Jade Legacy [L5R 3eR] - Act 2 Chapter 1: Daiippo/First Step

[Rain Yupa]

GM's notes:
Kojiro: -1k0 earth/water.
Denbe: -1k0 earth/void.
Kagae: None
Seichiro: -1k0 earth/void.
Zanzen: -1k0 earth/water.
Kyumi: -1k0 fire/void.
Hisashi:None
Miyako: None
--------------------

@ Miyako's meditation roll: You may recover 1 void point!

Iwao/Sanzo would look at Denbe as he began to speak, and would answer the issues in turn. "Magistrate Machiko is less interested in the bandits than she should be. Upon finding me in the village amidst my ruse, I became her target, first and foremost. She won't even consider the bandits a problem until I'm dead. Such a 'gift' would do little to impress her. And no, this is not speculation, she and I had heated words at first, which is why I was forced to detain her - and I accomplished that task barely."

Though, he would snort when Denbe asked that important question. "You haven't even... er, sorry, almost slipped into character there. You haven't figured that out yet? Kuemon wants the village. I don't know anything about the man's past. I suspect he's from a Ronin family, or a cast-out samurai. He's too skilled to be anything else. But I do know what he wants - this village. He wants to conquer it and make it a haven and staging ground for criminals and bandits in the region, and will use the villagers to provide for them. It's a minor village, so by the time anyone will realize that it has been conquered, they will probably have amassed a large enough force to hold it indefinitely." Looking around at each of you, then back tot he village, Iwao/Sanzo will add, "He is a proud man, and will now feel rushed to seize the village now, since he now views me now as an opponent rather than simply a hurdle, now that you are here and involved."

Iwao/Sanzo would simply look at Kojiro out of the corner of his eyes, his face completely neutral. "Forgive me for speaking out of line, Bayushi-san, but you seem to be rather ignorant of your station. Ask your non-Scorpion allies why I took the name, not me."  

[Plainsfox]

Kojiro would simply shake his head. "I know why you took the name. I just wished to know why you took the mask you did. Never mind. Forget about it."  

[Psychofish]

The Hare reflected on all of that a moment. It was just a man, a criminal, but for such a small place, with such a small group, he had so grand a plan; grand and vile. The Hare had almost hoped that he might have involved Maho or Kolat in some way, to justify the extra focus here. But when it came down to it, they needed Kagae's daisho to move on, and he needed to keep the fall of a town from his conscience, regardless of what this local magistrate commanded.

She commanded none of the awe and respect from him that Kuni Raicho had, seeming much more a child than a seasoned magistrate. But this was not Kuni-sama's jurisdiction. He could not even appeal to her name with some faint hope to offer the man safety.

Meditating on the grim frustration of the whole situation, the Hare shut his eyes.

"If we find ourselves dangerously outnumbered, we might strike down Kuemon first. If we are lucky, it might cause the rest to scatter. If not, at least they will not have him to lead the town down such a path."

Less and less hope, it seemed. The Hare's head swirled, and he gripped his katana in one hand. It all seemed dim, but for one thing- if he were ready to leave his life in the hands of the fortunes, Denbe was confident he could kill one man, even one as fearsome as Kuemon sounded. Perhaps more than a fair trade, he might hope.

"I am truly sorry. Any further ideas escape me," he offered finally- speaking of both the battle, and Iwao's more personal plight.

And with that, assuming he should not be shocked back to alertness, the Hare would drift to sleep, wearing a frown and gripping his katana.

[4k3 Awareness/Etiquette(Sincerity): 27]  

[Psychofish]

[MAXIMUM APOLOGY: 11, 12]  

[Mongooseh]

@Sleeping? Hah! Who needs sleep when you have paranoia?:

Kagae would listen to Iwao/sanzo taking in the information before pretending to go to sleep. Keeping his eyes in shadow making it hard to tell if he was asleep or not and one hand on the kama he begun the act of doing nothing.

