Whispers in the Woods

* Title card
* Location

**Whispers in the Woods** is a side tale in *Ghost of Tsushima*.

## Synopsis

Jin meets a man just outside of Yagata Forest, who tells Jin to stay away from the forest, as the spirits of vengeful samurai haunt the place. Jin asks him about the nonsense, to which the man responds that while it used to be place for refuge, now the forest swallows those who enter it, never to be seen again. Jin dismisses this concern, since Tsushima is at war and people go missing all the time. The peasants acknowledge that even the Mongols fear this place, and that Jin should wait until nightfall to see for himself.

Jin waits until 9:30 PM with the man, and begins to investigate. Following the lanterns throughout the forest, Jin first enters a house, finding it abandoned. He finds three notes, and realizes that the forest caretaker used to live here, but has now gone missing.

> Yagata Forest has stood last before me and will stand long after I'm gone. The legend says that every tree is the spirit of a samurai who fell protecting the island. Are these the whispers I hear? Are they crying out in pain, begging for us to repay them for their sacrifice? Or are they trying to warn us of something and protect us even now?
>
> ― A note titled "The Legend of Yagata Forest" from the forest caretaker
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>

> Light lanterns
> Repair shrine
> Make an offering to the kami
> Ignore the voices
> Ignore the voices
> Ignore the voices
>
> ― A note titled "Daily Tasks" from the forest caretaker
>
>

> I've grown weary. Night after night, I hear their voices. Sometimes, the whispers seem to come on the winds from afar, and barely reach my ears before they fade away. Other times, they assault me and wake me from my dreams as my heart pounds and every breath feels like a weight sits heavy on my chest. Tonight I'll stay awake... I'll follow the whispers... I'll find out what they wish to tell me.
>
> ― A note titled "The Voices" from the forest caretaker
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>

Jin exits the house and continues to follow the lantern paths, eventually leading him the Inari shrine, accompanied by a decapitated body. Jin muses that the decapitated body is as if the killer were imitating tales of samurai vengeance; it was a clean cut by a samurai blade, but also by an unskilled hand. He investigates the empty bed next to the body and notes that there was another person, before being briefly ambushed by a Bankhar dog. Jin continues on to a fallen lantern, where there is another decapitated body. He squeezes through an opening and goes left on the road, eventually reaching a campsite with a lit campfire. After investigating the campfire, Jin finds another decapitated body, more recently slain, and a set of tracks.

Jin follows the tracks, which lead to a series of bodies hanging upside down from the trees, as if to scare potential visitors. Just beyond that are a group of bandits at their campsite. One of the bandits acknowledges that he decapitated the forest visitor, ensuring that the forest is theirs again. The bandits rejoice in the fact that by keeping up their killings, they scare away any visitors and thus will always have the forest to themselves. One of the bandits even admits that while killing with the samurai blade isn't fun, it's worth it for ownership of the forest.

Jin kills all but one of the bandits, and either lets the last one live or kills him too, before returning to the man who told the tale at the beginning. Jin tells the man that he has a new tale to tell.

>
> Jin: Murderous bandits once made the sacred forest their home. But the spirits of the samurai who protect these woods were angered. The last warrior of clan Sakai heard their anguished howls.
> Man: He rid the forest of the killers. And the spirits of the fallen samurai were grateful.
>
>
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>

The tale ends with the man playing the flute.

## Objectives

* Investigate location
* Search for spirits in the forest
* Investigate the campsite
* Follow the tracks
* Follow the hanging bodies
* Defeat the bandits
* Decide the bandit's fate
* Return to the traveler

## Journal entries

 Encountered
 Begin tale