Maid
From Grigbertz
Contents |
System
The Maid campaign is run using "Maid the Roleplaying Game" by Sunset Games, using rather liberal interpretations of the rules.
Gallery
[1] Grigbertz' Gallery
PCs
Game Master is Tuft, and players are Grigbertz/Scarlett and Cidri.
Beryl
Princess of the Jewel Kingdom
Black maid uniform.
White hair, sky blue eyes.
Plays the guitar.
- Maid Types: Boyish, Heroine
- Special Qualities: Princess
- Maid Roots: Returning a Favor
- Stress Explosion: Binge
- Maid Power: Hard Work, Absolute Maid
- Athletics: 4
- Affection: 2
- Skill: 1
- Cunning: 2
- Luck: 0
- Will: 3
- Favor: 67
- Items: Pyrenéean Rose
Indigo
15cm tall Fairy. Faithful family retainer.
Black maid uniform.
Beige hair, indigo eyes.
Plays keyboard.
Can turn into a magical sword when in in the hand of Beryl
- Maid Types: Sexy, Lolita
- Special Qualities: Fairy, Magic Sword
- Maid Roots: Returning a Favor
- Stress Explosion: Dark Cloud
- Maid Power: Coercion
- Athletics: 0
- Affection: 3
- Skill: 3
- Cunning: 5
- Luck: 3
- Will: 2
- Favor: 37
- Items: Violet Rose
NPCs, Mansion Area
Hasegawa Kyosuke, Master
(Hasegawa = "Long Valley River")
Master of the mansion. Son to Darnarox.
Fuyuko, Head maid
(Fuyuko = "child of the winter")
Tamiya Midori, Tech maid
(Midori = "Green".)
Mad Scientist. Glasses, Braids, ecchi.
Loves teenage idol Revel.
Plays the Bass.
Green maid uniform, with handy toolbelt apron.
Revel
Teenage Idol. Plays the guitar and sings. Will probably be greeted with rains of panties at upcoming concerts.
Notice spelling: in Ingrish, Revel = Rebel
Ran, Yan, An
Three bathing attendants.
Blue maid uniform, which mainly consists of cap and bikini.
Anna
Kitchen maid, good at baking.
White maid uniform. Vermillion eyes, golden hair in a page cut.
Chizuko
(Chizuko = "Child of a thousand storks")
Maid that started laying eggs during the Cake-baking competition.
NPCs, Hakone Area
Kurauchi-sensei
Carpentry Master Craftsman, maker of puzzel boxes, puzzle restraints, and training apparati. Grand Old Master of the School of Restrained Fighting. Teller of legends how his ancestors fought spirits using those ancient techniques.
Kurauchi Rei
Inheritor of the School of Restrained Fighting. Shy with a temper.
The Eater
Monstrous tentacle being with the power to steal the special abilities of his victims.
Hiroko
Kitsune. Previous ruler of the spirits in the Hakone area, but now depowered by the Eater and its dark mistress. Previous owner of a para-dimensional Onsen that catered to the major gods and spirits of Japan.
Saturn
Onsen guest. Planet and ice queen. Distant and aloof.
God of Wandering and God of Rice Trade
Onsen guests. Old, argumentative and quarreling gods.
Totoro
Onsen guest. Enormous forest creature.
Red Dragon
Onsen guest. Mah-jong player.
Red Oni
Onsen guest. Mah-jong player. Bad loser.
Crows
Onsen guests. Tengu?
Crimson Pig
Onsen guest. Flyer Ace and War Hero. Old friend of Hiroko. Very noir.
Cave Slime
Friendly little blob
NPCs, Jewel Kingdom
Prinz Stalag
Prince of the Iron kingdom
Graf von Stalheim
Ambassador from the Iron Kingdom. Bishonen. Strict and disdainful.
Durgan
Dwarf. Magic smith.
Darnarox
Dragon. Lives up in the mountains in a mansion sunk into the rock. Owner of the japanese mansion. Father of Kyosuke and Arileda. Proud gentleman. Collector of Princesses.
