Yuki gave a nod and she stayed hidden with Keiji. The both of them would watch as the three readied themselves for battle.

The barbarian shouts as he runs up to something and swings in a rage. However, it appears he missed if his irritated growl was of any indication. He then grunts as he seems to have been struck. But he managed to dodge another attack. They were...a pair of vines?

The bard smirked and he pointed at the thing ahead and he calls out, "Hey! I suggest that you travel east and do not stop!" One could see an aura appear around him as he makes this suggestion. At first the creature shines with the same aura, before it shatters. The bard lost his smirk, before he looked to the barbarian and called "Hang in there! You've got this thing on the ropes!"

The bard then looks to the tiefling and he asks "Maybe some good ol' fire can help us out, ey Akuma?" Akuma shook his head and answered "That's a Shambling Mound, you fool! Fire and Ice won't help, and Lightning will only heal it. But there is something else I can do,"

He then pulls out his spellbook and he chants an incantation. With a magic aura appearing around him, daggers suddenly appeared in midair near the creature and started swarming and flying in that space.

Keiji raised an eyebrow in confusion as he watched the barbarian charge the treeline and begin hacking away at it like a deranged woodcutter. Keiji's other eyebrow raised to join the first when he saw the reason the barbarian had done so materialize from the trees and begin smacking the half-orc around.

Keiji watched as the bard strummed a few notes on his shamisen and attempt to send the monster packing with a Suggestion spell. However, the bard's spell didn't seem to stick. Keiji couldn't help but wonder if the monster could even be affected by Suggestion. It didn't look like the sort of thing that understood Common, or any language for that matter, which was a requirement for being affected by Suggestion. Keiji shrugged after a moment. Either way, the bard had wasted a spell.

When the bard mentioned to the tiefling, a wizard who was apparently called Akuma, that a fire spell would probably be useful, all present were treated to a lecture on how the monster, apparently called a Shambling Mound, was resistant to fire and ice, and was actually healed by lightning.

As the wizard summoned a Cloud of Daggers over the Shambling Mound, Keiji wracked his brain for any other useful information on the monster. When his efforts bore no fruit, Keiji leaned over to consult with Yuki. "Know any more about this thing than the wizard does?" Keiji asked.

Yuki stares at the shambling mound for the longest time, as though she was trying to figure out an answer to Keiji's question. Soon enough, Yuki's best response to his question was, "It very wriggly!" Clearly Yuki was not an expert like the Wizard is. At least she tried to give an answer that the Wizard had not already given the group, and by extension, to the both of them. But it was still an obvious answer...

The fight raged on in front of Keiji and Yuki. The Barbarian laughed as he was able to cut a significant part of the Shambling Mound down. However, it managed to slam right into a very vulnerable part of his body. After another hit, in the stomach, the Barbarian was knocked down. It seemed like he was defeated, but he managed to get himself back up, and right on time too! The Shambling Mound had moved forwards and was about to ensnare and engulf the Barbarian. The half-orc however, wasn't too pleased with that idea and he roared "HEY! GET OFFA ME!" as he managed to pull away from the tendrils.

The bard shouted to the shambling mound, "Hey you! I've seen thornier rose bushes than you!" The insult seemed to work...somehow, and the shambling mound somewhat recoiled from the insult. The bard then called to his barbarian friend, "Hang in there Ryuji! Show him what you've got!" The barbarian grinned as he could feel his wounds close.

The Wizard remains still, clearly focused on his spell.

"It is very wriggly isn't it?" Keiji said with a nod of agreement. He had a feeling he wouldn't get much from her, but it was worth a try. Keiji turned back to the trio as the next round began. This time the Barbarian, or Ryuji as he was referred to by the bard, managed to score a hit on the Shambling Mound. While it was a good hit, made even better by the accompanying Cloud of Daggers, the two hits the Mound sent back made the damage is received look like a mere scratch. Had it not been for the Relentless Endurance granted to the Barbarian by his orcish blood, that would have been it for the first of the trio. That almost didn't even matter though, as it seemed that the Mound was more than content to eat its victims alive. It seemed Ryuji wasn't done just yet though. He still had the strength necessary to free himself from the creature's grasp.

The Bard acted next, hurling a psychically charged insult at the Shambling Mound and sending a Healing Word Ryuji's way to help get the Barbarian back on his feet. His actions were negligible, the Mound recoiled only somewhat from the attack and only the smallest of the Barbarian's injuries were healed. Meanwhile, Akuma remained where he was and performed no further action, opting instead to concentrate on his spell.

As the battle continued, Keiji reclined against a nearby tree as he watched. The Shambling Mound was soundly thrashing the trio, so it seemed to Keiji that, unless they had the sense to try running, they wouldn't be the convenient lead straight to Princess Tsukiko that he had hoped they would be. Still at least Keiji was getting some free entertainment. While the fight went on, Keiji looked over at Yuki. "You know you can drop the act, right?" Keiji asked "I already know you're just pretending, the Mound won't care, and the three soon to be dead men fighting it won't really be able to do much about it if they find out before the end, so no one would fault you for taking a break while no one you wouldn't want finding out about your facade is around".

