Oruku-sama, I apologise that my knowledge of this matter beyond the events I just witnessed is lacking, I have no idea why anyone would set an oni upon samurai of your clan conducting honorable commerce
she shuts her eyes and bows slightly to emphasise her sorrow at being unable to provide any more insight
The oni appeared to have the upper hand against our blades, I would surmise it left because the kami were brought to bear against it
Xiaoxing listens as this 'Kitsuki method' is discussed and explained. She shrugs
I am no stranger to different customs, I would be glad to follow Katsurou-san's suggestions on looking for this 'evidence' of which you speak
she proceeds outside and busies herself looking in the mud for the telltale shape of the monster's feet. It is clear to see where the clawprints are deep, where it leapt from as it fled, she scours the ground in the street and up nearby alleys as she looks for the route the creature must have taken to arrive at the inn...
unless of course it used the same method to arrive as it did escape... she thinks suddenly, then changes her target, looking for an impact of the oni's feet if it jumped off a roof to land near the inn. She sees Chinatsu reach the same conclusion as she as their gazes meet staring at the dirt.
It is humbling to have the same thought as a wise monk, Chinatsu, I hope our search proves fruitful!
"Dono, I am at your service."
Soshi speculates that the Oni was obviously summoned by a maho-tsukai or a group of them. The Crane were killed because they were the targets. And the Oni left before finishing off Ujisa-san because the spell that summoned the Oni had a time limit.
Himeko continues Chinatsu's line of thought as to why the creature fled. "It is true that Katsuyoshi-san injured it, but it also nearly killed him. I believe that if it had wanted to, it could have killed us all. Only by revealing a chink in its armor did we have a chance to slow it down."
Himeko will help Katsurou in his 'investigation.' While she might take issue with it in court, finding exactly where the demon went could save more lives.
Kitsuki hurries to the front door with Yukari, beckoning for the rest to follow.
One might think to stay within sight of the inn itself, to be able to verify the kill and ensure the target does not escape out the door while the Oni rampages within. However, Oni are intelligent enough to seek particular targets, as we just learned, and that makes it no different from sending a ninja, with the obvious exception of using maho. That being said, our killer may be the sort to not think things through, he did summon an Oni somehow, so we may be able to capitalize on that.He instructs Himeko to look for anywhere someone might hide with sight of the front of the inn.
Katsurou approves of Chinatsu's suggestion. The claw marks are a good suggestion. If you find them, make sure to note which direction they may have come from. Something that big is bound to damage the roof of any building it is on, so please make note of any buildings with damaged roofing.
Katsurou himself moves to investigate the rubble of the entrance to the Inn, and again interview any potential witnesses still standing about to see if they saw the direction it came from or if they noticed anyone who suddenly disappeared from the scene or heard anything before the attack.
=23.
After helping her husband poke through rubble (a fruitless task if there ever was one in her mind) Yukari goes to the embassy.
Xiaoxing can't help but scoff as Katsuroue mentions ninja
Honorable Kitsuki-san, I trust my own eyes and shadowlands creatures are well known, but let us not stoop to comparing this grievous attack to a peasant superstition, everyone knows there is no such thing as ninja
She shakes her head at the strange Kitsuki.
14+9+8=31
Searching around for tracks turns up muddy, webbed footprints in the immediate vicinity of the Inn of Orange Blossom's doorway. However some loose shale roofing tiles are also found in the street, and a corresponding look at the Inn's roof reveals a few tiles have recently been knocked loose. Similar damage to the gable of the larger inn across Brass avenue can be seen in the moments it is brightly illuminated by fireworks. The street is a solid 40' wide, suggesting the Oni has a tremendous leaping capability to make it from that roof to this one. The fact that the footprint is both muddy and webbed raises the disturbing possibility that the Oni may be able to travel through the waterways; over half the city is within 3 or 4 blocks of a waterfront.
Questioning partying peasants in the street proves to be not at all useful. Some have heard about the disturbance through the Thunder Guard when they were dragooning eta... these people think the incident involved brawling samurai. Those that heard from the screaming eye witnesses that came running out think the tales are mere stories being spread as some fantastic new twist on the Festivities. "Ooh, there's a big scary Oni running about! Don't stay up past your bedtime children, or the Oni will get you!" Those who are willing to give you "serious" statements seem to be attention seekers. You hear stories ranging from Ninja Assassins sending the Oni to the Oni walking up from the Shadowlands and entering the city through the Gate of Oni's Teeth (Location 14). "Where else would an Oni come in through?"
With Xiaoxing "poohpoohing" the existence of Ninja, Doji Oruku addresses that matter after a peasant blames the incident on them.
"Of course you're right Xiaoxing-san. But don't underestimate the power of myth. There are criminal gangs in this City that know the strength of peasant superstition and claim to be ninjas. Our late Emerald Magistrate proved them for the fraudsters they are shortly before his unfortunate death."
