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Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
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Stories with Dice
Shadows in the Peaks Episode 4 - A Legend of the Five Rings Actual Play
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Corrupted wolves have attacked the Broken Fang Watchtower. Six soldiers are missing, and a cryptic note warns: The oath is broken, the stone remembers, the wolves are watching.
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This is Shadows in the Peace, a Legends of the Five Rings actual play from Stories with Dice. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you'll never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. It's us again.
SPEAKER_05Welcome to another Legend of the Five Rings session. So I'll introduce my wonderful, wonderful crew. I say my. They decide they want to kind of join me. As always, we have a wonderful and I'm trying to think where an adjective you marker. Amazing, wonderful. Keep going, keep going. You know, don't stop now. Amazing editor, throwing in all sorts of like things.
SPEAKER_02Fuck off. I'm gonna edit that out now anyway. Fuck you. Hello, hello. I'm playing uh Kitsuni Akira. Yes, and I I think I upset some folks in the tea house last session.
SPEAKER_05You did indeed. Upset them? No, I'm sure it's fine. We're also joined by Tony, and we have to now it's now gonna be an on-running joke, the sexy Spanish person.
SPEAKER_00Of course. Always I I will never I will always be known the sexy Spanish person. Hi. Hi. Hola. When we go visit Tony, we'll find out, right? It's not a problem. It's all a matter of taste. It's all a matter of taste. And then uh Scott.
SPEAKER_04Hello, and unlike Marco, I know he upset people in the tea house last week. And then of course of course. They're just so sensitive. Hey Charlotte.
SPEAKER_06Hey, yeah, some people can just be so rude sometimes. No, just it's terrible, right?
SPEAKER_02Not not Kitsuni Akira. No, nothing. Sound a mantis being sort of like he wasn't the one he wasn't the one who who told someone to fuck off.
SPEAKER_05No.
SPEAKER_02Rude please, Ronan, honestly.
SPEAKER_05Not real samurai, you know. Well, without further ado, let's get back to where we were. So, yeah, you you kind of stopped off at a tea house, which was the Lower East Road Tea House. You met a bunch of people, the the lovely lady who was uh looking after the tea house, and while you were there, you met a you met a couple of Ronan that were staying there. One that was all quiet and sort of broody and wearing sort of like light grey robes, and another guy who was writing poetry. You end up speaking to the guy who was writing poetry, but he told you that he was a swordmaster, but he was also an artist, just on a bit of a pilgrimage. Then you tried to speak to the other guy who was not particularly friendly, and you got into a bit of a tussle. Turns out that he was a Ronin Shigenja, and uh after a brief tussle to him, he ended up leaving.
SPEAKER_02Running away, I think, is more.
SPEAKER_05Running running away, uh retreating tactically. While while while screaming. So that left you and a very embarrassed tea lady worrying about what you were doing, and I believe you kind of then started to query and quizz her as to what she was talking about because she obviously didn't want to tell you who you were until you threw your wonderful magistrate's papers to say, actually, we're working for the for the dragon clan. And then she fessed up that she was trying not to be a blubber mouth because she was a cry, you know, a dragon, and you guys were not. But I believe Agasha Yama.
SPEAKER_02That's when we decided to burn the tea house down, right?
SPEAKER_05Well, I think that's when uh Agasha Yamo basically was like, I'm not really sure if I actually trust everything you're saying. So, we kind of left off with that. So Madame Hotani is sitting there with you, the older sort of like lady. She's looking particularly distraught that you are magistrates and she didn't pick up on that. She's also very distraught that there's been a disturbance in her tea house amongst wonderful samurai like yourself and nobles, and that dastardly Roland, how dare her, for letting you in. Right, well, uh, I guess Igashayame, what would you like to do? Well, what would you like to say?
SPEAKER_06I think I would like to suggest that now that we've had some entertainment, food, and excitement for the evening, we should probably make to our rooms and start preparing for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_05She is more than happy to get your rooms plus extra comfortable bedding and and anything you require for your whatever your evening routine may be. A lot of samurai have sort of like a specifically ritual routine that they go through to sort of take off any armor, any items. And at the point of you deciding to turn in for the night, a lot of sort of there'll there'll be other sort of servants and stuff to help do that for you if you so wish. I know we had a bit of a quick chat after the game. Most of you were saying you weren't travelling with with a party of people or any kind of retainers really, so it means that you're having to do stuff yourself or require or rely on other people's servants and peasants to do things for you. She's more than happy to do that. She's of course very apologetic for everything that's happened and is happy to make up your rooms and will take you all to bed with a very nice cup of tea. A bath. And a bath, yes. There's a there was a there is a bathroom out the back where you can bathe. That wouldn't be me. Yeah, it's a big communal bath. You can all sort of share it and like an onsen or Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm not gonna bathe, I'm just gonna go straight to my room and meditate. I need those void points back. Okay, okay. That's fine. Hero Hiroshi will bathe.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Yeah, people will help you bathe. And we'll uh go through all the the rigmarole. If you want to stop and have as if you've got any kind of uh skills that allow you to gain void points back, feel free if you want to use meditate, tea ceremony, anything like that, you can do. And if you have got tea ceremony and you would like to do that, then if you wish to do it with anyone else, then obviously you'll have to kind of work together to to do the tea ceremony. Yeah?
