Legend of the Five RingsGame about honour, glory and tragedy

GMOskar

PlayersAl

AlexeiNickDaveElvisPeterAlda

ConradRobert

October 2010 - July 2011http://emeraldsamurai.com/

Contents

Introduction 4 Thanks 5 Sources 5Chapter I: Adventure Diaries 6 Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest 6 Beast of Hotei 8 The Smell of Rat 8 Tree of Life 10 The Report 11 Winter Court 1: The Hunt 12 Winter Court 2: Love and Death 13 Winter Court 2.5: Contest Rolls 16 Winter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour 17 Winter Court 4: Bad Fortune 18 Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster 20Chapter II: Characters 25 Hida Banzo 25 Kitsuki Raidou 27 Bayushi Kojiro 28 Tesshu 28 Kakita Tateno 29 Kitsuki Kurui 30 Asako Raizen 30 Bayushi Chii 30

Kitsuki Oda 30Chapter III: NPCs 32 Crab Clan 32 Hida Maruki 32 Hida Tairou 33 Hida Yuudai 33 Hiruma Akane 34 Crane Clan 34 Asahina Tomoe 34 Daidoji Aiko 34 Doji Motome 34 Doji Yutaka 35 Kakita Kanbei 35 Kakita Osamu 35 Dragon Clan 35 Kitsuki Ryujin 35 Mirumoto Hideki 35 Lion Clan 36 Akodo Yurou 36 Ikoma Kohaku 36 Matsu Akemi 36 Mantis Clan 37 Tsuruchi Naomi 37 Yoritomo Mato 37 Yoritomo Yatsuki 37

Phoenix Clan 37 Isawa Midori 37 Scorpion Clan 38 Bayushi Takahiro 38 Unicorn Clan 38 Ide Mao 38 Moto Yao-Han 38 Bat Clan 39 Komori Rei 39 Sparrow Clan 39 Suzume Natsumi 39 Suzume Shin 39 Imperial Families 40 Iweko Inoe 40 Iweko Kichirou 40 Miya Hotaru-no-hime 40 Miya Ota 40 Otomo Ishida 40 Otomo Manami 41 Otomo Ren 41 Otomo Ryuunosuke 41 the Others 41

Ema 41 Genma 42 Katsurou 42 Poko the dog 43 Ryoden 43 The Urashimas 43 Yumi 43 Minor NPCs 44Chapter IV: GM’s Notes 46 Yumi’s Mother 46 Tsch’tsch 47 Poisoning Raidou 47 The Ogre 48 Who was Ryoden? 48 The Shadow Magistrates 48 Hida Yuudai’s Agenda 48 Kurui’s Madness 48 The Spider Clan 49 Genma 49 Kashima’s Tragedy 49 Epilogue 49

Early in October 2010, I started recruiting online for a game using the 4th edition of the Leg-end of the Five Rings role-playing game. It didn’t take long until I had enough interested players to get the game started. Two weeks after I began recruiting, I met up with the four players who were going to create legendary samurai to fight against the evil forces that threatened the Empire. I had certain ideas what sort of characters the players had to make. They could play any sort of char-acter, but they were all Emerald or Jade Magistrates. This gave them some extra influence, but made it easy for me to introduce new characters if needed. We managed to finish the characters and the following week we started our first adventure. After that, however, real life got in the way and we didn’t have another session until January. By that time, one player had already dropped out due to lack of time, but we got two new players instead. A little later, we lost another player for the same reasons as the one before, but the rest of us carried on. Over time, some players found it difficult to find time for every session, and for a whole month we couldn’t use the function room that we had been using since the start.

On Thursday evening, 14th of July 2011, we had our last session. Despite not enjoying as many sessions as we might have wanted, we enjoyed every session we did have. I would have wanted to make the game last much longer, but due to work that is not to be. I must say that I don’t think I have ever had as good a group of players as I had for this cam-paign. They partook in the story and the setting, and they made this game as enjoyable for me as I hope I made it for them. Even the most difficult player was the most engaging and entertaining.Banzo will be remembered as the character who tried his best but caused the greatest trouble. He will be missed. Raidou was perhaps not the greatest fighter, but without him I don’t think I could have included half the conspiracy I did. He will be missed. Kojiro may have been the pretty boy and a fair duelist, but the best part about him was how he induced paranoia into the other players. He will be missed as well. Other characters also took part in bringing this story to its conclusion, and none of them was any worse than the three mentioned. Every single one should be included on a wall of fame. You will all be

Introduction

made it to a single session. I hope we showed him a good time.

Richard: Never a player, but his presence dur-ing one of our sessions was very... interesting. Should be included for colour.

Dragons on the Hill: Great gaming club in London. Thanks to their forums and club, I could re-cruit the players to join my game. AEG official forums: I would like to thank everyone at the AEG forums for all the help they of-fered. Much of it came to good use and all of it was appreciated.

My fiancée: It may sound a little cliché, but she actually did make the website that housed almost all of the information found in this pdf before it was compiled. It was very helpful to have all the campaign info for the players to look at online.

Sources L5R 4E: Naturally, Legend of the Five Ring is the major source for this game. This game used 4th edition, namely the core book and the Enemies of the Empire. In creating this pdf file, I used some fonts found online. They can be found at the following websites:

http://www.typenow.net/

http://www.dailyfreefonts.com/

I also used the Clan and Imperial logoes from the a website that can be located here:

Mons

Finally, I used a texture off the internet to cre-ate the borders in this pdf file.

Rice Paper Texture

missed. Like I said, I believe this group is the best one I’ve had the pleasure of GMing to date. The fact that they gave me a bokken is only a part of the reason. I wish our game could have continued on.

-Oskar, GM

Thanks Certain people deserve thanks for their par-ticipation in this campaign, either directly or indi-rectly: Al: Banzo’s player. One of the original players and made it to every session. Always a delight to mess with. Even during his final rolls, he couldn’t remem-ber how many dice to keep. Always fun. Alda: Kurui’s player. Another original player, but couldn’t find time to finish the campaign with us. It was still a pleasure, and I had great plans for Kurui. Alexei: Raidou’s player. Yet another of the original players and the only other one who made it to every session. When this is written, he still doesn’t know if it was really poison or medicine. Conrad: Chii’s player. Last of the original cast, but couldn’t find the time after the holidays to con-tinue. It was a pleasure. Dave: Tateno’s player. Unexpectedly, he showed up during the second hald of our first ad-venture, and his character was a great balance to Al’s crude Crab. Elvis: Tesshu’s player. Also showed up unex-pectedly on the same night as Dave did, and still re-mains the best named player of the lot. Jo: We needed a shugenja and we got Raizen. Unfortunately, he was only around for a single ses-sion, but his presence was far from being boring. Nick: We needed a shugenja, we got Kojiro in-stead. Nick brought a much needed social skills, and devious plotting to the game. And paranoia, can’t for-get that. Peter: The second player to take on the man-tle of Kitsune Oda, an extra character I made just for such an occasion. Without him, the finale might not have ended as well. Robert: The first player to play Oda, but only

This first chapter includes the Adventure Diaries. They are average detailed (at some times, I wrote them days after the sessions, and memory of the sessions sometimes got a little foggy). Each section also includes a list of the NPCs

that appeared in that adventure. On the website, the list linked to each NPC. Here, however, I decided to use a more easier method. Each NPC has a listed page number, where you can find information about the NPC.

After determining that an old woman in a small village was just a little crazy, and not in fact a maho-tsukai, three Emerald and one Jade Magis-trates receive a request from Doji Motome to assist in the investigation of the murder of Hida Azura. The four Magistrates, Hida Banzo, Kitsuki Raidou, Kit-suki Kurui, and Bayushi Chii, make their way to the town of Nishicho, where the murder took place, but by the time they reach town, the corpse has already

Chapter I:Adventure Diaries

been burnt, and the room in which he was found has been cleaned. In order to be a good host, Doji Motome as-signs her favoured servant girl, Yumi, to assist the Magistrates however they require. They quickly in-terrogate her and find out that she knows who the murderer is, but she won’t tell them out of fear for her life. The Magistrates search the room and find a piece of torn cloth in the corner of the room, under-

Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest

neath a table. Using magic, Chii communicates with the spirit of the cloth, and asks it three questions: Was the person who wore you a man or a woman? Did the person who wore you murder the victim? Was the person who wore you hurt in the process? The an-swers were rather short: “I don’t know”; “the person who wore me did end a life”; and “the person who wore me did scream.” The Magistrates also decided to explore other possibilities in this case. After asking around, they found out that a group of Scorpion samurai had vis-ited the town almost a week ago, but they had left the next day. This, they believed, required some more in-vestigation. Meanwhile, Banzo spoke with the Crab sam-urai who had accompanied Hida Azura to Nishicho. The victim’s brother, Hida Maruki, appeared unrea-sonable. He believed the Cranes had murdered his brother, and he demanded that the household would pay for their crimes. If the Magistrates would not do anything, he would attack the manor himself. His companion and Azura’s third in command, Hiruma Akane, was much more reasonable. She told Banzo, in private, after making him swear that he would not tell anyone about this, that Hida Azura was not ex-actly a kind man, and that he would drink and lust af-ter women. Officially, though, the Crabs would never admit to it. At the same time, Raidou spoke with Doji Motome. He found out that Motome was (and still is) married to Doji Yutaka, a general who was away on courtly business. It was Motome’s duty to take care of Nishicho and the manor, and so she was well respect-ed. She dyed the hair of her favoured servants white, as to mark them as her favourite. She also suggested that Hida Azura was a drunk and not very likable. She insisted that she had nothing to do with his mur-der, however, and said that only a Crab would stoop so low. The Magistrates rested for the night and the next morning they found out that Chii had left to in-vestigate the Scorpion samurai further, but had not returned. The Magistrates were joined by two other Emerald Magistrates, the Togashi monk Tesshu, and the duellist Kakita Tateno. They were sent by the Em-erald Champion to assist in this delicate matter, since it could turn into a war between the two clans if not handled correctly. The addition of a Crane samurai would act as a balance against the Crab samurai al-

ready working with the Magistrates. After following in Chii’s footsteps and inves-tigate the Scorpion samurai that had left the town al-most a week ago, they came to the conclusion that the Scorpions really did leave town, and that Chii must have gone after them. They haven’t seen Bayushi Chii since. With the addition of Tesshu, the Magistrates managed to get somewhere in their investigation. In fact, they managed to get a confession. Yumi con-fessed to murdering Hida Azura, but did so in de-fence to escape his lust. Hearing this, the Magistrates were faced with a dilemma. Attacking a samurai is punishable by death, but they still felt sorry for the girl. But if they would just let her go, the Crabs would likely not accept it. Their other option was to execute the poor girl, but after they found out that she is the bastard child of Doji Yutaka, even that could lead to war. While discussing options, more pressure was added when Hida Maruki decided to attack the man-or with what little force he had. But with Doji Yu-taka out of town with most of the Nishicho’s military force, the Crabs and the Cranes were evenly matched. Tateno devised a plan. He quickly fabricated a story where it was an evil spirit that killed Azura, and upon witnessing the act, Yumi had gone slightly mad and believed she had killed him, thus confessing wrongly to the murder. The Cranes were all too happy to have this matter concluded, but the Crabs were not very happy about this. Someone had to pay for this murder, but they returned to the Crab lands before taking any rash actions. Luckily, Maruki never even got through the gates, and so no harm was done in his attack. Tesshu, who had sworn an oath never to lie, was simply lied to and made to believe the story Ta-teno made up. Banzo was certainly not happy at all, and wrote a letter in which he explained everything. He gave that letter to Hiruma Akane and told her to give it to someone in power in the Crab clan. With the murder solved, the Imperial Mag-istrates were to return to Toshi Ranbo, the imperial city, and give a report of what had happened. They left a note for Bayushi Chii, in case he would return. Without anything to keep them in town, the Magis-trates left Nishicho and headed east, where they in-tended to get a boat ride north.

NPCsDoji Motome Page 34Hida Maruki Page 32Hiruma Akane Page 34Kakita Kanbei Page 35Yumi Page 43

Beast of Hotei

The Emerald Magistrates arrived at a small village, called Hotei, and noticed that something was wrong. Upon inspection and interviewing the vil-lage chief, Urashima Keitaro, the Magistrates found out that a monster, more precisely an Ogre, had kid-napped the chief ’s daughter. The chief had previ-ously hired mercenaries to save his daughter but they weren’t doing their job. When the Magistrates arrived at the beast’s lair, they found the mercenaries camped outside. The mercenaries didn’t want to take orders from someone who wasn’t paying them, and after couple of near-battle-to-the-death instances the mercenaries were sent packing. The Magistrates bravely entered the lair along with Urashima, who got killed when he ran to-

wards his daughter and got ambushed by the Ogre. After not very long battle with the beast, the Magis-trates were victorious. The daughter was brought back to the village and Urashima’s swords brought to his son, Kashima. The Magistrates rested in this village for a few days, mending their wounds and overseeing the destruc-tion of the beast’s lair. With the help of Tesshu, Banzo even got a tattoo retelling the story. And so ends the story of how the Magistrates killed the Beast of Hotei.

NPCsThe Urashimas Page 43Katsurou Page 42

The Smell of Rat

After leaving Hotei, the Magistrates were reu-nited with Kurui as they made their way to the har-bour town called Minatomachi. The town is divided in two: the outer district and the merchant district. The merchant district is closed off by a wall, and is unofficially controlled by a member of the Mantis clan called Yoritomo Yatsuki, even though the town itself belongs to the Crane clan. To get a ship to take them north, the Magistrates needed to make a deal with Yatsuki, as his ship was the next one scheduled to leave the harbour. They found him at his very own geisha house, which was a front for gambling during

the night. Yatsuki was more than happy to help, in re-turn for a favour. Apparently, there was an assassin in town who Yatsuki believed was after his life. He even knew who the assassin was; a man by the name of Genma, who, according to rumours, had a team of 13 samurai travelling with him. Yatsuki wanted the Magistrates to find Genma and make sure that he would not come after him. In return, Yatsuki would lend them his ship, as well as provide accommoda-tions for them while they stayed in town. While the others spoke with Yatsuki, Tesshu

decided he wanted to visit the local monastery. On the way, Tesshu witnessed a Nezumi (ratling) being attacked and subdued in the merchant district, but seeing as it were the district guards who were doing the subduing, he did not try to help the creature. At the monastery he was greeted by the monks and al-lowed to meditate with them, but he was later inter-rupted by Banzo who told him that they needed to work. Genma had attacked once already, and killed one of the district guards in Yatsuki’s service. The Magistrates decided to investigate the scene, even though it was getting dark, and were accompanied by another guard. While looking at the spot where the guard had been killed, the guard who was with them got shot by an arrow. The Magistrates saw the criminal who released the arrow, and recognised him as one of Katsurou’s mercenaries. While Raidou stayed with the injured guard, the others followed the arched into town. When they finally caught up with him, they were ambushed by a few of Katsurou’s mer-cenaries. Banzo, Tateno, and Kurui easily defeated the crooks, and Tesshu had captured the archer for inter-rogation. The archer only smiled, and said that this was not trap meant for them. While the others were fighting mercenaries, Raidou found himself surrounded by the rest of Kat-surou’s men, and Katsurou himself. Raidou honour-ably drew his sword in order to defend himself and the injured guard, and goaded Katsurou to fight him himself instead of sending forth his goons. It did little good, however, as Katsurou struck Raidou down in two hits with his bisento. But before he could exe-cute Raidou, the other Magistrates burst forth. While the Banzo, Tateno and Kurui fought the mercenar-ies, Tesshu ran to Raidou and administered first aid. When the mercenaries were all dead, the Magistrates saw Katsurou’s back as he rode hastily away. Raidou was brought to the geisha house where he would rest. Tesshu did not want to stay at such a sinful place where women were not respect-ed, so he returned to the monastery. At some point, Raidou woke up and found one of the geishas in his room. She asked him to take a special medicine, but suspecting that it was poisonous, Raidou declined. Banzo and Tateno found a lead to Genma’s

whereabouts, although they were starting to suspect that Genma was in fact Katsurou. The two of them saw one of Genma’s supposed allies and followed him to a warehouse. They burst in, only to find more of Genma’s allies and man standing there who answered to Genma’s name. Genma had an ornamental daisho (katana & wakizashi pair) that revealed that he was Mirumoto Genma, a man who had betrayed his mas-ter and become a ronin. He told the two Magistrates that Yoritomo Yatsuki was a criminal, smuggler of weapons, and a slaver, and that Genma only wanted to bring swift and bloody justice. Meanwhile, Tesshu found that the monas-tery was in fact Genma’s hideout, and that some of his men were there. Luckily for him, they were civil enough not to spill blood within the monastery, and gave the same explanation for their actions as Gen-ma did. They were lacking any proof though. Genma had agreed to go with the Magistrates to Yatsuki, and Tesshu convinced some of the ronin at the monastery to accompany him to the geisha house. When they arrived, the guards did not believe this was a friendly visit, and prepared to attack. While defending Genma, Banzo killed one of the guards. If not for that, Genma would have believed the Mag-istrates had lead him to a trap. Hearing Genma’s ac-cusations, Yatsuki offered the ship to the Magistrates as his gift (bribe). They accepted and decided to deal with this matter with a simple duel to the first blood. Tateno would act on Yatsuki’s behalf, and fight Genma. Tateno was victorious, and as punishment, Genma would serve as the Magistrates’ yojimbo until they would find a more fitting punishment. When the Magistrates returned to Raidou’s room, who had managed to get out and express his concern of poison, they found only the geisha’s cloth-ing and an open window. Raidou took with him the remains of the so called medicine so that he could examine it better. The Magistrates got their ship and sailed north.

