-Follow the Mountains
Early Summer
A month and a half, it had taken you a month and half to batter your way along the mountains, a month and half with the main armies left completely behind. You have no doubt that the Shadow Dragon is trying to track you. (If only because your Shinobi are waaaay too happy about all the counter ambushing they've been doing) But for now, you've been ignored as no doubt titanic and pivotal battles were waged in the fiery cauldron that was the Northern Waste.
Maybe you should have gone for the gamble.
You push the thought of your mind as you continue to ride, with ever present mountains to your left, and the desert to you right. Travelling over the low hills was hard, exhausting work, but the efforts of your scouts and hunters had seen to it that your supplies had barely dwindled at all. That was the good news. The bad news was that the camp song had changed to 'Paneki's Mountains' and a number of things that you could do to them if you loved them so much.
It was hard to blame them really, the battle, the glory was elsewhere and maintaining morale as you climbed yet another endless hill, was always going to be an uphill battle. The plays your 'actors' put on took some of the edge off, but they needed to fight something or do something besides climb and soon.
Hmm maybe at the next good camping spot take a few days off and throw a party?
The logistics of the party are interrupted when a young, fresh faced looking Daidoji by the name of....dang it you should know this, rides up to you and bows.
"Daidoji-san" You say bowing back.
"Shireikan-dono. I bring word from our scouts." She says.
Riake, that was it. Daidoji Riake.
"What word Daidoji-san?" You ask.
"The Daidoji company under my command as per orders fanned out ahead of the main body, and discovered two obstacles up ahead. The first is that the desert near here has been heavily mined through some gaijin magic. I lost ten troops attempting to navigate a path through it." She says.
"And I'm sensing that something is blocking our way forward through the hills?" You ask wryly.
"Hai, Shirekan-dono. The hills and mountains here have been shaped so that climbing over them is impossible without taking fire from a central fortress built in the middle of a pass. I do not recognize the markings on said fortress. However, talking to Shinjo Mariko-chui has led me to believe that they are members of the Ebonites" Riake finishes.
Her control is impressive, but you've been reading people for decades now, you can see the arrogant sniff, and tell tale disgust for gaijin that suffuses the Daidoji when she talks of the Ebonites. In truth you don't blame her really. The Emerald Empire has had it proven time and again that foreigners are essentially evil and out to take everything you had.
But the Ebonites that was interesting. The Order of the Ebon Hand was a shadowy organization that had ties all over, but officially fought for the common people against injustice. Or at least, that was what they told everyone. You remember that Bayushi Kachiko had believed there was more to them in her journals about the fighting in Medinaat al-Salaam.
While Kachiko was somewhat eccentric after the Day of Thunder, she wasn't stupid. Odds were that like most people the Ebonites had multiple interests. Even the vaunted Unicorn compassion wasn't entirely unselfish. So the question was three fold. Why was there an Ebonite fortress here, who was actually inside, and what did they want?
"Daidoji-san, bring me some of the Ide interpreters. It's time to parley I think." You say.
Riake frowns but bows and rides off to do so. Ah to be young and sure enough of yourself that you could consider your superior as wrong without second guessing yourself.
Before too long, Ide Wenyan arrives, the eccentric caravan master had been essentially conscripted by you because of his mastery of foreign languages. Something he was not keen to let you forget. By habit you tune out his usual litany of complaints, that there was nothing here, that his children would go hungry without him to manage the caravan, and so on.
"Ide-san, ride with me." You say simply.
He sighs and the two of you ride towards the castle that Riake had found. Nestled on top of an artificial hill, it's pretty obvious that it's not remotely of Rokugani make. Instead of the smooth lines and careful mixture of stone and wood to resist earthquakes, and everything else, this castle is an ugly squat thing. With blocky walls connecting four towers that are barely worth the name, and a central keep towering over them. Honestly, you are no Crane, you care for more practical things, but that is the ugliest castle you have ever seen. The Crab make more beautiful castles. Still aesthetics aside, it will be a slog to take, given the likelihood of a well inside, the walls and towers are suite to supporting each other and while you have siege engines, they'll take time to go through stone that thick.
Now how are you going to--- ah the gate is opening and an envoy is riding out. That's convenient you suppose. A figure dressed in the black and white heraldry of the Ebonite order leads along with several guards. You look behind you, only to see the steady hand of Mirumoto Shin and several other samurai. While you hadn't called for guards, the Dragon have become eerily good at anticipating your needs. You blame the Tonbo.
A half hour passes as you wait for their envoy to reach you. A half hour to prepare your pitch, a half hour to ask them, nicely, to let you through. You don't know if it will work, but you'd rather not waste the troops taking this place. A half hour that ends when the envoy arrives and barks a series of strange words.
Wenyan dutifully translates for you.
"I am Vengeance, you will leave this place, or I will kill every last one of you"
You look at Wenyan who shrugs.
"Is there any room for negotiation?"
Another exchange.
"He has no use for the ones who set the Shadow Dragon on his order."
Well, that was something of a setback.
"Tell him we're here to stop the Shadow Dragon."
More words, you need to learn this language.
"He says that it is a well known truth that the Scorpion lie as they breathe. He says again, leave or he will kill all of you."
"Tell him that what happens next is on his own head." You say.
"He says that it always has been."
You turn and begin to ride back to your army. That had gone less than well. That castle sat in the way, and you would have to go through it to get to the goal you had set. A month and half of waiting had already driven the troops to distraction.
In your mind's eye you see three options forming. You could simply siege the place down, it would waste more time, but it would give the troops something to do, but that was...honestly a little gauche. More appealing was using your stealth troops to launch a night attack and open the gates for your army, and take them by surprise. That was risky though, it was a castle you had no intelligence on. Finally, you could simply try and assassinate 'Vengeance' (Seriously who names themselves that?) and hope whom ever takes over would be more reasonable.
[] Siege the Castle
[] Night Attack
[] Assassinate
[] Write in
