Session Report: 30 April 2021

End of an Iga-Era

General Summary

In this session of Tsuwamono, the following event transpired:

End of Igamono (Part 1)

1559年11月16日 Cow Time (Night)

Iganozeki Enclave

Historical Entry: End of Igamono

It was the darkest hour of the night; the perfect time for ninja business. It was just such ninja business which drew the five Cardinal Generals of the Hashinara Clan to Iga. For some time, Fujibayashi Nagato had been working here to eliminate the remnants of the resistance group known as Igamono. With them out of the way, and Hattori Hanzō dead, there would be nothing standing in the way of Nagato becoming head Jōnin of the Iga Ninja.
Her first order of business promised to be a formal alliance with the Hashinara Clan. Therefore, it behooved the clan to lend their aid in this final confrontation. The Igamono, staunch traditional independents, would never allow the Iga Ninja to formally ally with a clan. They were a minority now, but enough families still backed them that they could prove a threat if left alone. One such family, led by Iganozeki Butsugai, had agreed to speak with Nagato tonight. Canny and with plenty of shinobi experience to draw upon, she expected a trap. Therefore, having five of the most powerful individuals in Japan at her back was a great reassurance.
Once they had all arrived at the Iganozeki Enclave, Nagato took care to explain all of the above to the Cardinal Generals. In particular, after a few tense introductions, Maxim had to be brought up to speed. He had not been present for the clan's previous encounters with Igamono. From there, the question seemed to be how to best proceed.
Ostensibly, they were here to talk. The fact that Iganozeki Butsugai remained at the other end of the gardens impatiently awaiting them to come to him was suspicious, however. It seemed that Nagato's caution was well-warranted. A deadly-enough ambush here could cripple the Fujibayashi campaign. Nagato's side did not enjoy the same luxury. Killing the head of the Iganozeki would accomplish little. Her goal was to determine what force, if any, was making Butsugai such a threat. It was the jōnin's opinion that he should not have been able to hinder her as much as he had on his own. There was more than likely a power in the shadows that she hoped to uncover.
As the most skilled observer in the group, Kagami was able to confirm some of Nagato's suspicions. A careful scan of the area, relayed through Aotsuki Tsukamoto, revealed several places where a cunning ninja might hide. Whether a broken branch, a suspicious mound of dirt, or a stream of bubbles in the otherwise placid water, any of these places could hide an ambush or nothing at all. Although the cherry trees were in full blossom, an anomaly for this time of year, their branches were high enough that the generals were offered a largely unobstructed view of the gardens separating them from Butsugai.
It was Nagato's opinion that they should send Tsukuda Katsuo. After all, the man was a Kyonshi of late, his soul lost on a previous adventure. They couldn't kill him in a way that mattered. The somber ninja himself seemed to have no objection to this argument. Katsuo kept his characteristic stoic silence with only a nod.
One of the Cardinal Generals, however, had a different idea. Scooping up a rock from the ground Ryūzaki Sanosuke took aim at the nearest suspicious spot. Up in a tree, the blossoms seemed ruffled, covering something. Before Nagato could voice a warning, Sanosuke had hurled the stone with considerable force at that very something. A startled yip came in response as the missile hit its mark.
Shaking off pink petals, emerging from the branches of the tree, was no enemy ninja, but rather Saburō Shōhei himself. Sanosuke immediately felt rotten. Shōhei was an admirable ninja and an adorable pupper; he didn't deserve such treatment, even by accident. The dog's black, soulful eyes met Sanosuke's, however, and he knew he was forgiven. There was no resentment there, merely the respect of one professional to another. With a nod and a wan, the inu-ninja returned to his hiding place.
By Nagato's explanation, Shōhei had been shadowing them for some time. To make use of his capable shinobi skills, she had put him in that tree as a lookout, but Nagato admitted that she likely should have made the others aware of that. There were no other allies hidden about, at least.
While this attempt hadn't worked, the reasoning behind Sanosuke's experiment was sound. Aotsuki took up the task next. Or, more specifically, Kagami. Calling on the power of the sun even in this darkest night, Aotsuki's Sheele conjured a number of flickering balls of light. Three of these sped off into the distance, striking three places which Kagami had previously found suspicious. The first one plopped into the pond without effect. The third collided with an empty spot of grass. Kagami's second shot, however, hit something.
