Topic: Hunting Lee (Roka) (Read 74079 times)

Not Aman · « **Reply #50 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:13:27 pm »

"General! Ignore the Magistrate! We need to find the one who is mind controlling him!" Roka shouts.

"Lady Shirtahara, lead us to the traitors!" Roka quickly orders, letting the soldiers from behind deal with the magistrate and his lieutenant. The students and the major fighters must do the major fighting against the spirits.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #51 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:22:32 pm »

"I can't ignore the Magistrate!" The General yells - we must get him out of this poison!

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #52 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:23:29 pm »

The poison meanwhile, quickly began to fill the front half of the entryway and threatened to wash into the rest of the room - if not the entire house.

Outside, the General's men, who had surrounded it began yelling and clearing people back when they saw yellow gas seeping out.

"General! General!" they cried in alarm.

Not Aman · « **Reply #53 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:30:19 pm »

Roka nods.

"Fine." He states, as he quickly slams his fist into an outer wall, twice in quick succession, to break the wall and stop the poison from spreading further in the house.

"Now we go!" Roka shouts

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #54 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:46:48 pm »

"No. Now we go," Roka hears Jenna's familiar voice whisper in his ear. He then feels her arm brush lightly against his and - all of a sudden - he is standing in the night-dark mountains west of Sendai, next to a shimmering wall of blue light that expands away in a massive arc (like a monumental dome coming down over the very mountains themselves).

Jenna appears to Roka's right briefly, standing just inside the translucent wall.

"You are right Roka," she says, "I do love you and to hell with Yunikawa, join me and we can live together. Happy and untouched by the years."

Not Aman · « **Reply #55 on:** January 12, 2015, 04:01:02 pm »

Roka mind almost instantly jumps to the idea, but suddenly his golden charm shines brightly and Roka is instantly convinced against the thought.

"Since you truly loved me, you would join me in my quest against Yukinawa! Not run away from it!" Roka lies back, with conviction.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #56 on:** January 12, 2015, 07:32:31 pm »

"Yes!" Jenna replies sincerely, "Come with me!"

"I know where Yunikawa hides the Naga Book of Secrets! He has gleaned all that a mortal can from its pages. We could take the book for ourselves and he would never miss it!"

Not Aman · « **Reply #57 on:** January 12, 2015, 08:47:44 pm »

Quote from: BerkaZerka on January 12, 2015, 07:32:31 pm

"Yes!" Jenna replies sincerely, "Come with me!"

"I know where Yunikawa hides the Naga Book of Secrets! He has gleaned all that a mortal can from its pages. We could take the book for ourselves and he would never miss it!"

"Yeah, but first we should probably help the General and everyone, right?" Roka asks, very confused. If the room was till filling with poison, wouldn't he have felt it by now? So it can't be an illusion, right?

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #58 on:** January 13, 2015, 06:59:33 am »

"Tsk," Jenna says, shaking her head. "There's nothing you can do for them now."

"Don't you see? I saved you Roka. From the poison, from Lee, from the other traps he had set throughout the house. I betrayed Yunikawa and saved you, so we can be together."

Not Aman · « **Reply #59 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:27:28 am »

Roka looks like he's about to protest, but then just sighs and nods.

"Alright, but, could we like, still kill Lee? Like, now?" Roka asks, hoping that angle would work.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #60 on:** January 13, 2015, 09:05:47 am »

"Lee's mission is simply to distract you from Yunikawa, for as long as he can. Yunikawa does not care what happens to Lee." Jenna says.

"That was my mission too. But here I offer to take you right under Yunikawa's nose to steel the very book responsible for all that has befallen Sendai and your friends."

"And yet you can't see this? Are you really blinded by vengeance for a man who means nothing by comparison?"

"What is Lee to you anyway?"

Not Aman · « **Reply #61 on:** January 13, 2015, 10:09:36 am »

Roka contemplates the idea, and then nods.

"Fine. You're right. This is more important." Roka states, saddened. He won't be able to save the general, or Yuki's mom, or his daughter, but their death won't be in vain.

"How are we going to steal something from Yukinawa?"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #62 on:** January 13, 2015, 10:51:22 am »

"Easy," Jenna replies - "Yunikawa is not at his Citadel. We simply walk in, take the book, and leave."

"Come Roka," Jenna invites, backing away from Roka and fading into the radiant blue light...

