In Race to Volturnum, each clan in the Jade Empire has sent a pre-emptive strike force to prevent Goju and his minions from destroying the spirit realm of Jigoku. Goju has been around as long as the kami. He was originally a human but followed the shadow instead of the kami when they first came to Rokugan. His power comes from absorbing the form and the memories of his victims. If Jigoku is absorbed by the Shadow, then the ancestral spirits will be erased forever.

Here's a quote from Wizard's of the Coasts promotional advertisement:

The armies of the Empire are on the move. Their quest: to slaughter Goju and his minions before they can control the passage to the spirit realm of Jigoku. If they fail, the Shadow will destroy the Empire's future as well as its past

But between the armies of Rokugan and the City of Shadows, a massive horde of Oni, goblins, ogre, and all manner of foul Shadowlands creatures await. Assaulted from all sides by terrible beasts of Fu Leng, the legions of the Empire grind to a halt.

While the armies fight, the Shadow works to continue its mission. The Empire's only hope is to send small groups through the Shadowlands, small pockets of samurai desperately searching for the swiftest route to Volturnum. One group, and one alone, will reach the city first. It is the last hope of a dying Empire, the opening strike against the darkness, and the first duty of all those who fight for honor, glory, and the Jade Empire of Rokugan.

Will you find the path to victory?

Day 1 - Crab

A thousand times I have seen the Darkness of the dread South. I have journeyed there to rescue the fallen and to lead the others home. Now I watch as the armies of the Empire gather, and I am the one who will show them the way.

I am Hiruma, of the line of the Crab scouts, and I know the Shadowlands better than anyone. But even I know them only for a few miles beyond the wall, and nothing more. We have never needed to go farther.

They say a major oni army gathers to the south, that Akuma himself rises to block our way. If that happens, we may not make it to the Shadow's city.

There must be another way--a way past the shifting lands of the far South. If there is, the Crab do not know it. Perhaps Atarasi, our Thunder who saw the Shadowlands, could have told us of a way. If we cannot find it, then we will meet with Akuma's legions and fight until the Empire dies.

I look out beyond the wall, and I realize there will be no shelter where we go.

I am a Crab, and I am afraid.

But that will not stop me.

It is time to march.

--Hiruma Yugure

Commentary: The armies of Rokugan start the crusade against Goju from Crab lands. The Hiruma scouts lead the way. The Crab have traditionally fought defensive battles and this is a rare occasion where they will go on the offensive. Hiruma Castle was the first victory, having finally been reclaimed from the Shadowlands after being lost for generations.

Day 2 - Toturi's Army

It is time to ready ourselves for war and take the first steps into that blackened land. It waits for us, and it knows that we will come. I walked among the armies as they rose on this bloody dawn. I saw their eyes.

How can we hope to defeat the Shadow, when we cannot even find the hope to march? The Shadowlands are large; they spread out before us in waves. The oni are there, I know this. Our armies know this.

That is no reason to turn back.

The Shadow has taken our Emperor and murdered our ancestors. Now it hunts us like dogs. I looked into the eyes of the samurai, and I wondered which of them wore false faces. Which are Goju's servants? How can we know?

We will lead you. It is our duty. Those who serve Toturi will take the first step. There is nothing to do except fight, nothing to live for but revenge--revenge for our Emperor and for our Empire. The Shadow hopes to destroy us by murdering all that we have been--our ancestors.

My father.

His father.

Destroyed.

I will not see that happen, no matter what I must do to prevent it. If I march into the Shadowlands alone, then so be it.
Follow me, Rokugan. If you dare.

--Tohaku

Commentary: Toturi's Army leads the way - partially due to duty and partially in revenge for the attacks against Emperor Toturi. Tohaku feels that they are probably all doomed but they will fight on because of duty and because there is nothing else left for them. Without Toturi, his army will most likely disband if they survive the trip to the Shadowlands.

