Thuggin and Horse Muggin

Mission Details:

While some things had changes, others did not.  It wasn't common, but he was told that because of his impact and rank in the village before promotion he was still required to complete so many missions a month.  This did not seem realistic, and it felt like something Yasahiro would have come up with.  He read the note and grumbled while doing so, he had gotten the feeling that Yashiro did not trust him to take his new job seriously and this was one way to keep him so busy he couldn't lose focus.  Thus forcing himself to do all the jobs.  He couldn't deny that it was a viable strategy, though he didn't know how his cousin expected him to work like a dog and have the energy to do a good job.  Alas....what can one do.  One must always move forward, and that was exactly what Asahi planned to do....right after a little nap.  At this time, he is resting in the horse stable outside of town. The same one he'd assisted in repairing and then helped look for some stolen horses.  While that part had not been as fruitful, it seemed finally they had a lead.  Though this many days later he wondered how healthy the horses would even be.

The best thing that had come out of that whole ordeal had been uniting with his own horse, who likewise at the moment was napping while laying down.  Not something horses had to do, but the beautiful white mare was a princess, and princesses can do as they please.  He'd purchased her for a fair bit of coin just before he'd taken on his new job.  A temperamental creature, yet so pretty one could usually overlook such a thing.  Not a great way to look for a wife, but it had worked out in this instance for a horse.  He'd be taking her with him, as the sightings had been a way off through the rice paddy fields.  Half a day riding likely at best if the weather stayed nice, which at this point was perfect napping weather.  The rumor mill asserted that there wa around 5 individuals responsible for the horse napping's, and the reason for which they wanted them was unclear.  Though Asahi thought this a silly statement.  What else would they do but sell them to the first person willing to part with their money for them.   

Still, his dreams lately had been full of monsters and odd syllables.  Not that he often dreamed in word play, the last couple nights had been different.  He kept seeing the men that he and Kato had apprehended and subsequently killed in the graveyard.  A nasty business, but one that had been necessary.  They were crazed and little chance to talk or make any sense with the,  Why though....that was the big question.  What had they needed those remains for, and what was with that look in their eyes.....He wished now he'd paid a little more attention and that he had been a little less busy.  No, his cousin kept him running so there was no chance of such things.  His dream now was much the same, a dark cave....people all around uttering strange phrases in a language he could not comprehend.  Scrawling's on the walls that looked vaguely familiar, perhaps from the books they'd found in those ruins.  He wasn't the detective, that was Yamato's job and he was off on another case at the moment.  No telling what or if he had even been assigned such a thing.  The man was a little more gung ho than he necessarily needed to be.  

Stirring from his nap he had to shake his head a couple times.  Partly to get the sleep from his eyes, the hay from his hair, but also the images from his mind.  A pair of eyes and teeth had seemed to reach from the darkness, a melancholy feeling that approached dread following close behind.  Just a dream though, nothing more nothing less, or at least that was what he told himself.  Soon like most dreams do however the images and thoughts faded from his mind as he busied himself preparing for the day.  Saddling Princess Ivy Bluemoon, packing provisions that included his own foods as well as sweet apples for his beloved horse, and of course checking his own equipment.  He'd left the hat of rank back home.  He hadn't moved from his apartment yet, though he was told he could have a place in the castle, it seemed a tad pompous even for him.  Instead, he was outfitted in a sakura colored ronin robe set, his sword attached to his belt, and wooden clogs adorning his feet.  Additionally attached to the saddle was a flak jacket folded over that housed a variety of other tools, and on his left a bow and quiver with several arrows. 

Rarely did he travel so well equipped, and yet it seemed the only natural course.  Regardless of how dangerous the bandits where, they would certainly not be pleased to be found out.  Though, he hoped to have to use just his words, and if they failed a sword....one never knew what could happen in the throughs of combat and travel.  He thought of the samurai who never came home when they had taken mercantile type jobs.  His father had always been stern, like he was in all aspects of life, that those who fell in battle often had failed to prepare themselves.  Either in their equipment, abilities, or their mind.  Even if the days he'd spent listening to his father were far behind him, the words he had left still seemed to cling.  Not knowing if this was a good or bad thing, he set off.  Giving the white mare a firm kick in the side letting her know it was ok to really open it up.  She broke out in a full-blown gallop blowing through the open gate.  With that, they were off on what would ideally be a one day trek.  

