[003] Into the War Camp

[jmacatty]

As Ha steps in to face the bandit, he spits at the man's feet. and stands ready. After the first attack, he swings:

BCS= 11+1 (level) +1 (blade) =13
[1d20]=4
Damage= 1d6+2 (katana) +1(blade) +3(strength)=1d6+6
[1d6+6]=2+6=8

Ha kneels and takes the head. He picks up the sword as he rises, I claim the sword as mine by right.

[jemmus]

Toshizo is surprised at the robber's defiance and fine speech. He hadn't expected a criminal to have such pride. He backs to a wall to give the combatants plenty of space. He still has an arrow nocked, but he has no plans to use it. The robber won't run, and Ha will surely cut him down.

I see that this post was out of sequence, jmcatty must have posted just before did.

[jemmus]

Toshizo nods to Ha. Nn. Congratulations on your victory.

Nn is familiar for "yes." Hai is more formal and used mostly like, "Yes, I'll do it" or "Yes, I understand." Some useless trivia for you.

[Marullus]

Ha: 14 / 32
Officer #3: -6 / 35

He spends his 1 Ki point to remain active another round:
Hagiwara Kenshin (BCS 7) [1d20]=9 Damage [1d6+4]=1+4=5
Hagiwara Kenshin (BCS 14) [1d20]=8 Damage [1d6+4]=1+4=5
Hagiwara Kenshin (BCS 7) [1d20]=14 Damage [1d6+4]=6+4=10


Having struck Ha deeply, the wounded ronin isn't strong enough to parry the hammer-like blow of Ha's sword. The blade slices through his armorless kimono, filleting open his chest in a wound that can only be fatal. The ronin's lips press thin and white, but he emits no cry, instead bringing around his blade in a feeble miss that shows more defiance than speed or power. He then twists his grip and ripostes, a small slice on Ha's thigh (-5) before Ha bears down and cuts deep into the man's flesh again. He makes one more swing, connecting with nothing, but showing his spirit is still not broken, before he collapses to the ground, eyes staring lifeless.

Ha: 14-5= 9 / 32
Officer #3: (DEAD)


Bleeding from two cuts, Ha steps up and beheads the ronin, bending down to lift both the dripping severed head and the man's grandfather's fine katana to say, "I claim the sword as mine by right." The headless corpse lies on the floor, oozing a puddle onto a straw mat.

Toshizo acknowledges the victory, but his face shows surprise at the temerity of spirit shown by the heavily wounded man who could have foreseen nothing but his own death in this challenge.

"The blade of Hagiwara is yours, then," nods Satake no Taka, also acknowledging the victory. "Perhaps in the end he was a modest truth," she smirks faintly, a pun at the man's name, then adds, "he stood for the duel and it was honorable."

Ha gets two Budo for defeating him. He also gets two On, plus 13x(1/1) = 13 On for damage taken, being 15 On. Double on for a death duel, which is 30 On. Added to his 20 On as a middle ronin, that's 50 On, plus he carries a superior sword (+2) of a defeated foe.

Outside the open double door, Amano Souta adds another panel from the houses divider walls onto the bonfire, brightening the fire's glow as the paper flares and burns away. Against the stone of the mountainside, in the flickering shadows of the firelight, she thinks she sees the darting of a small form, but cannot be sure at this distance.

Other reactions to the scene and plans for the night, please.

[jemmus]

Toshizo thinks, "It turns out that the man was a true bushi. I will no longer think of him as 'robber,' but as Hagiwara Kenshin." He doesn't let on to the group, but he mentally says a little commendation to Heaven for the man's soul.

Well then, I suppose we should set watches for the night. Perhaps Ha-san, then myself, then Amano-san again. He doubts that Ha is ready for sleep after that quick but vicious duel. Perhaps keeping watch be the fire will let him review the fight in his mind and contemplate on the kenjutsu of both sides. Toshizo intends to sleep soundly while he can after this long day, though again in his armor. But he knows he'll first try to recall every detail of his fight with Hagiwara Kenshin and analyze the kyujutsu. Especially his mistakes.

[ffilz]

Eiji will say a prayer for Hagiwara Kenshin and tend to his headless corpse for a proper burial. He has increased respect for Ha for offering the man an honorable death.

[Samwell Turleton]

Amano Souta takes an inventory of her fuel for the night, draws her han-kyu, and withdraws again into the darkness outside the light of the fire and keeps her eyes focused on the area she saw the darting movements. She traces her fingers over the feather of an arrow and places it loosely against the string and bow.

