Glory of the Emerald Empire (Legend of the 5 Rings Quest)

2.18
[x] Combo plan.


You go to the Ashigaru, who look up at you expectantly. You wave your hand and motion for them to rise.

"Come on," you say. "Wake your comrades and then come with me. I will explain everything after I have donned my armor."

The two Ashigaru get up and move toward their sleeping comrades. While they do that, you go back to your tent and quickly put on your armor. It takes you a few minutes to ensure everything is in order, and you move your limbs around to make sure everything is on properly. Everything stays where it is supposed to, and is not uncomfortable. It seems even when hurrying you can put your armor on correctly, a good skill to have.

You heft your tetsubo and walk back outside. The two Ashigaru are waiting for you at around the fire pit with the other three.

"A spirit ally of the Crab has had something precious to them stolen, and has requested our aid," you tell them. "I intend to go retrieve it from the pack of Ronin currently guarding it." The Ashigaru's eyes go wide when you talk of spirits, but despite their obvious trepidation they keep their silence. Inwardly, you approve. Discipline is important. "Yasuki-sama has given me leave to take two of you to assist me in this matter. Hopefully I can bluff the Ronin a bit, and get it without bloodshed. But if the swords come out, I will need you to watch my back."

"Which of us do you want to go with you, Hiruma-sama?" one of the Ashigaru ask.

"I will let you decide amongst yourselves," you say. "I want only volunteers for this."

You turn and head for the edge of camp, leaving the Ashigaru to determine who would go and who would stay. There, sitting just at the edge of the light, is the Kitsune. She looks up at you, her animal face all too human in its expression of hope.

"Yasuki-sama has agreed to let me help you," you say. "And he has even provided more assistance. Please lead us when we are ready."

"That appears to be now," she says.

You turn around, and two Ashigaru are approaching you. One is a man who had been on duty, while the other is someone who ha been sleeping. They bow to you.

"I am Hoshi, Hiruma-sama," one with long dark hair says.

"I am Jinbei, Hiruma-sama," the other, his hair cut very close, says right after his comrade.

You nod to the both of them. "Good. Then let us be off."

The Kitsune dart off, moving a fat as she can while still allowing you to keep track of her. Little flames alight around her tails, releasing a pale blue light. The Ashigaru gasp at the sight of the foxfire, but when you step forward to follow the Kitsune they walk in step behind you.

After half an hour you are beyond view of your camp, following after the Kitsune. She dashes ahead in short bursts, letting you follow the glow of her fire and waiting at intervals ahead for you to catch up. Then she dashes off again, and the process repeats itself.

You walk in silence and let this happen for about six times before you look over your shoulder at the Ashigaru. Hoshi looks nervous, and is glancing this way and that, while Jinbei is keeping his eyes rigidly forward on the fox as if afraid he will become lost if he doesn't.

"Tell me of our skills," you say suddenly, making both the Ashigaru start a little. "I would like to know what you're capable of before we get into a possible fight."

"Well," Jinbei say, hefting his spear. "We've both received training with our Yari, and how to keep distance while fighting."

"I'm also a fair hand with a sling, Hiruma-sama," Hoshi says. "But that's more a hunting tool than something for combat, especially if these Ronin are armored."

"I see," you say with a nod. "All right. Should it come to battle, I want you two to stand behind me and guard my sides. Your spears have reach, and that mean you can stay away and allow me full use of my weapon."

The Ashigaru nod, and you turn your full attention in front of you. You can see another light in the distance now, a small fire. No doubt that is the Ronin camp. The Kitsune is waiting for you about a hundred feet away from where the Ronin are resting, sitting on her haunches. She bows her head to you as you approach.

"I wish you luck," she says softly. You hear a rustling as Jinbei and Hoshi flinch at the sound of her voice, but your full attention is on the spirit before you. "I will wait here for you."

"We will return shortly," you say. "Don't worry."

You nod to the Kitsune, and then you head toward the camp. As you come close you see a man in battered Ashigaru armor with a hand on his sword. He looks half asleep, but jumps awake when you and your comrades come close. He draws his blade and points it at you.

"Halt! Identify yourself!"

