The Day of Thunder

For once, Ranmaru got to bask in his ideal world within his dreams. A bunch of men, with their chests bare like him, training side-by-side to be the greatest fighting force in the Empire. The handsome men he'd met during his time at the village were totally there too. At long last, they understood the benefits of TWO SWORDS.

But such wonderful things weren't meant to last. You bastard, he wanted to call out. However, instead he internalized where his daisho lay beside him in case he needed to strike...

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D3-D4 Sleep Event #2: Roll 1 Investigation / Perception TN 30 | 4k3 ⇒ 32 (TN: 30)

Your eyes snap open to see a twisted being in front of you, needles for its fingers. It gasps and disappears.

Ranmaru sprang into action, drawing both of his swords and thrusting them forward at where he saw his enemy last. Needles for fingers, sure, but was this strange figure perhaps female?

That was what he would have wondered about first...

It'd hadn't seem to have the markings of either gender that he could determine.

Even if his eyes could not discern the figure, his mind filled in the gaps: a true manly man would not have announced his presence for a duel. But even the lowliest man would not simply run off into the night as soon as spotted.

Ranmaru gripped his swords and then stepped out of his tent. One could say he had three swords out in the wind as he looked around for this dastardly interloper.

There is no sign of it.

"Don't come back until you're ready for a proper challenge." Ranmaru went back into his abode and did not stress on the matter.

Needles... Tools of a woman.