>>9147601
A few reach their horses and head for the hills, with me chasing after them. I take them out, one after the other, until one of them leaps over a low stone wall. Now, at character creation, I took the Bad Fortune disadvantage, and rolled the result that means I will automatically fail one roll at any point. Guess which roll?

So, my horse manages to run straight into the wall, both of us go down, and the ronin flees, leading to my current conundrum. How does a Unicorn horse whispering prodigy on the greatest horse ever born explain being outrun by some two-bit ronin on a workhorse in a way that doesn't involve being demoted to mocking stables or seppuku? Bad fortune screams "I am cursed" and claiming it was a mistake would shame both me and my family.

To make matters worse, I might have been able to get a few shots off before the ronin got away, but my unnatural fixation with horses meant I spent those precious seconds making sure my super-special horsie wasn't too badly hurt.

Either get someone else to cover for your mistake, or take it like a samurai. Subordinates make excellent scapegoats, especially if you can blame them for doing a shoddy job prepping your horse.

Break your bow in half.

Say that it snapped while you were lining up a shot. Put all the blame on the craftsman.

He'll probably be executed, but you'll still have your honor.

On the other hand, since you can talk to animals, why not just have the ravens pluck out his eyeballs and let hims starve to death?

>>9147601
>>9147630
>How does a Unicorn horse whispering prodigy on the greatest horse ever born explain being outrun by some two-bit ronin on a workhorse in a way that doesn't involve being demoted to mocking stables or seppuku?
Ronin? What ronin?

Or...IT WAS A TRAP!
And then you killed damn near all of them. Some may have escaped while you were slaughtering their honorless comrades.

Or something like that. I don't know. Never played L5R though I'd like to.

>>9147680
Not "talk" as much as somewhat sense what they are feeling and they don't register me as a threat. Essentially, I'm one of them as far as they are concerned. Besides, even if I could do that, it's not like there are a hundred ravens just hanging around in every field in Rokugan.

Lie....Lie lie lie. Make sure the blame falls on someone else or manufacture another reason.

>>9147680
>He'll probably be executed, but you'll still have your honor.
Lying gives you an honor penalty, dude.

You have a Mantis. They lie. Now, if you ask him to lie for you, you'll still be taking that hit to your Honor. But since he was trying to benefit from your good name, he'll probably cover for you without you asking. Since you appear to have reached a somewhat high level of renown, he should make for a great witness and make all this go away. If he doesn't, he fails at being a sneaky pirate bastard.

>>9147680

Say it broke in your hands. This is technically true and hence not Honor loss.

>>9147768
Still qualifies as "deliberately deceiving another".

Blame the whole thing on demons. Failing that, go with >>9147696 and say it was a trap designed to steal the super-horse from you.

>>9147630

This will be hard for your character but.. blame the horse.

You commanded the horse to jump and it didn't. That's why the ronin got away. The daimyo who gave you it will be spurned, of course, but I have a way around that.

Give the horse seppuku. It was such a great and noble beast that you treat it like a samurai and let it die in honor for its failure. Since it has no thumbs of its own, you do the deed. The shame goes on the horse-samurai, who is dead, and you also have complimented your daimyo for the horse by elevating it.

>>9147673
This, pretty much. If you want that sweet honor, you tell the truth and take the glory loss. If you want to keep your glory, you lie and you take the honor loss. You might want to keep quiet about the last part no matter which one you pick, though.

IT WAS THE PEASANTS FAULT

>>9147810
>Horse seppuku

DO IT.

No being his second. Real men (and horses) do it on their own.

So the code of honor doesn't allow for freak accidents and what amounts to acts of God?

Fuck that, become a ronin yourself.

Well, obviously you could have killed the ronin in question with a well-placed bow shot. But you realized in a moment of sympathy that the workhorse upon which he rode had been abused by his former masters (signs of malnourishment, whipping, etc), but was showing signs of recovered health. CLEARLY the ronin had the tiniest fleck of gold in his money-grubbing heart, taking good care of this poor, heartstring-pulling case of animal abuse. Oh, and the workhorse was clearly a mare, and will be bearing children soon. That, too.

