Jade Legacy [L5R 3eR] - Act 1: Atsumari/Gathering

[Rain Yupa]

@ Crab Tent:

Shosuro Naizen's Stealth result: 40

"It's... not quite like that. The fire... was my fault. I was careless, Raicho-sama," Kaori would explain, bowing and keeping her head down.

There would be a really long awkward pause as nobody spoke.  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Crab Tent:

Really long, and really awkward.  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Crab Tent:

The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a tetsubo.

...

... wait a minute...  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Crab Tent:

"You. Get out of here." Kuni Raicho would say to Kojiro, jutting her thumb over her shoulder towards the tent's entrance.

"And as for you. There will be no replacement, no repairs on this tent unless they are done by your own hand. Until then, you are not permitted to join any of the events that I host. Do I make myself clear?"

Doing her best to hold back shaking, Kaori would respond, "Y-yes, Raicho-sama."  

[Keith Valken Lionheart]

Seichiro was just outside the Lion tent, watching the antics happen before his eyes. He had no idea what the Crab clanners did, but he was relieved the fire didn't spread to other tents.  

[Plainsfox]

@ The Crab Tent

Kojiro would bow deeply to both of the Kuni ladies and withdraw, heading back to the Scorpion tent. When he arrived, he would collapse down on his cot and exhale. "Baka!"  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Scorpion Tent:

"So, do you think it is dissent amongst the Crab ranks?" Naizen would ask, hovering (not magically) over Kojiro's cot as soon as he would turn back over. Soshi Maru wasn't present.

The TN to notice Naizen is 41, if Kojiro wants to bother.  

[Plainsfox]

@The Scorpion Tent

"Heh. You noticed that? More like idiocy. I'm betting that Kaori-san has a similar problem to Maru-san and they woke her the wrong way. Crabs are rather blunt, compared to other clans. If they had a problem with one another, we would hear it by now."

Kojiro took a deep sigh. The glaring weaknesses I see with them right now is that Lady Kaori is under a lot of stress in this tournament. Even more so with Lady Raicho acting as one of the judges. The other two....well, they were stupid enough to anger their shugenja!  

[Mongooseh]

"Yes Hogai-san but I wish it didn't hurt so much..." Replied Kagae slowing down, "Though I think we'll have to avoid Kaori-san for today..."
Placing his Katana and Wakizashi on his belt for not wanting to carry them in his hands for the rest of today.  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Jiujutsu Duels:

After the Crab Tent fiasco had passed, midday had come around without anyone realizing it. As eight warriors were gathered, Kuni Raicho would march along the line-up, judging them all in her own way.

"Listen up. Most of you are unfamiliar with me, since I've been hosting the Mental Challenges for the past two nights. The fact that I've yet to have any of you compete under me is sign that this will be a grueling experience for me. So I implore all of you to listen carefully. I am going to explain the rules for the Jiujutsu Competition; I won't speak slower or repeat myself, so hopefully you haven't gotten hit in the heads enough times to make this your greatest challenge yet."

Raicho would pause before Hida Hogai, looking down at his missing left hand then back up to him. "First rule. Don't expect any special treatment. I don't care what your story is. You!" she would pause, glaring into Hogai's eyes. "What IS your story, anyways?"

"Uh?" Hogai paused, looking over at his fellow competitors for reassurance. "Well, I-

"I don't care. Second rule. There will be three rounds for each matchup. The best of three advances to the next match. Hopefully some of you can count above two. I'm looking in your direction, Dragon."

Mirumoto Sozen would seem momentarily caught off guard by being addressed, but despite the few snickers, did not speak back.

"So they can be taught. There's hope for this new generation yet. Don't you think, Hida?"

"I'm not-

"I don't care. Third rule. Spars will continue until an opponent is knocked down or submits. After a short breather, they will go again. Lethal force is strictly prohibited, under penalty of expulsion from the tournament. Sorry if that makes things difficult for you, Unicorn."

"I'll kill you if you give me the chance." Horiuchi Sayoko sneered to the magistrate.

Not missing a beat, Raicho would respond in kind. "Spunk and backbone. Not a bad combination. Win this thing, and you may get your chance to try. That's how generous I can be. Aren't I an inspiration to all you up and comers, Hida?"

"..."

"Answer when you're spoken to."

"... Wel-

"I don't care. Those are my only three rules, so with that in mind, here is the line-up." Unrolling a scrolled parchment, Kuni Raicho would announce the randomly drawn pairings for this mini tournament.

"This tournament has been so incredibly dull, so I beg of all of you: Beat the hell out of each other for my amusement."



THE MECHANICAL RULES:

An unarmed, unarmored battle against one another. Battles are done using Jiujutsu only, and any other roll to attack is not allowed.

Victory happens when you knock your opponent to the Down or Out status, or if they submit. At least two victories are needed to move on. If the first two matches are won by the same person, the final is completely optional between the two competitors.

After a short rest between fights, all wounds are erased and they go again, with a slight exception. The loser will retain as many wounds as wound levels they've suffered so far in the current match-up. So if they are knocked to Down in the first round, they start the second with 6 wounds, whereas the winner starts healthy. If they get knocked to Down again, they would start the third round with 12 wounds. If one player loses the first round, the other other loses the second, they both start with existing wounds (i.e., if both were knocked Down, they will each start with 6, even if the first player won the previous round).

Remember: Killing is still against the rules!