SPEAKER_02Mark, if you want to uh meditate, you can make a meditation roll. I have an emphasis on void recovery from meditation, so I'm gonna select emphasis in the uh in the role here. Wow, I have a 35. Nice, okay. So cool.
SPEAKER_05What's your meditation? My rank. What rank is it? Yeah. Two. Okay. So you target numbers 20, which is fine. That is fine. You gain one point of void. You would need a rank of three to uh to go up to two void points. Yeah, well I only I only used one, so that's perfect. That's fine, so that's okay. So yeah, you sit and meditate for for an hour or two before bed and you gain those back. So Charlotte, you did you say something? How do we recover spell thoughts? Um you just have to sleep. You just have to rest and sleep, it's fine. So like nothing mechanical? Yeah, yeah. I mean that there is I'm happy to just kind of, you know, once you've kind of spent a bit of downtime, you know, you can you can meditate, you know, but you don't have to make a roll for anything like that. You need you just take some time out to sort of relax, and then, you know, that's fine.
SPEAKER_06Gotcha.
SPEAKER_05Because it's cut you only have so many spell slots per day. So essentially when you've kind of rested and stuff, then it's done. Okay. Well, the evening goes by and you are awoken uh in the morning to some servants sort of uh moving around you, uh sort of making sure that you've got a tea and some sort of little cakes to sort of wake up to, and again, you do the same thing if you've got sort of like any kind of ritual or or way of doing stuff. You normally get up, you wash, you bathed, you know, hands, feet, that kind of things. Do whatever rituals you would have depending on your clan, and then essentially be prepared and ready for sort of like most samurai are probably up by about nine, and they probably get or they probably awaken, you know, sort of like six or seven in the morning. So they have a couple of hours of of doing things. It's not usually like you don't normally don all your stuff and then just leave. That's kind of irregular. You actually have like a set way of doing things. It might be slightly different for you, maybe Marco, because you are slightly different to the rest of them. So you might have a slightly different way of doing things. You might be up, kind of just very loosely get dressed, that kind of thing, and then go about your business, whether that's like having breakfast or going out to do some exercise or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I will do some I will do some exercise, then I will bathe, and then I will get put all of my accoutrements on and meet these folks downstairs, I guess.
SPEAKER_05Yep. You also have, uh if I remember correctly, you've got a a carter, haven't you? That you use. I have a what? Uh is it a kata that you've got, or no, wait, I think it's Tony who's got that. Just trying to remember if one of you have got that. No, I think you've got it. So you have this sort of like set routine of doing things. So I think yours is like that strength of the mantis. So yours is an AS a kata, so you kind of like probably practice that every day. That's kind of something you probably do just as a as a way of centering yourself, and so you probably have I think strength of the mantis is you being able to, so it's about firing and and being so it gives you an attack penalty for ranged attacks. About others are in melee, so it's probably centering yourself, understanding where the arrow's going, that kind of thing. And I think Tony has got one as well, which is probably a bit different. But I imagine that Kikita Hironobo, I I I assume being a duelist, you're probably up in the morning, and one of your rituals is to go through a set carter and and do sort of training.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I practice quite quite a bit. I think uh that's fair to assume that yeah, I wake up in the morning with one of the first ones, and when they are done, I'm already sipping my tea and uh the breakfast, but I probably have spent already one hour practicing.
SPEAKER_05So at the back of uh the back of the the the sort of tea house, there is this this little path, and at the end of the path there is this small sort of like koi pond, and it would be a good place to sort of practice. It's quite out of the way, and you know you can meditate and do whatever you need to do. Uh and while you while you're doing that, you you can see the other guy that was in the tea house who is who was there, and he is sitting watching you as you go through all your forms, and he appears to be scribing something on his on his scrolls. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Anything else, Scott, you'd like to do or Charlotte? Hiroshi's morning routine is largely focused around caring for the horse. So he'll wake up just before dawn, wash, dress, go down, see Bakufu, take him out for a to walk and get him up and exercise ready for the day. Can you describe your horse? He's a largely pure white stallion with a small blaze of grey down the front of his muzzle. Stands about seven hands high, so about a sort of fairly standard size for a rockagoni for a unicorn steed.
SPEAKER_05So usually a couple hands higher than the usual rockagoni ponies that that they use?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So it's quite a quite a visible.
