Pip kills g1, k3, and wounds g4 really badly. Two more standing.
They drop to their knees begging for mercy; very unsamurailike; they both switch to medium sized oni.
End of combat; experience forthcoming.....
18,300 exp each;
Beldan's sword does not increaseth.
Spoils/loot/treasure
+3 do maru armor,
+2 katana
+2 wakizashi
5 masterwork comp longbows
4 +2 steel lamellar armor;
4 masterwork katanas and wakizashis,
+2 thundering naginata
clear spindle ioun stone
+3 ring of protection
flawed crystal ball (subject knows he's being scryed)
+2 do maru armor.
4 +2 lamellar leather armor
4 +1 rings of protection
4 +1 great clubs
4 +1 lucky muskets
Let me know if you don't know what some of this stuff is; a lot is from Ultimate Combat.
40,000 gold pieces to boot.
“Wow, these guys are really ugly; what are they?” asks Beldan of the room in general as he surveys the dead and surrendered.
"Please! Don't kill me! It wasn't my idea, and I have a wife and 12 babbies!" says the former gubman oni.
The other one's quiet, and looks at JGG all shellshocked; he's confused, and probably has a concussion. He picks his nose.
Anyway's,
I'm on call Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun (yay Easter)
so, I'll be around when I'm around. Feel free to buy stuff; I know you're in a dirt poor village in Bum F$~#ing Wa, but a Yakuza contact bumps into you, smells money, for some reason you're not paranoid, and he hooks you up with access to his fencing and black marketeering operations; he gets stuff shipped to you all next day, and gives you cash on the barrel for stuff you don't want like the onis' jockstraps and/or masterwork longbows......
I feel it's fair to give you guys an opportunity to buy crap since I think it's been a while. Plus it's Easter weekend; I'm assuming others will be disappearing about this time.
And I reckon you're meeting up with Satari San now, so....
HUZZAH!
"Never seen anything like them before. Having said that, I too would change shape if I looked like that." Altai walks over to the most coherent oni. "So, who do you lot work for?"
“Oh, they’re a bit like those other shape changing guys we fought, in the black outfits, where was that ... in Asgard? Or that demi-plane where the magic dwarf was hiding with the efreeti princess?” muses Beldan.
Emrael sheathes her katana and stands examining the hole left by the gubman's lucky shot. "I have to say, you lot are fun to be around, but I seem to keep getting hurt. Past experience would indicate that I'm probably not going to feel this much until my spell wears off in an hour, but it looks pretty serious."
She looks up at Beldan with some surprise. "I thought someone mentioned Asgard earlier. Magic dwarves and efreeti princesses? Your group does get around, doesn't it?"
THANX!!!
I think it'll be cool; Easter and all.
"Never seen anything like them before. Having said that, I too would change shape if I looked like that." Altai walks over to the most coherent oni. "So, who do you lot work for?"
"The girl you killed, with the naginata. She's the ringleader here. We worked for her.
Now that she's dead, I promise to be good. I want to be a carpenter, I've decided."
“Oh, they’re a bit like those other shape changing guys we fought, in the black outfits, where was that ... in Asgard? Or that demi-plane where the magic dwarf was hiding with the efreeti princess?” muses Beldan.
ayyyyup.
I kinda like oni, I've noticed.
"Fine, fine. So who did she work for, then?"
"She come down. Down from the mountains.
See? We are forest oni.
But she is of the mountainfolk.
We don't get up there much; I think though she works, or,.....worked.....for The Lord of Swordstorms. The Master of Blood Mountain."
Other than their dead leader, these oni don't seem to work for the Lord of Swordstorms. Or know much about him. She just showed up in the woods, and said "you lot.....do what I say," killed two of their number, and they acquiesced. They were......free agents, coerced into working as temporary help. A mob of roving oni dudez, running around in the woods, gettin in little "oni adventures."
That's about all he'll cop to, and then he says,
"Is, uh......that allright?" and looks worried, and stresses that he's married with many many children. Many more than his wife has teats, he adds for good measure.
"Good, good - the idea of oni women having twelve teats is profoundly upsetting. Now, how long have you been doing the bidding of this swordstorm fellow?"
I guess the plural is "oni."
You can say Oni's and I'll know what you're talkign about;.....
she is taller, lankier, and looks like a cross between a human, a mandrill, and a preying mantis; reeeeel long arms, a blue nose, red skin, and tusks;
the two natives in your rabble know she's a Ja Noi; an oni that possessed hobgoblin stock. The other scaly skinned devil faced guys were Kuwa; they were oni who possessed human stock.
"She had 17 or 18, depending on what you consider a teat. We worked for her for a few days, until you liberated us, and for which we are truly grateful. Maybe I'll be a fisherman now, and I have you all to thank for my second lease on an honest life.
I also will take up zazen meditation."
