Hello once more! 👋😇

I played another session of Golden Sky Stories with my friends last weekend!!  So, I thought I would record our adventure once again.  This is a scenario I wrote myself for them, and it is somewhat Halloween-themed because this was our belated Halloween meetup. 🎃  My first post about the game, if you’d like to go over what happened previously, is over here~

(I will copy my same summary of the setting from the last post, because it succinctly describes what the game is about):

The player characters are henge, a magical, folklore-style animal that can transform into a youthful human form.  (Partial transformations, such as turning mostly human but leaving one’s ears or tail out, are possible as well – often these are even preferable because it costs fewer points to do so.)  The setting where they live is a Japanese town in the countryside.  It’s in the modern day, so it’s not antiquated (all houses have electricity and water, etc., and phones and computers exist), but things are quiet and old-fashioned there.  Additionally, for the most part, the people who live in the town understand that henge exist (acknowledged in the same spiritual way that spirits of natural things all around them exist), although it’s very special to meet one.

The participating characters (a few of these are returning from the previous game, but a couple are newcomers) are:

• Tora, a cat henge.  She is very wise and proper, and knowledgeable of magical things.  Her appearance as a human is the eldest of the group, appearing as a 15-17-year old young lady.
• Ayame, a fox henge.  She has lived a long, LONG time, and is antiquated, proud, and traditional in her mannerisms.  There is also a small shrine devoted to her along the side of a road in the town.
• Ichigo, a bird henge.  She is a sweet little bluebird with very limited knowledge of human civilization, and is a little spacey and clumsy as a result.  She looks a bit bedraggled in her human form, with twigs sticking out of her messy hair.
• Akane, a rabbit henge.  She is a shy and quiet white rabbit girl, although with a little bit of a compulsive and rebellious streak.
• Vivian, another rabbit henge.  He is a very polite and refined young boy with angelic features and dresses in a cute sailor boy uniform.  He is a very calm & collected person.

I myself am the Narrator~

[Lines written like this are added notations as I write up this post, not things that occurred in gameplay.  Furthermore, all of the events and lines in this story are a summary from my memory of our game session, and not 100% accurate to what each player said and did.  There are also more Checks for whether a character succeeds/fails at something throughout play, and more Dreams being handed out, than I describe here.]

And now, for our story.

🕯 The Fushigi Forest 🕯

🎐 Scene 1 🎐

Narrator: Yoyo Town is in the midst of its week of Lantern Light, when candles are lit filling every window and hanging paper lanterns are strung around above the streets and from rooftops and overhangs.  In the current muted light of this crisp Autumn evening, the candles and lantern light gibe the atmosphere a flickering, low-light quality; kind of dreamy and pretty because of the warm lights against the dark.

Narrator: It is also kind of foggy, and has been for a few days now.  You can see the buildings immediately around you, and all  of your friends, but vision is limited to about a block away, where fog conceals the further buildings and you can only see the flickers of warm lights in rows before those, too, disappear further away.

Narrator: The henge are all hanging around the main commerce street of Yoyo Town, at an open entrance gate, which is a big red Torii gate with yet more lanterns and strung lights hanging over the arch way.  Beyond the gate is a path meandering through a field dotted with trees that gradually become denser further out (although you cannot see very far, because of the fog).

Narrator: What are each of your characters doing right now, and what form are they in?

🐱 Tora: Because it is a festival, are there food stalls around?

Narrator: Yes!  Although most things are closed this late, or are in the process of closing.

🐱 Tora: I’m as a cat, and up on a fish stall, pawing at where fried fish are strung along the top of the stall.

Everyone: Omg cuuute!!  (Some Dreams are shared, and we discuss how Dreams are for handing out whenever we like someone’s role-playing, for the sake of the two new players we have this time.)

🐦 Ichigo: I’m a bird hopping around up high, maybe up on the Torii gate.

🐰 Akane: I will be shyly hanging back as a bunny, just around the bottoms of some stalls.

🐇 Vivian: Vivian is in human form, and I think that he has been doing some shopping, and is calmly walking back to this area, holding his shopping bags.

🦊 Ayame: Because it’s a festival, Ayame, in human form, has arrived with a yukata in a paper bag that she is going to change into.

Narrator: Oh, neat!  (A Dream is awarded.)

🦊 Ayame: Ayame looks around at her friends and asks, “Can someone help me put this on?”  A yukata is kind of an endeavor in getting into, with all of the layers, and the obi…

🐇 Vivian: “I will help!”  (He is also the only other one in human form right now, lol).

🦊 Ayame: Is there somewhere around where I can change?

Narrator: I guess you could step outside the gate?  Like around to the other side of the fence.  There’s no one out there.

(There is much fumbling as the yukata is put on LOL.)

Narrator: So, next, a faint light is seen in the fog, bobbing slightly as it grows nearer.  This is coming from within the town, down the street.  Does anyone want to transform at this point?  Because if this is a person, and you transform after they’ve arrived because you want to participate and talk with them, they will be Surprised by your appearance.

🐰 Akane: I’ll transform now.  Akane’s human form has this long, soft, white hair, btw.

