Tales of Swordsman, Boneman, and Snakegirl 1-7

SESSION 1

[GM]
Tobirama Senju has died, at an age which most Shinobi would call blessed. The particular way of his demise was less enviable.
Spewing bile and mucus, when most of his lineage rarely suffer as much as a fever, he left the seat of Hokage empty, without naming his successor. His will, which he had prepared years ago after his close call with the Kinkaku Force, was more specific: He did not wish for a representative of any major clan to succeed him, if it could be helped, rather recommending that the clan elders convene somewhere, and decide on a shinobi who became accomplished on their own, and was least likely to be prejudiced against one clan, or the other.
For most of the village, this was rather shocking, since it eliminated Hiruzen Sarutobi as a possibility - instead suggesting someone such as the Sannin, or an accomplished Jounin such as Mai Natsume.
While Eiha was finishing her Chuunin exam, going through an obstacle course under the effects of genjutsu that could not be broken, and participating in yet another tournament, full of exhausted Genin, she saw Konoha's usually boasted unity splinter for a short time. Political parties started forming behind each candidate in the few days, ultimately gathering people under two candidates: The two Sannin who were not of a famous clan, a sage of frogs, and of snakes.
Ultimately, in what some saw as a slight betrayal, Jiraya gave up on the competition, declaring publicly that Orochimaru was actually probably going to do a fine job, as long as everyone 'appreciates his works throughly'. In the village, everyone had understood the subtext of watching Orochimaru's hands well enough.
Eiha found herself in the odd spot of perhaps having some of the most information about the murder in the whole village, and in fact having a dirty tie to it - her replacement from Mist was used as a disguise, after all, and put all of the visitors from Mist under Konoha's scrutiny until the rest of exams. In the end, unfortunately, she did not have the time or opportunity to investigate any further, especially under the eyes of Uchiha and Hyuuga, even more suspicious of her than before.
And then everything ended. She said her farewells to Shinji Aburame and Inuzuka Shin, as well as other passing accquintances. Because that's what they were, no matter how a few of them tried to make it seem otherwise.
。。。
And now, two months later, a new chapter begins in the Hidden Mist Village. Eiha is now an acknowledged Chuunin, but she has not been doing work exactly fit for her new rank. From what she can gather, there was no ill will over her stay in the Land of Fire. There was just no good team to put her in, and so they made her work solo.
One wet evening, she receives an order to report to the Mizukage's Office for her new assignment tomorrow at nine.
There is a bit of history which bears mentioning about the Third Mizukage, Hao Feng, in the context of Hidden Leaf. Most of his fame came from the war with it ten years ago, after all.
The two Mizukage before him were of the Hozuki clan, but as of his reign, Mist seems to somewhat dislike the very idea of clans.  Some clans don't even live in the village itself, for various personal reasons, but all of them keep representatives, and send their young to become Mist Shinobi in the village.
He is a sage of Clams, and a master of Genjutsu, setting a whole new precedent in the history of the Shinobi World. He is also famed for the incredible force of his personality.
He is not the only Jounin to have distinguished himself in the war with Hidden Leaf. Counting years, your own sensei and many of Konoha's own Jonin must have dealt with him, too. But, among all of the famed ninja of Mist, he became the greatest, and so the Second chose him.
That is, if war can make one great. In the Hidden Mist Village, it is certainly belived that it can.
。。。
Before nine, you meet not two, but three other ninja in the waiting room, including a familiar face. Tasaku is here as well. For some reason, you didn't see the spearman much since the exams.
"Four of us, probably all Chuunin." he smirks. "Gotta be big deal."
Tasaku is a little weak, but clever looking fellow. An engraved, silver spear rests on the wall next to him.

[Bansen]
Bansen is a man of massive stature, his features rough, and his mane of black hair already graying. The shinobi wears a standard uniform along with the vest and dons a warm cloak laced with black fur. He squats on the floor as he waits, putting him around eye level with the average person.

[Keisuke]
The dark skinned young man leaning against the wall with one earbud in his ear gives a distracted grunt of affirmation in response to Tasaku's comment. Ever since he noticed Eiha's presence his attention has been completly fixed on her. His body language while tense is more anticipatory than anything . He wears a loose fitting grey and blue letterman style jacket with hood, with a pair of baggy black pants and is wearing tabi instead of the more modern sandals most ninja sport. He has no apparant weapons on him.

[Eiha]
The new arrival assesses those gathered, gray eyes glancing back and forth, scanning wordlessly, just as her steps until now were soundless. By contrast, she wears a dark blue hakama on the hip line and a sleeveless crop top, with armored greaves and gauntlets. Her black hair is held up in a sharp ponytail and her tanto is visibly held on the hip... for as much as one would notice her presence to begin with. "It wouldn't be surprising. It's a time of great change after all.~" She responds with a modest smirk and a playful tone.

[GM]
"Mhm. That was some serious stuff that happened over at Konoha." he nods to himself. "Honestly, a bit afraid that this is related."
He looks at his watch. Water-tight, like every watch sold here.
"Just a little bit longer."

[Eiha]
"It could be, but we have nothing to do with that, do we, so this shouldn't be a worry, right?" The smirk widens ever so slightly.

[GM]
"Chisai said we didn’t, even after everyone from Konoha was out of sight."

[Keisuke]
"...Maybe they found a new vulnerability to exploit."

[GM]
"Maybe." he stands up impatiently. It seems Eiha puts him off a little too, and he goes out of his way to look natural instead.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke takes a brief moment to assess the group once more before returning his gaze to Eiha.
"We'll probably be killing someone. with this set up." he says with a slgiht chuckle.

[Eiha]
Eiha tilted her head ever so slightly at the spear wielder's comment. "Of course, that said, I have a suspect in mind myself." She noted, though frankly, she would be baffled if the Leaf itself hadn't already investigated that specific lead.. which somehow hadn't prevented events from unfurling as they did... how very interesting indeed! "When are we -not-" She then added as her gaze met that of the one scrutinizing her head on. Her gray eyes were sharp, yet her tone was still just playful.

[GM]
The door of the office finally opens, with a rather pretty kunoichi peeking out of it.
She looks into the binder in her hands. Must be a new secretary. "Yes, that seems about right... The four of you, please come in."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke looks towards the newcomer with a mild frown before reluctantly moving to follow her, turning off whatever he was listening to in the process.

[GM]
The Mizukage's Office is a spacious room at the top of an already rather wide, cylindrical building. Someone really likes their potted plants here, it is essentially a garden.
The Mizukage himself sits at a table, small journey through the plants away, with his back to a single glass window. An apt observer will notice that there is not really a window at this part of the building at all on the outside, making the room positively magical.
Hao Feng twirls his moustache, waiting for you to assemble.
"This is an S-ranked mission for three of you, and A-ranked for the last." he starts strong. "In order to wholly explain what it entails, some background needs to be established."
He pets a giant pillow on his table, which then opens, revealing a tongue. It is, in fact, a clam.

[Eiha]
Eiha quirks a curious eyebrow, though she does not interrupt. That is certainly a sudden rise in trust.. though that's not a bad thing either.

[GM]
"Shinobi animals of the world split themselves into several groups - political groups, it could be said. For ease of understanding, we will categorize them geographically here."
"Clams, Sharks, Spiders or Slugs can be considered members of the eastern group. There are certain animals in the eastern group which do not take contracts at all, due to their habitat existing too far away."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke has a mostly neutral expression, but feels like if this is really an S Rank mission it's highly likely meant to kill them off.

[GM]
"Similarly, bees only exist in the North. Don’t ask me why." his mouth was shut for that sentence. Was that ventriloquism, or did the clam talk?
"Canines like Bears or Wolves can be found and contracted on the mainland, if you know how." this was him again.
"And then, there exists a group of twelve animals, situated to the west, as their own political group. We do not see most of them in particular, but we do see snakes. Snakes belong to that group."
"It’s fortunate that Snakes are quite spiritually aligned with the Mist, despite existing so far off."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke guesses this might just be related to that Konoha whatever the other two talked about earlier afterall.

[GM]
"A bit of an Academy check." he rises his finger "What do you know of the Reverse Summoning Jutsu?"

[Eiha]
As the topic quickly moves on to a quick overview of the many animal groups, Eiha is reminded of how unusual summons were involved in at least two or three of the missions she went through in the land of Fire. Seems like the upheaval isn't only in one place after all.. though that was already hinted to way back then wasn't it? Perhaps things are boiling over to a critical point, hence the current mission being ranked so highly.

[GM]
Tasaku looks over you, hoping he does not have the answer. He seems to already get the idea what exactly this mission is about.
"Certain powerful summons are capable of summoning their contractee to them, instead." he says plainly.
"Yes." Feng nods. "This may surprise you, but this is very logistically important."
"If something happens in Konoha, it is the quickest way we can learn of it, by having animals which live nearby pass the gossip onto us within hours."

[Keisuke]
It appears the habbit of naming a technique for exactly what it does still isn't enough to get someone to remember what its used for. Keisuke thinks he should probaly study more if he lives through this.

[Eiha]
At this point, the raven-haired kunoichi is starting to get an increasingly high suspicion of where this is going, but she still does not interrupt, yet.

[GM]
Feng pats the clam again, and it closes. "The crux of the problem we are dealing with is thus: Four days ago, our only remaining summoner of snakes has died in battle. The involvement of Konoha is speculated, especially considering other famous shinobi contracted to snakes dying recently."
"Perhaps Orochimaru is eliminating competition. We do not have enough evidence to determine that."
"Either way, this completely cuts us off from the western group of Shinobi animals, which happens to be critical to our current situation."

[Eiha]
This time, Eiha decides a little bit of input could be adequate. "I wouldn't be surprised. To be direct, my assessment of him is that he's the wolf among the sheeps that make up the Leaf."

[GM]
Feng merely nods.
"In two months, the western Twelve will hold a council pertaining to recent events. It is imperative that Mist has an ear on this council."

[Keisuke]
Kesukei figures the A rank must be tasked with making a contract.

[GM]
"A contracted summoner can attend it, and it is a well-held neutral ground where no harm should come to anyone. Therefore, your mission is to establish a contract with a member of the western Twelve, and attend the council."
Tasaku seems very distraught right now. "Does the Mist have information about the dwellings of these? Wouldn’t the council be past the Land of Wind?"
The Mizukage smiles back at him. "That is your part of the assignment. We do not have anything here, but someone has spent time documenting them."
"Old Eight-Eyes. You are to lead these people to him, and tell him to help them in finding a contract, on the order of the Mizukage."
Tasaku seems outright pale.
"He, he does not exactly like me, sir. Isn’t there anyone else in the clan...?"
Hao Feng shoots him back a predatory grin. "As it turns out, your family members have also been disappearing. Did you not know of this?"
"I did. Sort of." Tasaku nods, and looks down, trying not to embarass himself further.

[Eiha]
Eiha crosses her arms as she mulls over all the new information. In theory, this new assignment sounds quite interesting indeed. That said, she was under the impression that the resting place of those creatures was a secret well-kept, a notion soon reinforced. At the mention of some 'Eight Eyes', she guesses it must be a Spider, though  it seems even this preliminary part is already quite troublesome...

[GM]
"Times are bad for summoners, it seems, and one of you is about to become one." the Mizukage fills a glass on his table with water, and drinks. Though he is not a Hozuki, this might be either respect to the previous holders of his hat, or a habit.
"Expect resistance. Expect to be prevented from carrying your mission out by whatever terrorist forces have been wreaking havoc recently." he makes sure to tell you this.
"Finally, tell no one of this mission, lest you are targeted. Come up with a cover for what you do, even if you are revealed for what you are on enemy territory."
"It need not be snakes in particular that you contract with." he finishes. "Eight-Eyes should be able to give you some options."
"Strictly speaking, Eight Eyes is also the Jonin overseeing this mission. Kaname, give them the scroll."
The secretary appears from a corner of the room, which has a scroll rack. The scroll she brings is rather sizeable.
"Pass that onto him. That said, I imagine he will be too busy to help you."
Tasaku mutters. "Our clan really is in trouble."
Feng points back to him with his finger. "After you lead them to the Kujira Island and your old man, your part of the assignment ends. Return to the village, and report."
"Hozuki already underwent a tragedy. We might keep you at an arms length, but your genes should be preserved."
"Incidentally, it would be good if you could find a way to report after finding a contract..."
"...Well, any further questions? There are many question marks here that I cannot make up for by myself."
Your lord leans back. His glass empty, he sucks on the bottle.

[Eiha]
"Only one from me. While I've every intention of successfully completing this assignment, I find the choice a little odd. Normally S-rank missions are entrusted to senior Jonin. Just how badly did things get while I was away?"

[GM]
"It is a bit of a prank on my old friend, Eight-Eyes - who is a senior Jonin, and this should be his mission in the first place. You will have something nice on your resume."
"Also, missions usually start around B and only become S through sudden and unexpected interference. Considering the subject matter, there is guaranteed to be some interference."
"That is, what the western Twelve are actually going to be talking about. The disturbing of leylines on mainland."
"Which is something that my friend has better understanding of than most."
Tasaku seems still visibly uncomfortable, but somehow bears it.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke gives the spear wielder a sidelong glance.

[Eiha]
"I see." She answers tersely, not convinced at all. It was explicitly stated earlier that the jonin should be 'too busy to help' so this answer was truly little more than misdirection. Something was definitely amiss, but here and now weren't the time to speak up about it.

[Keisuke]
"I have no questions that can't be answered by the overseeing Jonin or the guide." he says returning his attention to the Kage.

[GM]
"Very well." he looks you over. "You may also find it helpful to look for information on the subject matter in the village, if you have any. Many books have been written upon summons, but most are drivel."
The clam opens and shuts again, to accentuate the point.
"I do believe that is all from me. Dismissed."
Kaname, the secretary, makes sure you have the scroll before leaving.

[Bansen]
Bansen bows his head. "It will be done, Mizukage-sama."

[GM]
。。。
Outisde, Tasaku immediatelly exhales, and starts sweating within seconds.
"The Kujira island... you guys have no idea."

[Keisuke]
"Correct."

[GM]
"When I was a Genin I needed people to escort me around the place and I was supposed to LIVE there."
"As you might have figured out, it’s full of giant spiders."

[Eiha]
"That sounds lovely." It doesn't sound like sarcasm

[GM]
"So, our family contracts spiders. The thing with me is that I kinda sorta failed the tests so they refused me."
"So I focused on yarijutsu that we also do. And... other, more general stuff."

[Keisuke]
"How acerbic a greeting should we expect from Eight Eyes?"

[Eiha]
"I'm expecting the 'test' kind."

[GM]
"He’s a dick but I think he'll want that scroll." Tasaku points to it.
"Some people say he should have been the Mizukage, but as far as I know he was killing Genin in Konoha while Hao Feng fought the Sannin and stuff."

[Eiha]
"One of those things does sound more impressive than the other."

[GM]
"You know, that Orochimaru guy, people sometimes say that he’s our Orochimaru. When you see his face, oh man..."
Venting this way seems to let him calm down a bit.

[Keisuke]
"I suppose he did end up killing more Genin than the Mizukage did Sanin though."

[GM]
"Ha." Tasaku coughs.
"So, I will try to arrange the boat, probably borrowing one from the family. We have shops around, also in the village itself. Chances are you bought our nets or silk or poison already."

[Eiha]
At that, Eiha couldn't help but to let out a little bit of earnest laughter with a crooked tilt to it. "Oh I can see the similarity all right~ I had to meet him face to face a few times. That's how I knew." Her amusement is suddenly replaced by deadpan serious. "He's not to be fucked with."

[Keisuke]
"Mmn. The durability of the silk makes mending the holes easier."

