House of Long Shadows Pt. 3

*This is yet another page that seems to have had the colour ripped from it by whatever malevolent energies inhabit the location where it was written*

There's really been far to many close calls recently. Danger lurks around every corner and in every shadow here...and believe me, there is no shortage of those damnable shadows for them to hide in!

After leaving the meditative room we explored the remaining door and hallway that left the main chamber we started in. To our disappointment, the hallway only circled around into one of the other rooms we'd already been passed through. As for the remaining chamber we ended up with more than we bargained for.

The décor matched the rest of the mansion, but what was waiting inside surprised us all. It ...looked like Prince Bogden, but most certainly was not him. His entire form was made of malleable shadows, oozing like thick, black sludge. The voice that came from the creature was anything but the young Prince's, booming and vile. A manifestation of Ushi-Oni. My heart sank in my chest. He knew we were here. This was bad. Really bad. Worse yet he had captured the Prince and was holding him hostage. He proved it even for but a moment by letting the Prince inhabit the form and the sound of his crying and pleading for his Mother to save him I'm sure almost broke all our hearts.

He grew tired quickly of parley and the Princess's repeated pleas to return her son. The sludge-like Bogden stretched out its arms, letting them ooze flow forth over the tiled floor and grew into three living shadows that brandished axes and rushed toward us. These were more frustrating foes for not only did the shadows conceal them, but they resisted all but enchanted weapons. The wakizashi was still damaged, but managed to do the trick for myself. Keisuke eventually ended up borrowing Aiko's mace for his own weapons were doing little.

By the time we vanquished the creatures, the Princess collapsed to her knees as the manifestation was long gone...slithering away while we battled the shadowy foes. Aiko did her best to console her, though I fear it did little to ease a mother's grief.

With no other options left we had to find a way to go through the expansive, double doors that were warded with some sort of incredibly, powerful necromantic effect on it. Touching it was out of the question. Necromancy, especially the more potent abilities, are not exactly the sort to summon rainbows and fluffy bunnies. Even my limited knowledge of magic knows that...

After trying a couple options with little luck, Aiko remembered a scroll we had found a bit earlier in here and decided to give it a try. As she pulled forth the magic from the scroll it conjured a powerful globe of daylight to fill the room and to everyone's surprise (and hope) the warded door vanished in the brilliant illumination! Way to go, Sis!

Stepping through the massive, now completely open doorway brought us into another wide room featuring four giant, bronze statues of samurai warriors with demonic masks standing vigilant above within alcoves in the corners of the room. True to our luck, as we carefully made out way forward to the door waiting us at the end of the room they animated, leaping down to shake the floor and shatter tiles under their heavy tread as they moved in to attack the interlopers. Us.

I hated whatever these were. Not only were they resistant to damage, their forms were hard enough that many of our weapons ended up broken and useless by the end of the fight. After seeing Baoji's blade crack from tip to the hilt after a single blow, I knew I couldn't risk grandfather's katana so I grabbed that wakizashi I acquired earlier and used it. Due to the enchantments it was able to land quite a few blows before it also got too damaged to use effectively. I swapped to a small mace I held onto for times like this after that only to lead to it shattering into fragments after but two solid swings.

We managed to win, but this battle's victory is directly due to the efforts of Baoji and Keisuke. Baoji's fists were able to ring out like a bell with each blow, shattering the metal monstrosities into cheap slivers of metal without injury to himself...while Keisuke broke his hammer over one's head, destroying it in the process. Undeterred he grabbed the massive, bronze katana it was using before turning on the remainder of it's allies, swinging the oversized blade with truly brutal strikes despite the overwhelming weight and size of the weapon.

This chamber had three more doors to explore and we decided to leave the large double one at the end to the end for last. Considering the wicked magic trap on the last giant sized door we'd seen, this seemed both prudent and the wisest course of action. The door to the left had a rich-quality, beautiful door though what was waiting in the room gave us all pause. A man swung in the center of the room, held up by the rope he had killed himself with in the center of the room. While Aiko and the others began to search the room, I carried the man to the plush bed and laid him down upon it, closing his eyes. He was...disturbingly well preserved for how long he had likely been here. Another quirk of this place I suppose.

