You look the wizard square in the face.
"You know, Ambrose, having your own transporter room doesn't make me want to stop calling you Scotty."
Ambrose scowls at you. "Just go inside, will you? It's the large door at the end of the corridor. And mind you don't touch any of the shiny things until I get there; it's late here. Altria's already gone to bed, and her parents don't appreciate having their private time disturbed."
"Aye, sir."
The old man raises his hockey stick with a wordless growl of warning.
You hurry off.
"Not a fan of Star Trek, you suppose?" Briar inquires, as you pass through the door and into what you assume is a wing of the Drake manor.
"I wouldn't say that," you reply. "At the very least, he knows the franchise well enough to know that Kirk's from Iowa. That doesn't get mentioned until the fourth movie, if I remember correctly."
Gained Pop Culture E
The corridor you're in now isn't too long, but it has three doors. In addition to the one at the end of the hall - which is really more of an open archway than a door - there's a single door on each side of the passage, about halfway to the main portal. You can't help but notice that the frames of all three exits are heavily warded. Looking back over your shoulder, the same is true of the one you just left, although in its case, the sigils appear to be inactive. That's also true of the archway directly ahead.
Not so much for the two doors.
Leaving the hall behind, you enter what HAS to be Ambrose's lab - or at least part of it, if the door at the far end of the house-sized, two-story chamber is any indication.
Glassware is abundant in the form of flasks, beakers, and bottles of all shapes and hues, be they arranged semi-neatly on shelves that stack ten rows high and at least three items deep, or left sitting around on this or that bench or table. Some of the containers are empty, but most hold a rainbow assortment of liquids, powders, and tiny but whole items. Many of those are moving in some fashion. The bubbling liquids you can understand - even if most of the ones you see are managing it without any obvious sources of heat - and the sight of oddly-colored sands shifting as if falling through an hourglass is similarly familiar. But there are stranger items behind those thin, shiny surfaces, like a slow-creeping black stain, a kind of moss that twitches when you aren't looking right at it, or a near-invisible translucent... thing... that you can't quite make out.
Except for a selection of plants and fungi, none of this stuff appears to be alive. Or undead, come to that. But in a few cases, that makes the fact that any of it is moving MORE unsettling.
Copper tubing runs hither and yon, coiling, branching, and doubling back on itself like some scaled-down plumber's nightmare. Some of the pipettes connect different flasks, and others disappear into the walls, floor, or ceiling - all of which are plain, smooth stone, you note in passing - but a few just seem to be there, serving no obvious purpose. Or maybe whatever they're connected to is just hidden under all the twists and bends.
Wherever they aren't taken up by the essentials of magic, the walls are covered with bookshelves. Many of the volumes are modern-looking hardcovers, their small, thin pages taking up a fraction of the space required by the more traditional eldritch tomes - though those are also well-represented, their massive covers fashioned from wood, metal, and stranger materials. Scrolls are also plentiful, and unless your eyes deceive you, a number of stone tablets have been mounted on simple mechanical swivel-frames for easy access. Old or new, the writings are covered by an entire lexicon of glyphs, which fairly glow in your awareness - and THAT with your senses turned DOWN.
This is one of the largest private book collections you've seen in either of your lifetimes, and while it's only a fraction of the sheer size of the Shuzens' family library, the Royal Library of Hyrule, or a couple of other places you've been or can recall, it's hands-down the single greatest assembly of MAGICAL books you've ever seen in one place. Seriously, it beats out Gen's shop by two orders of magnitude, and even Ganondorf's personal library didn't run to more than a third of the total. Not in any one lifetime, at least.
Then again, the King of Evil wasn't the most scholarly sort. Sorcery doesn't require the same kind of pure intellectual understanding as wizardry - and even by those relaxed standards, the lord of the Gerudo was no true scholar.
The second "floor" of the chamber is really nothing of the kind. Rather, it's a kind of elevated walkway, accessible from the ground floor by ladder or levitation. Aside from making it easier to get at things on the upper shelves, that level appears to exist to provide more space for Ambrose to pile things up.
Finally, there's the ceiling. It's far from bare, instead anchoring a dozen quasi-mechanical devices of modest size and uncertain function - all crystal shards, polished gears, and confusing levers. From the look of it, at least half of those arcane engines are designed so that they can fold out or otherwise "deploy" themselves for an operator's convenience.
Pride of place among the overhead collection goes to a stuffed crocodile, its features twisted in a lifelike expression of pain and surprise.
Somehow, you find its presence deeply reassuring.
You stand there, silently, taking it all in. You know Ambrose said not to touch anything, but...
"You want to see what it all does, don't you?" Briar sighs.
"How can I not, Briar? How can I not?"
Despite how interesting everything in here is, you're not foolish enough to go poking at the contents of a wizard's lab without his express permission.
You effortlessly shake off the temptation to poke into Ambrose's vast collection of magical accoutrements. Nosing about in another man's private lab is the height of bad manners among magic-users, and hazardous besides - and that isn't even getting into the potential for sheer embarrassment.
This IS Ambrose's workshop, after all. If the defenses carry even a fraction of his sense of humor, it's doubtful that anything you might learn would be worth the mortification and aggravation you'd have to endure in exchange.
Besides, the sheer number and variety of inherently-magical or outright enchanted objects in this room could strike a man blind and insensate, if he got careless in his investigation of them. Granted, it would only be temporary, and you're cautiously optimistic that your senses, being as well-trained as they are, could tolerate the flood of conflicting auras better than any other practitioner your age, and many who are older and - in theory - more experienced.
But why take the risk?
To repeat, it's AMBROSE's workshop, and the man himself is shuffling down the hall behind you.
It's just not worth the risk.
The man in question enters the room, having divested himself of his hockey stick and damaged clothes at some point. He's now wearing a proper robe and wizard hat, both in a plain, unadorned blue-grey that strikes you as very workmanlike. The magical professional's equivalent of a labcoat, and worn for much the same reasons: they do a reasonable job of protecting other clothing - and especially the body beneath - from incidental splashes or bursts; they don't cost much to replace; and they've been associated with the job for so long that they're just traditional at this point.
With hardly a word, Ambrose leads you out of the fantastical lab, partway down another hall, and into another warded door - this one to the left-hand side of the corridor. Inside is a cubical room about fifty feet to a side, its worked stone surfaces covered with the largest and most complex magical arrays you've ever seen, outside of memories of the central chambers of the Temples of Hyrule. No mere circles of chalk, these, nor crude etchings; instead, metals both precious and mystically-potent have been inlaid into the rock, reinforcing the diagrams physically as well as supernaturally. Stones of similar worth are inset into the arrays, further amplifying their power.
Runes of Abjuration account for the majority of the markings, and when active, you expect that they'll act like a combination of a world-class secure vault and nuclear reactor shielding, with an order of battleship-grade armor protection on the side.
Once the wards go up, nothing outside this room will get in, and nothing within it will get out.
The main exception to the room's focus on Abjuration glyphs can be found on the floor, where characters of Divination and Summoning compete with their warding-oriented cousins.
There's no question in your mind: this is a summoning chamber.
"Right, then," Ambrose says, flexing his fingers. "Let's do some magic." He gestures at the diagram on the floor. "Please enter the circle, Alexander. Briar, stay back by the door."
"No problem," the fairy answers.
You follow the wizard's instructions, and as your trailing foot passes over the raised metal ring - a circle forty feet across, and what the HELL does Ambrose SUMMON, that he needs an array of this size? - it thrums with energy. Its counterparts do likewise, and the air in the chamber, previously cool and dry, warms slightly - or perhaps that's just your impression, a reaction to the power running through the arrays.
"Now, with most people, I'd start out by doing an in-depth magical examination," Ambrose explains. "In your case, however, there's a certain greater goddess who's given me a warning glance on your account once already. Since I have no particular desire to be lit up like a torch, I have to ask nicely: do I have your permission to examine you? Or would you prefer that we skip right to you demonstrating your teleportation issues? I have to warn you, just doing the latter will make it harder for me to say with certainty what's going on with your power, possibly to the point where I can't help you."
There is a long minute of silence as you consider Ambrose's request.
You have to admit, you're tempted to grant it. You've already had a group of spiritual experts give you a once-over, and you learned some useful things in the process - explosive though it might have been. Allowing a master magus to conduct his own examination of your being might turn up further details that you've not yet learned about yourself, or at least give you a second (or third) opinion on the things you do know.
And you DO so like to know things. Especially things about yourself.
Still.
"Let's start out with the teleportation, and go from there," you decide. "You can always scan me later, if it turns out to be necessary, but in the meantime, I'd like to be able to keep enjoying the illusion that you DON'T already know all my secrets."
Ambrose snorts. "That's about what I expected to hear. All right, then. Give me five minutes to get this monster" - he taps the edge of his portion of the spell array with one slippered foot - "set up for spell-testing, and then start casting one of your teleportation spells."
"Do you want me to stay in the room?" you inquire, as pale white light begins to rise from the array, forming a huge, transparent wall of magical energy around you.
"For now, at least. I'd like to see if I can pick out anything interesting before you start popping in and out of my wards."
And for the next three-quarters of an hour, that's what the two of you do. You'll take five minutes to ritually-cast the Spell of Teleportation, momentarily disappearing from within the major circle, passing through that green space-that-isn't-space, and then reappearing somewhere else inside the diagram. Every time you cast the spell, you can see Ambrose's magic circle reacting to your power, but when you try to make sense of the reactions, it's like running into a solid brick wall - one that's been lined with lead.
Evidently, one of the features Ambrose built into his king-sized magic circle is a ward that prevents anybody INSIDE the diagram from using Divination on it - at least the low-level stuff like Mage Sight.
It makes sense. One of the main purposes of an array like this is high-tier Summoning, the kind that calls upon beings like elemental lords, Great Fairies, major demons, divine servitors, and the occasional minor god. When you're making deals with entities on THAT level, you do NOT want to give them any more advantages than they already possessed when they answered your summons. Warding your circles so that they can't unravel your spellwork with a casual glance is nothing more than a sane, sensible precaution.
Annoying, in your case, but sensible all the same.
After seeing your Spell of Teleportation for the third time, Ambrose asks you to mix things up a bit, and try varying the potency of the magic you're using. You do so, falling back on the weakest teleportation magic that comes to mind.
"Hey, Briar?" you ask, as you weave the magic.
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind helping out?"
"That depends on what you want me to do."
"Well, first," you say, as you complete the spell, "get over here."
*Pop*
Despite the funky, unofficial, Hellmouth-twisted nature of your current bond with the fairy, the Spell of Callback goes off without a hitch. She disappears from where she was hovering near the door, and reappears in the air before you.
The look she turns on you is unimpressed.
"Oooh," Ambrose says from across the room. "A second data point! Nice!"
"And secondly," you go on, producing the Glass Bead, the smallest thing you currently have in your pocket, "would you mind taking this over to the door, and holding on to it?"
Briar complies, albeit not without some grumbling about the weight of the tiny bead. To be fair, it's the size of a medicine ball for her, and somewhat denser in the bargain. Not the easiest thing for a two-inch-tall lady to lift.
Once Briar is in position, you cast the Spell of Swiping, teleporting the marble back to your hand with a crook of your finger.
"Hang on a second," Ambrose interrupts. "Do that again, would you?"
You telekinetically levitate the Glass Bead over to the wizard, wait for him to pluck it out of the air, and then re-cast your previous spell.
"Okay, one more time."
You repeat the process.
"Right, got it. Please continue."
Shrugging, you cast the Spell of Dimension Door, then another Spell of Teleportation, followed by the Getaway Spell, and finally, the Spell of Greater Teleportation.
Having provided Ambrose examples of every level of Summoning magic you're currently able to cast - barring an eighth-circle ritual, which you don't feel like wasting the energy on just yet - you stop there and ask the wizard if he's found anything yet.
"A few things," he replies. "For one, I expect you'll be pleased and a bit confused to know that, based on what I've observed so far, I don't believe it's your spellcraft that's causing your problem. For all that you're using a fey-influenced magical tradition that I'd neither seen nor heard of before meeting you, the underlying mechanics of HOW you alter your position space-time are quite familiar."
You frown. As Ambrose said, you're a little confused. If it's not the way you cast teleportation spells that's making you pass through that weird other-space, and it's not anything about you personally that's interfering with the magic, then where does the problem lie? Something in the environment? No, that can't be right, or this would happen to other magic-users as well, and identifying the cause wouldn't have required all this effort from Ambrose.
"My initial conclusion was in error," Ambrose admits, more easily than you were expecting. "There actually IS something about you that appears to be interacting strangely with space-time, but it only shows up when YOU are the one attempting to cast a Spell of Summoning. I can't say for certain without examining you personally, but given these readings, the source of the problem appears to be linked to your soul."
...well, then.
If Ambrose has in fact identified your soul as the source of your issues with teleportation magic, then it only makes sense to proceed with a scan of your spiritual being. Trying to put off such an investigation would serve no purpose, except to make the wizard wonder at the source of your reluctance. If you were a more typical kid... well, you wouldn't be here in the first place, but leaving that aside, an eight-year-old being skittish around the word "examintion" would be pretty normal. As it is, you can't count on your age protecting you.
You let out a breath.
"Before you start poking me in the soul, Ambrose, can you promise me you'll be careful? I've already been spiritually-wounded twice this year; I don't want to try for a hat trick."
The wizard nods. "That's a promise I don't mind making, or keeping."
"And his fingers aren't even crossed," Briar notes from behind him.
Ambrose turns to glare at her.
"And Ambrose?" you say, drawing his attention back to you. "Once you're in there, mind my spirit totem. It warned ME off of exploring too deeply once before."
The old man frowns. "Now, why did it do that? Spirit guides are all about self-discovery and understanding."
"We had some of that, too, but... when I asked it why it wasn't letting me pass, the Boar gestured for me to look behind it, and when I did, there was this... thing, way off in the distance. Like a tiny spot of impenetrable shadow, moving about on its own."
Ambrose is a silent for a long moment.
"...I see. Well, then. Thank you for the warning."
Gained Wise King F (Plus) (Plus)
Ambrose casts a spell that is one part Divination, and one part Abjuration-
Gained Divination B (Plus)
-and the next thing you know, you're drifting around in that glowing place you usually have to enter a deep meditation to reach.
Ambrose is there as well, and he's giving you a considering look.
"I did not expect you to tag along on this little venture, lad," he admits. "But since you're here, I suppose I might as well make use of you as a native guide. Which way is this totem animal of yours, and which way is the thing it was keeping you from?"
"They're both this way," you say, pointing towards the light that is the center and source of all the energy flowing around and past you. "Come on."
You find it quite a bit easier to navigate your soul-scape right now than on previous visits. You suspect it's a function of whatever spell Ambrose cast, because he's having no trouble following you - and he REALLY doesn't seem the type to be big on meditation and other spiritual exercises.
Then again, looks - and behavior - can be deceiving.
In short order, you come across the looming figure of the Boar. Its beady little eyes regard you for a moment before it grunts and turns to Ambrose.
Its brow, already furrowed by a guarded squint, sinks into a glare. The beast rumbles ominously, and the quill-like hairs across its body stand a bit straighter.
"This far, no further, eh?" Ambrose says. "Fine by me." He returns the Boar's narrow-eyed look, though the wizard's expression is far more thoughtful than unfriendly. "Damn. I can see what Altria was going on about after the Tournament. You ARE one big son of a sow, aren't you?"
The Boar gives another of those earthquake-like utterances. This one sounds almost pleased.
Ambrose leans to one side, craning his neck as if to inspect the Boar's full size.
Then he goes still.
You're pretty sure you know the cause of Ambrose's sudden stop, but just to be sure, you lean in the other direction, looking past the bulk of your totem animal.
And there, in the distance, is the shadow.
"Is that what you were talking about, Alex?" the wizard inquires calmly.
"Yes, it is. Any ideas as to what it is?"
"Aside from 'bad news,' you mean?"
"Aside from that, yes."
Ambrose pauses.
"Spiritual mechanics aren't my main area of expertise," he says slowly. "I have some familiarity with the hows and whys and whats of the soul and its functions, more so than most wizards, I dare say, but still, this kind of thing is more the realm of priests and certain occultists."
He sounds like he's avoiding the truth. You say as much.
"That's because I am," Ambrose admits with eerie calm. "I'm trying not to think about how and why something that looks like a dormant death-curse could end up at the CENTER of a person's soul. I'm trying very hard NOT to come up with all manner of horrible scenarios that would explain it, and I am FAILING MISERABLY."
...
...what?
For a moment, all you can do is stand there, staring at Ambrose in shock.
A death curse? In your SOUL? Not ON your soul, but INSIDE of it, somewhere very near the core of everything that makes you who and what you are?
That's... what... how...
You can't find the words to describe just what a horrifying notion that is.
Then you slap yourself across the face, shake your head, and a take a deep breath.
"For the record, Ambrose, I have no idea how... something like THAT... got into my soul. But it sounds like EXACTLY the kind of thing I should ask the Goddesses about, the next time I'm talking to them."
The wizard doesn't say it aloud, but the phrase, "Gee, ya think?" is written in every line of his expression.
"While we're here, though," you go on, "do you know of any way to avoid activating that thing? Even by accident?"
Ambrose snorts. "I wish. But without knowing the circumstances under which the curse originated, how it was worded, what if any Powers were called upon to enforce it... sorry, lad. I've got nothing."
"Could you find out?"
"I can try, but I can't guarantee I'll find anything. Curses involving souls are among the worst kinds of black magic. People tend to go out of their way to stamp out the knowledge of how to perform them. That this one's a death curse on top of that..." He shivers. "Nasty, vile business, those things. And they're almost always unique, besides - very spur of the moment, specific to the caster and who or whatever killed him."
You do a double-take. "Wait. So it's THAT kind of death curse? I mean, somebody cast it when THEY were dying, instead of... uh... casting it to... try and kill me...?"
Your voice trails off at the end.
The wizard grimaces. "I hate to say this, lad, but I honestly have no idea WHAT the curse is MEANT to do. But even if it wasn't intended to do you harm, just the fact that it is WHERE it is can't possibly be a good thing."
"...kind of guessed that, thanks," you mutter.
Ambrose gives you a look of honest sympathy. "But to answer your question... yes, it's the kind of curse particularly spiteful practitioners cast when they're dying, and they want to make someone else suffer after they're gone. Even if a spellcaster has exhausted his power, he can still use the mystical significance of his death to catalyze the curse. It's as if his entire life had been a ritual to gather power, with the circumstances of his passing dictating how that power would be shaped, and the moment of actual death being the final trigger. Calling it a 'dying curse' would be the more technically accurate description."
Gained Necromancy C (Plus)
You nod. "So... is that what's messing with my teleportation?"
Ambrose glances past the bulk of the Boar again, shudders anew, and turns back to you. "As far as I can tell, yes. Don't ask me WHY it is, but it is."
"Something else to ask the Goddesses, then," you muse.
You glance at your spirit animal.
"I don't suppose YOU have anything to say, while I'm here to hear it?"
Small dark eyes blink once, and the Boar grunts.
Yeah, that's about what-
Then, moving very deliberately, it stomps its left front hoof on the glowing not-ground beneath it.
For a moment, the back of your right hand warms. And as it does so, the Boar gives you a direct, meaningful look.
...
-you honestly weren't expecting that.
"You think I should speak with the Goddesses, too?"
The Boar nods, grunting once.
Huh.
Gained Animal Handling D (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Sign Language D (Plus)
"Alright. Glad we're on the same page, at least."
If nothing else, it's further evidence that the Boar is intelligent enough to communicate with, when he's not being all headstrong and "Boar charge!" and everything.
There is another grunt, this time shorter and carrying a certain sense of amusement.
...why do you get the feeling that everything you just thought about your spirit animal, the Boar is also thinking of you?
Shaking off that oddly-specific suspicion, you turn back to the wizard.
"So, Ambrose. Now that you know what the source of my problems with teleportation is, if not WHY it's causing me issues, is there anything you can do to fix it? Or failing that," you add, "can you at least tell me whether or not it's safe to use with other people? I don't want to accidentally feed my friends and family to some creeping extra-dimensional horror."
"As far as I can tell, your teleportation is perfectly safe physically," Ambrose replies. "If it weren't, you probably would have had an accident by now."
You try not to imagine what such an "accident" would look like.
"You're sure about that?" you ask. "You're not just guessing again?"
"Oh, no. This time I have evidence. I may not know WHY that curse is messing with your attempts to move extra-dimensionally, but I had no trouble working out WHAT it was doing."
"And what IS it doing?"
"It's pushing you deeper into the Astral Plane than is normal for teleportation magic," Ambrose replies. "Spells of that sort operate by 'skimming' the edges of the Astral, moving you just far enough out of our familiar space-time that you can take advantage of the Plane's unusual temporal characteristics, without pulling you across entirely. For whatever reason, the curse is pushing you deeper into the Astral Plane than normal - not so far that you fall out of our reality entirely, but far enough that you're at least briefly aware of the no-time that exists on the other side." He frowns then. "And that's damned odd on another level. I've explored the local regions of the Astral myself, and I've never run across this green presence you described."
"Would you like to?" you offer, holding out your hand.
Ambrose regards your extended limb like it's a live eel. Possibly an electric one.
"If it helps, the green thing doesn't feel malicious," you say. "It may not actually be related to the curse."
"...hold that thought while I get us out of your soul," Ambrose replies.
On cue, there's a lurch, and a moment later, you're back in the magic circle.
"How'd it go?" Briar asks.
You look directly at Briar, and in a level voice, say, "It's official: I'm cursed."
The fairy hovers in silence for a moment. You can FEEL the suspicious look she's giving you, as if she's trying to work out whether you're serious or just messing with her.
"No, really. I am."
Briar looks from you to Ambrose. "Really?"
"Really, really," the wizard replies.
"...I see." Briar turns back to you. "How bad?"
"You know that shadowy thing that the Boar's been keeping me away from?"
"Yes..."
"Ambrose says it's somebody's dying curse."
There is a long silence as Briar turns back to Ambrose, who nods once, wordlessly, in response to the unspoken question.
"That's... bad," Briar finally says. "That's... really, really bad."
"I went with 'horrifying,' myself," you admit.
"Good word," Briar agrees. "Um... so. What are we going to do about this?"
In spite of everything, you have to smile. It's nice to know that even when dealing with the shock of this latest and most horrifying discovery of your many issues, Briar's still got your back.
"I was thinking about calling on the Goddesses and asking for advice. Ambrose and the Boar both agreed."
"Wait, the Boar did? Seriously?"
You nod.
"Did it speak to you?" she asks, honestly curious. "Or did it just nod or something?"
"It stomped one hoof and gave me this look," you reply, doing your best to mimic your totem's direct stare.
You can't help but feel that you're about ten tons of porcine muscle and elemental fury shy of actually pulling it off. Still, Briar seems to get the gist of it.
"But yes," you continue, "when I asked for confirmation, it nodded."
"Your relationship is improving, then. That's a good sign, at least." Briar sighs. "Well, then. As much as I'd like for you to commune with the Goddesses RIGHT NOW... this isn't really the right kind of place for it. Not that it isn't an awesome workshop or anything," she adds, for Ambrose's sake. "It's just..."
"Not very godly," he concludes.
"Basically. So, are we done here, or...?"
"I'd say so. The only thing left is to let Ambrose see what it's like when I teleport, and we can do that by heading back to Sunnydale."
"Indeed," the wizard says. "Just let me shut everything down, and we'll be on our way."
A few minutes later, you're back in Ambrose's... foyer? Travel-closet, maybe?
Regardless, the wizard has pulled his boots back on, and taken a much more traditional- and magical-looking staff out of one of the closets. He quickly casts several spells over himself, a mix of Abjuration and Divination effects that incorporate significant elements of Summoning.
Gained Abjuration B
Once Ambrose signals himself prepared, you begin performing the ritualized Spell of Greater Teleportation-
-flying/falling/sinking through a strange space/medium/awareness filled with familiar shapes/alien geometries and faint/loud chorus/discordance and a near/distant green energy/presence I see/hear/feel/sense you coming from all the way over there/then someone new/old this time/space/probability-
"Okay," Ambrose says quite clearly. "That's new."
-and then you're back in the woods outside Sunnydale. Seeing as how you weren't sure how carefully Ambrose concealed the energies of his own earlier teleportation, you decided to land in the north rather than near the "Leaving Sunnydale" sign by the highway.
Ambrose looks down at you. "And it's like that for you every time?"
"Pretty much," you admit. "Though the greater the distance I end up traveling on THIS side, the longer I seem to spend passing through the OTHER side. I mean, that level of... impression... that I got just now? That only happens when I'm hopping across entire oceans. Or in this case, an ocean and a continent. Some of the shorter trips I've made, I barely have time to notice that sensation of flying, falling, and sinking before it's all over."
"I see," Ambrose murmurs. "And the reaction of that... entity? Is it always like that?"
"When I'm there long enough to be aware of it, yes." You pause. "Although when I made the trip with my mother, and put her under protective wards... the green thing seemed to think that their presence meant I didn't trust it."
