In Thunder's Echo (Legend of the Five Rings Quest)

[Sirrocco]

I figure if we can prove the doshin is corrupt that should do it. As for the ariving Scorpion magistrates, i think it is too soon to talk about that, at least until the deal is actually struck, between out superiors and the Lion. I seem to recall that the pass gets snowed in during the winter, so any magistrate help might not arive for weeks. Though I could be misremebering that.

As for Pale Oak being one of ours I kind of doubt it, but anything is possible. Making sure the convestaion is not overheard is well taken, I'll add it to the vote, though I am unsure if our quarters are the best location for that, for multiple reasons.

Click to shrink...

I think you mean Strong Birch. Pale Oak is absolutely one of ours. Our quarters is pretty much the best place for it, because that's the *only* place we can be largely sure of not being overheard.

Letting him know about the magistrates was more to give him a chance to prepare, long-term. They're coming eventually, and there's no reason *not* to give him a heads-up (given that we can trust his discretion - which I tend to believe we can). Stuff like this is a big part of the benefits we give the man. As for how soon... well, there is that endurance march back and forth across the pass later this winter. "Snowed in" doesn't necessarily mean "utterly impassible". I suspect that the speed with which they show up is going to be a function of how desperate the Lion are, and how much they're willing to offer.

 

[Dirtnap]

[x] Talk to Pale Oak about the Five Arches

 

[Sirrocco]

Hmm... another thought occurs as to the discussion with Pale Oak. We've been doing quite well presenting as (for the most part) Honorable Scorpion. That's gotten us a *lot* further into the workings of the Lion Magistrate's office, and that presents quite a lot of opportunity. At the same time, it means that we aren't going to be as willing to get our underlings off on technicalities, if they happen to get caught at something. We're giving him a lot more to work with than he normally has, but the cost of that is that there's likely not going to be as much protection if he happens to screw up and get caught, and can't swing the plausible deniability. We don't *expect* him to be caught, but the overall diplomatic positioning of the Scorpion delegation at this Winter court is unusual, and we figure it's better for all involved that he learns this before it becomes pertinent.

 

[Maugan Ra]

Later that day, you find yourself back in your quarters, making your report to Bayushi Kimoko. The senior bushi is still recovering from her wounds, and her torso is tightly wound with bandages, but she seems in good spirits and will likely be fully recovered within a few more days - testament to both her personal fortitude and the beneficence of the spirits.

"In essence, then, Soshi-san..." She says, smiling beneath her half-mask. "Otomo Kairyu now owes you his life, you've made a positive impression on the local magistrates and you've set things up so that we can thoroughly infiltrate their law enforcement at several levels... while leaving them with the impression that this was their own idea or is otherwise to their own advantage."

"I do not wish to brag, Bayushi-sama... but yes." You say neutrally, trying very hard not to sound too satisfied with yourself. The courts, it seems, offer both great risk and great rewards for those willing to dare them and able to navigate their way through with sufficient skill.

"Very good, Soshi-san. I shall have to remember to send a letter to your sensei, congratulating them on training such an effective samurai." Despite yourself, you flush with pleasure.

"You honour me, Bayushi-sama. How should I proceed from here?"

Kimoko leans back and considers that one at length, silently turning over possibilities in her mind. You wait patiently, content to remain quiet until your superior has an answer for you.

"For now, Soshi-san... I believe discretion is in order." Kimoko says at last. "Finish this business with the peasant, and then stand back for a time. Rumours will already be flying, and you will have attracted a degree of attention. We must take the time to allow the court's eyes to turn to other matters, lest they see fit to take more direct action against you."

"You believe I may be in danger, Bayushi-sama?" You ask, concerned but not afraid.

"You are a samurai, Soshi-san. You are never more than three feet from death." Bayushi Kimoko replies chidingly. "But yes. You have proven yourself an efficient and capable subordinate. Anyone who seeks to impede our mission here is increasingly likely to target you. Act with discretion for the immediate future, and give me time to provide cover with a distraction... and to properly consolidate the gains you have made with the magistrates."

"Of course, Bayushi-sama." You say, bowing your head.

-/-

It is drawing towards late evening by the time you manage to arrange a meeting with Pale Oak, the scribe having been absent for most of the day on one errand or another. Only now have you both managed to find the time to sit down and have a quiet conversation, relying on his staff and Hanzo's wards to deter any eavesdroppers.