SPEAKER_04Quite an impressive specimen, of course. Yeah. If you've seen him amongst other unicorn steeds, he's not particularly spectacular. But in the Dragonlands, where very few of them are seen on a regular basis, he's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_05Well, the morning goes well, you have breakfast, and you need to decide where you want to go. I think last session you decided you're going to go to the watchtower as the first thing you want to do, which was to the south. Or alternatively, you've got early dawn forest, the shrine to the north, and then further north you've got the East Road Tea House, the upper East Road Tea House, and then on to Shiro Zero, which is the main castle where the issue is.
SPEAKER_02I I thought they told us to sort of start our investigation at the watchtower. They did, yeah.
SPEAKER_05But um it uh uh you if you want to follow the orders, that's fine. If you don't, then you can go anywhere you want.
SPEAKER_01I think Akita Iranogu would probably stick to the uh to the orders and we'd probably insist on going today to the watchtower and if necessary spent another day on this tea house. I think we should be very thor thorough on our investigation, not follow our superiors. I will say this in a very serious tone.
SPEAKER_05Well, it's it's about an hour and a half, maybe two hours, up into the hills. Um and the lower sort of like the upper mountain area where the watchtower is, so that's a fairly straight straight run. Did you say you think you also might want to spend another night in the tea house?
SPEAKER_01Perhaps if we we don't have time to move to the other one.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, if you're gonna go to the watchtower, by the time you do whatever you're gonna do in the watchtower, you'll probably be able to make it back to the lower east tea house for another night staying here and then moving on to wherever you want to go next.
SPEAKER_02Anyone agrees? I think so. Cure is in agreement.
SPEAKER_06So before we get started, like once everyone gets mustered to prepare for the trip, I will tell them to please give me a moment, I want to go discuss something with our innkeeper. So then I walk back into the inn. I find her, unless she's like on the portrait deck.
SPEAKER_05So if you're leaving, she's pretty much, oh thank you very much for coming. She's bowing and she's doing all the things that she should be doing to make sure that, you know, these powerful samurai just leave her in and she's you know, she's already kind of annoyed that things have happened and it hasn't been easy, and so for some reason you're gonna remember her. So presumably everybody else has kind of like been pushed out and they've kind of like, oh yeah, no, have a good trip, thank you very much. Go back. She looks at you sort of like, okay. Uh my my my lady, how how can I give service?
SPEAKER_06Oh, will you bless the the tea house? We shall see. Please let us move to more private rooms where we can discuss.
SPEAKER_05She looks at you very suspiciously but says, okay. And she takes you back into the inn and takes you back to sort of like a a quiet part of the the inn as a sort of like a small it would be a conference room now, but it's kind of like just a little private room for sort of like meetings. And she says, How how may how may I help you, Craig Phoenix?
SPEAKER_06I feel last night you were not completely honest with us. What do you mean? And that bothers me.
SPEAKER_05I I would never lie anything. I would never lie to you now that I know that you are working for the key the the the kitsuki.
SPEAKER_06And that is where I have a problem. You would not lie to us now, but you would have lied to us before. And what was you lying to us before? Well, I of course I would I I would need to honor honor my clan and honor my family. What have you seen? What have you heard? I want it all, and I want it right now. And at that point I will make a bit of a motion to just summon a little bit of a flame. I'm gonna say I keep I keep little strips of paper in one of my pouches that I will grab quickly, throw it up in the air, and let it catch on fire as an unspoken acknowledgement to what may or may not happen to the building if I catch her lying again. That's fine.
SPEAKER_05I'm I'm I'm happy you do that. You don't need to roll for anything. Yeah, you kind of you summon the you summon the the fire karmy. But there is a fire already here anyway, so it's easier for you to do that. You essentially just pull the fire from the fire karmi. Yeah, and the flame engulfs it as calm kind of appears. What is your what does your fire karmy look like? Good question. Put you on the spot there, Sean.
SPEAKER_06I would say that it that it would kind of resemble like a playful flame from Illustration, like a rounded bottom with like little fiery hair or whatnot, with the a little bit of an inkling of like facial features like eyes and mouth, but like not formed, just darker darker reds where the flame might be cooling.
SPEAKER_05That's enough to scare the living hell out of her. She she sort of like goes straight onto her knees, straight down, head pressed against, well, almost your feet, and she says, Great priest, I I would not keep you anything. I mean, what would you like to know? Uh what, what, what? And she's sort of like, I'll tell you anything you want to know.
SPEAKER_06Uh, first thing that I would do is kneel down, tell her to get up and help her to her feet.
SPEAKER_05She feels really weird that you're touching her and like picking her up. It's a very personal thing, and she's like, okay, I'm sorry that you know you have to pick me up. I'm I've really offended you. Stop apologizing. And and she's like, has no place here now. She has no idea what to do with this in any way, shape, or form. She sort of looks at you, you know. She doesn't, she all the time that you've kind of like spoken to her, she's kind of looked at your sort of chest, sort of like upper shoulder area. At no point has she ever looked in your eyes in any way, shape, or form. Eyes up here, babe. If she looks in your eyes, she looks utterly terrified. She's thinking, oh my god, the samurai's going to snuff my light up. Not only that, but the shuggenja is basically going to call the all the all the lords and all the gods on me. She's like, what would you like to know? What, what, what?