[Marullus]

The bonfire burns outside the open double doors. No one is truly tired, having slept until mid-afternoon and it being now only early evening. The stars shine above in a cloudless sky.

Toshizo emerges, standing by the fire watching the flames in contemplation. Amano Souta withdraws from the fire as Toshizo emerges, going to the southwest corner of the building to the edge of the fire light where she draws her hankyu and lets her eyes adjust to the dark. Eiji sets to his task with a peaceful expression, unbothered by the low and unclean duties of handling the dead. His hands do so expertly - preparing the body on the blood-stained house floor as one who has done this many times before. Jiva sits beside Eiji, his tail still, a solemn mourner for the dead headless man.

Eiji emerges from the building the body wrapped with its limbs bound to its sides, carried in his arms. He begins heading southwest past Souta to where he dug the previous graves, just past the reach of the fire's light. Having left the light and let her eyes adjust, Souta sees what lies ahead of Eiji before he gets there...

bakemono_sho.jpg (17.99 KiB) Viewed 321 times

Three bakemon-sho fling dirt up out of a hole, having dug into the mass grave where the other bodies were deposited by Eiji's labors this afternoon, only their shovels and tops of their heads visible as they do their work swiftly. Three more of the short, warty creatures abscond in the darkness back to the mountain's wall and north to the cavern entrance, each one drags a dirt-stained wrapped body pulled from the grave behind them, bumping along the ground. They wear wakizashi at their waists and scraps of poor haori, ragged with wear, on their upper bodies with loincloths underneath.

Detailed Turn Actions!
Right now, only Souta is aware of the bakemono-sho. Her call if she cries out to warn you all (and them) or acts alone (with surprise) and you all can react next turn.
- Toshizo will see the action as soon as something happens, being outside
- Ha and Taka are still inside the building, but can run out when something is audible

It is 80 yards from the fire (and Toshizo) to the cave entrance.
It is 18 yards from Eiji and Souta to the mass grave (which has three bakemono-sho in it). 50 yards for Toshizo.
It is 78, 80, and 82 yards to the three bakemono-sho dragging bodies. (for anyone, because angles)

Brigand Building - night fight 1.png (205.77 KiB) Viewed 321 times

A = Amano Souta
E = Eiji
T = Toshizo
H = Ha
S = Satake no Taka

1, 2, 3 = bakemono-sho dragging bodies
(The other three are in the mass grave icon)

Souta (Perception of Hidden Things BCS 3) [1d20]=1
Eiji (Perception of Hidden Things BCS 7) [1d20]=13

[jmacatty]

OOC: Did the officer Ha just killed have a matched Dai-sho, or just the Katana?

[Marullus]

It was just the katana.

[Samwell Turleton]

The three bakemono-sho dragging bodies already have a head start to the cave entrance. Can Souta judge how far they have to go before they reach the precipice she scouted earlier?

Souta has a BMA of 10, so could close 20 yards as part of a run in the surprise action, then it shifts to the detailed turn actions, correct? She could close 40 yards to the cave entrance at the end of this turn. Is that right?

[Samwell Turleton]

I worked through some thoughts in the previous post and finally settled on the edited question there now.

[Samwell Turleton]

Souta nocks an arrow in the string of her bow and pushes the bow and pulls the string taut in a single movement, leveling the arrow off, sighting down the arrow, and firing at the bakemono-sho dragging the bodies towards the cave. Souta fires at the rearmost bakemono-sho first.

I am interpreting the distance to be short range for the han-kyu bow with no BCS modifier or man-rating modifier. I am a little confused about the BCM modifiers of the arrows. I will use a willow leaf arrow until I understand how the BCS modifier is applied. (BCS 10)[1d20]=3; Damage [1d6]=3

[Marullus]

Okay... The module provides a map with no grid and no distances. I had approximated distances based on what I thought would be fun, and it already broke my head. Bushido is way too fiddly with the distances for me to not use a real map when you're moving on two axes.

SO...
I migrated the map into Roll20 and built a grid system to use euclidian geometry and a hex-grid with 1-yard measurement hexes. You can now reference the map to count 1 yard hexes and determine your movement... round fractions down.

Night Fight - Start.PNG (381.42 KiB) Viewed 299 times

Yellow circle is the circle if full firelight. Beyond that is dim light and shadows for twice the distance.
Tokens exist for all characters (with their own photos if they had one) in the same places as the other map.

Ignore all previous distances. I sized the map so the building rooms are appropriately sized and all outdoor distances are re-measured below.