"My humblest apologies for my absence, Soshi-dono." Pale Oak says sincerely, bowing deeply to you. "I would normally make sure to coordinate my actions with your own to best suit your intended goals, but developments here required my personal involvement in order to be resolved in the most satisfactory fashion."

You gave levelly at the heimin for a long moment, wondering what secrets he hides behind his obedient exterior. Still, for all that his absence was inconvenient, he remains one of your most useful tools here at the moment, and you have no real cause to doubt his loyalty.

"Apology accepted, Pale Oak-san. The scrolls you left for me were sufficiently informative to make up for your own absence." You say after a sufficient pause. "On which note, I have been working on your request regarding the magistrates."

Speaking swiftly, you lay out what you observed and the actions you have taken in that regard, your scribe and likely spy listening attentively. By the time you have finished, the heimin is smiling broadly.

"Ah, that is most excellent, Soshi-dono. I believe that will be all that I need - barring any direct action from the daimyo and her agents, we should be deeply embedded in Shiro Matsu by winter's end." He says in tones of absolute satisfaction. "As time passes, I believe the services we can provide to you will only increase. Is there anything I can assist you with presently?"

"Tell me of the Five Arches theater. I understand the manager has been arrested for smuggling, and I intend to testify to his innocence." You say crisply. "How honest am I going to have to be?"

Pale Oak blinks in momentary surprise, but opts not to ask why, for such would be far beyond his rights as a servant. "The Five Arches, Soshi-dono? It is a perfectly legal establishment, unconnected to illegal activities of any kind. There are criminal rings operating within Shiro Matsu, including smugglers, but I do not believe any of them are involved with a theater."

"Hm. Good to know." You say thoughtfully. "I need a degree of evidence to support my own testimony for best effect. Can you provide it?"

"Naturally, Soshi-dono. The only question is the degree." Pale Oak says with a smile.

Pale Oak can provide the following forms of 'evidence' to support your testimony. Please select which options you instruct him to pursue. You can select more than one, but increasingly complicated arrangements will take more time and involve more points of potential failure.

[ ] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.
- [ ] (Optional) Have a genuine criminal framed for being in the area at the time.
[ ] Have the doshin Taru blackmailed or threatened into retracting his testimony
[ ] Have evidence planted in Taru's lodgings that indicate he is a smuggler.
[ ] Have Taru killed.
- [ ] (Optional) Make it look like an accident.
- [ ] (Optional) Make it look like the unknown rebels did it.
[ ] Write in

-/-

There are two days remaining until the next scheduled event. Each day can contain up to two notable actions - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The resolution of the Strong Birch side quest will take one action, so you have three other choices remaining.

Viable options include spending time with NPCs, investigating a particular rumor or possibility, training in a particular skill or combat style, or almost anything else you could imagine.

How do you spend the remaining time?
[ ] Write in (x3)

 

[Droman]

[x] Plan Droman (Aka, all the alibis)
- Pale Oak will provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling, while having a genuine criminal framed for being in the area at the time. Meanwhile, the doshin Taru will be blackmailed or threatened into retracting his testimony, but regardless it will be revealed through evidence planted in his lodgings that he is a smuggler, with ties to the aforementioned criminal from before. As a result, we will move to arrest him, but he will be killed by choking on a sesame seed, which will be tied back to the unknown rebels who sought to eliminate their now useless pawn.
- All three actions will be spent to aid Strong Birch in making this possible.

 

[Bastur2]

@Maugan Ra what could we train in the time we have?

How would it works?

Would each action be equal to one XP?

 

[veekie]

Hmm, sounds like the safe option is to frame a real criminal for it. That resolves this with fewest new enemies.

Framing the accusor is morally satisfying...but its heimin vs doshin and that's a bad end for the heimin

 

[Bastur2]

Hmm, sounds like the safe option is to frame a real criminal for it. That resolves this with fewest new enemies.

Framing the accusor is morally satisfying...but its heimin vs doshin and that's a bad end for the heimin

Click to shrink...

I fear the repercussions of framing a true criminal... as it would demonstrate the ineptitude of the Lion's magistrates...

 

[Da Boyz]

Hmm, sounds like the safe option is to frame a real criminal for it. That resolves this with fewest new enemies.

Framing the accusor is morally satisfying...but its heimin vs doshin and that's a bad end for the heimin

Click to shrink...

If we plant evidence in his lodgings and arrange for someone of sufficient standing to find it then he's basically screwed.

I fear the repercussions of framing a true criminal... as it would demonstrate the ineptitude of the Lion's magistrates...