From behind a small stone Jizo statue, a figure emerged to defend itself. It was wretched and thin, skin charred and tight around its bones. Mercifully, the majority of this newcomer's body was hidden behind a loud, voluminous garment and an oversized black shade. From the equipment at his belt, Sanosuke realized that this could be none other than a Kōga Ninja. Aotsuki realized it too, but his thoughts ran more along the line that no one else in Japan would dare to go out looking like that. The Kōga were known, after all, for their eccentric presentation.
For Nagato, that was all the rational she needed. The Kōga were her ninja clan's ancient enemy. That they were here spoke much to the lengths the Igamono were willing to pursue in order to stop the Hashinara. Now, it was a battle. With her characteristic fleetness, Nagato was across the water and behind the blackened ninja. His shield, some kind of psychic phenomenon, had been able to easily deflect Kagami's light sphere. It was nearly useless, however, against an attack so quick and unseen. Nagato's sickles cut the man's right arm off. Then, when he raised a hand no longer had to defend himself, she took the left arm as well. Before he could so much as speak, the wretched ninja was dead and armless on the ground.
He had not come alone. From across the gardens, a few other ninja emerged from their hiding places. The first, a silver-garbed raptor wasted no time in identifying Kagami as a threat. With speed and precision, the giant shuriken he threw threatened to cut his helpless target in twain. Fortunately, Aotsuki was there. He interposed himself, deflecting the missile with his shield and such finesse that only the barest cut landed upon Kagami's cheek. Even then, he would not let her bleed. By supernatural transference, the wound opened on the side of Aotsuki's face instead.
Meanwhile, a heavy-fisted ninja who appeared to be made of rock under his bronze armor, was rushing at Nagato. His companions had been silent, but this loudmouthed stone lion let loose with a stream of insults and complaints as he swung at the foe who'd cut down his ally. The blows from his fists were hard and fast. His left hook caught Nagato a glancing blow, but was enough to spin her into his right swing. This crashed into the jōnin's head, sending her collapsed to a ground next to her previous prey. She was breathing, and not seriously wounded, but clearly unconscious from the brutal swing.
The two new Kōga seemed to have chosen their prey, but one more was yet to arrive. Emerging from the pond like a stone revealed at low tide, this man was a giant. His golden skin rippled over six muscular arms, and a mask of the same color covered six shining eyes on his face. Ungarbed except for the hakama at his waist, this titanic mutant shouted for someone brave enough to join him in battle.
Maxim knew it was going to be him. How could it not? He prepared to engage the giant.
Fubuki knew it wouldn't be her*. How could it be? Rather than engage with any big six-armed galoots, she* instead magically transported across the garden and arrived right in front of Butsugai. Although the answer seemed obvious, Fubuki did give the Iganozeki man a chance to surrender. His answer was that he'd rather die. Fubuki could make that happen.
First, in what seemed an abundance of caution, she* dropped the Jorōgumo's Stump before moving a short distance away. To everyone looking on, it seemed that the strange oni hadn't moved at all. It was the last mistake of Iganozeki Butsugai's life. From behind, Susuki Masamune carved into his upper shoulder. The void crystals within the black blade shone and crackled as little motes of emptiness appeared within the wound. When the cut reached his chest, Butsugai imploded. A red mist cleared to reveal a pile of limbs and gore on the ground that once might have been a ninja while his two guards watched on in abject horror.
Nagato's warning held true. Killing Butsugai was far from the end of this fight. Indeed, Fubuki was immediately grateful for her* caution before. When a ninja, clearly a skilled assassin, appeared from the pond and cut a crimson line through the air, it was the Jorōgumo's Stump which took the blow. The blood-spattered kunoichi looked at the rent stump on the ground in front of her like it'd personally offended her. By the time she caught up to events and made as if to escape, it was too late. Fubuki waved a hand and conjured several chains of pure light. It might have been a perfect dodge on the kunoichi's part, had she not stumbled on the very same piece of wood she'd just carved from the stump. She went down, wrapped so tightly in the chains that she had no hope of moving or escaping without help. Then, Fubuki merely vanished amidst the chaos she'd* created.
