by Nikita Thorn
“I think we lost Akechi,” someone reported.
“One of the houshi,” said Kentaro before Ippei could ask who it was.
The samurai sighed. “Of course. Every single time, it has to be a healer who drops out. Now we only have two, including you, and I was hoping you would be able to concentrate on shepherding.”
“Why do we need healers when there’s nothing to heal?” said Yamura as he looked around at the empty street. “Aren’t we supposed to fight something?”
The White Dragon had lifted into the air and was already flying off, disappearing toward the northeast and leaving its voice rumbling through their minds like a distant thunder:
With the Demonic War still a growing threat, Shinshioka needs the finest warriors to defend her. I have temporarily transported you all into a different plane of Shinshioka and have set a challenge for you to complete. You will need to demonstrate the virtues of wisdom, unity and courage to overcome this challenge, and in doing so will prove yourself worthy of my extra gifts.
My ethereal presence cannot be withstood by common mortals, and so to test your strength and resolve, at least half of your number must stand directly in my shadow for ten consecutive seconds. You have sixty minutes to complete the challenge.
The group took a while to comprehend the instructions. Seiki quickly checked the group makeup. They were now altogether nineteen.
“Okay, so ten people need to stand in the dragon’s shadow for sixty seconds or something, right?” Yamura sounded a little confused.
“Ten seconds,” Seiki corrected his friend. “But we have sixty minutes to complete the challenge.” Now that he thought about it, a whole hour allocated to the challenge was suspiciously generous, and he had a feeling there was more to the task than first met the eyes.
“Okay, that’s easy,” said Yamura. “Kinda too easy, actually.”
Ippei nodded to himself. “There must be a reason they suggested a raid group.”
Seiki scanned the empty sky above them, wondering if the first part of the puzzle involved playing hide-and-seek with the guardian deity of Shinshioka. “Should we go looking for the dragon now?”
It turned out to be unneeded. A few minutes later, the White Dragon came back into view, weaving its way toward them from the direction of South City. The mental instructions repeated again once the dragon crossed into Trade Street and was in range.
Seiki studied the approaching mystical beast. The shadow in question was, in fact, the opposite of one, since it was a patch of bright light illuminated by the radiance from the dragon’s body.
“Stand in the shadow for ten seconds?” said Toma of the Honor Warriors [Level 15]. “Well, let’s do it.” The man ran off toward the middle of Trade Street, turning around to wave to the rest of the group. “Come on, guys. Let’s get this st—”
He collapsed mid-sentence, his health draining to zero and his body instantly dispersing into white smoke. The two other players who had rushed after him yelped in alarm and the rest of the group scrambled out of the dragon’s path.
Seiki dashed to the side to make sure he was not in its trajectory. The dragon headed straight toward the Banquet Tower, before turning left and once again disappeared out of sight toward the northeast.
Ippei had been silently observing the setup, a thoughtful look on his face. “And there’s the catch.”
“Okay, let me get this straight,” said Yamura. “The dragon is a freakin’ death ray and we have to stand in it?”
From within enclosure of the Banquet Tower garden, a voice groaned in reply, and a few seconds later Toma reemerged, clutching his head.
Ippei nodded. “And now we know where the revive point is.”
“Good thing it’s only a second of death nausea and no durability penalty,” Toma reported. “And right before I died, the dragon said something like, uh, the more of your companions helping to withstand the ordeal, the better.”
Ippei’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I see! It means we have to stack to share the damage, like… like the cloud boss of Amato Pass.”
“Oh, I hate the lightning,” muttered someone from the crowd, who obviously knew what Ippei was talking about.
Mairin clapped her hands together. “Okay, it’s a reversed Corrupted Beast, you know, a good Corrupted Beast. Instead of staying in the shadow to avoid damage, you stand in the shadow to take damage.”
“How is taking damage good, exactly?” said Yamura.
“Trial by ordeal,” said Kentaro.
