The man stares at the monk, a coldness coming from him "Hush your tone. The dragon would have slain you. Do you wish to know what cause the boom? I can tell you wish not to bother with it as it seems not to be your issue. It will be. All of yours."

Setsuko bows before replying, "I apologies if I seem callus to the message you are bringing. Yes, the dragon might well have slain us. Yet my clan sister and I still have a mission that we have sworn to complete. I know that this might seem small to you great kami, but it means much to us as a life depends upon it."

She pauses to bow again before continuing, "You say without saying that the cause of the booming will become important to all and you can supply knowledge of that cause. With great respect kami, I ask these questions. What can you tell us? What would you have us do about it?"

"So your other friend means nothing? The elf? You will become pregnant. He will die. And your clan sister will soar." The man watches them each for a moment.

"Everyone dies." Qing points it out "Some will do it fighting for something. Others will just perish. She will become pregnant? Seriously?" He seems rather surprised at this.

Course the group is facing a glowing man, over a dragon that seems to not even more!

"The dead will come back. And it slowly has become." Fate states this "Your mission means little. I am what I once was, what I will always be. But you can call me Fate."

Zokiro bows to the strange spirit, but is still in pain from the twin stings of the dragon's fierce attack and the looming specter of failure.  "Kami of Fate, there is a young girl who needs the flower my clan sister and I were sworn to retrieve.  We swore to her father, our Master, to aid her. The strange sound, according to your wisdom, involves us all, but how can we be forsworn and have any honor at all? How could you trust us to any task, were we to cast aside our responsibilities to our clan, our Master, and the young girl who lies sick?"

"I have come to tell you the dead will return. There is more then just honor. What one must do to make you listen? The dragon is here. Take it. Do what you wish to do. Simply, I have come with the message. How you face it is up to you. Peace will not last between the clans." Fate watches the three people.

Turning to address Zokiro and Qing, Setsuko says softly, "Someone needs to tell the Master what we have learned here, if I am destroyed please make sure that he is told."

Turning back the monk bows respectfully to Fate and to the dragon, "Pardon me, powerful kami, I must attempt to achieve the goal of our mission here." With that said, she rushes forward to retrieve the flower.

This kami of Fate claimed that the dead would rise and that war could break out, and who was she to question the spirits? But she could not call herself a daughter of the Dragon clan and fail in what she had been sent to do. She went to Setsuko to back her up as she went to take the flower. "If that is the wish of the spirits, then it must be so. Let us save the life we were sworn to, so that we may be worthy to save others."

"You will never learn." The man watches the monk and the flowers are places in her hands before she even moved. The dragon doesn't even move and doesn't seem touched.

The ranger stares at him but doesn't say a word. He lowers his bow and turns to leave once the others are done.

"Honor may get you killed. Each of you will change, some small others quite a lot. Life and death. The past will come and you seem to not care for what is in front of you is, what will come from this may change your mind. So be it. A message is what I brought. Do with it as you see fit. Find the Naga. Lost in sleep."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:02, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

After receiving the flower, Setsuko immediately hands it to Zokiro. Quickly she turns her attention back to Fate and bows, "Thank you Fate kami." she says sincerely.

"Forgive me, Fate kami for presuming to take more of your time but can I ask four questions? The second question is: What did cause the booming? The third question is: How will I become pregnant? The fourth question is: Are there others we can find who also know of these coming events?" the young monk asked with a humble bow.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:23, Thu 05 Mar 2020.

"You do not know how to become pregnant?" The man gives her a odd look but sighs "Actually those are three questions, not four. Very well. The boom was caused when the evil decided to break free, when it rose up from beanth. It was a warning. If you are asking if this child is different, to you it will be. To others? It may not. Is it not special to mothers? I will not tell you what you wish to know. The whole...fate issue. And I will let others know. How they react remains unseen."

