(October 19, 2003) Chronicler: Tsuruchi Zenako
Prelude
After the group returned to Waterstone Abbey and Marike, the characters went their separate ways for a few days to spend time improving themselves (Zenako(9th char) to 4th level Samurai, Til’k (8th char) to 1st level Temple Champion) or their equipment (see below). The great wealth that had been gained from the Falling Oni House would fund many new items for the company. Our Noble Shugenja Soshi Ashiko agreed to spend her time crafting a number of items. A summary of the significant changes and new items appears below.
Tsuruchi Zenako - Improve Katana to the +3 level by adding in the Shock (d6) ability (ancestors accepted enchanted Falchion +2, Banded Armor +2 and a captured Wakisashi as tribute), Further improve her chainshirt to +2 and added in Agility (+2 REF saves) and purchased a Pearl of Power (1st level)
Hiruma Mulan - Journeyed to the Ogre smith to pick up her new MW Mithril Chainshirt, enchant it to +1 and got a Cloak of Resist +1 (Ashiko)
Miya Hatori - Cloak Resist +2 (Ashiko), also journeyed to the Smith to pick up the MW Mithril Chainshirt for Saru.
Noku - Gifted a Headband (+2 INT) by Hatori and Ashiko for his many services to our company, and spent time to master and scribe some more spells into his Spellbook.
Gorvak - Bracers of Health (+2 CON)(Ashiko), Cloak Resist +1 (Ashiko), Gorvak also left his Scimitar +1 with the Korobokuru enclave near Marike.
Til'k - Cloak Resist +2 (Ashiko) and trained as a Temple Champion (PrC).
Isaku - Purchased a Pearl of Power (2nd level) and assisted Ashiko in the making of the numerous Cloaks of Resistance for others in the company.
Soshi Ashiko - Received gifts of a Handy Haversack and had her Mithril Chainshirt further enchanted to +2 from the grateful members of her company for the items she had crafted. The value of these gifts, while substantial, was still less than the extra value that Ashiko had brought to the company with her crafting skills. (Gifts cost the recipients 5000 gold but the extra value of the items Ashiko had crafted was worth 7000, so the company was still well ahead of the curve.)
Heading Out 1/13/1562
After all of the above had been completed, this left many purses nearly empty and the New Years celebrations as history. The company united and rode back to Waterstone Temple to regroup with those who had remained there or returned earlier in the month. The following morning, on the 13th day of the 1st month of the new year 1562 the company assembled to journey back to Osawesataray Village. A slight surprise, but Soshi Ashiko indicated that she wished to meet us at the Village, that she had some business to attend to for a day, and that with suitable precautions, she would be able to very safely get herself to the village (invisibility and fly spells cast as needed to reach the village). That being the case, we set out with plans to meet Ashiko in a couple of days.
For a change of routine, our company crossed the river here at the Temple and journeyed along the western side of the river (instead of the eastern side that we had covered a number of times before). The first few hours were uneventful, but about mid morning, our scouts noticed a massed ambush of Bakemono, but were unable to warn everyone before action began.
Gorvak noticed a Bakemono target and charged and took a mighty swing at the vermin, taking his target by surprise. Alas, his Powerful Swing was knocked slightly off line by the small tree that the Bakemono had been trying to hide behind. Their cover blown, the Bakemono swung to attack with many of them stepping out from their hiding and hurling darts at the exposed members of the company. Clearly this Bakemono raiding party must have significant numbers or some leadership to consider taking on our company. They can see our Nezumi and Korobokuru scouts, two humans on foot with a Great Wolf ally, and then three mounted nobles and a pack pony. Til’k draws his blade and moves to swing at a now exposed Bakemono. Mulan takes a single shot at another Bakemono and drops her target. The rest of the company is now aware of the ambush and can react.