SPEAKER_06As you're aware, we are here on orders from those higher than us. We are looking for individuals who may have a darkness around them. We need to know everything that you have seen that may pertain to that. I know you've seen it. You don't miss much, I'm assuming. I see lots of things.
SPEAKER_05I can tell you lots of things. A darkness? Well, probably there've been less samurai travelling. There'd be less people travelling. I mean, it's winter time that is to be expected. Yes, but less. There's less than you'd expect. And there have only been a few. There has been one specific. He has a dark countenance, and he has stayed here and travelled up and down this road. I do not know his name. He is a dragon samurai. He he specifically wears the mon of the Zuri family. And he he he gives off this strange I want to say vibe, she doesn't use the word vibe, the strange countenance that that that that well I I do not trust. With everything that's been happening, I I I I have my ear to the ground, of course. I mean, purely for the clan. I I mean I I need to know this, and I can give this information to, of course, to anyone who who requests it from my lord's family. But but yes, there there is a dark person that seems to come and go, which I am I have nothing else to describe. His his armor is is maybe a slightly darker green than I would normally expect, but he is I don't know. His his family crest, which would normally be over his heart, is not over his heart. It is on his shoulder. And not his sword arm either, it's on the other arm. And the family crest is cracked. It's a it's a gold inlay, but it is cracked. That that is the only information I can tell you of this person.
SPEAKER_06When was the last time you saw him? Maybe a week ago. Does he come here on any kind of schedule? Are you expecting to see him again in the next day or two?
SPEAKER_05He has over the last two or three weeks he has been he's been a regular visitor, maybe once a week. He he has gone south to the the watchtower and he has been to the north, to the forest. He he gives me a funny feeling, my lady. And she sort of like bows ahead again.
SPEAKER_06I will return the bow. I appreciate your honesty. I wish it would have been a little bit sooner in our acquaintance. She sort of like looks down, and that is that is my failing, and I am very sorry, my lady. Alright, well let's not make a habit of this. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes, my lady. Now, where would you like me to bless your inn?
SPEAKER_05Anywhere you would like. She'll happily let you bless her, and then she's sort of like anything else to hurry you out of the tea house as quick as possible is is her aim. And she doesn't really sort of like make a doesn't make it any kind of like she doesn't hide the fact that that's what she wants to do. You know, she packs all your bags, she has everything ready for you so that you're ready to leave, you know, including the whole, oh here, take this, take this, take this, you know, bamboo cup of water on your way out, you know. Feel free, just she's if she could push you out, she probably hood. And and she kind of like once you all sort of lean, you can imagine that she'll be going, Oh thank God. Yes, so you end up leaving. The morning is cold, the mist has kind of started to clear, and you make your way along the swallow. So it's not it's not the it's not the road that you were travelling along before. This is a sort of little trackway that has been created. These crisscross Rockagan everywhere. It's um what small groups of servants and peasants use. As you kind of like make your way towards the the mountains, the snow has kind of hardened over the sort of like rice paddies. There's as you kind of get towards the the the actual hills, you can see there's a lot more paddies and stuff that have been put into in into the hillsides, and there are people working them, they're sort of like breaking and cracking the ice, and they appear to be doing some kind of menial labour that you know you don't really understand. And yeah, the um it's only an hour or two of walking, and you can see this this multi tiered pagoda ahead of you. It's an old watchtower, it looks like it's um seen better days. There are there are cracks in it, you can see some of the the shingles have fallen off. It looks like it's not well maintained.
SPEAKER_06I just want to interject and say that any. That I learned, I would relay it, the others honor travels. Okay, cool. You'd like to kind of discuss that between yourselves? You can do that as you walk. If there's anything you'd like to say about that? I think I'd just be pretty straightforward with the information that was given. Not looking for any kind of discussion or conversation about just this is what I've learned. So let's keep our eyes open. This is what we might come across.
SPEAKER_02Akira will mutter under his breath, I had already established that that woman was a liar.
