1st Scroll - The Will of Nobles - 4th Day

[ffilz]

You can stack multiple rolls (at least six) in a die roller string which makes it much easier. You don't need more than four or so rolls depending on power points.

Have you seen how many rolls I've made for healing and such...

The fast-forward does limit Taisho a bit. Stopping at dawn to offer options helps. Stop at dawn, try a Trance, do some healing, roleplay as appropriate,
then move forwardto the next consequential thing. (In typical OSR, that would be a planned encounter, rolls for random encounter, and/or jumping forward through an uneventful day.)

I'm not sure how folks would handle trances and blesses in real time play. Rolling for them EVERY day would be quite a drag. My thought is set up an SOP of how long I try trance and blessing in the morning and then if it looks like an interesting encounter is coming up on a given day, THEN roll for trances and blessings. I don't want Taisho to be getting Shugendo for doing trances and blessings on a day of no action. But deferring the rolls until it's relevant may not be to every one's taste.

[ffilz]

Some healing, healing Omi first until I get a success, then heal Ito until success, rinse and repeat, initially each roll at -1:



So from that, Omi is healed 7 and Ito 2

Let's try that again:



And sorry, I put the macro in Eiji...

Omi is healed 5 more.

Now I'll roll one by one

Ito:







Ito is healed 3 more

So that puts Omi at 35/37 and Ito at 22/25 and leaves Taisho 20 power.

[ffilz]

And a round of blessing:



If the Kuge and Akemi would desire blessings I'll roll for those.

Added blessing for Taisho and Akemi

[jemmus]

At dawn the players won't know whether a day will be uneventful or not. I may not even know, because of random encounters, and how the players react to situations. (And also because I have idea of where the homebrew is going, but not all of the details. For example, adding Hiroshi and Haruto to the party changes things (encounter sizes, shugenja magic use, the party's Status composition, etc.))

But going forward, we'll open each day at dawn, and sometimes fast forward for some routine things such as highway road travel and stays at inns. For this first stay at an inn, I wanted to have a scene people can picture future inns along the way and know what to expect. And to give us some practice with how payments for lodging and stabling work. Overnight night at this inn may or may not be eventful.

What if you grouped Taisho's rolls? For example, one roll is for 3, 4 or 5 healings? All succeed or all fail. I suppose the downside is you couldn't as finely tailor the points of healing each PC gets.

The kuge's poker-faced expression indicates that Taisho shouldn't even offer him a blessing. But Akemi would like one.

[ffilz]

So my thought on blessing is that each day I will make one attempt at blessing for each PC. If the day turns uneventful, we don't need to roll, If it turns eventful, I can make the roll. In any case, blessing is done each day and the power spent. We just don't do the rolls if it doesn't matter if they were done or not. The more I think about it, the more I consider Taisho isn't going to start each day off with a trance, so we don't need to automate that. I do have a macro to do the blessings in one shot (oh, and question that I've asked before, can Taisho bless himself?)

Hmm, here's a simple way to do a bunch of blessings in one roll. The reds are successes...



I can use the regular macro for up to 6 which may serve just fine, but if there were more than 6 rolls needed for an SOP, this would be the way to do it. Note that since the success counter looks for >= rather than <= the sZ needs to be BCS+1.

I've also got a macro that I can use to reduce some of the tedium of healing. I can apportion the three rolls before hand and make three rolls at a time, dropping to individual rolls when I run low on power or people are close to being healed all the way.

Once you answer the question about blessing self, I'll roll for Akemi and Taisho if applicable.

[Marullus]

That's an elegant macro, there!

Yes, a Gakusho can bless himself.

I will post IC for the tavern. Acting as herald, how much introduction does the Kuge want? That's critical to understanding here. Is he hiding or downplaying himself in travel? (Haruto assumes that is part of the reasoning unless told otherwise.)

[ffilz]

That's an elegant macro, there!

Yes, a Gakusho can bless himself.

I will post IC for the tavern. Acting as herald, how much introduction does the Kuge want? That's critical to understanding here. Is he hiding or downplaying himself in travel? (Haruto assumes that is part of the reasoning unless told otherwise.)

