Rob Hobart

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This was a special GenCon-only event that was restricted to Crab and Crab-allied PCs (basically Lion and Phoenix, along with specific individuals who had ties to the Crab). The event was designed to be epic in scale and content, and also ended up being epic in playing time, with the 7pm event running until 4am! I still made it in for the 9am slot the next morning, though, with the help of some strong coffee.

The inspiration for this event came from many different sources, and I'd been planning it for a while (hence the various foreshadowing moments in fictions, Shadowlands modules, etc). The most specific influence was Steven Erikson's novel "Deadhouse Gates" and its depiction of the Chain of Dogs, which was of course inspired by the historical event of Xenophon's Anabasis. I was quite thoroughly _not_ a fan of Erikson's book, which struck me as a profoundly nihilistic and immoral work, but it nonetheless inspired me to offer my own alternative: a tragic-heroic tale of Crab courage in the face of massive defeat.

The primary goal of this module was to let the PCs personally, directly experience the catastrophe that happens when Moto Yoshi leads the Shadowlands in an all-out assault on the fatally weakened Kaiu Wall. However, the module also served to determine the fate of numerous NPCs, including Toturi Gendo, Toturi Kobe, the Hida bloodline, the Toritaka daimyo, the Kuni daimyo (who commits jigai in rage and despair), a variety of lesser NPCs in the Crab lands, and of course Gojiro himself, who achieves at least a partial redemption for his mistakes by "dying like a Crab" in defense of Kyuden Hida.

What follows is a fiction adapted from the module. Because so many players could not participate in the event (or could not even attend GenCon), I converted the module into a story and posted it on the campaign listserv and website. The sheer length of this story should give you some idea of how big this event was and why it took until 4am to play. (Side-note: I liked this module so much that I stripped out some elements from it for the official GenCon 2015 RPG event. Sadly, the subsequent sale of L5R to FFG may have rendered the results of that event moot...)

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Doom of the Crab

Kyuden Hida, Late Summer 1503 IC

A herald comes into the chamber and drops to his knees, planting one fist on the heavy wood floor. "Lord Gojiro-sama! I bring a new warrior, trained in the ways of the Crab!" "Let him enter," Gojiro growls, and the guard stands, bows, and steps aside.

Toturi Kobe walks into the room, a boy of fifteen, lean and muscular, dressed in a kimono of Crab gray with the Imperial chrysanthemum embroidered in dark red thread. He wears a wakizashi at his side and a tetsubo strapped across his back. An eta follows, holding a large bundori bag.

Kobe marches up the courtroom and prostrates himself before Gojiro. Another samurai steps forward, kneels, and presents a katana in a Crab-red saya. Kobe draws it and goes through a series of kata, the quick and brutal movements of the Hida school. Finished, he returns the sword, then unlimbers the tetsubo and runs through another set of kata, clearly intended for the heavier weapon. Finally he replaces his tetsubo, steps back, and makes a small gesture. The patient eta scuttles forward, lays the bundori bag at Hida Gojiro's feet, and carefully opens it. Within is the severed head of an ogre, carefully mounted on a display board. An appreciative murmur passes through the watching Crab, and even Hida Gojiro himself briefly cracks a smile.

The crowd is rapt, its attention wholly on the ceremony involving the young Toturi, and preparing to offer him the gifts of his new position. Few notice the couriers hurrying into the room, one after the other, and speaking in hushed tones with Hiruma Tsukan, lord of the Hiruma family. Tsuken's face creases with worry and he ducks out of the chamber. Signal flares have been sighted from the southern horizon, where the Kaiu Wall lies, and messengers have been coming in at a dead run for the last hour.

The Crab return the katana to Kobe, and he bows humbly, accepting the blade and sliding it beneath his obi. A round of applause circulates through the room as the assembled guests congratulate the youngest Toturi prince for becoming an adult.

The last of the guests are offering their congratulations to Kobe when the door to the main chamber slides open. A tattered, dirty Crab in ashigaru armor staggers through and drops to his knees, trembling with exhaustion. "Lord Gojiro-sama!" he calls in a weak, thready voice. "Lord Gojiro-sama, the Skull Tide has invaded Earthquake Fish Bay! Ships, a fleet of corrupt ships! They have cut off Clear Water Village!"

