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 Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:49 pm
"Sweet Kami, four years!? Don't get me wrong, I like some cloistered alone time to study, and can lose weeks in my scrolls, but... I couldn't imagine multiple years alone." The implied question of course was 'how on earth do you do it?' but considering the more pressing topic of ghosts in the village her dear equine companion was currently housed, she figured there were better times to ask, instead letting Chiharu's question be the pointedly outstanding one. "I rather doubt he'd want to travel with a prisoner by night, in a storm, nevermind putting my pony at such a risk, so 'right away' would be morning at the earliest. But... we're still so close to Kyuden Doji that surely a magistrate of this area would be familiar with the village. You're right, surely he must know what he's doing."
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Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:59 pm
@ Tsuyoshi:
The peasants would try to call out as you left as soon as they realize what you were doing. "Samurai-sama, no!" But it was too late. Not, like, fatally so. You're just outside now.
You neared the young girl, who made no active motions at all. She just... stood there, in place, though she was facing your direction. You would call out, confident you'd be heard over the sound of rainfall, but you wouldn't get a response back.
Or would you? You do see she is moving her mouth, presumably speaking, but you can't make out what she's saying, you're too far away. You can give me a Raw Perception roll to make out what she's mouthing. Since you don't have Read Lips, the TN is increased by 10 (25 base) and due to poor visibility the increments the TN increases by (+5) is per 10 feet instead of per 20 feet.
How far away are you anyways, Tsuyoshi? You can make the check more than once, but only once each time you close the distance to a lower TN.
--------------------
@ Chiharu & Ayame:
"I'm not sure, dearie," Hanako would respond to Chiharu. "I've never seen the ghost or spirit or whatever it is personally; I only know of her from past samurai mentioning her when visiting the hot springs in the past. They say she's been appearing there at least since the turn of the century, though they aren't certain if it's been even longer than that. But you know how these things get exaggerated, it's probably just a prank that got out of hand and turned to one of their superstitious myths. Please, have your tea while it's still hot."
Hanako would look frustrated, scrunching her elderly brow. "Now, what kind of being did they say it was? I forget... it's at the tip of my tongue, too... this is going to drive me batty."
Chiharu, you're from around here, you can give me rolls if you want to see if you might know. Ayame, if you spend a void point for your Rank 1 Technique, you can try rolls too.
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Psychofish rolled 5 10-sided dice:
7, 9, 3, 2, 8
Total: 29 (5-50)
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:15 am
Tsuyoshi frowned, trying to judge the distance between the girl and the nearest shelter, if things truly turned out badly, but fleeing would hardly be his first recourse if it attacked him. Slowly, the magistrate picked up one foot at a time and closed the distance until he stood only about 10 feet from her (as he judged it, too far for her to lunge at him with a weapon... or ghost hands? Ghost weapons? ...before he could have a chance to prepare himself, but little more than that) and tried to speak again.
"If you need shelter, there is an empty building, there," pointing at the one that had been reserved for the samurai, "that I would invite you to use for tonight. If it is something else, please, tell me what brings you to this place." He tried to soften his voice and appeal to goodwill and discussion, human or ghost, lest things get messy.
If she was being too quiet to hear, even at that distance, he'd try to read her lips.
((Let me know if I should be rolling courtier or the like to get her to tell me what she wants- assuming she isn't mumbling that already. Otherwise, 3k3 raw perception roll, with extra dice on the off chance I get enough explosions to make this.))
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:15 am
@ Tsuyoshi:
As you near to such close proximity, you still can't make out what she's saying. Though she stops speaking quickly enough.
At this distance, you see that she is completely soaked through. Her wet clothes stick to her frame, and you see just how malnourished and emaciated she actually is, like someone who hadn't eaten for two weeks. She doesn't look dead in the traditional sense (the Destroyer War in Crane lands would have shown you that), though she doesn't look too far off. She is barefoot, and her feet are muddy, her nails unkempt.
She takes a few shaky steps towards you, but definitely not in a threatening manner, unless you deem to interpret it as such. Lifting her head, some of her hair would part from her face as she would try to look into her eyes. Her own were slightly sunken, possibly from her emaciation, but carried an air of sadness in them.
But despite this, she would smile up at you. Nothing ominous, nothing evil, just a sincere smile from a young girl.
