Digger's Mine

The sound of angry bandits was pretty clear. There should be plenty of traps for them before they even hit the forest's edge. Nori was sure to complete the trap work well before instigating the duel between Haitaka and Katsurou.

"We need to move. I need your eyes to avoid Nori's traps. I wouldn't have a problem but I'm not quite sure where we are at in the forest." He put on her arms over his shoulder and supported her weight. 

Up in the trees there was a single archer that was in a roughly made perch. He took his aim and fired a single arrow at the nearest charging bandit he could hear through the canopy. It was a rough shot, lots of tree branches in his way. Before wasting another shot he listened for a confirmational scream from the target.

The piercing shriek as a man receiving an arrow into an eye socket wracked the forests, giving a clear sign that the mark had been made. And then the forces came tearing through the trees, swords and pikes at the ready. And it would only be a few paces before suddenly numbers of them, two and three and four at a time, were tripping up over traps and yelling and screaming as they collapsed into terrible spike pits that tore up legs and ripped through torsos, halting many and killing very few immediately. Spring sapling traps were horribly dangerous, snapping up and swinging about to slice and stab in very inconvenient locations to help ensure the wounded weren't leaving the trees without help, if at all.

It was only after several handfuls of Fusei were injured and dying in the seemingly endless lands of traps, they stopped charging. Every time they pushed forward past more trees, there were more pits waiting for them. At two separate points, the bandits were already shoving a poor, hapless guinea pig out to test the grounds - only to have both stumble and crash into more hidden spike pits. One fell into silence as a wooden spike pierced his throat. The other yelled in protest and then screamed in utter, blinding agony as he was impaled in the pelvic region.

They had to halt. Their count of 50 had been reduced by maybe 20 or more, and it was dead of night still. Many were considering returning back to the mines to face their commander's wrath at their failure.

One willingly threw himself in a pit to avoid such a fate.

Fortunately, despite how loud the chaos was, it was a bit of a distance off - more northeast to their position. Nori would explain later when the night was quiet that he had moved them a considerable distance into the forest to avoid being pinched between two Fusei forces and make finding them harder if they opted to brave the hazards in search of them or Lord Haitaka himself.

But nothing would show for the evening. Things eventually settled to the gently sounds of the wildlife in the night. There would be no camp fire created but a few very small lamps would be found and lit - having been in the possession of the miners that were rescued. It became several small beacons of comfort, of hope, for those there - soldier and peasant alike.

And upon the sight of their lord returning there was quite a bit of emotional appreciation laid at the man's feet. If it had been allowed, many wanted to thank the Shogun personally - just to hold his hand and touch his armor, heads bowed a hundred times and many praises and thanks quietly babbled. A small boy had found a small patch of flowers in the grass upon their arrival, and would extend it up to the man to show his thanks for saving his family.

Makoto hadn't waited for someone else to assist. When Haitaka shifted his weight for her she moved away and limped off to a tree to kneel - and let Nori approach to rip both arrows from her wounds. Scarily enough, she made hardly a sound as both arrowheads were torn from flesh. She remained on the ground, on hands and one knee, and waited for Nori to return with a lamp and a kunai. At least once they cauterized both wounds, she would be fine. Merely exhausted.

Many of those villagers ducked their heads and shuffled off - mostly women and their children - away from what Haitaka had offered. They were not fighters, and admitted as much. They were beyond grateful to have their lives, but they had nothing to offer but their thanks as they were simple people with skill in mining and the home. Only a small handful of the men, some a little older but still strong from their work, opted to stand and take up the offer to fight back. There was an agreement amongst them that they wanted to do something to repay the kindness of their lord for not abandoning them, though that had little knowledge or experience in arms.

Makoto grit her teeth as the searing blade settled across the open wound of her shoulder, letting out only the faintest of grunts as the flesh burned beneath the red-hot steel. It would only take a few moments of contact for it to seal, and Nori would remove the blade afterwards and set it to fire again. Just as long for the wound in her leg, though that one posed a slight concern - mainly, if that arrowhead had damaged muscle. After another round of cauterizing, the woman pushed herself up onto unsteady feet and began to pace slowly nearby a tree - something to lean against if she fell. But to her relief, she seemed fine.

Fortunately, as she said there was a rush of shadow well after an hour later. Ten garbed warriors appeared from the shadows, nearly identical to each other. These were shinobi of the Shadow order, but mere grunts in comparison to Nori or Makoto. But that did not mean their skills faltered. They simply hadn't risen from their rank. But they were attentive and ready, armed and dark and ready for command.