"You would order a Samurai of the Crab to name himself on his own lands?" you growl. "You insult me! Fetch your leader so that I may speak with him. Hopefully he has better manners."

The Ronin scowls at you, and does not sheathe his sword. He rushes back into the camp toward a prone figure. There are three others lying around the fire. You can hear some faint whispering, but nothing too clear. However, you can pretty clearly tell The Ronin who was on guard sounds frightened.

The prone figure gets up, revealing a scarred man of average height. He puts on his swords and walks over to you, and the guard from before starts moving to the other sleeping Ronin.

The Ronin leader is an older man of middling height, with a long scar going from his forehead down to his cheek. His clothing is simple, but not too dirty. Unlike his companion, it seems he keeps himself at least somewhat clean.

He gives you a short bow, just enough to be considered respectful.

"I am Tarumo," he says. "I welcome you to our camp, Samurai. Would you like refreshment?"

"I am Hiruma Sosuke," you say. "I thank you, but I must decline. I am here because a Nemuranai has been stolen in the last week, and I have been assigned to retrieve it. From speaking with spirits, it has been determined that this Nemuranai rests within the bounds of this camp."

Tarumo's eyes widen. "Truly? I've no knowledge of this, Hiruma-san."

"It is a small pendent of jade and gold," you say. "I have it on good authority that the Nemuranai rests here. Please present it, for I do not wish to have to charge you and your men with possession of stolen goods."

"That sounds like a threat, Hiruma-san," Tarumo says softly, his eyes narrowing.

"I am merely stating facts," you say. "Will you present the pendant?"

Tarumo breathes deeply and gathers himself before responding.

"We found something like you describe over a week ago in the Shinomen Mori," he says. "We thought we could get to Crab Lands quicker that way, but instead became lost. I discovered the pendant inside the hollow of a tree."

"Then you do have it, then," you say.

"I do," Tarumo says. "I was hoping to sell it to pay for the rest of our journey into Crab territory. We wish to take the Twenty Goblin Winter."

That makes you frown. "There is no call for the Twenty Goblin Winter at this time."

"Not yet," Tarumo says. "But I know which way the wind is blowing. War is coming, and the Crab will need fresh bodies for it." The rest of the Ronin have gotten up by this point, and stand behind their leader with their hands on the hilts of their weapons. "We wish to make a name for ourselves, and earn glory."

"That is all well and good," you say. "But I still require the Nemuranai."

"Then we have some trouble, then," Tarumo says, crossing his arms. "Because we still require funds to pay for our travels. We used up a good deal of our food wandering around the Shinomen Mori." He smiles. "Perhaps if we came across some other form of funds this matter could be resolved?"

You scowl. You see what this man is getting at. He's trying to extort you, wheedle coin from you in exchange for the Kitsune's pendant. No doubt it will be something outrageous, but you care less about that than you do for the disrespect this man shows you by even alluding to such an idea.

You are a named Samurai, and he is but a Ronin. What he is doing dances across the line of propriety, and the only reason you have not smashed this fool's head in yet is because he is at least taking care to not directly ask you for payment. Even still, you can feel your temper rising.

[] Write in.
 
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For the benefit of anyone who isn't very well versed in L5R lore, can someone give a description of what exactly is the Twenty Goblin Winter?
 
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Ugh, one of the worst parts of L5R is not knowing what completely ridiculous ideas based on my vague understanding of honor are plausible, and which are actually completely ridiculous.

So, suppose I'll ask. Can we offer to write him a letter of introduction to... whoever it is that we know would be a likely person they would talk to about the Twenty Goblin Winter, explaining that they assisted us by providing the pendant and requesting that they be given all consideration due to men of their position, deeds, and stated intentions? Given that winter is quite a ways away right now (unless I've completely missed something), that's many months to survive on whatever food and/or money they possess. The semi-good word of a samurai on their behalf- and they can see that ours must hold at least a bit of weight, or our clan wouldn't have issued us this nice fancy armor- could be far more useful to them than mere cash, particularly if it buys them an audience or enough benefit of the doubt that they're able to get steady work until such time as a Twenty Goblin Winter is actually called.

Conveniently, it also costs us little to nothing, except possibly if they turn out to be worthless disgraces- but we can word the letter so that whoever reads it realizes roughly what happened, I'd hope.

