Voodoo

She found him in a battered box under a bed. He was gangly, awkward, and stuffed with pieces of memory, with scraps of experience. It made him unique. She thought it made him interesting. She smiled when she saw him and took him with her. He didn't know where he was headed, as if he ever had a choice in the matter. Not with those eyes.

She talked to him and held him tight. It was something he was unused to, being all the time alone in a box under a bed, and he didn't mind. She put him on her shelf, right at the end, near her bed. Late into the night they would talk, her to him. She poured out her soul to him, he listened well. As if he had any choice in the matter. Not with those tears.

He didn't see it then, I did and tried to tell him, to make him see through those little thread eyes. He was entranced by that smile, it was hard to ignore. The dust that covered the other mismatched toys further down the shelf waited with the utmost patience. I saw, but he only had eyes for her.

She made for him a heart to wear, he was so proud. She would take him from the shelf and dance with him out the door, sharing her life with him. He would never stop smiling that little crooked smile, even when placed once more upon the shelf, right at the end, near her bed. As if he ever had any kind of choice. Not with that peaceful golden head.

Then the day came when she closed the door, her bed made and her clothes packed away. He sat there patiently, waiting for her to come back, to talk, to dance. The door stayed closed and the room got cold. He looked down at the heart she had made for him to wear, fading away with the patient layer of dust, that heavy dust. He sat and waited, high on the shelf, on the end, near the lonely bed. As if he had any choice. Not with that pin holding him there to the wall.

~This is a short story(obviously) that I just finished (finally) that accompanies that one finished painting I did a while back. It just happens to be 365 words long, which would be a word a day for a year, if it took me a year to write it, which it did in a round about way. Still, I have a few others in the works, and perhaps I'll have enough peace and quiet on the Africa Mercy to make an attempt at those.

Goro, Monk of Osano-Wo

This is the short backstory I wrote for the GM of the new L5R rpg that I am participating in. So far so good, but it seems to have one problem in common with the DnD group I just got out of, the characters can't get along or see eye to eye, and that is a strange thing in Rokugan where behaviour is dictated by liege lords and bushido.


From the beginning... This is not what is known to me, but what in actuality occurred before the story of my life truly began. It starts with a man, alone in the world, by his own will or the whims of the fortunes that spin mortals fates... Matsu Arihiro; troubled, tortured, broken, a Deathseeker, such examples of a samurai are best left to the back shelves forgotten, remembered only for the deeds they accomplished at their end and not their indiscretion in life. I was a reminder of such indiscretions, a product of barbarism forgotten by all but those closest to my mother. Oh, they wished that they too could forget, and so they abandoned her, my mother, to find her way on her own, without family, without clan, without dignity, as peasant filth.

She was unable to escape the perils of the wild world for long, my rescuer arrived long after her screams had faded into the night. Of my life preceding this event I was told little except that I did not cry out, even as a babe. I responded to sound, so they knew I was not deaf, but it was assumed I was a mute, until my 7th birthday. By then I had a name, simple, like the names given to all the monks raised by my temple. My view of the world was shaped by my surroundings, the aged men devoting hours to meditation and physical perfection, the strict guidelines, the peaceful order of the place. What I knew of samurai were from the few visits my temple received from the local magistrates, and the stories told at night under the starry sky, by monks who vaguely claimed to once have lived among them in some other life.

Long years passed, my elders grew older and passed on, their wisdom sometimes fading from the mortal realm, sometimes passed on to another keen mind in the following generation. My training progressed as it always had, with the proficiency of my masters and teachers. It was not a mystery to me why men devoted to such peaceful existence pursued such violent martial arts, I assisted in many battles, minor skirmishes compared to the wars being fought amongst the great clans, but deadly nonetheless. Instead of fighting for rights to tax border villages, or for honour, or for the Emperors favour, I fought for the peasants right to live, to drive away pillaging bandits preying on the weak, and, whenever such evil arose, against the shadow of the taint that crept into the hearts of our land. The Fortune of Fire and Thunder, great Osano-Wo, cares as much for the common man as he does for the valiant samurai in their lacquered armour.

I had trained with the best and most revered masters of our sect, even studying for years at our largest temple outside the Shinomen forest. My hard work and dedication to Osano-Wo brought me great rewards, I was appointed to head a new temple in a remote village on the borders of the scorpion lands. The village was known to its inhabitants and neighbours as Old Tree Village, or Furui-Ki-mura, because it centered on an ancient cherry tree planted many generations ago by a wandering monk, or so it was told. I selected my most diligent and promising student, Ichigo, and together we traveled across the empire to the site of our new temple. The reason we were assigned to start a temple in such a remote village was because we had been petitioned by the village headman after a great lightning storm had passed over the region. All the surrounding villages had been damaged greatly during the storm, but the only damage Furui-Ki-mura had sustained was a single lightning strike to the ancient cherry tree. The tree dropped a large branch that the villagers decide to use as a cross-piece for a torii, the gateway to a shrine. Given the nature of the storm it was felt that it was only appropriate to devote the new shrine to Osano-wo. This coincided with a dream an aged monk at our temple had, and it was decided to construct a temple on the site.

When we arrived at Furui-Ki-mura construction on the temple was well under way, the villagers had cut back on the time they spent in the fields to finish the temple in time for our arrival. When the time came to erect the torii on the path to the temple many villagers from the surrounding region had gathered to watch the momentous event. It was remarkable how much work had been done in such little time, and in the end it turned out that the rice harvest was the greatest in many years, signifying Osano-Wo's favour. The temple was small, and barely had room for Ichigo and I, but for the next five years I found the most peace and contentedness I had ever known. The villagers still worshipped regularly at the shrine to Inari and enjoyed the bounty brought to them by the fortunes, there were few problems during those years.

I had gone to a neighbouring village to check up on a sick child that none of the healers could mend, and on the return trip was confronted by a furious storm. Lightning flashed all around me and thunder echoed through the hills. The suddenness with which it had started awed me. I had no fear, however, I was a monk of Osano-Wo, the fortune I served watched out for his followers, this most likely was an omen, a warning or foretelling I was not sure. The ferocity of the storm spurred me on, though I was not concerned for my safety nor my dryness, I began to get a feeling of dread that only grew as I neared Furui-Ki-mura. Darkness covered the land, but I didn't light my lantern for the raging wind would blow it out immediately, and the constant lightning strikes illuminated the path enough for me to navigate. I came to a portion of the path that was washed out and was forced to march the long way around, but by the time I reached the edges of Furui-Ki-mura the storm had moved on. Moisture hung in the air and I could still feel the electricity and hear the thunder as the it receded. Water covered the packed ground of the path, shimmering in the moonlight newly revealed by the quick moving clouds. I lit my lantern and headed toward the darkened huts on the edge of the village, all was silent except for the distant thunder and a small sound closer to me, the sound of a crying babe. I looked down at the ground again, at the pools of water at my feet, and the rivulets feeding them. They glistened red.

I rushed through the village, slipping in the mud, toward the temple. All around me lay the dead bodies of the innocent villagers, sprawled in heaps where they were cut down, defenseless. When I reached the torii I paused, taking in the gruesome sight before me, tears of rage and pride welling up in my eyes. There lay Ichigo, his breathing shallow, surrounded on three sides by the bodies of his assailants. There were five dead bandits at his feet, their arms and legs twisted and broken from his savage blows, weapons grasped in chilling hands. There was a broken katana lying on the ground, its hilt clutched by a bandit with his head caved in, there were multiple gashes in Ichigo's chest, and two stab wounds in his gut, a yari still protruded from one. I kicked the dead bodies aside and moved to cradle Ichigos head in my arms to try and relieve the pain of his last moments, he tried to speak but coughed up blood instead. I wanted to tell him that all would be alright, but he wouldn't let me, he tried to speak again, but only one word left his lips before his eyes fluttered and he was gone.

I located most of the villagers in the temple , while Ichigo had held off the attackers he had bought time for many of the helpless villagers to hide, and apparently the bandits had fled after confronting such a foe. The reports were sketchy at best, it appeared that the bandits had come in the late evening, quickly killing many of the men by stealth in the fields before they returned home. The rest of the villagers had been rounded up in the center square under the cherry tree, and the bandits demanded all their rice and money, killing the headman when he refused to give in. Some of the men tried to resist and overpower their attackers, but it was ill fated, only when Ichigo emerged from meditation and heard the fighting over the storm did the tides start to turn, but then for many it was too late. The one detail that all could agree upon was the hideous look of the bandits leader, a large man towering over the others, with a jagged red scar running across his face, twisting his mouth into an awful grimace. With that information in mind I left Furui-Ki-mura in search of a trail long washed away by the rain.

One word cycled through my mind....

...

...

VENGEANCE.

Tale of Aghar the Dwarf. Part 2 of ?

For three days Aghar walked, eyes staring blankly ahead and slightly down. Had anyone took notice enough to look at his face they would have seen two peculiar lines running from his eyes through the grime on his face down into his beard. He stopped only once when exhaustion took him, and he ate not at all.

Though he was not aware of it himself he was slowly moving south through the myriad tunnels that made up his dwarven home of Karak Hirn, and on that third day he approached a large gate. He was oblivious to the fresh air blowing in his face from that opening, to the new smells it brought with it, even to the bustle of merchant carts and wagon trains belonging to humans going out and Dwarves coming in. Had it not been so busy he would have surely been stopped and questioned and perhaps would have returned to himself, for a dwarf with a large blood encrusted warhammer heading alone out the great gates into the darkening outer world was not a common sight. But he just kept on walking, through the gates and down the road toward the plains of Grekara.

For a while he walked beside various merchants on their mule drawn carts, but their pace was one he could not, nor even attempted to, match. They knew that when darkness fully descended they wanted to be safe within the protected walls of Shelterspring. The same knowledge was buried somewhere deep within Aghar as well, but he did not remember. So he plodded slowly onward, staying on the path only because it offered less resistance than the open plain. Then darkness fell and Aghars staring gaze could no longer take in the sight of the road, though his feet continued to propel him forward.

The only sounds in the cool night were the rustling of the wind in the grass accompanied by an unsteady beat of dwarven feet as Aghar staggered over the barren and rocky landscape. Soon his feet found their way easier, moving steadily downhill. His pace quickened and he skidded against a large sharp rock. Then the ground gave way in a series of drops that had the warhammer on Aghars shoulder bouncing up and down, and then the ground disappeared from under his feet altogether. The wind still whistled through the grass and around scattered boulders, it was no longer joined by the thump of feet but by the sound of loose scrag rolling downhill after a larger, softer lump of a dwarf bouncing off of boulders. The first thing Aghar had actively registered in his mind in three days was a sharp pain in the side of his head, and the starry blackness was replaced by blackness alone.

