Scroll 1 - The Master Craftsman's Tea Vessel

[jemmus]

Checking in. If no actions in the area of the shrine, I'll move the game along tomorrow (Saturday) evening.

[Rex]

None for me.

[Marullus]

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?”

Kaida considers. "It is a worthy question. Difficult to approach. A buddhist would desire to release the ghost to its karmic cycle and continue towards samsara. A shinto would, perhaps, give advice on transporting a Kami to a new shrine? Perhaps we can ask after achieving our main objective..."

Nothing for me. Kaida did a lot; happy to shift focus to the rest of the group and their attempt.

[jemmus]

The nakama make their way toward the Takeda clan's city registrar's office. It's soon after dawn, and the priests and fishermen make their way along the narrow street in the light of day as the city of Kofu bustles to begin its day of selling, hawking, cooking, building, repairing, hauling, training, entertaining, and soldiering. The young ninja see ahead an intersection of this narrow street and another of the same size. There's a checkpoint there checkpoint manned by a samurai, apparently a lower rank one. His light samurai armor and kabuto helmet is plain, as are the fittings of his dai-sho swords. He lacks a horse and stands on his feet in the street. The man carries a dai-kyu bow and has flat rectangular quiver of arrows at his waist. He looks like a hard man and seems experienced enough at the profession of the bushi, in real battle situations. With him are four ashigaru in the hastily forged light armor of their class, armed with yari three and half yards long and with wakizashi through their sashes. Three look like farmers in armor, ages 16 to 30 or so. But one grimmer one seems a little different. A little more canny and experienced.

Reminder on hensu-jutsu rules.
The Ninja has no
inherent chance of being spotted as a fake. It requires a Wit ST even
to suspect a Ninja in one of his disguises. The Ninja’s Level isalways
subtracted from this Saving Throw. Only if this Saving Throw
succeeds may a character be motivated to watch the Ninja more
closely. And in this case, the Ninja is allowed a Hensu-jutsu BCS die
roll. If it succeeds then the watcher is satifisfied that the Ninja is not
at all dangerous and will take his unwanted attentions elsewhere.

If the Hensu-jutsu BCS fails, then the absolute value of the Effect
Number is the chance in 20 that the Ninja’s disguise has failed and
the observer will figure out his true identity.

Example: Ichiro's hensu-jutsu BCS is 8, +1 for his level of 1. He wants to pass through a gateway guarded by four guards. The guards, being average jock bushi, have low Wit. Like, on average, 5. So saving throws of 2. They roll 2, 18, 14 and 13 on 1d20s. The 2 succeeds. Something doesn't seem right about this traveling entertainer. For one, he's kind of homely. And two, he didn't try to tell a stupid joke or do a little comic pantomime to try to hustle up a copper or two. Third, the man looks too honest, serious, and earnest. The guard says, "Hey, entertainment man! Let's see some entertainment."

Ichiro does a pantomime of an inept hunter hunting a rabbit, playing in turn the parts of the dolt human and the clever rabbit. When he finishes, the guards stand unsmiling and stony-faced. (He rolls a 12 and fails his hensu-jutsu BCS roll). The Effect Number is 3 (12 - 9 = 3). GM rolls a 5. It's over the Effect Number, so Ichiro is safe. The guards look at each other, and the suspicious one says. "Not interesting. If I were you, I'd think about another way to make a living. Go ahead, you can pass." Ichiro is safe. This time, at least.

(Not that the more observers there are, the more d20 rolls are made, of course. Every observer at the scene makes a roll. Please also note that high Wit shugenja and gakusho will have much better Wit STs in the 9-11 range. And they may have relevant detection spells as well(?) And that not all bushi are below average in Wit, though it's unlikely that very many have Wit above 10 (ST 4). Senior commanding bushi may have higher Wit scores, at the expense of combat bugei BCS ability. Unless they've improved their Wit attribute score (or any other attribute score through downtime study)).

The nakama can use hensu-jutsu to navigate this checkpoint, or try to bypass it using ninjutsu, karumijutsu leaping and jumping, or any other way. They know from yesterday's experience that most likely every intersection in this town will have a similar checkpoint. And the next one ahead will be on the major highway through the city, the Koshu-Kaido. And then, the registrar's office and their stamps for the day are just across the street. But then, there's going back again to the merchant's grand pavilion. Whether today, tomorrow, or the next day.

We'll give bonuses to experience for clever solutions, good RP, or anything else that helps achieves the objective. "Retrieve and deliver the Master Craftsman's Tea Vessel, purchased by the merchant Tanaka Jiro in Kofu." Bonuses also for each nakama member for helping the nakama get back to The Village for another mission. But only if they can do so undectected, while retrieving the cup. If they're detected and captured, they must find a way to erase themselves. And erase any nakama members captured and held by enemies. Such is the way of preserving the Kumo clan.

A crow caws and flaps its wings toward the third and highest roof of the Takeda keep stand above the roofs overhanging the packed soft roadway the narrow street. Another crow flaps toward the place, cawing from high over the city's roofs and high overhead.

Next?

[Grognardsw]

The nakama can use hensu-jutsu to navigate this checkpoint, or try to bypass it using ninjutsu, karumijutsu leaping and jumping, or any other way. They know from yesterday's experience that most likely every intersection in this town will have a similar checkpoint. And the next one ahead will be on the major highway through the city, the Koshu-Kaido. And then, the registrar's office and their stamps for the day are just across the street. But then, there's going back again to the merchant's grand pavilion. Whether today, tomorrow, or the next day.

Perhaps we should have just stayed in the shrine all day until tonight Is it too late to turn around?