A shocked silence fills the room, followed by urgent murmuring and whispering.

Hida Gojiro rises ponderously to his feet, glowering at the exhausted scout. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday evening, my lord," the scout gasps. "Lord Hanumara-sama ordered me to flee with word, and sacrificed a squadron to get me through…" He sways for a moment, catches himself, and finishes. "The city is surrounded, my lord. We must… have help…" He topples, collapsing from exhaustion.

As the impact of these words ripples through the crowd, many turn pale or flush with anger. Kuni Yuriko, her ancient face turned monstrous by her kabuki makeup, steps forward, leaning heavily on her staff. "Hida Gojiro-sama! We see now the folly of pulling so many troops away from the Wall! Let this foolish war with the Crane end, before it is too late!"

Toritaka Tenkei speaks after her, his young voice clear in the low-roofed chamber. "The lady of the Kuni speaks truly, great lord. We have paid too high a price already."

Gojiro rounds on the two of them. "Be silent! This is a raid, nothing more! There is no danger to the Wall!"

It is Hiruma Tsuken who answers, striding into the room with his face set and grim. "I am sorry, Lord Gojiro-sama, but that is not true. Word has just arrived. The Lost have assaulted us in force, supported by massed forces of bakemono and undead. The Wall is breached in three places since this morning."

Gojiro stares blankly at Tsuken for a moment, then says, "A feint? Something to draw us off from Clear Water?"

"I do not believe so, my lord. The reports estimate enemy forces numbering at least 20,000."

Kuni Yuriko speaks again, her voice a harsh shout cutting across the room. "This is the fate you have brought upon us, Hida Gojiro! This is the price we pay for your madman's war!" "Be silent!" Gojiro roars. "I am the lord of the Crab, and you will show me respect!"

"You are no Crab!" Yuriko shrieks. "And I will serve such a lord no longer!" She snatches a tanto free from her belt. Toritaka Tenkei lets out a cry and reaches blindly for her, but too late – she plunges the knife into her throat, committing jigai.

Silence falls. Hida Gojiro stares at the body of the old woman for a long moment, his face working, and finally speaks in a hoarse voice. "Hiruma Tsuken."

"My lord." Tsuken drops to one knee.

"The civilians and guests. Get them out. Take whoever you need, get them out." A long pause. "Shiro Moshibaru, that will do. I will take command of the House Guard and… and lead them south." He strides out of the room without another glance.

The room explodes into motion and noise as panicky courtiers run this way and that, while Crab bushi rush for the exits.

***************

Within the hour, a large force of Hida bushi heads out the castle gates at a relentless jog-trot, their heavy armor and hob-nailed sandals making a terrifying din. Overhead, scores of carrier pigeons rise from the castle towers, carrying messages away to the rest of the Empire. In the courtyard, courtiers, servants, and other noncombatants swirl in panicky currents around a handful of stable points: Hiruma Tsuken, Toturi Kobe, Toritaka Tenkei.

Tenkei holds the last of the falcons from Shiro Toritaka, gently stroking the small hunter's feathers before tying a small rolled-up scroll to its leg. "Perhaps we shall meet again before the next life," he murmurs, and lets it go.

Hida Junko, the sister of Hida Gojiro, wanders through the crowd with her servants and infant children, calling plaintively for her brother. "Goji-kun? Where is Goji-kun?"

Hiruma Tsuken strides through the chaos, taking command. The bushi form escorts, leading the civilians out of the castle gates and to the northwest, cutting cross-country.

The column spends the day marching northwest toward Kyuden Moshibaru, the seat of the Hida vassal family, the nearest stronghold that is not already in danger. The pace is relentless, nightmarish for the women, children, servants, courtiers, and other noncombatants. Moans and protests rise endlessly, and civilians fall by the wayside only to be hauled to their feet by the Crab soldiers. There are barely 200 bushi to protect six times that number To the south, toward the Kaiu Wall, pillars of smoke rise on the horizon.