Dok sheathes his blade after disarming the last gubsman and making him drop all his gear. As he walks past, towards the group, he says "Leave it all. I see you again, I let my cat feast on your guts while you live."
"Very wise, master oni. Fishing is a most respectable profession."
Satari makes no move to touch the piled up treasure. Instead the old man stares round, eyes wide in wonder, at the strange company. "Now you," he says, a broad smile creeping across his face, "are very interesting people. I am Satari, and I like to meet interesting people."
He bows slightly, arms crossed, to each in turn. Slightly lower to Emrael, perhaps.
Emrael, katana in sheathe, bows very deeply to the newcomer. He reminds her greatly of the Old Man of her past, someone she feared she would never meet again.
"Honored one, it does my heart good to meet you once again."
Dok sheathes his blade after disarming the last gubsman and making him drop all his gear. As he walks past, towards the group, he says "Leave it all. I see you again, I let my cat feast on your guts while you live."
"No, please, I....take it.....I'm really rather stringy, and mostly fat anyway's."
"Very wise, master oni. Fishing is a most respectable profession."
Satari makes no move to touch the piled up treasure. Instead the old man stares round, eyes wide in wonder, at the strange company. "Now you," he says, a broad smile creeping across his face, "are very interesting people. I am Satari, and I like to meet interesting people."
He bows slightly, arms crossed, to each in turn. Slightly lower to Emrael, perhaps.
Elgan dismisses his stony/plant-covered companion with a pat on it's stone leg, and the JGG vanishes back into the ground. (Athough, the grass really IS greener there for quite a while.) Then walks over to join the rest of the group, leaving ALtai to do all of that tedious talking with the prisoners.
He does stand examining the prisoners for a few moments, not gawking as others <cough, Beldan, Cough> but as if memorizing their features in case he meets them again.
"Fishin's guud." He agrees nonchalantly, then bows in return to the unarmed warrior who assisted them.
"Ah'm pleesed ez punch teh meet yeh Sataree. Ah'm Elgan, an' deh res' o' deze fine fok is deh "Reg-u-late-ors". Air yew ok? If'n yer hurt ah kin hep." HE offers politely.
Elgan turns to Emrael. "If'n dat stings, ah kin patch dat up fer yeh real quick-like?" He offers to her as well.
"Lady miem," Satari nods, "delightful as always."
"Eru-gana, I accept your most generous offer. I have some small skill in healing myself, but a wise man knows when to accept assistance."
Satari presents his minor wounds to Elgan for inspection, and continues their conversation. "Tell me, I am most curious. Are you a tree who dreams of being a man, or a man who dreams of being a tree? It was most surprising when you changed."
"Wotcha," is Beldan's reply to the old man's bow, accompanied by a rather lazy salute. "I'm Beldan. You fight pretty good for an ol- ah, someone your age. I take it you're not from this village? The locals here don't seem much to standing up to authority, even lame demon authority."
heh heh.....called in to work this am; I'll see y'all in 6-7 hours maybe.
heh heh.....Satari took like decades to get to 14th level, instead of.....3 months ingame, or whatever it's been......
see yall later today, guys.
Emrael graces the druid with a grateful smile, but holds up her left hand while she withdraws a smooth black stick with a golden tip from a sleeve. "I use this so rarely, I forget that it's here."
Closing her eyes for a moment, she taps it against the wound
UMD DC 20 heals
UMD DC 20 heals
UMD DC 20 heals
UMD DC 20 heals
UMD DC 20 heals
"Well. That helps, at least. It never seems to work as well for me as it does for a healer. Perhaps you can use it on me to for better effect." She offers the druid the wand.
Huzzzah!!!
Dok walks past the group, calling Colu to his side. He watches the various interactions while kneeling beside the great cat.
Colu kinda growls at the oni; he wants to dig his fangs into them.
COMBAT DENIED!!! BIG CAT'S HACKLES UP!!!!!
That sorta thing.
The oni looks at you; "uh,......I'm sorry about what I done. I was afeared for my children."
Think of the children!!!
The cat does; it Colu licks his (or her as the case may be) chops.
The villagers start emerging when they see the second firework show has calmed down.
Omma walks up; an old human Wife of the Village Elder.
She bows to Satari and says, "Great Dragon of Heaven. It is an honor to have your feet tread the unworthy mud of our village.....can we offer you food? It is meagre fare, true, but filling."
The tanuki emerges too, and offers Satari his everfull sake jug.
and the others as well.
It's infinite sake......lik a Star Trek food replicator, but just for sake.
Huzzzah!
Satari is all smiles and humble bows and unkempt wild hair. "No, no thank you Mother Ommu, I am not hungry. Though perhaps it would be good to share some tea? If you have a fire I have some very fine tea leaves from the northern mountains near Kurohito. We could welcome these fine gentlemen properly to Wa?"
