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You furrow your brow and clap your hands once, saying a small prayer to Tenjin, the god of wisdom, and then you begin asking questions of the… well, the patient, you suppose. He describes to you how he has dreamt for days of wolves and bears, of dark forests and waning moons hidden behind clouds, and of the sound of Buddhist chants growing dim and distant as food turns to rot. You do not have the books of interpretation here, as they are, by law, only to be consulted at the offices of the onmyoryo. Nevertheless, nightmares are always a bad sign, and you are falls certain that the wolves and bears indicate something hungry and wild, though your skills are not precise enough to indicate anything more specific. If only your father were here, you're fault sure that he could get much more information from the loaded symbols of the dream. But alas, you will have to find other sources of information.  Like the countless times you have done before extend your spirit sight around the room. The first thing that become readily apparent is the great chill that has covered the room. It presses on your senses like a cloying darkness, slithering along your skin with icy tendrils, and lying like a dark mist on everything in the room, swirling almost impenetrably and the man lying in front of you. Only the area just around the statue of the Buddha in the corner, and alone the burning incense is clear of it. It is obvious that that is a dark spirit in this room. You turn to the darkness surrounding your patient, and you peer into it; straining your eyes and your kenki, your second sight, you see the man easily, and… a thing on top of him; like a person, clad in white burial-robes, and long black hair hanging down,and blood-stained hands, bony, broken hands, more like claws, and sleeves wet with blood, like how noblewomen's sleeves become wet when they wipe away their tears. You see a long tongue darting from the… woman? Creature? From the creature's mouth, into the man's chest, where a tiny ball of light appears, and a flicker of that light follows the tongue up to the face and mouth hidden behind the creature's filthy, unkept black hair. As you peer, the creature stops and slowly stands, turning to you, and you see a pale, shrunken face, feminine, if not for the blood streaking down the chins and out the sides of its mouth.  Its eyes widen as it sees you, and it rushes towards you, screaming in pain and rage. What do you do? A: I recite the holy sutras! Their sacred words themselves have their own power, which may turn away the demon. While unlikely to destroy or harm it, they are one of the most common ways of keeping demons away. Specificly, I chant the Lotus sutra, held by many to be the most holy sutra of all, containing the complete and nessecary teachings of the buddha. B: I perform the kuji-in mantra, the nine symbolic cuts, a mantra concisting of nine syllables, one of the most basic, but also most videly-used mantras, for dispelling evil and banishing evil, directly invoking divine warriors to banish evil. You've often seen your father recite this mantra to banish evil. C: B, but i also do the complex mundras, hand gestures, related to each syllable, as fast as i can speak them. The gestures are complex and difficult, and i am not certain i can do them that fast, but if i can, it will be much more effective. D: C, but i slow down, reciting the mantra no faster than i can make the mundras. This is still fairly fast, but there is a chance the creature will reach me before I finish, or get far enough to repel it. E: I recite the mantra to Fudō Myō-ō, a powerful wisdom king, a god who destroys all evil and banishes all demons and evil spirits. This is more difficult and more involved than the kuji-in, but may be more effective, and rely less on my own spiritual strength. F: Chant the shortest version of the great compassion mantra, Ōmu Mani Padomē Fūmu, a mantra of blessing and, crucially, protection. I won't be able to chant it forever, but i may be able to keep the creature at bay for now. This is protective, where the other mantras are more agressive. G: Draw a five-pointed star in the air in front of me, focusing on it. It is a powerful defensive symbol, and may repel the creature and keep me safe. H: I draw in my breath and quiet my mind and spirit, then, focusing on nothing else, repel the creature with the syllable ‘on,' the holiest of all sounds, the sound of first and absolute being. I: I run! Out the door! I don't trust my abilites to defend me against this creature, and i'm scared as all hell, so i flee, at least for now! J: I brace myself for impact and prepare to wrestle the demon! Sure, I'm 13 years old, don't know anything about fighting, and this creature has claws and drinks blood, but perhaps can wrestle it anyway? K: Something else! Write in!
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Apr 4, 2018 22:14
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Do we think we can get A off in time to not be torn apart?
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Apr 4, 2018 22:54
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ThatBasqueGuy posted:Do we think we can get A off in time to not be torn apart? You don't need to chant the entire sutra, obviously, and the sutras are holy from the very first word; as long as you are chanting the sutra, you are, in theory, protected. Unlike (some) mantras or defensive rituals, however, the protection also stops the moment your chant does.
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Apr 4, 2018 22:56
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G Seems like we can do this to protect ourselves and our client, then chain it into an offensive sutra once we're not about to be torn apart.
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Apr 4, 2018 23:08
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Will screwing up the mundras in C and D have a negative effect or is it the same as no mundras at all?
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Apr 4, 2018 23:14
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Tagichatn posted:Will screwing up the mundras in C and D have a negative effect or is it the same as no mundras at all? not inherently, but they are a part of the memonics to remember the mantras, so messing them up might well break your concentration and chain of thought.