So obviously, you did the only thing you could to show your respect for this beautiful, sympathetic scene of the bonds between human and animal, crafting a suitable display by which they could escape to a better life of mutual friendship and happiness by sacrificing a bit of your own honor. Because that's what a decent person who loves animals would do, and that is EXACTLY how it happened.

Signed, your friendly, neighborhood Mantis.

>>9147848

Her Animal Ken might let her convince it to die, if it's particularly honorable but OP mentions it's kind of.. volatile. It might attack her.

In which case, that's all the more evidence for it being the cause of the failure.

If you don't want to kill the horse, have it become a horse-ronin. Then keep the horse around, since samurai can have ronin agents.

>>9147810
This is actually a good suggestion, which would technically be true since I did try to jump. But I don't know if I could kill the horse. Not only is my character one step short of committing bestiality with that horse, but I spent a lot of sessions on that sub-plot. That horse is my Holy Avenger.

Claim poor judgement over the environment in the area. True, as you had no idea you couldn't get over that wall, and the Ronin had home-field advantage. It was their superior knowledge of the terrain that let him get away.

>>9147810
>Horse seppuku
>>9147879
>Horse ronin
whatthefuckamireading.jpg

Did feudal Japan really work that way?

>>9147879
>If you don't want to kill the horse, have it become a horse-ronin.

I guess next is Incitatus the Horse Daimyo.

>>9147899

This is feudal Japan AND MAGIC. The horse might well be aware enough to qualify as sentient.

>>9147880

Then either make it a tearfully dramatic choice your character struggles with, or have her send the horse away as a horse-ronin.

With it's horse-armour and horse-swords of course.

>>9147879
Fuck yes! Horse-Ronin, travelling the land, righting wrongs, protecting the weak. Saving geishas from highwaymen and working as a yojimbo for the clergy.

My character is a member of the Sparrow Clan, and for some reason nobody wants to hear a story of my people.

>>9147904

I HAD toyed with the idea of creating a Lion family where the Daimyo was ACTUALLY A LION.

See, the Lion Clan sometimes field war lions. A particularly... eccentric Emperor is saved by one and so he rewards it with a title and lands. From that day forward, there was one castle in Lion territory where the Lions were the rulers.

>>9147923

Lone Horse and Calf?

>>9147916
Holy shit.

I'm actually going to have to kill the horse, aren't I?

>>9147899
Even modern Japan has a ghost of a beheaded samurai with an absurdly rich bank account.

A horse ronin is smalltime.

>>9147949

It seems the most solid option that doesn't involve compromising your honor.

>>9147932

All weilding a katana is his teeth.

Moving faster than any human swordsman because he has more legs than them.

>>9147928
Could work. After all, if the Son of Heaven commands it, who are his left hand to question his judgement?

blame the treacherous ronin and their treacherous allies' treachery and betrayal, blah blah blah scorpions, blah blah betrayal.

>>9147949
Yes. But not until after you have a duel to death with him. The horse will confess that he always loved you before perishing, leaving you a bitter and hollow woman.

>>9147974

HAH. That actually made me smile.

Is anyone else kind of reminded of that bit in Avatar: The Last Airbender where Aang is TRIPPING BALLS from sleep deprivation and hallucinates Appa and Momo samurai-duelling?

>>9147925
More like they wanted to hear about your people until they understood you literally meant you were going to tell them about each and every single individual in excruciating detail.

>>9147971

Crane are the Left Hand. Lion are the Right.

Scorpion the Under.

>>9147999
that was pretty awesome.
>>9147972
I always blame shit on the scorpions especially when i play one.

>>9148005
I blame my mistake on the Scorpions.

>>9147974
I'd watch it.

>>9147974
If I were actually allowed to do this, I totally would. Best death of an NPC ever.

And so began the tale of Uma Yojimbo, travelling the lands with feet of iron and blades of steel. His strong back carried many innocents to safety and his long, black hair was forever blowing in the wind.

>>9147974

>a bitter and hollow woman

A bitter and unfulfilled woman, you mean.
Unfulfilled with horsecock.

