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- She/Her/They/Them
[X] [Practitioner Name] Sparky Sparky Boom Man
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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
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- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard
- Location
- Yes.
Kagome does not seem the type to be killed by his own explosives, though...
No, seriously, do we have tools?
Have.... Have you maniacs been doing all this by hand?
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- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
Might not have met a skilled enough boomerang user?
Chapter 615, Part 1: Flame-born Darkness
- Location
- USA
"I'm fine and shut up about tie-down straps," Hazō said. "Yuno, do you see Yūma's trail?"
"Yes," she said, pointing. "Over there. His bleeding is increasing, but we are catching up to him. He can't be much farther."
Hazō nodded, thinking. "Kei, you've got a bad matchup against these guys, but we're too deep in the caves for me to be comfortable sending you back alone. I think—"
"—we need to change our approach."
One of Kei's fine-lined eyebrows rose. "'Change our approach'? This is a bit late into a combat operation to be making significant changes."
"Yeah, well, the operation is changing around us and we need to adapt. For example, the miasma got worse as we went deeper," Hazō said. "Up near the surface it wasn't an issue. We get deeper, it's causing numbness in the humans, weakening in the summons, and total destruction of the Shadow Clones. Up near the surface, no specters. We go deeper, specters. And did everyone notice how Yuno and Satsuko managed to hurt the first group of specters but not the later ones?"
"Remember how there were hundreds of beasts in the cave when we first started clearing it?" Yuno asked. "The cave looks natural, and the beasts looked like the cave's ordinary inhabitants. I think the flame shades took root in the depths somewhere and pushed the chakra beasts out. That's why we saw so many of the beasts at first, but now there's none of them."
"Maybe that's it," Hazō said. "Regardless, we're facing the flame shades now, so let's plan to beat them. We're all seeing the same thing, right? These are all ninja that we've seen die. That I've seen die, I suppose."
"What exactly are you seeing, Hazō?" Noburi asked. "I know you said that the three we faced earlier were Ken, Bosatsu, and Mirai, and then I could tell that they were the same – that one of them had the chain-scythe, and the other was moving the little wisps around like the Firefly technique. But the flame shades didn't look anything like them."
"They didn't look anything like them?" Hazō asked incredulously. "The guy you killed here – Arikada's zombie, he was exactly the same as when we fought him, Spike through the head, white eyes, storage stress around his body…" He trailed off as he realized that everyone was staring at him.
"Hazō," Kei said. "I have only observed humanoid shapes made of violet flame. I do not believe I could reliably determine their gender, much less discriminate identity or observe fine physical features. Are you being psychically affected by the miasma, or aftereffects of the sealing failure?"
Hazō shook his head. "I feel fine. Everything is normal, except my perception, I guess." Now that he reflected on it, how had he seen the shades as both ghostly specters made from violet flames and also physical people restored to life?
"Are you certain?" Kei said. "If you are mentally compromised, continuing into the cave endangers us all, not merely yourself."
"I'm certain," Hazō said. "We need to continue. We can't split the party when these things could attack us alone and defeat us in detail, and we're not abandoning Yūma. That's not what we do. It's a thirty minute round-trip to Leaf, and I'm not sure that he'll survive that long." He glanced at Noburi to punctuate his point, and Noburi nodded grimly.
"I think we're maybe five minutes behind him," Yuno said. "More if we keep talking, less if we throw caution to the wind and run ahead. But… Hazō, if the shades are coming from your mind, or your memories, then maybe they're anchored to you. If you left…"
"No," Hazō said after a moment. "The chakra beasts were being pushed out of the depths even a week ago. The shades may be from my memory, but I think they're here to stay, whether I stick around or not.
"We need to be prepared for any future enemies we might face. Assuming the shades are ninja that I've seen die, we might see Arikada's bodyguards-"
"Manageable," Kei said.
"Minami Nikkō-"
Noburi grimaced.
"The Squirrel-clan ninja-"
Yuno nodded. Those opponents, she knew.
"Or Jōtarō. And Yami too, I suppose."
In the scattered darkness of the miasma and the harsh light of their Daybright seals, Hazō couldn't see Noburi pale, but he saw his brother flinch as Kei went very, very still.
"We'll die if Jōtarō shows up," Noburi said, shaking his head and starting to pace back and forth.
"Especially if Yuno can't hurt him? There's no question about it. We can take the others – from your stories, the Squirrel-nin didn't sound that tough – but Jōtarō was a full jōnin. He's not going to be like these guys," Noburi said, gesturing behind him to where they'd fought Daizen and the zombie. "I've gotten stronger since then, but I'm still a chūnin. If he's as strong as he was in life, he'll tear through us like rice paper."
"Then we'll retreat if anyone gets injured in a way that impacts their ability to fight," Hazō said. "And, like I said, we need to change our tactics to match our opponents.
"First, everyone drop your conditioning jutsu," Hazō said, and a flicker of chakra foxfire washed over him as he broke the Pangolin Clan's technique. The technique's skin of chakra mitigated physical attacks but restricted movement – and the shades' attacks were chakra-based, and bypassed the technique entirely. "It's only slowing us down."
Reluctantly, everyone released the armor technique.
"Kei, Yuno, here are some Electrocution seals. Put them on your weapons if you think you can do it safely; the lightning they generate is a chakra effect, so hopefully it will affect the enemy." He passed the seals around as he spoke.
"Next problem: most of us are physical fighters and these things aren't harmed by physical force and might not be harmed by those seals. We need some backup." He jabbed his finger on the pin of his leather belt, drawing a drop of blood. He slapped his hand on the ground and hesitated. He had intended to summon Canun and Cantelope, but Cantelope's last experience on the Human Path had been in the Caverns of Mild Peril in Honey – where the dog had barely traveled a dozen steps in before he'd been mentally traumatized by a chakra beast attack. Even if Cantelope responded to Hazō's call, would the dog want to fight in another Human Path cave, this one filled not with exotic chakra beasts, but the aftereffects of a sealing failure?
Hazō had meant to call two names, but given the circumstances, he couldn't risk Cantelope denying the call and leaving him out of chakra. He called only one. "Canun! I need you!"
A pulse of chakra flared out from his hand, shooting across the stone of the cavern floor before exploding up into a burst of smoke. The smoke cleared, leaving the dog standing before him and looking around for threats.
"Good afternoon, Summoner," Canun said. Hazō was glad that the dog had spoken because otherwise it was hard to tell which end of the living mop was the dog's face and which was the tail. "Bit of a miserable place to be summoned to, isn't it?"
"Welcome, Canun," Hazō said. "Short form: it's a rescue mission. We've been running into ghosts that can only be hurt by jutsu, but the air down here is going to make you weaker. We're going to shield you in the center of the group. Shoot anything you see that isn't a person. Any questions?"
"No questions, sir," Canun said. He moved to where Hazō pointed him.
"Just one summon?" Noburi asked.
"Yeah," Hazō said, "unless, Kei, you have another ninjutsu specialist?"
Kei shook her head.
"I do," Noburi said. "And having a toad around to witness my badassery would be great for me."
Hazō frowned. On the one hand, firepower was firepower. On the other hand, they had limited chakra, and Noburi's summoning was far less chakra efficient than Hazō or Kei's thanks to the drawbacks of his bloodline.
"Do it," Hazō decided.
"Summoning Technique: Gamantilla!"
The smoke cleared to reveal a fat orange toad wearing a short, garish red cape that went halfway down its back. The toad, who barely came up to Noburi's navel, turned on its summoner.
"Summoner! What's the meaning of this? I'd thought-"
"Gamantilla," Noburi said confidently, forcing the toad's words back down its throat. "We are in a very, very dangerous situation. One of our clanmates has been kidnapped by an enemy of unknown strength, and we're on a top-priority mission to retrieve him. Gamatatakai and Gamakaberu were here, but they fell to the enemies. I've heard that your ninjutsu are some of the strongest in the Toad Clan. I need your honest answer: do you think you can succeed where they failed? Help us get our man back, and the Gōketsu clan will be in your personal debt."
