Storm Breaking - A Scorpion Clan Coup L5R Campaign

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Storm Breaking - A Scorpion Clan Coup L5R Campaign

Postby KakitaKaori » Wed Jan 20, 2016 5:24 pm

This is a summary-style writeup of an RPG campaign that I ran for my players. There's many ways to run Scorpion Clan Coup and its immediate aftermath, of course. I think what I enjoyed most about this one was that it allowed the characters to interact with a surprising number of CCG characters as they move through the story. I ran this before the box set came out. Trying to hue perfectly to the CCG story of the coup was not my goal, but more to have a good, exciting adventure for my group. I was pretty proud of the campaign overall, but I'm not a great GM by any means.

This follows in the same game world as our previous L5R game, described here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=825.

The characters in this campaign were a Mirumoto Bushi, an Asahina shugenja, a Moto magistrate (and the son of Moto Tsolmon from the previous campaign), an Ikoma bushi, and a Hiruma Bushi. In this campaign it would be obviously important to have no PCs playing Scorpion, though in the campaign that follows, Scorpion characters could be introduced.

Game Background
It was the year 1123. After the death of his father and his ongoing failure to find his father's assassin, the temporary loss of the Black Scroll, and learning of the acts of certain persons who committed (or attempted to commit) great treasons against their own clans since he had come into power, Bayushi Shoju came to believe that something dark and terrible was going to happen in the Empire. He believed that the Traitors might be some version of Dark Thunder, sent to precursor or usher in the coming of their master, Fu Leng. This caused him to send his finest researcher, Yogo Junzo, to research the prophecies of the return of Fu Leng, and it was Yogo Junzo who showed him that the ultimate treason was to come, the treason by which the Last Hantei brings about the return of Fu Leng himself. He verified, at least to his own mind, the truth of the prophecy with Togashi Yokuni, and, per Yogo Junzo's recommendation, took up the bloodsword Ambition to drive himself forward to complete what must be done...stopping the Dark Thunders and most especially, ending the line of the Hanteis forever so that the final treason could never be achieved.

So began the wheels that would set the Scorpion Clan Coup into motion.
Last edited by KakitaKaori on Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Part 1: Sword of the Hantei

Postby KakitaKaori » Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:54 pm

Each of the PCs had been brought by various reasons to the Imperial Palace Grounds that fateful autumn night. Hiruma Izuko was a young widow, a good warrior, but attractive and able to keep a very civil tongue, and the Crab attached her to their delegation as a minor underling in hopes that she not make a complete fool of herself. Mirumoto Kenuchio did not know why he was chosen to serve as yojimbo to a courtier who was an assistant to the Dragon ambassador, but he had been first in his class and word had come from 'very high up' that he was to serve in the capacity. Ikoma Neiji....well, he's the one who had knocked the highest placing Crane out of contention at the Topaz championship that year, and if he hadn't taken the prize himself, his presence was considered an intentional slight at the Crane in court. Moto Koshi was the son of a magistrate that seemed to know the Emerald Champion and had sent him with a Unicorn Delegation to slip a message to Satsume when he got the chance. Asahina Ayame had a straight-forward reason for being present. Her father was a well-ranked member of the Ministry of Calligraphy and Seals, and she visited often. Of course, none of them were of sufficient rank or virtue to be actually in the presence of the Emperor, so when the very highest ranking members of the Imperial Court were summoned to dinner and an after-dinner play, such underlings were left cooling their heels and wandering the expansive gardens of the Palace in the twilight.

It was from various places on those grounds that they saw the luminous, translucent figure of a woman move slowly through the gardens, her face buried in her sleeves as she wept bitterly. The ghost of Seppun, they imagined later, weeping for the horrors that were to come, though they had no idea at the time. They each gave up what they were doing and chose to follow her as she moved towards the moss-covered walls of what seemed an ancient tomb in a quiet area of the gardens. The ghost disappeared through the wall, but as they drew near, they could see a crack of light marking the edge of a partially open doorway, and hear the sound of fighting and shouts for help within.

They looked at each other and in silent agreement hurried down the steps to investigate. There, they found the bodies of eight fallen dark-clad Scorpion bushi, and three fully armed and armored Seppun guards. Three more guards were left standing, the two lower-ranked defending the third, and all three blocking entrance to another doorway leading deeper into the building. They were facing off against four more Scorpion, but those four seemed fresh, but all three of the guards were seriously hurt. There was barely a break in the battle before the Scorpion attacked the guards. The PCs were quick to join in the defense of the guards.