Mairin giggled. “The dragon’s death ray purifies your soul and tests your strength and resolve and wisdom and unity.”
“It’s like one of those games where you have to fit people on a big piece of paper, isn’t it?” said Kentaro. “Basically a team-building exercise.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve played it at camp,” said Mairin. “The team that gets the most people onto the paper wins.”
Ippei looked a little troubled, and Seiki guessed it had something to do with the fact that this was a pickup group, where it was impossible to tell people to do something and expect it to work in one go.
“It’s actually not as simple as that,” said the samurai after some more musing. “The dragon doesn’t stay in one spot for long enough, and we can’t follow him over buildings. Maybe it’s a puzzle to figure out how to do it.”
Kentaro suddenly held out a firework rocket. “Guys, look. Inspect. The rockets have changed.”
Seiki retrieved the two unused fireworks he had in his inventory:
Red Warimono Rocket. Range: 60 feet. Restores 10% energy to all players within a 30-foot radius of the impact as well as those under the rocket’s initial trajectory. The White Dragon turns 15 degrees counterclockwise upon impact and continues in a straight path until steered otherwise or until it reaches its original path, at which point it resumes the original path.
Golden Chrysanthemum Hanwarimono Rocket. Range: 80 feet. Restores 100% energy to all players within a 30-foot radius of the impact as well as those under the rocket’s initial trajectory. The White Dragon turns 180 degrees clockwise upon impact and continues in a straight path until steered otherwise or until it reaches its original path, at which point it resumes the original path.
“So it is a puzzle,” cried Ippei. “All right, can everyone show me your fireworks?”
The rockets retained their original range, buffs and colors, but now had added information about how they would turn the dragon clockwise or counterclockwise by five, ten or fifteen degrees, or completely around. Some fireworks also slowed the dragon by one or two seconds. For a moment no one was sure what to make of them.
Ippei scratched his head. “They’ve got to be color-coded, right?”
The group studied the clues for a while longer, until someone cried out, “They are!”
It was Eijiro, the Honor Warriors ryoushi who had been Seiki’s riding partner earlier. “Look, look, look,” cried the ryoushi as he grabbed the fireworks from Ippei’s hands and sorted them into smaller piles. “They’re color-coded all right. Hot tones turn the dragon counterclockwise, cool tones turn the dragon clockwise, white ones make the dragon go slower. You see: red, port. Green, starboard. White, stern, which stalls the dragon for some time. And gold… I guess gold is special and turns it completely around.”
Ippei blinked. “Oh. Makes sense.”
“My stepdad sails,” explained Eijiro.
Yamura nodded impatiently. “Yeah, okay, and this means what?”
A grin spread across Ippei’s face as he fully understood now what was expected of the group. “This means we do math.”
“Please no,” a voice groaned.
“The real trial by ordeal,” someone else muttered.
Shaking his head in amusement, Ippei turned to Kentaro. “All right, do we have a map of Shinshioka?”
“I do.”
“A map I can scribble on?”
The houshi hesitated. “In that case, I don’t,
but I can draft you a new one.”
“Perfect. The descriptions on the fireworks say the dragon follows a strict path, so I need someone to see what that path is.”
“Map the instance? I can do that,” Seiki volunteered.
Ippei nodded and Seiki reached for his horse whistle.
“I’m coming with you,” said Mairin, giggling. “Because I’m definitely not doing math.”
As Ippei and Kentaro started to work on the puzzle, Seiki and Mairin rode northward in the direction the dragon had disappeared to. For a while, the two horses’ hooves were the only sound in the maze of abandoned buildings, which somehow made Seiki feel like a child secretly out past his bedtime. After two empty intersections without a sign of the White Dragon, they stopped to consider their plan.
“Last time he came back from the southwest, so let’s keep going northwest until we cross his path,” Seiki suggested.
It turned out to be a correct hunch, and soon they spotted the dragon not too far ahead, in a silent flight above a neighborhood of three-storied shophouses that was halfway between East and West City, just high enough in the sky to be visible from a few alleys away. They dismounted and continued on foot after the horses refused to go any closer.