Arileda
Half-dragon. Daughter to Darnarox. Wants to be like daddy.
Red hair.
Golden brown tail.
Min-Min
Darnarox' maid. Very proper.
Maid Uniforms
- Blue - Baths
- Dark Green - Tech
- Bright Green - Gardening
- Red - Security
- Black - General
- White - Kitchen
Episodes
Introducing the Maids
Master wakeup call. Losing the skirt but not the face. Helicopter with ninjas. Bailout. Visiting Midori for upgrades. Wings, potion, command collar. Launch. Tracing the masters signal. Warehouse. Landing. Embarrassing ninja attack. Window. Crate crash. Luring the ninja into a corner, but bound. Sneaking. Challenge. Sword appearande. Ninja defeat.
Fun with toys
Washing windows. Scream. Rushing, bumping and crashing. Sightings of small black furball with glowing red eyes. Sponge stolen. Indigo stresses out. Shower time. Beryl's underwear stolen. Dinner - rumor of stolen things. Bells from the master. Role call and order session - find the missing key! Searching the mansion. Spotting the furball. Chase. Playroom on the top floor. Model Zero - too detailed. Investigating toys. Movement. Spotted.
Tank attack. Shrunk! Beryl finds power armor - tank defeated. Indigo spots furball. Beryls power armor morphs. Chase and gunfire along the corridors. furball defeated. Beryl chased by maids. Indigo retrieves key. Beryl finds kitchen and eats. Indigo returns key. Midori spanked.
The Back Story
Flashback to Indigo and Beryl's back story.
Beryl waits to be scolded. Fortune teller - "Best way to get rid of someone is to give him what he wants". Von Stalheim passes, scornful. Meeting mom and dad - scolded. School pamphlet. Indigo sent on a mission to the smith. Sword fusion. Beryl cries in the garden. Confused Indigo meets up. Situation discussed. Investigating von Stalheim. Indigo finds map in room. Looking for Darnarax, dragon. Beryl suspects the worst. Investigating dusty archives - finds dragon legend in the western mountains.
Evening ball - dress-up. Sneaking out to the garden. Using skirts to climb over thorn hedge - lost skirt. Off we go during the night.
Following winding path - entering wilderness. Indigo improvises loincloth for Beryl.
Bridge guarded by half-dragon, Arileda. Challenge over ownership. Fight. Arileda loses clothes and fight, and agrees to be bound. Love scene.
Dragon Gambit
Marching off along the path. Amicable chat. Food gathering. Hair done. Arileda uses her tail to hypnotize, entice and seduce. Rest stop - rolling around in water... and chains switched.
Off along the path again, roles reversed. More food.
Night rest. Old black tower ruin. Fire-starting. Arileda embarrassed by lack of fire breath. Indigo entices the others to dance. Beryl temporarily released. Dancing turns into bed acrobatics and lovemaking. Blackout. Scent of roses.
Waking up trapped by roses. Steel roses - when snapped, vines turn to steel. Seeks moisture. Arileda and Beryl trapped, with hentai tentacle scene. Indigo does trick with bucket to get free. Collects pepper and fiery stuff. Return to the tentacle scene. Potion into Arileda, who breathes fire, and releases the others. Bound in steel vines.
Traipsing up path. Oak door. Knock, knock.
Min-min opens. Led into the parlor/library. Stretching out on furs. Tea is served. Others fed by Indigo.
Darnarox enters. Scolds Arileda. Situation explained. Darnarox promises to solve both von Stalheim and school problem. Beryl and Indigo will be sent to mansion for schooling and training. Indigo asks that Arileda will be sent too. Darnarox finds the idea good.
Crystal screen. Darnarox flies of and handles von Stalheim - question of mineral rights. Negotiates with king and queen. Beryl and Indigo sent off to Mordern Japan.
