Tonight I have a little something that has been a few months in the making. Yes the return of Siu, no Jung Harimasu but not quite focusing on what he is doing back but the why and the how. So sit back, have a cup of coffee and welcome him back to the storyline.
Jung Harimasu
239TuJuHa
As the blade from the freshly killed hulking goliath of a man cracked through his rib-cage Siu felt the warmth from within his body fade. As he watched Choi’s lifeblood seep out of a deep gash on his chest the doors that were barricaded behind them splintered open and the freshly dead soldiers rushed out.
“Please let Kyoko be safe” he muttered under his breath as he felt darkness close in upon himself. But that wasn’t the end. As he felt his consciousness recede he felt his body grow lighter until he was floating as if on a pillow of light. With a slow realisation he opened his eyes and looked around at the marbled walls and jade statues that were familiar as if a distant memory.
“Welcome home Jung” a deep voice rumbled, one that he would not forget so readily. Around him on several raised benches stood his ancestors with heads bowed in respect. “We have been watching you and what you have endured in your endeavours to redeem yourself.” The great dragon rumbled.
“Great Huangdi.” he began as he struggled to raise from the floor. His body weak and his coordination felt off as he realised his lithe dragon-form had disappeared and was replaced with his matted, hairy bestial form. “Before I meet my judgment I have a single request.” he asked as he managed to get his too-long legs under him. “Can you tell me of Kyoko and the adventurers? Are they safe? Did they get out?”
Huangdi smiled and lowered his head to Jung, stretching out a great claw and lifting the head of his servant. “Only because of the actions of their ancestors.” he said. Jung nodded and let out the breath he didn’t realise he was holding.
“Then with that knowledge I accept the fate that the ancestors and you deem fit for me.” he said before adding after a moment. “But I am confused why I was brought back. My actions as you said were my own and served my purpose. But why have I returned to my families halls?”.
“Because little one,” the dragon replied, “your actions may have been born from selfish need and want but along the way, in your journey to prove yourself and save your own soul you realised something. What we do in our life isn’t for our betterment but for those who follow us. You looked out for your cousins descendant. You put her life ahead of your own and even were willing to sacrifice yourself so that your Kin could continue to live.” The great golden dragon rumbled, a near-purr like sound coming from his great throat.
Jung nodded as he listened before speaking. “But its as you said. My actions..” he began before another voice cut through the crowed.
“Jung, Enough.” the voice brought upon a tremor of a murmur from those gathered in the temple. “You never learn to you.” Turning slowly Jung looked upon the stern and angular face of his cousin, much older than what he was when they were young men but wouldn’t forget his face. “You need to listen, Jung.”
After a moment Jung frowned. “you said my name… but that’s been made forbidden by Lord Huangdi. Cousin please don’t lest you face further anguish on my behalf.”
But Siu, his cousin, just smiled and looked towards the great dragon. “If your cousin can forgive you and see what you have done for your family then you should also be able to see your worth Jung” the great dragon added as he exhaled a puff of smoke that began to coil and drift around Jung. “Your punishment has been decided. Your external form will reflect what you truly are within”
As the smoke touched his brown fur it began to shrink and change. As it fell to the ground it smouldered, turning into golden powder as it fell. Fine, hard and light scales spread across his body and he felt his bestial body shifting and growing longer. Within a matter of moments his fur had disappeared completely and a layer of golden scales had appeared.
As the process finished Jung shook the sensation of vertigo from his head and looked down upon the body of an ancestral dragon. “Welcome home Jung, guardian of the Harimasu Lotus.” Huangdi said. “Welcome home Jung” echoes his ancestors that stood above him but their voices were lost as he gazed into the eyes of his cousin. “Welcome home brother. Thank you for looking after my kin.”
In the palace…
behind the forgotten walls of the lotus pond tiny buds pushed through the watery veil and as the first rays of moonlight touched their budding petals they began to shine.
Thanks for joining me tonight. For a while now I was wondering what the best time to bring Siu back would be and the troubles at the Heavens reach castle provided me that opportunity. Although not something that the party would see it is something that Jung, not Siu, would be able to tell them about. Don’t forget that this week we look to wrap up the month and we still have some exciting content to provide. So I will hope to see you back then if you don’t forget to come back and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to the end of the monthly content and the last Monday of the month. This month we followed our party as they reached a Turning Point. The battle against The Shadow has swung in the favour of good as they removed the Lómipilu. This week we continue that turning point a the party uncover exactly just what they found within the Shadowy dimension.
Turning Point
239MoTuPo
The party found themselves on the ground and the blinding light lessened as their eyes adjusted to the room. From down the hall the sounds of footsteps could be heard approaching at a quick pace. As they picked themselves up off the ground doors burst open as guards spilled into the room they were in. The guards greeted them with spears and swords drawn as they eyed the glittering and shining items on the ground. Looking down the party found scattered weapons and wondrous items that shone as if the sun was contained within.
