Rebuilding

[Gabriella Santos]

Gabriella looked out over the town, and Oda troops from her vantage point atop a small hill alongside her father and a few of his men acting as bodyguards. “Why are we here, father?” She asked not seeing why her father had made them come to oversee the work the army was doing on repairing the town. “I wanted to see first-hand what Oda is doing to help his people.” Her father replied. “You sell guns, knowing he has his army use them in pursuit of war and you care about his people.” Gabriella said rolling her eyes.


“Helping his people means loyal followers. Loyal follower improve his chance of conquest. Improving those chances means more men under his command, and that means more troops to arm.” Her father listed off. “And more men to arm?” He added questioning his daughter. “Means more you can sell.” Gabriella responded smirking, while her father was quite a caring man to her he was quite clearly motivated by greed. “Well why not help out, I’m sure it would impress Lord Oda.” Gabriella suggested. “That’s beneath us.” His said. “Not me, I could do with getting more exercise.” “Absolutely not, you’ll injury yourself.” Her father countered. Anger flashed up inside her. “I will not. Anything those men can do, I can do to.” She sharply shouted storming off down the hill.


Gabriella walked through the town, men were doing all sort of tasks. And she tried to help if only to annoy her father. First she tried helping to dig a well, but the use of a shovel was awkward and she realised that she was only slowing people down. Second she tried helping carry materials for building to those who needed them, but they were too heavy for her to lift without help, while those who helped her could do so with her aid easily. Third she tried sawing, but being unable to hold things stead, the saw was just as awkward as the shovel had been. In anger Gabriella threw the saw to the floor, stamped a foot into the ground to let out some her aggression, before giving in. Turning she started to head back for the hill that her father was at.


However on the way back, someone suddenly grabbed her arm. Luckily they grabbed her good one, otherwise in the mood she was in would have caused her to snap. Looking at the person who had grabbed her arm, it was a women quite homely looking and old. “Come come.” The women told her, letting go of her arm and leading her towards one of the building that had already been repair. Heading inside the smell of food hit her, along with the heat of fire. The women led her over to one of the pot hanging above an open flame. A large wooden spoon, inside it. “You want to help us thank you, nabanjin-san.” The women said bowing. “Yes but what is the use of being in here, I want to help out there.” Gabriella said not understanding. “Stir. Do something those hard headed soldiers would never do.” The women ordered before walking away.


Gabriella stood there for about a minute. This was light work, how on earth was this helping. But the women’s word won out. The idea of doing something while those men, strong and physically able couldn’t bring themselves to do. Gabriella started stirring, and followed instruction the old women called out to her. Eventually more women came. Carrying bowls, they held them out and one by one Gabriella filled them with the food. She felt foolish, like she was doing what was expected of someone who was weak. However she wanted to prove to her father that no matter the situation there would always be something that she could do.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Miyamoto Kenji: +3 Str

Gabriella Santos: +3 Str

Both players receive: Proficiency: Leadership - D (If you already have D from the Leadership Exercise, you receive a C proficiency instead)

[Chosokabe Nanami]

"This is terrible..."



~* Nanami looked over the ruined homes of a village by the sea. It had been under attack by a ship from a currently unknown faction. Rumors were flying around that it was an invasion by the Mori, but Nanami figured that someone as high and mighty as Mori Motonari would declare his intentions to the people of Shikoku and not end with just one village. It must have been a lesser group or even just bandits who got a ship to toy with. It was just her gut feeling. Mori would not have left any survivors.



"Alright guys, let's get to work..."

~* She was less than cheerful today, seeing the people of this village suffering so. Homes were lost, families were destroyed, and yet, the spirit of the people of Shikoku burned strong. They were rebuilding this place, and Nanami and her band of pirates wanted to help them.

~* The pirate started out by helping the wounded, cleaning and bandaging injuries or helping carried the injured people to a doctor if their wounds were more serious. She then went around in a boat, helping to fish the bodies out of the water. The corpses made her a little sick and she wanted to cry, but now wasn't the time for that. She had to be strong, she had to be an example as a leader to these people. Sailing back to the shore, she would help to give these bodies a proper burial. She'd repeat this process for hours, until no more bodies were laying in the sea.

~* She then proceeded to help with reconstructing homes. Riding off in a carriage to a nearby forest, she would take an axe and cut some wood, spending the next few hours cutting down trees and loading up the carriage with the lumber. It was nearly nightfall when she'd return, finding many of the people still hard at work. If they weren't going to rest, then she couldn't either. So without hesitation, she climbed off of the carriage and began to hand out some of the lumber to her men, who would carry it where any construction was going to happen. Nanami would aid with the building of the foundation of the homes first, laying out planks of wood along the floor. From here, she would position some upright in the corners with the help of her men before building and erecting walls. She got a splinter or two in the process, and more than once did they drop the wood and have to rebuild, but eventually, they would succeed in building a hut. They would repeat this several times over throughout the night, not stopping until they had enough shelter for all of the survivors.

