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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6774019" data-attributes="member: 9546">In The Line of Duty10 Calistril, 4716 - 24 Calistril 4716 Yugureda Shosaito's wife was dead, her soul gone forever. It took several minutes for Zula and Ameiko to calm O-Sayumi enough for her to explain exactly what had happened. She said that some months past, Yugureda had come to the Kiniro Kyomai, and had immediately taken an almost obsessive interest in her. She became suspicious, and began to make inquiries about him, even going so far as to use her oracular samisen. She learned that, years ago, the wizard had used alchemy and magic to increase the production of pearls, and had already become very wealthy by the time the Sikutsu clan gained influence in Sakakabe Province. When the Sikutsu family offered him the opportunity to become their business partner and begin the large-scale export of pearls to other Tian nations, Yugureda began using dark magic to further increase the pearl production, summoning sea monsters and conducting experiments on the human body. His wife Kaori, a lady of modest origins, was shocked and tried to dissuade her husband from violating the laws of nature for profit. Yugureda's marriage was already an unhappy one, and when he was offered the hand of a noble lady to cement his pact with the Sikutsu clan, he decided to get rid of Kaori. Kaori sensed the danger, however, and fled into the swamps bordering the Namidakame Lagoon with their infant child. Yugureda sent his nue cohort after her, and Kaori was slain by the beast. Just before the nue reached her, however, Kaori abandoned the baby in a basket near a stream, where she was later found by the kappa Numataro-sama. This child was O-Sayumi, and when Yugureda first saw her at the tea house working as a geisha, he noticed her resemblance to her mother. When O-Sayumi declined his advances and invitation to visit his villa, the wizard threatened to kill the monks and orphans at the monastery where she was raised. Hoping to stir compassion in her father's dark heart, O-Sayumi decided to accept. She expected treachery, however, and used the scrying power of her samisen to track the nue as it traversed the shadow maze Yugureda had created in his cellar, to learn the proper route. Afraid that Yugureda would find out if she left more explicit instructions, she created an inro to guide her rescuers. When she arrived at Yugureda's house, the wizard enacted a ritual to exchange O-Sayumi's soul with that of his wife, Tarukimi, but the spell went awry, resulting in O-Sayumi's soul being trapped in the black pearl.__________________________________________________________The Scions decided to stay the night in Yugureda's villa, and make the most of their "hosts" hospitality. Ameiko informed the housekeepers that they were now free of their evil master, for which they bowed and scraped before her, offering her any comforts she and her companions might need. At Zula's behest, however, the others decided to pass the evening in the basement lounge where they'd found O-Sayumi and Tarukimi. It was a more defensible position should Yugureda have any final traps or contingencies in the event of his demise.It was past midnight, and Zula, Sandru, and Haroldo stood watch while the others slept. A soft knock came at the door."Masters?" the voice of the head housekeeper came from the other side. "Is there anything else you will be needing? We were all about to retire for the night.""No," Zula answered. "We have all that we require.""Good, good," the woman's voice said cheerfully, then, "Oh, there is just one more thing we needed to show you...,"Her voice trailed off, and then, abruptly, the door smashed inwards. The housekeeper was there...but not all of her. The lower half of her body was missing, while the upper half floated in mid-air, her entrails trailing below. In the hallway behind her, the other three housekeepers were equally incomplete, while beyond them, a ravening horde surged out of the corridor and into the room. Half of them were clad in simple loin cloths, painfully thin, with filthy, curved claws instead of fingers, and mouths filled with needle-like teeth. The other half were dressed in studded leathers, and were very obviously ja-noi oni, much like those the companions had encountered in the House of Withered Blossoms. As the ghoulish pearl divers and ja-noi swarmed into the room and surrounded the companions, Haroldo laid about him with his great-sword, hacking and slashing, yet not seeming to make a dent in their numbers. At the same time, however, their claws and swords ripped and cut at him and at Sandru as well, as the caravan master moved back-to-back with him. Zula found herself encircled and battered, and a pair of ja-noi stood over Boris, who had been sleeping, and leveled crushing blows down on him. Behind the horde, the hovering housekeepers raised their hands and sent emerald beams of light at the companions, and where they touched, the heroes felt instantly weakened."To me!" Zula cried, and her comrades instantly reacted.Once they had all gathered around her, she spoke a spell, and in a flash of white light, they vanished.