Coming back to the topic of the Oni:
"I am impressed with your thought processes. I concur with your reasoning that the Oni is not likely to have come up from the Shadowlands. And certainly not walking through the Gate of Oni's Teeth. An uncontrolled shadowlands beast of its apparent power would probably still be slaying and rampaging on this very spot if its only goal were mayhem.
No, I think that it had discrete targets chosen for a reason other than their Clan affiliation makes it much more likely that a maho tsukai has targeted the victims. I fear we may need to determine that reason before we can locate the villain, given the Oni's ability to move through the city with impunity as Kitsuki-san has discovered."
Oruku-sama is gathering you back up to head back inside to have some more of Hametsu's tea while you plan your next move, when Fourth comes running back up to the Inn .
The boy is out of breath, and falls prostrate before you, waiting to be recognized. When Oruku commands the boy to stand and explain his disturbance, Fourth explains between panting breaths:
"The crematorium... There are bandits! They're attacking the crematorium and stealing bodies. Please, samurai-sama.. they're attacking my family.. and the bodies of your friends. Please, help us!"
Doji Oruku tells you, "Ah, our next round of tea will have to wait.. follow me!"
Katsurou shakes his head quickly as if to shake something out of his ears and bows deeply.
My apologies. I forgot that that particular metaphor is not common outside of Kitsuki lands. It's frequently used as a stand-in for any human sent on a disreputable task. I apologize for any accidental spreading of misinformation.. He bows again.
At the eta boy's pronouncement Katsurou is quick to realize his predicament.
The boy can show me the way, and I assume there will be more combat ahead. I'll follow as quickly as I am able. I doubt you will miss my presence until the fighting is done at any rate.
After a moment's hesitation, Xiaoxing reaches out to touch Katsurou on the arm, an entirely subconscious Unicorn gesture, evidently she has forgotten her manners in the rush to address this newest concern
Katsurou-san, if I may beg an indulgence from you, my skills on horseback need some work and I would be honored if you might ride with me to help guide my hands
Etiquette given lip service, or at least given a rough hug from the Battle Maiden, Xiaoxing sprints off down the street to the stables where her steed is kept. Minutes later the thunder of hooves echoes around the streets, the volume matched only by the shouts of the rider for the pedestrians to get out of the way.
The largest horse you have ever seen bears down upon you at tremendous speed, the form of Xiaoxing seems tiny in comparison to the beast as it slides to a halt a hair's breath from the Kitsuki.
Xiaoxing reaches down an arm
Take my hand Dragon-san, we have a crime scene to get to!
With Katsurou safely mounted behind her on the saddle, Xiaoxing shouts
and the Utaku warhorse takes off again at a breakneck pace, swiftly catching up and overtaking those samurai running on foot, before pulling up at the crematorium. Xiaoxing slides off the horse and leaves it untethered, no-one of sound mind would be foolish enough to approach it after all.
She straps on a quiver of arrows and strings her Yumi whilst she waits for the others to catch up.
Retrieving his gear, Kongming follows.
Kongming wheezes as he pauses to catch his breath.
"I'll catch up!!!"
9+7=Pass
9+9=Pass
9+1=Fail
17+9+3=29
9+8+4=21
5+4=9
9+6=15
15+8+4+3=30
8+6+5=19
9+5+4+3=21
Picking 6+2=8 to make it logistically easy.. they're last.
It is now a quarter past the Hour of the Rooster (6:30 PM) as you race to the section of the city reserved for the eta population. Your path isn’t the most direct as streets rarely run straight for very long, and some of you have become quite winded from the run. Honor dictates that you press ahead despite the burning in your lungs and the cramps in your sides!
Doji Oruku leads the way, bellowing loudly and waving his drawn katana to clear a path through what revelry exists in the increasingly poor neighborhoods of the City. He’s clearly quite fit to yell at such volume and frequency despite the brisk run. Even Oruku, however, is barely keeping up with little Fourth. The boy does indeed appear to move like the wind…
Before long you pass through the Wretched Gate. You’re possibly the first Samurai to do so in days or weeks.. the gate serves to connect the eta district to the rest of the City. Regardless of the rarity of your act, the eta are well-practiced in responding to your sudden presence. Eta of every profession part to the edges of the roads and get to their knees and press their foreheads to the dirt before you pass them.
Once through the gate, the squalor of the poorest neighborhoods of the Fisherman Quarter you just ran through look luxurious in comparison to the hovels and shanties of the Leatherworkers’ Quarter outside the city walls. On this side of the City walls, there is little wealth outside the Opium Dens clustered near the Wretched Gate. Beyond these blocks you enter the neighborhood called “The Little Shadowlands”; the domain of torturers, gravediggers, and morticians. The crematorium is the anchor of activity in the Little Shadowlands, visible from anywhere in the neighborhood.
