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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 417296" data-attributes="member: 79">The group reported in what happened at the inn as soon as they arrived back in Bugaisha.  The next morning they reported in to follow up, but Lord Jyaku was still not taking visitors.  Instead a concerned looking Shinjo Yuji took their account of the battle and relayed it to Lord Jyaku.  He returned shortly after, shaking his head.  ‘Shinjo Jyaku-sama regrets his illness has left him unable to meet with you.”  Yuji murmured, “This is clearly a matter of great concern. You have official permission to pursue this matter.  Hiruma Toshiro, there is a matter you should see to first.  You are being assigned to a patrol out into the western wastes.  Once that is finished you may rejoin your companions.”  And with that the group was dismissed to make preparations.First of all, Verick stopped by the blacksmith.  He had left his ancestral katana there before the trip to Mimura to be repaired.  And at long last it was done.  The ancestral blade of his father was reforged at last.  And just in time, since his double sword was no doubt somewhere up in Kuzo by now.Volar took his hulking apprentice aside ‘We’ll be gone for a few days at least.  In the meantime do me a favor and keep an eye on the Red Wizards over in the barbarian sector.  They are up to something.  I’m just not sure what yet.”  Chen smiled and bowed low.  He was a slow student when it came to magic, but an old hand at shadier matters.Akodo Verick gave a report of the battle to his sensei, who simply shook his head “What type of soft headed plan was that?  Typical Crab thinking.  We go in and then make it up as we go along!?  Remember, Verick, brilliance is simply the art of planning ahead.  So plan contingencies.  If everything goes to Jigoku have a place to regroup.  You know it’s an ambush, so plan for the ambush being inside the building.  And coming from the outside.  And beneath.  Look, listen, learn!  Trust me, Verick.  Do exactly as I say.  My students don’t simply go on to become samurai.  They become –great- samurai.  They win battles, duels and bring glory to our Clan.”  Frustrated but determined, Verick nodded and went on with training.-----------------------------------------------------------------Out at her grove, Mir was laying the groundwork for the shrine that was to follow.  After the workmen had left, another visitor arrived.  Iuchi Yoenki’s cheerful smile brightening the grove.  For once, she had nothing to ask of Mir, she was simply stopping in to keep in touch.  She’d been doing well indeed, though things had been difficult lately.  When Mir asked her about no one at the temple knowing of her, Yoenki waved it off.  Dealing with foreign magic and the undead was considered suspect by everyone, except a small few willing to take that risk.  Yoenki was terribly curious about the battle at the Inn, though.  She was pretty sure the child creature was a Pekkle no Oni, a twisted spirit of mischief who could assume nearly any form.  Excellent spies.  As always, Yoenki evaded all questions about whom she was really working with.  But she admitted to having met the Witchhunter and ‘worked’ with him.  Though she remained vague on details.  At Mir’s request for a way to contact her, Yoenki simply smiled and said “Talk to Iuchi Shokai, he’s the head of the Temple in Bugaisha.  It’ll get back to me.  But meet me alone.  I’d hate for something memorable and unfortunate to happen to one of your friends…”------------------------------------------------------------------At Verick’s request, Toritaka Kazuyuki went to speak to Setei-sensei about Verick traveling with them on the trip, just so it is official.  Akodo Setei politely listened to Kaz’s words, his wrinkled hands resting on his walking stick as he sighed dramatically. “I understand the need for this, but I would make a request as well.  Verick-san is still learning.  Please watch him when you get into battle.  Make sure he doesn’t bend his elbow on the follow through…”Kaz simply smiled and nodded his agreement.  Akodo-sensei smiled as well “Domo Arigato, Kazuyuki-san.  I understand you are a decent swordsman.  Truly you are a credit to your clan.”Kaz bowed and said simply “Thank you.”  Then turned to return home and finish his own preparations for the trip.  He was halfway down the street before he paused and thoughts to himself  “Wait a minute…”-------------------------------------------------------------------Toshiro had his own mission to handle.  Every winter week long patrols were sent into the Hordelands, to check on where the nomads of that land were located and to make sure there was no immediate threat from them.  Even in the icy winter now falling over the Heigen Yuki, the Hordeland nomads sometimes launched raids on caravans or outlaying villages.  Hiruma Toshiro was assigned to one such patrol, along with Shinjo O-Hisa.  Certainly it would be a good chance for Toshiro to prove his bravery.  