~* At this point, fatigue had started to get to the young pirate, and she collapsed. The people ran to her side, crying out in fear. They brought her to the inn to rest, and she awoke several hours later in a daze. It seemed the sun had come up now, and as she tried to get up, the innkeeper stopped her. "You're in no condition to move, you're pushing yourself too hard."

~* Nanami merely smiled. "It's okay. I can't sit around while my people need me." And she got off of the bed despite the protests, walking outside and examining what all had been done. Her and her men had provided burials for all of the dead, as well as constructed plenty of homes for the people, all in a single night. She checked around the village at this point, helping fetch water for those who needed it, and talked to her men in order to try and keep their morale high.

~* As her men and her decided to depart, the villagers stopped her, presenting her with a small offering of onigiri. "I know it isn't much, but please take it, we're eternally grateful for all that you have done."

~* Nanami looked at the offering and her eyes teared up, and she accepted it with a smile. She thanked the people, and as she sailed away on her ship, began to munch on the food happily. It tasted great, and she made sure that she would visit them again someday.

[Oda Nobunaga]

Chosokabe Nanami: +3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Yoshiyuki Satsumaru]

The world revolved in an endless cycle of war and peace. Some men seemed only capable of thriving in war, and found themselves not only useless, but alienated in times of peace. And vice-versa, some knew only their peaceful ways, and became nothing but bystanders if not prey during times of war. It was only the wisest men who strove to be proficient in both warfare and civil matters.

With that in mind, the mercenary known as Yoshiyuki Satsumaru was asked by the local governor of a small village in Echigo to help in the effort to rebuild what parts of their home were ravaged by war. Given that he was staying in the village's inn for a short period before he planned to carry on, it wasn't too inconvenient for him to agree to participate. After all, if he wasn't aiding in the recovery effort, he'd simply be sitting around with nothing else to occupy his mind...

"Yoshiyuki-sama!" the village chief called out as he saw the ebon warrior approach the village's center, "We are honored to receive your assistance!"

"No need for formality," Satsumaru replied plainly, "I'm no lord."

A little awkwardly, the chief forced his smile to remain on his face before noting, "Of course, of course...how modest of you. Still, we are quite honored to have you with us. As you can see, sir, a good deal of our homes and buildings have seen some damage. Some have suffered from the simple movement of troops in the area shaking their weak foundations, while others were burned to some degree. We're not entirely prepared for this sort of thing, so any assistance you could give would be greatly appreciated!"

Satsumaru held his reply, instead choosing to scan the area with his crimson eyes as his analytical mind picked apart what they took in. As the elder had said, many of the buildings were more or less thrown together. The heavy movement of armed soldiers and horses caused some structural damage to some of the lighter houses, while some had blackened walls and open roofs from flame.

"This is a small village, so we won't have a vast number of workers to draw from.  However, that won't be necessary. Five men will be sufficient to repair the roofing of these homes, one man per house. Ten men will see to the walls themselves, two per home. Any man who is capable of woodworking should gather here and set up what surfaces they can muster to work on. They can provide the supports and miscellaneous items we may need crafted as we work," the long-haired mercenary commanded calmly.

Gesturing toward a nearby gathering of women, he noted, "Women are just as capable as men. I would like six to gather straw for the roofing, six to gather mud and earthen clay for repairs, and four to gather water. We will adjust our priorities and strengths as we progress. If anyone is unsure of what they should be doing at any time, come see me."

"Any questions?" Satsumaru asked, raising an eyebrow. The chief seemed stunned, and no words formed. The rest of the villagers remained quiet. "Excellent."

And without another word, the enigmatic mercenary removed his black armor and rolled his sleeves up, preparing to get to work. For the most part, he oversaw progress as each man and woman saw to their task. When certain areas required additional help, he would jump right in to see it done himself. Though silent in demeanor, he was fairly polite as a taskmaster, and the villagers seemed genuinely thankful for his help.

In fact, the work went forward rather quickly. Mud and stone was applied to shoddy walls, fresh straw was bundled and arranged to create stronger roofing, and the housing was shaping up to be better than it was before it was damaged.

After everything was said and done, the village was as good as new. Families had sturdy homes and all signs of war had been cleansed from the quaint little village. The villagers got together to offer a gift to Satsumaru for his assistance, but when they visited his room at the inn, they realized he had already taken to the road to head South. He had no goodbyes for them, nor did he require any thanks or rewards...

