So, I am finally running my first 5th edition campaign.

It's set during the Return of the Unicorn, specifically, the Winter of 817, the first Winter after the Unicorn had been formally recognized and accepted by Hantei XXII.

Initially, the campaign was supposed to be a mix of Scorpions and Unicorns, but all the players picked Scorpion so the theme slightly changed but the period remained the same.

A few changes from the original timeline. Iuchiban did not happen (in fact, depending on how the campaign goes, Iuchiban might happen during the campaign). Which means no Asahina Yajinden or Blood Swords (yet?).

Also, I love how everybody picked a different family from the Scorpion. Anyway, here is the cast:

Dramatis Personae

Bayushi Shina

If you need a definition of dangerous allure, look no more, you found it. Trained by the Bayushi Deathdealers (most heavy metal name ever), Rumours are that the son and heir of the Lion Clan declared his love for her but she, allegedly, refused his romantic advances and with a broken heart he committed seppuku. Now betrothed to a Unicorn as part of a treaty to foster peace between the two clans after the humiliating defeat of the Scorpion by the hands (and hooves) of the Unicorn, Shina is going to the Imperial Winter Court at Kyuden Ide to meet her fiancé, Shinjo Seiya.

Shosuro Soshiro (abandoned)

Shosuro Soshiro is someone most people never pay attention to or actually have a hard time trying to remember if they've ever met and that's just how Soshiro likes it. Trained by the Shosuro Infiltrator School (officially the Shosuro Artist School), Soshiro has lived some part of his life as a peasant until the Shosuro Daimyō adopted him when he was recognized as a former member of the Otomo whose lineage, officially, never existed. Now he is trying to discover the truth about what happened to his original family and the Imperial Winter Court is the perfect place to start throwing some questions (and knives) at the Otomo.

Soshi Genji

Third in line for the succession of the Soshi Family. Soshi Genji only cares about two things: women and tea. Trained as a Soshi Illusionist, he is a master of covert surveillance and a thorn on the side of the Otomo. Best friends with Yogo Baku (and one of the few people who knows of his family secret), he was handpicked by Bayushi Ogoe, the Scorpion Champion himself to accompany him to the Imperial Winter Court to help hinder any efforts of strong alliances between the other clans (and kill Yogo Baku if he ever becomes corrupted).

Yogo Baku

Trained by the Yogo Preserver School, Yogo Baku carries a terrible secret (besides his Family terrible curse), he is haunted by the ghost of an ancestor (Yogo Ja-Yoon) who became a mahō-tsukai. Having an even more sensitive connection to spirits and ghosts in general, he tries to find a way of tending to elemental imbalances wherever he can find while also helping his best friend Soshi Genji with whatever secret that needs uncovering with the expert use of his shikigamis. He follows his Champion to the Imperial Winter Court in the hope of learning of a way of getting rid of Yogo Ja-Yoon with the help of the Iuchi.

I'll make sure to post this weekend the first sessions we had. Already the game is going into an unexpected way than I was hoping.

Looking forward to reading it - sounds like a great setting.

4 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Looking forward to reading it - sounds like a great setting.

Misquoting a famous Prussian Marshall. No campaign survives contact with the players.

Kami dammit.

Okay, my text got deleted because my wife closed the browser and I had the tab open.

Okay, I'll try to do this later today.

Ok, let's try this again.

First of all, the player playing Shosuro Soshiro couldn't show up for the first game. Also, the players were given one starting level 1 Bond (which I consider half its XP counts toward title or rank advancement), 50 XP and the option to begin with a title. Only Bayushi Shina picked Dreaded Enforcer, she also picked her Betrothed as a Lover Bond. Yogo Baku and Soshi Genji picked each other as Comrades and Shosuro Soshiro is still deciding (being the new player to this edition of L5R he is still getting the hang of it). Finally, the game is being played just using Discord and a huge virtual whiteboard with loads of characters.

4th of the Month of the Rat, 817

The Scorpion delegation is the first to arrive at Kyuden Ide. The first thing they notice is that the whole thing looks like a slightly smaller version of Kyuden Doji. The two biggest differences being the place where in Kyuden Doji would be the gardens is replaced instead by a large wooden structure and a huge grassy field. They are reminded by their Champion, Bayushi Ogoe that their main mission this season is to prevent the Asako Inquisitors and Kuni Witch Hunters of making peace (they've been at each other's throat for the last 5 years, thanks to Scorpion meddling).

They meet the Unicorn Champion, Shinjo Nishin and his daughter and heir, Shinjo Kochamon. Kochamon then takes the players to meet Shina's betrothed, Shinjo Seiya*. Shina gets an amazing Courtesy/Fire roll to make a first impression which pretty much bedazzles Seiya who tries in the most polite way as not to insult her that she wasn't nearly as close as he imagined her (given her Whispers of Cruelty adversity). The whole thing is being set up as part of the peace fostering put upon the Unicorn and Scorpion by the Emperor after they fought the previous summer (and the Scorpion lost on purpose). So a Scorpion of relative high rank would marry into the Unicorn and someone of the Unicorn would marry into the Scorpion. Shina and Seiya have a pleasant conversation and she gets invited to ride a Unicorn horse the next day. Genji and Baku ask if they can walk around the castle and permission is granted as long as a Unicorn is accompanying them to which Seiya volunteers.

First thing they want to do is visit the structure at the grassy field. Along the way, they pick up from Seiya that the Unicorn are going to gift the Emperor with a pair of breeding Utaku battle horses, and that's like, a huge deal for them. This gives Genji the idea of messing things up a little bit just to keep the unicorn on their toes (hooves?). They smell the contents of the building before actually going inside and they are met with the largest stable they have ever seen.
Again, a reminder that this is all set right after the return of the Unicorn and horses were something that most of the people didn't care that much. Genji gives some signals to Baku via Cadence so he sets up some distraction. Baku goes on and on about how interesting the foreign horses are and gets the attention of everyone working inside with his newfound enthusiasm to horses. Genji then casts Nature's Touch and convinces the two horses to be gifted to the Emperor that the Emperor is in fact a horse eater (he describes in general terms the way the Emperor will be dressed). After this, they go back to their quarters for dinner where Baku spends the night creating a shikigami in the aspect of a frog.

5th of the Month of the Rat, 817

They hear the news that the Crab delegation is supposed to arrive this day. Shina goes meeting Seiya at the stable where Seiya shows her a quiet strong gelding for her to ride. Shina decides to go all in and ride like a daredevil to impress the Unicorn. I set the TN at 4 and with Fire 3 and no Survival, she wisely spends a Void Point. Luckily she gets 4 successes (and a significant amount of strife) and opportunity to make the whole thing way flashier. She attracts attention from pretty much the whole castle, jumping obstacles and riding full throttle (and setting Seiya to eat her dust in the process) , that after she returns she finds Shinjo Nishin and Bayushi Ogoe waiting for her. Nishin congratulates her for her riding, pointing that she is a natural rider and congratulates Ogoe as well for having such an impressive vassal. She is awarded some Glory for the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Genji starts setting up surveillance at the floating tea house by casting Secrets on the Wind in some likely private conversation spots. Baku orders the shikigami to stay at the Crab Guest House and return in two days to report.