Guitar Hero
Back to the present. Investigating the toy room. Problem with opening the door, but some fiddling helps. Room is a mess - clear indication someone has been searching but not finding. Indigo finds letter behind curtains. Contains concert tickets + backstage invite for Midori. "Revel" is a big teenage idol. Remembering Midiri is big fan. Discussion.
Off to Midori's basement. Race across the grass - dip in fountain. Letter saved. Talking with techno-eye-at door. Let in. Midori has been crying. Lab shutdown. Indigo delivers letter with a fanfare. Midori overjoyed. "But I dont have any friends to bring". Beryl and Indigo offers to accompany.
Beryl unshrunk with some difficulty.
Cleaning the toyroom. Dusty, sweaty. Off to the bath. Midori embarrassed. Cleaning, chatting and having fun. Three bathing attendants who barely shares a bikini together.
Next day, shopping. Trying on outfits. After a parade of costumes, Midori goes gothic lolita, and Beryl goes biker leather.
Off to concert. Limo. Let off at a distance - entrance is packed by fans. Circles around to stage entrance. Two big bouncers, have not been told about the letter, refuses entry.
Looks around, finds window - sneaks in. Hears commotion and chaos. Sees manager with many cellphones.
When approached, the manager says "at last you are here", and gives the girls one instrument each - clearly they have been taken for the backup band. After a minute getting used to the instruments, they are pushed on stage, the curtain is raised, and the concert begins - with them on stage and not in the audience.
Indigo persuades Midori to remove her panties and tie them to Rebel's guitar. Big success. Indigo triggers stage F/X. Panty rain from the audience.
Beryl wishes she had panties to do the same, but hugs and kisses Rebel instead - with her rear to the audience. Big success again.
Concert ends with stage invasion and chaos, and Rebel is whisked off by his bouncers.
The girls celebrate in the limo, taking the long way home, with champagne and general merriment. Indigo bathes in champagne glass.
Back to the mansion. Lit up and chaos. Someone - Ninjas? - has attacked and kindnapped three girls.
Mermaid Gambit
Investigation:
It's the three bathing maids that have been kidnapped - by Yakuza.
Investigation. Mah-jong piece discovered - "red dragon". Rumors of a high-stakes illegal gambling joint, run by yakuza. Mah-jong piece examined by Midori - has at some time been exposed to sea water.
The mah-jong joint is in a sea-side resort - a tower out in the ocean, with a long covered bridge out to it. Web search reveals that the female staff dress in really short Cheongsam-style dresses.
Sneaking in:
Next day. Beryl borrows bicycle and a suitable Cheongsam, Indigo disguises as hair ornament. Rides bike to seaside. Forgot panties.
Guard at bridge. Beryl charmes him, and is taken for servant girl. Sneaking into the maintenance corridors. They stumble into kitchen. Given delivery to penthouse by kitchen staff - tea and cookies.
Elevator up. Enters penthouse. Elderly japanese man with bodyguards. Indigo hides in flower pot. Beryl leaves, and decides to sneak over roof to penthouse's balcony/garden.
Boss of the place enters, and a to Indigo boring economics discussion takes place. The boss of the place was supposed to lose money, so that protection money from shipping could be laundered. Now the gambling is so profitable that the money laundry is jeopardized. Make no waves!
Indigo hides in pocket of boss. Beryl scrambles to get back to penthouse door. Manages. Boss orders her go to the bar and fetch him a stiff whiskey, and serve it in his office.
Indigo rides boss' pocket to office. Boss studies his spreadsheets. Office in bottom floor, just above sea level. Lots of big aquariums. Beryls bends over studying the aquariums and boss is fascinated by her backside. Beryl and Indigo leave. After a while a thud is heard, and when the girls peeks into the office, it is empty.
Behind the desk is a hatch. Opening the hatch shows a shaft down into the sea. Beryl removes the dress, and jumps in. Carrying Indigo in the upside-down whiskey glass, diving bell style. Indigo drunk by fumes.
Under the Sea:
Swimming down into the ocean. Sloping ocean floor. Something moving deeper below. Swim down.
