Session 24. (11/01/08)

Emiko starts explaining to the three policemen that they are taking the Buddha statue to a temple and asks for escort, but two of them recognise Koei, draw their truncheons and call for help. Koei takes off (figuratively) down a side street and one of the doshin gives chase. Their cover blown, Komako chops at another of the doshin while Mariko and Sung hack down the third. Komako floors his foe with a second strike and the party runs for the gate as more guards start turning up, leaving Koei to fend for herself (mmm, toasted doshin!). They reach the next intersection before they are stopped by five more policemen. Kimori and Komako fell theirs with their first attacks, Sugiyama on his second, Mariko hits then misses but finishes hers on a Second Strike, and Sung has the one built from mud brick and uses all of his three actions to seal the deal. It is all over so quickly that no passers-by spot the fight. Mariko capitalises on this by invoking the last piece from the Chess Set of Shizari to boost their movement speed and they set off at great speed down a side street. There is no sign of pursuit, and they turn down a back street, hoping eventually to pick up the road to the temple again.

At the next junction they run pell-mell straight into a small group of Shogunate guards. Kimori runs straight on, Sung and Sugiyama follow but Sugiyama uses Taisabaki to get into an advantageous position in case things turn nasty; then just as Komako is about to whisper, "Say nothing, they haven't noticed anything!", being the only one to spot that the guards were completely oblivious, Mariko shouts out, "It's terrible, they're killing people back there!" Komako turns his whisper into a mumbled, "Stupid leader," and stops to watch the inevitable disaster unfold. The lead guard says, "What do you mean, madam? Why is a fine lady like you running like a..." (the guard pauses a moment to think of a simile that won't offend his class superior) "...a startled horse?" "We're running away from danger, you idiot," snaps Mariko, unswayed by his flattery. The guard isn't about to be monkeyed with, and neither is he cowed. "I think you'd better come with us." However, the sound of Kimori's sword being drawn unnerves him and Mariko's stab catches him by surprise. The other two guards become aware that they are surrounded by some tough-looking fighters and Emiko. Komako lands a punch on the second guard, who replies with a minor wound, and Sung's speed gives him two attacks on the third, scoring a hit and a miss. Now Kimori swing his Big Chopper and gets an outright kill on the luckless first guard. Sugiyama appears from nowhere and gets a Silent Kill, inflicting 22 damage, exactly the number of hit points the second guard had left. Sung, Mariko and Komako triple-team the third guard, all doing damage, with Komako's critical double-damage finishing the matter.

Again the party is lucky not to have alarmed any other guards, so they set off down a wider road in search of the temple. At the next intersection they encounter five Shogunate troops. The chief trooper asks where they are going. Again Emiko says they are taking the Buddha statue to the Temple of yada yada... The trooper says, "Then why are you heading in the wrong direction?" Before Emiko can think of a suitable reply, Kimori, who can see where this is going, swings the Big Chopper and takes half the chief's hit points with a 15 point hit. Sugiyama follows suit with 8 points on the second trooper then ducks into the shadows. Sung hits the third trooper and Mariko the fourth, but Komako's usually safe hands are safe only for the fifth guard and he misses while the guard gets a good 7-point hit on him. Sung is also stung, but he lands his second attack, as do Kimori and Mariko. Emiko weighs in with a 6-point blow to Sung's opponent, who shows his gratitude by hitting Sung again. Komako is hit again and again he misses. Mariko is also slightly wounded. Sung swipes at his tormentor for his third attack but misses. Now Kimori cuts down the first guard with a precision strike. The fight is starting to become very noticeable. A glint in the shadows is Sugiyama's blade on collision course with the second guard's head and he is knocked down and stunned. Sung scores the first of three good hits which finish off the third trooper while taking a minor wound, Mariko and Emiko combine to take down the fourth trooper with three hits between them and share a pair of minor injuries, and Komako finally gets his arm going and weathers a third hit from the fifth trooper to punch him within an inch of unconsciousness. Much to Komako's disgust, Kimori comes over and finishes the trooper with some flashy swordplay. However, this definitely grabs the attention of some passing doshin and they come to take care of the dangerous armed party or die trying. Their duty is duly done when Kimori slices the first in half, Komako, Mariko and Emiko beat up the second and Sugiyama and Sung scratch the third.

This time no-one has noticed the fight, so the party heads down the widest street they can find and soon run into more doshin. This time they have a commander with them, so Emiko goes up to him to use her full repertoire of rhetoric, bribery, influence, corruption, misdirection and razzle-dazzle. Fortunately, her rhetoric was a critical success and he offers to escort them to the temple for their protection(!). The temple is still in the direction of the south gate, and they have no encounters at the next two intersections. They reach the temple and see the south gate beckoning at the very next junction. However, the doshin commander holds open the gate to the temple, and a number of monks look up expectantly. The Troubleshooters look at one another and...

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