(D2, MM) Love Throughout History (Event)

[Saibankan]

A long line of nervous young samurai are lined up in the hallway awaiting their interview with Shika Pei Pei. While there are likely many opportunities to impress the matchmakers in the coming weeks, the first meeting with Shika Pei Pei is likely to set the tone for the weeks to come.

Pei Pei's receiving room is nice, though not terribly ostentatious. She sits behind a desk with a seat before it for the candidate. Behind her are a small array of gifts, likely from candidates from miais past: a silver comb, a decorated scroll, and a small bonsai tree.

Pei Pei bows upon the candidates admission and pours a cup of tea. After an appropriate amount of small talk, she comes to the point of the interview.

"As I'm sure you know, one's ancestry is an important factor when considering the best possible match for a person. And make no mistake, we've done fairly exhaustive research into the background of the candidates, so there are no real surprises to be had." she offers. "However, what I would like to hear from you in this interview is the name of the four of your ancestors that you think are particularly relevant to you when we consider the best match for you. Use whatever criteria you like to determine who that should be."

Pei Pei looks expectantly at the candidate.

There are three approaches that the characters may choose from in this event:

1) A proud lineage of focus: Choose 1 skill. Roll Earth/Chosen Skill 4 times. TN 1, 2, 3, 4. This is to show your family's mastery of a particular skill, be it great swordsman or adept artist.

2) Masters of a field: Choose 1 skill group. Roll Earth/4 different skills in that group . Two of the TNs are 2, and two of them are 3, you choose before rolling which skill is which TN. This is to show that your family is not just a master of a particular skill, but masters of an entire field, be in martial arts masters or all knowing scholars.

3) Stars across the Empire: Choose 4 different skills in 4 different skill groups. Earth/Chosen skills each at TN 3. This is to show that your ancestors are capable of anything.

Scoring Priority:

Most rolls passed
Most opportunities used to show off.
Most total bonus successes.
Highest total bonus successes on a single roll.
Highest Status.
Highest Glory.
Highest Honor.

[Utaku Kheree]

Fluff later
D2 MM Earth+Survival | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1

D2 MM event roll 2 earth survival | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


D2 MM event earth+survival +void TN 3 | TN: 3 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


D2 MM event roll 4, part 2 | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0


Ranking assistance:
3 rolls passed
4 opportunities used to show off
1 total bonus success
1 highest total bonus success on a single roll
30 Status
43 Glory
55 Honor

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi had spent the morning preparing for this, she had brought out her finest dress and had spent ages preparing her hair, delicate placing her polished beads back into her hair and with the lightest of touches applied her makeup. She focused her on presenting the colour, and fashion of her Clan with lilacs and silver hues throughout her outfit bringing focus to her Jade eyes.

She was ready, she had thought. She had prepared for this moment for weeks on the road by herself. She had worked through it all, as she had walked animatedly discussing this with her after all those long fucking miles by herself with absolutely no one. SHE HAD THIS!

Never before in Koi's life has she felt waves of anxiety like this moment, she couldn't breath in her kimono as she faced Pei-Pei. Her heart pounded in her chest as she sat patiently, trying to thing of their names and their deeds. She tried too so hard but all she heard was her mind screaming into the void of her mind as she sat in silence, and looked ashamed.

"I-" Koi went to speak and found herself faltering. "I can not recall them, gomen."

She is dismissed absolutely devastated and shell-shocked from her complete incompetency.


D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Performance. TN 1. | TN: 1 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0

D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Performance. TN 2. | TN: 2 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0

D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Performance. TN 3. | TN: 3 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0

D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Performance. TN 4. | TN: 4 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0

All Opportunity are used to impress.

Ranking assistance:
0 rolls passed
3 opportunities used to be pretty.
0 Strife gained
46 Honor
41 Glory
28 Status

[Asahina Soyokaze]

When Soyokaze was told there would be an interview he didn't pay it much mind. He was busy crafting his gift to the Shika lord after all and it was only natural that someone who need to question him about his interests and determine his temperament, he certainly didn't expect this. He could have selected any aspect of the Asahina family history, it's many great deeds but due to the shock of it all he could only think about HIS great love of blacksmithing.

Things started off well enough, arguing that Asahina himself was a smith was a mighty leap but his schooling in the courtier arts was serving him well and he pulled it off with some deft wordplay. But when he searched his mind for another great Asahina smithy he struggled for a moment before his blood ran cold. He could only think of one other famous smith with the Asahina name, and it was a name he refused to speak. The traitor, the family's great stain, no he would rather die here and now before he uttered that name especially right after his family's founder.

For another 15 minutes he did his best to dance around the subject, suggesting that Asahina was so great that he forged all those who would carry his name into craftsmen of peace, peace being the hardest thing to forge in all of existence. All the while the name danced in the back of his head, it felt like the very words were laughing at him, daring him to say the name out loud. After a while he just stopped talking and bowed, he had failed this test and failed it badly but he felt he had won a much more important battle.

