Session 26. (25/01/08)

It is week 21 in the Year of the Dragon. Following the death of the ex-emperor, the Troubleshooters have abandoned their mission to gain recognition for Lord Chozo, and even now they are in danger of losing their lives. Honshu is swarming with guards, and the Shogun is massing troops ready to cross to Shikoku and march west to deal with the upstart in Matsuyama. The Troubleshooters have three tasks ahead of them - they need to escape to Shikoku, if possible send a warning to Lord Chozo, and do whatever they can to waylay the Shogun's armies. They can count on help from their allies on Shikoku, the daimyo of Sanuki, the daimyo of Awa-Isi and the daimyo of Tosa, but they can't be sure of rallying enough troops to make a difference. In a pitched battle they will be hopelessly outnumbered; the only chance of victory might lie in an ambush at a strategic place - where the coast road crosses the Valley of the Spider.

These are the thoughts of Mariko as she stands on a deserted, midnight beach a few miles outside Wakayama waiting for a fishing boat to pick her and her companions up to take them to Awaji island, Mariko's home. She assures them that the short journey will be safe, despite their distrust of boats, because her brother has arranged their transport. He lives in Wakayama and is quite high-ranking, but not too popular because he is politically opposed to the local daimyo, a shogunate loyalist. Mariko's brother has helped the Troubleshooters formulate their plan, desperate and urgent, to head off the shogun's troops as they march towards Matsuyama with support from the three loyal daimyo on Shikoku, the advantage of surprise and Kimori's big chopper. A suggestion from Sugiyama that they sneak into the shogun's army's beachhead and knock off their general has been shelved because they don't know any ninja. Komako is of the opinion that some of the shogun's troops, so far from home might even change sides. Sung, a messenger before he joined the Troubleshooters, is thinking that he might have to ride like fury to get a message to Lord Chozo and get the Iyo army to join the fight at the Valley of the Spider. Kimori reflects that there didn't seem to be much of a search for them after they left Kyoto, so they don't seem to be connected with the ex-Emperor's death or any kind of insurrection. Emiko just wonders where Koei has got to. All thoughts return to the present when a fishing boat in the gloom and a voice familiar to Mariko calls out, "You've got a nerve after what you pulled - oh, it's you, my lady, I was expecting your brother." Mariko replies with the obvious, "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" The boat is patched in many places; there even appears to be a Chinese figurehead on the prow which forces Kimori to comment, "What a piece of junk!" Although everyone is relieved that the crew are friendly, Emiko is still glad to have brought a cucumber. The others manhandle the sake barrel containing the Buddha statues onto the boat while Mariko takes a quick tour. That she doesn't find anything wrong is more down to her lack of observation than sound marine structural engineering, so they set off into the dark.

In the event the crossing is uneventful and the Troubleshooters arrive in Sumoto by dawn. Mariko sends a message to her husband and commandeers some horses. A day's riding sees them in the port of Nandan and Mariko requisitions a ride-on-ride-off horse-ferry for another night-time crossing to Shikoku. On the way, Mariko asks the boatman if he has seen any ships carrying the Shogun's army, but he says he hasn't been far enough into the Inland Sea recently. They are probably crossing on the far side of Takamatsu, and that's 50 miles away, he adds.

After another successful sea crossing, the Troubleshooters ride down to Tokushima, capital of Awa-Isi province, bathe and smarten themselves up, and go to see the daimyo, Hachisuka Mitsutaka. Lord Hachisuka is loyal to Lord Chozo and Mariko and some of the others have met him before. He seems very friendly. They decide that the best plan is to gather troops from Awa-Isi, Sanuki province to the north and Tosa province to the south and meet up to form a pincer movement at the far end of the Valley of the Spider where the coast road is hemmed in by the mountains. Lord Hachisuka promises 10-15,000 troops and thinks Sanuki and Tosa could provide similar numbers in the time available. Mariko prepares a message for Lord Miyoshi of Sanuki: "An invasion is coming your way. Fortify your citadels. Send troops along the coast to meet allied armies at end of Valley of the Spider in eight days' time." She writes another message to Lord Yamauchi of Tosa and a coded message for Lord Chozo. Lord Hachisuka sends for couriers and they are dispatched to the three other corners of Shikoku. He advises Mariko to wait for the courier to return from Sanuki in a few days' time in case he brings any news of the Shogun's army's movements. Meanwhile he sets to work gathering an army to send to battle.

For the next few days, the Troubleshooters heal wounds, train and generally prepare for war. Mariko spends time looking at maps of the chosen battle ground and getting to know Lord Hachisuka's senior officers (but not in the biblical sense). When the messenger returns from Sanuki he says that Lord Miyoshi has promised about 15,000 troops, but the shogunate army has already started landing east of Marugame, so the Sanuki troops will have to follow the Shogun's troops along the coast and attack from behind at the ambush point. Mariko runs the numbers and decides that with about 40,000 coalition troops ambushing two shogunate armies, one of unknown size and the other of at least 20,000 troops, they really might just win. On this happy thought, the Troubleshooters set off to scout the Valley of the Spider ahead of Lord Hachisuka's army.

