SPEAKER_03 0:05

This is Shadows in the Peaks, a Legends of the Five Rings actual play from Stories with Dice. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you'll never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode.

SPEAKER_05 0:38

Hey everyone, you all good? Well start with Scott. Hi, Scott. Hello, how are you doing? Good, good. Tony, how are you? Hello, how good? Thanks for asking. Excellent. Charlotte? You haven't joined us before, so it's nice to see you again. It's been ages since we've um actually played any games together. It has. I am a stories with Dice Studio Noob. Woo! But not a noob at this. You're very uh very experienced.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I mean, to be fair, it's been almost about two and a half years since I played a tip top ropping game, so it might be a little bit risky.

SPEAKER_05 1:15

It's fine. It's right. It's a busty game, so it's good. And always, as always, we have Trusty Marco. Hello. Hello. I'm not sure if I'm your wingman or you're my wingman.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

I'm not sure either. I I just need to move this toy mouse before my cat pulls the internet out of the wall a lot of its sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:37

Well, while uh while Marco does that, this is a new actual play for us. It is Legend of the Five Rings, and it's fourth edition, so I thought it would be quite good to do that. Tony and I had been talking about it for a while, and I thought, hey, why not? We'll we'll do a fourth edition game. Charlotte has tried to push me for fifth edition, but she's shaking her head at me going tut tut tut. So I'm a big fan of Forth. I have a lot of books and I thought I might use them for a change. Um so yeah, we thought we'll do a sort of like a small wouldn't even be a mini campaign, just a small story around five rings, not sure how long it'll take, but we thought it'd be quite good to just do that. It kind of scratches that extra, I guess, for Tony and myself. Marco hasn't ever played it, doesn't really know it. Scott has done and knows it somewhat, but it's been a while, I think, since we played.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Yeah, it's been about ten years, I think, since I last played.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

And Charlotte's a fan, so but I'm not sure if he's played the fourth edition.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

No, just well, I haven't played any edition. I just have fifth edition, I've read through the book, never had a chance to play, and there was a little bit of a bait and switch that went on with this.

unknown 2:47

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

How pretty. So I've been a massive fan of this since the early 90s. I love the setting. For anyone who doesn't know it, it is a fantasy Far Eastern role-playing game. It takes bits of like mythology from Japanese, Chinese, South Korean, a little bit from other parts of sort of the Far East, and kind of like combines it all with a sort of fantasy setting. So it's a it's a slightly different headspace to be in because it's not a very western way of doing things. So hopefully we'll kind of like go through that and maybe explore some of that sort of stuff as we go.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

For the slightly older gamers amongst us, Rock Again was also the setting for Dungeon ⁇ Dragons 3.5 edition's Oriental Adventures source book. Correct. So you might see right. Might see some interesting crossovers there as well.

