[OA/FR] Rokugan - Updated 12/13/03

[Black Omega]

Part of the initial ambush of Bansho Kishu was a Stinking Cloud cast by the Tsuno Soultwister. A risky choice. If it had worked, a couple of the group would have been incapacitated and probably killed quickly. But everyone resisted the effect of the Cloud and used it as cover to regroup behind it as the Tsuno charged forward. What was more disturbing to Mir was that her thrush was immediately the subject of attacks as well and only barely escaped. Most attackers never bothered with her familiar.

Verick went invisible and bravely rushed forward as the others regrouped and the Tsuno leader snarled in Rokugani “Samurai! We offer you the chance to face us one on one! The others we will cut down like dogs where they stand!”

Toshiro bravely accepted, facing one single Tsuno by himself as the other Tsuno simply passed him by to attack the others. Volar and Mindra very nearly simply teleported home but for the moment Mindra simply scampered up a tree, Mir and Volar taking shelter inside a stone wall of the elf’s creation. Verick banished his own invisibility once he was close enough to the Tsuno leader and shouted a personal acceptance of the challenge. He knew the Tsuno had a special hatred of the Lion clan and was not disappointed, then Tsuno Ravager charged him. What did surprise him was how quickly the creature reached him, seconds sooner than he was prepared for and the creature’s first blow hurt him badly.

Slowly the rest of Bansho Kishu reformed on the Stone ‘fortress’ Volar had created and Toshiro quit allowing the Tsuno to bypass him. Summoned Dire Apes and Earth Elementals. Helped support the burly Crab samurai . Verick was not doing so well. A hundred feet from the stone wall, his speed wasn’t quite counter balancing the massive Ravager’s raw power. Though he did terrible damage to the Tsuno, he was steadily forced back, step by step, until a savage overhead strike dashed his jade katana to the side and the next blow split Verick’s skull open, leaving the bloody Lion to fall in a bloody heap.

The rest of the battle was drawn out but Bansho managed to hold on and finally force the Tsuno patrol to retreat. Everyone in the group was left pretty battered, but Verick was the only real loss. The group found a spot well away from the blighted path to hole up. Mir cast a Plant growth over the area around them to make it even slower for someone to try to sneak up on them while Mindra worked his magic, healing Verick of the crippling injuries suffered against the Tsuno. Though a scar remains slicing across Verick’s face, a reminder of the vicious combat. It would be a month before Verick was fully recovered from the wounds.

And Volar was not the only one disturbed by the ambush. Not only how they knew the group was there, but how they knew about Mir’s familiar. The Tsuno had been entirely too well prepared for them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watches were set that night and for the first time since he had come to the forest, Mindra dreamed vividly. He was out exploring through the forest and came upon some humanoid plant people close to the camp. Watching for a moment, but as one of the plant people cast a spell that made them nearly invisible, Mindra felt himself summon a Dire Ape.

Mindra woke back in the camp under the covers as a roar was heard, the distinctive snarls of a great ape, ended in mid growl somewhere out in the darkness. As the group readied for attack, the first wave came. A flurry of burning arrows into the camp, illuminating the area. Then a summoned bear crashing in to attack as arrows started to fly into the group. Mir and Verick could see well hidden archers firing at them, another of the thin, tall figures closer, firing quickly from two hands crossbows, smaller sized bolts that landed with a zap whoever they hit. And over it all a yelled “Gley Va! Came naha, ah duinya!”

Volar and Mir quickly cast the Tongue’s spell and found Bansho Kishu was being attacked in retribution for the attack on the forest people by a dire ape they associated with Mindra. It wasn’t easy, but the group refrained from attacking the Volodni at all as Mir tried to convince the forest people to call off the attack and talk.

The Volodni were deeply distrustful, but finally the group’s refusal to attack them persuaded the plant folk to agree to a truce. The Volodni were determined they had seen Mindra cast the spell. Mindra talking to himself wasn’t helping the situation much. He seemed to be in an argument with thin air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Well, gee, skipper! What was I supposed to do? They were obviously moving in to attack and you know how dangerous this forest is.” The dark spirit protested to Mindra. “Well, sure skipper, they could have been friendly. But have we met a single creature so far who was? Why think they were different?”