The Crab delegation arrives. Nishin and Hida Banuken, the Crab Champion seem quite friendly towards each other but the players go pay attention at the Kuni Witch Hunters, there are three of them and the high ranking one is called Hida Makoto, they try to gather some information about him but for the short moment they were close to him they were unable to.

They spend the next day getting ready for the arrival of the Emperor and the other Clans which are expected to arrive. Genji goes back to the stables with Baku to reinforce the horses about the Emperor being a horse eater.

6th of the Month of the Rat, 817

The Emperor arrives along with the other clans. They notice two things: first one, the Lion Clan was the last one of the caravan, entering Kyuden Ide even after a Fox delegation (which was the second surprise). They file this information away and pay attention to the gift giving ceremony. The horses are being brought and they seem nervous. I rolled for the samurai bringing the horses to keep them under control and she almost fails. The players do notice, however, that for a moment, Shinjo Nishin moved half a step to put himself in front of the horses if the horses tried to trample the Emperor (which honestly almost happened).

After the opening ceremony, they have a moment to speak to some of the Phoenix delegation where they meet Asako Hikari, an old blind woman who for some reason hasn't retired yet. They also have the chance to meet Agasha Kitsuki (YES, THE KITSUKI) who tries in a very brazen and arrogant way ask them to not get themselves involved between Bayushi Shiko, wife of Bayushi Ogoe and Mirumoto Kaijuko, Daimyo of the Mirumoto Family who are long time rivals.

The players, OBVIOUSLY, take umbrage at Kitsuki for being, in their view, dismissive of them and decide that they are going to be the Moriarty to his Sherlock.

They also start to wonder what happens if Kitsuki is killed before he actually gets the chance to create his Family and School and they believe it would be a Shinobi school made to avenge criminals who escaped the law because of their social status and they dub it the Agasha Avenger School. I find the idea really interesting and if, indeed, Kitsuki gets killed, such a school will show up.

7th of the Month of the Rat, 817

In the morning, Genji gets to meet Bayushi Ogoe having breakfast with other Clan Champions, they are discussing the events for the next few days, and noticing the tension between the Lion and Unicorn and Phoenix and Crab, Genji quietly gives the idea to Ogoe of making sure that the game of kemari scheduled for the 9th be played with mixed teams, instead of teams made up of a single Clan. Ogoe loves the idea and makes sure he will suggest it to Hantei XXII who loves kemari.

The Emperor arrives late for breakfast, Genji is silent the whole time, but when the Emperor asks about the Kemari matches, Ogoe swiftly proposes the idea of mixing the clans in different teams to foster the spirit of cooperation between the Clans. The Emperor absolutely loves the idea, saying it was the best idea he was ever going to hear that day. Ogoe takes full authority for the idea but Genji is rewarded with a little bit of Glory as well.

And that's it for the first session. I'll try the next one tomorrow and we will be playing again next Wednesday.

*yes, the names were deliberately chosen this way.

Nice. Looking forward to the kemari results - especially since it's likely to see the PCs squaring off against one another (or deciding who's going to throw the match in order to skew the whole thing).

Also, as an observation: whilst spontaneous Scorpion shennanigans are almost inevitable, a plan whose likely outcome is the Son of Heaven being trampled to death by wild horses probably deserved a bit more consideration. And maybe a small honour hit.....

Oh yeah, Genji lost some honor. I mean, they really didn’t think things through. They were just thinking, hey, what if the Unicorn get humiliated when doing this?

Of course there will be ramifications to this. It’s not like there isn’t a detective in the castle with them.

Session Two:

7th of the Month of the Rat, 817

In the afternoon, the players meet Asako Hikari, she is an old, blind Asako Inquisitor. They wonder how an old blind woman still hasn't retired and go investigate. By the use of different techniques and school abilities, Shina and Baku find out that she has a rivalry with Hida Makoto, the Witch Hunter and that she is quite superstitious.

With that, they formulate a plan. They decide to steal some jade jewelry that she might have and use that jade to make some gift to Hida Makoto that somehow could be seem as a bad omen to a particular superstitious person.
After some Theology rolls they decide that a hand fan depicting four spiders given at dusk could be a particular bad sign. Of course, the fact that she is blind, means that someone should depict the fan to her and for that the court should be paying close attention to either Hida Makoto or the gift giver.

• Baku figures the Ide might have some reserves left from the Unicorn traversy of the Shadowlands and buy some jade from the Ide just in case they mess up with the stolen jewelry and need extra jade. He buys three fingers just to be safe.
• They send Soshiro to sneak into the Phoenix House guest during dinner and go into Hikari's bedroom and steal some jade jewelry. He succeeds with no problem, avoiding guards and getting without being seen by the guards.
• Shina asks Seiya to have access to some workshop to make some fans that she was asked by someone else to be given as a gift after the kemari game. Seiya puts some good words and the fact that she impressed the Unicorn makes it easy to secure a workshop and reduce the TN by 3 (to 4).

Baku's shikigami returns and reports that the Unicorn asked the Crab for help to check if some horses had been possessed by some kind of evil spirit.

8th of the Month of the Rat, 817

Genji wants to spend some time with Shinjo Kochamon to better understand her (to better use her later). She finds sometime for him during lunch, but that means a Unicorn Lunch with the rest of the Unicorn clan inside Kyuden Ide. We determine that since Unicorn cuisine is totally different from typical Rokugani cuisine, he will need to pass a Water/Courtesy check with TN 3 to not cause a faux pas during lunch and that if he also gets 2 opportunities he, not only doesn't cause a faux pas but he genuinely appreciates the food. With Water 2 and Courtesy 2, that was going to be a tough check. He spends a Void Point and uses his Rank 2 Bond ability with Baku to roll as Water 3 and Courtesy 3 and keeping 5 dice. He passes the check and is presented to some true Unicorn delicacies such as the equivalent to Mongolian barbecue and yogurt. He causes such a good impression that he gains some Glory and is able to find out that Kochamon has a Soft Heart.

Baku decides to investigate what is this about horse possession and is successful enough to get some Iuchi to mention that the pair of horses given to the Emperor had been presented again the day before in the stables and the horses had become agitated again, making the other horses nervous as well. The Emperor had become quite displeased with the events and mentioned that if the horses were to behave like this, they better be put down.

He then decides NOT to go the stable but send his shikigami instead to spy. He just gets the feeling of the shikigami being destroyed (unbeknownst to him, the Iuchi had become so paranoid with spiritual interference that they put some threshold barrier around the stable and as soon as they felt a spirit trying to cross they summarily destroyed it).

Soshiro finds a note written in a paper of really poor quality asking him to meet at the grassy field after everyone has gone to sleep and go by himself. He presents the piece of paper to the group. Baku recognizes the paper as being Dragon paper of rough quality, somewhat resistant to the elements but definitely not a pretty piece of paper. Genji tells Soshiro roughly where to go on the grassy field as he will make sure to eavesdrop remotely with Secrets of the Wind. Shina decides to go with him.