🐱 Tora: I’ve just succeeded at getting a fish for myself and I’m holding it in my mouth, but I’ll stay a cat and jump down from the fish stall.

🦊 Ayame: Ayame and Vivian really quickly finish up the yukata, too, so they can be in plain sight to talk to whoever this is.

Narrator: Yeah, lol, I can see the big obi bow, like, bounce into place, like the birds that tie Cinderella’s bow.  So, the glowing light grows nearer, and you can see that it is a lantern being carried by Reo, who was in our previous game.  (I describe Reo a bit for the new players; that he is an adult, official person, who would totally be a samurai if this were a setting where there were samurai.  In a modern setting, he is more like a rich, noble state official.  The new players make a new Connection with Reo while the returning characters get to reuse their existing Connections – although no one gets the points for this quite yet, because it is the middle of a scene.  They will for the next scenes, though.)

Narrator: Reo is carrying this lantern as he makes rounds through the town, making sure everything is safe and that kids are heading home, stuff like that.  He recognizes some of you.  Or, maybe he only recognizes Ayame, who is the only human here that had helped him before.  So, he turns to Ayame and mainly talks to her, which I think was the case last time, too.

🐱 Tora: I’m sitting at Reo’s feet holding a fish in my mouth. :3

Narrator: Okay, he actually remembers this cat from the last time, too, lol.  But he says to Ayame, “I was just thinking of you kids, since you seem to show up whenever weird stuff is going on, what’s up with that?  Weird, right?” (I’ve broken Reo’s character at the end of his sentence to make everyone laugh.)  “It’s getting late in the evening and you kids should be going home.”

(Lots of the characters proudly insist that they are NOT kids.)

🐇 Vivian: Vivian very indignantly asks, “And how old are YOU, mister?!”

Narrator: Reo is completely taken aback by this.  (I pantomime in a “well, I never!” fashion.)  He doesn’t even answer and just kind of shakes it off, lol.

🦊 Ayame: “What is the weird stuff that’s going on?”

Narrator: Reo answers, “For the past few days, people have been having trouble making their way through the woods out that way.”  He holds the lantern out, pointing with it out the gate.  “Beyond this gate is the Fushigi Forest, and lots of folks rely on it for gathering herbs and medicine and food.  It’s also one of the major ways out of town.”  It’s not the ONLY exit from town – there are other paths, and other gates, but this is one of the main ones.  “I’ve gotten reports of people getting disoriented in the woods, and ending up back at this gate instead of where they were heading.  Maybe they are seeing the lights from the festival and getting turned around?” he guesses.  He’s kind of at a loss, not understanding what’s so difficult about just following a path.

🐰 Akane: Akane’s eyes get really wide, and she grabs onto Vivian’s arm and dashes out the gate for the forest.  (There is camaraderie between their two characters, because they are both bunnies and are friends.)

🐇 Vivian: “Wuagh!!”

🐱 Tora: You know how when a cat looks up really alert with sudden movement?  I think the two of them dashing off makes Tora just run off after them, purely on cat instinct, lol.

🐦 Ichigo: Ichigo is jumping around, not sure who to follow.

Narrator: Reo goes “Waitwaitwaitwait!”  He doesn’t want you guys going off into the woods if there is danger.

🦊 Ayame: Okay, Ayame is the one that stops and hangs back to ask what else.

Narrator: Reo looks over you all, and asks, kind of tentatively, “None of you guys believe in those stories the other kids in town talk about, do you?”

(Both Ayame and Vivian consider that their characters both probably play among the other children in town, but they don’t know what stories Reo means.)

Narrator: He says, “A popular game among the kids right now is to play ‘witch,’ where one of the kids has to be a witch and chases the others all around, or tell scary stories about a witch that cursed these woods… Of course, it’s only their imaginations running wild.”

🦊 Ayame: “What’s her name?”

Narrator: What?  Who?

🦊 Ayame: The witch lady, LOL.

Narrator: Oh, LOL.  Sorry, I was distracted, LOL.  [This detraction sounds random, but the fact that I blanked on the witch’s name actually comes up at the end of the game, so I had to include it here so the future exchange makes sense.]

Narrator: Reo shrugs off the question.  He thinks that the kids are just being over-imaginative and he doesn’t have any details beyond that.

🐰 Akane: Akane suddenly comes running back and tries to grab the lantern from him.

(Everyone laughs and is questioning, what?!  Why?!)

Narrator: Okay, this will be a battle of strength between the two of you, so that will use the Animal stat.

🐇 Vivian: Oh man, strength check!  (Pantomimes rolling dice.)

Narrator: Exactly!  Reo has a couple of points in Animal already, and I have my own pool of Feelings to bump that up to… I’m gonna say 8, because he’s a big strong adult and he doesn’t want to let go of it.

(Akane doesn’t have enough Feelings to increase her Animal high enough to beat that.)

Narrator: I’m gonna say that plays out as you grasping for it, and he jerks the lantern away from you and out of your reach.

🐰 Akane: Oh fine, lol.

