Session 26. (23/01/02)

This episode of The Stone begins near a cave high in the mountains in deepest Hyuga. A sign painted on a rock reads "Dragon Cave" and indeed, steam and smoke are issuing from the cave. This is because it is a vent for one of the many volcanoes in the region. And yet, within the cave, resides a large, bad-tempered dragon. It lies there, listening to the approaching footsteps of a five course, pre-packaged meal. They are drawn in like so many before by curiosity, and although their brief fear will add a bitterness to the meat, the dragon just loves that flame-grilled taste. The armour might be a problem - picking it from the teeth afterwards. The five victims come into the cave and look around, but it is too dark to see the dragon. Then as he moves towards them, the one with the longest sharp metal rod spots him. The dragon quickly casts a Fire Eyes spell to see clearly in the dark and Armour of Heaven to protect against the metal rods, then Fire Flash to blind the weaklings. The girl with the long clothes and the man who moves quietly seem to have been affected. Then the one with the long metal rod swings it and gets a lucky hit that hurts quite a lot. The dragon casts Road of Metal to increase his Armour Class to 22, then whirls round and bites at the nearest of the humans, the girl with the short metal rod. Mmm, this one's going to taste soooo nice. Meanwhile, the one that hit him gets a roasting with his hottest flame, setting his armour on fire and making him roll around on the ground in agony. This one will need some barbecue sauce! The blinded young girl sits down and starts chanting while the other girl scratches the dragon with her little knife. The dragon extends his neck and bites the blinded man to make sure he remains terrified. Then the man with the long sword, armour extinguished, gets up and hits the dragon again. Puzzling - is he lucky or does he have a skill which allows him to find the weak spots on any beast? The dragon retaliates with two raking claws, but the man gets another hit. This isn't going as planned - the dragon is confused. Then a sudden sharp pain at the throat - how had a blind man got there without being seen? - and the world ceases to exist for the dragon.

As Sugiyama withdraws his sword and wipes the blood from it, his naturally dark-adapted eyes spot a beautiful pearl tucked under the dragon's chin. He pockets this before anyone else sees. Emiko completes her trance and works out what all the spells were. Then she gets busy healing the injured warriors, but has trouble (as usual) with Sugiyama. She shrugs and puts the six failed attempts down to bad karma, though she has no idea why. The others cut up the 40 foot carcass and store the meat in the cold, dry mountain air for use by escaping prisoners and on the return journey.

In the afternoon the party descends into the Mimi valley. The castle is perched on top of a knoll in front of a sheer cliff, next to a large lake, on the flanks of Mount Ishiyama at the head of the Mimi River Valley. The castle has been converted into a prison and is used for the most important prisoners because of its inaccessibility. It is also called The Stone because it is reputed to be escape-proof. Any prisoners who do escape will find the way west blocked by the cliff and lake, to north and south lie only high, barren mountains, while to the east is the river valley dotted with fortified towns, barracks and military training areas. Nearby is the fortified town of Shiiba, and the village of Mochida, which provides food and servants for the castle. The troubleshooters watch the castle until dark then make their plans for breaking in.

Late into the night the troubleshooters climb the steep slopes to the back of the knoll, behind the castle. Here it is very dark and being at the foot of a cliff they are not silhouetted against the sky. Unobserved, Sugiyama climbs the outer wall, with its difficult overhanging roof, and lowers a rope for the others. They enter the outer compound without difficulty. They head round to the ropeway below the bath house but are spotted by an eagle-eyed guard. He challenges them and draws his sword, but Sugiyama's Silent Kill removes this obstacle. In the shadows below the bath house, Mariko pulls at the rope used to haul buckets of water up into the inner compound, but it just pays out. Sugiyama climbs into the bath house and finds the rope is tied and almost completely paid out. He winds it down and the others climb up. The five then sneak along the wall of the inner compound to the main building. The back doors are nearby, and after Emiko has confirmed that there is nothing hidden in the vicinity, they enter. Inside is a narrow, sloping passageway leading up to the main floor of the castle. There are doors at the end and this time Emiko detects the sound of quiet conversation on the other side. She and Mariko quietly go through the doors and the conversation stops as they find themselves in a guard room with three unfriendly guards looking at them. Not recognising them, the guards challenge them and draw weapons. Mariko goes for one on the left while Emiko goes for the two on the right. Fortunately one stuns himself, but the other two guards hit Mariko and Emiko. Mariko hits her target and Emiko makes a double strike, one of which lands on her opponent. The other troubleshooters are unable to get through due to the narrow confines of the doorway. Mariko hits her opponent and forces him back, allowing Sugiyama to get through to help out Emiko. Komako tries to manhandle Emiko out of the way, but she is too involved to notice. Kimori, stuck at the back, bars the doors against any reinforcements from outside. The three guards get hits on Emiko and Komako, whereupon Emiko relinquishes her position to Komako. Sugiyama kills one of the guards and the tide turns, Mariko killing her foe and Komako and Sugiyama felling the last, who remains unconscious but just barely alive. In the end game, Komako's left eye is badly damaged, but Emiko uses her scroll to repair it. Then a harsh voice comes up some stairs from the cellars, "Is everything all right up there?" Kimori shouts back, "Yes, everything is under control, we just knocked something down."
"Who is that?" comes the response, "What's your name and operating number?" Kimori freezes as realisation dawns that here, in the middle of a remote castle, with dozens of guards in barracks outside, with bars on all the windows, he has just barred the only door out.

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