Session 21: A visit long overdue

 Party: Doji Natsuki, Daidoji Jinsoku, Togashi Amajino, Yoritomo Shohei

The session starts with a full flashback to the past of Shohei, revealing the fate of Doji Chi's mother, the link to the Kakita Katsuhito and the burden Yoritomo Furikake placed on his son due to the incurred debt of honour to the Crane Clan.

Snapping out of his dreams in the morning, Shohei finds himself surrounded by his friends, minus Hida Ganko (who is already chasing down the potential culprit), and a short chat later, the gang gathers to check out the Temple of Benten, where Shosuro Kimi was kidnapped.

Based on their previous experience, the group sets out to track the culprit(s?). As traces seem lacking, they follow the rampage of the Investigate Crab and angle towards Madame Kakaru's place in the Crab Caves, passing by the North Rim of the Fisherman's Quarter. 
After talking to a local fishcake merchant, they walk straight into a hot street full of Moment's Edge Kakujin fighting Ebi's Shoremen.
Seeing a fair chance at revenge against the gang that threatened them before, the group bursts into violence and clears out the leaders of the Kakujin, allowing Ebi to take the field and the Tea House. Jinsoku lands the killing blow on the leader of the gang (Hana), Shohei kills the second in command (Kyoaku) and the strongest fighter (Chinpira) is dispatched, after a grueling stand-off, by Amajino.

Though injured and exhausted by the skirmish, the group presses on to reunite with their ally Ganko, who seeks still for the elusive kidnappers.

Session 20: We will be together then

 Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Doji Natsuki, Yoritomo Shohei, Hida Ganko, Togashi Amajino

The week leading up to the meeting with the Scorpion family heads is both eventful and quite calm. 
A lot of the tensions in the city are still simmering, but with the combined forces of the Emerald Magistrates and the Thunder Guard out in force, few people try their hands at any shady dealings.

The party has some things happening...

A merchant known as Muji comes to Yoritomo Shohei, who has been identified as the key figure in the department of travel papers, and suggests he may be able to provide some useful additions to Shohei's stipend, but gets rebuked.

Ganko, chatting with Shosuro Jocho, is alerted to the presence of a spy. When the jig is up, the man tries to run away but is caught by Togashi Amajino who was in the vicinity. He turns out to be a Bayushi-sponsored hand-for-hire. Ganko hands the man over to Jocho for ... questioning.

During the rebranding and redecoration of the Kikyo, Mizuki and Natsuki seem to become closer friends, as Natsuki takes the Lion's advice about themed story nights, but bends it to suit the Crane Clan esthetics.

Doji Chi, now without the Moon Cult to threaten her, is doing well and remains doted on by all three of her uncles.

And on the larger scale, Ebi manages to tell the party that a Bayushi barge caught on fire in an unusual way - implying shugenja were involved - and Fade has carried out new raids on the Scorpion holdings outside of the city, bringing the price of opium up to a point where recreational use is down.
The clearing of the air brings to the fore the importance of the Eta Nightsoil workers.

Then, the group meets with the Scorpion clan families at Kikyo. 
The conversation goes well, led by Shohei and Natsuki, though Bayushi Korechika proves to be an annoyance all around. A truce is suggested between the families and Shohei breaks off the countertop to chisel the wording on the base of it. 
Korechika, furious at the idea of having to split some of his opium into a central warehouse, storms out.
Gyobu and Seiryoko both agree that their families stand to gain from less enmity between their sides, so they sign.
After a fruitful conversation, the Shosuro and Soshi both take their leave, while the party remains at the Geisha House. 

Then, as all seems well, Mizuki bursts in to inform the party that Shosuro Kimi has been kidnapped while praying at the Temple of Benten (the Fortune of Romantic Love).

Session 19: Coming Home

 Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Hida Ganko, Doji Natsuki, Togashi Amajino, Yoritomo Shohei

Jinsoku makes his way to Chi, only to be caught up with Matsu Mizuki. The samurai-ko talks to the duelist, trying to plan a way to get Chi to the safety of the Temple of Lady Sun. She explains she saw dubious individuals around the temple, and suggests getting Chi out of there, as brigands and rogues would be able to enter the open temple of Osano-Wo more easily than the enclosed Amaterasu temple.
The pair meet with a shifty looking individual and provoke him into drawing his weapon on them. As the man calls for back-up, the pair quickly takes him down and turns to face the new threats... before Mizuki turns on Jinsoku and fierce combat ensues between the two, where the lady is revealed to be a shadow-creature that absorbed part of Mizuki's identity. 
However strong this supernatural being may have been, Jinsoku's training proves him to be a superior force and before she gets away again, he strikes her down.