“Wait. Hold I say.” a groaning man spoke as he picked himself up shaking from the ground. “Lower your weapons. I must talk to Lord Harimasu immediately” said Master Fukiyomo.
“That’s what the last Master Fukiyomo said too.” muttered one guard. “How do we know you are who you say you are?” another said.
“That’s because I believe him.” Spoke a commanding voice from behind the guards. Turning towards the voice and lowering their weapons the guards stepped aside as Lord Harimasu strode into the room followed closely by Takeo and Lady Kyoko. “In fact my daughter and Master Takeo have vouched for these adventurers and have informed me of the plan to rid our kingdom of this Lómipilu.” he continued.
Takeo and Kyoko smiled briefly towards the party before their eyes, much like the emperors, were drawn to the pile of artefacts on the ground. “It seems you recovered our lost treasures as well. We have much to discuss.” the Harimasu emperor said as he smiled broadly.
“Might I interject?” spoke a voice from above them all, “the situation at the wall grows Dire and my master has allowed me to break my vowel in order to let you know”. As everyone looked up Kyoko exclaimed in disbelief as a man-sized golden dragon flew down through the air as a snake would move across the ground towards the party.
“It’s been some time my friends…” Siu said as he turned around with a mixture of sadness and happiness in his eyes.
Well this week see’s us reach that turning point in the adventure as we strive forward quickly. Thanks for joining me with the re-emergence of Sui and the discovery of the Harimasu artefacts that went missing. Don’t forget to come back this week for more content as we push through the last week of the month and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Darkness was the first sensation that the party felt when they walked through the portal that had literally ripped open. The bright light from the room that they came from seemed to force the portal open but even then the tendrils of darkness were trying to knit the wound closed. As they stepped in colour seemed to fade as well where only things immediately in front of their face held the slightest trace of what it used to be. The further they looked ahead the more coloured seemed to disappear until just ten feet way their vision failed. Even those with darkvision struggled to see in a place devoid of all light.
Lighting torches didn’t do much and only brought back the smallest flicker of colour and light in this world and even the warmth from the fire was taken away before it could push back the numbing feeling from their fingers.
“You must be very brave or very dumb to come into my lair. Your corpses will entertain my pets for days to come and your bones will be sewn into my walls” a voice mocked from behind them. Whirling around there was nothing there but the burst of light that was suddenly too bright. Turning around the party started to stride into the dark. The pocket of shadow was oppressive and the flickering light of the torch failed to push past fifteen feet and what it did touch summoned phantoms of nightmares from their darkest dreams.
“Run!” a voice said from somewhere in the dark. “Run from here!” the same voice called out. “Tell Takeo that the shadow gathers at obsidian peak!” a shriek of pain followed the warning and then silence.
Looking amongst each other the party pushed back fear as shapes in the murky shadow twisted into forms and voices from their past and present spoke to them from just outside the torchlight.
The creature stalked the maze like halls that it had constructed with but a thought the moment it created a rift to its lair. Melding and knitting shadow and reality together to create something of its own was childs play and these foolish mortals were stepping into a realm that they had no hope of contending with the power it had here.
But as the light flooded from the previous room and the tendrils of shadow struggled to knit the opening back together the Lómipilu felt a trickle of fear for the first time in centuries. Soon the creatures moved into the dark interior of the dimension it had created, a little pocket of shadow and the Lómipilu’s fear quickly began to disappear. Soon a plan began to form in the mind of the creature as he released its hands from the old man and summoned forth dense shackles that bound his mouth and limbs so he could not speak or move.
Stalking one of the many halls the creature climbed higher into the dimension it had created and watched a the party one by one drifted further apart from each other as the dimension they found themselves in constantly folded out before them forcing them to loop around until they were back in the starting room that they entered. The creature smiled and watched the creatures looked baffled at what had happened. In fact the creature was so amused by the wonderment of the adventurers that it giggled. It knew these halls better than any and that the only path forward as the least obvious, all others led to confusion and death.
The creature lay on its stomach and watched the adventurers move around and start discussing their predicament – each one of them not aware that those they were talking to were not what they seemed to be.
As the party member move around the corner they find a familiar set of faces looking back at them. “What happened to you? Where did you go? You were with us a second ago and then you disappeared and we heard noises from behind us…” the look on the party members in front turned to concern and fear. “There is something behind you…”
Turning around the party turned to see shadowy blurred faces that looked very much like the party members who stood behind them. They reached out, pointing and shouting at the party members behind them telling the person to get away from them, that they were dangerous. However it was too late as The Doppelganger had already weaved itself into the minds of all those involved and was playing its part perfectly.
As chaos broke out in the mind of that party member the doppelganger was busy in creating similar chaos elsewhere.
Meanwhile…
The rest of the group could not find where their party member had gone – they had disappeared but a minute ago as a gust of shadow like gas had gushed from the wall. Racing through it to try and find their missing member they found a dreadful scene where the finishing blow was given to a creature of bone and flesh by their party member.
