War of Darkness
By Dennis Quearry
The black smoke curled over the wastes of the Shadowlands. The smoke was so thick none on the wall could see what was happening on the ground outside the wall. Crab samurai stood ready for anything, for nothing could compare to the onslaught of oni that had assaulted the wall a week ago. The fighting had been bloody and deadly, their champion the Great Bear had been lost during the battle, as he had been overwelmed by four large oni and pulled from the wall. Yakamo and a contingent tried to get past the gates to save his father but his uncle Tsuru had refused to open the gates. Yakamo screamed and his rage was heard all across the castle and along the wall. His jade hand was glowing brightly and he began fighting for the next week without rest and barely eating food brought to him by servants.
Now his eyes try and pierce the black smoke curling up over the walls edges, his hand grips about his tetsubo tightly, and his jade hand curls into a fist. Then he heard the scream, something terrible, something he had never heard before born from the wasted lands. Then the smoke began to fade away slowly and standing on a hill a few miles away stood a sight Yakamo thought he would never see. His father's figure stood on the hill flanked by the traitorous Kuni Yori and the now undead Hida Amoro. Around these men stood legion. Undead, goblins, ogres, oni and flying overhead ghastly creatures soaring through the blackened sky. A voice came from the hill, from the central armored figure, a very commanding and echoing voice. "I am the dark god reborn. I Fu Leng come to punish my brothers and sisters children, just as they once came to punish me. Prepare yourselves for death." The voice could be heard in neighboring villages and up and down the wall as well as all throughout the castle. A voice of a god, a voice that would bring the empire to an end.
The couriers arrived at the Imperial palace within a few days of the revelation at the Kaiu wall. The Emperor Toturi the first had received the letter and soon dispatched the Imperial guard to help fortify the wall. He also sent news to his friend Doji Hoturi who responded with sending a legion of his finest Doji and Daidoji samurai into battle. Toturi also sent word to the Lion who dispatched a contigent of their mightiest samurai. Within a week all of these armies met on the outskirts of the crab lands, where they found five armies of Crab Samurai fighing various legion of horrors throughout the lands. Toturi set up a command area and soon met with Hida Yakamo, O-Ushi, and Tsuru, the three prominent crab generals. Here they all began to come up with their strategy to defeat the horde. At the same time Fu Leng began to meet with his generals to find a way to take the golden palace of Otosan Uchi.
The battles grew fierce as Crab armies met the hordes on the field of battle, while Crane and Imperial armies fought armies of the horrors that had advanced further into the empire. One army of horrors led by the undead Moto Tsume had advanced a few provinces away from the Imperial palace but an army of Imperial guardsmen led by their commander Toku had stopped this army from advancing to far. Even within a remote village a Crane and Lion Samurai put down the evil childlike Oni no Pekkle that had been killing families throughout the empire. At the ports of the Crane lands gaijan sailors, from the far away lands of Vodacce, fought off Trolls from the seas. A massive battle was fought within the lands of the Crab as samurai , undead, and goblins clashed in ferocious comabt. The timely arrival of a Scorpion army, mixed with Wasp clan samurai began to help turn the tide of this battle, and all the armies fought to a stand still and then scattered to the four winds.
Now the empire is slowly being corrupted by the Shadowlands taint from the Hordes that roamed across the once fertile lands. The Emperor tries to hunt down the hordes that are scattered throughout his lands. While there are rumblings by the Crab remnants that the Emperor did not protect their lands like those of the Crane and others. Yakamo begins to be heard speaking ill words of the current Emperor and that this might not have happened if it were not for the vengeance he sought against the Scorpion. As Imperial Samurai fight Shadowlands horrors within the Shinomen Forest, snake like beings once called the Naga have been spotted fighting along side these samurai, or Shadowlands creatures are found with larger than average arrows sticking out of the their bodies. A new dawn arrives upon the newly blighted feilds of the Empire as an alliance begins to form within the Shadows.
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