Kisaiya Shiraishi's page

Kisaiya Shiraishi cooks at the Rusty Dragon and is known for reliable and tasty food. She is one of Ameiko’s oldest friends and is said to have gone adventuring some on her own. She always carries a finely-crafted scabbard for a curved sword with her but never actually has a sword.

Kisaiya has been described as a wall, an ox, a barrel, and a brick s$!%house by various people over the years. Whenever she is indoors, she seems cramped, regardless of how much space there is. She tends towards melancholic expressions regardless of her mood. Nobody has ever called her beautiful, even sarcastically, so she assumes she is not and tells herself she is okay with that. Her nose has a bit of a hook, her upper lip juts out a bit too much, and her skin stays pale as a corpse no matter how much sun she gets. She has numerous tattoos that she picked up during her travels up north, usually just of patterns that she enjoys. She usually keeps her long black hair tied up out of her face.

Kisaiya was born to Shigeru and Iuliana Shiraishi to little fanfare, as both of them worked too hard for much else—Shigeru as the long-suffering floor manager at Lonjiku Kaijitsu’s glassworks and Iuliana as a seamstress and housewife. Her father was just happy to have a son.

As a child of two cultures—one of which is on the other side of the world—Kisaiya felt the discomfort common to people in diaspora, never really fitting into the local culture or her ancestral one. Her father—who has always considered practicality the highest virtue—had little use for trivia about a place he never lived and was little help. They had her grandmother’s ō-yoroi armor on display with two empty scabbards, but Shigeru would not speak of it and grew instantly agitated at his mother’s mention. Kisaiya’s mother was able and quite willing to help with the Varisian side, but that knowledge just made Kisaiya even more aware of what was missing. However, Iuliana had been close with Reiko, Kisaiya’s grandmother on her father’s side, and she learned a great deal about cooking Minkaian recipes. Kisaiya thus found her first love in cooking, learning also her mother’s Varisian recipes and any others she could get her hands on. Iuliana was quite the gardener and outdoorswoman as well, and she made sure to pass on to her daughter everything she knew about the wilderness.

Her only real friends growing up were the Kaijitsu children, Tsuto and Ameiko. Between them in ages and of similar background, they made for a natural group. Even Lonjiku Kaijitsu, notoriously snobbish in who he allowed access to his children, tolerated the working-class Kisaiya for reasons she never quite grasped. Tsuto treated Kisaiya like a lackey, always ordering her to do chores for him or beat up people who offended him. An accommodating person by nature, she would go along with most tasks, but she balked at anything that seemed untoward. Even when he pushed her limits, though, she would not break with him, as being near him meant being near Ameiko. Kisaiya saw in Ameiko everything she herself was not: charismatic, beautiful, free and confident in her girlhood.

It was from Ameiko that Kisaiya got a book on Minkai’s culture and religions, and Kisaiya was immediately drawn to Shizuru, the Empress of Heaven, as she recognized Her holy symbol from her grandmother’s armor and scabbards. She learned Shizuru’s faith held high virtues of honesty, diligence, and service that she herself already valued, and she began to quietly worship her grandmother’s patron. For the first time in her life. The 13-year-old Kisaiya felt she had some sense of purpose and grounding in her life.

But just as she was starting to feel some stability come to her life, everything began to go wrong. First, Ameiko left town due to an argument with her father and brother. As a result, Lonjiku became increasingly erratic over the following months and Shigeru was left having to pick up the pieces at the glassworks. And then the murders began. In what would eventually be known as The Late Unpleasantness, over two dozen Sandpoint residents were killed over the course of the month. Including Iuliana Shiraishi. It was Kisaiya who found her. She had just come home from a hike with some fresh herbs to surprise her mom with. While the notorious Chopper was caught, it was small comfort. The combination of trauma, mounting expenses, and the increasing stresses of Shigeru’s work mounted and drove Kisaiya and him into continual conflict.

