Session 8. (22/5/09)

Summer rolls on, and Yoshi learns that his success with the flying squirrels has paid off as his wife is pregnant. None of the others were successful in their "domestic duties", and start to realise the importance of the Ainu hunting folklore.

It is a slack time between the salmon run and the harvest, and our main characters do what they can to take advantage of the training Toruu the oni is offering to discharge him of the second of the three duties he must perform in penance for the acts of his clan. Kokuma wants to learn the bojutsu okuden Smashing Blow, but first Toruu challenges him to a duel (to first fall) to see how good he is. He offers his spiked tetsubo as incentive. Kachamaru and Miyoshi bet three fish on the outcome. Kokuma gets the first strike on the diminutive demon and Toruu has difficulty finding his range. They trade blows, then Toruu uses the okuden, gets a good hit and Bashes Kokuma, knocking him back and temporarily stunning him. Toruu capitalises with another blow, but it is a weak one and Kokuma replies with a much stringer one. Toruu misses, Kokuma scores a glancing blow, weak but unbalancing Toruu. Toduu swings, misses, and falls to the floor, stunned. Kokuma steps back, giving the oni a chance to recover, but Toruu instead gets up and concedes the fight. He presents Kokuma with the Spiked Tetsubo, which in fact is spiked on one side only, giving the wielder the choice of doing (2d6) lethal or subdual damage. Miyoshi presents Kachamaru with three dried fish, warning that they might also do lethal or subdual damage.

For three weeks the heroes devote themselves to training. Haku learns School of Soil from Toruu, while Miyoshi and Mineo learn sojutsu, Kachamaru practices kenjutsu and Kokuma gains 10% skill in Smashing Blow. Yoshi works on his own and improves his strength - "I'm into my body," he explains.

Shikabe Village.

The harvest is gathered, but one day there is a severe earth tremor that shakes the island of land left between the new chasm and the old river bed, which is what the village sits on. It looks ready to fall into the sea. Toruu says the only way to prevent it is to fill in the chasm, or prevent earthquakes. He offers to teach them how to control earthquakes. However, it is not trivial trying to learn a supernatural power, and while Mineo makes most progress (8%) on the first day, Kokuma and Kachamaru don't even get the first principles. The students are just settling down to their second day of supernatural study when another earth tremor starts. Haku is first to feel it - this is going to be a big one. They all rush out and see that the village is starting to slide into the chasm. Everyone attempts the Control Phenomena power, but even the oni is unable to counter such a strong quake. The villages try to run away from the disaster, helped by the heroes. Meanwhile the oni runs to the edge of the chasm and gestures towards the cliff-like valley side opposite. Slowly at first, the cliff starts to topple, then the whole valley side starts to slide down, filling the chasm and buttressing the land the village is built on. As the rock and dust settles, the villagers are relieved to see that the landslide has completely filled the chasm and they are out of danger. However, there is no sign of Toruu. He has been engulfed and is buried under a thousand tons of rock. All that remains is a natural cairn of stones that has formed over the spot where he stood. Miyoshi says a few words about sacrifice and dedication and Kokuma puts in a few words of Ainu. Haku composes a poem to mark the sacrifice and Mineo builds a small wooden shrine.

Autumn arrives - the turning-point of the year. The Ainu set out into the forests to collect the Stone Pine nuts that are abundant at this time. They don't last long because they are rapidly eaten by Nutcracker birds and Chipmonks - these are also hunted. Chipmunks are called the Slippers of the Gods by the Ainu because of their soft, warm fur. They are quite hard to see and even harder to shoot, but they are highly prized. The Wajin-Ainu set out to hunt them. Kachamaru is feeling very underwhelmed at the prospect, even though Mrs Kachamaru has been complaining about how cold the floor is in their hut. Miyoshi, Yoshi and Mineo are the first to spot chipmunks; Yoshi and Mineo manage to bag one each, but Miyoshi breaks his bowstring and has to replace it. For a while no-one spots any chipmunks until Kokuma falls back on his tracking skills and locates one. Unfortunately, he misses with his arrow. Then Miyoshi, Mineo, Haku and Kokuma all spot more chipmunks and each manages to hit. Finally, Miyoshi, Haku and Kokuma spot more and Miyoshi and Haku get one each while Kokuma misses. Kachamaru, thoroughly hacked off with the whole idea of hunting small furry creatures decides to collect the Stone Pine nuts; however, there are not many left, most of them having been eaten by chipmunks. After the hunt, Miyoshi, Mineo and Haku are each able to make a pair of slippers. Yoshi uses his one kill to make a pair of children's slippers, and Kokuma just takes the fur from his one kill to save for the day he gets a second one.