Narrator: And he kind of narrows his eyes and points toward you, like a teacher that’s really mad and they’re keeping their eye on you.

(This amuses everyone.)

Narrator: Okay, everyone seems determined to move on into the woods, so Reo gets ready to finish up his rounds and head back.  In farewell, he tells you all not to get into too much trouble, or to do anything dangerous, and he is very sincere about it.

(Someone sticks their tongue out at his back before they run to join their friends, and I don’t remember if it was Ayame or Vivian.  Why is everyone so mean to Reo, lol?!  He is supposed to be cool!)

–

🎐 Scene 2 🎐

[Okay, I have been bad and let this post sit in my drafts for a couple of weeks, and now my memory of the events is even weaker… Please bear with me while I summarize a bit more succinctly, and with fewer dialog from the other players and characters, because I don’t remember the finer details of our game any more and have forgotten some of what ideas were brought up, and by whom. 😓]

Narrator: It is late evening, and you have moved just outside the gate, where the trees are beginning to get thick.  You’ve all walked just far enough along the path that, when you look behind you, the lantern lights of the town look hazy in the fog.  Before you, tall dark trees loom, some of them looking spindly, having just spent their leaves.  The ones that do have leaves are deep Autumn colors.

Narrator: As soon as you walk through this first threshold of trees, the fog around you starts to feel more like a chilly mist.  If you peer between the trees, the shimmery mist seems to make murky swirling patterns.  Overhead, the canopy of reaching branches and sparse leaves keep the stars from view.

Narrator: This is like how in a video game, when you walk into a new area, and there isn’t a loading screen, but the lighting changes and the music gets spooky!

[For the sake of setting the atmosphere for the readers of this post, here is some appropriate music to enjoy!]:

(The henge glance around a little bit.  Some of them huddle up to be near others in the spooky forest.)

Narrator: So, you notice that the path you’ve been following now branches, like a perfect split in exact cardinal directions.  You’ve approached from the south, and you’re in the center of this round-ish clearing where paths continue each way, with dense trees completely blocking any non-paths.  It’s like an old text adventure game – “Ways to go are North, South, West, and East.”

🐱 Tora: And we came in from the South?

Narrator: Yup!

(There is some discussion over what to do.)

🐱 Tora: I’m going to use my Power called ‘Friends!’

(We all laugh at the name of the power and how adorable everything in this game is…)

🐱 Tora: Friends summons cats from town around me.  I add up my Animal and Henge attributes and multiply by two, so… Ten.  There are ten cats here now.

Narrator: OMG.

🐦 Ichigo: AAH!  Ichigo is up in the branches and doesn’t want to be anywhere near this many cats.

🐱 Tora: So, I have my cats split up and each go scouting down the different paths.

Narrator: Okay, this is interesting!  So, the cats all go running down the paths, and, as they disappear into the mist, most of them actually come up behind you from the South path, and they’re like, “Meow?” (in a confused inflection, lol).

🐰 Akane: Ohhh, like it looped around!

Narrator: Exactly.

🐱 Tora: Did ALL of them come back??

Narrator: A couple of them actually succeeded.  You notice that only eight of the cats came back, so you wait for a bit, and the last two cats come sauntering back from the West path.  They go “Meow, meow!” (encouragingly, as if saying “This way!”).

🐱 Tora: (Looking to the rest of the group) So… do we want to go this way?

🦊 Ayame: I’ll use a Henge check to magically sense if there is anything that way.

Narrator: That’s a good idea.  With your mystical, magical senses, you notice that there are a few bioluminescent mushrooms growing at the base of a tree at this West path.  (Everyone goes, “ooh…”)  They’re glowing blue.

🦊 Ayame: I pick one… and I… sniff at it.  Ayame is thinking about eating it, but hesitating (lol).  She looks around at her friends, and shoves it toward Akane.  “You eat it!”  (LOL)

🐰 Akane: Akane nibbles at it almost right away.

Narrator: O…kay… it tastes, uh… It tastes like a mushroom.  And a little bit magical.  [In hindsight, I should have come up with some kind of funny flavor for it to have, but my brain completely blanked in the moment, because I didn’t think anyone would eat one. 😆]

🦊 Ayame: Does anything happen?

Narrator: You wait a bit.  As if you’re all waiting for Akane to just keel over from poison.  But, she seems fine.

🦊 Ayame: Cool.  “Homf!” (she pantomimes tossing the entire mushroom into her mouth now that she knows it’s safe).

(Everyone is laughing, and I take a second to read over what the henge’s innate stats are.)

Narrator: Ichigo, while your friends are playing around, you have mushrooms on the mind.  Your Animal stat is high enough that, just glancing around, you see that there are more mushrooms around the trees at the other paths.  However, all of the other clusters of mushrooms are just small, plain little white mushrooms.  This West path is the only one with glowing blue ones.

🐦 Ichigo: Neat!

🐱 Tora: I think the West is definitely the way to go.

Narrator: Sweet!  Everyone goes West.  Very similarly to the last time, you step between the trees and find yourselves in a clearing that opens up again, and another branch of paths going in exact cardinal directions.  This time, you’ve arrived from the East (I demonstrate how, since they moved west, they’re now on the east side of the new clearing), so the new ways to go are North, West, and South.

