Okay... to hope that the shugenja with a dark family and a desire for payback would be good at politicking was a little to much.
But I still think that we would gain more from letting someone come to us than from going for any of the present options.
Yes we need to talk with Tani, but we also need to talk with everyone else.
Let's let someone have the initiative for once, as we don't really have to get anything else done in this court and we don't have any plans for this conversations.
[X] "watch the art around the room"
I don't know that we can afford to take it slow or passive right now. We don't have Bayushi-sama any more, which means we have to step up.
From a meta sense, how successful we are at this court involves in part how well we find out the goals and motivations of the various named characters, and what we do to fulfill them (or not). We invested rather heavily in the the Crane at first, and then got taken out of action for a while. The Scorpion delegation also lost its most powerful member. The overall results aren't necessarily bad as far as long-term goals (We have Otomo-sama as a personal ally, and we have significant favor with Lion and some credit with the Crane) but right now, we're distinctly behind on everything else.
- Unicorn(4): Yogo Hanzo is handling these. That'll be enough to help keep on friendly terms, which is handy, but it gets us little on finding out what any of them might want. He can also get us an introduction if/when we need it. They seem to be of the peace faction, which means that our clan has probably gotten credit with them for preventing the Lion/Crane war
- Dragon(1): Yogo Hanzo is handling him as well. He's a Mirumoto, he's good with those swords, he's on a religious pilgrimage, and would likely be interested in us arranging for him to be able to visit Shiro no Shosuro.
- Phoenix(2): We have something that might turn into a friendship with Asako Tani. Thus far, she's admitted no desires other than the Peace Faction thing. We have nothing on the Shiba.
- Mantis(2): Effectively no connection or information
- Crab(4): Yasuki is Yasuki, and at least some of her goals are mercantile. We've managed to alienate the Kaiu. We have very little here.
- Crane(1): We don't really know what Daidoji Chen's current goals are. *He* might not know what his current goals are. We should probably talk with him at some point soonish, to try to establish what the new relationship between our delegations should be based on (since the "flirting with Mariko" basis is... well... dead). He might well be sitting on a few trade opportunities that he's ill-equipped to arrange, and may appreciate some straightforward and sympathetic practicality. Also, it seems likely that he's behind in much the same way we are. He didn't lose quite as many days, but I suspect we could make common cause with him fairly readily - especially since we can currently count him as an ally(2,2).
- Otomo(1): We're in pretty solidly with Otomo-sama, but opportunities to improve that relationship are never going to be a bad thing. Actually, he might well be a highly useful source for information. Many of the things we have to trade are useful in rebuilding, and in his professional capacity he might well know where that rebuilding would be most useful for the long-term productivity of the Empire.
- Lion(lots): We're in pretty solid here, too. Not sure what else there is to do other than acting reasonably honorably and staying on their good side. Cultivating the Diamyo's son a bit might be useful at some point, and it's not like we're ever going to not want more Lion favor/influence, but we're already in the "huge success" column (as long as we don't mess things up) and we really need to be playing catch-up elsewhere.
So, of those, we've basically got an in with the Phoenix (one of them) and the Crane (the only one remaining). Also, at some poitn during the court, we (WoQM) need to come to an agreement with each of the attending clans as to tariffs. (By implication, the sole Dragon rep actually does have at least some clout, and is worth cultivating at least some. His art suggests as well that he might be amenable to being approached.)
So, in terms of specific goals and immediate strategies....
- Unicorn: basically under control. We aren't in a good position to pursue their plot hooks, but we are in a good position to painlessly ignore their plot hooks without too much damage. We can take what Yogo Hanzo gets us, and figure that that will be enough.
- Dragon: Basically the same deal as the Unicorn. Yog Hanzo is handling him, and we can't really afford to double up right now.
- Phoenix: Whoof. We need to have a nice, quiet talk at some point, in which we tell her enough about what was going on to satisfy her. I looked back, and we never got word back from our superiors int he Clan. The stuff that Bayushi Kimiko ordered us not to talk about has been mostly revealed anyway, and I don't think we can afford to wait for the round-trip for a message that would tell us what to do with the new info. Unfortunately, she's a loremaster. Anything we tell her will get spread among the Phoenix, at least, pretty quickly. This one is kind of tricky.
- Mantis: We should keep an eye open for some way to get an in to this delegation. Interfering with their attempt to schmooze the Crab is not going to be the way to go on it.
- Crab: We need to get an in back into this delegation at some point, especially given the importance of trade. Unfortunately, our ability to leverage Lion connections has gone down significantly since the last time we examined the situation - and the fact that they're now in the sword-polisher club means that they probably don't need it as much. We could probably gain some favor here by offering them knowledge about the Nothing (especially the "how to spot them", "how do they fight", and "we think they're vulnerable to crystal but maybe not jade" parts) but, again, just handing out that sort of info is not something to be done lightly. It'd be easier if they had a Kuni with them.
- Crane: We should meet with him pretty soon, find out how he's doing, re-establish some sort of a connection with him, and share... probably at least as much as we're sharing with anyone else. Ugh. He'll have good reason to feel affronted if it becomes clear that we have information and have not told him (especially if we'd told anyone else) but he's not exactly the sort of person we want to tell. Yeah, the "how much do we tell who" thing is going to get ugly, and deserves some more thought.
- Otomo: Doing well so far. Grab further opportunities as they present themselves, but no need to focus on him.
- Lion: see Otomo.
side note: not only did we get the clue about the Nothing, but the Yuki-onna told us about the importance of Crystal ("tears of the sun") as well. Also, a *lot* has happened at this court that hasn't made its way to the eyes of our superiors. This info needs to get out.
- We should tell Yogo Hanzo about the connection with Crystal immediately.
- We should have a letter composed for our leadership back home containing basically all of the information we currently have abotu the foe (response to the wards, the bit about Crystal that the yukionna said, the "unmaking the soul" bit that the yukionna said, the bot about the clothing and the facelessness and the claws, and so forth). We can inform them as to the details of Bayushi-sama's death at the same time. Given that our own skill with ciphers may not be up to the task, possibly have "Pale Oak" do the cipher. There's a nontrivial chance that they'll come back to finish the job at some point, and the Scorpion *need* to know.
