Cephiro, Elven Province

[Ebiris]

Nodding in reply to Umi, Fuu casts detect magic.

[Carthrat]

The burly elf dosn't show up on Fuu's radar, only the two elves she already knows are magically enhanced appear on it. Fuu gives a slight nod to Umi..

OOC: I'm taking liberties with your character to hurry things along, Eb. Speed has always been one of my highest priorities, but if you have a problem with me doing that sorta little thing, just tell me.

[Corwin]

Satisfied by Fuu's nod, Umi addresses the burly elf, not fully taking her eyes off Hikaru's contained opponent. "The castle has been infiltrated by outsiders who disguised themselves to launch a coordinated surprise attack on us. Those two," she says, indicating the pair her friends' magic had caught, "have been spotted by Hikaru's magic and fell for Fuu's line of questioning, at which point they attempted to attack us and escape." Umi takes a deep breath. "Since any other infiltrators are likely to have been alerted by now, would you help us look for them amongst the rest of the bushi?"

[Carthrat]

"Hrmph," says the guard. "I trust your word, Umi-san, but we ourselves have no means of detecting magic. Oh, release her," he says, signalling to the other bushi, who releases Hikaru.

"What exactly would you have us do?"

[Corwin]

"Let's try to gather as much bushi in a single area as possible, under the pretense of a drill or somesuch," Umi muses, glancing at her friends. "Fuu could then cast Detect Magic again on the lot of them, and we'll see who else is amongst the impostors. Those who wouldn't show up would be under suspicion, until we could see them and assure that they are indeed who they claim to be." After pausing momentarily, she adds, "And the two here should be incapacitated in the meanwhile, until we are free to interrogate them more."

[Halbarad]

Hikaru smoothes out her kimono as the bushi releases her, wincing a bit at the lovely bruise forming on her chest. She speaks quietly. "We should be very careful then, Umi. If their numbers are evenly spread throughout the bushi the way these two were, we could quickly find ourselves outnumbered."

[Ebiris]

"Well, there are still certain to be more genuine elves than infiltrators among the bushi, but I see your point, Hikaru, it would be best if things did not degenerate into a mass melee..." Fuu says to her redheaded friend.

OOC: I don't mind Fuu being NPC'd to just go along with whatever's happening, just so long as I don't miss anything important...

[Carthrat]

The lead bushi nods to Umi's words. "I'll see it's done. What should we do with these two?" he asks.

[Halbarad]

Hikaru crosses the room and picks up one of the sheets, using her knife to help her cut it into strips. "We can bind them and leave them here with one of your men as a guard, if that is quite all right with you. We can deal with them once we've taken a look at the rest of the bushi."

She nods towards the blinded, unconscious boy. "That one at least isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

[Carthrat]

"Of course, Hikaru-san. Oi! You lot! Get to it!" barks the bushi, sending all but two of the soldiers outside. The other two start tying up the now-protesting elf and his fallen comrade..

OOC: Quick pause if you want to say anything to each other.

[Corwin]

Umi knocks out the protesting 'elf' with a scowl. "He should be easier to tie up now, I think," she comments, before waiting for the burly elf to return.

[Carthrat]

A short while later...

With the resistant elves safely secure, the burly elf has been true to his word, assembling 60 or so bushi in the training area. He approaches Umi..

"Umi-san, there are several not in attendance. Roughly seven or eight. We can comb the city for them, if you wish.."

[Corwin]

Umi nods. "We'll do that after checking the majority of them." Pondering something for a moment, she tells the burly elf, "We should have them stand at distances from each other, I think, in case those whose identities are found out would try to assault the others in the ensuing confusion."

[Carthrat]

The elf nods. "Well, do your thing. I have the men you inspected from the barracks standing by in case something happens," he says.

[Corwin]

"Thank you," Umi says sincerely, and turns to Fuu, the corners of her mouth quirking. "Work your magic?"