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[BerkaZerka]

Leaving Chief Magistrate Yama-Uno's house, Miya takes care to select her Doshin and assign them to work parties for the clean-up of Sendai; while waiting for the rest of the Samurai to finish their own business, before everyone meets up again at Yuki's house.

Being first to gather her men, Miya sets them up at the ruined castle of the Daimyo and watches them begin to clear rubble out from the broken foundation with scores of commoners already working there.

It's not long however, before her Doshin rush to her and bow low.

"Lady Sugai," one of them says with a worried look - "There is something you must see!"

Following the Doshin to a recently cleared set of stone stairs under the castle's foundation, Miya notes the tangy stench of vinegar emanating from darkness below.

"There's something else down there," the Doshin says, "you can just make it out under the smell of vinegar."

Concentrating and taking a sniff, Miya does indeed detect another scent - almost masked, but not quite, by the vinegar - the stench of carrion and decay...

[Fireplay]

Miya narrows her eyes at the smell and motions for her Doshin to begin working directly on this(and some of the surrounding) area.
 "Someone alert the Chief Magistrate and ask him to come down here if possible. The rest of us will continue working."

She activates her Ruby Eye to search for illusion magic in the area and if nothing is detected then she will put on her White Kabuki Mask to see if she can tell how long ago or how this happened.

[BerkaZerka]

"Right away ma'am," one of the Doshin replies and hurries away.

Miya meanwhile, can see no illusions and can tell from examining the stairwell, that the place is equally as old as the Daimyo's castle was (very old) - but the scent of vinegar and decay are recent things.

[Fireplay]

"Doshin Tarumi, come with me. I  want to know what's been going on here. Tell another Doshin to let the Magistrate know I went inside if we're not out by the time he gets here."
 She says before readying her bow as she descends into the stairwell quietly.

[BerkaZerka]

At the bottom of the stone steps, Miya and Doshin Tarumi find a partially intact porcelain-tiled chamber - most of it having recently been collapsed under Yunikawa's meteoric bombardment of the castle.

A two inch pool of stale vinegar covers the floor, where it had once filled a now broken stone cistern - apparently designed almost like a hot-tub of sorts, where one could sit within, submerged up to their ears. More large oak barrels of vinegar are stored to one side of the room, some smashed open by the collapse of the ceiling to that end.

A short stout brazier near the steps has a scattered arrangement of torture and blood-letting devices in it, while the sweet stench of carrion emanates from a literal pile of mummified leathery corpses.

The withered husks are dried and paper-like, except where they now lie in the pool of vinegar and have begun to soak up and pickle in the mix.

[Fireplay]

Miya rinkles her nose at the overpowering smell and uses her Ruby Eye just in case.
 "Tarumi, clear this stairwell with the others and make sure no one but the Magistrate enters this building. After that head back down here for further instructions. I'll keep looking around here."

She quickly moves to examine the torture devices and bodies for something of interest or note.

[BerkaZerka]

Miya's Doshin does as ordered, leaving Miya alone in the chamber.

Giving everything a thorough look-through, she determines that the blood has been drained from all of the corpses prior to death - a theory supported by the blood-letting instruments in the bronze brazier.

Something else about the corpses then catches her attention - the clothing of six of the bodies stands out in her mind.

“As your first official duty”, Miya suddenly recalls the late Chief Magistrate Saito saying (what seems ages ago), “you will travel to the village of Aomori three hundred and forty miles to the north, at the very reaches of the Daimyo’s province. The Daimyo suspects that the villagers are conspiring with the Ebisu barbarians of Hokkaido and wants six of the village women brought back to Sendai as punishment. Here are your traveling papers and emblems of office; you leave tomorrow...”

The six village women they brought back from Aomori!

So, this is what happened to them - brought down to the dungeon torture chamber of the Daimyo to suffer ignoble death at the hands of a fiend!

And not just them... there are scores and scores of the silenced dead here...

[Fireplay]

Miya remains in silent anger as she uses the mask again to listen for anything nearby, inside or outside of the chamber.
 She does move to examine the other bodies nearby and see if there is anything else of note.

[BerkaZerka]

Searching a bit more, Miya notes the corner of a teakwood cabinet sticking out from the rubble and takes a moment to dig part of it out.

Originally locked, the now crushed cabinet is easily opened, and seems to have once held a collection of fermented blood, kept in glass-blown bottles - like some kind of twisted wine cellar. All that remain now however is broken glass and a sticky red mess.

As Miya is looking this over, Chief Magistrate Yama-Uno comes down the stone steps. He is alone, with Miya's Doshin waiting at the top of the stone stairway.

"What is this?" he asks with a measure of disdain in his voice.

It is unclear to Miya if he means 'the chamber' - or Miya 'snooping around in it'...

[Fireplay]

She quickly turns to give a slight bow before returning to her cautious stance.
  "Chief Magistrate, my Doshin recently discovered this chamber while we we're clearing rubble from near the Castle. I remember these 6 woman from the village Aomori long ago, we brought them back as punishment for a supposed alliance between their village and the Ebisu barbarians of Hokkaido. "

 She then takes a tense breath before continuing.
  "I believe this chamber and the torture of those woman along with a large uncounted number of other bodies are of the Daimyo's own design. I see nothing else to dissuade this notion and I know my own memory quite well.

Miya then awaits the Magistrate's response, be it good or ill.

[BerkaZerka]

"Hmm..." The Chief Magistrate huffs, visibly shaken by what he is seeing, but constrained by proper protocol to handle it in a proscribed way - "It is the prerogative of the Daimyo to punish those he deems worthy of it, in any way he sees fit."

Then motioning for Miya, he directs her up the stairs, "Have your men seal this chamber back up; and speak nothing of it. That is my order Yoriki."

[Fireplay]

"Magistrate... I do have one more thing to add before we leave the chamber. Be careful who you trust with information about this chamber. I fear that we would endanger ourselves if we reveal such knowledge."
 Miya says to the Chief Magistrate before ascending the stairs and waiting for the Chief Magistrate at the top to see if he had anything else to add.

[BerkaZerka]

The Chief Magistrate says nothing, but follows Miya out and waits there to ensure for himself that the chamber is sealed up.

[Fireplay]

Miya calls her Doshin over to begin resealing the passageway and to remove any trace of it's reveal. Once that is done she then turns to the Magistrate and bows before leaving without another word.

[BerkaZerka]

Continued HERE