OOC: Scene end.
Character List
Pale-One warrior that fled
Pale-One females and children
Undead monstrosity, god of the Pale Ones
Black Toothed Hag of Yalamura
The Shogun
Kabita Tae Lung

Chaos Factor
No Tae Lung was totally in control of this scene. While it was unexpected, he curb-stomped it.
Chaos down to 5.

Thread List
Find the Black toothed Hag of Yalamura
Vengence for betrayal that led to being a Ronin
What where the Pale Ones worshipping?

No Tae Lung wants to hunt the Black Toothed Hag. He will question the Pale Ones for any clues they might know of the Hag's whereabouts. The last warrior might be a good source of cooperative information.

Modification die roll = 10, no modification.

Scene 3
Experience and Honour

The lone warrior sat, holding the hand of his deceased mate, glaring dejectedly out to the entrance to the cave village. Now that No Tae Lung wasn't slaughtering his way through the Pale Ones, he had time to note their features. He had mistaken them for humans at a distance, but up close their features weren't all that human. goat-like eyes, and pallid flesh that was completely hairless. They didn't even have eyelashes or eyebrows. But, at a distance, they were easily mistaken for humans.

As No Tae approached, the creature turned its head. It glared at him for long seconds and then turned away, looking down at its dead mate.

Oracle: Do the Pale Ones appear largely human? Unknown - (no, but...)
Reaction: -3 Grave Insult, +2 Significant bribe (killed the monster).  = 6 (flat refusal).


This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Fri 22 Dec 2023.

No Tae Lung walked slowly towards the lone pale one warrior, blade dipped and not held in a guard. They both knew that, should it come to it, the Ronin would win a duel. No Tae suspected any fight in his opponent had left when his mate was slain.

"What do you call the beast? The thing I killed? What kind of fell magic was used to summon it?

The Pale one didn't answer, just kept staring at the entrance.

"What do you call your race? What are your people called?"

Oracle: will the pale one answer my first question? very unlikely. d% roll = 55 (NO)
Oracle: will the pale one answer my second question? very unlikely. d% roll = 14 (Yes)
Oracle: Will he be truthful? unlikely. d% roll = 18 (YES)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:39, Sat 23 Dec 2023.

The Pale One turned and looked at the Samurai, eyes traveling from his feet to his midriff, noting the blade, the body, and his face. He shook his head as if dismissing the man.

"Rhaax," he said, finally.

The word meant nothing to the ronin but he nodded. "I have not met any of your kind before. You fought with determination... And I regret the loss of life. I only sought a source of water, and perhaps a clue as to the Black Toothed Hag. Have you heard of her?"

ORACLE: Has he heard of the Black Toothed Hag? (unlikely) d% roll = 27 (YES).
Will he tell the truth about this? (50/50) d% roll = 44 (YES).
Will be be insulted by the realisation that No Tae only wanted water, or would he have attacked regardless? (50/50?) d% roll = 69 (NO - he would have attacked regardless).

ORACLE: Is the Black Toothed Hag related to the undead creature in the cave? (50/50) - d% roll = 5 (Extreme Yes).

The Rhaax stood and sighed, its shoulders slumped forward - something about it was suddenly very human.
"You mean Nahnah Kaska. In meat-people tongue, Mother's Mother Fang. She show women magics to summon Death Gods."
The pale-faced humanoid pointed out of the cave. "She live in the woodland. Her home protected by many dead things. Women worship her as a god."

The Rhaax looked down at his mate once more.

"I will kill her. She turned women of Rhaax into ... meat-people tongue word I don't know. User of spell magics."

The Ronin considered his next words carefully. He had little desire to upset what might turn out to be a potential ally.

"I'll come with you, if you will let me. If you fail, I'll complete the task for you. The ... Narnar Kazkah needs to die. She is the cause of mush anguish to your people and to mine. And we have better odds if we work together. For now."

What No Tae Lung didn't say was 'and you seem to know the way.'

