Shaking their head when pressed for more information, "the only thing between their torture was telling us to repent or we'd be sent to the teahouse, might be talking about the old abandoned Cerulean Teahouse just north of Downtown"
Your party gathers the small group of survivors toward the back of the guardhouse. Phang is correct in his belief, it would be difficult to sneak into the front doors with the jinkins on the stage not 50 feet away in broad daylight.
We could try having me sneak up disguised" She says with a wave of her hands. Like this"and oh Oh maybe it will distract them and yeah it might work! she's getting more and more excited as she bounces up and down talking.
She focuses for a moment and shapeshifts into a wagon wheel and rolls around for a moment, before turning back into her regular Tanuki self.
"while I roll out you guys can sneak up from behind by the bridge/steps area"
"That leaves the possibility that we draw them down upon us while we deal with whatever is inside," says Jiang. "Could we not draw them away and then attack them? These gates would make fine choke points."
"We could use your disguise idea, Ayane. But instead of sending you in alone , you could make them think you're an escapee and draw them here, where the rest of us will surprise them at the gate. That way they can't flank us."
"We were fortunate to have been too far, I too do not like the idea of splitting up. What if the evil mist comes back? We will get lost!"
"Trying to draw them over to the stable gates is a good idea. Even if only a few of their number investigate, it'll make a future encounter easier. Ayane, is this something you could do?"
"Oh yes i can do that! I can also just transform into a racoon dog and yelp at them, and act like and easy target until they follow me here. THEN we can get them!"
Ayane transforms into to a racoon dog looks like this and starts making her way out into the open, not sneaking, in an attempt to draw the attention of the jinkins.
Jiang stands behind the gate where he cannot be seen by anyone approaching.
Kwan joins Jiang and readies himself for what he hopes is a quick and quiet battle.
While the rest of the group readies their ambush, Ayane transforms into a racoon dog and runs out into the town square and gets the Jinkin's attention, they point at Ayane, yelling "Ah a dog! Get it, let's play, then we can turn it into a hat, eheheh!"
Round 1 - Stage Crashing
Yuranosuke ☘️ -
Jinkin 2 -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ -
Jinkin 1 -
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Dogform currently
One of the Jinkins(2) catches up to Ayane and tries to thawck her with the flat side of his shortsword
"hahahehehe gonna get you little doggie"
Round 1 - Stage Crashing
Yuranosuke ☘️ - Delay
Jinkin 2 -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ -
Jinkin 1 -
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Dogform currently
”AH! Grrrr,” she growls as she leads them on the chase.
She works up some rather sever static before she launches it at a Jenkin (1) once the others are ready to do the same
With katana and shield in hand, Kwan quickly rushes up towards Ayane to support her. "You picked the wrong town to attack" he snarls in anger at the jinkins. When he reaches Ayane, he raises his shield and at the same time stabbing across at the jinkin nearest them.
◆◆ Defensive Advance (stride, strike, raise shield combo)
◆ Demoralize Jinkin 3
Shandari moves and blasts one of the farther Jinkins with electricity causing it to spasm briefly.
Phang moves forward to shield Ayane and tries to strike the Jinkin threatening her but misses, and also fails to demoralize it.
The rest of the Jinkins are shocked by the ambush but rush forward to swarm Kwan.
[dice=damage 1d6 - 2 + 1d6 [/dice]
Kwan is buried in a flurry of stabbing, giggling jinkins as they dog pile him.
Round 1 - Stage Crashing
Yuranosuke ☘️ - Delay
Jinkin 2 -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ - delay
Kwan ☘️ -
Jinkin 1 - 8 damage
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Dogform currently
As the battle is joined, Yuranosuke dashes to Kwan's side to keep him from being surrounded.
He glares down at the jinkin he now stands over.
And swings his shuan ji around to catch it from an unexpected angle.
Ayane growled and then transformed back into her humanoid self and began singing and dancing. A warm glow emanates out 15 feet from her enveloping her allies.
"We are going to Knock you out! get out of our town! oh yeah gonna get it done!"
Yuranosuke dives into the fray, joining Ayane and Kwan in the melee, slicing one of the Jinkins.
Ayane pops out of her dog form, then casts Bless, empowering her allies.
Jinkin 2 is going to again attack Ayane, he is upset she isn't a dog anymore and will use more lethal measures due to the trickery.
