Re: Deceiving Appearances (Kat) GMed by Takimaru
About three dozen paces down further from the tree was a natural cave of sorts, though there was a strange, silent eerieness to its presence that Ren couldn’t quite put her finger on.
"
Ah," replied Kojiro. "
Someone... already dead?" He craned his neck in the direction of the tree, as if to take a look himself, but enough dismissive posturing from Ren would draw his attention back to matters more important, such as the wound still plaguing him.
"
Uh, alright," he continued, still doing his best to hide a slight grimace as he winced at the cool, squishy moss that Ren carefully pressed against his wound. "
Iihgh... hahh. Outnumber us, huh. You’re probably right,” he started, hesitantly, looking thoughtful as if unsure of whether or not to let additional inner thoughts escape into words.
Kojiro allowed several minutes to pass in complete silence before finally giving in. “
Hey… do you think they'll come for us all at once?” he asked, shifting slightly in his discomfort.
“
I mean, they got what they wanted, didn’t they? I'm not scared or anything just 'cause I'm a little hurt, but... alright, I guess it's kinda intimidating when I stop and think about it too much... but once the fighting starts, I tend to black out and forget about all those worries. Maybe it's 'cause I have to, pretty much." He ran a hand through his crimson locks, seemingly ruffled by the smidgen of thought plaguing his mind.
“
I’m just wondering if they’ll really bother with it all. If I wasn’t hurt, I’m sure I could take a lot more of them on…”
“
No point in thinking about that now,” interrupted a voice. It was Akito. The dark-haired ronin arrived with a bundle of branches under one arm, and about four fist-sized stones cradled in the other. He tossed them on the ground for Ren.
"
Took me long enough... I had to be careful that you two hadn't already set up some traps," said the eldest of the bunch. “
Time to get to work.”
Akito wasted no time, doing his best with Ren’s direction to set up some makeshift traps around the perimeter, but leaving an escape towards the cave if needbe. Kojiro would eventually stand and try his best to move around, but anything too strenuous or even stooping down too low would cause him to wince in pain and curse under his breath.
~~~~~
The clearing with the fire had a bag of the kunoichi’s isshu pepper suspended above and just behind, so that it might swing forward into the direction of the expected intruders. Bandits who would try to flank Ren’s position would likely be met with several simple whip traps, four on each side, which involved a tripwire trigger causing a branch under tension with a few sharp rocks or sticks attached to impale any would-be intruder. Towards their escape route, however, the traps were less lethal and had to be activated manually. Three snares were set up in total on the back end trail. The cave itself, which lay at the end of the escape path, had not been properly inspected quite yet, but from a quick look, Ren could at least confirm it to be empty of any larger wildlife.
Afterwards, Akito and Kojiro found convenient hiding locations behind trees not too far from Ren’s position in the clearing. After preparing masks by which to protect themselves from the pepper trap, the two took up their stations and remained there, while the group’s sole female sat in front of the fire. The end of the cord used as a trigger for the isshu pepper trap lay only a foot behind her.
“
Hey,” started Kojiro in a conversational tone. “
Are they here yet?”
From Akito’s position, only a slightly audible sigh could be heard.
Then, a scream in the distance. “
Gyaaaaggghhh!” a voice cried out. “
Aaaghh… kuh! A fucking trap!”
“
They’re ready for us,” pronounced a different voice, calmer in tone. “
Are we still going to bother? It’s only two ronin and--”
“
OF COURSE!” bellowed a loud, gruff bark, likely belonging to the brother of the one Ren had slain. “
Like hell I’m going to let this bitch go!”
“
Fine… eyes down, watch for triggers.”
Some quiet trudging, along with the breaking and triggering of a few whip traps, could be heard, though no additional cries of agony. Someone was triggering these devices prematurely, on purpose. Successfully, no less.
Then, Ren set eyes upon the group. There were six in total. One of them, a smaller man not terribly unlike Shige in stature, had a wound upon his thigh, likely from one of the whiplash traps that had been set up. There were four of them who appeared quite formidable, decked out in stolen armor and swords. At their head was, as expected, Kotaru--a massive, hulking ruffian wielding a large glaive called a bisen-to.
Kotaru snarled at Ren. “
Ah… here you are. You didn’t think I’d just let you run along, did you? I didn’t think much of you at first, but now you’ve just made yourself impossible to ignore. I see you prepared some traps for us. So, where are your two little friends hiding? Are they going to ambush us now? Hah!”
A few assorted chuckles and laughs could be heard amongst his men, who drew their weapons and brandished them, as if to advertise that they would be well-prepared for any ambush. Kojiro could be heard shuffling slightly from his hidden position, while Akito remained still.
“
Listen,” said the remaining bandit leader, his tone hardening as he grew more serious in demeanor. “
It doesn’t matter what you try to do. We’re going to kill your little protectors, and then you will most certainly regret what you did to my brother. I’m not going to make this a short, swift death for you, no… we’re going to make your life a living hell, day in, day out. And by the time this is all done, you’ll be begging me. BEGGING me, to end your life. And whether or not I’m gracious enough to give that to you… well, you’ll just have to find out, won’t you, my little flower?”
He stepped forward, along with the others, just at the edge of the pepper trap’s effective range. It would work at this range, though Ren would need them to get just a little closer in order for it to really cause some chaos…
“
I’ll tell ya what. If they’re hiding… tell them to come out and drop their weapons. Hell, we’ll spare them, and let them head off, if you give yourself up now. After all, it’s you I want. You murderous bitch... give it up! The more you resist, the worse it'll get! Accept the punishment for your sins!”