Session 17. (24/7/09)

Another year passes in the tribe's new home of Yakumo - it is now the Year of the Dog (1466). In this year the former Wajin (and Kokuma) have hunted, fished, farmed and gathered to provide for their families, trained and taken care of their domestic duties. In the autumn of the previous year, Kokuma and Yoshi each have the addition of a baby boy to their families. In the spring Miyoshi's wife gives birth to yet another boy. Miyoshi bemoans the lack of new subjects for his tattooing, which he practices while convalescing from his boar wound (which leaves him with an impressive scar on his right leg). Once recovered, he works on a Precision Strike okuden for the yari. Kokuma finishes developing the Smashing Blow okuden for his tetsubo and looks forward to trying it out. He also improves his kyujutsu, training alongside Mineo while Yoshi practises yadomejutsu on the flying arrows. Back on the domestic front, Mineo's wife falls pregnant in the autumn of the Year of the Cock while Kokuma's wife is once again pregnant in the spring of the Year of the Dog.

One day, the Shikabe refugees, in the form of the former Wajin warriors and Kokuma, the son of the headman, are visiting the centre of the village of Yakumo. This is a trip they have made nearly every day since they moved here two years ago. However, this visit turns out to be somewhat different. All of a sudden there is a great commotion. Eight giant spiders have come into the village and are attacking anyone the come across. As each spider finds an Ainu villager it subdues them with poison, wraps them in gossamer and starts to carry them off. Kokuma remembers hearing tales of a village that is attacked every year by eight spiders and they are powerless to stop them. Sometimes they send brave warriors to find and destroy the spiders' lairs, but always the spiders return in the following year or two. With this knowledge, Kokuma steps into the fray.

Miyoshi is first to find a foe and sets about a spider with his spear, aiming for extra evisceration using his new Precision Strike skill. However, his probing is not so precise, and his follow-up butt stroke also misses. He has a second go but misses again. The spider doesn't though, and only Miyoshi's health saves him from a level 3 fast paralytic poison. Yoshi is first to actually score a hit, landing a blow from one of his two swords. He follows up with another one-out-of-two score, killing the spider. Villagers rush up to pull the captured Ainu from the spider's cocoon. Kokuma is evidently psyched, landing one good blow then a critical for double damage, bashing the spider into oblivion. More eager hands rescue the captive. Mineo completes the round with a hit and a miss.

Miyoshi abandons the Precision Strike in favour of imprecise strike, but seems to hit the target more reliably, doing maximum damage and severely injuring the spider. Yoshi turns to find another spider and attacks it, landing one good hit. Kokuma finds another enemy and bashes it for 13 damage, flipping it onto its back. He follows up and kills the spider. Mineo puts another dime in the Hit Meter and is rewarded with another minor hit and a miss.

Miyoshi continues with his standard yari attack, but pays the penalty as his minimum-damage hit takes just two of the spider's three remaining hit points, then compounds the problem by having a critical failure and dazing himself (probably from a self-inflicted butt stroke). Yoshi likewise has a critical failure, one sword getting in the way of what would have been a critical hit with the other, dazes himself and falls over. Kokuma runs off to find a third critter, confronts it, swings, misses and gets bitten. Fortunately his health helps him resist the poison. Mineo finally gets a good hit and kills a spider. He too runs off after another but having reached it, misses his first attack.

Miyoshi, undazed and unfazed, hits the ailing spider and kills it. Yoshi lands two good blows from two swords and kills one spider in one manoeuvre. He runs to assist Mineo and lands another good blow. Kokuma pounds the last spider with two good hits. Mineo kills the penultimate spider then starts running round to collect venom and silk. Mineo helps Kokuma by missing, so Kokuma scores one more hit and collects all the Budo and On.

Once the Ainu are rescued, and the village is safe once more, Menkakush calls for Kokuma and the ex-Wajin warriors. He has a task for them...

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