Alt-Onin Session 2: The Haunted Shrine

 The PC's get robbed in a Scooby-Doo scenario in a haunted shrine. 

The PC's said farewell to their new friend "Unlucky" Kosatsu, who had business in Odawara and had to tarry about a week or so. The rest of the gang arrived in Sunpu after a relatively uneventful few days on the Tokaido Road. Two days out of Odawara, they encountered bandits, which they easily dealt with. Hironari the Silk Merchant paid the PC's a single monme ($100) as promised, and provided an introduction letter to another merchant in the city of Nagoya. Nagoya is an important stop on the Tokaido, and having another merchant patron will provide lodging and income. This new merchant, a high-class ceramics dealer named Terumasa, also apparently has useful connections among the social and political upper crust of Kyoto and Nagoya, and could be a beneficial friend to have. 

After a night in Sunpu, the PC's set out on the road again. They were caught in a rainstorm in the rugged countryside of Mikawa Province, and sought shelter in an abandoned Shinto shrine known as "Hokisare-Jinja". An old man named Furuso, residing there, offered them a place at his fire. He then fed them delicious stew, which was drugged. Once the PC's were either drugged, asleep, or incapacitated, the old man and his confederates robbed the PC's and tied them to posts. The angry ronin worked themselves free and found a trail leading over the nearby hillside, where they discovered a hamlet inhabited by bandits. 

After a short and bloody skirmish where a number of the bandits were killed, captured, or driven off into the surrounding woods, the PC's were able to recover their weapons and armor. Their cash had unfortunately already been split up among bandit not present, and the PC's only recovered $150 in silver and copper coins. They also looted a small number of katana and wakizashi, all of "cheap" quality, and thus little resale value. Santo no Kai helped himself to the old man's apothecary, which was mostly stocked with ingredients for incapacitating poisons, sleep drugs, and some basic medicines.

Tatsuzo asked old Furuso some hard questions about who he works for. The old man revealed that his gang are all farmers turned bandits after the last famine, as well as members of a failed acting troupe (most theater actors are disreputable types in medieval Japan) from Nagoya. They rely on clever ruses, scary costumes, and drugs rather than brute force because it is less dangerous than getting into swordfights. They found it a safer bet than farming, with a more reliable income. 

The bandit gang pays half of their take to the local Jito (samurai lord of the local area, like a landed knight) in exchange for him turning a blind eye to their doings. His name is Hinode Akaharu, a vassal of the Isshiki. The Ishikki rule most of Mikawa Province, as well as two on the coast of the Sea of Japan. They are neutral towards the Imperial Courts but hate both the Mongols and the Ashikaga. They have tense relations with their neighbors, the Imagawa, with border territories frequently changing hands. The Matsudaira are a vassal clan of the Ishikki.