The wizard regards you blankly.
You shrug. "That's what it FELT like."
"I see," he repeats. "And do you? Trust it, I mean."
You consider your answer.
"Sort of," you reply, waggling one hand side-to-side for emphasis. "I mean, whatever this green presence is, I've gotten the impression that it likes me for some reason. Which is nice, and certainly a better prospect than it DISliking me-"
Ambrose nods at that.
"-but the fact remains that I have a mysterious eldritch thing taking a personal interest in me. Nice or it, it's still..." - you hunt for a word, before settling on - "eldritch. And thing-y."
"And interacting with beings like that is ALWAYS a risk of some kind for us mere mortals," Ambrose concludes. He sounds satisfied by your words, although he follows that up by giving you an odd look. "And 'thing-y?' Really?"
You shrug. "If the term fits?"
The wizard shakes his head, muttering something that sounds like, "Bloody Americans," under his beard.
"Speaking of risk," you add, "there's the matter of how teleporting with me HAS messed with a few people's heads. Now, I don't exactly BLAME the green thing for that, because like you said, there's always a risk dealing with creatures of that sort, and people being temporarily stunned by its presence, or freaking out and needing to take a time-out afterwards, is small potatoes compared to some of the things that COULD have happened. Still."
Ambrose frowns. "How many people has this happened to?"
"Only two. But then, I've only ever teleported with five other people, and three of those were Briar, Lu-sensei, and now you."
"And all of us are up to our eyebrows in the supernatural, one way or another," the wizard muses. "As are you, yourself. Was this not the case with your other passengers?"
You shake your head. "The good news is that some simple spells against mental influence seemed to prevent the problem."
"Ah. In that case, you might want to make that a standard practice when you're traveling. At least until one of us gets a better idea on how to deal with your... problem."
"Well," Ambrose says then. "I believe that covers everything we were supposed to look into today - or at least, as much as we can deal with now, without further research. Unless there's anything else that urgently needs my attention, I believe I shall take my leave."
In response to Ambrose's sensible-sounding suggestion, you can't help but frown.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Ambrose."
"Oh? Whyever not?"
You explain how, when you recently teleported with your mother, she had a less-than-positive reaction to the experience, which led you to shield her on the return trip. And that, in turn, seemed to prompt feelings of unhappiness in the eldritch presence.
"It was like it felt hurt that I didn't trust it enough to take people through its domain with their minds open," you recount. "And if that's the case, wouldn't adding mental shielding to my standard teleportation practices risk turning the entity from a friendly eldritch thing into a not-so-friendly eldritch thing?"
Blinking slowly, Ambrose considers that.
"I think this is a case of 'damned if you, damned if you don't,' lad," he finally says. "It's true that upsetting mysterious beings from beyond the fringes of logical space-time is a bad idea, but playing fast and loose with the sanity of your fellow sapients is ALSO a bad idea. And it's negligence verging on active malice, besides."
You concede the old man's point. "Do you think it would help if I made contact with the entity, and explained myself?"
Ambrose starts, looks like he's about to say something - or possibly shout it - and then suddenly stops and looks thoughtful.
"Talk to your celestial mail-carrier," he advises. "He might be able to convey a message to an other-dimensional entity, and he'll certainly handle a prolonged interaction with it better than you're likely to, at least without the benefit of potentially offense-giving mental shielding. But if he says he can't do it," the wizard adds, "don't go trying to commune with the green light, or otherwise making direct mental contact with it. At least, not until you have a much better idea of WHAT it actually is."
"Actually, before you go, there IS something else I was wondering about," you say.
"Yes?"
"How is it going with Beryl?"
Ambrose does a double-take.
"THAT's a hell of a non-sequitur, lad. What brought it on?"
Ambrose's suggestion sounds like a good idea to you.
You make a mental note to talk to the Postman about taking a message to the green presence the next time you summon him - and another to avoid trying to make mental contact with the being for the foreseeable future.
"Honest concern," you answer. "I'm responsible for the two of you getting in touch, after all. I just want to know if it's going well."
"Or if you should be apologizing to someone?" Ambrose guesses.
You say nothing.
The wizard smirks, briefly.
"I wouldn't say it's going 'well,'" he admits. "The difference in time zones alone is a hassle, and after everything that happened at the Shuzens', I've found myself with a distinct lack of free time for things like casual correspondence. On the other hand, the young lady has obligingly kept in contact, and hasn't even threatened me - well, not beyond that one missive where she promised to set my beard on fire if I came within a mile of her family. But I get THAT all the time."
Somehow, you're not surprised by that.
Also, you have to respect Beryl for having the guts to deliver that sort of ultimatum.
"In any case," Ambrose says, "if you want to know more, feel free to write to the young lady yourself. As for me, I'll be on my way. Ta!"
The head of his staff flares with power, and in a flash of Summoning magic and a near-silent, leaf-swirling displacement of air, the old man is gone.
You make another mental note, to look into producing a reusable magic item of teleportation. Considering how often you cast the spell, it'd be ridiculously convenient. Also ridiculously expensive, but...
"Now that he's out of the way," Briar says, "are we heading back home, or..." She trails off, expectantly.
"The latter," you reply. "I figure, as long as I'm out here and TECHNICALLY have Mom's permission to use magic, I might as well find a spot to commune with the Goddesses."
The fairy nods in clear approval. "Spoken like a true fey."
You accept that as the compliment it was probably intended as, and start looking around.
In a quarter-hour of searching, you fail to find a location that is completely ideal for contacting the Goddesses. You're hardly surprised by that; sites worthy of hosting shrines and temples are uncommon at best, and this close to the Hellmouth, they're likely an order of magnitude harder to find. At least.
Still, you don't NEED an absolutely perfect site to cast the Spell of Communion. It would be helpful, but it's far from essential. All you really need is a nice spot in the woods, next to a body of water, on a sunny day.
And that, you do find.
Granted, the water in question is more of an ambitious puddle than a proper pond, and the trees are thick enough that you're not getting quite as much sunlight as you might want, but it will serve.
Recalling your promise to your mother to be back in three hours at the latest, you check the time, and find that it's been most of two hours since you left the house. That leaves you enough time to make all the necessary preparations for casting the Spell of Communion, and so you don't skimp on the ceremony. Sticks of incense are conjured, placed, and lit, and powdered silver likewise brought into being and scattered over the surface of the small pond with a prayer and an infusion of magic, converting the entirety of the liquid into the requisite holy water.
And then, mindful of what happened the LAST time you tried to contact the goddesses, you cast the most powerful spells of purification, consecrating, and warding-off-of-evil that you can muster. Never mind the mana cost; you do NOT want another demon lord hijacking your link to the Goddesses.
As you work, you debate with Briar what questions you should ask the Goddesses, while you have their attention. Inquiring after the source of the dying curse in your soul is a given, but how to word it? And there are other matters you could use a bit of divine guidance on...
Invoking your usual round of mental enhancement effects for maximum clarity, you debate with Briar what questions you most urgently need to ask the Goddesses.
Useful as it is, the Ritual of Communion is not without its annoying aspects. The fact that the deities invoked only provide single-word answers, typically of a "yes," "no," or "unknown" nature, forces you to phrase all your inquiries so that they can be answered in such a manner - and that isn't always easy, or even possible. The time limit on asking new questions doesn't help, either.
Eventually, you come up with a dozen or so questions, ranging from "must ask" to "would be useful to ask."
The urgent ones, naturally, go at the TOP of your list.
Inquiries ready and preparations made, you sit yourself down in the middle of the cleansed, sanctified, and warded area, and begin to perform the Ritual of Communion.
"Mighty Din, Goddess of Power, hear me. Patient Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, hear me. Vital Farore, Goddess of Courage, hear me. I seek your guidance..."
There's no flare of golden power, no distant divine chorus, no sudden warming of the Triforce emblem that's sometimes there and sometimes not on the back of your right hand. But somewhere in the midst of several minutes of prayer, you sense that you have your Goddesses' attention.
Maybe they're taking a low-key approach, after what happened the last time?
Shaking that off, you quickly ask your first and most urgent question: "Who cast the dying curse that is within my soul?"
The response is immediate, the earth around you LITERALLY shaking as the voice of fire and thunder snarls, "DEMISE."
You swallow heavily. You have no idea who or what answers to that name, but Din's tone is... you can't call that angry. That is BEYOND anger.
Is that what the Wrath of God sounds like?
Unsettled though you are by the sheer intensity Goddess of Power's answer, you soldier on. "Is the curse an immediate danger to me?"
There's the briefest of pauses before the divine chorus answers, in a much softer tone, "No."
"Is the curse an immediate danger to OTHERS?" you say, seeking clarity.
"No."
"Will the curse endanger Briar if we bond?"
"Possibly," comes the reply. There's a hint of caution in the three voices, emphasizing the uncertain nature of their answer.
"Will it be more dangerous than our current bond?"
"No," is the firm response.
That's your most urgent questions taken care of, then. And on a bright note, you have yet to hear so much as a whisper of the discordance that led to your connection with the Golden Goddesses being hijacked before.
Feeling relieved on multiple fronts, you proceed with the rest of your questions.
Given Din's unexpectedly heated reply to your original question, you're a little leery of continuing to poke at the subject of the curse. However, since it IS important, you gather your resolve and press on.
"Are any of your servants that I am able to call capable of assisting me with the curse?"
"No," comes the regretful-sounding reply.
Well, that bites. But, continuing on with that subject...
"Can the curse be removed safely?"
"Unknown."
You pause. That's... not the kind of answer you like to hear from a divine trinity, one of whom is supposed to be all about good judgment - and moreover, has the ability to look through Time to find answers to any problems she encounters and doesn't immediately have a resolution for.
"Can the curse be removed at all?"
"Unknown."
...
...eeep.
Maybe... um. Maybe you should get off this topic for now. You know, before... you have a panic attack or something...!
"Is the green presence I've encountered in the Astral Plane actually friendly towards me?" you blurt out.
-Surprise/delight/nervousness/objection! Noticed me!/Asked about me!/Doubts me?!-
"...mostly?"
-Oh, come ON! These are supposed to be PRIVATE calls!-
You have the impression the Goddesses aren't quite sure what to make of your question - or perhaps, of the green thing.
-How many faces does a goddess have to break in order to get uninterrupted service in this screwed-up plane?-
"Would it be safe for me to approach the green presence?"
-Delight/eagerness/invitation!-
"...maybe?"
-Aw, I think it likes him!-
Okay, yeah, it's probably the green entity that's puzzling them.
-Oh, no. I am NOT about to let ANOTHER space-time warping outsider get its hooks into MY Chosen One!-
Evidently, eldritch thing is eldritch enough that even GODS have trouble making sense of it.
-Surprise/alarm/indignation/determination YOURS?-
You consider which of your remaining questions to ask next, but before you can voice any of them, you feel your connection to the Goddesses waver and end.
"Well done, Alex," Briar says. "I think you actually managed to confuse the Goddesses with those last two questions."
"I think it was more the being I was asking about that confused them."
"...yeah, maybe. But on a brighter note," the fairy adds, "no demonic interference this time."
You nod, but while you share Briar's appreciation for that particular detail, you're still distracted by the answers you got. One answer, in particular.
The Golden Goddesses, the creator trinity of Hyrule and the makers of the Triforce, aren't sure if the curse in your soul can be removed.
That's... that is just...
Humbling, depressing, dissapointing
Your reaction to the Goddesses' answers about your curse is... complicated.
It's disappointing that they couldn't tell you anything helpful, and given the nature of the problem, it's DEFINITELY depressing.
Mostly, though?
You feel very, very small.
It's not a feeling you're accustomed to, nor do you care for it in the slightest.
But if you're being completely honest with yourself, you have to admit, it's an appropriate reaction to this mess you've found yourself in.
The creator deities of Hyrule can't say for certain whether or not the dying curse in your soul can be removed. If they don't know of a solution, what chance does a mortal child like yourself have of finding it? Even WITH the benefit of your supernaturally-mature mindset, inherited memories, and mystical powers?
Not NO chance, certainly; the Goddesses didn't come out and say it was an impossible task, just that they didn't know if it could be done. But just the knowledge that divine Power, Wisdom, and Courage have failed to find or make a solution causes the problem to appear that much greater, that much closer to impossible.
You sigh, and try to ignore the immensity of the task before you as you make your way home.
After all...
...it'll still be there tomorrow.
Several more days pass, thankfully without incident, as you struggle to come to terms with your latest round of self-discovery.
On the up side, Ambrose's wards have finished powering up and are running along smoothly. From outside the house, even from on your own doorstep, you can't even tell they're present - and even once you're inside, they're very, very faint. Despite that, you're able to say with confidence that they are fully-capable of hiding fourth-circle spellwork.
So while you'll still need to use your Mirror Hideaway for your major projects, you can call the Postman without worry, or deal with other mid-level spirits.
And speaking of deals...
Once your grounding is over and you've cleared it with your parents, you head back to Gen's to see how business has been doing in your absence. And to return those books you "borrowed."
After welcoming you back in his own energetic manner and taking possession of his goods once more, your (very much) senior partner informs you that he sold a bit of the toad poison you acquired for him, and more of the enchanted, glowing sand. Even better, though, he found a buyer for that seed of Light - and a GENEROUS buyer, at that.
How generous, you may ask?
Your share of the proceeds comes to $500 of in-store credit. That's including the other sales, but the Light-mote alone counts for a solid three-fifths of the profit.
...weren't you planning on brewing a Potion of Blindness as a reagent for the upcoming familiar ritual? Five hundred dollars ought to cover the cost of raw materials, with money to spare.
You spend most of your windfall on magical reagents - not just for the potion you've been planning to use in the familiar binding ritual, but also for those three scrolls you owe Akkiko in trade for a look at some of her family's secret magic arts. None of the spells you're planning to translate into written or liquid form are especially powerful, so the required materials are all relatively common and affordable. Gen has everything you need in stock.
Gained Reagents
As you're picking out the particular assortment of dead flora and fauna, crushed minerals, and worked goods that you'll need, your attention briefly wanders to the books and scrolls on Gen's shelves. You finished reading the three books you borrowed from him, and you even managed to re-read them all during your grounding - although Meditations Upon the Tao was no less of a slog the second time around. Your mother had a similar opinion of the weighty tome, comparing it to some of the books she read in nursing school.
She actually pulled a couple of said volumes off of one of the shelves at home so you could flip through them. The subject matter was worlds apart, of course, and the terminology reflected that, but you had to agree that there was a certain similarity between the works - mostly in their size, and the headaches that trying to make sense of them gave you.
On a related note, you're not sad to see Master Zhung Lao's work go back into Gen's collection.
Perhaps you've been mildly traumatized by all this heavy reading during summer vacation, because you turn away from the books without a second thought.
You spend the next ninety minutes or so in Gen's basement, calling up minor spirits for fun and profit - but mostly profit - before excusing yourself, telling your partner that you've got a couple of issues outside the store that you'd like to look into before you head home.
He waves you off.
You did tell the monks at the temple that you'd be back to check on things. It'll only take a little bit of work to get that out of the way, and you're curious to see how they've been doing in their absence. In particular, you want to speak with Abbot Jason again.
The last time you were at the temple, you let the chief monk and his two advisors know of your suspicions that something supernatural had been angling to permanently ruin their home, and that it had been sharp enough to use mundane means to achieve its goal, rather than a curse, haunting, or other mystical approach that they could have detected and fought back against. In turn, Abbot Jason said that he was going to... speak... with certain members of the community, regarding the string of events that led to the temple going unrepaired for so long, and you left a standing offer to assist the monks further, should their investigation turn up anything else that could use a sorcerer's touch.
Now's as good a time as any to see if you'll be called on.
Exiting Gen's, you slip into the tiny stretch of yard between the shop and the compound wall. Here, you cast a minor Spell of Illusion, placing an image over the area that perfectly matches everything that's present - except for yourself. Thusly rendered imperceptible - if not precisely invisible - to the casual notice of any eye that might wander back here, you undress, cast the Spell of Threefold Aspect, and clothe your adult self in the fine suit you created for this purpose.
Now properly prepared, "Mister Alexander Harris" dismisses the Illusion of privacy and casts the Spell of Teleportation.
A few minutes later, you're walking up the street to the temple. As you approach, you're struck by how much of a difference the temple's restored appearance makes. Before, the defaced walls and the broken roof of the main temple cast an inescapable air of neglect and decline over the entire neighborhood, even though none of the other buildings were visibly damaged. But now, with the temple restored, that feeling of despair and pointlessness has evaporated.
It helps that, this time around, you didn't show up at the crack of dawn, but closer to seven in the morning. People are actually awake and moving around town - if their ages and attire are any indication, most are office workers, heading off to catch the morning commute to work. Several give you quick nods of acknowledgement in passing, but you catch looks of surprise from others before they manage to cover their initial reactions.
You can understand the reason for their startled glances.
Your real body has the appearance and physical capabilities of a child almost a third again your actual age, and that extra size has carried over to your current form - your adult, magically-altered, IDEALIZED form - in spades. You're closer to seven feet in height than six, if only slightly, and powerfully-built in the bargain. Throw in your distinctly non-Japanese features and your dapper threads, and you're definitely NOT something these people see every day.
Shrugging off the attention - save for the polite greetings, which you return in kind - you proceed past the open temple gate and up the walkway.
Once again, you encounter Brother Jiro sweeping the path, though he's much closer to the gate this time. And is it your imagination, or is there a certain energy in his movements that wasn't there on your previous visit...?
The young monk looks up at your approach, and smiles brightly.
"Mister Harris! Welcome back!"
One exchange of pleasantries later, the invigorated Brother Jiro explains that the Abbot is not currently at the temple, having left with several of the brothers for a meeting with the heads of other temples in the region. Senior monks Itami and Kensuke are still present, however, and he was instructed to escort you to them without delay, should you arrive.
You indicate for the monk to lead the way, and as you follow him up to the temple, you take the opportunity to probe the grounds with your senses.
The place feels much the same as it did when you left, only... better. Lighter. Happier, even.
It's rather pleasing, honestly.
"So, Brother Jiro," you inquire, "how have things been here since my last visit?"
"Things have been wonderful!" comes the reply. "Stressful at times, but in the best possible way!"
In between thanking you - again - for your efforts in restoring the temple, Jiro explains that the "overnight" transformation of the main building and the grounds had an understandable impact on the community. Given how visible the elevated temple is, there was simply no hiding the results of your work.
Jiro hastens to assure you that nobody actually saw the hole in the roof filling itself in with material drawn seemingly from nowhere, or the roof "un-sagging," or even the burst of light when you repaired the majority of the walkways, statues, and walls on the grounds in a single spell - or if they DID see anything, they haven't spoken of it to the monks. But the fact remains that the temple went from a state of disrepair to near-perfection in just a few hours.
People noticed.
People were stunned.
People TALKED.
A LOT.
The temple has, in fact, been on the local television news. And in the papers.
The monks, for their part, have been both honest and discreet in their explanation of the miraculous recovery of their home, attributing it to the efforts of "generous, hardworking private citizens, who wish to remain anonymous." But that hasn't stopped the reporters from playing up the religious angle, calling the event a "modern miracle" or "act of the gods."
And THIS is one of the reasons why Abbot Jason is away to meet with a gathering of his peers. The other temples in the area would really like to know what caused their brothers' decade-long misfortunes to turn around in a single day.
For all the fuss and sensationalism, however, things have honestly gotten much, much better for the temple. People are visiting again, in numbers Jiro himself has never before seen. Donations, previously next to non-existent, are up by a positively ludicrous degree. So is recruitment: they have an actual CLASS of aspiring acolytes, a dozen men of varying ages and origins, all keenly interested in the articles of the faith. The monks themselves are being called upon for counsel and aid in the community as they have not been for years, to the extent that they're all being worked off their feet.
Which is the OTHER reason why Jason is meeting with his fellow abbots. The temple simply needs more manpower.
As Jiro said, it's been amazingly stressful, but the brothers are enjoying every moment of it.
They are teaching again.
That statement resonates with you, spurring ideas of attending a few classes on the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, but you have to dismiss the idea for the time being. You have QUITE enough on your plate to be getting on with as it is, and the sixteen-hour difference in time zones does not help in the slightest. Not to mention that there are many, many eyes on the temple at the moment, and you have a highly distinctive figure in this form. If people see you around here too much, they'll start asking questions - potentially questions that you would rather not have asked, let alone answered.
Brother Jiro ushers you to the same washroom you used before, and while you're cleaning up, you note that there are signs that this room has been heavily used of late. Nothing gross, mind you, but the number of towels hanging on the walls appears to have doubled, there are three water-basins where there was previously only one, and the amount of soap has been reduced to a fifth of what you recall being on-hand.
Once you've freshened up, Jiro escorts you to the same room where you met the temple's elders. Brother Itami and Brother Kensuke are both inside, and both greet you as warmly as Jiro did.
Aside from asking whether or not Abbot Jason turned up anything that would require magical aid, do you have any specific questions for the two older monks?
You spend twenty minutes or so speaking with the senior monks, getting their version of recent events. It's more detailed than Jiro's account in some respects, but by and large, they end up saying the same thing: business is booming.
Unlike the younger monk, Itami and Kensuke acknowledge a distinct drawback to their temple's sudden renewed popularity in the community. Namely, that they and the abbot have been so busy of late - what with organizing the younger brothers to handle the flood of guests, meeting with distinguished visitors, and officiating ceremonies that simply MUST be conducted by the temple's chief religious authority, all on top of the usual day-to-day affairs - they've had very little time to investigate the malicious influence that you and the fortune-teller warned them of.
Abbot Jason being summoned off to a moot of the local temples didn't exactly help in that regard, although his aides tell you that he intended to broach that particular topic with their brothers.
An attempt to undermine one temple doesn't automatically equal a threat to the others, but it is something they should know to be on the lookout for. Particularly given how subtle the power behind this effort was.
After Itami and Kensuke have said their piece, you inquire (politely, of course) whether or not they have any scrolls on the subject of enlightenment that they'd be willing to share with you for a few minutes.
"We have an entire library devoted to the topic," Brother Kensuke replies with a good-humored smile that creases his elderly face.
"A small one," Brother Itami adds, "but a library nonetheless."
"I am curious, however, Mister Harris," the eldest monk continues. "Is your interest in such writings purely academic? Or is there something more that drives you?"
Unbidden, the image of the curse in your soul comes to mind - and past that, the ugly corruption you've previously glimpsed seeping in from the outside, and the lengths you've had to go to in order to keep it under control.
Your interest is definitely NOT academic.
"I have a practical interest in the subject," you reply, before explaining a bit about the Raging Boar.
The two elders look fascinated by your description of your totem spirit, and your account of the... prickly... relationship you have with it.
"That does sound like a good reason to want to improve your understanding of spirituality," Brother Itami admits.
"You actually WRESTLED with it?" Kensuke asks, wheezing with laughter.
"Yeeees," you admit slowly. "Not my proudest moment, in hindsight-"
The old monk chortles. "I should think not!"
"-but we're getting along much better these days," you add quickly. "Beyond that, though... I've recently had good reason to be... concerned, about the state of my soul."
Kensuke stops laughing. "Indeed?"
"It goes back to WHY I owed Lord Raiden a debt in the first place. If there's a demon lord out there taking a PERSONAL interest in me, then I need to prepare myself to deal with the problem. Merely relying on the Thunder God's goodwill going forward would be... ungracious. And foolish."
The two monks nod soberly.
"There's also the matter of my own faith," you continue. "The deities I honor tend to help those who help themselves and others - and the goddess I consider my patron is particularly big on self-sufficiency. Cultivating my own spiritual knowledge and strength FIRST, and petitioning for divine aid only if and when I truly NEED it, is simply the better plan."
Gained Din's Favor C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
"Worthy reasons all around, wouldn't you agree, Brother Itami?"
"Indeed, Brother Kensuke. And let it not be said of us that we stood in the way of another's search for enlightenment."
"Especially not someone who has done us such a service."
"Indeed not."
The two monks rise to their feet.
"If you will follow us, Mister Harris," Itami says, "we will show you to the library."
"Thank you, both," you say with a bow.
"You are most welcome."
"While we walk," Kensuke says then, "I wonder if you would mind telling us something of your faith."
"Already laying the groundwork so you can attempt to convert me?" you inquire, keeping your tone light.
The monk grins and holds up one hand, thumb and forefinger bracketing a pinch of air. "Perhaps a little. But I am curious - and personal motives aside, should it transpire that we know your gods under other names, it would only be beneficial to find out ahead of time. Just so we avoid causing offense."
He has a point, there. Though you SERIOUSLY doubt these monks have heard of the Golden Goddesses.
"I would be happy to tell you a few things, Brother Kensuke," you reply.
Actually, you end up telling him more than a "few" things. It only takes a couple of minutes for your little group to reach the library, but in that time, you go into detail about the Golden Goddesses, their aspects, and their fundamental teachings.
Itami and Kensuke appear to peg you as a follower of Din even before you get around to mentioning her desire for her followers to stand on their own merits.