“We can at least let them attack first and then fight them if needed!” Mindra growled, growing annoyed.

“But look what happened with the Tsuno! Skipper, if they keep attacking first, sooner or later you’ll be killed!” the spirit went on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And the rest of Bansho Kishu stared a little more at Mindra. He’d never been this bad before. Finally is was agreed to test some jade on Mindra, though whoever Mindra was walking to seemed to think this was a bad idea, based on the Vanara’s ravings. The touch of jade burned into Mindra’s body painfully, shocking the Vanara to the core.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Notes from Mir

Sorry to interupt again, but must leave a comment here as well. Now move along until there is something to see.

Mir.

 

[Black Omega]

I had some fun preparing the Volodni. I'd long ago decided Sylvan probably sounds like Gaelic. So I'd found some links to a Scottish radin 'How to speak gaelic' series and listened to that, then written down phonetically some phrases I could use, instead of simply saying 'They say some things you don't understand.' It wasn't a big deal, but was a small touch I enjoyed.

 

[Black Omega]

Finding out jade burned him seemed to finally shake up Mindra and he finally related everything that had been going on with the spirit, how it rescued him from the Black Wave and had been trying to help him since then. Also seemingly it led the group into the ambush with the Tsuno, which might explain why none of the Tsuno had made a real effort to kill Mindra.

There was some furious discussion over what to do with Mindra. The Volodni had ideas of their own for a bloody, but final solution. But the rest of Bansho Kishu finally settled on taking him back home to Ryoko Owari and seeing what the shugenja in Daikoku’s Shadow could do. Volar teleported back with Mindra, Kaz and Toshiro to take the monkey in for testing while Mir and Verick stayed behind with the Tsuno.

The tests at the temple complex in Ryoko Owari confirmed Mindra had been tainted by the spirit, but not fatally. Mindra’s refusal to draw on the power offered by the spirit had saved him. The torments the Vanara was put through over the next few days forced the taint from his body inch by excruciating inch. His fur blackening as the taint was forced outward. Until the final process stripped the oily fur from his body. A hairless monkey was not a pretty sight, but preferable to tainted and haunted by a spirit that reported Bansho Kishu’s every move. And Mindra could use his talisman to look Rokugani, where the bald look wasn’t quite so bad.

In the mean time Toshiro visited his wife and Kaz checked in on the kid’s training and how things were going in his area. So far, so peaceful happily.

Shinomen forest was not quite so peaceful. The Volodni had a host of questions for Verick and Mir, very suspicious of the intentions the human and Aasimar had for their forest. Mir ‘s charm slowly won them over, as did Verick’s blunt honesty. The Volodni didn’t become friends of theirs, but at least they became more friendly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Much delayed, the adventure resumed with Volar and the others teleporting back. A brief delay when they found the Volodni village the two had been staying at was destroyed. But a few Sendings later and Bansho Kishu were back together.

The Volodni solemnly wondered what the group was up to. Tsuno patrols were out in force again and two Volodni settlements had been attacked to far.. the Volodni knew of the grove that Mir and the others were looking for, the Tsuno had driven them from the grove just months before. From the information the Volodni had, there had to be a hundred Tsuno in the area.

There was a certain temptation on the part of some members of Bansho Kishu to say “Good luck Mir, time for us to head back to Ryoko Owari.” But that thought was never spoken. And after some negotiation, the group found the Volodni would be willing to help them against the Tsuno. But first, they wanted some help against the force that was sickening the forest. An undead creature only called ‘He-Whom-We-Do-Not-Name’. This creature had arrived a hundred years before and built a strong hold in some caves and surrounded it in a field that killed off all plants. Effectively making sure the Volodni could not even get close to him.

The group debated a little and then cast their fortune coins, carefully asking “If we attack the Tsuno before taking care of this undead, what would be the result?” The coins showed very clearly ‘Woe.’ So it was decided, Bansho Kishu was attack the undead before moving on to confront the Tsuno. Though Volar thought to himself “We never asked what the result will be even after we’ve taken care of ‘He-Whom-We-Do-Not-Name’.