Aghar opened his eyes and immediately closed them again, stifling a low groan. When he opened his eyes again he saw his feet and above them the grey of a twilight sky. He was head down near the bottom of a gully, stopped short by a very large rock. He closed his eyes again to ward off the throbbing pain in his temple, and then he heard it. A chittering sound was coming from off to his right, it sounded somewhat intelligent, and it sounded like it didn't belong to one creature alone. He opened his eyes again and turned his head slightly to locate the source of the noise.

Tale of Aghar the Dwarf. Part 1 of ?

This is a little story that I just wrote as a backstory for my Rat-catcher character in the WarHammer RPG, how many more parts there will be is completely dependent on what the GM needs. So yeah, it could be stand alone, or it could turn into a series, if a series it does become, I think it will focus primarily on the main events of this young dwarfs life.

Enjoy.

The illustrious tale of Aghar the Dwarf

Aghar was born the first son of Firenminson, a sewer-scraper in Karak Hirn. They lived on the outskirts of the great dwarven stronghold among the other less glorious dwarves. Aghars father hadn't always been a sewer-scraper, there was a time in his long life, so he said, when he was as ballsy a soldier as could be found in all the marshaled forces of the Bandag clan. Aghar never knew the cause for his fathers fall from glory, he never asked, or maybe he did and his father never said, or maybe he did and Aghar just forgot. In any case Aghar grew up among other less fortunate dwarven children with little knowledge of the world outside the alleys an sewers of Karak Hirn.

One day when Aghar was about 22 years of age his neighbourhood was invaded by the shining and clanking forms of the Bandag clan recruitment officers. The sight of all the finely armoured warriors and muscle-bound tattooed berserkers was enough itself to send Aghar into a faint, his mind reeling with shiny new ideas. And as soon as the priest began recalling stories of the heroics and great deeds done by famous dwarven forefathers nothing could budge Aghar from his spot listening to the tales for days. Indeed it was days until someone told him he was eligible to sign up for the military and his eyes glazed over in wonder. It didn't take him long to build up the courage to approach the recruitment tents set up in the small market square, for courage and idiocy are sometimes synonyms, and in Aghars case he was filled to the brim.

As Aghar prepared to take some rudimentary reflexes and skills tests he grinned and looked around at the crowd. Off at the edge he noticed that his father stood watching, a proud look on his dirty face. Aghar grinned even wider, his short beard bristling oddly, and gripped the wooden practice mallet. What followed cannot be blamed solely on Aghar,it could be said his father never took an interest in teaching him the basics of armed combat, or also that he may have tapped into a latent berserker ability and went with what was most familiar to him. Regardless of the cause, a young dwarf flailing wildly with his fists and foaming at the mouth opposing a seasoned sergeant quickly makes himself a fool in the eyes of all present. "He has enthusiasm, and the cleanliness of our sewers shall be eternal proof of that." said the head recruitment officer.

It was a few days until the swelling in his eyes receded enough that he could make his way home, and when he arrived he found his father home, drinking heavily. For the next few weeks he got used to the presence of his drunken father in the home when he should have been out at work. To give Firenminson credit he never took out his disappointment on his son or his wife. Instead, he took down his old warhammer from its place above the small mantle and in drunken rages would sometimes pound great holes in the walls of the house until he passed out. Aghar simply adjusted to the change in environment and stayed out of the house more often, he felt some sense of guilt that his fathers behavior may have been linked to him, but the reality of the situation never really sank in.

A few weeks later as Aghar was leaving the house his mother called to him to go down to the well and fetch some water because his father was suffering from fever. He took the clay jug and headed off to the nearest well. On the way, however, he noticed a strange looking lizard clinging to the tunnel wall. In the last few weeks or so Aghar had gotten used to hanging out by himself and finding things to occupy his time since nearly all the young dwarves his age had left with the recruitment officers. So when he saw this lizard he wanted to catch it so it'd keep him company, he tried, and it moved further up the wall, but he was persistent and spent the next three hours on his lizard hunt. In the end he finally caught it by throwing a fist sized rock at it's head. No longer able to provide companionship Aghar stuffed the dead reptile into his trouser pocket and looked around. He had no idea where he was, and he was hungry. So he went about finding himself some grub, it wasn't as easy here, where the city pathways were kept clear of refuse and merchants were very watchful when he came by, but eventually he found some food and settled in the corner of an ally to feast.

After eating he fell asleep and only woke to raging alarm bells and the rushing quake of many booted feet. Getting up and moving to the end of his ally he observed dozens of groups of dwarven warriors rushing in one direction. He automatically moved to follow, still holding on to the clay water jug his mother had given him that morning. Though he tried to keep up, the warriors were much better trained and prepared than he, and soon outdistanced him. Aghar, not one to lose focus of something so fantastic so easily, kept up his pace as best he could. After about an hour he arrived at a scene of a recent battle. The injured were having their wounds tended to and there were groups taking care of the dwarven dead scattered throughout the bloody streets, but the majority of corpses belonged to creatures that Aghar had never seen or imagined in his life. They looked like scrawny dwarves, bent and twisted with black fur covering their bodies, gnarled fists and feet with sharp claws clutching at wicked hooked weapons, and horrific faces, like giant rats. Beady eyes stared unblinking at him from all directions and he thought he was going to be sick. He looked away from the battlefield and noticed that he recognized these buildings, he was near his house, very near.

Wanting to get away from the gruesome carnage before him, Aghar ran down the street toward his home. The situation was similar there, fewer dead creatures, and even fewer dead dwarven warriors, but many dead dwarves. He looked to his house, there was a pile of dead creatures in a pile in front of his door, and what appeared to be a dwarf trapped underneath. He rushed over and began hauling bodies off the dwarf, when he had exposed it he knew immediately that his father was dead. Bloody gashes crossed his face, and his jaw was almost removed, there was also a heavy barbed dart protruding from his belly. In his hands were the broken neck of a gut-rot bottle and his old warhammer, covered in dark blood. Aghar started to shed tears, and then looked farther into the dark and quiet house through the doorway where he stood. His mother was also disemboweled, lying amongst broken chairs with a large kitchen knife in her fist and a dead creature next to her on the floor.

Aghar turned away, tears now streaming down his face as he retrieved the warhammer from his fathers cold grasp. He stood up still weeping and hefted he hammer over his shoulder as he walked away down the street.

FF RPG Fiction. Tale of Byfree, Part II

--- Five years later ---


The sun was halfway through its daily descent from the middle of the sky into the sea when the three travellers crested the rocky pass. Nenaki looked over at his companions to gauge their reaction as they gazed for the first time on the place he liked to call home. The valley was green, with patches of golden fields illuminated by the declining sun, from here they could see the glistening waters of the sea as it disappeared over the horizon. One of his companions, a female Ronso, looked over at him and he grinned and stretched out his hands, sweeping them over the breadth of the valley.

"Welcome to Byfree Penninsula my friends, we should increase our speed if we are to make it to the town before nightfall." He said.

The other Ronso started eagerly picking his way over the rocky trail and Nenaki turned and gestured for the female to follow. They made excellent time and were soon on the floor of the valley jogging casually toward the sunset. The sun was just slipping under the waves when they arrived at the gate of the town.

The town was alot quieter than Nenaki remembered it, the war had lasted far longer than it should have, and youths were conscripted into the armies even from towns as far away as Byfree. As they made their way through the empty streets calls of welcome came from open windows and merchants paused in packing up there stalls to say hi to the returning Ronso. Nenaka greeted all with a wave and some words, he remembered these people, they looked much older than when he had left, but their spirit remained, they were genuinely pleased to see him. As they approached the Plump Quail the door suddenly burst open emmiting a golden glow onto the darkening street, and a shape appeared in the doorway and rushed out to meet them. Nenaki was almost moved to tears as he noted that all his closest friends in the town had gathered to welcome him home, and he rushed to meet the approaching shape that could only be Spencer. The two good friends embraced shortly and then Nenaki turned to introduce his companions.

"This is Nenaki's younger brother, Batak," he said indicating the stocky Ronso on his left. Then, turning and regarding the female Ronso on his right affectionatly said "This is Kamelka of Clan Gagazet who is pledged as bond mate to Nenaki."

Spencer clasped each of their forearms in turn, the traditional Ronso way of greeting, and welcomed them to Byfree. They entered the inn and the party commenced, Spencer introduced Batak and Kamelka to two of his and Nenaki's previous companions who had also returned from the war. Leogon, a nine foot tall Gigantos in the brown and green robes of a Geomancer, who had brought his two young twin sons along as well, and Mandelfin of Snowglen, a Wood Elf Ranger of some renown throughout southern Almek, on whose shoulder preened a magnificent Barred Osprey, the birds size made the slight Elf look quite lopsided but he held himself with grace worthy of a high court in any land. After the introductions were made the drinks started flowing and with them came the much anticipated tales of the war, of the strange metal monsters, or machina, used by the Krueganians, of great victories snatched from the jaws of certain defeat, of routs, and ultimately of victory.

The celebration lasted long into the night, but after a while the townspeople retired for the evening leaving the four ex-adventurers and Nenaki's two companions to more private talks. At first the conversation remained light and upbeat, but eventually spencer posed the question everyone had been waiting for.

"Is it really over? Seven years of brutal conflict and then suddenly an end? The last report we had recieved down here said things were still a stalemate, as they have been these past five years. What has happened to stop this war so suddenly?" He asked.

"Nenaki is not sure, we were assigned tactical missions, incursions and such, they had become routine, fighting over the same blasted patch of land we were for nearly five years, we were successfull, but it seemed not to make any difference. Then, a call to withdraw. No superiors knew what was going on either, it wasn't a rout, there was no pursuit. When we were miles away we saw what was happening, airships, Almekian airships were spreading something over the battlefields, not just ours, but all up and down the lines. Like a black cloud is fell and clung to eveything, even from so far away we could hear the screams of the dying, it was a desperate time, no one knew what was going on. Kermodei Clan lost two elite units that were still on missions, Gagazet Clan lost five." Nenaki said, choking back rage. "It was criminal, even for our enemies to meet such an end. All the commanders feared similar repraisals, we attacked with unholy magics, they would counter with unholy machina, but our general told us it was all taken care of, and that we were to depart, our part in the war was finished, as the war was soon to be. He smiled smugly, the glint of madness in his eyes, there was nothing we could do to. Nothing good will come of this for Almek nor Kreugania, best that we not be near to that disaster. Maybe Nenaki is wrong, but to prepare for the worst will bring the best as a pleasant surprise in the morning."

