Scroll One: Kyōen no Torekkā

[Muskrat]

Ryoko tries for a reassuring voice, but under the stress it comes out a commanding one. Still, she tells the cook, "Fear not. I will do my best to help you and keep from drowning." She lifts up one of the boards and hands it to the cook. "Hang onto this. The wood should help you float." She surveys the situation and shakes her head. "I think the best thing to do is to leap into the water before the roof collapses--that way, we have some small measure of control. Once we're in the water, I'll swim with you and try to help you stay afloat." She suspects her words could be more reassuring, but she does not want to make promises she can not keep, even to a heimin. That would be dishonorable and insulting. She grips the man by the arm and says, "Are you ready? Then 1-2-3-jump!"

She jumps in the water, hoping the heimin will have the courage to follow her lead. Once in the water, she tries to make sure he has a secure grip on the board, then holds onto it with one hand herself. "Kick with your legs!" she calls to the heimin. "That will help you move forward." She does her best to guide both herself and the cook through the turbulent water, swimming to join the others, while looking for a safe place they might land.

Action

I'm not sure which skills applies to persuading the cook. Sincerity? 3k2
To jump and swim, Athletics: 5k2

[ManWithDoor]

The courtier wishes futilely that he had been brought up as a priest, to make offerings and intercessions with Lord Moon to show mercy, and withdraw the waters of his wrath. From his understanding of ancient history he is not a particularly merciful being, having eaten his children. If he would do so to his own children, what chance does a simple mortal have of being given reprieve? Regardless, he has nothing else. So while he wishes the past were different, in the present he prays to Lord Moon, hoping that it will matter in some small way.

OOC

Obviously if Ryoko and the peasant happen to float in my direction, would try to help them out of the water and onto my own hopefully secure ground.

[Orvost]

Shonogen is about to dive into the water and retrieve the child, but stops and thinks better of it. The child was obviously dead, and Shonogen didn't want to be dragging a corps through the water. At this point, all the floodwaters were a veritable soup of dead flesh. As he hesitates, Shonogen sees Ryoko dive into the water from the inn. When he left the inn, the current had carried him to where he was now. Purhaps she would want to join him in the tree.

[Vardaen]

Roll

Ryoko

Sincerity Sure
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Rolled: 3K2
7, 3, 2
Totaling: 10
Adding 0 = 10 TN 15 Fail

Athletics
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Rolled: 5K2
14, 9, 6, 4, 2
Totaling: 23
Adding 0 = 23 TN 20 Success

Ryoko tries to talk the man into jumping into the water, but he isn't so sure, and in the end when Ryoko counts to 3 and jumps from the 'safety' of the roof into the turbulent water the man does not come with her. The moment she hits the water she regrets it. Its freezing cold, and the current is far stronger than it looks from the surface. The heimin nearly is pulled in and nearly causes Ryoko to fall flat into the water, but she let's go just in time. In the water there is no turning back, the cook will have to hope for the best atop the crumbling roof, maybe with just his weight only it will hold up. She has to forget that now as she's swept away. With effort, luck, and skill she swims her way to join Jun and Kyousuke atop a much smaller, but more stable roof. Kyousuke reaches out and grabs hold of Ryoko as she nears, helping her up onto the roof.

GM

So from here, we can... wait it out, or you can actively attempt to go find people that need help. Granted it will be VERY difficult, the water is cold so the longer you are in the more Endurance tests I'm going to make you make, plus the water is hard to navigate, etc.

Please make one post, do you hold tight and wait for the water to recede, or do you try and go looking for others to help? If we are waiting, I don't want to make a 879 posts about sitting around shivering in the dark

[Muskrat]

"Thank you, Doji-san," says Ryoko as he helps her out of the water. She drops onto the roof and surveys the scene, trying to see what happened to the poor cook. Part of her wants to go back into the water and help people, but the wiser part of her decides that would be foolhardy. Besides, Kirino-sama with his dying words had given her an important duty to carry out and she could not do that if she drowned.

She says to the others with her, "I think in this situation, each must decide what the honorable thing to do is. But I have been charged with certain tasks by my master and I cannot carry them out if I drown. And I think we may all do more good if we wait for the waters to recede. We do not even know if any of the samurai who govern this town survived. It may fall on us to bring order among the panicked heimin after the waters recede."

Ryoko briefly had the thought that such a situation would make her job considerably easier; horrified, she pushed it out of her mind.

[Orvost]

Shonogen sees that the water carried Ryoko to the safety of a small building. He starts looking for others who may need help. Specifically, he looks for people being swept past his location. He is willing to reach out to grasp someone floating by, but he isn't going to put himself at the mercy of the surging current again if he can help it.