The column passes through villages, and each time Tsuken orders them to evacuate. "Make your way to Kyuden Moshibaru, as quickly as possible!" he shouts. "The Wall is breached, it is not safe here!" Many of the villagers drop what they are doing and simply join the column, following without hesitation.

As night falls, the column is forced to halt for rest. Many of the more frail courtiers and civilians simply drop where they are and fall asleep, while the soldiers get busy setting up a perimeter and lighting cook fires. Within half an hour, Hiruma Tsuken marches through, calling, "I need volunteers! Volunteers for an important mission!"

A few samurai step forward despite their weariness. "The most direct route to Kyuden Moshibaru does not approach the sacred monastery of Koten. But there are monks there with wisdom and knowledge which must be preserved. And also one who 1is of the same blood as our most important guest." He nods his head toward Toturi Kobe. "They must be retrieved and brought to Kyuden Moshibaru. Can you do this?"

The volunteers depart within the hour.

********************

A secondary road climbs up the side of a low hill whose stony slopes are scattered with scrub brush and occasional trees. Atop the hill is the ancient stone fortress of Koten, the fabled Crab shrine, surrounded by the heavy walls for which the Crab are so well known.

The gates of Koten are closed, and helmeted Crab bushi watch on the battlements above. A single monk, dressed in close-wrapped garments of tan-white, and wearing a large straw jingasa that covers his head and conceals his face, waits outside the gate. He is holding a broom and standing utterly still, staring off to the south. Looking at the vast swarm of goblins there, interspersed with smaller and more organized groups of Lost humans.

Silent's gaze is invisible behind the wicker-work vision slots of his jingasa. He bows and gestures to the newcomers, and behind him the gate swings open. As the messengers hurry inside, Silent walks calmly toward the distant forces on the plains, hands open and held out at his sides. Beneath his jingasa, he smiles, spreading his hands and bowing as he approaches the Shadowlands forces. Let them, too, join his quest for enlightenment.

The goblins rush toward him in a tidal wave of screeching fury, and Silent smiles and kills them with swift, blurring strikes of his hands and feet. Blood and flying bodies surround him, and he walks through it in serenity, tearing a great rent in the lines of the horde coming toward him. Finally a new foe appears, a squad of the Lost.

Silent drops three of them before they finally cut him down.

Within the gates of Koten, the abbot Jichu greets the messengers. He speaks softly, gently, despite the tight cloth wrappings and ritual scarification of the Order of Osano-Wo. "Yes, we must leave here at once. And of course, you are here for our brother Heki. I know of his former life." He issues calm but swift orders to the other monks, who begin quickly packing books, scrolls, and small bundles of personal belongings. The Crab garrison hurriedly rallies from their barracks, the off-duty soldiers throwing on their armor with brutal haste.

The abbot leads a few samurai upstairs to one of the temple's interior rooms, a dim chamber lit only by a single lamp and what light manages to infiltrate through the paper walls. He carefully opens the door and kneels down next to a figure in monks' robes, huddled into a corner with his right arm wrapped around his knees.

Heki, once Toturi Gendo, sits at the center of chaotic ruin, a broken writing kit and a massive ink stain on the floor, crumpled sheets of paper scattered about, a futon literally torn asunder. The papers scattered around the room, all of them, are scrawled with the same kanji: Death.

As the abbot speaks to him, one of the samurai kneels. "Your brother Kobe waits for you, honored lord," he whispers. In response a flicker of awareness glitters in the young monk's strange silvery eyes. "The future," he whispers in a thick,

mushy voice, distorted by his slumping face. "The future." He uncurls and makes a feeble effort to stand.

Outside, swarms of goblins are racing up the hill toward the fortress. The Crab garrison briefly consults with the abbot. He turns to the samurai messengers. "Our Crab protectors intend to leave a force here to delay the enemy, and form an escort to lead the rest of us out. Lore Hiruma-san has placed the safety of our brother Heki is in your hands, yes?" He smiles and bows. "Fortunes go with you."