There was no word from any of them, simply a silent salute and bow before they shuffled off after the cart with the remaining oil. They had to understand the weight of the pots and survey the land around the mines first before they could attempt to complete the plot without any errors or losing a drop of oil - or even dropping a pot. No, their task would be done complete and fluid with no room for error.

Nori would finish his task and join them, able to give them better guidance to the shaft that they were looking for. The soldiers would only take 3 of their number to pick around the traps still in place towards the broken ones in search of weapons - finding a number of pole-arms and enough arrows for the two bows found. Not to mention... there was actually a decent find of copper and silver coins in many of the dead men's pockets. When the soldiers could carry no more in goods they hurried back - a gleam in their eyes as they brought their haul back to camp. The weapons were distributed and the miners seeking to fight were given some assistance in learning - and the money found, opted by only one of the men, was presented to Lord Haitaka with a bit of an excited smile.

The young man was hoping for a little to keep, and spread it amongst their fellow comrades as spoils for their march. Unlike the other two hoping to keep what they found for themselves, his loyalty to report to his Lord was stronger - he could only hope. Even just a piece or two of silver would be plenty for a few rounds of some warm sake when he returned home. The other two, once exposed by the younger's report, would follow suit begrudgingly.

Makoto settled with her back to a tree and seated among the roots, taking a chance to properly breathe again and rest - if only for a moment. She had other plans here in due time for this second front against the Fusei.

Over the course of the night there would be little rest - the shinobi would have the pots already moved and started to steadily pour them along the walls to let it run over the course of the morning down to all the levels that it connected to. The soldiers were restless, even after the coins had been revealed and shared. It was late and the dawn would be coming soon, and with it another battle. But many tried to at least lie down if it was not their watch.

Makoto would vanish somewhere in the course of the dark morning.

It would be broad day before some word was heard. The only word, however, was Nori returning from a patrol to summon a number of his shinobi with him before disappearing to the south. This brought everyone on edge - what was going on?

The sun would be high yet again and starting to descend when the shadows returned, with 20 horses at their heels bearing swordsmen that already had seen bloodshed. There were dark stains on kimonos and skin and horsehide alike. But there were spoils, as well, making a skirmish evident - two covered carts drawn by a pair of oxen each.

Nori was grinning like a madman behind his mask yet again as he approached Lord Haitaka. "My apologies, my Lord. I was mistaken. That caravan only had just a few men to defend it - so your commanders opted to relieve them of the goods."

This slip of praise was met with the one in charge of the other 19 to dismount quickly and salute, his head dipped low. The rest followed suit upon their arrival.

The women and children were more than happy to prepare for those going off to battle to return, and more so to get to eat. Another small boy would run up as the men with swords and arrows proceeded to march out of camp, and clap both short arms around Takehiko's leg for just a few moments before scurrying off to find his mother waiting for him - to give him a good scolding before getting him something to eat.


Swordsmen and soldiers and the few miners able to bear arms were more than eager to get this started. To run out the rest of the Fusei that had retreated back into the mines - thinking that this was over and they had the place to themselves. It was not to be; this was the thought of every fighter ready to end this in a bloody battle. When the order was given, the archer drew his bow taut and waited for a fellow comrade to light his already tainted arrowhead. When the fires held the point, it was loosed with a precise eye to let it fly into the mouth of the mines - the dark tunnel lighting up along the path of the arrow as it flew out of sight and the darkness took hold once more.

Haitaka's infantry poured forth from the forest and blocked of any escape route to the west and the village. Samurai and soldiers and archers all coming out, cutting down, slicing through and shooting any that were in the way of their movement. Then they dug in, blades ready for any incoming enemy forces. Between the trapped forest and the formation of merciless samurai their was effectively there was only one route to safety. The area between the river and the forest. Otherwise these men would be risking their lives.

Haitaka himself was dead center of his formation with his katana already drawn and ready for the kill.

Archers would begin firing at the mine's entrance taking out as many of the Fusei as they could. The glowing light from the mine quickly making targets more obvious and easier to hit.

Haitaka along with his samurai formed a wall of blades that were slaughtering the men quite easily. Desperate men were foolish men and simply were no match for disciplined forces. The pike carrying volunteers stayed behind the samurai and were stabbing out between the sword carrying warriors.

"Ei! Ei!" cried out Haitaka with fury in his eyes.

His samurai cried out, "OH!" in response and their blades moved light furious lightning. Strikes from the enemy were narrowly dodged and death blows were landed with swift accurate aggression.

"Flee you fools, flee," was all that Haitaka thought while the fight was heating up. Bandits bodies were slowly forming from the dead bandits hindering their comrades and stemming their flow.