Nayru's role as the Goddess of Wisdom appears to strike a chord with the two senior monks. This doesn't surprise you: she's the sister who champions learning, good judgement, and the preservation and propagation of knowledge; and given what you know of religion in general and Buddhism in particular - scant though your understanding may be - those are all fairly important things for an organized faith.
As for Farore, you've barely listed the domains over which the Goddess of Courage presides when you arrive at the temple library.
Like Itami said, it's not very large - a bit bigger than your living room, and containing, at a guess, a hundred different books and scrolls. There's space on the shelves and racks for at least twice that many texts, and it lends the chamber a sorrowful air of failed obligations and unrealized dreams.
"Our collection was larger in the past," Kensuke says somberly. "Unfortunately, when the temple was originally damaged, there were concerns about exposure: increased humidity; wider ranges of temperature; insects; and so on. Our older, rarer, and more esoteric volumes were moved to other temples for temporary safe-keeping... which became less temporary as time passed."
"And as we could not raise the funds to repair the roof," Itami murmurs, "attempting to re-stock the library would have been wasteful." He shakes his head, and then brightens up. "Still, that is in the past."
"True enough." The oldest monk turns to you. "What remains in our collection is what you might call 'the basics.' The teachings of the Buddhas, the observations of the most respected teachers, and the principles laid down by the founder of our order. I can only hope that it is of some help to you, Mister Harris."
"Unfortunately" - and here, Brother Itami winces - "given the current state of the library, a number of these works have only a single remaining copy. You are, of course, welcome to make use of them here, but..." He trails off, his tone apologetic and his expression firm.
Your visit to the temple has used up most of the remaining "free time" for this visit, and so you return to Sunnydale for the evening.
You check with the two monks to see if they have any objections to you using magic in their library, adding a promise that you'll avoid spells that might damage the books, and erase your magical signature afterwards.
They have no issue with this, and so you get started.
First up, mental enhancements. ALL the mental enhancements. Magical, ki-based, and psychic.
Gained Mental Enhancement E
Next up, the Spell of Page-Bound Epiphany. Drawing the oft-used Conjured Book from your pocket, you cast the spell, adjusting its matrix so that it doesn't waste time and energy searching the libraries of the entire world; instead, you focus the magic's "attention" - for lack of a better word - on the room in which you stand, and the writings contained there.
The topic of your search?
"The development of spiritual ability."
The pages of the book flutter in a breeze that affects nothing else, and several of them rapidly fill with Japanese characters.
You waste no time in reading, but what you find bears out Kensuke's comment about the library only containing "the basics." You don't learn anything you didn't already know, at least in the spiritual sense, but you do pick up some new words in Japanese, as well as a VERY cursory introduction to Buddhist teachings - even as focused as your search was, the very nature of the source material meant that your spell couldn't filter out EVERY religious reference.
Gained Knowledge (Buddhism) F
Gained Literacy D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Scholar's Soul D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
While you don't learn anything new, the results of the Spell of Page-Bound Epiphany do enable you to put a fair bit of what you've already puzzled out for yourself into context. Additionally, several of the paragraphs you read strike you as particularly insightful and well-written, the information within conveyed in a manner that's easy for even a relative novice to absorb and retain. When you query Brothers Itami and Kensuke about those passages, they're able to identify the books they came from, and the authors thereof. Granted, it takes a couple additional castings of Page-Bound Epiphany and maybe fifteen minutes of searching, but they DO find the names.
Better yet, the authors wrote other books covering more advanced topics.
So.
Even if you didn't specifically advance your spiritual talents, you know where to look for pointers.
You check with the monks to see if they'd mind you making permanent copies of these particular books - there are three of them, as well as a fairly large scroll - for the sake of more complete reading and future reference material.
They don't object to this, either - although Brother Itami mentions, in a somewhat offhanded manner, that one of the books is under copyright, and neither they nor the temple can countenance breaking the law.
"At least, not without a very worthy cause," Kensuke adds. "Such as, oh, aiding a soul in protecting itself from threats the modern justice system is sadly ignorant of."
Translated, you suspect this means: go ahead and copy the book, just keep quiet about where and how you got it, hmmm?
Gained Buddhist Tomes
Gained Criminal (?) E
On your (gradually) shrinking list of things to do, there's one that stands out - the only one that involves another person's safety and well-being. Or rather, the lack of those things.
Over a year ago, a little girl named Mai went missing. The police haven't found her, and the fortune-teller you spoke with warned you that her own earnest efforts to learn what had happened to the child turned up nothing.
Perhaps it's because you're a kid yourself, or because you have a small female relative who is of great importance to you. Maybe it's because Miss Suzuka originally brought the matter to your attention, implying a certain level of faith in your ability to do SOMETHING about the situation, and you don't want to let her down. Or it could just be the challenge of a mystery that even a skilled adult diviner couldn't solve.
Regardless, something about this situation calls to you.
You descend into the basement, glancing briefly at the glowing central wardstone as you make your way over to the mirror standing against the far wall. As convenient as it will be for you to be able to cast fourth-circle spells in your own home without fear of detection, the magic you have in mind is several tiers above that. Not to mention how you need to imbue extra mana into the spell to make up for your lack of a proper offering - or the material components you'll need to conjure ahead of time.
Half an hour later, with your mind chugging along under a network of enhancement effects that more than make up for the mildly distracting scent of the conjured incense burning steadily around you, you complete the Ritual of Divination and pose your question.
"Is it within my ability to find the missing girl named Mai, whose absence Miss Suzuka and the fortune-teller have both directed me towards?"
There is a pause, and then an unfamiliar male voice begins to chant:
The chick is in the fox-house;
illusions bar the way.
The boar may find the door, but
they'll want you both to stay.
You and Briar stand in silence for a moment.
"Ooookaaaay," the fairy drawls. "Am I the only one who thinks that was freaking creepy?"
"You're right," you admit, as you turn to extinguish and dismiss the conjured incense. "It WAS creepy."
Briar considers that. "But we're still going?"
"We are. Although based on this new information," you add, "some extra precautions might be a good idea."
"Such as?"
"Well, if the mentions of a 'fox-house' and 'illusions' are any indication, I'd say we're dealing with kitsune - or possibly one of their cousins from mainland Asia. As that's the case, shoring up our mental defenses and going in with enhanced or outright supernatural sensory skills would be a good idea, because we wouldn't be able to entirely trust our eyes and ears."
Briar nods.
"Also, I've that book on Japanese mythological beings," you continue. "Re-reading the section on kitsune seems like a no-brainer. Not that I expect to find the answer to this particular mystery in the book-"
"Yeah," Briar agrees. "That'd be way too convenient."
"-but better to have the general information on Oriental foxes fresh in my memory BEFORE I urgently need it."
"Anything else besides that?"
"Two things. One, I want to meditate and talk to the Boar, get its read on this situation."
"Are you thinking that spooky little riddle was referring to your totem?" Briar asks.
"It's a possibility. I mean, it COULD have been talking about me, but... if Mai is a 'chick,' then I should probably be, well..."
Briar's grin is audible. "A piglet?"
"Yeah, that," you grumble. "Anyway, it's a base that needs covering."
"Okay, I get that. And the other thing?"
"I'm thinking about outsourcing this one," you say. "If Mai really has been taken from her family by kitsune, whether it was a straight-up kidnapping or them persuading her to leave on her own, then rather than go barging in and making a fuss, I've got someone I can contact for advice - which is to say, Emiko."
"...oh, right," Briar says slowly. "She WAS a kitsune, wasn't she?"
You nod-
"I kind of forgot. First thing that comes to my mind with that girl is the squeeing."
-and then hang your head.
"Anyway," you say after a long moment. "Between Emiko - and her aunt - I have at least a POTENTIAL diplomatic solution to this incident. It'd be a waste not to attempt to make use of that - BUT. Before I get in touch with the Hayashis, I want to visit the Hakuba Shrine again, both to give them a heads-up about what I've learned so far, and to see what they think of my plan. Such as it is."
"I support this plan," Briar says. "Let's do it."
And you do.
Re-reading your copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide doesn't tell you anything you didn't already know; kitsune are so prevalent in Japanese myth and legend that entire books could be - and HAVE been - written on the subject. In comparison, Tobin's writings and Yakumo's annotations deal with only the broad generalities of the youkai species, referencing a small handful of the most (in)famous foxes.
This Tamamo-no-Mae sounds like the sort of lady that you don't EVER want to upset.
The same can be said of nine-tailed foxes in general.
After your reading - and lunch - you take advantage of your sister's afternoon nap to sit down in your own room and quietly meditate.
The descent into your soulscape is rather slower than the spell Ambrose used to take you both there, but that's fine by you - it's not like you're in a tearing hurry, and developing the ability to explore your own being under your own power is a nice, practical goal that won't require anything but patience and practice.
In short order, you're once again facing the not-quite-so-Raging Boar.
It tilts its head and grunts inquisitively at you.
"So, to start off, I feel like I should ask: what's your stance on foxes?"
The Boar's eyes narrow, before it shrugs dismissively.
"Then you aren't worried about the possibility that I'll be running into illusion-wielding foxes in the near future?"
The Boar grunts.
"Okay. Good to know." You pause. "And what about missing children?"
This time, the Boar rumbles. Just loudly enough to express its displeasure.
"Would you object if I borrowed your senses and strength to find this girl, then?"
The great shaggy head shakes once.
"Cool." You turn to leave, then stop. "Actually, while I'm here..."
Your totem makes an inquisitive sound.
"I was wondering if you'd object to me conducting purification rituals on YOU, specifically, as well as- hey, wait!"
Wearing an expression that you can only describe as an offended scowl, the Boar moves forward, catches you neatly - but painlessly - between its tusks, and then tosses back its head, throwing you back the way you came.
"I didn't mean it like thaaaa-"
The soulscape blurs around you.
"-aaaat!" you find yourself shouting, as your awareness comes back to the real world.
"Aaaa!" Briar replies in kind, backing away.
"Sorry! Sorry, Briar."
"What happened? Oh, Farore, did you get into a fight with that thing again? Let me see!"
You spend a few minutes convincing Briar that you weren't dumb enough to fight the Boar again. It helps that you don't have a mark on you this time, physically, spiritually, or otherwise. Apparently, the Boar just didn't care for the implication that it was... dirty.
A pig that's sensitive about its personal hygiene.
Who knew?
Gained Totemic Knowledge D (Plus)
Following the encounter with the Boar, you go back to your Mirror Hideaway. There's a number of spells you'd like to have up and running before you get mixed-up with kitsune - even at this early stage of things - and one of the ones you have in mind is too powerful for the wards to hide. If you had some spare diamonds on hand, it'd be another story, but since you don't, you're stuck.
Slipping into your extra-dimensional spellcasting chamber, you get to work.
First, the Spell to Detect Scrying. It lasts a full day and has no significant material costs, so it doesn't need any tweaking. Plus, immediate awareness of any attempts to divine your location is just an amazingly useful effect.
Next, the Spell to Suppress Charms and Compulsions. Which is pretty much what it says on the tin. You increase the duration significantly, but otherwise leave it alone.
Your next choices are the Spell to Detect Charms and the Spell to Pierce Disguises, but after testing them out with help from Briar, both spells prove to have the sort of active, probing function that you've previously been called out for using. All things considered, you decide to dismiss them.
After that, you cast an extended version of the Spell of Protection from Chaos, and a slightly-less-extended Spell of Cultural Adaptation. Nothing else about the spells is altered.
Following these is the Spell of Nondetection, which you imbue with two extra circles' worth of mana to make up for the lack of diamonds.
Finally, you conceal your array of active spell with the Greater Spell of Magic Aura.
It takes you about forty minutes to ritually-cast all of the spells, but once they're in place, you feel considerably less troubled by the prospect of meeting strange kitsune. Not that you're completely dismissing the potential risks or anything like that - that would just be asking for trouble - but when you have reason to believe that a meeting with a master of illusion and enchantment is in the cards, better by far to go in with the mental equivalent of (stealthy!) plate armor than to leave your mind wide open.
Leaving your Mirror Hideaway and heading back upstairs, you glance at the hall clock. It's half-past two, which should make it around six-thirty in Japan. If you left right now, factoring in the time you'll need to clear the town limits and cast the Spell of Teleportation, it'd be seven or so when you arrived. That's a bit early, but the situation IS rather important.
From a purely practical point of view, there is no need to rush.
Mai's been missing for a year at this point. If anything bad was going to happen to her, beyond being taken from her family, it almost certainly HAS happened by now. A few more hours are highly unlikely to make her situation any worse than it already is.
Similarly, while your array of defensive spells is burning magical energy, you cast them with an eye towards endurance. They won't be in danger of running low until midnight, at the earliest, and some won't reach that point until noon tomorrow.
Then there's the people you're planning to talk with. They may not even be awake just yet.
And yet, every moment you delay is a moment wasted. Time, energy, opportunity - all gone, with nothing to show for it. No gain, no betterment, not for you or for anyone else.
You fetch your shoes, and are about to leave when your conscience pipes up, telling you to at least let your mother know when you'll be back.
"I'm heading out, now, Mom!" you call down the hall, as you open the front door.
"Alright, Alex," she answers in kind from the dining room. "Be back by dinner!"
"I'll try to, but I might be a little late!"
"What? Wait a minute, Alex."
You do as instructed, letting the door swing shut again as your mother leaves whatever she was doing and enters the front hall.
"Now. Where are you going, exactly? And why?"
"Which people, and what kind of 'stuff?'" your mother asks promptly.
"The priests at the Hakuba Shrine, for a start," you answer. "And I'll probably need to get in touch with a girl I know afterwards, so her family can weigh in. As for the 'what'... you remember how I said I was helping the monks fix up their temple as a 'thank you' to a god?"
"Vividly," your mom replies.
"Well, I got in touch with the monks through the Hakubas. I originally went to the Shrine for help finding out what I could do to clear my debt, and the priestess who works there did some checking in the community for me." You hesitate, before quietly adding, "One of the things that she suggested I might look into was a missing persons case from about a year ago. A girl named Mai."
"...oh."
There's a quiet pause before your mother continues.
"I take it you looked into the disappearance, then."
"Just today, but yeah. And I found a supernatural connection, which I'd like to inform the priests about as soon as I can. They're the local experts in this kind of thing."
"And what kind of thing is that?"
"Basically? I need to see a man about a fox."
Your mother's expression is a picture.
"What do foxes... no, wait," she stops herself, one hand raised. "I probably don't want to know, do I?"
You say nothing, but she nods to herself.
"Alright. You're JUST going to talk to these priests?"
"Them, and the Hayashi family after them," you clarify. "I'm hoping they'll be able to handle things without me, once I've told them what I found out, but I can't say for certain. I may end up getting asked to help out - I mean, I DID find something that the priests missed. Is that alright with you?"
"...not entirely," your mother admits. "But... you'll be careful?"
"I have half a dozen spells going right now, just on the off-chance that I run into any foxy tricks," you tell her seriously.
"Good. Then you can go."
"Thanks, Mom," you say, giving her a hug before heading out the door.
"But I want you to be home before dark, Alex!" she calls after you.
"I will!"
"You'd better!"
You make your way through the afternoon streets of Sunnydale, considering your course. You've used that spot in the woods the last few times you've teleported, and you're overdue to mix it up.
But which direction to go?
You've gone west along the highway only slightly less often than you've headed north, if not so recently, and while you've only gone south the one time, the memory of that giant you saw then is still fresh, even two weeks later. Heading east would put you closer to the family cabin, but it's not like you have to go all the way out there. You could always follow the back-roads, or even go off the beaten path entirely, if you're willing to risk more encounters with whatever lives where people don't typically travel.
Once again, you make for the hot sand, bare stone, and scattered, stunted flora of the desert, taking your usual precautions as you do so.
You have yet to find evidence that anything in Sunnydale can perceive and/or keep up with you when you're invisible, Body Flickering, and doing your best to avoid leaving a trail (be it physical, magical, or otherwise). And your batch of intended anti-kitsune defenses just makes you even harder to track.
...actually, given that you're under a Spell of Nondetection, you wonder how well that particular bit of Abjuration conceals any non-magical energies you happen to emit. Specifically, whether or not it conceals your ki. There should be SOME level of protection, but would it only apply to magical detection methods, or could you trick ki-users, psychics, and spiritualists as well?
Something to check up on when you have such an individual to hand.
Regardless, once you've reached a distance from Sunnydale proper that you feel is safe from potential sensors and scriers, you start experimenting with Ki Overload again.
You're still visibly glowing, but it's getting better. The aura is also somewhat less obvious in the light of the afternoon sun than it has been when you've tested it out in the evening, or at night. That's useful to know.
Gained Ki Overload E (Plus)
Rather than use the abandoned gas station as a teleport site again, you head for your older location out in the sands. A few minutes of work later-
-flying/falling/sinking through a strange space/medium/awareness filled with familiar shapes/alien geometries and faint/loud chorus/discordance and a near/distant green energy/presence-
-and you're back in at the foot of the Hakuba Shrine.
Still invisible, this time.
You've learned your lesson about challenging the world-views of police officers and other mundane bystanders by appearing out of thin air.
This turns out to be a good thing, because the street in front of the Hakuba Shrine is BUSY at seven in the morning. No sooner have you emerged from the Astral side at the foot of the stairs than you have to scamper up those same steps to avoid being bumped into by a salaryman, or any of the half-dozen other people who are also moving through that particular patch of space. Looking around, you estimate that there are a good two hundred people spread out on the sidewalks, and half again as many jammed into the score of cars going by. And that's just this one stretch of road.
"I suddenly feel a lot less bad about visiting the shrine this early," Briar remarks in a raised voice.
"I know what you mean," you agree.
Not that anybody's going out of their way to be loud or anything, but this many people can't help but make some noise. Business shoes on concrete, casual conversations, here and there someone taking a call on a cellphone - smaller models than your own, you note - running car engines, the simple sounds of an ordinary adult human being on the move...
Small things by themselves, but they add up.
Putting the crowd out of your mind, you make your way up the stairs, holding your invisibility until you've passed through the torii.
As it happens, you don't have to look far at all to find someone: the youngest of the Hakuba men is drawing water from the fountain.
"Good morning," you call.
He looks up, and blinks. "Oh, Mister Harris. Welcome back! What brings you by this early in the morning?" He frowns. "Wait, it's... what, mid-afternoon in California?"
"Yes to the latter. As to the former, I'm here about a missing girl. I have reason to believe kitsune are involved."
The young priest - Ichirou, that was his name - winces at that, and sets down the smaller bucket he was holding. "Let me get my father."
As he moves towards the house, you have to take a moment to reflect that it's nice when people take you seriously.
When the young man returns, he's accompanied not only by his father, but also by Miss Suzuka - does she live here, or just commute really early? - and a plainly-dressed woman of later middle age who you haven't met before now. Ichirou's mother, to judge by her appearance and bearing. Of the eldest priest, there's no sign.
Maybe he sleeps in?
"So," Hakuba the Second says. "Kitsune. And involved with the disappearance of young Mai?"
It's not really a question, but you nod. "I have reason to believe so, yes."
The priest turns to his wife. "Would you mind making some extra tea, dear? I have a feeling we're going to need it."
"Of course, husband."
While the lady of the family goes back inside, you, Briar, and the priests relocate to the shrine building. Here, you recap what you know of Mai's situation, starting with how Miss Suzuka reluctantly brought it to your attention, moving on to what the fortune-teller told you, and finishing up with your personal Divination. You repeat the rather-ominous rhyme for your audience, all of whom thankfully understand English well enough to follow the words. From there, you recount your decision to talk to the priests before making any further choices on this matter, though you do mention your idea of contacting the Hayashi clan for a second opinion, and as a courtesy.
One thing you hesitate over is whether or not to admit to the assortment of spells you have protecting you. Not that you mistrust the Hakubas or anything like that, but a defense that only you know about is one that nobody else can reveal, even by accident.
"Good," Ichirou's father says simply. "Preventing a problem from developing in the first is preferable. That said... how aggressive are these 'precautions' of yours?"
You consider it, going down the list of spells you wove about yourself earlier.
"Not very," you say after a moment's thought. "Most of the spells I cast either affect me directly, or else affect magic that's thrown at me. There's one that would interfere with creatures that try to attack or restrain me against my will, but even that one works by building up my defenses. And if things get to the point where the other side is resorting to violence, well..."
"...then the situation's already shot," the elder priest concludes with a nod. "Good, good."
"You mentioned a family of kitsune you wanted to contact?" Ichirou inquires.
"Yes, I met two members of the Hayashi clan when I was visiting the Shuzens. The elder, Hanabi, works for them - as a governess, I think, I didn't actually ask. The other, Emiko, is her niece, and is on friendly terms with Kahlua and myself."
Mention of the Shuzen association appears to reassure all three of them - and you have to take a second to stop and marvel at what a world this is, where dropping the name of a family of vampires serves as a good character reference in the eyes of a group of priests.
"Since I have Emiko's contact information," you go on, "I figured it would be a good idea to give her and her family a heads-up that I was trying to find a particular kitsune, just on the off-chance that they knew who or where I should be looking. And even if that turns out not to be the case, they're probably better-placed than any of us are to investigate the identity of the kidnappers without stirring things up and putting Mai in any more danger."
"Set a fox to catch a fox," Ichirou murmurs. "Interesting approach."
"And if they can't or won't help?" his father says.
You shrug. "Then we're no worse off than we are right now."
You have to concede the possibility that the Hayashis - or at least whoever makes the calls for the clan as a whole - might be unwilling to reveal information about a fellow kitsune to a group of humans, regardless of your personal connections to a couple of members of the family. But even in that scenario, you don't think that they'll give away anything about you to whomever you're pursuing.
After all, the kitsune clan aren't the only group of monsters that you have a personal connection to. And given everything that happened at the World Tournament and Kahlua's birthday party, as well as Emiko's... excitable nature where you're concerned, they ought to know it by now.
Your argument appears to satisfy Hakuba Junior. At the very least, he agrees that getting as much information about this child-abducting kitsune before making any detailed plans would be the course of wisdom, especially if you can do so in a way that won't tip your hand.
That settled - and after finishing a cup of tea provided to you by Mrs. Hakuba - you are allowed to use the Hakubas' phone to call Emiko's number.
It rings twice, and on the third, there's a pickup.
"Hayashi residence, Asamu speaking," a mature male voice says.
"Good morning, sir," you say politely. "My name is Alexander Harris. My apologies for calling so early in the day, but, would Emiko happen to be there?"
"Yes, she is." There is an unexpected note of humor in that reply. "One moment, please."
You hear the phone shift, and a sound of someone clearing his throat.
"EMIKO!" a Voice of Doom roars. "WHY IS SOME STRANGE BOY CALLING YOU AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING?!"
Somewhere on the other end of line, you hear a feminine shriek.
Actually, you hear a LOT of them. Six voices at least, by your guess.
A moment later, no less than THREE other phones pick up.
"Who is this?" a girl who sounds a few years older than Emiko asks. "Why are you calling? WHY DOES MY BABY SISTER GET A PHONECALL FROM A BOY BEFORE I DO?!"
"Does he sound cute?" another girl inquires eagerly, some distance from a receiver.
"Do you have a brother?" a third teenaged female adds, from a different line. "Please tell me you have a brother."
"Check the number!" a FOURTH girl advises.
"I knew this day would come!" an older woman says joyously. "Quick, where's the family calendar? And what time is it? A record must be preserved for all time!"
"On behalf of myself and my actually SANE sister," a young man says in pure resignation, "I apologize for the insanity that is our family."
"Shut up and quit hogging the phone, Shinta!" yet another girl snaps. "I want to hear this!"
"Emi hath a BOY-friend! Emi hath a BOY-friend!" two young voices chant in unison.
"Whyyyy?" Emiko wails in the background.
...dear Goddesses, what have you done?
You stare at the receiver like it's a thing possessed - which, given kitsune, is not as far-fetched an idea as it might sound. That IS one of their classic powers, though as far as you're aware, it's usually restricted to people.
The chaotic babble coming over the line does nothing to reduce the impression that an evil spirit has taken it over for some vile purpose.
"Wrong number?" Briar guesses, giving the squealing machine a wary glance.
"If only that were the case," you mutter, before putting the receiver back to your ear and clearing your throat. "In order: my name is Alexander Harris-"
"Wait a second-"
"I know that name..."
"-I'm calling because I need to ask something of Emiko-"
Wordless squeals.
"-I do NOT sound cute-"
"That's what YOU think."
"-I don't have a brother-"
"Damn it!"
"-apology accepted-"
Amazingly, there is no response to that.
"-and I am a boy who is Emiko's friend, NOT her boyfriend," you conclude.
"Aaaawwww," the two youngest voices whine.
"May I speak with her, now? Please? It's important."
"Of course," the male that you're assuming is Emiko's father says. Then he raises his voice again. "Alright, somebody give Emiko a phone, and everybody else, get off the line."
"But, Daddy!" half a dozen vixens complain.
