Session 15. (12/10/05)

The Ainu vs. the spiders, snakes and centipedes continues in Onuma swamp. Miyoshi (Jim Loder) finds snakes and takes two heads and no legs and loses one of his companions; Yoshi (Chris Dore) finds snakes and a centipede, taking nine heads and 12 legs; Katchamaru (Anthony Hummerston) finds a mixture, returning with four heads and 20 legs; Mineo (Denzil Brown) finds a similar group and takes three heads and 20 legs, though the creatures injure one of his companions; and Haku (Paul Burton) and his group sit it out, hoping time will heal their wounds. A good round, total heads now 120 (target 144).

Over the next hour Miyoshi's group finds two spiders, taking two heads and 16 legs, and Miyoshi has his second encounter - another viper. Miyoshi cautiously attacks from distance, remembering how badly the last viper had hurt the party. Miyoshi misses but both Ainu score hits with their arrows, nearly killing the snake. The snake attacks and bites one of the Ainu. Miyoshi's sword connects with the viper and kills it. The Ainu quickly fights off the poison and is left only slightly weakened. Yoshi takes two heads and eight legs but sustains 5 damage and has one of his companions injured. Kachamaru takes just a single head and has one of his companions injured. Mineo takes two heads and 20 legs and sustains 6 damage and has one of his companions injured. Haku's party struggles back to the fray and they are rewarded with two heads and 20 legs, though Haku receives 1 damage and his so-far-uninjured companion is injured. A bad round for the Ainu - one from every party was hurt - and a poor tally, the total only rising by 9.

Closing on their target of 144 heads, the parties intensify their search for crawling nasties. Miyoshi takes three heads and four legs but also encounters four mizu-kumo. The three warriors fire their bow but only Ainuruckle hits. Closing to sword range, Miyoshi again misses but Kuteashguru gets a hit; all four spiders fail to land bites. On second actions all three warriors miss but both Miyoshi and Ainuruckle are bitten. Ainuruckle resists the poison (fortunately, as it is level 5), but Miyoshi succumbs; however, a critical health saving throw the following round ensures he loses only the minimum, 2 points of speed. In that round Miyoshi misses two more times, one of the spiders breaks a leg and Ainuruckle dazes himself - more like a scene from The Three Stooges versus The Marx Brothers, except for the lack of hitting. With the next round comes success at last. Miyoshi, Kuteashguru and Ainuruckle all get good first hits, and one of the spiders bites itself. Ainuruckle is bitten again but again he avoids the L5 poison. Then success deserts them and the warriors all miss - but so do the spiders. Then Miyoshi gets a critical hit and kills his spider; the Ainu and the remaining spiders all miss. Miyoshi turns to the fourth spider and hits it, much to its surprise. Ainuruckle is also surprised and is bitten for a third time, this time falling victim to the level 5 poison. He fights hard against the poison but he is soon overwhelmed and falls unconscious, but not before he gets one more hit on his tormentor and kills the spider. Kuteashguru kills his spider and turns on the fourth one, hoping for a share of the glory with Miyoshi, but only succeeds in stunning himself. Miyoshi wastes no time and kills the spider with his next attack.

Meanwhile Yoshi takes four heads and eight legs and a minor wound, Kachamaru takes four heads and no legs and a rather less minor wound, Mineo takes one head and eight legs and a slightly more minor wound, and Haku takes two heads and eight legs, but the only-just ambulatory party also runs into three mizu-kumo. Haku opens up from distance with Darts of Wood but misses; the Ainu fire arrows of wood and hit two of the spiders. The spiders close in but never actually lay a fang on the heroes. Haku lands a Dart of Wood on the lead spider and though it throws off the poison quickly it is slightly weakened. Penaumbe land a spear blow then Okikurmi hits first one spider, killing it, then another, killing it also. The two Ainu combine to hit Haku's spider, then Okikurmi finishes it off.

The parties meet up at the far end of the lake and compare tallies. The target has been reached, 150 heads being taken in all. The final score in legs and heads is:

Each of the former samurai receives budo equal to a third of the non-encounter heads total and an equal amount of On, while Miyoshi gains an extra 10 On as victor in the legs competition. As the day draws to a close the tired, battered fighters camp for the night.

