Session 22. (16/11/07)

The Troubleshooters have stumbled upon an inn run by two mujina who are trying to make them go mad with illusions and mysterious happenings. One mujina has shown its true, terrifying form and already Mariko cowers in the corner of the kitchen, a quivering wreck and Kimori has run away. Kimori's flight ends in the commoner's dining room where he collapses exhausted. Sung arrives on the scene but immediately flips out and runs away, only to run out of breath in the corridor outside. Komako has his hands round the throat of the mujina that was disguised as an old woman and slowly chokes her to death. The mujina responds with the spell Metal Storm and Komako receives 5 damage from shards of flying metal. Meanwhile, Emiko performs the rite of exorcism and destroys the spirit within the creature and Komako finishes off its body with his choke hold.

Emiko tries to help Mariko, first by looking for a spell (but find none) and then by healing (which fails). The others are looking for the remaining mujina with quite some trepidation after Emiko informs them that anyone who succumbs to a mujina's terror attack twice goes permanently insane! Sugiyama tries to track the old man, but finds nothing. He and Komako set off to search the inn. Sugiyama turns right, Komako turns left. Sugiyama has drawn the short straw. The old man appears and changes to his natural form, a faceless being. Sugiyama screams and cowers in a corner of the corridor. The mujina advances, a glowing sword in his hand. Komako runs to see what is happening, and Kimori and Sung both snap out of their psychoses and go to help. The mujina turns to lack-of-face them - very fortunately, neither Kimori nor Sung are frightened for a second time. Kimori attacks and inflicts 17 damage with his big chopper. The mujina screams in rage and replies with a magically-enhanced critical strike for 11 damage, dazing Kimori. Then Komako, again unaffected by the blank face, wades in and lands a critical punch for 20 damage, killing the monster.

Emiko tells the others she sensed the spirit of the mujina flying away after its body was destroyed. Quickly, the others search the inn, but find only 5 gold, 35 silver, a daikyu and 7 willow leaf arrows, 2 barrels of saki, 1 week's rations and varied spices (unfortunately worthless). Sung examines the mujina's katana; although the spell has dissipated, it is still a fine sword and better the one he has been using. He takes it for himself.

The party spends two more days in the inn, living off the rations, washing, resting and healing. They keep a look out for the mujina's spirit returning, but see nothing. After everyone has had some critical damage repaired by the Buddha statue, Emiko spends a day getting purified and another day chanting the Lotus Sutra to recharge the statue.

It is week 20 in the Year of the Dragon, late one afternoon. The Troubleshooters ride into Kyoto to deliver the Buddha statues to the ex-emperor. However, none of them know where he is living now, nor how they could approach him. The city is swarming with troops. Every few streets they are stopped and asked what they are doing. They manage to talk their way out each time, but they are getting nervous. Koei manages to remember enough about Kyoto to find them lodgings in a quiet district, and here they stop to plan their next moves. Komako decides to do a divination. He asks if their mission will succeed. Used to making arguable interpretations of vague answers, he is stunned to see the yarrow stalks give a clear reply of "No." However, there is no detail at all on how or why they will fail. Somewhat discouraged, the Troubleshooters split up to get information.

Komako visits a temple and very carefully weaves questions about the ex-emperor into a theological discussion. He finds out that the ex-emperor lives on a grand estate somewhere to the north of the city's main palaces area. Komako believes that he hasn't aroused any suspicions with his questions. Mariko also visits a temple and finds out the ward where the ex-emperor lives during a lively debate with the monks. She also thinks they do not suspect her motives. Sung goes to a tea house and plays go, being reasonably successful at both the game and the inquiry. His opponent is not suspicious, but is a little resentful at his loss. Kimori goes to a tea house and is a critical hit with his rhetoric, learning the ex-emperor's address without a hint of suspicion. Sugiyama uses his knowledge of commerce to find a shipping agent (there appears to be no merchants' quarter in the city). Sugiyama wastes no time in offering the man 6 gold pieces in return for the ex-emperor's address, and makes it clear this is a bribe. The man doesn't seem to be upset, and slips Sugiyama a piece of paper with an address written on it. Sugiyama is somewhat suspicious of the man, but hopes his bribe was large enough to buy his silence. Emiko doesn't go information-gathering, but goes to a shrine for further purification.

Back at the lodgings, everyone compares notes and finds that the information all ties up. Komako is even suspicious of this and wonders if they are being set up. However, no-one can think of how or why this would be so. They decide that one of them should reconnoitre the ex-emperor's estate to find out where the doors in and out are, how many guards and servants there are (including any hidden guard posts), get the guards' timing rota and detect traps. Sugiyama volunteers and no-one argues. He decides to take the smallest Buddha statue with him in case he manages to get inside and leave a gift or even speak to the ex-emperor.

As Sugiyama prepares to go out into the dark evening, Emiko enters a karma yoga trance and gets 7 hours of premonition. What she sees is...

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