At the muddy junction, Arimari Tiarasan slows under dripping eaves and split branches. A man with a heavy bundle of firewood stands bent beside the track, catching his breath.
Jiro
You travel light for a pilgrim, friend. Have you heard the rumors? The lord’s guards are stopping anyone who comes near the estate.
Jiro shifts the wood higher on his back and studies Arimari’s posture, careful but not rude. Rain beads on his brow, and the road behind him is a sheet of wet clay.
Arimari Tiarasan
The question is plain enough, but he watches like a man measuring a blade beneath the cloth.
Jiro
I do not mean trouble. I only mean to say, if you are bound that way, the gate may be closed to you. Old Goro has a temper when the road turns busy.
The junction settles around them in the rain, one path leading toward the estate, the other toward darker pines. Jiro waits for an answer, neither friend nor threat, only a man with firewood and a useful warning.
“I ask Jiro for the safest way to the gate”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +1)
Arimari Tiarasan
Which path reaches the gate safest?
Jiro
Take the left track, where the pines lean close. It keeps you out of sight of the estate road.
Jiro
When the ground rises, there is a culvert under the ditch. Cross there, and you avoid the watch point by the outer hedge.
Jiro shifts his bundle and nods toward the fork, rain ticking off the firewood bark in little dark drops.
Jiro
If Old Goro is at the gate, he likes questions less than bows. Keep your head low.
He glances down the safer track, then back at Arimari, weighing whether to say more.
Jiro
I know a postern used by men who carry paper for the house. Do you want that name, or do you want me to show you the turn?
“Ask the name”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +0)
Jiro
The postern is called Hachiman Gate, though the men who use it just say the paper door.
Jiro gives a short, embarrassed smile and taps two fingers to his bundle as rain patters on his sleeve.
Jiro
It is plain enough if you know the ditch. The hedge bends there, and the latch is under the eaves.
Arimari takes the name in, the pamphlets kept close beneath his cloak while the muddy fork gleams dark between them.
Jiro
I can point it out from the rise. After that, you will be on your own with the gatekeeper.
Arimari Tiarasan
Hachiman Gate.
Jiro shifts his weight toward the left track, waiting for Arimari to decide whether to follow his lead.
“Take the west road”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -1)