(There is more discussion over which way to go.  I use the time to look over everyone’s stats again.)

Narrator: Man, all of you guys have your Henge at 3.  I was gonna pick someone with the highest Henge, but like four of you are tied!  Okay, who wants to pump their Henge stat up to, like, 5, in order to notice something cool?

🦊 Ayame: Ooh, I will!  (She deducts Feelings to succeed at the check.)

Narrator: While everyone is puzzling around, you happen to glimpse out into the woods.  Not along one of the paths, just – just outside your clearing, somewhere, in the dense trees.  You see… the eyes of a stalking beast-

(Someone asks, “A beast?!”)

Narrator: -And you hear its low growl-

🦊 Ayame: Aaah!!

Narrator: -And you see its mass move… It’s covered in coarse fur, and really big, but it just looks shadowy and you can’t make it out any more than just the shape.  But it was definitely watching your group, and then it turns away and leaves, moving deeper into the forest.

Everyone: AAAHHHHH!!!

(Some of them are going, “Okay, no!  Nope!”)

Narrator: It’s gone now.  You’re not in danger.  (I’m trying to calm the group down, but kind of amused that I got everyone to react.)

🐰 Akane: I have a Power to use.  I’m going to do ‘Help Me!’ which calls someone I have a Connection with to join us in the scene.  The only Connection I have with someone that isn’t already here is Reo…

Narrator: You can do this, but you’ve got to give me a reeeeaaal good reason for why Reo would randomly come out to the woods.

🐰 Akane: He, uh… he heard that there was a big beast in the woods!

Narrator: Hmm… well… Okay, maybe he saw how determined you guys were to run into the woods, and he got worried about you, so he came along after to make sure you are safe.  Sure, maybe he can help.  He’s got a lantern to light the way, maybe?

Narrator: So, Reo enters the woods behind you… but he doesn’t know how to solve the puzzle in the first section and just kind of bungles around. (LOL)

🦊 Ayame: Okay, okay.  Ayame is rolling her eyes, but she runs over to the first clearing and drags him over with us.

Narrator: Reo says, “What in the world are you all doing out here?  It’s late, and dark, and you should all be at home!”

🐱 Tora: Also, there are still ten cats all around me.

Narrator: OMG.  Yes, Reo is looking around at this myriad of animals, and all these cats, and he is majorly confused.

🦊 Ayame: Ayame doesn’t want to deal with this.  She transforms into a fox.

(Everyone goes, “Oooh…” while I start to think of what Reo’s reaction should be as he learns that these kids are magical henge, as someone who dismisses magical things…)

🦊 Ayame: I want to Surprise him enough to make him leave, so… how do I do that?

Narrator: Oh!  Okay, so, the way Surprise works is, you have to increase one of your stats to higher than his highest stat.  Reo has a big, beefy Adult stat of 5, because he is a mature, grown-up dude.  (There’s a chart in the rulebook that details what effects different levels of Surprise will have, and we consult this.)  If you want to scare him enough to make him run away, your stat needs to be higher than his by 3, so you need to bump something all the way up to 8 to succeed at this.

🦊 Ayame: I’ll make my Henge go up to 8 and just scare him by suddenly turning into a ferocious fox monster.

Narrator: You guys are SO MEAN to Reo!!  He just wants to help you!!  (We are all laughing while I describe Reo running away at the sight of the monster.)  He is going to think that this was all just some weird nightmare he had while nodding off while patrolling.

🦊 Ayame: …Did my yukata fall off when I transformed?

Narrator: (LOL) We’ll say no… like, you just quickly transformed like “HA!” and then quickly changed back, and you’re still in your yukata that you worked so hard to put on.

(Now everyone is back to not knowing where to go…)

Narrator: Wwwweeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllll… (I lean in toward everyone, like telling them a secret)  As the GM, I’m not supposed to nudge you in any direction, buuuut… Does aaaaanyone want to look around the bases of the trees at each path?

(They realize, “Oh!  Yes!”  After some checks are made, the henge discover that there are small patches of white flowers at most of the paths, but the South one has a larger cluster of blue flowers.

“South!” the group decides.)

🦊 Ayame: As we walk through, I pick up a flower and sniff at it.

Narrator: It smells like a flower, and a little bit magical.  [I could have thought of something for it to smell like, but I opted to repeat the same description that the mushroom had, like a running gag.]

🦊 Ayame: I put it in my hair. c:

Narrator: In the next clearing, you have once again encountered branching paths in each of the cardinal directions.  You approached from the North path.  Who wants to see something cool with a Henge check?

🐰 Akane: Ooh, me!

🐦 Ichigo: Another monster?? 😭

Narrator: Out in the trees, almost completely hidden by mist, you see round eyes watching your group.  You can make out the shape of long antlers above them.  Once it sees that you’ve noticed it, you see it step away on dainty hooves.

🐰 Akane: This is like Harry Potter!

(They start talking about a deer on a lake and I have to tell everyone I’m unfamiliar with Harry Potter. 😰)

Narrator: Is it a scary thing?