Once you catch your first glance of the crematorium, you know things are Bad. There is a telltale orange glow of fire, lighting from below a column of black smoke rising into the night air. Once you arrive at the crematorium, you see what may be as many as two dozen ruffians brandishing weapons and chasing screaming eta throughout the square outside the burning crematorium.
As you arrive on the scene one of the ruffians (brandishing a katana) shouts a warning to his partners in crime. ”Fools! Finish up The Job. Magistrates are already here!” He defiantly holds his katana at the ready, covering the bandits’ escape back into the damaged, burning crematorium.
You have to cover about 40 feet of open ground across the plaza to get to the crematorium entrance the bandits are fleeing into. The bandit with the katana is currently guarding the doorway while his comrades flee through it; you'll have to deal with him before you can enter the building. He's pretty dirty and scruffy, but he holds his weapon with the stance of a trained bushi, and he's wearing patchwork ashigaru armor over his dirty clothing.
You are resisting arrest!
So saying, Xiaoxing uses one practiced and smooth motion to pull an arrow from her quiver, notch it, pull back and loose from her Yumi. The Yu arcs through the air, the heat from the fire causing a hot breeze to buffet its path,
and yet the arrow flies true, slamming in to him to bury itself deep in the bandit's shoulder.
She resolutely stares at the bandit as she walks closer to the crematorium
Katsuyoshi pulls his blade and assumes a defensive stance, breathing calmly and regaining his composure.
Full defense
Earth roll
Splode Doesn't beat 20 :(
16+5=Success! Your dazed effect is gone at the end of this skirmish round.
Everyone else: still got about 12 hours to get a post in before round closes out.
Thank you, kindly. We must not waste time, I suppose.
Between slowly getting off of Xiaoxing's horse and drawing his weapon, Katsurou is not able to do much at first.
Chinatsu, breathing heavily from the run but not out of action, runs across the field. The arrow hits the bandit a few moments before he gets close to the man.
Chinatsu takes up a defensive stance and says to the man, "I would suggest you lay down your arms and submit yourself to the justice of the magistrates here. You have little chance of defeating us all."
Chinatsu runs after the men into the flaming building. Whatever is going on, we must figure it out as soon as possible, regardless of the costs.
(Still Dazed, next turn the TN to shake it off will be 15)
Doji Oruku draws his katana once again and advances boldly across the open square, stepping over bodies and corpses of eta, not pausing to determine which are which. From the middle of the open square, Oruku's steely gaze is fixed on the staggered ronin covering the retreat of the pack of bandits into the crematorium. He encourages you to follow his lead, ”Follow me, friends! They cowardly flee before our righteous might!”
As the bandit leader evaluates your competence, weighing his odds of defeating the entire party, Xiaoxing's arrow suddenly sprouts from his shoulder. With a grimace breaks the shaft off before following the unarmored bandits inside the building, glaring one last time at Chinatsu and not bothering to kick the door shut behind him before he disappears from view.
The crematorium is a derelict windmill repurposed as the chimney for a kiln constructed inside its base. The open top of the stone tower is high enough that smoke and soot emanating forth doesn’t cloud the surrounding neighborhood. Whatever materials could be found were used to create annexes adjoining the original windmill to serve as morgues and morticians’ workshops. These spaces are as ramshackle and haphazard in appearance as the rest of the Little Shadowlands neighborhood, and these are the sites of intermittent fires only beginning to consume the complex.
As of the beginning of the next skirmish round, all the bandits (and their wounded leader) have abandoned the square and all are now inside the crematorium.
Skirmish round 2 is on the clock.
Himeko pauses a moment to take stock of her surroundings. She turns to an eta bystander. "You! Tell me everything you've seen here."
Himeko will whisper a quick prayer to her ancestors and plunge into the burning building after Chinatsu.
Her quarry disappearing from view, Xiaoxing covers the remaining ground between her and the crematorium at a ground eating jog. Ducking through the doorway she recoils to the side as the bandit is revealed to be lurking just inside the portal.
Chinatsu follows after the bandit, not wanting to give the villain time to escape.
The blaze of the fire is more evident inside of the building but Chinatsu pushes through.
9+9+8 = 27
9+9 = 18
Spying the Ronin? turning around to strike, Chinatsu attacks with a swift punch, catching the man unawares right in the jaw.
Katsuyoshi runs in to the building, replacing his blade with a scroll as he runs. Hoping that these bandits leave him alone to deal with the kami of the blaze.
Still winded.. TN 10 catch your breath at end of skirmish round 3 is 10.
The interior of the Crematorium is dominated by the morgue. Off to the left and right are morticians’ workshops, and beyond the morgue is the stone tower housing the kiln for rendering bodies to ashes for final internment in family ossuaries in the Temple District. However, only members of the samurai caste and the wealthiest of merchants maintain shrines to their ancestors for housing these ashes.. most heimin and hinin are simply embalmed and buried in the adjoining cemetery on the far side of the earthworks ringing the Leatherworkers’ District.
