"You cut it close, Summoner."
"With respect, you said that I had four hours, I said I'd be back in three, I'm back in three."
"Hm."
Hazō shrugged and offered up an ambiguous smile. It covered many sins. He held up a sheaf of seals as a distraction. "I brought...well, basically all the gear. I'm set to protect your people."
"'My' people, Summoner?"
"I didn't want to presume."
"Hm."
"Are they here yet?"
"Ten minutes, perhaps."
"Okay. While we wait, is there anything more you can say about the Eaters? That sounded important."
"Very little that would be of any use, and I am reluctant to set your expectations falsely. The myths are some of the earliest we have."
"Damn. In that case, what else can you tell me about the mission? Where exactly are we going? What can I expect to see on the way in terms of dangers or opportunities? Do I have any secondary objectives, like making maps or finding resources or training
our pack, or establishing diplomatic relations, or—"
"Is this your normal reaction to stressful situations?"
Hazō blinked and closed his mouth. After a moment he shrugged. "Pretty much, yes. There isn't a lot of time and I need a lot of information very quickly. I'm good at making plans in the moment but I need the basic information to work with."
"Very well. In answer to your questions: Many things. North-northwest to meet your team, then west. Bears, Cats, Arachnids, and more. Scratched-out version only, nothing time-consuming. If you stumble on them, lovely, but don't go looking. Yes, but only on the move. That's your mission leader's job."
Hazō paused, thinking back through the conversation to try to match up his questions and Cannai's answers. "Okayyy...any further comments?"
Cannai's eyes crinkled very slightly in amusement. "Canabisu is the leader of your mission with you as second in command and defense coordinator. Your primary job is to maintain contact with me and provide me with maximum strategic information. Your secondary job is to protect the other members of your expedition. All members of your mission aside from yourself are expendable."
"Are...? Oh."
"I did mention this earlier."
"No, no, you did. It just...hadn't really sunk in."
"If you wish to be a Clan Head you will need to learn to sacrifice your family when necessary."
"Right. Yes."
"Returning to the topic—"
"YAYYYYY!"
The sound of nineteen overexcited puppies galloping out of the pre-dawn dim and pouncing on their Summoner (who apparently was some weird extraworldly thing called a 'human'!) did not have a close analogy. The feeling of it was rather like being run over by a heavy fur blanket that wiggled and prodded at you with many cold wet noses while simultaneously pinning you to the ground under its mass. Oh, and the blanket was administering lots of slobbery licking.
"That's enough, children."
"YAYYYYY!!"
"Children! Get off the Summoner, please."
"Don' wanna! He's neat!" / "He squeaks!" / "Is he supposed to be that color?" / "I go first, I go first!" / "No, meeeee! I want to see the Human Place!" / "Me, me, me!"
Cannai leaned forward and started firmly nosing the puppies off of Hazō, starting with the two that had floomped on his neck.
"No, Cantelabra, humans are not supposed to be that color. If he starts turning that color, step away from him because you're probably choking him."
"Ack...heavy..."
"Alpha, we can't be choking him! We didn't use any teeth!"
"Yeah! Packmaster Canni says to choke someone you need to bite their throat and shake like this!" The Golden Retriever puppy shook his head furiously from side to side, growling his best (and rather adorable) growl.
"What? That's stupid!
My Packmaster said that if you shake all you do is tear the wound open and spray blood everywhere, and that makes you stinky and shows where you killed and sometimes lets them make noise! The best way is to latch on and squeeze, and let yourself hang under them so they get pulled to the ground."
"Dum-my! Dum-my! Your Packmaster is a dum-my!
Our Packmaster says—"
"Your
Alpha says: Sit!"
Nineteen fuzzy bottoms hit the ground instantly and thirty-eight eyes got very big.
"My apologies, Alpha," said the gray-muzzled beagle who had trotted up several seconds after the puppies swarmed Hazō. She was out of breath and clearly on the edge of exhaustion. "They got ahead of me."
"It's fine, Canephore. Thank you for bringing them so quickly." He surveyed the line of attentive and slightly wiggly pups. "I am grateful to all of you for being here. Now, I need a few more minutes with the Summoner before you all accept the covenant. Please wait by the fire. Eat something, and it would be wise to lie down for a bit if you can manage it."
Canephore herded the protesting and wiggling puppies away.
"Where were we?" Cannai said thoughtfully. "Ah, I recall. Your mission to prevent the Dog Clan from being entered by surprise into a two-front war, hopefully find us allies against the existential threat of your sister's warmongering Pangolin Clan and, oh yes, potentially save all life on the Seventh Path." His tongue lolled. "So, no pressure."
"Very considerate of you to finish that way."
