Ambush!

“Trust me,” Bella was saying for the umpteenth time, “people are in their deepest sleep two or three hours after midnight. That’s when we should strike.”

“But I worry if we wait too long, the ronin will get worried and drop their barricade before we go,” Marie countered (again). “Those falling logs will make enough noise to alert both the village and the governor’s compound.”

“Can’t they just shut the fuck up???” Nicki moaned to himself as he rolled over in his bedroll and tried to stuff his fingers deeper into his ears. This group rarely had the luxury of making a plan, but when they did it usually devolved into this sort of unending debate about hypotheticals that they had no control over. Nicki had been listening to this for hours, and if he had to listen to it much longer, he’d go crazy.

The night sky was heavy with clouds, and thunder rumbled in the far distance. “And I don’t like the look of this weather,” Marie continued, looking up. “We don’t want to launch this assault in a thunderstorm. Nicki! Stop yelling!”

It wasn’t really an argument. No one much cared one way or the other about any of the things they were debating. It was mostly a way of calming their nerves as they waited to ambush governor Sikutsu Sennaka in his remote hunting lodge of Shuryo Onsen. Suddenly they heard a rustle and rush of air in the starless sky above them, like the beat of great unseen wings. Everyone grabbed their weapons and looked to the sky, but saw nothing but darkness. The sound receded, heading in the direction of the walled compound. They exchanged worried looks. “Might have been a patrol,” Marie whispered worriedly. “Maybe we’ve been spotted.” They moved to the edge of the forest and peered at the distant wall, looking for any sign of movement.

Suddenly there was a flash of light from behind the wall, some distance west of the south gate, and the ruddy glow of fire could be seen from some unknown source. “Shit!” Zhustin swore. “We’ve got to move now! Sawyer, Sandoval – you come with me! Marie, you take Bella and Shinjiro! Nicki – can you … Nicki? Nicki?” The sorcerer was nowhere to be seen. “He must have already gone invisible,” Zhustin thought to himself. Just then there was a loud clap of thunder. This wasn’t from the distant storm – it came from just beyond the palisade fence! Not wasting any more thought on Nicki, Zhustin linked arms with the fighter and bard and Dimension Door’d into the compound, appearing on the eastern side of the big building inside, just as Marie and the others did the same.

At that moment, Nicki was flying in lazy circles above the compound, relishing the feel of his leathery wings beating against the air. For a moment he regretted casting Greater Invisibility on himself before he left the bickering group; he wanted everyone below to cower in primal terror at the sight of his fearsome silhouette against the night sky. He laughed at the flames licking at the roof of the teahouse, where he’d dropped a flask of his Alchemist’s Fire, and waited for the inevitable confusion that would result from the Thunderstone he’d dropped moments later. He wasn’t disappointed. Samurai began rushing out into one of the open courtyards below him, then out into the yard, where they stood staring at the burning building. Before they could organize themselves to fight the fire, Nicki blasted them with a Fireball, infused with yet another flask of Alchemist’s Fire, and in an instant all four samurai were on fire themselves.

All of this was out of sight of the rest of the party, on the far side of the building from Nicki’s diversion. They knew the noise had come from to the south; expecting whatever it was to cause the compound's defenders to move in that direction, they decided to go the opposite way, hoping to come at them from behind. Sandoval began softly singing, figuring that any hope of surprise was probably lost. Bella watched the windows for any lights going on, but saw none; she briefly considered breaking a window and heading into the house on her own, but reluctantly decided to follow the rest of the group as they hugged the wall of the building, moving cautiously north. Shinjiro sprang up and grabbed the eave, easily pulling himself up onto the roof, then crept cautiously forward.

Just then another group of samurai spilled out from around the northeast corner of the building, pulling on armor as they ran. They were as surprised to see strangers in the compound as the group was to encounter them, but they recovered instantly, and charged at Sawyer, who was in the lead. But Sawyer was ready for a fight, and they were still groggy from sleep, and he easily dodged their clumsy swings. Then he responded with Suishen’s full fury, leaving one of the Samurai with blood gushing from multiple wounds. Sandoval sank an arrow into another’s throat as Marie summoned a Spiritual Weapon that struck the grievously wounded samurai. He started to topple, but caught himself, and through sheer grim Resolve raised himself upright and faced Sawyer. The samurai now realized they were in true combat, and shouted challenges at Sawyer to fight them to the death. He was happy to oblige. Despite all their samurai training, the cagey street fighter easily parried their best blows, and one of the samurai fell to Suishen’s blazing blade.

Nicki watched the burning samurai below him drop and roll on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames that engulfed them. Laughing, he turned and flew along the rooftop, wondering what was going on elsewhere. He came upon another open courtyard, and saw an armed figure standing in it, sword at the ready, scanning the area for signs of danger. To his amazement, he looked straight at Nicki, and pointed his sword at him, screaming in some language Nicki didn’t recognize. Two more figures rushed out into the courtyard, and also spotted Nicki, despite his invisibility. They transformed as they ran, turning into familiar bird-like creatures who took to the air and flew at Nicki’s perch on the roofline.

