City of IF

[D-Lotus]

Story so far: You are a young peasant called Kihachi, living in Sampawa, a small village in Japan… When you hear robbers plotting on destroying your village, you set out to find samurai to protect it…

:wink: Bushido :wink:

After a quick and definitive decision the four of you decide to hire Samurai to protect you… As the furuii Outosan looks around the room, he speaks to all of you.
“Yotsu no otokonohito wa, rockunin no Samurai wo ikimas”
(You four men, go for six samurai)
“ Hai, ikimas” You all answer as you all bow down and touch the floor with your forehead.
(Yes, we’ll go)
As you emerge from the old man’s dark cottage, the sun blinds you… but when your vision clears, you see the whole village still bowing in front of the house. As you are about to speak, Rikara anticipates you and talks to the expectant crowd.
“ Our respectable elder has decided,” he says” We must journey into the nearest town and find six samurai to defend our small village”
Several people gasp, while the others are too scared or confused to understand what is going on. One man speaks up.
“ But…” He sputters ” How… will we pay them, and how will they accept to help us, they have no doing in the affairs of peasants…”
“Rice” You say “ The grandfather said to find hungry Samurai, samurai who are willing to fight for food”
“But what-“he starts, but Bakamanoyo cuts him short. “ Silence! We have said enough… time is dear…we must depart, but while we do, you must cut lances aout of bamboo sticks… We will be back hopefully in a week or two’s time! Now leave!”
And the villagers start in different directions… They act like they didn’t listen to Bakamonoyo, and pretend they are just leaving because they have lost interest in the conversation…It pleases them inwardly, but they are all cowards at heart, and sometimes you feel disgusted with them. But then you see your wife in the crowd, returning home, and you feel more tender torwards them. What fault did they have of what was happening?




The next morning, after packing and leaving your wife , you start out with Bakamonoyo, Rikara, and Motoko. At first you follow a dirt path coming out of the village, but soon after barely half a mile or so, the grass starts getting wilder, and the treck harder as you climb up the hills from your region. As the day passes, the trees grow more often and together, giving shade, but after, the trees grow sparse and give way to grassy plains, while the sun shines down on your back. Soon, though the road starts getting better and wider as you near the town, but as you seem to see it in the distance, Motoko, the old fool suddenly cries out.
“ Ashi no itai!”
(my foot hurts)
While waiting for the old man (He’s not that old, but you all like to refer to him as an old man or old fool) to rubb and massage his foot, while making miserable faces, you eat a small lunch of millet…After you finish, you all continue to the town and finally make it there by late noon. As you come up the wide path, you see children playing with small painted pieces of wood in the shape of a large button, and crowding over as one throws them up and they drop on the same color side. A cheer springs out. You walk on and you see many people walking to and fro in the streets. You see a few Samurai entering shops and Inns, or just walking around. You look at the rest of your companions, but Bakamonoyo looks sulky, probably thinking of the different ways each of those samurai could run away with her daughter, and Rikara seems too busy looking at the unusual splendor about him, and Motoko, well, Motoko just looks, foolish… You notice how the Samurai seem better and stronger than everybody else, with their trailing swords, wide brimmed hats and bundled hair, some of them rugged and tired, some proud, and some inexperienced. After watching a few Samurai come buy, you spot one who looks like his swords are not very well kept and kind of rusty ( to a samurai, his sword was his honor) and less well fed, but still with a look about him that he thought he could take anybody on, so you decide to try your luck, and you look significantly at your companions, who all suddenly look interested and hopeful. As you approach the Samurai from the other direction, you feel aware of how much superior his clothes and his sway are to you, and you feel so nervous that you feel like turning back, but then he looks at you in the eyes as you get closer, and there is no turning back. You feel meek as you bow down to him in the middle of the street and ask for permission to talk to him. He assents. You then start explaining to him the situation of your village, never looking into his eyes, while your knees are still down in the ground. He nodds at the explanation, but then he asks:
“ There are many villages like yours all over Japan, what should make me help you?”
“ We have nothing to offer you but three meals a day of rice-“
He gives you a blow in the head with his open fist and you scamper away from him in the ground leaving a cloud of dust all around you. He walks up to you and says:
“ Farmer, do you make fun of me? I may be poor, but not a fool!” And he leaves.





