Session 16: Silver Spoon

Party: Yoritomo Shohei, Togashi Amajino, Doji Natsuki, Daidoji Jinsoku.

The group continues the day before the Liberation Day festival with more research.

Shohei discovers that the horse in their stable had a scorpion mon branded on it, which combined with Pinpin's discovery that the horse is clearly battle-trained brings the focus back on who the actual owner of this horse may be.

Eventually Fade arrives to take the horse, holding a civil chat with Shohei over the city, the value of trade and his dislike of the Moon Cult. He leaves Shohei with the feeling that the ronin still clings to some form of bushido, though twisted it may be, which led him to 'ransom' Mizuki away from the Moon Cult in exchange for the stolen guard armours. Letting her go early was Fade's way of showing himself to be a trustworthy man... he also warns to stay inside the city for the coming three days, as things 'may heat up' outside.

Meanwhile, the long divide between Jinsoku and Mizuki is gently overcome by a tea ceremony and some martial practice in the garden, allowing the Matsu to regain the strength in her muscles, head and heart that were sapped during her captivity.

The Dragon and Doji in the Loops, meanwhile, rope one of Ebi's men into their service to help as a messenger, before noticing that Uncle Shrimp has a rather robust network of helpers that are keeping an eye on the Wayward Pine Inn. Before long, Isawa Nagitoro receives the messenger and rushes to help investigate. Amajino and Natsuki, working together, spy various strange things that seem oddly familiar. An obsidian crow, a ritual dagger, candles set in the removed eyes of the victims. As they gather together these items while awaiting the Inquisitor, they also scrape together what they can of Mizuki's meagre belongings.
With the added information provided by Nagitoro and their own deductions, the ritual used by the Moon Cult to summon their servitile horrors reeks of Shadow-tainted Maho, against which pure crystal is said to be most effective. Natsuki immediately sends out another one of Uncle Shrimp's men to procure 7 sets of crystal necklaces.
The trio then head to Kitsuki Jotomon's dojo on a hunch from Amajino, discovering the sensei has a crystal box in which they deposit the ritual items taken from the Wandering Pine Inn.

The group gathers together again to discuss things and learn that children of all clans with some connection to the Moon were taken from their families and reported missing. The final piece of the puzzle slides into place when the investigative trio - based on a tattoo they saw on the 'oni' Pine - reveal the statuette may not be a crow at all, but a badly made Crane figure.
As far as the group now can tell, whatever is going on needs only Doji Chi to be set into motion.

Turning their attention to Mizuki, they also learn that the samurai-ko was already trapped by the time they ran into her when meeting the lady Crescent on the street. The one that greeted them with some familiarity was thus... an imposter?

Session 15: Cat's cradle

 Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Doji Natsuki, Togashi Amajino, Yoritomo Shohei
Present in spirit: Hida Ganko

The group brings back the horse from the Moon Cultist residence.
Perturbed by all the recent happenings, Hida Ganko swears to defend the residence from all who would come to disturb it. He reasons that with the Crab Festival soon, the streets may have some rowdy figures that may want to use the distraction to strike at their house AGAIN, and rather than face a festival angled against his clan, he will be better off making sure the Magistrate's Residence is safe.

The rest of the party seeks to go out and visit the Dojo of Kitsuki Jotomon to gather information, a familiar red-cloaked individual trips up Amajino, causing him to fall onto a pebble that has an omnious note attached "Return the Statue of our Lord or suffer the consequences!".

The party backtracks, and Amajino discovers a hidden compartment in the statuette, where a note reads: 
"The Phoenix will rise once the Lord Moon waxes thrice". 
Shohei, thinking outside the box, grabs the ledger and starts comparing the handwriting and content to see if there is a way to predict what this may mean. He discovers that the 'Month of the Phoenix' actually is the month of the Tiger, in a demented shift of the traditional calendar and there are clear indications that whatever the Cult is trying to do, will be reaching its climax at the full moon of that month. 
[Liberation day is the first day of the month of the Ox, which is followed by the Tiger's month. Given that each month is 28 days, the party has at least 29 days remaining at the time of finding out to stop the ritual]
To put a sharp end to the matter, Jinsoku smashes the statuette, making sure it cannot be used for nefarious rituals ever again. That finished, the party heads out to the Dojo.