Seriously, claim tactical disadvantage due to terrain. The ronin had been around the area for a while, and lured you into a place you were unable to pursue from.

It's totally true. The terrain defeated you, not your enemy.

>>9148012
Once, long ago, Scorpion was walking on a sandy beach with his brother, Crab. "Ah Scorpion," said Crab, "you have tricked Lion, and you have tricked Crane, but you shall not best me. For I am safe withing my armored house, and not even your poison sting can reach me here." Scorpion eyed Crab's metal plating and nodded wisely. "That is true, my friend. But how sad for you that you are trapped in such an unwieldy prison." "What?" said Crab. "This is not a prison, it is my home." "Of course." smiled Scorpion. "And that is what everyone tells you. But, if it were not a prison, you would be able to take it off. I have heard that you were cursed, condemned to spend the rest of your life, carrying your own prison on your back." Crab said, "I can take it off whenever I want to!" Scorpion nodded sadly and said, "I'll be sure to tell everyone that." Crab stomped in the sand, "I can take off my shell whenever I want!" Scorpion said "Have you ever tried?" Crab stopped and took his house off his back and threw it to the ground. Scorpion smiled as they looked at each other. And Crab had nothing else to say.

>>9148128

A warrior admitting to being a failure as a warrior = Glory loss.

OP wants to avoid losing Glory and Honor as far as possible. Horse-seppuku is currently the strongest proposed option for that.

(No, I can't believe it either, but that's the way it is)

>>9148137

Once, long ago, the Horse walked with the Scorpion. The Scorpion tried his usual bullshit, but the Horse didn't have any of it and stepped on the little bug. While walking away, the Horse heard the Scorpion claim to have stung him five minutes ago and stomped the lying bug again.

UMA YOJIMBO, LONE HORSE AND CALF

>>9148095
>And so began the tale of Uma Yojimbo, travelling the lands with feet of iron and blades of steel. His strong back carried many innocents to safety and his long, black hair was forever blowing in the wind.

I don't normally say this, because it comes off as kind of silly, but... WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE DRAWFAGS WHEN YOU NEED THEM?

>>9148176

I know. Between Uma Yojimbo and Lone Horse and Calf, we've got a pretty awesome thing going -

-wait shit this is getting furry isnt it

This thread turned from serious discussion, to BAWWW, to fucking awesome!

Uma Yojimbo, fighting the fuck out of anything that moves! What's that? Horses can't be ronin? Fuck your shit, I've got a sword and everything!

>>9148176
maybe they're off HORSIN' around

>>9148164
oh god i laughed so hard.

Technically shouldn't it be Lone Horse and Foal?

>>9148164
And thus again, is the scorpion underestimated...

>>9148216

>Foal

Ah, I KNEW Calf sounded a little off for horse-young, but was too lazy to look it up.

Lone Horse and Foal.

>>9148216
or colt

>>9148242

STOMP

The people of /tg/ have spoken. Kill the samurai, play the horse.

>>9148252
>>9148216

Colt and Calf are phonetically closer to Cub and hence are a stronger pun.

Aha, I knew digging up a bit would pull off something... Tokugawa and their dogs..

>Tsunayoshi (1646-1709), the fifth Tokugawa shogun, is one of the most notorious figures in Japanese history. Viewed by many as a tyrant, his policies were deemed eccentric, extreme, and unorthodox. His Laws of Compassion, which made the maltreatment of dogs an offense punishable by death, earned him the nickname Dog Shogun, by which he is still popularly known today.

This dog armor is not his invention though.

Ok I am too curious for my own good, How would the process of Horse Seppuku even work anyways?

>>9148258
Suddenly ninja's. Hundreds of them

>>9148303

STOMP

>>9148292
Horse impales himself on sword. His second cuts off his head.

>>9148292

Well, I don't know if the samurai had a process of seppuku for those too frail to carry it out, but I would imagine you rig up a setting so that the horse can stab itself and then the PC acts as 'second' and decapitates it.

>>9148189
Ain't furry until they're anthropomorphized.

>>9148303
Ninja's what?

