Captured! Revelations of the Mysterious Tomb..

[Carthrat]

The horse *does* draw closer.. to about a hundred feet away, in fact. However, the rider looks like he's going to turn the horse around and go somewhere else. If Fuu wants to move, now is the time.

[Ebiris]

Deciding that there is nothing she can do at this range that doesn't carry the risk of the horseman simply bolting away and then alerting the encampment of her presence, Fuu allows him to continue on his way as she returns back to her detachment of the Cephiro army.

[Carthrat]

Meanwhile...

After taking posession of her spiffy new spellbook, Hikaru and Ukyo leave, alone, to travel across the wilderness towards the location of the elven scout parties.

The journey is rather long..

<->

Meanwhile, Fuu arrives back at her scout party.

[Ebiris]

Fuu tells Umi and the bushi about the situation as she saw it at the bridge, as well as her near encounter with the gaijin horseman.

[Carthrat]

"Are you sure he didn't see you?" asks the nearest Bushi.

[Ebiris]

"Quite sure," Fuu nods. "He was some way off, and I was fairly concealed. And as a human his vision would not be all that good to begin with at this light level."

[Carthrat]

The bushi shrugs. "I wonder what he was doing? A gaijin.. oh well."

<->

Meanwhile, Hikaru comes across the remnants of an elven villiage that once existed in the proud forest. The treetop houses and canopy towers have been burnt to the ground, along with all the trees. Now only blasted rubble and piles of scorched wood adorn the area.. as well as the bodies of several once-living elves, not touched by the carrion. The stench of the corpses is still in the air, and an acrid trace of smoke remains..

[Halbarad]

Hikaru wrinkles her nose at the stench. "Why destroy so much?" she mutters, half to herself. "Why not just take what they want and go?"

Shaking her head at the senseless destruction, Hikaru continues on to her rendezvous with Umi and Fuu.

[Carthrat]

Ukyo trudges after Hikaru. "Because.. they hate you. And probably everything you stand for," he says, shrugging. "They're like Ronin, only to the nth degree."[/list]

[Corwin]

"Let's wait for Hikaru and Ukyo, and for the other groups to rendezvous with ours" Umi suggests, before turning to Fuu. "Can you estimate the amount of Matsu or Fey'ri at the bridge, aside from those twelve guards?"

[Ebiris]

Fuu considers this for a moment, "I'd say around twenty, possibly more. And there's no telling how many are within the encampment itself..."

[Corwin]

"Well, we can't let them have it. If Shigen wants whatever's in that tomb...." Umi trails off, shaking her head. "In any case, I think attacking the bridge with the combined forces of all our scouting groups and then withdrawing to try and lure the rest of the enemy into an ambush is as good a plan as any. If you agree, I'd love to hear ideas about decent ambushes we could set up in the meanwhile."

[Ebiris]

"If we combine with the other groups currently out here, we do stand a good chance of successfully attacking the bridge without too many casualties," Fuu agrees, "But engaging the main bulk of their forces would be suicide, and it wouldn't take long for reinforcements to arrive from the encampment."

Fuu then tries to think of any natural terrain features nearby that could be used to form an effective ambush spot.

[Carthrat]

Fuu knows there's plenty of burnt-out trees that would probably be *very* effective in the dark, though not so in during the day.

<->

While travelling, Hikaru comes across something odd. There's a small fountain in the middle of wasteland that she doesn't recall ever seeing before; or ever being mentioned.

Despite the scorched land about her, it seems untouched. There's a palbable feeling of magic around it..

[Halbarad]

Hikaru studies the fountain with a faintly puzzled expression, casting Detect Magic after a few moments to try to get a better idea of what KIND of magic she can feel coming from it.