Can Noburi convince a summon that he hasn't yet contracted for combat purposes to assist them?
Noburi (Presence): 10 + 2 (tag "Prideful Poser"; an Aspect Noburi already discovered about her) + 3 = 15
Gamantilla (Resolve): ?? - 6 = ??
Yep! She's on-board for now… but it's a narrow success, so it's at a price (TBD).
Noburi (Presence): 10 + 2 (tag "Prideful Poser"; an Aspect Noburi already discovered about her) + 3 = 15
Gamantilla (Resolve): ?? - 6 = ??
Yep! She's on-board for now… but it's a narrow success, so it's at a price (TBD).
Hazō saw something flash in the Toad's eyes, then the creature let out a rumbling croak.
"Summoner… yes. Perhaps. For the right price, of course," Gamantilla said.
Noburi waved a hand. "Fight alongside me now, and you will be richly rewarded."
"Well," Hazō said, interjecting, "if everything's agreed, we need to stay focused and move out before our target runs away. Let's rebalance chakra and talk tactics…"
Can the summons resist the miasma?
Canun (Physique): ?? - 3 = ??
Canun spends a FP to reroll!
Canun (Physique): ?? + 3 = ??
Gamantilla (Physique): ?? + 3 = ??
Well enough. They're at 2 stress, but they're not popped immediately.
Canun (Physique): ?? - 3 = ??
Canun spends a FP to reroll!
Canun (Physique): ?? + 3 = ??
Gamantilla (Physique): ?? + 3 = ??
Well enough. They're at 2 stress, but they're not popped immediately.
o-o-o
Yuno held up a hand at the front of the formation. Everyone stopped.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.
After the last few echoes of their steps against the stone tunnel faded, Hazō heard the sound of distant trickling.
"Running water?" Hazō whispered back.
"More," Yuno said.
Hazō closed his eyes to focus on his hearing. In the dead silence under the earth, even his teammates' deliberately suppressed breathing dominated, along with the quiet whispers of clothes rustling and calloused fingers adjusting their grips on weapon handles.
Beneath the trickling sound of cold water splashing against stone, he heard something else. Like something… splashing?
"I think Yūma's up ahead," Yuno said. "He might have fallen in an underground lake."
"If that's him, he's not water-walking," Hazō said. "That means-"
All the Gōketsu ninja jerked away from the left side of the tunnel. The chakdar seals under their clothes buzzed in a crescendo.
"Chakra signature, incoming!" Yuno yelled, before Kishigami burst out of the wall.
Hazō had a moment to notice a strange double vision – at once seeing a vaguely humanoid, barely coherent embodiment of violet flames, and simultaneously the grizzled older man that had tried and failed to kill Hazō – then Yuno dashed in with Satsuko trailing jagged sparks of lightning through the air.
"The Squirrel-nin!"
Their exchange of blows was too fast for Hazō to follow, but the shade, unable to parry Yuno's strikes with its ethereal weapon, instead weaved around her attacks with counters of the flame-machete that forced Yuno to dance away- no, a feint, Yuno closed the distance and Satsuko slashed across the man's chest, leaving the flames flickering and lightning trailing across the wound, but the man spun around her, turning away from the young jōnin to the pair of summoners.
Yuno had landed a hit, but Kishigami outmaneuvered her, getting between her and the rest of the team. Hazō and Kei were backing up in the tunnel, trying to get their summons away from the attackers when the man started to swing. The flame-machete didn't stick to its physical length, instead extending and sending long, arcing lashes of flame through the air.
Hazō ducked under one sweeping strike, then leapt over the follow-up at knee-level, only to find a third slashing through the air to intercept him. He triggered his Rocket Boots, sending him hard into the wall of the cavern and out of the way of danger, only to hear Kei cry out in pain behind him. Hazō turned to see her substituting, a puff of smoke erupting from where she used to be, and a new lash of violet flame came directly at his face.
Kei's tactical calculus was instantly obvious. If Kishigami was here, his partner Kasai, the other senior Squirrel-clan ninja, would be as well. Kasai used massively powerful area-of-effect ninjutsu, and Daizen had at least shown that the shades had the same techniques they'd had in life. The summons would pop anyway, but with the miasma preventing Hazō from scouting other Substitution targets, substituting with the summons would at least give him breathing room.
Sorry, Canun, Hazō said mentally, as he substituted with the dog to take himself out of danger – not a moment too soon, his face was smarting and his eyes watering from the flame lash that had nearly seared him. A second pop confirmed Canun's return to the Seventh Path, and Hazō briefly cursed that they hadn't thought to bring elemental clones along as Substitution fodder.
He and Kei shared a glance as they stumbled, trying to catch their balance from their sudden escape from the relentless attack, and Hazō opened his mouth to give a command.
The tunnel lit with violet light.
In the distance, Hazō could see Kasai, the slender, silver-haired woman raising up a fist as violet flames ran up the floor and walls of the shallow tunnel. The flames pooled into a ball, then shot through the tunnel, leaving nowhere to run. The violet light pierced the miasma in a way that their Daybright seals never had, and Hazō turned to sprint beside Kei and Noburi.
Distance – the more distance they had, the weaker the fireball would be when it reached them. Hazō wasn't fast enough, and he could feel heat growing on his back. The light cast by the flames had illuminated the tunnel ahead of them, and he saw Kei and Noburi's heads snap forward as they saw a group of boulders piled against the tunnel wall. They could substitute away from the fireball!
They marked different targets with wordless coordination and Hazō shaped the chakra in his gut for a Substitution. It took barely an instant, and he'd be free of the attack-
An instant too slow. The fireball consumed him, and Hazō screamed.
He saw Noburi substituting down the hallway, then the flames licked across his eyeballs and he forced his eyes shut before he could tell if Kei, likewise consumed by the fireball, would get away. Sheer discipline kept Hazō's legs pumping over the uneven terrain as the fire burned his back, his sides, his everything. He couldn't substitute out. Closing his eyes had broken his line of sight to the Substitution target, and for all his speed, he wasn't faster than chakra itself. He'd burn here.
Hazō didn't want to die. It was barely a conscious decision to call out-
Jashin, please-
But the thought ended and no rescue came.
The pain was all-consuming, sharpest in his back and spreading all over his body. He would-
The pain over his face abated for a moment. Hazō opened his eyes. The flames rushed around him, but ahead of him was a momentary pocket of air. He sighted the boulder down the hallway that he'd been trying to Substitute towards.
Chakra twisted as he grasped for only hope of escape, and the fire roared, refusing to let him go, but Hazō's focus was unshakable and he kept his eyes open even as the flames engulfed him again, consuming him whole, and suddenly-
The violet light faded. The attack ended. And he was alive, for now.
His body was somewhere between burning and numb, and Kishigami was advancing on him. He needed to escape.
"Summoning Technique!" Hazō cried out, his voice hoarse and stringy. He didn't need to strike his thumb – everything was red. "Canulare!"
The puppy appeared in a tiny puff of smoke. "Summoner-"
"Seventh Path, now!"
To Canulare's credit, Hazō immediately felt the pull in his navel. One final vision of the scene seared itself into his memory – Noburi preparing an unknown jutsu, Kei stumbling and grasping the burns on her arm, and Kishigami raising his machete against the seemingly unaware Pangolin summoner.
Then the lurch took him, and Hazō saw no more.
