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(held on May 14, 2000)
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?
The following is the daily account of The
Race to Volturnum along with some observations and
comments:
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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.
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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.
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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. Something on the horizon. An army. I
can see it, just over the hills. I have never seen so many! 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.
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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. 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.
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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. Commentary: The Crane
are fighting with both arrows and steel but the Shadowlands has
the advantage of almost unlimited number of troops.
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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 . . . . 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.
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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. 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.
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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. 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. 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?
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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. 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. 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.
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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. 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.
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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. 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.
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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. ________________________________________________________________
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.
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