What do you do?
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:08 am
—Ah, I see... I hope it is just a prank because an actual ghost, a soul in suffering, would be the most serious matter.
She seems really concerned on spiritual matters.
Chiharu would stop for a moment, her finges touching lightly on her chin in a reflexive expression. Trying to recal what she have read, or heard, about this place. (Lore History(or any other)/Int: rolled 35)
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:10 am
Tsuyoshi glanced up at the sky, soaked to the bone by now, and suppressed an urge to sigh. Might as well stand in the rain a bit longer. Carefully he reached to his pack, trying to access one of the items inside without letting more rain into it than he could help- and withdrew a small piece of simple cloth wrapped around a bit of his traveling rations. He carefully unwrapped it just enough for her to see what it was and then approached, holding it out for her to take from his hand.
"I am Doji Tsuyoshi. Would you tell me your name?" Hoping that now, finally, she'd speak with... well, any volume whatsoever.
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 6:20 pm
@ Tsuyoshi:
The young girl's gaze would be drawn to Tsuyoshi's movements, finally settling on the item he presented. Her lips formed an 'O' of surprise or perhaps curiosity for a moment, then once more turns her gaze to study his eyes, smiling at him once more, making no effort to take the presented item. She would make no effort to verbally respond to his question.
--------------------
@ Chiharu: To avoid tainting the results of this encounter, I'm waiting to see what Tsuyoshi does next before telling you what your (successful) Sage Lore: Crane Clan aka Lore: Superstition aka Lore: Ghosts/Spirits roll yields.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:31 am
Tsuyoshi waited a moment, and then another, before blinking in water out of his eyes and trying to figure out why exactly such a hungry looking girl would have no interest in food. Perhaps if she were a ghost, but if that was the case she'd be attacking him, cursing him, or doing something of the sort by now, wouldn't she? Shy, or scared of him maybe?
Well, whatever it was, he carefully placed the item on the ground before her with both hands, if she wouldn't take it, and took a step back, leaving the gift almost like an offering, and gave her a respectful bow of the head.
"In any case, please, feel free to eat that if you care to, and take shelter from the weather in that hut if you need," pointing out the one emptied for them, before turning to return to the hut the other peasants were in- they already had a fire going, and he was not wanting to catch a chill before he'd have to rouse the captive in the morning.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 5:27 pm
@ Tsuyoshi: The girl would again remain silent, watching with what Tsuyoshi might perceive as curiosity as she watched him take the presented food, place it on the ground, and bow. Quote: before turning to return to the hut the other peasants were in Though with his back turned to her, he would not see her expression turn to one of sadness, nor would he see her reach out a hand for him as he began his trek to the hut. She would not follow, and only lower her arm, and head. ... When Tsuyoshi would wake the next morning (no Stamina roll to avoid illness, you weren't in the rain THAT long and made an effort to dry off), long after the rain had stopped, he would find the food he left the girl where he had placed it, soggy but untouched. The girl would be gone, without any footprints in the mud leaving the location he saw her last. -------------------- @ Chiharu: Oh, you've heard of this! You remember reading something about a local spirit in a nearby province, from before the Destroyer War even happened (though you don't recall any specifics about date or reason of origin). They say a apparition called a Nure Onago, or 'Wet Girl'. Not a literal ghost, but a supernatural being born of feelings of loss and sadness from widows of drowning victims, particularly sailors. You think you recall that they feed off of attention. They aren't particularly harmful or malicious, but the tales say that if one looks into your eyes and smiles and you return that smile, they will follow you for the rest of your days, more or less being an inconvenience or burden as they kind of weird/creep people out. As long as Tsuyoshi doesn't interact with her, he should be fine. Does he strike you as a smiley kind of fellow, Chiharu? -------------------- @ All players: Before I timeskip forward to reunite the party, questions for each half: Tsuyoshi, what is your agenda of things to accomplish before going back to retrieve your samurai-ko? Ladies, anything you want to do before Tsuyoshi returns? If you insist on helping clean up after the storm and help clean the hot springs, I will require a Courtier roll against TN 15 (one success from either of you will suffice). You don't have to try and force the issue, and you aren't limited to just this as your only option.
