Kyuden Shika

"Sure. Please tell.

I'm not sure all evil spirits act exactly the same, or dealing with them would be far easier, but having some experience on the subject seems like the kind of off-hand information that might save your life one day."

"A man had made a deal with a particularly intelligent yokai. The creature convinced him that if he could bring him 10 souls, they could be used to trade for his dead sons soul with Emma-O. He was bringing people people to the yokai's lair and killing them. The yokai was subsisting on the mans guilt and sadness, while claiming that one soul or another wasn't good enough. So its not unheard of for a monster to make a deal with no intention of honoring it."

He looks at her with curiosity. "So we potentially shift the deal in the story. The rider should have something to gain, not just lose. Something promised for success and demanded for failure. And perhaps the thing the rider sought is found as part of the journey revealing the duplicitous spirit?"

Mitsuki looked unconvinced:

"I feel like a story where the only reward for success is to live free for another day fits the ambiance of the Burning Sands better. They're a harsh place, and it's not uncommon to struggle to simply keep what one owns."

She pondered a bit more:

"Your affair sounds very much like a story from near the Wall. Did you serve on Crab lands at some point Kitsu-sama?

Thinking about it, I feel like the Crab might interpret that story as someone trying to escape from the Shadowlands before they're swallowed body and soul by them. Doubly so due to the poor decision-making ability of a lost branch of my family."

"Of course," he replies to the Moto.

"I am certainly not an expert on the Burning Sands. The aesthetics of stories and life there are likely completely different from those here in the empire. The purpose is to share those stories with that aesthetic. Inserting the feeling of something more in line with the Empire would only serve to water down the feeling you are going for."

"And I have not served with the Crab, but evil spirits rise everywhere. Lion lands are the most populous in the empire so we get a larger number of such issues than most other clans except the Crab."

"Compromises, as always. The tales must retain their original spirit and at the same time being accessible by people with a different frame of reference.

There are variants where the spirit is more ambiguous than evil. In one, they're the guardian of a taboo land than the rider was too curious not to enter. The spirit appears, says the punishment for trespassing is eternally joining the protectors of the place. The rider bargains, and the djinn – one of the names we give to these weird desert spirits – amused offers to forgive them if they complete what seems to be an impossible task.

Might work better at introducing extra background elements about the Burning Sands, and at avoiding unfortunate implications.

A question thought: How hard is to fight evil spirits without being a shugenja yourself? A lot of them tend to be merely inconvenienced by ordinary blades."

He nods agreement at the assessment. "Something that makes the ideas more relatable would make it more likely for the stories to be consumed more readily."

"And it is difficult, but I can help with rituals. Also... I can be bait in traps for spirits. That is the reason I have accumulated more scars than those I have fought beside."

"Every battalion needs its frontline fighters. Not a pleasant place to be, but if it's the role you'll do the most good at, you're duty-bound to accept it.

I guess you have consecrated clothes, wards, talismans, but they're not always enough, in the same armors and shields cannot stop every blow?"

"Not really. I fight spirits in the clothes I file paperwork in. Just get blessings from the priests before battle," he says. "And the groups are usually small. Me, a pair of bushi and a few priests is the largest it tends to get. But I am the eyes, and so I lead the charge against unseen opponents."

Mitsuki looked puzzled:

"Are you doing these missions in addition to your normal duties or something? If these are tasks your lord entrust to you, it feels weird they don't provide you with the best equipment to ensure the swiftest positive resolution."

"It is in addition to, yes. But there is no specific and regular equipment that is a fit for every response to spiritual dangers. Thus why the priests provide individual blessings and support for each mission. Sometimes they will attach a charm to my blade to infuse it with energy so that it can cause some harm to a certain type of spirit. Sometimes I will have a specific knot or chord tied to my body that provides protection against a different specific type of spirit. There a many and varied for all sorts of dangerous spirits."