Salt and Bangqiu—both in hippopotamus form—pulled the boat upriver for several hours. When the spell ended, Salt, drained from the effort, withdrew to her magical pocket apartment to rest.
It was then that Hyamsam made one of his infamous entrances. Like Bangqiu, Hyamsam is a magician who drifts at the party’s periphery—unseen or shapeshifted until the moment feels just right (or wrong). Today, he appeared when they needed him.
The boat reached a structure carved into the river: the Dragon Gate. The party hesitated, debating whether to go around or over, but Hyamsam urged them to simply pass through. They did.
Next, the river brought them to a waterfall, where a large gong rested at the base. While others debated, Hyamsam took initiative again—striking the gong. In response, a squat stone statue descended a flight of crumbling stairs and offered to carry their boats up the falls—for a price.
Bo-Jing haggled, trying to minimize the cost despite his wealth. Bangqiu, more pragmatic, paid most of the toll, not wanting to inspire resentment in one entrusted with such a task. Captain Hu, impressed, quietly promised Bangqiu the Crimson Reprieve—should the curse be lifted.
At the top of the falls, they continued upstream. The river split, winding through brackish and silty islands. There they encountered a strange figure—bandaged, blind, and singing eerily about “The Barrel.” He paddled alone in a small boat and claimed to know Bangqiu and Bo-Jing.
Bangqiu, unsettled, responded with a blast of scalding steam. The figure spilled into the river—only to reappear minutes later as three identical forms, closing in from three sides. The party quickly destroyed the undead attackers.
Then a disembodied voice greeted them. Nyng.
To remind them who he was, Nyng conjured a lavish illusion. The party watched as a younger Bangqiu, seven years earlier, destroyed Nyng aboard a ghost ship. They saw themselves looting the spectral vessel—claiming strange treasures, including a mirror, a set of instruments that could guide a ship to the stars, and a jar of dark sludge. Bo-Jing and Bangqiu reconsidered once more, what they might have had.
Nyng’s voice told them the opportunity wasn’t lost. Not yet. But first, he had to find something. He couldn’t say what it was—not because he didn’t know, but because a geas prevented him.
The party deduced he was referring to his horcrux—the object once inside the jar Shoji had thrown into the sea. Nyng had recovered it once, but lost it again. It now lay somewhere at the river’s bottom.
While Nyng pled his case, Bangqiu turned invisible and took to the air, searching. Hyamsam, despite being able to detect invisibility, turned into a parrot and took flight himself.
Nyng pressed harder: help him find his horcrux, and the door to the stars would open. Bo-Jing agreed to help—later.Nyng disagreed. His voice turned cold: You will help me now.
Bo-Jing resisted the magical compulsion. Bangqiu spotted the invisible Nyng and responded with magic missiles. Once again, Nyng died.
The boat passed through another magical gate and entered a marshy stretch of river—close, Captain Hu said, to the spot where he had thrown overboard the girl named Youshi.
