Session 28. (8/2/08)

The Troubleshooters break camp and set off into the upper reaches of the Valley of the Spider. As they expect, they haven't travelled very far before Sugiyama spots 10 jikumo in the distance. The bushi draw bows while Emiko holds their horses and Komako rides up to give a good target for the arrows. Kimori is first to shoot and impresses with a critical 33 points, almost doubly killing a spider. Sugiyama follows with 10 points, half killing a spider, and Sung hits for a measly six points, one-third killing a spider. Mariko misses entirely. Komako jumps off his horse, but in the rain of arrows it takes him some time to get close enough to enter battle, and just manages one hit for eight points. The spiders advance towards the archers and Komako follows along, kicking and screaming and accounting for one spider. Kimori, Sugiyama and Mariko score rather average hits, but Sung gets a triple-damage 15 and makes his first kill. The spiders close to close range and the extra damage helps Kimori, Sugiyama and Mariko finish off their wounded foes, while Sung starts a new one and Komako starts and finishes his second. The bushi change to edged weapons, but Kimori decides to leave the glory to his juniors and stands back to watch. Sugiyama gets a good hit followed by a critical hit to finish one spider, Sung and Mariko double-team another spider to death, and Komako stomps the last one, all without a scratch. He reflects that he was more likely to be hit by an arrow than bitten by a spider.

The party moves on and reaches the head of the valley. They find it guarded by nine totate-kumo and two of the biggest spiders they have ever seen. They will have to swing their swords over their heads just to reach the spiders' bodies, and Mariko's tanto will stand no chance at all. However, Emiko's sharp eyes give them plenty of warning and the bushi have easy targets for their bows from long range. Kimori, Sugiyama, Sung and Mariko all hit, but the range robs them of power and the hits range from Kimori's passable 10 to Sung's pathetic 2. Komako rides up and dismounts on the move, trying to land a flying stomp, but gets his foot caught in his stirrup and ends up being dragged, kicking and screaming, underneath his horse. Three spiders try to bite him while he is extricating himself, but they can't lay a fang on him. Meanwhile the giant spiders are attacking from range, weaving man-sized webs and throwing them at the attackers. Sung is hit but he struggles free; Emiko is also hit and is completely enmeshed, unable to move. Fortunately she is not threatened yet. The bushi fire another volley of arrows and Kimori gets a good hit for 15 while the others get mediocre scores. The giant spider Kimori and Sugiyama are targeting is by now down to half its hit points, but Sung and Mariko's spider is barely dented. The spiders throw webs again but miss. Komako finds his feet and turns his embarrassment to anger as he beats one of the totate-kumo senseless. The other smaller spiders crowd round him and try to bite but without success. Emiko finds she can move her fire staff slightly, so she jams it against her geta (wooden clog) and generates a spark, heating the whole staff and charring away the web! The spiders advance and Kimori and Sugiyama score again with nine points each, but Sung scores another 2 and Mariko misses. The almost-undamaged giant spider throws a web and entangles Sugiyama, completely immobilising him. Komako stamps his foot a couple of times and takes out another trap-door spider. The giant spiders reach point-blank range and Kimori puts a 19 point arrow into one, then draws his sword. Mariko cuts Sugiyama free from his silk prison, allowing him to draw his sword and reach up to chop at the spider, takes it's last health and felling it, leaving them with the biggest, ugliest pincushion they have every seen. Sung hits the other spider with an arrow and draws his sword. Komako critically squishes another trap-door spider with one foot then starts on another. The other Troubleshooters all close in on the remaining giant spider, Emiko landing a fire attack for 10 points. Kimori's big chopper has no trouble reaching the spider and he hits for 17 damage. Sugiyama follows with 10 points, but Sung can't reach. Mariko delivers the death blow with a dagger to the spider's heart, though no-one can work out how she reached. The dying spider has one last surprise as it collapses right on top of the horrified fighters standing beneath it. Kimori manages to skip out of the way (immediately plunging his sword into a totate-kumo, nearly killing it), but Sugiyama, Mariko and Emiko are squashed and bruised, while Sung is completely engulfed by the weighty corpse and is badly crushed. Meanwhile, Komako is bitten by a spider for minor damage and is poisoned and stunned, and another spider tries to bite him, falls over and dazes itself, gets up and falls over again. Kimori finishes a totate-kumo and starts and nearly finishes another. The rest of the fighters extricate themselves from under the dead giant spider and set about the remaining trap-door spiders. Emiko uses healing to reduce Komako's poison by one level as he stands stunned, unable to fight the poison himself. He pulls himself together and stomps another spider to death. The others finish off the final four spiders, Sugiyama indulging in massive overkill with a triple-damage 27 on a badly injured spider.

After the fight, Emiko cures Komako's poison and heals everyone back to full health. The party rides through the pass at the head of the valley and come out onto a mountainside sloping down to cliffs and a large bay. The coast road follows the bay, squeezed at the northern end by the mountains and the sea cliffs. Mariko assesses the battlefield (effect number of 25!) and decides where to position her troops for the ambush - if either side actually turns up! Sugiyama scouts the hills to the north but there is no sign of the Shogun's army on the coast road yet.

The next day the Awa-Isi army starts arriving through the Valley of the Spider. Mariko is pleased to see that the daimyo has managed to get 15,000 troops. To the north, Sugiyama spots the Shogun's army finally coming down the coast road, on schedule to reach the ambush point during the following day. He estimates the numbers at 25,000 and sneaks back to report to Mariko. Late in the day, the Tosa army turns up from the south with another 10,000 troops for Mariko. She gives her orders and the 25,000 allied troops get into position in the evening gloom, ready for the ambush. Sugiyama and Kimori agree to their usual bet on who takes the most heads in battle, despite the fact that Kimori has never won.

The next day dawns and the Shogun's army starts filing into Mariko's battleground. By midday they are in position and Mariko orders the attack. Mariko has a great advantage from the ambush, but manages to fumble the initiative (makes a bad battle roll) and actually loses more troops than the Shogun. Maybe she was put off by her encounter with a level 3 shogunate fighter, though she dispatched him in short order with four stabs and a critical Outright Kill without even creasing her clothes; she also took four other heads. In the thick of the fighting, Kimori takes 3 heads, Sugiyama and Sung one each, Emiko two and Komako took six in addition to encountering a level 4 enemy fighter. Komako is hit for 8 damage, but replies with solid hits for 13, 10 and 8, felling the enemy.

The afternoon draws on and the fighting continues. Mariko still has some advantage from the troop positions following the ambush, and uses it to inflict some losses on the Shogun without any losses herself. The numbers are now evened at 23 Troop Points. Mariko was slightly wounded, Kimori took 5 heads, Sugiyama 2 heads, Sung an impressive 7 heads, Komako 3 heads and an injury and Emiko 6 heads and an encounter. How will she fare against the bo-wielding, level 3 trooper?

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