The Rootless - namely Xihsa’li, Zumi and Dwassyith, had barely had a chance to take a breather after their return from the eventful trip to Yanxia for the auction, when already the group’s inn was visited by an uninvited guest. Busting through the door was none other than Lord Hashimoto’s third son, the prideful hingan warrior Kuromaru and his personal guard. The same Kuromaru that had expressed such hatred for them and their ijin selves in the past. Only a few amongst them had an inkling for what had caused his change of heart, but the warrior came with an offer: kill Renaud Vremaix, his hatamoto rival whom he saw unbefitting his station due to his ijin blood, without getting caught or implicating him in the assassination, and he would swear on his honour to return the favour by convincing his father over allowing them the Dragon Breath deal they’d travelled all this way to Kugane for. Kuromaru claimed that there was competition for this deal, and that Renaud was responsible for the other group vying for the deal, which explained some of the delay and indecisiveness from the side of the Lord himself.

Kuromaru’s support was a tempting offer which the group quickly accepted, and after asking questions from the man himself, the Rootless engaged in a few days of intel gathering by the assassin Garrett. Various preparations for the attempt at the life of the gambling half-elezen were made and the group had decided to use a bomb carried by local prostitutes disguised as a gift to be a good trap for the elezen whom Garrett had spied indulging in the company of prostitutes previously. Tension was in the air as the group did their best to not let their quarry know of their intentions, as well as the lord Hashimoto who would surely see any attempt at either of his hatamotos’ lives a personal affront.

Unbeknownst to the group, Kuromaru had no intentions of helping the group achieve anything, and had done little to disguise his intentions from Renaud himself, amusing himself of the possibility that his rival and the filthy ijin would all kill each other in a clash that implicated only themselves and left him picking up the rewards. So when the fateful day came, Renaud had already picked up on the whispers of a plot to take his life and showed up on his usual visits to the city with four guards, instead of the usual two the Rootless had expected.

While the group had taken hiding spots along a flight of stairs through a market, a lapse in intel had them uncertain over the route Renaud was going to take to the lord’s current lodgings. Immediately their plans were thrown off course as the mongrel instead turned left to take a detour through the beach, which was his usual route unaccounted for in their plans. 

Quick action was required and the party was forced to fix their positions in a hurry, as well as that of the whores carrying the gift they were meant to offer. Already things threatened to slip out of control. Renaud, suspicious of the whores in beautiful clothes and makeup, approaching him in the streets at that hour of the night, when they were clearly far too fair to be street walkers, refused to allow them near and with the addition of one of his personal guard - an older stocky samurai by the name of Tomoyuki - spotted movement on the roofs, the entire trap was set to fail.

Cutting their losses, Dwassyith commanded shots to be fired at Renaud, before he managed to get too far from the rooftops, and an arrow shot by Garrett found its’ mark in the mongrel hatamoto’s back. The rest happened in a rush of seconds, yelling and hasty movement, complete with the half-elezen collapsing into the sand with an arrow stuck to his back, his blood mixing with the shallow water of the beach. Arrows were shot at the other guards, and before the two by the whores could react beyond yelling for ‘ambush’, Dwassyith blew them all up, prostitutes and samurai both - leaving only the two by Renaud’s side.

 

The samurai put up an honorable fight, covering for their master while pulling him up the beach, to the point where Dwassyith and Zumi had to step in to finish him and his guards off. Sekisegumi was approaching down the beach, yelling in alarm, people screaming from the windows as the explosion and the following racket had woken up half the district of Shirogane. Murder! Fire! Mayhem! The older samurai went down from the male miqo’te’s heavy axe, Renaud’s head too rolling in the sand, Zumi finishing the old guard with her daggers, but the younger samurai Kurosawa - distraught and filled with fury over witnessing his mentor and his master both dead at the assassins’ hands - lunged at them both and very nearly ended her life there and then were it not for the decisive cleaving axe from Dwassyith. Only the arrows launched by Garrett and Norien from the rooftops were standing in between the Sekisegumi patrol and the duo at the end, alarm bells sounded throughout the district. As their opposition had finally fallen, the Rootless ran as fast as their feet could carry them, scattering into the four winds, Zumi carried on Dwas’ arms, bleeding.

