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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 13, 2017 17:57:46 GMT 10
After years of mastering the art of partying without having a hangover, it was easy for Yozhiko to be fine after her power nap. She got up, made herself a cup of kave and lit up her pipe. She got dressed in something casual and then texted Hajime. She sent that message and then sent another to her husband: As she left the room she was about to text her yojimbo, but Kigura for some reason was waiting outside. She bowed to him.
"Kigura-san, blessings upon you and yours. Can I help you with something?"
The Doji bowed back.
"Good afternoon, Yozhiko-sama. Will you require my services?" He asked as she nodded to him to follow her.
The Asahina stopped walking and turned to him, "Were you just waiting for me?"
The yojimbo laughed. "We have non Crane on the ship, of course I was waiting for you." He replied.
"I see." the shugenja replied.
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Post by Iuchi Hajime on Jun 14, 2017 2:16:16 GMT 10
Hajime arrives to Yozh's ship about an hour later. She doesn't look like she's having a bad hangover, but still doesn't look anywhere as well as her best friend.
She bows at Yozhiko and her yojimbo. "Good day to both of you." she says and grins at Yozh. "I envy you so much right now. I feel like crap."
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 14, 2017 2:30:22 GMT 10
Yozhiko bows to her friend and she is happy to notice that her yojimbo doing the same.
"Hajime-chan, welcome again." She returned the greeting.
"Kigura-san, I will not need your services before we leave the ship. In case you need me, you can always reach me through text. Thank you."
The yojimbo bowed and left as his ward made it clear that she wanted privacy.
"I have no idea how you feel but you do look awful. What happened to you? Too much alcohol or my Lion guest?" She casually asked her friend as they made their way to the library.
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Post by Iuchi Hajime on Jun 14, 2017 3:39:29 GMT 10
"See ya, Doji-san!" she says and turns to Yohziko with a playful shrug. "A bit of both, I guess? I mean... well you know how things went." she says and leans closer. "You should be really really careful with her inside your ship. She is sneaky and dangerous."
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 14, 2017 3:50:10 GMT 10
As the reached the library and she pressed the password for the door to open, the Asahina raised an eyebrow.
"I knew her before you met her and yes I know she is all that. In any case I know you hate the subject and I ain't sure that it will help your mood talking about her now. In any case thanks for the advice. As you see I have taken precautions."
The door sled open and she entered the library, nodding to her friend to follow her. It was a large room. In the middle of it there was a large glass box and inside it on a low table an ancient tea set. Across it there was another table, more suited for people siting on chairs and fitting ergonomic chairs. Only the screens betrayed that there were computers built in the table. The walls of the room were covered by bookcases, with scrolls and books. Most of them were dusty, since Yozhiko rarely read anything for a second time.
"Have you brought your chart or any portable computer device? In case you want me I could ask for the earth kami to assist me in helping you get over any effects the sake had on you."
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Post by Iuchi Hajime on Jun 14, 2017 11:15:57 GMT 10
Hajime nods at her. "Right, it's not really why I'm here either. Let's just get down to business." she says and follows her inside, tapping her backpack as Yozhiko asks. "It's all here." she says and shakes her head. "Don't worry, I may not be ready for another round of party, but I'm more than ready for this."
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 14, 2017 14:15:31 GMT 10
Yozhiko smiled to her friend.
"Nice, let me hook it up and see what you brought me." She said as she waited for Hajime to open her backpack.
"Reason I asked you to join me here is that I think we must provide some intel on the rest to the group before compiling the list of extra places we need to visit for the mission. I was planning to ask the kami for assistance in increasing our mental capacities and then the two of us having a chat about it, while recording the conversation. After that it all comes down to turning all this information into a version that we can present to the others during the meeting. How does that sound?"
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Post by Iuchi Hajime on Jun 14, 2017 14:36:35 GMT 10
Hajime nods twice at her words while opening her backpack and taking her equipment out. "Solid plan, Yozh-chan. I'm gonna leave that up to you if that's ok. Fire element isn't exactly my school's specialty. Adding to that, I can ask the Water kami to show us the best path we should in take in the near future when the time comes. That has saved my butt and Kailen-chan's a dozen times!"
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 14, 2017 15:14:57 GMT 10
"In that case lets get started."
She opened her satchel and got her scrolls out. She singled out the ones with Mental Quickness and Fire Kami's Blessing and showed them to her friend.
"They are not that advanced. You can understand my cipher, right?
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Post by Iuchi Hajime on Jun 15, 2017 1:16:56 GMT 10
The Iuchi nods at her. "Yeah, sure. Unless you've added new tricks I'm not aware of!" she says and laughs.
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 15, 2017 9:41:04 GMT 10
"Let's start then." The Asahina said and she got up and started praying. [OOC: Casting roll for Fire Kami's Blessing. For the next 2 hours +4k0 to any High or Merchant Skill rolls using the Intelligence Trait. Casting roll for Mental Quickness. For the next 10' +3 Intelligence. I casted Mental Quickness on the keyboard my toon is using.] Once she was done she opened a text file she had prepared and while her hands remained on the keyboard. "I have already prepared a list of questions/issues we need to discuss. They are the following: - What do we know of the events that led to the Imperial Proclamation we are to investigate?
