Wealday, Sarenith 5, 4713 evening
Sakakabe

Dasi spent much of the morning wandering the streets of the city (with Zos and Radella remaining at a discrete distance and out of sight, but ready to come if needed), popping in and out of markets, pubs (sorry, I meant teahouses), and shops trying to find information about any known ninja assassins operating in the city.

He heard a variety of anecdotes about a mysterious figure that sounded more the stuff of legend than reality, but he deduced there was probably a kernel of truth to them. As is often the case, preexisting stories had probably been attached to a real present day person who vaguely fit the mold.

But to what use can we put this information?

While this was going on Kali used Scry to snoop on the ninja and found him walking the streets of Sakakabe. He was near, but we already expected that. Presently he ducked into a narrow alley and pulled out a poison dart and blow gun.

Dasi and company soon found his victim: one of the city guards. Locals gathered around his body and saying things like, “He just slapped at a fly that bit him and down he went, like a jumble of bricks.” He was still alive, but what purpose knocking him out served remained a mystery.

Other guards arrived and sniffed around for clues, but when Zos pointed out that the victim had been darted they immediately became suspicious. As usual with town guards around the world their suspicion zoomed in with razor sharp focus on the bearers of the bad news.

This made sense when using what must pass for guard logic: there was a crime here, these people are here, these people know more than me, these people’s presence threaten my self worth, it would be really appealing to lock these people up and then go find the nearest waffle house.

Meanwhile back in the teahouse Kali detected another scrying on Ameiko. She decided to push the assassin into action and let drop where we were staying. We then set up a watch and waited. And waited.

It may be that the ninja saw through our ruse (and our little illusion of Ameiko performing on the street in front of the tea house), or it may be he was busy somewhere else, taking advantage of the town guards’ preoccupation with their downed comrade.

However we are fairly sure he will try something tonight, and so we’ve set up the watches with extra care and have moved into a large tea room (rather than the sleeping chambers, where we can all be together.

O-Kahaku was none to happy after we had told her what we were trying to do, and so we have planned to leave her house (and Sakakabe) in the morning. It was nice to see someone commit to a cause and stick to it right up until it caused them inconvenience.

“Ooh, sarcasm,” quipped Badger.

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 morning
Sakakabe

He came at night, attacking once before quickly scampering away. We’d only known he had been there from the hole he made by plunging his sword through the wall next to Kali.

We reacted quickly. Ivan fired a set of arrows that ripped through the paper walls of not only our room, but all the other rooms between us and the outer wall — fortunately everyone else on our floor was laying down alseep. I flew through the door, smashing the flimsy wood and paper in the process. But he was long gone.

I had my companions wait within while I flitted about the halls and found only the barest of tracks leading down from the ceiling and back up again. They simply appeared and then vanished, and so clearly he had access to some amount of teleportation magic.

At that moment Kali detected more scrying and she performed her own Scry on the ninja and watched as he entered the shadow plane before stepping out into a field, where he changed clothes to look like a farmer.

Despite the nuisance of having our very own professional stalker we needed to travel today. The leaders of the ninja clans held a semi-public meeting each month on the night of the new moon in the city of Enganoka. Our plan was to walk out of Sakakabe and some distance away use one of Kali’s spells to skirt along the fringes of the shadow plane, which would provide fast transport for us all.

Huffy quickly added, “But first, breakfast!”

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 mid day
Enganoka

The only drawback to Kali’s shadow plane transport spell is that the accuracy of where you enter the material plane is not that great. But a walk of a few hundred yards is a small price to pay for the convenience of covering so much ground so quickly.

We popped out in a field about a quarter mile from the gates of Enganoka. This city was larger than Sakakabe and it sprawled across a wide area uneven land overlooking the Xidao Gulf. Unlike Sakakabe, where the social status of each neighborhood was directly related to its height upon the city hill, in Enganoka there was a jumble of city districts next to one another. In some ways it reminded me of Magnimar.

We found rooms at a nondescript inn in one of the merchant class neighborhoods. The rooms had comfortably solid wooden walls. Apparently the more exclusive and expensive the accommodation in Minkai the less privacy and security it offered.

