The Attempt

Rooster 7th:

Unicorn delegates arrives and lets Haruto know about the upcoming wedding in the winter court. Haruto informs the Unicorn delegates about his Guest list which consists of Akodo Ochai and his family, Haruto’s family and his companions: Matsu Kagami, Matsu Hinata, Matsu Ryojiro.

The Unicorn delegates take note of his wishes and lets him know that they have planned activities for Haruto and his bride to be which consists of Horseback riding through the Phoenix lands and possible hunting in the Shinomen Forest which they have asked for permission for beforehand. Haruto lets the Unicorn delegates know that the Shinomen forest is known for supernatural events since the forest is spiritually charged and they say that they don’t believe in such things and everything would go along well. They also tell Haruto that there will be a series of competitions that they expect everyone to be participating in. They then continue to discuss wedding preparations and the design of the wedding, planned gifts and tapestries and even tracing the lineage of both families. Afterwards, Haruto departs to join the group at the House of Foreign stories where Akodo Kage is having his meeting.

Haruto arrives to see the end of a duel between Hinata and the crab samurai. Eta arrive to take the body away. Haruto approaches Mamoru and asks what happened. Afterwards, Mamoru shares what happened, Haruto asks to transfer Kage-sama back to the estate. He orders the servants to prepare the palanquin and caravan. Kagami checks Kage-sama and inspects that he has a weak pulse but it would be safe to transport him. Hinata asks the crab about the samurai he dueled and the Crab delegates tell her that they didn’t expect it and Hida Kisada formed the group and that he joined up back at the city before they came here. Kagami uses Reflections of Pan ‘ku on the body and discovers he carried a lot of knives, shuriken and is of the Shosuro family.

As they head back with the caravan, A group of 6 men armed with yaris are blocking their path and when Hinata asks them to move, they ready their weapons and charge. Hinata charges and attacks one of the armed men and cuts off his head with one swing. Ryojiro comes forward and shouts at them and they are dazed with Lord Akodo’s Roar. Haruto knocks an arrow on his bow and fires at the armed men and hits one of them and is seen bleeding badly. The armed men try to poke their spears at Hinata and Ryojiro and a few strike Hinata and scratch her. Mamoru strikes his chest to relieve stress and gets pumped out to fight and uses the Iron forest style to make sure no one approaches the caravan. Kagami calls on the kami and casts Path to Inner peace on Hinata to heal her of her wounds. Beings in black garb on top of walls appear nearby and let loose arrows on Hinata and Mamoru and injure them. Hinata cleaves off the head of another one of the armed men and she orders the caravan and it’s men calmly to move ahead and run off. Ryojiro cuts down one of the armed men and continues to protect the caravan. Haruto fires an arrow at one of the archers on top of the wall and hits him. The men try to attack Ryojiro and their attacks miss him. Mamoru tosses his yari in the cart and takes out a yumi and shoots at one of the archers and kills him. Kagami prays to the kami to help her with Path to Inner Peace. The archers fire at them and hit Hinata. Hinata swings her Nodachi and wounds a nearby armed man. Ryojiro takes a swing with her Nodachi and slices down another armed man. Haruto knocks an arrow and hits one of the archers and wounds them. The armed men attack and one of them injures Hinata. Mamoru fires at the archer and misses. Kagami invokes the ancestors and calls on a fog to cover the caravan as it moves away. Hinata gets hit by an arrow and starts cursing at the archers and taunts them to strike her and she goes berserk but afterwards she calms down and she tries to attack one of the armed men and wounds him. Ryojiro wounds another armed men as well. The caravan enters the fog and the armed men run off as they are badly wounded. The caravan soon runs off to the Akodo Estate with the group on it. They see that they aren’t pursued by the armed men.

As they arrive at the Akodo Estate, they go around checking the place and take notice that a trained person who can sneak well may be able to enter. Haruto and Kagami stand watch over Akodo Kage-sama and Mamoru goes around with the patrols. Ryojiro is panting heavily and tries to stay awake and feels sick but she manages to pull through. Hinata takes a daito and cuts her flesh to remove the arrow heads stuck on her.

Orihime and her companion arrives and goes to talk to Mamoru and tells them of a possible plot on Akodo Kage-sama’s life. Mamoru talks to Orihime and confirms that it is possible that other scorpion clan are working with the Soshi cartel who plan to kill Akodo Kage-sama. She lets them know that the Soshi cartel may be working with Kolat. They depart soon after. Everything is quiet at night and the group resume their patrols of guarding Akodo Kage who is unconscious but still alive in his quarters.

Later into the night, there is a commotion outside and Ryojiro goes out to see that they are being attacked by a mob of armed men. Ryojiro goes with the guards to try and hold back the attacking men. As the guards that are protecting the room of Kage-sama are going around his room, a shadow from behind one of the guards comse up and grabs one of the guards and breaks his neck. It charges the other guards and the shadowy creature forms spikes on its arms and impales the other guard killing him instantly. It tosses the dead body at the end of the hallway. Hinata and Mamoru see this and are shocked at this creature attacking the guards. Hinata charges and hits the shadow beast and dents it’s skin. Mamoru then strikes at the creature using Iron forest stance and hits it but shows little harm in doing so. Haruto opens the sliding door and sees the creature and closes it quickly after a few moments. he opens it again and fires an arrow at it and the arrow bounces off it. Kagami calls on the spirits to bestow the Courage of the seven thunders on her companions. The shadow creature uses it’s one hand to open and close it and energy soon emerges from it and it uses a maho spell, grip of anguish on both Mamoru and Hinata. Both are hurt and Hinata is dazed and dizzy. The beast attacks Mamoru with it’s spiked arm and hurts him badly and delivers a debilitating wound. Hinata uses her entire rage as she strikes the creature and wounds it. Black blood starts to spill out into the area and the creature delivers a shrill scream. Mamoru tries to strike the creature and it doesn’t pass it’s thick carapace. Haruto fires an arrow and it bounces off it’s carapace. Kagami casts path to inner peace on Mamoru healing him a bit. The spikes on his arm grow and the creature attacks both Mamoru and Hinata maiming them. Ryojiro arrives and uses a technique, heartpierce strike and hits the creature and it starts to bleed badly. With the creature flailing in pain, Hinata strikes it and cuts off it’s head killing it. The creature starts to dissolve into black liquid and mixes with the black blood all over.