Akali Yashada

The young monk Akali Yashada was traveling the countryside of Ranhama with her two students. It was the spring of the year five hundred and sixty-four, in the third age of Raga. The monk was tasked to travel to the far north of Ranhama, to the famous Tonogawa castle. In order to get there, she would meet with one of the lord’s vassals in a small village nearby, before she would perform a ceremony for them.

Throughout the land of Ranhama, rumors were spreading that the young lord of the Tonogawa was deathly ill and that the monks of Shizukana Mura were desperately needed. Akali, a halfling practitioner who had managed to impress the masters of the monastery, was assigned this task as a rite of passage.

The journey, with haste, took only a few days. The monks made their way from Shizukana Mura along the trade road north until they reached the Meiwa Pass, which connected the northern and southern islands that made up Ranhama. Meiwa Pass was often seen as the border between the legendary Ise and Tonogawa territories. In the years following the Battle of Tonogawa, the Tonogawa shogunate had fallen into decline and the clans of the north were rebuilding. This made the northern island unstable and even treacherous for travelers.

The monks had spent very little time north of this pass, so they found themselves in uncertain territory. They followed the trade road further north until they entered a small village. As they arrived late at night, the local people greeted them. Akali and her students explained their purpose and their trade, the locals brought out a few of their own who were showing symptoms of illness.

They took the opportunity to display their skill; Akali watched as Tsutsui set to treating a farmer who had injured his arm. He claimed to have had it in a sling for weeks. Tsutsui began striking key points in the body and arm, which caused the man to jump, but her strikes were unusually delicate. Tsu seemed to mutter a few sounds as she struck, which offset the popping sound just before the farmer rotated his arm, which clearly proved it had worked.

A small sense of pride and accomplishment could be seen on Akali’s face as she had shown Tsu that technique just a few weeks earlier and the memory flashed fresh in her mind. Tsu was frustrated at not being able to align the strikes to the points in the body. Akali had shown her the technique and practice had improved it but when Tsu couldn’t seem to overcome the last hurdle because she was too caught up in overthinking it, Akali simply muttered a mantra of “pop, pop” and then left the young halfling to train.

Her attention turned to the other student, Nanba, who had brewed up a broth, mixing in collected herbs and roots from their travels. The smell was pungent, and the locals stared on in confusion and bewilderment. Akali began to explain to the villagers what the young halfling student was preparing. Taking roots like burdock and ginseng, along with some local flowers and steeping them in hot but just under boiling water, created a medicinal drink that would invigorate and restore the body. While Akali drew the attention of the locals away from the shy halfling boy, she saw the focus in his work and couldn’t help the thought that he’d be a great creator of medicine one day.

The villagers knew these three were trained in the Way of Mercy by the masks they wore. To be welcomed into one of the locals’ homes made them quite the spectacle, so preparing medicine and alleviating aches and pains seemed to give them quite the honor.

They were also given a room to sleep in for the night and fed.

The following morning, the three packed and stepped out into the village only to see a lone man sitting on the back of a cart watching the villagers like a hawk until the monks stepped out.

The man stood to his full height, his armor glinting in the morning sun. As he rolled his arms and stretched his legs after sitting, he made his way towards them. A samurai of a clan Akali didn’t recognize but must be one of the northern territories, this meant this must be the man they were to meet. A formal greeting and conversation began. The man’s name was Natsuo Sato, of the Sato clan who served the Tonogawa, which confirmed the suspicion. The samurai relayed the news of his lord’s illness and that he was sent to bring them to Tonogawa castle and provide safe passage.

The monks set out with the samurai, and they traveled most of the day to the castle. Arriving late in the afternoon. They were able to walk through the gates and right up to the castle. As Natsuo led them along, it allowed them to push past the onlookers who watched with curious eyes. Natsuo took them to meet with Itami, the lords’ head vassal.

The monks of Shizukana Mura and the samurai of Tonogawa settled in to talk over tea.

They spoke about the young lord’s condition, his constant need for bed rest, his weakened state, and how long he’d been suffering. As Akali spoke to Itami, she was focused on collecting as much information as she could about the lords’ condition and coming up with remedies, but something in this situation gave her concern.