Click to shrink...

If the Lion magistrates find it then so long as it doesn't lead back to us (and holy shit would Pale Oak have to fuck up for it to) it will just underscore how important bringing in a few Scorpion advisers are.

 

[Dirtnap]

[] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.

Let's not go too overboard with this. Enough to free Strong Birch is what we need to secure the maid's loyalty and our boss just told us to keep our heads down for a bit. As for the rest...

[] Learn more calligraphy with Doji Mariko. Work on poetry too.
[] Speak more with Asako Tani.
[] Perhaps spend some time with Daidoji Chen at the Go board.

Vote changed.

 

[Hydroplatypus]

There's also the problem of the doshin trying a second time. After all, if at first you don't succeed, and all that. Especially if we make him look incompetent. Best to include some measure that prevents the doshin from doing so, whether that be killing him, framing him, or seeing that he be transferred elsewhere.

 

[Dirtnap]

There's also the problem of the doshin trying a second time. After all, if at first you don't succeed, and all that. Especially if we make him look incompetent. Best to include some measure that prevents the doshin from doing so, whether that be killing him, framing him, or seeing that he be transferred elsewhere.

Click to shrink...

If he fails the first time, there's less of a chance for him to bring it back up. After all a Samurai is telling him, 'you are wrong'.

 

[veekie]

The problem is that jurisprudence in this era is more of finding someone to blame for the crime than finding the right person at all.

For it to be effective, you want to either prove there is no crime, OR that someone is convicted of it.

Unless you want the poor guy to be exornerated, but for the magistrate to keep looking until he finds someone suspicious(namely our spies)

 

[Sirrocco]

[x] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.
-[x] Additionally, provide evidence that the doshin Taru was not merely mistaken, but actively malicious in making his accusation - abusing the trust of his superiors for his own petty vendettas.

[x] Spend more time with Doji Mariko. Teach her some Go. Continue to flirt, but not quite as shamelessly.
[x] Speak more with Asako Tani.
[x] After providing the evidence that Pale Oak gets for you, see if you can actually attend a showing at the Five Arches with that yoriki. I should imagine that Strong Birch would be willing to arrange that one should occur at an appropriate time.

I can't imagine that the Lion would take a doshin abusing his station (and generating a miscarriage of justice) all that well. Additionally, it has the benefit of being more or less true, which should make it significantly easier to fabricate, and easier to extract a confession.

Also... "How honest am I going to have to be?" - classic.

Quick legal check for @Maugan Ra - that *is* the sort of thing that carries the death penalty in Rokugan, right?

As for time spent... I agree that we want to spend at least some time with Doji Mariko, but it would be good to not be too far in her debt. Hanging around with Asako Tani is nice and low-key, and shouldn't be a threat to anyone. Following through on our offer to hang out with the yoriki just makes good sense as a credibility-building exercise.

 

[gman391]

In Rokugan basically everything a Peasant does carries the death penalty.
That's why they're peasants.

 

[The Laurent]

[x] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.
-[x] Additionally, provide evidence that the doshin Taru was not merely mistaken, but actively malicious in making his accusation - abusing the trust of his superiors for his own petty vendettas.

[x] Spend more time with Doji Mariko. Teach her some Go. Continue to flirt, but not quite as shamelessly.
[x] Speak more with Asako Tani.
[x] After providing the evidence that Pale Oak gets for you, see if you can actually attend a showing at the Five Arches with that yoriki. I should imagine that Strong Birch would be willing to arrange that one should occur at an appropriate time.

I can't imagine that the Lion would take a doshin abusing his station (and generating a miscarriage of justice) all that well. Additionally, it has the benefit of being more or less true, which should make it significantly easier to fabricate, and easier to extract a confession.

Also... "How honest am I going to have to be?" - classic.

Quick legal check for @Maugan Ra - that *is* the sort of thing that carries the death penalty in Rokugan, right?

Click to shrink...

How long is it until the poetry contest? Should we practice that?

 

[Sirrocco]

In Rokugan basically everything a Peasant does carries the death penalty.
That's why they're peasants.

Click to shrink...

That's... not what previous Lore:Law checks have seemed to suggest.

How long is it until the poetry contest? Should we practice that?

Click to shrink...