(D2, MM) Love Throughout History (Event)
Earth + Smithing | TN: 1 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0


(D2, MM) Love Throughout History (Event)
Earth + Smithing | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0


(D2, MM) Love Throughout History (Event)
Earth + Smithing + Void point | TN: 3 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


(D2, MM) Love Throughout History (Event)
Earth + Smithing + Void point | TN: 4 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


Ranking assistance:
1 rolls passed
3 opportunities used to mitigate the consequences of failure
1 total bonus success
1 highest total bonus success on a single roll
4 Strife gained
67 Honor
47 Glory
38 Status

[Kakita Sakura]

D2 MM Event: Heritage of Iaijutsu roll TN1 (Earth/Meditation) | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1
(Opportunity: Show off)
D2 MM Event: Heritage of Iaijutsu roll TN2 (Earth/Meditation) | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

D2 MM Event: Heritage of Iaijutsu roll TN3 (Earth/Meditation) | TN: 3 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2

D2 MM Event: Heritage of Iaijutsu roll TN4 (Earth/Meditation) | TN: 4 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0

Sakura smiles as she sits for the interview- and she speaks smoothly, and with confidence.

First, she speaks of Kakita- Kakita himself, who invented the art of iaijutsu, who mastered it and who had rivalries with many great swordsmen- and swordswomen. She speaks of his skill, his focus.

She speaks, more recently, of her grandmother, for who Sakura is named- a grandmother whose skills with the blade took her to become Topaz Champion. A grandmother who Sakura has never met, no, but- one who inspired her, regardless.

"I cannot provide you with a full four, Shika-sama- but I am honoured with not one, but two Topaz Champions in my lineage. My great-great-grandfather, Kakita Kenji, was of such skill with the blade that he also achieved victory in that honoured championship."

[Asahina Bo]

Unsurprisingly the small talk, once Bo had folded his massive frame into a sitting position, did not go well. Bo did not do small talk. Bo did big talk and then only about his passions or in the line of duty so, even before the testing began, he was a ball of nerves and Pei Pei was likely ill at ease.

Still this was part of his duty. Asahina-sama had sent him here to get married and he would do his best to make that happen. Nerves would not stop him from proceeding. Very little could stop Bo from proceeding once he set his mind at something, even himself, though the process was sometimes the proverbial (and sometimes literal) bull in the china shop.

"Uh... I guess my ancestors are best known as priests." There's a pause and a frown, "But... uh... I really am not. They knew I couldn't speak ta the kami really early so they got me started on other trainin'. So, um, please don't judge my ancestors based on how I do today. I'm sure they try to guide me the best they can but they're ancestors not kami, ya know."

But watch over him they must as with each line of questioning Bo manages to pull forth a solid, if sometimes poorly phrased, response. Though the strain of doing so is obvious upon him as his brow furrows deeper and deeper with each response.

Until finally, in the end, he had surprised even himself with how well he has done and, while the nervous knot in his gut has only grown tighter, he leaves with his head held high and with a strong impression.

Well, a strong impression was almost certain to be the outcome either way but this time a positive one!


(Choosing Approach one using Earth/Theology

Roll 1 vs TN1:
D2, MM Event: Approach 1, Roll1: Earth/Theology TN1 | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 3 / Strife: 1

Success, 3 Opportunities used towards impressing, 1 Strife gained

Roll 2 vs TN2:
D2, MM Event: Approach 1, Roll 2: Earth/Theology TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1

Success, 1 Opportunity used towards impressing, 1 Strife gained


Roll 3 vs TN3:
D2, MM Event: Approach 1, Roll 3: Earth/Theology TN3 | TN: 3 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 4

Success with 1 bonus Success, 0 Opportunity, 4 Strife gained

Roll 4 vs TN4, Void spent for +1 Ring Die:
D2, MM Event: Approach 1, Roll 4: Earth/Theology TN4 - Void spent for +1 Ring Die | TN: 4 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 3

Success!, 2 Opportunities used towards impressing, 3 Strife gained

Ranking assistance:
4 rolls passed
6 opportunities used to show off
1 total bonus success
1 highest total bonus success on a single roll
35 Status
38 Glory
66 Honor

Total Strife gained: 9)

[Shiba Raizo]

The small talk was... abortive. And one-sided.

A man who answered just about every subjective question with some variation on "I don't really have an opinion on that" was never going to be an adept courtly tactician.

And then...

"You want to hear about my ancestors?" His expression remained impassive. "It's not really a subject I particularly enjoy. There's not much variety, for one thing. We've been with the Phoenix since Shiba-Kami walked Ningen-Do, and some lessons just keep coming back again and again and again..."

By the end of his recitation, he was plainly getting bored with the subject, and no wonder, since it was an unending litany of various navel-gazing specialists in his family tree going all the way back to the Dawn of the Empire.

Consequently, he was getting deliberately vague on the details by the time it mercifully came to an end.

