Day 1 - Sunlight streamed in through the broken window of the 'inn' which Taken was forced to stay in. Slowly, the light crept up his face as the sun rose in the sky, until the warmth woke him to the new day. The sounds of his rustling kimono, the only clothing he--as a ronin--could afford, was the only sound as Taken rose from the pad on the floor he had been sleeping in and ran a hand through his long, luxurious hair and shook his head allowing it to fall naturally over his shoulders.

Within moments, the clacking of Taken's wooden sandals against the hallway floor could be heard as he made his way back to the front of the building, and the exit. The ronin was in need of a bath, and breakfast.

To that end, Taken walked through the streets of the city heading to the outskirts where it was likely that he could find a stream or lake to bathe in, and, hopefully, some wild game that he could catch and kill. Unfortunately, he did not have the money to pay for a meal, and the hovel in which he was staying did not offer food, only a place to sleep outside of the weather, and even that was taxing on his 'budget.'

It took a few hours to find a suitable place to bathe, but, within a half hour after locating the stream, he had finished cleansing himself, fixed his hair, and gotten dressed. It was then time for him to search out a meal.

The grass bowed under Taken's hand as he leaned in to examine some tracks, apparently rabbit, which he had found after a few moments of searching. He was unable to follow them, however, and so he stood and walked on, searching on until, out of sheer luck, he spotted a small rabbit. The creature, also spotted him, however, and dashed into the underbrush, but Taken was able to follow it's path this time, and crept after it silently. He was able to get within a few feet of where it finally stopped before the rabbit noticed him again and began to bound off, but this time Taken pursued quickly, and quickly drew his blade through the rabbit's flesh. He felt two distinct pangs of regret as he did so: one for killing the poor creature, and another for never learning archery, thus making his task much more difficult.

(Rolls I did for this... Hunting at 10 [got 11] to follow it, wilderness stealth roll [stealth roll, but reliant on hunting, I think you said] at 10 [got 10] also [figured following something he had just seen wouldn't be too hard, and neither would getting into a few feet just so long as he walked slowly so as not to frighten it... I mean, if -I- can do it...], and then an agility/iajitsu [kept 15, 19, and 19 out of those a 5 and an 8] to 30 for the attack, and finally a willpower roll [20 and a 1... didn't bother rolling again for the 20, didn't need it to kill a rabbit] to be able to kill it. Seeming as I realize it'd be a bit difficult to kill a rabbit like that, I figured I should do the rolls myself. I used www.random.org)

As he skinned, cooked--or, rather, burnt--and ate the meat, he only felt worse about being forced to kill the animal, but he realized that it was a necessity if he wished to survive, just like every other time he was forced to kill an animal. All he could do to make himself feel a bit better was to be sure to use as much of the creature as he could, so as not to put any of it to waste.

When he finished, he placed the few non-cooked bits of rabbit meat into the fire, burning them away, and then put the flames out with some handfuls of sand, and then stood, drawing his sword again to practice for the coming tournament.

'Though I am certain of my eventual victory, there is no harm in honing my skills before the battle'

The whistling of his blade could be heard humming through the wilderness just outside of town as he practiced his forms, moving through them as quickly as he could in order to improve his speed as well. He only had five days, and nothing else to do, so the ronin trained throughout the day, stopping only to eat left over rabbit meat, and catch his breath sporadically.

By the time the sun was setting he was so covered in sweat that he required another bath. Most other men would have simply gone back as that sleep was the only thing that was planned for the rest of the night. Taken, however, refused to be seen in public in the haggard state that his training left him in, and so he returned to the stream and climbed into the cold water again, cleansing himself before returning to the city and bed without incident.

Day 2-Once again Taken rose in a similiar fashion and made his way back to the stream and began hunting for his breakfast, although this time he found some deer tracks, which he began to follow. (Gave myself T.N. 15. Hunting + perception, rolled 3 and 20... kept the 20.)

