Session 29. (13/2/02)

On the way back to Hinokage, the trouble shooters and the spy encounter what appears to be a tiger. It tries to bite Sugiyama, it claws Kimori critically, it suffers sword blows, but Sugiyama notices that it is somewhat transparent. He tries to tell Emiko but she doesn't believe him. When the tiger is finally killed, it turns almost completely transparent and spirals up into the air. Mariko realises it is a Shura, a warrior ghost trapped on earth, taking the form of a tiger. Emiko now believes Sugiyama and attempts to exorcise the spirit, but she fails and the tiger's form finally disappears out of sight. Emiko heals Kimori's critical damage and the party marches back to Hinokage without further adventure, except for a chance encounter with a peasant who asks them if they've seen the White Cave back where they have come from. He points vaguely back down the track. He explains that he met someone who claimed to have been in a cave where everything was sparkling white - the walls, the floor, the roof, everything. He wanted to find out more, but apart from directions to the cave, a good day's march away, he heard nothing. The troubleshooters decide to continue back to Hinokage with the spy and his information, and investigate the cave at a later date.

Back in Hinokage, the troubleshooters have a few days of rest and relaxation while the spy is debriefed. Kimori gets his armour repaired and continues with his study of rhetoric with Mariko. Sugiyama gets some ingredients for making bombs, but doesn't have time to make any. Komako improves his horse riding. On the third day, now into week 10 of the Year of the Hare, Koreyasu emerges and holds a briefing for the Troubleshooters. "Our spy Tada Okimoto has told us that several of our officers, the ones captured after the defeat at Mie, are being held in the Stone prison. It will probably be too difficult to break in a second time, but Okimoto tells me that breaking out is not hard. This is because the prison is so remote and deep in Hyugan territory, so even if someone escapes there is nowhere for them to go. Most perish in the mountains or give themselves up in order to get food and warmth. However, if there was an established escape route, with clothing and provisions not too far from the prison, things would be different. What I want you to do is to set up just such an escape route so that our officers can return to the war. The Dragon Cave you found on your last mission should be suitable. The snag is getting this information to the prisoners. The only foolproof way will be for one of you to be captured and sent to the prison. This will be inevitable if you are captured near to the prison. Of course, you will be able to escape as soon as you have passed on the information to all the officers held there."

The troubleshooters look at each other and wonder who is going to volunteer to be captured. Then in unison Sugiyama, Komako and Kimori say, "I'll go." Then the real arguing starts. Sugiyama argues that he should go because of the skills he has due to his upbringing in the mountains - but without revealing his true nature this lacks conviction. Kimori reckons he should go because he is just such a hero. Komako says he should go because he doesn't need any weapons to fight with. In the end, the spy, Tada Okimoto settles the matter by saying that he succeeded in escaping from the prison because of his budoka training, so Komako would be the best choice. Realisation suddenly dawns on Komako that he is going to have to prove the worth of his level 4 rank.

While the other four troubleshooters set of for the southern Hyuga again, Sugiyama slips into Nobeoka and finds a master locksmith. After some bribery and haggling, he agrees to give Sugiyama some highly intensive training in lockpicking for 1 gold piece per day. Sugiyama got straight to work. After seven days he would have increased his skill to 53% and could then set off for the Stone castle able to get through the doors in case this was necessary.

Meanwhile, the others reach the Dragon cave after three days without meeting anyone or anything. Komako was not allowed to eat or wash so that he would look like a fugitive. On the morning of the fourth day he sets off down into Mochida village to give himself up in order to get food. He "sneaks" - deliberately badly - into the temple and tries to steal some food. He is surrounded by burly monks, and when he pretends to run off, he lets himself get captured quite easily (i.e. not too many bruises). While word is sent to the castle he is allowed some food. Soon a party of soldiers turns up and marches him off to the castle. On the way up the hill Komako can't walk fast enough and is beaten up. Then he is marched straight into the castle and down into the dungeon where he is put in one of the cells behind the iron bars. In the cell are two other prisoners, Haruhisa and Kagemasa, both officers from the army defeated at Mie. While Komako is trying to think of a pseudonym, Kagemasa said, "Aren't you Komako?" It turns out he had seen Komako and the troubleshooters when they reported to Koreyasu, shortly before the army marched to Mie. Komako tells them that an escape route has been set up and the location of the Dragon Cave where the rest of the rescue squad would be waiting. They are excited at the news.

The following day, Komako is moved upstairs to the torture room. He is strapped to a chair, but the interrogation gets no worse than being roughed up a few times. His questioner asks where he had come from - Matsuyama (struck roughly) - how he got into the valley - over the mountains from Hinokage (not what he was supposed to say!) - no, how he really got into the valley - up the road from the coast - and why he is here - to help the spy escape. This seems to satisfy them and Komako is led away to the cells in the corridor adjoining the torture room. He is put in the end cell with two other prisoners, Kanemitsu (a senior officer) and Sukemasa (a junior officer). Komako starts to wonder if there are any Hyugan spies among the prisoners and is much more cautious about what he says. The junior officer asks him about the escaped spy but Komako says he doesn't know what happened to him. The senior officer says very little. Komako tells Sukemasa that "special forces" are going to attack the prison and instigate a break out. The junior officer presses Komako for details so he makes some up.

The next day guards arrive and take the junior officer away. The senior officer is still very quiet and reserved, but gives Komako a list of other prisoners he knows personally - about a dozen. Komako decides to tell him a different story, that there is to be a mass break out. Later on Komako is taken away again. As he passes through the torture area, the junior officer is there, strapped to the chair, apparently unconscious. Komako is taken back to the dungeon and put in one of the solitary confinement cells. He makes whispered contact with the prisoners in the cells either side. One of them turns out to be the commander of the defeated army. He tells Komako which of the prisoners were from his army - it turns out to be most of them and the list is similar to Kanemitsu's. Later in the day excited shouts spread through the dungeon before they are silenced by the guards - it seems that Haruhisa, one of Komako's first cell mates, has escaped.

Back at the Dragon Cave, the troubleshooters are getting very bored and restless, and not looking out properly, so only Emiko is not startled when a voice says, "Are you the Rescue Squad? I've just escaped from the castle!"

The episode closes with a shot of Sugiyama, having completed his training, heading down the track to southern Hyuga.

Note: David Weaver, who plays Sugiyama in 'The Stone', is appearing in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon from 27 Feb-2 Mar.

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