• 20 yards from the bonfire to the cave entrance (not 80)
• 15 yards from the bakemonos to the cave mouth, due north of them.
• 8 yards from Amano Souta to mass grave and the three bakemonos there.
• 20 yards from Amano Souta to two of the bakemonos with bodies. 23 yards to the third, farther one.
• 26 yards from Amano Souta to the cave mouth, straight line.
• 24 yards from Toshizo to the moving bakemonos and 18 yards to the grave-bakemonos. (20 to the cave mouth)
• 7 yards from Eiji to the mass grave (two turns for him at BMA 3).

...given that Amano Souta has 2x to 3.5x as much movement as any other player, this seemed necessary. Go ahead and recalculate.

[jemmus]

Toshizo saw Souta in the shadows at the edge of the firelight. She had an arrow nocked and was looking intently into the shadows. Toshizo looked in that direction and spotted what could only be what people described as bakemono-sho. The nearer ones were perilously close to Eiji, and also close enough for an easier shot. He nocked a bowel raker arrow, drew his dai-kyu, and loosed it at the one nearest to the gakusho.

Nice map! (Also, nice bakemono-sho image!) Yeah, I definitely found that a Bushido GM needs some kind of graphical way to track characters' movement and positions. The combat rules are too detailed for winging it or guestimating as we can do in other RPGs.
Toshizo's partially encumbered BMA is 5, x2 for running, so 10 yards. He runs diagonally toward the right and bottom of the map. (What would be southeast on standard RL map). He ends in a hex "southeast" of his current position, one hex from the edge of the yellow firelight circle.

BCS 12 + 2 point blank, -2 for bowel raker, -1 for partial encumbrance.
2-man bow, +2 damage point blank, +1d3 for bowel raker.
[1d20]=9[2d6+2]=9+2=11[2d3]=4 15 damage

[ffilz]

So what does Eiji see?

[Marullus]

So what does Eiji see?

I am waiting for Souta to have a chance to revise or confirm first since she had the extra round of action.

As it stands now, Eiji failed his perception and is walking south. As he passes Souta, she runs northeast without saying anything. Eiji moves 3 yards, leaving him 5 yards from the mass grave where three bakemono-sho (think of goblins) are shoveling and they all see each other. That'swhen he declares an action. Eiji is carrying the corpse and his monk's spade.

[Samwell Turleton]

I updated my earlier post with a change in approach based on the different distance

[jemmus]

Since Souta's action changed, I edited Toshizo's action. She shoots instead of runs.

[Marullus]

Turn Order:

Phase 16: Jīva (Basic Action)
Phase 12: Bakemono-sho (Basic Action)
Phase 10: Souta (Basic Action)
Phase 6: Eiji (Basic Action); Souta (Secondary Action)
Phase 5: Ha (Basic Action); Toshizo (Basic Action)
Phase 3: Souta (Secondary Action)
Phase 2: Taka (Basic Action)

Since you all have Zanshin 1, Primary and Basic are basically the same right now. When you level up, you can end up with multiple primaries but only one Basic per round (your first action). For example: Shooting a Dai-kyu is a Basic action (only ever one per round) but shooting a Han-Kyu is a Primary action (when Zanshin goes up, Souta will have multiple shots).

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1115.1 BASIC OPTIONS
Use Dai-kyu
This Option, available to Unengaged characters, allows the
character to loose one arrow with a Dai-kyu. No movement is
allowed.

1115.2 PRIMARY OPTIONS
Use Han-kyu
This Option, available only to Unengaged characters, allows a
character to use the Han-kyu to loose one arrow. No movement is
allowed while using this Option.

Secondary actions apply now (Souta has two of them). Secondary actions are made with your BCS halved. They are limited (and listed in section 1115.3) and generally don't allow movement. Options are only Attack (with melee), Draw Weapon, Parry, Perform Action, or Sheathe Weapon. [/ooc]

Reading 1114.2 EFFECTS OF PRE-EMPTION AND SURPRISE, Surprise means the turn begins on phase 10 with Souta acting and continues normally from there.

(Round 1, Phase 12)
The three bakemono-sho drag the human corpses north under the cover of darkness (four yards), unaware that they have been spotted on their way back to the black mouth of the cavern.

(Round 1, Phase 10)
Tracking their movement in the night, Souta nocks an arrow in the string of her bow and pushes the bow and pulls the string taut in a single movement, leveling the arrow off, sighting down the arrow, and firing at the bakemono-sho dragging the bodies towards the cave. Souta fires at the rearmost bakemono-sho first. The yanagi-ba arrow sinks into its shoulder (-3) and the creature squeals in the night!