This is part 1 of today's update. Part 2 will be posted in 30 minutes.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped Can we confirm that the 5-Tails jinchuuriki Han was killed by Orochimaru during the war? This was mentioned offhandedly by Paper on discord but none of the players seem to have heard about it, and it seems like a Big Deal if it's true
And if it is true.... can we get a little more context
What happened to the Bijuu afterwards, do we know who the new jinchuuriki is if there is one, etc?
And if it is true.... can we get a little more context
What happened to the Bijuu afterwards, do we know who the new jinchuuriki is if there is one, etc?
- Location
- Liverpool
... Well @$#&.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Chapter 615, Part 2: Up and Out
- Location
- USA
Chapter 615, Part 2: Up and Out
Hazō arrived on the Seventh Path, and immediately collapsed as memories from his Shadow Clones training and doing sealing research slammed into him. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind not to fall on his back.
He immediately regretted it. His back was where the worst of the burns were, but it only felt numb now, while the rest of his body hurt worse than he'd ever felt before.
The dogs around him tried to say things, but the pain had consumed him. Staying conscious was all he could manage for the long seconds it would take for the fight on the Human Path to be resolved. He'd reverse-summoned to his meeting point with Kei on the border with Hyena. As soon as the fight finished, Kei would come and get him. If she survived.
He waited. He didn't know how many seconds it was, but it was too long. Ninja fights were fast. Shouldn't she-
There was a pop near him, and Hazō moved his focus to his hearing again as he tried to pull himself up onto all fours.
"Hazō-" Kei said, looking around. She paused as she saw him. "Hazō, return to the Human Path for healing."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He'd turned his head to look at her, only to see her warped and blurry in his damaged vision, leaving behind a distorted aftereffect as she walked. Hazō didn't think he could force out an acknowledgment, so he simply released the mental command and let the Summoning Technique take him back to his home dimension.
o-o-o
I would like medical ninjutsu to be at least somewhat stronger, and treatment seconds after an injury should probably be somewhat better than treatment days after the injury. Yet, there is no mechanic for treatment in this way. In the absence of time to discuss it, I'll just make rolls for Noburi's treatment attempts for Hazō and Kei, and figure out what to do with the rolls later. Possibly, that will be nothing, and we just use the normal Consequence rules we always have! Who knows.
Treating Kei:
Noburi (Medical Knowledge): 50 + 3 = 53
Noburi (Medical Ninjutsu): 44 - 6 = 38
Treating Hazō:
Noburi (Medical Knowledge): 50 + 6 = 56
Noburi (Medical Ninjutsu): 44 - 6 = 38
Treating Kei:
Noburi (Medical Knowledge): 50 + 3 = 53
Noburi (Medical Ninjutsu): 44 - 6 = 38
Treating Hazō:
Noburi (Medical Knowledge): 50 + 6 = 56
Noburi (Medical Ninjutsu): 44 - 6 = 38
"...and then Yuno and I did this back-and-forth maneuver," Noburi said, "Substituting each other forward and back in the tunnel so that only one of us was ever in range of the shade's attacks. It got a hit on Yuno, but by then I'd re-equipped my Rocket Boots and I blitzed it faster than it could react and destroyed it with my Water Whip."
"Sounds awesome," Hazō said through gritted teeth. It hurt to talk, but it was easier to have a conversation than to suffer through the pain in silence. Yuno had helped him stay upright while Noburi worked on the burns on Hazō's neck and face, but now Hazō rested chest-down on the ground while the medic worked on his back. Yuno was bouncing on the balls of her feet now. She could no doubt still hear Yūma, but she couldn't split the party or leave her injured Clan Lord untreated.
At least she wouldn't wait long.
"All good," Noburi said. "Actually, that's wrong. You look like shit. But you'll survive. Back to the Seventh Path with you two."
"We should exfiltrate," Kei said. "With Hazō's injury, advancing exposes us to unforeseeable risks, especially given that the approximate strength of the shades seems to correlate with depth."
"You're right," Noburi said. "And Yuno and I aren't exactly doing great either. I'm tired and low on chakra."
"I'm at maybe a fifth of my reserves," Yuno said.
"I'm lower than that," Noburi said, grimacing. "A tenth, at best. So, I'll be taking your chakra before I send you off. And yes, we'll be retreating at the first sign of any more of those shades. But we can't leave Yūma behind. That's not what we do."
"And we need to go, now," Yuno said. "Drain them."
Noburi glanced at Hazō to get permission, and Hazō reluctantly nodded. He felt Noburi's wet hand touch one of the less-burned spots on the side of his face. Chakra dragged its way out of his coils until he was almost dry.
"That should be enough for you to summon," Noburi said. "Now get going. I'll catch you at the Conclave meeting point."
Hazō nodded, saving his strength for another twist of chakra, and: "Summoning Technique: Canodo!"
Another puff of smoke.
"Summoner," said the puppy. "Wait, is this all your blood? That's so-"
"Seventh Path?" Hazō asked. "Please?"
"Sure thing, Summoner," Canodo said, and Hazō made his third trip across the dimensions for the day.
o-o-o
Noburi appeared with a pop.
"We need to get out of here. Fast."
"What happened?" Hazō asked. It had been a couple minutes, and he was slowly pulling himself back together (no thanks to Canodo, who had needed many explanations from Hazō to understand that no, puppy licks wouldn't actually make him heal faster, and yes, Noburi's burn salve may have tasted good, but that didn't mean that it was safe for Canodo to eat).
"I'll tell you on the way. C'mon."
They crossed Paths again, and Noburi picked up the conversation as smoothly as Yuno picked up Hazō and started jogging out of the caves.
"So, we went forward…"
o-o-o
Minutes earlier…
The tunnel opened up into a spacious cavern. The lingering wisps of violet flame popped into and out of existence in the thickest parts of the miasma at the room's far reaches, more frequently than anywhere else so far. Water streamed down from a crack in the ceiling, running down the wall and into a deep well around a third of the way in the room, from which faint ribbons of fog seemed to rise.
"No splashing," Yuno said.
Noburi nodded, carefully walking over to the stream of water. He put his hand into it and focused.
"He's down there!" Noburi said in an excited whisper. "He's alive. He's low on chakra… really low. I think something's draining him. We need to get him out of there."
"I'll go down there and grab him," Yuno said.
"Don't move him too fast, or else it might worsen his injuries. I don't think his wounds would have closed yet," Noburi said.
"I'll try," Yuno said. "Lightning Release: Thunderburst!"
She slowly stepped up to the edge of the well, "There's more wisps of flame down there," she said. "A lot more. But the chakdar isn't reacting strongly. I see him!"
She dropped down.
A moment later, Noburi heard a rush of movement, a gasp of pain, and the sound of Satsuko striking against stone.
Violet flames twisted in front of him and another vaguely humanoid shape appeared. Shorter than him, perhaps female. It wasn't facing towards him, and Noburi almost cast his Water Whip to dispel it from behind when he heard footsteps racing up the side of the well.
The shade and Yuno blurred into motion. His wife tried to dance around the shade pushing her back into the well. If there was another shade down there about to flank Yuno, Noburi needed to-
Yuno dropped something – Yūma's body, Noburi realized – and yelled "Run!" before twisting around the shade's arms with her full, unburdened speed. She sprinted down the tunnel the way they'd come.
Noburi wasn't going to fight them alone. He ran.
o-o-o
"Holy shit," Hazō said. "That was Jōtarō in the well and… Komori?"
"Yeah," Noburi said. "I think so. Hence why we're getting out of here fast."
"Then give me some chakra," Hazō said, straining against Yuno's grip. "Let's take the shortcut."
"Earth Release: Tunnel Excavation!"
Dark Miasma - The entire scene gains the Aspect "Dark Miasma", making sight beyond the current Zone nearly impossible. Additionally, deeper in the caves, the miasma thickens, weakening those that have to pass through it. Once per combat, enemies may tag "Dark Miasma" against you.