The morgue fills the entire main hall of the crematorium. Five aisles run the length of the hall, separated by temporary crypts that look like nightmarish hospital cots, stacked floor to ceiling. Corpses that have been processed in one of the morticians’ workshops are sewn inside burial shrouds, and many of these bodies have been pulled from their crypts and had their shrouds ripped open.. the tangle of corpses on the ground leave some aisles unpassable without touching the dead.
In the central aisle, two corpses with opened burial shrouds stand out amid the drab brown squalor: the corpses of Doji Juzo and Daidoji Anitano still wear their bright blue kimonos, now stained with body fluids. Three of the peasant bandits were rifling through the Cranes’ clothing as if looking for something when you stormed into the morgue.
In addition to the corpses being prepared for cremation or burial, there are fresher corpses of morticians and morgue workers. It looks like the bandits stormed into the crematorium and the eta put forth a brave but futile effort to repel them. There are some overturned lamps and torches knocked from sconces as a result of that scuffle; these are the sources of the fires beginning to spread throughout the complex.
It’s difficult to say with just a glance and your line of sight blocked in so many directions, but you estimate there are between 15 to 20 bandits ransacking the morgue and offices, including the three thoroughly rifling the Crane corpses. Judging by the cries from one group bandits to another, they appear to be searching for something and have not yet found it.
The bandit leader rallies his minions to repel you; they all abandon their tasks except the trio focused on searching the Cranes.
Before the ronin bandit leader can focus on assaulting the heroes breaching his door, Chinatsu clobbers him.. breaking his jaw. The ronin’s knees turn to water and he immediately drops to the ground, clattering his katana on the tile floor from his unconscious grasp. His katana is joined by a silk purse sliding out from inside his kimono as he settles out prone. The contents make the very distinctive jingling sound that only a lot of coins can make as the purse falls to the tile.
Doji Oruku is through the portal directly after Shinjo Xiaoxing, and he roars with fury at the sight of the desecration of his kinsmen. He approaches those bandits as one grabs Doji Juzo’s severed head by the topknot, throwing it at Oruku.
Doji Oruku dodges to the side, not coming into contact with the vile missile.
What must have been the ronin’s lieutenant barks out instructions to the band: ”Remember the plan! Do it or they’ll kill us all!” He and his group of thugs push on one of the stacks of cots for the dead.. spilling corpses in the direction of the doorway.
18+6=26
Shinjo Xiaoxing, you narrowly avoid the hideous tangle of limbs and torsos that nearly spilled on you.
Doji Oruku was already far enough into the central aisle that the impromptu corpse barrier came down between him and you.
Meanwhile, other packs of thugs begin grabbing the vilest gobs of dead, rotten flesh they can.. arming themselves with profane missiles.
Others will not go near you or want to talk to you after you’ve touched dead flesh. Even the kami abhor the affront against the natural order you’ve committed; NPC shugenja will refuse to cast spells on you. In egregious cases, you might even be treated like temporary members of the eta caste.
In the event you DO touch dead flesh (willingly or not), the only way to get spiritually clean one again is to perform a holy ritual- every shugenja knows how to do this. It requires about 15 minutes of time and involves walking under a sanctified Torii arch. There are none here in the Leatherworkers’ Quarter.
Needless to say, touching (or being touched) by dead flesh involves honor loss.
13+9+6+5=33
You learn that the eta know the ronin by reputation; he's a part of the feared and dreaded Army of the Forest. These bandits are the reason there's an earthworks protecting the eta district.. since they're outside the city walls. Sadly the eta don't have the time or resources to build proper walls or defend them.. and the Thunder Guard almost never come out here.
The motives of the bandits are beyond the understanding of the eta. It's a rarity for the bandits to actually mount such a brazen assault over the dirt wall, such as it is. Such mayhem is exactly the sort of thing that would draw samurai from behind the city walls out to respond. And here you are! Hooray!
The only significant clue you hear is from Fourth. He says he heard the bandits shouting about finding a sword, before he ran off to come alert you to the trouble. Every other eta that was present to witness the onset of the assault now lies dead.
Katsurou scratches his chin.
Himeko-San has yet to learn that more flies may be caught with honey than with vinegar. Such a demanding approach. They are team I suppose.
Do you know what they usually do to harass you? Do they steal food, money, kill animals?
He turns as an aside to the other two Samurai.
If we can figure out what usually motivates them we might be able to figure out what sort of person is asking them to steal corpses, based on who is able to provide it. It's quite unlikely our Oni summoner is a mere bandit, they wouldn't target a specific individual.
Unclean honorless dogs!
shouts Xiaoxing, apalled by the bandits considered use and disrespect for the dead bodies in this place.
She stays where she is, content to fight at a distance rather than wade through the corpses. She draws another arrow and lets fly at the lieutenant, hoping that continued assault on those deemed 'in charge' might have an effect on the bandit's morale.
