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Venturing south from the castle would prove... trying. The wooded area surrounding it made it difficult to traverse, as it was overgrown and unmanaged. But eventually, it would start to thin out.

Eventually, emerging from the treeline, the four of you would get to a clearing. What awaited you would be best described as a miniature construction site: there were logs and building materials everywhere; it looks the skeletal frame of a building was currently being built, and it was occurring by the hands of what appears to be three men in monastic robes, their heads completely shaven.

At this point, they have not taken notice of any of you, but you are also a fair distance away.

Beyond this building that was... er... being built... there did not seem to be much in the way of sights to see in this clearing (that you notice, anyways). If you were to continue south, the trek would not be difficult and you would soon end up in the fields of Efude Village.

What are you doing?

@ Gahl:

As the Hida would take point and approach the men, one would take notice and bring this to the others' attentions. Stopping what they were doing, placing lumber and tools down, they would turn to face the Crab.

"Greetings, Crab-san," the first would say, his hands folded into his sleeves as he and his two fellow monks would say, bowing.

"We are acting on behalf of the Fortunes," the second would say matter-of-factly as they all lifted their heads.

"More to the point, we are building a shrine," explained the third, and they would all smile politely.

If you want to tell anything about them just by appearance, you'll need to give me a TN 20 Intelligence/Lore:Theology roll. Otherwise, they look like... well, just plain ol' monks.

NOTICE: TSUYOSHI IS NOW ON NPC STATUS UNTIL HIS PLAYER IS ABLE TO POST AGAIN. CHIHARU'S REMOVAL IS IMMINENT!
(removal is just from the active story, not from the game; you will miss any XP for areas you did not post/explore in, but will be able to rejoin when you are able to log into Gaia again)

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Gahl did not know enough of the monks by appearance alone to make anything of them. They look like monks!

"Oh, not at all, not at all," the first monk would say in response to Gahl's comment about the location. "In fact, there was a shrine in this very location. We are using its foundation as our own. It was razed by the enemy during the Destroyer War."

Perception/Investigation roll result: Yes, these claims seem to be substantiated. It might not have been obvious at a glance, simply assuming that everything here was brand new as a result of their construction project, but there DEFINITELY used to be a structure here. You see telltale signs of that, as well as of battle.

"I'm afraid there are no written schematics, friend Crab," the second one would explain. "We've done this before, many times. We've given up on needing plans written down years ago. Though, with the war as it was, it has been several years. Personally, I'm hoping we aren't too rusty at this. But honestly, it does feel like putting on an old pair of sandals."

Sincerity result:

"If you would like, we can attempt to at least scrawl out a general layout, if it would be of aid to you in your venture," the third one offered. "If you have some paper, I can draw out what the floorplan would look like, based on our previous work."

@ Ayame:
These were definitely monks, you could tell by the style of their robes. Though probably indistinguishable to the untrained eye, you recognized each temple they belonged to. One belonged to the Temple of Kaimetsu-Uo, another to the Temple of Osano-Wo, and the third to the Temple of the Thousand Fortunes. All Fortunist monk orders.

"Ah, good morning, Miya-sama," the Kaimetsu-Uo monk greeted, and the three would bow respectfully to her. "I was starting to think Crab-san was sent by divine mandate of another rival Fortune merely to harry us."

"We greatly appreciate your generous offer, Miya-sama," the Osano-Wo monk would respond. "But this is not our first such project. The three of us have worked on over one hundred such shrines throughout the Empire."

"Actually, it has only been eighty-nine," corrected the Thousand Fortunes monk.

"Wait, really? It feels like more than that..."

"Actually, there were two more I worked on without the two of you, back in eleven-sixty-eight, so I'm at ninety-one."

"I didn't know that," the third responded, before clearing our throat. "My apologies, noble samurai. Details aside, the fact that a previous structure's foundation remains makes our job a touch easier. You can scribe blueprints if you would like, but please, do not trouble yourself on our behalf."

Tsuyoshi, you move forward to join Ayame, but you turn your head to your side. Chiharu seemed very bothered by the monks, shaking her head no. With a saddened expression but with no uttered word, she would quickly bow her head in apology before turning and retreating back the way the four of you had come. Tsuyoshi would be a bit confused about what would scare Chiharu off so easily, and decided it was better to stick with Ayame for now. He'd have to think up some way to justify Chiharu's sudden abandonment to the Imperial.

"Please, the Wall is more important to me than what a few monks think..." Gahl would state following the first monks statement about him. "... No offense." Quickly adding afterwards

(Sorry for the delay)

"Then if it an opportunity for education, it would be my honor to aid you," the Thousand Fortunes monk would say, bowing to Ayame.

In the meantime, the other two monks would simply continue to work.

Ayame, this will not be a quick process. Please give me two rolls: Intelligence/Engineering (Construction) roll and an Intelligence/Calligraphy roll, each against TN 20.
0/2 successes = This area will count as 2 areas for the purpose of determining your final average (see the XP section for details)
1/2 successes = This area will count as 1 area (as normal).
2/2 successes = This area will count as 0.5 areas.

However, in addition to that, I need to know what Gahl and Tsuyoshi will be doing in the meantime. I may have rolls for them.

While Tsuyoshi was concerned about his clanmate's behavior, he was not comfortable leaving the area as well while the imperial was here, even if she had plenty of trustworthy company it seemed. Uncomfortable with naught to do for the moment while she worked on her map, the Crane had a thought- and approached the two monks returning to the manual labor.

"Brother monks, may I be of some assistance?"