Legend of the Ronin (Legend of the Five Rings)
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- Location
- Leeds
I feel like we might need more of a plan than that.
A map of the inside of the temple? No. And since I can't draw for shit take my ASCII crap instead.
*Edit...and it fucked with my formatting for some reason*
*Edit the second*
Since I can't get the fucking thing to work. I'll try and give a short description
Megumi and Taj are hiding on one of the mountains near the entrance to the small valley. At the far end is a tiered 3 story temple with archways and freaky statues. There are maybe four points on it that look like good guard spots. 2 on the left and two on the right. The temple is probably about 3 miles away from where Megumi is now.
The valley spreads out from the entrance until it narrows back at the temple. It would technically be possible to get near it while staying in the mountains but that would take at least a day probably more likely two as you climb up and over several mountains,
However the valley also boasts several rock formations littering it's landscapes, none of them are that close to each other going vertically but it may be possible to go between them in a zig zag pattern. The issue with that is that the last 100 meters or so between the rock formations that you can hide behind and the temple is completely bare.
*Edit...and it fucked with my formatting for some reason*
*Edit the second*
Since I can't get the fucking thing to work. I'll try and give a short description
Megumi and Taj are hiding on one of the mountains near the entrance to the small valley. At the far end is a tiered 3 story temple with archways and freaky statues. There are maybe four points on it that look like good guard spots. 2 on the left and two on the right. The temple is probably about 3 miles away from where Megumi is now.
The valley spreads out from the entrance until it narrows back at the temple. It would technically be possible to get near it while staying in the mountains but that would take at least a day probably more likely two as you climb up and over several mountains,
However the valley also boasts several rock formations littering it's landscapes, none of them are that close to each other going vertically but it may be possible to go between them in a zig zag pattern. The issue with that is that the last 100 meters or so between the rock formations that you can hide behind and the temple is completely bare.
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- Location
- Leeds
Wish we had stealth as a skill, I don't suppose there is time for an impromptu tea ceremony to regain void points?
I assume that since we got to our hiding spot mountains are passable terrain just slowly. Would it be possible to follow the mountains on the left to bypass first two guards? This obviously could backfire on us if the alarm is raised and we suddenly have two sets of guards standing between us and the fast way out. On the over hand we'll be carrying at least two probably more half cooked friends with us so its not like a speedy get away is in the cards whatever happens.
I think our best bet of finding the captives is the middle guard post on the second row, because it's in probably the safest place of the temple.
How does this sound for a plan?
[X] Ask Taj-san if he has any ideas.
[X] Follow the path as close to the temple as possible without being seen then head into the mountains on the left. Follow them around to the back of the temple and try to find a way in from there.
--[X] Rest before actually entering unless time is supercritical.
-[X]Head towards the middle of the temple as its likely to be the most secure location to hold captives.
-[X] Get friends and then get out, there's no way you can out run the cultists with the burden of your comrades, after you get out go to ground and hide in the mountains as soon as possible, you should have seen at least one decent hiding spot on the way in. I hope.
-[X] If necessary Megumi will attempt to make a false trail to trick the cultists in the wrong direction. This will not end well.
-[X] Do not be afraid to alter this plan according to Taj's ideas.
[Q] But first, its tea time.
I assume that since we got to our hiding spot mountains are passable terrain just slowly. Would it be possible to follow the mountains on the left to bypass first two guards? This obviously could backfire on us if the alarm is raised and we suddenly have two sets of guards standing between us and the fast way out. On the over hand we'll be carrying at least two probably more half cooked friends with us so its not like a speedy get away is in the cards whatever happens.
I think our best bet of finding the captives is the middle guard post on the second row, because it's in probably the safest place of the temple.
How does this sound for a plan?
[X] Ask Taj-san if he has any ideas.
[X] Follow the path as close to the temple as possible without being seen then head into the mountains on the left. Follow them around to the back of the temple and try to find a way in from there.
--[X] Rest before actually entering unless time is supercritical.
-[X]Head towards the middle of the temple as its likely to be the most secure location to hold captives.
-[X] Get friends and then get out, there's no way you can out run the cultists with the burden of your comrades, after you get out go to ground and hide in the mountains as soon as possible, you should have seen at least one decent hiding spot on the way in. I hope.
-[X] If necessary Megumi will attempt to make a false trail to trick the cultists in the wrong direction. This will not end well.
-[X] Do not be afraid to alter this plan according to Taj's ideas.
