Currently, we're playing: Legend of the Five Rings, which is a system where players take on the roles of samurai in a fictional feudal Japan-inspired setting known as Rokugan, although other elements of East Asian cultures such as China, Korea and Mongolia are also included. As samurai, the players are expected to serve their lords as warriors, courtiers, priests, or monks and embark on adventures, think of an Akira Kurosawa movie and you're on the right track. As they do this they must also try and balance their conflicting desires with their human emotions and choose between following their own personal goals or doing what society—and the Code of Bushidō—demands of them.
The main thing you need to be aware of is that the world of Rokugan is ruled over by an Emperor and a collection of Imperial families, below these, are the seven Great Clans: Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn. Each of the seven Great Clans vies eternally to be first in the Emperor’s favor while safeguarding Rokugan from its many enemies. Below these are the minor clans and then you have the peasants. All of these clans are made up of separate families and all schools where their samurai are taught.
So without further ado, let's meet our heroes:
Hida Manami
Female Bushi of the Crab Clan, played by Pippin
Trained at the Hida Defender School, Hida Manami is what many people think of when they think of a Crab Clan samurai. Direct, gruff, and a possessing a large build she has proven to be the most physically adept of all the heroes and had achieved the number of points necessary to achieve her genpukku after only the first day of the tournament proving that she is what peak performance looks like. She ended up finishing as the runner-up in the Topaz Championship and as such was presented with a ceremonial katana and prize money to represent her achievement. Recently called someone subhuman garbage for no reason.
Kakita Hitoshi
Male Bushi/Artisan of the Crane Clan, played by Elena's friend, Mike.
A samurai from the Kakita Duelist School, Kakita Hitoshi has shown to be a possess both traits one would expect from a Crane and those that one would not. While he moves with grace and is skilled with a katana, he does not appear to have the arrogance that is nearly ubiquitous amongst his clan and family, unless he is dealing with members of the Lion clan, who he takes great joy in showing up. He performed admirably in the Topaz Championship and ensured the samurai they were tasked with helping achieved his coming-of-age while ending up making it to the semi-finals of the tournament. He is also #2 in the lil' shit rankings. Has retired as a result of injuries suffered during Dark Tides.
Matsu Hinata
Female Bushi of the Lion Clan, played by Espi
Matsu Hinata is from the Matsu family but studied at the Akodo Commander school. She emphasizes the Lion clans martial philosophy and is a trained leader. Unfortunately, she has proven to be prone to rash decisions and possessing of a competitive streak. This has led to the beginnings of a rivalry with Kakita—another in a long line of Crane and Lion rivalries—something that flared up throughout the tournament. Despite this, she also tried to assist the samurai they were tasked with helping and while she achieved her genpukku she did not make it past the opening round of the dueling tournament. Cranes are her least favorite samurai followed by Scorpions. Turns out she has a twin who hates her.
Shimada Kokansen Hiroko
Female Bushi/Courtier of the Unicorn Clan, played by Elena
Fostered and trained in the Shinjo Outrider School, Shimada Hiroko is noted as being the only one of the heroes to not hail from a major family of the clans. Shy and lacking in self-confidence, she has shown herself to be friendly and charming when she manages to emerge from her shell. Although eliminated early in the Topaz Championship, she accrued more total points than anyone else in the preliminary events. Admires both the Wolf Clan samurai Okami as well as Hida, though she is intimidated by the latter and was crushed when her enthusiastic compliments were snubbed. Adores her horse, Nike, and is a great lover of riding, nature and herbalism. She changed her name after her coming-of-age ceremony, taking on a new adult name. Came up with the plan to sneak aboard Yumiko's ship and also jumped aboard Gaku's ship with no backup - may in fact be bad at plans.