Feedback for declared actions for skirmish round 3:
Kitsuki Katsurou: A nearby eta clutches her young son by his shoulders in a motherly, protective manner as they watch you and your comrades deal with the chaos. She tells you:
"We don't really have much food to steal. Certainly no money or livestock. They're mainly a threat because they entice our young boys with lies about a life of adventure and easy wealth. Too many boys are desperate enough to believe the lies, and by becoming recruited they shame themselves and their families."
Shinjo Xiaoxing: The bandit you shot goes down like a pole-axed steer.. he doesn't even clutch the arrowshaft after hitting the floor. If there are any other sub-commanders among the bandits, they've wised up and are not barking orders to the rest.
Katsuyoshi pours his heart out in to the prayer of abating flames. Calling on the kami of flame to temporarily leave the vicinity.
splodes 27
Chinatsu smiles a little bit, feeling the crunch of the man's jaw as he swiftly removes his jaw. He shakes his head a bit though, dispelling the small pleasure he got. Seeing the other groups start to arm themselves with their vile weapons, Chinatsu inacts a plan.
He grabs the small pouch at his feet, it's jingle audible even over the sound of combat.
He easily moves around the bodies and says to the bandits, "It is apparent your boss is down and soon to be tried. He will probably live to confess his crimes. I don't think there is much profit for you here anymore. Sure, maybe you kill one or two of us or dishonor the samurai back there but after what you've done, you've certainly brought down the wrath of the Cranes upon you." He throws the bag of coins, letting the scatter in and around the bandits. "Get out of here while you still can. With a few coins in your pockets and a head start, maybe you can avoid their wrath for long enough to fade back into obscurity."
heh, TN 5 to end it at end of skirmish round 4
Mirumoto Katsuyoshi: The Fire Kami were just starting to get worked up into a good frenzy as the fires were beginning to spread, but they (very) reluctantly heed your request to settle down. They know there will ultimately be another time to indulge in destruction.. there's always another time. Not only are the fires extinguished: even the kiln suddenly goes unlit.
Chinatsu: You certainly got the peasant bandits' attention. With hindsight, you suspect the ronin was probably keeping exactly how much coin someone provided a secret from them: there had to be at least twenty golden koku coins in the purse.. it's more money than many samurai see in a year.. much less a ronin. Much, much less peasants...
1 Koku = 5 Bu = 50 Zeni
Doji Oruku assumes an aggressive advancing cyclone technique which is an unwise stance against trained bushi, but its whirling strikes are ideal for fighting numerous, poorly-trained foes.
His graceful, flowing motions incorporate artful slashing that is one with his swirling footwork. All three thugs are cut down before they can throw any more bits of his kinsmen at him, or gather up any rolling golden koku for that matter. Doji Oruku looks over at Chinatsu with disbelief. "Nooo... don't let them escape! They're going to pay for what they've done..."
11
26
12
13
10
26
8
10
18
15
16
The remaining thugs unleash a shameful barrage of rotten flesh at Xiaoxing and Chinatsu. (Doji Oruku is in an aisle and not in easy line-of-sight). Numerous blackish-red bits of human viscera are hurled at the two targets; most globs splatter and stick harmlessly to the wall behind the two. Chinatsu, you bob and weave between the closest missiles but have the bad fortune to dodge directly into a disembodied hand.. its finger pokes you in the eye.
Xiaoxing, you're too busy ducking under your own projectiles to immediately notice. You stand up after the fusilade just in time to see the hand strike Chinatsu in the face. You pause long enough at that sight with revulsion (and perhaps empathy for poor Chinatsu) and that's all one dastardly bandit needed: he hurled a length of intestine like a bit of rope, striking you in the side of the head and draping itself around the back, stuck to your formerly clean hair. It feels somehow far heavier than it truly is as it sinks in that you have someone's guts sticking to you.
After the vile barrage, the thugs that pushed the corpses almost on top of you dishonorably pick their way through the tangle to engage Xiaoxing in melee combat before she composes herself. They prove to be no better trained than the bandits dispatched by Oruku.. their knives never truly endagered the beleagured samurai-ko.
With the distraction of the golden koku coins rolling around the morgue, the two packs of thugs not engaged in melee scramble to collect coins rather than rearm themselves with more bits of flesh.
Xiaoxing's entire world momentarily shrinks to a bubble containing only her and the disgusting, fetid abhorrence of dead flesh, she freezes and her breath stops in her throat. Her mind, calm and clear as a mirror, watches as the thugs storm over the pile of corpses to continue their dishonorable attacks.
Faced with suddenly overwhelming odds, the battle maiden experiences an epiphany, a cold and controlled rage manifests that will only be sated with the deaths of these nothing men.
She drops her bow behind her, shoulders shrugging to dislodge the intestine on to the floor, one foot going back as her hand drops to the hilt of her katana. Just as the peasants reach her, she draws and the blade flashes out with three cuts...
