A Murder and a Plague

Plague / Epidemic

Now that she* had confirmed Kurayume with her* own eyes, Hashinara Yoshitakatomo called Ashiya Dōman and the Three Named Men to the vessel's deck. These she introduced as Kurayume's new brood. She would protect them, just as she had the Galleon's previous crew. Although it was clearly not easy for her, Kurayume agreed. Protecting such fragile creatures as these measly humans would not be easy, but her loyalty to the Hashinara Clan offered no alternative.

While the sheele carried on, Ashiya Dōman mentally shared an interesting observation. Kurayume was undead. Whether because of the curious circumstances of her creation, the memories of dead sailors imbued within her, or strange machinations of the Dreamlands themselves; the cause remained unknown. Yet Kurayume was clearly not alive in the traditional sense, but a risen being. An undead sheele. A Sheelitch, perhaps.   Dōman was driven to admit that he had never encountered such a phenomenon before. If they were to discover its source, they would have to consider every variable that went into the sheele's birthing. In more ways than one, they were in uncharted waters.   The Three Named Men, not party to this mental discussion, had been jabbering and wondering about the incredible show they'd just seen. Soon Kurayume broke their jovial chatter, however. She'd noticed something on the horizon. Once her* attention had been pointed in the right direction, Yoshitakatomo saw it too. It was a darkish cloud, rapidly approaching the island from somewhere out at sea. As the mass grew closer, it resolved itself into several individual, flapping black bodies. Crows, or perhaps ravens. Even at the best of times Yoshitakatomo wasn't entirely certain on the difference between the two.   Wary of an attack, the elder Daimyō willfully ascended her* own vision to the level of the divine. These crows hardly registered. They were naught more than simple animals, except... Looking more closely, Yoshitakatomo saw what many would have missed. All the crows shared the same gnosis, linked together like one great collective being rather than individual creatures. Ashiya Dōman was impressed when she* relayed this information. A gestalt, it seemed, which were most rare in his experience.   Kurayume prepared the decks of Hashinara Kurayume for attack on her master's order, but no such assault came. The crows flew over the ship and directly toward the heart of Queen's Landing. Once there, they stopped and began hovering, swooping around and between one another in a roiling cloud of black bodies. Even from the ship's deck, Yoshitakatomo could see several pilgrims stepping out of their dwellings for a better look at the strange sight.   Then, the murder suddenly turned on itself. Each crow slashed at its neighbor with its talons and stabbed with its beak. Soon, the pairs had torn each other to death and black bodies rained from the sky one by one to cover most of Queen's Landing. Yoshitakatomo still did not know what, exactly, was happening, but the sight was beyond ominous. She* ran down the hull of the ship and over water back to the settlement's edge.   A moment later, Yoshitakatomo plucked one of the sundered bodies from that messy black carpet. It did indeed seem to be a common crow, yet it had no eyes. Where those should be, smooth skin had grown to cover the animal's sockets. The effect was unsettling to be sure. As she* examined the thing for any sign of what had just happened, it twitched once in Yoshitakatomo's hand and then fell limp again. Now there was a certain rhythmic sound just on the cusp of hearing. Close as she* was, the Daimyō could tell that it seemed to be coming from within the crow's skull.   Tap, tap, tap.   In growing dread and curiosity, Yoshitakatomo held the corvid's head closer. Something erupted first from the thing's eye socket, poking through the smooth skin there like a worm curling out of an apple. It rose, joined soon by fellows thrusting through growing cracks in the crow's fragile skull. They rose upward, like flowers seeking sunlight and, like flowers, they bloomed. Soon a white blossom stood tall amidst the ravaged remains of the crow's head. Upon closer inspection, each of the horrid lily's petals was made not from plantstuff, but impossibly thin feathers.   Yoshitakatomo felt her* breath catch in her throat. It was not just from the spectacle, which was bizarre enough. Rather, something had attempted to jolt inside her* own head just then. She'd* felt it, like a questing root, poking and prodding at her* mind. Fortunately, the arcane Daimyō of the Hashinara did not lack for mental fortitude. Others, however...   