Noku, who must consume more stimulants than most, for he is jittery and always seems quick to react, makes a quick assessment of the mustering hoards of Bakemono and sees nearly two score so he summons forth a Wall of Fire and drops it down ahead of our party on top of some and putting the fiery heat towards the onrushing vermin. Many of the Bakemono perish in the flames immediately, other are burned severely and will flee at the first chance they get. Zenako spurs her horse and charges past the east end of the Wall of fire, Daikyu in hand, looking for targets, but has to move too far to take a shot, as she rounds the end of the wall. Gorvak, and a number of Bakemono still on this side of the conflagration, are now engaged and barbarian sends two Bakemono to their ancestors. Among the Bakemono are, as we discover, two leaders, Goblin-Rats in chain shirts that were obviously calling the shots. One of them moves to strike down Gorvak, but underestimated the ability of the Korobokuru to withstand punishing wounds, and Gorvak stands and shrugs off the mighty slash. The other Goblin-Rat was on the far side, not far from where Zenako had rounded the Wall of Fire. That rat decided that its salvation lay in the river, but Zenako lay between it and safety, so it ran right under her horse. Its movement ended there, so in a fit of vengeful cruelty, it tried to gut Thunder, but its blow was feeble and merely angered the mighty steed. The rest of the Bakemono took their cues from the leaders near them. Those near Gorvak, swarmed about the barbarian and tried to drop him with many blows, but the Bakemono were no match for the defenses of the barbarian. On the other side, seeing their leader attempt to flee, those few Bakemono still standing turned tail and ran away at top speed. A few in the middle completed their ancestral journey as the wall of fire consumed them before they could be saved. Isaku, noticing the Armor wearing Goblin Rat near Gorvak, runs up and attempts a Flying Kick to the “head”, but misjudges the position of the foe and misses. Til’k, sensing that the fight is well in hand near Gorvak, uses his great speed to catch up with Zenako on the flank and discovers her opponent hiding beneath her horse, and takes a strike at the vermin, wounding it but not fatally. Mulan holds her ground and begins to thin the herd of Bakemono in front of her, firing three shots and dropping two foes. Hatori, seeing only one battle of note, decides to Hasten Gorvak and move to a safe position.
Fire Lord Noku, again decides that the best way to cleanse the enemy is to swath them in fire, drops a nasty Fireball upon the swarm surrounding Gorvak which outright fries most of the Bakemono left on that side of the field. On the other side, Zenako, enraged at the gall of the Goblin-rat that tried to eviscerate Thunder, leaps from the saddle, draws her Katana and strikes the vermin dead, with multiple deadly strokes. Gorvak, shaken, slashed, and now crispy, takes full advantage of his Hasted nature and rains deadly blows upon the other Goblin-rat and sends it back to its ancestors. Except for a few fleeing Bakemono, the field is held, the foes are slain, and the fires of Noku burn on for a few moments.
The war party had included 32 Bakemono, most of them slain, and two Goblin-rats. The Bakemono had nothing on them, but the Goblin-rats did have some treasures of note. Each wore a chainshirt, and was using a magical longsword (later determined to be +1 in effect), and combined they had 600 pieces of gold and 3 amber gems worth 100, 100 and 120 gold apiece. The enthusiasm of Gorvak on the prospects of getting Bakemono bounties was soon chilled when he was informed that we were no longer in the Lords lands and the bounty did not apply. Gorvak was the only one really wounded in the group and Isaku tended to those as he could.
Later that night 1/13/1562
The rest of the travel that day was fairly quiet with nothing bothering our company. That night however, was not to pass without event. Soon after the first watch began, about 9:30 that evening, Hiruma Mulan hears activity in the forest not far away, and recognizes the footstep of her studied enemy, Ogres. Miya Hatori is alerted by the snapping of twig that something is approaching from the Dark. The attempt of the Ogres to sneak up has failed, but not before they were pretty close to the encampment.
Something strikes Saru hard, and hurts him gravely, but no foe can be seen. Hatori casts Haste upon himself and yells loudly to try and awaken the camp. Mulan, sensing that a number of Ogres lurking in the darkness and moving closer, casts an Entangle in that area and manages to affect 6 of what we will learn to be 8 ogres. The ogres are well trained and operate in pairs, with the lead ogre using a No-Dachi and Shield, while the second ogre uses a large Naginata to attack with. All the ogres are wearing Lamellar Armor as well. Mulan’s spell catches 4 of the ogres securely, and slows the two in the area of effect. This will buy us some time to react. Gorvak, Til’k and Isaku respond to Hatori’s alert, while Zenako and Noku are slow to respond.