The six veteran warriors talked later still into the night, discussing the possibile events that might unfold from this war, how to cope, possible solutions for peace should the war continue. All this talk was in vain, however, they were not in a position that had any power to change anything, and even if they had they were already too late. The whole world was far too late to do anything but watch.

The sun crested the Highwind pass and found Nenaki at his usual place on the rocky knoll overlooking the valley. This time he was not alone, Kamelka sat at his side marvelling in the beauty of the scene for the first time in her life. They sat and enjoyed the view for an hour or more, but then Kamelka grew restless and challenged Nenaki to a race back to Byfree. Grinning widely Nanaki nodded his acceptance and then they were off. Nenaki knew the path very well even after so many years, but he did not take his time in concern for his future bond mate, this was a competition and Ronso females took competition with their future mates very seriously. Kamelka, however, did take her own time to enjoy the sight of her future bond mates barely clad form as he started a quick descent. She smiled knowingly and moved away from the path at the back of the knoll to the top of the cliff facing her destination, with a slight run she leapt far out into the open air. Wind rushed through her fur and her eyes teared slightly, the vertical cliff ended at a rock filled slope that continued sharply to the bottom of the knoll, the rocks were approaching quicky. A quick twitch of her legs and arms at the last second and Kamelka somersalted through the air, feet landing firmly on a large boulder, her legs absorbing part of the tremendous impact, the boulder visibly taking the rest as it cracked open. Before the massive rock was even finished it's groaning cry she was airborne once more, this time jumping further out and down the slope, veritably bouncing off boulders as she approached the pathway that finally wound around the front of the knoll. She saw Nenaki round the corner and timed her last jump so that she was able to handspring off his head as he raced the path below, she giggled slighty as she landed on another boulder further down the knoll and waved at him before leaping high into the air once more.

The pair just reached the gates of the town, Nenaki winning just by a horn, when the first of the tremors hit. At first the Ronso thought his body might just be a bit too exhausted, but then he noticed that some of the taller buildings were swaying as well. Soon screams rang throughout the town as roofs started to collapse, and furniture shifted violently inside the confines of wooden walls. People started streaming in panic out of their homes as some of the older ones started to fully collapse, Nenaki and Kamelka quickly assumed command of directing people out of the streets and if they could make it, into the empty fields of grain beyond the reach of the wall should it too fall. The quake lasted for a full fourty minutes, before there was a pause. The townspeople gathered in the fields had taken count and they knew how many were still missing inside the town, and they endeavoured to return to search for them. Only Mandelfin, of any of the ex-adventurers, had had any experience with quakes before and he urged the townspeople to wait until after the aftershock had hit before they searched the ruins of their town. Many believed, but some, desperate to find loved ones could not be restrained and they scrabbled through the rubble lined streets calling out various names.

The aftershocks hit a few minutes later, before anyone had returned from their search, and this time the quake lasted for over an hour. Mandelfin knew this to be strange, the aftershocks were supposed to be more severe in some cases, but not normally this much longer. He expressed his worries to his close friends.

"I do not believe this to be an act of nature, and I do not know what could have caused Mighty Terrax to shake his foundations so. I fear this is the work of some great evil, or some hand has chosen to judge the world blindly for the acts of a few nations of men. This turmoil will not end tonight, of that I am certain." He said seriously. "Look, Rydia still circles up above, she will not even land when I call to her, the animals know when to flee and fly when we poor few do not."

Leogon agreed, the quakes he felt were no natural thing, but neither did he sense, in his link with the god of the earth, any malice toward the mortal races. This was something created outside the divine realm.

A third quake hit shortly after, this one lasting even longer, and the people set up a large camp in the fields. The quakes lasted for the better part of a week, remaining about 2 hours long each, but lessening in strength. And though the pauses between them increased in length none of the people dared to enter the town for fear that a destabilized building would fall even during the calm. When it was finally decided that the quakes were finished for good, the villagers entered the town to survey the wreckage and attempt to save anyone left alive. The distruction was final in most places, even some of the cellars had caved in and ruined foundations, but the worst travesty besides the death toll was the shore. It appeared as if a massive sword had come down and cut half the town away from the mainland and pushed it into the sea to forever be lost under the waves. Where there had once been a gentle slope toward the waters edge there was now a sharp drop to brown debris filled water. The land that had been swept into the water seemed to completely fill what had once been one of the finest deepwater harbours on the west side of the continent. The only things that bolstered the spirits of the townspeople were the fact that the towns wall was still entirely intact, and the arrival of a local Moomba tribe, apparently unaffected by the quakes, who provided fresh meat in the form of wild boar and hares.

The townspeople perservered and fought on as only Humans could, first starting the task of clearing the rubble and burying the bodies, and then moving to the task of scavenging the reusable rubble to use in creating more adequate shelter before winter. Some of the villagers also banded together to harvest what remained of the crops in the field, for all of the supply warehouses had been located close to sea and had not survived. Even with the extra food from the Moomba hunters as well as the three Ronso it did not look good for the townspeople.Seeing this, Mandelfin vollenteered to brave the pass and seek out help and supplies from whatever other towns had survived, he hoped to be back before winters worst closed the high pass.

Rydia, Mandelfins faithful osprey returned just after the weather started to turn, she circled the makeshift village calling out plaintively as if heralding a great hero on to the underworld, it was a haunting sound. Then she flew off back toward the pass, she returned a few hours later and circled the village once more, finally landing near Spencer and Nenaki's temporary accomodations. She hopped toward them, and in her talons Nenaki spotted a bloodsoaked piece of parchment. He retrieved it and read it aloud.

"Rockslides partially block the pass, no help from outside. Trolls in the pass on my return trip, 30 in number, I have taken fatal wounds and soon shall pass on to the earthmother. I send Rydia to you with this warning, I pray to Gaia that she finds you in time. Prepare."

He looked to the ground as he finished reading and handed the note to Spencer. Then he raised his head and let out a beastial howling chant, one that Spencer had heard only twice before, the ancient Ronso chant for the soul of a fallen warrior, Kamelka and Batak came and stood beside him and joined in the chant, heads held high, honouring the brave warrior. When they were finished the town had gathered to find out what was going on, and Spencer quickly set about ordering night watches to be set, fortifications to be made ready, and weapons be prepared. Trolls were never a good thing.

The next morning advance scouts apon the now much smaller rocky knoll reported a large grouping of trolls moving slowly down from the pass into the valley, they were following the path, but they didn't look terribly organized. Spencer realized that they might actually have some hope of fighting off these brutes. If they were indeed crag trolls as he guessed then it would be easier to distract and seperate them from their group picking them off one by one. Still with thirty or more to contend with it might not be the wisest thing to meet them in the open plains. The five veteran warriors, Leogon's two sons, and a few of the battle experienced townspeople gathered to try and organize an effective strategy.

Nenaki stated that they could not risk the inexperienced townspeople in anything but a defensive fight, but that a few of them might be able to strike out silently before the enemy could charge the defenses, this perhaps would slow the plodding advance, and give the trolls, small minded as they were, something to worry about. Spencer agreed, and assigned Nenaki, Kamelka, Batak, Leogon and one of his sons Pladar to be the advance strike team. The selected warriors each went to prepare, Nenaki braided his hair with steel beads and grabbed afew throwing hammers. Kamelka retrieved her helm, armour and cross spear, all buffed to a brilliant shine that hurt the eyes in the bright morning light. Batak donned very odd armour that was jagged and sharp on all the edges, as well as massive iron gauntlets shaped into massive razor sharp griffon talons. Leogon mixed a muddy concoction and painted himself and his companions with strange runes, while his son Pladar equipped heavy leather armour and unwrapped a strange ten foot long bundle to reveal a tremendous zanbato that he spun as easily as if it was paper. When all was ready Nenaki took the lead and headed out to meet the invading trolls.

The Trolls were not too far into the valley yet when Nenaki and his party came apon them. They were seemingly milling about in the middle of the road, grunting to each other and pointing first toward the forest to the north and then down the path they stood on that lead to the town. Nenaki deduced that they argued about which scent to follow up first, one thing about trolls, no matter which of the many forms of troll one came across, they all had excellent senses of smell, and apparently this group had caught a whiff of the Moomba tribe in the forest. One troll started pushing another around and Nenaki signalled that it was time to act, while they were already distracted. As one they leapt into the middle of the group.

A few had makeshift weapons like tree limb clubs or large rocks, but most had only their knobbly fists with which to defend themselves. Two were down on the ground spilling their brown lifeblood from fatal wounds before they even realized they were being attacked. Batak moved from one of the dying hulks to another one with a surprised look on its face, he drove his gauntlets upward into its throat and violently pulled them free, blood bubbled from the hole and the troll swung wildly. Batak dodged easily and brought his forehead horn foreward into the creatures chest repeatedly, staying under the deadly flailing reach. Elsewhere Nenaki was pummeling two trolls simultaneously with lightning fast fists and feet, acrobatically evading the dazed and bleeding creatures swings. Pladar was just pulling his zanbato out from where it had stopped halfway through the rocky body of a troll when the remainder of the beasts started gaining some semblance of order, the one nearest him eagerly raised its club high in both hands planning on crushing the young Gigantos with one strike. Then a blur of silvery armour and brown fur fell from the sky landing on the trolls raised club and driving her spear through its neck, the razor sharp crossguard nearly severing it's head. Pladar smiled his appreciation at Kamelka as she jumped vertically off the dying troll revealing another angry troll moving foreward to take its companions place, Pladar raised his giant sword and turned to face it. A bit further behind Pladar, Leogon was sitting on the ground in the middle of a set of arcane runes drawn in the earth, his eyes were closed and his lips were moving, the tempo of his chant increased and he reached to his belt, drawing out a small clay bell. At the completion of his spell he rang the earthen bell once, sending a crystal clear note across the battlefield, it seemed that everything, even time itself stood still, all was quiet and then the earth exploded in the center of the mass of trolls sending shards of jagged stone spraying in all directions, imbedding itself in many trolls hides. Seeing the very earth turn against them the dimwitted trolls fled in panic, trampling more than a few of their injured companions in the process of racing back to the safety of the pass. Batak pursued for a while and picked of an injured lagger before the trolls made it to the rocky ground where they proceeded to defend themselves with a steady and deadly barrage of flying rocks. In all 14 of the smelly beasts had fallen, Pladar went about chopping off their heads with his zanbato while the others started a fire and proceeded to use the flaming brands to cauterize the bloody stumps preventing any of the trolls regenerative powers from reviving the dead creatures. After this they headed back to the town, satisfied, but knowing that it was still far from over. At least, Nenaki thought, the crag trolls were so stupid that they could probably surprise them the same way the next day.


