A fun little party was formed in order to look for a missing ronin. Kitsuki Ryoma, Hida Yamato, Isawa Kaen, Tonbo Togo, Asako Hinoka, and Agasha Haru met in a tavern of sorts and drank barely passable tea as they waited for the one that commissioned them. Once he arrived, a ronin in gray robes, he gave the group a run down on what was needed. A ronin had gone out searching for herbs and fungus. His mule had returned, but he had not. The mule was covered in mud and smeared with blood. The client gave them a rough map of the area with some indications of where the ronin should have gone. The group went to inspect the mule to see if they could garner any clues as to what had happened, but only managed to surmise that it had slid down from some sort of muddy slope of a severe decline. The group set off, found the tracks of the mule and found the camp. It was determined that he had not been in the camp for some days, and that it was likely a bore was hunting him.

The shugenja communed with nature to find the forest was in a state of unrest. Something was horribly wrong, though it was hard to say why. The group then set off to follow the tracks deeper into the forest. They then came across a step, muddy decline clear signs of something heavy sliding down it. It was determined that it was the location the mule and ronin had slid down. The more athletic of the party slid down first with the help of a rope, stopping half way down as it looked as though the mule and man had been separated. The mule had continued to slide down where the man had begun walking along the treacherous ledge. The less athletically inclined made their way down with varying degrees of grace (and the lack there of), before continuing their way along the ridge themselves. They then spotted a shape that looked like a boar, though it was unmoving. Once again, the group slid down, showing the same ability per person as they did the last slope.

The group inspected the boar, which was dead, but had strange black veins making the flesh look more rotten than it should. The boar had died from blunt force trauma to the head, but it had many wounds that were several days old and were particularly disgusting. They discussed burning the boar, but the thunder was starting to roll across the sky in warning and they had to find the ronin quickly. They pushed onward, finally finding the man. He was alive, but barely. The group did their best and managed to stabilize him with a mixture of skill and mysticism.

It was decided that they would hunker down and camp for the night rather than trying to trek through the rain with an injured man.