🐰 Akane: No, it’s beautiful!

Narrator: Oh!  Okay.  Then, yes.  This is like that.  You feel very safe after seeing this animal, like it is watching over you.  It is gone now.

(To get things rolling, I encourage everyone to pick one of the paths and make a check as they search the area – but I don’t give a target number to reach, and suggest that they simply put however many Feelings toward the action to indicate how “hard” they are searching.  Ayame used a lot of her Feelings to scare Reo earlier, so, she lingers around the North path they entered from and keeps an eye out for the beast she saw that way.)

(I describe everyone noticing little flowers around the trees at each path – but, this time, ALL of them are blue.  The henge at the West, East, and South paths succeeded at their checks well enough that they look very closely at the blue flowers, and count four petals on each one.  Ayame, at the North path, glanced at the flowers, but didn’t look close enough at them – i.e. did not make her check high enough – to notice the number of petals.)

🐰 Akane: Oh, oh!  Look at the flower in her hair and see how many petals it has!

Narrator: That is SUCH AN AMAZING IDEA!!!  (The suggestion got a lot of Dreams, because everything came together really perfectly.)  The flower in Ayame’s hair has five petals.  Then, you guys look down at the flowers at her feet, and see that they, too, have five petals.

🐱 Tora: Do we want to go back the way that we came?  Maybe it changed?

(The henge discuss that it might be possible that magic changed the path behind them.  They decide to take the risk and follow the North path, and step through the line of trees…)

Narrator: The trees open up into a wider clearing than the mysterious paths you’ve been following so far.  Even the mist thins and gives you some more space, allowing you to see the whole clearing before you.  There is a cottage here, made of dark grey stone and with a thatched roof.  (Everyone goes “Ooh!”)  There are vines and ivy growing all over it, and an herb garden in little plots on either side of the front door, although it’s looking a bit overgrown.  (Everyone is going “OOH!” and thinks the place is really cute.)

Narrator: …And this is where the scene ends.

🐱 Tora: …That’s when my Friends power deactivates, so the ten cats disperse and run back to town!

–

🎐 Scene 3 🎐

Narrator: It is now nighttime, and you are all deep in the Fushigi Forest, at the door of a cottage in a clearing.

(There isn’t much exploring around the exterior of the cottage, and soon the door is pushed open and the henge enter.)

Narrator: The door creaks open into a cozy, homey layout, lit with low, dripping candles placed in wall sconces and corners of the windows.  Hanging from the rafters are bunches of herbs, making the place smell earthy.  There are bookshelves lining the walls, crammed with colorful books with symbols on their spines, alongside random crystals and devices.  Propped up against the bookshelf beside the door is a broom with twiggy bristles.  And, also stacked up around the perimeter of the room are numerous empty picture frames, all different shapes and sizes but fairly large.  The picture frames have fancy scrolling frames in different designs.

Narrator: All of those details, you take in with just your first peripheral glance.  What mostly occupies your attention is the center of the room before you, where there is a wide round table.  There is a crystal ball on a stand, a big book held up on a book holder, and a BIG, FAT FROG.  This is a HEFTY frog, where, if you were to hold it, you’d need both hands, and it would be kind of spilling over your fingers (I’m pantomiming this, and everyone makes various noises in reaction).

Narrator: The frog sees you all spilling in, and says, “R-r-ribbit.” (In a low, croaky voice.)  Oh, yeah, and I have a prop for this!

(I reach behind me and place a little toy frog in the center of the table where we are all playing.)

🐱 Tora: I slowly start nudging the crystal ball off the table.

Narrator: The frog goes “RIBBIT!!” (In a distressed inflection.  Lots of us give Tora’s player a Dream because this was really funny.)

🦊 Ayame: I react quickly and push the crystal ball back in place before it falls.

(The henge are having a fun time and start exploring the place.  One henge is looking around the kitchen and pantry area for food, someone is examining the herbs hanging from the ceiling, and others are huddled around the table to more closely examine the frog and the other things there.)

🐇 Vivian: Can I play with the crystal ball?  I’m totally all over that crystal ball.  Vivian rubs his hands all over it and, (says random spiritual things about auras and energies).

Narrator: Okay lol, that’s actually helpful for you, because, while Vivian is just playing around, your Henge stat is high enough that just by touching it, you realize, oh, this is actually a real magical artifact.

🐇 Vivian: Oh!

Narrator: Yeah, you definitely get the idea that this is an actual crystal ball, however, it is dormant right now and would need to be activated before it does anything.

🐱 Tora: I… use my Animal sense to try to talk to the frog.

Narrator: Sweet, this is an interesting thing to do!  So, in our last game, there were animals that you guys talked to.  They had different little speaking quirks, but you were able to communicate very easily.  You try to communicate in the same way with this frog right now, and you strangely just can’t get any sense of communication with it.

🐱 Tora: Ohhh.

Narrator: Yeah, it’s like you can’t even get the sense of open dialog with it, and you recognize that’s strange, because you do remember talking to other animals easily.

🐱 Tora: I seeeeeee.