Ignoring that flurry of confusion on the other side of the gardens, Tsukuda Katsuo went to the side of his fallen master like a good Chūnin. His dead face showed not the merest flicker of concern as he stood toe to toe with the stone-skinned ninja which had felled her. For his part, the Kōga looked just as confident. He boasted that no puny ninja weapons could get through his armor and do any damage. It was quite a surprise for him, then, when Katsuo struck at the armor itself. Tsukuda's ki-infused blade slammed into the other ninja's arm seemingly without effect. Then, with a horrific cracking sound, the Kōga's stony fists crumbled away, leaving only a set of spindly and mangled fingers in their wake. His scream could be heard all throughout the garden.
At some point, a few red lanterns had floated out above the battlefield. Perhaps it had been when the six-armed Kōga shouted his challenge. They cast everything around them in an eerie red light, but actually made things easier to see in the moonlit night, and so went largely unnoticed by the Hashinara. They had bigger things on their plates at the moment, anyway. Maxim, for example, was about to tussle with the golden giant.
As he moved up into the central part of the garden with Evaine at his side, Maxim answered the six-armed ninja's challenge. He thought that he'd have more time to prepare himself and his squire, but the giant rushed at him immediately. With six arms outstretched, he grabbed Maxim and managed to get four of them around his armor, largely immobilizing him. The other two arms rained down blows, but even those powerful impacts couldn't pierce Maxim's compromised defenses. It was the armor. That much was obvious. The six-armed ninja roared for his opponent to strip and fight him like a man. It was an odd request, and one that Maxim had no intention of fulfilling even if he could.
Things had escalated very quickly from the moment Kagami flushed out the first Kōga Ninja. Silver General Ryūzaki Sanosuke figured that he'd already wasted too much time with events moving how they were. It was time for him to act. Moving like the comet from which he took inspiration, Sanosuke charged across the water to join the fight between Katsuo and the stone-skinned Kōga. The former had already moved out of the way, leaving Sanosuke's target in a near-perfect position. Perfect it would have been if not for Evaine's presence between them and the big ninja on the ground grappling Maxim.
Sanosuke had to make his calculations quick, but he managed to shout a warning for Evaine to duck as he kicked the bronze-armored ninja right in the side. Even with all his legendary strength behind it, Sanosuke's strike did not seem to harm his target. The ninja did, however, fly through the air at speed. So forewarned, Evaine managed to duck and deflect the incoming human projectile off her own blade. This sent him spinning straight at the six-armed ninja on the ground. Those six eyes were apparently not just for show, however. The golden-skinned man had seen it coming. Twisting inhumanly, one of six arms came up and slapped the stone ninja out of his trajectory and into the sky. With an almost musical sound and a cut-off scream, he flew quickly out of sight and was not to be seen again.
That wasn't the outcome Sanosuke had been hoping for, but it'd at least neutralized one of their opponents. He was already on the move again before the poor stone lion was out of view. This time, his target was the two Igamono grunts surrounding a tied-up beauty on the ground. They'd been trying to break her chains, but either their weapons or their strength wasn't up to the task of sundering Fubuki's sorcery. Regardless, they would not have another chance. Sanosuke landed near the leftmost ninja and spun, slamming the back of his hand into the surprised man's head. With a wet, ripping sound, the head severed from his shoulders and flew away into the night. Before he could finish his horrified gasp, the same thing happened to the right ninja, Sanosuke's right fist finishing the job. The two guards' bodies dropped lifelessly to the ground in unison.
The kunoichi tied up on the ground was spared, much to her own dismay. The Silver General seemed to have plans for her.