Ameiko coming back for her own mother’s funeral—along with Tsuto’s subsequent leaving—helped Kisaiya feel more centered again. She grew closer than ever with Ameiko over the next few years as they bonded over their losses and the joy of their mothers’ memories. More determined than ever to learn about her family’s past, Kisaiya entreated Ameiko to look through her own family’s extensive records for any mention, figuring that both families must have come over at the same time from Minkai. They were able to find mention that Reiko Kaijitsu had been a samurai retainer for the Kaijitsu family, who appeared to be some kind of nobles even in the old country. The notes mention her, having lost the daishō pair of sword and dagger that symbolize a samurai’s status, swearing an oath to Shizuru that no member of her family would ever wield a sword in combat again until that honor is reclaimed. It was a dramatic scene, enough so she could not help but feel a twinge of skepticism, but she had walked past those empty scabbards in her home every day for 16 years.

Feeling emboldened by a firsthand account of her grandmother, Kisaiya confronted her father. He exploded into a rant about how Reiko was an idealistic fool caught up in traditions and fantastic stories. He took the silences and gaps in those stories as proof of their fabrication, and he wanted nothing to do with them. He, even then, resented how he had to be responsible for her and always make the practical choices she could not or would not. Emotions running high, Kisaiya picked the absolute worst time to give voice to her secret desire for womanhood. Her father promptly said he had no daughter. She said that if that was how he felt, she had no father. He said nothing, only showing her the door. She gathered what few items she could quickly find and left. On a whim, she grabbed her grandmother’s scabbards.

Having nowhere else to go, she went to Ameiko’s for the night, not planning to stay. Kisaiya needed to get out of Sandpoint. She needed money to get her body in a place she could be happy with, and she wanted an adventure. Ameiko told Kisaiya so many stories about her year of adventuring in 4701, and Kisaiya wanted some tales of her own.

Kisaiya took a job with a caravan as a guard. She had always been large, and years hiking the wilderness of Sandpoint, even running off the occasional goblin, had left her with the build, stamina, and reflexes to be a decent enough fighter. The work was hard and thankless, and she always needed to be looking for her next job, but she was able to afford the Mulibrous Tincture she needed from a Rivethun shaman quickly enough. She hoped that traveling the north would give her opportunity to uncover the truth of what happened to her grandmother and her family’s daishō as well. She even renewed her grandmother’s oath, foreswearing all swords until that honor has been reclaimed. She realized quickly that her grandmother, perhaps because of this oath, had added a blade of finely crafted cold iron to her scabbard, so Kisaiya learned to fight with that instead. When she thought of the future, she imagined finding her family’s weapons and taking a caravan all the way over the Crown of the World to Minkai, finding her calling there as a samurai traveling the land protecting the people. In her most wild fantasies, she returned to Sandpoint renowned and wealthy to show her father that all those high ideals were indeed worth something and proclaim her love for Ameiko. And live happily ever after.

Three years into her working the caravans, she had begun to lose hope that she would ever find those blades. The work was monotonous and the food was horrendous. She had never never had to fight anyone as a guard in all the time, only having to step in once to stop a lovers’ quarrel. Finally, she got a job that would be heading deep into the north. It was to be farther than she had ever gone before, and into far more dangerous territory. She thought this was finally her chance.

They were a week out from any settlement. She heard it before she saw it, a flap of wings and a keening whistle before everything exploded in a flameless burst. A great flying reptile with a massive wingspan just kept firing blasts of sound, crunching the wooden wagons to splinters and sawdust. She held up her hand to protect her face, but splinters flew right into her eye and shredded her gloves. She jumped out of the cart only to fall directly into another blast that sent her careening and knocked her unconscious as the cart collapsed on top of her.

When she woke and pushed herself out from under the cart, everyone else had been carried off and she was alone. The last two fingers on her right hand were already frostbitten, and she could not close her right eyelid due to the splinters sticking an inch out from it. She did not panic, though. Any time she had gotten frustrated growing up, her father had said that all problems, no matter how complex, are really just a collection of smaller problems. So “being stranded in the middle of the frozen north with frostbite and a bleeding, useless eye” is really just:
1. Being stranded
2. Being in the frozen north
3. Having frostbite and
4. Having a bleeding, useless eye.
She found a gauntlet from one of the other guards to replace her glove, then made the hard choice to take her grandmother’s bladed scabbard and cut off the frostbitten fingers before removing the splinters from her eye. She scrounged the camp for whatever useful supplies she could. Then, she started walking.

