[Actual Play] 5th edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Sessions 6 & 7 - Death of a Hero

The last two Sundays the regular 'Three Mysterious Weirdos' campaign continued. The cast of characters is:

• Goro, a 2nd level Japanese warlock (or onmyoji)
• Terasu, a 2nd level Japanese cleric (or kannushi)
• Monomi, a 2nd level Chinese monk
• Pasekur, a 1st level Emishi ranger/his sister Toitoi, a 1st level Emishi druid

The PCs had established that Lord Mishiri's concubine (who was a demon in disguise) was trying to harm his wife and daughter, and that the daughter had been having strange dreams - of skull-headed seals and an old man's face covered with moss. They had decided that Goro would attempt to meet the concubine alone to discuss the matter with her (Goro having already established a kind of rapport with the young woman); it was also decided that, as this meeting would take place, Monomi would lurk stealthily in the background in order to provide support if things went wrong. 

Goro met the concubine on a walk in the evening around the village of Okoppe (where the retinue of Lord Mishiri had remained), with Monomi following - the concubine gave no indication whether she knew he was there. It quickly became apparent that the concubine saw no reason to keep her 'task' secret - she was 'bound' by somebody (whose identity she could not reveal) to ensure that Lord Mishiri had no heirs. She had decided to try to achieve this by eliminating his wife and daughter - the wife with some form of sickness, and the daughter by manipulating the girl's dreams so that she would wander off into the forest alone and be killed. Sensing that Goro was a man in search of supernatural power, she made him an offer: if he could arrange for Lord Mishiri's daughter to die, she would grant him a boon. She also, at this point, revealed that she knew Monomi had been following, and left Goro to discuss the matter with his "friend".

The PCs gathered together and discussed what to do next. They narrowed things down to a number of options. First, they needed to find out who had 'bound' the concubine to her task. Second, they had to think of a way to get her to reveal herself. And third, they thought it would be a good idea to try to get to the bottom of the daughter's dream visions.

Terasu was assigned the job of talking to Lord Mishiri's household wizard Takeyama, who he found to be approachable and easygoing. The wizard told him about his personal pet theory, which was that the "lichen men" who the Emishi of these lands spoke of were the remnants of a people who had one lived throughout all of the archipelago and who had retreated into the mountains long ago. He suggested that they might be there still - living in caves below the surface of the earth. Terasu asked him whether Lord Mishiri had any other heirs, or rivals - trying to steer the conversation to discover if there was anybody who might stand to inherit the Uesugi clan's leadership if Mishiri died heirless. It seemed that Lord Mishiri was an only child, and the person who was next in line was a cousin, of the Date clan, a cadet branch.

Concluding they were none the wiser from this, the PCs struck North to a place where Pasekur knew there was a landscape of mossy ravines where once had flowed a river. They thought this might tell them something about this moss man vision. On several occasions while travelling they realised they were being followed by five cranes, who would fly overhead; on each occasion the PCs would hide under the trees out of sight and wait for the creatures to pass by.

Eventually they reached a steep ravine, some 12-18 feet high, covered in moss on both sides, and followed it West. As night began to fall they came across a place where the ravine branched off, and this lead them to a skeletal corpse, with a bow and arrows next to it, clutching a small bear idol made from stag horn. The corpse was sat with its back to the wall of the ravine, with its legs curled up to its chest. They surmised it had been dead for some months. 

They now realised they had to choose whether to push on through the night or head out of the ravine. They decided to continue, carrying lights with them. This lead them a mile or two further West, until they came to another place where the ravine branched. Here they decided to spend the night. Monomi's watch passed without incident, but during Pasekur's shift he heard a voice behind him whispering questions - demanding to know who he was, and why he had brought "foreigners" here. Pasekur explained that they were investigating the strange dreams afflicting a young girl, which they thought were caused by a Southron demon. The voice confirmed this, saying that some power had come from the South and brought a dangerous magic with it; the voice said that this power could manipulate thoughts and dreams, and would bring ruin to the North if it was not stopped. The voice said that a short distance away was a place where people had made offerings to it in the past, and that Pasekur and his comrades were welcome to make use of those offerings if they would help defeat this intruder. It also told Pasekur that the skeleton belonged to a hunter who had come to these ravines, become terrified, and starved.

Pasekur immediately woke everybody else up and managed to communicate that they should follow him. He then led them to a place a short distance further West where there was a small totem with a few trinkets placed around it - stone idols (of a bear, wolf, owl and stag), an obsidian necklace, and twelve arrowheads. The PCs took these and waited for dawn, to then set off back to Okoppe to find the translator, Toitoi; Pasekur was unable to explain his conversation with the "moss voice", because he could not speak Japanese. On the way, Monomi picked up the skeleton that the party had discovered and carried it with him in order to return it to the family of whoever had owned it.

