Cephiro, Elven Province

[Ebiris]

"I'm alright, Hikaru-chan," Fuu reassures the shorter elf, "But I am worried about Koshi-san..."

Shaking it off, Fuu grabs up her things, "And yes, we should depart quickly. Getting the information I discovered to Sakura-sama could save countless lives."

[Carthrat]

Taishi nods at the girls. "We had best depart too. Toshi will probably evacuate the villiage or some such, seeing as he can't view the plans."

[Ebiris]

Fuu takes out the battleplans from her gi, unfolding them and skimming over them to see how the Matsu attack plans deal with her home village.

[Halbarad]

Hikaru perks up as she remembers something. "Oh yeah! Tell Toshi-sensei that it looks like he was right; I was attacked by a group of monks just before the shouting started, and they were wearing Doji clan symbols. It's a small thing, but he'd probably want to know about it."

[Carthrat]

The plans are fairly detailed.

Apparently, tomorrow the Matsu were going to begin burning the forest something chronic. This was to continue for several days until the army reached Toshi's villiage, which would then be sacked.

From there, it was a war of movement and burning. Matsu raider parties would set fires in the middle of forests and towns while the reserve force steadily pressed on from outside the trees.

Eventually, so much of the High Forest would be burnt out that the elves would lose their otherwise decisive advantage; that of being able to shoot while hidden.

More disturbing was the fact that Doji forces were supposed to be on the way; parties of monks were supposedly already deep within Cephiro territory, but locations were not mentioned.

The plans also indicated, strangely enough, that the Doji were supposed to be used as a cleanup force; their army of monks was well suited to movement. The Matsu force was supposed to attract attention initially.

Most of the attacks would occur along the northen side of Cephiro, but the south was relatively untouched.

[Ebiris]

"Oh, my..." Fuu breathes, "It seems the attack is scheduled to begin tomorrow. We had best hurry!" she refolds the plans and puts them back into her gi. "Taishi-san, tell Master Toshi that the Matsu plan to burn as much of the forest as possible, while Doji monks are already hidden within the forest to act against us. No locations are mentioned, but at least knowing they are there will help somewhat."

Fuu refolds the plans and stashes them before turning around to see if Umi is coming.

[Corwin]

Umi appears, a frustrated look on her face. "He didn't show up," she tells her comrades, grimacing. "And we have to leave, now."

[Carthrat]

Taishi nods. "We'd best leave immediatly. Come on, men!"

The samurai quickly slink back into the woods, bowing on their way out.

[Ebiris]

Fuu nods. "I am prepared to go," she says, having gotten her gear in order.

[Corwin]

"Wait a moment, please," Umi calls out to the samurai. "Perhaps it'd be best if you split up into two-men teams. Two of those would head to warn Master Toshi, while the last one come with us to the capital, in case we run into more of those monks."

[Carthrat]

Taishi nods. "Kikuchi, Hayate, you go with them," he says. "You and you go that way, and we'll go this way," he continues, nodding to himself.

The elven samurai split up as spoken.

<->

The quickest route to the capitol of Cephiro is, of course, a straight line. However, the elves would probably want to stop for supplies along the way. So the best and fastest route would most likely be to trek through forest until they reach the town of Otsu, from which they could rest and get supplies, along with leaving a message for the Master of the town.

It would take about a day to reach Otsu, then another day of trekking through forest before the reached the edge. After that, it was about a four hour long walk across farmland to get to the capital.

[Carthrat]

The group of five travel through the forest towards the villiage of Otsu. The samurai are quiet, contemplating what the future holds for them, but they are also wary, trekking the entire journey with their bows strung and in their hand.

The elves come across the main trail to Otsu soon enough, but along the way, they come across a pair of elven corpses; one male, one female. They're both wearing simple clothes, and their bodies have been mutilated.

The male was apparently a swordsman, if not a samurai, but his sword is shattered on the ground nearby, and the sheath broke in two.

[Ebiris]

"Oh, my," Fuu covers her mouth as she nears the bodies, looking to see how long they have been dead, and whether they have been deliberately mutilated, or whether it looks like the work of a wild animal.

[Carthrat]

On inspection, it seems that the innocent elves were ripped apart, but there are no claw marks or the like to signify that it was a wild animal. It's more like they were ripped apart with somebodies bare hands.

[Ebiris]

Turning to her companions, Fuu frowns. "It would appear that the Doji clan monks have already begun to act against us. Though I cannot imagine what would possess them to mutilate the bodies in such a barbaric fashion."