Everyone must make a Physique check:
(reusing rolls from last chapter)
Violet Flame Shades
Incorporeal Form - Can only be harmed by ninjutsu, physical fighting skills do nothing. Ninjutsu-enhanced physical fighting skills do half their usual amount of stress, capped by the ninjutsu's Effect. When physical stress is ignored, the Violet Flame Shade instead takes the fragile Aspect "Flickering Flame" until the start of its next initiative, upon which the attacker gains a tag.
Vicious Flames - Attacks roll at +AB (this is a substitute for boost). Attacks have Weapons:1 and deal Energy:Fire damage.
To The Aether, You Return - Shades are not bound strongly to the world. They have no Consequence slots above Mild, and are Taken Out if they take damage beyond that.
Chakra Sense - Shades perceive the world by sensing chakra, not through conventional senses.
??? - (more attributes not yet discovered by Team Gōketsu)
Some plan preambles…
Chakra totals after rebalancing:
Combat 4: Neck Chūnin
Thanks to the PCs' inability to see in the Dark Miasma, Kishigami blitz into melee is a surprise by default! …except chakdar, right. So he doesn't get to make an attack before combat starts, and initiative instead begins when he enters the Zone with the rest of the PCs.
Round 1 Initiative (Gōketsu get chakdar bonus):
?? Yuno
?? Kishigami
?? Kasai
54 Kei
?? Gamantilla
45 Noburi
?? Canun
40 Hazō
Yuno:
Just saw and felt Kishigami run into the Zone.
Supplemental: Activate Electrocution seal
Supplemental: Trigger a Flashbang seal (no effect on these guys)
Standard: Attack Kishigami!
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? - 3 + ? (boost) + ? (tag "Electrified!") + 3 = ??
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (boost) + 6 = ??
Kishigami takes 1 stress and is "Flickering"! Shame that his initiative is next… Now the characters know how the Electrocution seal will work. I'm not sure how it'll ground out narratively, but they're aware that someone else needs to fill the shade's stress track before Yuno can finish.
(In retrospect, perhaps "Flickering Flame" should have lasted until the start of the inflicting character's next turn for balance reasons, as that would guarantee that other characters would have the chance to use the tag. The narrative - that the shades are momentarily disrupted and need to pull themselves back together - made sense this way, though. Ah well, what's done is done.)
Kishigami:
As in life, Yuno is not a priority target – the summoners are. He doesn't even need to pick Hazō or Kei since they're in a tight formation to protect the summons - so he can use Sweeping Strikes and hit both. Combine with Relentless Offense.
Supplemental: Sweeping Strikes
Supplemental: Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack Hazō & Kei
Hazō and Kei really want Substitution targets, but their field of view is so small… Let's roll a check with their Substitution scores to see if they can find a target. TN 30. Otherwise… it may be worth substituting the summons into the attack so that the humans don't get hurt.
Hazō (Substitution): 20 + 3 = 23
Kei (Substitution): 20 + 3 = 23
Nope, neither of them can find suitably sized boulders in the fractional second that they have. Tactically, both of them know the next step of the plan the shades will follow – namely, that Kasai will slam an AoE ninjutsu down on the area. The summons won't survive that. Instead, they opt to substitute with the summons, accepting that they'll pop in exchange for giving the humans a better lease on life.
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) + ?? (2x invokes) + ? (tag "Dark Miasma") + 3 = ??
[NB: Hazō can dodge or counterattack – with a now-decent Substitution score, dodging is better, especially since without GS he's not going to do damage if he counterattacks]
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "(Formerly) Marked for Death") + 5 (invoke "Lord of Clan Gōketsu") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 6 = 89
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 81
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 6 = 78
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 81
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 9 = 75
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 9 = 93
Hazō takes 3 stress! His stress track is full! Relentless Offense triggers! Hazō is "Overwhelmed" and Kishigami gets a tag!
Kei takes 2 stress! Kei is "Overwhelmed" and Kishigami gets a tag!
Hazō and Kei both are down to 2 FP total.
Canun (Athletics): lol
Gamantilla (Athletics): lmao
Both summons are popped!
Kasai:
Incidental thing that makes this fight harder – Hazō and Kei didn't get the chance to Substitute out of the Zone, since Dark Miasma prevents them from seeing targets outside of the Zone. That means they're still in the AoE for this attack…
AoE ninjutsu specialist gonna AoE. Damn, AoE ninjutsu is good, huh? While she could try setting up her ultimate combo this time, it would involve friendly-firing Kishigami. In a ninja fight, it's better to go fast, I think.
Standard: Second verse, same as the first - Sin-Shattering Hammer. Except this time, she hasn't burned through all her FP dodging Yuno, and this time, she doesn't have a Mild… Kishigami passes her the "Overwhelmed" tags, which will be framed as a malus on Hazō and Kei's rolls.
I'm saying that everyone can use Substitution outside the Zone, as the flames momentarily illuminate the darkness, except Yuno, who used both her Supplementals. SSH's ability to prevent Substitution does not apply here. Everyone who substitutes, substitutes backwards away from the attackers.
Kasai (Sin-Shattering Hammer): ?? + ? (VF) + ?? (2x invokes) + 0 = ??
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) - 6 = 52 - ?
[NB: Okay… this is really bad. If this attack went through, it would deal 14 stress. That would one-shot Hazō from full (3 stress track + 2 Mild + 3 Moderate + 4 Severe leaves 2 left over). Worse, Hazō's stress track is already full, so he can only take Consequences. He needs to get a ~+15 on this roll, or else he will take more than 9 stress and die.
To start, he'll reroll. In expectation, this gets him a 0 on the dice, which reduces the problem to finding ~+9 points on the roll, which is… hard, but maybe possible?]
Hazō spends a FP to reroll!
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) - 6 = 52 - ?
[NB: Okay. Things are looking terrible for our hero. He will die from this attack unless we can find something miraculous to save him.
He has 1 FP now and 153 CP. He used all the remotely combat-relevant Aspects on his character sheet on the last attack. I don't think he has any relevant tags on the environment to use. Despite the fact that he has loads of chakra, none of his jutsu would help. He has used both his Supplementals (2x Substitutions), so he doesn't have any action economy available. The other Gōketsu's reflexive tools (Water Whip, Gale Repulsion) don't apply. The summons are down. Everyone is in the AoE of the attack, so it's not like anyone could Substitute him out of danger if anyone happened to have a bodyguard Block on him.
Unfortunately, there's no mechanical solution here, I think. I don't see any way for Hazō to survive here other than to reroll and hit a +9 or +12. 94% of the time, Hazō's taking the fast way to the afterlife. He sends a prayer to Jashin for salvation.]
Hazō spends a FP to reroll! 0 remaining
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 9 = 67 - ?
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 6 = 76 - ?
Kei spends an FP for the flat +3 bonus! 1 remaining
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 3 (FP flat bonus) + 6 = 79 - ?
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 7 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) + 8 (RBs) + 2 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 74
Noburi spends a FP to reroll! 3 remaining
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 7 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) + 8 (RBs) + 2 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 3 = 80
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 8 (RBs) + ? (tag "Known Opposition) - 6 = ??
Yuno spends a FP to reroll! 3 remaining
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 8 (RBs) + ? (tag "Known Opposition) + 3 = ??
Hazō takes 9 stress! His stress track is full! He takes a Mild (2), Medium (3), and Severe (4) Consequence! He survives!
Kei takes 5 stress! She fills her stress track and takes a Mild Consequence!
Noburi takes 2 stress!
Yuno dodges!
Damn! Still no kills. That's okay, Hazō will die soon at this rate.
[Some rolls elided related to destroyed seals and sealing failures. Nothing combat-relevant came up]
Kei:
She needs to survive the next few seconds.
Supplemental: Activate Combat Frozen Skein. Target bonus: +12. TN 24 check needed.
