Prelude - Ikari, Kayo, Satoshi

"... Gone to follow the trail..? Is Sawada a bear of a man to fend off beasts of the night?
Nira here was just a snack"
Ikari lights his lantern
"Lets go try to call the fool back to safety. Running down a trail of blood into the black, what hubris.
If he gets out of sight, we'll turn back immediately"
Ikari moves forward calling to Sawada to come back.

"You weren't planning to depart without me, were you?" Kayo stated, her angelic smile unwavering. "Your honor binds you to my protection; therefore, I shall accompany you." She followed closely behind the two men, her persistent smile a mask for her true intent: to witness the unfolding events and gather more tales. Manipulation was a lifelong skill, and honor was a reliably predictable lever. A flicker of concern touched her mind regarding the creature that attacked the man, but the thought of being alone in the inn, vulnerable to less honorable intentions from the remaining travelers inside, quickly dispelled any hesitation.

Satoshi hesitates for a moment as Ikari walks after the receding light, but then he quickly moves to follow the gambler. "Buddha protect us so we don't get eaten by a yokai" he mutters.

Once again the watchman with them (whose name they had found out later was Toshin) gave a small nod of appreciation for the help the three of them offered. The rest of the patrons at the inn seemed to be more circumspect in dashing around in the night, although two of the farmers looked like they were ready to follow as well, "We can go back and get our gear if we need to do a search."

Toshin replied to Ikari comment about Sawada, "Not a fighting man by any means, a humble carpenter. The residents take turns to do our nightly patrol. Doshin Nira more recently spoke of some matter at Itsuno village, and the villagers there had asked for his assistance." At the mention of the village of Itsuno, Satoshi's ears perked up. The location was where he would find a clan dead drop, a spot where he could either leave messages or retrieve them. It was just further up the trail, but deeper into the forest where the treeline met the lower bank of the Kiso river that cut through the mountain range.

Ikari hailed after the other watchman, Sawada, and thankfully he could see the motion of Sawada's lantern ceasing to bob along. He assessment was totally astute, for even if Sawada was dutifully performing his urgent task, Ikari had the impression that these watchmen were not equipped or trained to handle what appeared to be likely to be a mortally dangerous threat. Toshin's next words confirmed as much, "It is too late to send word to the authorities to take over the investigations, we will send a messenger first thing tomorrow morning."

Ikari and Satoshi caught up with Sawada, "We found Doshin Nira's arm up there, where the ojizo shrine stands, and brought it back here. But there were no other signs of the doshin." The path he pointed to left the main road, curving into the woods behind the outpost station.

Kayo was a step behind, and while she tried not to pay too much attention to the grisly nature of the severed arm, something caught her attention that the others didn't notice. A small red tassel peeked out from under the sleeve of the arm, just out of sight.

Ikari needing Haste left Kayo to catch Sawada, but never left her sight.
His temper flaring again as he met the carpenter "Sawada we are going back Right Now!
Unless you plan to face All the Specters of the Black Alone, you are coming with us!
Doshin is Gone, but they (Pointing to the Village) They need you"
Ikari starts to jog back to Kayo as fast as his bad leg will allow

"Sawada-san, were you following the road to Itsuno village? Has something happened there? I had planned to make a stop there tomorrow." Satoshi said.

It was probably just a coincidence but he had been feeling very paranoid once he lost contact with his jounin. Although he was used to working autonomously, it was rare to be so completely cut off from the rest of the Koga.

Sawada looked relieved when Ikari and Satoshi of them caught up with him. He wore a determined expression on his face, showing him a tad younger than Toshin, and was probably braver than he gave himself credit for, sticking out to do his duty despite the inherent danger that Ikari so obviously assessed the situation to be. "Yes, this path leads to Itsuno, further up beyond where the ojizo statue marks the halfway point. " He held up the lantern as if to show the way, but its weak light illuminated only up to the treeline of the woods and not much further than that.

He looked reluctant, "We must find doshin Nira, it is surely not too late to help him?" Courage would only get Sawada so far though. If Ikari convinced him more assertively, the poor man would buckle. "Nira was responding to a request for help. Some days ago, the village experienced blood rain! Blood! I don't know the details, but Nira set off to see if anyone had been harmed."

Kayo leaned close to Ikari-san, her voice a low whisper. "A small red tassel... it's peeking from the sleeve of the severed arm. I couldn't bring myself to look closer."

Ikari carefully pulls back the sleeve of Doshin Nira's arm to show more of the tassel.

It appeared that the jitte wasn't the only thing that the hand was clutching tightly, locked in place. A golden thread was also clasped together, stained dark red by what had to be blood. The end of the tasselled thread was knotted with a metal mon, or family crest, whose appearance shocked Kayo. It was her family crest, but what was it doing here?

"Just a Trinket... a bookmark or charm. Odd thing to have up your sleeve."

Alarm flared in Kayo's widened eyes. With a swift she snatched the symbol from Ikari-san. Worry and agitation tightened her features, a stark contrast to her stubbornly fixed smile. Her mouth however, spoke with sudden urgency, "This arm... it's not from the Doshi. This belonged to an Ashikara clan member. We need to find his body, now." The unexpected discovery struck a personal chord, a sudden determination hardening Kayo's gaze. She had to know who this was.

Once it becomes clear that they will be searching for the rest of the body (now bodies), Satoshi shrugs and says "I am no fighter, so I will stay here and help defend the inn." Then he heads back toward the inn but quickly moves off into a nearby alley. He removes his cap and puts his zukin on, covering his head and face.

Then he heads back toward the others, intending to follow in the shadows and help fight off any surprises they find along the path or at the shrine.

"Where are you going? We have to help them!" Kayo exclaimed, her gaze fixed on the figure vanishing into the shadows. Taking a sharp breath, steeling her resolve. "We need to find the Doshin... and the clansman."

Vanishing in plain sight was a fundamental skill, a shinobi-iri based on various aruki, or footwork. It might seem as if Satoshi was simply retracing his steps towards the safety of the inn, but in the cover of the night it was all too easy for him to disappear off wherever he wanted to be.

Thinking that Satoshi had gone back to where Toshin was, that left Kayo and Ikari with Sawada, now with Kayo having a more personal stake in the matter. Ikari was out of the city, otherwise he might have tapped into his network to find out more. As it were, they were now confronted with a decision: follow the trail straightaway, or wait till the next day for the higher authorities to arrive? Satoshi was aleady ready to go, for he needed to get to Itsuno for his own purposes.

"Ok we have some strength in numbers now, lets go, but stay together"
(starts down the trail as a group)

Kayo follows behind Ikari-san, as quiet as she can.

Kayo could've sworn that Satoshi had returned to the inn, leaving just her with Ikari. The bakuto were nothing if not streetwise, it was their uncanny ability to know their way around people, and also around places. With Sawada leading the way, the three of them set down the route that would take them to the village, not knowing Satoshi was also some distance behind, very quickly disappearing into the bushes that framed the path that lead into the forest.

"We found Nira's arm here." It wasn't a long trek before reaching a waypoint, indicating that they had walked half the way towards Itsuno. On a rock at this small bend stood an ojizo, often found along roads and trails, protectors of travellers to keep them safe on their journey to enlightment.What was disturbing was the blood splatter at the base of the small shrine. Did it mean that the doshin had a scuffle here, or worse, was this the point where he was wounded, mortally even? It was likely Sawada would want to search the area, but it was also the case that Itsuno was Nira's ultimate destination, whether he was going towards or coming from the village.