[Oda Nobunaga]

Yoshiyuki Satsumaru: +2 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Ikeda Keisuke]

"Are you sure warrior? We do not mind rebuilding our village ourselves."

"It is precisely why as a warrior of the Date faction, I cannot stand by and idly watch all of you rebuild your village, when it is our fault it was destroyed in the first place."

Holding a hand up as the village chief went to speak, Keisuke would motion to the men standing behind him to begin, as they would scatter to all corners of the village. Recently a civil war that had broken out had torn a nearby village apart, and as a part of Lord Date's faction, Keisuke felt it was only right that he go help rebuild this village, as the villagers were innocent bystanders caught up in the tides of war. With a small group of men at his back, Keisuke would make his way to the village, and offer what assistance he could to them. First things first, the huts needed to be rebuilt. Even if nothing else was done, at the very least, the villagers should have shelter for the night.

Though he was not the most muscular, he was surprisingly strong, and while the villagers chopped wood for the huts, he would lift the piles of wood and cart them to the huts that needed either repairing, or outright rebuilding. Much of the morning was taken up by this, and by the time the sun was high in the sky, signifying it was noon, though it was back-breaking and intensive work, a majority of the huts were back up and in better shape than before the civil war broke out. At least one good thing came out of this war. After taking a break to eat some lunch, Keisuke would rebuild the remaining huts, before moving on to re-plowing and re-plant the fields of crops that were damaged and trampled on. Concentrating deeply on the task, Keisuke may not be well-versed in the skills of a farmer, but the instructions given to him by the village farmers were simple and easy to follow. In no time flat, the field was plowed, and taking great care with the seeds, would go to plant them. Though the task was menial, almost boring, there was also something oddly satisfying about it. It was probably because with the fields ready for growing, these villagers wouldn't starve. They would survive.

After taking a small break, he would help with rebuilding the village gate, as it had been knocked down and broken in half from the soldiers marching through the village with little disregard to it. Placing the logs needed for the gate down on the ground, Keisuke would set out and work on carving out not only the name of the village on the top log of wood, he would also assemble the gate together, and with the assistance of the villagers, would raise it up, and hammer the top pole to the arch poles. Satisfied with his work, as the day came to an end, though he was exhausted and worn out from the long day's work, the villagers, in immense appreciation for his help, would provide meals and a bit of rest for him and his men, before they took their leave, returning back to their home.

[Oda Nobunaga]

Ikeda Keisuke: +3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Chimosa Hake]

It was considered polite to clean up after your mess. The battle had ended but now the task of fixing the mill standing before them remained. Chimosa Hake turned to the village elders standing next to him and nodded to them. "With everyone in good spirits like this, we should draw on that and start rebuilding immediately." The young man brought his hands together and put them in the opposite sleeves of his outfit. While it was only early fall, to Hake the wind was already chilling cold and he shivered as he turned back to the mill. He pushed the thoughts of the dead and the dying out of his mind and focused on the remains of his ragtag band of "troops".

"Leave a few men who know the hills and forests to continue harrying the retreating bandits. Keep the rest here. Those who have lost direct family should go and take time. Those who haven't should gather here." The elders gathered the men he had intended and he stood in front of them, swaying a little from side to side. He brought one hand to his head, softly touching against his temple to try and steady himself. "We'll need wooden stakes." He pointed to some of the burlier men and the two woodcutters he knew. "Take your weapons with you as you go in the forest to cut us some stakes. We'll need enough to encircle the whole mill." 

He waited for a moment for the men to depart and then focused on the group once more. Once again he indicated a group of men, this time younger ones, already capable of work yet neither strong enough nor skilled enough to fell trees. "We will need holes, spaced out evenly, around the mill. I will indicate how much distance between them. Get shovels from the town." The young men left in a hurry. Turning to the local building professional, Hake smiled. He could see the man blush at the sight. "Ratha-san, if you'd be so kind as to patch up the holes in the mill. Take some of the stronger youths to help you."

The man nodded silently and grabbed himself a couple of the older boys to help out. With only the elderly and the women remaining, Hake smiled and waved them a little closer. His voice was starting to become painful from speaking and had turned down its volume to protect his vocal cords. "We'll have to clean out the mill. Those of you who feel up to. Please." Hake chocked up as he thought about the old couple that used to occupy the mill, now dead in their former place of business. He dabbed the long sleeves of his outfit against his eyes before tears could roll down. "Please." He repeated once more.

