[Closed] 2: On the Road (Aiko, Koga, Osaru)

[Starbeard]

Falling Leaf Month, 24th (Horse Day, Low Week)


The Sun Goddess Amaterasu casts her rejuvenating rays over the sleeping buildings of Otosan Uchi.



Aiko is awake before anyone else on Horse Day, ready to leave as soon as sunlight hits the streets. Unfortunately for her, her brother Koga and Osaru the ronin are both tired from last night’s festivities and are slow to get up. By mid-morning everyone is finally ready to pay their respects to Master Kagewo and leave for the magistrate’s estate. It turns out that Assistant Harada slept in even more than the rest of you, and it isn’t until late morning that you finally make your way out of West Hub Village.



Your feet strike the firm dirt of the Road of the First Emperor, the oldest of the Imperial Highways, tread by countless thousands over the past centuries. The day is warm for Autumn, and the air is refreshing. It is now the height of the Leaf Viewing season, the time of Fall when the Rokugani set aside time to contemplate the beauty of the changing colors of the trees. All around you the trees present a calming display of yellows, oranges, reds and purples.



You travel light, being on foot and with no servants. There's no law against wearing armor while travelling, but none of your travel papers expressly grant that permission either. Since you all have light armor, you can fold it up and carry it in your travel packs.

Towards the end of the mid-day Hour of the Horse, you reach the first magisterial way station, literally nothing more than a simple wooden pavilion with a trough to catch rain water, and a bulletin board of Imperial notices and criminal bounties.

Assistant Harada is in good spirits. “Lady Aiko, it is the Hour of the Horse, which is most lucky on Horse Day. Perhaps we can do a bit of sparring while we rest.” He runs over to some nearby bamboo and makes a flashy display of slicing off a couple of shafts with his blade to use as practice swords, then returns and hands one to Aiko. It doesn’t pass by you that he hasn’t mentioned having Osaru or Koga join in the sparring.

Actions?



登場人物

• Mirumoto Koga, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN15), daisho 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Mirumoto Aiko, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN25), daisho 6k3 (DR 4k2) | Honor 2;7, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Yoshida Osaru, ronin: no armor (TN15), katana 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5 Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko

"That would please me very much." Aiko smiles and gives a slight bow as she happily accepts the bamboo shaft from Assistant Harada. She tests her grip and the shaft's weight and handling before nodding that she is satisfied and moving gracefully to a position where the sparring can begin.

As she does so, she says to Osaru, "Master Osaru, I do hope you will do me the honour of watching so you might later instruct me on any ways that I might improve my technique?"

Then she readies herself to spar with Harada, observing the appropriate pleasantries and formalities.

[GreyWolfVT]

Osaru gives a polite bow "As we have an agreement I shall watch and give you pointers." the ronin offers to Aiko.

[LtTibbles]

Koga will take the time to check the Bulletin Board before taking a position next to Osaru to watch the sparring session.

"I hope Harada-san's infatuation doesn't cloud his mind, my sister is quite skilled and it would be a shame to have their contest be cut short." he quietly says to Osaru so as not to distract the other two.

[GreyWolfVT]

Osaru smiles "Let us hope it does not come to that. However let us watch and see."

[Starbeard]

Sorry, got swamped again.



Koga peruses the notices on the bulletin board.

"Snows will be heavy this winter. The Oracles of the Temple of the Four Winds are collecting omens to prophesy the weather for next year."

"Due to the recent razing of Heavenly Bounty Village by ronin, taxes in the Doji Plains are to be increased from 3 parts in 10 to 5 parts in 10."

"The ronin Wicked Owl has been seen in this area. He is renowned across three provinces for one count of theft, two counts of harassment, and is suspected of two counts of banditry. The price for his imprisonment is 1 koku, or half for his head."

As he reads, Aiko and Harada move off to the side of the road and spend a few minutes mentally preparing themselves for their practice.



