[OA/FR] Rokugan - Updated 12/13/03

[Black Omega]

The group’s alias, since it’s been a little while.
Toshiro is Mongo.
Kaz is Taz.
Mindra is Ming.
Mir is Kyruko.
Verick is Vlad.
Volar is Fireblossom.
Yukiyo is Raven.

Kyruko heard back from Thrush not long after. The bird had chased the rider as long as it could but the rider was far too fast and he had lost track after the rider had turned to head to the east. Thrush also passed along that a hawk had tracked the rider as well, and being a faster flyer, it was still chasing the rider when Thrush had to give up.

Mongo and Taz joined their friends in the Yabanjin for drinking that evening, then bowed out to report back. Everything seemed normal, no additional guards. A perfect set up for an ambush.

Fireblossom turned Ming invisible and then the Vanara crept over close to the barracks, finding a shadow to hide in just to play it extra safe. The drunken singing and noise from the barracks covered his spell casting. First a large bear. Then a pack of gray wolves. The animals charged into the barracks the drunken singing turned to yells and then the sound of fighting as the fierce beasts took advantage of the Yabanjin’s drunken confusion. Satisfied with the result, Ming quickly stealthed off before anyone thought to look for the vile Inu responsible for the attack.

Then with the help of illusionary magic, Fireblossom and Vlad were off in one of the smaller bars. Making a splash as the flamboyant Elves they were impersonating. Then while the Kid and friends lurked close by listening, they made sure the correct impression was given. Finafin, Viktor, Rodrigo, indeed. It was a slip that certainly did draw notice. Immediately afterwards, the two slipped away to head on to the Dancing Ferret. That was the story at least.

While Fireblossom and Vlad walked over to the Temple of Cyric, Kyruko slipped over to the Shrine of Bishamon to visit Viktor. But she was disappointed to find a younger Half-Orc waiting on her with a message. “Viktor’s out of town right now. Something important came up. He’ll be back by the morning, try then.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vlad and Fireblossom found their friend the cleric waiting on them at the gate of the temple, robe pulled right around his body. He was quite pleased the two had decided to show up. Vlad’s bloodthirstiness and Fireblossom’s out of control power might work well with the Temple of Cyric’s needs.

Certainly they seemed to enjoy the tour of the temple. Well, the public areas of the temple. And Vlad was more than eager to see one of the torture chambers, though they had no one to use for demonstrations at that particular moment, much to the cleric’s chagrin. What Vlad lacked in seasoning he more than made up for in sadism.

The tour was half sales pitch and by the time the two left the cleric was quite satisfied the two were truly interested in learning more of Cyric, and perhaps one day joining his church. If they lived long enough, and were not sacrificed to Cyric’s greater glory before that day arrived. But if they were interested in the church –and- trusted it, they were fools. It went without saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You saw Finafin in there?” Fireblossom said to Vlad once they were well away from the temple.

“No, I missed it. You know they serve a god of evil and chaos. Even if we really played along with joining them, they would backstab us the moment it suited their purpose.” Vlad said calmly.

“Yes. But maybe we can use that against them…” Fireblossom mused. “I’m not sure what he was up to but Finafin was sneaking around in a back hallway. Carrying some type of package. There is more going on here than a simple war on the Unicorn clan.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early in the morning, Mir in her Kyruko guise went to visit the shrine again. In the dawn’s first light she could not miss a new display. Rokugani heads on spikes, their helmets carrying the mon of Lord Jyaku. Wincing, Kyruko went on into the shrine to find Viktor, going through his customary ritual after combat, cleaning his massive greatsword, even though the flames would have prevented most blood from ever touching the blade.

“It’s nice to see you again, Viktor. I was wondering why you were gone last night.” Kyruko smiled, careful to appear calm while anxiously hoping the little enchantments added to her disguise would hold up against Viktor. This was far closer to him than she really wanted to be.

“I received word of a patrol at the village to the south. We needed a couple of prisoners for questioning. I’m told Lord Jyaku has left Bugaisha. At last, a real challenge!” the hulking abomination grinned wolfishly.

“There are other challenges. The Temple of Cyric is plotting against you.” Kyruko said softly “I’ve been hearing things from my employers, Fireblossom and Vlad.”

Viktor simply smirked “That’s nothing new. I killed one of their priests last week. They live for pure carnage and bloodshed, sacrificing helpless victims to their God. There’s no challenge in that. No glory or honor. Just pointless slaughter.” Then the half-orc half-elf looked at Kyruko sharply “Why do you work for them? You don’t seem much like them…”

Kyruko shrugged while trying to act casual “I made an agreement with them. I would act as a guide for them traveling into the Empire. Until they get where they are going.”

“And where is that?” Viktor asked, interest perking up “I don’t think they would fit in very well in the Empire.”

Kyruko was silent a moment then sighed “I’m not sure really. They play it all very mysterious. They only tell me what they think I need to know. They are getting in good with the Cyricians, though. I know that for certain. They were talking about them all last night.”

Viktor nodded while polishing the metal on his blade “I’m sure. Why don’t you come and work for me? You made a bad deal with them, agreeing to something with no end date or idea what would be asked of you. I can help you with that.”

Kyruko smiled “I might be interested. If I was free, I think I’d like working for you. I can appreciate your methods a little more.” Kyruko stopped short as she saw the predatory gleam awaken in Viktor’s eyes, then realized she had indirectly suggested she’s be free if Viktor simply killed Vlad and Fireblossom, not really the idea they wanted in his mind. “But…well…I might be better off watching them for you? I can keep an eye on Fireblossom and Vlad and maybe learn more about what the Temple of Cyric is planning, then pass it along.”

“An interesting offer, spying on your current employers. Now tell me, how could I possibly trust anything you tell me now or later after they are dead? If you are willing to betray them, you would do the same for me.” Viktor said with a deadly calm, not even looking at Kyruko as he finished up cleaning his sword.

Kyruko looked side to side quickly “I don’t want to work for them! They are savage and cruel. But I’m afraid to leave. They’d take some terrible revenge, I’m sure. I’d really prefer working with you.”

Viktor simply nodded “That sounds reasonable. Go and see what your current employers are up to then. It’s been a long night…”

Kyruko left, rather pleased with how the meeting had gone. Viktor simply shook his head after she had left “That’s a smart young lady. Trying to get in my good graces while staying close with the Cyricians as well. I’d settle for a little less intelligence and a little more loyalty, though.”

“Yes sir.” Said a younger half-orc stepping into view. He paused for a moment nervously before going on “Finafin was out tonight, talking. There’s something you need to know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the group gathered back at their tent, another meeting was going on in a tower not far away. Malachai walked into one of the top rooms of the square keep of Rodrigo, bowing deeply to a figure resting in shadows.

“You’ve heard the news? I can’t believe Finafin was so careless. Viktor will be frothing at the mouth furious when he finds out. And the other implications. Sir, maybe it’s time we did something about that elf.” Malachai said, shaking his head “His contacts have provided us with the human bane weapons we need for this battle, he’s no more use to us.”