A guide took them to the edge of the barren lands, a place where all plant life was withered away into nothing. It as like this for a mile around ‘He-Whom-We-Do-Not-Name’s stronghold. Volar had an idea for trying to sneak in, though it took a little convincing for the others. He used a spell the make the group look like Tsuno, and a Polymorph on Verick to make him truly a Tsuno.

[GM Note - The switch to 3.5 is coming after this adventure.]

Traveling on they quickly ran into a group of humans who seemed to be waiting on someone. They didn’t seem shocked to meet Tsuno and parleyed. Mir spoke for the group and tried to keep them out of trouble while finding it the ‘Lord of the Barren Lands’ clearly had some sort of deal with the Tsuno. That was as far as it go, though. Verick’s Tsuno form was being stalked by a human cleric who seemed to be...flirting with him? Verick wasn’t pleased with that at all, and the others saw their cover getting blown way to quickly , so they attacked. The slim man with the skull motif who had been doing the talking for the group was cut down in seconds but then the battle got tough. While the others got wrapped up with the warriors, Toshiro charged up to the cleric, only to be quickly frozen in place by a spell. The cleric’s caress quickly discovered Toshiro was no Tsuno, at which point she started draining off his life energy with Inflict spells.

One surprising opponent the group didn’t expect to find was Malachai, the half orc-half halfling from Kuzo. He tumbled into view and flanked Kaz, the orcling’s axes not doing nearly as much damage as his sneak attack. Volar’s magic turned a Hordeland looking warrior against the others and they were able to cut their way to Toshiro, chasing off the cleric then healing him up. Mindra helped out Kaz and quickly enough Malachai took off running. Not a long trip, Kaz activated his Bansho Kishu badge for Expeditious Retreat and was able to chase down the little runt this time, finally finishing the job of killing him.

Pragmatically, some in the group looted the bodies while the samurai questioned the Hordelander. He served the Lord of the Barren Lands, a lich of some power. Malachai and the necromancer’s body was tossed into the bag of holding, just in case someone wanted to raise them. And the group used their guide to head on to the stronghold of ‘He-Whom-We-Do-Not-Name’.

[GM Note – The group was certainly pleased to kill Malachai. Though I was a little surprised they made no effort to find out what he was doing here, so far from where he had been. The group had used Speak with Dead often enough in the past. Ah well, one more mystery for the group later.]

 

[Despaxas]

[GM Note – The group was certainly pleased to kill Malachai. Though I was a little surprised they made no effort to find out what he was doing here, so far from where he had been. The group had used Speak with Dead often enough in the past. Ah well, one more mystery for the group later.]

Hehe, so the little bastard finally bought it. I do find myself wondering what he was doing there but then again, all evil is always interconnected

 

[Black Omega]

[GM Note – The group was certainly pleased to kill Malachai. Though I was a little surprised they made no effort to find out what he was doing here, so far from where he had been. The group had used Speak with Dead often enough in the past. Ah well, one more mystery for the group later.]

Hehe, so the little bastard finally bought it. I do find myself wondering what he was doing there but then again, all evil is always interconnected

That only leaves Taka, Stavros, Grond, Viktor...especially Taka since the group has fought him five times withing managing to corner him. And not everyone in the group thinks they have to kill Viktor. More on Malachai later though.

 

[Black Omega]

The trip to the entrance to the Lord of the Barren Land’s lair was short, thanks to their guide, who had also provided information about the cleric, named Zeal, who had escaped. Ordered to be honest, Nazar was completely honest. About how humans were only allowed on the upper level of the dungeon. About how many humans there were. About how he looked forward to seeing Volar dead so he could kill the rest of Bansho Kishu and use their skulls for wine cups. The Hordelander was bluntly honest.

[GM Note-For the moment Verick is still polymorphed into a Tsuno, which has it’s advantaged, including reach from his large size. The rest of the group still disguised as Tsuno.]

The opening to the lair was guarded by some blood red crows. Their Hordelander friend just said they would hang around, he wasn’t sure what they were or why. He’d just assumed they served the Lord of the Barren Lands. A fast spread of magic missiles exploded the murder of crows into a spray of blood, popping them over overfull mosquitoes.

