Session 17. (27/4/12)

In the early autumn of the Year of the Hare (1483), the half-Ainu castaways are settling in to their new-but-familiar role of collecting taxes from farms on the Shimokita peninsula in northern Mutsu province. Taking it in turns to be in charge, Ishan Ashte leads the party to a farm on the second day of their assignment. The farmer declares 25 bushels of rice as his harvest, which is therefore liable for tax. Onuma casts her spell Pinocchio Effect and in her mind's eye sees the farmers nose growing! She shakes her head to the others. Emishi doesn't seem to notice - he is thinking of his girlfriend.

"Why am I standing out here in a field in the rain when I could be at home with Hana?" he mutters, which is odd because it is a beautiful, warm, sunny day.

Ishan Ashte counts the sacks of rice - 25 bushels. So what is he hiding? Onuma confronts the peasant.

"We know you're lying," she says, with a touch of menace in her voice. The farmer looks at the floor, this way and that. "I'll set Emishi here on you," she adds. Emishi doesn't notice.

"He's looking at the ground a lot," muses Ishan Ashte.

"Just natural deference," suggests Yoshi Yeesu.

Sahpo's eagle eye spots something. "No, doesn't the ground next to the storehouse look disturbed?"

Onuma rounds on the peasant. "What have you been digging there for? Come clean or your punishment will be much greater." The peasant looks nervously at Emishi. Emishi is staring vacantly at a cloud.

"There's some rice..." mutters the farmer.

"How much?"

"I'll have to dig it up," he replies, almost inaudibly. He fetches a mattock and starts digging. His family, who have been watching from the corner of the storehouse, bring spades and help dig. Soon another five bushels of rice are revealed in clay-lined pits.

"You must have been doing this for years!" exclaims Onuma. She ponders some form of physical punishment, but the man has a family to feed so she sets a good, deterring fine and a fair tax.

The following day, Emishi leads a visit to an upland farm that grows barley. The farmer, whose name is Jimjim, declares 34 bushels of barley. However, on a quick survey of the fields on horseback, Emishi's farming background comes in handy as he notices that one small field has a crop of what looks like hemp growing among as yet uncut barley. Onuma uses herbalism to confirm his suspicions.

"Yes, this could easily be turned into drugs, sold to yakuza to fund all sort of illegal goings-on."

"We'll have to take him back to receive justice," concludes Sahpo.

"Or we could administer justice here," suggests Emishi, half seriously.

The farmer gives a snarl, grabs a kama (sickle) and attacks Yoshi Yeesu, who was minding his own business. The farmer misses, but Yoshi Yeesu draws his sword and swings at the farmer, badly injuring him. The farmer throws down the sickle and grovels at Yoshi Yeesu's feet. Yoshi Yeesu hasn't the heart to hit him again, despite knowing what his fate will be. Emishi orders the farmer's family to burn the hemp crop (and not stand downwind) while Sahpo binds the farmer's wound and then his arms behind his back. The lackeys of the imperial state then relax on the farmhouse porch, breathe in a few wisps of smoke and do the crane dance... in their heads, of course. By the end of the afternoon the fire has burnt itself out, and there are just a few patches of the drug plant left.

"Let's go home," says Onuma.

"What about the dope?"

"We'll have to take it with us... Emishi - come on!"

The next day Onuma is in charge, and it's a complicated one. The farm they are visiting grows no rice, just potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, beans, chestnuts, persimmons, various nuts, tofu, yams and fruit. They have to work out a tax rate for each one.

"Can't we just charge them the same per bushel as a bushel of rice?" asks Emishi.

"But they are all worth different values," protests Onuma.

"Why don't we ask the farmer what they are worth?" suggests Yoshi Yeesu.

"Can we trust him?" asks Emishi.

"Oh yes, I think we can," says Onuma, tapping the side of her nose meaningfully.

They ask the farmer the value of each of the crops. Onuma's first cast of Pinocchio Effect fails, so they have to take the farmer's word on the first three crops. Then she gets the spell working and she finds that the farmer is considerably undervaluing the crop. She tells him off. His estimates get more truthful and Onuma is satisfied. The tax collectors work out a rate, roughly half that of rice by vale (as they have been instructed to do), add a bit on to compensate for the farmer's underestimation, and present their bill. The farmer pays without a word.