A few of the women left, accompanied by four of the more youthful elders to help carry the bodies out. Taking a moment to reassess himself, Hake looked silently over the remaining three elders and the women and children without any job yet. "Strip them of anything valuable and pile them up outside the mill's perimeter. We will take care of them later." Their task wasn't a pleasant one but, should they be so inclined, they would have first pick of any valuables or useful items. It made up for the gruesome task. 

The one remaining elder smiled at Hake and offered him his arm. "Always the charmer, I see, Gen-San." He smiled at him and even the elder, at his age, couldn't help but blush at Hake as he guided him towards the mill. The smartest of the elders, in Hake's opinion, Gentarou-san had been on Hake's side from the moment he had started getting involved with the village. Now he was still at Hake's side. At least no everyone he liked here had died today. Together, the two of them walked slowly towards the mill, where smoke and the stench of death filled the air.

Pressing the long sleeve of his outfit against his nose and mouth, Hake and Gen-san waited for the shovelers to return with their tools. Once they did, Hake started to walk a perimeter around the mill, stopping at regular intervals and telling one of the shovel carrying youths to dig a hole. By the time the last one had been indicated his place the first one had finished digging the small hole for the pole and Hake continued indicating space to dig all around the mill. In the end a full square could be seen developing based on the holes in the ground.

By the time Hake returned to his starting position he was leaning almost all of his weight on Gen-san and his breathing was labored and difficult to catch. "Don't just stand there. Grab one of those stumps." Hake smiled at Gen-san as he ordered the youths standing about to some extra work. "Thank you." Hake smiled at the youths as they carried the stump for him to sit on. Taking his weight off of Gen-san, he sat himself down as he looked over the work in progress all around him.

The last of the hole diggers were finishing up and the carpenter had started looking at the holes in the mill, directing his assistants where he required them. The women and elders had started heaving bandit bodies on one pile outside of the square of holes Hake had designated. The four men who had gone in the mill were carrying out two bodies wrapped up in large pieces of cloth. Hake turned her eyes away from the last scene and focused on the shovelers who had nothing left to do. "You two, go check on the men cutting the poles and see if they need help. You, you and you. Go help with the bodies. And lastly, you, slender one, go help the carpenter with his work."

By the time the bodies were all carried off, the first pole was being carried towards the mill from the nearby tree line. Once again, Hake changed tasks from her stump, directing all able men towards the pole carrying and planting while leaving the women to the cleaning of the mill and the stripping of the dead bodies. Neither task was nice but both had to be done and right now, all the men were needed with carrying the poles. Hake and Gen-san exchanged some minor and unimportant news and rumors they had picked up while trying to pass the time.

Once the major tasks were done, Hake stood up, with support from Gen-san, and overlooked the work. The arrow holes and collapsed front wall of the mill had been patched up with wood by the carpenter. The poles had been planted where Hake had designated the holes to be dug. The bodies were piled up outside the designated area and their valuables were gathered by the elders, to be distributed later amongst the families who had suffered the most. In the distance, the returning villagers had been spotted.

One last time, Hake addressed the villagers. "We will finish the wall today. We'll need planks between each pole, covering up the holes as best we can. A single layer today should suffice. Tomorrow we will finish up here with everyone who is willing. After the first layer of the wall is finished, you're free to go." With Gen-san's help, Hake started heading for the village. After a few steps, he stopped him and turned back to the villagers. "Burn the bandit bodies before they attract maggots. And thank you for your help today." He passed a grateful smile towards the villagers.

In the village, Hake directed Gen-san towards the elder hall, where they met and discussed things, and informed him that he wanted to speak with the returning party that had followed the bandits to get their report. As he sat down once more, Hake brought his sleeve in front of his mouth for a bout of coughing as the world started blur in front of him. By the time the coughing ended and the blurring stopped, the returning party was met by the villagers at the mill with a big cheer which reached all the way into the Elder Hall.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Chimosa Hake: +3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Deleted]

Juubei Kurosawa had taken a few days of rest after he’d returned from the trek up the mountain, but now it was time to get back to work. The locals had come into the camp that morning and had offered to hire a number of men to help them complete various tasks within the near village. Naturally Juubei had volunteered. The reward was to be some small amount of money, but this was where being clever came into play. Juubei had decided to assist the blacksmith in his duties and hopefully this would get him a bonus, something extra on top of the money. Don’t get the wrong idea, Juubei hadn’t any problems with helping people, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t steer such situations into a position to be more beneficial.

Juubei arrived at the blacksmiths house at the crack of dawn and knocked loudly upon the door to his small home. Shortly after the second rap, a noise was heard from within the domicile, and a few seconds later the door swung open. Juubei was faced with a portly balding man and he glared at Juubei in a quizzical fashion as if he wasn’t aware of why the man had disturbed him so early in the morning. “Sir, I was hired by the villages elders to assist in anything you people might need, so I’ve come here to make your life just a little easier. “ Juubei said this with a slight grin and the man looked sleepily back at him, without uttering a word in immediate response.

