6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Pretty much whatever the PCs do, she ends the adventure aware it was the Kolat because the same room with evidence of the poisoning also has the 'my friend and peer' letter. She might well suspect the Kolat and the Scorpion are one and the same, but part of the reason she so gamely accepted the Edict as genuine despite Toturi having vanished is that she had a degree of advance knowledge of its existence.

Note that she appears to end the adventure highly suspicious of Kitsuki Kagi, the Lion-born, now Dragon-adopted chief Yoriki who was the boss of, and a family member of, the Kolat would-be assassin. He subsequently turns up 'assisting' Doji Kuwanan in the Crane's investigation of Satsume's death where he sets out to find out exactly how the Scorpion did it because it was clearly them .

Interestingly, last time round Kaagi was obsessed with the Nothing and ended up being tainted by it. This time round he's obsessed with the Kolat and thinks they're behind everything.

28 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Interestingly, last time round Kaagi was obsessed with the Nothing and ended up being tainted by it. This time round he's obsessed with the Kolat and thinks they're behind everything.

Sounds like a good setup for Kaagi to be a Kolat sleeper agent to me! 😁
(I'd have preferred they don't exist, but since FFG already confirmed them in new lore, might as well be him...)

1 hour ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

Sounds like a good setup for Kaagi to be a Kolat sleeper agent to me! 😁
(I'd have preferred they don't exist, but since FFG already confirmed them in new lore, might as well be him...)

Well the Kolat exist, but we know nothing about sleeper agents. So far they sound a bit more like organised crime/conspiracy rather than a big bad with magical brainwashing abilities and super communications. I mean, there's a section on them in the Emerald Magistrates library and most magistrates think they're an issue, but not behind everything.

WaiT, Kitsuki Kagi was born a Lion? Where did I miss that?

3 hours ago, Diogo Salazar said:

WaiT, Kitsuki Kagi was born a Lion? Where did I miss that?

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/1d/6d/1d6de38a-6e14-4fa9-bb9e-b149c8ba91c6/the-specters-of-war.pdf

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/7a/04/7a04b03a-e21f-4447-aae7-a9d186d6d395/3_by_the_stroke_of_a_brush_lorez-compressed.pdf

He confirms to Kuwanan that he was a Matsu before marrying in to the Dragon. Maybe his fixation on the Kolat began after he learned the Kitsuki Method and started subconsciously reconsidering things he saw among the Lion when he was younger. Or is a cover to deflect the fact that he is Kolat.

Either way, it’s interesting that he’s the one who points Kuwanan at the evidence planted by Hametsu, though as far as we know that was a personal attack motivated against Kachiko’s relationship and the Kolat would not have known it was there. He keeps to the official story that nothing untoward was found in Satsume’s letters, though he would be expected to do that. And the letter most likely is genuine, Hotaru hated her father and probably did wish to run away from it all with her lover, while never actually intending to.

It’s fascinating the he knows the truth about Satsume but can’t reveal it and subsequently causes the truth about Hotaru to come out with the worst possible interpretation. Apparently all the while being as legitimately helpful as his duty allows. Even his being hand-picked by Toturi all but guarantees that Kuwanan will suspect a cover-up.

And there are! 2 of them, both Kolat, but only one of them involving Kachiko & now Hotaru, and it’s not Satsume. But now there’s a guilt by association link from Miya Satoshi to the Bayushis Kachiko & Aramoro to Doji Hotaru for a whole bundle of crimes surrounding the succession on the look of it all to guarantee Sotorii became Emperor.

Quick question: how quickly does news travel in Rokugan? Because Mirumoto Hitomo arresting the Imperial Regent is the sort of thing that should start spreading down the grapevine like wildfire the second Hitomi ordered the exits-and-entrances to the Palace barricaded.

Basically, how soon before either Heir finds out their "inheritance" is burning itself down?

48 minutes ago, Mangod said:

Quick question: how quickly does news travel in Rokugan? Because Mirumoto Hitomo arresting the Imperial Regent is the sort of thing that should start spreading down the grapevine like wildfire the second Hitomi ordered the exits-and-entrances to the Palace barricaded.

Basically, how soon before either Heir finds out their "inheritance" is burning itself down?

As fast as a courier rides and a messenger bird flies. At the start of Winter. Quickly to the family kyudens and major cities, slower to towns & outlying villages with reduced travel. Last to troops in the field to whom a runner would need to be sent.

For Sotorii it depends on how isolated the ronin band that has him is, and only the Heavens know where Daisetsu is now. All we know, Mitsu might’ve taken him back to the High House of Light to meditate with Togashi Yokuni.

