The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Cleric Chih and their talking hoopoe, Almost Brilliant, approach Lake Scarlet, a former residence of the recently deceased Empress In-Yo. In the wake of In-Yo’s death, significant locations from her life have been “declassified,” allowing clerics like Chih to explore them and record any history of her reign that they might learn in the process. From a wooded area overlooking the lake, Chih and Scarlet observe a palanquin carrying In-Yo’s ghost down the main road toward the capital, where her daughter will soon be crowned the new empress.

When they arrive at the shores of the lake, they encounter an old woman, who tells them to look out at the water. Underneath the night sky, the lake has a bright red, bioluminescent glow. After a couple minutes, the dazzling light fades, and the old woman introduces herself as Rabbit. Rabbit tells Chih and Almost Brilliant that she was acquainted with the empress and her entourage while they were exiled at the house on Lake Scarlet (humorously named “Thriving Fortune”) because Rabbit’s father supplied them with supplies on a weekly basis for the duration of their stay.