From the darkness came a raspy voice, low, short of breath “It’s not Finafin. As expected, someone is up to something in town. The elf is hundreds of years old. He would never let such a thing slip, even if it were true. Since it’s not, and since he has nothing to gain from implying any such thing about me, it’s obviously someone else.”

“It must be someone from Lord Jyaku then.” Malachai said after a moment’s thought. “Finafin is close with the Cyricians, they would not sacrifice him so easily. And Viktor’s too damned blunt. He wouldn’t pull a trick like this.”

From the shadows came a geezing cough, then the figure leaned a little into the light. Withered and wrinkled, he must once have been a powerful, imposing half-orc. But age and ceaseless combat had taken it’s toll on Rodrigo. “Don’t be so sure. The Cyricians will sacrifice anyone if they feel it benefits them. There will be a fight. If Finafin wins, Stavros has a clear line to taking over for me after my death. If Finafin loses, well. It was worth the risk. My son is devious that way. Why do you think Stavros is so close with the Cyricians? He’s using them as much as they use him. And he knows I don’t have that much longer to live. No, the real key to this is to watch the fight and the aftermath. Agents of Lord Jyaku will be ready to try killing the winner. Cause as much chaos as possible while weakening us. But it won’t work. They have no idea of my true resources. And I’ll sacrifice it all for my final victory and the head of Lord Shinjo Jyaku!”

 

[Black Omega]

That morning Mongo, Taz and Nezu went to visit the Yabanjin and see how the plan was going. The sight that greeted them wasn’t pretty. Over the door of the barracks was nailed a hawk. Others birds were nailed to the top of the window frames and their blood smeared over the wood to form symbols.

A couple of the northern barbarians armed with axes met them at the door, but allowed them past after Dmitrios stepped forward to vouch for them.

“Damned Inu bastards!” The barbarian snarled. “You hear what happened? They attack us, they make this matter of blood! But no we have stopped their spying. Damned bandits and thieves and their rules. Don’t kill elves. Don’t hunt the Inu. Well, Poshyel keh chyertoo! We WILL hunt the Inu, as we always have. In the name of the Black Blooded Beast, we will kill their men and animals.”

“Who was telling you not to do this?” Mongo asked, asking the usual offer of vodka as they sat down to chat. The burly samurai winced inwardly, surrounded by bloody magic and filthy, hide wearing barbarians, Toshiro knew he was going to be spending a week or more after all this getting purified at the temple. But he had to admit, he was getting a taste for the vodka. And the wild freedom of the barbarians had it’s appeal. Duty and eventually marriage waited for him back in Bugaisha, but for the moment he was enjoying this more than he wanted to admit.

“Viktor. That freak. He tells us ‘Wait.’ There will be plenty of plunder in Bugaisha. Women to take back to our villages. Our chiefs like this. And fear the Lady of Blood. So we come here and wait. But no more! Tonight, my friend, we will take our revenge on the damned Inu! Perhaps you and your friends would care to join us?” Dmitrios grinned, eager for the coming hunt.

“We’ll think about it. There might be other things we need to do tonight. We have our own prey to hunt.” Mongo grinned. Toshiro was getting ideas now. Perhaps there was some way he could use these barbarians with the Crab clan. They wanted to hunt? The Shadowlands had plenty of creatures to hunt. He would have to give this some more thought. Right after enjoying the vodka and hospitality of the Yabanjin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By noon a notice was posted around town in all prominent places.

To all concerned. I, Finafin, the Golden Duke of the Sword Coast, denounce whatever deceitful swine putting out the vile rumors that I have had any sort of relationship with Rodrigo other than friend and fellow warrior. On my word as gentleman and noble born elf, I swear there is nothing more my friendship with Rodrigo than that, and anyone who states otherwise will answer to my blade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not long afterwards the first rumors of an impending duel between Viktor and Finafin began to emerge. Vlad and Fireblossom checked with their Cyrician friends and found the rumor was true. The main event of that evenings fights was going to be Finafin against Viktor. Golden Duke against the half-elf half-orc abomination.

Fireblossom and Vlad were starting to become a little concerned, though.

“Mongo’s talking about skipping the duel tonight and joining his Yabanjin friend in attacking the Inu. I haven’t seen him this eager for a fight in a long time.” Vlad smirked “Getting him away from Rokugan has helped him be less of a Crane, but he’s going in the opposite direction. He brought almost a case of vodka back from his trip to the Yabanjin barracks.”

Fireblossom nodded “Kyruko’s getting too close to Viktor also. This can’t go on much longer or they might start forgetting everyone here is the enemy. “

Mongo and Kaz finally did agree to skip the Yabanjin battle. Much as they wanted to go, Vlad didn’t want the party split up that night and they could see the tactical logic of that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dancing Ferret was filled to capacity that night. Anticipation of the night’s duel had brought almost everyone important or tough enough to muscle their way in. It was pretty easy to pick out the sides. The Cyricians had their own side of the bar, deep red hooded robes worn by the clerics, holy symbols often shown for prayers for Finafin’s success and to mock Viktor’s side. Fireblossom’s Elven eyes picked out a few wizards as well, thinner half-orcs whose clothing showed faint mystical markings. Stavros’ followers and students. Viktor’s faction was mostly warriors in heavy armor, more orderly and disciplined but just as intense as Stavros’ followers. Much to their relief the party was mostly ignored aside from the occasional need to defend their spot to watch the fights. Everyone was focused on the duel.

Viktor was the first to arrive, flanked by an honor guard consisting of a wizard, a cleric of Beshaba, a Rokugani ronin fur trimmed armor, and a figure the group recognized instantly. Taka, from their battles months before in Mimura against the bandits of Kuzo. Verick’s double sword was worn proudly, slung over her shoulder next to his bow. Vlad tenses, hand sliding to his sword before he regained control of himself. He had put his Rashemoni past behind him when he had sworn himself to the Akodo and the Lion Clan. The double sword was a symbol of that past. Bit still, if the chance came…

Viktor sat in as the judge for the night’s fights, usual. A short night it turned out, since everyone was more interested in the duel than their own quarrels.

Finafin arrived at the appointed hour of the duel, accompanied by his elfboy, Faelyn. Fireblossom grew more wary now. Finafin was dressed as a duelist for the fight, tight riding pants, loose, poofy blouse, blood red cloak trimmed in ostrich feathers, and immaculate leather dueling gloves. But still he carried no weapon. Volar was still sure Faelyn was the real threat behind the flash and show of Finafin.

All that was left was a judge for the duel and that spot was filled quickly enough. Grond, the eldest son of Rodrigo walked into the Dancing Ferret, flanked by four of his followers, all unarmed and unarmored but looking no less dangerous for it. Then took positions on either side of the door as another figure entered. Standing well over six feet tall, even bowed by age as he was, the figure looked like a impressively ugly half-orc. Shrived with age, he still looked stronger than most of the men in the inn. Rodrigo. A sheathed katana carried loosely in one hand, the leader of the bandits of Kuzo had the sort of aura that fills a room, making it feel too small.