Itami had excused himself from the meeting and went to prepare the lord to meet with the monks. Akali took the moment to ask Natsuo briefly about Itami. She learned he had been tasked with caring for the lord and was brought into the previous lord’s service before Natsuo’s time. The previous lord had known Natsuo’s family, so when he passed Natsuo was approached to serve under the young lord. The one to which Natsuo was now tasked to watch over.

Natsuo saw this as a blessing for the Sato clan to join in with the Tonogawa. Akali didn’t feel reassured by the conversation about Natsuo’s history, but she didn’t want to be impolite and force the issue. The fact Itami had risen to the position of the young lord’s advisor rapidly after the death of the previous lord was not lost on Natsuo and that others in the lord’s service had begun to ask questions.

It was shortly after Itami returned with other servants to usher the monks and Natsuo into the lord’s chambers where Akali could observe him. Itami introduced the young lord of Tonogawa to the monks, but the young man seemed to be looking beyond everyone, as if in another place entirely. With a hand wave, Itami ushered the other vassals and servants out of the room. That left just the monks, himself, and Natsuo with the young lord. Akali stepped forward and listened to the young lord’s heartbeat, checked his breathing, gently examined him for bumps or bruises. She looked for any clearly defined symptoms.

Akali then began to bide her time as she could tell this man was deeply fatigued and dehydrated, that he had been starved, that something else was wrong but it was a symptom outside the body. With subtle grace, she reached for the young lords’ hands, which held a teacup and gently guided him to set it down and in a swift and secret movement she dipped a finger into the tea. She rolled the substance between her fingers before wiping her hands on a strip of fabric. The consistency of the tea was strange, almost a gel, and this raised her suspicions more.

When Itami prodded for her diagnosis, Akali politely backed away from the young lord and admitted that whatever was ailing him was beyond her capabilities to heal but one of the master’s back at Shizukana Mura could. This answer didn’t please Itami, but with reluctance he accepted the reality. In the meantime, he requested that Akali prepare medicine and any recommendations while they fetch the masters.

She would not prepare medicine for him, as she knew no medicine that would help in this case. She simply recommended he be fed and make sure he drank water, for now, and that they could prepare to travel back to Shizukana Mura.

The monk was playing a careful word game with Itami; she needed to leave the room in order to better understand the power dynamic here. The young lord was being poisoned incredibly slowly, and dehydration and starvation were meant to mask the poison. If she could only get him away and know that half the castle or more wouldn’t side with Itami, then she could navigate this and save this poor boy. It seemed that Itami had the loyalty of every member of the Tonogawa except Natsuo, that was not good odds.

Akali moved back to join her students as Itami approached the young lord and looked to Akali. The idea of food and water alone did not appease him, so he demanded medicine of some kind be made. The monk relayed that she could make medicine that would ease his travel to Shizukana Mura but not heal him.

Itami sighed and summoned the servants back and relayed that they should prepare for the lord to travel the following morning. As Itami spoke with the servants and seemed to calm down, he asked politely that the monks make the medicine for travel now. Hesitantly, seeing a possible path through, Akali agreed and set to work. She wanted to appear to be creating something, but she carried what she needed already, this was just for appearances.

Natsuo took interest in what the monks were working on and as he got closer, Akali began to whisper softly as if instructing, but let him in on her plan. Speaking quietly and quickly, she relayed that the young lord was being poisoned, that she feared Itami’s intent and didn’t know how divided the castle could be. The samurai’s hand twitched as if he would grab his sword and rush the man, but judgement calmed him as he tried to grasp rapidly the situation and make his thoughts match what he’d seen and what was going on in this room.

Itami moved to the lord’s side and handed him the teacup back and guided him to drink, as the young lord seemed to smile pleasantly as he drank the remainder of the foul tea. Itami stood and faced the room of just the monks and Natsuo. That sense of something being wrong was now thrumming in her ears and chest. She positioned herself between the man and her students. With a wicked look, Itami stated that this would have to work for his master’s plans.

Itami’s arm buckled, surged, and grew as it changed shape into that of rippling muscle and claw. A grotesque arm of an Oni took the place of the warrior’s and pierced clean through the young lord’s back and out his chest. Bone crunched, blood pooled, and the young lords’ eyes closed softly. His fatigued body slumped, finding respite, as he rolled lifelessly to the ground.

