As a rule, everyone hates fighting at night. You are one of the rare exceptions, the night was your ally, your cloak and defence. The spirit wars had seen you master the concept and use it more than once to destroy the forces of the Steel Chrysanthemum in detail before they even knew what was happening.
Naturally the question of how to deal with this fortress would end up with you plotting a night attack. The problem was that you didn't have your army of ninja with nothing left to lose to scout and give your forces the lay out of the place. This was going to be hard and fast, and truth be told, you didn't know if your army could do it.
However, as the Akodo liked to say. 'Needs must' You needed to take that castle thus your attack was a must. You would be damned though if you didn't do it right though. There weren't many shugenja with you who specialized in speaking with the air kami, but there were enough for what you wanted. As night fell, the clouds dropped down cloaking the valley from the light of Lady Moon. It took training to operate without light, without making a sound. Fortunately, while you hadn't brought the main of your army, you had brought a small company, three hundred souls willing to live and die in the darkness.
So while you got your army together, that company went forth cloaked from sight by their own skill and the prayers of the shugenja. Would it be enough? You wouldn't know until the fire rose into the sky or not.
Hours passed, and there was no sign, in your mind's eye you saw the desperate fighting that had to be happening beyond your sight.
They scaled the walls using the climbing claws of the Shinobi, the worn metal digging into the cracks between the stone to push them up. Spread out around the castle in groups of ten or less, each climbing with practised precision to give no sound, no sign that they were about to cross over the castle ramparts. A guard looks over the edge and they still, waiting with infinite patience for him to look away.
Finally the guard, eye's ruined by the torch light looks back to his path and continues going.
Using stones thrown over the edge, they distract look outs for their companions to jump over the rampart. The look outs barely have moments to wonder what the sound behind them is before bladed weapons cut through their spines, their bodies collapsing into the waiting arms of the Shinobi. The guards are then through over the edge to the ground below.
But one group makes mistake, there's one extra guard, and she turns and runs to the tower to warn her fellows. Shuriken and kunai fly through the night, nicking her body with a dozen cuts, even as one ninja throws his rope dart around her neck and pulls her back. The flying weapons had never been meant to stop her, only fill her with the poison that prevents her from screaming as she's dragged out of the light into darkness.
They move towards the towers. The dance begins again as climbers head to the top picking out the few remaining look outs and murdering them. The other teams take positions at the doors, and prepare to breach A strict clock has already begun for the shift change that they know is happening but not when. Thus even though one tower's teams aren't already, the door team has to go now.
They open the door throwing in smoke bombs and poisoned shuriken as they race in. If the Roof teams had been ready, all the Ebonites would have fallen in a brief chaotic minute of violence. As it stands those at the back survive, and begin channelling their own magic. The smoke means nothing as the Ebonite Templars charge into the fray of the Shinobi. Guided by faith and instinct their terrible war hammers and maces break people in two when they hit. The roof teams come in, but the damage is done. A bloody attrition battle is waged as ninja-to, katana, axe, and kusari-gama match against the strength of the Templar...and are found wanting.
In the end the numbers the shinobi brought to the fight allow them to win. But from the north tower where once there had been fifty, ten remain.
They continue to move through the tower, killing each floor as best they can, although the North Tower struggles from the lack of numbers. The towers secured and barricaded, teams break off to secure the gate house, only then do the other Tower groups realize what happened to the North tower. Its not ideal but they break off teams to reinforce their comrades.
The gatehouse proves far easier to take, with the converging Shinobi only hindered by the strange arcane lock they used on the winch itself. Dead Ebonite litter the inside, as they hear the sound of a bell, a shift change. Well life just got a lot more difficult now didn't it? A call of a raven is made by one of them. On the rooftop above, a fire is set.
You see the fire on the gate house blaze to life. You had taken your army as close as you dared to the walls. It was now or never, if you couldn't force that gate and hold it, then this was all for nothing. You call out to your forces to charge. A long river of bodies begins a light run to take the gate, your heavy infantry leading the way as you come up from behind.
The Ebonites weren't idle as you took their walls and forced their gate. Vengeance had gathered up as many troops as he could and thrown them like an iron fist into your own. Now the hard brutal shoving match began. The Ebonites lead by their Templar assaulted your forces brutally, but their numbers were few, and the shinobi company rained down fire from the towers on them.
You should be winning, and you almost are except for one thing. Vengeance is charging through the ranks, killing as he goes, screaming in that barbarian tongue. That one man can change the scales so drastically, is well, actually par for course in Samurai battles.
Vengeance sees you and charges, screaming still, this time his words directed at you, even if you don't understand them. But, there's only so many ways interpret angry yelling and him throwing spears at you really. Some things are just universal. You draw your sword, not the sword of the champion but the sword you were given at your gempukku, it's served for nearly two decades now, your grandfather will keep you safe a little longer.
Now how would you stop Vengeance from ruining everything?
[] Attack him head on and wait for your hatamoto to get archers on him. This is dangerous for you, the Bayushi Ryu doesn't like slugging matches, but you can hold for a little while at least and his death will collapse the Ebonites.
[] Attack him and draw him away from the rest of your troops and try to tire him out. While this won't necessarily stop the Ebonite fight. It's probably the one that you can do easiest at the moment.
[] Don't attack him at all but run, let him chase you around this castle and find a way to ambush him. This is a risk, you don't have a lay out of the castle, he does, so an ambush will be difficult. On the other hand, it is something you excel at. So a gamble one way or another, you've already bet everything once tonight...and if you come up right, you won't be hurt at all.
AN: Sorry for the delay on this one.
AN2: Editted to give voters more clarity
