[ We find Most Of Our Heroes seated around a table in an inn on the side of the road in the middle of Rokugan, almost literally. Alcinoe and Patrick are off buying supplies at the moment, along with Moto and Takara. ] [ The inn is currently mostly empty. There is no signifficant collection of buildings near it, so it almost certainly gets all of its business from travelers such as yourselves. ] [ But they have some good stuff; fresh-caught fish, some venison, tea that smells great and water that's actually clean enough to drink. ] [ Session Start! ] ( Venison, and it's peasant fare, but if y'all want it, go ahead. ) ( It's delicious, is what it is. :9 ) ( Quite. ) [ Not long after you all sit down, a man comes through the door, carrying four dead geese on a pole into the kitchen in back. ] * Tia is busily drinking and eating anything the waitstaff at the inn are willing to put in front of her. * Kenji signals to the innkeep, or one of his daughters. [ One of the innkeeps' daughters, a mousy young lady with excellent manners for a peasant, immediately attends to Kenji. "" ] I'd like you to roast one of those birds that were just brought in, and bring it to me, with a large bottle of sake, and a pot of tea, and a bowl of rice. [ "" ] Hmm? I don't know. Ask them. * Seylin has some fish and rice on a plate in front of her, and a half- full cup of tea. * WillS looks up at the waitress and nods slightly towards Kenji. "Oh, I'll have the same thing he just ordered." * Kenji eyes Will. ...that's a lot of bird. * WillS smiles, "If you specially ordered it, it must be good!" [ "Another goose, bottle, pot, and bowl? Of course, sir." She looks at Tia. "And would you like more meatbuns?" ] Besides, I can always share some with Tia. * Kenji blinks. I have no idea, actually. I ordered it on a whim. ( Will means to say, "I can beg Tia for scraps." ^_~ ) I would love more meatbuns! Thank you! * Tia beams broadly. (Haha.) I'm fine, thank you. [ The waitress does some mental inventory, and asks Tia, "" ] Ooh, ooh! Deer! * WillS blinks at Kenji, "Well..er...We'll know when it gets here. I have faith." :) [ The waitress smiles. "" She turns to Seylin. "" ] Yes, I'm sure. Thank you for asking. [ The waitress nods, bows to all of you, and heads back to the kitchen. ] * Seylin continues eating her meal. A good meal. Now we just need a good fight, and a good woman. Isn't that how the saying goes? * Seylin looks amused. "I wouldn't know." * WillS grins. "Sounds about right. Although I never would have expected that saying coming from you, Kenji." [ The waitress comes out with the food and drink ordered, having to make several trips to do so. The geese are both quite large, and Tia gets a lot of venison. ] * Kenji takes out a small knife and carves off large chunks of bird, then eats them vigorously with rice. [ The bird is good. The rice is good. The tea is great, the sake is arright. ] * WillS rips off a couple chunks of goose meat and pushes the rest in front of Tia. "Here Tia, try some of this too." * Kenji frowns. [ Tia consumes large portions of smoked and fried venison, along with goose and rice. A stray chopstick gets in there, too, but she doesn't seem to notice. ] Something wrong? Something is wrong. * WillS blinks while busy swallowing his mouthful of rice and bird. "Hrmm?" What, then? I... I think I'm -bored.- * Seylin gives Kenji a look of mock-horror. "Oh no." Is there a way we can get you non-bored? I find myself waiting for someone to sneak attack me, or steal my food, and nothing happens. Shouldn't we be enjoying these last few moments of calm and peace before we get to the really horrible stuff? I should be. But I'm not. I wonder if there are any bandits in the area. [ Almost as if on cue, there is deep-throated laughter outside, accompanied by the sound of someone being knocked to the ground. ] You may be about to get your wish. * Tia blinks in the direction of the noise. What was that? * WillS mutters a quick prayer for the noisemakers. * Kenji jumps to his feet, grabs a goose leg by the bone in one hand, the jug of sake in the other, and heads outside. [ "" says one voice as Kenji heads out, "" ] * Seylin stands up. "I think I want to see this." * Kenji doesn't bother grabbing his weapons from the rack at the door. [ One of the thugs outside notices Kenji exiting. "" ] * Kenji finishes chewing a mouthful of goose and says