A Kaguya kinda holiday

Event mission:

As the sun was setting on the village of Hyogagakure, Yoshi couldn’t help but notice how cold it was getting. He enjoyed the crisp cool breeze the mountains brought in. He would proceed to run around playing with the friends he made at the academy until their parent’s called them home. He remembered what having a family was like keeping the sur name of his last adopted family. Usually when the lights in the village came on it was just a couple of street lamps, but Yoshi was noticing a lot of activity happening in the middle of the village. This piqued the young boy’s curiosity and so with nothing better to do he would investigate.
He could hear noises of people running around and kids were still outside playing. This was odd to Yoshi because all the kids were usually doing their nightly routine around this time. He would then notice the smells of pumpkin and food being freshly cooked. Yoshi would investigate and find a shop selling pumpkin spiced teas and bread. Yoshi would order a cup of pumpkin tea and some bread to go with it. “Kid, you ever have pumpkin bread before?” The weathered old man who was working in the shop would ask the young boy, to which the junior would shake his head, his last family didn’t like the smell of pumpkin so they stayed away from the Halloween festivities and kept the kids from going to them. This was the first year Yoshi had quite a bit of independence, who was he kidding, he had total independence. He had just been emancipated from the group home he lived in, and was a Genin in the Hyogagakure military. The old shopkeeper called Yoshi over to collect his tea and pumpkin bread. “The tea is very hot, and the bread came out perfectly.” The old man kissed his fingers and flicked his wrists to emphasize just what a marvel his creations were. Yoshi would find a seat at a table and eat his bread while he looked around at the festivities taking place.
A kid a couple years younger ran into Yoshi giggling dressed up as a monster from some story Yoshi had never heard of. “Hey kid, why aren’t you dressed up?” The kid looked at Yoshi as if he’d kicked his dog, “It’s Halloween!” The kid ran off bounding to a residence near by to bang on the door and demand candy. Yoshi would give a quick chuckle, was he too old to participate in such a fun activity? Just because he wore a headband didn’t mean he wasn’t able to have fun like a child, it just meant while he was working, he had to be disciplined to carry out a mission. He did find it harder to relate to kids whose only responsibilities in life were brushing their teeth and cleaning their rooms.
Yoshi would walk around looking at the pretty lights and the pumpkins that had candles in them, they were cut into different patterns and this made Yoshi curious. Why did they do that? Why did the kids dress up and get candy for being impolite and banging on their neighbor’s door? Don’t they get mad to have to go to the door late at night and get yelled at by kids demanding candy? Maybe he would have to try this out, he thought to himself in silent introspection. It bothered him that he never really got to grow up like the other kids, he was adopted young and orphaned younger, his adoptive parents were kind, but spiritual and strict, this left Yoshi both disciplined and insightful. It was at times like this he had family, but he had a purpose in life and he stove for it every day.
Yoshi’s wondering around had brought him to a tent of a vendor probably from out of town, it appeared to be quickly built and like it had seen a couple of nations in its lifetime. The old raggedy tent was made from burlap or some other linen, Yoshi wouldn’t pretend to try to know. It was cold outside, but he could feel the warmth from inside the tent as the air escaped as people entered and left the dwelling. Watching a couple leaving the tent he saw they had a bag filled with objects, and they were talking loudly about the wares the vender had for sell, it seemed he had stuff from every corner of the world. This made Yoshi curious even more, what would make a vendor that’s seen every corner of the world want to sell here? Yoshi decided he would see what the tent had to offer, he had a little bit of money he had made from missions, so he decided he would venture inside and check it out.
When he entered the tent first thing that hit him was the heat, after that it was the smell of rich incense the kind his parent’s, sorry ex parent’s, would use when they were in prayer, and then the noise from everyone looking at the goods. Yoshi was confused from the outside this tent didn’t look as big as it was inside. Yoshi had to stop his mouth from opening too wide. It appeared as if half the village was milling around looking at what the vender had to offer. It was like a flea market with multiple tables and and people selling their stuff. There were tents inside of tents. This made Yoshi’s head hurt thinking about how none of this made sense.
Yoshi would find a smaller tent inside that seemed curious to the young boy, the tent was in pristine condition, but the name of the shop was “Iroh’s odds and oddities”. Yoshi couldn’t describe why this shop seemed out of place from everything else, but he seemed drawn to it. As he approached, he began to hear a voice something disembodied and muffled, the closer he got to the shop the louder and clearer the voice would become. He walked inside and an older man, probably in his forties or fifties wearing a red robe. His hair was grey and worn in a top knot, and he had a full face of facial hair. The old man was a couple of inches taller than Yoshi and he welcomed him into the shop with a warm smile. Yoshi began wandering around the tent and felt like he was being drawn to a particular part of the shop.