[GM]
"Well, while you do your preparations, maybe bring some pesticide or something is all."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke nods to Tasaku before turning his attention to the other two.
"Stealth and Tanto, myself for close quarters. what's your specialty then?" he asks the stoic giant.

[GM]
The boy seems entirely  done being the center of attention, letting you all talk.

[Bansen]
"My training is quite standard. I utilize a variety of tools."
"Since we'll be working together, I'd like you to have these..." The man rummages through a pouch and takes out a pair of small ampules.

[Keisuke]
"These are for...?"  He asks as he takes the offered  item.

[Bansen]
"A special stimulant of my master's design. Should you ever feel like your abilities are insufficient during a combat situation, I implore you to drink this."
"If you end up not using them by the time the mission has concluded, return the capsules to me."

[Eiha]
Eiha quietly awaits for the answer to that same question before carefully pocketing the vial in one of her pouches.

[Keisuke]
"Fair enough. Afaid I don't have anything to offer in return unfortunately," he says while securing his own capsule.

[Bansen]
"Hoh, but you have plenty to offer, don't you?"

[GM]
"I'm good." the fourth member says. "Fight with Lightning release at distance for the most part."

[Bansen]
"Your main contribution stems from your blood."

[GM]
"You two seem like the frontliners."
"Ah?" he looks at Bansen in surprise.

[Eiha]
"Hmpf, last time someone under-estimated my Water jutsu they learned the hard way I'm not exactly a weak target either."

[Keisuke]
"That is the role I'm most suited for yes." he says  before turning to Bansen. "You're perceptive. I do indeed have my clan's bloodline limit."
he nods in aknowledgement of Eiha's  statement.
"As a result though I don't work well in coordinated ventures. It's usually best if I do my own thing and at a healthy distance from the rest of you."

[Eiha]
"I have a ranged jutsu, but it's my most taxing, I'm mostly a close combat fighter."

[GM]
"You will probably come together when we have to deal with the damn spiders." Tasaku goes back to his trauma. "They shoot webs, they bite, they leap..."
"They say some of them teleport, but I doubt that’s true."

[Eiha]
"Usually people say that of anyone that's just too fast for them to keep tracks of." Eiha states, unimpressed at the rumor. "That -does- still mean they're very fast, though."

[GM]
You find yourselves outside the building by now. It doesn’t seem that anyone is going anywhere in particular, just keeping up the conversation.

[Keisuke]
"When can we depart for the island?"

[GM]
"I’m going to ask right now, it's a village on the shore. You can come with me if you want." Tasaku offers.
"I have an antidote because of reasons, but you might want to buy some more, if you have spare cash."
"Unless we’ve got a medical nin? Even then."

[Keisuke]
"Fortunatley I have an antidote as well. I haven't had a well paying mission lately."

[Bansen]
"I'll get one, if you believe there's a need for it."

[Eiha]
"I could afford to get by with less scrolls I suppose."

[Keisuke]
"Lets get whatever supplies we need and then head off as soon as possible. Sooner we get there the sooner we can get this done with."

[Eiha]
"I'd have liked to be able to check those scrolls the Mizukage mentioned first, but with our mission being secret, gaining access to them might be a lot more difficult than it needs to be."

[GM]
。。。
In the evening, you meet Tasaku in the village he told you about, before you split. Its a little ways from the village. He looks as pale as the Mizukage had made him, again.
"Well, the ship is here. We can set sail tomorrow." he tells you.
"Issue is, nobody else is..."
"There’s supposed to be a whole family branch living in that house, at least five people. They're just gone. Door wasn’t even locked."
"I’ll leave them a bunch of money in case they went on a trip or something, but I'm getting scared, guys. Eight-Eyes has a lot to explain."

[Eiha]
"Well that's not ominous at all." Eiha starts to investigate for the faintest traces of conflict, intrusion, or anything else.

[GM]
It now makes sense why a ship is necessary. The part of the ocean that the Kujira Island would be on is going to be very wild this time of year.
It's one thing to keep your footing on water, and wholly another on raging and roiling waves taller than a house.
The house, as advertised, is unlocked. It's a two story house, built over the water surface. On the house door is a men, presumably belonging to Tasaku's clan.
A part of the building is another structure, which can only be described as a small dock.
Tasaku seems uncomfortable letting relative strangers into this house, but there is not much helping it. You notice cobwebs, which, considering everything, mean little.
"Last I was here was before going to Konoha." he recalls. "Something must have happened since then, what the Kage talked about?"

[Keisuke]
"Perhaps."
Keisuke takes a moment to concentrate on his surroundings sending his chakra out to scan the house with his tremorsense .

[Eiha]
Meanwhile, Eiha focuses on what she knows best. She lacks any bloodline technique or secret methods, so she just trusts her instinct in looking for more conventional clues.. which might otherwise be overlooked as trite by the genetically privileged.

[GM]
Considering the house being built on water, detecting much in it through tremorsense is difficult - but there are some results.
On the second floor, there is a surprising amount of insects, for starters - especially for a house filled with spiders, the insect apex predator.
There aren't signs of battle, and there is some rotting food afoot. More than anything, the house must have been abandoned in a hurry.
Eiha notices that floor in what seems to be the kitchen is oddly dirty - especially since the kitchen table is clean.
It's as if someone spilled some earth from one of Mizukage's plant pots in here while carrying it, and did not bother cleaning it up for a month. It stands out on the tatami floor.

[Eiha]
"Hm, guess there's more than I expected." The raven-haired kunoichi notes. "The presence of all these insects could suggest an Aburame, but I don't think that's it. Their insects don't linger on the site, they return to the user. Now all the filth that would suggest some other kind of creatures. Struggle between the beasts indeed."

[GM]
Tasaku does not seem to understand much of that, still as baffled as when he investigated the place before you came.
Seeing the dirt that Eiha pointed out in the kitchen, Keisuke also notices some dirt in the sink.
It's weird, a dot of dirt under where the faucet would usually spill drops of water onto.

[Keisuke]
"You see this?" he asks pointing out the anomaly.

[GM]
It is, in fact, the opposite of the place where you'd find dirt in the sink. The rest of it is clean.

[Eiha]
"I'd say 'point of entry' but I don't think an Hozuki gets all stained with dirt when doing their thing."
"And for the record, yes, that happened before."

[GM]
Tasaku looks over your shoulders.

[Keisuke]
"Well I don't suppose someone controling dirt or becoming dirt via ninjutsu is impossible." he says stepping aside to let Tasaku get a better look.

[GM]
The spearmen turns the faucet out of curiosity.
It chokes, spitting dirt, and some water.
After a while, it clears out, but only drips for the most part. There does not seem to be much pressure.
"That’s supposed to be rainwater... I think." he wonders. "The tubes are stuck."
"Well, that is super weird."
"How did it get there?"
"Did somebody shit into the funnel?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke begins to head outside to try and see if he can find the pipe connected to here.

[GM]
It is visible, though you have to step on the water surface and go around the house.

[Eiha]
"At first all the filth reminded me of a mission where I had to deal with summoned rats, and they -were- acting kind of like they were alone against the world, so maybe they could be behind disappearances in the mainland, but this seems a bit far from their turf..."

[GM]
It leads to a big tub between the dock and the house, which probably gathers water. It is on the second story.
You could probably climb up there and take a look.

[Keisuke]
"Maybe there's more clues in the collection resevoir. I'm going to take a look." he calls into the house before proceeding towards the tub.

[GM]
Keisuke would end up getting far more than he bargained for.
Inside what is clearly a metal bathtub used for a very practical purpose lies clear rainwater, a layer of dirty black water on the bottom, and then there is the corpse.
It seems to have gone past the point of stinking very much, missing most of its skin. The little skin that it has is covered in odd seals.
It was a man, and he used to have hair, that much you can determine.

[Keisuke]
"Huh... Backing away from tha tfor the moment." he says as he maveuvers away from the tank in part to avoid the smell but mostly because unfamiliar seals are especially dangerous. Upon  gaining some space he calls towards the house once more "Found a corpse up here!"
"Anyone proficent in sealing?"

[GM]
It must have been here for a good few weeks, or more than a month, to decay this badly.
Tasaku runs to you in a hurry, though he seems wary of climbing up the house.
"Not really."

[Eiha]
Eiha quickly moves out to join in the investigation. "Not particularly." Though she -does- take a look to see if these seals look anything like the Fujintsu seals she encountered near the Land of Wind, just in case. "That seems to have been here the entire time since the house was abandoned. Strange no one seemed to notice anything."

[Bansen]
Bansen steps up to check out the body.

[Keisuke]
"Who ever this was has some seal work still intact on what's left of their flesh."
"That match anyone from the family here?"

[Eiha]
"Or they could have been used as a sacrifice in some sort of forbidden Jutsu."

[GM]
Tasaku does slowly get up, but seems concerned for the house, especially seeing Bansen get up.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke decides to lessen the load and climbs down.

[GM]
"That seems... like the uncle. The head of the family that lived here."　he seems sad, but is enough of a ninja to not vomit at such a sight.
"He didn't have those seals, no."

[Eiha]
"Then it seems like my theory might be the right one."

[GM]
"He was a Chuunin, I think, but retired as far as that’s even possible."

[Keisuke]
"Why dump him in the water supply though?"

[GM]
"There is still a lot of people missing, unless the sea took them." he looks sour. "This is liberating in a way, though."

[Bansen]
"While the method of his murder is definitely curious, I'm more interested in the reason."

[Keisuke]
"They may be connected" he offers to Bansen.

[GM]
"I’ll try to write down the seals." Tasaku pulls out the scroll, at the roof. "I really want the elder to get to the bottom of this."

[Keisuke]
"If a ritual was involved."

[GM]
"It’s a clear attack at the clan, at him."

[Eiha]
"That said, your Clan isn't the only one that's been hit."
"I don't think that's a coincidence."

[GM]
"Reason, reason... he COULD summon spiders." Tasaku realizes. "As the only person in here."
"I think."

[Eiha]
"This could be something bigger against summoners as a whole."

[Keisuke]
"...sorry that it turned out to be foul play." he offers akwardly in an attempt at consolment.

[GM]
He seems more angry than anything at this point. That is, likely, a good thing.
Though the letters are hard to observe, even on skin, it does occur to you that much of this is not letters at all, but perhaps something more similar to chakra tattoos, and such.
Tasaku stands up, wiping his face with his sleeve.
"Before we set off tomorrow, help me bury him, alright?"

[Keisuke]
"Sure"

[Bansen]
"I wouldn't suggest touching that corpse."

[Eiha]
"It -could- be boobytrapped, yes."

[GM]
"You're probably right, but..." he is unconvinced.

[Eiha]
"That was my first thought when I saw those markings."
"The problem is we have no way of being sure."

[GM]
"Then again it is really likely that Grandfather was already here, and left him this way."

[Bansen]
"When was the last time you've seen your grandfather?"

[GM]
He shudders. "Five years ago and some change."
"I haven’t been to the island since they kicked me out."

[Keisuke]
"We can try digging the grave, empty the tub by puncturing it and dump the body into the grave by ripping out the whole thing. .." he ponders aloud to himself.

[Bansen]
"Come on now. We have more important things to do."

[GM]
Indeed you do.
Though, embarking on evening would be foolish. It seems you'll still have to sleep on it.
。。。
(Next time: Spiders!)



SESSION 2

[GM]
。。。
There was apparently a storm overnight. The water under you is still unruly as you cruise it on Tasaku's ship, from morning to noon.
Once the island comes into view, decently sized and completely overgrown with vegetation, without any apparent  houses or docks on it, Tasaku is already looking for something in the waters.
"We'll need to leave the ship somewhere the water's low, and run the rest of the way." he explains. "There are coral reefs around, you pretty much need to be a ninja to reach it."
Eventually, he finds a place to anchor.
"There should be a house on the beach somewhere, though. Must be on the other side."

[Bansen]
"What kind of house?"

[GM]
"Like, uh, a fisherman’s shack. And a wooden pier, I'm pretty sure there was."
"Well, rest of the way from here is on foot."
"Most of those spiders can walk on water too, but not ocean water, I would think... that’s hard for us, too."
He seems quite convinced that you WILL run into hostile spiders.

[Bansen]
"It will be no issue."

[Eiha]
"Shallows or high seas, the important factor is the weather."

[Keisuke]
"The old guy isn't going to complain over a few dead spiders right?" he asks lackadasically.

[GM]
"I am not sure they can die. Well, strictly speaking they live here, so they should..."
"But the more agressive sort of summons tend to really enjoy the benefits of a contract."
"But yeah, this happens here all the time, nobody will bat an eye. It’s us or them."

[Keisuke]
"It always is."

[Eiha]
"That's what I was about to say, yeah. If they stay put, then fine, but if they force our hand, then they can only blame themselves for what happens next." Eiha noted, adjusting a stray lock of raven hair.

[Keisuke]
"Once we engage, will others be attracted to the conflict? Or will they sit in ambush? I may be able to give a heads up so long as they keep moving but its harder to locate a stationary target."

[GM]
Tasaku's feet touch the waves. "It depends. I’ll try to convince them that we aren't invaders, or we’ll have to outrun them."
"Now, we need to find that shack. There is a road, of sorts, leading to the mansion from it."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke follows onto the waves.
and starts looking for the shack or its remains.

[Eiha]
Eiha hops down as well, soundlessly touching the water. The only sign of her presence is the faint ripples upon the waves, lacking their usual characteristic sound.

[Bansen]
Sword in hand, Bansen follows along, sending ripples through the water as the large man lands.

[GM]
.。。。

As you circle the island, it quickly becomes apparent why Tasaku would seek the shack: The trees, kind which is not exactly tropical and might have been seeded here by the family, have thick and numerous webs spread between them. Passing through the forest from just any angle would be very dangerous, if it's even possible.
There are some unsettling bits of movement visible in the woods here and there, and the webs sometimes hold wrapped corpses of what must have been gulls.
You spot the pier, at the opposite side of the island you came from. At least this way your entrance to the forest won't attract attention to the ship.
"There is the way." Tasaku points past the shack. That said, he is already trying to keep a low profile.
Behind the shack is a decently wide passage through, where the spiderwebs are torn, or at least few enough between to pass.

[Eiha]
"Well I gotta hand it to them, the Spiders do know how to set up the stage quite nicely~" Eiha muses softly with a crooked smirk, seeming entertained more than spooked by the otherwise ominous displays surrounding the small group on seemingly all signs.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke gives a distracted grunt as he tries to see if he can find any human shaped victims. Maybe the enemy had sent some unfortunate scouts to the island already?

[GM]
There aren't any wrapped humans that you can see on the outskirts. The spiders seem to mostly eat birds.
Tasaku approaches the shack covertly.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke keeps pace and begins focusing on detecting any incoming or odd movement.

[Bansen]
Bansen keeps his sheathed sword in hand as he sneaks with the rest of the team.

[GM]
The door is locked, but this does not stop Tasaku. He goes around the house, eventually setting a window out of its hinges, its rafters still closed.
Then, lays it by the side of the hosue, and crawls in.
"Ah, there is a letter." you hear him mumble from the outside.
The boy comes back to the window, with a sheet of paper.

[Keisuke]
"They're watching us by the way." he says casually as the boy comes back out.

[GM]
"Those should be the small ones." He muses, reading it.

[Bansen]
"The spiders?"

[Keisuke]
"Yes. They're difficult to detect whlie they're in their webs. Which makes sense. I'd advise caution since they are almost able to slip from chakra enhanced detection let alone our unaugmented senses."

[Eiha]
"I would be a lot more surprised if they weren't." Eiha stated flatly "We're in their territory after all, and I'm sure -some- think they can smell prey... then again so can I~" She straightened up slightly. "Let me guess, their webs have the same chakra signatures as themselves, so they camouflage themselves within them?"

[GM]
"That would make sense." your guide nods. "They can even shoot web-based jutsus, too."
"Though how they complete seals is beyond me."

