Tsugiharu pondered the harsh universe as he looked about the stacks with his conlantern. The Empire had a long history of heroes overcoming impossible odds, and for each instance, there were a thousand stories told about it. Which should inspire one to try more. And yet, for each heroic tale, there were millions of tales of people facing insurmountable odds, failing to overcome them, and dying forgotten. Tsugiharu wondered if there was a point when one could distinguish between the two, or if hope would keep blossoming until it no longer could.

He had contacted some of his fellow Spider to get them up to speed on the situation, and to do a little research. Not Nara, nor Katsuo. He could believe in the competence of everyone else, but those two were beyond the pale.

Satoru arrived not long after Tsugiharu and bowed "Evening cousin, I hope the day has found you well." He said in his usual dispassionate voice. His cold eyes brighten a touch surveying the temple around them. This place felt like home, at least as much of home as he was used to.

"Other than the potential looming disaster I wished to discuss with you, cousin? Well enough I suppose. At least no one can credibly accuse the Phoenix of hosting a boring miai." he said, looking about with the conelantern.

Satoru nodded "yes well besides that." He looked at which titles Tsugiharu was looking at "so you believe it to be a disaster in our midst?"

Tsugiharu nodded.

"Granted, this is relying on interpretation of the kami, theory and guesswork, but it's the consensus of myself, Nakuichi-san, and Kitsune-sama." he said. "Not exactly a compelling case for a magistrate."

He was apparently looking for a book on the shrine that the cultists were using.

"But when the earth kami very emphatically tell you that people need to get off the planet before the planet awakens, it's hard to spend one's hours trying to impress apathetic Phoenix matchmakers."

29 vs. 30, Fail.

"Yes that indeed sounds like something to be concerned with. I haven't communed with the earth kami here. I'm assuming they didn't what they meant by the planet awakening?"

Tsugiharu shrugged a bit.

"Our best interpretation through multiple commune attempts is that the Phoenix in the shrine are bargaining with some incredibly powerful spirit. They're feeding it energy, and once they've fed it enough, the gate will open." he explained.

"Hmmm. Interesting is this the most we have on this? Any leads or ideas about what happens when the gate opens?" He asked with furrowed brows trying to catch up.

Tsugiharu shrugged.

"Theories and guesswork. One would assume that re-opening the portal to the spirit realms would empower the local flora and fauna upgrading them from "Pretty, but sometimes dangerous." to "colony-killing." he said.


"Of course, that's assuming that such an unheard of ritual actually succeeds. Failure may have graver consequences than a few cultists feeling foolish."

Satoru suppressed a small shudder, not many things truly scared him but he had seen world with strong spirit connections and the monsters that can create. Opening a portal could have no good outcomes in his mind.

"So how do we plan to stop it?"

"An excellent question. Right now we don't have enough information to determine how this can be accomplished. Even if the cultists were terminated today, would the spirit lose interest and return to sleep...or would it go berzerk when it stopped receiving offerings? So we must gather more information, and quickly."
He shrugged.

"I can think of three possible sources of information. There's the disorganized library in the temple to fukorokujin, there's the locals, and there's the shrine. We have to be careful when dealing with the locals, because there's a much higher chance they'll be sympathetic to the cultists rather than to Spiders sticking their noses into local affairs."

Satoru nodded "Unless there are locals you trust they should be a very last resort for finding information. The disorganized part of library is likely our best bet for finding something while raising the least eyebrows, I can come tomorrow and do a deep dive into the area and see what I can find. The shrine would be worth looking at but I would be surprised if there was much to find there unless this cult is very careless."

Tsugiharu nodded.

"That would be outstanding cousin. I'll be sure to keep you in the loop as well. I'm sure there will be more meetings involving this topic as we try to piece this puzzle together."

Satoru nodded "No thanks necessary, if this is as important as you claim its in my own interest to figure out what is going on. Dying tends to put a damper on ones duties in my experience." he said dryly "and please do, this feels like an all hands on deck situation. Though we will have to be discreet, without knowing who may be in on it id rather not have to fight cultist while trying to figure out their plan."

Tsugiharu nodded.

"Indeed. It would be nice if people could set aside politics to deal with actual problems like this, but to some people setting aside politics would be the true disaster." he offered a bit ruefully. "May the light of Kinuye the Wise guide you through the darkness cousin."

A small twitch of the lip but expression mostly still cold and calculating "You as well cousin." he bowed to Tsugiharu "Do not hesitate to call on me for further assistance."

/scene