Yesterday in the town, I feel like we had one checkpoint vs. a checkpoint at every intersection?

Whereabouts on the map is the merchant’s grand pavilion, and the major highway intersection?

[jemmus]

Going northwest then north from the Hachiman shrine, there's an intersection of two small streets, then one with the Koshu Kaido highway passing through the city. It also serves as the city's "Main Street" and it's where the inns district is found. (In Nippon (and modern Japan things tend to be in districts: the drinking district, the fishmongers district, the garments district, etc.) You guys did go through checkpoints at every intersection yesterday. The there was a big one with a Takeda female shugenja where the road from the eastern edge of town hits the Koshu Kaido. Kofu is currently a police state. The Takeda are highly alert for spies, infiltrators, saboteurs, arsonists, assassins, etc. sent by their enemies the Taira.

You could go back to the shrine, but the kaminusha Shinto priest o-miko shrine maidens are probably there. They might think it strange to have two mountain fishermen and two priests hanging around all day. Or they might not. You could do hensu-jutsu rolls, with bonuses for RP for plausible reasons for loitering. Don't forget that you've seen signboards in Kofu saying that all residents must report seeing any suspicious behavior, under penalty of severe punishment.

The other thing is you're supposed to report back to the Takeda registrar's office to have your visitor passes stamped, within two hours of dawn. If you don't... I suppose you can assume that the patrols you've heard marching along the streets will start searching? How seriously, in what numbers, and with what resources is hard to know. The nakama has seen that the Takeda had a clan shugenja at one checkpoint, but that could be an oddity.

[Grognardsw]

Jinsei observed the cawing crows, wishing he could fly and avoid all these checkpoints. The ninja-disguised-as-fisherman clasped his bamboo fishing rod case, using it as a walking stick. With a the others, he approached the checkpoint with the lower ranked samurai.

“Good morning, I go to the merchant pavilion today,” Jinsei said subserviently.

[jemmus]

I meant to post the map so you can see the locations. There's a small intersection and a bigger one on the way to the registrar's office. The merchant's house is in red.

[Rex]

Fuma

Fuma bows and keeps his mouth shut unless spoken to.

[jemmus]

The priests Kaida and Minoru are up.

[Marullus]

Oh, I thought we passed scrutiny. Are we also being questioned?
If you're asking our action in Jinsei's questioning, we're priests not associated with these peasant fishermen, so she remains uninvolved until it goes sideways.

[ffilz]

I assume we're going to register?

[jemmus]

Yes, the nakama is on its way to check in with the registrar's office. Does Minoru go through the checkpoint using hensu-jutsu as the others are, or does he do something else?

[ffilz]

Yes, the nakama is on its way to check in with the registrar's office. Does Minoru go through the checkpoint using hensu-jutsu as the others are, or does he do something else?

With Hensu-Jitsu

[jemmus]

The soldiers wave the fishermen and the priestess Kaida through. But the older, more experienced-looking ashigaru looks at the other priest closely, as if he's deciding on whether to be suspicious or not.

Need a hensu-jutsu BCS roll for Minoru.

Wit STs to doubt a hensu-jutsu disguise
Jinsei [1d20]=10[1d20]=17[1d20]=16[1d20]=13[1d20]=10
Fuma [1d20]=13[1d20]=19[1d20]=7[1d20]=18[1d20]=9
Kaida [1d20]=20[1d20]=14[1d20]=13[1d20]=6[1d20]=19
Minoru [1d20]=15[1d20]=15[1d20]=17[1d20]=9[1d20]=1

[ffilz]

Well this should help:

[jemmus]

Minoru notices the older ashigaru looking at him quizzically. He chants a quote from the Diamond Sutra. "Past mind cannot be grasped, present mind cannot be grasped, future mind cannot be grasped." The ashigaru says, Priest-san, when you go to the temple, would you burn incense and ask the Buddha's mercy for my ill mother? He reaches into his sleeve and gives priest Minoru two copper coins.

The nakama passes through the first checkpoint and very soon reach the next one. It's on the Koshu-Kaido highway, which is the main street of the town. A middle rank samurai bushi in full armor and with a dai-kyu sits on a horse. There's a lower rank samurai with the same equipment on foot. And there are five ashigaru in light ashigaru armor with long yari. A messenger in only a loincloth and straw sandals, with his message carried at the end of bamboo stick over his shoulder, states his destination as the merchant's district.

Actions, please.

[Grognardsw]

“If your honorable and wise self would allow, I humbly ask to pass and register again for fish business in this fine town,” groveled Jinsei, not meeting the samurai’s gaze, and ending with a fishy burp and scratching of his balls. “Excuse me.”

[Marullus]

Man, we need an easier/closer place to meet up.

Are you guys waiting until night to infiltrate? We might want to be moving in the afternoon then having wiled away our time at the shrine. Reduce the logistical hurdles of walking down streets and loitering.

Kaida-the-priest remains serene and looking like she belongs, continuing about her business in the city and passing checkpoints without appearing concerned or afraid about the Samurai. They are, after all, protecting her as a good pilgrim...

[jemmus]

The city also has inns, taverns, teahouses* and gambling dens for whiling away time. Just a reminder that the nakama saw a sign saying that everyone must report any suspicious penalty, with severe penalties for failing to do so. Loitering around a shrine or temple all day might have the risk of arousing suspicion. On the other hand, hanging around a place associated with one's hensu-jutsu might not draw any suspicion. For example, if the disguise is a merchant, hanging around the market vending goods, comparing prices, etc. could work. If a budoka, watching training in a dojo. Etc.

*Most teahouses have oiran (geisha), so loitering in one could be pricey.