A third refusal would of course be an insult - and there is no place for insult in the generous offer made by Tsutomu, so instead a sincere and respectful bow is offered before the Ronin rises once more, offering something more of a smile than was evident earlier as he replies "It is said that a wise man understands that a blessing is only truly realised when it is shared."

 Life in the form of aphormisms, straight from the lips of a curiously young ronin to be bearing a name that crops up here and there in Rokugani history on a grey-clad man, "I had not looked to encounter a friend of a mutual friend in this fine city." he remarks in addition, perhaps inviting something of a tale.

"Well, I had not thought to see a ronin who resembled someone from my past here either," Kakita Tsutomu smiles, walking back towards his dojo, "it is fortunate that Kakita Asakura was assigned here as a Shosa under Doji Kusanagi and that he asked me--a lowly former ronin--to accompany him and help train his samurai.  He said that I have a 'natural instinct for iaijutsu,' whatever that means," the former ronin shrugs, "when I tell him that I'm just doing my best to stay alive, he just laughs.  His students are always concerned with 'proper stance' and 'proper form' and 'proper' this and that.  It's all too much for me, so I just tell them to do what comes naturally.  It seems to have worked out all right, especially for all these Daidoji newcomers."

 "It is said that the Daidoji have the art of Iajutsu in their blood, and that it runs almost as deep as it does in their Kakita cousins." remarks the still-ronin wanderer, a faint smile flickering across his features at the direction that his companions thoughts are taking, "Though I am glad that the words you speak fall from your lips rather than mine, for I fear that they echo those of the honoured Miromoto rather than the honoured Kakita, and I suspect I would have a hard time enduring the 'lessons' in proper stance and proper form that they would earn one not descended from the clan one of the finest swordsmen who has ever lived."

 There is of course a strong belief that Kakita himself was the finest swordsman to ever have lived - on the other hand, he and Miromoto for all their arguments never actually came to blows, the Akodo have many fine battlefield swordsmen to their credit... and of course, no man on any field has ever stood for seconds before the terrible wrath of the swordsmen of the line of the Dragon Daimyos (though there is of course a very good reason for that).

 In any case the difference in style is very distinct - Kakita swordsmanship is about speed based on form, endless repetition and kata hone the reflexes of the born duellist which are then turned into a style of great beauty and poise. Miromoto swordsmanship on the other hand is more improvisational - that which succeeds is encouraged (so long as it be honourable) and is then refined into grace only by use.

"Classes are dismissed!" Kakita Tsutomu calls out to his students upon reaching his open air dojo, "feel free to continue practicing what you have learned, but I will be in the sitting room for a while and not giving instruction!"  Some of his students look at the former ronin quizically, some continue to practice, a few leave to seek instruction elsewhere, and one or two take a hard look at the ronin by their sensei's side.  None of them, however, choose to object or comment.

"Please, come in to my humble abode," Tsutomu smiles, opening a shoji to reveal a room with a sitting table, a small metal stove, and a storage closet (presumably for storing his futon).  The stove is lit, providing some warmth to the room, and there is an unfinished game of Go on the table.  "Would you like some tea, Kedo-san?" the Kakita samurai asks, setting a pot of water onto the stove to boil, "I find it to be much more bracing than sake--though," he smiles, "I would have denied any such thing in my younger, wilder days."

 Whilst a man much given to steel - whether in the endless striving to find the beauty of mastery in its wielding or his ongoing attempts to earn some slight measure of proficiency in the art of forging it, Kedo is not without appreciation for the finer things in life and - though he returned the looks of the students with frank curiosity and interest - he is happy to step through and express his appreciation for both the honour he is done and the elegent simplicity of the Kakita's home through smooth action and gracious acceptance.

 "It has been some time since I have had the pleasure of tea." the ronin admits, a faint smile lingering about his lips, "In truth, I have perhaps had the opportunity, but as with so much else, the ingrained perfection of Daidoji manners makes difficult to enjoy the process without being aware of ones own clumsiness." - a gently humorous admission that goes with a slow creeping of Bushi eyes to the Go board - Kedo being fundamentally unable to disguise his interest in the progress of the game.