I edited the blessings for Taisho and Akemi in above to keep them all in one place. I've updated my mass macro to cover all the PCs for future use. I will still have to roll Akemi separately since a macro can only have 6 rolls in it.

[jemmus]

I found this in the rules. Taisho can bless himself. But it looks like we've been doing it wrong. He can only bless one char per his level. So at level 1, one character.
The Gakusho blesses one or more characters in the “Way” of a
Yoga. He may cast the Spell on 1 character per Level he has
achieved. This includes himself if he is blessing himself.

I have to calculate Taisho's shugendo for today. It's .1 per successful heal, correct?

[Marullus]

Nice rolls! Omi and Kentaro got critical blessings.

Over here, I house ruled that a critical success blessing allows x2 blessings on that character for that day and double On. If Jemmus likes that he can add it to the house rule thread.

I found this in the rules. Taisho can bless himself. But it looks like we've been doing it wrong. He can only bless one char per his level. So at level 1, one character.

I read that as per roll/expenditure. His number of rolls/expenditures depends on available power.

What that allows is that a more potent Gakusho can bless the whole party at once, not that a low-level Gakusho is barred from expending his Power.

[jemmus]

Over here, I house ruled that a critical success blessing allows x2 blessings on that character for that day and double On. If Jemmus likes that he can add it to the house rule thread.

I found this in the rules. Taisho can bless himself. But it looks like we've been doing it wrong. He can only bless one char per his level. So at level 1, one character.

I read that as per roll/expenditure. His number of rolls/expenditures depends on available power.

What that allows is that a more potent Gakusho can bless the whole party at once, not that a low-level Gakusho is barred from expending his Power.

Alright, makes sense.
House rules have been updated with the rule for x2 effects for critical success on a blessing.

[Marullus]

I will post IC for the tavern. Acting as herald, how much introduction does the Kuge want? That's critical to understanding here. Is he hiding or downplaying himself in travel? (Haruto assumes that is part of the reasoning unless told otherwise.)

[jemmus]

That's a good catch. The kuge doesn't want to be bothered with a formal visit to the local samurai boss(es) (the ninyo). But he still expects to be treated as a kuge in the inn and get the very best accommodations. Haruto needs to arrange that. He guesses that the innkeeper-station master would be expected to report that a kuge is in town to the local ninyo. Apparently the kuge doesn't want that, he wants some privacy today. Haruto will note that the station master is a low rank samurai, probably of a Takeda clan. And the station master will note the Takeda clan crests on Haruto's clothing. (Usually there are two small ones on the back of the garment, at the shoulders).

[Marullus]

Under the Status rules, Haruto is compelled to comply with the kuge's request that he serve as his herald.
Haruto enters the inn and is met with the customarily "Welcome!" called out by a middle-aged man and a wifely middle-aged woman. She responds to inquiries by informing him that buke-class rooms and meals are 5 silver per night. Meals and a shared dormitory room for lower rank guests are 5 copper. Use of the bath house is included in the prices. Stabling and feeding horses is 11 copper per day.

Takeda no Haruto steps willingly up to the role ascribed to him. Young, clean, and dressed in a good buke clothing with a winter overgarment for travelling, his Takeda crest is clearly visible as he enters at the front of the group.

"Honor on you and on your establishment," he offers courtesies and greetings to the innkeeper and matron. "We are tired from the road and are grateful for your accommodations," he weaves carefully, "my honorable companions desire privacy and rest, you understand," he disassembles as artfully as his rhetoric allows. He offers his own name and relation to the local Takeda as bone fides and artfully refers his 'tired and honorable companion' for proper treatment but nameless introduction, keeping the Kuge's privacy. He discretely ascertains if the innkeeper's discretion requires an extra remuneration, hoping it does not.

Two teenage boys carry the kuge's and Haruto's chests into the inn. The kuge is given his own spacious room, but the three samurai most share a smaller one. The ronin, heimin and eta are shown the common sleeping room. There are no other guests there.

