Toturi III is dead. The Empire is left without an Emperor. Toturi's wife, Toturi Kurako, rules as the Empress until her husband's written wishes can be found and acted upon.
With the Emperor dead, others seek to gain power. One such man is the Khan of the Unicorn Clan, Moto Chagatai, who currently lays siege to the Imperial City, Toshi Ranbo wo Shien Shite Reigisaho.
The Champion turns to Gidayu and nods once and tersely. While Koshiro has shown compassion to even the Unicorn during their rebellion he has not even an ounce in his heart for those considered Lost. The uncertain times of the Four Winds scoured any mercy from the Champion for the servants of the Shadowlands.
'œExamine him Kuni-san.' His gaze focuses on the fallen '˜ronin', wondering what terror a Kuni Witchhunter holds for the '˜man'. 'œYou consort with the hell-beats of the Shadowlands, you dared lift a weapon against the Daughter of Heaven. You will reveal to us what you know, for there no further depths of shame for you to sink to...' The Champion pauses, his mind reaching a final and immovable decision.
'œ...if you speak freely, I may permit you to take your own life. Resist and you will meet an end worthy only for a common criminal.'
Sorry, Friday is my gaming group evening and we finished rather late. Luckily we have weekends for posting.
Congrats on the earth-shattering number of posts Tet!
The Kuni nods, then looks to the others. "Decapitate all of the bodies. It is the only way to guarantee they will not rise again, then throw them into the fire. If they have any documents or other identifying marks, set them aside for me to examine, unless you have large amounts of jade on yourself to protect from contamination. I will be busy with this one for a while."
He kneels down to the silent ronin, reaching into his satchel. He pulls out a spare finger of jade, and without a word presses it firmly into the skin of the man's forehead. While jade is not a surefire way of detecting Taint, in the vast majority of cases it works in doing so. The damage and pain the purity of Lady Sun's tears inflicts on those whose souls have been claimed by Jigoku is intense, and the results should be showing immediately.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Yaso pulls forth the finger of Jade he has carrying with him for lmost two years now. He firmly grasps the smooth finger before hanging it around hi neck and setting to work as instructed by the Witch hunter. It is a grim task but the Falcon has had to go through the same ritual before with those he knew as friends and thus it burdens him little with his enemies.
Akira returns with the animals, and then hearing the command of the Kuni looks to Koshiro, nods when given approval and then moves about the battlefield. He draws his wakizashi, and uses that weapon to take the heads of each of the fallen men. Grabbing one head at a time by the top knot he swings them around and launches them uncerimonisouly into the burnign buildings. His wounds prevent him from moving the heavy corpses, but he will assist others with the task if they join in. He doesn't care if he touches the dead bodies, he must cleanse himself already from the fore and blood of battle, a fee more touches through his gauntlets is nothing that will damn the one time Deathseeker. When he returns to the ogre, he looks at the large head and neck of the best. "We need a Nodachi for this work."
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Akira beheads the ronin and Lost samurai, but knows he will have to saw off the head of the ogre to get it off. That would be a long, and bloody, proposition.
When the Kuni presses down the Jade against the forehead of the man, he screams out in pain. The skin where the Jade is pressed bubbles as if on fire just as the wood cracks nearby at the end.
"Aaaaahhh! I will tell!" He begins blabbering, "Mercy! Mercy!"
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
Koshiro's grip on his katana tightens as the Ronin reacts poorly to the holy presence of the jade, the wretched man's soul firmly in the grasp of the Dark Kami. He gives no orders to the Kuni, knowing to let the man's expertise guide the interrogation.
'œThen speak quickly and answer these questions. Who sent you and how did you find us?'
"The twins!" he yells, "The Dark Daughter and Son." His neck is stretch far enough backward to keep the jade off his skin, so long as Gidayu allows it. "I know not how, I was stationed here, my commander ordered us to come here. We were to capture the Empress. That is all I know, I swear!"
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."
The Witch Hunter allows the Lost ronin to escape the pain for the moment, as long as he continues to cooperate. He mourns for the man's soul, surely destined for Jigoku. Perhaps the former samurai had not willing Tainted himself. Perhaps he could have found peace within himself, either requesting seppuku or joining the ranks of those such as the Damned or the Deathseekers. But instead he willingly served evil, and all such events are moments for pity and sadness. When the man tells all he knows, the death he intends to meet out will be swift and painless.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Akira is in no mood, he's standing, bloody, much of it ogre blood, his mempo snarling at the ronin. In one hand is his wakizashi, in the other is the last head of one of the ronin's, dangling by the hair of the top knot the scream on its face frozen in its moment of death. Standing there, the Lion looks down at the prisoner, "The twins? What are you talking about?"
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Returning with a few of the horses in tow Hideki moves over past the group farther away from the burning building to tie off the horses to a tree. Hopefully the extra distance between themselves and burning building will keep them under control, but he makes sure the knots are secure as he ties them up. One after another he moves from tree to tree securing the animals, and making sure they are far enough away from eachother that if one panics it won't hurt another horse, and hopefully make it less likely to panic the others.
Turning to follow Koshiro's orders Hideki begins grabbing weapons off the fallen Ronin to toss into the burning building. He pauses as he removes some of the simpler weapons, but hesitates on the Dashio. He knows now that these men are lost, and is guessing it should be ok to touch them, even more likely if Koshiro had told him to do so, but still feels akward even thinking about it.
Tearing off a large strip of one of the dead mens clothing Hideki uses the cloth as a slight barrier between himself and the weapons, feeling obviously uncomfortable moving them.
Finishing the task set before him Hideki moves to join Akira by the corpse of the ogre. "Maybe we could burn this one where it sits Akira-sama" Hideki offers. "Though if this head needs removing two could certainly get the job done faster than one." he adds quickly offering his help.