Oh that's right, you're a fucking idiot and used an apostrophe where it wasn't needed, you mindless underage B&. Go back to middle school, you uneducated white trash.

>>9148337

I think its far funnier to put a katana in the Horse's mouth then watch it try to stab itself.

>>9147630
You track those ronin down and kill them. Also smash the wall for tripping your horse.

OP, when you're done with your next session, tell us what you decided to do. This is actually a pretty interesting dilemna which is part of what makes L5R such fun.

>>9148370
and just being anthropomorphized does not make them furry...
Anthropomorphic "animals" were around in mythology long long before furry culture.

>>9148303

Ninjas are scum that do not belong in the Celestial Order, while the samurai is empowered by the blood of the ancients.

Horse-ancients.

So of course the horse wins. By force.

>>9148383
Uni actually, the point of language is to convey information, you understood what I meant, and thus what I typed served its purpose. I do realise that I used an apostrophe incorrectly, everyone makes mistakes from time to time.

>>9148441
I will. Next session is Thursday, so I guess I'll be in touch some time after that.

>horse ronin
I should be calling furry, but all I can think of is this.

>>9148519

HOWEVER

If you don't come back with an epic tale of noble a horse-warrior, we shall be disappoint, son.

>>9148579
I'm pretty sure the closest I will get is nobly beheading a giant motherfucker of a horse.

>>9148005

Are you saying Scorpion are the dick?

>>9148272
True, but Colt implies it's a little older, and calf implies cow, not horse.

>>9148506
See, but you got it wrong. One person can get it wrong, and then other people will continue to get it wrong, and then the entire point of language is entirely assfucked because a few chucklefucks with the collective intelligence of a moldy orange misused apostrophes and without language we'll all descend into anarchy and bloodshed.

>>9148176

HARMONY HARMONY OH LOVE

>>9148649
Well, they certainly are dicks, that's for sure.

>>9148675
I acknowledge that I made a mistake, but I also argue that because information was conveyed, my post served its purpose.

>>9148337
Ever watch Serenity?

>>9148930
That was the western notion of falling on your own sword. Seppuku is different and far more ritualistic.

>>9148617

Don't. Take the Glory hit.

Blame the terrain, performing a foolish act is a tiny Honor hit.

>>9148617

Would you do it yourself or get someone else to?

If you do it yourself, it's less likely to be a clean, one-hit kill (I'm assuming; your horse and archery emphasis makes me think you wont be so hot on the sword)

However, if you don't, the gesture of nobly giving your horse a warrior death might be dampened.

Holy shit, /tg/, I am unsure whether this is hilarious or tragic.

My penis is confused.

>>9149377

>I took the bad fortune disadvantage
Stopped reading there. You fucked up. So now you have to pay. Surrender your horse to the guy whose plan you fucked up. Get your own workhorse. The weakest nag ever. Now go track that motherfucker down.

>>9149358
I'm still a Unicorn bushi. Below-average kenjutsu, but decent enough strength and awesome agility. I figure the sawesome factor of killing my own ronin horse will give me the plot power to decapitate it properly.

>>9147630
You got off so easy, so very easy.
I would have waited til you were making a jump and then had your horse fall and break it's leg.

As far as how to explain it, if you are a real samurai, and I know unicorn have trouble with that, you'll tell the truth.
This is L5R, if you didn't want the risk of bad fortune utterly screwing you, you shouldn't have taken it. Also, if you can't accept character death, then you are in the wrong game.
Take your glory hit, accept your demotion, and quit bitching that the flaw you got extra character points for actually bit you in the ass.

I would avoid killing the horse, especially if it means as much to your character as it seems to.

"The life of a ronin is not worth as much as this horse." Blame the Ronin for the terrain, yourself for folly, and swear to hunt said ronin down and bring him to justice.

>>9149510

You have no idea how self flagellistic and tragic L5R is, do you?

Literally half the game is meant to be impossible social dilemnas put forward by your GM so that you have to choose between what your duty is and what you care about.

The other half is all stabbing dudes, though. Not gonna lie, that's pretty cool.