Fireblossom’s fingers twitched, ready to cast a spell. One fast strike and the whole battle might not even be needed. But then Rodrigo’s honor guard followed him in. Four massive half-orcs in plate mail, and a half-orc wizard. One one other, a guest. Dressed in pale lavender that was close to the colors of the Unicorn clan, the sleeves of the kimono darkened with dried blood in a decorative pattern that could not be totally random, her long black hair bound into a braided ponytail. It took only a second for Mir to recognize her old friend Yoenki.

Rodrigo took over the judges seat, his katana used as a cane as he leaned forward, voice roaring through the inn. “I will be the judge for this combat! This duel is to the death. The loser’s body will be burned, and he will not be resurrected on pain of death for all involved. The strong deserve victory. The weak only merit slavery and death! Magic is prohibited until the end of the duel. Anyone attempted to cast magic will be killed on the spot. No exceptions!”

And then it was time for the duel. Viktor was clad in armor of some black metal, in Rokugani style with a black mempo (facemask), flames flickering along the blade of his great sword as he got ready. Finafin had more flash, cloak billowing out as he removed it and presented it to his Elven companion. Then he took a few seconds, stretching, drawing out the moment before he took a dueling pose. A flick of his wrist activated the magic of his gloves and suddenly he was holding a rapier and main gauche.

The duel was a messy affair, Viktor was far more powerful but no match for the blinding speed of the Golden Duke. Time after time Finafin’s rapier stabbed out, leaving wounds that continued to bleed as the fight went on, while the agile elf twisted and turned, managing to avoid any direct hits from the fiery great sword. A sidestep here, and a lunge that passed right through Viktor’s shoulder. Lightning reflexes and experience turned a powerful slash from the heavy sword into a grazing blow. Blood splattered over those sitting closest to the fight as Viktor feinted then landed with a mailed fist. But Finafin did a tumbling roll under the flat slice of the sword and came up ready, a perfect dueling lunge sparking metal on metal before sinking into Viktor’s chest, the half-orc half-elf’s movement only enough to avoid the strike finding his throat, and even then the blood seeping from a dozen wounds was starting to wear him down.

Finafin forced the hulking abomination onto the defensive with swift series of thrusts, his supple wrist stabbing and redirecting the strikes, his balance perfect as he made a flourish for those watching then dipped a last thrust of his rapier under Viktor’s attempted block, under and up where the blade found Viktor’s throat. Blood pumped fast from the wound as the blade passed on through then out the back of the huge figure’s neck. But still Viktor didn’t fall. Blood running from his mouth, he let out a roar, eyes glazing as he let the berserk rage take over. Pushing forward despite Finafin’s blade, Viktor hammered the elf in the face with his fists and the handle of the sword before sweeping the weapon around, the blow impossible to block, and in one fiery stroke the Golden Duke was cut in half.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for!” Fireblossom whispered quickly as Finafin fell dead, and Viktor staggered, close to death as well. Vlad nodded, hand ready to draw his kusari-gama.

[GM Note: I knew the group would want Finafin dead. But I expected them to take a more direct part in his demise. I even put some cool magic items on him for the group to ‘liberate’. They were so worried about getting caught; they worked on sneaky plans to cause chaos while keeping themselves out of the line of fire. That’s all about to come to an end, though.]

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Notes from Mir

Things are going even better than I had imagined. We were all somewhat afraid as while we had confidence in our power we knew we were no match for the entire village with its high powered rulers. Going in we knew that our mission was to disrupt Rodrigo's plans. Unable to mount a frontal assault we worked to sow dissent and make them fight each other instead.

Sure we killed a few minor bandits publicly, but this only solidified our position as bandits and did nothing to further our goals. Our first real victory was my being able to spy on Viktor and getting information back to Lord Jayku. Looking at other ways we could be of use we decided to see if we couldn't get the varrious factions to have even less trust in each other. Additionaly If we could take out a field commander this would be good as well, but this would be more difficult to pull off without getting caught.

Mongo's friendship with the Yobanjin was a good first step as it gave us information about the distrust between them and the Inu. After the Inu lost thier initial friendly fight we decided to see if we couldn't rouse some problems. Ming's(Mindra's) ability to summon animals proved very valuable as such an attack could easily made to seem to come from the Inu. The Yobanjins nighttime counter strike was on the high side of what we had expected. Dissent between factions had begun.

I had my own ideas about sowing dissention as well. If we could bring ill will between the Cyricians and Viktors more lawful group then there might be troops withheld from the battle to protect thier assets in the rear. So far this line of thought has proved less than successful.

Our second idea of taking out a commander has gone surprisingly well. There was great personal intrest in taking out the elf as he seemed quite formidable from the stories we had heard. Initially we were looking at killing him ourselves, but another idea came to us that we though we should try instead. Why risk our lives and cover when someone else could do our dirty work for us. Thus our idea of making the elf out to have insulted Viktor and Rodrigo. Certainly denials would come, but hopefuly Rodrigo might have him offed anyway to prove a point. The public denial was not what we expected though. It seems that either Viktor had had been on the losing side in his past and/or the elf wanted take him on personaly. Either way we were left with a spectacular success as at least one of the top dogs was going down.

The idea of striking after the duel was popular amongst several of our party. I was against it though as I value my life (paticularly after Ryoko Owari) and blowing our cover in this god forsaken village was not my idea of a sane plan. The discussion was tabled though and a decision to see how the scene played out before a final decision was made. While there were smiles amoungst our part when Rodrigo walked in, but his bodygaurd soon dampened thier hopes. While I wasn't going to mention that I was friends with Yoenki, I did try to be even more inconspicuous in hopes she wouldn't recognize me. While my first loyalty was to the group and Lord Jayku it did pain me to think I might have to fight Yoenki, and even Viktor was starting to find a soft space in my heart. While the battle raged I secretly rooted for Viktor to win. When Viktor did win our group rejoyced in the death of the elf both personaly and as part of our mission.

Now of course the question was now what. Would we strike while they were weak or wait for another opportunity. Glances and quiet grunts began to be passed around our table. The choice was upon us.

Mir

 

[Black Omega]

If they were going to make a movie, the time was now. Viktor was being healed by one of the clerics in his faction. Fireblossom was ready. Vlad was ready. Toshiro was kind of ready, while half wishing he was helping the Yabanjin against the Inu. If they attacked Viktor they could probably kill him but his faction would surely retaliate. What Grond and Rodrigo would do they were unsure of. So their survival might well end up depending on the support of Stavros and the followers of Cyric. Once they realized they would be relying on the followers of a Chaotic Evil God of Cruelty and Treachery, it was decided to let the moment pass and play it safe.

The distraction had been enough to miss out on one important event. Finafin’s dead body was pounced on instantly by bandits lingering close by. Gloves yanked off, boots pulled off, the dead elf’s belt searched for any gold or jewels while his rings and amulet were yanked away, until the elf’s two section body was left clad in little more than a loincloth. The bandits of Kuzo being even less sentimental about such things than most bandits, not a thing of potential value was left unclaimed.

While the group debated their next move, the Cyricians plotted, with many dour stares around the inn. And Viktor basked in the glory of his victory. But not for long.

For Mir heard from her familiar that three men were ransacking the group’s tent. Nothing of value had been left there, but they didn’t seem to be searching for gold. They barely touched Toshiro’s box of Vodka, instead searching for things more carefully hidden. Even driving metal rods down into the earth to try and see if something had been buried there.

