The tiny fire kami is scary, but should be a little bit less scary if run by the book.

1. shouldn't happen - the books suggest that spending opportunity on things not on their profile should be rare for NPCs.

3. should be reduced by armor, arguably to 0 due to its supernatural nature and her wearing sanctified robes. To 2 if you treat it as physical.

4. should be 1, not 2 extra strife - this is explicitly one of the exceptions where you round down.

So three less strife than you calculated and 1-3 less fatigue.

That's still seriously scary, but slightly less so.

The suggestion about opportunities is for minions, rather than adversaries, though. Acknowledged about dangerous terrain, though - it does specify physical damage, so Horonigai's point of resistance would apply (I had it mixed up with bleeding , I suspect, which directly inflicts fatigue on a pretty much identical trigger)

Yes, ish. It's stated that minions shouldn't use their opportunities for anything else, but even for adversaries the advice is to mostly use it on their abilities and when dramatically appropriate. That when you have to think about it for more than a few seconds, you should just let them go unspent.
As for dangerous terrain, yes, that specifies physical damage, but I view it like techniques which specify physical damage and use your weapon. If you're using Katana of Fire, those will also deal Supernatural damage, because the KoF overrides that. So Dangerous terrain because it's filled with a supernatural fire deals Supernatural damage in my game, too, while Dangerous terrain that is on fire after someone set it on fire (with an invocation or something else) will do Physical damage.

But either way, you're certainly largely right. Tiny Fire Kami are surprisingly scary, even if it "only" would be 9 or 11 strife and 3 or 5 fatigue. That's gonna put a lot of characters right into compromised and really really close to incapacitated, either way.

• So... now defeated, the two fire spirits collapsed; their flaming halos dissipating to reveal the horrifically burned corpses of two villagers. By process of elimination, the survivors identified them as two lovers who had been missing - presumably in each other's company - for most of the afternoon.
• The heimin hadn't really seen what had happened - they'd been much to focused on fighting the fire - and certainly hadn't seen the burning man who the PCs had seen, apparently directing the carnage.
  • They did say, after being asked if anything else untoward had happened, that they'd heard what they'd assumed at the time were fireworks coming from the direction of Shiro no Shosuro. There was no festival happening they were aware of, though.
• Quite a few villagers had been killed.
  • Whilst the PCs didn't get involved in handling the bodies, Horonigai did aid the priest in reconsecrating the tiny village shrine, whilst Uiri and Goriate tried to win friends and influence people - the latter (who wasn't here for the session) by the time-honoured Hida method of lifting heavy objects - in this case helping heft some heavy beams supporting the burned-but-still-serviceable roof of the main barn, which would be the only shelter for quite a few grateful families.
  • Uiri tried to offer some advice to the carpenter (who had thankfully survived) on repairs, but - thanks to a poor roll - got a respectful response whose tone had a carefully suppressed subtext of "Yes, samurai-sama, of course, samurai-sama, whatever you say, samurai-sama, thank you for telling me how to do the trade I've been expert at for about twice as long as you've been alive , samurai-sama". Uiri decided not to press the issue given how traumatised the villagers were, especially since the carpenter hadn't actually said anything disrespectful (even if he was clearly thinking it).
• After a few hours respite (given how burned and bruised everyone was) they set out for Shiro no Shosuro, with rather more haste than previously. They had connected the strange figure with the rumours of the Elemental Oracle of Fire being in the region, though why he'd decided to start barbequing Scorpion Clan holdings (" beyond sensible general principles " - Uiri's player " Oi!" - Suiren's player) was a mystery.
  • Shiro no Shosuro was....not doing well, when it finally hoved into view. No small number of towers and buildings were fire-damaged, and a few were destroyed outright. Rather blatant twenty-foot-high kanji had been scorched into the wall in a gigantic display of pyrographic calligraphy, reading " RETURN WHAT WAS MINE OR BURN ".
  • Much of the hillside was scorched, with gardens and vegetation destroyed. Most worryingly, the white sand of the path crunched underfoot in chunks of crudely fuzed glass.
  • " So....it seems he might be a tad annoyed about something ." - Uiri's player.
• At this point, a cadre of armoured Scorpion Bushi poured out from behind a rocky scree, holding the PCs at arrow-point and demanding to know their business. After "what had happened" they had orders to admit no-one to the castle and they fully intended to shoot the PCs if they tried to bypass them.
• Fortunately, Suiren managed not to screw up a courtesy check for once. He passed a tough check, and rolled a handful of opportunities to boot - noticing that one of the bushi was Shosuro Kitsami; a friend of his. Making his way to the front of the group, he was able to successfully identify himself - and, critically, convince the bushi that the edict probably shouldn't apply to him since he was a senior member of the Shosuro family and as such had a right to be in the castle. They still weren't inclined to let him pass, but Kitsami volunteered to go and seek clarification from Shosuro Juberu; Suiren was a family member, and in turn was vouching for the other three as Emerald Magistrates.
  • This did the trick. After a few more nervous minutes, Juberu hurried apologetically out of the gates, and welcomed them, taking them through the busy, fire-damaged castle to a meeting room in a central building, where they were introduced to Shosuro Hametsu himself (though the daimyo barely spoke to them).
    • Interestingly, given an extremely good roll with many, many explosive successes, Uiri (though not the other two magistrates) placed Shosuro Hametsu as someone he'd met before, though it took him a while to figure out where - eventually realising that the man in front of him was 'Bayushi Ago', the Scorpion 'Magistrate' who they'd spoken to in Shiro Yogasha during the investigation into Doji Satsume's death.
    • Precisely why the Shosuro Daimyo was lurking in the Emerald Champion's castle in disguise in person and trying to persuade people to blame Doji Hotaru for her father's murder was an awkward question, but when Suiren filled in the missing detail that Shosuro Hametsu and Bayushi Kachiko were siblings and not, supposedly, well disposed to one another, it made a lot more sense.
    • It was also clear Hametsu wasn't Suiren's biggest fan, though at the time it wasn't clear why.
  • The party were given a brief outline of what had happened; Shosuro Medu had sought out the Oracle to ask questions on behalf of the Daimyo. He'd encountered the Oracle with a hinin girl in a mountain cave, and on Medu asking for the Oracle's aid, had become angry and driven him away. Not content with this, he'd chased Medu down and attacked the castle during the evening, demanding the return of some ill-specified stolen item, which Medu swore he'd not taken.
    • The Shosuro were under no illusions how an envoy from the castle would be received...and therefore would the PCs consider acting as mediators?
    • The PCs were...not impressed, but there's no diplomatic way to say 'get lost' to the daimyo of a Great Clan family.
      • Suiren - who was Shosuro, but had not been in the region until that day - would attend to represent the Scorpion. The fact that supposedly the Oracle might well kill him didn't seem to concern his family Daimyo as much as Suiren would have hoped.
        • He later discovered from Kitsami this was because a letter to Shosuro Hametsu from Kachiko had arrived a few days before they had. Kachiko being angry with Suiren was hardly a black mark in her brother's books, but any suggestion of someone putting any loyalty before the Clan was, however petty or vague the order - so if Suiren was torched by the Oracle, he
      • "So....do we believe their story?" "Like heck. But until we figure out exactly how they're lying through their teeth, we have to play along." Uiri and Horonigai's players.
      • So now the PCs are going to visit a potentially insane Oracle, to try and persuade him to maybe not kill them long enough for them to negotiate on behalf of a Daimyo they're convinced is lying to them.
      • They then let Goriate's player know how things had gone...