"Or do you want everyone else listening in on YOUR private calls from now on?"
There is a collective gasp of horror.
Then the line clears so fast, you fancy you hear the crack of displaced air that accompanies teleportation spells and high-end instant movement techniques. This sound is simultaneous with two 'clicks' of disconnected receivers.
"Here you go, Emi," the brother says.
"Thank you, Shinta," Emiko replies in a subdued tone.
"Don't take too long," Asamu advises over the line. "You have to leave for school soon."
"I won't, Daddy." Emiko waits until her father has hung up as well, then asks, "Hello?"
"Hello, Emiko."
There is a pause.
You can FEEL the shock and horror on the other end of the call.
Then Emiko makes one of those high-pitched squeals you recall from Kahlua's party, only this time, there is a note of despair to it.
"A-Alex!" she adds a moment later, laughing nervously. "Hahaha! What an... unexpected surprise! T-to hear from you, I mean! At my house. With my family... Inari help me, I am going to KILL them for this...! I-I mean, I didn't mean that! I didn't say it! You heard nothing! Hahaha! Ha... oh, kami..."
Well, if nothing else, she seems to be her usual self. That's... good?
"If it helps," you offer, "we can both pretend that you just picked up the phone, and forget that the last couple of minutes ever happened."
"...really?"
"Really."
"You are a prince," Emiko says in an undertone of deep gratitude. Then her voice shifts to bright cheer. "Alex! Hello! I never expected to hear from you so early - or are you calling from California?"
"No, I'm in Japan at the moment," you admit.
"On business, or for personal reasons?" she inquires, in an affected adult tone.
"Business is probably the closer answer," you reply after a moment's thought. "Which is actually why I called - I'm sorry about that, by the way, and about it being so early."
"It's fine, it's fine." Your friend dismisses your concerns. "If there's something I can do to help a friend, then I'm happy to be of assistance. What's the problem?"
You quickly explain that you're in the middle of a quest in the name of your patron goddesses, and something that may be related to kitsune has come up. You were hoping to resolve matters diplomatically, and you immediately thought of Emiko as someone you could and should get in touch with for advice on the matter.
"I'd be grateful if you could help me set up a meeting with your parents, your aunt, or whoever it is that your family considers 'in charge' of handling things like this," you add.
"That will depend on where you are, and where you need to go," Emiko says. "There's a LOT of different kitsune holdings in Japan, to say nothing of all the other youkai. Having one of my parents along would be fine if you were just going to talk with a three-tails who's attending university or something, but if you're going to enter the territory of a nine-tails or someone like the Lord of the West, then you're definitely going to need to talk to my clan-head."
"I don't actually know where I might need to GO," you admit. "I didn't think it was a good idea to start following the trail without covering my bases first."
"If Kahlua's party was any indication, it probably wouldn't have been," Emiko agrees.
"As for where I AM," you continue, ignoring that friendly jibe, "I'm at the Hakuba Shrine in Tokyo. Do you know it?"
"Not off the top of my head, no, but I can look it up. Why are you there?"
"I've met the priests here a few times before," you answer. "They have a fair idea of what I'm capable of, and I have a fair idea of what they can do - in particular, I know they've had positive dealings with the Shuzens."
Emiko makes a sound of interest at that.
"And the quest I'm currently on involves something that happened in this neighborhood about a year ago," you conclude. "They were the ones who originally brought it to my attention, so keeping them in the loop would have been the polite thing to do even if they couldn't help me out. But since they CAN..."
"...why try to do everything yourself, when help is right there for the asking?" Emiko says. "Alright, then. I can definitely ask Mom or Daddy to stop by the shrine this morning. Are you in a hurry, or...?"
After a brief discussion of the time constraint you're under, and Emiko running downstairs to check with her folks, you end up agreeing to meet with her father at... With that settled, is there anything you'd like to do while you wait?
Emiko's father agrees to a nine o'clock meeting, though he admits that he might get delayed in spite of his best efforts.
Evidently, Tokyo traffic is bad enough that it ought to qualify as a youkai. Even in the minds of ACTUAL youkai.
That settled, you say your goodbyes to Emiko, hang up the phone, and then ponder what to do for the next ninety minutes.
You pitch an offer to the Hakubas to cast the Spell of Literary Vision on more of the objects from their Sealed Shed of Sealed Dangerous Things - it's literally the reason why you created that spell in the first place, and since you've got some time to kill, why not spend a bit of it building up goodwill by doing your associates a favor?
The priests thank you for the offer, but Ichirou's father says that the shed can only be opened by the head priest - and thinking back, you recall that the old priest told you as much when he opened the place up to you - and HIS father is currently away at a conference.
That's the second time in as many days that you've paid a visit to a religious site, only to learn that its nominal leader was away at a meeting. You say as much, and it turns out that Hakuba Senior is, in fact, at the very same gathering that Abbot Jason was called to attend.
"Even though he isn't Buddhist?" you ask.
"We try to maintain a good working relationship with our neighbors," comes the amused response. "Besides, our shrine was responsible for introducing you to the monks in the first place. The abbots were curious to hear Father's opinion of you."
Well. So much for that idea.
Also, here's hoping that Hakuba Senior says good things about you.
Since the eldest priest's absence leaves you with a lot of free time on your hands, you cast about for something to do. The first thing that comes to mind is putting in some time at Gen's, but hard on the heels of that notion comes the idea of popping over to meet that old man with the mystery box that Miss Suzuka told you about. The only other course of action that really suggests itself is making some practical use of the fact that you're at a shrine - maybe you could learn a bit about Shinto, to go with your recent studies of Buddhism? Or just meditate?
You pass the better part of an hour discussing spirit totems with the Hakubas. It turns out that, while they don't normally deal with spirits as part of their regular duties, they did some serious studying up on the topic after their first encounter with you.
Particularly in relation to boar spirits.
While you don't learn anything new about your own totem from this chat, you do pick up some useful information about spirit guides in general. Ichirou appears to have the best grasp on the topic, and he goes on for a good half-hour about the formal, controlled methods used by different cultures to invoke the animal totems: how to commune directly with your own; and how to help a novice to the art to make contact with their guide.
You inquire about the possibility of communication with other people's totems, but Ichirou tells you that he has yet to find any references to such a practice. Several of the cultures that followed this particular belief considered a person's relationship with their animal guide to be intensely personal and private, and would have regarded the prospect of an outside party intruding on the spiritual link as a grave insult, or even outright assault.
"Then again," the young priest admits, "none of the books have mentioned an animal guide that went around DIRECTLY working its will on the physical world. They usually take a much more advisory and... subtle role."
"The Boar does not do subtle," you deadpan.
"Yes, we noticed."
After your instructive talk, you get permission to practice your meditation until Emiko's father arrives, then head over to that little artificial pond back amongst the trees and make with the Zen.
Gained Meditation C (Plus)
The next thing you know, Briar is telling you to wake up.
"How long was I out?" you inquire.
"Forty minutes or so," the fairy answers.
So Mr. Hayashi is running ten minutes or so behind schedule? Not bad.
Leaving the secluded little pool behind, you walk around to the front of the house, which gives you a good view of the newly-arrived kitsune as he is greeted by Miss Suzuka and Mr. Hakuba.
If you didn't already know he was Emiko's father, you'd still be inclined to guess there was a familial relationship there, as well as between Asamu and Miss Hanabi. They all have the same rich brown shade of hair, for one, plus a certain sharpness in the features. Even more than the physical resemblance - which you have to admit could just be Transformation magic at work - there's the similarities in their youki.
Emiko's father is much better at concealing his aura than she was, but even so, your senses allow you get a sufficiently-accurate read on the man to confirm the "family resemblance."
Gained Spiritual Sight C (Plus) (Plus)
Asamu appears not to be a slouch in the sensory department himself, because he looks in your direction almost as soon as you're in the clear, even though you're keeping your aura at a politely-restrained level AND are under the effects of a Spell of Greater Magic Aura. He looks you over once, not actively probing as far as you can tell, just taking your measure.
His gaze briefly slides to the air above your right shoulder, where Briar is hovering in the standard fairy companion position.
"Greetings, Mr. Harris and Miss Briar," the kitsune says as you approach. "Hayashi Asamu, at your service."
"Pleased to meet you, sir," you reply.
"I hope Emiko's spoken well of us," Briar adds.
"Well, that depends," Asamu says gravely. "Do you count excited squealing as a good thing?"
You're tempted to groan.
Briar just laughs.
The kitsune grins for a moment, before resuming his serious appearance. "But truthfully, Emiko has only had good things to say about the two of you, as did my sister. And on behalf of our family, I'd like to thank you again, for looking out for Emiko when she was in danger."
"You're welcome," you say.
"Also, speaking as one male to another, I should warn you up front that I have seven other daughters, at least two of whom besides Emi are in your age range, and if you ever visit our place in person, my wife - who I love to pieces, but have to admit is a little crazy about romance - is going to try and pair you with at least one of them. And the rest of the girls will go nuts about that, one way or another. So... yeah."
You blink.
...what?
Asamu regards you for a moment, then shrugs. "Well, I've said my piece. Now then, you said something about a quest for the gods that has a kitsune mixed up in it?"
You end up taking tea again, this time with little sticky-sweet rice cakes. Asamu appears to greatly enjoy these, taking the time to savor each bite, and praising Mrs. Hakuba's culinary skills whenever she's in earshot.
Even with the distraction of food and drink, you manage to lay out the details of your "quest" in less than ten minutes, recounting how Miss Suzuka first brought the matter of the missing girl to your attention, how the fortune-teller added her own insights on the disappearance, and then repeating the rhyme that you received through your Spell of Divination.
Asamu listens to the eerie poem, taking a slow, silent sip of his tea. You can almost see fox-ears peeking over the top of his head, straining to catch every syllable, every inflection - or maybe it's just a trick of your imagination. Even at this close range, Mr. Hayashi's human disguise is VERY good.
"I can see why you'd think there's a kitsune involved," he admits, setting his teacup down. "A mention of foxes and illusions in the same breath, regarding an incident that took place in Tokyo? If it's NOT one of us, it's one of our cousins from the mainland." He frowns. "I'm not sure what that bit about a 'boar' was referring to, though."
Briar, Miss Suzuka, Ichirou, and Hakuba Ginta do NOT look at you.
"Anyway," Asamu goes on, "to the best of my knowledge, this particular neighborhood isn't claimed as territory by any major youkai." He nods to the priest and priestess, and then to the main shrine. "Most of us who live long enough to attain any kind of standing in the community have better sense than to make such a blatant challenge towards a house of the kami."
"It probably doesn't hurt that we're on good terms with the Shuzens," Ichirou notes.
"That helps, too," Asamu admits with a smirk. "Speaking of whom... are we planning to get the Shuzens involved in this matter? Or were you hoping to take care of it without troubling them? Because I can see the benefits in doing it either way, I just thought I should ask before I call my sister for help finding out who lives in the area."
"That would be me," you admit.
Asamu looks at you curiously for a moment.
"I'm not seeing it," he admits.
"Well, it's more that my totem spirit takes the form of a giant boar," you admit. "But where I go, he goes."
Comprehension dawns. "So the message was saying that one, the other, or both of you together could find the girl."
"And then get into trouble because of it," Briar says. "Hence the search for assistance."
"Because it DIDN'T specifically say that he was the ONLY one who could find the girl," the kitsune concludes, nodding in a mix of understanding and approval. "Lateral thinking. A very useful skill in life, especially for the magically-inclined. It's good to see you're cultivating it."
"...yeah. Let's... let's just go with that," you murmur.
Actually, that last part never really occured to you. You were just concerned that walking into trouble might upset the Goddesses, as well as your parents.
But you'll happily take the credit!
You decide that you might as well let the Shuzens know that things are afoot around the Hakuba Shrine, and you're looking into the matter. It costs you nothing to keep them apprised of the situation, and it's only polite to do so.
And if the vampires DO decide to take a hand in this matter, you don't have any real reason to refuse. True, this matter was originally brought to your attention as something you could do to clear your debt with Lord Raiden, but you went with fixing up the temple instead. You and the Thunder God are square, as far as that goes. And while you implied in your conversation with Emiko that you had religious motives for finding Mai, two out of three Golden Goddesses would be just as happy for you to play a support role, and point capable adults in the right direction to solve the problem, rather than putting yourself at risk.
You don't believe Din would object to this arrangement, either. True, she wouldn't be AS enthusiastic about it as she might be about you busting down the child-stealing fox's door and having a knock-down, drag-out fight with it before returning the lost little girl to her mother.
But not all Power is physical or magical.
And the ability to get other people to handle problems for you likely counts as a form of Power in its own right.
You don't say most of this aloud, of course. You just mention letting the Shuzens know, out of manners and as a back-up plan, just in case things go wrong in some manner.
None of the adults have any problem with that.
"I'll let Hanabi know, then," Asamu says. "I don't expect she'll have anything for me until later this evening, though."
And in eight hours' time, you'll be in bed.
Not a problem. You can come back tomorrow.
Or...
Now that you've informed the authorities, you suppose you could leave the matter in their hands.
Yeah, no. You've already claimed a measure of religious/spiritual motivation in looking for Mai; dropping out of the search now would look darned strange after that.
Besides.
You want to know how this story turns out.
You, the Hakubas, and Mr. Hayashi agree to meet at the shrine again tomorrow morning, at seven o'clock. Asamu says that he has no problem with getting up a couple hours early to make the trip - if only just this one time. It's for a good cause, after all.
"I'll bring whatever information my sister and the rest of our family can wrangle up," the kitsune says. Then - after looking at the very last of the sweet cakes - he shoots a pleading, watery-eyed glance at Mrs. Hakuba, who returned a minute ago to see if there were any requests for more tea.
She smiles. "I will be sure to have more rice-cakes fresh and waiting for you, Mr. Hayashi."
"You are a wonderful, lovely, generous woman," Asamu sighs dramatically. "Ah, if we were not both already married to others..."
Ichirou's mother covers her mouth and laughs softly.
"We will go through our own records today," Ginta cuts in then, giving the fox a slightly suspicious look. "To see if there were any past incidents that might be connected to this one."
Ichirou and Miss Suzuka wince at that.
You sympathize, suspecting that the shrine has a LOT of records.
"I'll bring Alex," Briar notes.
"And I suppose I'll bring a positive mental attitude," you add. "And a lot of magic."
"Always excellent things to have on hand," Asamu agrees.
The senior priest nods. "Then we have a plan."
And with that, the day's visit comes to an end.
"Do you require a drive somewhere, Mr. Harris?" Asamu asks, as you and he make your way to the gate.
"I have my own ride, but thank you for offering."
"No trouble at all. Oh, and before I leave" - and here, the kitsune grins - "do you have any messages you'd like me to deliver to Emiko?"
Mr. Hayashi starts down the stairs, chuckling to himself at his little joke. About two steps down, he stops and turns, having realized that you aren't following suit. He looks like he's about to say something, but then snaps his fingers.
"When you said you had a ride, you were referring to magic, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"Would you mind if I watch?" comes the eager inquiry. "I'm only a dabbler, myself, but it's always interesting to see how other people work magic."
You consider that. Part of you is tempted to say no; Asamu may be Emiko's father, but you don't know him all that well. On the other hand, letting him see a bit of what you can do might be a productive use of your time - if he knows you have serious magical capability, and a need for such arises to properly deal with the child-stealing mystery fox, he'll be more likely to trust you to do that job.
And then there's that not-so-little impulse that's urged you to moments of drama in the past.
If you're going to show off - and to a kitsune, no less - then by Din, you're going to go all-in.
"You could let her know, again, that I appreciate her help in dealing with... this," you say, making a lazy, waving gesture that takes in yourself, Asamu, the Hakuba Shrine, and what you spent the last half-hour or so discussing there.
He nods. "Anything else, though?"
You consider that, and a memory sparks.
"Actually... yes. Tell her... tell Emiko that I'm still contemplating the koan she shared with me."
Asamu blinks at this, and - under his breath - says, "Kids these days actually talk about koans...?" Then he shakes his head, chuckling in wry amusement, and says, "Well, I did ask. I'll be sure to let her know."
The impulse to show off what you can really do is a strong one, but in the end, you decide against it.
It's true that the added psychological and conceptual focus that comes with using the Words of Power makes your magic stronger, but that isn't always a good thing. Hakuba Sr. asked you once before not to use a seventh-tier Spell of Divination on the grounds of the temple, but rather, inside one of their buildings. You're not entirely sure what his motivation in that request was, though you can guess at a few possibilities: drawing attention to the shrine with a powerful flare of magic out in the open; disturbing the shed of nasty sealed things; contaminating the energies of the shrine with high-level magic; or some combination of the above.
Then, too, you're not sure what effect the Words of Power would have on a Spell of Teleportation. You don't want to accidentally send yourself into orbit or something like that, nor would you care to punch through the natural resistance of the planar barriers and get yourself stuck on the Astral Side.
Granted, you're not completely sure that such a result would happen, but you're not completely sure that it WOULDN'T, either. And given that the curse in your soul is what's causing you to sink deeper into the Astral than you need or intend to go... yeah, best not to mess around with that.
"You can stay and watch, if you'd like, sir," you tell Asamu. "But don't expect to see too much. I put a couple of anti-Divination wards on myself before coming here today, and I'd rather not take them down and risk getting caught out by whoever we're tracking."
Asamu stares at you for a moment. "Has anyone ever told you you're awfully paranoid for someone under thirty?"
"Not that I remember," you say after a moment's thought. "But I live on the Hellmouth, Mr. Hayashi. It's not paranoia if there really are unholy abominations creeping around behind the scenes, is it?"
"...probably not, no," the kitsune admits, wincing. "I've never actually BEEN to the Hellmouth myself, though, so I can't say for certain one way or the other."
With that, you get on with your spellcasting. It should be fine for you to do magic here, now that you're outside of the Hakuba Shrine's wards - you've teleported to and from the place a number of times now, always outside the boundaries, and none of the residents have said a word against it.
As with the impulse to show off, you're tempted to ask Mr. Hayashi if he wouldn't mind showing you one of his techniques tomorrow, in return for the spell you're letting him see here and now. However, given that you're leaving your anti-scrying defenses up, and thereby making it difficult if not outright impossible for the kistune to really make sense of what you're doing with your magic, you decide to save your breath.
Odds are he'd agree to the exchange, then show up tomorrow layered in wards you couldn't penetrate, demonstrate some awesome technique that made exactly zero sense to you, and call it payment in kind.
EXACTLY in kind.
You'd rather save yourself the aggravation.
Maybe you can come back to this idea AFTER the other kitsune is dealt with?
Asamu watches patiently as you work your magic, and as the Ritual of Teleportation goes on, you start to catch faint magical probes poking at you, even as they're stopped cold by your Spell of Nondetection. You also spare a moment to wonder how much of the magic you're gathering and shaping for this spell is actually being concealed by your Spell of Greater Magic Aura - every spell has its limits, after all, and it IS just a fourth-circle casting. You're dealing with an amount of power three tiers above that.
Then you complete the final shaping, the magic flares-
-flying/falling/sinking through a strange space/medium/awareness filled with familiar shapes/alien geometries and faint/loud chorus/discordance and a near/distant green energy/presence-
-and you're back in the desert outside Sunnydale.
You jump, abruptly, as something VERY close by makes a hissing, squawking noise at you - but when you look, visions of demonic ambush are dispelled by the sight of a single lizard standing on the nearby rocks, mouth open and neck-frill raised as it postures aggressively at you.
It kind of reminds you of a young Dodongo - only about one-thousandth the size.
And not fire-breathing or explosive.
...probably.
You hope.
...
Then again, you ARE just off the Hellmouth...
"He wants you to know that he REALLY doesn't appreciate having his rock-in-the-sun time interrupted," Briar reports dryly.
"We'll leave him to it, then," you say, as you start putting the rocks - and their occupant - behind you in the literal sense.
Your return home is otherwise uneventful, although given your brief encounter with the grumpy reptile, you wonder how many desert lizards were disturbed by the high-speed passage of an invisible light-source.
Gained Ki Overload E (Plus) (Plus)
You actually make it back in time for dinner, although your Dad beat you home by a good half-hour, and is naturally curious as to the cause of your absence.
This leads into a discussion of what you were doing this afternoon, and what you're planning to do again tomorrow.
You get the distinct impression that your parents would be happier if you left the matter of Mai's disappearance in the hands of the adults, but they do allow you to return the following day.
Which is what you do, once again proverbially-armored under half a dozen layers of magic. This time, you head east out of town for a few minutes, before cutting south along a back road. Having never explored this route before, you take your time, invisible, quiet-
Gained Ki Step D
-and not messing around with ki techniques that make you shine like a torch, allowing the details of this area sink in as you look for an out-of-the-way site to use for the teleportation ritual. Most of the properties along this road appear to be farms and ranches, or both, all in various states of use.
The operating ones don't bother you. Even the handful of abandoned buildings you pass aren't that big a deal. It's the ones that only LOOK run-down that you're worried about - old houses and barns that to all appearances should be abandoned, even condemned, yet hold signs that someone or something still calls them home. Poorly-concealed tracks here, a lack of cobwebs there, that aged tarp covering a vehicle that looks suspiciously like last year's top-selling model pick-up, and of course, the demonic auras that you can faintly sense through some of the dirty windows and poorly-maintained walls.
You know, the little things.
Eventually, you leave that unsettling neighborhood behind, following the road as it degrades from pavement to gravel to dirt, before petering out entirely.
No truly "good" site for teleportation has presented itself, but you're miles from the last run-down and probably genuinely abandoned farmhouse, and your senses aren't picking up anything apart from a few animals and the spiritual "background noise" of insects, plants, and the Hellmouth's influence.
In that regard, this is as good a place as any.
Once again, you make with the magic.
-flying/falling/sinking through a strange space/medium/awareness filled with familiar shapes/alien geometries and faint/loud chorus/discordance and a near/distant green energy/presence-
Forewarned by yesterday's experience, you make a point of landing directly on the bottom step of the Hakuba Shrine, out of the early-day foot-traffic. It was a good call; the sidewalk is no less busy this morning than it was twenty-four hours ago.
Turning your back on the crowd, you head up the stairs, holding your Spell of Invisibility until you reach the top - but as you draw near to the gate, you slow down.
Asamu is up there ahead of you, talking with Ichirou.
A mischievous impulse presents itself. Do you dare...?
You don't sneak, per se. You just happen to be coming up behind Mr. Hayashi while his back is turned and his attention is focused on Hakuba Ichirou.
The fact that you're invisible is entirely coincidental - it's the result of a spell applied for the sake of caution, and which hasn't yet run its course. And you haven't dismissed it because you're still in plain view of the crowd below, and it's possible that somebody might happen to be looking up the shrine stairs at just the right (or wrong) moment to see you blur back into view. Which would be bad.
Certainly, you aren't leaving the Spell of Invisibility up for a mere prank. That would just be silly. And childish.
And if you're minding your step, well, that's just habit, or the attempt to build up good ones. You live in a dangerous world, one inhabited by ninjas and monsters and stranger things yet, many of which mean you ill - admittedly only in a general "death to humans" way, though that is arguably preferable to their having PERSONAL reasons to be out for your blood.
Regardless, stealth will only be a boon to you.
Your efforts are in no way an attempt to escape notice by Asamu's unseen fox-ears - except that they totally ARE, because if you can sneak up on a kitsune, you can sneak up on darn near anything.
You ascend the stairs one step at a time, keeping your breathing steady and quiet. You spare a moment to consider whether or not Asamu could catch your scent from this angle, but the air is rather still this morning, so there's not much you can do on that front without resorting to magic. Which is unstealthy in and of itself, and so an option that you dismiss out of hand.
Slowly, steadily, silently, you draw closer.
Gained Stealth C (Plus)
To your own surprise, you make it as far as the third stair from the top without even a hint that your presence has been noticed.
Incidentally, Asamu and Ichirou have spent the time you've taken to make your ascent talking about... wait, Mrs. Hakuba's cooking? What?
...
You have the strangest feeling, like you just missed a cue or something. Were you suppose to fall on your face there, or what?
You're about to take another step when you reflexively FREEZE, as Asamu turns around and looks STRAIGHT at y-
-wait, no.
It takes a minute for the realization to penetrate the shock of discovery, but the lack of focus in Asamu's gaze tells you that he ISN'T actually looking directly at you, merely in your direction.
He's also frowning.
"I would have thought that he'd be in hearing range by now," the disguised kitsune muses. "What did the boy do, jump off the stairs and climb the hill?"
"Perhaps he's just occupied with the traffic?" Ichirou suggests.
"...I suppose that's possible," Asamu admits, turning back to the priest. "I was almost sure the source of that magic was at the bottom of the stairs, though..."
Ah. THERE's your cue.
Blurring back into view, you say, "Actually-"
Asamu does NOT yelp or wail in shock at your abrupt appearance. But he DEFINITELY twitches, and you're totally counting that as your win.
Ichirou, meanwhile, gives one of those little jumping starts and wordless exclamations.
"-you were right about that," you continue. "I take it that the wards on my aura don't completely hide when I work a major spell?"