Then Viktor walked over to the party’s table. Armor still drenched in blood, his most serious wounds were healed and if anything he looked even tougher than before. The 6’5” abomination leaned, over, gloves hands on their table as he growled “It doesn’t take much to figure out what is going on here. We’ve not had much trouble for a while. Then a new group breezes into town and starts making friends with Stravro’s group while putting their own power and cruelty on display. Only someone truly devious, savage and backstabbing would come up with such a bloodthirsty plan. I smell a rat.”

With this, Viktor looked at Nezu, who’s face turned a deadly pale as he slumped down a little in his chair while Viktor went on. You can see we aren’t as dumb as you hoped, Rat. I would think by now you’d know better than to underestimate us. You can see Stavros and the followers of Cyric are not as tough as you thought. If you think you can keep up with us, my people and Grond’s group are going out on a raid tonight. The advance guard of Lord Jyaku’s army is getting too far ahead of the main body. We’re going to hit them and grab a few prisoners. Meet us at midnight at the main gate, if you want to prove how tough you –really- are.”

The group left fairly soon after that. But not before Rodrigo made his big announcement.

“Bandits of Kuzo! The time of our victory is almost at hand! Even now, the army of the Unicorn clan draws near. But I bring even better news! Just a month ago, the great armies of the Crab Clan, one of the three military powers of the empire, were defeated by the weak and spineless Crane! The Crab Clan Champion is killed and their army destroyed! When we defeat the Unicorn, the second of the great military clans will fall! We will claim gold beyond our wildest dreams!” Rodrigo’s voice roars through the inn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slipping out of the inn before anything else happened, Fireblossom was trying to hold back a laugh “They really thought Nezu…” another giggle suppressed while Nezu simply looked ill. “They aren’t half as smart as we thought they were…”

“What about the raid tonight, though? We could at least see who’s going on it and what they are up to.” Kyruko thought out loud.

The consensus of the group was to skip the raid, however. Their goal was to disrupt the bandits of Kuzo, not help them on raids that would surely blow their cover. Instead, they went back toward their camp area to try and catch the men there. They had finished searching the area and were now staking it out from near the wall, watched by Mir’s Thrush.

Again, their plan was interrupted. Arriving near their camp, they heard a loudly yelled “Moooongooooo!”

Dmitrios, still smelling of blood and battle, had arrived to look for his friend, clad in a still bloody and near wolf skin cloak. And he was bearing gifts, wolf teeth necklaces for Nezu, Kaz and Toshiro. Barbaric gifts there were accepted reluctantly by all but Mongo, who was fully back into his dumb barbarian mode, ready for a fighter after the slurs Rodrigo had uttered against his clan. Certainly they had not truly lost to the Crane…

Dmitrios could barely control his grinning “It was a great hunt! We stuck them in the night, they had little warning and their leader was away! We hunted the men from sled to sled, killing all we could find. We might have gotten all of them, but that great bear they kept as a pet got in the way and allowed the others and the women and children to escape. Damned stupid Inu. Now they know who is best. The skin of their great bear is now cloaks for our chieftains! By the Black Blooded Beast, tonight has been a great night. It is a shame you had to miss it, Mongo!”

Mir, already feeling a bit ill at Dmitrio’s joy over the slaughter he called a hunt, felt her blood run colder. She knew of the Black Blooded Beast. Malar, a savage god of hunt and slaughter, deadly enemy of the Oak Father, Silvanus. Her sour expression grew even more cold when Toshiro went on cheerfully “Great fight! I wanted to help, but you know how it can go. Hey, I hear the battle is coming soon. If things don’t go the way we plan, meet me later. I might have an offer for you.”

Dmitrios was surprised by this, but willing to listen. “Sure. The village we met at. It’s deserted now, no one living there to get in our way. But don’t worry so much, my friend. I’ve heard the Hordelands are joining with our army to help destroy this Lord Jyaku! With such power, we can’t lose!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dmitrios was even willing to help take care of the men watching the camp. Flushed with victory, he stealthed off with the Kid (Yukiyo) to take a look, picking out the men and picking targets. When the men were distracted by the rest of the party going to their camp, the two struck. Arrows were fired in a flurry and two of the men fell dead. Shocked for a moment, the other took off running, shoving his way past Kyruko, who tried to grab him as he passed, failing miserably to get a grip on the panicked thug.

Which was also according to plan. Her Chain of Eyes spell passed to the bandit and Mir had a beautiful view of exactly where the man was running to. While Dmitrios showed the Kid about how to scalp a man, the others followed the trail. Down the street, take a right here. Mir’s eyes closed the whole time as she watched the man’s fearful flight. He came to a rundown house and slipped inside. Nothing but darkness and shadows, Mir could see nothing but she heard the voice well enough.

“So, what did you find? I want details!” demanded Malachai’s raspy, Orcling voice.

 

[Black Omega]

“We didn’t find much of anything! A slight magical aura, but long faded. No secret supplies or documents. And they attacked us right after they got back to the camp, they must have been spying on us somehow.” The out of breath spy said.

Malachai drew himself up to his full three feet, six inches while glaring up at the spy in the darkness. “Quieter! Whisper it to me, they killed the others? Did they follow you here?” he asked quickly.

The spy nodded “They killed Yuhi and Takafumi. We never even saw them coming! I wasn’t followed though, I think. I ran to fast for them to follow stealthily.”

“Unless they used some spell or a familiar. Like they must have at the camp.” Malachai hissed. The last thing Kyruko got an impression of was a flash of metal in the darkness, then her spell fading with the life of the hapless spy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not quite fast enough though, the group had found the house the spy went to. They waited a minute while Dmitrios and the Kid caught up with them. Nezu and Dmitrios were sent to the rear of the house to make sure no one escaped that way. Vlad and Raven snuck along the side of the house, peeking in windows, but the darkness was too deep for normal vision. And the silence from inside was just as profound as the darkness. If the little runt was still inside, he was staying very quiet indeed.

Finally done scouting the outside, the party went inside as quietly as they could, prepared for anything. Katana out. Spells ready to be cast. But the house was empty save for the corpse of the spy who had been watching them, his throat slit and his tongue cut out. A quick search of the house revealed not secret doors but there was a couple of loose boards in one corner. Someone small and sneaky enough to wiggle down under the house and escape.

While Mongo thanked his Yabanjin friend for his help and sent him back to the barracks and Raven pocketed what few coins the corpse had, the others plotted. They could take over the house for a bit, it seemed. The pace of events had picked up and there was news that had to be sent back to Bugaisha. Nor was their camp ground secure anymore. Not that it had been terribly secure before…

Fireblossom took a few minutes to memorize the closet of the house before casting a teleport and zipping back to the specially prepared room in Lord Jyaku’s stronghold.

Nezu and Raven were set as guards on the rear while Vlad and Mongo stood on the front porch, standing guard more obviously. Nervous minutes passed as Fireblossom delivered her messages. Then movement caught Vlad’s attention, from the dark alley across the street from the house. From the shadows a voice called out loudly “We need to talk! Your party is in grave danger. Send someone over here to meet me. I promise I won’t hurt him.”

