Sarenith 9, 4713 (small hours, Enganoka)

Late last night, Dasi used his spell to learn more about our assassin, feeding into it all we have learned over the past few days. What he got back was a portrait of loneliness.

Kaibuninsho—the only name he is known by—comes from an unassuming background and a family of no particular significance. He grew up in Sakakabe where he built a reputation for himself as a talented spy. Eventually, he was recruited as a ninja into the Oni’s Mask clan where he branched out from espionage to assassination. From that point on he withdrew from the world, living as an island in the sea.

He’s a man who has no one and nothing. All there is to his life is what he does: the next contract, the next kill, and the waiting between them. The only thing he cares about is making others miserable. It’s rumored he even moved against members of his own clan when it suited his purpose. At least Kimandatsu had friends.

How do people live like that? Why do they even bother living at all?

(night, Seinaro Heikiko)

Kiomasu’s village was little more than blackened remains. We descended into a patchwork of char and ash that bordered a mass grave. This was Sennaka’s leadership, laid bare.

The story Kiomasu told us was unfortunately not new. Sennaka is demanding more and more from the people he rules: more money, more tribute, absolute veneration, and so on. If you don’t comply, if you even falter, his men-at-arms show up and crush you. And this isn’t just about morality: Sennaka is also a fool. Dead men and burned villages don’t pay taxes. If you want more money from your subjects, you don’t also spend that money cutting off your sources of income.

We held a brief burial service for the victims, and the man from Enganoka whose corpse served his future empress. Kiomasu is still in shock and his grieving has only begun, but only time can heal that.

We’re back at the fortress now. Kiomasu’s been temporarily settled in the growing refugee camp which Jiro and Hatsue set up to house villagers that are likely to be in the path of the looming attack. We have a couple of days before we need to meet the Nine Pawns at the resort, and if we’re here we can at least contribute while we pass the time. Qatana will be placing wards around the courtyard and the guard posts we used to gain entry, and Olmas has some ideas to help prepare the still-untested soldiers for the battle.

Me? I reached out to Kaibuninsho again in part because I was bored, and in part because I don’t want him causing trouble for us in Enganoka. We still need to go back there to meet with the other ninja clans.

The image in my mirror resolved to show him in a nondescript room, packing for a journey. I guess word travels fast.

“I just wanted to let you know that we’ve left town.”

He didn’t say anything in response. This man is in serious need of a friend.

“I figured, we’re all professionals here. I didn’t want you to waste your time.”

He snorted in response.

“I admit, I am kind of sad that you won’t talk to me anymore. I thought we had thing going on here. Plus, you look lonely. Who else do you have to talk to?”

Kaibuninsho pulled out a leather pouch and unrolled it on the bed, revealing a number of vials filled with a variety of colored liquids. So this was all I was going to get from him. Idle threats.

I watched him finish packing and then let the scrying drop. I got what I needed, anyway, which is that we can forget about him for the immediate future. First, he has to figure out where we are, then he has to get here, and he can only travel so quickly. Especially when he isn’t sleeping well, something we’ll be seeing to again tonight.

While I was visiting with our would-be assassin, Dasi was spending some quality time with Sikutsu Sennaka. He used the spell from the samisen to learn what he could about the man. What he got back was that Sennaka was a famed daimyo, accomplished soldier and general, and competent naval commander. He earned that fame through a number of skirmishes and conflicts with not just other daimyos in Minkai but also other nations of Tian Xia, and for personally engaging on the battlefield. After the emperor went into “hiding”, the Jade Regent tasked him with maintaining order in the north and he has done so rather efficiently and ruthlessly. Though he’s only the governor of the Enganoka province, it’s an open secret that he has influence over the Sakakabe province as well as governor there is weak and easily intimidated.

Off the battlefield, Sennaka is viewed by the populace as the epitome of honor, something that we found rather surprising (though in retrospect, it explains some of what happened at the market). Less surprising? His forte is military campaigns, not administration. This is probably why he responds to problems with military force. The man only has one tool and by the gods he is going to use it.

