L5R Storytime thread: A Rolling Stonewall Gathers No Moss Editiion

Last thread can be found here
Don't want to spoil the incoming finale, but we're down to the last few arcs now. Expect Shoji to rear his ugly head again before all is said and done.

>Monkey was sullen on the trip back
>I was pretty sure I knew why, too.
>There were children in that village.
>We only found three in the aftermath.
>With nothing else to do with them, we gave the children over to the nearest monestary, once we had checked them for taint.
>He had protested at even going that far.
>Seeing an innocent caught up in something so ugly, through no fault of their own, had shaken him.
>Though I had thought the brutal reality of war with the Shadowlands had hardened me to such things, I found I didn't much like it either.
>Naomi's gentle influence, no doubt.
>Sake wasn't a good choice here.
>Drinking when you want to forget is sometimes a bad idea. You remember when you wake up. So you drink more.
>Until you disgrace yourself.
>Or the Scorpion comes to your house
>So I needed to get his mind off it first.
>Monkey.
>He ignroed me and continued to brood.
>So I kicked him
>He spun around, nostrils flared, and shouted
>WHAT!
>How's your kid doing?
>Hu- what?
>Your kid? Tokichiro, wasn't it?
>Yeah... he's fine.
>Fine? That's it?
>He can count to 6 now. Always forgets 7 and 8...
>He's about the same age as Tetsute, yeah?
>yeah...
>Look, it's already fall. I'm sure Naomi will send everyone home for winter.
>you'll have some time with him soon.
>What about Toshiro, don't we work for both of them?
>Toshiro spoke up.
>Well, I have to look at my own ugly face every day to put on my face paint, so seeing YOUR ugly face the rest of the day is kind of wearing on me...
>So unless something just falls into our laps soon, I'd say you're going to have some time off.
>I grinned, then nudged Monkey in the ribs.
>Hey, maybe you should try for a daughter next?
>He blushed
>We made it back to my place without incident
>Naomi had recoverd more, and was moving around without the cane.
>She still needed to grab an afternoon nap though.
>Tsuyosa, as well, was doing better. He was getting just a touch of color to him and putting on weight.

>Expect Shoji to rear his ugly head again

on the one hand, like everybody else, i hate that guy

on the other hand, it implies more of Crab at Court shenanigans, which were some of the most entertaining parts of the last encounter with Shoji

shouldn't take too long for me to reach my own end, will try to make haste so that I won't have to set up new threads myself

>Between her fatigue and his determination gorge himself in order to get to a healthy weight things got awkard on occasion.
>By that I mean I often had to sit behind Naomi and hold Tsuyosa for her.
>Once she drifted off to sleep mid feeding.
>Naomi was terribly embarrassed by that when she woke up, despite my assurances it was no big deal.
>With Naomi still needing time to rest and nothing terribly pressing we did indeed split up early for the winter, everyone heading to their homes.
>Shino puttered about here and there, overseeing the servants.
>He spoke to me a few times about how things were going
>But after he saw how quickly my eyes glazed over once he got to actual numbers he simplified it down to a "Things are going well"
>Toshiro made sure there was enough medicine and medicinal incense before heading back to his own home in the wastes.
>Got to check on the flow of the Kami. The land isn't going to fix itself.
>The Kuni wastes had lain fallow for centuries. I wondered if the land would truly be able to recover from the drastic measures taken to purge that taint from it.
>In mid-autumn I recived a visit from Kojiro-Sensei
>I was a bit surpised. I didn't think I would be ready so soon.
>But Sensei took me out back and we fought, and he declared I was.
>I was loathe to leave my family in their current state.
>But Naomi shooed me away, insisting I do as Sensei wished
>And so I learned the last technique taught to the Defenders of the Wall.
>THe last technique began with the kata of the Indomitable Warrior.
>It expanded quickly from there.
>Kojiro-sensei told me what I was learning was related to the final technique of the Hida ryu, The Mountain does not Fall.
>Did you know, Ishigaki-san? Stories of your battles with the bloodspeaker cult are spreading throughout the Clan,
>Maho causes great pain, it debilitates with ease. With this technique you will be ready to cast off those effects.
>I do not want you to die on me now, Ishigaki-san.

That last line is how all Crab expess affection.

>and he declared I was
was what?

Previous line, silly.

>I continued to perform the kata, as sensei had shown me, while he spoke
>I did not respond, knowing he was testing my concentration.
>After all, I intend for you to teach at this dojo in a few decades.
>I slipped up and he whacked me with his tetsubo
>Despite the fact that I have to beat you a bit harder than most students to get my lessons in, you do apply them very well indeed.
>Of course you're still quite young. How old are you, anyway?
>26, sensei.
>Hrm yes. Got a bit of a late start on the family.
>I knew my wife for four years before I realized I loved her, Sensei.
>Ooooh?
>I could tell he was genuinely curious.
>I was called upon to serve as an Emerald Magistrate, and was placed in a group of young recruited alongside her.
>I was older then the rest.
>Sensei nodded.
>Younger Crabs are much more hot headed, after a few seasons they stop trying to flex at everything that moves.
>Just as you say, Sensei.
>We had many tasks back then. They seemed difficult, but were really quite straightforward.
>Find the murderer, collect the testimony
>Hunt down the bandits
>Attend court and avoid compromising your loyalty to the Emperor
>There was an opium smuggling ring...once.
>And then you made a mistake.
>...yes.
>I had began to wonder though.
>Toshiro had said that the ritual to pass the taint into the earth the Fakoji had intended to use was based upon another maho spell.
>There were, in fact, several ways one could spread the taint to an unknowing victim with maho.
>It made me wonder if Tsabutai-sama had indeed been a maho-tuskai, or just a victim of THEM.
>Since I still suspected Hohiro, I could not shake that thought.
>If I was right, then the deaths of Tsabutai's family was also upon his head.
>I redoubled my efforts, going through one kata and transitioning into the next, building up to the full technuique bit by bit.
>I did them slowly. So slowly my muscles burned with agony.
>I pushed it aside, seeking Mushin no Shin

>Tsabutai
Remind me. Tsabutai was their senior Emerald Herald who turned out to be tainted?

Yes, the guy who went wtf right before being killed and having maggots poured out of his organs