"Not completely, no," Asamu replies. "Though if I hadn't seen you teleport out yesterday, I wouldn't have recognized what the magical surge downstairs was." He winces abruptly. "On reflection, that might have turned out badly. Sudden bursts of unrecognizable magical energy, when we KNOW there's a rogue kitsune in the neighborhood?"
It's your turn to wince, and Ichirou joins in for good measure. You hadn't actually considered that, and you can definitely see how it might have gone... poorly.
Good thing you decided to let Asamu watch you work your magic yesterday, even if it WAS under wards.
...actually, maybe BECAUSE it was under wards.
Ichirou clears his throat. "Yes. Well, then. Since you're both here... shall we?"
You and Asamu follow the young priest onto the shrine grounds proper.
"Do you have silencing spells on your shoes or something?" Asamu murmurs as you go.
"Nope," you return in kind. "I'm just light on my feet."
"There's light on your feet, and then there's sneaking up on a fox who already knows you're there."
"If it helps, I know some ninjas, and we've traded techniques."
Asamu considers that for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, that actually doesn't make me feel any better."
Meh, fair enough. You didn't trade for stealth techniques with Kasumi and Ayane, anyway, just took a few pointers.
Any further comment Asamu might have made is forgotten, then, as you come into view of half a dozen folding tables and an equal number of lawn chairs that have been set up outside. The kitsune's eyes all but sparkle at the sight of the rice-cakes filling up two large plates that take up one of the small tabletops in its entirety, and the look he directs at Mrs. Hakuba is one of pure admiration.
The suspicious squint that Hakuba Ginta displayed the previous afternoon makes an immediate reappearance.
Following this breakfast or morning tea, you, Asamu, Miss Suzuka, and the two Hakuba priests get down to business.
As the host, Ginta goes first, saying that a search of the shrine's archives failed to turn up any past incidents with obvious connections to Mai's disappearance. He doesn't appear put out by this, and says that it was something of a longshot.
"Perhaps, if we had more detailed information, a second search might provide better results," he adds, glancing at Asamu.
"And that's my cue," the kitsune says, setting his tea down precariously on the edge of his cake-heavy table. "Between my sister's findings and what I got out of the clan, I managed to narrow the list of possible culprits down to three..."
The first suspect is a five-tailed semi-nomadic male kitsune, who has a long history of abducting young women to be his brides. He gets scratched off the list almost immediately, when Miss Suzuka points out that Mai was only seven when she disappeared. Asamu admits that whatever his other failings, the fox in question has never been known to pursue girls younger than thirteen or so, and then only if the girl possessed some rare quality.
"Unless this child has a kami in her family tree, or had serious potential to be a miko?" Asamu asks.
There is a round of shaking heads.
"Right, then. So it probably wasn't him."
The second suspect is not actually a kitsune, but the half-human daughter of one, who is known to live in the area. She's included on Asamu's list because of an unhappy family history, involving a dead human father, human grandparents who didn't like the fact that their son had a fox-wife, and a mother who was legally and mystically denied custody of her child after her husband's untimely passing.
"Her father's relatives had the young lady for most of seven years," Asamu says with a scowl. "Even if she left them and went straight back to her mother as soon as she was legally old enough to make her own decisions, there were... scars. She wouldn't have taken a child from her family out of malice, but if she thought Mai was being mistreated, even mistakenly, there's a good chance she would have intervened."
"I do not believe for a moment that could be the case," Miss Suzuka says firmly.
Asamu nods. "I bow to your superior knowledge of the family, of course. But - forgive me for saying this - I almost hope that you're wrong, because the last possibility is... worrying."
"How bad?" Briar asks.
"A nine-tailed female," Asamu replies.
Okay, that's bad.
"And one driven more than a little mad, after humans killed her children almost seven hundred years ago."
Aaaand that's worse.
"Her pattern hasn't changed much over the years," Asamu continues gloomily. "She sees a boy or girl who resembles one of the children she lost, takes them, and tries to raise them as a replacement. It's almost never ended well."
He's just a regular old ray of sunshine today, isn't he?
You look around at the other members of this little assembly.
"Quick show of hands," you say. "Who here thinks we AREN'T dealing with the thousand year-old kitsune?"
There is a pause, as glances are traded.
Nobody raises their hand.
"Yeah, that's about what I expected." Sighing, you turn to Asamu. "You said that past incidents involving this nine-tails have almost never ended well. 'Almost' implies that sometimes, maybe, there might have been happier endings...?"
"It depends on how you define 'happy,'" the fox replies wryly. "There was a sorcerer during the Warring States Era who claimed the kitsune in question as his foster-mother. Apparently, she took him away from a peasant village as a boy, and he turned out to have a fox-like talent for Illusion, Enchantment, and Transformation magic - which he went on to use to plague several domains for most of the next century."
"Mother must have been so proud," Briar notes snidely.
Asamu just nods. "I think she liked the girl she raised that same century better, though. That one took to the idea of becoming a 'fox-wife' astonishingly well, ended up marrying a daimyo's son, and had half a dozen children - who went on to have a score of kids of their own. Getting to play the doting grandmother and great-grandmother calmed the nine-tails down for a while, but the whole relationship hinged on her daughter - and when SHE passed from old age, the domain burned down."
There are winces at that.
"Those were the best outcomes where the kids weren't rescued," Asamu says. "At least, among those incidents we had records of. Finding another fox who doesn't want to be found isn't easy even when they're sane, and this one's just gotten better at staying out of sight over the years. If you take what's publically-known about her at face value, she might steal three children a century, but my uncle who keeps the clan archives thought the actual number of abductions she's responsible for was three times higher than that."
In other words, nine or more abductions per century, and over sixty in the seven hundred years since the nine-tails snapped and started stealing children. That's almost once every decade.
"How many of those incidents ended with the children returned home?" Ichirou asks.
"One in four," Asamu admits. "And that's if you include the cases where the kids came back... changed."
"Possession?" Ginta guesses.
"Or mental illness that was treated as possession," comes the reply. "Or hanyou transformations - the ones who didn't go completely feral, anyway." Asamu sighs. "If you set those outcomes aside, the number of children recovered is more like one in nine. The rest... didn't make it."
Nobody has anything to say to that.
Only one in four recovered alive.
And only one in nine recovered healthy, sane, and still human.
It takes you a minute to find your next words.
"Do you have any information about what these children looked like, Mr. Hayashi? Any common features that made them seem like the nine-tails' original children?"
You have a nasty, sneaking suspicion about the likely answer.
"We only had pictures for two of those who've gone missing since the invention of the camera," Emiko's father apologizes. "But there were descriptions in the archives. Most of the stolen children have had auburn to outright red hair, brown eyes, and a certain... sharpness to their features. All of the ones who didn't have at least one of those features were magically or spiritually talented."
There is another pause, in which you can feel every adult in the room trying not to look too closely at you.
"Well," you say, with a forced lightness. "I guess that explains why the Divination spell told me she'd want me to stay, if I went and found her." You turn to Miss Suzuka. "Does Mai match that description?"
"Her hair and eyes are brown, and when the light hit her hair just right... yes, it could look a bit red."
You nod, and take a moment to process all this new information.
There's an idea forming in your head. You wouldn't call it a plan just yet - there are some details you need to clear up first - but the basic shape of it is... promising.
You don't pursue that line of thought just yet, however; one of the things Asamu just said has caught your attention.
"I'm noticing that you haven't used a given name for this nine-tails yet, Mr. Hayashi," you point out. "Is there a reason for that?"
"Two reasons, actually," he admits. "One, she's used a LOT of aliases over the centuries. Most of those have since been proven to not be her actual name, but we've still got half a dozen possibilities that have more or less equal odds of being genuine. Which leads into the other reason why I'm not naming her. You've probably heard about supernatural beings who can hear when others are using their chosen name, right?"
You nod, well aware of that particular trait. Deities are the classic example of how the careless use of Names is a Bad Idea, and not just because of potential accusations of blasphemy.
If you say something offensive about another mortal in their hearing, they naturally get angry - but there's only so much one mortal can do to another, and sooner or later, most anger cools and is forgotten. Not all, but most.
Gods have considerably more options for expressing their displeasure. And they hold grudges like nothing mortal can.
"Well, it's not an ability inherent to kitsune," Asamu continues. "Something for which I'm personally grateful, incidentally, even if it WOULD bring down my annual phonebill by about ninety-nine percent. That said, nine-tailed foxes have the experience and the power necessary to make the trick work for them."
Well, that makes sense.
Though you do have to wonder how that particular ability - which HAS to be a Divination effect - would interact with your current set of wards. On the face of it, the spells you cast SHOULD stop you from being detected, but on the other hand, they might not do so completely. The fox could theoretically be made aware that someone in this area used her name, just not that it was actually you. It could also be that voluntary use of her name on your part would weaken your defenses and reveal your presence.
It's not really something you feel like messing around with. Not when there's no need.
That curiosity satisfied, you get back to your nascent idea.
"Hey, Briar?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think a Great Fairy's Tear would be able to restore this nine-tails' mind?"
*Pop!* go Asamu's ears and tail, as his eyes bug out.
"...good question," the little fairy admits, with a sidelong glance at the astounded kitsune.
"Excuse me," Ichirou interrupts, looking back and forth between the three of you, "but... what is a Great Fairy's Tear?"
"Pretty much exactly what it sounds like," you reply. "A tear shed by a Great Fairy - which is to say, a full-grown fairy of Briar's kind. Much older, much larger, and much, much more powerful. Their tears are extremely potent healing agents, at least when it comes to physical ailments."
"They're also ridiculously hard to come by," Asamu manages to say. He's recovered his human guise, but he's still gaping at you. "Why would you... even..." He trails off into silence, and then slowly shakes his head. "No."
"Yes," you reply.
"No way."
"Yes way."
Ginta holds up one hand, halting your enlightened discourse. "I take it, Alexander, that you know where to find one of these fairies?"
"It's more like I know how to get in touch with one, sir," you admit. "But she doesn't like me very much. Definitely not enough to give me one of her Tears. Fortunately, I ALSO know someone who already has a Great Fairy's Tear in his keeping, and might be inclined to sell it for a worthy cause."
Asamu makes strangling noises at this point.
You frown. "That's assuming that it would work, though."
"You'll probably have to ask Mom to get a straight answer on that one, Alex," Briar says apologetically.
"Is there some reason I can't just ask the Goddesses? Because I'm pretty sure that they like me more than your mother does."
"Well, yeah, that's a given, but odds are you'd just get redirected to a Great Fairy anyway." Briar shrugs. "Goddesses have other things to do besides answer one person's prayers all the time, you know? At the very least, Mom knows you, and will talk to me. Can't say the same for the other Great Fairies."
She has a point there.
When you have questions about Great Fairies, it only makes sense to go to a Great Fairy to ask them. And since you already know Navi, and have a relationship where she was willing to help you out once rather than smite you out of hand because of bad personal experiences with your prior incarnation, it makes sense to go to HER before trying your luck with any other Great Fairy.
"Alright, Briar," you say. "I'll call your mother. But tell me something: can you think of anything I could do to improve her opinion of me? Anything PRACTICAL, I mean?"
Briar considers that. "Give me a bit to think about that."
"Okay. But while you're doing that," you add, "I'm going to check with Gen. He WAS on amazingly good terms with the Great Fairy who gave him that Tear, so he might be able to tell us whether or not it'd work in this situation."
"I'll be surprised if he does," Briar says, "but I suppose it doesn't hurt anything to ask."
Nodding at her, you turn back to the adults.
Asamu is still staring at you.
"You can just... call up a Great Fairy?" he asks. "Just like that?"
"Only in the Divinatory sense," you clarify. "And even then, I only know how to get in touch with Navi specifically because Briar told me how to do it."
Technically, you suppose you COULD call up a Great Fairy, in the Summoning sense of the term - you cast a general summoning spell that drew in a Heroic Spirit, for Din's sake - but you're not sure it would be a good idea to do so. Not without prior permission from the fairy in question, and a really good reason.
Navi isn't the only one of her kind who has reason to dislike Ganondorf, after all.
For his part, Asamu nods slowly.
You decide to throw the fox a bone - or whatever - and move away from the current topic of discussion, since it clearly upsets his sensibilities.
"Anyway, there was something else I was wondering about, in regards to this nine-tailed fox and her past exploits."
"Yes?"
"You mentioned hanyou transformations, recent abductees, and people actually going out and trying to rescue the lost kids," you explain. "Are any of those people still around, and would they be willing and able to help us out?"
Asamu blinks, and you can almost see his brain shifting gears.
"Most of the humans who've gone up against the nine-tails in the past are dead," he says slowly. "Some died fighting her, and most of those that survived their encounters with her have since passed away - for completely unrelated reasons. But there are some who are still alive, and who might be able to provide useful assistance. As for the kitsune side... I'll have to ask around to be sure, but yes, I think we could get some help there. It'll depend on what exactly we're trying to do," he adds, giving you a look.
And that, in turn, is going to depend on whether or not Great Fairy's Tears can heal mental trauma as well as they physical injury.
Something you can't say for certain until you've at least spoken with Gen, and possibly Navi as well.
"A NINE-TAILED FOX?!"
You stopped by Gen's immediately after leaving the Hakuba Shrine yesterday, explaining the situation you'd found yourself in and asking your busines partner whether he thought the last of the Great Fairy's Tears he held in stock could help solve the problem - and if so, what the asking price was.
Gen, for his part, was quite willing to let the Tears go for a song to a noble cause - and as far as he was concerned, restoring the sanity to a nine-tailed fox was a VERY noble cause, especially if it would keep her from kidnapping more children OR flipping out and burning down entire districts. Particularly the district where his shop and family home were located.
The catch was, he honestly had no idea if the Tears would be effective at treating madness. Had the kitsune in question undergone a personality shift after suffering head trauma, then yes, Gen was quite sure the Tears would have worked, but given that her particular insanity appears to have arisen entirely from mental and emotional triggers...
And so, you went home, rested up, and headed out of town the following morning, travelling into the desert to make an inter-planar call to Briar's mother.
Which brings you to the shouting.
"Briar," the Great Fairy says through the magic linking the three of you, "what in Farore's name are you doing getting mixed up with something like THAT?!"
"Ha," Briar breathes. "Funny you should mention Farore, Mom..."
It's strange how the sudden silence of a Voice From Nowhere can convey Maternal Doom as well as any sharp look your mother's ever given you.
Briar quickly explains the entire situation, starting with your Spell of Communion and how it got hijacked by a major demon, only for the local Thunder God to step in, then proceeding to your efforts to make good on clearing that debt, and how that in turn led you to the matter of the mad, child-stealing kitsune.
Navi takes it all in, never interrupting, and even after Briar's finished speaking, the Great Fairy stays silent - long enough, in fact, that you begin to wonder if the spell allowing you to communicate across the dimensions has lapsed.
"Well, then," Navi finally says. "You certainly have been busy since we talked."
She's not wrong.
"As it happens, yes, a Great Fairy's Tears can heal mental afflictions - in mortals. I'm not sure how well they'll work on something as powerful a nine-tailed fox, though, let alone one who's had the better part of a millennium to stew in her insanity. At the very least, I'm quite certain that if you try to force the Tears on her, she'll resist their power. You'll need to get her to drink them of her own free will."
You wince. "You're sure about that, ma'am?"
"Yes, I am. The good news is, you're free to trick her into drinking the Tears, if you can: lie about what they do; arrange it so she has to drink them as part of a contest; whatever. But don't try to mix the Tears with anything else," Navi adds. "They only work when they're pure."
You nod.
"Thanks, Mom," Briar says.
"Yes, thank you," you add.
"You're welcome. Now, unless there's something else..."
Actually... there may be.
You asked Briar yesterday if there was anything she could think of that you could do to improve her mother's opinion of you. And as it turned out, she had an idea - and it wasn't for you to go on a quest for some rare magical reagent or lost relic.
No, Briar figured that the best thing you could do to improve your relationship with her mother was to fill Navi in on everything you've done regarding the Familiar Binding Ritual - the reagents you've gathered, the location you've scouted and selected, the ritual diagram you'll be using - and then, once she's up to speed, invite her to witness it.
That aside... even Navi isn't absolutely sure if Great Fairy's Tears will work on the nine-tails, at least not the way you'd like them to. Perhaps you should ask her if she knows of something that WILL work, that might be within your power to acquire?
"Actually," you say, "there are a couple of other things I was hoping to talk to you about, ma'am."
"And those are?" Navi asks.
As Briar suggested, you proceed to bring the Great Fairy up to speed on everything you've done to prepare for the Familiar Binding Ritual.
"You got the circle from WHO?"
Including the assistance you've received from Ambrose.
"You did WHAT?"
Yes, even the fire elemental dance battle.
"You're holding it WHEN?!"
And you bring up the eclipse as well.
"Anyway," you finish up, "Briar and I were wondering if you'd like to attend as a witness."
Navi is silent for a moment.
"...I think I'd better," she finally says.
"Great!"
"Dare I ask what the other thing you wanted to speak about was?" Navi says then.
"Well, since you weren't sure if using Great Fairy's Tears would cure a nine-tailed fox of madness, I was wondering if you knew of anything that WOULD work, and that was within my power to acquire and use?"
"I can't think of anything that's guaranteed to work, short of getting a god directly involved," Navi replies. "And I'm pretty sure that option is off the table. If the local deities were going to do something about this fox, they'd have done it by now."
You can't argue with that.
"Now, if you're looking for ways to improve your chances of curing the fox," the Great Fairy continues, "I can offer a few ideas. If you're willing to work for them."
Lu-sensei's warning against accepting gifts from fae creatures echoes in your mind.
"Let me hear what the ideas are, first, and I'll check with the adults to see what they think," you reply.
"Alright, then."
Navi's first offer is to EMPOWER the Great Fairy's Tears, and hope for the best. To do that, you'll need to track down the Great Fairy who originally provided the Tears you're planning to use, and get her permission to alter her gift, then find a second Great Fairy who's willing to provide Tears of her own. Navi is willing to stand in as the third Great Fairy necessary for this process, but she cautions you that all three of them WILL require you - or whoever it is that comes to ask the favor - to complete some task to prove your worthiness.
The second option is to REFINE the Tears you already have, optimizing their power to treat mental afflictions rather than physical ones. Again, you'll need to get the permission of Gen's Great Fairy friend before doing anything else, but after that, you'll need to seek out a "specialist" in matters of the mind, who can tell you just what it is that needs to be done to adjust the Tears correctly. After that... well, Navi admits that will depend on what the expert says, but she expects you'll need to retrieve some special item or visit a sacred (and defended) location to perform the actual refinement.
The third and final option that Navi believes is within your power is to forego the Great Fairy's Tears entirely, and track down an item that should be able to draw the insanity from the nine-tails' mind and EMBODY it in a form that can be fought and destroyed directly. Navi cautions you that, while fetching the item she has in mind will be quicker and easier than the other two options, actually facing the fox's manifested madness will in no way be a SAFE option.
Although you're going to discuss all these options with the Hakubas and Mr. Hayashi, which one do you personally prefer?
Two of the options Navi presented appeal to you. The idea of adding more power to the already-potent Great Fairy's Tears is almost perfectly in-line with how a follower of Din ought to be doing things, while the idea of forcing the nine-tailed fox's madness to manifest in a form that can be punched in the face... well, actually, that feels pretty Din-ish, too. Though it would require a certain amount of courage to undertake, and hence, also falls under Farore's aegis.
Regardless, of those two, the option that you most favor is embodying the madness. It's the least complex of the three plans, so it has the fewest potential points of failure. It's by far the least time-intensive of Navi's presented options. And unlike the other two - or your original sort-of-plan - it doesn't rely on having to convince a kitsune who's crazy even by THEIR standards to drink a magic potion.
Also, the idea of punching the source of a little girl's pain and suffering in the face is just deeply appealing to you.
You thank Navi for her counsel, and tell her you should be in touch later that day, after you've had a chance to speak with the adults regarding the assistance she's willing to offer.
"I'll be waiting to hear from you, then," the Great Fairy replies. "Now, if you'll excuse me... I need to have a little CHAT with a couple of close-mouthed goddesses."
And with that, the inter-planar connection goes dead.
"Is it just me," Briar wonders aloud, "or did that remark sound a lot more ominous than it should have?"
"Oh, okay." After a moment, the fairy shrugs, seeming to put her concerns aside. "So, what now?"
As it happens, lunch.
Followed by taking out the trash.
Then it's Moblin's walk-time.
But after THAT, you check the clock, do some mental math, and decide that it's a reasonable hour in Japan - or will be, once you factor in your travel time.
You head south-west today, making a beeline for the coast.
The good news is, you don't run into any lurking demons while searching for a teleportation site in this direction.
The bad news is, there are quite a few people on the beach. True, you were expecting SOME beachgoers, but this is more than you had in mind. You lose twenty minutes or so exchanging greetings and polite conversation with people you've met around town, before you manage to slip away to the less-traveled part of the coastline.
Five or six minutes of clambering over rocks and avoiding tide-pools later, you round a jutting rock spire and find a spot that looks good - not a natural ritual-site like that one you stumbled upon in Hawaii, months ago, just a nice little out-of-the-way bend in the rocks that'll keep you entirely out of view of the people further down the beach, and which is entirely stone - no wet sand to leave obvious tracks that disappear into thin air. As a bonus, this place looks like it'll end up underwater at high tide, which will not only make it harder to access, but also help to speed up the decay of your magical signature.
Flowing water's like that.
Making a mental note to try approaching this place from inland next time, rather than crawling up along the populated beach, you make with the magic.
One almost-routine passage through the green-tinted Astral Plane later, you're back at the Hakuba Shrine.
As it turns out, so is Hakuba Senior.
"Good morning, Alexander," the eldest priest of the shrine greets you, as you pass through the gate. You have time to notice his amusement before he adds, "Or do you prefer, 'Mister Harris?'"
...well. Seems like THAT particular cat is officially out of its bag.
Is there something you'd like to say in regards to the adult disguise you used at the Buddhist Temple?
You have to agree with Briar. Something in Navi's tone made it sound like "talking" to the Goddesses wasn't actually what she had in mind... and that leaves you wondering about how, exactly, Great Fairies and the Golden Goddesses interact.
An image of Navi going through a half-ruined temple full of monsters comes to mind.
You find it amusing... but also pretty unlikely.
If only because a Great Fairy could blow through even the greatest of the ancient temples of Hyrule, if she had a mind to. Seriously, just being able to fly would render eighty percent of the traps and trials you can recall completely irrelevant...
Okay, not the puzzle-locks. But most of those wouldn't stand up to a Great Fairy applying the Ganondorf Solution, either, and good riddance.
You shake that thought off.
"Only when I'm in disguise, Mr. Hakuba," you answer the smiling priest.
"Ah, of course. Though, that does beg the question of why you felt a disguise was necessary..." He frowns at this. "Abbot Jason said that you warned them someone had been arranging the temple's misfortunes."
You nod, and briefly recount your meeting with the fortune teller, who originally discovered the supernatural source of the problems plaguing the monks. Anyone willing to go to so much trouble to CAUSE so much trouble for the holy men seemed like the sort who'd have the place under surveillance, whether for practical or personal reasons, and so altering your appearance seemed like a reasonable precaution.
"Besides," you add, "approaching the monks in the form of a professional-looking adult probably gave them a better first impression of me than showing up as a child would have."
Hakuba Senior nods. "True enough. On the other hand" - and suddenly, the old priest looks a bit embarrassed - "after I told Jason a bit about OUR meetings, I may have inadvertantly given him the impression that you're some kind of hengeyoukai."
...well, you ARE the reincarnated soul of a Demon King who turned into a giant boar, so that's... KIND of not wrong...
You shake your head, and proceed to the meeting.
With the eldest priest sitting in as well, you recount the pertinent details of the conversation you had with Navi this morning. Asamu still seems amazed by the fact that you can just casually call up a Great Fairy, and when you start explaining her offers of help, he has to put down his tea before he chokes on it.
You're starting to wonder what kind of reputation Great Fairies HAVE in the youkai community, and why.
Leaving that question unasked - at least for the moment - you go over each possible plan, detailing what you consider to be the advantages and drawbacks of each. For the options involving the Great Fairy's Tears, you emphasize the multiple points of potential failure, the amount of time that empowering or refining the curative would require, and how, even if you succeed in either approach, you're still going to have to get the nine-tailed kitsune to DRINK the resulting concoction, of her own free will.
The collective wince when you point that out reassures you that you're not the only one who recognizes the problem THERE.
As for the idea of fetching an item that can force the fox's madness to incarnate in a form vulnerable to physical correction?
You suspect that if you hadn't presented the other two choices first, and in a negative light, this one would have been dismissed out of hand. Even with your support of the plan, none of the adults are exactly KEEN on the idea of fighting a nine-tails, or even a fraction of one.
That said, Asamu reluctantly admits that there's a certain... appeal in the notion, and that he could see members of the monster community supporting it. And not just because it would give them the opportunity to land a clean hit on a nine-tails, if by proxy.