“Thank the gods you showed up. There were more of these creatures. Several more. They live in the walls and emerge in a puff of smoke and attack without warning.” The party member leant over and breathed heavily with exhaustion. “We will have to be careful moving forward..” he said as another gust of shadow infused smoke erupted from the wall and the party scattered into the surrounding rooms to avoid the gas.
Behind the gas the Lómipilu made its move and changed the rooms that they were in, creating new passages, new rooms and changing the perspective of the players in an instance. One moment they were facing what would be due north, the next they were looking south west at a new door opening into a different hallway. Separated from the rest of the party, well those who were not already taken over by its created doppelgangers.
As the party members began to descend into chaos it made its move, slashing out in violence and the first drops of mortal blood were dropped onto its lightless glass floors and shadowy walls.
Held captive by the Lómipilu his face borrowed by the demonic creature and used to chaos Master Fukiyomo waits for his student Takeo to rescue him. But when the Party show up he is just as glad to see them.
The additional thing to remember about this lair is the extreme lack of light. Darkvision is good only to 10 feet and all sources of light, except daylight, are reduced by around a quarter. This effectively means that the party has to balance their equipment and light sources for this encounter and with the lair actions and abilities of the Lómipilu it becomes half the battle.
The idea behind the Lair of the Lómipilu is simple. Each time the party members leave a room or hallway the Lómipilu will change where they were moving and where they moved from. For this purpose I have a bunch of rooms or areas that are shrouded in darkness each with a few 1″ grid width (5ft) exits/entrances. For my implementation of this I would print out the maps (or edit them in GIMP or another image manipulation software) and roll a dice per entrance/exit per room/hall.
For simplistic play
Assign the large central room with only one exit with the number 6. Each other entrance/exit roll a 6 and assign it either a 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.
Do this for all rooms so they have no duplicate ranges. Then try and map them out so that the portal room is somehow connected to the large room. Any entrance or exit that doesn’t have a number allocated to it and a room next to it is considered to be “lost” and you end up back on the portal room.
For complex play
Keep the dice rolled but each time they leave a room they roll a dice (effectively a d3) and they move to a random room that has that number. This becomes an issue of chance and luck rather than skill, role playing or problem solving and so could be more troublesome and it would rely on rolling well multiple times. The caveat to this system would be that they add a +1 to the roll for each room they have visited and make the end room a 7 (so they cant roll 6 then a 6 straight away and head to the final room). This rewards exploration and doesn’t feel as much of a “Game of chance” as a “after 3 rooms you have a 50% chance to get to the boss room”.
However…
This adventure we are doing it a bit differently and incorporating lair actions into the rooms.
The Lómipilu lair is in reality a large (60ft x 60ft) pocket dimension where it the Lómipilu has brought in elements of the shadowlands (Shadowfell / Shadowplane) into the dimension. The dimension swallows dim light completely, bright light is reduced to a quarter of its normal range (torches are now only 5ft bright and a further 5ft dim) and only daylight seems to piece the veil.
Generally the Lómipilu creates illusionary structures from condensed shadow that are so real that they are physical to touch and only those who can convince their own minds that its not an illusion can see the room for what it really is.
Lair Actions
The nature of the Dimension and thus the Lómipilu’s lair is of unbridled chaotic illusion and the creature that calls this liar home is its embodiment. On initiative 20 the Lómipilu takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects. The Lómipilu can’t take the same action 2 rounds in a row.
The rooms shift, doors that used to lead to halls or other rooms change to a new position and the lair reforms around its central core.
Creatures made of shadow shift in and out of existence and throw themselves at invaders of their territory at the behest of the Lómipilu. These creatures are called Lómipilu Shades (Shadowless Shades). They take the form that the Lómipilu desires, have 7ac and 1 hp and cause no damage on an attack. They also die after 1d4 rounds.
The Shadow energy of the pocket dimension erupts forth and causes all exposed flames and non-permanent magical lights to go out.
As the creature fell writhing to the ground as the final blow struck the walls of the dimension shook and shuddered before the light from the portal could be seen pushing back all traces of shadow. A single pile of glittering treasure could be seen next to a man in the same uniform as Takeo who lay unconscious in the room as the light began to flood in.
A voice, familiar yet estranged whispered past the party “The dimension is collapsing. Hurry” as what could be seen of the pocket dimension began to distort and wobble. Rushing forwards the party manage to grab the man and some treasure before they were violently thrown backwards through the light drenched portal in a cascade of treasure, stolen goods and artefacts mainly, into the room where they cornered the Lómipilu. With a definitive tearing sound the portal between this plane and the pocket dimension tore apart and the way Into the Lair of the Lómipilu was closed.
Thanks for joining me for another end of week writeup. This week marked the tipping point of our party coming into possession of the tools that are needed to best the forces of the Shadow, but more on that this week. Don’t forget to come back this week as I add a bit more to this months adventure and, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Good evening all and welcome to a whatever Saturday where I wanted to talk about my first impressions of Battletech – Alpha strike.
