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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 881968" data-attributes="member: 79">“The man whose profession is weapons should calm his mind and look into the depths of others.  Doing so is likely the best of the martial arts.”  Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the HagakureThe group took a moment to look over the battlefield, the road surrounded by the heavy plant growth.  But they didn’t have much time for healing.  The Red Wizard’s choice to do Sending instead of a Fireball had taken them off guard and now they had to hurry for more help started showing up.  Yukiyo wanted to retrieve all her old arrows but there wasn’t time to find them all and she settles for looting the body of the Thayan Knight.  Volar was first and fastest to the body of the Red Wizard, then his equally dead horse, not only grabbing magical items but the spell book.”The others helped round up the horses as the day turned hotter and hotter, the sun blazing down from the sky as the heat turned positively withering.  As soon as Volar felt the first scrying of the area, the group mounted up and raced away with as much plunder as they could gather.  The gallop slowed to a more reasonable pace after an hour as the group kept heading up to the north and east, debating their next move as they went.“We have to sell the horses someplace.  It’ll let us drop even more clues of Kuzo and bandits wouldn’t keep the horses long.  But the other stuff we’d keep, identify and sell for the best price possible.  It’s a shame so much of the Thayan stuff is obviously theirs.  If they didn’t mark it we’d have an easier time selling it, but I’m getting an idea…”  Volar said thoughtfully, sounding suspiciously knowledgeable of bandit tactics.“We’re NOT keeping any of the items we took.”  Toshiro said firmly “It’s easy enough to bury it someplace where they won’t find it.  We’re not taking any chances with this.”Volar certainly agreed they weren’t keeping anything.  If the Red Wizards found them, it would get ugly fast.  Riding on into the late afternoon the sun simply keep getting hot, the temperate rising up well above 100 degrees, even as the sun sank lower on the sky.“Is this normal for spring here?”  Mir asked in some confusion.Kaz and Toshiro both shook their heads “Well, not for where I’m from in the south.  I’d think the Snow Plain would be cooler rather than hotter.” Toshiro said.It took a couple more hours but the group finally found a village, situated on the shore of a large lake.  The group carefully checked their disguises, just to be sure, and Volar brought up an illusion to make Verick look like one of the Half-Orcs of Kuzo, complete with demonic black mask.  They rode into town slowly as the peasants there stopped and stared.  Finally an ugly, balding man stepped forward, taking a moment to smooth back his almost non-existent hair before bowing “Greetings!  I’ve been waiting on you.  We have three fine horses ready for you, and some assorted armor and weapons.”That took the group off guard a little bit.  But Verick played along well, checking out the horses, then the armor.  It was obvious both had belonged to samurai that were ambushed.  The quality was too good for stuff peasants might have around.  And the horses were clearly battle trained.  As they looked over the horses the headman of the village chattered on nervously “It took a little doing, you understand.  And you are...well...a little earlier than we expected you.  But we did the best we could.  Everything on the list, weapons, armor and horses.  How does it look?”Verick withdrew to confer with the others “This won’t work.  We can’t sell the horses if they are expecting to be selling them to us.  They stole the weapons recently. They are all still in good shape, and there’s a little blood on the armor.”The group decided to ‘buy’ the horses and equipment.  After a fashion.  At first they simply took the animals and items while the nervous headman waited on his gold.  Finally when it looked like the group was simply going to ride off, he mustered the courage to clear his throat “Excuse me, sirs.  But we were told we be paid for everything we collected for you?”Verick turned his baleful, Half-Orc gaze on the headman, staring for a moment before finally Yukiyo tossed a small pouch of gold to the man.  Far less than he might have expected to get.  But the group figured he’d not be so quick to help bandits anymore after getting cheated by them.Riding on with ten horses in tow now, the group debated as they rode.  They could try to find another village to sell in.  But the longer they were away the more trouble it was to try and keep the ruse up.  And the greater the chance of running into real bandits from Kuzo, which would completely blow their cover.The day’s heat slowly faded as the sun dipped below the horizon and the group made camp, still rather puzzled over the day’s extreme temperatures.[GM Note:  A little nod to the Metaplot of Rokugan.  The Crab Clan just lost their battle with the Crane, where Crab Champion and sister of Lord Sun Hida O-Ushi was killed.  So for that day the Sun was bright and angry.]Settling in around the fire, the group started to work on Plan B.  Volar asked if he could be left in charge of disposing of the stuff stolen from the Red Wizard and bodyguard.  He assured the samurai that nothing could be traced back to them or Lord Jyaku.  The stuff would be ‘hidden’ in a place far far away.  Finally Toshiro agreed.  He just didn’t want to know what was done with the equipment, just to be safe.Gathering all the items, Volar worked out with Verick what should be buried in the forest and what could be taken back to the Western Kingdoms to be sold. “The ronin’s katana and armor would be pretty exotic back west.  