SPEAKER_04Well, she gets one. I've heard say that everybody does. Hiroshi will still threat Hiroshi. It could be taken as so, I suppose, if one were to use it as such, but I was born to believe it was more of an idiom. Everybody everybody gets one, apparently. It's a lion clan saying, I think, or maybe a spider clan. I don't know. Hiroshi will take point, will sort of trot up for uh a few maybe two or three hundred metres ahead of P in a scouting role, unless anyone else particularly wants to come up forward with him. Is anybody else mounted? Nope, it's just you. So yeah, he'll he'll ride, he'll ride ahead and ride back every now and again with reports of the land up button, what and what's on the road. Particularly if he can find a high vantage point to crest a hill or so forth to look a bit further down the trail.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, see as you kind of like get towards the uh the sort of like watchtower, you can see the crumbling structure is built into the side of a mountain uh or into the side of a you know one of the the hills that are turning into mountains. The mountains are actually in the backdrop. You can see that this watchtower goes through a pass, and or at least watches over a pass, which you've all seen a map, goes to Great Falls Castle, which is on the other side of the mountain pass, which apparently is a very beautiful place to go visit. But that's not where you're going. You're heading towards this watchtower. You've been told it's called Broken Fang Watchtower, and as you kind of make your way towards it, uh with the others sort of like 200 feet or so behind, the the path kind of starts going up along this sort of rise and it starts having a couple of switchbacks. As you make your way up towards the um tower, it's clearly this has been made so that anyone who's coming this direction can be seen. So you imagine that if you were standing at the top of the tower, you could see across the uh across the actual valley floor and over towards the mountains in the north. So any any large standing army who will be moving backwards and forwards would be able to be spotted.
SPEAKER_04Spend a little bit of time just getting the light of the land, and then we'll then ride back, report what what lies ahead, talk about the the trail, and then unless anyone particularly wants to do, wants uh wants him to stay close, he will then return back to outriding.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So you're gonna get there before the rest of them?
SPEAKER_04He'll probably s hold off four sort of maybe half a kilometre away and wait for everyone to catch up so they walk in together.
SPEAKER_05In that case, you yeah, you kind of go up. You don't see any you don't see anybody when when you kind of like get closer, but you kind of like wait for the rest of them to carry to catch up. As you kind of get towards the sort of watchtower, the it's sort of like mid-morning, uh maybe coming into just coming up to sort of like midday. The watchtower is pretty much looming against a slate grey uh slate grey sky. It's walls are cracked, the banners are faded, the wind carries a strange stillness to the to the wind whistling through the the pass. You don't hear any birds, you don't hear any rustling of any leaves. The only thing you can hear is a very faint sort of like whisper as it goes over the sort of like snow on the on the pass. And as you get closer, you can hear the creak of wood from the actual watchtower. As you approach, a single sentry steps out from the entrance, which is on the on the ground floor of the um of the actual tower. He's dressed in a lot of silk blankets, everything is kind of like tied up around his neck and around his shoulders, carries a Yari, which is a spear. You can see that he has got soot and dried blood around his face, and he does not look like he has washed. As you get closer, he straightens up and he says, Good night, travellers, how can I help you?
SPEAKER_06I will step forward, greet him, and then tell him, Oh, right, we've been sent here by the magistrate to investigate certain happenings that are going on here. We ask that you move to the side and let us proceed unhindered.
SPEAKER_05As you say that, you see his shoulders slump, he kind of goes, Oh thank God, calm he's be praised. I'm so glad. You're the ones who have come to help. Oh, thank goodness. He kind of like his hand slides down the heart of the the spear in a sort of like a slump. Everything that he kind of portrayed kind of disappears, and he says, Please, please help us. Come, come with me. And he sort of ushers you inside. And we follow? Yeah, we'll start to follow. Inside the watchtower, the interior is dimmed, there are all all the all the windows are shut and shuttered. There's a couple of flickering lanterns, the air smells damp of stone and incense. There's a commander's desk which has been overturned. There are scrolls which are scattered and thrown all over the floor. There's blood and strange symbol marks all over the floor. Lots of jagged lines, what look like claw marks with blood streaking behind them. There is a gentleman who is waiting. He has got a daisho, this is a Wakasashi and Katana, and he's also got light samurai armor on. The armor is covered in scratches, and there again he is also covered in dirt and blood. He says, Goodness, you have come, and then he kind of stands up and sort of bows and says, I am Commander Hashino. It is a great pleasure that you have come.
SPEAKER_06Perhaps you can help us. Please tell us what happened here, and I'll say that almost like stutteringly as I'm looking around, taking in the destruction and disarray of the place.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. It looks like it's been disarrayed and and and pretty much destroyed from various sorts of things. He says, the patrol's gone. No signs of them, no blood. We keep dreaming about the same thing. Peak that's been split open, of something crawling out. He he hands over sort of like a piece of parchment to you. This is found in the barracks, but no one seems to have claimed to have written this. On the parchment, as you have a look at it, Agasha, it says, and it's in very scrawled handwriting, the oath is broken, the stone remembers. The wolves are watching.
SPEAKER_06You say they vanished without like there's no blood, but whose blood is this?
SPEAKER_05We were attacked last night by wolves, but not just any old wolves. They were, I don't know, they they seemed. They seemed unnatural. They they were ferocious. They bit, they they rent, they took two of my two of my troop. It's just myself and and Dutchie here, are the only two of us that are left. It's difficult. I feel that I have dishonored my family. I have not been able to just protect this watchtower from from mere wolves. I have trained for many years. I cannot believe that it was such a difficult struggle. Please.