[Keisuke]
"At any rate the largest one is only about five feet long including its legs." He gives a "kinda sorta" hand motion in response to Eiha.

[GM]
"That’s probably still just a lookout." Tasaku turns the letter around.

[Keisuke]
"So what's the letter say?"

[GM]
"That the survivors are sitting it out in the mansion." he sums it up.
"If we’re friendly we'll have to make it through without a guide, if we're the asshole that's been going after the family, we can come and get it."
"Better return it where it was." he moves to do so, and eventually crawls out.

[Eiha]
"Charming, but I can't really blame them after what we found last time."

[Keisuke]
"Nothing has really changed from our inital assumption other than the possibility of survivors going up."

[Eiha]
"True, seems like an improvement to me."

[GM]
The window is returned, and the spear-boy stares at the opening in the woods uneasily.

[Keisuke]
"If you remember the password to enter into your spidergramp's whacky web funhouse nows probably the time to use it."

[Eiha]
"Oh, that's a good word for it, I like it~"

[GM]
You are joking, but Tasaku strains his mind to come up with some way to make this less suicidal.

[Keisuke]
"You could try feeding them a gull or some fish maybe?"

[GM]
"Well, they should still know who I am..."
"Not a bad idea, actually."
"At least that should let us distract them. They are smart predators."
"People will say spiders are friends of the hearth, but when you are the bug, they are not so friendly anymore."

[Bansen]
"A small gift for the locals? That's quite amusing."

[Eiha]
"So, who thought of bringing up a rod? I sure didn't."

[Keisuke]
"Spear fishing." he offers.

[Eiha]
"Works."

[GM]
"I can try it. No guarantee for success, though."
Instead of using his own spear, Tasaku finds an old harpoon near the shack. He believes you are asking him to do it, apparently.

。。。

[Keisuke]
As Tasaku walks back over Keisuke casually extends his right hand out at an angle, wtih his eyes closed. Suddenly a pure white lance of bone punctures through his hand and pierces the water. He causally lifts his hand and the protruding lance out of the water four fat fish imapled on it. If the violent act caused him any pain he doesn't show it.

[GM]
"O-oh." so that's what you meant.
The fish are a bit more wary after this, but you manage to secure many more catches before you'd be wasting time. Before long, Tasaku is dragging a bag with almost ten sizeable pieces of seafood in it, through contributions of you both.

[Keisuke]
"In the end you caught more."

[GM]
"Well, I did this before." he beams.
"They weren't really zen stabs or anything, but it's good practice."
"Fish this size won’t be enough for the really big ones... but they will let us shake the most annoying ones off, I think."
He appears surprisngly content, and swings the bag over his shoulder.

[Keisuke]
"You enjoy fishing it seems." he says as he follows along.
"Nothing to eat but spider meat and fish?"

[Eiha]
"I've never had spider before, wonder how that taste. It -almost- makes me wish to get attacked, almost."

[GM]
"Well, I grew up here and in that house on the shore." he explains, approaching the forest. "This was the first thing I was interested in learning in the Academy, so I could help the foster family."

[Bansen]
"I've eaten insects before, including spiders, but they were small."
"In the line of duty it is a matter of course, but on my own time, I would recommend not doing such things."

[Keisuke]
"Most of the spiders watching us are still small when compared to you."

[Bansen]
"Most, you say..."

[GM]
A few rather sizeable spiders casually hang from the branches ahead. These are about comparable to dogs. It bears mentioning they are various breeds as well.
Tasaku reaches into the bag, and throws a fish astray as you pass. They scatter, in pursuit of it.

。。。

After several similar incidents, just about when you become hopeful that you cracked the strategy, a massive spider crawls forth, from behind a trunk.
"Uh-oh. Don't think we have enough for that one." Tasaku comments, instead readying his spear.
It eyes you hungrily, shaking its mandibles.

[Eiha]
"Well, time to see if it wants to talk or play I suppose."
"...The latter it is~"

[GM]
Worse yet, it seems immediatelly aware of your specific position. You can hear an odd clacking sound in the distance, which you haven't heard before. Someone must have alerted this large spider to your presence.

[Bansen]
"Let's make this quick..." Bansen lowers his core and thumbs the guard of his sword.

[GM]
Eiha spots a different, similarly massive spider, sneakily joining in on the fun from the road's side. It seems thinner than the first, but much sharper somehow.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke leaps to a higher vantage point before sending out a pulse of Chakra to detect any additional spiders.
"The one sending signals is a small distance behind that large one, there's another smaller one off to the side of the central large spider and closer to us as well. "

[GM]
The thin, yet large spider quickly makes his way over to Keisuke, and spits something at him from a branch over. It seems he considers you a priority.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke leaps back from the attack standing precariously at the edge of the now weakened branch.

[Eiha]
Eiha heads Keisuke's warning. If that spider is the one commanding all the others, then taking it out is a priority, not only because it should cripple their efficiency, but also because otherwise it could very well attract a potentially endless number of other reinforcements. She moves on ahead, getting into position, then unfurls a scroll with one hand, unsheathing her tanto with the other. As she prepares to cast the next jutsu, most of the water coalesces around her blade rather than noisily fall to the ground.

[GM]
Keisuke is then assaulted by the original, fat one. Its thick limbs swing, ridding him of space to retreat to.
Bansen went after the white one, who seemed to be a leader, but after a few blows exchanged, loses track of it.

[Keisuke]
Realizing he no longer has room to retreat Keisuke relies on his natural born gift to defend himself. Creating a jagged carapace of bone to meet the giant's limbs. Holding firm even as the branch threatens to give way under the strain.

[GM]
The spider wails on you, quite adamant on not letting you past.

[Keisuke]
As one of the forboding limbs comes hurtling down Keisuke dashes forward creating a large jagged blade that he drags along its flank.

[Eiha]
From the shadows of the canopy, the raven-haired Kunoichi continues her preparations as the battle rages on in earnest around her. She steadies her stance, tanto level and parallel to the ground, water swirling around the blade as she lowers her center of gravity.
[Dragon Bird Dragon Snake Dragon Bird Hare Bird]
As swiftly as she can make them, a serie of seals are formed with her off-hand and the swirling water coalesces into a dense sphere at the tip of the blade. With an highly visible pulse and and characteristic sound of pressure, a thin beam of highly pressurized water shoots out through the canopy, piercing through two of the spiders which had conveniently converged. The water pierces through as if it were a giant steel spear, leaving nasty wounds in its wake and dispersing close under Bensen

[GM]
Surprisingly, the white spider is not  saved by a cloud of smoke.
Instead, the long-legged spider on the branch under Bansen's swipes at him, to protect the white's body, despite his wound. The other spider, which tried to disrupt Eiha's attack, joins in. At some point, the long-legged one picks up the white body, and they disappear into the side of the road.
Over at Keisuke and Eiha's branch, the thick-skinned spider exchanged some more blows. Once it takes a hefty blow and recognizes it can't hurt Keisuke alone, it withdraws into the webs under, and disappears from your senses.
Tasaku catches up with you. He is clearly shaking.
"W-we should get a move on. They’re probably going to get help."

[Eiha]
"Well that could have gone a lot worse."

[GM]
"Keisuke is really strong!" Tasaku shouts appreciatively. "I wanted to help you, but it looked like I'd just get in the way."

[Keisuke]
"Hmm... as a I thought, cooperation is not my strong suit." Keisuke says mildly annoyed at his performance.
"I appreciate the compliment."

[Bansen]
Bansen coughs wetly and harshly,  concluding the brief fit by spitting blood over his shoulder. He sets a hand over his chest, and the touched area begins to lightly glow with chakra.
"That was quite foolish of me."

[Eiha]
"Ah, well, not everyone can be in our line of work and act like merry go lucky innocent kids." She mused in responde to Keisuke's comment, making a small jab at Konoha before refocusing on Bansen. "You alright over there?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke frowns a bit at Bansen's injury. An injury that could have been avoided. At least the large man's medical expertise made up the difference.

[Bansen]
"It has become almost routine. The fruit of my labors is quite toxic."

[Keisuke]
"A shinobi endures." he agrees. "At least you're adept at mending any injuries that incures."

[Bansen]
"Heh heh. No need to be so humble. I caught your dance in the corner of my eye, and it was quite impressive as well."
"But let's not spend too much time patting each other on the back."
Bansen takes his hand off his chest and sheathes his sword.

[Eiha]
"Well that looks like fun, but you're right, let's not waste our time here."

[Keisuke]
Nods in thanks for the compliment. Before turning to Tasaku.
"Lead the way, I'll try and keep us updated for any more ambushes."

[Eiha]
"Predators don't just leave for no reason, and they don't give up easily, especially not predators like these." She stated ominously, yet she bore a grin as she did.

[GM]
"O-okay." he spares no time getting right onto it. "It shouldn’t be far."
"And yeah, we should ride our luck here."

。。。

The clan's villa can be found deeper in the forest. Some of the terrain clears, and signs of human habitation are now clear everywhere. Here is a well with pulley, here is a well-maintained shimenawa around some sort of a spider shrine. As you near the pagoda in the middle of the woods, you can hear the voices of children as well, something that would have seemed rather silly a few steps back.
It seems that Tasaku's clan is doing well enough in here. Now, what kind of a peson is old Eight-Eyes?
(For now, you only gain the 1 nindo from the session, but it might save your life!)






SESSION 3

[GM]
。。。
The mansion seems tranquil, but it could be a ruse. There is an axe stuck in a piece of wood, for example, which you'd normally not leave out to get rained on.
Eiha manages spot a kid hiding behind a tree near the mansion, and some more movement, harder to discern.
It's possible more of the family members are hiding elsewhere, but are better at it. Tasaku, not noticing what Eiha did,  wants to just enter the largest building.
"Shouting might be a bad idea." he says, though the reasoning behind that is questionable.
The boy's shaking outline does not escape Keisuke's eyes, either.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke takes stock of the situation and though he's still a blit hung up on the previous encounter he takes a moment to activate his tremorsense, to see if he can notice others.
"Hmm... we're being watched so best not to be carless in our approach."

[GM]
"Maybe nobody who remembers me is around right now." your guide considers.

[Eiha]
"I'd be more surprised if we -weren't- being watched to be honest."
"Though it's probably that they're on edge about that assassin, and seeing unfamiliar faces making it through the forest could be bad news, from their point of views."

[GM]
A series of creaks can be heard from inside the mansion. Someone might be coming to meet you.

[Keisuke]
"Well you know your clan best." he says before looking towards the oncoming sound.

[GM]
One wing of the front door is opened, by a lanky, freakishly tall man, wearing an odd mask. He looks towards your group.
Something on the mask shines red, and he then rises his hand to make a specific-looking gesture. Some of the pressure in the air is relieved with just that.
"They are fine." he declares. "The one with the spear is ours."
"...Though it's poor form of you to bring strangers here, Tasaku."
Some people, looking like Shinobi, or looking like peasants, appear in the outskirts now, slowly returning to their business.
"The Mizukage needed to contact you, and had no other way." Tasaku explains. "He gave us something he said you'd want, to compensate."
The tall man sighs. "Come in, then."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke lets Tasaku take the lead and follows behind.

[Eiha]
Eiha remains likewise quiet, figuring these words might mean this is the one they were looking for.

[GM]
The mansion is labyrinthe, and not amazingly well kept. But then, it's probably difficult to keep such a huge wooden house clean. Old Eight-Eyes awaits you at what seems to be a living room at the other side of the building, getting himself a bottle of sake.
He slides the back door open, letting in light, and letting you take a good look on him.
In particular, the mask catches your eyes. It is a plain, wooden mask, with two collumns of four holes each around its height. Various eyes, looking regular and not, stare back at you from it.
One of the eyes, on the right side and second from the top, is bright red, similar to the eyes of Uchiha that Eiha has already seen. Another is bright green, and another is purple.
"Are you a Chuunin yet, boy?" the elder asks upfront.
"Y-yes, I passed a few months ago. Visited Konoha, during the uproar."
A woman in her forties enters the room quietly, bringing a tray of tea.
"I've been to Konoha during Chuunin exams, myself." the spider sage remarks off-hand. "Back then, I had an opportunity to deal with some of their Genin while they were young, but it would be going against the Mizukage's orders."
"Some of those genin grew into really persistent bastards. That's an important lesson."
He sits down, not needing a seat - he will still be as tall as you, and taller than Eiha.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke goes through the motions of receiving the tea as a guest is expected to. His motions practiced but not particularly graceful or concerned.

[GM]
The tea is laid on a wide, low table, and your goal pours himself some sake.

[Keisuke]
"More for us then I suppose." he offers.

[Bansen]
Bansen sits down and stays quiet and motionless, not even touching the tea.

[GM]
"I suppose introductions are in order." the man says. "I am Joubin Tsuchigumo. Though they call me all sorts of names."

[Keisuke]
"Chunin Kaguya, Keisuke."
he remembers to bow about a half second after his introduction.

[Bansen]
"I am Bansen of Kirigakure. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

[Eiha]
For her part, the raven-haired kunoichi remains rather terse and somewhat modest. "Sakurai Eiha." She omits the mention of rank or any other informative details on purpose, partially for the opportunity to see how informed or not they are.

[GM]
"A Kaguya and two regular folk. At least you brought some more or less sensible people." the elder comments.
Tasaku, of course, does not need to introduce himself. Instead, he spits out the question that's been bothering him the most.
"What's going on? What happened to Uncle Tei?"
"We found his corpse in the raincatcher, with some weird seal on it..."
Eight-Eyes sips his sake. "That was just a hollow shell. Someone took over his body and soul, and discarded him when he wasn't useful anymore."
"We got there in time and saved his wife and children, but the bastard escaped, somehow. It was like a shadow sinking to the ground, leaving the body."
"Probably the same bastard that's hunting summoners, and I've only seen similar technique once."

[Keisuke]
"Speaking of, its probably best if we get to the reason why we're here." he says leaving Tasaku to elaborate.

[GM]
Eight-eyes nods slightly, also seeming done with the conversation.
Tasaku tries to elaborate, but apparently tangles his thought process thinking about too many things at once. "It was... about the summoner hunters, actually."
"Lord Hao Feng said that Kiri doesn't have a summoner from... the eastern pantheon? And that you could elaborate on that. And help these three find one?"
"Western pantheon, sorry."
Eight-eyes erupts into laughter, standing up.
"Now I'm useful for him, huh. Wait here for a while." he moves to leave the room through a door different than the one you've entered through.
This is a strange japanese garden you sit next to. Any sounds of dripping water and dropping bamboo are overwhelmed by the sounds of the deep forest.
The host eventually comes back, with a few small scrolls. Tasaku looks in a hurry, to find out who had Hao Feng's scroll on them.
It eventually occurs to him to that he is it, and hands it to the elder as he lays his own scrolls down. The lanky hands unfurl the sheet of paper, and his many eyes recognize the script.
"This is the equivalent of returning a book ten years after expiry date." he complains. "But fair enough. I've been missing it for a long time."

[Keisuke]
"The Mizukage said that you'd know more about the subject of our mission than even he did. Should we take this to mean you are already familiar with the importance of the conference and the other minutia of the misison? As you will be the commanding Jonin that is."

[GM]
"What!?"
He calms down quickly.

[Eiha]
As the exchange covered internal affairs at first, Eiha had taken a moment to try to subtly scrutinize those many eyes. After noticing the first red one, she had wondered if any others - or most of them, perhaps - also held similar abilities. If that were what it was, then the elder would be a far more powerful shinobi than first anticipated... and valuable to the village indeed, despite those self-deprecating words. Either way, it seemed like the topic had come back to the mission more directly - which was not to say the assassin was not relevant - so she refocused. "I see there was no advance notice."