Some kind of palace is down there. Approaching. Discovered by a pair of Yakuza merman guards. Captured. Beryl passes out due to lack of oxygen, and Indigo passes out because she is drunk.
Coming to in storage room. Expertly bound shibari-style. Guard notice they are awake. Take them to the boss in his tea room. Verbal sparring ensues. He forced the bathing maids - who are mermaids - back to the clan to use for marriage. Greedy guy.
Beryl lead back to the storage room. Beryl liberated by Indigo (?). Discovering crawlspace under false ceiling. Off searching.
Found the three missing girls sleeping together in a room, with a guard outside. Jumping the guard, and starting to choke him with a leg-lock. One of the girl jumps into the fight and knocks the guard out with a tea pot.
Indigo and Beryl splits up. Beryl escorts the girls to the entrance, while Indigo is off enchanting the boss' tea. Makes the tea turn him female so that he will have someone to marry off - him-, now herself. Succeeds. Angry female screams.
Meetup at the entrance. The three maids turn into mermaids, and with a little effort they do the same to Beryl and Indigo.
Take the scenic tour back through the moon-lit ocean, up the river, and the creek, through an underwater entrance, finally ending up in the Manor's bath.
Making a Cake
Maids gathered by Head Maid. Lots of unfortunate incidents lately, so it is time for something fun. It's Master's birthday, so lets make a competition out of making a cake for him. A number of challenges need to be passed for the key ingredients. Best cake will win.
Must work as teams. Only one in each team may carry the ingredients from the challenges, and that one must wear a locked collar. Beryl wears the collar in Indigo-Beryl team. Collar proves to remove all sense of direction - Beryl gets lost trying to find the door out of the room. Midori is seen, teaming with a robot.
Besides the collar, they get an emergency envelope with a partition for each challenge - if you fail the challenge you can open a partition and get something that solves the problem in an embarrassing manner.
Start. Girls argue a lot, until Indigo finally manages to start steering Beryl around. They get behind in the start, as the other teams scatter in all directions.
Barnyard:
Decides to go to the barnyard for milk first. Shortcut through woods. Another team, in ninja dress, attacks with ensnaring ropes. Beryl avoids first attack, but is ensnared in the second. Indigo frees Beryl from ropes - and clothes.
Barnyard reached. Into barn. First room empty. Cows in second, but way is blocked by a partition with and irate bull. Tries some toreador stuff, but the bull is too strong. The girls are driven back. Notice the bull is interested by the cows. Manages to climb up to the ceiling, balance on the beams, over to cows' partition. Lets the bull into this partition, where it mounts one of the cows. Strategy discussion during milking. Takes double dose of milk, hiding half in the barn, and taking half back to kitchen.
Back to kitchen without incident. Store milk in team locker. Beryl gets a towel.
Orangery:
Next goal - fruits in orangery. Bathing in stream to get clean. Shots from security maid team using SMGs with rubber bullets. Beryl dives, while Indigo hides in basket. Indigo sees one of the mermaid maids below, but keeps quiet. Finally they manage to sneak along the stream, Beryl underwater and Indigo in basket, avoiding the assailants. Quite angry. Towel lost.
Into the orangery. Inside is a jungle - no clear paths. Pressing in among the plants... and finding that some vines move when touched. Tentacle vine attack. Vines concentrate on the juiciest target, Beryl. Indigo persuaded to turn into a sword, and some machete-style chopping ensues. Notice that the plant tries to drag them to the center - which is where they try to go. Beryl decides to concentrate on keeping arms and legs free, which means that they are free to roam her torso... and it enters interesting openings. The sap proves to be very stimulating, making Beryl quite excited as they reach the center.
Fruits there, and a cocoon containing another maid, getting worked over by the vines. Other maid liberated. More vine chopping. Beryl's rose powers used as distraction. Manages to get loose, but the girls are now quite turned on, and they find a soft moss bed to relieve that excitement. Fairy on girl on girl action.
The rescued maid is named Anna - and works in the kitchen, and is well versed in baking. She is also a carrier, so she has the confusion collar. Indigo now must lead two girls without sense of direction. Sneaking back into the house through the stream and the bath.
