Ryoko Owari - session 1
Party: Ganko, Natsuki, Jinsoku, Shohei
As the party arrives to discover their new posting as Emerald (trainee) Magistrates and complimentary dwelling, we enter a brief flashback where Daidoji Jinsoku writes his wife to inform her of his sadness to be away from home, requesting her help with the domestic recruiting for his new residence.
She leaves nothing to chance and recruits the finest and most trustworthily unattractive people she can get her hands on.
- Flower (female, heimin 60 years old, housekeeper and cook)
- Hyogeki (male, heimin, 25 years old, stablehand and horse-groom)
- Kakita Dozé (male, samurai, 14 years old, weapon caretaker and aspiring duelist)
- Basho (male, heimin, 17 years old, cleaner)
- Dai (male, heimin, 17 years old, caretaker)
Daidoji Jinsoku is also informed by the new staff that two letters have been left for the new arrivals.
Opening the scrolls, the party finds the Scorpion Shosuro family and the Unicorn Shinjo family have both left polite inquiries for a next-day visit to their estates by the new Emerald Magistrates.
Considering the implications of outright refusal and the dangers of splitting up the party, the Doji courtier picks up her inkbrush and responds an affirmative to the Shosuro and a polite 'maybe another day' to the Shinjo.
As they ponder what to do for gifts, they come up with the following ideas:
- Tessen (a war fan - Hida Ganko)
- A complex and artful knot of wood, silk and rough rope (an okibaku - Yoritomo Shohei)
- A kanzashi, preferably scorpion-shaped (a hairpin - Doji Natsuki)
- A pair of matching Shakudo earrings (to show unity in clan - Daidoji Jinsoku)
They do come across the man at a Sakaya, pulling up a barrel to take the weight off.
The group chatters with him and procure the tessen with relative ease.
Then their conversation gets broken up as a fire erupts near the docks. With their new function heavily weighing on their mind, they dutifully make their way to the inferno.
Once there, they spot two gangs of rival Kajikun (firemen). One group seems to be trying to fight the fire, the other seems more invested in taking down those that came onto their turf.
As Shohei steps in to calm down the situation (with Doji Chi still strapped to his chest), the leader of one of the gangs takes offense and moves to shove the Mantis back. Before his hand can land, however, an enraged Hida Ganko throws him to the ground, forcing his one hand back in a wristlock, while the far larger Shohei rests his foot on the other hand, pinning the man to the ground.
Needless to say, it does not take much persuasion from their end to get the man to call off his gang's aggression and work together to put out the fire (and if nothing else, the Kajikun all seem very good at this).
Afterwards, a man named Bassai walks up to the party, clarifying that his gang (Daikoku's Garden Firemen) was not here to encroach, but rather fearful that the fire would spread to their turf. Whatever lines these areas have, is left rather vague. Bassai mentions he will return to his wife, Mouse, and thanks the group for the help.
As the party has had their fill of entertainment for the day (and Shohei makes sure Chi is alright), they note something off in one of the alleys. An entire patrol of ten Thunder Guards has been ambushed and half-slaughtered. Blood and corpse-parts decorate the sides of an entire street, with about half the number of guards still alive, yet stripped of their belongings.
The survivors speak of bandits or thugs that came upon them as they accepted a drink from local ladies.
The group has a talk with a stall-keeper, Suisen, who helps them call the eta to cart the corpses away.
What will happen next in the wonderful mess that the group has dipped their toes into?
Who is Suisen and who ambushed the guards?
Will the group manage to source the items they want to bring to the city leader?
Why are the firemen fighting and who lit that fire?
All this and more, if we do not forget what we are looking for...
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