"YOU PROMISED THE SCORPION CLAN WHAT !?!?!?!"

...every single time...

So.... In last night's episode of ' Everything's On Fire!: The Musical' ...

• Travelling from Shiro no Shosuro to the mountain where Shosuro Medu had met the Oracle took a couple of days, and the PCs arrived at dusk.
• Theoretically they travelled unaccompanied, but the PCs were working on the assumption Hametsu had no plan of letting them out of their sight, and that every third tree had a Shinobi skulking behind it. The fact that failed to spot any pursuers meant nothing given it was Suiren's family in question.
• In the slowly gathering spring twilight, it was abundantly clear they were in the right place: what had looked from a distance like the fires of an encamped army turned out to be lava flows and burning gas vents covering a mountain scorched clean of vegetation.
• Suiren's player was absent, so it was agreed he'd stay behind to keep an eye out for (other) scorpions following them, and because bringing a Shosuro to meet the Oracle felt like a bad plan.
• The sheer, hot stone of the mountain would have been a treacherous climb, but a set of stairs were cut into the stone.
• The ascent still wasn't easy, and the first challenge came after only a hundred feet or so. The steps widened into a platform split in half by a ten-foot wide gully filled by a lava flow. It was jumpable - just - but the PCs were under no illusion that failing would be anything other than instant death.
• Horonigai stepped up with a plan - the same approach they'd taken to to ford the tainted river near Daylight Castle - use a daikyu arrow to shoot a line over, and then - provided Goriate temporarily removed his armour and tetsubo and sent it across as a pack before crossing- the three could swarm over with relatively little risk.
• The problem was that where before the arrow lodged in a dead tree, here she needed it to embed into solid rock. That...was going to be a problem.
• Horonigai knew that using invocations would be hard because the terrain was hallowed (fire) and imbalanced (all except fire). Besides which, none of her air invocations really seemed useful. So she decided to try importuning the Forge of Xing Guo (biting steel). That needed an offering, though...and she didn't really have anything.
• With a degree of sadness, Horonigai took her sword, reached up and cut her iconic red lock of hair, lighting it against a nearby flame and burning the folded hair whilst she prayed as if it was incense.
• She was taking no chances, and used one of only two remaining flesh-ripper arrows - it's tip now ablaze with elemental energy.
• With a good martial arts roll, the arrow embedded itself with a reassuring thunk into the stonework opposite and the PCs were able to cross safely.
• The next issue was a cluster of steam vents - simply following the stairway would leave the unwary horribly scalded.
• Horonigai stepped up again, this time using Tamon's Rebuke (Blessed Wind) to create a miniature tempest to blow the steam away (or at least disperse it somewhat). This had mixed results - she succeeded, but only by keeping enough strife to trigger spiritual backlash, causing her fatigue and meaning (rather understandably) that no air spirit was prepared to intervene again on the Fire Oracle's mountain. On the other hand, as a positive side effect, thanks to the air backlash effect she was able to create three tempest, one centred on each PC, which meant they didn't have to cluster together. The protection didn't last long, and they all got mildly scorched (Goriate, with his lower air ring, especially), but they made it through broadly uninjured.
• The next challenge proved to be a plane of soil and sand reduced to soft quicksand by hot gases flowing through it. Goriate took the lead, picking his way cautiously across and using his tetsubo to search for loose or searing-hot patches before the PCs blundered into them.
• The final challenge was a last flight of stairs coated in volcanic glass. Uiri suggested they use the jitte they'd been given in Shiro Yogasha as improvised climbing spikes, and this did the trick.
• Finally at the summit, they found themselves looking at an imposing stone throne on an island in a lake of roiling lava. A narrow stone bridge crossed the lake.
• On the throne, striking sparks and embers from the stone as his fingers distractedly drummed against it, and flanked by two pillars of flame, sat the wild-haired Elemental Oracle of Fire...

• Facing a possibly insane avatars of one of the most powerful spiritual entities in the entire celestial order is a time to be - as Horonigai's player put it - " really extra super-duper please-don't-incinerate-me-I'm-not-a-scorpion respectful ".
• She stopped at the end of the bridge and prostrated, bowing every bit as low as she had before the Imperial Dais at Winter Court.
• The Oracle looked at her with a concerning mix of anger, fear and disgust, but a (pretty hard) courtesy check at least got him to respond. When Horonigai asked if she could approach, he gestures at the three PCs and in a distraught voice said they could 'do as they wished'.
• The PCs cordoned on pretty fast that they were dealing with someone that- if they were human - they would say was trying and failing to process a huge emotional trauma. The Oracle wouldn't speak about things directly but was claiming to have suffered some great loss, and that ' she stole it and left foulness in its place '.
• Whilst the PCs had a healthy scepticism that anything the Scorpion Clan told them was true, to date the only 'she' involved was the hinin girl. Had she stolen something? But the Oracle had said she was his successor - surely he wouldn't pick a thief? The problem was that - given his alternating between morose and suppressed anger, they were hesitant to raise any subject which might bring that anger to the surface. Every time his anger bubbled up, a wave of searing heat rolled out from the Oracle across the mountain top, robbing them of their breath.
• Horonigai - the only one of the three who'd taken up the permission to cross the bridge and approach the throne - noticed something slightly disturbing: the Oracle's eyes varied from human - if darting and unfocused - to reddish pupils of a distinctly reptilian cast. The latter seemed to dominate in the Oracle's more lucid moments, and the shrine keeper realised that part of the problem was that the human half of the Oracle had become far more prominent and independent of the Dragon's presence, and was coping (badly) with emotion for the first time in what might be centuries. The PCs tried to be supportive, but were flying blind.
• Ultimately, they couldn't dance around indefinitely and Horonigai asked the question no one wanted to say out loud: " Who was 'She' and what exactly did she take?"
• "SHIRIKO" came the answer, and a blistering shockwave of heat rolled off the Oracle as he said the name. Horonigai's robes limited the damage she took but everyone took a non-trivial amount of fatigue from the sheer furnace-heat of the wave of rippling air.
• The Oracle broke down and explained. Shiriko (presumably Shosuro Shiriko, because the Oracle recognised her as a Scorpion) had come to him in this place. Interrupting the act of his succession, she had caught the eye of the Oracle - the human half, anyway, passions briefly freed from the bond with the Elemental Dragon of Fire in preparation for the succession - and had seduced him. The Oracle had truly believed she loved him - until she tried to turn him from his duty to the Dragon and the next Oracle, and to persuade him to give her the power of the Oracle instead if it's chosen successor. She had broken his heart, and - seeing his anger - fled before they could speak. He knew he had pursued her and remembered approaching what the PCs realised was Shiro no Shosuro, but his memory beyond that was blurred. He wanted to find her - to talk - to demand explanation - maybe to start over - the Oracle didn't really know.
• " What about the hinin girl? "
• At this, the Oracle's eyes became purely draconic in form, and heat could be seen rippling over the figure, and the Oracle produced a distinctly inhuman snarl of anger.
• " You guys might want to hold on to something. I think this one is going to be a big one " - Horonigai's player.