Kei (Frozen Skein): 30 + 3 = 33
Success! Kei takes 3 Apathy. Until the start of her next initiative, Kei gets a +9 (12 - 3) to all rolls.
Standard: Full Defense
Noburi
Standard: Hōzuki's Mantle
No need for Supplementals. He'll stand and fight beside his wife.
Hazō
A Medium is the condition to leave. He's well past that. He summons a puppy.
Puppy
Takes Hazō back to the Seventh Path.
Round 2 Initiative
?? Kishigami
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
49 Kei
40 Noburi
Kishigami
Supplemental: Follow Kei
Supplemental: Prepare Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack
Finish off Kei.
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) + ? (tag Mild) + 0 = ??
Kei (Athletics): 50 - 3 (Mild) + 6 (boost) + 6 (Full Defense) + 9 (Combat Frozen Skein) + 10 (Substitution – as she ran through the tunnel, I'm saying she found a target or two) + 0 = 78
Kei spends a FP for the half-bonus! She is out of Fate Points!
Kei (Athletics): 50 - 3 (Mild) + 6 (boost) + 6 (Full Defense) + 9 (Combat Frozen Skein) + 10 (Substitution – as she ran through the tunnel, I'm saying she found a target or two) + 3 (FP flat bonus) + 0 = 81
Damn, she lived! How unfortunate…
Yuno
Supplemental: Run towards Kasai.
Standard: Block her from using any ninjutsu that might target Kei or Noburi. Narratively, Yuno and Satsuko are forcing her to move, or make her flicker before any flame constructs can form. However, given Yuno's primarily physical-damage skillset, it's going to be really hard to fence in a shade that can just phase through your attacks…
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (boost) + 12 = ??
Kasai
There's no way she's going to beat that roll, so… Don't bother bypassing the Block – just step backwards and target Yuno with the ninjutsu.
Supplemental: Retreat out of range.
Standard: Attack Yuno
Kasai (Heaven's Scythe): ?? + ? (VF) + 3 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - 3 (Supplemental Sprint) + ? (boost) + ? (invoke "Pest Exterminator") + 0 = ??
Yuno dodges!
Kei
Refresh CFS as a free action! Again, target bonus +12. TN 24
Kei (Frozen Skein): 30 - 3 (Apathy) + 0 = 27
Kei takes 3 more Apathy (6 total). She has a +6 to all rolls until the start of her next initiative, thanks to CFS.
Supplemental: PKH
Standard: Attack Kishigami
Supplemental: Retreat backwards yet another Zone.
Kei (Ranged Weapons): 46 + 6 (CFS) + 12 (PKH) - 6 = 58
Kishigami (Athletics): ?? + ? (invoke) + 9 = ??
Haha, not a chance.
Noburi
Attack Kishigami!
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) + 7 (HM) + 3 (tag "Known Opposition") + 9 = 76
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) - 9 = ??
Noburi deals 5 stress, dealing a Mild. He calls this fact out. Yuno tells him to kill the shade.
Round 3 Initiative
?? Kishigami
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
49 Kei
40 Noburi
Kishigami
Kei at 2 Zones away is too far to effectively attack, so fight Noburi
Supplemental: Prepare Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? - ? (Mild) + ? (VF) - 12 = ??
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) + 7 (HM) + 6 (tag Mild) + 9 = 79
Kishigami is epically annihilated! Noburi calls this out to Yuno, saying that Kishigami is done and they should regroup.
Yuno
Yuno (Alertness): ?? + 3 = ??
Can feel the power of Heaven's Scythe coalescing around her and wants none of that. She tries to Sprint away:
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 3 = ??
? shifts, letting her move only ? Zones due to the Heaven's Scythe limitation. Still good enough to regroup with Noburi! Save both Supplementals.
Kasai
Her prey escaped and is now 3 Zones away – too far to attack with Sin-Shattering Hammer, and Heaven's Scythe nerfs itself! What a conundrum! She'll move in with Full Defense, preparing a new offense.
Kei
Kei needs to sustain CFS. Target bonus: 0. She's up to 7 Apathy.
Supplemental: End CFS. TN 21.
Kei (Resolve): 69 - 7 (Apathy) + 0 = 62
Easy success! She lowers her Apathy down to 3 (# rounds active).
Standard: Sprint away. With her Mild and her Apathy, she doesn't want to fight any longer.
Noburi
Full-round: Swaps out his Rocket Boots.
Round 4 Initiative
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
40 Noburi
Yuno
Noburi is temporarily vulnerable as he swaps his RBs. She needs to Block Kasai again.
Run forward 1 Zone, then Block Kasai's advance.
Kasai
She's fine to attack Yuno, especially if it helps set up her ultimate combo.
Kasai (Heaven's Scythe): ?? + ? (VF) + 3 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - 3 (Supplemental Sprint) + ? (boost) + 6 = ??
Yuno's takes ? stress! She takes a -? to Athletics for the next ? rounds!
Kasai backs away 1 Zone.
Noburi
Needs to engage. Sprints forward.
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 5 (boost) + 3 = 53
Plenty of movement, he's right on top of Kasai.
Round 5 Initiative
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
40 Noburi
Yuno
Substitutes Noburi backwards, so they don't end up in the same Zone.
Again, Block Kasai from doing anything dangerous.
Kasai
Engaged with Yuno? Ugh. Back off and attack her again. Finally, she gets to use her ultimate combo!
Kasai (Sin-Shattering Hammer): ?? + ? (Divine Kami's Bellows) + ? (Heaven's Scythe) + ? (VF) + 0 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + ? (invoke "Wedded to Hope") + 6 = ??
Yuno takes ? stress! Yuno barely dodges a Consequence.
Noburi
Substitute with Yuno, then run forward into melee with Kasai.
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) - 2 (Substituted recently) + 7 (HM) + 8 (RB) + 6 (invoke "Star of the Show) + 3 = 79
Kasai (Athletics): ?? + ? (invoke) - 9 = ??
Noburi inflicts ? stress – dispelling Kasai's shade!
Chakra tally after the fight and rebalancing:
The surviving heroes (Noburi and Yuno) arrive at Yūma's final location. They inspect Yūma, find that he's still alive. Yuno activates Thunderburst just in case, then goes into the well to retrieve him, where she's attacked. Irritatingly, chakdar still keeps it from being a surprise. Instead, we have…
FP Net:
Combat 5: Final Boss
Round 1 Initiative (Gōketsu get chakdar bonus):
?? Jōtarō
?? Komori
?? Yuno
45 Noburi
Jōtarō
Attacks Yuno:
Jōtarō (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) + 6 = ??
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) - 9 = ??
Yuno spends a FP to reroll! She is out of Fate Points!
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) + 3 = ??
Yuno takes ? stress! She takes a Mild Consequence!
Komori
Makes a Block preventing Yuno from leaving.
Komori (Taijutsu): ?? (all bonuses included) + 6 = ??
Yuno
Supplemental: Grabs Yūma
Standard: Dashes out of the well.
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - ? (Mild) - ?? (Carrying Yūma) + 6 = ??
Easily enough movement, but… can she beat Komori's Block? Not with the Yūma-carrying penalty. She can't Substitute and take him with. Either she gets stuck in the well and has to take Jōtarō's next attack, or she drops Yūma and keeps going. Unfortunately, I think there's only one sane option, and Yuno is tactically aware enough to know what she needs to do. She drops Yūma and puts all her movement towards running away.
Noburi
Run away. He's already ahead, at the top of the well.
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 5 (boost) + 6 = 56
With a Substitution or two? He's outta there.
Round 2 Initiative
?? Jōtarō
?? Komori
?? Yuno
45 Noburi
Jōtarō
Jōtarō (Athletics): ?? + 3 = ??
Komori
Komori (Athletics): ?? + 0 = ??
