A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 10 April 2012
Sorry, couldn't find any latest EE based ruling on it.
Ambush Limited: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target another player's Personality: Create a battlefield (not at any province). Assign your Personality to attack there. Assign the target to defend there, even if he is bowed. Other Personalities will not move there. Fight a battle there (after this action's resolution). After the battle ends, lose 5 Honor.
Rhetoric Reaction: Before a player gains or loses Honor from an action's effects, bow your performing Courtier: Choose another player. If the Courtier's Chi is higher than or equal to the Honor gain or loss, the chosen player instead of the original player takes the gain or loss.
Just to confirm, seeing that honor loss from Ambush happens after the battle actually ends, so it's a delayed effect on the honor loss? So that means the ambush player has no window to rhetoric the loss?
Or he can do it before the battle actually starts?
Jon Palmer (rules official), 10 April 2012
Sorry, couldn't find any latest EE based ruling on it.
Ambush Limited: Choose your performing unbowed Personality and target another player's Personality: Create a battlefield (not at any province). Assign your Personality to attack there. Assign the target to defend there, even if he is bowed. Other Personalities will not move there. Fight a battle there (after this action's resolution). After the battle ends, lose 5 Honor.
Rhetoric Reaction: Before a player gains or loses Honor from an action's effects, bow your performing Courtier: Choose another player. If the Courtier's Chi is higher than or equal to the Honor gain or loss, the chosen player instead of the original player takes the gain or loss.
Just to confirm, seeing that honor loss from Ambush happens after the battle actually ends, so it's a delayed effect on the honor loss? So that means the ambush player has no window to rhetoric the loss?
Or he can do it before the battle actually starts?
The trigger for Rhetoric is before the player actually gains or loses honor (not the resolution of the action causing the honor loss, as some cards are worded). Therefore, since the delayed honor loss happens after the battle, the trigger for Rhetoric is also after the battle, when the 5 honor loss is about to occur.