The next day was cold and clear, and surprisingly calm. No scouts reported any movement from the high pass all that day. The vetran warriors conferred amongst themselves as to whether the trolls would have been smart enough to descend silently at night and skirt the valley and travel through the forest to avoid being seen. None thought it was probable but they sent some scouts out that way just in case, sure enough they returned without seeing sign of any approach. That night was spent in restless anticipation, trolls were normally most active during the day, using the warmth of the sun to energize their bodies, but there was always the threat of a night attack. Villagers were set as pickets outside the town walls, but nothing showed itself that night either.

After a long night of watchfulness the day finally dawned cool and moist, a slight drizzle making things just a bit uncomfortable out of doors. The Vetrans were used to fighting in worse, but the villagers soon began to loose heart from just standing in the rain for hours on end. Since no sign was recieved from the scouts the villagers were allowed to rest in shifts, standing guard for a few hours and then working on fortifications, then a few hours rest. Even so the stress started to affect all by midday. Just as the sun threatened to break through the clouds directly overhead the scouts reported movement from the pass, a group larger than the last was making its way into the valley, and it was not just ignorant crag trolls anymore. This new band was apparently led by much larger and smarter mountain trolls, smarter than crag trolls at least. They watched the slow approach gauging how best to engage this new threat, it was possible that the same ploy would work again, but the trolls were greater in number and already spreading out across the valley into an organized formation. It was agreed that this would be a defensive standoff, whether they had any hope of winning they made no mention. They put on brave faces and returned to their work, not wanting the villagers to panic and waste their slim chance of success.

The troll horde reached the outskirts of the fields later that evening as the sun was going down. There they stopped and reorganized, it looked as though this was no unruly mob of roving trolls, but an experienced warband. The mountain trolls shouted commands at the milling crag trolls and formed them up into lines, many had large sacks of stones which they dumped in huge piles where commanded. Though the crag trolls were armed with nothing more than their fists and a few clubs, the mountain trolls were well equipped, they sported large iron battle axes and hammers, wickedly serrated greatswords and sometimes massive spiked sheilds. There was one among them that stood out, he was larger than any of the trolls beside him and he paced rapidly, overseeing the distribution and placement of his troops. He wore a dented breastplate and an iron torque shaped like a serpent, on his back was strapped a large battleaxe and at his waist he casually wore a bloodstained kilij, a sword akin to a scimitar but much wider, heavier, and more difficult to weild. But the one thing about him that evoked the sense of dread that the defenders now felt was the belt of skulls he wore around his large waist. They weren't just any skulls, they were Ronso skulls, and they were fresh, pink meat and bloody patches of fur still clung in places and swarms of flies followed him wherever he strode. Nenaki and Kamelka had to hold Batak to prevent him from foolishly leaping to attack in his rage at the sight. This was not going to be a battle easily won.

Some of the mountain trolls took practice shots with the stones to gauge the distance they would have to throw. They were still well out of bowshot when they found the correct range, not that arrows would have any effect on their tough hides in any case. For a while they made a casual game of trying to take out any defender foolish enough to stick his head out above the wall, they made leering gestures and foul noises, and did a good job of destroying any of the villagers remaining hopes of survival. After the sun had dipped below the horizon the troll leader barked out a harsh cry and all the other trolls answered in a voice that echoed off the valley walls, then they began their attack. At first it was a steady bombardment by the mountain trolls, they concentrated their efforts on the weakest link in the wall, the gate. They also kept up constant suppressive fire, forcing the defenders to merely sit and wait, listening to the steady pounding of stone on wood. After about fifteen minutes the huddled defenders heard another sound at their wall, those that peeked over briefly saw the crag trolls using their bodies as rams against the weakened walls, they came away bloody from each strike, but apparently unphased. This strategy was not without fault, however, for a few of the crag trolls were taken out by errant missles thrown by their allies, who just laughed coarsly and continued their barrage as if nothing had happened.

A large group of trolls had just breached the gate, casting aside the splintered wood with ease they strode confidently into the village, swiping away and crushing the life out of all available villagers. That is when Nenaki gave the cry for attack. Batak sped past him in a blur, impacting the lead troll with force enough to knock it down and retaining his momentum to get him clear of his victims death flails and on to his next target. Leogon was again sitting farther back from the wall in the midst of a circle of arcane runes, this time the circle was much larger and the runes were augmented with various semi-precoius stones at regular intervals. Leogons body was siffused with a gentle green glow, and when he opened his eyes at the completion of his spell they gleamed with pure jade fire. The ground started to shake and rumble and from the earth in front of him a large form began to rise. In the dark it was difficult to tell if it was friend or foe, but when all fifteen feet of it had fully emerged, Leogon commanded it to destroy all the trolls and the golem turned to do its creators bidding. Elsewhere Kamelka was just a blur, jumping and striking her opponents from above, distracting them enough to give young Pladar an exsquisite array of upturned necks on which to practice with his zanbato. Nenaki was there too, fists covered with arcing bolts of electricity, wading through the mass of smelly bodies inside the gate, breaking bones and stopping hearts with each strike. Finally the gate was cleared of invaders as Leogon's massive golem crushed the last one with a brown rocky fist, it then turned and plodded slowly out the gate toward the remaining mountain trolls. The defenders could hear the trolls quail at the sight of such a formiddable opponent and the barrage of stones finally stopped, but then the trolls leader barked his troops back into order and called for a charge.

As one, the mountain trolls grabbed their weapons and rushed the wall, the golem stood steadfast striking out as they passed around it, like a river around an island. Many trolls were instantly killed this way until their brutish leader heafted his axe and charged yelling a guttural battle cry. The axe moved so fast that before the golem could finish his first swing it was on its side missing a leg, the leader then quickly severed all its other appendages and gave a cry of triumph, blostering his attacking horde. The trolls then reached the village walls, shrugging off any arrows that were directed their way with ease and slamming into the stone structure with tremendous force. The defenders now realized that the attack through the gate had been a ruse to get their attention off of the crag trolls hammering away at the actual walls, for when the charging trolls hit for the first time many sections of the wall immediatly gave way under the stress. Other sections gave way soon after and the ragged defenders faced a full on assault of mountain trolls. Many could not stand to face their fate and fled, weakening what defense they could have put forth. The trolls gave whoops of glee as defenders fell before their cruel weapons, often hacking at the bodies and licking their blades. The beasts continued to stream into the breaches constantly widening them for others behind.

Spencer had managed to rally a few of the defenders and was making a valiant stand at the head of the road into the center of the village, but the trolls swarmed around the small knot seeking easier prey, finding other access points to the center of the rundown village. The other veterans joined his group quickly, but they were now surrounded by the trolls still pouring in and the groups that were rampaging through the village. Then they saw the troll leader striding in through the ruined gate, kicking aside all the bodies, and surveying the wreckage. Batak could not hold back any longer, seeing once more the belt of Ronso skulls he yelled a berserker scream and charged forward recklessly, Nenaki and Kamelka failing to hold him with them. As he approached the brute two guards jumped out in front of him barring his way. He savagely tore into the first one ignoring a large cut to his shoulder. His armour was streaked in blackish blood and gore hung from all the sharp angles, his horn was coated just as thickly. He made short work of the defending troll and moved to take on the next one only to see it fall with a large axe imbedded in its back, the larger leader smirking over the body at him. The troll quickly drew his kilij as Batak lunged over the corpse, swiftly parrying the vicious attack. Or so it seemed at first, Batak had scored a hit, tearing the trolls cheek right off its face revealing a mouth of rotting jagged teeth. The troll growled, reached up and tore off the loose peice of flesh hanging from its jaw, and then laughed a disturbing gurgling laugh. The onlookers then noticed that Batak was not renewing his attack, he was turned toward the troll, gasping for breath, blood streaming from a gaping would in hs neck. As Batak regained his bloodrage and charged the troll again another group of trolls engaged the watching defenders, cutting off Nenaki's view of his brother, he did not see him alive again.

Fighting for their lives now as well as the lives of the few villagers that fought beside them, the verterans put all their effort into it, where they thought they had been giving all before, they now realized that they were tapping hidden reserves, shrugging off injury and performing their attacks and parrys as if fully refreshed. All the trolls that chose to face them were faced with a deadlier enemy than before, and fell back before the assault. Pladar was cutting huge swaths in troll flesh, his brother Leogar had run out of arrows for his great longbow, and was using it as a massive club against all who opposed him. Leogon was still calmly casting spells, spraying shards of earth every direction, and calling huge stone hands out of the earth to crush the life from his assailants, but he was tiring and the green glow surrounding his body had dimmed signifigantly. Kamelka was darting from open space to open space, thrusting her spear in exposed troll flesh at every turn. One of her crossguards had been broken off and he spear was stained black, but still she attacked. It was a sign of how tired she was that she rarely took to the air with a jump attack, and unfortunatly when she finally did a troll was ready for her. She instinctively dodged but the swing was too fast and her body too tired, a spiked club snagged her leg and tore he out of the air, winding her. Nenaki moved to her side and fended off the attacker. He had just collapsed the trolls lungs with three quick strikes when he heard its leader bellow a victorious roar. He cursed fate that he could not be with his brother when he fell, but he offered up a small prayer to Ignus that he, Kamelka, and the remaining villagers would somehow survive to honour his brothers heroic death.