Not Aman · « **Reply #63 on:** January 13, 2015, 12:02:42 pm »

Roka follows hesitantly. If this is an illusion, he'll be released if he walks into poison, he hopes.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #64 on:** January 13, 2015, 01:15:31 pm »

Walking in through the shimmering blue light, Roka feels a tingling of vibrant magical energy and then the night abruptly turns from night to day in an instant.

Looking around, Roka finds himself in a strange and unfamiliar mountainous terrain, covered in a thick forest.

The magical blue wall is nowhere to be seen - and neither is Sendai, the mountain path to Yunikawa's, or Jenna for that matter...

The only thing that stands out is a thin wisp of smoke (perhaps from a cooking fire?) on the ridge of a mountain about five miles across a steep valley from where Roka currently finds himself.

Not Aman · « **Reply #65 on:** January 13, 2015, 01:17:37 pm »

Roka quickly runs to the forest fire, looking annoyed.
Was this a trap?

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #66 on:** January 13, 2015, 01:29:40 pm »

Roka's run turns out to be an epic five and a half hour hike - first down a thousand foot of elevation change, then across a nearly unnavigable forest of brambles and underbrush, over a deep river gorge, followed by a repeat of the same - only going up this time around.

At length however, Roka comes to a clearing surrounded by an eight foot high stone wall topped with sharpened poles. The construction is rudimentary, but is obviously man-made.

From where Roka is, outside the wall, he can see a squat stone building inside the perimeter - atop which is an apparently unmanned wooden watch tower.

Not Aman · « **Reply #67 on:** January 13, 2015, 01:45:07 pm »

Roka is confused. It's certainly not Yukinawa's palace, but it's also not Sendai. Where did that vampire seductress send him then?

He then tries to reach the watchtower, and survey the surroundings. Maybe he could recognize some of the details of the place

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #68 on:** January 13, 2015, 02:59:26 pm »

With a hearty leap, Roka bounds up onto the wall and hikes himself over the sharpened poles.

Landing inside the parameter, he sees some old grave markers of some kind to one side of the compound and a wild garden with a natural spring to the other.

The building within is a simple stone keep, only two stories high (with a wooden watch tower on the top, allowing one to look out over the tops of the surrounding trees).

The thin trail of smoke that Roka saw before, is coming out of a stone chimney to the far side of the building.

From this side at least, there doesn't appear to be any entry points to the building on the ground floor, but there are some large wood-shuttered windows on the second.

Not Aman · « **Reply #69 on:** January 13, 2015, 03:13:53 pm »

Roka looks up, and sighs.
"Thank the ancestors I can still climb..." He mutters, and climbs up the watchtower to burst open the windows

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #70 on:** January 13, 2015, 03:36:33 pm »

Climbing up to a window, Roka finds the shutter un-barred from the inside, and is able to enter the building.

Inside, he sees that the second floor is a crude barracks style living quarters. A fire burns in a fireplace on the far end, near some stone steps that drop down to the first floor below, while a ladder climbs to a roof access hatch.

There are five old cots in the room, a table, and chairs - all hand hewn from raw lumber.

Sitting, propped up, in one of the beds with a bowl of stew, is an old Nipponese man, at least in his late sixties or early seventies (incredibly old by normal standards).

He looks vaguely familiar to Roka for some reason, but stares at Roka with the glazed look of a confused old man. The smell of the room and the mess scattered about, suggest that the man would not normally be able to take care of himself.

Then something catches Roka's eye along the far wall - hanging on a stand is a suit of Samurai armor and swords with the Seal of Sendai's Army and apparent rank of Lieutenant.

Not Aman · « **Reply #71 on:** January 13, 2015, 03:49:38 pm »

Roka looks remarkably confused. Who could this even be? If he's that old.... Then he'd have to have been a warrior back before the war....

"Leiutenant? I am a Yoriki of Sendai. Where is this place?" He ask, bending down next to the old man

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #72 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:13:55 pm »

The man's eyes light up at the mention of Sendai.

"Ah! Sendai! Yes! I knew they would come for us! I kept telling them, but they lost hope! Not me! I knew they would find us!"

Not Aman · « **Reply #73 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:26:20 pm »

"Find who?" Roka asks. "I don't even know where we are, old man."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #74 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:32:19 pm »

"Yes, yes," the old man says, grasping Roka's hand and shaking it like an old friend.

Not Aman · « **Reply #75 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:35:39 pm »

Quote from: BerkaZerka on January 13, 2015, 07:32:19 pm

"Yes, yes," the old man says, grasping Roka's hand and shaking it like an old friend.

"Yes yes? Yes to what?" Roka asks, really confused.

"Old man, who are you?"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #76 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:43:29 pm »

The old man points to the armor and starts to hobble out of bed.

