With only a slightly sardonic grin, "If memory serves, Ukyo-san has been blessed with such focus for many years now."

Ukyo frowned at the memory of Sachi besting him at the dojo due to that focus.  He turned to Sachi, "Yes.  I vowed to not make that mistake against you again.  I look forward to the time when I may show you that I am ready for your tricks."

He straightened back on his horse as a harsh cough came over him that lasted several seconds.

"Indeed.  I look forward to a demonstration of your honed skills as well."  Sachi bows to Ukyo, but comes up rather quickly with a lood of mild concern on his face as Ukyo coughs.

I hope he lasts that long...

Travel through the lands of the Crane are relatively uneventful, save for the arrival of Miya Shiko.  However, after the Shisha joined you, you notice a marked increase in the number of people watching you intently as you travel past.

"In a couple of hours," the Shisha says conversationally, "we'll be reaching a crossroads, one leads through Lion lands, and offers a more direct route to Toshi Ranbo, the other leads through Imperial lands, but is somewhat more lengthy.  If I were traveling alone," Miya Shiko shrugs, "I'd just go through Lion lands, but since I'm with you..." she trails off, letting you come to your own conclusions.

"I assume that you're delivery is to be made as quickly as possible.  Perhaps we should go ahead and cut through the Lion lands."

"I concur" Sakura replied to the duelist's urging. She said nothing else, though she did glance around.

"The Lion might be inclined to view our unannounced presence in an unfavourable light, but that shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. At worst they might cause us some inconvenience, and for Miya-san they won't dare to take it that far."

Yoshiko shrugs inelegantly.

"I suggest we travel fast while we can, and worry about problems only if they pose themselves."

"Then it is decided!" Miya Shiko grins cheerfully, "through Lion lands!  And may nothing less than Fu Leng himself attempt to stop us!"

Travel to the Lion border remains uneventful for the first day, but none of you can escape the feeling of being watched.

OOC:  roll Investigation/Perception TN 20 (TN 15 if you have the Notice Emphasis)

OOC: I made it exactly! Woohoo!

You rolled 20 using 3d10, dropping the lowest dice only, rerolling max ((2,(10+3)13,7)).

OOC:
01:21, Today: Musashi rolled 26 using 4d10, dropping the lowest dice only, rerolling max. Perception/Investigation.

Looks like Musashi succeeded as well.  ;)

OOC:
07:46, Today: Daidoji Sachi rolled 14 using 3d10, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 3,9,5. Investigation/Perception TN 20.

Sachi seems to be oblivious to anything going on.

Yoshiko's neck itches, the feeling of unseen eyes on the group making her nervous.  Traveling at speed helps since it makes it harder for anyone observing them to lay an ambush or prepare other nasty surprises, but as long as the feeling persists she has to fight the urge to press for even more haste.

OoC:Daidoji Yoshiko rolled 28 using 3d10, dropping the lowest dice only, rerolling max. Investigation/Perception. Yay exploding die!

You all hear the sharp twanging of bowstrings nearby, but there is no answering hail of arrows.  To the left and to the right you can see peasants with bows (and cut bowstrings) falling like sheaves of wheat.  [Private to Daidoji Sakura; Daidoji Yoshiko; Musashi; Kakita Ukyo: you see human shaped shadows slipping into the underbrush]
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:47, Sat 19 May 2007.

((OOC: Sorry for the late post... the weeks' been hell!  Also, L5R uses exploding dice, right?  I couldn;t find mention of it int he book))

20:27, Today: Kakita Ukyo rolled 22 using 2d10, rerolling max with rolls of (10+6)16,6.  (16 if no exploding dice)

PM[Private to Kaze no Kage: Can we tell from here if the peasants are Daidoji Irregulars?]

Yoshiko draws he sword and immediately guides her horse to the flank of the group, forcing Sakura towards the center.

"Ambush! Get away, all speed!"

She itches to urge her horse to a full gallop, but waits for the others to react.

With a hearty cough, Ukyo leaned over and held a hand out to Musashi to help vault him up on the back of the horse.

For some reason Sakura does not share her Yojimbo`s assessment of the danger. Sakura was always an intuitive girl, something that helped her tremendously in most cases but did tend to get her in trouble, but this was not a case of intuition.

It was a case of curiosity.

Sakura halted her steed and dismounted, something that would probably annoy her Yojimbo to no end.

"You guys go ahead" she said with an unusual hint of confidence, "I need to check something out."

With a stride that was a bit to casual for the situation, Sakura headed toward the bushes to examine the fresh corpses.

[Yes, I know that touching these corpses are dishonorable. Sakura doesn't care -- she'll just do a purification ritual when she's done and forget that it ever happened ....]
[Private to Daidoji Yoshiko; Kaze no Kage: Sakura wants to examine the corpses for any indications that these were Daidoji Irregulars.]

Yoshiko reins her horse in so brusquely it nearly topples and dismounts to hurry over to Sakura.

"Which part of 'get away' is too complicated for you to understand, Sakura-san? We could have returned here after making sure the area was safe," she says in a clipped tone of voice, palpably radiating anger.

Whatever Sakura was feeling was not being shown. Her response was level and confident, though with Sakura it was always difficult to determine if the confidence was real.

"The area is safe" Sakura replied. "As I said earlier, I am quite familiar with this phenomenon. If we are to keep Miya-Sama safe, we need more information and the information is over there."

"I hope ..."

OOC:  anyone inspecting the corpses or checking the area make a Perception/Investigation (Notice) check

Assuming my Yojimbo lets me by ...
13:20, Today: Daidoji Sakura rolled 14 using 3d10, dropping the lowest dice only, rerolling max with rolls of 6,8,4. Investigation/Perception(notice).

Mental note: I really need to up Sakura`s Investigation & Perception since that`s her biggest "shtick" ...

07:44, Today: Kakita Ukyo rolled 6 using 2d10, rerolling max. Investigation/Perception.

OOC: Whadda ya want? I'm on a horse.  :)