"I try. Going back to where we were: You are going to the Dog coastline. You are then going west. Canabisu is your team leader with you as his second. You are in charge of the team's security. He sets policy, you implement it. He controls strategy—where you travel, how long you stay in one place, whether you negotiate or fight. You control tactics—preparation of defenses, whether to fight lethal or non-lethal, and so on."
"How long do you expect this mission to take? Weeks, months?"
"It's about three hundred leagues from here to the northwest corner of Dog. If Canabisu chooses to pass directly across Bear, that will be another four hundred. If he chooses to follow the coastline, perhaps four times that. Cat...we don't know the size of Cat, but it's large. We believe that they reach all the way to the coast on the north, meaning that crossing them directly is an option without worrying about missing Arachnid. Going along the coastline would make it easier to avoid attention, cutting through would be both much quicker and much more dangerous. We have no information whatsoever about the width of their territory or what adjoins them to the west or south. I need that information. Canabisu will choose how to find the west border of Cat. Once you find it you will follow the coastline until you find Arachnid. You will provide protection for the team, but you
will survive this mission, even if it means the rest of the team dies. Protect them, do your best to make the mission succeed, but survive. I desperately need this information, but if we end up in a war, whether it be against the Pangolin or the Eaters, you are more useful to me as a communications hub and a rapid-response force than the members of this force are."
Cannai studied him for a moment to ensure that the message had sunk in, then nodded and continued.
"The most critical element of your orders: You
will report to me at least twice per day, more often if you have important information. Those reports will include summaries from every one of your contractees. I am going to be dispersing them across the entire Dog territory. You will not disclose this information to
anyone outside of your team. Some of the information you will be hearing will be sensitive, and the parts that aren't sensitive will still amount to a disturbingly complete picture of our internal status and capabilities. I am placing a tremendous amount of faith in you, Hazō. Do not let me down."
"I won't, sir." He licked his lips, thinking. "Three hundred leagues? That's going to take days."
"You will be there by mid-morning tomorrow. The rest of your team will arrive by noon."
"How...I mean...but...
what?"
Cannai's tongue lolled. "It is fortuitous that you supplied us with those saddle bags. Go make your contracts."
o-o-o-o
Hazō tucked his head more firmly into Cannai's side and scrunched down as far as he could into the saddlebag. The ground was tearing past far too quickly, the wind of their passage cold on his skin. He had to keep his mouth tightly closed and face tipped down or to the side because otherwise the wind choked him or pressed painfully on his tightly-closed eyes. Every few yards the world would blur around them and Hazō's stomach would turn a flip. He had made the mistake of looking around during the first couple of blurs and had nearly vomited.
Three young pups rode in Cannai's right-hand saddlebag, mostly to balance out Hazō's weight in the left. One of them, Cantelabra, would be part of the voyage while the other two would be dropped off elsewhere to be points in the Summoner-centered communications net that Cannai was building.
Abruptly, Cannai's stride shortened. Moments later he shifted into a fast trot that jounced his passengers uncomfortably. Thirty seconds later he came to a halt.
"We have arrived."
"Urgh," Hazō said, flopping out of the bag and onto the ground. He tried to straighten up but his inner ear had been in revolt for the last fifteen hours and he couldn't manage to make the world stay oriented. He chose instead to roll on his back and focus on not vomiting.
"I can feel you laughing," he moaned. He tried closing his eyes but that made the dizziness worse so now he was staring fixedly at the clouds.
"Now, Summoner, would I do such a thing?"
"That was the best, Alpha! Can we go again?!"
"Later, children. Packmaster Candi is over that way, and if you ask very nicely he might have some honey treats for you."
"Yes, Alpha! C'mon, guys!" The gallop of oversized paws left Hazō alone with the Dog Boss.
"Ugh. How are you not even tired? You didn't stop or even slow down all day."
"Not true. We stopped thrice."
"Okay, needing to pee does not count! And besides, you didn't go. It was just me and the kids."
The raised eyebrow was almost audible.
"No, I wasn't watching. Gah. I have ears. I could hear the puppers but nothing from your direction."
"I am the Alpha of Dog Territory."
"Yeah, that's not an answer."
"It is, in fact. And also the only one I have. Can you stand?"
With an old man's groan, Hazō rolled to his belly, climbed to his knees, and made it to his feet. The world was still spinning but it had slowed down enough that he was confident he could walk. "I'm good. Where to?" A thought occurred and he hurried to add, "Is the mission itself going to be like that?"
Cannai stood up and started walking towards a minor hill up ahead. "It will not. You will be expected to go on your own rather numerically-challenged number of feet."
"Oh, Sage be praised."
They reached the crest of the hill and Hazō paused at the view below.
