Scroll One: Kyōen no Torekkā

[Muskrat]

Ryoko takes in the devastation all around her. She has to grit her teeth not to shame herself by looking away. A samurai should be able to deal with all manner of death and destruction. Inside, she wanted to weep with fury at the pointless death of Kirino-sama, but that would dishonor his memory. She needed to carry on his work, not shame his memory with weakness. Ryoko's mind latched onto the idea of finishing Kirino-sama's mission. It gave her something definite to think about in all this destruction and chaos, something to shut out the emotions of fear and grief. As she surveyed the waters, she noticed two of the young crane she had met, Doji Kyousuke and Asahina Kanko-Cho, had survived, as well as the ronin Gensai. Maybe she could approach them for help, Doji Kyousuke and Asahina Kanko-Cho for the sake of the Crane Clan, the ronin Gensai because he seemed like an honorable man for one in his lot and he might be grateful for honorable work. It would be a gamble, but Ryoko needed allies and she was at a loss at where else to begin.

[Sasori]

The Shugneja catches her breath, when the small group arrives safely at the tree branches.
"Domo arigatou gozaimasu", says Kanko-Cho to the ronin, thanking him, for his help.
She now takes her time to take in the surrounding area, looking at the destruction the wave created.
The young Shugenja suddenly thinks of her sensei and turns her face in the rough direction where the shrine should be, searching for the lights of the building.
"Please don't tell me, that the shrine is destroyed", she whispers under her breath, with fear barely hidden from her face.
It looks like it takes her a lot of willpower to direct her eyes away from the dark place and back to the closer problems at hand.
The pain from her wounds kicks inn.

[ManWithDoor]

The courtier would normally have disdained standing so close to someone not of his family, but circumstances being as they are it doesn't even cross his mind. He would be hugging the man if needed to live this day. He sees others in the area clinging to trees and the like. After he catches his breath and can stand up straight, he waves to anyone else he can see. He doesn't expect to actually be able to communicate in any meaningful way, just acknowledging the living in this land of the freshly slain.

[Muskrat]

Seeing Doji Kyousuke wave, Ryoko lifts her hand and waves in return, though it is rather half-hearted. Kirino-sama was dead, as were many others. And the whole town was devastated. She found herself looking north, then south, wondering how far up and down the coast the devastation extended. She shook her head--word would eventually reach them and she could only deal with the problems here before her. Best to focus just on that and not try to wrap her mind around the bigger picture. The devastation here was hard enough to look at, never mind imagining what might have happened elsewhere. She would remain here to help them rebuild--and to try to root out the corruption that had taken hold. She begin trying to draw up plans in her head to distract her from the destruction in front of her, but with little success.

[Orvost]

Shonogen looks around and sees many familiar faces. Faces he came to know in the past few days under different circumstances.

He sees the plain-dressed Crane Samurai-ko with the beautiful singing voice. She was standing where he wanted to be—on the roof of the sturdy inn. Only the inn was not as sturdy as he had thought. The roof was collapsing. Shonogen thinks he hears her singing her sad song over the roar of the water and wonders what happened to that flute he had been playing.

He sees the big Ronin and two companions floating by on wood rafts. The ronin was skilled at carving wood. He made a little statue of Shinsei out of wood. Maybe the Ronin had carved the little boats they were floating on.

He sees a broken branch from a pear tree floating by, still laden with fruit. He wonders about the precocious crane child who put a gleam of pride in his father’s eye.

With the inn’s roof collapsing, he no longer wanted to ride out the flood up there. Although Ryoko maybe needed help. Or wanted company.

He could try to get to the copse of trees with the ronin and the priestess, but he wasn’t sure if the current would carry him there since, it seemed, the water kami had steered them at the shugenja’s command.

For now, he catches his breath and stays where he is.

[Muskrat]

OOC

Oops, completely missed that bit about the inn's roof collapsing.

Ryoko has been so absorbed in her thoughts that she has failed to realize what is going on around her--the roof of the inn is collapsing. She mentally kicks herself, then turns to the cook. "Heimin, we must abandon this place before it collapses completely. Can you swim? If not, we will have to find a piece of wood for you to cling to?"

OOC

Are there rules about samurai touching or not touching heimin to avoid being polluted? Or could Ryoko physically help the cook without dishonoring herself?

Also, what is the roof made of? Are there broken boards we can easily grab hold of to help us swim?

[Graven]

Jun looks around, the dark obscuring most of the devastation that must exist. He shivers slightly, wet robes sticking to him. He sees and hears some others, and waves to indicate that he is generally well, but he's already looking for more stable ground or his cousin.