The trip inside was less exciting. Ordered to tell where the traps were, at the very first turn Nazar did so. By yelling out at the top of his lungs “Toshiro, watch for that trap there! Your two fighter friends, the elven wizard controlling me, and the two clerics have to avoid that trap!”

After that Volar ordered Nazar to tell them about traps quietly. In fact, only speak when spoken too and then only reply in a whisper. The angry Hordelander had to agree, but he wasn’t backing down an inch. He knew he was controlled and knew the only way out was Volar’s death.

Verick guided the group past the first few traps, and a battle with the first wave of defenders was short and to the point. The next trap was more subtle, though. A room of whirling blades only activated when Kaz, Toshiro and Verick went ahead. Then bars dropped down to cut off the others. Bars blocked off the door leading out as well, allowing a necromancer there the chance to taunt the fighters trapped inside as the blades sliced in. But the death mage fled when Verick used his great strength to bend the bars open a little. Enough for Toshiro and Kaz to escape. Instead of helping open the bars enough to let Verick out, the two samurai chased after the death mage. Or they would have if a trap he had nimbly avoided opened up, dropping Kaz into a deep pit, leaving Toshiro one on one with the mage. While the door at the end of the hallway opened and skeletons poured out, along with Zeal.

At this point the battle got ugly. Toshiro was frozen in place by another spell and left to the good graces of Zeal. The others charged forward, firing arrows down on Kaz in the pit, then another undead threw himself past the others, it’s eyes burning red. As Verick watched, there was an explosion from the fit, followed by a rush of fire.

Verick had not been idle, though. Turning his strength to breaking the whirling blades, he managed to disable half the trap while a Volar pass wall created a way around the bars. From a side passage a young, smaller centaur charged into view, hacking down skeletons as Kaz slowly climbed out of the burning pit. And the fight turned against the undead. Until the Necromancer was killed, the zombies and skeletons hacked down, and Zeal forced to flee through the ‘Door which is never open’. Or so Nazar had called it. The group decided to camp that night. The centaur revealed himself to be Hawk, from the Centaur Nation. Assassins from Rokugan had killed the king there and he wanted revenge.

Before settling down, Kaz yelled back to the group from where he watched the door “Incoming!” But it wasn’t an attack, this once. A skinny ghoul stepped into view, bearing a banner that showed a withered tree in black against a green background.

“Who speaks for Bansho Kishu! I bear a message from my lord. My lord offers a truce, for a period of two hours, for the purpose of dinner and the chance to meet and discuss an end to these hostilities. My lord says he bears the eastern empire no ill will and despite this, their second attack upon his home, he wishes peace. And perhaps even alliance against the plant people who prey so savagely upon humans.” The ghoul offered.

Mir stepped up to speak for the group. They did not trust the lich enough for dinner, but they agreed to the truce and to negotiation. Though it did not go smoothly. The ghoul smoothly challenged their right to be here attacking the Lord of the Barren Lands. While seeking a way to avoid this final battle. And offering an alliance against the enemies of humans, like the Volodni and Spiders. Not the best approach to take with Mir. It came down to Bansho Kishu demanding the Lord of the Barren Lands retreat from this forest and never return. A demand the ghoul herald would not give into, finally sweeping into a bow before shaking his head.

”Very well. I will carry your words to my lord. In parting, I bring one last thing from my lord. Scorn. Slight regard and contempt for those who attack under the guise of allies. For deceitful cowards who will not even reveal their faces to those they attack. We were not your enemies until you made us so.” The ghoul hisses, special emphasis put onto the word We.

That night was the group attacked by skeletons and ghosts. Then the next morning they had to fight their way past the door which is never opened. Traps waiting there as well as a deep drop into a pit that only one person at a time could pass using spiderclimb. And while they were held up there, an invisible firgure at the end of the hallway zapped them with lightning. Kaz and Toshiro recklessly charged to up chase that figure off, then Kaz went back to help the others while Toshiro stood guard by the locked door their attacked had apparently disappeared through. At least they had seen it open, the hinges screeching.

