Hatomo no Tadayoshi, Chinjufu Taishogun of the Western Expeditionary Force

On the eve of the last month we met a terrible fate, we retreated beyond the foothold in lower Kazemachi, Chifuru had been abandoned and the stench of the dead still finds its way to our new base of Tentokawa. A headcount had not been officially done yet, as Dainagon Horinoshi Ibe was killed in the fall of Chifuru, and his body had not been recovered. I suspected we still had several lines of Samurai ready, but they were not prepared for the scale of combat we had been faced with.

These Oni are men of short stature, standing no more than 4 or so shaku, with skin the color of algae and eyes shadowed by their depth and the prominence of their facial bones swallowing what little of their eyes remains. Sickly skin clings tightly to bones, ribs poke through like the strings of a koto, and their stomachs are sunken and defined. Their faces, twisted into a wicked grin with snubby noses upturned and close to their face, sharp tusks poking forth from their thin and wiry lips. They came with spears and blades, led by dragon-men who twisted spells like the thunder-blades of Raijin. They came from the cliffs and the trees in a tide of meat, clamoring about and howling for blood as they scaled the walls of Chifuru and drug our men from their towers in the dead of night. We lost the armory, and much of the other treasures of Kazemachi in the siege, and we still hear their cries of war and celebration spilling over the cliffs that separate us.

Precious few days passed as we readied for a following attack, fearing a further advance of the demon men upon Tentokawa. The local guards, mostly militant shrine maidens armed with nagamaki and naginata stood shoulder to shoulder with the Kazemachi braves, I at their head.

They came in broken ranks of hecklers, their hammered iron spears pumping overhead as their stout draconic betters sauntered ahead of the pack. The madness was only broken by a sudden halt of the pack, the largest of the dragonfolk who headed it holding his crooked staff overhead, twisting particles of blue and purple escaping the eyes, mouths, and ears of the demons who broke into a howl as it happened.

I cried out, jutting my finger forward with a retort of ringing twine. A long arrow skimmed past the horns of my helmet and ripped through the eyes of the dragon-man leaving fletching bulging through the bloody hole. Hefting my nodachi up I let out a howling cry as we all broke out into a furious sprint, the disjointed horde of suddenly clamorous little men responding in kind by throwing their only weapons ahead to little avail, their roughly hewn metal tips catching our heavy layered plates and chains with little clearance. They cried out in shock as their disoriented frames broke into a retreat, the only ones staying at the head were the few remaining dragon-men who cleaved at us with their heavy polearms, effortlessly batting most of us away while the kama-yari wielders of our ranks cleaving their weapons down overhead to find clearance in the beast’s soft necks. The fleeing demons slowly regained their courage, rearing their bodies back towards us and breaking into violent sprints before we moved on to meet them, discarding the draconic leaders to our sides. Our Nagakamis made simple work of the lot, their short statures and unimpressive sidearms giving clear way to our victory. They lacked the element of surprise this time, and they seemingly lacked their greater numbers as well. I alone counted 6 of my own kills, though many of the career warriors would surpass me in droves.

We chased the few who finally fled, stopping to see them back to Chifuru some ten thousand shaku or more to the pass. Chifuru was in ruins, picked of its good and stripped of its wealth, and the few demons who remained were squabbling amongst themselves like scavengers for what remains. It had seemed that pack who harried us was made of the ones with enough gall to try and snuff us out. The thousands we counted prior had fled back to the wild homes to celebrate, leaving mere hundreds to meet us in Tentokawa.