“We don’t need any help!” Mongo roars back, his sword held at the ready.

Then an arrow sprouted from Mongo’s shoulder, another couple deflected by his heavy armor as whoever was in the alley started firing. Cautious now, Mongo and Vlad quickly retreated inside the house and put out all the lights. Peeking out the windows carefully, they saw no movement in the alley. But then the voice yelled out again “Do you need any help now?” followed by mocking laughter.

Vlad’s face grew more grim as he listened, then muttered to the others “That’s Taka, I’d swear it. The ambush in the dark, the taunting. He’s done this to us before.”

The party didn’t have long to consider this information, however, before they started to smell oil. A quick peek out of the windows didn’t reveal anyone close by. But the smell of oil was getting stronger. The roof would certainly make noise is someone was up there running around with oil. Several in the party got the same idea at once, looking down just as fire was sparked under the house and flames started to flare up between the floorboards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Bugaisha, Volar was immediately surrounded by guards, but he knew the correct password and was cleared by a Shugenja’s magic test. Volar passed along the information gathered at Bugaisha about Rodrigo, the factions there and what little the group really know of their plans. Volar also had a request “How fast can you make a banner, fairly big. It should have the Unicorn mon as well as Bansho Kishu, and Hiruma Toshiro. The Toshiro part should be really big. We want to get their attention.

A curious request, but a couple workmen were put to the task and in about fifteen minutes they had a passable banner ready to go. Volar stowed it away in his handy haversack, then called upon his teleport spell again, fixing the distant closet he had so clearly in his mind. The command word was given and Volar felt space warp around him, reforming back in the bandit stronghold of Kuzo.

Volar couldn’t help but cough as he reappeared in a closet filled with smoke. Through gaps in the wood he could see fire spreading in the house. A fast spell folded magic around him as armor before the elf yanked open the door and ran as fast as possible through the flames and out of the house. Bursting through the front door, Fireblossom was treated to a battle in progress. Raven firing arrows as fast as she could at enemy archers on rooftops across the street. Taka firing arrows from the alley as other thugs kept Vlad and Mongo from getting to him. While up on the rooftop of another house, a burly, bald headed man was flinging out a bizarre looking weapon like a chain mail basket, round and with jagged metal teeth lining the mouth. With each toss he tried to drop it over Mongo’s head, but the samurai’s armored helmet saved him from the worst and he head remained on his shoulders.

 

[Black Omega]

Despite the bandit’s tactical edge, the battle was short, sharp and not to their advantage. Raven’s deadly arrows dropped two of the archers on the top of the house. The burly thug with the flying guillotine was taken care of by a Fireblossom dominate person. Then one of his attacks snatched the head off the body of one of the thugs Mongo was fighting, before he and Vlad cut down the others savagely. Kyruko froze one bandit in place with a Hold Person. This was the first time the party had the chance to really cut loose in Kuzo and the bandits were totally unprepared for the results. At the last, Fireblossom dropped a Web over the alley Taka was in, planning to give the others time to get into position.

In the alley, Taka was starting to grow a little concerned. Clearly Malachai had underestimated these people. He’d kick the little runt’s butt later, but for now retreat was clearly the tactic of the moment. He’d escaped the sticky strands of the web, but looking around, both ends of the alley were engulfed in the thick, white web. It was probably be faster just to climb up to the roof, take a look, then get the hell out of there.

Taka was beyond surprised, however, when a ball of rolling fire bounced through the web, missing him thanks to his keen reflexes, while clearing a path through the web. Taka could barely believe his good fortune… A touch to his magical ring and the activating phrase “Inbisibaru!” and he vanished before the eyes of his foes and ran out of the web along the convenient path. No one seemed to have prepared any spells to see the invisible, since he passed by the fighters without any trouble. The elf…Fireblossom…conjured up a wall of fire to try and keep him from escaping, but the slippery thug barely broke stride, throwing himself through the flames, accepting the pain as the price of escape.

As he raced down the street, the wall of flame melted away behind him and then he heard Vlad yelling “Down the street, there! 100..130 feet and moving fast! Kill him in the name of Bane!”

A red bead rocketed down the street and exploded into flames, leaving the houses on either side of the street smoking and frying a couple surprised bandits into charred remains. But not Taka, he simply threw himself off to the side, rolled under the flames before kipping back to his feet and turning the corner.

Verick considered trying to chase him down and for a moment he started to run down the street. Mindra had finally cast True Sight on him, and he –really- wanted the cowardly archer dead and his sword back. But none of the others in his party were following him and running off alone seemed like a bad idea. Er...especially after declaring himself a Banite…

[GM Note: My group’s tactics can vary widely. An occasional strength, and weakness is that there are a few individuals with tactical sense, but there’s never an overall plan. Volar created the net to trap Taka but then used a flaming sphere to let the fighters in at him, with the result he also created an escape route. Mindra didn’t cast True Sight on anyone until a couple of rounds after Taka went invisible and started to run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party regrouped quickly and decided returning to their old camp would be pointless. A few looked over at Vlad and shook their heads over his Bane comment. They were already in trouble, but now the Church of Cyric would be taking this personally. The group debated where to hide out for the night when Fireblossom’s dominated thug cleared his throat.

“I’m Nagase…called Naga. I know you have me controlled by a spell. And I…can’t…break…out.” Fireblossom could feel his will like a fluttering bird inside a cage, utterly unable to escape the spell. “way I see it, my only chance to live is to see to it you guys get out of this alive. So you don’t need to force me to help. Just swear to me if we get out of this I won’t be killed. And that doesn’t mean turning me over to anyone else so they can kill me.”

The group agreed and Fireblossom came up with some carefully worded instructions to make sure the thug was not leading them into a trap. Then he took them to his home, a rather small place in the northern section of the bandit village. Badly in need of rest and a little healing, the group set up camp there and set watches.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Verick had the early shift, joined by the still twitchy Nezu and Yukiyo. The windows were closed to slits and checked often as the others tried to sleep. Several hours had passed and Nezu was peeking out the back windows to make sure the coast was clear, when Verick saw a shadow move. Then again, a oozing darkness growing along the wall he was facing. Silently, Verick drew his jade katana, holding the sword ready. The shadow did not attack, however. The wispy, almost human silhouette whispered softly “Danger follows close behind me. If you survive and can get to the octopus house, you should be undisturbed tonight.”

Then to Verick’s surprise the shadowy form simply vanished back through the wall. Verick frowned, then decided to try to head off this trouble before it reached them. He slipped over and awakened Toshiro and Kaz “Get your armor on. We might have a fight coming and I don’t want to disturb the spellcasters. They need their sleep.”

Armored and ready, the three samurai slipped out of the house and crossed the street quickly to an alley on the opposite side. Inside the house, Yukiyo and Nezu awakened the others quickly and explained what Verick had said had happened. They peeked out the front while the samurai watched from the opposite alley and saw a white mist roll in down the street. Lingering in the slight breeze until something else disturbed it. Figures in black clocks and armor, with great metal shields bearing the symbol of Cyric, and long swords that gleamed with an icy blue light. The figures moved with complete silence as they started to march in formation toward the house.