The screams of the dying are difficult to listen to, but not everyone who pleads for help can be saved. That is something Shonogen appreciates instinctively as a Hiruma.

[ManWithDoor]

Doji Kyousuke nods in agreement with Ryoko. "I have duties to my Clan and Family. ... the Estate we dined at was located on prime land, flat and gentle with the best view of the beauty of nature. It is likely little more than mud and debris now. I cannot save those who are already dead, nor can I serve if I have returned to the realm of my ancestors." He is clearly conflicted, but working on accepting this reality. "I will wait as well. We may end up the most highly ranked survivors once the waters recede. We will need to live up to the expectations made by our forebears, our Lords, and the Kami themselves. May we be not found wanting in their sight."

[Graven]

Jun watches the waters for a moment, listening to the swirl of the sea that now surrounds him. Then he looks to the others with him, "We should keep watch, in case anyone passes within reach. One should stay alert while the others rest." At that point, he seems to remember that he is a guest in these lands, "If the Doji think it wise," he says in a quieter tone.

[ManWithDoor]

In the chaos and destruction the social niceties or rank, formal address, and the usual avoidance of direct physical contact have been washed away as effectively as the town has been. The reminder is somewhat jarring, and the courtier blinks in surprise. "Oh, of course Jun-san. A wise course of action." He pauses to look out over the flood waters and the other few survivors clinging to trees and buildings. "In times of peril we must remember that we are all Rokugani, all servants of the Emperor and the Celestial Heavens. In the worst times of history the Clans united against a common foe, whether ones of darkness or chaos."

"I pray that this is one of those times. If this tsunami was widespread, not just the Crane have been devastated. The Crab and Phoenix have extensive coastal holdings as well. The Islands of Silk and Spice ... may no longer exist. We will all need to work together, as individuals as well as Clans, to salvage, mourn, and rebuild."

[Hermit]

Having taken stock of the wreckage tangled among the branches, Gensai slowly retreats from his precarious perch to rejoin Takashi and Kanko-Cho with the inkling of an idea slowly taking shape within his mind, pausing only once midway in his withdrawal to note the morbid passage of a lone white crane as its lifeless body bobbed swiftly along racing currents, feathers glistening wetly with a lurid iridescence beneath the cold and spiteful gaze of Lord Moon.

"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 is starting to drain warmth from her body, so she tries to keep herself busy with things she can do.

Sensing an opportunity to share the plan currently formulating in his head, the shugyōsha fixes his erstwhile companions with a sincere look. “I am humbled by such selfless compassion, Asahina-sama… but I cannot accept it, not yet at least.”

Grimacing at the cries of distress from those less fortunate than them, Gensai pauses to breathe deeply and empty his mind of its weariness and troubled thoughts. “I have a plan, one that I pray may yet save at least one more soul from this dire calamity, should the Fortunes so will it.” Waiting until he is certain that he has the full attention of both Kanko-Cho and Takashi, Gensai then proceeds to elaborate on his plan.

OOC

So in the interest of getting straight to the point without getting bogged down going over all of the details in character, the plan that Gensai wishes to enact is simply to use all the flotsam and jetsam that's currently washed up in the tree that he, Kanko-Cho and Takashi are sitting in and attempt to fashion a makeshift flotation device for the purpose of rescuing anybody that's still trapped in the tsunami's current and bringing up into the tree itself if they can.

The flotation device itself will primarily consist of the boat half, which will be moored to the tree by a length of rope in order to ensure it doesn't simply float away the moment it's lowered into the rushing floodwaters below. There may be other minor additions made in order to increase the overall effectiveness of the device, but I imagine that will be entirely dependent on how successful the skill roll is.

Having discussed this plan ahead of time with Vardaen, we agreed that in order to create this giant life buoy, an Engineering skill roll will need to be made. Gensai does not possess any ranks in this skill, although I do have a Void Point left that I will spend in order to temporarily increase my rank and avoid any penalties that would apply to an Unskilled Roll.

Additionally, I believe that a Cooperative Roll would help bolster our chances of success. I'm going to assume however that Kanko-Cho and Takashi are similarly Unskilled and would also have to spend a Void Point as well in order to contribute (provided they have any left to spend, let alone willing to offer their assistance of course) to this undertaking.

”Will you help me in this endeavor? I know that what I am asking of the both of you is no small thing, but I believe that like the Seven who came to this village’s aid so long ago, so too can we rescue those that have yet to find refuge from this storm if we band together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation. So, what say you?”