[Hermit]

Gensai nods tacitly in response to Kanko-Cho’s words of gratitude after aiding Takashi in pulling the sodden and bedraggled priestess up into the relative safety of the grove’s sturdy boughs, then returns to gripping the slippery bark of his own branch once he is certain that she is in no immediate danger of falling into the abyssal flood waters below.

Taking advantage of the temporary respite afforded by their current haven, Gensai carefully inches further along the gnarled arm, the sensation of the rough bark against his clammy splinter-ridden hands eliciting a wince every now and then. All the while a steady stream of prayers to the kami inhabiting this tree are muttered under the rōnin’s breath in the hope that the limb doesn’t suddenly snap under his considerable weight.

Eventually managing to reach a thick portion of his branch with a better vantage, Gensai’s gaze sweeps across what had once been a lively and prosperous village a mere handful of hours ago, now reduced to a sunken cemetery in a matter of seconds. Despite the harrowing reality Gensai finds himself currently facing or perhaps because of it, an overwhelming sense of relief washes over him upon discovering others outside of his own band have found their own ports in this violent storm, several of whom the vagabond almost immediately recognizes as fellow guests of the party held earlier this evening at the Magistrate’s estate.

He sees others in the area clinging to trees and the like. After he catches his breath and can stand up straight, he waves to anyone else he can see. He doesn't expect to actually be able to communicate in any meaningful way, just acknowledging the living in this land of the freshly slain.

Briefly freeing up a hand, Gensai sweeps his arm from side to side in a wide arc in a gesture of recognition, knowing that to try and shout over the clamorous roar of the waves beneath them at such a considerable distance is a futile endeavor. Turning his attention below, the shugyōsha can barely make out a handful of people struggling with just keeping their heads above the surface of the unremitting tides amid the ghastly multitude of drowned corpses.

Unwilling to sit idly by and watch this grim spectacle end in tragedy, Gensai eyes his immediate surroundings for anything that might aid in rescuing those still deprived of shelter from the Tsunami.

Action

I would like to try and perform an Investigation check to try and see if Gensai can spot anything that might've perhaps gotten displaced by the Tsunami up into the trees (i.e. rope).

Investigation (Perception) 3k2

[Sasori]

Kanko-Cho sits down on the branch, she is feeling tired and exhausted. The young Shugenja managed to check her body for injuries and realized that she has a lot of bruises, hurtful ones. If they survive this, she might have troubles performing her duty due to the pain, but so far nothing is broken so far.
"I wonder what agitated the kami of the sea in such a way", she murmurs to her self.

She takes a ribbon from somewhere under her Kimono, maybe one of the many which are supposed to hold everything in place, and uses it to bind her hair, to keep it out of her face. Simple, but easily made and practical. Her mother would be disappointed.

"Doji Takashi-san, Gensai-san, are the both of you hurt? If you are bleeding or can't feel your arm or leg, please tell me now. The sooner we take care of that, the more likely we will survive all this", says the young Asahina with a trembling voice.
The drowned kimono are starting to drain warmth from her body, so she tries to keep herself busy with things she can do.

Action

If Kanko-Cho notices some obvious injury or someone tells her about an injury which need imediate attention, she would use her medicine skills and, if necesarry ripping off parts of her juban (undergarment kimono) to use them as bandages.

Medicine 4k3

[Vardaen]

OOC

Dreams - You can touch peasants, no one would fault you now that's for certain.

GEnsai: Rolled: 3K2
8, 8, 5
Totaling: 16
Adding 0 = 16 = There is all sorts of debris around, boards, farm tools, some rope, half a boat from the beach, plants from the docks, ripped up fishing nets.

I'm back sorry for the long delay

It is weeks it seems since you secured your place among the chaos. The roof of the inn is cracking and breaking under the strain. Ryoko asks the peasant if he can swim and he shakes his head to the negative, "No! No I can not samurai-sama!" Even in this danger he tries and remember his decorum. There are boards, pieces of the chimney, and such that Ryoko might break up and use to help float on, if its enough for the cook you can only guess at.

The others are where they are. You dare no move, not now, not in what safety you have managed. You see death around you, as your eyes become accustomed to Lord Moon's gaze you start to pick out bodies floating in the water. Many are stuck among trees, or tangled up in nets, or bumped up against rooftops. Some are caught in whirlpools and spin and spin along with other debris. Kanko-Cho thinks she sees a flock of paper cranes float by, perhaps from the magistrate's origami collection. Shonogen sees a small figure, a child, dead, could it be the young boy Ichiro from the garden? Gensai notices the body of a white crane among the flood, even those that could fly failed to escape the dangerous: though he must guess that most of the cranes managed to escape into the air when the wave hit.

You just hold on, and pray. The excessive noise of the impact and first wave is starting to lessen, and you think you hear cries for help now. Yes indeed there are many cries for help that ring out in various parts of the town.