Kisaiya had to draw upon everything she knew about the wilderness, the frozen north, how to stay warm, and what to eat to have any chance of survival. Her natural stubbornness made unthinkable the thought of dying at any time other than precisely when she means to, but that did not mean it was easy. It was a constant struggle to avoid snowblindness, to not leave tracks for predators, to avoid clear skies, to have a warm place to sleep, food that won’t spoil. It was the single most taxing experience of her entire life.

When she got to Kalsgard, she slept for three full days. She awoke to a letter from her father of all people. It took her another week before she had the strength to open it. She had to read it three times before she believed it. Another serial killer? Tsuto dead? Goblin raids? A siege by giants and dragons? Ancient wizard kings? Her father had no choice but to believe, having seen it. After all that, all he wanted was her to come home. “I would rather have a live daughter than a dead son” he wrote to her. He saw what happened to Lonjiku and Tsuto, and he took it as a harsh lesson. Kisaiya could count on one hand the number of times Shigeru had apologized, but she knew he always meant it when he did. She headed home the next day. The whole way back, she just kept thinking to herself I missed it. If I had just stayed in put, I could have had an adventure. Everything I hoped for. And I missed it. For nothing.

Shigeru welcomed her back with open arms and tears in his eyes, and she greeted him in-kind. She was shocked to see how much calmer and thoughtful he was. The more she thought of the full weight of everything that happened when she was away, the more it made sense though. Still, while she always knew that he loved her in his way, for the first time she really felt it.

Since returning to Sandpoint, she has taken to working at the Rusty Dragon as a cook. She enjoys the work, the pay is good, and she gets to see Ameiko every day. Reconnecting with Ameiko was worth returning all on its own. Still, she feels unfulfilled. The thought of being just another washed-up ex-adventurer who got run off the second it got hard makes her feel ill. But leaving before led to nothing but pain and wasted years, and the only people she cares about are here in Sandpoint. So, she just keeps waiting to see what the next day will bring. She is done trying to force fate’s hand. At least for now.

Kisaiya is a mild but stubborn person, happy to just go along when she has no strong feelings on the subject but immovable when she does. The latter is rare enough to come across as a surprise when it does happen. She takes everything seriously by default, only learning to loosen up with familiarity. She has a deep and abiding love of good and firmly believes in its value and will happily debate as such. Having spent a lot of her life alone, she has a tendency towards talking to herself as if nobody is around. She loves providing for other people and takes great joy in cooking reliably bespoke meals. she can usually take 10 for 20 on profession (cook)

Kisaiya deeply wants an adventure, but she has learned the hard way that running off is not always the best way to find one. That drive for adventure has always clashed with her absolute loyalty and deep love for Ameiko, and for now, she is choosing to just stay by her. Should an opportunity for adventure *with* Ameiko arise, she will jump at the chance. Especially if it helps her uncover her own family’s past and help her reclaim the honor that was lost.

Kisaiya pauses at the door to the Rusty Dragon Inn, letting others walk around her. She had not hesitated this much in front of her father’s house. Returning home might have felt a failure to some, but she feels that she has succeeded in the way that matters most: there will never again be doubt that she is her own woman. Even seeing the destruction wrought on her childhood hometown did not hit her as hard as she thought it would; the damage was done and those who wrought it already dead. But she does not know what to do about Ameiko.

Kisaiya has known for years that she was in love with Ameiko. One day, she just thought of kissing her. She almost did a few times. But doing so while she was a boy felt wrong, like lying, and Ameiko deserved better than a lie. Then, the thought became an ache, a yearning absence she had no comparison for until she lost her eye and fingers. She had many serious conversations with herself and concluded that whatever her feelings, Ameiko needed a friend more than a love, and the longer the were friends, the more unfair to Ameiko it felt to come clean. The ache has not gone away, but she can distract herself from it.

One day, Kisaiya made her mother’s spice cookies. When she brought them to Ameiko, her dear friend was angry and bitter about a fight with her brother. But when Ameiko took that first bite, her face lit up. Kisaiya’s mother had taught her to know and appreciate food, but that moment taught her to love it. From then on, she would always be chasing that smile. She can at least make her happy.

Kisaiya enters the Rusty Dragon. There is little crowd at this hour, just as she hoped. Ameiko is at the end of the bar counting up receipts, caught up completely in her figures as she mouths numbers before scribbling them down. They had been teenagers last they saw each other, and seeing Ameiko so centered, so mature, so steady just makes Kisaiya’s heart beat all the faster. She leans on the bar right in front of Ameiko.