ORACLE: Will the Rhaax warrior help No Tae Lung? (very likely) d% roll = 49 (YES)

The Rhaax nodded once. He bent, placed a hand on the chest of the dead female before him, pausing a moment. Then, wordlessly, he headed out of the cave without looking back.

OOC: Scene end.
Character List
Rhaax ronin ally
Pale-One females and children
Undead monstrosity, god of the Pale Ones
Black Toothed Hag of Yalamura
The Shogun
Kabita Tae Lung

Chaos Factor
While this scene caused no chaos, No Tae wasn't large and in charge of it, but instead followed the lead of the Rhaax.
Chaos up to 6.

Thread List
Find the Black toothed Hag of Yalamura
Vengence for betrayal that led to being a Ronin
What where the Pale Ones worshipping?
Who are the Rhaax?

No Tae Lung wants to hunt the Black Toothed Hag. He will follow the Rhaax rogue into the woodland to bring her to justice, which means a day's travel (8 miles per hex). No Tae wants to end up at the fortress of the Black-Toothed Hag with as little fuss as possible.

Modification die roll = 1, passage scene, altered.

Scene 4
The path is not as easy as No Tae Lung hopes

The grasslands were undulating hillocks of waist-high grasses broken only by the occasional petrified tree that stood, more than eight times the height of a man tall. The Rhaax moved cautiously through the grasslands, struggling under the midday sun. The sweat that had rolled down the back of No Tae Lung was worsened. Luckily, though, streams of water seemed abundant in the grasslands and the ronin was able to at least drink enough to keep him from dehydrating.

As the sun traveled across the sky, the Rhaax seemed to be confused and anxious.

The petrified trees gave way to endlessly flat grasslands. Among the grasses, small clearings of vegetation emerged, where bulbous tubers grew, white and pink and purple flowers budding across them. They were quite the strangest thing that No Tae Lung had seen in a while.

But it also meant something to the ronin. He hadn't passed this way on his journey for Yalamura.

No, they were lost.

"Rhaax, which way should we be heading? we seem to be heading into the setting sun, yet the only woodland I know lies to the north, near Yalamura," said No Tae Lung. He glanced around, trying to find a landmark to reference.

ORACLE: is there a landmark to reference? (unlikely) d% roll = 41 (YES)
Are we alone on the plains? (Unlikely) d% roll = 15 (YES)
Is the landmark man-made (a no means its natural)? (50/50) d% roll = 47 (YES)

"Whats that over there?" the ronin asked, pointing out at a tumbled collection of stone blocks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:39, Sat 23 Dec 2023.

The bricks lay around in a roughly circular pattern. There were some rags - the Rhaax picked them up and sniffed them. "Meat-people bed coverings," he said, glancing around. A firepit had been made in the middle of the circle, but it had long since been blown across the clearing in the grass. The ronin spotted in a dark shadow of one of the ruined walls, a narrow stair leading downwards.

It wasn't a route to the Black-Toothed Hag, but there was an air of evil hanging over the place.

OOC: Scene end.
Character List
Rhaax ronin ally
Pale-One females and children
The missing campers in the ruined tower
Undead monstrosity, god of the Pale Ones
Black Toothed Hag of Yalamura
The Shogun
Kabita Tae Lung

Chaos Factor
Chaos factor 6 / Threat = 2.

Thread List
Find the Black toothed Hag of Yalamura
Vengence for betrayal that led to being a Ronin
What where the Pale Ones worshipping?
Who are the Rhaax?
What lies under the ruined tower?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:31, Sat 23 Dec 2023.

No Tae Lung wants to explore the darkness, unwilling to camp in the clearing with the unknown so close to him while he sleeps.

Modification die roll = 6, Interrupt scene.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:36, Sat 23 Dec 2023.

Scene 4
The Answer to the Question - Who camped here - answered

No Tae Lung and the Rhaax were peering into the darkness, improvising a torch in order to explore the depths.
"I wonder who camped here? What became of them?" the Ronin muttered to himself. His question was answered immediately.