"That would be a bonus, of course," he admits wryly, "but the more strategic thinkers would point out that raw physical power is the exception among kitsune, rather than the rule. Any lesser spirit born of a kitsune - which is what this 'manifest madness' would be - would share that weakness, and moreover, since it's only a PART of the nine-tails' mind that we're talking about incarnating, it wouldn't have the same strength or capabilities as the entirety of her mind." The fox pauses. "On the other tail, insanity has a strength all its own."
"Indeed," Ginta agrees. "But how would it use that strength? Physically, where it would, as you've said, be weaker? Or could it still muster a nine-tails' more esoteric and dangerous powers?"
Asamu thinks about that for a long time.
"I'd need to check with the elders to be sure," he finally replies, "but speaking from my own modest experience, the most convincing illusions require you to empathize with your target enough to understand their desires, while staying emotionally-detatched enough to keep your own feelings out of the images you create. I can't see an embodiment of insanity being good at either. Which isn't to say it couldn't still throw illusions at people," he admits. "I suspect a spirit like that would be VERY good at imagery evoking terror and confusion, for one, but it'd be all brute-force, no subtlety - no TRICKS. And if the people who were there focused on hitting it hard and fast, it wouldn't have time to plan - maybe not the inclination, either." Asamu grimaces, and adds, "Foxfire would still be on the table, though."
"I have Spells of Protection From and Resistance to Fire," you note.
"That'd help," Asamu admits immediately, "but some foxes can project lightning, too."
"Also covered."
"...do you happen to know a spell that could shut down illusions?"
"Ssssort of?" you venture.
The area-affecting version of the Greater Spell to Dispel Magic could disrupt and purge illusions, but it'd be your power and skill against that of a creature with close to a thousand years' experience in the magical arts. That kind of opponent would be a fair match for GANONDORF. Speaking of whom, he learned a spell from Koume and Koutake that specifically disrupted illusions and temporarily locked out transformations, a magic almost tailor-made for this very situation.
However, the Spell to Banish Seemings wasn't much more potent than Greater Dispel Magic - it actually functioned in much the same manner - and it had a much, MUCH shorter range. As in, you'd have to physically TOUCH the nine-tails (or her incarnated insanity) to make it work.
And that doesn't strike you as a good idea.
Not. At. All.
Is there anything else you'd like to say at this point, to try and get the adults firmly behind the "Punch Out Madness" Plan?
"I do know the Spell of True Seeing," you admit.
Asamu shoots you a glance, then shakes his head and mutters, "Why am I even surprised...?"
The priests look back and forth between the two of you for a moment.
"And what does that spell do?" Miss Suzuka ventures.
"It lets you see through any and all illusions and magical transformations within a hundred and twenty feet," you answer. "You can also see in the dark, see things that are normally invisible, or determine exactly where something is, if magic would normally make it hard to visually pin down. You can also see a short distance into the plane of existence where ghosts and some other spirits linger when they aren't fully manifested, but that's probably not going to be any use in this situation."
"I wouldn't be surprised if the nine-tails had left a few ghosts in her wake," Hakuba Senior interjects, "but you're right, we probably won't run into any of them. She'd be more than powerful enough to ward them off."
"There are a few problems with the spell, though," you continue. "Its base form only affects a single person per casting, and only for a relatively short amount of time - ten minutes, give or take. I could modify the spell so that it affects more people or lasts longer - if I really need to, I can make it do both - but it's a sixth-circle spell to start with, and casting magic that strong is beyond my ability to hide. It also requires a material component that may be hard and a bit pricey to get a hold of, at least in a reasonable time-frame."
More specifically, casting the Spell of True Seeing requires applying an ointment below the eyes of the recipient of the magic. The stuff isn't a true magic potion, but it's not that far off from being one, either - it's certainly PREPARED in the same manner as potions, and if a sorcerer or witch wants absolutely optimum results, they have to gather and mix the necessary ingredients themselves.
You're perfectly willing to go with store-bought materials and settle for "merely average" results, but the formula you recall from Ganondorf's memories requires a mixture of saffron, fat harvested from a Bullbo, and a particular type of mushroom that grows on the edges of the Lost Woods. You can get the former at Gen's, but as for the other two...
Gen might know what Earth-native magical practitioners - or at least the Japanese ones - use in place of those Hyrule-specific materials, and if he doesn't, you can try getting in touch with Ambrose. Failing that, calling up a Hyrulean spirit and bargaining for what you need is an option.
"Even leaving all that aside," you say, "when you look at something through the Spell of True Seeing, you see what it looks like with all magic and other supernatural deceptions stripped away. A nine-tailed fox would still be a fox, but an incarnation of madness... well, it might not be the kind of thing a person should be looking at that closely."
"If it means taking the illusions of a powerful kitsune out of the equation," Ginta notes, "having to look madness square in the eye may be a small price to pay."
There is some further debate on the topic, but bringing up the Spell of True Seeing appears to have tipped the balance of opinion firmly in favor of "Plan Punch Out the Madness." Today's meeting ends early, Asamu heading off to check in with his relatives, and you departing to investigate the availability of essential reagents.
Since you're already in the proverbial neighborhood - if not quite the literal one - you head for Gen's after leaving the Hakuba Shrine.
As expected, the old man has saffron to spare, and he's willing to let you take what you need for your spell on credit, as part of his contribution to the "Make the Scary Kitsune Go Away" Fund.
"Unfortunately," he sighs, "I am not sure what is actually required for a Spell of True Seeing. Sixth-circle magic is potent stuff, and practitioners at that level tend to have trust issues - no offense intended."
"None taken."
"They keep their secrets close," Gen goes on, without missing a beat, "and while I have been privileged to learn a handful of those secrets in my time, the recipie for this ointment you describe is not among them. I can venture a guess as to a few things that MIGHT be in it, but, well, you would know better than I the danger of guesswork in magic."
True. You'd rather not melt someone's eyeballs, or leave them permanently seeing invisible horrors that might or might not be real.
The lure of new knowledge is tempting, but in the end, there's something to be said for sticking with what you know - and you KNOW that the Gerudo version of the Spell of True Seeing works, and works well.
You don't doubt that any variant of that particular magic Ambrose might share with you would also work, but you wouldn't have the same kind of familiarity with it that you do with the spell you remember. There's also a chance that Gen might not have everything you need to cast a spell of Ambrose's spell in stock, whether due to local demand having exceeded his usual supply, or simply because a magic supply shop based in Japan wouldn't carry some things that are available in or near Britain.
Above and beyond all of that, though, you'd owe Ambrose another favor for the information.
Enough said.
Descending into Gen's basement, you make your usual preparations, laying down a circle of conjured silver flakes. You intentionally skip the step of charging the circle with a ward against teleportation, because the kind of being you're aiming to call up doesn't have that kind of power. It doesn't have much power at all, in fact, but it's just about the perfect sort of critter to summon in this situation.
You need mushrooms that grow in the Lost Woods.
Who better to help than a native of that same forest?
There is a burst of grey smoke as you complete your spell, which clears to reveal a Deku Scrub, long snout puckered and bright eyes squinting warily at you from beneath a wild cap of hanging leaves.
"Hi there!" Briar says.
The Deku blinks, and just like that, all traces of caution melt away from its expression and posture.
"Hello, pi!" the leafy creature replies, leaves rustling as it bounces in place. "Wow, I really wasn't expecting to meet a fairy on this side of a summoning spell, pi! I take it the Gerudo kid is yours, pi?"
"He's not actually a Gerudo," Briar points out, "but yeah, I'm stuck with him."
Yellow eyes turn puzzled. "...not a Gerudo, pi?"
"It's a long story, but to sum up, we're on the wrong planet for that."
"Oh." The Deku does a double-take. "Wait, I'm on another PLANET, PI? HOLY SOD, PI!"
...it IS kind of a big deal, isn't it? True, none of the other Hyrulean beings you've summoned have made a fuss, but the monsters lacked the brains to care, and Bando and the Postman are both celestial entities - ascended souls of those who might have been born in Hyrule, but had lived out their lives, died, and moved onward and upward.
Plus, given their forms, the Goron and the Hylian were both adults when they passed on. You get the impression the Deku Scrub is younger - and not simply because it's no taller than you are. Its enthusiastic response to suddenly finding itself on a different world is telling.
"So, uh, not that I'm not INCREDIBLY grateful," the Deku says, as it gets its amazement under control, "but what brings someone with the power to summon beings across worlds pick ME, of all people, to actually call up, pi?"
"I was hoping to do some business with a resident of the Lost Woods," you reply.
The Deku stands up straight. "You definitely called the right Deku for that, pi!"
Dealing with the Deku Scrub - who gives his name as Dekon - to obtain some of the mushrooms you need proves to be a simple affair. He recognizes your description readily enough, and says he knows a couple of places where toadstools of that kind can usually be found, assuming nobody's harvested or eaten them lately. As far as payment goes, Dekon's willing to take this first job at no charge, out of a combination of delight at getting to travel to another world, and the business opportunities that represents.
You point out that the local currency isn't Rupees, or even gold, but the Deku Scrub is undeterred.
"You have plants here, right, pi? I know some Scrubs who would pay through the shoot for seeds from another world, pi! Especially if you summon them with me, so I can PROVE they're from a different planet, pi!"
Muffled by the floor overhead, you hear Gen's cash register go off.
"Would they happen to pay in Rupees?" you ask.
"What else, pi?" Dekon gives you the Deku equivalent of a grin. "What do you say to a fifty-fifty cut, pi?"
Before you send Dekon back to hunt for mushrooms, you inquire about the possibility of acquiring Bullbo fat.
"Can't help you there, pi," he apologizes. "The big pigs don't usually come into the Woods, and when they do, there isn't much that wants to mess with them - not unless there's a Wolfos on the prowl or the Stalchildren have come out to play, pi."
Disappointing, but completely understandable. Wolfos and Stalchildren are bad news, and Bullbos are arguably worse, at least from the point of view of a Deku.
After all, Wolfos are carnivorous, and Stalchildren - being undead - don't eat at all. The worst thing either of them will do to a plant-based lifeform is kill it.
Dismissing Dekon for the time being, you take a minute to consider what sort of creature you should summon next. Bullbos are typically associated with Bulblins, who use them as mounts, labor, and food all in one. A Bulblin would probably be your best potential source of Bullbo fat, but you're unsure if you should try to call one. They're not terribly bright, nor are they noted for an interest in mercantile dealings or their generous natures. Compared to the non-human denizens of the Moonlit World that you've met, monsters in Hyrule tend to be a lot more... well, monstrous, for lack of a better term. And even leaving aside the ethical concerns of dealing with such creatures, Planar Binding doesn't typically work on living mortal beings - the fact that you were able to summon a Deku Scrub is due entirely to the nature of the Lost Woods. The dimensional borders there are thinner than they should be, allowing realms like Faerie, the Twilight, and the Ethereal Plane to bleed over into the Material.
There's a REASON why people get lost in that forest.
But if not a Bulblin, then who? A mortal hunter turned celestial, maybe? A departed merchant, who might still have connections in the mortal realm? Someone or something else entirely?
"I don't know," you muse, frowning at Dekon. "I'm doing the bulk of the work here, it feels like I should get a bigger cut of the profits - say, sixty-forty?"
The Scrub considers that, and then nods. "Yeah, I guess that's fair enough, pi."
Gained Haggling D
"But you have to cover the costs of the magic involved, pi!"
You were already doing that, so it doesn't strike you as a big problem to let Dekon have his condition.
You're considering trying to call up a Hylian hunter when it occurs to you that you have a contact on the other side who could likely handle this matter for you, or at least give you a recommendation on who and what to call up for help.
"I summon you! POSTMAN!"
*POOF*
"An unfamiliar basement," the celestial messenger muses, as the smoke of his summoning clears. He gives Gen's cellar a once-over before turning his attention to you. "Hello again, Mr. Harris. How can I help you today?"
You explain your current need.
"I could make a run to Castletown, to see if anyone in the market would be able to spare a bit of Bullbo fat," the Postman admits. "But that would require some Rupees, which-"
"Actually," you cut in, "I may have a source for those."
"What, really?"
You recount your deal with Dekon.
"I THOUGHT I saw someone going the other way when I answered the call," the Postman says. "A Deku Scrub, huh? Yeah, they're always good for dealing with plants and plant products, at least once you've convinced them to stop shooting those darn exploding seeds at you..." He trails off for a moment, then shakes his head. "Well, then. As long as you agree to cover the cost, I'll be happy to run this little errand for you. Aaaand maybe you could see your way to paying me in the future?"
He looks hopeful.
"I'm not going to make any promises on that just yet," you tell the Postman. "My deal with the Deku Scrub hasn't gone through yet, and I don't know how profitable it's going to be in the long term. I'd like to wait and see how that routine develops before I make any promises of payment to you, since breaking my word, even accidentally, isn't something I'm keen on doing."
The Postman considers that, and nods. "Fair enough."
"While I've got you here," you say then, "I was wondering about a couple of things."
"Such as?"
"Well, for starters, have you found out anything about what's going on with the Church of Hyrule?"
You asked about this before you got grounded, and the Postman said he'd see what the rumors had to say. It's been a couple of weeks, which seems like plenty of time for him to have learned something...
"It turns out they're having succession issues," the Postman answers glumly. "The old high priest passed away last month. I didn't mention it when you told me about this delay in response to your letters, because it's not something that SHOULD have been an issue - not this much of one, anyway. The Church has a long memory, and after all the invasions Hyrule has been through, the high clergy make a point of having their successors picked out WELL ahead of time. Just in case."
"Did that not happen this time?"
"Oh, the old high priest had his successor chosen, right enough, but the man in question went on a pilgrimage a few weeks before his superior died. He'd been out of contact since then, and while there was nothing suspicious about it. At. The. Time." The Postman pauses after emphasizing those three words, and then sighs and shakes his head. "When the Church's messengers went looking for him with word that the high priest had passed on, they couldn't find the guy. They tried to keep it quiet, but it's kind of hard to hide the fact that you just lost one high priest and don't have a successor lined up. Particularly when one of the factions arguing over who gets to be the next guy to wear the big hat goes to the Royal Family for support."
"So basically," you sum up, "everybody in the Church is too busy playing politics to answer my message?"
"Basically."
Well. THAT's certainly annoying.
Sighing, you asks the Postman to let you know how that mess sorts itself out. Then you inquire after what he knows about the green entity in the Astral Plane.
"Mainly that it's there, it's green, and it seems to be focused on the planar layer nearest to this world," the Postman answers.
...that very strongly suggests that the source of the green presence is somewhere on Earth, or in a demiplane directly adjacent to it.
"Would it be possible for you to relay letters between us?" you ask.
The Postman gives you a blank look. "Can it even READ?"
...
"I don't know," you admit. "It's sentient enough to react to my presence whenever I teleport, and if I'm on the Astral Side long enough, it starts... not exactly SPEAKING to me, but definitely communicating. In a way."
After staring at you for a long moment, the Postman facepalms.
"Oh, Farore," he groans, before lowering his hand. "Is this one of those weird entities that makes you start hearing strange, disjointed voices in your head whenever you're near to or in contact with it?"
The Postman's stare intensifies.
"'Just the ONE voice,' he says," the celestial murmurs, sounding equally awed and uneasy. "Yes, because that makes it SO much better..."
You frown. "Well, the Goddesses seemed to think it was approachable enough when I asked them about it."
The Postman blinks. "...um. You've, uh, talked to the Goddesses about this?"
"Communed with, but yes." You pause, and then honesty compels you to add, "Their answers were brief, and a bit... tentative... but at the very least, I didn't get the impression they were concerned about my sanity or safety where the entity was concerned."
"Really?"
"Really," Briar says. "If anything, I think Alex managed to confuse Their Graces when he started asking about it."
"What, even Nayru?"
"Yep."
The Postman whistles. "Now THERE's a feat that takes some doing... still, even if the Goddesses don't think it's dangerous, my original question still stands: can this being even read?"
Briar turns to you. "Maybe a verbal message would be better? Or you could give the Spell of Sending a try."
You give the Postman an assessing glance.
"Out of curiosity," you inquire, "how well are you set up for speaking with unfathomable beings of energy from beyond conventional space-time?"
"That's hard to say," the celestial admits. "I was fluent in the major tongues back in Hyrule - Hylian, Goron, Zoran, even Gerudo - and I knew enough of the minor dialects and the languages of other nations to do my job. 'Message for so-and-so,' 'which way to this address,' 'please don't eat me' - you know, the essentials. I don't think any of those will help in this case, though."
Likely not.
"Beyond that," he continues, "one of the benefits I get for being one of the Goddesses' messengers is a magically-aided understanding of the speech of most intelligent beings I encounter. That SHOULD work in this case, but... well, unfathomable beings of ANY sort can be hard to talk to. Sort of goes with the whole 'unfathomable' bit."
"But in your informed opinion, would it be worth a shot?"
The Postman nods, perhaps a shade reluctantly.
"Then I'd like to try that, first. Nothing fancy, just a basic greeting and a request to see if the entity would like to talk with me, and if so, whether it's capable of sending messages to me, or if I'd have to handle that part."
"That should be fine," the messenger says.
"Before you go, though," you add, "are there any spells you'd like me to cast for you?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to ask for a spell to resist or repel mental intrusions," the Postman says without hesitation, "but that might interfere with my ability to communicate with the, um, recipient. Aside from that... nothing really comes to mind, no."
You take a moment to go over your mental index of spells.
Is there any magic you can think of that might benefit the Postman in this instance?
You suggest two spells to the Postman. The first is the Spell of Greater Heroism, and you cite how - while it doesn't prevent mental attacks per se - the manner in which it reinforces one's will and courage DOES make it easier to withstand such effects.
The Postman agrees to that.
The other magic that comes to mind is the Spell to Channel Vigor, which is actually a lot like using magic to temporarily fake the ability to use ki, when you take a good look at it. Unlike a true ki adept's skills, the spell can provide only a limited number of effects, and only one at a time - you advise the celestial to focus the energies involved to his spirit, where they will serve to further augment his willpower.
And - due to the rush of self-confidence - also make him better at lying and intimidating people, but that's not what you're suggesting he uses it for.
Really.
Normally, the second spell is only meant to work on the caster for a very short period of time, and it's a priestly spell besides. Changing it around so that it works on other beings is within your talents, but to make it last for a useful amount of time, you have to cast it as a ritual - and even then, it'll only last for ten minutes or so. As such, you cast the Spell to Channel Vigor first, then cast an unmodified Spell of Greater Heroism immediately afterwards.
Gained Augmentation C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
As the magic takes effect, you can see the Postman's nervous tension ease. He stands a little taller than before, and while it might be your mind playing tricks on you, that pale golden aura he radiates seems brighter and more defined.
He thanks you, and then disappears back into the Astral Side to deliver your message.
That's about all the summoning you think you can do for now. Even if today's meeting at the Hakuba Shrine ended sooner than usual, you're still coming up on your self-imposed curfew.
Besides, there's nothing stopping you from summoning Dekon and the Postman at home - say, after dinner? That should give the Deku Scrub plenty of time to track down those mushrooms you wanted, and if you have some seeds waiting for him to show off to potential customers, you might be able to convince him to part with a few Rupees, which you could then give to the Postman so he can buy some Bullbo fat for you.
Feeling satisfied with that idea, you dismiss your summoning circle and make your way out of Gen's basement.
"I take it from your expression that business is going well today?" your partner inquires.
"I'll be waiting on the details for a couple of hours yet," you answer, "but this particular deal looks... promising."
He chuckles, and bids you a good-day.
You do likewise, leave the shop, and make the trip home-
-flying/falling/sinking through a strange space/medium/awareness filled with familiar shapes/alien geometries and faint/loud chorus/discordance and a near/distant green energy/presence is that a spot/aura/presence of gold/sanctity you see/sense-
-returning without incident.
"Hey, Mom," you inquire. "Do we have any seeds?"
"You mean for gardening?"
"Those would work, or I could just go with any fruits and vegetables we have."
"...let me check."
A quick search of various drawers and cupboards actually does turn up some old packets of seed - grass, but also some flowers. You also have several fruits and vegetables that Dekon might find a buyer for, though you doubt that any attempt to cultivate the banana is going to work out. Unless they use a lot more magic than you were aware the Dekus had.
You take one of each type that's available and set them aside for later, explaining to your mother that one of the people you do business with is interested in foreign seeds.
"He can't just get them at the store?" she asks in puzzlement.
"By 'person,' I mean a walking shrub about so tall," you tell her, holding your hand out a little shy of the top of your own head.
"Oh. Magic, then."
"Yeah."
"Say no more."
And you don't.
After dinner, you head down to the basement, enter your Mirror Hideaway, and conjure the material for a new summoning diagram. Then you call up Dekon.
"Hello, hello, pi!" the little Scrub says. "I have returned, and I bring mushrooms, pi! Do you have my seeds, pi?"
The exchange goes quickly. Dekon only had to check two different spots to find what you wanted - the first had been crushed by a deadfall - and while the toadstools he hands over are small, they'll work just fine for your purposes. Dekon is pleased to take the samples of fruit you provide, as visual - and edible! - examples of what he has to offer in the way of seeds will go over much better than just the seeds themselves. Banana, orange, apple, grapes, tomato, flower seeds - Dekon even takes the packet of grass seed, although that may just be for the novelty of the packaging. Hyrule actually has apples, grapes, and tomatoes, as you recall, but these are FROM ANOTHER WORLD, so there's a chance they'll sell regardless.
Even better, Dekon makes a down payment of ten green Rupees for the goods.
Gained Rupees
After working out when Dekon thinks you should call him back - he suggests a few days from now, after he's had time to make the rounds of the Deku community - you thank the Scrub for his help and send him back to Hyrule.
Feeling in good spirits thanks to your profitable deal, you re-summon the Postman.
*POOF!*
"This place again?" the Postman murmurs as he looks around. He shivers. "Well, as long as I don't need to go out through the mirror again..." Straightening up, he salutes you. "Mr. Harris! I bring good news, bad news, and, um, weird news. Which would you like to hear first?"
"Bad news first," you say without hesitation.
The Postman nods. "Right. Well, the bad news is, I can confirm that there's some risk to making direct contact with the entity. Even with those spells you gave me, I could feel it, sort of" - he raises his hands, fingers spread as if to envelop his head, and then waves them around - "PUSHING against my mind the whole time I was communicating with it."
You frown.
"The good news comes in a pair," the celestial goes on. "First, the entity is definitely intelligent, and capable of meaningful communication. A little disjointed and hard to follow at first, but understandable once you get the hang of it. Second, in spite of the bad news, I didn't sense any malice or conscious intent to mess with my head. That just seems to be a side-effect of its nature, as one of those... glowy, eldritch... things."
That's... a bit better, you guess.
"And the weird news?" you ask.
"Your friend isn't on the Astral Plane."
You blink. "Come again?"
"As near as I can tell, that huge green cloud of light is just the reflection of the entity's presence on that side," the Postman says. "I spent a while trying to fly towards what LOOKED like the heart of it, but no matter how fast or how far I flew, there wasn't a source anywhere to be found. Not a physical body, not a centralized mass of cosmic power, nothing but grey space, green energy, and the usual Astral debris."
You have no idea what that means. You say as much.
"That makes two of us, sir," the celestial admits.
"Better make it three," Briar chimes in.
Through your puzzlement, a thought occurs. "Wait. If you couldn't find the entity, how did you deliver the message?"
Somewhat sheepishly, the Postman says, "I stopped flying and tried to think at it really loudly." He shrugs. "It worked."
...right.
Well, that's going to make making contact with the entity... interesting, to say the least. If it doesn't have a physical presence you can find to speak with - or think at - magically-aided mental contact may be the only reasonable course. Perhaps a variation on the Spell to Contact Other Planes? With your mental defenses shored up beforehand, of course.
Leaving that aside for the time being, you let the Postman know that your preliminary deal with Dekon the Deku went through, and you have a small supply of Rupees. You ask the Postman how many of the translucent gems - each about the size of your littlest fingernail, as it happens - he'll need to pay for the Bullbo fat. You don't need much, but even so, the Postman estimates it won't cost less than three Rupees. Probably not more than five, he thinks, but he admits he never had to buy Bullbo fat before.
You will, of course, be expecting the change.
Is there anything else you want to do, while you have the Postman available?
Better safe than sorry, you decide, handing over all ten of the Rupees you got from Dekon to the Postman.
"This should cover what you need, and then some," the celestial admits.
"How long do you think you'll need?"
He considers it. "Call me back tomorrow, and I should have it."
You're about the ask the Postman if he knows any reasonably trustworthy merchants that might be willing to buy extra-dimensional wares, but you recall that you asked a similar question once before. The Postman told you then that all the merchants he knew in life had passed away and "moved on" - hinting that their souls didn't stick around in a celestial or other spiritually-evolved form, and instead went back into the cycle of reincarnation. He also said that living Hylian merchants were likely to react badly to being contacted by a magic-user from another world, given Hyrule's bad track record with such beings.
