Roleplaying game

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Chapter 9: A Ronin’s Path
Chapter 9: A Rōnin’s Path
When a rōnin suspected of aiding and abetting a murder flees to the Kaiu 
Wall, it falls to a group of junior agents of an Emerald Magistrate to go 
after him and prevent the catastrophic chain of events set into motion by 
the murder. This adventure serves as a perfect place to start a campaign, 
whether the players are completely new to the setting or just need to get 
themselves acquainted with the new system.
Prior to playing this adventure, players should create characters and spend 
24 XP to advance them. All types of characters and clans may be used.
Players should avoid reading further if they wish to play 
this adventure!
Prelude: Dark Promises
The characters are deputies in service of Seppun Hirohide, a respected Em-
erald Magistrate and member of the Imperial families. Hirohide is a stern 
but fair man who expects devoted service but holds himself to lofty stan-
dards of behavior as well. He is known to have worked on several complex 
murder cases in the past, including some related to the practice of mahō.
As the adventure begins, the player characters and Seppun Hirohide 
are in a small town named Ishikawa Mura in the northern Crab territo-
ries. Hirohide was notified of a murder that occurred two weeks ago at 
the local travelers’ inn, and he immediately traveled to the site with the 
characters. A customer at the inn, a Crab samurai named Hida Kayo, was 
found dead in his room, collapsed in a pool of his own blood.
The scene begins in the street outside of the inn where the murder 
took place. Hirohide has just spoken to the local headman of the village 
in private and has returned to give the PCs their orders. Read the follow-
ing text aloud as Hirohide addresses the characters:
“The initial reports were correct: there has been a murder here. 
Hida Kayo, last of a proud line of Crab warriors, was killed as he 
stayed at this inn two weeks ago. It took that long for the headman’s 
messenger to find us. 
“The headman and I believe the culprit to be a woman named 
Michiru, a mahō-tsukai who has escaped the Emperor’s justice in 
the past. Michiru has fled north to the lands of the Scorpion Clan, 
but she had an accomplice, a rōnin named Keinosuke. He fled south 
in the direction of the Kaiu Wall. I will go after Michiru and bring 
her to justice, but you must follow Keinosuke’s trail and bring him 
back here, then wait for further instructions.”
Here, Hirohide pauses to see if the characters have any questions. If 
not, he continues.
“I have not had time to review the crime scene and interrogate the 
witnesses, so you must do so for me. Our duty requires us to be 
thorough. As he has a two-week lead, it will not be speed that brings 
this rōnin to justice, but cunning.”
The characters may suggest going with Hirohide to assist him in bring-
ing the known witch and mahō practitioner to justice. If they do, he re-
sponds as follows:
“Your devotion is appreciated, but misguided. Both criminals must 
be caught, and Michiru is a dangerous quarry. If you confronted 
her, you would be lucky if she killed you. Only I can face her.”
At this point, Hirohide dismisses the PCs, mounts his horse, and leaves 
the PCs to enter the inn to investigate what happened.
Investigating Hida Kayo’s Room
The crime scene can be found on the second floor of the inn, where 
the room has been left untouched save for the body, which has been re-
moved. Bloodstains can still be found on the mats that cover the room 
floor. The GM should read aloud or paraphrase the following:
The door shudders and jerks in its frame as you open it and step 
into the sparsely furnished guest room. Inside, the stench of death 
fills your nostrils. The low bed is untouched, but the small table that 
once sat in the room’s center has been knocked into a corner. Dried, 
rusty blood splatters the mats that cover the floor and outlines the 
silhouette of a prone body. Streaks and prints indicate that someone 
may have walked through the blood while it was still wet.
 The PCs can make the following checks to obtain clues by investigat-
ing the scene (see The Art of Investigation sidebar, on page 95):
•  TN 2 Aesthetics (Water 1, Fire 3) check or TN 2 Labor (Water 1, 
Fire 3) check: The door frame is damaged, which indicates someone 
must have opened the door screen with great force.
•  TN 3 Survival (Fire 2, Air 4) check or TN 2 Tactics (Fire 1, Air 3) 
check: Two sets of tracks are visible in the blood, which indicates that 
one person was at the far end of the room and walked through the 
blood to leave it, while the other was standing between the victim and 
the door when the victim was killed, and then left as well.
Mahō
Mahō is blood magic, which uses the power of blood and death to 
fuel fell rituals and compel evil spirits. Mahō is entirely forbidden 
in Rokugan, and anyone who practices this art is automatically con-
demned to death once their misdeeds are discovered.
The characters have heard of mahō, although they are likely for-
tunate enough never to have faced a mahō-tsukai (blood sorcerer) 
in person. Knowledge of the specifics of mahō is as forbidden as the 
practice of it, but the PCs probably have heard terrible tales of the 
devastation wrought by mahō-tsukai in Rokugan’s early years.
The Emerald Magistrates
The Emerald Magistrates are a group of samurai appointed to 
dispense justice across Rokugan, serving as both investigators and 
judges in important cases. While most belong to one of the Great 
Clans, their status grants them jurisdiction all over Rokugan. They 
are tasked with investigating the most heinous of crimes, such 
as murder, conspiracies, and the practice of mahō, but they also 
intervene in affairs involving samurai of more than one clan as an 
objective party. While granted a lot of leeway while they dispense 
justice, the Emerald Magistrates still answer to their lords as well to 
as an internal hierarchy at the top of which is the Emerald Cham-
pion, who is chosen by means of a tournament culminating in an 
iaijutsu competition.
As the player characters are deputies to an Emerald Magistrate, 
they operate under his authority, but their own authority is a bit 
more tenuous. They cannot simply act with the full authority of the 
Emperor, and they may get better results with tactful requests than 
with orders. However, they do have some authority imparted by 
their master, so people they interact with can’t simply dismiss them 
out of hand.
Peasants, of course, must obey the PCs completely, as is only 
proper when dealing with samurai.

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