SPEAKER_05 3:44

Thanks. That's uh that's Scott Lay, the knowledge there. So I thought without too much of ado, we're gonna kind of go through, we just kind of explain who who we are, where we are, what we're doing. This story is called Shadows in the Peaks, and I have an introduction which we'll kind of go through and then we'll kind of do a small vignette of each of your characters, just giving a description, maybe interacting with an NPC or two before we sort of start the story. So, everyone quiet, everyone tucked in, ready for an introduction. Well, here you go. So, Shadow in the Peaks. Um, a mountain wind carries whispers of unease across the rugged ridges of Yakishi Protestants, samurais vanish, their blades left behind like discarded memories, shrines flicker with dying light, the sacred fires inexplicably snuffed out, and in the midst to in the mid-choke valleys, shadows stretch in ways that should not be possible, moving against the laws of nature, lurking where no living presence should exist. But there are no worry no warriors to spare for this mystery. The dragon clans at war. The dragon phoenix conflict rages, pulling Miromoto forces into battle, while Kitsuki magistrates navigate the treacherous currents of diplomacy. Togoshi Satsu, the dragon champion, has seen the signs, the unnatural dark creeping through the lands, but his clan cannot turn their attention away from the war. There are no soldiers to send, no agents to investigate, and yet the mountains demand answers. It falls to visiting samurai from allied and neutral clans, warriors whose duties have brought them to dragonlands at a time when fate demands action. Whether emissaries answering in diplomatic summons, envoys passing through on unrelated duties, or wandering blades seeking enlightenment or coin, these visitors now find themselves at the centre of a growing mystery. They are the only ones with the freedom to act while the dragon remain consumed by war. Whether bound by honor, curiosity, political necessity, or just money, they must unravel the truth behind the peaks before the shadows grow bold enough to strike at the heart of the dragon clan itself. But the mountains do not easily give up its secrets. The shadows are waiting, and they will not remain patient for long. So, this whole campaign or this small adventure is set in the Dragonlands far to the north of Rockagan. Rokagan itself is an old kingdom made up of great clans and minor clans, all with, I guess, a stake in the world. They all specialise in various different things. The Crane are great bladesmiths, duelists, artists. The Phoenix clan are knowledgeable, they study the ways of the Kami, which are the sort of like gods and the deities of Rokhagon, and they entreat with them to be able to cast spells. The Mantis clan, who are travelers, traders, and explorers along the coasts of Rokagan, and the Unicorn, who are a mixed match of people from Rokhagon and Gaijin, or foreigners, from outside its lands. They for a while were discarded into the into the Burning Sands, which is a land to the northwest of Rokhagan, and after after many years of travelling, they came back with a mix of other histories and cultures and brought that to Rokhagan. Currently you're all on various duties. You have spent the winter of 1157 in the winter court for whatever reason. Either you're here on diplomatic reasons, you're here because you're seeking enlightenment, or you're here because you're doing some other chore or business. You have spent almost all of that time in a place called the Dragonlands, which, or at least a par the Dragonlands, Yikishi Province. You have spent your winter court in a place called Shirokitsuki. Shirokitsuki is a place where people who come to entreat the dragon come and stay, especially as it's the foot of the dragon clan. It is the first and greatest castle of the Kitsuki, which is one of the families. The castle is lavishly decorated by dragon standards, which makes it more stark than most other clan strongholds, and is famed for the sharp eye dojo, which trains kitsuki investigators. Kitsuki investigators are very a very rare breed within the Dragonlands, and in fact in Rokhagan. They believe in looking at physical evidence to determine someone's guilt, which is not a normal practice in Rokagan. Normally in Rokhagan, if someone is of a higher status and you accuse them, if you have evidence, it means nothing. They are of a higher status, they're of higher glory and honour, or their word is law. So you would never ever go up to someone who is a high status person and say, ha, we found evidence. They go, Well, I didn't do it. That's good enough for the law. It is also home to a well to a less renowned library. This contains many legal texts outside of the Imperial City, and a lot of samurai, Shigenja, who are the priests of the samurai caste, come here to look at those texts. Especially if they're something to do with medical science, herbalism, human nature, all those sort of like things, they kind of come here and they look at those. That could be a reason why someone's here. You pretty much spent, I don't think any of you are courtiers or anything like that, as far as I'm aware. So you probably didn't spend a huge amount of time within the winter court where the various different clans entreat each other, they try and look at building treaties and trade amongst themselves. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna go to a first of you to find out what it is that you're actually doing within a Shirokitsuki. And I'm gonna put Tony on the spot because he's done this before, so he should know. Tony, could you give us a description about your character, who you are, and what you're doing in Shirokitsuki?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Right. So we'll be playing Kakita Hironobu, which is a very young crane duellist. He's tall and very slim. He has grey eyes and long black hair, like bound neatly in a top knot, like kind of samurai style. And like many cranes, he moves with precise and measured grace. You know, like he's measuring everything he does, and everything he does is very delicate, and and he's you know he does it with that purpose, and and you feel it. He's dressed in blue, you know, honoring the colors of his family and the crane. And what he has been doing here is testing himself. So he's uh he you know has many cranes, but he is even more than many cranes, he's totally obsessed with duels. And he basically came here to the Dragon Lands to test himself against other some you know bushes, and you know, to see if you know the dragon bushes were as good as they say with their own style. So he's basically here just testing his might. Tony?

SPEAKER_05 10:53

Yes, in in the sort of like history and the background to Rokagan and the Five Rings, the two greatest duelists are the Kikita Crane family and the Miraumoto dragon family. The Miraumoto are very keen to say that they have the best style of dueling with two weapons. They use their katana and the Wakazashi, which is the short sword and the longsword, to fight. The Kikita and the Crane disagree and say this is not the right way to fight with Fighter Duel. It should be with the katana only and only using a specific way of fighting. Very traditional, from the very beginning, founding of the empire. And so there's this, there has been for a very long time this sometimes friendly, sometimes not so friendly, battle between the two Katu, and that makes sense why you've come here to test your skill. In fact, you have come here with a very famous crane. His name is Kikita Kitan. He is one of the best sword fighters within the Crane clan. He has been around for a very long time. He is a Kikita Crane Regent, so he is looking after parts of the uh the crane clan on behalf of the rest of the clan, and he has been spending a lot of his time trying to mend bridges between the Kikita School and the Miramoto School, and that is what he's been doing here, and you have probably come with him as part of a larger retinue. So there is quite a lot of crane around him, these there's lots of sort of courtiers that kind of come along with that. So you've probably been spending some time with them, and in fact, you know, it's always helpful to to learn to train with your own your own your own clan. Scott, let's go to you, kind sir.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Well, go on then, why not? Uh I'll be playing Utaku Hiroshi, who is a man in his late twenties, early thirties, to look at him. Short, quite stocky, wears fairly long moustache, deep sad brown eyes, and he is in town as part of the retinue of Utaku Nobu, who is a diplomat. He took the assignment to escape his betrothal. Or rather to put as much distance between himself and his wife to be as possible because she does not want to marry him being an Utaku Battle Maiden. The shame of marrying him, of marrying him would be immense for her. So he has agreed to take this take this role as part of the retinue and uh see what happens to him whilst he's out there. See how he can preserve best to preserve both of their honours whilst finding a way out of the betrothal.

