Those Who Return [D16, LN]

[Bakuriel]

The night sky over the place where the pit once lay is dark and cloying, the presence of the Taint still thick in the air despite the removal of its source. Stars shine weakly from above, as if struggling to penetrate into the darkness all around.

Tonight's work is not as grim as it could be. Bodies lay strewn about, broken and crushed, but many are inhuman and twisted abominations. Only a handful belong to those who came here before, willingly risking themselves to achieve a noble goal.

By the mercy of some Fortune, despite the grievous injuries inflicted upon them, those who fell in combat this day have found themselves alive, if only barely. Mercy is also an operative word, as the careless feet and claws of the creatures surrounding them have not been kind, nor have the wasting nightmares caused by their proximity to a land so potent with Jigoku's rot.

Players rescued from this thread must choose one of the following disadvantages:

Bad Eyesight
Bad Health
Doubt (Heavy Weapons)
Frail Mind
Lame
Missing Limb
Permanent Wound
Shadowlands Taint +.5

==================

This event is for the retrieval of the fallen from the first wave of defense, who were left behind as a result of the confusion and continued presence of enemy forces scattered throughout the area.

Active Participants: Phi, Ninube, Reo

Retrieval targets: Seidou Satone, Ko, Taochusu's body


In order to retrieve a target, a player must make an Investigation(Search)/Perception Roll TN 20 to locate a target, followed by a Stealth(Sneaking)/Agility roll TN 20 to sneak past without alerting any nearby creatures. Players using a light source to search gain +1k1 on their search roll but suffer -1k1 on their stealth roll.

After finding a target, they must then heft the body and bring it back, which takes another Stealth(Sneaking)/Agility roll at TN 25 (encumbered as if wearing armor)

For the purposes of efficiency, dropped possessions belonging to the fallen warriors are considered to be retrieved along with their bodies and require no raises.

Enemy patrols are numerous, but scattered. The first 3 failed stealth rolls will result in no further penalties, but after that, discovery will be imminent.

[Ninube]

Ninube looked across the battlefield. It was impressive that Reo made it back at all. Then, she saw Ko.

With out a sound, she made it over to the woman. She quickly picked her up with her possessions and slung her over her back.

Though it was more difficult, Ninube blended with the shadows as she got her comrade out of there.

[Nozomi]

(Because apparently I can't sleep until a job is done, hah...)

Phi followed Reo's directions in the dead of the night. The crawling of ... things set her mind ablaze with horrific images the likes of which were probably infinitely worse than she was actually imagining them to be. And yet, she quelled them. There was a chance, however remote, that Ko and Satone were alive, and Taochusu deserved a burial. He deserved something. She couldn't bear having sent the man off in the dark without at least trying. A measly pouch of jade just...

So she was here, in the dark, fumbling and her eyes spotted a form on the ground. She froze for a second. That... that was not a rock formation. She saw fabric flutter in some wicked, foul-smelling breeze. She crawled closer. She'd trained her life for this. It had to be worth something... and as she moved, there was no sound, or at least none anyone else heard. Every footstep was like crunching hell in her own ears.

She found the form. It was big. Her hands pressed, and she fumbled, feeling human skin. Feeling a weapon. She didn't have time to check, but there was a hint of softness at points. A feel of the face... face... not Taochusu. She swallowed. She'd wanted to find her friend, but she felt a pulse. No. Taochusu would not want one of the living left here if it could be helped. He wouldn't want a family denied its daughter. She hefted and picked them up, hoping the others would find Tao and the other lost soul. She had only two arms. And with every effort she had left in her, she crawled her way out far more silently than she believed that she did.

She never wanted to come back to this god forsaken place ever again. She was officially insane... but she was getting this woman home too.

=====================

2 Void spent, Investigate 30, Found Satone, Stealth 31 & 33. Orokos likes you tonight. Goodnight.

[Reo]

Reo motions to the others that he's going to stay put, picking out a vantage point and doing his best to stay steady.

Of course, the limping coward is the worst choice for this part...but at the very least I can cover them.

And Ninube returns with Ko, Reo motions to her prone form and pulls out his medicine kit. He kneels down and gets to work, trying to quickly bind a few wounds and force something for the pain down her throat.

Heal Ko, two raises, TN 25 medicine intelligence: 7d10o10k4 34
Ko wound recovery, 2 raises: 3d10o10k1 5

[Nozomi]

Reo motions to the others that he's going to stay put, picking out a vantage point and doing his best to stay steady.

Of course, the limping coward is the worst choice for this part...but at the very least I can cover them.

And Ninube returns with Ko, Reo motions to her prone form and pulls out his medicine kit. He kneels down and gets to work, trying to quickly bind a few wounds and force something for the pain down her throat.

Heal Ko, two raises, TN 25 medicine intelligence: 7d10o10k4 34
Ko wound recovery, 2 raises: 3d10o10k1 5

Slowly, Phi made her way to the three of them, bringing Satone down and nodding. "She's alive too. Can you see if you can close up her wounds for travel? I... can you even ferry someone right now?" She didn't want to leave Taochusu's body, but maybe someone else was joining them.

(OOC: I know we may have one of two possibles making an attempt. So we'll see about it.)

[Reo]

Reo looks her over, grimacing.

"No, that's too much for a quick patch. I'll...drag Tao if you can get him. He won't complain and it won't do any MORE damage"

---
Healing/Intelligence-two Raise-TN 25-heal satone: 7d10o10k4 24
Failed

[Miyako]

Miyako arrived by the ruins attempt the dangerous, solemn, and necessary duty that needed to be done. Unlike earlier guarding the camp and the supply wagons, she did not have her armor on and she carried no pack with her - Taochusu was a large fellow and she was going to need all of her strength and agility if she was going to have any hope of picking him up and bringing him back.

