(March 21, 2004) Chronicler: Isaku (with notes from Tsuruchi Zenako)
Month 5, Day 20, 1562 (cont.) -
Til'k went out to scout the nearby portions of the Hill and learn what he could about the various caves and mines and castle ruins on the hill.
We were in what we will call Castle 1. Castle 2 was largely intact and contained "evil and undead" smells according to our scout. Castle 3 was ruined and had nothing special about it, except maybe lots of old bones nearby. Both mines had the strong smell of Ogres and barred doors some distance inside the mountain side tunnels.
That night Mulan and Hatori had vivid dreams and recounted them later. Mulan told of an elegant woman in Dragon Robes with rubies all over her. Her dream then transformed into viewing an extremely fat man that eats all sorts of meat and flesh. (Later insights revealed that this may be the Ruby Sorceress from history, and a Famine Demon.)
Hatori's dream was more mundane by comparison, but he saw some sad Dragon Clan Aristocrats in rags, and then waves of misty samurai with katanas bared. Perhaps Broken Hill was owned by the Dragon Clan at some point? We know it was an imperial mine, from the research we did in Marike.
Since we knew that the spirits of at least two fallen people were in Castle 1 in the first place, perhaps it was possible that nearby spirits from the other castles were able to reach out to people's dreams in the night?
Month 5, Day 21 -
After some discussion, we headed over to Castle 2 to investigate what might still live there. The source of Hatori's dreams soon became apparent as we engaged 4 spectres, each with 8 undead samurai spirit warriors.
The battle ran all over three of the four short towers of Castle 2, but eventually we dismissed all of the spirits in those towers. However, Noku and Hatori were touched by the spectres and were feeling much weakened (-2 life levels).
The company stopped to gather its collective breath and to consider our options. Magic was detected in the bottom of the well in the courtyard and 3 items were retrieved: a ring, an amulet and an Ioun Stone.
Some short preparations were made, and the fourth tower was cleansed of spirits with no further life force loss.
We could undo the loss on Noku, which would allow him teleport back to Marike with Hatori in tow, and hopefully get his loss cured before it became permanent. However, they could not do that until the morning. We spent a fitful night in Castle 2, but nothing happened.
Month 5, Day 22 -
Noku and Hatori went back to Marike to seek out Restorations. They managed to do so, and also bought some needed supplies. The rest of us waited at Broken Hill until they returned. Both Sohei (Zenako and Til'k) advanced in level while waiting for the arcane folks to return.
Month 5, Day 23 -
Noku and Hatori returned, in their former state of good health. Now we must decide what to investigate next, Castle 3 or the mines.