The Day of Thunder

The Harbinger is nearby. If she gets the chance, it’s likely that she’ll try to wear down the Thunders before they make it up to the Champion of Jigoku. The only way to give them the best shot you can is to make sure she doesn’t get to them first. You need to keep her busy.

Rules: This event is limited to 4 active PCs and 4 PC alternates. It will involve Combat with the Harbinger. Magic may be used in the first part. If a PC dies in the fight, an alternate may enter. Please decide the order in which alternates will come in before it comes up.

Part 1: Drawing Her Out

Find the Right Spot: The first thing that needs to be done is finding a proper place for am ambush within the town – she’s unlikely to be drawn as far out as the forest. Roll Investigation (Search)/Perception, TN 20 to find an appropriate spot. Success will grant those confronting her a surprise round before she gets a chance to act.

Everybody Hide!: It’s important to be hidden if you want to ambush someone. All participants in the fight must roll Stealth TN 20 to find an appropriate place to hide. Doing so will reduce the number of Effigies the Harbinger may pull into battle.

Surprise!: The final step is to make sure the Harbinger shows up. One person may make any roll that they think will get her to the right spot, TN 25. that may be Acting/Awareness to imitate someone screaming, a Heavy Weapon skill to make a lot of noise, whatever you think would work. Please include the fluff in your description. This roll ensures that the Harbinger will be fighting you the entire time, rather than getting distracted by the Thunders.

Once Part 1 is finished, Part 2 will begin combat.

Anjing stalks forward as the chaos continues, literally tearing her way through any effigies that get too close. At least when you rip their heads off there's no blood.

The final day had come and now there was killing to do. Harbinger was lurking somewhere in the village, the demon that threatened her friends, her family. No doubt if it could interfere with the thunders it would, seeking to cheat destiny at the last moment. With a grim smile Anjing runs a thumb down the battered head of her club, brushing off the straw from a particularly adventurous effigy.

Today the Harbinger, would meet its destiny on the road taken to avoid it.

Emerging from a side street she looks left and right, nodding at the warriors gathered. Those who weren't selected as thunders.

But you don't need to be a thunder to kill a demon, you can ask can Crab.

[Joining the combat as an active PC, rolls to follow once participants and who is rolling what on the skill check are confirmed.]

Day 7 MA Event - Surprise Party

Roll 2 - Everybody hide, base TN 20 stealth/agility, increased by +5 from Heavy Armor. | 7k4 ⇒ 23 (TN: 25)

Haka Tae-soo wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 17, 2023 5:43 pm

D7 MA - Casting Quiescence of Air on self before Roll 2, affects a 30 ft diameter (not radius, my bad!) sphere around him. 2 wounds taken | 6k3 ⇒ 29 (TN: 15)

Everyone within a 30 ft sphere of Tae-soo receive 2 FR to Stealth rolls against anyone outside the sphere (including the Harbinger!), which may be used to reduce the TN of the Stealth roll to 10.

(With Tae-Soo's generous assistance Anjing is saved from stomping and complaining too loudly)

Day 7 Surprise Party Event - Roll 1 Find the Right Spot (assuming we can each roll for this and we just need one to succeed). TN 20 investigation/Perception | 5k3 ⇒ 21 (TN: 20)

Day 7 Surprise Party Event - Roll 3 Surprise (assuming we can each roll for this and we just need one to succeed). TN 25 Heavy Weapons/Agility, assuming Anjing IR4 cancels out heavy armour, if not TN +5 | 8k4 ⇒ 40 (TN: 25)

Ohta is armored and riding Kinboshi, the old pony stolidly obeying the short woman's commands.

A Dreamchild may join the fray...

Would like to be last alternate, and if possible cast a spell combined with a Name Lore for a special effect for Part 1's Everybody Hide to give everyone a REAL good chance. If. Allowed. *meep*

Kai was... somewhere.

That's the thing with tigers within their natural environment. You can feel they are somewhere around. But you only know where they were hiding at the moment they pounce.

