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Iyou merely continued to look at him, blinking for a moment, before nodding. "This mission...it is to return and brief the Leader on what has transpire here...that is what protocol would demand my mission is, as an agent of the Hidden Sound." she blinked. "I will ensure that you return as well...that is...a bonus." she continued to stare at him before turning her head down to the map. "You should examine that.....it may lead us to finding a way out of this unknown location...that would be helpful..." she continued to stare at the map then returned her gaze to him. ".......is it later now...?"



Tsuo returned to te room with his usaul look in place, setting the packs against the wall. "I've packed the food we'll need...but we'll more if we intend to take the Yakushi. Since we don't know where we are or how far we have to go to return to the village, we should be well prepared..." he noted the map in Makoto's grasp. "Ah...good. Have you looked at it? Do you know where we are?" he walked over, taking the map from the other boy and opening it with a studious gaze. "Hm....I'm not familiar with this region...at the very least we aren't close to Oto... we'll have to be very careful about how we handle things from here....hm...here, Lung, what do YOU make of this...?" his attention also turned to the stone sculture, handing the other boy the map as he picked up the stone key with some measure of interest. "Hm...? What's this...? It looks almost like it was made to fit in an indentation of some sort...a key? But to what...?" he frowned considering. "Strange..."

Tsuoiki Otobe

Tsuo shook his head. "There's no need to look for her." he pointed over his shoulder. "She's in the front room there, rummaging through a trunk by the sound." he understood that most people didn't have his grasp of his surroundings, so he was patient with Makoto, it was one of the key teachings in the Otobe class at the new academy that not everyone pecieved the world as they did, and it was therefore vital that they recognize this and inform their subordinates of anything they might have been missing. In this case it was merely a matter of the girl being so close he hadn't thought it relevant. She paused to listen. "She's heading back now...sounds like she's carrying something though...foot steps are a bit heavier..."

He turned his head slightly as Airi re-entered the room, acknowledging her return with a nod. "Did you find anything of use?" he inquired imperiously.



Airi gave a nod, holding several packages of food rations in her arms. "Yes. I assumed that we would need rations if were bringing a fourth member, so..." she looked towards Iyou who was still merely examining them all like a souless doll. She gave a small disapproving frown, but continued. "If we were bring Miss Iyou."

"You assumed correctly." Tsuo stated flatly, and then it occured to him to ask Airi Makoto's question. "We've found a map, Anzan...have you ever heard of a place called "Toko..." he adjusted his glasses, one of the otobe's only two senses that WERE perfectly mundane, being their sight "It's smudged slightly...tiki? Toko...tiki Village"...?"

Airi paused, thinking as she helped pack the supplies, looking pensive. "Tokotiki...isn't that the village of the ghosts?"

Tsuo raised a brow. "I'm not familiar with it."

Airi nodded to herself, slinging one of the packs on her shoulder. "Yes... I'm sure it is. Tokotiki is the village of the ghosts. It's said that one day the villages almost entire population disappeared over night...just like that. No one's entirely sure what happened." she looked rather casual about it, thinking nothing of recanting an urban legend to them. "They say three children survived, but the details are always very sketchy, and while one of them was an Uchiha, he was killed a few years ago. Besides him, no one knew anything about the other two. People say if you walk through the village these days you'll end up disappearing...just like the villagers."

"It sounds like a ridiculous and outlandish farce." Tsuo remakred bluntly. "Who'd ever heard of such a-"



"....I like that story...." Iyou interjected.

Tsuo stopped short, lifting a brow at the girl before starting to continue only to be interrupted again.

"Did they get ripped apart...?"

Airi looked a little unsettled. "Did they....what?"

"....The villagers. Did they get ripped apart...?"

"I....no." Airi shook her head. "They just vanished."

Iyou seemed as unaffected as ever. "....Oh." she sounded vaguely disappointed.

Tsuo cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well then." he looked towards Airi again. "I don't suppose they ever mentioned where this village WAS?"

