A Healer's Touch

* Title card
* Location

**A Healer's Touch** is a side tale in *Ghost of Tsushima*.

## Synopsis

As Jin approaches a small village near the south seaside, a monk calls for his help. The monk, a healer named Hanaoka, asks Jin for assistance in getting to a camp in the woods, whose residents are ill and in need of a healer. Jin reminds Hanaoka that there are many Mongols and bandits along the way, but assures him that Jin will lead him to the camp.

As the two embark on their journey, Hanaoka asks how Jin survived, to which Jin replies that he was saved by Yuna, who nursed him back to health. Hanaoka mentions how his mother was similar, as she was a gifted healer who made him strong, despite him being constantly sick as a child. Thanks to her, Hanaoka became a healer. As the two near the crossroads, they find bandits interrogating peasants about food. Hanaoka stays back as Jin dispatches of the bandits, and the two meet the peasants, who state that they had to leave their farmstead due to a spreading sickness. They gave their food to Mongols instead of fighting back; once the Mongols left, everyone became ill. Jin and Hanaoka advise the peasants to find the nearby inn and stay indoors.

As the two continue on their journey, Hanaoka notes Jin's violence with his blade. Jin either responds with a question to Hanaoka about another way, or he responds that he had to fight. If Jin responds with the question, Hanaoka responds that he would talk with the bandits first, but Jin then asks if Hanaoka has experience with talking to bandits. Flustered, Hanaoka responds that he'd rather resolve a situation peacefully than resort to violence. If Jin responds that he had no other choice but to fight and that the bandits would've killed the peasants, Hanaoka responds that Jin doesn't know that and that he could've talked to them first instead of fighting. Jin responds plainly that it would not have helped, and that there's a reason why Hanaoka asked for Jin's protection in the first place. Hanaoka apologizes and reiterates that his work is healing the body, not destroying it.

Jin and Hanaoka approach Kishi Village, where they are stopped by a woman named Homyo. Homyo informs them that her son ate something and is now ill, and she needs Hanaoka's help urgently. Hanaoka immediately asks Homyo to take him to her son, but Jin notes that they're already delayed and the people at the village will be waiting. Hanoake assures Jin that it will only take a moment, to which Jin obliges to help. Jin and Hanaoka follow Homyo into her house, where they find Homyo's son on the ground in pain. Jin searches in and around the house, finding boiled water, an empty rice basket, and straw, before finding half-eaten mushrooms. Jin goes back to tell Hanaoka and Homyo about this, to which Hanaoka asks for river moss to make an antidote. Jin finds some at the nearby river and brings it back. Hanaoka tells Homyo to boil it in water and give it to her son to drink, and he will be fine in the morning.

As Jin and Hanaoka leave the village, they note the similarities in symptoms between the peasants from the farmstead, and Homyo's son, and come to the conclusion that the Mongols have been poisoning the peasants in some way. The two approach the Kishi Grasslands, where they see a few Mongol soldiers. Jin defeats them, allowing the him and Hanaoka to continue into the grasslands to find tubers. As they collect tubers, Hanaoka remarks that perhaps Jin enjoys the violence in killing Mongols and peasants, to which Jin reassures that he only kills to protect his people, and nothing more.

The two reach the camp just east of Beachside Camp, where a peasant desperately asks Hanaoka to see to his dying wife. He mentions that they had no food and that she drank only the water from the well. Hanoaka tells the peasant that his wife is sadly no more. He talks to Jin about how if he had gotten to the camp sooner and hadn't delayed with the couple and Homyo's son, he could've saved the camp's residents. Jin comforts Hanaoka and says that he did the right thing in stopping to help, as they would've been dead otherwise, and that by stopping to help, they also found out that the Mongols were poisoning the people. The two conclude that the Mongols had been poisoning the well, and Hanaoka ensures that the poison can be reversed thanks to the tubers. Hanaoka thanks Jin for accompanying him, before he gets to work.

After completing the tale, Hanaoka can be found at the camp with two other peasants.

## Objectives

* Search for the healer at the inn in Tsutsu
* Follow Hanaoka
* Investigate the crossroads
* Defeat the bandits
* Speak with the peasant
* Follow Hanaoka
* Check on Homyo's son
* Search for the cause of the sickness
* Return to Hanaoka
* Reach the river
* Gather river moss
* Return to Hanaoka
* Follow Hanaoka
* Defeat the Mongols
* Rejoin Hanaoka
* Follow Hanaoka
* Speak with the man

## Journal entries

This section requires expansion.

 Begin tale