WC:1085

Travin was sitting in the Inn at his normal table finishing his meal. It was getting late in the afternoon and the sun had fully set by now. He was able to hear the kids running around outside going door to door looking to be given candy. It was something that he had never done not really having the time in his quest to not starve to death. Travin was sure that none of the kids would come in here to try since the Inns of the village were pretty much adults only and rarely did any of them really give out candy. However it was the night with all the stuff that you could only buy at this time of the year. While he didn’t have a shopping problem or anything to say the least, he did have a good chunk of money burning a hole in his pocket. After all he really didn’t spend non of his money except for on his rent and food here at the Inn, and Jhin tended to cut him discounts all the time anyways since he was part of the military and didn’t hurt anything and actually help keep the Inn clean and all the riff raff out of it. After all, what kind of guy is going to go and start trouble at the only Inn that a full fledged shinobi known to take jobs to kill people stayed in.

Standing up from his chair and picking up the chair to put it back under the table, after all Travin didn’t want to mess up the floors. He picked up his plate and glass and walked over and sat it down on the bar counter for Jhin. With a single word “Tab” the two agreed that the meal would go on Travins tab that he paid at the end of the month. It was the agreement that the two of them had had since Travin joined the village, after he had spent several weeks in the Inn waiting for Kai to return, and never missed a single payment. Walking out the door and into the snow Travin was wearing his standard non shinobi uniform. Even when off duty he still carried himself and looked like a shinobi. Between his all white outfit with black interior, and his owl mask that he almost always wore. It was not hard to figure out just what kind of profession that Travin was a part of, and if that wasn’t enough the way he walked with lethal precision told the rest.

Thanks to his thermal long johns Travin was able to stay warm where normally someone would be freezing in an outfit like he was wearing assuming they weren't one of those Yuki’s. He had met a few of them and there were plenty of them in the village as well, and you could normally spot them pretty easily as they almost always appeared as if it was beach day. Part of him hated that they could do that, but then again it was all part of the clan with them and their Ice Release jutsu it only made since. Travin turned and started to walk into the market square where all the tents would be located. Dodging kids as he walked as if they weren't even there making it look easy with his natural grace from years of taijutsu training. Travin made it into the market square without any problems. A few people recognised him from his mask giving him a few waves that he returned with an unseen smile. He was really starting to feel like the village was his home. After only a few months within the village, the people and his friends Kai and Jupiter had made him feel welcomed. He had even gone to a few of the church meetings or whatever it is that they call those where Jupiter stands up there and tells everyone they need to get right with the lords. It was a hard lesson to take on since Travins job mostly required him to kill innocent people or not didn’t matter.

Arriving in the market square with all the tents around the area selling things from pumpkins and carving kits to expensive and cheap candy all the way to selling random nik naks to the passer byers. Travin walked through the streets and looked into several tents. He didn’t really see much that he wanted to buy, but he did see a cool sign that he picked up for Jhin back at the Inn to hang by the bar. Reading you don’t pay, we don’t guarantee you leaving. Travin found it pretty funny since they had on occasion had a few people that didn’t want to pay, and between Jhin and his club and Travins presence in the Inn they were able to convince them that paying was the best way to deal with the problem they were facing.

