LOG START
[17:22:58] Master of Games
All Creation, Beneath the Sword
Session 17
Morning comes and with it screams from the city, too loud and high-pitched to come from human throats—one of terror, one of joy. Some of the soldiers at camp are heard remarking with unease that until the day before yesterday, they hadn’t heard any shouts of joy from the city. Others try their hardest to pretend they haven’t heard them at all.
Regardless, the city won’t conquer itself, no matter the impressive job it’s done of razing itself. The forces that retreated to rest yesterday, including Gensuji’s personal unit, move back into the city to advance the frontline. The Band of the Canopy, ostensibly under the command of Lord Datei ma Kagemori, has the honor of being tasked with subjugating the unbound demon bandits roaming the city. Perhaps with them gone, their defeat at the hands of Vanehan forces might convince what’s left of the city to capitulate. But then, perhaps not.
The blood apes are hardly subtle, and your scouts have little trouble finding them once they go looking. The blood ape, or erymanthus as Kagemori or River Snake might have seen it named in older texts, is a massive ape covered in a thick black hide spotted with tufts of fur the color of rust and blood, with jagged talons and bone spurs protruding from its body. There are good news and bad news. The good news: the apes seem to be sticking together, marauding in a small group of four or five. That matches with the estimate Morn gave you, so it’s likely that’s all of them. This will simplify hunting them down. The bad news is… they’re sticking together, and one massive demon-ape on its own is bad enough. The scouts report seeing scars on several, likely courtesy of the loyalist sorcerers. Perhaps they’ve decided they can wreak more havoc and drink more blood in a group.
It’s likely possible to split them up through clever maneuvering. That would be safer for you, if not the city. But then again, there they are, all together. What will you do?
[17:31:24] Datei ma Kagemori
”I was not expecting them to be moving as a pack. Perhaps I thought them too proud or solitary. It means it can be dealt with in one clean sweep…If a single glorious, deadly fight is what we want.”
[17:37:27] Raizo
”Perhaps they learned something from us about strength in numbers. Maybe they’re friends.” Raizo grunts out, muffled a bit by the snarling steel mask covering his face. “Alright, how do I do this without getting anyone killed…”
[17:38:33] River Snake
”I’m not sure what the odds are of us Vs 5 big monkeys. Not like I’m an expert demon slayer”
[17:41:02] Datei ma Kagemori
”Splitting them up means it will take twice as long, maybe more. Our chance of success is far higher, but that is hours where more civilians might end up brutalized. If you think we can manage it, I think we should prioritize the lives of the civilians.”
[17:48:09] Raizo
”Master Hano wrote in his military methods, if you outnumber the enemy ten to one, surround him, and if you outnumber your enemy five to one, attack without waiting for further advantage. We’re, what, not far off from that?”
[17:49:32] Master of Games
Fairly close, indeed. One of the Blue Legs pipes up, “They’re not monkeys. Monkeys have tails.” To which an answer from another comes, “Man, who cares?”
[17:50:11] Raizo
”They’re few enough we can split them apart and surround them with men. Keep away from their nails and hit them on their open sides. Like hunting a tiger. Or a really big monkey, I guess.”
[17:50:56] River Snake
”I’m pretty sure those count as more than one, but you’re more of a soldier than I am, so if you think we can do it well” He gets his direlash ready
[17:55:39] Datei ma Kagemori
”They move fast and their claws are lethal. Keep them occupied.”
[18:04:12] Raizo
”Just so. Do your best to work together and stay loose. Fight like cowards, do not get greedy going for a hit. Hell, don’t be afraid to throw a rock, just don’t get hit.” Raizo directs his commands mostly to the Canopy and the Blue Legs, but if his circlemates find wisdom in the suggestion, more the better. He draws his sword and sets his gaze. “I’m going in.”
[18:09:40] Datei ma Kagemori
Kagemori follows Raizo. Using your fists means you need to stay central to the action. The eye of the storm, he hopes.
[18:10:44] River Snake
Snake follows in third, ready with the direlash, slightly behind to help take advantage of the better than average reach
[18:15:29] Raizo
And so he goes, stepping forward with his sword held low in a two-handed grip. Nearing the collection of apes, he roars out, “Back to hell with you! To arms!”