Seemingly in answer to that prayer, a tremendous force shook the ground and a pillar of red flame burst upward from where the leader had been. Then, almost immediatly, it was followed by dozens of other similar eruptions, none as large as the first, but all equally devestating as they poured through the ranks of trolls on either side of the defenders. The heat was so intense that even the trolls engaging the few remaining fighters fell, their skin blistering and cracking. Remarkably the flames didn't harm anything but the trolls, only the ground was slightly scorched to mark its passing, and piles of ashes and the occasional puddle of iron marked where a troll had been. As the flares subsided the group of defenders still heard the cries of battle within the village, although the majority of trolls had been destroyed in the firey blasts, there were many still running free. Then they noticed a slight figure entering the crashed gates, robed all in red with a gleaming golden staff, he looked around and gestured to the group to remain where they were. He continued past them entering the village, shooting gouts of fire or shards of ice from his staff at every troll he came across, the defenders watched dumbfounded as he continued unapposed. The screams of dying trolls were heard late into the night outside of the town as the people gathered the wounded into appropriate shelter, and all the women and children came out of hiding to find their loved ones. Nenaki searched for the body of his brother late into the morning, but all he ever found were the gauntlets, shiny and clean, untouched by the flames. He said the customary prayers and went to look after Kamelka.

The next morning the village woke to find a spectacular sight, on the knoll outside the town was a great grey tower, rising skyward like a mythic sentinel guarding the road to the pass. It seemed as if it had always just been there and they had merely never taken note of it before this day.


The End, for now....

FF RPG Fiction. Tale of Byfree, Part I

Byfree, year 1000 AG

Nenaki woke early, before the sun even started to rise over the eastern mountains, and stretched out his tightly corded limbs. He rose from his sleeping mat and moved to the center of his small room clad only in his loincloth and dark grey fur. He stretched again, eyes closed, seeming to test each muscle individually before sitting on the floor softly and taking up the lotus position. He sat motionless for many minutes focusing his thoughts inward, scanning his chi for signs of flaws. Satisfied, he opened his eyes and stood, moved to a small chest at one end of the room and pulled forth a pair of thick baggy pants made from some light fabric. He pulled them on and wiggled his tail through a specially designed slot at the rear, then tied the top with a woven belt of the same material. He opened his window, letting the chill misty morning air clear his senses. He looked down, toward the ground three stories below him, the night fishermen had already come in, and the morning fishermen would have already gone out for the day, so the street below was empty, but he could still hear the sounds of dockworkers coming from the harbor. With a sudden movement he hopped over the sill and out the window, landing with feline grace in the deserted street below. Stretching and flexing once more he then turned and started jogging up the street away from the waterfront. He approached the edge of town at a quick pace, leaping the six foot high stone barricade with ease, not even slowing his pace as he headed into green fields bejeweled with thousands of dewdrops and shrouded in a white veil of fog. It was mornings like this that he didn't miss the stark grey mountain home of his Kermodei clan as much. He couldn't believe that it had been eight-teen years already since he had been home, it seemed like only yesterday he was just setting off on a life of adventure and treasure hunting. He continued to run east for a while, and then finally started to circle to the south heading up the only accessible route onto a large rocky knoll overlooking the entire valley. From the still foggy woods to the north, to the Highwind pass jutting out of the clouds between two great mountains to the east, to the gleaming waters of the outer sea crowned with tall masts of trading ships, Nenaki could see it all from this vantage point.

He sat on a large smooth boulder on top of the knoll overlooking the valley, watching Byfree awake. Its inhabitants, slow at first, soon began the frantic pace of life in a busy port town. Sailors swarmed over the docks and on the various merchant vessels making ready to weigh anchor and set sail across the Outer Sea to the many exotic islands or even to the strange continent even further west. Nenaki could identify, even from such a great distance, the recently christened Byfree fleet, a trio of high-sided, quad masted ships that were armed to the teeth with ballista and catapults. They had just been supplied by the merchant’s guild in Trovaire to protect the guild members from pirates that seemed to have free run of the Outer Seas coastal waters. It was a sign of how much influence Byfree had gained recently, Nenaki chuckled to himself, Humans, they moved about so fast, never stopping to enjoy the view, they were like the firecrackers brought by merchants from the east: small, loud, and seconds later, gone. Considering Byfree had only been around since Spencer Bingham founded it eight years ago with his merry band of adventurers, Nenaki was surprised that Humans hadn't taken control of the entire world centuries ago. This thought brought to mind recent reports of war in the far north, pretty much every merchant was talking about it, how it would be the war to end all wars, and that they wouldn't be surprised if it affected everyone even as far south as Byfree. Nenaki doubted it, humans always fought, their wars were quick and brutal just like their lives, but the next generation would always strike out in a different direction, more wars would follow, it was just the way with them, wise races knew to just leave them to their own devices and stay out of the way. That's why he liked it in Byfree so much, it was so far removed from the entire world, sticking out into the sea on a little spit of land, and the merchants didn't bring trouble, just the most recent news of it. The only thing that disturbed the peace was the occasional pirate raid, and then again it was always good fun to bash in pirates heads once in a while.

By now the sun was rising, its rays streaming through the pass and lighting up distant waves, the valley was still in shadow, but not for long. Nenaki had observed this process every morning without fail for nearly six years, the power of the sun still amazed him. Many of the Ronso in his Clan thought it odd that he was devoted to Ignus, Lord of the Sun, but Nenaki was always quick to point out that very little life could flourish without the power of the suns golden light, and indeed as he sat and watched it appeared as though a whole new world was awakened when the sun crested the mountains casting its light in fullness over the valley. His forehead horn was the very first thing to feel the warmth, then the sun, as it rose, warmed his fur and then the rocky knoll and then the entire valley. The fog burned away quickly revealing the thin line of a stream winding through the lush valley like a glittering jeweled necklace on the throat of the goddess Naos. Nenaki sat back to enjoy the show as a group of majestic griffins circled high in the sky over the valley, warming their wings in the suns light before heading out over the sea to fish. Other animals were stirring on the ground as well, but Nenaki's gaze was drawn to the trail leading from the Highwind pass, he saw something that was not a regular morning occurrence. It appeared to be some sort of rider, moving very fast toward Byfree, too fast, it was something he had to investigate. His mornings peace gone he started down the knoll with a fast loping stride. Jumping from boulder to rocky outcropping to boulder again Nenaki seemed to glide like a bird, the distance between some spots was just too great to be leapt naturally and he landed so effortlessly never pausing for a rest. Now the rider was much closer and Nenaki stopped to observe for a moment, it was a fluffy white Moogle in the saddle, or kind of in the saddle. It was riding a golden feathered chocobo which was moving so fast it appeared that it was all the Moogle could to hang on to the saddle horn, it had it's small leathery wings outspread and the rush of wind gave it some lift it could never hope to achieve on its own and its feet trailed in the air behind it. Nenaki started running again, parallel to the road the Moogle and chocobo were on, he was a little ahead of them but they were gaining fast. The Moogle hadn't noticed him, its eyes were squinted even behind a pair of protective goggles and it was focused fully on its destination, the chocobo was wearing blinders and so hadn't noticed him yet either. Nenaki angled toward the road as the pair passed, moving to within shouting range, the chocobo heard his approach and turned its head to get a look, seeing the Ronso it 'warked' in surprise and skidded off the road turning to face him, beak open and crest raised. The Moogle was nearly dumped off at this but quickly grabbed the reigns and reasserted control over his mount, looking curiously at Nenaki.

"You are Nenaki Kermodei, kupo?" It chirped cheerfully.

Nenaki looked over the Moogle surprised that it had known his name, then he noticed the Messenger Guilds emblem on one of the saddlebags. "This is Nenaki Kermodei you speak to." He said.

"Excellent! I have a letter for you, I do." It said rummaging through its saddlebags until it procured a rolled parchment sealed with white wax, and handed it to Nenaki.

Nenaki took it, inspected the seal, a bear’s paw in the mist, and thanked the Moogle. "I am grateful."

The Moogle smiled brightly, stood on his saddle and bowed low. "It was my pleasure, kupo!" He said, then he chirped to the chocobo who responded with a low warble and they headed off again toward the town. Nenaki watched them leave for a moment and then looked at the scroll in his hand, something was wrong.


It was midmorning when Nenaki made his way over to Spencer’s place, grim faced. Spencer had been his closest friend ever since he left his clans holdings to set off on a life of adventure. He was practical, for a human, and very charismatic, they had faced many obstacles on their journeys that would have caused lesser men to turn in defeat, but Spencer would just rally the group and lead the charge. When friends were lostSpencer did not resign himself to grief and despair, he struck out anew to honour their memory. Now at the ripe age of 49 years, he spent most of his time overseeing his town and telling grand tales of past glory in his favorite pub, his life as an adventurer was behind him. It made what Nenaki had to tell him all that much harder.

Spencer was not at home, so Nenaki tried the next place on his list, The Plump Quail Inn. Sure enough Spencer was there, leaning on the bar and waxing poetic on the glories and travesties of war. When Nenaki entered Spencer turned and looked at him, his face dropped, he shook his head and stomped his foot.

"Bloody heck. Look at your braids man, don't tell me you are going too?" He said, gesturing to the thick silvery braids falling over Nenaki's shoulders. "First my armada and now my best friend."

Nenaki looked slightly puzzled.

"The messenger came from the Merchants Guild with orders for my new fleet to sail back and join up with the United Almekian Navy, the war with the Krueganian Empire is taking its toll even here." Spencer explained.

Nenaki nodded. "Word came from Kermodei Clan High Chief, I too am called home to join in fighting, all Great Clans have bargained with Human Lords, we aid Almekians too. I must leave now, not much time to make the trip before the first war drums sound."

He clasped Spencer’s arm. "I will be back, this is a promise, ok?"

"Ok, but you have to tell this old man all about it when you return." He replied, raising his fist in a traditional Ronso pre-battle salute.

"Indeed. Glory in battle through the destruction of our enemies." He said, turning and leaving the inn to collect his belongings.

Spencer watched him leave sadly, wishing to be able to join the fight, but knowing he would never be able to keep up nor be accepted by the majority of Nenaki's people. He ordered up and downed a shot of whiskey in a silent salute to his friend. Krueganian bastards, he thought.

Chapter 4, A Tsuruchi's Death

Setting: Razor of Dawn Castle, Northern Crab lands
Time: 2 weeks after Chapter 3.


All was quiet as the strange furred creature scurried purposefully down the hallways of the large stone stronghold. Many of the samurai normaly garrisoned here were away on various assignments, rooting out any bloodspeaker presence near small unprotected villages. Or more likely were weeding out fiction from fact as one village leader took it into his head to report the neighbouring village's leader as a member of the despised cult. The creature sniffed the air casually when he neared his destination, his tail twitched in anticipation as he rounded the last corner and confronted the guards outside of Hida Tosa's planning room.

