Attack on Tengoku

[MATSUMOTO-TETSUO]

Matsumoto was laying back in his wooden fortified lounge, being carried by several slaves. He quietly grabbed a glass of sake and a saucer shaped cup, pouring himself a cupful and and downing it in one gulp. Tengoku Castle... he thought to himself, home of the Sakamoto forces. A smile stretched across his face, this was were he made his statement. Sure it was against a force that vastly outnumbered his own, but numbers where for cowards who weren't willing to gamble every once in a while. The bulk of his force, along with himself where waiting in the forests just across the way from Tengoku Castle.

While a third of his forces moved forward to meet the enemy forces with a false Matsumoto-Tetsuo in their ranks, since he wasn't a well known lord he would use it to his advantage. The false Matsumoto was screaming insults at the Sakamoto clan calling them insolent cowards who were content to stay in their castle. Their orders where to engage the initial push, then pull back into the forest where the cavalry and archers would be neutralized, making it a battle that would be decided by the foot soldiers, and if it came to it a duel between Matsumoto himself and one of the leaders of the opposing force.

The trick to defeating this opponent would be NOT to meet it head on, but rather to lure it into the forest and fight them in a guerrilla fashion, attacking quickly and using the cover of the woods to protect them. Time and their ability to whittle down their enemy would be their allies today.

As the forward force was making buffoons of themselves Matsumoto stepped out of his lounge, surrounded by the Four Winds, his personal guard. He bellowed to those still in the woods, "WE ARE THE WOLVES OF DARKNESS, AND THESE ARE OUR FORESTS!" the men cheered, he continued, "TODAY IF A MAN ENTERS YOUR FOREST, YOU CUT HIM DOWN AND YOU MUTILATE HIM!" the men cheered out again, "YOU WILL LEAVE HIM AS A MESSAGE TO HIS BROTHER IN ARMS, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ENTER OUR FOREST!" The men cheered again and Matsumoto yelled, "BUDDHA WHEREVER YOU ARE, JUST STAY OUT OF OUR WAY!" and the wait began.

[SAKAMOTO RYUICHI]

The gate was heavily moderated and closed except to invited individuals always, and soldiers did not linger outside of the walls but to patrol during the allocated hours. The rather isolated location of the castle made it all but impregnable, and all of Ryuichi's men took this to heart. No one came to meet the man shouting near the gate, and at an instant archers came to the ready at the walls. If there was indeed some sort of meeting someone in the city would have been notified, and no one was. Not expecting any guests meant that this was surely someone who wasn't invited, and by not being any sort of merchant or peddler that was accounted for, the person surely meant ill-blood. The general consensus for the soldiers was to stay within the castle and attack anyone on site. This simply meant the archers fired at the men who approached, the first volley meant for warning, and the second volley meant for the kill.

[SWINDLER]

Sakamoto Forces Remaining: 300

Matsumoto Forces Remaining: 91

[DAISEIJIN]

It appeared as though the Sakamoto Forces foolishly waited to draw blood, a foolish decision on behalf of their shogunate who was clearly not as prepared for the type of attack of which they were on the receiving end of. It appeared as though Matsumoto’s monks were moving into position before the front gates of the stronghold. According to their plan, this small unit of men were doing just as commanded.

As the monks at the gate continued to create a distraction, the battle cry of the Uesugi clan erupted from the higher part of the mountain, the sound waves coming from the mouths of the warriors concentrated within the fortress making it extremely loud. Their battle cry seemed to be indubitable chanting as they scaled the mountain led by a mysterious masked samurai, the leader of the Uesugi Clan, the fabled Daiseijin.

The members of the Uesugi clan had been camped out in the mountain range for days, waiting for Matsumoto and his men to arrive and perform and adequate distraction.

These mountain runners were a third of the clans total forces, ending their dead sprint as the jumped the short distance of the mountainside to the stronghold wall. The masked shogun made himself known, doing a noh theater inspired dance before unsheathing his blade. “THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHOULD NOT STAND THEMSELVES SO HIGH UP!” His voice was an odd squeal as his men began assaulting soldiers on the wall.

“PREPARE THINE SELVES!” Their leader started, leading the charge towards the gate archers to preserve the Matsumoto forces, “OR FACE THE WRATH OF GOD!” The focus of the attack was on the upper gate, the soldiers through what archers they could off the wall to hit the guards bellow.

[MATSUMOTO-TETSUO]

The diversion was a success, Daiseijin and his men had successfully made it to the wall and began working their way through the archers and dropping them on their allies below. Matsumoto turned back and nodded as nine men carrying a massive battering ram ran out to join the forward group as the archers where preoccupied with the Uematsu forces.

The small group quickly rushed forward to the gate and began attempting to break it down. "HEAVE" yelled the leader of the group as the pulled the Ram back, "HO" as they brought it crashing forward. As the group continued with their heaves and hos several stray arrows managed to find their way down the awkward angles down onto them although most of the arrows hit the Ram lodging themselves with in it, three managed to hit two of the rear most Ram Holders, although the damage wasn't severe, they certainly where no longer in top condition.

As the gate came down with the last "HO", the two injured men hobbled back as the the rest stepped into the doorway, as the rest hugged the walls to avoid anymore stray arrows, they would use the massive doorway as a choke to even the odds, it could be thirty against three-hundred, but they would be able to fight them five to five within this choke and do maximum damage.

[SAKAMOTO RYUICHI]

The archers on the side of the walls were adequately surprised, but not alone. On the walls were seventy of the militia that had been only recently recruited, manning the walls for just such of a situation; like say if somehow the men tried to scale the walls. Nevertheless, this was just as adequate of a purpose for them, defending the archers from the magical cliff jumping men.

