Ronin Around

Game: Ronin

Hideo’s Story

I awake most mornings to the same nightmare. In it, I’m digging and digging through the soft dirt behind my family home. I finally pull the skull of my father out. I tell him I am sorry I couldn’t protect you. My tears fall on the skull, which disintegrates in my hands.

Waking up from this dream, I vow again for the vengeance he deserves. The long scar across my chest is tight and pulls at me as I stand. Today, I am recovered and start my journey as a Ronin, kicked out from the Serpent Clan for the dishonor of being bested and losing my father as a result.

My weapons are the kama. First, a farming implement in the hands of my father. Now, in my hands, they thirst for blood, not soil. I start my journey…

According to random rolls, my Ronin is a “tall, dead-faced” guy named Hideo with a long scar across his chest. He lost someone close to him, has a recurring nightmare, and fights using the Kama Technique. I stitched this together for the intro above. I did a quick write-up of the beginning of the game to show you how it flows and then jumped to the conclusion…

I am confronted by a mercenary on the road that knew me from the Serpent Clan. He taunts me with a large turnip from my father’s field and tells me the clan is giving away these inferior vegetables and laughing at my father and me. I pull my weapons as he does…

FIGHT ROUND 1: I slash him across the chest with a kama. He falls, blood soaking the dirt.
RESULT: I tell him now he has a scar to remember me by, as does Reo. “Tell Reo I am coming for him,” I say as I knock him out with the handle of my other kama. I take the turnip as a reminder of my father and as motivation to kill Reo.
+1 Fight vs. Villains
+1 Reputation

Location: You have reached a village. Here you can help people to earn 1 of Compassion or just take shelter to earn 1 of Determination.
Result: This small village has been attacked by the Serpent Clan as they traveled through. I help the people that have been injured before continuing on foot to catch up with them and Reo.
Compassion: 3

Reputation: 1
Compassion: 3
Determination: 2
+1 Fight vs. Villains

CONCLUSION:

Hideo fought many soldiers and two villains–one including his own sister, who blamed him for their father’s death–on the way to meeting Reo. Reo appeared out of a canebreak during a windstorm as Hideo traveled with two companions, Akira and Michi. Reo smashed Michi to death before his eyes before motioning to Hideo to face him.

Hideo was prepared. He knew the weakness of Reo’s weapons was a sword. Fighting him with his kama like the first time they met in combat was no good. In his journey to find Reo, Hideo had made friends with a Katana teacher who taught him the ways of the sword.

Hideo dropped his kama and drew a sword as Reo’s eye widened. Despite Reo’s speed, Hideo was able to end him with six vicious strikes. But Hideo was not satisfied by this victory alone. He said goodbye to Akira and dropped to his knees, performing Seppuku. His honorable death meant that he could spend eternity with the family he had wronged in life.