Shosuro Hatsuki
Male Courtier/Shugenja/Shinobi of the Scorpion Clan, played by Slam
Shosuro Hatsuki is from the Shosuro family but was trained as a Shugenja (magic-user) at the Soshi Illusionist school. Flirtatious, haughty and gossipy, Shosuro is a born courtier and lives for the social and political intrigues of the great clans. Being a member of the Scorpion clan, Shosuro is subject to a level of distrust from the other heroes and has done nothing to alleviate this with his actions. Considering himself superior to the other heroes he talked down to them throughout the tournament although ironically he performed the worst of the five. Only narrowly achieving his genpukku and being eliminated in the first round of the dueling tournament. Despite this, he has shown himself to possess a good heart and will to do the right thing as he assisted the party throughout the tournament. At one point possessed an entire brick of raw uncut opium.
The Story So Far...
The Topaz Championship
In our first two sessions, our heroes all met on the road to Tsuma in Crane lands for the annual Topaz Championship, a coming-of-age tournament. The Topaz Championship is a chance for each clan to test their best young samurai against one another. Though all contestants can pass the tests and become samurai, the winner claims glory for themselves and their clan, and may even earn a high-ranking position in the Empire. After their arrival in Tsuma the heroes encountered the ghost of the recently deceased Emerald Champion, who is one of the highest ranking samurai in the empire. The ghost had a simple request for them; ensure the young Mantis samurai called Hitoshi passed his genpukku and became a fully fledged samurai.
After a demanding first day of events, where Hida achieved her genpukku, the heroes along with the other contestants all ventured to the Poisoned Water Sake House to celebrate. While there they were accosted by a group of thuggish ronin who continuously mocked them. This led to Kakita throwing a punch and starting a brawl that the heroes won. Everyone then scattered before the town watch's arrival and returned to the inn they were all staying at.
On the second day of events the heroes continued to try and achieve their genpukku and ensure Hitoshi achieved his, and while it went down to the wire Hitoshi got the minimum number of points required, while Shimada achieved the highest points total. After the conclusion of the second day, the contestants were all invited to a feast held at the Tsuma Magistrates palace. After the traditional presentation of gifts to Kakita Toshimoko, the host of the tournament, Hitoshi challenged him to a duel due to some personal issue between the two. Despite the heroes efforts to talk both of them down Toshimoko accepted and fought Hitoshi in a duel, besting him in one quick strike to the wrist. Hitoshi fled into the night while the meal continued awkwardly.
The third day began with the first matches in the dueling tournament to decide the Topaz Champion, while the first match passed without incident, the second that was fought between Hitoshi and the Crane samurai Kakita Riku ended after Riku slashed Hitoshi across the chest with what turned out to be a real sword. The heroes seeing a figure fleeing the Kakita Dueling Academy with a duplicate of Riku's sword gave chase along with the Topaz Champion, Kitsuki Yuikimi. After chasing the individual to the docks they discovered it was Bayushi Sugai, runner-up in the previous years' tournament and member of the Scorpion Clan. They also discovered the ronin from the first night were his henchmen. After a fight on the docks, Bayushi was defeated and they returned to the Kakita Dueling Academy with him as a captive, clearing Kakita Riku and the Crane Clan of the dishonor they faced. Following this, the tournament continued as scheduled and was won by Okami Eita of the Wolf Clan, who defeated Shosuro, Shimada, Kakita, and Hida to become the new Topaz Champion.
Once the coming-of-age and closing ceremony for the Topaz Championship had been completed Okami approached the heroes to tell them that he along with some of the other contestants were heading to the port town of Slow Tide Harbour to celebrate their successes as they had heard it was the place to go if you wanted to have a good time. The heroes accepted, gathered up their belongings and headed north and out of Tsuma where Okami informed them that he was asked to meet someone in the Imperial capital of Otosan Uchi, which was on the way to their destination and he wanted them to join him.