Oathday, Sarenith 6, 4713 midnight
Enganoka

After getting our bearings in the new city we made our way to the Kuroi Yane market where the Ninja clans were said to hold their monthly audience. We arrived, paid the entry fee (in less honorable lands we would call it “bribing the guards”) and made our way over to the restaurant. There we paid the 100 gold pieces per person fee (we only paid for four, because clearly not all of us would actually need to speak with the ninja clan leaders) and received instructions on how to arrange a meeting with the clan leaders when we returned in two nights.

We then went out into the market place proper to see what sort of items were available.

We had not gone far when a commotion from a stall caught our attention. A merchant was haggling loudly with a stall owner when a troop of guards marched up and surrounded him. The leader asked the merchant if he was from Kokomugi, and when he answered “yes” the guard cried out, “Liar! There is no such town. You are a spy!”

I heard Dasi say quietly, “But Kokomugi is a town in Minkai,” and knew that something was wrong and the guards were simply out to murder the merchant.

Before I could take action Kali put into place a whirling wall of wind around the merchant, buying us precious seconds.

And then things took an unexpected and seriously disappointing turn.

Rather than helping or encouraging us to defend an innocent citizen — one of her potential subjects — all Ameiko could say was “This is wrong, this is wrong. We cannot get involved.”

“Bullshit!” roared almost all of my mouse friends, and I concurred. I flew over and above the circle of guards and shared my knowledge of the future Groetus held for all.

As usual, most people were unprepared to face the brutal honest truth, and they became confused, mostly standing around idle, attacking one another, or injuring themselves.

One of the guards shoved the merchant out from the circle of winds and another screamed out “Spy!” and beheaded him with a single stroke of her sword.

At that moment Kali blasted the guards with a powerful bolt of forked lightening.

And still Ameiko could only say, “We should not be doing this,” as many of my other companions circled around her and led her away from a horrific injustice in her own land.

I looked down upon the corpse of a guard (whom had just been cut down by one of his own) and realized they were not human! I called out, “These aren’t guards, they’re oni!”

Zos joined in the battle, shooting the oni in range. I created a spiritual ally and soon all the guards lay dead. But Ameiko had fled along with everyone but Kali and Zos.

I swooped over to a stall owner who recoiled in horror, and I told him, “Don’t worry, these are not real guards: they are oni. Once the real guard shows up they will see that we stopped enemy forces who had infiltrated the city.”

But he shook his head and said, “That’s just the way things are now. Many of the guards are oni.”

Star took that moment to express what we were all feeling, “Well shit!”

I grabbed the dead merchant’s body and head and Kali used Teleport to quickly take the three of us back top our room, leaving Zos to snoop around and discretely see what he could find.

I was furious.

“They did nothing! They were completely happy to just stand there and look the other way while an obviously innocent citizen was hacked down. And Ameiko condoned and then justified the action! But more disturbing is that only you and I, and then and after the guards were shown to be oni, Zos took any action against this injustice and cruelty. And Ameiko ran away like a coward, interested in protecting her own skin, and acting offended because some innocent bystander had the audacity to be murdered in front of her! The Amatatsu family is without honor.”

Star then reminded me how both Ameiko’s father and brother had behaved in Sandpoint some years earlier. “Yes Star, her family caused no end of sorrow in Sandpoint for much the same reasons: personal wealth and safety above all others at any cost.”

Huffy tried to make sense of it all by wondering if that’s just how people in leadership roles behaved. “No, Huffy, that’s not how a real leader would behave. At least not one we’d support, much less follow.”

As usual Pookie got right to the heart of the matter and asked what we should do now. “Pookie, we should still get rid of the Jade Regent and the Five Storms, but yes, putting Ameiko on the throne is no longer our concern, although using her as an ends to the means is a good idea. And I wanted to keep an eye on Shalelu. She is loyal to a fault and will let Ameiko lead her into danger with no regard for her safety.”

Kali was more calm than I and said, “I’m upset about this, too, but I don’t think Ameiko had a choice here. She’s bound by the same code of honor as Itsuru. It’s the same reason why he can’t just kill his brother and take over as governor. The people here won’t accept a leader that tarnishes their honor to become a leader.

