.....duly noted.....
Any questions for Omma?......
I'll be back in an hour;
"Omma... is there one you know of that might know more of these... miem... of the legend? The wizard and the warrior woman?"
"Perhaps;....in the forest,....there lives an old hermit about 15 miles southwest of here.
He was a noble personage of some sort or another; I don't recall all of the details exactly, and you must forgive me, for I am the wife of a village elder, and as such am ignorant of the ways of court.
This hermit; he was old when I was young and fetching even. AAH! Miem, I bet you're even older than me HA!
I've met him a few times; he'd come here to acquire rice or this and that.
Apparently, he turned his back on court life, to contemplate nature.
Some samurai, or even courtiers are known to do that. It's very in line with the Path of Enlightenment.
He writes poetry, and drinks tea and paints all night, and all the sorts of things old hermit former courtiers are prone to doing.
He is called Jissu now; I don't know what his....royal pedigree was. He has many scrolls of a historical type though.
Hmmm; let me think who else. In the town east of here, there's a temple, and priests who are students of all things, but....they might not be prone to being too friendly to your group of wild and wooly foreigners. No offense meant, good men one and all."
"So Elgan, what's the deal with this leak?" Beldan asks of the druid. "How do we plug it so these nice folk don't keep getting attacked by watermelons and giant fish?"
With a faint smile, "I am little more than a child in my people's eyes, honored Omma. In years, though... yes, I may have been born before you. But your wisdom is greater in your ways here. I find no signs of ignorance." She bows, still seated.
Looking at the others, she agrees with Beldan, "Yes, what will be necessary to plug this 'leak'? I would go visit with the hermit, but not until my duty to the Lady is complete."
Hearing the old woman speak of the hermit living SW of the village, Dok remembers his view (when they were South of the village) from his spell showing a complex of buildings to the West. Curious now, he finally speaks. "Does the old hermit man live alone in many buildings?"
Elgan shrugs.
"Ah dunnos fer shoo-eh. Ah'm more uv a 'observe an' maintain deh status quo' kinda guy. Mostly. Yeh knows, ceptin' fer when deh natuh tries teh eat deh folk wit' oversized flyin' mud-fish un sech." Elgan grins.
The little druid tries to copy the elegant seated bow of the Elvish warrior-woman, and hits his head on the table.
"Hm. mebbe ah shuuld la of deh saki. Jes' a litle." He murmurs.
Satari bows, leaves money for the tea, and sets his face toward the pink explosion.
Cherry blossom? I hope it is cherry blossom. That makes the most delicious tea.
With a faint smile, "I am little more than a child in my people's eyes, honored Omma. In years, though... yes, I may have been born before you. But your wisdom is greater in your ways here. I find no signs of ignorance." She bows, still seated.
Looking at the others, she agrees with Beldan, "Yes, what will be necessary to plug this 'leak'? I would go visit with the hermit, but not until my duty to the Lady is complete."
"I'm not sure; I don't know about these magical leaks from the First World..."
(i.e. go se another Yoda dude.....)
Hearing the old woman speak of the hermit living SW of the village, Dok remembers his view (when they were South of the village) from his spell showing a complex of buildings to the West. Curious now, he finally speaks. "Does the old hermit man live alone in many buildings?"
"No. I think I know the place though. He lives further from that place, and more to the southwest.
He has a small house.
The place you speak of is the House of Nine Swords. It was a fortress long ago, and then became a monastery of battle priests.
They rebelled against the shogun, and there was an epic battle; they were written out of history but the place is still haunted by the fallen from that battle."
** spoiler omitted **
Satari:
It is.....massive. Unnatural. Cherry blossoms everywhere.
In the fall.
In the wrong season.
As you stand, taking a break from your journey, you can see a group of warriors, maybe around about ten or so.
They're armed and armored, and they're to the west; a good 200 yards away, coming in your direction.
The rest of the group;
You hear shouts outside.
"WARRIORS!!! A GROUP OF WARRIORS, ON THE ROAD!!!"
huzzzzzzah!