Airi paused to consider. "I am not entirely sure, Otobe-sama, but I believe it was somewhere in the far south."

Tsuo swore lightly under his breath. "That puts us quite a ways from any comfort zone...or best chance would be to run into the mercenary army that serves my clan and the village...they're stationed here in the south...but where they might be..." he folded his arms. "Still..." he looked to Makoto. "If we are going to leave, let's do so now. Lung, what do you recommend? We can't likely travel too far tonight...the map may be useful but it's not specific enough that i'd trust following it at night, and I don't want to risk using the torches this close to their hide out. We can't stay here obviously...unless we intend to set up an ambush... what do you think...?"

Makoto
((Reaction: As you examine the map, your eye is drawn to the fact that the area directly through the valley is rather exposed, and though following the river closely would lead you right out, if the map is accurate, you might leave yourself to open to attack...assuming that the enemy is still in the area. Another key problem is the spot on the map marked "Northen Camp"...you notice that while they want to avoid this "haunted village" they make no such marks about this area. If they are indeed an underground organization...then they would want to remain undetected...it's likely that this "northern camp" belongs to them. This makes even more sense if indeed you are in the south. The camp is not to the north in general, but rather the most northern camp in this valley... you don't know the extent of this camp or it's particulars merely from this map, but you should probably avoid it...

The best plan for the night, and maybe for the trip through the valley, would be to hit the thick forested cover to on the lower end of this map...it's likely you could stay hidden there, and perhaps even make camp. It would appear to grant enough cover, if it's as thick as the forest you can see from the cliff, to escape the valley entirely undected...though of course the forest would have it's own dangers in w wild place such as this.

The other alternative is to skirt the other side of the river and head through the woods there, which would take you through slightly less dense forest, while still providing adequte cover...the drawback, it is considered one, is that this would take you through the area around Tokotiki village... but you doubt there are actually ghosts there...it's most likely just a pack of groundless rumors...))

LV. 3
Experience: (37/200)
Hp: 29/30
Cp: 24
MHp: 33
Resting posts must be 4 lines long +1 hp/cp/mhp

Nodding to Tsuo about what he said on leaving now, makoto placed the map and the stone key away in his pockets before thinking of something. Looking back over to Tsuo, makoto spoke to him in a respectful and kind tone of voice. “Tsuo… if we are going to leave then we need to continue to hide evidents of our actual escape, untie the massive rope once everyone is on the ground floor. We will move out when we have all gathered, see you on the ground Tsuo. “ As makoto finally spoke, he felt the snake girl jump on his back and wrapped herself around him like before. He jumped in surprise but he didn’t have to worry anymore, but he looked over and saw that Airi was giving the snake girl a dirty look. The two girls… they seemed to be interested in him. Were they really ‘THAT’ interested into him, did he have something that they wanted?

Shaking his head to himself, he spoke over to Airi with a kind smile on his face. “ Airi… I need your thoughts on the wilds once we are in the forest, if there is any natural resource that we can use… I want to collect it in case. We may run into animals and stuff, so it’s important to keep our medical Otobe healthy too. All right everyone, let’s roll out. “ Spoke Makoto as he climbed over the window, grabbing hold of the rope as he slowly started to make his way back down to the ground. This time however seemed different somehow, like the snake girl was getting abit lighter from the last time. Crawling down the ropes abit faster than before, Makoto looked back at Iyou and spoke to her with a smile on his voice. Also… I need to ask you something once we hit camp for the night, it’s important to our survival. “ Spoke makoto as he let out a loud yawn, he was not use to staying up so late at night.

Reaching the ground for a moment, makoto jumped off the rope and landed on his feet abit roughly . Still, makoto shock it off like it was nothing. Sighing with a long yawn again, he was really starting to think about having the others continue on with him asleep. He was tired and it showed in his eyes, he maybe an academy student… but he was just only 12.

