The Final Confrontation

“So do you think they know we’re here?” Everyone turned to look at Zhustin. Their ears were still ringing from the concussion of repeated Fireballs, and the aroma of scorched oni wafted up the open stairwells. “No,” Sandoval replied sarcastically, “I’m sure we’ll catch them totally by surprise.”

As Marie began doling out healing, Nicki rounded the corner, followed closely by a Typhoon Guard. The pair found themselves surrounded by a wall of pointy steel, but Nicki waved his hands frantically. “It’s OK! He’s with me!” As the group warily lowered their weapons, Nicki smiled. “Let me introduce you to my new friend. I can’t pronounce his real name, so I’m calling him ‘Roscoe’. Right Roscoe?” The Dominated Typhoon Guard nodded obediently. Nicki continued. “Roscoe here is going to tell us everything he knows about the throne room.”

As everyone listened eagerly, ‘Roscoe’ described the upper level in heavily-accented Tien. “The throne room is directly above us. These two stairways lead up to that level, and open into side corridors. The only entrance to the throne room is a doorway directly between them, accessed from the front corridor of the level.”

“How big is the throne room?” Nicki asked, mentally calculating blast radii. “It’s about half the size of this floor,” Roscoe answered dutifully. “Above this level, the castle is divided into two halves. The front half is the throne room, and above that, the royal apartments; The upper stories of the back half are servants’ quarters, and there is no access between the two parts of the castle above this level.”

“Who’s up there?” asked Sawyer. Roscoe looked to Nicki for permission before answering. “The Jade Regent spends most of his time in the throne room. He’s always accompanied by our leader, his grandfather Anamurumon, and his consort, the oracle Renshii Meida. Often, they are also joined by the royal assassin, a Tengu known as The Raven Prince.”

The group knew there was little chance those upstairs hadn’t heard the recent battle, but they also knew they were going to be facing their most dangerous enemies to date, and rushing into battle unprepared wouldn’t be wise. As they huddled to discuss strategy, Nicki and Roscoe began dragging the bodies of the ogre magi and Typhoon Guards into a cluster. Then Nicki started casting spells, and everyone stared in horror as the flesh melted off the oni corpses, and the still-bloody skeletons rose shakily to their feet. Soon Nicki had a small private army: five huge ogre mage skeletons, a pair of human-sized Typhoon Guard skeletons, and of course, Roscoe.

Marie suddenly remembered the captives being held in the next room. “We should set the women being held hostage free,” she said, and started for the nearest door. “Wait!” a voice cried. It was the geisha Harumi, who had aided them during their combat with the oni. “Some of the women in there are not women at all, but creatures who have taken human form to mingle with the prisoners, spying on them and hoping to learn the location of the Princess.” Marie turned away from the door. “Maybe we should just leave them locked up a little while longer then.”

“Maybe someone invisible should sneak upstairs and scout things out,” Zhustin suggested, and all eyes turned to Bella. She sighed, but nodded. Zhustin prepared to cast Greater Invisibility on the rogue, but she suddenly stopped him. “Your Invisibility Purge isn’t still running, is it?” she asked Sawyer, and the fighter shook his head. “And can we agree you won’t turn it on unless we really need it?” He agreed, and she let Zhustin cast his spell, while swallowing a potion of Barkskin and the Spirit Elixir they’d gotten from Emperor Shigure’s ghost. She started up the western staircase, and paused halfway up. If there wasn’t going to be an Invisibility Purge running, maybe she’d better make sure she could see anyone who didn’t want to be seen. Reaching into her Handy Haversack, she quickly gulped a potion of See Invisible and continued up the stairs.

The Raven Prince

The stairs opened into a north-south corridor. The walls were hung with rich tapestries and punctuated by alcoves containing beautiful artwork, pottery, or sculptures. Just to her right, the corridor turned, presumably leading to the entrance to the throne room. To her left however, she saw a shadowy figure lurking in one of the alcoves. It looked like a giant raven, and was clad in a ninja’s black shinobi shozoku, although it also had a brightly-colored cloak thrown over its shoulders. It could only be the assassin she’d heard about, the so-called Raven Prince. Although he was tucked back into an alcove, the assassin made no effort to hide himself, apparently confident that his invisibility was camouflage enough. He was also staring directly at Bella, despite her own invisibility. Bella’s heart skipped a beat, but she mustered all her self-control and forced her eyes to sweep across the assassin’s hiding spot without betraying that she’d spotted him. Then she slipped around the corner.