>>9149075

Agreed. Take the hit, the horse is FAR more useful, and you can always work that glory back up. I think. Dunno.

I don't know L5R

>>9149582
>Choose . . . duty

GET OUT OF HERE STALKER

>>9149582

That doesn't mean LOL U FAIL, it means "work out a creative solution".

>>9147598
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>>9149600

>I dunno L5R

Glory is basically a number that determines how you are percieved publically. A war hero, for instance, might be 8-10. Losing glory is done by performing shameful or unpopular acts, even if they are necessary.

Honor represents your personal, well, honor. A high number means your character is honest to the point of rigidity, a paragon of bushido. Losing it is usually done by choosing to turn away from duty to fulfill selfish desires, such as being seduced away from your guard post.

Her duty was to kill the ronin, but she failed due to no fault of her own, so she needs to salvage her Glory but her Honor is untouched; lying would compromise her Honor, however.

Performing horse seppuku might either give or lose her Glory. If it the GM spins it as showing her dedication and her love for the horse, it'll gain it. If he spins it as her refusing to take the blame and shunting it on to a blameless animal, she'll lose it.

>>9149600
With his kind of character should be piss easy

>>9149481
Not bitching. Far from it. As a matter of fact, I just found the whole situation amusing since the disadvantage probably could have killed me previously, but the GM seemed to save it just to fuck with me. Besides, I doubt they'll execute me over something like that. I still have Glory out the ass, and you don't just execute famous samurai whenever you feel like it, especially since the mission was halfway successful (or if you're a pessimist, halfway failed).

>>9149663

>creative solution

Because having a horse commit ritual suicide in order to absolve blame isn't at all creative.

>>9149687
You should track those ronin down hire some of those archery wankers if you have to but the key is DO NOT FAIL and DO NOT GIVE UP until told too

>>9149703

To be fair, if the GM had invoked Bad Luck to kill you, you would have been well within your rights to slap him in the face. THIS situation is precisely what Bad Luck should do. Your character has been placed in an agonising position by the random whims of chance. That's BAD LUCK RIGHT THERE

>>9149600

You can.

>>9149600
The Glory isn't the problem as much as me having been lifted to the point of MAGNIFICENT HORSE PRINCESS OF THE GLORIOUS UNICORN CLAN AND HER INVINCIBLE SPIRIT HORSE, and it looking extremely bad if I was beaten by an honorless drifter in what I'm supposed to be best at. Sort of like a high-ranking Kakita getting beaten in a duel by a homeless dude with a rusty piece of scrap metal.

>>9149703
Ah, right then.
Hmm, your group will look bad because they are associated with you.. if your Glory drops.
Your choices mostly revolve around either protecting Honour or Glory. This should be a good opportunity for you to decide which is more important to your Shiotome. As far as slaying or punishing the horse... that is very funny, but very silly. Your clan likely will laugh attempts to blame the horse off. Also, the Unicorn often think more of their steeds than of their Samurai. That havign been said, they are nearly as forgiving as the Phoenix, as far as failure and the like are concerned. Unless you are under one of the first two Khans, in that case, expect no mercy.

>>9149876
More like, a Kakita Kenshinzen beign beaten by a no account ronin in a duel. Which happened to many of the Grey Crane's students during the clan war, while the ronin Daryia was roaming around, taking their tsubas for new eyepatches. Sorta embarrassing for the Crane as a whole really.

>>9149876

>>9149706

Horse seppuku is cool, but having the horse recognized as a samurai and docking it Glory points is cooler.

LOOK AT MY HORSE
MY HORSE IS AMAZING
GIVE IT A LICK
MMM IT TASTES JUST LIKE RAISINS

>>9149876
So "I was over confident and made a stupid mistake" is still an option.

>>9149893

>the Unicorn often think more of their steeds than of their Samurai

Which is precisely why the horse-seppuku will work!

get a new horse.

>>9149928

I wanted to play this until I learned it had already been done.

>>9149962

Yes.

>>9149978

There aren't even angry messages in these anymore.

>>9149940

While funny, Musashi Miyamoto was much more than a nameless drifter.