Night falls and they notice the first snow is finally upon the land but it's just a flurry. They decide to not bring a torch or lantern as the moon is waxing and they notice that a human silhouette is already waiting for them. They keep themselves at throw range and ask the person what is the meaning of this. The person reveals to be Agasha Kitsuki and he just wanted to ask them some questions away from the court. Shina replies that this is highly unusual, even for a Dragon and Kitsuki replies that if needed be, he will use his authority and Yoriki and call this an official interrogation. Being outranked, Shina decides to play along. Kitsuki reminds them that he had asked specifically for Soshiro to come alone and yet, not only he came with someone else but, and then he performs Commune with the Spirits to detect a spell from someone he could not identify, probably Soshiro Genji is eavesdropping on the conversation as well. He brings back the story of how the Utaku horses for the Emperor are quite agitated and he suggested the Iuchi that perhaps they should talk to the horses and see what they answer. And Kitsuki was quite surprised to hear that a person told the horses the Emperor, or the person they were going to be given to was a horse eater. He point blank asks them if they were trying to get the Emperor assassinated.Shina, somewhat aware of what Genji did, asks if this is a formal accusation and if so, she will challenge him then and there to prove their innocence. Kitsuki calmly points out that, unlike her, he did not bring any weapons and no, this isn't a formal interrogation but he just wanted to rule out the Scorpion, as they were the only delegation that had arrived at the time. Soshiro says that he is tired of all this prejudice against Scorpion and Shosuro in general and that he is just an actor ( *cough cough* ) and being accused of nefarious schemes gets tiresome real quick. To that, Kitsuki smiles and then asks what was he doing leaving the Phoenix guesthouse in the middle of dinner yesterday when every Phoenix samurai was away, eating. Soshiro is caught by surprise with that one and the player starts mumbling when Shina says that since this isn't an official investigation and no formal accusations were made, they were leaving. Kitsuki just smiles and answers that of course, we are just fellow vassals of the Emperor enjoying the first snow in the Unicorn plains. Soshiro and Shina leave. Genji, still eavesdropping hears Kitsuki speak to no one: "Genji, I can guess you are the one listening, I don't want to cause trouble, in fact, I want to make sure there won't be any trouble and I would like to speak with you tomorrow to set terms."

Genji decides to ignore the invitation.

The next day, Shina was away fabricating the hand fan (and she got enough successes and opportunities to actually create a pair of them).

That's the end of the second session.

I'll try to post the third one tomorrow and next Wednesday (Sep 30) we will have our fourth session.

Sorry, the last Dresden book came out and I had to finish it 😄

10th of the Month of the Rat, 817

The expected tournament* of kemari arrives. The game is pushed to later for the day to give time to assemble some platforms on the grass to protect the samurai of getting their feet wet and avoid having their mobility hampered with the little mud that was made with the melted snow from the last night. The mixed teams would be announced just before the game, but Soshiro used his Blessed Lineage to find out who among the Imperial Delegation was responsible for dividing the teams and then infiltrated his quarters just to make sure that Shina and Seiya would be on the same team. Meanwhile, Shina was using her passion for fashion to assemble her clothes in a way to truly impress everyone. Baku and Genji spent the day with Asako Hikari, in preparation for the "trap", during their small talk, Hikari mentions that she couldn't find her jewelry made of jade for special events such as this. Genji makes a Void/Courtesy roll to make her ponder that, she might have just misplaced them, it would be real bad luck to have them truly lost.

The time for the game arrives, the Imperial Voice calls forth each team of eight (one from each Major Clan and eight from the Imperial Families sans Hantei). Seiya is surprised to see himself in the same team as Shina to which Shina replies that such thing is the work of destiny (to which Soshiro player's joked if that was going to be his new name and the other players jumped on the joke saying that henceforth they would call him Unmei-kun 😄 ).

I explained to them that I had made some rolls before for every team and that the rules would be as such.

The TN of the roll would be 1 but every bonus success would count towards the momentum to acquire more points. Opportunities could be spend in a way to help describe the way they played and they would be used to break any ties.

The only ones missing the roll were Shina and Seiya and they needed 9 successes or more to make their teams win or 8 successes and acquire 3 opportunities that would be a good fit. Shinjo made a Void 3/Games 2 roll spending a Void Point basically playing reactive to the team. Shina on the other hand, went Fire 3/ Games 2 to play as flashy as possible and she also spent a Void Point. Shina rolls first and gets 8 successes and 1 opportunity (and something like 5 strife), Seiya got 4 successes and they easily win the game.

The Emperor himself goes on to congratulate each one of the winning team, granting them buttloads of Glory. After the game, when the celebrations begin, Shina gets the box with the fans and goes to Hida Makoto, Hikari's rival saying that someone had commissioned her to create a gift for him, and while she was sworn to not reveal the identity, she hoped he would enjoy the gift. She makes sure to roll Fire/Courtesy in a way to bring attention of the court to her (which was not so difficult considering she was one of the 8 champions for the night) and this was the cue for Baku to casually mention what was happening to Hikari. Hikari gets curious and asks her yōjimbō, Shiba Aoshi, to describe her the gift. Aoshi starts telling her that that it's a pair of hand fans, with the wooden spokes covered in jade and the surface contains 4 spiders painted in blue. Baku and Genji are just watching the realization dawn on her for the symbolism of the number four plus the spiders at night which gives her 3 strife. To drive the coup de grace, Baku makes a casual mention of how curious the world is where Hikari had just mentioned how she lost her jade jewelry and Hida Makoto now had gained some jade. Of course, *wink wink* Baku made it in a way where he didn't know that Makoto and Hikari were rivals. That's enough for Hikari go above her Composure and she unmasks. For a blind person trying to leave a room without the help of her yōjimbō, she of course stumbles on someone, and that someone OF COURSE is Hida Makoto, who drops one of the fans and when he realizes that the one who stumbled on her was Hikari, he loudly questions how come a blind old woman is not retired yet. With tears on her face (and some huge loss of Honor and Glory) Hikari finally leaves the room with the help of Aoshi.

The characters then look for Bayushi Ogoe among the crow discreetly nods his head in approval.

P.S: As a final act, Shina wants to sneak into Seiya's room. She gets to pass a Air 3/Skullduggery 3 TN 4 test to get there unnoticed. Seiya was conveniently changing into his sleepwear with a surprised face while Shina just pushes him on the ground and makes him a man. *camera fades to black*

*I know kemari is not supposed to be competitive, but I figured if you have different teams trying to keep the ball in the air the longest, the last team standing would be champion.

