Session 24. (09/01/02)

Despite the paucity of plot, episode 6 continues unabated^*. After a day of complete rest near Hinokage, four of the troubleshooters set off down the road to scout as far as Nobeoka; Mariko stays with the troops to help with the battle for Hinokage. The other four march down the road, and apart from the odd patrol which they avoid, arrive in the village of Kitakata without incident. It is a small rural community; the only village facility is a shrine to a minor river kami. Emiko prays at the shrine and has the head priest perform a rite of purification on her. Kimori donates 2 silver coins. Talking to the local it turns out they know little of the war with Iyo. "That's in the north, over the mountains. It doesn't affect us here," they say. The troubleshooters stay the night in the village. Kimori and Komako find a drinking place and consume sake; Kimori handles it well but Komako makes a bit of a fool of himself.

In the afternoon of the following day the troubleshooters reach the outskirts of Nobeoka without incident. There are lots of troops around and all the troubleshooters notice that townspeople are frequently stopped and questioned by the many patrols. Undeterred, the party slips into the city and splits up, agreeing to meet near the shinto shrine a day later. Emiko, in her priests' garb, goes into the shrine, one of two small shrines in the city, and finds it is a shrine to a kami of travellers. There is no priest attendant; she surmises that this must be a predominantly Buddhist place, as evidenced by the six temples. Komako starts a tour of these temples at a small yamabushi temple where a donation of 2 silver eases any suspicions about his origin. On his way to the temple he is stopped by a patrol who ask what he is doing, to which he replies that he is going to the temple to pray for victory - not saying which side he wants to be victorious. The troops seem completely satisfied with this answer and don't ask for papers. Sugiyama goes looking for an apothecary but there isn't one. However, he finds a backstreet herbalist with probable ninja connections and spends the afternoon shopping. The herbalist recommends a guest house for the night. Meanwhile, Kimori is off on a quest of his own. He asks around for Mizuno the baishakunin (marriage-broker) and eventually a shady-looking merchant directs him to the Okatomi district, a well-known haunt for lovers. Kimori thanks him and buys a water bottle from him and gets it gift-wrapped. Then he heads to this district, finds an inn and has a proper meal. Emiko stays at the shrine. Komako visits another temple and stays the night, having heard about a curfew restricting night movement to those with legitimate business and written orders. Sugiyama finds a quiet bar and listens to the conversation, which mainly consists of talk of the war, the number of troops on the streets, the hope for reinforcements from the south and news of the enemy from Iyo.

In the morning Komako visits a Contemplative temple near the harbour (temple for naval contemplation?). Emiko also heads towards the harbour to the shrine to a minor kami of the sea. On the way she is stopped by a patrol. Thinking quickly, she asks them the way to the shrine and they have such difficulty agreeing on the best route that they completely forget to ask for her papers. At the harbour she makes notes on what ships are there. Sugiyama manages to mingle with soldiers and gains information on troop strength, organisation and orders. Kimori asks around after Mizuno but gets nowhere. Komako goes to the north of the city to check out the defences but is stopped by a patrol of 15 men led by a level 4 bushi who asks for papers. Komako panics a bit and the commander gets suspicious. He demands that Komako goes with him for questioning and Komako decides to do a runner. Komako is a good runner, but he makes a slow start and the patrol commander is evidently very alert. Hard on Komako's heels, he takes his sword and hits Komako, who staggers but continues at redoubled rate! As the chase develops Komako's faster natural speed is crucial as the commander is clearly very fit, and his two senior assistants keep pace as well. Komako is hampered by lack of knowledge of the city and can't make sharp turns down streets in case they turn out to be dead ends. The commander gets close again and has another hack at Komako but misses. They keep pace for a while, as the assistants gradually fall back, then Komako gets a stitch and slows down. However, the commander is also tiring and soon falls back again. Komako looks round desperately for a meeting of chronic asthmatics to hide amongst, but eventually gets a second wind and gets out of site of his only remaining pursuer. Meanwhile, over in the Okatomi district, someone suggests that he tries the Fusake bar. Realising that he can't follow this up and make the rendezvous, he gives a street urchin a small fortune to take a message and the water bottle to Emiko at the temple.

At the rendezvous, Emiko is waiting when Sugiyama suddenly appears, Komako arrives breathing heavily and an urchin turns up with the water bottle and saying that Kimori won't be there. Emiko gives the urchin a more reasonable gratuity, thanks him for the water bottle^**, writes a note for Kimori in the form of a prayer and the three leave town. When they reach Hinokage they find it has been captured by Koreyasu and Mariko. They deliver their information on Nobeoka (gaining experience points) and Koreyasu sends it with a messenger via a tiny mountain track to the armies advancing on Nobeoka from the north. The troubleshooters get a couple of days to rest and recover from their injuries. In the meantime, Kimori is making progress in Nobeoka. Finding no useful information in the bar Fusake in the morning, he stays for lunch and joins in an afternoon of dancing. One of his partners tells him that a baishakunin called Naoe might know Mizuno, and tells him of a tea house where he might find him. Kimori finishes his dancing and leaves for the tea house.

The other troubleshooters' relaxation is interrupted by the return of the messenger. He says that on his way back he heard a strange tale from villagers up in the mountains. They had been looking for a lost mine and saw from a few hundred yards away a very strange-looking horse. It had a brilliant green head and body, black tail and white legs. It followed them for hours, but they were scared and frightened it off. They thought it might be a ghost, but they had never heard of ghosts that left hoofprints. Koreyasu sends the troubleshooters to investigate, this being their forté. They reach the village by late morning and hear the same story. Emiko can't think of anything relevant from the Japanese Classics, so they set off to look for tracks. In the afternoon Sugiyama spies some tracks - hoofprints! They are about a day old and the three immediately start following them hoping to catch up with the horse. After a few hours of meandering tracking it becomes evident to Sugiyama that they are not catching up at all, and so they decide to follow the tracks back to their origin.

Flipping back to Nobeoka, Kimori goes to the Koibito tea house and joins in the general conversation there, talking about the school he runs (not mentioning its location of course!) Eventually he finds Naoe, who redirects him to another baishakunin, Oyama who it turns out knows Mizuno, and gives Kimori his address.

Up in the mountains, the troubleshooters follow the hoofprints back to a barren valley where they spot an old mine entrance, half buried and very overgrown. Emiko recognises it as a copper mine, but Sugiyama notices that the hoofprints do not actually go into the mine. This is not the end of their search.

Next week: a challenge stands between Kimori and true love, while the others find underground marvels.

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