The half day ride for the most part proved to be uneventful.  All be it, gorgeous.  The weather had held up, and the splendor of Tanbogakure was on full display.  As he galloped over the dirt roads, he would wave at some of the rice farmers.  The smell of water, and the ocean not being far off filled the air.  Nothing but a gentle breeze enough to tassel his hair, not even as much as the speed of the horse was able to do.   It was the first time he had taken his new friend out for a ride of this magnitude.  Mostly being forced to settle for gentle town strolls or simply practicing in the confines of the ranch where he was forced to stable her.  Not having the land capabilities of his own yet.  The castle did have some areas for horses, but it felt cramped and lacked the elegance that a true farm was able to provide.  Still, it wasn't a long walk so he didn't think much of it.  Now more than ever it gave him reason to take pause from the hustle and bustle of daily living.  

After some time, he gave the command to slow, and they simply proceeded in a trot.  Reaching into the flak jacket that was slung on the side he retrieved the scroll that detailed where exactly the bandits had been seen.  Reviewing the map, he wished he'd paid more attention to such things.  He had always assumed Yashiro would be here to bail him out of such things....how wrong he was.  Still, he wasn't totally hopeless.....well he was, but he wasn't going to admit that.....and got them back on the right path.  Soon some of the surrounding area came into familiarity.  Taking a drink from a hidden flask, his eyes closed but a moment, they opened to spot the old ruins he had been searching for off and on for weeks.  After they had discovered them, they were never seen again.  The scribes and academic types back at Okada had never seen the majority of the writings and were still at work deciphering.  Though so far it was a lot of folk tale type materials from what he had gathered.  Yet once again...here they were.  Ivy made her discomfort known, and even started to trot a little sideways giving the place as wide a birth as she could.  

"Now now..."  Asahi would say patting the side of her neck and making soothing noises.  He didn't deny it though, he felt something....though he had no idea what it was.  It hadn't been there last time, at least not that he remembered.  As these thoughts crossed his mind a sharp twinge crossed his chest, directly over the mark that Yamato had left him.  Though he had mastered control over it, the spot had caused a fair bit of trouble None to little his own tragic demise if it wasn't for the medical ministrations of Hikari Hyuuga.  What followed still gave him nightmares at times, from the immediate aftermath and the events of the days after.  It was these thoughts that gave him an idea.  Reaching into the flak jacket he pulled out a decorative pink senbon, and slid from the sadle.  "Stay."  He said gently, which got him an eye roll.  She hated to be talked to like a dog, but he hadn't gotten use to conversing with her as though she was a human yet.  After all she wasn't the whole thing was ridiculous.  Bullied by his cousin, and now he was bullied by his own horse.  no respect.

Taking the senbon he pricked his left and right index finger in quick succession.  Each hand moved as he felt his spiritual energies roil and bubble in his soul.  Then placing them on the ground two creatures burst forth in a pillar of white smoke.  When he had first met the Oni, he'd been scared.  When he had second met the Oni that played games....he had been intrigued and scared.  He'd signed a book that likely had costs beyond his comprehension, and in exchange he was able to use some of their power and resources.  He simply had to help them do something.  They had remained fairly vague on the subject, some old rivalry that was threatening a certain world order, or something equally dramatic.  He'd only recently been allowed to start summoning the underlings of the Oni race, and far from fear these two.....inspired nausea.  The puff of smoke quicker than he'd have like disspersed revealing the two creatures.  One was a putrid yellow, eyes on stalks, with a mouth too big for its face.  The other slightly taller and thicker as though it hit the gym simply had much to large of a head and a nose that ran like a river.  

They both coughed and eyed him as though he was as disgusting as they were.  In his head he started counting but didn't even get to two.  

"What's the big idea?  We are busy you know!"  The yellow one said crossing its arms

"Yes busy! I was rehearsing my next soliloquy"  The black Oni followed up with a flourish, its arms wide.

He'd heard the alter sing and give speeches, the world was being given a favor for him to not practice such a thing.  "Aren't you guys supposed to just do what I say, or do we have to go through this every time?'  he'd hold his fingers tight with a bit of spare cloth until the small trickle of blood came to a stop, meanwhile the two Oni huffed and puffed indignantly.  "Look, I just want you two to go take a look around in there, let me know if you notice anything.  Easy breezy job and you can get out of here."  He said as nicely as he could.  There wasn't enough honey in the world to catch these flies, but vinegar came with explosive results.

After a comical exchange of insults and thwacks the two Oni had disappeared inside the ruins.  Walking back Asahi contented himself with petting the white mare waiting for them to return.   In total it took about ten minutes for the creatures to come running, stumbling over top of each other as they did so.  The site was so silly he had to catch himself from laughing out loud and risk offending them into silence.  Once they'd got back, and he gave them a few moments to catch their breath he questioned them.  "You don't wanna be goin in der!"  the Black Oni stuttered out.  Still gasping for breath, though he didn't appear tired.

