The Daimyo's Gambit - Game Thread

"What are those?" he says haltingly, pointing at the squares. "Catapult, guards." pointing at the X's, then at the hobgoblins former station. Then back at the squares, "What?"

Ai Shan looks a while longer at the pirate's symbol on the odachi. His face is grim.

"Vendetta," he whispers.

"We must move. That artillery piece will have a relief. We need to be gone before they get here and raise an alarm. Kill this worm and let's be about it."

Cassandra comes back to the party, sees the diagram drawn by the hobgoblin, and relates what she saw and surmised at the cliff edge.

Cassandra does not like the idea of killing the hobgoblin, but as Ai Shan ordered it, she lights up her staff, ready to strike it dead with her Shillelagh.

The rolls reflect Cassandra's lack of commitment to this action perfectly!

Fēng's eyes go wide. He lunges forward and tries to stop Cassandra's killing blow. He tries to keep his voice down despite his anger. "What is this?! Where is the honor in this? Are we murderers now?!"

Fēng gently pushes Cassandra's weapon away. "We can knock him unconscious, hide him. Or we can give him a weapon and he can try his luck in single combat against Ai Shan. Or against me. But I will not suffer the dishonor of slaying a defenseless prisoner."

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"OOC:
*I don't know what sort of roll I should be making but I use my Dex bonus for everything anyway so there you go.

"Just tie 'em and leave him, that's what I say."

Urki grabs a few feet of rope and does hard but crude cuffs with the rope. When he feels it's secure he sneaks his dagger out and splits the throat that he just healed a few minutes ago.

"Actually he's a loose end and loose ends can get you killed."

*ooc: it could be a coup de gras after what he's been through with us but I'll roll damage anyways.*

if Urkis Dagger doesn't kill him I execute him with the odachi assume 2d6 dmg

Expressionless, Ai Shan throws the odachi on the captives corpse and turns his back on it.

"Where now?" He says, cold as a glacier.

Kildrak looks down at the dead hobgoblin, his expression blank. "Feng, I can'appreciate wha' you w're saying there, the dwarves haf their own codes of 'onor that woul'na allow a prisoner to be treated tha' way. However, this was'a hobgoblin. They're a treacherous and pathetic people. Had we taken him wit us, he would'a turned on us a'the first opportunity. Ha' we tied 'im up an left 'him, it coul'ave been worse. There's no guarantee we'da be able to come back this way on'our return trip. He migh'ave starved to death, an tha'd have been'a crueler fate. This was quick, and a mercy to be true. Mos'likely his own people would have done 'im in anyway for turnin' traitor.They are savage people, as a dwarf, I know." Turning toward Ai Shan, "Still, wish you'd given 'im a chance to tell us more."

"Thanks Ai, that squirmy lil sh*t just barely got away from me. Best death that gob could ask for, I think.

Fēng turns away from them all and begins to meditate. What his companions are saying are all true. He himself, as he had stopped Cassandra's killing blow, had never lost sight of the potential catastrophe if their captive were found by more of Shimazu's troops. But what of honor? Is there truly a place for honor in a cruel world? What if, honor-bound, he had spared the prisoner's life and the vile creature had then gone on to murder countless innocents? Truly, the hobgoblin deserved to die. Fēng only wished that had not been the manner of it. And yet...

The young monk continues pondering as he continues his meditation forms. It is a delay, but the monk has been taught that anger and other distracting thoughts hamper one in battle.

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Fēng is refocusing his ki. This will take half an hour, a short rest. Feel free to interrupt him if your character feels it's a mistake to delay.

Cassandra is confused at what happened. Even on the pirate ship there was a pecking order, and she feels uncertain now as to who is the captain of this ship, if anyone. She sits on a rock, looking out into the bamboo for any signs of movement, waiting for someone to lead the party on.

Fēng completes his meditation and returns to the group calm and focused. "My friends, I'm afraid that my initiating an impulsive attack on this battery has jeopardized our mission. Now that we know somewhat more about Shimazu's defense emplacements it confirms the wisdom of the plan I original put forward: flying to the summit under cover of darkness, bypassing all defenses and eliminating the risk of the alarm being raised prematurely. But now that we've slain these creatures the alarm WILL be raised as soon as their relief arrives. We know nothing of their routine and so we've no clue how much time we have until that happens. Here's what I propose: we lie here in wait for whatever relief comes and eliminate them when they arrive. We now know that captains must be relieved of their alarm horns. The moment darkness falls I fly you up to the top and we infiltrate Shimazu's keep. What say you?"

Urki reaches over to grab his chain mail and dons it. "I think that is a fine plan of action. Probably should clean up the scene so the next captain doesn't blow the horn before we spring our attack.

Urki gets his chain mail on and then the black cloak over top.

"Feng, if you get close to the next captain I think it best if you can use those fancy punches on his chest. It could knock the wind out of the gob and we'll hear barely a thing from him.

"The hiccup in that plan is we do'na know where the dead cap'an was headed. Gobs is a disorganized lot generally, but this one seems ta be a cut above. If'n the captain is s'posed to make an end of watch report, kill in' the next group doesn'a give us much help. Plus who knows how of'en they switch. We may have a whole garisson piled up here before nightfall. I say we clean up here. Do our best to make it look like they deserted, then move up the mountain ta hide until night. We'll just hav'ta expec' a few more guards on duty than usual, someone's likely ta figure out the rouse.They'll send trackers. But small hunting parties we can handle."

"If we need to sneak, mother nature can elp us get past those bastards. 'Cos them goblins on the road talked about a cliff, I could also ask er to elp one or two of you with climbin, if it come to that."

Cassandra has prepared Pass without Trace (+10 Dexterity [Stealth] for everyone) and Enhance Ability (advantage on chosen ability check for 1 or 2 people) Duration 1 hour in each case, though I can cast them both again.

"These are fine ideas, my friends!" Fēng exclaims. "We need not wait for darkness if we can slip by these defenders."

"We can try to clean up but my blade made quite a mess of it. Leave the artillery and watch for them to send a relief crew or search party. These lot are weak, but organized. Watch and wait for nightfall then lets look for a way to sneak up. If the moon and stars are with us we can keep to the shadows and get past most of their fortifications without drawing too much attention."