lazily, "I have plenty of food. You look kinda hungry." * WillS follows Kenji's example of grabbing some grub on the run, in a bowl of course, and goes to watch Kenji and the thugs. [ " I dunno, you look kinda unsavory. * Kenji takes a swig of sake. [ "" says the one who might be the leader, "" ] I'm sure you've got lots of honor. Stick around and you'll be honored to taste my foot when I shove it down your throat. * Tia pricks an ear in Kenji and Will's direction, but she stays seated for now and enjoys her food. [ "" says the apparent leader, "" ] You'll stoop to whatever I tell you to stoop to, just like your mother did last night. * WillS chokes on the piece of fowl he just ate. [ "" ] [ The compatriots laugh at this, and another chimes in, "" ] Oh, so that's why she didn't ask for money. I left her a few hundred koku anyway. When you see her, maybe you can ask her for a loan. [ "" says one. "" says the apparent leader. He gets a vicious look on his face, cups his hands to his mouth, and bellows, at the top of his impressively loud voice, "" ] * Kenji steps down off the stairs of the inn. Well, THAT was about the dumbest thing you could possibly have done. I didn't know they made ronin that stupid. [ One of the larger members, who'd been behind Kenji the whole time, strikes him in the back with a large axe. ] [ "" ] * Kenji turns around slowly. * Kenji reaches out faster than the eye can see, grabs the idiot by the throat, then pivots and throws him bodily at the leader. [ The leader gets beaned on the head by the large guy, and is finally angry. The large guy lands a good ways off. ] * Kenji takes another swig from the sake jug, and catches the goose leg he tossed into the air. Next? [ Everyone draws a sword or club in one hand, and a wood-axe in the other. Instead of advancing with the swords, they all throw the axes, and *then* advance. ] * Kenji reaches out with one foot and draws a line in the dirt. [ The goons charge! ] * Tia is still inside, gnawing emphatically at a meaty deer femur. * Kenji kicks outward with his right foot, and one goon's sword impales his buddy, even as the buddy's sword is kicked backward to smack him in the forehead. * Kenji turns just slightly, and slams his foot into the leader's chest, his arm, his chest, his leg, his other leg, his other arm, his chest, and finally into his FACE. [ Kenji goes all Chun Li on the leader, who falls over and is quite probably dead. ] * Kenji plants his foot again and takes a bite out of the goose leg. You done a BAAAAAAD thing. [ The big guy gets to his feet and comes along, tossing the leader over his shoulder. The bandits flee together. ] * Kenji looks vaguely disappointed. * Kenji sighs and heads back into the inn. Well, that was diverting. For a moment. I don't think two bandit gangs are going to attack in a single night. I should be so lucky. Maybe I should track those guys down tonight. * WillS goes and sits back down also. * Kenji tosses the leg bone down on his platter and finishes off the last of the bird. * Tia is still sitting where she was, and she is pushing the last end of the deer femur into her mouth. * Tia crunches contentedly. So what happened out there, Kenji? Idiot ronin picking on peasants. It's terribly impolite to demand food and not offer something in return. Oh. That's rude of 'em. * Tia frowns. "Didja teach 'em a lesson, Kenji?" Yeah. I might go find them tonight. Maybe. * Tia claps. "Yay!" The deer here is reeeeeeally good, by the way. I ate the whoooooole thing. I don't find that particularly hard to believe. [ The mousy little waitress girl is nearby. She can't believe Tia at the whole thing. ] * WillS grins. "Good job, Tia!" * Tia wags her tail cheerfully. * Kenji looks across the table at Seylin. "Would you like to go out tonight?" * Tia grins. "Sure!" And where would we be going? Bandit hunting. * Kenji grins. Ooh! Ooh! * Kenji points at Tia. "YOU need your sleep, young lady." Sounds intriguing. It's guaranteed to be more interesting than listening to Takara's travel poetry. * Tia ducks her head. "Awwww, do I hafta?" I like her poetry, though. You sure you don't want any more help in your bandit bashing, Kenji? If you want to hunt bandits, Will, I'm sure there will be other gangs on the way to the Wall. * WillS nods. "I'll leave this one to you then." [ And so they slept. And later, it was bandit season! ] [ Session End. ]