...for a moment all is still as she remains poised with her blade raised in the air following the last horizontal slash. The bandits have stopped, one of them blinks slowly, the knife another one was holding drops to the ground with a dull thud. Then one by one they collapse around the samurai-ko, and in one fluid and practiced move, she flicks the blood from her blade, eyes still blazing.
Chinatsu closes his eye before the finger can do any physical damage...the spiritual damage on the other hand... He stays as collected as he can, not exactly flying into a collected rage like his Unicorn friend.
Chinatsu moves closer to the men gathering coins, hopefully not seeming too threatening and taking up a defensive stance.
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Himeko leaves Katsurou to talk with the eta; she had heard enough. She heads into the morgue and takes a moment to survey the situation. The scene before her was madness.
Corpses everywhere, viscera flying through the air, and broken men crawling on the ground for loose bu.
She couldn't think of a more poetic description for Ryoko Owari. She moves next to Chinatsu, sliding into her mizu-do stance.
Katsuyoshi places back his scroll with practiced ease, he then starts to move out of the building so he can circle around to the other end.
Shinjo Xiaoxing: You've vented some outrage and some of the bandits have been sufficiently repaid for their blasphemies, but you still feel gross. You can't help but think about coming up with reasons to excuse yourself so you can go wash and get a purification ritual.
Chinatsu: The bandits that Xiaoxing cut down were close to the corpse-pile. The remaining two packs are lurking back a bit in the aisles and had been planning to scoop up more vileness before you distracted them with the scattered coins.
Doji Oruku sees Chinatsu go into one of the aisles to confront some coin-chasing bandits; he goes to the back of the morgue and cuts them off by coming back up behind them in that same aisle.. catching them between himself and the Monk.
The bandits trapped between advancing Magistrate and Monk realize their peril and quit chasing coins, getting back to their feet and readying their knives and sharpened farming tools. They're not combat trained by any respectable dojo, but they're certainly seasoned criminals by the way they cover each others' backs.
The other 4 bandits have watched their comrades be cut down and cornered. They unanimously come to the decision that the few coins they each have managed to already grab are worth far more than those still on the ground. Certainly not worth their lives. They bolt towards the back of the morgue, kicking open a back door to attempt to escape their richly deserved justice.
Doji Oruku watches the fleeing bandits and calls to you all with a wicked grin:
"These villains are mine! You catch the cowards: they may know something! I'll meet back with you at the Inn of the Orange Blossom, or I'll tell your ancestors of your bravery!"
Mirumoto Katsuyoshi: You're still at the front of the crematorium without any line-of-sight to the rear of the complex behind the morgue, but you have eta pointing and telling you about the fleeing bandits. You're aware they're on the run.
The 4 fleeing bandits split up and each goes in his own direction. Two are fleeing generally towards the Wretched Gate, and 2 are fleeing in directions deeper into the Eta residential neighborhoods.
This more or less concludes the skirmish. Those inside the morgue can't possibly cross it as fast as the bandits b/c you have to tiptoe around the corpses whether they are freshly killed eta or prepared bodies for burial. Nasty liquids ooze out either way, and make crossing the morgue a process that gives the fleeing bandits a round or two head start; the chase roleplay won't strictly conform to combat rounds.
If you wish to pursue one of the fleeing bandits, give a post describing your pursuit. I'll figure a contested skill check based on how your strategies to close ground mesh with the bandits' to escape.
If you wish to do something other than chase a bandit go ahead and post that instead.
Her mind warring with itself about how unclean she feels, Xiaoxing tries desperately to weigh the right course of action, but Oruku-san's command to chase the bandits overlays her own worries. Duty...
She turns on the spot, sheathing her blade and scooping up her bow as she does, running back outside to her steed. Vaulting in to the saddle she assesses the direction each bandit is going
I'll chase down the quick one headed out the Wretched Gate! she shouts
With the barest of encouragement, the Utaku steed roars in to pursuit, the dirt road chewed up by the massive hooves of the beast as it bears down on the fleeing peasant.
Katsurou "looks around" as he hears the sound of a man fleeing the scene, and then when Xiaoxing runs by on her horse. He immediately conscripts allows the nearest eta to assist him.
We are going to follow the woman on the horse. You will tell me which way they went as far as you can see them, and you will help me find any witnesses of their passing once you can't. This is extremely important. Do you understand me?
No man can outrun a horse ridden by one of the unicorn. She is the most likely to catch her man, and thus any interrogation to be had is most likely with her.
Himeko races after the balding man heading into the residential neighborhoods. He only had a knife, but a knife could still kill, or even worse, leave a nasty scar. She would have preferred a budoka present to try and subdue the man, but the reality was that her lord had demanded that they not let the remaining bandits escape. The courtier follows an alley that she just saw the man duck into.
Katsuyoshi goes in to a run to keep up with the burly man, trusting that his skill would be enough to best this foe. The trick would be in taking the man alive.