After their wounds had been treated due to the co-operative effort of Nanami and Xihsa’li at the inn, as well as a covert visit to underworld doctors the morning after, the group could finally breathe a little easier. There was a general mood of uncertainty and concern in Shirogane and Kugane then. Whispers of an explosion, samurai dead - and more importantly, the Lord Hashimoto's hatamoto was killed. Assassination was on gossipers' lips, conspiracy... And while it didn't touch the lives of commoners, explosions had a way of instilling fear even in the most unaffected.

 

There was movement in the underworld as well - grim looks exchanged, bad tidings. Many had lost something with the loss of the hatamoto, and there now was a brothel that had lost its' two most prized girls. As many had disliked the ijin hatamoto as liked him, but his death touched places that many hadn't foreseen. With the death of Renaud, the bakuto families in charge of the gambling hall Yuu-ya where he had frequented, had lost their best bet at the Dragon Breath deal he’d offered them - in exchange for vast amounts of gil of course. On another side of the city, far from the dark gambling den, a cherry blossom-clad hingan lady was delivered a letter signed by Kuromaru, causing her heart to ache in mourning of the death of the man who had gone as far as to delve into the deepest underworld for the wealth required for her dowry. Renaud had done it all for her, and he had lost. Life was as fleeting as it was cruel, and perhaps the ijin hatamoto might never have succeeded in convincing her father for her hand, but surely the Lord was not the only one who had lost a friend that night.
 

Both the Sekisegumi and Hashimoto's people were investigating into Renaud Vremaix’s death and it would’ve been wise for the group to act normal... and unrelated. Even more so, when soon enough, they were summoned to meet the Lord. Upon arriving, who greeted them wasn’t in fact the Lord himself, but his heir and his eldest son Ken’ichi, flanked by his sister and hatamoto who they’d previously met without the knowledge of their true identities. During the formal conversation the group offered their consolations for the death of the hatamoto in both word and a gift - a samurai soulstone picked up from the ronin who had attacked them on the road from Yanxia, clad and presented in a case full of hingan symbolism in the language of flowers prepared by Xihsa’li. During this conversation, the group also learned that Kuromaru - the Lord’s son - had perished committing seppuku after his complicity in his rival’s death had been revealed. With cold sweat running down their necks, the Rootless came to silently realize that this man - the lord’s son - knew far more than he presented. There were no secrets from him, and while matters were settled politely and without accusations, its’ true purpose was to wash his hands off of the group, victorious over his rival - his younger brother.

 

The group had not been aware until now, but there had been a long rivalry not only between the half-elezen hatamoto Renaud and Kuromaru, but between Kuromaru and his older brother Ken’ichi. They had both competed over the place of heir, and in a devious plot to rid himself of his younger brother - the eldest had put the idea of ijin and trade into his father’s ear. Chihaya Shimizu, a geisha whose patron the Lord was, had been sent to Eorzea in search for a potential group that might be interested in such a large scale deal of the narcotic herbs, landing her on the Rootless’ doorstep, and eventually she had landed the Rootless on the doorstep of the Hashimoto family in Kugane. Knowing his brother couldn’t stand the ijin - Renaud and the group alike -  Ken’ichi had lured Kuromaru into a trap, manipulated events to the point where the Lord would have no choice but to demand his third son’s life in apology for his actions. And so he had emerged victorious, and as a final conclusion of the entire ordeal, he provided the Rootless with the deal they had come for, as a reward for service they did not know they had provided. Lord Hashimoto had lost his best friend, and due to Chihaya’s actions in bringing the group to them, she was exiled from her homeland and set to return to Eorzea with the very group she’d vouched for.
 

After preparing for a number of days and meeting a potential alchemist to bring with them, the group was set to depart. Boarding a ship to finally leave Hingashi behind - the land as mired in ancient etiquette as it was in political intrigue - the group turned their gazes forwards. New adventures and business ventures awaited them and the future was as uncertain as it was ripe with opportunity. They had but to return and seize it.

 

 

[End of the Kugane Storyline]