Session 39. (9/11/12)

It is summer of the Year of the Horse (1486). Hidasue is interviewing candidates for the position of housekeeper, a post he has had difficulty keeping filled ever since he and his protégés arrived in Utsunomiya, a year and a half earlier. Today the visitor is Taotsu Faa, a young middle-aged woman of fair complexion. Onuma shows her into Hidasue's study, then takes her place next to Yoshi Yeesu and Emishi, kneeling with their backs against the left-hand wall. Sahpo, Tomtare and Ishan Ashte are kneeling against the right-hand wall. The woman kneels on the floor in front of Hidasue's desk, her eyes on the ground. At Hidasue's command, the woman gives her name and a summary of her experience - the households she has worked in, who she has recommendations from, lists her skills, which include reasonable numeracy and literacy. She tries to be charming, but doesn't quite pull it off.

Hidasue starts his questioning. "What do you know about etiquette?"

"I can evaluate status by clothing, know the different nobilities, and to speak only when spoken to by superiors. I know everything that my lord needs to know."

Hidasue claps his hands. Two maids enter, bringing the accoutrements of the Tea Ceremony. Taotsu instructs the maids to set out the bowls, whisks the tea and serves it to perfection. The six Ainu-raised pseudo-samurai partake of the tea to varying degrees of sophistication: Tomtare belies his size and drinks delicately; Sahpo spills his tea but otherwise is impeccably behaved; Yoshi Yeesu somehow carries it off despite having no clue about the etiquette and spilling his tea; Onuma drinks perfectly; Emishi likewise only even more so; and Ishan Ashte drinks all the remainder of the tea with a noise like a bath emptying. Under Taotsu's instructions, the maids clear up the pots and mop up the spills. The Hidasue continues his grilling.

"How would you prepare for a meal of yakizakana?"

Taotsu describes the selection of fish varieties, purchase of ingredients, preparation, how to grate the daikon, and so on. Onuma nods discretely to Hidasue: her knowledge of cooking allows her to check Taotsu's facts, though she notices an odd slant to Taotsu's descriptions, as if she has more of a background in yogen than cooking. Taotsu is also noticing something strange about Hidasue's retinue - they are all much larger than locals, have strange accents, seem pale and stubbly. She draws in a sharp breath: Oni! Emishi and Onuma notice her sudden nervousness and look at her closely. Taotsu senses this and concentrates on her housekeeper role, drawing on some knowledge of hensujutsu. Onuma scribbles a note and passes it to Hidasue: "Not sure about her. Ask why she left her last job." Hidasue asks the question.

"I wasn't released by my employer, but he had a new wife and she didn't want a long-serving head of staff around the house..." she explains. This seems plausible, but Onuma casts Pinocchio Effect to check it out. Unfortunately it fails. Taotsu sees Onuma casting a spell, and, fearing an attack from an oni, makes a surreptitious sign to ward off evil. She looks imploringly at the door. Hidasue correctly interprets her look and dismisses her.

"Very well, you may go. We will make our decision and let you know in a few days' time." Taotsu leaves as fast as she can politely move. As she goes, the air is disturbed and washes past Yoshi Yeesu. His kitsune senses start tingling.

"What did you think of her?" asks Hidasue.

"She makes a good cup of tea," says Emishi.

"She was overly nervous," comments Sahpo. "Could she be a spy sent by the daimyo?"

"She's a fox!" exclaims Yoshi Yeesu.

"Yes, she was quite pretty," agrees Tomtare.

Before Yoshi Yeesu can explain, a messenger bursts in. "Please, excusing your honours, a body has been found on the road to the north. Please come quick!"

Hidasue makes a quick decision. "You'd better all go and investigate. We'll continue our talk later."

As they head for the stables, Sahpo asks Yoshi Yeesu, "Are you sure she's kitsune?"

"Well, I only caught a whiff. I'd have to see her again to be sure."

Ishan Ashte joins in. "Do you think... she could be related to one of us?"

Tomtare muses, "I never thought to look for a resemblance."

Onuma comments caustically, "You never could keep it in your fundoshi, could you!"

The banter continues until they come to the body, lying face down in the dusty road a few miles north of Utsunomiya. They dismount and examine it.

"No wounds," comments Tomtare.

"So how did he die?" asks Onuma.

Yoshi Yeesu has a closer look. "Broken neck," he concludes. He turns the body over. "Isn't this... one of the bandits we handed over to the justice in Ogawa last year? How come he's still alive?" He looks through his clothing and finds some coins. "He wasn't robbed."

