Starring:
Date: June 25, 2013
Summary:
While out on a diplomatic assignment, Honosuke runs across some poachers stealing toad eggs from Amegakure. Honosuke confronts them, stops them, and rescues the toad eggs. The Keeper of the Eggs (a toad) asks Honosuke to watch the eggs until they hatch as a last request…and then dies.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Honosuke's Summons - Poachers"
Outside of Amegakure
Amegakure. The village hidden in the rain. Today is one of those lucky days though when the clouds above the village aren't quite full enough to leak. People are out and about enjoying the day, running chores, performing missions. The village itself is rather industrious. There are factories churning away all manner of clothes, crafts, and other staples of life. Surrounding the village are a spattering of huts, where people live for free in order to work in the village factories. Still, life isn't as bleak as people might think in Amegakure. People get paid well, they work in safe conditions, and they get a fair number of days off. All and all, it is a good place to be.
Just outside of Amegakure is where this little adventure starts off. Honosuke was woken up early by the screech of a messenger hawk. The scroll on the bird's leg was sending Honosuke on a diplomatic mission. He was to escort a sealed message out of Amegakure to the Land of Bears, perhaps to establish some sort of trade deal. Whatever the sealed message was though, all that mattered was that Honosuke would be leaving the village, headed out.
And move out he did. The Nara gathered up his things, mostly a pouch full of what limited ninja tools he carried, as well as multiple filters for his rebreather that he always carried, as well as his chuunin flak jacket, which was covered by a long cloak, to complete his usual look. He didn't bother wearing the rebreather today, though, for the air was wet enough that it didn't matter. He hummed to himself mostly, striding down the path to the Land of Bears, the sealed message held in his hand beneath his long jacket. All in all, this should be a fairly simple mission, especially considering it was likely diplomatic work.
As the Nara walks along the dense-wooded, unbeaten paths towards the Land of Bears, he would hear something up ahead. It is the sound of a donkey breying loudly, followed by voices yelling at the donkey to 'Keep it down stupid animal' and to 'shuuudup'. Up ahead, the path surrounded by trees breaks through a tree-line and opens up to reveal a little clearing with a pond. The donkey is standing right at the edge of the clearing, on the path, and is tied to one of the trees. There are two men waist depe in the pond.
The sounds of the animals and such cause the Nara to blink in surprise. What is going on out here? Normally, these lands were watched rather closely by the few ninja that the Village Hidden in the Rain possessed…they were an insular people, mostly. This bears investigation. Turning to walk up a nearby tree, he moves amongst the branches as he peers at what the men are doing in the pond. There wasn't anything to steal, was there? After all, only things around here were maybe long, lost oil deposits and lots and lots of toads…Honosuke remembered hearing them in his youth, especially during mating season.
Indeed, the lands around the village are usually watched. Despite the fact that Amegakure has not been drawn into any of the other civil unrests of the larger shinobi villages, their trade routes have taken a downturn. Hidden Rain shinobi have been busy protecting their trade wagons, re-affirming diplomatic ties, and policing their own village to ensure the contagion does not spread.
The local hooligans have noticed that the woods are a little more sparse with shinobi to be sure. These two in the water are saying, "Come on, hurry up…get a few more of those eggs…let's go before someone shows up." Too late. Honosuke was right. They are harvesting the toad eggs from the pond. They are a delicacy if sold to the right crowd. These men are poaching, not only from the toads, but also from the village that would protect these lands.
"Excuse me…I believe that you are stealing, and those of Amegakure don't appreciate thieves." Honosuke stood upside down on the branches above the pair, smiling down to them. "Leave the toad eggs alone or your bodies will provide an excellent source of nutrients for them when they hatch."
The two poachers look up at the sound of Honosuke's voice. "Piiiie," says one of the men. The other just calls out, "Why don't you move along boy. These are our eggs. Go get your own. Run along to your mommy and daddy before the adults get angry and put you to bed." They both go back to doing what they were doing.
Making a series of hand signs silently, Honosuke channels his energies and slowly, his shadow flows down the tree before it suddenly springs to life, launching itself at the poachers. If it struck true, it would wrap itself around them, squeezing tightly as it constricts a bit. "You two should run along before this /child/ decides to put you out of your misery…Amegakure doesn't suffer fools, and you two certainly qualify to become mulch."
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke attacks with SHADOW-IMITATION…25
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke attacks with SHADOW-IMITATION…34
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Dodge from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 34. - Rolled by: Nori
[NPC System]: Poacher 2 roll(s) Water Clone from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 15. - Rolled by: Nori
The two men grunt as Honosuke sends his shadow along after them. "What the?" says the first poacher as the shadows stretch along the water. The first man moves quickly out of reach of the shadows by jumping onto the water and water-walking away. The second creates a water-clone, but he doesn't get it out quickly enough and is snagged by the shadow. He struggles under its reach, but is held for now. "Hey…cake. I'm going to drown you for this. Hey, don't just stand there, get him," he says to both Honosuke and his friend respectively. The first poacher nods and throws out a flury of sharp objects, kunai and shuriken mostly.
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Flurry of Sharp from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 20. - Rolled by: Nori
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Flurry of Sharp from 15 to 40 and get(s) a 37. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke defends against with a WATER-CLONE…30
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke defends against with a WATER-CLONE…42
The Nara held the one thug perfectly in his shadow trap, locking him in place. The flying objects streaked in towards the chuunin before with a smirk, a pair of water clones rose from the surface of the pond, knocking away the attacks before dispersing once again. "My my…you have some skills, certainly, but you can't hold a candle to me." With a simple steepling of his fingers, the thug held in the shadow could look down and see a hand crawling up his body before it wraps around his throat and suddenly clenches, hard.