@Winged Knight, is this a reasonable course of action?
 
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It's certainly an option you could pursue, yes. It is completely within the bounds of Bushido to do something like that.
 
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[X] Pay him with a piece of advice: that a ronin who kills a Nezumi for the purpose of the Twenty Goblin Winter will be executed.

It's actually useful info to samurai from elsewhere in the Empire, who are unlikely to know that Nezumi are allies of the Crab.

[X]If he's unwilling to take the advice, start telling him the story of the things we've killed with our tetsubo, including the contributions of the Nezumi in regards to the ogre and the goblin band during our gempukku. End by mentioning that one thing we haven't killed with our tetsubo is a group of ronin who thought they could steal from a friend of the Crab without consequence. Yet.
- Have our tetsubo in our hands while we do this, making a show of examining it while we tell the story. When we get to the part at the end where we threaten them, switch to holding it at the ready.
 
It's certainly an option you could pursue, yes. It is completely within the bounds of Bushido to do something like that.
See, this kind of phrasing makes me very much doubt the apparent validity of the attempted sanity check. Guess I'll wait until another player who knows the setting better comes along to comment on my plan, or not comment and just push through their own idea.
 
[X] Pay him with a piece of advice: that a ronin who kills a Nezumi for the purpose of the Twenty Goblin Winter will be executed.

It's actually useful info to samurai from elsewhere in the Empire, who are unlikely to know that Nezumi are allies of the Crab.

[X]If he's unwilling to take the advice, start telling him the story of the things we've killed with our tetsubo, including the contributions of the Nezumi in regards to the ogre and the goblin band during our gempukku. End by mentioning that one thing we haven't killed with our tetsubo is a group of ronin who thought they could steal from a friend of the Crab without consequence. Yet.
- Have our tetsubo in our hands while we do this, making a show of examining it while we tell the story. When we get to the part at the end where we threaten them, switch to holding it at the ready.
Hrm...I think we could be more diplomatic about this.

After all, stealing from an ally of the Crab certainly won't help their chances at getting into the Clan.
 
Problem is, we don't want to vouch for a group of men unless we actually know them to be good and honorable men. Right now, we only have this man's word that he's going for the twenty goblin winter at all. Likewise, we have no actual authority to call upon... well, basically anything out of clan resources - certainly not in support of a side trip like this one.

Question for @Winged Knight - Can we get a perception plus investigation roll (or whatever the roll is) to see if he is lying?

After all, if they *are* wishing to join in the Twenty Goblin Winter, then we want to support that. The more Ronin out in the shadowlands killing things there, the better.

Now, one thing we can give him is pertinent information. The question is what kinds of information they need that we have.
- We know about the tunnel system. That's widely enough known that it's not a secret, but likley not spread far and wide throughout Rokugan
- We have a point of shadowlands lore, and can give general advice on dealing with both the shadowlands and the Crab (like the bit about nezumi being honored allies).
Eh? honestly, we don't have all that much info that they couldn't easily get by finding any random Crab bushi in a bar and buying him a round or two.

Another question for @Winged Knight - assume for the moment that we are not intending to give them a recommendation. Would we have any useful advice to give on where a group like theirs might go or who they might talk to to gain temporary employment?

edit: also, he really is being pretty disrespectful. We're going to have to manage our own wrathful nature here as well. Still, let's figure out what we have to work with before we decide how to respond.
 
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Investigation roll: 4k2=12

As far as you can tell, he seems on the level.

As for where these Ronin could get work? Any of the villages in the region might have merchants who could take them on for a time as protection. It's also not unheard of for the Crab to take Ronin mercenaries on for a while until a proper Twenty Goblin Winter is called.
 
As for where these Ronin could get work? Any of the villages in the region might have merchants who could take them on for a time as protection. It's also not unheard of for the Crab to take Ronin mercenaries on for a while until a proper Twenty Goblin Winter is called.
I'd assume that they'd know that as well. Do we have anything specific that they wouldn't know that we could suggest for them?
 
I'd assume that they'd know that as well. Do we have anything specific that they wouldn't know that we could suggest for them?