Day 3 - Yoritomo

This third day's march has stolen our energy. Where is the sea, I wonder, wishing its cool breezes could reach my face. Ah, but there is nothing to be done about it. Karma. I have never been in the Shadowlands before. In a strange way, it is beautiful. It is peaceful, its wasted fields gray and empty like the ocean after a storm.

We have met with scattered resistance. In a way, I think the Shadowlands is welcoming us. For what purpose, I do not know. There are few Mantis here, other than myself. The Fox have left us. The Wasp sent their finest men, but they are few. I have only my sword and my wits.

The Sparrow have--

Something on the horizon. An army. I can see it, just over the hills.

By the Fortunes.

I have never seen so many!

--Yoritomo Kamoto

Commentary: The Yoritomo's Alliance has sent few troops to this offensive. Probably the majority of them are retreating back to their homeland after being beaten by the Phoenix. Yoritomo himself is not present, having recently survived an assassination attempt on his life by Shadow disguised as his bodyguards. The Fox clan was tasked by Hitomi to destroy the Shadow in Rokugan, thus are not present in large numbers. The Shadowlands army has been spotted and are present in large numbers.

Day 4 - Phoenix

It was late in the day when we first met with Akuma's troops and the Unicorn who saw them first. We were able to find a foothold, a few scattered buttes to defend our backs, and then the legions met. The Lion took the brunt of the fighting, Matsu and Ikoma standing side by side. Their courage was remarkable. They died bravely. Those that remain still follow Tsanuri, shouting battle cries until the sky echoes with their ferocity. Beside them, the Crab fight as they were born to do, destroying the creatures of the Foul One with tetsubo and jade.

But still, the numbers are overwhelming. The oni horde leapt from hiding--hundreds of thousands of skittering creatures. We will make little headway here, I am afraid. Yet we struggle on. Hochiu burned a path as wide as ten samurai through the worst of their legions, and many of our soldiers pushed open the gap and held the line.

Taeruko shatters the earth, casting down the oni and allowing us passage over corpses crushed by solid rock. It is how we move forward; it is all that we can do to press our advantage.

But I know the demon hordes are not finished with us. There are more to come over the horizon, and we must plunge onward. In only a few short days, we must reach Volturnum--before the prophecies of the Tao and the oracles come true.

--Agasha Kusabi

Commentary: This is the first major engagement in this offensive. The Lion and Crab clans formed the vanguard of the attack but time is against them. They must reach Volturnum before Goju or else he will destroy Jigoku, taking both the past and the future away from Rokugan. The sheer weight of numbers makes progress very slow.

Day 5 - Crane

Our arrows are slowly becoming spent as the oni hordes throw wave after wave of creatures at our front lines. There is no time to sleep; the demon hordes of the Shadowlands have no need for rest and do not distinguish between day and night. We change the guard, each clan standing the border in turn as the hours pass, hoping to push a few feet farther into this Tainted land.

The Lion refuse to step down from guard duty. Since this battle began, they have stood at the front lines, pausing only when their soldiers drop from exhaustion.

Uji-sama brought down one of the large oni today--a monstrous beast of stone and iron. I do not know how he managed it, but when I asked him of the battle, he answered with only one word: determination.

We cannot falter; we cannot fail. If we stop here--if we do not reach the city--all those in Jigoku will forever be lost, and the Empire will lose all that it has gained. A thousand years of suffering, a thousand years of honor, and a thousand years of sacrifice--lost. Lost forever.

Hoturi, my brother, I will not watch the Shadow destroy your soul.

--Kuwanan

Commentary: The Crane are fighting with both arrows and steel but the Shadowlands has the advantage of almost unlimited number of troops.

Day 6 - Naga

By the Atman, the stench of this place is overwhelming. It is like being surrounded by filth and rubble. The huu-mans look at us with distrust, but they have learned--where our arrows fly, they are safe from the Foul.