After Keiji makes that comment, Yuki stares at him before making another nonsensical comment, "Ooh! I just saw the Hare of Piroko!"
After looking into her eyes, Keiji would come to realize that while he might not know Yuki, or what her situation is, he does know now that she's not faking the insanity. So then...what was that voice from before?

His thoughts would be interrupted by another shout from the Barbarian as he lunged and slashed through the shambling mound. Unfortunately the thing struck back and it seemed to started to wrap itself around the half-orc. The bard called out to Ryuji "Ryuji! Get back up! Don't you dare die on us!" Thanks to those words, the Barbarian woke up, but he struggled against the Shambling Mound and couldn't break free from it. The bard then turned his attention to the mound and shouted "HEY UGLY! GET OFFA HIM!" Unfortunately, it didn't work.

The bard grit his teeth and he asked the wizard, "Isn't there anything else you can do, Akuma?!" He shook his head as he answered "No. My other spells are elemental based. They're not going to work on this thing," The bard swore at the shambling mound.

Keiji raised an eyebrow at Yuki's statement about the Hare of Piroko and the look in her eyes. Judging from what he could see, Yuki genuinely wasn't faking her madness. But then who was talking to him after he ate that daikon at the Daimyo's estate? Was Keiji going mad too? He certainly hoped that wasn't the case. His thoughts were interrupted however by the fight between the trio and the Shambling Mound entering its next round.

As he watched Ryuji charge the Mound once again and bury his axe into it while the Cloud of Daggers continued to slash away at the plant monster, Keiji wondered why they hadn't decided to run away yet. They were clearly outmatched. Didn't they realize that they'd die if they stayed? Case in point, the Shambling Mound responded to Ryuji's continued assault by knocking the half-orc down and engulfing him into its body for consumption. All the bard was doing now was prolonging his friend's now inevitable end and hurling ineffectual insults. Akuma was probably the only one doing anything actually useful by maintaining the Cloud of Daggers.

There was another lull in hostilities as the combatants each looked for an opening through which to strike, allowing Keiji a little more time to think about Yuki. If she was truly mad then who did that calmer voice that spoke in his mind belong to? And why did it sound like Yuki's voice if she wasn't the one talking? All he knew was that he heard the voice when eating that daikon Yuki had offered him. "Hey Yuki" Keiji said to the old halfling "Got anymore daikon? I'm starting to feel a little hungry".

Yuki blinked at his request, and she answered him as she pulled out a daikon from her bag, "Does the Hare of Piroko fly?" Keiji can guess that the answer is supposed to be 'yes' from the appearance of the daikon from her bag. She then waddles over to him, and starts poking the daikon on his mouth, like a momma bird trying to feed the baby bird.

Meanwhile, the three adventurers take an opportunity and run, with Ryuji able to break free from the Shambling Mound and follow after them. The Shambling Mound tried to follow, but alas, it wouldn't be able to keep up with the adventurers. Instead it received more damage from the daggers that were flying around it. The movement allowed the Shambling Mound to get out of the daggers' area.

As his halfling companion produced another daikon from her bag and spouted some more nonsense about the Hare of Piroko to affirmatively answer the question, Keiji opened his mouth and took a bite out of the daikon. "Arigato" Keiji said as he took the rest of the daikon. "So" Keiji said to the daikon "If you're not Yuki, then who are you and why do you sound like her?".

As he spoke Keiji noticed the trio finally fleeing from the Shambling Mound. It seemed that they had some sense in them after all. And judging by the fact that the Mound could only cover 20 feet in the time it took the trio to run 30, Keiji had a feeling they'd get away safely. Seeing that they were fleeing to the left, Keiji followed them as quickly and as stealthily as he could.

As Keiji ate the daikon and asked his question, there was only silence. Yuki only tilted her head questioningly in response to his question. Keiji has heard tales of possession and it certainly seems like Yuki could be possessed. But...some things about this are different than just being possessed by some ghost or spirit. For example, Yuki seems to be...well, as lucid and proactive in her own life as much as she could be at her old age. Whatever is possessing her is not controlling her against her will. And it doesn't seem like she's aware of any foreign entities in her body.

Keiji gets the sense that maybe what he needs isn't magical knowledge...but knowledge when it comes to religion.

After enough silence has passed, Keiji attempts to follow the hardy trio of adventurers with Yuki following behind him...

((Roll me a stealth please.))

When his question was met with silence and the Yuki looking at him like he was crazier than her, Keiji felt a little silly. He quickly shook off this feeling though. If no answers were forthcoming from the voice, then perhaps he could recall something helpful. Figuring that magic was at the root of this, Keiji began digging up any pertinent scrap of arcana and magical lore he'd picked up over the years. Keiji recalled hearing some bards singing of ghosts and spirits able to take possession of mortal bodies and control them as if they were their own. And what's more, the descriptions of the possessed people in the songs would align pretty closely to a description of Yuki. But there were differences with Yuki. And it seemed to Keiji that the old woman was in as much control of herself as she could be with her age and mental state. If there was something possessing her, it wasn't forcing her to do anything and she wasn't aware of its presence. Keiji then remembered that the stories involving possessions the bards had told all had strong religious themes. With that in mind, Keiji wracked his brain for all that he knew of religion as he followed the trio as stealthily as he could, keeping a minimum of 50 feet and a maximum of 60 between himself and the trio at all times.