Session 28. (10/8/12)

The sun is behind Mount Toshima when the six adventurers emerge from the cave. They have no difficulty in finding the faint track leading back to the town of Iwaizumi. Before they reach to town they come to the woodcutter's house and Tomtare, Emishi, Yoshi Yeesu and Sahpo decide to stop and see how he is. Onuma and Ishan Ashte go to the ji-zamurai's farm to report on their findings and arrange for help for the woodcutter.

In the woodcutter's house, the four find he has regained consciousness. "He started feeling better soon after you left," the woodcutter's wife confides to Emishi. Emishi ignores the insinuation and asks the woodcutter what happened to him.

"The yakuza... set upon me, ... stole my gold coins," he croaks.

"How much?"

"Three gold."

The woodcutter's wife implores Emishi to go, and see to the yakuza and recover their money.

"Where do we find them," inquires Tomtare.

"At the gambling hall in the town."

The four head into town and find an inn with coded signs that gambling takes place inside.

Rotto Inn

Three men are loitering by the entrance. To the tax collectors' experienced eyes, they have the look of yakuza about them. The tax collectors, on the other hand, have the look of men who have spent a day crawling about in a damp cave - but nevertheless are unmistakably samurai. The three men draw swords as the four samurai approach. One shouts a warning into the inn. Emishi draws his sword and announces, "We're here to collect taxes. Pay up or stand aside!" One of the yakuza swings at Emishi and hits him for 2 damage. The other two swing and miss. Tomtare hits one of them with his tetsubo, doing 10 damage. Yoshi Yeesu draw and attacks in one smooth movement and scores a 12-point hit. Emishi slashes at his attacker and hits for 10 damage. Tomtare swings his big club and connects critically, breaking the yakuza's leg and knocking him into next week (that's a 10-day week). Sahpo gets in on the action and hits the two remaining yakuza with Arrows of Wood. One resists the poison but the other is injected and loses 6 strength before fighting it off. His sword tumbles from his hand. Yoshi Yeesu attacks the weakened yakuza and does 8 damage. The other yakuza attacks Emishi but misses. Emishi replies with a strike of 14. Yoshi Yeesu finishes his foe with a blow for 11 damage and Emishi does likewise to finish the last one. Meanwhile Tomtare heads inside, followed by Sahpo.

Emishi and Yoshi Yeesu enter the inn to find a large room set with numerous gaming tables. Tomtare and Sahpo are facing five yakuza, clearly henchmen. At the back of the room are the yakuza boss and his right-hand man. Tomtare swings his big club at the first rabble yakuza and connects for 12 damage. Emishi gets in next and chops a rabble yakuza for 13. Yoshi Yeesu wades in and hits for 10. The rabble surround our heroes and attack with wakizashi, hitting Tomtare for 2 damage, Yoshi Yeesu for 4 damage and Emishi a lucky blow for 6, dazing him. Tomtare replies with a hit for 13, felling the hapless yakuza, while Yoshi Yeesu downs another with a hit for 11. Sahpo cranks up his spell muscles and fires three Arrows of Wood at the three remaining henchmen. All three hit and all three inject their poison. One henchman fights it off with minor loss of strength, but the other two succumb and collapse to the floor! Emishi recovers from his daze and moves to the back of the room to confront the yakuza boss. Tomtare is in a greater hurry and make a heroic leap across tables to land in front of the deputy boss and hit him for 15 damage with his tetsubo. The yakuza hits him with a kiseru for 4 damage, while the yakuza boss swings a bo at Emishi but misses. Yoshi Yeesu goes to help Sahpo, who is facing the last rabble yakuza armed only with his mind and a tanto; Yoshi Yeesu lands a blow for 11 damage. Emishi swings at the boss and scores a critical 28, leaving him on the verge of defeat. Tomtare finishes the right-hand man with a hit of 13. Yoshi Yeesu hits the last rabble for 10 and Sahpo finishes the job with a needle-sharp tanto prick for 3 damage. The yakuza boss, the last man standing, hits Emishi for 5 damage but Emishi ends it with a sweeping cut for 12 damage.