But on the way back, disaster struck. In mid-morning the five cranes which had been following the PCs descended from the sky. On touching ground they transformed into wild-looking, naked men, with gingery red hair, and skin covered with either red or yellow blotches. These men yelled something in a foreign tongue, and then attacked, picking up rocks from the river and wielding them as crude weapons. A tough fight ensued; it seemed that the men with red skin blotches were difficult to wound, and that the yellow ones were immensely strong. They could also use some rudimentary magic that allowed them to blast their enemies with invisible force. The party ultimately prevailed, but at a terrible cost: Monomi was brought to the very brink of death [DM's note: he failed and then succeeded at two death saves, meaning that for his final death save roll there was literally a 50/50 chance of stabilising or dying], and Pasekur was killed, his skull cracked open. Three of these "crane men" were killed, but the other two transformed back into cranes and fled.

*

The next session found our PCs in a predicament - nursing wounds but also with their key ally, Pasekur, dead. They decided that they would carry the corpses of Pasekur and one of the dead crane-men back with them, along with the skeleton they had found. While building a litter to do this they almost came to blows with a herd of wild boar foraging in the trees, but Terasu managed to scare the boar away by using his thaumaturgy to create the sound of a bear.

Eventually they made their way back to Kawa-no-kuchi and informed Lord Mishiri that his favourite, Pasekur, was dead. They also inspected the dead "crane man" with the household wizard, Takeyama-no-mahotsukai. Takeyama surmised that the red blotches on the man's skin might be lichen, and this could be one of the famous "lichen men" they had all heard about. It was at this point that it dawned on Monomi, Terasu and Goro that they had, not long ago, raided a lichen-man tomb to steal the last breath of a lichen-man sorcerer (in order to provide Umoshmatek with the material to create a spell to bind the river mussel goddess). These crane spirit/lichen men may very well be guardians or something similar. 

[DM's note: At this point it also dawned on the players themselves that since the moss voice had only spoken to Pasekur, and Pasekur had not been able to convey to the others the what the moss voice had told him; neither Monomi, Goro nor Terasu actually knew, then, what had happened the previous night, and now with Pasekur dead there was no way they would ever know. They decided they would have to see if Umoshmatek had some way to communicate with the dead and, after resting for the night, headed to Okoppe the next day, bearing Pasekur's corpse with them.]

On the way to Okoppe the PCs ran into Toitoi, who had been sent by Umoshmatek North after having foreboding dreams about her son. After emotional scenes Toitoi decided to accompany the PCs in his stead. 

Back in Okoppe, after the funeral and delivering the awful news to Pasekur's parents, Menkakush and Umoshmatek, the PCs asked whether Umoshmatek had some way to communicate with her son to retrieve the message of the moss spirit. Sure enough, it turned out there was a way of doing this, which involved a sweat-lodge ritual and hallucinogenic fungus and so forth. This allowed the PCs to each enter the realms of the dead to search for Pasekur's ghost. While there, each of them had a vision from their past of a person they had been close to who once died. [DM's note: I let them each make up this encounter.] Monomi came across the spirit of an old friend who he had watched fall to his death as they fled from some guards in a long-ago heist. This friend cursed him - though in such a way that he will not know how the curse takes effect until the moment it does. Goro came across the spirits of the inhabitants of the village where he grew up, all of whom had died in an earthquake. He vowed to take vengeance against the god who cause this disaster. And Terasu came across his father, who revealed that the sickness he had died from was caused by a rival. Then we came to Toitoi, who found Pasekur. Pasekur revealed the message of the moss voice, and on waking, Toitoi conveyed it to the others.

Toitoi was also able to examine the trinkets the PCs had found in the moss ravines; the necklace would protect against poisons, the arrowheads could be used against intruders from the realm of the dead, and the small idols of the bear, wolf, owl and stag could be thrown to the ground to summon a beast for aid (but could only be used once). 

A lengthy discussion now took place as the PCs tried to decide what to do next. Try to force the concubine to reveal herself somehow, by attacking her physically in public? Offer to help her and fake the death of Lord Mishiri's daughter? Confide in somebody else at Lord Mishiri's court? Finally, they decided that Monomi would try to gain her confidence and offer to carry out a task to prove his worth. After having gained her trust, he and the others would find some way to subvert her plans.

The next night, Monomi crept to her quarters and offered his aid. She assigned him a task: to travel to a distant glade in the forest where there grew a poisonous tree. He was then to return with sap from the tree and find some way to ensure that the daughter drank it. Monomi agreed to this, and then met up with the others; they decided they would go to the tree and then find some way to either replace the poison, ensure that the daughter didn't drink it, or some other cunning scheme... 

[Actual Play] 5th edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Session 5 - It all gets a bit Pendragon...