It was not long before he came upon a sleeping doe, which was an exceptionally lucky find considering the venison would most likely keep him fed for the remaining days until the tournament, at least, but he nearly became sick at the prospect of killing a defenseless animal, yet he needed the food. He managed to sneak close enough to strike it, and draw his sword, but once within range he found himself unable to bring the blade down on the creature for many minutes, until it began to open one of it's eyes, and jumped up, the reaction finally kicking him into motion. His blade bit deep into the animal's flesh, killing it. (Only did Willpower checks for this. Got a 6 and a 2 the first time, thus the wavering, and re-rolling after a few minutes of in game time passed, when I got a 13 and 7... just enough to follow through with killing it. [I give myself t.n. 20s for any animals. I'm figuring a 35 or a 40 for humans... higher for women and children])

He constructed a makeshift smoking rack (I did a t.n. 20 int check for figuring out how to smoke meat seeming as he has no cooking skill. 15 and 8)--once he was finally able to bring himself to handle the body, that is--and began slicing the meat into sections which he could skewer in the piece of wood he had crudely sharpened to hang the food over, letting the smoke cook it it through, in order to preserve it.

It took some time for the food to cook, but once it did, he helped himself to a meal, and then left the meat, of which there was far too much to fit in his pack, while he practiced his swordplay once again, stopping only to eat too more large meals of venison. As the sun went down, he was once again in need of a bath, and so, like the night before, he returned to the stream, with smoked venison in his pack and slung over his shoulders to bathe.

A half hour later he returned to the hovel in which he was staying, carrying the remains of his kill with some difficulty, but he was able to make it back to his room--albeit with many short stops along the way--before setting it in a corner and heading to bed.

Day 3-Taken awoke as the sun hit his face, ate a breakfast of smoked venison, and took a pack full of it with him out of town to train once more, amidst the trees, this time not bothering to bathe before he was finished, which, again, was as the sun went down, and so he washed himself and returned through the city.

This time, however, his trip was a bit different as he saw a group of three drunk peasant men hauling a girl, very much against her will, into an alley with her mouth covered to silence her struggles. The ronin followed and stepped into the alley in time to see one of the men holding a sai to the woman's throat while the other's began to rip off her clothing. The girl cried silently, and it seemed that they were all too engrossed in her rape to notice the sound of Taken stepping into their hiding spot.

"P...please... n... no..." the woman mumbled as tears streamed down her face. She would have cried out for help, but she was certain that the men would kill her if she drew too much attention to the scene.

Taken, however, had heard enough as the drunken men merely laughed at her plight. "Leave the woman and go home, or I will be forced to harm you," he tried, truly wishing that he would not have to harm the men, despite an anger growing inside of him at what they were attempting.

One of the men growled, however, and two moved to attack him, flicking out peasant knives and advancing as quickly as their inebriated state would allow. Taken, however, drew his own sai, deciding that using his sword would bring too high a risk of killing them. Besides, he was certain that he could defeat them with any weapon. (I'm giving them both reflexes of two and agilities of one [due to drunkeness] and nofojutsu of two).

Taken struck first, his sai moving quickly and catching one of the peasant's knives inbetween it's prongs. The sai then rotated quickly and the man's knife was wrenched from his hand and skitted across the floor. The other peasant was quick with his knife, however, and caught Taken in the right forearm, giving the ronin a long slash on his arm. Taken jumped back from the man, bringing his slashed arm up against his chest, defensively, silently cursing as he ducked a blow from the first man and rammed his sai into, and then back out of the unarmed man's groin, dropping him into unconciousness immediately. At this point, both of the other two looked worried, but not worried enough to retreat as the drunk whom was still fighting attacked again, slashing out for Taken's chest, but Taken was far too quick for him, dodging easily and bringing his sai down into the side of the man's kneecap, causing the drunk to collapse, screaming in pain and holding the injured limb.

