Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SeriousConcentrate]

"I need no further preparations."

[ctsun]

Kaori arrives a few moments later, fingering her new staff.

"I guess...if we have to. I'm ready."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Kensuke nods, and leads the party away up the road, to somewhere farther away from the main square of Sangonomiya. When they get far enough, he pauses, before producing a few sacks.
"Lord Kiritani anticipated you might need to keep moving. He has a mission for you. If....you should want it."
He opens one sack, producing a map and a scroll.
"Your first mission is to take a letter to Kaedehara to Lord Tokiwa. Yusuke, I understand you wanted to see him again. This is your opportunity."
"Wait. We're going to Kaedehara? What's the letter? Show me!"
"Private communications. Don't worry about it. Kaedehara is a few days ride away from here, so we have some food and pack horses if you need them. Should be a few villages to stop in between here and there, but travel lightly; the Empress will be looking for her Cursed, and we can't risk her finding Sangonomiya."

[IcyTea31]

"I'll gladly do it, of course, but there's more to this, isn't there? You wouldn't normally send a whole warband just to deliver a message. A single courier would do."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"We don't anticipate you'll have much trouble, but the communications are sensitive, the Empress has her eyes on Kaedehara and the other problem are Shiryo attacks. They've been intensifying recently, so much so we can't risk only sending a single courier, let alone one without a Gnosis."

[RedMageCole]

Kazuki let out a small yawn. He was used to moving around in a group, but not with so many people at a time. Often, he just stayed silent and stood to the side as everyone else went about their day. Sure, he should be a little bit more enthusiastic with Traxesa around, but given the circumstances... he was finding it hard to really stay energetic.

He still had a mission to keep Rengoku safe, however, so he wasn't going to shut down completely.

"Shiryo shouldn't be a problem in the slightest, then. You want us to deliver a message? You can just go ahead and assume that message has already been delivered at this point." Anyone who could watch Kazuki's eyes carefully enough could tell that though his words were confident, his eyes were still unsteady. Though Shiryo were certainly no problem for him, he couldn't forget the day that they did almost kill him. Normally, it wasn't so much of a problem, but with the circumstances as weird as they were...

Kazuki ruffled his hair and sighed. This was gonna be a long mission.

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Shiryo... understood. With this many Gnosis wielders, I foresee little trouble out of those monsters."

[ctsun]

Shiryo. Even a country girl like her had heard of them. Shadowy man-eating monsters. Literal horror story monsters that parents used to scare their children straight. Her companions seemed confident but Kaori couldn't be less unsure. She choked back a nervous gulp.

"Um, are you sure? I think we should be careful, regardless." No one ever came to harm through overcaution, after all.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"You can count on me, new boss. Madoka and I, we eat Shiryo for breakfast. Not even a challenge."
Todoroki, of course, neglects to mention that his rather prominent lost eye was lost to a Shiryo.

Of course, in his defense, he also didn't have a Gnosis the first time he fought one, and that one was almost twice his size. The fact he got out of it with only a missing eye was, in his estimation, impressive. Not as impressive as his Sensei, of course, casually taking multiple Shiryo down without a Gnosis or a scratch, but then again, most people were not Hitoshi Tokiwa.
Rin simply shifts awkwardly.
"I've only ever read about Shiryo. A-are....are you sure we'll be fine?"
"Hmph. We got this."

Suddenly, a Kamisato soldier approaches, looking hurried and red in the face.
"My lord! Something's come up! We've spotted Imperial forces in the area! They're not close enough to head into Sangonomiya yet, but...."
"Yes?"
"Momo. She stayed back to distract the Imperial army. We came back to get reinforcements, but..."
"Who's with them?"
"General Todayama and....the Hosokawa heir, sir."
"Damn."

Kensuke looked to the group.
"I'm sorry to ask this of you, but....if you could, please retrieve Momo from the Imperials on your way out. We'd rather nobody goes back. We'll send for Uncle Hiro to come with some reinforcements with you. I'm sorry to ask this, much, but we can't have Imperials this close to Sangonomiya."

[Chevaleresse]

"I'll take them down." Madoka nodded, the gesture solemn.

[RedMageCole]

"Hoooo boy, knew she was gonna be a riot since that stunt with the transformation..." Kazuki rolled his shoulder, getting some stretching in really quick. "Nah, don't worry, we'll take care of it. This snag doesn't really change much."

[IcyTea31]

Fear flashed over Miyako's face.

"Hisao and Tomoe are there? That's...

...

She took a moment to steel herself. She looked around herself, apparently taking a count of her allies, before turning to Kensuke.

"I think we can do it. And either way, we have to try. As you said, we can't have them this close to the estate."

She turned to her allies.

"Folks, we ought not to underestimate our foes for this one. I've seen Hisao and Tomoe fight. They'll eat us for breakfast if we don't work as a team. Yes, this might sound like a challenge for you duelist folks, but please don't try to duel them."

[ctsun]

Kaori flashed a glance at Miyako.

"Are they...dangerous?"

[Chevaleresse]

Madoka narrowed her eyes, not that one could really tell.
"Watch me."

[IcyTea31]

They're some of the most dangerous fighters in the land, known for taking down Gnosis wielders despite lacking them themselves. They're also Cursed, the Boar and the Rooster, so it's unlikely we'll be able to surprise them."