A record of the Oda Clan's activities in Tsuwamono-Era Japan, with a focus on their relationship with the Hashinara Clan.
Aotsuki Tsukamoto and Saitō Dōsan were among the first to arrive in the meeting chamber of Owari Castle that had been set aside for their purposes. Maxim, too, was in attendance, and soon Hashinara Yoshitakatomo arrived with an unknown stranger in her* company. The opposite side of the wide, low table was filled with the Oda Clan’s greatest remaining representatives. Oichi took the head, her position cemented by her relationship to Oda Nobunaga, previous Daimyō of the clan. Beside her stood Shibata Katsuie, her bodyguard and a proponent of this meeting. Then, along the side were Ishida Mitsunari, Azai Nagamasa, and Mori Ranmaru. Only Nagamasa’s presence between the two others seemed to be preventing them from attacking each other right there. Petty complaints and snappish insults were tossed about above the weary-looking Azai Daimyō’s head.
While the invading demon, Raym, lurked beneath the meeting room table, Hashinara Yoshitakatomo took the opportunity to cast a minor spell of healing upon the fallen. This jolted them awake, mending some of their wounds, but Azai Nagamasa was still missing an arm and Ishida Mitsunari a leg, so they were yet in no condition to rejoin the battle. Even Kagami's supernatural powers of detection couldn't pinpoint their attacker's location, save that she was somewhere under the table, so Ryūzaki Sanosuke took the most obvious route forward. Slamming his foot down in a precise, powerful strike, he exerted just enough force to snap all four legs of the table and bring it down heavily onto the floor below. So measured was his strength that those standing on the table barely had to adjust their balance. Even so, the heavy wooden slab didn't seem to meet any resistance on the way down. Either Raym was no longer down there, or her powers of shadow extended further than they knew.
Standing within his forbidding laboratory deep beneath Wakigami Castle, one fact was eminently obvious to Katsusada Shishauezaemon: there was much to be done. While his "true body" was dallying in the Dreamlands, it was again up to the emerald-cloaked adviser to roll up his sleeves and see to the functioning of their Clan. "Nobuhara, what reports have we received regarding the war between the Uesugi and Takeda?