Not really. It's a hard life for Ronin for a reason. Most of the time it's mercenary work or nothing. I will say that there have been some interesting ideas thrown around already. You have several options available for handling this situation. It's up to you all as to how exactly you would like go about it.
 
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Guys as much as my default response is Hida Smash.
Think like a Yasuki.

[x] Write in

"Alright, you want a job, I want that nemuranai. How about I give you a job to the next village and you can find work there, you'll be fed, and no one has to walk away with any sore feelings. You'll get paid at the end of our little journey. Sound good?"
 
Problem is, we don't want to vouch for a group of men unless we actually know them to be good and honorable men.
I might have been a little obscure with my phrasing- "...explaining that they assisted us by providing the pendant and requesting that they be given all consideration due to men of their position, deeds, and stated intentions" and "word the letter so that whoever reads it realizes roughly what happened" were meant to imply that we'd set things up so that while we give them an introduction, it's less vouching for them and more merely ensuring that they get a chance to be looked at by someone wiser, more informed on the Clan's needs, and better at reading people than we are. All consideration due them isn't necessarily that much, after all.

I'm not sure what kind of skill we'd use to phrase a letter to make that clear without being incredibly blunt, but maybe it doesn't really matter if we're blunt? A note with "These guys said they wanted to kill things for us in the Shadowlands and gave me a token when I asked for it, I know they're a bit greedy because they tried to extort some cash from me for the trinket, but they're probably worth two minutes of your time just for the kill goblins thing" isn't the most diplomatic but it gets the point across. On the other hand, who are we to judge what is and is not worth two minutes of someone else's time?
 
[x] Your eyes narrow. Your nostrils flare.
[x] "Tarumo, I thank you for not insulting me by suggesting that I pay you for simply returning a thing to its rightful owner once informed of your mistake. I do not respond to such insults well."
[x] "Let us be clear. The hollow tree that you took the necklace from was the home of a spirit ally of the Crab Clan to whom the necklace rightfully belonged. You stole it from her home while she was elsewhere - driving off invaders from gaki-do. I do not blame you for this. I understand that the theft was unintentional - but you will return the necklace."
[x] "That having been said, you are seeking to take part in the twenty goblin winter. Any man or woman who seeks to pit themselves against the shadowlands has my approval, and I would not wish for you to starve before you arrive. Bring me the necklace, and I will see what I can do to help."

I figure that the veiled not-quite-insults and not-quite-threats here should placate our temper a bit.

Obviously, we're not going to give them anything like as much as the necklace is actually worth. We're also not going to empty out our purse on this one. At the same time, if giving them a relatively small sum will ensure that they at least have food for the next while... long enough to get back on their feet, as it were, that seems like a reasonable thing to provide, from a service to the clan standpoint, if nothing else. We have 54 koku on hand. Canonically, a koku is equal in value to enough rice to feed a man for a year. How many ronin are there? If we give them, say, a koku or two per ronin, they'd be hard-pressed to claim that they're going to starve in the next few months.

With respect to the letter of recommendation idea - could we possibly have an Awareness+Etiquette (6k3) to know about letters of introduction, how appropriate they'd be in this case, and how much they'd actually mean?
 
I second Darklight, adding as well that recomendation, information and lore is not what they want, but a some way to sustain themselves for this journey... even if that may be some kind of lying, but we don't know about that IC.

On another related note, while I'm part of those people in favor of aplying HIDA SMASH on this unrespectful ronin...

...

Nah, things can and will go wrong here.

So, maybe something like this?

[] Keep calm. He's also at the borderline of being disrespectful, but is unwise to attack him with lots of armed people around, and there's still a way to get what we want without unnevesary bloodshed.
[] Anyhow, try to watch carefully their reactions.
-[] Plan gman391
--[] If they try to put some doubt in your words, remind them you're a samurai of the crab clan. A samurai's word still has weight of trust.

I actually like gman's vote, so I added some stuff in. Remember than our brash actitude is why we're not going into Crane territory instead, and why it can makes us fail on this.

That's all I can think. If something's wrong with this, let me know. Its 2am at the time I'm writing, so I would like a sanity check.

Thanks and good night.

EDIT: ahahaha... that's a better idea.

[x] Plan Sirrocco
 
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