[Dungeon Rescue] Come, and let us forget that vision of our fate

[isthe99percent]

WHO: Bernkastel, and those inclined to rescue her
WHAT: Bern's mortal past coming back to haunt her after Harrogate
WHERE: Liminal Space?
WHEN: Immediately after the Unquiet Dead.
WARNINGS: Insanity, fomication, violence, a Creepy Swamp, and okay look her mortal life was Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, it's gonna be Highly Unpleasant.


Bernkastel is notable by her absence after the Jaunt. One would expect her to gloat, or even to begrudgingly acknowledge the Traveller's victory. But she did neither, and coupled with Nyarlathotep coming into possession of her, perhaps it's not surprising to hear cicadas in the distance. Or for those cicadas to lead to a pair of lotus blossoms, framing a large toori gateway.

Beyond the belled gate is the sulfurous scent of a swamp, and the drone of the cicadas, and the sight of a small Japanese village down a path that skirts both mountains and swamps.

Comments

Pre-Dungeon planning

[isthe99percent]

The path to the Hinamizawa of the girl who would become Bernkastel is long and winding, and there's ample opportunity to chat - and to steel yourselves for something awful enough for the Crawling Chaos to draw inspiration from it.

Welcome and Warning

[isthe99percent]

Bernkastel's rescuers are greeted at another toori gate by a girl in pink and garish Halloween orange who looks pleased as punch to be here. She pops one of the star-shaped rock candies called konpeito in her mouth and bites down before offering a large bag of the stuff to the assorted Travellers.

"Normally Hanyuu would come out for this, but she was certain you'd take it badly after the Crawling Creeper wore her face," she says. "Do I need to introduce myself, or can my peer do the honors?"

[crouching_sin]

Naoya had not been in Harrogate, but he's found himself drawn here anyway. The sigh of the girl makes his eyebrows raise, but he's not about to look a gift candy in the mouth.

He takes a handful, but doesn't pop it in his mouth just yet. "I'm not familiar with you, no."

[isthe99percent]

"Bernkastel never mentioned me?" She pouts, a ridiculous exaggerated gesture. "I thought she'd spend every moment of every single day missing me. Of course, that's hard when she's getting thoroughly possessed by something that can give a Witch the creeps."

The girl bows. "Behold her better half - or what Beato would call furniture of her, anyway - the one and only Witch of Certainty, Lambdadelta!"

[crouching_sin]

"To be fair, I'm fairly new. And I don't know what you mean by furniture." The witch thing... whatever. He's dealt with other magic users before.

[awitchdidit]

"It's...relatively good to see you, Lady Lambdadelta," Beatrice chimes in, before any exposition can get out of hand. "Naoya, you're looking at one of the most powerful of all Witches, and a former sponsor of mine. Or if you insist on being pedantic about it, her image reflected in the pond of Bernkastel's subconscious. Frankly, I'm not sure it makes much difference to a Witch of her caliber."

Hinamizawa Village and the Cotton-Pulling Festival

[isthe99percent]

Through the gate where Lambdadelta stood guard (before dispatching her warning and alluding to her role) is a village that has scarcely entered the Japan of 1983. It is ancient, and modern though the new roads and the new streetlights and convenience stores may be, the Hinamizawa of Bernkastel's memories remains a backwater with traditions stretching back to before the common era.

Such as the 綿流し祭 - The Watanagashi, or Drifting Cotton Festival, a sort of carnival held all the way down the main street. From the entrance to the village down to the edge of the Onigafuchi swamp can be found food stands (cotton candy and popcorn are prominent) and carnival games. The adults are occupied with bringing old stuffed furniture, broken to uselessness, to the Furude family shrine, where a raven-haired young miko and the other monks and nuns accept them.

At the game stands are a gaggle of schoolchildren, including Lambdadelta's 'piece,' the young Rena Ryugu. She even smiles at the investigators as they walk past, putting a konpeito in her mouth, expression smug.

Anything and anyone could be a clue to the sad tale of Bernkastel's ascension. Time to start poking around and asking questions.

[itsananimalthing]

Poking around, Riddick does, starting with the games and the kids. It's a reasonable place to start, given he doesn't think Bernkastel is very old, and he's generally pretty good with kids. He wanders over, examining the games and listening in to the conversation before attempting any questioning.

[isthe99percent]

The little tan-haired boy among them has apparently been out of town for quite a while and has only recently returned - long enough to be asking after the festival between mouthfuls of popcorn.

"Every year we sew up all the cotton into a big futon," Rena explains, "and then at midnight the priests put all our misfortunes into it and literally beat the stuffing out of it, and send it floating down the river!"

[awitchdidit]

Where did you come from, where did...

She shakes her head, trying to clear it. Dammit, Maria.

"That's interesting magic," Beatrice says. Certainly better than using a human sacrifice for that kind of ritual, which tended to be the rule in more modern outlooks. "Do you know who started that ritual?"

I looked up the exact date and there wasn't one AFAICT?

[isthe99percent]

"I know that it was started by the Furude family, in honor of Oyashiro-sama," a teenaged girl with green hair says. "It's a tradition that's almost as old as this village."