After his magical research, Dasi got a good look at Sennaka by scrying on him. It’s a technique we’ve honed to a fine edge, and I’ve long since lost my aversion to it…in certain circumstances, anyway. Like turnabout being fair play, and people who are morally bankrupt. Dasi didn’t get much more than the man eating dinner, though, which is unsurprising given the time of day. He was surrounded by his elite, samurai guard, and they were telling stories about some battle or another. Dasi tried to produce a sketch so that others could play, too, but…well, Dasi has many talents, but drawing is not one of them.

How Sennaka is able to maintain this reputation for honor is beyond me. In some ways, I think it speaks to a larger issue of class divisions within Minkai. If you are nobility, then different rules apply to you and you have the authority to harass and castigate those beneath your station. Honor is not an ethical standard here, but rather one of cultural norms. An amoral daimyo can abuse their authority without tarnishing their reputation since unwavering loyalty to one’s lord is expected, not earned. There are also plenty of ways to hide your less savory activities so that your facade stays clean and this is exactly when Sennaka is doing. Of course, a true leader is also supposed to protect their subjects, but around here it seems that bit is viewed as optional.

What’s most disturbing is that this is not the work of the Five Storms. It’s just how things are here, and it isn’t sitting well with me. At all. Olmas and Qatana are struggling with it, too. And no one really knows where Ameiko stands. I understand that she has to work within the system for now, but is this how it’s going to be when she’s on the throne? It has me worried because I can’t ignore it any more. I was lucky to not have to grow up in a caste system. Why in the names of the gods would I choose to live in a different one?

Sarenith 10, 4713 (noon, Seinaro Heikiko)

The refugees are growing restless. I can understand that. They are living in a small tent city in the clearing behind the fort, and though that clearing is rather large it is still a lot of people in close quarters instead of their homes, dependant on others for pretty much everything. They are all here basically on faith, and faith will only get you so far. There are rumblings that the rumored attack is just that, and when that sort of talk starts spreading people make up all manner of conspiracy theories.

Of course, we know better because we have seen the message that Jiro’s men intercepted, but that’s not something we can share because I am sure there are spies among the camp. So, instead, we’ve let it slip that a small army is marching north. It’s the worst sort of lie: one of omission where the words are technically true, but the last thing Jiro needs is discord among the people he’s trying to protect. So hopefully this will put a stop to it, or at least slow it down.

I’ve sent Nihali off to scout with Qatana and Radella. Ivan and Hatsue have set out on the wind to find Sennaka’s army, and ensure it’s where we expect it to be. That leaves the rest of us here, literally minding the fort. To pass the time, Dasi used the samisen to check in on Sennaka again and saw him tinkering with his armor. You’d think Sennaka would have people to do that for him. What exciting lives soldiers must live.

Earlier this morning, Olmas asked me if I could help him with a military exercise to help train Jiro’s troops. I’ll just let that sit there for a moment.

“Can you create a realistic illusion of an enemy creature for them to fight? One that reacts to them? Or perhaps summon a creature that you can control, and prevent it from using lethal attacks?”

He wanted something they can fight for real, that would be a surrogate for an actual battle. Summoning would certainly work, but I felt uncomfortable creating a creature for the sole purpose of target practice. Granted, summoned creatures are not “real” in the metaphysical sense: they are temporary constructs which are generic members of a species, not actual beings transported from some other place. But, “real” or not, and temporary or not, they are still infused with life and experience the world through their senses, and they still feel pain. It is one thing to create life and use it to aid you in battle, and another entirely to create it merely to be destroyed. I wasn’t sure how to explain that, or why the difference mattered, so I gave him an excuse instead.

“A summoned creature would actually be dangerous. Someone could be seriously hurt, as the control I have over them is limited. An illusion, however, can be very realistic. It will smell, sound, and feel very real unless they get close enough to touch it.”

