1st Scroll - The Will of Nobles - 1st - 3rd Days

[ffilz]

Katsumi arranges the bodies in a peaceful pose, then kneels down before them, reciting the haiku he heard over and over as a child. Then he bows his head and begins reciting a norito, but falters and stops.

He is kneeling before the bodies, his head bowed, when the others arrive. When he spots Taisho, his eyes light up.

"Ah, Taisho. You are a priest, are you not? These fellows need your assistance. "

He turns to Kentaro with a serious expression. "Do not worry, my friend. I would not have them rise as ghosts. But come; we must dig graves while the prayers are said, and I have much to tell you all."

Taisho hasn't yet left the camp...

[Enoch]

Oops. Let me rewind and try again:

Katsumi arranges the bodies in a peaceful pose, then kneels down before them, reciting the haiku he heard over and over as a child. Then he bows his head and begins reciting a norito, but falters and stops.

He is kneeling before the bodies, his head bowed, when the others arrive. His eyes scan them, and he frowns.

"Where is Taisho? He is a priest, isn't he? These fellows need his assistance. "

He turns to Kentaro with a serious expression. "Do not worry, my friend. I would not have them rise as ghosts. But come; we must dig graves while the prayers are said, and I have much to tell you all."

[ffilz]

Oops. Let me rewind and try again:

Katsumi arranges the bodies in a peaceful pose, then kneels down before them, reciting the haiku he heard over and over as a child. Then he bows his head and begins reciting a norito, but falters and stops.

He is kneeling before the bodies, his head bowed, when the others arrive. His eyes scan them, and he frowns.

"Where is Taisho? He is a priest, isn't he? These fellows need his assistance. "

He turns to Kentaro with a serious expression. "Do not worry, my friend. I would not have them rise as ghosts. But come; we must dig graves while the prayers are said, and I have much to tell you all."

Oh, and remember Taisho is Shinto, Shinto priests don't deal with the dead, so unless there's some spirit thing going on, involving Taisho would not be appropriate.

[Marullus]

Kentaro jogs into the clearing with Omi, pacing a half-step behind the samurai. His hand is on the hilt of his no-dachi as he scans the surrounds for more threats. "What has happened, Katsumi? We heard screams! Were you attacked by these men? Or did you interrupt their consumption at the hands of the forest spirits?"

[Enoch]

Katsumi nods sharply. "Hai. These men were in league with bandits, who rob and kill travelers. They told me this, intending to kill me and alert the bandits to ambush the rest of you."

He quickly fills the others in on what the peasants told him.

[jemmus]

(At some point). Katsumi scratches at the ground with his kyoketsu-shoge. A few inches down, he hits a tree root. He tries a spot to the side and hits a buried rock. He, Kentaro and Omi estimate that it will take two or three hours or more to dig two shallow graves for the bodies. For tools, they Omi's utility knife, Katsumi's kyoketsu-shoge, and Kentaro's wakizashi.

[Marullus]

Gear:

With meticulous weight calculations, Kentaro does not carry three swords. I expected he carries his no-dashi when on foot and keeps his dai-sho sheathed on the flank of his horse for use when mounted or when needed for social protocol. His bow is also stored on the horse unless I specify (which for this rushing scene, I said I hadn't). He can carry two of the three weapon-sets at any one time, but not all three.

I suppose he's slicing roots with his prodigious strength and the no-dachi, scoring the edges while others scoop, unless Omi shares his knife or wakizashi.

A utility knife wasn't on the equipment list, but if it is an option, is it acceptable to backdate and add it? Rural tools are something he'd likely have - a utility knife on him makes sense, perhaps even a shovel on his horse, if you establish prices. I also already assumed in the roleplay that a cookpot for boiling rice was a given as well.

Kentaro looks with concern between their misused weapons, the bodies, and the rocky soil. He slices down into the earth to sever a tough root and looks to the others to see if they also question, unwilling to be the first to speak on if we should bury them or notify the town.

