[D4LM, Forest] An unexpected opponent (Event)

[Moto Taka]

Taka used the blow to deflect, but it's not quite enough, and the spines of the Tetsubo rake against the thick weave of his padded clothes, cutting gaps into them.

"Hey, is anyone wondering why what looks like an oni is here? Is this part of a test? Those things can hit hard and you seem to be pulling your punches."

He looks back at the others. "I can keep trying to cover whoever wants to take a big swing at him.

_____
Resisting Blow from Tetsubo - Fitness TN 1 - Critical Strike 3 | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2

Blow resisting to Critical Severity 2 (Near Miss). Armor is damaged, reduction reduced to 0
[Strife: 4/8]
[Fatigue: 0/8]

[Seppun Akimitsu]

Akimitsu snarls at the taunting and rushes at the monster who turned its back to him to strike the moto "Don't you dare turn your back on me monster!" He shouts at the blade strikes true again much harder than last time as his initial shock fades
---------------
Free move to range 1 of monster
Attack action
D4 fight attack! Martial arts melee/fire tn 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2
Fire stance so 2 additional successes
Damage 9 (4+5 bonus successes)

Vigilance 2
Focus 4
Endurance 0/10
Composure 2/8
Resistance 4

[The sweeping monk]

The monster takes the hit, but the blade once again slides on its skin without apparent damages.



"Going for 1,000 strikes technique Seppun-kun? Keep up the pace and you should be done by summer."

While the voice is still equally full of of amused disdain, seriousness has started showing up in its eyes.

---

??? took an extra 9-3=6 fatigue.

???
Fatigue: 11/?
Strife: 8/?

Seppun Akimitsu: 7
Moto Taka: 5 (lower honor)
Kitsuki Ketsudan: 5
???: 4

Akimitsu is at range 1 of the boss, positions unchanged otherwise.

Note: I forgot to include the Cumbersome penalty of the tetsubō on the last attack, since the boss moved and struck on the same turn. Somehow don't change anything except the boss should have had to keep one more die with 1 success + 1 strife to pass, thus should be at +1 strife. Hence the change here.

And yes, the dice apparently wanted to hit Taka to the point of passing a TN6 check.

[Moto Taka]

"A thousand you say?" Taka replies. Something shifts about him. The trio is now together, and a path is open to victory. "Shall we put that to the test? Can you survive a thousand blows?"

Though this might be painful.

Taka attacks head on, placing the trust in the ground he has taken and the numbers on their side for him to hold out a bit longer. His bo collides with the monster, a good deal of force going into this strike instead of the glancing shot he had offered earlier.


______
Unexpected Encounter Round 3-Switching Stance to Fire-Strike-Fire/Melee | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 3

[Success, with 4 bonus successes from strife take this round. Opportunity spent to heal 1 strife]
[10 damage from bo staff]
[Strife: 6/8]
[Fatigue: 0/8]
Damage Reduction: 0

[The sweeping monk]

"Two on one? Where's samurai's chivalry?"

For all his talk, the creature is starting to have a hard time fighting all the samurai at once now they're coordinating their attacks.

---

10-3=7 more strife taken

???
Fatigue: 18/16
Strife: 8/?
??? is Incapacitated. Any attack that lands will trigger a Critical Strike equal to the used weapon's deadliness.

Seppun Akimitsu: 7
Moto Taka: 5 (lower honor)
Kitsuki Ketsudan: 5
???: 4

[Kitsuki Ketsudan]

"It's three!" Ketsudan says, swinging his katana at the opponent.

The blade connects, sinking deeply.