Game 4 happened last Wednesday and unfortunately it was only with half party, Yogo Baku and Bayushi Shina

14th of the Month of the Rat, 817

Half a week has passed since the events of the kemari tournament. They haven't seen Asako Hikari since. Baku is feeling a little bit remorseful for his part on her downfall and decides to visit her. He finds Shiba Aoshi guarding the entrance to Hikari's room. Baku politely asks to enter, to which Aoshi just silently glares at him until they hear Hikari's voice from inside allowing Baku to enter. Aoshi allows him to enter and follows him into the room and closes the screen behind them. When he enters, he notices that Hikari has probably not changed from her sleepwear in days and that she is holding a carpenter's knife and a wooden tablet shaving some indentures. He realizes that she is writing with the knife. She offers him some hot, red beverage that Baku smells some peach and hibiscus in it. They stay in silent for a moment, drinking, until Baku breaks the silence by asking her what she is doing. She says that she is preparing her memoirs to be taken to the Asako Library. Then Baku asks politely if she would mind explaining to him what is the problem that she and Makoto have. Aoshi just glares daggers at him and Hikari starts explaining that it all started around 25-28 years ago, she says that the Asako, Kuni and even the Yogo had some kind of informal network of information and were usually polite, at least professional towards each others but some events happened that this network kind of broke. She and other Asako tried to bring back at least the Kuni into it and for a while, the trust seemed to be returning but in the last 2 years it all broke down again and possibly became worse. After chit-chatting for a while, Baku leaves.

Baku's player asks me when was the time that his grandmother (the one haunting him) died and I tell him with a smile on my face that she died 27 years ago. He stays silent for 2 seconds looking at me and "okay" and takes note.

17th of the Month of the Rat, 817

Three days later, Shina hears of a rumor running the Winter Court that the young Unicorn who was on the kemari winning team is having a romance with a Moto girl. That leaves her livid. She asks if it's possible to trace back the rumor. I say that it's possible but difficult and if she takes too long, she will lose the trail. I tell her that she kind of has 3 options: go the intimidation way, go the cunning way or go the charming way. She decides to go the cunning way. She makes some advance on it but not enough. She also decides to track down who is this Moto girl. She is horrified when she sees that his romantic rival is a woman who doesn't care about dressing appropriately for court and wears LEATHER. I notify that she takes 3 points of Strife because someone had inverted her Passion which puts her on the edge of her Composure (which is 8, btw).

Shina then decides to ask the Unicorn how they purify the leather to make it appropriate to dress it. They go looking for Iuchi Khotun, a shugenja who Baku had got acquainted with and they find him a workshop creating some glass talismans. They patiently wait for him to finish and then ask him about the ritual for leather purification. Khotun gets nervous about this and says that he needs to talk to his daimy ō before he can say anything. Baku and Shina say they are sorry if this would bring any complications for him and tell him to ignore the favor then. Khotun replies that he will give either a positive or negative answer before dinner.

While they wait, Agasha Kitsuki goes back to them again, asking them politely to follow him to the stables. Shina says that she won't do such a thing unless he formally accuses her of something and Kitsuki replies that if push comes to shove, he would use of his authority as Emerald yoriki to make them go with him. Baku uses Truth Burns Through Lies to find out that Kitsuki's accusation that someone in the Scorpion's delegation was responsible for an attempt on the Emperor's life is flawed. Kitsuki argues how that can be, since they were the only Clan who had arrived at the castle at the time, to which Baku opens a wolfish grin and replies: "well, as far as I remember, the Unicorn were already here when we arrived." And figuratively drops the mic. The overlooked flaw on his reasoning makes Kitsuki profusely ask Shina for forgiveness and that he needs to investigate more and leaves.

After a while, Khotun returns and asks them to follow him. They go to an office behind the throne room where they meet Iuchi Shino, the Iuchi daimy ō, and Shinjo Nishin and Kochamon, Unicorn Champion and heir. Baku and Shina get nervous why such a simple request (they so believed) had gone so up the chain of command. Shino starts asking why they want to know how to purify leather, to which Shina replies that she noticed lots of Unicorn dressed as such and she was curious about the opportunity of making clothes with a different fabric and as far as she understood, leather can taint (small t) a person's spirit and she believe that somehow the Unicorn had a secret technique to purify it.

Nishin and Kochamon look at each other and Nishin nods his had. Kochamon first asks them to give their words that what was going to be said here would not leave this room. They stake some honor and Shino starts to explain that as far they knew, leather is in no way unclean and they decided to start this rumor because when the first Phoenix arrived to actually discuss peacefully with them, back in 815, they kind of got horrified from seeing them wearing leather and the Ide decided that it was best to provide a white lie to calm them. But yes, as far as they knew, leather was not something that needed spiritual purification. The blood when they first killed a goat or ox? Sure. But after the leather had been cleaned, no problem and no special ritual.

Shina then asks if it's at the least the burakumin who slaughter the animal and Kochamon replies that in a sense, yes, but that they didn't put as hard a restriction on their burakumin as the other Clans did. Baku asks for clarification on this and Kochamon explains that if you have been nomad, sleeping under the sky for 8 centuries, proper distance between the castes is hard to maintain. With that, both Kochamon and Shina fail in not showing disgust with what they heard and they lose some honor (now putting both of them below 30). Nishin gets annoyed and tells them that they should then leave the Empire to see how the rest of the world lived and that not necessarily the Phoenix were the only gatekeepers to the Truth.

And that's it for session four.

Session five. The whole crew showed up.

17th of the Month of the Rat, 817

Bayushi Ogoe heard of Genji and Soshiro eating Unicorn cuisine and not shaming themselves and invited both of them to eat with him. He asked them for help to how get acquainted to Unicorn cuisine and summoned servants who came with food clearly stolen acquired from the Unicorn kitchens. They helped Ogoe to get familiar with the food and he quite liked as well. After eating, he asked them to make sure his wife, Bayushi Shiko, would not get herself entangled in any shenanigans with Mirumoto Kaijuko, the Mirumoto Daimyõ. They asked what happened between the two of them, Ogoe answers that that was before they married, when she was still a teenager and he respects his wife's privacy. But if her acts hindered the clan's advancement, he would be forced to act on that and he didn't want to. Soshiro and Genji leave Bayushi-ue and go meet with the other characters.

They explain to them what is happening and Shina explains to them about the rumour running the court that she wasn't able to pinpoint its location. Soshiro decides to help her with Lord Bayushi's Whispers and they find an informant from the Imperial delegation who provides them with a name, Ikoma Yusuke. Soshiro and Shina go talk to this Lion who had the audacity of trying to destroy her betrothal. They find the Ikoma playing go with a Hiruma Crab. They wait patiently for the game to end where the Hiruma handily wins and leaves the game carrying a finger of jade. The Ikoma aknowledges them and asks Shina to seat in front of him while he cleans the board. Shina is fuming by how calmly he is acting and Yusuke complains that he was hoping she would have found him sooner, alas, perhaps he should have played with Soshiro instead and smiles towards him considering she is not as cunny as court tales had told him, this attacks Shina's Delusions of Gradeur and she takes 3 Strife. She accepts to play against him and both use Assess Strength. Shina finds wins the match and finds out that he is a Pot Stirrer and also has Delusions of Grandeur. At this point, Shina was believing that maybe he was acting under the Akodo Champion's orders, but now she assumed he was doing that just for the EVULZ, this leaves him PISSED. She tries to intimidate the Ikoma as well but fails miserably, Yusuke answers with a Crackling Laughter that leaves Shina Compromised and Soshiro barely there. Shina tries to leave the court without Unmasking and Soshiro uses Sensational Distraction to help him leave without getting attention. He fails in trying to tell a good story with Perform and THAT leaves Sohiro Compromised but allows Shina to escape the court without people trying to pounce on her. On the other hand, a Crane duelist makes fun of him with Prey on the Weak and Soshiro unmasks by crying in front of the court. Lots of Glory are lost (and some won for taking one for the team) and because of his Affect of Harmlessness the rest of the court take Kakita Araiguma's joke at the expense of poor, helpless, hapless Shosuro Soshiro too much and he loses A LOT of Honor (doubled because of Crane and Courtesy), Kakita Araiguma leaves the court fuming.

