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For a good year, the only real threat the Amakusa had faced were the Takeda, and now, that threat was no more. In the short time they'd been a faction, the Amakusa had felled the Kitabatake, and the Takeda, and had the Imagawa and the Miki running for their lives. They had established an alliance with the Uesugi, and, in time, would attempt to take Odawara from the Hojo. As it was now, so much of their Eastern campaign had gone so smoothly, in just a year's time. That being said, they only had so much luck in regards to the war effort.

At home, due to the constant battle and the Takeda takeover, tensions were rising between the people, and the Daimyo had neglected to take proper care of his people. For several months, his rounds were forgotten and the peoples' taxes not returned, and instead spent toward the war efforts. However, it was time for that to change. Amakusa Takehiro was a good man, a man of the people, and that was something he needed to remind himself, and his people, of. So, the war efforts were minimalized, with only the forces facing the Miki and the Imagawa continuing to be funded, and the peoples' homes were being rebuilt and protected. An ever-expanding wall was being built around Amakusa territory, to keep any invasions at bay, and to give the people inside a sense of security. Things were going to go back to how they used to be.

While his army rebuilt the villages, Takehiro himself strolled across Shinano, observing the people who were once allied to the Takeda. Their officers had long since turned ronin, and that wasn't anything that bothered him. He had more than enough manpower to continue running things as he did. there was, however, one single officer he continuously searched for, and that was Yamabara Shou, the man who'd convinced Takehiro to build his faction from the start. The desire to find this man led Takehiro to the waterfall where they'd met, and he seated himself by it, alone.

Name: Baba "The Butcher" Shinsuke
Faction: Amakusa - Commander
Ethnicity: Japanese
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Height: 6'5''
Weight: 250 lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black

Appearance:

A man of incredible stature, Shinsuke is a driving force in the Amakusa army. He never shows his face, to keep things impersonal between himself and all those he meets, but he does wear a hand-crafted, plate helmet as a recognizable symbol to all that death will follow in his wake.

Shinsuke is fascinated with Western armor, as it seems much more durable than what typical Samurai adorn themselves in, and he has the stature to withstand its incredible weight. Because of this, he is covered in it, from head to toe, at all times. Underneath the armor, no one has a clue what he looks like.

Personality: Shinsuke is, as his title would imply, a "Butcher." Unlike other Amakusa generals, he is unrelenting, and leaves nothing to chance. While the Amakusa are known for their kindness, he, himself, is known for his violent means of subjugation, which often involve the killing of all: soldiers or not, including women, children, and the elderly and disabled.

The Butcher's mentality is that you must cut the plant of hatred out from its roots, and this means you cannot let anyone who may try to kill you for what you've done, live to see another day. In his own words:

"If you killed a soldier, and left it at that, do you not realize his family would forever detest you? You would live in constant fear that his brother, his father, his son, someone, would come after you at any moment, and they would be capable of ending your life. Why leave that possibility lingering? You must rip out the hatred by its root: kill all, leave none standing. This way, none can come back to hunt you."

History: Very little is known of Shinsuke's past. He has long been a warrior, and has constantly made allegiance with warlords he believed to harbor the greatest might. He recently fell under the employ of the Amakusa, though Takehiro himself detests Shinsuke's means of battle. He has earned his reputation as a commander, personally leveling entire battlefields with a single platoon of soldiers, and, to this day, has not lost a single battle.

Stats

Strength: 60(70)
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 55(60)
Wisdom: 20
Spirit: 20

Inventory:

Takehiro's eyes cast themselves upon the man, though he preferred to make no contact. It seemed many within the ranks of the Takdeda held a disdain for them, and many had even left the Takeda to take arms with the Amakusa. Whatever it was Shingen had done to his retainers, clearly it was only working in Takehiro's favor. Before he could agree, however, he had to know more. Standing to his feet, the Daimyo beckoned for the man of Takeda to follow him. As if he had much of a choice in the matter.

