Gozran 1st, 656 AR

The night was utterly uneventful, Koba never left the temple and there was absolutely no sign of any attack. Unfortunately time was already of the essence for us so we couldn't wait on the off chance Koba left the temple. Even if he did, trying to confront him during the day in such a busy city would be an unwise endeavor anyway and likely backfire on us incredibly badly. As far as this place knows he is a wise, kind priest that isn't a ravenous, insane monster after all...

As we sat in the alley considering our options, we overheard a few of the guards complaining and carrying off a dead body of "some damned prostitute". Our curiosity piqued, we looked in their direction and caught a glimpse of unmistakable orange hair. Deshie had been killed! Drowned apparently, probably for the information she gave to us. My heart fell a little hearing it as I had never intended to get her in trouble or cause...something like that to befall the poor woman.

After a short discussion we began to head back to the Curled Ribbon Inn to check on Chiyo (Keisuke had made sure Touka would keep an eye on while we were away last evening). As we were walking through the city we almost all tripped over each other when Baoji stopped suddenly without warning, his eyes growing wide before starting to stammer. At the time, it looked he had simply lost his marbles for no reason. As people started to stop and stare, it took some quick thinking from Aiko and playing along on my part to escort "granddad" home who had been a little too deep in his cups that morning already. Honestly it wasn't that much of a stretch on second thought.

What he told us after we got him calmed down and away from the busier streets was...frankly terrifying. He had been bothered since yesterday seeing the guards that were tainted by evil and on a...well I'm sure, a hunch I guess decided to use his blessed sight on our walk back to the Inn. He told at least 90% of the people we passed were corrupted like he saw yesterday, their very spirits tainted by palpable evil. There were no exceptions based on gender, age, or anything he could determine with the exception that every guard and clergy without exception had fallen to this malady.

Then we all remembered back to the temple of Daikitsu the day before, where the one clergy had mentioned almost offhandedly that Koba had been here for over five years off and on. This place was already in the same position as Jin Hai, they had just been more subtle here due to the larger population. Most were already in the middle of changing into sinspawn at this point it appeared.

The first thing we did was pick up Chiyo from the Inn and carry her to the boat that was waiting to take us to the Lion clan. Thankfully Baoji confirmed none of the crew or captain was corrupted. Chiyo took a liking to the captain, a huge man named Batu, right away who honestly reminded me a little of Hoshi, loud and boisterous but with a kind heart and wide grin. His crew seemed to adore him as well. Anyway, we spoke with him and decided we would be leaving first thing that evening, preferably before dusk. Baoji confirmed neither he nor any of the rest of the crew showed the same corruption as the rest in the city. Before then we have a lot to do...starting with trying to warn some of our friends of what is happening here and get them to safety.

With the larger population of the city and the fact so many are already turned, we arrived too late. It was...a  tough fact to swallow but even if we had maybe arrived here a year ago it may have been too far gone. The numbers are just too overwhelming. We'll have to do what damage control we can during the day and then escape much as it pains me.

*There is a gap in the writing here indicating the next section was written at a later time the same day*

 We stopped by a few locations to warn and convince those we considered allies and friends to perhaps leave with us including the church of Irori (Yoshiyaki Endo), the Curled Ribbon (Touka), and finally Nergui who Keisuke had taken a liking to for some unknown reason. Endo believed us right away but said he held duty to the temple and would flee with them that evening. Touka we tried being more subtle about it, though she couldn't be convinced to come even with some clever half-truths as she couldn't leave her Inn alone. We found Nergui getting hauled off by the guards, caught for one of his (many) thefts. Most of the guards were corrupted outside of one man who turned out to be the guard captain, a fellow with salt and peppered looking hair and steel-colored eyes named Masters. We couldn't convince him to release Nergui so we settled with leaving a letter and some supplies for Masters warning about what was going to happen in the city shortly. Hopefully he believes it and can save some of the population...I fear for his life if not. 

Our final goal was avenging Deshie if we could and getting into the gambling tournament. We had a pretty good idea the guy who killed her was Cho, since she helped us and gave us information. Using a bit of our natural charm, Aiko and myself asked around and found out usually where he could be found at the docks.

Arriving there we...well, Aiko used the signal to get past the guards that we learned from Deshie before, saying "Hey Sailor" while saluting them with two fingers. I almost fell over laughing. It was priceless, especially the expression on her face. The guards were equally stunned by quickly let us through.

The next door guard was not quite as easy to fool, though to I think all our surprise he recognized me as Zereno from the play. I admit I was a bit caught off guard that someone...here...would have seen it and it took me a few minutes and an elbow to the ribs from Aiko to remember the line he wished me to recite for him ("Tis I, Zenero", for reference...should have remembered that). 

As we entered the gambling hall and makeshift tavern, there was a sudden roar of music and the crowd talking excitedly. Evidently they silenced it via magic so it could not be heard outside of the walls. Perched in the very middle there was a rotund man sitting high atop a throne, greasy and covered in sweat. He was using Baoji's shield as a footstool. This was Cho, the master of the establishment. 

Even as we crossed the distance toward him through the crowd, a fisherman that was begging him for more time was dragged off by his guards, one holding a long knife menacingly. As we were brought before him he knew of us, more than he probably should have known and wasn't willing to be much help to us. Remembering Deshie mentioned he was quite paranoid we played on that a little, making him aware of the many enemies he had in the room (Baoji had confirmed when we entered that about 90% of the crowd was tainted with an aura of evil). 

This seemed to work and he lead us to a backroom and had us kill off his own personal guards (who he had actually correctly guessed had something wrong with them, radiating corruption as many others there). He offered to aid us if we helped him escape, even give us his mark of favor (some sort of pattern with a number of overlapping circles). Baoji looked mournfully back toward the room that held his shield, though we agreed it would be too dangerous to try return for it. We agreed to Cho's terms and used a secret escape hatch to leap down to the water below and swam a short distance back to the beach.

As we escorted Cho back toward our boat, getting some information from him he began to lie to us several times. Specifically when we questioned him about Deshie he  eventually confessed she was tossed to his men and ...'taken' forcefully multiple times before being killed. The pain he had brought upon so many and his lack of honor demanded his death which Keisuke was all too happy to give him. While Deshie was avenged, Cho did get the last laugh it turns out as he had some magic defenses set up that alerted the higher ups in his group that he was dead and his last words were to enjoy being hunted by their assassins. We did take his things, including a ring with his mark of favor upon it, hoping it might still be enough to get into the gambling tournament at a later time. 

After that we returned to the ship, where I am now writing this from the safety of my bunk. Just before we boarded Baoji split from us, informing us he was going to stay in the Dragon Clan and try to spread the word and slow the spread of the sinspawn. I wish him luck but fear it may be a suicide mission...

The city is almost completely out of sight now. My heart feels heavy even with the few small victories we managed. The city is lost. Even knowing there was little we could do when we found it in the shape it is in doesn't bring much consolation. 

I fear tonight will bring nightmares of the sinspawn again. Who knows how many other cities in the Dragon clan are in a situation like this one? The thought terrifies me. Between that and the timeline we are on to recover the relics, I'm finding it harder and harder to prioritize what we should be doing anymore. 

I shouldn't have such thoughts and I certainly will never share them with Sis. Not like me to be uncertain after all. Hopefully the morning and some rest will put everything into perspective and lift the burdens we are bearing a little.