Session 28. (6/2/02)

It's amazing - for the first time in 28 weeks, an entire episode was completed in one session! It all starts with the troubleshooters resting at the Dragon Cave after their partially successful mission to Ishiyama Castle, where they had managed to break in but were unable to find the captured spy because he had already escaped. They decided that the spy must be hiding in the mountains around Ishiyama, probably without food and possibly without suitable clothing, but by night it is too dark to see tracks, and by day there are too many Hyugan soldiers around. They reason that the spy might be hiding in a place that would be obvious to someone with his training - but what kind of training has he had? Emiko and Komako head into the village of Mochida to look in likely gakusho and budoka locations - namely shrines and temples - Mariko looks in the woods for places a bushi would hide; Sugiyama looks around the lake's edge for places that a "bushi who grew up in the mountains" would frequent; and Kimori had no ideas, so he joined Mariko.

In the village, Emiko and Komako find that there is no shrine, but there is a small temple of yamabushi orientation. They both go to pray and talk to the head priest. He asks them where they are from and Komako replies Nobeoka. They talk a little about the city, which Komako last saw at high speed, then the priest asks why they are here. Emiko says they are heading up to the castle. Acknowledging her Shinto persuasion, the priest asks if she visited the shrine in Chiiba. Emiko confesses that she has never heard of it, then realises from the priest's puzzled expression that she has made a gaffe. Shrugging it off, she and Komako ask if they can stay the night at the temple. The priest agrees.

Out in the forests of the Mimi river valley, Mariko and Kimori are searching for signs of the spy, without success. They have split up to cover more ground, but neither is really sure what they are looking for. Kimori is observing the ground so closely that he almost walks into a stranger who is strolling through the woods. Overcoming their initial surprise, each asks what the other is doing. Kimori says he is looking for a friend who is lost in the woods. The stranger, who is dressed in the garb of a Shinto priest, says he has seen no-one, as is usual for these woods, which is why he comes here for peace and solitude away from the busy shrine in Chiiba, where he is an attendant. Kimori asks if he has any news but the priest says no.

On the lake shore, Sugiyama has found some tracks. They are a few days old and disappear as he looks further away from the muddy lakeside and over the rocky banks. Sugiyama thinks that no ninja would have left such tracks, but a fugitive with less specialised training might have done so while collecting water or fish. He returns to meet the others back at the Dragon Cave.

In the evening, Mariko, Kimori and Sugiyama discuss their finds, or lack of them. They decide to continue looking for tracks in the morning. In the village, Emiko has an idea. Remembering her trick in the shrine in Nobeoka, she and Komako look for secret messages in recent prayer notes. Komako finds one that could be read in two different ways, one as a prayer and one as a request for help. Emiko uses a Prana-yoga trance to discover very faint lines drawn on the note to form a hidden map.

In the morning, Mariko and Kimori cross to the far side of the valley before dawn to search the forests there. Sugiyama returns to the lake to search. At the temple in the village, Emiko rises and prays to greet the dawn. As she does this she notices the head priest and three soldiers waiting for her to finish praying. Hurriedly adding a blessing on herself to her prayers, causing her to reach level 4 and allowing her to add a second blessing, she finishes her prayers, invokes her blessings and high-tails it out of the temple, closely followed by a surprised Komako and three even more surprised soldiers. Komako's natural speed and Emiko's enhanced speed soon take them out of sight of the soldiers and they strike out into the woods that line the valley. As they climb the valley side they see they had almost reached the village of Chiiba, the next village on the road from Nobeoka. In the centre of the village is a large shrine - no wonder the priest was surprised that Emiko hadn't heard of it! It turns out that he had become suspicious, so sent a note to the head priest of the shrine to see if any strangers had passed through the village. When he replied that there were none, the Buddhist priest sent a note to the castle to ask for soldiers to come and arrest the spies. Fortunately they weren't expecting trouble from a girl and a young budoka!