Battletech is described as the futuristic space opera which spans thousands of lightyears of space where the conflict between humans is settled in giant mechanised robots each capable of incredible destruction.
The alpha tech variant is no different with the scale being around 6mm so everything feels massive. It’s a non miniature centric game but having them is part of the fun and whats more, the creators (Catalyst Games) don’t care if you use their minis, cardboard, jellybeans or 3rd party miniatures. This is great as you may only have between 1 and 30 miniatures at any one stage and if its $0.20 cents to print one out its a lot different than the $90 boxes of other wargames. For a single unit..
My first impressions of Battletech – Alpha strike..
So I love mechs. Movies like pacific rim and games like mech commander and battletech cemented this attraction to these monstrous weapons of war. The game itself is simple. You have an agreed point limit, agreed scenario and you follow the basic rules… but… The game has both breadth and depth in what’s available and the additional or in advanced rules that it really is something that would suit just about any sci-fi or mech fan.
The dice mechanics are also simple. Roll 2d6 vs the be target number and if you hit you deal damage to the enemy mech, building, infantry or vehicle. The target number to hit is Pilot Skill + Range/distance + Adjusted values + Target Mech Movement+ Other modifiers, or PRATO. Something like that in anyway.
If you roll over the PRATO then you hit and do damage to the targets armour and then internals, of they don’t have any armour left.
Pretty simple really but with certain weapon types, mechs and their special loadouts/special abilities the tactical depth can be quite deep.
The second thing I like about this game is that the turns are taken simultaneously. That is if your mech gets ambushed they still shoot back as they are destroyed. This makes more logical sense as no living being sits there and waits their turn to fight for their life. This works against you too but it makes the games feel like a fair first fight but with lasers, missiles and heavy calibre guns.
The other thing with this is that scenery matters. Puddles of water cool you down quickly, buildings, ruined or otherwise, can block sight or give you some tactical advantage. Movement is key but the right movement is even more so as that patch of forest or debris slows down walking units but not fliers or those with jump-jets.
Whilst simple the complexity is scary with countless types of weapons, thousands of models (think make and model of cars) of mechs, and pages worth of special abilities that will make you want to scrap your army and build around a single ability or combination. Diversity of gameplay is second only to the love and enthusiasm I have experienced from the community with the lore literally being decades old.
Whilst I love D&D and Warhammer profusely, the quick, small and compact battletech is drawing me deeper into its embrace. So if I continue with this game system in the future don’t forget to look out for those updates and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
Welcome to a Friday Fightnight! Tonight we look at the Lómipilu – Master of illusion and bringer of fear as it welcomes the party into its trap. Tonight we look at Lair actions and what what means for our games so sit back and let’s read on.
The Lómipilu lair is in reality a large (60ft x 60ft) pocket dimension where it the Lómipilu has brought in elements of the shadowlands (Shadowfell / Shadowplane) into the dimension. The dimension swallows dim light completely, bright light is reduced to a quarter of its normal range (torches are now only 5ft bright and a further 5ft dim) and only daylight seems to piece the veil.
Generally the Lómipilu creates illusionary structures from condensed shadow that are so real that they are physical to touch and only those who can convince their own minds that its not an illusion can see the room for what it really is.
Lair Actions
The nature of the Dimension and thus the Lómipilu’s lair is of unbridled chaotic illusion and the creature that calls this liar home is its embodiment. On initiative 20 the Lómipilu takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects. The Lómipilu can’t take the same action 2 rounds in a row.
The rooms shift, doors that used to lead to halls or other rooms change to a new position and the lair reforms around its central core.
Creatures made of shadow shift in and out of existence and throw themselves at invaders of their territory at the behest of the Lómipilu. These creatures are called Lómipilu Shades (Shadowless Shades). They take the form that the Lómipilu desires, have 7ac and 1 hp and cause no damage on an attack. They also die after 1d4 rounds.
The Shadow energy of the pocket dimension erupts forth and causes all exposed flames and non-permanent magical lights to go out.
Thoughts
The Lómipilu would rather try an convince the party to attack each other by using the shades and its ability to create illusions seemingly at will to convince each other that what they are seeing is or isnt real.
When the Lómipilu feels threatened it will fade into darkness (hide action) and will attack isolated or vulnerable creatures savagely as it will always try and fight with an upper hand.
Thanks for visiting tonight and for looking at the stat block tonight for the Lómipilu. I have a few writeups for tomorrow so make sure to come back to keep up to date with Brazen Wolfe Tabletop. Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Thursday brings us something a long time coming. Another Map and this time it’s the Lair of the Lómipilu and something that makes it a bit more tricky to work out. So without too much introduction let’s look at a map!
The idea behind the Lair of the Lómipilu is simple. Each time the party members leave a room or hallway the Lómipilu will change where they were moving and where they moved from. For this purpose I have a bunch of rooms or areas that are shrouded in darkness each with a few 1″ grid width (5ft) exits/entrances. For my implementation of this I would print out the maps (or edit them in GIMP or another image manipulation software) and roll a dice per entrance/exit per room/hall.