NPCsYoritomo Yatsuki Page 37Genma Page 42Katsurou Page 42

Tree of Life

After sailing for about a week, the Magistrates reached shore at a harbour town not far from Toshi Ranbo. They were greeted by two parties of samurai; one requested that Kakita Tateno come with them and the other was relaying an offer made by Miya Ota for the Magistrates to rest at his estate before giving their report to the Empress. The Magistrates accept-ed, but Tateno and Katsuki Kurui went with the other party, who were apparently Crane samurai. Miya Ota offered the Magistrates his hospi-tality, and was a man who indulged his guests. He introduced them properly to his daughter, Miya Hotaru-no-hime, who was the samurai they met at the harbour. After listening to the Magistrates’ sto-ries and Banzo’s boast, and offering sake to his guests, Miya Ota explained his real reason for offering his hospitality to the Magistrates. People had been disap-pearing from the town Miyado-cho, which Ota was governing, and it reflected poorly upon his abilities. He asked the Magistrates to investigate the matter, but told them there was no real rush and they could start in the morning. After resting for the night, the Magistrates prepared to go into town. Ota told them that a wom-an in town called Ema could help them much better than he himself could, because she was a woman of medicine who knew almost everyone in town, includ-ing the people who had disappeared. She lived next to the shrine on top of the hill in the middle of town. On top of that hill was a huge tree, apparently what the shrine was dedicated to. Ema had a wakizashi, and the Magistrates believed her to be a samurai for that reason. She told them who the missing townsfolk were and where they lived, so the Magistrates went to investigate. They found that each of the missing

townspeople had been injured or ill and received cure from Ema. They also found out that everyone in town, or nearly so, like and respected Ema. It did not shield her from the Magistrates’ suspicion, however, and they decided to keep an eye out for a travelling merchant who had been injured in town and received remedies from the well-liked lady on the hill. During the night, the merchant began limp-ing towards the hill. The Magistrates followed and saw the merchant moving towards the tree. Before he could get to it, though, the Magistrates knocked him over. At that time, Ema appeared and called forth two zombies who jumped up from under the tree. While Banzo and Tesshu fought the zombies, Raidou and Genma struck down Ema. After defeating the zom-bies, Banzo and Tesshu burned down the tree using Banzo’s bottle of sake and Tesshu’s ability to breathe fire. Instead of executing Ema, the Magistrates brought her to Miya Ota for formal accusation. They brought with them evidence they found near the shrine, that proved she was a maho-tsukai. She was, however, incredibly respected member of Miyado-cho, and convinced Ota of her innocence. Furious by Ota’s decision of declaring Ema innocent, Banzo caused a scene that nearly ended in a fight. After in-sulting their host, the Magistrates left Ota’s estate, de-termined to find someone in Toshi Ranbo who would listen to reason.

NPCsEma Page 41Miya Ota Page 40Miya Hotaru-no-hime Page 40Genma Page 42

The Report

The Magistrates finally reached Toshi Ranbo after a few more adventures than they expected and weeks of travel. Once there, they were spoken to by the Empress’s personal herald and daughter, Iweko Inoe. She asked them to make themselves comfort-able before giving their reports in the morning. She also apologized that the Empress would not be taking the report herself due to an important matter that re-quired her attention. Instead, Inoe would be accept-ing their report. While they most certainly could simply rest, they all decided to find some way to pass the time. Raidou went to the library, Banzo visited the bath-house, and Tesshu visited the temple. At the library, Raidou met a Scorpion clan magistrate by the name of Bayushi Takahiro. Takahiro expressed his admira-tion of the Kitsuki method of investigation, and also expressed his disappointment with the Empire’s legal system. Raidou agreed, and they spoke much about the matter. Eventually, Takahiro said that he had been invited to attend Winter Court at Matsukawa-jo cas-tle, and that he would be honoured if Raidou would accompany him. Raidou accepted. After taking a good bath and practicing his skill at poetry, Banzo met Hida Yuudai, the Hida fam-ily Daimyo. Yuudai was accompanied by an unknown man, and he expressed how Banzo’s loyalty to his clan was admirable. Banzo immediately knew that Yuudai was talking about the letter in which Banzo explained what really had happened at Nishicho weeks before, when Hida Azura was murdered. Yuudai rewarded Banzo by offering him a position as a Chui in the Crab

army, and by arranging his marriage with Hiruma Akane. Banzo was glad to accept the daimyo’s gifts. Furthermore, Yuudai invited Banzo to accompany him to Winter Court at Matsukawa-jo castle, which Banzo also accepted. At the temple, Tesshu found a sleeping, old monk. Tesshu believed he had finally found a worthy teacher, and after waking the monk, they discussed a lot of philosophy, which will not be repeated. At last, the monk agreed to teach Tesshu, but not there and then. Tesshu would accompany the monk to Matsu-kawa-jo, where they would attend Winter Court. The next morning, the Magistrates were reu-nited with Tateno and Kurui. They gave their report to Iweko Inoe, but not before giving gifts. Raidou gave Inoe some sweets, which he convincingly told her was the exact same sweets that Kitsuki himself had been sucking on when he was inspired to create the renowned Kitsuki method of investigation. Even though it was a lie, Raidou could easily fool anyone who heard it. After giving their reports, the Magistrates were rewarded for their service. Now they only had to wait for the Winter Court to begin.

NPCsBayushi Takahiro Page 38Hida Yuudai Page 33Ryoden Page 43Iweko Inoe Page 40Genma Page 42

Winter Court 1:The Hunt

The Magistrates finally make their way to the Otomo Winter Court, held by Otomo Ishida, an adviser to the Empress. After being shown around the Matsukawa Castle, Ishida wishes to greet all the guests who have already arrived. He welcomes them all to his humble home, and explains that he intends to hold a competition to pass the time. The competi-tion is split into 7 trials, which will span most of the Winter Court. Ishida only says what the first trial is, a contest of poetry. He also presents the top 3 prizes:1st place: the mask of Bayushi Kantako, one of the Scorpion Clan’s most successful diplomat and seduc-tress.2nd place: Ikoma Iuchimaru’s wakizashi, which gives a faint hum while it is drawn that sounds like a wom-an singing.3rd place: Hida Fuutaka’s ono, a giant axe made out of jade. After Ishida’s speech, it is time for gift giving. Banzo gives the host his straw hat, and tells him about the adventures which the hat has seen. Truly a good gift. Raidou makes tries the same trick again, and tells a lie about the sweets he is giving as a gift, only to be found out and exposed in front of all the guests. He asks for forgiveness, and Ishida forgives him so that he will appear more benevolent to his guests. Raizen gives the gift of divination, but sees troubling times in the near future for Otomo Ishida. He tells Ishida only that he will need Raizen’s services. After the gift giving, the servant of the Jade Champion approaches the Magistrates and tells them that the Champion has requested their audience. The Jade Champion tells them that they were right about Miyado-cho, that there was a maho-tsukai, named Ema, operating there, and that said maho-tsukai es-caped their grasps and was heading for Matsukawa Castle. The Jade Champion orders the Magistrates to go out and intercept her. Ema, the maho-tsukai, should not be allowed to reach Matsukawa, lest she would bring disturbance to the Winter Court. The Magistrates take Genma with them, and soon reach a monastery which is on the way. The Magistrates already know that Ema might be staying there as well, but when they get closer they see that

the Monastery has been burnt and the monks have been killed. They learn the monks were killed with blades, and that someone set the Monastery on fire on purpose. Raizen speaks with a tree-spirit near the Monastery, but does not get any new information. Banzo searches inside of the Monastery, and finds a hole under the floor which has been torn open. Tesshu found a trail leading away from the Monas-tery, but it’s faint. The Magistrates follow the trail, which disap-pears not too far from the Monastery. There they hear the voices of three bandits, which they knock out and interrogate. One of them is drunk and scared, and tells them that someone else had killed the monks, but they only figured they wouldn’t need some of their possessions anymore. In return for being al-lowed to keep his life, he tells the Magistrates about a cave not far away. The Magistrates tie up the bandits and enter the cave. Inside, they find Ema and two of her zombies. Ema casts a spell as early as she can, creating an area of darkness which covers her and her zombies. Banzo charges in, only to find out that his ability to see also affects his ability to strike things with his sword. Rai-zen casts a spell on Tesshu, covering his body in fire that does not harm him. Tesshu then charges into the darkness, but finds out that even fire does not light his way through this foul magic, and he trips over a rock and falls. Banzo hears someone swinging a sword at him, and he swings the sword in return, cutting something that gives off a feminine scream. Tesshu jumps on his feet and strikes in the direction of the scream, knocking something, or someone, over. The zombies make their way out of the darkness, followed shortly by Banzo who cuts the head clean off one of them. The other is attacked by magic, and then has its head cut off by Genma. When the darkness finally dissipates, Tesshu is seen in a grapple with the already dead Ema. After searching the cave, the Magistrates also find a chest that might have been what was taken from the Monastery. (The details that follow are subject to change, since at this point, the session had already ended.) The Magistrates use the bandits to help

them bring the corpse to Matsukawa. Ema’s corpse is handed over to the crematorium. The Magistrates are thanked for their deed and courage, earning some Glory for their actions.

NPCsOtomo Ishida Page 40

Isawa Midori, Jade Champion Page 37Bayushi Takahiro Page 38Hida Yuudai Page 33Ema Page 41Komori Rei Page 39Genma Page 42

Winter Court 2:Love and Death

After bringing back the corpse of Ema and having two of the three bandits arrested (one of the bandits was allowed to leave), the Magistrates settle in for some sake in the evening. Tesshu is dragged away by his new teacher, so that they can do some training, while the Jade Champion asked for Raizen’s assistance in trying to open that chest that the Magis-trates found with Ema. In one corner of the room where most of the guests have gathered sits a young Scorpion, Bayushi Kojiro, and an Emerald Magistrate. He is approached by Ikoma Kohaku, a famous playwright. They speak, and Kohaku tells Kojiro some gossip, all the while he admires the Scorpion’s... physique. The other Magistrates are approached by a fa-miliar face. Urashima Kashima is attending the Win-ter Court as a servant of Kakita Osamu. He asks the Magistrates for help in convincing Osamu to let him compete in Otomo Ishida’s competition, so that he can impress the Daidoji daimyo and (specifically) his daughter. Tateno joins Kojiro and Kohaku’s discussion, becoming admired by the playwright as well. They hear about how Yoritomo Yatsuki, member of the Mantis clan, took over the town of Minatomachi by force. Since the town belongs to the Crane Clan, this has created some tension between the two Clans, but the Mantis Clan have demanded that the Empress acknowledges them as the new rulers of the town. What’s more, the Crab Clan supports those claims, increasing the tension. A civil war is on the horizon. Banzo is approached by Suzume Natsumi,

who wishes to perform a divination for him. Banzo says that he will come to her room, but sends Raidou instead. Natsumi is not happy about it but performs a divination for him anyway, telling him that troubling times are coming. Tateno hears from Kohaku that some of the guests meet up almost every night to gamble, and he heads out there for the night. Tateno meets the gamblers at the geisha house: A Crab, a Unicorn, a Dragon, the Empress’s youngest son, Iweko Kichirou, and a samurai of an unknown minor clan. He gam-bles with them, playing Fortunes & Wind, and wins some money. Then all go to sleep. The Magistrates are called to Kichirou’s room in the morning by their host. There they meet Otomo Ishida, the chief attendant, the chief of guards, and Kichirou. They find out that when Kichirou woke up this morning, he found the corpse of his servant on the floor of his room. From what the Magistrates could gather, the servant brought a bottle of sake that was meant as a gift for Kichirou, but stole a drink from it and died from poisoning. Kichirou came to his room very late, couldn’t see the servant because it was dark, and went to sleep. The Magistrates quickly figure that the bottle of sake was meant to kill Kichi-rou, and Ishida asks them to investigate this quickly and quietly so that it will not disturb the other guests. Banzo has his crone work with the chief at-tendant to find out who the servant spoke to the night before, and try and find out from who the bottle of sake is. That is not very successful, as there are many servants and Kichirou’s servant was friendly (or at

least talkative) to most of them. The list of servants is long, and it takes hours or longer to speak with all of them. Banzo speaks with Ikoma Kohaku, who tells him the rumours about how Kichirou had romantic relationships with some women, including Ishida’s oldest daughter, who is married to Otomo Ryuu-nosuke. Kohaku also tells Banzo about the story he heard about Tateno and the Hida daimyo’s son, leav-ing the geisha house together and spending the night together. Banzo speaks with Hida Yuudai about this rumour, and he is most unpleased. He agrees not to do anything without letting Banzo know first, though. When Tesshu returns from his short training and meditation (interrupted by Otomo Ishida who asked him to assist his fellow Magistrates), the oth-ers give him an update of what has happened. Banzo decides to go to Suzume Natsumi and ask her for forgiveness about the night before, and takes Tesshu with him so there will be nothing dishonourable done that night. Natsumi tells Banzo that his love life will be troubled, but Tesshu tries to cheer him up by reminding him (in front of Natsumi) that he does not believe in that jumble, much like Banzo told Tesshu earlier. Natsumi is insulted, and asks to be left alone. Raidou goes to see Kohaku, and listens to his gossip. He finds out that the daughter of the Daidoji daimyo is trying to impress Ishida’s son, Takeshi. This would be the same daughter of the Daidoji daimyo who Kashima is hoping to impress. Furthermore, Kohaku tells Raidou that Ryuunosuke married into the Otomo family from the Mantis Clan, and that his brother, Yoritomo Mato, is present at the Winter Court. Mato is known to be the father of the Yori-tomo Nine Sons, some well-known warriors of the Mantis Clan. Apparently, one of them is said to have a head of iron. Kohaku also suspects the Scorpions to have a spy in the Winter Court, someone named Shosuro. Tateno returns to the geisha house for more gambling, and Kojiro follows to speak with the gei-shas. Tateno finds out that Kichirou is also rumoured to be seeing Seppun Kimiko and Miya Hotaru-no-hime, both of which are present at the Winter Court. Kojiro finds out that Otomo Ren, Ishida’s young-est daughter and the only daughter unmarried, has shown signs of depression and sadness for many years, and Kojiro decides he wants to find out why. The next morning, the Magistrates assemble for tea and discuss what they have found out. Nearly

everything is shared. They are then summoned to take part in the poetry contest. Each is allowed to perform three poems, but only the best one is judged. Tesshu is not taking part in the competition since he has no interest in the reward (Glory as well as the physical reward). Raidou wins the first competition, gaining 41 points for the first trial. Tateno comes in second and gets 35 points. Kojiro and Banzo share third place with 31 points each. The Magistrate manage to find some hidden meaning in some of the poems, and figure out that there is some tension between Tsuruchi Naomi, a provincial governess, and Akodo Daiki, the Akodo daimyo. They also find out that Akodo Daiki lost his wife and older son on the battlefield against some Matsu insurgents, and that his younger son is a famed war-hero. Kojiro also takes steps in earning Naomi’s trust, simply by starting a small-talk with her. Otomo Ishida announces the next trial. It will be a contest of Kyujutsu, in which the contestants will be given three arrows to hit a target and points are given for how well you hit the target. A Unicorn samurai approaches Banzo after the poetry competition and intends to challenge Ban-zo to a duel. They agree to a fight with drawn swords, three days from now (day after the kyujutsu con-test so that their injuries will not affect their perfor-mance), but the Unicorn must bring a haiku or else Banzo would not accept the challenge. The Unicorn is recognized as the worst poet who competed in the poetry contest, and Tateno also recognizes him as the Unicorn samurai from the geisha house. The Magistrates gather again for another meeting, this time they have a plan. They suspect both Ryuunosuke and Mato, and intend to trick them into believing they are giving them the poisoned sake. If either of them flinches, it will be a sign that they knew about the poison and are guilty. To make the trick more plausible, they will invite them for a drink of sake in Kichirou’s room, and they will hide in the next room. It took some time for the Magistrates to explain the plan for Kichirou, but he agreed to it.(Session 2) The Magistrates put their plan in motion. Tesshu however decided not to take part of it, and stayed in his room. After the Magistrates and Kichi-rou have waited an hour for the two suspects, Raidou hears a sound coming from the hallway and warns the others. Banzo jumps out of the room to find the two guards stationed outside dead, and a shadowy

figure dashing out of the hallway. Banzo runs after the figure, while they all call out for the guards. Banzo is attacked by the assassin, who poisons Banzo. Feel-ing dizzy with pain from the poison, Banzo still fights the assassin and kills him. People all over the castle gather around, and Raidou gives Banzo some medical attention. Otomo Ishida summons the Magistrates to him, and explains his disappointment in how the Magistrates did their work. He is very displeased that they had to make this into a public matter, something he had specifically asked them not to do. Yoritomo Mato offers Banzo sake in his room, demanding to be Banzo’s host rather than guest. Banzo is accompanied by Kojiro, and they bring the bottle of sake that had the poison (but had switched out for actual sake). Mato refuses to drink it, demanding that they will only drink sake from the Mantis islands. This only strengthens the Magistrates’ suspicions. The Magistrates then rest for the night. Then next morning, Banzo is approached by Bayushi Takahiro, who tells him some news about current rumours. Firstly about how Raidou had visited Su-zume Natsumi late one evening and secondly about how Banzo had been seen leaving Ikoma Kohaku’s room late at night as well. Whatever happened be-tween Banzo and Kohaku, the famous playwright is now writing a play about a Crab at the Kaiju Wall. Takahiro also speaks with Raidou, and tells him that he knows about the Magistrates’ investigation. He also suggests that the Magistrates have a closer look at Kichirou’s servant. Kojiro goes to the lake in the courtyard and finds Otomo Ren, Ishida’s youngest daughter, sitting there, looking rather depressed. He begins speak-ing with her, and after a while, she tells him that she wants her brother dead. They spend some more time

together after the fact. Tateno and Raidou search for Otomo Ryuunosuke, their other suspect. After some taunting, and Ryuunosuke mentioning the rumour about Tateno and Hida Yuudai’s son (in front of Yu-udai), Tateno accuses Ryuunosuke of attempting to murder the Empress’s son, and challenges him to a duel. He accepts and asks Yuudai to be his champion, but Yuudai declines. The next morning, Tateno stands before Yori-tomo Mato, Ryuunosuke’s champion. The duel is one way, and Tateno strikes Mato dead. Ryuunosuke ad-mits his crimes, that he had asked Mato for the service of his assassin to murder Iweko Kichirou. Kichirou is most unpleased by this, and denies Ryuunosuke the honour of taking his own life. Instead, he rules that Ryuunosuke will be tortured until he stops scream-ing, and then executed. A most foul end.