Out in the valley, Kimori has no luck but Mariko finds some recent tracks. She loses them after a while, finds them and loses them again. They had been heading roughly north. By the lake, Sugiyama searches a considerable length of the shore and concludes that no-one has been to the lake recently. He heads back to the cave where he meets up with Mariko, Kimori, Emiko and Komako. They lunch on the last of the dragon steaks. Having only enough rations for their return journey, they can't search for much longer. Komako shows the secret map to the others. Sugiyama is able to discern the outline of the lake and a small river running into from the north. At the head of the river is an X. It is only a few miles away. The troubleshooters set off again.

As they reach the bottom of the little valley with the river marked on the map, Mariko notices that there are many footprints heading up the valley. Further up the valley Kimori hears a dog barking. They hurry on and soon they see a dozen or so soldiers making their way up the valley, following a dog which is clearly on the scent. Then a man who is evidently the spy breaks cover and runs up the valley side. The soldiers set off in pursuit. Kimori lets off an arrow and hits one of the soldiers. Sugiyama lets off an arrow and hits a tree. The soldiers' commander barks an order^* and half the troop turn to take on the troubleshooters. Kimori continues firing arrows and kills the injured soldier with two more arrows before the others arrive. Sugiyama runs off to help the spy.

Seven soldiers arrive and attack the four troubleshooters. All four heroes get hits on their opponents; all of the soldiers miss, one so badly that he throws his sword into a tree! Emiko attacks him with her staff and ensures that he never recovers the sword. Kimori gets the first kill with a critical hit, but also takes the first wound from one of the three soldiers attacking him. Komako has a run of misses but Mariko is flawless with her tanto and soon another soldier is dead. Kimori polishes off his second victim, but Komako is dazed by a lucky blow.

Meanwhile, things are not going so well for Sugiyama and the spy. The spy has only a tree branch with which he is clubbing the guards, but is taking numerous sword wounds and is bitten twice. Sugiyama takes on the commander and gets in several good hits, but his opponent is very tough. All the while, other soldiers are trying to hit him, and occasionally succeeding. Then the dog makes an over-enthusiastic attack and falls awkwardly just as Sugiyama manages to force the commander back. As the commander retreats he falls over the dog and in the ensuing melée the dog is killed and the commander is stunned. Sugiyama finishes him off and takes his weapon (a naginata) and throws it to the spy. Then Sugiyama turns to find his next opponent, hits his head on a branch and is stunned.

Back down the valley the fight continues. Komako recovers from his dazing and knocks out his foe. Seeing there are no spare opponents, he runs off to help Sugiyama. Kimori is next to finish, dispatching the troops' second-in-command before running off after Komako. Mariko kills her opponent, helps Emiko finish the last of the soldiers then they, too, go to help Sugiyama and the spy.

Sugiyama and the spy are still in difficulty, taking hits from five soldiers, but then Komako turns up and Sugiyama gets two critical hits, which kills his next seriously tough opponent. The spy gets some good hits and Komako wades in, hitting one but then dislocating his arm (again!). This doesn't stop him however, and he continues to hit his foe with his other arm until he renders him unconscious. Kimori arrives and kills one, Sugiyama gets another and suddenly the fight is won. Sugiyama and the spy are heavily injured, so Emiko gets to work.

The spy explains how he managed to escape by making a ju-jutsu move on his guard when he was being taken from the high security area of the dungeon upstairs to the torture room. He used his budoka knowledge of throws and falls to survive jumping off the walls of the castle compounds, then hid in the temple until the search got too close. He says he didn't try to get away because of the lack of food in the hinterlands, but if they are to get over the mountains back to Hinokage they will need some fish - has anyone got fishing line? Komako has and the two of them fish in the river overnight. Komako makes a good catch, but the spy does even better. Komako moans that it was only his arm, which is in a sling, that stopped him doing better. He says, "You should've seen the one that got away - it was THIS big!" and demonstrates its length - with one arm of course.

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