It was only 30 seconds, but by the time Bansho Kishu came back, Toshiro was gone without a trace.

 

[Black Omega]

It was only Volar’s quick thinking that saved Toshiro. The Elven illusionist saw through the door and convinced the others it was really an illusion, even though it took persuading Kaz to close his eyes and then pushing him through. Beyond was a paralyzed Toshiro, being gnawed upon by ghouls. But Verick, Mir and their new friend Hawk made short work of the undead creatures. And just in time, Toshiro was on death’s door by the time they were done. Luckily, Mindra was able to draw him back.

The hallway led to a steep drop down a slope into darkness. But Bansho Kishu were not convinced this was the path to the lich and exampled the dead end at the other end of the hallway closely. Verick’s skills came in useful here, finding the secret door then picking the lock. Going down the twisting stairs, they came to another door. As Verick approached, a magic mouth was triggered, shouting out “This is your last chance for peace. The first hand raised against me will find his life, his family and his clan devoured by darkness.”

At the same time, a Evard’s Black Tentacles spell was activated and it took a minute for the fighters to hack their way through the writhing tendrils. Beyond lay the throne room of the Lord of the Barren Lands. His throne was guarded by a massive undead minotaur, as well as other undead..ghouls..ghosts. And to one side a strange dog looking creature made from total blackness, it’s form shifting from one dog shape to another now and then, eyes covering the body at irregular intervals.

What this demon dog might have done was left a mystery to the group since Volar immediately Dismissed it, and just that fast the creature was sent to another plane.

[GM Note – I had Volar roll the chance to see if the creature was returned to it’s home plane. It wasn’t. So, someday, in another game of mine in a different game world, the PC’s will run into an evil dog like creature and wondered “Where the hell did that come from.”]

Verick charged forward invisibly to try and get at the lich while Toshiro and Kaz charged at Zeal. Verick was fast enough to avoid the trap door that opened when he got close to the lich. Toshiro was not and the unlucky samurai fell down into the darkness out of sight.

Again, Zeal caused no end of trouble with her Hold Monster spells and her ability to heal both herself and undead. The massive minotaur went toe to toe with Hawk, massive axe against axe as blood and undead flesh flew. Risky as it was, Verick’s charge worked for him and it drove the Lich back. Volar’s antimagic field, cast on himself, seriously cramped the Lich’s style and though the battle was fierce, Bansho Kishu eventually prevailed. Volar collected the magic items from the bodies while the samurai searched the other rooms, finding a laboratory and a storage room for body parts that apparently could be used for spells or some twisted sort. But Zeal, who had teleported away from the battle, was no where to be found. Though the lich was defeated, the group had no illusions a lord of the undead was destroyed. They knew he’d be back.

To the surprise of some in the group, Volar wanted nothing to do with the items recovered from the bodies that related to necromancy. In fact, he liked the idea of turning them over to the Volodni to be destroyed. Verick wanted to play with the Lich’s staff, however. And using his roguish skills he managed after a couple tries to activate a darkness field that covered the entire room. Not trusting the staff, the rest of Bansho Kishu, and Hawk, had already withdrawn from the room.

The darkness was more than normal darkness, it bit into Verick’s skin, as if it was trying to burrow it’s way into the reckless samurai’s soul. Verick managed to find a small corner not covered in the darkness and once there, decided to try his luck with the staff again. After a moment, there was a roar in the darkness, a bull like grunt and Verick had this bad suspicious he just brought the Minotaur back to unlife.

Toshiro rushed in to help him and Volar dispelled the darkness field. Verick wasn’t in serious trouble, however. He had found the staff could control the minotaur. An idea that appealed to him for a second before he realized it was him controlling one of the dishonorable undead. The minotaur was destroyed and the staff was tucked safely away to be destroyed as well.

Exploring the rest of the caves, the group found more ghouls to kill and ghosts to chase off. They also found a halforc in the process of turning slowly into ghoul. The creature was chained to a wall, emaciated and obviously diseased. His only wish was for a fighting death rather than turning into a ghoul. A death Verick granted him, but only after they found the halforc had traveled with Malachai into the forest where they had found and joined the lich. Apparently Malachai had performed some act of treachery against Stavros to give Viktor an edge in that battle. And then Viktor spared their lives but otherwise wanted nothing to do with the traitor. They had fled, and then Malachai had betrayed the halforc to the lich as part of a deal to keep him alive.