The others, with the real Mizuki guarding their back, head down to the dwelling of the Maho-tsukai, near the Bridge of Drunken Lovers. Ganko releases the door from its hinges and the group manage to get through the scattered remains of the house and into a trapped tunnel-system that leads to a spot under the river. Through experience and quick thinking, they easily make their way into a ritual room, where the remains of the victims of the Moon Cult are piled into a heap on an altar.
The vile shugenja and his followers, caught off guard by the rapid chase, hastily try to resurrect the remains of their victims into an avatar of Lord Moon. The combat is quickly joined and the combination of Ganko's strength, Shohei's combat manoeuvres and Amajino's incredible defense breaks the power of the tainted trio. 
Shattering the links between the incomplete avatar and its ritual components destroyed the unholy vitality that animated it, leaving it to crumble back into separate parts.
The group realize that leaving this location as is, would be bad, spreading potential taint through the city.
They call in their Isawa friend, who brings along a familiar face in Kuni Kobayashi. 
Over the course of a week the Inquisitor, the Witch Hunter and the party set out to destroy the remaining cells of the Moon Cult in Ryoko Owari, using the information gathered from captured cultists and helpful kami in the city.
The other plans of the party are halted, as the big meeting they wanted to have with the heads of the Scorpion families in the city get delayed with polite but insistent messages. The group does manage to set an official meeting at a later date.

Fade, the local bandit whom the party had invited to visit Kikyo, does not show up. 

Session 18: The Man in the Moon

Party: Hida Ganko, Doji Natsuki, Yoritomo Shohei, Togashi Amajino

Come morning, Daidoji Jinsoku is feeling restless and disturbed by the dream he had. Was it... a warning, a threat or a nightmare? Determined to not show his worries to the group, he suggests to take the watch with Doji Chi for the day and heads out.

The rest of the group, as they settle into their morning routine, exchanges the information they gathered the last day, figuring out where all the pieces may fit for their current situation. Amajino and Natsuki hatch a plan to get Fade into Natsuki's geisha house (which still needs some sort of renaming ceremony) and make the ronin an invitation for the next day's lunch there.

Shohei, on the other hand, finds a LOT of travel paper requests in the morning mail, deducing that most of the opium peddlers and their workers seem uneasy after the hit on Watchful. Mainly Soshi-related merchants seem to want to be anywhere but in Ryoko Owari.
Ganko, having taken stock of the struggle going down, posits that the magistrates should gather their support behind Shosuro Hyobu, as she is most likely to keep the Emperor's peace. His reasoning solid, the others agree and a second letter leaves the house, requesting an audience with Hyobu.

Because they aren't the only ones inviting people or seeking audiences, the group finds a note from Ide Baranato to check if their busy schedule would allow them time to visit him.

Matsu Mizuki comes down, noting the absense of Jinsoku. She talks with the group for a bit and gets a finger of jade from Natsuki, after which she departs ~ appearing to follow Shohei and Amajino's suggestion to go to the Kitsuki dojo. While passing Mizuki the jade, Natsuki notices ritual scars running up Mizuki's arms.

The party then heads out to inspect the house of the dead merchant (Watchful/Jittu), but as they do so, the red-robed Maho Tsukai springs a trap on them, having set an ambush with a group of Moon Cult fanatics.
The party fights best they can against the initially overwhelming odds, with a heroic effort of both Hida Ganko and Yoritomo Shohei to halt the tide, while Doji Natsuki convinces the locals to take up arms against the attackers by invoking the name of the Emperor. From a side-alley, Matsu Mizuki emerges as a violent whirlwind that attempts to assist the group in their fight.
The struggle is fierce and violent, showing when Ganko gets knocked down by the sheer number of attacks. Shohei also gets to look at the darkness of the inner eyelids for a bit, but manages first to shatter the mask of the Bloodspeaker and injure him badly.
As Amajino sees his opening, the monk dispatches of some of the more potent foes with his fire techniques and together with the crowd and the Lion, he clears the immediate danger away from the group. Then, channeling the power of his tattoos, he restores his allies while Natsuki spots a trail of blood that may well lead to the Maho Tsukai's hideout...

