The Shogun's Bargain

Deep within the Well of Demons, the party was fighting their way through a seemingly endless succession of the caverns’ namesake. The Hezrous’ stench had left Sandru retching in the corner, and Zhustin was staggering around the room, hopelessly sickened by the foul secretions that had rubbed off on him when one of the demons grabbed him. Sandoval, fearing he could do little damage against the thick-skinned creatures, cast Heroism on Bella, counting on the little rogue to do enough damage for the both of them. She didn’t disappoint; her adamantine short sword sliced deep into the flesh of the nearest Hezrou, leaving it howling with pain and rage.

Nicki, floating overhead, had a limited view of the action through the screen of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. But he’d already blasted the far end of the room with a pair of Delayed Blast Fireballs. Now he reversed his tactics, and unleashed a Freezing Sphere as far away as he could place it. The blast of sub-zero cold just missed Bella and Sandoval, but the Hezrou lurking at the opposite end of the cavern couldn’t escape. Already blistered and scorched from Nicki’s flames, he now collapsed under a coating of ice.

That left two Hezrous. One swung ineffectually at Marie, who easily dodged the blow. The other was still staggered from Sandoval’s attempt to Suffocate it. Still gasping for breath, it summoned additional help. A small creature appeared at the north end of the room, its body crackling with electricity. It was a Lightning Mephit, a native of the Elemental Plane of Air, and it immediately fired off a Lightning Bolt. Bella nimbly dodged the bolt, but Sandoval and Marie were caught by the sizzling charge. Bella charged the creature before it could flit out of reach, and slammed it with her adamantine mace. Bella joined her, and moments later the mephit was nothing but a greasy smear on the cave wall.

Sawyer drew back Suishen, and the ancestral blade flashed through the darkness. Gutted, one of the demons collapsed to the floor. Shinjiro was also gagging from the Hezrous’ stench, but he swallowed the bile and charged the remaining Hezrou. He tried to pound it with a Stunning Fist, but the blow glanced off. The Hezrou snapped its jaws back at the monk, but it was still short of breath, and its bite missed. Nicki tried casting Charm Monster on the demon, but had no success. Zhustin finally managed to get his churning stomach under control and cast Enervation at the beast, but once again the demon’s innate magical resistance thwarted his spell.

Sandoval, bleeding from an earlier sneak attack by one of the newly summoned Hezrous, retreated to Ameiko’s side. “Do you think you could help me out here?” he said with a grimace. Ameiko reached into her pack and pulled out her Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds, giving the bard some quick relief. Marie also saw several of her comrades with gaping wounds from the demons’ claws. She moved to the center of the party and cast a Mass Cure Moderate Wounds.

No one else seemed to be able to hit the last remaining Hezrou, so Sawyer lunged forward, stabbing Suishen into its chest. Zhustin hammered it with a volley of Magic Missiles, while Shinjiro wound up for another flurry. He opened with another Stunning Fist, and this time his blow caught the demon squarely on its sternum. The demon rocked backwards, its eyes rolling up in its head. Seeing it swaying defenselessly, Bella took careful aim with her bow and fired arrow after arrow. Each shaft seemed to strike exactly the same spot, driving ever deeper into the Abyssal abomination until it fairly exploded from internal pressure.

The group had barely had time to catch their breath before Marie was off to explore the next passage. Sawyer and Bella exchanged exasperated glances and then hurried to catch up to the less-than-cautious cleric. A narrow passage led east out of the room, and a glow of light spilled out of it. Bella pushed Marie back, and slipped through the passage.

She blinked in the unaccustomed light, and then her eyes grew wide. The natural caverns had given way to an opulent throne room, paved with golden tiles joined together by fist-sized rubies. A magnificent bower of silk cushions sat atop a dais at the far eastern end of the chamber. Resting on the cushions was an imposing Tian-Min man in a silk kimono, wearing the samurai’s traditional chonmage hairstyle.

He looked up at Bella’s entrance. “Which of the other lords has sent you to harass me?” he asked in a weary voice. “I have ceased all conflict with your master, whoever it is, and wish only to be left to suffer the centuries in peace."

Bella looked around uncomfortably, wishing Sandoval was here to handle the introductions. But she was on her own. “Um … we’re not here to harass you. We’re just, um … sightseeing. Although we weren’t too pleased with the welcoming committee outside.” She was waving frantically behind her back for the others to come up, and they hurried to her side. Ameiko stepped forward and gave her formal introduction (well-practiced by now). She ended with her statement that she was seeking the blessings of each of the imperial families.