The samurai and most of the Crab garrison flee Koten, most of the monks with them, Heki carried on a strong bushi's back. Among the monks is a one-handed old man named Guro, once Tainted near to doom, but purified by the touch of the Shrine of the Three Sisters.

Arrows come down like rain, and goblins swathed in the flames of Magic Mud charge them with insane shrieks. Dozens of bushi and monks fall, their bodies despoiled by the gibbering creatures… but most of them get through, with Heki. Behind them, the main force of goblins climbs the walls of Koten, getting swatted off the parapet by Crab and monks.

As the escapees break contact, they look back one last time. The goblins are swarming over the walls, bodies scattering away from the dwindling Crab defenders. A goblin dressed in armor is visible atop the parapet, shrieking orders and waving a sword to urge his troops forward.

As they carry Heki, he whispers deliriously. "Death," he says, over and over, once the name "Yoshi," and once, "Father." Finally, an hour before they reach Kyuden Moshibaru, he suddenly opens his eyes and says, very clearly, "Jade will die, and the Heavens will bleed."

***********************

The castle of the Moshibaru family is located in the middle of a wind-swept rocky plain, the roads leading to it poorly maintained. The fortress is not nearly large enough to house the flood of refugees, and the Crab create an improvised tent city outside the walls, and throw up an earthen berm fortification. Bushi patrol along its top with knocked bows. As night falls, torches blaze on the walls of the castle and amid the improvised camp as well. Toritaka Tenkei rests among the other refugees, his bleeding feet carefully bandaged.

At four in the morning, noise and blaring trumpets rouse everyone from exhausted slumber. Red flares rise into the sky over camp, and Crab shout for all bushi to the defenses.

What looms out of the dark, however, is not a Shadowlands army but a force of Crab, about 300 of them. At their head is a short, thin man in ashigaru armor, with a sharp, foxy-cunning face and a tetsubo strapped across his back. A shout goes up from the Crab defenders: "Satsu! Hiruma Satsu is here!"

Within moments, Hiruma Tsuken emerges from the castle. With him is a squat, burly Crab in full armor – Hida Kunatsu, lord of the Moshibaru family. Tsuken calls to his brother: "Satsu! What news?"

Hiruma Satsu pauses to take a waterskin from one of the sentries, drinking long and deeply, before he speaks in a hoarse voice. "The Wall is breached, brother, in a score of places. Shiro Kuni has fallen. Lost cavalry are pushing northeast in great strength. These men were all I could pull out."

"What of our own lands? Shiro Kaiu?"

"I had no news of an attack on the Hiruma lands. It seems our foes are striking straight for the heart of Crab lands. Shiro Kaiu still held last night, I could see the flares from their walls, but I had no chance of fighting my way through to them." He looks around. "What is happening here? What news from Kyuden Hida?"

Hiruma Tsuken answers slowly. "Our scouts came in this evening. They report Kyuden Hida is besieged, surrounded by enemy forces in great numbers." He pauses for a moment, then continues. "If the Lost are moving cavalry to the northeast… they mean to cut us off, trap us here. We cannot allow that, not with both the blood of Hida and the Imperial line in our care."

Hida Kunatsu growls, "Kyuden Moshibaru is strong. We could hold off these Shadowlands scum for weeks, months!"

Tsuken shakes his head. "Our only chance is to get through the Wall Above the Ocean and make contact with our armies in the Crane lands. Castles can be rebuilt, bloodlines cannot." He turns and strides back into the camp. "Prepare to move immediately!" Kunatsu trails after him, still protesting.

The camp dissolves into chaos as the Crab prepare to move, kicking and shoving the civilians, peasant and samurai alike, into wakefulness. Tsuken strides through the camp, snapping out orders that bring order from chaos, while Hida Kunatsu trails after him, still protesting the abandonment of his castle.

Ignoring him, Tsuken snaps out orders to his scouts. "You. We must secure a pass through the Wall Above the Ocean, and I do not have enough scouts. Take horses and ride for the Prosperous Pass, see if it is clear for travel. You have one day. Go!"