Session 5 of the "Three Mysterious Weirdos" campaign took place last Sunday. With all the excitement of releasing The Peridot I forgot to do a write-up. Previous session reports can be found here.

PCs present:

• Monomi the Chinese monk
• Goro the Japanese warlock
• Pasekur the Emishi ranger
• Terasu the Japanese cleric (run as an NPC for this session)

The session began with the group having cast an ancient lichen-man enchantment on the river mussel goddess to trap her in her river mussel form, and then having fled off swimming downstream from her servants. They decided the next port of call had to be Kawa-no-Kuchi, where they could deliver the river mussel spirit to Lord Uesugi-no-Mishiri and then have her placed in the river. This went well: while Lord Mishiri's household wizard, Takeyama-no-Onmyoji, advocated using the river mussel as a source of power, Lord Mishiri kept his word and the goddess was placed in the river nearby. She could now feed off the nutrients put into the river by the town, and thus produce mussels for the townsfolk to eat.

The PCs were lauded for their efforts and invited to a banquet. Everybody was going to be there, so it was to be a major event. While there was some discussion about other options (visiting the inland Emishi village of Bihoro, which they had heard about, or perhaps investigating what was making the Emishi of another nearby village, Kikonai, so aggressive), they decided they would go to the banquet and investigate the problems afflicting Lord Mishiri's daughter. They had encountered the daughter wandering the forest a fortnight or so previously, apparently under the sway of some strange magical influence. They suspected that Lord Mishiri's beautiful new concubine was somehow involved in this, and the banquet would be a good chance to get to the bottom of things.

The banquet was also a good opportunity to interact with, and get noticed by, the great and good of the Uesugi clan. Pasekur, being a hairy Northern barbarian, was particularly popular. Once everybody was well and truly drunk, the Emishi was invited to do a barbarian dance. Failing spectacularly in a sort of Ewok-inspired xylophone routine, Monomi interceded and suggested that Pasekur would be better off demonstrating his skill with animals or hunting. Lord Mishiri then invited the barbarian to attempt to break one of his stallions, the Red Horse, who would not let anybody ride him. With the aid of Goro, who summoned and unseen servant to placate the beast, Pasekur was able to tame it. The display so impressed Lord Mishiri that he gave the Emishi his fan as a token of everlasting friendship with the Uesugi clan.

Back in the banquet hall Monomi and Goro got talking to the wife and daughter of Lord Mishiri. It quickly became clear to the ever-perceptive Goro that the daughter was under some strange charm, and also that the wife was looking profoundly unwell, as if perhaps cursed. Monomi began talking to the pair. The daughter explained that she was having horrible dreams and was sleeping only fitfully, while the wife complained of feeling constantly tired and drained. While this was going on it became clear to Goro, seeing a glimpse of the arcane around the beautiful young concubine of Lord Mishiri, came to the conclusion that she was a demon. It was also apparent that the concubine was watching all of this unfold very intently, almost as if she could hear everything despite being on the opposite side of the hall.

The PCs had a conference - doing the equivalent of whatever going out for a cigarette is in pre-medieval Japan. They decided that they had to try to invite the wife and daughter to Pasekur's village Okoppe, to see Umoshmatek the shamaness. She might know something about these awful dreams. But they also thought that there was a good chance that the concubine, whatever she was, was "on to them" and would try to get to Lord Mishiri's wife and daughter before they could be taken to see Umoshmatek.

The PCs hatched a plan. Pasekur would distract Lord Mishiri by challenging him to a drinking contest. This would definitely tempt Lord Mishiri, who they knew to be impulsive and brimming with proto-samurai machismo. Pasekur would attempt to drink him into unconsciousness, whereupon the wife and daughter would have to take him away to take care of him. This would separate them from the concubine for the night. While this was going on, Goro would talk to the concubine and prevent her causing any trouble. The next day, they would invite Lord Mishiri and his whole family to the village of Okoppe to meet Pasekur's parents and cement the bond between the Uesugi clan and the Emishi of Okoppe - figuring that it was unlikely they could get the wife and daughter away on their own.

The plan worked brilliantly. Pasekur strode forward to challenge Lord Mishiri, with Monomi as a kind of interlocutor. [DM's note: It is perhaps worth explaining at this point that Pasekur cannot speak Japanese. I decided that on their travels the PCs had taught him 5 words. The players decided they had taught him Yes, No, Shit (because everybody teaches foreigners swear words first), Emptiness (because Monomi was teaching him the concept of Zen) and Run. However, Goro has the capacity to communicate with him telepathically, although this is only ever a one-way thing. Communication difficulties dogged the PCs at every turn this session, which really added something.] Lord Mishiri was already hammered, and agreed to the drinking challenge wholeheartedly. On around the second or third drink, the head of the Uesugi clan promptly projectile vomited, staggered dramatically about for a minute or two, and then collapsed insensate. His wife and daughter then ushered him away to bed (carried by servants of course). 