- What do we know about Hantei Prime?
- What do we know about the Sparrow Clan?
- Which prophecies we need to look into?
- Which clans and where might have pieces of prophecies of old?
Feel free to suggest additional issues that you feel that we need to discuss. Have you brought me your astrological chart and that of Kailen-san?" [OOC: 1st question --> Intelligence/Lore: History (sage) roll (5k4 base, 12k7 buffed, aka 10k8), 2nd question --> Intelligence/Lore: Planets (sage) roll (5k4 base, 12k7 buffed, aka 10k8), 3rd question --> Intelligence/Lore: Sparrow Clan (sage) roll (5k4 base, 12k7 buffed, aka 10k8), 4th question --> Intelligence/Lore: Prophecies roll (6k4 base, 13k7 buffed, aka 10k8) 5th question --> Intelligence/Lore: Prophecies roll (6k4 base, 13k7 buffed, aka 10k8)]
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Post by emeralddragon on Jun 15, 2017 14:11:38 GMT 10
The first question was actually simple. As much as their was an attempt to keep it secret, once the news was announced by the Miya media the Samurai involved largely began to talk. And given that 1/4 of the Empires Bushi that served in the Legions was involved...
The secrets of the battles were leaking like a sieve.
The general consensus from everyone involved is that the Seokga of Water was the Champion of Jigoku, just like the Seokga of Taint was the Champion on the 3rd Day of Thunder, and its death should cancel the Day of Thunder. More over, without the ritrual the Chuda were preforming, Jigoku lacks an effective means to enter the world. Unstable but natural portals were not good enough. They rarely let anything that could travel through space through, and the Crab and Spider were extremely good at pacifying such worlds.
For an army that would even approach the size needed to take on the Empire now, a new Festering Pit was needed...and a big one. The Most powerful thing to crawl through the original Festering Pit, be it Fu Leng or the Seokga of Taint would still be obliterated if the most powerful weapons in the Empire were turned upon it. Sure, it would do significant damage...but it would still loose.
Finally the Chuda were gone completely destroyed, both at Isawa's Shadow and the Battle of the Ritural that followed. Without them, the Empire is fairly convinced that the Aliens that serve Jigoku are no threat. Due to Tortoise secrecy, the vast majority of Samurai believe no alien holds more then one world, or has ever posed a threat to the Empire. In this, they are less to the Samurai the human Gaijin were. Not just soulless but also primitive and harmless. Even the Jigoku Aliens are seen as more of a threat due to Chuda tech they have stolen. Your result proves that can't be the case, as the few gaijin Chuda crafts captured the kami remain unawakened.
At this stage it remains completely not understood, and all the tech captured has been destroyed as Blasphamy or tainted, meaning this situation is unlikely to change.
Whether this Misdirection campaign about the alien's tech is being spread by the Imperial Families or Chosen to maintain the superiority of the Empire, the Scorpion or Spider for their own reasons, or some other force is not clear. Perhaps its simply racism.
The Second question, Hantei’s Garden is a beautiful world with a strong connection to Tengoku. It can be compared quite strongly to the Golden Sun Plain's in space, which is quite likely why that long dead Emperor put it under Tortoise Protection as a Sacrosanct Planet. Millions of different plants are found on its surface, and each of them produces flowers in some form. Yet oddly enough the plant has no animals upon it. The plants breed and multiplied through unknown means, likely linked to Tengoku, and thus the garden continued to shift and change, year after year, each garden a perfect and unique creation, blessed by Tengoku's presence.
From the limited surface exploration its known that all but the highest honoured Samurai feel uncomfortable on the world, as if they are being watched and judged, and the truely dishonourable have been known to discribe a weight on their shoulders, as if they literally are carrying their Dharma and sins.
Two years ago, a small area of the world was Tainted through unknown means, and due to this Samurai were allowed to walk on the surface of the planet for the first time since it fell under Sparrow guardianship. The 1 square km area was purged of all life, all taint and all kami, purified and literally covered with Jade to try and make sure not a single tainted atom escaped. Since then a small collection of Crab, Phoenix, and Crane have been found on the world, trying to heal this spot and allow it to regrow, as well as trying as hard as they can to make the area grow plants in the same manner and guiding principal of the rest of the planet.
The Doji were only human however, and thus both this court and last court they had come before the Emperor and begged his forgiveness for not creating a garden equal to that which had to be destroyed to remove the Taint.
