DoiJournal

Who ya gonna call???

The problem of Lady Kato needed to be solved. Lord Sado called for his budding crack troops-in-training with details of a mission. We needed to visit the abandoned village of somewhere and find a magican known to Sado. But before we left, in reward for our job well done on the spy-monk, Sado allowed us to chose from selection of fine artefacts; some were weapons, other were of a more artisan nature. Doi chose some fine arrows, Matsumoto a mighty banner (which he later added to a spear) and Yamamoto chose a piece of fine art, which whilst didn’t appear to have any use in the coming mission, at least proved to his peers his cultural side when tackling the task ahead. We then joined Sado in an evening of sake drinking; obviously the good stuff as we awoke with no hangover. Our morning’s journey was uneventful, and we reached the Crossroads motel. Madam was keen to let us know she had a new geisha but we needed to concentrate on our mission. So after a quick lunch we set of off up into the foothills.

Foxy Loxy

As the afternoon drew towards evening we reached a village, which had seen better days, but appeared to be suffering from the lack of passing trade. The fields appear poorly tended by the village’s careworn womenfolk, whilst the men folk appeared not to have aged as other peasant villagers would from days spent in the fields. Strange! We were welcome cordially enough and were offered lodgings and food for the night, but we sensed something was being kept from us. During the night we stood a rotating watch but beyond the sounds of animal activity nothing approached or entered our quarters.

Chicken Licken?

We left in the morning and continued up into the mountains. The ground became rocky and broken and on turning a corner we were challenged by what appeared to be a birdman. After some banner waving and chest puffing we went forward, weapons sheathed, to meet our challenger. It turned out to be the BirdMan Prince and his retinue, who were under the impression that this was their realm, and Lord Sado should stick to the lowlands where he belonged. If we wished to pass through, we must give a gift, perform a song or poetry for them or submit to a duel. Opting to rely on our repertoire of drinking songs in the hope that something would be 'gained' in translation we opted to put on a show, which whilst wasn’t to their taste was appreciated for its enthusiasm at least. Buoyed by our success, bravado got the better of Hoho and a quick draw duel was on the cards. The gods must have appreciated our singing as he executed a perfect draw that General Yamata would be proud of – first blood to us. However Yamana’s mouth got carried away and next we knew he was facing the Prince. At least he was lucky enough to get away with a flesh wound. !The Gong Show Leaving the BirdMan Prince and his flock we eventually reached the plateau and came to a disused gong. Inspection revealed some Chinese(?) script attached to the bell. With no other obvious way of attracting the wizard, we gave the gong a ring. Immediately from some nearby scrub, some humanoid monsters emerged and advanced on us. Some of the party, who shall remain nameless, soiled their mawashi, but the rest stood strong and faced the threat, killing them with arrows. There appeared to be a never ending supply of these beasts but those not involved in the fighting and concentrating on their future laundry had time to reflect that this foe may not be all that it seemed and called out asking if the magician was present. With a flash, the beasts disappeared and the magician advanced through the scrub towards us. He congratulated us for holding strong and seeing through his illusion. We told him of our mission and Lord Sato’s request to put the spirit of Lady Kato to rest. He mulled this over and said he’d see what he could do. It became apparent that he and Lord Sato went way back. Before we left he answered our questions

  • The villagers were werefoxes.
  • The Prince was all bluster but deadly in swordplay so we were lucky in the quick draw duel.

Bidding goodbye we set off home. The Birdmen had left and we arrived at the village in time to stay the night again, which passed quietly. At Madam’s Geisha House we treated ourselves to a tea ceremony with the new geisha. She played divinely. But during the performance Lady Kato’s spirit appeared and possessed the girl. Her singing filled our hearts with joy and afterwards a calm and ease was felt across the group. No more aquaphobia. We returned to Sado Castle and were welcomed back. No more snide comments from the old sweats. Maybe we’ve cracked it. Some more rewards for the star performers. But dark clouds on the horizon. The pirate raids have turned out to be Mongol raiding parties so things could be getting serious.