“Can you make it react to being ‘injured’?”

“If I am watching the battle, yes. It will be very convincing.”

This seemed to be good enough for his purposes. And it might actually be fun.

(evening)

We went with an ogre mage. We’ve killed so many of them now that I know how they move, fight, heal from injuries and, of course, die. That, and they serve the purpose of a supernatural foe that can still be taken down with sufficient effort. Jiro asked us to ambush one of the patrols, so I had the illusion emerge from the trees as they passed through a small clearing. From up above, I watched them form a firing line and pelt it with arrows, over and over as it advanced, shrugging off its “wounds”. The men and women scrambled to bring down their foe, several calling out in surprise and frustration, “Why aren’t these stopping it?!”, “It should be dropping!” and “It won’t die!”

I tried to keep it as real as possible. They got several good shots in so I had the ogre mage collapse as it reached their positions. Then Jiro, who was observing from somewhere nearby, called out that it was a training exercise and we all returned to the fortress to debrief.

“Real oni will be a lot like this,” Olmas said. “They can shake off attacks, and heal rapidly from injuries. When confronted with them, you want to concentrate your fire and stay focused on one target at a time.”

While good advice, it is in all honesty probably not enough. Without magic weapons, most oni just aren’t going to go down very easily. But, the exercise was as much about mindset as it was tactics: weapons won’t matter if they can’t even keep their wits about them in the fight. On that front, Jiro had obviously trained them well. I was actually quite surprised at how quickly they recovered from the initial shock of the “attack” and how disciplined they were in coordinating their defense. Maybe they’ll actually live through this rebellion.

Radella and Olmas plan on a nighttime exercise, too, by surprising the guards pretty much the same way we ambushed the previous occupants: with a sneak attack on the guard posts up above. That sort of thing takes some serious mettle because while the two of them can hold back enough to make non-lethal strikes, Jiro’s men won’t be in on the secret and they will be swinging flor blood. Radella and Olmas can more than handle themselves, obviously, but…anyone can get lucky and I certainly wouldn’t want to be skewered as part of a training exercise. Hopefully this little stunt will not get out of hand.

Ivan and Hatsue returned and informed us that Sennaka’s army is exactly where we expected them to be. He’s traveling with a small battalion of about 200 soldiers. Either he takes his personal security very seriously, or he’s compensating for feelings of inadequacy. We expect him to arrive at the resort in three days. We’ll be there tomorrow afternoon to ensure we are ready for him.

Sarenith 11, 4713 (late afternoon, Shuryo Onsen)

We have our first meeting with the Nine Pawns tonight. I told Nihali what we needed, and sent her to perch on the roof of the resort. After a couple of hours one of the former samurai, disguised as a tradesman, approached her.

“What are you doing here, little raven? Are you lost? Are you looking for shiny things?”

“I’m not lost,” she answered.

“Is your home in the woods?”

“West of here. We arrived early.”

Nihali said he seemed unfazed talking to a magical creature in the form of a bird. That is good news, as it means we won’t have to waste time convincing them of our capabilities, or to take us seriously. So, points to Itsuru for getting that message across.

“They’d like to go over things,” she added.

“Under cover of night.”

So now we wait.

Kaibuninsho spied on us a couple more times, once last night and today a little over an hour ago. We’re moving around again, so he’s going to have to make a decision: continue to try and play catch-up, or make a guess as to where we’re going to be at some point in the future and then get there first. When I checked in on him myself yesterday, he was poking around the tea house and learned we hadn’t been there in a while.

He looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Qatana’s spell caught him in the small hours that morning (and then again late last night).

(night, Shuryo Onsen)

Shit! We don’t have much time. We’re going as soon as Radella, Ivan and Zosimus others get back which I hope is very, very soon.

I checked in on Kaibuninsho and he’s in a refugee camp of some sort and at first I was like, “there are so many of those, it could be anywhere” but while talking that out it dawned on us that there’s one at the fortress. So now―

They’re back.

