Sumihiro Matsutomo stood proudly at the main gate of the city, waving on travelers as they left or entered the city. It was a warm summer day, and he was glad to be outside rather than stuck at the palace.
A trio of travelers caught his attention as they approached the gate. They were clearly foreigners, and quite strange looking as well. Cautiously, he lowered his spear at them and ordered them to halt.
"Wait," said Herodrith with a wry grin. "This guy looks like Xin Zhao."
"My name is Sumihiro Matsutomo!" the warrior barked.
"Whatever Xin," Tom laughed. "Just don't grab your Atma's Impaler and we'll be fine."
"Xin's O.P.," Niani giggled.
Matsutomo glared at the travelers, but waved them silently into the city.
***
The meeting with Lord Benju was almost complete. The only thing left to do was have ceremonial tea to finalize the deal with the adventurers. Benju was clearly relieved to have outside help. He waved over his shoulder to beckon forth Sono, the palace minstrel. She sat silently down beside Benju and began to play her shamisan, the music ...
"Did you say Sono?" Tom interrupted.
"Does she have blue hair and big boobs?" Herodrith cackled. "You said she was silent. Is she mute?"
"No, she's not ..." Benju growled.
"Poor Sona, nobody likes support girls," Herodrith laughed.
"Her name is Sono," Benju corrected.
"Well I see why Benju keeps Sona around," Tom stated. "Huge knockers."
"Get out of my palace," Lord Benju snapped, pointing to the door.
***
Karima leaped out at the foreigners from the tree tops, laughing delightedly at their startled reaction. The monkey hengeyokai bowed low before them ...
"Time out," Herodrith said quickly. "He's a monkey man?"
"Close enough!" Karima laughed. "My name is Karima, and I ..."
"Wu Kong," Herodrith interrupted.
"Karima."
"Wu Kong," Tom stated firmly.
"Seriously, cut it out ..." Karima sighed.
***
The party stood triumphant over the vanquished Eichiro Tanaka, the man who had attempted to sabotage the summer festival and discredit Lord Benju. However, before celebrations could begin, there was a deafening crackle of thunder, and three powerful looking ninjas appeared in the center of the street. The crowd parted quickly as they strode calmly toward the party. Herodrith and Tom looked at each other and smirked.
"Oh, what is it this time?" one of the ninjas sighed.
"A team of three ninjas in this adventure?" Herodrith laughed. "The gnome clearly has lightning powers due to the thunder noise, the chick probably dual-wields kamas, and the dude is probably really beefy and will be a pain to kill."
"I haven't even told you races or genders yet ..." the lead ninja grumbled.
"No need," Tom said. "It's the Triumvirate of Shadow."
"The what?"
"Kennen, Akali, and Shen!" Herodrith laughed uproariously as he pointed at the three ninjas.
"I hate you guys ..." the lead ninja grumbled.