18th of the Month of the Rat, 817

The players try to find the reason why Bayushi Shiko and Mirumoto Kaijuko hate each other. They don't go very far on that when they decide that, hey, recruiting Agasha Kitsuki as he first wished to might be the best way to make sure, Shiko and Kaijuko don't mess up with each other. Genji and Baku call Kitsuke and tell him that they want to avoid incidents between the Scorpion and Dragon. Kitsuki's face lights up because that's what he wanted all along. They agree on keeping a back channel open so they can share useful information and Kitsuke leaves the room by thanking them and casually comments that sometimes the fruit does indeed fall far from the tree and that Baku was nothing like his grandmother (the one whose ghost haunts him). This leaves Baku wondering how the Jigoku Kitsuki know anything about his grandmother when he knows so little. Before the sun sets and another snow storm begins, Seiya takes Shina blindfolded (to which the other players begin making jokes about how kinky the couple is going to be) and when the blindfold is removed she finds herself at the stable (which brings more jokes and Shina's player saying that that is a line too far), Seiya takes her to a Unicorn Warhorse and says that's his wedding gift.

End of session five.

Session six. Soshiro didn't show up for this session (again)

25th of the Month of the Rat, 817

Genji decides going snooping around spying for plots that might affect their daimyō, Bayushi Ogoe, the TN is steep (4) he fails but gets enough opportunities to not have been notice and also he discovers a disadvantage from Mirumot Kaijuko. She is alergic to seafood, but it's an anxiety and not a adversity.

Shina is trying to get some leverage over Ikoma Yusuke, she finds out that a Hiruma (the one she saw playing with him the week before) had also been screwed by him in a previous Winter Court. They start a friendship base on mutual hate

Which, by the way, is the best kind of friendship.

He tells her how in 815, he was one of the favorite to win the Archery Tournament but his bow sundered during the second shot and he got disqualified (besides almost losing an eye). Later, he tells how Yusuke showed up to him gloating how he had sabotaged his bow so he would lose the tournament and then had all kinds of pranks being thrown against him until he was finally capable of anticipating Yusuke's moves or Yusuke got bored. They decide to look for more information about him and after going all like "how could someone just try to hurt a betrothal and lots of fake crying" they are pointed in the direction of Daidoji Kazuma. They meet him in the now almost empty Tea Floating House with Kazuma dressed in full` Tatami Gusoku armor practicing some kata and Soshiro Genji enjoying his tea at the other side of the main room. Hiei and Shina introduce themselves and tell Kazuma that apparently he could give more information about Ikoma Yusuke. Kazuma eyes them both and asks who wants to fight him first. Shina volunteers and Kazuma goes to a bundle across the room and brings 2 boken. They agree on a duel to Incapacitation. At this point, Genji decides to join and watch the bout.

Round 1

Kazuma handily wins the initiative and takes an Air stance and attacks with Silent elimination grabbing Shina by the neck. Shina is totally taken by surprise and tries to attack back but with the TN increased by 3 (1 for the technique, 2 for the Air Stance) she misses completely but spends 3 Fire OPPS to cause back 2 Strife and 2 extra Strife in case she gets attacked next turn.

Round 2
Kazuma goes first and strikes Shina with the boken, finally freeing her. He takes a Fire Stance and gets a critical hit. She gets her Ceremonial Clothes damaged and due to Passion for Fasion, gets 1 Void Point and 3 Strife, she is really close to becoming compromised and almost incapacitated as well. She takes a Water Stance and uses the Deathdealer ability to exploit Kazuma's Perfectionism and take a deep breath. She is able to hit a critical hit and damage his armor as well.

Round 3

They get Compromised simultaneously during the Staredown and due to low Honor she strikes first. She unmasks by doing an Inappropriate Outburst screaming "Why is it so hard to get anything done in her?" losing some Honor and Glory in the process and gets an amazing critical hit of severity 8 (with a two-handed boken). Kazuma, even Compromised is lucky enough to reduce the critical strike to Severely Wounded and gets a broken nose in the process and immediately concedes.

Kazuma thanks her for the opportunity and asks how is her throat, Shina answers back that it did not expecting such cheating from a Crane, to which Kazuma smiles and thanks her for the compliment. At this point, Genji is pouring tea for everyone. Kazuma then asks what exactly Yusuke did to her, to which Shina tells the whole rumor about how her fiancé was cheating on her with someone else and stuff. Hiei mentions the archery tournament from two years ago and then Kazuma tells his tale. At Winter Court of 813 at Shiro Shiba, Yusuke started playing pranks on him. They began small until they evolved but to avoid a diplomatic incident, Kazuma suggested an illegal duel at night (with the planning of assassinating Yusuke) but they both kept hidden waiting for each other hidden in the dark until both froze their asses off. After a week recovering from hypothermia, Yusuke came to Kazuma and told him that that night had been fun and they should try and repeat that again because he wants to best every "commando school" of Rokugan.

Hearing that Yusuke wants to best every shinobi school made Genji, who up to that point was only part of the audience, really pissed because his ninjō is to be the best shinobi as well. Kazuma's point was that Yusuke is kind of a crazy jerk and seems to do crazy stuff just for the evulz and Shina would be best to stay clear of him. Shina, who also has Delusions of Grandeur, ignores the advice and exchanges a glance with Genji and both decide they are going to screw the Lion.

They thank Kazuma for the story and say goodbye to Hiei and go bring Baku to makeup a plan. They decide that since Yusuke is a Pot Stirrer with Delusions of Grandeur and Overconfidence in Subtlety, he would never let the chance pass to screw over Bayushi Shiko and Mirumoto Kaijuko if the opportunity presented itself. Having agreed earlier with Kitsuki to not put them together in the same room unless strictly necessary, they decide that the banquet after the Archery Tournament to be held in five days would be the best opportunity as both of them would have to attend it. Shina forges a new sitting arrangement to make sure Shiko and Kaijuko are close but not so close and also close to Yusuke. Meanwhile, Baku, who already wanted to have a meeting with Kitsuki asks Iuchi Khotun to make a meishōdō presentation for them.

