Tales of Falling Sakura Blossoms

Once the ship gets underway, the party notices that they are being followed by a smaller craft. It trails them for some time, keeping up regardless of changes in the ship's speed or direction. Then, late at night, the pursuers use magic to create a shadow bridge and several assailants rush over. Fierce fighting takes place and much of the ship's crew is killed before the assailants are put down. It is not clear who they were, but an investigation of their boat reveals that they had a cannon, but the powder had gotten wet, so it was unusable.

The party rows into the rocky shore and scurries away from the beach where fishermen are preparing nets for the dawn. A few miles from the fishing villages on the shore is the capital of Shimubaru Han, Shobe. The city crawls up from the coastal lowlands up the small mountains stretching into the interior. The old walled city is partially surrounded by districts of markets, shops, homes and stockyards. The party finds an out-of-the-way hostel to use as their base of operations and begins following up on the leads the Chamberlain had provided them. The women meet with Aishiya, the famous dancer and are allowed to join her performance troupe. The men approach Chief Atabu Shita, the director of Shobe's defense. Chief Atabu is interested in them, but he wants them to perform a task to prove that they have no loyalty to Takajisu Han: kill a known Takajisun operative. Tomoki makes contact with an elven delegation from the Shogunate on the main island. Their presence in Shobe is alarming, as Nagashima's lords have long been able to resist falling under the direct sway of the Shogun.
A convoluted plan to kill the operative is hatched, after checking with Aishiya to see if she knows that he is really an operative; she doesn't know. A wagon is purchased and a scheme to kill it's driver is averted; he is bribed to run away instead.
The operative, a blacksmith, is stalked and that evening, as he is leaving his shop, the party besets him. He is killed and hidden in the wagon, but not before being seen by a local urchin who had been hanging around earlier in the day.
The Chief is happy with the ronins' work and agrees to bring them into Daimyo's service.

*****more later*****