FATHOM #1 - The Oni of Wankiboni

Yes.

And the "tour guide" is the "summoner" you were looking for. Where you went on the map determined what clues might lead you to him and what information you might have.

You ended up getting all the info on the meaty red guys, but no additional info on their leader (which would have been obtained by asking the tourists at the healers' tent or happening upon the leader as he was making his way to the boat).

It works out as a successful hunt, but I wondered if all that Lv.426 stuff seemed irrelevant or if anyone remembered Kitsu mentioning Tora and Lv.426 (which he mentioned only once).

Oh, and Rook was only mentioned in the letter, so that is the first you've heard of him. It seems Tora, who wrote the letter, expects Rook will still be on Lv.426 (and somehow alive) when help arrives, in spite of the apparent danger there.

 

((You already rolled it, actually. Attempting to use the pearl had an effect, which is why the waterfall reached out to Suny.

It was a contingency plan in case you jumped in before Wynry could cast fairy dust on you.

Basically, Suny has a temporary ability to control the ocean water more than she normally does. She doesn't really know why, and may or may not find out later.))

Suny leaps down, down, down into the water below. Oddly, the sea rushes up to catch her, halving the height of her dive.

With splashless grace, the Oceanid plunges into the column of seawater, then emerges. Poking out of the water-column the waist up, Suny remains effortlessly afloat. She is able to move the column simply by tilting. If she wants to pursue the escaping boat, it seems she is able to move faster than the meaty muscle things can row.

Einin and Wynry should be able to fly fast enough to join the chase. ((And if any other heroine jumps in, I'll have Gator the one-legged fairy dust her.

About to begin final battle. Will give a day or two for at least one player post. Feel free to shout something bold and heroic, or make a comparatively stealthy approach. Suny would be able to figure out through experimentation that she can will the sea to move her on a six-foot column above water, or she can be inconspicuously propelled underwater. Flying heroines can easily approach stealthily by flying high so the boat's canopy obscures them from the enemy's view.))

 

From their positions of stealth above the boat's canopy, Einin and Wynry can't see the strange men that are rowing, but they can hear the tour guide as Einin dives silently into position and Wynry closes in behind her...

Spoiler: what Einin and Wynry hear

A voice on the boat seems to be complaining bitterly. "I said the words to that damn ritual. Maybe I mispronounced 'Niktu,' but it's a dead language! And at least yesterday when I got six demons in one place and sixty-six in another, okay fine, I forgot to say 'hundred.' But I cough the word 'Niktu' and get no demons at all? 'Niktu' isn't even an important word! I think it means 'the!'"

There is only the sound of rowing for a moment, then the same voice speaks again. "Who needs the oni anyway? Long as the samurai are focused on the south, we can get under the palace."

As for Suny, she propels herself underwater. She can't hear the conversation on the boat, but she can see the rowers...

Spoiler: what Suny sees

The men rowing look like they are made of raw meat. The are literally all muscle and bone, but...

((...that's not the pose I was hoping for, and aside from the in-game version being hulkier, one major difference: the faces on those that Suny sees don't look very face-like, because...))

...their facial features are obscured by shreds of flesh. The "muscle men" seem to be under the "tour guide's" control. Theyremain expressionless and row dutifully as their leader talks non-stop.