House of Long Shadows Pt. 1

*This page has an unsettling look to it, unlike the other parchment of the book which generally has a slightly yellow hue, it looks as if all colour has been drained away leaving it in shades of utter black and white*

So much has happened recently, it is hard to keep track of it all! One mountain at a time I suppose, isn't that right Grandfather?

Picking up where I left off last time...we ran into the pair on their way back to the Inn. Seems the temple had heard of Sho and knew a little about him but nothing really concrete. We all decided to discuss it more once we were back in the Inn room away from potential prying ears.

We never got back to the Inn that night.

I remember noticing the air seemed to fall still and the sounds of the city vanished. It was deathly silent. The intersection we had come to was wide but deserted. It was...unsettling and we all noticed it immediately.

Then a number of figures moving through the darkness with familiar voices. Voices that sent chills down my backside.

Densetsu of the Sons of Heaven

The Sons of Heaven, Densetsu and Matsuno, the ones that killed Grandfather and stole his blades...and they brought friends. Thinking back Keisuke called out to the one called Han Yu and Beigas. Apparently he has had some run ins with them himself. I should ask him about that when we have a chance. I didn't recognize the fifth person there accompanied by a massive blue wolf, but one of the others called him Hazako.

In the interest of a summary, they apparently hadn't intended to find us here but we were snooping into their business again and Zhen had been bothered more and more about Grandfather's one missing katana from his collection...and he correctly deduced that it had been given to me.

I responded the only way I could in the face of such overwhelming odds, "The great Zeronaux knows nothing of which you speak. Vile villains be away with you again into the night where you belong!"

It got a few laughs at least from a few of them. Regardless, I'd rather die than lose Grandfather's last blade and it helped me gather the courage to face them and die with honour. I prayed Aiko would be able to escape in the battle, though it seemed pretty hopeless.

It got more hopeless when two more figures approached from the opposite side. These two I had never seen before, but upon them being named by the members of the Sons of Heavens some memories were jostled. Dominus Cross and his 'pet', Cecilia. I admit to not knowing a lot on them, but I do know they are the heads of a mercenary band that rules a part of the country Raklion (the Black Lotus Mercenaries I think?). Dominus is rumoured to be one of the greatest swordsman in the world, if not -the- greatest. Cecilia is even more widely feared due to her unwavering loyalty to Dominus and the fact she comes from the northlands where magic doesn't function. Her rage is that of legends.

...and they wanted Keisuke. I'm still not one hundred percent sure why. They didn't care for the rest of us and were willing to just hand us to the Sons of Heaven, but not Keisuke.

The next part got even more chaotic but basically from what we all put together, Beigas (the large, demonic looking member of the Sons of Heaven) figured out who the pair were and stalked up to Cecilia and began making quips about her being a pet and generally insulting them both.

She grabbed him by his horns and head-butted him in the face hard enough to break a horn, send him flying, and break the wall of a nearby building. That's when the fight began between them. It's still kinda blurry but the end result of what we saw, Dominus never drew a sword. Cecilia took on all five of their members and was winning quite handily.

We wisely stayed out of the way and began backing away when we heard someone trying to get our attention from a nearby sewer grate. As unbelievable as it was, it was Princess Nyotei and the Prince Bogden! They helped us through the grate while our foes were distracted and began to lead us through the ancient aqueducts and catacombs beneath the city. It seems our young Prince has a keen eye for technological devices and they had been exploring such a device that opened a passage into the twisting maze of passages.

In any case, he began to lead us away from the scene of carnage when Keisuke remembered Chiyo. She had been left to rest in the Inn room while we investigated the goings on at the Temples! He couldn't leave her and it lead to a short argument before Bogden checked the map he had quickly and began leading us down a different set of tunnels.

Nyotei Shizum, Princess of Seiya Zei

None of us saw how unreliable the passage was in the area we came up to. One second Bogden was merrily picking his way through the dark tunnel, the next he vanished as the tunnel rumbled and the floor gave away. Everyone followed him quickly into the darkness below, not realizing what we were in for yet.

We awoke in a strange chamber, devoid of any color. Even a torch only gave off a pale grey illumination, the light seemingly drained by the room's dark surroundings. The shadows twisted and seemed to dance around us. it was strangely...opulent, like some manner of noble's house with plush carpeting. Everyone seemed alright once we checked and strangely the roof of this place was completely intact, with no sign of us falling through it.

The Princess recognized this place, however. She called it, "The House of Long Shadows". During the Age of Strife, it belonged to a powerful Oni known as Ushi-Oni, a disciple of the void. He was a powerful wizard in Gilgamesh's court. When our great Empress Pandora saved Seiya Zei from Gilgamesh, she also banished and sealed Ushi-Oni inside a great artifact mirror known as Hai Ukumi where each day his body was torn apart and remade, an eternity of torment. His home, the House of Long Shadows, was also banished partially into the shadow plane but it was rumored it originally existed in northern Seiya Zei perhaps in the underground somewhere within the Dragon Clan.

As we paused to digest all of that information, it was the terrified cry of the Princess that alerted us immediately to what we had been missing...the Prince. There was no sign of him. Aiko is currently consoling her while the rest of us check the chamber and the many doors that leave it. We cannot leave without the Prince, so that is our first objective at the moment.

The largest door here is the most likely avenue but it is layered with potent necromancy magic...In any case, we need to be moving on quickly. There is little time to spare! We'll start with the other doors, perhaps they hold something that will let us bypass the ward on the main door.