Khotun takes them to a workshop who they realize is a hallowed place for Fire and Air, Kitsuki is really excited by the way the Iuchi approach the kami and the four of them began a theological debate and how their schools emphasized certain aspects or saw the same thing through different lenses. Khotun took the opportunity to gift Baku with a medium sized Scorpion made of glass (roughly 30cm in diameter). A small cultural misunderstanding about gift giving almost ruined the whole thing but it was taken care of by Genji. Baku left the room kind of annoyed because now he would need to give a gift back to Khotun but he made a point of asking Kitsuki what he knew of his grandmother when not even him knew that much about his grandmother, Yogo Ja-Yoon. Kitsuki takes him outside, to breathe the cold winter air and away from eavesdroppers. He tells Baku how the fact that he is a Yoriki gives him access to some Magistrate reports and the fact that he has eidetic memory allowed him to remember such things with extreme clarity and so he remembers reading how a young Hida Makoto encountered a village in the outskirts of the Shinomen Forest where a cult of Fu Leng existed. He escaped and was able to acquire the help of some Phoenix Inquisitors and Yogo Wardmasters that were meeting in Scorpion lands. They return to village in force, the battle is bloody and of two dozen samurai and twice the number of ashigaru, only 3 are standing by the end of it: Asako Hikari, Hida Makoto and Yogo Ja-Yoon. Yogo reveals herself as the leader of the cult and tries to kill Hikari and Makoto. Hikari tries in vain to persuade Ja-Yoon of surrendering to which enrages Makoto and Ja-Yoon tries to curse Makoto with Blindness, him being the best fighter of them but Hikari jumps in front of the curst and gets blinded herself. Makoto makes short work of Ja-Yoon and later convinces the rest of the Witch-Hunters that the Asako are too weak and naive to hunt cultists and the Yogo cannot be trusted.

Baku tells Kitsuki that he owes him a favor and he appreciates for finally learning the truth.

End of session six.

Session seven. Soshiro didn't show up again and honestly I don't know if he will anymore.

For downtime actions, Shina spent it crafting ceremonial clothes out of leather and fur and used Offend the Sensibilities in order to cause strife in Yusuke when first presented.

Baku tried to create his third shikigami (this time using the Scorpion made of glass that Khotun gave him) but he failed.

Genji used his downtime action running interference with Bayushi Shiko to make sure she and Mirumoto Kaijuko wouldn't run into each other (with the help of Agasha Kitsuki on the other side).

30th of the Month of the Rat, 817

It's the day of the Archery competition. The blizzards of the last week stopped and there was a lot of snow to be shoveled but the Unicorn are nothing if not diligent. None of the players have Martial Arts [Ranged] skill but Shina does have the soaring slice technique. She asks if she can compete without a bow, to which I ask for a TN 5 Government/Fire roll. Shina spends a Void Point and uses her bond with Seya and successfully rolls not only 5 but 7 successes (and flashy). She makes an argument that if a weapon in a trained warrior is an extension of the warrior's body, then body and weapon are one and she can be her own bow. The Otomo Chancellor stares at her dumbfounded and he is about to yell at her when the Emerald Champion, Doji Ryobu stands up and proclaims that she is indeed right and although he believes she will fail the competition, he is curious to see how far she can go. Shina gains some minor amount of Glory for showing such clever application of the Bushid ō in front of the Emperor and Emerald Champion.

With that, Bayushi Shina was allowed to compete. but alas, it didn't go very far, failing when trying to hit a covered target at Range 5. The winner of the competition was Agasha Mei-lin, a Taoist Blade who won the Bowman's Wager by hitting hidden behind a curtain of silk with the application of Earth Needs no Eyes. The runner ups had been Hiruma Hiei and Shinjo Seya. Ikoma Yusuke also participated in the competition and even went farther then Shina but got disqualified, which, considering his Delusions of Grandeur, already gave him 3 Strife.

The feast after the competition is the place when they hope that Bayushi Shiko, Mirumoto Kaijuko or both, will pounce on Yusuke for interfering in THEIR rivalry. Honestly, that was the funniest Intrigue I will ever run. So many moving parts, so many different sides with so many objectives. On the one side, the three players hoping that Yusuke become Compromised or somehow brought to the attention of Kaijuko or Shiko, Kaijuko AND Shiko both trying to Compromise each other and Agasha Kitsuki trying to calm down and prevent Kaijuko from becoming Compromised.

I determined that one could use a Scheme action akin to Strike to inflict Strife on someone with TN equal to the target's Vigilance and the use of 2 bonus successes increasing the Strife caused by one.
Also, that one could use a Support action similar to a "Guard action" with TN TN 2 and 2 bonus successes to remove Strife from SOMEONE else.
The feast would be equivalent to 5 rounds (being roughly appetizer, 3 courses and dessert). For a moment Kaijuko ALMOST got Compromised, being pounced on by both Yusuke and Shiko but Kitsuki's interference brought her Strife to safe levels again. Finally, on Round 4, Baku decides to go all in against Kitsuke and takes a Fire Stance where he gets 7 successes (because of kept Strife) and 1 Opportunity, bringing Yusuke finally into Compromised territory. We decided that the argument that brought him over was Baku arguing that today's Archery Competition showed once again (not really but for the sake of the argument) how Togashi was truly Hantei's favorite sibling instead of Akodo, and proof of that was that there was a Child of the Dragon sitting next to the Emperor (again, not really next to the Emperor but at the same table FAR AWAY from the Emperor) instead of a Lion. Given Yusuke's Delusions of Grandeur he Unmasked by causing a scene during the feast and issuing a challenge to Baku, if he was willing to back his insults with steel. Baku asks Shina to act as his Champion, to which Shina GLADLY accepts and then the Emerald Champion declares that a Iaijutsu Duel to first blood shall be performed inside the Floating Tea House at noon. With the mood of the feast pretty much destroyed, the Emperor leaves and soon everybody else. Bayushi Ogoe stays behind, thanks them for taking Shiko and Kaijuko from each other's throats but wonders if shaming the Lion is worth it at this point in time. In the end, he tells Shina to not kill Yusuke, at most maim him, but if she could humilliate him by doing the slightest of cuts, he would be pleased as well.

Hour of the Rat

I allow them one downtime action before they wake and have to do the proper rituals for the duel. Baku decides to cast a Threshold Barrier against Spirits and Kami surrounding Shina's bed. Shina finishes refining her Ceremonial Clothes made of leather and fur for the duel and Genji importunes the Air kami to cast a variant of Vapor of Nightmares to sleeping targets (the Kitsu assumed that the Scorpion would send shinobis instead and performed a Threshold Barrier against humans instead. I determine that Yusuke will begin his duel already at half Strife then.

They spend A LOT of time discussing if Shina should or should not poison her blade and they decide against (not that Yusuke will return the favor) because they believe that such a high profile duel (and in the presence of a certain Agasha) could bring more problem than it was worth the edge.

And that was it for session seven. Not much story happened, but considering the Intrigue Conflict between 7 characters and roughly 4 sides took half the time of the game, still, it was loads of fun (and again, I cry against the Conflict Chapter for being so poorly written).

So, session 8 and 9 happened pretty much one after the other and session 9 was shorter so I'll post them here.

By the way, the Shosuro Soshiro player finally came forward and told us he could not keep playing because of real life(tm).

