The tea house sits over the koi pond, elegant and still. Arimari stands at the threshold with the sealed packet beneath his cloak, while Reina’s ears pin back toward the shadows.
Reina
Guards. Two near the rear screen, one by the garden path. Jiro is waiting for you to speak first.
Matsunaga Jiro remains on the veranda, hands resting on his knees, calm as if he owns the silence. The hidden watches do not move, but their stillness feels deliberate.
Jiro
You have brought the packet. Good. Come closer, and let us see whether it still serves your lord, or mine.
Arimari steps in just enough for Jiro to see him clearly. The packet answers the light with its red seal, and the room tightens around that small square of wax.
Jiro
If you wish to secure your clan’s place, place it here and tell me who sent you. If not, then your visit has already chosen sides.
“Is Jiro the conspirator behind the forgery?”
NO (VeryLikely, rolled 91)
Arimari studies the man, but the stillness in Jiro's posture reveals no hidden malice or secret intent. The tea house master is merely a pawn in a larger game, his confidence a mask for someone else's design.
“Is Jiro the conspirator behind the forgery?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 73)
Arimari observes the subtle tremors in Jiro's hands as he pours the tea, realizing the man lacks the cold resolve of a true mastermind. The tea house master is merely a frightened intermediary, caught in a web he does not fully understand.
“Is Jiro the conspirator behind the forgery?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 36)
Arimari watches the tea master closely, noting the genuine confusion in his eyes as he denies any knowledge of the forgery. It becomes clear that Jiro is a mere puppet, terrified of the true architect who pulls his strings from the shadows.
“Question Jiro about the hidden architect”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled -1)
Arimari lets the silence settle, then presses Jiro with one careful question about the hand behind this trap.
Jiro
If I name him, I am dead either way. He paid in advance, through a man with a lacquered box and a scar at the throat.
Arimari Tiarasan
A go-between, not the master. The real name is still hiding behind layers.
Reina
A scar at the throat narrows it. Did he speak a clan name, or only a place?
Jiro
Only a place, a storehouse road north of the pond district. And he said the packet must reach the tea house before dusk, unopened.
Jiro's hands lower to the table. His fear does not vanish, but it changes shape, from denial to confession.
Jiro
I never forged anything. I was told to host the handoff, and to watch for who came with clean sandals and no servant at his heel. If you still want the truth, ask me the right question.
“Did the man mention a clan name?”
YES (Unlikely, rolled 23)
Jiro
He did not speak it aloud, but he left a ledger behind when he fled the room. It bore the crest of the Takeda clan, stamped in red wax on the spine.
Arimari Tiarasan
The Takeda are far from these lands, yet their reach is long enough to touch this tea house.
Reina
If the Takeda are involved, this is no longer a simple forgery. It is a prelude to something much larger.
“I examine the Takeda ledger closely”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled +3)
Arimari draws the ledger closer and opens it wider, the Takeda crest catching the last dull light from the screens.
Arimari Tiarasan
The margins are not merchant notes. They are tallies, names, and delivery marks.
His finger traces a repeated seal mark, and beneath one blot of red wax he finds a tea-house road code written in a shakier hand.
Reina
That hand is frightened. The real clerk is hiding, or being watched.
A second page gives him more, a scheduled meeting at the storehouse road, and the word Kurogane copied in beside it as if by a thief trying to frame a shadow.
Jiro
I did not write that. I swear it. I only kept the book.
Outside, footsteps crunch along the veranda, then stop. A man unseen clears his throat beyond the paper wall.
Unknown Voice
Tea house master, open the ledger and show me the name you found.
“I question Jiro about the tea-house road code”
SUCCESS (Good Investigation, rolled +1)
Arimari lets the ledger stay open and asks about the road code instead of the names. Jiro blinks, then leans closer, relieved to answer something he understands.
Jiro
Those marks? They are not merchant script. Tea houses use them to warn each other when a messenger is late, or when a road is watched.
He points with a trembling finger at the repeated seal, then at the shakier line beside it. Reina’s ears angle toward him, her attention sharpening.
Reina
The hand that wrote this knew the district, but not the code well. Someone copied it from memory, or under pressure.
Jiro
Yes. And this mark here, it means the exchange is moved. Not canceled. Moved to the north storehouse road, before the second watch.
Jiro swallows and lowers his voice, glancing once toward the paper wall before looking back to Arimari.
Jiro
If you know who taught that clerk to write, I may know the man. He paid in advance, and he spoke like a retainer trying to sound common.
Quest Complete
Deliver the sealed packet to the nearby tea house
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great