#Chapter 5 Act 1 — Reaching the Door

Contents

1 session. Enter the Avici wasteland. Meet the soul of a previous drifter. Face the nameless door for the first time. State the 3-branch choice.

Core references

- Required: Three Ways and Six Hearts

- Reference: Exorcism

- In this supplement: Buddhist 8 Great Hells Guide · Chapter Overview

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#Act 1 Summary

Entry into Avici Hell. After passing through Reviving, Black Rope, Screaming Hell, and Shonetsu, the PCs now enter the last hell, Avici(無間). This chapter is not exploration, but pilgrimage. There is no enemy to fight. There is no one from whom to receive an answer. There is only walking, hearing, and seeing.

At the end of Act 1, the PCs face the nameless door. This encounter is not combat. The door does not open, and cannot be opened. The remaining 3 acts of this chapter are the process of deciding how to pass through this door, or whether not to pass through it.

Act 1 final question (posed to the PCs before the door): "What will you send back, and what will you leave behind?"

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#Scene Structure — Act 1 Timeline

Total: about 4 hours of pure play (expected 4~5 hours in a standard session).

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#Scene 1.1 — Departing the Domain

#Location

The central plaza of Kagamiyama Domain. Early dawn. Mist lies over the ground, and the Barrier shines faintly today (Barrier HP 15~20).

#Participating NPCs

• Hoshino Gensho (weakening 7~9) — Sitting at the shrine entrance. He cannot stand.
• Kamijo Akihisa — Formal armor. At the opening of the chapter, this is the first time he appears fully armed.
• The eldest of the 6 retainers (a retainer due to retire) — Takes the central role in defending the domain.
• 3~5 resident representatives — They see the PCs off. They say nothing.

#Read-Aloud Introduction

"Dawn has not broken. The ash of Chapter 4 still mingles with the domain air, and a resident's cough sometimes reaches you from the edge of the village. In the center of the plaza stand all of you, prepared to set out. Before you is Lord Akihisa. Behind you, at the shrine entrance, sits old Gensho. The Barrier looks especially weak today. Gensho's breathing, too, has thinned until it seems to match the Barrier's own breath."

#Akihisa's Farewell

Akihisa makes a formal declaration of departure. It is brief. But he is not the boy from Chapter 4.

"Today, you go to Avici. We already know what is there. There is a door. That door is the root of our land."

"...Today I ask five things of you."

"First, come back alive."

"Second, see what is there. Tell me what you hear."

"Third, even if you cannot find the answer today, promise me there will be a next time."

"Fourth... do not send too much back to old Gensho. He has already given enough."

"Fifth..."

(A long silence.)

"...Go well, and return."

#Gensho's One Sentence

After several breaths, Gensho speaks only one sentence in a thin voice.

"...Avici has only one door. Do not stand too long before it. If you stand there... the door opens in your place."

(This sentence remains as an echo throughout Act 1. Its meaning becomes clear in Act 3.)

#Departure Rite — Choice Check

Just before departure, Akihisa pours tea from a teapot for the PCs. One cup each. Each PC may choose whether to drink the tea or leave it.

• PC who drinks: In Act 3, gains a +2 bonus from "memory that does not forget the domain" (on Return Ending checks).
• PC who leaves it: This tea is promised for the remaining domain residents to drink together after the PCs return. In Act 3, gains a +2 bonus from "root that remains in the Spirit Realm" (on Settlement or Transformation Ending checks).

Neither choice is wrong. This scene reveals what each PC prioritizes in this moment.

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#Scene 1.2 — Crossing the Shonetsu Border

#Location

The edge of Scorching Heat Hell. The ash field already crossed in Chapter 4. Now the ash has cooled, leaving only gray powder.

#Read-Aloud Introduction

"The ash has cooled. All that remains where the flames of Chapter 4 passed is gray powder. This powder does not move even in the wind. Footprints remain exactly as they are, so you could follow the path of someone who went ahead. — But there is no trace of anyone who went ahead of you."