(I wasn't sure how to do initiative rolls, so I just had Taken move first with his higher reflexes... and sobriety. Anyway, rolls... first round. Nofojutsu + agi with free raise to disarm: 20 18 15 4, and then rolled again off the 20 for 19 more... kept three from my agility... um yah, it succeeded. I also rolled for the one to strike, figuring that, even though he'd have to REALLY luck out to hit, Taken probably wouldn't be wearing his armor around town, so he'd only have 20 to be hit. And... the guy rolled a natural 20, and a 4 on his following roll. Not sure how to do damage, so just tell me if I did this incorrectly. Other guy rolled 6 on his attempt to hit unarmed. I rolled two 14s and a 19 for the groin shot, after taking a +5 raise to the T.N. of 10. Ouch. Then the armed guy rolled a three, and I rolled a 10, 8, 2, and 15... keeping the three highest to attack back with a raise of T.N. 20 this time, to stab him in the knee.)

The last of the men then looked at the woman, and then back to Taken before dropping his weapon and fleeing as quickly as he could, stumbling out the opposite end of the alley. The woman, however, pulled her torn clothes back together and ran to Taken, dropping to her knees before him, still crying visibly. "Th... thank you... thank you so much... y... you saved me, thank you... I... I d... don't know..." it was at that point which she could no longer speak coherently for a few minutes, until she regained her composure enough to attempt speech again. "I... I owe you my life... I'll... I'll do what I can for you..."

Taken spoke calmly and looked down to meet her eyes, "I do need a bandage for my arm, and," he allowed himself a comforting smile before continuing, "I could do with a free place to stay."
(T.N. 10 or lower with her feeling indebted to him/him just rescuing her and he gets four dice with dangerous beauty + crafty to seduce. I'm not even going to bother rolling, despite it being a VERY subtle seduction.)

"O... of course..." she nodded a bit, the tears finally beginning to dry from her eyes as she took his offered hand to help her to her feet, and, as she stood, he looked her over covertly. She was a somewhat attractive girl of sixteen or seventeen, but most certainly not on par with his standards. 'But,' he thought, 'It's no harm to let her repay me, is it?'

Within a few hours he was at Ayumi's, that was her name, home where she lived with her mother and father, with a bandage tied around the slash on his arm sleeping in the guest room.

Day 4-The sound of footsteps creeping through the halls woke Taken in the early morning, to see Ayumi bringing him his breakfast. Her and her parents were apparently giving him the star treatment for rescuing her, serving breakfast in bed was a rather uncommon practice, but one which he accepted as he sat up and began to eat silently.

The silence didn't last, however, as Ayumi broke it, "Um... th... thank you again... um..." her voice trailed off as though expecting a response from him, most likely a name. Taken, however, didn't seem to care much about what she was expecting, and continued to eat in silence until she blushed a bit, believing he had merely not caught her hint. "Um... I forgot to ask your name..."

"Nanashi Taken," he answered simply as he continued to eat.

(note: I don't speak japanese and don't know what all the -chans and what have you at the end of names mean... as such, I'll be using english, instead... like 'sir' until someone explains all the suffixes to me.)

"O...oh... um... I'm Ayumi, Sir Taken... and... I'm very glad to have met you," the girl stammered, obviously a bit nervous in his presence, for some reason. Most likely she was a bit star struck, despite his being anything but a star. He was, however, a hero, at least to her.

Taken, however, took little notice of her until his meal was finished. "I thank you and your family for your hospitality, Ayumi, but I now need to go into the wilderness for the day."

Ayumi's face reddened a bit at his thanks and she nodded as she took his dishes away for him.

After Ayumi had left the room, Taken stood and went out to the stream to practice his kenjitsu for the day, yet again, although his training was hindered--albeit only slightly--by the need to favor the closing wound on his off arm.

As the sun went down, he bathed once more, and made his way back to Ayumi's house, where he was greeted by her father at the door.

"Thank you again for saving my daughter. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't saved her," he stated, rather emotionally, which was a bit of an oddity considering that she was his daughter and not a son.

Taken, however, merely nodded at the man's thanks and said, "It was nothing... but now I am tired... if I may?"

