[x] Charge.
Attack Rolls: 7k3=26, 7k3=52
Damage Rolls: 6k3=34, 6k3=19
You draw your tetsubo and charge forward. You have to give your comrades just a few moments to stand and draw their blades, to keep everyone from getting surrounded. Knives may be but simple weapons, hardly worthy of any true Samurai, but en masse they would do terrible damage. Even the weakest sting of an insect would kill if several grouped together.
But you will not let that happen. You are of the Crab Clan. You are a servant of Hida! These fools had no idea what they were getting themselves into, no comprehension of the force that was about to be brought upon them.
The man at the front learns, however, when you slam your tetsubo into his chest with all the weight you can bring to bear. This, combined with your charge, bends the assailant in two around your weapon before the fool goes flying off into another of his companions behind him, sending them both down in a tumble of flailing limbs.
Oddly, though, it almost feels like the man's skin was… tougher than it should have been. But you have little time to consider this fact as you prepare for the others who are even now closing in on you.
You turn sharply where you stand, twisting to strike again at a woman wielding a kama. Your attack is beautifully done, a rare show of grace for what is considered a weapon focused more on brute strength than elegance. It strikes the woman in the side, and you feel a crunch as one of her ribs breaks.
But that is all you feel. Your eyes widen in alarm, for that blow should have done far more damage than it did. Two ribs should have broken, easily. Perhaps even three. But your tetsubo met the same resistance you thought you felt before, as if you were striking boiled leather.
It is only now that you have come close that you see what bothered you before, observing these attackers in the lantern light. Their skin is discolored and sickly, almost a brownish green. There is also a faint odor in the air, just on the edge of your perception. If your senses were not so alert right now, you might have missed it entirely.
It is the scent of rot.
You turn as one of the men comes close with a knife, and the attack deflects off your armor harmlessly. The strength behind the blow, however, surprises you. The man is skinny and small, but the grazing strike makes you stumble a you are pushed back. That should not have happened, not if his strength is purely natural.
The woman you attacked before takes advantage of your momentary distraction, her kama slicing a burning line across your arm. You barely restrain a hiss of pain and move away. That attack, too, should not have struck you so solidly, not when the woman is so much smaller than you. It is only thanks to some of the assault skidding off your shoulder guard that it didn't cause even more damage.
The remaining six assailants begin to surround you now, having recovered from their shock at your sudden charge. They will move as one, now, and attack you en masse. You grip your tetsubo firmly and prepare to be attacked from all sides.
And then a huge fist strikes one of your foes in the face, breaking the man's jaw with a crack. Shirou is there, his body radiating a haze like a fire, and his foe stumbles with a burn across his wretched flesh. The monk dodges to the side as the man retaliates, and attacks again with a brutal elbow strike to the man's chest. The blow looks like it could have dropped a horse, but even still the man stands and tries once again to stab at Shirou.
Shasa is there, as well. Her sword is moving in a blur, strikes flowing from one to the next in an elegant display of kenjutsu. Already two of the mob are bleeding from half a dozen cuts, and one is clutching his side gingerly. But despite having suffered enough injuries to send peasants fleeing, and despite their sickly nature these people do look like peasants, they do not retreat. They attack Shasa one after another, but your fellow Yojimbo manages to keep her katana between their darting blades and her flesh.
Suddenly, Mataru stands beside you, his naginata slicing one of the attacking women from shoulder to hip. The woman screams as her blood spurts from the wound, but doesn't drop as you'd expect one to from a wound that grievous. She does, however, stumble away and give you both a little room to breathe. A welcome respite considering what you were expecting.
The Scorpion's expression is hard, and you see he's stopped smiling. He glances at you briefly behind his mask, and twists to intercept a knife coming at you from the side. The blade clangs off his weapon and twirls briefly through the air before falling to the ground.
"Are you all right?" he asks, his polearm twirling to trip up another foe and sending him tumbling to the ground in front of you.
[] Write in.
Sosuke has taken 14 Wounds. He is still in the "Healthy" bracket, and has 64 Wounds remaining.