Your friends lift you up from the ground and wipe dust away as the crowd starts to leave, but you can see a hopeless look in their faces. With some little money you have, you go and rent a small hut with no beds you share with four other people apart from your companions and friends, but you feel a need for some clear air and go outside for a walk. As you trek around town, you stray off the main street and soon you feel kind of lost in the unknown town, especially as you aproach a neighborhood, which looks like it has attempted remodeling, and it show’s it’s attempt in some colourful lamps and posts, the pavement had been started and was made of rocks and pebbles, but it had been left unfinished, and the rocks lay strewn around, even some banners and posters had been held from some second floors, but some had been ripped by someone or something and lay around, blown this way and that by the wind. It looks somewhat better than what it would have been, but it looks somehow bleak and pitiful, and is even shadier than the neighborhood you are lodged in. Suddenly a man comes out from the shadows behind you, and you spin around quickly to face him. When you see that he a is a smaller man than you and means no harm (you recognize the gesture of his open hands), you let down your guard a little.
“ What are you looking for?” He says in a sort of squeaky like voice
“ I … I was looking for Samurai…”
“Samurai, eh? Well, I’ll give you something better than Samurai… here, come with me, over here” He starts torward the biggest building. He suddenly notices you are scared and shaking, so he looks at you closer… Then he raises his eyebrows at you…
“ What are you anyway, a peasant or something…? Well, don’t worry, not many peasants come here much anyway, so maybe we can give you a special offer for those Samurai you need. Eh?”
But he still sees you shaking… so he says:
“ You still shaky? Well, I’ll tell you what… come here again at rocku ni han(6:30) and we will see what happens, eh?”
You nodd hurridly, and then start walking away from the strange man, you looks at you as you leave , then shakes his head and dissapears into the shadows again.





As you are returning back, you are yet again lost, but this time in a normal looking neighborhood, with some people still rushing from here to there. You see a group of people gathering around something, and you get closer to look. As you get nearer, you see a middle aged man- in his 40’s standing next to a small stream. As you stare, you recognize the wakazashi next to him, indicating the Samurai post. There’s something familiar about him you can’t make out, but there’s no time to wonder, because he suddenly loosens his hair, and tells the buddhist priest to shave his hair, and to a nearby woman to fetch two riceballs. After the initial surprise is over, they start. You notice another samurai watching from the crowd. While all this is going on, you decide to go over and ask what’s happening. They tell you that there is a man who was chaught trying to steal, but in desperation, he kidnapped a baby and held it as a hostage in a hut. He will let any one one come in, lest he kills the infant. The baby’s wailings of hunger are heard all day long, and last night too. That man over there by the stream says he will rescue the baby. As you watch, when everything is prepared, he looks exactly like a buddhist monk, and then he takes the riceballs from the woman and leaves torward the hut. The crowd follows him, with you in front of them. You see the Samurai go to the hut’s door and slide it open. Suddenly everybody hear’s a violent desperate voice coming out from the hut.
“ Don’t come in! Don’t come in or I’ll kill the baby!” The voice sounds too uptight and hopeless to seems real.
“ Don’t worry, I’m a monk, I’ve come to give you and the baby food.” Answers the samurai in a deep rich voice, showing the riceballs. He throws them in, and you hear the man eating. Then suddenly the samurai runs in. You hear a struggle and then the robber runs out. A moment later, he drops dead. The Samurai walks out with the robbers sword.It is bloody. The crowd cheers, happy, even you feel relief.He throws the robbers sword in the ground , pick’s up his own, and then leaves only before the mother can thank him a few times, and then runs in to get the baby, jumping over the dead man's body. As he leaves and the crowd thanks him all the way up to the path leading to center town, you know he is the man you need. As he leaves down the path, you bow down in front of him and you explain your story. You walk along with him to the main street, then he goes inside an Inn, and says, I’m tired, you know where to find me tomorrow, and goes in, not very far from your own lodging. You return to your lodging and you tell your companions about what happened. But they don’t know what to do. So you all go to sleep while you think about what you should do tomorrow.