1st of the Ox, 817

Dawn arrives and Shina prepares the final touches in her risqué, probably offensive kimono. They have a final discussion if they should or should not sabotage Yusuke even further but decide against. The way it is set, Yusuke will start the duel with half his Composure filled plus 2 Strife from the Offend the Sensibilities shuji when Shina removes her winter cloak and shows her kimono.

The entire Court packs the Main Hall of the Ide Floating Tea House with some smart cajoling some kami to create the equivalent of a screen theatre to scry the main room so people could watch from the secondary rooms.

The Emperor, the Crown Prince and the Emerald Champion are already in place. Doji Ryobu, the Emerald Champion reminds everyone what is at stake between Yogo Baku and Ikoma Yusuke and that Bayushi Shina will be acting as his champion. The duel shall be fought to first blood or if one duelists concede.

Yusuke takes the moment to roll a Fire/Government roll and sell the case that even if one conceded, the winner should be allowed to draw blood from the defeated. It was a really difficult roll but he succeeds and most important, he gets enough opportunities to Illuminate the Way on the Emerald Champion, the Emperor and the Crown Prince, thus reducing their Vigilance by 2. Shina removes her cloak thus bringing Yusuke's Strife to 7.

Initiative

Shina takes Fire Stance and gets enough strife, successes and opportunity to cause 2 more Strife to Yusuke and put her initiative to 11.
Yusuke takes Water Stance and gets opportunities to remove 2 Strife from him, his initiative is 10.

Round 1
Yusuke Strife 8 - Shina Strife 3
Shina and Yusuke both bet zero. Shina goes first.
Shina keeps Fire Stance and uses IC: Crossing Blade. She gets 4 successes and 3 Strife. Yusuke takes 9 Fatigue.
Yusuke keeps in Water Stance as well. He also does IC: Crossing Blade. He gets 2 Successes and 3 Opportunities. He removes 2 Strife from himself and increases the deadliness of the Katana to 7. Shina takes 6 Fatigue.
Yusuke takes Deep Breath as second action and takes his Fatigue to 8 and Strife to 5.

Round 2
Yusuke Strife 7, Fatigue 8 - Shina Strife 5, Fatigue 6
Shina and Yusuke both bet zero. Shina goes first.
Shina keeps pressing the advantage in Fire Stance. She takes 2 successes, 2 opportunities and 2 Strife. She uses the opportunities to cause a critical Strike and the opportunities to increase the deadlines to 7. Yusuke rolls Water/Fitness and using the Ikoma Shadow school ability he is lucky enough to score five successes to bring it to a close call, thus destroying his kimono but acquires enough Strife to put him on the edge of Compromised territory.
Yusuke decides to recover some Fatigue and Strife and keeps himself in Water Stance using Claming Breath and Striking. He hits but not enough to cause a critical strike.

Round 3
Yusuke Strife 8, Fatigue 11 - Shina Strife 10, Fatigue 9
Staredown brings both of them to Compromised thus activating Finishing Blow.
Because of her lower Honor (22 to 31) Shina goes first. Luckily she gets two successes and 1 Opportunity, thus bringing the Critical Strike to 11. Alas, Yusuke only gets 2 successes and loses a leg.
Shina wonders if she should keep attacking, considering the round isn't over but skips her action. Yusuke is prone on the floor holding his bloody stump.

The Emerald Champion declares that the will of the Heaven has spoken and Yogo Baku is right. Yusuke unmasks by cursing the Fortunes and the Celestial Heaven and demands that Shina finishes what she started because he won't live a cripple. The entire court is shocked by such blasphemy with the Lion Champion rising and cutting down Yusuke and immediately asking forgiveness to the Emperor for having such a blasphemous vassal. The Emperor who was already not pleased with the Lion, becomes increasingly so. For the first time Hantei XXII actually raises his voice to be heard by the entire Court and declares that no more duels shall be fought during this Winter Court. He congratulates Yogo Baku for the victory and leaves.

Daidoji Kazuma congratulates Shina and Yogo on their victory, Seya wonders about the fate of Yusuke's soul with Baku and Genji explaining that it's quite possible that he won't even be judged by Emma-ō, probably going directly to Gakidō. Baku player even wonders if now, the ghost of his grandmother won't try to recruit Yusuke's spirit as well in a supernatural plot of revenge. Which, to be fair, I hadn't considered, but now I have a hook for later.

4th of the Ox, 817

Genji, who made a wager with himself of tasting every flavour of tea the Unicorn have at their disposal, was visiting the Floating Tea House again (which nobody else is doing because it's too cold) notices two kids running away. He is taken by surprise and takes a moment to realized both kids are the grandsons of Hantei XXII. One of them jumps on the frozen lake to run away but the ice breaks. Genji runs as fast as he can to dive into the lake. Because of the Friendship Rank 3 Bond that he shares with Baku, I spend one their uses to allow Baku to be near and witness the last moments of the event and also do something. Genji, who only has Fitness 1, takes 2 turns to reach the lake and luckily one turn to reach the Prince and start going up. With Baku screaming for help and running towards the lake. Baku notices them under the surface of the lake and uses his Water Shikigami to replace their positions by using Hands of the Tides. Genji starts running towards the castle when a Seppun reaches him, takes the drowned Prince from him and runs away.

10th of the Ox, 817

The week is spent with the entire Winter Court praying for the Prince's (who they finally notice, was the older one who drowned) recovery. The fact that the Master of Water was present at the Winter Court might have helped. One thing that Genji noticed though, was that during this time, most of the kids who were at court were being extra nice towards the younger Prince (whose name is Hantei Jama, by the way 😈 ). And they found out that the Princes were replaying the duel between Shina and Yusuke. 6 Seppun committed seppuku for failing in keeping an eye on the Princes and by noon, it is announced that Hantei Hitachi's life was safe and that the Emperor wished to celebrate with a banquet.

Everybody hurries to get ready for the banquet and they get a call from Agasha Kitsuki that he had access to the sitting arrangement and that both Baysuhi Shiko and Mirumoto Kaijuko would be sitting in front of each other. The first thing they do is for Genji to sneak into Bayushi Ogoe's quarters to announce of this event instead of trying to get an emergency audience. He doesn't get Ogoe surprised who already had a weapon in hand but Ogoe promptly asked if this was an attempt in leadership change. Genji smiled and said that no, but explained the banquet situation and asked for guidance. Ogoe told them to do what they needed as long as no one else got killed. When Genji was leaving, Ogoe told him to use the front door next time. Meanwhile, Shina was concocting a poison that would cause Incapacitation and Baku got the sitting arrangement as well as the one who created (Otomo Kenzo, the Imperial Castellan) to notice that two sits at the Emperor's table weren't marked, they correctly guessed that these two sits were to be given to them as an appreciation gift from the Emperor for saving His grandson's life. Thus they abandoned the plan of trying to poison Kaijuko and instead they would refuse the gift and say that they should be given Bayushi Ogoe and his wife, because they were mere vassals and any recognition for their duty should be given to their lord instead.

I warned them that refusing a gift from the Emperor could incur in massive loss of glory and possibly honor, but they would also gain honor for transferring the gift to their lord.