• It was.

• This time the pulse of heat was overwhelming. Rather than a wave of heated air, a wall of flame rippled off the Oracle's skin. It left everyone fatigued and was sufficient to leave Goriate incapacitated, desperately gasping for breath on one knee, and tearing off his menpo to reveal badly burned skin where superheated metal had touched it.
• As the haze of heat dispersed, the Oracle...no...this, Horonigai was pretty sure, was the Dragon speaking directly. A sudden shift in participles to 'we', 'our' and 'it' accompanied the shift in tone. It said that it had chosen the hinin girl as it's next Oracle. She was a gravedigger's child from a town to the South, on the banks of the river between two islands (The PCs were noticing the Oracle wasn't big on actual names, which, as Uiri's player put it " must make dealing with the Oracle's advice a bloody hoot "). She would be the next Elemental Oracle of Fire, and any who tried to prevent this would " SUFFER OUR ANGER ".
• The problem was, the girl wasn't there anymore. Presumably, she had run off, terrified. She wasn't hiding anywhere on the mountain itself - the Oracle would be able to see her - so she was probably running back home to her family.
• The Oracle gave the PCs two tasks - to convey a message to the Scorpion that he wanted to speak to SHIRIKO, and that if he was allowed to do so he would spare the castle. Secondly - and emphatically in the 'Dragon's' voice - they were charged with finding and recovering the Oracle's successor.
• Horonigai agreed on the PCs behalf, swearing on her adopted mother's bow to find the hinin girl.
• With that, the PCs were apparently dismissed. The Oracle made a gesture and a howling game ripped them from the mountaintop and hurled them back down to the edge of the woodland. They were set down surprisingly gently in the ash a few feet from the treeline.
• Shosuro Suiren was waiting for them - as, it seems, was Shosuro Medu, who had apparently followed them after all.
• Medu greeted them, expressing relief they had survived, and asked them to accompany him back to Shiro no Shosuro. This...was not well received.
• He was dismissive of 'Shiriko' - yes, a junior attendant name Shosuro Shiriko had accompanied him but she hadn't spoken and wasn't important.
• The PCs were having none of this.
• They decided to send Suiren back to Shiro no Shosuro to convey the message (They weren't sure if Shosuro Hametsu and Juberu were lying or if they'd been lied to by Medu, so they wanted to make sure the message was delivered first-hand). Meanwhile, they insisted - despite Shosuro Medu's protests - that they were 'needed elsewhere'. They didn't openly mention the hinin girl, because they had a sneaking suspicion the Scorpion had some deeply unpleasant plans.
• That done, leaving Suiren and Medu behind, Uiri, Goriate and Horonigai set off southwards...

• So. In complete contravention of RPG rule #1, " don't split the party ", Uiri, Goriate and Horonigai were heading south to find the Oracle's chosen successor, whilst Suiren was heading north to Shiro no Shosuro to deliver the Oracle's threats/demands to his family Daimyo.
• What the heck he's going to do if Shosuro Hametsu directly orders him to either stay in the castle or, worse, help the Scorpion by acting against either the Oracle or the other PCs, I'm not entirely sure...

• The big problem was that the three magistrates didn't really know where they were going. Added to that, they were pretty sure that the Scorpion had it in for them.
• Shosuro Medu's vague warnings about ex-Hare clan ronin loitering in the region was not convincing in the slightest - if they turned out to be real, Goriate, who's picked up the Hero of Shiro Usagi fame advantage- would likely have the ability to talk them down, but the PCs figured it was far more likely they'd turn out to be Scorpion assassins.
• Therefore they decided to cut across country South rather than following the road, in the hopes of shedding pursuit.
• In terms of finding where they were going, they had two options; find a samurai with a map, or ask a peasant for directions. The former was deemed too likely to get back to the Shosuro quickly, but the latter meant articulating where they were going - which meant if the Scorpion did find their trail, they might get to the destination ahead of them.
• As a compromise, they decided to each ask for directions to a different destination. Figuring out description of 'fake' destinations to ask for took a bit of effort - if the description didn't line up with a real place it'd be obviously a decoy to their possible pursuers, but if it was far enough away to be a place they knew definitely existed, the peasants wouldn't be likely to know it, and it was a much less credible destination.
• Fortunately, some recall checks of places they'd passed on the riverboat between Shiro Usagi and Shiro no Shosuro flagged up some possibilities for their 'shell game.
• Finding a small, backwater farming hamlet, they each asked the village headman for directions, which - having no idea that a trio of emerald magistrates could be anything but welcome and honoured visitors - he was able and happy to provide.
• Apparently their destination was a small town right on the border of Scorpion lands, by the name of 'Kawacho'...

• Kawacho took another day or so to reach, and they arrived early in the morning. It turned out to be a fairly small town, directly on the banks of the Sleeping River - a tributary of the River of Gold, overlooked by a gently sloping hill. The river represented the boundary of Scorpion lands, with the Imperial holdings surrounding Hirosaka beginning on the far bank.
• The town was surrounded by productive-looking rice paddies, with a sizeable workforce of peasants busy dispersing to their duties. Everyone hustled out of their way, bowing deeply - seeing any samurai in the town was unexpected, let alone a trio of Emerald Magistrates, not one of whom was a member of the clan.
  • A lone, heavily built peasant came hurried up from one of the larger buildings in the town to greet them and welcomed them to the town, whilst another could be seen rushing to the slightly smarter waterside house - presumably to rouse whoever was responsible for the town.
  • The town's hinin settlement could be seen off to the side, slightly behind Kawacho proper, in a patch of wetlands on the river's edge.
  • The PCs decide to split up. They could hardly ignore the town - especially if a samurai turned up to ask who they were - in favour of the hinin, and on a more practical level it would be good if they could secure some transport to speed up their return to the oracle's mountain. They'd tried to be sneaky to get here but it was a fair bet they'd be under time pressure to get back, and whilst they didn't know much about the hinin they were looking for, since she was (a) a hinin and hence probably not in the best of health and (b) described as a 'girl' (i.e. young), it was unlikely she'd be able to keep up with three veteran samurai in a forced march.