While this was going on, Goro began a kind of dance-like conversation with the new concubine of Lord Mishiri. While she did not admit to anything, she revealed that she knew that Goro was a magician of some kind. They arranged to meet the next evening at a cape a mile or two up the coast, where the incoming waves squirted through a crack in the rocks like a fountain.

With their task - making sure the concubine could not do anything to harm Lord Mishiri's wife and daughter that night - complete, the PCs retired to bed. The next morning, they visited the badly hungover and irritable Lord Mishiri and suggested the trip to Okoppe. Lord Mishiri's household wizard and general both agreed that the visit would be a good idea, as it would expand the power of the clan in the barbaric North and perhaps lead to significant trade links.

A mini-procession headed off to Okoppe: Lord Mishiri, his general, his wife, daughter and concubine, a dozen or so warriors, a further dozen or so courtiers, and Pasekur, Goro and Terasu. (Monomi had gone on ahead to explain everything to Pasekur's relatives.) In Okoppe Lord Mishiri and his family were formally introduced to Pasekur's parents Menkakush, the chief, and Umoshmatek, the shamaness. After an exchange of gifts, it was agreed that the men would go off hunting while the women would "get to know each other". This was the opportunity for Umoshmatek to see if she could find out anything about the enchantments cast on Lord Mishiri's wife and daughter (with Pasekur's sister Toitoi translating).

Out hunting Pasekur was able to kill a big male wild boar and further ingratiate himself with Lord Mishiri, who offered the Emishi the chance to join his household as his personal hunter if ever he wished it. There was then another large feast, though Emishi style this time: plenty of salmon, boar meat, salmon roe, and smoked fish. Here, the PCs managed to take Umoshmatek and Lord Mishiri's wife and daughter to one side. The Emishi shamaness explained that she could not know for certain, but there was definitely magic afflicting both women, although it was of a 'Southron' sort that she did not understand. The daughter revealed that her dreams featured strange seal creatures, which had the body of a seal but a fleshless, skull heads. These creatures would call to her to come to them, travelling North up the coast; she knew that they meant her ill, but her resolve not to go to them was becoming weaker. She also said she had visions of the face of an old man, covered in a kind of mossy growth.

On that note, the session ended.

[I really enjoyed this session. I've enjoyed all of them, but it feels like the campaign hit its stride this week. All the players have agreed that there is a real Princess Mononoke feel about things. I haven't intended this at all, but it has definitely developed in that direction. Which is fine by me.]

[Actual Play] 5th edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Session 4 - Goro Couldn't Bear It

(You can read previous session reports for this campaign here.)

The three philosophers had been effectively wiped out by the guardians of the tomb of the lichen-man king. Only their (NPC) guide Pasekur remained conscious and able to fight. It would be another day before the group could even think about travel or exploring the remainder of the tombs. Pasekur set about trying to hide the three corpses under a nearby fallen tree and settled in for the night.

In the evening, flushed grouse indicated the presence of intruders. Pasekur and Terasu, who was by now awake and able to move, decided to try to stay out of sight, but were quickly noticed by what turned out to be four Emishi hunters from the village of Bihoro. These mountain-siders were considerably wilder and rougher than their coastal brethren, but were friendly enough; the leader, Itakshir, warned about the dangers of these tombs, and offered the strange Southron travellers a feast at the village if ever they made their way there.

By mid-morning the next day Monomi and Goro were also able to move, but they decided to spent much of the day recuperating; it was mid-afternoon by the time they began exploring the tomb of the lichen-man king. They discovered what was clearly a burial chamber. It contained a skeleton together with a bronze cuirass, sword and helm, the latter of which was strangely and noticeably unrusted and pristine. There were also a number of amulets, anklets, and other trinkets - as well as a skin cask sealed with bearskin, which the philosophers quickly surmised contained the breath of the lichen-man wizard given to the king to accompany him to the afterlife. All around this chamber were rich paintings of hunting scenes; a frequent recurring motif was a man with a large red beard and red hair, who was presumably the king himself.

The tomb led to at least one other chamber but Monomi was keen not to disturb anything more than was necessary and was satisfied leaving with the cask. Goro, on the other hand, decided to pocket one of the amulets to see what would happen.

With their instant task completed, the three philosophers headed back to Okoppe. The journey took them some three days. On the way they came across a handful of cranes which seemed to circle around them overhead a few times before flying off back the way they had come; spooked by this, the philosophers took a wide detour to avoid anybody who might be following them. Eventually they arrived back at the village, where Monomi gave a rousing account of their travails to the locals. Then the shamaness Umoshmatek invited the three philosophers to take part in the ritual that would make use of the lichen-man wizard's breath. The essence of this ritual was to boil the cask in water inside a sealed tent over the course of a night. The condensation from the steam that would collect on the inside of the tent could then be soaked in bear skin and squeezed out into a pot. This fluid could then be poured into the river mussel goddess's pool to bind her into her mussel form.