Ayumi's father bowed slightly and moved aside for Taken. "Of course, I am sorry to keep you awake."

Taken nodded and walked past without another word, to go to the bed chambers.

Day 5-(I'm tired now, so this is going to be rather abbreviated) The sunlight woke Taken on the last day before the competition, and he stood up slowly and stretched before opening the door to the guest chambers and making his way to the dining area of the small home, where the rest of the family was waiting. They quickly made a space for him, and the meal was served, with Ayumi and her family attempting to speak with Taken, her mother especially seemed desperate to express her gratitude toward him further. Taken, however, merely answered in short and quick sentences, obviously not wishing to speak.

Once the meal was over, and he had disengaged himself from the family, he returned to the guest chambers and began to meditate, clearing away any distractions, worries, and as much arrogance as he could before the day of the tournament arrived.

After a few hours, however, he was interrupted for lunch, and spent the meal with Ayumi's family again, but, after lunch he found that some errands needed to be run, and so he volunteered to go. There was a short arguement against his doing anything more for the family, but he insisted and spent most of the rest of the day buying the family's groceries for them, as well as a few other errands about the city before returning and retiring to the guest chambers to meditate and sleep for the rest of the night.

Day 2: Raiden and his men stood in a ring in the street. They wore only hakama, and carried boken. Raiden stepped into the circle wielding his two Boken. The gaurds stood in a ring around him in fighting stances. Raiden stood in a defensive stance.

The first gaurd charged and Raiden ducked to the side. (Gaurd is a rank 3 mirumoto bushi with a 3 in all his rings and a 3 in kenjutsu. Raiden is in full defense. The first attack missed completely due to all the rolls were under 5 (Reflexes plus defense) He bowed as the sword came to strike him in the neck. (9+6 = 15)

(Initiative g: 7 R:17 Normal attack. TN 20 19;7;7;7;3;2;1;1 19+7+7=33 hit)
Raiden struck with his Boken. The Boken struck the gaurd in the shoulder. The gaurd however struck Raiden in the abdomen with both his boken. Raiden gritted his teeth and dropped to his knees from the pain (18 points of damage -4 damage rank)

"That's enough" Agasha Yama said.

"Your Kenjutsu has improved Raiden-sama" The gaurd said as he helped Raiden to his feet.

Yama came over and read from one of his magic scrolls. Raiden felt healing energy infuse his being and he felt much better.

"Your skills are good, but I'm not sure if you will be able to compete."

"I will do my best Agasha-sama."

"I'm sure you will Raiden-san."


Day 3: Again raiden stood in the circle. Unlike yesterday his abdomen was bandaged and bruised. It was sore but Raiden could live.(Full defense.) Again he dodged both of the swordsmen's attacks. The gaurd attacked again and Raiden deflected the boken attacks with his boken. As long as Raiden didn't bother to attack the gaurd couldn't land a blow. Raiden dodged and deflected every attack towards him. Raiden struck the gaurd in the shoulder fairly hard. The Gaurd however was in no position to strike with one of his swords the other was deflected by Raiden's Boken and pointed into the sand.

Day 1: Izumi consulted for most of the day with the rest of her clan about the situation at hand. Such an accusation could not go unpunished. The Daimyo had entrusted Izumi with the task of rectifying the situation.

Day 2: Izumi spent the day thinking up a suitable course of actions, however it did not help her that Koji chose that particular day to be in her face 24/7. "Hmmm...Mirumoto-san is the key. He hates Sastume as much as I do, so with a little persuation I'm sure he'll help me." "Izumi no! You know this is wrong and I will not allow you to do this." "You can't do anything dear brother, or have you forgotten that your soul has left the mortal relm for some time now? You are a ghost, and unfortunately one who has chosen to be a thorn in my side. You cannot and will not do anything." Koji remained silent for most of the remaining day, he only hovered around Izumi at times.

Day 3: Izumi wrote a very elegant note to Raiden (calligraphy skill) stating that she wished to meet with him on the fourth day to discuss the events that had transpired during the dinner with the Empress. She then sent it to him via her personal messenger to his camp.

