Inside the holding yard, Oden remains beneath the torn Oki Watanabe disguise, one sleeve ripped and his scraped forearm marked with dried blood. Officers bolt the outer gates.
Shinzo Abe sets the sealed evidence case on his battered desk. Nearby, the restrained criminal overlord watches from a bench while officers search roofs, drains, and empty cells.
Shinzo Abe
Nobody leaves. Whoever planted that rice is still inside this yard, or someone here helped them get out.
The case opens with a stiff metallic click. Inside, wrapped in oilcloth, lies an unfamiliar relic of dark metal and cloudy glass, its faint pulse turning toward the outer wall.
the criminal overlord
You keep chasing shadows, Captain. My people are locked up, your own guards were fed, and the thief is laughing somewhere beyond your walls.
Shinzo Abe
Save the sermon. The relic found his trail before. If it points outward, then Oden crossed this yard without crossing the gate.
Oden the Fool
The relic is pointing beyond the walls.
✓ Quest Accepted
Divert the relic’s signal
“Rather than try to avoid the relic, Oden decides to make it appear unreliable. He smiles and puts on a disguise of none other than Shinzo Abe. He bangs on the walls of the prison. "Let me in, Oden is in the prison and he has disguised himself as me!"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Disguise, rolled +0)
Oden lets Oki Watanabe’s slouch collapse and reshapes his posture into Shinzo Abe’s hard angle. The disguise borrows the captain’s crimson coat, clipped hair, and scarred brow.
He hammers both fists against the nearest cell wall. The impact rings through the holding yard, rattling bolts and drawing every officer toward the sound.
Oden the Fool
Let me in! Oden is in the prison, and he has disguised himself as me!
The relic’s cloudy glass pulses toward the wall, then jerks toward the shouting figure. Officers exchange glances as the signal contradicts itself, while the real Shinzo stares from beside the desk.
Shinzo Abe
What in the ruined city is this? That is my voice, my coat, and my face.
the criminal overlord
There, Captain. Your precious relic cannot tell which Shinzo is real. Perhaps it has always been guessing.
Two guards unlock the inner passage and drag the false captain inside, convinced the relic has exposed a counterfeit. The pounding leaves Oden’s scraped forearm throbbing, and the whole yard now knows his trick.
“"Look how that monstrous Oden left me damaged. He snuck up on me and stole the relic. He now thinks he can make a dangerous display of himself by impersonating me." While Oden says this, he makes an illusion of his original self appear, and he pretends to be surprised by the sudden appearance of the thief. "Guards there he is seize him." In the confusion, Oden will swap out the relic for a fake, using a piece of cloth to disguise the swap.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Sleight of Hand, rolled -1)
Oden the Fool
Look how that monstrous Oden left me damaged. He snuck up on me, stole the relic, and now thinks he can make a dangerous display impersonating me.
A second Oden appears beside the cell wall, wearing the familiar beggar’s cloth and Hyottoko face. The illusion throws up its hands as the disguised thief recoils in practiced surprise.
Oden the Fool
Guards, there he is. Seize him!
The guards surge toward the illusion and the false captain. Their boots hammer the passage, while Shinzo shouts from beside the desk and the relic pulses between them.
Under cover of a dropped oilcloth, Oden’s fingers pass over the evidence case. The real relic disappears into the cloth, replaced by a dark metal scrap and cloudy glass.
Shinzo Abe
Stop! Both of them! Nobody touches that case until I know which one is breathing.
The swap is complete, but the cloth tears against the case latch with a sharp rip. Oden’s scraped forearm throbs, and one guard turns toward the noise as the fake relic begins its useless pulse.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the holding yard
+ New Item Acquired
Tracking relic
− Scene Quest Removed
Divert the relic’s signal
“With the Relic in hand, Oden unveils his disguise. He release three more illusions and runs away making his way to a hidden escape route that he knew about in case he ever ended up in jail.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Oden lets Shinzo’s borrowed posture collapse, tearing away the crimson coat and clipped-hair disguise. His Hyottoko face flashes beneath the failing yard lights, relic clenched in one hand.
Three more Oden illusions burst into the passage, each in beggar’s cloth, each darting toward a different exit with the same unmistakable face.
Shinzo Abe
Seal the yard! Do not fire! The relic is gone, and every one of those fools could be him!
Boots scatter after the duplicates. Oden runs low through the confusion, slipping past the opened inner passage while the stolen relic pulses coldly against his palm.
His scraped forearm strikes a rusted doorframe, reopening the abrasion. Blood darkens his sleeve, but he keeps moving through the service corridor beneath the holding yard.
Oden the Fool
The old drainage route is behind the laundry furnace.
Oden reaches the hidden escape route, pries up the warped furnace grate, and drops into the narrow drainage tunnel. Above, alarms and Shinzo’s furious orders echo through the prison.
Quest Complete
Escape the holding yard