"Yoee'rik'tch, Tosa-sama awaits your presence inside." the guard on the left stated, smoothly pronouncing the difficult name.

"Yes-yes, I know." the Nezumi replied.

The guard opened the thick door and Yeo'rik'tk entered bowing slightly to Hida Tosa who stood within. The Crab captain regarded the Nezumi for a moment before motioning him over to a table filled with maps of various regions.

"We have reports of strange occurances in a small village south-east of here that may indicate bloodspeaker activity in the area. I want you to check it out." Tosa said.

At this Yoee'rik'tch's face looked troubled and he asked, "is it Yashi-pups village?"

"No, no, it is further east than that," Tosa assured, "it is called Pebble-Stream village, I want you to assemble a unit right away and investigate this, take whatever action you feel needed, and report back with your findings."

"Hai, Tosa-san." Yoee'rik'tch said, relieved.


Kitsune Sasuke had just settled into a meditative stance when the serenity of his morning ritual was rudely broken by the sharp snap of the shoji screen being opened with excessive force. Matsu Yuudai rushed into the room, quickly moving over to where his armour lay buffed and clean. During his stay in the temple, healing up from his encounter with a big stick, Yuudai had not much else to do besides take care of his armour. The amourers had done a good job patching it up and had even found some Matsu gold laquer so that it looked as good as new. Yuudai was hurriedly trying to attach all the pieces by himself as Hida Shinzo entered the room followed by two young servant boys, who quickly moved to assist the Lion. Sasuke looked over at Shinzo inquisitivly.

"We've been called to gather in the courtyard as soon as possible, Yoee'rik'tch has chosen us to acompany him on an assignment to root out some bloodspeakers." Shinzo said.

"Hai." Sasuke replied, trying to conceal the excitement in his voice.

He had wanted to talk with the resident Nezumi more since their first encounter the night the deeds of the Legion had been read, but he had never gotten up the courage. This Nezumi was nothing like what he had imagined from reading books on the ancient race. He had asked around hoping to find out if Yoee'rik'tch had any connection to the Rememberers or was familiar at all with Ratling name magic, but none of the few he spoke to knew the Ratling well enough to be able to tell for certain. Perhaps he would learn what he wished simply by observing, in any event it would at least be good to get Yukimura out for a little excersise.

"I hope I don't have to follow the Ratlings orders." Yuudai said bluntly as he donned his helmet and placed his diasho in hs saya.

"I believe Tosa-sama has put the Nezumi in command of this assignment, would you doubt the Captains wisdom Matsu-sama?" Bayushi Kyoji asked as he stepped into the room.

"I have heard that he has a strong dislike for the cultists, so I wouldn't worry that any orders he gives would be too difficult to follow." said Shinzo.

"Enough of this," Yuudai growled, "let's just get going already."

After travelling for a few hours south-east on a little used cart path the group, led by a trotting Yoee'rik'tch, arrived at Pebble-Stream village. It was small, the cart path barely widened out as it became the main road through the center of the village. Near the entrance there was a small magistrates office, too small to support more than a lone travelling magistrate, and one of those hadn't been seen here in a while or else they wouldn't have sent for the Legion. There were a few small shops to either side of the road and even a small smithy for repairing farming tools, one larger building further into town stood out and the group headed in that direction.

As they were dismounting Yoee'rik'tch asked one of the gawking peasants, "Where is elder in charge of village?"

The man looked confused for a moment as if wondering how to address this creature, then he bowed. "He is over in the shop across the street, sama." he said pointing to a small storefront.

Yoee'rik'tch motioned for the others to follow and headed into the small store. While the third samurai was crowding into the shop they heard a commotion from the street, followed by some wild yelling that soon resolved into coherent words.

"Come out here you cowardly rat! I know you're in there. Come and fight me!" The voice yelled.

The samurai all looked at Yoee'rik'tch in puzzlement and moved back outside. There they saw what appeared to be a Mantis samurai, emerald green kimono stained and torn, an empty quiver on his back, and a katana in his hands. His eyes were those of a madman, he was so enraged yet so focused as he glared at the Nezumi that stood across the street.

"Come here and I will kill you, end your pathetic existence with some shred of honour." The Mantis cried.

"What you doing here, we think you dead-dead, but this fate worse than death, you have lost your name." Yoee'rik'tch replied.

"You know nothing of my fate, I was abandoned, it is your fault, and I will kill you!" Yelled the Mantis.

"Who is this madman? Asked Yuudai, "he is obviously tainted, we must put an end to him."

"No, I fight him alone, you no interfere, I will deal with him." Replied Yoee'rik'tch.

"You will die by my blade!" the Mantis yelled as he raised his katana over his head and charged.

Yoee'rik'tch responded instantly, bringing his nagimaki up and moving forward to meet the attack. The blades clanged together and the warriors broke apart circling one another gauging their opponents weaknesses. Another charge, and this time no weapons joined, Yoee'rik'tch deftly dodged the Mantis's enraged swing and traced a bloody line across the madmans leg with his blade. The wound didn't seem to slow the samurai and he charged recklessly again and this time his opponent turned his katana and simultaneously used the longer reach of the nagamaki to skewer the other leg. Blood pouring freely from both wounds the Mantis stepped back to assess his opponent once more. Yoee'rik'tch determinedly returned the look and noticed that the Mantis was muttering something under his breath, it seemed as if he was saying 'kill me, kill me'. With a surge of unnatural enargy the bleeding Mantis sprang, his katana aimed for the kill, Yoee'rik'tch barely had time to parry the attack and the Mantis struck again and again, forcing the smaller Nezumi back. The Legionaires that stood watching tensed up and gripped their weapons tightly preparing for the worst if their leader should fall. But Yoee'rik'tch was not out of tricks, the Mantis's strokes were rythmic and predictable and as he raised his katana once again Yoee'rik'tch lashed out with his thick tail knocking out one of his opponents legs while striking quickly with his weapon at the swordarm. The katana flew out of the Mantis's grasp and clattered to the ground many feet away, he held his bleeding arm close to his chest.

"Restrain him." Yoee'rik'tch ordered, and Kyoji and Yuudai quickly rushed to subdue the disarmed madman.

"Tainted filth!" Yuudai muttered.

"I not so sure he have taint," Yoee'rik'tch said, looking over at Sasuke, "shugenga, you check him for taint."

Sasuke moved closer to where the two samurai had the Mantis pinned to the ground, sat down, closed his eyes and urged the water kami to search the prisioner for signs of the taint. How long he communed he did not know, but when he opened his eyes the samurai were all staring down at his expectantly.

"I do not believe he has the taint, there is something deeper within him that he is fighting against, something, not someone, that wshes to take total control, I do not know much of bloodspeakers magic save for what I have heard tell from other Legionaires, but it almost seems as if he is cursed, how I do not know. Kuni Hirokazu would know better than I." Said Sasuke.

"We should bring him back to the castle with us then, have Kuni-san determine his ailment." Kyoji remarked.

"Hirokazu is not at castle, he had assignment a few yesterdays ago, not expected to return for some time."

Yoee'rik'tch said. "We also must finish our assignment, if he not tainted then he is not what we are searching for. Bind his wounds and secure him in magistrate office, get villagers to help guard him, you guard too Shinzo. We go talk to elder."

Shinzo and Kyoji headed off to the magistrates office with the bound and wounded Mantis, threw him in the inner chamber and instructed two village militia armed with yari to guard the door. Kyoji forced a strange concoction mixed with rice down the Mantis's throat and then left Shinzo to go and talk to the elder. Sasuke, seeing that the ponies were on edge from the violent duel went over to calm their nerves. They had all crowded closer to Yukimura as if the proud horse offered some sort of protection. His mere presence seemed to ease the animals and he rubbed each of them down with a brush from his saddlebags. With the mounts calmed he looked around the area to see if there was anything amiss. The villagers were just getting back into routine and melting away back to whatever they had been doing before the commotion started. Yoee'rik'tch, Yuudai, and Kyoji were all in the largest building apparently talking with the village elder about the strange occurances that had prompted this visit. Then Sasuke looked over to where Shinzo casually leaned against the outside of the magistrates office, his large tetsubo across his shoulders, and headed in that direction.

Just then he heard a loud shout and a guttural roar and then more shouting and banging coming from the magistrates office. Shinzo jumped up and rushed through the door to find the two militia absent from their posts in the outer room, the door to the inner room was open a crack and he could hear laboured breathing coming from within. He burst through the door tetsubo raised, ready to strike and came face to face with the two trembling villagers. One was disarmed and staring at the wall in shock, his yari buried firmly in the prisioners chest, pinning him to the wall.

"He was going to escape and kill us!" The one cried.

"His arms are still tied together, how could he escape?" Asked Shinzo angrily.

"We heard a noise and we saw him coming to get us, he was going to kill us!" The other one stuttered.

"You!" Shinzo yelled, pointing to the vilager without a weapon. "Go get Kitsune Sasuke and bring him here!"

The man fled hurrying down the street toward where Sasuke was, panic in his eyes.

"What has happened?" Sasuke asked when the villager reached him.

The villager explained what he thought had happened and how he had nearly been killed by the green clad samurai, and Sasuke sent him on to fetch the others, Yoee'rik'tch would want to deal with this himself. Sasuke then moved quickly to the magistrates office and stepped inside, it was obvious at first glance that if the Mantis did indeed live he would not do so for much longer. There was so much blood on the walls and floor that Sasuke doubted any healer could save this man. But on closer inspection he found that he would not even be called apon to try, the samurai was very much dead. Soon Yoe'rik'tch arrived leading the others inside the office, and when he saw the Mantis samurai pinned to the wall with his arms still bound he was furious.

"Where is one who did this?!" He barked, yanking the yari free. The body slumped to the ground resting in the pool of blood.

"He was the one I sent to get you." Shinzo stated looking around for the villager.

"He must have slipped off before we got here," Kyoji said, "in any event we no longer have reason to stay in this village, we should follow the lead we have recieved and head to the village from which this Mantis came."

"Yes-yes." Yoee'rik'tch agreed looking at the village elder who was staring in shocked silence at the bloody corpse. "Have eta dispose of body. We go-go now to next village."

The samurai walked back down the street to where the mounts were tied while the villagers summoned the eta to clean up the mess. As they were preparing to ride out Kyoji explained the situation to the two samurai who had been absent from the meeting with the elder.