“Wait,” the man said, sitting up on his cushions. “Are you truly come from the world above?” Bella nodded hesitantly. “Then perhaps we can help each other,” he said excitedly. “I am Shogun Teikoku Sokai. I created the empire the others in this place ruled, and have been here longer than any of them, but will they show me any respect? No! They badger me constantly, vying for petty lordship over a few more yards of cursed caverns. We have battled to stalemate over the centuries, but I am weary of it. I would like nothing better than to abandon this place to their pointless rivalry, but I am prevented from leaving. If you could just destroy the torii gate where the Lake of Tears flows into this place, I would be able to at least move up to the lake above. I would still be constrained by kami of the Eternal Spring, and could not pass beyond the torii gate at the southern end of the lake, but I would be at last be free of the constant annoyance of the devils and daemons of this cursed place. If you do this one small thing for me, I will give you the blessing of the Teikoku house, and give you valuable information about the dangers still ahead of you.”

Ameiko remembered the lessons Jiro had drilled into her on the royal history of Minkai. Teikoku Sokai had ruled the First Kingdom of Minkai, known as the Teikoku Shogunate, taking the title of shogun rather than emperor. He was considered the father of modern Minkai, but his rule had ushered in an age of unparalleled eugenics in Minkai, attempting to elevate certain bloodlines above all others — specifically, the five imperial families of Minkai, but most especially the Teikoku line. He subjugated lesser noble lines by seizing their property and enslaving their scions to enrich himself and his cronies. He was ultimately deposed in a violent uprising against his decadent rule.

“Why do you want us to tear down the torii gate?” Zhustin asked. He knew what Sokai was talking about: at either end of the Lake of Tears on the island above a channel of water flowed out. The southern channel fed the moat surrounding the Shrine of the Heavenly Sovereigns, where the former emperors and empresses were interred. The other flowed north and emptied into the gaping shaft of the Well of Demons. Over each of the two channels stood a red wooden torii gate.

“The magic infused in the gate by the kami of the Eternal Spring keeps us trapped here,” Sokai replied. “All I want is to escape the never-ending conflict with the other souls here.”

“You say it keeps ‘us’ trapped here,” Nicki said. “Who’s ‘us’?”

“Oh, just me now,” Sokai replied quickly. “You’ve killed all my followers. I will be helpless against the others now. You must help me, and I will help you in return.” He was fairly begging.

“Why don’t you give us the blessing first, and then we’ll chop down the gate when we leave?” Sawyer suggested, but Sokai snorted. “Ha! That would be a foolish bargain. What guarantee would I have that you would keep your word?”

“What guarantee do we have that you will keep yours?” Ameiko countered. Sokai puffed out his chest and took on an offended look. “I am Shogun Teikoku Sokai!” he said imperiously, “and my word is gold. If that is not enough, I will swear on the Teikoku family honor, or upon the Jade Throne of Minkai.” He lowered his voice. “And if that is not enough, I will swear on the Lords of the Abyss, and that is not an oath that anyone in this place would take lightly!”

Sandoval was watching the Shogun closely as he spoke. He believed he was telling the truth about helping them if they destroyed the torii gate, but he also sensed that the old spirit wasn’t telling them everything. “Who else could leave the Well if we tore down the gate?” he asked. “Only myself and my followers,” Sokai replied. “Only my demons are aquatic, and can pass through the waters falling from the Lake of Tears.” Sandoval noted that apparently all the Shogun’s minions weren’t dead after all, but didn’t point out the contradiction.

While all this was going on, Bella was having a hard time paying attention to all the blather. Instead, her eyes were drawn like moths to a flame to the dozens of enormous rubies embedded in the floor. Thinking she could mask her actions, she quietly drew her Horn of Fog from her pack and brought it to her lips. All eyes turned to her as the ear-splitting BLAAAAATTT of the horn echoed through the chamber, and a dense fog churned up around her. She knelt within the fog, testing to see how easy it would be to pry up one of the rubies. Sokai smiled at her. “If you agree to help me, you can take as many of those rubies as you can carry with you.” Bella though about her Portable Hole and grinned to herself – the old man didn’t know what he was agreeing to!

Nicki was shaking his head. He’d already done a Detect Magic and determined that the entire room was suffused with a dweomer of Illusion magic; he was convinced none of what they were seeing was real. But he had deeper concerns about the Shogun’s offer. The group huddled to discuss what to do, and Zhustin was all in favor of chopping down the gate to earn the Teikoku blessing. “Keep in mind where we are, and who we’re dealing with,” Nicki cautioned. “We don’t know what other consequences might come from destroying that gate.”

“But we have to get his blessing!” Zhustin countered. “Or else Ameiko can’t take the Throne.”

“No,” Nicki corrected. “That’s not entirely true. Empress Onoko told us we could get the blessings from the spirits down here if we could. But she also said if we killed the powerful evil ancestor spirits down here, the less powerful, good ancestors would return to the Shrine of Heavenly Sovereigns, and we could seek their blessings there.”

“We can always chop down the gate on our way out,” Sawyer said. He was growing tired of debate, and wanted to get moving again. “Nothing says we have to do it now.” Nicki was ready to fight, but the others resonated with deferring the difficult decision. “We’ll come back to you later, after we’ve dealt with the others,” Sawyer told Sokai, and the group began to filter towards the exit.