The awkward silence came next and finally, after two or three minutes, the blacksmith opened his mouth and began to speak slowly. “ Welllll, I suppose you could help me a little today.” Juubei’s eyes lit up and he replied, “excellent, my name is Juubei, what’s yours? “ This question was met with another bout of silence and after a minute the blacksmith replied, “ my name is Blacksmith, now go to the river and get me a few buckets of water. The river is a few miles away, so you best get started. “ Juubei grabbed up a pair of heavy wooden buckets and took off jogging towards the river. It seemed like a slightly menial task to Juubei, but he had agreed to do anything he needed.

This was only the start of so called “menial” tasks. Juubei spent the next several hours doing things like cleaning the man’s home, gathering wood for the furnace, cleaning the weapons he had already made, and even washing his clothes. It wasn’t exactly what Juubei had in mind, but a deal was a deal. It was in the evening at this point and Juubei was leaned against a crude fence, taking a break, when the blacksmith came up behind him and placed his hand on Juubei’s shoulder. He seemed to know Juubei was discontent with his work, but was trying his best to maintain a smile and a jovial attitude.

“Youuuu, might be wondering why I had you do all these simple chores today and not anything even remotely related to blacksmith work. There’s really no complex answer to it. You don’t know anything about being a blacksmith and I can’t afford you to screw anything up and put me behind schedule.” His words trailed off into the gentle wind that blew in from the east. As each word was spoken, Juubei felt better and better about the day. Me might not have been there to help him directly, but by doing all these things for him, it’d allowed the blacksmith to focus upon his work and accomplish a lot. Juubei went back to the camp shortly after and settled down into a good nights sleep. He was happy with how the day had went and had no regrets about how things had played out, even if he didn’t receive a reward from the blacksmith.

[Takeda Shingen]

Kurosawa Juubei: +2 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Nomi no Ōkata]

Her lordship had sent Okata out in order to gather information on the Chosokabe. But as she made her way to their territory, Okata stopped at a village on the outskirts of Aki. Nearly all of the men were gone, fighting for Lord Mori, and very little was getting done, that much was obvious. The women and children were thin and the light in their eyes was dim, hungry and uncertain when and if their husbands and fathers would return.

Okata stopped her steed and pressed her lips in a straight line. She was only supposed to care for herself and Lord Mori, and helping him achieve his goal, and yet... a flicker of compassion could not help but stir within her soul. Deciding to help give them money by lodging there for the night even though it was early in the day, Okata realized how much needed to get done, and the woman was roped into helping them.

The concubine spent hours with the young girls and mothers of the village gathering water from a well in the forest. The one in the village ran dry, and the people needed water. Lots of it. Bucket after bucket, long haul after long haul. Hours ticked by, and sweat covered Okata's brow, face flushed from the hard work. She was not particularly strong, and her arms and shoulders ached ferociously.

At noon, Okata helped the women cook food, drying some to keep preserved, and helped distribute large batches to the elderly or those who were especially poor and needed assistance. She ate herself, talking with a couple of children, when she overheard some of the women talking.

"The horses got out again?"

"Yes. The fence is broken, and they are wandering outside again. If we don't gather them and fix that fence, I fear bandits may steal the horses, or wolves will kill them."

Okata pursed her lips and glanced over at them. Horses were invaluable, to both rich and poor. They were not only good for travel, but for work, and Okata knew if they lost the steeds that they would be ruined. Inhaling deeply, Okata stood up, patting the head of one of the young boy's, and said, "I may not be a master horsewoman, but... I can help you the best I can."

They turned to look at her and glanced at one another guiltily. "Oh, but... but you have done so much already. We could not possibly bother you anymore than we have."

"Please, I do not mind. Times are tough."

They left the inn and went to a field where the horses grazed unattended. Taking ropes, Okata and a couple of the other women spent a couple of hours roping up the horses, some with ease and others requiring some running and cornering, and bringing them to the stables. Despite how tired she was, Okata walked all along the fencing, and found a few spots where it was broken. With the help of the other women, Okata secured the fences, nailing new pieces of wood in place and ensuring they were secure.

While over at the stables, Okata helped the elderly man running them muck the stalls, feed the horses, and lay down new hay. There were a lot of horses and work to do, and before the woman knew it, the sun away setting. She glanced over at the disappearing sun, thinking of her Lord Mori. Just as she hated the darkness, she detested leaving him, but both were necessary in the world, and the woman sighed.