• Goriate was volunteered to deal with local authority (whatever that turned out to be) followed the burly peasant - who turned out to be called Sasuke - past the sake house (the building he'd emerged from) and the adjacent distillery to the house of Ito Moronoka.
  • She turned out to be an goshi* - a peasant given many samurai rights and privileges as a local administrator where no true samurai could be spared, including (under sufferance) the right to bear swords despite being nominally a merchant.
  • Moronoka was very welcoming and friendly, and despite NEVER TRUST THE SCORPION CLAN EVER, Goriate got along with her very well. The fact she was strictly speaking a peasant and the Hida magistrate was, for a change, by far the highest status person in the room probably helped.
  • His positive opinion was reinforced when she suggested that - assuming there was nothing urgent she needed to assist with - he participate in the 'local tea ceremony' before any matters of business.
  • Hida Goriate's player (and Goriate, internally) groaned at the thought, before Ito Moronoka explained that this was " basically identical to a traditional Doji tea ceremony, except we replace the tea with strong Kawacho-brewed sake ."
  • Goriate's grin threatened to remove the top of his head.

• After the 'tea ceremony' (complete with a sake bottle marked 'tea'), and with Goriate comfortably and cheerfully dealing with the intoxicated condition, Moronoka asked how she could help - she had no idea why a trio of high imperial officials might need to visit 'her' backwater town, but it seemed clear the village itself wasn't in trouble.
  • "You're not looking for that beggar, are you, magistrate-sama? If so, I'm afraid he's dead."
  • It turned out that she'd been told a ragged-haired individual had been spotted entering the hinin settlement a week or so ago. None of the heimin who'd seen him recognised him, so he was assumed to be an itinerant beggar. He'd apparently spent the evening with a hinin family, but there'd been a fire - possibly a cooking accident of some kind - and Moronoka had been told he and a local hinin girl had died. She'd given the family a couple of days leave from their duties in Kawacho to mourn their daughter's loss, but otherwise hadn't given the hinin a second thought.
  • Given that Hida-sama's colleagues had headed to the hinin village - had the beggar been some sort of wanted criminal? If so, she hoped she hadn't been lax by ignoring him...
  • " Yes, that! What she said..." - Goriate's player.
  • Slightly unsteadily, but apparently convincingly (after an air/courtesy check), Goriate explained that, yes, they were hunting the 'beggar' (almost certainly the Oracle when he visited the town) - for reasons they were not at liberty to explain to a third party. If he'd died, they'd been ordered to bring a witness back with them to confirm the death - yes, alright, a hinin's testimony was legally worthless, but orders were orders, and it sounded like the hinin were the only witnesses. Either way, there was no blame or trouble for Kawacho.
  • He also asked if they could secure some transport for the return journey. Ito Moronoka bowed apologetically, and gestured at the town - there was no courier station or cavalry detachment in a backwater like Kawacho, but she would help as best she could; she hated seeing people leave empty-handed**. It would be awkward for the town - obviously that was not the Magistrate's problem, but...
  • Goriate responded that he understood he would be inconveniencing them - he was prepared to offer some coin to help the town, and the two started discussions...

• Horonigai and Uiri, meanwhile, made their way to the hinin settlement. If the heimin peasants had been surprised to see samurai approaching Kawacho unexpectedly, the hinin were scattering in confusion and terror. A few prostrated themselves in front of the samurai.
  • Horonigai - with the benefit of a decent Sentiment skill and not hampered by Bluntness , took the lead. They decided to be a compassionate rather than just demand the hinin's help - after all, they were trying to find a scared girl they didn't know for certain was actually in the town.
  • There was a bit of a false start when they discovered that there were two gravedigger families in the town, and no-one outside an immediate family seemed to keep track of who had how many children.
  • At this point, Uiri - prompted by Horonigai's player and much rustling of notebooks from three months ago - realised they had one other priceless detail, courtesy of Togashi-ue; the name of a hinin girl 'living near Hirosaka' that Uiri was to look after safety and wellbeing of.
    • "You think this is her?" "Ordering a samurai bodyguard to look after a hinin is bizarre even by Togashi-ue's standards. I can't see this being a coincidence."
  • They decided to try asking for Tomuko by name. a samurai knowing one of them by name confused the cowering hinin even more.
    • Fortunately - and apparently reassured a bit by Horonigai's attempt to be less-than-terrifying - a young girl piped up at the back of the crowd. She'd apparently been a friend of Tomuko, and could take them to her family. They'd said she'd died, but she'd seen her friend leave with 'the scary man'.
    • Horonigai offered the girl a few coppers - a trivial gift for her, but a huge gift for a hinin family.
  • The family were nervous - initially claiming she'd died - until confronted with the fact that the other girl had seen her friend sneaking out of the village late one night before the two simply vanished in a swirl of flame (which had set a small part of the house on fire, hence the report Moronoka had received). After being reassured that they had been sent by the Oracle, rather than the Shosuro family, they eventually confessed she had returned - terrified - two nights before with a story about a beautiful Shosuro samurai driving the oracle mad with anger. She turned out to be hidden in a makeshift crawlspace in the trash heap nearby, clutching a breathtakingly worked jade statuette of the Oracle.
  • The family turned out to have a second statuette - this time of Tomuko herself - that, like the statuette of the Oracle, had been left when the two vanished. Tomuko said that the Oracle had told her family they should keep it, but that she felt she needed the statue of the Oracle himself, as 'he was not well'.
  • She was frightened, but when the PCs told her the Oracle wanted her back, and still planned to make her his successor, she straightened up - as best as a young, largely malnourished hinin girl could - and agreed to come with them. Obviously this was in many ways redundant - it's not like Tomuko, or her family - or indeed the bulk of the hinin settlement could stop two armed samurai taking Tomuko by force if they'd decided to, but it was still reassuring to have her come willingly, not least because if they succeeded, the Elemental Oracle of Fire's next host nursing a grudge against them would probably be a bad thing...

• With that, Horonigai, Uiri and Tomoko made their way back up the dirt track from the hinin settlement to find Goriate stood waiting for them outside Kawacho, still apparently inebriated and gesturing proudly.
  • "I bought horses!"
  • "...no, Goriate-san, you didn't. You bought donkeys ."
  • "Eh?"
  • It had turned out that there were no horses in Kawacho. But there was a delivery cart owned by the Sake distillery, and a team of two pack-mules to pull it, and an elderly 'spare', all of which Ito Moronoka had given/sold to the magistrates***. All three looked like they'd probably snap in half if Goriate were to try sitting on them in full armour.
  • "...You know what? It's slightly better than nothing. 'Well done', I guess."

* See page 102 of Emerald Empire. It seemed the best way to make Moronoka someone they'd actually talk to without promoting her to an actual samurai. Kind of surprised we didn't have a Goshi title or NPC template in Path of Waves , thinking about it.

** Or with any money left. She is a merchant, after all, despite her status, and as a character seems to be channelling a Rokugani version of Aunty Wainright from Last of the Summer Wine .