The Akasha is strangely strong here in the depths of the Foul's land. The Constrictors believe it is because Atman watches our every move, but I believe they are wrong. I believe the Atman knew we would come here, and when we did, he allowed the Akasha to give us the strength that we would need to do Atman's bidding.

Something is forming in our minds.

The Asp do not see it--they are too busy fighting the Foul. Already, Balash has counted over fifty heads, spiking them into the pits that surround us. He relishes the task; it suits him. The others do not share his enthusiasm.

I have spoken with the Cobra, and they record our dreams while in this place. They speak of lines scrawled across white sand. They say it may be some of the huu-mans' strange writing, some lost piece of information from their Akashic mind. With the strange insertion of the Qatol's thoughts into our own, perhaps we have at last reached a communion with the Akasha of these samurai.

I do not believe them, either.

I have seen what they write, and it is not the words of the huu-mans. It is a map . . . .

--Mara

Commentary: The Naga are also fighting in the Shadowlands, bringing their expertise with arrows to good use. The "map" may be a short cut to Jigoku.

Day 7 - Monk

Driven back. The losses are great. The Crab and the Lion suffer greatly, but today the Crane and Dragon were nearly decimated by goblin attack. I have never seen so many of the creatures. They covered the ground like a blanket, rolling and heaving as they charged over each other. I could see their iron boots crushing each other if they fell, forgetting their own people in their rush to do us harm.

More than three thousand samurai died today, and I saw the Champion of the Crane fall. He will fight again, but one of the creatures cut him with its foul knife and he was overcome by the onslaught. He was dragged out before the oni could kill him. Wounded, a Fox archer aided him--or he might never have escaped.

We will have our hands full fighting the Taint, when this is done.

I do not want to tell them, but many of those who fight so bravely here will not be allowed to cross the wall when we return. They will have gone too far. I fear the mass seppuku that waits in their future, but I fear more that they should fail.

I am a healer, not a bushi. I do all I can to heal their wounds.

I cannot save them as well.

--Hsi Tsu

Commentary: The Shadowlands counterattack is successful in repulsing the Rokugani army. Every delay helps Goju to reach Volturnum first, with time on his side. The large number of samurai that died in the fighting may be the lucky ones. Many have been infected with the Shadowlands taint and thus majority of the Rokugani army will die, either in battle or by seppuku. They will be shown the way by the Crab, who have known of this dilemma for generations. This is also a handy mechanism to write out any clan characters that don't fit into Wizards of the Coast's future plans.

Day 8 - Unicorn

The Shadowlands blur before us like ash in the wind, changing their features even as our horses' hooves pound across the bitter terrain. It was all we could do--to begin this journey, to turn ourselves away from the danger facing our clan. We stand beside the Crab, and we ready ourselves for the final charge.

We cannot go farther. The Shadowlands Horde has made its stand, and we no longer have the numbers to break their line. There will be a siege--a drawn-out battle that could last days, or even weeks--while the front lines attack.

In the Twilight Mountains, Moto gather to fight Moto--the remnants of our clan, lost in the Shadowlands. By now, the thunder of their undead steeds must echo from the mountain tops, answered by the rush of our lady's samurai.

Shinjo.

How we have fallen. And how, indeed, has she changed. I have seen her eyes, bright and shining. I have seen her steed, untiring, like the wind itself. Her commands seem like a thing out of time--contradictory, yet somehow pure.

She does not understand us anymore.

I look out at the onis' armies, and I see our death in their eyes. That does not matter. It matters only that we defeat the Shadow and stop the Goju from slaughtering our ancestors. Someone must reach Volturnum before the Shadow destroys the gate. Only our steeds have the speed to make it; only we have the strength to race across this changing ground. Yet, to do it, I must take my unit to the south. We must leave our clanspeople here and in the Twilight Mountains behind, and forge our own path.

I only pray to the Lady that I will see them again.