Til’k leaps to his feet and draws his weapon, looking for an enemy to strike down, and finding none nearby, moves over towards the still resting comrades. Isaku gets up and also moves to stand near the still prone comrades, the ogres are too far away at this point. Gorvak leaps to his feet and also moves slightly to support his comrades since the ogres are too far away and he is not sure which direction the threat is coming from yet. Zenako and Noku are still not awake yet, but that will soon change. A hidden ally of the ogres, perhaps their leader, lets out a bellow and charges up amongst the cluster of allies (who were also near the horses where they slept) and emits a powerful CASTIGATE spell. The Tsuno is seeking to avenge something. The sonic bombardment impinges all in the area, except for Hatori and Mulan. The pain can be deafening as Isaku, Zenako and Noku found out. It also ensures that one wakes up! With a headache ringing in ones ears! The Tsuno is a fearsome sight, wearing Great Armor and wielding a Huge Falchion. Three of the horses were affected and the pony collapsed from the pain. Hatori reacts and casts HASTE on Isaku, and fires an arrow at the Tsuno. The Ogres attempt to close with the party, but most are securely held by the entangle spell. Two on the edge near Mulan charge forward and take swings at her, one hits, one misses. Two other Ogres pull free from the magicked area and move closer, while the other four try to pull themselves free, but the roots and bushes hold fast. Mulan steps back and unleashes a flurry of shots at the nearest ogre to her, and hits twice, but fails to drop it.
Til’k seeing a mighty foe so close by, puts his frenzied attacks to bear and tries to bring down the mighty Tsuno, and deals him some wounds. Isaku (deafened) takes his hasted turn attacking the Tsuno and hurts him a bit. Gorvak has to move more than 5 feet so he only gets his one mighty blow, but wounds the Tsuno even more. These Bull headed abominations can be quite powerful and it may well take many blows to bring this one to its knees. Zenako, seeing the bully boy almost standing on top of her, decides to cut him down to size, drawing her katana and with a great frenzy strikes at him three times from a down position, hitting him hard and causing some grievous wounds, but does not topple the beast. Noku barely a step farther away decides to move first, fire Magic Missile later and pumps the magical bolts into the Tsuno with telling effect. The Tsuno appears to be getting desperate, but he has not yet succumbed to our onslaught, his Ogre allies are all tardy in their arrival (thanks to Mulan). The Tsuno again yells something about revenge and reaches out to strike down Noku with his great reach, and strikes others closer by with his other attacks. While some wounds were received, nothing was more serious than the blow which dropped Isaku. Hatori seeing the position and plight and being too far to reach Isaku and do anything of use spies Zenako on the ground and casts HASTE upon her and moves away from this danger and towards Mulan who is facing multiple ogres on her own and fires another shot. The Ogres continue to strike at Mulan and wound her some more while others try to move out of the entangle area and a couple finally free themselves from the grasp of the weeds. Mulan again steps back and unleashes another flurry of shots and drops one of the ogres that had been threatening her.
Til’k seeing the dire straits of the fallen comrade Isaku musters his skills and strikes deadly blows upon the rapidly failing Tsuno and the beast succumbs and collapses. The tide has turned. Isaku lies helpless on the ground his life-force slowly leaking onto the sundered earth beneath the hooves of the crazed monster. Gorvak having few skills in the healing arts, and in the midst of a barbarian rage, charges the oncoming ogre with reach and deals it a mighty blow, but does not drop the foe. The hasted Zenako leaps to her feet and charges the Ogre near Mulan, and hits it with a well placed shot dropping the ogre, and then with an additional burst moves and closes with the other wounded ogre and drops that one as well! The field is getting cleared swiftly! Back near the fallen Isaku, Noku moves next to the fallen Shaman and casts an Endurance Spell from one of his many scrolls on Isaku which boosts his Constitution and moves the Shaman away from deaths door, at least for the moment. Hatori falling into a pattern casts Haste upon Mulan and fires another shot at an ogre. The ogre near Gorvak takes a couple of steps back from Gorvak and slashes the Korobokuru again, while the four ogres in the entangle field attempt to free themselves. A second one works his way free near Gorvak, while the three in the weeds near the Zenako and Mulan side manage to move forward slightly. Mulan using her enhanced speed turns and fires a massive volley of arrows at one of the entangled ogres and inflicts damage upon it.