SPEAKER_05 13:47

Thank you very much. So a very key thing of of the Unicorn clan is uh when they came back from the Burning Sands, they brought with them horses that were larger than the Rokhagani ponies, and they changed the way that battle was fought within Rokhagan. Having large steppe horses to to fight with, they very much spent a lot of their time around horses and also the the clap well, I suppose the um the family that you come from, the Utaku, are very much female-led. The battle maidens are very well renowned and usually the ones that um that rule the roost within the Utaku family, and actually a lot of the the men are there to sort of like service the horses and to serve as partners to the Otaku battle maidens. So having an Otaku male hypotryman or cavalryman is something quite rare. You are also here with a gentleman by the name of Shinjo Dyson. Shinjo Dyson is a courtier, someone who's entreating the dragon clan because of the war that's happening between the dragon and the phoenix currently. The dragon have asked for the unicorn to side with themselves so that they can use the mounted infantry to their best advantage. And currently Shinjo Dyson, who is this very Dai Gene-looking individual who wears his hair long, he's got sort of like a craggy face, definitely does not look like he's rocking, is a very well-known courtier who spends a lot of his time going around the various winter courts to entreat on behalf of the unicorn clan. Charlotte, let's come to you next.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

She is a young Trigenja whose spirit burns with all the brilliance and innocence, which is part of the reason why I've come here to try and work that innocence out. To get a little bit more information about the world. It's as much of a banner of the fiery nature as the orange and gold robes that she wears, patterned with flames and the motif of Phoenix Rising, uh, which she is of the Phoenix clan. She's outspoken, insightful, and compassionate, yet her blunt honesty often unsettles those around her. While she's there.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

Thank you very much. Yeah, the Agastra family, they used to be part of the Dragon Clan many years ago. They pretty much abandoned their duties to the dragon after a fright that had happened. They were quite experimental and curious as to what they could do with magic, and the dragon weren't particularly happy about that. They're very traditional kind of clan, so it without going into too much detail, the Gasha family then were brought into the folds of the Phoenix clan, where they've been happily being a member of their family ever since. You're in Shirkituki with a master of fire. The current master of fire, so the Phoenix clan, unlike a lot of the other clans who are ruled by a Daimyo, who is the headlord, who then has a lot of other samurai below them. It's a very feudal system in Rokagan. They have a council of elemental masters, one for each of the elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Void. So those five elemental masters, along with some of the family daimyos, decide what happens within the Phoenix clan. So it's a very different way of working, and so they are slightly different to the other clans. So you are with Isawa Hochi, who is a very well-renowned and respected master of fire, and he has been a master of fire for a good 30 years. Ever since the Scorpion clan made it led a coup against the Emperor about 30 odd years ago, which led to an all-out war within Rokagon. All of the clans fought against each other, and eventually a lion clan, Daimyo, came to power, and he became the first non-imperial family to uh take the take the reins of the empire. And his name was Totori, who has recently gone missing and feared dead. So uh currently Rockagon is a little bit of an unstable place. And yeah, so it's it's it's been ongoing to see and just so our listeners know quite how the kind of like status works within within the empire. Excellent, thank you. And then next, and last but not least, Marco, we have you, sir.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

So apologies to all the five ring fans out there. You know, I'm I'm an I'm a newbie to the to the game, so I kind of don't know what I'm doing. So I am playing Kitsuni Akira. He is a member of the Mantis clan by way of the fox clan. He has one discolored eye, so uh people avoid looking at him. They believe that my presence invites evil spirits, and it does. So one of his eyes is hazel, and the other one is like this icy cold blue eye. It really wigs people out. And he's also overconfident to a fault, so that'll be fun. Why um why is Kitsuni here? I think we talked about this, but I don't think I remember. We did.

SPEAKER_05 19:25

Help me. Sure, I can help you out. So although you're a member of the Fox or of the former Fox clan now, the Kitsuni family. You are a you follow the school of the Tsuruchi Archer bounty hunter? Yes, correct. So you actually follow bounties across Rokagana, which is a very difficult thing for a lot of Rakhagani to understand, because working in trade, that kind of thing, is something that's a little bit alien to the traditional clans because they have people to do that for them, you know, they they have servants, they've got that sort of thing. It's almost a little dirty to sort of like talk about, well, actually, I'll do this for some money, thank you very much. But it's something that the Tarusha do because the Mantis clan themselves are a very non-traditional clan, they're made up of minor clans, and so it becomes it's a very odd sort of for now they are clan to be well, for now they are. And so, although you're a Kitsuni family, you've not followed the usual route of a Kitsuni, which would normally be some kind of Shigenj or priest, and the ways of sort of the forest and and the the the spirits that live within there, you've kind of decided to go a different route and actually go down this bounty hunters of route, which is where it's taking you to the Dragonlands.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

Right, and that's because my family's been impoverished, because uh one of our ancestors got shafted by someone in the Mantis clan.

