In Sickness and In Health (Shoshun Village & Cave of Solitude)

(Monica Stormglen is Grace's fellow wizard. Though she also uses Storm, she's actually a Life Wizard who has learned Storm spells up to Stormzilla. So she can't use Tempest effectively and she's too low a level to gain her only Life area-of-attack spell. So Sierra has to pick up some slack...)

I admit I didn't know what I was saying to Grace when we parted company as I showed the sword to the head monk. He told me to keep it, as it would be necessary to revive the Emperor. "Now you must check the water of Shoshun Village," he said. "Only the pure waters from the lake there will cleanse the dark wound and allow it to heal. I hope it hasn't gone foul..."

"I'll check," I said.

"Hey, did someone say they were going to Shoshun Village?"

The brash manly voice caught me off guard so I was stunned when it was a woman speaking. I was jealous at her giant bust and her manly biceps and with a pet like mine, only this one was forest green in color - I realized this was a Theurgist. "Who are you?"

"Sailor J--- er, Monica Stormglen," she said. She pulled me aside behind a building. "Amy told me how you beat up Meowiarty with her. She discussed it with our group and we decided to make you an honorary member of the Sailor Wizards!"

"You're...." I said in shock as she mounted her lightning cloud. "You're Sailor Jupiter! The one who can fling lightning as well as my friend Grace!"

"That's me!" she laughed. "Actually, I'm in training now. Ms. Wu asked me to go to her homeland and defeat a foul being called the Plague Oni..."

I gaped. "Another Oni! Oh my!" I explained my encounter recently. She grew pale.

"Another one?" she groaned. "Man, I bet he's hiding in someone too. We need to go to the village. You see... well, you'd better see it for yourself... and smell it!"

Smell it? This bode ill...

(Before I left for Shoshun, I turned in my two Possibility Dirks I made to Toshio, who gave me the Adept Crafter title. I could have now made the Carved Stone Towers if I had wanted to. He told me to visit Balthazar Dragonthorn in Dragonspyre, but I was sure that was impossible unless I begged Christina to take me there. I decided to wait until I could help the Emperor out.)

I retched after we went through the dojo where I fought Yochimo long ago and entered Shoshun Village. The water looked clean, but it stank worse than the toilets in Ravenwood's dorms. I was glad I had my own house now as having to share a restroom with the other girls after a hot chiili dinner... I retched ever louder.

"Yeah, it stinks," muttered Monica, holding her nose. "Don't swim in it, don't fish in it, and don't touch it! Sun Ling over there knows what happened."

The monk verifited it. "This is a nightmare! The waters are no longer pure. The Plague Oni has infected them with vile toxins from his body. Please, go speak to Din Ho, my superior. His shade lies in the Cave of Solitude."

"Ready to kick some youma butt, Sierra?" said Monica.

I nodded. "The sooner we kill this Oni, the sooner we can cleanse the water and make it pure."

 

On the way to the caverns, I saw many spiders and began to cry into my hands. I told Monica I had a bad case of arachnophobia. It didn't manifest when I met the Ice Weavers because it was dark but here in the daylight, the bugs were scary.

We met an earth golem called Mossback who asked us to find corrupted earth from the polluted golems roaming the land. We worked with a Sorcerer called Joshua Soulhaven to harvest them. We took the earth to a goat monk who gave us an analysis - the water was polluting the earth too! This wouldn't be the last time we helped Mossback...

Worse, diseased water elementals and Krakens were patrolling the paths in the caverns and it was difficult to avoid fighting them. (The pull rate here is horrible, so be sure to activate the teleporters as quickly as possible to avoid going through the paths as much as possible.)

"It is good that you found me," said the ghostly monk, Din Ho.

"Hurry it up!" snapped Monica. "The water is stinky!"

"Patience, young ones," said Din Ho, leaning on his staff. "There are solutions to all things. We shall make the water pure again."

"Can you tell us how?" I asked politely. I understand Sailor Jupiter was a bit antsy and hot-headed but never saw it until now. I reminded myself not to make her wait.

"The path set before us is a difficult one," said the monk. "But we must still follow it. The health of the Emperor and all living beings in Mooshu depends on our actions."

"Then why are we yapping?" said Monica impatiently.

"Calm down, he's getting to it," I said.

"The Plague Oni is a powerful demon," said Din Ho. "He has sickened our water and broken the Jade Scepter which purifies our shrines. We can weaken him by repairing the Jade Scepter."