Making his way around the market area Travin found himself staring at a tent. His pale yellow eyes almost white reflecting the light of the nearby fires. Giving him a spooky look as if he had cat eyes or something. He wasn’t sure why he was staring at the tent but part of him wanted to go in, but another part of him was saying it was a bad idea to get involved on his day off. After all, several of the shinobi wanted the day off to spend with their children and some of them were still having to work while he was free to roam around doing whatever. It was that thought that finally convinced him to walk into the tent. It appeared old as he approached it and looked to be made of the same material as most of the bags he saw laying around the area. Stepping in the scent of incense filled his nose and almost made him sneeze, something that he learned a long time ago was not something you wanted to do while wearing a mask like his. Getting himself under control he let the tent flap close behind him and he was able to feel the warmth of the fire in the back heating the tent and letting everyone have a break from the cold outside. It was one of the few tents that did that in the market square and it was a smart idea, since most people would walk in just for a chance to get warmer. Giving them a chance to convince them to buy something.

Travin was walking around in the Inn and kept getting a feeling that he needed to get over to the wall of antique. There were several things on the shelf and they all looked old, but the one thing that was standing out to him was an old pocket watch. Gold with a silver lining around the rim looked expensive, but on the back it had a strange symbol of a red hand like someone was telling you to stop. He reached up and pulled the watch off the shelf and he heard a voice. “Wow be to those that pick up this Lamp, you have 48 hours to free the spirit or be cursed for all eternity.” Travin thought it was weird as he stared at the watch. Only to turn as he heard the gasping sigh of an old man “Finally I can rest” as Travin turned and saw the old man fade into smoke, and soon followed by the tent and everything that was in it. Leaving Travin and the people that were inside of the tent standing outside now in confusion.

WC-1,276

Yoshi had spotted Travin as he entered the shop, but wouldn’t say anything to him. He had found the source of the whispers and picked up the item. It was a old ornate lantern, Yoshi was confused by what was going on, but he had an overwhelming urge to buy the lamp. He would walk up to the old man who was kind enough to welcome him into the shop. “Uh,” Yoshi would start holding up the lamp, “Can I buy this?” As Yoshi asked the old man’s smile turned into a frown. “I’m sorry my boy, but I can’t sell you that lamp in good conscience. You see, it’s a cursed item, there is a damned soul in there that would wait for you to fall asleep and then kill you,” The man would tell this story with true fear in his eyes. “So because of that, I must insist on you putting it back, please.” Yoshi wasn’t having it, the voice was calling out to him so strongly he insisted on giving the shop owner some money. After their brief argument Yoshi would just hand over how much he thought the lamp was worth and then everything disappeared. All that was left was the lamp in his hands.

Yoshi would look around and identified a few of the other shoppers in the tent, and then he saw Travin again. The boy shinobi would approach the guy he had already done a mission with earlier that week. “Travin, right?” Yoshi would double check, “Do you know what happened?” He would ask but would glance down at his puzzling prize from the tent that had just disappeared. The voice was so loud now Yoshi couldn’t ignore it, “What do you want me to do? I don’t know how to break curses. I don’t have a lighter.” Yoshi would accidently say out loud looking around embarrassed, he didn’t want to appear crazy to anyone especially his seniors in the military. “Hey, Travin do you happen to have a lighter on you?” The boy would ask as the lamp had told him to hear how to break the curse he needed to light the wick.