Session 17: Little Boy Blue

Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Hida Ganko, Doji Natsuki, Yoritomo Shohei, Togashi Amajino

The group gets up in the morning to talk strategy and divide tasks.

Hida Ganko offers himself up to guard Doji Chi, as he feels she is most at risk, together with Matsu Mizuki (eager to make up for her earlier failings), thus avoiding the festival.
Jinsoku and Natsuki take interest in a messenger asking them to come to the merchant Watchful, who should have "important information" for the magistrates' ears only.
Yoritomo Shohei and Togashi Amajino check out the celebrations, following the procession through the city.

Jinsoku and Natsuki witness, after arriving at the merchant's district, the assassination of Watchful. With her being Soshi Seiryoko's main merchant, this feels like the recent opium unrest may have something to do with it. The attacker, a lanky man wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat on a dark charger, cuts the head off of Watchful and impales it onto his nodachi, but loses this long blade to Jinsoku's skillful disarming manoeuvre. Undaunted, the man draws his katana, slashes at Jinsoku and rides off, his horse getting hit by one of Natsuki's darts on the way out.

The pair then investigates best they can in the vicinity, but only turn up a few notes in scorpion clan cypher. They decide to return to the others.

Amajino and Shohei witness what is largely an uneventful parade, though they spy a large fire outside of the city, or at least the massive plume of smoke going up. When they see Shosuro Jocho, he informs them their ploy worked: two men were caught trying to pretend to be Thunder Guards: Bayushi Kurin and Mirumoto Kurokun.

Hida Ganko and Matsu Mizuki, after arriving near the temple, take up station. Before heading out to the celebrations, Isawa Nagitoro blesses Ganko's Tetsubo so it glows with the golden light of the phoenix's flames. Ganko, in the temple of Amaterasu, shields the child with his body from strange shadow-beings that strike at them, while Mizuki fights them off in the streets around the temple. Kakita Michitaka, also present as one of Chi's guardians, eventually joins the fracas in the street.

The group reunites at the temple and exchanges information.
Shosuro Jocho is called upon to check the cypher that the Crane found, while Shosuro Kimi guides Amajino and Ganko to two samurai infiltrators.
When the prisoners are asked a question, they start transforming into hideous creatures, leading to their timely death at the hands and tetsubo of the magistrates. From the body of Mirumoto Kurokun, a scroll is plucked instructing him to seek out the ronin Fade and join forces.

When the party finally ends the day in their residence, Daidoji Jinsoku gets a "nightly visit" from Matsu Mizuki. She says she was cold and lonely in her room and tries to share his futon, which he refuses. She then states her intention to reclaim what is rightfully hers before moving close to him. The scream he lets out when she pulls his jawbone out of his skull before he wakes, disturbs the peace of the house.

His face is whole when he touches it, but a black mark shaped like a hand is burned into the tatami next to his bedroll.

Session 16: Silver Spoon

Party: Yoritomo Shohei, Togashi Amajino, Doji Natsuki, Daidoji Jinsoku.

The group continues the day before the Liberation Day festival with more research.

Shohei discovers that the horse in their stable had a scorpion mon branded on it, which combined with Pinpin's discovery that the horse is clearly battle-trained brings the focus back on who the actual owner of this horse may be.

Eventually Fade arrives to take the horse, holding a civil chat with Shohei over the city, the value of trade and his dislike of the Moon Cult. He leaves Shohei with the feeling that the ronin still clings to some form of bushido, though twisted it may be, which led him to 'ransom' Mizuki away from the Moon Cult in exchange for the stolen guard armours. Letting her go early was Fade's way of showing himself to be a trustworthy man... he also warns to stay inside the city for the coming three days, as things 'may heat up' outside.

Meanwhile, the long divide between Jinsoku and Mizuki is gently overcome by a tea ceremony and some martial practice in the garden, allowing the Matsu to regain the strength in her muscles, head and heart that were sapped during her captivity.

