(RC) The Cave – Ch. 12, part 2

Summary: The Cabal fights their way through the cavernous cave fighting vicious Bakemono and encountering Emma-O for the last time.

Recap: The Cabal goes further into the cave and find a huge pit. One of them throws a rock down into the gaping hole. It takes quite a while before it lands on something. They grab some rope and begin descending into the pit.

At the bottom, they find a huge stone alter with skeletons stretched out on wooden trestles behind it, bits of skin and cloth hung limply on the bones, limply blowing in the wind. As they pass the alter, they notice fresh blood pooled on its flat surface and feel a strong magical energy emanating from it. Mori concentrates and siphons the dark, tainted mana into his own body, the dark energy mingling with his own.. The Cabal passes by and begin exploring deeper into the cave.

As they travel further in, they feel a rumbling. The ground shifts beneath them and suddenly rocks tumble down from the ceiling. The ground beneath Mori shifts and buckles and he tumbles into the abyss. Mori crashes onto the rocks below and he is crushed under the weight of more that fall on top of him. Mori is buried in rubble and debris, but he is alive. Mori scrambles out from under the rocks. He is bruised and bleeding and he can barely move.

The Cabal calls down to Mori. They are going to attempt to rescue him. But before anyone can send a rope down to him, they are attacked by slavering Bakemono. The Bakemono are vaguely humanoid in appearance. Their musty skin is mottled grey and tough as leather and they don only scraps of cloth. Their hands twisted into claws and their faces contorted into grotesque humanoid masks.

As the Bakemono surround the Cabal, the urge to consume human flesh wells up in their bellies. They eye each other as if looking for weakness, but shake off the urge, regroup and fight off two of the Bakemono before retreating deeper into the caves.

Two Bakemono accost Mori. Mori also gains the urge to consume human flesh, but with no target available, casts Prime magic at the beasts and scrambles into the darkness.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the Cabal are attacked by more Bakemono. They use Magic to force the Bakemono to retreat and fend off the urge to consume each other. Kemosiri uses Death Magic to raise one of the Bakemono into a super zombie (6 successes).

The Cabal finds itself at a dead end. Above, they see a ledge – a passageway leading further into the cave. They frantically begin climbing the sheer rock face using the zombie Bakemono to bide them time. Kemosiri tries climbing, but finds it extremely difficult considering his condition. Tenzin uses Life Magic to grow wings and flies up. The remainder scramble up the wall. Still, Kemosiri is holding them back and the Bakemono climb much faster than he can.

Kontonshin casts the Fate Spell ‘Monkey’s Paw’ on a part of the wall. When one of the Bakemono climb onto it, the rock collapses sending the Bakemono and the other pursuers crashing onto the cave floor. Kemosiri barely makes it up to the ledge.

Meanwhile, Mori finds a stream of blood. He follows it toward a bright light and finds himself on a cliff overlooking a lake of blood in an underground cavern. On the opposite shore he sees hundreds of Bakemono. They see him and begin approaching. Mori tries to escape, but in his weakened condition is unable to flee. He reaches into his pocket and finds the crystal that Isora had given him so long ago. He begins siphoning the dark mana he had drained from the Bakemono into the crystal. The crystal turns from a bright, clear colour to the colour of onyx.

Just as Mori is about to use his Magic to create a massive Prime explosion, he sees Emma-O and Dr. Wu enter the cavern. In their hands, they have the pieces of the Shinwa Taizen that Tatsu was guarding. The scrolls are stained with new blood. Mori realizes with horror that Emma-O has all of the scrolls that were in their possession as well as many other pieces of the Shinwa Taizen.

Emma-O commands that Mori be brought before him. He then brings the unconscious body of one of the Consilium’s servants toward Mori. Mori’s urges overwhelm him. He cannot hold back. He grabs the unconscious servant and at first only gnaws on his arm, the thought of cannibalizing the servant repugnant to him and making him gag. But when he first breaks flesh, Mori experiences a moment of reverie. The flesh tastes sweet and the blood has a delicious metallic tang to it as it rushes past his tongue and down into his gullet.

