Centuries ago, these walls stood defiant and ready for any onslaught. Now, years of unmoving stone crumbled beneath the weight of time, just like relentless waves had eroded the stone cliffs of Earthquake Fish Bay. Gazing upon the ruins, she could almost hear her brother Sukune as he’d told her in the depths of the Shinomen: “The Crab are the Wall, and that is the problem. If we remain unyielding, unwilling to change, then we will crumble.”
     – Robert Denton III, “Collapse”

Yasuki Oguri and the weather-witch Kudaka left the Watchtower of Sun’s Shadow in “The Shadow of Glory” (2 MB) and journeyed as swiftly as the wind would allow to deliver a dire message to Hida Kisada, Champion of the Crab Clan. Their harrowing experiences defending the Kaiu Wall have led them to believe that the forces of the Shadowlands have grown more organized than ever, and the two fear that the hordes of goblins and skeletal warriors they’ve battled so far have been merely testing the Wall’s defenses. The newly arrived commander of the watchtower, Hida Etsuji, will not request reinforcement, believing that he can earn glory for himself and the Crab when he achieves his inevitable great victory against the Shadowlands.

The armies of the Crab Clan are stretched thin, having suffered mounting casualties and dwindling supplies. At Oguri’s request, Hida Kisada has sent his daughter, the greathammer-wielding warrior Hida O-Ushi, to shore up the watchtower’s defenses until more units can be sent to that stretch of the Wall. But will O-Ushi’s small band of loyal samurai be enough to hold the line?

Read the next chapter of the Legend of the Five Rings saga with “Collapse” (4 MB), a new short story by Robert Denton III. Stay tuned for more fictions coming soon to our website, and prepare your clan’s defenses to survive a Shadowlands onslaught in Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game...