"Taochusu... he will not be left to this land. For all of us... for all of us he must come back." She showed her jade to them, put it to the back of her bare hand, kissed it for luck even, and then tucked it away in a small pouch before she took off into the night without another word, desperately searching for the guqin player's body and keeping eye and ear out for patrols of those things that lurked in the shadows...

(OOC: for the purpose of this event, Miyako ditches her Light Armor to remove TN penalties)

Finding Taochusu's body: success??? (OOC: I hit the enter key before I could put in any descriptive info, but the die roll of Invest/Per + Void and T1 technique is correct - feel free to make me reroll this if you want but I thought I'd note all this here.)

Stealth to get the body: success

Stealth to retrieve and bring the body back: failed
Second attempt: also failed
Final attempt... SUCCESS!

(OOC: The worst part about this is that I realize now I also forgot to roll an extra unkept die on the first two of the Stealth rolls - I am a miserable and sorry failure on this haha! )

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After what seems like many minutes that go by, a shadowed figure appeared on the horizon, slow and lumbering, a couple soft grunting sounds emanating from that same direction. Another minute or so goes by and the figure got close enough to be caught in the light from nearby torches and the like, the others would see Miyako slooooooowly lumbering forward, one heavy foot in front of the other, the body of Taochusu and his possessions pressing heavily down upon her back, her legs a bit wobbly and unsteady, and yet still she walked towards the rest of them until she was out of the shadow of the dark and in full range of the lights. In that moment, she dropped to her knees and crawled out from underneath the large man's body. She breathed hard for a good number of seconds, hands on the ground, not getting back to her feet.

"... he... he's here... his things... with him..." she tries to spout out in-between breaths, steadying herself with one arm as she took her other hand and put it on top of his on the ground, feeling the coldness in the hands of a man that had lived tough, died tough, and she hoped would always be remembered for his sacrifice this day.

[Bakuriel]

[This thread is now open for RP]

[Nozomi]

Phi had to look away for a second. She hadn't wanted to see him like this. Not with how he'd lived. It was hard to see the big guy in such a state and it hurt, but... they'd found him. "Hell won't have him," she said softly to the lot of them. "We ... need to get these back to somewhere safe, get them medical care and shugenja's prayers. But... we can give him a burial, the burial a hero deserves. Thank you, Miyako."

A moment and she breathed, pulling her bracelet out and touching it to her skin so Miyako could see. "Good. Let's... get away from the crater. I'm worried about taking too long. They've been down there for too long. We need to get them back, so... what do you think? A pyre? where they can't see it?" Burial was more Hikaru way, but... this wasn't the mountains.

[Miyako]

She nodded her head in-between breaths but otherwise continued taking some time to catch it, and once she did so she pushed herself off the ground and onto her feet, still a little wobbly but otherwise fine. "It will take too long to get him back to the city. He always said he had no family, no place to call home... anywhere would do so long as it's not this place." Her strength coming back bit by bit, she stood up straight to stretch out.

"When we get back to camp... we wrap him in some cloth with some flower petals and the like for time being. When we get back to the jungle... do it there. Big pyre, hot as can be. His guqin - we make sure he has it and it burns with him so he may have it with him in spirit realm, play beautiful songs for the other spirits. And then... spread his ashes in the jungle. Bless the jungle with them, and he will always watch over and protect those that venture to the south." The Chinsei Way.

[Nozomi]

"Yes. In camp. Where he can be honored by those who fought beside him." Phi could agree to that. It was with sadness, but she wanted them to know his fate, to know that he had gone down swinging, and that they had made sure he would be inviolate. It was only sad what they'd hear about the nezumi who fell in battle. She carefully started to lift Satone and breathed in for a moment. "We shouldn't tarry. We need to get everyone back, away from this place as quickly as possible. There are still things in the crater, but ... I feel a change in the air. I hope that his death hasn't been in vain."

She paused and closed her eyes. "It was a hundred of those beasts I saw fallen. A hundred took them down, and I won't hear any different." A thin laugh. "What's it going to hurt in the end if I can't count?"

[Miyako]

"I should have the strength to get him there with him, catch my breath now and again with less pressure from that which lurks in the dark." She nodded, took a couple deep breaths, and then squatted and carefully wrapped her arm around the body and its possessions and lifted him up to hold him at the side and walk once more. She struggled a bit to get fully upright again, but once she did so she had found her balance: the weight of Taochusu was no burden compared to the thought of leaving him behind in the Lands of Shadow.

"When telling the story... make it two hundred. Then one hundred will certainly be believed," the tribeswoman added, laughing at that as she took a careful step or two, just to make sure her balance would remain intact.

[Nozomi]

"Taochusu... would love the way your mind is working," she said, smiling sadly as she carefully hefted Satone up and nodded to Ninube and Reo. "But let's get back. I want the hell away from this place. I want them the hell away from this place. I never want to set eyes on it again. We're lucky we are alive. Let's keep it that way."

[Miyako]

"Never forgetting... never coming back." But she did at least turn her head around one last time, staring into the darkness for a few moments before turning back around and starting her somber walk, that now behind her hopefully being the last time she ever saw again of this cursed place again and these grounds of horror.

[Reo]

"It definitely wasn't two hundred." Reo chimes in, but a wry smile comes to his face. "But I won't tell if you won't."