The porters carry Haruto's lockbox to the room he is sharing with Omi and Ito, who are able to discretely glance inside. They see additional sets of fine clothing, carefully arranged writing supplies and parchments, Shinto statuettes for prayer, and silk coin purses indicating a comparable amount of coin on this boy as they themselves carry after defeating the bandits. They note he has no discernable weapons, even packed away... not even a wakazashi.

When dusk approaches, Haruto quietly sets up a Shinto prayer mat and statue, lighting a stick of fragrant incense. Excusing himself (yet still in the small chamber), he kneels on the mat before the statue, closes his eyes, and goes into a trance.

Astral Senses (BCS 10) [1d20]=3

Code: Select all

The Shugenja may perceive the unseen realm of "Kakuri-yo." All his senses will focus on that world, leaving him oblivious to this one. He must be led like one blind and senseless. The Shugenja will perceive all Spirits, enchanted creatures, transformed beings, etc., in their true shapes. He will perceive magical energies as colorful auras.

First, he travels (at speed of thought to any known location) to observe his father's nightly prayers in the Shinto shrine. Haruto finds himself quickly in the thick of things now that he has left the shrine, and the comfort of his father's prayers before the painting of his mother is sorely needed. (Does he learn anything in this process?)

Second, he walks the Inn before returning to his body, checking for what is unseen before he and his companions trust themselves to sleep. He has heard many a fanciful tale of transformed beings and saavy Bake laying traps for travelers and, being inexperienced in the true boring and mundane nature of normal travel, checks just to be sure.

When the sun has set, he casually whispers into the palm of his hand, blowing a glowing white orb into being. This orb illuminates as he sits cross-legged on his prayer mat and looks through the writings in his chest, studying for an hour before he gently closes his hands to wink it out and goes to sleep.

The kuge dines separately in one of the higher dining rooms off of the main room, with the shoji screen closed. The buke's meal includes fresh finger-long ayu trout. The others' meals include a chicken egg instead.

Haruto takes advantage of the bath house, cleansing himself and fastidiously rebraiding his long hair down his back. He arrives fresh and well-dressed in a spare set of clean, new clothes for the meal.

After seeing that the Kuge is appropriately cared for, he settles into dinner with Ito and Omi, taking note if any other Bushi are present in their company. Haruto tries to be friendly company, encouraging his companions to share of their tale that he can get to know them and asking of the local news from any others they are dining with.

Please deduct the cost of lodging (and stabling, if applicable) from your sheets. 30 copper = 1 silver, 12 silver = 1 gold.

5sp for room, meal and bath. 11cp for boarding.
New balance of 10sp, 27cp.

[Marullus]

The ronin, heimin and eta are shown the common sleeping room. There are no other guests there.

Kentaro is pleased - he has seldom stayed in an actual Inn, and he finds the common sleeping room quite spacious and amenable compared to what is available in villages up the mountain. He watches to see where Akemi stays, assuring she is safe, then chooses his own place to give her space and respect as is possible. He watches Taisho to discern what is proper, hoping to learn the manners for such a place from his more experienced companion.

The kuge dines separately in one of the higher dining rooms off of the main room, with the shoji screen closed. The buke's meal includes fresh finger-long ayu trout. The others' meals include a chicken egg instead.

Fried rice with a chicken egg pleases Kentaro immensely, especially as he doesn't have to cook it himself over a fire. He doesn't even think to look what the other rooms are having, tucking into his own bowl with gusto. After dinner he relaxes and gets out his samisen.

Samisen (BCS 4) [1d20]=9
Court Dance (BCS 8) [1d20]=11
He plucks it with care, but his amateur attempt is at best met with polite courtesy.

The sound of chopping wood continues. The ashigaru and conscripted peasants are building a signal fire watchtower, the male innkeeper-postman explains. War may come even to little Fujimi-cho. Ito and Omi pull rank and assign Kentaro to guard the kuge during his bath. They set three watches for outside the kuge's room for the night: Omi, Kentaro and Hiroshi, then Ito. The ronin take this to mean that they don't trust Hiroshi with a solo watch, as yet.

Kentaro dutifully stands guard as the Kuge bathes. Kentaro watches discretely to learn the ettiquette required. He's never used an indoor tub, actually, and this is his first experience with perfumed soaps. When the Kuge has finished, he avails himself of the bathhouse as well, doing his best to mimic the manners he observed. He finds that his own layers of grime prove much more stubborn than the simple day's dust was for the Kuge.

