"Hark! The time of destiny is at hand! If you entrust your souls to eternity's embrace, then let my voice be as an unbreakable chain around thee!"

Haka channels the gathered void into the growing maelstrom of elemental magic, providing a framework to bind the disparate elements together into a workable whole. "Do it now!"


(Casting, 4 Raises, TN 40 = pass, +6 to leader's roll.)

[Togashi Nadare]

Nadare felt the power of Void through Haka's touch. It was an unexpected sensation but he held the fires in balance nonetheless.

As the time came to cast their final spell he called upon Togashi's blood once more. The yin yang symbol spun as he gathered the energies.

His blood flowed from a line across his palm, and pure flames poured forth.

"The power of Fire compels you. Finish it."

D16. Closing the Portal. Fire, Mastery Level 3 (TN20). Balance tattoo for -7TN. One called raise. TN18. Void for +1k1.: 5d10o10k4 30

Success! +3 to leader's roll.

[Seidou Haruyo]

Fire burned the sickness from the environment. Air blew it back down and into the pit. Water washed what clung to the ground away. Void sang and unified their efforts, pushing the corruption from the unknowable in-between.

Earth roared and grumbled under Haruyo's feet. Holding a firm stance she continued to inhale and exhale deeply with the Earth. Standing with a wide stance. For too long had the corruption now deeply rooted into the world spewed from this pit. "Join with me, Earth. Now is the time that we stir. Patience gives way to to a change that is unstoppable. Bury this pit that it may never again trouble our lands," she called to the Earth.

Raising her arms back and low before bringing them high causing the blood to streak down her arms, she called to Earth. Speaking to it, through it, she broke from her incantation just after the peak, and spoke firmly.

"It is done."

The rumbling of Earth below her rushed forward around her into a giant wave of earth and stone which piled into the pit. As the corruption spilled into the pit from the other elements Earth quaked and buried it all beneath a roaring wave.

Day 16, LE | Closing the Portal: Close the Portal TN 30 vs Void +1k1, Earth 5, Affinity, IR1, Assistance +14: 9d10o10k7+14 59

Void mislabeled as +1k1, roll still accurate to character sheet stats.

[Canary]

As the pure elements came together, the portal seemed to crack and then shatter, the pure elements shutting off the connection and filling the point of impact.

The gigantic monster, without its connection to the Realm of Evil, disappeared.

The Portal to Jigoku was destroyed.

[Success]

[Shoji Haka]

Panting, Haka uses a blood-stained arm to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "Portal is closed and the ones who did it are not yet dead. This one recommends withdrawing lest malignant spirits linger and seek revenge."