Yeah, I'm pretty sure the first decisions Shoju will take even before grasping the full scope of the *********** is to tell Dairu to make himself scarce to regret that Dairu left on Musha Shugyo without leaving a forwarding address.

45 minutes ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the first decisions Shoju will take even before grasping the full scope of the *********** is to tell Dairu to make himself scarce to regret that Dairu left on Musha Shugyo without leaving a forwarding address.

He can't actually do that though since he still hasn't completed his Gempukku. What I do expect to happen however is that he has been sent to a remote dojo to "train" and it will take time to recall him

4 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the first decisions Shoju will take even before grasping the full scope of the *********** is to tell Dairu to make himself scarce to regret that Dairu left on Musha Shugyo without leaving a forwarding address.

Shoju: "Junzo-san I have an important message for you to take to my son. Write this down quick!"

Junzo: Fumbles through a bunch of scrolls, looking for some blank parchment.

Shoju: "Junzo there is no time for your bungling, just get this down"

Junzo: Grabs the 1st Black Scroll, "This should do my lord, I'll unroll this and write what you say on the back...……………………...ooops"

Shoju: "What do you mean oops...…………………?!"

Fu Leng: "New phone, who dis?"

One thing that's interesting, reading through Courts of Stone and Winter's Embrace. Everyone's justifiably going nuts over the fact that

But I haven't seen anyone mention the other character discussed at some length, the Imperial Advisor.

On 8/29/2019 at 10:41 PM, Magnus Grendel said:

One thing that's interesting, reading through Courts of Stone and Winter's Embrace. Everyone's justifiably going nuts over the fact that

Miya Satoshi is Kolat

But I haven't seen anyone mention the other character discussed at some length, the Imperial Advisor.

No, not that one. The old one, Kakita Ryoku.

Things worth picking out from the two books:

• Kakita Ryoku has the disadvantage Broken-Hearted . This is not a standard one so it's not a copy-paste job from an NPC template but has been specifically written for her.
• Amongst her gear is "omamori given to her by Emperor Hantei XXXVII"
• One footnote is "If any of the PCs have mysterious parentage, one possibility is that they are a bastard child of Kakita Ryoku and Emperor Hantei XXXVII or XXXVIII (depending on the PC’s age). GMs who wish to go this route can describe how similar in appearance the PC is to Ryoku and the Emperor over the course of the adventure.

It just popped into my head with the whole thing about Daisetsu and the Empress 'wishing she were dead' and 'withdrawing from public life'.

Do we know how long Kachiko's been in the post?

To be honest that doesn't look as threatening to the Empire as

I didn't say it was threatening directly. Note that the joy of the current situation is that he doesn't really have to do anything.

But If the latter might be more of a delayed time-bomb.

@Ishi Tonu , there are already Black Scrolls opened.

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

@Ishi Tonu , there are already Black Scrolls opened.

Say whaaaaaaaa?

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

@Ishi Tonu , there are already Black Scrolls opened.

15 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Say whaaaaaaaa?

Say whereeeeeeee? Link, please, because that seems like a really pivotal moment in the story, and I can't recall having read it.

I believe this is based on a reference to a line in the RPG adventure module "Mask of the Oni" referencing "...a wasting disease..."

I don't want to say any more, to avoid spoilers for the module.

6 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Say whaaaaaaaa?

6 hours ago, Mangod said:

Say whereeeeeeee? Link, please, because that seems like a really pivotal moment in the story, and I can't recall having read it.

5 hours ago, DGLaderoute said:

I believe this is based on a reference to a line in the RPG adventure module "Mask of the Oni" referencing "...a wasting disease..."

I don't want to say any more, to avoid spoilers for the module.

That is still an assumption rather than a fact. But there's this from Shadowlands:

Quote

And what of the Black Scrolls? Some have been linked to great catastrophes in Rokugan's history, while the rest have vanished to the ages, lost or hidden away that they might be kept from mortal hands.

There is also a much more concrete comment in the Shadowlands book, the Obsidian Flower is specifically called out as having got her power from a black scroll (emphasis added):

Quote

Called many names across the ages—the Obsidian Flower, the High Priest of Fu Leng, the Demon Bride—this ancient entity was once a human. Whispers say she was born to a powerful lineage in the third century of the Empire, and witnessed firsthand the callous turns of the court. Wretched cruelties befell people around her in service of nothing more than petty human ambition, and she grew to believe Rokugan’s ruling caste was incurably corrupt—and that the founding Kami had forsaken their followers. Her desire became nothing less than to sweep the table clean. She stole a Black Scroll from the Yogo family and journeyed into the Shadowlands. There, she used the unspeakable knowledge within the scroll to become a twisted, demonic conduit. Now, within the Tomb, she waits and plans, whispering to Fu Leng as she slowly shifts pieces across the vast board of time. Over centuries, she has maneuvered humans into positions where their frailties might someday bring about the end of the Empire.

Quote

Whispers say she was born to a powerful lineage in the third century of the Empire, and witnessed firsthand the callous turns of the court. Wretched cruelties befell people around her in service of nothing more than petty human ambition, and she grew to believe Rokugan’s ruling caste was incurably corrupt—

Well that sounds ominously familiar...

Quote

then Daisetsu set his jaw and said, “I’ve had enough, Togashi-san. Of—of all of it. The courtesy that’s just a mask for poison, the ambition masquerading as duty, all the lies and stupidity and—

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 1:01 AM, Kaito Kikaze said:

Well that sounds ominously familiar...

In fairness, "the samurai have become corrupt, ambitious, lying [swearword filtered]" is pretty much the one-line version of the Perfect Land Sect's philosophy, too.

And, for that, matter, some elements of the Kolat; though in the case of the two Kolat Agents we've seen 'inside the heads' of*, it's more about the personal flaws of the supposedly-divine-and-quite-clearly-not-if-you-actually-ever-met-them figures of the late Hantei Jodan and Prince-now-assumed-new-Emperor Hantei Sotorii respectively rather than a blanket hatred for the Samurai as a whole.

*

7 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

In fairness, "the samurai have become corrupt, ambitious, lying [swearword filtered]" is pretty much the one-line version of the Perfect Land Sect's philosophy, too.

In my opinion, these various catastrophes the Great Clans are dealing with seem like "signs of the End Times" not "inconveniently timed misfortunes" in which case, I think it's entirely likely that the Perfect Land Sect are one of them. If the prophet's message over time shifts from "all should be equal" to "the samurai are the problem" to "death to the samurai, all hail Fu Leng," would the fanatic followers see it in time? Would they care? If the prophet says "read this maho scroll while you give the oni his bath, it will make you as powerful as any samurai," would they say "wait, what oni?" or "as you command"?