---
[active]

D7MA | Everybody Hide! | Silent as the tiger
Stealth/Agility TN20 | +5 TN from Light Armor
Maybe -10 from an Air Spell or similar shenanigans but this can be fixed later if need be | 6k3 ⇒ 27 (TN: 25)

Regardless of when exactly he arrived, Ranmaru definitely meant to stand up to this embodiment of evil. Her feminine wiles would no longer corrupt any of the good men of the Empire!

---

Signing on as an alternate or active, depends on the mood I suppose.

[Lucid Dreaming to buff Water Ring by 1 | 4k4 ⇒ 17 (TN: 20)

Find the Right Spot: Investigation (Search)/Perception, TN 20 since we might as well try for it... | 5k3 ⇒ 18 (TN: 20)

Second to last alternate, gonna let people with no fights yet get their groove on first]

There she was. The green-hairrd woman. He'd seen her a few times by now, in his conversations with Gangmul-sshi, bit it was still a surprise to see her standing, right there, right then.

This was it. If he hoped to help the river - and get out of here - she needed to go down.

He would do whatever needed to make that happen.

----
OOC: Phone posting, so rolling later. Been in no combats yet, but may be active or alternate depending on what others feel is best.

For some reason, all things considered, it felt right for Sugri to be here for this even if he cedes first action to the Rokugani.

He did, however, point out a few spots he considered advantageous for striking down their prey.

(D7, MA: Find the Right Spot - Investigation/Perception, +4k0 Understanding | 9k3 ⇒ 23 (TN: 20) - Success, Surprise round active

No Stealth due to Alternate

Sugri spends 1 VP to active vision gaining +Xk0 on attack rolls against the Harbinger equal to her lowest trait.)

Seeing the others gathering around and Sugri pointing to vantage points nearby, Tae-soo gestures for the others to get closer to him, pulls out a knife and makes a small cut on the palm of his hand. A few whispers, a quick shift of the wind, and suddenly there seems to be no sound coming from him - although those who move closer will notice the sounds coming back to normal.

Taking a hint from what he sees Sugri doing, he looks around as well, and quickly identifies good positions from where they could surprise the green-haired nightmare.

With the sound-proof barrier around him, he starts moving, again gesturing for others to stay close, and trying to create opening for others...

----

D7 MA - Casting Quiescence of Air on self before Roll 2, affects a 30 ft diameter (not radius, my bad!) sphere around him. 2 wounds taken | 6k3 ⇒ 29 (TN: 15)

Everyone within a 30 ft sphere of Tae-soo receive 2 FR to Stealth rolls against anyone outside the sphere (including the Harbinger!), which may be used to reduce the TN of the Stealth roll to 10.

D7 MA - Stealth vs Harbinger. 2 FR from Quiescence of Air to reduce TN. 1 Raise called in case it helps others. | 7k3 ⇒ 30 (TN: 15)

Not sure if the extra Raise helps any, but it was called!

EDIT:
D7 MA - Also rolling Investigation in case Sugri's roll doesn't count. Tradition Keeper. | 7k4+4 ⇒ 30 (TN: 20)

As the samurai prepare themselves and find their hiding spots, the shaman waits in the shadows, nose kept upwind. She waits. Waits until the foul stench of corruption is so close it hurts. Closer. Closer. Closer...

YES!

Her voice comes from everywhere and nowhere at once, its echoes coalescing at the center of the trap they've set, beckoning the Harbinger forward to prove the nezumi wrong.

"You're shit. You smell like shit, because you are shit."

Something so mean-spirited from a child so sweet ... but it's true. To her nose, Yume-Jigoku's corruption smells of the festering latrines of human villages mixed something cloyingly bitter and foul.

"Humans shit you out and abandoned you and you hate it. You hate being apart from them. You hate their revulsion for what you are. You want to become their special little dream, to be whole again with the dark of their hearts, to become the center of their little world and expand their reach until there's nothing left of anything but that gaping void where no love lingers..."