Relaxing in the bath and getting cleaned up on the way. Amiable chat. New maid dresses from the store. Back to kitchen.
Meeting one team coming back from the chicken coop. They failed there, and have used the emergency envelope, and their carrier, Chizuko, is very distraught - she is laying an egg every ten minutes. Beryl and Indigo does not know that, and think that she has hidden the eggs. They think it is clever.
Chicken Coop:
Off towards the chicken coop. Bluff - using the main road, pretending to not be in the competition, but on an errand into town. Off the road, and sneaking into the woods the roundabout way. Lost at first, but finds the way.
Finds hatch on the back of the chicken coop / rookery. Opens and enters, Indigo leading Beryl on leash, and Anna following, tightly leashed to Beryl. Floor covered with straw - hiding traps snapping bear-trap-like manacles on Beryl and Anna. Indigo must remove Beryls skirt in order to get enough lighgt to see to free the girls from the manacles.
Long zigzagging crawlspace. More traps avoided. Ends in wall with three round openings. Sound of chickens heard. Beryl puts head and hands in openings, which causes the wall to open hatch-like into the chicken coop proper. But part of the wall stays on Beryl, locked as a (pillory style) yoke around her neck and hands. Getting eggs. Decides to carry some eggs openly in Beryl's and Anna's aprons, and some hidden, in case of attack. Eggs inserted first into Beryl, and after some persuasion, also into Anna.
Back to Manor:
Roundabout way back. When they reach the main driveway, a limo passes, and they hitch a ride - which is good, as they have some problem walking with their cargo.
Limo drives up to front door. Grand entrance. Parading through hallways to kitchen.
Beryl approaches Chizuko again, and discovers that she is really laying eggs, not hiding them. Worst, she is clucking whenever she lays one. Beryl gives her a fruit so that she has something to eat to silence the clucking. Unfortunately it is sap-covered.
Making cake. Putting Indigo into cake, dressed in ballet tutu.
The Final:
Head Maid declares six finalists. Cakes wheeled into salon. Head Maid and Master makes the final judgement, and as they scrutinize the team's cake, Indigo jumps out and kisses Master. Bonus points.
Beryl, Indigo and Anna win, and they get to share their cake with Master and Head Maid over tea. Chatting amicably, and when Indigo asks Master about his interests, he hints at being interested in the Theater.
Beryl stays locked into the yoke, as it seems to be locked in some tricky manner similar to a Japanese puzzle box, and is a work of art by a master carpenter. Unfortunately, the competition committee seems to be reluctant to reveal their identities - and reveal how the yoke is unlocked.
Interlude
Interaction with Anna and Chizuko.
Travel to Hakone
Talking with the head maid. She finds it interesting that Beryl got caught in just that yoke - she seems to recognize it, bringing out fond memories.
Beryl and Indigo will get to travel somewhere special as a reward for winning the Cake Hunt. Somewhere with a connection to the yoke.
They have three days to figure out how to solve the yoke's riddle, then they will be sent off to get it done at their destination.
Destination proves to be Hakone - a center for special woodcrafts, especially puzzle boxes of all kinds, and one of Japan's premier places for spirits, close to Mount Fuji.
Third day passes, and no luck with getting the yoke unlocked. ("Interlude" above occurs during this time.)
First leg of travel - local train. Bit crowded, especially with the unwieldy yoke. Beryl's pointy ears and the yoke gets a few funny looks, but the passengers manages to figure it out - she must be a cosplayer. Apparently there has been a TV special the day before, showing all the odd things cosplayers do get up to...
Switching train to the Shinkansen bullet train. Get a pair of seats to themselves, which is lucky, considering the yoke.
They purchase a boxed dinner, a bento. Balancing it on the yoke back to the seat. Indigo starts feeding Beryl, but the rice balls and other food items are so large she needs to jump into the bento to lift them out. She gets sticky from sauce, and needs to be licked clean by Beryl.
