S1E6: Piercing the Veil

Yoshi, Tomo, Buro, and their retinue of Crab samurai stood face to face with an oni in the former daimyo’s quarters of Daylight Castle. The oni wore a pale kimono of woven human eyes, and where normally there would be eyes on the face of the monster, there were only two giant gaping mouths. After discovering the beast was afraid of fire, Buro and Yoshi attempted to draw the beast out from its hiding place in the darkness of the ruined castle. Seeing Buro put in harm’s way, Kuni Akari abandoned her position with the other Crab samurai and ran to protect Buro. Lashing out in defense, the oni attacked Akari, latching its mouths to her face and sucking her eyes right from their sockets. Her eyes became yet another pair in the oni’s collection. With their combined abilities, the party eventually defeated the oni and reclaimed the ancestral blade of the Hiruma from the daimyo’s quarters, the third and final key described by Hiruma Masami.

The party then returned the ancestral wakizashi to the Hiruma daimyo, Hiruma Tomoharu, caged in obsidian on the floor beneath them. As his final wish, he asked that the party return this precious heirloom to the Hiruma family, so it may be with its rightful owners. With this blade, Tomoharu then committed seppuku, allowing his soul to move on to the afterlife, and releasing his body of its hideous cage.

Shortly after his death, a large tremor shook the castle like an earthquake. Investigating its source, the party discovered that one of the towers which had previously been completely destroyed had now been resurrected as a ghostly visage of its former self. Upon entering this tower, they found it crawling with the resurrected dead, intent on killing them as they made their way up the tower. At the top, the party found the maho-tsukai, Kitsu Sokori performing some kind of dark ritual with the revived corpse of her loyal bodyguard, Gaku.

Wading through a horde of the undead, the party were not able to reach Sokori before she completed her ritual. Upon its completion, the souls of the fallen Hiruma returned to Daylight Castle and the Plain of Last Stand, tearing them from their sleep in Yume-do. With the ritual complete, a shadow stirred in the corner of the tower, revealing itself to be the ancient demon, Atsumari no Oni. Looking over the castle and the distant plain, Atsumari used his demonic powers to return the fallen samurai to life, creating an army of undead warriors.

Yoshi, Tomo, Buro and what remains of their Crab retinue now stand in the ghostly remains of the destroyed tower, being overwhelmed by an onslaught of skeletal minions. Opposite them, are the evil sorceress, Kitsu Sokori, and her dark lord, Atsumari no Oni, the soul rending demon responsible for the fall of Daylight Castle. Before them, the newly resurrected remains of the fallen Hiruma, an unholy horde of profane warriors hungry for one thing… the death of all life.

Artwork by Dylon Munoz

Music by Brandon Spain & Podcast of the Five Rings