Musings of Agasha Taeshik

[Agasha Taeshik]

"Where are the other 2 that were with you?", the leader asked as he tried to regain his courage and control of the situation, "There were 2 others!", his confidence growing as his men started to support him.

Looking around, sure enough, the twin Dragon Archers had disappeared, and were not to be seen. With the distraction, Taeshik was finally able to complete his next spell, Know the Mind, a spell which allowed him to read the surface thoughts of the leader. He may not speak the language, but images were often enough. This leader was thinking about a General Badul, a messenger, and some sort of letter. But time was running out, too little time to get enough information. He gazes over at his 3 Apprentices and utters a single word, "Pulverize", Agasha Shensei raises his arms and with a gesture, a Wall of Air rises behind the enemy. The two Isawa Shugenjas finish their prayer and a familiar spell pushes through at 10 times the intensity as they cast Whirlwind driving the entire collection of Yobanjin into the unyielding wall of air. Upon hitting the wall, they are tossed back in the direction of the party, only to be caught up again in the Whirlwind, and tossed back into the wall. Within minutes, there is nothing left but corpses. Atop the roofs, the twin Dragon Archers make light work of any stragglers or runners.

"This part is clear, we should finish off the rest of the compound, leave no survivors to tell the tale. They'll believe it a raiding party, and whilst they may search for us, they'll more likely think we headed back[/i]", Taeshik says as he draws his Nagamaki, and charges deeper into the camp with his trusted Yojimbo at his side, and the 2 Dragon Archers clearing the way as best as possible. The 3 Shugenja hang back, intent on resting a bit and if necessary, prevent a rear flank maneuver against the allies.

[Bayushi Haruka]

Haruka looked slightly more annoyed but, either way the deed was done. The two berserkers and the Shinjo cavalryman worked quickly and diligently to flesh out each and every one of the Yobanjin. Those that were smart fought and died with swiftness and ease, those that fled faced the precise arrows of the archers above.

It would only take mere minutes at most to clear the fort, it was not a high ranking group by any means and was little challenge. They rejoined around Taeshik as Haruka looked somewhat expectantly.

"Well now that that's over with, regardless of what they think, where do we go from here. There weren't any leads to work with here..."

[Agasha Taeshik]

"Now we tear this place apart looking for leads. I heard something about a 'fraughdin Badul', though I'm not sure what a fraughdin is (Translation: General), and I suspect we will find important papers in the command tent of this outpost. What we're most looking for is any item written in our tongue, though any plans found will be welcomed by our own Command. Our disguise is gone, that disappeared the moment they shouted Rokugani, hence my need to act, you no longer appeared as the Commander to them, just a woman on a horse."

"Come, let's find the command center and start searching before more problems arise. Let our company deal with keeping the place clear for a bit, maybe have the Hidas stand outside the command post until we're finished within"

Taeshik advanced towards the command center, unsure of what he would find, if anything. He'd hoped that with the previous scene, maybe they would have pulled out the important papers in order to flee with them, or keep them safe. So he asked one of his Apprentices to search out anyone that looked like they may have been a Courier.

Upon entering the tent which hosted the command center....

[Bayushi Haruka]

"You're certainly convinced it has to be someone of Rokugan pushing these men. You certain it couldn't be an oni or maybe something else..."

She waded in behind him, moving a few bodies aside, she was like many samurai unwilling to touch the dead if it was avoidable. But in another stroke she'd still carried her lance, finishing off one that still clung to life. She would not leave them suffering.

The papers still seemed to drift around like strange snowflakes, somewhat blocking their vision as the wind still somewhat poured through the tent, but nothing from their language caught her eye.


(Honestly unless you have an antagonist I'm not going to be sure of who or what we're aiming for @.@

[Agasha Taeshik]

(OOC: To be honest, I'm winging it as much as you, I don't actually have a plan, and aside from crossing into Yobajin territory, the story's planning has been planned as it's typed into the story. If you want a primary antagonist, pull one out, have a platoon of reinforcements arriving led by an actual Rogukani Ronin Samurai or something)

Taeshik moved through the tent, examining papers, and collecting trinkets. Anything that looked like plans, due to map symbols or strategic markings, got rolled up and placed in his satchel.

"No, I'm not convinced, or I wouldn't be here. I'm hoping to find nothing at all, for it pains me to believe that one of our own would betray his empire. But it's something that we must know, for what sort of sense is there in believing these barbarians still believe there's something to gain from the attacks?", Taeshik asked as he kicked over a table to look at the ground beneath it.

"We should leave before reinforcements arrive. It's far too late and far to travel back now, let's find a place to make camp and we can push further or return in the morning.[/i]".

As they exited the tent, a dark and ominous cloud blocked out the sun. A storm was coming in, and from the looks of it, might be lasting the night. "They shouldn't be willing or able to track us once the weather changes. Let's head out and put this place behind us. "

[Bayushi Haruka]

(Then I will politely say this thread is dead in the water.)

After the fighting at the fort the weather did take a turn for the worst. Reinforcements did arrive to the fort and the sheer amount of Yobanjin was as numerous as the rain that pelted down on them.

Haruka made the painful choice of forcing them all to retreat, no good could be done this day but the few plans they did aquire would help counter the enemy for a few days as she did not want their lives wasted needlessly.

The defence of the keep was her greatest concern and she would not go on reguardless of Taeshik's decision. Their illusion was up, the enemy was surrounding them fast, she and her allies took the chance they had and returned to the keep.