>>9149987
So say it eat that humble pie or blame the kami

>>9150030

Humble pie. This mission wasn't an ABJECT failure.

>>9150046

Bear in mind that high Status comes with a price. Failure looks bad; failure looks WORSE for someone of high Status because more people are paying closer attention.

>>9150141
Remember that taking the blame for a superior is an honourable action convince the the party to cover it up and take the blame.

>>9150009
He was THE nameless drifter.

>>9150206
word.

>>9150186
I suspect the Mantis will be covering my ass due to us being on pretty good terms and him using my good name to further his own goals. Besides, he's a Mantis, and doesn't really have much in the way of Honor to begin with.

>>9150311
Then don't worry the important thing is LEAVE NO WITNESS

>>9149940
I love this image. There's just so much to discuss. Like why anyone would need that list. Do people often forget dudes or swords, despite your implications that nobody does? What else would warrant carrying that list around with you?

>>9149940

He was pretty well known and famous.

>>9150370

Perhaps he just wrote the list, and intends to stick it on Musashi's head once he's won, so that Musashi never forgets?

>>9150411
>>9150009
Just sayin', never underestimate a guy with a crappy weapon

>>9150531
>never underestimate a guy with a crappy weapon
Well., obviously. It IS still a weapon after all.

>>9150695
Well, you shouldn't underestimate a guy without a weapon either. Especially not in a world where there are dudes who can set their fists on fire.

>>9149940
What the hell is up with that weapon Kojiro is holding? The Drying Pole was described as being a long straight blade, not a short straight blade...

And as for why Musashi was late... who knows, though the common belief is he did it to piss of Kojiro into acting rashly, or even that he did it to match up with the turning of the tide so the tide would be going out to aid in his escape from Kojiro's supporters after defeating him.

>>9151085
Lack of historical accuracy? In my gag comics? It's more likely than you think.

>>9151085
Sword was not to scale.

I'd worry more about loss of status than glory or honor. It is far harder to get back and means everyone gets to boss you around.

To answer the OP, how did the ronin outrun you?

POTHOLE.

Jesus fuck, you're not in some highway or even a modern forest riding road (whatever the fuck they're called). YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING FOREST (or plains). That means potholes, rabbit holes, fucking wombat holes, landshark holes, whatever.

Your horse stumbles and you feel a sharp pain through the telepathy. Explained.

You do have to kill the horse, though.

>>9151725
Gophers, man. They ruin everything.

>>9151758
And this isn't Scotland, anyway, so you can't put the ball in the gopher hole and call it Golf

You failed, but it's not over. Continue hunting the ronin down, and kill him. Once he's dead, you can go back and report. Until then, your mission isn't done, right?

>>9151725

If you're going to kill the horse, you might as well kill the horse in style. Give it a noble, honorable death at its own hooves.

So, /tg/ advises horse suicide. I would just like that noted in the records. Horse suicide.

>>9153518
No, horse seppuku. Completely different.

>>9154124

Explain to me how a horse committing seppuku is not a horse committing suicide.

>>9154152
Suicide is cowardly. Seppuku is honorable.

>>9154152
>>9155063
Nested hierarchy.
The more generic term includes the more specific term, yet the more specific term does not encompass the entirety of the more generic term.

tc;dnr: Not all cases of suicide are seppuku, but all cases of seppuku are suicide.

Technically speaking the ritual of suicide involves the death of the person performing the ritual by being beheaded by his second after slicing open his own belly. One could argue pretty easily either way on whether that is suicide or not.

>>9152151
This is the single best way to play it. Don't come back until you've hunted down the ronin and killed him.

Afterward, since the Mantis likes covering for you, he can make up a story about how you rode down each of the honorless ronin in turn, and only one, who was doubtless a wily and skilled foe, was able to evade you. Yet tirelessly you and your noble steed rode him down for a day and a night (or however long), until you were finally able to complete your mission.

Anyone who says that the ronin was just another generic ronin and you fucked up while chasing him is saying that the Mantis was lying. His story is therefore true and you have yet another great deed to add to your legend, as long as you can successfully locate and kill the escaped ronin.