The ritual had strange effects on both Monomi and Goro, who undertook dream quests under the influence of the steam-filled air in the tent. Monomi dreamed that he was racing through the streets of some Chinese city at night, whereupon he was confronted by an authoritarian figure who commanded him to use a newly-granted power over the clouds, wind, and rains for some unspecified and incomprehensible purpose. Goro, meanwhile, dreamed that he was confronting a gargantuan locust-like insect who drained him of his very existence. The onmyoji discovered that this meant in future his relationship to the physical world had become somehow attenuated, so that he could move through space instantly over very short distances.

[Mechanically, Monomi can now control the weather 1/week and Goro can blink 1/day - if they pass WIS checks at DC 10]

The next morning the ritual was over and was successful: the philosophers now had a gourd containing water infused with the breath of the lichen-man wizard. This, Umoshmatek told them, they had to pour into the river mussel goddess's pool - but only when she was in river mussel form. This would bind her in that state. If, on the other hand, they did it while she was in human form, it would bind her in that state instead - ruining their plan.

The philosophers spent some time discussing what to do as they journeyed towards the river mussel goddess's waterfall pool. Their initial plan was for Monomi to use his newfound power over the weather to cloak the pool in fog so that Goro could sneak forward with the fluid and pour it in. Goro could then use his new power to teleport instantly away before her bear guardians got him. But after a while they decided this was a bad idea - it was likely the river mussel goddess would be very hard to sneak up on in her natural environment. Instead, they hatched a different plan: Goro would attempt to flatter the goddess into transforming into her river mussel form. He would then pour the fluid into the pool, grab her, and teleport away and then they would all run off back to Okoppe as fast as their legs could carry them.

The plan initially worked well. Goro entered the pool and began flattering the river mussel goddess so that she agreed to reveal the beauty of her natural form. As soon as this had happened he poured the lichen-man-wizard solution into the pool, binding her in that state. Her bear guardians, who had been watching the whole thing, immediately attacked and Goro's blinking power fizzled and failed; he was badly mauled. Monomi, Terasu and Pasekur began raining magical spells and missiles on the bears, killing one, but the other clawed Goro to the ground, rendering him unconscious and very nearly killing him outright. This bear was finally dispatched, however, when Monomi and Pasekur bravely charged forward into its teeth to save their comrade.

The three philosophers and their trusty Emishi guide then began swimming downstream back towards Okoppe, with the river mussel goddess in tow....But not before they had noticed that the entire episode had been witnessed by one of the goddess's Emishi slaves from the top of the waterfall....

[Actual Play] 5th Edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Session 3 - It was a really good job they brought the guide...

(You can read the previous session report here.)

Our three philosophers (who are most assuredly philosophers, despite doing so little philosophising so far), Monomi, Goro and Terasu, had made the decision to attempt to forcibly relocate a "disorderly" river mussel god who was plaguing the local Emishi villagers. To do this, they needed to find an Emishi elder to cast a magical bond on the god to keep it from shifting its form for a time. They headed, then, to the village of Okoppe, which they knew to be friendly to Japanese 'Southrons' like themselves.

They travelled by night, following the salmon river, and in the early hours came across somebody hiding in the trees. Tempting this person out of hiding with the use of magical legerdemain, they discovered a young woman of aristocratic bearing. She revealed herself to be the daughter of Lord Uesugi-no-Mishiri, the Japanese noble who had established the small colony of Kawa-no-Kuchi where their adventure had begun. She said that she had gone out for a walk in the evening and had somehow become lost, and had been wandering the forest alone all night.

The philosophers were naturally suspicious of this (they watched her closely to check whether she had a fox's tail underneath her robes) but offered to allow the Uesugi daughter to accompany them. On the way, they asked her a little more about her situation, hoping to flush out the truth; it turned out that her father had recently had a new concubine brought to him from the South. Our three philosophers began to suspect that there may have been some sort of enchantment afoot associated with this new concubine. But they set that to one side for now.

By morning they reached Okoppe and were brought to the headman, Menkakush, whose daughter, Toitoi, spoke Japanese and could translate. The headman agreed that the philosophers' plan was a good one, but he was unwilling to offer help unless he could receive something in return. He revealed that his village's traditional fishing areas were being encroached upon by the warlike people of the nearby village of Kikonai - and also by the Southron settlement of Kawa-no-Kuchi. The three philosophers eventually agreed to go to Kawa-no-Kuchi and intercede on his behalf with Lord Uesugi. They stayed for a feat and ate the smoked salmon offered to them. Monomi chatted some more with the Uesugi daughter, and learned that her father was very much a man of action - given to solving problems through force of arms and derring-do. He had established this settlement in the North in order to expand his family's power and wealth, and also, hopefully, to curry favour with the Emperor. The philosophers decided they would have to present their plan as an opportunity for the Uesugi to grow.