🦊 Ayame: (Leans in and whispers) I don’t think that’s actually a frog…….

🦊 Ayame: I sniff at the frog.

Narrator: It looks kind of annoyed.

🦊 Ayame: I… lick it.

(Everyone is like “LOL WHY”)

Narrator: Now it looks very annoyed, and croaks a low “Ribbit,” very not-amused.  …Frogs are slimy right?

(There is some discussion about frog slime and toad warts.)

Narrator: Okay well you totally have frog slime in your mouth now.

🦊 Ayame: “Uuueeaaaaawhhhhhh”

🐰 Akane: I’m sniffing around the table and also nip at the frog.

Narrator: Wh…. okay, you also have frog slime in your mouth, and also the frog jumps up in alarm with a surprised “RIBBIT!”

🐰 Akane: Oh.  Ew.

Narrator: It tastes like frog and a little bit like magic, LOL. (repeating the same joke description from earlier)

🦊 Ayame: Ayame is still crying.  She has like, those anime tears running down her face, like zig-zagging rivers.  And with her tongue hanging out, she’s saying, “That was my first kiiiiiiiss, wuahhhhh!!”

(This gives her Dreams from lots of us.)

(There is some more exploration around the cottage and eventually, I believe it is Ayame who picks up the book from the holder on the table and begins to look it over, because she loves books.)

Narrator: The frog sees you looking over the book and reacts with interest immediately.  It hops over to you and looks at the pages, then flicks its tongue out to stick to a corner of the page and turn it, and then it turns a couple more pages like that until it’s satisfied with your current page.  (This is amusing to several players.)

(A couple of characters make Henge checks and discern that this is definitely a magical spellbook, and all through the book are recipes and instructions for casting spells and making potions and things.

(Everyone goes, “COOOL!!”)

Narrator: The page that the frog was so determined to bring to your attention is a spell called “Breaking a Transformation Spell.”

(Everyone goes, “Ahh!” in understanding.)

(There is some major group effort from every henge – some of them make Adult checks to read and make sense of the ingredients and instructions, and some of them make Henge checks to understand the actual magic involved and how to apply it.  Others are running around the cottage to gather the supplies that the others read off, or are reading over shoulders to point out a word they forgot.)

Narrator: So, everyone is doing an awesome job working together to figure out this spell, and you’ve reached the last of the instructions now.  It says that you need… six teacups, placed in a circle around the target whose transformation you need to break.

(Everyone is very excited now, because, in real life, we have been sitting around the table drinking tea and hot chocolate as we enjoy our time together.  All of the players put their cups in a circle around the toy frog that was placed on the table earlier.  I took a picture!)

Narrator: And thennnn, everyone has to say “Hocus Pocus” all at the same time.

(There are gasps of excitement.)

🐇 Vivian: This is THE DUMBEST-

(Vivian is drowned out as the others count down from 3 and all say “HOCUS POCUS!!” together at the same time.)

Narrator: With that, a waterfall of deep blue glitter pours over the frog in the middle of the table.  It’s covering everything and streams over the sides of the table.

(Everyone is going, “Pretty!” over the idea of so much glitter.)

Narrator: And then – let’s say that this poor character is not sitting on the table, but standing beside it when the shimmering sparkles dissipate and clear.  You see a tall, lanky, gangly-limbed older-teenaged guy, with shaggy black hair, and cool asymmetrical clothes in black and dark blue.

(Everyone is going, “Ooh!” more and more as I keep describing him.)

Narrator: In his hair, which is really a mess, there’s actually bits of moss hanging in it.  And from what you can see of his face, because his shaggy hair is covering so much, you can see he looks, like, really tired, and – you know how anime characters will have bags under their eyes that are just like a color under their eyes?  (Everyone is nodding)  He’s got that going on.

🐇 Vivian: Holy crap I LOVE HIM

(Many other players are expressing the same idea, so I wrap up the scene quickly.)

Narrator: He looks over you all and says, in a low and gravelly voice, “Whoa… You saved me.”  And that’s the scene!

–

🎐 Scene 3.5 🎐

(Because I want the henge to be able to have a Connection with this new character going into the final scene, I let everyone make Impression Checks while we are “between scenes.”  I encourage each player to introduce themselves in some simple & quick way to appeal to this character, which will give them a point of Connection so they have another point or two of Wonder and Feelings for the final scene.)

🐱 Tora: I’m going to make a magical connection with him using my Henge stat, to communicate with him magically.

Narrator: Okay, that’s cool!!  He senses your connection and is like, “Whoa, cool!  That’s a pretty snazzy power you have.”  And, you get your Connection with him.

🐦 Ichigo: I have been a bird all this time, so I turn human to greet him.  And I ask, “Are you like us?”

Narrator: Okay, so, he’s not fazed at all by your transforming.  Normal human characters would be Surprised, but this guy seems to know exactly what’s going on with you all.  Also, he sees your human appearance, and that you also have messy hair with twigs and stuff in it, and he’s like, “Whoa, I totally dig your style, little bird!”  (This sounds funny in the low, raspy voice I’m giving him, and the players laugh at the almost surfer-dude way he talks.)