Her work was done for the day, and the old man and women thanked her profusely. Helping cook a large meal and distributing it among the village like lunch, eventually Okata ate her dinner and, after bathing away the filth, quickly fell asleep, body aching awfully.

Tomorrow she would head out for the original mission, and the sun would come up, and she would be sure to please him.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Nomi no Ōkata: +3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Fujishima Shigenobu]

Ugh, it was taking entirely too long to get to Shimotsuke village, even on this stupid horse. Shigenobu didn't mind the wind in his gorgeous locks or anything like that, but he certainly minded the stench of the giant animal. Just off the main roadway, however, there seemed to be a tiny village. Maybe he could stop and stretch his legs a bit there. He trotted over and dismounted with one (fairly) fluid motion, immediately feeling alllllll of the hurts that had been building up in his buttocks. An old crone, almost lost beneath a massive shawl, eyed him cautiously from the stoop of a nearby hut. Eyeing her right back, Shige walked over. Hello, old woman. I and my horse need some water. Where can we get it? The old woman's lips parted into a freakish approximation of a smile, though missing all but three teeth, and she pointed between a pair of huts behind Shigenobu to a well. Really? Shigenobu sighed. 

I have to get it myself? The old woman nodded. Well, why? Nobody else. Her S sounds whistled. Ugh. Well, why? Busy. With what? Not being here.

Shigenobu actually paid attention this time when he looked around the village. All around was silence and emptiness. It appeared very much as if every person had up and left, which given the reason he was passing through in the first place was a very likely story. The woman must have been left behind because.... well, any number of reasons that were slightly depressing to even think about, so Shigenobu wasn't about to start. Shaking his head and sighing dramatically, he went over to the well and looked down into it. Well, at least the water level wasn't too low. They had a fairly sturdy looking winch and bucket, so in went the bucket, and to the winch went Shigenobu. After about three turns on the handle, he was already starting to sweat. Nope, not the exertion, just the heat. Yes, that was it. He was Fujishima Shigenobu, and there was no way in hell that a bucket full of water was causing him issue. 

Fujishima or not, it still took nearly a minute to wheel the bucket up to where he could reach it to pull it over the lip of the well. There were a couple other buckets nearby, so he brought over a handful of them and poured the water into one. He repeated the process enough times to fill all the buckets, sweating more and more profusely and straining more and more with each one. Talk about noodle arms. When he had finally done all he cared to do, he set one bucket in front of his beast, another set aside for himself, and took the rest to the old woman. She simply smiled up at him, nodded, and closed her eyes. 

And didn't move. 

Oh gods, c'mon. Shigenobu just stared for almost a full minute before he slowly leaned in to poke the old woman, hoping against hope the one altruistic deed he had allotted himself for the month hadn't killed the old wench. His finger was within an inch of her weathered cheek when a mighty snore tore loose from her diminutive body, scaring Shige half to death himself. Wait, no. He wasn't scared at all. He had merely slipped on something... behind him... He left the old woman to her nappy time, drank half of the water in his bucket, poured the rest over his head and shoulders, and remounted the horse, trying all the while to ignore the snores coming from the woman. As soon as he was finished, he mounted up and tore off like a bat out of hell. Whatever that meant.

The old woman watched him through heavily lidded eyes, her raucous snores incredibly faked. Once he was out of the village once more, she smiled again. Well, that was certainly nice of that young man, she thought to herself. Although she laughed herself half to tears when she thought of how he had struggled with the well's winch. Getting to her feet and tossing her shawl lightly aside, she picked up the four buckets with surprising ease, two to a hand, and moved them into her hut. She might as well enjoy her third bath for the day.....

[Tokugawa Ieyasu]

Fujishima Shigenobu: + 3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership (D)

[Mōri Motonari]

Despite coming across as a cold often douchy man, one thing no one could justifiably claim was that he did not care for his clan and the people of Chugoku. Anyone who threatened their land, he would have demolished, and Motonari worked hard to ensure that their land prospered. And so when a village within one of his provinces had been seriously damaged by a storm, Lord Mori traveled there himself with a large group of men.

Suffice to say, the people (after getting over their fear that someone had betrayed him and would be executed) were pleasantly surprised to see their lord.

Dismounting from his horse, Lord Mori walked further into the village with his men, calculating eyes observing the damage down and calculating what to do. Within a minute or so, he had his plans and began to give orders to his men. One group went to bring in water from a river and distributed where needed, another helped the blacksmith make supplies to help restore the village, and yet another cut down trees. When the base work was done, it became more refined. The wood was cut and used to support buildings and restore stables. Entire homes were restored and built, using the newly made supplies. So much of the village was taken out and it was being built back up, and Motonari overlooked everything the whole time. While he himself did not do the physical work, he rested not as morning turned into afternoon and afternoon turned into early evening, moving from group to group and giving out orders and fixing a few flaws or clarifying plans.