WC: 363
TWC: 1448

Yoshi didn’t understand what Travin was talking about, but then again, none of what had just happened made sense to the boy shinobi. None of the things that were going on made sense to Yoshi. He had never celebrated Halloween before. Was all this stuff supposed to happen? Without any context to go off of, Yoshi wasn’t frightened of the voice emanating from the lamp; he just wanted to figure out why it was getting so loud. Was it going to hurt him? The shopkeeper seemed sincere when he told the young shinobi he didn’t want to sell him the lamp because the lamp had ulterior motives. This event seemed like a trick because the shopkeeper had vanished with the rest of the tent and had left Yoshi, Travin, and the rest of whoever was in the tent to be teleported back to the warm incense-laden market that Yoshi had entered to find “Iroh’s odds and oddities”.  Confused as he was, he was still holding onto the lamp that the supposed Iroh had tried to deny him. This is when Travin would address the boy and remember his name, and this must have meant that Yoshi had left a good impression on the elder shinobi on their last mission. Yoshi was glad he was remembered for a feat of professionalism in place of being a child. It was the last sentence from Travin, “The old man working the tent mentioned something about getting some rest.” That upset Yoshi; it didn’t make him cry, but the implications of this man who had tried to deny him of the lamp that clearly needed help. Was the old man a liar and trying to keep the spirit caged? Was he trying to keep the spirit caged to keep others safe or because the kind-seeming man had actually been an evil character? This left Yoshi to wonder.

Yoshi watched as Travin’s face shifted to an inquisitive face; it looked as if he was trying to identify where a sound was coming from. It was a moment of realization for Yoshi when he discovered Travin could also hear the talking coming from the lamp as well. Yoshi was beginning to feel crazy, but if Travin could also hear the voice calling to him, it meant they were either sharing the delusion or he, in fact, wasn’t crazy. Yoshi hoped they both weren’t crazy, but maybe they were cast under some genjutsu? Yoshi didn’t think so, and all of his psyche evaluations returned normal, so he was sure he heard a voice coming from the lamp. At this realization, Yoshi would watch Travin absentmindedly search a couple of pockets until he came across the item he was looking for and retrieved it from the pocket. It was a basic survival lighter as Yoshi gathered. Travin didn’t seem like the kind of person who smoked cigarettes, and the lighter seemed like something you could buy in a survival pack. Yoshi watched as Travin sparked the lighter a few times to spark the flame that he would hold for a moment before reaching down to the wick inside of the lamp and setting the fuse on fire. The lamp emitted a light that spread across the inside of the tent they were standing in. It wasn’t the light that shocked Yoshi but the shadowy figures that formed in the lantern's light. They started as mere shadows moving and dancing as the lamp came to life, but as the light grew brighter, the shadows took on a life of their own. Yoshi had to stop himself from dropping the lamp as the shadows walked around Travin and himself. Travin broke Yoshi out of his trance while he was staring at the shadows weave around them and pointed to the inside of the lamp, which had become quiet while Yoshi was distracted.

Before his very eyes, a silhouette of a woman draped in what looked like a silk robe had emerged from the fire of the lamp Travin had just lit. Yoshi would have found her immensely beautiful if she were a real-life woman. She weaved a sorrowful tale of her life right before she died. She was a kunoichi of a distant nation; all her life, she wanted to become Kage of the village, but before she could accomplish her goals, her husband had gotten sick. She went to a hermit who lived nearby, thinking he would save her husband, but it was all a trap. The hermit turned out to be a fraud and was indeed a shinobi who used his rouse to capture and torment the souls of other people, placing them all in items so he could spare himself from the embrace of death. Yoshi shuddered as she weaved her tale but reminded himself he was a shinobi; ghosts and ghouls had no way of harming him. She pleaded with the two of them to go to the house where her soul had been shoved and trapped in the vessel. There they could learn how to free her and could learn the locations of the other souls the necromancer had sacrificed. Travin looked like he was willing to hop fully into helping this spirit, Yoshi had a couple of reservations. Were Travin and Yoshi sharing an illusion, was genjutsu off the table? Did Yoshi hit his head, and is he just having a vision of Travin and himself helping a spirit trapped in a lamp? He figured it wouldn’t hurt to check out the old house the apparition had asked them to visit if it were all a hoax or trick of the mind. That’s why Yoshi again agreed to the invitation to team up with Travin. From his previous meeting with Travin, Yoshi had begun to admire the shinobi. He seemed like a straightforward, by-the-books person, which was the quality of people Yoshi wanted to associate with. Yoshi would let Travin lead the way. Having grown up as a baby in Hyogagakure, his old parents were strict about where Yoshi could travel, and they lived on the southeast side of the town, so Yoshi wasn’t familiar with the terrain of the north side of the village.