SPEAKER_05 20:48

So you are almost close to being sort of like uh someone who's who's for money, but not necessarily because you do have the backing of the Mantis clan. Now you're not here to meet anybody else. You have literally come to the Dragonlands to fulfil a bounty, and you have unfortunately got stuck after finishing the bounty in Shirikitsuki over winter, all the passes have kind of shut. There's snow everywhere, you don't normally travel within Rocky Garden anytime within winter, wars stop, pretty much everything comes to a grinding halt. What normally happens is various dignitaries and different um daimyo go visit other people's holdings and they spend winter overnight there, and it's called the winter court. It's where all the sort of like trade and and all the politicking happens for the rest of the year. So essentially everyone goes to a place or the multiple palaces. It's a big deal, there's lots of things that happen, there's lots of ceremonies, there's usually a lot of games. It's sort of like the winter phase in Pendragon. They're kind of a bit like that, yeah. That's a that's a good way of d of of describing it. So everything kind of shuts down, and everyone does the stuff they need to do for the politics, and then come the spring, all the people kind of leave the winter courts with whatever has happened. And then they start off with either going to the various armies and saying, right, we've made these kind of deals, let's go and do that. But it's not quite the end of the end of the end of the end of the winter period. So you are you're stuck in Shirokatsuki. For you, you have nothing to do. You've got no one to sort of like follow. There is no other Mantis clans here. You are essentially on your own. And so you're at this place. I don't think you guys, I don't think you you barely sort of like follow the traditional etiquette of Brock and Gone. So you're pretty much sort of like left on your own to do your own thing. But you can't really go anywhere apart from spend your time within Shiro Kitsuki and the surrounding village. A lot of the dragon spent a lot of time meditating. There's a lot of rumours about how the how the dragon clan worked, and it turns out that a lot of it seems to be true. They seem to do a lot of meditation, they do a lot of kata and training in the dojo, they play a lot of Go and various other tactical games. For you and the rest of you, for the rest of your uh winter courts, the Dragon Clan is quite Spartan when it comes to that sort of thing. And so by the time this, I suppose at this stage, it's it's quite dull for all of you. You've done all you needed to do, there's not much more to do, you can only have so many philosophical conversations with people. It's time you want to leave, but you can't go anywhere, either because your lords are forbidden it, or you can't actually get anywhere because the snow is still out. So currently you cannot go south out of the Dragonlands and you're stuck here. Which leads us to the present. Do you think any of you would have spent any time in each other's company? I would say maybe.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

If any of the others play Kamari, then almost certainly. Well, Scott, you've got to be a disadvantage. Kamari is basically a a game which it's kind of like Hacky Sack. You've got to keep a small little ball up in the air for as long as possible, and the side that can make the other side the other drop the ball wins. So it's like hacky sack meets volleyball. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

So is that well known or is that like a regional pastime?

SPEAKER_04 24:09

No, it's it's it's pretty well known throughout the Empire. It's it's the it's the pastime of choice for people who want to be active rather than those who want to spend their time playing Go or so I guess it's not Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

So in that case, I perhaps I I, you know, I might have been outside trying to, you know, practice doing my katas and things like this. And you know, if you were playing this on your own, I might have joined uh just to learn to how to be more agile and how to move with grace.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

And yeah, you don't you're normally playing sort of teams of four or five, so there'll be maybe a group of us playing, and dragged you over to to make up the numbers.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I think I would have been interested if I came across that. It's like, hey, that's something different.

SPEAKER_05 24:54

Sure, I I'd like that. So we'll put you we'll put you in a in a in a game, in fact. You're in you're in one of the one of the open courtyards in Shurikatsuki. Um it's the it's one of the open courtyards that uh access to non-cra not non-dragons, and so you've all kind of like got sort of like the if you can imagine it, there's a there's a central space that sometimes is a garden, ornamental stone garden, sometimes it is it is it's used for ikapana and sort of flower arranging. It just depends on the kind of the time of year, depending on what they're using it for. But over the winter court it's kind of cleared, the snow is taken away, and there's usually sort of like space for you to sort of like either do exercise or to just hang out, you know. Maybe around that is the veranda, which is which leads to the rooms further in. So a lot of the Rokhagani buildings are made of wood and rice paper walls. The external walls have kind of sort of like this folding wooden sort of uh shutter system that kind of can open and close. Even in even in the middle of winter, they have it open to the elements because it's bracing and it kind of like keeps you in in check with well, two of the rings, you know, water and and air. So that kind of helps you sort of like be stable and and helps keep your your tea flowing. So that there's no reason why you wouldn't all be here to sort of like do that. There's a there's a group of unicorn clan samurai, there's there's some lion clan samurai, there's one mantis clan samurai, I suppose, one Felix clan samurai, and and a couple of the Kikita samurai as well, all sort of sort of getting together to sort of like play this game. In which case, you're all sort of sailing around, you're all kind of getting an idea of how to do it. There is probably a couple of people who've done this quite a few times, maybe some of the the unicorn, and they sort of show you all sort of how the game works if you if you don't quite understand or know how that is. So you all kind of get involved. I mean, I don't know. Charlotte, would would uh Akasha Yame get involved directly or just sit and watch?

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Would have watched it first and then uh asked to join.

SPEAKER_05 27:04

Okay. What about Kitsumiya Kira? Marco?

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I would have probably by all means Tony, go ahead. Please, please, please. Well, okay, so in my case, in the case of Kakita Hiro Nobu, I would have jumped directly to play and perhaps I would have even tried to be in the same team as Utaku Hiroshi just to learn and you know I don't know if how they position themselves, but I probably could position behind him or in a place where I can see his movements and you know learn by doing and mimicking what he does and how try to be as a flow in the field.

SPEAKER_05 27:42

Okay, I like that. Okay, well, I'll tell you what, let's uh let's let's let's treat you all to a dice roll. Woohoo. We can uh figure out how the how the rule system works and see how badly everyone rolls.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Well, so Kitsuni, I never got a chance to tell you. Yeah, sorry, sorry. That's okay, that's okay. Uh so Katsuni Akira is if there's somewhere nearby the court, like I don't know, if there's a balcony or something nearby, or like maybe a bench somewhere Yeah, there's there's like a small tatami mat sort of like raised. Yeah, so is the are we outside we're not outside in the cold. Yeah, they're outside. Okay. So all right, so then yeah, so then he'll be meditating and or you know, maybe being distracted by the game, but he went out there to meditate, and then he he's probably yeah, exactly. He was there alone, which is his preference, meditating, and then this game happens which disturbs him, so he's this feathers feathers have been ruffled a bit.