Day 4: Izumi awaits Raiden at a fancy eatery right in the middle of neutral territory.

Day 4: Raiden dressed in nondescript white kimono and a black hakama. he wore a green silk belt and wore his daisho at his hip. He weant to the tea house as asked. He took no gaurds. No one knew where he was going. He entered and the serving girl bowed to him. They took him to the appropriate room.

Day 3:

Asukane awoke early the next day (an hour before sun-up actually) after visiting the gardens and having a new mask made for himself. He ate a small breakfast of rice-cakes, went to his room and told the servant outside the door to not let anyone disturb him until lunch-time. By that time, the sun was beginning to rise, and he began to practice the spells in his scroll pouch. He practiced Sense for 1 hour, then Commune for 1 hour, and Summon for another hour. It was about that time (8-9ish) when he decided to take a break. He went down into the garden and as he was admiring a small white rose, Jansa somehow caused him to fall on his face. He was trying to get back up when he felt a burning sensation on his back. Knowing what to do, as he had been through this before, he quickly rolled over on the ground trying to put out his cloak.
“Jansa, you had better stop doing that!”
“Nah, it’s waaay too fun!” Jansa then floated up and killed the flour that Asukane was admiring and disappeared.
Asukane went back to his room after that embarrassing incident and locked himself away again. He practiced Earthquake for 3 hours and took another break. Just as he was about to leave, the servant knocked and announced lunch to be served. Asukane went down to the dinning room and sat at the table. The enclave was almost all there, with the exception of Yasuki Daimio, who was out negotiating for more Jade for the Crab. They had some light lunch conversation, nothing very important came up, just the weather, the tournament, the Dinner, and a certain person’s allergic reaction. After lunch, they all returned to what they were doing. Asukane went back to his room and started meditating. When the servant came in to announce dinner, he was a little startled at the amount of time had passed.

Day 1: Yoshi spent four hours inside the local library, reading up on history, literature, mathematical theories, science, and other stuff you find in library.

Afterwards, Yoshi went and filled himself up with a large lunch. Once he was full, he went to a good place to cast spells, and spent four hours practicing Fire of Purity. He would memorize his scroll, then set things on fire. After those four hours, Yoshi spent an hour shooting fireballs, but was soon tired.

Departing from his spell casting place, Yoshi went back to the library and borrowed a couple of books. After which he met up with the other Pheonix clan members and ate dinner. They talked about the events at the castle while they dined, then they meditated for an hour (If you can practice a spell while meditating, Yoshi did that).

Once the meditation was done, Yoshi went to his room and fell asleep while reading after an hour.

Day 2: After a healthy breakfast, Yoshi was unfortunately attacked by a horde of pigeons. After four hours of swatting and beating the birds away with a stick, Yoshi was tired and hungry. Quickly eating a filling snack, Yoshi took a two hour nap.

Once he awoke, Yoshi was attacked by more pigeons out for revenge. These pigeons only took an hour to beat away.

After the pigeons had been defeated, Yoshi went back to his spell casting place to practice Fire of Purity for four hours. Later, Yoshi spent two hours practicing Quiescence of Air.

Yoshi once again dined with his fellow Pheonixs, which after words they meditated. And just like last night, Yoshi fell asleep after reading for an hour.

Seeing Raiden approach her table, Izumi got up and bowed to him respectfully. "Mirumoto-san, I hope that this day finds you well." She motioned him to sit down and poured him some tea. "I assume you know why I called you here to meet, so I will get to the point. I wish to know your position on the accusation that Satsume made towards my clan."

"Distant thunder signifies present danger." Raiden said as he lifted the cup. He smelled the tea savoring the fragerence then taking a tiny sip. He placed the cup back down.

"I see." Izumi sipped at her tea daintily. "Well then I may have a proposition for you. I have been noting that you and Satsume do not get along. He and I also have a hatred for each other. Perhaps it will be in our best interests to collaborate our efforts to defeat him?"