Session 8. (30/12/99)

In week 24 in the Year of the Ox, Koei (Andy Allen) started to research the powers of the Daimyo's bodyguard, the infamous Death Squad, knowing that they would hamper preparations for the rebellion. Believing them to be magical in origin, she is the obvious choice for this research. First she tried asking around her various social contacts in the city. During a very successful dancing evening she heard the known stories about the six main members: "The leader of the Death Squad is Marumo Fujifusa, a top swordsman who virtually never misses." - "Kuroda Yoshiie is a tough character - he's the newest member, but hard as nails. He was in a duel with a master swordsman, but even though he was hit many times, he kept going and eventually won." - "Hatano Jyuso is the second-in-command. He has reflexes like a cat. I saw him caught in a surprise attack and get the first two blows in!" - "Watch out for that Atami Hirotsugu - he has a terrible battle club that he always uses. I heard he once knocked out an ogre with a single blow!" - "Avoid Shiba Hidetanda - his armour is light, but they say it can deflect any blade. I've never heard of him being hurt in a sword fight." - "One of them is a woman - but she's killed many a man. Her name is Uemura Seki, and she prefers a knife. She can dice a lizard's tail before its brain knows she's there." This information allowed her to guess at some of the spells involved, but she needed more details. She decided to ask around the criminal community, and looked for Lucky, the yakuza that had been susceptible to enormous bribes by Kimori the previous year. She couldn't find him, but did bump into a Shugenja called Hasekura in a tavern. Koei's initial attempts at bribery only aroused suspicion, but her feminine charms and the offer of a drink made him become more friendly (though Koei was insistent that he didn't get too friendly). Hasekura told Koei about the following magical items: Jyusu's boots enchanted by Water Blessing, giving great deftness; Seki's aiguchi enchanted by Many Waves, conferring on her the ability to do many actions in a short time; Yoshiie's jade figurine enchanted by Soil Blessing, giving him the ability to take more damage; and Hidetanda's armour enchanted by Armor of Heaven, giving it great resistance to metal weapons. Hasekura also said that the leader of the Death Squad, Marumo Fujifua, had an amulet of protection against most schools of magic. When Koei failed to repay in kind for this information, Hasekura became less friendly, and Koei left, only to be followed through the streets. She cast Wings of Heaven and sailed away over the rooftops.

The following day Koei left her residence and immediately ran into Hasekura and two other robed figures. Upon seeing her all three cast spells: Eyes of True Sight, Shield of Sorcery and Confusing Gaze, which caused Koei numerous distractions. Despite these, Koei managed to cast Darts of Wood, hitting the leading Shugenja and causing him to collapse quickly, but not until he managed to tie her up with a Binding of Limbs spell. The other Shugenja weighed in with two Darts of Wood (which missed) and a Metal Sphere (which didn't). Koei managed to throw off half her distractions and wriggle just enough in her confinement to cast more Darts of Wood. One of the two aimed at Hasekura hit him and put him to sleep; one of the two aimed at the other Shugenja hit, but he fought it off, losing only one point of strength. The last Shugenja then cast two Arrows of Wood at Koei and hit with one, but Koei managed to overcome the poison. Finally Koei threw off her shackles and cast four Darts of Wood at the other Shugenja and hit with two, which he just failed to throw off - the point of strength lost earlier crucially reduced his saving throw target, and both saving throws failed by one point! After catching her breath, Koei had the unconscious Shugenja dragged inside and she searched the bodies. She found talismans for the spells Growth of the Lost, Burning Steel and Concealling Cloak, a Bo enchanted as an amulet against School of Fire, a figurine to focus Road of Metal spells, and a scroll for learning the spell Spear against Spirits.

Under questioning, the Shugenja gave full details about the magical items held by the Death Squad: Marumo Fujifusa has an enchanted Katana giving +6 BCS (custom School of Fire spell) and an amulet versus all five magic schools (Fire L6, Water L3, Wood L5, Metal L2, Earth L4); Hatano Jyuso has enchanted boots giving +18 Dft, +9 BAP (School of Water spell Water Blessing); Uemura Seki has an enchanted aiguchi giving 4 extra actions per turn (School of Water spell Many Waves); Kuroda Yoshiie has an enchanted Jade samurai figurine on a cord necklace, giving +20 HPt, restored at dawn (School of Soil spell Soil Blessing); Shiba Hidetanda has enchanted armour giving +6 AC against metal weapons (School of Metal spell Armor of Heaven); and Atami Hirotsugu has an enchanted Club giving +6 damage (custom School of Wood spell). When asked how they knew all this, the Shugenja simply answered, "We made them." With the Shugenja disposed of, Koei started to plan what items she would need to overcome the Death Squad's unfair advantages. She decided to make talismans in the various schools of magic that could be used by the others to tough against the magical weapons and neutralise them. She spent the next few weeks creating four level 4 talismans against School of Soil spells, one for School of Wood and another for School of Fire. She also commissioned her teacher at the magic school to make two talismans against School of Water, which he made for 5 GP each.