It's six days after River of Stars (the romance-based one we're paying attention to coming up). Right now, we have 4k3 in awareness+poetry, which is plenty to go a couple of rounds and then bow out gracefully. Given what Bayushi Kimiko is saying though, we don't really *want* to dominate this one. We're probably better off not dominating much of anything for the next while until someone else demonstrates a fair amount of awesome. "Fading back into the background" and "triumphing in competition" don't really mix.

edit: just realized... given the stuff we've pulled off thus far, if Doji Mariko thinks she's in as deep as we think she is, she might be Very Interested Indeed in our time and attention. She came to us as "Oh, look - potential ally. I *need* allies." Then we turned out to be a tiny Scorpion badass, with a surprising amount of influence with the Lion. She's a Crane, not a Scorpion. It's highly unlikely that she has "die for the betterment of my Clan and/or the plans of my superiors" as a personaly objective. Given that, it's a near certainty that she has "don't get killed by the Lion" as a personal objective - and in the past little while, we've both demonstrated and increased our ability to convince the Lion to do things like not kill her.

Daidoji Chen is likely seeing the same things.

Our Kakita friend, however, is likely Not Best Pleased. We should maybe bring that up next time we talk with the woman.

 

[Dirtnap]

hrm.

Tiny squid's vote is about the same as mine so in the interest of solidarity,

[x] Sirrocco

 

[legiodamnatus]

Sir Tinysquid is once again demonstrating his adroit handling of all aspects of Rokugan(i?) society.

[X] Sirrocco

 

[Sirrocco]

hrm.

Tiny squid's vote is about the same as mine so in the interest of solidarity,

[x] Sirrocco

Click to shrink...

I admit that mine was built as tweaks off of yours. Thank you for your solidarity.

Also, just to check - @Maugan Ra, after the Display of Steel, we'd wanted to ask Pale Oak for a quick run-down of what assets the Crab had that they might be interested in trading, what assets we had that we might be interested in trading, and rough comparative values, so that the next time the gambling situation came up we would not need to demur in the same way. (It's not that we need you to come up with them. We just need Naoto to know in character.) We've passed that request on by now, right?

edit: also, random thinking about Bayushi Kimiko's warning. Who would want to kill us? Well, what reasons would they have?
- Dislikes the Scorpion Clan and wants to get rid of us before we can achieve anything else.
- Dislikes the Lion Clan and wants to take us from play to cut down on the degree to which we're supporting them (kind of).
- Jealous of our growing influence in the Crane delegation.
- Might not mind getting into a war with the Lion, if it all comes out.

Not the Crab. They mostly like us, and they pretty much just care about getting the resources to feed their war machine - which we help with. Not the Phoenix. They like us, and aren't inclined towards killing. Dragon is highly unlikely. He seems pretty chill, and doesn't seem to be the sort to care much about our achievements. Not the Lion in general. They generally like what we're doing. Not the Otomo - for a bunch of reasons. Unicorn... seems unlikely. In particular, they don't seem to care all that much about the Scorpion, and they don't seem to have any real issues with the Lion. It's possible, but unlikely.

The Mantis? Oh, yeah. They hit every button straight-on. Also... there's some revolutionary fervor at a low boil in the city. Indeed, we've encountered and thwarted some of it. The Yoritomo are often quite good at bending the lower classes to their will. Okay, that's mostly their magistrates, but it's still a factor. The assassin used a bow... and the Wasp is the one most prone to hating us.

I'm not saying that they *will* attack us. I'm noting that the possibility exists that we'll be ambushed again. Perhaps it will be angry revolutionaries. Perhaps it will be angry revolutionaries that have been manipulated by the Mantis. Perhaps it will be a Wasp archer *pretending* to be an angry revolutionary that's been manipulated by the Mantis. Perhaps it will be more than one of the above.

Of course, we also have an easily-manipulated Lion and a potentially unhappy Kakita to deal with as well, who might wish us dead for personal reasons. Can't forget those. Hopefully the Kakita at least will maintain enough of that vaunted Crane sense of honor to wish to be insulted first (or to insult us). We must be certain not to offer him any (and should he insult us, to insist on a more public duel).

 

[Dark as Silver]

"I do not wish to brag, Bayushi-sama... but the only way it could have gone better is if the archer implicated Ginwei." You say neutrally

Click to shrink...

Personally I'd have gone with this.

 

[Kelenas]

[] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.
-[] Additionally, provide evidence that the doshin Taru was not merely mistaken, but actively malicious in making his accusation - abusing the trust of his superiors for his own petty vendettas.

Click to shrink...