SPEAKER_05 28:44

Okay. Destroys the meditation. Okay, well, tell you what we'll do. Those people who wish to play the game can make the first rolls of of the episode. To do this, a lot of the look at your character sheets, you will see that there is a whole bunch of rings, and around the rings is a whole bunch of traits. So, for example, under the air ring, it has two traits, reflexes and awareness. That's what they're called. They're called traits. The earth, air, fire, water of the rings, and you'll have like a number of each of the rings, and that is the average, well, it'd be the total of the lowest trait in that in that selection. So in this case, I'm looking at one of the NPCs, they have a reflexes of three and an awareness of three, which means their air ring is three. But if I look at their agility and intelligence, one is two and one is three, which means their firing is the lowest, so it's gonna be two. To make a roll, you would take your skill. So in this case, the skill that you require is games, and you would use your agility with that. So you would find your skill on your character sheet. I'm just thinking you probably none of you have got games. So that would be a good one. One of us certainly does. One of us certainly does okay, excellent. So you take your skill games and you add it to your your leading trait. In this case, I'm using agility. So for example, we'll use Scott because he has games. So Scott, what is your agility?

SPEAKER_04 30:18

So my agility is three. And what is your games? My games brackets Kamari is one.

SPEAKER_05 30:26

Okay, so you're gonna add the two, so that's gonna be four dice. And what you do, the way the system works, is you roll that number of dice and you keep as many dice as you have in your trait. So in this case, you're gonna roll four dice and you're gonna keep three. Now the way that me the way that would work is that you would roll the dice, the d10s, and you take either the you don't have to take the top three highest, you they can be any dice that's up to you. So if you imagine if you told me you wanted to hit someone but you didn't want to do as much damage, it's up to you to pick whatever dice you want. They don't have to be the top three. In this case, Taki Hiroshi is using his game skill. He has made his roll of four dice keeping three. He has done a fairly decent roll. He's also rolled a 10, which is the highest number you can roll. If you get a 10 and you have a skill in it, you get to re-roll the 10 and add whatever you get next to that 10. So it's an open-ended sided dice. So I believe you've got 24, is that correct? 24 in total. Okay. So the the target number that I'm looking for ranges across the board. And the average roll is a 15, which is what I'm asking for here. If the rest of you want to roll it, you can do. Now, if you don't have games, you're at a penalty because you don't know how to play the game. But that's okay, because all you need to do is do the same thing. You don't have the skill, so you don't add your skill, you just use your agility to play the game.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

So, can for example Can I point something out as well, Ed? Sure. One of the cool little things about this game is that there are lots of subdivisions between the skills. So, for example, if you've got the game skill for Kamari like Hiroshi does, and we're playing a game of go, he gets no bonus whatsoever, even though he's got games as a skill because it's not that specific game.

SPEAKER_05 32:17

Bang up. So yes. So what you need to do is because you don't have the skill for the rest of you, you're not trained in it. So all you would do is you would just roll your trait, and you keep your trait. So um Marco, if we look at look at your character, what is your agility? My agility is to Okay. So you roll two dice and keep two dice. Because you don't have the skill, it's unskilled, which means tens don't do not explode, so you just roll those and that'll give you a total. So if you want to roll just your uh just your skill, uh just your just your trait, sorry. I can see that Tony, you've Kakita has rolled. You're unskilled. But you got a 19, which means you also pass. Kitsuni.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

This is why he's overconfident. Unskilled, and you got a 20. Nice. He's a lucky bastard. And Charlotte.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Would you like to give that a go to sure? We're using Foundry to play the game, and so on the Foundry character sheets there is a little roll icon that you can you can use, or if it's a stats or a trait, you can just click on that trait. How did you do? Well, it turns out that all of you, it seems, appear to be quite good at this game. You all know what you're doing, you've all played it before. Definitely farm a wide, the the person out of all of you that is that is the most experienced, unsurprisingly is the one who actually knows how to play the game, who's done it in the past. So, yes, you all kind of get together and you'll start playing, you manage to do quite good at it. You you manage to pass the ball, you you kind of you probably spend a good couple of hours sort of playing the game and kind of doing that. So it does definitely mean that out of the groups, the lion and the unicorn clan samurai are probably the most boisterous out of them, and they take it very seriously. There is almost a bit of rough housing, and they probably have to be kept in check a little bit to uh to maintain them the right social etiquette when doing it. But you can see that they kind of lose it just a little bit. I'm guessing Charlotte Agusha Ayami and Kikita Hironovo do not lose their stuff, and they kind of keep to a very traditional way of doing things and aren't necessarily losing their uh what's the word?

SPEAKER_00 34:39

We need to show the proper forms and how to behave with grace.

SPEAKER_05 34:44

Yep. Kitsini Akira, you can definitely you know that you know the game, you understand how it works, and you can definitely see that out of all of them, the Taki Hiroshi is is the is clearly the one who knows what they're doing the most.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

At the end of the game, Hiroshi makes sure he goes over to each of his opponents, bows very graciously, compliments him on a wonderful game, thanks them for their time, and offers to play again the next time there's there's free time.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

They are all indeed very grateful for that. So the the people that you played with are sort of like very happy, they kind of they they they sort of agree to sort of playing another time, maybe sort of like in a couple of days' time. They all have to go and do their all their various things, and as they kind of go their separate way, you kind of by default are sort of like left, either tidying up, cleaning up, you know, putting on you know sort of like kimonos and stuff to ward off the cold. Is there any kind of interactions you would like to do, or are you just happy to sort of?