"Now, let us begin with a friendly duel. First to land a strike, shall we say?" The two take their places a few paces away from each other and ready their bamboo swords. Everything goes silent as they concentrate on centering their metaphysical beings into the strike…



Dueling
The duel is an interesting type of special combat that follows a strict order of events:

1. As the duelists take their stance, you may make an Awareness + Iaijutsu roll (TN 15) to learn the opponent's Agility rank, Iaijutsu rank, or Void rank. Each raise allows you to learn an additional point of information.
Aiko, please make your Awareness + Iaijutsu roll and specify how many raises you are making, to see if you can deduce your opponent's stats.

2. They now have the opportunity to agree that one of them is the clear victor and end the duel without any bloodshed. Backing out after this point is shameful.

3. The duel proper now begins. The TN to hit either opponent starts at TN 5. The duelist with the higher Reflexes goes first, and chooses either "Focus" (raising the TN by 5), or "Strike" (you flinch and give the opponent the opportunity to strike). You can only Focus as many times as you have ranks in Void.
Aiko, you have the higher Reflexes and may choose Focus or Strike first.

4. When you call Strike, your opponent gets to attack at their final TN, then you get to make your attack against your TN. After this, the combat moves to a normal skirmish using the kenjutsu skill.
In this friendly case, Harada is suggesting that the winner is the first person to land a hit.



登場人物

• Mirumoto Koga, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN15), daisho 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Mirumoto Aiko, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN25), daisho 6k3 (DR 4k2) | Honor 2;7, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Yoshida Osaru, ronin: no armor (TN15), katana 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5 Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2

[/quote]

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko

Awareness + Iaijutsu roll (4k3) TN 20 (1 raise): [1d10] = 6, [1d10] = 3, [1d10] = 3, [1d10] = 8

4k3 Total = 17

Oh well! For info, I rolled twice because the first time around I forgot to state in the roll my intention to raise. It was only afterwards I realized that it would be impossible for you to know whether I was playing things straight if I didn't.

Aiko watches Harada closely, looking for any hint of his strengths or weaknesses but she finds his gaze quite distracting. She has to focus on not blushing and glancing away rather than gaining any useful insight. Somewhat frustrated with herself, she steels herself and the practice duel begins. As is her training, she tries to ignore the distraction and focus on the task at hand.

Aiko chooses to focus.

[GreyWolfVT]

Osaru watches the sparing duel from the sidelines and will coach Aiko if she needs it.

[ffilz]

Aiko
Oh well! For info, I rolled twice because the first time around I forgot to state in the roll my intention to raise. It was only afterwards I realized that it would be impossible for you to know whether I was playing things straight if I didn't.

FYI: One of the nice things about the Unseen Servant Dice Roller is that all the rolls for the campaign are visible: http://www.unseenservant.com/default.as ... mpaign=673

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko
Oh well! For info, I rolled twice because the first time around I forgot to state in the roll my intention to raise. It was only afterwards I realized that it would be impossible for you to know whether I was playing things straight if I didn't.

FYI: One of the nice things about the Unseen Servant Dice Roller is that all the rolls for the campaign are visible: http://www.unseenservant.com/default.as ... mpaign=673

Hi Frank, yeah that's cool but that wasn't actually the issue. I probably wasn't clear enough with my explanation. What happened was, I rolled the first time intending to do one raise (from TN15 to TN20) and got a 23... Yay! Success. But, when I came to posting the roll I realized that the intent to raise wasn't recorded anywhere. So, nobody other than me can know for sure that I didn't roll to see how well I did and then work out if I could raise afterwards. Therefore, to be above reproach, I re-rolled declaring the intent to raise in the roll but only got a 17, which is a fail.

I suppose instead I could have stuck with the original success and just voided the raise as it wasn't declared anywhere but it was my intent to raise, so re-rolling seemed to make more sense. Them's the breaks.