The battle was swift and fierce, but the two junior guards were killed in the fight, as were the remaining Scorpion.

The remaining Seppun, Ishikawa, had been hurt, but looked desperate, and latched onto the group of strangers as a last ray of hope. He explained that he had been checking the various guard-posts in the palace, and had heard the fighting at this place, the secret shrine where the true Sword of the Hantei was kept. He had not yet had chance to raise the alarm but feared terribly for the safety of the Emperor, for the sword was the symbol and soul of the Imperial power, and the only one who could possibly wish to take it would be one who sought the throne for himself. The one who held the blade had a strong claim on the throne itself. For the Scorpion to try to claim the blade must mean a coup in the Imperial Palace itself. Desperate, he asked the PCs to hide and protect the sword and keep it from the Scorpion at all costs, even if it meant getting it out of the palace completely...to take it to the Emerald Champion Doji Satsume. Accepting only the fastest healing from the Asahina, he raced towards the palace, where already the sounds of screams had started and the bells were beginning to peal.

The PCs knew they could not remain at the shrine...they could not defeat another wave of trained Scorpion Bushi such as this one. And it was clear from the screams that there was no help to be found within the palace and the charges that they may have originally been meant to serve or protect were dead. They navigated the grounds, joining where they could with pockets of fighting, fleeing others that seemed likely to go to defeat, until they reached the palace gates. There, they found the young Shiba Tsukune, who had been a guest in the palace at the time but who had not attended the feast, with a unit of Phoenix Bushi and Shugenja, in pitched battle with the Scorpion as they fought to break free of the palace and warn the clans of exactly all that had occurred. They joined her forces, breaking free of the gates under the cover of their firepower. Then they separated from her to go into hiding, moving through the streets of Otosan Uchi to make their way towards the city gates and Doji Satsume.
Last edited by KakitaKaori on Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:21 am, edited 4 times in total.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Part 1: Sword of the Hantei (Continued)

Postby KakitaKaori » Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:25 pm

Free of the palace, but still within the four enchanted walls of the inner city, the mismatched group of samurai had to escape out of the full city of Otosan Uchi. Fighting was fierce everywhere, but the forces of Shiba Tsukune were drawing most of attention towards the Phoenix Embassy, where she sought to draw on the remaining firepower of the Phoenix shugenja to transport herself and those Phoenix with her out of the city. Asahina Ayame was most familiar with the Chisei district and the Southern Wall, and Hiruma Izuko observed that there must be ways beneath the wall to carry water and waste from the inner city to the bay beyond. They explored, dodging the fighting where they could, until they could find such a channel in the South Wall and entered. There, they learned that, naturally, the Southern Wall had magical protections. Only those with the highest standards of honor, motivated by purely unselfish reasons, could defeat the dopplegangers that protected the pathway and go beyond. Fortunately, each of them were concerned only with preserving the Sword of the Hantei for the sake of the Empire, and so were permitted to pass.

They emerged under the streets in the Juramashi district, discovering that it had been days since they had entered the enchantments of the wall. Then it was a matter of dodging the dangers of the streets, getting the help of friendly Heimen to move from one house to the other and avoiding the units of Scorpion that were taking over the districts. It took significant help for them to reach the outer wall, and waiting until a fight broke out close to the wall to draw away the attention of the guards to give them to opportunity to scale the wall and exit the city.

They fled Otosan Uchi bearing the Sword of the Hantei, looking for the Crane encampment where they hoped to find Doji Satsume in order to turn the Sword of the Hantei over to him. Instead they were taken to the handsome young leader of the Crane forces, Doji Hoturi. Relieved, they asked to see Satsume, as they had been sent to bring him something very important. Hoturi sadly told them that the Emerald Champion was very sick, likely dying. The Lion, Ikoma Neiji, asked if his own daimyo, Captain of the Imperial Armies and at least on rank with the dying Satsume, was present, believing that he would know what was best to do with the blade. Hoturi gladly took them to the camp of his friend, Akodo Toturi, and the group gave the Sword of the Emperor to the Lion Champion, glad to be free of their burden at last.

It wasn't _really_ their fault that Toturi drew upon the symbolic significance of the Sword of the Emperor as he made the claim of the Throne of Rokugan for himself. It is possible, if unlikely, that he would have been emboldened sufficiently to make the claim even without it. But certainly, with it, he felt no fear for his right to the throne. That led to his immediate stripping and exile when the last Hantei returned, with Seppun Ishikawa and Isawa Kaede at his side, their own passage won free, in part, by the distractions Shiba Tsukune provided escaping the city.

