Hidden Tiger

Lord Naresh recieved word that there was once again trouble in his province. Apparently the pesants had stopped working. Naresh rode north with his followers, He encountered the ghost of his ancestor Nariman in the mist. The revered ancestor was very wrath since Asura roamed the lands. When Naresh arrived at the village he learned that the headman had been slain, apparently by Lord Naresh himself. Lord Naresh instructed the peons to resume working and summoned his cousins Darshi and Jangir. Lord Jangir conluded that the assassin could not have been lord Naresh. Naresh instructed his peons to obey him only if he displayed his flaming sword. The son of the headman was very angry with lord Naresh, and seemed to find new strength. It remains to be seen if he will be a loyal subject.

Lady Vanadiya fared little better. She discovered that an impostor in her guise had ordered the peons in one of her villages to slaughter all the livestock. She was wrath and ordered the peons to relocate to another village. Naresh returned to his roadworks while the Lord Jangir and Lady Darshi travelled to Lady Vanadiya. When her peons had relocated she received word from them that they needed her wisdom. They had apparently received word that the fields and the village were to be set on fire.

The next morning Lord Naresh rode to Lady Vanadiya after instructing his workers to produce more gravel for the road, this being the only work they could be relied on to perform on their own. While the Lords were breakfasting Lord Naresh arrived, but without his sword at his side. The Lords quickly realized that this was an impostor, and quickly slew him. Upon death, the impostor was revealed as a young woman. Lord Jangir detected traces of a spell which had apparently changed her appearance.

Lord Li Fu appeared at Lady Vanadiya's palace, and the Lords let him tag along. The Lords rode to Jangir's province where he agitated against the foul and cowardly Asura. As the Lords entered a ruin area, they were ambushed by a ragged group of bandits. The bandits were easily defeated and three were taken alive.

Lord Jangir interrogated the surviving bandits with the aid of his trusty dire badger Hammad. He learned that they had been recruited by a beautiful woman wearing a tiger robe, perhaps a shapeshifting Asura or blackguard. They had served her for a month, not entirely of their own free will. The bandits originally came from Modina and had been in the Ramalinga lands for more than a year. They were going to sell any loot at the House of Dogs in Modina. Whether these events were instigated at the behest of House Modina remains to be seen.