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In Thunder's Echo (Legend of the Five Rings Quest)

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Also, Ikoma was not mentioned in the posts. As far as we know, he is not here. Or if he is, we did not spot him.

[X] Droman

EDIT: Because Droman adjusted his vote in regards to the drinking.
 
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I was originally going to vote for the second option, but Droman convinced me.

[X] Droman

...he also just reminded me that we really really need Earth 3 to prevent intoxication.
 
Maugan Ra said:
Shiba Danjuro decides to add his own thoughts here. "I might also suggest taking advantage of the local wood types." He says in a calm voice, picking at the poultry dish with his chopsticks. "Especially for cooked foods. Chicken roasted over pine wood tastes distinctly different from that which has been roasted over plum."
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Mesquite wood is best wood. :V
 
gman391 said:
[x] Poems about the Moon try to work in an allusion for our Ikoma friend to pick up what we know.
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Not this again. I think I've made my thoughts on why this is a stupid idea clear before. However let me mention that it was brought up in the discussion of the previous update that Ikoma was not present.

Droman said:
How many drinks (and poems) will you attempt?
[x] Go until you are too drunk to safely continue.

Provide an example of a poem you might recite, or a topic you would base one on.
[x] Write in - Poems about a young maiden bringing honour to her family, her reflections on who she is meant to be, about what it means to be a warrior in a macho culture, and then what kind of a girl is really worth fighting for.
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Adaptable maybe but if you intend to start singing the songs of Mulan OST then you might want to remove the safely from your first vote.

[x] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[x] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[x] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.
 
[x] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[x] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[x] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.

I like this option... my only concern is that we may overstep ourselves if we get a little tipsy, as the food of the Lion is bland.

Maybe start with food then go with the theme chosen by the rest of the table.

What do you think?
 
[X] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[X] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

Not sure about the poems.

No Mulan, damnit.

[X] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.
 
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A Nation's Virtue said:
...he also just reminded me that we really really need Earth 3 to prevent intoxication.
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"prevent intoxication" isn't really all that important for us. All we have to do to prevent intoxication is... drink less. That's not enough reason to dump that many points worth of exp into Earth.

Beyond that, though, I dislike the Dromon vote. It's costly for a number of reasons, and achieves very little. Allowing ourselves to become seriously intoxicated could very easily result in us performing some major faux pas. It will also leave us less able to deal with any situations that might arise, is a bit embarrassing in and of itself, and will leave us much less able to potentially capitalize on what the other attendees might happen to do while drunk. Finally, it will damage the reputation we've been trying to build.

Let us look to the future. We could choose to spend our time obsessing about Doji Mariko - a woman who we knew for all of 2 weeks, who belonged to another clan. We've already achieved enough for our clan that they would forgive this. It would look badly, but they would forgive it. Still, Duty is not a thing that can be placated once and then sleeps. There is always more Duty to bear. So if we are to follow our Duty, where does it lie now? Well, the board has been simplified.

- We do not need to worry about the Crane, so much. We have the last few ends of this plot to tie off, and those may involve Daidoji Chen, but after that happens he is most likely a non-issue. He likely does not have the authority to do anything we need. Now, if the full authority of the Clan has been vested in him, and he can be pulled into matters of trade, then there is some advantage to be gained there, especially if we can provide him with some support. Still, I find this relatively unlikely.

- We do not need to worry about the Lion so much. As long as we do not cause active offense, we already have everything we might hope to gain from them. Assuming that Ikoma Genji is true to his word, we will have opened three different avenues of infiltration into their city, and they have welcomed each one. Our trade lanes are well and truly secured.

We have been focusing heavily on Crane and Lion in recent days, because that was where the action was, but it is time to turn to others.

- The Dragon and Unicorn are being handled by Yogo Hanzo. We don't need to worry about them.

- We are doing quite well with Otomo-sama, but there are still potentially significant gains to be had here. We've been progressing at about the right pace, and should continue. Getting a better understanding of his goals would be an excellent next step.

- The Crab delegation in general, and the Yasuki in particular - time to beef up on our understanding of the commerce situation and build some ties there.

- Finding out a bit more about the Mantis delegation would likely be worthwhile, if only to give us a bit better understanding of what they might be doing in the future. A lot of people are doing a lot of things that we aren't tracking on, and having at least some idea of what they *might* be doing would be handy.

- The Phoenix? Well, connections and favors are always good, and it's an easy connection to cultivate.