The Seventh Path ocean spread before him, an endless cerulean expanse that stretched far beyond what he had ever seen on the Human Path before disappearing and eventually disappeared into a hazy horizon. The sun dazzled diamonds across the surface and waves crushed the shore in repeated hammer blows, each one cresting at twice Hazō's height. The scent of salt and fish and seaweed pressed itself firmly to his face.
"Wow."
Cannai stood silently beside him, giving Hazō time to drink in the sight. After a solid thirty seconds, Hazō shook it off and started walking again. The long grass and dirt of the prairie that had gripped firmly to the ground on the far side of the hill was trickling rapidly away, the soil growing sandy and the grasses sparser and sharper. There was a small gathering of dogs waiting on the sand below, watching them descend.
"Ah," Cannai said regretfully. "I see that we are late. Apparently I shouldn't have held back so much."
"Held back?!"
"Yes. I've noticed that humans tend to have stomach trouble when I move quickly. It's why I ran most of the distance."
"Wait, what? Ran
most of the distance?"
"Welcome," Cannai said, raising his voice slightly as the three dogs who had been waiting came to meet them. "You arrived more swiftly than I expected."
"Hey, Alpha," said the leader. He was surprisingly deep-voiced for such a little mop of a terrier—a bit larger than the ninjutsu master Canun, but still barely up to Hazō's knee. His dangly tan fur was liberally shot with gray and he moved a bit stiffly. The other two dogs had normal-sized saddlebags but his had been miniaturized in order to not drag on the ground. "How's your morning?"
"It goes well, Canabisu. The children have been contracted by the Summoner and are being dispersed as we speak, and I had a pleasing run on the way here."
"Far out. You must be the Summoner?"
"Gōketsu Hazō, sir. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
The small dog eyed Hazō up and down. "You too, buddy. You're shorter than Kakashi was."
"I'm younger, sir. Still growing."
"Far out. Did the boss fill you in?"
"Yes, sir."
"Got any problems being second in command and not first?"
That was a heck of a question to ask while the rest of the delegation (squad? unit?) was ranged behind him.
"I do not, sir. In fact, it sounds quite pleasant. I'm the Clan Head back home, so everything is on my shoulders. Leaving strategic and routing decisions to you while I implement them and control our security efforts...well, honestly, it will be a vacation."
"Cool." He nosed towards the dogs arrayed on either side of him, naming them in turn. "This is Cangue and Canaut. They'll be the fighters of the team, under your tactical authority."
"Hello," said Cangue. She was probably long-legged and lean, but it was impossible to tell given the curtain of copper-blonde hair that tumbled down her sides and legs, rendering her virtually square. Her head was triangular with an elegant snout and a shiny wet nose that was notably smoother than those of the other dogs around her. There was a certain aloofness to her that immediately made Hazō nervous. The last thing he needed was subordinates who resented him.
"You're the Summoner, huh?" Canaut said, eyeing Hazō. "I thought you'd be taller."
"I get that a lot."
Canaut's jaw dropped open and his tongue lolled in amusement. He was one of the largest breeds that Hazō had met thus far, with thick legs, a short, wide head and droopy facial folds that made him look like a disapproving schoolmaster. His fur was close to his body, mostly white with large tan panels across his sides and tail.
"Hey, boss, weren't we supposed to have a kid along?" Canabisu asked, looking at Cannai.
"Indeed. Cantelabra is with the others. I wanted the grownups to be able to meet and speak without distraction. For my own part, I need to be elsewhere so I shall leave you to it. Good luck to all of you. Stay alive, and good hunting." He nodded to each of them, then turned and vanished up and over the hill, clods of dirt erupting behind him as he ran.
"Show off!" Canabisu shouted after him. He snorted in amusement and shook his head. "Let's get the kid and put this show on the road. We've got twenty miles to the border with Bear and the head of the local sleuth is expecting us by noon. She's promised us an escort to the border of her patch and we'll talk to the next guy in line to get sent on from there."
"We're going straight across?" Hazō asked.
"Ayup. Way too much hassle to try sneaking through and the Bear folk are pretty chill dudes. Mostly. I've got some mellow with me that should help things." He turned towards where Cantelabra had been sent and started walking.
"'Some mellow'?" Hazō asked, falling in beside him.
"Ick," Cangue said. "Canabisu, how can you chew that foulness? It tastes like Hyena scat smells."
"Hey, chill with the attitude, sister. I've got the good stuff, not that dirt weed that grows around you Silver Ridge types. If that's all you've ever had then no wonder you're so down on it. Don't worry, my stuff isn't all bitter like that." He gestured towards the miniature saddlebag on his left. "Trust me, it's good."
"Hrmph."
"Actually," Hazō said diffidently. "It might not be a bad idea for the four of us to make contract so that I can summon you if necessary. It would give us a secure location for discussions that need to stay private from our hosts, whether that's in Bear or elsewhere. It's quick—we exchange a drop of blood, make a contract, and spend a little chakra."
