villagers, and within a generation they were something adjoining room separates guests from the andon but

andon but lets

completely different from what they had been. the light through. In the third and final room, storytellers
The Higosha Nazo live mundane individual lives as gather and recite their tales. After each story, the teller
peasants, but meet on occasion to share news of their home moves through the empty room and into the andon room,
villages and to report the latest rumors about the forest. where he puts out a candle and looks into the polished
They seek at all costs to prevent others from venturing surface. A new tale is begun and the process continues
into the heart of Nazo Mori, and sometimes exploit the as the light dwindles and the terror rises. Finally only a
superstitions of the heimin to assist in that task. single story remains – and it is said that if the last candle
is put out, the spirits of all the tales will rise up out of the
mirror to haunt the world.
Adventure Seeds: The To play this game is to draw upon the mystery and
Game of One Hundred Tales enigma of the Void, but to finish is to invite the listening
spirits into Ningen-do. Most players give up well before
The following section contains an array of short the final tale, and it is traditional for the host to stop the
adventure ideas, using the standard Challenge / Focus / game once there is only one candle left. However, many
Strike format from previous L5R books. As always, the variations on the Game exist in the Empire’s different lands
Challenge introduces the basic situation, the Focus adds and courts. For example, some gatherings have less time
details or complications, and the Strike points toward a to play and gather their party into many small circles. The
climax/conclusion. However, this section is also designed group does not begin to gather together in one room until
as a tribute to the monk Kaideo’s famous work collecting most of the candles are put out. Some Games are played
Kwaidan stories, and to the game which may (or may not) in different venues as well. Some gather in a tiny home
be derived from that book. such as a village headman’s house. Others use a garden or
rent a house of entertainment, with candles dotting the
“The Game of One Hundred Candles” (or simply “The
various rooms. The polished surface is usually a mirror if
Game”) originated in lengthy court gatherings as a way
such can be afforded, but it can also be polished bronze
to stave off boredom. It is used both as a way to entertain

Chapter Six
or steel, or even a bowl of pure water. Mystically-inclined
and as a sort of test of courage for the participants. The
hosts might use a special pond or well that is reputed to
rising terror that builds in the heart after hours of telling
be haunted.
ghost stories in near-darkness can overwhelm even the
most stalwart spirit. In one account from Kakita Ryoku’s The Game of One Hundred Candles
179
novel Winter, Asako Otogi’s yojimbo was the last to recite is never completely safe. An incautious
a tale. As he reached out a hand to extinguish the last courtier can be manipulated, tricked, or

NAZO MORI, THE FOREST OF ENIGMAS

candle, the entire court cried out in horror – for above trapped quite easily by a clever story.
the Shiba a shadowy claw reached down in attack. The Trysts and romances are conducted in
yojimbo spun and drew his sword, reacting without these large gatherings, as lovers sneak
thought, and his swift action revealed the “hand” to be off under cover of darkness. Duels over
nothing more than the shadow of a spider on the candle. presumed insults can occur if a proud
samurai has his courage called into
As with a number of other court games and activities, the
question. Yet despite all this, the
Game of One Hundred Candles has filtered into Rokugan’s
real threat of the Game is its
wider culture via heimin servants and attendants. It is
mystical element. The stories
popular during festivals and village ceremonies, and is
can indeed draw spirits,
a staple in the Floating World of the geisha. This has a
summoned by the tales
certain ironic symmetry given that most of Kaideo’s
about them and
famous stories originated with the folklore of the heimin
and hinin.
The traditional Game of One Hundred
Stories is played by the simplest of rules:
one hundred candles (called andon)
are set in a room with a polished
surface, if possible a mirror. The
andon are little candles located
inside lanterns of paper or
carved wood (or more
rarely, metal). An
 “There is a mirror hidden somewhere in the garden,”
listening to the speakers as each candle goes dim. Indeed, Iawara told his assembled guests. “You are here tonight to
the greatest of storytellers draw the most dangerous spirits share in the ancient Game, and you will each tell a tale or
with their skill. Rumor has it that at least one Game of two this night. There is a candle for each story hidden in
One Hundred Candles ended with the entire assemblage the garden, and as we listen, only the starlight upon the
disappearing – as the last flame of the final candle winked lily pool will fight back the terror we summon. You know
out, the darkness drew in and none of them were ever the rules. With each finished story you will venture into
seen again. the darkness and put out the candle of your tale. The next
will start while you search and wander… all will forget
NIGHT OF ONE HUNDRED STORIES who has disappeared as the next story is recounted. On
this night the kami and yorei, the goryo and perhaps even
Challenge: Doji Iawara structured his Game with careful the gaki, look on and listen. Woe to the samurai who must
detail. A petition to his lord allowed for the use of one tell the final tale. Woe to the fearful and weak. Tonight
of the resplendent gardens of the Kakita. Considerable we play the Game of One Hundred Candles! I begin with a
favors brought in an army of artisans to establish proper story…the story of the Kiss of the Kuchisake-Onna…”
décor. White lilies, chrysanthemums, and lotus flowers
Focus: The last individual to recite a tale ventures off
hung or floated upon every surface. The cultivated maze
into the darkened maze of the garden… and never returns.
NAZO MORI, THE FOREST OF ENIGMAS