"Apparently, for the last week or so, strange samurai have been travelling through this village, what marked them as strange in the villagers eyes was how aggressive and on edge they were, they seemed hunted. The elder said that though they hadn't actually harmed anyone the occurance of the same uncharacteristic traits in many seperate instances prompted the message to the Imperial Legions. The elder also noted that most of these samurai had been travelling up the road from a small village east of here. We will go there to check it out." He said.


It was past mid-day when the samurai departed for the village to the east, the village elder had begged them to stay and protect them from more attacks, but the samurai had little time to spare if they wished to reach their destination before nightfall. The path had been more difficult than they had expected, often winding curcuitously around dense patches of forest, or narrowing greatly to pass through a copse of trees, sometimes forcing the riders to travel single file or even dismount and guide their ponies. Yoee'rik'tch was always out in front, scampering ahead scouting out the path and searching for foes. The group was quiet, reflecting on the events of the day and wondering about the strange Mantis that the Nezumi possibly knew.

It grew darker as they continued their journey, the high mountains on the borders of the crab lands and the dense foliage cutting off the light early. They were now forced to ride single file permanently, the woods showing no sign of allowing easy passage, all they could do was stick to the path and follow the shadowy form of the ratling in front of them. Suddenly Yoee'rik'tch signalled for a halt, motioning the others to stay put he crept of the side of the path into the trees. The samurai waited for a moment and then dismounted, something didn't feel right, Sasuke felt a chill going up his spine and he gripped his weapon tighty. Kyoji had started to venture down the path when Yoee'rik'tch returned.

"Four human things down path, feeding, they not notice us, we attack with surprise." He said.

The samurai nodded, unsheathed their weapons, and handed their mounts reins to Sasuke, then headed silently down the path after Yoee'rik'tch. Sasuke tied the ponies to a tree, grabbed his nagamaki and hurried after his companions, wondering what sort of abomination they would face this time. In the near darkness he could barely make out four human sized figures hunched over something in the middle of the path ahead. They had no apparent worries about being heard because they made the most hideous moaning slurping sound as they tore chucks of meat from the lump in the dirt. As they neared Sasuke noticed that these things were human, or had at least been so in life, some of their bones were exposed and each displayed various levels of decay. Sasuke's stomach lurched in his chest and he felt faint, they were hunched over what appeared to be a young child, whether it was a boy or girl could no longer be determined, the other samurai also saw this and charged as one into the unaware zombies. Yoee'rik'tch jumped out from the trees attacking the creatures flank with his blade.

"Destroy their heads!" Shinzo yelled as his tetsubo shattered the nearest zombies skull with a wet cracking thud.

The other samurai were not as well prepared, their fine blades were good a striking specific spots on living opponents, but against the dead flesh of zombies the crushing power of a blunt weapon was peerless. Yuudai realized this and switched over the the flail end of his kusari-gami, crushing another zombie with a mighty swing. The zombies tried to fight back but they were off balance and the samurai armour stood up to their unarmed hands. A deft stroke by Koji severed the head of another and its body crumpled to the ground in a heap, the last zombie was missing an arm and most of a leg when Shinzos massive stroke sent it's skull sailing through the air. The last of the corpses finished twitching, and the group looked around to see if the brief commotion had caught any unwanted attention. All was quiet and the samurai relaxed, looking over themselves to see if anyone had suffered injury from the festering nails of the undead. Everyone was fine, not a scratch to be seen, and as Sasuke rushed to fetch the mounts the others gazed down the path to the next hill over which they could see the glow of a small village, what awaited them there, they soon would find out.

Intermission Part 1

This was written as an email by the GM, who plays the character Isawa Mino, as a means to update the story without spending much game time on it.



The hall is crowded as you leave your quarters and head to the main hall of Razor of Dawn Castle. Servants move silently, but purposefully, down the narrow hallways. There are a couple of Crab samurai ahead of you and the voices of others behind you. The large oak doors are already flung open as you round the last corner and enter the hall.
The hall is just as austere as you remember. The kami watch you from their places along the south wall and the thunders along the north. The pillars align along the central aisle drawing your attention to the raised dias ahead of you.

"Enter honourable members of the 11th legion," Seppun Anishi's voice intones, "and take the places assigned to you as we read the annnals of the 11th legion's valiant deeds. I place this ceremony in the hands of our loremaster." He nods ever so slighly to Seppun Sinko, seated below him on a strange carpet of brilliant woven cloth.

Sinko rises, unecessarily straightening the folds in her flawless kimono, hanging perfectly on her slim features. You steal a glance to those seated beside you, your comrades from the jouney to the village today and a number of other legion samurai, mostly Crab. You then see the legion's three gunso, in places of honour closer to the dias, Hida Tosa, captain of the gate, Isawa Mino, whose hair is moving ever so slightly even though there seems to be no breeze in the room, and a strange creature that must be the ratling you have heard spoken of.

Sinko's quiet voice brings your focus back to the proceedings, "I am honoured today to read the annals of the 11th legion, however, it has come to my attention that there are new deeds to be included, and that Bayushi Kyoji has been chosen to tell the tale for the first time."
She nods to the new Bayushi legionnaire and takes her seat on the strange carpet.................

Chapter 3: A Big Stick

The sun had not yet risen when Sasuke awoke, he stretched and looked around. He noted that Kyoji’s bedroll was neatly put away by the wall and the scorpion was not present in the room. The Lion and Crab most definitely were, the aroma of long travel wafted from the Matsu’s direction, and across the doorway where the Hida slept came the sounds of uncomfortable bowels. From outside came the raucous laughter of a flock of crows and at that both samurai stirred from their sleep. Seeing that the sun was not yet up Hida Shinzo turned over to go back to sleep.

While Sasuke and Yuudai were getting ready for the day there came a slight knock on the shoji screen entrance to the room. A young servant boy stood outside and informed them that the morning meal was being served now and that Hida Tosa awaited them when they were finished. They were to bring any weapons they were confident enough to test themselves with. As Yuudai and Sasuke closed the screen and turned back into the room they saw Shinzo hurriedly dressing and washing himself almost simultaneously. He was in such a hurry that he left without donning his armor.

After his morning meal was completed Sasuke met the group at a large open area outside the castle obviously used as a training ground for Hida warriors. The ground was packed down and hard in an area that resembled a dueling arena, and a little further on was a small archery range most likely used by resident Hiruma scouts to keep their skills honed. There were a few samurai sparring closer to the back of the grounds but Sasuke’s eyes were drawn to a Hida veteran that he had met the previous day. As the group lined up for a visual inspection Sasuke wondered what he had gotten into, it was his duty and that was beyond question, but what purpose would he serve compared to such warriors? Matsu Yuudai, focused and intimidating even without his golden armor; Bayushi Kyoji, possessed of such instinct and so graceful that his blade seemed a mere extension of himself; Hida Shinzo, he was big, forearms the size of Sasuke’s thighs, even without Kyoji’s finesse he would make for a spectacular show. Then Kitsune Sasuke, a slight young man, trained in the healing arts for service to the Empire, but that was who he was. Strength of arm or no he would give his life for the good of the Empire.

Tosa’s rough voice stirred Sasuke from his thoughts, he watched the other samurai step forward to be tested on their grasp of kenjustu. He had been trained in the use of a katana also but it was not expected of a shugenga to participate in tests like this unless they desired. Watching Shinzo take up a boken and square off versus Tosa, he noticed another figure had joined the group, Isawa Mino. She wore a katana proudly displayed on her slender waist; she was shugenga as well, but a fire shugenga, given to battle more than the average pacifistic Phoenix, would she be tested or had she already proven herself worthy of the 11th Legion? Shinzo roared as he charged and was soundly beaten as he swung wildly, but he seemed unfazed by the hits he took. Next was Yuudai, his face was a mask of calm fury as he faced Tosa, the engagement lasted longer than Shinzo’s had and hits were both given and received, in the end Tosa stepped back and motioned Yuudai back into line. He made no expression as he handed his boken to Kyoji who then stepped up to take his stance before Tosa. This duel was close, neither combatant seeming able to land a blow, at times it seemed Kyoji was caught, but his practice sword always managed to deflect the blows. Finally one of Kyoji’s strikes slipped though an opening and Tosa grunted in surprise, he stepped back and bowed to Kyoji who returned a deeper bow and stepped back into line.

Next they moved to the archery range and to everyone’s surprise Shinzo stepped forward alongside Kyoji to be tested, making three fairly centered hits to the target. Tosa nodded in approval and Kyoji stepped up. All his hits were quite close to the center, but not a hint of emotion showed above the scorpions mask, though it was obvious to Sasuke from Yuudai’s expression that he had underestimated his companion. It was then that Hida Tosa stood in front of Sasuke calmly staring down at the young shugenga.

“And what is it that you might bring to the 11th Imperial Legion Kitsune Sasuke?” he asked.

Sasuke replied that he had been trained in the healing ways of the water kami and there were few spells he knew that would turn the tides of battle, but that if his ability to help those unable to continue the battle so that they would soon rejoin the fray would be sufficient he would give his life for the emperor in that way. Tosa didn’t seem impressed by this statement, but let the matter go anyway. He turned to address the group as a whole,

“Welcome honorable samurai, to the 11th Imperial Legion. Tonight we gather in the great hall to participate in the retelling of the exploits of the Legion for the glory of the Holy Emperor, we expect you to attend. But before then you are given this task; a village to the north has reported a recent ogre disturbance, you are to end this disturbance and report back in time for the ceremony. I have briefed Isawa Mino on all the particulars of this assignment, she will lead you. For the Emperor! You are dismissed.”

As the other new legionnaires quickly went to retrieve all that they thought they would need for facing an ogre Sasuke followed Isawa Mino to the stables. Yukimura, his horse, greeted him with a playful whinny and after some expectant nudging Sasuke gave him a small handful of dried apricots and led him out into the courtyard. There Mino was preparing her own horse and some servants were saddling three other ponies. Kyoji appeared first, bowing to Mino who returned the bow, before mounting and adjusting his saya. Mino was eager to be off so as soon as the other two arrived she kicked her horse to a quick trot and headed for the north gate.

The journey was estimated to take about 2 hours and the group remained uncommonly quiet for the most part except for whenever they came to an incline Shinzo would whisper an apology to his pony. Being the one directly in front of the crab rearguard Sasuke took a bit of interest in this strange Hida. At about an hour and a half into their journey Sasuke broke the silence; he asked Shinzo if he knew, being a crab and all, what an ogre looked like. At this question Sasuke noticed Yuudai sit up a bit and slightly turn back as if to better hear, and Mino completely turned in her saddle to regard Shinzo as he answered. Shinzo furrowed his brow for a moment and then looked up toward Sasuke.

