You have been scared before, frightened of pain or failure, but this is something else entirely. As you watch the bloodstained figure of Doji Mariko lurch towards you, only now do you understand what fear truly is.
You feel... cold. As though hands of ice are wrapped around your heart, stealing all of your warmth and life, robbing you of strength and conviction. Your hands are shaking, your limbs turned to water, your breath harsh in your lungs as everything you know tells you to run, now...
Desperately you try to recall your training, thinking back to all the stories of your youth, reminding yourself that your ancestors are watching, that your lord is counting on you - anything and everything that you can imagine is called up in a desperate attempt to control the icy fear in your heart.
Honour re-roll, spending Void Point.
6k6 against TN 25 = 20. Failed.
And none of it matters in the slightest.
You are not a hero. You are not a Thunder, blessed by the Fortunes to stand against the darkness and hold your ground. You are a mortal man, bereft of any of the training or experience necessary to face something like this, and you are afraid.
"Naoto..." Mariko says, her voice disorted by the horrible wound in her throat. "Come with me, Naoto. Join me... join us..."
"
Mariko..." The name slips from your lips before you can stop it, and in the corner of your vision you see Asako Tani flinch in surprise and shock. "Mariko, what... what are you doing? Please, this isn't right... if you remember my name, you should remember that much as well."
"
Traitor." The apparition hisses, her steps utterly weightless upon the snow-covered ground. "
You knew the letter was fake, you knew my enemies were working against me, and you said nothing. I am dead because of you!"
You shake your head, desperately trying to resist the urge to flee. You have always been able to count upon your words before, you can reason with her now, and if you can't... no, you
will get through, you
have to get through.
"No! That's not... I had orders, I had to stay silent, I didn't have a
choice!" You say frantically. Distantly you are aware that this is probably not the
best argument to make against an apparently vengeful
gaki, but the fear clouding your mind makes it all but impossible to think of anything else.
"
There is always a choice." Mariko spits, now close enough that you can make out the curved talons that appear to have replaced her elegant fingers. "
You tell yourself otherwise because you dare not face the truth, too much of a coward to..."
"Soshi-san." Asako Tani says in a hard voice, her hand clamping around you arm with vice-like strength. Startled, you turn and meet her gaze, recoiling slightly from the blazing certainty you see there. "Soshi-san, it is
not real. You are seeing things, illusions conjured by the spirit to toy with your mind."
"What?" You say blankly. "But she's right..."
"Trust me, Soshi-san. There is
nothing there." Tani says firmly. "I do not know what you are seeing, but all I can see is the faintest shimmer. The Kami of the air are turning your thoughts against you.
Look."
You don't want to obey, could give almost anything if it meant you could simply shut it out, but there is a level of command in Tani's voice that reaches right into the heart of what it means to be a samurai - to
obey. Without meaning to, you turn your head to follow the direction of her extended finger and...
There is nothing there. Nothing except the trees and the falling snow. Mariko, or whatever magic was being woven to look like Mariko, is gone. Heart hammering in your chest, you glance left and right, not sure if you are searching for her or to confirm that she is gone.
"...magic?" You say, your voice little more than a disbelieving whisper. "But it... felt so
real..."
"It always does, Soshi-san." Asako Tani says, not unkindly. "The Kami are fond of games that provoke human emotion, and they will pluck the thoughts from your own mind to make their illusions all the more believable. I do not know what you saw, but that was all it was - an illusion."
Slowly, you regain control over your breathing. An illusion. Of course, how did you not think of that? You are a Soshi, from a family with a rich magical tradition specializing in such magic. But it is hard, even impossible to remember such things when your heart is hammering in your chest and the cold hands of fear grip your soul.
"I... I see. Thank you, Asako-sama." You say with your best attempt at a calm and controlled tone. If the fear is not real, you can control it.
Except... if that was a spell, then the spirit responsible must be nearby. And if it can tell that you are no longer swayed by it, then...
In an instant, the previously silent wind begins to howl. The falling snow stops tumbling gently to the ground and start slashing towards you at great speed, and before you can even begin to react you are struck by what feels like a massive hammer of solid air.
??? Air roll = 32
Naoto's Earth 2k2 = 7
Your horse shrieks with fear as the sudden rush of gale-force wind catches it in the flank and sends it sprawling. Even as it goes, the wind picks you up like the hand of some enormous, invisible giant and flings you across the clearing.
There is a loud
crunch, and everything goes black.
-/-
You don't know how much time passes before you regain consciousness, but it surely cannot have been more than a few moments - a minute at the most. Your vision is blurred and your head aches from the collision with the tree you now lie at the base of, but you are still reasonably functional.
You cannot see your horses. Asako Tani lies in a heap in the middle of the clearing, a bright patch of red and orange in the middle of the pure white snow.
Standing between you and her is the spirit, and you know instantly that this is no illusion.
In form she looks like a breathtakingly beautiful woman, albeit one who more resembles a stone carving than a living, breathing human. Her robes and her hair are the purest white, and her skin is smooth and polished like marble. Her lips are red like blood, and her eyes are the harsh vivid blue of a clear winter sky.
Lore (Spirit Realms) 5k4 = 45
A
yuki no onna. A spirit of ice and snow. You have never heard of one traveling further south than the lands of the Phoenix, but there seems little to deny the sight in front of you. Everything you know about the mysterious spirits passes through your mind in a moment. They are empowered by an active snowstorm, and all but immune to damage while one is ongoing - as it is now - but will generally retreat from naked flame. A fact which would be rather more useful if you
had any fire, but apparently the heavens are not being so kind today. And... yes, they are supposed to be able to influence the spirits of the air much as a Shugenja might.
Unfortunately, as far as you know there has never been any consensus on what drives these spirits or what they might want - sometimes they have been known to rescue stranded humans caught in a storm, other times they remorselessly stalk travelers and rob them of their warmth. Judging by this one's behaviour thus far, you would expect that she errs towards the latter option.
Right now, though, she seems content to stand there and stare at you, all thoughts and emotions hidden behind a literally frozen mask.
What do you do?
[ ] Write in
Naoto has taken seven wounds from being flung across the clearing. He is still in the Healthy wound bracket.
Naoto is currently suffering from a -2k0 penalty to all physical actions, as a result of disorientation and fear. This will gradually fade as time passes and he regains control of himself.