The door opened, as if on cue, and the servants began to scream and shout “demon” and “the outsiders.” In the shortest of moments that followed, Akali could hear the shouts and mistaken implications, but her focus was on the demon that was crawling out of the human shell that was Itami. Powerful muscles seemed to form out of nothingness as the monstrosity shed its disguise and rose to its full height. A ferocious glaive summoned to its hand before it turned its attention to the room, and the blood that pooled beneath the lord and the Oni’s disguise filled the air with a metallic scent.

Akali looked behind her to her students and snapped their attention to the moment. They hadn’t only trained in the healing arts; they were also taught to fight and to defend themselves. Even with their training, an Oni was not something they were prepared for, they had to flee.

Natsuo drew his sword and rushed forward just as two samurai burst through the paper walls and looked at the monstrosity standing over their lord’s dead body. They were brought back to focus by Natsuo’s shouts. As the Oni gave a fanged grin, it tore away the remaining scraps of its human disguise and flexed powerful muscles to lift the massive glaive and moved forward to engage the samurai.

Natsuo and the two samurai rushed recklessly and began to slice and slash at the monster, their blades cutting cleanly into the monster, but the damage was not permanent. The monster seemed to heal as it wrenched its clawed hand free of the dead lord’s body and swatted the samurai back with a deep, horrendous laugh.

The monks, Akali, Tsu, and Nanba gave up on retreat as they all leaped forward to help the samurai. The Way of Mercy taught methods for invigorating others in battle so the first moments of this fight would appear strange to the spear armed peasantry that burst in through the doors. They saw three samurai slashing and cutting at a demon, while three agile halfling monks dodged around them, both empowering the samurai and punching the demon every chance they got.

That moment became a blur of violence. Fang and steel clashed, claw and fist crashed, and suddenly the monster was gone.

At that pause, the samurai panted for breath and searched for the monstrosity. Akali grabbed Nanba and Tsu and fled towards the door to flee the castle. The samurai followed and, as they approached the door, two spear wielding servants were grabbed violently and lifted into the air. The crunch of bone breaking was heard as the invisible monster became visible again and threw the bodies to the side as he settled to block the door.

The samurai charged past and the halflings deftly moved around them, wanting the open space of the outdoors. Blades slashed at the Oni, who vanished again as the group spilled out into the streets. This proved to be something they could not defeat, the thought returned that they had to flee. In that sudden and unnerving quiet, many servants of Tonogawa castle looked on in confusion. The sun was setting, and the darkness of night had begun to creep across the land. The last moments of sunshine cascading over the walls gave no solace as screams broke the silence and were heard throughout the castle. Loud crashes and sounds of destruction began to echo through the stone walls of the fortification as they ran.

Akali, the voice of reason to the determined samurai, convinced them to guide the monks out of the castle and to save as many of their lord’s people as they could. The monster slaughtered people with reckless abandon, solely by the sounds alone, and this was giving them time–time at the cost of life.

Chaos was palpable at every turn.

The ground shook as the giant landed and, with a mighty swing of its glaive, carved into the flesh of every creature it found. The samurai that Natsuo had trained with were rushing to face the monster, only to be cut in half from the sheer strength of the Oni’s swing.

As the demon roared with its outstretched claw, a globe of darkness enveloped the stables. Horses neighed in terror and those hiding in the stables tried to crawl out of the spell.

The Oni laughed viciously as the castle seemed to be crumbling and fire catching as lanterns began to set the wood and paper of the castle ablaze. It paused to look at the beginning of the destruction before it turned to face the gate, the gate that was barred shut.

As Akali’s group reached that gate, the two samurai traveling with Natsuo moved to unbar the door. They dropped the heavy bar with a hearty thud and pushed the gate to open. There was a terrible sound as the massive glaive the Oni carried was hurtled between Akali and Natsuo and impaled one of the samurai to the gate door forcing it open and knocking the other samurai far outside the gate with the handle of the polearm slamming into him.

In awe, the monks and Natsuo turned to see the Oni began to step slowly and methodically towards them. Thudding heavy feet slammed as it began to run, closing on them. Akali grabbed her students and pushed them out the castle gates, easily sliding under the polearm that pinned the body to the door. Natsuo ducked under as they fled the castle.

