Between seven rocks and a hard place

Yup, CtrlAltDelete is right in his last post, the young samurai are being pinched between the Bushido tenets of Gi (Honesty and Justice, telling the truth in their findings), Chugo (Duty and Loyalty, doing what they are told by their superiors and serving the good of the of the Empire) and Makoto (Sincerity, following their words through with actions, since they’ve promised the ghost). This is less of a balancing act and more of a choice of which rock you’d like to swallow.

On one hand, they may want to expose the murder of Satsume to the world, for that is the Truth and they would be just if they did that. But… then what? Almost certainly scandal and conflict, from intra-clan bloodshed to full on clan war, to civil war? A campaign of persecution against suspected enemies of the state? Is the tenet of Meyo, their own sense of honour, more important than Jin, the compassion that would prevent this kind of bloodshed? Or their duty to maintain order in the Empire?

If they cover up the a truth that would otherwise reflect badly on the Doji family against the wishes of Satsume, will there be consequences to justice unfulfilled? Will there be consequences for defying a ghost? If they cover up the murderous capability of a hidden society, will its threat to the Empire grow?

I mean… I know. But I really don’t know which way the players are going to decide.

And that IS what they’ll have to decide, but since arriving at Shiro Yogasha, they’ve got a lot more to work with.

Their first day of training involved tutoring in methods of investigation and interrogation with Seppun Hokuto, who strongly advocated the solving of crimes in a way that proved to be the most politically expedient.

The second, the much more practical application of weapons training from Shosuro Koharu, who shared her experiences in the Scorpion City of Lies, her advice for fighting peasant weapons and the correct effective use of the Jitte, the yoriki’s badge of office and general baddy-bashing sword-catcher.

The third day was taken up by training in The Law, which is a complex mix of theology, jurisprudence and tradition. Their tutor, Miya Kotsumi, walked them through a bunch of cases with the lesson that the law serves the Emperor/Empire/The Will of Heaven and if they come into conflict, it’s the law that must be changed.

Between these official duties they had plenty of time to pursue other interests. They had a brief meeting with their clan representatives in the town below the castle and received some general pointers for how to proceed. They met an interesting cast of characters around the castle too:

Hiruma Shigeki – a talented but rough former scout and Emerald Magistrate from the Crab clan who evangelized for the Kaiu Wall a little too hard for most people’s tastes. He openly disagreed and hated Satsume for his hand in blocking needed supplies to the Wall.

Bayushi Ago – a Scorpion clan Magistrate who was busy researching for an upcoming case. He met Hida Sugi as she did her homework for Miya Kotsumi’s law class and shared his opinions on Satsume’s death and the fallout (or scandalous lack thereof).

Kitsuki Kagi – Although they’d met Kagi when they first arrived (and when they searched Satsume’s quarters) they encountered him when they caught him following them. Despite being the Chief of Yorikis and Agasha Sumiko’s assistant, so… technically still their boss, he was a bit embarrassed to get caught trailing the party. He was concerned and intrigued by the party’s special treatment which (for reasons they understand but he does not) left him out of the loop.

Oji, Sō and Ryu – three old peasants who, respectively: kept chickens, was Satsume’s personal servant, and was the old dude they kept running into as he took Satsume’s possessions to Toshimoko.

Doji Hotaru – Amazingly, they were given an audience with the visiting Crane clan champion. She wanted to hear about the rescue of Kakita Riku’s honour at the Topaz Championship. She passed a tea service in pleasant chit chat and even answered a few of their questions about her father and his death.

Beyond these meetings, they discovered evidence of heretical correspondence between some person and Satsume. While Satsume wasn’t necessarily doing anything heretical, he also wasn’t burning the letters the minute he got them. Three possible sources for this heresy were considered: the twisted adherents of Fu-Leng and the Shadowlands; the Perfect Land Sect, a group of peasant social reformers; the Kolat, a secret society dedicated to the overthrow of the Celestial Order As We Know It.

They enjoyed life in the castle including the monotonous breakfasts, some light hazing by resentful yoriki who didn’t just fly through their training in three days, the Millet festival and Doji Hotaru’s visiting kitchen staff providing everyone with a slap-up feed. Gossip was a source of plenty of theories about Satsume’s death as well as a barometer as to how much he’d be missed, i.e. not much.

The other tantalizing lead was the dead chickens. They followed trace evidence to Oji’s hennery where the peasant told them about his belief that the death of two of his chickens presaged the death of Doji Satsume. Investigating the death of two more chickens, they discovered a secret room containing poisons, disguises and Kolat-leaning correspondence.

So with this they had, roughly, the means (the traceless poison) and the opportunity (the disguises letting the murderer gain access where he ought not to be). All that was left was to decide on the motive.

And then all that would be left would be what to report to Agasha Sumiko.

Discussing that and mulling it over the night before their report was due, they spotted an out of place samurai on the castle grounds. Giving chase, they watched as he fled almost effortlessly up the inside of the castle’s outer wall. Catching up to him, he put up a decent fight against so many assailants and chipped a few wakizashi and flung a few shuriken at faces. However he was outmatched and as his guard failed, he was kicked off the castle wall into the courtyard below, landing in a tangled, broken and unconscious heap.

Next session we’ll find out if he has anything to say and much more importantly: whether what he says will make any difference to what they are going to report to Agasha Sumiko.