Chapter 5 of 12
Ambushes and the wilds
Rogue ninja leap out of the smoke. The further from the walls, the deadlier — and the richer the loot.
Ambush
You're running through a thick forest. Suddenly a burst of smoke, a shout — and a few ninja stand around you. It's an ambush.
They attack straight away. You can fight or flee: they chase you far, but lose sight of whoever vanishes — a smoke bomb and Kakuremino save lives. Whoever loses their prey melts into the forest after a while. Then you get some peace for a time.
The Land of Wind has no forests, so there are no forest ambushes — rogues roam the dunes in the open there.
How rogue ninja fight
Ninja in the wilds fight like players. They break out of stuns with Kawarimi, tear illusions apart with Kai, medics heal their gang, others raise walls, clones and summons, leap at a distant enemy — and then attack.
In their own land they mostly use its element. You hear their techniques shouted — so after the fight you know their names.
The further, the deadlier
By the walls you'll meet a wolf or a bandit. Every few hundred steps from the nearest town the wilds get a step more dangerous: more attackers, higher levels, stronger techniques. Deep in the wilds an ambush is five to seven ninja, each stronger than the ones near town. Before you go too far, you'll hear a warning.
That's why long trips are made in a team — and the best loot lies where it's hardest to reach.
Who you'll meet
- Rogue ninja, mercenary, bandit — a bit of everything;
- Illusionist — genjutsu: fear, sleep, false visions;
- Rogue medic — heals the gang and poisons;
- Brawler — pure taijutsu, no chakra;
- Seal master — explosive tags, barriers, chakra sealing;
- Masked hunter — far from the villages, dangerous at everything;
- in the lands: the Mist swordsman, the puppeteer with a marionette, the bomber with explosive clay, the storm warrior.
Plus beasts: wolves in packs, snow wolves, boars, snakes, giant spiders, rats, hornets and frogs.
Tracking
Grab a character with the mouse and pull it away — their health bar stays on the screen. Every bar you pull off has its own color and an arrow that shows where the target is, even when it's out of sight.
How far the arrow reaches depends on Tracking. Only a better tracker can follow someone hidden.
Loot and dungeons
The defeated leave a corpse with whatever they carried — ryō, weapons, clothes, sometimes a crafting schematic or a technique scroll.
Bandit camps have chests, and in the Heart of the Forest of Death iron-bound chests are guarded by deadlier foes. Merchants whisper of hideouts that aren't on any map.
Remember: you can be robbed too. Everything you carry is lost if you lose.
