Scenario:Koku - Qilin, Instrument of War

Qilin, Instrument of War

Koku, failing to regain their true power, opens up to the others. In doing so, the child discovers a new source of resolve and tries the ritual again, using their own body as a sacrifice. Suddenly, the stone in (Captain)'s hand begins to glow, and the crew witnesses the moment of Qilin's defeat at the hands of Huanglong.

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At the shrine, Koku continues the ritual, hoping to reclaim their true power and destroy the skies.

Koku: O powers dark and true, once usurped from our very being, we beseech your return!

Vyrn: Koku, you gotta stop!

Just as the crew ready themselves to leap at the chanting child, the ominous aura begins to dissipate.

Lyria: Huh?

Koku: Grr... Failed again...

Vyrn: Again? You were expectin' to fail?

Koku: O-of course we were! These results were well within the great Koku's predictions!

Vyrn: Then why go through the trouble in the first place? You had us panickin'.

Koku: What choice do we have...

Koku: How would you feel if a gold-maned buffoon had stolen your powers? The ones you had spent hundreds of years cultivating, all absorbed back into their original vessel?

Koku: You see, these childish rituals are the only way to access our former glory.

Vyrn: Doesn't seem like they're really cuttin' it though...

Koku: Sigh... Fine. We admit our failure.

Koku: (Perhaps we've taken too long? We have spent decades—nay, centuries—performing these rites.)

Young Shushuku: I don't care about being a Cardinal Saint! I could keep at it for a century and nothing would change!

Qilin: (Nothing... would change. We, too... cannot change...)

Koku: (Ugh, why must we recall such a pathetic moment?)

Koku attempts to shake off the memory and regain composure.

Koku: No, we mustn't let such setbacks be the reason we abandon our duty.

Koku: We aren't like you inferior beings; we were born and configured with a singular purpose in mind.

Lyria: Koku, you make it sound like you're a primal.

Koku: You deign compare us with those simplistic beasts?

Koku: Before we assumed this form, we were Qilin—a resplendent instrument of war, born to bring death to the skies.

Koku: But now we find ourselves bereft of purpose... and unable to fulfill our mission.

Koku: Argh, curses! You lowly skylings always find a way to distract me with your nonsense!

Koku: We shall succeed if it's the last thing we do! We just need the requisite fervor!

Bag in hand, Koku frantically retrieves a dagger and thrusts the blade into their own thigh.

Lyria: Eek! Koku!

Koku: Your crew, the villagers, even Shushuku—so vexing, the lot of you!

Shushuku is a crew member

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Lyria: Did you say Shushuku?

Koku: You all ruin everything!

The fiendish child slaps Lyria's hand away, but the motion causes Koku to double over in pain.

Vyrn: Oh no, Koku!

Koku: Ngh... We are the great Koku!

Koku: The exalted weapon, unique in our purpose, made from primals uncountable!

Koku: What are a hundred setbacks—a thousand failures, even—to such a resplendent being!

Koku: Despite the impossibility or the improbability or, or... the implication... We shall not stop!

Facing the altar, Koku raises their hands to the sky. Moments later, a light begins to shine from (Captain)'s pocket, and a fierce wind whips across the ruins.

Lyria: Oh no, that can't be good!

Vyrn: Ngh, (Captain), that light is coming from the thing you took from the altar!

The captain checks and, sure enough, finds the stone gleaming brightly.

Koku: No... Why do you have that!

Lyria: We found it embedded in the altar. When we took it out, the storm suddenly calmed.

Koku: So Qilin's corestone was here of all places? Absurd.

Koku: Gaaaah! Curse that Excremane!

Koku: Blasted Huanglong, this is where you so proudly hid it—and constructed an altar, no less!

Filled with rage, Koku grabs (Captain)'s shirt.

Koku: Hand it over! Within that corestone sleeps Qilin's power!

Koku: We've spent many agonizing years gathering energy from the yupei! It's all in that stone!

Koku: If we can draw its power back into this body, we can be free of these silly rituals! We can be free of Cardinal Saints and foolish wakes!

Vyrn: Calm down, Koku! We had no idea what this stone was! Promise!

Chichiri is a crew member, Ami is a crew member, Shushuku is a crew member, Uruki is a crew member

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Vyrn: But you just said it contains Qilin's power, right?

Vyrn: If we hand it over, you'll get all your power back, and then the skies are finished? No way!

Lyria: We won't let you do that, Koku!

Koku: Just give it to us!

Koku reaches desperately for the stone in (Captain)'s hand, only managing to land a single finger on its surface.

Qilin: ...!

Suddenly, the stone transmits an image into the minds of (Captain), Lyria, and Vyrn. They witness a golden figure descend before an ominous beast.

Huanglong: ...

Qilin: ...!

Four skydwellers surround Huanglong, who collectively charge at Qilin. The resulting collision splits the fearsome entities' power into the four cardinal beasts.

Qilin: Huanglong... Why fight alongside these skylings?

Qilin: You forsake our sacred duty, entrusted to us since genesis, and for what?

Next, the crew watches as a lone Astral man peers down at Qilin as he abandons his creation to a wasteyard.

Qilin: ...

Soiled furniture, broken umbrellas, and rotting foodstuffs—Qilin awakens to find itself lying amongst articles long since forgotten.

Qilin: The useless. The soiled. The broken.

Qilin: Is that... what we are?

Cynical Astral: I heard he built this miserable thing on a whim. Can you believe he actually thought it was powerful enough to recreate the Sky Realm? What a joke!

Composed Astral: Indeed. It's not even a primal beast. Merely the product of a deranged mind.

Qilin: You're wrong... We are Qilin, the exalted weapon...

Qilin: We must fulfill our duty.

A resolved but broken Qilin crawls from the refuse, only to be caught by enterprising skydwellers soon after.

Nervous Merchant: What is this creepy thing! I won't pay money for such an unsightly creature!

Monster Poacher: Gah! And here I thought it'd fetch me a pretty rupie!

Nervous Merchant: Not in a million years! When a monster like this appears, you know you've got bad luck coming your way!

As their bickering continues, the skydwellers fetch more hands to carry Qilin to the edge of the island, where they toss it over.

Nervous Merchant: Ugh, even as it falls it looks like it's staring at me. How eerie.

Monster Poacher: Yeah, somethin's off about those eyeballs. It was the right call to trash that thing...

Qilin: Our duty... Must destroy... the Sky Realm...

Qilin thrashes its forelegs in search of support, but try as it might, it finds only the hollowness of a cruel sky beneath it.

Qilin: The sky is... just beyond our grasp...

Having found a kernel of determination, the battered weapon is able to unfurl its creaking wings and successfully fly to a nearby island.

Finally, with the last remains of its power, it sets to altering the cardinal beasts' yupei.

Huanglong's power stored in the yupei would now be restored to Qilin instead of dispersing when a wake is performed.

Vyrn: (Captain), did you see that too?

Lyria: Was that who Koku was before?

Koku: Hah! Got it!

(Captain) looks down to discover the stone is missing.

Koku: Finally! Qilin's usurped power will be ours once more!

Koku clutches the ornament, drawing out its power.

Koku: Huh? I-it's cracking!

Koku: This isn't right... Why... is it absorbing... our power...

Drained of all energy, Koku collapses just before a violent burst of wind escapes the stone, blasting the child's tiny frame across the ruins.

Lyria: No! Koku!

Lyria calls out in desperation, but the sudden squall drowns out her voice.