[jemmus]

Edited: I got the utility knife from Uesigi Omi's character sheet. Every PC can have one. It only makes sense that people who spend a lot of time outdoors (like you travelers) would have a small knife. There are a lot of times when you'd need to cut things. Let's say that the weight is Negligible, like Flint and Steel, Kasa hat, etc. Cost 1s.

Shovel - weight 6, cost 2s. Why would Kentaro have brought a shovel?

[spanningtree]

Ito ponders how much Kentaro-san's horse cost...

[Marullus]

Shovel - weight 6, cost 2s. Why would Kentaro have brought a shovel?

Kentaro is barely above mountain-peasant (and presumably with decent recognition and good will among that community), so I would imagine him having a shovel as he lends his strength to aid in community works when needed (a more likely occurrence than fighting something).

...it is, however, a moot point. I momentarily forgot Kentaro's extreme poverty. He has only 7 coppers to his name and not enough food to travel home - he doesn't have the coin to replace his tools as they wore out, even if he once had a shovel.

...and even though he is not very compitent ahorse, he would do anything to avoid selling or losing his father's steed.

[jemmus]

It's now the first part of the greater hour of the dog (dai-inu-no-toki), at the end of the month of Mi-na-zuki, 4th year of Angen.

Around 8:00 PM, September 29, 1179. We'll let Taisho and Uesigi Omi post before moving time forward.

My character Toshizo in the Frank's Bushido game is like Kentaro. He's pretty close to penniless, but he won't give up the horse his parents gave him. He needs some money pretty quickly.

[jemmus]

Katsumi gets 1 budo for combat (Rabble - .5 x 2). Please add to the character sheet.

[jmacatty]

Omi, ever the true samurai (as he believes) comments, I refuse to act as an etta to these peasants. Bury them if you must, but I will return to the campfire.

OOCSorry, I've been out of town for the last week.

[Marullus]

Kentaro's face flushes with embarrassment at the rebuke, pulling his father's sword from the soil. "Omi-san, wait!" he calls after him, hoping to save face. He glances over apologetically to Katsumi as he hurriedly cleans his blade and sheathes it. "I must go with him... perhaps you should, too." He jogs to catch up with Omi, leaving the bodies unburied.

[Enoch]

Katsumi stops hacking at a root for a moment as the two samurai depart, watching their receding backs. He looks to the blade of his knife, running his thumb along the nicks rapidly accumulating there. This will need to be sharpened again if it is to be of any use to me. He turns his head to look at the shallow indentation they've created, then back to the bodies.

Katsumi sighs and shuffles over to kneel before the bodies again. He bows his head to say a short prayer, then stands, brushes off his knees, and drags the bodies into the underbrush, where he hides them in the hollow of a fallen log and covers them with leaves. He then follows after the samurai.

Using Discover Hidden Things to hide the bodies: Discover Hidden Things (BCS 6): [1d20]=7

[jemmus]

Omi, Kentaro and Katsumi
Katsumi conceals the bodies as best he can and follows the heavily armored bushi toward the trail back to the campsite.

Taisho and Ito
At the fire, the ronin bushi and the gakusho hear the sound of feet. More than one set of two feet, perhaps two or three of them, one carrying a very heavy body. They are approaching quickly, crashing down the trail that goes up the mountainside.

Actions for Ito and Taisho?

[ffilz]

So here I'm not sure how to react. In a more standard fantasy world, I'd be inclined to slip into the woods and watch. I think in "civilized" Nipon, where we aren't doing anything wrong, it would be more wrong to slip into the woods... I dunno...

[jemmus]

This mountain isn't very civilized. It's just off of the highway and it has a somewhat famous little shrine on it. The nearest big town (Kofu, Kai Province) is around two days travel away. The campfire is on a flat area beside a trail that leads up to the shrine. But it doesn't look like the trail gets much traffic, and pilgrims don't normally visit Shinto shrines at night. Especially if it's in the woods on a mountain rather than near a town.

[ffilz]

OK, with that reminder of the immediate setting, Taisho will suggest we step into the brush. The camp will look odd as obviously being for several people. Let's observe who is thrashing down the trail past sundown. Let them wonder at why the camp looks suddenly abandoned... if they even notice...

[jemmus]

We need Ito's action, then we can proceed.