Only seconds had passed since their fight began, but Maxim's situation was going from bad to worse. He hadn't even had a chance to struggle before one of his foe's six arms reached out and tore the shield out of his grasp. Then, two more wrapped around his body. Maxim was now well and truly immobilized. Soon after, the headbutting started. Unable to defend himself and running out of time to do so, Maxim took a few serious wounds to the head even through his normal defenses. He didn't want to admit it, but a few more of those attacks and he'd be done for. He didn't want to admit it, so Maxim didn't. With a trickle of blood seeping out of his cracked lips, Maxim mocked his attacker for not even having the strength to finish him off. It was a bullish display of brute toughness, but it seemed to work. Maxim's six-armed aggressor roared in anger and frustration, obviously dismayed that even such measures hadn't dispatched his opponent.
Meanwhile, Sanosuke was trying a similar tactic with his prisoner. He didn't have to say much with the two headless Igamono at his sides to drive the message home. All he wanted was her surrender. The kunoichi beneath him lowered her eyes, frightened but not broken. In fact, she seemed to be waiting for something...
He realized what that might have been a moment before it happened. The silver ninja, almost forgotten but now floating high in the starlit sky, had thrown his shuriken at his supposed comrade on the ground. Sanosuke stepped in front of the deadly projectile. Bringing his mighty hands together at just the right time, he managed to stop the spinning disc before it could reach its target. The thing clattered to the ground in front of him, steaming from friction. That had not been, however, the only shuriken thrown. The other one spun hovering in the air above all their heads. It seemed to be acting independently from its wielder now. Worse, it appeared to be gathering speed.
That worried Fubuki, who was watching from the nearby treeline. It might have worried Sanosuke more, but he was defending from yet another assault on his prisoner. This was a limb, almost a tentacle, formed entirely of water from the nearby pond. It was obviously magical in nature and boasted a frightening dexterity as it slithered through the air and tried to wrap around the kunoichi. The Silver General wasn't about to let that happen, but he was forced to unleash his true power in order to prevent it. With a solid strike, he drove his fist into the watery appendage with such force that its entire form was splattered messily across the ground. It did not immediately reform, so the threat had passed. That didn't seem like a ninja technique. Indeed, Sanosuke thought he had a pretty good idea of whom had attempted it. "That Damn Fox" came to mind.
Back by the entrance, Aotsuki hadn't been idle. At least, not by choice. When Sanosuke had rushed off in such a hurry, he'd seen Fujibayashi Nagato's body thrown into the air with power and precision. Such precision that she seemed to be tumbling straight into his arms. With his ally Maxim in such straits, he didn't have time to catch her, but at the same time he couldn't just let her thud into the ground. Tsurugi ended up being a good compromise. Sensing her Emperor's predicament, she stepped in and easily caught the falling woman. With Nagato safely lowered to the ground near Hashinara Yoshitakatomo, Aotsuki grabbed his three companions and rushed forward to Maxim's side.
Tsurugi had abandoned her humanoid form on the way. When he arrived, it was Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi which gleamed brightly in Aotsuki's right hand. The power of the sun filled its blade, blazing with glorious light as Aotsuki drove it into the six-armed ninja's open back. He was careful to avoid striking Saburō Shōhei, who had almost dispatched the foe on his own, but the strike was true nevertheless. When the legendary blade lifted, all six of the golden ninja's arms had gone slack. All capacity for violence had been driven from his mind, but perhaps not all sense of a shinobi's duty. To accomplish that, lying heavily on Maxim's chest seemed to be the best route at the moment. Unfortunately for him, Maxim still had plenty of capacity for violence, and he was in a bad mood.
Even after the shuriken, Sanosuke's prisoner still seemed to be waiting for something. He caught her looking every once in a while to the eastern woods. Another threat? Sanosuke was occupied keeping the kunoichi safe from her apparent allies, so he relayed that information to Yoshitakatomo instead. The Princess-Daimyō was just about ready to unleash her* own torrent of spells, and added this to the queue. First, she* would fuse with The Jabberwock tattooed across her* back. Then, with its eyes...