"Before I can agree to anything, I need to know what the situation is and what can be offered to me. As you can understand, I cannot, and will not, provide troops to a Takeda officer I have never heard of, just to watch them fall in a trap."

Takehiro could typically tell when one was lying. He was, of course, one of the wisest in the land, and could easily read a person, so he wasn't distrusting of the Takeda man. Instead, he wanted details so that he may mull over ways this could prove fruitful for the Amakusa.

At Toshi's old village, right on the border of Totomi and Shinano, were Takehiro and his right-hand man. The two were overseeing the fortifications of their borders to ensure they would be well-prepared in the event the Takeda decided to strike again. While Takehiro was almost certain they would not, this was a necessary step in calming the people under his banner, who lived in constant fear they would be under attack from the Takeda a second time.

"Toshi," Takehiro began, just a few modified siege-ramps lowered a large slab of stone just in front of the wooden walls. A pain shot through his chest, but he remained stoic and showed no signs of discomfort. "I trust you can oversee the rest of this. I must go." Toshi simply nodded, though he did take note of his lord's strange departure. Leaping down from the tower they watched from, Takehiro would head toward the side of the village where the fortifications had yet to begin, but there were a large number of guards on duty.

Sitting himself down in front of a pond, the Daimyo sighed, placing a hand to his chest. He was not long for this world, and the longer his Eastern campaign took, the more disheartened he became. His goal was to at least have the country split, with the Amakusa holding one half, before his passing.

"The Takeda... the Hojo... this will be a pain," he muttered, taking a sip of his sake before leaning back and tilting his hat forward to hide his face.

Takehiro, having been able to see from the eyes of all present on the battlefield, he noticed Tomonori's charge on Toshi, and also that the Kitabatake forces were dwindling. He would give one last command to each of his commanders to watch the battlefield closely, before deciding this was his time to leap into the conflict himself. Taking his glaive in his hand, Takehiro would leap high into the air, releasing his weights at his highest point. They would crash to the ground, the metric ton shaking it and leaving a large hole where it hit. Using a burst of speed, Takehiro would rush toward Tomonori and his doppelgangers, sweeping outward with his ten-foot glaive several times, forming three full circles around himself. The force behind it would be crushing, and any doppelgangers would, of course, not be harmed. However, Tomonori's body was likely to be crushed in a single blow.

Toshi, noticing Takehiro's advance from having been informed, decided to meet the doppelgangers head-on. Rather than retreat, he utilized his own whirlwind before Tomonori used his, to cause his opponent to stagger and reveal the true target. What's more, upon Takehiro's landing, the Daimyo would unleash his own whirlwind upon his attack, so that the whirlwinds of the Daimyo and his adviser would be much more powerful than the Kitabatake warrior's.

While the common rabble of the Amakusa forces were deterred, the commanders and exceptional units would push onward, taking down any who continued to fight them. They would make a push to claim the city, while Takehiro and Toshi dealt with Tomonori.

[OoC: Weights removed, demon tabi effect utilized. Takehiro's Dex for this post: 145.

Takehiro and Toshi: 1 of 5 Whirlwinds used]

"What's happening here?" Asked a bright, young child. A nine-year-old boy, bearing a striking resemblance to Takehiro, wandered out toward the gates of the main camp. He bore a smile on his face as he was attracted to the commotion, and simply watched as the head of the militia opened the way for the Chosokabe emissary. Of course, he had no idea what was going on, but he was interested nonetheless.

"Lord Ryu, she wants to see father?"

The boy stood about as tall as Ryu, with long, black hair. His eyes were bright - but a strange color for one of Japanese descent - and lively. Takehiro, it seemed, was busy, and his son was here at the gates in his stead.

