Act 2—Scene Of the CrimeBuntaroThe next morning, one hour after sunrise, a groupof five samurai await the PCs outside the main gate ofthe castle. The leader of the group is Buntaro Ostato,Benju’s son-in-law (see Chapter VII for stats), todaywearing leather scale armor (AC 7).The four accompanying samurai wear leather armor,<strong>and</strong> carry katanas <strong>and</strong> wakizashis. In addition,two carry daikyu <strong>and</strong> 12 arrows each. Use the statisticsfor “Benju’s Samurai” in Chapter VII.Benju has specifically ordered Buntaro to be politeto the PCs, <strong>and</strong> not to provoke them (which, Benjuknows, Buntaro would probably do). For this reason,Buntaro will try his best to control his arrogant <strong>and</strong> irritatingnature . . . albeit with little success. His conversationwill be filled with jibing comments <strong>and</strong>insulting silences. If he realizes he’s going too far, <strong>and</strong>that one or more of the PCs is likely to take action, he’llremember his daimyo’s orders <strong>and</strong> back down. Buthe’ll definitely push his luck as far as he can.Although the samurai accompanying Buntaro areunder his orders, they don’t feel any affection fortheir leader. If Buntaro seems on the verge of provokingthe PCs beyond their tolerance level, one of thesamurai will glance at the PCs with a subtle shake ofhis head, <strong>and</strong> a glance that obviously means “Ye Gods,he’s at it again”. If that isn’t enough, one of the samuraiwill distract Buntaro with a trivial question abouttheir destination, their formation, or something similar.This will divert Buntaro’s hostility onto the samuraifor a while, giving the PCs a chance to realize thekind of man Buntaro is.“Like S<strong>and</strong> Through the Hourglass . . .”The first place that Buntaro leads the PCs is an establishmentknown as the House of the HeavenlyS<strong>and</strong>s (area 7 on the city map). This is a huge, barn-likebuilding situated over a volcanic vent which continuouslyemits small quantities of very hot steam. S<strong>and</strong>has been piled over the vent, to be heated by thesteam. Visitors of both sexes now pay for the privilegeof being buried up to their necks in the warm, moists<strong>and</strong>, since this is said to leach out poisons, cure arthritis,<strong>and</strong> prolong life. A map <strong>and</strong> description of theHouse can be found in the following section.On the way to the House, Buntaro explains:“It was four days ago,” Buntaro tells you in hisharsh voice. “Those eta women who work at theHouse, they started screaming <strong>and</strong> carrying onloud enough to wake the dead." He laughs harshly.“Well, it didn’t work.“By the time a samurai detachment got there,there was quite a crowd, all jabbering about thebody they’d found in the s<strong>and</strong>. That’s right, a stinkingbody: Well, of course, lots of people thought itwas those foul eta who’d left one of their customersburied, but that wasn’t it at all. When thebody was brought out, we knew it was somethingquite different. I was there, <strong>and</strong> I knew him. Hewas the headman of a village near here. No woundon him, not a mark. No clue how he died.“And no clue how he got in the stinking s<strong>and</strong>, either.The House is locked up tight at night, <strong>and</strong>there were no signs of forced entry—nothing at all.It was as if the body had just appeared there.”Buntaro knows more about the headman, but hasbeen ordered to keep it to himself. In fact, the manwas one of Benju’s informants, <strong>and</strong> had recentlypassed on a report to Benju that he thought somethingstrange was going on in Eichiro Tanaka’s hometown ofAnjiro. Benju had sent a request for more information,but nothing more was ever heard from the headman.Although Buntaro will be careful not to revealthis information to the PCs, his suddenly smug mannermight clue them in that he’s hiding something . . .