Staggering up the stairs to meet the pair came two humans, an old man helped by a young woman. The Rhaax stepped back, cautious.
"Help him up, please?" the young woman said somewhat sharply. But even as No Tae reached down to help, something about the pair changed. The old man's arms seemed too long for his body, his eyes too bloodshot, the daughter's hair seeming to grow longer, darker... alive.

Before the pair's very eyes, the old man and the young woman transformed into hulking, misshapen brutes. Legend said that such creatures were born of unhealthy appetites and that these seemed incredibly interested in devouring not just devouring the ronin and the Rhaax, but causing them tremendous pain...

OOC:
Ogres surprise the PCs and attack first.
Ogre - AC5 / HD 4 / ML 9 / 1 attack +4 (d6) / Skill +2 / Move 30'

Both orges hit, causing 3 damage total to No Tae Lung.

The Rhaax was not in the direct line of assault, having backed away, but now, seeing his ally against the Nahnah Kaska, he acted, attacking one of the monstrous ogre-humans from behind.

Attack roll = 16 (+5AC +2BAB), HIT - 1 damage

No Tae Lung danced backwards, bleeding from the claws of the creatures on his flesh - his armour had been no protection, it seemed. He tried to duck around one of the Ogres to try and put one of the monsters between him and the other. His sword flicked out and the thump of one of the orges' limbs hit the floor.

Attack roll = 13 + (5AC + 2BAB), HIT - 2 damage

It's fingers still wriggled for several seconds after being severed.

Ogre A - 1 HD left
Ogre B - 4 HD left

Wounded, missing an arm, and angry as hell, one of the Ogres swings blindly, aiming her attacks at the Rhaax. She hits, knocking the pale one to his belly in the dirt, blood gushing from the wound in his shoulder. The ogre's laughter was cruel and excited...
Ogre 1 attacks, hits and deals 1 damage to Rhaax. Rhaax's HARD TO KILL trait succeeded with a double 6

The second, unharmed ogre snarled and hunted the ronin, looking to indulge its worst vices. It swung wildly with its clawed hands, trying to tear apart the ronin. No Tae Lung danced backward, easily maneuvering around the clumsy attacks.

Attack roll 7 (+3AC, +4 BAB) MISS.

           A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       01 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+  O1 = Ogre 1, 1 HD left
       02 |  |  |  |RH|MMMMMMMM|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  O2 = Ogre 2, 4 HD left
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+  RH = The Rhaax
       03 |  |  |  |  |O2|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  No = No Tae Lung 6/9hp
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+  MMMM - Stairs down
       04 |  |  |  |  |O1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       05 |  |  |  |  |No|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       06 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+


OOC:
Ogres surprise the PCs and attack first.
Ogre - AC5 / HD 4 / ML 9 / 1 attack +4 (d6) / Skill +2 / Move 30'

The Rhaax rolled and scrambled to his feet, ducking a blow and jabbing up with his spear. The tip of the spear caught the creature in the breast and emerged in a spray of black-red gore from the back of the creature. The resultant death scream made him let go of the spear to cover his ears... The Ronin too staggered, wincing in pain from the scream. He tried to slice at the other ogre, and missed entirely.

Attack roll 19 + 5AC + 2BAB, Damage roll = 4 - Ogre dies.
Attack roll 7, +5 AC + 2 BAB (MISS).

The remaining beast glanced at the dying figure of its companion and a dark chuckle filled its throat, it reached out to grab hold of No Tae, only narrowly missing him.

Morale roll = 7. PASS.
Attack roll 12 (+3 AC, +4 BAB) MISS.

The Rhaax and No Tae Lung surround and assault the last ogre, hoping to slay it. While it is concerned with the blade of the ronin, it neglects the Rhaax, allowing a spear thrust to puncture a lung.

Rhaax Attack Roll - 19 +5 AC +2 BAB = 26, HIT - Damage roll = 3 (1 damage dealt).
No Tar Lung attack roll = 7 +5 AC + 2 BAB = 14 MISS

It retaliates
Attack roll = 9 +3 AC + 4 BAB = 16 (MISS)

No Tae manages to catch the beast on his sword, but the thing seems largely unharmed by the blow.