[Private to GM: I can't recall, but is it the Battle skill that has some application to the pursuit of Go, or is there a specific skill for it?]

"Ha ha ha," Tsutomu laughs, "it must be rather like dining with the Doji during court functions then.  I always eat more than is polite," he grins, "but somehow their disapproving frowns never seem to curb my appetite.    Are you interested in the game?" he says, noticing your interest in the board, "perhaps you could help me out then.  I'm playing with a student of mine, a poor sword wielder, but an excellent strategist--much better than myself--and I've reached an impasse, I can't think of a good next move."

OOC:  there's a Games-Go skill, but you can use the Battle skill with a +10 to your TN

 "It is doubtful." admits the Ronin mildly, spreading his hands to indicate a certain helplessness in the full flow of fate, "I am afraid that I was ever loathe to embrace the abstraction of The Game - rather I wondered how one fed and armed a stone placed in the far corner of the board." - this said however he leans over to investigate the placement of stones, allowing his mind to begin to slip from conscious planning and into unconscious seeking after patterns as meditative technique begins to surface.

 After some moments of near-perfect stillness the old images begin to return, mere pebbles replaced in the minds eye by banners waving on a field stained with blood, fortresses standing secure on mighty hilltops, unobtainable by storm and yet vulnerable to siege, if it can only be maintained.

 And so... his finger raises slowly to indicate one flank of the board as-yet undeveloped, a light scattering of positional stones only holding down parts of it. "Perhaps here, a flank march?" the Ronin suggests, indicating a series of holes, "To come around this expanse as he secures the central lands that are lost, secure in the knowledge that you have too far to come, then striking inwards along this line, severing his new lands from his fortified home and recapturing his gains?"

 It's the counsel of a devious and insightful general rather than a simple Ronin of course, and it's couched in the terms of the field not the board... But, perhaps, there might be something in this wanderers ideas...



 ---

 04:02, Today: Kedo rolled 40 using 8d10, keeping the 4 highest rolls, rerolling max. Seeking patterns in stones in the void.

 And if I was rolling my intelligence not my perception, I would have kept an additional '8' and managed 48, 38 with penalties. Bloooooody hell that's good. ^_^
This message was last edited by the player at 04:08, Wed 06 Feb 2008.

Tsutomu studies the board as he tries to process Kedo's metaphorical reading of the situation.  "Yes...yes!" he exclaims, grinning as he places one of his stones where the ronin indicated, "I see what you mean!  Ha ha!" he crows, "it will take Daidoji Tomoe longer than a moment to think his way out of this one!  Thank you, Kedo-san," the former ronin grins, "now that you have helped me, how can I help you?"

OOC:  make a raw intelligence roll and add your Craft skill to the total; you can spend Void on this roll TN 20

 It takes Kedo a few moments to shake off the half-trance into which he slipped studying the board, a slightly eerie moment of absence-without-inattention that underlines most of the unsettling things ever said about the Clan of the North-West Mountains and their mystical tendencies.

 But when he does it's to smile almost boyishly, a bright flicker of humour in a usually measured face, "Say rather that I have made some small effort to repay your hospitality, Tsutomu-san - but though I am without purpose in this city at the moment, there were some things I had hoped to learn..."


 ---

 I figure you can only really spend a Void point on a roll you know you're making - but anyhow, here's a craft+intelligence keep intelligence roll *and* an intelligence keep intelligence plus craft roll because I'm not sure which you wanted. ^_^

 You rolled 38 using 8d10, dropping the 4 lowest rolls, rerolling max of 1, 2, 4 & 5 ((2,7,7,1,(10+9)19,5,5,4)).

 You rolled 25 using 4d10+4, rerolling max ((4,4,8,5)).

OOC:  you recognize the name of Daidoji Tomoe as that of the daughter of disgraced master weaponsmith Kaiu Kuromori.

 A moment after his last words, Kedo's head snaps up from the board once more to fix his attention upon his companion, visible interest lighting now in the sometime-Dragons features as he considers this latest little nugget of information.