The Dragon and Doji in the Loops, meanwhile, rope one of Ebi's men into their service to help as a messenger, before noticing that Uncle Shrimp has a rather robust network of helpers that are keeping an eye on the Wayward Pine Inn. Before long, Isawa Nagitoro receives the messenger and rushes to help investigate. Amajino and Natsuki, working together, spy various strange things that seem oddly familiar. An obsidian crow, a ritual dagger, candles set in the removed eyes of the victims. As they gather together these items while awaiting the Inquisitor, they also scrape together what they can of Mizuki's meagre belongings.
With the added information provided by Nagitoro and their own deductions, the ritual used by the Moon Cult to summon their servitile horrors reeks of Shadow-tainted Maho, against which pure crystal is said to be most effective. Natsuki immediately sends out another one of Uncle Shrimp's men to procure 7 sets of crystal necklaces.
The trio then head to Kitsuki Jotomon's dojo on a hunch from Amajino, discovering the sensei has a crystal box in which they deposit the ritual items taken from the Wandering Pine Inn.

The group gathers together again to discuss things and learn that children of all clans with some connection to the Moon were taken from their families and reported missing. The final piece of the puzzle slides into place when the investigative trio - based on a tattoo they saw on the 'oni' Pine - reveal the statuette may not be a crow at all, but a badly made Crane figure.
As far as the group now can tell, whatever is going on needs only Doji Chi to be set into motion.

Turning their attention to Mizuki, they also learn that the samurai-ko was already trapped by the time they ran into her when meeting the lady Crescent on the street. The one that greeted them with some familiarity was thus... an imposter?

Session 15: Cat's cradle

 Party: Daidoji Jinsoku, Doji Natsuki, Togashi Amajino, Yoritomo Shohei
Present in spirit: Hida Ganko

The group brings back the horse from the Moon Cultist residence.
Perturbed by all the recent happenings, Hida Ganko swears to defend the residence from all who would come to disturb it. He reasons that with the Crab Festival soon, the streets may have some rowdy figures that may want to use the distraction to strike at their house AGAIN, and rather than face a festival angled against his clan, he will be better off making sure the Magistrate's Residence is safe.

The rest of the party seeks to go out and visit the Dojo of Kitsuki Jotomon to gather information, a familiar red-cloaked individual trips up Amajino, causing him to fall onto a pebble that has an omnious note attached "Return the Statue of our Lord or suffer the consequences!".

The party backtracks, and Amajino discovers a hidden compartment in the statuette, where a note reads: 
"The Phoenix will rise once the Lord Moon waxes thrice". 
Shohei, thinking outside the box, grabs the ledger and starts comparing the handwriting and content to see if there is a way to predict what this may mean. He discovers that the 'Month of the Phoenix' actually is the month of the Tiger, in a demented shift of the traditional calendar and there are clear indications that whatever the Cult is trying to do, will be reaching its climax at the full moon of that month. 
[Liberation day is the first day of the month of the Ox, which is followed by the Tiger's month. Given that each month is 28 days, the party has at least 29 days remaining at the time of finding out to stop the ritual]
To put a sharp end to the matter, Jinsoku smashes the statuette, making sure it cannot be used for nefarious rituals ever again. That finished, the party heads out to the Dojo.

At the Dojo, Jotomon is training some very green recruits, peasants and merchants from the looks of it.
When asked about it, she explains that it is her way of making those who are not born bugei better able to defend themselves. As Shohei usually brandishes peasant weapons, she asks him to give two students some pointers, which he does in wonderful athletic fashion, leaving a positive impression.
As Jinsoku seeks a dragon duelist that had given him some side-eye, Amajino takes a moment to talk with Jotomon during a technique demonstration and discovers one Mirumoto Kurokun tried to visit this dojo but was ejected ("He was talking to my pupils about Lords that should not be worshipped").
The party, however, now has an open invitation to attend the dojo or teach those who arrive near nightfall.

The next day, during the morning routine, a dazed and shellshocked Matsu Mizuki arrives at the house. She had been taken captive by the Moon Cult after a Shugenja trapped her in a weaving, after which she has been traded to procure armour stolen by Fade. As Natsuki takes Mizuki to the bath for some much needed rest, Jinsoku takes it upon himself to order some new plates for the house by destroying what was on the table.

Shohei and Jinsoku remain at the house, to keep the guest safe, and Amajino joins Natsuki to find the Wayward Pine Inn to gather the items Mizuki may have carried.
They have a bit of a run in with the owner Pine... or whatever horrid creature took his place.
The investigating pair did learn that a man with a porcelain mask and a red kimono visited this location very recently before dispatching the being.

They discover Mizuki's ransacked room, where everything is torn to shreds, Pine's lifeless and deboned body upon which are carved the kanji for 'Crane' and 'Death' and a pair of other corpses (eyes gouged and throats slashed).