Search Posts
I don't mind waiting a bit longer. There's no way he can be on auto-pilot and then catch up when he returns?
The claws raking across her flesh seem to snap Yumi out of the frantic fury of battle and into a place of calm. There is too much to be done. I will not fail because of these dead bones. Her stance settles into perfect balance as she swings the sword past her enemy's guard, and glides away, to the heart of the fray.
The claws swipe at Yumi, but the mystic energy of her shield pushes them aside.
Yumi viciously attacks the air somewhere to the left of the skeleton.
Yumi switches to a two-handed grip, swinging the katana through the air...
...and missing again.
Yumi mutters softly as she traces draconic kanji in the air with her free hand. A barrier of mystical energy appeared, shimmering in front of her as she stepped towards the nearest skeleton and struck.
Yumi draws her sword, keeping it low and standing a few steps away from the chest.
Was thinking the same thing.
Yumi puts her hand on the hilt of her blade, but does not draw it yet. Her eyes flick to the bones around her, wondering if hers would join them. "The Jade Regent's soldiers are coming," she says. "I would prefer not to be here to welcome them. Whatever danger this place holds has waited a long time. It will not lessen if we delay."
That must have been a brute of a flu. Maybe this is the year I break down and get the shot. Very glad you're back and reminding you to pace yourself.
Yumi glances from the skeletons on the ground to the samurai skeleton sitting on the chest. Her mind skips through the last few moments. The Master's summons, his curious question, his orders. The amulet and the pool, and now this. An undead samurai guardian? These others, robbers? Was the Master's question a warning to us? Do we bow from obedience or respect? Can't hurt to try. She bows towards the skeletal samurai, bending at the waist and straightening quickly, holding up the amulet. "Honored guardian," she says. "We come on Master Samuru's orders, to remove that which you have protected"
I'm making you chicken soup.
Yumi takes a deep breath as the water recedes, and does her best to wring the water out of her clothes. She scrambles out of the pool to retrieve her scant possessions, and drops back down, her hand resting on her sword's hilt. What will this be? she wonders. And how will this new obligation affect my old obligation?
Yumi rose as the Master left. She picked up her things and walked to the rock table where the amulet sat. With a glance at the others, wondering at the strange assortment of individuals that the Master had assembled for this mission. Whether or not they had been foretold, they made a good feint, she realized. The Jade Regent would expect this great secret to be protected by the Master and the most powerful of his monks. "I suppose that's clear enough," She said to the others. She picked up the amulet and dove into the pool. She swam to the bottom, searching for the keyhole to which the amulet was the key.
Soldiers on the road? The Yoshi? she thought, but she knew it could not be. Yoshi Hayao had left her for dead. Even if he had discovered that she lived, he would have no way to know that she had come here. Except, of course, if someone had told him. There were other clans, other armies. The Jade Regent could be reaching out his hand to wipe the monastery out of the world. What would she do then? How could she endure seeing another home destroyed? Would everyone around her die? Patience. Listen to the Master.
Yeah, Paizo was down for a long while, and seems to be limping still.
For a moment, Yumi looked up at the sky through the open roof of the sanctum. Then Master Shinmei entered and knelt, reminding her of where she was. She knelt quickly, pressing her forehead to the floor, showing Master Samuru the proper respect. Soft rustles of movement around her told her that the others were doing the same. Seori and I, the swordswomen, the silent archer, the library's mage, the demon and the breezy kitchen-boy, she thought, noting who had been summoned with her. None of us truly followers of the path the Master and the monastery teaches. Are we to be reprimanded? Banished? Patience, child she thought in her teacher's voice. Shugi would have told her to be still and listen, which she was doing, at least outwardly. He would have reminded her that she was by no means important enough that Master Samuru would deign to discipline her. He would have told her that drawing conclusions without knowledge was a waste of energy akin to swatting mosquitoes with a katana. I will do better, she promised his memory, but it was hard.
It fits the feel, I think, and adds a little silliness to what may otherwise drift into the realm of the Too Serious.
Yumi bowed respectfully to Seori, bringing the battle to its proper conclusion. As always, emptiness returned with the end of the duel. When she used her sword properly, she felt the presence of her teacher, but one could not spend every minute of one's life fighting and practicing fighting. Until the fight comes that takes the rest of your life, she thought, but she turned the thoughts away. That time was far away. She bowed to the acolyte and skipped to catch up to Seori, who was one step ahead of her, as usual. "It would have been over in a moment, Seori-san. You had me," she said to the other girl, and then gave a rare, shy smile. "This time. When I can anticipate you the way you do me, you will truly have a rival with the sword." Yumi pushed the door to the Master's chamber open, and held it for Seori. What could Master Samuru want with the two young swordswomen?
I could easily see Yumi becoming friends with Seori over time. At first, she would been intimidated by Seori's samurai status, but having another sword-fighter to play with would quickly trump that. While Yumi is generally shy and reserved, she is quite intelligent and educated.
I don't think anybody's asking for a full time healbot. Especially since archer classes do goofy-high damage. If I'm near to death, it'll probably be more effective for me to just run away and hide behind you, while you finish killing whatever it is.
@ Taliv: Yumi won't have confided her purpose to anyone (unless it turns out that someone has been a particularly close friend) but, if asked what she's so intent on, will scowl and practice her kenjutsu until she drops from exhaustion. @ Tampalasan Yumi may be fiercely protective of your goat, if it reminds her of her childhood. Don't let me find out you just brought it as portable rations!
@ Taliv, I incorrectly named Yumi with her given name first. Ken is actually the Minkai word for "huh?" because nobody really knows who her family is. As to pre-game interaction, all of us but Mamoru pretty specifically stated that they had been around the monastery for a while. Since it is a small monastery, and none of us are standard monks, it seems like at least some of us would have to know each other, at least by sight. Mamoru has probably been there a while too.