"Yes! I need to get into uniform! It wouldn't do to go back 'out of uniform'!"

Not Aman · « **Reply #77 on:** January 13, 2015, 07:53:50 pm »

Roka looks worried. The old man is probably too weak to even wear armor.

"No, no, lieutenant! Sendai wants you rested, not in uniform. The fortress city worries for you and your group!"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #78 on:** January 14, 2015, 07:53:29 am »

"Rest?!?" the old man protests, "I'm leaving now!"

He then goes to push past Roka, but the exertion and excitement proves too much and he abruptly clutches his chest, grimaces in pain, then goes completely limp - collapsing to the floor.

Not Aman · « **Reply #79 on:** January 14, 2015, 09:03:33 am »

Roka looks shocked, and quickly checks if the old man is alive

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #80 on:** January 14, 2015, 10:41:56 am »

Roka finds that the old man is quite dead.

Not Aman · « **Reply #81 on:** January 14, 2015, 10:53:44 am »

"....." Roka's jaw drops, shocked simply looks around, kinda shocked. Hopefully this old guy didn't matter.

Roka quickly moves back away from the dead old man, and then quickly decides to check his armor and the seal of Sendai. Perhaps that would give him a clue as to who this old man was.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #82 on:** January 14, 2015, 11:17:38 am »

As Roka looks over the scene and moves towards the armor, he hears the strumming buzz of a bee (or wasp) outside the window.

A moment later, the sound stops and a beautiful girl, perhaps eleven or twelve years old and dressed in what appears to be a tunic of rose petals, steps in through the shutters that Roka came through earlier.

"I got you some honeysuckle for the tea you like," she says - starting when first, she sees Roka - then second, the body of the old man on the floor.

With a cry of alarm, she suddenly transforms before Roka's eyes into a huge wasp (about the same size as her girl form) - and turns to make a beeline out the window!

Not Aman · « **Reply #83 on:** January 14, 2015, 11:54:05 am »

Roka's shock and confusion develops even further, but decides that losing this bee will probably make matters worse.

He quickly activates amaizing celerity, and runs over to block the giant wasp and close the boards for the window.

"No! Calm down, I'm not here to harm you!" Roka shouts, trying to calm down the bee girl

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #84 on:** January 14, 2015, 03:11:13 pm »

The giant wasp tries to sting Roka, but the Samurai easily evades.

It then flies across the room and around to the other windows - finding them already shuttered and barred.

With no way out, it drops to the floor near the old man's body and transforms back into a girl.

"You killed him!" she cries at Roka accusingly.

Not Aman · « **Reply #85 on:** January 14, 2015, 03:14:43 pm »

Roka shakes his head.

"No, ancestors forbid, I would never kill a lieutenant of Sendai!" Roka protests to the little girl. "He was excited and just collapsed.... I, I didn't realize he was that weak, I didnt intend for any of that to happen!"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #86 on:** January 14, 2015, 03:44:33 pm »

"Oh, Akira," the girl weeps to the dead man, "I told you to stay in bed..."

After taking a moment to recompose herself, she looks up at Roka and wipes away her tears.

"Who are you? Are you from Sendai?" She asks rather sternly.

Not Aman · « **Reply #87 on:** January 14, 2015, 06:06:40 pm »

"Yes, yes I am... I am sorry for his death, I wish I had realized how weak he was." Roka states.

"If you could tell me who he is, or where we are, I could arrange for him to be buried back in the Fortress city, where his brothers lay, but I need to know. Please."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #88 on:** January 14, 2015, 06:24:31 pm »

"He was Akira Kuwabara," the girl replies, "he was my friend."

At the mention of the name, Roka realizes why the man looked so familiar. He was a Kuwabara - and looked like he could be Udo's Great Grandfather or something.

Come to think of it, Udo also had a cousin named Akira in the Sendai Army. He made a modest showing in the Daimyo's Grand Tournament Swordsmanship Event, before being eliminated by Jei Hu - though Roka can't recall his rank. Roka remembered Jei Hu slashing Akira's sword arm to win - and then Akira refusing to have it healed afterward.

Looking down at the dead man, Roka could see the faint traces of a very old scar across his sword arm...

"And he will be buried with his brothers," the girl goes on, "Not in your Sendai, but here in the garden. I made a promise to him and I will keep it."

Not Aman · « **Reply #89 on:** January 14, 2015, 06:35:04 pm »

"Akira Kuwabara? Wait... He couldn't be this old though...." Roka mutters...