During this period, the other troubleshooters were busy teaching at their various schools and camps (while not out looking for a girl and a fish). Kimori (Anthony Hummerston) recruited two more junior teachers (there were already 7 too many) and hired a geisha to teach the arts. This would allow the school to be classed as a Gentleman's Academy, and increase the number of applicants, though they were already well oversubscribed. Perhaps he could once again try to find more classrooms?

When Koei (Andy Allen) caught up with Kimori (Anthony Hummerston), Mariko (Paul Burton) and Sugiyama (Dave Weaver), they were in a meeting with Lord Chozo. It was week 27 in the Year of the Ox and Lord Chozo was saying how it was a critical time for the rebellion. The School of the Blade must process as many pupils as possible so that those who joined the rebellion could go to the training camp and be prepared for the final battle. The Daimyo, and in particular his personal bodyguard, otherwise known as the Death Squad, must not be allowed to interfere. They had caused too much trouble, and Lord Chozo said that they were to be targeted in a third sabotage raid. They were behind many atrocities, including decimation of the Ninja and the murder of Lord Chibei's messenger to the Emperor (back in series 1 when he was trying to get help for Osumi province after the devastating tsunami). They should be suckered into an ambush and wiped out.

With Koei's talismans and a little extra help the troubleshooters felt they could tackle this, and there was no lack of motivation. Mariko chose two students from the training camp to join the party, and Sugiyama, with Lord Chozo's permission, got two of his "contacts" (Ninja from his own training camp) to support. There was some debate about how to arrange the ambush, Kimori favouring the tactic of standing off and filling the Death Squad with arrows, as they had no special defence against them. However, Sugiyama's plan carried the day, whereby they would leak news that they would be transporting the Stone of Slôn through a forest and let the Death Squad ambush them! So it was that a few days later a party of five warriors rode through the forest, led by Sugiyama and Kimori, followed by a cart driven by Koei carying the Stone, flanked by the two students, Kamei and Kamei Akira. Mariko brought up the rear, and the two Ninja, Shibata and Kajitori shadowed the party through the trees.

Just as the party reached a clearing, a warrior stepped into the path where it exited the clearing and demanded that they stop. At this signal, the other five members of the Death Squad leapt out of the trees and attacked the leading riders. Jyusu, the one with enhanced reactions, took a swing at Kimori but missed. Kimori, only a whisker slower, hit the magic boots with the School of Fire talisman, but it failed to work. Sugiyama leapt from his horse and critically hit Hirotsugu's enchanted club with a school of wood talisman. This also failed to work, but the blow severely damaged the club anyway. Yoshiie joined Hirotsugu in fighting Sugiyama and Fujifusa joined Jyusu fighting Kimori. Akira and Mariko took on Seki and Mariko hit her enchanted aiguchi with the School of Water talisman, which worked! Kamei went to help Sugiyama and swung at Hirotsugu who parried the blow, but only at the expense of breaking his club. An ordinary fighter without the magical club, he took heed of the old saying, "Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is best," and ran away, only to meet Shibata, who was moving to a better position was silently dispatched. The other Ninja, Kajitori, fired poisoned darts at Fujifusa, but he shrugged the poison off. Koei flew up over the fight using Wings of Heaven and tried to apply countermagic to Fujifusa's enchanted sword, but failed to get close enough (within a chicken's span). Kimori hit Hidetanda's enchanted armour with the School of Soil talisman, but this also failed^*. Sugiyama, with the last of the front mens' talismans, hit the jade figurine and robbed Yoshiie of his extra hit points. Then, after a few successful sword blows to various warriors, friend and foe, Kajitori hit Fujifusa with poisoned darts, but again he shrugged them off.

There followed a period in which blows, mostly successful, were exchanged between the various opponents, with only Mariko escaping injury after having focussed her Ki to improve her defence. This period was punctuated by a failed attempt by Koei to disenchant Jyusu's boots, and Shibata hitting Yoshiie with two darts laced with a level 3 lightning disabling poison. By the time Yoshiie had worked the poison out of his system (a few seconds), he had 18 distractions to cope with, and thereafter just stood and took the hits. When Kajitori hit Jyusu with one dart and left him with 8 distractions, the tide of the battle had turned. Mariko removed the enchantment from Hidetanda's armour, and then Shibata stunned him with three poisoned darts, causing him to curl up into a foetal ball as within seconds he was beset by 98 distractions! Koei hit Jyusu with a Wooden Sphere, knocking him out to be dispatched later by one of the Ninja. Sugiyama finished off Yoshiie with a critical hit, Kajitori silently disposed of Seki, and after several brutal blows, Kimori killed Fujifusa, the leader and last of the Death Squad.

Picking up the pieces afterwards, the troubleshooters found Fujifusa's sword, an inferior weapon with a decidedly superior enchantment. They also found the amulet of protection against the five shcools of magic. Koei took possession of Jyusu's enchanted boots, and would now have a reaction time even quicker that Kimori, much to his disgust. After a bit of wound mending (Kimori was particularly worried about his health, just for a change), the party headed back to Masaki. Lord Chozo was very pleased at their success, and said that the rebellion could now proceed as soon as winter was over and the troops had been trained.

^* How they managed to cause so many talismans to fail is incredible. The warriors blamed Koei for making duff spells, but in fact all the talismans had a BCS of 16 - they just rolled badly.

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