[x]Gman
-[x] Spend 2 exp to get Storytelling 2. Bank the rest.
Asami leads you and your companions in the march back to Kyuden Bayushi. The rest of the magistrates remain behind to look over the longhouse, and very likely to burn it to the ground within the next hour. Controlled, of course. No one wants a wildfire in the middle of a city. Even still, it's for the best.
Half an hour later you are back within a familiar sitting room with people looking over your injuries. You've striped out of your armor to let an old woman clean the wound and smear more of that foul smelling paste on your belly. It stings a bit, but in the end it does manage to deaden the pain a little. Not much, but any amount is helpful.
The bandages are just finished wrapping around your stomach when Bayushi Yarato exists the Daimyo's chambers. He looks over you and your comrades as the servants put the final touches on treating your injuries, and nods.
"The honored Daimyo is ready to receive you now," he says evenly.
You nod and rise to your feet, covering your chest with your shirt. It's stained from the blood, but otherwise serviceable. It's certainly better than stepping into the Daimyo's presence bare-chested, at any rate.
You bow low as you enter, though not as deeply as either Asami or Mataru. But that is only right, since Bayushi Chisata is not a Daimyo of your own Clan. Still, it is enough respect for one of her station, as well as for your lord who sits near by.
"My lord, and Bayushi-sama," you say, still bowing. "I report that the Lost has been destroyed."
"I would hear this in more detail," Bayushi Chisata says, lazily taking a sip of sake from a small cup. "Please, go on."
"At Bayushi Asami-sama's direction we moved to assault the longhouse," you say, falling into step immediately. You've given after-action reports before. "Myself and Hiruma Shasa-san leading the assault with Shirou of the Osano-wo Temple and Bayushi Mataru-san. Once inside we engaged the Tainted. They consisted of mostly peasants, with the exception of a thing known as Hachi." You grimace. "Hachi and I had a prior encounter. Right before the Battle of Skulking Shadows, he killed a comrade of mine."
"Ah," Yasuki Goro says. "You speak of the Nezumi hero, Gazat'ken."
"Yes," you say, unable to keep the melancholy from entering your voice at the memory of your friend's last, agonized moments. "Before Hachi and I did battle, he did something to strengthen the rest of the Tainted as the Magistrates poured into the fight."
"He displayed the ability to empower his allies?" Bayushi Chisata cut in, a tinge of alarm in her voice. She sat up a little straighter. "Was he a Maho-Tsukai? Did he work blood magic?"
"He didn't display any Maho," Shasa answers for you. "This seemed more like something intrinsic to the Taint itself, rather than any kind of spell." She shifts a little, taking weight off of her right side, where you see she has suffered a cut to her hip. "If the lost One had known Maho, he would undoubtedly have used it during the fight."
"I admit that it was a difficult battle," you continue. "And that without the help of the rest of the initial squad Hachi may very well have been able to flank us. However, with effort we defeated him and broke the back of the Lost's resistance. As soon as reasonably able, I reported to you my lord, and you Bayushi-sama."
"And I am glad you did," Bayushi Chisata says, resuming her lounging posture. You get the feeling she is not truly relaxed, however. "Still, this is troubling. A creature so obviously Tainted, and yet he could spread his vileness to the peasantry without being noticed…"
"You suspect he is one of many," Yasuki Goro says. "You think there are more like him within the Empire."
"Yes," Bayushi Chisata responds. She sets down her cup and places her hands on the table. "If this abomination could worm its way beneath the watchful eye of the Scorpion, then who knows where else they might be hiding?" She shakes her head. "We will need to send missives to the other Clans. These subversive actions cannot be allowed to spread any further."
It is a disturbing thought. The Scorpion are the ones who walk in the shadows, for all that they deny this fact to the rest of the Empire. Of all the clans, they are the most likely to have caught this before anyone else. And yet it took them a month before figuring out the spiders hiding within their lands, and more time still before you came along and helped in burning the Tainted out. It is a testament to their skills in remaining unseen.
If the enemy has become so organized it can send agents to hide within the Empire, then times are indeed becoming dire. Information could be fed back to the Shadowlands, or, even worse, the infiltrators could sabotage Rokugan's efforts against them. If left unchecked, the coming war might be lost before it even truly begins.
[] Write in.
[] Retire for the evening and timeskip to the morning departure.
With treatment, Sosuke has healed 1 wound. He has 59 remaining.