She was in another corridor, with a single open doorway puncturing its southern wall. She crept to the doorway and listened, but heard nothing. She didn’t risk poking her head around the wall to peek in; if anyone inside could also see invisible, she didn’t want to reveal her presence. She crept back to the corner, and steeled herself for possible ambush by the Raven Prince. But the assassin was still in the spot she’d last seen him, and she descended the stairs without looking directly at him.

Once downstairs, she motioned for everyone to be quiet, then quickly mounted the eastern stairs. A quick scan showed no invisible threats in the corridor on this side, so she returned and gathered the party around her. In hushed tones, she described what she’d found, including the invisible assassin waiting in ambush. “I think we should go up the eastern stairs,” she suggested, “but Nicki and his army can go up the west. They can keep the assassin bottled up over there while we go to the throne room.”

Everyone prepared to move out, but Nicki stopped them. He looked at Ameiko. “I think this is going to be very dangerous for the Princess,” he said. “I think it might be better if we had a decoy.” He turned to Roscoe. “Can you make yourself look like her?” The Typhoon Guard studied Ameiko for a moment, and then his features changed. Roscoe was a kuwa oni, a natural shapeshifter, and within seconds he looked uncannily like Ameiko. Her close friends could tell them apart, if they looked closely, but from a distance they were indistinguishable. “Now let’s complete the con,” Bella said, and handed Ameiko a Potion of Disguise. The Princess downed the potion, and seconds later, she looked like any one of the Typhoon Guards. A quick change of her armor for one of the dead guard’s armor, and the disguise was complete.

It was finally time to move. Marie cast See Invisible on Shinjiro as Sawyer activated the same power from Suishen. Zhustin cast Haste on the assembled group, and they started their move. Nicki’s army went first; three of his huge ogre mage skeletons blocked the Raven Prince’s corridor, and the other two went around to the right, blocking that corridor as well. Nicki and the faux-Ameiko followed, with his two smaller skeletons as a rear-guard.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group filed quietly up the eastern stairs. Sawyer and Shinjiro made their way to the open throne room doorway, and pressed themselves against the wall, ready to dash in. Sandoval took up position across the hall and a ways back from them, clearing his throat. Bella followed close behind, her bow in hand. Marie was next. She saw the open doorway, and thought she would dart across to position herself on the far side. By the time Sawyer realized what she was doing, it was too late to stop her.

As Marie passed the open doorway, she looked inside. An ornate carpet led to a dais holding a massive throne, carved entirely from jade. A man in elaborate, jade-colored samurai armor sat upon the throne. Another distinguished-looking man in silk robes stood in the middle of the room. A woman stood at the foot of the throne, clad in a beautiful kimono decorated with cherry blossoms and flying cranes, her hands folded over her abdomen. All three were staring straight at the doorway. As Marie crossed, the woman smiled.

Renshii Meida

And Marie suddenly found herself in an endless orchard of cherry trees. She spun around, but the trees, heavy with blossoms, extended as far as the eye could see in every direction. She began running, but the windblown blossoms formed a wall in front of her, forcing her to turn to her left. Another wall of flowers shunted her right and then left again. Overhead, a never-ending flock of cranes flew silently through the sky.

Back in the castle, the party saw Marie simply vanish into thin air halfway across the doorway. Sawyer stood staring open-mouthed, but Sandoval reacted instantly. “Shit! Go! Go! Go!” he cried. Zhustin was just rounding the corner; he had no idea what had happened, didn’t even know Marie was gone, but he knew the time for action had come. He instantly Summoned three large Air Elementals in front of the open doorway. “Attack the Jade Regent!” he shouted, and the Elementals obediently shot through the doorway. Unfortunately, not being terribly bright, they had no idea who this “Jade Regent” character might be, so they indiscriminately attacked whoever they saw; two went after the old man and one went after the Renshii Meida, but all missed.

Bella flew into the room. As soon as she passed through the doorway, she became aware of how windy it was inside the room; perhaps Zhustin’s elementals were really stirring things up. The old man didn’t seem to notice her as she flew in, although Renshii Meida immediately pointed at her and began saying something in a language Bella didn’t understand. Hoping to get surprise on the old man, Bella raised the Daikyu of Commanding Presence and took aim. The bow, the ancestral weapon of the Higashiyama family, seemed to come alive in her hands, pulsing and throbbing with palpable hatred for the creature that had wiped out its bloodline. The arrow leapt from the bowstring with such force that Bella was almost thrown backwards. Despite the winds that howled around the old man, the arrow continued true, but at the last second the old man whirled with inhuman speed and batted the shaft away.

