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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 936183" data-attributes="member: 79">That morning Mongo, Taz and Nezu went to visit the Yabanjin and see how the plan was going.  The sight that greeted them wasn’t pretty.  Over the door of the barracks was nailed a hawk.  Others birds were nailed to the top of the window frames and their blood smeared over the wood to form symbols.A couple of the northern barbarians armed with axes met them at the door, but allowed them past after Dmitrios stepped forward to vouch for them.“Damned Inu bastards!”  The barbarian snarled.  “You hear what happened?  They attack us, they make this matter of blood!  But no we have stopped their spying.  Damned bandits and thieves and their rules.  Don’t kill elves.  Don’t hunt the Inu. Well, Poshyel keh chyertoo!  We WILL hunt the Inu, as we always have.  In the name of the Black Blooded Beast, we will kill their men and animals.”“Who was telling you not to do this?”  Mongo asked, asking the usual offer of vodka as they sat down to chat.  The burly samurai winced inwardly, surrounded by bloody magic and filthy, hide wearing barbarians, Toshiro knew he was going to be spending a week or more after all this getting purified at the temple.  But he had to admit, he was getting a taste for the vodka.  And the wild freedom of the barbarians had it’s appeal.  Duty and eventually marriage waited for him back in Bugaisha, but for the moment he was enjoying this more than he wanted to admit.“Viktor.  That freak.  He tells us ‘Wait.’  There will be plenty of plunder in Bugaisha.  Women to take back to our villages.  Our chiefs like this.  And fear the Lady of Blood.  So we come here and wait.  But no more!  Tonight, my friend, we will take our revenge on the damned Inu!  Perhaps you and your friends would care to join us?”  Dmitrios grinned, eager for the coming hunt.“We’ll think about it.  There might be other things we need to do tonight.  We have our own prey to hunt.”  Mongo grinned.  Toshiro was getting ideas now.  Perhaps there was some way he could use these barbarians with the Crab clan.  They wanted to hunt?  The Shadowlands had plenty of creatures to hunt.  He would have to give this some more thought.  Right after enjoying the vodka and hospitality of the Yabanjin.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~By noon a notice was posted around town in all prominent places.To all concerned.  I, Finafin, the Golden Duke of the Sword Coast, denounce whatever deceitful swine putting out the vile rumors that I have had any sort of relationship with Rodrigo other than friend and fellow warrior.  On my word as gentleman and noble born elf, I swear there is nothing more my friendship with Rodrigo than that, and anyone who states otherwise will answer to my blade.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Not long afterwards the first rumors of an impending duel between Viktor and Finafin began to emerge.  Vlad and Fireblossom checked with their Cyrician friends and found the rumor was true.  The main event of that evenings fights was going to be Finafin against Viktor.  Golden Duke against the half-elf half-orc abomination.  Fireblossom and Vlad were starting to become a little concerned, though.  “Mongo’s talking about skipping the duel tonight and joining his Yabanjin friend in attacking the Inu.  I haven’t seen him this eager for a fight in a long time.”  Vlad smirked “Getting him away from Rokugan has helped him be less of a Crane, but he’s going in the opposite direction.  He brought almost a case of vodka back from his trip to the Yabanjin barracks.”Fireblossom nodded “Kyruko’s getting too close to Viktor also.  This can’t go on much longer or they might start forgetting everyone here is the enemy. “Mongo and Kaz finally did agree to skip the Yabanjin battle.  Much as they wanted to go, Vlad didn’t want the party split up that night and they could see the tactical logic of that.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Dancing Ferret was filled to capacity that night.  Anticipation of the night’s duel had brought almost everyone important or tough enough to muscle their way in.  It was pretty easy to pick out the sides.  The Cyricians had their own side of the bar, deep red hooded robes worn by the clerics, holy symbols often shown for prayers for Finafin’s success and to mock Viktor’s side.  Fireblossom’s Elven eyes picked out a few wizards as well, thinner half-orcs whose clothing showed faint mystical markings.  Stavros’ followers and students.  Viktor’s faction was mostly warriors in heavy armor, more orderly and disciplined but just as intense as Stavros’ followers.  Much to their relief the party was mostly ignored aside from the occasional need to defend their spot to watch the fights.  Everyone was focused on the duel. Viktor was the first to arrive, flanked by an honor guard consisting of a wizard, a cleric of Beshaba, a Rokugani ronin fur trimmed armor, and a figure the group recognized instantly.  Taka, from their battles months before in Mimura against the bandits of Kuzo.  Verick’s double sword was worn proudly, slung over her shoulder next to his bow.  Vlad tenses, hand sliding to his sword before he regained control of himself.  