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Chapter 9: A Ronin’s Path
Chapter 9: A Ronin’s Path
•  TN 3 Martial Arts [Melee] (Air 2, Earth 4) check or TN 2 Medicine 
(Air 1, Earth 3) check: Based on the imprint of the body and the 
blood splatter, Hida Kayo was likely killed with two strikes. One left 
little blood and may have been from a clean stab to the torso. The oth-
er was a vicious and powerful slash that splattered blood everywhere, 
and likely came from a larger blade.
•  Water  can be spent in this scene to spot a small item under the 
knocked-over table that has escaped attention until now. The item is a 
box of waterstones for sharpening and polishing a blade. The box (which 
is small enough to be tucked into a samurai’s kimono) has no identify-
ing markings, except for discoloration and scratches on the cover where 
a clan mon made of metal was once attached; the mon has since been 
pried loose. Such kits are owned by samurai who are so dedicated to 
their swordsmanship that they have learned to polish their own blades. 
The kit belongs to Keinosuke, who dropped it during the fight. Although 
the PCs may not realize that, they would know that no samurai in good 
standing with their clan would remove the mon from their kit.
Examining the Body
In Rokugan, bodies are disposed of quickly after death. Needless to say, 
Hida Kayo’s corpse has already been cremated. However, the PCs can 
speak to the burakumin—a member of the lowest class of people, tasked 
with the dirtiest work in society—who was responsible for moving and 
cremating the body.
The PCs find the burakumin in the hinin quarter of the village, where 
he prostrates himself before them. The PCs can make a TN 1 Command 
(Fire 2) check to compel the burakumin to recall anything he remembers 
(he would not dare disobey the PCs’ orders, but the check is to ensure he 
recalls the details correctly and is not so intimidated by the PCs that he 
forgets something important).
The burakumin remembers that the body did indeed have two 
wounds. One was a stab wound in the upper chest, and the other was a 
large slashing wound across the back. He suspects that the slash was the 
killing blow.
The burakumin has an urn of Hida Kayo’s ashes and is waiting for some-
one to deliver them to the victim’s family on the Kaiu Wall. Enterprising 
PCs may wish to take the ashes with them when they depart to the Wall.
Eyewitness Testimony
The characters can also interrogate the locals to learn more about what 
happened. Two in particular were nearby when the murder happened: 
the innkeeper—a man named Yoshika—and a samurai named Mirumoto 
Chiaki, who was in the room next door. Given their difference in status, 
the two must be approached differently.
Yoshika (if needed, use the profile for a Peasant, on page 195, who 
has the Ambitious demeanor—see page 192) is a short, pudgy man 
who is constantly wiping sweat off his brow with a piece of cloth, and he 
stammers when confronted by samurai. He is quite shaken by what has 
happened, having never been confronted with death or violence until 
now. With a PC’s successful TN 1 Command (Water 2) check, Yoshika 
can overcome his fear of what happened and tell the PCs what he knows: 
Michiru is a rich merchant who was paying Keinosuke to be her body-
guard. She met Hida Kayo, and they started drinking sake together. They 
seemed friendly, and they eventually retired to drink in his room, with 
Keinosuke standing guard outside. Later the same evening, Michiru and 
Keinosuke came rushing down and left without a word. (Characters can 
also use a TN 3 Courtesy (Fire 4, Water 2) check to convince Yoshika to 
share what he knows. This is more difficult, because Yoshika would pre-
fer not to get involved if he’s not compelled to do so.)
A warrior of the Dragon Clan, Mirumoto Chiaki (if needed, use the 
profile for a Veteran Bushi, on page 197, with the Spiritual template, 
on page 194) is a lean woman with a shaved head. She usually smiles 
as though she knows something others don’t, and she keeps a cheerful 
tone even when discussing issues as grisly as the murder. She is initially 
reluctant to talk, as what happened could be seen as dishonorable for 
the victim, since he was drinking in the company of a woman of lower 
station; she does not wish to speak of something that may dishonor the 
Crab Clan (her sister, whom she was visiting, joined it by marriage). 
However, with a PC’s successful TN 2 Courtesy (Air 3, Void 1) check, 
Mirumoto Chiaki shares what she knows. Chiaki tells the PCs she heard 
sounds of drinking and laughter late into the night, followed by what she 
later realized had been a stifled cry. She then heard the screen door being 
slammed and a sword being drawn. By the time she was on her feet with 
her blades in her hands, everybody was gone except for the victim.
If the player characters wander about the village, they can ask around 
and see if anyone was awake during the night of the murder. This requires 
a TN 1 Sentiment (Void 2, Earth 3) check. If successful, they eventually 
come across the blacksmith, Totsu, who was working late. He remembers 
Keinosuke riding south “like Kaze-no-Kami himself were after him.”
Spiritual Inquiries
Shugenja (and anyone trained in rituals such as Commune with the Spir-
its or Divination) can attempt to reach out to spirits and other supernatu-
ral beings for guidance. Elemental kami can sometimes offer information 
mortal eyes have overlooked; for instance, an earth kami might be able to 
reveal something about the footsteps of someone who walked across that 
kami recently, or the spirit of a river might tell a shugenja that someone 
spilled blood into it upstream in the last hour, suggesting an injured per-
son passed that way recently. The souls of the dead are harder to reach: 
in general, they pass on directly to one of the Spirit Realms. While they 
might be drawn forth by a very skilled practitioner of the mystic arts to 
convey their wisdom, they need to be enticed, usually with offerings of 
the sorts of things that appealed to them in life.
In this particular case, shugenja and other mystics might be able to 
pursue the following avenues, or others at the GM’s discretion:
•  The Theology skill could be used for investigations to try to spot 
traces of the dark sorcery worked here.
•  Using the Commune with the Spirits ritual (see page 132) with Void 
could yield a subtle hint from the murdered samurai’s troubled soul. 
While it is in too much turmoil to manifest and speak with them di-
rectly, it might point them to a clue they overlooked earlier.
•  Other invocations or rituals might be useful for getting information 
if the player can offer a rationale for their use. However, as the room 
has been spiritually defiled by the twisted magic called mahō, causing 
the elemental kami to flee the vicinity, increase the TN of all checks 
to perform invocations here by 1 unless the room is purified (such as 
with the Cleansing Rite ritual, on page 132).
Investigation Concluded
With all or even only some of those elements, the PCs should be able to 
form an impression of what happened, and they leave the village to go 
after Keinosuke. He made no attempt at covering his tracks, so by simply 
asking locals from village to village, they are able to track him down all 
the way to the Kaiu Wall. The villagers can provide the PCs with horses, 
with which the PCs can reach the Wall in six days. The characters can 
investigate the rōnin’s passage by making a TN 2 Skulduggery (Air 1, 
Earth 4) check to track him down by talking to passersby or a TN 2 Sur-
vival (Air 1, Earth 3) check to track him down by finding and extrapo-
lating from physical evidence of his passage. A successful check means 
the PCs can make quicker time and have their efforts pay off in Report, 
Soldier!, on page 210.

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