[Q] But first, its tea time.
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- Location
- Leeds
Huh you're right. The tea was a joke, observe the Q rather than an X in the brackets and the
s.However I will add resting to the vote.
- Location
- Austrlia
Ok.
So, they'll start draining blood during the night. That gives us a time limit. We can use Hunting to make traps, lure some in, kill any who survive that, then go. Or, Traps, and us as a distraction, and our new friend sneaks in the other way. Either way, numbers need to be cut.
Last option, is Dark as Silver's. Sneak till we can't, then do what we can.
I prefer the traps, overall. Anybody else got an idea?
So, they'll start draining blood during the night. That gives us a time limit. We can use Hunting to make traps, lure some in, kill any who survive that, then go. Or, Traps, and us as a distraction, and our new friend sneaks in the other way. Either way, numbers need to be cut.
Last option, is Dark as Silver's. Sneak till we can't, then do what we can.
I prefer the traps, overall. Anybody else got an idea?
- Location
- Leeds
Traps sound good, however where would we put them?
It looks like the only real places are on that path coming and that seems like not a great place.
Also I doubt that the guards patrol so far from the temple they couldn't be heard yelling/screaming/dying.
It looks like the only real places are on that path coming and that seems like not a great place.
Also I doubt that the guards patrol so far from the temple they couldn't be heard yelling/screaming/dying.
- Location
- Telmar
Can't stealth. We're unskilled but Taj is apparently quite good at it. We could maybe do a distraction while Taj infiltrates but there are possibly three dozen of them. We can't fight three dozen people without some serious advantage. Like three dozen of our own guys. I'd assume that one or two of them will guard the prisoners and the rest will be spread throughout the fortress. Temptation is actually one of the skills we're best at. So bribe our way in while Taj does his thing then fight our way out?
- Location
- Leeds
As I said, Megumi is not capable of the level of distraction needed for the Cultists to go, 'Oh shit, forget about the prisoners they can't escape. Just stop the Ronin.'
Even if just fighting the gate guards is what you wanted Taj, still needs to fight the people guarding the prisoners and then drag the drugged, half cooked prisoners out of there.
Unless you've got a casket of Gajin pepper for us to make a distraction that they really need to worry about this plan will not work.
- Location
- Telmar
We have to assume that Taj is competant because thats how he has been presented to us and thats the only way any plan would work. We also have to assume that there are constantly guards around the prisoners directly, that there the four sentries we can see will be a constant presence and that there are off-duty guards and that there will be high ranked people who won't do scut work.
If Taj infiltrates before our distraction then he'll deal with the guards around the prisoners. We have to plan on him getting that far because otherwise this is all just an assault on a larger force in a fortified location after we have split the party. But assuming Taj is noisy once the prisoners (who might not have any stealth skills) are free we have to provide a distraction. There simply isn't any other way to cover them.
So here are some tentative assumptions:
2 Jailors (+4 off shift)
4 Sentries (+8 off shift)
2 leaders minimum (1 to guard the temple and whoever led the kidnapping party)
4 kidnappers (presumably injured and resting)
12 or less extras (A cook, whoever leads the rituals and any others most of whom will be awake during the day for the slow cooking)
So in a fight we will face the just four sentries in the first few rounds (a 6-10 seconds a round maybe 10ish rounds) then waves of reinforcements as those who are awake and nearby arrive first.
Our skills (which can all be raised by 1k1 void): Hunting 3k2, Temptation 4k3, Kyujutsu 4k3, Athletics 3k2, Stealth 2k2 No explosions (we could spend void to roll 3k2 but can't make raises).
I'm not too sure how much time we have to use before our assault but we know that we have at least 8 hours with which we can either sleep to regain all our void points or make traps (at 1-2 hours per trap).
I think that we should sleep to regain void. We should both sneak in close. Taj should infiltrate, then we make a temptation roll to turn one of the sentries if not too our side then neutral. Then we start taking the sentries out with Kyujutsu. As they close we switch to kenjutsu (we probably have better initiative then them if we are in our kata), then we fight each wave as they come until Taj and the prisoners have exfiltrated. Then we beat a retreat before those who are sleeping grab their weapons and don any armour they have (which itself would take 30 minutes).
If Taj infiltrates before our distraction then he'll deal with the guards around the prisoners. We have to plan on him getting that far because otherwise this is all just an assault on a larger force in a fortified location after we have split the party. But assuming Taj is noisy once the prisoners (who might not have any stealth skills) are free we have to provide a distraction. There simply isn't any other way to cover them.