Hence the whole reason WHY you were trying to negotiate with the Church in the first place. If the religious authorities say you aren't a bad guy - more precisely, if they say the GODDESSES say you aren't a bad guy - then your odds of being able to do business with the people of Hyrule get a lot better.
Granted, Dekon got along with you just fine, but then again, he's a Deku Scrub from the Lost Woods. What he considers dangerous and frightening must be WORLDS apart from what most Hylians would call such.
Rather than go over old ground again, you thank the Postman for his time and aid, and send him on his way.
After lunch the next day, you re-summon the Postman. He hands over a small clay jar containing a thick, gooey white substance that makes you think of bacon. A simple magical analysis confirms that it is Bullbo fat, and of suitable quality and quantity for your needs.
The Postman also returns eight of your Rupees to you.
"I was surprised it went that cheaply, myself," he admits, seeing your expression, "but it turns out that somebody's been supplying the butchers in the Castletown market with a freshly-killed Bullbo every week for the last couple of months. It's brought the usual prices down."
Gained Local Knowledge (Hyrule) E
Interesting, and a minor bit of good fortune for you.
You do wonder who's responsible, though. Bullbos are no easy kills, even when they haven't been bred and trained for battle by Bulblins, and from what you recall of the undomesticated swine, they live far enough from Castletown that hauling one's carcass all the way there in any reasonable amount of time would require strength akin to a Goron's.
Well, now you have the raw materials you need to brew up that ointment for the Spell of True Seeing. You don't have enough time to make the ointment before you're due to be at the Hakuba Shrine, but you can at least let the adults know you'll have it ready and waiting by tomorrow.
Aside from that, the only thing you have left to do is fetch the magic item Navi told you about. Seeing as how that's almost certainly going to involve another quest on your part, you don't have time for it now, either, but you could do it this evening, or tomorrow morning.
All things being equal, you'd prefer to have a full night's rest BEFORE you go traipsing into whatever monster-infested deathtrap Navi has in mind for you to visit. And since it's not like she imposed any time limits on when you could go on this little fetch quest, you can afford to take that night.
That still leaves you a full evening to work with - after dinner of course - and possibly an extra hour or two besides, depending on how long the meeting at the Hakuba Shrine runs. That should be plenty of time for you to break in your potion-brewing skills, and whip up the ointment you need.
But that's still some time away. For now, you have a meeting to be getting to.
As it happens, not much transpires at the Hakuba Shrine today. Asamu doesn't attend this meeting, having explained yesterday that the relatives he had to see lived too far away from the city for him to get back for the next day or two, depending on how long THAT little get-together lasts. You're basically just checking in with the priests, giving them a heads-up on the success of your hunt for spell components and your intention to whip up the necessary reagent once you head home.
You also mention your plan to acquire Navi's madness-manipulating magic item tomorrow.
"Will you be needing any assistance with that endeavor?" Hakuba Senior inquires.
"A blessing for luck certainly wouldn't hurt," you say. "And maybe... do those prayer strips work for for non-priestly people?"
"Actually, ofuda typically ARE blessings for good fortune," the priest replies. "If you were thinking of using them to bind or drive out manifested evil spirits, I'm afraid that does require at least some training - and more significantly, dedication to the kami answering the prayer."
Oh. Well, scratch that idea off, then. If you're going to pray to anybody, it's the Goddesses.
Gained Knowledge (Shinto) E
Still, since the generally-available talismans don't specifically require you to pray to anybody - the priests who make them handle that side of things - you could still get one of those without tangling up your spiritual obligations. You ARE allies, after all, and none of the Goddesses object to one ally lending another a helping hand; even Din only gets annoyed when people allow themselves to become dependent on others.
Is there a specific KIND of good luck you'd prefer to have? This would greatly increase the potency of the blessing in that particular field, at the obvious cost of removing potential benefits in other areas. Do note that you can only ask for ONE blessing. The kami of the Hakuba Shrine only has so much power to go around, after all.
The Hakuba Shrine has a pretty broad selection of charms available, but most of them you rule out as being completely irrelevant to your current needs. Prayers for a house to be protected against accidental fires, for success in business, or for the health of family members are all well and good, especially if they work, but these just aren't things that would be helpful right now.
Of the options that do look like they'd be useful to you, two in particular catch your attention. The one for fortune in battle is a straightforward invocation, akin to a number of spells in your repertoire. Hakuba Senior informs you that talismans of this sort aren't used much these days, as most citizens of modern Japan have exactly zero use for such a thing. Those who might conceivably need it, such as soldiers of the Self-Defense Force, wouldn't benefit as much from carrying the omamori as their ancestors would have, as modern military combat is heavily reliant on technology that the charm simply wasn't designed to work with.
Even in the Moonlit World, the charms find little favor: youkai and their part-human descendants often can't or just won't use them; many martial artists consider resorting to such things to be improper, or even a sign of weakness; and those who possess supernatural powers of their own tend to prefer their own skills, which don't typically benefit from this sort of blessing - certainly not to the extent that a more physically-oriented fighter would.
You're not so proud of your own hand-to-hand skills as to dismiss the benefits of a little divine favor on the side, but that leads into the issue of the Goddess whose favor you DO have. Din prefers that her followers stand on their own where they're able to do so, and is especially keen about it in combat - given that it's one of the big tests of personal ability - so asking another deity for aid in battle is the sort of thing you can see not going over with the Goddess of Power too well.
It'd be a different story if you were in the middle of a fight and NEEDED the extra support, and one of the priests was there to, ah, "tag in." That way, you'd at least have made an honest effort on your merits.
Anyhow, the other ofuda that gets your attention is one for success in studies. The old priest tells you that it's VERY popular with students, especially towards the end-of-year exam period, but you have a different challenge in mind for this charm to help you overcome:
Puzzle-locks.
Din doesn't really care about mental challenges. That sort of thing is Nayru's territory, and the Goddess of Wisdom is a big supporter of planning ahead and taking advantages as they present themselves. Self-knowledge, too - and you know yourself well enough to admit that you have... issues... where puzzle-locks are concerned.
Bloody Hylians just HAVE to complicate things...
So it is that you pick the talisman for success in studies.
Hakuba Senior looks rather bemused by your choice.
"Forgive an old man for prying," he says, as he hands it over, "but I'm trying to imagine what use you could have for this particular omamori on your quest. You have to admit, it's... rather an unusual choice."
Got Hakuba Charm
You consider Mister Hakuba's question, and how to frame your response.
"Imagine a locked door," you say after a moment. "And imagine that there is something on the other side of the door that you are in serious need of. What do you do?"
"Find the key," the priest answers promptly.
You nod. "Simple, right? Only, imagine that this 'key' is not a flat piece of metal with teeth on the bottom, that you can just slide into the lock and turn. Instead, it's three-dimensional - ridges and grooves and projections all over - and at first glance, it looks like you could fit it into the 'keyhole' by turning it on almost any one of its sides. But there's only ONE way that will fit properly."
After a moment, Hakuba Senior nods. "Alright, I'm following you."
"NOW imagine that, instead of being all in one piece, the key is broken up into several fragments," you continue. "And not only do you have to assemble these pieces, you have to FIND them first - and more often than not, they've been hidden in different sections of an ancient, maze-like ruin that's full of self-locking doors, automated traps, and monsters - not youkai or spirits that you could potentially talk to, but wild beasts, overgrown vermin, and artificial constructs built solely to chase out intruders. As if that weren't enough, many of the doors and traps are puzzles themselves, requiring you to battle your way across the labyrinth and BACK again to solve. Sometimes MULTIPLE times."
The priest is staring at you.
"And when you FINALLY manage to get the door open," you go on, voice rising slightly, "you find out that the item you wanted ISN'T THERE. Because that would be too easy! No, instead, you get clues to the location of ANOTHER maze like the one you just went through, only it's bigger, the puzzles are more complicated, the critters running around inside are worse, and - for BONUS points - the whole thing is located somewhere only a COMPLETE LUNATIC would ever think to build something, like the bottom of a lake or inside the mouth of an ACTIVE VOLCANO! In Nayru's name, HOW is that WISE?"
The elder priest raises one hand, mouth open as if to speak.
"And the locks!" you exclaim. "They just keep getting worse! More pieces, more problems, more needless delay and aggravation! And if you try to use magic to go around, it DOESN'T WORK! They WARD those rooms to high heaven and back, until they're the next best thing to indestructible and would require an INCARNATE GOD to break through! Yet despite the fact that they HAD that kind of power, they NEVER USED IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE! They could have made homes immune to fire or flood! Castle walls that no army could breach! Roads and aqueducts that lasted FOREVER! At the very least, they could have built enduring monuments to the gods that NORMAL WORSHIPPERS COULD ACTUALLY VISIT! But NO! It's ALWAYS the ancient, abandoned ruins - and after somebody SOLVES the puzzles, the idiots come back and pour unfathomable amounts of time, manpower, magic, and materials into CHANGING everything! And THEN, not only do they STOP VISITING what SHOULD be the greatest places of worship in the land, they FORGET WHERE THEY ARE! Din above, what. Is. WRONG with these people?!"
"SNAP OUT OF IT, ALEX!" Briar shouts.
Straight into your ear, as it happens.
Jerking to one side, you do a double-take. "What the heck, Briar?! Why... I... oh."
You MAY have dug a little too far into your inherited memories, there. On the other hand, you hadn't considered that Ganondorf might have reasons to hate Hylian puzzle-locks OTHER than his lousy skill at solving them. They, and the temples that house them, DO represent a rather massive investment of resources on the part of the people of Hyrule - resources that the Gerudo could never hope to muster, resources that were being WASTED with the repeated abandonment of the temples. And not just once, but over and over again.
One more reason for the King of Thieves to despise the Hylians that set themselves above his people.
"Well," Hakuba Senior says lightly. "It appears that my inquiry... touched a nerve. I do hope you'll forgive me for that, Alexander. It was quite unintentional."
"Um... of course, sir. And... I apologize for my, uh... rant." You smile weakly. "It's just... bad memories."
"So I gathered." He frowns. "I assume that you expect to encounter one of these... problematic... ruins when you go to acquire the item you've spoken of?"
You nod. "Briar's mother has a long history with the people who build those places. Odds are the item in question is one of theirs and will be locked up in THAT fashion - and if it's not, Navi will probably just steal the idea."
"Not like she hasn't done it before," Briar admits.
"Yeah. Based on the LAST little quest I ran for her, the physical challenges will be doable - they're meant to be tests of character and virtue, after all, not inescapable death-traps. The MENTAL challenges, on the other hand, can be... very frustrating. So a little outside assistance seemed like a good idea."
The priest nods slowly.
"Do you have to go by yourself?" he asks. "Or would bringing help other than Miss Briar be allowed?"
"As far as I'm aware, there's no rule against bringing help," you admit. "Assuming anyone here is willing to go with us, I wouldn't have any problem with it. Would you, Briar?"
"No, but weren't you planning to talk to Mom tomorrow morning, California time?"
Ah. Point.
"We could always reschedule to the afternoon," you tell her. "That's IF anyone wants to come along and help."
"Speaking for myself," Hakuba Senior says, "I'm getting a bit old to be going off on exciting adventures. And Suzuka doesn't yet have the training for an aggressive exorcism, or much in the way of inclination for it. My son and grandson, on the other hand... well, let's put it to them and see, shall we?"
You check with the other priests, and Hakuba Ginta immediately volunteers himself and his son to go with you, saying that the younger man could use more experience in the field, particularly against supernatural entities that aren't of Japanese origins.
The oldest monk says something about, "Thinking ahead," that you miss as the youngest speaks up.
"And what will you be doing while Alexander and I are recovering the item, Father?" Ichirou asks, a bit pointedly.
"Observing," the older man says firmly. "And being ready to pull your chestnuts out of the fire, if need be."
Ichirou appears mildly annoyed by that, but he doesn't speak against it.
"Also, I would like to meet this 'Great Fairy,'" Ginta admits. "Just to get her measure."
Miss Suzuka looks up at that. "Ah. Now I kind of want to come along, too..."
Briar shakes her head. "Speaking as the Great Fairy's daughter, believe me when I say: you'd be disappointed if you did."
That... doesn't appear to completely discourage the miko.
Regardless, since you now have two Shinto priests coming along, it makes sense to delay your quest by a few hours, so that everyone's rested up and ready to go - as opposed to you swinging by the Shrine to pick them up at what would be around midnight, local time. You'll just show up here tomorrow at the usual time, and instead of talking for an hour or three, you can head off to... wherever it is Navi's going to send you.
That settled, you go home and - after getting permission from your mother - set up in the kitchen to start mixing the ointment you need. The recipe is fairly simple. You start by removing the caps from your Lost Woods mushrooms and setting them in a pot full of water on the stove. While those gradually come to a boil, you first dice and then crush the stems into a paste, channeling a small amount of mana into the fungus as you work.
After about fifteen minutes, you take the pot off the stove, drain the water, and lay the swollen caps out to cool for a few minutes before doing unto them as you did their stems. As you explain to your watching mother, boiling the caps was just to reduce the amount of certain substances that build up in them and give them their color and patterns, which would interfere with the spell you intended to use these to cast.
Ganondorf never deviated from the formula when he made this stuff, so you're not exactly sure what that interference would look like, but given that these same mushrooms are eaten raw in certain vision quests?
Let's just say you have a pretty good guess.
Once you're finished reducing the mushrooms to a uniform paste, you scoop them into a small pot along with the Bullbo fat, set it on the stove, and heat it just enough to make it bubble, while stirring with a wooden spoon and channeling mana into the gooey mess. The saffron Gen gave you goes in next, sprinkled in slowly in a counterpoint to your stirring, with even more mana being passed through the spice as it falls from your fingers.
Your mother watches all of this with a keen eye, while keeping Zelda well clear, and says something to herself about making you help out with meals more often.
Gained Cooking F (Plus) (Plus)
You have no idea what raw pig fat, crushed mushrooms, and spices cooked together at a relatively low temperature would come out looking like normally, especially after they cooled and congealed, but with the added ingredient of magic, the result is a slightly-greasy yellowish paste, speckled with flecks of bright gold. You study it intently, a little concerned that even with the wards Ambrose set up for you, the Hellmouth's energies may have interfered with the preparation process, but everything looks fine - there's no trace of contamination.
Gained Ointment of True Seeing
You end up scooping the ointment into one of your mother's Tupperware containers, which you store in your pocket. Going by volume, you probably have enough of the stuff to cast the Spell of True Seeing a dozen times, which is anywhere from two to three times what you expect you'll need to deal with the kitsune.
But having more than you need certainly isn't a BAD thing. If you wanted to, you could easily afford to test the mix out now.
Also, before you set out to pick up your questing partners tomorrow, do you want to maintain all the buffs you've been using In Case of Kitsune? Or would you prefer to go without?
Although you have every confidence in your own work, you decide to test the quality of the ointment, as well as the effects of the Spell of True Seeing.
After all, you've never cast the spell before in this life, and while MOST of your inherited magic has worked exactly the same for you as it did for Ganondorf, some spells have not. True, the quirks with your teleportation, the tendency of your Summoning spells to produce Hyrulean monsters, and the way your Spell of the Three-Fold Aspect made Adult You look entirely too much like the Gerudo King have little if anything to do with the spells themselves, and EVERYTHING to do with YOU, but the precedent is there all the same.
Who's to say the Spell of True Seeing won't be the next spell to display side-effects?
Better to test it and make sure, while nobody's depending on it.
That in mind, you clean up the mess you made in the kitchen, and then head down to the basement and into your Mirror Hideaway. Pulling out the ointment, you daub a bit under each eye and spread it out, feeling a bit like a baseball or football player as you do so. Then, packing the remaining ointment away, you cast the Spell of True Seeing.
As the magic takes hold, the mirror surfaces all around you seem to... ripple.
...
You have just enough time to realize that an extra-dimensional space formed in the Mirror Plane by your power probably counts as a "change" to the magic of this spell, before THE WALLS COME RUSHING AT YOU-!
The next few seconds involve screaming, one VERY surprised fairy running into the inner surface of an Emergency Force Sphere that wasn't there just a second ago, and a profanity that would probably have sufficed to get you grounded again for a day or two, had either of your parents been in here to hear you say it.
"Ow," Briar groans, as she peels herself off the curved force-wall. "Alex! What the heck was that for!?"
"Ah! Gah! Oh. Oh, Goddesses..." Uncurling from your defensive flinch, you dismiss the barrier you snapped into place around yourself, close your eyes, and try to calm the jackhammer that's set up shop in your chest. After a long minute, you say in a conversational tone, "I think I hate this spell already."
"...why?"
"Because the room we're in was made by magic, and the NATURAL state of this part of the Mirror Plane? Is a SOLID."
Briar - whose tiny figure you note looks more defined and less hidden by her natural aura at the moment - looks around at the walls, floor, and ceiling.
"In other words, you're seeing yourself move through solid glass right now?"
"Yeah."
"...what's it look like?"
You hold out your right arm and wave it slowly through the air, as well as the ghostly, not-quite-solid "glass" that your augmented eyes perceive.
"Kind of like looking at something that's under slightly-cloudy water, when your eyes aren't," you answer. "Except without any ripples."
"Doesn't sound too bad," she notes. "So why the freak-out from nowhere?"
You give her a look. "Because for a second there, it looked like every surface in the room was racing towards me at about a thousand miles per hour."
"...oh."
"Yeah, 'oh.'"
Once you believe you've recovered from your unintentional self-inflicted heart attack, you get on with the testing.
Briar casts a Spell of Invisibility on herself, to no effect as far as you can see, and then casts several minor illusions. These prove interesting to look at, as the Spell of True Seeing doesn't dispel the effects or prevent you from seeing them; rather, it makes Briar's creations transparent and washed-out, obvious fakes to your eyes, even when contrasted with the unreal-looking substance of the unaltered Mirror Plane that you can see everywhere.
You cast a couple Illusions of your own, to similar results, and then you try a Spell of Transformation, turning yourself into a monkey.
That proves pretty weird. It's not evident in your reflections, where you look like an ordinary monkey, but when you look down at yourself, your simian guise looks like a thick cloud, hanging about the reality of your human form. This despite the fact that your monkey-form is actually SMALLER than you normally are.
Thinking about it gives you a headache, and you dismiss the transformation.
All in all, the Spell of True Seeing works as expected. It just takes some getting used to.
Gained Science F (Plus) (Plus)
When you head out to the Hakuba Shrine the next day, you do so without the roster of defensive spells you've been using lately, in case you ran into the nine-tailed kitsune. You're only going to be in Japan long enough to pick up your questing companions, and you have no intention of going anywhere but the Shrine, so you feel like you can save a little time and effort.
Besides, the wards against scrying could interfere with Navi's magic when she tries to transport you to wherever you're going. No sense annoying the Great Fairy without cause.
Both Ginta and Ichirou are ready and waiting when you arrive. Ichirou is carrying a couple of satchels over his usual priestly robe, and has a rather tall bow in one hand and a full quiver over his shoulder. Ginta is not carrying a weapon that you can see, but you note that he's wearing a pair of reinforced open-fingered gloves that disappear into his wide sleeves, and has a pair of shin-guards or greaves over his lower forelegs.
After a brief exchange of courtesies with Hakuba Senior, Mrs. Hakuba, and a somewhat disgruntled-looking Miss Suzuka, the three of you - Briar riding along on your shoulder - step outside the gate, where you send off a quick magical call to Navi.
A moment later, you find yourself in an open field under a twilit sky, priests at your back, a forest off to your right, and directly ahead of you, a ring of standing stones that - rather surprisingly - do NOT appear to be Hyrulean in origin. The surroundings also lack the ghostly glow you recall from Navi's recreation of the Silent Realm, though you can't see any animals or other creatures to compare against the ones you encountered there. The air feels distinctly different, clearer and carrying far more magic than you're used to on Earth, even on the Hellmouth. It's also a type of magical energy - a "scent," for lack of a better word - that is unfamiliar to you, something that carries the aroma of fresh loam and grass, the fragrances of a field of a hundred flowers, and underneath those, the faintest hint of lightning.
Standing between your group and the stones is Navi, in her humanoid form. She's looking your little group over, her expression openly curious.
The polite thing to do in this situation would be to introduce your companions to Navi, and vice-versa. So you do.
"This is Hakuba Ginta and Hakuba Ichirou," you say, indicating the elder and younger priests respectively. "They're from the shrine that I've been working with to try and deal with the nine-tailed fox. When I mentioned I was coming to get the item that would embody her madness, they offered to come along: Ichirou is here to gain some experience; and his father is along to watch, and step in if we make any mistakes. Also," you add, "he wanted to meet you."
"I see." Navi nods to the two priests. "In that case, gentlemen, welcome."
Ginta bows.
"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am," Ichirou says, bowing in turn.
Navi gives the young priest a once-over, and smiles. "Oh, I like you already."
"Anyway," Briar cuts in then, "where exactly are we, Mom? Because it looks and feels like Faerie."
"That would be because it IS Faerie, daughter mine."
Briar groans. "PLEASE tell me this artifact we're going after isn't Fae."
"It's not Fae," Navi assures her.
"Now say it again, and make me believe it this time."
Navi huffs and gives her child an annoyed glare. "What exactly have I done to earn this mistrust from my own flesh and blood?"
"Would you like a li- wait a second." Briar leaves your shoulder and flits over to her mother, who leans back slightly as her daughter flies directly at her face and hovers rather close. "Mom, what's wrong with your face?"
"Briar!" Navi exclaims. "There is nothing wrong with my face!"
You look more closely at the Great Fairy. You don't see anything out of the ordinary at first, but when you look a little closer, squinting slightly to filter out the light of her aura, you get the impression that her right eye is... off, somehow. And you're not just thinking that because Briar is hovering in front of it; there's a very faint magical aura there, distinct from the rest of Navi's presence.
"Then why do you have an illusion over your eye?" Briar retorts. "What happened?"
Navi sighs, and makes a gesture.
"Holy crap!" Briar says, fluttering backwards in shock at the revealed - and rather spectacular - shiner. "Where did you- have you been FIGHTING?"
"That's not important."
"Not important?! Mom, you look like you got punched by a Goron! What the hell happened?!"
"...Please tell me you didn't get into a fistfight with Din."
Before you even realize what you're saying, the words are already out of your mouth. Fortunately, your manners and your understanding of the female mind kick in then, and stop you from saying anything more.
Seriously, if Navi HID her new black eye, it's a pretty big clue she was hoping not to have to talk about it.
Despite the great difference in size between mother and daughter, the family resemblance is obvious as Navi and Briar both turn to face you - although where Navi's reaction to your words is one part startled, one unamused, Briar seems to radiate complete astonishment.
"As it happens," the Great Fairy says, with cool dignity, "no, I did not get into a fistfight with Din. That would have been foolish."
You raise your hands and bow your head slightly in mute apology.
"Besides, she wasn't the one I was annoyed with," Navi grumbles.
Briar makes a sound and whirls to stare at her mother.
Once again, you find you can't help yourself. "Nayru, or Farore?"
And with Din as your witness, Navi folds her arms and smirks, radiating smugness almost as distinctly as her aura.
"Actually," she says, "I put Nayru down with the first shot."
Briar wheezes.
"Taking a swing at Farore, though" - Navi brings one hand up to her swollen eyesocket, gingerly tracing the outline of the bruise - "that was pushing my luck too far. Of course, Din thought the whole thing was hilarious, and may I just say how WEIRD it is to have the Goddess of Power on MY side for once? Because it is."
Still nothing intelligible from Briar.
Ginta and Ichirou are both looking rather astonished by the idea that Navi was, ah, "quarreling" with some other divine entities, if a bit lost due to their unfamiliarity with the individuals involved.
As for yourself, you kind of want to...
Bow.
You bring your hands together in the martial salute of the School of Five Elements, and lower your head to the Great Fairy.
"I bow in respect to you, O Great Master," you intone, "and if I didn't already have an excellent sensei, who is probably going to freak out when I tell him about all this, I would be very interested in learning your technique. As it is, I shall simply stand in awe."
Navi laughs at that.
"Still," you say then, unable to hold back a smile of your own, "as amusing as this is, it isn't why we're here."
"You're right, of course." Navi half-turns and takes a step back, giving you a clearer view of the megalithic circle. "What you want is through there."
"'Through,' ma'am?" Ichirou inquires.
"Through," Navi repeats, with an emphatic nod. "The triliths at the cardinal points are portals that connect to different parts of an abandoned complex. I'm not sure about what's inside, though; the place appears to be warded against intrusion by fae and fae magic. I can only see a short distance inside. I'm concerned that if I try to probe deeper, I may trip a more active defense."
That sets off an alarm bell. "Will Briar be able to go in there?"
"If she were by herself, no," Navi says. "But her connection with you, unpleasant as it is, may allow her to pass the wards."
"Only 'may,' Mom?" Briar says, finally finding her voice.
"I'm short on bonded fairies to test it with, dear."
"...fair enough."