They were Tengu, the same type of bird-like oni as Kikonu, the self-proclaimed “King of Brinewall Castle”. These must be the Typhoon Guard they’d been warned about, sent by the Jade Regent to serve as Governer Sennaka’s personal guard. The two flying Tengu slashed at Nicki with their katanas, while the one still on the ground blasted him with a Scorching Ray. Sure he could out-fly them, Nicki launched himself straight up, trying to put distance between him and his attackers. But as he fled, one of the Tengu snapped at him with its beak. The bite drew little blood, but Nicki felt his throat close up, and the oni laughed – and it was Nicki’s own laugh. It has stolen his voice!

Shinjiro, on the roof a hundred feet away, saw the two Tengu fly up and seem to battle with some unseen foe. But he also saw samurai battling his friends much closer by, and he continued north along the eaves. As he reached the peak of the roof, he saw two more Tengus flying up from the other side of the building, keeping close to the roof to remain out of sight. Not wanting his friends to get ambushed, he leaped off the roof, landing heavily but unhurt. “Two more coming over the roof!” he cried, pointing to where he’d seen the Tengu headed.

Most of the group were still busy with the Samurai. Bella dropped one with a volley of arrows to the heart, while Marie cast a Prayer even as her Spiritual Weapon killed the resolute samurai that still fought on. Zhustin heard Shinjiro’s warning, and cast Haste on the group. Sandoval backed away to a better vantage point, waiting with spell ready for the Tengu to appear.

The first Tengu popped up at the far northern edge of the roof, far from where Shinjiro had indicated; the monk must not have seen this one coming. It shot up into the air and then fired a ray of light down at Sawyer, who felt his sword grow heavy in his hands. Sandoval recovered just as the second Tengu appeared, and cast his Song of Discord just as the Tengu fired another Ray of Enfeeblement, causing it to miss. But the third Tengu didn’t miss, and its spell made Sawyer even weaker.

Nicki had flown up out of reach of the Typhoon Guard; he could fly faster than they could, so felt confident he could stay out of their reach. But he had no voice with which to cast spells. Fortunately, he was prepared. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out a Silent Metamagic Rod; he’d picked it out of the dragon’s hoard at the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, but had never found a use for it – until now. Smiling evilly, he pointed it at the two Tengu who had attacked him. But there was only one there now. With a sudden pop! the other suddenly appeared in the air directly above his head. Ignoring him, Nicki cast a Silent Fireball on the Tengu who’d stolen his voice, but was furious to see him nimbly evade its blast. It retaliated with a Scorching Ray, and the one in the air next to Nicki slashed him with its katana. The Tengu still in the courtyard fired off a skyrocket. It flew into the night sky with an ear-splitting screech, and exploded in a bright red chrysanthemum of sparks. The ronin back on the trail had better be ready – the alarm had just been sounded.

The Tengu who’d stolen Nicki’s voice cast a spell at him, mocking him by using Nicki’s voice to cast the spell. It was incredibly funny hearing his own voice coming out of the bird’s mouth, and for an instant Nicki was almost overcome with the giggles, but he shook it off. The one on the ground hit Nicki with an arrow, and he narrowly dodged another swing from the one next to him. Realizing he was in trouble, Nicki whizzed away through the air, counting on his superior speed to save him. He quaffed a Potion of Healing as he tried to figure out how to get his voice back.

Back on the ground, Shinjiro charged at the surviving samurai attacking Sawyer, punching him in the gut. As he doubled over, Sawyer brought Suishen down and severed his head. With the last samurai down, Marie rushed forward and used her Wand of Lesser Restoration to restore some of Sawyer’s lost strength.

Bella pin cushioned one of the incoming Tengu with arrows. Zhustin didn’t know if there were more coming, or how dangerous these might be, but he didn’t want to wait to find out. He waved his arms, and three Huge Air Elementals appeared in front of each of the three Tengu. They each slammed into the Tengu, and one exploded into a cloud of feathers.

Sandoval saw that the combat seemed to be in hand, but he was worried; they’d heard explosions and shouting from the south side of the building, but didn’t know what was happening there. He moved cautiously away from the rest of the group to check things out. As he rounded the southeast corner of this wing of the building, he saw a half dozen more samurai rushing his directions, swords waving. Shouting a warning, he cast Confusion on the attackers, but all but one used their samurai Resolve to avoid its effects.

Shinjiro and Bella ran south to support Sandoval. As she ran, Bella pulled a horn out of her Handy Haversack and raised it to her lips. A sound like a mournful foghorn came out, along with a cloud of dense fog. Shinjiro shook his head. She’d pointed the horn at the palisade wall, away from the charging samurai; he wasn’t sure what she was trying to accomplish, but didn’t have time for questions.

Zhustin also switched his focus. Even as his Air Elementals battled with the Tengu high overhead, he Summoned a pair of Earth Elementals (these just mundane human-sized) to block the path of the charging samurai. Several of the samurai were stopped in their tracks, forced to battle the elementals, but others pulled up and fired arrows at Bella and Shinjiro; Shinjiro batted the shafts away disdainfully.

There were still attackers on all sides, but they’d seen no sign of their intended victim, Governor Sikutsu Sennaka. Could they have gotten bad intelligence? Or could this be a trap?

No new XP yet. We’ll be at Leo’s next Sunday.