<strong>and</strong> enjoying it.If the PCs ask about the body, Buntaro will tell themthat it was cremated the next day. It was questionedbeforeh<strong>and</strong>, of course (with speak with dead, butcouldn’t tell them anything of any import. (In fact, thecorpse confirmed that the headman had been poisoned,but Buntaro has been ordered to conceal thisinformation, too.)Buntaro will escort the PCs to the House, <strong>and</strong> theyare free to snoop around <strong>and</strong> question people, as longas they don’t take more than one hour doing so. (TheDM should use the hourly chime of Bishamon’s bell toremind the PCs of the time they’re taking.) After anhour, Buntaro will get more <strong>and</strong> more impatient, untilhe dem<strong>and</strong>s that the PCs accompany him to the site ofthe next “incident”.The House of Heavenly S<strong>and</strong>The House is built out of dark wood, with a high,steeply-sloped roof, <strong>and</strong> few windows. The only lightthat most of the building receives comes through skylightsset into the roof. These skylights are glazed withfrosted glass, reinforced by a mesh of stiff wire.The following descriptions refer to the numberedareas on the accompanying map.1. Entryway. The only illumination in the roomcomes from the skylight above (indicated by the dottedlines). Sitting just inside the double doors is an oldwoman, hunched on a low stool. This is Fusae, theproprietress. She is described in more detail in ChapterVII. When anyone enters, she holds out her h<strong>and</strong>to them, <strong>and</strong> indicates through a clumsy sign languagethe cost for using the facilities: 1 yuan. She also tries toh<strong>and</strong> everyone a small towel from the pile next to her,<strong>and</strong> indiciates that they should remove their shoes.Should anyone try to ask her questions, Fusae bows,16
shakes her head apologetically <strong>and</strong> points to herthroat. Even the slowest PC will soon realize that thewoman is dumb.To the left <strong>and</strong> right of the double doors are racks tohold the shoes of patrons: women to the right of thedoor, men to the left. There are two pairs of shoes inthe men’s rack, one in the women’s.If male PCs look as though they’re heading towardsthe women’s changing room (area 2) or vice versa, Fusaewill agitatedly try to stop them, but will backdown before Buntaro’s anger.2. Women’s changing room. There is a bench inthe middle of the room, <strong>and</strong> hooks on the wall. Hangingon one of the hooks is a woman’s kimono of poorquality. The only illumination comes from a frostedglass window high on the wall (well above a man’sheight), which is reinforced with the same kind ofwire grill as the skylight in room 1.3. Men’s changing room. The layout is identicalto the women’s changing room. There are two men’skimonos-both of mediocre quality—hanging onhooks.4. Women’s s<strong>and</strong> room. The curtained doorwayfrom the changing room leads out onto a stone floorinto which is sunk a bathtub full of volcanicallyheatedwater. From the bathtub level, a small flight ofwooden stairs leads three feet down to the steamheateds<strong>and</strong>.Apart from the bathtub level, the entire room areahas a s<strong>and</strong> floor. Towards the western end of theroom, wisps of steam can be seen rising from thes<strong>and</strong>. Near the bathtub, the s<strong>and</strong> is merely warm;moving westward, however, it increases in temperatureuntil, at the western wall, it’s too hot to touch.Light comes through a wire-grilled skylight, <strong>and</strong>through’a wire-reinforced window set high in thewestern wall.5. Men’s s<strong>and</strong> room. The layout is identical to thewomen’s s<strong>and</strong> room. Everyone present will treat thePCs <strong>and</strong> samurai with the appropriate deference, butnone knows anything about the body.If the PCs are interested, Buntaro shows themwhere the body was found-at the spot marked ‘X’,buried in hot s<strong>and</strong>. There is nothing of interest or importin the s<strong>and</strong>.Should the PCs manage to examine the skylight setinto the roof—which is more than thirty feet abovethe s<strong>and</strong> floor—let each PC who examines the grill rolla 5d6 Ability Check against Intelligence. Anyone successfullymaking the roll will notice that the metalnails holding the western end of the grill in place arenewer <strong>and</strong> shinier than those at the eastern end of thegrill. The PC will also notice that the panes of frostedglass at the western end of the skylight aren’t as securelyseated in their frames as the other panes. Theobvious conclusion is that someone gained entry tothe House of Heavenly S<strong>and</strong> through this skylight.17
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