You can suggest Idea’s, or post any type of suggestion from the post above to suggest about what Kihachi should do based on his personality. Later I will put a poll up, and you can vote on what Kihachi should do. :D :D :twisted:

[D-Lotus]

Pheeeeewwww, that took me a long time, so don't expect anything in a while. Anyway, I think I outdid myself that time(compared with last). YOU GUYS BETTER READ THIS!!! Oh, by the way, you guys may think that the decisions are easy in this story, but I'm just warning you that they will get harder, AND one more thing! If you guys make a bad decision, Kihachi WILL pay for it in the story, so :twisted: BEWARE.

[Smee]

Of course we're going to read it. Stop worrying; you're writing a good story. :)

Anyway, I think he should go with the only person who seems willing to offer help; the man from the shadows. Mainly because I'm curious about him.

Hiring the baby saving monk seems too convienient.

[Guyron]

I too stand for the first option most . In my country , there is a saying : "Who knows were the rabbit's gonna jump from ?" . I am also curious about that character .

Yet , the second option seems interesting . As I understood from what I read , it seemed like the samurai didn't ask for any payment . Or maybe he received it in advance ?


BTW , do you speak japanese ? Cuz it seems so .

[Forthwini]

Wasnt it so that we need six samurai? :roll:

So I suggest that we go first to that baby saving monk and then to the man in shadows. Because we need so many samurai's.
And that shadow man; we dont know if he is dangerous, so its good to have that baby saver with us.

Going to both of the places is my idea. :idea:

[Guyron]

Good idea , but you forget something . Kihachi must meet the weird man at 6:30 . That's in the morning . Taking the samurai with him ( even if he convinces him ) will be quite impossible . No respectable samurai will let himself awakened at an early hour , by some insignifiant peasants , no matter the reason .

[Ravenwing]

Smee, you do give a good point, but I agree more with Guyron. Its interesting that D-Lotus introduces two totally differetnt Samarai, who in turn each delay their decision whether or not they will help. Anyways what I am trying to say is that both samarai despite their different personalities should be formally asked to help the village.

[D-Lotus]

Guyron wrote: I too stand for the first option most . In my country , there is a saying : "Who knows were the rabbit's gonna jump from ?" . I am also curious about that character .

Yet , the second option seems interesting . As I understood from what I read , it seemed like the samurai didn't ask for any payment . Or maybe he received it in advance ?


BTW , do you speak japanese ? Cuz it seems so .


I have taken 2 years of Japanese, and I can make some sentences out of memory, but I'm nowhere close to speaking the actual language... If you guys don't like the sentences in Japanese and all that, I could take it off... :( As for the Samurai, he has listened to Kihachi, so he knows that all he'll get is the rice if he helps, so at least he wasn't offended like the other Samurai... But there's something misterious in the samurai, like, Kihachi seems to know him from Somewhere.... Oh yeah, in the other post you mentioned that there was no way a respectable samurai would let himself be awoken at that hour by any peasant.... True, unless he's already awake. A lot of Samurai get up early so that they can get to their destination before the sun rises and burn's their back, making the way harder ( believe me, I know how it feel's, I did 100 km in 5 days.... and the sun does NOT feel good), so this samurai, although he isn't going anywhere today, might be up early, or won't mind getting woken up at that hour... :D

[D-Lotus]

Oh yeah, there seems to be two options right off, but I need one or two more options for the poll...Thanks for the suggestions!!!!!!

[Guyron]

D-Lotus wrote: If you guys don't like the sentences in Japanese and all that, I could take it off...

( believe me, I know how it feel's, I did 100 km in 5 days.... and the sun does NOT feel good)


I don't mind the japanese sentences , and I don't think the others do .