 "Forgive me for asking, but is not Daidoji Tomoe the daughter of the steel-master Kaiu Kuromori, whose grandfather wrote the 'On the techniques of Craftsmen'?" inquires the Ronin, something of visible eagerness lighting his eyes.

"Well, she is the daughter of Dadoji Kuromori," Tsutomu says hesitantly, "who was once a member of the Crab Clan.  I don't know any more than that though.  Would you like me to arrange an introduction?  Her lesson is scheduled for later today."

 "It would be no small honour if I were to be permitted to speak with the daughter of the mastersmith Kuromori..." replies Kedo simply, glancing sideways at the board for a moment, then adding slyly, "And to see her expression when she discovers what new strategem you take to the Game."

 A moment more of consideration follows, and with a certain boyish eagerness that serves to remind an onlooker of his youth, despite the serene maturity that his upbringing in the mountains grants him "Of course, there would also be no small honour in being permitted to learn something of what the wanderers road taught you of the sword."

 - So delicate a way to ask if a host might at some point wish to spar - not for honour or to teach technique (no Clansman would ever ask another so personal and impolite a question, nor most Ronin) but simply an appreciation that there is always more to learn each day that passes, and that many lessons are best learned from friends.

"HA!  That would be perfect," Tsutomu laughs in response to your comment about the game.

"Of course," the former ronin replies to your request, "though I fear my skills may have been dulled by such frequent practice against students of a single school.  Come," he says, rising, "I have a wide selection of bokuto for you to choose from--and I notice that you carry two blades--perhaps you will find a couple to fit your style."

 "I may be in search of serenity, but it does not mean that I am above taking some small, quite improper pleasure in disconcerting others." replies the Ronin with a grin that once more drops several years from his features and reminds an onlooker of his relative youth.

 He does glance sidelong at the table, perhaps thinking to raise the matter of the tea that was offered, but it must simply be said that the chance to take up a stave once more in the exercise that has mostly been denied him in the urgency of his recent travels wins him over and he nods in agreement with a distinct nod of approval when the Crane noticed the faint patterns of wear upon both the Wakizashi that's the mark of the Samaurai class and the Katana that proclaims 'here is a Bushi willing to wield it in his own honour's defence' - each blade so close to new as to barely have such marks, the carrying of both common amongst all Clans and schools, "Your eyes have grown sharp to notice their wear, but it would I think be impolitic to bear two swords where one samaurai's teachings are held above all others..." he suggests also as he falls in alongside the other man, quietly determined that even if he should be so fortunate as to have a slight edge in skill, he's definitely not going to do anything so foolish as to actually 'win' a match.

 No - the joy after all of steel, even in the form of wood, is the matching of mind and wit with another of skill and letting the void swirl up to dissolve thought and consequence, leaving only the purity of motion without form or preconception.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:43, Wed 13 Feb 2008.

"Bah!" Tsutomu laughs, leading you towards the racks of wooden weapons, "I would be a poor sensei indeed if I refused to practice what I taught.  I cannot count the number of times that I reprimand my students against training too often against a single style.  It affords the luxury of anticipating the reflexes of your opponent.  A luxury which one cannot afford on the battlefield.  Too many promising bushi fall when facing a style completely unfamiliar to them.  So please," he says sincerely, "feel free to wield the weapons in the manner which you are most comfortable."

 Kedo sets down his simple bag of possessions beside the nearest of the weapon-racks, and with the delicate care of someone for whom steel is more than merely a means to an end, but rather the defining borders of a way of life he has yet to fully explore, slips his Daisho from its place upon his hip and, with delicate care, places it upon one of the stands set aside for that honoured purpose.

 "A philosophy that echoes the words of the honoured Miromoto, rather than the honoured Kakita." replies Kedo with a wry sidelong glance, gently needling his host as much to see if there is something of a reaction rather than crossing over into despite - for even the most dedicated and hidebound of the practitioners of other schools must admit that there was much indeed to respect in the writings of the first of the Crane swordsmen.