"Wait, little girl, what is this place? And where are we? Do you know?"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #90 on:** January 14, 2015, 06:40:30 pm »

"Don't call me 'little girl'!" the young girl snaps at Roka, "I am the right age. It is you who are the baby lost in the woods!"

She then folds her arms and looks at Roka as if expecting an apology or something.

Not Aman · « **Reply #91 on:** January 14, 2015, 06:49:09 pm »

"Um, my deepest apologies, uh... What is your name, miss?" Roka asks, incredulous but deciding against angering the wasp girl

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #92 on:** January 14, 2015, 07:09:57 pm »

"That's better," the girl replies, instantly dropping the attitude and brightening.

"I am Li Li," she says, "This place is my home, the Mountains Outside the Glen."

"You are from Sendai?"

"Akira and his brothers were from Sendai. They came here when they were young, like you."

"They tried to get home, but could not. Sendai only existed in their minds, it is not a real place here. Now Sendai exists in your mind."

"You should try to forget Sendai. Its memories only caused them pain and death. It will be the same for you I fear."

"You may stay here if you like."

"Akira, Tetsuo, and Komatsu built this place after losing two of their brothers to the Shadowlands Outside the Mountains. They lived here and grew old and died. And now Akira can finally join them in rest."

Not Aman · « **Reply #93 on:** January 14, 2015, 07:22:11 pm »

roka shakes his head.

"I'm afraid that would be impossible, Li Li. This place must be where Yukinawa hid the book. You wouldn't happen to recognize the name, Yukinawa, would you?" Roka asks, looking around.

"So, the shadow lands. What exists there?"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #94 on:** January 14, 2015, 07:35:10 pm »

"Book?" Li Li asks, "Akira used to keep a book when he first came here. I saw it one time, when he was writing in it. I remember that he did mention a 'Yunikawa' in his writings."

"I think it was Yunikawa that sent him and his brothers here."

Then answering Roka's other question, she explains, "Outside the Mountains are the Shadowlands."

"The Shadowlands are the End of all Creation and Light. If you loose you footing there, you can fall off and be lost."

"Dragons hunt at the edge, where Eternal Darkness laps against the End of the Mountains, like water at the shore of the Sacred Lake."

"That is what happened to the first two. The Dragons got them. I don't know their names, but I think Akira wrote them down in his book."

Not Aman · « **Reply #95 on:** January 14, 2015, 07:43:59 pm »

"Where's his book?!" Roka asks, hastily. This could be the thing he was looking for!

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #96 on:** January 15, 2015, 07:52:42 am »

Li Li walks over to the shuddered window that faced above the garden and unbarred it; to swing the shutters open.

"You can have the book and everything else here," she says, pulling a ladder off the floor and sliding it out the window.

"But we need to bury Akira with his brothers first."

Not Aman · « **Reply #97 on:** January 15, 2015, 09:49:56 am »

Roka looks hesitantly at the dead body. Touching the dead shouldn't be done by a Yoriki of Sendai!

After a moment of contemplation, the Ki master lifts up the lieutenant, and nods to the wasp girl. It won't matter if more disgrace falls onto him anymore.

"Where is the garden?"

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #98 on:** January 15, 2015, 12:12:59 pm »

Climbing out the window and down the ladder to the ground, Roka sees the grave markers he had noticed while bounding over the outer wall.

There are five stone markers, just outside a wild garden, four of which have a Sendai Army helmet and sword set laid across them. These four read (carved in stone) ‘Miko Mitaru’, ‘Fujitsu Fukosan’, ‘Tetsuo Kensai’, and ‘Komatsu Morita’.

The fifth marker reads ‘Akira Kuwobara’ and has boards covering an open grave.

Li Li carries Akira’s helmet and sword-pair to the grave and clears the boards for Roka to lower Akira down.

Once that is done, the young-looking girl moves her hand in swiping motion and the earth abruptly fills in over Akira. She then sets the helmet and sword over the grave like the rest.

“There,” she says, “I guess he is with his brothers in peace now. But I will miss him. He wasn't really bad like the Elders said, but they didn't know him like I knew him.”

"He used to say things over the graves, when he buried his brothers. I don't know what it was though, he didn't know I was watching him back then."

Not Aman · « **Reply #99 on:** January 15, 2015, 12:30:24 pm »

Roka nods.

"I'll have to tell Udo about Akira when I return to Sendai, then..." Roka mutters. "All of them."

"Who are the elders?" Roka asks

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Author Topic: Hunting Lee (Roka) (Read 74079 times)