As the first cries through the cold air, Benitora jerlked his head up.

Goblins!

He spat the remnants of the natto out, and reached for Shizune, snatching her up and carrying her away from where the others were fighting. He quickly undid his armor and placed it on top of her, and then, for good measure, covered her with a straw raincoat so she wouldn't be obvious to them.

"See if you can keep up with a Unicorn boatman." Matt had the arrow ready and let his fingers slack, sending the arrow wizzing past his face and into the face of a spear thrower.

The arrow flew true striking a goblin in the throat. He fell dead into the river. The last visible Goblin threw another flint spear at samoht and wasn't nearly close. Tenshi spoke words in an unusual langauge and a shimmering transparent samurai materialized. She was dressed like a matsu and her eyes shown with hatred.
"Attack the goblins." Tenshi said in the language of the spirit worlds. The Toshigoku matsu yelled a war charge and flew towards the remaining goblin naginata in hand.

ooc: New round: Raiden is still stringing his bow.
Spirit
Goblin Warmonger
goblin
Goblin
Krylo
goblin
Tenshi
Goblin
MLA

IC: The Ghost Matsu Charged closer to the remaining goblin when a Goblin wearing tattered armor arrived He barked orders in the shrieking goblin language and other goblins appeared ontop of the cliff. One threw a spear through the Toshigoku spirit the spear passed through the incoporeal spirit.

Benitora looked around for a weapon to use, and spotted a bow lying on the ground. He grabbed it and the small package of gut string and began stringing it as quickly as he could. After all, as a warrior, he had to prove that he could make war.

Rhyoukushen noted the matsu spirit charging the goblins and their subsesquent lack of interest in the boat. He quickly decided it would be a good idea to get them all the hell away from there while the chance remained.

He drew from his satchel the scroll which contained the secrets of summoning the elements, and once again began to move through the motions, attempting, this time, to summon an air kami to speed the boat along by way of its makeshift sail.

The goblins continued to focus on the spirit. Tenshi watched as the Toshigoku spirit moved on towards her objective.

As the goblins focused on the spirit warrior, Matt's bow had been nocked again. "I'm taking out the dressy one." He declared, pointing the bow and letting the arrow fly.

The arrow flew through the matsu ghost and imbedded in the Warmongers armor doing no damage.

ooc: Raiden, and Benitora are string their bows
combat round order tenshi is leaving combat.
Goblin
Goblin
Krylo
MLA
Goblin warmonger
Spirit
goblin
goblin
goblin

ic: The goblins kept their focus on the toshigoku spirit. Who was entering range for her naginata.

Samoht finished attached the gutstring to the bow, and tied it to a tight elasticity. His feet were still moving the rudder, which made tying the string a wee bit harder. After much frustration, he finished stringing his bow.

The Air Kami responded to Ryoukushen's summons. They swirled around him, and a light breeze gathered. The flame of his earlier fire kami waved about under their power and so did his clothing. They hadn't accepted his summoning yet, however. They were merely toying with him as they discussed it. It was their way. Childlike and playful.

'He's caaaalllling us,' one of the kami spoke mentally.

'Maybe he only wanted one of us?' another responded.

Yet another mental 'voice' rang out, 'He got us all, though. We all came. It's not fun to come alone.'

The wind picked up slightly, but just around Ryoukushen, and his hair was ruffled, as the kami laughed soundlessly. Ryoukushen could 'hear' perfectly, however. They 'sounded' like small children playing ball.

He chuckled a little bit in response to their playfulness, despite the battle going on around him. Forcing himself to forget that was easy enough. He was able to meditate and think of nothing, removing the thought of death from his mind was a relatively simple matter, particularily with the goblins ignoring the boat, so long as he didn't look toward the battle.

'I don't mind if more than one of you comes, it just makes the 'game' more fun,' Ryoukushen's mental 'voice' said, with a tone that seemed equally as playful as the kami's tones.

Matt looked over as the new shugenja's clothes and hair rippled. The Unicorn watched as the man's face broke into a smile.

Well good for him. He can enjoy his little kami friends while we try to ward off a goblin hoorde.

Matt had another arrow ready while Samoht and Benitora got their bows ready and once again the point aimed towards the leader. He didn't want to lose a kill to a spirit. The arrow flew, passing by the spirit.