SPEAKER_04And he kind of takes a knee. You say they left you and your friend and your man Dashi here alive. Did you s did you slay any of their number? What caused them to withdraw and not finish the job?
SPEAKER_05I do not know. They they they came, we we barricaded ourselves up the stairs. You can see that the stairs are sort of like partially burnt and damaged and broken down. We we we set fire to the stairs and and went up so that they could not get to us. I am ashamed to say that I I I I did not stand and die with my men.
SPEAKER_02What made these wolves different from normal wolves?
SPEAKER_05They had pustules around their mouths and their eyes gleamed like a unnatural red. It's as if they have been come from the Shadowlands directly. I am I have been on many campaigns, and I was afraid. Perhaps noble samurai like yourself would be able to deal with this problem. Does this guy look like samurai or is he Ashigari? You you look good. So he looks like he is he's from a minor family, and it looks like he's probably an Ashigaru who's been sort of raised, probably quite recently, to sort of like the very lowest ranks of samurai staters.
SPEAKER_06Why don't we go upstairs and start taking a look around where we can have some privacy to discuss the matters?
SPEAKER_05Of course, he he sort of bows low and he says, uh he kind of says, you know, mind how you get up the stairs. A ladder has been sort of set up to go upstairs, which has been made out of the the old remnants of the stairs. So it's a um it's four four four stories. They get increasingly smaller as they go the higher you get. It looks like this floor is the sort of business end of the watchtower, the commander's office, a couple of seats and sort of like a few places to kind of look at. There is on the next floor, there this is pretty much the the barracks. Above that is the armory, and above that is the actual watchtower itself, you know, place where you can stand at the top and look out. So it's not particularly difficult to sort of like see. They haven't really sort of put a lot of shoji screens in, they've kind of made it very, I guess, basic. So what you might normally see is sort of like on each floor, there would have been sort of like floorboards put down, and they probably would have put like wooden walls with the screening between. None of that's there, it's pretty much an open plan. It's meant to be, you know, for sort of like soldiers to stay here, so they they they haven't done anything wonderful with the place. And it looks like it's if maybe it's not you, Ayame, maybe someone Hiroshi, maybe Hirinobu, but probably Hiroshi more than anyone else, will will look at the sort of like wood and the the plaster and the stone that they've used. It's old. This this watchtower is old, and it probably was probably a a very good watchtower back in the day when maybe the the dragon clan was young, but because it's in a place that doesn't really require a watchtower anymore, it's kind of like manned, you know, by a small contingent of of troops. But in reality, it's it's not vital to Hiro Hiroshi wants to wander, once he sort of had a look around upstairs, he wants to wander down to the base of the watchtower.
SPEAKER_04Yep. I'm not especially in the sort of the the base of the watchtower, so the ground. I'll let you sort of tell me what you want me to do with this one, because I he's got a mixture of way of the land, animal handling, shadowlands lore, and hunting. If he wants to hear sort of try and work out what direction the wolves came from, where they've gone, and if that terrain where he would expect to find wolves of that of this nature.
SPEAKER_05Okay, well, why don't you make well first of all make Shadowlands law roll? Eight. Eight. Yeah, as far as you're aware, there's a good chance that if if you have animals that are corrupted by Shadowlands taint, they would have like postules or all weird stuff around them. But it's not really your sort of thing. You've kind of heard it in passing. You've never really yourself ever come across Shadowlands creatures. You've never hunted them or anything like that, so you don't really know a huge amount about that. If you want to make a hunting roll for me though. Yeah, so there is a lot of there's a lot of backwards and forwards in the snow, but there's been a bit of snowfall, so it's kind of covered a lot of the tracks. You kind of like follow the the trail as far as you can do, uh, it kind of goes off into sort of like the hills, and it becomes quite rough terrain, which probably a wolf would be fine to sort of like navigate. A human with sort of like lovely slippery shoes and stuff would probably not find it easy to get along. But yeah, it does go off into the sort of like the the hills, and yes, it would be a natural habitat for a wolf to have. So while you're doing that, what does Kukita Hironobu want to do?