No Tae Lung Attack roll 18 +5 AC +2 BAB = 25 (Hit) 0 damage
Rhaax attack roll = 9 +5 AC +2 BAB = 16 (Miss)

It retaliates, catching No Tae Lung across the head and sending him sprawling against the stonework, dazed and bleeding badly.
Attack roll = 29 +3 AC + 4 BAB = 27 (HIT) 4 damage
No Tae Lung has 2hp left.

Standing up, all semblance of skill left splattered against the ruined wall, No Tae Lung points the sharp end of the sword at the Ogre and charges! His blade strikes the creature, disemboweling it as he runs past! The Rhaax stabs at the creature but even disemboweled, it is not easy to kill...

No Tae Lung attack roll 18 +5 AC +2 BAB (total 25) - HIT, 2 damage.
Rhaax attack roll =1

The orge uses its spilling internals as some sort of club, striking out at anything near it.

1-3 Rhaax is target, 4-6 No Tae is target
Target roll: 5; Attack roll 1 = MISS

The Rhaax runs up a length of the wall and uses it to leap from, spear thrusting downward, impaling the creature's back and emerging from its already spilling guts! The cry of pain was like a laugh of delight.
It bowed it's head to shake off the pale warrior when the katana, touched by the hand of the shogun himself, took the creature's head from its shoulders and let it bounce out of the clearing.

Rhaax attack roll = 18 +2 BAB +5 AC, 1 damage
No Tae attack roll = 16 +2 BAB +5 AC, 1 damage

After a few seconds, the body crashed onto the floor and the Rhaax rolled away panting. No Tae sunk to his knees and groaned. And promptly threw up from the concussion he was already suffering.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:44, Sun 24 Dec 2023.

Downtime

"You badly cut. Soon, you be just food. Understand. Go home." The Rhaax had propped No Tae against the ruins. There was little to eat and nothing to drink in the immediate vicinity. "Bao of Rhaax not want you food."

"You surprise me," the ronin muttered. His reply came only as a loud tut.

"Need you. Kill the Nahnah Kaska. You in case Rhaax fail."

No Tae nodded and then wished he hadn't. "I wasn't expecting so deadly a fight, I admit. I have fought those things before. Never in a pack though. I guess we know what became of anyone who camped here - eat or worse by those... things." The Rhaax just stared back at him wordlessly. "Give me a minute and we'll go look down there. There might be supplies. Medicine. Weapons. Something."

The Rhax sighed and stalked over to the dead orge, setting to the task of working his spear from out of the body. No Tae watched a little and decided against it when the warrior kept licking his fingers, tasting the beast's dead flesh.

How had things gone so wrong, he wondered? When he'd been hired by the village of Yalamura, he had expected a quick Gaki-hunt and a little difficulty in getting paid, not a four-night trek in the wilderness, attacks by powerful orge packs, death god beings, and a cannibalistic companion.

It took him an hour, but he finally made it to his feet. He cleaned the katana ritually and then made himself a torch. The Rhaax watched him.

"You told me your name. What was it again?"

"Bao. Of Rhaax," the pale one answered.

"Let's go."

OOC: Scene end.
Character List
Rhaax ronin ally, Bao
Pale-One females and children
The missing campers in the ruined tower
Undead monstrosity, god of the Pale Ones
Black Toothed Hag of Yalamura
The Shogun
Kabita Tae Lung

Chaos Factor
The ogres were put down, but the scene ended in greater companionship between the Rhaax and No Tae
Chaos factor 5 / Threat = 1.

Thread List
Find the Black toothed Hag of Yalamura
Vengence for betrayal that led to being a Ronin
What where the Pale Ones worshipping?
Who are the Rhaax?
What lies under the ruined tower?

The new scene will be a dungeon-crawling montage using the following map.


