[LN6] It Fell Off The Back of the Caravan

[Ender]

Thanks to the confession of the Thief, the magistrate and his yoriki have uncovered that there is indeed trafficing of opium moving through Little Khanbuluk.

Part of that confession revealed that a large shipment would be coming through the market late at night.

Event Type: Investigation, Cooperative
Number of PCs: Up to 5, who have all been involved in the investigation of the opium prior to this event.

Post in if you are joining this event. There will be 48 hours until the event starts. Or closes if no one signs up. Further details will be given after sign ups.

[Kitsuki Jun]

The game’s afoot! Jun wouldn’t miss this for the world.

((I think he’s been involved enough?))

[Kitsu Masaru]

(Joining if able)

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

[Not sure if Kasumi has actually been involved enough, but she caught the first scene...]

[Shosuro Kaoru]

There was apparently always a Shosuro around to look for these things. Which Shosuro it was might change with the day... Or did it? Who could differentiate between two masked persons similarly dressed in such darkness really?

Ah, oh, yes, there was the height difference thing, yes.

But as long as Kaoru kept mysteriously sitting... And not talking... And not showing her face too much... Who could tell?

[Togashi Shinko]

'Sumi and Jun got a lead? Of course Shinko is coming along! Someone has to bail those two out. Sure, she had to go to bed early and leave the party but this thing had been a long time coming.

[Pretty sure Shinko qualifies. Found the body, has been checking out the merchant]

[Ender]

The information that had been gleaned from the thief pointed to something going down in Little Khanbulak tonight. There was a sense of alarm in the air, as if the net was closing in on those who were committing wrongdoing. Could this finally get the pieces together?

The Five Participants are working to intercept if something is amiss. They must achieve 10 Investigation Points before 5 failures.

This event is taking inspiration from the Heist events presented by Dapper Dog during Shadows of Bankor.

Each skill must be passed to move on to the next phase. Once a skill is passed in a phase, it cannot be done again in that phase.

Standard Opportunity spends can be used.

1 Investigation Point for a basic success
+1 Investigation Point for every 2 additional successes.

You may opt to Assist rather than roll, as the group works the late night workers who are restocking and bringing in goods. Each roll can only benefit from assistance once.

To assist, you must declare you are assisting as your turn.

The PCs have 20 turns before time runs out

Phase 1-
TN 1 Commerce (Water) - Even late at night, there are still merchants working. Knowing how they work would yield irregularities as to what was happening.
TN 1 Seafaring (Fire) - Knowing which shipments from each ship would indicate where the opium might be filtered through
TN 1 Skulduggery (Air) - Who might all be working for the smugglers? Sometimes it takes a criminal mind to catch a criminal
TN 1 Labor (Void) - Using instinct to know how smuggled goods might be pushed through.

Phase 2-
TN 2 Sentiment (Water) - Reading the late night workers, determining who would be working and who is hiding something more...
TN 2 Culture (Air) - The opium has been in gaijin made wares. But they look like rough appromixation. Moving through the stalls that are still bringing in product, could you see the reproductions or forgeries that are covering things up?
TN 2 Skulduggery (Fire) - Working fast, the investigation has to continue to uncover which merchants are involved, and who simply have the bad luck of having the goods passing through their stocks...

Phase 3-
TN 3 Government (Earth) - Knowing how the law works, and the mandates of given Clans, is someone abusing the system for ill gotten gains?
TN 3 Commerce (Fire) - What details are missing, what could have been gleaned. You have access to the ship manifests, what details were left off... and what were changed?

There may yet be things for partial success of the operation.

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Kasumi didn't really think of herself as much of an investigator... but she knew her way around the docks well enough.

And being a Mantis always opened certain doors.




[Turn 1- It Fell Off The Back of the Caravan: TN 1 Seafaring (Fire) - Knowing which shipments from each ship would indicate where the opium might be filtered through | TN: 1 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 1


Spending one opp to mitigate strife, the other to ": Unusual inspiration strikes; add a kept dice set to an opportunity result to the next check you make with another skill"- which I think guarantees an extra opp on my next roll?

Looks like 1 Invesitgation point off of that, TN 1 Seafaring(Fire) cleared]

[Togashi Shinko]

It wasn't that Shinko was especially criminally minded, but she had done plenty of chores, and that guided hey way of thinking. Basically, she didn't think the smugglers enjoyed lugging anything heavy more than she did, so she looks for shortcuts: a way to slide something to move it through the village.

_____

Fell off the back of a caravan - Void 2 Labor 0 | TN: 1 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 3


+2 Investigation points

[Shosuro Kaoru]

It had taken her almost a full week, an unnervingly long delay, but Kaoru had finally managed to get the full picture of the market hierarchy: Who was buying goods from whom, who was truly an independent player and who was but an employee of another merchant in practice, where the money came from and where it returned.

A nice spider web, neatly ordered but for a few strings that did not connect to anything... officially.

Let's investigate these loose threads a bit more, should we?

---

D6LN | It Fell Off The Back of the Caravan | "Round 1" | TN 1 Commerce (Water) | TN: 1 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 5


Success with 4 bonus success: +3 points
Using opportunity to heal 2 strife (Water)

Strife: 3/8

[Kitsu Masaru]

Masaru seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Surely the slender performer had no real business being in Little Khanbulak at this hour but while he was here he might as well help figure out what is happening.

