Session 14.

The four trouble shooters are in Sueyoshi, having solved all the mysteries surrounding the stone in Osumi Province. However, Osumi Province was once more in trouble, this time from the advancing Hyuga army. While the adventurers were been solving the riddle of the stone, Fobei Hareda, the Daimyo of Hyuga was moving his army from Miyazaki to Miyakonojo citadel and Haginomine Castle to add to troops already there. The army at Miyakonojo has now come over the mountain road and is advancing into Osumi. Only the fort at Sueyoshi stands in its way. The four adventurers were asked by the Daimyo to help break the siege and defend Osumi province.

The four accepted and walked the short distance to Sueyoshi Fort. They all managed to enter the fort through the besieging army of 25,000 troops: Sugiyama and Kimori by stealth, Mariko through knowledge of battle strategy and Koei by flying over at night. Inside the fort were 19,000 defenders, led by a level two Samurai of the Daimyo’s clan. Mariko immediately began discussing strategy, tactics, terrain and opposition characteristics with him. She soon discovered that while the defending commander had a better knowledge of siege strategy than she had, Mariko’s mastery of open battle strategy meant that it would be best to take the fight to the attackers and drive them off. This was also necessary because they knew that another large army was taking a different route into Osumi Province, and if most of Osumi’s army was defending this fort, the other Hyuga army would just walk right through to the capital, Tarumizu.

Mariko organised information-gathering missions and planned the defence with the commander’s knowledge of local terrain. While this proceeded during the first week of the siege, the Hyuga army made several assaults on the fort. The first attack was inconclusive, neither side taking many losses. Kimori and Mariko took a good tally of heads, while Sugiyama encountered a level one bushi. The duel was over quite quickly, Sugiyama’s superior swordsmanship showing through, but not before he received a critical wound to add to those he already had. Fortunately there was a competent gakusho in the fort who was able to carry out running repairs on Sugiyama. In the second assault, Sugiyama, Kimori and Koei all took at least five heads, and Kimori duelled a level two bushi, polishing him off without getting a scratch. Also in this attack, the Hyugan commander was badly wounded in an encounter with one of the defenders. He would eventually die from this and subsequent minor injuries.

In the third assault, Sugiyama encountered a third level bushi, and they traded blows for a while until Sugiyama got a critical hit and finished the contest. In the fourth assault, Kimori also met a third level opponent, but had much less difficulty than Sugiyama. By the end of the week, the four trouble-shooters had "head" counts of: Sugiyama (15), Kimori (22), Mariko (10), Koei (12). Kimori made a bet of five silver pieces with Sugiyama that he would finish the siege with more heads. Sugiyama accepted, and went off to the priest to get more healing. He also buttonholed the armourer and got him to repair some class seven armour he had scavenged from one of his victims.

Now Mariko put her plan into action. She prepared by sending sappers to divert streams and getting Koei to create areas of mud and treacherous ground. Then she led a force of 15,000 troops on a sally against the surprised Hyuga army. In the first hour of battle, Osumi had a slight advantage. Sugiyama and Kimori took six and five heads respectively, and Koei encountered a level two bushi. As he advanced, Koei cast arrows of fire at him, doing considerable damage and setting his armour on fire. The bushi managed to put out the fire, and closed to sword range as Koei’s second spell failed. He managed to land one damaging blow on Koei’s puny frame, but then another three arrows of fire finished him off.

The second hour of battle went well for the defenders, taking 2,000 Hyugan lives for the loss of 1,000, and saw Sugiyama and Kimori each getting five heads (though both were outdone by Koei’s seven) and encountering level four opposition. Kimori felled his man with two impressive critical hits. Sugiyama took rather more time, and took a little damage, but the result was the same. After this Kimori had another encounter, which was also over in double quick time with two more critical hits, and Koei encountered another level two bushi. Again she hit first with fire arrows, and the burning armour continued to damage her opponent until it went out. He landed one sword blow before Koei’s third spell succeeded. The fire arrows didn’t quite kill him, but the burning armour did. Koei had a rather smoky head to add to the other six she picked up at that time. The fourth hour of battle was good for the defenders, reducing the Hyugans by 4,000. Of these, Sugiyama took four, Koei six and Kimori nine heads. In the final hour of battle before dusk the Hyugans rallied slightly. Sugiyama and Kimori both had encounters, which both won with the help of critical hits. Sugiyama’s opponent suffered a disabling blow to the leg, but still managed to hit back a few times. By the end of the day the Hyugan army had been reduced from 25,000 to 18,000 troops, for the loss of only 2,000 Osumi fighters. The head count now stood at: Sugiyama (44), Kimori (55), Mariko (15), Koei (44).

After a day’s rest and healing, Mariko led 16,000 troops out on a second sally, leaving only 1,000 in the fort. She had a slight advantage in the first hour and reduced the opposition by 1,000, Kimori and Koei each taking nine heads. In the second hour the advantage increased, and a further 3,000 Hyugans were killed, giving Osumi numerical superiority for the first time. The Hyugan commander was also killed, and his replacement was somewhat less experienced. In the third hour the advantage increased again, and 5,000 Hyugans were killed for the loss of only 1,000 of the Osumi force. Sugiyama took six heads to catch up slightly with Kimori. Mariko also took six heads, and encountered a rabble bushi. She got a critical hit and finished him off while he was dazed. In the fourth hour another 3,000 Hyugans were killed, giving odds of 2½ to 1. Sugiyama took seven heads and encountered a level three bushi. A few big hits and he was dead. With the Hyugan army now in disarray, Mariko led the Osumi troops in pursuit as they fled back into Hyuga. Sugiyama managed to take eight heads to Kimori’s three, giving a final count of: Sugiyama (74), Kimori (72), Mariko (25), Koei (76). Thus Sugiyama won the bet with Kimori, much to Kimori’s embarrassment. When the victorious force returned to the fort they found that a message had been received saying that the other Hyugan army had rounded the Toi peninsula and was now marching across the Plain of Plenty heading for Kanoya. If they defeated the 10,000 troops in the fort there, they would be able to march on to the capital and capture the whole province. Mariko, whose leadership had impressed and allowed her to advance to level three, was chosen to lead a forced march overnight and through the next day and night to join up with the troops at Kanoya before the Hyugan army could get there.

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