Turning back, they saw the Oni transformed into a dark miasma as it roared out into the field in front of the castle.

They couldn’t outrun a shape changing demon.

After sprinting a short way, the monks steeled their nerve, and the samurai drew his blade. Akali looked at her students with mixed emotions. The look of uncertainty and fear gave her pause, but underneath those emotions was confidence, trust, and determination–they’d trained together, and they could do this. They had to do this.

Natsuo rushed the Oni again, carving into its flesh and trying to outpace its ability to regenerate with determined fervor. Akali and the students dashed in and out of clawed strikes and with equal determination struck at every point on its body to attempt to stun the creature. As Natsuo’s sword cut deep into the hand of the demon, Akali punched the back of one knee as Tsu imitated her teacher on the other knee and the monster was crippled and fell prone on its damaged knees. Nanba ran to Tsu as she was knocked back by the demon’s backhand and caught her. Akali drove her knee into the monster’s face before she was swatted back.

Natsuo sheathed his sword, ducking under the arm before he used the sheathe to increase his draw speed, only to cut deep along the monster’s belly, blood dripping out of the deep cut as the monster stumbled back up onto its feet again – knees popping as it healed.

The tide of battle had begun to turn, as the last glimmer of sunlight could be seen as an orange cascade on the mountainside to the west.

With coordinated strikes and every ounce of energy poured into healing each other, the monks of Shizukana Mura and the lone samurai of the Sato clan fought an uphill battle. The Oni’s claws thrashed wildly until the creature vanished. As Akali and Natsuo looked down at where the Oni last was, they could see its footprints as it took two steps and then they stopped. Striking out at the space where the trail ended, they realized the monster was invisible and airborne.

They looked in the direction of where the footprints were heading and saw Nanba and Tsutsui looking around frantically.

Akali sprang forward as the Oni appeared on the far side of the students and held its bloodied hand out openly as a swirl of energy coalesced into a blue and white vortex. Akali reached out with her hand and shouted to her students, who turned to face her and reacted too slowly as a torrent of ice and snow rushed out of the vortex in the Oni’s palm.

As if the mighty mountains themselves came crashing down as an avalanche, the winds lashed at all of them, and pelted them with unrelenting frost and rime. Akali pushed through the winds as the frost bit and tore at her skin. She closed her eyes and shielded her face with her arms. Frost bit her as she clenched her teeth and pushed through until the wind subsided and she pulled her arms away to look at the flash frozen ground before her.

Akali’s vision was swimming as moisture fought to return to her frost covered eyes as she saw her two students. They were flash frozen. They stood as statues looking at her, covered by a thin barrier of magical ice.

The Oni tilted its head in amusement as the wounds began to close and it began to fly higher into the air.

Akali’s only thought was of her students. She pushed herself to break the ice that had formed on her, and she flexed until her muscles burned to walk, then to run, fighting to get to her students. The closer of the two was Tsutsui. Akali began to strike desperately, using her fists to try to crack the ice, to break that thin glass like exterior.

Akali’s eyes blurred with desperate focus and tears. With hands bleeding from the jagged frost and cutting cold on Tsutsui’s body, she began to break through the ice and as she removed it; she dug deep into her tapped strength and tried in vain to heal Tsutsui with her technique. Her hands touching Tsu’s face and with each attempt to transfer life-force, she saw no response.

The broken ice began to melt as the magic maintaining it began to fade.

Akali turned her attention to Nanba. With battered hands that popped and cracked, she cleared his face to check for breath. She once again tried to dig deep into a well that was beyond exhausted of strength and will and tried in vain to heal him with her technique.

As the ice melted, their bodies began to go limp and Akali caught them both as they slumped, still ice cold but no longer encased.

Pain, the likes she had never experienced before, now drew her so inward that with her eyes clenched tight she saw nothing but stars and could not breathe.

The Oni may have said something or may have said nothing at all, Akali’s world was one of heartache and one that only extended to what she could touch, her students, and the cold pain of loss.