Train switch again. Local train again, and then switch to the Hakone Ropeway - a gondola lift carrying them up the mountains and over the ravines to Hakone. Mount Fuji appears out of the local mountains and is admired.
Arriving at Hakone. Souvenir shopping, and querying the locals. At the high-quality souvenir place, Indigo is recognized as a spirit, and much honored, at her surprise. The craftsmanship of the yoke is also recognized, and directions are given to the maker.
It is now late, and the pair take a hotel room to start fresh in the morning.
Following directions, they walk through the wooded hillsides. Indigo looks for spirits, but the countryside is oddly quiet when it comes to spiritual activity, especially considering Hakone's reputation.
They arrive at a compound consisting of a major house, Japanese stile, a workshop, and behind the house, a dojo. Outside is an old man.
The old man looks over the yoke, chats about it, and proves to be the master himself.
He talks fondly about the Head Maid. Apparently she has been his pupil in the past.
Now, since the head maid has recommended Beryl, he wants to test her. They are taken to the dojo - which only occupies half the house. The other half is special training apparatuses, into which you are strapped and locked.
The master tests Beryl, and toys with her, but Beryl manages to impress him enough to be considered for special training. Beryl loses her clothes in the process, though.
Suddenly a trio of thugs appears - and demands to fight for the dojo sign - a peculiar Japanese martial arts tradition.
Beryl manages to fight one of the thugs after Indigo changes to sword and helps her, and then the master's student, Rei appears. She defeats a second thug, and then the leader finds it best to retreat.
Rei is disdainful of Beryl and demands a fight. With Indigo as sword, Rei is easily stripped, and runs out embarrassed and bare-assed.
The Lady in White
Indigo sneaks around the house, and secretly helps Rei make dinner, which calms Rei down a little. In the garden, Indigo sees a woman in impeccable white kimono, but with a wild golden-orange hair. The woman bows deeply for Indigo, going down on her knees.
Beryl and Indigo takes a bath, and Indigo discovers an interesting liniment, which has... stimulating effects when applied to other places than sore muscles. As Beryl tries to satisfy the itch that application has caused, Rei walks in on the pair. Shocked by the situation, she tries to flee, running nude into the sensei. He gets a good slap, and Rei storms off.
Well, despite this, all pitch in for the final dinner preparations, and the Kurauchi-sensei tells of the clan's martial arts tradition and its proud records when it comes to defeating evil spirits.
Nighttime. Beryl sleeps on a futon, ungracefully sprawled across it with the cover kicked off. Indigo tries to sleep on one of the ceiling beams, but is woken in the middle of the night by whispering shades, peering down under a lifted ceiling tile. She tries to lure them closer, but they scamper.
Morning. Common breakfast. Rei and Beryl go off for training with the Master, leaving Indigo to roam the house again. She looks for places where the spirits may gather. Finds sacred stone, and sets out offerings there, but nothing appears.
Beryl and Rei trains in the machines, where you need to "defeat" the machine to get loose from its restraints. Since Beryl is a beginner, she has to get rid of her too loose clothing, which may get caught in the machine's delicate workings. When they have had a good workout, Indigo appears with refreshments. Beryl, to her own satisfaction, has not managed to defeat her machine, and is still restrained. She tries furiously a last time, but fails, and has to ignominiously be released by the master.
Common bath time this time - both Beryl and Rei are sore, and more liniment applied. Once again, Indigo manages to apply the liniment to more areas than intended, stimulating both Beryl and Rei. Miniature orgy ensues, especially as some friendly unknown soul leaves a tray of Sake outside the door.
Indigo finally manages to catch a few friendly spirits at the sacred rock, and manage to get from them that they are afraid of "The Eater", and that "Hiroko" is involved in happenings somehow. The spirits are very respectful to Indigo.
At dinner, Indigo asks about the lady in white she has seen, and is told that such a lady has been seen down at the lake shore lately.
