January 14, 2024

Hook

Sins of the Father III (Raikougan, Cahyali)

Plot Synopsis

The party begins their fight against the golem. It is seemingly impervious to damage, but the party manages to figure out how to soften up its hard metal shell, then strike it with the hammer. It isn't enough, though, and manages to severely injure Rilo. As he falls unconscious and Raiden barely catches him from falling into lava, his body catches ablaze as he transforms into a new, terrifying, demonic form. In his rage, he shoots the arm off the golem, then kills it. As the party cleans up creatures that crawled through a portal created by the twin magical circles in the golem's head, Rilo attacks Sochi and is knocked out. When the last of the creatures is killed, the portal destabilizes and pulls all of them into the Kurago.

They wake up in the Kurago, and Sochi attempts to exorcise Rilo - fearing he was possessed in the fight. As it turns out, he wasn't possessed, and becomes extremely angry at Sochi for trying to hurt him. Every nomadic spirit guardian is there now, in the flesh, and help the group figure out that they should find a gate guardian spirit to return to Cahyali. Tired out from the fight, the group finds a safe spot in the Kurago and sleeps the night. Raiden notes that it's oddly easy for him to navigate this area, and he feels like he knows where he's headed despite having never been here before. Strangely enough, he has two shadows here. In the night, Ji meets with her mentor again, and hands over the prayer beads.

The next day, Raiden leads the group to a town - which turns out is inhabited by every spirit of the Raiden family. They meet many significant figures there, notably Raiden Chihiro: an excitable warrior woman. They ask the leader of the town, Asahi, where the gate guardian is, but he says that the guardian, named Akari, mysteriously disappeared 26 years ago. A bullheaded and aggressive spirit named Noboru has since taken over the gate. The group figures they will have to fight him, and Raiden begins to go around the town recruiting help from each of his ancestors.

Kentaro Ryuji, Ryou's dead father and a former warlord of Ryushu, wanders into town and meets his son. They share a conversation, and Ryou is able to have closure. As he leaves, Ryou discovers that he's manifested more draconic features on his body. Ji calls on her mentor by name, confirming that he is Noboru - he commands her to take the heirloom sword Raiden is carrying, and to assist him in completing a ritual using the prayer beads so he can return to Cahyali.

As the day draws to an end, Sochi expresses that she might have an idea what's going on with Raiden, and puts him under in a ritual used in Itlan-Youali to find one's past life. He has a vision of Akari, and discovers that he is her reincarnation - so any hope of finding her in the Kurago is gone. Rilo stumbles upon the ritual, assumes Sochi is attempting to harm her friend, and attempts to shoot her. However, the bullet is blocked by a spectral form of Akari manifesting from Raiden's unconscious body. When he wakes up, he and Ryou run to the edge of town to speak with Rilo.

Rilo has found the gate leading out of the Kurago, which is located on a rocky outcrop and protected by an impassable magical barrier. Raiden and Kentaro come to comfort him in the midst of a breakdown, and they resolve to trust in each other from then on out. They head back into town, preparing to confront Noboru soon.

Noteworthy Postgame Events