“No! You must help me!” Sokai pleaded. “If you tear down the gate, I swear that I will not only tell you all the others’ secrets, but I will go with you myself to help kill them!” But his pleas fell on deaf ears, and one by one they filed out of the chamber. Only Bella hung back, drawn by the lure of unimaginable riches. “I’ll work to convince them,” she promised. Sokai approached her and spoke in a low voice. “There is another way,” he whispered. “I can see that the Seal has marked you as an Amatatsu scion. If you tear down the torii gate, my followers and I can help you kill the others, and with my blessing you can take the Jade Throne for your own! You could rule Minkai, and the wealth of an empire could be yours!” Bella’s head spun – Empress Bella? That certainly did have a nice ring to it. “Let me think about it,” she stammered, and Sokai patted her shoulder with a wink.

When Bella caught up to the group, they were standing on the ledge overlooking the underground lake far below. At the far end of the lake they could make out a whirlpool, where the waters appeared to drain into unknown depths. They could also make out another beach some distance across the lake that fronted yet another cave mouth. Between flying, rings, and other means, they had no trouble descending to the rocky beach at the edge of the stinking lake. They likewise had little trouble flying across the open water to the new beach, which led to a wide cavern climbing to the north.

The passage narrowed as it climbed, then opened out into a high-ceilinged cavern, marred by a forest of stalactites and stalagmites that resemble nothing less than the narrow bars of a cage in the ebbing glow of the luminescent lichen growing upon them. They advanced cautiously, Bella in the lead, and Ameiko trailing behind, Sandru staying protectively by her side. The cavern curved to the left ahead, and as they picked their way carefully among the spires of wet rock, Marie cast a Detect Magic. She thought she could make out an aura of magic somewhere ahead, and waited for the spell to resolve so she could better determine its nature and location.

Shinjiro slipped past Marie, then slumped against the cave wall. The motion was so subtle that many of the party didn’t even notice, but Bella saw the monk stop moving. “Hey, Shinjiro! Are you OK?” she hissed, but the monk didn’t respond. She moved to his side and to her horror saw that the front of his shirt was soaked with blood. Even as she tried to come to grips with what had happened to her friend, she was making a professional assessment of the assassination: the blade had slipped directly between two ribs and into his heart, and he’d been leaned against the wall in such a way that one might almost not have noticed anything was wrong. A very professional job, indeed.

“He’s dead!” she finally gasped. Marie rushed forward, ready to cast Breath of Life, but one look told her Shinjiro was beyond the aid of any healing magic. Luckily she had another recourse. Fumbling through her pack, she pulled out the Scroll of Resurrection they bought after the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, to help create the ring they’d used to fool the Prince. Reading the words of the scroll, a nimbus of light surrounded Shinjiro’s body, and the color returned to his face. His eyes opened and he looked around with a confused expression, as everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.

Sandoval had already started singing, knowing that an unknown enemy lurked somewhere nearby. Sawyer drew Suishen, and called upon its Invisibility Purge power. Sure enough, a figure appeared amid the stalactites high above Bella’s head. She was humanoid, and clearly female, although a featureless white porcelain mask covered her face. Long, twisting horns grew from her head, and a hairless rat’s tail poked out from beneath the skirts of her blood-spattered kimono. She held a wickedly sharp naginata at the ready.

Sawyer began Air Walking and rushed to confront her, but he had to take a roundabout route to gain enough altitude. Nicki didn’t relish the idea of battling yet another super-assassin, so he decided to try to turn this to their advantage. He cast Dominate Person on the new foe, and felt a telepathic bond form with the creature. To everyone’s surprise, she turned and bowed to Nicki. “I am Shiori Heikkaki. How may I serve you, master?”

Everyone looked a Nicki with a worried expression. He was bad enough when he only had skeletons to do his bidding – what would he do with a pet assassin? But for now, he behaved himself. He summoned Shiori to him. “Are you a member of one of the imperial families?” he asked, hoping the task of obtaining her blessing might have just gotten a lot easier. But she shook her head. “I serve the Empress Maemi,” she said solemnly.

Ameiko gave a little gasp. Empress Amatatsu Maemi was one of the early Amatatsu rulers of Minkai – and Ameiko’s ancestor! From what she recalled of Jiro’s lessons, Maemi had lived an unnaturally long life, and had kept her beauty for all of her two centuries of life. In the end, the legends say she was carried off to Hell, her contract expired.

“Can you take us to your mistress?” Nicki asked, and Shiori bowed again. “Yes, master,” she replied. “Follow me.”

The PCs earned 13,828 XP for the night, putting them at 471,776 XP, with 635,000 required for level 15. We’ll be at Joette & Rich’s next Sunday.