Verick’s plan came together quickly in his mind and he set out down the alley with the intent of circling around and catching the Cyricians from two fronts. He left the alley on the opposite side of where the Cyricians were and started to circle around behind. After perhaps 30 seconds he looked back and realized Kaz and Toshiro had not followed him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Instead the two Crab samurai had lingered at the mouth of the alley and been spotted by a couple of the silent, armored men and the attack was on. While two attacked and sealed off the samurai in the alley, the others assaulted the house. A hasty fire trap by Yukiyo on the door was enough to set off an eruption of flame there, so little effect. And Mir, Volar and the others ran out the back of the house. The first out the door, Nezu, took an arrow from an ambusher there but Mir shoved right past him as he stopped short and the others escape the house quickly.

Volar summoned up a boiling, thick cloud filled with noxious fumes to slow down the Cyricians but a few walked through it like it wasn’t even there and started to attack Naga and Nezu. To some surprise, Naga actually held his own with the Cyrician, though Nezu did not do quite so well, bloodied by the first attack and as the Cyrician moved out of the Silence cast on the others, he lifted the shield with the Symbol of Cyric and invoked Blindness on the luckless rat.

Mindra had quickly scampered around the houses to where Toshiro and Kaz were holding their own. But found thanks to the areas of Silence, he could not get close enough to heal them, and could not tell the samurai to make a tactical withdrawal.

Mir was forced to retreat as the sniper at the back door was revealed to be Malachai, the tumbling Orcling constantly moving to try and flank her with one of the other Cyricians attacking. By this time Verick had finished his circling maneuver and caught back up with the battle again. Obviously with some pent of aggression he needed to take out on someone, since he charged in and engaged three of the Cyricians all by himself. He was even mostly holding his own, jade katana and mundane wakizashi flashing, until Malachai tumbled into range, daggers finding the vulnerable parts of Verick’s anatomy.

Across the street, Kaz had finished off his opponent and taken a step back, allowing Mindra to heal him. Then the two of them finished off the one remaining hooded figure fighting them.

As Volar and Mir withdraw to a safer spot they were attacked by rubbery black tendrils that grew up from the ground. At the same moment the illusions of Cyric warriors melted away. Faelyn, Finafin’s ‘friend’, was revealed flying off to the side, letting the tendrils do their work before dropping a fireball over the two as they retreated back toward the Cyrician clerics and warriors.

With the illusions gone, Naga was able to find real targets to fight and Yukiyo’s arrows began to fly with more deadly results, focused particularly on Malachai, who was forced to somersault away and drink a healing potion. With Kaz, Toshiro and Mindra returning to the battle, the tide had turned firmly against the Cyrician’s. Kaz was able to save Nezu before the cleric finished off tormenting his blind opponent. Bloody as he was, Verick had stood up to the best the Followers of Cyric could throw at him and was still standing.

Seeing little point to placing himself in real physical danger, Faelyn flew away once the battle went against him. And Malachai tumbled off into the darkness. Volar was ready for him…a scroll of dominate person prepared for just such occasions. But as he reached for the scroll he was reminded. The spell had already been used up on Naga. So Malachai escaped into the night, and with a vital bit of information. In the heat of battle, Mir had called Volar by name. At last, he had his first clue to the identity of the group.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Notes from Mir

Well its been an interesting time. Knowing that the Cyricians are all over the place Verick calls down thier wrath. Someone else is on our side warning us, which is even stranger as we have made no friends in town. I accidently call Volar by his name. Fortunately if we can make it through the night all indications the battle will be tommorrow and we won't have to worry about our cover anymore.

Mir

 

[Black Omega]

The party made their way to the house former used by the Octopus gang. They found it deserted, a sign posted warning the house was infected with a disease and no one was to enter. All valuables had already been stripped away but it worked out to a relatively safe place to stay. While the group settled in to wait on the dawn Toshiro and Kaz set to work stripping the disguising paint from their armor. For the battle tomorrow, they wouldn’t be hiding who they really were. Verick and Volar cornered Naga for a little chat as well.

‘I only know a little of the plan. I have a friend who’s in charge of a small group in the second line. I guess there are going to be three lines. His group’s been told once the fight starts, the front line with take the first charge. Once they’ve blunted the first attack, they will fight a little more then retreat quickly. So if it looks like the front line is running for their lives, it’s nothing to worry about. It’s all part of the plan. I’m not sure I believe that, but the men are pretty confident. This is for blood and Rodrigo’s never let them down.” Naga patiently explained under questioning, doing his best to cooperate.

As dawn drew near Toshiro grew more quiet and thoughtful. Like everyone else, he was set to use a Cyrician cloak as a disguise, to follow the army as it went out. Finally as he rose to join the others he said “Dmitrios will be out there. I really hope I don’t have to fight my friend.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party peeked out of their little house as the town prepared for war. The first to come were the Yabanjin. Axes held at the ready, paired with wooden shields, the barbarians sounded more like they were going to a party rather than a fight. A few Yabanjin half sang, half yelled out something in their native language and the others responded with enthusiastic shouts of “Da!” often punctuated with the thunder of three hundred axe handles pounding against their wooden shields. The Yabanjin weren’t just ready for the fight, they were eager for it.

Next came the bandits of kuzo, a mix of tough, hardened killers and young peasants looking for a better life. Surly and often looking hung over, they were driven into battle by tough looking bandit leaders who mixed harsh language with liberal uses of whips or clubs to keep their men moving.

The Sons of Rodrigo came next, hulking halforcs in heavy armor, armed with long spears and great swords. Viktor was allowed to lead them and his group looked the most disciplined of the bandits so far. Next came Rodrigo, a shriveled shadow of the savage killer who had terrorized the countryside for decades. Stravros rode with him. And right behind came yet one more abomination. He looked like a halforc crossed with an ogre. And the monsterous thing was carrying a heavy banner. Toshiro’s fiancé, Shinjo O-Hisa. Bound up onto the banner pole, looking much the worse for wear. Now the group knew what the mysterious mission the night before had been about.

Last came the Cyricians. Yet one more disorderly mob, though well armed and spoiling for a fight. Mostly bandits and a frew clerics, mixed in with halforc wizards. It was here the group made their move. Picking a good moment to slip out of their house and mingle in with the straggling followers of Cyric. And there were plenty straggling. Toshiro’s doubts had been dispelled by the sight of O-Hisa on that heavy cross. He was ready for blood.

The army marched out from the mist shrouded town, then headed east for two hours. A nervous two hours where the group did their best to simply mingle in with the less eager Cyricians who were also trying very hard not to be noticed. Obviously not everyone was excited about the idea of fighting a thousand samurai.