"Back to the hell you came from!"

~~~~~

Fire / MA Melee, TN 2, passes at 2 sux / 1 opps / 2 strife, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/6963
Critical Strike inflicted.
Katana base Deadliness is 5.
Spend opportunity to increase Deadliness on Razor-Edged weapon (5+1=6).
Increased to 8 per Fire Stance and 2 strife (6+2=8).
Critical Strike for 8, thus.

Current Status
Condition: None
Initiative 5
Vigilance 2
Focus 5
Current Fatigue 0/10
Current Strife 7/8
Current VP 0

[The sweeping monk]

The blade struck and sliced something. And yet, the creature seems untouched in anything but its pride.

A weirdness immediately overshadowed by an even bigger weirdness...

---

Fire / MA Melee, TN 2, passes at 2 sux / 1 opps / 2 strife, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/6963
Critical Strike inflicted.
Katana base Deadliness is 5.
Spend opportunity to increase Deadliness on Razor-Edged weapon (5+1=6).
Increased to 8 per Fire Stance and 2 strife (6+2=8).
Critical Strike for 8, thus.

Bonus successes don't increase the severity of the Critical Strike (except for duels, but let's not talk about duels). So it's "only" Critical 6.

Resisting critical 6 | TN: 1 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 3


Reduced to Close Call, no effect.
: Inflame another character [Kitsuki Ketsudan] in the scene with your presence, causing them to receive 2 strife.

Kitsuki Ketsudan thus takes 2 strife.

???
Fatigue: 18/16
Strife: 11/8
Incapacitated and Compromised but...

[Kitsuki Ketsudan]

OOC Update

Current Status
Condition: None
Initiative 5
Vigilance 2
Focus 5
Current Fatigue 0/10
Current Strife 9/8 COMPROMISED
Current VP 0

Way of the Dragon: Ward remains in effect

EDITED FROM GM INPUT
RE-EDITED FROM ADDITIONAL GM INPUT

[The sweeping monk]

There's a sudden explosion of spiritual power in the clearing. The earth shakes. Trees bend. Snow melt. The figure of the creature dissolves, replaced by a maelstrom of pure primal rage. For an instant, the samurai aren't facing one bipedal monster, but something way older than the idea on walking on two legs.

And then the power is bottled up again, and everything returns to normal. Well, as normal as can be facing a gigantic monster. Whose appearance is now slightly glitchy, proportions and reflections a bit off, like a drawing from a mediocre artist.

They do a poor job at pretending nothing happened.



"Kof, kof. Nice try Flying Snake! But that's what a real strike looks like!"

The taunt is long lived however, as the – is it really a tetsubō? – rebounds on a branch instead of hitting its target.

---

Unmasking before action

Glimpse of the true self (custom NPC ability): When the NPC uses their normal once per scene opportunity to unmask, they may additionally (choose one): Reset their fatigue to half its maximum, remove any number of Conditions on themselves, add or remove any number of Qualities (except Defiled) from adjacent terrains.

Choosing the first option.

???
Fatigue: 8/16
Strife: 0/8

"Force the boss to unmask" secret objective achieved: +2 Information points, +1 Information Tidbit

D4LM | Round 3
Normal strike against Kitsuki Ketsudan | Obscuring terrain | Ward | TN: 4 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0

: Fluff: no effect

Seppun Akimitsu: 7 => Is up
Moto Taka: 5 (lower honor)
Kitsuki Ketsudan: 5
???: 4

Note: The fight will end at ???'s next action.
Technicality: I forgot the effect on strife of Wargear items all fight long, for both sides. At this point, simpler to keep pretending they have none.

[Seppun Akimitsu]

Akimitsu blinks at what happened, the energy contained again he narrowed his eyes "seems there is more than meets the eye with you." He says moving around more nimbly clearly trained in many ways of fighting from the solid strikes, to passionate blows and now graceful attacks.

He lands a series of light blows as he maneuvered into the obscuring terrain dancing around the monster.

-------------------------------
Move into foliage

Attack
D4 fight martial arts Melee/air void tn 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2
Success 6 damage (4+2) 2 Strife spending opp to reduce Strife
Air stance makes tn to be hit +1

Vigilance 2
Focus 4
Endurance 0/10
Composure 3/8
Resistance 4

[The sweeping monk]

"..."

The creature has turned mute. Sulky even.

---

3 more fatigue taken

???
Fatigue: 11/16
Strife: 0/8

Seppun Akimitsu: 7
Moto Taka: 5 (lower honor) => Is up
Kitsuki Ketsudan: 5
???: 4

[Moto Taka]

It feels like there is a moment to finish this. Taka pushes to seize the moment. His bo collides dead on the creature.

____

Attack the creature - Fire/Melee - VP spent to seize the moment. | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

Pass with 3 bonus successes (with fire stance) for 9 damage.
Strife 7/8

[The sweeping monk]

The creature does not even pretend anymore, the strikes going through her like it was made of mist instead of being seemingly deflected.



"A bit repetitive isn't it?"

---

6 more fatigue taken

???
Fatigue: 17/16
Strife: 0/8
Incapacitated again

Seppun Akimitsu: 7
Moto Taka: 5 (lower honor)
Kitsuki Ketsudan: 5 => Is up
???: 4

[Kitsuki Ketsudan]

"Practice this diligently!" Ketsudan yells, clearly agitated and upset--and letting his strife flow through and out of him into another attack. An incoherent yell strains his voice, cracking with anger as he hacks at the damned thing...

And he whiffs, entirely.

The yelling continues, but the blow is utterly ineffective.