NPCsOtomo Ishida Page 40Iweko Kichirou Page 40Suzume Natsumi Page 39Hida Yuudai Page 33Ikoma Kohaku Page 36Urashima Kashima Page 43Kitsuki Ryujin Page 35Kakita Osamu Page 35Inari Hana (chief attendant at Matsukawa castle) Page 46Moto Yao-Han Page 38Atsuko (geisha specialized in music) Page 46Tsuruchi Naomi Page 37Otomo Ren Page 41Otomo Ryuunosuke Page 41Yoritomo Mato Page 37Bayushi Takahiro Page 38

Winter Court 2.5:Contest Rolls

This is an in-between session where we did most of the challenges in Otomo Ishida’s Contest. Since not everyone was present, I will avoid any details on the nature of the contests until next week. Here’s what happened between challenges:

After the archery challenge, Banzo is sum-moned to his lord daimyo, Hida Yuudai, to talk about the upcoming duel he’ll have against Moto Yao-Han. Yuudai tells Banzo that Yao-Han is the son of Yao-Xung, an influential member of the Unicorn Clan. Since the Crabs are going to war against the Crane clan, the Crabs will need allies and Yuudai is in the middle of delicate discussions about an alliance with the Unicorns. Yuudai orders Banzo not to kill or crip-ple Yao-Han in the duel, but he doesn’t care whether or not Banzo wins or loses. Banzo fakes a case of poi-soning, and reschedules the duel. They agree to duel during spring, over a year later, underneath the cher-ry blossoms. The Magistrates also find out that Mirumoto Hideki, Genma’s lord who he supposedly betrayed, is attending Winter Court and is a horrible archer. Af-ter doing some digging, Raidou finds out the story behind Genma’s betrayal: According to the story, Hideki was a military general (and he still is) who was fighting against some ronin bandits. Genma took a squadron of men without Hideki’s consent, and charged the bandit’s. Everybody in the squadron was

killed, including Genma (or so people believe). They also find out that Iweko Kichirou, the Empress’s son, is a horrible archer, and that Tsuruchi Naomi is an excellent one. Banzo also drags Kojiro (who has been hav-ing many noon-walks with Ishida’s youngest daugh-ter) with him to see the famed playwright, Ikoma Ko-haku. Banzo asks him not to base the story of his play on Banzo’s exploits, and asks him to make sure that the audience will know that this is not a play about Banzo. He says that he will do his best to make the audience realize the distinction. Raidou is also approached by Bayushi Taka-hiro, who offers him to join the Shadow Magistrates, the secret police of the Empress, whose job is to bring justice and judgement when the honoured method of “I say, and then you say, and then I decide who is right” fails. Raidou agrees, and Takahiro says he will approach Raidou at a later date with details of what to do next. And now the Magistrates wait for the final challenge.

NPCsBayushi Takahiro Page 38Moto Yao-Han Page 38Hida Yuudai Page 33

Winter Court 3:Of Swords and Honour

After finishing up the other challenges of Otomo Ishida’s competition, the Magistrates now turn to the duelling contest. Each Magistrate is put into separate groups of four duellists. Banzo must duel Akodo Yurou, Doji Yutaka and Suzume Natsu-mi. Raidou must duel Hida Maruki, Otomo Manami and Hida Tairou. Tateno must duel Asahina Chou, Miya Hotaru-no-hime and Kakita Kanbei. Kojiro must duel Hiruma Akane, Matsu Akemi and Kitsune Oda. (Oda is a Jade Magistrate, a pre-made Shu-genja played by Robert who joined in last Thursday.) Each duellist only du-els once per day, and is giv-en time to rest and heal in between fights. The duel-list who wins receives 5 points; the duellist who loses also loses 5 points. If there is a draw, neither duellist receives or loses points. If neither duellists strike successfully, it counts as a draw. First blood wins. Banzo’s first duel is against Akodo Yurou, son of Akodo Daiki, the Akodo daimyo. They both start by taunting each other, and Banzo even challenges Yurou to a duel with swords drawn until either submits, claiming that is the true measure of prowess. Yurou accepts, but only after all the duels have finished. In their cur-rent duel, both draw simultaneously, but Banzo miss-es his target and Yurou strikes successfully. Yurou is declared winner. Oda must then duel Hiruma Akane, of whom he has heard rumours that she is to be married soon. He is disturbed while praying and brought to the duel. He winks at Akane who looks away and blushes slightly. Oda strikes first and successfully, and is de-clared winner. Raidou duels Otomo Manami, Ishida’s second daughter. He recalls that she is married, but cannot

remember the name of her husband. After exchang-ing some pleasantries, the two duel. Raidou gets first strike, but misses. Manami strikes successfully and is declared winner. Kojiro duels Matsu Akemi, and uses his handsome face to trick her into revealing more about herself than intended. Kojiro gets first strike and is successful. He is declared winner afterwards. After the duels, Hida Yuudai offers Banzo the

service of a Mantis Shugenja, Oda, to heal his wounds. Afterwards, the four of

them, as well as Banzo’s bride-to-be, Hiruma Akane, attend

a tea ceremony which Ko-jiro is holding. Banzo no-

tices that Akane is quiet and distant, and figures something must be wrong even though she denies it. The two of them take a walk, dur-ing which they talk but

Banzo does not find out what is bothering her.

After going their sepa-rate ways, Banzo is met by

a samurai who says he serves Mirumoto Hideki. Hideki has

captured the Magistrates’ serv-ant who tried to kill him. Banzo misunder-

stands and thinks they are talking about his private eta, Lugs, but is corrected. It appears that Genma is the one who tried to assassinate Mirumoto Hideki, and Hideki wants the Magistrates to come to him. Meanwhile, Tesshu is away for training and Tateno is nowhere to be found (presumably gambling his money away). The Magistrates go to Mirumoto Hideki, who keeps Genma as his prisoner. Hideki claims that their servant has killed one of his guards in an attempt to get to him, and wants to know if anyone of them had given the order. The Magistrates protest and wish to speak with Genma, who tells the Magistrates that he was indeed trying to kill Hideki. Oda notices his

shame and calls him out on it, but he only says that his only shame was his failure in the assassination. Genma tells the Magistrates that Hideki was his commanding officer, and that Hideki had sent Genma and his men against overwhelming odds so that Hideki could attack the bandits later and be vic-torious. Genma is certain that Hideki knew this was a suicidal mission but kept it to himself. At that point, Kojiro is certain that Genma should take his own life, for the failure of dying in that battle, but Genma re-fuses unless he is given chance to kill Hideki. Hideki, however, does not recognize Genma, but does remember the name and his swords. He is certain that he would recognize Genma if he were alive, but according to Hideki, Genma died in the bat-tle after he betrayed his honour and took his men into battle without consent of Hideki. It is revealed that Genma is not who he says he is, but is actually one of Genma’s men who died in that battle. His real name is Bakano Dagato, and he stole his master’s identity and swords so that he could get revenge in his master’s name. Dagato really believed that it was Hideki who betrayed Genma, but not the other way around. And

perhaps he is correct. However, the Magistrates offer him to either kill himself or be executed. Dagato does not wish to soil his master’s blade with unworthy blood, so he accepts execution instead. After the execution, the Magistrates try to convince Hideki to pass Genma’s swords on to Genma’s child, but he is reluctant to do so. However, they manage to convince him other-wise, that Genma’s child should not be punished by his betrayal. Hideki agrees but also demands that the Magistrates will not tell Genma’s child about his be-trayal, or else it might fill the child’s mind with simi-lar ideas. They agree.

NPCsMirumoto Hideki Page 35Genma (aka Bakano Dagato) Page 42Otomo Manami Page 41Akodo Yurou Page 36Matsu Akemi Page 36Hiruma Akane Page 34Hida Yuudai Page 33

Winter Court 4:Bad Fortune

The night before the Magistrates’ second duel, the host summons them (and all the other guests too) to the main hall. There he is happy to show off the gift from his remaining son-in-law, Otomo Shitimata. It is a very prestigious vase, made from the famous potter, Isawa Fuurikan. It is otherwise unremarkable, and the Magistrates seek out their friends and allies. Banzo speaks with his wife-to-be, and wishes to know why she doesn’t look happy about their ar-ranged marriage. She simply tells him that it is not her place, or his, to refuse this marriage and leaves it at that. Kojiro seeks out his loyal attendant, and asks her what she knows about his next opponent. He finds out that it is Hiruma Akane, Banzo’s wife to be. She is skilled with a bow but not specifically known for her duelling skills. Raidou decides to take things easy and retires early.

The next morning, Kojiro duels Akane. They stare at each other, both standing absolutely still. Ko-jiro does not use his normal tactics of seduction be-fore the duel. Both of them strike at the same time, and neither leaves the other injured. Raidou duels Hida Tairou that same morn-ing. Tairou arrives fully armoured and armed, but removes his armour and puts his secondary weapon away. Raidou tells him that if he had known that Tairou needed time to prepare himself, then Raidou would have arrived later. Tairou replies that no matter if Raidou had shown up later, Tairou would still kill him. Not very samurai-like, and Raidou replies this threat by skilfully disarming his opponent. Tairou is angered by this, but his father, the daimyo Hida Yuu-dai, holds his leash. Banzo duels Doji Yutaka, a Crane warrior.

Yutaka begins with thanking Banzo for his help in Nishicho and for keeping his family safe. Although Banzo tells him that he does not believe justice was met back then, Yutaka forfeits the match and tells everyone that Banzo is the better duellist. Banzo is not particularly pleased, since he has been itching to fight someone. A problem which Hida Maruki tries to resolve. He offers Banzo to accompany him to a hunt in the woods. Maruki asks that he does not bring anyone since he needs to speak with Banzo privately about a delicate matter. During the hunt, Maruki tells Banzo that he plans on killing Kakita Tateno, that vile man who fab-ricated the story of a demon to save the skins of the cowardly Cranes. Although Banzo does not wish to help Maruki directly, he tells him that he won’t stand in his way. Banzo also tells him that Tateno is a gam-bler and might present himself unprotected during that time. Maruki thanks Banzo for the support and points out a boar. Banzo throws a spear and Maruki shoots it with his bow. While Banzo is raising the boar onto his horse, Maruki shoots his bow again, this time it hits Banzo’s shoulder. When Banzo asks him why he has done this, Maruki’s only reply is that he will not allow Banzo to have her. Both draw their swords and Banzo kills Maruki in a single blow. After a moment’s thought, Banzo decides to take Maruki’s katana. And his bottle of sake. And his coin purse. And his straw hat. He then returns to Matsukawa cas-tle with the boar. While this takes place, Kojiro is taking a walk with Otomo Ren. He asks her if she wants him to win this tournament, and thus gain her father’s favour. She says yes, and they stand there in thought. Raidou seeks out Bayushi Takahiro, and asks him more about the so called Shadow Magistrates. Takahiro explains that the reason why they remain hidden is because the Empress cannot openly say that she is changing the laws of the Empire. She still needs the support from the Great Clans or else they might attempt to overthrow her. Takahiro also shares that he does not know who belong to the inner circle of the operation, as he only knows who his direct super-visor is. When Banzo returns, he gives the boar to Ko-jiro, who in turn gives it to the household in Banzo’s good name. Banzo meets with his daimyo and tells him what has happened. Yuudai is not pleased, but does not show it. Yuudai tells Banzo that Maruki’s dishonourable actions will not be forgotten and that

his family shall suffer the prize. Banzo asks him not to involve the family, but Yuudai ignores him. Banzo also tells Yuudai that he suspects that Maruki had been Akane’s secret lover, and Yuudai allows Banzo to tell his wife-to-be however he likes. Banzo goes to Akane and tells her that he has killed Maruki after he had attacked him, and shows her the arrow that is still in his shoulder. He sees that the news saddens her, and although she says that Maruki was only a friend, he still has his suspicions. Banzo then demands that she will remove the arrow, which she yanks out, causing him some pain. She then asks him to leave her be, and Banzo walks away. He donates the coin purse and hat to the local shrine, but drinks the sake by himself. He spends the even-ing writing poetry, and possibly the better part of the night as well. The next morning, the guests find out that Hida Maruki is dead, that he attacked Banzo and was killed for it. Ishida, who makes the announce-ment, heard the news from Hida Yuudai, who never explained why Maruki attacked, but rather said it was unprovoked. Because Maruki was scheduled to duel Raidou, Raidou wins his last duel by default. Kojiro duels Kitsune Oda as his last oppo-nent. Oda is not a superior duellist, and Kojiro wins the duel without breaking a sweat. They both thank each other for the duel, and although Kojiro claims that Oda was a good opponent, Oda admits that Ko-jiro was a better one. Banzo’s last duel is against Suzume Natsumi, the young Sparrow who was embarrassed by Banzo earlier in the Winter Court. She appears to be rather angry, so Banzo has prepared a poem to ask her for forgiveness. She does not want to read it before the duel, however, and hands it over to her servant. Nat-sumi gets the first strike, and nearly cuts Banzo’s left arm off. Banzo tells her that she is an excellent duel-list, and if she had really wanted to she could have really injured him. Natsumi takes this as an insult, because she really was trying to hurt him, and at-tacks again. Although she manages to cut him, Banzo strikes Natsumi a bit too well, and Natsumi falls dead to the ground. Only then does Banzo notice that the guards had already started moving in, but too late. Natsumi’s father, Suzume Shin, a fellow Emerald Magistrates, is shocked by the events, and runs with tears in his eyes to his dead daughter. Banzo can only question her motif, but Shin tells him that he will pay for this.

Banzo asks Otomo Ishida if the host will gra-ciously allow him to leave the Winter Court, because he has caused enough death. Ishida understands, but does not think it would be wise to leave the castle during winter. He also tells him that he won’t be able to stop him if Banzo really wants to leave, but rec-ommends that Banzo speaks with his daimyo before leaving him without his service. Finally, Ishida won-ders if Banzo is cursed, and declares that Natsumi’s dishonourable action is equal to a forfeit, and Banzo is the winner. Banzo then speaks with Akodo Yurou, and forfeits their upcoming duel. Yurou accepts the forfeit, and understands that this must have been dif-ficult for him. Yurou also tells Banzo that he hopes they will meet again, and that nothing will stand in the way of their duel then. Feeling blue about the whole thing, Banzo de-cides to visit his lovely wife-to-be, only to find that

she doesn’t want to be disturbed. After ordering the servant out of the way and opening the door, Banzo finds that Akane has hung herself in her room some time ago.

