as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Sunday, 8 Sarenith

It’s pretty clear that this issue with the assassin has to come to a head soon.  It’s blocking progress with the ninjas, and we’re spending a lot of time looking over our shoulder.

Dasi tried another divination with the samisun to learn more.  He learned

• his name is Kabuninsho
• he came from an obscure past from Sakakabe
• trained there as a ninja
• gained fame first as a spy
• recruited to Oni’s mask
• meteoric rise
• over just a few years, rose on aloofness and ingenuity
• rumored to go against his own associates whewn he felt it appropriate
• “ninja of chaos”

There was a discussion about what to do with the Ameiko zombie – excuse me, “construct” – as well as the resurrected merchant …

Did I mention the resurrected merchant?  Yeah, well that wasn’t very well discussed.  Kali and Qatana just decided to do it.  I’m not sure I actually object, but I guess I’m surprised to be surprised.  Anyway, the construct will be given a proper burial tomorrow, and the merchant will accompany us to the fort at some point for his own safety.  After all, his actual hometown probably truly has been erased off the map, if we know the oni.

Moonday, 9 Sarenith

In anticipation of a top notch ninja stalking us, Zos made a few more delay poison potions for others, including Ameiko.   We did then go and check out the village, and we did discover it was gone.  Well, not really gone, but annihilated.  From the look on Ameiko’s face, I think it set her thinking.  The resurrected man held up well, considering he was viewing the destruction of his home, his relatives, his friends … really, his history.  We buried the Ameiko clone, and Kali and Qatana did some things to honor the dead  (I barely understand the elven ceremonies from Varisia)  and we left.

We windwalked to the fort.

Qatana set herself to producing glyphs of warding at the guard towers, where they would explode if someone tried to enter the fort as we once did.  She also installed one of sleep near the front gate.  These were all tagged with passwords to try to avoid unnecessary “incidents”.

Neither Hatsue nor Hiro had heard any new news.

Dasi whipped out the magical samisen and tried a divination regarding the daiymo.  He was successful, and learned

• his name is Sakutsu Senaka
• had a decent reputation in naval engagements
• reputation as a good tactitian
• supposedly the epitome of honor
• ordered by the regent to maintain order in the north
• his influence over Sakanabe is an open secret
• known for his engaging personality

Some of these seem contradictory to what we already know of him.  Honor here seems to mean following the rules.  The epitome of honor would seem to me to mean you found a way to do the right thing while still staying within the rules.  Hiro comes to mind.

I wonder if Senaka used to exist but has since been replaced with an oni.  I’m increasingly certain that the Jade Regent must be an oni, or worse.  Why would he – or she – not install confirmed allies in key positions?  The actions of the current Senaka do not seem honorable.

Perhaps I’ll talk to Ameiko about that later.

Kali interrupted my thoughts by announcing that she just scryed on the assassin and he looked to be packing for a journey.  He seemed a bit tired too

Das tried a scry on Senaka, and was successful.  He saw him

• in a pavilion
• eating with others watching him
• seemed to be reminiscing and gesturing as though he were reliving old stories

and Dasi saw him armed wth a longbow, katana, and wakazashi, and tried to memorize the faces he saw surrounding Senaka.

And it was a few minutes after that that Kali silently held up a note: “being scryed”.  We kept our conversation benign.

Toilday, 10 Sarenith

Around 2am, Qatana reported the nightmare she’d cast kicked in.  One more sleepless night for our assassin ,,,

Upon arising, Dasi again tried scrying on the daimyo and saw him in resplendent armor and the armor was being repaired.  It was greenish, with a horned helmet and a jade green mask.

Recon reported there was no sign of an approaching army.  But a recon by some windwalk-enabled people did reveal the daimyo was about where we expected. and we reported back on that.  He was still some distance from the fort, but it was sufficient to make most at the fort realize this was for real.

With Kali providing an illusionary opponent (and with Hiro’s consent) we ran some surprise drills with some of the patrols.  They actually did fairly well, holding their ground even when the foe seemed stronger than they expected.  Ameiko also assisted, giving her some visibility and perhaps credibility in front of some future subjects.

Kali scryed again on the ninja and saw an old woman talking to servants at the teahouse.  Ah, well, not useful, if he’s looking for us. They won’t know where we are.