SPEAKER_00 35:42

No, I will actually approach Totaku Hiroshi after the game, and I will properly acknowledge and say thank you very much for this pleasant game. It was very interesting and something I've never seen in Rokukam before.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

No, please, the the honor is all mine. Thank you for giving it such a spirited try.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

It was my pleasure and very enjoyful. Something I wanted to ask you too. You are also one of the first unicorns I've ever met. I spent most of my life training in the great dojo of the Kaquita. But I heard good things about unicorn and your tactics, a little bit uh unusual perhaps. I would love if you could explain me more about how you fight.

SPEAKER_04 36:28

There's certainly some some unique elements to the way we operate. Have you heard of the of our mounted infantry?

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Yes. I don't know if you know, but you know, we you we crane uh sometimes battle with mantis.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

I've I've heard I've heard many tales of your clashes over the years. The the unicorn fights slightly differently in that we, as you know, are a cavalry or a cavalry force more than anything, though the men, the men folk of our of our clan tend to support our battle maidens in combat by riding onto the field of battle, dismounting, and then spending our times effectively fixing enemy infantry in place, whilst the battle maidens themselves lead lead the cavalry charges, break infantry formations. It's a very quick, very fast way of warfare, but I'd be more than happy to show you the basics at some point.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Yes, I would love to see, you know, I've I've never seen these horses either.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

My my horse is in the stable. You're more than welcome to come and come and visit. I don't know if this is a good moment, perhaps with a mine. Absolutely not. It might uh the stables are on the way to the bathhouse, so I'd be more than happy to show you.

SPEAKER_05 37:55

Show me the way. So while Otaki Hiroshi and Kikita Hirinobu have a conversation about different tactics and and horses, Kitsuny Akira is sitting there attempting to meditate when you notice an individual making their way across to the Phoenix Shigenja. The individual is dressed in the robes of the Scorpion clan, red and black, and has a cloth mask from his eyebrows down, and underneath that cloth mask you can see a horn sort of oni, like a demon, mask underneath. It's well known that the scorpion all wear masks, it's part of their clan tradition. You also all know that a scorpion is very much a political beast, and they do things for the empire and the clans that are probably best not spoken in polite society. This this gentleman makes his way very carefully across the the padded tatami mats of the veranda and makes his way across to the Phoenix clan, Shigenja Agasha Ayami. As he kind of gets a bit closer, he says, My lady Agasha, my name is Ayushi Takana. May I sit? Yes, you may.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Thank you, my lady. Actually, one second. I do have a quick question on like history and stuff. What are the proper ways of addressing people that you may not know? Like Lord, lady, that's master.

SPEAKER_05 39:26

Yeah, so if you've come across another samurai who you've never met before, usually it's good to address them by their clan because they will normally have a mon or a clan colour. So you would normally see, so in this case, this gentleman, he's wearing scorpion. Uh so you could call him Scorpion San, or or to say that you you know you're just acknowledging that he's from the Scorpion clan. He on foot he has actually come along and told you his name. He's saying that he's Bayushi from the Bayushi family, and his his actual giver name is Takana. So the proper address for someone you've never met, you don't know you know what status he is, you don't know where he is in the pecking order, would just be to call him Bayushi Takana son, which is actually saying that you're of the equal level. If you think actually you just want to honour him a little bit more, you could and the offer the honorific summer to say that he is of a higher status than you. He looks old, so it could be that he's been around for a while, so we wouldn't be out the ordinary to sort of like call him summer, you know. So you probably go Bayushi Takana Summer. Or if you just wanted to be quite formal but not actually that personal, you would just call him Bayushi Sun or Bayushi Summer. And that's not particularly rude. Gachin, what was his full name again? It's not showing up on his name is Bayushi Takana. And he yeah, he sits down and he says, My uh my Lady Agasha, I understand you are here to look through the library that is here.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

I am, I was quite excited when I uh first got a glimpse of it.

SPEAKER_05 41:00

Does you finding it difficult being a Phoenix in the dragon court when your two clans are at war?

SPEAKER_01 41:07

I would be lying if I said it was not awkward at certain periods.

SPEAKER_05 41:13

It shows a certain mettle, my lady, that you've come to do that at this time. And I am one am very grateful to see a phoenix here. Unfortunately, sometimes the the other clans, well, they can be a little slow when it comes to understanding things. And I'm very grateful that you're here.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Oh thank you. I tend to think that the best time to learn is when the fires are high.

unknown 41:38

Hmm.

SPEAKER_05 41:39

He says, I I I I I assume that from he basically looks you up and down and says that you uh are attuned to the fire element. That is correct. So he says that in that case, hopefully you're you're not too hot-tempered, he says. I would not go that far. So I I I hope I don't offend you. None at all. You can see as he's sort of like um do you have any courtier or sort of like etiquette skills?

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Uh do I have etiquette? I think I do.