Narrator: He answers you saying, “I have some of my own powers, but I actually am human.”  (I tell the players that this character is a class from one of the game’s expansions, a Witch.  He has his own stats, list of powers, and weaknesses, just like they do.)

🐰 Akane: Akane is also human now, and she looks shyly at her feet and says, “I’m sorry I bit you…  What’s your name?”

Narrator: He goes, “Oh, that’s okay, little bun.  I get that you guys were just trying to figure things out.  My name is Thorn.”  And, you get your Connection with him (everyone is writing down his name on their Connection tables, because it was blank until now.)

🐇 Vivian: Vivian very primly composes himself, and with extreme politeness, he greets while bowing, “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, good sir.”

Narrator: He looks kinda shy at how much more well-behaved you are than him.  He’s standing there with poor posture and looking kind of drab, but he goes, “Oh… hi… it’s good to meet you, too.”  You get your Connection point.

🦊 Ayame: Ayame is kind of in awe.  She’s still remembering that this was her first kiss.  She asks him in a whisper, “Are you single?”

Narrator: Oh my god, I love that I’ve described this guy as awkward and tired and kind of gross, and all of you guys are like, “HOT!!”  (Everyone is dying laughing rn.)  But anyway, he answers kind of flustered, like “Man, I don’t know!!” and you get your Connection point.

(While everyone is writing down their Connections and taking care of other mid-scene things, I point something out.)

Narrator: So, remember earlier, when you asked “Oh what’s her name?” about the witch, and I just blanked?  That was accidental foreshadowing, because I wasn’t thinking of the witch as a girl.  So, you totally got me on that one.

🐰 Akane: What?!  Was that on purpose?!

Narrator: Nope, lol.

–

🎐 Final Scene 🎐

Narrator: It is nighttime, and everyone is gathered around in Thorn’s cottage.  Now he will answer aaaaaall of the questions you have.  I also left the ending of this open-ended.  I don’t have any concrete ending and it will be up to you guys to decide how you want this to end; whether you’ll end up going anywhere or go and do anything else…

🐇 Vivian: Oh, I know where Vivian will be at the end of this game.  He is CLINGING to Thorn.

Narrator: Thorn is EVERYONE’S goth bf.  You have to share him!

🦊 Ayame: Ayame, as a young teenage girl, is standing nervously beside him and emitting a high-pitched sound that only dogs can hear.

Narrator: You hear coyotes howling somewhere outside, LOL.

Narrator: Anyway, Thorn walks to where that twiggy broom is leaning near the door, and he picks it up and holds it, clutching it in front of him while he talks to you all.

🐦 Ichigo: “What turned you into a frog?”

Narrator: Ah, perfect!  Thorn looks kind of embarrassed, and he says, “I was picking mushrooms in the forest, and it disturbed a frog henge.  They turned me into a frog to get back at me.  That was a few days ago…”  That explains why the candles in here are burned so low.

(Some of the henge express that he’s lucky his place didn’t burn down, with those candles lit the whole time.  I explain that it’s magic!)

🐱 Tora: “Are you the reason the forest is like this?”

Narrator: Another excellent question.  He says, “Ah!  The Fushigi Forest is actually a very magically-powerful place.  The thick magic is disorienting to normal humans, and they often get lost just trying to navigate it.  The swirling mist and looping paths are actually the natural state of the forest.”

Narrator: Then, Thorn moves to the crystal ball on the table and – uh, I have to actually keep track of Wonder for this character, because this is one of his Powers!  He waves his hand over the crystal ball, and it activates, and you see a vision of the trees somewhere in the woods.  “What I do is create these little crystal charms…”  In the image in the crystal ball, you see little blue diamond shapes begin glowing.  They are strung up in the branches of the trees, like ornaments.  “These allow normal humans to make their way through the forest without getting lost.  They kind of magically light the way.  If someone enters the forest intending to walk through to the other side, the path straightens out for them.  If they want to gather herbs, they find themselves led to a patch of exactly what they are looking for.  Most mortals never even realize that it’s magic showing them the way, and the crystal charms are hidden from non-magical sight, as well.”

(The henge are nodding along and going “Ohh” in understanding.)

🐰 Akane: “What if we want to come back here and talk to you again?”

Narrator: He looks surprised for a second, like he didn’t expect you to care about seeing him.  Then, he gets an idea, and he opens a jewelry box he has on a shelf, and you see that it’s filled with those diamond crystals you saw in the crystal ball.  They are wrapped up with twine with a big loop on the end so they can hang from stuff, so you can wear them as accessories.

Narrator: He explains, “Well, same as anyone else that travels into the forest, if you have the intention of ending up somewhere in particular, you’ll find yourself led here.  But, I’ll give you guys some of these crystal charms, and then you will have that power yourselves.  If it ever happens that I’m cut off from my power and the crystals stop working again, you guys can use your own magic to power them, instead.”  Again, because he had been transformed for a few days, his crystal charms had gone dormant, so that’s why everything was all twisty.  But, now that you guys know about the charms, you can power them, too, if he’s ever unable to.  And you have your own ones!  He’s giving one to each of you.