At least Ishikawa did not blame the party for turning over the Blade to Toturi. He was grateful to them for saving his life...and he desperately needed them. Nearly all the magistrates of Otosan Uchi had been slain, and he needed honorable men and women to take their place, ones he could trust. He gave them the rank of City Magistrates (with permission, of course, from their Daimyos) and set them over the old Toyotomi district, a busy district with a wide range of people for them to get to know. Though, officially, their deeds could not be recognized, since that would lessen Toturi's shame and diminish the Emperor's reputation, Ishikawa considered them some of his most trusted, if young and not well tested, magistrates. That would become very important soon.
Last edited by KakitaKaori on Sun Feb 14, 2016 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Part 2 - Magistrates of Otosan Uchi

Postby KakitaKaori » Wed Jan 27, 2016 12:31 pm

The Toyotomi district had it share of chaos, as did much of the Imperial City has it rebuilt following the Scorpion Clan Coup. A minor family samurai named Matsumoto Eiko seemed to be acting as a leader for many in the district, and considered it under her guardianship. She was glad to see the magistrates and lend her aid, for the district was developing problems. The Black Cloud Yakuza came up with a scheme to enhance the potency and addictiveness of their opium through the power of the kami, and they kidnapped another Asahina shugenja (a cousin of Ayame's) to compel her into performing the rituals for them. The issue had been revealed to the magistrates secretly by the local Red Cloud yakuza. The party was able to free the Asahina and end the scheme, ending the Black Cloud and the worst yakuza elements in that part of the city.

A low-level samurai in the district thought that maho would ease his path to fortune and fame and worked towards wrenching open a gateway to Tengoku, angering the spirits of the dead who then needed to be put to their rest peacefully after the mahotsukai was slain. Again, the Red Cloud yakuza tipped off the magistrates.

Although the Red Cloud yakuza seemed to run a few well-maintained geisha houses and gambling dens, they seemed to be keeping within at least the letter of imperial law, and their leader, a young woman named Mio, was willing to give the magistrates information in exchange for a peaceful district. The magistrates made Mio aware they knew of her influence, but did not interfere with her.

News from around the Empire that trickled into the district grew disturbing. A letter from a friend among arrived for Hiruma Izuko, containing with it a beautiful netsuke of a carved jade crab and a warning that she could trust the jade crab, but should beware the obsidian crab. The eventual death of Doji Satsume shook the city to its core, and Moto Koshi feared that his father's letter never did reach the Emerald Champion's hands. Ikoma Neiji still felt shame about what had happened to Akodo Toturi and realized that some of the yakuza in Red Cloud were using Lion techniques. Mirumoto Kenuchio was considering asking for Asahina Ayame's hand in marriage after their time as city magistrates ended, but his letters raising the possibility to parents and to his Daimyo went completely ignored.

Still, the magistrates did what they could to keep their district safe.

The group were called to the office of Seppun Ishikawa, who was looking weaker and more unwell then they have seen him before. He said, after questioning some of the Scorpions that had been captured following the Coup, there was information that needed to be retrieved from a small village in what were previously Shoshoro lands. He did not trust any other clan leaders to retrieve the information without trying to put it to use themselves, and he could not afford anyone of higher rank among the city magistrates to go. He asked them to retrieve the information for him and return it, and gave them Imperial authority on the roads to do so.

The party did as bid, ending up in a race to the village against forces from the Crab and Lion who also seemed interested in the information. They were able to get there first, and persuade the 'heimen' caretaker of the information, who had once been a Yogo, that the information was better in their hand than in the hands of the Crab, who laid an assault on the village that the party defended against. The Crab all carried an obsidian netsuke. The party was beset on the road several times until they reached Kitsune Mori. There they were able to disappear, mostly running only into Kitsune who just wanted them out of their territory. A deal with a Mantis ship captain and they won passage through Otosan Uchi again on the even of the Dolls and Kites festival.

