#Episode 8: End of Austerity

#Scent -- Beneath the Waterfall

The mountain was full of sound. The sound of falling water. The sound of water striking rock. The sound of spray rising and becoming mist. The waterfall poured from a cleft in the mountainside and crashed into the plunge pool below. The pool's water was cold and deep. The bottom could not be seen. The shimenawa hung over the water, soaked by spray and sagging heavily. This was a sacred training ground. For hundreds of years, practitioners had immersed themselves here, chanted sutras, and tested their own limits.

Genkai stood beneath the waterfall. His white ascetic robe was soaked and clung to him. Eyes closed, both arms spread, he took the water's fall with his whole body. The water's weight pressed down on his shoulders. It was pressure an ordinary person could not stand under. He wasn't so much standing as enduring. His legs trembled. His teeth were clenched. Blood seeped from his lips. He had begun at dawn. The sun had crossed overhead. Half a day.

Enku sat on a wet rock beside the waterfall and watched Genkai. A vajra rested on his knees, and one hand counted beads. He was not counting beads. He was counting Genkai's breaths. What had been regular had become irregular. His shoulders began to droop.

"Genkai." Enku called. The waterfall swallowed the sound. Genkai did not hear. No -- he heard and did not answer. Eyes still closed, he repeated a mantra inside his mouth. Noumaku sanmanda. Bazaradan. Senda. Makaroshana. Sowataya. Untarata. Kanman. Each time the count of the mantra rose, he sank lower. The water climbed from his shoulders to his neck.

Enku stepped down to the water's edge. His feet sank into the cold water. Then a sound came from Genkai's mouth that was not mantra.

"Not yet."

One phrase. A hoarse voice. Enku stopped. He looked at Genkai's face. It wasn't a face of pain, but a face beyond pain -- the face of someone looking at something even with his eyes closed.

Genkai and Enku had trained on the same mountain. They had walked under the same master, but the roads they took were different. Enku chose the law of esoteric Buddhism. The road of reading sutras, forming mudra, and driving out false paths with a vajra. Genkai chose the road of Shugendo. The road of walking mountains, standing under waterfalls, and cutting away the self to reach a state of attainment.

"Fool." Enku muttered, then returned to the rock and sat again. Until Genkai stopped himself, no one could stop him.

The sun tilted. Another sound began to mix into the waterfall. A growl rising from under the water.

Genkai opened his eyes. Something was at the bottom of the pool. A long torso moving in the water. Scales. Teeth. Water surged upward. It had a serpent's form, fish scales, and frog eyes. It was a yoma that had settled in the sacred water, feeding on the qi of practitioners until it grew.

The yoma opened its mouth. Poison-laced water sprayed out. The water that touched rock burned the moss black. Genkai stepped back. Water came to his waist. His footing was slick.

Enku leapt down from the rock. Holding the vajra, he entered the water. It rose to his waist. Moving in water was different from moving on land. Everything was slow.

"Genkai, get out!"

Genkai did not come out. He did not retreat a single step from beneath the waterfall. Even with the yoma before his eyes. Madness. Yet Genkai's mantra had changed. It had not grown slower; it had grown deeper.

The yoma spat poison water at Genkai. Enku jumped between them. He thrust the vajra forward and cried a mantra. Light spread from its tip. The poison water struck the light and split. It was not blocked completely. Poison water splashed onto Enku's arm. But it did not reach Genkai.

"Just one more time." Genkai answered with his eyes still closed.

Enku clenched his teeth. For Genkai, battle and training were the same thing. Enku turned the vajra and brought it down on the yoma's head. Fragments flew from its scales. The yoma screamed and sank beneath the water. A shadow moved below. This had been the yoma's home ground from the beginning.

The yoma surged up again. Its tail wrapped around Enku's leg. Enku drove the vajra into the water and braced himself.

Then Genkai moved. When his closed eyes opened, there was something in them that was neither pain nor anger. Stillness. The stillness of a place reached after enduring beneath the water for half a day.

Genkai stepped forward. He walked as if he did not feel the water's resistance. He clenched a fist. This hand had endured the falling water for half a day. The skin had peeled away. That fist drove into the yoma's head. Scales split. The tail loosened. The second fist struck beneath the jaw. The yoma's form leapt upward and fell into the pool.

The yoma fled underwater. Genkai dove after it. Enku followed. Beneath the water, sparks scattered each time Genkai's fist broke scales. He was breaking scales barehanded. Blood spread from his hands through the water.

Enku stabbed the yoma's flank with the vajra. The yoma thrashed and struck Enku with its tail. He hit a rock. His back burned with pain. Genkai seized the yoma's head in both hands. Teeth sank into his arm. Blood spread. He did not let go. The sound of the yoma's neck breaking traveled through the water.

The two came up to the surface. They were covered in blood. Deep tooth marks were carved into Genkai's arm, and the skin of both hands had peeled away, exposing flesh. Enku's back was swollen dark red.