The duo were quick to exit the market tent, and as they did, the cold air of the night bit into Yoshi’s skin. He was used to the chilled air of the night, but it was getting closer to turning into winter months, which meant the air outside would mix with the snow on the ground and get below freezing even during the daytime.  He would pull his collar up to protect his neck from the cold and he would place a beanie on his head and cover his ears. It would be too cold a night to run around uncovered. In this weather, he would find it funny to see people running around with their snot freezing to their faces. He had that happen a few times while he was training; it wasn’t until he entered his house that the snot would thaw, and then he could wipe it off his face. The two would cross town and search for the home the spirit was leading them to; once they arrived, the spirit in the lamp alerted them to the house. “We’re here; be careful; when the necromancer put me in this lamp, he also laid traps in and around the house so no one would find his work.” Yoshi was confused at this revelation because the house looked ordinary; it wasn’t in bad shape, all the windows were intact, and there were lights visible from the windows. “This house looks occupied, but the spirit thinks the house is trapped.” Yoshi would relay to Travin before taking a step towards the house. “You’re in a genjutsu, release,” The voice from the lantern would say as Yoshi felt reality again enter his vision. Once freed from the genjutsu, Yoshi could see the house's condition. The roof had caved in, there were no windows, and the doors had been smashed and weathered. Yoshi was confused about how they would enter the house in its condition, but the voice from the lamp was calm and told of access to the dwelling that was a secret to most. In the tree trunk was a door leading to the basement where there shouldn’t be any traps.

Yoshi would tell Travin about the house's secret entrance and lead him to it. With the voice from the lamp as his guide finding the tree with the secret entrance was simple enough. To Yoshi, there was more than enough room to maneuver in the hidden passage to the house, but he could see it being cramped for Travin, who was at least a foot taller than the boy shinobi. Yoshi found the secret tunnel fun to travel in; he liked the tight spaces and could see why others might find them uncomfortable, but he enjoyed it. The tunnel wasn’t very long, but it did have some awkward angles; even for his little body to maneuver, he would constantly look back for Travin to watch his progress. Despite his tall stature, Travin seemed to clear the tunnels just fine. When the pair finally made it to the basement of the weathered old house, they would break up and look for clues on how to break the curse of the lady whose soul was being held in the lamp. Yoshi would wander around the house's first floor, avoiding various traps and collapsed parts of the building. After a few moments of searching, his vision became tunneled, and he lost consciousness. “You came here despite me, and I put those damned souls in the vessels for immortality. You will leave this place immediately, or I’ll devour you.” A disembodied voice reached from the underworld. Yoshi wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but he had a vision of a man in a lab coat toiling over the body of a woman who was screaming for help and requesting to be set free. Yoshi approached and realized she had the same face as the woman he had seen in the lamp when the fire was alive. “Now I’ll extract the soul and place it in this lamp, where you’ll live until I can consume it to further my life along.” The man was humming to himself as he worked. Yoshi was ripped out of this vision quickly, and the voice in the lamp said, “You’ve seen enough of that; he knows we’re here. I think Travin has found something in the basement.” Yoshi stood up and headed to the basement, where Travin was ready to reveal what he had found.

