The characters are yoriki in service of Seppun Hirohide, a respected Emerald Magistrate and member of the Imperial families. Hirohide is a stern but fair man who expects devoted service but holds himself to lofty standards of behavior as well. He is known to have worked on several complex murder cases in the past, including some related to the practice of mahō.<br/><br/>As the story begins, everyone is in a small town named Ishikawa Mura in the northern Crab territories. Hirohide was notified of a murder that occurred two weeks ago at the local travelers’ inn, and he immediately traveled to the site with the characters. A customer at the inn, a Crab samurai named Hida Kayo, was found dead in his room, collapsed in a pool of his own blood.<br/><br/>Hirohide-sama has just spoken to the local headman of the village in private and has returned to give his yoriki their orders.<br/><br/>“The initial reports were correct: there has been a murder here. Hida Kayo, last of a proud line of Crab warriors, was killed as he stayed at this inn two weeks ago. It took that long for the headman’s messenger to find us."<br/><br/>“The headman and I believe the culprit to be a woman named Michiru, a mahō-tsukai who has escaped the Emperor’s justice in the past. Michiru has fled north to the lands of the Scorpion Clan, but she had an accomplice, a rōnin named Keinosuke. He fled south in the direction of the Kaiu Wall. I will go after Michiru and bring her to justice, but you must follow Keinosuke’s trail and bring him back here, then wait for further instructions.”<br/><br/>“I have not had time to review the crime scene here and interrogate the witnesses, so you must do so for me. Our duty requires us to be thorough. As he has a two-week lead, it will not be speed that brings this rōnin to justice, but cunning.”<br/><br/>He looked around to see if anyone had questions.