Except the spell sputtered and fizzled as soon as it left Yoshitakatomo's fingers. The light of the lanterns overhead seemed brighter now, more oppressive. Under their hellish red glow, magic was all but negated. No, not negated, Yoshitakatomo found, but much harder to cast. This would not do. Fortunately, one of the five lanterns had already been extinguished. What had managed that? Ah yes, one of Kagami's light spheres.
In the spirit of experimentation, Yoshitakatomo scrapped her* previous plans. Instead, she* turned and expelled a beam of pure magical darkness at the closest lantern. Its flame was engulfed by the shadows and extinguished. With a quick shuffle to the left, the Daimyō removed herself* from the next closest lantern's light. There, magic seemed to flow normally once again. She* relayed orders to destroy the rest of the lanterns as quickly as possible. They were proving more of a threat than expected.
If anyone had been watching, they might have seen a black-bladed katana whip out from the nearby shrubbery and cut the silver ninja out of the air. He tumbled into the pool below and did not move again. For that success, however, Fubuki was also met with a failure. There was a lantern hovering right over Sanosuke and his captive. Its red light quickly dissolved away the kunoichi's bonds as it intensified. The prisoner, so released, sought to scramble away, but Sanosuke was ready. He grabbed her arm and easily pulled her into a tight grip. Whatever her skills, it seemed that neither defense nor strength were high among them, and she was powerless to escape. As he held her, the Silver General heard something whispered on the kunoichi's breath. Something about shooting someone down. He looked to the east.
From the forest, a brilliant bolt of white fire tore through the air. At the same time, a similar beam shot out from the nearby lantern. They converged on one particular point: where Fubuki floated amongst the foliage. When both streaks of fire hit the Black Blade, they seemed to react with each other and exploded. Everyone in the garden saw that flare of light that carved everything in white for the briefest moment. Thanks to her* semi-hidden location, however, few got to see Fubuki's charred form tumble limply into the pond below. She* was still alive, but even her* supernaturally-enhanced body was ravaged by the blast. Anyone less-augmented likely would have been incinerated instantly. As it was, Fubuki's innate regenerative factor promised that she* would not die. Not from this attack, at least.
Everyone else was realizing just how much of a threat those lanterns really were. Katsuo tossed a ki-infused dart through the air and punctured one, leaving just two more. Fortunately, Aotsuki had managed to talk the now-compulsively-peaceful six-armed ninja into backing off, so Maxim was free. He wanted to tear his sword into that foe who had made such a show of him, but quelled the urge. Instead, Maxim grabbed Evaine and rushed to the nearest lantern. He tossed his sheele up with controlled strength. Once Evaine was about twenty feet from the ground, she arrived face-to-paper with the floating fire. Her gleaming white blade cut it, but seemingly without effect. The lantern flowed like fire around her strike and reformed. Evaine landed and looked on with the same dismayed expression as her master. Then, the hidden properties of her unique weapon came to light. A growing darkness burst forth from the lantern's heart and engulfed it, turning the flames black. It flared for the last time, then fell dark.
That left only the lantern hovering over Sanosuke and his prisoner. He could hear her cursing whoever was in the woods now. Apparently this kunoichi's ally had shot the next person, but that could only mean that Sanosuke was next. He was confident in his defenses, but even so, that had been an impressive attack that struck his begrudged ally.
Meanwhile, the last of the ninja showed himself. It was far too late now, and the spell he'd been building was lost to the lantern as it died. This newcomer couldn't show a dismayed expression through the straw mask covering his face, but Maxim could sense it in his body language. The rest of the battle certainly hadn't gone his way, but perhaps this foolish latecomer could serve to release some of Maxim's pent-up frustrations.

---

Character(s) interacted with

• Akashirushi
• Fujibayashi Nagato
• Igamono
• Iganozeki Butsugai
• Maboroshi no Tsurunoko
• Ōgon no Hakuhen
• Saburō Shōhei
• Tetsu no Hakuhō
• Tomo Sukesada
• Tsukuda Katsuo 

Report Date

30 Apr 2021

Primary Location

Iga

Related Historical Events

• Golden Cow Challenge
  End of Igamono