The heroes get away!
Everyone must make a Physique check:
- 19 or less: Temporary Mild Consequence (until leaving Zone with Aspect).
- 20-39: 2 boxes of stress track filled for the duration.
- 40-59: 1 box of stress track filled; enemies may not tag "Dark Miasma".
- 60+: no stress, no tags.
(reusing rolls from last chapter)
- Hazō's stress track only heals down to 2.
- Noburi is still at 2 stress!
- Kei is still at 2 stress!
Violet Flame Shades
Incorporeal Form - Can only be harmed by ninjutsu, physical fighting skills do nothing. Ninjutsu-enhanced physical fighting skills do half their usual amount of stress, capped by the ninjutsu's Effect. When physical stress is ignored, the Violet Flame Shade instead takes the fragile Aspect "Flickering Flame" until the start of its next initiative, upon which the attacker gains a tag.
Vicious Flames - Attacks roll at +AB (this is a substitute for boost). Attacks have Weapons:1 and deal Energy:Fire damage.
To The Aether, You Return - Shades are not bound strongly to the world. They have no Consequence slots above Mild, and are Taken Out if they take damage beyond that.
Chakra Sense - Shades perceive the world by sensing chakra, not through conventional senses.
??? - (more attributes not yet discovered by Team Gōketsu)
Some plan preambles…
- Inform summons about their heightened vulnerability and put them in the center of our travel formation.
- Yuno: Give her an Electrocution Seal for Saksuko
- Or any other of her ninjutsu (Nara) that could be effective.
- Don't say Nara outright in case she's being cagy
- We haven't seen: Joutarou, Yami, Arikada's bodyguards, Minami Nikko, Squirrel-nin. Briefly get everyone filled in on them: Skills, appearances, etc…
Chakra totals after rebalancing:
- Noburi: 500
- Hazō & Kei: 206
Combat 4: Neck Chūnin
Thanks to the PCs' inability to see in the Dark Miasma, Kishigami blitz into melee is a surprise by default! …except chakdar, right. So he doesn't get to make an attack before combat starts, and initiative instead begins when he enters the Zone with the rest of the PCs.
Round 1 Initiative (Gōketsu get chakdar bonus):
?? Yuno
?? Kishigami
?? Kasai
54 Kei
?? Gamantilla
45 Noburi
?? Canun
40 Hazō
Yuno:
Just saw and felt Kishigami run into the Zone.
Supplemental: Activate Electrocution seal
Supplemental: Trigger a Flashbang seal (no effect on these guys)
Standard: Attack Kishigami!
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? - 3 + ? (boost) + ? (tag "Electrified!") + 3 = ??
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (boost) + 6 = ??
Kishigami takes 1 stress and is "Flickering"! Shame that his initiative is next… Now the characters know how the Electrocution seal will work. I'm not sure how it'll ground out narratively, but they're aware that someone else needs to fill the shade's stress track before Yuno can finish.
(In retrospect, perhaps "Flickering Flame" should have lasted until the start of the inflicting character's next turn for balance reasons, as that would guarantee that other characters would have the chance to use the tag. The narrative - that the shades are momentarily disrupted and need to pull themselves back together - made sense this way, though. Ah well, what's done is done.)
Kishigami:
As in life, Yuno is not a priority target – the summoners are. He doesn't even need to pick Hazō or Kei since they're in a tight formation to protect the summons - so he can use Sweeping Strikes and hit both. Combine with Relentless Offense.
Supplemental: Sweeping Strikes
Supplemental: Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack Hazō & Kei
Hazō and Kei really want Substitution targets, but their field of view is so small… Let's roll a check with their Substitution scores to see if they can find a target. TN 30. Otherwise… it may be worth substituting the summons into the attack so that the humans don't get hurt.
Hazō (Substitution): 20 + 3 = 23
Kei (Substitution): 20 + 3 = 23
Nope, neither of them can find suitably sized boulders in the fractional second that they have. Tactically, both of them know the next step of the plan the shades will follow – namely, that Kasai will slam an AoE ninjutsu down on the area. The summons won't survive that. Instead, they opt to substitute with the summons, accepting that they'll pop in exchange for giving the humans a better lease on life.
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) + ?? (2x invokes) + ? (tag "Dark Miasma") + 3 = ??
[NB: Hazō can dodge or counterattack – with a now-decent Substitution score, dodging is better, especially since without GS he's not going to do damage if he counterattacks]
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "(Formerly) Marked for Death") + 5 (invoke "Lord of Clan Gōketsu") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 6 = 89
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 81
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 6 = 78
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 81
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 9 = 75
Kei spends a FP to reroll!
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 8 (RBs) + 10 (Substitution) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") + 6 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 9 = 93
Hazō takes 3 stress! His stress track is full! Relentless Offense triggers! Hazō is "Overwhelmed" and Kishigami gets a tag!
Kei takes 2 stress! Kei is "Overwhelmed" and Kishigami gets a tag!
Hazō and Kei both are down to 2 FP total.
Canun (Athletics): lol
Gamantilla (Athletics): lmao
Both summons are popped!
Kasai:
Incidental thing that makes this fight harder – Hazō and Kei didn't get the chance to Substitute out of the Zone, since Dark Miasma prevents them from seeing targets outside of the Zone. That means they're still in the AoE for this attack…
AoE ninjutsu specialist gonna AoE. Damn, AoE ninjutsu is good, huh? While she could try setting up her ultimate combo this time, it would involve friendly-firing Kishigami. In a ninja fight, it's better to go fast, I think.
Standard: Second verse, same as the first - Sin-Shattering Hammer. Except this time, she hasn't burned through all her FP dodging Yuno, and this time, she doesn't have a Mild… Kishigami passes her the "Overwhelmed" tags, which will be framed as a malus on Hazō and Kei's rolls.
I'm saying that everyone can use Substitution outside the Zone, as the flames momentarily illuminate the darkness, except Yuno, who used both her Supplementals. SSH's ability to prevent Substitution does not apply here. Everyone who substitutes, substitutes backwards away from the attackers.
Kasai (Sin-Shattering Hammer): ?? + ? (VF) + ?? (2x invokes) + 0 = ??
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) - 6 = 52 - ?
[NB: Okay… this is really bad. If this attack went through, it would deal 14 stress. That would one-shot Hazō from full (3 stress track + 2 Mild + 3 Moderate + 4 Severe leaves 2 left over). Worse, Hazō's stress track is already full, so he can only take Consequences. He needs to get a ~+15 on this roll, or else he will take more than 9 stress and die.
To start, he'll reroll. In expectation, this gets him a 0 on the dice, which reduces the problem to finding ~+9 points on the roll, which is… hard, but maybe possible?]
Hazō spends a FP to reroll!
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) - 6 = 52 - ?
[NB: Okay. Things are looking terrible for our hero. He will die from this attack unless we can find something miraculous to save him.
He has 1 FP now and 153 CP. He used all the remotely combat-relevant Aspects on his character sheet on the last attack. I don't think he has any relevant tags on the environment to use. Despite the fact that he has loads of chakra, none of his jutsu would help. He has used both his Supplementals (2x Substitutions), so he doesn't have any action economy available. The other Gōketsu's reflexive tools (Water Whip, Gale Repulsion) don't apply. The summons are down. Everyone is in the AoE of the attack, so it's not like anyone could Substitute him out of danger if anyone happened to have a bodyguard Block on him.
Unfortunately, there's no mechanical solution here, I think. I don't see any way for Hazō to survive here other than to reroll and hit a +9 or +12. 94% of the time, Hazō's taking the fast way to the afterlife. He sends a prayer to Jashin for salvation.]
Hazō spends a FP to reroll! 0 remaining
Hazō (Athletics): 40 + 5 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 5 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 9 = 67 - ?
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 6 = 76 - ?
