Session 41. (12/6/02)

A few days into the journey into southern Hyuga, Koreyasu calls Mariko, Kimori, Komako and Emiko to see him and says he is worried about Sugiyama. He was given a mission to go and find Goto Hamanari, Hyugan commander of Nobeoka in his mountain retreat somewhere near Nango and bring him to justice. This was nearly a week ago and Sugiyama should have caught them up by now. Koreyasu wants the troubleshooters to take the same mission and hopefully find out what happened to Sugiyama. He adds that Hamanari is to be captured if possible and the retreat's guards should not be killed as they are simply local draftees, and slaughtering them will be bad PR. To get their priorities straight, the troubleshooters ask which is more important: completing the mission or finding Sugiyama - it is completing the mission.

The four troubleshooters set off for Nango, which is now to the northeast of their position. When they arrive, Mariko and Komako go immediately to see the village headman. Mariko asks where she can find Lord Goto. The headman replies that he slouched off to his retreat in the mountains. The headman has good reason to resent Lord Goto - he took the headman's house as his HQ, and burnt it down (and a few other buildings) before he left. However, neither is the headman overly forthcoming with information for Mariko; he doesn't know where the retreat is. Mariko asks if anyone knows where it is and he replies that a man called Hori Nagate does, and he occasionally visits the village to see family. Mariko thanks the headman and gives him 3 GP towards reconstruction of the village. Elsewhere in the village, Emiko is offering healing services to villagers and listening for gossip. She finds out that Hamanari probably went to the retreat on his own and didn't take any Hyugan troops. Kimori checks out the village's only bar and buys the bartender a drink. He asks if any strangers have been asking questions, a man so high, but he replies that the only stranger he has seen asking questions was a priestess. Kimori initially thinks this is Emiko, but later Emiko says she hasn't been near the bar. On a hunch she checks to see if her spare robe is missing, but it is still present in her pack. Later in the afternoon Mariko and Kimori decide to check out a track they have seen leading south out of the village while Emiko tries to obtain goodwill and gossip by resanctifying damaged buildings, and Komako props up the bar, listening to the chatter. Mariko and Kimori follow the track, which runs fairly straight up the valley side, through woods and up into the hills. It is quite overgrown. Quite suddenly the track ends at the foot of a cliff. There there is a cave. On closer inspection Mariko sees that the cave has in fact been quarried. Worried in case they have stumbled upon the retreat, Mariko takes cover in the woods and watches the cave while Kimori returns to the village to fetch the others.

In the village, Emiko has performed a few ceremonies, but has received nothing but polite thanks - it is generally accepted that this is what priestesses do. Komako has been nursing a single drink all evening and has heard nothing relevant. He had asked to be told if Hori Nagate came in, he didn't. It is quite a relief when Kimori returns and takes them up to the cave. At the cave, Mariko has seen absolutely nothing move. It is quiet as a tomb. By the time the others arrive it is quite dark, and they have no source of light. The troubleshooters grope around in the cave mouth and realise they are wasting their time, having no low light abilities. But as Kimori is about to go back to the village again to fetch a lantern, he stumbles over the remains of a camp fire. They deduce that it must be recent or wind and rain would have dispersed the ashes. They decide to stay for the night. Soon a nearly full moon rises and a better search of the cave is performed, but it reveals nothing except that the cave is only about 15 feet deep and was definitely a mine or quarry. The troubleshooters arrange watches and settle down.

During Mariko's watch she sees a large shadow sniffle and snuffle in the cave mouth. It is a bear. Drawing her tanto and shouting a warning to the others she attacks the bear, scoring a hit. The bear snaps at her and bites her. Komako is the first of the others to react and tries to kick the bear but misses. It tries to bite him but also misses, while Mariko stabs it again. Kimori now wakes, draws his sword and hits the bear. Mariko hits it again and Komako finishes it off with a powerful kick. When the fur has stopped flying, the troubleshooters get back to sleep and, with no more excitement during the night, return to the village in the morning.

First of all Mariko checks in at the bar to see if Hori Nagate had been seen. She evidently makes quite a hit with the barman and he is quite forthcoming, telling her that Hori Nagate's sister, Renshi, lives in the village. Mariko and Emiko immediately go to see her. Mariko asks her about her brother and Lord Goto's retreat, but Renshi is suspicious and gives little away. Then Emiko talks to her and she becomes much calmer and friendlier. Emiko explains that they are not after her brother, but just want to find Lord Goto to talk to him. Renshi admits that her brother works for Lord Goto. Emiko also asks if she has seen any strangers, and she says that a priestess came to see her and asked about Lord Goto. The priestess was very kind (but very ugly) and nursed her back to health when she fell ill a few days ago. Emiko and Mariko leave with this interesting information. Emiko rechecks her pack and this time notices that her old robe, the blood-spattered one that Sugiyama replaced, is missing. For the next two days Komako, Kimori and Mariko make various scouting trips into the surrounding countryside to look for tracks, people, buildings etc. but, lacking Sugiyama's tracking skills, find nothing. Finally they get a break when Renshi comes to see Emiko. She says that she fears for her brother, who is overdue a visit to her. Emiko asks where he is and she says he is at Lord Goto's retreat. Emiko asks if she knows where it is and she says, "Of course," and describes how to find it. Emiko calms the girl.

At first light the troubleshooters set off for the retreat. They find it about 5 miles away. It is a large house within a fenced compound, approachable only by the track that leads to the front gates, though there is a point where an athletic man could climb a cliff and leap onto the roof of an outbuilding. Mariko decides to try the diplomatic approach and advances to the front gate with Emiko. Kimori and Komako watch from nearby woodland. Mariko asks the guards at the gate to pass a message to Lord Goto to surrender. The guard tells her to leave, using the superior tone afforded him by the status of his master. Mariko uses rhetoric and her own status to repeat the request and the guard is much more respectful, but says that Lord Goto can see no-one. Mariko argues that it will be to Lord Goto's advantage, but the guard says he is indisposed. The guard is clearly getting more agitated. Mariko asks what is wrong with Lord Goto. The guard beckons her inside and fethes the guard captain. He asks what Mariko wants with Lord Goto and she says that she heads Lord Chozo's troubleshooting team and wants to sort out the political situation. The guard captain is impressed with her credentials and says that Lord Goto will take no part of local politics any more because he is dead. The guards are now in a very difficult situation because they have failed in their duty to protect him, and no-one knows how he was killed. All they found was a bamboo dart in his neck. They cannot leave for the shame of the situation and desperately need help in solving the crime. Mariko sends for the others and starts investigating. She looks through the room where Lord Goto died, while he was asleep, and finds a tiny circular hole cut into the ceiling. She cuts open the ceiling and climbs up to look further. Emiko analyses the bamboo dart and finds it has a strong, lightning lethal poison on it, just like one she knows that Sugiyama has found on earlier adventures. In the roof void, Mariko finds that a tile above the hole has been moved. She reckons that someone skilled with a blowpipe, such as Sugiyama, could have got onto the roof, removed a tile, pushed a blowpipe through the ceiling and killed Lord Goto. This is further confirmed by the discovery of footprints on an outhouse roof. Knowing that Sugiyama isn't a ninja, Mariko explains to the guards that the killing was done by a ninja assassin and they shouldn't feel responsible. She relieves them of their duties and sends them back to their homes.

The mission completed but with no sign of Sugiyama, the troubleshooters set off to catch up with Koreyasu. On the way they meet an old priestess walking along the road. Emiko sees from the chalk-covered bloodstains that it is her old robe! They have found Sugiyama. The reason for his lateness is simple - he failed 15 tracking rolls in a row...

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