NPCsHiruma Akane Page 34Hida Maruki Page 33Otomo Ishida Page 40Bayushi Takahiro Page 38Suzume Natsumi Page 39Hida Tairou Page 33Doji Yutaka Page 35Hida Yuudai Page 33Suzume Shin Page 39Akodo Yurou Page 36Otomo Ren Page 41

Winter Court 5:Courtly Disaster

After the events that took place in Winter Court 4: Bad Fortune, Banzo spoke with his daimyo and asked to be allowed to leave the Winter Court before any more people would die. Seeing as how the Crab Clan was suffering socially after the past events, Hida Yuudai thought it was not a good idea to send another Crab samurai away and thus demanded Ban-zo would stay. During his duelling, Tateno is approached by Asahina Tomoe, the Asahina daimyo. She tells him that she is planning to marry her daughter off to the Akodo daimyo’s son, but the daimyo is planning to marry his son to Otomo Ishida’s daughter. If she were to impress the Akodo daimyo in the duelling, it would surely make a difference. So Tomoe asks Tateno to take a dive, or else make sure that her daughter is not disgraced in the fight. Tateno is not keen on willingly losing a duel, and instead disarms the Asahina samu-rai, thinking that it won’t be too disgraceful. Tateno also duels Miya Hotaru-no-hime and Kakita Kanbei. Although he won the duel against the Miya, his duel against a fellow Kakita proved to be

slightly more difficult, but only slightly. Tateno still won the duel against Kanbei, and thus won all his du-els. After the duels, Ishida announces that he will take his leave and calculate who should be the win-ner, along with his remaining son-in-law. Kojiro vis-its Otomo Ren and they take another walk together. They speak about how the competition is going, and Ren asks him if they were to be married if he would make sure that her brother would never bother her again. They come to the cherry blossom trees and find Tateno and Banzo having a talk. Banzo is very drunk and throws his bottle at Kojiro, who catches it without much trouble. Banzo starts yelling and warn-ing Kojiro and Ren to stay away, because he is cursed. Ren asks to leave, and Kojiro walks her to her room. Raidou is approached by Bayushi Takahiro. Takahiro asks him how the investigation is going. When Raidou asks what investigation he is referring to, he tells him about the murders that have been tak-ing place in the castle. Raidou knows nothing of this and gets all the information he can from Takahiro.

When Raidou tells his fellow Magistrates about these murders, they agree to investigate them in secret, since the lord of the house did not ask for their help. While Banzo goes to rest and sober up, the others begin investigating. Kojiro starts by sending his attendant to find out everything she can about the victims, and then goes to speak with Banzo’s eta, which has been staying in the crematorium with the castle’s eta. That discussion turns out to be... very in-teresting and not very helpful. However, Kojiro finds out, through speaking with the eta, that one of the victims, a blacksmith, had a wife who is a servant in the castle. Meanwhile, Tateno and Raidou go to the smithy and ask to speak with the blacksmith in charge. One of the blacksmiths tells them that he is not available, and that he has been ordered by Ishida not to speak to the Magistrates about where he is. The Magistrates find this odd, but carry on. Kojiro arranges for the blacksmith’s wife to serve him, Tateno and Raidou some sake. While she is serving them, they start talking about the investi-gation and convince her to tell them what she knows. The murders have been going on for over a month, possibly longer, and almost thirty servants and guards have been found dead. The Magistrates speculate that it has something to do with the chest they brought back after killing Ema, or possibly there is something more to Ishida’s newly acquired vase than meets the eye. They decide to find Banzo and tell him what they’ve found. After resting and sobering somewhat up, Banzo wakes up with a bad hangover. He decides to visit his daimyo, and speak with him about the mur-ders. After some discussion, Yuudai changes the sub-ject, and offers Banzo a special assignment. Banzo is eager, until he finds out that it is an assassination as-signment. One of the Unicorn diplomats, Ide Mao, is trying to secure the Unicorn’s alliance with the op-posite side, which will mean bad things for the Crab. Yuudai wants her silenced and wants Banzo to secure that silence, but without the Unicorn finding out that the Crabs were involved. Banzo brings up some ideas, but all would include that people knew about his in-volvement. Yuudai disagrees, and when Banzo acci-dentally raises his voice against his daimyo, Yuudai punishes him by ordering him to kneel and be silent while he goes and has a word with Ishida. Shortly later, Tateno finds Banzo and they talk about how the investigation is going so far. The guard

occasionally coughs, and Banzo suspects the guard to be giving Tateno hints or information. When asked about it, the guard was only trying to remind Banzo that their lord daimyo ordered him not to speak until he would say otherwise. When Tateno has left, Hida Yuudai returns and gives Banzo permission to stand and speak again. Banzo asks what he spoke with Ishi-da about, but Yuudai dismisses him. Shortly later, Banzo returns to his lord daimyo to ask forgiveness for speaking when he ordered him to be silent. This is the first Yuudai hears of this and he is angered by it. Yuudai tells Banzo that if he can-not follow simple orders, then perhaps it is not time for him to be giving any. For now, Banzo’s upcoming promotion has been revoked. During this time, Kitsune Oda (this time played by Peter), is assisting Suzume Shin in investi-gating the murders. After speaking with the spirit of the blacksmith’s anvil, he finds out that the murderer has long, black hair and dresses in green robes. Aside from that, there’s not much he finds out. Shortly later, Banzo climbs up to Ide Mao’s room after sunset. He had been examining her ac-tivities and her room earlier that day, and now it was time to act. Despite Yuudai having ordered Banzo not to act at all until he said otherwise (since Banzo had disobeyed him), Banzo sneaks into the room through the window, finds Ide Mao where she sleeps, and thrusts his blade into her neck. This is enough for the guard outside the room to come running in, but the guard only sees Banzo jump out of the window and into the night. The other Magistrates enter after hearing the guard call out after Banzo. They are joined by Oda, and after some investigating, they figure that whoever killed Ide Mao likely is the same person who killed the other victims. Raidou and Kojiro search for Suzume Shin to have him investigate, but find him passed out behind the sake storage house. They bring him to his room so that he can sober up and hopefully be more helpful in the morning. Shortly after making a list of possible suspects (anyone who should have been in the guest house but weren’t, who have long, black hair, and who normally dress in green), Banzo staggers into his room, drunk out of his wits. He promises to help in the morning while the others go over the list of suspects. The list includes Suzume Shin, who dresses in the emerald robes of the Emerald Magistrates, and Kitsuki Nobu-ro, the Kitsuki daimyo’s son. Raidou is certain that

Noburo could not have done this, and Kojiro is cer-tain that Suzume Shin must have been too drunk to murder Ide Mao. Next morning, the Magistrates visit Suzume Shin, who is insulting and rude towards them. When Banzo joins them, Shin becomes enraged and almost attacks Banzo with the intent of killing him. Kojiro, Raidou and Oda manage to calm him down enough to change this into a formal duel to the death, but the duel is stopped by Hida Yuudai and Otomo Ishida. Too much blood has been spilt during this Winter Court for Ishida to allow a duel to the death in his home, but he has lost all faith in Shin’s ability to in-vestigate the murders and gives the authority to Oda. Oda decides to recruit Kojiro, Raidou and Banzo to help with the investigation. Oda goes to the servant house to find out more about the murders that took place there, and after awakening and asking the spirit of the fireplace, he finds out that there was a dog-creature-thing run-ning around that night. Oda asks one of the servants if there were any rats around (thinking that the fire kami could not distinguish between a dog and a rat). The servant hadn’t thought much about it, but when asked he tells Oda that he has not seen any rat for a long while. He did see a dog though, who often came to the servant house but did act a little strange. The dog stared, and often at the female servants. When asked, the servant tells Oda that the dog belongs to Daidoji Aiko, the daughter of the Daidoji daimyo. After sharing this information with the other Magistrates, they all go looking for Aiko and her dog, named Poko. As not to raise any alarm, Banzo dresses in his Emerald robes and borrows Kojiro’s mask. This works fine for Kojiro, who seduces Aiko while the others inspect Poko. They do notice that Poko growls at the sight of Kojiro but is friendly to Banzo and Oda. They suspect Poko might be possessed by some

kind of a spirit, but their attempts to speak with the spirit does not work well. At a closer inspection, they do find out that Poko is no ordinary dog. After some further examinations, Oda realis-es that the dot is not possessed, but much more likely the dog is a shape shifter. Unfortunately, the Mag-istrates are in no position to test the theory, and so they return to their rooms (but not before acting too weird in front of Aiko so she nearly runs away with her dog). During the night, Banzo visits one of the guard posts and speaks casually with one of the guard. However he managed to do it, Banzo convinces the guard to tell him about the secret passage that leads from the keep’s basement and to the well next to the bathhouse. Very little else happens that night. The next morning, the Magistrates keep an eye open for Poko the dog. After a moment, they see Poko entering the servants’ house, and they follow. They make sure the door is shut so that the dog won’t get out, and find Poko where he is staring, and pant-ing, just inside an open door. When they try to catch the dog, a scream distracts them. About that mo-ment, they notice that inside the room are some of the female servants bathing. They tell them to remain calm, but Poko manages to elude the Magistrates by jumping out of the window. They try to follow, but Poko escapes. Kojiro asks one of the servants if she recognizes the dog, and she tells him that the dog has been coming into the servant house frequently. The Magistrates leave, and shortly later they see someone they have never seen before. It is odd since they have been at the Winter Court for over two months and should recognize everybody’s faces, if not names. They figure this must be the dog, and ap-proach. The man hides and when the Magistrates try to catch him, the dog jumps right out of their reach. Banzo follows and catches the dog, and brings Poko

to his room. The Magistrates seal the room and make sure that Poko can’t escape. They then try to convince the dog to change shapes. Every time it growls, however, Banzo hits it, and Banzo hits the dog several times. Eventually, they manage to convince Poko to take hu-man shape, but he is certainly not happy with how he is being treated. After some negotiations, Poko de-cides to help, but only if Banzo will take care of Poko’s competition for Daidoji Aiko’s love. Banzo agrees, and leaves the room. Banzo goes to his daimyo and tells him that a shape shifting dog has been living with the Crane Clan for years. If the Crab would capture the shape shifter, then it would serve as a fountain of informa-tion for the Crab Clan in their war against the Cranes. Yuudai agrees, and Banzo intends to bring it to him. Banzo returns to his room and asks Poko to accom-pany him to kill Akodo Yurou, Poko’s competition. Poko declines, and tells him that he never said any-thing about killing. Also, he finds no enjoyment in seeing others die. Poko shares with the Magistrates what he knows. Like they already knew, the murderer had long, black hair and wore green. Additionally, the murderer was a woman who wore cheap perfume. The Magistrates realize that it could not be someone important enough to afford more expensive perfume then. Poko also tells the Magistrates that he smelt blood near the well, only last night. After letting Poko go, the Magistrates are sum-moned to speak with the Jade Champion, who tells them that the box they brought with Ema the maho-tsukai has disappeared and Asako Raizen is missing. The Magistrates wish to know where the Jade Mag-istrates were examining the box and the Jade Cham-pion brings them to the basement of the keep. After a short search, Raidou finds the entrance to the secret passage, and blood. The follow the passage until they find the body of Raizen. After examination, they fig-ure that Raizen was murdered with a blade and that it was likely the same murderer they are after. They follow the passage until they reach the well and then climb out. They find no tracks, or at least none that seem fresh enough to belong to the murderer. They return to the Jade Champion who tells them that the only other magistrate examin-ing the box was Komori Rei. When asked where she might be, the Jade Champion tells them that Rei is likely upstairs at the award ceremony for the Winter

Court tournament. The Magistrates go there, only to witness the ceremony being interrupted by one of the guards warning that the castle is under attack. After the warning is made, the guests begin to prepare for battle. Some call for their arms and ar-mour, while others find a proper place for themselves to hide. While Banzo and Raidou go to their rooms to fit themselves for battle, Kojiro finds out what is attacking the castle. It appears that the dead are rising and coming from the crematorium. Banzo positions himself above the gate, sep-arating the middle courtyard from the outer court-yard where the crematorium is. From there, he can see that the zombies are all wearing masks. Banzo starts throwing spears at the zombies, hoping to kill as many as he can. Meanwhile, Oda notices that Komori Rei is leading the Jade Champion back into the keep. He fol-lows and sees them heading for the basement. When Oda tries to stop them, the Jade Champion tells Oda that Rei is leading her to the source of this attack, a bloodmage that is hiding in the basement. Oda tries to tell the Jade Champion that Rei is a suspect, but the Jade Champion orders Oda to follow them. Rei suggests that Oda goes in first, the Jade Champion second and Rei herself will protect the rear. Just before Oda reaches the secret passage, he turns around with a prepared Jade Strike spell to at-tack Rei with. As he turns, he sees the Jade Champion with Rei’s sword sticking through her torso. Oda casts his spell, only for it to be ineffective. Rei only laughs, revealing that she is not tainted, but that her master is. A duel of magic begins, and ends when Oda draws his bow and shot Rei with it. Having only suffered minor wounds from Rei’s Envious Flames spell, Oda decapitates Rei and heals the Jade Champion. Meanwhile, Kojiro went to make sure that Otomo Ren was safe. When he found her, he made sure that his attendant would escort Ren out of the castle and get to safety. Shortly later, the keep started to rumble. Only Raidou, Kojiro and Oda react to the rumbling and move to where it originated. As they open the door, they see a Nosloc no Oni standing between two undead revenants. The Magistrates rec-ognize the revenants as Yoritomo Mato and Otomo Ryuunosuke. Behind them stands the bloodmage who summoned the beasts. When Kojiro demands that the maho-tsukai shows herself, she is revealed to be Ema. The Magistrates call out for Banzo, who is still at the wall.

Banzo gets a faint sense that his friends need him, so he leaves his post on the gate. He runs out onto the wall as the zombies are scaling it, and then cut the head off of one of them. On his way to where the bloodmage has summoned the oni, Banzo picks up the jade ono. As he arrives to the scene, the battle begins. The battle is quick and gritty, and when the things have slowed down, the Magistrates remain standing. Kojiro cuts down the two revenants with his blade. Oda casts a powerful Jade Strike on the oni, damaging it horribly. He also strikes Ema with an arrow, but it is Banzo who struck her down with his massive ono. Raidou runs to fetch the singing wakizashi of the Lion Clan, hoping that its magic can damage the oni. He returns just in time to see Banzo strike the oni’s torso with his axe and have its blood spilled all over him. The oni falls down and the castle itself shakes to its very foundation. Afterwards, the Magistrates make sure that Ema will not return from the dead. They find out that the zombies outside have been taken care of. They figure out that only the castle’s eta could make sure that the bodies weren’t cremated, and he is arrested

and properly punished. Banzo is believed to have contracted the taint after killing the oni, but receives great respect from the Crab Clan. Banzo is given the ono as reward for his deed. Kojiro is declared winner of the Winter Court competition, and Raidou had second place. The rest is detailed in the epilogue.

NPCsHida Yuudai Page 33Otomo Ren Page 41Kakita Kanbei Page 35Asahina Tomoe Page 34Itachi Mia (blacksmith’s wife) Page 46Bayushi Takahiro Page 38Suzume Shin Page 39Otomo Ishida Page 40Daidoji Aiko Page 34Poko the Dog Page 43Isawa Midori (Jade Champion) Page 37Daidoji Aiko Page 34Komori Rei Page 39Ema Page 41

Chapter II:Characters

This chapter is all about the players’ charac-ters. As was to be expected, the characters were as dif-ferent as the players. We had a brute Crab, a deviant Scorpion, an insightful Dragon, and so on. Although the players did use the typical pro-totypes of each Clan, each of them brought colours to their characters. The Crab had in his service an old eta that he respected and loved like you’d love your grandmother. The Scorpion had a tragic path. The monk couldn’t lie, and the investigator had a subtle addiction to sweets (not to mention the inability to be of much use in a fight). What follows is a short description of each PC, from my point of view. The players may disa-gree, but this is how I experienced them. Following each character’s description and backstories, I have included a short description of what they did in each adventure.

Hida Banzo Banzo is, in short, the fighter of the group. Although he tried to remain honourable throughout the game, he was spontaneous and occasionally rude

without realizing it. This fitted his character well, be-ing a member of the Crab Clan. His father was a tacti-cal advisor who was killed by sickness, as did the rest of Banzo’s family. Banzo also suffered this sickness, but he survived at the cost of suffering bad eyesight for the rest of his life. He travelled with his servant eta, a senile old hag he called Lugs, and his goal was to be rewarded with his own castle.

Player: AlXP total: 97 In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Banzo was the Magistrates’ contact with the Crab clan that were threatening to attack the Crane manor unless they were given the person who murdered Hida Azura. Thanks to Banzo, the attack was delayed long enough for the Magistrates to come up with a non-violent so-lution. Banzo did not like the solution, however, and wrote a letter that would be delivered to any one of the Crab lords. In Beast of Hotei, Banzo fought alongside Ta-teno and Tesshu against an ogre, and slew the beast. Although his initial idea was to carry the head of the beast with him in order to boast, he settled with get-ting a tattoo that retold the event.