--Shinjo Shono

Commentary: The Shadowlands have dug in defensively and have achieved their goal - a stalemate that wastes precious time. Shinjo Shono will lead a small band of samurai and shugenja to Volturnum on horseback. It's the only way to make it to Volturnum on time. The Moto and probably the entire army with Lady Shinjo are most likely doomed. The death of another kami - this time Lady Shinjo? In Gift of the Emperor, Toturi stated that returning land back to the Scorpion is a small price to pay for the death of a kami -was that the Shadow's prophesy?

Day 9 - Lion

I saw her today, at the rear of the oni guard--the one who stole my brother's name.

She stood beside a swath of green-skinned goblins that were celebrating the fall of the Crane Champion. The champion lives, but the goblins are too stupid to care. They were far from my position, but I swear she felt my eyes follow her. She turned to look at me, and her eyes were strange.

Then a command of Phoenix shugenja, led by their Master of Air, flew above the fray, whirling dust and tearing the creatures apart with lightning that shattered the sky. One among the goblins, a massive warmonger with one eye scarred pale and white, lashed his troops into the battle. Arrows flew and broke against a wall of air, but still they fired. They fought for fear of his reprisal.

My troops were assaulted by oni, and I had no more time to watch their fight. When I returned, I found only the dead goblins, their broken corpses littering the ground. The hail of stones and wind called forth by Agasha Gennai had shattered them. Twisted limbs showed only bruises--or smoking ash where the lightning had struck them.

I did not find her body.

Among the goblins, however, one thing caught my attention. The warmonger with one eye lay with the others, dead as stone. Lightning had not marked his body; the windstorm's strength had not shattered his limbs. Gennai's magic had not killed him as it did the other goblins.

He had died from the blow of a sword.

--Kitsu Motso

Commentary: The oni being referred to is probably Oni no Okura. Agasha Gennai (the Master of Air) left the Dragon Clan during the year of The Hidden Emperor. He was either misled by the Ninja on Hitomi's motives or was genuinely afraid of Hitomi's actions.

Day 10 - Scorpion

A thousand samurai defeated four times that many ogres today. No, not a thousand samurai--a thousand Scorpion. I will tell you how it was done.

Behind a cliff, down in the earth, the army waited. We had dug a pit behind our own lines and filled it with oil for fire and spikes as strong and sturdy as Hida's own tetsubo. Then we readied ourselves, preparing arrows and katanas. We would need both.

"Do you dig a trap to catch yourselves, Scorpion?" the Lion laughed, but still we prepared.
"A useless effort. The beasts of the Shadowlands will never rush into the pit. You would have to drive them, and to do that you would have to place the pit behind them. Save your strength, Scorpion, and do not waste your time."

At last, we were ready. Spiked helms rose above the ground, and arrows thrummed from within the hidden legion, wounding the horde so that it could not attack. Slowly, the ogres turned their attention from the wounded Crane reserves and drew their assault from within the Lion ranks. We fired around them, not at them,
surrounding them with jade and cutting them off from their legions. Where our arrows, tipped with jade, could kill fifty, we would not be satisfied until one thousand were dead at our feet.

Howling, the ogres charged, seeing nothing before them but fleeing archers. Then we struck at them as they passed, stepping out of the spell that hid us.

We discovered how to hide during the Clan Wars, Lion. Did you think we had forgotten what we had been forced to learn? Lighting the fires with our arrows, we held great shields before us, ducking low behind the lip of the square Hida steel. Yet these were no ordinary shields. A thick crust of jade powder covered the face of each one, shining as if the shields themselves were made of jade.

We stood between the ogres and the massed armies of the horde, surrounding them on three sides, and the beasts had no choice but to fall back. Each shield covered in jade caused the ogres unbearable pain--they could not touch us, could not bear to touch the shields.

Step by step, we marched forward, the shields locked, forcing the ogres backwards. They did not want to step into the pit, but they could do nothing else.