Having wielded a blade from the Kitabatake that was capable of conjuring a phantom warrior, this was a tactic Takehiro was not unfamiliar with. And, rather than let it unfold and claim the lives of many of his soldiers, he would act quickly and devise a plan to make them serve no purpose. Every ballista would be armed with fire arrows, and they would rain down upon the main force. The land having caught fire, all mortal foes would likely run away, while the phantoms would show no sign of pain. That said, and should it have succeeded, Takehiro would guide all his men to continue a ranged assault so as to avoid getting in the way of the siege weapons.

Toshi, having been in the way of the fire attack, simply increased the moisture in his immediate area so greatly no flame could touch his body without being immediately doused. He used his close proximity to the main force to fire two hallucinogenic bolts from the Takehi-bow at the Kitabatake army, a 40-yard cloud of hallucinogens exploding to take all that were in its reach. Any soldier who breathed in even a bit of the gas would be overcome with incredible hallucinations and become incapable of fighting.

Brandt, Ryunosuke, and Gabriela were ordered to flank the main force. At the sides they were instructed to go to, they would find cannons and arbalests, as well as small units firing on the Kitabatke.

[OoC: No official dex boost for weights, as they weren't really bought. For the sake of the training, though, assume your character is faster now than they typically would be.]

Takehiro would notice Brandt's and Ryunosuke's co-operative attacks, and rather than swat Brandt's large weapon away, he would allow them to work against each other. Stepping under Brandt's greatsword, the weapon would continue to charge at Toshi, who would step back and allow it to ram right into Ryunosuke, who kept up an assault where there should have been none. Toshi would then slam a foot forward toward Ryunosuke's chest to push him away, before jabbing his spear at Brandt's now-exposed ribcage.

"Work in tandem with the moves of your allied officers!"

Allowing the heavy-hitters of the force to remain preoccupied with their own bad decisions against Toshi, Takehiro charged straight into the conglomerate of soldiers he challenged. Stabbing his massive glaive into the ground, he would rip it upward, sending out waves of gravel to smash into all who charged at him. He would then spin his weapon around himself, using the flat of the blade to slam into any who still surrounded him.

1. Date Masamune
2. Etincelle Noel
3. Yuy Masahiro
4. Ikeda Keisuke
5. Kyoya Naotora
6. Macht St(funny looking "a")rk

Ayumi nodded to the man's question, eying his writings. "Those who do not take up arms will not be seen as our enemy. Our Lord will spare the lives of those who do not throw theirs away in a losing battle." The woman crossed her arms, looking around herself. "Your sons will continue to fight on, even at the risk of losing their kin?"

The ballistae served their purpose, causing the Kitabatake to rethink their tactics. The granite wall would eventually shatter, but immediately as it did, the arbalests behind it would fire steel bolts toward the main force in thousands at a time. The sheer number of arbalests would be enough to wipe out at least the cannon units, and they would fire in three waves, due to the time it took to reload the weapons.

The units who met the flanking force would not relent, continuing to rain down a hail of arrows atop the force. The brush surrounding them would eventually be lit entirely aflame by the sake bombs to trap them in, or severely burn them should they try to escape. A direct path to the Amakusa main force was cut off by burning brush and forestry.

Brandt would be instructed to meet the units advancing toward the ballistae, and he would have the aid of the units hidden within the trees. His job would be to intercept them and keep them from damaging the siege weapons, which were crucial to the battle. Ryunosuke and Gabriela would quickly be urged to meet the flanking force and halt them in their advance. Toshi would ride in to meet the main force with Takehiro's crossbow in hand, his target being the pesky fire-wielder. As he charged, he would conjure up a wave of water from the moisture in the air - combined with the sweat the countless soldiers in the area would have dropped - to launch toward the Kitabatake main force to keep their cannons from having any successful, direct fire. The size and shape of the cannon balls would cause them to slap hard against the wave and lose any momentum they had, while the bolts of the arbalest were sharp and pointed and would be able to rip through it with ease.

Welcome to the board! Hope you enjoy your stay! If you have any questions feel free to ask any of the staff you see. The members are pretty friendly and willing to help, too, so if staff ain't around, they can do a li'l.