The silver needle, when inserted into Kwam-Rak carpet, slipped out of Ginjo's and, seemingly with a mind of its own, began to embroider the carpet with a golden thread. The thread grew as the needle worked, passing over every square inch of the carpet to add line, shading, definition, even the illusion of flowing water and fluttering leaves. The abstract shapes became a map and a beautiful landscape on which well-known landmarks were clearly visible including Lake Pasar, the Cave of Discord and hundreds of villages including the Kwam-Rak compound. Pasar itself was only a small village and the map did not show the empires to the west or their roads. The needle finished its work in the jungle near Lake Pasar, seemingly at the exact point where Ginjo now stood in the Monastery of the Two-Fold Path. Ginjo and Sukh agreed that they must show the carpet-map to their bakemono friends.
By the time they reached the bakemonos' lair in the forest, the needle had moved. It had embroidered a pathway, using tiny letters in a script form of bakemono: "Now is the time for the dear ones to reconcile and return home."
Sukh and Ginjo discussed the matter with their bakemono friends and decided that they would use the carpet to find their way to the bakemono homeland together. Sheng and Shek, plus Irak and a few other sohei would join them.
Relying on the carpet as a guide, the travelers returned to the Caves of Discord and the Shrine of the death cult, where they found a blocked tunnel. Working diligently, they moved enough boulders and rubble to reveal a passage deep under ground. After provisioning themselves with torches from the stores of the death cult, they ventured into the hidden underground highway. They followed its course for many miles, soon realizing that they must conserve their torches by allowing the bakemono to lead the way while the darkness-blind humans made do with the light of glowing embers.
They spent two nights in the tunnel, crossed an underground river and found themselves in a maze of smaller tunnels. As with the expansion of Pasar into a large town and the blockage in the shrine of the death cult, the carpet-map did not show this presumably more recent construction. The maze seemed to be part of an abandoned mine. The party lit additional torches to find their way and fought off attacks from an enormous, half-invisible spider. They found their way at last by following a draft of pure air. They came upon a wide tunnel slanted upward at a steep enough angle that a trickle of water ran steadily down it. Following that tunnel they emerged on a blustery cliffside in the middle of the night. After spending the night inside the tunnel, and waiting for the dawn, they ventured outside once more. According to the carpet-map they were still on the right way, and would follow a path on the side of a cliff for several more days.
At the end of those days, the travelers were confronted with another disconnect between the map and current reality. The beautiful stone bridge that arched over the chasm to a pair of enormous iron doors had collapsed. The party camped, rested, and discussed what to do. Sukh had recovered a few magic potions from the lair of the bull monster. According to wise woman he'd consulted in Pasar two of the potions had properties that might assist them in crossing the ravine.
The party had enough rope that they climb down the wall of the ravine without expending any of their magical resources. Despite a couple close calls, everyone reached the bottom safely. They drank deeply from the river and rested on the soft grass. Then they prepared to climb the other side.
Ginjo drank a long draught of dank, frothy liquid and within a minute, grew to five or six times his normal size. His clothing and possessions-- including the rope-- also grew in size. Climbing up the the other side of the ravine was a strenuous challenge, especially with Irak holding onto him. But he was large enough and strong enough to use the ledges and outcropping like the steps on a ladder. When he reached a large enough ledge half way up, Irak let the rope down and helped the others climb up it. Then Ginjo and Irak repeated the maneuver to reach another ledge near the top. The ledge at the very top was the too narrow and unstable to support the enlarged Ginjo. He gave Irak a push and helped ther others climb up to the to ledge. Then when the potion wore off and he returned to his normal size, Ginjo joined them by way of the rope.
Now it was Sukh's turn to make use of a magic potion. He unstoppered a small glass vial and tossed back a dull blue liquid that turned to mist as it poured into his mouth. As Sukh inhaled the thick mist, he too turned into mist and, in the form of a dull blue cloud, rose up and over the pair of tall iron doors. For a moment, he took on the sight of the bakemono homeland. His vision was blurred, but he could make out a verdant valley that matched the carpet-map, with towns and roads and other small structures dotted throughout. He was not able to see any movement or detect signs of life. Not knowing ow long the potion's effect would last, he descended to the ground on the other side of the doors.
On the inside, the doors were flanked by a pair of eight-foot jade statues-- humanoids with the head's of foxes or jackals. These figures looked like what Sukh would call bakemono but their flowing robes, haughtily serene demeanors, and especially the artistry of the statues themselves were suggestive of something very different from anything Sukh had encountered in the Caves of Discord or his kind-hearted but simple friends. Sukh was distracted from his musings by a chortle of laughter from Dew Blossom and Gentle Foot on the other side of the doors, still held shut by an iron bar. With a shout, he heaved the bar off its brackets and called to his companions. They pushed their way inside as the jade statues came to life.
Relying on battle-tested tactics, Sukh and Ginjo each attacked one of the statues directly with a flurry of aggressive slashes while their companions made coordinated flanking attacks. The jade statues were terrifying opponents, the faces set in fearless disdain but they fell to ruin under the rain of blows. They had reached the lost valley of the bakemono.
Immediately before them was a collection of stone buildings, the beauty of their proportion and precise construction still evident in their ruined state. For they were ruined. Roofs were missing, walls had collapsed, moss grew thickly, and, as they wandered into the town, they found the streets strewn with rubble, a tree growing from a dry fountain. Looking closer, it seemed the destruction was deliberate. Carvings and frescoes were deliberately defaced and marked by graffiti, in a style reminiscent, in form, style, and substance, of the Caves of Discord.
Welcome home?
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