She continued, “Once Sennaka is gone, and Itsuru is in charge, that can change. They’ll have authority. They’ll have legitimacy. It is completely fucked up and wrong; I know. But it’s the way it works here. She had to get away before she was caught up in it. And she couldn’t just leave without someone protecting her…”

Kali shook her head sadly. “I just thought…I thought…we’d have more help. Even discreetly. Ameiko needs us. While her hands are tied, we can do the things she can’t. But I guess not everyone sees that.”

I looked at Kali for a long moment before replying, “So in Minkai ‘honor’ is nothing but a hollow shell that provides a convenient excuse for the nobility to let others do the unpleasant work of defending the weak and innocent while they stand idly by and simper about how ‘this is not right’ when someone actually tries to do what is right.”

“Hiding behind tyrannical laws has always been the way of the despot and the coward.”

“But like you, I am both saddened and disappointed that of our other companions, only Zos — the one with no real reason to have intervened — was the only one to come to our aid. The others have put the will of Ameiko above everything else, even when the will of Ameiko tells them to cravenly run away from a cause they would have rushed to support in the past.”

There really was nothing more to say. Ameiko was no more fit to rule Minkai than the drunken lout who picks fights in the bar and runs away when the brawl breaks out. But she was the heir to Minkai, and that in and of itself was an ends to a means: we could use her to gain support for kicking out the Five Storms. What came after was of no concern of mine.

The others returned a short while later, but I had little to say.

One cause of continued concern was the assassin/ninja/stalker who we learned, courtesy another Scry from Kali, had followed us to Enganoka. Personally I could give two shits (“Or even one shit!” Beorn gleefully exclaimed) if he killed Ameiko. But I was tired of him, he was a threat to people I did care about, and I had already resigned myself to the fact that we still needed “Our Little Coward” (Star’s new pet name for Ameiko).

It was time to take direct action against him, and so I used Nightmare against him. It took a while to catch him sleeping, but it was with some satisfaction that I felt the spell reach its target.

Fireday, Sarenith 7, 4713 evening
Enganoka

We kept a low profile throughout the day, although it was not without its excitement.

Overnight posters had been put up around town with a description of an attacker who had killed the guards in the market the day before.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Badger said, “that’s you!”

“Does the drawing make your butt look big?” Timber asked.

The drawing was just a crude sketch of a dark haired woman who could have been anybody. The description provided more details about my clothing, but really, “dark robes and dark pants” wasn’t going to single me out.

It did show, however, that nobody had noticed Kali or Zos participating in the fight, which was a plus, because only I needed to be careful about being seen about town. With that in mind I added Wind Walk to my usual all day casting of Overland Flight, and included Kali just in case.

Dasi and Radella returned to the market to purchase supplies for enchanting items, and at the first stall they were greeted by a friendly shop keeper who offered to tell Dasi’s fortune. Something about her seemed off, but Dasi went along.

She was clearly fishing for information about us, and Dasi soon realized she was the assassin, but when he called the old crone out she simply vanished.

The real stall owner was tied up in back, and was so happy with Dasi and Radella for setting him free that he gave a good price break on what they bought.

Both Kali and I used Scry on the assassin, and found he had a network of spies all around the city, including at the docks where I watched him thank an informant for some bit of information he had provided, and say he’d be back later for more. He then went to a noodle shop for lunch. Even the bad guys needed to eat.

The group spent a lot of time discussing how to keep the OLC safe during her meeting with the ninja clan leaders the next night. I paid little attention until Zos suggested creating a body double, and suddenly I was interested.

“All I need is a body and I can sculpt it into something that looks just like Ameiko and wanders around on my command.”

Most of the others were reluctant, but I thought it was a great idea to have a spare in case something happened to the real Ameiko.

I wisped away in cloud form to the city morgue and fetched back a fresh corpse. Someone screamed when they saw that the body was missing, but I promised myself that this fellow would get a much better burial than what had been awaiting him… once he had served his purpose. The others thought he would be proud if only he knew he was serving his future empress.

Takoda scoffed “Stuff and none sense!” and I agreed.

Zos got to work and presently we had a second Ameiko.

Later I sent another Nightmare to our assassin.

Starday, Sarenith 8, 4713 night
Enganoka

Today was the “big day” but mostly we kept to our rooms at the inn until nightfall.