“This is pretty awesome how we have the whole city to ourselves.” Mairin looked around at the silent, shadowy buildings.
“Like a… midnight marathon,” said Seiki, not entirely certain why it was relevant.
“Oh, you’ve done that?”
“No… but this is probably close enough.” The atmosphere reminded Seiki of the Ruins of Hitsu Village, but without the hidden danger or the feeling of impending doom. Instead, the empty Shinshioka felt refined, aloof and mysterious, like a foreign city waiting to be discovered, and Seiki had no idea when he would get to see the City in such a state again, if ever. And for a moment, he thought he could glimpse what his Himawari Room host had made a brief mention of, the wistful possessiveness of something that only he saw and understood.
Mairin was grinning. “You should join us on the Social Guild’s East City ghost tours sometimes, Seiki. It’s kinda like this, but, well, just completely mad.”
Seiki found himself smiling as he realized how terribly mistaken some people were about what constituted real joy.
They followed the White Dragon into North City, where it made a turn above a large black-roofed building in the middle of an open courtyard. Seiki recognized the place as Kodan Temple, where he had visited a few days earlier to ring its bronze bell to build up the alleged Festival karma.
“You’re right. He always goes left,” said Mairin. “Now he’s heading southwest.”
Seiki nodded. “So far, it seems like he goes straight until he hits a specific spot and then turns left.”
The dragon was traveling as fast as a moderate running speed. In order not to lose sight of it, they anticipated the direction where it was heading and summoned their mounts again to race it to its next landmark.
The task relied very much on knowing the layout of Shinshioka, which Seiki did, to a certain extent, but the crisscrossing streets were full of dead ends, and he had to stop more than once to consider their route.
“I wonder if you can get into your private territories in this instanced Shinshioka so you can grab, say, extra potions,” Mairin wondered aloud at one point as they rode past an alley that would lead to Kentaro’s private koi pond room.
There was no opportunity to test the idea. The dragon eventually led them close to Soldier’s Quarters, and they decided to go south, rather than try to follow it through the maze of courtyards.
“How about we ride down Supply Street and maybe catch him as he comes through the other side?” Seiki suggested, referring to the nickname given to a street that sold supplies for most of the weekly Military Missions.
Despite having to lose sight of the dragon for a short time, the shortcut paid off. Halfway through Supply Street, the mounts bolted once more, signaling that the dragon was close by, and they jumped off to continue running on foot, with the kitsune turning into a white fox for extra speed. The street itself was too narrow to allow for much view beyond what was directly above them, but the bright light coming from ahead was encouraging.
“I think if we’re right about this, he’s going in a big circle,” said Seiki as they dashed toward the end of the alley that would connect them to the main road. “So he should have—” Seiki choked back his words as he reached the main street and found himself in the direct path of the White Dragon. Less than twenty feet away, the deadly patch of light on the ground was rushing at them.
Letting out a yelp, Seiki spun around and unleashed a Slide back in the opposite direction, grabbing the kitsune to take her with him.
For a moment the world filled with blinding brilliance.
You are in the shadow of the White Dragon. You do not have sufficient numbers to start the challenge. The more people there are to help you withstand this ordeal, the lesser it becomes.
The notification flickered for half a second, then they were no longer in range. There was no icy numbness, but his health had taken a sharp dive down to a third, and he felt delayed cold sweats on the back of his neck as his eyes readjusted to the surroundings. Easing out the Slide, he looked back in time to see the silver dragon stream past the silhouetted buildings at the mouth of the alley, looking like a passing express train.
Warm fluff wiggled in his hands. Seiki released his grip to let Mairin leap off, and the kitsune transformed back already pointing to something on the ground. “Look!”
The small simple bamboo tube was smaller than a firework rocket, and was labeled Red Sparks Popper [Instance Item].