The Eater
After dinner, Rei, Indigo and Beryl decides to go look for the lady in white. They go down to the lakeside, and after a while things get very still and quiet, and Indigo notices that Rei and Beryl has fallen asleep in each other's arms. The lady in white appears, and with gestures she indicates that she is mute, and someone has stolen her voice, and wants Indigo's help.
Indigo meets the lady again, and this time she brings writing implements. The lady tells that her name is Hiroko, and "The Eater" has stolen her voice. She needs Indigo's help to regain it. They set a meeting in the forest for this.
When Indigo meets up with Hiroko, Rei and Beryl tries to follow, but Indigo and Hiroko moves with unnatural speed through the forest, and Rei and Beryl gets left behind. Indigo however manages to leave a trail for them to follow.
Hiroko leads Indigo to a narrow opening into the mountain, small enough that only a mouse - or a pixie - can get through. This is the Eater's den, and Hiroko wants Indigo to fetch her voice. Indigo is unwilling to enter, but gets persuaded by Hiroko. When entering, she finds a vast store of knick-knacks, trinkets that represent all the abilities it has stolen from various victims - someones eyesight, musical talent, agility, etc. At first look she cannot find Hiroko's voice, though. Indigo feels trapped, and does not want to stay, so she leaves and meets up with the others.
Together, they formulate a plan. The Eater derives power from his stolen abilities. If they rob him in turn, he will weaken greatly, and desperately, almost mindlessly go for the first victim that he comes across, especially one that appears helpless. This will allow the party to set a trap. Although Hiroko is weakened and voiceless, she can still write a few seals that can form a magic circle, immobilizing the eater for a few crucial moments. Beryl is reluctantly persuaded to be bait in this plan.
Indigo starts ferrying out the Eater's treasure, and the rest carry it into the woods. When the cave has been emptied, Beryl is tied down in the woods outside, and after retrieving her voice, Hiroko places the seals around her, ready to activate the magic seal, while the rest hide.
At nightfall, the Eater arrives, part dark cloud, part mass of tentacles. He pours like an evils smoke down the narrow hole into his den, and after a few moments reappear, furious and desperate.
He spots Beryl, tied down outside, and charges, tentacles flailing. For a few horrific moments, Beryl feels the tentacles grope inside her after... something, until its bulk is close enough for the trap to be sprung. With concerted efforts the team manages to defeat the monster before it can escape, and it evaporates into lifeless slime.
Hiroko greets the local spirits now appearing, and she and Indigo sends them off to return the Eater's treasures to his victims.
To the Hot Springs
Hiroko, the kitsune, has gotten her voice back, so she can explain things:
She was the previous ruler of the spirits in the area, but her powers were stolen and she was ejected from her place of power. This place is an Onsen, where the best and mightiest of Japan's gods and spirits visited. It was the Eater who stole her powers, embodied in her nine tails, as well as her voice. He gave the tails to his unknown mistress, but kept the voice to himself. If she could regain her nine tails, she would also regain her rank and powers. Owning the onsen gave a lot of prestige and rank among the gods and spirits, and it was this the usurper most probably had craved.
Discussions on how to enter the onsen:
- Can only be entered through a single tunnel, which takes you between worlds into the spirit realm.
- Best to pose as guests. Only spirits can be guests, however, which means that Beryl and Rei must pose as changelings, humans taken as pets and servants, under Indigo's control.
- Dress up in pony harnesses, bound to a litter with a small pagoda carried between them, in which Indigo will throne. Harness parts obtained through craftsman contacts of Sensei, and put together by Hiroko and Indigo.
- Some good-to-have items hidden in the pagoda: Soy beans, fireworks, magic seals, fans, snacks and candy.
Hiroko's original staff is probably still there. She employed rabbit spirits from the Moon Rabbit clan. They were given human-ish appearance from a magic rock at the onsen, so that they could serve as servants and bathing attendants. Hiroko apparently found it very amusing to lord over a number of rabbits, being a fox spirit. The rock's magic powers would be able to disguise the party as bunny servants, given the proper ritual.