*** Which means the Kawacho distillery is going to be left with a hand-drawn cart to make deliveries. Which, in turn, is why Nori is going to be so badly behind schedule after his sister's injury that he decides to take a fatal 'shortcut'... The Highwayman is really intended for much lower status individuals, but if the PCs are guiltily aware that they caused the problem in the first place it should be an appropriate reason for them to get involved, especially since they seem to have a good rapport with Ito Moronoko.

8 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

• Goriate was volunteered to deal with local authority (whatever that turned out to be) followed the burly peasant - who turned out to be called Sasuke - past the sake house (the building he'd emerged from) and the adjacent distillery to the house of Ito Moronoka.
  • She turned out to be an goshi* - a peasant given many samurai rights and privileges as a local administrator where no true samurai could be spared, including (under sufferance) the right to bear swords despite being nominally a merchant.
  • Moronoka was very welcoming and friendly, and despite NEVER TRUST THE SCORPION CLAN EVER, Goriate got along with her very well. The fact she was strictly speaking a peasant and the Hida magistrate was, for a change, by far the highest status person in the room probably helped.
  • His positive opinion was reinforced when she suggested that - assuming there was nothing urgent she needed to assist with - he participate in the 'local tea ceremony' before any matters of business.
  • Hida Goriate's player (and Goriate, internally) groaned at the thought, before Ito Moronoka explained that this was " basically identical to a traditional Doji tea ceremony, except we replace the tea with strong Kawacho-brewed sake ."
  • Goriate's grin threatened to remove the top of his head.

Why do I get the feeling she was pumping him for information like a good little scorpion vassal? And I get the feeling he got snookered in the later deal for transportation.

The latter - definitely (see Auntie Wainright comment).

The former- yes and no. She was sort of trying to, and will no doubt tell her lord, who will tell their lord, and so on back up a chain that presumably ends with Shosuro Hametsu.

But, being a non-samurai in the back end of beyond, she lacks the context of wider events to ask any useful questions, so said report will pretty much boil down to 'Y ou ought to know that three emerald magistrates came to town and did something wierd. Also, please send new donkeys... '

• ...Two days earlier.
• Since his player was back, the scene cut away here to Suiren and Medu returning to the fire-damaged Shiro no Shosuro. Shosuro Kitsami was still around - albeit in the background.
• This time, Suiren - or more accurately Medu - was shown directly into the castle. Juberu took Suiren to the guest quarters again, telling him to remain there and not talk to any other Shosuro samurai, whilst Medu and Juberu went to consult with Shosuro Hametsu.
• Juberu was gone for a few hours, before returning to interview Suiren. Suiren relayed what he'd been told, including the Oracle's threats, but was forced to admit that he'd not ascended the mountain himself and hence his testimony was all 'second-hand'.
• Shosuro Juberu made it clear Suiren wouldn't be seeing Hametsu himself, given the disfavour he was in.
• Juberu did ask for Suiren's counsel as to what to do, but the actor's suggestion - essentially dig in, fortify the castle and trust the magistrates to sort things out - didn't go down well, not least because he didn't know exactly where they were going or why (since Shosuro Medu had been right there they couldn't discuss it).
• By comparison, Suiren argued strongly against anything like a 'counterstrike' or 'escalation', but got the distinct impression he was wasting his time. It became increasingly clear that the Scorpion clan's official position was that the Oracle was a mad dog that needed putting down, and that ' something needed to be done '. Worse, given his skills, it was implied he might well be part of that something.
• At least initially, though, he was happy to remain at Shiro no Shosuro. He was being accommodated as befit his status - and if confined to the guest quarters (with two guards to 'ensure his safety'), at least said quarters were lavish and had escaped damage from the Oracle's attack.
• He also hoped to get a reading on what the clan's plans were - whilst he couldn't talk to Shosuro samurai, Juberu hadn't forbidden him to talk to the servants, and he could still observe a proportion of the castle's comings and goings without leaving the guest quarters, especially since (unlike most guests) he knew which nondescript buildings were the armouries and private audience halls.
• He'd decided to back the other PCs. Whilst he was a Shosuro, his specific giri was the order to aid the magistrates from Shosuro Rei. More importantly, he had good reason to suspect Shosuro Medu - he'd not mentioned Shiriko until confronted with her name, and his story directly contradicted the Oracle's. Yes, the Oracle could by lying or mad but Medu could be lying too, and given his disfavour he didn't know whether his testimony was being relayed to Hametsu accurately or indeed at all: it was quite possible the Shosuro daimyo was making policy based on his subordinates' lies and half-truths.
• Against most rivals, that was a risky state of affairs. When the other party in the dispute was the Elemental Dragon of Fire , it had the makings of an apocalyptic bloody disaster...

• In the end, "initially" lasted two days. The two events which forced Suiren's hand were the arrival of another guest.
• The new arrival wasn't known to him personally, but was clearly a senior member of the Yogo family and a Shujenga of some status. They arrived on a rather exhausted-looking horse, with an ebony-wood box covered in protective wards that they were handling very gingerly, and were (respectfully) chivvied straight into the family shrine by the Shosuro guards.
• " Well that doesn't look concerning at all ..."
• According to the rumours picked up from the servants (helped by Famously Wealthy ) that evening, the Yogo had brought some sort of artefact that would stop the Oracle attacking the castle again. Two expeditions were being prepared - one heading to the Oracle's mountain, and one heading South. The latter was very much 'off the books' and wasn't officially recorded, but apparently consisted of Shosuro Medu and some soldiers with very unpleasant reputations. The rumour was that Surien was likely to be ordered to join the former, despite his reservations.
• It was clearly time to leave. This would cost Surien a healthy whack of honour - he was violating the 'stay here' order and had wilfully misinterpreted (or at least maliciously complied with the letter rather than the spirit of) the 'don't speak to any other Shosuro Samurai' order - in order to try and prevent what he saw likely to be a catastrophe for the family.
• If he didn't leave, though, he'd have to refuse Hametsu's or Juberu's orders to their face rather than simply not being there to receive them - a far greater dishonour, not to mention probably a fatal experience in the current climate.
• It was Duty and Loyalty he was violating though, so despite good intentions and the argument of his Giri, he lost a whopping third of his already low honour at a stroke and will have to pick up an Infamy disadvantage for his actions.
• Getting out took two stages.
• Firstly, getting past the two ashigaru guards. The first was easy enough to surprise given that Suiren had been not trouble up till now, and with both Veiled Menace and his school ability the unexpected sekihitsu to the throat proved fatal. He also had a couple of spare opportunities, and was able to chain Chaotic Scattering and Skulk to knock over the lantern illuminating the room and disappear into the obscuring twilight gloom. The ashigaru rather sensibly turned to rush away and raise the alarm rather than search a room solo for an armed Shinobi, but received the other guard's Yari in the back for his troubles.
• Now 'loose' and with as much head start as he had before someone came to talk to either him or the guards, he followed this with a skulduggery check to find a way out of the fortress.
• He chose not to burn further honour (and friendships) by staking honour to persuade Shosuro Kitsami to help, especially since that would likely land the other Scorpion in trouble, instead relying on his skills to escape. Spending a void point and using his Unremarkable Appearance on an Air/Skulduggery check to reroll two blanks, he was left with juuuust enough explosive successes, which rolled on into a massive slew of air opportunities to make his escape subtly and increase his head start over any pursuers...