Apparently distracted the archers allowed the men with the ram to get to the gates, which were again apparently smashed in no time at all. However, as the gates were smashed the ram goers would find the so called advantage of the gate opening nil. For at the entrance were the Ashigaru, all wielding spears, which put the odds in their favor. They need not extend into the gate's small opening to battle, their spears allowing them the reach to combat from far. That would be exactly what they would do, the men with the ram marching to their slaughter. Not to mention, for added safety the forward-most Ashigaru had wooden barriers in front of them to shield from a direct ram blow. They would poke and thrust their spears forward in all manners of sub-direction, aiming for whatever portion of the body was visible on these ram-goers.

The remaining troops didn't stand idle, but rather readied near the center square for when they would need to be deployed.

[MISOGI YUHWA]

Yuhwa would not be slow on his reaction at the first site of invading forces. Knowing perfectly well his lord had gone for a casual walk in the forest, he felt it necessary to head to his lords side. This would not be the only reason for him heading into forest. He felt the attacking force is too small; no person in their right mind would attack with such a weak force. This lead him to believe that the main force is probably hiding out somewhere in the forest as it is the only place to hide.

Using the shadow of the mountain, Yuhwa would easily make his way around the invading forces and into the forest. Instead of following his lords usual walking path, he would expand his search area in hopes of finding the enemies main forces. This decision also being the best method of find his lord who might have taken refuge from the enemy. As he traversed the forest, it would not be long before he found the average sized force of the enemy hidden opposite Tengoku City. Having used the tree canopies to traverse the forest, there would be no way for the enemy to detect his presence. Having detected no other Shinobi forces, it would be next to impossible to detect the presence of a true Ninja like Yuhwa.

This being a time of war and all, Yuhwa found it utterly useless to just scout the enemy position and report it to his lord. Taking a moment to think of what his lord would do, he realized the best option his lord would think of in this situation -- light the forest on fire. With utmost haste, he set the forest ablaze; flames spreading like wildfire in mere moments due to the closely knit canopy of the forest. As the forest burned -- likely killing all enemy forces -- Yuhwa had long made his escape in search of his lord. It would not be wise for his lord to reside in the forest for long.

[ZENRYOKU AXCEL]

<sup>“Tengoku, eh?” Axcel grinned as he his horse trotted on the trail towards the town. It had been awhile since he had last been to Ryuichi's city—having been traveling the lands himself in an effort to gather men for their cause: the unification of Nippon. Naturally, the charismatic Daiymo was succesful in his cause, for an army of his own trailed behind the white stallion he rode upon. A hundred samurai, forty archers, and sixty ashigaru. The samurai's choice of weapons varied—a third of them preferred the weapons with reach such as the naginata and spears while riding on horseback acting as calvary, another third relied on their skills with the katana while riding on horses for their mobility, and the rest were on foot—each of them acting as squad leaders to the ashigaru. The archers, naturally, were in the back in order to make use of their range. They were all trained in their arts—only to be brought to Tengoku in order to accustom themselves to the ways of the Sakamoto forces and learn of who their Shogun was in person.

“Daiymo-sama! T-the forest! It's on fire!”
“What?!”

Axcel's eyes widened at the thought—were they being attacked. . .? His arm raised, signaling those behind him to halt. There wasn't a doubt in the lad's mind that there were enemies in the vicinity—but who was in the burning forest? Axcel jumped to two conclusions immediately—both Sakamoto and the attackers were battling in the forest, or alternatively, just the enemy. The latter being more plausible, as Tengoku was a fortress in its own right, and the soldiers would be able to defend their town from the castle rather than foolishly leaving to battle in the forest. With that being decided, Axcel ordered his men to surround all exits of the forest. Regardless of who was inside the burning forsest—they would have to come out. Either Sakamoto forces would exit and be met with allies, or the enemies would exit only to fall to perish by reinforcements.

The Daiymo had sent a single ashigaru to sneakily investigate and report back to him as soon as possible. He was told that if he didn't return within a few minutes then he would be assumed to be dead and have failed him as a soldier. Should he not return then Axcel would be certain that enemies resided within the forest. Though he didn't expect it—if the ashigaru actually made it back, then he would know enough about the situation to take offensive measures.

With his archers ready to fire and his calvary as well as footmen prepared to move at a moment's notice, Axcel merely waited before taking further action.</sup>

[/sup]

[SWINDLER]

NOTES- (Please instead of just putting some or blah use persist numbers just to help me out some, THANK YOU)

Sakamoto Forces Remaining: 293 -7 militia
(93 militia, 100 samurai, 40 archers, 60 ashigaru)
Axcel: 200
(100 samurai, 60 Ashigaru, 40 Archers)
Yuhwa: 1

Uematsu Forces Remaining: 97 samurai

Matsumoto Forces Remaining: 88 samurai

!MINI EVENT!

About Thirty Yamabushi or also known as warrior Monks dressed in armor and cloth covering their heads. Some had naginata, staff and others had katana. They were going on a walk when they saw the forests close to Yamabushi being burned not taking kindly. The monks saw all the commotion from their mountain at first watching as all the forces moved in on the Sakomoto castle. The Sakamoto clan had been down there for many years and the Yamabushi traded with them many times. They did not think them allies for they knew their leader was not the nicest guy but the town was close and useful for their survival. When the thirty Yamabushi spotted Axcel they quickly moved to meet him.

Monk: "Axcel-sama... you do not know me but I of the Yamabushi Monks know you and your lord.. we are here to help you with this said intrusion... we have been at peace with the Sakomoto clan for many years and wish to keep it that way... sadly enough this was all the monks we could get too help.. please receive us into your ranks!"

30+ Yamabushi Monks (warrior monks) added to Sakomoto Forces!