Range: 40 feet. The White Dragon turns 2 degrees counterclockwise upon impact and continues in a straight flight until steered otherwise or until it reaches its original path, at which point it resumes the original path.
“Oh, I see. If you run out of real fireworks you can use this,” said Mairin. “Look, there’s another one there.”
There were indeed more Sparks Poppers lying about, but there was no time to gather them up. Fearing they had wasted too much time, they called to their mounts again and rushed southeast, taking as many straight roads as possible.
They soon broke from the clusters of buildings onto the generous width of Trade Street once more. In the sky, a short distance away, the White Dragon was heading towards the pagoda in Mani Shrine, where it turned left once again above the slanting roof before continuing toward South City.
“Let’s go.” Seiki steered Fubuki directly across the street.
South City, with its smaller winding alleys, was a little more difficult to navigate, but Mairin knew the area well and suggested they took an unusual route. “Think about it. He only makes a turn at important landmarks, right? There’s nothing in South City the way he’s heading except for Shirogame Garden.”
She turned out to be correct. They took a shortcut toward the garden just in time to see the dragon gracefully shifting left above a large camphor tree in the middle of the small garden, and Seiki reminded himself once again, as he watched the dragon’s refection pass over the tiny lotus-filled pond, that he needed to visit South City more often.
Following the dragon’s path, they eventually found themselves back in front of the Banquet Tower. Ippei and the rest of the group had managed to draw up a crude map of Shinshioka, and for some reason Yamura and three other Honor Warriors were dead.
“I asked them to stand under the dragon as an experiment,” explained Ippei. “It’s really about stacking. You share the damage percentage, so the more people in the shadow, the less the damage. Four people lasted almost three seconds, with heals.”
Mairin nodded. “Yeah, we kinda did that, too, accidentally.”
Seiki reported their findings. “The dragon goes in a big circle. He turns at Kodan Temple, then… uh, I think, probably a guard tower in West City. I didn’t see that one, but it’s i
n the corner of the alley and is the only landmark around, then he turns again at the Mani Shrine pagoda, then Shirogame Garden.”
Ippei consulted Kentaro’s map and let out a satisfied cry. “And from here, he goes to Hoke Inn. Okay, now it makes sense.”
“So a perfect circle?” Mairin leaned in to look at the map.
“A perfect hexagon.” Ippei drew on the map with bright red ink, connecting the six landmarks.
Seiki blinked. “I never realized these six locations made a perfect hexagon.”
“Me neither,” said Ippei.
Yamura reappeared out of the Banquet Tower courtyard after he had revived. “Okay, so now we can predict where he’s going to be and we can gather under the shadow?”
Ippei thought for a moment, his eyes on the map. “The problem here is more the fact that at the speed he’s going, at no point does he follow the same street for ten seconds, not to mention that you can’t mount too close to the dragon either. So, eliminating other possibilities, there’s only one thing we can do, which is, I guess, to steer him so he’s flying straight down Trade Street.”
The samurai drew his finger to indicate the stretch of the street. “It’s going to have to be quite precise, so we’ll need to think about this.”
The group at the Banquet Tower had also discovered the existence of Sparks Poppers scattered throughout the City. These apparently only came in two varieties: red and green. Seiki guessed this was why the Banquet Guide said the fireworks were not completely necessary, as players were given in-instance tools to manipulate the dragon’s path, which spawned indefinitely, and which some of the less engaged Honor Warriors were now using to shoot at each other.
“Imagine if we had no rockets and had to use only those.” Ippei shuddered.
Lucky for the group, once they pooled their resources together, they ended up with twenty-eight firework rockets, which should be enough. Taking into consideration what different types that were available, Ippei and Kentaro spent another few minutes optimizing the paths, before coming up with a final plan.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” The samurai held up the map for everyone to see. “We wait along this path here, and since we have way more reddish fireworks, we use them to steer the dragon ninety degrees once he passes Hoke Inn. Then we steer him back about forty-five degrees once he hits Trade Street. There are other ways to do it, but I think this is the simplest.”