[18:20:49] Master of Games
No one in Raizo’s troops has seen a demon in the flesh before, let alone fought one, but his drive is contagious, and a cheer goes up. The Band of the Canopy will follow him across the deserts into hell. What’s a few demons away from home?
The approach is tricky, winding through city streets and around piles of rubble, but that’s likely good for you—walls will block you from sight and the apes’ own yelling mask your footfalls until you’re quite close. You come out onto a plaza facing some wealthy family’s residence and interrupt the blood apes in the middle of dismantling its garden gate. They round on the newcomers like a child finding a new toy, or a bully challenged. One of them hastily stuffs something in its mouth.
[18:25:55] Datei ma Kagemori
Kagemori pauses for a single last stretch. Due to the group moving, his pause results in him going from a single step behind Raizo to a few paces. He shifts to a fighting stance, light on his feet as they walk through the ruins. He cracks his knuckles.
[18:38:02] Datei ma Kagemori
As the two groups approach each other, Kagemori leaps over Raizo to attack the blood ape in the front from above! As he begins to descend, he brings his boot down on the demon’s head with surprising force. He takes advantage of the creature’s surprise to land a series of punches after he lands gracefully.
[18:46:55] Master of Games
Kagemori’s blows are powerful, but the apes are well used to violence and their hides thick and battle-worn. They shrug off his starting attack, though the Datei lord’s courage and agility startles them.
[18:47:53] River Snake
Snake follows up after Datei, coming in at the apes from the other side so as to not interfere with his friend’s attacks. He ducks behind debris as he approaches, hoping to throw off the actual direction of his attack until before he strikes. His direlash arcs in, appearing to miss initially before sweeping in the opposite direction and raking across an ape’s face.
[19:05:41] Raizo
And while the other two have the blood apes distracted, Raizo abruptly charges in, going for a flurry of deft slashes aimed at hitting joints and throats, trying to defang (literally or otherwise) the enemy as much as he can with the opening he has before battle is fully joined with the soldiers behind him.
[19:15:22] Raizo
Mostly for naught, as it turns out; there’s no replacement for experience, and with no experience in how thick their hides can be, Raizo’s finding out the hard way.
[19:19:38] Master of Games
The demons are clearly not expecting such spirited resistance from mortals, let alone mortals that can touch them. River Snake’s lash forces several apes back and draws blood from one, while Raizo’s sword clashes off a bone spur and gets the attention of its owner.
Now thoroughly angered, the blood apes rear up to beat their chests and respon with a chorus of thundering roars that resounds through the plaza! It feels as though the sound itself might be enough to crush your chest and pulp your innards. Is that a wall cracking, or something in your skull?
[19:27:09] River Snake
Snake covers his ears as he jumps into the best thing he can think of to hopefully help muffle the sound, a pile of rubble and fabric that was probably once some kind of shop stall.
[19:27:22] Datei ma Kagemori
Kagemori puts all his might into punching the air in a quick combo, followed with a forceful kick. He times his strikes to the demons’ strikes on their own chests, aiming to strike up sound waves of his own to redirect theirs. At the same time, essence flows throughout his ears. As easily as he can enhance his senses, so too can he focus away from that sense.
[19:31:39] Raizo
Thinking fast and devoid of much better options for the wave of sound about to pound his skull in, Raizo dives into the middle of the group of apes, because they’re probably not directing it inward or in a direction that they can’t hurt anybody.
[19:44:50] Master of Games
Kagemori and Snake manage to dive away from and redirect the sound and come out with a persistent ringing in their ears but no blood to show for it. Raizo is hit hardest: his dive was a miscalculation; the apes apparently have no compunctions about roaring at each other. Their skulls can take it. If anything, it is loudest in the thick of it. The Band of the Canopy, still closing in, raise shields against the unexpected shockwave and weather it admirably, remaining standing but for a few who are dazed or unconscious. They must remain behind while the main body of the Band rushes to support their commander.