"This is where the big bad lives."  The yellow one would say forgetting to feign exhaustion and instead spitting much too much saliva onto the ground, splashing onto Asahi's open toed shoes.  "You can't feel it?  Humans really are worthless."  it was would say, a large sneer crossing its faith at the last bit of its sentence.  

"Dis where day sealed some of it innit?"  The black oni would say, its nerves making it forget to be rude.  "yous can tell by them there statues."  He would point around the ruins and in some of the over growth.  There lion dog statues had been erected, though through extreme weathering or other external forces Asahi had not noticed them for what they were the first time.

"So those statues were used to help keep it sealed?"  he'd ask, receiving sarcastic eye rolls and nods in return.  "Alright, two more question and you can go.  Does this spirit have a name?  Also, does it ever.... mess with people?"  His second question had a bit more uncertainty involved with it.  His dreams and the graveyard rushing back into his mind.  

"We aren't allowed to be sayin."  The Yellow Oni would say crossing its arms in a huff.

His counterpart was slightly more helpful as per usual, aside from the random gesticulations and gyrations that accompanied his speech.  "It messes the minds up of lesser things."  he would say twirling and pointing to his own head.  "Makes them crazy and do crazy things."  this time he accompanied it with finger twirling's and a psychotic pulled face, which wasn't much of a stretch.  Not even waiting for the dismissal both of the Oni vanished much as they had come.  Causing Asahi to roll his eyes.  He had to learn to not leave as much open to interpretation.  They'd answered two questions, and they vanished.  

Replacing the ninja tool, he rubbed his face hard.  It wasn't the most helpful, but maybe some things were coming together.  Hoisting himself back up into the saddle, he set back off leaving the ruins behind.  He'd make sure to keep an eye out for those statues more often, he knew he'd seen them in strange places all over the countryside but had never given it much thought.  Maybe that was a mistake.  Soon they were back on the path, trees gave way as they moved down a cliffside road.  Barely maintained it took them down to the beach.  The sand constantly shifting with tide and wind would offer up no clues on the travels of beast or man, but the information had told him it was here he would find the bandits.  They'd taken to a cliffside cave to hide out the horses as they no doubt waited to sell them....at least in the coming days that was what he had hoped happened.  The truth would be much darker, and take more than sake to rid from his mind.

The chanting was the first thing he heard; next it was the screams of animals in pain.  It wasn't easy, but he prompted Ivy Buemoon forward as he slipped the bow from her side, notching an arrow as they slowly made their way forward.  It wasn't long before they found the cave, the insides lit up with many torches, the site bringing bile to the back of his throat.  The sound of pain had been from the last remaining horse, its carcass fresh and still bleeding some 15 meters inside the cave.  Scattered around the entrance and within where the decaying corpses of the remaining creatures.  All emaciated as though everything that had kept them alive had been drained from their bodies.  Contorted in strange positions, bones and flesh a like laid out to form complicated patterns.  The only god send, was they weren't the only victims.  Among the bodies of beast man lay.  All things to dust he supposed.  There had meant to be five, but now only one man stayed alive.  He stood over the beast, bloodied knife held high, the severed head of a horse being worn as an over sized crown, or maybe ceremonial head piece was more right.  

The man was so engrossed in his unholy works, that he'd never hear or see the arrow coming.  Whatever powers the spirit promised, premonition was not one of them.  He shouldn't have done it, he should have subdued the man to question him.  He should have done more.....but the horrors he saw had ignited a rare bit of rage inside of him.  Before he knew it the arrow had flown true, coated in his own spiritual energies to form multiple jagged edges opposed to the normal single arrow head.  5 points of exit would appear through the mans chest, his heart and lungs quickly decimated beyond repair.  He would drop, never knowing what was coming.  

The aftermath was a full-blown investigation.  The occult experiments in the end would not be able to be solved.  The strange feelings he'd felt upon first arriving had vanished at the same time the man had been killed.  Whatever had brought them there and had caused all this wasn't willing to stick around.  He would later discover 4 lion dog statues within the cave all smashed.  It was with a heavy heart, he had to deliver the news to the farmer.  The day had extracted a heavy toll, and what was worse....he still didn't know exactly who too or why the toll was being paid.  

TWC - 3025

Claims


+30 Vigor to Princess Ivy Bluemoon
+ 38ap to Princess Ivy Bluemoon from mission

7500ryo (mission) + 15k (Being kage) = 22500 ryo total for the mission.  Keeping 2500 of it, and sending the other 20k to the Tanbogakure page.

1500 WC towards Ninshu (due to 25% discount max states)
1125 WC towards S rank for Samurai Saber (Requires 1500 to upgrade to S rank from A rank, 25% discount applied)
400 WC towards Ninshu Commune

Using my S rank Jutsu scroll from the Springtime ticket roll for Song Bird S rank

Approved