__________________________________________________________Once more safely aboard their hired cog, Ameiko commanded the captain to weigh anchor with all haste while the rest of the companions regrouped and tended their wounds. "Who's idea was it again to spend the night in the evil wizard's creepy mansion?" Haroldo asked.Boris shrugged. "Cleaning ladies seemed nice to Boris. Who knew they fly without legs when dark?""We never learn," Haroldo sighed. The return cruise to Sakakabe was blessedly uneventful. Upon arrival, O-Sayumi was safely returned to the Kiniro Kyomai teahouse, where she was greeted with joy and relief by all of her sisters, especially O-Hakami. O-Kohaku was grateful, and offered to arrange meetings for Ameiko and her friends with several nobles and merchants opposed to the Jade Regent. Such individuals would be able to lend substantial support from both Sakakabe and Enganoka to Hirabashi Jiro should he lead a rebel army south towards the capital to overthrow the despot. O-Sayumi showed her gratitude to her saviors by first presenting Ameiko with her samisen of oracular vision. "I have seen a vision of the future," she said, bowing. "You will become a great empress."Ameiko accepted the gift, sensing instinctively that it would prove useful in the coming days. O-Sayumi went even further by offering to arrange a private meeting with Sikutsu Itsuru, the younger brother of Enganoka's daimyo, Sikutsu Sennaka. She told them that Itsuru dreamed of putting an end to his brother's tyranny, and would be a powerful ally for the rebellion._____________________________________________________________The following evening, in a private meeting room in the teahouse, Ameiko and the scions were introduced to Sikutsu Itsuru by O-Sayumi. She began the negotiations by identifying the companions as heirs of the Amatatsu line. Itsuru seemed dubious at first, but when Ameiko presented the Amatatsu Seal, he quickly got down to business. Itsuru was in his mid-thirties, but appeared to be ten years younger, something that no doubt contributed to his brother's low opinion of him, he said. His duties involved managing the Sikutsu family castle, and in  that capacity he had a number of loyal samurai under his command. He made it clear that he was no friend of the Jade Regent, and chafed under the heavy hand of his brother's rule as well. Tired of years of horror and abuse, Itsuru had finally decided that his brother's injustices must be put to and end. He explained that honor prevented him from killing his brother and lawful lord on his own, but if Sennaka were somehow removed from power, Itsuru would inherit his position. Most of the samurai under Sennaka's command were honorable warriors, Itsuru said, but that same honor trapped them. They followed Sennaka's cruel orders because duty required them to. If Itsuru were to become the new governor of Enganoka, those same samurai would follow him, and he could begin repairing the damage of his brother's rule. The armies of the north formed a not-insignificant proportion of Minkai's military might, and if those armies swore themselves to the Amatatsu heir, the Jade Regent would lose much of the military strength he currently commanded. Itsuru even believed that the army of Kasai, which guarded the imperial capital, might turn against the Jade Regent if faced with a rising tide of honorable samurai sworn to Ameiko rather than the Jade Regent. Itsuru told Ameiko and the others that his brother would soon be journeying to Shuryo Onsen, a secluded hunting lodge on the border between the provinces of Enganoka and Sakakabe. The daimyo employed many peasants from nearby villages as laborers for renovations he was currently doing on the lodge, housing them in a small camp just east of the compound. Itsuru said that Sennaka normally left most of his retinue in the camp to guard the company's baggage and mounts, keeping only a small personal escort with him at the lodge. Itsuru suggested that Ameiko and her companions would have a much better chance of defeating Sennaka if they could ambush him at the lodge, while at the same time preventing the soldiers in the workers' camp from coming to his aid. When Ameiko asked how they might accomplish such a twin-pronged assault, Itsuru offered a possible solution. Recently, a handful of samurai were dismissed from