3 hours ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

The adventure Winter's Embrace introduces a few new factors to this mess.

It's not out in PDF yet is it?

Also; Hitoshi's not in it, is it?

12 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

"

My Friend and Peer ". Daimyo and Imperial Herald. Bugger. For some reason I never thought about the Imperial families when thinking possible candidates.

Also....that's a big deal; if he is " My Friend and Peer " then he knows (at least in broad terms) that Doji Satsume had a plan to deal with the unworthiness of the two heirs, because that's why he had Kitsuki Tomo kill him. So whilst Kachiko may not have told him about the Edict, he may know (or at least suspect) that it exists anyway....

yup, puts everything we've seen of him into a whole new light.

1 minute ago, Schmoozies said:

yup, puts everything we've seen of him into a whole new light.

As well as casts Kachiko into deeper waters than even she knows.

18 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

It's not out in PDF yet is it?

Also; Hitoshi's not in it, is it?

PDF usually follows about 1-2 months after paper release so as not to canibalize sales.

Hitoshi is not in the adventure. Officially its a flashback as it should be the previous Winter Court since Sotorii has not yet completed his Gempukku.

8 hours ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

The adventure Winter's Embrace introduces a few new factors to this mess.

The biggest is:

Miya Satoshi is the Kolat's Master Chrysanthemum



I wasn't expecting that one considering the old lore, but I can see it, the guy could go either way.

11 hours ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

The adventure Winter's Embrace introduces a few new factors to this mess.

The biggest is:

Miya Satoshi is the Kolat's Master Chrysanthemum

It makes so much sense. And really really messes with things. It also blows one fan theory out the water:

Also, does the adventure give you the name of the Seppun daimyo?

30 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

How do you do the hidden stuff?

5 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

[spoiler ] Text [/spoiler]

Thanks.

Hitoshi could be in it, though. The ship Susano-o has the same name as the one that brings him to the Topaz Championship. If you want NPC continuity, it wouldn't be impossible for him to be there either as a near-gempukku youth or a full member of the crew of Yoritomo's flagship.

On 6/27/2019 at 4:15 PM, Magnus Grendel said:

It's not out in PDF yet is it?

Also; Hitoshi's not in it, is it?

On 6/27/2019 at 4:35 PM, Schmoozies said:

PDF usually follows about 1-2 months after paper release so as not to canibalize sales.

Hitoshi is not in the adventure. Officially its a flashback as it should be the previous Winter Court since Sotorii has not yet completed his Gempukku.

6 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Hitoshi could be in it, though. The ship Susano-o has the same name as the one that brings him to the Topaz Championship. If you want NPC continuity, it wouldn't be impossible for him to be there either as a near-gempukku youth or a full member of the crew of Yoritomo's flagship.

You could certainly insert him as one of the random Mantis present, but he is not called out as a named personality in the adventure.

random to do it as a prequel. I kind of hoped you'd get a continuing narrative.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

random to do it as a prequel. I kind of hoped you'd get a continuing narrative.

Winter Court this year is gonna be a doozy of an event, and we haven’t gotten to the immediate results of the Emperor’s death. Too much up in the air to jump right into it. A flashback let’s players interact with major personalities at a time just before the start of current events. From a home game perspective, also a solid time to layer in story hooks.

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

random to do it as a prequel. I kind of hoped you'd get a continuing narrative.

Considering the sheer number of L5R rpg material from AEG's tenure set in the pre-Clan War era... you'd think we'd be used to prequels by now

5 hours ago, Doji Hyōkin said:

Winter Court this year is gonna be a doozy of an event, and we haven’t gotten to the immediate results of the Emperor’s death. Too much up in the air to jump right into it. A flashback let’s players interact with major personalities at a time just before the start of current events. From a home game perspective, also a solid time to layer in story hooks.

Agreed, but if the characters are Topaz Champion graduates (i.e. not adults last winter), aren't they going to be kind of unable to participate properly?

5 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Agreed, but if the characters are Topaz Champion graduates (i.e. not adults last winter), aren't they going to be kind of unable to participate properly?

That assumes you are playing all the adventures. They do include recommendations for setting it in the current timeline, but since publishing it officially in that timeline would likely require significant spoilers for upcoming events, since we're just coming to the end of Summer in official story line, I can understand why they took that stance.

Updated for the new fic!

Updated, again.

Other minor details which may or may not be relevant.

• Kakita Yoshi has found out about the Emperor's death via a spy much faster than Kachiko probably planned - his discussion with Kunawan happens during the Hour of the Rat - that's within an hour of the death , and simultaneous to Kachiko meeting Miya Satoshi and reading the edict for the first time, meaning he has probably found out about it before the Seppun Daimyo, and may well have known before the attempted assassination of the Emerald Champion.

