Session 36. (5/10/12)

"It looks quiet. Too quiet," puzzles Tomtare. "What if the bandits aren't here? What if they're attacking the village right now?"

"Someone should go and protect the village," decides Sahpo. "Well volunteered, Tomtare."

Tomtare sneaks back to where the horses are tied up and rides off. Sahpo knocks out the bandit lookout, who falls from his perch on a tripod of timbers.

"I don't think anyone noticed," whispers Onuma, as the bandit lookout thumps into the ground.

"Wait," urges Yoshi Yeesu, "there're two bandits sitting in front of the hut. One looks suspicious. He's heading towards the lookout." The bandit sees the prone lookout and whistles to the other bandit.

Sahpo hisses, "We've been spotted," and, while the others fit arrows to their bows, launches four Arrows of Wood. All four strike home. One of the bandit collapses onto the feebly protesting body of the fallen felon, but the other resists the poison and cries out.

"Hey, what are-..."

Then Onuma's arrow hits him, but robbed of its power by the long range only does two damage.

"...aaa..."

Ishan Ashte's arrow lands, doing three more damage.

"...aaa..."

Finally Yoshi Yeesu's arrow thunders in, powered by a man-sized bow and doing 16 damage.

"...aaargh!" The bandit topples over, dead.

"High five!" yells Ishan Ashte.

"Teamwork!" shouts Onuma.

"Next time, take the rubber suckers off your arrows," grumbles Yoshi Yeesu.

"Oh-oh!" interrupts Sahpo as bandits emerge from the shack in large numbers. The bandits, thirteen of them, rush towards the lawmen, except for three who stay near the shack and fire arrows. Calmly, the five defenders of peace fire arrows of wood and Wood at the onrushing ruffians. Emishi hits one for 10 damage then Onuma hits the same one for 7 damage. They fire again, using their small hankyu bows and score hits again of 8 and 10, killing their target. Ishan Ashte and Yoshi Yeesu fire their more powerful daikyu bows and both hit, but only manage similar amounts of damage, 7 and 9. Sahpo scores with two Arrows of Wood, but the bandit shakes the poison off without losing any attributes. The three bandit archers fire and score hits on Ishan Ashte for 8 damage and Yoshi Yeesu for 10.

The bandits close in but the five heroes have another round with the bows before they reach melee range. Emishi fires and misses, quickly reload and fires again - and misses again! Ishan Ashte is more accurate but manages only a feeble 3 damage. Onuma Fires at one of the bandit bowman and scores a critical hit on his arm. The bowman curses and heads for safety behind the shack. Onuma fires at a second bowman and hits for 9 damage. The bandit bowmen are unnerved and both miss with their next shots. Sahpo casts two more Arrows of Wood; one is resisted by a bandit, while the other poisons a level 4 bandit but he soon shakes it off. However, it did its work and the bandit is too weak to lift his sword. He slows to a walk.

The eight sword-wielding bandits reach the five heroes and a melee ensues. Emishi hits the bandit leader for 11 damage and is rewarded with a return blow for 6. Ishan Ashte flashes his two swords and hits right at his batting average: 7 damage with one and a miss with the other. The bandit replies with a hit for 5. Yoshi Yeesu slices at a new bandit and kills him with a whopping 21. Onuma casts Stage Flash and blinds five of the seven survivors, though the bandit leader shakes it off immediately - so he thinks. He still misses his next two attacks on Emishi. Emishi rewards him with a hit for 13 damage. One of the blinded bandits gets a lucky hit on Ishan Ashte for 5 damage, and one of the unblinded ones hits Yoshi Yeesu for 6, but another blinded one swings at Yoshi Yeesu, falls down and is dazed; Yoshi Yeesu hits him critically and stuns him some more. Sahpo casts two more Arrows of Wood, finally felling the walking bandit but doing no damage with the other. Ishan Ashte keeps his average up with a hit for 7 and a miss, but it is enough to end his fight.

Emishi and the bandit leader miss each other (with swords). Ishan Ashte scores 6 and a miss on a new opponent. Yoshi Yeesu gets a critical 36 on the prone, blinded, dazed, stunned bandit; fortunately the ground is soft underneath the now-halved body and doesn't dull his blade. Onuma casts Hand is Faster Than the Brain and runs to intercept the two bandit bowmen, who have dropped their bows and are running to join the fight. This is quite brave of Onuma, taking on two unblinded bandits completely by herself. Her hands a blur, she hits one for 10, 7, miss and 12 damage. The bandit manages to get past her flashing blade to hit her for 6. Sahpo heals Yoshi Yeesu for 9 health then turns his tanto on a bandit that swung at him (and missed), doing 2 damage. Emishi hits the leader for 11 but is himself hit for 16. Ishan Ashte scores a miss and a critical 10, but is hit for 12. Yoshi Yeesu returns to the earlier recipient of his arrows and gives him an 11 point sword wound.

Emishi finally downs the bandit leader with a 14. Ishan Ashte scores with both blades, almost finishing his opponent. Yoshi Yeesu gets his third critical, finishing his long-suffering foe. Onuma whirls in and finishes one of the bowmen, then turns to the other and scores hits of 12 and 10 along with two misses. A bandit hits Emishi from the side for 5 damage. Emishi turns and hits him for 10. Sahpo stabs at his tormentor for 7 and 6.

Emishi hits his last opponent for 9 and Yoshi Yeesu finishes him with 13. Onuma polishes off the second bowman and runs to the shack to find the injured bowman. Sahpo nickel-and-dimes the last bandit down to 3 hit points with hits of 2 and 4, then gets a critical tantojutsu hit and guts the bandit for double rewards.

"4 budo, 4 On! In your face, bandit!" exults Sahpo.

"In his stomach more like," comments Yoshi Yeesu.

"Well I got 6 budo, 6 On for the leader," crows Emishi, "so stick that in your kiseru and smoke it!"

"And who got most budo and On, them?" retorts Sahpo. "Oh, that would be me, with 13."

"But I got the most in one go," pouts Emishi. "6 budo, 6 On."

"But that's all you got."

"Well, I had the leader. He was very tough. But I'm the best."

Oblivious to the bickering going on behind her, Onuma rounds the shack to see the last bandit struggling to stay on a horse as it canters away. Onuma mounts one of the bandits' horses and sets off in pursuit. It doesn't take long to catch up, and with one swing of her blade, Onuma sends the bandit to the floor, dead. The bandit's horse gallops off. Onuma searches the body then returns to find the others searching the shack. There is a small stock of food, four horses, 3 silver pieces and 15 copper, but nothing else of interest. The food is loaded onto a horse to give to the peasants in Kanuma, and armour and weapons are loaded onto other horses to take back to Hidasue. Then the bandit bodies - minus the heads - are piled into the shack, which is then set on fire. The two surviving bandits are taken back to Utsunomiya for trial.

In Kanuma, the tax collectors get the tax owed by the ji-zamurai and most of the peasants. As a reward for his semi-honesty, they give a horse to the ji-zamurai that paid the most.

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