While this would probably make sure Taru can't go after Strong Birch in the future, I can't help but think it would be best if we also went and produced the actual "smuggler" in order to make sure that the Lion loses all interest in Strong Birch.
Maybe frame some other criminal as the smuggler and tie him to Taru? Ie, the criminal approaching a corrupt doshin, who then tries to kill two birds with one stone by framing a personal grudge in place of the person bribing him?

Maybe stagger things out a bit over a few days, in order to make things less "neat" and allay the Lion's suspicions that we might have set this up (even though we did). Could even go so far as to extend this to one of the Scorpion Magistrates that'll come here due to the agreement; ie, let them "catch" the actual smuggler. That way they'd also have some immediate success to show off for their efforts.

 

[primemountain]

Seems to me we are doing really good right now. I have an itch just between my shoulderblades, like someone is about to stab us in the back. What have the other Clans been up to? Time to play devils advocate:

While helping Wren(the girls uncle) was a product of out being honorable to her, another Clan could meddle in the procedeings trying to discredit us, espetially if word of what we negotiated spreads. Imagine manufacturing all this evidence and swearing Stron Birch is inoccent before a magistrate only for Strong Birch to come out and confess he is a smuggler. That would at least damage our reputation and likely kill the deal we made before our boss can consolidate our gains.

Furthermore this whole thing could be a trap, either for us, or for our inteligence net, a kind of counter-inteligence operation someone(like say Mantis, or even a wierd Lion) might be running to catch our agents. So I would prefer a more considered approach then "Win All The Things".(keep in mind Wren was a servant assigned to the Scorpion, she could be in on it, or part of another organization-Clan or otherwise)

Taru,the corrupt doshin, could be useful if he is not in someone elses pocket(someone else at court,likely). Gathering evidence, and investigating him could lead us to others, maybe even to whomever ordered the assasination. If it fails, we still get to either suborn him to work for us, or we can allways shut him down later. I'd rather not take unnesescary risks there now, when our people could be walking into a trap.

@Maugan Ra : Can I get a Lore check(if it is Lore) to see if Soshi knows some plays that contain smugglers? Or lines that could be miscrued as belonging to smugglers? If so, giving several such names to Pale Oak, and him checking if any of those plays are on the theater list(for what shows are coming) might work as a second alternative for an alibi.

[ X ] Provide an alibi for Strong Birch at the time he was alleged to have been discussing smuggling.
-Specifically, try and find out his actual alibi (the truth). If that fails, see if you can not provide an alibi, first from the other actors(it was just preparation for a role in a show), and if that fails create an alibi. But in any case, be careful, as other agents are likely about.
-Also, before testfying to a magistrate, question Strong Birch himself to make sure someone else has not gotten to him.

[ X ] Regardless of Strong Birch-es situation, investigate Taru, to see if he has other masters, or is part of some kind of organisation. If not, gather evidence with an eye out for either suborning him to work for us, or removing him from play.

The Cran situation- I feel like the Crane have three prongs to their act towards us:
-The Bodyguard plays Go with us, and makes friends, keeping an open chanel between Crane and Scorpion(and others through us).
-The Lady seduces us, and uses our infactuation to manipulate us towards their clan(or just poach us) and produce an incident if needed.
-The Kakita stands as executioner. If they need to remove us is for Doji Mariko to manufature an incident. In a duel to the death against a Kakita, how public it is is not likely to matter. We are just dead. So I would rather not push the relationship with Mariko, lest we be removed from play by a supposedly jealous boyfriend. Remember, the Crane excel at Court. What we think we see may not be what is true. Thus:

[ X ] Spend one time slot, prefereably an afternoon one, playing Go with Daidoji Chen. Should Doji Mariko grace us with her presence, accept the change of schedual, even topic if needed. Moving from Go to poetry if she wants to, or offer to teach her some Go. Do not start flirting with her, but flirt back if she flirts with us. Surrender her the initiative, so to speak. If she does not show, mention enjoying her company to Chen(as a signal you are open to spending more time with her), but stay by your words of not presurring her into anything. Be careful not to actually get infatuated, it is a pleasure to spend time with her, but we are not yet seeking to court her.

[ X ]Speak more with Asako Tani. Discuss the coming Festival of the River of Stars. See if we can not begin to court Tani (if she proves intrested and is not otherwise engaged/married). Politely equire how we might help the Phenix in Beiden Pass. (What they want, basicly)

[ X ] Speak to Yogo Hanzo. See how his time is going and if we can build a tighter bond with our fellow Scorpion. Allways good to be on the good side of the healers.

