The Story of Oiwa and Iemon
- Iemon was a merchant patron with a beautiful wife, Oiwa. She had
rarely been seen in public recently due to a lingering illness. Her
illness and some bad fortune had seen the couple reduced to near-poverty
with only a single vassal, Takuetsu, a fishmonger. He frequently
visited the Temple of Daikoku in hopes of reversing his fortunes to no avail.
- It was widely-known that Takuetsu was in love with the beautiful Oiwa, but such was Iemon's poverty that he had no choice but to keep him.
- Takuetsu,
acting out of jealousy for the woman he could never have, slashed
Oiwa's face in order to destroy her beauty. Yet Iemon truly loved her
and even this wasn't enough to come between them. When Takuetsu became
aware of this, he showed up when Iemon was out and murdered her before
fleeing like a coward.
- Iemon was distraught. Seeing his grief, his neighbor Kihei offered to arrange a marriage to his daughter Oume out of compassion. Yet Takuetsu's heart still burned with spiteful fury and on their very wedding night he broke into their home and murdered Oume, leaving her face disfigured in the same fashion as Oiwa as a grim reminder of who was responsible.
- Neither Iemon or Takuetsu have been seen since. With no further leads to follow, the unpleasant matter has been dropped as everyone attempts to move on.
You've also heard additional speculation on what was really going on from the following:
- Acolyte at Temple of the Sun Goddess - "Oiwa was never a human. She pretended to be ill in order to hide that she was really a kitsune. It was her who brought ruin to Iemon and everyone else due to some unknown slight. She eventually faked her death and ran off into the forest."
- Yogo Osako - "Oiwa and Takuetsu had been secretly having an affair. Her illness was merely a cover for her to see him with much of the money spent on her "treatment" simply being embezzled as they plotted to run off together. Eventually Oiwa came to her senses and broke things off with Takuetsu causing him to attack her. He later murdered her to keep her quiet."
As the day started Ichiro Bando was working out with Ashidaka Naritoki, who has been improving significantly under his guidance. He was clear about his desire to seek revenge for the murder of his cousin, but didn't currently have any leads or ideas of who might have been responsible. As he said, a magistrate has many enemies. He had been particularly focused on taking down the "ninja" along with a recent increase in attention to the bandit Fade, but didn't discount those who might have thought negatively of his association with and continued renewal of Magda's residency among others.
At the same time Kasuga Osamu was at the Magistrate Residence where Iuchi Sadako was relating another wild theory. In this case that there was a race of lizard-people in disguise secretly ruling Rokugan. This apparently also involved their involvement with the the Snake Cult who are in conflict with the equally sinister cult of Lord Moon in some fantastically complicated scheme. This was interrupted by Otaku Genshi boldly strutting in followed by her sister, Otaku Naishi and cousin, Ide Asamitsu. She stated her desire to show that she is a woman of her word by arriving with the promised fine Unicorn steed. In addition Naishi expressed pleasure that Kasuga was the one present to receive them as they had with them a foreign delicacy that, given his contact with gaijin, she thought he might enjoy. The assembled Unicorn all enjoyed it with apparent delight while after one serving Kasuga was understandably disturbed to discover the live maggots it was intentionally infested with. He politely avoided it until they left, at which point a servant was instructed to bury it in the garden.
Ichiro visited the Civil Hall where he questioned Naritoki's torturer, Pitiful about the captured bandit he had interrogated. He told him that Naritoki had traveled out to the location stated, but while there was indeed a small hut found at that location it had apparently been long abandoned. Before more information could be gathered, the bandit escaped. He suggested that Naritoki's other retainers, Eyebrows or Ample, might know more.
Mirumoto Tetsuzae suggested heading to Ranmachi in order to try some more agreeable gaijin cuisine. Remembering Shinjo Sanefusa's invitation to visit the House of Foreign Stories they heading for the Licensed Quarter. On the way there, Mirumoto became briefly separated from the rest of the group. Alone in a narrow side-street an attractive woman came up to him wearing a mask, in the Scorpion fashio,n that covered the entire lower half of her face. Walking up to MIrumoto she asked him, "Am I beautiful?" Taken aback he requested her name before answering her question. She paused and eventually said, "Oiwa," before repeating her question. He politely responded in the affirmative at which point she removed her mask, revealing that her mouth had slashed open from ear to ear, grotesquely dripping blood as she opened her mouth widely and further inquired, "Even this?" At this he was noticeably shocked and unable to hide his true feelings. At this she became enraged and lashed out at him with a knife. They fought briefly with Mirumoto defending himself as she was unable to land a blow. However when he struck her with his elbow his arm went right through her head as if it was made of smoke and, with a laugh, she evaporated like mist under the rising sun.