The forest is thick...VERY thick. In fact having lived around Oto one would NEVER have seen a forest this uncommonly vast and dense. The tree's seem to go on forever and the twisted trunks and thick canopy of leaves blocks out what little light the moon and stars could manage, causing it to become very dark, very quickly. Traversing over underbrush and amidst the roots of the giant tree's, you arrive in the shadow of a particular giant tree, it's root alone looking as though it would supply sufficient cover for a camp, but high above in the tree, though in this case it seems like it would be quite the climb, there's a large open nook that would be perfect to fit a tree top camp, assuming you managed to have someone skilled enough to build such a thing in the time you have.

Short of that, your best chance at setting up a camp is here on the ground under the large root, using the thick vines growing all over it as a fine curtain to conceal your presence... if indeed you wish to stop for the night.

This part of the forest is hard to make out much in from the low light, but you'd guess that you've managed to find yourself in a VERY over sized grotto of sorts, the thick tree's covering all directions...if anywhere in the area is safe from your pursuers it's probably here... it's just a matter of avoiding the local wildlife.

You notice that, as you neglected to when you moved through the forest, that Tsuo has been taking the initiative to cover your tracks. Hopefully this will do well to throw off your pursuers... luckily you even were crossing over quite a few tree trunks on your way, meaning leaving too much of a trail in the hard ground was difficult to begin with. it's unlikely that they'll track you...

(You post first, the NPC's will go after you.)


*You are beginning to feel tired. -2 to checks until rested...

Roll

As soon as a Makoto Collapsed, Iyou held up her hand. "Dibs." she stated in her usual flat voice.



Airi's face blanched as she glared at the girl. ""D-di- I beg your pardon! What is THAT supposed to mean!?"

Iyou looked at the girl quizzically. "It means I have dibs. Turn around for a while."

Airi turned scarlet, her feral eyes flashing slightly as she began to shake the impassive girl. "Now wait just one second you you you.."

Iyou merely blinked apparently looking entirely unruffled. "Why, are you jealous?" she inquired bluntly. Airi was about to blurt out several profanities but Iyou merely took the opportunity to stroke the other girl's cheek. "It's okay. I don't discriminate between boy's and girls. After I'm done with my first dibs. I'll call it on you too."

Airi backed away frozen in exasperation and shere disbelief as Iyou merely tilted her head in confusion, as though not understanding her reaction. "N-but-wha-and-I WHAT!?"

Iyou tiled her head the other way. "Oh...are you like my partner...? A...what does she call herself...a tease?"

Airi seemed to collapse into unconsciousness herself from immense over embarrassment while Tsuo merely slapped a hand over his face.

"Ku ku ku ku..."



Tsuo refocused his gaze on Iyou, who seemed to be smirking to herself looking satisfied. "You're all so much fun to play with..." she looked over at Tsuo. "Would you like to play with me too Otobe-sama...?"

Tsuo seemed unmoved. "Hn...I'm not some naive child you can push around at your whim...agent of Cruxis."

Iyou let out another small smirk from under her generally impassive face. "Aw. You're no fun, Otobe-sama."

Tsuo adjusted his glasses, looking towards the hollow under the root that Makoto had chosen. "Well, no matter...better the evil that you know then the one you don't, I believe is the saying..." he looked at the girl measuringly. "If you were here to kill me..."

Iyou continued to merely stare at him. "You, Makoto-kun, and Airi-chan would be dead right now." she stated plainly.

Tsuo nodded, folding his arms. He'd thought as much. This girl was indeed an agent of the mysterious organization his father had warned him of then... but what then was their intention...?

"Come on." Iyou walked off towards the root's underside as she prepared to make camp for them. "You can carry them...I'll be touching them all night so it's only fair."

Tsuo twitched slightly, hoping once more that the girl was merely saying things to get a reaction. He made a mental note to get a little sleep as he needed to function. There was no telling what this girl was going to do to them once they were all out...

Make Camp (Iyou)
Survival: 10+10(wisdom)+3= 23 (success)