Kentaro is very tactful, not making the new Ronin feel uncomfortable with their joint shift. He has a greater importance as yojimbo, he feels, but doesn't argue with the choices of Ito and Omi.

He talks in a friendly, colloquial manner to the innkeeper. "It is good to have a tower, our towers in the mountains can be seen for many miles.
Who is it that will respond when your tower is lit?"

Meals and a shared dormitory room for lower rank guests are 5 copper. Use of the bath house is included in the prices. Stabling and feeding horses is 11 copper per day.
Please deduct the cost of lodging (and stabling, if applicable) from your sheets. 30 copper = 1 silver, 12 silver = 1 gold.
Any actions (spellcasting, questions to the innkeepers, etc.) before we proceed?

5 copper for him and 11 copper for Tafu the horse, total of 16 copper.
New balance: 9 silver, 17 copper.

[jemmus]

Kentaro should have more money than that, I think. He share of the loot payment was 12 gold, 8 silver. Minus 10 silver for the letter he sent is 11 gold, 10 silver.

[Marullus]

Yes - I didn't list the Gold for either.

[jemmus]

By my figuring, Taisho got 2.2 shugendo on Day 4 (the morning of Day 4, the morning of traveling a short day to the inn in Fujimi-town). Six successful Healings at .1 each, four successful Blessings, two with crit successes at .2 each. That's 0.6 Healing + 1.6 Blessing = 2.2 shugendo. 3.2 so far.

You bushi didn't use your blessings from the gakusho on the fight against the bandits on the mountain, despite final warnings from GM. Yes, that was the final one. Maybe the gakusho could give some reminders to the fighters worried about other 6-second things. Shugenja too,

[jemmus]

As the traveler's dine a man of around 35 years old in riding clothing enters the station-inn. He wears dai-sho and carries saddle bags. His shirt bears the Takeda crest, and there is a white armband on his right arm with kanji characters. Some of them are like the ones the travelers saw on the sign outside and recognize as probably meaning either "postal" or "station." The innkeeper-station master and his wife call out the familiar, "Welcome!" Then the innkeeper says, "Good evening, Postal Courier-san. Any mail for us?' The man answers, "Good evening, Station Master-san. No, nothing for Fujimi. Anything for me?" The innkeeper replies, "Nothing urgent. Only two letters for Kofu Castle from the ninyo-san." "Alright, in that case I'll stay the night," the courier answers. The two seem to be friendly colleagues of around the same rank. "Good. There's no one staying in the couriers' quarters tonight. Any news of the world?"

The courier brazenly looks around the room at each of the dining travelers-- eta, heimin, ronin and samurai alike. The station master says something to him in a lower voice. But the words "pilgrim," "black teeth," "kuge," "on the highway from Chiyoda, must have stayed with the Andoh" can plainly be heard. The station master looks at the travelers frankly and smiles at them reassuringly. The courier takes another look, assesses for a moment, and seems satisfied. He replies, in just a slightly lowered voice. But for some reason, perhaps known only to himself and the postmaster, or probably the travelers in this inn's quiet dining room, he speaks clearly and frankly.

"Yes, there are rumors. It's said that in Yamato province, just a half day's ride from the capital, 500 Minamoto samurai assaulted a 'police task force' of 400 Taira samurai. The Taira lost the fight and retreated west, leaving their dead and their wounded behind. Some well-known Taira heads are on poles now. The Taira went west to Marugame Castle, on the border with Kawachi province. The Minamoto pursued, but didn't try to besiege the castle. It seems they didn't have the organization or leadership for it. Like they were a pack of stray dogs on the loose. Hot-blooded, angry, and looking for vengeance and blood. More like a yakuza gangs fight than real organized warfare."

The station master takes that in, looks down, and holds his chin for a few seconds. "That is something that won't do, neh, Tamaru-san."