Reading through, I'm not sure if I've explained things any more clearly or not Hopefully I have. It seems to me that there is a slight awkwardness about raises, well the need to declare them up-front, which for pbp you would need to address by either declaring the raises in the roll, as I did second time around, or posting that you intend to raise in one post and then rolling in a separate post afterwards. Does that make sense to anyone?

[ffilz]

Aiko
Oh well! For info, I rolled twice because the first time around I forgot to state in the roll my intention to raise. It was only afterwards I realized that it would be impossible for you to know whether I was playing things straight if I didn't.

FYI: One of the nice things about the Unseen Servant Dice Roller is that all the rolls for the campaign are visible: http://www.unseenservant.com/default.as ... mpaign=673

Hi Frank, yeah that's cool but that wasn't actually the issue. I probably wasn't clear enough with my explanation. What happened was, I rolled the first time intending to do one raise (from TN15 to TN20) and got a 23... Yay! Success. But, when I came to posting the roll I realized that the intent to raise wasn't recorded anywhere. So, nobody other than me can know for sure that I didn't roll to see how well I did and then work out if I could raise afterwards. Therefore, to be above reproach, I re-rolled declaring the intent to raise in the roll but only got a 17, which is a fail.

I suppose instead I could have stuck with the original success and just voided the raise as it wasn't declared anywhere but it was my intent to raise, so re-rolling seemed to make more sense. Them's the breaks.

Reading through, I'm not sure if I've explained things any more clearly or not Hopefully I have. It seems to me that there is a slight awkwardness about raises, well the need to declare them up-front, which for pbp you would need to address by either declaring the raises in the roll, as I did second time around, or posting that you intend to raise in one post and then rolling in a separate post afterwards. Does that make sense to anyone?

Yea, that mostly makes sense. I don't know the mechanics - what is a raise? How does that work?

[Captain Kinkajou]

Yea, that mostly makes sense. I don't know the mechanics - what is a raise? How does that work?

I'm sure Starbeard will be able to explain it better than me but, as I understand it, it's a way of gambling to gain extra potency/benefit from a success. When you are rolling against a TN, you can add +5 to that TN (1 raise) and if you succeed you gain something extra but if you miss the raised TN you fail, even if you roll higher than the original TN. So you are reducing your chances of success but increasing the effect if you do succeed. Each raise is +5, so adding +10 to the TN would be 2 raises, +15 would be 3 raises etc. I think there are some nuances governing what you can achieve when you succeed with raises that I can't remember but I believe that''s the basic premise.[/ooc]

[Starbeard]

I actually hadn't thought about the raise issue either, so thanks for catching that Kinkajou.

From now on, I guess we'll have to go with the following rule: IF YOU WANT TO RAISE, YOU HAVE TO STATE IT IN THE DICE ROLL.


Frank: Kinkajou's got it. In this system, there's no such thing as a critical success or even grades of success. If your TN is 15, it doesn't matter if you roll 15 or 48, the result is exactly the same. If you want a better result, then you have to state that you are 'raising' the TN (by 5 per raise), making the action more difficult but getting more out of it if you succeed. You can only raise as many times as your Void Ring.

For example, if you were in combat and wanted to strike at the unprotected areas between the opponent's armor, I would say that you will get +1k1 in damage for each raise you make.



(I'll make Harada's rolls at the table, so nobody can deduce his stats from the roll codes)

The others look on in silence, studying the stances and concentration of Harada and Aiko. She seems too focused on his posture, not reading his eyes. Harada can tell and reads her like text on a scroll, confident in his comparison of their practiced techniques (Harada manages to learn Aiko's Iaijutsu rank).

However, though Aiko's slight form only barely comes up to Harada's towering chest (he is of Matsu stock, after all), it is clear to everyone watching the contest that she has the advantage of speed and quick reflexes. Aiko can choose whether to call strike or focus first, or let Harada go first.

