#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. Under the current rules, a shugenja's Austerity is not a sustained stance or a three-state track. It is a declaration that strengthens techniques during the shugenja's own breath. Let's update the sheets first.

[PC]
Genkai (shugenja 3rd dan): Physique +2, Courage +1. Energy 12, Wounds 5 (3+Physique 2).
 Fudo Myoo's Vow (1st dan): may use Austerity; may freely enter/leave the Core Zone. While using Austerity, attacks against yoma +1.
 Mountain Breath (3rd dan): 1 time per lull, recover 1 Wound spent on Austerity.
 Unarmed Combat trained (+1).

Enku (esoteric monk 3rd dan): Wisdom +2, Physique +1, Courage +1. Energy 11, Wounds 4 (3+Physique 1).
 Seal of Shura (1st dan): melee-technique Energy -1 in the Core Zone (minimum 1); may freely enter the Core Zone.
 Exorcism Sutra (3rd dan): 2 Energy, 1 time per round. Yoma in this and adjacent zones have Defense -2 for 1 round.
 Vajra Smite: 2 Energy, `2d10+Courage+Exorcism`, 2 Wounds against yoma.

Hana: When do I declare Austerity?

Kuro:

[Austerity — shugenja-only declaration]
Before executing the first technique of your own breath, declare Austerity N and immediately reduce Wounds by N.
Austerity 1: all checks during that breath +2.
Austerity 2: all checks during that breath +4; technique damage +1 Wound.
Austerity 3: all checks during that breath +6; technique damage +2 Wounds and [Pierce all].
You cannot declare it if doing so would reduce you below 1 Wound. The bonuses expire at the end of that breath.
Wounds spent on Austerity do not recover naturally. This Genkai can use `Mountain Breath` once per lull to restore only 1 such Wound.

[Underwater Zone]
Movement costs +1 Energy; firearms are unavailable; Unarmed Combat checks +2.
A shugenja may declare Austerity 1 underwater without spending Wounds.
If a higher Austerity is declared, it does not stack with free Austerity 1; pay the full Wounds cost of the chosen N.

[Core Zone]
A shugenja's attack-check bonus from Austerity is 1 higher in the Core Zone.
An esoteric monk's melee-technique Energy cost is reduced by 1 in the Core Zone (minimum 1).

Mei: So we do not climb from the first state to the second and pay only the difference anymore.

Kuro: Right. You declare it anew each breath, and there is no immediate recovery or Energy refund. 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 (this scene's underwater yoma): Physique +3, Courage +2. Energy 16, Wounds 6, Defense 13.
 Underwater domination+3. Poison Water(1 Wound+poison). Coil(bind). Underwater Dodge(2d10+Physique>=13).

Kuro: The half-day waterfall training remains as fatigue in the Scent section, but it does not carry an Austerity bonus or Wounds cost into combat. The mizuchi reveals itself, and the first round begins.

Mei: Enku uses Exorcism Sutra first. 2 Energy (11→9). Mizuchi Defense 13→11 for this round.

Hana: Genkai is in the underwater zone beneath the waterfall. I declare free Austerity 1. The Unarmed Combat attack is 2d10+Physique 2+Unarmed Combat 1+underwater 2+Austerity 2. The dice show 9, final 16. That hits Defense 11 for 1 Wound. Mizuchi 6→5.

Mei: Enku moves from Rear to Front for 2 Energy (9→7), then uses Vajra Smite for 2 Energy (7→5). 2d10+Courage 1+Exorcism 1; a dice result of 10 gives final 12. It hits the sutra-reduced Defense 11 for 2 Wounds against a yoma. Mizuchi 5→3.

Kuro: The mizuchi coils around Enku and drags him into the Core Zone. Enku can enter the Core Zone freely as an esoteric monk, but remains bound. Genkai follows into the Core Zone.

Hana: On the next breath, Austerity 2. It does not stack with the free Austerity 1, so I pay the full 2 Wounds: 5→3. Unarmed Combat attack: 2d10+Physique 2+Unarmed Combat 1+underwater 2+Austerity 4+Core Zone 1. The dice show 9, final 19. Hit. Base 1 Wound plus 1 from Austerity 2: Mizuchi 3→1.

Mei: In the Core Zone, Enku's Vajra Smite falls from 2 Energy to 1. He breaks the bind and strikes. Dice 10 + Courage 1 + Exorcism 1 = 12, hitting the sutra-reduced Defense 11. Two Wounds against a yoma: Mizuchi 1→0. Defeated.

Kuro: Lull resolution.

[Lull]
Genkai: Austerity 2 reduced Wounds 5→3. There is no natural recovery; `Mountain Breath` restores only 1 Wound spent on Austerity, leaving 4/5.
Enku: Exorcism Sutra is not an Energy recovery technique. When the next round begins, Energy resets to maximum under the general rules.
Free Austerity 1 underwater ended with the breath, so it must be declared again on the next breath.

Hana: I did not get all the Wounds back. I will have to calculate the next Austerity carefully.

Kuro: That is the current price of Austerity. It is strong, but the Wounds ledger remains.

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): before the first technique of the shugenja's own breath, declare N and immediately reduce Wounds by N. For that breath, N=1/2/3 gives `checks +2/+4/+6`; N=2 adds +1 damage, while N=3 adds +2 damage and `[Pierce all]`.
2. Austerity bonuses end with the breath. There is no sustained state, difference-only upgrade, immediate Wounds recovery, or Energy refund.
3. Wounds spent on Austerity do not recover naturally. `Mountain Breath` restores only 1 such Wound once per lull.
4. Underwater Zone: movement +1 Energy, firearms unavailable, Unarmed Combat +2.
5. Shugenja underwater bonus: may declare Austerity 1 without spending Wounds. It does not stack with higher Austerity.
6. Shugenja Core Zone bonus: the attack-check bonus gained from Austerity is +1 higher.
7. Vajra Smite: 2 Energy, `2d10+Courage+Exorcism`; 1 Wound against humans and 2 against yoma.
8. Seal of Shura: melee-technique Energy -1 in the Core Zone (minimum 1); may freely enter the Core Zone.
9. Exorcism Sutra (esoteric monk 3rd dan): 2 Energy, 1 time per round. Yoma in this and adjacent zones have Defense -2 for 1 round.
10. Underwater Dodge and Coil are scenario-only techniques in this mizuchi block.

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."