Mod 8: The Hour of the Wolf [Chrysanthemum Petals in Rain]

[NoisyCricket]

Mirumoto Maro sits in the lotus position in a small room in a shrine, high in the Dragon Mountains. A small incense stick is burning in front of him.


That was very uncomfortable...I realize that, in the end, we were in the right, but the whole situation seemed surreal. Both a high-ranking Otomo and a contingent of Dragon were after that cursed sword, and they were maho-tsukai.


He pauses a moment, lost in thought.


While the Dragon have always followed our own paths, bushido tells us that those above us in the Celestial order should be more honorable, and their words should be taken as law...doubly so for the Imperial families...


Maro listens as the sounds of several birds begin to call out as the day begins to fade.


I am a bit shaken, Ojiisan, what should I do? My faith in Bushido has always guided me before, but this time it almost cost my companions and I our lives. Had I not defended the Otomo...


For once, the spirit remained silent.


Maro stared at the tenants of Bushido written on the walls of the shrine...brushstrokes in his own ancestor's hand, and thought on them until morning.

 

[Zoronos]

Shiba Sugo's journal:


Against all odds, the bumblers succeeded.


They killed the Maho-tsukai I knew about; the thief that stole the scrolls from Gisei Toshi. They also managed to kill a set of Dragon Maho-tsukai that I did not even suspect.


From their reports, I can only surmise the Dragon were attempting to relieve the Otomo of his ill-gotten prize. How very strange. The scroll has been recovered, and will be return to Gisei Toshi. Fortunately enough, they also managed to recover the cursed sword that had also been stolen from Gisei Toshi. I have ordered that returned as well. An unexpected prize, but not an unwelcome one.


Regardless, both sets are dead, and the portal to the shadowlands closed. I have been in communication with the Kuni Witchhunters, and they assure me that a squad will be sent to ensure that any residual taint is purged from the area.


On another note, that ill-mannered Mantis has decided to flee. I have had the phoenix authorities declare her a wanted criminal. If they pick her up and return her, excellent. If not, well, unfortunate, but such things happen.

 

[kmmarsh]

Dear Yuki-chan,


I pray to the Fortunes that this letter finds you well, and that you will consider my words in spite of our previous disagreements.


I fear that I have failed to follow Bushido once again, dear sister. My courage has abandoned me. I have fled from Phoenix lands to avoid a duel with a rather...distasteful...samurai, whom I met as a ronin, but turned out to be an Asako Inquisitor.


I tell you this, dear sister, not to make you ashamed of me once again, but to warn you. I fear that I am now hunted in Phoenix lands, and I have vowed never to return there again. As you bear a remarkable resemblance to me, I felt that I should alert you to the situation, should you ever find yourself in Phoenix lands. I would suggest against it, however, even if it were not for my current trouble; I have found it to be a distasteful and poorly governed place.


I do hope you are well, dear sister. I would like nothing more than to see you again. I am on my way back to Mantis lands; I do not know how I will be received after my failure.


Love, Shiori

 

[rcuhljr]

Well I was mistaken when I thought a goblin assault was going to be the most eventful part of my trip back to phoenix lands for this wedding. The rather rude ronin we'd run into in the past turns out to have been an Asako Inquisitor, and on top of that he claimed the Otomo we'd been working for for months was a Maho Tsukai. For some reason he felt he was justified in upbraiding us for following the tenets of Bushido, perhaps he needs to re-read them sometime. The only failing I saw was his of duty, he'd been around this man many times and failed to detect him before he struck so deeply into the phoenix, perhaps his superiors merely denied him Seppuku.


We set off to right these wrongs as is our duty without delay. However on the trip our dubious courtier fled into the woods apparently, perhaps the Mantis are more deserving of their reputation than I'd credited. We battled our way past Maho Tsukai and their shambling abominations on the way to the portal that was the source of this goblin invasion. At this point the Otomo pretender we'd been warned about stepped out and claimed to have just been wandering through the woods. While his words held the weight of sincerity, the forewarning that he was a Maho Tsukai and the sheer improbability of his claim lead me to subdue the man. It seems the dragon was not as convinced when he told the Asako he'd go stop this Maho Tsukai, since he spent his time guarding the abomination until the convenient arrival of Dragon Maho Tsukai prompted the Otomo imposter to reveal his true nature.


A pitched battle ensued leaving our party on the edge of survival, thankfully no goblin war bands wandered by after the defeat of the accursed ones. We recovered the Scroll we were sent for and limped back to the castle to report on our success.