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Bushido: Chapter 1 : The Bandits

 
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D-Lotus
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:39 pm    Post subject: Bushido: Chapter 1 : The Bandits Reply with quote

Very Happy Bushido Very Happy

Your name is Kihachi.You were born a peasant by law, you have grown up as peasant, you will always be a peasant, your job is to harvest the millet and rice from the fields, tend to your work animals, although most of you in the village have no animals to take care of, and most of all, to respect your highers… It is medieval Japan in the early 17th century, the country is ravaged by war, as two nobles, Ieyashu and Hideyoshi, fight for power over Japan and wealth, robbers pillage small villages, samurai fight for honor and skill, ronin’s- masterless samurai, rome the country-side, undecided which side to join in the war and clans struggle to survive in the mad and mayhem, and you are but a simple peasant in a small village called Sanpawa, gathering rice to sell in the market in a nearby town, and eating millet so as to not have to waste rice, although you hate the taste, you have a wife of about your age, and you love her, but most of all, you are happy…



One day, as you’re out gathering wood and small branches from a small forest next to your village, you hear horsemen galloping up the slope which then leads down to your village, and instinctivly you hide behind a pile of lumber. As the riders come closer, raising small dust clouds behind them, as you look at the men’s faces, you can see that your instincts paid off, they are robbers, and you fear for your village. You think of running down the hill and crying out to your neighbors and wife, warning them about the robbers, but they would surely kill you, and even if the villagers heard your warning, they would have no where to run, and would slowly be cut down, until the whole village was murdered, and that would be a waste of your life. So you wait and listen. As the robber that looks in command nears the downrise of the hill ( he wears a heavy mask over his face, his armor is steel-plated, he rides the best horse, and all around him keep their distance) he speaks.
“ It doesn’t look like they have harvested their crops yet, I remember that we came here a few years ago.’
And then another bandit in some ragged clothes, and a black tooth in his crooked smile spoke up front.
“ Let us just take their food and women, little that they have.”
At this, you feel like jumping up and strangling him, but you check yourself in time.
“No,” spoke the leader “Let us wait but a couple of weeks, and then hunt upon them, when their crops are harvested and ripe, as well as their women.” At this the leader smiled at his little joke and turned on the rest , and you see a scar on his left side which you hadn’t noticed before. The rest of the bandits, you counted forty in all, smile uneasily and give a brisk laugh, which sounded like dogs barking to your ears. Then the man in the ragged clothes sulked, bent over his blade and pulled it out of it’s scabbard, which looked like some sort of Wakazashi, which you’ve never seen before, but then again, you are a peasant and don’t know much about swords.
“Well, then, they better know how to harvest good rice, or I swear I’ll chop someone’s head off.” And he looked at the leader.
“Put that sword down, you will chop no one’s head, you hungry dog.”
Relunctanly, he sheathed it again.
“ Now, let’s ride! Hyahh”
And his horsemen finally left with another cloud of smoke.


You run to the village at full speed, crying out as you go, one hour later, the whole village is in the center of the village, and there are several women weeping. You approach them all in a reconcilatory way, almost like if it were your fault.
“ People of Sanpawa, forgive me for bringing this bad news to you.”and you bow”But I’m sure you’ve all heard of my news, and we need to take a way to solve this problem.”
“ I think that we should make spears out of bamboo and fight them.”
But then a man called Bakamonoyo responded.
“ You are just but crazy, we will give up our food and plea to them that they won’t kill us.”
At this , you jump at him in fury, but you’re held back.
“How are we supposed to do eat if we just let them take everything they want,we’ll starve!”
But he doesn’t answer. You sit down in the sick position, and cover your face with your arms (Japanese tradition).
Then Rikira get’s up and says:
“Let us visit our furuii otousan (old father)”



The whole village marches through the old wooden bridge to the other side of the village. Soon you are all there, at the old mans house, but as the house is small, only Bakamonoyo Rikira, and you are allowed inside, apart from your old friend Motoko, who so far had stayed out of the dispute. You ask his advice. After a long while, he answers.
“Hmmmmmm”
“Hmmmmmm”
“Find Samurai”
“What? Samurai? We don’t have money to pay them”You reply.
“And besides,” says Bakamonoyo” They will just take our women and food themeselves and then run away!”
Bakamonoyo had a young daughter, and he had heard that young daughters sometimes run off with samurai.
“Don’t be a fool”You say”We can’t sacrifice the village for your daughter”
“Find hungry Samurai…”says the old man, tired of us already.
“But..”
“Once a village survived like that when I was an young man, the robbers ran off…”
“But we don’t have anything to offer them…”
“Hmmmmmmm, find hungry samurai”
“Hmmmmmm” And he talked no more.
You think about trying to defend the village without samurai. Although your chances are slim, it just might work.
But if you decide to get samurai you must journey into the nearest town.
Just hiving up could be an option.
What other options??
What do you do??. Confused:

Read the posts below, and click “New Topic” to post a suggestion for Kihachi's next action. Anyone is welcome to post. You can suggest what she would do based on his personality, what you think he should do based on what would be best for him, or just in general what seems like a good idea to you. Feel free to comment on other’s suggestions, but please be courteous
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Last edited by D-Lotus on Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:51 am; edited 4 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking forward to people's replies on what to do. I'm hoping that this story can move FAST.. Very Happy 8) 8)
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 1:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice start to the story. Smile

I must admit my knowledge of Japan's history is limited to what I found out whilst playing Shogun on the PC. It is nice to see a couple of stories set in this unique environment and civilisation.