Kei spends an FP for the flat +3 bonus! 1 remaining
Kei (Athletics): 50 + 6 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) - 2 (recently Substituted) + 6 (tag "Known Opposition") - ? (Overwhelmed) + 3 (FP flat bonus) + 6 = 79 - ?
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 7 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) + 8 (RBs) + 2 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") - 3 = 74
Noburi spends a FP to reroll! 3 remaining
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 7 (boost) + 10 (Substitution) + 8 (RBs) + 2 (tag "Known Opposition") + 5 (invoke "Team Uplift") + 3 = 80
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 8 (RBs) + ? (tag "Known Opposition) - 6 = ??
Yuno spends a FP to reroll! 3 remaining
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 8 (RBs) + ? (tag "Known Opposition) + 3 = ??
Hazō takes 9 stress! His stress track is full! He takes a Mild (2), Medium (3), and Severe (4) Consequence! He survives!
Kei takes 5 stress! She fills her stress track and takes a Mild Consequence!
Noburi takes 2 stress!
Yuno dodges!
Damn! Still no kills. That's okay, Hazō will die soon at this rate.
[Some rolls elided related to destroyed seals and sealing failures. Nothing combat-relevant came up]
Kei:
She needs to survive the next few seconds.
Supplemental: Activate Combat Frozen Skein. Target bonus: +12. TN 24 check needed.
Kei (Frozen Skein): 30 + 3 = 33
Success! Kei takes 3 Apathy. Until the start of her next initiative, Kei gets a +9 (12 - 3) to all rolls.
Standard: Full Defense
Noburi
Standard: Hōzuki's Mantle
No need for Supplementals. He'll stand and fight beside his wife.
Hazō
A Medium is the condition to leave. He's well past that. He summons a puppy.
Puppy
Takes Hazō back to the Seventh Path.
Round 2 Initiative
?? Kishigami
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
49 Kei
40 Noburi
Kishigami
Supplemental: Follow Kei
Supplemental: Prepare Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack
Finish off Kei.
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) + ? (tag Mild) + 0 = ??
Kei (Athletics): 50 - 3 (Mild) + 6 (boost) + 6 (Full Defense) + 9 (Combat Frozen Skein) + 10 (Substitution – as she ran through the tunnel, I'm saying she found a target or two) + 0 = 78
Kei spends a FP for the half-bonus! She is out of Fate Points!
Kei (Athletics): 50 - 3 (Mild) + 6 (boost) + 6 (Full Defense) + 9 (Combat Frozen Skein) + 10 (Substitution – as she ran through the tunnel, I'm saying she found a target or two) + 3 (FP flat bonus) + 0 = 81
Damn, she lived! How unfortunate…
Yuno
Supplemental: Run towards Kasai.
Standard: Block her from using any ninjutsu that might target Kei or Noburi. Narratively, Yuno and Satsuko are forcing her to move, or make her flicker before any flame constructs can form. However, given Yuno's primarily physical-damage skillset, it's going to be really hard to fence in a shade that can just phase through your attacks…
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (boost) + 12 = ??
Kasai
There's no way she's going to beat that roll, so… Don't bother bypassing the Block – just step backwards and target Yuno with the ninjutsu.
Supplemental: Retreat out of range.
Standard: Attack Yuno
Kasai (Heaven's Scythe): ?? + ? (VF) + 3 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - 3 (Supplemental Sprint) + ? (boost) + ? (invoke "Pest Exterminator") + 0 = ??
Yuno dodges!
Kei
Refresh CFS as a free action! Again, target bonus +12. TN 24
Kei (Frozen Skein): 30 - 3 (Apathy) + 0 = 27
Kei takes 3 more Apathy (6 total). She has a +6 to all rolls until the start of her next initiative, thanks to CFS.
Supplemental: PKH
Standard: Attack Kishigami
Supplemental: Retreat backwards yet another Zone.
Kei (Ranged Weapons): 46 + 6 (CFS) + 12 (PKH) - 6 = 58
Kishigami (Athletics): ?? + ? (invoke) + 9 = ??
Haha, not a chance.
Noburi
Attack Kishigami!
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) + 7 (HM) + 3 (tag "Known Opposition") + 9 = 76
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? + ? (VF) - 9 = ??
Noburi deals 5 stress, dealing a Mild. He calls this fact out. Yuno tells him to kill the shade.
Round 3 Initiative
?? Kishigami
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
49 Kei
40 Noburi
Kishigami
Kei at 2 Zones away is too far to effectively attack, so fight Noburi
Supplemental: Prepare Relentless Offense
Standard: Attack
Kishigami (Melee Weapons): ?? - ? (Mild) + ? (VF) - 12 = ??
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) + 7 (HM) + 6 (tag Mild) + 9 = 79
Kishigami is epically annihilated! Noburi calls this out to Yuno, saying that Kishigami is done and they should regroup.
Yuno
Yuno (Alertness): ?? + 3 = ??
Can feel the power of Heaven's Scythe coalescing around her and wants none of that. She tries to Sprint away:
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + 3 = ??
? shifts, letting her move only ? Zones due to the Heaven's Scythe limitation. Still good enough to regroup with Noburi! Save both Supplementals.
Kasai
Her prey escaped and is now 3 Zones away – too far to attack with Sin-Shattering Hammer, and Heaven's Scythe nerfs itself! What a conundrum! She'll move in with Full Defense, preparing a new offense.
Kei
Kei needs to sustain CFS. Target bonus: 0. She's up to 7 Apathy.
Supplemental: End CFS. TN 21.
Kei (Resolve): 69 - 7 (Apathy) + 0 = 62
Easy success! She lowers her Apathy down to 3 (# rounds active).
Standard: Sprint away. With her Mild and her Apathy, she doesn't want to fight any longer.
Noburi
Full-round: Swaps out his Rocket Boots.
Round 4 Initiative
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
40 Noburi
Yuno
Noburi is temporarily vulnerable as he swaps his RBs. She needs to Block Kasai again.
Run forward 1 Zone, then Block Kasai's advance.
Kasai
She's fine to attack Yuno, especially if it helps set up her ultimate combo.
Kasai (Heaven's Scythe): ?? + ? (VF) + 3 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - 3 (Supplemental Sprint) + ? (boost) + 6 = ??
Yuno's takes ? stress! She takes a -? to Athletics for the next ? rounds!
Kasai backs away 1 Zone.
Noburi
Needs to engage. Sprints forward.
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 5 (boost) + 3 = 53
Plenty of movement, he's right on top of Kasai.
Round 5 Initiative
?? Yuno
?? Kasai
40 Noburi
Yuno
Substitutes Noburi backwards, so they don't end up in the same Zone.
Again, Block Kasai from doing anything dangerous.
Kasai
Engaged with Yuno? Ugh. Back off and attack her again. Finally, she gets to use her ultimate combo!
Kasai (Sin-Shattering Hammer): ?? + ? (Divine Kami's Bellows) + ? (Heaven's Scythe) + ? (VF) + 0 = ??
Yuno (Athletics): ?? + ? (boost) + ? (invoke "Wedded to Hope") + 6 = ??
Yuno takes ? stress! Yuno barely dodges a Consequence.
Noburi
Substitute with Yuno, then run forward into melee with Kasai.
Noburi (Water Whip): 50 + 7 (boost) - 2 (Substituted recently) + 7 (HM) + 8 (RB) + 6 (invoke "Star of the Show) + 3 = 79
Kasai (Athletics): ?? + ? (invoke) - 9 = ??
Noburi inflicts ? stress – dispelling Kasai's shade!
Chakra tally after the fight and rebalancing:
- Hazō: 30 (back to the Seventh Path)
- Kei: 30 (back to the Seventh Path)
- Noburi: 200
- Yuno: ???