Hiruma Satsu approaches the scouts as they are mounting up. The younger brother of the Hiruma lord is covered in dirt, filth, and dried blood. He points almost due east. "That way," he says. "A half-day, maybe, on foot. That pass isn't the best choice – the one we'd rather use is the Mountain Road from Nishiyama Mura. But if the enemy cavalry is already there, this might be our best choice.

Good luck." He steps out of the way and slaps the rump of one of their horses as they leave.

*****************

By the time the scouts return, the refugee column has already traversed most of the distance to the mountains. It has swelled enormously, gathering every possible civilian as it marches east, and now totals over 8,000 people. Of those, only about 900 are bushi, a mixture of the original men from Kyuden Hida, the garrison of Kyuden Moshibaru, and the 300 brought in by Hiruma Satsu.

After the scouts report, Hiruma Tsuken and his brother Satsu look at each other and, after a moment, Tsuken nods. "It's the best chance we have."

By nightfall, the column reaches the base of the Prosperous Pass. The civilians are in dire shape, especially the children and elderly. Tsuken and Satsu organize the camp, set up guards, and put everyone else to work – cooking rice for dinner, throwing up improvised earthworks around the camp, and crafting palanquins for the wounded from the trees growing on the lower slopes of the mountains. The work does not end until hours after sunset.

That night, mercifully, there is no attack. The column has already been raided by goblins twice and Lost cavalry once during the desperate march to get here.

Fifteen bushi and over a hundred civilians have fallen. Toturi Kobe and his brother Heki both still live, traveling in the center of the column, and Toritaka Tenkei is being carried by Crab bushi.

Not all are in despair. The cousins Yasuki Kado and Yasuki Tomei keep up spirits among the refugees by arranging games of Kemari – with elbows, of course. And the monk Guro is playing his drum, sometimes offering accompaniment to Tomei's Kemari demonstrations, and teaching the ways of the Tao to the samurai children in the column.

The next day, the column climbs into the Prosperous Pass. Hiruma Tsuken orders one-third of his fighting strength to the front of the column, to watch for trouble, while the remaining two-thirds act as rear-guard. Tten scouts range ahead into the pass, searching for trouble.

The column spends the day climbing up into the mountains, passing through several narrow saddles between the jagged mountain peaks. From this height, the civilians can look back and see much of the Crab lands, and the lines of smoke and fire that mark the advancing Shadowlands forces, overrunning everything in sight. The Crab bushi do not look back.

Rumors spread through the column that Shadowlands raiders have been spotted in the mountains. Later in the afternoon, more concrete reports arrive: goblins have attacked the rear of the column, inflicting significant loss before being driven off.

The column makes camp that evening on a flat plateau between the higher peaks, thickly forested everywhere outside of the road itself. From here, the pass begins to descend again, and the scouts bring back a grim report: a collapsed bridge and deep gully are about two hours ahead. Civilians moan in near-despair at the prospect of trying to cross some unbridged mountain gully. Tsuken puts them to work fortifying the area and preparing what little food remains. Some are ordered to scour the surrounding mountains for game. "Red meat is still meat, if the other choice is starvation."

Tales spread of the goblin attack from that afternoon, One survivor, Yasuki Kado, shares his story as he drinks his last bottle of sake. "Never seen anything like that. They just came at us like a tsunami, no end to them, climbing over their own dead to reach us. Damned goblins. There was some cursed warmonger at the back urging them on – I took a couple shots at him but never hit. Finally they pulled back, when we'd piled up so many dead it was almost a new Kaiu Wall."

Guro the monk is less troubled. "It was rather like being back in my youth… except for my slowness, the number of the enemy, and having only one hand. Still, I did my part."

*******************

That night, samurai are called to the tent which Tsuken and Satsu use as a command post. Both Hiruma lords look pale and worn, dark circles under their eyes. Tsuken is visibly thinner than when the retreat started four days ago. "We're sending all our engineering-trained men to the bridge tonight, to repair it by morning. The scouts are moving ahead to clear the rest of the pass."

Tsuken breaks off for a moment, swaying on his feet, and Satsu steps forward as though to support him. Then he shakes his head, straightens, and resumes.