As to what Kihachi should do...

It sounds like the bandits all have steel weapons.

All mounted as well.

Makes them tough. Mounted troops can cut through civilians as if they were harvesting wheat.

The best defence against horse is pikemen - 18ft polls stuck through the chest of any horse upsets it greatly.

If the villages could do something like that with Bamboo, then it could work.

However - that is for mounted cavalry. These aren't cavalry, but just bandits so all they have to do is get off their horses, and the bamboo will be pretty much useless against a sword.

Pits with sharpened stakes at the bottom around the village could kill a few of the robbers but it can't be expected to get 40 of them.

It's going to have to be the Samurai in the nearest town. The rest of the villages could make the pits anyway - every bit helps. Plus it will be a nice adventure for young Kihachi. :wink:
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 1:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Could Kihachi become a samurai? But maybe it would take many years to become one. Maybe he could go find a samurai somewhere and ask to be his apprentice or something.

Samurai would cost some money of course but if we save that samurai's life then he would of course want to train Kihachi. If that is possible it would be very nice for the story and all.

This is nice story because its not all that elves and stuff.
Its from Japan cool. 8)
Samurai's and all really nice. Very Happy
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Go get the samurai. Ronin's of the land often would work for food, and usually female companionship. But samurai upheld a strict code of honor and would more often work simply for food and a place to sleep. Samurai needed little money.

Plus these people are peasants, the reality of the situation is that even if they were able to make the pikes, traps, pits, possibly even figure out how to make bows, it would be a sloppy job. That would be putting the village in danger over a lot of IF's. (Like how I worked the website name in?) Smile

Go for the samurai, they can certainly prepare you to hold off bandits. Robbers are not especially brave men, normally at the first sign of solid resistance they will run. Bandits want the easy score, which is why small remote villages where often subject to raids much like this.

As for apprenticing to a samurai, that would take years. The immediate need is to find them and bring them back.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Forthwini"]Could Kihachi become a samurai? But maybe it would take many years to become one. Maybe he could go find a samurai somewhere and ask to be his apprentice or something.

Samurai would cost some money of course but if we save that samurai's life then he would of course want to train Kihachi. If that is possible it would be very nice for the story and all.

This is nice story because its not all that elves and stuff.
Its from Japan cool. 8)
Samurai's and all really nice. Very Happy[/quote]


I was thinking about that, but for later on, as Random says, it would take years... first is first, you gotta save the village. The only problem is, you would have to hurry up and find the samurai, for the bandits will be coming soon, and with limited time, samurai will be hard to find, so only a few will be employed (hopefully that will be enough...) Very Happy Anyway, there seems to be enough options so I can put up a poll ( I know, it's a little fast, but I have to finish fast also, because I need to do a lot of things in a couple of months(hoping it will be finished by then) Very Happy
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

really good story. i kno some of this from Rurouni Kenshin and Inuyasha so this is very good. but i was wondering... on that part that you were talking about them going into old father's house, was Motoko allowed to enter. i got kind of lost on that part for some reason. again, good story keep up the good work! Very Happy
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, Motoko is also allowed inside... (When you said Motoko ,I said Who???And I had to look back... Laughing I can't even remember my own characters names... Embarrassed ) So he also listens to the old man... I'll probably have them 4 go into town and find samurai if that's the option poeple take... Very Happy
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

God, it has been a long time since I have heard anything that has to do with the Meiji Restoration. I learned a lot about this time because a friend of mine was absolutely crazy about Kenshin and Inuyasha. Gave me a headache. Anyways I think this sounds really good. As for what he should do, maybe they should put up defenses, and just maybe, a wandering samauri will come to the village and either help the village or not. Then maybe Kihachi can become his apprentice to either avenge his village or just because he wants to.
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wel, since you insist, I guess it could be the Meiji restoration, i'll have to look it up a little, cause I never heard about it... Embarrassed
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i think that best thing to do now is build traps: pits and all kind of that stuff. Kihachi should go to the nearest town and try to find samurai.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D-Lotus wrote:
Wel, since you insist, I guess it could be the Meiji restoration, i'll have to look it up a little, cause I never heard about it... Embarrassed


If you have heard of Kenshin, that is the same time period. But yeah check up on it. 'cause the events that are happening in your story are sort of like what the history texts describe that era.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The best solution to the problem , for the moment , is to hire some samurai , even though they are expensive . To be trained by a samurai , it is impossible . Samurai are a noble cast , and they see peasants as very inferior people . A samurai will never take a peasant as an apprentice , except maybe for a good reason .
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, I like your pic/logo thing... Very Happy
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