As I was laying him out Aiko wandered over and we found a bundle in the blankets on the bed. Another young boy, maybe 8 years old with wide eyes and a shocked expression still frozen on his face. It was all too obvious that he had been suffocated with a pillow. While I understand why it was done...Does the tragedy and sorrow of this place never cease? It burdens the heart more and more heavily the further we go.

The Princess had heard of this family she told us. She recognized the emblems they wore (a pair of intertwined lung dragons) on their clothes and jewelry. The Borowei family. One of the first families to join the rebellion but they ended up betraying Empress Pandora. There was rumours that the guilt was so heavy Lord Borowei vanished and took his own life. Evidently rumours that held truth it would appear.

There was a small training area off to the side of the room with a tiled floor and weapon rack. When I inspected some of the katanas sheathed there, they were truly of a marvelous make! One hundred folded steel, a technique I had thought lost to the ages. Truly beautiful weapons and works of art each. We collected and took one each as some of us had lost other weapons during the bronze statue fight earlier. There was also one truly majestic sheathe done in the family's style of two lung dragons. It was quite obvious it had belonged to the Lord of the place. At first I felt it prudent to leave it, even if he had taken his own life and lost a great deal of his honor, but Baoji eventually convinced me as we would certainly need every advantage we can get to escape here...and it did hold some quite potent enchantments Aiko told us. I settled it into one of the many loops on my belt as we began to make our way out.

I should have listened to my gut. No sooner had we stepped near the door with the sheathe that the shadows gathered and room shook as the restless spirit of Lord Borowei manifested...and he was angry at the one that had taken his sheathe. The one I was wearing on my hip. Thanks Baoji...

The spirit, Lord Borowei, was an ancient spirit and incredibly powerful, perhaps twisted by the darkness here. He attacked near instantly after appearing. I was able to fend him off surprisingly well for nearly a minute or so due to the magical wakizashi which seemed capable of harming him to a small degree...and perhaps more importantly able to turn aside his own deadly strikes. Inevitably he landed but a glancing touch with his ghostly weapon. My flesh necrotized where it hit instantly, turning blackened and dead as the life fled from it. It was nearly a mortal blow from what was only a passing glance of his weapon and I certainly couldn't take another without falling.

Between Aiko and Baoji's quick thinking, they managed to bring up his son and pause his relentless assault for a moment, as the spirit grew confused. When he paused I was able to slip the sheathe from my belt and return it to him. It was enough for him to be satisfied and vanish once more, though he did mention he "needs his sword". I suspect that might be the key to putting him to rest once and for all. We'll keep an eye out for it in any case, perhaps it is still here somewhere. He also revealed it was in fact "Iozef" that killed the boy in the room who is his son. The Princess informed us Iozef was the Lord's half-bastard brother, kept around mostly due to the Lord's pity toward him. More and more tragedy here...

The other chamber across the room had a floral wallpaper I remember quite clearly as it seemed so odd and somewhat chilling to see it with all the colour washed away from it. There was also a rocking chair, desk, and fireplace. I moved with Aiko and the Princess as they looked over the desk and chair. None of us saw what was lurking in the room with us.

Neither of us saw it until it's long, rope-y arms shot down and pulled the Princess away by her neck, strangling her and began to pull her while scurrying across the roof. It was...a wretched little beast, like a little smooth man with those horridly long arms. More chilling was the lack of eyes where they should be, instead having them in the middle of the palms of its hands.

We were able to chase it and I put my bow to good use, filling it with arrow after arrow. The Princess managed to slip from it's grasp as it darted to the previous chamber and it changed target...to Aiko, quickly snatching her up and pulling her along as it scurried for one of the alcoves the large statues had resided in. That earned my ire and I when I pulled the next arrow back it managed to hit with immense force, killing the creature right before it slipped into the cubby with Aiko. As she fell, Keisuke dove, catching Aiko and breaking enough of her fall to leave her injured, but breathing.

We just finished getting her patched up and finished searching the room.Aiko managed to find a damaged journal in the fireplace, but her usual spell isn't able to repair it. Too much damage to it. We'll need to "make it whole" she said before we'll be able to discern meaning from the pages. Something to note for later I suppose.

We found some minor things in the rooms but nothing that lead anywhere else leaving the large doorway the only option again. On the bright side, Aiko said there appears to be no magical wards on it. Everyone is basically done with the short break and ready to continue. Here goes nothing!