"You're to guard the engineers, make sure they stay safe. We've caught hints of Shadowlands infiltrators in the mountains, trying to flank us, so you'll need to be on your guard. Go, no time to waste."

"Cannot the gully be crossed without a bridge?"

"It can, but only in single file. We have almost 10,000 people to get through this pass, and the enemy is pressing our rear-guard. The only way to cross in sufficient time will be to repair the bridge."

The engineers and their escorts set out into the darkness, to build a bridge before dawn. Almost a hundred commoners come along as well, hauling timbers on improvised sledges.

They reach the bridge site around midnight. The Moon is out, three-quarters full with clouds scudding across its surface, shedding pale eerie light on the scene. A deep irregular gully slashes across the pass, with water flickering in the moonlight at the bottom. The old bridge is largely collapsed, leaving a partial, almost skeletal remnant, drunkenly leaning down into the gully. It can indeed be crossed in single file, although it creaks alarmingly.

The engineers and their commoner work team immediately go to work, lighting torches, deploying axes and hammers to cut down more trees from the surrounding slopes, and hauling the first of the timbers into place to repair the bridge.

The guards fan out and take up positions on the surrounding slopes. Each of the guard teams is issued a pair of signal arrows, red and blue.

At first there is no incident. The torches flare, casting yellow-orange light over the worksite, as the Crab and their commoner assistants work like demons to rebuild the bridge. There are accidents. Men are crushed beneath heavy timbers, chop themselves with axe-blows made clumsy by exhaustion, or slip and tumble fatally into the gully. But the work forges ahead, the bridge rising from its own ruins like a phoenix.

Then a samurai glimpses something impossible: a figure on horseback, dropping out of the sky as though it has leapt from the highest mountain peak. Moto Yoshi has arrived. The Dark Moto lands amid the guards, springing free from his onikage mount to attack with his katana. He seems perfectly formed, inhumanly beautiful, a tall man with long black hair swirling around his head, dressed in antique light armor with the Moto red chrysanthemum mon. He does not even move in any recognizably normal way, but slides between the pages of reality, moving almost instantly from one place to another, as though the world collapses around him and spews him forth somewhere else.

He laughs at the samurai, flinging them aside almost casually, their spells and weapons shattering away from his body. "You think your feeble attacks can trouble me? I who rode by the side of Moto Tsume, who drank the Fallen God's blood and opened my eyes to the truth of the universe?"

They shout defiance at him, and he laughs louder. "I am merely a general, a loyal servant! The one I follow will serve Jigoku's needs more completely than ever dreamed of by the twice-failed Fu Leng and his mewling disciple Daigotsu."

One of the samurai is a Toritaka, struggling to tie a jade finger to his arrow. Yoshi slaps the man to the ground and bows in mocking thanks. "It was one of your own, a blundering fool named Yamamiya, who freed me from my prison three years ago!"

The red arrows flares in the night, and finally help arrives, the Crab with weapons coated by jade powder. Moto Yoshi looks around and notes the glittering light of jade reacting to his presence. He smiles monstrously and sketches another mocking bow before suddenly springing a score of feet into the air and onto his onikage simultaneously. "We will meet again, be sure of it!" he shouts, his voice echoing across the mountains, and vanishes into the night.

************************

Beyond the gully, the Prosperous Pass descends the far side of the mountains, gradually winding its way down between jagged, heavily-forested slopes. The column of refugees is now truly exhausted, with nearly all of the children and elderly carried on improvised stretchers or palanquins, or on the backs of the hale. Food has almost completely run out as well. For much of the day, heavy rains fall, soaking everyone and turning the pass into clinging mud.

Yasuki Kado, Hida Kunatsu, and Guro the monk have all fallen, holding off attacks on the rear-guard by hordes of goblins, and the Crab expect the goblins to return soon. Their armored warmonger urges his troops on relentlessly, despite horrific losses.

In late afternoon, the column comes in sight of a plateau covered with dense pine forest. Perched on the plateau, overlooking the lower reaches of the Pass, is a small shrine, its tile pagoda roof gleaming with the recent rains. Beyond this holy site, the pass is in better repair, and the road descends smoothly toward the lowlands. The ruins of an ancient castle are visible farther down the pass as well.