Hiking up into the forest. Dressing up in all the gear. Taking peculiar path up a ravine, and reality starts to shift. Suddenly a tunnel appears. Entering the tunnel, lighting paper lanterns on the pagoda. Midway, a blob of slime falls on Beryl. The blob slides around a bit, making himself comfortable. However, he proves to be interested in Indigo's candy, and can finally be lured onto the litter, and hidden in one of the pagoda's hidden compartments.
When they leave the tunnel, they are hailed by a pair of guardian onis, large tiger-skin-wearing ogres, who make an unusual effort to clean up, with fancy hair setups, and trying hard to be polite. Indigo manages to bamboozle the onis, and the team walks down the path to the onsen's inn, where they are greeted by a smaller and cuter female oni, who acts as the inn's hostess.
Exploring the Onsen and the Inn
The party is shown to their room. Female Oni-hostess welcome the guests. Bunny maid delivers refreshments. Dress for dinner. Slime blob sneak-steals major parts of refreshments. Indigo sits in throne in Beryl's hair, and leashes Beryl and Rei together. Off to the common rooms.
Odd pop-pop-sounds from a room on the way. Sneaks a peek. Ping-pong match between Crimson Pig and a murder of crows. Continue to the common room/lobby. Guests there: reclusive woman all in white, two old men playing cards, table of mah-jong players, one a dragon, one a red oni. They peek into dining room - bunny maids setting the table. Peek into the dressing rooms of the baths, but decide not to go into bath now.
Join the two old men at the card game. They are foul-mouthed and insult each others. Sake is drunk. Talk about how the world is worse than in the old days, how bad today's youths are, etc. This Onsen was much better in the old days. More life. New management made things worse. Old men introduced as "God of Wandering" and "God of Rice Trade". They show interest in Beryl, especially when she argues back. Indigo is made an offer for Beryl's favors for one night, and settles for the price of one weeks luck in obtaining information.
Next the party tries the woman in white. She proves to be Saturn. "You are from Saturn?" - "No, I am Saturn". She is distant and aloof - the proverbial Ice Queen. All get a bit more drunk, but no progress.
Dinner gong-gong. Totoro arrives with quite the impact. Lots of not-important-in-this-scenario guests have arrived meanwhile, and all enter the dining room. The girls get seated next to the Crimson Pig. He proves to have been an old friend of Hiroko, the previous owner. He is remarkably easy to get information from - Indigo's newly-bought luck pays off instantly? Tells of rumors of the Coup, how things have degenerated here, that the Oni guards are mercenaries, that little is known of the new mistress, but that she is rumored to make an appearance among the guests within the next few days.
Indigo, seeing how the bunny tending to Totoro seems livelier to the rest, uses her magic rose to improve the mood of the bunnies serving them. Beryl manages to whisper a short message to one of the bunnies, but they don't want to talk with so many eyes and ears around.
After dinner, the two old gods take custody of Beryl, and take her to their room. Lots of sake is drunk, with Beryl used as drinking cup in various positions. The room proves to have lots of practical hooks and anchor points to facilitate this - and more. The gods prove to be quite energetic and active, but in-between the main activities, Beryl manages to get the gods to tell her that the new management employs tentacular horrors from beyond time and space - neither gods nor proper spirits. Not at all like the good old days.
Indigo takes a hot bath with Rei. Returning, they are ambushed by a Ninja Bunny - quite obviously one of the maids, trying to follow up on Beryl's message during dinner. The ninja really wants Beryl. With Beryl absent, the ninja is unsure about Indigo, so she tries to interrogate with a knife at Indigo's tiny throat. Indigo proves to be a tough cookie, and not at all intimidated. After some terse dialog, Indigo and Rei finally shows the introduction letter from Hiroko, which settles thing, and the bunny tells that the new mistress is holed up in the temple, and the maids now only goes there with food and when dressing up the usurper for formal occasions. The temple has grown dark and dirty with disuse, and something is wrong with the guardian statues.
Beryl arrives rather worn-out with the dawn, and stories are traded.