For simplistic play
Assign the large central room with only one exit with the number 6. Each other entrance/exit roll a 6 and assign it either a 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.
Do this for all rooms so they have no duplicate ranges. Then try and map them out so that the portal room is somehow connected to the large room. Any entrance or exit that doesn’t have a number allocated to it and a room next to it is considered to be “lost” and you end up back on the portal room.
My example is this:
For complex play
Keep the dice rolled but each time they leave a room they roll a dice (effectively a d3) and they move to a random room that has that number. This becomes an issue of chance and luck rather than skill, role playing or problem solving and so could be more troublesome and it would rely on rolling well multiple times. The caveat to this system would be that they add a +1 to the roll for each room they have visited and make the end room a 7 (so they cant roll 6 then a 6 straight away and head to the final room). This rewards exploration and doesn’t feel as much of a “Game of chance” as a “after 3 rooms you have a 50% chance to get to the boss room”.
Thoughts
As always creating maps in Inkarnate is fun and interesting. Trying to get the right colours for a shadow realm and making it readable is difficult so that was challenging.
The mechanics behind here isn’t to be unfair to the players but its to represent the nature of the Lómipilu and what it means to be in its lair. This isn’t a goblin or a spirit folk but a demonic creature that is a master of illusion and bends the shadows around its prey to confuse and entrap its prey before it gets tired of playing. This is meant to be challenging as its probably our second last major encounter before the finale and so I wanted to capture that.
Thanks dropping by, sorry for the late post was I had some technical issues. So that means that you get double posts today! Don’t forget to read the next post later today (featuring Liar actions) and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Wednesday night brings another weekly twist or secondary hook for our story and this week its a bit of both. With the bringing of a shadowy maze gives us an opportunity to let the party meet their next foe, themselves. Well, maybe not themselves but The Doppelganger is who ever it wants to be and in this case the Lómipilu has chosen to weave the characters into the illusion.
The Doppelganger
238WeThDo
As the party member move around the corner they find a familiar set of faces looking back at them. “What happened to you? Where did you go? You were with us a second ago and then you disappeared and we heard noises from behind us…” the look on the party members in front turned to concern and fear. “There is something behind you…”
Turning around the party turned to see shadowy blurred faces that looked very much like the party members who stood behind them. They reached out, pointing and shouting at the party members behind them telling the person to get away from them, that they were dangerous. However it was too late as The Doppelganger had already weaved itself into the minds of all those involved and was playing its part perfectly.
As chaos broke out in the mind of that party member the doppelganger was busy in creating similar chaos elsewhere.
Meanwhile…
The rest of the group could not find where their party member had gone – they had disappeared but a minute ago as a gust of shadow like gas had gushed from the wall. Racing through it to try and find their missing member they found a dreadful scene where the finishing blow was given to a creature of bone and flesh by their party member.
“Thank the gods you showed up. There were more of these creatures. Several more. They live in the walls and emerge in a puff of smoke and attack without warning.” The party member leant over and breathed heavily with exhaustion. “We will have to be careful moving forward..” he said as another gust of shadow infused smoke erupted from the wall and the party scattered into the surrounding rooms to avoid the gas.
Behind the gas the Lómipilu made its move and changed the rooms that they were in, creating new passages, new rooms and changing the perspective of the players in an instance. One moment they were facing what would be due north, the next they were looking south west at a new door opening into a different hallway. Separated from the rest of the party, well those who were not already taken over by its created doppelgangers.
As the party members began to descend into chaos it made its move, slashing out in violence and the first drops of mortal blood were dropped onto its lightless glass floors and shadowy walls.
Thoughts
I have organised this encounter to only work if the party is fully invested in what’s going on OR by getting them to act out what the enemy is doing. It’s on that note that we find ourselves at the precipice of this weeks encounter where we look at the abilities of the Lómipilu and what its capable of making the party see.
In fact the creature can do just about what ever it wants. This makes it hard for our players to get a sense of how balanced the encounter is but also how to combat it. By getting each other to act out the role of the aggressor and see it from each others point of view we can truly sew in the horror of this scenario.
Thanks for visiting my shadowy lair tonight as we look at the doppelgangers. This twist isn’t something new but I think what I will have for Friday night should have a different perspective on it. On that note don’t forget to come back for the rest of the week and, always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Tuesday night is here and with it brings another weekly NPC night. Now tonight I want to introduce you more to the Lómipilu. The creature is not always seen as vicious or violent but there are few who survive an encounter with them, they are after all demonic…
The Lómipilu
238TuThLo
The creature stalked the maze like halls that it had constructed with but a thought the moment it created a rift to its lair. Melding and knitting shadow and reality together to create something of its own was childs play and these foolish mortals were stepping into a realm that they had no hope of contending with the power it had here.