The next day is Yoshi Yeesu's turn to lead. The stormy weather doesn't help anyone's mood.

"I'd rather be fighting bandits than riding around farms," he opines.

"I'd rather be somewhere dry," comments Onuma.

"I want to be with Hana," adds Emishi.

"..." Sahpo is lost in his own thoughts.

To relieve the boredom, Emishi bets with Onuma on what the farmer will look like.

"I think he'll be middle-aged, mostly bald, his remaining hair in a top-knot, pale-faced, smoking a long-stemmed pipe, wearing a straw raincoat and carrying a bucket and spade," says Emishi. "Oh, and some kind of root vegetable."

"That's ridiculous!" rejoins Onuma. "He'll be old and bent and the colour of dry beetroot, like all the others."

Emishi wins the bet. "Okay, it was a mattock, not a spade."

Yoshi Yeesu goes through the standard questions - how much did you harvest, how much is it worth, this is how much tax you owe... It comes to just over 50 copper pieces. The farmer hands over two silver pieces. Yoshi Yeesu senses something is wrong. Sahpo, Emishi and Ishan Ashte have twigged.

"Where did you get these coins?" demands Emishi. Sahpo enlightens Yoshi Yeesu. "Farmers shouldn't have silver coins, they only deal in copper ones," she whispers.

Ishan Ashte has a closer look at the coins. They are at least correct coins for Mutsu province. Yoshi Yeesu shouts at the farmer. "Where did you get these coins?"

The farmer stammers, "From the merchant. For last year's harvest. Is something wrong?"

Onuma chimes in. "Are you hiding rice from us?" she asks, casting Pinocchio Effect.

"No!" The farmer's nose does not change size.

"Is this the entirety of your harvest?" - "No." This time the farmer is lying.

"What other crops are you growing?" - "None." True.

"Do you have any other income?" - "No." Half true.

Onuma continues. "We know you're lying. If you come clean then maybe the fine won't be so big." The farmer faints.

Sahpo looks around the farmhouse. Yoshi Yeesu joins him. They find a stash of four gold coins, far more than any farmer should ever have. Onuma brings the farmer round and sits him at a table, the gold in the middle. "Would you like to comment?" The farmer breaks down in tears.

"It's the merchant. He pays very well for my early harvest. He has rich customers, pays me silver. I don't have to pay tax."

"Rich customers?"

"Pirates, yakuza... I don't know, he doesn't tell me."

Emishi takes a soft tone. "We just want the merchant's name."

Yoshi Yeesu adds, "And back taxes."

"And fines," puts in Ishan Ashte.

"And we'll confiscate the gold," finishes Sahpo.

At this the farmer picks up a sickle and attacks Sahpo. He misses. Sahpo replies with two Arrows of Wood. The first is resisted by the farmer, but the second takes hold and ravages his system. Seconds later he is unconscious on the floor.

"He attacked a samurai. You know the punishment," says Yoshi Yeesu, handing Sahpo his sword. Sahpo struggles under the weight.

"I'm not a samurai, I'm an Ainu priest."

"I'm a samurai," boasts Yoshi Yeesu.

"I'm not quite sure what I am," says Emishi. Everyone nods.

Sahpo swings the sword experimentally, nearly dropping it on Yoshi Yeesu's foot. "I think we should take him back to justice." Sahpo cures the poison in the farmer's system and waits until he comes round. The farmer takes one look at Emishi's face and tells him the merchant's name is Makimura Imoko.

"I haven't even put my threatening face on yet," protests Emishi.

Once the farmer has been delivered to the justices in Mutsu Town, the tax collectors head straight to the merchants' district near the old market. Emishi follows the money trail and learns where Makimura's warehouse is. Ishan Ashte and Sahpo stake it out and find out when the merchant is due back. Yoshi Yeesu sets up a trap. When the merchant appears, Yoshi Yeesu leaps out and shouts, "Throw down your weapon and surrender!" Emishi advances, sword drawn. The merchant draws a sword but stands waiting. Emishi attacks. The merchant is wounded for 10 damage.

"Put down your sword," demands Yoshi Yeesu. The merchant holds it up in a defensive posture. Onuma casts Stage Flash and temporarily blinds the merchant. Emishi swings with all his might and knocks the merchant's sword away.

"One more for the justices," says Yoshi Yeesu with finality.

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