[GM]
"I can imagine what the mission is about, but giving you a lot of direct support is beyond me right now."
"The real reason why Feng sent you here, then, is because the assignment requires me to divulge some details about the very nature of Ninjutsu."

[Keisuke]
"He did say you'd be too busy to help us. Though also you'd be the commander in name."

[GM]
"Things you won't learn in the Academy."

[Keisuke]
"Ah."

[Eiha]
"Well that's interesting."

[GM]
"A Jonin today will already know this, but it's kind of dangerous to explain. It will make sense soon." he unfurls one of the small scrolls, containing geometrical shapes, rather than letters.
They look oddly like to the elemental circles Eiha has seen on her assignments in Konoha, though much of the script is missing.

[Eiha]
Eiha looks in with increased attention. The mention of danger seems to amuse her more than deter her. Quite frankly, this type of statements meant nothing to her. To simply be a shinobi was to flirt with danger on an almost daily basis, and with the involvement of the 'hunter'(s), the danger was only increasing...

[GM]
"The history of the Shinobi world starts with the Warring Clans Period, but it's obvious that this is not where the world had started. It's not so long ago, is it?" he starts lecturing. "A sage will tell you that shinobi blood descends from divine beings long forgotten, which is why regular humans can't mold chakra as well."
"But that does not explain anything, actually." he unfurls another scroll, this time containing an immeditatelly more recognizable thing: A complex version of the elemental circle, within a Taijitu.
"This is what you know, but have you ever wondered why the power takes these sort of particular forms, uniform to everyone?"
"It's because this is a system. A system that someone has put in place, long ago, in these lands."
"That is why, if you leave these lands, if you sail fair south or travel far beyond the Wind Country, your Elemental Affinity will be the same, but you will meet people using different sorts of arts altogether."
"On the southern continent, they apparently call these leylines, so we can use that word as well. Our leylines are different from leylines elsewhere. They make people born in Mist be close to water, for example."
Tasaku nods slowly, trying to understand where this is going. Not that it especially conerns him.
"The world and its people are shaped by ambient chakra. You can imagine a leyline as a flow of particular kind of chakra. For example, water chakra here."
"But it wasn't always water. With Fuuinjutsu ancient enough, sages of the past must have put together the system we have now. Perhaps, as a way to establish balance?"
"Which is pretty ironic, when you think about it."
"Well, these techniques should be forgotten, but there are ancient beings from times long past who may still remeber those times. They were wilder back then, but more, shall we say, domesticated now. That is the issue."
"That's why having a summoning contract with every pantheon is incredibly important to Kirigakure right now, because if anyone will make sense of the current situation, it's the elder animals on their council."
"Because someone is going around messing with leylines right now, and does their best getting rid of anyone who could find them."
"If they succeed, the results will be catastrophic."
He refills his sake, and rolls the two scrolls back up, reaching for the third.
"I hope this all made sense, because I am not explaining it a second time."

[Keisuke]
"It explains the motive of the enemy somewhat and the importance of the mission at least."

[Eiha]
"For the most part anyway. I always just thought that the reason chakra-based techniques took patterned forms was because chakra is a product of nature and as a result the effects produced reflect the aspects of nature, but yeah, as he says, that'd be the most important part."

[GM]
"For the most part, this is so." he confirms. "It's just that someone had put a finger on what specifically those aspects will manifest as."
"It's difficult for Earth Release to control sand, but there are shinobi who specialize at it."
"So there is a system in a person's own Ninjutsu, which can override these rules, I believe."

[Eiha]
"Wouldn't that represent shinobi strong enough to push the boundaries of the 'system'rather than-'" Seems like what she was about to ask just got confirmed as she was asking it.


[GM]
The scroll that is opened before you now has a circle of 12 points, with various animals illustrated on it.
"Now, I believe you wanted to know about the western pantheon."
"Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake," he goes clockwise, "Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar."
"I only know or have met some of these. I know that Dragons do not participate in Shinobi affairs, but they oversee the council, being a neutral member."
"Rats used to be active in the Village Hidden in Filth, but it has been vanquished many decades ago, soon after it was founded."
"Tigers are a rare summon, but I have seen a few."
"Snakes, Monkeys and Dogs are common, especially in Konoha... Well, used to be common."

[Eiha]
"You might be interested to know that at least one of their summoners survived the destruction of that village. That, or they began taking new contracts afterwards."

[GM]
"Rats? I would belive that."
"They have a blood relation to a leyline which does not exist anywhere near here."

[Eiha]
"By chance, I happen to have had a scuffle with one of them some time ago. They seemed to be having their own agenda, which was never fully uncovered, but could be related to these killings somehow."

[GM]
"I see." he seems interested. "It is interesting, because Kirigakure had a very close encounter with this affinity, that is not supposed to exist."
"Apparently a member of the Hozuki clan had traveled west, while pregnant, and her child had been affected by the clima."
"And now, because of that child, the Hozuki clan is in shambles."
"They are still around. It would be unsurprising if the rats sought them out."

[Eiha]
"Yet right now, you seem to be the ones being targeted - no offense - I wonder why that is, if it's related."
"Did you have some sort of rivalry with the Hozuki that would have festered for how many generations that was?"

[GM]
"We lost a few members. But the two Snake summoners that Kirigakure lost were fairly powreful."
"That said," the man scratches his mask, "They might be after me."
"I've collected information about this sort of thing. That's why you are here. Perhaps I know something they don't, and they want to know it as well."
"Either way, I know the location of two of these species outright - Snakes and Monkeys."
"One resides in Konoha, and the other in Cloud Country, however."
"Both are also likely to be looked after - especially if we are mixing up two different culprits, and Orochimaru has just been removing competition."
"Finally, Tigers are supposed to reside in the Country of Grass, but I don't have an exact location. It might be possible to find out in there, though, and the local ninja won't look after it that closely."
"Never cared for dogs." he sips his drink.

[Keisuke]
"Tigers sound interesting but I don't particularly have a preference" he states looking to the other two that will be going on the remainder of the mission with him.

[Eiha]
"This is going to be a long journey either way, so there's plenty of time to think about it. Plus what we find might make one more or less viable when we get there, so it'd probably best to keep all the leads open to have options."

[GM]
"It goes without saying that a contract is not an automatic matter. Snakes are known for being especially ruthless, and eating those who fail their trials."
"Monkeys are likely to waste your time if they see you're in a hurry."

[Bansen]
"Then perhaps we should leave them for last."

[GM]
Tasaku seems a bit sad when he hears that.
"You may also be able to find out about more places to visit, but many of these locations are a closely guarded secret. I will provide you with a sheet of what I know about each."
"I do not believe contracting dogs is difficult, for example."
"Just don't have any information on them right now and here."

[Keisuke]
"I imagine I'd get along with Dogs at least if it came down to it."

[Bansen]
"As do many people all over the world..."
"But in your case... especially so..."
"I think a path through the Fire Country into Grass will be most efficient."
"We can then take our time playing with the monkeys."

[GM]
"There is one more way I can help you, actually." he realizes, taking off again. "I'll give you a friend to bring."
"He needs a glass, though..."

[Keisuke]
"It's a shame spiders aren't a part of the western pantheon. They seem useful."

[Eiha]
"Agreed."

[GM]
"Somewhat." Eight-eyes comments, before leaving again.
He comes back with a compot glass with a wooden structure inside, and some sand.

[Keisuke]
"This is?"

[Bansen]
"Most peculiar..."

[GM]
The man bites his finger, drawing a summoning circle on his own tatami with the blood. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A decently sized spider appears. In terms of being a regular spider, that is. He is the thick kind.
"This is Ogumo. He is pretty useless, and looking for ways to prove himself. He is going to do fine as a sentry I suppose, if not a scout."
The spider does not comment.
"If anything happens, you can give him a message to send to me."

[Bansen]
"I see that he is the silent type..."

[Keisuke]
"I take it that's a one way trip though."

[GM]
"They'd better not let me starve." the creature squeaks now, crawling into his new home in the glass.
"Yes. It will also not be immediate. I might not be here when he returns but someone will probably get the message to me within a day."
Joubin Tsuchigumo twists the lid on slightly, and you notice holes on top of it for air intake. He then hands the spider over to you. "Here you go."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke takes it.
"With that done you may want to finish up any personal matters and report back to the Kage." he offers to Tasaku.

[GM]
He nods. "Lord Feng said he'd make me only do jobs inside the village for a while, so rest easy, Grandfather."
The family had scratches his mask again. "You are an important asset, Tasaku. Talk to the others before leaving. They might need you to carry something to Kiri."
"Also, though you've failed the trials, we could obviously shelter you at a time like this. You are a part of the clan still."
Tasaku seems moved, but doesn't accept the proposal. "I will finish my mission. Should I tell the Kage all I've heard here?"
"Feel free to, but keep it from anyone else." is the answer.
That seems to be about all. Joubin drinks his tea in the now calm room.
"You can also rest here before departing, if you wish to. Perhaps the forest was hard to get through?"

[Keisuke]
"We decided to offer some fish as toll for most of the way we only had the one encounter and they left us alone soon enough."

[GM]
If he smiled at least faintly, the mask did not let it show. Instead, it gives the impression of permanent, intense focus.

[Eiha]
"They might be waiting for their revenge though. I'm not sure if it's best to let them cool down, or hurry to give them less time to prepare."

[Keisuke]
"I expect Tasaku won't be too troubled if he only has to look after himself. That said have a safe trip back. Nice working with you and all that."

[GM]
"Eh, we still have the trip back." he responds "I'd better show my worth this time."
"The spiders should leave Tasaku himself alone." the elder declares.

[Keisuke]
"Oh. My mistake. I thought once we got here we were expected to get out on our own."

[GM]
"If you want to save time, you can leave right now... Let me just write you a scroll with the mission details, and the locations."
This time his apparent wife brings him a scroll. It seems this happens to him a lot

[Keisuke]
Keisuke looks to the rest of his group to see their feelings on the matter.

[Eiha]
Eiha is neutral on the matter, having inquired a question about it but having gotten no response.

[GM]
Calmly, he writes. At times, he has to return back to the scrollery, explaining that he actually already forgot some of the details.

[Keisuke]
"So earlier Bansen suggested the route through Fire to Grass and looping back to the mountains. I'm considering that if we have success with either the snakes or tigers we might consider not bothering with the Monkey clan unless either of you have a particular desire to encounter them."

[Eiha]
"Technically we only need one, but there's no reason not to gather as much information as we can while we're out there."

[Bansen]
"It will be to the village's benefit."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke gets a slightly sour face at that line but nods his acceptance of the logic.
"Fair enough."

[Bansen]
"Are you perhaps the kind of person who's content to only work as much as necessary?"

[Keisuke]
"No. I just want to avoid any monkey buisness."

[Eiha]
Eiha gives a faint smirk at that inquiry, although she knows it's not addressed to her, she can't help but chime in. "The way I see it, it's not work if it's fun, and this sounds like a pretty fun mission to me."

[Bansen]
"It's a healthy mindset, not working too hard. You should stick to that thought when working for conventional clients but not our village and country."

[Keisuke]
"I'll keep that in mind."

[Bansen]
"Would one of you like to finish my tea? It seems a waste to throw it away."

[Eiha]
"Are we supposed to be in a hurry?"

[Bansen]
"For tea? Of course. Before it gets too cold."

[GM]
The note is eventually finished, and handed over to you. Eight-Eyes seems content enjoying his early afternoon now. He seems like the sort of man who is resting after a long time.
Tasaku splits up with you to talk to his family, as instructed. As for you, you have everything you need.
Now all you need to do is to not trip on the first step of the road.

。。。




SESSION 4

[GM]
Leaving Tasaku behind, you embark. As you evade the spiders, now a bit more aware of where to look for them, it occurs to you that there's the boat, and you split up with the boy.
This might mean having to run back to the continent on foot, if you're up for it, or controversially taking the ship for yourselves.
The spiders peek out from the trees and clack their mandibles at you as you pass, but don't  bar your way anymore. You're pretty sure these are the same ones too, but taking out the white one has hurt their tactics here a lot.

[GM]
The weather seems fine. Maybe you can get through this.

[Keisuke]
As the group ponders how it will tackle the task at hand Keisuke walks on to the shallow water as a protrusion of bone emerges from his spine. He pulls it as if unsheathing a blade and it looks almost as if he is pulling out his spine... except its unreasonably... ludicrously long. As he whips it out to its full length ribs begin growing from it and in between each rib sections of bone begin connecting together making a seemless hull. In a matter of moments a simple ivory like vessle big enough for about 3 to 4 people floats by the shore line with a spine line mast protruding from its center with a sail made of hair like fibers and flexible spine like ropes for rigging.
_he expresionlessly looks towards his teammates and nods for them to come on board.

[GM]
The ship floats on the waves. It seems it's going to hold.
If it doesn't, you can still go the normal way. Still, that's pretty bizarre.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Well that's a lot more versatile than I thought." She notes, more impressed than creeped out in any capacity by the otherwise rather morbid ability. In other circumstances, it might be quite called for than to worry about adverse health effect to seemingly pulling out one's very spine, but the shinobi seemed none the worse for wear, so she just mentally shrugged it off. That, apparently, is just a thing. Neat.

[GM]

。。。

The sail to mainland goes without trouble, unless you count being put off by Keisuke's strange technique. From there, you'll have to travel proper.
If you are going to Fire Country first, which is where the notes give to you by Eight-Eyes claim the Ryuchi cave is located, you'll probably have to consider your approach. He specifies several villages for you to investigate, but they are located to the west of the country.
The journey should take less than a week, but it's still quite far. Closer than the other two, still.

[Keisuke]
"I belive we were considering the land of fire first due to your previous experiences yes?" he asked to make certain.

[Eiha]
"I seem to recall something along those lines too, yeah."
"Also something about wanting to avoid 'monkey businesses'."

[Bansen]
"The plan is to cut a straight path through the Fire Country into Grass Country, leaving the mischievous monkeys for last."

[Keisuke]
"Then let's continue." he offers.

[GM]
So it is decided.
Infiltrating Fire Country is easy enough, running into other Shinobi is pretty unlikely. You should come up with a disguise for investigating the area, however, or method of gathering information. As far as maps can tell you, it's a piece of forest not too different from the rest of it.

[Keisuke]
While thinking on their method of approach Keisuke turns to Bansen "You're experienced wtih chemicals and can manufacture that serium. Do you also have knowledge of herbs and mediicinal plants enough to impersonate a doctor, medicine man or herb picker? That's a possible cover if so."

[Bansen]
"I could fool a layman into thinking that I know more than I really do."

[Eiha]
"That's a good basis though, if anything."

[Keisuke]
"I was thinking that if we went that route we could try and gather information based on searching for anitvenom to save someone poisoned by one of those snake summons. Though perhaps something more discrete would be better."
"None of my missions up till now had me talking to anyone but a handler."

[Eiha]
"They might start asking questions about who that is and what snake it was, though. It might be better to just say we're trying to come up with new remedies or something."

[GM]
The discussion continues, bit by bit, as you travel.
Approaching the area, a thing comes up that wasn't immediatelly obvious from the maps: These are wetlands.
Though it's all freshwater caught in this small valley, you should still have a bit of an advantage.
Sunohara town seems to reside mostly in the dry bits, above the other two. It's the closest to a real settlement, with decent living standards. The two villages located deeper in the swamp are a little more savage.
The gathering of houses cheekily named mokubon seems to be mostly a hunter settlement, trading in bone. The one on the other side of the valley, but still pretty wet, houses a large factory, in which most of the residents live. It seems to deal with fabrics.
Having a high vantage point of some sort would help, since even deep in the swamp, the trees are quite tall, and hopping all over dead trees might end up being perilous. If there are significant landmarks around here, they can't be seen without walking up very close to them, or from a bird's view.
The population would come up to  about a hundred in each of the small towns, and several hundred in Sunohara.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke surveys the suroundings and is about to head out to secure an elevated vantage point before thinking better of it and looking towards Eiha to see if she's inclined for it. It is an action that requires stealth after all.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Might be a good idea to actually get set on the cover story first before getting close to where people will be, but I suppose there shouldn't be any risks if I take care of that."

