Session III - Preperations begin

-15th of Hare, 1157-

Genjiro continues working on the logistics of the arriving imperial forces, as well as waiting for the arrival of the Crane army representative. Genjiro also seeks some assistance from Obaasan in coordinating the efforts. Chiyoko goes to notify the monastery of Kinro-ni-jin of the current state of the monks, including one murdered by peasants. Next, she goes to check on the flooded district; due to the high river from the run off of the rough winter in the mountains. This is the eta district, so not much has been done to deal with this. She investigates further, and even without the flooding the village seems swampy, not on firm ground, and generally in poor condition. The eta living here seem fairly miserable. On the afternoon of the 15th, the peaceful silence of the samurai quarter is broken by Doji Ayumi and Bayushi Itaru, then 40 or so Crane and Scorpion. Invite them into the palace. Itaru and Ayumi enter alone; Genjiro greets them, then starts with reading the proclamation. Ayumi is steamed. She asks what she should do with her legion. Genjiro asks if she has any concerns; she does not. She asks if there is anything else; Genjiro says there is not. Chiyoko chastises Ayumi's men about their action. She storms out, on her way out, Itaru mocks her with "I guess we'll never know who would be better." Itaru says no concerns (but we both sense that he is disappointed in this particular outcome). Genjiro invites Itaru to dinner; Chiyoko goes to spar. Itaru is a charming conversationalist; draws a lot of attention. Genjiro provides him with the materials and informs him that Bayushi Yojiro has put Itaru in charge, and passes on the evidence the Scorpion clan had gathered. He enjoys sake, not to excess. Junko goes with, stands watch outside.



Kazue is getting a tour form Shiba Gaijitsu. He's upset about the discovery of the Emperor taking the province from the Phoenix, but not with her (just not good at hiding it seems more soldier than governor. He's a bit nervous about his place, now that there is a new governor. More concerned about the town than his personal outcome it seems, though. Universally well respected, and often quite liked. Shinsei-ist monks seem in particular fond of him. Walks her through the districts, out to where the laborers and farmers. Tours her through all 5 elemental temples, all of the same relative size and prosperity. She also notices some fetishes of leaves / twigs and such, which comes from the Morakawa tribe (from the Kawa forest) - supposed to keep bad luck and spirits away. At they are heading back for lunch, approached by a Mantis clan samurai - Moshi Masako. She brings forward a concern - seems Toshi no Naishou is not allowing certain things to proceed from the harbor; causing her some difficulties - possibly because of the difficulties between the cities? He promises he will bring it up to the new governor when he can. He introduces Masako and Kazue, and Kazue finds out she's a painter. Go and have lunch on Water upon the Stones. Patrons are almost entirely Phoenix, with one lone woman wearing purple (looking Unicorn). Crowd seems subdued. Go out later to the covered market place, and there's a monk preaching fortunism. Some of the more remote villages prefer to come here than Toshi no Naishou to sell their goods and raw materials. Kazue thanks Gaijitsu for the tour; he asks her to let the governor know they have pressing concerns in the city, and would like to meet with him as soon as he's able. Daisuke thinks if they left tonight, they could ride out tonight and still make it to the border in time without endangering the horses. Would still be safe to leave in the morning, but might just be a little late. So they stay the night to see the entertainment in the evening. A mixture of entertainment and refreshments for most budgets. Jugglers, jesters, acrobats, performers, games, a bit of gambling, some open air sake houses, open air tea houses. Sees the Unicorn, three or four ronin, but far more peasants than samurai. Daisuke notices that they are the subject of quite a bit of attention, considering they are the representatives of the new governor. Kazue offers to write to some of her teachers to come visit the elemental temples, which Gaijitsu appreciates.



Sou and Haundo are riding south, intending to meet Ansho at the border on the 18th. Pass along several villages, scattered all across the plains, some around the forest itself.