• As it happens, a little later that night the Oracle began attacking Shiro no Shosuro again, and the guest quarters were one of the parts of the castle hit by the Oracle's flames - the fact that the two guards were already dead and Suiren was absent before the guest quarters burst into flame, would not be something the Scorpion could confirm.

I’m about to start an all Scorpion campaign set right after the return of the Unicorn. I’m guessing I’ll have lots of Suiren’s moments like this one.

2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

• It was Duty and Loyalty he was violating though, so despite good intentions and the argument of his Giri, he lost a whopping third of his already low honour at a stroke and will have to pick up an Infamy disadvantage for his actions.

• As it happens, a little later that night the Oracle began attacking Shiro no Shosuro again, and the guest quarters were one of the parts of the castle hit by the Oracle's flames - the fact that the two guards were already dead and Suiren was absent before the guest quarters burst into flame, would not be something the Scorpion could not confirm.

Well, considering that his infamy will be mostly among the Scorpion, that disadvantage may actually work as an ADVANTAGE among those who hold the Scorpion in contempt or low regard. Something about "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".


And allowing for a "Disney Villain Death" (namely, never found the body or positively ID the body beyond a reasonable doubt) should help him to evade their wrath for a time. Provide he does NOT re-establish contact with his former acting trope. And if he does, well, there were several other Scorpions who developed a reputation for living far longer than any normal person should on account of their numerous personas lasting longer than the original character who was believed to have dies of old age.

It should work for a while, but he's going to have to contact them once he's set up in Hirosaka because some close friends in the troupe will by then be looking after Ikue - who's a couple of weeks behind them.

• Meanwhile, back to the South...
• The magistrates didn't make as good time back toward the Oracle's mountain as they'd hoped. The mules from Kawacho were dependable but slow, and the miles plodded rather than rolled past over a day and a half.
• Goriate was setting the pace (with an Earth/Fitness check) - unlike Uiri, or Horonigai (the latter holding Tomuko), the crab, given his Large Stature and lacquered armour that - not unreasonably, given the circumstances - he was wearing at all times, could not hope to ride the beast and instead was just using it as a pack animal for his travelling pack and tetsubo.
• Unfortunately the pace he was setting wasn't quick. He got a lot of opportunities, and was able to assist Uiri and Horonigai in hunting for food so the party could stay to back roads and away from settlements, and the PCs recovered most of their strife (Horonigai's passion for Nature and the Wilds helping here).
• Sadly, though, they didn't move quickly enough to avoid detection, and as the road passed between two small copses of trees, a mounted figure blocked the road ahead.
• Shosuro Medu, in plain travelling clothes and mounted on a well-bred courier's horse called to the three PCs. He congratulated them on their success - deducing that the new fourth member of the party was the missing hinin girl from the Oracle's mountain-top.
• This observation did, as Uiri pointed out, confirm his previous story had been a lie since if he'd been present with Shiriko he'd have seen the girl before first-hand.
• " Yes...well, never mind, Magistrate-sama. I think that at this point it is in everyone's best interest that I take charge of the girl ."
• Uiri declined.
• Uiri's player's initial out-of-character response, echoed by the other players, was " Like **** you will, Sonny-Jim-Sama... ", but Uiri as a PC has a couple of ranks of courtesy, so the in-character response was somewhat better phrased.
• Though, given Uiri's Bluntness disadvantage, probably not by that much.
• Medu seemed disappointed, but not at all surprised. He made a dismissive gesture with one hand, and from both sides of the road, a trio of bushi in full lacquered armour emerged from the woods, hands resting pointedly on their daisho.
• They wore armour decorated with Hare Clan heraldry, and were presumably the ' Former Hare Clan Ronin ' but the PCs, who'd been at Shiro Usagi during the siege, knew the minor clan didn't have the resources to outfit anyone but officers and family members in expensive armour. Besides which, a ronin-turned-bandit without a death wish would hardly keep their former clan's heraldry on their armour so close to that clan's territory.
• As suspected, they were counterfeits - Scorpion bushi in false colours for deniability in case any third party saw them.
• Moving forwards, they formed a curved line, six strong, between the PCs and Medu.
• " That is a shame, Magistrate-sama ." Shosuro Medu replied. " You see, I really must insist ..."

• The six 'Hare' bushi advanced towards the three magistrates and Tomuko, drawing their swords. Uiri responded in kind.
• Given the New FAQ , Horonigai's player decided to try an importune invocation again. Given the somewhat prescient example of " Acting with the blessing of a celestial being (such as one of Rokugan’s founding Kami or an Elemental Dragon) in that being’s presence ", and the fact that she currently had Tomuko, the Dragon's chosen successor, holding the jade figurine of the current Oracle, sat in front of her, she quite reasonably asked what TN reduction for fire invocations that would give her.
• Goriate was told to leave his tetsubo (these weren't monsters or criminals but clan samurai), draw his sword too, and move close to Horonigai and Uiri. Uiri, meanwhile, passed a Water/Smithing check to notice something unexpected about their opponents.
• " Sure, just give me a minute to blow the cobwebs off - I'm sure there's a sword in here somewhere ..." Goriate's player (on realising this was the first time he'd used his sword since Kyotei Castle).
• Horonigai once again used Biting Steel, this time throwing in a void point to invert her Fear of Failure disadvantage and deliberately triggering spiritual backlash to affect both Uiri and Goriate's swords simultaneously. The fatigue and strife hurt, but giving the magistrate's swords +3 damage and +1 deadliness would make a big difference against armoured foes.
• Seeing the two bushi's swords ignite, there was a degree of hesitation amongst Medu's soldiers.
• " Impressive ," the Shosuro observed, " but it cost you dearly, didn't it? Despite your parlour tricks, you're outnumbered two to one, and your opponents are fresh. Please, be rational; turn over the hinin ."
• " This isn't our first dealings with your clan ." Uiri responded. " And one thing we've learned is that things are never how they appear ."

• " In this case...Suiren? Would you care to introduce yourself? "
• The Scorpion bushi on the extreme right of the line, whose familiar wakizashi Uiri had spotted, turned, reversing his grip on his katana, and cleanly took his neighbour's sword hand off at the wrist ( The Path of Shadows is pretty scary with a double-handed katana...), evening the odds at a stroke.
• Horonigai unslung her Daikyu, as Goriate and Uiri charged...