”You’ll have to be patient. I’ll get your order as soon as I’m done.”

”I will always wait for you, Ame.” It was exactly what Kisaiya had said to her when they were teenagers and Ameiko came back from her adventuring.

Ameiko pauses, her brow furrowing. She looks up and a moment passes while she stares. Finally, recognition hits. ”Desna’s Stars! Is that you?”

Kisaiya opens her arms. ”It’s me.”

Ameiko rushes out from behind the bar to embrace her old friend. ”What name did you decide on?”

Kisaiya holds Ameiko tight in return. She treasures the moment. ”Kisaiya. With a second ‘I’. The Varisian way.”

Ameiko lets go of the embrace and gives her signature cockeyed grin. ”Pretty. I’m still just Ameiko. No big exciting changes here.”

Kisaiya does not even question that the “pretty” is meant for her name alone. ”I’ve heard otherwise.” Kisaiya sits down at the bar. ”I’m sorry about what happened to your father. And for Tsuto.”

Ameiko moves back behind the counter. She shoves the receipts aside out of the way. ”Thank you, but that is for another time. You are back! That’s what I care about now. Are you staying?”

Kisaiya has thought about how to answer that question the entire way back to Sandpoint. She told herself that she would feel out the town, her father, and Ameiko, but she knew what the answer would be. Seeing Ameiko there, her attention focused on her, Kisaiya has absolutely no doubt. ”I think I should.”

Ameiko leans in, her smile widening ever-so-slightly. ”Do you need a job? What kind of work are you looking for? With all the rebuilding, there is plenty to do. And I will gladly put in a good word!”

Kisaiya shuffles uncomfortably on the stool. ”There have only ever been two things I’m good at, and I’m not as good at one of them as I thought.” She taps her eyepatch with her three-fingered hand. ”As for the other…you know if anybody is needing cooks around here?”

Ameiko folds her arms and leans back against the wall. ”Depends. Can you still make those spice cookies?”

Kisaiya grins, and it is so very rare for her to grin. ”I could make them with my eye closed in the middle of the woods if you asked me.”

Ameiko laughs and holds up a hand. ”Ah, but that is not what I am asking.” She taps her finger on the counter. ”How about here?”

The steadiness of Ameiko’s gaze tells Kisaiya that was not a whimsical request to stop everything and bake right now. No, she was just offered a job. Kisaiya’s good sense tells her to ask about the pay and the hours, but she has beliefs stronger than any good sense. She looks Ameiko right in the eye as she speaks. ”I can think of no place I would rather be.”

Ameiko claps the bar. ”Brilliant! You start tomorrow. We can work out the details then. I’ll give you a tour and we can take time to catch up, too.” She collects the receipts she was looking at, and Kisaiya understands the matter is settled.

Kisaiya nods and stands up, but she does not yet turn to leave. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a pouch and sets it on the counter. ”Thank you, Ame. They should still be warm.”

Ameiko pauses. She pulls the pouch over and opens it, the smell of sweet spices and molasses floating out immediately. She looks to Kisaiya with a bright smile, though her eyes hint at something enigmatic. ”I missed you, too, Kisa.”