"Oh, cool," Canabisu said. "Far out, I get to see the Human Path. Canaut and Cangue, you guys are second and third. I'm calling dibs on the first contracting."
Author's Note: I'm out of time and energy for the day, so I'm going to wrap it there and do the rest in overview.
You have formed contracts with everyone on the mission. You have been traveling together for four days and it's going well thus far. Cangue is still a bit reserved but it seems like that's just who she is and she doesn't have a problem with you in particular. Canaut is calm and probably a bit thick, but he works well with you now that he's seen you know what you're doing in terms of wildnerness safety. He has made some useful suggestions which you accepted. Cantelabra is a little hyperactive and adorable. He is a bit younger than ideal, as he has a tendency to waste energy on the run and then need to stop for a rest. It was less than a day before you and Canabisu decided that wasn't going to fly. Now, whenever Cantelabra needs a nap he either rides in your backpack or the saddlebags of one of the other two. He seems to enjoy it, which has led to some concern that he's sandbagging.
Canabisu is very laid-back but he knows his business. He has successfully negotiated passage for the team through the territory of two sleuths. Based on what you've been told, there are four more between you and the western border of Bear, which is the eastern border of Cat. After some discussion, and the offer of skytower usage for sleeping, he has decided to head straight across Cat territory as it will shave weeks off of the trip.
The terrain is light forest or open prairie in sunny weather with mild temperatures, making this pretty much optimal conditions for traveling. Under these conditions, ninja can travel at 20 mph for 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. The adult dogs can keep up with ninja speed, although Canabisu's age makes him stiff and he needs time in the mornings to limber up. Canabisu has set a policy of traveling quickly for two days, then keeping a moderate pace the next day and stopping early. It's working so far; no one is looking too ground down, although you're watching Canabisu nervously.
You have managed the communications networks for the Dogs
and Cannai seems pleased with your performance thus far. as best you can, but you don't have the chakra to do the job, even though the puppies are very low-cost summons, ranging from 5-15 CP with an average of 10. Given that you only have 260 CP max, the best you can do is summon 4 puppies in the morning, take their reports, summon Cantily and give her the details so she can report back to Cannai, then repeat the process in the evening. Cannai is disappointed and grumpy but recognizes that it's the best that can be done given the limitations of his Summoner. He has hinted that improving your chakra reserves would be a Good Thing. (Yes, this paragraph was amended after
@Velorien pointed out the issue.) For the duration of the mission Hazō is at 100 CP unless he gets permission to skip a check-in. Cannai is the only one who can provide that authority, although Canabisu is chief of mission and can provide permission for anything else, including Hazō taking a few hours on the Human Path to talk with family and/or friends if he wants to. You have been sleeping in skytowers at night, so it should be pretty safe to do that. Note that dogs are not capable of operating seals so they cannot get up or down without Hazō's help. They are working on it.
The Gōketsu estate spins on. Akane is doing a fine job thus far and nothing exciting has happened. You've had very brief conversations—you are only on the Human Path twice a day and only for 30-60 minutes each time, because that's how long it takes to summon the puppies, get their reports, and then send it all back to Cannai by way of the final summon. You've had time for a quick smooch or a cup of tea together here or there, but nothing more.
XP AWARD: 16 This update covered four days.
Brevity XP: 4
"GM had fun" XP: 0 No strong feelings.
Voting is open but there's no actual decision points available on the Seventh Path. You can give directions to the Gōketsu regarding things you want done on the Human Path or any messages you want sent, but that's about it. Here are some options, not all of which might be good ideas:
- [x] Steady as she goes. Listen to Canabisu, trust in your subordinates, wait for further developments.
- [x] Arrange 4 hours off in the evening after the dogs are safely in a skytower. You, Ino, and Akane can have dinner and discuss your future relationship.
- [x] Tell Kagome-sensei to stop working on reactive armor and focus on [write in]
- [x] Ask Asuma for permission to ask River about the Kangaroo scroll
- [x] Ask Asuma for permission to send a mission to retrieve the Kraken Scroll
- [x] Ask Asuma for permission to send a mission to retrieve the Otter Scroll
- [x] Send out more Haru-style direct-payment uplift missions using Gōketsu scrip
- [x] Send out more Haru-style direct-payment uplift missions using ryō
- [x] Send a team to the iron mine to start clearing the land
- [x] Send a team to acquire land somewhere in Fire and clear it. (Write in what type of land)
- Write in
Voting ends on Wednesday, February 3, 2021, at 12pm London time.
EDIT: Incidentally, I should have explicitly said that the title of this chapter was created by
@FaintlySorcerous , the author of the plan that it's based on. The title of the chapter is (as usual) a link to the plan but I still want to give public credit.