At the Dojo, Jotomon is training some very green recruits, peasants and merchants from the looks of it.
When asked about it, she explains that it is her way of making those who are not born bugei better able to defend themselves. As Shohei usually brandishes peasant weapons, she asks him to give two students some pointers, which he does in wonderful athletic fashion, leaving a positive impression.
As Jinsoku seeks a dragon duelist that had given him some side-eye, Amajino takes a moment to talk with Jotomon during a technique demonstration and discovers one Mirumoto Kurokun tried to visit this dojo but was ejected ("He was talking to my pupils about Lords that should not be worshipped").
The party, however, now has an open invitation to attend the dojo or teach those who arrive near nightfall.

The next day, during the morning routine, a dazed and shellshocked Matsu Mizuki arrives at the house. She had been taken captive by the Moon Cult after a Shugenja trapped her in a weaving, after which she has been traded to procure armour stolen by Fade. As Natsuki takes Mizuki to the bath for some much needed rest, Jinsoku takes it upon himself to order some new plates for the house by destroying what was on the table.

Shohei and Jinsoku remain at the house, to keep the guest safe, and Amajino joins Natsuki to find the Wayward Pine Inn to gather the items Mizuki may have carried.
They have a bit of a run in with the owner Pine... or whatever horrid creature took his place.
The investigating pair did learn that a man with a porcelain mask and a red kimono visited this location very recently before dispatching the being.

They discover Mizuki's ransacked room, where everything is torn to shreds, Pine's lifeless and deboned body upon which are carved the kanji for 'Crane' and 'Death' and a pair of other corpses (eyes gouged and throats slashed). 

Session 14: The forest is solitude

 Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Doji Natsuki, Hida Ganko, Togashi Amajino, Yoritomo Shohei

The group, having Amajino and some servants deal with the messy aftermath of the fight, gets down to business. They feel like they should investigate the mysterious Matsu Mizuki, but Jinsoku digresses and eventually storms off. 
Shohei starts going through the records of Hitsoyu Mura (Necessary Village), the Bayushi holding. He discovers they pay enough ronin to form a small army, together with arms and food for those troops.
Natsuki checks over his shoulder, providing refreshments and small talk.
Ganko starts patrolling the grounds, hoping to keep further dangers at bay with the force of his presence.

Jinsoku heads to the Loops, the rough part of town where those who would prefer to remain anonymous would reside, chatting with uncle Ebi and discovering the residence where Mizuki stayed... the Wayward Pine Inn. He speaks a while with old man Pine, the owner of the establishment, discovering Mizuki has not been back for a couple of days. He pays for her stay and gets to look around her room for clues. Barely sniffs anything while in there. Does find a scroll containing a secret message from the Lion Clan, but as it is written in the Lion Clan cypher, that does not tell him much.

Eventually, as Jinsoku returns to his friends, Amajino comes up with an idea. What if they would look into the people that are missing? It seems a good lead to find out where the Moon Clan is hiding. 

But then time runs long and the group sets out to meet with Fade. They chat a while with the ronin on the Bridge of Drunken Lovers, with Fade asking for a specific horse (a black stallion like the one used during the raid on the Soshi's Opium warehouse in town ~coincidentally looking a lot like the one used by Bayushi Otodo). Procuring this animal would mean the party would have an extra ally in their camp and he offers them a 'wild lioness' in return to sweeten the deal.
In exchange for their kindness in meeting with him, Fade does offer a bit of information: He traded some liberated Thunder Guard uniforms with the Moon Cult.  

Using Shohei's research, the party tracks down horse trader Momoko as the person who procured a horse fitting the description, but discovers that the man has passed away. The horse, mildly uneasy at the lack of food, is calmed down by the gang.
In creative investigative pursuit of the truth, Natsuki, Amajino and Shohei ransack the entire hovel the man used as a dwelling and shop, which provides them with a ledger that shows the horse was bought by the Unicorn clan for a hefty sum and sold back to Momoko at a nice discount by Ide Baranato.
They also find proof of Moon Cult activity, including a small statuette representing Onnotangu (Lord Moon), showing a group of four to six cultists likely gathered here to perform their rituals as a sort of splinter cell of the Moon Cult.