Session 15. (7/9/07)

Unaware of the events at the Red Cave, Sung waits in the village with Koei, the priest and the Buddha statues, pacing impatiently. His vigil ends when a villager runs up and tells the priest that a farmer has been abducted from his fields by bakemono. Sung immediately rushes off. It takes him some time to find the field, and by this time there is no sign of the farmer. After some searching he finds a set of deep tracks leading off through scrubby forest so he follows. After a while a scream up ahead tells him he is getting close and he rushes through the trees to find two o-bakemono dragging a man. Sung charges straight in and swings his sword three times at the nearer bakemono, scoring twice. That bakemono swings his club and misses, while the other one continues to drag the farmer away. Sung swings at the monster but only lands one minor blow; the monster, however, misses entirely. This is repeated with Sung landing one and missing two blows while the bakemono just misses twice. Then Sung lands a critical hit, stunning his foe and from then he can't miss: four more blows and the fight is over. Meanwhile the other bakemono and the farmer have disappeared. Sung rushes in the direction they were heading and suddenly arrives in a clearing in front of a cave, amidst a dozen o-bakemono. He doesn't see the rest of the Troubleshooters, but they all see him - they are charging the bakemono.

Kimori arrives first, as usual, and, as usual, scores a critical hit, doing 42 damage and killing the enemy in one blow, as usual (and for double "medals"). Kimori starts on his second bakemono (doing 12 damage) almost before anyone else has taken a swing - though it does manage to catch him a blow for 8 damage. Sugiyama sneaks off into the woods, hoping for and getting a Silent Kill opportunity, succeeding critically to not only score triple damage (21) on the bakemono and knocking it down, but also remaining hidden. Sung swings and hits a bakemono, following this with another hit and a miss, and is hit in return. Komako heads over to try to rescue the farmer and gets two good punches on the one holding him. Mariko gets two good dagger blows on another bakemono. Meanwhile, Emiko overcomes her blood revulsion and retrieves her bo from the cave.

Kimori swings and misses, as very unusual, then lands a good hit. Sugiyama Silently Kills the fallen bakemono and disappears again for a repeat. Sung again gets two hits out of three, whittling down his opponent's health. Komako gets two more hits on the bakemono holding the farmer. Mariko wastes no energy in doing just the right amount of damage to finish her foe, then starts on her second with another hit. Emiko heads off towards the farmer and gets a critical hit (22) on a bakemono in the vicinity. Kimori finishes his second with a hit and a critical, chopping off the bakemono's arm. Sugiyama de-cloaks long enough to get triple damage (21) and stun his second opponent and then score a seven. Sung gets two more hits (as usual) to whittle down his foe further. Komako downs the bakemono holding the farmer, releasing him from its grasp. Komako starts on the next nearest bakemono, and finds himself side by side with Emiko. He does nine damage; Emiko does five. Mariko again does the exact amount of damage to finish her foe, but this time takes 10 points of damage for her pains.

Kimori starts the next round with a Precision Strike for 16 damage and follows with 14, killing the ogre. This elevates Kimori to sixth level; however, the celebrations have to wait. Sugiyama gets a (natural) critical hit and dazes the already-stunned bakemono, and a second hit finishes it. Sung finally finishes his foe, gets hit for 9 by another one and gets a head start with a critical hit for 15 damage and a daze. Komako turns to judo and breaks the arm of his current enemy; one more hit finishes it. Mariko also scores critical and stuns her foe, following up with another big hit. Emiko has to settle for just 5.

Kimori now turns on 5 points of Flashy Swordplay and lands two good hits on the next of the dwindling supply of enemies. Sugiyama goes ninja and emerges to Silent Kill a new enemy, though he is disappointed with the damage. Sung lands two out of three blows, causing his opponent to break its club. Komako goes to rescue the farmer, leading him out of the melee. Mariko gets the final blow on her opponent, as does Emiko with a vicious blow that smashes its arm (but not before she is whacked for 8 damage). With just three left to mop up, Kimori finishes one with two flashes of his blade, Sung gets the second with three (yes, three) out of three hits, and Sugiyama… misses. He recovers though do seven damage, get hit for six, then end it with a six of his own.

With night falling, Mariko goes into the cave, alone, to look for the jikininki. Komako helps tend the farmer's wounds. The others survey the scene, with dead bodies and severed and smashed arms everywhere. "Disarmament?" suggests Kimori. "Armageddon," rumbles Sugiyama.

Emiko performs healing on the farmer, Sung, herself and Sugiyama - strangely, Sugiyama's first healing failed again. The others try to decide what to do with the bodies. Sugiyama goes round and chops off the heads of all the bakemono in case they are a source of power. This is a really tiring job! Emiko builds a fire and burns the bodies and clears a path in the blood in the cave. Meanwhile Mariko is searching the second cave but has found nothing. The others go to join her and at this point Kimori notices a shadow under the altar which turns out to be a passage leading down. During daylight the shadow of the altar makes the passage completely impossible to see. Nervously, taking a fiery brand with them, Kimori, Sugiyama, Sung and Komako carefully climb down into the hole. In the flickering light they can see a cluster of caves. Emiko, with the exorcism ritual on her lips, falls into the hole. Mariko waits at the top, guarding that end of the passage. Emiko's fall nearly puts out the firebrand, and in the dim light that remains the famous five see beady eyes looking out at them. With one voice they shout "Mariko!!", who stirs from her reverie and jumps down with another firebrand. Kimori swings his sword at the nearest pair of beady eyes and scores a satisfying hit. Sugiyama disappears into the darkness to get a Silent Kill. Sung swings and scores and Komako lands a kick. Then one of the jikininki (Komako's) casts Shadow Cloak and disappears, one casts Quench and puts out the first firebrand, one tries to hit Kimori but falls and dazes itself, one casts Water Curse on Sung, but he is too quick to be hit, and the fifth jikininki casts Mists of Illusion but fails to fool Emiko. Kimori invokes his blessing on strength and hits his demon for 18 points of extra damage. Emiko just about manages to remember the exorcism ritual, and reduces the strongest jikininki from Spirit Rank 8 to 4. Sugiyama reappears and inflict 18 points of triple damage. Sung also uses his blessing on strength but wastes it with two misses. Komako is now fighting an invisible opponent, but nevertheless manages a hit for 10 points. The jikininki lash out at the Troubleshooters and hit Kimori for 6 and Sugiyama for 3 damage.

Kimori swings at the demon and gets the first kill, then goes to defend Emiko. Sugiyama merges into the shadows again. Sung continues to waste his blessing with two more misses. Komako invokes a strength blessing and scores for 15 damage despite his opponents lack of visibility, ending its fight. Mariko enters the fray alongside Sung, stabbing for eight damage. Then one of the jikininki casts Quagmire under the Troubleshooters, but luckily it fizzles. Another casts Watery Doom, and a tidal wave threatens Sung and Mariko; Sung is washed away taking 14 damage, but Mariko just surfs through. The last jikininki casts Muscles of Water at Emiko. Her resistance roll fails and her strength is taken to -10, whereupon she collapses to the ground. Kimori retaliates against it, doing 23 damage. Emiko just has the will to try exorcism once more, but she fails and passes out. Komako lands another punch and downs a jikininki. Sugiyama goes to help Emiko, but critically fails the Silent Kill and appears in front of the demon, with his back to it. Fortunately, it decides to attack Kimori, and does nine damage and dazes him. The other jikininki attacks Mariko but dazes itself. Finally, Sung scores two hits with his enhanced strength to finish one demon and Sugiyama and Mariko combine to finish the last one.

What will be the rewards for their effort and pain?

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