One morning a few days later an unearthly sound is heard ringing across the mountains, a sort of mournful wail. Haku and Kachamaru recognise it as the sound of rutting deer, but they aren't usually heard at the village. Something must have caused them to move away from their usual stomping grounds. The heroes get their weapons and don light armour to go and investigate. Just as they are about to leave the village about a dozen Matsumae warriors burst into the village and attack anyone they can see.

Miyoshi takes on the samurai leader with his spear and gets in two good jabs while being lightly tagged by his foe's sword. Yoshi draws both his swords and uses them in all-out attack against a L2 warrior, doing considerable damage but taking a fair bit himself. Kachamaru hits a L3 opponent with his katana and dodges the poorly-aimed replies. Mineo takes on another L2 and hits, taking a minor blow in return, then goes for a Lightning Stroke but misses. Kokuma swings his new Spiked Tetsubo and hits a L2, then hits again on the backswing. The other seven Matsumae warriors attack the rest of the Ainu villagers, who defend themselves as best they can with the small number of swords made by Kachamaru or liberated at the Battle of Hakodate. Finally, Haku readies a spell and casts Calling Beasts, summoning a serpent (constricting type), a bear, a tiger and a wolf. The bear and the serpent take on a L1 warrior each while another unfortunate L1 is double-teamed by the tiger and the wolf.

The fight progresses and Miyoshi lands a critical hit on the leader, knocking him cold. Yoshi also lands a critical with half of his two-sword attack and fells his foe. Kachamaru swaps two hits for one hit but his opponent is still going strong. Mineo lands two good hits and gets his first kill. Kokuma gets a critical hit and stuns the wajin warrior to death. Meanwhile the serpent bites its victim but fails to wrap a coil, the bear claws its opponent twice and the wolf and the tiger each have a bite. Haku fires two darts of wood at a L1 warrior trying to smash a hut and scores with both, rapidly overcoming his system with their narcotic poison.

Miyoshi moves on to the nearest enemy not fighting either an ex-wajin, Kokuma or another wild animal. He lands three good spear thrusts on a L1 samurai. Yoshi finds a new L2 warrior and lands two good hits then focuses his ki and lands two critical hit, the first stunning the L2, the second killing him outright. He moves on to the warrior that has been bitten by the snake and is now caught in two of its coils, and adds a sword blow to his worries. Kachamaru hits his opponent again but this is going on too long so he casts Breath of the Dragon and sets the wajin's armour on fire. Mineo and Kokuma converge on the same warrior, a L3 and second in command. Mineo gets there first and lands a critical hit for 20 damage. The Kokuma arrives but they get in each other's way and both miss. The bear deals out another three claw strikes and does for the L1 warrior. The wolf and the tiger bite and claw and do for another. Haku fires a Dart of Wood at the poor L1 suffering from a snake bite, two constricting coils and a sword wound and quickly puts him to sleep. Don't worry though, he'll be all right. Crush, crush, uurgh...

Kachamaru's opponent succumbs to the flames and is officially toast. Miyoshi lands two more spear thrusts on his opponent who is now officially a kebab. Mineo and Kokuma land two sword and two tetsubo blows and their opponent is officially chopped liver. Everyone looks around and find that all the raiders are either dead or unconscious. A few of the villagers are injured, but none have been killed. The summoned beasts disappear. The heroes wonder what to do with the prisoners - send them back, torture them or just bury them here?

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