#Check

Perception check, Target Number 10 — Sense the strangeness of the ash field. On a success, the GM gives this hint:

"This ash did not cool — it refused to cool. The heat is gone, but only the memory that heat once existed remains. Avici is near."

#Encounter — None

There is no hostile encounter in this scene. Present the quiet at Avici's border. Contrast it with earlier chapters.

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#Scene 1.3 — Entering the Avici Wasteland

#Location

Avici Hell. An endless gray wasteland. There is no sun and no moon. The sky hangs overhead like wet gray cloth. No horizon is visible. Visibility is about 100 steps.

#New Rule — "Avici Silence Check"

In Avici Hell, all voices are half-unheard. Wind, footsteps, breathing — all are reduced by about 40%. Even a shout cannot be heard beyond 3 steps.

Check: When entering Avici, all PCs make a Wisdom check, Target Number 11.

• Success: Adapt to the silence. Conversation is possible (voices remain weak, but communication works).
• Failure: silence contamination begins. As time passes, the PC feels as if they are forgetting even their own name. Throughout Act 1, they take a -1 check penalty. If it accumulates, it worsens into the "name loss" state (recoverable after Act 2, and decisive in Act 3 when facing the sealing stone).

Retry: A PC may retry after at least 3 steps of meditation (10 minutes seated).

#Avici's Operating Principles — Description for the GM

The GM tells the players:

"Avici Hell is not a hell of pain. Avici is a hell with no interval. There is no punishment, no reward, no beginning, and no end. There is only what continues."

"Time does not pass here. You walk. Even as you walk, the scenery does not change. But when you look back, you cannot see where you started. Avici erases the path by which you came."

#Landscape Details

• Sky: Gray. No clouds. There is no direction to the light, so shadows rarely form.
• Ground: Dry earth. No grass, and few stones. Sometimes a buried nameless stele appears — a small stone pillar whose letters have been erased.
• Sound: Almost none. Occasionally there is "a wind like someone's breath" — in truth, not wind, but the remnant breath of those who passed here before.
• Smell: There is no smell. Odorless. This is the most uncomfortable thing.

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#Scene 1.4 — Wasteland Encounter A: Soldier of Avici

#Encounter Trigger

After 1 hour of walking through the wasteland, a small human shape appears on the horizon. It does not move. Yet the closer the PCs approach, the farther away it becomes (Avici's spatial distortion). If the PCs do not strain to "get closer" and simply keep approaching, they reach it at some moment.

#Soldier of Avici — Yoma Bestiary

See the Soldier of Avici entry in Yoma Bestiary 14-06.

Summary:

• 6-dan yoma. Its appearance is a male warrior in Japanese armor. Its face is blurred — eyes, nose, and mouth are smeared.
• One who lost his name. A past drifter, or a warrior from the distant past.
• It is not hostile. Negotiation and non-negotiation are both possible.

#Encounter Flow

The Soldier of Avici walks slowly toward the PCs. It does not raise a weapon. It stops 3 steps away.

The soldier opens its mouth. But no sound comes out. Only the mouth moves.

Check: Negotiation check, Target Number 11, Exorcism check, Target Number 11, or Perception or Sorcery check, Target Number 10 (shugenja/onmyoji only).

• Success: Read one word from the movement of the soldier's mouth. The word differs for each PC (the GM assigns an immediate core emotional keyword for that PC — "regret," "longing," "fear," "love," and so on).
• Failure: The PC cannot read the word. The soldier bows its head, turns away, and disappears into the wasteland.

#Choices

What can the PCs do to the soldier?

• If they aim a weapon: The soldier does not move. If cut, it is cut. There is no blood. The soldier falls, and a small stele grows in that place (a nameless stele). This is not combat, but massacre. It affects the PC's Three Ways and Six Hearts (moving away from 慈, drawing closer to 魔).
• If they speak to it: The soldier cannot answer. But it can nod or shake its head. Simple yes/no conversation is possible.
• If they simply pass by: The soldier turns away and disappears into the wasteland. No PC check changes. This is Avici's natural passage.