Til’k seeing that the only foes that still threaten are in the direction of the Zenako, dashes in that direction and uses his great agility to avoid getting snared by the weeds, but cannot quite close with the ogres. Isaku continues to lie on the ground, out of immediate danger, but still quite unconscious. Gorvak has to move too far to get more than a single attack on the ogre and misses. The ogre rejoices in his luck! Zenako realizes that she would not be able to close with the ogres, so she hurls darts at the beast and then uses her extra move to close as much ground as she can and manages to avoid getting ensnared by the weeds. Her darts strike true and deep and the ogre which Mulan had softened up drops! Noku attends to the fallen Isaku and feeds the fallen one some healing, which will bring Isaku back to consciousness. Hatori, getting low on spells, fires a couple of mighty Daikyu shots at the nearby ogres and inflicts some damage. The ogres shift positions slight to strike at Zenako and Til’k and fail to drop either. The ogre fighting Gorvak again shifts back and again wounds the extremely hardy barbarian, which makes that ogre both glad and sad. Glad to have hit his foe, most sad that repeated hits have not dropped the small humanoid. Mulan again fires a volley of shots and wounds one of the two ogres near Zenako and Til’k.
Til’k, now in close combat strikes at the ogre attacking him and it drops. Isaku, now awake, casts Cure Moderate Wounds upon himself bringing him healthy enough that even when the Endurance spell wears off he will still be conscious. The ogre fighting Gorvak had not moved far enough back this time and Gorvak steps up and takes multiple strikes upon this hapless opponent and drops him dead. Zenako, having moved to fairly close proximity to the ogres last time, has a full hasted attack on the one standing near her and renders that ogre food for the scavengers. Noku, still deafened, looks about nervously to determine what is still happening and holds his ground near the recovering Shaman. Hatori seeing that but a single foe still stands, but sensing the grievous wounds present on our barbarian tries to drop that ogre with a Magic Missile spell, and while it heavily wounds the monster, it shrugs off the damage. Mulan takes a couple of shots, but fails to penetrate its effective armor.
One ogre still stands. Til’k runs through the weeds and takes a strike, but does not hurt the foe. Gorvak charges up to the ogre and damages the ogre, but does not finish it off. Zenako manages to charge across the weeds and reach the ogre and with her blows, the ogre joins his comrades and their dirt naps. The field is held, the foes are down, and the company is rather unsettled. Mulan moves swiftly to the wounded and spying the down pony unleashes her Wand of Cure Light Wounds and brings the pony back to alertness. Isaku casts all the curing spells he can. He then uses any pearls of power that he can to cast more healing spells. Mulan uses a great number of charges (20) off her wand getting the horses more healthy (most had been in the Castigate spell), and getting Gorvak and Isaku and others up to a satisfactory level of health.
We examine the bodies and discover the following which we remove and gather together. The eight ogres were all wearing lamellar armor; four of them had large shields and no-dachis. The other four had naginatas. The Tsuno was wearing great armor and wielding a masterwork huge falchion. The combined group had 2400 gold pieces and 4 gems worth (11, 11, 140 and 140 gold). The great weight of the ogre and Tsuno bodies precludes us moving the bodies far away from the camp, so we make the best of it. Since the party is now very low on spells (virtually out), the rest of the night will be spent in fitful sleep at best.
Shortly after midnight, about 1 AM, our sentries Gorvak and Til’k are brought to the alert by some great noises coming from near the river (which is not that far from where we are encamped). Til’k decides that the wise course is to prepare as best he can and calls upon a Divine Favor to aid him in the upcoming conflict. Til’k also shifts to find some deeper shadows to mask his presence. Gorvak calls out an alarm shouting that intruders are nearing the camp (which will awaken Isaku and Hatori, those most nervous from earlier activities this night). The intruder leader, which Gorvak recognizes as Water Trolls, after hearing Gorvak’s alarm, shouts out in Giant, “We only want the Ogres, can we take them?” and the trolls (3 normal and one larger leader type) move closer.
