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).
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