Towards the end of the day, they finally finished their work. With so many men helping the villagers, what would have taken weeks for the villagers took only a day with the combined effort. And Lord Mori was pleased.

As his weary men mounted their horses, Motonari turned to his men, already on his steed, and claimed, "Fine work for pawns. There will be a large feast upon returning to camp, and training tomorrow will start in the afternoon. Now let's go."

He turned away and began to ride forward. Some of the newer recruits looked around in surprise. So... Motonari... wasn't always a cold-hearted douche? Learn something new everyday. Did he... actually care about them? His expression had been so impassive and voice so monotone that it was hard to say, and the men followed after him, a few quiet whispers sounding here and there.

[Takeda Shingen]

Mōri Motonari: +3 Str

[shinakawolf]

" go on and show the villages the we men have a strong heart "

shin sighed after all of the stuff the Big Boss had us do today, he now wants us to help out the villagers. thankfully it should not be that hard to accomplish all i need to do is build a house, improve a house or help out doing something else this job should be the easiest one of them all. 

Shin walked into the closest village to the base camp. He walked inside seeing that it was pretty good there didn't seem much for anything to really help out with. Shin walks up to one of the residents of the village and asks " do you know if there is anything i shin from date's group do for this village today?" the person looked around and then showed him that he could run the fruit cart today while he was away. Shin nodded with ease as he took on this seemingly easy task. i mean come on its running a fruit cart how in the world could this get busy.

About an hour had passed and no customers showed up. so far this was seeming like a piece of cake. (Wait what is a cake anyways?) shin spoke to soon because over the horizon he could see a whole group of people coming towards him. this task still seemed easy even if he is surrounded by customers. The first customer asked fro three apple which was an easy task. then the next one asked for a bunch of bananas, a thing of grapes and one red apple and three green apples this was a bit more complicated to calculate. while this happened 7 more customers started grabbing stuff of the cart and wanting to pay for it.  was starting to get overwhelmed by all this, i was a warrior a samurai i am not a cart sales man. thankfully the cart's owner came back and took care of it and that was it for that job.

shin looked up and saw that he still had time to do at least another job, in the village. shin looked around and he saw someone building a new sign board in the middle of the village. this gave shin a good idea, he walked over to that man and explained that he would finish the job for him. shin went to slamming the nails into the wood blocks to keep them together. it took shin about 30 minutes to finish this task and get the board up for all the people to see.

with that being done it was time for shin to head back to camp. feeling a lot better knowing he help two people out today well at least one person.

[Brandt Solveig]

Such a horrible sight to see.. Such a shame to know I once took part in these kinds of raids..

Those pale green eyes scanned about the village he was approaching. He had seen bellows of black smoke rising on the horizon and it had piqued the giant's curiosity. It seemed he had stumbled upon the remnants of some kind of attack. Smouldering remains of houses and other objects scattered around, dead livestock on top of it all.

The Nord could not simply pass by without lending a hand, his conscious wouldn't allow it. Approaching the first person he could find,  the northlander inquired about what had happened. As he had expected, they were sneak attacked by a group of bandits. Leaving with his apologies, he would move on toward the center of the village.

His eyes would set upon one house, the remains of a family huddled near the ashe of their lost house. It seemed the attack had happened at least a day ago and they were still recovering. A lot of the debris was removed already and it seemed that they had begun to rebuild already. However it moved slow, as it was just a elderly man and his teenage son. Brandt would approach them with a solemn look upon his face.

"Can I assist you? I will gladly lend a hand.. This is probably tough for your family."

At first the man seemed shocked by hid appearance and approached. However he quickly accepted the help of such a sturdy man. While Brandt hadn't specialized in carpentry, he had often helped to make repairs around his old village in the north. Grabbing some extra tools, he would begin to help them finish the work.

Four moons would pass before Brandt would nail in the final wall section. The home had been rebuilt to it's former glory, if that was what you could call it. The peasants thanked him greatly for what he had done and had even offered him some coin as a token of their appreciation. However Brandt would decline it and leave.

He would spend another four moons in the village, helping as many as he could. In a way the giant had looked at it as if he was atoning for stuff like this that he had took part in. However it was time to move on, he was sure that Takehiro would be expecting him back for training. The Nord had been gone long enough.

