That tail has been persistent, and now that you have your cargo in tow, you’re gonna have to be extra careful or extra quick to get out of town.

Option A: You can commandeer the lumber barge currently tied to the wharf. That’ll only require a Tn 15 Sailing/Reflexes check from one character to get ‘er going. But you’ll also need to snow or overawe the authorities on the river gate to let you by. That’ll take a TN 20 Sincerity (Deceit) or Courtier/Awareness or Intimidation/Willpower check.

Advantages: Benten's Blessing
Disadvantages: Can't Lie

If you succeed, Proceed to Event IX: Bittersweet Reunion.

If the group should fail at this, then brace yourself for the consequences.

Option B: Or you can try to get out of the city on foot and commandeer a boat past the River Gate. That will take a Stealth/Agility check at TN 15 and an Athletics (Climbing)/Strength check at TN 20 to scale the walls out of sight of the Thunder Guard.

If you are successful, then it is no problem to hitch a ride in a vessel a short distance upriver and sail on back to Lion lands. Head to Event IX: Bittersweet Reunion.

Clambering onto the lumber barge, Ryoichi waved the rest of the party aboard. He quickly untied the rope that moored the boat to the wharf, then picked up one of the long poles to push the vessel away from the shore.

A few more vigorous applications of the pole caused the barge to start heading towards the river gate.

--
5LN Commandeer lumber barge, Sailing/Reflexes TN15, Void Point for skill | 5k4 ⇒ 25 (TN: 15) succeeds

Sae (thankfully) doesn't start talking to the river gate guards about how easily she could kill them.

Instead it's just a brandished chop and a piercing glare when it looks like they want to start asking questions.

With Ryuichi's capable shipcraft our heroes are away!

-----
Day 5, LN, Escape Upriver Event, Courtier/Awareness, Spending VP, Bentens, TN 20 | 7k5 ⇒ 29 (TN: 20)
Success on the courtier roll to get out with speed.

The towers (mercifully) do not unload on the Magistrate's barge, and the team begins the long trek home.

"Good work" Honoka said quietly once they were out of sight of the gates, grinning more.

Ryoichi flashed Honoka a grin. “Good work, yourself, Ikoma-san,” he replied. “And to the whole team. We work together well, ne?”

"That was quite the thrilling adventure," Sayomi added in, stifling a yawn after a very long day and night.

"Sorry for dragging you out in the middle of the night though, but time was of the essence, minna-sama," she remarked to Tatsuya and his son.

"I suspect it was a good time for you two to leave town," Ryoichi remarked to the ronin. "We had to turn away a group of gentlemen who appeared to have bad intentions towards you."

Ryunosuke looked at Sayomi as she spoke. There was something in his eyes, she saw, that bespoke a certain detachment. Perhaps he was still afraid.

"Time was of the essence for all of us, but for different reasons." He glanced back at his father. "If there is one thing I know, though, it is that we are only a few hours safer now than we were in that warehouse. You have done us no favors."

Tatsuya frowned. "Enough, Ryunosuke." He turns to Ryoichi. "A disagreement with Washio over how a job ended. Our former boss got too greedy on a caravan run, and had to be put down."

"Washio has strange ideas, but I did not expect him to be so angry."

"People can surprise you. Hoichi certainly surprised me, and I had known him for many years. Washio...Washio I ought to have anticipated. For him, Loyalty trumps all other principles."

“Loyalty to a fallen master is commendable,” Ryoichi said with a nod. “But we could not allow this Washio person to have you, Tatsuya-san. You have a bigger part to play, on another stage.”

Tatsuya chewed on that for a second. "I have to say, that still feels a little surreal."

"I don't blame you feeling that way" Honoka offered with a nod "four samurai on the word of the Empress sailing into the heart of one of the biggest cities in the land to find a Ronin and bring him and his child to winter court sounds like a wild adventure from a book, yet here we are. As I said in the warehouse, if you have anything you wish to ask please do. We have around a days journey ahead of us."

"I think I understood you properly, Ikoma-sama, but just to check: I am a possible heir to the throne? That's what the whole lineage thing was about?"

There was a nod.

"Hai Tatsuya-san. Your father, Hantei Muhaki, was the uncle of the blessed Empress. Through that lineage you have a link to the throne. The divine Empress wished for you to be brought before her because of this."

"I believe the Daughter of Heaven had the notion of seeing what sort of man you were, before making any definite decision," Ryoichi commented. "So nothing is final. But she clearly believes you should be given some consideration."