At the battlefield the group faded back even more, watching from a small hill a little way back from the left flank as the bandits formed into three lines. The weakest, least reliable warriors in front. The second line was mostly Yabanjin, though with a large number of the more hardened bandits as well. Last were the Sons of Rodrigo. Viktor’s faction held the right flank, horse archers in place to prevent a flanking attack. Rodrigo’s banner was planted right in the middle where all could see. And the left was held by the follows of Cyric, their wizards and clerics giving them an edge the others lacked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within the hour, the Unicorn army marched into view. More infantry than they would have expected but disciplined and organized. Different shades of purple dividing the different divisions. Unlike the bandits of Kuzo and their allies, the Unicorn army was neatly organized into squares, samurai with long spears in the front, followed by divisions of archers and a light cavalry screen for the flanks. Banners were displayed for the lords leading each division. The party’s old friend, Utaku Shiko. Shinjo Yuji. Shinjo Jyaku himself. And Hiruma Toshiro and Toritaka Kazuyuki on Viktor’s side.

From their spot on the hill, the party watched as both sides prepared. And Verick simply shook his head “We missed something. Those bandits can’t possibly stand up to those samurai. No hordelanders. No Bloodspeakers present. They don’t have a chance in Jigoku.”

Volar agreed “The Bloodspeakers are waiting out there. But it’s ok. I have a little trick of my own to spring on Rodrigo’s group.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The battle began with a volley of fireballs from Shugenja’s in Lord Jyaku’s army, then the advance of the samurai. Timed to coincide with the first contact between the front lines, Stravro’s and the Cyricians looked back at a hill behind their flank and saw a new army walk into view. A hundred Crab Samurai in heavy armor just creating the hill and standing ready. Fluttering in the breeze was the banner Volar had gotten made in Kuzo, the mon of Toshiro.

Aied with Volar’s magic, Toshiro’s voice boomed out over the left flank “Prepare to die, you dogs! Hiruma Toshiro has come! The Crab fight beside the Unicorn today!”

 

[Black Omega]

The line of illusionary Crab cresting the hill behind the flank of the Cyricians certainly did catch their attention. Toshiro’s thundering voice delivering that challenge did even more. The cavalry on the left flank were panicked by the sudden appearance of a hundred samurai behind them, and fled from the field. While the horse archers on the right flank were caught in a tangle of plant growth, courtesy of Mir.

[GM Note: Toshiro’s player rolled a natural 20 on the Intimidation check for his dramatic entrance. That was worth some undisciplined follows of Cyric panicking and running away.]

The dramatic entrance also drew a swift response from the Cyricians. 40 of the Yabanjin hunters, with a few clerics and one wizard, were sent up to assail the small force of Crab samurai. As the wizard’s first fireball fell among the gathered samurai, the halforc wizard quickly realized what had already been suspected. An illusion.

“It’s a trick! Charge up there and kill them all! There’s only a few of them, the rest is illusion!” the wizard shouted, before falling into silence as Mir’s ‘raven’ familiar flew in, enchanted with a spell of Silence and Invisibility Purge.

The samurai might have been illusion, but Volar’s next trick was not. A boiling cloud of foul smelling fog engulfed the charging barbarians, and barely half staggered through, surviving the Cloudkill. Even twenty Yabanjin with axe and shield were nearly enough to overwhelm the party, though. Naga was badly wounded protecting Mindra as the monkey dashed from point to point, healing the fighters. Mir was distracted from the combat for a time as the wizard retreated from the area of Silence. A Conjuring Bolt not only injured her familiar badly, but it created an evil looking hawk to chase the bird all over the field.

The battle was bloody. Volar was conserving spells for later battles and Mindra was forced to summon up a Dire Ape to help out Kaz. But slowly the tide turned as Verick, Toshiro and Kaz took a toll on the Yabanjin. Their flashing katana cutting down one or two at a time. After a solid minute of hard fighting the Yabanjin had enough and withdrew quickly from the battlefield.

Mir’s ‘raven’ familiar was doing the exact same thing, flying as fast as he could back to Mir while trying to dodge the fiendish hawk in pursuit. A magic missile from the wizard almost finished off the poor bird before it flew behind Mir, currently invisible. With a thud the fiendish hawk flew straight into Mir, falling stunned from the impact and easily finished off. With his troops in retreat, the halforc wizard picked the better part of valor and retreated with them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Their illusion revealed, it was just the party now moving along the back edge of the battle field. Here and there, they encountered small groups of bandits. But nothing that could threaten such powerful warriors and spell casters. Thanks to Mir’s healed up familiar, they had a bird’s eye view of the battle as it developed. The first line collapsing under the Unicorn assault. The second line holding firm in the beginning but then starting to fade under the relentless pressure. Drums pounded behind the Unicorn lines and banners waved, directing the assault as a other wave of fireballs exploded among the bandits, triggering a weaker, mixed assault of lightning and fire back from the bandit wizards.

Now Mir’s familiar started to notice, the air over the battlefield had gotten more crowded. There had been several birds flying over the battle, assumed to be wizard’s familiars helping them keep track of what was going on. But now there were twenty or more hawks, with some eagles circling the battlefield. Until an unseen signal was given and the hawks attacked every other bird in the air, including Mir’s thrush. As this began, the eagles swooped down low, forms twisting as they pulled up to a near stop and changed tohuge bears and other forest animals who began an assault on the now trapped Yabanjin hunters.

Mir’s ‘raven’ was forced to retreat quickly to the safety of Mir, needing a little more healing before being sent out again. Instructed fly low and stay out of trouble, Mir’s familiar was to find Shinjo Yuji and stay close, so they could relay messages to him.

The second line of the bandits was broken, it’s cohesion lost as the battle went on. Some of the hunters simply withdrew. Others retreated to the third line, ready to fight again. Banners rushed from place to place on the Unicorn side as they took advantage of the lull to move forward fresh samurai to the front lines, withdrawing battered units to the reserve. And then the battle began anew. The final line of Rodrigo’s bandits held firm against the attack. Viktor even pushed forward a little, anchoring his flank against the plant growth dropped there by Mir.

Once the battle was fully joined, a shadow fell over the field. Skeletons and zombies began to rise from the spots of the battlefield they were buried. On the right flank twisted creatures that could only be Oni came into view, swinging around the plant growth to attack with fearsome force. While on the Cyrician side, the Bloodspeakers rode into view. More undead leading the way, followed by four riders in icy black armor, Shahai’s Iron Lords who spread fear all around them. And finally Shahai herself, with other maho-tsukai, dealing out terrible spells that left brave samurai clawing out their own eyes in horror.

And behind it all, the party circling around toward the middle, toward the gruesome banner that held Toshiro’s fiancé. But they weren’t the only people back there on a mission. And as some smoke swept over the battlefield, another group came into view just a hundred feet away. A squat, heavily armored cleric of Beshaba. A ronin in lion colors, with a fur trimmed haori, a sleeveless jacket worn over armor. A wizard in a mask showing spread wings. And someone the party recognized easily. Taka, Verick’s old double sword worn slung over his shoulder, his trusty bow in hand. As soon as they spotted the group, they attacked. The ronin and cleric charging forward as Taka began to pincushion Verick. And the wizard gestured, evoking a fiery blast that engulfed the party.

 

[Black Omega]

The party had been looking forward to one more shot at Taka and his Guren-tai group being here was just a bonus. Verick began by trading arrow shots with Taka as Toshiro and Nezu started forward. The stout cleric cast a bless then charged forward with the ronin dressed as a Lion clan samurai, the ronin holding a katana in one hand and a bladed gauntlet in the other. Seeing Verick was rapidly losing his archery duel with Taka , Volar conjured up a Stinking Cloud over him and the wing masked wizard.