((OOC: This post is not complete, I just need to go to work. When I get home I will answer the following 3 questions))
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Post by emeralddragon on Jun 16, 2017 3:08:06 GMT 10
As they research more, the Sparrow Clan current state slowly come forward. In many respects the Sparrow have changed the Least out of any Clan in the Empire. They chose to continue honorable poverty, and literally built any satellite out of the spare parts and debris of other Satellites. Their farmland was intentionally designed to mimic the Suzume Hills, and they have continued the tradition of story telling, despite the fact they no longer need to worry about paper documents being destroyed.They maintain a courtly presence, but it has decreased with the birth of the Dove clan, and the Sparrow really only handle Minor Clan Alliance talks with the Crane and Spider due to shared ancestry and history as well as a similar culture to the Crane.
Maintaining these connections has been difficult with the insanity the Crane went through and the Spider's natural efforts to corrupt everyone away from Bushido. However, it has borne some rather unique fruit. While most other Minor Clans are richer, the fact remains that making a large fleet of ships as a minor clan means a Great Clan is more likely to take you down a peg or two. However the Sparrow guard Hantei's Garden, and any suggestion that they should not maintain a fleet to protect such a world is a duel worthy offense. Likewise the political arrangements with the Spider and Crane connections give them access to Gyushi and Uesugi Engineers and their shipyards, minor as those are compared to the bigger shipyards in the Empire. Thus it is not uncommon for the Sparrow to officially own most of the Minor Clan Alliance fleet, if really its more evenly distributed. Acting as the military middleman to prevent the Great Clans for having a reason to go to war with the other Minor Clans is one of the few sources of Income the Sparrow have and finances their personal fleet.
The Sparrow are getting ripped off of course...they aren't merchants and have no desire to be materialistic. But given the boost to sales this situation causes, the Spider and the Crane recognize the long term gain of being at least somewhat reasonable. The Sparrow for their part, only do it for their duty, and so the money never enters their hands, instead constantly cycling between the other Minor Clans and the two Great Clans. If they put the money to anything other then their duty, they would be violating Honorable Poverty after all.
As for its current Daimyo, Suzume Haurki was once a very happy individual, and a stunning story teller. Supposedly he once told a story to the Emperor himself. Those days are long past however. It was on his watch Hantei's Garden was tainted...and the Emperor has denied his Seppuku. for centuries the Sparrow have been guarding the Land the Emperor declared Sacrosanct, first the Golden Sun Plains and then Hantei's Garden. And it was on his watch they failed. He works hard to find out who caused this taint, and is quite likely willing to destroy his whole clan to make up for their failure if need be.
As for Prophecies...this one takes longer. The Sparrow are not known for such things, after all, and Hantai's Garden is not a place for storage, its a living homage to the Gods. However some digging leads you to find something...What it actually is is difficult to make out, as this item is clearly surrounded in some level of secrecy, but after over an hour of searching you hear of something that the Kitsune family and Sparrow are supposed to be guarding.
This, based on its age its likely a book although it could be a scroll, is called "A Story of Shinsei." For a while it seems like this is just another name for the Tao, however the sheer secrecy connected to it makes this unlikely. The only reason you find it in your searches at all is it is mentioned repeatedly in Trade negotiations, a tiny thing that seems to have parts of it change hand, or promises to renew their commitment to protecting this item.
As for Prophecy, its not so much a matter of finding Prophecy, but determining the fake from the real. The hundreds of likely fake decedents of Shinsei have seriously muddied the waters, and its very clear that any prophecy you want to confirm you will have to see in person.. However a few clans do stand out.
The Scorpion certainly have one. As do the Phoenix. and the Brotherhood have their own certainly.
But the most unusual one is the 'A Thunder in the Stars.' This was written by a Seppun Astrologer just after the 3rd Day of Thunder and exceptionally little is known about it, except the Seppun have refused repeatedly to share the contents of the scroll with the Phoenix, Dragon or any other Clan.
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Post by Asahina Yozhiko on Jun 18, 2017 17:46:07 GMT 10
[OOC: On my part I have my answers. I assume that these are the stuff I typed while thinking about it and chatting with Hajime. Since time is mentioned and the duration of mental quickness lasts for only 10', I would spam it for as long as we need. I got like 5 more times that I can do it if need be. Let me know how many spell slots I've used and if you want casting rolls for that, the TN is 15 and my dicepool 7k3. In any case I want to read the kawaru stones for me and Hajime. Me: Intelligence/Divination roll (Base 6k4, buffed 10k4) Haj: Intelligence/Divination roll (Base 6k4, buffed 10k4) I run out of void after this.]
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Post by emeralddragon on Jun 19, 2017 15:53:37 GMT 10
((Since I will be rotating time when I get home and you have no more need of Fire spell slots on this day, I think we can just say you used all of them and be done with it.))
As the coins spin and fell, an interesting image formed for both.
For Yozhiko, it becomes that death is going to stalk her path....no, she is going to stalk deaths path. She is safe for the most part, they are not after her, whoever they are. But if she isn't careful she is going to run into many dead and dying individuals in the future. Someone seeks end a story, to stop it from being told.
Hajime however is watched by two Shadows. They disagree about her....but they are the same person. Finding the truth will bring great relief to Hajime, but also great danger.
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