Session 9.

The adventurers started the episode in Miyazaki, trying to see the Daimyo and gather more information about Osumi province. In the first of these they were completely unsuccessful. Every inquiry made was given a polite (and not so polite) brush-off. Mariko eventually wrote a letter to the appropriate city official and left it at that. In getting information about Osumi province they had slightly more success. Kimori talked about the mystical stone with someone who told him that it wasn't the stone but the location that was magical. Mariko visited a shrine and heard of an evil magician living in the mountains near the Valley of the Woodpecker. Later, talking to one of the junior officers, Mariko became convinced that something secretive was happening, and this was confirmed when she saw large numbers of weapons in the supposedly humanitarian aid convoy.

The following day the four trouble-shooters decided to press on into Osumi province and continue their quest, despite being ignored by the locals. As they prepared to go it became apparent that the soldiers has left the city. A cursory glance at the city roads showed that two large groups had left on the only two roads into Osumi province, the coast road and the mountain road via Miyakonojo. Enquiries in the city also revealed that the troops had gone to set up a road block at Nichinan, on the coast road. Thus the travellers decided to head towards Miyakonojo and into Osumi province.

However, after they had travelled about 10 miles and had entered a narrow gorge, the party encountered a road block, manned by several hundred troops. Mariko made representations to the officer in charge, but he refused to let them through. When she told him who had sent them he was more polite, but even more stubborn. He said that they would not be able to pass down this road until the action in Osumi province was over. The four had no alternative but to turn back. They decided to try the coast road, and reached Nichinan to find that there was no road block. The local people told them that the road block was a little further south, where the road passed Haginomine castle which would no doubt support the troops at the barricade. However, when Mariko asked if they knew where the Valley of the Woodpecker was, they were told that it was just over the mountains from there, up a narrow track that led into Osumi province! They set off immediately, and reach the small village of Todaka before night falls.

In the morning the four adventurers rode slowly up the narrow track and over a low mountain pass where it was cold and snowy. The track continued down and led into a pretty, narrow valley. As they rode they thought that the tree line looked odd, but no-one knew why. A little further along the valley they saw a shrine on a knoll on the valley side.

At Kimori's insistence they went up to the Shrine of Obirano, where they met the shrine priest who told them that the shrine is a memorial to the village of Obirano that was destroyed by a powerful magician. The priest said that the people who rebuilt the village still believed him to live on the mountain opposite the shrine, and lived in fear of him,. He himself was unsure as to whether the magician was still there, or indeed had ever existed. He asked if the four of them would go and find out if the magician was still there. However, the adventurers were in no mood for subtle hints, and went on their way down into the Plain of Plenty.

The party arrived on the plain to find it totally desolate. Nothing taller than grass grows there, and there were no buildings in sight. It was very different from the fertile farming land depicted on the map. In the distance they caught their first glimpse of the stone which had sparked so many rumours. As they approached it they could see it more clearly. "It's pink!" exclaimed Koei. It was irregular in shape, some 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and about 10 feet high, and, indeed, pink. It also appeared to be covered in some kind of writing, or, to Kimori's eyes, pictures. Most sides of it had large areas of writing/pictures, including, curiously, the bottom. Koei was afraid to touch the stone, mindful of the rumours of its magical qualities, and speculated that the designs might be the souls of people who touched the stone. She used her magical powers, but found that the stone was apparently not intrinsically magical. She also visited the astral plane, but found nothing there. However, she remained convinced that something was out there.

While Koei was busy, Mariko's eyes scoured the landscape. To the south, a thin column of smoke was rising from a small hill in the middle of the plain. There appeared to be a building of some sort half way up the hill, facing the sea, but it was too far away to pick out any details.

The Stone on the Plain of Plenty

Meanwhile, Sugiyama rode off to the nearby town of Shibushi to use his secret Ninja talents to gain information. However, when he got there he found the town completely devastated, worse than if an earthquake had struck. All that remains of buildings is a few brick and some wooden beams, nowhere more than a few inches high. There is a man dejectedly picking his way through the rubble. Seeing Sugiyama, he asks if he knows what has happened. Sugiyama replies in the negative, and asks what the man is doing. He says that he is from Nakafukura, just over the mountains in Hyuga province (but formerly in Osumi Province) and has come to see his brother for the first time since the winter snows closed the mountain roads. He didn't know what had happened, but thought that his brother had either been killed in the destruction, or had gone to join the cult up on Toi mountain which has set up a monastery devoted to Inari, the God of Wealth, in order to regain the prosperity the region once had. Sugiyama asked his brother's name, but the man was too distraught to be coherent. Sugiyama told him to go back home because of the danger from bandits and the approaching armies, and promised to contact him if they found out anything.

At this point the rest of the party rode up and they exchanged information. Having seen all the clues, which way would they go first?

< Previous  Next >