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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1267430" data-attributes="member: 79">Hawk met with the scorpion merchant who had given him the expensive kimono.  The merchant was eager to go ahead with his trading plans but Hawk had bad news.“Things have changed in the Centaur Nation.”  Hawk explained “The King is tainted, the commander of the Royal Guard is even more tainted.   Crazy monkeys are running around.  And they have cut off all contact with the empire, including trade.  I’m an exile now…”The merchant seemed to give this a moment’s thought then nodded “You have no power there at all now?”  he asked.“No, none.”  Hawk answered simply.“Well, nothing to be done about it then.  I wish you the best of luck.”  The merchant said, slapping Hawk on the shoulder and barely restraining a laugh.  ‘I’ll be sending a itemized bill around to the estate for services rendered.  Since you can’t repay in favors or anything else.  Gold will have to do.”And just that fast the merchant was walking away.The bill delivered later was for 20,000 koku.  Not something the centaur could pay off easily.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The 20th day of the Hare.  There are reports of an attack on Otosan Uchi by a Shadowlands Horde.   Details are unclear, but somehow the Shadowlands Horde has gone around the Crab clan and attacked the city directly from the sea.  The Imperial Legions under Toturi Tsudao and the armies of the Lion clan are marching in to counter attack while Hantei Naseru and the Emerald Champion (Toshiro’s Crane friend) lead the defense.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In Ryoko Owari, Toshiro’s wife O-Hisa also had exciting news, though not the news he’d been hoping to hear from her. “I’m being sent back to Bugaisha!”  she said happily “Not the most exciting of missions but with the chance for some very satisfying bone crushing at the end.  A Ide party set off from Bugaisha and someplace between there and the Ide border they were turned into undead killing machines.  They killed the border patrol, then went on to nearly wipe out a village before they were stopped.  So now a force of Moto have been assigned to Bugaisha, since Shinjo Yuji had proven incapable of protecting the are  properly.  Or so the Moto claimed.  Dad said I’m more forceful than Yuji, so I’m going to help out!  It should be really exciting.”Toshiro wasn’t so sure. O-Hisa had gotten into trouble before with the Bloodspeakers.  He liked the idea of trying to go to Bugaisha with her but he was needed in Ryoko Owari. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Verick had a surprise of his own.  Matsu Shorisuro, from the Topaz Championship, had been sent to the Akodo Estates with news.  The last time Verick had seen Shorisuro, he had withdrawn from a match and allowed the Matsu to advance and become a samurai.  Shorisuro did not have good news.  The Bloodspeakers had apparently struck again.  During a patrol along the border between the Ikoma lands and the Unicorn, he and his men have stayed over in a village.  He had awakened to utter darkness, a darkness so deep it had seemed to be consuming him.  He had drawn his katana and rushed deeper into the darkness, trying to find someone to fight, but he had ended up stumbling out of the darkness, nearly dead.  Instead of charging back into the darkness, he had escaped back to warn the local commander what was going on.  With the Lion armies marching to Otosan Uchi to repel the Shadowlands assault there, the Bloodspeakers seemed to be taking full advantage.  When reinforcements got to the village everyone was already gone, nothing left but splashes of blood over the ground and along the walls.  This had happened to two villages.Verick was taken off guard by the plan the Akodo had for dealing with this.  “You understand, most of our armies are on their way to Otosan Uchi now.”  Akodo Jusho explained “so when the topic of what to do about taint ridden maho-tsukai came up, your name floated right to the top.  You have the jade katana, after all.  And have experience dealing with Bloodspeakers.  And if some of your Bansho Kishu friends like Toshiro and Kaz happen to come along, so much the better.  And if Toshiro cares to bring along one of his monkey’s, and it happens to cast spells. And talk.  I suppose that’s fine as well.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lord Jyaku was in agreement on this as well.  After the confrontation with the Scorpion, it didn’t seem like a bad thing for Bansho Kishu to be out of town for a while.  And this was a chance to do so while increasing the group’s reputation and striking a blow against the Bloodspeakers.  Lord Jyaku still regretted he had not been able to smash them completely at the battle of Kuzo.  Any chance to strike a blow against them was worth it to him.  He did let Mir know that the Moto had gone to Bugaisha and she might wish to contact her followers at the grove.  A jade magistrate had also started to look into Volar’s school.  He had asked Lord Jyaku about it before ever setting out and with the Bloodspeaker attack, Lord Jyaku had thanks the magistrate for his due diligence in going after the enemies of the empire.  If later he found time to check out the school, then that was perfectly acceptable and the magistrate would receive full cooperation from the Shinjo.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The group took a day to prepare for their trip.  Kaz and Toshiro made sure things were in order in their areas.  Volar contacted his school and made sure things would all be above board when the Jade Magistrate finally did visit.  Mir went to her grove to let her followers know what was going on, as well as meeting with Moto Kiyomasu again.  The fierce warrior was in charge of the Moto in the area and was determined to crush the Bloodspeakers wherever they were found.  Though he assured Mir that he knew a little of the Oak Father and knew she had nothing to do with the Bloodspeakers.  The Oak Father had never been a friend to the undead.  Her attempts to make him back off of Shnjo Yuji were only partially successful, however.  Kiyomasu had his orders.</blockquote>

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