Navi proceeds to describe what she's seen of the interior of the place, which isn't much - as she said, she could only see through the wards for a short distance, which is about ten feet. The gate on the "south" of the circle, nearest to you, connects to a classic dungeon-style complex, walls, floor, and ceiling all worked stone, with torches lining the walls as the main source of light. Navi hasn't seen anything move through the area she's able to monitor.
The gate to the "east" leads into a chamber much like the first, although Navi says this one is guarded. The other side of the portal is flanked by two very human-like figures wearing chain armor and carrying spears. Every four hours, two new guards come along to replace the ones on duty, who march off beyond the range of Navi's magic. As it happens, you managed to arrive almost exactly two hours after the latest shift-change, but Navi doesn't think it will help you much in dealing with the guards - she calls them "human-like" for a reason, and that's because as far as she can tell, they're actually some kind of construct.
"Not a patch on Darknuts or Ironknuckles, thankfully," she adds. "Their auras suggest a level of power closer to a Stalkin."
"'Darknut?'" Ginta echoes. "'Ironknuckle?'"
"Think of European knights, sir," you advise. "Full armor, fancy helmet, sword and shield, the works. They're master-level fighters."
He nods slowly, frowning at your description.
"They're also about eight feet tall," Navi adds, "and even stronger and tougher than you'd think, just by looking at them."
The priest's eyes widen slightly. "I see. Well, we are fortunate not to be facing such creatures."
"And these, uh, 'Stalkin?'" Ichirou asks.
"Animated skeletons," you say simply. "Those aren't very strong at all - you might be able to destroy one just by shooting it once, depending on how much force you can get behind an arrow."
"These guards are probably a bit tougher than that," Navi cautions, before resuming her report on what lies beyond the portals.
The "north" gate seems to connect to another trilithon, which is surrounded by trees and illuminated by the same twilight conditions that you're currently witnessing. Despite the implication, Navi doesn't think the other side of the gateway is actually on the surface: she's tried to scry for it, but hasn't found a thing; and beyond that, she hasn't seen or heard any animals moving around near the portal. She hasn't seen anything else there, either.
Finally, there's the "west" gate. This one links up with what appears to be a natural cave system, and one devoid of light sources. Even with the interference of the wards, Navi's magic allows her to see in the dark just fine, and she's spotted patches of fungus, as well as insects and the odd lizard scuttling about, all adapted to lightless conditions. The atmospheric conditions through that gate suggest it's cooler and more damp than the two dungeon-like chambers, but otherwise unremarkable.
"Before we go in there," you say, "I just want to check a few things."
"Such as?" Navi asks.
"Well, for starters, is time here moving a different rate than it is on Earth, like it was in the Silent Realm?"
"I'm afraid not," the Great Fairy replies. "I'd considered setting up a time-altering field, since I know you can only afford to stay here so long, but with the structure being warded as it is, that wasn't possible."
Right, so you are on a time limit, at least for today. Make it two and a half hours and counting.
"Right, so with that settled, what exactly IS this magic item we're looking for?"
"A mirror."
You and Briar groan in unison.
"It's not like the last one," Navi says defensively. "This one doesn't automatically affect everyone who looks into it; you have to catch their reflection first and then command the mirror's power to activate. It only works on people who have some form of mental affliction, whether it's natural or mystical in origin, though I'm told it also works on cases of possession. It's just that, in such cases, it just forces the possessing spirit out and into its original form, rather than creating something from scratch."
That does sound a little more reasonable. "What's this mirror look like?"
"It's round, about so big" - Navi holds her hands before her body, about a foot of space between them - "with a white frame."
There's one final question that occured to you, and one you almost don't ask. "Does this area belong to anybody?"
"No," Navi says firmly. "None of the Fae lords claim this area, and the complex looks like it's of human construction anyway. I'm not sure who the builders were or what happened to them, but given the location, there's a very good chance they were from Earth. Regardless, there's no indication that anyone's been through the portals in decades."
Ginta frowns at this. "Forgive me for asking, but, if no one's been here in that long a time, and you yourself cannot enter or look within-"
"-how do I know the mirror's in there?" Navi finishes.
The priest nods. "As you say."
"Because the mirror is an artifact from a land called Hyrule-"
"Wait, what?" Briar exclaims.
"-and I have a long personal history with that realm," Navi goes on, gesturing for her daughter to hush. "When Alex decided that drawing the madness out of the nine-tailed fox was his best bet for curing her, I went and asked people from Hyrule I know for something that fit the bill. They pointed me in this direction."
You look from Navi to the standing stones, and back again. "How did something from Hyrule end up THIS close to Earth?"
"I'm still working on that," she admits.
Questions asked, you move on to the next step: reconnaissance.
After telling your companions what you plan to do, you cast the Spell of Prying Eyes, using the enhanced form of the spell that lets your eye-shaped probes share most of the forms of enhanced vision that you possess. Not Power Sight - that would consume them - but Mage Sight, Ki Sight, and Spiritual Sight are all in there. Then you cast additional spells to grant the Eyes night vision and invisibility, followed by casting Magic Aura to conceal their small but rather potent magical presences.
It's a good thing the Eyes are so tiny, because it allows you to adjust the spells in question so that you only need to cast each once, affecting all twelve of the little floating spheres, rather than having to cast them a dozen times each. This, in turn, lets you cast the heavily-modified Spells of Darkvision, Invisibility, and Magic Aura ritual-style, saving you not only mana, but the better part of an hour's work.
You send the Eyes into the southern portal first, to explore the seemingly unpatrolled dungeon. As they approach the trilithon, the empty space framed by the three massive pieces of weathered grey stone is filled with a faint white glow. One after another, the Eyes pass through the gateway.
A moment later, the glow fades.
And you feel your spell abruptly terminated.
"Darn it," you mutter.
"What happened?" Briar asks.
"The Eyes have all been destroyed," you report. "Or maybe dispelled. Give me a minute to check."
Looking down and around, you find a small stone, which you pick up. You also cast a cantrip, creating a second rock that might as well be the twin of the first. Walking up to the gate, you activate your Mage Sight and study the heavy stones and the magical gateway they frame as it comes to life. You see auras of Divination and Summoning, which a construct like this would require to do its job, as well as a rather potent aura of Abjuration - most likely the anti-Fae wards Navi mentioned.
Without a word, you toss the first rock through the gate.
All the auras flare brightly - not enough to cause you discomfort, though it does make reading the fine details of what the magic is doing a bit harder. That doesn't stop you from seeing how the aura of Abjuration suddenly extends to cover the entire portal, with a particularly strong concentration on the rock.
You turn to Navi. "Did it make it through?"
"Yes," she replies.
You repeat the procedure with your magically-conjured rock, which doesn't survive the trip. You're close enough that you can actually see it start to break up as it passes through this side of the portal.
Well. This changes things a bit.
You search the ground all about, and find a few small stones and a couple of sticks. Keeping these on-hand, you cast an extended Spell of Augmentation to enhance your mental faculties, and then focus your Mage Sight on the portal, first analyzing it in its inactive state, then when it comes to life, and then again when something actually passes through.
Although you can "read" the energy flowing through the empty space between the stones well enough, when you attempt to examine the trilithon itself, you find nothing - literally, in fact. If you couldn't see with your own eyes the magical energy of the gateway, you'd think that these standing stones were completely non-magical.
Given the glaring evidence to the contrary, you take this as a sign that whoever built this place slapped a ward akin to your own Spell of Magic Aura onto their creation, specifically to prevent the kind of magical analysis you're attempting right now.
As far as you're concerned, there can be only one response to such an action:
Challenge accepted.
You cast the Greater Spell to Detect Magic, and repeat your observations of the portal.
Still nothing.
Undeterred, you skip straight to the Greater Spell of Arcane Sight, arguably the single most powerful spell of direct magical analysis in your repertoire.
STILL nothing.
You're starting to develop a grudging respect for the portal's builders. They clearly didn't skimp on their magical security.
But that won't stop you.
Calling upon your Power, you let the golden energy blaze behind and around your eyes, flooding it through the matrices of the vision-augmenting spells you've cast.
Gained Power Sight F (Plus)
THAT does it.
And it turns out that your suspicions were correct: there IS an aura of Illusion wrapped around the standing stones, matching the shifts in the other auras and masking them from normal detection.
You repeat your experiment yet again, and this time, you get a reasonably good look at what the portal is doing.
Gained Science F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
After a few moments of study, you relax and let your Power dissipate, not wishing to needlessly waste energy.
The good news is that the magic-disrupting effect that the portal is aiming at everything that passes through it is not some kind of Anti-Magic Field, or - Goddesses forbid - a Disjunction. It's "merely" a high-powered dispelling effect, analogous to your own Greater Spell to Dispel Magic.
The bad news is that, given the intensity of said spell, you're pretty sure that whoever cast it was at least as skilled in the arts of Abjuration as you are. Whether they had as much raw power on tap is another question, but that doesn't really matter, because they built the portal well enough to make up for any personal shortcomings they might have suffered. As it stands, you have serious doubts that any spells you can cast would survive a passage through the gateway intact.
Your dimensional pocket won't be destroyed by the effect, nor will its contents be harmed, but it'll almost certainly be forced shut for several minutes after you cross the threshold marked by those massive stones. Your Blessed Sword might suffer a similar temporary power failure if you had it in hand when you walked through the gate - and then again, due to its divine origin, it might not.
Another issue is that you can't see a way to move through the portal without being exposed to that magic-suppressing field. The matrices that power the gateway are buried too deeply in the standing stones for even your Power Sight to reveal them in their entirety, but each time something passes through the portal, the Abjuration and Summoning aspects of its aura flared simultaneously. It's very likely that the underlying spellwork was deliberately tied together, so that whenever one spell is triggered, the other automatically activates as well.
You were already considering using your own Summoning magic to bypass the gateway entirely, either plane-shifting or teleporting into the dungeon complex, depending on whether it was in Faerie or its own little sub-reality, and your discoveries about the portal's defenses would normally make that approach even more attractive than it already was.
Unfortunately, the bad news just keeps on coming: when the portal activated, your gleaming golden gaze was able to glimpse its power interacting another aura of Abjuration and Summoning - this one a powerful ward against any and all forms of extra-dimensional travel, save for that permitted by the gate itself.
The complex's builders, it seems, were very, VERY thorough in their security precautions.
You're starting to get annoyed by that, to be honest.
By this point, you've been making magic for almost half an hour. Ginta and Navi both look like they could wait for days for you to make some progress, but Ichirou's occasional fidgeting shows that he's a bit less practiced in his patience than his father. Similarly, Briar's flitting about betrays her impatience.
"Any progress?" she asks.
You summarize your findings thus far, and add that you were about to cast the Spell of Literary Vision to get an idea of the portal's history.
No one in your audience objects to this idea, although Navi suggests that - given the extensive wards you've already found on the trilithon and the complex beyond it - you might want to cast your spell at the center of the ring of standing stones. At the very least, the earth there hasn't been warded.
You move to the center of the ring of stones, pull out your Conjured Book with its many conveniently-empty pages, and proceed to cast your spell.
The Book in your hand begins to glow and flips itself open to the first blank page, which is already filling with words faster than you could write or type them. You try to read the entry, but when the filled page flips over to continue writing before you even finish reading the first line, you decide to wait for the spell to run its course.
After about five pages have been filled, the magic fades. You flip back to the start of the entry, and read.
...
Oh great, more poetry.
To sum up, as far as your spell was concerned, only four events of "legendary" importance have ever happened in this place. The first was the creation of the standing stones, and the complex to which they are connected - and that was mostly due to the power of the builders. The writing in your Book reveals little to nothing about who they were, only describing them in very general terms - "sons of Man," "the children of the Earth," and other fancy titles that do an excellent job of making them sound interesting and important, without actually telling you anything useful. Although it DOES say that they built the place over a thousand years ago, and hints at their origins being somewhere in Europe.
Probably.
Maybe.
One thing you do learn about the builders is that were no friends of the Fae, having suffered under their "tricks and malice" both personally and culturally for many, many years. The purpose of this magically-fortified facility was to serve as a forward base, where their warriors could stand watch for Fae raiders, their wizards could more easily conduct research on the many denizens of Faerie, and their punitive expeditions would be able to range out from - and to fall back to in case of emergency.
The book mentions a few clashes between human and Fae forces, though only one took place here - this is the second event of genuine note, as it involved a Lord of the Winter Court and his host. The humans managed to kill the individual in question and beat back his surviving troops, suffering relatively minor losses in the exchange.
The third incident of mention is the abandonment of the base. It didn't happen until decades after the residents' victory over the Fae Lord, and it wasn't because of the Fae at all; instead, a war had begun back on Earth, between two of the nations that, a mere three generations earlier, had combined their resources and manpower to build this place. This led to a schism amongst the facility's defenders, which ended when one of the mages took control of the defenses and tried to turn them against his nation's enemies. Unfortunately for him - and everyone else in the base - the magical guardians had been built for the express purpose of fighting against the Fae, and were programmed to never attack humans. The mage was unable to override that built-in safety feature, and foolishly erased it, at which point, the guardians were free to attack men - which they did, the mage himself being their first victim.
Your spell suggests that the ensuing massacre had SOME survivors, but they fled back to Earth and never returned. The base has been abandoned since then, patrolled by the magical equivalent of killer robots.
Lovely.
"There is a message in this tale," Ginta muses.
"'Automated war machines are a bad idea,' perhaps?" Ichirou suggests.
"I'm more partial to, 'Man is his own worst enemy,'" Navi says.
Before they get too far into that, you hold up one hand to interrupt, and remind them that there's one last entry of note:
This being that, centuries after the base had been abandoned and forgotten, it was found again - and not by Man or Fae, but something else, something your spell-written text describes in... unsettling terms.
Beware the beast of shadow born,
the darkness in the light;
the outcast and accursed son,
one wrought from fear and spite.
Born with purpose, born but to die,
and yet it lives on still;
your prize it holds, but will not yield,
for all it knows is kill.
In the wake of your recital, there is a long, uneasy silence. Finally, Briar sighs.
"Don't take this personally, partner mine, but sometimes? I really, REALLY hate your magic."
Ominous warnings aside, you get the feeling that you're not going to learn much more about this place by hanging around on the doorstep, trying to cast spells around or through the extensive magical protections. At some point, you're going to have to put on your big boy pants, and go inside.
Aloud, you suggest stepping through the unpatrolled south portal and repeating the scouting methods you tried to use earlier. Once you're inside the dungeon, the wards meant to keep magic from getting through the walls shouldn't be an issue - you know, unless the builders of the place set up a continuous dispelling effect or an anti-magic field in every room. You're fairly certain they didn't do that, because it would have been EXTREMELY expensive, and would have interfered with their magic as much as anyone else's.
Also, Navi can sort-of scry in there, which probably wouldn't be possible if there was a general anti-magic effect on top of the specific anti-Fae warding.
"That sounds like a reasonable next step to me, Alex," Ginta agrees. "However, I think you should wait here while someone else goes inside first."
You're tempted to point out that, between your magic, your martial arts, and your ki abilities - to say nothing of your other skills - you're very likely to be the best-equipped of the three humans here for dealing with whatever might be lurking on the other side of the portal. However, you recognize that Mister Hakuba is doing the responsible adult thing, and getting the kid - namely, you - out of potential harm's way.
With that in mind, you're not terribly surprised when he "volunteers" himself to go through first.
"On the off-chance that you get stuck on the other side, Father," Ichirou inquires, "are there any messages you'd like me to take back?"
"Apologize to your mother for me missing lunch," Ginta says without missing a beat, "and tell your grandfather he'd better not be slacking off while I'm inconvenienced."
With that, he steps through the portal, and vanishes.
"He's through," Navi reports. "And he's fine. Looking around, some surprise, no real concern - and here he comes."
Indeed, Ginta's form is emerging from the glowing portal as smoothly as it went in.
"That is the ODDEST feeling," he mutters, patting himself down, as if making sure he didn't leave any bits of himself behind.
"Are your prayer strips still working?" you ask.
"One moment..."
The priest pulls out an ofuda and holds it before himself with two fingers, muttering a prayer.
The slightly-wrinkled paper straighens up with a snap and a faint glow of divinely-backed spiritual power.
"Still good," Ginta confirms. "Then again, they're not precisely magical to start with."
He's kind of splitting hairs there - supernatural power is supernatural power, and Dispel Magic is good against most forms of it - but whatever.
Ginta goes back inside, followed by Ichirou, and then you follow, your ki primed for action and Briar on your shoulder, tiny hands grasping tightly to your sleeve-
-and now that you've experienced the workings of the portal personally, it feels a LOT like teleportation. You were wondering about that.
"Still with me, Briar?" you ask, looking to your shoulder.
"Nurghle," the fairy replies from her uncomfortable-looking forward sprawl. "Blargh. Urp?"
"...that bad, huh?"
"I feel like Chu Jelly," she groans. "Freshly squeezed, PURPLE Chu Jelly. That's being CHUGGED."
Considering that Chus are omnivorous, mildly-acidic slimes that lurk in dark, unwholesome places, and will at least TRY to eat anything that comes their way, and the purple ones tend to be actively toxic on top of that... that's pretty bad. Concerned, you do a quick scan of Briar's life-force and magical aura, but as far as you can tell, she isn't actually hurt or drained. Just... very uncomfortable.
Giving Briar a minute to recover from passing through the wards, you look around.
The room you're in appears to have been carved or magically-reshaped from solid, greyish-black stone. It's twenty-five feet across and about as long, with a mildly-sloped ceiling; it starts off fifteen feet high where you're standing, then gradually declines until it's only ten feet above the ground at the far end of the chamber. As Navi said, torches line the walls, ten feet of space between them. They crackle and dance like mundane fire, and give off a faintly unpleasant scent suggesting some manner of fuel other than wood, but you can sense magic in their working.
The reason for the uneven roof is the portal that stands behind you, looking for all the world like the back side of the trilithon you walked under - except that these three stones are set partway into the wall, their paler substance making for quite a contrast with the darker material.
There's only one doorway, directly across from you; Ginta and Ichirou are moving to cover it, elder first, younger several steps behind and at an angle that gives him perfect clearance to use his bow.
Aside from that, the room is bare of anything.
You have to say, it really doesn't look like the kind of place that saw armed fighting and a rampage of killer magic robots.
Shaking that off, you move closer to the priests.
"See anything?" you ask in a quiet voice.
"A long hallway," Ginta replies in the same tone. "Four side-passages, spaced every... ten meters, perhaps? And another door at the far end. The room beyond THAT seems to be better-lit than the hall or this chamber; I can't see the others well enough to say for certain." He pauses, tilting his head. "I also can't hear anything, and I don't sense anything unusual."
"Neither do I," Ichirou murmurs.
You don't feel anything out of the ordinary, either. More magical masking, or is there just nothing here to sense?
"Alright. I'm going to cast my spells, now."
Before you attempt to cast the Spell of Prying Eyes, you cast another simple cantrip, creating a small clump of dirt on the ground in the nearest door on your right. No magical reaction is forthcoming, and when you cast the same spell at the passage directly across from the first, it displays the same lack of response.
Satisfied that the magic-dispelling barriers from the portals are not present in every doorway in this complex, you get on with the major spell. Ten minutes later, another cloud of a dozen Eyes hovers around your head, as imperceptible to all senses as you can easily make them - all senses but your own, that is.
"Stay in pairs, five feet apart," you order them, while keeping track of the number of words. "Follow the walls, always turn right. Investigate auras. If your partner is destroyed, return immediately." Then you select two Eyes, and tell them, "You two; that door," pointing at the nearest of the right-hand passages.
Obediently, they fly off.
You repeat this with the remaining Eyes, selecting a different door each time. This process of elimination results in two Eyes being left over, but that's fine. You can keep these in reserve for later, if you need them.
With your scouts dispatched, you turn to Briar, and ask her if she'd like you to try and do something to help her deal with the effect the anti-Fae wards are having on her. You suggest the Spell of Polymorph Familiar, thinking that if you turn her into something that isn't Fae, then logically, the effect of the wards will be avoided.
Briar makes a queasy noise and shakes her head. "No transformations for me, thank you. The wards aren't affecting me right now; this is just the aftereffects of going through the portal. It'll pass."
"You're sure?"
"Yes. I already feel a lot better than I did ten minutes ago; give it another ten, twenty at the outside, and I should be fine. You know, as long as you don't expect me to go through another of those evil, evil gateways."
Before you can say or do anything else, you realize that some of your Eyes are returning.
That was quick.
It turns out to be one of the pair that went down the passage on the near-right. Its companion is gone, and when you replay the Eye's limited information, you discover that the corridor they followed is only about thirty feet long, and opens up into a room that has at least two of those soldier-golems on patrol inside. You say "at least" two, because their patrol route had them passing in front of the door at the same time as the lead Eye emerged from it - with predictable results.
You send your last two Eyes down that same passage.
No sooner have those ones left, than two more of your probes return. These were the pair you sent into the door on the far left, and the images you absorb from them are of a single room, roughly the same size as the one you're in now, but full of ancient, rickety-looking crates, shelves carved into the stone walls, and mouldering lumps of who-knows-what occupying most of the storage spaces. There are eight torches in that room - two on each wall, about ten feet apart and from each corner - no other visible points of entry, and everything is covered under a solid inch of dust.
When you open your eyes this time, three of your probes have returned. Picking one at random, you find that it came from the doorway on the near-left, which appears to have been some kind of stable, with room enough for a dozen horses. The stalls are empty and crumbling, floors coated with the remains of ancient straw - no dead horses, though, as far as you can tell.
There's another chamber beyond the stable, the floor of which bears a large, complicated-looking circular diagram that radiates an aura of Summoning. As per its orders, the Eye took the time to get a detailed scan of the pattern, and looking at the images now, you're quite certain that it was another teleportation device. Given its location and sheer size - it's twenty feet across if it's an inch, taking up most of the floor in that room as a result - you suspect it was how the horses would have been moved in and out of the base, rather than leading them through the comparatively-narrow trilithon portals. The Eye didn't have the means to actively probe the diagram's workings, so you might want to check that out for yourself.
The next Eye you pick is the partner of the one whose information you just absorbed. All you get out of this one is a second look at that teleportation array.
The third Eye was one of the pair that inspected the passage on the far right. If the rusted-down and rotted remnants of armor, shields, spears, and other weapons are any indication, it was an armory. There was an alcove on the far side of the room that radiated Abjuration magic, and the Eye in your hand has a clear record of its partner flying towards that space, only to be intercepted by a small force-wall that flashed into existence.
Something else to look into, then.
When you open your eyes this time, you're not surprised at all to find that two more of your Eyes have made it back. These turn out to be the replacement pair you sent down the near-right passage. They avoided the guardians and got a good look at the room they're in, which appears to have been a combination of guard post and barracks. If the shattered and decayed remnants of the beds are any indication, as many as a dozen men might have been housed there - maybe twice that, if they had bunk beds. Two rooms adjoin the main one, one holding what your inherited memories recognize as old-fashioned latrines - ew - the other, a long-dry fountain and broad, shallow pits that were probably bathing pools.
Incidentally, there are only two of the soldier-golems in the barracks - but there are also a few skeletal bodies lying about that radiated auras of Necromancy. Those are almost certainly undead of some sort.
That's ten Eyes down, and four rooms observed.
You spare a moment's thought to wonder what the other two have found, before filling the priests in on your findings.
That done, you start ritually-casting a series of buffs upon yourself and your companions. One fifth-circle Spell of Augmentation, extended and expanded to seventh-circle, for general physical enhancement. Another spell of the same school and grade, cut with Enchantment for greater mental and sensory acuity.
Before you can continue, you sense one Eye flying back down the hallway. You hold out your hand, and the probe lands, playing its recorded information back into your mind's eye.
The far end of the hall connects to a single, circular chamber some fifty feet across, lined with torches and inset with four doorways at the cardinal points, echoing the circle of standing stones. The floor gave out at some point, leaving a gaping hole some twenty feet across at its widest point that takes up most of the far side of the chamber, and makes access to the door there difficult at best for anything that can't fly. The Eyes didn't get around to investigating the collapsed area or the door beyond it; following their instructions, they took the right-hand door, and ended up in a chamber shaped like an uppercase "E." To judge by the abundance of rust-eaten bars and chains scattered about the three offshoot passages, this was undoubtedly a holding area, though whether it was meant for intelligent beings or mere animals, you can't say.
The Eyes had explored the two lower "arms" of the "E," finding empty cells, a veritable carpet of corroded iron, and the occasional skeletal corpse - again, giving off enough necromantic power to indicate that undeath had taken hold.
One of the pens in the upper arm, however, was not empty. The surviving Eye didn't get a good look at whatever it was, only a blur of movement that radiated a stronger aura of undeath - and then its partner was destroyed, and its directives kicked in and brought it back to you.
You report on this to the priests, and then cast a sixth-circle Spell of Abjuration, upgrading it to eighth-circle as you did your last two support spells.
Based on what the Prying Eyes have shown you, there are some areas of interest and targets of opportunity in this abandoned ruin. Which would you like to check first?