The New Winds

Please conduct your match here

Yotsuo is not super confident in his ability to effectively handle a mount in such a complex manner. Riding at a leisurely pace, or even pushing into a sprint... sure. But all this complicated stuff? It was fully out of his wheelhouse.

After acquainting himself with the horse, which went much better than expected, he gets up and begins the course. And to his surprise, things seemed to go well for him...

They want me to lance that?!

He hadn't been expecting the ring to be quite so small and difficult. And he had to put a pole the height of a full grown Hida through it. With each pass he kept tightening the circle more and more. Undoubtedly a few of the onlookers and judges were hiding snickers at the constant and fruitless attempts of a Kuni monk trying to perform this task. It was more than some less experienced young observers could handle and their chuckles weren't hidden at all. But the young man refused to stop until he got the ring.

Just then, someone shouted to him in a joking fashion, "A little to the left!" with a big smile on their face. It broke Yotsuo's concentration and as he turned to look at who said it his lance accidentally slipped into the ring and tugged it free from it's hold. When he looked back to where it should have been he thought that someone had stolen it before looking down and seeing it suspended on the lance. Realization finally setting in, he pushed the horse onward towards the end with even greater urgency than the start of the race, with an impressive amount of speed for someone not so well trained in this art.

Dismounting, he patted his horse an the neck and thanked it for helping him out before turning to bow to the judge and Jiro.

After that he made his way to join other observers, but rather than watching, he emptied his mind of the frustration of the previous events and prepared for the next to come.

----
Ring: Fire

D3 EA, Horseback Riding Mount, Animal Handling / Intelligence, TN 15: 4d10 15
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Leg 1, Horsemanship / Agility, TN 15: 4d10o10k3 20 +1 point
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Grab Flag, Athletics / Agility, TN 20: 4d10o10k3 29 +1 point
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Leg 2, Horsemanship / Agility, TN 20: 4d10o10k3 28 +1 point
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Lance Ring, Animal Handling / Agility, VP Phantom Rank, TN 25: 4d10o10k3 11
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Lance Ring 2, Animal Handling / Agility, TN 25: 10#3d10 10 20 13 12 22 18 13 18 13 20
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Lance Ring 3, Animal Handling / Agility, TN 25: 10#3d10 8 13 20 12 19 14 16 8 28 19 +0 points
D3 EA, Horseback Riding Leg 3, Horsemanship / Agility, VP +1k1, TN 25: 5d10o10k4 40 +2 points

Topaz Points: 5

D3 EA, Meditation / Void, +10 TN for mud, TN 30: 10d10o10k5 52 +3 VP recovered

Reasoning that perhaps it was best to follow the sensei's instructions on this one, Jiro trusted to the Fire ring.

He swung up onto the horse like he was born in the saddle and rode down the course at a good, controlled clip, horse and rider moving together smoothly. The wind picked up slightly as he approached the flag, but he was able to snag it with some strain. Maintaining his pace with the grace of a far more experienced horseman, he returned to the start of the course and charged toward the ring, but found his lance knocked against the side, sending it spinning. His return pass was a plain miss, though the third attempt came much closer. Finally, he closed his eyes and centered himself, and found that on the fourth attempt the ring simply alighted on the end of his lance. He found himself smiling as he road the magnificent pony toward the end of the course, daring a glance to see if Prashant was watching in the crowd. He was no Unicorn, but perhaps he had done well enough to catch his eye.

Animal Handling/Intelligence=39 Success.
Horsemanship/Agility 1, 1 raise=38 Exceptional Success (4 pts total)
Athletics/Agility=22 Success (1 pt)
Horsemanship/Agility 2=30 Exceptional Success (2 pts).
Lance=17 Failure!
Lance attempt 2-4: 7, 13, 25
Hoursemanship Agility 3=43 Exceptional Success (2 pts)

9 pts earned+10 for coming in first=19 Topaz Points.

Meditation roll=33 1 VP recovered.