'Go to sleep leaving you awake to watch our vulnerable bodies? Hah!' Thought Kagae to himself.  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Miyako, Kagae, possibly Kojiro:

Anyone staying awake, give me a TN 15 Raw Stamina OR Willpower roll to do so. A successful meditation roll will give you a free raise towards this roll (which Miyako has already earned). You must ACTUALLY meditate, by the way. REMINDER: Meditation takes a Rokugani hour.

Kagae, gain a free raise for being unconscious recently, thus giving your body a LITTLE rest already. Luckily for you, sleep isn't required to heal naturally.

Anyone passing the roll WILL be subject to a +2 penalty to all TNs for not sleeping. Anyone failing the roll likely pass out from exhaustion at one point without realizing it.  

[Mongooseh]

(rawl using free raise to lower tn 2k2: 8 fail )  

[Tei Kae]

Once she had calmed herself and her fears through meditation, she glanced up when Kojiro spoke. "Thank you, Kojiro-san." She stood, brushing a hand lightly over his. "For everything." And with those simple words she accepted the offer of his tent and once it was assembled, she went in to nap. No matter her bravado or distrust, she was going to be useless unless she slept and so that was what she was going to do.  

[Plainsfox]

Kojiro blushed and gave a polite smile as got the small tent in order. "You're welcome and good night, Miya-chan. Dream well." After the female Scorpion entered it, he would then find a nice place fairly nearby so that he could react quickly in case anything happened that was not too terribly obvious. Things felt so...different. The young Scorpion idly wished he had quill and paper so that he might be able to send a short Haiku off to his son. Kojiro would make a note to rectify that if they survived this. Where was a Yasuki when you needed one. Heh.

OOC:
Intelligence/Hunting 5k3 +3 for explosions
Raises: 1 called to help baffle any noises he might make as he sleeps
Results: 21  

[Rain Yupa]

Everyone regains all of their void! Also, everyone regains a number of wounds equal to your Stamina + Insight Rank. Kagae, double this number since most of your wounds were superficial.

And thusly, everyone sleeps. Denbe and Kojiro first, while Miyako stays up to finish her meditations before slumbering. Kagae stays awake the longest, confident of his ability to do so before he finds himself awoken by the false Scorpion, gently shaking the man's shoulder awake.

"Wake up, Kaiu-san. It's time."

At this point, it was a little bit lighter out. Lord Sun had not risen into the sky yet, but his presence was making itself known in the form of an encroaching dawn. Though, most of the morning light seemed to be coming from the north, not the east.

"Prepare yourself; I will go wake the others," Iwao/Sanzo would tell him, before slinking off, bow out, arrow casually knocked.

Each of you would be woken in turn, with similarly cryptic greetings; though, he would not enter the tent Miyako slept it, but instead spoke to her through it.  

[Mongooseh]

@Toast and eggs please:

Kagae seemed to be sleeping peacefully and was awoken by the suspicious man reacting in the kind of way someone does when sleeping deeply.

"Hmmm?" grunted Kagae peering about from his sleeping position confused before stumbling to his feet, "Time for what?"

As he awaited a response and watched Sanzo go about waking the others Kagae equipped himself with his armour and borrowed weapon.  

[Plainsfox]

@The First Stand

Kojiro nodded his thanks to Iwao and got up. The Scorpion slowly clambered up onto his feet and carefully donned his armor. Kojiro had a vague suspicion that Kuemon's bandits were heading in from the north and wished to be prepared to meet them.  

[Tei Kae]

Yawning, Miyako quickly prepared herself and rose, strapping her tanto and wakizashi to her side. "Thank you." She nodded, and headed over to Kojiro-faking a smile, teasing him lightly, even while making sure they were not overheard. "Well, if the Kami are unkind I might get my childhood wish of living out my life with you, Kojiro-san."

[Acting/Awareness with one Raise to act calm and unbothered by the possibility of dying. 8k4=35]  

[Psychofish]

Stirring awake, Denbe looked at the man oddly for a moment, and then as his senses and the previous day came back to him, jolted to his feet, one hand still on his katana.

"Thank you. Are they advancing already?" he asked, straining to hear or see what signs of danger had caused the Crab to begin waking them.

[4k2 Perception/Investigation(Notice): 16]