• During the In The Palace Of The Emerald Champion , Agasha Sumiko, the Ruby Champion commissions the PCs to (re)investigate Satsume's death. In the process of this, they find Satsume's letters to 'my friend and peer'* in the capital which outline that Satsume had a plan to address the fact that neither prince was a suitable heir, based on some obscure ancient legal precedent, and that this probably got him killed.
  • This evidence ends up in the hands of the Ruby Champion
  • She may not know what Satsume's plan was, but she will know there was one and that Satsume, who was by all accounts a successful Emerald Champion and a smart man believed it would work.
  • We know Satsume had been in the Palace recently (he was at the Princes' duel) and was a friend, not just a vassal, of the Emperor, so there's no reason to believe he hadn't discussed it already with the Hantei.
  • She is likely to be expecting to see.... something ...other than the status quo. She won't know what, but the official position of 'nothing-happened-everything-is-normal-stop-asking-questions-drinks-were-served-check-with-Poland' is unlikely to cut it.
  • Since Akodo Toturi is presumably 'missing', the role of Emerald Champion (and the Emerald Champion probably has a legal role in the succession!) defaults onto her.
  • She has sparred with Hantei Sotorii and her opinion of him is at least as dismal as everyone else's and she is very determined to do what she sees as best for the Empire (indeed her RPG character has a rule 'for the good of the Empire' which massively increases the difficulty of any check to try and push her to do anything she sees could in any way compromise Rokugan. Note specifically that's the Empire not the Emperor . Which are normally but not always the same thing).

* one assumes in hindsight

Updated once again.

On 6/3/2019 at 8:15 AM, 987654321 said:

-Daisetsu has started showing troubling unDaisetsulike behavior.

Only for Shahai. We, the readers, already know that Daisetsu can be pissed off big time and Sotorii is specifically stressed from his cruelty. There is nothing new under the sun here.

On 6/3/2019 at 8:15 AM, 987654321 said:

-The Empress wanted to be dead after Daisetsu was born and has been closing herself off to the world since.

Sotorii was just awkwardly striking back at Daisetsu here. He can't possibly know what his mother felt after Daisetsu's birth because he was, like, 3-4 years old at that time. I think this exchange was meant to show the brothers' opposing mindset: Daisetsu making an insightful and true remark and Sotorii making up some transparent BS as an answer.

19 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

He can't possibly know what his mother felt after Daisetsu's birth because he was, like, 3-4 years old at that time.

Unless it has been said and he has been told since, if it's an open secret within the 'inner family'. Which isn't impossible, but it would be hard to imagine what could cause it.

Which is not to say it wasn't just flailing, just that it could have some basis in reality.

On June 3, 2019 at 2:15 AM, 987654321 said:

Sotorii has gone full puberty emo berserk tantrum and actually thought that committing seppuku was a good idea.

I mean...that's actually his best idea he's had yet. I am kind of puzzled why you would think this is going "full puberty emo berserk tantrum" rather that you know, actually murdering his father in in a fit of rage.

From Two Swords fall from Heaven:

• Togashi Mitsu is now following Daisetsu and Shahai
• Agasha Sumiko is now acting Emerald Champion again - and has just ordered the newly arrived Army of the Rising Wave to take over as security for the palace!

Still no sign of Dairu yet. Seems to me that that bodes ill for him; Sotorii could easily decide that he's to blame for anything or nothing and have him arbitrarily extravagantly punished, and Daisetsu's not there to defend him.

14 hours ago, MirumotoKatsuro said:

Still no sign of Dairu yet. Seems to me that that bodes ill for him; Sotorii could easily decide that he's to blame for anything or nothing and have him arbitrarily extravagantly punished, and Daisetsu's not there to defend him.

To be fair, we've had the Unicorn, Crane, and Dragon 'follow-ons' to The Last Stone Played. Since he has no reason to know anything is up, one would assume he's 'at home' and therefore he'll feature in the same Scorpion follow-on where Kachiko gets to have a really awkward conversation over supper with her husband.

"Sweetie....some stuff may have happened at the palace."

I can see Sotorii deciding to take out some frustration on Dairu, but unless he sends out a seppun battalion to surround and ransack the scorpion guest house, that basically amounts to a message saying " The Prince/Emperor Elect/Emperor* requests your son, Bayushi Dairu-san, attend on him", and Shoju sending a response of " we can't find him but we'll pass your command on when we do ." ( KID? GO! GO NOW! ) is perfectly acceptable.

* Whatever his status actually is at the moment