Bats = Bugs (D4LM)

[Ryoshun Rei]

She reached into her medicine kit and withdrew a few bandages. Next, she drew her tanto.

"Let me see what I might learn from this."

Pulling back a sleeve, she cut along her arm as she spoke to the Void.

- - -
Bats = Bugs (D4LM), Casting Read the Essense TN 20, Three Wounds: 7d10o10k4 23

[Canary]

The spell conjures an image in her mind of Doji - it must be her, between the subtle sense of power and grace, and her nearly heartbreaking beauty. Her hair is loose, and she is dressed in a loose, powder blue kimono with minimal elegant decoration, with her hair long and loose around her. Her face is a mask of concentration, as if she has to stay focused just to keep moving the brush in her hand. The other writes on the page in quick, elegant script. Her eyes drift closed, looking like she's about to fall asleep even as she keeps writing, then shakes her head awake, frowning down at one of the strange characters she wrote. It seems impossible to get a read on its shape for a moment before she adds a stroke to it, forcing it into clarity. A nod, and she continues writing.

With that, the vision fades.

[Ryoshun Rei]

After a few quiet moments, Rei frowned and looked at the others.

"Lady Doji wrote it, that seems clear. But, she seemed to be unfocused and confused by what she wrote, struggling to complete it."

[Kakita]

Kakita’s expression was one of confusion.

“How so?”

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru gently shook his head. "Unfortunately, that is not unexpected." He took a deep breath, and then sighed. "I apologize, Ryoshun-sama, for wasting your time. It seems that I must look elsewhere for answers."

He hid his disappointment with a sip of tea, but the frown lines on his forehead and around his eyes were deep.

[Ryoshun Rei]

Looking at Kakita, then back to Hikaru, Rei described what she saw to both of them

"I do have more ways to investigate this caligraphy." she offered.

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru's expression did not change, but there was a glint in his eyes. "Oh?" He spread the fingers of one hand. "If there is something else you could try, I would be further in your debt, Ryoshun-sama." He said.

[Ryoshun Rei]

"First, I will try to get a sense of anything that might be attached to the poem" she explained before cutting herself and whispering to the void once more. It was the Void itself she was sensing. She could feel all living things around her through it. While the poem would normally not be detected, if there was another presence attached to it in some way, she might sense it or the emptiness is creates.

"Hmm..." she frowned. "Now to see if the Void can tell me anything else."

She cut herself for a third time and closed her eyes. Her whispering was almost inaudible as she reached out to the Void seeking answers. There was something wrong with the writing before her, something no one could understand, what was it? How could she understand it?


- - -
Bats = Bugs (D4LM), Casting Sense Void TN 10, 1 Wound: 7d10o10k4 22

Bats = Bugs (D4LM), Casting Commune With Void TN 15, 2 Wounds: 7d10o10k4 32

[Canary]

She senses nothing living attached to it, just a vague sense that it was once connected to something else.

The Void shows her something strange. Something that flowed like oil or fog, crawled like insects, repeated like a distorted song that she couldn't quite understand the lyrics to but wouldn't leave her head. Its effect was cut off or... blunted, perhaps, in this poem, as if heard from the other side of a stone wall.

Its obscurity lay in its bizarre nature. To understand it, one would have to be... like it, in some way.

[Ryoshun Rei]

"I am afraid we may not be able to understand this." she sighed. "Whatever it is, it isn't intended for us. We would need an innate familiarity with whatever it is. How did you come by it, Doji-san?"

[Doji Hikaru]

"Nothing that time either?" Hikaru said, disappointment evident in his voice.

He sighed, shaking his head. "It was given to me by Lady Doji herself. In one of her lucid moments, when she ordered me to try to find a cure." Another sigh. "My quest of a year. So far, I have found little."

[Ryoshun Rei]

"Well, the Void doesn't offer much direct guidance." she explained. "It's more of an impression of things. For instance, it allows me to sense living things in the area. There is certainly nothing living about this poem, but there was once a connection to something else."

"The Void may also allow me to sense an objects history, who once held it or something significant of its origins. In this case it was strange. Like something that flowed like oil or fog, crawled like insects, repeated like a distorted song that I couldn't quite understand the lyrics to but wouldn't leave my head. Its effect was cut off or... blunted, perhaps, in this poem, as if heard from the other side of a stone wall. Its obscurity lay in its bizarre nature. To understand it, one would have to be... like it, in some way."

"Who else have you shown this to?"

[Doji Hikaru]

"Flowed like oil..." Hikaru echoed. He sat up straighter, his eyes widening. "I have heard something like that before..."

He took a deep breath. "I have spoken with a few others. Most relevantly, I showed this to Togashi Satsuki-sama. She said that it reminded her of a vision she had, something about dark wisdom flowing down from the night..." He grimaced. "I need to have her write that down for me. But it sounded very much like you describe."

"And the insects..." He pursed his lips, "could they have been like spiders?"

[Ryoshun Rei]

"It was just a general sense." she shook her head. "The Void speaks more in sensation which inspires imagery. It's less about what was crawling than about how it was crawling. Satsuki-san's visions are similar. Did she look at it directly?"