as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Sunday, 16 Sarenith

The battles aren’t getting any easier, and there’s only so much more I can do with my armor.  So I asked Zos to make me two potions of displacement, which should only cost me 375gp each in ingredients.  Seems like a good investment.

We are heading into the spider’s lair, but Hatsui has volunteered to scout ahead.  Not only is she familiar with the city, she believes she can contact Asachi (the sympathizer) and provide a safe place within the city from which we can base our operations.  Because make no mistake, this will not be a sightseeing visit.  I’ve a hunch that once we enter the city, we will not be leaving until Ameiko is sitting on the throne, or we are dead.

We will be traveling by windwalk and only using teleport in a pinch (Kali can’t teleport anyplace we haven’t been so we can only teleport back, not forward), so this will be a multi-stop trip.  We’ll go as far as we can the first day, and then probably need a few more hours to get to Akafuto.  We know we can move from Akafuto to Kasai in well under a day, so the plan is for Ivan and Hatsui to scout ahead and then we’ll wait until they have a safe place for us all to arrive – and probably a safe method as well.  While there aren’t any Wanted posters out, I have to imagine the equivalent notice has been given throughout Kasai in some manner.  Hatsui, as a Minkai native and frequent visitor to Kasai, has the best chance of showing up by conventional means and not triggering an alarm.

Moonday, 17 Sarenith

Today was almost entirely a travel day, as we went almost as far as we dared on windwalk.  Knowing pretty precisely the spell’s duration, we started looking for a small village at about 8pm or so and reconstituted outside one by 9pm.  We walked into the village like ordinary travellers, but of course, our little troupe hardly looks like ordinary travellers 🙂   Still, our reputation did not precede us, and Dasi set about trying to discern what the attitude here was towards the Jade Regent.  Not surprisingly, they are happy they’re not in Kasai, and they’ve also adapted to a largely subsistence level of living.  They are neither happy not unhappy – the attitude seems to be “it sure could be worse.”  There are vague rumors from the north about a true heir arriving, but such stories have been heard before and they are given very little credence.  Equally, there were also stories from the south, warning of such inane rumors, and the net effect was a collective shrug.

Toilday, 18 Sarenith

Knowing it wasn’t that far to Akafuto, we didn’t leave the village until afternoon. This gave Dasi and Kali tme to give some musical and dance performances reminiscent of the old emperors and better times.  The village seemed to enjoy their performances.  I noticed a child looking at me both a bit fearfully and curiously, and I knelt down next to him. I smiled.

“These are exciting stories, aren’t they?”

The boy nodded.

I glanced at who I assumed were his parents and they nodded as if to say it was ok to continue talking.  “Do you have a weapon of your own?”

He shook his head.  Well, of course not – this was a farming community.  I toyed with the idea of giving him an ordinary dagger as a token, but then thought his parents might not appreciate that.  I wanted for the village to remember this visit, that someday they might tell stories of how the supporters of the rightful heir had come through – wait, that’s it!  “Would you like to see my sword?”

His eyes big, he nodded.

I slowly drew out Suishen, and the boy looked at it.  The boy was taller than the katana was long, but not by a whole lot.  As he involuntarily reached a bit towards the sword, I said to him, “Wait …” and I told Suishen to light the fire.   There was an audible gasp from him and he looked at me.  “This is an ancient sword,” I said.  “It was around when some of the stories you heard today actually happened.”

Glancing around I saw I had more than the boy’s attention now, including several members of my own party who looked very judgemental for some reason.  “It has seen many battles and even now, it would like to see an Amatatsu back on the throne.  It is probably too heavy for you to lift safely today, but perhaps one day you may see this sword again and remember it.  It takes a brave man to fight for a cause on principle,” I said in a moment of gravitas.

And then Suishen kinda sorta ruined it by adding “and it takes a great sword too” and from the look on the boy’s face, I could tell he had heard it too.  He hastily backed away, his eyes huge.  Nobody else seemed to react so I knew Suishen had spoken only to him and to me, insuring that this night would indeed be memorable to the lad, and possibly scarring.  Wait – the look on my companions’ faces suggested they too had heard it.  Sigh.  I gave a Varisian coin to the boy and said, “Here is a coin I obtained in a land many months of travel from here.  Thank you for talking with me.  It has been a pleasure.”  The boy took the coin but his eyes never left the sword – no longer flaming and once again silent.

I resheathed Suishen.  I should have seen that one coming.