The Valley of the Spider (Kumo no Tani) is a long (35 mile) valley running east-west across Awa-Isi province. It carries a road and the Yoshinogawa river, but it is quite quiet as most traffic follows the coastal routes. Komako asks Kimori if he thinks the valley will be full of spiders. "Well, we travelled through the Valley of the Woodpecker a few years ago, but I didn't see a single woodpecker," he replies. "Maybe there's just one big spider," chips in Sung. Witty banter is precluded at this point as Mariko spots nine earth-spiders (jikumo) heading towards them. The bushi immediately take their bows and fire arrows at the giant arachnids, leaving Komako to hold the horses. Kimori, Sung and Mariko all score good hits with the first volley, and Kimori and Sung repeat this in the second volley, Kimori's target expiring on the second hit. By the third round only Kimori is hitting the enemy, but then Kimori and Sung find their marks and two more spiders fall. Just before the spiders arrive they each manage to get off a fifth round and all score, Mariko finishing hers with a perfect shot. Komako leaves the horses and charges out to meet the spiders, and with a quick one-two leaves one squished. The others swap to swords and take on the spiders at close quarters, and kill the four remaining spiders in short order. Only three spiders even tried to bite one of the party, and none got close. Komako gave Kimori an I-told-you-so look and saddled up to hunt for more spiders.

Komako didn't have to look far. A few miles further up the road Sung and Kimori spot six water spiders (mizu-kumo) - nasty poison but worth buckets of budo. Too close for bows, the warriors leap off their horses and draw their favourite weapons. Kimori uses Precision Strike and kills one with his first swing. Sung hacks at one with his three-goes-per-round and kills it on the third hit. Mariko stabs with her knife and kills a spider on her second hit. Komako lands a punch and a critical kick, sending the spider flying back to hell. Kimori uses his second attack on the fifth spider and critically kills it. Then, just to emphasise the point, he is first to act on the sixth and final spider and again kills it with one blow. Once again not a single fang was laid on a party member. Also reason to celebrate was Sung reaching Level 4. After a brief ceremony ("Here, have a point of Ki"), the party sets off into yet more trouble.

After another few miles Mariko and Sung spot an area of disturbed ground and realize that it is the site of the burrows of a number of trapdoor spiders (totate-kumo). Komako rides ahead to draw the spiders out of their lairs while the others hang back ready to fill him the spiders full of arrows. The "plan" works perfectly and three arrows hit three spiders while Komako kicks a fourth to death. The spider close to close range and Sung hopes the boost this gives his arrow will make up for his pitiful, minimum 2 damage of his first arrow. But first, Kimori scores a critical hit for 44(!) damage, sending the spiders legs to the eight compass points (and it only had 4 points left anyway). Sung and Mariko get their hits but still no kills, and Komako kicks another spider, the strongest of the group, twice. Swapping to hand-held weapons, Kimori kills a spider in two slashes, Sung criticals to finish off his arrow-laden foe and Mariko stabs one to death and starts on another. Komako also finishes one and starts another. The 8 remaining spiders attack, but fangs are not much use against swords and armour, and no-one is hurt. Kimori continues, killing a spider in two blows, while Sung is having a nightmare, missing four times in a row before finally getting his first hit on the next spider, which he would finish with two hits next round. Mariko gets a critical doing double damage for 10 points, but it would still take two more hits to down the eight-legger. Komako continues to dance the tarantella and finishes another spider. Kimori kills yet another spider in two blows, while Sung, having dealt with one spider in 6 tries, takes out the next with a single, critical, triple-damage hit. High eights all round! Mariko again finishes one spider and starts on another, and Komako kicks another to pulp. With only one spider left, Kimori reaches around Mariko and kills her assailant with one stunning blow.

"How many spiders was that?" asks Sung. "Count the legs and divide by eight!" suggests Kimori. A quick tally shows that they were fighting 14.875 spiders (Sung thought it was 14 remainder 9). Remembering what Kimori did to one of them, and allowing for another few critical hits, the body count is in fact 16. "Amazing," says Komako. What no-one comments on, though equally amazing, is the fact that the 16 spiders made 36 attacks without a single success or critical failure. The Troubleshooters ride on.

Sure enough, a little way further the party spots six more mizu-kumo. In a well-rehearsed manoeuvre, Komako rides ahead and takes them on by himself while the others fire arrows into the melee. Unfortunately, only Kimori is accurate for the first two volleys, though his second shot critically kills a spider. Komako, surrounded by three spiders, kills one with two kicks, but one of the other spiders bites him and injects a Level 5 fast paralytic poison along with the 2 critical damage, then bites him again for 9 critical damage though this time Komako manages to keep the poison out of his system. Now at close range, Kimori kills the spider that didn't bit Komako with one arrow, and Sung does the same with another spider. Mariko continues to miss. Komako, his speed starting to fall, has a kick at the spider that bit him and kills it in two stomps. Kimori takes pity on Mariko and steps in again and, with 10 points of flashy sword play, criticals the spider for triple damage, bonus budo (14) and bonus On (13).

Next: Will Emiko and Sugiyama catch up and join in the eight-legged bounty?

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