(With no less than five opportunity to spend on 'escaping subtly' and the Unremarkable Appearance advantage, Suiren had earlier asked if he could replace one of Medu's soldiers. I figured it was a suitably dramatic way to reunite the PCs)

An EXCELLENT entrance on his part.

• The fight was brutal but short - which was good, since Horonigai's importune Biting Steel would only function for four rounds.
• First Round:
  • After Suiren's opening attack, Uiri moved up, using water stance to close the distance to the left-hand end of the line, and taking a strike with his blazing katana which nearly incapacitated his target in one stroke.
  • Goriate, sadly, had an initiative lower than Medu's bushi, who took the chance to counterattack.
    • Three of them struck at Uiri. Despite Way of the Dragon warding one attack, the other two inflicted quite a bit of fatigue.
    • At the other end of the line, the now one-handed bushi drew their wakizashi in their off-hand and tried to strike back but achieved little due to Suiren's air stance and a new scar disadvantage. The main thing they achieved was putting a load of fatigue on themselves due to the Bleeding condition.
    • They did produce enough opportunity to assist the other, unwounded bushi, who did land a fire stance strike action whilst Suiren was occupied with his other opponent. The attack caused a fair amount of fatigue - pushing Suiren over halfway to incapacitated! (Yes, he's lethal, yes, he's totally-not-a-shinobi-honest, but he is not a bushi. He has a disturbingly low Earth ring and his martial arts [melee] skill rank is a feeble 1....)
  • After this, Goriate slammed into the line next to Uiri, putting a second strike into the same opponent, incapacitating them and rendering them unconscious due to enough opportunity to also inflict a critical strike.
• Second Round:
  • Suiren, assisted by a Daikyu shot from Horonigai (Horonigai's player was absent, so we just used her as a 'mobile assist') struck at his other opponent, landing a critical strike. Sadly, this only caused damage to the bushi's armour, and Damaged the stolen katana's blade in the process (the pragmatic scorpion was fine with this - after all, it wasn't his Katana). He backed away after his strike.
  • Uiri, by comparison, was able to switch to his preferred fire stance, again nearly incapacitating his armoured opponent in one hit (the bushi taking 10 fatigue in a single strike action).
  • The bushi continued to attack. The wounded bushi backed off, taking a calming breath and attempting to regain fatigue and strife and recovering their heavier katana, but the other bushi from the 'right hand three' continued to attack Suiren. Suiren's defensive air stance meant he avoided being Incapacitated , but he was hanging on to both his composure and endurance by a thread.
  • Goriate meanwhile used You Taught Me This to mimic some of Uiri's sword style, and landed a brutal earth stance strike with a huge critical, cleanly removing the arm of one their two opponents in a single blow.
• Third Round:
  • Suiren switched to a Guard action - paired with his air stance, this upped the TN to hit him to TN4.
  • Uiri moved toward Suiren to assist him - dispatching the already-wounded Bushi in passing almost casually.
  • The remaining bushi was heavily fatigued but still managed to inflict a few points of fatigue on Goriate. His compatriot failed to hit Suiren, but did inflict enough strife to compromise him.
  • Goriate - assisted by a shot from Horonigai - Incapactitated the heavily fatigued bushi.
• Fourth Round:
  • Suiren tried to strike his opponent but failed due to his compromised state.
  • Uiri, fortunately, arrived and, assisted by Suiren and Horonigai, landed a brutal critical strike that left the bushi Dying before his swords finally guttered out.
  • At the same time, Goriate dispatched the incapacitated scorpion.
• Fifth Round:
  • Before the shocked Shosuro Medu could turn and flee, Uiri lunged forwards, Siezing the Moment and assisted by Horonigai, Surien (the former bringing down Medu's horse with a Daikyu shot and the latter throwing a snatched-up sword to knock the courtier's hastily-drawn wakizashi away as he stumbled to his feet) and Goriate ( You Taught Me This ). With probably more satisfaction than is entirely honourable, Uiri's Heartpiercing Strike left the Shosuro Courtier dead on his feet.
• After the fight, the PCs were - fortunately - unwounded, but all carrying a lot of strife and fatigue. On the plus side, they now had actual horses (" Yes, yes, all right!! " - Goriate's player) - the ones that Medu's would-be assassins had ridden to intercept them - and made good time to the Oracle's mountain.

• The mountain remained as imposing as before, but this time there was no need to climb the stair beyond the first 'landing' - rather than crossing the lava flow, a perfectly smooth circular tunnel had been bored into the rock of the mountain, opening out into a dome-like cave.
  • The oracle of fire was waiting inside. He seemed as frenetic and anxious as before, but relaxed momentarily on seeing Tomuko.
  • The PCs were able to speak to him, and finally learned that he had attacked Shiro no Shosuro the previous night. Worryingly, he had apparently decided to burn the castle to the ground, killing everyone inside.
  • The PCs were - unsurprisingly - not massively keen on this plan. The debate - rather surprisingly - ended up being an intrigue between two sides amongst the PCs.
    • Uiri and Goriate arguing for the Oracle not to attack at all - Uiri suggesting mercy and Goriate focusing on the fact that the Oracle's duty to the Elemental Dragon should take priority.
    • Suiren arging the Oracle should go ahead with his attack, but be more discriminate; after all, the lower-status Scorpion shouldn't be held responsible for their Lord's orders. He therefore suggested that the Oracle kill only the senior members and then declare this 'vendetta' done with. The fact that Suiren's definition of 'senior members of the Shosuro' lined up suspiciously closely with 'everyone more senior in the family hierarchy than him' was, I'm sure, purely a coincidence!
    • As it happens, the two sides argued themselves pretty much to a draw. The deciding argument - almost the first time she'd spoken at any length - came from Tomuko herself. The hinin girl was surprisingly eloquent, suggesting the Scorpion merited pity rather than anger or fear.
    • This seemingly got through to the Oracle, who nodded, and agreed that the best thing he could do was fulfil his final duty to the Elemental Dragon and transfer the Oracle's power to Tomuko.
    • He began the ceremony, the ever-present pillars of flame flickering back and forth....
    • ....when, inevitably, that's when Shosuro Shiriko arrived.