But as the light flooded from the previous room and the tendrils of shadow struggled to knit the opening back together the Lómipilu felt a trickle of fear for the first time in centuries. Soon the creatures moved into the dark interior of the dimension it had created, a little pocket of shadow and the Lómipilu’s fear quickly began to disappear. Soon a plan began to form in the mind of the creature as he released its hands from the old man and summoned forth dense shackles that bound his mouth and limbs so he could not speak or move.
Stalking one of the many halls the creature climbed higher into the dimension it had created and watched a the party one by one drifted further apart from each other as the dimension they found themselves in constantly folded out before them forcing them to loop around until they were back in the starting room that they entered. The creature smiled and watched the creatures looked baffled at what had happened. In fact the creature was so amused by the wonderment of the adventurers that it giggled. It knew these halls better than any and that the only path forward as the least obvious, all others led to confusion and death.
The creature lay on its stomach and watched the adventurers move around and start discussing their predicament – each one of them not aware that those they were talking to were not what they seemed to be.
Thanks for drifting into my little rift of fun. Don’t forget that this week is the final week for September and we are quickly approaching the end of the year. I will also look to post a writeup of the games I had the weekend and perhaps even do a writeup of something new. So don’t forget to come back every night and, always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Welcome to a dark little pocket of shadow where this Monday night we take a trip down the dark side. This week we are exploring not quite a horror D&D session but something that I want to portray the dark side of combat. The aim of this week is a final confrontation between the Lómipilu and the party, as well as potentially a rescue and a chance for some looting.
Pocket of Shadow
238MoPooSh
Darkness was the first sensation that the party felt when they walked through the portal that had literally ripped open. The bright light from the room that they came from seemed to force the portal open but even then the tendrils of darkness were trying to knit the wound closed. As they stepped in colour seemed to fade as well where only things immediately in front of their face held the slightest trace of what it used to be. The further they looked ahead the more coloured seemed to disappear until just ten feet way their vision failed. Even those with darkvision struggled to see in a place devoid of all light.
Lighting torches didn’t do much and only brought back the smallest flicker of colour and light in this world and even the warmth from the fire was taken away before it could push back the numbing feeling from their fingers.
“You must be very brave or very dumb to come into my lair. Your corpses will entertain my pets for days to come and your bones will be sewn into my walls” a voice mocked from behind them. Whirling around there was nothing there but the burst of light that was suddenly too bright. Turning around the party started to stride into the dark. The pocket of shadow was oppressive and the flickering light of the torch failed to push past fifteen feet and what it did touch summoned phantoms of nightmares from their darkest dreams.
“Run!” a voice said from somewhere in the dark. “Run from here!” the same voice called out. “Tell Takeo that the shadow gathers at obsidian peak!” a shriek of pain followed the warning and then silence.
Looking amongst each other the party pushed back fear as shapes in the murky shadow twisted into forms and voices from their past and present spoke to them from just outside the torchlight.
Thanks for coming to visit once again. Don’t forget that this week we wrap up the Shadows in the halls arc and push forward towards the last few adventures of the year. I will also post an update on the outcomes of the recent Warhammer tournament so don’t forget to come back for that too. Oh, and, as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
After returning to Takeo to reveal what they had seen in the Library as well as heard from the staff in the castle. “It sounds like its as master Fukiyomo was right. A lot of the characteristics of the creature appear to be similar to the Lóminau.” Takeo said nodding, but his affirmation never reached his eyes. “However something doesn’t add up. The Lóminau are said to be vengeful demons who prey on others life force as only once bathed in the light of a creatures failing life do they regain their shadow and leave for their own plane of existence. But this creature, to our knowledge, hasn’t killed anything so according to the scripts it can’t be a Lóminau but there is another creature that it could be,” Takeo began before a sound came from a corner of the room.
Two daggers were hurled through the wall at incredible speed from Takeo’s however the figure caught the blades before they hit the figure. “Good Takeo. But it is most definitely a Lóminau. I have seen it myself” Master Fukiyomo said as he moved forward and handed the daggers back to Takeo. Clasping Takeo’s shoulder the master spy bowed deeply to Kyoko but averted his gaze from Liz. “It is not often that we see one who is blessed by the light in this castle. I dare say its your presence that has the Lóminau stalking these halls.” the old man said with reverence. “The sooner we get you and your guardians away the better, the safer for you and I dare say Lady Kyoko as we will be able to better trap the Lóminau outside of the castle.
Takeo nodded but the party caught the flicker of confusion in his eyes. Walking over to a desk in LIz’s room he grabbed a quill and paper and scribbled something down quickly, folding the paper twice before muttering a short incantation of words.
“Another one of your tricks Takeo?” his master said as he walked over to him.
“Just a list of reagents and supplies to catch the Lóminau” he said as he handed the note to Master Fukiyomo. Taking the note he unfolded the paper and read through it.
“Powdered iron, crushed garnet, Lotus petal. Good. I’d suggest silk as well for good measure but each to their own” the old spy said as handed the note back to Takeo who scribbled down silk before taking it to the party.