Genkai leaned against a rock and sat. Half a day of austerity, followed by underwater combat. His body had gone past its limit. Yet Genkai's face held the look of someone who had accomplished something.

Enku sat beside him. He looked at Genkai's arm. This was a wound that would take time to return from. The price of training that climbs by cutting away the self. What is cut away does not come back easily.

"Stop." Enku said. Not anger -- pain. The pain of watching someone who had walked the same mountain begin to crumble.

"Austerity is not prayer. You are using yourself as kindling. This time it was your arm. What will you burn next?"

Genkai looked down at his hands. He stared for a long while, then said,

"I saw it. Under the waterfall. The point where pain ends. If I stand there -- I can see everything. Where the yoma is. Where my fist should strike."

Enku did not answer. When Genkai's fist broke scales underwater, it had not been done by strength alone. The gaps between scales, the flow of water -- that fist had read everything.

"Even so." Enku said. "The price is too high."

"I know." Genkai looked up at the waterfall. "I will stand there again. But not like today."

Enku sat beside Genkai and looked at the waterfall. He could not say Genkai's road was wrong. But he feared the end of that road.

The sound of water filled the mountain. The two men's blood washed away into the water. The mountain accepted it. As it had for hundreds of years.

#Law -- Session Actual Play

Kuro(GM) / Hana(Yamabushi Genkai) / Mei(Enku)

Kuro: Episode 8. Combat + spiritual trial. Austerity 3 states, self-sacrifice, underwater zones, vajra. Scent/Law fully separated. Check sheets.

[PC]
Genkai (shugenja 3rd dan): Physique +2, Courage +1. Energy 12, Wounds 5(3+Physique 2).
 Austerity(1st dan): [stance] Wound expenditure → check bonus. 3 states.
 Mountain Dash(2nd dan): additional cost for mountain/rough/underwater movement -1.
 Indestructible(3rd dan): immune to defeat at Wounds 1 or less(1 time). Can act.

Enku (esoteric monk 3rd dan): Wisdom +2, Physique +1. Energy 11, Wounds 4(3+Physique 1).
 Asura Mudra(1st dan): [stance] Core Zone +1, Exorcism +2.
 Vajra(exorcism tool): staff type, standard. Core Zone ±0. Damage +1 against exorcism targets.
 Sutra Text(3rd dan): [upkeep] 1 ally Energy +2 or remove fear.

Hana: Explain the Austerity rules.

Kuro:

[Austerity — shugenja-only, stance]
1st state: Wounds -1 → check +2.
2nd state: Wounds -2 → check +4, immediate +1 Wound.
3rd state: Wounds -3 → check +6, immediate +2 Wounds, [Pierce all].
State transition: spend only the additional Wounds.

[Self-Sacrifice — Recovery Restriction]
Austerity Wound expenditure → no natural recovery at the lull. Performer Flower of the Battlefield unavailable.
Recovery: Pure Land Monk healing(Energy 2→Wounds 1) / performer Cohesion(Cohesion 1→Wounds 1).
Esoteric monk Sutra Text is Energy only, not Wounds. Immediate recovery is not applied(normal recovery).

[Underwater Zone]
Unarmed Combat+2. Staff type ±0. Blade type -1. Firearms unavailable. Movement +1. Sight -1.
Shugenja Mountain Dash → underwater movement addition 0.

[Vajra] staff type, standard. Core Zone±0. Underwater±0. Exorcism target +1 Wound.

Mei: 3rd state [Pierce all] plus self-sacrifice?

Kuro: Wounds 5→2, then immediate +2 to 4. Without Indestructible, that is the death line. The reason 3rd state unlocks at 3rd dan is because it pairs with Indestructible. It is the technique of "bet everything here and now." Let's see the battlefield.

[Zones]
Top of Waterfall: Flank Zone(shimenawa barrier). Waterside Rock: Rear Zone(Enku starts).
Beneath Waterfall: Front Zone/underwater combined(Austerity point). Plunge Pool: Core Zone/fully underwater(yoma habitat).

[Enemy] Mizuchi (underwater yoma): Physique +3, Courage +2. Energy 16, Wounds 6.
 Underwater domination+3. Poison Water(1 Wound+poison). Coil(bind). Underwater Dodge(2d10+Physique>=13).

Kuro: Scene 1. Austerity. Genkai 1st state. Wounds -1(5→4). Scene 2. Mizuchi appears.

Kuro: Count 20. Poison Water. Genkai. 2d10+2 = 15. Hit!

Mei: Enku reaction! Interpose(11→10). Vajra defense 2d10+1 = 14. Block! Poison Water deflected — poison check 10 < 13. Poison applied.