[Tokugawa Ieyasu]

shinakawolf +2 Str

Brandt Solveig +3 Str

Both gain, Leadership-(D)

[Ichimura Ryunosuke]

Ryunosuke found himself going to a shoreline village in Totomi with haste. This village was ravaged by the raging sea, the water bearing down on the homes of the villagers, leaving them broken and devastated. When he saw the sight of the village already in ruins, he can't help but lament over the situation. While some other soldiers started to walk away from the village, he and some other soldiers remained in the village to rebuild the houses destroyed by the flood.

As the team of Ryunosuke searched around for anything that could be used for the rebuilding of the houses of the poor villagers, they say some trees uprooted by the flood. Hewing them into planks and bars, they brought the wood back to the village, and, gathering the remains of the homes destroyed by the flood, they started to rebuild the houses back to their original form. But Ryunosuke could not be found anywhere after they had hauled the wood to the village. The reason is that he went out of the village to search for the resource that should be lacking when floods came: water.

Ryunosuke, pulling his cart loaded with very large earthenware vessels, started to search through the forest for springs or rivulets that should have fresh water near the village. The wells that the villagers used which was near the village were rendered undrinkable by the flood of seawater, and so he had to walk 10 miles with the pots to reach the spring that some of the villagers had talked about while addressing their concerns about their water supply. Ryunosuke then wasted no time to fill up the vessels with water, for he knew that the contents of those vessels would not be enough for the whole village. He then returned back to the village, where some of the villagers boiled the water so that it would be suitable for drinking. Ryunosuke then returned to the spring, his cart loaded with the vessels that were emptied after only 5 minutes.

The day was almost ending, but Ryunosuke didn't stop yet on getting water for the entire village, as he always did for them for 16 hours non-stop, eating his meals while on the move. Fortunately he had no need to do it for day, since by that time, the villagers who had recovered from the flood was helping him, although they did not supply as much water as Ryunosuke did. But after he had delivered the ninth ration of water to the villagers, the villagers were recovered enough for them to get their water themselves, and so Ryunosuke was back with the soldiers of his unit rebuilding the wrecked homes.

A fortnight after the flood, the houses were all restored to their former conditions, and the water problems also ended with that, since the wells were filled again with freshwater. As Ryunosuke's unit finally said goodbye to the villagers, the smiles of the villagers almost nullified their tiredness from rebuilding the village. The smiles were the greatest moments that the soldiers of Ryunosuke's company would cherish in their hearts.

[Takeda Shingen]

Ichimura Ryunosuke: +3 Str

Proficiency: Leadership - D

[Fujii Yori]

" The hell did you say , you little pick "!

A overly loud mercenary says glaring at Yori. With his signature blank look, he scans the area. There appears to be five mercenarys now all aggressively leering at Yori and the owner behind the bar table serving the men their drinks. Yori brings his eyes back to the mercenary that appears to be their " leader ". He clears his throat and repeats what he had just said to the mercenary a mere moment ago.

" The bandits that threaten this town have been dealt with, you are no longer required. Here is a letter of resignation and your last payment, now that you contract has been completed i suggest you leave to find more work ".

He places the letter and money on the counter. The reason Yori made the trip that a simple courier could have done, was because these mercenary made no attempt at ridding the area of bandits and simply kept them at bay. While they made trouble for the townspeople and conned The Azai out of their money. While we could of throw them in jail i suggested that i rid the area of bandits and terminate their employ. In this war torn era we need as many swords as we can muster, therefore if we mistreat the mercenarys many will think twice about working for us.

The mercenary leader scuffs, takes the money and throws the letter back at Yori. Him and his men begin to laugh and make fun of Yori's words and his letter of resignation. The mercenary sitting next to the leader cugs his drink and stands up facing Yori and in a mocking tone saying to him.

" Well now milord we kindly thank you for your message and payment, but would you kindly shove that letter up your ass, it might loosen you up for when you go back to your lord "!

The bar fills with laughter, however Yori still wears his blank expression. He walks out of the bar for the moment and comes back pulling a line with him. He continues walking down the bar, when he makes it past the mercenary leader a thumping sound echos in the bar. The mercenarys cease laugh and turn their attention to the sound. When their eyes meet the source of the noise the leader's eyes widen and his comrades jump out of their seats. The string Yori pulled in had ten heads hooked through it like fish. Yori drops the string and begins to speak.

" It seems all you needed was poof that the deed was done, now that you without a doubt know that your contract was completed i suggested you refer to what i said before, oh and take your trinket with you i highly doubt the townspeople enjoy your method of keeping track".

Yori turns to see that the mercenarys were dumbfounded. The leader stands and picks the letter up then bows to Yori, and tells his men to take the heads and that their leaving. The men Bow to Yori and pick up the heads and follow their leader out of the bar.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Fujii Yori : +3 Str.

Proficiency: Leadership - D acquired.