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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1064653" data-attributes="member: 79">On the wall againI just can’t wait to be on the wall againGoing out and killing goblins with my friendsI can’t wait to be on the wall againOn top of the wall, the heat was oppressive, only made tolerable by a strong wind blowing from the Shadowlands side of the wall.  Kaiu Hanshi was a tough looking young man in heavy armor.  As the group ascended the stairways to the top of the wall he explained “We have to do this sometimes.  When a wave of Shadowlands creatures attack, sometimes they overflow the area temporarily.  Many of them go inside the wall, into the passages there.  That’s why we don’t keep barracks or aid stations there, though that was the 0riginal plan when the wall was first built a thousand years ago.  The wall is a hundred feet high and extends down well past ground level, covering the entire border the Crab Clan has with the Shadowlands.  Up on those towers are the signal fires we use for fast warning of an attack.  There are traps down inside the wall for the creatures that get inside.  Don’t worry about them though, I’ll guide you past them.”As impressive as the wall was, the sight that lay beyond it was even more so.  A sluggish black river that lead on to a twisted landscape.  Here and there a tree dead looking trees and other plant life.  The land shimmering with the morning heat.  Toshiro had seen this before, in his dreams.  The fights against hordes of tainted creatures.  And now here he was for real.  He was really looking forward to this…Kaz was not.  He’d been stationed on the wall before, he knew exactly how dangerous it could get up here.  He’d done his duty but if he had never seen the wall again, he’d have been happy.  And now here he was again…~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kaiu Hanshi led the group down into the wall, guiding the group past several traps only he and Verick could see.  “Keep in mind bakemono are fierce but not brave.  When they state losing, they’ll flee and the battle can turn into a chase.  Just remember, don’t go off alone.”It was easy to believe the wall had been here a thousand years.  There was a sense of age to it, and signs of the constant repairing, and rebuilding that had to go on to keep it in proper shape.  Patches over damaged areas, and to Volar’s magical sight, the aura of magic from old spells not quite faded.But no goblins, not as of yet.  But as they walked along, Volar did notice something unusual.  Looking down a hallway, there was a strong, fresh aura.  An illusion.  Asking Hanshi about spell casting Bakemono simply surprised the young man, he had never heard of such a thing.  But still, as the group went down the hallway, there was a sound in the blank area that looked so safe.  Then  a charge, 20 goblins coming into view.  The fight was short and swift, the Bakemono no match for Bansho Kishu.  Mindra, Mir and Volar even got into the act, with mace, staff and Elven long sword.  It was the first time Volar had ever bothered to draw his long sword for a fight.And still the Bakemono fought on, expressions going from bloodthirsty to frightened, but they did not retreat.  And the fight only ended when the last goblin was dead.  Going down the hallway to investigate, the group found two old rooms that seemed to have been taken over by the goblins.  The stench was unpleasant, and that as just the leftovers from the goblins food.  The bedding was even worse.Hanshi had to admit, he’d not seen bakemono act like this before in the wall, it was very puzzling.  The group divided to check both rooms and it was soon obvious the goblins had been here for about a week.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~There was some discussion in the rooms over what they should do now, when a light began to glow in the hallway.  A greenish aura that flickered and swirled and as they peeked out, they saw what looked like a gate forming at the end of the hallway, until it covered the entire wall.Toshiro, Kaz, Hanshi and Verick readied their weapons while the others waited. Mir sent her thrush down to the opposite end of the hallway to keep track of what was going there.  The poor thrush could not see a thing there in the darkness but it could hear without trouble.After perhaps a minute something came through the gateway.  Goblins.  A wave of goblins..30…40…50…then an ogre…then a type of oni…then more and more goblins.  Toshiro picked his moment, waiting until the ogre was passing by, then attacked from the room and the battler began all over again.  Two ogres cut half the group off in that room as an oni faced the other room, tainted claws clashing with Verick’s katana there.  One of the gores swung his massive club, hitting Hanshi on the top of the helmet, sending the Crab samurai down in a boneless heap.  The other hit Toshiro, but now Kaz stepped up to close the gap, protesting Volar and Mindra.  Verick’s jade sword did terrible damage to the oni, but it took Mir’s magic to keep Verick going.  