The brothers from the Great White North.
Init:
"Again, I should be able to help others cross the river."
While waiting to be healed, Hubert attempts to strike up a conversation with some druids about being initiated into their secret ways if he is not accepted into the rangers, and perhaps even later on if he is.
Forty-seven Ronin
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale, the most famous example of the samurai code of honor, bushidō, as the country's "national legend."[1]
The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, after waiting and planning for almost two years. In turn, the ronin were themselves obliged to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the tale grew during the Meiji era of Japanese history, in which Japan underwent modernization, and the legend became subsumed within discourses of national heritage and identity.
"We have been given no direction on whether or not it is permissible to shoot at the king's archers to attempt to get past them and take the shortest path, so I will go along with the rest of the group in taking the woods to the river. Too bad we don't have any canoes. That would make it easy to cross or even just move down the river without moving through the trees."
Thinking about the proposed plan, Liam suggests, "I think we should keep an eye out for any fallen logs on our way through the forest. We could use it as a flotation device to help us less than capable swimmers get across the river.
"Another thing to consider is that we do have bags of caltrops that we can drop for those behind us. We want to make sure that all of our own group is ahead before we drop any though."
"And we need to make sure we have at least some of our grappling hooks and rope. Hey! How tall would you say that cliff is? If it is short enough, we can tie knots in the ropes to make the climb easier . . .."
Hubert gets a smile from the druids. "Two of your training class have already committed to our way. If they meet the approval of Longshadow they may be auxiliaries, but either way, they are on the path to being full druids. If you are interested in joining us, please let us know."
Wisp confers briefly with five of your class. It appears they approached him about being part of the more worldly spy network. Not everyone prefers the outdoors over postings where inns are more easily accessible. 90% of the training class seem set on the pure path of the ranger for now including your group.
An older man in his thirties with thinning light brown hair and infectious smile begins to speak. Thin and wiry, this Pict man has a look of one who is comfortable speaking in front of others. He was one of the five that conferred with Wisp.
"If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our honour loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the redemption of the lost ronin.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Redemption Day.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Redemption Day.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Redemption day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Julius of the Bears, Liam of the Dragons, Edward of the Lions.
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Redemption day shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in our fair green land now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Redemption day."
One large man scoffs at the speech, but most others are obviously affected. The Pictish man begins.
"My future occupation involves providing intelligence to my liege. As you are assets of the King, I advise against running out into the open toward the cliffs. The water look treacherous and we all cannot swim. I will lead a run to the left. Those that are with me are my friends, those that oppose me are not worthy of redemption today."
His council quickly swells to a group of thirty. The large man bellows in anger and is highly upset as two Lions defect to join the man known as Hanratty. Hanratty grimly puts on the banner of the Falcon.
With him are three men with banners, those of the Bear, Scorpion and Crane.
The large man, Gert, seems to be brooding with his group of six.
"I agree that we could combine our ropes as needed to knot them and make the climb easier." Liam looks around for Jolly and asks, "How tall is the cliff?"
Looking at the archers gathered on the perch, he makes a quick head count. "If we are waiting for those who need healing and food, we could spend the time wisely by putting these arrows to use. Those of us who are ready to go can fire at the archers while we wait for our fellows. As others receive their healing, they can join in on the attack until we are all ready to go. Hell, there are 72 of us and a score of those archers. We could mass fire for several seconds and thin their ranks appreciatively, before setting out on our different strategies. Let's see if we can't gain some allies..."
So saying, Liam begins moving toward Hanratty. Catching the large man, Gert's, attention, he subtly motions with his head for him to join them and approaches the large group of men under the banner of the falcon. "Nice speech. Let's see how serious you are about working together. Every group has people who need the ministrations of the druids. Every group has some ready to go now. If you plan to lead all of these men, you 're stuck waiting for all of them to get ready. Let's put that to use. Those archers are there to fire upon us. We severely outnumber them. Let's mass our fire in the opening seconds at that perch and see if we cannot winnow their numbers as we wait for our members to get ready. Once we're all ready to go, we can employ our strategies to demonstrate our personal initiative to Longshadow and the rest of the rangers after having proven that we can work as a team. What say you?"
Hubert gets a smile from the druids. "Two of your training class have already committed to our way. If they meet the approval of Longshadow they may be auxiliaries, but either way, they are on the path to being full druids. If you are interested in joining us, please let us know."
"I am interested," says Hubert, "but first I'd like to finish what I started and help my team win this race." He smiles impishly and continues, "You can't give me any pointers, can you? What is the river like downstream?"
Hubert takes note of the conflict between Hanratty and Gert and will take a moment to speak with Gert when he gets the chance.
Hanratty replies to Liam:
"I do not know if the archers will take a run through the woods as a threat. Shooting at them is sure to trigger a response. Anyway, I do not know if our shooting will prevail against trained bowmen under full cover. I would rather be moving and scouting than shooting at this moment."
He turns to his people who are already arranging themselves in order of departure.
Gert is anxious to expand his circle and talks to Hubert
"I do not think sharing plans is a good idea. Stick with us and we will finish ahead."
Longshadow blows a signal whistle and the exercise has begun. A few healthy souls run into the woods. The druids begin to offer healing and food to those in need of it. The berries offered by the druids seem to begin to satisfy the greatest hunger.
Hubert said, "You want me to trust you blindly? I will do my best, but the rest of my group may need some convincing."
He rejoined the rest of his team to tell them what Gert had said. The first thing he did at the beginning of the race was ask the druids to remove his exhaustion.
From the archer platform a loud voice shouts: "Come no closer. This is not your fight. Unless you come to join us renegades."
Three of the trainees leave at the starting whistle and run down the left. Most of the others wait at the starting gate and receive healing from the druids. Two of the trainees wearing the druidic holy symbol minister to remove some fatigue from a few of the trainees.
Gert smiles and half his group seems to be in closed circle surrounded by blankets trying to do something unobserved while half their group gets healed. Obviously his secret scheme is being carried out with ample precautions to avoid any observation.
The leaders running through the woods manage to stay out of sight , and the archers yell in frustration.
The archers are attempting to target anyone running through the woods, but the rangers leading the way seem to be trained well. The exposed bridge over the river draws no fire. Healing and consumption of druidic berries restores those depleted by the long march.
Adair rolls a rope into a loop and puts it over his shoulders, wearing it across his body. The grapple is still attached, but he carries that in his left hand, trying to control the movement of the tines so that it won't hurt him as he moves. He also similarly carries his bow and has his supply of arrows.
He offers his caltrops to anyone in the group who wishes to spread them out, and leaves everything else in the pack, on the ground where the group was talking.
The northern brothers spend the time eating and healing.
"We going it alone, joining the blanket party, or the scout guy?"
"I thought we had a plan?"
"Our plan fell apart at, 'Who carries the flag?' and, 'When does everyone head out?'"
While the druids heal him, Hubert draws his bow, prepares to shoot his fellow ranger candidates from other teams, and further discusses the plan. "Let us decide who carries the flag using a tried and true method. One potato, two potato, three potato, four, ... Okay then, I will carry the flag. We leave when we are no longer fatigued. The only question remaining is whether we follow Gert's group or the other group or blaze our own trail. Can following anyone lead to victory or should we take a risk?"
(1=Adair, 2=Hubert, 3=Liam)