In general, I think right now we want to go for "intelligent" and "generally inoffensive". Peans to dead Mariko do not serve us here - they label us as someone who is overcome by emotion from the honorable death of a samurai he met two weeks ago, they alienate the Lion, and they damage our reputation as a neutral party.
 
Sirrocco said:
"prevent intoxication" isn't really all that important for us. All we have to do to prevent intoxication is... drink less. That's not enough reason to dump that many points worth of exp into Earth.

Beyond that, though, I dislike the Dromon vote. It's costly for a number of reasons, and achieves very little. Allowing ourselves to become seriously intoxicated could very easily result in us performing some major faux pas. It will also leave us less able to deal with any situations that might arise, is a bit embarrassing in and of itself, and will leave us much less able to potentially capitalize on what the other attendees might happen to do while drunk. Finally, it will damage the reputation we've been trying to build.

Let us look to the future. We could choose to spend our time obsessing about Doji Mariko - a woman who we knew for all of 2 weeks, who belonged to another clan. We've already achieved enough for our clan that they would forgive this. It would look badly, but they would forgive it. Still, Duty is not a thing that can be placated once and then sleeps. There is always more Duty to bear. So if we are to follow our Duty, where does it lie now? Well, the board has been simplified.

- We do not need to worry about the Crane, so much. We have the last few ends of this plot to tie off, and those may involve Daidoji Chen, but after that happens he is most likely a non-issue. He likely does not have the authority to do anything we need. Now, if the full authority of the Clan has been vested in him, and he can be pulled into matters of trade, then there is some advantage to be gained there, especially if we can provide him with some support. Still, I find this relatively unlikely.

- We do not need to worry about the Lion so much. As long as we do not cause active offense, we already have everything we might hope to gain from them. Assuming that Ikoma Genji is true to his word, we will have opened three different avenues of infiltration into their city, and they have welcomed each one. Our trade lanes are well and truly secured.

We have been focusing heavily on Crane and Lion in recent days, because that was where the action was, but it is time to turn to others.

- The Dragon and Unicorn are being handled by Yogo Hanzo. We don't need to worry about them.

- We are doing quite well with Otomo-sama, but there are still potentially significant gains to be had here. We've been progressing at about the right pace, and should continue. Getting a better understanding of his goals would be an excellent next step.

- The Crab delegation in general, and the Yasuki in particular - time to beef up on our understanding of the commerce situation and build some ties there.

- Finding out a bit more about the Mantis delegation would likely be worthwhile, if only to give us a bit better understanding of what they might be doing in the future. A lot of people are doing a lot of things that we aren't tracking on, and having at least some idea of what they *might* be doing would be handy.

- The Phoenix? Well, connections and favors are always good, and it's an easy connection to cultivate.

In general, I think right now we want to go for "intelligent" and "generally inoffensive". Peans to dead Mariko do not serve us here - they label us as someone who is overcome by emotion from the honorable death of a samurai he met two weeks ago, they alienate the Lion, and they damage our reputation as a neutral party.
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... They're not about Mariko, though. They're just about women in Rokugan, like our badass boss and badass host. Mariko was a samurai-ko, but she definitely didn't serve in any united army or have to deal with macho culture or bringing honour by getting married.

At least, as far as I know. And I'm a guy who didn't give a shit about Mariko the second she died. As far as I'm thinking it, they're just a bunch of "Go girls!" poems.
 
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[x] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[x] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[x] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.
 
You're reading too much into Dromans choices Tinysquid. I think he really just wanted to see the Mulan songs rewritten as Haiku.
That said, if the other courtiers also read too much into it then its basically the same.
 
[x] Droman

I would argue that most people would think that we were talking about Matsu Ketsui, the female warrior, before they thought we were talking about Mariko, the courtier. I think that the danger is minimal, and am interested enough in how these songs would be converted to poems to vote for it.
 
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[X] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[X] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[X] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.
 
[x] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[x] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[x] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.
 
[x] Aim to keep pace with those directly around you.
-[x] Bow out before you get too drunk regardless.

[x] Start with a few poems about food. Easy to fit in seasonal references and sensations, fits into the theme of conversation, and generally unobjectionable.

High in the mountains
Passes close and ice stills streams
The sake flows yet.

Cooking apple sauce
like cranberries tastes more like
rhubarb than prunes do.

Plum smoked or pine smoked
in soup or fried with spices
changes chicken's taste.
 
A life lived in joy
Life wasted in misery
In time, all is one
 
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