The next day, they headed to Kawa-no-Kuchi and were ushered into Lord Uesugi's hall. The Lord was there with his two advisors, his wife, and a very beautiful young woman who was apparently his new concubine. There was some initial befuddlement at the appearance of his daughter: it seemed that Lord Uesugi and the others had been under the impression that his daughter had been ill and was sleeping in her bed chamber. They were surprised to find her out and about. But she was quickly sent away and the three philosophers began discussing their plan. (They resolved to investigate the mystery of the Uesugi daughter at a later date.) This was, in brief, to gain the assistance of the people of Okoppe in binding the river mussel god and bringing her downstream to the area around Kawa-no-Kuchi. This would benefit the river mussel god (more detritus for her and her kind to feed from), benefit the people of Kawa-no-Kuchi (they would have mussels to eat), and also benefit the Uesugi (greater wealth and a 'curiosity' for the delectation of the of the Emperor in the South). All that needed to happen in return was for Uesugi to agree to give the people of Okoppe protection in their fishing. After some discussion with his advisors (his general, Hatake-no-Yama, and his onmyoji, Takayama-no-Mahotsukai), Lord Uesugi agreed to this, and gave his sealed written promise to the philosophers to take to Okoppe.

Back in Okoppe, the philosophers were welcomed and thanked profusely. They were then taken to a middle-aged woman, Umoshmatek, who was a shaman and storyteller. She agreed to help in the binding of the river mussel spirit, but to do that she needed to use the magic of the lichen men. The lichen men had lived in the forests long ago, before even the Emishi had come, and though they had now left, their tombs could still be found. Umoshmatek needed the breath of a lichen man wizard, which would have been given to a lichen man king, queen or princess to take to the afterlife for protection. With this, she could exert power over the river mussel god. She explained that there was a lichen-man tomb two days up the salmon river to the North-West; it consisted of three burial sites, one of which she knew to be the grave of a king, marked by wooden stakes. The other two sites "should on no circumstances be entered". The philosophers prepared to set off, and took with them a guide - Umoshmatek's son, a young hunter called Pasekur, who was keen for adventure.

Two days later they arrived at the tomb and, sure enough, discovered three cave entrances in a small river valley, one of which was marked with wooden stakes. There were also three stone cairns at the base of the valley, by the river side. Deciding to follow Umoshmatek's advice, the three philosophers began investigating the staked tomb while Pasekur waited outside. Inside, they found some tunnels, with the sound of growling audible from deeper within. Despite this growling, they investigated the first chamber they came across - a room decorated with paintings all around its walls. Many of the paintings depicted hunting scenes, but another depicted two snow-capped mountains, with what seemed to be a volcano in between them. Monomi ran his fingers over this painting and became overwhelmed by a strange sense of nostalgia for this view, that he had never seen before.

Just then, Pasekur called for help from outside. All three philosophers ran out and discovered three skeletons emerging from the stone cairns. They were wearing rusted bronze armour and helmets, and carrying bronze axes. Terasu made a plea to Amaterasu, the deity of the sun, and blasted one of these skeletons to smithereens with a bolt of light. Monomi charged downhill to attack the others. But just then, from behind, two skeleton dogs appeared from inside the cave and ran out to attack Terasu and Goro. In the ensuing melee, Terasu - despite valiantly defending himself with his mace - was ultimately rendered unconscious and bleeding. Goro, badly wounded himself, was forced to try to drag his comrade away, but the dogs leapt upon him, savaging him and likewise causing him to lose consciousness. In the meantime, Monomi and Pasekur destroyed the remaining two human skeletons, but Monomi was badly hurt; the two of them then charged the dogs in an attempt to rescue Terasu and Goro from certain death. The dogs fought fiercely and Monomi was then also critically hurt; this left Pasekur, the young guide, alone and with only a small stone axe to defend himself, against the two undead curs. Yet the local kamuy must have given aid to his arm, because he was able to vanquish them both and then stabilise the three philosophers and keep them in the world of the living.

And thus the session ended. A near TPK, and Pasekur was very lucky with the dice rolls at the end. I rolled in the open, but it was exactly the kind of result that would have happened if I'd been fudging! The philosophers were a bit foolish in all rushing out of the caves and leaving their rear completely undefended against whatever growling menace was behind them, but then again, they are philosophers and not tacticians, after all. The funny thing about 5th edition, of course, is that if you give them a day or so's rest they'll be right as rain. That's no quite how things worked in The Revenant! Tune in next time to see what on earth happens next.... 

[Actual Play] 5th Edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Session 2 - Musseling in Where One Ottern't

The blog is not going to turn into me just obsessively cataloging what happens in gaming sessions. But this post is yet more of it nonetheless.