 In any case, the Ronin spends little time in his selection - a single long stave chosen almost at random and a second, shorter one taken up in the same casual fashion serve him as well as any - for it is not always the case that a Bushi will be given the privilage of chosing which weapons to bear, and he turns back to watch Tsutomu's own selection, laying the shorter of the two weapons aside for picking up moments later - there is after all, no reason to make this a swift or desultory exchange.

[Private to GM: Now it must be said that I have little interest in some masturbatory 'look at my numbers, aren't they impressive' scene of frantic die-rolling. You can see Kedo's sheet and you know Tsutomu's skills, so feel free to decide arbitrarily how things will work out. The only two things to consider are that this is a spar for enjoyment rather than a contest, and so Kedo will often pause to exchange thoughts on a particular line or stroke, maneuver or habit and because of the *very* cool way that you can keep any dice (not necessarily the highest-rolling) in this system, he absolutely will *not* win any given 'match' but will rather come as close as he can without doing so, whilst making Tsutomu work as hard as he can make him work to manage it - both with and without a second 'blade' in-hand (in other words, without school technique and afterwards, with it).]

"Even Kakita acknowledged Mirumoto's skill," Tsutomu shrugs, choosing two bokken of equal length from the rack--both, you note, with slightly elongated tsuka (handles), "and I have learned that philosophy is a poor substitute for survival," he grins, setting one aside before bowing and taking his left handed stance.

 "He trusted Mirumoto with his daughter. Mirumoto trusted Kakita with the Empire. At the end, there was little disagreement between them that truly mattered." replies Kedo simply, giving his stave a few practice strokes through the air to settle it into his grip and then returning the bow formally before taking up his own stance, both hands upon the hilt in a classic 'formal' posture that he's obviously seen performed more often than he's tried it himself.

 A moment passes, in which much of that same sense of stillness flows over the Ronin, sourced in a spiritual depth that's obvious even to a casual observer - and then it begins.

 "The Crab would agree with your words, but do you not feel that there is a deeper truth than survival alone to be found in the Tao?" asks Kedo, as his stave jumps forwards along with a flowing glide out of what was is revealed to be less the formal stance it looked and more simply a comfortable way to stand before striking, the 'weapon' lunging out towards Tsutomu's head in an almost point-first fashion, unusual but maintaining the capacity to sweep from the hilt in any of the four directions that would deflect a return along the same line.

 Dragons, Ronin or not, only they would debate philosophy in a sword fight...

"But survival must always be the first step to enlightenment," Tsutomu replies, shifting away from the line of your 'blade' incrementally more than is necessary to avoid it, "after all, spiritual development cannot occur if you are dead."  As Kedo's weapon passes his head, Tsutomu drives forward to the ronin's left side thrusting, not with the point of the bokken, but with the tsuka, his staff angled in such a way as to deflect Kedo's return cut.

 Kedo's body is at just lest than full extension, the blade leading to 'cut' rather than to strike and as Tsutomu flows aside and into his own strike the Ronin moves out of the appropriate line of attack, rotating his wrists about to the left, scooping the hilt-strike aside even as he moves back into his balanced posture, buying the extra time necessary to complete the deflection of a stroke much faster than the swinging of a blade would have been.

 "Ten thousand ancestral shines to ten hundred thousand ancestral spirits would disagree." replies the Ronin in time with his parry and the flowing exchange of blows that follow it, stave clashing with stave only when avoidance of a strike is impossible, "But survival is the measure of beasts as well as men, it is given to men to be more however, and is not something of that to be found in the Tao?" - by this point the staves are moving almost as swiftly as the eye can follow for moments at a time, interspersed with the inevitable pauses between flurries that always seem to happen in battle of any description.

"If that is the case," Tsutomu asks breathlessly, though quite fit age has begun to take its toll on this ronin's body, "then what need is there of reincarnation?  Some lessons can only be learned on the mortal plane, though I will concede that death has its own lessons to teach us.  As for the beasts," he replies, gaining his second wind and reversing his grip on his bokuto--allowing for a more defensive posture, "does not Chikushudo's very existence and Inari's place in the Heavens show that they too may strive for Enlightenment?"