Onuma looks up and down the road. "The man was on a horse, which bolted. There are some other tracks that I can't identify." She walks north, following the horse tracks. The others follow. "The horse has gone into the marsh here. Look, it's the same place we followed a path to the bandits' camp!"

Emishi sends Steven his hawk into the air over the marsh. It circles over the marsh near the old camp. The party follows it into the marsh and soon reaches the camp. The building is just as they left it, a burned out shell, but there are warm embers in a camp fire. Then Sahpo hears a voice, like a young boy's, drift across the little island.

"Please sirs, do me no harm. I need your help... and I can help you."

"Where are you?" demands Sahpo.

"In hiding - last time I met you I was shot with an arrow. Only your kind ministrations saved me. Sadly, my family were not so lucky."

Sahpo looks at his feet, which try to shuffle out of sight beneath his robe. "Show yourself and we will help you."

As if by magic, a kappa appears. "You must save the horses," it says.

"Who from?"

"The bandits."

"Do you know where they are?"

"They come across the marsh on the hidden paths and steal horses. They mistreat them terribly."

"Can you show us where they live?"

"Yes. Follow me."

The six troubleshooters ride off after Kuupa the kappa, along a maze of twisty paths, some below the surface of the slowly-flowing water, until after several miles they reach the far side of the marsh.

"We're just south of Ogawa," whispers the kappa. "The bandits live in a fortified camp on a bluff above the last bend of the Bumo river before it joins the main Naka river. There's a bridge across the Naka, but it is on the wrong side of the Bumo."

"So how do we get across?" asks Emishi. "Is it deep?"

"Yes, but there is a ford just upstream of here."

The party rides carefully up to the ford. They can see the bandit base on a low hill about three hundred yards away. There is a palisade around the camp, with two towers on the front corners. A large wooden device is on top of the right-hand tower.

"Do you think they've seen us?" queries Ishan Ashte. An insult floats down from the hill and a large ball of sticky mud, fired from the catapult in the right-hand tower, hits Ishan Ashte, badly soiling his armour.

"Yes, I think they've seen us," he splutters.

"How should we approach this?" ponders Sahpo. "The road to the gate zigzags under the tower twice."

"I can swim round and sneak in the side," offers the kappa.

"We don't cross the streams," growls Yoshi Yeesu.

"We ride on in, full throttle," declares Onuma, and kicks her horse into a gallop. The others follow, but Tomtare and Sahpo are slow to navigate the first turn. Tomtare is hit by more mud and the bandits catcall and whoop derisively.

"Are they insane?" pants Onuma.

"I guess they don't meet many samurai, and think they're safe behind their palisade," replies Emishi. At the second turn in the road, a hairpin, Yoshi Yeesu loses control of his horse, slips from the saddle and has to tuck and roll to avoid injury. The others get into bow range and let off a volley of arrows, killing two bandits and injuring a third. Emishi, Tomtare and Onuma fire again and fell three more. Sahpo adds another by casting two Arrows of Wood.

Tomtare reaches the gate first and, standing on his horses back, leaps over the gate. By chance he lands on a bandit extra, knocking him out. Yoshi Yeesu and Ishan Ashte fire at bandits manning the palisade and kill two more. Emishi circles round waiting for Tomtare to open the gate and kills a bandit with a snap shot. Sahpo fells another with an Arrow of Wood. The bandits keep their heads down after this. Onuma casts Stage Smoke and disappears, reappearing inside the gate. Meanwhile, Kuupa scales the palisade far round to the right while all the action is at the front gate.

Tomtare is surrounded by six bandits, but he ignores them and goes to try and lift the bar on the gate. However, one of the bandits gets a critical hit on his undefended back and dazes him. Two others get hits on Onuma for a total of 18 damage. Onuma responds by casting Stage Flash, blinding three of the bandits. Kuupa sneaks up to the gate and lifts the bar, letting the others in.

Onuma and Tomtare slice two of the bandits while the kappa grapples a third. Ishan Ashte, Yoshi Yeesu and Emishi ride in and all attack the catapult, though its last shot sailed over their heads and landed in the river. Their arrows make short work of the puller and the loader. Tomtare kills another bandit and Onuma, facing a blinded bandit who has broken his sword on her armour, manages to wound but not kill him. She finishes the job with her next attack. The kappa grapples a bandit and kills him outright with his strength. Onuma polishes off the last bandit in the compound.

As the troubleshooters pause to take stock, they see that the big shack in the middle of the yard has a horse's skull nailed over the door and the word 馬頭 Batō (horse's head) made from horse leg and rib bones. They wonder what kind of man might be inside.

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