Dark Tides
Following the conclusion of the Topaz Championship the group were on-route to Slow Tide Harbour when Okami told them he wanted them to join him for a meeting in Otosan Uchi. At this meeting, they were informed that Otomo Hiroshige. a member of the Otomo Imperial Family had gone missing. He had traveled to Slow Tide Harbour so he could indulge in his opium addiction without bringing dishonor to his family. As part of this, he had taken on the alias of "Doji" Hiroshige. During the course of this meeting, they learned some important facts about Slow Tide Harbour. It was ruled over by the Tortoise Clan, who had a reputation as a group of smugglers and criminals, and that the town had a rampant smuggling and opium industry. Despite this, the group accepted the task and continued on their way to Slow Tide Harbour. After arriving and checking into the inn that Hiroshige had been living in, Okami left to go meet with the village's officials, leaving the group to conduct their own investigation.
They began by asking the inns owner about his time there and Slow Tide Harbour itself. They also learned that there had been a spate of disappearances in Slow Tide Harbour as well as one Crab clan samurai turning up dead. So while the others drank, they went to meet with the Harbormaster, Kasuga Nagato, a man with a reputation for knowing about any illicit activities happening within the town. After Shosuro used magic to disguise himself and money to bribe Nagato they learned about the three main criminal bosses in the town. Boss Hana, Boss Kizo and Boss Yaguro. As well as the two main smugglers: Azif the Smooth and Kasuga Yumiko. The new information in their position the group sought out and met Azif, who they nearly came to blows with due to his gaijin status. Yumiko, who was busy supervising the loading one of her ships. After this, they met with each of the crime bosses but did not find themselves any closer to finding out what happened to Hiroshige, other than knowing he had last been seen with a tattooed ronin. Although Shosuro did end up paying for a corner that he could sell from. Deciding they needed to investigate Azif and Yumiko's ships after getting a tip-off regarding slave trading. Renting a boat from a fisherman the group snuck aboard Yumiko's ship where they fought with the Tortoise clan samurai sleeping inside. They managed to defeat and kill all six of them but in the process, Kakita was severely wounded and suffered nerve damage, putting him out of action, despite not finding any evidence of the missing samurai, the group did find a note advising that referred to a ronin called Gaku.
The next day, after telling Okami about the events of the previous evening he stepped in and took control of the investigation. They went to the site where the Crab samurai's body had been dumped and after an investigation went to speak with the hinin who had dealt with the body. During this interrogation, they learned of a warehouse where people were rumoured to be being taken. Investigating the warehouse they found potential evidence linking it to the missing samurai and after breaking in and defeating the thugs inside found the chains the samurai would have been kept in. Another interrogation followed and after Hida threw her club at the thugs in a rage they revealed that the tattooed ronin and Gaku were one and the same and he was responsible for the missing samurai. They also learned that he planned to ship them off that evening. Rushing to the docks, but stopping to grab the others for backup, the party found Boss Yaguro there with a large group to stop them, being driven to extreme lengths by his loss of power within the town, meanwhile, Gaku was getting a ship ready to depart. A large battle erupted on the docks as they attempted to rescue the samurai and as Gaku and his men started to push their ship off Hiroko leapt aboard while riding her horse Nike. Unfortunately, the boat had left the docks at this point, Hiroko managed to rescue the situation by cutting down the ship's mast. She was still trapped alone on the ship with Gaku and his men though and Gaku revealed that he had the Maho (blood magic) abilities. Okami leapt aboard to assist Hiroko and during the fighting on the ship, it set alight, during the melee with Gaku and his men that followed Okami was also knocked unconscious. Hiroko eventually bested Gaku with the help of Hida and freed the captured samurai while Hinata saved Okami from the fire that had engulfed his unconscious body. With Yaguro having been defeated by Hida and his men routed, both were interrogated and Gaku revealed that he was working for a powerful blood mage known as Kitsu Sokori. Whose presence the party felt watching them from an island in the bay as the ship continued to burn.
Following all these events the group were asked the following morning if they wished to travel with Okami to his home, to which they agreed.
The Scorpion and the Wolf
Other Characters Miscellaneous Stuff