“They are large, 7-9 feet tall with pale sometimes green or bluish skin, they have coarse black hair on their heads, backs and arms. Their lower jaw juts out further than their top and when they grin their two long curved teeth stick out over their top lip. They also have two horns of varying length on their foreheads. They are very strong and sometimes have been found to be organized, they are not stupid like the undead, and some have even mastered the arcane arts of blood magic. He said. “They are not a foe to be taken lightly.”

Sasuke simply blinked, and turned around in his saddle.

“My thanks Hida-sama, I will be prepared.”

Shortly after, the group arrived at the outskirts of the small village. The villagers moved back out of the road bowing with each step as the samurai headed toward the center of their little community. Kyoji reigned in his pony and looked around at the villagers before addressing them in a loud voice.

“We are Legionnaires from the Razor of Dawn Castle, we represent His most Holy Majesty the Emperor, we are here to deal with the threat of ogres. Who is the elder of this village?”

A silence fell over the villagers and they started to part allowing for a stooped old man to make his way to where the samurai were waiting. It took quite a while for the elder to make his way to Kyoji, but when he did he bowed low to each of the samurai in turn.

“What can you tell us of the disturbances you have had?” Kyoji asked. “Has anyone seen this menace we will face?”

“Nay my Lord, I have not seen it, only one lives that can testify that. We have lost five children and one woman to this fiend, but young Ichiro has seen and survived.” The elder said.

“Bring him forth.” Kyoji commanded.

The crowd of villagers parted again and a young boy came forward to stand by the elder and bowed low to the samurai, eyes never leaving the ground.

“You will guide us to where you saw this beast so that we may investigate further, you will tell us what you saw and how it was that you survived.” Kyoji said.

“Hai sama.” The boy said, his eyes still on the ground.

“Go.” Kyoji commanded.

The boy looked at the samurai, still mounted and hurried off toward the edge of the village and the forest beyond. Sasuke saw great fear in the child’s eyes, but was it caused by this ogre or by their own presence there, he wondered. Ichiro led them onward into the forest following a small footpath that forced the samurai to ride single file once again. After about fifteen minutes of traveling at a slight trot the boy stopped and gestured over a rise in the terrain. Kyoji nodded and dismounted, tying the reigns of his animal to a large bush nearby as the others did the same. Sasuke didn’t notice any tension in his horse and wondered if there truly was an ogre in the area. He was studying the faces of his fellow samurai when Mino turned from where she was talking with Ichiro.

“We will leave the horses here and continue on foot, it shouldn’t be too much farther.” She said.

They soon arrived at a small rise overlooking a large clearing surrounded by dry brush. In the center of the clearing, sitting on a log between a tree and a large cave in a rock face was an ogre, just as Shinzo had described. It was clad in a dirty rag of a loincloth and armored only on its shoulders with what appeared to be battle-mangled samurai chest plates.

They were crouched down behind the brush perimeter watching as the ogre gnawed on a medium sized bone, even from this distance Sasuke could identify it as human. It must have been all that remained of one of Ichiro’s friends, one that hadn’t run as fast as Ichiro. Sasuke looked over at the boy, who was farther back and trembling uncontrollably, he was a liability; they should probably send him back to the village. As he turned to mention it to someone he noticed his fellow samurai readying their weapons and looking to Mino for instruction. She talked in a whisper, instructing Shinzo to take the left flank and Yuudai the right while she burned the foul creature with her magic. She assigned Kyoji to guard Sasuke because they would most likely need his healing at the end of all this. With surprise and organization the fight could be won fairly quickly. Then Shinzo shifted his weight and a loud crack resounded across the clearing as a stick broke underneath him, the ogre stood up and looked around grabbing a large club that had been resting against a nearby tree. All thoughts of the village boy left Sasuke's mind as he quickly reached into his case for a scroll that might have some effect on this giant creature, he just hoped it was tainted. The ogre continued warily scanning the edge of the clearing, its gaze lingering on the spot of brush that held the large Crab warrior. The samurai were tense, breathing as quietly as possible and staying low to the ground; they had lost the element of surprise.

Shinzo could apparently stand idle no longer, with a cry he burst from the brush swinging his tetsubo in arcs over his head as he moved up the right flank. Kyoji quickly pulled out his bow and started to string it intending to stick to the plan and guard the shugenga. Sasuke spared one last glance at Mino, seeing that her lips were already working out a spell he started one of his own. Not about to let Shinzo have all the glory Yuudai also burst from concealment and charged straight at the bewildered ogre. Its bewilderment lasted only seconds as it hefted its makeshift club, grinned and charged toward the Lion. After only a few steps the air around the ogre suddenly burst into flame as dozens of small balls of fire rained down from above, burning its skin and singeing its hair. Still moving forward it looked around in anger then grunted heavily as a bolt of green flame pounded into its chest and spread across its body. A black streak from Kyoji’s bow found its mark in the ogre’s shoulder, putting it slightly off balance.

Yuudai had just closed with the beast, its six foot long club raised for a massive blow when Shinzo barreled into it from the right, savagely striking its knee with his tetsubo. Just then an orange ball of flame arced over Yuudai's head pummeling the ogre back with great force.
Off balance but not out the ogre still managed to swing at the little yelling target in front of it. The massive club connected solidly with Yuudai’s side producing a sickening crunching sound. The Lion crumpled in a heap a few feet back, unmoving. Another crackling bolt of green fire lit the space between the shugenga and the ogre as it moved its club back for another strike. The ogre was visibly pained as the green fire struck its chest and once again spread over its body. It growled and looked past the fallen samurai toward its assailant. Roaring loudly as an arrow grazed its neck it started forward once again. Its roar was immediately answered by a third bolt of the green fire, this time the ogre tried to dodge, but the bolt swerved and caught it in the chest just the same. It stumbled back, looking around dazed as the flames enveloped its head. It tried to move but its leg buckled and it sprawled forward onto the ground narrowly avoiding a sizzling ball of fire that whistled through the air where its head had been. The ogre straightened, even on its knees it was as tall as a man, but Shinzo boldly strode forward raising his weapon to deliver the finishing blow to the creatures head. The ogre was still wobbling when he brought his tetsubo down with tremendous power, on its shabbily armored shoulder. The strike seemed to bring the ogre back around, for it immediately steadied itself and lashed out at the Crab warrior. Shinzo jumped back out of the way with a laugh as the club whizzed by his chest.

Kyoji loosed another arrow and Mino put away her scrolls and took out her katana just as Sasuke finished conjuring Jade Strike for the fourth time. It was a spell he had not practiced often and he felt his connection with the earth kami falter as the final kanji was off his tongue. The bolt of green fire went wide to left of the ogre and Kyoji's arrow nicked the ogres right arm as it drew back to make another strike at the Crab. The attack was coming from an odd angle and Shinzo barely had time to deflect the massive club down toward the ground, but it wasn’t enough. The bloody log skipped off the earth and into his leg, sweeping his feet from underneath him and loosening his grip on his tetsubo, sending it rolling out of reach.

Dropping his bow and glancing over at Sasuke, Kyoji gave him a stern look as he charged with his katana drawn toward the hobbled ogre. The ogre reacted to his approach with a frantic fury, abandoning the wounded Crab to wildly flail at its new foe. Kyoji deftly parried the savage blow and slowly started to circle the beast in a crouched defensive stance. As the beast turned to follow the quiet Scorpion, Sasuke retrieved his naga-maki and rushed to aid the unconscious and bleeding Yuudai. Mino had circled the ogre as well and now with its back to the healing shugenga she proceeded to attack its flank, tracing a red line in the pale green skin of its belly with her blade. Still focused on Kyoji the ogre gave a great cry of pain and swung feebly at the Scorpion who again deflected the blow. To the side Shinzo was propped up on his elbow, one leg twisted at a weird angle, trying to string his bow so he would have another means of attacking the creature.

Attempting to keep the ogre’s attention fixed on him Kyoji moved within the range of the ogre’s swing, tempting it to strike. The ogre took the bait and raised its club high in the air over its head with both hands, preparing to flatten the annoying samurai. But as its arms raised and its skin became taught over its ribcage Mino thrust her katana deeply between two ribs, plunging straight through into the creatures black heart. It gurgled and dropped its club, holding its hands by its face to somehow try and stop the blood that gushed out of its mouth. The foul blackish liquid spilled past its fingers, forming a widening pool on the ground. It looked over at Mino, who had just finished flicking the blood from her blade, and then fell onto its face unmoving.

“Well thrust and true.” Kyoji said to Mino.

She bowed her head slightly to him and then moved over to where Sasuke was casting another healing spell on Yuudai. Yuudai was awake now and was testing his limbs even while Sasuke tried to keep him still. He had lost a lot of blood, but the healing the water kami performed had restored his strength and vitality. Shinzo hobbled over using his tetsubo as a makeshift crutch, Kyoji offered to take a look at his wound but he gruffly declined and moved away. After casting three healing spells on Yuudai, Sasuke moved over to where Shinzo was resting.

“You will not be able to keep up to us in that condition, let me take a look at your wound.” He said.

Reluctantly Shinzo agreed and Sasuke set the bone and wrapped the leg in bandages and healing salve. They turned just to see Mino sever the ogres head. Kyoji emerged from the ogres cave shortly after carrying a large pike with which he skewered the head. The young village boy had returned from wherever he had run to after seeing the ogre and Kyoji handed him the pike.

They made their way slowly back to the village with young Ichiro and the dead head in the lead. The villagers all gathered around in awe as the samurai emerged from the wood victorious, a token of their courage on a pike for all to see.

Mino addressed the village.

“You no longer have anything to fear from this vile creature. Put this beasts head up by your gateway as a sign to all of the shadowlands spawn that may venture this far into Rokugan that this village is protected by the 11th Imperial Legion, and incursions will not be tolerated.”

With that Mino sent Kyoji back to the site of the battle to retrieve the monsters weapon. They would need a trophy of their own when they told this tale before the gathered legionnaires at the reading of the histories tonight. When Kyoji returned awkwardly bearing the six foot club while astride his pony the rest of the samurai mounted up and started the journey back to Razor of Dawn Castle.