You lose a few precious moments heading in the opposite direction to mount your steed. Once you begin galloping through the main street after the fast bandit, you have little trouble picking him out. He hears the horse’s hooves pounding the turf as you gain on him… he looks back over his shoulder in fear as he sees you.
Although he’s already made it to the outskirts of the very low-brow entertainment district on the Eta side of the Wretched Gate, he comes to the realization that he’ll never outrun your steed before making it THROUGH the Wretched Gate.
He realizes he needs to get off the roads and darts inside the nearest storefront, slamming the door shut behind him. As you pull to a halt in front of that door short moments later, you can hear the angry screams of the Oka-san of the house accompanied by the sounds of someone being repeatedly whacked with a cane. Your bandit chose to hide inside a brothel.
”I understand you perfectly, Kitsuki-sama. My mistress Kirako no kimi has profound sense of irony.. as you have no use of your eyes you cannot see that I have no use of my legs and cannot comply with your command. I am called Pitiful. I serve at the Governors’ pleasure in her dungeon. I have been honored to serve many Magistrates in questioning wrongdoers in the past, including some who wore the mon of the Kitsuki as you do. If there are bandits here on the Crematorium grounds you wish to question before they pass on to the spirit world; then I am at your service.”
9+8+8=25
11+8+8=27
The wiley bandit is frantic and moves like a cornered rat. His gaze darts rapidly from option to option every time the alleys diverge before settling on a course. His strategy is apparent before long: he’s heading into darker, deeper alleys. If it were not for the occasional overhead firework bathing the city below in colored light he’d be almost impossible to follow...
That is if it wasn't for his frantic grunting and whispering; it’s almost like he’s talking to someone as he tries to lurk in the shadows.
The burly bandit huffs and puffs as he kicks his bow-legged lope into a full out sprint as you take up the chase.
The rolls of fat at the back of his neck bunch each time he looks over his shoulder to gauge your progress in gaining on him. Although his head start left him with a sizeable advantage, your greater footspeed has kept you in the chase even if you're still at risk of losing him.
Recognizing your advantage in speed, he begins to knock bushels and barrels over as he runs past them in alleyways... forcing you to pick your way through the messes he leaves behind.
Chinatsu tells you he'll meet you at the Inn of the Orange Blossom and takes off after the remaining bandit!
Katsurou starts to speak, stops, fails to restrain a snort of laughter, then decomposes himself.
I would appreciate that. I hope I didn't insult you. Jin
We'd best be quick. Corpses provide little information. he takes a deep breath, slightly ragged from the day's exertions We are going inside.
Xiaoxing slides off her steed and hits the ground running, attempting bravely to ignore the business of the storefront she was running in to.
She dashes through the door and loudly shouts
Ryoko Owari Magistrate's Office! Where is the man that just ran through here!?
Whilst keeping her eyes open for any sudden movement, she is careful not to look at anyone in particular, and extra specially careful not to touch anything or anyone.
There must be dozens of corpses, only about half of which are recently-dead eta and bandits. There are two or three moaning and unconscious bandits intermingled with the dead.
Now that the bandits are dead or fled, some eta are coming back into the crematorium to clean things up and grieve over their loved ones.
Pitiful proves to be a master of his trade. He's able to force the bandit leader (the one with the arrow wound and a broken jaw) into consciousness, but he's still helpless to do anything but mumble responses to your inquiries.
Rather than responding in kind with his weaponized shovel, he's been trying to sush them and squirm his way upstairs... he's only made it 3/4 the way up the bannistered staircase. Like the women of this brothel, he pauses as you enter but recovers far faster than they do.
He slips around behind one of the women, (now he's nearly at the top of the stairs) holding her as a shield between you and him. He tells you with a snarl:
"I've never been caught by a magistrate, Unicorn! What makes you think you'll be the first? Let me go, and noone has to get hurt!"
What makes me think I will be the one? Because deep down you know you are doing the wrong thing, and you *want* to be caught so you stop offending against the celestial hierarchy. Also, and perhaps more importantly, in the time you have been listening to me I have drawn my wakazashi...
The weapon tumbles once in its arc up the stairs, missing the peasant girl by inches as it slides in to the bandit's throat like it was paper.
Himeko follows the bandit down darker alleys, keeping track of him by the grunts. She briefly entertained the notion of cutting him off by going through one of the buildings, but it was too likely that she'd lose track of him. She couldn't return to Oruku-sama empty-handed. Cursing her choice of clothing (kimonos were useless when it comes to running through dark, dirty alleys), Himeko continues to give chase.
The bandit's eyes go wide just before your wakizashi sails through the air towards him. It's the last thing he ever does; after your sword strikes him he crumples to the stairs and tumbles down, giving a sickening crunch as his neck breaks somewhere along the line.
The Okasan and her girls begin screaming all over again at the shocking violence and resulting bloodshed. You ignore them for now as your eye is drawn to a piece of rice paper folded over twice that fell out of the bandit's kimono.