A search of the inn finds nearly 100 gold pieces' worth of money and gems. The woodcutter's gold is identified and the rest turned over to the local authorities. Emishi is reluctant to give so much money to a peasant. "It's too much, he'll do something stupid with it, or he'll live in fear of being robbed for the rest of his life."

"Nevertheless, it is his money, quite legitimately," cautions Sahpo.

"Then give him one gold and say the other two are tax."

"No, it belongs to him."

They take the three gold - in a more useable form of silver and copper coins, to the woodcutter. Emishi refuses to have anything to do with it and sits outside on Park'n'ride. Still arguing, the adventurer/tax collectors head back to Ninohe. On the way they call in on the armourer where Emishi took the dragon skin for making into new armour. The armourer has done a good job and soon Emishi is kitted out in a unique dragon-skin light samurai armour of armour class six. The others look so envious that they arrange a trip up to Mutsu to see what the tanner there has managed to do with the Mountain Lizard skin they took there several months earlier. He has produced a range of small, light armour supplements that they all can use, such as wrist covers and throat guards - even a tough little waistcoat for Sahpo that shimmers iridescently. Everyone gets a boost of one armour class.

Winter is setting in when they finally return to Ninohe. Emishi, having been uncharacteristically patient for two years, asks Hana to marry him. She is delighted! Out of all the group, Emishi is her favourite - and by now she knows them all very well indeed. She particularly likes his enormous

ego. Hidasue is less enthusiastic. "I am very happy for you, but samurai should not be marrying dancing girls. They should marry daughters of noble families."

"I promise to make an honest woman out of her," retorts Emishi.

"Now Emishi, we both know that's impossible."

"You can't keep a good samurainu down," mutters Emishi as he leaves Hidasue's lodgings, deliberately mispronouncing the word. "And nor would you wish to try." He resolves to take up smoking.

The winter weeks in Ninohe are whiled away with training, though Emishi is somewhat preoccupied with preparations for the wedding in the coming spring. Sahpo works on his tantojutsu for three weeks, then starts studying the Saga of Critical Healing - however, he runs out of time. Tomtare studies karumijutsu, improving to 85. Yoshi Yeesu finishes mastering kenjutsu, then turns to bajutsu. Emishi also studies bajutsu and challenges the others to a horsemanship contest.

"Not a race, a test of control. Dressage, it's called. Like ballet on a horse."

"What's ballet?"

"Something from China, I think. Okay, like kabuki on a horse - all stylised movements."

The contest is set up. They ask Hidasue to judge, but he wants to join in instead, so gets his stable boy to judge. They each have to trace five pre-set figures and use different gaits. Emishi rides Park'n'ride - a quality horse, but prone to skittishness. He goes first and scores only 8 on the first figure. Hidasue follows and scores 15. Yoshi Yeesu goes last and scores 12. Emishi mutters something about Hidasue's lad's impartiality. On the second figure, Emishi scores a near-maximum 17, Hidasue only 6 and Yoshi Yeesu 13. Next round it is Emishi 11, Hidasue 4 and Yoshi Yeesu a fantastic 19. The next round is almost a repeat of the third, only Hidasue improving to 9. After two near-perfects, Yoshi Yeesu's lead looks unassailable. But the disaster strikes. On the last figure, Yoshi Yeesu's horse sees a snake in the grass and spooks. No points! But Emishi can only manage 12 and finishes on 59 points to Yoshi Yeesu's 63. Hidasue is last on 40, but he takes the loss with good grace, which is more than can be said for Emishi. Yoshi Yeesu gains 4 On; Emishi loses one.

"I bet I can arrange a better marriage than you," taunts Emishi.

"You're on - so long as it involves Hana," replies Yoshi Yeesu - under his breath.

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