• Shiriko wasn't alone, of course. Two Scorpion bushi followed at her heels, and a whole load more could be seen outside the mouth of the cave. The Oracle, whoever, only seemed to have eyes for her.
• She made an emotional appeal for forgiveness, which seemed to move him. Gesturing for everyone to stay back, he walked over to the kneeling Shosuro and bent down to lift her to her feet...
• ...Which is when a black-bladed knife appeared in her hand and was thrust into the Oracle's side.
• The PCs reacted quickly - Suiren realised Shiriko was crying crocodile tears - not swiftly enough to intervene but fast enough that he could act on his vigilance rather than his focus, and Uiri managed the same. Goriate, to whom the phrases "observant" and "quick reflexes" are rarely attached, didn't.
• Suiren threw himself at Shiriko, trying to pull the knife - now glowing with power leeches from the Oracle - free and to drag the Scorpion back.
• Uiri tried to force his way between Shiriko and her guards to protect Suiren. He forced one back, but the other slipped past.
• Fortunately Suiren avoided being struck, and then Goriate who'd finally got his act together, connected with a tetsubo to the chest. The bushi wasn't incapacitated, but came close.
• Meanwhile, a sizeable cadre of armoured bushi started pouring into the tunnel to the cave.
• Suiren managed to drag Shiriko away, leaving a wound dripping flame. Shiriko still held the knife, though - her hand tight around it in a rictus grip.
• Uiri managed to deflect the attack of the bushi he was facing with Way of the Dragon , and landed a critical strike in response.
• Goriate took a strike from the bushi he was facing on his armour, then flattened his opponent with a solid strike and Thunderous Blows .
• Suiren - lacking a better idea - drew and struck with his wakizashi, cutting Shiriko's hand clean off. The aura of flame around the weapon collapsed.
• Uiri landed a second strike, bringing down his opponent. He turned to face the oncoming scorpion force, when the Oracle stood.
• The nearby fire Kami responded with a ferocity that left Horonigai stunned, and the charging bushi vanished under a blinding, roaring torrent of flame.

• Still bleeding, but his powers no longer drained by the knife, the Oracle returned to Tomuko. Almost disdainfully, he incinerated the knife, and then began to ascend into a form of pure flame, the aura of flame rolling towards, around and ultimately being absorbed into the young hinin.
• By the time it was done, the former Oracle was gone, and the new Oracle- formerly Tomuko - stood, now clad in a pure white kimono, skin and hair burned clean. Her eyes were purely draconic in form.
• She helped the bleeding Shiriko to her feet, and told her she forgave her. That a corrupting ambition which wasn't her own had driven her to her actions - but that some things were necessary. " We are sorry " was the last thing she said to the scorpion before a warm gust of air blew past the PCs and Shiriko simply came apart into ash.

• What was left, twisting and turning in the air and blackening in the heat, was a misshapen lump of tentacles, talons and eyes. It screeched as it burned before abruptly fading out of view.
• " That was ..." managed Goriate.
• "Something that should not exist." The Oracle confirmed. " We must consult with our siblings. You should leave ."

• ...And leave they did. Right now, all the Scorpion who know they killed Medu and Shiriko - and rather a lot of other members of the clan - are dead. The PCs took the rather sensible precaution of heading for the border between Scorpion lands and the territories of Hirosaka immediately.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

• ...And leave they did. Right now, all the Scorpion who know they killed Medu and Shiriko - and rather a lot of other members of the clan - are dead. The PCs took the rather sensible precaution of heading for the border between Scorpion lands and the territories of Hirosaka immediately.

Without saying goodbye? That’s rude, dude.

I have no doubt that a member of the Scorpion clan will eventually attempt to point this out to them.

Possibly with a shuriken.

The ultimate scorpion technique, just attach little notes or origami to your shuriken, with notes like "You didn't even say goodbye" or "You forgot to wipe your feet!"

For some reason I'm having Monty Python flashbacks (with Ryu playing the part of Concorde).

Swoosh!

Thwock!

".... Message for you, Magistrate-sama! "

So, the PCs have now left Scorpion lands and are passing through the Imperial holdings around Hirosaka, only a day or so from the city itself.

(Horonigai's player was absent for the evening)

• With dusk approaching, they stopped to rest their horses at a way-station just outside Twin Blessings Village. Otoha, the proprietor, was very welcoming, but suggested that they would do better spending the night in the village itself than the rather cramped room intended for the odd passing peddler.
  • The PCs thought that sounded like a good idea. As magistrates, they had the authority to demand accomodation for the night, though, as Uiri put it; "the fact that no-one's allowed to say 'no' means it costs us nothing to ask politely" .
• Her son, Shinichi, did a sterling job grooming and calming the horses that the PCs were riding, settling them in to the way-station's small stable, before offering to show the PCs to the village leader. Begging their indulgence, he first asked his mother to prepare a medicinal draught for a villager called Miyoko. Otoha - selecting various dried herbs and powders from the jars on the way-station's shelves.
  • Suiren wasn't able to identify all the ingredients, but determined it was for some sort of consumption or lung ailment - although Shinichi was able to reassure the PCs it was an isolated condition and the village wasn't suffering some sort of contagion.
  • The Shosuro also noted that rather a lot of the herbs would serve for quite adequate poisons.... "not that I know very much about that, but I recall reading a saying that the only real difference between medicine and poison is dosage and intent."
• Shinichi took the PCs to the village leader's house. Setsuo, the leader, turned out to be a peasant of indeterminate age - he had a very young son, Ichiro, who was barely an adult, so presumably he wasn't that old.
• Setsuo proved a welcoming and courteous host, with manners that would seem out of place in a court-educated servant. He offered the use of his house, but made no secret of the fact that it was rather too small for four people. Besides which, he was already hosting a guest - an intinerant monk of the Brotherhood of Shinsei named Michi - who joined them for an evening meal.
  • Michi proved equally friendly, if rather sarcastic. Uiri, who is a Friend of the Brotherhood , was pleasantly surprised to see a dragon-born monk so far south, and asked what Michi was doing so far from home.
    • "The Tao says 'one's home is wherever one's purpose lies', does it not?"
    • Uiri was pretty sure it didn't, but was used to members of his clan passing off slightly pompous-sounding verbiage as quotes from the Tao of Shinsei, so decided not to raise the point.
    • "Which, now that I think about it, means I must excuse myself, as I see my purpose for tonight calling me." The monk gestured at the village shrine where a priest - or at least a local peasant in a homespun version of a priest's robes - was opening the shrine to perform the evening's offerings. Michi bowed and excused himself, walking briskly towards the shrine. Uiri could see the priest's shoulder's slump as he spotted the monk approaching...
• Setsuo suggested the best accomodation would be the former doshin's house - she had retired a few weeks ago due to illness (it had been her Shinichi was fetching medicine for) and moved into her sister's home for the same reason. The doshin's house was almost as large and since it was empty there was actually more space inside it. He could go and see to getting it quickly swept out and four decent tatami mats set down.
  • The PCs took him up on his offer. As he left, he also suggested that if they were tired from their journey, they might want to go and bathe at the hot springs - Ichiro, he said, would show them the way.
• Ichiro took Suiren, Uiri and Goriate through the town (Horonigai chose to join Michi and Daizo, the priest, at the shrine), showing them a well-trodden path leading to the hot spring. Briefly disappearing, he returned with three small bottles of sake, which he presented to them with a deep bow, before heading off back home.
  • Goriate was, of course, grinning at being handed some nice local sake. The other two - who weren't really feeling like drinking - also gave him theirs.
  • He was finishing the last dregs as the three arrived at the small shrine and bathing house of the village's hot spring, a comforting warmth and gentle mineral smell pervading the forest clearing....