“Whilst you follow this note to the letter can you do me a favour my friends?” he said, strange emphasis placed on the words he spoke. “I have neglected my knives – When we fought the Kapa I chipped the top of my knife in the cave. Are you able to get it sharpened?” he said as he clamped the letter tightly in the closest party members hand and nodded knowingly to them. “Remember what I said to you in the Kapa’s lair after we had fought the wolves?” he said – blocking the view of others when he moved in closer to the party as he muttered a string of words. “A blessing for you all. May the light reveal what we seek.”
With that Takeo and his mater left the room.
Unravelling the note the party were confused, there was no record of the ingredients on the note apart from the hastily written “SILK” over the top of a few words.
“Wall”, “Shade”, “Knife” and a single word that was foreign to them “Lómipilu.”
Kyoko looked over their shoulder, a best as she could. “Lómipilu– that’s a name I am not familiar with” she pondered. “but I do know someone in Heavens reach who would know. Che Shenyuo” she said as one of the more astute party members crept towards the wall where Takeo had thrown daggers. Two indents in the wall were present which matched the size and shape of Takeo’s daggers.
As Kyoko lead the party through the final halls in the castle heading past the servants quarters they appeared at a sliding door to a small outside courtyard. The central portion of the courtyard saw a large fountain fed pool that was designed in such a way that the trickling of water resonated through the enclosed area. Kyoko nodded to two guards that stood in the courtyard and walked forward, leading the party and Liz through the tranquil surroundings.
Moving through the courtyard Kyoko led them towards a large curtain of vines and flowers where the slightest trace of diffused smoke and low singing could be heard from within the tangled mess of foliage.
“It must be a rare day indeed for the Princess of the Harimasu to visit me today” a voice said from behind the curtain of leaves. “What can I be of service for our bringer of light?”
Kyoko smiled and pushed past the curtain of vines, her chipper and unable to hide the mirth in her voice. “Master Che, you don’t need to be so formal. You are probably the oldest citizen in then land and the one deserving the most respect here.” she said as the party followed her into a well hidden house under the cascading vines and leaves. “But you are right. I do have service of you.” she added as she sat next to the old man who smiled at where she sat, his eyes unfocused.
“I will be as useful as an old blind man can be princess.” he said turning his head towards the party. “I have had odd dreams of late princess. A shadow in the halls playing tag with a ball of light. The shadow cant capture the light but nor does it want to because the shadow fears what the light will do to it – but it is also drawn towards it. The light doesn’t want to be near the shadow but lingers, waiting and watching. Stepping out to confuse the shadow when it sneaks too close or gets too ambitious.” he said as he reached over for a pot of tea that had been placed next to him. His fingers and hands moving with muscle memory he poured himself a pot of tea, the worn indent of the pot and cups evident that this was a habit of his. “The ball of light has visited me as well. Said sweet things and plied me with riddles that amuse me to no end. It has also helped me around the hut. A kind stranger it is.” he added.
“I fear that these aren’t dreams Che. There is a shadow at court. My spy believes that its something called a Lómipilu. I thought that you may remember something of it and be our best bet. The library was ransacked and our tomes regarding the creatures of The Shadow have been removed or destroyed so we are in the dark.” Kyoko said as she patted the old mans hand.
“The Lómipilu, Shadow Thief. They are creatures much like the Lóminau but instead of having no shadow of their own they are shadow. Able to harness the shadows of this world to stich their own world into ours and fusing their own reality with ours.” Che answered as he turned his head to stare at one of the party members, he was starting to sweat and his eyes were wide with fear.
“Do you remember how to kill them or trap them?” Kyoko pressed, Che was shaking now.
“Alas no princess, I never fought one but I remember my mother, the light prophet, mentioning them. There was an old proverb about catching shadow that she used to say but I took it as a child story or something to praise the light.” he said as he wiped tears from his eyes. The weight of the war and his memories getting too much for him.
“One by one the shadows gathered and writhed like beasts on the prowl. One by one the Shadows tricked their owners until all was dark. One by one they grew and merged into the one true Shadow. But one by one they split from their form….” She began to recite the story.
Kyoko squeezes his hand and started to speak “One by one the lights surrounded the beast and one by one they shrank down. One by one the lights grew and truth was revealed and one by one the shadows hid from the light. One by one the shadows cowered under a box and one by one the lights held the box closed and the world was bathed in light and truth and warmth.” Kyoko finished the story and smiled at the party. “My mother also used to say the same thing to me when I was worried about the monsters under my bed. She would light candles and place them around the room, where the shadows would gather so that they didn’t look so scary when they had no where to gather.”
Che nodded and sipped from his tea. “I wish I could be of more use princess but I can hear my friend calling me.” he said as he lay back slowly, his eye lids fluttering before falling asleep in his chair. As he fell asleep his hand opened and a light shone form his palm. Frowning Kyoko reached in and plucked out a single finger-nail sized scale that glowed and shone like the sun.