So here are some tentative assumptions:
2 Jailors (+4 off shift)
4 Sentries (+8 off shift)
2 leaders minimum (1 to guard the temple and whoever led the kidnapping party)
4 kidnappers (presumably injured and resting)
12 or less extras (A cook, whoever leads the rituals and any others most of whom will be awake during the day for the slow cooking)
So in a fight we will face the just four sentries in the first few rounds (a 6-10 seconds a round maybe 10ish rounds) then waves of reinforcements as those who are awake and nearby arrive first.
Our skills (which can all be raised by 1k1 void): Hunting 3k2, Temptation 4k3, Kyujutsu 4k3, Athletics 3k2, Stealth 2k2 No explosions (we could spend void to roll 3k2 but can't make raises).
I'm not too sure how much time we have to use before our assault but we know that we have at least 8 hours with which we can either sleep to regain all our void points or make traps (at 1-2 hours per trap).
I think that we should sleep to regain void. We should both sneak in close. Taj should infiltrate, then we make a temptation roll to turn one of the sentries if not too our side then neutral. Then we start taking the sentries out with Kyujutsu. As they close we switch to kenjutsu (we probably have better initiative then them if we are in our kata), then we fight each wave as they come until Taj and the prisoners have exfiltrated. Then we beat a retreat before those who are sleeping grab their weapons and don any armour they have (which itself would take 30 minutes).
- Location
- Leeds
Competent is one thing.
Sneak into a defended building, kill multiple evil priests and then escape carrying at least two probably three or more heavily drugged and burnt captives is another. You're thinking of Rambo, possibly Indiana Jones.
You're joking right? We fought six rounds against two of them. The only reason we survived that was because one was effectively out of the fight as anything but a damage sponge from the start of it. Against four people doing 10 damage to us a turn will put us to crippled the first round. That's even before we consider that they also get four attempts to proc poison on us.
In fact poison isn't something we've considered so far, if Taj doesn't have medicine to cure it then even if everything else goes perfectly getting scratched could kill us.
We're more likely to get a knife in the face rather than the cultist actually stopping to give us a chance to seduce him.
This at least is a good idea. Except for one thing, @gman391 we don't have an inventory on the first page, or at least I can't see it. Do we have a bow?
No kata is listed.
I think combat is far more dangerous in this game than you're giving it credit for even if the first round went exactly as well as our previous fight against the kidnappers did, we'd be fighting the next two sentries with no Void, no rerolls, half our total die and +10 to all our TNs meaning that we'd lose that one.
- Location
- Telmar
The only other option from infiltration is charging in and trying to kill up to 36 enemies head on. I think you're thinking of Rambo, not me.
I was talking of attacking from range three opponents, two of whom are on the other side of the building. Which is dangerous but not impossible. I suppose we could just not engauge at all if you prefer. Poison is not something I had thought of, I admit but how exactly do you plan on dealing with it? We either survive it or we don't as far as I can see.
No we're not. It's the single most effective skill we have for which we roll 4k3 plus void with up to four raises if we want them. Against a low-level (I hope) character who has minimal honour and minimal etiquette. If the GM doesn't give him/her a flat TN to resist. Temptation is the single most powerful skill we have mechanically.
My mistake, I meant the rank 1 technique.
You're right combat is dangerous. Assuming we win the temptation roll we will be fighting three enemies who come at us in at least two groups or maybe seperately. While we shoot at them with a bow. And have initiative advantage.
This is a game where you really can't get much better odds than that when you're fighting a greater number of people.
- Location
- Leeds
My plan is not to charge in, its to get to the centre of the building where I think the captives are, grab them and then run as fast as possible.
After we get a short distance away we hide and wait for the cultists to give up looking for us.
Alright then, then I'm going to try and work this out off the top of my head, forgive me if I make any mistakes, I don't have my core rule book at hand.
If we make our first attack from 150' which I think is the max range of a Yumi we're rolling 4k3 to hit, assuming that the guards have the same ATN as the kidnappers thats gives us a 30% chance to hit. Our 3k2 arrows do on average 15 damage, against earth two opponents that averages as a little more than two hits to kill so I'll round it down for simplicity. Back of the envelope maths therefore says that we need about 6 rounds to kill a single opponent.
Characters can move a distance of their water rank *20 per round. So lets call that 40'. 40' *4 =160' therefore a single opponent can be expected to run up to us and start the melee fight with but one point 3 arrows sticking out of their shoulder. Any people who were charging at the same time arrive completely unscathed.