Each room is generated by:
   d6           1  2  3  4  5  6
   1-3 Empty    -  -  -  -  -  T  <- 1d4 rolls on ICRPG shabby loot
   4   Trap     -  -  -  -  T  T  <- 1d3 rolls on ICRPG ancient loot, the signs obvious.
   5   Monster  -  -  -  T  T  T  <- standard Scarlet Heroes loot
   6   Special  -  -  -  -  T  T  <- standard Scarlet Heroes loot
Each room also checks for modification by rolling under the Chaos score.

Scene 5
Montage of the Earthen Monastery of the Hollow Dreamer

The torchlight flickered as the pair headed into the darkness. A long tunnel felt like it might never end as they cautiously stepped forward. Slow, cautious pacing forwards found the pair, after ten minutes of slow exploration, in a small room. The light flooded every corner of it. And there was no sign of more ogres ready to attack.

What the pair could see was a mess and it took a moment for No Tae Lung to realise this was where the Ogres had made their camp. Rough bedding made of straw and rotten vegetation taken from the surface lay in one patch. The ronin shuddered, imagining both monsters sharing a bed. Rubbish lay across the room - much like the Pale Ones, the Samurai suspected that rations and the like may lie among them. After all, Ogres only ate meat, just like the Rhaax. With that in mind, he began to search the detritus for any signs of goodies.

Oracle: Is the treasure in the room among the detritus? (50/50) - YES
6000gp, 6 belly-chains worth 6,000gp together, 4 large Alexandrite gems, each worth 2,500gp each, 3 fist-sized polished stones of Alexandrite each worth 15,000gp and 1 potion of ironhide (The drinker’s skin becomes unusually tough while under, the effect of this potion, becoming the equivalent of plate armor, at AC 3. Those who are already wearing equivalent or better armor simply gain a -1 AC bonus. The potion lasts for 1d6 hours).


After ten minutes of searching and finding a pile of treasure so vast as to be able to buy the services of a small army, No Tae was shocked. Where had all this money come from? Was this collected recently? Had these ogres devoured people here for years? For decades? For centuries.  Bao sniffed the pile and sneered.
"Ghak," he said, pointing at it. "Meat-Person soul-nourish. You want, murderer?"

No Tae was a little taken aback. "Soul-norish? You mean that men will kill for this? Yes, they will. Carrying this will make us as much of a target to anyone as we were to those ogres. But... we could use it to hire some help in crushing the Black Toothed Hag. If I can take it to Yalamura, they can hire more warriors. We can, with your aid, make a frontal assault on her fortress."

"Army? Great horde of meat-people? Many die but can be done."  The Rhaax sucked his teeth. "Not best way, but safest way for You, for Me." He was considering it, and that fact made the Ronin want to dismiss it out of hand.

"We have no way of taking the vast amount of this with us. So it is a moot point at the moment. Let's look around some more. Maybe we can find some sackings or something. I still need something to wash my wounds in."

Bao the Rhaax nodded and pointed to the right-hand corridor. "Bring light. This way."

ORACLE: Is this room what we expect it to be on the seeding map? (likely) - 82 (N0)
NEW SEED: Empty, no treasure
Altering ROll - 10, no adjustment.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Tue 26 Dec 2023.

ORACLE: Is there clues as to the room's use in the past? (Likely) - 48 (YES)
Are the clues architectural? (somewhat likely) - 22 (YES)
Is the door locked? (1-3 Yes) 3 (YES)

The remains of books lay scattered across the room. Most were so poorly weathered as to be unreadable. Most stunk of... No Tae could only assume... Ogre Piss. The smell certainly didn't invite closer inspection of the room.

The doorway in the East wall was locked.  Bao took a step back and was about to charge it when No Tae held up a hand and shook his head.

"We're better off exploring quietly unless we can go no further forwards without making a noise. Let's go see what was at the other passageway."

ORACLE: Is this room what we expect it to be on the seeding map? (likely) - 29 (YES)
Altering ROll - 7, no adjustment.

The door to the southern room was unlocked. It creaked as Boa opened it, No Tae holding the torch over his head so that, should there be anything untoward, they could slam the door closed.

The floor was an uneven mess. Dust danced in the light of the torch. Boa glanced at No Tae and then stepped into the space.

...