The yorikis arrived in Plum Tree Bridge’s little village mid-afternoon on a swelteringly hot day in the marshes. The “bridge” of the name is the natural rise that runs almost north-south for many miles, its slopes held together against erosion by the wide spreading roots of the plum trees that provides its name. This long stretch of dry land is a welcome boon to travelers in the area.
The large Ryokan, decorated with a sign of Five Dancing Mayflies, takes advantage of this raised ground to make traveler’s lives even easier and it is this building, and of course the Shrine to Koshin, that make this settlement thrive.
They were welcomed by Shota again, who met them as they arrived and he greeted them and offered to have them attended, but they had no need and proceeded to the Ryokan. Shota was quite taken with Koji, who turned on the charm and – after all – has started to get a bit of a reputation as a duelist, on top of being the consummate Crane courtier.
The Ryokan was a finer establishment than they had expected, and was a great deal more like places near major cities than what you may normally find out here in the marshes. They met Yori, the wildly overworked Ryokan proprietor who now had even more esteemed guests to successfully accommodate, and so was buzzing around like a man who is either going to make a ton of coin off this week, or lose his head. He set them up with cool tea and some light food (finally!) in the dining room.
Sharing that space was Daidoji Eiji, a serious looking bushi enjoying some tea and mochi and a separate table of older, low-ranking Crane clan bureaucrats.
As they refreshed themselves, a Crane servant appeared with a letter and delivered it to Koji. It was a request from the ranking Crane on site, Lady Sachuko, who wished to meet with them tomorrow morning to discuss the matter of the shrine.
A whole gaggle of annoyed merchants and their servants appeared briefly. They passied the doorway with subtle glares and muttering, having being relocated from their nice spacious upper floor rooms to the lower floor’s smaller guest rooms to make space for the newly arrived, more esteemed guests.
Rin was pretty keen to go see the shrine at the center of this adjudication, because that’s her thing. Koji wanted to find out what the gambling opportunities were in town, and finding that the Otter ashigaru enjoyed a game of dice or two when off duty decided to tag along to the shrine.
Yoshihiro and Takuya decided to check out the farrier and stables and see how Buttakappu is doing now that she is back on dry land.
Sugi decided to stay at the Ryokan and go introduce herself to the Daidoji.
She needed no introduction, however, Eiji knew who she was even though she didn’t have her Topaz regalia on. Big Teenage Crab Gal Roaming The Land Solving Problems tends to stick out. And, it turned out Eiji had done his stint on The Wall in accordance with the long-standing Daidoji tradition, so he had friends down there that kept him abreast of big news. Sake was ordered.
Over the course of the evening the two swapped stories – Eiji was fascinated by Sugi’s stories and Sugi was interested in all the places that Eiji had been. The sake kept coming. Eiji can’t put away the same amount that Sugi can though and – without embarrassing anyone involved – intimated that this detail was not his favourite. Lady Sachuko doesn’t sound easy to deal with and is worried to the point of paranoia about this big chest of koku she is responsible for. Also, Eiji just hates marshes, the insects and the heat, always has. More sake might make him feel better though.
Meanwhile, Takuya and Yoshihiro stepped out into the twilight as the lanterns were being lit. They heard a strange sound from the grasses beyond the stables. Technically it’s called Gekkering and it’s a weird sound like a combination of the chattering cats make at birds and the complaining cats do about closed doors or late food. But it wasn’t a cat, it was the little red fox that Rin seems to have a connection with. And it was Gekkering furiously up at one of the windows of the Ryokan.
As well it may, because a woman in the upper floor was hurling things at it. Pebbles or coins by the look of it. “Go away!” she was hissing, and the fox danced to the side as another small item came its way. They called up to ask what she was doing and the woman leaned further out to get a look at them. She was dressed in rich court robes and had formally lacquered hair. She called down explaining that the horrible little animal had disturbed her and wouldn’t be quiet. She would be ever so grateful if they’d chase it away. The fox wasn’t interested in sticking around and slipped into the reeds and left.
The lady introduced herself as Otomi, a long time resident of the Ryokan and that she hoped she’d see them around.
The two then proceeded on their way and spent an evening talking with stablehands and the farrier about how they do their jobs. They did have an actual interest in both areas, but it in writing about it it does kind of remind me of old Prince Philip making his way down a greeting line of workers at a newly opened car factory “And what it is it you do here? Marvellous. And what is it you do here? Oh that must keep you busy. And what is it you do here? Wonderful.”
Over at the shrine and Rin and Koji had accepted the offer of a lantern bearer to lead their way, as Yori seems pretty concerned that none of his guests should be stumbling around in the dark. They arrived at the torii gate at the outskirts of the village and made their way down the paved path. They passed some merchants who bowed and offered them another lantern bearer servant, so they picked up another.
This village is 80% lantern bearers.
Wonderfully well illuminated, they were able to look around the shrine. And while it was maintained well, there was a real lack of any kind of seasonal decoration. Everything was in good enough order… but that’s maybe what stuck out to them, everything was just good enough. No extra touches had been taken, just a competent bare minimum.
What really stuck out to them though was that the shrine didn’t seem to be currently attended; there was a heated one-sided argument going on in the meditation garden and that a stone statue of Koshin had been placed in the honden recently (within the last two months). What they could also tell was that this shrine had a mollifying effect on the elemental spirits of the area. Rin figured this out by communing with them and found them to be a happy little bunch: ghosts avoided this place, but the spirits liked it a lot. Perhaps as a sign of their general happiness, air spirits flowed around Rin, cooling her considerably for the next day.
Eventually though, an old monk named Tame appeared, introduced himself and apologised for not meeting them earlier. The monk was uneasy and tense until they insisted on seeing the meditation garden, at which point he visibly slumped and his worry changed to resignation.
In the garden they found a meditating shrine-maiden, Iwa, who was muttering the shoshi ni kie mantra of the Perfect Land Sect. They did not disturb her. They also found the focal spot of the garden (because it was right in front of Iwa) where the Koshin statue had once stood.
They questioned Tame about the history of the shrine and he told them the oral history that had been passed down since the scrolls that documented the shrine’s founding had been sealed away.
But when they insisted he open the box containing the scrolls, he was shocked to find that the first three were missing. They read the decaying paper and checked the story against Tame’s. His account of the building of the shrine lined up with the account on the scroll, but what was missing from the written record was the miraculous intercession by Koshin to save the life of the founder. Much to ponder. They sealed the existing scrolls away and returned to their prepared room at the Five Dancing Mayflies.
Eiji was now bending his way up the stairs to bed and Sugi polishing off the last of the snacks and sake. With Takuya and Yoshihiro returning, they all had a quick debrief and then made their way upstairs to their well appointed sleeping area. Well, almost all of them made it there. Takuya noticed a door open and when he stopped Otomi led him into her quarters instead.
And that’s where we finished.