Kisaiya Shiraishi
Human Paladin (tortured crusader)/6, Samurai (yojimbo)/1
LG Medium humanoid (human) (Tian) (Varisian)
Init +2 Senses: Perception +10
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Defense
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AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 20 (+9 armor, +2 dex, +1 shield)
HP 66
Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +8
Immune Fear, Disease
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft (20 ft. in armor)
Melee Suishen +14/+9 (1d8+7+1d6 fire/18-20), Saya +13/+8 (1d6+5/x2), Warhammer +12/+7 (1d8+5/x3), or Gauntlet +13/+8 (1d6+5/x2)
Ranged Javelin +9/+4 (1d6+5/x2), Composite Longbow +9/+4 (1d8+3/x2)
Special Attacks Smite Evil 2/day (+4 hit, +4 AC, +6 damage), Lay on Hands (5/day; 3d6), Second Chance, Mercy (fatigued, sickened), Divine Bond Weapon (+1, 1/day), Resolve 1/day, Challenge 1/day (+1 damage, DR 1/-)
Paladin Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +5)
1st—Word of Resolve, Lesser Restoration
Samurai Order Order of the Warrior
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +7/+2; CMB +12; CMD 24
Feats
Weapon Focus (gauntlet)
Shield Gauntlet Style
Deflect Arrows
Shielded Gauntlet Attack
Shielded Gauntlet Master
Traits
Ease of Faith
Ancestor’s Blade (Saya, see below)
Childhood Crush
Alternate Racial Traits
Industrious (profession [cook])
Skills (armor check penalty -6)
Acrobatics -2
Appraise +0
*Bluff +2 (-1 cha, +3 circlet of persuasion)
*Climb +3 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 5 str, -6 ACP)
*Craft +0
*Diplomacy +13 (7 ranks, 3 class skill, 1 trait, -1 cha, +3 circlet of persuasion)
Disguise +2 (-1 cha, +3 circlet of persuasion)
Escape Artist -4
*Handle Animal
*Heal +6 (1 rank, 3 class skill, +2 wis)
*Intimidate +2 (-1 cha, +3 circlet of persuasion)
*Knowledge (arcana) +4 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 0 int)
*Knowledge (dungeoneering) +4 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 0 int)
*Knowledge (history) +4 (1 rank, 3 class skill)
*Knowledge (nobility) +7 (4 ranks, 3 class skill, 0 int) +1 on Minkai
*Knowledge (planes) +4 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 0 int)
*Knowledge (religion) +9 (6 ranks, 3 class skill, 0 int)
Linguistics +2 (2 ranks)
*Perception +11 (6 ranks, 3 class skill, 2 wis)
Perform -1
*Profession (cook) +16 (7 ranks, 3 class skill, 2 wis, 2 racial trait, 2 mw tool)
*Ride -4
*Sense Motive +6 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 2 wis)
*Spellcraft
*Stealth -4 (+2 dex, -6 acp)
*Survival +6 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 2 wis)
*Swim +3 (1 rank, 3 class skill, 5 str, -6 ACP)
*Use Magic Device +6 (1 rank, 3 class skill, -1 cha, +3 circlet of persuasion)
*= class skill
Languages Taldane, Tien, Minkaian, Skald
SQ: Aura of Good, Tormented, Self-sufficient, All is Darkness, Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Resolute Defense
Gear
Saya (MW Cold Iron Sharpened Combat Scabbard), Ō-yoroi, +1 poison-resistant ō-yoroi, Warhammer, Cold Iron Dagger, Javelins (3), Composite Longbow (+3), Cloak of Resistance (+1), Pearl of Power (1st), Boots of the Cat, Str Belt +2, MW Cooking Knife (profession [cook] tool), Circlet of Persuasion, MW backpack, Gambeson, Jar of Honeyx2, Powdered Milk (5lbs), Travel Cake Mix (5lbs), Canteen, Cauldron (common), Coffee Pot, Coffee Beans (5 lbs), Crowbar, Ear Plugs, Eye Patch, Flint and Steel, Grooming Kit, Iron Holy Symbol (Shizuru), Hooded Lantern, Lantern Oil (2), Jug, Mug, Silk Rope (50 ft), Wok (common), Waffle Iron (common), Whetstone, Traveler’s Outfit, Proprietary Spice Blend (1 pound cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and long pepper), Mortar and Pestle, Antitoxin (2), Antiplague (2), Alchemist’s Fire (2), 1764 gp 2 sp

Darkvision x1
Touch of the Sea x1
Oil of Daylight x1

Bless Weapon (50)

Magic Weapon x1
Funereal Weapon x1
Serren’s Swift Girding x1

Aura of Good (Ex): The power of a paladin's aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her paladin level.

440.2 gp
+6074 gp
-4000 +2 belt of str
-750 oil of daylight
1764 gp

HP: 27/66
AC: 25/15/20 (+4 all vs dragon)
Saves: F10/R6/W8 +1 vs fear
Hero Points: 2
Smite Evil Used: 1/2
Lay on Hands Used: 2/5
Divine Bond Used: 0/1
Resolve Used: 0/1
Challenge: 0/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Smite Evil, Air Walk, Bless, Haste, Defending

Suishen:
[ dice]1d20+14[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d8+7+1d6[/dice] damage.