Viridian mists swirled about the room, filling it with a pungent smell. Hoturi could do nothing but watch, every nerve in his body screaming with every move he tried to make. He watched the mists coagulate in the shadows until he saw his own form standing before him. The doppleganger strapped on his armor and slid the suwrd of his ancestors into his obi the evil confidence of his mocking grin glistening in the dim light.

A silken silhouette moved through the shadows, kneeling beside Toturi. She ran her fingers through the Champion's fine silvery hair, but all he could look at was the brute that stood before him. "He is not you," she whispered to hirn, "he is better than you. And he will be the doom of your Clan."

Kachiko's Revenge

With the aid of the Egg of Pan Ku, Lady Kachiko was able to exact her revenge against those who caused the downfall of her Clan and the death of her husband. The false Hoturi (created by the Egg of Pan Ku) led an army of Shadowlands creatures against his own Clansmen at the Battle of Kakita Castle, thus winning the day for the Crab Clan. With the destruction of the Crane's western defense, the Clan is now highly vulnerable to attacks fromboth the Crab and the Shadowlands.

Now the false Hoturi wanders the countryside with his army of madmen, destroying villages wherever he goes, leaving behind his name for the survivors to whisper, thus further tarnishing the image of the Crane Champion. When Kachiko trapped Lord Hoturi in the Emperor's palace, she could have killed him, but she has done far worse than that: she has wounded his entire Clan.

As for the Lion Clan, Matsu Tsuko was not surprised at all to see the Crane show their "true colors." She knew it was only a matter of time. Kachiko has promised the Lion Champion that it is her Clan the Emperor favors now; in fact, she has informed the Lady Lion that she is no longer obligated to protect the Crane, and may do with their pathetic armies as she sees fit. lt seems as if the ancient rivalry between Crane and Lion is about to come to a head.

Hoturi's Escape

Recently, rumors have begun to arculate through the Empire that the Crane Champion who is decimating villages is not the actual Doji Hoturi.

The man who was once the Lion Champion, Akodo Toturi, tells the tale of a masked ronin by the name 'Akiyoshi' who delivered a sickly Hoturi to his camp nearly thirty days after the Battle at Kakita Castle. When asked where he found the Crane Lord, Akiyoshi refused to say anything more than "She will harm him no more," and then rode off into the night. Toturi had his scouts follow the ronin and they reported that he rode into the Imperial Palace-the place where Hoturi had been paralyzed with poison and tortured for many months.

Hoturi himself was too ill from the poison in his veins to tell his side, but he did acknowledge that it was Lady Kachiko who kidnapped him and used the legendary Egg of Pan Ku to create his double. Akodo Toturi has sent this news to the Clans, but few are willing to believe such wild stories, especially when they are told by a dishonored ronin.

We received about two thousand votes for our "A Charnplon Must Fall" Contest, and fourbeen hundred of the votes were for Doji Hoturi. Hlda Kisada came in a distant second with only three hundred. The winner of the contest was Mr. Bob (Clan Llon) Gross.

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