After revealing how to end the curse for the soul trapped in the lamp, the voice reminded them that they would have four more souls to release to stop the necromancer from returning and wreaking havoc on Hyogagakure. Yoshi realized they had come this far, and with his vision of what happened to the woman, the others probably went through the same thing. He wasn’t even hesitant when Travin asked if he wanted to help on the next part. Yoshi would offer to go with Travin before he could ask. They would break the curse that Travin would say to, and as the spirit left the lamp, visions would cross through Travin and Yoshi’s minds of houses and items. Presumably, those in which the houses and items were cursed and their locations. Yoshi would look at Travin, assuming he knew where all those locations were. They wouldn’t have the lamp to alert them to which house was the right one this time, but Yoshi did recognize two of them. One was near the group home he had lived at, and the other was close to the mission office in the heart of the village. Yoshi would wait for Travin to give the command to leave before taking off. Would Travin want to split up and tackle two at a time, or did he want to go as a pair? Yoshi was fine with either or, and Travin seemed to have the experience to make that call. When Travin made the decision, Yoshi decided to go in the direction Travin pointed him to, reminding Yoshi of how to break the curse so they both could break the curse even if the pair got separated.

WC:2062
TWC: 3510

Yoshi was amazed at Travin’s physical prowess; he could take damage to his body and still kill the intruder. The wound in Travin’s torso wasn’t bleeding. Yoshi had heard of medical ninjutsu while at the academy but had never seen it in practice. Yoshi had seen the technique Travin had used with the part of his bone, and this made Yoshi wonder if Travin was also from the Kaguya clan, something he had just recently learned about himself. The incident that had caused his family to disown him had come from when he was a year or so younger, he had been playing with the neighborhood children, and some bullies showed up. One of the bullies had grabbed Yoshi and was having his friends beat up Yoshi’s friends. He had some of his bones projected out of his body and left the bully and a couple of his friends hospitalized. This had earned Yoshi a trip to the group home, being disowned, and joining the Hyogagakure academy. There were others out there like him? In Hyogagakure? Yoshi was surprised but didn’t want to show it, so he just had a deadpan expression, no reason for getting his hopes up. After seeing this display of power, Yoshi knew he had a long way to go before gaining the accolades he had hoped for.

Travin handed Yoshi a book, it was a leatherbound journal of the necromancer’s research. In the pages, Yoshi was able to discern he had planned on putting more than five souls in different objects to hide all over the world as a way to continue his life as he got closer and closer to death. Yoshi read that the reason he wasn’t able to was that he had been mortally wounded, and before he could capture more victims, he himself had to, and the rest of the pages were gone. Yoshi would find the pages that showed instructions on releasing the spirits, and Yoshi would read them carefully, retaining them in memory. Yoshi noticed Travin wandering around the room, looking for the components to release the spirit from the lamp. Yoshi kept reading, and the more he read, the less and less he liked this necromancer; he detailed how he caught each victim and what he stored them in. The necromancer explained that he had stopped in Hyogagakure to hide out because it wasn’t protected by shinobi then, and his genjutsu traps would help him capture more unwilling participants in his trial studies. By the end of his reading, Yoshi was glad the necromancer had been mortally wounded but wondered what had happened to the sicko he had been so ungraciously introduced to in texts.

After Travin found the required component of a special grain that Yoshi had read had been blessed in the pools of Hyogagakure, both Travin, and Yoshi would spread a circle of it and place the lamp in the middle. Yoshi would hear the happy tears of the spirit as she knew she was almost free. Yoshi would speak the words to release the spirit, and as she left, she would tell Travin and Yoshi how grateful she was that the two of them had freed her soul to join her family in the afterlife. She told the pair that she was the first victim of the necromancer, and she was there when he trapped the other four, and that they deserved to be set free as they had set her free. She sent images of the items and where they could be found in the village. To add to it, now the items called out for them longing to be freed from the objects they had been trapped in. Yoshi felt good that he could right the wrongs of those who were powerless to fix them themselves. He knew where to go and what he needed to find. Yoshi would grab two small pouches of the blessed grain. When he looked back at the lamp that he had bought at the weird market he was shocked to see it had vanished. “Travin, the lamp.” Yoshi would say softly, and he didn’t even know if the senior had heard him.