The three philosophers Monomi, Goro and Terasu had gone in search of the lost population of the Emishi village of Niseko, and discovered that an aggressive group of Emishi hunters, operating from a series of river caves, had kidnapped the Niseko band in order to slaughter them for a local kamuy, the river mussel god. They had killed some members of this group of hunters and now had two of them hostage.

The three philosophers decided to rest for the night to recover their powers magical, mystical and physical, and then go in search of the river mussel god the next day. But in the night Monomi was disturbed by a bird call which seemed obviously to be made by a man rather than a creature. He woke the others and Goro was able to use his telepathy to get out of the captives that they had to make the call of a raven in return in order to signify that all was well. By the vagaries of fate, Terasu had the power to do precisely that, and communed with the local kamuy in order to do so. His raven call convinced whoever was outside the caves to approach. The three philosophers doused their torches, and soon enough five men appeared, entering the caverns; in a sharp fight two were shot dead by the arrows of Goro and Monomi and the others fled; Monomi gave chase to the others and killed them with his shugendo powers as they attempted to wade upstream. He then floated back down the river, to the others, meditating on the fleeting nature of life and death.

As dawn crept over the sky the three philosophers headed North with their captives, to the waterfall lair of the river mussel god. They had decided to attempt to negotiate with the kamuy, primarily through Goro, who was versed in the art of communication with beings otherworldly. They discovered a waterfall some 4 or 5 yards high, with a deep pool at the bottom; to its left carved into the cliff face were steps, and a little further to the left, a cave. After tying up their two captives (and promising to let them go if they survived), they decided to go up the staircase first to investigate what was on top and found another cave on the opposite bank, with a guard standing outside. In the water, tied together to a rock, were the decaying corpses of five Emishi villagers. The guard issued a challenge in Emishi; Goro was able to communicate to him that they had come to pay homage to the river mussel spirit. In return, he was informed that they must go to the pool below and call the god forth.

The three philosophers duly did so, and from the depths of the pool came the figure of a woman, naked, with very pale blue eyes. Accompanying her, emerging from the forest behind the three philosophers, appeared two bears. The three philosophers paid homage, and decided to offer her their services. They discovered that she was the sworn enemy of the otter god, whose people preyed upon hers; she was using the nutrients from the bodies of human beings her followers could capture in the forest to build her strength in order to fight back. The three philosophers promised to help her defeat the otter god, and learned that this other spirit's weakness was its curiosity. They headed off downstream in search of an area in the river which the local Emishi referred to as 'the salmon king' - a calm place in the river where salmon congregated. Before doing so they released their two Emishi captives as promised, though not without some debate as to whether to fight them to the death afterwards.

They found 'the salmon king', and, knowing that the otter god was insatiably curious, Monomi played a mysterious tune on his flute while Terasu burned incense. This did not attract the otter god but did bring some Emishi women, who seemed to have been in the area gathering berries, to the far bank of the river. Goro used a magical cantrip to paint an image of an otter on the surface of the water; the women responded by gesturing upstream. The three philosophers headed in that direction and within a short period of time had found a family of otters playing in the water. One of these revealed herself to be the otter god.

After debating the nature of joy and sorrow with Monomi for some time, the otter god eventually revealed that she knew of the river mussel god but had always viewed their relationship as being cyclical, with the mussels growing from nutrients in the river and the otters growing from the mussels in due course. The three philosophers had initially planned to find some way to get the two spirits to fight each other, but through conversing with the otter god they discovered that there were some Emishi elders who could prevent animal kamuy from transforming back and forth between their true form and the form of a person. The three philosophers then hatched a plan. If they could gain the knowledge of one of these Emishi elders they could cast a spell on the river mussel spirit to force her to remain in river mussel form. They could then carry her downstream to a place close to the Japanese settlement of Kawa-no-kuchi, where she could live off the nutrients of the burgeoning village, and this might persuade her to no longer use the nutrients from human corpses to build her power.

And thus the session ended, with the three philosophers about to head to the friendly Emishi village of Okoppe to see if they could find an elder who might teach them a spell for controlling the shape-shifting power of a forest kamuy such as the river mussel god. 

[Actual Play] 5th Edition in Pre-Medieval Japan: Session 1 - The Three Mysterious Weirdos

In the cedar halls of Prince Uesugi-no-Mishiri at Kawa-no-Kuchi, a small coastal settlement on the frigid shores of the Northern wilderness of Michi-no-Oku, three visitors from the civilized South met Prince Mishiri and his retainers. These three - Monomi, a shugenja from an obscure sect, Goro, an onmyoji of refined tastes and attitudes, and Terasu, a kannushi who recently inherited the position from his father - had come to the lands of the Emishi to settle various philosophical arguments which had escalated beyond their control. On meeting with Prince Mishiri, they discovered that this young scion of the Uesugi clan intended to gather stories, items and treasures from Michi-no-Oku to take them with him to the Emperor the following spring on a visit to Heijo-Kyo in the civilized South.