Although we waited until afternoon, we were only going to Akafuto  Hatsui and Ivan left early as they were going all the way to Kasui.  Plan was to wait for the word from Ivan that things were ready and then the rest of us would follow.

But that was a fail almost from the beginning.  Hatsui materialized outside the city and walked through the northern gate.  THAT was not a problem.  But Ivan planned to hover over her and see if she had attracted anybody following her or even just watching intently. But suddenly he was surrounded by dancing lights and three archers announced for him to descend immediately.

Knowing that it takes nearly a half minute to full materialize from windwalk, and being able to imagine what might happen to him during that time and immediately after, he instead chose to immediately end the spell.  That made him materialize instantly and fall to the ground – cushioned by his feather fall.  His next action was to use his Word of Recall to return immediately to the fortress, leaving some surprised guards and a bemused Hatsui behind.

And for our part, Zos looked startled and sad, “Ivan’s at the fort.”  About the same time, Kali got a message from Ivan that said, simply, I’m ok but at the fort now, come get me.  Kali was a bit surprised but did that, and upon returning with him, we got the full story.  “Windwalking into the city is not a good idea,” concluded Ivan.

Meanwhile, in Akafuto, Dasi again wandered through the town, chatting and making casual conversation, discerning the mood of the town.  Akafuto was considerably larger than the last village; n fact, I’d venture to say it’s one of the larger cities we’ve encountered (although presumably Kasai is larger still).  The overall attitude was similar to that of the village, but the word on Kasai was more specific: unofficially, visitors are viewed with suspicion.  It’s very close to martial law.  (From the body language, I got the impression that “very close” may have been an attempt to water down the news.)  This is a relatively recent development – within the week – so I suspect our recent activities might have had something to do with the Regent tightening his hold.

We asked about going by boat, but the heightened security would make our arrival no more secret, and it would still take a while to get passage and arrive.

An important detail that Dasi learned was that the Regent would never approve of a new ruler which had not received the blessing of the ancestors.  Now I suspect the Regent really could care less, but the public perception is likely similar.  This suggests that a “legitimate” obstacle to the coup is receiving this approval, and I fully expect that the Regent is going to put obstacles up to impede that goal.  If we fail, he will get more of the populace on his side.

We again arranged for a performance – a little more formally than in the village, but the up side of that is that we actually got a discount on our rooms in trade.

Wealday, 19 Sarenith

The plan has been to head to Kasai, Hatsui permitting.  Ivan contacted her and she said she was with Marika, who knows Asachi, the contact we’ll eventually meet.  We are ready to enter the city.  Once we are settled and safe, we’ll retrieve Ameiko via teleport.

Because of the martial law, we expected there to be be more guards than we’d like.  We planned to disguise ourselves mundanely, and because he’s likely to be recognized, I put away Suishen when we entered the city.

We entered without incident, although the guards appeared to be looking more closely at the women than the men.  Clearly the word is out that the heir is female; they may have even developed images.

Shortly after entering the city, however, we witnessed an incident that reminded me of the market incident.  A citizen was accosted by a guard,, and accused of being a rebel.  After she seemingly “confessed”, they dragged her off.  It seemed contrived, but for now secrecy is more important and nobody took action.  Citizens simply looked away.

Following Hatsui’s directions, we headed into town. We finally met Asachi Isao, who took us quickly from our meeting place to a more secure and private place in a more affluent part of town.  Like most towns, the affluent are afforded less government interference and while we’re not by any means safe, we are safer.

Our benefactor is not just a sympathizer … he’s an old family friend.  Apparently he quietly took possession of most of the estate and is now not only a supporter, but also a source of finances should we need them.  He has, at his disposal, many family heirlooms and belongings that he can sell to raise cash.

Ameiko was retrieved, via Kali, and got to meet a person who knew her great grandfather.  She took that well.

And after being briefed on the situation in the city, she has decided that food for the starving takes precedence over meeting the ghosts of emperors past.  So we are scouting out the city granary, to see if it is feasible to liberate the rice.   We will need help from the populace if we succeed in breaking it open but Asachi believes he has sufficient contacts within the resistance to make that happen.  Now to solve the small problem of breaking in when there are all these guards and the invisible oni flying overhead.  We believe some of the seemingly decorative statues may in fact be enchanted constructs that are guarding the building.  Since they seem to be made of stone (marble I think) we have purchased two adamantium katanas which may better be able to attack them.  This isn’t looking to be easy …