Alt-Onin Session 1: Odawara to Sunpu

The Alt-Onin campaign began with a vicious battle between the not-yet-acquainted PC's and a group of vicious brigands intent on killing Kingoro.

The fight happened on the Hanamizu Bridge, near the village of Oiso. Santo no Kai opened with a flashy flying kick to the group's leader, followed immediately by everyone else closing to sword range and slashing and cutting. "Unlucky Ko", who had been camping under the flooded bridge, heard the sounds of battle and joined in. The battle was over in less than a minute, with only a couple of survivors who were smart enough to flee. 

The PC's continued on their journey westward down the Tokaido Road, reaching Odawara shortly after nightfall. They found lodging at the Hozumi Inn. They were placed in the high-class "Pine Room" initially, and the gang split up to hit the local public baths (Onsen) before dinner. Santo no Kai went into the common area to mingle, and discovered that the battle on the bridge was already spreading through the local grapevine. The PC's now had a local reputation. 

Later in the evening, a small group of Ashikaga samurai on their way to Edo arrived at the Hozumi Inn, and demanded lodging in the Pine Room. Rather than get into a bloody fight over accommodations, Tatsuzo challenged the most belligerent of the new arrivals to a bokken duel in the courtyard. Tatsuzo handily defeated Tonomi Naotoki in a single pass, leaving him unconscious in the snow. The Ashikaga leader, an older man named Lord Nomiya Hidenao, gracefully accepted the terms of the bout and moved his party to the Wisteria Room, a slightly inferior guest chamber. Shortly after this, Lord Nomiya wrote a letter of introduction for the PC's, and suggested that they introduce themselves to an Ashikaga councillor at the Sanjo-Bomon, the Ashikaga family palace in Kyoto. The samurai suggested that his own liege lord, Lord Ashikaga Yorinori, might have openings for warriors as fearsome as the PC's.

As further proof of improving fortunes, a merchant who had witnessed the fight at the bridge hired the PC's to escort his party to the Imagawa capital city of Sunpu in Suruga Province. This man, Hironari the Silk Merchant, offered several things as payment for escort; $100 in silver for the party, lodging, food, and drink for the trip, and introductions to a friend in Nagoya who might need similar escort to Kyoto. Finally, Hironari offered to sell the ten wakizashi and four katana that the PC's looted off the bridge, given the PC's 10% of the sale price.