In The Smell of Rat, Banzo executed the archer who, under Katsurou’s orders, tricked the Magistrates to leave Raidou behind while they gave chase to said archer. With joint effort, the Magistrates saved Raid-ou from dire fate. Banzo and Tateno found Genma, the assassin who was after Yoritomo Yatsuki’s head, and they convinced him to speak with Yatsuki in per-son and make a formal accusation. Upon arriving to the geisha house, the guards thought this was an at-tack and attacked Genma. Banzo protected Genma long enough for Yatsuki to listen to the accusations. Banzo also tried to find out if either one of the two had attempted to poison injured Raidou, but neither one of them had any idea about any poison. In Tree of Life, Banzo asked Miya Ota what sort of person he was looking for to marry his daugh-ter, and tried to impress his host with tales of his deeds. After cutting down the zombies and bringing Ema before Ota to face formal accusation, Banzo was not at all happy with how Ota trusted Ema as blindly as he did, and was the loudest voice that got them kicked out of Ota’s estate. In The Report, Banzo met Hida Yuudai, the Hida family daimyo. Yuudai was impressed by Banzo’s loyalty to his clan, and offered him the title of Chui in the Crab army. Yuudai also explained how Ban-zo’s father had been a good friend, and that in return Yuudai had arranged to Banzo’s marriage to Hiruma Akane. Furthermore, Banzo’s crone found fingers of jade for sale in Toshi Ranbo, and he arranged for his crone to buy the fingers for himself and Tesshu. In Winter Court 1: the Hunt, Banzo gave Oto-mo Ishida his straw hat, and the stories of his recent exploits, as a gift. Banzo was also the one who found a hole in the floor of the monastery, where something had been hidden but then taken away. It was Banzo who attacked two drunken bandits and missed. Ban-zo also managed to strike Ema, and cut the head off one of her zombies. In Winter Court 2: Love and Death, Banzo got his eta to work with the chief attendant at Matsukawa to investigate the servants and who Iweko Kichirou’s servant had interacted with. It was Banzo who told Hida Yuudai, the Hida daimyo, about the rumours about his son, and it was Banzo who was challenged to a duel to submission by Moto Yao-Han. Banzo also hunted down the assassin who tried to kill Iweko Kichirou, and killed him. In Winter Court 2.5: Contest Rolls, Banzo was summoned to his lord shortly before his duel with

Moto Yao-Han. Banzo was forbidden to kill or crip-ple Yao-Han, as doing so would result in the enmity of the Unicorn Clan. Banzo faked a case of poisoning and rescheduled the duel. Banzo also visited the play-wright and asked him not to base his play on Banzo personally. In Winter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour, Banzo lost a duel against Akodo Yurou and chal-lenged him to a proper duel to submission. They scheduled a duel when the competition had ended. After the first round of duels, Banzo was offered the service of a young, but promising shugenja named Kitsune Oda. Banzo then offered Oda to accompa-ny him to a tea ceremony held by Kojiro. It is Banzo who was the first one to learn about Genma’s capture by Mirumoto Hideki, and it is Banzo who executed Genma by decapitation. In Winter Court 4: Bad Fortune, Banzo won a duel with Doji Yutaka, who forfeited as his repayment of favour to Banzo. Banzo found out that his wife-to-be, Hiruma Akane, had been having an affair with Hida Maruki, Hida Azura’s brother. Maruki attacked Banzo outside the castle, and Banzo killed him. Banzo then went to his daimyo to explain the situation, and then went to Akane to explain that her lover is dead. In his duel against Suzume Naomi, Banzo acciden-tally taunted her enough for her to attack him with lethal force, and Banzo killed her. Banzo also found Akane in her room where she had hung herself. After all that, Banzo was believed to be cursed. In Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster, Banzo asked permission to leave the Winter Court, but was denied. After being branded cursed, Banzo start-ed drinking his sorrows away and ended up under the cherry blossom. There he assaulted Kojiro and Otomo Ren by throwing a bottle of sake at them. After learning about the murders that had been tak-ing place, Banzo decided to rest and sober up before helping. Banzo was given a special assignment, to si-lence a pesky Unicorn who was trying to ally the Uni-corn Clan with the wrong side in the upcoming civil war. Banzo angered his daimyo however, who then ordered Banzo not to act against the Unicorn until he had decided what to do. Despite that, Banzo sneaked into the Uni-corn’s room and assassinated her in her sleep. He got away but his daimyo was angered that he did not do as ordered. Banzo also disguised himself when the Magistrates attempted to examine Poko the dog/shape shifter, possibly the only witness to the mur-

ders. After capturing the dog, Banzo used violent means to interrogate Poko. Banzo then spoke with his daimyo and told him about this dog that knew aw-fully lot about the Crane Clan, but failed in delivering the dog. During the assault on Matsukawa castle by the undead horde and Ema, Banzo protected the gate against the zombies. It was Banzo who killed Ema and her summoned oni using the Jade Ono (two-handed axe). Banzo was rewarded with said axe after his fight, but forever believed to be tainted afterwards.

Kitsuki Raidou Raidou was the investigator of the Magistrates, in the truest sense of the word. This Kitsuki Investigator be-lieved in the Kitsuki method of inves-tigation, and seeing it fail him and his work made him blame the legal system of the Empire. It became Raidou’s goal to change the Empire so that the Kitsuki method would become the centre of the legal system, and being invited to join the secret po-lice made him feel like he would succeed. He also had a near addiction to sweets and was often damn lucky (but also suffered from horrible luck, as became evi-dent during the Winter Court).

Player: AlexeiXP total: 93 In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Raidou did the initial interrogation of Doji Motome and found out that the Cranes believed that Hida Azura was a drunk and a lustful man. Raidou is also the man who ini-tially found the torn cloth inside the room which the murder took place in. In Beast of Hotei, it was Raidou who freed the chief ’s daughter from her bonds inside the Ogre’s cave, by cutting it asunder with his blade. In The Smell of Rat, Raidou stayed behind while the others hunted down the archer. It was Raid-ou who protected the injured guard against Katsurou and his mercenaries. Raidou fought Katsurou, but was badly injured in the process. When Raidou woke up, he was being taken care of by a geisha, who tried to convince him to drink some medicine. Raidou refused, believing it was poison. The geisha disap-peared, leaving only her clothing behind. In Tree of Life, Raidou found the tree leaves in the victims’ houses that tied them together and point-

ed to Ema. In the fight against Ema, Raidou faced the bloodmage. Despite their efforts, Ema convinced the governor that she was innocent. In The Report, Raidou met Bayushi Takahiro and spoke with him about the Empire’s legal system, specifically its flaws. Takahiro invited him to accom-pany him to the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. Before giving the report to Iweko Inoe, Raidou con-vince Inoe that he had the very same sweets that Kit-suki himself was enjoying when he was inspired to create the Kitsuki method of investigation, and then gave it to Inoe, earning great respect and admiration. In Winter Court 1: the Hunt, Raidou was sent with the other Magistrates to hunt down Ema and make sure she would not get to Matsukawa castle alive and ruin the Winter Court. It was Raidou who dishonoured himself by being caught telling a lie to the host of the Winter Court, when he tried to offer him candy as a more grandeur gift than it actually was. He was dishonoured in front of the whole court, and was forced to ask for forgiveness. It was Raidou who found out that the monks had been killed with large blades, most likely a sword. Raidou also tried to trick Ema into believing that the Magistrates had backup on their way, but Tesshu ruined the deception by blurting out that they were in fact travelling alone. In Winter Court 2: Love and Death, Raidou was tricked by Banzo to go visit Suzume Natsumi instead of Banzo going himself. It was Raidou who found out that Otomo Ryuunosuke was a former Mantis Clan samurai, and that his brother was at-tending the Winter Court as well. Despite his blunder when he was giving the gift to Ishida, Raidou won the poetry contest with a brilliant haiku, giving him the lead in the competition. It was Raidou who heard noise outside Kichirou’s room, thus noticing the as-sassin’s presence, and after Banzo fought the assassin, Raidou gave him medical attention. Bayushi Taka-hiro suggested to Raidou that looking into Kichirou’s servant might help with the investigation, but the Magistrates believe they have dealt with the conspira-tors. In Winter Court 2.5: Contest Rolls, it was Raidou who learned that Genma’s former lord, Miru-moto Hideki, was at the Winter Court, and it was Raidou who learned how Genma became a ronin af-ter betraying his lord. Raidou was also approached by Bayushi Takahiro about joining the extremely secret Shadow Magistrates. In Winter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour,

Raidou lost his duel with Otomo Manami. Raidou agreed to deliver Genma’s swords to his rightful heir. In Winter Court 4: Bad Fortune, Raidou du-elled and defeated Hida Tairou, the Hida daimyo’s son. Raidou also learned more about the Shadow Magistrates from Bayushi Takahiro. Since Banzo had already killed Hida Maruki, Raidou won his last duel without a fight. In Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster, it was Raidou who first learned about the murders that had been taking place in the castle. It was also Raidou who learned that it is Suzume Shin who was leading the investigation, and was doing it both quietly and poorly. It was also Raidou, along with Tateno, who went to the castle’s forge and tried to find the black-smith in charge (a blacksmith was one of the victim), and find out that the blacksmith in charge was dead. It was Raidou and Kojiro who found Suzume Shin passed out from drinking, and they both stopped Shin from trying to kill Banzo. It was Raidou who found the secret passage from the keep’s basement to the well, and in that pas-sage the Magistrates found the body of Asako Raizen. When the zombie horde assaulted Matsukawa castle, Raidou fetched the magical wakizashi in an attempt to fight the oni. Raidou was also the only one who suffered from the Shadowlands Taint after their fight with the oni.

Bayushi Kojiro Kojiro was the face of the Magistrates and the group’s primary duellist in the end. He had fallen in love with a Crab woman, and after he found out that his father had arranged for her death, he murdered his father in cold blood. Only Kojiro’s sister knows the truth. Kojiro travelled with a sword given to him by his lost love, which did make Banzo a little paranoid. Kojiro was devious and clever, and was able to soften the worst enemies and seduce the most virtuous women.

Player: NickXP Total: 75 In Winter Court 2: Love and Death, Kojiro is the first to find out that Ikoma Kohaku is well-versed in the art of gossip. He is also the one who finds out that Otomo Ishida’s youngest daughter has been known for depression and sadness for years, long be-

fore Ishida announced that she were soon to be mar-ried, but nobody knows why. After the poetry contest, Kojiro works his way to earn Tsuruchi Naomi’s trust. It was Kojiro who found Otomo Ren, and found out that she wanted her brother dead. In Winter Court 2.5: Contest Rolls, Kojiro ac-companied Banzo as the two of them visit the Lion Clan’s playwright. In Winter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour, Kojiro defeated Matsu Akemi in a duel. Kojiro per-formed a tea ceremony for his fellow Magistrates and additional guests, Hiruma Akane and Kitsune Oda. After finding out that Genma failed in his service to his lord, it was Kojiro who suggested that he take his own life. It was also Kojiro who convinced Mirumo-to Hideki to allow Genma’s swords to pass on to his child. In Winter Court 4: Bad Fortune, Kojiro won his duel against Kitsune Oda, and his duel with Hiru-ma Akane resulted in a draw. Kojiro found out that Otomo Ren wanted him to win the tournament and win her father’s favour. In Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster, Kojiro found out the truth about Otomo Ren’s brother, and decided that this villainy must be stopped (although quietly). Through speaking with Banzo’s servant eta, Kojiro found out that one of the victims was married. It was Kojiro who deviced a plan to speak with the blacksmith’s wife. It was also Kojiro who convinced her to share what she knew about the murders. It was also Kojiro who convinced Suzume Shin not to attack Banzo directly, but rather challenge him to a duel. Kojiro was also the one who successfully inter-rogated Poko the dog, and when the undead rose to assault Matsukawa castle, Kojiro cut down Ema’s two revenants.

Tesshu Tesshu was the monk of the group and another member of the Dragon Clan. A tattooed monk of the Togashi order, Tesshu had sworn never to lie. Even when his comrades lied, Tesshu had a difficult time remaining silent. This did cause some trouble for him and his friends. Tesshu also had a weak spot for helping women, since he caused the disgrace of a Unicorn woman before he joined the monastery. He blamed it on a servant, who was executed while Tesshu ran away. Tesshu tried his

best to visit every single monastery, much to the an-noyance of his travelling partners. However, doing so often gave them clues they would otherwise not have found.

Player: ElvisXP total: 43 In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Tesshu arrived on the second day with Kakita Tateno. The two of them were assigned to the case of the murdered Crab to balance the outcome. It was Tesshu who got a con-fession out of the servant girl, but due to his lack of ability to lie, Tesshu was made to believe that a de-mon had killed the Crab and the servant had gone mad from seeing the event. In Beast of Hotei, Tesshu fought with Banzo and Tateno against the Ogre in its cave. In The Smell of Rat, Tesshu found Genma’s hiding place at the monastery of Minatomachi. Tesshu convinced one of the ronin who were currently there to follow him to the geisha house in order to publicly confront Yoritomo Yatsuki. In Tree of Life, Tesshu cut the head off one of the zombies by kicking Banzo’s no-dachi through its neck. Tesshu also used his ability to spit fire, and Banzo’s bottle of sake, to burn down the tree that was feeding of the people of Miyado-cho. In The Report, Tesshu met an old monk in a temple in Toshi Ranbo. After talking for a while about philosophy, the monk agreed to teach Tesshu, but it would have to wait until the Winter Court at the earliest. In Winter Court 1: the Hunt, Tesshu was the one who found the tracks leading away from the monastery. It was Tesshu who delivered the final blow to Ema, and killed the maho-tsukai, thanks to being covered in magical flame. In Winter Court 2: Love and Death, Tesshu was brought along Banzo to ask Suzume Natsumi forgiveness, but Tesshu revealed Banzo’s disrespect for Natsumi’s practice of divination. Tesshu also per-formed a tea-ceremony.

Kakita Tateno Tateno was a Crane duellist and a rival to Banzo. While Banzo would often deal the most damage, it would often be Tateno who deliv-ered the finishing blow. Tateno was

civil, almost a courtier rather than a swordsman, and knew that the work of the Emerald Magistrates was not about finding the truth, but making the truth be what was in the Empire’s best interest. Tateno was also a gambler, and owed a large sum of money to a member of the Scorpion Clan. During the Winter Court, he would often disappear for days while gam-bling at the geisha house.

Player: DaveXP total: 48 In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Tateno arrived on the second day, assigned this task, along with Tesshu, in order to make a more balanced judgment. It was Tateno who thought of the idea to fabricate a likely story of the events and pass it on as truth. In Beast of Hotei, it was Tateno who gave the final blow that took off the Ogre’s head. In The Smell of Rat, Tateno was also tricked by Katsurou’s archer to leave Raidou alone behind, and with the other Magistrates they saved Raidou from death. Tateno also arranged for the duel that would determine whether or not Genma’s words of accu-sation would be listened to, and it was Tateno who fought on Yoritomo Yatsuki’s behalf and won. After reaching the harbour after a week of sailing, Tateno was greeted by a group who appeared to be Crane samurai. They asked Tateno to go with them and meet their commander. Tateno left with Kurui to meet this commander, and returned to give the report in Toshi Ranbo. In Winter Court 2: Love and Death, it was Ta-teno who knew where Iweko Kichirou was when his servant was accidentally murdered, and what he was doing at the time. It was Tateno who found out what the situation was like when Kichirou returned to his room after the poisoning. It was Tateno who was ru-moured to have left the geisha house with the Hida daimyo’s son, and spent the night with him. It was Tateno who found out that of the three women that Kichirou was allegedly engaging, only one of them was married. It was Tateno who accused Otomo Ryu-unosuke of trying to murder the Empress’s son, and challenged him to a duel. Ryuunosuke nominated his brother to be his champion in the duel, and Tateno killed him with a single cut, forcing Ryuunosuke to confess his crimes. In Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster, Tateno was the one who told Banzo about the murders and their investigation, and accidentally made Banzo dis-

obey his daimyo by speaking when ordered silent.

Kitsuki Kurui Kitsuki Kurui was another Kitsuki Investigator, whose eyes were mismatched in colour, causing the rest of Rokugan to believe he was cursed. He was very much interested in learn-ing everything he could about the Shadowlands and Maho, but after the Magistrates gave their report at Toshi Ranbo, Kurui was reassigned. In effect, Kurui’s player, Alda, couldn’t find the time to continue, so her character was removed as soon as possible.

Player: Alda In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Kurui assisted in the investigation and helped search for Chii after he left. Kurui stayed behind after the other Magis-trates left and kept an eye on things so as to make sure the Crabs wouldn’t suddenly return and attack again. After meeting the other Magistrates in Hotei, Kurui was keen on investigating the Ogre’s cave. It was Kurui who recognized the danger of carrying the Ogre’s head around. In The Smell of Rat, Kurui hunted the archer with the Magistrates, only to find out that the archer was trying to split the group and luring them away from the one they left behind. Thanks to their joint efforts, the Magistrates saved Raidou from dire fate. Kurui stuck to the shadows for the most part after-wards. When the Magistrates finished sailing, Kurui went with Tateno when a group of Crane samurai asked him to meet their leader. Kurui met the Magistrates once more to give a report in Toshi Ranbo on the events in Nishicho, but was then assigned another mission. Kurui’s cur-rent whereabouts are not known.