-16th of Hare, 1157-

Afternoon as they travel, Yukika first, then Sou and Haundo spot a reflection in the forest like sunlight glinting off glass. It's ahead in the path; Haundo is concerned that it could be spyglass and believes they need to go investigate. Sou agrees, and they try to head in that direction with minor path adjustments to hide the intention. Found the signs of a presence of someone that has left, maybe no longer than an hour in the camp. Had a horse, looks like it was likely male, and while could potentially be tracked, would be difficult and slow. If they had armor, it was small. Looks like they left when they were noticed, but had been here doing something before that. Haundo nails a proclamation to the tree that the person had been next to. Sou communes with a fox - what were they wearing, color of clothes? It says human male, wearing clothing (no armor), earth tones, beard and long hair. Maybe a peasant or ronin, or someone concealing their clan. As to his emotional state, was attentive, curious, and before he left, anxious. What was he doing? Standing in the place, holding up something that occasionally caught the sunlight to his face, looking back and forth. Probably scouting? When he left, though, he rode off due west, not in the direction of Shizu Mura. Sou asks them to watch him, sits down and starts meditating. Falls into a deep trance, then a small fox springs out of the ground next to him. Looks at everyone, nods, then trots off following the path of the lone horseman. Fox-Sou follows the trail west; following for many hours. He finds and creeps closer to a small camp, about 13 or so men and women, a little bit of light or ashigaru armor, a few swords, but weapons for all (bows, tetsubos, axes), 3 horses - a well established camp. 3 are talking; one, an older man that appears to be the leader; long beard, who appears to be who Fox-Sou followed; and a woman. The scout argues they should pull up stakes and relocate the camp somewhere else in the forest; seems clear he had seen them and saw them coming towards him. She doesn't see any reason to uproot - just got here; should hear 4 samurai coming long before they sneak up on the camp. Older man lets them argue it out for a bit, then says he agrees with Nimuro - let's relocate the camp. The woman, Mei, agrees, calling the leader's name as Sononsuke. They effectively break down the camp quickly; reasonably well coordinated. They head out to the northwest. Sou dismisses the fox. He informs the group that it looks like ronin; well organized and savvy, but he doesn't believe there were any shugenja.



Kazue sets out from Koso Mura, and Chiyoko and Genjiro head out from Toshi no Naishou.





-18th of Hare, 1157-

Borders of the province, meet up with Ansho, deliver our reports. He contemplates them, then lets us know about what he's currently fighting off all the clan delegation requests to supercede them to Toshi no Naisho; need to sort that out. Akodo Konomi was going to set small groups in the major cities from the Legion.



Discuss how to split up the various legions to keep the optics of the populace of Toshi no Naishou from having to stare down 3 legions in spitting distance, as well as keep from having a legion force a new village from popping up around it. After some discussion, the proposal is to keep the Lion at Sujuu Mura, the Crane at Oichi Mura, and the Scorpion at Moku Mura - Ansho-sama will consider. Haundo recommends a check point along the road to the south to be established; Sujuku Mura acts at the check point in the north; then a check point at the bend of the river on the west side to be able to watch the camps. Kazue asks Ansho-sama; squad of Phoenix samurai sent by Gaijitsu was who officially notified the emperor. We bring up our lack of knowledge in regards to river boats; recommend Ansho-sama and Konomi-san check with the Mantis, maybe? Genjiro passes along that Itaru may already be looking to purchasing real estate. Ansho-sama thinks we'll leave the negotiation and purchase of the real estate to the Phoenix, which would help compensate them for their current situation as well as molify them. Kazue does note that Koso Mura and Toshi no Naishou may have to be handled separately. Haundo recommends we have a final review, just to verify pricing is reasonable and not terribly favored / disfavored for someone. If any of us want homes, let Ansho-sama know.



Only one known Phoenix magistrate in the province; Ansho will be delegating some additional clan magistrates along way stations. And, one way to co-opt the clans is to have them put forth candidates for clan magistrates that we get to review and approve, then assign them to a particular place or settlement. Plans to co-opt all of them into the maintenance and administration of the province, so that any short-sighted foolishness impacts them directly and helps him determine the longer term view of who is the better magistrates.



Ansho is also planning on giving guest rooms in the palace to the delegations, so they can choose to stay close or have options for late nights or guests. Team gets a large estate with separate house for Sou and Yukika.



Ansho intends for Toritaka Kano to investigate the dead Phoenix, since the body was in Unicorn lands.



Ansho says, we should reach Toshi no Naisho on the 20th. He will announce on the 21st that he will hold a ball with the theme of celebrating spring time and new beginnings. Each delegation (all 8 clans and the minor clan alliance) will be responsible for bringing a gift to the ball for the province. The refreshments and festivities will be local. He would like to have a poetry competition. He would like a first draft of the guest list by the evening of the 20th. A small province ball would be 40 to 50 -- this will need to be much larger to accomodate all the clans.