Ishikawa was able to receive them, and the information they carried, which was a list of the most recent locations of the Black Scrolls. Sadly, Ishikawa succumbed to his injuries (with some amount of Scorpion help) before the party ever learned what the list contained. Instead they were sent back to their district until the final arrangements were made for the next great event to occur in the city...The Test of the Emerald Champion.
Last edited by KakitaKaori on Thu Jan 28, 2016 9:21 am, edited 3 times in total.
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Part 3: Test of the Emerald Champion

Postby KakitaKaori » Wed Jan 27, 2016 4:32 pm

Before his death, Ishikawa had already drawn up the plans for preparing and defending the city during the upcoming Test of the Emerald Champion. Everything was on hold through the stagnant days of summer as guests began to pour into the city, some to compete, and some to watch and some to profit from the arrival of all the clans into the city. Tensions in the Toyotomi district stayed stable, mostly, but they were growing hot in other districts. In particular, unusually, there was fighting between members of the same clan. Crab fighting Crab in brawls that rolled into the streets from the local sake houses, between those who bore the obsidian crab netsuke, and those who bore the jade crab netsuke, though when questioned neither could say what the netsuke (of either color) really meant other than that it stood for loyalty to the Crab. Lion were also dueling in the street...well, Matsu verses the ronin Akodo, and Ikoma Neiji thought the Red Cloud Yakuza might be involved.

The city grew more and more full, and tensions grew more strained, but the day of the Test finally arrived, and the group of magistrates found they had been assigned, by Ishikawa, the prestigious (if not exactly glorious) position guarding the gates to the dueling grounds upon which the contest was taking place. They had been instructed, most strictly, to allow no one to enter the gates of the dueling grounds to compete for the title save those with an invitation from the Empress, Kachiko. The invitations had been sent to the various most honored duelists of the clans, inviting them to compete for the glorious title.

Looking their very best, each magistrate stood at attention for two hours as the contestants entered with their retinues, each dressed in splendid armor and raiment from their respective clans. Mirumoto Kenuchio carefully examined each invitation and tucked it into his obi, then allowed the contestants to pass. Finally all arrived, though it seemed odd that Doji Hoturi...in fact, no representative of the Crane Clan, was present as a contestent. From their position, the magistrates could hear the beginning of the ceremony, but honor would not allow them to dream of shirking their duty of guarding the doors to watch the games.

So they were there when one, final contestant dragged in. His blue kimono and hakama were stained with the road and the smell of sake, and his hair was gray, in a long braid down his back. Even low ranked magistrates could recognize the daimyo of the Kakita, even out of splendid garments. They bowed deeply in respect. Toshimoko sauntered up to them.

"Let me in. I'm here to compete."

With deepest apologies, Kenuchio answered "I am so sorry, Kakita Toshimoko-sama. I have been told I must allow no one in without an invitation."

Toshimoko grumbled. "Can't you tell I was hijacked on the road? I had Hoturi's invitation. Let me pass."

Again the magistrates had to bow deeply. "We understand, Toshimoko-sama. But we are not permitted to allow anyone to pass without an invitation."

Toshimoko took a step back and scowled, sizing up the value of fighting his way into the dueling ground, probably killing all these young magistrates, verses abandoning the Emerald Championship to Kachiko's pawns. While he grumbled, Kenuchio stood and made a very visible gesture towards his obi, and all of the invitations tucked with in. "We are so sorry, Toshimoko-sama," he said again, no longer in response to a complaint. "We would certainly allow you in if you but had an invitation from the Empress. If only you could get one...."

Toshimoko threw his head back and laughed out loud. "Of course!" With a blinding strike faster than the eye could see, he slashed Mirumoto Kenuchio's obi in half, sending a cascade of carefully written invitations to the ground. He sheathed his blade, picked up one of the invitations, and passed it back to Kenuchio. "I believe I have an invitation right here."

Kenuchio nodded. "Of course, Toshimoko-sama. Please proceed."

Toshimoko passed through the gates to the dueling ground and the doors fell shut behind him
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]

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Re: Storm Breaking - A Scorpion Clan Coup L5R Campaign

Postby Doji Hajime » Thu Jan 28, 2016 9:10 am

It is very interesting so far, I like the Invitation with Toshimoko the most.
Doji Hajime
Crane Iaijutsu Sensei • Duelist • Samurai • Loyal • Exp 3

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Re: Storm Breaking - A Scorpion Clan Coup L5R Campaign

Postby KakitaKaori » Tue Dec 20, 2016 5:59 am

Continued in: Calls the Lightening Part 1 (Test of the Emerald Championship through the Battle of Beidan Pass): viewtopic.php?f=3&t=831
Kakita Kaori
Kenshinzen of Golden Petal Village and overly prolific fiction writer
http://craneclan.weebly.com/
[Kakita Kyoumi/WC5]


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