As well as indulge in some socially acceptable snuggling with his Unicorn girlfriend…for warmth, of course![DM Note:  Toshiro’s player was going to be missing the next couple of sessions and I wasn’t sure at what point in the story he’d be back, so I created the patrol as an excuse to remove him from the picture for a bit.  When ever he was back, the patrol would finish.]--------------------------------------------------------------------With their preparations complete, winder clothing bundled away and an extra pack horse, just in case, the group set off into the frozen north of the Snow Plains.  At that same moment a exhausted rider was just arriving in Shiro Ide with a letter for the most exalted Ide Tadaji-sama, Lord of the Ide and Chief Adviser to the Unicorn clam Champion.Ide Tadaji-san,Greetings, it has been far too long since we talked last.  [A page of pleasantries is snipped]I deeply regret the situation that developed with my samurai, Toshiro, and those traveling with him and your samurai, Ide Naoya.  I’m sure you can understand, the insult to Toshiro’s honor was too great to bear and he and his companions felt the need to vengeance on this Sadoka woman.  This vengeance is complete, but in the course of this a ledger was recovered.  It listed many of those Sadoka did business with.  Though I feel very confident your own investigations have already dealt with this matter, I have enclosed a list of Ide samurai apparently involved in these illegal activities.  I fully understand if you wish to see this ledger for yourself, I would myself were I in your sandals.  However, I’m sure you can understand such a ledger could not simply be sent by messenger.  Were an accident to happen and it end up in the wrong hands, certain people could so easily misunderstand how the names of some Ide lords could have ended up in it.  Should you wish to view the document during the Winter Court, I would be more than happy to accommodate you.                             Warmest regards,                            Shinjo Jyaku                            Lord of the Heigen YukiLord Shinjo Jyaku’s invitation to the Winter Court departed belatedly that same day.------------------------------------------------------------------The group traveled north and immediately found trouble in the first village they stopped at.  Finding a magical illness spreading among the peasants, the group tracked it back to the trees in a certain area.  Tainted and twisted when looked at with the proper magic.  Verick verified the trees were tainted by burning one with a touch of his jade katana.  Tendrils suddenly shoot out from the ground, the trees attacking viciously.  Everyone cut their way loose except for Mir.  Only Volar’s quick thinking in using his new rat familiar to get to Mir and cast gaseous form on her saved the young one was possible death.  Once the trees were revealed for what they were, it was relatively easy for the group to dispose of them.On their way back toward the village, they were shocked by the ambush of a group of undead and a fire shugenja who was using blood magic.  Mir and Mindra rather easily dealt with the undead but the fire shugenja layed down a fireball on the group, then another quickly as the group clustered together to heal.  Verick charged the shugenja as Mir ran from horse to horse to save as many as possible.  And Volar cried out “My Rat!!”  The poor creature burned to a near crisp by the waves of fire.  Only Mindra’s fast healing saved the poor creature.  When Verick got close enough, the evil shugenja called upon the fire spirits for one final spell, fire’s consuming his own body even as they did the same to the young Lion-wannabe.  But Verick’s agility and some fast healing spells saved him, while the shugenja was reduced to nothing more the smoldering ash.The return trip to the village was cut short again as Yukiyo spotted a hawk circling over them.  On impulse she shot it with an arrow and watched as it took off to the north.  An hour later the group noticed a figure to the north, closing in.  Most of the group hid, leaving Toritaka Kazuyuki to greet what turned out to be a weathered man dressed in animal hides and furs.  “Who are you?  Identify yourself!”  Kaz demanded in a loud voice.The grizzled man looked over the samurai and answered promptly “Eh?  Vas ist los? Wer sind Sie?”Kaz had no idea what the man was saying but Mir, Verick and Volar recognized Common instantly.[DM Note:  When characters didn’t speak Rokugani yet, I tended to use Japanese instead of saying “You don’t know what they said.”  So in this case I just used German as the equivalent for Common.  Not that I know much of it, but it was enough to get the point across.  If the group ever gets far enough north to run into the Yabanjin I plan to finally use that Russian they made me take in University<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  ]However, the rest of the group remained cautious of another ambush, bloodied and out of spells as they were, so they remained hidden, and it was left up to the weathered man to finally cast a spell, hiss words magically reforming into Rokugani, ‘I said, what’s wrong?  