[19:54:24] Master of Games
And support him they do. The Band moves as one, just like they’ve drilled so many times, and crashes into the blood apes like a roaring wave, overwhelming demonic strength with speed and numbers. The beasts are forced apart, and Raizo feels the brothers Pikon grab his arms and help him out, though their words are a bit hard to hear.
[19:59:08] River Snake
Snake seizes on the opening as the apes are shattered and disoriented, emerging from his cover, lash arcing out around an ape’s throat, shredding its neck before whipping away into the eye of another one. Chaos around as he joins the band in finishing off the demon apes.
[19:59:34] River Snake
”While they’re confused, finish them off!”
[20:00:58] Raizo
Raizo claps the Pikons on the shoulders and then gestures toward the scattering demons, still too disoriented to really speak but echoing Snake’s sentiment well enough. The order is given: pursue and run them down.
[20:05:15] Raizo
Meanwhile, he loosens the knots on his helmet straps and drops the thing with a dull metal thud on the cobblestones. There’s a trickle of blood down his ears.
[20:05:38] Datei ma Kagemori
Kagemori pursues one along with a few soldiers of the Band, striking at its heels to harrow it until it can be pinned and cut down.
[20:17:30] Master of Games
The blood apes scatter and run, outraged to be beaten by mere mortals, but you move in groups and hunt them down. Kagemori knows that gods are reborn in their sanctum if killed, but lesser demons have no such thing, their unholy essence simply dissipates on death. These demons will not bother the city again.
Shapes stir in the windows and doorframe of the nearby residence and others, clearly watching warily.
[20:19:52] Raizo
Raizo takes some drunken steps off to the side of the street before stumbling down into a vaguely seated pile on someone’s stoop. The punch-drunkenness will pass in a few moments, but until then, he probably looks a bit ridiculous.
[20:21:14] Datei ma Kagemori
”Victory! We can add ‘demon-slaying’ to our list of accomplishments.”
[20:21:38] Datei ma Kagemori
”…Unfortunately, their spiritual existence makes returning trophies…Difficult.”
[20:29:47] Raizo
”Sweet Father Elm that was loud. Alright, good to know if we ever have to fight them again, don’t jump into the middle of them.”
[20:30:05] Raizo
”What else was on the schedule for today?”
[20:32:46] Datei ma Kagemori
”First, check on the wounded. Second, collect evidence of our victory. Third, whatever we want to do.”
[20:33:31] River Snake
”Not sure what evidence we can gather unless we had witnesses. Do demons leave traces?”
[20:34:01] River Snake
”How are the guys, Raizo?”
[20:35:50] Raizo
Raizo gets up and takes a head count, helping people up and checking the occasional pulse. “Everyone looks like they’re in one piece. Head might be ringing, though.”
[20:39:00] Master of Games
One is out cold and will need to sleep it off—or a bucket of water, in a pinch. A few are still disoriented, and the sound wave has inflicted bruises all over, but remarkably, there have been no casualties.
[20:39:02] River Snake
Snake will join Raizo in helping wounded soldiers to the feet and the like, though he’s not any kind of doctor so he cant do much else
[20:40:47] Datei ma Kagemori
”They were, at least temporarily, material residents of Creation. If we want a permanent trophy, it might take some occult skill, but their magic solidifying their forms should outlast them at least long enough for our purposes.”
[20:42:12] River Snake
”I guess we should go turn them in before they dissolve into goop or whatever it is demons do”
[20:44:59] Datei ma Kagemori
”Likely not goop but yeah, that is the idea. I expect the Sword Prince to still be with his men. We could meet him at the front, or have some time for our selves before meeting him at camp.”
[20:45:23] Datei ma Kagemori
Kagemori has the Band of the Canopy collect the heads of the demonic corpses.
[20:45:50] Raizo
”No time like the present, I say. Grab what you like and let’s mosey.”
[21:08:43] Master of Games
Heads are collected and carried with appropriate caution. They stink, frankly, and with demonic forces involved it feels like they might suddenly decide to fly about and bite someone’s head after all. But they do not.
As you make off to search for the Prince to present him with your accomplishments right here on the battlefield, the inhabitants of nearby houses watch cautiously. Someone in the Band burns a paper in prayer.