Anamurumon

The old man transformed. In place of a venerable old man, a giant Wind Yai stood, its hair whipped by the winds that swirled around it. He wielded an ornate three-part sansetsukon that crackled with electricity. This was Anamurumon, leader of the Five Storms, and Bella was left shaken by the realization that she was going toe-to-toe with him - alone. With a howl like an approaching tornado, he lashed out at the spot where the arrow had originated from, but Bella’s invisibility gave her just enough cover to dodge his blows. Renshii Meida had no trouble seeing the rogue, however, and she cast Destruction on her, threatening to consume her totally in unholy flame, but Bella resisted the worst of the spell’s damage.

In the corridor outside, Nicki was peering nervously around the corner, towards where Bella had said the invisible assassin was lurking. He saw a sudden puff of smoke from one of the alcoves two-thirds of the way down the hall, then the faux-Ameiko behind him gave a cry of pain. Nicki spun to see blood spurting from Roscoe’s back. “He’s in the corner!” Sawyer cried, just before he dashed into the room. Nicki was suddenly far too close to the assassin for comfort. “Run for it!” he commanded Roscoe, who obeyed, but the assassin got another backstab as ‘she’ fled. “You two – attack whatever’s in the corner!” Nicki commanded his two smaller skeletons. “Everyone else – into the throne room!” The giant skeletons obeyed, dashing with magical Haste into the throne room, where they formed a solid wall of bone from one side of the room to the other. Nicki hadn’t expected his minions would do much besides keep the invisible assassin occupied, but as he followed his army, he heard the solid thwacks of sword against flesh. He spun into the throne room, pulled up short behind his wall of minions, and fired off a volley of Magic Missiles against Meida. Sandoval was already singing, and he cast Song of Discord on the area of the throne. The Jade Regent seemed unaffected, but Renshii Meida’s eyes crossed, and then a look of fury crossed her face.

The Jade Regent

Sawyer had charged into the room, and set his sights on the Jade Regent. As he dashed past Anamurumon, the oni lashed out with his huge sanetsukon, and delivered a punishing blow against the big fighter, but Sawyer ignored the pain. He charged up the dais, and swept Suishen in a blow that would have opened the guts of a lesser foe. But the Jade Regent called upon his samurai resolve, and what might have been a mortal blow became instead a merely painful one. He retaliated with his own katana, light flashing from its blade as it pierced Sawyer’s armor.

Shinjiro followed Sawyer into the room, but charged Anamurumon instead, but the huge oni easily evaded his blow. Zhustin moved in next to Nicki, and cast Mass Cat’s Grace, hoping to give Bella and Shinjiro an added edge. Bella kept shooting, shifting position as she fired to keep Anamurumon guessing as to her location. The ancestral bow seemed to be screaming with rage inside her head, and each arrow launched with incredible force. Anamurumon failed to bat the first aside, and it sank deep into his chest. Two more followed, before the fourth was blown off course by his Cloak of Winds.

And then Roscoe stumbled into the room, still bleeding heavily from his encounter with the assassin. Anamurumon spotted him, disguised as Ameiko, and a smile of triumph spread across his face. He pointed a finger, and a blast of Chain Lightning lashed at the pretend princess, striking him and then branching to hit Nicki, Zhustin, Shinjiro and several of the skeletons. One skeleton collapsed, and before anyone could react, the oni followed up with a Quickened Shout that hammered the same group with a wave of sonic energy; another skeleton fell. Anamurumon then lashed out with his sanetsukon, slamming Shinjiro nearly to the floor, and finally turned and fired a ball of electricity from his third eye at Sawyer. The fighter’s metal armor seemed to amplify the charge, and he was left buzzing and light-headed.

Roscoe, amazingly, was still on his feet. He staggered behind a column, drew his bow, and fired an arrow that sank into the Jade Regent’s thigh. Sandoval tried casting Suffocate on Anamurumon, but the spell had no effect. Renshii Meida, her eyes glazed with rage from Sandoval’s spell, looked around for the nearest thing to lash out at, and Sawyer was at her side. She took a step back, then called down a Flame Strike on the fighter, leaving him half-cooked and grateful for his Ring of Fire Resistance. Then there was a cry of “Charge!” from the far side of the room, followed by the clatter of bony feet on marble floor. In seconds, Meida was surrounded by Nicki’s surviving ogre mage skeletons, who proceeded to pummel her mercililessly. “Say hello to my dad!” Nicki cried, and a gout of Hellfire sprang up around the oracle and the Jade Regent. The Jade Regent was unscathed, but Meida collapsed in a smoking heap. As she fell, Marie suddenly reappeared outside the doorway where she had vanished, looking around in confusion at her sudden change in surroundings.

No additional XP this week, but if you survive, you should complete this adventure path next week. We’ll be at Rich and Joette’s, and everyone should be present (virtually) and accounted for.