As they watch, Osaru and Koga individually play out an imaginary duel with Harada in their minds, trying to picture how they would measure up to his skill. Osaru & Koga, you can follow along with your own imaginary duel if you like. You each can choose whether to call strike/focus first, or force Harada to call first.



登場人物

• Mirumoto Koga, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN15), daisho 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Mirumoto Aiko, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN25), daisho 6k3 (DR 4k2) | Honor 2;7, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Yoshida Osaru, ronin: no armor (TN15), katana 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5 Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko

Aiko chooses to focus.

[Starbeard]

Aiko

Aiko chooses to focus.

That brings your TN up to 10.

Harada shifts his heel ever so slightly… and focuses (bringing his TN up to 15).

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko

Aiko focuses again.

Aiko continues to centre herself. Seeking the perfect moment to act, she strains to remain focused and hold her stance just a little longer. She knows she is reaching her limits and she strongly suspects Harada has the edge on her. She is pretty sure he is just waiting to react to her draw and she will have to soon but, the longer she can hold it, the more chance she has.

[GreyWolfVT]

is there anything those of us on the sidelines can do to aid Aiko?

[Starbeard]

is there anything those of us on the sidelines can do to aid Aiko?

Unfortunately, by the book no. From page 116, on dueling etiquette:

"Do iaijutsu duels occur during a battle? If so, isn't it silly to put away your sword and hope your opponent does the same thing? Yes, duels do occur during battles. Remember, it is dishonorable to interfere with a duel, even if it's occurring in the middle of a few thousand other guys fighting."

Koga and Osaru can always try underhanded tactics to help Aiko, such as trying to cause a distraction without making it look like they are doing it on purpose.



(Aiko's TN is raised to 20.)

The Imperial magistrate's eyes bore into Aiko's, and the others can see that he is almost willingly keeping his guard down, hoping to entice Aiko into making the first move. As her resolve builds, however, he can tell that her skill is a little greater than he had anticipated, and his body involuntarily tenses up, his overconfidence beginning to wane away. (Harada almost called strike, but chooses to focus instead, raising his TN to 25.)

The prolonged tension is too much, and Aiko's concentration wanders for only a split second as she wonders whether the twitch in Harada's shoulder was a move to strike or not. Her guard is down and Harada moves in for a strike! (Aiko has no more raises left, and has to call Strike. Harada now gets an attack at TN 25, and if he misses then Aiko will get an attack at her last TN, TN 20. Remember that you can spend a single Void Point to gain +1k1 to a roll at any time.)

Harada lunges forward, whipping the bamboo stick about with lightning speed, but with a reflexive twitch of the wrist Aiko parries it to the side. (roll 21, miss.)

Aiko's parry sets her up for a counterstrike! (Please make an Agility + Iaijutsu roll, TN 20)



登場人物

• Mirumoto Koga, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN15), daisho 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Mirumoto Aiko, Dragon bushi: no armor+daisho (TN25), daisho 6k3 (DR 4k2) | Honor 2;7, Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2
• Yoshida Osaru, ronin: no armor (TN15), katana 6k3 (DR 5k2) | Honor 2;5 Wounds (4) 0;0 | Void Pts 2/2

[GreyWolfVT]

Koga and Osaru can always try underhanded tactics to help Aiko, such as trying to cause a distraction without making it look like they are doing it on purpose.

nope I'd rather not do anything underhanded or shady. I was more or less thinking in the lines of "coaching" type advice. Like widen your stance or keep that elbow up. Remember to balance on the balls of your feet.

[Captain Kinkajou]

Aiko

Agility + Iaijutsu roll (4k3) TN 20 (no raises) : [1d10] = 7, [1d10] = 4, [1d10] = 4, [1d10] = 9

ooc: So Aiko rolls a 20.

Can she pull the strike ever so slightly, so that she narrowly misses? She doesn't want to outdo Harada when he is the one teaching her. She'd do it as subtly as possible but I'd be okay if Harada suspected.