Beldan grabs his weapons and hustles outside.
Beldan; to the north there's a road running east and west; I've expanded the "map of the village" to include it.
To the west, there's a clutch of 10 warriors.
Two up front in weird looking armor of strange interlocking.....maybe some kind of metal; it's fairly odd.
a row of four behind them in the same sort of getup,
and a row of four behind them, in leather armor.
The back four have odd looking staffs.
And to the east, you see a lone old man in travelling robes; he looks like he's been running.....
the green is trees. the blue is a lake;
I've indicated position for Beldan and which of the yellow buildings is Omma's house.
And, Satori San,......
enough with the annoying spoilers; you see first a small village to the south, bordering a small lake...
there's some peasantfolk milling about; one of them is yelling "warriors! warriors are coming!"
then, a man in strangely cut leather garments, probably has him a sword, comes out of one of the buildings.
Emrael is close behind Beldan.
Dok glances outside, then looks at the inside of the hut for a way to get out unseen by the approaching warriors.
Emrael, with her sharp elven eyes, can see that the two up front are women; they're all human.
And,....she can smell that somebody amongst them.....ate quite a bit of wasabi.
Dok glances outside, then looks at the inside of the hut for a way to get out unseen by the approaching warriors.
There's a room up front, and a small hall with two rooms on the side, and a back room for a kitchen.
All of the rooms have sliding paper doorways. He can sneak out; wherever he wants to position himself, he can do it on the sly if he likes.
And,....Satari San sees a svelte elfin maiden join the first in leather outside of the village hut.....or a 'Miem' as they are known in faroff Kara Tur.
Dok and Colu will sneak out "the back" so as not to be seen by the coming troops...
"Who are those guys, are they friendly?" Beldan directs the question at one of the peasants, and/or Emrael.
I place Dok; you can pick something better if it suits you.
If you want to go out the back (i.e. east side is the actual back of the building) or north; that's cool too....
"Who are those guys, are they friendly?" Beldan directs the question at one of the peasants, and/or Emrael.
One of the peasants says, "that's the daimyo's banner they wear....."
"Is he the one that had that girl killed?" asks Beldan grimly.
Dok slinks around the Southeast corner of Omma's house, then moves stealthily North into the trees with Colu.
Stealth:
Position noted....
"Is he the one that had that girl killed?" asks Beldan grimly.
"The Peachling Girl? She wasn't killed, but her parents were......I can't remember if it was him or the daimyo before him who had to commit seppuku."
"But he is a cruel man.......all the same."
nitey nite!!!
"Oh, the parents, that's right ... Well his soldiers must be up to no good - we'll see them off, you lot stay inside."
"Emrael, you speak the local lingo right? Come with me, I might need someone to translate."
Beldan will head up the road towards the troops.
Emrael raises an eyebrow at the foreign Beldan's confidence, but she walks alongside him to greet the troops.
"Hea-yah we go agin." Elgan murmurs with a small smile as he rises and walks out the front door with the others. He studies the newcomers with unabashed curiosity.
"Ah likes deh symbols dey weah. But jes' cuz dey like trees duzzin' make'em frenlee." He points out sagely.
The druid notes the strange arms and armor the newcomers wear.
"Hm. Dey looks dangerous. You go first." He says blandly, patting Beldan on the shoulder.
Satari approaches the village and the cherry blossom and the armed warriors of the daimyo, from the east. An old man with white hair and a white beard, in the distance he seems, to Emrael and Beldan and the others, to be wearing faded blue pyjamas. He approaches very quickly, though he doesn't seem to be running.
Altai has stayed mostly quiet since the battle with the flying fish and its animate entrails resolved. As the newcomers approach, he follows Elgan and steps out of the hut. "Huh. What are those staves they are carrying? And who's the ancient jogger?"
Heathy:
HUZZAH!
I'll be gathering my crap together for a few, then I'll get cranking on this bad hog........hard day.
Heathy:** spoiler omitted **
got the spoiler noted.....heh heh.