Likewise Satari turns down the everlasting bottle of sake, "That is a wondrous treasure indeed, honored father. Too much fire for this old man."
To Beldan he replies, "I have traveled here from further north. It seems there is some trouble, and I came to see what may be seen, and do what may be done. And yes, we should not expect good folk such as these to rebel against their daimyo. A just lord keeps every flower in its rightful place."
The tanuki:
"Great Satari San,......I ask thee one boon, and for this I will do anything you wish me to do within my power. I must ask you;
what is the sound of one hand clapping? Please, I've spent a lifetime losing sleep..."
Omma rolls her eyes at the magical drunkard, and shows Satari San back to the biggest hut in the village, along with his new cronies.
"Tea. From so far away. Great master, you must try my sugar cakes. They are....heavenly." she snickers at her own joke coquettishly.
The granddaughters resume giggling.
“A peaceful mind is the greatest goodness, if you don’t have any beer.”
– Billy-Bob Gautama
Dok looks at the tanuki, his head leaning enough to one side that it seems it may topple from his shoulders, his face screwed up in a "WTH?" look of confusion... "Why think on such pointless questions?" he asks, not derisively, but with an air of pity.
"well, uh......hic.......you see,.....err......uh....
what happened to your head? You got hit?"
Elgan scratches the tip of a pointy ear as he ponders the question.
"Ah now, Ah nevuh reely t'ought 'bout it all dat much. Jes sumthin' ah've allus been guud at. AL-doh, deh tree-t'ing iz purty new, even fur me. Mebbe later we kin have a dee-scussion bout which came furst, deh elf er deh tree. But furst lemme take a look at yer arm dere,..."
"Hol' up dere chere! Bettuh save sum uv dat dere healin stick fer latuh. Ai'm not allus around yeh know! Lemme see heah,..."
"Most kind. And that sounds like a very illuminating discussion. For, as you say, another time." Satari thinks for a moment. "Do you think we should go and talk with this 'Master of Blood Mountain' now, or should we rest first?"
"One hand clapping? Like this;" Beldan demonstrates a sort of awkward one hand clap, fingers against palm. "Maybe you can't do it, your paws are pretty stumpy," he tells the tanuki.
"Oh, we should certainly rest first, and we need to figure out what to do with those two; I never heard of a demon taking up fishing before. Hang on," Beldan notices a man watching them from an alley between two of the village's houses, his eyes hidden by the low brim of a conical reed hat, a trail of smoke rising from the pipe held between his teeth. "I think I should talk to this fellow," he says.
A short time later Beldan returns to the others. "Ok, that fellow with all the tattoos on his arms, calls himself Hoji or something, says he'll give us a good deal on all that samurai gear, and reckons he's got some stuff we might want to buy too. He's a gangster if I've ever seen one, but I don't think he's a fan of the daimyo either, and I think we can trust him on this... They seem to have some weird honour amongst thieves thing going here."
Elgan scratches the tip of a pointy ear as he ponders the question.
"Ah now, Ah nevuh reely t'ought 'bout it all dat much. Jes sumthin' ah've allus been guud at. AL-doh, deh tree-t'ing iz purty new, even fur me. Mebbe later we kin have a dee-scussion bout which came furst, deh elf er deh tree. But furst lemme take a look at yer arm dere,..."
"Hol' up dere chere! Bettuh save sum uv dat dere healin stick fer latuh. Ai'm not allus around yeh know! Lemme see heah,..."
4d8+14
That oughtta get her done.
"Oh, we should certainly rest first, and we need to figure out what to do with those two; I never heard of a demon taking up fishing before. Hang on," Beldan notices a man watching them from an alley between two of the village's houses, his eyes hidden by the low brim of a conical reed hat, a trail of smoke rising from the pipe held between his teeth. "I think I should talk to this fellow," he says.
A short time later Beldan returns to the others. "Ok, that fellow with all the tattoos on his arms, calls himself Hoji or something, says he'll give us a good deal on all that samurai gear, and reckons he's got some stuff we might want to buy too. He's a gangster if I've ever seen one, but I don't think he's a fan of the daimyo either, and I think we can trust him on this... They seem to have some weird honour amongst thieves thing going here."
If you guys hang out for a day,....he can score whatever you need.
Of course, I just remembered that Altai can teleport to Sasserine or some shit, so I guess I don't have to worry about coming up with plot devices as much.
Essentially,....choices, choices,....the "downside" of no railroading, depending on how you look at it.....
"Blood Mountain" would be a journey into the mountains to the north and east, and would be about a week's walk, which I'm sure Altai could probably figure out something better;.....
There's an old Yoda type guy in the woods, a day or so south and west, and an old castle called the "House of Nine Swords," also nearby.
Long ago,.....a former Daimyo of this southernmost province of Wa went into the haunted ruin of "The House of Nine Swords," and emerged wielding the very sword, Briar, that Beldan now wields.