(The henge are admiring their cool magical accessories.  Vivian never wants to take his off.)

🐱 Tora: Can I use magic to combine my charm with the bell on the collar I’m already wearing?

Narrator: Yeah that sounds awesome.

🐱 Tora: So, I kind of just magically put the glowing crystal together with the bell, and now I’ve got a cool magical glowy charm on my collar.

(The henge agree that this is very neat and Tora’s player gets many Dreams.)

🐇 Vivian: “Does that broom work?”

Narrator: He goes, “Oh yeah, check this out.”  He holds the broom horizontally and it just floats there, so he sits on it.  This is actually another Power, so I have to use Wonder… I’m not used to this!

🐇 Vivian: Vivian sees the available lap and transforms into bunny and leaps into it.

Narrator: That was your plan all along!  To get in his lap!  He holds and pets you, with proper bunny handling.

🐇 Vivian: This is heaven.

🦊 Ayame: Ayame asks if Thorn knows anything about the scary beast in the woods.

Narrator: That is another excellent prompt.  Thorn looks surprised to hear that from you, like he didn’t expect you to see anything like that at all.  Then, he explains, “If they showed themselves to you, then you all must be very special… There are two very powerful, magical beings that live in these woods, and they are the entire reason for the heavy magic that makes the place so disorienting to mortals.”

(I break from storytelling to explain for the newcomers that haven’t read through the rulebook.  In Golden Sky Stories, there are powerful NPCs called Local Gods, who are like super-henge.)

Narrator: Thorn says, “There are at least two Local Gods in the Fushigi Forest; a God of Moonlight and a God of Sunlight.  If they did show themselves to you before, I’m sure you will see them again, perhaps in the future…”

(The henge are going “Ooh,” and “Cool…”)

(Next, the henge work together to convince Thorn to come back to town with them.  He gets very shy at their insistence and clutches the handle of his broom tightly, like he wants to hide behind it.)

🐱 Tora: I’ll use the power Peek Into Hearts.  (Tora’s player reads the information of the Power for me; it reveals what a character is thinking and keeping secret.)

Narrator: Thorn is definitely hesitant to go into town because he is very different from anyone else there.  He looks weird, and he has magical abilities, which distances him from normal people.  …This is actually one of his Weaknesses.  (Checks his character sheet) – Actually, he has TWO weaknesses relevant here!  He has one Weakness called Strange, which is that he stands out among normal people and they tend to distance themselves from him.  His other Weakness is called Mysterious Person, which also makes him distant from others.  It’s a lonely combination.

(The players do many things to ease Thorn’s fears; the bunny on his lap snuggles close to comfort him, and Tora activates her Fuzzy Power again – the first time was at the end of the first game session, and it was amazing – to completely lower his defenses.  Other characters do or say encouraging things as well, and promise to stay close to him so that he doesn’t have to be afraid of being by himself.  Eventually, Thorn is convinced to go into town with them.)

Narrator: So, Thorn goes to one of the stacks of empty picture frames that are leaned up around his walls and shelves and things.  Remember those?  He rifles through them, looking for one in particular.  Finally, he finds what he’s looking for and pulls it out, and hangs it on an empty hook that’s on his wall.  The frame is nice and wide, and it’s about half the height of a full-length mirror.  Pretty sizable.

🐇 Vivian: (Gasps) Are we jumping through a painting?

Narrator: He waves his hand over the surface of the painting, much as he did when he activated the crystal ball earlier.  In the empty space of the frame, you begin to see an image forming.  Warm lights are visible first, in rows disappearing into the distance… Then, you see that those lights are candles set in windows along a street.  Arching over at the top of the image is a string of hanging paper lanterns.  You realize that, in the square image of the frame, you are gazing exactly through the same square shape of the Torii gate at the entrance of Yoyo Town.

(Everyone: Ohhh!!)

Narrator: Thorn waves for you guys to follow him, and he flies his broom through the frame.  …With the bunny on his lap, still.

(Everyone jumps through and find themselves back in town.)

Narrator: You also notice while you are here that the feeling of the woods coming from out the gate doesn’t feel so oppressive any more.

(The henge find Reo and tell him not to worry about the forest any more.)

Narrator: Reo also asks you guys, “By the way, were you in the woods, with some kind of scary fox monster…?”

(Everyone is going “Nope!” “Nooo.” “Uh-uh!”)

Narrator: Reo’s like, “Huh, weird.  Guess I was dreaming.”  He also notices the scruffy-looking dude in dark clothes who seems to be hiding behind you, and asks, “Do you, uh, need a room at the inn, or anything?”

(The henge insist that he is just fine!)

🐇 Vivian: I can imagine Thorn completely hating the idea of sleeping anywhere but in the comfort of his own room.

Narrator: Yes, exactly!

(Some closing conversations are going on, so I make sure to have Reo say just one more line.)

Narrator: “…Does the fog seem like it’s thinning to you guys?”

Narrator: And that… … … is the end!!

🕯 The Fushigi Forest – End! 🕯

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