#Hidden Reward

If a PC tries to find out the soldier's name (Scholar/Sorcery/Exorcism 3 or higher):

• Target number 15. On a success, the PC intuitively knows who the soldier was. (The GM assigns the name of a past drifter — connect it to the name revealed in the Soul of a Previous Drifter scene.)
• This intuition becomes a "name recovery" item usable once in the Act 4 ending. It plays a decisive role in the Transformation Ending.

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#Scene 1.5 — Soul of a Previous Drifter

#Location

A central point in the wasteland. A small clearing. In the center are the remains of an old shrine — one collapsed torii, one broken stone lantern. This is part of the remains of the mirror city found in Chapter 4.

#NPC

Saigo Yukimichi (西郷 幸道) — A previous drifter. The lord of another domain that fell here 80 years ago. He has long been dead, but remains in Avici as a "fragment of consciousness." This is the result of one who chose the Transformation Ending. (For details, see Chapter 5 NPCs — Beings of Avici.)

#Read-Aloud Introduction

"A man sits in the shadow of the torii. A white long robe, extremely old. His back is bent, and his face tilts to one side. He does not raise his head. But he knows that you have come."

#Saigo's Dialogue

Saigo is one transformed by Avici — his voice is weak, but it can be heard (because he is a being who crosses Avici's silence).

"You have come. ...Guests, after 80 years."

"A few came here. None of them returned. I was the last, and the last before the last... I have forgotten the name."

Things the PCs can ask (Q&A):

Q: Who are you?

"I am Saigo Yukimichi. I was once the lord of a small domain in Ise Province. In Eiroku 10 (1567), our domain fell. ...There were 80 of us then. Now there are none. None at all."

Q: What is this place?

"This is Avici. The wasteland before the door. The door lies beyond."

(He lifts his hand faintly. He points in the same direction.)

Q: What is the door?

"The door is the sealing stone. That is the only name I know. More than that... cannot be known without opening it."

Q: What happened to you?

"We chose one of three. I chose Transformation, and my lord chose Settlement. Some of us chose Return. They... returned. But the price the returnees sent back was heavy."

Q: What should we do?

"...If I knew that, I would not be sitting here."

(A long silence.)

"Only one thing. Do not stand too long before the door. The door opens on its own for those who stand before it. An opened door demands a price. That price is — things you do not know."

Q: What is the difference between the three endings?

"Return is for the domain. Settlement is for the living. Transformation is... for the story."

"I chose the story. And I have been here for 80 years. That is the cost of the choice... and the gift of the choice."

#Saigo's Gift

Near the end of the conversation, Saigo takes a small mirror shard from his robe and hands it to one PC. (The PC must voluntarily say they will accept it.)

• Item: "Saigo's mirror shard" (consumable item, 1-use).
• Effect: Use when facing the sealing stone in Act 3. When used, reveal the sealing stone's true name 1 time. Gain a +5 bonus to the resealing rite.

If no one accepts it, Saigo returns the mirror shard to his robe. He is not offended.

#Saigo's Last Words

"Go on. It is your turn. I... will wait here. Whichever way it goes, may your choice lighten the burden of mine."

"I have been here too long. ...I am a little tired."

When the PCs look back, Saigo is gone. Only the torii remains.

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#Scene 1.6 — Facing the Nameless Door

#Location

The end of the wasteland. The ground slopes down very slightly, and at the bottom of that slope stands the nameless door.

#Description of the Nameless Door

"It is a door. But to call it a door — most of the door is missing."

"What remains are two pieces of frame. A left pillar and a right pillar. There is no door panel where one should be. There is no threshold below. The lintel above (上引枋) is... ambiguous, present or not present. Depending on the angle, it seems to be there, or seems not to be there."

"Two stone pillars. Each is a little taller than an adult man. Their surfaces are smooth, but up close — there are only traces where letters were carved. There are no letters. Only traces of letters."

"You cannot see behind the door. No air passes between the pillars. Yet when you stand between them — it feels as if the ground beneath your feet is gone."

#3-Branch Visions

When the PCs stand before the door, visions appear to all PCs. Each vision differs by PC, but in every vision, three paths appear.