The three philosophers struck a deal with the Prince that they would explore the lands nearby and share with him whatever they discovered, in return for his help and support. On the basis of this agreement, the Prince gave them a description of the lands nearby and the nature of the local Emishi peoples. He directed them to four Emishi villages in particular:

Okoppe, half a day's journey South down the coast, whose inhabitants were known to be friendly.

Niseko, half a day's journey inland up a nearby river, whose inhabitants were known to be friendly but had ceased all contact during the winter.

Bihoro, two days' journey up a river to the North West, which was mysterious and not well known.

Konakai, further south from Okoppe, whose inhabitants were known to be hostile and dangerous.

Prince Mishiri also explained that, although the Emishi might sometimes be hospitable and willing to offer aid to travellers, they might also change their behaviour from season to season or even with the turning of the moon, and that the rude barbarians could not be trusted in the manner of those from the civilized South.

The three philosophers decided to visit the village of Niseko to investigate what might have befallen the inhabitants. There, in the depths of the dark forest, they discovered that the hamlet had been abandoned except for crows and mice; the villagers had apparently left in a hurry, except for two men who had been killed in the most brutal fashion. Deciding that they ought to uncover the fate of the missing Emishi of Niseko, they found nearby a small bear figurine, carved from a deer bone, next to a trail leading South. Terasu, communing with the kamuy of the area - the spirits inhabiting the trees, rocks, river and earth - discerned that the Niseko Emishi had been subject to great violence, and forced away by invaders. The three philosophers decided to follow the trail South immediately, despite the imminent onset of twilight.

In the crepuscular light of the forest they came across another river, cutting across the trail. In a quandary as to whether to continue, they were forewarned about the presence of a bear by the shriek of an owl. Hiding, they watched the beast approach the river from the opposite bank - but, they also noticed that, despite the presence of salmon, for some reason the creature did not wish to enter the water. Monomi distracted it and it headed off upstream; after waiting, the philosophers decided to cross the river - but quickly ascertained that the trail disappeared. They surmised that the Niseko Emishi, and their assumed captors, must have travelled upstream. This was confirmed when they found another trinket - a flint arrowhead - dropped by the bank a hundred yards up the river. Goro also established a possible explanation for the bear's mistrust of the river - whenever he touched it, his patron deity seemed to cause his fingertips to tingle with an odd and distasteful sensation.

They camped for the night in the forest and as dawn broke, under clear skies above the trees, they followed the river onwards - coming across another dropped arrowhead as they did. Believing they were definitely on the trail of the Niseko Emishi's captors, they pressed on. 

By noon, they entered a narrow ravine through which the river flowed. The three philosophers progressed cautiously, Monomi wading through the water, the others proceeding up the bank. Soon they spotted a lookout in a tree and Monomi crept up on him, using all of his shugendo techniques, with the others behind; the monk then drew the man's attention with his shakuhachi for long enough to Goro to reduce the man's brain to liquid with a softly spoken word.

The three philosophers could now look down into the river from the ravine top, and saw two cave entrances in the opposite side - and another lookout, on a small pebbly inlet. This man was reduced to fragments by Terasu, channeling the power of the kamuy of the rocks and water nearby - but not before he raised the alarm with a whistle. This set off dogs barking somewhere in the caves. Realising a frontal assault from this direction would be ill-advised, the three philosophers headed upstream and doubled back on the other bank. Monomi entered the caves first - slipping inside and dispatching two men in the semi-darkness with his shugendo attacks. Goro followed, just as three dogs appeared from a side tunnel to attack. In a sharp exchange, Goro was badly savaged by one, but the others proved just as powerless against the assault of Monomi's fists, kicks and staff. Three more men attacked with shortbows, but once Monomi had brutally dispatched another by smashing his nose back into his face, the others surrendered.

The two men babbled in some dialect of Emishi, which none of the three philosophers could understand. But Goro possesses the power to communicate directly with the minds of men and intelligent beings; doing so, he was able to establish that their captives were men who were under the sway of something they called the River Oyster God. This God demanded sacrifices at a waterfall deeper into the forest, and these men were somehow involved in that process.

The three philosophers also discovered that these caves extended further down into the earth, but were completely flooded just a dozen or so yards in. Their captives told them that these tunnels had been created by people they called the Lichen Men, who had been in these lands since the dawn of time, before even the Emishi had come here, and long before effete foreigners from the South such as the three philosophers had even been heard of.

Monomi, Goro and Terasu began planning to investigate the fate of the Niseko Emishi at the lair of the River Oyster God. But that is a tale for next week.