1st Scroll - The Will of Nobles - 1st - 3rd Days

[jemmus]

Having found nothing of interest around the massive stones, the bushi and the gakusho head back to the signs of track and trail. Kentaro remains in his spot and listens and observes. He sees that feet repeatedly strike the earth in the the yard ahead. He points to it and a yard or so ahead, to the northeast. He says quietly, "Some pretty new deer hoof markings I can see. And pretty fresh droppings too. And It looks like something maybe scratched the ground a while ago. Maybe the nails of a heavy bear. But it's hard to tell. Wider and softer things passed over them. It seems like humans or human-form bakemono use this animal trail as much as the animals do."

Omi and Ito proceed forward to take a look. Toward the northwest, each making his own way among the boulders and scrub. Yes, there is definitely a trail. Possibly an animal trail that straw sandals followed? The trail winds among the boulders and along the clear ground toward the northeast. The bushi nod to each other.

Kentaro and the travelers hear, far away to the west side of the mountains, there are echoes of monkeys calling. There are sounds of heavy things and big branches crashing. Then enraged howling and sound of a battle. And then it's silent on the noontime mountain. Except for some distant monkey scolding and chattering.

The two samurai bushi round an area of thicket and stone and stop still and observe. There before them is a lying square of granite 9 feet wide by 9 feet wide and 4 feet tall. And upraised behind it and leaning on it, a slab of granite 12 feet tall and 18 feet wide. Yes, there is a beaten path to behind them. Taisho, some seconds behind, catches up and observes. A fox comes out onto the trail, keenly observes everybody for a moment, and bounds away.

[Marullus]

I didn't mean THAT far behind.

Realizing he got too involved with the tracks, Kentaro hurries to catch up, still holding his bow.

[jmacatty]

OOC: After the other group's experience, I'm getting nervous about what we are going to find....

[jemmus]

We're still in tactical time scale, and I had Omi and Ito stop before using the whole turn up. So you guys could decide what to do about seeing the trail and rock. So Kentaro has time to catch up. I'll post a revised map.

[jmacatty]

Omi and Ito continue along the trail.

[jemmus]

Turn 4
The travelers see that the trail worn through the foliage continues a few yard eastward, past the south side of the standing rock. Omi and Ito tread the pathway step by step, alert for all things. Taisho and Kentaro close behind, and the same. The distant monkey tribe has mostly stopped their fussing, except for a few comments and complaints. All is quiet in the woods but for the sound of weighty bushi feet on earth and swishing of sheets of woven silk and steel sheets of flexible armor. The leading bushi reach a spot on the trail from which they can quietly lean forward and galnce behind the great standing rock.

Six feet of the woven grass wall of a mountain hovel can be seen. A rough but thick and sturdy roof overhangs it. From having passed along the width of the standing rock, it seems that there isn't room for the structure to be more than three yard wide or long. Unless there's a cavity in the rock itself-- which doesn't seem likely. All rocks in Nippon are angular and rough. Shaken from the god Izanagi's yari after he'd dipped it in the original great sea.

Beyond the corner of the dwelling, well-trampled earth can be seen. It seems to that people live, cook, eat, and eat here. At least part of the time.

Ito and Omi detect a flash of movement from the hovel's corner.. A left eye peering around and watching for an instant. Then darting away and disappearing.

Wit or Will saving throws, your choice, please. Taisho and Kentaro are at -2, because they're just observing Omi and Kentaro as they react. We've gone from Tactical Time Scale to Detailed Time Scale. Sorry, map graphic coming up soon. At this point, I don't think we need it much. The mountain and the bandit camp are quiet. Except for possibly one....

[Marullus]

Wit/Will save BCS 4-2=2 [1d20]=11

Kentaro pauses at the rear, waiting to hear what they see.

[jmacatty]

Omi
Wit 10
ST3
[1d20]=3 Amazing! He makes it!
I don't have Ito's Character Sheet.

[ffilz]

Taisho is too focused on her companions and taking in the whole setting to notice anything else.

[jemmus]

Brown is trail, light brown is building.



Before the partial face and peeping eye disappeared, Omi got the distinct impression that they belong to a young woman. Not only by their appearance and the not entirely certain glimpse of long hair behind the face, but also by the movement. The movement itself seemed more the way a female person moves than a male person moves. More darting. "Then again," Omi thinks, "Children move that way too."