"Then we have a job to do," said Monica, glad to be done with the chatter. "Any idea where the pieces of this thing might be?"

"The Plague Oni is an ancient being," said Din Ho. "I know its ways. One of the pieces was taken by the Ronin mutineers which hide in the forest."

"Let's get it back then," I said with a grin. "They can't be that hard."

They were hard. I hate myth-biased enemies. For all her rowdiness, I was glad Jupiter was on my side - her Krakens and Centaurs dealt with the annoying renegades even though I had Prisms. We grabbed the small green-gem stick from the second group we defeated and headed back to Din Ho with the teleport stones. I was not fighting those elementals. :(

Din Ho was pleased when he saw the green stick in my hands. "While you were busy, I divined the location of the second piece of the Jade Scepter," he said. "A foul ninja called Koto, one of the Plague Oni's worshippers, is in a dojo in the forest."

"Okay, we'll be right back," Monica said. "Let's go, Sierra."

 

As soon as we entered, Koto and his horseman retainer attacked us. Just then, my book flashed and the ninja pigs emerged from it. They hissed in rage and brutally destroyed Koto in one shot. I was stunned and realized something... they must have been enslaved by this monster and someone freed them and they came to me to serve me. The retainer fled as soon as he could but Monica brought a Centaur down on his head. We collected the second part of the Scepter.

(For those wondering, there was a post I made here a long time ago where Sierra had gotten the Ninja Pigs spell from this guy. If you defeat Koto and don't have it already, there is a 5% chance you will learn the spell from him. This is a great Myth spell to get early[have a friend who has this guy unlocked and port into the battle] as (1) it doesn't cherry tap like Minotaur does and (2) it's cheap, only five pips and has does more damage than Minotaur. You can craft it later, but the badge you need to get is only in Zafaria and by that time you'll have Medusa. I'll do a tutorial with my other Myth Wizard, who is close to that quest.)

Din Ho was pleased again but he said that he couldn't divine where the Jade head was, though he pointed us to several huts where the Plague Oni's minions were. We obviously got ambushed by them but we fought through with some damage and I showed off the last spell my Professor taught me for free, Earthquake. This attack destroys all blades, shields and traps - so I don't use it until I am sure the other members of my group don't have any traps on. (You can quit out and reload and not have to fight them but unlike Hyde Park's storehouses, you can't just leave as the game will pull you into battle if you move.)

Din Ho was not pleased when he heard what had happened. "It's okay, Din," I said, smiling. "We took care of them but sadly the Jade head was not amongst them."

"I fear about leading you into danger yet again," he muttered.

"We're strong," assured Monica. "Tell us."

"There is a tower deep in the forest which the Plague Oni cares deeply about," said Din Ho. "Perhaps there you can find out more information."

We went there and found a nasty pig bandit... which we made into bacon quickly. We got a letter:
"Honorable Usegi, I see this letter finds you well. You must make sure that nobody tries to locate the Dorian Dojo in the forest, for otherwise the Jade Head will be found and then things will get ugly. I warn you, if you dare fail me, the Plagued One will see that you perish in a horrible fashion."

Monica did some voodoo on the letter. "There, it'll track the location of the Jade Head," she said. "Before you ask how I did that, don't. Let's just get the Head back." (You have to go back to talk to Din Ho after getting the letter, I used my storytelling to skip that part.)

 

We found the Dorian Dojo and confronted the keeper, another pig bandit called Kanago. He was a bit tougher but we defeated him and collected the dragon-shaped head of the scepter.

"We will," I said. "How do we do it?"

"You must first make an offering to the spirits by collecting a pearl orchid, a tiger lily and a jade lotus," said the monk ghost. It was not hard to do as we had to collect several orchids for Hakaru Yip to cure his idiot assistant.

"Then you must burn the flowers in the brazier in the center of the lake and place the pieces in the fire. If the spirits are pleased they will repair the scepter."

They were pleased. I carefully plucked the beautiful green scepter from the fire but it was cool to the touch. I hurried back to Monica and the ghost monk.

Din Ho was VERY pleased.

"So what now?" asked Monica.

"You must take the Scepter to Tu Luk Kwo in Kishibe Village," said Din Ho. "Tell him I sent you and he will instruct you further. You can reach the village by taking the west path out of Shoshun."

"Our adventures have only begun," said Monica, slapping me on the back. "Come on, honorary Sailor Wizard, we have more work to do!"

I smiled and nodded. Grace, I hope you're doing well too...

[To be continued...]