An examination of the writing on the paper tells you that it is some kind of list of sundry objects, ranging from baskets to fishing poles to bolts of silk to festival party favors. There is also a short list of names and addresses. You don't recognize some of the names, but Doji Juzo, Doji Usija, and Daidoji Anitano stand out to you not only through recognition, but also because someone circled those names along with their accompanying address: the Crane embassy.
11+4=15
You carefully and fairly quietly pick your way through the alleyways after the sneaky bandit. Luckily the periodic illumination from above warns you of puddles of filth before you ruin your sandals or hemlines.
Your diligence and patience pays off as you notice the bandit has begun to double over his own path, and heads down an alleyway you previously saw was a dead end. You're able pause to listen to his ramblings knowing he'll be coming right back into your clutches.
"Yes, yes, I think we've gotten away this time. Curses! Why didn't you tell us there was a dead end!"
You step into the end of the alleyway to confront him just as he's coming back to you. He squeals with alarm and without missing a beat dashes right through one of the rice-paper walls you were considering using. From inside the hovel you hear a high pitched scream.
When you get over to that emergency exit, you see the bandit using a terrified eta boy as a human shield. The boy was alone in the one-room residence. His guardian(s) are presumably dealing with the mess at the crematorium. He's holding his aiguchi to the boy's neck, and hisses at you. His eyes dart left and right with paranoia.
"Let us go, magistrate. We have no intention to kill this boy, but if you force us, his blood is on your hands..."
Xiaoxing ignores the commotion around her, calmly walking to the bandit and retrieving her wakazashi. For a moment she contemplates the blade, still dripping with the red of the fallen peasant's blood, realising it was now as unclean as she was. Swaying out of the way of one of the girls rushing past at speed, Xiaoxing turns to the Oma-san
The workers at the crematorium have been attacked, this filth that threatened one of your girls was one of those responsible. I trust you will understand both that justice has been done here and that those who might normally come and collect the body are currently tending to their own dead and wounded. Your patience and compassion are appreciated at this time.
The Unicorn samurai-ko scrutinises the paper, her brow furrowing in attempted comprehension of the unfamiliar document. She stows it in her kimono to present to Oruku-sama, she is sure it might mean something to him, but she is just the hand to his mind this night. Xiaoxing returns to her steed, who initially snorts at her and takes a pace back. She glowers at him before realising he too might be able to smell the...ugh...her impurity.
Xiaoxing recognizes that the document is a receipt issued by a warehouse on Serpentine street in the Merchant Quarter. The buyers all use aliases but someone wrote and circled the three Cranes' names with their accompanying address.
The receipt also lists two other buyers with addresses in the Merchant Quarter.
Normally this sort of record is carefully retained by the seller. You think it's noteworthy that it was in the possession of yahoos like these bandits.
Everyone: There is indeed time to get a purification after your chases are complete and before you return to the Inn, but there's only one sanctified Torii arch in the entire city, at the Temple of Amaterasu (location 13)
Himeko stands at the hole torn in the paper wall, studying the bandit and his eta captive. The way the man spoke implied some sort of mental instability. It meant he was dangerous and unpredictable, but he also could be more easily confused. Himeko made some calculations in her head and decided the life of the boy was worth the gamble.
Raising her hands so they could be clearly seen as weaponless, Himeko spoke, trying to layer her voice with the authority her time in the Doji courtier school had provided her. "Do you know whose bodies you defiled in the morgue earlier? Their names were Doji Usina and Daidoji Anitano. They were Crane, as am I, and our honor is worth more than our lives. They were also friends of the Crane magistrate in this city, Doji Oruku. You might have seen him in the morgue earlier, slaughtering your friends. He is not finished. So kill the boy. Escape from me. He will hunt you to the ends of the Empire and he will make you suffer for it." Himeko lets the threat sink in for a moment before continuing.
"There is another option. Surrender yourself to me and face the justice of my Clan. Tell us all you know and you might find us merciful. You might even be allowed to live. An act of redemption like this could even save you before the judgement of Emma-Oh. Is your escape, is that boy's life worth an eternity in the pits of Jigoku? This is the only path that allows you to leave this life peacefully."
The bandit clutches his eta hostage as you lay out his options. He mumbles to himself:
"Hmm.. we shouldn't trust her. She wants to kill us. But if she's a Crane, maybe we can use that to our advantage.. Everyone knows Cranes can't lie!
You can almost see the thought processes as well as hear them. He clearly suffers from the twin disadvantages of a muddled mind and a complete lack of training in conversation. You're pretty sure that if you were a gambling sort, this would be a dream opponent. He continues,
"If she swears on her ancestors that we can go free, we'll tell her whatever she wants to know!"
He shakes the eta boy lightly, unnecessarily emphasizing a threat of killing the hostage should you refuse the counter-offer.