Actions?

[jmacatty]

Omi moves quickly towards the hovel, waving for the others to follow.

Ito follows, hand on his katana.

[Marullus]

Kentaro follows.

[ffilz]

Taisho will follow also.

[jemmus]

The two bushi round the corner of the structure, hands gripping hilts, the gakusho Taisho and other bushi Kentaro close behind. They see that the hovel is indeed built against the standing rock, as the charcoal burner said. But it's not a lean-to, it's an actual cottage of sorts. The rock serves as a wall and a part of its closest wall as well. With quick glances to survey the situation, the travelers see that the structure is about 15 feet long, maybe 9 feet deep. Rocks seem to have been cleared away to make a smooth mostly packed earth path in front of it. The path continues on a few yards to another, smaller shed, built among the boulders.

After rounding the corner, Omi quickly moves along the cleared earth and sees a colorful figure darting into a doorway just two yards ahead. Ito, just a little quicker, follows and angles off into boulders to the right of the pathway. He has clear observation of the shed, but no time yet to turn and look inside the cottage's doorway. Taisho follows and stands behind Omi at the doorway, watching for what to do. Kentaro, similarly to Ito, doesn't waste his time and moves off of the pathway into the rocks, beside Ito.

Omi looks into the doorway of the hovel built against a rock on a part of Chiyo-san.

A woman in a colorful kimono hastens to seat herself, quickly smoothes her hair, rotates her knees on the floor, and lowers her forehead onto the tops of her hands. Welcome, honored visitors.

[jemmus]

The light brown rectangle to the north is a shed. The light blue square is the position of the woman in the colorful kimono inside the hidden structure behind the rocks.

[jemmus]

Bump
It's been a week since the last post, don't want to lose too much momentum.

[Marullus]

Kentaro is glad to be at the rear... the honored Samurai are better suited to decide the fate of the unarmed woman. He tacitly avoids looking that direction, instead keeping a steadfast eye on the approaches, bow in hand, for the eventual bandit return.

While he has time, he thinks over the tracks and sign he saw on the way here... it does appear that it was the men departing, not returning, now? He reconsiders how the evidence seen fits and what it tells him interpreting in that way.

[jemmus]

The tracks went both ways, both entering and exiting this area. But Kentaro is fairly certain that the most recent ones indicated steps going to the south and leaving the area.

[jmacatty]

Omi speaks to the woman: What is your name, what is this place and why are you here?

[jemmus]

The woman appears to be around 24 or 25 years old. She doesn't have the weathered skin of farmers who spend their lives outdoors. Instead, her skin is smooth and rather fair. She wears her hair in the style of an entertainer of men, and her colorful kimono indicates the same. But her coiffure is a little rough, her kimono is rather stained and worn, and she wears no makeup. It seems that she lacks the toiletry articles and facilities to maintain her appearance.

She greets the samurai Omi and Ito as if they were entering a quality teahouse in a large town. But she uses the word "visitors" instead of "guests." She speaks the Nipponese of speaking to one much superior. Seated, she leans forward and speaks with her forehead a hand's length above the tops of her hands.

Welcome, honored visitors. My name is Akemi. I am an oiran. This house belongs to the bandits who call themselves the Mura no Banjin. I am here because I am their captive. She bows her head further toward the backs of her hands. I am sorry, I have no refreshment to offer. If I may be allowed to go to the kitchen shed, I will make tea. But I regret to say that there are no proper teacups. There are only bamboo tube vessels. She raises her back to straight upright to perfect posture, glances downward to the left, and demurely raises a hand to smooth and adjust her coif.

Oiran ("spring scent")- A courtesan, a high-ranking female entertainer of men. They are skilled at Peaceful Arts such as playing instruments, classical dance, haiku, etc. Not as skilled as geisha ("art practitioner"), who are masters of Peaceful Arts indeed. But many oiran are more skilled that maiko (“dancing girl”) apprentice geisha.

(This is a little delicate, but please note that in Nippon of the time, there wasn’t any stigma attached to these occupations. Skill at performance arts and using psychology and conversation banter to entertain the customer were considered high art). In the old stories about samurai in translation, these characters appear again and again. They had quite a degree of prestige and personal power and influence).