Our 2nd outing, Days activities Options

[Abel]

Most Honourable council,

Report of our meeting, 23rd of Martius 1014

Meeting in the morning with Lord Naga Yusaki-sama, our group, this comprising of:

• Lord Riki-sama Lord of the Black Dragon Clan
• Oni No-Budo of the Black Dragon Clan
• “Chi”- A swordsman from the Honourable Ox Clan
• Karatetsu of the Crane Clan
• Tirama Eseyar – Budding Easterner
• Roger – An Orc warrior of considerable power
• Corond – A Gnome from the West
• Yuurri of the Dragon-Phoenix Clan
• And myself - Dai-Doji To-Shi:


We discovered that Lord Naga had been the victim of a burglary from his library, a scroll had been stolen from it, even though heavily warded; the thief was able to stroll in and out without being hindered. We determined to head out and discover who had done this and retrieve the document if possible, when a young Geisha approached and before she could tell anyone much of her business she collapsed dead and began to spread a mystical poison, when coated everyone present. After some scrying it was deemed that the poison would kill us at dusk should we not find a way to purge ourselves.

Lord Naga, in his infinite mercy, allowed us to seek an antidote for this and we could seek the scroll another day. It was determined that our salvation lie in the form of Jade, unrefined and uncorrupted Jade. However with all of the Jade mines currently tapped out of resource we would need to find another route. Lord Naga suggested meeting with a contact of his and perhaps that our two mission could indeed be connected, Fate being a fickle mistress. His Contact would meet with us in what he called “The Striking Cobra” Teahouse.

Walking through the city street of the Snake Capital we came across a Snake bushi patrol who asked us our business in the capital. After addressing them Lord Riki was informed that they were currently having issues mopping up sloppy work with some of the newer guards and arrivals to the clan, both myself and Lord Riki immediately came to the same conclusion that perhaps these “new arrivals” were infact infiltrators and should be rooted out, our suspicions came true only moment later when we met another patrol of “newer” bushi that tried to shepherd us away from our intended destination, as they realised our suspicion, they attacked and we slew them.

Entering the Mamushi Okiya or “Striking Cobra” teahouse, we were greeted by the tradition Mako greeter, she sat the majority of us down and poured us some tea, however is was determined by Roger-san that the tea was infact poisoned and the greeter was trying to kill us, she was quickly slain by Yuurri-san. During this time we discovered we were in the effects of a rite of the Blinkered Eye, an annoyance that we determined to deal with should it hinder us too much. Shortly after this a pair of Okiya guards came to see what the commotion was and it was quickly determined that one of them was an infiltrator and he was killed, however it seemed that the second was also the enemy and was killed outside the Okiya.

We proceeded into the Okiya and found that the halls had been trapped, our concern now at a peak we progressed into the Okiya Courtyard, a beautiful Zen garden, with perfectly crafted Bonsai trees, however the Feng Shui was incorrect and felt wrong to me, so we proceeded to see what we could do to fix it.

After some searching we found a horse statuette, a snake, a vase and some door barred by some form of corrupted blood-red power that the house spirit was fighting back (with little success), the rite of the Blinkered Eye was found and destroyed and then a tree attacked me without warning, after it was slain we found the ground where it tore itself from was bloodied and corrupted, further signs of Maho blood magic at work. Some work into the Zen Garden Roger came back from the deeper garden with some broken shards of a vase and Tirama and Corond began the work of piecing it back together:

My deepest apologises My Lords, during this time I lost consciousness several times and my memory is torn and fragmented and should not be relied upon for finer details.

Once the Gardens flow was returned the house spirit gained the energy to fight back the Maho corruption and we were able to continue onwards, where we encounter a construction made of Onyx that struck me as hard as 6 men and again harder, it was determined that once people had left the room and one on one combat had been committed the Golem allowed passage past it. Beyond was the Geisha, Hina Sai, which people had met in the Temple of Balance on our last outing, accompanied by a bushi guard, after a verbal game of cat and mouse, it was found that she was infact a Maho sorcerer, and she attacked us along with her bushi.

