This is a write up of a D&D 5e session titled Taking Yoichiro Home which is part of a mini-campaign being run for Alexander and his friends.

Taking Yoichiro Home

So last time round you found Yoichiro, the son of Seibei, and persuaded him to go home with you to see his dad before he dies. So it’s time to take Yoichiro and his very beautiful (by dwarf standards) girlfriend Nui to the town of Yojimbo, two days ride away from the big city. Yojimbo is 2 days normal travel to the southwest, but you can do it in one day if you push the horses

On the way you spot a burning village on the horizon several miles off to the East as you are riding SW. Zia and Oroborus can also see other riders making for the village from the city, so you decide to carry on towards Yojimbo. When you stop for lunch you notice that Nui is looking worried.  She tells you that she’s worried about whether her parents will be happy, because she ran off to be with Yoichiro without getting permission

Arrival at Yojimbo

After dropping Yoichiro at his parents home, and leaving Nui to go to her folks, you spend some of the evening mooching about town trying to talk to people and find out rumours. Afterwards you gather in the common room in the Silkworm Tavern and share what you find. You’ve discovered that:

• Seibei is the richest man in town, and that he is in partnership with the local mayor (Tazaemon) as silk merchants.
• His right hand man, Ushitori (a human) has recently fallen out with Seibei because Ushitori was hoping to take over the silk merchant business when Seibei died.
• Nui’s brother has lost loads of money to Tokuemon, the local brewery owner.
• Tazaemon, the mayor, is a dwarf and also a silk merchant.

You all get a  good night’s sleep and wake up to find that it is market day in the town. There are stalls being set up in the square with a whole host of farming goods. The primary business in the town is silk farming, there’s a single large silk merchant business, and several weavers and silk farmers supporting it. About half of the fields in the couple of miles around the town were mulberry trees, The rest had a mix of crops,

Collecting Rumours

Other rumours, collected after breakfast amongst those in for the market:

• The local constable, Hansuke (a human) is completely useless, and never intervenes.
• The hardest fighter in town is Inokichi, but he’s pretty dense
• Someone broke into the brewery warehouse last night, but nothing was taken.
• Seibei appears to have made a dramatic recovery
• Seibei is about to die any minute
• Seibei is scheming to buy out the brewery so that he owns the whole town
• Ushitori wants his friend Tokuemon to be the mayor
• Tazaemon (the current mayor) is losing the plot, yesterday he thought his horse was on the council
• There’s a room at the back of the Silkworm where you can pay 100 gold pieces and you know what…
• Hansuke likes dwarf women better than human women
• Isuzu, Seibei’s wife, is a sorceress and uses mind control spells to make people do what is best for Seibei
• Yoichiro ran away because he was scared of Kohei (Nui’s brother)
• Yoichiro ran away because his dad beat him senseless
• Yoichiro ran away because Ushitora beat him up and threatened to kill him
• Yoichiro ran away because Tazaemon bought him out
• Yoichiro didn’t run away, Nui’s parents kidnapped him and had him sent to the mines to stop him courting their daughter. They did the same with their daughter too

While you are having lunch Yoichiro arrives in the Silkworm Tavern, and asks if you’ve seen Nui? She wasn’t at her parents house, and they didn’t see her last night. After some discussion the group splits up, one part to see Nui’s parents and the other to speak to the local constable.

Facts about Nui’s Disappearance

Hansuke, the constable, is eating his lunch at a table just outside the Silkworm tavern.  When he finishes eating Harbek unexplainedly picks a fight with him and ends up unconscious on the floor after hitting Hansuke once with his flaming axe. Orobus attempts to get revenge, but is taken down by a single strike from Hansuke’s halberd.  Hansuke then decides that Elgon is looking well dodgy and thumps him on the head with his baton, making Elgon collapse to the floor. Yoichiro steps in and stops Hansuke from going any further. The three unconscious ones are carried over to the town hall for healing and time in the cells….

Meanwhile, over at Nui’s parents house….

Zia and Sator knock the door. It is opened by a dwarf. Door is about four feet tall. Nui’s mum answers the door. You find out that she definitely hasn’t seen Nui for 2.5 months. Zia asks about Kohei, Nui’s brother, and with a bit of intimidation you find out that he works all hours in the smithy, but that despite this he can’t afford to get his own place and still lives with his parents.

Confirming Stories

So over to the forge in the market square to see Kohei.
Kohei has been told that Tokuemon’s friends have Nui, but he didn’t believe them. They said they’d hold her until he paid up. He doesn’t know you guys well enough, so he wants confirmation from Yoichiro that Nui came here. At the tavern you get directed over to the town hall to find Yoichiro and your friends

In the Town Hall the local cleric has healed everyone and woken them up. Yoichiro has smoothed things over with the authorities and paid a fee for your continued good behaviour.  Harbek just wants to settle with Yoichiro and leave town. However the others agree that Nui has been kidnapped and they should help free her. Tokuemon knows who holds her because he sent Kohei a message. Kohei needs 10,000 Gold Pieces to get his sister free.