And as that fight raged, the bakemono kept pouring past, over a hundred now and still coming.Mindra’s magic was too late to save Hanshi, but Toshiro and Kaz took revenge on the ogres, cutting both down, though it was a tough fight and both were bloodied and tired by the end.  Verick had fared better against the Oni thanks to his jade katana.   But over two hundred goblins had won past and the gateway was still there.  Volar quickly send off a sending to Hiruma Tetsuo, Toshiro’s dad’ to let him know about the goblins and the gateway.  And then he joined the others in the hallway.  No one was keen to try stepping through the portal and the few seconds they had to try passed quickly and another figure emerged from the gateway.  Nine feet tall, clad in a flowing robe decorated with mystic symbols even Volar did not recognize.  Horns curled out from it’s head, but it was no minotaur, Volar was sure of that.  After another second, two more of the creatures joined in the first, both heavily armored and carrying huge, curved swords.Volar acted quickly, casting a wall of force across the hallway, then waving “Back this way!  We have time to heal and get ready!  It will last several minutes!”  As the creatures found the invisible wall, the party retreated down the hallway.  Though the goblins had already chased Mir’s thrush deeper into the wall and she no longer had any good idea where Thrush was, except lost.  While trying to guide her familiar back, she joined Mindra and healing up the group as fast as they could.  But then from the darkness the three creatures strode into view, ready for the fight.  And from the robe clad creature came a challenge in hissing Rokugani “We challenge the samurai to single combat!  Especially the Lion!”Mindra and Mir got off a last round of healing as Volar cast Grease across the hallway in front of Kaz, Toshiro and Verick to make it difficult for the massive creatures to approach closer, the challenge silently refused.  Shadowlands creatures knew nothing of honor, why bother with a duel?   At the sight of the grease, the creatures snorted, what seemed to be a laugh for them.  And Mindra recognized each of them calling upon the spirits, a hiss wail in the hallway as the three samurai in front were struck by Ancestral Vengeance spells like Mindra used now and then.  And that was not the end, the spirits struck over and over as the creatures simply stood there, seeing no point to crossing the grease when they could strike down the samurai from here.  Kaz, Toshiro, and especially Verick started to get impatient as they tried to outlast the spells, Mindra and Mir having to cast healing as fast as they could to try and keep up.Finally Verick growled, “I don’t think they are going to stop.  We can’t cross the grease to attack them, damn it!”  The robe-clad creature lifted his arms, a new attack, calling upon the spirits again to Castigate the party.  And this time Volar and Mindra suffered the worst, the Monkey shaman knowing the spell struck worst against the one’s whose temperament as most opposed to the caster.   So if the honorable party members suffered the least…perhaps the creatures did know something of honor?Another couple of volleys buffeted the party with no chance of return fire.  Mindra just looked to Volar, who shook his head “I expected a battle against goblins, I didn’t prepare spells for something like this.”Finally Verick shouted “Retreat back the way we came!”  And the group fled down the hallway, hoping to outdistance the creatures while the horned things were busy crossing the grease.  And from behind that hissing snort of a laugh again before it was swallowed in the darkness.At first Toshiro took the lead as they tried to make their way back to the top of the wall.  It said something about the twisting passages that even Volar had gotten lost in all the turns and stairs while Hanshi had guided the group.  After Toshiro narrowing avoided a trap he had not even seen until the pit opened up, Verick took the lead, guiding the party past the remaining traps.  They had one basic strategy...keep going up.  Sooner or later they’d end up on top of the wall again.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The group passed some dead samurai, and even more dead goblins before they finally came to a ladder leading upward.  Quite a few goblins laying dead at the bottom of the ladder.  Warily, Verick climbed to the top of the ladder and pushed on the hatch there.  It took a few strong pushes before something seemed to roll off the door and Verick would open it a crack to see a fierce battle.  Samurai fighting undead, Bakemono, at least one Maho-tsukai, casting blood spells.    Quickly Verick ducked back down and slide down the ladder to rejoin the group, worriedly “It doesn’t look good…”[GM Note:  Hanshi was just another example of me having fun with Japanese.  It can mean half-dead.  I knew the odds were slight he'd ever survive the first big battle.<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />]</blockquote>

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