Scroll 1 - The Master Craftsman's Tea Vessel

[Grognardsw]

A shadow in night
Unseen Jinsei did take flight
Yakuza lost sight

Jinsei ninjutsu (10) [1d20]=9 And modifier for posting in haiku

[jemmus]

[Rex]

Fuma

Ninjitsu [1d20]=7

[jemmus]

Under the wet cloudy sky of the moonlit night, the three members of the nakama for The Village pad across the city street and disappear between the buildings on the other, and then into the woods beyond it. Behind, they can hear the voices of the yakuza. Ara! He disappeared! Where'd he go! Another voice says, The boss is crazy. Who can follow at night, much less catch one? They're not even regular human. Half cat, half human. Another voice says, Half human, half viper. They have poison. Yet another says, No, half demon. They use magic spells, and can disappear in clouds of smoke and kill you in your dreams.

It's silent for a bit, then the first voice says, It's no use. The Takeda brought in a master ninja, they have plenty of money. This is above our heads. Anyway, it's almost curfew, time to get out of here. The third voice says, Don't you think we should report back to Boss? The first says, Idiot! So soon? Like we didn't even bother to try searching? Listen, here's the story: We broke into four groups and searched the streets and woods north, south, east and west of the inn. The ninja couldn't be found. Maybe he was on a roof or at the top of a tree. A Takeda curfew patrol came along and we had to scatter. At that moment, the sound of an actual Takeda curfew patrol is heard coming down the street. Twenty-four feet and 12 sets of clinking armor or so. Ichikawa! Quick, hustle across the street to the Violet Inn and bring back four flasks of sake! Use your shinobi-jutsu on the way back! Meet you behind the inn! Who's going to pay? Ichikawa asks. Don't worry about it! Just move yer arse! the first voice says.

Fuma, Jinsei and Minoru pad through the woods between the buildings and streets of Kofu. As they get closer to the Hachiman shrine, they turn and follow the quiet but still candle-lit windows of house-shops to the kami's compound. They enter it from the back side, move through the garden, and find shelter the main shrine building. The veranda under the eaves of its roof is dry and sheltered from the rain. It seems to be barely past the lesser half of the Hour of the Boar*, because the curfew began not long ago. Early for the nakama, who are used to being wakened at all times, and sometimes training through all hours of a day, without rest, or even meals or water. There is time to set watches through the night, with each member getting a full night's sleep. The ninja take time to eat from their packs, and drink cool pure water from the shrine's stone fountain. When not on watch, the young ninja slip into dog-tired "ninja sleep." One eye and one ear dead to the world, the other too open to detect a pheasant's tread. It's been a long day, beginning in a hidde tunnel on the side of mountain, then passing with hensu-jutsu guises through several samurai and ashigaru checkpoints, then surveilling the merchant's mansion and escaping it, then encounters with yakuza and a strangely observant blind masseur. The young ninja sleep and prepare their minds for the day to come.

But... Fuma dreams of a girl combing her long hair and humming in anticipation of meeting with a loved one. Jinsei dreams of the stress of performing hensu-jutsu and pretending to be what he isn't, observed from all sides by scowling giants with naginata. And of an aristocratic lady's face transforming, hensu-jutsu-like, from that of a beautiful woman's to that of a vengeful demon's. And in his turn, pious layman Minoru dreams of the kami of this shrine, Hachiman, the god of war, aroused and exultant and hanging over the sky of Nippon, while also kindling the spirits under the armor of young and glory-seeking warriors. Somehow that transforms into a guard dog with hackles raises barking behind a gate before a ghostly mansion.

The Sun begins to rise, and the young ninja rise and depart the veranda before the imminent dawn arrival of yanushi gakusho priest and the attendant miko shrine maidens. They have a quick repast, wash their faces with pure shrine water, don hensu-jutsu fishermen and priest disguises and emerge onto the street before the shrine in the pre-dawn. They find Kaida in priestly garb waiting.

I guessed that the PCs donned disguises to start the day. If that's not right, please let me know. Don't forget that all outside visitors have to check in with the Takeda registrar every morning not so long after dawn. Actions?

[Rex]

Fuma

Fuma will head over to check in.

[Grognardsw]

Registration is necessary every day a visitor is in the town, or just upon first entering/leaving?

Jinsei awoke as the sun rose and meditated in the Shrine. His dreams faded away as thoughts of the upcoming day took form.

"Kaida, how was your night?" Jinsei asked the female ninja, making sure no one was nearby to overhear or see. "Ours did not go as planned. Noise was made. Guards may have been alerted - we're not sure, but better to withdraw. Did you hear alarm when you were inside?"

Jinsei explained in detail. "We shall try again tomorrow or the next day, in hope that complacency again settles in."

[jemmus]

Yes, registration is mandatory every morning. The Takeda a militaristic clan, even for samurai. They're on the watch for Taira clan infiltrators. And for spies, eavesdroppers, and other people just like you guys.

Fuma, Jinsei and Minoru, please mark off one day's rations for yesterday. Kaida, 1/3 of a day, for the noon meal.

[Rex]

Fuma

"Yes, we will try again and succeed. What did you learn Kaida?"

[Marullus]

"Kaida, how was your night?" Jinsei asked the female ninja, making sure no one was nearby to overhear or see. "Ours did not go as planned. Noise was made. Guards may have been alerted - we're not sure, but better to withdraw. Did you hear alarm when you were inside?"

