Session 12. (23/3/12)

With a clear mandate for mayhem, Onuma, Tomtare, Yoshi Yeesu, Emishi and Sahpo set out into Oga Bay in the little customs skiff in search of the pirates that ravage the waters. Hidasue has advised them that it will be much easier to take on the pirates on open water than try to find and then take them on in their hideout in the Hachiro lagoon. Concerned that his sailing might let them down in a sea-borne battle against experienced pirates, Sahpo spends every dawn and dusk practising, having dismissed Emishi's ribald suggestion that he go down to the docks and hire a sailor. While he is out at sea, Tomtare and Emishi practise their swimming (no reflection on their estimate of Sahpo's sailing skills, obviously), Onuma works on sail repair and Yoshi Yeesu works on his precision archery. Meanwhile, Ishan Ashte has drawn the short straw and is left to collect river tolls from the harbourmaster's office.

Tomtare commands the skiff as it heads out into the bay for the first time - but the entire day goes by without a sight of a pirate sail. So it goes the next day... and the next. In fact nine days pass with little more to see than birds, fish and the occasional honest trader. The five pirate-hunters are beginning to doubt the practicality of their mission, and getting more than a little bored. Finally, on the tenth day, Sahpo at the helm and Yoshi Yeesu on watch spot sails away to the southwest, well out to sea. Sahpo, who has been tacking against the north-westerly wind, adjusts his course and heads towards them. Two ships are visible: a large guard ship (sekibune) at some distance and a smaller sloop (kobaya) much nearer, both heading south. The sloop seems to be having some difficulty with its sail and Sahpo soon closes on it. The sloop gets its sail sorted but the skiff is now in bow range. Yoshi Yeesu fires a ship arrow - and misses! The others fire their normal bows at extreme range, but only Emishi hits a pirate, giving him a minor wound. Sahpo tries to go around the sloop, but in his inexperience gets downwind of it. Yoshi Yeesu fires another ship arrow, but gravity it the only reason it eventually hits anything, and that is only the sea. At this closer range Tomtare and Onuma score with their bows, and Emishi gets their first kill. However, the pirate sloop easily outmanoeuvres Sahpo and rams into the skiff's side, allowing the seven armed pirates to board, looking for an easy victory. Emishi soon disabuses them of this notion by cutting one down with the first swing of his katana. He then badly injures another boarder. Tomtare fells another, a rabble pirate, and Onuma deals with a third with two solid blows. Emishi jumps between another pirate and Sahpo and is hit twice for his pains. He dispatches the pirate with two tit-for-tat hits. Yoshi Yeesu takes on one of the more experienced pirates and they trade blows until Yoshi Yeesu drops his sword. Fortunately it stays on the boat, but he is forced to use his wakizashi to continue the fight, which drags on for almost a minute, damage being taken by both parties until the pirate finally runs out of life. Sahpo casts Arrows of Wood at two pirates - one is unaffected, the other recovers quickly. Onuma and Tomtare gang up on the senior pirate and rain blows in on him. He resists manfully and metes out 14 damage to Onuma before finally succumbing. Emishi helps out Onuma by running his sword through a pirate attacking Onuma's flank. While Yoshi Yeesu is finishing the last pirate, Sahpo turns on the pirate ship crew and casts Arrows of Wood, causing one of the sailors to collapse in a heap. The remaining four crewmen surrender and Sahpo takes charge of the sloop.

As the customs men dress their wounds, Onuma is first to spot that the second pirate boat has fled, only a sail on the southern horizon revealing its location. The others search the sloop but find nothing remarkable. Sahpo and Emishi question the crew about their origin. The boatmen are reluctant to tell the truth, but Onuma uses Pinocchio Effect and soon the story is revealed. The pirates set out from their base, a large house hidden in the northwest corner of Lake Hachiro, in search of food since the customs men intercepted their last shipment. They have three ships: the sloop, the sekibune and a dragon boat. Emishi realises that the ferryman who carries them across the inlet to Oga Town must see these ships coming and going, but says nothing to Hidasue or his deputies. Emishi plans to visit the ferryman with a reckoning.

