As it turns out, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.  The magistrate’s investigation into Battle’s Respite has uncovered some dark sinister blood magic that has brought back the village samurai as a terrible tainted puppet controlled by blood magic.  The village must be purified.  Or maybe Kituski should just use his sword. Our apologies for this week’s episode as recording was not started until halfway through the game. PLAYERS Josh: Shosuro Shizuko, an upstanding Scorpion Bushi who is in no way a ninja or ninja-like entity. Honest. Distrusted even by other Scorpion due to the disloyalty of an ancestor, She makes masks as a hobby when she’s not skulking through the shadows. James: Kitsuki Noboyuki, a Dragon magistrate who is a student of the Kitsuki Method, which claims that weird stuff like evidence collection and observation should be used to determine the guilt of a suspected criminal, rather than just believing the word of the highest-ranking samurai present. A prodigy at investigation and a skilled orator besides, he’s physically and spiritually weakened by an old wound. Kevin: Isawa Daiki is an Ishi-ken of the Phoenix clan, one of the rare shugenja that can access the powers of the Void between all things alongside the elements and spirits. A skilled fortune-teller himself, attempts by others to discern his fate tell of a great destiny involving the mysterious Void Dragon. Max: Tsuruchi Yui, a skilled archer born into the Mantis Clan, who tracks criminals and enemies of the Empire with the help her trained hunting hawk, and is an adherent to the Wasp Code, a variation on the Bushido code of conduct the others follow