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Apr 4, 2018 23:16
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BDH
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Apr 5, 2018 01:13
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well, the fact that the Buddha statue excludes the evil mist is probably an important detail ABC
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Apr 5, 2018 03:25
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ABCDH
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Apr 5, 2018 03:34
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SniperWoreConverse posted:well, the fact that the Buddha statue excludes the evil mist is probably an important detail Such things are well-known to be holy, and may even be hollow and contain the holy scriptures. Further, your patient who lives here is well-known to be a pious man, and has likely meditated, prayed, and recited the sutras before that statue, which further helps increase its power.
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Apr 5, 2018 03:55
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Magnusth posted:What do you do? B: I perform the kuji-in mantra, the nine symbolic cuts, a mantra concisting of nine syllables, one of the most basic, but also most videly-used mantras, for dispelling evil and banishing evil, directly invoking divine warriors to banish evil. You've often seen your father recite this mantra to banish evil. G: Draw a five-pointed star in the air in front of me, focusing on it. It is a powerful defensive symbol, and may repel the creature and keep me safe. K: Something else! Write in! I adopt a fighting stance while releasing the inner seals which allows me to channel mystic energies into my open palms?
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Apr 5, 2018 05:52
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FEB
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Apr 6, 2018 05:26
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FG Let's go on the defensive until we work out what's going on. :s Because it's pained and angry, it kind of suggests that it mightn't be acting out of malice?
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Apr 6, 2018 15:54
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A bleeding, raging ghost-monster charges you, and in reflex, you form the prana-mudra in front of you, two fingers pointing up while the thumb rests on the other two, the mudra of power welling up, an all-purpose mudra, and recite the powerful nine-cuts mantra, the Kuji. “Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!” you recite, but the words are more than words. You know them to to have many meanings, but here, now, they mean “Come, heavenly warriors, line up in formation before me!” That meaning fills you, and you call out to heaven with each syllable as the words flash before your eyes.  The creature nearly reaches you, teeth and claws bared, as power flows from you. Shafts of bright white light appear before you, like the sun gleaming off blades, and cut into the creature, spraying blood everywhere and throwing it back, through a paper screen and into the wall. The attendants gasp and scream, then run, as, from their perspective, white blades of light cut the air, blood sprays from nowhere, and the room is torn up by an invisible force. The creature slowly pulls itself off the floor, staring at you with hungry, pained eyes. You step forward, but even as you move, you feel your limbs grow heavy, and your mind reels at the effort and the exhaustion. The mantra worked, clearly, but you've never had your mental and physical limits tested like this, and your mind, body and soul spirit are all exhausted from the effort. You're not sure you could do it again. What do you do? A: I repeat the success, pushing myself further and do the mantra one more time, even if it it taxes my mind and spirit. B: I repeat the mantra, but the creature is clearly on the back foot now, slower, so I take the extra time to do the mudras as well, making the mantra even stronger without exhausting me more. C: I change my tactics slightly. I cannot afford to be entirely exhausted if i don't drive the creature away, so I recite the mantra to Fudō Myō-ō, which is more complex and, and requires a deeper understanding, but which is also stronger, taking less of my personal spiritual energies to work. D: I take a few step forwards, placing myself directly over my patient, and demand that the creature leave or I will force it. This leaves me better able to defend my patient and might save me a fight I am very very unsure if I can win, but does sacrifice the few moments of advantage i've bought myself. E: I step forward, standing over my patient, and ask the creature why it is here, and who it is. Perhaps if I can get it to talk, I can find a non-violent solution? The creature is clearly a hungry or vengeful ghost, and such things do not arise for no reason. F: I step forward, standing over my patient, and begin reciting the lotus sutra, which should keep both of us safe. I cannot recite it forever, but i can probably recite it long enough for the creature to leave for now. For now. G: I step forward to just before my patient, and recite the Ōmu Mani Padomē Fūmu mantra over him, to guard and protect him, to give me more freedom to handle the creature without worrying about him. H: I step forward and recite the Ōmu Mani Padomē Fūmu mantra at… the creature. I'm not sure if such would work, but the mantra is said to bless and grant peace to all things. It cannot lay the creature to rest, or at least I cannot lay the creature to rest with it, but the creature does seem to be hungering, in need, and perhaps I can calm it enough for us to talk? I: Something else! Write in!
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Apr 9, 2018 05:24
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BCEG
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Apr 9, 2018 05:33
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BCH
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Apr 9, 2018 05:53
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BCEG
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Apr 9, 2018 13:57
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Magnusth posted:What do you do? E: I step forward, standing over my patient, and ask the creature why it is here, and who it is. H: I step forward and recite the Ōmu Mani Padomē Fūmu mantra at… the creature.
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Apr 10, 2018 00:00
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BCEG, to the thousand hells with you, many-chinned chih-meh that you are!
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Apr 10, 2018 19:18
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BCF
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Apr 13, 2018 16:56
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CH
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Apr 16, 2018 11:52
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