They had no choice but to fall into the flames.

When the noble houses gathered to see our victory, both Crane and Lion bowed.

--Shosuro Yudoka

 

Commentary: Given the Scorpion Clans perpensity to know secrets it's not surprising that they found a more efficient way of dealing with the ogres.

Day 11 - Dragon

The Moon looks down on us, my clan, and she smiles. Though the armies must remain here to battle Akuma, she has chosen us to forge onward, to finish the battle she began when she walked with us in the mountains of the Empire.

It is our duty to follow, to finish the task.

A small Nezumi--a Ratling--came to the encampment today. The Ratlings have found a way through the oni lines, and they are willing to lead us. There is no time for argument; we must leave for Volturnum immediately, while the passage remains clear.

Only one thing will slow me.

The traitor, Kokujin, marches with the Shadowlands horde, bearing the swords of our Kami. He must be destroyed. I swear to you: if we make it to Volturnum, I will kill Kokujin myself. If we fail, I will die trying to wrest the swords from his hands. They must not be forced to bear this dishonor any more. The Shadowlands must not be allowed to taint our Kami's blades. Hoshi agrees and has sworn to give me the samurai I need to assault Kokujin.

All I ask is that you are brave enough to follow.

--Hitomi Kobai

Commentary: Hitomi Kobai can actually talk! Nezumi - Dragon alliance? The Dragon Clan has found a way to Volturnum with the Nezumi's help.
Unfinished business: Kokujin stole Togashi Yokuni's Daisho during the time of the Hidden Emperor and the Dragon clan has been trying to get it back ever since. This is the first "official" attempt to recover Togashi's Daisho and it has been sanctioned by Togashi Hoshi, the current Dragon clan daimyo.

Day 12 - Ninja

Come, little samurai. Come to us.

When you have arrived, then you will know the depth of your own soul.

Do you fear the sun, when it breaks through the clouds and burns your eyes on a bright day? Do you know the horrors that the moon once beheld? How could you know? You are not one with us; you are not held within the Shadow's embrace.

So lost, you fight to save yourselves from something you do not understand.

Volturnum's gates await you, and behind the Darkness, Jigoku is already in flames.

Come, if you can, and bring all that you believe will aid you.

Your Fortunes are dead. Your Kami fallen, and your Emperor's soul is in our hand.

You have nothing left to fight for.

 

Commentary: The Ninja are an agent of the Shadow. They were the favored children of Onnotangu, Lord Moon, and they derive their power from being formless and nameless. Once something is "named", its form is fixed, making it much easier to fight them.

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Day 13 - Shadowlands

Well done, dark ones and beasts of corruption--savor your victory at last! The armies of the Empire are pathetic--flailing and weak. They think if they march into our homelands that we will allow them to pass.

Let them die in pain.

We hold them hostage between two mountain ridges deep in the heart of our lands, where the Taint festers in every living thing. The blood of a thousand samurai drains into our pits, spawning oni and other creatures of this land.

Even as they die, they rise to march with us--our numbers grow stronger as theirs fade. Trapped, they can go no farther. Nor can they turn back, or we will have them. This is our victory; this is our revenge!

They were fools. Our alliance with the Shadow has been as Goju told us--all of the samurai of the Empire die under our claws! When I spoke with Shosuro deep beneath the Dragon palace's walls, I knew then that we could not fail. I did as she bid, and when she was freed, she and her master gave us what we most desired--the armies of the Empire, Tainted and destroyed by their own arrogance.

We were right to trust the Darkness, and now it is time to shatter the Jade Empire.

Oh, yes, the Emperor's samurai will march out from the Shadowlands. They will return, fighting by our side, and tear down the wall forever.

--Hitomi Kokujin

 

Commentary: Hitomi Kokujin is a corrupted Ize Zumi (tattooed man) that could not be redeemed. His alliance with Shosuro was probably the major factor in the Naga's siege of the Dragon clan last year.