[[Yakomizo_Hiraku?|Yakomizo Hiraku]] was a traitor to Lord Ueshiba who was in turn cheated by the demon lord Obox-Ob and had to seek refuge on the Shadow Plane. He lost his staff of Duelling (or his Vermin Lord Staff?) to Lord Ueshiba. When Ueshiba died, this staff was buried and magically sealed against scrying together with a number of other artifacts – including Attaxa.
To retrieve the staff, the party has to do the following:
- Survive the Barghest Assassins
- Discover that the barghests are Red Hand of Doom allies from the Shadow Plane and either convince the Ghostlord Manabu to point our were they are based; alternatively get this information from a dragon beat into submission, or from actively spying on the Red Hand of Doom (→ Spying on the Red Hand).
- Learn of the Shambhala-na Monastery on the shadow plane, on Mt. Takenaga’s shadow. There is in fact a way to cross into Shadow north of Kurobano: In the heart of the forest is a fissure called the Heart of Darkness. It is part of an old pilgrimage.
- Get to Yakomizo Hiraku’s castle. In fact, Tsutomu recognizes this part of the shadow realm – it was described in his master’s notes as he was questing for Invingatorul. The dark tower is in fact a Grell outpost. Use Sangkon Bhet from the Lords of Madness p. 115.
- When Ueshiba’s artifacts were unsealed, Attaxa got recovered by Aurin and Yakomizo Hiraku recovered his staff from a foolish tribal leader of the Red Hand of Doom. With the staff he is now ready to regain his title as Vermin Lord. Kaulifargh, a Glabrezu agent of Obox-Ob is still trying to eliminate his former ally. He knew that Yakomizo Hiraku would want to recover the staff, he wanted to recover Attaxa, and he had seen how powerful Tsutomu had become. So he offered him a deal: “Kill Yakomizo Hiraku and abandon your friends on the Shadow Plane, and I will grant you this staff and a Wish.”
- Offer Tsutomu an opportunity to duel or backstab Yakomizo Hiraku and take his staff. The party is kept busy by Yakomizo Hiraku’s minions. Once he is beaten, Kaulifargh appears and rewards Tsutomu. See Tsutomu’s Reward.