You could probably sell it for a pretty decent price someplace like Waterdeep.”  Verick observed.Volar’s eyes got wide for a moment and he shook his head quickly “Oh, no.  Not a chance.  I’m not returning there for a good, long time.  Trust me, it’s not a good idea.  I have an old friend in Evereska who can help us, though.”In the blink of an eye, Volar disappeared with the bundle of weapons, armor and items while Verick waited.  It took a few hours before Volar reappeared, all smiles.  “We’re fine.  My friend’s still in business.  I dropped it off for him to check out.  I’ll visit in a week or so to see what he’s come up with, and what he’s been able to sell for me.”The horses were a tougher problem.  They didn’t want to release war trained horses in the area, there was too good a chance they would be found and questions might be asked.  It was doubtful the Red Wizards would notice, but Volar in particular was not comfortable with even that slight chance.  Verick and Mir were both against just killing the horses.  Volar had an idea, though they’d have to camp there for a couple of days for him to really do it.  The others were agreeable though.Two days later Volar was done.  He’d spent each morning memorizing as many Polymorph Other’s as he could, then turning the war horses into squirrels.  When he was finished, the herd of war squirrels was released to run free.[GM Note:  This has become something of a running joke for the game.  Somewhere out there are squirrels with 22 hit points and warhorse training roaming around.  Since horses are herd animals, the squirrels would likely stick together.  And could easily handle any peasants that bothered them.]With items and horses all disposed of, the group once again circled around Bugaisha to the south and returned home, careful to remain on the watch for anyone following.  Just to be on the safe side.  They were shown in right away to see Lord Jyaku, who was very pleased with the results.  If all worked according to plan, the Red Wizards would now complain, he could swear the bandits of Kuzo would pay for such an attack, and at the same time it would leave the impression the Red Wizards were vulnerable to the attqacks of simple bandits.It wasn’t quite that easy, of course.  The Red Wizards never made any public or private complaint about the attack.  In fact, they continued business as if nothing unusual had ever happened.  In days the Red Wizard and his bodyguard were both seen around town.  But at least all indicationed were that the meeting had been successfully interrupted.The group was busy for the next couple of weeks.  Mindra went back to work as a carpenter specializing in roofing.  Volar’s tower was nearly finished, and the Moon Elf went to work adding stone walls to the inner workings to reinforce the structure.  He also used iron walls to create a room with no doors that he could teleport into, and keep secret.   Toshiro and Kaz were both moved up to assisting Shinjo Fujinami in training younger samurai in weapon skills when they were not out on patrols.  Toshiro and O-Hisa were also beginning to be featured together more and more in public appearances.Verick was kept busy as the sole Akodo ambassador to Shinjo Jyaku while checking in now and then on his sake works, now nearing completion.  Mir was also busy.  Her grove was growing.  Cracked Nut was pleased to report there were four new people interested in joining the temple and learning how to worship the Oak Father.  Two were simple, young peasants, who Mir decided to teach as Adepts.  Another, named Haki, was the son of a well to do ashigaru, a peasant warrior for the Unicorn.  Big and strong, he was trained as sohei, to guard the grove.  Tuli, a peasant girl of hordelander blood, was trained by Mir personally to be a cleric.  At the same time, Mir was also doing some training for herself.  She had asked previously about swearing herself to Shinjo Jyaku.  After some discussion over exactly what that would mean, it was worked out that she could be a vassel for Lord Jyaku, sworn directly to him and answering to him.  Lord Jyaku made it clear he understood that Mir was still loyal to the Oak Father, and that if there was ever a conflict, he wanted to know of it right away to there would be no misunderstandings or problems.Meeting with Hiruma Toshiro to discuss additional matters concerning Toshiro’s impending marriage, Lord Jyaku had an additional suggest.  “Toshiro, why don’t you finally form a group with Kaz, Verick, Mir and the others?  In Rokugan it’s important to be a part of a group.  It would help your other friends like Mindra and Volar since they would not simply be foreign strangers, but a part of a known group.  The seven of you have been working together for months now.  Why not make your association formal?”  Shinjo Jyaku suggested.Toshiro liked this idea and the group started to debate over what to call their group.  The discussion ranged all over, from names to do with the west, sunset, wind.  Finally they narrowed it down to Sunset Riders or Setting Sun Riders.  Since Bansho was the word for both Sunset and Setting Sun, Bansho Kishu was agreeable to all.Late that night, after all the discussion was done, Toshiro was resting in his bedroom, thinking over a design for the Bansho Kishu mon when there was a light knocking at his window.  Warily, Toshiro drew his katana and silently snuck over to the window, sliding it open sudden, sword at ready.  Waiting there was someone he’d not seen for some time.  Nezu, a thin, rat faced man looking more than a little beat up and weathered.  “Toshiro, my dear good friend.  I’m so glad I’ve found you at last.  Something terrible is happening in the north…”</blockquote>

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