Ayane takes a light tickling of damage from the Jinkin, furious at the trickery its aim is bad.
Round - Stage Crashing
Current status effects: Bless +1 Status bonus to Attack
Yuranosuke ☘️ -
Jinkin 2 -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ -
Jinkin 1 - 13 damage
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Bless | 1 damage
With fighting lines formed up, Kwan sees that Yuranosuke and Shandari have hurt one of the jinkins quite badly, so he stabs with his katana in that direction.
◆ Strike @ Jinkin 1
◆ Strike @ Jinkin 1
◆ Raise Shield
Kwan's first attack misses badly but it sets him up for the backswing with his katana, aided by Ayane's bless, his blade strikes true and bisects the first jinkin gremlin.
the others all stop for a second and watch the Gremlin fall into two halves before they start screaming.
Round - Stage Crashing
Current status effects: Bless +1 Status bonus to Attack
Yuranosuke ☘️ -
Jinkin 2 -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ -
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Bless | 1 damage
Shandari blasts one of the jinkins(2), moving into the blessed area first.
She delivers a devastating electro shock to the Gremlin.
Xu Jiang moves into the blessed area and launches a divine lance at the same Gremlin, working with Shandari to try and bring it down.
Xu Jiang's divine lance finishes off that Gremlin, the two of them working in tandem brought down another Gremlin.
Three Jenkin's remain, they go on the offensive, Kwan and Yuranosuke presenting a bulwark preventing any flanking opportunity.
Its able to feint, confusing Kwan and then poking him for barely anything.
Jinken 5 isn't able to successfully feint or attack Yuranosuke.
While Jinkin 3 is able to successfully perform Feint, Ayane is able to track the Tiny Gremlin and avoids it nasty blade.
Round 2 / 3 - Stage Crashing
Current status effects: Bless +1 Status bonus to Attack
Yuranosuke ☘️ -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ - 6 damage | 1 damage pending
Jinkin 3 -
Jinkin 4 -
Jinkin 5 -
Ayane -☘️ - Bless | 1 damage
Despite being caught off balance by the juke from the jinkin, Kwan is able to angle his shield just right to turn the blade before it connects.
↺ Shield Block
Kwan repeats the same tactic but hopes for a better result - stab, stab, defend.
◆ Strike @ Jinkin 3
◆ Strike @ Jinkin 3
◆ Raise Shield
Continuing to sing her song, she looks down and finds a rock and magically throws it at the jinken next to Kwan (4)
Making the verse to her song full of jibes and cutting barbs she attempts to scare the jinken she attacked.
Yuranosuke changes his focus and turns to the next gremlin.
Then his shuan ji lashes out to try and take the panicking wretch down.
Kwan easily blocks the tiny gremlin's stab with his shield and then follows up with two quick slices, ending the poor gremlin's life.
Ayane tries to intimidate one of the gremlins but finds throwing a rock to be much more successful.
Yuranosuke weaves a pattern of metal with his shiang ji before stabbing one of the remaining Jinkins.
Round 3 - Stage Crashing
Current status effects: Bless +1 Status bonus to Attack
Yuranosuke ☘️ -
Shandari ☘️ -
Xu Jiang ☘️ -
Kwan ☘️ - 6 damage
Jinkin 4 - 5 damage
Jinkin 5 - 11 damage
Ayane -☘️ - Bless | 1 damage
With a swift prayer to the Lady of Graves, Jiang unleashes a beam of divine energy.
Then he raises his shield (+2 AC).
The Sylph takes another electric shot at the enemy
Xu Jiang launches another beam of divine energy, striking just barely, Jinkin 5 and knocks the creature over unconscious.
Shandari launches another blast of lightning and absolutely annihilates the last Jinkin with a critically shocking blast.
Kwan holds his chest where one of the jinkins hit him. "Shizuru, allow your servant to keep fighting in this battle."
Then, Kwan quickly organizes the group to drag the bodies away. "Quickly now. We need to hide these jinkins so any others don't see them." Kwan points back to the stable out of sight and starts dragging one of the fallen jinkins.
”quick thinking there Kwan! Let’s check this building here and make sure no one is hurt or trapped”
Ayane will listen at the door before checking if it’s locked.