Honor was everything to Zokiro - to follow the honorable will of her Clan lord was her purpose. But the kami of fate had brought them a warning that could affect every clan, and such a warning must be heeded!  "Kami of fate, we will return from this place and seek out the evil, bring warning to the clans and the people," she says with another bow, holding the flower with trepidation.  They had to return swiftly and let the monastery know, as they would be able to sent out warnings far swifter than just the two of them, and not least important, deliver the flower they had promised to do. There they could prepare and regroup and be ready to face this new foe.

Setsuko reluctantly spoke again to Fate, "Please forgive our ignorance but where should we find this Naga that is lost in sleep?"

"Deep within Shinomen Mori. A forest, some distanced off. South of here. Very south of here." The man answers.

Setsuko bows with gratitude,"Thank you for your warning and patience with our ignorance. Before we leave your presence is there anything else we might need to know?"

After listening to the last of Fate's words, the young monk bows her final farewell and prepares to return to the temple.

"Yes, we will return with the flower and share all that we have learned with the Master and the rest of our clan."

"We shall go south, pass the warning, and seek out this Naga, kami of Fate," Zokiro says with a bow of respect, after waiting to see if he had any other wisdom he wished to pass to them.

"Have you not heard what I spoke? You need to listen and take heed. I cannot reveal what I do not know and I am in a place where I must watch what I say. Fate. Time." The man moves towards the portal once more "You need to listen and do not speak." The words seemed aimed at the monk and he nods his head towards Zok "We will meet again."

The elf oddly is silent. He watches the two woman and the man converse and he could make it worse but he doesn't. Shouldering his bow, Qing crosses his arms and watches as the man departs. But he keeps looking at the monk, perhaps studying her and glances at Zok.

Setsuko, again chastised by the Fate kami, lowers her head with a stricken expression and falls silent. She glances up once to each of the others, looking at Zokiro with a pained and heartsick face before falling to her knees at the feet of her clan sister.

In a quietly trembling voice she whispers, "I have been told to remain silent. I shall do so until bidden by another to speak. I am clearly broken. Please continue to be my guide sister Zokiro and my voice. Thank you."

Standing once more, Setsuko indicates that she is ready to leave and awaits the decisions and words of the others.

The ranger walks over to where the man was standing and stares at the ground, glancing at the oddly sleeping dragon. He kneels down and scoops something up before taking the lead. The man grabs his bow and glances at the shugenja before tossing something to her. It looks like a small blue and white disk.

Zokiro places her hand on Setsuko's arm in sympathy and understanding; the presence of the kami has been overwhelming.  "Of course, sister."

As Qing tosses her the disk, Zokiro catches it and turns it over in her hands to see what it is.  She examines it only briefly for the moment before speaking to the ranger.  "Thank you.  Qing, would you please guide us back to the temple?  We must deliver the warning and the flower and go to the forest as directed."

"It is magical, though of what type I am uncertain. A token of the kami of Fate, I shall guess for now."  She shows the others the peculiar glowing yin-yang symbol, before wrapping it up gently and placing it in soft pouch for safekeeping.  "My companions, let us go south to the monastery and deliver our warning before going to the forest as the kami bid us."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:26, Sun 22 Mar 2020.

Setsuko follows alongside her clan sister as they start on the journey back to the temple.

The orb begins to glow brightly, a white light begins to pour out of where the shugenja put it into her pack! The ranger steps back, still holding his bow. He's silent, perhaps pondering what happened. Or he's afraid. Perhaps something else.

Setsuko steps up besides her clan sister and helps her unpack. Careful not to look directly into the white light she attempts to shield Zokiro with her own body.

Zokiro uses the sleeve of her jacket to remove the glowing orb from her pack with Setsuko's help, and begins to pray, "Great spirits, lend us your wisdom and receive our apologies!"  She goes to put the glowing thing upon the ground, for perhaps it was resentful of being handled by mere mortals.

The disk stops glowing but a portal appears above it, about ten feet by ten feet. Its hard to tell where it goes...

After a brief search, Setsuko picks up a fist sized rock and throws it though the portal. Calmly, she awaits the results.