Til’k, not quite sure how this will go down, readies to strike from the shadows and awaits a direction. Hatori, also not sure what will happen, casts SHIELD on himself and gets up. Gorvak moves closer to where the trolls are and continues his conversation with the troll leader. Gorvak asks the Troll what he wants the Ogres for. Isaku gets up and gets ready for action. The troll replies, “We want them for food, may we take them?” This politeness stuns Gorvak and the others who can also understand the passable Giant tongue of the Troll. Zenako stirs from her fitful sleep.
The conversation continues, and Hatori speaks up and lets Gorvak know that he thinks that if what the trolls want is just the ogre bodies (which we had removed anything of value from already) that we should agree with that. The trolls are quite agreeable with taking all eight of the ogres. Sensing an opportunity to cleanse the campsite, we offer that we also have a dead Tsuno that they could take as well! The Troll leader agrees and comes over and fetches the Tsuno body and carries it off. Well it seems that this campsite is turning into a major roadway. The behavior of the trolls was surprising, but perhaps they could recognize that since our company had defeated the large group of ogres, that we would be a threat to them as well. They probably had expected us to have moved on after slaying the ogres. They seemed a little surprised that we were still near the bodies, but a few well chosen words avoided needless risk from yet another confrontation this night with a powerful group of giant class beings. However, we do take the position of upping our watches for the rest of the night.
That precaution comes to fruition as a few hours later, nearly 4 AM; our camp is hailed in Drakaran from the darkness. The speakers have very deep voices, like ogres, which it turns out they are!
The unseen Ogres call out, “Hail camp, may we approach?”
Zenako, who was closest their direction of approach calls out, “Who’s asking?”
“We are Smee and Blog, Hunters on the trail of an outlaw Tsuno!” reply the ogres, “Whose camp is this?”
“This is the camp of Zenako of Marike”, replies the Samurai, “and we might have met this Tsuno you mentioned! Did he have a pack of ogres with him?”
The ogres continue to step closer, but not fast enough to raise concern. As they get nearer, the equipment on them becomes more visible. These are NOT your average ogres by any means.
“Well that he might have, he had violated an order from the Ogre King and fled, taking with him a few loyal or misguided soldiers, what happened?” asks Smee.
“They assaulted our camp earlier this night, and they all died. The Tsuno was yelling something, but we couldn’t make it out,” replied Zenako.
“He was seeking vengeance on those who killed his kinfolk, but the King had forbidden him to act thusly” replied Blog.
“Oh, that’s what the shouting was all about! Well, he joined his kinfolk now” murmurs the samurai.
The rest of the party is all awake at this point and listening to the conversation. The ogres are asked to come closer and the conversation continues.
“Why were you seeking him?” asks Zenako.
“Looking to collect the bounty on his head” replied the ogres, “but since you already killed him, we could trade you something for the head.”
“Hmmm, that might be a problem, we gave his body to some water trolls a few hours ago and they floated it and the ogres along the river, sorry no head left” sighs Zenako, but thinking fast, at least when it comes to things like bounties, “we kept some of his stuff, would the great armor he wore be enough to claim the bounty? We could trade you that instead?”
“That should work” replied Smee. The ogres turn to each other and mutter a bit, then turn back and offer, “we would trade you this potion of haste for the great armor of the Tsuno ...sound good?”
Thinking for a quick minute, that sounds pretty fair to the Samurai, so she agrees.
Smee asks, “Did you happen to find any of the king’s gold on the Tsuno by any chance? Or anything else you want to turn in?”
The steady silence of the company indicates that the answer is no, there is nothing else we plan to give to the Ogre Bounty Hunters this night, unless we get something of value in return.
Both ogres appear to have a bit of wildness about them, perhaps some barbarian training. They are wearing armor and have nice looking No-Dachi’s (masterwork) and Smee also has a Halberd. Blog is noted for also having a nice looking obi and a ring and amulet.
Various members of the party engage these two ogres in conversation, and we soon conclude that they will travel with us tomorrow to the village where we shall introduce them to the Ogre Monk and his tower.