Shandari helps best she can to remove the remains of the enemies they fought
Yuranosuke nods curtly and joins in gathering the corpses and stowing them someplace inconspicuous.
After making sure that the jinkin bodies are relocated, Kwan does his best to reassure the townspeople that they are safe. "We dealt with the jinkins by the stage. Now, we need to focus on freeing Zheng Peng. Stay here, out of sight and quiet."
Back with the party, Kwan readies himself to enter the guard office. "Any signs of trouble at the door?"
Working quickly you guys pile the fresh gremlin's bodys, being tiny creatures they are easy to gather up and dumb in a pile behind the building.
Stepping inside the guard office, the area looks like a typhoon has been through it, with documents strewn about the room. Very few furnishings remain in the room at all.
Peaking outside, it doesn't look like anything has come to investigate the fight yet.
Checking the next doors, you guys find a number of small offices for investigators, though much of the documents and desk have been destroyed.
Proceeding through you guys find the main room you were looking for, the prison. The inside of this dingy room is where Willowshore’s prison cells are located. The seven cells have iron bars and brick walls and holds 10 battered, bruised, fatigued and near death 10 surviving guards.
Zheng Peng calls you over, "Ah perfect, I'm glad you were able to get to us, come over here and I'll explain where I've hidden the back up keys to prison cells. They are over there in that corner under a loose brick in the floor,"
We’ve come to help! she says as she claps her hands. “ooooh a hidden key! Just like in the stories mama used to tell! I’ll go get it” she goes over and quickly finds the loose brick and hidden keys.
Opening the prison cells she offers to help the guards out.
I’m not much in the healing department but Xu Jiang here is a cleric and he might be able to help. Was is the Jinkins that locked you up or something else? ”
Zheng Peng rubbed his wrists where the bamboo bindings had bitten into the skin, his eyes still darting to every shadow.
“There was a man,” he began, voice low. “Looked human at first glance—bald, sharp teeth, wore a hood so deep you could barely see his face. But his neck…” He made a slow, unsettling motion with his hand, mimicking an unnatural rotation. “Could turn further than any neck should.”
He glanced toward the others in the bamboo cell before continuing.
“He led the attack on the barracks. Had a whole knot of those jinkin gremlins with him, snapping and scratching like he was their king. We fought—gods, we fought—but it was chaos. Next thing I knew, I was here.”
Zheng Peng shook his head, frustration flickering in his eyes.
“Don’t know where he went after. Him and the jinkins scattered quick, like they had someplace else to be. But… whatever he’s planning, it’s not done yet.” Zheng takes one of the other keys that were found and strides over to a locked door in the back of the room, unlocking it, "Here's the armory, take what you need, we'll outfit ourselves, is there any sort of resistance remaining?"
This armory contains a dozen standard suits of scale mail and studded leather armor each, along with 10 crossbows, a barrel of 100 bolts, a dozen daggers, six clubs, and four saps. In addition to these mundane items, the supplies here include four lesser frost vials, a cold iron dagger, a cold iron buckler, a silver shortsword, and a +1 spear.
"So many shinies. But we need the guard people to be able to protect themselves too." as she takes a quick glance at all the gear
As the party helps the town guard members get to their feets, he uses his blessing from Shizuru to heal one of them. "If we rest here for a while, Xu Jiang and I could heal many - if not all - of you. But, we might not have time for that." He looks to the other party members for their thoughts on the urgency to continue their search of downtown soon. "Either way, the way to Southbank should be mostly safe. Old Matsuki's estate is likely the best place to regroup."
Kwan thanks Zheng Peng for sharing the armory's contents. "I'm sure we could put some of this to good use." First, he inspects the armor, hoping to find some heavier armor to make up for a lack of quickness that set in at middle-age. But, he doesn't see armor of that sort.
Next, he sees the cold iron dagger. "I could use a smaller, quicker weapon and this would serve me well. But, I'd probably use it sparingly. Perhaps Yuranosuke or someone else would wield it more regularly." Instead of the higher quality dagger, he grabs a standard issue dagger in case he needs a weapon other than his katana.
After the party has finished the healing they decide to do and restocking on supplies, Kwan wonders where to go next. "Perhaps the next place to secure is Treesparrow's Rest and the nearby buildings to the west."