SPEAKER_01We'll check the the status of the soldiers here, strategically thinking if they can actually repel more attacks or if they are ready, and to see if there is anything I can do to kind of help them out to hold this fort. I mean this watchtower.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so I mean, yeah, you can do you have battle by some chance or any kind of like mass combat y type siege engines or anything like that. So I mean you're I don't know you're sort of like pretty much the Ijitsu king, so you know if it's a not one-on-one combat, it's something you probably don't know a huge amount, you would uh as as a as a as a member of the of that family, would probably rely on the Daidoji family to kind of do all the sort of like siege mastery, the kind of like defences, all that kind of stuff. But tell you what, you've got what kind of skills do you have.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I only have Kenjutsu and Yajutsu at a high level. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, you're probably not the sort of person who is the person that will go, we could probably create these kind of defences. You've been trained in war, but pretty much from a theoretical point of view of fighting one-on-one rather than anything else. But I tell you what, why don't you make an unskilled check of intelligence for me? 11. Okay. Yeah, I mean you you you pretty much can do the basics, like say to the Zuashigaru, you know, maybe put a door back on the on the entrance. You could probably use the commander's desk as part of that if they've got any kind of like carpentry skills or anything like that. Definitely it's not something you've ever been trained in to do. They could probably do that to kind of like shore up the entranceway. The shutters are all shut, which is really helpful. And it looks like the door that they had on there initially was an old wooden door that had basically seen better days. But I mean, you've probably but they've they've not really thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01Perhaps in a way what I'm trying to do is to inspire them because they seem to be, you know, lost hope. And basically I'm trying to bring some motivation and kind of some proactiveness to the situation so they're not just so it's more an instant.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they're both probably more probably more etiquette, I would imagine. But I think it's the same as yeah, yeah. You're kind of portraying, you know, that that noble samurai kind of we can do this, it's all fine, you know. What would your lord think? That kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah, they they they they're they're happy to sort of you kind of like raise their script a little bit. I mean the fact that you've all turned up and you're all as far as they're concerned, you know, experienced samurai who you know what they're doing. You've also got on top of that a priest with you, then absolutely, you kind of explain about you know your battles and and I guess the the duels that you've you've fought, which you know, even though you're a crane, clearly you're all honest to goodness samurai, right? So um not only that, you also have a cavalryman. So surely things can only get better. So yeah, you kind of do that. The the dragon Shigenjo who's with you, in case we forget that she's there, she sort of like speaks to them and and and offers them prayers, that kind of thing, along with your sort of like bolstering over them. And I mean the uh Suzumi Nori doesn't really have much to kind of like contribute, although when you sort of like mention about sort of like shoring up the doors and stuff, she does mention that oh she could probably help with sort of like cutting some of the wood to size. She seems a little bit more practical than you might first have thought. And then Kitsuniya Kira, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_02Well, I thought that Akasha Ayami had wanted to go somewhere in the tower to upstairs, yeah, yeah. Yeah, to talk about yeah, to have a look around and also to to talk about the situation. So that's what I've done. I've followed I've followed her up.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I figured like I'd probably I guess give people a chance to take in some of the sites and surroundings first before we meet up, just so we have a little bit more information to go on. I guess at that point I'd be checking on some of the scrolls that were tossed around to see if there's anything of value. But like Mark was saying, after a few minutes, start to make our ways upstairs.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so most of the scrolls are purely stuff like recording people coming and going, or would be sort of like military scrolls kind of saying how much how much food they have, the stores, that kind of stuff. It's all sort of mostly municipal stuff. It's you know.
SPEAKER_02And did did the guy mention where the bodies were or what happened to the bodies? They locked themselves in a room, correct?
SPEAKER_05They locked themselves in the room when they came back, when they came down from the upstairs, they were gone.
SPEAKER_02The other people were gone. And how many people was that? So there were six people. Six, okay. So there were six people missing.
SPEAKER_05They've been missing over a number of weeks. They're they're the kind of like all they found was the occasional like weapon. Uh-huh. Or sort of like a a shoe or a or a sandal or something.
SPEAKER_02So I wanna, before we get together, I want to go into the room that that they locked themselves in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so it's well they locked themselves on the first floor essentially. So they they they ran up the stairs, they burnt the stairs down as best they could and hacked it down so that the wolves couldn't climb up, and they basically there was no sort of like door on the on the on on because the the stairs are just basically free from stairs that go up into the next landing, and then vice versa. And they just keep doing the same thing, they zigzag out to the top.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so while I'm there, I'm just gonna sort of invest, like have a look around that that space there. And I have investigation if yes, if you can make an investigation roll, that would be very helpful.
SPEAKER_05With an emphasis on search. I presume you're with Charlotte, so if you want, you can Charlotte, if you'd like to make a roll as well. Lots of exploding dice. I have a 62! So uh you have a look around and I mean, yeah, you the place is not in a disarray. It is it it's what you would expect from 12 essentially 12 seats or 12 places to sort of like sleep. This is their barracks, this is where they are. Each little area is designed to have like a little bed. There's a little futon sitting area with a writing desk and a place to put your trunk and all your kind of kit and stuff. And so it's you know, it it's pretty much kept like a military barrack, so it's mostly tidy for the most part. As you sort of look around, the only place that looks odd to you is this one set, and you kind of have a route through it. As you're doing that, uh the the young Ashigaru has kind of popped his head up and says, that is Akagis. That is where we found the net.
SPEAKER_04The one that said the stone, the wolves, that one.
SPEAKER_05Yes. It says the oath is broken, the stone remembers, the wolves are watching.