Kali and I were prepped as usual and used Scry on the assassin. At one point he was sleeping, and so I sent him another Nightmare, after which Kali watched him toss and turn un-restfully.

Ameiko, Radella and Dasi were the ones to speak with the leaders of the ninja clan, and so they were led to the special table for which we had paid the fee. The others would sit nearby at regular tables with Ameiko’s doppelganger cloaked and ready to stand in for the real thing as needed.

Kali and I remained back at the inn waiting in case we were needed with Overland Flight and Wind Walk active.

The meeting went smoothly and we discovered that our assassin was a member of another clan and had been hired by the Jade Regent himself to find and stop us. The other clans could do nothing for us while a rival clan held a contract against us (because of another one of those “dishonorably honor” things that permeate Minkai). However if we ended the assassin’s contract (a euphemism for killing the assassin) then we could hire the ninja clans to either not take any contracts against us (for a mere 15,000 gold pieces) or they themselves could act on our behalf (for a hell of a lot more).

I thought the first option made the most economical sense, but we needed to get rid of the assassin ninja first.

The others returned safely to the inn, which freed Kali and I up for one last form of business for the day. Yesterday I had used Divination to determine that the merchant who had been slain in the market wanted to come back.

“I would rather perform the ceremony in private, with only those who tried to help the deceased present.” I said, and looked meaningfully at Kali and Zos.

We moved to the next room and the body was laid out on the floor of a room, with its head placed and stitched upon the shoulders in the same position as if it had not been severed. I then brought forth a finely knit length of green fabric with an arrow embroidered in silver thread, and laid the cloth over the corpse with the arrow pointing toward the head. Kali handed me the diamond. It was unlike the gem I had used to raise Bevelek, which had been a very large white stone with a visible occlusion: this diamond was small and pale blue, but perfectly clear.

I began to chant and sway as I kneeled over the body, speaking the name Groetus many times as I called upon the power to restore life into the lifeless form before me.

The gem stone darkened to a deep cobalt blue and then vanished in a flash of azure light. A layer of mist formed above the body and wispy tendrils descended, wrapping the corpse in a web of fog that quickly tightened and stretched over its features, revealing a grinning skull at the head. The mist cleared and the merchant lay upon the floor, breathing deeply with his head firmly attached, although a scar stretched around his neck.

His eyes opened suddenly and he sat up with a gasp.

“I have some good news and I have some bad news,” I said, “Which would you like to hear first?”

He stared wild-eyed at me, like his brain was struggling to make sense of too many things at the same time. “Oh, by the gods… I… was… Did I dream it? I have a fading memory of… no… no, it’s gone. What is that you say? If there is news, I better hear it, does it matter which comes first? But right now I think, on second thought… I… oh, I don’t remember feeling half of these aches and pains before… what were you saying again?”

I gave as warm and friendly of a smile as I knew how and began…

“Well, the good news is that you have a really good excuse to go back home and visit your family. Now. Right now.”

“Some other good news is that you are alive.”

“That brings us ’round to the bad news. There was about fourty eight hours there where you weren’t. You know, alive.”

“What was your name, again?”

“… I am Kimoto Kiyomasu. I…” He swallowed hard and looked straight at me. “Was it true, my memory of the Daikan Tetsuku confronting me in the market? Oh… you said I was dead. So…”

His eyes defocused as he looks into the vague distance past me, tears welling. “I left Kokomugi a month ago on a trading journey. My family, friends, home… When the soldiers said it didn’t exist, that can mean only one thing. They were, I’m certain, telling the truth. Kokomugi does not exist… any more. I wonder what my village did to displease the governor?”

Kali replied, “We have heard shocking stories about your governor, including that he has ordered villages burned for not meeting their tax burdens. It is even more shocking that he would extend this punishment to its residents, and go as far as to hunt them down.”

“That being said, we should check on your village to be sure. If it has been razed…” Her voice trailed off for a moment. She sighed sadly and then added, “We can send you somewhere safe, here in the north, but out of reach of your daimyo. And we are sorry about your family. And your friends.”

Kali was thinking Jiro’s fort as being safe, which probably made sense even though it was under imminent threat of attack. If we went tomorrow I could put into place some of the defensive wards I had been planning to use.