Acting quickly, Yoshitakatomo ordered her* four homunculi to keep everyone away from the fallen crows. Even now, several other full blooms stood out, stark white against the black carpet. Yet even in her* haste, the Daimyō saw that it was too late. Drawn by the nightmarish sight, many pilgrims and settlers of Queen's Landing had ducked to examine the crows' bodies. They held corpses in their hands and gazed wildly at ivory blossoms raising from the dead.   As if to ward an impending doom, the Princess-Daimyō then cast a great spell over Queen's Landing. For anyone outside, or any being peering in from afar, it would be like the settlement suddenly ceased to exist. Only an empty beach and flattened bluff remained. Even then, she* did not know quite what she* was protecting against, only that a doom had come to her* people. When a voice said the same behind her*, Yoshitakatomo spun around to see who had spoken.   It was Osogami Wakatsu, the cryptic girl who had ushered Yoshitakatomo on her* journey to become Champion of Omoikane. Although Wakatsu's true nature remained a mystery, it seemed that she spoke for the Goddess of Nightmare. Similarly, she had come to advise Yoshitakatomo on this disaster.   That the crows had targeted Queen's Landing was no coincidence. By becoming Champion of Omoikane, Yoshitakatomo had allied herself* against other powers of the Dreamlands. Namely, the Great Ones of Kadath. Ancient, jealous gods, they chafed at a foreign god's influence in a land which once was theirs alone. These crows, and the Plague of the Flowering Mind that they carried, were the work of one of these Great Ones. An attack.   Doom had been spelled for many of those at Queen's Landing now. They had been infected, and soon would "turn." Yoshitakatomo could only guess what the effects of that might be. Yet there was a cure. Omoikane, goddess of knowledge that she was, had prepared for battle against the Great Ones many decades ago. It was Yoshitakatomo's lot now, as Nightmare's Champion, to retrieve this panacea. If she* were to act quickly and decisively, many lives could still be saved.   A half-day's journey south of Queen's Landing, on the southern shore of Oriab, there lay an entrance to a mystical place called the Caves of Life. These caves shifted, as did all the Dreamlands, but could be set to a certain configuration with a token. That crow's skull which Yoshitakatomo now held would suffice. Using that as a key, she* would find within a cure to wield against the Plague of the Flowering Mind.   Having heard all this, the Princess-Daimyō acted quickly. She brought first a few resources from the other world through the portal. Kashin Koji, still bound and gagged, and loyal Komono Mosutoki were summoned to aid their lord. Then, Yoshitakatomo sent a final message to her* generals back on Earth. In this startling missive, she* explained the situation in the briefest means possible, then announced that she* would be closing the portal to the Dreamlands to quarantine the disease. Naturally, some protest arose. Aotsuki Tsukamoto, in particular, was not amused. His complaints were cut short, however, as the shutting of the portal also severed Shigeaki Fujino's mental link.   Yoshitakatomo gave strict orders then to Yagokoro Tokuyo and her* adviser Tōdaisen Nobuhara. For the duration of this incident, Katsusada Shishauezaemon and Hashinara Kiyowara would act as her* agents in the mortal world. Even without a direct line to Earth, Yoshitakatomo was pleased to find that she* could yet see through Kiyowara's eyes and listen with her* ears. As for Tokuyo, she was to open a portal only to allow one group entry to the Dreamlands at a time. What's more, she and Nobuhara were both to keep watch for any sign of eyeless crows around Ise Grand Shrine.   Almost as an afterthought, Yoshitakatomo realized that one of the people she* was conversing with was indeed a Dreamer herself. Tokuyo did not seem unwilling to lend her dreamself's aid, but it would not be soon. After all, she was currently in Oonai, far from Oriab's shores.   Their reunion on this side of the veil of sleep would have to wait, then. Yoshitakatomo finished her* business with the mortal world and then began preparations on this side in full. The Caves of Life awaited her* to the south and, within them, the only thing which might save Queen's Landing.