Something snaps deep within him. He no longer has the will to hold back from even this horrendous act. Mori begins consuming the man with the fervour of a starving man, while Emma-O and Dr. Wu laugh in the background. The remaining Bakemono tear the servant apart in an orgy of violence and blood that Mori does not witness as he is too busy gulping down the warm nurturing human flesh (Mori loses a point of Wisdom for this horrific act, but suffers no derangement. His Wisdom is now 2).

The remainder of the Cabal find the cavern and notice the reverie. They also see Emma-O, Dr. Wu and a blood covered Mori Memento. They stop, horrified at the sight of Mori consuming a human being.

The Bakemono converge on the Cabal. Kemosiri commands the Bakemono Zombie to defend their party, but the Zombie is quickly subdued by dozens of Bakemono. The Cabal uses magic to defend themselves, but Emma-O stymies them by using Time tricks to slow them down and allow the Bakemono to overwhelm them.

Mori cannot move his body and cannot stop engorging himself. He looks up when he sees a bright light at the centre of the cavern, a light no one else seems to acknowledge. In the light, he sees Isora, clad in her bright green kimono, reach out to him.

In a moment of clarity, Mori reaches for the ebony gem Isora had given him, tosses it in the air and uses Prime magic to destroy it. A massive explosion occurs sending bright shards of light into every corner of the cavern.

---

Mori finds himself lying on the shore of a fog-covered beach. Isora is standing in a small boat loaded with the scrolls of the Shinwa Taizen. She says goodbye to Mori and congratulates him on a job well done. Isora tells him that the alternate history that the Shinwa Taizen would have created if fully assembled, that of a cannibalistic hell on earth, will not be and that she will take it where it will no longer invade the dreams of mortals in the Fallen World. Mori’s only response is to say that he has done things, horrible things - things that he is not sure if he can atone for.

With that, Isora waves goodbye, pushes her boat from shore, and disappears into the fog.

---

The Cabal finds Mori on shore. He is unconscious and in critical condition. Emma-O and the Bakemono are nowhere to be seen. Dr. Wu’s body is lying broken and lifeless next to Mori, his lifeless eyes gazing into the Abyss. The Cabal build a stretcher and lift Mori up and carry him out of the Cave.

When the Cabal finally leaves the cave and return to their sanctum, Mori is conscious and just barely able to walk, thanks to Tenzin. They find a note from the Consilium, summoning them to a gathering they must attend immediately upon reading the note.

Next: O-Bon

Playing Cute Fuzzy Animals in Japan

Has anyone ever been interested in what kinds of RPG's are published in Japan? I've just started finding out. TRPG's (or Tabletalk Role Playing Games to differentiate them from RPG's which are computer games) are very obscure in Japan. They are rules lite so you get into the game very quickly and are heavily influenced by manga.

The more popular North American games have been adapted into Japanese language versions. D&D, GURPS, Call of Cthulhu and even the World of Darkness have all been translated into Japanese with Japanese-only supplements created for each line. My favourite on my want list is Hiei-zan Enjou (Mount Hiei Burns) - a full Call of Cthulhu rulebook (not a supplement) set in feudal Japan.

One of the more interesting original Japanese RPG's include Yuuyake Koyake (trans. "Sunset"), the “Heartwarming Role-Playing”. It is a diceless TRPG about henge, animals that take human form (think Kitsune). They live on the edge of a town in rural Japan and must make connections with people in the town by helping them out. By forming connections, the characters get what they need to use their special powers necessary to accomplish harder tasks. I don't know how they resolve conflicts since the section on fighting basically says "don't fight" (you lose connections and thus powers, by fighting with others). Definitely not angsty world of darkness stuff. It even has a supplement entitled Mononoke Koyake which expands its world by allowing players to take on the roles of ghosts, skin-riders and even aliens.

When I saw this, I began thinking of how good a resources this game would be for something like the upcoming Changeling: the Lost. Think about Japanese Changelings and you might see Kitsune, Kappa, Oni and Yuki-Onna as I do. Just something to think about for the future.