This is made even worse if they use the defence stance while charging us because an increase of 5 to their ATN would halve our chances to hit.
My plan to deal with poison is to get in and get out as fast as possible. There is no counterplay available for us, all we can do is minimise risk and hope that Taj took medicine.
Mechanically yes. However narratively is where your plan fails.
He's going to draw his sword and attack us before we can bring the full might of our best 'come hither' look at him.
Fair enough, I probably should have guessed what you meant.
In order to attempt the temptation roll we need to get close enough that we lose most of the bows range, I already approximated that we can't kill a lone individual before he closes the full distance we'd be even worse off closer.
@Dark as Silver
Because Ronin are basically dirty hobo's, Megumi has very little beyond her daisho and clothing and thus no bow. They unfortunately don't let you keep that when you leave the clan.
@Optimist Prone
While I applaud this creative thinking, I will note that it's already been stated that the Cultists are extremely xenophobic. Keep this in mind when formulating temptation plans.
Because Ronin are basically dirty hobo's, Megumi has very little beyond her daisho and clothing and thus no bow. They unfortunately don't let you keep that when you leave the clan.
@Optimist Prone
While I applaud this creative thinking, I will note that it's already been stated that the Cultists are extremely xenophobic. Keep this in mind when formulating temptation plans.
- Location
- Leeds
Ronin might be hobos but at least they're not peasants.
Thanks for the clarification, I kind of expected that, but its always good to have confirmation before committing to a plan.
Somewhat renders my rough calcs for how well we could snipe invalid though.
@Optimist Prone
Looking over your last plan I realise that I didn't seem to get my plan across well I'll try and lay it out more clearly with the help of numbers.
- Ask Taj for what he thinks we should do.
- Follow the path towards the temple until getting closer will mean we might be spotted. At this point we would head into the mountains on the paths left and follow them around to the back, still maintaining enough distance to remain unspotted. Additionally we should be looking for hiding places along the way.
- If there is time then we rest to regain Void points. I choose to do this after arriving at the back of the temple rather than at the start because I don't know how long the trip will be, hence why I used if.
- Rush the temple, get as close as possible without being seen then sprint.
- Inside the temple head for the middle or wherever Taj thinks that the captives are most likely to be. Its a tough balance between trying to hide from fights in cover that might not always be there and risking them reinforcing the guards on the captives (because why else would intruders be there really?) and fighting and risk taking damage. I'll leave this to gman to judge on a case by case basis.
- Once we find the captives we run. If any of them are in condition to move on their own, thank the fortunes and hand them a sword. We cannot out run the cultists over a long distance, we've got wounded and don't know the area so instead we'll be heading for one of the hiding spots that we were looking for earlier where we'll bunker down until the cultists stop searching and then make our way back to civilization.
Also where is tiny squid and the other usual planners?
- Location
- Austrlia
@gman391, Is there a path/track leading to a cliff edge near by?
All we need then, is to lure them into following, and make sure we're all going full speed, before we reach the spot where we grasp the poll/tree/rope, and they..... don't.
That'll cut the numbers a little.
Other idea I have for traps is sharpened wooden or stone caltrops style space, just around a corner. Won't kill them, but will slow them down and injure them. Every bit helps.
Hm.
Ok, combined plan.
[X]Take Dark as Silvers plan, but plan and place traps on the exit path. Including some that are essentuly sacrifice plays for us.
All we need then, is to lure them into following, and make sure we're all going full speed, before we reach the spot where we grasp the poll/tree/rope, and they..... don't.
That'll cut the numbers a little.
Other idea I have for traps is sharpened wooden or stone caltrops style space, just around a corner. Won't kill them, but will slow them down and injure them. Every bit helps.
Hm.
Ok, combined plan.
[X]Take Dark as Silvers plan, but plan and place traps on the exit path. Including some that are essentuly sacrifice plays for us.
- Location
- Telmar
Do any of the visible sentries have ranged weapons?
Sirrocco
Pedantic
@Dark as Silver - your plan is suicidal. It will have them raisign the alarm as we go into the temple, then have us messing around inside rescuing people, *then* have us getting those people out. That'll give them plenty of time to get together basically everyone to mob us as we try to leave. Sure, at that point we'll have rescued three allies (if everything goes amazingly well) but they'll all be sedated. That's not so hot.