(late night, Seinaro Heikiko)

We got him!

We packed up camp and were standing in the shrine room of the fortress in just shy of 10 minutes. I brought most of the group with me, and Ivan brought the rest using a spell that teleported himself and the others to his designated sanctuary…which he had just happened to name here.

The conversation I spied on between Kaibuninsho and the other refugees was not 15 minutes old which meant he was probably still out there. We gathered Jiro and Hatsue and hastily explained the situation, then with a combination of magical disguises and invisibility, we went hunting. I stayed in the air above the crowd, waiting for Dasi and Hatsue to sweep the encampment for hostile intent. It took time, and there looked like there might have been a potential false start, but they managed to find someone who was hiding their true intentions. Someone who felt like our man. I descended just close enough to see without giving myself away―no one ever looks up―and recognized his disguise. It was him.

I hit him with a spell to anchor him to the material plane. There would be no quick escapes this time. Bathed in a glowing green light, he was now an obvious beacon to the others, and Radella was on top of him in seconds with Olmas and Hatsue close behind.

Kainbunshisho looked terrible and it was not just part of his disguise. He had clearly not slept well in several days, almost certainly thanks to the nightly deluge of nightmares we had sent his way. Wanting to make the most of this, I hit him with another spell, this one leaving him physically exhausted. Within seconds he was surrounded, blinded, and unable to escape. Ivan dealt the killing blow.

And just like that, it was over.

Only now we have a new problem, this one potentially much bigger than the assassin, himself. He was carrying what Dasi called a “fuhonsen”―an ancient, Tian coin that no longer has a monetary face value but is prized by collectors and sometimes worn as a charm. This particular one, however, is much, much more than that. I went to examine its magical aura and it was like reading the sun. It’s an artifact. A minor one, granted, but an artifact nonetheless. This went a long way to explaining Kaibuninsho’s bag of tricks. He had very powerful help.

Dasi used a spell to learn more about it. According to legend, it was the first coin used as payment for a ninja’s services in Minkai. Over generations it has become infused with magic, its powers emblematized by the symbols on each side. It would be a boon for us in more ways than one, except there’s a catch. Because there’s always a catch.

Now that I was prepared for it, I was able to work out its talents after studying it a bit more carefully. And I uncovered some very nasty surprises.

“The two blank spaces on this side of the coin are powers that have not yet been…developed. Assuming they are worthy—and I’ll get to that in a minute—the coin creates a new power that is related to a skill embodied by its new owner,” I explained.

Its potential powers are not set. They represent a relationship between the coin and its owners: past, present and future.

“The bad news is, you must excel at all of these skills, and you must excel at a skill of your own, for the coin to find you ‘worthy’ as an owner.”

I could see a couple of my friends were about to ask the obvious question, so I answered it preemptively. “It decides what that means. I can’t put it into words. But I do know this: you are judged at the new moon. If you are not found worthy by then? It vanishes and seeks out a new owner.”

I slumped back in my chair and sighed heavily. I was suddenly very, very tired. “The really bad news is…that it has a corrupting influence on its owner. The process can take months, possibly a couple of years, but it slowly pulls your heart towards darkness.”

And therein lays the problem.

We can’t take possession of it because using it would, eventually, corrupt the owner. We can’t keep it out of circulation because it will seek out an owner if it’s not claimed. We can’t destroy it because, according to legend, only a sovereign dragon can do that and we don’t have any of those on hand. And we shouldn’t sell it because that will put it in the hands of someone who will most likely become a problem for Minkai in the future. Oh, and legend also says that a great calamity will befall the world once its full powers are realized, which is just two owners away.

So, we are completely screwed. There is just no good answer here.

We argued over this for what felt like hours. Do we keep it and take our chances, until we find a way to destroy it? Do we sell it to one of the ninja clans, turning it loose on the world with even more power? Do we just let it vanish, and hope it doesn’t turn up in the next few generations?

I don’t know what we should do.