Matt's arrow struck the goblin warmonger true but did not killl the beast. The goblin pulled out the arrow from it's thigh and yelled orders. At that moment the ghost attacked and with a ferocious yell attacked. With surgical precision the spirit cleaved the Bakemono warlord from helm to hip. Her ghostly naginata slicing as sharp as any blade. She yelled and charged the next closest. The other goblins shrieked and ran off as the apparition gave chase.

The wind picked up around Ryoukushen slightly as the kami began to become interested, their 'voices' coming quickly and beginning to almost blur together in his mind.

'A game...'

'He wants to play a game with us...'

'A game? What kind of game, I wonder...'

'A fun game? A boring game? Will it be exciting?'

'Maybe...'

The shugenja cut in to their conversation. The air kami could discuss amongst themselves for hours without actually saying or doing anything, and he didn't have time for that, 'A fun game... should I explain it?'

'How can we play if you don't?'

'Perhaps that's part of the game? Maybe the game is to guess the game?'

'Humans aren't that clever! Although it would be a fun game'

Ryoukushen cut in once more, seeing that they were in danger of going off to play an entirely different 'game' amongst themselves. The mental equivalent of clearing ones throat was 'sounded' before he continued.

'The spirit and goblins over there are bad... but right now they're fighting. When they're done, who ever wins will chase the boat, and you have to keep us from them. Of course you get a head start, if you like. It's like hide and go seek. You carry us away, and then they try to hunt us.'

'What a silly game...'

'What's so fun about hiding? Hiding is for cowards! Maybe the shugenja is a coward?'

'Scared scared scared. He's scared and come to us!'

'This isn't a very fun game.'

Ryoukushen shook his head and tried to keep his calm. He hated dealing with air spirits. They were so flighty and omnidirectional. One day they'd gladly help you if they thought you were frightened, and the next this. It made them hard to manipulate. You always had to second guess ahead of them, but they were so hard to guess at all.

'No no no! I'm not scared. I just think it would be funny... to see them try to find us, and I know you are clever and fast enough to help me hide,' he thought to them, with a bit of a forced chuckle.

'Coward. Scared. Coward. Scared.'

All the kami were mentally 'singing' it, while laughing amongst themselves at Ryoukushen, and then the wind vanished from around him for just a moment. It quickly picked up again, however, and whipped at his hair and clothing first, blowing toward the sail, which was filled so quickly that the make-shift mast creaked and groaned. The sudden start of wind power nearly lifted the front of the ship as it cut a swath through the water.

Ryoukushen sighed in relief. He really did dislike being forced to rely on the air kami. They were fun at times, when he just wanted to play riddle games, but, at times like this, he much preferred a solid fire or earth kami to seek help from. If only one of the them could have moved the boat.

The wind carried the boat away at greater speed.

"If we tend the oars we'll go faster too. (also It will help you increase your stamina, or strength stat)" He said picking up one of the oars.

Hideki picked up an oar and began to help maneuver the boat. He'd been completely useless in the previous fight, and he really felt like he had to do something before the others thought that. The speed of the boat made it a little harder than normal to tend to the boat, but he dealt with it and kept at it.

Samoht tossed his bow aside, giving up on it.

"Screw it. Let's row the damn thing." Samoht grabbed an oar and began to row furiously.

Even Ryoukushen grabbed an oar and helped to row the boat, hoping to get them away from the spirit and goblins of the mountains as quickly as possible. Not to mention that he wanted to get to the temple as quickly as possible, or at least to another river bound city where he could rest.

Matt shook his head then placed his bow in its rightful place. He stretched out his arms and looked back at where the goblins and the spirit was.

"Damn goblins." Matt knew he wasn't that mad at the little creatures. He had just wanted to get the final kill, that damned chief of theirs. Prove it to her that he could do it.

He silently took an oar and began rowing. It took his mind of the ghosts of his past and present.

While the battle was relatively short, to Tsubasa, who was hiding, it spanned nearly an hour. She slowly climbed out, looking really frail and shaken. Fearing how the others would percieve her, Tsubasa quickly manned an oar, focusing on keeping the ship going to calm her heart.

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