After relating this encounter to the rest they decided to continue on to Teardrop Island. There they met the owner of the House of Foreign Stories, Magda. The strange, golden-haired gaijin served them before leaving them in the company of some of her employees as she presented a wild story about immortal wizards from across the Burning Sands who cannot be killed unless their hidden heart is found. Here Ichiro distinguished himself, becoming surprisingly tipsy after only a single cup of the strange, dark gaijin liquor they were served.
The next day the magistrates went to the Temple of the Sun Goddess in an attempt to find out more about ghosts and what might be done about the woman who had attacked Mirumoto the previous evening. The head priestess, Meiyo, was available to meet with them and after describing the story the tiny, aged woman told them that it sounded very much like the story of a woman named Oiwa who had lived in Ryoko Owari until her death last year. She returned them to an acolyte of the temple in order to relate the story and answer any questions they may have about the matter. (See above)
With greater knowledge of what they may be dealing with the magistrates separated to investigate various leads.
Kasuga traveled to the Leatherworker Quarter where he found Eyebrows in the courtyard of the large, conspicuously two-story house near the Bridge of the Dragon that seemingly serves as the center of public affairs for their community. Wishing to speak in private he led Kasuga to his workplace near the crematorium. He apologized as a fresh body was still laid out, having apparently only arrived early that morning: a middle-aged man with his face slashed open like the ghost. He was unable to provide any new information on the hideout the escaped bandit had led them to, but Kasuga expressed an interest in both learning more about herbalism and healing from him as well as employing him to aid in his own research. An offer that he accepted.
Ichiro instead headed cautiously into the Fisherman Quarter as the Fire Eaters had become quite upset at the magistrates for letting Tamori Yousuke leave the city alive. Thankfully Ample's new quarters were quickly found at a large, cheap inn close to the bridge. The ronin's story of the bandit hideout matched that of the others with no additional information. Ichiro was additionally able to hire the imposing mountain of a man for the price of one koku a month. Taking his payment he intended to move back into his former home in the Noble Quarter as soon as possible.
Mirumoto stayed in the Noble Quarter, going to the Civil Hall to question Yogo Osako about the details of the Oiwa case. She confirmed that both Oiwa and Oume had died and the general timeline of events. (See above) While leaving he overheard that another body had apparently been found.
Attempting to bait the ghost into attacking Mirumoto again, he spent much of the evening by the docks in the Fisherman Quarter as the others kept a watch. This was to no avail as she went unseen.
In the morning, however, the magistrates were awakened early by a pounding on the front gates. Opening it they were confronted with a terrified man wearing the red armbands around each bicep that marked him as a member of the Strong Arm Firemen, more concerning was the deep slash in one cheek. He was eventually calmed down enough to tell the story of how he had met a strange woman on the street the previous evening. She asked him the same questions as Mirumoto, but when he responded "yes" to both she attempted to slash his face open in the same fashion as her own. More surprising was that this man recognized her. As it turns out he had been hired to slash her in the first place by a well-dressed merchant who gave no name, but that he recognized as Kihei.
Kihei was tracked down and initially suspecting a tax issue brought to the Magistrate Residence to discuss the matter further. The Strong Arm confirmed that he was the same man he recalled. Under questioning he eventually admitted to having hired the Fire Eaters to attack Oiwa. His daughter Oume was quite taken with Iemon and jealous of Oiwa's beauty. The scheme was thus hatched that an attack on Oiwa would disfigure her enough that Iemon would be willing to divorce her and a new marriage to Oume could be arranged. Though only a ronin, it would still elevate the heimin merchant's family to the ranks of samurai. Nonetheless, he insisted that at no point had Oiwa's death been intended. The matter escalated far beyond what he had planned, however, and he was filled with regret and great sadness at the loss of his own daughter as a result. Surely a punishment from the fortunes for his actions.