Session 6.

Seeing the guard on the compound door, Kimori took his bow, nocked a bowel-raker arrow and slice’n’diced the unsuspecting Yakuza from the top of the wall. Hearing his comrade fall, the patrolling Yakuza ran up, saw Kimori and charged him. Kimori missed with two more arrows, so jumped down and dispatched him with his sword. The others left Kimori to fend for himself and went round to the front door of the corner house. Mariko told Sugiyama to break down the door, but, drawing on his Ninja infiltration skills, he opened the unlocked door instead. They walked down the passageway and looked in the first two rooms. The first was empty, but the eating room contained a Yakuza resting between patrols. A great commotion was heard from upstairs and the patrolman attacked Mariko, but was quickly dispatched. Immediately the stairs started dispensing Yakuza like coins from a fruit machine. Mariko and Sugiyama stood each side of the bottom step and cut down the Yakuza one by one as they arrived. Koei stood guard outside.

Meanwhile, the Yakuza lieutenant, investigating the noises in the compound, spotted Kimori and ran to cover at the side of the Gemsmith’s under a hail of rapidly fired arrows. The Yakuza then called for assistants. Kimori edged across the compound until he could see round the wall and felled the Yakuza with a single arrow. Kimori failed to notice a Yakuza sneaking through a secret door from one of the cottages until he was within sword range. However, his heavy armour saved him, and he quickly drew his sword and ran the hapless Yakuza through. His armour failed to stop another blow coming out of the blue from a Yakuza from the Gemsmith’s, who had come out of the back door and crossed the compound while Kimori was occupied by the previous fight. Undeterred, Kimori turned and cut him down in two blows.

Back in the house, Sugiyama and Mariko were gradually losing the race to dispatch Yakuza as fast as they were appearing. Sugiyama encountered Sujo, a senior gang member, and Mariko stunned herself for a few seconds. Things were not going well outside either, as a Yakuza emerged from one of the cottages and roused Chazo Fan, the Serpents’ leader, despite being hit by two darts of wood by Koei. Koei warned the others and bravely challenged the level 4 Yakuza, but was critically injured and fell stunned. Inside, Mariko finished off Sujo for Sugiyama so that he could tackle Chazo Fan (final score Mariko 6-Sugiyama 4). Sugiyama traded blows with Chazo Fan, while Mariko and Kimori (coming through from the compound) finished off the other Yakuza. Things might have gone badly for Sugiyama, who was bleeding heavily by now, but Koei, stunned and on the ground, hit Chazo Fan with two darts of wood and put him to sleep.

The adventurers now searched the premises. In the house Sugiyama found 5 silver pieces, 2 semi-precious gems, an armourer’s kit, a belt pouch, a full water bottle, a ½ full bottle of plum brandy, a ¼ full keg of sake and some drugs. In the cottages Kimori found four gems, but little else. When Chazo Fan had come round, Koei used a Fetters of Truth spell to extract information from him. From his story and a quick count of the bodies, Mariko was able to work out that four Yakuza were still unaccounted for. She, Koei and Sugiyama went to search the Gemsmith’s. Sugiyama found a sleeping Yakuza and roughed him up. Mariko tried to burst through the wall to help Sugiyama, but was clubbed by the Gemsmith who had been hiding in a corner. Quickly overpowering them, Kimori and Sugiyama tied them up and forced the Gemsmith to hand over the key to the workshop. They went to the workshop and recovered the bronze statue from the Shrine of Shizari, then opened the door to the Blacksmith’s. As they did so, a Yakuza leapt out and attacked Sugiyama, a fatal mistake. Meanwhile, Kimori went through the main doors to the Blacksmith’s and was immediately bashed to the floor by the Blacksmith wielding an enormous hammer. The Blacksmith wrestled with Kimori and tried to force him into the forge, almost succeeding. Kimori managed to squirm free and run him through with his sword.

The four trouble-shooters met up again in the Blacksmith’s and explored it. Sugiyama found and tied up a sleeping Yakuza, bringing the prisoner count to four and completing the total of Yakuza at the base. Sugiyama also found a good quality Wakizashi. Moving on to the Blacksmith’s house, they found his wife and children. The wife pleaded for her childrens' and husband’s lives. The four killers decided to set them free. Kimori felt so bad at having already killed her husband that he slipped her some silver coins to salve his conscience. Finally, they took the prisoners to a police house (in another ward), returned the statue to the Shrine of Shizari, and returned to Masaki to report to Lord Chozo. Lord Chozo was very pleased and awarded them a bonus payment of 21 silver pieces each. He also gave them the rest of the winter off their duties so that they could train. Koei spent a week recovering from her wounds and then spent her training time improving her knowledge of the School of Fire and learning several useful spells. The others all became proficient in bajutsu (horse riding) at the behest of Lord Chozo. Sugiyama spent the rest of the time mastering kenjutsu (sword skills) and improving his commerce and karumijutsu (heroic leaping). Kimori studied the okuden (specialisation) "Precision Strike", and Mariko improved her knowledge of strategy.

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