Hana: Count 18. 2nd state! Wounds -1(4→3), immediate +1(3→4). Unarmed Combat + Physique 2 + underwater 2 + Austerity 4 = +8. 2d10 = 10 +8 = 18 >= 13. Hit! Mizuchi 6→5.

Mei: Count 16. Vajra +Physique 1+Exorcism 2 = +3. 2d10 = 10 +3 = 13. Barely hits! 2 Wounds including exorcism. Mizuchi 5→3.

Kuro: Mizuchi Coil. Enku. 16 hit! Defense?

Mei: 2d10... 5, 5 +1 = 11. Double+failure = Fumble! Bind+pull. Physique contest — 2d10+Physique 1 = 16 vs Mizuchi 12. Enku wins. He braced with the vajra.

Hana: Count 14. 3rd state! Wounds -1(4→3), immediate +2(3→5). Check +6, [Pierce all]!

[Genkai 3rd State] Wound expenditure -3(self-sacrifice). Immediate +3(not applied). Current 5.
Check +6(Austerity)+2(underwater) = +8. [Pierce all]. Indestructible ready.

Hana: Unarmed Combat. [Pierce all]. 2d10+10 = 24. 1 Wound. Mizuchi 3→2. It flees!

Hana: Pursuit. Enter Core Zone with Mountain Dash(12→11). Mei: Enku too(10→8). Bind removed.

Kuro: Core Zone. Count 12. Genkai Unarmed Combat +9, [Pierce all]. 2d10 = 14 +9 = 23.

Kuro: Underwater Dodge 2d10+3 = 15 >= 13. Dodge! Mizuchi Poison Water 16 hit!

Hana: Austerity defense +7. 2d10 = 12 +7 = 19. Dodge!

Mei: Vajra +2. 2d10 = 16 +2 = 18. Underwater Dodge 2d10+3 = 10. Failure! 2 Wounds. Mizuchi 2→0. Defeated!

Kuro: Lull resolution.

[Lull]
Genkai: Wounds 5. Self-sacrifice — no natural recovery at the lull. Wounds remain 5.
Enku: poison check 2d10+1 = 15 >= 13. Removed! Wounds 4(maximum).
 Sutra Text(upkeep): Genkai Energy +2(11→12). Cannot recover Wounds.

Hana: Wounds 5, but no natural recovery. If I use Austerity next time, there is no recovery method.

Kuro: Because there is no Pure Land Monk. Episode 8's core = the weight of self-sacrifice.

Kuro: Three Ways and Six Hearts.

[Three Ways and Six Hearts — Episode 8]
Genkai: 覇(reach attainment by cutting away his own self) / temptation of 虛("what lies at the end of this road?") → maintains 覇.
Enku: 慈(protect a companion, try to stop self-destruction) / temptation of 眞("can my law save this fool?") → maintains 慈.

Hana: Genkai is 覇. Not 眞?

Kuro: Genkai's pursuit of the extreme is 覇(self-transcendence). Not 覇 that harms others, but 覇 that cuts away the self. Only the direction differs.

Mei: Enku saying "stop" was?

Kuro: An expression of 慈. The esoteric monk does not fight only yoma. Holding together the person beside you so they do not collapse is also a battle.

Kuro: Rules summary.

[Rules Confirmed in Episode 8]
1. Austerity(shugenja): [stance] Wounds -1→+2, -2→+4+immediate 1, -3→+6+immediate 2+`[Pierce all]`.
2. Self-sacrifice: Austerity Wound expenditure → no natural recovery at the lull. Only Pure Land Monk/performer can heal.
3. Immediate recovery: combat recovery during 2nd~3rd states. Self-sacrifice does not apply.
4. Indestructible(3rd dan): immune to defeat 1 time at Wounds 1 or less.
5. Underwater Zone: Unarmed Combat+2, blade type -1, staff type ±0, firearms unavailable, movement +1, sight -1.
6. Mountain Dash(2nd dan): mountain/rough/underwater movement addition -1.
7. Vajra: staff type, standard. Core Zone±0. Exorcism +1 Wound.
8. Asura Mudra: [stance] Core Zone+1, Exorcism+2.
9. Sutra Text(3rd dan): [upkeep] Energy+2 or remove fear. Cannot recover Wounds.
10. Underwater Dodge: underwater yoma-only. 2d10+Physique >= 13.
11. Bind: on Coil hit. Action -1. Escape/counterattack removes.
12. Austerity+underwater+Unarmed Combat: 3rd state+underwater = +8~10. Strongest melee.

Hana: When does Genkai appear next?

Kuro: Episode 12, Prayer in the Graveyard. He joins Kage and Renge. The meaning of self-sacrifice deepens further.

Mei: Enku?

Kuro: Episode 10, Weight of Schools. He joins Masamune and Maria. Shugendo-ryu school maneuvers appear. That's all for today.

"The waterfall did not stop. One who cut away himself and stood at attainment, and one who stood beside him and said, 'stop.' Both were roads of the mountain."