Oyashiro-sama was the name that Nyarlathotep had used, in the guise of Bernkastel's goddess. That's. That's certainly something.

[crouching_sin]

Naoya heads down the street towards the shrine, his haori likely helping him fit in here. It's a Japanese festival - he's been to enough to know that there's some ritual purpose. As for why one would appear here, he's not sure, and so he makes an attempt to catch any of those working at the shrine and ask them what the festival's purpose is. He's a traveler, of course he can't be expected to really understand.

[isthe99percent]

They're occupied there with taking the cotton-stuffed goods being donated there, ripping them open with some sort of hoe or rake-like polearm with a silver blade, taking the cotton out and stuffing a huge futon with it.

The monks and mikos are happy to explain the symbolism of taking the old and worn furniture (there's that word, again) and making a sort of scapegoat of it - come moonrise the futon, charged with the regrets and sins of the people, will be ripped open and it's innards cast adrift on the river to the Onigafuchi Swamp.

The raven-haired child miko, when not actively participating in the ritual, cheers on the others with her impression of a cat.

[crouching_sin]

There it is, indeed. He slots that away. But scapegoats he understands, both in the biblical and the metaphorical sense.

But why would such a ritual be in a place like this? He thanks the people who explained and wanders down towards the edge of the swamp. There must be something here...

[isthe99percent]

Naoya finds the remnants of a dam, partially built and then abandoned; the smell of sulfur and decomposition; the cry of the cicadas, and a man taking photographs of some of the landmarks.

He's writing shorthand notes in his journal.

[repeatitinred]

Battler makes his way down to the swamp. In most of the good mystery novels, the best place to find the bodies is the swamp. Of course, there's probably a lot of other nasty things down there, but Battler's not going to worry about that right now.

He's also not going to think about the fact that he's going out of his way to help Bernkastel. You know, the one who made Erika. Who's the Worst.

Possible CW: gore and madness ahead

[isthe99percent]

Don't read ahead, Battler.

No bodies, not yet anyway, but there is a suspicious fellow taking pictures of the superstructure of a dam, a hydroelectric job that would have cut off the river that flows into the Onigafuchi. Want to talk to him and ask what's up, or see if you can stay hidden and see what else this guy is doing?

I would never read ahead!!!111

[repeatitinred]

Battler is going to remain hidden and keep an eye on the photographer until he either incriminates himself or proves himself trustworthy.

AND THAT CW IS IN FULL EFFECT BY THUNDER

[isthe99percent]

He's taking especial care in these notes - a new bout of scribbling after taking a picture of two places: a clinic down the road that's halfway to being a proper hospital, and the shrine at the top of the river -

When he convulses.

He cracks his neck, left, right, like anyone with tension in their back might. But then he starts scratching it. And scratching. And scratching, with a grimace on his face, his eyes darting around in fear.

If he doesn't stop soon he's going to draw blood.

Re: Hinamizawa Village and the Cotton-Pulling Festival

[thornsofmalkav]

Thorne starts out by walking up to the shrine. With Riddick and Beatrice handling the kids and Battler and Naoya heading toward the swamp, that leaves the shrine as the next obvious place to investigate.

She's paying special attention to the young miko with the raven hair.

[isthe99percent]

Assuming she missed a girl who was trying to be missed, and that the donations of broken or ripped cotton-stuffed furniture don't hold her interest, it's worth noting that the grounds are more spacious than the public temple. People have to sleep, too, and there are homes on the holy ground.

Raven-hair (which is to say, her hair is so black that it looks blue in the light) is heading to one of those homes, serene and poised.

And also with a very different gait and demeanor than her earlier childish cheerleading and her cat noises. There's something else there. Hard to say what.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah, she's definitely suspicious. Thorne is going to follow the hell out of her.

Post-Rescue: the Tea Party

[happyluckydochy]

The girl blinks.

"You came after me," she says, with the weight of age behind it. It's the voice of Bernkastel, the Witch - as distinct from the voice of Rika, the martyred innocent girl. "Knowing who I am, what I became to escape this."

She shakes her head. "And now knowing what happened. Remembering a bloodbath of which the Devil would most certainly approve, assuming they had no hand in it."

She looks particularly confused at Beatrice's presence. "Why? Why try to bring me back? You do realize I am a witch, don't you?"

[awitchdidit]

Beatrice just sighs, and uses her Intra-Liminal skills to conjure a table, a tea service, and a small bowl of dried sour plums for Bernkastel to ruin the tea with.

"I can't speak for anyone else, Bernkastel, but honestly, I've lost interest in being much of a Witch myself. Leaving someone in the pits of Hell gives me less pleasure that going on sojourns of my own to find them there."

She looks around, reconsidering her last spell. "Hm. We might have to improvise chairs..."

[itsananimalthing]

"Or just ask somebody else who can make shit in dungeons," Riddick suggests, making up a couple chairs for the ladies. "And I don't give a fuck about you being a witch or whatever. I'm here for you, not your job or your spell-set."