The surviving heroes (Noburi and Yuno) arrive at Yūma's final location. They inspect Yūma, find that he's still alive. Yuno activates Thunderburst just in case, then goes into the well to retrieve him, where she's attacked. Irritatingly, chakdar still keeps it from being a surprise. Instead, we have…
FP Net:
- Hazō:
-1 (-5 in the fight, +1 from "winning", +3 from taking Consequences)As the players have pointed out to me, Hazō's "Defy Death" ability means that he could have saved 1 FP from the point where he spent 2 FP to reroll and survive. As a result, his net is actually -0. - Kei: -5 (-7 in the fight, +1 from "winning", +1 from taking Consequences)
- Noburi: -2 (-3 in the fight, +1 from winning)
- Yuno: -2 (-3 in the fight, +1 from winning)
Combat 5: Final Boss
Round 1 Initiative (Gōketsu get chakdar bonus):
?? Jōtarō
?? Komori
?? Yuno
45 Noburi
Jōtarō
Attacks Yuno:
Jōtarō (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) + 6 = ??
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) - 9 = ??
Yuno spends a FP to reroll! She is out of Fate Points!
Yuno (Melee Weapons): ?? (all bonuses, invokes included) + 3 = ??
Yuno takes ? stress! She takes a Mild Consequence!
Komori
Makes a Block preventing Yuno from leaving.
Komori (Taijutsu): ?? (all bonuses included) + 6 = ??
Yuno
Supplemental: Grabs Yūma
Standard: Dashes out of the well.
Yuno (Athletics): ?? - ? (Mild) - ?? (Carrying Yūma) + 6 = ??
Easily enough movement, but… can she beat Komori's Block? Not with the Yūma-carrying penalty. She can't Substitute and take him with. Either she gets stuck in the well and has to take Jōtarō's next attack, or she drops Yūma and keeps going. Unfortunately, I think there's only one sane option, and Yuno is tactically aware enough to know what she needs to do. She drops Yūma and puts all her movement towards running away.
Noburi
Run away. He's already ahead, at the top of the well.
Noburi (Athletics): 45 + 5 (boost) + 6 = 56
With a Substitution or two? He's outta there.
Round 2 Initiative
?? Jōtarō
?? Komori
?? Yuno
45 Noburi
Jōtarō
Jōtarō (Athletics): ?? + 3 = ??
Komori
Komori (Athletics): ?? + 0 = ??
The heroes get away!
The team emerged in a random patch of forest and quickly set up a skytower. The miasma cleared up quickly, and while everyone has some dirt in their hair from the loose soil at the surface, there were no problems with tunneling. In the daylight, Hazō can see that Yuno sustained some minor facial burns, and Noburi still looks uninjured. Noburi vetoes any further expeditions, saying that on the off chance Mari brings enough firepower, she can try to rescue Yūma, but that the delving team needs to count themselves lucky to be alive.
Hazō has taken a Mild Consequence "Lightly-Toasted Face", a Medium Consequence "Ocular Burns", and a Severe Consequence "Nerve-Dead Back". Kei has taken the Mild Consequence "Seared Throwing Arm".
Many thanks to @eaglejarl for help writing the first scene, and with the rolls.
XP Award: 5 + 1 (brevity) XP
Vote time! What to do now?
Voting ends on
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That particular farmer paid in cash. Hazō doesn't know how it works in general.
Also, Scotland has at least one sheep that is white on at least one side.
- Location
- Yes.
[X] Armageddon Initiative
- Location
- Yes.
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped I'm gonna assume we didn't unstagnate/nobody else unstagnated, am I correct to assume this?
Hey so, @Paperclipped did we unstagnate our combat domain here? Or do we need to like, die first?
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
That's a cool name. Creepy, though.
This is not according to protocol!
That's somehow reassuring and somehow terrifying. The horrors she was describing are... normal?
Ooooh, neat thing, that. Well! At least Noburi confirms it - they may be anonymous to others, but they are doing the same things for everyone.
A bit defeatist. You have ridiculous amounts of seals now.
Still sad about that one. Might not like dogs much, but this one is friend.
*eyes narrow suspiciously*
That's... not good.
OOF. OUCH.
Urk, that is gruesome. All in favour of rerolling as someone with water element?
Oh. All in favour of running more?
Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit
Did... Jashin answer? That's half again as terrifying.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
How can you do this to us? Also, thank you for doing this to us! I am not consistent! It is 5 AM and I will now be unable to sleep! I blame you instead of blaming myself, as I ought to!
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
Oh shit, there's a chakra sheep in there too? And Hazō is in Scotland? That would explain all the ghosts
PRAISE JASHIN!
@eaglejarl, @Velorien, @Paperclipped
Just thought I'd drop a couple questions here while I'm thinking of them.
How does dodging AoE attacks work in FtD? If you don't have a way to Sub out of your Zone, can you roll Ath? Does Sub contribute its full bonus? Is it possible to end up in a flat place with no cover and be unable to dodge?
Can you Sub within your Zone to dodge a regular attack for the full bonus? Within melee range?
EDIT: This was answered in the rolls for this chapter. Looks like Neck ninja were just a bad matchup
Also what are the rules for Shadow Clones and Consequences, Hazou's clones instantly popped when he made them with double Severes. Do Mental Consequences affect SCs, or just Physical Consequences?
We know that Naruto was making SCs with a Severe Physical Consequence (since it hadn't healed in a week after Nagi Island) was that an oversight? Or were Hazou's clones just popping cuz he had double Severes? Or has there been a rule change since then?
Just thought I'd drop a couple questions here while I'm thinking of them.
Can you Sub within your Zone to dodge a regular attack for the full bonus? Within melee range?
EDIT: This was answered in the rolls for this chapter. Looks like Neck ninja were just a bad matchup
Also what are the rules for Shadow Clones and Consequences, Hazou's clones instantly popped when he made them with double Severes. Do Mental Consequences affect SCs, or just Physical Consequences?
We know that Naruto was making SCs with a Severe Physical Consequence (since it hadn't healed in a week after Nagi Island) was that an oversight? Or were Hazou's clones just popping cuz he had double Severes? Or has there been a rule change since then?
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- Location
- Texas
[X] THimeskip
Attend Technique Hacking apprenticeship for three months or until Severe heals.
Attend Technique Hacking apprenticeship for three months or until Severe heals.
- Location
- Pacific standard
If Hazō dies beyond recovery we need to play an Average Joe-Nin character.
- Location
- United States
@Paperclipped please refund the FP for this roll. It should have been free due to Hazō's Defy Death ability.
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- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Well, I'm feeling really glum now. There's the fiddly details, nitpicks and questions, etc. etc., but just setting all of that aside... our future just got a lot more frustrating. We can no longer do the things we wanted to do, timeframes that we were setting up are now that much more awkward, and our odds of winning our major setting-defining quests just took another non-negligible hit. Hoo-ray.
This isn't a complaint or an accusation or anything, I just don't want to bottle that up. The fights were frustrating and stressful and now they've promised to make the future frustrating and stressful, and that's made me glum. Once again, better times where we actually achieve our goals have been pushed further into the future. Just a few dozen more chapters, just a few more months. Time after time after time after time. I'm usually the guy promising optimism on the matter, but it's getting harder and harder to feel it.
We did it. We got to do The Punching. All it cost was making everything worse for the next few months. Was it worth it?
This isn't a complaint or an accusation or anything, I just don't want to bottle that up. The fights were frustrating and stressful and now they've promised to make the future frustrating and stressful, and that's made me glum. Once again, better times where we actually achieve our goals have been pushed further into the future. Just a few dozen more chapters, just a few more months. Time after time after time after time. I'm usually the guy promising optimism on the matter, but it's getting harder and harder to feel it.
We did it. We got to do The Punching. All it cost was making everything worse for the next few months. Was it worth it?