The GM builds a vision for each PC on the spot (about 1~2 minutes each):

Vision 1 — Path of Return (white path): A scene of returning to the domain. The residents rejoice. But Gensho is already gone, and there is shadow on Akihisa's face. One eye is closed.

Vision 2 — Path of Settlement (golden path): A view of the Spirit Realm domain. The residents live there. But the landscape is not Japan. Akihisa has grown further, but human warmth is faint in him.

Vision 3 — Path of Transformation (purple path): The PC themselves standing in this wasteland. They sit beside the torii like Saigo. The domain has returned to the core world. Only the PC remains.

#Official Presentation of the 3-Branch Question

After the visions end, the door silently throws a question to the PCs. This question is not a voice. It enters directly into the PCs' heads as a tremor in the air.

"What will you send back, and what will you leave behind?"

The PCs cannot answer in this moment. They are not ready to answer. The GM does not demand an answer. Instead, make the PCs recognize that the question has entered them.

#Door Operation — Do Not Open It Yet

If a PC tries to open the door:

• Requires an Wisdom check, Target Number 20 or higher. In Act 1, this is nearly impossible.
• If a PC forcibly attempts it, the door "opens too early," and all PCs suffer a -2 check penalty (permanent) — Avici contamination. This cannot be recovered.

The GM clearly warns the players: "This door is not something you can open yet." If the players force it anyway, apply the penalty above, but only after the warning.

#Gensho's One Sentence — Auditory Hallucination

While standing before the door, each PC hears Gensho's voice faintly in their ear (distant resonance from the domain):

"...too long before the door..."

Hearing that one sentence, the PCs naturally step back from the door. This step back is the closing action of Act 1.

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#Scene 1.7 — Domain Council After Return

#Location

Kagamiyama Domain. Near sunset. The PCs have returned to the domain. Gensho sits to one side of the plaza, and Akihisa waits in the center. Resident representatives stand nearby.

#Council Structure

Akihisa presides over an official council. Its contents include:

1. Act 1 report: What the PCs saw. Especially the door and Saigo's existence. The residents are not shocked — they had already expected it.
2. Statement of the 3-branch choices: Akihisa officially presents the three endings to the PCs.
3. Assignment of Act 2 tasks: Tasks needed to prepare each ending are divided among the PCs.

#Akihisa's Explanation of the 3 Branches

"...You saw the door. Together with old Gensho, I had already guessed what that door was. It was beneath our land. It is the reason we fell, and the only road by which we may return."

"I heard there are three paths."

"First — Return. All of us return to the land of the core world. We seal the door again. The domain lives, and old Gensho... dies. The sealing requires a 10th-dan Renown Title."

"Second — Settlement. We remain here. We make a pact with the Spirit Realm, and plant the domain in new soil. I... change my name. I lose my qualification as human, and remain only as lord. Some of the residents will not be able to follow."

"Third — Transformation. Some of you become things of the Spirit Realm. The domain returns, but in exchange, you remain in the Spirit Realm. ...It means you become beings like Saigo."

(A long silence.)

"...My will is my will. I ask for yours. I am not asking you to answer now. Starting tomorrow, each of you has work you must do. Find your answer while doing that work. You do not all need to give the same answer. One may choose Return, and one may choose Transformation. But — give me the answer within this week."

#Official Assignment of Act 2 Tasks

Akihisa divides tasks among the PCs. Each task is performed in Act 2. The tasks connect directly to the endings (one task may also be shared by several endings).

Task A — Help Gensho Prepare

• Who: onmyoji or shugenja PC, or a PC with a deep personal bond to Gensho
• Content: Learn the ritual procedures so Gensho can prepare his Renown Title declaration. This also covers preparations if Gensho exits naturally.
• Ending impact: Required for the Return Ending.

Task B — Resident Delegation

• Who: Negotiation or Command PC
• Content: Appoint a proxy lord and resident representatives. In the Settlement Ending, persuade residents regarding the Spirit Realm pact.
• Ending impact: Required for the Settlement Ending.