[Keisuke]
"Well we were going for two body guards either way so, dibs on body guard I guess."

[Bansen]
"Then I'll take the second body guard role."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Aren't you supposed to be the medical expert role?"

[Bansen]
"So I did. Unfortunate. The body guard sounded much more simple."

[Keisuke]
Kesiuke nods in agreement.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "If it comes to it, my knowledge of the customs and methods of the Leaf village should help me make a pretty convincing front for hired protection, though there's a problem with that. The Leaf almost always operates in teams of 3 or 4."

[Keisuke]
"Seems inefficent."

[Bansen]
"The bodyguards need not be shinobi."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "I suppose someone with my kenjutsu skills could pass for a Samurai, but I don't really know about their customs."

[Keisuke]
"Ah I've worked with some ronin before. Just act like your typical overconfident thug and no one will bat an eye." he says before transforming into an individual that wouldn't look out of place hanigng about in a shady alleyway or as hired muscle for an unscrupulous businessman.

[Eiha]
For her part, Eiha had actually relatively little to do to work on a disguise. She already wore armored bracers and greaves with her scabbard at the hip, so all she needed to do was to shift the appearance of her combat vest to a more traditional look of laminate armor. "Fair enough."

[Bansen]
Bansen weaves a single seal and transforms into a skinny-looking traveler.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Alright, now that this is settled, I'll be off~"

[GM]

。。。

The streets are looking rather poor, but at least nobody is thirsty. Some people's skin carries a notable yellow, unhealthy hue, though.
It's also a little unhealthy for a settlement to have people hanging around at this time of day. Elsewhere, they would be working.

[Eiha]
For this initial phase of the plan, Eiha makes use of more traditional obfuscation techniques rather than reveal her guise early, and instead takes advantage of her talents at avoiding detection altogether

[GM]
Eiha's exploration of the streets goes fine, only getting a few understandable looks for being cleaner than is usual in these parts. It is interrupted when she sees what passes for the the town square of Sunohara from afar, wherin she finds Raiko Boshi arguing with what seems like a genin boy.
Though you can be fairly certain she can't detect you over being a dumbass - she's probably still kept a genin, even - her presence here is obviously worrying, since she could recognize you.
It's not like Eight-Eyes did not warn you this might happen.
The town square is easy to see from the town's outskirts, you got lucky.
Another thing you now can't help but notice in the outskirts is the uncomfortable smell of pollution. Being from brooks, it should be freshwater, but this land hardly seems fresh.

[Eiha]
As she sticks to the shadows of the swamps and decrepit alleyways, Eiha narrows her eyes. One Genin, two Genin... According to what she brought up literally a short while ago, that means there are two more Leaf Shinobi unaccounted for in the area, presumably a third Genin, but also a Jonin, the last of which could be problematic. She shifts her investigation's focus towards the missing shinobi.

[GM]
They don't seem to be anywhere obvious. They could be at an inn, with these two only presently having guard duty, or some more could be stationed at the other settlements.
You could go through the inns, there aren't going to be more than two or three here, but it risks running into the potential Jounin.

[Eiha]
Ultimately, Eiha figures this might be a job for their freeloading furry friend and begins to make her way back to warn the rest of the group of the potential threat.

[GM]
The spider himself comments on the report, its squeaky voice echoing from someone's bag. "I like this place. Nice and wet."

[Keisuke]
"A jonin huh..."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "It would be best if you could figure out what the Leaf team's mission here is, but ultimately, that's optional. We can just avoid them, but knowing what they're doing and where they're going would make avoiding them easier. Just focus on not getting found."

[Keisuke]
"On the one hand that complicates things..." he says with a sigh, "But on the other we might get to fight a jonin," he finishes cheerfully.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "A jonin by himself would be a challenge, but there's also his team to contend with. At least one of them has taken the chuunin exams and isn't a complete rookie either."

[Keisuke]
"Well the old man did suggest using Ogumo as a scout. Though we could also just move in as a group with the information we have I suppose."

[GM]
"I don’t mind." It eeps. "Getting real bored in here."
"Drop me somewhere in town, though, it's a long trek if your legs are short."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "I don't think moving in ourselves just yet is a wise idea. While I don't mind a fight, we -are- supposed to be avoiding drawing attention, so it'd be best to wait until they left, or investigate a different village in the meanwhile."

[Keisuke]
"Maybe Ogumo can find out what they're here for. The illness in the area may end up being significant."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "That's what I'm hoping for."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke lets Ogumo out and hands him over to Eiha.

[GM]
The spider crawls over, and sits itself in a bend of fabric comfortably.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Alright then, back to the crummy hamlet."

[GM]

。。。

The spider is deployed, checking the first inn in the city, and the second. There turns out not to be a third, though the second is larger on the inside than it had seemed.
In the first inn, the spider said it found nothing, but from the second, it returns quite panicked.
"Lady with white eyes inside. Scary looking." it squeaks. "But I’m pretty sure there's no other ninja there."
"I looked upstairs, too."
"The lady looked old for a human. Maybe thirty?" it guesses. "Still have trouble telling you apart."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "A Hyuuga eh, interesting, let's get back to the group before we discuss this."

[GM]
You are soon reunited, and share the information.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "From what I recall, an elderly Hyuuga might be from... whatever the Leaf's research institution was called, I think I saw one the one time I had to check that place out. That wouldn't be a regular jonin, which would mean this isn't a regular team. Likely it's been formed on the spot to deal with something the research institute has a stake in. There may still be a missing genin on the loose too."

[Keisuke]
"So how do we proceed?"

[GM]
"I think entering the city if you're not looking to fight is already dangerous." Ogumo gives his bit. "I already risked my head there?"
This is, of course, not true, what was at stake was your operational security.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "I agree. If it was just the meatheads, then we could have gotten around them easily. A Jonin is an issue, but a byakugan user will make our disguises essentially worthless."

[GM]
At the end of the day, you are back at square one. But, you have information about the game board.

。。。

(15 XP for Kujira island and Downtime for the travel, if you haven't already noted it all down.)






SESSION 5

[GM]
With the main settlement rendered dangerous to approach, you are left with the small hunting village named Mokubon, and the dirty settlement around the fabrics factory. It has to be said that despite being quite a bit stealthier than animals, you haven't really noticed much larger fauna in these parts, which makes the village somewhat suspicious.
The factory, then, seems to be the source of  local contamination. Perhaps you are lucky, and the ninja are stationed here because of that, and the sickness some of the locals seem to be caught by?
"I'm a little more scared of crawling around in the woods." Ogumo admits. "If there are really snakes around here."
The village and the factory cluster are both at least complex enough that a look from afar is not enough to get a good idea of them, however.

[Eiha]
"That should be fine. We mostly needed to be sure the Leaf shinobi didn't spot us, we should be able to take it from here without any problem since they're still in the other village."

[GM]
To explain, it was easy to determine these details about the settlements prior, because the surroundings of the village are filled with animal traps - mostly low to the ground. And because of the fairly large sign in front of the factory, advertising employment conditions.

[Eiha]
Given the previous plan and the skills distribution of the group, Eiha has little doubt the task of getting a closer look at the factory, if necessary, would fall upon her shoulder. Thus, as the group was figuring out what to do next, she kept her eyes on the complex, observing approaches and concealment spots from a distance. That said, did they actually -need- to go there?

[Keisuke]
Keisuke offers up the enclosure so Ogumo can return.

[GM]
It crawls back into its lair.
The factory seems to be one large hall for the most part, open to the outside through its main entrance.
It has at least one back door, though it seems connected to some sort of an alarm bell. Fortunately, the entire thing is outside.
Some workers are loitering around, eating lunches or chatting, but mostly in front of the main entrance. Nobody seems to use the back door, or be near it.
There are also large windows high up in the walls, to let in light. It might be possible to take a look in from a nearby tree.
Finally, you find the second back door. This one is situated a bit higher up, on a small balcony, with a rusty fire staircase leading up to it. A few workers are sitting there, smoking and eating, so it probably allows passage.
It's questionable how worth it is to take your chances here, since your main objective is locating the Ryuji cave in the area, but it might be worth remembering for later.
That seems to be about it for this place, if you're staying safe.
Eiha returns to the group, with this report.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "I'm not sure if you guys want to check this place out, but it's worth keeping in mind that the Leaf shinobi are probably here for it, so if that's what you want to do we might be on a tight schedule to get it done."

[Keisuke]
"If we want to stick to our main objective the hunter's village is probably a safer bet. The refuse of the village's prey should attract prey animals that the smaller snakes will be attracted to possibly giving us a better chances of locating one from the cave. As far as to what the Leaf is up to.... I'll leave that to you two to decide. " he shrugs at the final line.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "That sounds like a decent lead to me."

[Bansen]
"I don't see any advantage in interfering with the Konoha shinobi."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Pretty much, the less we do, the easier it'll be to stay unnoticed."

[GM]
Thus, the village comes next.
As Eiha approaches the cottages, she can't help but notice a small clearing among the trees, devoid of people, on the way.
There are a few metal cans scattered nearby, pierced. This would normally mean that someone was practicing archery, and didn't clean up - except that there are also sizeable holes in the trunk itself, wide as a fist.
There are no arrows, bolts, kunai, or any weapons anywhere here. From what you can tell, they are stabs created with great force - most reminiscent of thrown kunai, but significantly larger and more powerful.
The village itself is not very rowdy at all, but you can clearly see snake skins on display among the houses, with the residents probably showing off their biggest catch. There is even a general store, with several hanging out for sale.
There are more than a dozen houses, but you can mostly be sure that you've covered every angle in the end. Entering the village would be tough, though, as several old men sit out in the open in front of their houses, exchanging small talk, and fiddling with wood and strings.
There is a tavern, with a snake skeleton on the entrance sign, coiled all around. Judging by the size, that is certainly not normal, and probably not even the full skeleton.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Hm, from the looks of it the snakes probably don't like this place at all. These villagers seem to make hunting them a pride, or at the very least something they like to boast about. Should be easy to ask them where 'the toughest game' is, though..."

[GM]
That seemed to be about all Eiha could find. Your particular manner of approach is still in question.

[Keisuke]
"I'd be surprised if normal hunters could hunt summons of even average skill. There continued existance here seems impressive."

[GM]
"That would mean it's a bit further from here." Ogumo comments. "It’s normals for the residences of summons to be filled with, uh, animals."
"Of that kind."

[Keisuke]
"So you have normal spiders running around your webs back at home? Do you just eat them or do you treat them like pets or what?"

[Eiha]
Eiha: "So would I, yes, but I figure the sentient ones might still take offense if the 'critters' of their kin gets constantly killed and paraded."

[GM]
"They're like kids, I guess." Ogumo says. "But they're not our kids, and we're not as hung on kids as humans are."
"Not that one of those could grow into a summon, of course."

[Keisuke]
"You're right, just letting the locals hunt and display your lesser cousins would be pretty cold blooded."

[GM]
"Snakes are kinda different, though." the snake squeaks on. "They’re, kind of, uh."
"Assholes."
"Their whole society is supposed to be built about individualism and ambition and backstabbing. If there’s a family that could be fine with this for cover, I guess it's them."

[Keisuke]
"Any chance we can locate the area without interacting with the locals?"

[Eiha]
"So, more of a 'if you can't protect yourself, it's your own damn fault for ending up as some weak human's purse', basically? Lovely."

[GM]
"Something like that, I guess."
"Well, uh." the spider turns to Keisuke. "A lot of those places have advanced protections."
"Genjutsu or chakra dimming fuuinjutsu or whatnot. We don’t need that 'cause we're on an island, but it'd be pretty snake-like to have it set up."

[Bansen]
"Other shinobi find them somehow."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "From the sound of them, I feel like the point of these wards isn't so much secrecy as it is a test for the people who do try to find them. If they reward strength and ambition, it'd make a lot of sense."

[Keisuke]
"So how shall we proceed then?"

[GM]
"Pretty much." the spider agrees. "Well, maybe there are none."
Now, how are you going to do this?

[GM]

。。。

There is much to be said about searching these marshes, and since you've decided to look on your own, and do this the hard way, Ogumo has offered several tips.
Most notably, he recommends looking for solid earth. Especially rock. After all, you can' make a cave out of mud, can you?
And considering that the cave will have to be high up, so that water does not pour in, this mostly limits the search to the sides of the valley, rather than the bottom. Ogumo, as a novice tracker, guesses that it's going to be high rather than low - on the opposite side of the main settlement, perhaps?
That's where he recommends searching first, anyway.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke decides that Ogumo's suggestsions are sound.

[GM]
You manage to locate a small rock cliff just about where Ogumo had wildly guessed something could be. Unfortunately, it's pretty plain.

[Eiha]
For her part, Eiha is rather enthusiastic about the whole thing and listens closely to Ogumo's suggestions. Where others see the traps and defenses as hindrances or threats, she sees them as interesting challenges to overcome, and the success thereof being proof of worthiness.

[GM]
Eiha spots a coin minted by the Fire Country somewhere in the leaves. It's not very rusted at all.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Oh hey, an obvious bait, how cute." She muses, observing around for any form of trap that would capture or maim anyone attempting to pick up said coin of very suspicious glitterness.

[GM]
Bansen, meanwhile, spots a precious herb in the marsh, blooming under the cliff - the moon lotus. It is often considered a panancea of sorts, even a faux scientist can recognize that one.
Bansen spots a human skull in the leaves. Curiously, the trunk of a young tree is growing through it.

[Bansen]
Bansen eyes the skull curiously, attempting to guess at its age.

[GM]
Keisuke, finally, spots a tree, its bark scratched, and bleeding red.
The skull appears to belong to someone very young, dead a long time ago. A rusty forehead protector is the only thing that remains, the cloth under it long rotten. The village is impossible to discern, only the visible scratch over it.
...They might have died as soon as the village system has been in place, to be honest.
Eiha now spots an iron wire, coiled around a tree. It seems to be fairly new, and shines in the evening light.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Seems like we're getting closer."

[GM]
The hours pass in a blur, and you find more and more artifacts, and yet that cliff is the only solid lead you have had.
It feels quite helpless, and the voices of your companions in the distance as well have disappeared.
Darkness seeps into the forest, and consumes you. For some reason, it's hard to breathe.
Eiha feels strangely water-y, despite still tumbling through the woods. This is not great. Something is afoot.

[GM]
This is, most likely, a Genjutsu. It must have started at that cliff, with the coin, that's the last clear memory that you have.

[GM]
If it is a Genjutsu, it is laid out quite competently. No fraying edges of vision, the darkened forest seems quite authentic.
Nothing hurts, exactly, but the forest feels a bit wet, somehow... is it starting to rain?
At this point, it is clear to everyone, that you have been caught. What betrays it is the slight scratches on your skin, not bad enough to wake you up, but bad enough to give you a clue.
Most likely, in the real world, your bodies are being carefully dragged somewhere.

[Eiha]
Fortunately for Eiha, she was going in expecting and forewarned about Genjutsu. Unfortunately for her, she hasn't been practicing her Release technique since the Academy, even though she knows it. Expecting powerful snakes to conjure powerful illusions, she figures it's a waste of time to try to break it with her rusty skills and default to the more radical, but expedient alternative,  unsheathing her tanto, flicking it into reverse grip and bringing it down upon herself. That.... hurt a lot more than she expected it to, despite her vest, and she shudders, but it's not... entirely unpleasant. She returns to reality, intent on Releasing the others, which are likely also in danger.