Asako Raizen Raizen was the group’s second shugenja character (Bayushi Chii be-ing the first, see below). He only ap-peared once, when the Magistrates went after the maho-tsukai Ema. Un-fortunately, Jo couldn’t find the time to play with us either and only managed to show up for that one ses-sion. He was a great help though, and without him

the others might have suffered more damage than they did.

Player: Jo Asako Raizen’s only appearance was in Winter Court 1: the Hunt, where he has been invited to join the Jade Champion to Otomo Ishida’s Winter Court. He is also sent with the other Magistrates to take care of Ema, the maho-tsukai. At the monastery, Raizen spoke with the spirit of a tree in order to learn more about who attacked the monastery. He is also the one who knew the story of the former maho-tsukai who turned away from his wicked ways and joined the monastery in secret. When the Magistrates confront three drunken bandits, it was Raizen who knocked them out with his Air magic. During the fight with Ema, Raizen knocked the zombies over and turned Tesshu into a flaming-fury of a monk.

Bayushi Chii Chii was the first shugenja char-acter of the group and the first charac-ter who was a member of the Scorpion Clan. He only appeared that one ses-sion when we first started playing, and the character disappeared, leading the other Mag-istrates into investigating the disappearance rather than the actual investigation.

Player: Conrad In Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest, Chii used his ability to speak with spirits to communicate with a torn cloth. It gave the Magistrates three answers, tell-ing them that the person who wore the cloth ended somebody’s life (Azura’s) and that the person did scream. Late in the evening, Chii went to investigate the arrival and departure of a small party of Scorpion samurai. The Magistrates found out that he had gone to meet them outside of town (most likely) and never heard from him again.

Kitsune Oda Oda was originally an extra character I made. His was originally made because one of the regular players asked me to make him a character, but then brought his own. Oda wasn’t used until much later, when Robert showed up unexpect-edly. Robert only joined that one session, and Oda’s

legend didn’t continue until Peter joined the group near the end of the campaign and Oda remained the group’s spellcaster until the finale.

Players: Robert and Peter In Winter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour, Oda defeated Hiruma Akane in a duel. After the first round of duels, Oda attempted to heal Banzo with magic. Oda also helped the Magistrates when their bodyguard, Genma, had been arrested for the at-tempted assassination of Mirumoto Hideki. By using a spell, Oda spoke with the spirits of Genma’s sword, and confirmed that Genma was in fact Bakano Da-

gato, one of Genma’s original soldiers. In Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster, Oda was assisting Suzume Shin in his investigation of the mur-ders and when Shin was declared unfit to continue, Oda took the lead and asked the other Magistrates to assist him. It was Oda who found out that the mur-derer had long black hair and wore green clothes, and it was Oda who found out that Poko the dog might have seen something. When the Jade Champion was stabbed in the back, it was Oda who fought and killed the treacherous Komori Rei, and when Ema had sum-moned an oni it was Oda who crippled said oni with his magic, giving Banzo a better chance at killing it.

Chapter III:NPCs

In this chapter I have included every notable NPC with which the player characters interacted. This includes NPCs such as notable bandits they met, ronin and all the way up to daimyos. Of course, only notable NPC get mentioned here. I won’t go out of my way to write down every single minor individu-

als. I have divided the NPCs into Clans, starting with the great Clans, then the minor Clans. Then go-ing into Imperial families and ending with those who don’t officially belong to any notable family.

Crab ClanHida Maruki Son of the Crab general Hida Watanabe and brother to the warrior Hida Azura, Maruki quickly suspected the Cranes of murdering his brother while they were visiting Nishicho. When Azura was given command over his own squad of samurai, Maruki served him as second in command. He was trained in the Hiruma Bushi School, but focused more on di-plomacy than what would be considered normal for such a warrior. He is married to Hida Yomi and has a young boy by the name of Hida Bogei.

While the Magistrates were investigating his brother’s death, Maruki did his best to defend his brother’s honour, dismissing all rumours about Az-ura’s lecherous ways. Worse yet, Maruki was all too keen on getting revenge for his brother’s death by at-tacking Doji Motome and her household. He even got as far as to the gate with a handful of Crabs. However, the murder was resolved without any further blood-shed and Maruki lead his fellow Crabs back home. However, Maruki was not in the least happy about how the matter was resolved as he did not get any sort

of revenge for the death of his brother. During the Winter Court at Matsukawa cas-tle, Maruki invited Banzo to a hunting trip. During the trip, Maruki explained that he was intending to kill Kakita Tateno, and wanted Banzo’s help. Banzo did not want to take part in it directly, but told Maru-ki about Tateno’s gambling. Later in the hunting trip, Maruki attacked Banzo and said that he would not let Banzo have Hiruma Akane as his wife. Banzo then killed Maruki in a single swing. First AppearanceDead Crab in Crane’s Nest Later AppearancesWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Hida Tairou Tairou is the son of Hida Yuudai, the Hida family’s daimyo. He is a great warrior who is building up his reputation, and intended to do so during the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. During the Winter Court competition, Tairou duelled Raidou in the du-elling challenge. There he arrived fully armoured and armed, only to remove his ar-mour and extra weapon. De-spite his interesting entrance, Raidou was unaffected and bravely explained that he would have come later if he had known that Tairou need-ed this much time to prepare. Tairou replied with threats about killing Raidou, but Raidou would still not back down. Rather, Raidou won the duel by dis-arming Tairou before he could even draw his weap-on. Tairou was angered by this, but his father kept him from attacking Raidou and dishonour himself. First AppearanceWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Hida Yuudai Hida Yuudai is the Hida family daimyo. He is a man who respects Banzo’s loyalty to his clan and as a reward for his loyalties, offered Banzo the position of a Chui in the Crab military. Yuudai also explained to Banzo that he was a good friend of his father’s, and as such he felt that he should take Banzo under his

wind. For that reason, Yuudai arranged for Banzo’s marriage with Hiruma Akane, the Crab samurai that the Magistrates met in Nishicho when Hida Azura was murdered. Yuudai is known to have one son, named Tairou, and asked Banzo to accompany them both to Matsukawa-jo castle to attend Winter Court. When Banzo hears about the rumour about Yuudai’s son and Kakita Tateno, Banzo tells Yuudai about it. Yuudai is not pleased about this rumour, as it dishonours his son, but he agrees not to do any-thing without consulting Banzo first. After Otomo Ryuunosuke insulted Yuudai by repeating the rumour, Yuudai declined when Ryuunosuke asked him to be his champion in a duel against Kakita Tateno. Yuudai is in the middle of forming an alli-

ance with the Unicorn during the Winter Court, and ordered Banzo not to kill or cripple a

Unicorn who Banzo was about to duel. Banzo managed to fake being poi-

soned and rescheduled. After Banzo’s duel with Akodo Yurou in Ishida’s Winter Court competition, Yuudai requests the services of Kitsune Oda, a Mantis Clan shugenja who’s also a Jade Magistrate, to care

for Banzo’s wounds. After Banzo told Yuudai about

the death of Hida Maruki, and explained why this event came to

pass, Yuudai told Banzo that he would make Maruki’s family pay for this dis-

honour, and that Banzo should not worry about the feelings of Maruki’s secret lover, Banzo’s wife-to-be, Hiruma Akane. Yuudai also spoke with Otomo Ishida about the matter, but left out the reason why Maruki attacked Banzo in the first place. Yuudai asked Banzo to take care of a Unicorn diplomat who was making trouble with the Crab and Unicorn alliance. When Banzo could not pre-sent good enough plans to his daimyo, which didn’t really care how he did it as long as it would not be traced back to the Crab clan, Yuudai ordered Banzo silent and ordered him to stay on his knees until he would return and allow him otherwise. Banzo diso-beyed, and told his daimyo about it. The daimyo was angered by this and ordered Banzo not to take care of the Unicorn diplomat just yet, and allow Yuudai to think this over.

After Banzo had killed the diplomat in ques-tion, Banzo returned to Yuudai and hinted at doing the deed. Yuudai was very angry at Banzo’s disobedi-ence, since it appeared that Banzo could not follow orders. However, Banzo was not punished for this. Later, Banzo presented Yuudai with a plan to hand over a shape shifting dog that had intensive knowl-edge of the enemy Crane Clan to the Crab Clan. That plan failed, however, which did not sit well with Yuu-dai. First AppearanceThe Report Later AppearancesWinter Court 1: the HuntWinter Court 2: Love and DeathWinter Court 3: Of Swords and HonourWinter Court 4: Bad FortuneWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Hiruma Akane Hida Maruki’s good friend and now his sec-ond in command, Akane is the more reasonable of the two. Like Maruki, she studied at the Hiruma Bushi School and served Hida Azura until his death. Unlike Maruki, Akane did not focus on diplomacy and is skilled with the use of blades and bow. When Banzo spoke with Maruki and Akane

about Azura’s murder, Akane spoke the truth about Azura’s dishonourable habits while Maruki dismissed all such slander. She explained how she had served both brothers loyally and that she did not want to see either of them dishonoured, so she made Banzo promise to never speak of what she told him. She re-turned home with the rest of the Crabs. Hida Yuudai, the Hida daimyo, arranged for Akane to be married to Banzo, after Banzo showed great loyalty by writing a letter about what really hap-pened in Azura’s murder. She was to be married to Banzo during the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. During the Winter Court, Banzo realizes that some-thing is troubling Akane and figures it might be be-cause of the wedding. When asked, however, she de-nies anything being wrong. Later on, Banzo found out that Maruki was her lover when he attacked him. Banzo killed Maruki and told Akane about it. When he saw how angry she was when he lied about thinking that demons were involved, Banzo knew. The next morning, Banzo found out that Akane had killed herself. First AppearanceDead Crab in Crane’s Nest Later AppearancesWinter Court 3: Of Swords and HonourWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Crane ClanAsahina Tomoe Tomoe is the Asahina daimyo. She intends to ensure the alliance between the Crane Clan and the Lion Clan by marrying her daughter to the Akodo daimyo’s son. The Akodo daimyo wants his son to marry Ren, Otomo Ishida’s daughter, so that is prob-lematic. Tomoe tried to convince Kakita Tateno to take a dive against her daughter, so that she would look good. Tateno however disarmed the girl in the duelling contest, which did not have the same effect. First AppearanceWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Daidoji Aiko

Aiko is the daughter of Daidoji Yamato, the Daidoji daimyo. She owns the dog known as Poko, who might be the only good witness to the murders. First AppearanceWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Doji Motome Motome is a respectful woman of important status among the Doji family. She married into the family through Doji Yutaka, a Crane general and the effective lord of Nishicho. However, when the Magis-trates arrived into town, Yutaka was away on official business and in his absence Motome was in control of the household, and the rest of town. Motome is well known thanks to her marriage, and is respected by

her household and the townsfolk of Nishicho. Motome offered the Magistrates all the help she could while investigating the murder of Hida Azura. While playing a game of Go with Raidou, she claimed that Azura had been lecherous towards her servant girls and a heavy drinker. When she was asked if Yumi, her favoured servant, had any blood ties to the Cranes, she confessed that Yumi was the bastard daughter of Yutaka. First AppearanceDead Crab in Crane’s Nest

Doji Yutaka Yutaka was a mili-tary officer for the Cranes, and the man who invited Kakita Tateno to accom-pany him to the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. He was also the husband of Doji Motome, and father of Yumi, who the Magistrates helped during the Dead Crab in Crane’s Nest story. He is also a good friend of Kakita Osamu. Yutaka was to duel Banzo during the Winter Court, but because he was thankful to Banzo for what he had done for his family in Nishicho, Yutaka for-feited the duel and gave Banzo the victory. It did not please Banzo since he was looking forward to fight-

ing someone. First AppearanceWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Kakita Kanbei Kanbei is Doji Motome’s private bodyguard,

or yojimbo. Although he is not famous across the Empire, his skill with a blade has not been

unheard of. The Magistrates did not get the opportunity to examine his

blade in action, however. During the Winter

Court, the Magistrates find out that Kanbei is the son of Kakita Osamu. Kanbei

also lost his duel against Tateno.

First AppearanceDead Crab in Crane’s Nest

Kakita Osamu Osamu is the Kakita daimyo

and is attending the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. He is the current

master of Urashima Kashima, and the Magistrates only spoke with him briefly to convince him to allow Kashima to partake in the competition. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Dragon ClanKitsuki Ryujin Ryujin is the Kitsuki daimyo and is attending the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. Raidou tried to speak with him, but Ryujin was not very forthcoming in talking with someone who had disgraced himself by lying to the host in front of the court. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Mirumoto Hideki Hideki is a Rikugunshokan of the

Dragon Clan. He is also the general who Genma betrayed and caused him to become a ronin. During the Winter Court and Matsukawa cas-

tle, Genma tried to assassinate him but was captured. It was then that the

Magistrates learned that Genma was in fact Bakano Dagato, one of the real Gen-

Lion ClanAkodo Yurou Yurou is the only surviving son of Akodo Daiki, who is the Akodo daimyo. He won the duel against Banzo in the duelling challenge of Otomo Ishida at the Winter Court of Matsukawa castle, but was again challenged by Banzo to another duel, with swords drawn. After many insults, some better than others, Yurou accepted and demanded the duel would be held after the current chal-lenge. Banzo accepted those terms. After Banzo duelled Suzume Natsumi, and killed her in her outburst, Banzo ap-proached Yurou and forfeit their second duel. Yurou accepted and told him that one day he hoped they would meet again, and that nothing would stop their duel then. First AppearanceWinter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour Later AppearancesWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Ikoma Kohaku A famous playwright, Kohaku is also a ruth-less rumourmonger who will spread any rumour re-

gardless of its value. He does come in handy however, as he often knows things the

Magistrates would have a hard time finding out by themselves. He has

also shown unwelcomed interest in the Magistrates, specifically

their physique and “hand-some faces”. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Matsu Akemi Akemi is a warrior of the

Matsu family of the Lion Clan. She is also the servant of Akodo Daiki, the

Akodo daimyo. She is a formidable foe on the battlefield, but less able in a formal duel. She du-elled Kojiro in the duelling challenge during Winter Court at Matsukawa castle, and was distracted by his handsome face and seductions. She lost the duel. First AppearanceWinter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour

ma’s subordinates. After Dagato was executed, the Magistrates managed to convince Hideki to pass on Genma’s swords to the proper heir, and he gave that

responsibility to the Magistrates. First AppearanceWinter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour

Phoenix ClanIsawa Midori Isawa Midori is the current Jade Champion. She was impressed by Raizen and so she invited him to join her to the Winter Court. Mi-dori also assigned the Magistrates the mission of intercepting Ema, the maho-tsukai. Midori also asked the Mag-

istrates to assist in searching for the box they brought with Ema. Shortly later,

Midori was fooled by Komori Rei, who then stabbed Midori in the back with a wakizashi in front of Kitsune Oda. First Appearance

Winter Court 1: the Hunt Later Appearances

Winter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Mantis ClanTsuruchi Naomi Naomi is a provincial governess from the Mantis Clan. Her family is known for ex-cellent archery. Little is known about Naomi, except that her poetry seemed to indicate some hatred to-wards Akodo Daiki during the poetry contest. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Yoritomo Mato Yoritomo Mato is the brother of Otomo Ryuunosuke, Otomo Ishida’s son-in-law. Mato is a known strategist, and the father of the Yoritomo Nine Sons, all recognized samurai. One of them is said to have a head of iron. Mato’s assassin was used in the attempt to murder the Empress’s son, Iweko Kichirou. Despite the Magistrates’ efforts, they could not get Mato to actually admit to the crime. Tateno accused Ryuuno-suke of trying to kill Kichirou and challenged him to a duel. Ryuunosuke accepted, and nominated Mato as his champion. Tateno fought Mato in the duel, and killed him in a single strike.

First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Yoritomo Yatsuki Yatsuki is unofficially in con-

trol of the merchant district of Minatomachi. He is a valued member of the Mantis clan and is a business man first and foremost. He runs a geisha house in Minatomachi, which at night is the local gambling

house and a whore house. He offers his customers any sort of

geisha for their amusement, and even has a ratling in his employ

for such occasions. Yatsuki also owns some ships that he uses for his business of

import and export, and even gave one such ship to the Magistrates. Yatsuki was accused of serious crimes by the assassin known as Genma. Although he denied eve-rything, the matter was dealt with through a duel, in which Tateno acted on Yatsuki’s behalf. First AppearanceThe Smell of Rat

Scorpion ClanBayushi Takahiro Bayushi Takahiro is a Scorpion clan magis-trate who has shown great interest in and much admiration for the Kitsuki method of in-vestigation. He is friendly to Raidou and wishes to learn from him, al-though teaching him the secret technique of Kitsuki without permission is a capital crime. Takahiro has expressed his disappointment in the Em-pire’s legal system, and has suggested to Raidou that the Kitsuki could be the best so-lution to the problem. Takahiro offered Raid-ou to attend with him to the Winter Court at Matsukawa-jo. Takahiro also came to Banzo during the Winter Court and told him about some rumours regarding him and Ikoma Kohaku, and about Kitsuki Raidou and Suzume Natsumi. He also pointed out to Raidou that it might be a good idea to look into Iweko Kichirou’s servant. He might hold some answers to the murder attempt against Kichirou.