SPEAKER_02Is this the the person he just mentioned? Are they one of the missing? Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Yes, that is Zurar Akagis station. What was his first name? Zuru?
SPEAKER_04Z-U-R-U-I. Did we mention for those listening who haven't played very much that this is a Japanese-style family name followed by given name?
SPEAKER_05Yes, we have, yes. We've mentioned that. Yeah, your first name is your second name. Your family name comes first, yeah. Yeah. For all of you, you know that Zurai is minor family. It's not one of the one of the main sort of dragon families, it's a as a minor family. Right. I mean, I guess at that point, everyone's kind of done all the stuff they do, and you kind of like meet up. Are you going to include, Charlotte, are you going to include uh the uh Suzumi Nori and the uh dragon shigenjo in this? I think so. Conversation? Okay.
SPEAKER_06Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_05So that you will kind of meet on the on the on the first floor, and yeah, it's just you guys, the others are downstairs doing what they're doing. Okay, what do you want to say?
SPEAKER_06So this sounds exactly like what we were warned about at the start of this journey.
SPEAKER_04From everything I can tell, there's definitely some what they're saying rings true with regards to the influence of the Shadowlands.
SPEAKER_06And that same scroll is near identical to the one that we had in our initial meeting. Which I believe I have. You do? I do have it. I'm going to take it out and compare handwriting. Or compare calligraphy strokes.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so the the handwriting that you've got for the that's the kitsuki, it's completely different.
SPEAKER_06I'll I'll pass both copies around, making note to which is the original.
SPEAKER_04For those of us whose characters may have been asleep, and because the player may not have been present. Have you got the can I just get the text in the first note, please?
SPEAKER_05Yes, there was an investigator charter, which I will which is I've already put it in the Discord channel, so you can find that there. Indeed, you'll have to do the work. I'm not doing it for you there.
SPEAKER_01But it's also on the uh foundry, yeah. If you go to the journal, if you go to journal and then shadows in the peaks, which is in red, and you click on introduction, then you see that there's also the investigative charter is right there.
SPEAKER_06One thing my mind keeps going back to is the first line Olds or Broken. What oats? Like that's that's kind of what I'm wondering. Uh, which of our two companions was Dragon?
SPEAKER_05Uh that is the um Shadja. She's the one who who had all the dreams, and she doesn't quite that's where you get the prophecy, the prophetic fragment. Akari.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. There left Akari, Mr. Genji.
SPEAKER_06Akari's gone. What oaths are the dragon bound to that could be broken?
SPEAKER_05She uh she sort of like looks at you and says, um do not know. I mean, that there are there are many. I mean there there are many oaths that are made between the dragon and other clans. There are many oaths that we take as dragon to our sensei to whoever it may be. I mean, I it could be anything. Although she sort of looks at the piece of scrap of paper and she says, This is very similar to to what I to what I what I thought, what I dreamed. And I think that it seems that there is, as you said, my Lady Aguasha, there is a similarity to to what was left to what I I dreamed through. The wording seems the same. It feels like it's it comes from the same source. I may need to meditate it, meditate on it, and speak with a calmly regarding it.
SPEAKER_01In fact, if we look at the investigative charter, you know, we had to travel, and then we need to find signs of corruption interrain with life and spiritual, which is what we did, no? The warps are probably in the dead. Retrieve any physical evidence as scrolls, we just did, and then report find this direct to kitsuki Mitsuhochi.
SPEAKER_06Check in the boxes.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to say you're done, we should go back. Yeah, but I mean, I mean, well, at least the I don't know if if we look at it. Because also they say do not engage corruptive force without preparation.
SPEAKER_03My my one that we can just We don't have proof of corruption. All we have is the hearsay of the two two survivors of the watchtower. We haven't seen any with our own eyes. You managed to find the source. Did you manage to find the source, Hiroshi? I did not know the ground was too churned up. So I'm gonna play devil's advocate for all of you.
SPEAKER_05Technically, Tony is correct, you have done everything that is required for you to do to do your duty. You can take sworn affidators, you know, sworn statements from the two Ashugar that's left, and you can go back technically to Kitsuki Mizuroshi and say, I've done all my duty and here we're done. Thank you very much. That is indeed the dutiful thing to have done, and and you would not be questioned. That is that is you've done essentially the bare minimum as required. Is it the right thing? Well, is it is it something else you'd like to do?
SPEAKER_06That's up to you to decide. Here I know the sun. Hear me out for a moment. And like you might all start to notice that I'm starting to use their given names and not their family names. That is on purpose. We may have accomplished here what we have been asked to do, but why do the bare minimum? Like, we we are in a position now to increase our status within the dragon clan at the very least that may benefit us more down the line. So why stop here? Why not go above and beyond and You stop, and you and you stop by look at the rest of them.
SPEAKER_05You hear from outside a large, very deep growl, and then a number of wolves out.