The sudden collapse of the Otomo created a power vacuum in central Kyushu that the Ryuzoji and the Shimazu were all to eager to fill. In their haste to send out settlers with escorts, however, they seemed to forget something: the safety of their daimyo.
Shimazu Yoshihisa was a superstitious leader, so he consulted the advice of a Shinto priest who happened to be visiting Kagoshima at the time. The priest had a strange interest in sword smithing, and in exchange for visiting the various forges and workshops in the city, he offered to perform a ceremony to exorcise the evil spirits that he claimed inhabited the Shimazu palace.
First he constructed a hideous-looking doll by tying together bundles of sticks and hay, then performed an elaborate dance around it, flailing his staff up and down. For some reason, the priest's behavior seemed a little bit abnormal, but Shimazu managed to convince himself that this was all part of the show. When the priest finally yelled and stabbed the doll with the pointed end of his staff, a blood-red liquid burst from the doll and splattered all over the floor, with shrieks of horror echoing through the hall. "The yokai is dead," he proclaimed to the daimyo, bowing his head. "You can come see for yourself."
Shimazu Yoshihisa came forward gingerly, with a noticeable tremble with each step. He carefully avoided the liquid but never took his eyes off the doll, which now lay in a transfigured heap upon the floor. Drawing his sword, he poked and prodded at it, circling around the doll as if it could have been an actual living creature. It had captured his attention to such an extent that he barely felt the sudden, firm tap of the priest's staff on the back of his neck before passing out.
News of Shimazu's death caused much excitement in Kitakyushu, for now it meant that the Ryuzoji were the only clan with any power left on the island. But Ryuzoji Takanobu was wrong to believe that he was the sole master of Kyushu now that he no longer had to deal with the Otomo and Shimazu. His complacency would be his downfall.
In the previous years the Ryuzoji had been the weakest tribe on Kyushu, with only two cities ever settled. As such, they never gained much experience in terms of administration and military training, and the barracks at Kitakyushu had gone in and out of service multiple times because of lack of funding. When fifty ronin arrived at the city gates at the beginning of 1490 AD, the defenders put up only token resistance before being overwhelmed. The daimyo panicked. He was completely cornered with nowhere to flee.
Unlike the Otomo and the Shimazu, who managed to pass on some of their technology to the ronin, the Ryuzoji vanished without a trace. There lay Kyushu, desolate and barren, with only ruins left where the cities once stood. For years to come, it was as though the island had been swept out to sea, forgotten by all but the ronin who inhabited it.
from the Saito if they get any good units to kill your ones.