Takahiro told Raidou that he was a member of a secret police in the employment of the Empress, called the Shadow Magistrates. He also offered Raid-

ou to join, which Raidou accepted. When Raidou asked Takahiro more

about the Shadow Magistrates, Takahiro explained that they re-

mained hidden because the Em-press could not openly tell everyone that she had been working on changing law and

order in the Empire, since that might cause the Great Clans to rebel against her. He also explained that he did not know who were

controlling the Shadow Magis-trates, since he only knew his di-

rect supervisor. First Appearance

The Report Later Appearances

Winter Court 1: the HuntWinter Court 2: Love and DeathWinter Court 4: Bad FortuneWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Unicorn ClanIde Mao Mao was the Unicorn diplo-mat that the Crab Clan needed to silence in order to make sure the alliance between the Crab and Unicorn would be sealed. In or-der to do so, Banzo assassinated her in secret during the night by stabbing her in the neck. First AppearanceWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Moto Yao-Han

Yao-Han is a Unicorn samurai who Tateno met at gambling. He is also the samurai who

performed the worst poem in the poetry contest, thus setting the bar for every-one else to beat. Most recently, he chal-

lenged Banzo to a duel, and although Banzo wanted the fight to be to the death, they agreed it would be until either yielded. When the day came when

Banzo and Yao-Han would duel, Ban-zo had been ordered not to kill or crip-

ple Yao-Han. Since he could not imagine himself trying to win by any possible means,

Sparrow ClanSuzume Natsumi Natsumi is a young samurai-ko of the Spar-row Clan. She and her father were invited to the Win-ter Court, and she is rumoured to be looking for a husband among the many samurai at Matsukawa cas-tle. She offered to perform a divination for Banzo, who agreed but sent Raidou in his stead. When he tried to apologize by asking for a divination, she did perform it, but was insulted when Tesshu told her that Banzo didn’t put any faith into divinations. During the duelling contest, Natsumi duelled Banzo. She wanted to make him pay for his insults, and when she got to strike first she tried to cut off his left arm. After striking, Banzo told her that she was an excellent duellist and could possibly have hurt him if she had been trying. Enraged by how feeble Banzo made her look, she attacked again and cut him. He struck simultaneously and his blow was lethal. In one swing, Banzo killed this young samurai-ko from the Sparrow Clan. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Later AppearancesWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune

Suzume Shin Shin was an Emerald Magistrate and the fa-ther of Suzume Natsumi, who Banzo killed during her outburst after she duelled him in the duelling contest at the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. En-raged and grieving after seeing his daughter killed, Shin promised that Banzo would pay for this. While the Unicorn diplomat was being mur-dered, Shin was drinking his worries away and was found behind the sake storage house by the Magis-trates. After sleeping it off, the Magistrates tried to ask him a few questions but he was rude and tried to attack and kill Banzo. Their official duel to the death was stopped by Hida Yuudai and Otomo Ishida, and Yuudai tried to offer him compensation for the loss of his daughter. It is unknown how well that turned out. First AppearanceWinter Court 4: Bad Fortune Later AppearancesWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Bat ClanKomori Rei Komori Rei is a Jade Magistrate, hailing from the Bat Clan, a Minor Clan known for their shugen-jas, but not much else. She is one of the Jade Magis-trates who went to Miyado-cho by the order of the Jade Champion, to investigate the Magistrates’ claim of a maho-tsukai hiding there. She was unable to ap-prehend Ema, but managed to find out that she was heading towards Matsukawa-jo Castle, where the

Winter Court is being held. During the zombie assault on Matsukawa cas-tle, it became apparent that Komori is a traitor who was working with Ema. Oda killed her for it. First AppearanceWinter Court 1: the Hunt Later AppearancesWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Banzo faked being poisoned and rescheduled. They agreed that during spring, more than a year later, Yao-Han would visit Banzo and they would duel then.

First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Imperial FamiliesIweko Inoe Iweko Inoe is the oldest daughter of Empress Iweko I and holds the prestige position of the Impe-rial Herald. Inoe listened to the Magistrates’ report, and is now the proud owner of the Kitsuki Sweets, given to her by Kitsuki Raidou. First AppearanceThe Report

Iweko Kichirou Kichirou is the Empress’s youngest son who the Magistrates meet at Otomo’s Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. He is a gambler, as Tateno found out when they met gambling at the geisha house. There was an attempt at Kichirou’s life one night, when there was an attempt to poison him. Luckily (for him), his servant stole a sip from the poisoned sake and was killed. The Magistrates investigate the source of the poison. Kichirou is rumoured to be a ladies man, and it is said that he has romantic relationships with at least three women at court: Seppun Kimiko, Miya Hotaru-no-hime (whom the Magistrates have prior met), and Otomo Hinata, who is married to Otomo Ryuunosuke. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

Miya Hotaru-no-hime Miya Hotaru-no-hime is the daughter of Miya Ota, and a herald in the Empire’s service. She met the Magistrates when they reached shore and relayed to them her father’s offer of hospitality. She also became Banzo’s target for marriage, for a short while, in order for a political gain. She supports her father, and hon-ours her family name. First AppearanceTree of Life

Miya Ota Miya Ota is a well-respected member of the Miya imperial family. He is the governor of Miyado-cho and has a daughter, Miya Hotaru-no-hime who serves as a herald for the Empress. His ability to gov-

ern the town of Miyado-cho was challenged when a group of citizens disappeared, one at a time. He asked the Magistrates to help him solve the matter quickly and quietly, and in return offered his hospitality and even offered them to Winter Court at his estate. When they returned with Ema, possibly the most respected member of Miyado-cho’s community and the town’s medic, Ota was certain that the Mag-istrates had made an error. When they insisted, Ota got angry and insulted, and ordered the Magistrates to leave his estate immediately. Although it was not said, it is safe to assume the Magistrates will not be welcome to Miya Ota’s Winter Court. First AppearanceTree of Life

Otomo Ishida Otomo Ishida is the host of the Winter Court at Matsukawa-jo Castle. He is known to have three daughters, all married save for the youngest, and one son. He also intends to hold a competition during the Winter Court, which is supposed to test the skills that he thinks are the most important and honourable for a samurai to have. Ishida was also gravely insulted by Raidou’s attempt at deception, but forgave this “slight” in front of his guests so that he would appear more honour-able. When there’s an attempted murder of the Empress’s youngest son in Ishida’s home, he asks the Magistrates to investigate the matter, but to do so quickly and quietly so that it will not disturb the other guests. Which the Magistrates failed to do when they called out in the night that an assassin was on the loose. Ishida was not happy about it, and he was not silent about his displeasure towards the Magistrates. During the duelling contest, Ishida summons everyone to gather so that he can show off a gift from his remaining son-in-law, Otomo Shitimata, a pres-tigious vase by a prestigious potter from the Phoenix Clan. He also feels sympathy for Banzo, who he now believes is cursed. Ishida is about to present the winners of the Winter Court competition when Ema begins her as-sault on Matsukawa castle.

First AppearanceWinter Court 1: the Hunt Later AppearancesWinter Court 2: Love and DeathWinter Court 4: Bad FortuneWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Otomo Manami Manami is Otomo Ishida’s second daughter, and married to Otomo Shitimata. She is also a skilled duellist and soldier, and attended the Seppun school rather than the Otomo school. She won Kitsuki Raid-ou in the duelling challenge of her father’s competi-tion. First AppearanceWinter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour

Otomo Ren Ren is the youngest daughter of Otomo Ishi-da, the host of the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. It is presumed by many that the contest that Ishida is holding at the Winter Court is for Ishida to find a suitable husband for Ren. Bayushi Kojiro found out from the geishas at Matsukawa that Ren had appeared sad for many years, even depressed, but no one knows why. Kojiro met her by the lake in the courtyard and found out that she wants her brother dead, but not why. After yet another walk, Kojiro asked Ren if

she wanted him to win the competition and thus win her father’s favour. She said yes, effectively accepting the possibility that they were to get married. During the zombie assault on Matsukawa castle, Kojiro made sure that Ren would be safe by ordering his attendant to escort her out of the castle if things would turn too dangerous. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death Later AppearancesWinter Court 4: Bad FortuneWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Otomo Ryuunosuke Ryuunosuke is the husband of Otomo Ishida’s second daughter, Hinata. He married into the Otomo family from the Mantis Clan, and his brother, Yorito-mo Mato, was attending Winter Court as well. Kakita Tateno accused him of trying to murder the Empress’s youngest son, Iweko Kichirou, and challenged him to a duel. Ryuunosuke’s brother fought in his stead, but lost. Ryuunosuke admitted his crimes, that he had found out that Hinata was sleeping with Kichirou and that he had asked for Mato’s assassin to kill Kichirou. The Empress’s son did not find that amusing, denied Ryuunosuke to perform seppuku and sentenced him to be tortured until death. First AppearanceWinter Court 2: Love and Death

the OthersEma Ema is the maho-tsukai who terrorized the town of Miyado-cho. As a respected woman of medi-cine in the town, she snuck poison into the medicine she administered so that they would come to her in a hypnotic state. She would then feed them to the tree which was, pretty much, worshiped by the town. Her crimes were put to a sudden halt when the Magistrates were recruited to investigate the dis-appearances and found her out. They had followed her most recent victim, and she was forced to sum-mon forth the living dead from underneath the tree

she was feeding. The zombies were defeated how-ever, and the Magistrates captured Ema. When they brought her to face Miya Ota’s justice, she managed to convince Ota of her innocence, and Ota let her free. The Magistrates were enraged by this decision, and have earned the enmity of Ema, the bloodmage. The Magistrates later confronted her when she was travelling towards Matsukawa-jo Castle. She had already attacked a monastery and stolen some-thing believed to have belonged to a former maho-tsukai who had settled down as a monk there, many, many, many years ago. She used dark magic to hide herself from the Magistrates during their attack, but

it did not save her from their blades and fists. The Magistrates managed to kill her in the attack, and brought her corpse back to Matsukawa-jo for crema-tion. During the assault on Matsukawa castle, it became apparent that Ema had somehow cheated death, and had orchestrated the assault. She had also summoned an oni and undead revenants (using the bodies of Otomo Ryuunosuke and Yoritomo Mato). During this final fight, Banzo killed Ema and made sure that she’d stay dead by removing her head. First AppearanceTree of Life Later AppearancesWinter Court 1: the HuntWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Genma Believed to be Mirumoto Genma, a samurai of the Dragon clan who betrayed his lord and be-lieved to be dead. Genma travelled with a group of 13 ronin until he was captured by the Magistrates and forced to act as their bodyguard. He first appeared in Minatomachi, where he suspected Yoritomo Yatsuki to be a criminal who needed to be dealt with. It was Genma’s intention to kill Yatsuki, thus ending his sus-pected reign of terror. The Magistrates were asked to deal with the matter, and they managed to convince Genma to fight in a duel that would solve the matter. If he would win, they would arrest Yatsuki for his crimes. Howev-er, Tateno fought on behalf of Yatsuki and won, thus ending the accusations. Furthermore, Genma would serve the Magistrates and his team of ronin were dis-banded but otherwise left unharmed. Genma can be recognized by his daisho, which are beautifully decorated with dragon heads on the end of the hilts. When the Magistrates were fighting Ema in Miyado-cho, Genma reluctantly struck Ema down, but did not kill her. While the Magistrates were giving their report at Toshi Ranbo, Genma waited outside the city so that he would not be recognized as Mirumoto Genma. When the Magistrates were ordered to hunt down and intercept Ema on her way towards Matsu-kawa-jo Castle, where the Winter Court is being held, Genma went with them. Although he stayed silent most of the way, he did strike the final blow against

one of Ema’s zombies. During the archery challenge at the Winter Court contest, the Magistrates find out that Genma served Mirumoto Hideki, and supposedly took some of his men without permission to a fight against a group of bandits. Genma supposedly died that day, along with all the soldiers he took, and was branded a dishonourable dog. During the duelling challenge of Ishida’s competition at Winter Court, Genma killed one of Hideki’s guards in an attempt to kill Hideki himself. After some interrogations, the Magistrates find out that Genma believed Hideki had betrayed him into attacking the bandits in a suicide attack. However, Hideki does not recognize this Genma, and it is re-vealed that Genma’s real name was Bakano Dagato. Dagato was one of Genma’s subordinates in the attack on the bandits, and the sole survivor. Genma told them that Hideki had ordered the attack, but Hideki denied ever having done that. Dagato is executed for his crimes, and Hideki allows Genma’s daisho to be passed on to his child. First AppearanceThe Smell of Rat Later AppearancesTree of LifeThe ReportWinter Court 1: the HuntWinter Court 3: Of Swords and Honour

Katsurou This man is the leader of a group of bandits that was hired as mercenaries by Urashima Keitaro to save his daughter from an Ogre. Katsurou has never been seen by the Magistrates without his mask, and in truth, nobody outside his band of criminals knows what hides underneath it. He can be recognized by his mask as well as his weapon, a bisento (L5R, p. 202). He demands great respect and loyalty from his followers, enough to keep up appearances as a merce-nary leader as opposed to a bandit leader. The Magistrates first met him in front of the Ogre’s lair near Hotei, where he was planning how best to approach the beast. When he wouldn’t take orders from the Magistrates, or anyone who wasn’t paying him, he demanded 100 koku before leading the rest of his men, or going alone with the Magis-trates, into the lair. Tension rose and at least once did things come close to a fight between the Magistrates

and Katsurou’s group. In the end, Katsurou was sent away without any pay from either the Magistrates or the village. The Magistrates had another run-in with Kat-surou in the Merchant District of Minatomachi. Kat-surou’s archer shot down a guard in front of the Mag-istrates, who followed the archer. Only Raidou stayed behind in order to help the guard who was badly hurt by the arrow. When the Magistrates caught up with the archer, they were ambushed by a small group of bandits. It was not until they had defeated the ban-dits that the Magistrates found out that they had been tricked. While they fought the small group of bandits, a larger group and Katsurou himself ambushed Raid-ou. Raidou fought honourably to protect the guard, but he was no match for Katsurou by himself. It was not until Katsurou had defeated Raidou that the oth-er Magistrates returned, killed the bandits and sent Katsurou running. First AppearanceBeast of Hotei Later AppearancesThe Smell of Rat

Poko the dog Poko is a dog belonging to Daidoji Aiko, the Daidoji daimyo’s daughter. He is small enough to hold in your hands, is unfriendly towards Kojiro but friendly towards Banzo and Kitsune Oda, and ap-pears to be the best witness to the murders that took place at the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. At a closer inspection, knowing a thing or two about the spirit worlds, Kitsune Oda found out that Poko is no ordinary dog. The Magistrates later found out that Poko is in fact a shape shifter. They also found out that Poko paid unhealthy attention to women, notably naked ones. They also found out that the reason Poko didn’t like Kojiro because he was seducing his owner. First AppearanceWinter Court 5: Courtly Disaster

Ryoden Ryoden is the elderly monk which Tesshu met in the temple in Toshi Ranbo. Although old and physically weak, Ryoden’s age is followed by great wisdom. At the time of meeting him at the temple, not much was known about Ryoden, and he did not even tell Tesshu his name until later.