Two aged monks, Akihisa and Harunobu, come forth to greet their sudden mass of visitors. They welcome the refugees to their shrine and bring forth tea, rice, bandages, and anything else they can offer to help. But there is little time for rest, and the main column continues to struggle its way down the pass, trying to stay ahead of the goblins. Within a half-hour, Hiruma Tsuken summons his men.

He looks utterly spent, but his voice remains clear. "The goblins are pressing our rear-guard relentlessly. We must make a stand here and stop them. And this may be the best place to do so." He gestures to Akihisa. "The monks tell me that the mountain spirits are angered by the presence of so many Tainted creatures within the pass. He believes they can supplicate the mountain to fight for us, if we can buy enough time."

300 bushi join the rear-guard defense against the goblins, a half-mile up the pass from the shrine. The rest of the rear-guard is waiting there, less than 400 battered and exhausted soldiers. They welcome their reinforcements with grim smiles and nods. Farther up the pass, the shrieking of hundreds of goblins drifts on the wind.

***********************

The noise of the goblins slowly rises to a fever pitch of chanting and screeching, and they come over the crest of the pass and roll down toward the Crab, a solid mass of shrieking, gabbling filth, firing arrows as they charge that fill the air to choking. Battle rages all across the pass, goblins hurling themselves onto the Crab lines, scrambling over each others' bodies to leap atop their foes, making their own dead into ramparts to attack their hated foes.

The tide of goblins hits the Crab, crests, and then recedes before the relentless fury of the defense. A handful of Phoenix shugenja who have traveled with the Crab from Kyuden Hida blast hundreds of the creatures with the power of Fire. At last the goblin warmonger, Grakku, appears out of the swarm, gibbering in fury. "You kills them, kills them!" he shrieks. "Why you not kill them? Grakku says kill now, now, now!"

Then the mountain kami, entreated by the monks, unleashes its fury. The pass shakes and all the mountains seem to tremble, and stone and earth cascade down from the upper slopes, burying the pass and squashing hundreds of goblins in an instant. Dust boils up in great clouds, and splinters of stone the size of horses tumble past the exhausted Crab and crash down to the lower slopes. A weary cheer rises from the samurai as the lead goblins, bewildered and shocked, break off their attack and stare back at what has happened to their fellows.

Grakku dies, his malignant face twisted into an expression of utmost surprise.

The rear-guard picks itself up, bandages its injuries, and limps down the pass after the civilians. Only the two monks remain behind, refusing to leave the shrine. "Our place is here, and we are old – our deaths will be no great loss to the Empire."

***********************

Two days later, the refugee column emerges from the mountains and reaches the village of Higashiyama Mura. Once a great trade center, the town is ill-maintained today, with perhaps 2500 people compared to the 4,000 who once dwelt here. There is a small stone fortress outside the town, and the tiny garrison comes forth to meet with the refugee column and share news. The fate of Kyuden Hida is unknown – no carrier birds or magical messages have arrived from there in days. But all the news is not all bad. Word has it that the Crab armies are withdrawing from Crane lands, and there are rumors that at least one Imperial Legion, perhaps as many as three, are force-marching toward Crab lands.

Food and drink are finally available in abundance, as the local troops empty the town's stores to care for the almost 10,000 refugees who have descended upon them. Priests from the town's handful of shrines make themselves available to care for the injured and pray for the dead.

But the next day, an hour after dawn, Crab couriers race through the town, shouting for evacuation.

"Samurai to the north, outside the walls! Civilians to the west, outside the walls, ready to move!"

The local troops and residents are bewildered and react slowly, but the veteran refugees quickly stir themselves to action, just as they have for the last week.

On the north side of town, Hiruma Tsuken and Hiruma Satsu wait. Tsuken speaks to the samurai, his voice grim. "The scouts to the north have spotted a large force of Lost cavalry, at least 3,000. They must have passed through the Mountain Road. We must move at once or they will trap us here. This town lacks the strength to sustain a siege against such a force. We leave within the hour."

One samurai asks for all those assembled: "Where will we go?"