That evening, Qatana tried to scry and found the assassin walking through a shadowy and indistinct corridor during the entire scry.

When it got to be 11pm, she started her nightmare spell.  Meanwhile, Radella and I staged another mock attack, taking minor damage before we ended it and debriefed the guards with Hiro.  These exercises have really helped, I think.

Wealday, 11 Sarenith

At 7:30am, we were windwalking off to the resort to meet the Nine Pawns.  We were not expected until later in the day, but wanted time to select a camp and settle in before sending Nehali to meet them. It still took us a few hours to get there, so it was 1pm before we sent Nehali to the rendezvous point.

It was 3:30 when Kali again held up the sign “he’s watching” and we again carried on a benign conversation for 15 minutes.

But it was 4 before somebody spoke to Nehali, who had been instructed to tell them we wanted to meet with them.  It was agreed to meet under cover of darkness at our camp.

At around 8, they returned.  Kali led the discussion, and the Pawns agree to keep the army separate from the personal guard.  This they would do by creating barriers along the path between the resort and the army camp.  Presumably by the time they could battle past them, our job would be done.

Will there be magic among his personal guard?  Probably.  Will there be samurai?  Almost certainly.

Several indicated they wanted to scout the lodge.  The Pawns said we could probably simply disguise ourselves as artisans. Around 8pm, Zos, Radella, and Ivan set out to do just that.

An hour or so later, Kali tried to scry our personal assassin again, and found him in a refugee camp, disguised as a refugee.  But the more she watched, the more clear it became: the assassin was at the fort, in the refugee camp there!

We immediately recalled our scouting party by cutting Ameiko.  (She understood.)  They hurriedly returned. Ivan sent two messages to Hatsue – “assassin in refugee camp” and “do nothing; on our way”.

Using his Word of Recall, Ivan returned himself, Ameiko, Radella, Dasi, and Shalelu. Quickly after that, Kali teleported the rest of us there.

We quickly briefed Hatsue and Hiro, and Hatsue expressed doubt. “I’ve detected no evil among the refugees!” she said, but we all presumed some magic was at play.  I’m now wizard but I’ve heard it said you can conveniently transfer your aura to, say, even a doorknob for a short amount of time, so her attention might have simply been misdirected.

Kali, having seen the assassin the most, led the charge to find him without frightening him before she could throw a dimensional anchor on him.  Using airwalk, I took an aerial approach and Radella approached on the ground. After a couple of false leads, Kali found the right person and between the dimensional anchor she placed on him, and the fatigue he was already feeling from the nightmares, he was not nearly so slippery as our last meeting.  It was Ivan who delivered the killing blow, making him look like some sort of large straggly bird with the number of feathers sticking out of him.

There was a quick mumbling of “nothing to see here; move along” to the other refugees, but we picked up the corpse and the belongings from his tent and left the area to inspect them.   Examining him and his belongings, we found

[698] potion (later determined to be barkskin)
[699] potion (cure serious wounds)
[700,701] potion (invisibility} x 2
[702] vial (5 doses) black adder
[703] vial (5 doses) death blade
[704] vial (5 applications) oil of taggit
[705] portable hole
[706] disguise kit

[707] mithril chain mail +2
[708] nunchaku Dragonmaw (+2, special on crit or disarm)
[709] 10 shuriken +2
[710] blowgun (looks like flute)
[711] 20 darts
[712] MW wakashazi
[713] ring of protection +2
[714] coin on a string

It is that last that is causing the most trouble.  Between divinations, and hasty research, and in some cases just plain memory, it appears this is the Shinobi Fuhonsen.  Legend has it that it was the first payment given to the first ninja for their first mission.  But it’s not just historical.  It grants the owner a number of additional skills or spells helpful to ninjas.

However, in the brief time he held it and inspected it, Dasi felt like the coin wanted him to keep it.  And as we did more research on this, we learned

a) the coin must APPROVE of its new owner (it must be worthy)
b) the new owner will be inevitably drawn to darkness
c) if we don’t provide it with a suitable owner by the next new moon, it will seek an owner on its own
d) it can only be destroyed by a sovereign dragon
e) Upon choosing its 8th owner, “something catastrophic” will happen to the world

This will require much more discussion, I fear.  It is very valuable magicwise, it is very valuable money-wise, and it is deadly in the catastrophe sense.  And it will do something on its own if we do nothing.