We found our contact, Orchid Karako, tied and beaten in the next room, who informed us of the location of their attackers, who also may have details of a Jade mine and the means to get there.

After a short break to eat and have tea, we travelled to the house mentioned by Karako, and encountered some warriors with red uniforms, which was later determined to be the clan garb of the Scorpion clan, who attempted to meet us with force, easily beaten back by our Bushi line, we pushed further and further into the building until we came upon a ritual room, Lord Riki-sama set to communing with the ancestors along with Corond, who spoke to the Silver Drake and it was determined that we would need a few items and when collected together this would become and waypoint, similar to the one in our Council chambers, however the only thing we did not have was incense, Ji offered to go to the nearest shrine and collect some and departed.

The ritual when completed transported us through a Nacht corridor that was, as expected, infested with potent Spiritual versions of the Nacht creatures, at the exit a powerful ethereal creature attempted to claim us for the mist, however it was swiftly dealt with and we stepped out into a mine.

The mine turned out to be a corrupted Jade mine, the Jade appeared to be veined with onyx and a tinged of red, blood it turned out to be, more instances of Maho blood magic. We came upon a junction that passed into two tunnels, one longer and smaller than the other and we split into two smaller groups, one group delved into the smaller tunnel and came upon an artefact that would, if powered with Jade, purge any corruption in the body (specifically onyx related), the other group went the other way and came across a pair of miners that informed us of a construct guarding the way on that would only recognise the miners or the masters of the mine. We determined to destroy the Golem and when we did the creature fell into shards of Onyx, Jade and blood.

Having regrouped, we proceeded further into the mine and encountered more Scorpion warriors, defeating them we passed into the main chambers of the mine, where we came across a human who claimed to be a dragon, which it turned out was infact the truth and was a celestial Onyx Dragon, much confusion reigned at this point and I became embroiled in many conversation as to why we were not destroying or at least attempting to destroy this creature, however in great wisdom Lord Riki-sama, chose to converse with it and determined that it was infact the creature that bypassed Lord Naga’s warding and stole the scroll we sought. In return for the scroll it requested that we destroy a ronin, his name never becoming apparent to me, seeming a simple task we agreed and the dragon shifted us all to the location in the mine where he was.

We located and met with the Ronin and his guards and Lord Riki-sama alone went to speak with him, while we waited outside watching the antics of the chaotic dragon, which after 5 or so minutes became quite tedious and we dismissed it, so it went to bother Lord Riki-sama and bounced around like a child’s ball.

After much discussion, a plan was devised that I will not talk of here, should you wish information I will share it in person as to not divulge anything in an open forum. And the ronin committed seppuku and the dragon was satisfied and parted with the scroll and shifted us back to the Mines entrance, at this point I attacked and destroyed the mortal form of the dragon, however in a disappointing show of great power, it looked at me and pouted then left, leaving myself and a few others in a disappointed and confused manner.

At this point as we began to leave a contingent of Scorpion clan warriors arrived and fight with them ensued, brutal and swift, the leader being the toughest to fell, displaying a number of talents that a Champion of Darkness would use. I believe that the Scorpion Clan can now be defiantly placed as one of our direct opposition and hopefully the Lion Clan will not stand in the way of their destruction, as they did when Lord Toshimoko-sama attempted to eradicate their clan 10 years back.

After this everyone was cured and the scroll retrieved, we considered the day a success and departed to the Snake halls for Tea, rest and prayer.

I hope this report of the weekend’s activities pleases the Council and is as complete as required. My apologies for the lack of clarity in the Zen Garden, I will speak with the ancestors and request when I am in the duty of scribing they allow me to do so uninterrupted.

Dai-Doji To-Shi
Council Scribe

[isbiraven]

I thank you for this.

Lord Riki,
Guardian of the Ancestors,
Chairman of the Jade council,
Daimyo of the Jade dragon clan.