Satsu answers for his brother: "East to the River of Gold. My scouts have reported that two Imperial Legions have reached the river. If we can force-march within range of them, they will give us enough strength to crush these Lost."

The column is swollen by 2,500 people from Higashiyama Mura. Despite Tsuken's best efforts, it takes precious hours to shake loose the inhabitants of the village. They march east as fast as the civilians can move, and Tsuken places all of the bushi on the north flank, watching for the enemy cavalry. For a time, nothing happens, and grumbles begin to pass among the new refugees that this is a needless flight. Then, at midday, the column stops for a brief rest, and news arrives from the scouts.

Drums sound, calling the bushi to assemble. From north and east, scouts race in. The first of them sprint to Hiruma Tsuken and drop to one knee as they gasp out their reports. "Enemy to the north, less than three miles and closing fast!"

Tsuken nods grimly. "Our forces?"

"At least a day away by forced march."

"And the Imperial Legions?"

"They remain at the River of Gold, sama. The commander told us he is under orders from the Imperial Herald himself not to advance farther!"

A low murmur passes through the ranks of the Crab bushi, oaths and mutters.

Satsu growls, "Silence in the ranks!" and turns to his older brother. "Tsuken. What orders?"

Hiruma Tsuken looks around, face blank, and for a moment he seems to be utterly at a loss. Then, with a visible effort, he pulls himself together. "We must move the column on immediately, forced march. The bushi will have to deploy north and stop the Lost long enough for the civilians to reach the River of Gold. I shall take command."

"No, brother," Satsu replies. "You will not." Tsuken opens his mouth to shout, but Satsu continues before he can say a word. "You are our lord, my lord, heir of the Hiruma. We do not know if any of our bloodline yet survive in our lands. You must live. I am merely the younger brother, and so this task falls to me."

Tsuken stares in silence for a moment, and then says, "When we retake Koten, I shall tell your story to the monks, brother." He turns away and begins shouting orders to the column. "All civilians, all guests, begin moving now!"

Hiruma Satsu turns to the Crab and lifts his voice in a great shout: "Brothers and sisters of the Crab! I go to my death!! WHO WILL GO WITH ME??"

A great roar rises from the ranks of the Crab, a roar greater than their numbers should be able to make.

"We are the Crab! All that the Empire has built will be ashes, all will be cast down in ruin and blood, except that WE are HERE! We are the Crab, and WE WILL NOT FAIL!"

A pitifully thin line, no more than 800 Crab troops, takes its stand. Ahead of them, the horizon turns dark with the enemy, and the earth trembles beneath their feet with the drum-beat of 3,600 onikage, charging forward.

***************************

The column of refugees struggles to the shore of the River of Gold, where two Imperial Legions hold a bridgehead. The Legion senior commander, a Lion named Matsu Odaku, listens silently to the reports from the refugees, and repeats that he is under orders from the Imperial Herald not to advance beyond the river.

However, he is fully prepared to defend all those who have reached the safety of his lines. Hiruma Tsuken stalks away from him in silent fury, and dispatches his remaining scouts to learn what has happened behind him.

The scouts return with the survivors, less than one fourth of those who fought.

At the center of the shattered line they find the body of Hiruma Satsu, surrounded by the corpses of fifteen of the Lost.

The next day, the first of the Crab armies from the Crane lands arrives by forced march. The commander is Hida Shigetori, the husband of Hida Junko. His wife has did of fever on the march, but her children survive, heirs to the Hida bloodline. Toritaka Tenkei has survived as well, despite his bandaged feet, and finds his last falcon once more.

The Crab push back toward Higashiyama Mura, reclaiming the battlefield, and eventually making contact once more with the two monks in the shrine. In the days that follow, news trickles out of the Crab lands. Up the River of Gold come ships bearing refugees from Clear Water Village, thousands of people fleeing the Shadowlands siege. News comes, too, from the north of the Crab lands, where Shiro Kaiu and the Hiruma lands still hold out.

And finally comes news of the fall of Kyuden Hida, and of Hida Gojiro's death, piling a mountain of enemy corpses at the gates of the fallen citadel.