In the morning Haku's power is restored and everyone has recovered somewhat. The fifteen spider-killers set off north along the shore of the lake, back towards home. As they walk back, Yoshi and Haku spot a party of samurai on the far bank, heading in the same direction. The samurai are making no attempt at concealment; the Ainu guess it is because they know the Ainu are afraid to come up here. The samurai are heavily armed and heading straight for the Ainu villages. The allies hold a hurried conference as they walk and eventually decide to ambush the samurai. They increase their speed to get ahead of the samurai - Haku even has to run. The end of the lake narrows and turns into a small stream. The heroes conceal themselves in the bushes but still haven't decided how to handle the situation, and the samurai are almost upon them. Yoshi hides himself successfully, but Miyoshi and particularly Haku are not so adept, and the approaching samurai spot them - either that or they hear the whispered discussions about how to spring the surprise! The leader of the samurai calls to Miyoshi saying, "So you have become rebels - there'll be a price on your heads, and I intend to collect. I don't know why you bother with these savages. The Kakizaki will never have peace with the Ainu until they leave this peninsula." Then he attacks.

Yoshi fires his bow at the onrushing samurai and hits one for 12 damage. Haku casts Mud under a number of them, causing one to fall and another three to be bogged down. Kachamaru casts Stage Flash and blinds a further four. The samurai close to sword range and the leader takes his challenge to Miyoshi while Yoshi takes on the second in command. The Ainu stay out of the main fighting, being outclasses, swords to spears, and just snipe round the edges and defend themselves against any attacks. Miyoshi gets the first hit on the leader, then misses, while the leader misses on both his attacks. At the same time, another samurai attacks Miyoshi's flank and hits for nine damage, to Miyoshi's disgust. Miyoshi then gets two good hits on the leader then misses for two rounds, during which time the leader lands a critical blow, dazing Miyoshi, and another hit, and the second attacker misses every time. Miyoshi shakes off the daze and lands a critical hit and then another, removing the head samurai's head.

At the exact same moment Yoshi kills off his second opponent, a level 1 bushi, following a miss and five consecutive hits. His first opponent, a level 2 bushi, also fell after five consecutive hits. Between them, the bushi hit Yoshi twice for 10 damage. Kachamaru wades into the mud to take on the stricken rabble bushi. The first takes four hits to go down, but the next two are much punier and fall on successive blows, and only one even nicks Kachamaru. Kachamaru then goes to help the Ainu who are struggling with the second level 2 bushi. Mineo has a very strange though thoroughly typical encounter. Finding himself in the midst of three samurai, he takes on the middle-ranker, a rabble bushi, uses up a charge from his Helm of Hachiman but to no avail, misses four times, gets a hit, misses twice more, gets a second hit then fumbles and breaks his sword. Meanwhile, his opponent misses three times (only one attack per round), gets a minor hit, misses then hits himself and dies! Mineo's most senior opponent, a L1 bushi, hits Mineo the stuns himself and misses the next round then has a run of six misses. Mineo's third opponent, a bushi extra, gets a hit, seven misses and another hit, leaving Mineo severely weakened. Haku all this time has been firing Darts of Water right, left and centre. His first salvo goes wide, but his second reduces the opposition by two, the darts having fortuitously hit the weakest bushi extras. His third target is much stronger, but he goes down in three more volleys.

Though some of the heroes are badly battered, the ranks of the opponents have thinned considerably. Miyoshi sets about his second opponent but can't get a hit, and on his fourth miss manages to break his sword. He changes swords and gets a minor hit but is helped out by Haku who, having polished off another two samurai already, fells Miyoshi's foe with more Darts of Water. Yoshi goes to help the Ainu and, swinging both swords at once, polishes off the samurai in four equal hits. Kachamaru also goes to help some of the Ainu fighting the other L2 bushi and gets three good hits out of five attempts to silence the samurai. Then he sees Mineo, who had to resort to using his jitte, struggling to fend off two samurai and going down under a hail of blows, so he goes to his aid and gets the L1 bushi's attention with two big hits. Then he misses, but the L1 stuns himself and Kachamaru finishes off with a critical blow and another big hit. Meanwhile, Yoshi and Haku team up to take out Mineo's final foe.

After some bandages and healing spell have been applied, and Mineo brought back to consciousness, Kanemitsu gathers up the swords of the defeated samurai, knowing each one he collects means one less he has to make. He winces to find Miyoshi's and Mineo's broken swords and the broken swords of two of the samurai. Then he looks up and sees another samurai appear from the swamp, running towards the group. The former samurai is shocked to recognise Kanemitsu, the young apprentice who saved the Ainu but then went back home. What is he doing here? Is he friend or foe?

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