[GM]
Once your eyes open for real, the reality hits you. It's pretty bad.
A large, dark-scaled choker is dragging you through the marshes, to a particularly large pool - probably to drown you.
It's large enough that it can hold both you and Bansen, and move you over here, ever so slowly.
Keisuke is lying behind you, overseen by a red snake with white rings - likely the Genjutsu's caster.
The edges of your vision fry slightly. It seems you are not out of the woods yet, but you're aware of what the reality is for the most part. That's a start.
The saving grace of this situation is that the snakes are doing their best to not cause you any pain, so that you don't wake up - instead, they will drown you, and judging by your clothing they must have gone through a few pools already, which proved too shallow.

[Eiha]
Eiha finds herself liking snakes a little bit less at the sight of the sudden drowning/molesting combo. It's difficult to move in her circumstances, but thanks to her mastery of one-handed Seals, she begins forming hand seals with one hand while resheating her blade. The snake, in a display of lucidity, wisely moves back before it can get smacked silly by the sudden powerful water blast that comes out of her scabbard as she draws her tanto once more.
She is rather confused though. Partially by the snake having managed to propell itself away like a coiled spring, but also by the instinctive sensation that the Genjutsu somehow isn't quite gone yet. She's not sure how that works, but she stabs herself one last time before quickly moving over to Bansen and using the Release technique, trying to get as many of the team back into action before the snakes realize what's going on.

[GM]
After losing this much blood, you are pretty sure you're out of the woods - even though you're pretty deep in a swamp.
Bansen's eyesight flickers, just in time to be filled out by the large snake, which now lunges to attack with its bite.

[Bansen]
Bansen acts quickly and suddenly, retrieving, opening, and downing the contents of an ampule in the blink of an eye, while also healing Eiha's self-inflicted injuries with his free hand.

[GM]
Its attack dodged, the snake calls forth a desperate attack from the march itself - a flood of vipers assaults Eiha and Bansen, Bansen taking a few bites through his clothing - not too painful, but dangerously dim.

[Eiha]
Eiha leaps back a few meters, thankful for the quick assist. "I'll get Keisuke." She informs of her intent swiftly as she already readies herself to move.

[GM]
"...If you won’t go under the easssssy way." The red snake comments. "Then pain it isssssss!"
With that, an avalanche of snakes assaults the still unconscious Keisuke.
To his own eyes, this is a phantom force out of nowhere in the forest, yet he somehow manages to face it properly, in the real world.
The snake itself follows the stream, but Keisuke somehow even dodged the final blow while fumbling on the ground, eyes closed.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke sensing a tremor of danger approaching him wills himself to move even though in a genjutsu. His body acting on instinct drilled into his very bones. As Bansen arrives to release him from the genjutsu he staggers back before moving back in to reingage.

[GM]
The long black snake which previously held Bansen and Eiha seems to have sprung back, far into the forest. The pair seems to know their ploy has failed now, especially seeing that Bansen can readily deal with poison.
It seems that the Genjutsu-using snake is the latter one to go. Now's your chance to catch it!

[Eiha]
Eiha quickly attempts to do so, Seals following one another in rapid succession as the very swamp they were hoping to drown them into is weaponized back onto the snake at high pressure. Sadly, it is not very effective.

[GM]
It seems well versed at dealing with water, but now it's alone against the three of you. That said, it does seem pretty confident.

[GM]
After its dodge, and being chased by Keisuke for a bit, the snake spins in a hypnotic pattern, and disappears into thin air.
That's going to be a problem.

[Bansen]
"The same trick won't work twice!" Bansen exclaims, reaching for something underneath his cloak.

[Bansen]
Bansen then bites quite harshly on his own tongue, and, as blood drips from his mouth, flings a noxious grenade at the beast.

[GM]
It appears for a split second through the pain, and as the explosion fills it with pellets, its concentration breaks fully.
"Trying to poissssson a sssssnake? You must be inssssssane!"
Then, it seems to cough. It must know that its situation is dire.

[Keisuke]
After getting his bearings Keisuke forms a quick series of hand seals with smal hollow bones emerging from his body. As he molds his chakra the bones emit a soft high pitched keening noise and a particularly long and heavy blade made of bone emerges from his elbow before it begins to vibrate at a high frequency. He dashes towards the snake but is unable to attack it without going into the poisonous cloud. With his ire up he delvs in without much consideration hitting the guardian serpent with his blade. Upon feeling the attack score a solid hit he shifts his weight and sends all of its remaining force into a rending slash staggering the creature with a traumatic wound.

[GM]
The snake shakes and slithers under the blows. It's still in one piece, but it knows it lost. Its escape routes are cut off.
How quickly the tide turns! Just a few moments ago, you have been the closest to death that your shinobi careers have ever brought you. Now, you are mostly recovered from the shock, and just need to heal your mostly self-inflicted wounds, and make sure to get all the poison out.
While doing that, it might be a good idea to deal with this snake, before it recovers enough to flee.

。。。




SESSION 6

[GM]
Your senses clear completely, watching the snake being held.
"I ssssincerly admit defeat." it says, spitting those words out.
*What'ssss your bussssiness? Did you jussst chanssse upon usss by missssfortune?"
"Lotsss of shinobi ssstalking around thesse daysss." it squirms.

[Eiha]
"Is that so, that can't be a coincidence, now can it?" Eiha mused rhetorically, bringing a finger to her lips as she answered the snake's question with another question, seeing the opportunity to find out interesting information.

[GM]
"Ssssomeone is poissssoning the well." the snake remarks. "Sssurely not you?"
"A disssease is ssspreading from here, but itss not usss."
"The watersss are tainted."

[Eiha]
"We would have nothing at all to gain from that." She noted with a small shrug "Though we spotted some Leaf shinobi whom we believe might be investigating the diseases." She then added, figuring giving that tidbit of information could lay the groundwork for a.. mutually beneficial understanding.

[GM]
"Itss sssimilar to ssssomething they sssufer from." it says a surprising thing. "Sssludge and ichorss."
"I guard the gatesssss. You'd have to asssk inssside."
"But you missed the cluesss." it squirms some more. "Can't passs."

[Keisuke]
"So catching the gate keeper won't be acceptable as a substitute? What hassle."

[GM]
"I am but the firssst."
"Othersss will tessst you."

[Eiha]
"That does make his position a bit sketchy yeah" Eiha mused quietly. "I'm going to assume that by clues, you mean something -else- than the traps and tags, since we already found those."

[GM]
"The sssnake valuess ambition and curiossity before resstraintsss." the guardian says proudly. "The bait appearsss different to each of you."
Ogumo's voice resounds from the bottle hollowly. "Sounds like an excuse to sneak a bite!"

[Eiha]
Eiha rolls her eyes and leans back with an unimpressed look. "My ambition is to get to that cave, falling into what seemed like an -obvious trap- along the way is detrimental to fulfilling that. To have gone for it would have been foolishness, not boldness."

[GM]
"Ryuchi can't be reached so easssily if you hinder yourssselves with patiensse and mannersss." the snake deflects. "Ssssome trapsss musst be ssteped in, yesss?"
"Sssome bait musst be touched."

[Bansen]
"Your ambition ends here unless you take us there. If we must play games no matter what, we have no use for you." Bansen flourishes his sword.

[GM]
"Ssstop!" the snake shakes.
"Sssso be it. I'll lead you fellowsss there."

[Eiha]
Eiha crossed her arms, musing those words. From her point of view, the statement was a stupid one, but that's just it -her point of view-. These creatures are not humans, and don't think and reason by human standards or principles. She remains wary of the words being, themselves, a trap, but she also considers this a valuable lesson into understanding the nature of the Snakes.

Then things suddenly escalate. Well that worked out.

[GM]
The snake attempts to free himself again.

[Bansen]
"Let it go. We'll follow it for now. Kill it if you suspect anything."

[Keisuke]
"Sounds good to me"

[GM]
This is clearly something the snake can respect. It leads you through the swamp with a slow tempo, higher and higher. It does not seem exactly like the same area Ogumo recommended you to search, being less opposite to the city. This guardian must have been patroling the wide outside of the cave.
"What isss your purposse here, then?" it tries to make small talk, slithering along the ground. "Sssurely not the disseasse?"

[Eiha]
"Finding you." Initially, Eiha had decided to withhold that information, knowledge being power, but since apparently her more subtle approach was yielding no result whatsoever, but the brutishly straightforward was, she figured it was time for a change of strategy.

[Keisuke]
"To establish a contract" he adds.

[GM]
"Mossst of time thossse type come ssssolo." the guardian comments. "We're not ussed to groupsss."
That's all the questions he's had, though.

[Eiha]
Eiha's eyes narrow as she processes that response. It makes sense, of course. While it's clearly far more dangerous to come here alone, if they respect ambition and strength above all else... then coming alone is not only the most 'respectable' thing to do, but also the one that vets a potential summoner's personality as an adequate match. Those who seek personal power often seek it alone. "I'm not surprised." She soon let out, having revised her opinion.

[GM]
"Thosse sssorts of typesss would get passst me easssily too."
"But then the trialsss have been passsed by children in passst."
It doesn't speed up at any point, in line with Bansen's commands. The area you come in is getting a bit more bushy.

[Eiha]
"Really now? That's not something I'd have expected at all."

[GM]
That stone Ogumo pointed out is peeking out of the valley's side again, though it's not quite a cliff yet, perhaps elsewhere here, it will be enough of a cave.
"It'ssss a bit hard to passs through her with human bodiesss." it notes. "It's sssomewhere here, going ssstraight down."
The hole he leads you to, which a human could probably crawl through if he were foolish, leads straight down, as advertised.
"I kind of expected this huge sculpted-out snake head entrance." Ogumo comments.

[Keisuke]
"How do the bigger snakes get in and out?"

[GM]
"There'sss other entrancess." it says. "And sssome don't. It's bigger on the inssside."
"One'sss in a river. Good luck ssssearching for it."
"Do houssses of humansss have human headsss for entrancesss?" It says, a bit irritated.

[Keisuke]
"Konoha techinically does."

[Eiha]
"I'm surprised there aren't more of that, actually. I guess it's mostly just limited by the size and availability of skulls." She muses this perfectly seriously.

[Keisuke]
"I suppose that's a field I can monopolize if I ever retire."

[Eiha]
"Hm, good idea, actually." She notes casually before shifting her focus to the snake. "Rivers are great~" She gave a small smirk, referring to the alternate entrance mentioned a moment before. "Now about these other entrances, we're not in a hurry, are you?"

[GM]
The snake sighs. "Consssider yoursselevesss passed."
"There'sss another short dissstance from here."
"It'sss far through the underbush. Lotsss of holesss here."
"My ancessstrorss trial was all about thossse holess, but it ssseemed my showing wass ssad."
"Ssstill refining my techniquess."
It tries to take the clearest possible way through here, but it's right that the field IS full of holes.
*It's not disappearing in any, though."

[Eiha]
"You mean creating trials, or do you also have some you need to pass yourselves?" She inquired with genuine curiosity, somewhat fascinated by this society, but while still maintaining composure to not let herself appear -too- enthusiastic.

[GM]
"A big ssnakes doessn't need lotss." it tells you. "Sssome are sssmart enough to ssscore a sssumoner."
"Resst guardsss the entrancess. Helpsss if they're sssmart."
"Ssssumoress who go for uss don't need sssmart ssservants."
"Thosse need ssstrong ssservantss, if that makess ssensse."

[Keisuke]
"I can sympathise with being typecast." he offers.
"Something tough to take a hit in their place half the time I'm sure."

[Eiha]
"Because they already need to be to survive." Eiha muses, not giving much context as she keeps a close look on everything around them.

[GM]
It doesn't seem to be trying to kill you, anymore. The bushes soon clear, alongside the small caves.
The snake comes up higher, climbing on the side of the valley, until it leads you up on the spine - covered with trees, like the rest of it. The trees are a little denser here than in the valley, and the area looks healthier overall.
It moves for about an hour idly, until you come up upon a stone spike of some sort in the middle of woods.
You haven't crossed a single road or even a bunny path for a while, which is a little odd.
That rock looks unnatural, though.
"There's your other entrance." your guide announces. "Someone should be sitting at reception, I imagine."

[Keisuke]
"What's your name anyway?"

[GM]
You can't see it clearly from here. Should be just a bit of walking, though.
"Ah, me?"
"I'm Shirafuji."

[Keisuke]
"If one of us gets the contract we might need a genjutsu users sometime."

[Eiha]
Eiha's expression once more shifts to a bit of a smirk at that statement, it was a good call. "No hard feelings on the whole 'trying to kill you' thing I see. Me neither."

[GM]
"Hmm." Shirafuji moves forward, to the spike coming out of earth. "Since you're coming like a group like this, they might refuse you."
"I'll pass you to the next, and then I should get back to my work. And find that lad that ran away."
"That was really unacceptable."

[Keisuke]
"Good luck with that." he looks to the others "Maybe it'd give us better chances to choose someone to go alone?"

[Eiha]
"Could be, at the very least we should make a call now, and if not, then what'd be the story."

[Keisuke]
"We don't have to obfuscate, our Kage threw a batch of us at the summoner shortage problem and that's why we're here as a group. If the snakes prefer individuality then two of us can sit back. That fits our ethos as well really. For what its worth I don't think I'd be the best canidate for this contract."

[GM]
"Summoner shortage?" that seems to get Shirafuji's attention.

[Eiha]
"You have a point."

[GM]
"I don't know much about it, but you should bring it up with the sage, if you make it to her."

[Eiha]
"I was under the impression you would already know all about it, but fair enough."

[GM]
"I'm just about important enough to be in her presencce sometimes at all." it says proudly. "Well, here we are."
The backside of the spike reveals a maw of stalagmites hovering over an entrance down under,, as rain fell down the spike over the ages.
How this spike got here in the first place would be a harder question to answer.
Puzzlingly, there is a stairway leading down.
"It's pretty complex down there." you get warned. "I shouldn't go down there with you."

[Eiha]
"I know." She acknowledged. To ask for help at this juncture was a an admission of weakness or failure. Or at least that's how she perceived the signs so far. "I guess you guys have your 'skull' after all." She then mused with a glance at the maw of spikes. The others seemed a bit at a loss, so she pondered just proceeding ahead.

[GM]
"I never looked at it that way." Shirafuji looks profoundly surprised.

[Keisuke]
"If we want to just have one of us take the tests should the others wait out here then?"

[GM]
"That's fine. Just make sure to touch any things you find on the ground." he explains his technique properly now. "Those are probably my tags."
"Well, things that obviously don't belong."

[Eiha]
"I'm still amazed that's how that works." Eiha noted flatly. "Goes counter to most people's instincts, so if that was the idea then it's pretty successful."

[GM]
"I take some issue with the spirit of the trials here." Shirafuji explains. "I've tried to construct a technique that tries to make sense."
"For others, though, it's going to be much more of an excuse to arbitarily eat you."
"As long as you can beat them the hard way, though, you should get a passing grade."

。。。




SESSION 7

[GM]
Upon careful consideration, and remembering that there may even be an enemy shinobi in the area unaccounted for, you decide to all come in together - making sure Eiha would stumble into any trials first. Judging by what Shirafuji said, you had two of them left.
It's dark down here, though Ogumo seems pleased with that. Just when you think that it might be better to return and make up a torch or something, you can see the bottom of the stairway, bathed in faint light. It seems that it's lit after all.
The short corridor from beneath the stairs, indeed lit with torches, leads into an expansive cavern of natural stone formations. The lights here are at the ceiling, casting many shadows upon the area, but they aren't fires - perhaps because those would damage the ancient cavern.
Upon careful investigation of the dimly lit cavern floor, you manage to notice very slow movements.
Most of the floor is covered in snakes, making it potentially very difficult to traverse.
You may be able to use some of the rock formations to skip them, but at some point you'll be stepping between snakes.
Incidentally, among the spikes and holes of the ceiling, some of the holes seem to go fairly far. Perhaps if you fell down one of Shirafuji's holes, this is whre you would end up, no doubt rumbling your way in.
Rising your voice might clue them in as well.
Thus far, none of the snakes are making their way towards you, or anything. If you weren't stealthy before, perhaps it's time to be.

