Moving through the doorway, Yuki and Rai took a few steps before the steam cleared enough for them to actually see into the interior of the spacious bathhouse. The floors where of glossy white tile and the walls of ivory with white waxwood accents. Dark stone benches surrounded the outer walls, while four massive raised pools of the same material occupied the central area – each pool reached by a wide flight of steps and heated like some giant cauldron from a glowing fire set beneath. Steam and the heavy sent of bath oils and perfume rolled from the pools and billowed up to the high domed ceiling above, which was painted to look like a pleasant afternoon sky. There, a gentle breeze, entering though the high silk draped windows, carried away the steam in swirling eddies.
Below, thrown about the space between the pools, was a myriad of rattan whicker furnishings and overstuffed pillows. It was here, and in the pools themselves, that the Samurai were greeted with a sight most obscene – For every missing villager of age (both male and female) were within the bathhouse and embroiled in a wanton orgy of carnal depravity. Centered in this hedonistic mass of undulating flesh was an obese and haggard old crone with burning eyes and a bald head. She cackled hideously like a fat Madame as men and women both tried to satisfy her unquenchable desires. But while the villagers so engaged, moaned, giggled, and panted with their pleasure seeking, their faces told another story – for each shown with terrible exhaustion and the glossed-over stare of the enthralled.
And here also, there was a powerful pull – an unreasoning compulsion to join in the ribaldry (resisted for now with -1 Luck Point each)…
Looking with her spirit sight, Yuki immediately recognized the old crone as the Yori ‘Lust’. It would trap men and women in its power, seeking to satisfy its degenerate needs – sustaining its victims magically without food or rest, but at the expense of their chi energy. Those caught up under its spell would eventually die, after slowly being drained of their energy and life force. These villagers had obviously been at it for some time, and would not last much longer than another day or so at best.
Yuki also knew that this Yori was one of the most powerful Yori there was. Even now, it was draining the Samurai’s will; and if they remained here long, they would eventually succumb to the Yori’s power. Luckily, the Lust Yori was also one of the easiest to banish (assuming one had enough self-control to complete the ritual, before falling under the Yori’s power). And no, it wasn’t by satisfying it – for Lust could never be satisfied.
One simply had to confront the Yori with a scolding rebuke from an innocent child (while maintaining the child’s innocence throughout the ritual - generally accomplished with a blindfold)…
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Topic: Mythic Nippon Adventure V (Read 167478 times)