After some debate, the pirate-hunters decide to attack the pirates' hideout, leaving the large ship for future justice. The helmsman refuses to show them the way, despite Emishi's threat to cut his arm off, but he finally gives in at the sight of Onuma's pretty face snarling at him. Leaving Tomtare to take the sloop to the beach near Hidasue's house, the remaining four travel north in the sloop to the entrance to Lake Hachiro. Here the helmsman says they must wait until the tide turns as it is impossible to navigate the tidal passage into the lagoon against the wind and the current. The half-Ainu spend the two-hour wait getting bored and falling out with each other over a suggestion to rename the captured boat "Pride of Ezo", among other things.

Eventually the current starts running back into the lagoon and the sloop moves off once more. Emishi shouts an insult at the ferryman as they pass up the short section of river, but he is unmoved (not to say very puzzled) since he does not understand the Ainu language. It takes until dusk to cover the 13 miles to the northwest corner of the brackish expanse. Sahpo is looking out for the pirate house, pirates, sailors ashore or even just a buoy, but there is nothing but thick reed beds lining the marshy shores of the lake. The helmsman breaks down for a moment.

"Please don't make me betray my people!" he cries. Emishi is unsympathetic.

"If you want to get off here, we can promote someone else." The boat sails on into the corner of the lake. Suddenly the reeds open out and there is a narrow inlet on the bank. There is a large house next to the inlet. It is quiet, but there are lights inside.

"Suppose it isn't the pirate base?" asks Emishi, querulously.

"And there you have exhibit 'A' of bushi stupidity," comments Sahpo the priest.

"At least we should let the crew go."

"No," says one of the others. "Yes," says another. "Very unwise," says Sahpo.

As they argue, the helmsman brings the boat into the inlet and alongside a wooden dock. At this point, the helmsman and the crew jump off and run towards the house, shouting. Onuma runs after them, but is on her own as it takes Yoshi Yeesu and Emishi some considerable time to tie the boat to the dock. The sailors run in through the front (and only) door of the house. Onuma follows them and finds herself in a courtyard. There are lit rooms all around it, many with people emerging from them. Onuma has a momentary panic to be alone among so many pirates, but in the light of a Stage Flash she casts to blind her would-be attackers, the silhouettes turn out to be all women, apart from a few children. The only men are the sailors and one injured pirate in a bed. The women are hysterical, but not offering violence.

"Leave us alone!" "Go away!" "Where are our men?!" they shout.

Onuma regains her composure. "I'm looking for Hidasue's sword."

"We haven't got it."

Then the man in the bed pipes up. "Kuchiki has it. Takahashi the gang leader brought it from Oga, but they fought when he wanted money for it and Takahashi was killed."

"Who is Kuchiki?"

"He's our leader. He's off on the big boat, trying to bring us food so we can live."

At this point the other three pirate hunters burst into the courtyard.

"Where's the fighting?" demands Emishi.

"Not here," insists Onuma. "Look, there's no-one armed here." She turns to the ladies. "Can't you persuade your husbands to surrender?"

"But there's only four of you. They'll cut you to ribbons," says one of the women - Kuchiki's wife - half sneering, half afraid.

"Shut up and sit down, or we'll kill you," says Sahpo, crossly.

"So what do we do, let them go, kill them, tie them up or sail them back to justice?" asks Emishi. The four ponder quietly; the women look on with apprehension.

"I'll have a look outside," offers Yoshi Yeesu. He returns with news. "There's a beach where we can ambush them..."

"and lose the advantage of cover," puts in Sahpo

"... and there's also some stairs to a lookout post on the roof where you can see a lot of the lagoon - when it's light, of course."

Bearing these things, their small numbers and the plight of the pirate wives in mind, Sahpo plans his strategy for the return of the pirate flagship.

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