Campaign Overview
Probably-Necessary Legal Stuff : OpenRPG is open-source software distributed under the GNU/GPL License, and is part of, a product of, or an affiliate of (not sure which, they lack any sort of "About Us" page) Sourceforge.net.  3rd-Edition Dungeons And Dragons (3E D&D) and Oriental Adventures are copyright, trademark, rights reserved, etc. and property of Wizards Of The Coast.  Rokugan, the Emerald Empire, the Clans, the Fortunes, the Kami, Ikoma, Kakita, Akodo Kaneka, Emperor Toturi, shugenja, and all character, location, and item names except for Kiran, Kai Lyn, Satoru, Masato, Nerfereti, Shujo, Mai, Shoko, Aka, Giadan, Korishi, Aoshi, Silverstreak, Chaouji, Kiro, Kari, Lurnak, Jigoru, and Lokan, are copyright, trademark, rights reserved, etc. and property of Alderac Entertainment Group.
It is autumn in Rokugan, and the eldest son of the late Emperor Toturi, the reknowned samurai Akodo Kaneka, called several folk from the lands of the Emerald Empire to the Imperial Palace in Otosan Uchi.  He charged Bayushi Shujo, Asako Nerfereti, Kakita Masato, Daidoji Satoru, Kai Lyn, and Kiran with the task of investigating the demise of his father the Emperor.  The group first set out for the Shinomen Forest, where Emperor Toturi was slain by a mighty oni, and where they must find the first clues as to how the oni had learned of Toturi's journey and sneaken into the Empire to ambush and slay Toturi.
The party travelled across the plains of the Crane lands near Otosan Uchi, and encountered a mysterious half-elven ronin, who attacked them for seemingly no reason.  The party slew the ronin, but have been unable as yet to learn why he had attacked them.  The party carries the ronin's daisho however, his family's katana and wakizashi, hoping to discover later the ronin's reasons for attacking them, and possibly returning the daisho to the family of the dead ronin.  After fighting the ronin, the party rested in the village of Kita Chushin.
The party rode on for a day and a half after their night in Kita Chushin, then found themselves ambushed by four bandits on the road.  The party battled the four honorless rogues, who managed to mortally wound both Shujo and Masato before the party vanquished them.  Kiran saved Masato from death, but Shujo nearly died before one of the party's heimin servants managed to apply some critical first aid.  After the battle, the servant kept Shujo stable overnight until Kiran was able to heal the Scorpion samurai with the power of the spirits.  The party rode hard the next day to make up for lost time, and reached Kaeru village the morning after that.  In Kaeru, Masato received aid from an herbalist to recover from his wounds, and the party shopped and relaxed.  As they supped, they met Shosuro Giadan, a Scorpion Clan shugenja trained in the Soshi school, who joined them at the behest of the Soshi family daimyo.  The party was naturally suspicious of another Scorpion joining them, but allowed him to come along after checking his papers from Lord Soshi, and Giadan had said he was there to aid them and provide his healing skills and blessings from the Fortunes and Kami.
The party continued on, riding for another three days into Lion Clan territory, towards Shiro Matsu and breaking camp near the Three Sides River, Kawa Mitsu Kishi.  In the evening, as the party camped beside the river, they found a small kappa rummaging through their supplies.  The kappa, calling itself Jigoru, questioned the startled party and claimed that their supplies were now its property, and that they should leave 'its' river after 'trespassing'.  The party debated and bartered with the obstinate little turtle-man for some time before finally convincing Jigoru to leave with only a few of their supplies.  The party rested after their dealings with the annoying kappa, and the next morning they rode on, crossing the river and passing Shiro Matsu, and the day after that they reached Kyakuchu village.  However, they were in for even more strained negotiating, as several Lion Clan samurai stopped them in Kyakuchu and harassed the party for a little while before allowing the party to pass, but not before warning them that they would keep an eye on the travelers.  In Kyakuchu village, the party mostly just rested and relaxed for the day, and the next day they set out again, riding westward and north to go around the Spine Of The World Mountains, Sekitsu Sano Tama No Oi.  The day after that, the party encountered some man-sized monstrous centipedes, strange creatures that tried to devour Masato and Satoru, but the samurai quickly slew the simple, oversized vermin.  The party rode on without further trouble for three days after that, reaching the foothills of the Sekitsu Sano Tama No Oi.  The following day, the party rode onward through the foothills and encountered an old man when they made camp.  The old man approached the group and asked for a meal, and the party decided to oblige him.  The man said he was Lokan, a physician and soothsayer, and after supping, he gave the party several curative potions and salves in thanks, then went about his business.
In the morning the party set out again, riding four days to reach the city of Shiranai, and then they rode on for another day to reach the Unicorn Clan city of Toshi No Aida Ni Kawa.  The party arrived late at night, but in the morning they did some shopping and checking around, purchasing some supplies, a healing kit, and some jade-tipped arrows just in case.  Satoru and Kai Lyn managed to get the potions and salves identified at an apothecary's shop, and Masato managed to learn a little from a local herald and historian, about the half-elf ronin that had attacked the party previously.  The half-elf, or at least the daisho the party had recovered from his corpse, had belonged to some small branch of the Shiba family of the Phoenix Clan, and not a particularly honorable branch of the family apparently.  They had been mysteriously wiped out many years ago, and little knowledge of them was available to the historian Masato spoke with.  Still, he discovered that they had feuded previously with the Ikoma family of the Lion Clan and the Kakita family of the Crane, Masato's family.  After Masato, Kai Lyn, and Satoru finished their business in town, the party rested for the night and then set out again the next morning.