And I believe you . While I was in the army , I did 40 Km every day . That was nasty ! :(

[Mordok]

The shady guy scares me some, but its worth a look. I would have my companions go with me to see him, then go see the samurai. You could kill two birds early and still look for more help.

I like the story alot, and I am not trying to be a jerk but, would a samurai cut his hair? I thought it was almost as important as their swords? Of course I get all my samurai knowledge from pop culture films and such. :oops:

The japanese is cool as long as you interpret.

[D-Lotus]

Mordok wrote: The shady guy scares me some, but its worth a look. I would have my companions go with me to see him, then go see the samurai. You could kill two birds early and still look for more help.

I like the story alot, and I am not trying to be a jerk but, would a samurai cut his hair? I thought it was almost as important as their swords? Of course I get all my samurai knowledge from pop culture films and such. :oops:

The japanese is cool as long as you interpret.

Exactly!!! That was a small detail I put in there to see if anyone would notice... I mean, a samurai's hair isn't that important to him, but let's just say that to some samurai ,hair could equal to a finger...( he would rather have a finger get chopped off than his hair cut... but maybe I'm over-exaggerating a little...) Anyway, that he actually will cut his hair to look like a monk so that he could save the baby shows how dedicated to humankind and how much of the heroe type he is... That's why I said " After they had gotten over their iniatial suprise..." As in the surprise that he had cut his hair...

BUT PEOPLE!!! I NEED MORE OPTIONS FOR THE POLL!!!

[Random]

Well another option would be to keep looking and asking other samurai.

You could split the forces with one going to the shadow man and the others going to the baby saver.

Another possible option would be to simply ask the samurai for some tips on a setting a quick defense for your town. You don't need to win a war yet and you only have a couple of weeks to prepare. Get some tips on setting up a defensive perimeter, then get back to town and get to work right away.

My question would be, how much does Kihachi know about the samurai? This could help us make a decision if we have to work with in the boundaries of the characters knowledge.

[s1lents0ul]

umm d-lotus, not to poke fun, but replying to your story first is kind of childish especially telling us to read it, lol thats a given, y dont u say what u have to say at the end of the story instead of double posting..

umm the story is a bunch of loose ends that need to come together, lol it seems u get excited and run with sumthing and then stop, but hopefull u will explain these ends later on, i think he should talk to both the guy in the alley and the samuri that saved the baby.

[Ravenwing]

s1lents0ul wrote: umm d-lotus, not to poke fun, but replying to your story first is kind of childish especially telling us to read it, lol thats a given, y dont u say what u have to say at the end of the story instead of double posting..

umm the story is a bunch of loose ends that need to come together, lol it seems u get excited and run with sumthing and then stop, but hopefull u will explain these ends later on, i think he should talk to both the guy in the alley and the samuri that saved the baby.

Good point. But D-lotus is the author, so I guess he is welcome to his childish comments. Oh to add on to that, D-lotus you don't have to say you need more ideas. You can deal with only two choices.

And talking with both guys is a good idea also. They don't have to say yes, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[D-Lotus]

[quote="Ravenwing"][quote="s1lents0ul"]umm d-lotus, not to poke fun, but replying to your story first is kind of childish especially telling us to read it, lol thats a given, y dont u say what u have to say at the end of the story instead of double posting..

umm the story is a bunch of loose ends that need to come together, lol it seems u get excited and run with sumthing and then stop, but hopefull u will explain these ends later on, i think he should talk to both the guy in the alley and the samuri that saved the baby.[/quote]

[color=violet]Good point. But D-lotus is the author, so I guess he is welcome to his childish comments. Oh to add on to that, D-lotus you don't have to say you need more ideas. You can deal with only two choices.

And talking with both guys is a good idea also. They don't have to say yes, but it doesn't hurt to ask.[/color][/quote]

Ok, Ok, I guess I got over excited, but I'm not a little kid :( ... At least I'm trying my best at writing this, but isn't there supposed to be loose ends, so that you can vote is supposed to happen?? Well anyway, I got a pretty good idea for the next chapter. I'll put up the poll now...