Doji-san nods and steps forwards carefully. He squats down near the circle, keeping his distance from the spilled blood, and reaches a hand out towards the candles. An inch or so from them he stops, with a puzzled expression flitting across his face. His hand moves left and right, up and down, but no closer to the candles themselves.<br/><br/>‘You won't even hurt it. Fools.” the bandit snarls, pointing at the old man. ‘Would you believe that he is only as old as I am?” He turns to you, and smiles. “He’s been aging since dusk. Since he called that ... thing.<br/><br/>“You want to know about the Oni? I was here when he cast that circle. Just after the three men came to visit him this afternoon.” He shrugs, ‘What matters is that he gave his name to it. Do you know what that does to you?”<br/><br/>After a pause, he continues. ‘I few days ago - three, maybe four - some of our men attacked a caravan. What they brought back was rich. Money, silks, and some crates of things for the festival. Costumes, mostly, and masks. Really expensive masks. So my boss, Chizaro,” he indicates the man chanting in the circle, “sold the things to three of his best buyers: a Crane, a Unicorn and a Crab.”<br/><br/>“Then, today, some men came to visit Chizaro. Said they knew about the caravan. They wanted the masks. Just one box. One specific box. Out of ten boxes of porcelain masks, they just wanted one. Nothing else. I don’t know why, but they were serious about it. When we didn’t have them, they shut themselves in here with Chizaro and stayed a long time. They looked like normal guys - one of them was really big, not muscular, just heavy.” He spits on the ground, and continues, "Then I saw their wrists. One of them had a big, black moon, branded right here.” He lifts his arm and points at his inner wrist.<br/><br/>“Moon Cultists - worshippers of Lord Moon. You don’t mess with their kind. Things get ugly real fast, when you’re dealing with the kind of people who want to put out the Sun herself.” He looks around uneasily,<br/><br/>“Chizaro said they were going to kill him. He had to get the masks back, and soon. But there was no way we could do it. Not in one night. That was when he used the spell ...”<br/><br/>((Anyone with Shukenja Lore or Shadowlands Lore can give me a roll here))