Mirumoto Sozen and Ujina Denbe would be the first ones to square off!  

[Psychofish]

[3k2 Initiative: 8]

Now that was something, wasn't it. Kuni-san had quite some attitude on her, and a rapid, sharp wit. Denbe wasn't sure if he was impressed or intimidated. He supposed a bit of both was fair. He supposed a sudden fire would do that to anyone in her position.

Taking a deep breath, he soothed the amusement off his face and came out with a calm smile; still wearing on him his katana and wakizashi until he reached the perimeter of the ring, carefully removing and laying them down there. It wasn't a fight for them, but he disliked the idea of letting them beyond his sight without clansmen to watch them, even as respectable as the others here surely were.

"My name is Ujina Denbe," he introduced himself, "it is an honor to be your opponent."

A bow, and then he straightened and put one foot back, raising his front hand slightly. Relaxing toward a readied stance.  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Poetry Competition:

Seppun Benjiro would pout. Only four samurai joined him on this afternoon's activity.

"Truth be told, I was expecting more of a turnout for this event..." he lamented, waving dismissively to several servants that were waiting nearby.

"I hope it was not the food. Perhaps the Hare's critique dissuaded them?"

Looking thoughtful, Benjiro would shake his head and come back to reality. The four samurai before him had gathered, though he had no visible area set up like the day before, during the Storytelling Competition.

"For some time, the haiku has been regarded highly as an art form. Spoken spontaneously, the poet speaks flowery words from his heart. He should include reference to a season, and also a cutting word. Otherwise, the topic can be of any subject the author wants. Most importantly, he speaks using five, seven, then five syllables. He should total seventeen, like I have been doing since I started. One by one, you will each in turn name the subject for that round's haiku. To raise the stakes, the winner shall receive a banquet - others, nothing. Now, walk with me, talk with me, and show me your sharp minds and keen spirits!" And with that, Seppun Benjiro would begin a slow, gradual walk towards a distant cherry blossom tree.



MECHANICAL RULES:

With the exception of addressing the topic for that round, your characters may ONLY speak in haiku. The first player will list the subject first, and then each participant will give a haiku on that subject in order. The TN for the first set of Haiku is 5. Roll with Awareness/Storytelling (Poetry).

The next set, the second player will choose the topic, then the players will post their haikus in the same order as before (starting with the second player). This will repeat every round, moving one up the order.

Failure to adhere to the 5/7/5 syllable stanza will result in instant disqualification. Not referencing a season (Kigo) will increase the TN by 5 for your haiku only. Not using a cutting word (Kireji) will also increase the TN by 5 for your haiku only.

Failure to make the current TN results in elimination.

Good poeming! Bayushi Kojiro, lead us off!  

[Plainsfox]

@Before the Poetry Convention

"Ahha! Jiro-san! " Kojiro would bow deeply to the other man. "It occured to me that my words were perhaps a bit too harsh last night. Perhaps a small gift would heal any rift between us. I hope you would accept this humble token in the spirit it is given."

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@The Poetry Competition

The Samurai tapped his fingers against his mask in order to give him time to think. And then he saw the cherry blossom tree.


"Your Training.

The first petal fell
old wisdom learned eagerly
New trials appeared!"

OOC: Untrained Awareness Roll
And added in the topic.
Result: 9  

[Rain Yupa]

@ Lore Competition:

After the (short) Poetry competition would end, there would be a brief break as it was not time for Doji Kita to begin her event yet. At this juncture, most people (except the previous round's winner) would probably feed themselves, before the final competitors of the day would make it into a large meeting hall of the Daidoji. In truth, it was the same location of the Go Tournament from two days ago, though a large table would take up the center of the room, with seats for each of you. This would be a private affair, so there would be no spectators during this event.

"Good evening, everyone! I'm shocked and surprised so many of you decided to join me in tonight's finale! I didn't know so many of you were interested in the path of the learned scholar, so it pleases me to no end to see you all here!" Doji Kita chirped happily. So far, this event had drawn the biggest lot of samurai, and Kita seemed to be positively beaming over this.

"With a group this size though, I have one regret; that we can't experience the full diversity of your knowledges tonight. If we did, I fear we would overlap into tomorrow's events, and Kuni Raicho would probably hurt me if I did that! She's quite unmanageable, you know." She would smile politely, even through that jest at her fellow magistrate, getting a few laughs out of the people gathered here.

"Such as it is, this will be a rather cutthroat competition tonight. I'll be gauging you on not just the quality of your knowledge, but the quantity as well. There are different forms of mastery, and while all of us here have a ways to go before earning such a title, such competitions are a good measure of how far we've come."

Smiling, she would gesture to her left, to the youngest lorespeaker there. "Kitsuki Wazuka, would you do the honors of leading us off?"



MECHANICAL RULES:

Going through the list, everyone makes a Intelligence/[Applicable Lore] roll vs TN 5. The TN is increased by 5 each time that specific Lore was used before. If you do not have any ranks in a particular Lore skill, the TN is increased by 5. It doesn't matter which Lores you used before, since it is a group effort.

When you succeed, you must declare a fact or trivia or somesuch about the Lore skill you just rolled.

Last samurai standing wins! Kitsuki Wazuka will start us off!  

[Keith Valken Lionheart]

@ Tent area, pre-competiton:

Seichiro walked closer to the burnt crab tent, and would gently approach the nearest person he saw.

"Excuse me, what happened here?" He would ask, curious.