Starting from what they knew and working hos way out Masaru figured who some of the players probably were and paired with some of the information the others gathered it helped the group break into the next layer of the investigation

-------------------
D6 it fell of the back of a caravan skullduggery/air | TN: 1 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1

+1 investigation point
Using opp to negate strife
1/8 Strife

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Kasumi next partnered up with the Kitsuki, Jun... mostly by sizing up various gaijin goods and shaking her head at the more obvious fakes.

"Nah, that'uns real. Genuine Ivory Kingdoms writin'. What? No, I can't read it! Now that'un over there, that looks like total faked crap..."

(Kasumi's next action will be Assisting Jun on his Culture roll, however the hell that functions mechanically in this edition)

[Kitsuki Jun]

"Wait up. If that's Ivory Kingdoms writing... this one over here should be too, right?" Jun glances to Kasumi for confirmation. He scratches a fingernail down the painted surface of a sculpture, casually positioning his body as he does so to block the sightlines of the nearby shopkeepers. He rubs his fingertips together, examining the colored dust under his nails, then leans in and sniffs the raw scrape on the paint to make extra sure. "I thought so. This paint is made with wax-tree oil. But that's a temperate tree. It won't even thrive in southern Crane lands, forget the Ivory Kingdoms."

He nods, self-assured but unable to hide a crackle of excitement. "Mantis-san, wherever these were really made, I'll bet you someone from Rokugan had a hand in altering them."

He catches Masaru's eye and explains to the Lion what he found as well. "I have a feeling that shop assistant over there knows something. He's been watching me for a while, though. I don't think he'll talk to me now." Jun looks a little sheepish about that. "Do you think you can get on his good side?"

---
Stage 2!

Jun passes the Culture check with basic success (whoa that's a lot of blank dice... made it anyway, though). +1 Investigation point!

D6 LN - Investigation event, Culture/Air for Stage 2. Skill 1, unskilled assist from Kasumi, Kitsuki school adds 1 opp. die | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2

Opp used act subtly, I guess? 2 strife.

Jun will use his next turn to assist Kitsu Masaru on the Sentiment check (by pointing him at a soft target). Skilled assistance, so +1 Skill die and keep 1 extra die.

2 turns used.

[Kitsu Masaru]

The Kitsu shook his head gently keeping his voice low "No no Kitsuki-sama talking to him would just bring more suspicion on the group and cause the players here to go into hiding. You see those two shop attendants over there? Makes no sense that they are here, the shop owner could run that place easily on his own at this hour, those two are also much to large and old to be attendants most like ronin muscle. The man watching you also seems to be out of place though no need to be here at this hour with a stand like his."

The Kitsu looked around the market subtly but with an eye as sharp as any katana before coming back to the group "There are a number of shops that don't make sense to be here at this time or to have as many workers for this hour. Those are likely the ones involved."

-----------------------------------
it fell off the back of a caravan sentiment/water skilled assistance from jun | TN: 2 | Success: 6 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 3


+3 investigation points opp heals strife
2/8 strife
3 turns used
11/10 investigation points!

[Shosuro Kaoru]

Kaoru wasn't fully certain what was going on tonight... apropos the Topaz contestants. What exactly was this seemingly makeshift investigation team, on which criteria were its members chosen, when had it been all gathered together, who had legal sanctions from the local Crane authorities and was a maverick...

She decided all her questions could be answered with the word "Dragon" and went on.

It just happened that, in the vicinity of where she was passing, ropes tend to be loose and seams tired, ending up with merchants accidentally dropping things from their sleeves and carts. Sometimes banal, innocent things. Sometimes not so much.

---

Offering skilled support to Togashi Shinko for their next Skulduggery roll

[Togashi Shinko]

Shinko isn't so much of a spy, but with the Shosuro pointing her in the right direction, the process works out rather fast. Shinko pops open crates, looking for anything suspicious as she works down her list:

"Yes...no....no...no...they imported a pleasure toy? Why would you import a pleasure toy? It's not even particularly well compared to" she catches Kaoru's eyes. "Nowhere. Come on, lets move on"

Fell off the back of the wagon - Skullduggery (1 with trained assist) Fire 3 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


+1 Investigation point


Investigation points 12/10
Stage 2 cleared

[Ender]

Working together, the 'yoriki' for lack of a better term, are able to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Amongst the late night crowd, there were some who seemed out of place.

All of the unusual shipments, they were able to discern which had the opium.

All of them were in shipments marked foe delivery to the House of the Exotic, with irrefutable proof of testimony from more nervous Tortoise jisamurai.

Now the question remained... how would the group handle this. Would they go to Asahina Tenshin with the evidence and testimony collected?

Or would they go to Kasuga Touji personally?

[Ender]

Outcome: the Investigation reveals the Opium smuggler is Kasuga Touji.

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Kasumi's take on it was pretty simple.

• Going after Touji by themselves when they had no standing would complicate matters unduly.
• Going to Touji for a better offer would only work if everyone went for it, and she didn't know this crew that well.
• Getting in the Crane's good books was never a bad idea.
• The Tortoise's misstep might be the Mantis Clan's opportunity.

So she was in favor of telling Asahina Tenshin everything.

[Kitsuki Jun]

Jun doesn't even entertain the thought that his fellow competitors might possibly want anything else from this situation, besides the cessation of this corrupt and demonstrably harmful scheme.

Or at least he doesn't let on otherwise.

The magistrate has the proper authority to deal with Kasuga Touji with the least disruption to the marketplace and danger to nearby citizens. Of course the gang has got to tell him. If they're lucky, maybe he'll let them in on what happens next...

In short, the young Dragon makes it pretty obvious that he thinks their next move is to go to the Crane, and that he naturally expects everyone else to feel the same way.