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke attacks with SHADOW-NECK-BIND…25
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke attacks with SHADOW-NECK-BIND…29
[NPC System]: Poacher 2 roll(s) +escape from 1 to 10 and get(s) a 1. - Rolled by: Nori
The second poacher struggles against his containment as the shadowy hand comes up to strangle him. It is no use though, the shadows hold him tight. As he begins to get choked, he gurgles for breath. He struggles some more as the hand squeezes tighter, but it is no use. The life is being choked out of him. His friend growls in frustration, "You leave him alone ya bully." This time, instead of unleashing the kunai and shuriken, he takes out a scroll and flings it open in Honosuke's direction. If the flurry was big before, this time there are even more weapons, larger and heavier being flung out of the scroll and towards Honosuke.
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Scroll Weapon Barrage from 20 to 45 and get(s) a 29. - Rolled by: Nori
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Scroll Weapon Barrage from 20 to 45 and get(s) a 24. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke defends against with a WATER-CLONE…32
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke defends against with a WATER-CLONE…41
"You're being so very annoying, you know that?" Another duo of water clones intercept the scrolls and the attacks, exploding into vapor. "Game /over/." A final sharp squeeze, hopefully enough to simply snap the neck of the poacher, or at the very least, put him out of commission. "Your friend is fertilizer," Honosuke declares, releasing his shadow from the man it was enveloping. "Give up, or you will face the same fate."
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke attacks with SHADOW-NECK-BIND…32
[NPC System]: Dead Poacher roll(s) Fertilizer from 0 to 1 and get(s) a 1. - Rolled by: Nori
The second poacher is barely resisting anymore. He's been drained of most of his stamina struggling against the shadow binds. The air has been denied from his lungs and the blood flow has been denied to his brain. As the last few drops of life are strangled out of him, he goes completly limp. Yes, he has become fertilizer.
The first poacher growls even louder, "Ryoto-san! You killed him ya custahd. I'll get you for that." He should run away too, but he's in a rage and not thinking rationally. The scroll is emptied of all of its weapons by now, so he throws it at Honosuke before taking out one last scroll. It is a small scroll, but as he unravels it, a spear comes out. He steadies it in his hand, and throws it. The spear travels very quickly towards Honosuke, attempting to get revenge for his friend.
[NPC System]: Poacher 1 roll(s) Scroll Weapon Barrage from 25 to 50 and get(s) a 26. - Rolled by: Nori
RPCOMBAT: Honosuke defends against with a WATER-CLONE…38
A simple narrowing of the eyes and another clone of vapor and pond water rushes up and snatches the spear mid-flight, crushing it in its grip as the wooden haft and steel spearhead fall, harmlessly, into the water. "You and your friend should have known better than to break the law here in Amegakure. We have harsh penalties for poachers for a reason. You would rob away our livelihood by stealing /our/ resources for your own use. You, and your friend, deserve the sternest censure…and now, you're going to get it." Honosuke begins a rapid series of handsigns, each seal precise and measured as he continues the long chain. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" It was a bluff, of course…he couldn't marshall the necessary energies to summon the water dragon, but he could certainly bluff like he did, as he focused his energies into forming a group of water clones that would thrash and mill about, stirring up the water.
The first poacher blinks as his best attack fails miserably. He not only didn't get a good throw to begin with, but it was so easily caught out of the air. The man fumbles for another scroll when Honosuke says he'll be receiving the death penalty too. The waters around the poacher splash after Honosuke calls forth the water dragon, or at least seems to do so at any rate. This makes the man blink. Did he just see a nose coming out of the water or was that a lilipad? He shrieks and runs for it. Yup, the feint worked. The poacher is scared and running for his life. Away he goes unless stopped. The donkey meanwhile just breys as if he didn't care what was going on.
Ha. What a moron. The Nara let out a long sigh as he shakes his head. Wandering over to the packs where the poachers had gathered the toad eggs, Honosuke stepped into the pond and scooped handfuls of the eggs out, returning them to the water where they could grow and develop. "There you go, lads and lasses. Welcome back home." He gives a smile as he finishes, rolling a shoulder slightly. "Gotta keep you in the water, else you'll dry out."
Sometimes it is a matter of fighting the morale of the man and not the man itself. Everyone breaks eventually in one way or another. As Honosuke begins scooping out the eggs, a small toad bubbles up out of the water. He looks bruised and battered, but alive. Blood spills out of his lips as he surfaces and speaks, "Thank you…they came and beat me up. I am the keeper of the eggs in this pond." He coughs up more blood. "I, I won't be around much longer…please…the eggs will hatch soon. You…you must…" and he dies. As he sinks into the water, it streaks with blood.
With a frown, the Nara shakes his head and with a hand, he scoops up the dead toad and he grabs a few lilipads and sets them on the shore. Slowly, he puts the dead toad on the pads and he wraps the poor thing in the pads. With a hand, he moves some dirt off to the side and puts the body in the hole, covering it with dirt. He places a pond flower from one of the lillies on top of the grave and he bows respectfully. "Rest well, my friend. You have earned it." The scroll would have to wait. With some of his last remaining energy, Honosuke summons up another water clone, to whom he hands the scroll. "Deliver this back to the city and have another courier take it. Tell them something came up."