I am interpreting the distance to be short range for the han-kyu bow with no BCS modifier or man-rating modifier. I am a little confused about the BCM modifiers of the arrows. I will use a willow leaf arrow until I understand how the BCS modifier is applied. (BCS 10)[1d20]=3; Damage [1d6]=3

Yes, it is 20 yards to the rearmost bakemono-sho, so that is in your short range with a 1-man rating han-kyu (11-40 yards).

• If you shoot the nearer ones in the grave, it is in the 2-10 range for Point Blank which gives a +1 Man-Rating. What that means is that it adds that many damage dice. So, at point-blank, your arrows do 2d6 damage and have a +2 BCS to hit.
• If you are ever at long range (41-100 yards), you can't lower your man-rating below 1 so you take no damage penalty (you still do 1d6), but you do take the -4 to BCS.
• Souta would need to have Strength 21 to get a Man-Rating 2 bow, and that's not how she's built. She will end up with multiple shots per round when she levels up and if she can improve her Strength attribute over the long term she can then get the stronger bow then.
• Arrows are all a trade-off between to-hit and damage. BCS is what you need to roll on the d20. Willow Leave is basic, no BCS modifier for 1d6 damage. The Armor Piercer gets a +1 BCS (cancels out a point of armor, aka easier to make the hit) but does 1d5 damage. Bowel Raker gets -2 BCS penalty (aka harder to pierce through and make the hit) but does 1d6+1d3 damage. The humming bulb gets a -1 penalty and only does 1d3 damage but makes noise, causing story-effect. (For example, drawing attention to a foe others may not see without needing the Give Orders action.)

For this shot: Han-Kyu (BCS 10) at Short range (+0) with a willow leaf arrow (+0) against Armor Class 3 (-3) with target moving (-2) = BCS 5. You rolled a 3, so that's a hit. You do 1d6+0 damage and rolled a 3. 3 damage to the bakemono-sho.

(Round 1, Phase 6)
Eiji continues his own course towards the mass grave, carrying the newly-wrapped body of the deceased ronin, his eyes still adjusting to the gloom. (3 yards southwest). Jīva growls at his side and the monk blinks, seeing now the spade-fulls of dirt being thrown up out of the hole, the same hole he filled in only a few hours ago. He sees the heads of the three bakemono-sho low beneath him as they desecrate his work.

(Eiji's action was Move, then noticing at that distance was free. Souta can declare a secondary action here and at phase 3, if she chooses, from the limited list. [I assume not.])

(Round 1, Phase 5)
Toshizo saw Souta in the shadows at the edge of the firelight, firing her bow towards the cave. An opponent squeals in the night! Jiva growls beyond Souta and Toshizo sees the squat forms down in the grave, just a few yards in front of where Eiji walks. He nocked a bowel raker arrow, drew his dai-kyu, and loosed it at the bakemono-sho nearest to the gakusho. The arrow thuds into the soft earth of the grave, spraying dirt at the digging forms, all three of them exclaiming in protest.

I will allow that Jiva's growl with Eiji moved allowed you to spot the ones in the grave, and the squeal of the one shot by Souta alerted you to the others. Otherwise, this would have required a Perception of Hidden Things roll for you to see into the dark beyond the firelight. (But I'm feeling generous. : ) )

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Observe Situation
This Option allows the character to make observations of events
and circumstances surrounding him. Without choosing this Option,
a character is only aware of what is immediately in front of him or
what has been communicated to him by another character using the
Give Orders Option.
A character using this Option is allowed to move up to 1 yard.

BCS 12 + 2 point blank, -2 for bowel raker, -1 for partial encumbrance.
2-man bow, +2 damage point blank, +1d3 for bowel raker.[/ooc]
[1d20]=9[2d6+2]=9+2=11[2d3]=4 15 damage

We're going to say distance to those in the grave are 18, 19, and 19 yards. To the ones with bodies is 22, 22, and 24 yards.
Toshizo has a man-rating 2 dai-kyu, so Point Blank is to 20 yards, Short Range is is 21-70. So, the grave is point-blank, the others are short range.

Firing Dai-Kyu (BCS 12) at point blank range (+2) with a bowel-raker arrow (-2) while partially encumbered (-1) against Armor Class 3 (-3) when the target has partial cover from being down in a hole (-2) = BCS 7. You rolled a 9 and miss.
[/ooc]

We will pause here for Ha to act.

Then Souta may have a third action (of secondary-type).
Then Taka can act (I will allow her to emerge from the building with a single move, her BMA is otherwise 2 yards).
Then we start over at the top of the round with the bakemono-sho acting first.

As we play-by-post, I will narrate a turn until I run out of declared actions (like here). If you declare, we can move faster, if not I will stop at the right point for your input.