Session 6. (13/7/05)

The apprentice samurai get their wish and spend a quiet night in the marshes around Onuma Lake. Miyoshi (Jim Loder) and Kanemitsu, Mineo (Denzil Brown) and Yoshi (Chris Dore), and Katchamaru (Anthony Hummerston) and Haku (Paul Burton) each take their turns on watch, without incident. In the morning Kachamaru decides to use his Pearl of Magic, swallows it and increases his magic capability slightly. Then, refreshed and mostly healed, the party sets off back to civilisation. Miyoshi and Mineo take the lead. They are clearly not paying much attention because they are suddenly caught in a volley of arrows. Both samurai are hit by critical shots and suffer 10 damage. Stunned, Miyoshi manages to spot about half a dozen Ainu hunters running away through the trees. With a cry of "Ainu!" Miyoshi and Mineo set off in pursuit. Neither manages to move terribly quickly through the marsh, though most of the Ainu aren't moving much faster, and one falls back into range of Miyoshi who puts on a spurt, draws his sword and attacks - only to miss. Behind him Mineo draws his bow and fires at the fleeing Ainu. He misses, but two of the Ainu fall, so he runs up to them just as Yoshi and Kachamaru arrive at the action. Yoshi fires his bow but misses and Kachamaru tries to cast Stage Flash but fails. Mineo fires another arrow but his bow cracks and he desists. Meanwhile Miyoshi has been swinging and missing at the Ainu, who is still trying to get away. Mineo tries a fast draw of his sword but fails; his second strike fails as well. Yoshi draws his sword and also misses. Kachamaru draws his sword and not only misses but drops his sword! After five rounds of fighting not a single blow has been landed by the four samurai and three of the Ainu have disappeared into the marshes. Miyoshi finally stops the rot with two moderate hits to the first Ainu, followed by Yoshi who gets a good hit on one of the Ainu that fell. Then the four miss six times. Then Miyoshi gets another minor hit and Yoshi gets two major hits; Mineo and Kachamaru continue to miss (Mineo would end up with a perfect record of 0-for-9 sword attacks, 0-for-2 bow attacks, including breaking his bow, and 0-for 2 speed saving throws). Kachamaru finally manages a couple of good hits and Miyoshi and Yoshi get a hit apiece. Yoshi follows up with another good hit, finishing of the first of the once-fallen Ainu, turns and gets an even better hit and finishes off the second. Miyoshi, a little way from the others, continues his protracted fight against the last Ainu. He hits... then misses... and misses... and misses. The others watch in fascination, and start to wonder if Miyoshi's problem is his reluctance to kill the Ainu or simply incompetence. At last Miyoshi gets the two hits he needs and kills the Ainu, after 13 rounds of fighting and dealing a destructive onslaught of less than two points per round.

After Miyoshi and Mineo deal with their arrow wounds, Mineo has a look at the Ainu bows to see if they are better than his damaged bow. He can't tell, but Yoshi has a look and assures him they are. Kachamaru has a look at the Ainu corpses and concludes that they were just hunters that Miyoshi and Mineo stumbled into and they reacted knowing what the samurai do to Ainu - they fired a volley of arrows and ran. Kachamaru decides to keep the information to himself, not wanting to further undermine the resolve of the apprentices.

For the next hour Yoshi and Haku take the lead. Haku spots a mukade (giant centipede) up ahead. While he watches it, Yoshi goes back to fetch the others. Tagaya, knowing how dangerous mukade are, brings the whole party up to take it on. Everyone fires arrows at it, but despite it being 10 feet long, only Kachamaru manages to hit and pierce its thick chitinous armour. Haku successfully casts Traitor Ground under it and earns a major advantage for the party. Another volley of arrows follows, but again only one arrow strikes home - this time from Mineo. Haku also hits with Darts of Water. Tagaya shouts to the others to switch to swords and meets the mukade's charge head on. The mukade bites at two of the party but misses. Tagaya, a level two and Miyoshi land hits, Miyoshi's a critical. The mukade lashes out and bites the level two, but he manages to resist the poison. Yoshi stands off the fight and fires another arrow into the mukade, but his first arrow misses. Everyone's second attacks miss. The mukade, very quick, attacks the samurai but misses, and misses again. Yoshi's next arrow strikes home and Kachamaru finishes off the centipede.

The level two is patched up and the group sets off, now back in the forest, with Kanemitsu and Kachamaru looking ahead for danger. Sure enough, they haven't gone far before they run into five wolves. They are too close to send for the others so they yell a warning before Kanemitsu fires an arrow, injuring one wolf, and Kachamaru tries casting Stage Flash but fails. The wolves arrive at the same time as three more apprentices and one takes a bite out of Yoshi. The samurai fight back with swords, Miyoshi, Yoshi and Mineo striking home, while Kachamaru blinds four of the wolves with Stage Flash. Kanemitsu gets a hit on his second attack and kills the only unblinded wolf. All the apprentices now get hits, Mineo getting a critical hit, blinding an already blinded wolf and killing it. The apprentices' second strikes are also all successful, Yoshi killing his wolf, and in the next round Miyoshi and Kachamaru finish their vulpine foes.

The fighters wearily bandage their wounds and press on. The two level twos go out in front, but as is typical of this scriptwriter, they manage to avoid any encounters. For the following hour, Miyoshi takes Haku out on point. As they pass through the forest Haku spots four Ainu up ahead. One of the Ainu spots Haku and they stand for a while, eyes locked. Miyoshi tells Haku to do nothing, and the two samurai wait. The Ainu do nothing, then back into the trees and disappear. Miyoshi tells Haku to wait a while longer and soon there is the sound of running in the trees. With the other samurai almost upon them, Miyoshi hopes his instincts are correct. The sound of running dies away - the Ainu have gone. Haku asks why they let them go and Miyoshi replies that the Ainu were just hunters and no threat to the party or the Kakizaki. Haku keeps his opinion to himself.

The party presses on towards Togenoshita and civilisation, but before long Yoshi and Mineo run into four more wolves. Drawing swords and bows, the apprentices call out their adopted battle cry: "Here we go again!"

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