Sennaka's service. They had been ordered to burn a village for not paying its taxes, but the samurai somehow managed to raise enough money to pay the taxes themselves, and so decided not to destroy the village. The samurai disobeyed a direct order, but Sennaka still got his tax revenue, so he simply dismissed them in a rare moment of mercy. The samurai became ronin, calling themselves the Nine Pawns, and they still had a score to settle with Sennaka. Itsuru recommended arranging a meeting with them. If they agreed to help the scions with their ambush, then he could restore them to their former status as samurai. The Nine Pawns had already infiltrated the laborers work camp, and had supposedly prepared a stratagem to isolate Sennaka from the bulk of his forces. _____________________________________________________The companions took their leave of Sikutsu Itsuru, promising to contact him as soon as they were ready to implement the plan. First, however, Ameiko thought it important to travel to Enganoka and seek out the mysterious Three Monkeys. The longer the ninja were an unknown quantity, the greater their potential to jeopardize the rebels' plans to overthrow the Jade Regent.The trip overland to Enganoka took a little over ten days. It was a port city, Minkai's third largest, on the western coast, famous for its trade in silk, pottery, semi-precious stones, and rock alum from the coastal hills. Although the port and the marketplace were relatively busy, it was clear that Enganoka was suffering from economic depression. The Kuroi Yane market itself was a large, two-story hall with a black roof, surrounded by a maze of outdoor huts, tents and market stalls. The entrance was guarded by a group of police officers, but Ameiko and the others had little trouble paying the three silvers per head entrance fee, a price that would have been exorbitant for a commoner, thus ensuring that only nobles dealt with the wealthier merchants inside. As the companions wandered the hall looking for the restaurant where the Three Monkeys were purported to meet, they noticed a well-to-do commoner haggling with a shopkeeper. Suddenly, a half-dozen police officers surrounded him. The shopkeeper retreated to the back of her booth, and the commoner looked very frightened. One of the police stepped forward. "Are you a trader from the village of Kokumgi?" he asked sternly.The man bowed deeply. "Yes!" he answered, breaking into a servile grin. "You are a liar!" the officer barked. "That village doesn't exist!"The man's eyes grew wide in horror. Immediately, the police officers grabbed the poor t trader and forced him to his knees. The crowd moved away, and formed a wide circle around the scene as one of the officers unsheathed her sword."You are a smuggler and a spy!" the officer cried.Ameiko tensed and took a step forward, but Zula grabbed her arm and subtly shook her head. With a swift stroke, and a collective scream of the crowd, the man's severed head rolled across the floor. No one said nor did anything, and the officers swaggered away through the market as people scurried away from them, avoiding looking at them or at the dead man on the floor. "Why did you stop me?" Ameiko hissed as she wheeled on Zula."My Lady," Zula said quietly, "engaging those officers would have served no purpose other than to get us killed or captured.""But the village that man is from does exist!" Ameiko said, raising her voice. "Don't you see what that means?"Zula just stared at her blankly.Ameiko threw up her hands. "Those officers were daikan tetsuku," she said. "Rural police. They normally patrol the countryside. If they are claiming that the village of Kokomugi no longer exists, then that means they have razed and plundered it, and are hunting down and killing all of its former inhabitants!""I understand, Mistress," Zula said, "but this is not the time nor place to address the problem. If the officers destroyed the village, then they did so on the governor's orders. That is our mission."Ameiko stayed silent and digested that for a moment. Then, grudgingly, she nodded and turned away._______________________________________________________________"What do we know of these ninja clans?" Ameiko asked as the companions approached the restaurant where the Three Monkeys were supposed to be meeting. "Well," Sandru replied, "the three clans represented here are the most powerful of the ninja. The Emerald Branch are most concerned with fighting tyranny and supporting the cause of freedom. The Black Lotus are less interested in politics and more mercenary, willing to take on any job for a profit. The Dragonshadow are rumored to serve a powerful imperial dragon, and follow their own inscrutable goals, only accepting jobs that further the mysterious aims of their