Dropping his bow, Verick readily his katana and wakizashi in a flash and rushed forward, charging recklessly, passing by the more cautious Toshiro and Nezu’s advance. They met the ronin and cleric head on, a quick spell Paralyzing Nezu while Verick drew blood from the ronin with a slash. The masked wizard emerged from the Stinking Cloud but had no chance to cast a spell before Volar gestured again, a Stone Wall rising from the earth and surrounding him, but not closing off the top. Not stopping the wizard but delaying him from casting spells on the party.

It only delayed the wizard a few seconds though. A Fly spell soon had him floating into view. He considered for a moment using the Stone cylinder as a tower, but didn’t want to take the chance Volar had another wall to close off the top with. So he flew behind the wall, using it for cover as another fireball fried Nezu, Mindra, Volar, Toshiro and Naga (always staying close to the elf).

Verick had agilely avoided the flame blast but he was surrounded by the cleric and the ronin, blood flying as both hacked into him. And Taka emerged from the mists, arrows once again pin cushioning his old enemy. Only Mir running into the line of fire to heal him saved the reckless young Lion samurai. Mindra freed Nezu of the Hold Person spell and at Toshiro’s orders, the twitchy man moved to flank the ronin with Toshiro, two strikes of Toshiro’s honorable weapon doing terrible damage to the dishonorable cur.

The cleric moved over quickly to help, healing the ronin, then brandishing his holy symbol of Beshaba as he Cursed Toshiro with weakness. The wizard battle continued, Volar blasting the flying wizard with a Bolt of Conjuring, hurting him badly and bringing into the fray a celestial hawk to keep up the chase. The wing masked wizard gestured, hands lifted as energy swirled out toward Volar, turning the elf into a helpless little sheep. Though a sheep who was hasted and with hooves of striding and springing.

With help having caught up with him, Verick charged forward again, leaving the other battle behind as he raced toward Taka. Who simply faded back into a Fog Bank Volar had summoned earlier, vanishing from view before Verick got too close.

A busy Mindra cured Toshiro of the Curse and the battle got ugly as Toshiro scored a critical hit into a gap of the ronin’s armor. Just as the ronin stabbed the blades of his gauntlet into Toshiro’s side, drawing forth a red spray of blood. While Nezu was pounded by the cleric, and the wizard hurled another fiery bead that erupted over the party, doing burning damage to everyone, even the cleric, and the innocent sheep standing there trying to mind it’s own business. The wizard paid a price for that, though. His concentration had failed for a moment and the hawk got in an attack, for a seemingly insignificant amount of damage.

Seeing the battle behind him not going well, Verick raced back, catching the ronin from the side, a well placed slash while Toshiro switched off to help Nezu with the cleric, one again ordering the rat faced man into position for flanking.

Mindra caught up to the fast moving sheep long enough to dispel the magic and turn Volar back to his normal, elven self. The hasted elf wasted no time guzzling down two healing potions, already far to close to death for his comfort.

Taka emerged from the Fog again, having circled through it to a different spot and once again a flurry of arrows raced around and into Verick. One of the arrows was the black feathered type that had laid Toshro low for days recovering. But as Verick felt the taint in the4 arrow attacking, his Jade Katana heated up, it’s magic helping him fight it off. The wizard joined in the fun, blasting Verick with a Magic Missile, still ignoring the hawk, which had scored another lucky hit for insignificant damage.

Another Magic Missile blasted Toshiro next, but it was too late. Injured by the fireball and the persistent attacks, the cleric was wounded by a sneaky attack from Nezu, and then one last terrible sweep of Toshiro’s sword separated the man’s head from his body.

With Taka back in view, Verick once again raced forward, getting close enough with his charge this time to score one hit with his Jade Katana. Never one to match a bow against a sword at close range, Taka ran into the mists again. While Toshiro, Nezu and Mindra combined to overwhelm the ronin, striking him down as well.

Mir had her bow out by this point and was starting to shoot at the wizard. The wing masked wizard gestured and an arrow of acid sailed across the battle field and striking Mir. Though the wizard had no way of knowing the acid would do little harm to the silver haired Aasimar. In return Mir fire again from her bow, an arrow catching the wizard perfectly, in mid spell. Into his throat and out the other side. The wizard hovered in the air for a moment, then fell, landing with a bone crushing thud that finished him off.

[GM Note: Mir rolled a crit with a great attack roll, and took the wizard to –1. The hawk that had been attacking had done two points of damage by this point, but the wizard had been ignoring it, since surely a point of damage here and there would make no difference. My players still remind me of this sometimes.]

Volar rushed forward, dispelling the fog cloud and allowing Verick to charge forward toward a surprised Taka. The surprise didn’t last, though. The charge came up short and Taka’s ring turned him invisible again. Volar tried to cut off his retreat from the battlefield with a wall and Mindra scampered up to cast True Sight on Verick. But it was all too late. The slippery bowman had escaped them one more time.

[GM Note: As a storyteller I was tempted to let them finally catch Taka. It felt like the right time. B ut at the same time, the group knew he used invisibility to escape. They knew his tactics well enough by now that Volar predicted almost exactly when Taka would run. And they still had not prepared anything to stop him when he turned invisible. I’m very sure next time it won’t be so easy, though.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the battle finished, there was a brief rest as Volar looted bodies. Mir and Mindra healed everyone as much as they could. But the battle had drained their resources badly and it was decided to not heal everyone up fully. There was still a lot of fighting left to do.

On the left flank, the Cyricians were barely holding on. If not for the Bloodspeakers, they would already have pulled out of the battle, but the sheer, bloody-minded aggression and terrifying magic of Shahai and the other Maho-tsukai was holding that battle even at the very least. To the right, the Oni had been dealt with but at great cost. Viktor’s heavily armed force was pressing forward and as the party watched, the man holding the banner of Toshiro was cut down by Viktor’s fiery great sword.

Mir’s familiar had found Shinjo Yuji by this point and they had one quick question for the embattled Unicorn samurai. “We’re here somewhere behind the center of their line. What do you need us to do?”

“We’re getting ready for a big push. But I’m worried if we start breaking them, Rodrigo will simply kill the Great Lord’s daughter and try to escape. I’ll let you know when we are ready to push. Get yourself in position to attack from behind and try to free O-Hisa when we attack. You have ten minutes.” Yuji said to the familiar.

Again, there was some fighting to do to get into position. But only rabble, nothing that could challenge the party like Guren-tai had. When they had found a good spot for the ambush, what they saw didn’t inspire confidence. O-Hisa was strapped to a large cross that doubled as a banner. Halforcs stood around, guarding the area around the banner. And the huge, halforc-halfogre stood at ready beside the banner, an equally huge naginata held at the ready. This would take some planning. And they didn’t have much time. As the familiar relayed Yuji’s command to attack, the party saw off to the left the Hordeland barbarians finally arriving, hooves thundering as they raced to join forces with the Bloodspeakers.