Master Fhungusu and Master Kanjaro had set my feet upon the path of redemption, to give me the opportunity to cleanse my chi of the stain it had incurred while following the commands of my superiors in the Imperial Army. It was up to me to make the effort to change, however, and the first step was learning humility. I went around the small village in little more than my underthings serving the inhabitants of Dellerjuba Village with my martial skills. The sea breezes, especially after I took a swim in the cold waters of the estuary to find a lost heirloom, reminded me of how bare I was before the Masters, and that the shield of the Empire which I had hid my actions behind had been removed. After taking these first steps, Master Kanjaro introduced me to Velea, another on the same path as I, and sent the two of us off to find Oki, a young student of Jin whom he believed could give us some insight as we chose our paths.

Follow up:

Oki lives along the beach to the east of the town, where she can see the bustling port of Tanvu. Together Velea and I travelled down the beach, looking for the hut Master Kanjaro described. We found it, and also found a bask of kojuko scavengers. After killing the marauding lizardmen, we saw a charred corpse on the beach. Afraid it was Oki, we inspected the corpse, but could find no distinguishing features to positively identify the poor girl. However, we noticed a trail of scraps leading further northeast along the beach. Knowing that Master Kanjaro would want to know what happened to Oki, we decided to follow the trail.

We found a girl at the end of the trail, who admitted to being Oki. She told us that the kojuko's came out of nowhere, and that the charred remains that we found were her friend, Shaoflen. She was taking it hard, but was trying to take consolation that her friend was one with the Jin now. After a short while, may I be as together as she if I were ever in a similar circumstance, she told us about why her hut is within harassment range from the lizardmen. "The kojuko gluttons at the stones to the northeast have a strange attraction to our magic. They have been destroying Tanvu's magical barriers for some unknown reason." She's been trying to discern the reasons for their presence here, and thinks that if Velea and I could return one of the gluttons' hands, that it might reveal the type of magic they have been using.

"I assume if you have studied under Kanjaro then you know how to handle yourself in a fight? If not, you're about to learn. The kojuko pillagers to the northeast have been coming in and ransacking her boathouse. I think that they took some jewels of mine from under her mat." Very subtle, but Velea and I took the hint.

So Velea and I snuck further up the beach, looking for the kojuko pillagers and gluttons. They weren't hard to find. What was a bit trickier was convincing just one to come "play" with us. After killing several pillagers, we found one with several jewels, which we tucked into a pouch to show to Oki. Then we turned our concentration to the gluttons around the kojuki portal. We killed one, and took its hand as a grusome souvenir, as requested by Oki, and headed back to her.

First, we showed her the jewels, which were indeed hers. Then we handed her the hand, and she did a cursory inspection, but just declared that her investigations would take more time. Then she looked up. "Are you sure that I haven't seen you somewhere before? You seem so familiar." I was afraid that she might have seen me in the Emperor's service, and know the history I'm trying to put behind me. However, I honestly never remember seeing her before, so I could deny it truthfully.

"Regardless," she continued, "the kojuko continue to run raids on villages. We have lost a number of fishing supplies over the past few days, and cannot continue to sustain ourselves without them." Velea and I allowed that we had seen some crates at the kojuki camp with the gluttons, so we snuck our way into camp and she checked several of the crates while I kept watch for any kojuko that might spot us.

When we returned to Oki again, she opened the conversation. "I don't suppose you've ever been involved with the Emperor?" I started to deny it again, but realized that would put me on the same path I had been on before. So I allowed that I was a Duifu in the Imperial Army, transferred to Tanvu a bit less than a year ago, but that Masters Fhungusu and Kanjaro had set me upon a new path.

She seemed to digest this, but said nothing more on the matter, before indicating that Velea and I should go see Juu, up the hill, for more training.

It turns out that Juu is an older gentleman who reminded me of a canny old warhorse; perhaps not as spry as in his youth, but with more cunning and tricks, and altogether a more dangerous and implacable foe. He greeted Velea and I. "Vengeance is the way of Ra'Jin. Those who follow Lao'Jin hope to find a better understanding of life." And motioned that we should sit on the grass in front of him. I knelt in the ready posture I had learned as a young girl, and noticed out the corner of my eye that Velea took the same posture just as naturally. "I am glad you two found me, for we have much work to do."

"The kojuko manhunter that assaulted us employs a very primitive form of fighting. We would like to learn about this in a hope to adapt our own style to it. Engage in combat with kojuko manhunters until you have learned enough about their style of fighting to help us to that end, and then report back to me."

There were apparently many other adventurers being set to the same task, as Velea and I had some difficulty locating the manhunters. Most of the adventurers looked to the west side of the ruined building at the top of the hill, so Velea and I searched on the further side, and fought the manhunters we found there. After each fighting six, we thought we had enough information to give to Juu. He thanked us for the information we could share, and indicated that it may help with clearing the lizardmen away from the building so that they could rebuild.

He also told us what happened. "We were assaulted by the kojuko at night. They came quickly, and in large numbers. They have overrun our house and killed most of us. Go into the house, and look for the remains of any Jin warriors. The last stand was staged on the roof, and few of us made it out alive. Other adventurers have been taking out the bodies from the more accessible first and second floors, but I don't think anyone has removed the remains from the roof yet."

Velea and I found several bodies on the roof, and added a couple more when a pair of kojuko ambushed us while on the thatch. On the body we found a note, which we showed to Juu. Upon reading it, he said that these last words must be given to Master Tallon in his house to the northeast, to let him know of his disciple's fate.

Master Tallon Darkfist was on the beach. He read the note slowly, and stared out across the estuary for a bit before addressing us. "This is grave news. The Kojuko must be stopped, but first we have much training to do. The path to Lao'Jin is a long and difficult one, and I must see you further along it before I set you to cleansing this area of the kojuko infestation.