******************
That is the main stuff. We could also:

[ X ] As a minor action invite some of the Lion samurai to spar with us in our morning sessions. Some of them will hand us our ass but it should be a learning experience.

if we think that is a good idea, or do we want to wait until we are are better at kenjutsu first?

 

[Wade Garrett]

Hmmm.

Okay, so Strong Birch gets arrested. We, a Scorpion, testify as to his innocence. And then it just so happens that his accuser his life ruined....is it just me, or does it look like at that point the Five Arches might as well hang up a giant placard that says "We're Totally A Front For The Scorpion Clan"?

Which could be a good thing and a bad thing, if "everyone knows" the Five Arches is a Scorpion front then they'll be paying attention to it, not various other things.

On that note....I'd like to know more about this doshin before we start screwing with him. If he's just a dick who has an axe to grind with Strong Birch, that's one thing, but if he just so happens to be legitimately dirty and was offering up Birch as a patsy for his own dirty deeds...our Clan having their hooks deep in the Shiro Matsu cops is great.

Having hooks in the cops and the criminals is even better.

 

[Sirrocco]

Hmmm.

Okay, so Strong Birch gets arrested. We, a Scorpion, testify as to his innocence. And then it just so happens that his accuser his life ruined....is it just me, or does it look like at that point the Five Arches might as well hang up a giant placard that says "We're Totally A Front For The Scorpion Clan"?

Which could be a good thing and a bad thing, if "everyone knows" the Five Arches is a Scorpion front then they'll be paying attention to it, not various other things.

On that note....I'd like to know more about this doshin before we start screwing with him. If he's just a dick who has an axe to grind with Strong Birch, that's one thing, but if he just so happens to be legitimately dirty and was offering up Birch as a patsy for his own dirty deeds...our Clan having their hooks deep in the Shiro Matsu cops is great.

Having hooks in the cops and the criminals is even better.

Click to shrink...

I'd be wary of the urge to overcommit. We've *already* set things up to have our hooks deep in the cops in this town. We're going to have a small strike force of Scorpion Magistrates actively seeking out plots and corruption. If there are corrupt cops, those guys will be *much* better positioned to find them than we are.

As far as Scorpion Front... you are looking at the narrative wrong. The narrative here (at least for my own vote) is "Corrupt cop fingers innocent man. Scorpion finds out about it, and reveals corrupt cop. Innocent man goes free." If the corrupt cop in question was getting his life ruined by other means, then that starts looking pretty suspicious, but this part is pretty straightforward. Similarly, we have a guilty party in this case. There was no smuggling, just the accusation, and we have found the guilty party there.

The Strong Birch thing does not need or want to be deeply complicated. The simpler we keep it, the fewer resources we spend. It's also functioning at a level below what most folks will bother to deal with. The fact that we saved Otomo-sama's life is going to be news, and everyone will know. The fact that we corrected a miscarriage of justice in the case of this one random heimen? Realy, very few are going to care. Admittedly, someone *could* attack us by forcing him to falsely confess. Mind you, though, that's harder than it looks. They'd have to come up with a threat that would be worse than being killed while rendering his family penniless. At that point, we just make sure that he knows if someone else comes after him he can come to us for help, and "go to the Scorpion in desperation" starts sounding like the better option almost regardless.

The Crane situation- I feel like the Crane have three prongs to their act towards us:
-The Bodyguard plays Go with us, and makes friends, keeping an open chanel between Crane and Scorpion(and others through us).
-The Lady seduces us, and uses our infactuation to manipulate us towards their clan(or just poach us) and produce an incident if needed.
-The Kakita stands as executioner. If they need to remove us is for Doji Mariko to manufature an incident. In a duel to the death against a Kakita, how public it is is not likely to matter. We are just dead. So I would rather not push the relationship with Mariko, lest we be removed from play by a supposedly jealous boyfriend. Remember, the Crane excel at Court. What we think we see may not be what is true. Thus:

Click to shrink...

The Crane "Seduce. Maybe execute." plan... that makes a worrisome amount of sense. Fortunately, you are at least somewhat incorrect. In particular, making it public rather than private duel means that we can probably force it to be a kenjutsu duel rather than an iajutsu duel. That'll help a fair bit. It also means that they'll have to justify making it a duel to the death, which will likely be costly, diplomatically. Not that it's not a threat - it is a threat. It's just that there are things we can do to control for it.

More thoughts later.