L5R – JYTB Campaign Report 6

Leaving Cold Wind City, once again in the company of the Monk Oda, our heroes are aboard the Crane ship Silver Heron sailing to Kyuden Otomo.  As a spring storm approaches, the ship takes shelter in a cove.  The storm soon passes leaving a dark night as high cloud obscure the stars and the moon.

The character, some of them, are awakened by a loud splash in the middle of the night.  Trying to discover what happened they find a smear of blood on the rail facing out to sea.  It is about this time they realize except for one crewman in the bow, the crew have not moved at all.  Confronting the crewman in the bow, the Usagi note that he is moving oddly and attacks!  He cuts through the ‘skin suit’ the creature was wearing revealing a Kumo!  (Kumo are a race of spider creatures.)  The Usagi gets a face-full of poison for his trouble.  The rest of the characters notice three more kumo up in the masts.  Battle ensures.  The wounded Kumo looses a leg to the Usagi before the Kiau smashes it with his tetsubo.  The other Kumo pins the monk with webbing.

The other Kumo are chased off but not before poisoning the Usagi again and webbing him to the mast.  Once the Kumo have vanished up the cliffs into the darkness, things seems safe, until two of the crew (who had all been coccooned) are pulled up into the darkness.  The character rush over and cut the other lines before the Kumo can snatch away anymore of the crew.  The rest of the night is spent sleeplessly.

The next day, they arrive at Kyuden Doji and report the attack which, it turns out, took place in Unhappiness Bay.  Then on the following dawn, they set off for Kyuden Otomo to which they arrive without incident.   They are met on the dock by a representative of their magistrate -as Doji Akira has been called to the Capital- who sees them installed in room and warns them that they are expected in Lady Otomo’s Court in the morning.  The Kiau writes out a story which he had copied by a professional calligrapher as a gift.

Court went surprisingly well, the character actions were recognized by the Imperial Magistrate Otomo Takama on behalf of Doji Akira, the monk presented a gift of sutras to the Lady Otomo who promised to look kindly upon his order, the Kiau gave his story as a gift without embarrassing himself.  After court, a trio of Phoenix purged the last of the Kumo’s poison from the Usagi’s system, Oda attended a tea ceremony led by the Lady Otomo, and the others traded stories with the Sparrow Clan’s ambassadors.

The next day they were summoned before Otomo Takama, who had been given command of the character in the absence of their magistrate, and who informed them that they are to investigate the reports of bandits around the southern Hub Villages.  (And that was where we ended, see what happened in Report 7.)