Howdy Folks!
Just in confirmation -- the 20th of October is our next session.
The session after that will tentatively be run on the 17th of November. Pete will probably be running an Underdark session in November however -- the details are currently being resolved,, as most of you know, and for those in both campaigns who can only make one session, I consider the Underdark session to have priority.
If Pete needs the 17th to run on because it is the only day everyone can get together, then my backup date would be the 24th of November.
In either case, I will happily run for a smaller subset of players in November, so that players can attend the Underdark session and not feel guilty about missing the O.A. session. As long as at least 4 players are available, that should be sufficient -- and since neither Ginny nor Jon play in the Underdark campaign, if they can both make it to the OA session, that gets us halfway there. I might still go ahead with 3 players, but not if only 2 can make it.
Zenako --
Moshi Yuki will be getting a Bone Shield Talisman. It does indeed last for only one round, unfortunately -- she would plan to use it to get past an enemy into a safer area, and would hope one round would be enough.
Unlike the adventuring types, she envisions the possibility of a kidnap attempt or something, where one round of "don't touch me" may well be enough, but where she might have to move right past one or more assailants, such that the amount of movement allowed would be irrelevant, the important thing being the chance to move through a threatened area without getting attacked. But for an adventurer, she thinks either of the other two types of talismans may be more beneficial.
All --
Lord Isaka is holding a funeral for Moshi Genjo, the morning of the 3rd day after you deliver his body, with his wife in her role as shugenja performing the service. Moshi Yuki, although having known you and your companions for only a very short time, invites you and them to join her in laying her husband to rest in the Moshi burial vaults. A reception will be held afterwards for anyone who wishes to attend -- there will be poetry (haiku) composition, flower arrangement, archery and other contests, for those who wish to participate, lasting the remainder of the day, until sundown. Katana and wakizashi are permitted to those allowed to bear them; armor and other weapons are considered inappropriate (though some may well have hidden trinkets here or there...) except of course for bows brought to the archery contest, which will be held by the judges until needed.
Noku --
There should be no trouble with you spending 4 days learning a spell or whatever prior to the next session. If you wish to attend the funeral you may, without giving up that day of study, but attending the reception would definitely prevent you from getting any effective wu jen work done...
Gorvak --
After cleaning that Leather Scale Armor +1 of the bakemono stench it had acquired, it fits rather well -- so well, in fact, that you believe it was originally crafted for a korobokuru. Its base AC is 3, the magic adds 1 more, so your new armor bonus to AC is now 4 -- compared to the 3 I believe your ashigaru armor provided. I.e. both armors are at the top end of the 'light armor' category, so this stuff is slightly better thanks to the magic, but you can still use your ranger-taught two-weapon combat techniques just fine. As Pete had noted, all magic armor is masterwork before it can be enchanted, and that means the armor check penalty which is normally -2 for leather scale becomes only -1.
Regarding your choice of feats -- if you intend to keep ignoring the
danger from opportunity attacks of large creatures
However, the cool part is the follow up feat of Mobility. Mobility gives you a +4 dodge bonus against movement-activated opportunity attacks! So if you had those two feats, i.e. take Dodge now and Mobility later, and wanted to charge a specific ogre or other giant who was wielding a reach weapon (or just taking advantage of their natural reach), you could apply both your Dodge feat and Favored Enemy dodge bonus against that enemy, and while moving through the giant's reach-threatened area, get a total of +10AC! +1 for Dodge feat, +1 for Favored Enemy dodge bonus, +4 for Mobility feat vs. movement-activated opportunity attacks, and +4 for korobokuru combat training... If you ever get to 5th level Ranger, that Favored Enemy bonus will go up to +2, making you even harder to hit! And the Mobility, of course, works against all sorts of opponents, not just giants -- so you could use it to get +4 AC against the opportunity attacks of a whole bunch of bakemono, for instance, as you run through the pack to get to the boss!
Since you appear to be sticking with the light armor and two-weapon combat, anything that can add to your AC is nice, even if 'just' while you are moving heedlessly through enemy-threatened areas... ;)
And I guess that is all for now.
-- Ernie III