L5R 4e – Way of the Shadow
Contents
Introduction
“The Blackness of night only conceals a greater Nothing. We hide in your nightmares, abandoned by the light. Do not fear the servants of Shadow, but the Shadow itself…” – Goju’s Celestial Agonies.
As I write these words, I feel my age more than I ever have before. Seven days ago, in the midst of a great storm, a traveler came to Kitsuki Castle. She asked shelter from the storm, and passed an hour in the castle’s hall. Then, thanking those who had admitted her, she gave them a package and asked them to pass it on to the daimyo. After doing so she left, the storm still raging.
In the morning, the package was brought to me. Unwrapping it, I found the journal of my student, Kitsuki Kaagi. Like all of our students, Kaagi always kept a journal with him to record his investigations. I knew it to be his from the mon, but the wooden box that held the pages was battered, cracked and stained with the marks of fire and water. The clasps were scratched and scarred but remained intact.
The servants who admitted the girl did not recognize her, but from their description, I suspect her to be Kaagi’s servant, an eta. It was no difficult feat for me to open my student’s box, as my key is a master to his. Inside, atop the shuffled paper, was a scrap of rough paper. Hastily scrawled on the paper were the words, “Do Not Read This.” I think the hand may be Kaagi’s, but the letters are so distorted. I cannot be sure.
-Kitsuki Yasu
The Way of Shadow is a module written for the 1st edition of Legend of the Five Rings and in my mind is one of the game’s best modules. I have been wanting to run through it for a few months now, since I got back into the game, and there’s no time like the present. I’m looking for 4-5 PC’s who will be playing as Yoriki’s, or apprentices, to the traveling Magistrate Kitsuki Kaagi. The module runs the gamut from pure investigation, to courtly intrigue and deadly combat. As the back cover says, Adventures of Horror and Madness await you.
Character creation: Standard starting characters per 4th Edition. I’m going to draw the line on Monks because it doesn’t make any sense for them to be acting as Yoriki and no Spider clan. Mantis Clan doesn’t exist yet but if you wanted to play any of those families as being minor clans then I can work with that. If you want a school that’s not in the core rulebook, but is printed somewhere, then just tell me where it is.
Player Characters
Tsuruchi Yoshio
Wasp Clan, Tsuruchi Bounty Hunter, played by **Nick The Lemming**
Matsu Otan
Lion Clan Akodo Bushi, played by **lordmcdeath**
Bayushi Shujinko
Scorpion Clan, Bayushi Bushi, played by **Xadun**
Yasuki Yorisada
Crab Clan - Kuni Witch-Hunter, played by **Waiwode**
Kaori, Ex-Scorpion Ronin, Yogo Wardmaster
using our file "Kaori.gif"
Background
When Kitsuki Kaagi recruited the ronin sohei Kaori he could tell she was nearing the end of the road. Haunted by her past, with a young girl in tow and an almost palpable aura of desperation it didn't take Kaagi long to deduce much about her. It was obvious she had done questionable things, and her slight accent revealed her to him as a former member of the Scorpion, something she tries to hide, along with just about everything concerning her past.
What convinced him to take her on as a yoriki was not only the fact she was a shugenja, which is certainly useful, or her criminal past, which provides a surprisingly useful skill- and mindset for a magistrate to exploit. It was mostly how she acted around her daughter. For the Kitsuki-trained magistrate it was clear as day she loved her more than life itself and that the source of the ronin's desperation was the realization that the road she was traveling would end in disaster for herself and more importantly, her child. It was a calculated risk, but the magistrate thought that if he offered her a way out, he would gain a valuable servant.
Kaagi was right. Kaori lept at the chance. And not just because being in the retinue of a magistrate is the perfect hiding place. You see, she didn't study those scrolls from the forbidden section of the library because she was corrupt or craved the power of Maho. No, she just wanted, no needed to understand how Maho works. She di it purely to expand her understanding. When she was found out she couldn't leave her daughter with her father's family, her child would always be blamed for her 'sins'. She had to kill that sohei whose gear and identity she now uses, along with all the other crimes and murders she committed. How else could she escape her Clan's lands? She needed the koku, contacts and favors to get far, far away. It was just... necessary. She is not really a bad person, is she?
She knows she isn't lost completely because it all weighs heavily on her conscience. That is why she is fiercely loyal to Kaagi. He offers her the chance to be something more than the rotten, bad, worthless person she has proven herself to be. Her greatest fear is what she will do when 'necessity' rears its ugly head again. Her greatest doubt is still whether her daughter is not better off with someone, anyone else but her.
Rings / Traits
Air 2:
- Reflexes 2
- Awareness 2
Earth 2:
- Stamina 2
- Willpower 2
Fire 4:
- Agility 4 (28 xp)
- Intelligence 4
Water 2:
- Strength 2
- Perception 2
Void: 2
Honour: 1.5 Status: 0.0 Glory: 1.0 Insight: 138? (still have to check) Unspend XP: 0
School: Yogo Wardmaster (Rank 1)
Technique:
The Yogo are masters at creating wards for later use. When you cast any spell with the Wards keyword, you may Raise a number of times equal to the spell’s Mastery Level to instead place the spell into a paper ward. Once this is done, the paper ward will hold the spell “latent” until you activate it (as a Simple Action) by placing it on a target. Only you may activate your wards. The ward sticks to the target and immediately discharge the spell, whose duration is measured normally from that moment. If an area-effect spell is discharged onto a living target, it will only affect that target.
Placing a paper ward on an unwilling target requires an unarmed melee attack using a roll of Spellcraft / Agility. An active ward may be physically torn/destroyed, which instantly ends any ongoing spell effects; this requires a Simple Action.
School Skills
- Etiquette (Awa) 1
- Spellcraft (Int) 2 (2 xp)
- Temptation (Awa) 1
- Stealth 2 (Agi) (2 xp)
- Investigation (Per) 1
- Calligraphy (Cypher) (Int) 1
- Lore (Theology) (Int) 1
Non-School Skills
- Lore (Maho) (Int) 1 (free because of Forbidden Knowledge)
- Polearms (Agi) 2 (3 xp)
- Medicine (Int) 1 (1 xp)
- Craft (Poison) (Int?) 1 (1 xp)
- Forgery (Agi) 1 (1 xp)
- Sleight of Hand (Agi) 1 (1 xp)
- Sincerity (Awa) 1 (1 xp)
Advantages (10 xp)
- Dangerous Beauty (2 xp)
- Forbidden Knowledge (Maho) (5 xp)
- Sage (3 xp)
Disadvantages (+10 xp)
- Consumed (Knowledge) (4 xp)
- Dark Secret (4 pts) - Formerly Soshi Kaori, caught studying Maho, currently on the run and having done very shady things, up to and including murder
- Dependent (2+ xp) - Her six year old daughter Tsanuri
Gear
- Robes
- Wakizashi
- Knife
- Paper & writing kit
- Scroll Satchel
- Traveling Pack
- Pack of 20 Paper Wards
- 3 koku
Spells
Ward spells:
- By the Light of the Moon (Air 1)
- Benten's Touch (Air 2)
- Symbol of Blood (Water 1 - Maho - Enemies of the Empire)
Other Spells:
- Never Alone (Fire 1)
- Blood & Darkness (Air 1 - Maho)
- Spreading the Darkness (Earth 2 - Maho)