SPEAKER_05 42:11

I do. Okay. You don't have to make a roll or anything, but you know he's basically angling for something. He's kind of like just starting to kind of ingratiate himself. And he's he's he's just kind of like making he then starts to make small talk about the Phoenix clan. He's definitely showing that he understands what's going on in the Phoenix clan. He does understand. In fact, he might understand a little bit more than you would expect him to, and so he's almost showing you that he understands some stuff that's going on in the background. But without doing it, he clearly is a master manipulator and a master courtier. But he's but he kind of keeps everything very low-key, he doesn't sort of like, he's not sort of going out of his way to do that. And while he is talking to you, he is looking at a scroll, and he's being sort of half and half with with like his his conversation with you and and actually doing something else. To anybody else looking, it just looks like he's just having a conversation with someone he knows while doing something else. Marco, you clearly can can see this interaction going on, and and you're sort of you're very much drawn to him, and you're not really sure what it is, but the there's something about him you just don't like, just his mannerisms, the way he walks. He's definitely sort of on your radar, he just does something not quite right about him. You know, you've kind of dealt with a lot of people before. Uh something a bit off, just just just in the background. But they seem to be having a conversation.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

I'll watch him, the two of them, just see if I get a sense that he might be up to something desirable.

SPEAKER_05 43:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

Yeah, he um he appears to just be having the conversation. If I can eavesdrop, then then I will.

SPEAKER_05 43:52

Um he's not being particularly loud. He's being respectfully quiet for a personal conversation without it actually. Spilling out into the courtyard. You catch like the odd snippet, but nothing to tell you exactly what they're being discussed. He also appears to be watching the Kikita and the Otaku just having their conversation. And just as they're sort of like finishing up, sort of like tidying up and getting all their kit together, he stands up and then he clears his throat and waits for you to look at him. Who is this down? This is the uh the same guy, the uh the scorpion.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

Okay. Well yeah, he has my attention.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Hiroshi glances his way and then carries on cleaning things up and packing away the last bits of the game, putting the ball back in its case, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_05 44:40

Yeah. He says, uh My um My fellow samurai, I have come to collect you. The Lord of the castle wishes to have your audience. Kitsuki Mizuochi requires your attendance in his royal throne room. Please follow me. Is this common for a scorpion to summon somebody for a dragon? No. I mean it could be that he was asked to do it, but stand up and uh make the follow him.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

With a quizzing look on my brow.

SPEAKER_05 45:14

He takes a few steps as if to sort of like start to go towards, I guess, the natural exit to the courtyard, but stops and turns to watch to see whether you're coming or not.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Kitsune will get up and approach Scorpion's son. It's highly unusual that you would be the king's Is it I'm sorry, is it the king you said?

SPEAKER_05 45:33

No, no, it's um it's the uh the daimyo of the Kitsuki family. It's the lord. The lord of this castle.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Yeah, okay. It is unusual, is it not, that you would be the lord's messenger?

SPEAKER_05 45:45

He sort of like bows and says Akira san, I just do as I am told. I am the vessel for the clans and the emperor. And if I am told to do something, it is my place to do that. And he kind of bows to you. I'll bow back. Please lead the way. He looks back towards the um the unicorn and the crane.

SPEAKER_04 46:09

Yeah, I bow and I'll follow. Hiroshi looks around to see if any of the other unicorns are still there, realizes he's on his own, and bows and follows behind everyone else.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Once he knows that you're all in tow, basically makes his way further into the um into the key. He basically walks at a slow enough speed that that you can catch up, but he doesn't stop, just continues. He walks past the the the visitors' quarters, he goes past a lot of the half people and and no people's quarters, he makes his way further into and up the pagoda-style castle of the kitsuki. Kitsuni? Kiki. I'll get it right in one day. Geez, come on then, in the kitsuki, that's it. And he takes you as you sort of like go further and further up into sort of like the personal quarters of the Daimyo. As you as you travel through, you realise that there are more dragon clan samurai here than you've seen before. They're all armed with their twin swords. Some of them are wearing the light Ashigaru armour that you would expect. And he makes his way to an audience chamber and says, please follow me.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

Still very confused, uh, Hiroshi will follow at a distance.

SPEAKER_05 47:36

A dragon samurai in full heavy armour with all the kit and and everything you could possibly ever want is standing directly behind the doors. It is a large reception room with multiple mats and tatami mats, and on top of those, a soft covering of green downy material. You can see that the room has been divided into that of the Lord to the north of the chamber and those to the vassals to the south of the chamber. His totami mat is like a light green with the kitsuni uh emblems on, sorry, the kitsuki emblems on, and then you have sort of more plain, sort of but stylish totami mats and and and seats. Biushtakana walks in and you can see at the head next to a large sort of low table, you can see the daimyo of the kitsuki. He is sitting there with his elbow at the um at the side of the table. You would expect the daimyo to be the other side, but he is actually off to the side, and he is he is kneeling here. Wait. Inside, as you look in, you can see a young female dragon clan, Charlotte. When you look at her, you can see that she is wearing the robes of a shigenja. But in in sort of like the classic green and gold of the dragon clan, there is a seat in the middle, and next to her is your elemental master, Isawa Hoshi. And then below them, there are three spare seats. To the right hand side, Tony, you can see Kikita Kaitan, the regent for the Krang clan. There is a space, and then you can see Shinjo Daisan, the unicorn diplomat. And then right at the very back of this uh ensemble, you can see a female samurai. Marco, and Tony, actually both of you. Can both of you please make an intelligence roll? But the difficulty is ten. I'll set the I rolled a four. Tony, you recognize the uh female samurai as being of the Sparrow Clan, a minor clan that was at one point part of the alliance that the Fox and the various other were at, but then but did not join the Mantis clan theories.

