Session 10. (19/1/00)

This episode began in week 2 of the Year of the Tiger. With the New Year celebrations over, Lord Chozo's Sergeant-at-Arms rallied the troops and Lord Chozo gave them a stirring speech, telling them, "The Daimyo has returned from Edo to find his Death Squad wiped out, the province in turmoil, the castle disorganised and talk of an uprising. The time is right for action - the day of the rebellion has arrived." There were huge cheers from the troops, which consisted of 830 former pupils of the School of the Blade, 350 Ashigaru from Masaki and nearby villages, and 150 Samurai from Lord Chozo's ally in Ozu-han.

The scene then flashed back to the concluding weeks of the Year of the Ox. Kimori oversaw the continuing development of the School of the Blade, including recruiting another L4 teacher and several more L3 teachers, leading to its rise to a Class A General Academy. However, Kimori (right) was suffering from philosophy, and wondered if he should retire and become a priest. Lord Chozo urged him to wait until the rebellion was over, after which he would have one last task for Kimori that would allow him to complete his pilgrimage to the 88 temples of Shikoku. Mariko and Sugiyama continued teaching at their respective training camps, and all three warriors did some training - Mariko in tantojutsu, Sugiyama in Silent Kill and Kimori in Precision Strike (and all three in Origami). Meanwhile, Koei learned the spell Pure Flesh and put it to immediate use by creating magical artifacts with three or four charges of the spell, which she gave to the other troubleshooters.

Finally, as the new year dawned, Mariko sat down with her companions, plans of the castle and her copy of "The Art of War" and worked long into the nights planning the assault on Matsuyama Castle. With the numbers involved (less than 2:1 superiority in numbers), a frontal attack would be doomed, so more inventive strategies were required, perhaps involving the troubleshooters in special missions, or using Koei's special talents, or using Sugiyama's ninja clan.

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