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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1212940" data-attributes="member: 79">In the aftermath, there was a lot of work to do.   Mir was praying to the Oak Father and was lead to find a staff that would aid her cause.It was found Hawk was after the assassins of the King of the centaur nation.  And evidently one of them was Yukiyo.  After some discussion on what to do with Hawk, which didn’t rule out a shallow grave, they decided to find some other way of working it out.  They wouldn’t allow the samurai’s reputations to be sullied by any connection to a possible assassin, though.  Further questioning revealed it had to have happened during a period when Yukiyo was with the group.  And Hawk’s travel papers were signed by Lady Shinjo Sadoka of Mimura.  Something the group knew was fake.  But who knew of the group’s connection to Sadoka and Mimura, who was still alive?  Viktor and Taka.  The assassination involved some fancy bow work, which led again to Taka.  Obviously Bansho Kishu was being framed.[GM Note – Hawk is the new character from Yukiyo’s player.]Meanwhile the Spiders sent thanks for the hunting, then simply disappeared.  The Volodni faded into the forest as well to recover from their losses against the Tsuno.The trip back to Ryoko Owari was quick enough, thanks to teleport spells.  The little old lady helping run the estate had heard of Mindra’s hairless condition and quietly took him aside toe reveal there was a old herbal remedy that helps with hair loss.  She had made a gallon of it for him, just in case.News from around the empire was waiting as well.  Toturi Tsudao and the Imperial Legions had won a great victory over the Tsuno on the northern part of Shinomen forest.  Akodo Kaneka had taken over the Yasuki lands as a way of ending that feud, facing down the Crane and forcing the Crab to agree to it as long as the supplies from the Yasuki lands are given to them.Back on the job, Kaz found his ‘sidekick’ was learning fast, but getting into too many fights.  He was trying to show the way for the boy, though.  “Fight when you need to.  Don’t back down but don’t go looking to start fights either.”Mindra was finding there was less and less work for him, since the rumors about the monkey being tainted had gone around.  Hawk gave him a jade necklace to help dispel those rumors.  At the same time, Hawk revealed the Centaur nation had jade mines and he started trying to network to set of some type of trade relations.Doji Shiima met with Mir, passing along information about the impending Scorpion celebration to announce the Imperial Chancellor.  And a friendly warning, the new Jade Champion was a Crane and would not be as tolerant toward foreign magic as the previous Jade Champion, a Crab who was found to have been tainted.For Toshiro the news was mixed.  His area of the city had been peaceful.  But the fighting against the Scorpion was growing more intense, even if it was covert.  A Unicorn  vassel had changed sides to the Scorpion and a second near had before his wife had convinced the person otherwise.  Food was also getting short in the city.  No official blockade, simply a ‘bad year for rice’ according to the Scorpion rice merchants.Toshiro also received a invitation for him and such members of Bansho Kishu as he cared to bring, to attend to introduction of the Imperial Chancellor.  Akodo Verick also received an invitation.  And a commendation from Akodo Jusho, of sorts “Well done, Verick.  I see you got an individual invitation for the party.  You’ve been making the right friends.  Just be careful with that.  The Scorpion are very devious.  And while we are on this subject.  We’ve been doing some checking around.  The usual things, nothing special.  It’s turned up your house girl used to keep house for one Yasuki Kome, a smuggler and criminal.  I’m sure you can see where this is going.  She’s a potential security risk.  Is she a spy?  Who knows.  But she could be, and if she’s not she could still be compromised.  Something for you to think about, Verick, my boy.”  The smartly dressed  samurai offered in advice before tucking his riding crop under his arm and walking off.Verick moved out from the Akodo estates and back to the Bansho Kishu estates soon afterwards.  Where Toshiro was doing some plotting of his own.  He had Mindra riding Hawk, carrying a lance, running the two through what looked like military maneuvers, in plain view of the Akodo estates. Volar also had a meeting, but this time with Lord Jyaku.  Who wished to know why Volar was training a Scorpion in his school.  Lord Jyaku was very clear the Scorpion were his enemies.  Volar didn’t see the problem, the Scorpion were not his enemies, not really.  But it finally came down to the Scorpion student being expelled from the school.  And Lord Jyaku’s student there would leave as well.The party was certainly elaborate.  The Bayushi estates were the most beautiful outside Ryoko Owari.  Proper, traditional gardens, sophisticated music.  Perfect, traditional Rokugani food.  And the introduction of Bayushi Kaukatsu  as the Imperial Chancellor.  Not a good sign for the Unicorn in Ryoko Owari.The party took full advantage of networking, Mir hearing about just how badly things were going with the Lion and the Crane.  The Crane attack had taken Toshi Ronbo, but Kaneka had killed the Daimyo of the Kakita in a duel.  Apparently part of the Crane difficulties in the Yasuki lands were due to them being betrayed by their allies, the Mantis.  Who were getting quite a track record in this area.  The Mantis were joining an alliance of Akodo and Unicorn backing Akodo Kaneka.Mindra and Hawk were approached by the ever curious Miya Gensaiken, who had many questions about the Centaur, their jade, where they were, what they were.  What relation they had with the Vanara.  It turned out he had heard a most curious rumor, that somehow Hawk was the son of Kaz from one of the Crab samurai’s more drunken days.  Hawk denied it, of course.  And Kaz did as well, clearly quite surprised when the question came up.Angry over his meeting with Lord Jyaku, Volar was actually trying to network a little.  Bayushi Ogura certainly could sympathize.  “So many people here simply see our masks, rather than the individuals beneath.”  Less friendly was the meeting with Torisk Hawt, who more or less accused Volar of passing along information that doomed their expedition to kill the vampire.  The Red Wizard and all traveling with him had been killed.Mir was given a new assignment by Lord Jyaku during the party.  “Go around and be seen.  Be as traditional as you can.  While making sure the foreign part of Bansho Kishui is being seen, the Scorpion are using this as proof of the barbarous ways of the Unicorn.”  This was a task Mir was well suited to.Verick was having a more peaceful evening.  Bayushi Sakura was simply teasing him about how much more fun it was to be a Scorpion.  “Everyone is so suspicious of you.  You can tell the truth and let them fool themselves.  And if they find it’s the truth, they wonder why you are telling the truth, what deeper plot lies behind that.”The chat was interrupted by a Phoenix samurai, however.  A polite bow before he began “A pleasure to meet you at last, Akodo Verick, of Setei-kai.  Given your background, you have accomplished an amazing amount.  It’s interesting to imagine how much better you would be if you were not encumbered by the outdated teachings of Akodo Setei.”The Phoenix was very polite and had nothing bad to say about Verick himself.  But every compliment was laced with some subtle insult to Verick’s teacher.  Inevitably, they agreed to continue the discussion in the morning in a more pointed fashion, involving steel.  An iaijutsu duel.  Verick asked Bayushi Sakura to be his second, a request she accepted.Toshiro finally got to have the meeting with Akodo Jusho he had been dreaming of.  Jusho had questions about the centaur and Vanara training on the estate.  Toshiro switched that over to questions about fighting the Tsuno.  Challenges to why Jusho was not on the front lines.  Jusho responded he went where his duty compelled him.  And the conversation traveled on, to the Yasuki estates, to the Akodo taking over there.  Toshiro danced around insult without ever quite crossing the line, though it came perilously close to a duel a couple of times.  Still, it was a very unexpected performance from Toshiro, one he had been preparing for some time.</blockquote>

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