On 9/20/2020 at 6:05 PM, Diogo Salazar said:

WaiT, Kitsuki Kagi was born a Lion? Where did I miss that?

In the old lore as well. Way of Shadow.

5 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

In the old lore as well. Way of Shadow.

They have made some slight changes however as in old lore he was born Matsu but adopted and raised as a Kitsuki, new lore he married into the Kitsuki.

Also, for those suggesting supernatural angryness being a thing lurking around the palace - views on Hitomi's inner monologue?

4 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Also, for those suggesting supernatural angryness being a thing lurking around the palace - views on Hitomi's inner monologue?

Hitomi’s pretty angry in general, though while that’s a plausible explanation, it’s notable that homicidal urges towards the Throne seem unduly powerful.

I'd say that if there's any untoward influence in play, it needs a hook to really dig in- Hitomi's not exactly a beacon of tranquility (and her fury here was only defused by her Kryptonite being in play), and Sotorii's temper was one of his defining traits from the word go- and when Daisetsu snarled his cruel little jab, it was at a target he felt some legitimate anger toward.

I would also contend, however, that it might be a matter of circumstance, and that Hitomi is just her old hot-tempered self without any supernatural prodding required. Sotorii is the only one whose blind fury seems to shock even him... and as someone who has flown off the handle in pretty catastrophic fashion in my own life, I can tell you that no magic was required for it to happen.

1 hour ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

and as someone who has flown off the handle in pretty catastrophic fashion in my own life, I can tell you that no magic was required for it to happen.

Yeah, but did you commit patricide/regicide and doom an entire nation to civil war when you did?

Joking aside, I'm starting to wonder if this new storyline isn't bringing Toshigoku into the story as the first big bad, rather than Jigoku. First there was that kerfuffle in the Kaito shrine, and now this...

31 minutes ago, Mangod said:

Yeah, but did you commit patricide/regicide and doom an entire nation to civil war when you did?

Joking aside, I'm starting to wonder if this new storyline isn't bringing Toshigoku into the story as the first big bad, rather than Jigoku. First there was that kerfuffle in the Kaito shrine, and now this...

It also comes up a bit in Wheel of Judgement and Deathly Turns.

I said on the Discord that I would actually find Old5R Kisada's alliance and march on Otosan Uchi way more plausible if it had been Toshigoku he sided with -- basically, rather than throwing his lot in with the exact thing his clan had been fighting for a thousand years, more the logic of "I will turn to something that can make my soldiers unstoppable." And since in New5R, Toshigoku has been infiltrated by Jigoku . . .

8 hours ago, Kinzen said:

And since in New5R, Toshigoku has been infiltrated by Jigoku . . .

An ‘Elemental Imbalance’ definitely has more heft when it’s occurring up & down through most of the Celestial Heavens.

Even without throwing in with a spirit army, I can see Kisada marching to help the only Clan willing to provide the Crab with more jade. Especially to pry Shoju out of the hands of Kakita Yoshi.

Yes, in this context I see Kisada marching up to the capital in support of one or more Scorpions as significantly more likely to bail them out so they can give him his Jade rather than anything else, with depending on how shenanigansed he gets along the way possibly a more "subtle" betrayal of principles by standing aside and letting some Shadowlands pop through so the rest of the Empire can see what it's like for a second only to realize "oops, there's a reason we don't do that" - as opposed to just "I guess they work for us now". But also it could just be taking their attention away from the wall lets those dastardly boys slip through and cause some real damage. Maybe Yori offers somebody a hand in the crisis.

We know we're not in a bad way until we see Yogo Junzo fondling some scrolls.

I can't help but notice.... the Dragon Clan stormed the Imperial Palace and the only people who tried to defend Shoju were Scorpion Clan bushi...

So apparently the Seppun Palace Guards who have been marching up and down the halls since the Emperor was killed.... I guess they are just done with all this mess.

I am guessing Ishikawa, Satoshi and Sorai are just "let's just step back and see how this plays out, enough of us have been killed over this as it is" and sent word down the line.

6 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

I can't help but notice.... the Dragon Clan stormed the Imperial Palace and the only people who tried to defend Shoju were Scorpion Clan bushi...

So apparently the Seppun Palace Guards who have been marching up and down the halls since the Emperor was killed.... I guess they are just done with all this mess.

I am guessing Ishikawa, Satoshi and Sorai are just "let's just step back and see how this plays out, enough of us have been killed over this as it is" and sent word down the line.

Well Toturi and Sumiko denouncing him in open court and the Ishikawa giving Toturi the high five backslap on the way out does suggest how he at least was leaning on the matter.