So... we were able to take out two of them by ourselves, with an excellent first turn, but took some wounds in the process. Also, there's one member of the party who's good at stealth, and it ain't us.
@Simonbob - you're thinking that we'll have time to sneak in and rest and set meaningful mantraps?
Various thoughts...
- While we can't tempt them with the sins of the flesh all that easily, we can tempt them to do dumb, dishonorable things, like come after us rather than raising an alarm.
- We can pretend to have stealth skills by burning void. Not saying it's a good idea, but it is there.
- It's highly unlikely that we'll be able to get both in and out without raising some sort of alarm. That means that we're going to have to fight the guys int eh guard towers at some point - either while we're sneaking in, or after we're done and trying to escapes with three drugged allies (two of whom are magic-users) in tow.
So...
[x] Rest first.
[x] Go in a bit slow. Stick to one side. As we come to each set of guards, try to tempt them into charging you to attack (tempting them with their bloodlust, xenophobia, and hatred of you personally) rather than going for help. Taj stays hidden while you do this, and strikes where he finds best advantage. If you can get a ranged weapon off of them, great - that might help you handle runners. If Taj is any good with ranged weapons, let him be on runner detail.
[x] Once the alarm is raised, discard stealth for speed. Get to the prisoners (or where Taj thinks the prisoners will be) as fast as you can. If feasible, kill everyone you meet, but don't get too distracted.
[x] If you get bogged down on your way out of the temple, try to get to a chokepoint, so that you can be facing one or two of them at a time. Alternately, if the walls of the temple are thin enough, don't be afraid to go through them.
[x] Gladly accept any advice or modifications to the plan that Taj might have to offer.
Not entirely happy with this one, but I think that killing off some of the guards beforehand should make things easier for us.
So... we were able to take out two of them by ourselves, with an excellent first turn, but took some wounds in the process. Also, there's one member of the party who's good at stealth, and it ain't us.
@Simonbob - you're thinking that we'll have time to sneak in and rest and set meaningful mantraps?
Various thoughts...
- While we can't tempt them with the sins of the flesh all that easily, we can tempt them to do dumb, dishonorable things, like come after us rather than raising an alarm.
- We can pretend to have stealth skills by burning void. Not saying it's a good idea, but it is there.
- It's highly unlikely that we'll be able to get both in and out without raising some sort of alarm. That means that we're going to have to fight the guys int eh guard towers at some point - either while we're sneaking in, or after we're done and trying to escapes with three drugged allies (two of whom are magic-users) in tow.
So...
[x] Rest first.
[x] Go in a bit slow. Stick to one side. As we come to each set of guards, try to tempt them into charging you to attack (tempting them with their bloodlust, xenophobia, and hatred of you personally) rather than going for help. Taj stays hidden while you do this, and strikes where he finds best advantage. If you can get a ranged weapon off of them, great - that might help you handle runners. If Taj is any good with ranged weapons, let him be on runner detail.
[x] Once the alarm is raised, discard stealth for speed. Get to the prisoners (or where Taj thinks the prisoners will be) as fast as you can. If feasible, kill everyone you meet, but don't get too distracted.
[x] If you get bogged down on your way out of the temple, try to get to a chokepoint, so that you can be facing one or two of them at a time. Alternately, if the walls of the temple are thin enough, don't be afraid to go through them.
[x] Gladly accept any advice or modifications to the plan that Taj might have to offer.
Not entirely happy with this one, but I think that killing off some of the guards beforehand should make things easier for us.
- Location
- Telmar
It occured to me earlier that as far as honour is concerned (and screwing up the cultists' plans) we don't actually need to rescue the prisoners. Death is a victory albeit not as good as overwheming military supremacy. The problem would be persuading Taj. And finding a way to kill the prisoners that isn't just a half baked rescue gone wrong. How do we feel about fire?
- Location
- Austrlia
They're insane cultists, right?
All we need to do is stand out in front of them, and say "Hey, boy. You got a pretty mouth." and they'll go up in flames!
More seriously, flint and tinder? If not that, can Taj make fire?
And, @Sirrocco, your plan is pretty much mine, a bit more detailed, but same idea. I just want to plan out the exit a bit.
All we need to do is stand out in front of them, and say "Hey, boy. You got a pretty mouth." and they'll go up in flames!
More seriously, flint and tinder? If not that, can Taj make fire?
And, @Sirrocco, your plan is pretty much mine, a bit more detailed, but same idea. I just want to plan out the exit a bit.
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