Have attempted to dot Gameplay several times now with no success.
I thought about doing an oracle of a Tian god, but obviously I changed my mind. Not having one strikes me as sort of fitting the grittiness of the e6 campaign style, so if anyone asks why we don't have a healer, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Thanks!
Just from rereading the Adventure Background and everyone's character stories, I know this is going to be awesome.
We need a waiting room to pace in.
Yumi Ken – The daughter of a peasant girl trained by a Master Kensai. I really like it, and I can definitely make use of the Yoshi family at a later date in the campaign. I will think on the Monk from the background as well. I'm happy to elaborate on the monk, or to let you do it. He seemed to me to be in that grey area where I might be stepping on your toes if I wrote him in too much depth, but I imagine him as one of the monks who travels and trades, who sees Yumi when he returns to the monastery and sort of monitors her progress. I thought he might be the one who would give her (or point her towards) the blade (the bladebound archetype thing). Though, I also thought it might be awesome if it were Shugi's sword, to be pried from the cold, (possibly un)dead hands of Yoshi Hayao.
Introducing Yumi Ken. Bladebound Human Kensai I think she'd be a natural for Warden crunch:
Yumi Ken Female Human (Tian-Min) Magus (Bladebound, Kensai) 1 NG Medium Humanoid (human) Honor 8 Init +4; Senses Perception +1 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge) hp 10 (1d8+1) Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +2 Defensive Abilities canny defense +1 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee Katana +5 (1d8+4/18-20/x2) Magus (Bladebound, Kensai) Spells Prepared (CL 1): 1 (1/day) Shield 0 (at will) Detect Magic, Arcane Mark -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 18, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 7 Base Atk +0; CMB +4; CMD 18 Feats Dodge, Nimble Moves, Weapon Focus (Katana) Traits Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), Reactionary Skills Acrobatics +3, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7, Knowledge (planes) +7, Perception +1, Spellcraft +7 Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Minkaian, Nagaji, Tien SQ arcane pool (+1) (4/day), chosen weaponkatana, spell combat Other Gear Katana, 90 GP -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Arcane Pool (+1) (4/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers. Canny Defense +1 (Ex) +INT bonus to AC (max Kensai level). Chosen Weapon (Katana) Kensai abilities only function when wielding a weapon of this type. Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp) A chosen spell counts as 1 level lower when metamagic feats are applied to it. Nimble Moves Move through 5' of difficult terrain/round as if it was normal terrain. Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other. background:
Yumi is the daughter of an unmarried peasant girl. Her mother was disowned by her family and driven away from the village to make her way as best she could, pregnant with no knowledge of the world but what she had gained in the rice paddies. That she survived long enough to deliver the child is a testament to her tenacity, and Yumi was born, strong and healthy, in a ditch by the side of the Spirit Road. Shugi Yakemori was near the end of his year's long journey around the Dragon Empires, when he heard the screams of a baby. He found the girl held tight in the arms of her dead mother, and took her with him. For reasons that even he could not articulate, he knew this child was destined to be his, so he bought a nanny goat from a peasant family for milk, and brought goat and child to his hovel in the mountains. The girl grew up strong and healthy, helping him in his garden, and learning the way of the sword-saint from him as soon as she was able to walk. His was not the way of the samurai, or the barbarian warrior, but a mystical path that demanded as much of her mind as it did of her body. Days, they practiced kenjutsu and iaido, mastering the katas on the treacherous mountain paths, and at night they studied ancient lore, as she learned arcane secrets. Yumi was fourteen when the Yoshi brothers found Shugi's home, hidden in the mountains. Twenty years earlier, Shugi had faced their father Hiroyo, the renowned samurai, in a duel, and defeated him. Though the duel was only to first blood, Hiroyo considered the stain on his honor irreparable, and committed hari-kari the following dawn. Shugi knew nothing of his death, for he had taken ship for Dtang just after their duel. The three sons of the dead samurai swore vengeance, and though it took them twenty years, they honored their oath in the end. Seeing them coming, Shugi locked Yumi inside the house and went to face the brothers. The eldest, Haji, he beheaded quickly, but the others, Yato and Hayao came at him like wolves, staying out of his reach and striking when his attention was on the other. Yato died, but his death gave Hayao the opening he needed to hamstring the aging sword-master. That was when Yumi finally kicked down the door, and rushed to her mentor's aid. One swift strike of Hayao's sword cut her face open, and she fell on the spot. Only the same, instinctual hunger for life that had kept her alive long enough for Shugi to find her kept her from dying that day. When she woke, Shugi's body lay beside her, his head and sword claimed as trophies. Aside from a few peasants and traders who had come with gifts of food for the great warrior, Shugi was the only person she had ever known. It took her a year to find the Yoshi castle, and she would have killed herself trying to avenge her mentor had not a monk seen her and correctly guessed at her purpose. "They waited twenty years for their revenge, but they succeeded," he whispered to her. "Will you allow yourself to fail in your hurry to die?" Yumi saw the truth in his words, and returned with him to the Twilight Monastery. For three years since, she has honed her skills and pursued her study of the way of the kensai, but she has never forgotten her oath, to reclaim her Master's Sword.
description: A small girl, Yumi's body is slender and taut with muscle. Though she has classically proportioned features, a scar across her face and her tendency to scowl in concentration prevent her from being beautiful. Her long black hair is generally worn in a braid or a top-knot, and falls almost to her waist. She wears the loose pants and tunic of the monastery's novices, but the ancient Katana she wears at her hip makes it plain that she is not an ordinary monk. |