"It's not good, Makihara-san. And what's said is, the Minamoto turned back from Marugame Castle and went this way and that around major samurai manors in Yamato province. The ones on the short-ride outskirts of the capital. As close as they dared. They demanded information about lineage and allegiance, Taira or Minamoto. The Taira they set on road-- wife, boy, girl, infant, old grandpa or grandma. And burned the manor to the ground."

"Burned it and everything in to the ground? And didn't just seize it, or even loot the things in it, for their own wives, purses... wealth? Burnt to the ground, and put the high Taira women on the road?"

"That is the talk coming from Yamato, here to Kai. There are surely some exaggerations and false information from courier to courier along the way," the highway courier Tamaru says.

The station master meets the postal courier in the eye. "I hope it's just rumors, Tamaru-san. But 'from the seed comes the root, and from the root comes the sprout and leaves.' Burning to the ground, and not occupying and changing control of land and peasants. Or even just looting and moving on. Putting wives, mothers and children on the highway.
The young Taira bushi will want payback and retribution. It's blood feud. On a national scale."

"But yosh, Tamaru-san! Today we have little ayu trout spitted, salted, and grilled. The daimyo in Kofu himself could not have such a thing!" He station master's wife brings hot green tea and a flask of warm sake to him. The samurai courier politely invites himself to join Haruto's, Ito's and Omi's small table in the little village's inn. But it's obvious that his mind is elsewhere.

viewtopic.php?p=542259#p542259 The station master and the postal courier are members of the same nakama in-group, which is Takeda and related clans samurai serving in the postal-post stations service.

[jemmus]

Kentaro bathes as the kuge did: Sits on stool and ladles very hot water from the tub onto his head and body; washes himself with soap and a small wet towel; rinses himself with more water from the tub; gets into the tub to soak and relax; dries himself and dresses. As is the custom, he leaves the tub water clean for the next bather. When he returns to the dining room, Omi goes to guard the kuge. The courier politely excuses himself and goes to his room. The big bushi entertains Ito, Hiroshi, Taisho, Akemi, and the station master and his wife with folk songs on his samisen. Akemi and the wife clap for Kentaro after every song. He hits a few bum notes, but it makes the evening in the inn pass pleasantly.

Haruto arranges for the kuge's stay at the inn-post station. When all is arranged and the kuge has dined and bathed, he meditates and accesses the "hidden world," the Kakuri-yo. He listens to his father's prayers. "Oh Amaterasu-sama, I ask for your favor for my family, the Takeda, and all of Nippon. The Minamoto have let their rage overcome the heads and committed atrocities against the Taira. May they not do the same or worse to the Minamoto. May they not wage hunger war, and burn the crops and orchards. May they not wage terror war, and loose their ronin and ashigaru on villagers and townsmen.

The kami-sama knows well that war, disorder, hardship and opportunity make people do strange things. Things that they would not do during ordinary times. May there not be deceipt, treachery, or betrayal within the Takeda clan and Minamoto clans.

Please give my son wisdom as he serves as ninyo of Fujikawa-cho. If he is called to serve in battle, give him courage and calm. Please protect my son Haruto, who is wise in mystical things, but inexperienced in the ways of this hard material world."

Haruto prudently inspects the inn for supernatural things. Which is wise, because such places are attractive to all kinds of beings bent on doing evil.

The bushi take turns standing watch through the night, but all is quiet. Haruto, Taisho and Akemi enjoy a good night's sleep in the warm inn. Before sunrise, the inn's kitchen begins bustling with preparation of meals. The kuge rises early today, ready for travel to the next town.

The next town is Hokuto-cho, which Kentaro was told has a fletcher. You should be able to reach it today, with normal, uneventful travel. (Terrain modifiers: major road +100%; rough -25% = +75%. Thats enough for the slowest party member to move two hexes per day. Here's the map.

viewtopic.php?p=579034#p579034
Morning actions before departing?

[jemmus]

Haruto gained 2 On for serving as the kuge Fujiwara no Sanetoshi's herald. But he lost 1 On for having to be someone's flunky, so net gain is 1 On. The same for every day he serves as a herald. (He wouldn't lose On if he were serving a higher ranked samurai. That's a part of every samurai's job. It's the serving someone outside the clan hierarchy, even a kuge, that hurts a little.