Strange Ways (D6, Late AM, OPEN)

[Asako Hirase]

"That makes sense for as much travelling as you've done." Glancing down to the hilt of Massacre, Hirase found himself asking, "Do you train live steel on horseback? It seems like a fall at the wrong time could be tragic that way..."

[Moto Khulun]

“She chuckles and says, “Not at first but everyone different, I got first kill even before I was full blooded rider. Killed horse thief with father’s saber, near thing and lucky, learned to ride when young and many summers after that before I ever ride with steel.”

[Asako Hirase]

This was a story. Wide-eyed, Hirase asked, 'How young were you?"

[Moto Khulun]

“Nine maybe eleven summers? Bandits stole into the camp and one tried to take one of our horses, I… had taken father’s sword to play with and pretend to be blooded warrior when I saw thief.”

She says, “First I hide but I think he hear me and turned, I figured maybe I charge like warrior but he easily knock me aside. He drew short blade and leapt on me, only last moment I turn blade upwards and he run himself through.”

“First kill, lucky.”

[Asako Hirase]

"Indeed so." Hirase thought back to when he was ten and what he would have done in her situation. "If I'd been attacked at that age, the best I could have done would have been to throw a bowl full of ink in their eyes. Useful, perhaps, for identifying them later but not exactly a useful defense."

[Moto Khulun]

"Always been good at finding ways to kill, sword... spear... bow... rock... knife, all good," she says.

[Asako Hirase]

"I have heard of that talent." The Phoenix nodded, slowly. "The Crab are famed for it, largely because their Duty, and their location, means they may have to defend themselves from almost anything at any given time. The ones who improvise the best survived to pass on the gift to their children, making it more widespread."

[Moto Khulun]

"I hear much about Crab, but never see them," she admits.

[Asako Hirase]

"There are two here that I've spotted. A Yasuki and a Kaiu." Smiling up at her, he adds, "Shame that there are no Hida. You'd like them very much, I think. The Kaiu might do, though...they are artisan warriors, the ones who make the much-lauded Kaiu armors and weapons. They are also officers and are responsible for the upkeep of the Carpenter Wall."

[Moto Khulun]

"What's so special about a wall?" she asks.

[Asako Hirase]

"Well, this Wall is as long as their entire Holding, for one. For the other, it's under fairly constant bombardment." He brightened, finding a story he could tell. "It is also famed for being the single greatest act of expedited architecture in the known world. The early form had to be errected in record time to prevent a massive horde of..." He lowered his voice, glanced around, and murmured, 'demons..." Then continued, '...from overrunning the Crab provinces and then the Empire. Literally every man, woman, and child who could lift a hammer or hold a nail was recruited from the Crab and many other Clans sent aid as well. The whole thing was made possible through an act of magic virutally unrivaled, certainly the greatest magical feat any Kuni has managed in all of their history."

[Moto Khulun]

"If there is wall how do... the things get through?" she asks.

[Asako Hirase]

Hirase thought back to the recent records from the assault on Shiro Hiruma and the reports of the horrors that the Rokugani heroes had faced to reclaim it.

"Some of them, from what I understand, can climb. Or fly. Or teleport. Or else they come in waves so great that they simply climb over the bodies of their fallen to overrun the top. Some of them are so massive that even the Wall isn't larger than they. Then, too, some of the beings on that side of the wall are more clever, being Lost...they build siege weapons of their own."

[Moto Khulun]

"This sounds like a good place to do battle," she says with a nod.

"Wonder how they would fare against the Unicorn."

[Asako Hirase]

"If anyone in Rokugan could find a way to withstand a cavalry charge, I think it would be the Crab." Hirase, though no warrior, had an admiration for strong defenses. It was only natural, given what had happened to his ancestral home. "Strong as they are on offense, defense is where they truly shine."