Who are you?  And for that matter, who shot my damn bird?”  Indeed, the hawk was flying overhead once again, looking down over the meeting.“You need papers to travel these lands.  I am Toritaka Kazuyuki, samurai of Lord Shinjo Jyaku.  If you want to stay in this area, you’ll have to report to Bugaisha, just south of here, and get permission.”  Kaz announced, resting his hand calmly on his katana’s hilt.The grizzled man introduced himself as Brakkus, a traveler from the Western Kingdoms and recent guest of the Yabanjin to the north.  Among mutter muttering to himself about “Awful lot of damn rules.” He was revealed to be a priest of nature in all it’s various forms and deities.  A druid.  And the hawk the group shot was Screech, his familiar.“But druids don’t have familiars…” Volar commented suspiciously to his friends.  But at last the rest of the group came out to meet Brakkus.  Brakkus even offered to heal the group’s horses, still suffering from the burns from the previous battle.  If he didn’t offer to heal their own wounds, well, no one complained.  Verick was more like a Unicorn in seeing his horse as a brother and it’s healing got the druid on his good side.The group returned to the village for an overnight to recover spells and healing.  Kaz was very clear with Brakkus that had must get the proper papers if he wished to remain in the empire.  He also wrote out a ‘temporary’ pass to show to any patrols along the way.  Brakkus and Mir spent a lot of time in conversation over nature, and discovered the weathered old fellow was a Mystic Wanderer, a select breed of spell caster who traveled all over the Forgotten Realms and beyond.  This interested Mir quite a bit and by the time the group was ready to move on, Brakkus had promised to visit Mir’s grove near Bugaisha and show her more about Mystic Wanderers.  At the same time, conflict within the group was growing.  Verick had decided Yukiyo should apologize to Brakkus for shooting his hawk.  Yukiyo was just as determined not to.  Yukiyo was sworn to Toshiro, she revealed.  And Verick was still months away from being a samurai himself.  So while much was said, Verick could not budge Yukiyo from her stubborn stand.  But he would remember, oh yes he would.The next day the group moved on, traveling up to the village they had visited months ago and saved from the attack of the undead.  The Witchhunter had mentioned using Nezu, so that seemed the place to start in their search.  It took a couple more days of travel in icy cold temperatures, but they arrived at the village and found it much as it had been when they left.  A trail of smoke billowing into the sky from the burned out remains of a home.The home had belonged to Nezu, now missing.  There had been another attack of undead the night before, but focused on Nezu’s home.  Several of the zombies had been destroyed in the fire and the peasants hoped he had escaped.  He’d done pretty well for the village since Toshiro ordered him to protect it.  Further questioning revealed Nezu had seemed nervous the last few days.  He’d even sent his wife and son to stay at another house.  The Witchhunter had not stopped by the village for days now, and it was obvious the peasants were perfectly happy to keep it that way.  A search of Nezu’s home revealed little.  Some of his personal effects had survived, but little more.The group was just considering how they could possibly find when Mindra spoke up “My dog could probably track him by scent…he left some clothing behind…”Dog??  Well, there had been a mutt following Mindra around but he’d never done anything useful.  Until now.  Finding a scrap of clothing not smelling too badly of smoke, Mindra let his dog get the scent and off the group went.  The animal tracked Nezu up into the foothills north of the village and after a day the group came to a small mountain of black rock, ash and sulfur.   Steam rose from the summit and the area was warm enough no snow had built up on the ashy slope.  But for the dog the trail ended here, the sulfur scent destroying any chance of following Nezu’s path up the slope.It was left to Yukiyo to search up the slope, the sneaky young woman finding a spoke where you could climb and avoid the black soot.  And higher up the slope she found a cave with a faint glow of fire some inside.  A night began to fall, dark clouds became darker and a light snowfall began.  Sneaking up the slope to the cave, the group found the familiar form of Nezu, asleep with his bow cradled in his arms, the embers of a fire still flickering.And outside, unseen, someone else had also determined this was where Nezu had holed up…[DM Note:  Like all those TNT movies, I'm time compressing things at this point and skimming certain parts.  Otherwise, there's no chance I'll be catching up to where the group is currently.  I'm sure my players will remind me if I miss anything important.<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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