patron.""Boris want to be dragon ninja!" the little goblin piped up.They entered the restaurant, and were seated at a table readily enough. When the waitress asked what they were having, it was Boris who answered first."We hear that monkey is very good here," he said, winking one eye with exaggeration. The waitress stared at him for a moment, then nodded and walked away."What are you doing?" Sandru snapped at the goblin."Boris know about sneaky things," the rogue replied. "You see."A few minutes later, a male waiter approached the table."So you are interested in the house special?" he asked. "Yes!" Boris grinned."An excellent choice," the waiter said. "The price is one-hundred gold coins per plate...payable up front.""Sold!" Boris said before any of the others could answer. Reluctantly, all of the companions drew out their coin purses and paid the required fee."Follow me," the waiter said, sweeping up the coins.The companions were led to a private room. There, three individuals dressed in nondescript gray kimonos sat quietly in the half-light of the full moon outside. One was a balding, middle-aged man, the second a younger man with a half-smile on his face, and the last a plain peasant woman with a thick neck and hard eyes. None of them said a word as the scions stood before them. Finally, Zula cleared her throat. "We are here to seek your services, or perhaps, your advice," she said. "We represent certain individuals who are dissatisfied with the current status quo in Minkai.""We have already heard of the return to Minkai of the last Amatasu heir," the woman said, taking Zula by surprise. "We can well imagine her aims and your role in them."The older man spoke next."We do not make a habit of interfering in politics," he said, "however the current state of affairs is damaging our business concerns. Fear of the Jade Regent and his forces have dampened enthusiasm for extra-legal activities, and the Regent himself shuns the services of our clans...with one exception.""Which brings us to the matter at hand," the younger man took up the narrative. "The Jade Regent has hired a very powerful ninja to kill the Amatatsu heir and her companions. He is called Kaibuninsho, and he belongs to the Oni's Mask clan. He is said to have superhuman abilities that exceed even the traditional training of our clans, and for the past few years he has worked exclusively on behalf of the Jade Regent. So, unfortunately, since a contract already exists on your heads, we may not accept another contract with you until this matter is resolved.""And by resolved," Sandru said, "you mean until we kill him or he kills us?"The ninja shrugged and smiled."Feel free to come to us again when....if...you are able.""Do you have any information where we might find Kaibuninsho?" Zula asked."Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," the woman replied. "I'm sure he will find you first."___________________________________________________________"Well," Ameiko sighed as the companions left the restaurant, "I suppose our only option at this point is to carry out Sikutsu Itsuru's plan for his brother.""Yes," Zula agreed. "Sandru can put out some feelers among his black market contacts in the mean time, to see we can come up with more information about this ninja. Then,..."Her voice trailed off as cold chill ran up her spine. She turned, time seeming to slow around her. The market crowd moved around them, and at first she saw nothing untoward. Then her eyes fell upon a nondescript woman moving towards Ameiko from a nearby stall, one hand held out to show several lengths of silk scarves to the Amatatsu heir. It was her other hand, however, that caught Zula's gaze. It was tucked inside her kimono as if to retrieve something. Ameiko turned towards the woman, her eyes falling upon the beautiful scarves. She never saw the nunchaku, intricately carved in the shape of twin dragon heads, that the woman pulled from the folds of her robe. Zula rushed forward, seeming to move in slow motion as the nunchaku swung towards Ameiko's head."Nooooo!" Zula cried as she leaped between Ameiko and the merchant.The  swinging end of the nunchaku connected solidly with her temple with an audible crack and snap. Zula dropped to the ground like a stone, still and unmoving. Sandru and Boris, alerted by Zula's cry, turned around, drawing their weapons reflexively. They saw the merchant woman snarl in frustration as she tucked her weapon back up her sleeve. She reached down and grabbed Zula's collar."Stop her!" Sandru shouted as he rushed towards the woman. He was a step too slow. As the woman's hand closed around Zula's tunic, the air shimmered around them both, and then they vanished in a swirl of smoke and darkness.</blockquote>

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