 Seamlessly, Kedo adjusts to the slight edge of tiredness seeming to appear in his - not foe, but rather partner - and his maneuvers, whilst losing nothing of speed come more towards the upper chest and legs, disdaining the high strikes that require raised deflection in favour of those that simply invite a sidestep or a swaying evasion.

 "Can we know those lessons save in the learning of them?" asks Kedo simply in a flowing parry that utilises the wrists to redirect a lunging stave the necessary half-inch that will be generate a foot or so of deflection at the point when it passes his body, "And so can we say what lesson holds greater value for the soul of which we are but shadows in the here and now?" he asks as he strikes out, working across Tsutomu's reversed guard from either side, always wary of the lightning speed that the down-grip allows in reprisal, underlining his attack with precedent as well as philosophy, "Whilst Inari is to be venerated, did not Shinsei himself rebuke even Shiba? - And does Chikushudo not tell us by its existance that the mortal human soul has the capacity fly further than that of a simple beast?"

Tsutomu's eyes narrow slightly as he notices Kedo's alteration in tactics, but does not otherwise comment.  "The mysteries of the soul are beyond a ronin of my limited caliber," Tsutomu responds, using both the grip of his weapon and the 'blade' to deflect Kedo's strikes and move into closer proximity to attack with his empty hand, "however, did not Shinsei not also seek advice from the Oracle of Earth, proving that even the enlightened may need guidance?  And are the Realms of the Dead further from Ningendo than the Realm of Animals?  Or are they simply in different directions?"

Though Tsutomu's shifting style has afforded him some measure of success, Kedo's proficiency with the blade is the greater.  Acknowledging this, Tsutomu, nevertheless, manages to bring the collaborative duel to a mutually acceptable end with a series of strikes and deflections that allow him to withdraw outside of Kedo's comfortable reach.  As he steps out of Kedo's range, Tsutomu bows, signaling his intent to take up his second weapon and offering you the opportunity to take up yours.

In the meantime, you have acquired something of an audience made up of young Crane samurai interested in this display of sword styles.

OOC:  Moving this thread to the Toshi Ranbo main thread since everyone seems to be converging ^_^
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:15, Fri 15 Feb 2008.

 Bereft of the advantages of technique and left to fall back upon inspiration and simple skill with the blade, the advantage in speed almost certainly falls to Tsutomu but for all his subtle shift in technique so as not to take unfair advantage of the other mans age, his eyes glow with obvious delight in all three levels of the spar, philosophical, social and of course, not least physical.

 Kedo too disengages with his chest moving more swiftly than when he began, for though he is young and in good physical condition as a Bushi ought to be, when one gives oneself to steel adrenaline asserts its demands over all but the strongest, and seemingly unaware of the audience Kedo whirls back to let the second, shorter stave nestle in his hand like a bird caught from the air after his own answering bow.

 When he returns, it is like lighting in a summer storm, flowing without warning from all directions with the harsh clikker-clak of wood on wood, delight giving way to the youthful joy of a Samaurai who knows that whatever tomorrow may bring, here and now it is good to be alive and with a friend. "The mysteries of the soul lie in the reach of every man and woman mortal-born, or so Shinsei seems to suggest." he answers within the whirlwind, dismissing the suggestion that there is anything to which even a simple Ronin might not aspire, "And as the Teacher himself said, knowing how he achieved enlightenment would not tell another how to do the same." (a point far more stressed in the schools thought coming out of the Dragon mountains than in most others - and that is hardly surprising, given the... strange... nature of some of the roads in those forbidding peaks).

 He's quite lost now in the enjoyment of debate and spar, occasionally inserting - not weaknesses, but rather openings - in his defence purely for the pleasure of seeing their counter, as though seeking a perfection that is not housed in technique alone, or in victory, but rather in the synergy that comes of competition where you know your opponent almost as well as yourself, "Knowing that death is not the end of the path however, does nothing to prove the virtue of holding survival higher than philosophy." he interjects with a particularly beautiful double-lock and deflect of blades sweeping towards his face, choosing defensively to switch the argument back to its original course with mirroring physical motion.

[Private to Kaze no Kage: I don't know if this needs saying, but this is hellishly good fun for me at least, sorry if it's eating up your plot time. ^_^]