Travin was the first to speak up, telling Yoshi he knew of the location of two of the items, which were the opposite of the two objects Yoshi knew the location of. “I don’t know if you can hear them, but I can hear the other four souls calling out to me slightly.” Yoshi would inform his elder. “I have a theory. I don’t know if these are illusions brought on by this house or if the souls are calling to me.” Just in the night, Yoshi would confess that the pair of them had seen weirder, so he didn’t mind sounding a little crazy in front of the guy who was also dead set on freeing the trapped souls. Yoshi listened closely to one of the voices and could tell it was in the direction of the group home, so he was sure he was right. Travin explained the location of the other two places that Yoshi didn’t know, and Yoshi explained the two locations he got from the vision. They were going to split up, so if they had to find each other, they would know the rough location of the other. Yoshi hoped it wouldn’t come to that; he was starting to respect Travin with every moment they were together; there was a bond forming, that of a sibling bond, or maybe a mentor and student bond. Yoshi was uncomfortable with it, but it was a natural thing. Travin wasn’t trying to force it to happen, and neither would Yoshi. If it happened, it happened. Yoshi would pass a couple of pouches of blessed grain to Travin and remind him that this was the most crucial part of the ritual besides the release words. They would go over the release words a few times to memorize them. Yoshi gives the journal to Travin because he is sure he will have everything memorized when he gets to the cursed objects.

Travin stayed cool and collected while giving the final instructions, and they were to meet up at the warm tent that was bigger on the inside and reeked of incense in three hours. Yoshi was sure of his skill and didn’t think releasing the souls would take three hours, but they might run into problems like the guy who stabbed Travin at one of the houses they were about to visit. “Got it, three hours at the tent we met up at. It won’t take me three hours, so you’d better hurry up.” Yoshi would say as a challenge to Travin if he could pass this childish challenge, Yoshi would strongly consider Travin as someone he could potentially become friends with. Yoshi was still young, and foolish tasks like these were how he’d determined if people could get close to him. If Travin failed to get done before the three hours were up, Yoshi would put Travin back to a spot on his friendship scale of a place of newly met acquaintance. “Don’t make me come look for you; it wouldn’t be a good look, Travin.” Yoshi finished as he looked around at the dilapidated house that once housed a madman and his experiments. Thinking to himself, Yoshi determined when they finished the mission, Yoshi was going to burn this place to the ground.

The pair separated, and Yoshi headed southeast toward the group home where he had spent the time he was at the academy. Next to the group home is a house where a couple lives. The man is always chronically sick so he can never work, and the woman works in an inn to help cover the bills of the house. Yoshi had met the pair before and thought how nice they were to him. He remembered even though they were always broke, they had offered him a new pair of shoes when they noticed he had worn his completely out. Yoshi was sure they’d be up at this time; it was almost the lady’s shift at the inn. Yoshi would increase his running speed dodging villagers and children hunting for candy. He had a timetable to respect and a mission to accomplish. He wouldn’t be looked down on because of his age; if he made a promise, he kept it; that was something he was worth, his word. As Yoshi approached the group home, the two voices he identified as being in this area were getting louder, as he had suspected, and the two voices of the damned that were housed elsewhere were quieter. Yoshi felt proud that he had correctly identified what was happening; the lady in the lamp must have helped him to hear the other souls.

When Yoshi arrived at the house that sat next to the group home, he couldn’t hear the voice of one of the trapped souls anymore; Travin must have already released one of them. Realizing he was falling behind, Yoshi banged on the house door. “I’m coming, dang you kids sure are in quite a hurry.” The female voice called out to greet Yoshi at the door. “Ah, what are you this Halloween, a Hyogagakure shinobi? That’s so precious.”  She said, grabbing candy from a bowl and intending to give some of it to Yoshi. “I’m not playing dress up, ma’am; I’m on urgent business.” Yoshi could hear the cries from the vase in the back room getting louder and louder. “You have a vase that was here when you first moved it. It might have fallen a few times and broke, and then the next day, it was repaired?” Yoshi was starting to get anxious with how loud the voice was crying out; it knew he was here to save it from being trapped, and it just wanted out. The woman was shocked by how specific Yoshi was. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and maybe you have the wrong house?” She would lie. Was that the influence of the vase, or did she not want to sound crazy? “Look, ma’am, I’ll pay you for that vase. I don’t mind paying double for it.” He pleads to the woman standing at the door. She reluctantly agreed and handed the vase over for twice the cost.  As soon as the woman handed over the vase, Yoshi walked to the street, poured the blessed grain in a circle, and started the words of releasing.