He had put his Rashemoni past behind him when he had sworn himself to the Akodo and the Lion Clan.  The double sword was a symbol of that past.  Bit still, if the chance came…Viktor sat in as the judge for the night’s fights, usual.  A short night it turned out, since everyone was more interested in the duel than their own quarrels.Finafin arrived at the appointed hour of the duel, accompanied by his elfboy, Faelyn.  Fireblossom grew more wary now.  Finafin was dressed as a duelist for the fight, tight riding pants, loose, poofy blouse, blood red cloak trimmed in ostrich feathers, and immaculate leather dueling gloves.  But still he carried no weapon.  Volar was still sure Faelyn was the real threat behind the flash and show of Finafin.All that was left was a judge for the duel and that spot was filled quickly enough.  Grond, the eldest son of Rodrigo walked into the Dancing Ferret, flanked by four of his followers, all unarmed and unarmored but looking no less dangerous for it.  Then took positions on either side of the door as another figure entered.  Standing well over six feet tall, even bowed by age as he was, the figure looked like a impressively ugly half-orc.  Shrived with age, he still looked stronger than most of the men in the inn.  Rodrigo.  A sheathed katana carried loosely in one hand, the leader of the bandits of Kuzo had the sort of aura that fills a room, making it feel too small.Fireblossom’s fingers twitched, ready to cast a spell.  One fast strike and the whole battle might not even be needed.  But then Rodrigo’s honor guard followed him in.  Four massive half-orcs in plate mail, and a half-orc wizard.  One one other, a guest.  Dressed in pale lavender that was close to the colors of the Unicorn clan, the sleeves of the kimono darkened with dried blood in a decorative pattern that could not be totally random, her long black hair bound into a braided ponytail.  It took only a second for Mir to recognize her old friend Yoenki.Rodrigo took over the judges seat, his katana used as a cane as he leaned forward, voice roaring through the inn.  “I will be the judge for this combat!  This duel is to the death.  The loser’s body will be burned, and he will not be resurrected on pain of death for all involved.  The strong deserve victory.  The weak only merit slavery and death!  Magic is prohibited until the end of the duel.  Anyone attempted to cast magic will be killed on the spot.  No exceptions!”And then it was time for the duel.  Viktor was clad in armor of some black metal, in Rokugani style with a black mempo (facemask), flames flickering along the blade of his great sword as he got ready.  Finafin had more flash, cloak billowing out as he removed it and presented it to his Elven companion.  Then he took a few seconds, stretching, drawing out the moment before he took a dueling pose.  A flick of his wrist activated the magic of his gloves and suddenly he was holding a rapier and main gauche.  The duel was a messy affair, Viktor was far more powerful but no match for the blinding speed of the Golden Duke.  Time after time Finafin’s rapier stabbed out, leaving wounds that continued to bleed as the fight went on, while the agile elf twisted and turned, managing to avoid any direct hits from the fiery great sword.   A sidestep here,  and a lunge that passed right through Viktor’s shoulder.  Lightning reflexes and experience turned a powerful slash from the heavy sword into a grazing blow.  Blood splattered over those sitting closest to the fight as Viktor feinted then landed with a mailed fist.  But Finafin did a tumbling roll under the flat slice of the sword and came up ready, a perfect dueling lunge sparking metal on metal before sinking into Viktor’s chest, the half-orc half-elf’s movement only enough to avoid the strike finding his throat, and even then the blood seeping from a dozen wounds was starting to wear him down.Finafin forced the hulking abomination onto the defensive with swift series of thrusts, his supple wrist stabbing and redirecting the strikes, his balance perfect as he made a flourish for those watching then dipped a last thrust of his rapier under Viktor’s attempted block, under and up where the blade found Viktor’s throat.  Blood pumped fast from the wound as the blade passed on through then out the back of the huge figure’s neck.  But still Viktor didn’t fall.  Blood running from his mouth, he let out a roar, eyes glazing as he let the berserk rage take over.  Pushing forward despite Finafin’s blade, Viktor hammered the elf in the face with his fists and the handle of the sword before sweeping the weapon around, the blow impossible to block, and in one fiery stroke the Golden Duke was cut in half.“This is what we’ve been waiting for!”  Fireblossom whispered quickly as Finafin fell dead, and Viktor staggered, close to death as well.  Vlad nodded, hand ready to draw his kusari-gama.[GM Note:  I knew the group would want Finafin dead.  But I expected them to take a more direct part in his demise.  I even put some cool magic items on him for the group to ‘liberate’.  They were so worried about getting caught; they worked on sneaky plans to cause chaos while keeping themselves out of the line of fire.  That’s all about to come to an end, though.<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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