Ryoden agreed to teach Tesshu, but would not do it at the temple. He requested that Tesshu accom-panied him to the Winter Court at Matsukawa castle. First AppearanceThe Report

The Urashimas Urashima Keitaro was the chief of the village Hotei. An older man nearing his 50s, his daughter had been taken by an Ogre. He asked for the Mag-istrates’ help in getting her back, since he was filling with doubt whether the mercenaries he had hired were actually trying or whether they would succeed. He accompanied the Magistrates into the Ogre’s lair but died when the Ogre ambushed them. Kitara is Keitaro’s daughter. She was kid-napped by an Ogre and brought to its lair where she was kept for three days before being saved by the Magistrates. She witnessed the death of her father, which has caused her great deal of grief. Such is her grief that she hardly talks any-more. This has caused Kashima some concerns, and without the position of the village chief, he is not able to give his sister the proper care she needs. Kashima is Keitaro’s son and Kitara’s brother. He was also the first choice of the Magistrates to ac-company them into the beast’s lair, but Keitaro con-vinced them to let Kashima stay behind. After Keita-ro’s death, the Magistrates brought the chief ’s swords to Kashima. After the events at Hotei, another chief was assigned and Kashima and his sister were forced to find another way to stay alive. Kashima joined the service of Kakita Osamu. During the Winter Court at Matsukawa cas-tle, Kashima approached the Magistrates for help to compete in the competition. He needed the Mag-istrates to convince his new master to allow him to compete. He hopes to impress Daidoji Yamato, the Daidoji daimyo, and marry his daughter. He hopes that will ensure that both he and his sister will live a good life. First AppearanceBeast of Hotei Later AppearancesWinter Court 2: Love and Death (Kashima only)

Yumi Yumi is one of Doji Motome’s favoured serv-

ants and the bastard daughter of Doji Yutaka. She is also believed to have murdered Hida Azura while de-fending herself against his sexual assault. When she was first questioned about the murder, she admitted she knew who the killer was but was afraid that she would be killed if she told anyone, and that no pro-tection offered by the Magistrates would save her. She did say that the killer was a member of the Cranes. The second time she was questioned, this time by Tesshu alone, she confessed to the crime of murdering Azura. However, when asked if she had

any blood relations to any of the great families of the Crane, she asked that the Magistrates would not tell anyone. When they said they could not do that, she claimed to have no blood relations to the Crane. The Magistrates got the truth, however, from her mistress and found out that she was the bastard child of Yu-taka. Her crime is punishable by death, but the Mag-istrates created a story that would “solve” the crime without any further bloodshed. First AppearanceDead Crab in Crane’s Nest

Minor NPCs The players met many different characters during the campaign, but there were plenty more who were prepared but never got introduced. For example, there were over 60 NPCs prepared for the Winter Court, but there are less than 40 NPCs listed above. This last section of this chapter lists all the NPCs that the characters could have met, had they taken another approach to their adventures, such as helping certain characters they otherwise ignored. Admittedly, some of these NPCs only had names and a very basic backstory, and the players did meet some of them, although only briefly. More im-portantly, this section is mostly just for me to include these NPCs somewhere. I hate feeling like they went to waste.

Doji Shota The players never met him but he was the guy who was officially in charge of the harbour town Mi-natomachi. Although they propably wouldn’t have gotten much help from him, it surprised me that the players didn’t try to get help from the guy in charge.

Daidoji Mojirou A veteran general stationed in Seawatch Cas-tle, which Minatomachi was located near. He had a military force, which I expected the players to try to gain command over to stop Genma. He was also tainted, and it would have been the first time the players met Ema as his treacherous wife.

Tsch’tsch A ratling who was trying to free his broth-ers and sisters from Yatsuki’s slavery. Tesshu actually witnessed him being captured but decided not to in-tervene. For that reason, Tsch’tsch could not get the players help and Yatsuki used the ratlings to take over Minatomachi, thus fuelling the coming civil war.

Ausger A gaijin who originally was supposed to serve Tsch’tsch’s purpose of trying to free slaves later used to take over the town. Ausger came from a far away island (mentioned in the 7th Sea RPG) and spoke a completely different language from the players. It would allow me to speak Icelandic at the table and cause some linguistic barriers in the game, which I thought would be fun. He was removed before the PCs reached Minatomachi, however.

Winter Court The following are the guests at the Winter Court who never got a page of their own on the web-site. They are put in the same order as the above list, starting with the Crabs and ending with everyone who does not officially belong to any notable family.

Kuni Futake He was a witch-hunter who also served as

Hida Yuudai’s bodyguard and adviser. He was ruth-less and proud of having never lost his ‘prey’.

Kakita Izumi Izumi was Kakita Osamu’s unfaithful wife. She was having an affair with Doji Yutaka.

Daidoji Yamato The Daidoji daimyo and father of Daidoji Aiko. His nephew was Daidoji Shota, who ran Mina-tomachi.

Asahina Chou Daughter of Asahina Tomoe. She was sup-posed to be married to Akodo Yurou, but there were complications to her mother’s plans.

Kitsuki Noburu Son of the Kitsuki daimyo, Kitsuki Ryujin. He was also a gambler.

Mirumoto Aoi The wife of Mirumoto Hideki. She was loyal to him and would support him no matter what he claimed.

Mirumoto Akemi The daughter of Mirumoto Hideki and Aoi, and the youngest guest at the Winter Court. She was only 8 years old. Her purpose was to add a child into the mix.

Akodo Daiki The Akodo daimyo and father of Akodo Yur-ou. He wanted his son to marry Otomo Ren.

Shosuro Yori & Yuri Spies for the Scorpion Clan, Yori and Yuri were twins (Yori was the brother, Yuri was the sister). Both of them answered to Bayushi Takahiro and fed him information that he would otherwise not have known.

Moto Yao-Xung Father of Moto Yao-Han. Yao-Xung was a

man of war and not peace, so the civil war did excite him quite a bit.

Moto Ling Wife of Yao-Xung. A good fighter and a mem-ber of the Unicorn cavalry unit. She was as deadly with her tongue as she was with a lance.

Otomo Shitimata Once Asako Shitimata, he married into the Otomo family and took the imperial name. He sus-pected that his wife (Manami) was having an affair, but didn’t mind as his marriage was a political one. Also corrupted by the Taint, and was a whole plot hook by himself as he intended to assassinate the Em-press and become Emperor. Not very sane either.

Otomo Hinata Otomo Ishida’s second daughter and was married to Otomo Ryuunosuke. She had been having a secret affair with Iweko Kichirou for a while, but it wasn’t secret enough and her husband found out. She was the reason Ryuunosuke tried to have Kichirou assassinated.

Otomo Takeshi Otomo Ishida’s only son. Takeshi was a cow-ard with a good politacal standing, but he had been abusing his sister Ren for a few years. He was also a gambler and a drunk.

Seppun Kimiko Kimiko was a notable military comander who had a romantic relationship with Iweko Kichirou. That relationship was mostly political, however, as she was truly in love with Otomo Manami (and they had a secret relationship).

Seppun Ieyasu Kimiko’s uncle, Ishida’s good friend, and the Imperial Treasurer. With such a notable station, ru-mours about why he wasn’t at the Empress’s Winter Court were bound to surface.

Ichiro Family The Badger Clan had several members visit-

ing the Winter Court. None of them appeared in the adventures. Ichiro Kazuo was the Badger Clan Champion, and as military minded as Yao-Xung. Ichiro Chinatsu was Clan Magistrate and Ka-zuo’s wife. Just as violent. Ichiro Hotaka was Kazuo’s son and as violent as his father. Ichiro Riku was Kazuo’s adviser and unlike him and his family in many ways. He was there to make sure that Kazuo’s brood wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Ujina Keiho Keiho was Shitimata’s adviser and a member of the Hare Clan. He acted, in a way, as a liason be-tween the Otomo and the Hare Clan. His real name, however, was Daigotsu Keiho and he was a member of the Spider Clan. It was he who had corrupted Shiti-mata with the Taint, and was convincing him to as-sassinate the Empress.

Danbo The players actually did meet Danbo once, for a short while. Danbo was Yoritomo Mato’s secret assassin and master of disguise. He pretended to be blind so that others wouldn’t suspect him of being a killer. Banzo killed him when Danbo made a second attempt at killing Iweko Kichirou.

Atsuko Kojiro met this woman once. She was the gei-sha who Kojiro met in the geisha house. She told him

about Kichirou’s habit of seducing women. She was planning on becoming an actress in one of Ikoma Ko-haku’s plays.

Nichigo Kenta Kenta was the chief of Matsukawa castle’s guards. He received respect from the other guards.

Itachi Miu Miu was the wife of the blacksmith who be-came a victim to Komori Rei. The PCs convinced her to share with them everything she knew about the murders. Although she was a servant in the stories, her original position was in charge of the castle’s sta-bles.

Itachi Takuma The chief blacksmith of Matsukawa castle. He was murdered by Komori Rei. Originally, the PCs were meant to meet him at least once or twice before he was killed.

Mago Mago was the name of the castle’s eta. The PCs did meet him on several occasions. He was found out to be a traitor who helped Komori Rei and Ema to collect the bodies they needed to assault the castle from within.

Inari Hana Hana was the chief attendant at Matsukawa castle and in charge of all the servants.

Chapter IV:GM’s Notes(aka. Secrets Revealed)

As a GM, it is assumed I make a lot of plans for my games. I do make many plans, but I am always open to change my plans to fit the actions and expec-tations of the players. Truth is, I plan a lot less ahead than a lot of people think. NPCs change, events I had planned turn out different, and so forth. I have basic ideas of what I want to happen, then I see how things turn out. The players are often the source of these changes. Ema was supposed to appear in Minato-machi, but they never went to where she was. The players sometimes say something that give me a bril-liant idea. Effectively, I try to make the players take as much part in making the plot as I do, even when they don’t know about it. I did make some planning, though, and in this chapter I will share with you some of the ideas I had for the future, as well as some ideas I already had in motion. There are also some things the players didn’t know about, or care about, that I will explain here.

Yumi’s Mother

Originally, Yumi was only supposed to be a favoured servant of Doji Motome, but when the play-ers started suspecting that she was something more, I decided that would make a more interesting story in the long run and made her the bastard daughter of Doji Yutaka, Motome’s husband. Rightfully, the players started wondering why this was kept a secret. They doubted that Yutaka would be ashamed to having had an affair. There were two reasons I came up with for keeping this fact of Yutaka’s affair a secret. First of all, this would be an embarrashment for Motome, to have her husband seek the pleasures of other women. However, Yumi was Motome’s personal, and favoured, servant, so this didn’t look very likely. The second reason, and the one that provided more plot, was that Yutaka was not ashamed of hav-ing a daughter out of wedlock, but rather that he was ashamed of whom he had this daughter with. The plan was that Yumi’s mother was a bloodmage (Ema in this case) or something even worse. What if she was the daughter of an oni or another demonic crea-ture? Unfortunately, this was never explored.

Tsch’tsch The idea with Tsch’tsch was to introduce un-human creatures into the game. If the players had helped Tsch’tsch, they would have earned an ally, and introduced them to ratlings.

Poisoning Raidou During The Smell of Rat, Raidou was badly injured and needed medical attention. When he woke up, he was getting that attention from a geisha with red hair. This geisha attempted to give him what she called medicine, but Raidou suspected it might be poison and refused. The geisha escaped, but Raidou could never figure out was sort of ‘medicine’ she had been trying to give him. The truth is now revealed. The geisha was in fact a kitsune trickster who was seeking someone to father her child. She admired Raidou’s courage in protecting a guard with his life, and figured she had found the perfect candidate. The ‘medicine’ was in fact a sleeping drug meant to keep Raidou uncon-scious while he fathered her child. Much later, the child would be handed over to Raidou for safe-keep-ing and would become a target for many predators who wanted the child for themselves. Her plans were foiled, however, and the game never reached that far anyway.

The Ogre In Hotei, the players slayed an Ogre. They did question how the Ogre could have gotten there, and rightfully connected Katsurou to it. The fact was that Katsurou had smuggled the Ogre over the Kaiju Wall in order to have it terrorize villages and then swoop in and save the day (and getting the rewards). Included in this was a certain question: How did he manage to smuggle the beast over the wall? The answer was bribery and corruption among the Crab Clan. It never got explored, however.

Who was Ryoden? Can’t remember if this ever got answered. Ry-oden was a monk who had served the Empress from the start of her reign up until now as her personal adviser. Ryoden was a monk but highly respected by those who knew him. The fact that Tesshu convinced him to be Tesshu’s new master meant that Tesshu had unwit-

tedly gotten a lot more renown than expected.

The Shadow Magistrates There never was any such thing as the Shadow Magistrates in the employment of the Empire. Taka-hiro was in fact a member of the Kolat that was at-tempting to recruit Raidou. Takahiro used the ruse of the Shadow Empire as a ruse to make Raidou think that he was being recruited into a different service to the Empire. He would then reveal that the biggest ob-stacle in remaking the Empire’s legal system was the Empire itself. Whether or not this would have worked was never tested.

Hida Yuudai’s Agenda Speaking of the Kolat, Yuudai was a member. In fact, he was a member of the Kolat’s inner circle, giving him great pull in the organization. He did not share the Kolat’s views, however, and had only joined during it being rebuilt so that he could use it to further his own plans in the future. He planned on tricking the inner circle to convene at a certain location where he would then direct the Crab to crush the Kolat. He would then use that event to get closer to becoming the new Emperor. Depending on whether or not the players would intervene or if they would help, Yuudai would become Emperor Yuudai I. After that, he would set in motion his plan of becoming an imortal. Becoming immortal required a powerful maho spell that would be cast in secret. Yuudai would make the players attain the sacrifice needed to cast the spell, only for the players to find out that the spell was of the dark arts and would turn Yuudai into an oni (Yuudai didn’t know about that last bit and would not believe the players if they’d share this info). The players would then have to choose whether or not they’d kill the Emperor or let the Empire be ruled by an oni. Oh, and the sacrifice needed for the spell? Yumi, the daughter of either an oni or a bloodmage.

Kurui’s Madness Up until the end, I never told the players what happened to Kurui. They didn’t ask either, since the player simply left. They didn’t need to know anything else. The plan was for Kurui to return from a spe-

cial mission involving the Jade Magistrates search-ing for an artefact from the Shadowlands called Fu Long’s Eye. Kurui was very much interested in learn-ing about the Shadowlands, and would have taken the Eye and replaced his own with it. In effect, Kurui was going to become the big bad evil that the players would have to deal with. Ku-rui would value the players, however, especially those he worked with originally, and would warn them of his coming. He was supposed to be the main villain of the entire campaign, powerful enough to lead the Shadowlands into the Emerald Empire and possibly crush the Emperor.

The Spider Clan As mentioned in the NPC chapter, there was a secret agent of the Spider Clan at the Winter Court. Daigotsu Keiho was corrupting Otomo Shitimata and driving him to insanity so that Shitimata would find the idea of assassinating the Empress to be a good one. The players never explored Shitimata, howev-er, which is a good thing by itsels since we really did not have time for another plot line. Keiho was sup-posed to introduce the players to the Spider Clan.

Genma The players did find the truth about Genma, but I thought I should mentioned all the changes that Genma underwent before reaching his end. Originally, Genma was who he said he was, and was even correct about Mirumoto Hideki send-ing him to his death with no regard for his or his

men’s safety. Kojiro was correct, however, and Hideki was in his right to do so, but Genma was supposed to test the morality of the players against the social con-ventions of the setting. The even broke Genma’s mind and he became an assassin who targeted criminals. Later I thought it was a good idea that Genma had actually died in the mission, and that a fanatic sol-dier was carrying on Genma’s name. It was not until Winter Court had already started that I decided that Genma had disobeyed his lord and taken the soldiers into battle, but the impersonater had believed all this time that it had been Hideki who gave the order and declared Genma a dishonourable ronin afterwards.

Kashima’s Tragedy The players already knew that Urashima Kashima was trying to get married to Daidoji Aiko in order to support his sister after she suffered the horri-fying experience of being kidnapped by an Ogre and witnessing her father being killed. Should Kashima’s plan have worked, the play-ers would later be given the order to deliver Kashima as a prisoner to Aiko’s father. The reason for this was that Kashima had murdered Aiko. The players would learn that Aiko had not liked that Kashima would put his sister before Aiko, and have one of her servants disgrace his sister. Urashima Kitara would then kill herself, and when Kashima would find out why he would become enraged and kill Aiko. The idea was to make the players deliver a friend to be executed, and see how they would react to him pleading to be let go.

Epilogue After our last session, I presented the players with a sort of an Epilogue. This included what I had planned to happen should the campaign have contin-ued, but also what happened to their characters after the Winter Court. This is the Epilogue, or most of it anyway.

After the Winter Court came the Civil War. The Civil War would last for a certain many years, but

would mostly be skipped over for the game. I did plan for the players to play through a couple of the major battles, just to introduce them to the Mass Combat rules (and to give them the sense that their charac-ters partook in a massive battle they could talk about years later in game time). The Crane Clan (and allied Clans) would retake Minatomachi from the Mantis Clan in what would later be known as the Battle for Minatomachi.

The idea was to give the players a chance to kill Yori-tomo Yatsuki, who was rather rude to the players when they were there. Other battles were planned, although none of them had any ties with previous events. Banzo had his duel with Moto Yao-Han, and neither killed the other, but both became good friends and allies. After the war, Banzo would be sent to the Kaiju Wall, but his service would give him much re-spect and status. Raidou joined the Kolat and after Yuudai be-trayed and crushed it, Raidou would rebuild it and become one of its inner circle members. Raidou would also deliver Genma’s swords as promised. His Taint would eventually drive him mad, if a Jade Mag-istrate wouldn’t find him first. Kojiro married Otomo Ren, presumably changing his name to Otomo Kojiro. He would never

forget his lost love, however, and remained with the Emerald Magistrates until such time when he’d take on a more political employment. Kitsune Oda continued his work as a Jade Magistrate and became a zealous witch-hunter. It would only be a question when Oda would find out that Raidou was Tainted, and more important ques-tion would be how Oda would react to it. Kakita Tateno fought in the Battle for Mina-tomachi and killed Yoritomo Yatsuki. His gambling debt never stopped haunting him, however. Tesshu followed in his master’s footsteps and became the Empress’s adviser until Yuudai killed the Iweko family and became the new Emperor.

This is how the story ends. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.