So it was, that when the banquet was called and Yogo Baku and Soshi Genji were called to take honor seats at the Emperor's table, they refused and offered them to Bayushi Ogoe and wife. Baku didn't get enough success but got enough opportunities to reduce the consequences of failure. In the end, they lost more glory for refusing the gift than saving the Prince's life (Massive Glory gained but major Glory lost) but slightly more honor (Triffling Courage gain, massive Righteousness gain, Major Compassion gain and Massive Courtesy loss). All the while, Shina calling them crazy for refusing to sit next to the Emperor (because Shina's ninjō is to reach Undying Legend Glory Rank.

During the banquet, they had the chance to meet Asako Hikari who had been away from the public eye since they destroyed her reputation, she congratulated them for the duel and for saving the Prince and that the entire court probably had their eyes on them now.

And that was it for both session 8 and 9.

So, it took a while without me posting but we had sessions 10 and 11.

Session 10 was our Hot Springs Episode . TVTropes may ruin your life . The warning has been given, your fate is now your own

18th of the Ox, 817

The players wake up with a summons from Bayushi Shiko, the wife of Bayushi Ogoe-ue. She shows an invitation from Hantei (née Doji) Megumi, wife of Hantei Osahito, the Crown Prince to go visit a village near Kyuden Ide that apparently has a Hot Springs and the Princess wants to invite some of the ladies of the Winter Court with her for a day of relaxation and merriment.

Shiko tells them she is of course going and that her husband had suggested that the three of them escorted her along (obviously to make sure, she wouldn't get into a cat fight with Mirumoto Kaijuko).

They will be leaving shortly so they only have time to prepare some clothes and one quick action.

• Genji goes to speak to Agasha Kitsuki to confirm if Kaijuko is going or not, to which he receives a positive answer much to their chagrin.
• Baku gets a short walk and talk with Ogoe to confirm that the current orders remain to which he also receives a positive answer.
• Shina prepares a poison that could cause cramps and stomachache if ingested just as a secondary plan to keep either Kaijuko or Shiko away from the events at the Hot Springs.

The snow had stopped in the last few days so the travel wasn't so bad and they received Unicorn horses for the ride as well. During the travel they could see some familiar faces riding along like Mirumoto Kaijuko, Agasha Mei-lin and Hida Makoto, Moto Chabi and Shinjo Koshamon. It took them 4 hours to reach the village by horse.

I took inspiration for the village from Twin Blessings Village where the Hot Springs is just the sleeping place of powerful Fire Kami. It is not Twin Blessings Village though. One difference, for instance, this kami enjoys ashes instead of saké.

They stay accommodated at the small temple where the residing monk (a retired Kitsu) oversees the Hot Springs and the characters notice how hard the Seppun and Otomo worked hard and in such a short notice to provide the minimum acceptable comfort for a Hantei to sleep in such a spartan place. The hot springs and temple are located atop of a hill overseeing the village with some smaller pools (with less warmer water) forming down the hill. The princess and the rest of the ladies will have the main spring for themselves while Genji and Baku can enjoy the secondary springs with whatever male Seppun not on immediate duty (which would probably be none).

While undressing to bathe in the spring, Shina (who has Dangerous Allure) notices that Shiko looks at her with jealousy. The players screaming " now everything makes sense " was hilarious (because Mirumoto Kaijuko ALSO has Dangerous Allure). With this new information, Shina decides that instead poisoning Shiko, Kaijuko or both, she will try to bring the attention of Hantei Megumi to herself and thus become the target of Shiko's jealousy. Before they bathe, they are informed by a Seppun of the Hidden Guard that before taking a bath, one should throw ashes into the water as an offering to the kami. They do so and start enjoying the relaxing bath. Hida Makoto joins for the bath and Shina sees that she has a deep Sagat-like scar across her chest that she didn't try to hide but actually seemed to carry it with pride.

Shiko was having a pleasant conversation with Megumi when Kaijuko arrived, Shina took this opportunity to roll Performance and her newly acquired Fire 4 to get the attention of everyone at the bath, specially Megumi and become the center of attention. She succeeded handily and acquired the temporary animosity of Shiko.

Meanwhile, Baku and Genji, with nothing better to do, went to one of the secondary springs where they found Mako, the monk in charge of the temple taking a bath there already. He invited them into the water, and showed them a small bag with ashes for them to throw as offering. They noticed that the spring was a Hallowed Ground for Fire and Water. They talked with Mako, found out about his past, they were glad he didn't know who they were and their recent dealings with the Lion and Mako even pointed how he noticed no Lion lady came with the Princess and he asked them if they knew anything about the Lion being in disgrace with the Imperial Family, to which they lied by omission as best as they could.

Just before dinner time, Kochamon convinced the Princess of letting Moto Chabi prepare a typical Unicorn travelling dinner (i.e. a spit roast barbecue) and because Megumi has a passion for Travel, she would very much enjoy novelty food. Unfortunately for Chabi, her roll Survival/Fire roll was zero successes and 3 kept opportunities to which I decided that she lost her hands with the spices, causing the food to be so spicy causing flatulence (and 3 Strife) ON EVERYONE. She definitely lost a lot of Glory because of that, but that also worked for the players as nobody wanted to fart in front of the Princess nor the Princess wanted to fart in front of anyone, causing everybody to spend the COLD, CLOUDLESS, WINTER night contemplating the stars by themselves.

19th of the Ox, 817

When they finally went to sleep, Genji and Baku wake up in the middle of the night, hearing someone call their names. from outside the temple. They go investigate and first thing they notice is that it's snowy but it is not cold and they see a huge salamander shaped creature made of water and eyes of fire talking to an old lady enjoying the hot spring. They approach with caution and the lady and the spirit stop their conversation to look at them. They lady grabs Genji by his cheeks and tells him that she is glad her granddaughter was feeding him nicely. She finally presents herself as Soshi Kaede and she is the Spiritual Protector of Genji. She comes with a warning and a request.

The warning is that Yogo Ja-Yoon, the ghost that haunts Baku is trying to gather strength and the request is that Genji find her secret lab (a lost family heirloom with the keywords Hallowed and Obscured) where she had notes that could help on banishing Gaki-do spirits.

They wake up at the same time in the middle of the night, this time for real and spend the rest of the night outside, excited with the conversation they just had and how Baku can finally get rid of this shameful secret.

Shina wakes up in the morning and notices Baku and Genji left way early and probably didn't sleep at all. She dresses herself and is waiting for Shiko to wake up. Shina is kind of pissed with Shiko trying to pursue this (in her view) petty rivalry and tries to obtain information on how all of this started. She uses Fire/Command to pointedly demand an explanation and she fails. Shiko is obviously pissed with Shina for "not knowing her place" and finds out that Ogoe had actually ordered them to hinder her plans, which left her pissed with them AND WITH HER HUSBAND. Genji and Baku return in time, with the happiest face and notice the mood of the room and stay quiet.

They go back to Kyuden Ide where Shiko and Ogoe are about to have a conversation Ogoe didn't want at all.

That's it for session 10. I'll try to post session 11 tomorrow.