The look of shock on the woman’s face was palpable, but the voice left this world, and Yoshi felt good. There were still two voices, but at this moment, they were quiet. The two people stared at the grain circle in the street, but then a loud noise rang through the house. The man felt so much better as soon as the item was gone. Was it the vase making the man sick? A way for the cursed soul to beg for help on deaf ears? The man came crashing out, “It feels like a fog has been lifted. I feel so much better!” Yoshi was glad the man felt better, but he still had another job to complete, and the voice from the other side of the village was crying out louder, which must mean Travin was getting closer. With that knowledge, Yoshi turned and headed to the mission office. With the knowledge these items were harming whoever was close to them, maybe Iroh wasn’t lying when he told Yoshi he wouldn’t sell him the lamp because it would try to harm him. Yoshi wanted to save these souls especially after learning why they were trapped in the first place. Yoshi thought to Travin and hoped he was finishing with the last item.

Yoshi arrived at the mission office, but his goal wasn’t to pick up a mission; a nice house sitting next to it housed a teapot. This teapot housed a soul that needed to be freed. Yoshi banged on the door, but it appeared as if no one was home. He could hear the voice of the trapped soul screaming to be freed. Yoshi knew he could break in but didn’t want to be rude. at the same time, the voice was growing louder, making Yoshi need to act fast. He couldn’t wait for the homeowners to arrive back. So He broke in. Yoshi felt bad about breaking and entering, but he would leave money behind to help cover the damages he did. Yoshi was having difficulty finding the teapot, but the screams were becoming frantic and Yoshi felt like he didn’t want to get caught inside someone’s house uninvited. Yoshi took a breath and centered himself. Pushing the screaming so it would quiet down, he could focus better. Now the screams were helping him find his way. He saw the teapot in a cupboard upstairs. He quickly drew a blessed grain circle and placed the cursed object in the middle of it. Spitting the words of release out as quickly as possible, he heard the front door open. This made Yoshi’s stomach drop; he hadn’t intended to be in the house when the homeowners had come back.

The last words left Yoshi’s lips, and he knew he didn’t have time to clean up the mess he had made. It was like time stood still, the last spirit he freed said. “Thank you, kind stranger. I was trapped in there for a while. I have one more task to ask of you. The Necromancer died, which was a good thing, but he did so in a house, and he couldn’t absorb one of our souls, so he placed his soul in the home as he put ours in here. That being said, he had placed several more souls in items in this house. If you free his soul, I’m sure the rest of the souls will be able to break free of this curse. I hope you will consider this task from a grateful soul.” The spirit finished, and time unfroze reminding Yoshi he needed to escape before the homeowners found him. Yoshi would leave out of an upstairs window and jump, fleeing the scene. He hoped no one had seen him; it would be quite embarrassing explaining just what he was doing in that house. Yoshi had almost forgotten, but he couldn’t hear a voice anymore of the soul trapped; that must have meant Travin was done with his tasks. It was time to head back to the meeting spot.

When Yoshi arrived, Travin was already waiting for him. “You beat me here, I’m impressed.” Yoshi would tell Travin. “We have one more task, if you want to help me again?” Yoshi would ask his senior. Yoshi would explain what the last spirit he ran into had said and told Travin he felt responsible to the spirits to at least try to save the last several trapped in the house with the necromancer. Yoshi would understand if Travin didn’t want to. There was a whole night of shenanigans to get into on Halloween night for someone of his age, and helping a young shinobi who was still very green behind the ears wasn’t probably on the agenda. If Travin would help him with this Yoshi would strongly consider Travin his first friend since becoming a shinobi.

WC: 2564
TWC: 6074