The nezumi's snarl rumbles like thunder.

"You've held this village captive longer than I've lived, and you've claimed, what? One or two souls out of hundreds? The weak and the wounded and those you ground to dust? Where are your shining silver prophets, where are your warriors of gold? There's none for you here! Because nobody fucking wants you! They'll keep rejecting you because humanity has no use for what it shits out!"

---

FREE ACTION SHAMAN NAME CHANGE: Bow Before the Truth
[D7MA] Surprise Party: Bless Name Spell for failure re-roll, 1 hour | 6k3 ⇒ 30 (TN: 10) SUCCESS! Bless Name active
[D7MA] Surprise Party: Sincerity/Awareness, +1k1 Awareness from Kai, Bless Name failure re-roll active | 7k4 ⇒ 30 (TN: 25) SUCCESS
[D7MA] Surprise Party: Shaman's Lucid Dreaming (Intelligence/Name Lore) TN20 | 9k3 ⇒ 31 (TN: 20) SUCCESS! Effect: her words sound from the trap the humans waiting to pounce, hiding Chu's location while luring the Harbinger forward.

10 wounds from MM+LM spells. 3/8 spells left.

Will continue taunting the Harbinger.

The woman herself soon appeared, scowling. "And just what fresh hell is this?"

[Roll initiative. PCs must go in order, but they have one round on the Harbinger. She will roll initiative once the surprise round is over.]

This was the Rokugani's fight first and foremost.

Sugri keeps to his position, ready to step in should they falter, and tries to ensure no further minions of the Harbinger interfere with the battle.

(Good thing I'm an Alternate....

Alternate 2: D7, MA: Initiative | 7k4 ⇒ 13)

Day 7 - Surprise Party Event - Initiative | 7k3 ⇒ 20

Anjing was taking it a little slow in the warm up.

Tiger Speed.

D7MA | Initiative | 6k3 ⇒ 34

Medium alertness

D7, MA, roll initiative | 7k4 ⇒ 24

Sora was nearby, but otherwise occupied in keeping the flank clear.

But he was definitely ready to go at the drop of a hat, and odds were good he might drop it himself.



[Surprise Party Alternate #3 Initiative. | 6k3 ⇒ 32]

Tae-soo started whispering something, quietly even for those within their bubble of silence, as soon as they start moving to the planned location for their strike

He seemed as ready as it gets... but nothing happens for now. He keeps chanting silently

---
D7 MA - Starting casting as 'roll 3' as allowed in GM questions. Heart of the Water Dragon, 1 Raise for Speed, should take 3 rounds. VP for +1k1 | 9k5 ⇒ 46 (TN: 30)
2/4 Water slots used (one is stuck with Silent Waters)
HotWD comes out after the surprise round
11/57 Wounds taken from spellcasting so far in the day

D7 MA - Stealth casting if necessary to not interfere with our plan. 2 Free Raises become +10 to contested roll. | 7k3+10 ⇒ 43
Just in case, but should be fine!

D7 MA - Init | 6k3 ⇒ 48
Alright then

TS is Active btw!

Defence Stance, TN 23 (I know...)

[ [D7MA] Surprise Party: Alternate Initiative | 5k3 ⇒ 32 ..hello? XD The magicy kids are READY I guess!!]

From their hiding spot they see the Harbinger arrive with her retinue containing some especially gruesome effigies one even with a special glowing eye.

she was also accompanied by two cultists flanking her the group surveyed the scene looking for the source of the commotion.

-----------------
Surprise round Initiative

Tae-Soo 48
Kaijari 34
Ohta 24
Anjing 20

Harbinger atn 40
Effigies 2,atn 25
Effigy 1 atn 30
Cultists atn 25

note: while within 15 ft of effigy 2 players cannot spend void points

The Harbinger is 30 feet away, cultists are next to her and the two effigies are 5 feet behind her.