S24/JT - Memory of a Friend - Jt Report

General Summary

Strahd appears and pummels the war camp with a hail of stones, destroying the teleportation circle. Saorise decides to charge now as they will not be able to withstand a protracted attack. An army of zombies, werewolves, gargoyles, and golems stood between them and the castle, but Reiji, Jugen, Yukio, Yamami and Mizuki arrived to help. The party was then assigned command of different platoons. The party rallied and inspired the troops under them, while Sana was granted flight and made invisible in order to explode on the enemy. They manage to wipe out the monstrous army, however, massive reinforcements then came from the castle. Just when it was looking grim, Mizuki managed to summon Asmund and his friends for help. Numerous portals opened up, and out came Asmund’s and Ser Aurin’s promised reinforcements. Saorise then shouts at the party to storm the castle as they should now be able to handle the army.

The party barge into the main hall and the door slams behind them as Strahd appears out of the mists. The party demanded Akira from him, but he was ignorant of the boy. Mizuki shows him an illusion of Akira, and Strahd goes into a rage and attacks, and a woman in robes also appears in the room. Kyo charges at the woman but is stopped by Yukio’s shout that she is a possessed woman named Ireena. Mizuki breaks the charm upon her and Ireena mentions that a boy is upstairs, trapped in a crystal. The party then chase Strahd upstairs and see a giant crystal encasing Akira. They shatter the crystal and manage to bring Strahd to his knees. He lashes out at the party and shouts that he doesn’t want to come out again while his image flickers between himself and Akira. The party is engulfed in darkness, but are then shown different scenes of Akira’s life. They see him alone and shunned by friends, with a final vision of Yamami about to strike him down. Strahd/Akira dejectedly says that the world hates him anyway, but the party convinces him that they cared for him. He then turns into a pair of boots, while the Akira from the crystal wakes up, thanks the party, and turns into a red scarf.

The group then find themselves back in Akira’s library with a complete set of Akira’s clothes. Seemingly all alone, the party tries to think of how to get out of Akira’s mind. They realized that with the last world they were in, there were two aspects of Akira. They guess that Yukio might be another aspect and so give him the clothes to wear. As soon as he touched one, Yukio’s memories come flooding back. He apologizes to the party as he transforms into an oni and attacks, saying that he is the final test. The party tried to retaliate but he seemed to be invulnerable. Mizuki realizes that fighting him might not be the answer here, while Jugen still tried to honor Yukio with a duel. Yamami shouts her apology to Akira, saying that she’s prepared to die as she had sworn that she won’t ever hurt a friend again. This stunned Yukio and destroyed his armor. Similarly, Jugen says that since this Yukio wasn’t real, he’ll step up and be a real hero to Akira’s instead. Kyo cries out her apology for having judged Akira for the sins of his father, and promises\\ that they’ll be the family he’s never had. Jiko is disappointed that Akira didn’t trust them enough, but says sorry for what he does when Akira runs off and he explains that it was only for his own good. Mizuki pleads with Akira to return to the real world with them and assures him that they will bear the burden of the Kokoraiju with him. This ultimately defeats Yukio and, smiling, he reverts back to his normal form. He explains that he is the last aspect of Akira, the one that wanted to know if the party could face a friend in order to bring him back. The real Yukio was Akira’s first and most cherished friend since the man fought a desperate battle against the Kokoraiju, but in the end, he still decided to save Akira. Yukio then bids goodbye to the solemn party, saying that even if he wasn’t real, the memories they’ve made were. In a flash of light, the party find themselves back in Iwasaki.


Report provided by souly