Session 29. (13/11/09)

Having failed to have a Hallowe'en special due to an actors' strike, the Friday the 13th episode also failed to bring any major bad luck to the struggling ex-Wajin - except Miyoshi and Mineo. Food and sleep have brought renewed vigour to Kachamaru and he goes to Koshamain to make his report. He presents his map, but Koshamain cannot make head or tail of it, not understanding how marks on vellum can represent the real world. Kachamaru has to tell him verbally about finding a place where the water ran the other way, a pass, a view of the sea and a lack of inhabitants. Koshamain asks what the hunting was like and Kachamaru replies that game was plentiful - almost falling out of the trees - but that there will be privations on the way and they must take as much food as they can carry, especially for Starvation Gorge. Koshamain decides that they must leave as soon as possible - a day's packing of belongings and a day or twos' hunting for more food stocks and they'll be off. Kachamaru is worried that the original Yakumo villagers will try to follow them across the mountains but Koshamain pooh-poohs the notion. He sends Kachamaru to see Menkakush to tell him that they will be leaving in a few days. Kachamaru goes with some reluctance, but Menkakush turns out to be very pleasant to him, and pledges all the grain-based foods they can spare to help the tribe on their journey. In return, Kachamaru promises to leave all the swords they can't carry, and they wish each other well.

Meanwhile, 11 ri away, Miyoshi has a whole day's food in reserve and decides to try to get to the sea. He chooses south as the best direction to start as a ridge blocks the direct route southwest. However, he is soon lost among the densely forested hills to the northwest and, realising this, decides to retrace his route. His sense of direction is better on the return leg and he finds his campsite in time to go hunting and finds and kills an otter, just enough food for the day.

Meanwhile, Mineo and Kokuma are lost near a lake in a valley far, far away. They have no food and Mineo has broken his bow - first he frayed the string, making it a two-man bow, then he cracked it, making it a one-man bow, and finally he snapped it (and calls it a nomanbo). However, he never gives up, so he tries carving a fishhook from a thorn using his tanto. His first attempt completely ruins the thorn so he tries again. It is also unsuccessful, and he tries to modify it, but ends up breaking it beyond repair. He punches a tree in frustration and suffers 2 damage to his hand. On the other side of the lake, away from the sounds of cursing and falling pine needles, Kokuma is tracking the plentiful game. He hears some songbirds and manages to shoot two of them. By the time he finds the arrows, half a mile into the woods with a small bird impaled on each, the morning is over, so he heads back to the lake in search of larger game. First he finds and otter and shoots it dead. Then he finds three rabbits and shoots one at the second attempt. Then he finds three stoats and shoots one, but in trying to shoot a second at long range manages to snap his bowstring. He returns to Mineo with almost two days' worth of food but bad news on the bow front. After a goodly repast, in which Mineo manages to recover a point of lost speed and Kokuma of deftness, Mineo fashions (successfully) a fish hook from the animal bones and ties it to his bowstring and, using the half-a-bow as a fishing rod, leaves a line out in the lake overnight.

The following day Mineo checks his line, but there are no fish; maybe some bait would have helped. They set off back up the valley and by noon find themselves in a place they recognise as the place they first lost themselves. Kokuma decides they should head north and by late afternoon find themselves near the pass and manage to pick up the blazed trail. Kokuma goes hunting and finds a pigeon, which his frayed bow is still powerful enough to kill. Then, back at camp, he spots three voles. He gets out his testubo and plays whack-a-vole while Mineo tries to stomp on them. This is an unfortunate combination. When Kokuma goes for a vole and misses, and Mineo goes for the same one and misses badly, there is an unfortunate coming together and Mineo receives 10 critical damage to his leg. On top of that, they only have six units of food and need four each. Mineo suffers the further loss of a point of health and Kokuma loses a point of will.

In the forested valley below the pass, Miyoshi again has a whole day's food reserves and has another go at reaching the sea. He offers a brief prayer to any gods that might be near and heads south again. However, the gods aren't listening and he ends up southeast at the pass. When he eventually realises his mistake it is after noon, so he follows the blazes back to his camp and goes hunting. He manages to find six squirrels, but he fails to hit even one of them.

Meanwhile, in suburban Yakumo, most of the tribe's families send their menfolk out to hunt for the food stores they will need on the journey, and Kachamaru and Yoshi are no exception. They sneakily decide to hunt in Yakumo's best hunting grounds, and soon come across a family of semi-wild pigs. They decide to target the same one and two arrows take it down, squealing like a pig. As the others run away, they team up and take down another pig. Deciding this is too good a food source to give up they track the final fleeing pig and eventually catch up. Another pair of arrows kills the third pig and they are forced to head home greatly encumbered by their haul of meat (30 food points). Still fresh, Kachamaru and Yoshi head out again in the afternoon and soon find three turkeys. Their first shots both miss, but as the turkeys flap clumsily away they hit and kill one each. On the way back Yoshi tracks down some giant rats and they kill three, for a total haul of 52 food points for the day. Their wives are very pleased with their prowess.

The next day the tribe sets off, about 60 families in all. They have as much food as they can carry, about three days' supply for them all. Following the blazed trail the tribe makes good progress, getting about 2 ri up the valley. With an hour's hunting at the end of the day, Yoshi and Kachamaru find and kill three giant rats, enough for 6 food points for each of their families - not enough for the whole day's needs (10 food points), but they don't have to go too far into their reserves.

Up in the hills, Miyoshi has run out of food and has to go hunting. For once he is quite successful and finds two stoats, managing to kill one; four songbirds, catching one; and another stoat, which he manages to kill. This gives him enough food for two days.

Not far away, near the pass, Kokuma is also hunting all day as Mineo rests his leg. Kokuma's haul is one rabbit, one shrew, two voles (with one swing of the tetsubo!), one pigeon and one rat. This provides enough food for both of them for the day with five units left over.

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