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Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:41 pm
Chiharu would take an extra effort to help the monk with her duties, especially being a site devoted to Ebisu. She politely insists in helping.
Although, she is kind of easily distracted by watching the storm or reading anything she finds on her way she puts an extra effort in focusing on her task this time. For some reason, even after the climb, the shugenja tries to work hard. Yet, some minor distractions might still occours.
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Paidi tou Selini rolled 6 10-sided dice:
5, 5, 5, 9, 8, 5
Total: 37 (6-60)
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 5:44 pm
Ayame was determined to keep herself occupied during this little period of entrapment. Whether it be reading, chatting, drawing up her map of the areas they'd managed to explore thus far, or trying to convince the old monk to let her do Ebisu's good work in order to enjoy the hotsprings sooner, she would not sit idle unless it was to soak or memorize the scenery from their hilltop vantage point.
[Awareness/Courtier 4k3 vs. TN 15
Roll: 5, 5, 5, 9 = 19]
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:39 pm
Well, Tsuyoshi had little use for the ruined food. Much as the abandoned item confused him a little, since it had clearly been no ghost, he shrugged it off and attended to more important matters- if the roads were fit for travel, he'd take the horse to return the bandit to Kyuden Doji (presuming that was the city we came from?) and make it clear that this was the bandit responsible for the attack on Miya Ayame's person, his focus solely on her in the second attempt, and the line of questioning that the imperial had requested he be subjected to before any execution. With that done, he'd wait just long enough or Horse-sama to be well rested and fed before making the return trip, checking daily to see if the mountain was in a state to where he could scale it and reconvene with his charge (and maybe get a few hours of hot-springs in?) before anything else.
With his duties to return the man to those properly able to question him and report the capture completed, until he could see the imperial again he had little to do really... which of course bothered him to no end. Tsuyoshi would take the time to more thoroughly return to and look at the areas they'd already visited and new to be safe and close by, making notes and sketches into his personal journal at a level of quality that Ayame was sure to find abhorrent (happy to roll and find out how much so if preferred!).
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Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 11:13 pm
@ Tsuyoshi:
You're really doing it, huh?
The man, now slightly recovered from the night's rest, is a bit better able to speak, would be a bit more verbal than yesterday. "Great Samurai... I beg of you, just put me to the sword now," he would say to you once you left the village. "Others will die - others completely uninvolved, innocent, will lose their lives if you take me to the city. My orders were strict. Either the imperial must lose her life, or I must lose mine trying. Please, I beg of you, kill me now." Though his face still covered by half the bandana, you can still easily make out the distress of his expression, contorted by the difficulty of what he was asking you.
Thoughts?
--------------------
@ Samurai-Ko:
(Gustyfox, as a heads up, please include the result any rolls you make in another thread in here; otherwise, I might miss the fact that you made them.)
It would not be difficult for either one of you to talk down the old lady monk from her strong-independent-woman stance, since you seem insistent on helping her anyways.
Chiharu! While you're cleaning one spring with a net, a rock near the ledge comes loose! Give me a Raw Reflexes roll of TN 20 to not take the plunge into an Ebisu-blessed hot spring.
Ayame, I'll leave it up to you if you want to be present for this, succeed or fail.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:38 am
Tsuyoshi paused, looking at the many sadly and patting the horse. After what he'd attempted death was a given, it would have taken incredible heroics on his part and the appreciation of someone at least of Miya-sama's position to save him- but he wasn't begging for his life. For someone else's. Perhaps he had been blackmailed into the attack. The Crane was less than thrilled, but he had his orders, and his duty to protect Ayame to consider first and foremost. Of course returning the man would also be to his credit, but if there was another way to protect the Imperial... the lives would be worth not having the glory of dragging the assailant back to the city to be punished, he thought. Even if he wanted to wince slightly at losing that moment.
He turned to fully face the man, allowing himself to show the sympathy on his face, holding his hands out before him.
"I take no delight in that prospect, nor that of you being tortured for the information. But I must consider my obligation to protect Miya-sama, and her orders, foremost. I can't grant that- not unless I know whom is responsible. Tell me," he said gently, placing two fingers on the hilt of his sword- it was no threat. After all, it was exactly what the man was requesting. A gentler end, a mercy, perhaps for more than himself.
"And I will do as much as I am able to see they harm no one."
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