[Eiha]
Eiha comes to a pause as she notices the bed of snakes covering the path ahead. She had not said anything when the rest of the group had decided to catch up to her, and she says nothing now, merely communicating the fact through silent hand gestures. She figures this must be another trial of some sort, and one which's rules and traps aren't explained, so she tries to figure out any way she could by-pass the snakes ahead somehow, be it through Jutsus, items, or perhaps a secret passage or device hidden in the darkness.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke takes in the scene and almost reflexively sends out a wave of chakra to activate his tremor sense, however he halts himself. Even if he doesn't mention any of his findings it could still interfere with the trials in some way. He decides to continue to rely on his traditional senses instead.
As he looks at things he considers some options. The direct one that he imagines Eiha would be more capable at than himself would be to pass through the numerous small gaps on the floor without the throng of serpents noticing the trial taker. The other is the ceiling or walls. He eyes the varoius holes strewn throughout. He wouldn't be surprised if there were hidden obstacles as well.

[GM]
The ceiling is going to be much harder to navigate than the floor-terrainwise. If the intent is not to be seen, the ceiling will make that harder, as you need to crawl through an inverted stalag-ledge here and there.
That said, there are no snakes up there... that you can see.

[Eiha]
Eiha eventually decides that the obvious path is almost certainly a trap of some capacity, so attempting to wade through the horde was less than wise. For all she knew, that was exactly what they wanted. Trying to use wire might be the most rapid option, but it was also the most risky in many way. With a minute application of chakra,  the ceiling seemed like the most subtle option, though, this, too, had traps, and these one weren't hypothetical. The stalagmites weren't the only thing she needed to avoid, but the holes as well. Those -may- have bene just the end result of pitfalls above ground, but they could very well have other snakes hidden within, just waiting for someone to pass over the holes to strike at them and making them fall down into the horde below in surprise. No, she was on to them! She would avoid the holes as well, going slowly and carefully. Rushing was the opposite of clever planning.

[GM]
The jouney up above goes slowly. From up above, you can tell that the cavern is even more expansive than it first seemed, and actually has several twists and turns, being rather a very wide corridor. The other two are left behind eventually.
At some point, it occurs to you that the ceiling drips water at some spots, and each such place has a snake below, receiving the drops. It's probably the best to avoid these places entirely, that's probably the real trap of this route.
At what seems to be the end, you see an otherwordly-looking girl with hair of vibrant, unearthly green, doing some embroidering.
She doesn't seem to have noticed you, but might be the master of this trial.
Behind her is a gold-inlaid door, and above her is one of those wisp-lights, so that she can see her work well enough.
Her ankles are coiled in snakes, probably telling her of the cavern's state.

[Eiha]
The raven-haired Kunoichi quirks a brow, surprised by the human-like appearance of the creature. She doesn't quite buy it, though, and assumes the being to be a snake taking on a human like appearance for whatever reasons. She continues a bit further ahead, avoiding any last water droplets or bits of sunlight coming down through holes that might be left and observing calculatingly in the same way as she would to prepare for a Silent Killing strike. Eventually, she makes it back down to floor level, but behind the perceived field of vision of the guardian, as she figures there may yet be more surprises and it's not because she's got all this way that she's safe yet. She keeps a tight grip on her tanto, ready for anything as she comes closer. "Good day to you~" She announces in a quiet yet cheerful manner from behind.

[GM]
The girl whistles. "Already?"
"I suppose that's a pass."
Carefully, she puts her wooden grid down, so her work is not dirtied by the cavern floor, and stands up to face you.
Then, her eyes trail elsewhere.
"Odd, I could have sworn, that over there... Well, it doesn't matter. The trial is passing the cavern."
"Why did you bring a companion, though? Didn't Shirafuji tell you not to?" she wonders towards the darkness.

[Eiha]
Eiha gives a bit of a shrug "I was going to make this journey on my own, but they decided to follow for some reason. I guess they want to see if I end up getting eaten or something."

[Bansen]
"I think they're done. Let's follow." Says Bansen and leaps towards the ceiling to follow in Eiha's steps.

[GM]
"I can let them pass if it's official business." the girl says. "I'm Shirahagi, the eldst granddaughter of the sage."
"Recently a lot of people came because of politics, so maybe you did too?"

[Keisuke]
"Mn" he vocalizes in agreement as he traverses towards Eiha.

[Eiha]
The kunoichi gives a small, polite curtsie. "Sakurai Eiha, there has been some troublesome events happening... but let's just say I might have wanted to come anyway even if politics -weren't- happening~"

[GM]
The snakes steer clear of the two passing men. They open up a regular pathway, now.
"Regardless, it's just one trial left for you." Shirahagi tells Eiha. "That one is tricky."
"I can't advise you, because it all depends on what game it will be. They have a whole cabinet of them."

[Eiha]
"That seems to be par for the course so far... but I'd say that's what makes it exciting." She first comments on the mention of a 'tricky' test, only to then quirk an eyebrow, her smooth demeanor interrupted somewhat by surprise at the last part. "Game cabinet? That does sound.. tricky". By which she means deceptive, and half-expects the game to be but a facade covering the real test. Still, she should not under-estimate it either way.

[GM]
"They really like putting poison into games that aren't supposed to have poison." Shirahagi shrugs. "If you can do medical ninjutsu or something, that should be helpful."
Bansen and Keisuke appear behind a bend in the rocks.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Not quite, but I wasn't dumb enough to come here without -some- way to deal with poison."

[GM]
"That's how it usually is."

[Eiha]
Eiha just smirks. "Dear oh dear~"

[Keisuke]
"Hmm  should have doubled down on 'death by poison.'"

[GM]
The green-haired maiden takes out a key, unlocking the door. Where it leads look much more comfortable, and human-like.
There is even a shoe box here, everything is in clean wood.
"Hmm?" an old woman's voice echoes from within. "It seems we have some visitors again."

[Keisuke]
"Pardon the visit" he greets but otherwise remains silent and puts up his shoes.

[GM]
The lady appears in your vision, being of rather short stature. "It's fine, darling. But please take your shoes off."
"Young master will be happy to have someone to play with again, other than my old bones."

[Eiha]
Eiha does, though it's more accurate to say she had greaves, then enters. "Is that so? The last visitors weren't very pleasant?"

[Bansen]
Bansen takes his shoes off and steps inside.

[GM]
Shirahagi closes the doors behind you, and turns the key, worryingly enough.
"The last visitor was that Hyuuga woman who didn't even want to cotract. She humored young master by playing, but she cheated in the game." the lady complains. "Cheating against a child, can you imagine that?"

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Some people are really desperate to win, I suppose~"

[GM]
You are led to a living room, where a young boy sits behind a table, aged perhaps eight, ten at most.
"Well, I do hope you came for a better reason than that. What are we playing today, Kaliya-kun?"
The boy thinks, while she slides open a door, revealing many board games and toys behind.
"Match pairs, 'cause the eyes lady made me mad. I want a real game."
"A game of royal Shinkei-Suijaku for you, then."

[Eiha]
Eiha makes a mental note that cheating could be an automatic fail on this test. Though she would have expected the opposite, oddly enough. Those mind games. "As a matter of fact I do, two actually."

[GM]
"Reasons to come here? That's good to hear."
What she brings out is instead a tea set, with a staggering number of small bowls on it.
"I need to prepare this one in the kitchen, please wait warmly." the old lady disappears.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke finds a place to the side and sits in seiza, but puts in one of his earbuds to start listening to music while he waits.

[Bansen]
Bansen retrieves his sword out from beneath his cloak and sets it down to his side as he sits down.
"How long ago was this cheating visitor?"

[Eiha]
"Alright then." She sets her gaze upon the boy. With everything else a deception, she doesn't fully believe in this child-like appearance either, and while she doesn't intend to call out anything, she does fully expect him to be a lot more clever or powerful than appearances would suggest, perhaps with tricks of his own besides the poison she was already forewarned about.

[GM]
The boy sips on some tea he has on his side. "Two or three days. She was really loud and angry and unpleasant."
"She kept telling grandma that we were in trouble because the place got dirty."
"Which is a lot like how Konoha got dirty? I think."
"But you can see for yourself that this place is completely clean. She saw it too. Don't know what she was on about."

[Eiha]
She brings a hand to her chin, playing along for now. "Well, it is true that there is a disease of some kind running around in the area, but it's also true that it's still a bit far away from here, and yelling angrily isn't a very good way to get people to listen to you." She states somewhat supportively.

[Keisuke]
"It may be something to concern ourselves with if you successfully form the contract. It'd be annoying if there were complications at the last minute."

[GM]
"Grandma says that it's dirt that someone brought." *the kid goes on. "The lady said that someone had rotted the place so it would always be dirty."
"Well, I sure don't want to move!"
The old lady comes with a wide tray, and lays it on the table. She quickly separates the tea, and empty cups meant for it, from the thirty capped porcelain bowls, laid out six by five.
The tea is easily within reach of Bansen and Keisuke, and there are three wooden cups for it. She catches a breath, before explaining the rules, letting you notice that each item on the 'game board actually consists of three pieces of porcelain: the bowl, the cap, and a tiny plate it's on, which certainly won't help the tabletcloth if something spills.
"This is a game of Shinkei-Suijaku, or Match Pairs." she starts.
"Or Concentration." Ogumo mumbles from his bottle.
"In these bowls are fifteen pairs of liquids. Your goal is to collect pairs. The side with more pairs at the end wins. I trust you have played this before?" she asks, hoping she'd not have to explain quite as much.

[Keisuke]
"I have a couple of times before." Keisuke agrees. "Though I was under the impression we should not help?"

[Eiha]
"I have not, so I guess I'll hope to get lucky.. or discover a new talent I didn't know I had yet."

[GM]
"You cannot tell her which cup you think is which, and cannot aid her with whatever powers you have." the lady tells Keisuke. "But there is no issue giving general advice."
"The way the game actually plays out is that when you are on the play, you pick a cup, and lift the lid, to see what's inside."
"In this version, if you are unsure, you may take a sip from the bowl. If you do, you can flip the platter, and take a look at what it says the liquid is, exactly."
"Both players will see what is on it, though."
"After you choose the first, you choose the second. If they match, you take the pair off the board, and score a point. Obviously you are very unlikely to do this if you haven't seen a matching one on your, or young master's, previous turns."
"A bit of errata: You are allowed to use whatever powers you have, or equipment you brought here, as long as you do not violate the rules of the game."
"Similarly, nothing that's in these bowls can hurt young master. But it might hurt you."
She folds her arms, wondering if she missed anything.
"In case you are not willing to sip from the bowl, I will be the arbiter of whether the pairs match, since I prepared the board."

[Keisuke]
"Whether you're successful or not has no bearing on your turn ending I take it?"

[Eiha]
"Aright then." She takes it all in. By now, it's become quite obvious why poisons were brought up, this is a lot of cups, and she only has one vial. This will be tricky. "Let's have some fun then~" She gives a 'smile'.

[GM]
"I hope this will be good!" the young master smiles back. "I'm the youngest, so I obviously go first."

[Eiha]
"Fine by me~"

[GM]
He takes a cup from the middle of the board, and reveals a white liquid within. It seems this won't be all teas at all.
"Ah, I know what this is." he takes a sip. "Don't want to show it to you, though."

[Eiha]
"Gotta find the other one then."

[GM]
He then picks another one, revealing a clear liquid. He sips it anyway.
"Eww! This tastes like spit!"
"What the hell is that?"

[Keisuke]
Keisuke glances at the old lady. He wonders if she pranks the youngster this way sometimes.

[GM]
He turns around the plate, revealing  several kanji.

[Eiha]
"Definitely not what I first thought it looked like, interesting."

[GM]
"Pure Viper Venom.*
"This early, huh."
"Well, your go, missus."

[Eiha]
Eiha takes a look at a cup in the center of the nearest row. With this second pick, it's very likely the white one wasn't milk.

[GM]
This cup has a yellowish liquid in it. It doesn't smell like ammonia or anything, rather, it smells like kitchen.
The next you turn up has a deep red liquid in it. It strongly smells like blood

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Hah, nice, this one I'm familiar with~"

[GM]
"Me too!" *the young master is clearly a familiar soul.
The next one the young master turns around is some sort of a putrid black-and-grey mash.
"Eww, I'm not gonna drink that."

[Eiha]
"I'll take your advice if I find the matching one then hahaha."

[GM]
Another cup reveals a red liquid, though this one smells sweet.
"Wow, what is this? Let me taste it."
The plate says "Brandy(non-alcoholic)"
"Hmm, good thing I didn't bet on it being blood."
Perhaps this fellow's senses are impaired in other ways than yours.

[Eiha]
"Hm, I didn't expect to see that."

[GM]
The next bowl you've chosen is a liquid of thicker than usual substance, of light green color, smelling like herbs. perhaps it's sap?
The second is a clear liquid, of chemical and unnatural smell.
The kid turns up another cup, and sips it instantly.
"Huh, this is lemonade." The plate confirms this.

[Bansen]
"You're definitely better off not drinking the last one you've picked, Eiha."

[GM]
The lady scoffs at Bansen a bit, but eventually calms down.

[Keisuke]
To be somewhat sociable he turns to the old lady and asks "Have you done this with snack foods before?"

[Eiha]
"The smell was inclining me not to."

[GM]
*The boy next reveals a bowl of clear liquid, and is confused as to what it is. The sip and plate reveal 'clear water'. He then passes the turn."

[Eiha]
Eiha figures that means the pure viper poison was totally odorless, then, if it did not seem like a match for clear water. She makes a mental note of this.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke does begin to polietly drink some of the tea. Properly inspecting its aroma and doing the small niceties expected of an offical guest.

[GM]
This lets Eiha figure out that the two teas are indeed the same. The aroma is thicker in the kettle, this is clearly Oolong.

[Keisuke]
"Thank you for the tea. It's quite refreshing."

[GM]
By smell, she can figure out the next cup is lemonade. Hopefully the boy already forgot where the first was.
Unfortunately, he gets a moxie in his eye, immediatelly snatching the pair. The lady visibly relaxes.
"You don't go this long without geting a pair often."

[Eiha]
"I was a bit surprised too, I'll admit."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke nods in agreement.

[GM]
"Well, it's your go, lady!" He leans back, overly confident, like the villian of a card game manga.

[Eiha]
Eiha reaches over for a cup on the other side and frowns slightly at the lack of color ot scent. This could either be extremely deadly, or completely harmless. She takes a small sip and awaits for any possible horrible pains. There are not, so she matches it with the nearby cup of clear water

[GM]
The young master's caretaker smiles, moving the pair onto Eiha's side of the board. This seems to anger the kid just a little bit.
He reaches over to uncover the one he knew was venom, to match it up with the more chemical-smelling one. Perhaps he can't tell?
"Those two are not the same." The old lady tells him. "I think the girl didn't taste it for a reason..."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke tries to guage the caretaker's reaction as he does so.

[Eiha]
Eiha takes note of this, and figures it would be best to try to win without angering the boy too much, probably by going with a very close score. This is still a game of chance, though, so taking risks like this could backfire, and it might yet not be enough, hmmmm.. MINDGAMES AHOY

[GM]
He gets a defiant expression, and tries to sip from the bowl that's not viper poison, immediatelly, choking and spitting it all over the table.
The lady does not seem especially concerned with his apparent pain.
"I said that nothing on the table can hurt him," she turns up the plate, "But even for us, drinking that is a pretty bad idea."
"Sulfuric Acid"
Well, it's a good thing you didn't drink it!
"I thought she didn't match them up, but then I thought maybe she was just stupid." his voice is a little weak.