SPEAKER_03 49:59

Well, that's why I don't recognize her. She's just a minor, inconsequential clan, not because I'm stupid or anything. Of course not.

SPEAKER_05 50:09

But his way across to the right hand side and sits at the front of the percussions. He bows to the to the lord and says, My lord, I have them. Uh he then he sits down, leaving you to sort of like stand in the in the entranceway. Who wants to walk in first? I will. Absolutely not. Oh, I beat you, you dirty creeper. Okay. Consumer Akira, you you walk forward. Super and overconfident, you know. Yep. Make an etiquette role. So it is your etiquette skill. Leave etiquette is with awareness. So you make that roll. I'm not gonna give you I'm not gonna give you a target number, I'm just gonna ask you to make the role. I just want to see how well you do. I have a 21. Well, look at you. You know well enough to sort of like step in, sort of maybe to halfway up the um up the aisle to bow and to address the lord correctly, which you can do either by saying, My my lord doma, to say that he is a daimyo, or you can address him, you know that he is the kitsuki daimyo, so you could use the honorific kitsune kitsuki sama or kitsuki donut. You also know that you need to find yourself a seat. He will not respond. He just he's just sitting there.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

Where would you like to go? I will use the honorific and then I will Where will I go? It's important.

unknown 51:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:41

Where do you want to sit? It's important, eh?

SPEAKER_01 51:44

If you sit beside my master, there will be problems.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

Who's your master? The guy in the guy in orange. Yeah. On the map. This one? Okay. Yeah. Uh I guess I'll sit over here. So behind the behind the dragon and behind the uh the the phoenix.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Yeah, and it gives me a good line of sight to the dude the scorpion. Cool. Don't trust him.

SPEAKER_05 52:08

Well, you were very quick to jump on the uh on that, Tony, so I guess Kikita is gonna come in next. Could you two also roll me an etiquette roll? Well, okay, that's fine. You come in again, same thing. You know, you've you've practiced this so many times in the Kikita Academy. You know exactly what to say and what to do. How do you wish to address them?

SPEAKER_00 52:30

I will do the katsuki domo. Kitsuki domo. And I will deeply bow. Mm-hmm. I will I'm nothing compared to him. So I will basically yeah show my uttermost respect.

SPEAKER_05 52:45

Excellent. And you sort of head, I can see on the back, you've head yourself onto the right hand side, behind the Kikita, the Shinjo, and the Scorpion. Yes. Okay, so that leaves two more of you. I guess is it gonna be a Gasha Ayame or Ataku Hiroshi? Hiroshi's more than happy to let the lady go first. She will oblige.

unknown 53:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 53:09

Did you two could also make an etiquette roll? Thirteen? That's thirteen. That's good, yep. You two also know exactly what to do and what to say. How do you wish to address the speaking time? With the most respect as possible. Okay. Cool. You bow. Uh you where do you want to sit?

SPEAKER_01 53:27

Right in the front row beside my master.

SPEAKER_05 53:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Front row it is. As I walk past him, I will also give him acknowledgement.

SPEAKER_05 53:36

When when you've kind of like bowed and said all the things you need to say, you go and sit and you kind of like nod at him. He basically lowers his head and and nods at you. Uh he doesn't say anything, he just just nods his head. And you sit towards the front. Last but not least, bringing up the weir is our uh our gaijin friend, Takiroshi. That was your etiquette, uh It's uh non-existent.

SPEAKER_04 54:02

That's what I like to see. When you spend eight centuries outside the empire, you kind of forget the customs. Could you please make uh an awareness role?

SPEAKER_05 54:13

Absolutely not. Well actually that's not perfectly fine. That's perfectly fine. Yeah, you come in, you kind of like remember what you're what you're supposed to do. How do you wish to address him?

SPEAKER_04 54:24

I will probably address him with as much respect as possible, but I will get the title ever so slightly wrong. I'll call him Daisho rather than Daimyo, for example. Okay, but I like that. So it's slightly different, more military rank than a than uh Sure. I like that.

SPEAKER_05 54:43

And where are you gonna sit? Okay, back there. You go and sit back behind uh the Kikita. I can see this one side's more uh more than the other side. Yes, you go and sit down and you wait. You wait for a very long time, where it feels like forever. No one says anything, everyone is just sitting there, and then the side panel door opens, and in walks Tigashisatsu, who is the Daimyo and clan champion of the Dragon Clan. So basically, the next one up from him is the Emperor and the Emperor's family. He is also the son of half a dragon. He is very uh very well respected. He has he's he's probably in his 40s now. He is tattooed up, he has got tattoos on his head, his his face, his chest, and he looks more like a monk than he does actually. An honest to goodness samurai, but you know him because he is one of the the the main crab tran leaders. And he walks across the room. As he walks across the room, he just oozes something. There's just something raw power about him. As he walks, you can feel the the muscles in his neck are really knotted, and just he has like a raw power about him. He walks towards the table. You now understand why the family daimyo is sitting at the side and Togashi sits down. He sort of like offers you a slight nod and says, Thank you for coming. We have a problem, and I need you to solve that problem. And he looks at you, and his eyes kind of burning towards you, and says, Under normal circumstances, I would have my best people on this. Unfortunately, they're all busy. He sort of like smiles and smirks. Is that a joke from the the Dragon Clan, like, you know, champion? It seems weird. He seems like he has a little slight cheeky grin to him. He says, I need help. I desperately need help. And you're the ones who can do that.