would remind the visitors of death at every turn. Tiny

And just as the last lantern’s light winks out, a scream
andon lanterns, some framed in worked bamboo, others
bursts out from an impressionable young courtier. He
in twisted iron and steel, dotted the landscape like one
claims to have seen a spirit rise from the lily pool.
hundred fireflies. Set at unusual angles, their light shone
from up high and from low to the ground, while one rested Doji Iawara does not seem to know what has happened,
neatly in the center of the path right after a sharp turn. and implores aid from others in finding out. This dinner
Incense wafted throughout the passages as the guests party was to be his breakout event, elevating him into the
arrived. All who mattered were present, along with their upper tier of politics. If it ends with the tragic loss of an
yojimbo, servants, advisors, and scribes. They lined the lily important diplomat of the court… nothing will save his
pond and partook of the offered hand foods, rice cakes, career. He pleads with the PCs to find out what happened,
and fine chilled sake. Above them, the Moon had already promising any reward within his power.
set, so the only light was from the one hundred sacred Strike: What really happened? Perhaps the Game
180 andon of the Game. worked. The spirit from the pool may have been summoned
by the Game and taken the victim. Was it a hungry ghost?
A vengeance-seeking goryo, or a yorei seeking a new
Chapter Six

body? A maho-summoned spirit conjured forth by a

hidden maho-tsukai during the Game? What if the power
and mystery of the game simply conjured the soul of the
victim into the endless Realm of Void itself? Any of these
are possibilities. Alternatively, a GM who wants to trip up
the PCs can decide it was a mundane murder by a courtier
aware of Iawara’s elaborate planning, using the Game as
cover.
Note: The GM can use this C/F/S as part of Nazo Mori
by having Doji Iawara (or another NPC) decide that
playing the Game of One Hundred Candles could only
be enhanced by the presence of such a mysterious and
supposedly dangerous location. Iawara and his court
could be vacationing near Nazo Mori in order to partake
in the Game, and the disappearance could be the start of
a greater story.

BUTTERFLY PORTENTS
Challenge: One of the PCs is in the grand home of a
prominent female NPC as she presents her son, Boshu, to
the eligible samurai-ko of the region. A matchmaker has
been called to seek a suitable arrangement, and the PCs are
asked to keep an eye on the young man – as bodyguards/
yojimbo, as mentors to ease the youth into the ways of
court life, as sages or priests offering mystical advice, or
whatever else seems appropriate to your campaign. The
important thing is for the PCs to be present when Boshu
decides to perform his first major poetry recitation in the
garden of his family’s estate.
If appropriate, Boshu could
be coached by a PC to shape
and improve his poem. The
young man is delicate, a true
noble flower of the court
with a weak constitution.
On the day of the
recitation, Boshu is quite
nervous. As the crowd
gathers to hear him speak,
the clouds part overhead
and the radiant light of the
Sun beams down upon him.
“Surely a sign of blessing!”
someone murmurs. As the
words of the poem leave
Boshu’s lips, a tiny white
butterfly with the barest
hint of red upon its wings
alights on the poet’s shoulder.
Everyone breaks into applause.
The poem is remarkable, the
scene could not have been better;
Boshu must have been blessed by the Fortunes! SNAKE OIL

Chapter Six
Then, with a glorious smile upon his lips, Boshu turns Challenge: The PCs are asked to discover the truth
his face up to the Sun and closes his eyes. The butterfly behind a rash of unusual criminal activity within one
lifts from his body and takes off into the garden. As of the villages near Nazo Mori. The crimes themselves
soon as the creature ceases to touch the young man, he include many thefts, a few murdered or missing peasants, 181
collapses in a heap, like a puppet with cut strings. He and at least one instance of madness.
has fallen gravely ill and is hurriedly carried away to his
Focus: Investigation reveals an odd connection

NAZO MORI, THE FOREST OF ENIGMAS

quarters. Whispers race one another through the court,
between the different crimes. Each known perpetrator
and soon a solid rumor develops: surely the portent of a
(and the madman) is a first-born child of his or her family.
white butterfly – the color of death! – cannot have been a
Thorough questioning can eventually unearth a tale from
coincidence. Boshu’s soul has fled.
years before: a traveling midwife who claimed to have a
Focus: The PCs are summoned before Boshu’s mother, salve which would ensure birth upon the first day of the
a woman not usually taken to superstition but unable to month (considered a blessed sign in these parts). The salve
shake off the dire omen. She tasks the characters with worked perfectly, and all was well for a few years… until
either finding the specific butterfly or finding a way to one villager discovered that the “salve” was made from
heal her son. Boshu himself lies in his room, wasting away the remains of other children who had died in childbirth
as if from a terrible disease. His breathing is shallow and The midwife had been concealing the bodies and using
the tiniest of red dots has appeared on his shoulder, very them to make her concoction. The midwife fled the town,
close to where the butterfly landed. Boshu’s mother is just ahead of a mob.
distraught; Boshu was her life and a good marriage for
Strike: The children born from the midwife’s salve
him would have secured the family line. Now it seems the
are unusually healthy, but they all commit crimes or
boy’s soul has fled his body, taken away by evil spirits.
strange maddened acts. The midwife may have been a
Strike: The GM can choose to let things be exactly as maho-tsukai or an insane alchemist. Perhaps she was
they appear. Butterflies, after all, are rumored to function conducting research into longevity,
as physical vessels for the souls of humanity. However, using the discarded bodies as raw
finding a lone white butterfly in a castle, village, or even materials. Perhaps she is exerting
an entire province is a daunting challenge – especially if magical control over those born
the PCs are in the Nazo Mori region, where the butterfly under the influence of her salve. Or
might be something completely different. There is also perhaps the midwife was no mortal
foul play to consider; perhaps someone took advantage of at all, but a demon, bog hag, or
Boshu’s weak constitution by delivering poison or a mag- other Shadowlands creature with a
ical curse with a butterfly. Locating this person would be dark agenda.
more important than finding the butterfly itself, of course.