The rest of the guards, tired and hurt suit up in scale mail and studed leather, some grab crossbows, some grab clubs or daggers, Zheng "You said Old Matsuki is still around and mounting a defense from the Southbank." Pausing for a moment as he slides the scale mail over his head, before continuing "Have you guys been to Granny Hu's to the north yet? If the way isn't clear, maybe we push there after we've rested up a bit. We'll head out the backway and cross over to Southbank though,"
Yuranosuke shakes his head.
"We have not, not yet anyway. Perhaps we can scout ahead and clear the way for you if need be."
He frowns at the description of the monster who led the attack on the guards.
"It sounds like this so-called man may be the leader of this 'army' of monsters. The buso guarding the bridge styled himself like one, sure, but he seemed more like a flunky left behind to guard. What you've described...sounds much smarter and much more dangerous."
"Oh we haven't gone and check in on Granny Hu's yet but we plan to head there today!"
Picking up the cold iron dagger Kwan set down Ayane inspects it and tries to twirl it in her fingers. "I've used daggers before this one might come in handy from time to time!"
"I think you're right Yuranosuke, we need to find him and make him pay for hurting our town!" she says while striking her fist into her open palm.
As you all pick through the armory, the rest of the guards sneak out through the back door, grouping up with the civilians to sneak across the bridge and over to the relative safety of the Southbank.
It isn't long, before you start to hear something drifting into the guardhouse from outside, The sound comes first, a loud cacophony of clattering metal, like a kitchen being hurled down a flight of stairs over and over. It grows louder, sharper, until it fills every corner of the town square.
Sneaking up to the doors to peak outside, you see from the far end of the street, a bizarre and unsettling procession emerges. At its head floats a long, stained butcher’s apron, its edges curling and twisting like something alive. The thing sways through the air with unsettling grace, its voice humming and singing a jarringly off-key tune.
Behind it marches a chaotic swarm of animated cookware. Cleavers spinning in lazy arcs, meat tenderizers bouncing like skipping stones, kettles and pans smashing together in an accidental drumbeat. Chopsticks rattle in bunches like skeletal fingers tapping on a tabletop. The swarm flows and swirls through the square, clattering against cobblestones, scraping along walls, filling the air with the scent of cold grease and old blood.
The strange parade moves with purpose, weaving through the streets as if celebrating some grim, unseen victory. Its leader’s humming never stops, drifting eerily above the metallic din.
She whispers to her companions "Very odd. But it could work on its singing voice. Though I guess it believes it's alone. Lots of people sing when they are alone "
Yuranosuke takes the spear and tests its weight a bit.
"I can put this to good use. Tsukiyo's favor shines down on the humble spear."
He hears the strange "parade" long before it comes into view, and peeks out the window to watch it in horror.
He racks his brain, trying to figure out what spectre or yokai this could be.
Kwan bids Zheng Peng and the rest of the group a safe trip back to Southridge, and that they will see each other soon when Willowshore is liberated.
When the noise of clattering metal reaches Kwan's ears, he peers out of the window of the guardhouse. Whispers, he wonders aloud, "What could this be? A floating apron with cookware as helpers! Is this a dream"
Kwan tries to remember if similar circumstances have happened in Willowshore in the past.
Yuranosuke and Ayane both identify this "creature" as a Tsukumogami are intelligent, mobile objects formed from the union between a 100-year-old object and a kami. Tsukumogami range from harmless to malicious, each individual personality a result of how the object was treated before its awakening. Well-cared-for objects tend to birth helpful, friendly tsukumogami, while mistreated or abandoned objects twist into malevolent and violent beings.
Specifically this must be whats called an Ittan-Momen, Born from large pieces of cloth, ittan-momen flutter in the air, catching the last rays of the setting sun. Ittan-momen can awaken from any sufficiently large cloth, and many beautiful but cruelly-treated tapestries have lured unsuspecting victims to an untimely end.
After listening to Ayane and Yuranosuke describe what amounts to an intelligent apron, Kwan isn't sure what to think. "So this could be a harmless apron that' come to life. Or, it could be an evil apron. Since every creature that's new to Willowshore has tried to kill us, I think we should expect a fight."
Trying to stay out of sight, Kwan stares at the spectacle. "I don't trust whatever it is. I think it's part of this invasion. Let's confront it." Turning back to the group, he waits to hear differing options.