Into the Woods
The magistrates headed off to survey the area around Ryoko Owari and investigate the hideout given away by the one of Fade's bandit that had been captured and interrogated. Ashidaka Naritoki had showed up and reported it abandoned. Following the direction given it was located as a rough shack built into a hillock with vegetation helping to conceal it. It was indeed abandoned and further appeared to have been heavily burned to the point of being close to collapse. Searching carefully Ichiro Bando found a badly-burned scrap of paper ground into the dirt and beneath a small mound of ashes:
While returning through the woods, about a half a mile from the road, they noticed a spot where the horses' hoofbeats sounded different. Getting down and investigating the ground revealed a rough burlap sheet topped with dirt and leaves laid over wooden boards . Beneath them was a shallow pit in which several barrels of Friendly Traveler sake had been stashed. None of them with tax stamps. After opening discreet holes in the bottom to drain the product out in an apparent accident, it turned out that one of them, labeled as containing nama sake, was actually packed with black powder.
Ryū-Ryū
Mirumoto and Akodo followed up on Tamori Gojinka's invitation to visit Kitsuki Jotomon's dojo. Arriving there they found that the students were a far more varied group than would be expected: notable members of Great Clans were taught alongside Minor Clans, heimin, and even gaijin with no regard given for status or rank. Jotomon-sensei specifically stating that all other matters be left at the door; inside one should be respected only for their skill.
There Mirumoto met not only the cocky Merenean Aloisio Silva, an able swordsman by his assessment, but the friendly, easygoing Mantis Shrimp. After Tamori bested Mirumoto while sparring Aloisio took the opportunity to mock him for being defeated by a mere shugenja, but the matter was soon interrupted by Shrimp offering to take his new friends out for drinks.
DIY DOA Say HOA
With the arrival of more manpower, work has begun in earnest on the "renovations" to the Magistrate Residence. Yet this did not escape the notice of Kitsu Senshi. She found cause to come by complaining about the noise generated by construction. According to her it was already bad enough that Asako Kinto was engaged in construction — shoring up the wall around his garden, the only presentable part of his home — but now this is just making it intolerable. This despite the fact that she lives several blocks away from both.
What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?
Following up on the letter that they had received from Hitoshi, the Magistrates traveled to Musume Mura before heading to Otosan Uchi to make their monthly report. A Mantis sailor named Hozumi on the Issa Maru had gone missing about a week earlier and hadn't been seen since. They talked to a friend of Hozumi's who had been staying with during shore leave. They had gone to the shrine to Hantei looking to meet women when they had a fight and split up. Hozumi never came back. When he was still gone the next day, his friend reported him missing. Looking through his things they found a flyer for "ALL-NATURAL MALE ENHANCEMENT!!!" that directed them to a medicine shop near the docks named Blood of the Tiger.
Visiting there the owner recalled a strange, unsettling woman who brusquely left a list of herbs and ingredients with an address and then tossed down a bag of silver without asking the price. He recalled her having an odd, knobbly hairstyle.
The address turned out to be an old, disused warehouse. A nearby street vendor confirmed seeing a woman matching her description coming and going once or twice. As soon as they went inside they felt something strange, as if their blood had become slow and thick, making them feel weak and clumsy. In the back they found Hozumi... strung up, apparently tortured at length, and dead. At some point it seems that his blood had been drained as well, and bowls on a nearby table indicated that it was likely collected in them. A strange circle was on the floor around his body, seemingly made with some of the blood. A note was found stating "Shokaku - Hour of the Hare."
While examining the body, a couple of animated, recently-dead corpses attacked them along with a skeleton that had a strange, glowing symbol on its head. The corpses fought until decapitated or chopped to pieces while the skeleton exploded when its head was torn off.
After defeating the undead, Kasuga Osamu investigated the note and found that it was the name of a ship that had set sail two days earlier. The dockhand stated that the often sail either south down the Crane coast
or north up to Otosan Uchi, Slow Tide Harbor, and the Phoenix lands. While asking around an eta girl also told him about seeing a similar-sounding woman meeting a drunken sailor on the street, and, after conversing for a bit, leading him to the warehouse.
The consensus seems to be that this is the same woman that was glimpsed in Slow Tide that you've been trying to track down. The enigmatic Kitsu Sokori