Noku at one point asks if the ogres have anything else that they might consider trading. One of them offers that they have this ring, which is enchanted, but does not seem to do anything? Noku indicates that we could identify its properties, if a suitable fee was paid, and shortly Hatori gets paid to learn what we can about the ring. It is a Ring of Counter spelling, but the active spell in it is unknown. Noku offers the ogre his Gloves of Missile Snaring, straight up. The ogre thinks about it a bit and then agrees to the swap. Noku has finally gotten some value for those gloves and now has a Ring that might be very handy in the future.
The next morning, we break camp and continue to head towards the village. Whether our ancestors are smiling on us, or the addition of two Ogre Bounty Hunters has scared away any foes, but the trip to the village is quiet and uneventful.
Our rangers find this fascinating and take this opportunity to learn all they can about the Ogre King, his claims on territory and anything else that they can get Smee and Blog to discuss. When we reach the village, we find Ashiko already there and waiting. She seems much relieved to have us join her in this barbarian land. Any remaining wounds from the battles of yesterday are quickly healed by the powerful Shugenja. Smee and Blog were left with the Monk.
Time to sit down and plan out what we shall do on the morrow with respect to the ruins. It seems prudent to make some more oracular investigations before we enter the inner portions of the temple ruins.
Hatori with the help and guidance of the other wise or learned members of the company shall ask certain questions. Isaku offers to try and contact a spirit who might know things and actually succeeds and some details of the temple past are learned, but more importantly, we gain some insight into what currently makes its home in the temple. It is most troubling, for the spirit has indicated that a Hebi-No-Onna assumes the seat of command. A spirit of this nature, we soon learn from our studious comrades, while not a melee threat, has mastered many levels of arcane magic, perhaps as much as a 14th level sorcerer! They also tend to gather about themselves many powerful spirits and snake beings, such as Naga and Hannya and the like. We must tread very carefully when we seek the Jade Yari.
We spend a day in the village conducting our discussions and plans and giving the villager’s time to determine whom will support our forward encampment again. That night Zenako spoke with the boss types in the village and inquired about any swaps that might be available. Her mind had been driven that way by Smee and Blog from the previous night....
Our group had two "surplus +1 longswords" to offer for some item that might be of more use to a group entering the Ruins of Ming Yo Temple than just another extra sword or two.
The various elders rummaged in their closets and found an old scroll that had been handed down. This scroll COULD be very useful, if the intimations about the possible Big Bad Evil Guy in the ruins are even close to true. The scroll is one of Holy Aura, and 8th level Shaman class spell. (It has many benefits if successfully cast, which can happen a reasonable percentage of the time, but not enough to definitely plan on, but it might "save our bacon" at some point.) The net value is about right in trades such as this.
A divine radiance surrounds the subjects, protecting them from attacks, granting them resistance to spells cast by evil creatures, and blinding evil creatures when they strike the subjects. This abjuration has four effects: First, the warded creatures gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus to saves. Second, the warded creatures gain SR 25 against evil spells and spells cast by evil creatures. Third, the abjuration blocks possession and mental influence, just as protection from evil does. Finally, if an evil creature succeeds at a melee attack against a warded creature, the offending attacker is blinded (Fortitude save negates, as blindness/deafness, but against holy auras save DC).
The scroll is effectively 15th level. Currently only Isaku can trigger this spell, and there are a few things we might be able to do to boost his success chances if things get critical. Since it only lasts for 15 rounds, it is not something that is cast much ahead of time, but it might be very important, especially the second and third aspects. The Holy Aura DC would be 22 at a minimum.
With this change in loot, and since we are likely to have a different mix of PC's next time (maybe Noku, maybe not...) it seems a reasonable time to divide up the booty gained on the trip out here.
Isaku to get the Scroll of Holy Aura described above.
Til'k Chek to get the Potion: Haste and 350 gold
Hatori to get the 7 Gems worth 622 gold combined
Gorvak to get 600 gold
Mulan to get 1350 gold (near bottom of recipients and used up a lot of CLWs)
Noku to get 1200 gold
Zenako to take some of the more costly Arms and Armor worth 985 gold (we sold some of the other stuff to the barbarians for their use or for conversion to other items, nothing too expansive, so it fits in the economy)
Ashiko receives 134 gold (as has been the practice in the past, those who are not along do get something if divisions allow.)
With that we end this chronicle of the adventures of Defenders of Marike until the next time we scribe pen to paper...