Session XI - The foggy Hand of Fate

-21st of Dragon: evening-
While waiting for Suzuhiho, Haundo, Daisuke, Junko, Yukiko and Genjiro don their armor and in one case, string the han-kyu.
 
The trail leads out of the village and into the wilderness, slowly gaining elevation as we leave the riverside. Track for a better part of an hour and half; the moon comes up, so can see a bit, but still dark. Come across a collapsed building in the distance, about 200 yards out. Might have been a small estate or way station, prior 2 story with stone outer walls and a low stone wall around the estate and a few completely collapsed outer buildings made from wood. Inigo and Genjiro hear a voice chanting, which suddenly stops.
 
Sou, Yukika, Inigo, and Tametomo go to flank, while the rest head towards the gate. Genjiro calls out to the building as the front line approaches and the flankers split. Tells the house we're investigating stolen property; present themselves if they are not involved. Hear more hurried chanting, now somewhat manic - prayers, but none that Kazue is familiar with, making offerings, trying to purify a vessel; he was entreating air, earth, fire, and water kami with offerings, but not clear to what purpose. Then, it yells, "No! You've ruined everything!" Then begins chanting again - a spell. Fog begins to boil out of the ruins, starting at the building the flanking team is near. Genjiro starts to oil and cloth a few arrows, Junko lights a torch; the others continue to close. The fog is heading further into the wilderness, 50' across, 20' high, and it itself is heading into the wilderness. Tamatomo and Genjiro shoot arrows into it; the flames don't seem to illuminate any fleeing suspects. Suzuhiho heads into the basement of the building. Kazue detects there is one other human in the area; down in the basement of the building. Sou, Yukika, and Tametomo move to chase the fog. Haundo joins Suzuhiho in the basement; finds a corpse in a circle along with what look like items for a ritual. Haundo checks with jade for taint, but doesn't find any. Does spot a body, maybe some gear. Looks like the missing eta, unconscious, very pale. Inigo joins them as Suzuhiho hauls back outside. Junko and Genjiro head to the basement. Looks like it was set up recent; not necessarily tied to years of events. Kazue checks on the eta - unconscious due to blood loss.
 
Suzuhiho and her legionaries also dash off after the fog.
 
Kazue investigates all the apparatus of the ritual; their are bowls of blood, but couldn't have all come from the eta... naturally. Looks like it was intended for the body to be burnt. Inigo finds a collection of non-spell scrolls; notes, etc... maybe a journal? Some food, water, a change of clothes. Genjiro doesn't recognize the writing, but thinks that by the dates, their writing has gotten more erratic as time has gone on, particularly over the last 5 years. Notes go back over 15 years. Also find the jar from the undertaker's, missing salt. Footprints around
the ritual circle, but not leaving. Genjiro and Junko will head back to the village to collect eta to help transporting the body back for purification and helping get Akinari back to the village, as well as clean up the blood.
 
Team fog chasers mostly catch up, when the fog dissipates. Sou remembers a spell, Legion of the moon, that can render someone undetectable by normal senses for the duration of the spell. Sou uses Whispers of the Land to double back and try to track the shugenja; is able to see the tracks where the shugenja split from the fog cloud and continues into the wilderness. Suzuhiho says this is the closest they have ever been; so they continue to track. After about 5 minutes, they spot him cresting a hill.
 
Kazue looks over the notes more. Seems this person has been talking with Isawa Kunimatsu as recently as last night... Kunimatsu was the last known practitioner of the Isawa bloodmagic, and committed sepukku over a millennia ago rather than giving it up. Looks like the ritual was how to do blood magic without getting tainted by the kansen.
 
At the chase, the shugenja casts the fog again, but Sou goes back underground and can see where he's running. A few shots, keep up the chase, and he eventually yells "Why won't you leave me alone!" and casts a spell. A gout of flame erupts from his mouth at Suzuhiho and the legionnaire. Tametomo shoots the caster in the hand. Suzuhiho gets burned again while Tametomo continues to stick arrows in him. One of the legionaries finally gets the last hit.
 
Slowly get the group back together with eta as needed to carry a couple bodies, and Akinari's oldest son to help escort his father back. Leave a bu with the youngest to replace their purifying salt and materials.
 
 
-22nd of Dragon-
Way too early morning. Akinari says he was working on the body, then woke up in the basement, trussed. The man would talk to someone, but he never heard any response, they would occasionally come over and take blood from him. When Akinari was too hurt, the man would heal him. To Kazue, it sounds like it could be Cloud Mind spell, which removes their memory and makes them extremely susceptible to suggestion. Everything Suzuhiho sees thinks this was probably him. To Genjiro's questions on magical correspondence that he may have been actually using, Kazue knows its possible he was haunted.
 
With the eta, get the man's gear. All of his scrolls were written in the Isawa cypher. Has a chop bearing the name Isawa Jou, a few coins, and what we already found in the basement. Kazue reading the scrolls finds a spell called Eminating Fog that follows its caster, Air 3, as well as a Fire 4 spell that burns a person from the inside out. Also get his wakazashi.
 
Taka and Haundo recommend we behead the body, so its done. Checked for taint; none shows on a jade examination.
 
Get back to the eta village; Inigo sends a missive to Isawa Kobo's family that their mother will be ready - Akinari insists on working the rest of the time today to make sure she'll be ready for rest by noon. Inigo hides zeni in Akinari's house.
 
Suzuhiho wants access to the journal, and would like to accompany us to talk with Kitsu Ayako when we go.
 
The team crashes, with Genjiro staying awake to give a report to Ansho-sama in the morning before he also rests.
 
 
-23rd of Dragon-
We meet with Kitsu Ayako and give her the particulars of who Isawa Kunimatsu was, and why we want to rule out or confirm if Isawa Jou was actually speaking with him. She says its possible that those haunted by an ancestor could communicate with them, if that was the case. If he was haunting him, it means Kunimatsu wasn't resurrected. Ayako can't reach all spirit realms, but could project to Mado to talk with Isawa Jou. She asks that if she does this, we consider it part of the Lion Clan's service to Naisho province. It will take an hour, so we wait.
 
She returns 45 minutes later, and reports she was able to make contact. He was indeed descended from Isawa Kunimatsu, the one who knew the old magic, and Kunimatsu had been speaking to him since he was a child. Told him it was his destiny to return the school to that side of magic. After gempukku, dedicated himself to that path. Ayako believes he was quite insane, and did know himself as the "Hand of Fate." He was working completely alone, just with what his ancestor told him. It appears what he was trying to do was purify the area and blood so it could be used to cast with without the possibility of a kansen being able to corrupt it and him. He never succeeded; he was slowly refining it over time, as his idea of how to use it safely again since Kunimatsu had no need for it. Jou was relatively easy to find, so she also looked for Isawa Kunimatsu, but couldn't find him in Yumi or Mado.
 
Phoenix happy to send a missive off to the Isawa for Shiba Midori on how to get to Ichinori Mura for us.
 
Masakado, second son of Akanari, shows up to offer his services to Sou.
 
Genjiro, Kazue, and Suzuhiho sit down to read through Jou's journals.