L5R JYTB Campaign Report 26 – Standing Against the Shadowlands

JYTB Campaign Report 26
Standing Against the Shadowlands

Our heroes, knowing that hell is coming, have established a defensive position in the outskirts of the village with a handful of combatants, leaving the old village defended by Toku Sakurako and an ill-organized handful of armed peasants.  The crimson lightning tears furrows in the ground before twining together and then spinning outward.  With a sound like tearing metal, the walls between the worlds are sundered.  A blood red mist pours out across the land, bringing with it the smell of metal, fresh blood and fear.

In the mist they hear the thud of enormous footsteps coming nearer and then, out of the fog comes . . .

 . . . a midget on a pony.*  Dressed in samurai armor, complete with back banner (bearing a black mon on dark green and unreadable), he announces, “Bekobeko, the Lord Bekobeko -the scion of the shadowlands, the warrior of the wastelands, the vizer of voraciousness- comes to do you a great honor!  Your flesh and bones shall comprise his welcoming feast for his new realm!”

Then, skulls, clattering out of the fog, rolling everywhere, underfoot, biting at anything they can.  They cause almost no damage but remain as hazards for the rest of the battle.  Then, Bakemono attack!  Toku Kobo comands the outnumbered defenders as hordes of small creatures swarm over them.  All sizes, from cat-sized to man-sized, but universally with large mouths usually filled with sharp teeth.  Our heroes takes a few wounds, the other defenders suffer more, but the line is held.

Then the oni are committed to the battle.  Kamu no Oni, which is a huge upward maw with arm and legs, and Utogu no Oni, a mutant rhino-like being with a huge mouth, engage our heroes in sequence and are beaten down is quick succession.  (Game Note– I had removed the invulnerability power from these oni but had forgotten how much damage the PCs were capable of projecting so the combat was shorter than expected.)  Butthe allies of our heroes were being badly worn down, having lost over half their number.

The final battle was against against Bekobeko, Tsuburu’s Chosen One, an extra-massive spawn of the oni lord of hunger, who appeared suddenly among the characters (as the oni’s spawn are want to do) and grabbed Hida Yo.  While both the Hida and the Toku were protected by the Fires of Purity the Kitsune had warded them with, it did not prevent the oni from brutalizing them.  The Crab was the first into the creatures gullet as he focused on beating the oni with his tetsubo rather than trying to escape, followed by the Moto’s horse and the Toku.  Luckily, the jade paste they did have they saved to use against this creature and they were able to kill it quickly enough to keep the eaten character from being digested.

The Kitsune and the Hida tried to catch the midget but he escaped into the mist on his surprisingly quick pony.  The Moto charged through the open gateway, never to be seen again.  Then the lead forces of the Crab and other reinforcement arrived with the dawn to help hunt down the surviving creatures.

So ends the story of the Junior Yoriki Team B.  Roll credits.

Epilogue:

Akodo Katsu, is recognized for his bravery and promoted to Gunso in the 4th Imperial Legion.

Hida Yo, hairless from his time inside Tsuburu’s Chosen and his body having begun to turn further to living jade, is reassigned by the Crab to lead a unit of the Damned that is tasked with retaking captured sections of the Wall.

Kitsune Kyoden, is sent to study with (and be studied by) the Chuda and the Phoenix Inquisitors, both seeking to understand how his jade heart keep him alive and shields him from the taint.

Soshi Utami, remains as a Scorpion magistrate and is recruited to be a personal agent of Bayushi Mihnzang, who is now the appointed heir of the Scorpion Champion.

Toku Kobo, is raised to the rank of Imperial Magistrate and assigned, at first, to the Monkey lands where that fall, his wife, Sakurako, gives birth to their first child, a son.

Notes: While the JYTB campaign is over, we will still be playing L5R though the next campaign frame has yet to be decided on.

* When were we playing through Episode 25, I kept saying that the first thing out of the gate to hell would be a midget on a pony, and so it was.  Though he preformed the role of herald and toady for Bekobeko.