Task C — Settle the Romance Ending

• Who: PC currently in a romance arc
• Content: Final conversation with the partner. Clarify how the relationship changes by ending.
• Ending impact: +1 to ending choice (varies by the partner's origin).

Task D — Prepare to Face the Sealing Stone

• Who: combat-specialized PC
• Content: Prepare for battle with the sealing-stone guardian in Act 3. Final check of weapons, armor, and consumables. Hidden arms (武具) can be unearthed from the domain armory.
• Ending impact: Needed for all endings. Especially Return and Transformation.

Task E — Leave Records

• Who: scholar PC or volunteer record keeper
• Content: Record the domain's history, the circumstances of the drift, and the PCs' deeds. Testimony for the next drifters, like Saigo.
• Ending impact: Especially effective for the Transformation Ending (a transformed PC becomes part of the record).

#Gensho's Last Advice

At the end of the council, Gensho speaks without standing.

"...On all three paths, someone remains. Deciding who that remaining person is... is the work of this chapter."

"May not everyone remain. May not everyone go. One or two remain, and one or two go — that is the balance of the story."

#End of Act 1

After the council, each PC disperses with their own task. Act 2 begins. The GM may end the session here, or continue into the first scene of Act 2.

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#Act 1 Check Summary

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#Act 1 Rewards and Progress State

#Obtainable Items

• Saigo's mirror shard (on successful negotiation): +5 when facing the sealing stone in Act 3.
• Name recovery item (on successful soldier name intuition): Use 1 time in the Act 4 Transformation Ending.
• Teapot tea memory (if drunk at departure): Return Ending +2.
• Promised teapot memory (if left at departure): Settlement or Transformation Ending +2.

#Accumulated State

• Silence contamination: 0~3 stages per PC (at 3, enters the name loss state).
• Accumulated Avici stay time: about 8~10 hours. In Act 2, recover in the domain.
• Gensho weakening: +0~+1 during Act 1 (no major burden).
• Barrier HP: -1~-3 during Act 1 (natural decrease).

#Pacing Adjustment Guide

Scenes the GM may omit if the session runs long:

• Scene 1.2 Crossing the Shonetsu Border (brief description only)
• Scene 1.4 Wasteland Encounter A (integrate the Soldier of Avici into Scene 1.3)

Scenes that cannot be omitted:

• Scene 1.5 Saigo's Soul (needed for Act 2 preparation)
• Scene 1.6 Facing the Door (foundation for the 3-branch choices)
• Scene 1.7 Domain Council (assignment of Act 2 tasks)

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#Act 1 GM Operating Principles

#Principle 1 — Preserve Avici's "Absence"

Avici is the hell of what is not there. Landscape, sound, smell, enemies — everything that should be there is absent. The GM's temptation will be to "put something more in." Do not. Make the players feel uncomfortable with absence. That is Avici.

#Principle 2 — Saigo is not an advisor

Saigo is not a kind information provider. He is a tired witness. His dialogue should carry fatigue. Even if the players ask many questions, Saigo answers concisely. What he does not know, he says he does not know.

#Principle 3 — The Door is not a door

The nameless door is not an ordinary door. It does not open and close; it is a boundary that has passage and non-passage. If a player asks, "Can't we just pass through?", the GM answers only: "You cannot pass through what you cannot pass through."

#Principle 4 — Equality of the 3 Branches

None of the three endings is the "correct answer." The GM should not implicitly steer toward any one ending. Respect whichever ending the players prefer. However, if its conditions are not met, that ending closes.

#Principle 5 — The Emotion of Act 1

The emotion of Act 1 is "zero gravity." Neither hope nor despair, but floating. This floating state turning into "resolve" in Act 2 is the emotional curve of this chapter. Do not rush resolve in Act 1.

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#Linked Documents

• Chapter Overview
• Act 2 — preparation for each branch
• Act 3 — climax
• NPC — Saigo Yukimichi details
• Yoma Bestiary — Soldier of Avici
• Ending Resolution — 3-branch condition check table

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"The door is not a door. The door is where your hearts stand." — Saigo Yukimichi, final line of Act 1.