“Interesting. I wonder where Che got hold of a dragon scale…”
As the party of adventurers, Kyoko and Liz left the cascade of leaves and vines that separated Che from the outside world a single mote of light drifted down from the unseen canopy. As the mote of light drifted down Che began to stir and though his half closed eyes could not see he smiled at the light.
“My little friend. You have come back to me.” he said as she shakily went to pour a tea – but the stone pot was not where he had left it. As panic began to set into the old mans mind he knocked the cup off the little wooden log he used as a table and reached for the cup as it fell.
Golden digits and golden claws caught the cup and clasped it tightly as they lifted it to the shaking mans hands. As they touched the cup to the man the relief that welled up inside the man overflowed into his face and a peaceful smile replaced the look of concern. “You have saved me again my friend.” he said as he placed the cub down into the little groove it lived in. As golden digits moved the pot back to where it lived Che poured a cup of tea and offered it in thanks to the creature of light.
Sitting in silence and listening to, albeit noisy, slurping from the creature the old man smiled contently and swung his legs. “The young princess is chasing shadows again.” he said with a light giggle. “Much like mother used to when she was young. I don’t suppose you know how to catch the darkness that hides in our halls do you?” he asked the light. After a moment sound of china being placed down onto wood clinked a happy sound.
“I am afraid I do not” said the light. A deep rumbling sound as a creature that was neither light nor flesh but both opened its whiskered covered lips. “But I have faith in the princess and her hunting partners. They will think of something.”
Che nodded and looked towards the light. “I can still see them, the creatures of The Shadow. They dance with mirth as they rip us apart. I can see them reaching into my mind and take my sanity. I fear its slipping little orb of light.” Che said as he sipped on his tea.
“But perhaps I can still help the princess one last time. But I may need your help my little orb of light, my friend.” Che added as he turned to the creature who was floating above the chair. “Can you help her catch the shadow?”
The creature remained quiet for a moment as if weighing up the question and the decision. “I will do what I can – but I must not interfere.” it began to speak before pausing. After a moment it continued as if considering its options “there are things that we can not do and things we can.”
“Thank you my friend.” Che asked as he sipped from his tea. The sound of freshly falling rain splattering on the dark green curtain of leaves brought hope of a cool night.
Kyoko seems very interested in helping the party uncover the creature in the castle and leads them to Che – an ancient man by their standards who is rumoured to have the blood of the beings of light in his veins.
Captain Kuang Ping
Kuang is absent for most of the time as he attends the emperor in providing war council.
Hana Toshio-Harimasu
Hana gets settled into courtly life again after what feels like an age of her being locked away in the Toshio house.
Takeo
Takeo distracts Master Fukiyomo as he begins to suspect things are not as they seem. He provides some insight (if needed) to the party but otherwise avoids them so they can work out how to catch a shadow.
Che was born a very long time ago and remembers the first wars with the shadow. The son of a Ryokughan Merchant and an elf he has an extraordinarily, some may say unnaturally, long life span. Because of this he is looked after by the Harimasu family and guarded constantly because of the knowledge he holds.
The wars of his younger days may be over but the horrors he saw live with him today. Now that there is a call to arms again he may be the only one who remembers how The Shadow was pushed back last time.
This week has a problem to solve. How do you catch a shadow. Whilst not like the incorporeal shadow creature this one is something that uses the shadow to move between the material plane and pocket dimensions it creates. The question is how do we catch it.
For me this week is easy. The first cool sounding, plausible solution the party comes up with we go for. No holding back and jump with two feet. The outcomes is what we will cover tonight.
What ever the solution the creature will dive towards and into the nearest patch of shadow (remember that it’s human size so its got to make sense.) And it will create a portal to its central pocket dimensions. The portal will be big enough for the party to fit through (big-medium or smaller) and it will remain open as long as a source of light is present on both sides of the portal.
Our orb of light friend may pose a solution here but more on that this weekend.
Once open we cut to next weeks adventure, fighting the creature in it’s home turf.
Suggested help from the Orb.
When we look at how to catch a shadow we need to understand what is possible in this world. For us that’s easy as the above adventure states – pick something that sounds plausible that would work that the party can think of.
The orb of light can help us in our task by laying a path of dragon scales (I think we can all see where I am going with this…) to lead the shadow somewhere, provide a burst of light randomly in the room or otherwise lure, pin, or herd the creature somewhere. Perhaps for a few nights the party wakes up with more glowing dragon scales at their bed, or finds them through the room. Maybe the party fashioned weapons out of them or items that can give of bursts of light. If they want to see if a merchant or artisan is available to creature something then I would say that Heavens Reach city is the place to find them.
Thanks for joining me for another end of week writeup. It’s bee a long week and after a successful, but not outright win for the local Warhammer tournament I am beyond fatigued. So on that note I appreciate you at dropping by tonight to read this weeks end of week writeup and I would ask that you don’t forget to come back this week for the final confrontation Oh, and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage, The Brazen Wolfe
Brazen Wolfe Tabletop 