Books. Why did it have to be books? [Day 6, LA, Open]

[Akodo Jishaku]

Fortunately the Rokugani had shugenja with them, and this strange gaijin death fog obviously wouldn't be a problem for them... Seeing as rokugani magic was proper magic and couldn't be stopped by any old gaijin death fog... Well if worst came to worst they could always just target teh casters and sink the ships.

Hmm, I wonder if it mentions how the Mantis fared against this threat?

[Rixy]

One of them did, though not in any great detail as most of the workings of the kami were beyond the understanding of the author. It mentioned that the brahmin of House Yoritomo had been, somewhat, able to slow the fog with their command of the winds (a thing that the author found disturbing and unnatural). It had not, however, slowed the evil crawling progress completely and by all accounts, men of Rokugan died just as swiftly as the southerners did when they were finally overtaken.

Worse, they'd seemed to be at a marked disadvantage in actual combat, their ships and arms considered 'primative' and too slow to maneuver. Their warriors were, the author conceded, very brave and the prowess of the men in gold and black in particular with the bow was deemed almost supernatural yet still, it seemed that it had been the addition of numbers as much as any partiuclar skill that had turned the tide.

[Akodo Jishaku]

Well there's some obvious propaganda. Jishaku shook his head at the bit about primitive weapons. Still, it was good to know that the air kami could be called upon to slow the fog, at least thats what he guessed they were describing. Time to get back to kyujutsu training too...

This was all interesting stuff. He started to look for any mention of specific weaknesses in their vessels that could be exploited. Watching out for any of those names that kept coming up, like the lines of Pashtal and Utpal, seemed wise as well.

[Rixy]

Unfortunately, the Rokugani ships were not mentioned much...they were, after all, foreign and inferior.

Of the name Utpal there was no sign. If they had been in the conflict, their acts were unsung.

The line of Pashtal, however, was mentioned with great bile and loathing...one of it's members, who was called only 'Daughter of Pashtal, a part of the serpent that was the Rafiq yet thrashing despite the loss of it's head' had apparently been on the enemy side as commander of a small flotilla that had harried the forces of the Maharaja without ever fully engaging, worrying at them and slowly sapping their strength so that they were easier pray for the larger forces.

This flotilla, which the author simply called "The Scourge of Sagara", had been damaged but not destroyed by conflict's end and at least two of the larger ships had never been found.

[Akodo Jishaku]

Aha, now that looks relevant.

Jishaku nodded to himself and made a few notes. Time was pressing on and he wanted to speak with the Captain as soon as possible. He decided to finish up by seeing if he could connect the vessels of this 'Daughter of Pashtal' to any of the ones he had seen in the harbour. Or at least to the illustrations he had found in the naval warfare book the day before.

[Rixy]

Unfortunately, the ships' names were not listed, nor was any flag under which they flew. Based on the description of tactics, it was decent odds they were some of the speedy little message ships, kitted out with either armaments or enemy casters.

[Akodo Jishaku]

That's all for today then.

With a sigh the young Lion stretched his back and arms before placing the books in the bag the librarian had given him the day before. He tucked his notes into his kimono before standing and walking back to the desk. Finally he asked the librarian to record his details so that he might borrow these books as well.

[Rixy]

She did so happily enough, wishing him profitable studies with a smile that was only the tiniest bit forced.

[Akodo Jishaku]

Jishaku thanked her, gave a slight bow, and with one last look at the books that seemed to say 'Sort your damn selves out would you?' he

/exits