Jinsei explained in detail. "We shall try again tomorrow or the next day, in hope that complacency again settles in."

Kaida is dressed again as the visiting priest, ready to check in with the registrars. Unlike the rest of you, she is clean, her hair washed and freshly scented, braided and shiny. Her tone brooks no nonsense, however, as she relays her results.

She tells the tale in full to her nakama. Meaning, feel free to read the side-thread.

She first accounts for all the people to ensure they know what to expect in the compound. Mata-ichi, the servant in the yard. Two hired ronin and two dogs (one named Kuro), with the guards housing in an outbuilding on the southeast corner. A shewd mother, a girl of 16, a proud boy of 14 who sports dai-sho above his station. An old woman servant shrewder than the others; a younger servant girl named Sanae. Three servants are adequate for the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and other daily things. She notes that besides the gardeners, they said they would hire a chef and servers for any significant entertaining, if such an opportunity to infiltrate is needed. (Please correct, or say who I missed...)

She draws out the floor plan in the dusty ground, pointing to the large room which is the private bedroom of the merchant and his wife. "There are hardwood closets in their private quarters, unusual. I suspect the teacup to be stored there and that the wooden doors allow a possible lock."

She spot a lock's keyhole in the hardwood shoji on the eastern wall. The shoji on the west wall don't have locks.
And she realizes that the room is not as wide as the dining room, it's around 4 yards more narrow. Since the shoji to the east is flush with the bathroom's wall, their must be a room behind that around 4 yards wide.

She then pauses a moment and explains the encounter with the sympathetic ghost. "She wishes us to transport her to Heian Kyo, but I do not know what the Clan will think of this. I also am uncertain how to transport a ghost... and if the Clan will send us to Heian Kyo. What thoughts as a nakama?"

(Jemmus, can you add the final map of the compound as she observed it? Did I miss anything?)

[jemmus]

Just one clarification: Kaida saw only one dog.
Here's Kaida's map. She didn't actually enter the room labeled "servants, kitchen, laundry." The merchant's wife just pointed it out.

[Grognardsw]

Jinsei listened to Kaida and studied the map.

“Yes, the closets in the master bedroom would be a logical place for the tea vessel,” said Jinsei.

“I have never seen a ghost. It is a friendly ghost?”

“I’m not sure how to transport a ghost either. Does it possess you? Maybe we can put it in a bottle?”

“What do you think, should we wait another day and try again tomorrow night?”

Jinsei joined the others in walking to the registration station. He stooped a little and started walking with a slight gait, adjusting his pack with dried fish and using his fishing pole bamboo case as a sort of walking staff.

[jemmus]

This map misses a detail. Kaida was shown the the merchant's and his wife's grand bedroom. It's just above (north) of the Central Dias room. And of the same broad dimensions of the tea and dining room she first entered when she came into this house. In other words, the walls all along are parallel, in the Chinese style. As opposed to following the shape of the terrain, in the Nippon Shinto style. In any event, Kaida got a good look at the fine bedroom, and saw that its dimensions seem to follow the general symmetry of the layout.

[Marullus]

Kaida replies, "The ghost is friendly, if we're helping it. I expect that a creature of raw spirit would embody rage quickly if thwarted in its desires." She looks to the others. "Under no circumstance should you relent to a possession."

As the conversation moves to next steps, Kaida listens quietly, looking to Minaru as the rooster. She has provided her reconniassance and the next step of infiltration falls to her more stealthy nakama members.

[jemmus]

The dawn sky is cloudy, but the rain of yesterday has stopped. The nakama know that tonight the Moon will be waxing town a half moon. Tomorrow it will be be half bright, half dark. New Year's Day, the most important holiday in Nippon, is five days away.

But that is four and five days away. Just outside the shrine's grounds, the nakama discuss Kaida's exploration of the merchant Tanaka Jiro's mansion and grounds and information about its residents. As they begin moving to report to the Takeda clan's registrar's office and the checkpoints along the way, they see the kaminushi priest of the shrine approaching, followed by four miko shrine maidens. The kaminushi seems relatively young, as such priests go. But he seems have the contemplative face of a gakusho who has contemplated the ways of the kami and the kakuriyo for some time. And who is even doing so at this moment.

Behind the houses and buildings and on a parallel street a block over, the nakama hear the marching feet and clinking armor of a Takeda foot patrol.

This Game Setting thread post may have significant information about the milieu to expect during the upcoming New Year's holidays. https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... 10#p683010

Kakuriyo - The "hiding/hidden world." The place of truth and reality, which the material plane of Nippon is one manifestation of.

[jemmus]

Please make Wit saving throws, Kaida and Minoru at +2 to BCS. (You want to roll low, as always in Bushido except for damage rolls).

[Rex]

Fuma

Wit save [1d20]=17

[ffilz]

Sorry, I've been rather swamped to come up with a suggestion of a next step plan...

[Grognardsw]

Jinsei kept his wits about him as he observed the priest and maidens (resisting the urge to wink at one of them) and walked with the others to the Registration Station.

Wit (10) [1d20]=3

[Marullus]

Kaida:
Kaida Wit Save (9+2=11) [1d20]=19

(Kaida is currently in her travelling priest guise...)

[Grognardsw]

Waiting until the holy retinue and any others were out of sight and hearing, Jinsei whispered to Kaida: “That priest looked devout. Given his work with kami, perhaps he would know how to transport a ghost?”