[A proud lineage of focus, Meditation
Roll 1- Earth Plus Meditation- TN 1- 2 successes, 1 strife, 2 Opportunities to show off
Roll 2- Earth Plus Meditation- TN 2- 3 successes, 1 strife, 1 Opportunity to Show Off
Roll 3- Earth Plus Meditation- TN 3- 3 successes, 1 strife
Roll 4- Earth Plus Meditation- TN 4- 1 success, 2 strife, 2 Opportunities to cancel strife.

Succeeded at three of the four.
3 Opportunities to show off.
2 bonus successes]

[Usogawa Narumi]

This was something the young nakodo-in-training had been looking forward to. While she was accustomed to being the one doing the interviewing, being on the other side of the proverbial- and literal- desk was certainly a different experience, and one Narumi wasn't sure if she enjoyed or not?
She accepts the tea from this matchmaker with a respectful bow, and then after an amount of small talk, they got to the crux of this day's interview... and Narumi could not help but smile, with a glint in her dark eyes.

You see... Her great-grandmother was a well-known travelling genealogist who kept meticulous records of family trees. It was she who discovered a certain imperial families perchance for forging their lineages and claiming to be who they’re not. As such, Narumi shows a certain affinity for and delight in following and learning pedigrees.

And so, she began. She focused on the stories that her prestigious aunt, Usogawa Mochi, had drilled into her from a young age. Starting farther back and moving forward through time, Narumi spoke of her ancestral entertainers and diplomats - though the Otter clan was a young one, Narumi knew the value of where she came from, and spoke of them with reverence and admiration.
Of course bringing up her great-grandmother, for whom she was named; the genealogist would not be forgotten from this recounting of her pedigree.
She speaks of where her ancestors came from- plucked from all over Rokugan, following the myriad of rivers, and pays particular mind to speak of the different cultures they brought with them, that eventually culminated in the young nakodo who sat before Shika Pei Pei-sama. Narumi spoke of her line's appreciation and admiration for those varieties of cultures, listing of small quirks and insights she particularly appreciated, words of wisdom handed down from mother to daughter, through the years.

When she's done and dismissed, Narumi rises and offers an appropriately low bow to the matchmaker prime, thanking her for her time and this opportunity.


D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Culture. TN 1. | TN: 1 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2


D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Culture. TN 2. | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Culture. TN 3. | TN: 3 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


D2 MM: A proud lineage of Focus. Earth/Culture. TN 4. | TN: 4 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


Ranking assistance:
3 rolls passed
2 opportunities used to show off
5 total bonus success
3 highest total bonus success on a single roll
22 Status
43 Glory
36 Honor

Total Strife gained: 6

[Kitsu Murato]

Memory was not Murato's strong point. He simply didn't need to use it for his duty that much, because everything was written down. So he was able to provide two examples from recent history, but his mind did not reach nearly as far back as other people's might. Besides, testing his memory to find a match seemed silly. Did they expect he might forget what his spouse looked like? All of the information he gave, and the 99% of his ancestors he hadn't mentioned, were all in his family's records, which had been sent ahead of time because he knew how to file paperwork properly.

This was pretty much a waste of time for him. A proper interview did more than rely on the participants rote memorization. This should have been a written test. Shika ancestors guide this senile old woman. The people she is matching need your help surviving her.

But even if he couldn't readily recall the last two ancestors he was asked for, he was able to provide some impression about the actual focus of the clan on honoring them with proper ritual.

----

D2 MM, Love Throughout History, Theology[Earth] | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

D2 MM, Love Throughout History, Theology[Earth] | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

D2 MM, Love Throughout History, Theology[Earth], Void Point | TN: 3 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 0

D2 MM, Love Throughout History, Theology[Earth], Void Point | TN: 4 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0


Rolls Passed: 2
Opportunities: 3
Bonus successes: 0
Highest bonus: 0
Status: 45
Glory: 41
Honor 56

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin, having done what he can to make himself presentable, smiles broadly and bows deeply to Pei Pei. He accepts the tea gratefully, of course, and chats about his reflections thus far; there have been so many interesting folks come to the miai this time, and he's gratified to be included among them, Pei Pei's skills being renowned as they are.

"And we do, of course, share no few forebears, as you know," he says, when the time comes up. "If I recall, Shika Netsujin, from whose name I take some of my own, was your own teacher's teacher--but even before him, many of mine were rangers..."

But it is clear that the weariness of his reputed rampant night has told upon him, and he falters midway through. Unable to stifle his yawning, he bows deeply.

"My apologies, of course, for my unworth. It is clear I need to train my endurance more fully."

And he goes off to sleep for the next three timeslots.

~~~~~
Approach 1
TN 1, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/232, passed at 2 Sux / 1 Opp / 0 Strife; Opp for Flair
TN 2, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/233, passed at 3 Sux / 1 Opp / 2 Strife; Opp for Flair
TN 3, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/234, failed at 2 Sux / 0 Opps / 1 Strife
TN 4, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/237, failed at 3 Sux / 1 Opp / 1 Strife; Opp for Flair

Rolls passed 2
Opps for flair 3
Highest bonus Sux 1
Status 40
Glory 42 (updated per GM note)
Honor 36 (updated per GM note)