Bansho Kishu realized it would take a week to clear every undead from the catacomb of caves and they really didn’t have the time. So they settled for collapsing the cave entrance then heading back to rejoin the Volodni.

 

[Black Omega]

The adventure now went into it’s final stage. The stealthy Volodni honored their agreement to help against the Tsuno. Their scouting revealed that if anything there were more Tsuno at the grove now than before. Far too many for Bansho Kishu alone. But Mir managed to contact the spiders with the help of the Volodni, and the Naga with the help of Mindra, who finally brought out the Naga pearl he had not touched for months, for no reason he could really recall.

The plan was simple, there were Naga trapped inside a underground chamber at the middle of the grove, being tortured. There were patrols at regular intervals around the grove. And the Tsuno were using the middle of the grove as a base of operations. The group, under a invisibility spell, would try to sneak in, using other spells and their own stealth skills to supplement, just in case someone there could see invisible.

They would free the Naga, draw all the attention inward so the other Naga and Volodni could attack. Then break out and attacking the Tsuno from two sides.

The plan worked better than they had thought it might. With the help of Hawk’s ranger skills, they managed to avoid the traps as they were going in and got as far as the entrance to the underground cavern. With Verick’s stealth, they managed to get everyone past the guards into the cavern. Inside, they found three chambers with one Tsuno in each and lesser goblins busily adding to the Naga’s torments.

Then, as they were ready to attack the one Tsuno who could give a warning, there was a loud monkey screech, followed by Rokugani swearing. Though only Verick could see that Toshiro had accidentally stepped on Mindra’s tail and the Vanara had been unable to stifle the cry of pain.

Even with this glitch, the battle went well and the group was able to kill the guards. The goblins were more difficult, since they ran around in circles trying to escape and the group had to chase the, from cave to cave before finally tracking all of them down. The Tsuno counter attack did not wait long, a pack of Tsuno attacking directly down the hallway, the front Tsuno using their wicked falchions, the one’s behind casting Ancestral Vengeance over and over. Then a Soultwister and a Travage teleported back into the main chamber where the Naga were sleeping, the Soultwister casting a Cloud Kill that killed many of the Naga.

Bansho Kishu were driven back by the assault down the tunnel, Volar popping up first a stone wall then another wall as they were pushed back closer to the three chambers. After a sharp fight where Hawk came near to death, the Soultwister and Ravager retreated and the assault was paused.

Bansho were left to awaken the other Naga and wait on the second assault they knew was coming. And the assault came less than an hour later, but not on the cave. Mir’s thrush had been left with the Volodni for communication and it reported there were Tsuno appearing from nowhere, ambushing the Volodni. The Volodni would try to pull back, but they can’t stand up to the Tsuno long without help.

The group formed up the Naga who could fight and went forward to fight their way out of the caves. And found the Tsuno had blocked their way with a wall of their own. Nothing Volar’s passwall could not get past, but just beyond the Tsuno waited, only a few but enough to hold for a time.

It took a hard fight to break through and out of the caves. Then they found the battle raging all around them. The Naga arrived from the north and first Bansho Kishu went to help them. Then they circled around to the west, running into the Spiders there, and the thick webs that cut off most of that part of the grove. Then to the east where they and the Naga held off reinforcements, presumably returning patrols. By the time they were done, the battle so the south was done as well, the Tsuno withdrawing after tearing apart the Volodni.

The tactics followed had been Verick’s, but Volar silently approved. He suspected the tactic was to let the Volodni get pounded by the Tsuno, an excellent idea in his own mind. Still, with the battle done, all that was left was the clean up.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Notes from Mir

That only leaves Taka, Stavros, Grond, Viktor...especially Taka since the group has fought him five times withing managing to corner him. And not everyone in the group thinks they have to kill Viktor. More on Malachai later though.

So I have a soft spot in my heart for the "Half-Elf" as I like to call him.

Mir