Kaiu Kyojo
Kaiu Kyojo… his friends call him Kaiu-kyo-jo or just Jo. His duties: To maintain a portion of the catacombs within the Kaiu Wall. When a rogue oni or goblin managed to sneak into the Wall, Kaiu-Kyo-Jo was there to clean up the remains and reset the traps. And so, every day Kaiu-Kyo-Jo went into the catacombs with his cleaning brush and performed the duties that his samurai stature demanded. That is, until fate decided otherwise.
It was a quiet sunny day when Kaiu-Kyo-Jo was maintaining the secret door into the Shadowlands. It was the day that the long rusted latch finally snapped and Jo was cut off from his world. He cursed once before the war drums started pounding and before the ground started shaking. He did what most would do in his situation. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo jumped into the moat, hid in the mud, and cursed to himself again. He only knew one way into the Wall…a way held by a rusty latch that no longer worked.
“Ah well”, said Kaiu-Kyo-Jo as he lit his tobacco pipe before starting a slow crawl along the muddy water towards the battle that already started. Jo watched the Shadowland’s army berate The Wall. The battle was going well for the Crab. He watched a lanky oni wedge it’s claws into the stone as it climbed and then stopped. The rest of the battle disappeared to Kaiu-Kyo-Jo as he focused on the creature, its head slowly twisting as it puzzled its situation and its claw tapping again and again on the same spot. “Crafty oni, ne?” muttered Kaiu-Kyo-Jo under his breath. The oni found the spot it was searching for as the hidden crack opened to revealed a tunnel. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo sneaked in after it on his belly.
“…missed the first one, eh?” Kaiu-Kyo-Jo said as he tapped the pipe out on the wall. “Crafty baka…” Kaiu-Kyo-Jo crawled another few feet when he heard the spikes extend from the floor behind him into the unsuspecting goblin. “Baka…”. He kept crawling.
The tunnel opened into the side of a corridor. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo stood and brushed himself off. “Which way to go?” he thought as he picked a direction at random. He only needed to turn his first corner to see his enemy guide face to face down a hallway. It turned its head and snarled at Kaiu-Kyo-Jo with dripping fangs. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo said what came naturally, “Damn…I went the wrong way. I could use another smoke.” Kaiu-Kyo-Jo took a deep breath and packed his pipe again. “Baka! My lighting papers are wet”.
The oni charged down the corridor feeling its moment. It paid little attention when Kaiu-Kyo-Jo pulled the long brush that was strung on his back. All it took was a little tap on the trick stone and the brush triggered the walls to collide on the oni. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo looked at his broken stick with his unlit pipe hanging from his lips. “I liked that brush…,” he said aloud for no reason.
One full day later Kaiu-Kyo-Jo escaped from within The Wall. His commander, so impressed with Kaiu-Kyo-Jo’s ability to survive an unfamiliar portion of the catacombs, reassigned him as Inner Kaiu Wall Oni Patrol Scout. Kaiu-Kyo-Jo never enters without two neccessities now. A week of rations and a bottle of sake to share with his other lost brothers.