Akali almost lashed out when she was brought back to reality as Natsuo grabbed her by her robes and lifted her up, shocking her back to reality. He let her go and as the ringing in her ears and the blur of her eyes began to refocus, she could hear him speak, but the words didn’t register.

Natsuo grabbed Akali and then, as her arms lost their strength, she limply let go of the bodies she held. Natsuo caught Nanba’s body. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone else pickup Tsu’s body. She gasped, drew breath, and felt fire in her lungs and throughout her body. She tried to push to grab her students again, only to feel Natsuo push her away from the castle and down the road.

Akali saw the two samurai carrying Nanba and Tsutsui and Natsuo continued to drag her, shepherding her, down the road. Her body began to move on instinct alone as they fled the burning Tonogawa castle.

They traveled the road back to the village in utter silence. The road was quiet under the starlit sky, and the trip that had taken most of the night was a haze to Akali.

They arrived well before dawn in the early hours of the morning and before they entered the village, Akali stopped on the bridge near the river. Something in her had broken, fundamentally. She looked over the samurai and she looked at Natsuo, she requested they take the bodies back to Shizukana Mura for a proper burial. Tell them of everything, but when it came to her, say that she had fallen.

Say that the Oni killed her, because it had.

The samurai understood honor in death, tragedy had befallen those at Tonogawa castle, and with that - they didn’t question it.

Before she left, Akali walked over to the bodies one last time and whispered something quietly to each of them. Akali then stumbled down the length of the river and left them behind.

This is where the story splits… as Akali traveled down the river an immeasurable distance, she eventually found a small boat and collapsed into it. Her hands and body were battered, broken, and bloody. Her body was exhausted beyond all limits, and she slept until the heat of the following day found her floating down the river. She woke with her head spinning and her heart hurting; she lay slumped in the boat with no desire to move. Her hand found, in the bottom of the boat, a fishing pole of some kind, some other possessions, and a bottle of saki that drew her in…

Natsuo and Kujo, the other samurai, walked into the village and knocked on doors until someone spoke to them. They wrapped the bodies in fabrics and Natsuo took it upon himself to see them back to Shizukana Mura. He requested a horse immediately, promised the village that the Sato clan would reimburse them, then set out with the bodies.

Natsuo searched along the trade road for a priest and fortune found him as he passed one on the road, breaking to rest his horse. The priest could do little for them but gave them a gentle repose in the form of a small blessing and prayer.

Natsuo, bound by honor to see this through, the road for days along the trade road with the bodies of the students until he found himself the farthest south he had ever been. Traveling past the Yokai Forest and down past the imperial capital of Hanazakura he found himself in Shizukana Mura, where he wandered in the forest looking for the monastery until some monks happened upon him.

Delivering the bodies of the two students, explaining how Akali had fallen in battle with an Oni.  Natsuo fulfilled his oath and at that he asked to stay and learn a bit more about where Akali had come from and about these monks who likely saved his life.

He was permitted, but he stayed only briefly and then returned to the northern territories to rejoin with his clan and to brave the chaos of the north.

It is rumored, years later, that Tsutsui and Nanba were seen in the town of Shizukana Mura but none can confirm or deny it.

Years passed and Akali drifted from town to town, spending most of her days in a stupor to numb the pain of her loss. She took up the name Ollie and found her knowledge of medicinal herbs lead to a smooth transition to cooking herbs. Learning to cook and finding employment in a few taverns as she had traveled from the land of Ranhama on a ship to the mainland.

Wandering the continent of Feralith until she found herself in an oceanside town cooking for a small seaside inn. When the crew of the Berserk Spectre made port and visited the seaside inn, the captain of the Spectre was blown away by the meal and sent the crew to abscond with the inn’s cook.

When Ollie was brought aboard the Spectre, the promise of freedom, and a new start was tempting but her past haunted her, she clung to the bottle. Shadowing under Nathan, the existing cook, she learned how to sail and the two drank ceaselessly. The permanent stupor and numbing nature of staying drunk did not dull her skills in combat, she managed to handle brawls and ship scuffles with expertise. Her Way of Mercy skills were suppressed but never truly buried.

She continued on this path until one day she found herself facing death once again. With her crew mates in a deep island jungle, they woke a dragon wreathed in shadow that left her crewmates near death and that was enough to snap her back to the Way of Mercy.