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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 879957" data-attributes="member: 79">Lord Jyaku gave the group some time to plan out their ambush.  He could provide a little information.  What gate the Red Wizard and escort would likely be leaving by.  What road they would be taking.  But he wasn’t sure how far the Red Wizard was traveling or exactly where he was going.  Attempts to spy on or scry past trips had all met with failure.Verick went to check with his sensei about such an expedition, but Setei-sensei firmly believed Verick would improve his battle skills most by doing and this seemed like a good chance to work on his tactics.A brief discussion leads to a plan to ride out of town that same day, head down to the south.  The group has left town many times before on missions for Lord Jyaku so this would not seem unusual.  And it was decided it was far more workable than trying to create the impression they were still in town.  Once outside the town, they would change into disguises and swing around to find a spot to intercept the Red Wizard’s group and spring the ambush.  To help that plan along, Verick made other arrangements for fake travel papers, calling on his old friend Gyo for help in procuring the illegal documents.Mir also went shopping, finding some scrolls she could use as fake Okuda, the spirit focuses used by the Shugenja for their own spell casting.  Mir carefully chose spells she could cast without using her Staff of the Oak Father and made her thrush look more like a crow.  Mindra planned to use his amulet to disguise himself as a Rokugani and trust his spirit magic was close enough to a Shugenja.  Volar would be invisible for the battle and cloaked, just in case.  Toshiro and Kaz would disguise their armor, and Verick would bring out his old scale armor from the west and use it with his new kusari-gama.  With such a mixed group, they hoped to give the impression of bandits from Kuzo, a place known to have wizards.Riding fast, the group managed to circle around and get to their spot in only a day.  The plan was to have Yukiyo, Verick, Toshiro and Kaz burst from cover while under an Improved Invisibility and attack while the spell casters maintained some distance, spaced out to avoid spells like fireballs.  Verick took some time to help set up the blinds the group would be hiding in.  Then they settled in to wait, while Mir sent her thrush up to look around, to give advance warning.Very wise it turned out, since the first group that passed by was a large group of Unicorn cavalry headed at a gallop toward the east.  They waited until noon in the hot spring sun, watching merchant caravans moving slowly past now and then.  But finally Mir’s thrush spotted a group of riders that fit the description of the Red Wizard’s group.  The thrush replied this information back but was ordered not to go in for a closer look.With no time to spare, Volar quickly cast his invisibilities and everyone ran to their hiding spots.  The thrush had been right, the tall, bald man in red robes was very obviously a Red Wizard, but not one of the three that had traveled with Volar, Mir and Verick on the caravan.  When the Red Wizard and his bodyguards reached the pre-agreed point, Yukiyo began firing as fast as she could at the Thayan Knight while Kaz and Verick charged in to try and cut down the Red Wizard before he could react.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“How did the ambush begin, Aloth Kakano?  And please be precise.  Even small details can give us clues about who was behind this attack.”  Chathin Zurn, Khazark of the Bugaisha Enclave, said softly.“Suddenly, I’d say.  At first a flurry of arrows, which made me think they might be clueless bandits.  But that impression didn’t last long.  Only until the first of the three who were under the effects of an Improved Invisibility hit me.  I was badly wounded by two in the initial attack while the others tried to take out my bodyguard.  Despite it all, though, the attack failed to kill me and I simply turned invisible myself and got out of the way.  They were not seemingly prepared for such a tactic.”  Aloth Kakano replied.“I was able to get out of the way and spotted a second group of the bandits on the north side of the path.  I dropped a fireball on them and wounded all.  There was a Roko fighter there, hasted, a wizard and a female Roko, probably a shugenja.  Then I spotted another Roko to the south and I summoned a Celestial Dire Bear to rip him apart.”Chathin Zurn frowned as she listened “Obviously, this was not nearly enough.”“No.”  Aloth Kakano replied “The Roko mercenaries we’d hired were fighting as well as they could.  My bodyguard had been driven back and then a Plant Growth made it difficult for her to get close to the battle again.  I also had trouble, the wizard’s familiar had Invisibility Purge and Silence cast on it, and it was trying to follow me around.  “Chathin Zurn shook her head “The Roko’s don’t know Invisibility Purge, that’s a cleric spell from the West.  A –personal- cleric spell, so the crow was a familiar of someone who could cast such a spell  Very interesting.  Proceed.”Aloth Kakano shrugged “It was an ugly battle.  The female shugenja brought up an Obscuring Mist.  Between that, the Plant Growth, and all the invisibility, much of the battle was simply looking for a target.  The Roko my bear was after ran away and climbed up a tree.  From what I saw, the Roko had to be –very- tough.  He not only survived my Celestial Dire Bear but was also shot many times by my bodyguard.  He summoned a Dire Lion and sent it after me.”“So, a Roko summoned a Dire Lion?  I wonder if any of the attackers were truly Roko’s, or were they all simply using that as a ruse.  Shugenja can’t summon lions.”  Chathin Zurn observed.“I can’t say.  Fighters fight much the same everyplace and besides which, they could mostly not be seen.  From when they popped into view, up close, they looked Roko enough.  And they spoke it well.  Our mercenary guards were all cut down.  My bodyguard inflicted quite a bit of damage with her bow before closing into melee.  She fought well, there were simply too many of them.  I did a lot of damage with magic missiles, fireballs, and acid arrows.  But between the lion and the bird, I could not escape.  The plant growth covered everyplace and the road was watched.  They were hurt enough that when the two ronin fighters, the wizard and the female Shugenja closed in on me I could probably have killed a couple with a final fireball, before they killed me.  Of course, I deemed it more important to let you know what was going on and I did a sending instead.  They seemed surprised by my choice.” Aloth Kakano said.“So, in short.  You were ambushed.  You turned invisible and were chased around while your group was scattered in all directions.  They were all killed before you were caught at the end and slain as well.  And the mission was left uncompleted.  We’re deeply disappointed you didn’t do better, Aloth.  At the very least you could have gotten a better idea of who was attacking you.  Now we have much to consider.  You may return to your duties.”  Chathin Zurn concluded somberly.After Aloth Kakano had left, Torisk Hawt glanced over to Chathin Zurn.  “Maybe divinations will help as well.  My scrying showed what they looked like.  The key is the familiar.  Outside our enclave, clerics and wizards are rare in this part of the world. A cleric with some wizard training is unheard of.  It has to be either Volar’s group in Bugaisha or those bandits in Kuzo.  The bodies were looted, so all we have to do is find a certain few items Kakano knows well enough to track.  Don’t worry, we’ll figure out who did it.”[GM Note:  I decided to write up this battle a little differently.  To a large degree the fight was circling and searching, except for Mindra, who was running up trees to try and escape the Celestial Dire Bear.   With it’s DR of something like 20/+3 there was little the group could do to it except avoid it, something made easier by the Plant Growth and Obscuring Mist.]</blockquote>

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