~~~~~

Unmasking to empty Strife count
Selecting Overwhelming Fury
Attacking the opponent
Fails at 1 sux / 0 opps / 0 strife, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/6970

Current Status
Condition: Enraged (Critical Strikes at +2 severity, coming and going)
Initiative 5
Vigilance 2
Focus 5
Current Fatigue 0/10
Current Strife 0/8
Current VP 0

Way of the Dragon: Ward remains in effect

[The sweeping monk]

The creature sights deeply, its breath sending powder snow around flying.



"Just not funny anymore."

And then it runs away. Or more rolls away? Its already altered appearance becomes a shapeless mess that tumbles down the mountain at all speed, like an avalanche, or maybe some sort of big land shark lurking under the ground.

Quickly, but not quickly enough to escape determined samurai (and a Unicorn horse) giving chase.

A roar of discontent resounds, and then a (localized) tremor shakes the mountain, sending flying all pursuers. When they're back on their feet, no strange creature is to be found anymore.

---

Water Stance

Action 1: Calming Breath, -1 fatigue, not Incapacitated anymore (exactly 16/16)
Action 2: Maneuver to get the hell out of here

D4LM | Round 4
Ambiguous objective outcome, so letting the dice decide. Boss must move at least two extra range bands, which require either 4+ successes, or 2+ success and 2 opportunities, to achieve "its" objective.
TN2 Fitness (Water) | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


Not good enough, triggering magical escape clause.

---

Event completed.

Objectives achieved:

Defeat the boss: +1 Impression points, +1 Information point
Force the boss to unmask: +2 Information points, +1 Information Tidbit
Force the boss to use magic to flee: +2 Impression point [I had noted "Incapacitated at the start of the round without unmasking left", but hadn't thought about the edge case of them being at exactly Calming Breath range of removing that condition, hence the dice roll]
Defeat the boss without shedding blood (no Bleeding Condition inflicted): +1 Impression point [achieved in total ignorance, but achieved]

Total: +4 Impression points, +3 Information points, +1 Information Tidbit (no need to roll for them, they correspond to all the weird things that happened in this very thread)

For reference, not achieved:
Force the boss to shattering parry (would have done so automatically if failing a critical save): +1 Impression point, +1 Information point
Use a non-Martial skill (to investigate, communicate, etc.): +1 Information point

[Kitsuki Ketsudan]

Ketsudan yells again as he hits the ground, but the jarring seems to recollect him to his senses.

He rises, sheathes his swords, dusts off.

Clearing his throat and adjusting his headband, Ketsudan asks "Minna-sama, what was that?"

~~~~~

Since combat's done, Enraged would seem to be irrelevant, yes?

[The sweeping monk]

The sun is shining. It's a beautiful day.

---

Since combat's done, Enraged would seem to be irrelevant, yes?

[Moto Taka]

"That...was strange. Does anyone know what that thing was?" Taka looks over the group.

[Kitsuki Ketsudan]

Ketsudan lapses into thought to try to recall...

~~~~~

Making a (fluffy?) Earth / Theology roll to see if I recollect anything...
2 sux / 0 opps / 1 strife, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/6972
Anything come to mind?

[The sweeping monk]

Was it not for Taka's shred clothes and a few broken trees, you could think the fight never happened. The creature did not leave a single hair, a single footprint, behind.

---

Making a (fluffy?) Earth / Theology roll to see if I recollect anything...
2 sux / 0 opps / 1 strife, https://sakkaku.org/rolls/6972
Anything come to mind?

The fact your headband did not start fuming on the spot when you were bathed in the explosion of power earlier on suggests the creature was not anathema to Amaterasu's creation. So not a Shadowlands beast (or one really, really, powerful and tricky).

And I'm going to ignore all dice rolls in this thread from now on to avoid triggering the "rolling everything and anything in order until a high result is achieved" trope.