[Eiha]
Eiha tries her best not to laugh. She manages MOSTLY, but not entirely. "I am glad I didn't try that one, then."

[Keisuke]
"That even acid won't significantly hurt him on ingestion is impressive. I imagine were that his only ability he'd be well sought after by all people of power."

[Eiha]
"And yeah I agree, that -is- pretty impressive."

[GM]
"You must learn to weather worse things, if you wish to succeed me, young man!" *she rises her finger, and the boy focuses again. "Your go."

[Bansen]
"A mere antidote wouldn't have saved you there..."

[Eiha]
"My thought exactly."

[Keisuke]
The young Kaguya begins contemplating if his kekkei genkai could be trained to be of help in some way if he were to ever face such a situation. It seems outlandish, but is it impossible?

[Eiha]
Eiha next reaches over for the furthest cup in the corner, finding it familiar, she tries to match it with one on the other edge of the board. She can afford to take the risk on this one as it's the only one that matches in color and scent

[GM]
Moving the pair onto the side with a nod, the lady shows you the plate - it's "Yew Syrup."

[Eiha]
"Huh, well, that was pretty deceptive. It looked and smelled harmless enough that I might have been tempted to give it a try."

[GM]
"Yews are as poisonous as you can get in the herbal world." The caretaker notes.
The boy turns up the rightmost cup on his side before smiling, revealing a white substance. He matches it up with the first one he had ever turned up.
You are evenly mached again, but it is now your turn.
The plates, incidentally, reveal it as 'posioned milk'. Sounds like some mythical thing, otherwise  that's a bit complicated to be one item.
You reveal an oily, strongly-smelling, chemical-yellow substance. The next bowl has blood in it, later identified as 'Pig Blood', but you can no longer match it.
The boy smiles triumphantly and does so in your place, taking the pair.

[Eiha]
Eiha is a bit surprised to stumble upon new ones at this stage in the game and is a bit disappointed to lose the one very easy match, but such is chance. She supposes trying to go easy would have been unnecessary.

[GM]
You next reveal what seems to be a wine, and try to match it with what you seen him reveal as Brandy. Apparently, they're not the same thing. The boy is surprised by this, too.

[Eiha]
"Ah well, can't get them every time I suppose." She takes the failed match graciously, though is somewhat worried internally.

[GM]
He reveals a bowl full of barely a liquid, which sweetens the room as soons as it's revealed. it's black, turning yellow at the sides of the white bowl. He then picks the bowl of acid he got previously burned by, as not to accidentally reveal an unknown to you.
The next bowl you open has a sweet-smelling red liquid, though after trying to pair up wine and brandy, failing to find alcohol in either, you find yourself briefly uncertain. It's more like the brandy, probably? But you didn't drink it, the kid did.
Once you drink it, it's pretty tasty brandy substitute, for not being alcoholic at all.

[Eiha]
"Hm, not bad." She muses, without adding 'and thankfully not poisoned randomly like the milk' that she was thinking. She tries to match it with the Brandy

[GM]
The next liquid picked by your opponent is radiant orange, smelling like herbs, and like honey. The boy drinks it, having no idea what it is.
The plate reveals "Panacea"
"I don't know what that is, but it tasted like medicine." his face contorts.

[Eiha]
Eiha quirks a brow. The notion of medicine causing pain is quite curious.

[Bansen]
"Hmm..."

[GM]
He next reveals an unkown cup, which has the thick black thing in it that he revealed last turn. He briefly panicks, but has to pass to you.

[Keisuke]
"So he's your disciple of sorts?" Keisuke asks as the pair is revealed.

[Eiha]
Eiha takes the offered match, kind of happy that for once this isn't happening to her, as it has twice before already. She puts on her best effort to not look smug as she does so, as she is still trying not to anger the kid.

[GM]
"He is my eldest grandson! Though he isn't my eldest  child." She moves the pair to eiha, revealing that it's molasses in the bowls.
"My son, it seems, can only do daughters."
"I trust you have met Shirafuji and Shirahagi? Those are some of my granddaughters."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "We have yes, it was fun." Mostly.

[Keisuke]
"We did meet yes. They seemed reasonble enough. No hard feelings with buisness and all that."

[GM]
The board is now half-empty, with seven out of the fifteen pairs being taken. The game can now be expected to proceed much faster.
The boy, meanwhile, reveals a clear liquid, and seems rather uncomfortable.
"Either it's a spit, or..."
"I have to drink it, don't I."
He takes a much smaller sip than before, spitting it out into his hakama. It slowly burns through, but his skin his untouched. The lady grunts, though.
Triumphantly again, he takes the bowls of acid. Well, at least they are off the board now.

[Eiha]
Eiha winces slightly, though more out of sympathy than anything else.

[GM]
"Your go!"

[Keisuke]
"Is that resilience something you can impart on contract holders or is it strictly your clan's ability?"

[GM]
"It's an art that can be taught." the lady smiles. "Though it takes effort from you."

[Keisuke]
"It would probably benefit Eiha greatly in her covert missions."

[Eiha]
Eiha: "Well that's certainly got my attention." She notes with interest she doesn't even bother to hide, only to then quirk a brow at the interjection. "I see that helping in a -lot- of situations, not just those."

[Keisuke]
He shrugs "It simply seemed it would come up more in those types of assignments."

[GM]
Eiha's next, unturned bowl, has a liquid in it that is clear tasteless, and odorless.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "I guess that would be the 'spit'." She muses as she reaches over, taking back the lead just by a single point. That's how she wants it to go down, seems fate is being kind on this one.

[GM]
The apparent grandmother nods, pairing them up on you side.
The boy reveals a new bowl of the terribly chemical smelling yellowish liquid, and tastes it. The plate reveals that it is "Petrol".
He correctly remembers where it was. Though he was confused before, when the board was large, now his mind is on point.

[Eiha]
"Wow, I didn't expect to see -that- either."

[GM]
"Five pairs left." The lady announces. "You are evenly matched. Your turn, stranger."

[Eiha]
Eiha reaches for the neglected corner of the remaining board and takes a quick look. "Seems like the panacea to me."

[Keisuke]
Keisuke closes his eyes, he feels that unless one finds a way to make the other stumble or forgets the placements at the last second the game is concluded.

[GM]
"It was there as a last resort of sorts, in case you came in unprepared." the lady old smiles kindly. "You'd be able to get rid of some of the venom, by giving up your turn."

[Eiha]
"So I notice, that was pretty thoughtful of you."

[GM]
The lady observes the board thoughtfully, though she is also aware that there are no variables left, and only memory could trip someone up.
Of course, you were put up to harder tests of this sort in the Academy.
You snatch the two cups of sake, one of which you reveal, and he takes the tea bowls.

[Eiha]
"Seems like I had beginner's luck on my side, you're pretty good at this."

[GM]
The remaining bowls of whatever this terrible mold mash is logically belong to Eiha.
"And now, I'll eat you!" The boy rises, spreading his arms, before the lady smacks him with a harisen.
"You lost, young man!"
"Learn to count to ten before you play games like these."
He looks over the pairs assembled in confusion. It seems that all this time, he was convinced that he was winning.
She shakes her head at him. "That's that."
"Now, I'll get you a scroll."
She disappears briefly again, while the boy counts the pairs over and over.
"Well, it's just by one, so I almost won." he rises his finger. "Though now I want to play a different game next time."

[Keisuke]
"So were you unable to smell the differences between the liquids?" he decides to ask.

[Eiha]
Eiha gives a nod of acknowledgment as she rises up, quietly pondering the opposite side of this equation. She doesn't really recall having snake before... though she wouldn't want to eat snakes that take human form... that's just creepy... even for her.

[GM]
"I can smell a few." he puffs. "Some of my bros have real good sense of smell, you know?"

[Keisuke]
"I think some of your sisters do too." he agrees.

[GM]
"Turning into a human lets you do some things, like how Shirahagi loves art. Snakes can't do art."
"Food tastes better like this, but I can't smell crap. It's confusing!"
"Like your eyes just see different colors. I'll never get used to it."

[Eiha]
...and now she has -another- equation-reverse to think off, jolly gosh! "That does sound like it might throw you off, though I'm sure you will eventually, even if you think you won't."

[Keisuke]
"I think I get it. Even if we transformed into snakes I don't beleive our senses would rival that of an actual snake's"

[GM]
The boy nods, and his grandmother comes up from behind him. She takes the tray off the table, instead unfurling the end of the scroll before Eiha.
She also places a small fruit knife there.
And a quill with a pen.
"Please sign here, in blood." she points.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke watches the process to be informed of what he may need to do if he signs one in the future.

[Eiha]
Eiha first takes a look at the great scroll. She isn't exactly versed in Fuuijnjutsu so she can't discern any great secret from it, but it's rather interesting nonetheless. Even if she wasn't the one signing this, she would still be rather curious about it. That said, she is, and the notion brings some excitation to it. She picks up the knife, somewhat skeptical at its ability to draw blood, but proceeds nonetheless. This will probably be the first and last contract she signs without reading thoroughly.

[GM]
"You will have enough time to read it properly. As the White Snake Sage, I accept your contract, and impart this scroll to you." the leader of snakes tells you.
"It contains the secrets of kuchiyose, which you will need to study for quite some time, but it also provides a way to contact us before you could."
"It will take a while wandering the caves before you can find anyone willing to serve you, anyway. This is really just the first step."
"The signature is important because of status, though. You can use this scroll to identify yourself as someone contracted to us."

[Eiha]
Eiha nods as she puts down the feather. "I wouldn't expect anything less. Respect is earned, not given." She notes on the matter of finding those willing. "I'm thankful, though we had other things to discuss before we can leave."

[Keisuke]
"Right. Now that there's a proper link between the Snakes and the Mist we can discuss our assignment properly."

[GM]
"That's why I thought you came. We can sit down for it in length. Care for more tea?"
She picks up the boy from behind, and rather unceremoniously carries him away.

[Eiha]
Eiha: "That sounds good to me."

[Keisuke]
"It was quite good. I'd like more as well."

[GM]
Some tea is brewed, giving you time to brew your thoughts and points. Finally, it is brought, and you are alone with the sage and tea. She takes the place where the kid previously sat.
"So." she starts. "How much does mist know about the deaths of their snake summoners?"
"I would imagine you are here to fill in for them, but the only witnesses of those deaths would be the snakes they have summoned."
"Your faction might be missing a detail or two."

[Eiha]
"Well, we do know that these killings have been targeting summoner regardless of their affiliated village. Also, we found about systematic killings of summoners contracted with different.. beings too."

[GM]
"That is not news to me, no."
"What beings are you talking about?" she seems a little confused. She stands up, closes the door, and pulls a long pipe out of her robes.

[Eiha]
"The spiders specifically, for one."

[GM]
"Oh, in that sense."
"Well, the snakes previously contracted to your countrymen, in both cases, describe a person turning into a black sludge that absorbed chakra, enveloping their summoner, and asphyxiating them, while the snakes were helpless."
"You should know that you are not the only village this pertains to, though you are the only one that lost all of its summoners from us. That would be, two."
She puts some strangely sweet-smelling tobacco, and lights it up, while the tea is long ready.

[Keisuke]
Keisuke partakes of tea.

[Eiha]
Eiha does as well, now that it no longer risks affecting her senses of taste and smell when in the middle of a game that requires said senses.

[Keisuke]
"We had managed to come across a corpse of one of the victims not to long ago." he offers.

[Eiha]
"Black sludge, that does sound a bit familiar. Like some sort of variation on one of our Clans' technique." She muses, the description making her feel of some kind of unholy monstrous fusion between Hydrofication, Aburame beetles and the thick sludge of the rat contractor.

[Keisuke]
"After discussing it with an elder, it seems like they used the corpse as a puppet to attack the remaining spider contractors."

[GM]
"...Hm."
"Tell me, were the bodies of those summoners ever found?"
"If they were in similar state, we would be looking at the same attacker."
"That also ties into another issue I have with all this. When a summoner dies, their scroll of contact disappears. But for one of those two, their scroll still exists."
"Even though the snakes serving them that the man was dead and there was nothing they could do, their connection to us still exists."

[Eiha]
"That would suggest their death might have been faked. It'd be definitely worth looking into it."

[GM]
"I am not sure you exactly understand. It means that whatever puppet is left may be able to use kuchiyose no jutsu."

[Eiha]
"Or maybe somehow their spirit still exists trapped somewhere."

[GM]
"Conversely."
"It may be possible for me to perform a reverse summoning of the puppet body."

[Eiha]
"I see."


[GM]
"If you are willing to deal with whatever happens then, I wouldn't mind doing that for you."
"I haven't tried up until now, it does not matter to me one way or another." *she pulls from the pipe."

[Keisuke]
"I supose that depends on our capabilities." he says. "I'm confident so long as the individual wasn't a true elite, however I'm less certain of gaining solid information"

[GM]
"If possible, I would like to do it outside, lest he brings dirt into my home."

[Eiha]
"That was what I was thinking of too. What Rank are we talking about here?"

[GM]
"I believe that one was a chuunin." she looks at the ceiling. "Though a highly esteemed one."
"They traveled all this way to pass the trials, after all."

[Keisuke]
"We could always make use of the Leaf's pressence if we could think of a way to drag them in without exposing too much information.
"But I think we can deal with things ourselves."

[Eiha]
"We should be able to yeah, there's no reason to get the Leaf involved. They're already looking into the factory matter.. and they were already here, if that Hyuuga was the same we saw."

[Keisuke]
"I'm sure she was," he turns to address the sage again "Do you think all this is being done while specifically targeting the conference coming up?"

[GM]
The sage rubs her cheek. "So you know that much, eh."
"Are you going to attend it? I have to fill in summoners who will quite in advance, but this should be okay."

[Eiha]
"I should, yes."

[GM]
"I'll note you down for it, then." she nods.

[Eiha]
Eiha makes a mental note to prepare as much as possible for that. She doesn't want to somehow accidentally fuck up by some obscure faux pas of etiquette or ignorance.

[GM]
"In regards to the dirt," she herself remembers to bring it up, "I really don't know what happened here."
"I don't think there is a problem with the land. I would probably be able to feel it. But there is somebody around producing filth."
"Maybe in an attempt to sway it."

[Eiha]
"It does seem like it might be all connected after all."
"Then they're here too."

[Keisuke]
"It's likely they would have someone on site I agree. It may be prudent to eliminate the potential risk of them interfering with the goings on of Ryuchi Cave and jeapordizing our own villages interests."

[GM]
"Well, I look forward to working with you, youngsters." she puffs. "You should get some rest before we do this."
"Who's they?" Ogumo asks from his bottle.
This prompts the lady to ask: "Who's that?"

[Eiha]
"Sounds fair, might as well eliminate them while we're there." She notes before quirking a brow at the inquiry. "The Rats of course. They have returned."

[GM]
That is an actual surprise to her. "Indeed?"
"Haven't heard of those bastards in at least a decade. They always turn up somewhere else eventually."

[Keisuke]
"They would certainly fit for the purveyors of filth."

[GM]
"Come to think of it, that makes perfect sense. They are aligned with the Yang..."

[Eiha]
"There's a lot of evidence that shows they've started to come out recently. I've fought them twice before already, and their MO fits with the black sludge you described and the Hyuuga's fixation over 'dirt'."

[Bansen]
"Rats?"

[GM]
"That's something to keep in mind. I'd like to hear how you met them in detail. Now, or later."
Eiha is thus prompted to share her experiences with rats, and the conversation takes an awkard, if exciting turn from there.

。。。