Disicpline of Black Magic: Secrets and Lies

[ManWithDoor]

The Jackal is unperturbed by the blood and gore, although with the kill count rising he is beginning to actually enjoy this mission. He uses his medical knowledge to precisely jam a katana into the ribs of one of the corpses, making it too difficult to remove without disassembling the body. That should add to the overall flavor of the evidence left behind.

While the rest of the group stops momentarily to rest and recover, the Necromancer instead peruses the library, seeing if anything catches his eye. Since he won't ever be returning to this place, always best to loot while the looting is good.

OOC

No! We missed treasure! This D&D encounter is now failed. Without loot, we are meaningless. Anyways, I'm glad to see this is moving along again.

[Vardaen]

*thunk*

The katana is wedged solidly into the body of one of the Yodotai, and then the body is rolled to the side making it that much harder to remove the blade, making it impossible to do without touching the body. The Jackal then begins to search the library for anything that might prove usefull.

Most of the tomes are old and dusty and don't look to have been used in many years. Some are nothing more than tales and stories, but others are various tresties: On the economic diversity of Medinat al-Salam, The Senpent Gods and Philosophies, Evolution of Language in The Burning Sands, and the like. It takes The Snake a short while to come across some more interesting texts. He locates a collection of scrolls that speak of Rokugan, the Moto and the Ujik-hai.

Most important however are the two tomes set on one of the desks. They are tomes of Yodotai battle tactics. They contain detailed imags of phalanx movements, chain of command information, and general stratigies and tactics used by the men from the west. Master Saleh said there were three tomes, but you can only find two of them here.

[ManWithDoor]

The Snake grins, happy with his findings. His satchel is starting to get quite full with all the pilfered documents. Always good to take what you can. And the Scorpion would likely be interested in these documents if it had truly been them, although the Jackal have their own uses for such texts. He takes all the interesting scrolls regarding the Rokugani, and the two tomes he found. Hopefully the third will be with the leader of this group. If not, two out of three is not a bad haul.

[Vardaen]

OOC

Did we loose Nate? Is he on vacation and I don't see the thread in the Vaca Forum?

The Snake packs up the books, along with whatever else looks interesting. Then the group turns his attention to the east. Emir points to his Jinn, "Move." The Jinn wrinkles its nose but is bound to do as ordered and begins to float off to the 'east' heading for the last passage unexplored.

One by one the group of unlikely companions follows behind the Jinn. Asami joins you this time, a few Jackal men remaining at the exit to hold the rearguard just in case.

You can feel it in the air, the final battle for this little mission is about to take place. You move down the passage and find small recessed areas with suits of armor set in them. The armor is yodotai in design, but all of them are broken or damaged in some way. One suit bares a great black soot stain, an other has a hole punched right through it where the heart is. These suits are kept with respectful care, perhaps reminders of past battles and lost brothers.

The door to the chamber waits before you...

OOC

Okay one last post if you like before the "End Fight"

[Hayabusa]

"Shouldn't we burn the rest of the books? Even if it is useless knowledge it is somehting of value. Imagine them finding all these scrolls burned: they'd have to reacquire them, so they will have to waster resources to get it," Silah says as they leave the room. He knows how to hurt the enemy so he gives his little insight in how to sabotage an enemy.

He looks at the damaged suits of armor, touching one or two of the holes, wondering what could have done this. And the assassin is quite sure he does not want to experience what the men who wore the suits encountered.

OOC

Too bad that it's going to be over so soon...

[ManWithDoor]

The Snake shakes his head as they exit the library. "No, it would be best if they knew which volumes were missing. This is supposedly a raid. Since we only procured volumes on the Rokugani and battle tactics, rather than destroying all knowledge leaving them with no idea what was taken, we help point the finger further in the right direction."

[Hayabusa]

"Ah yes. And why would the Scorpions steal books about Rokugani warfare? Why should they want something about their home? I think it'd have been easier if the stole it there, because who knows how old these books are," Silah replies. "Instead we should steal something that would something that would have been valueable for the Scorpion."

[Vardaen]

Asami overhears the converations, "Think not of it as what good the books do Scorpion, but what harm it does the Yotodati. If you do not want your enemy to know how to fight you, would you leave them directions on how to do it? No. I think not. The Jackal has the right idea here. Removing knowledge from your enemy removes power from them."

She stands with the group, ready to fight at their side in this last battle. Perhaps she doesn't trust the group to get the job done, or perhaps she's just eager to draw some blood and gain some glory for herself, or perhaps there is another more sinister reason all together.

[Hayabusa]

"So it does more harm to them if we only steal three books without burning the rest of the library? Damn you woman, if that is how the Scorpion think of disabling their enemies. And if all Rokugani would do the same, I'd never consider you a threat to Medinaat-al-Salam," Silah says. It's hard for him not to laugh about Asami. He's sure that if the Yodotai or the Scorpion lose all the works they have stored here they'll be much more occupied with recovering them. And whoever takes a look can find out which books they took.

"Why should I throw a small pebble at my enemy, when I can hurl a massive rock at them at the same time?"

[Vardaen]

Asami smiles, "Actually the Scorpion would be more likely to simply send in one of their ninja and steel the books and get out without anyone knowing they were even here. That would be more of their style in Rokugan, then the Yodotai would think they might have a tratior among them and turn to in fighting and then kill themselves off saving us the work, but you must do what you must do." She won't stop Silah from burning the library, his arguement is sound enough.