Yasei no ōkiddo stepped off the boat. Gold was literally spilling off it's side.
Crispy was there, waiting, holding the note in her hand from Shōgun Ashikaga, the man from the Orient who told Crispy about Chubby. This must be the ship, she told herself. It was so obvious. Her face and eyes were wet with tears, and even though she didn't look a single minute older since the days of Ishassara, the weariness and pain was easily readable on her face. She missed Chubby. Why did he have to go? You should have went WITH him, Cora, but NO. YOU had to make deals with Hell. Find out about your stupid night terrors and about your father. Now you're locked in deep.
LOOK AT WHAT IT COST YOU.
As Crispy was deep in self destruction, Yasei approached her, and stood in front of Crispy, waiting for her attention. She was nothing like anything Crispy had seen before, and Yasei bowed deeply, and Crispy looked her over.
"Who.." was all she could say, tired. Heartbroken. Exhausted. "Who in the HELLS are YOU..?"
Coming out of her deep bow, Yasei addresses Crispy in a light voice, barely above a whisper: "Kon'nichiwa watashi no yūjin. My name is Yasei no ōkiddo...."
Seeing the confusion on Crispy's face, Yasei continues: "Yah-say no oh-kito." she sounds out, slowly.
She continues: "Formerly Yasei no Kimi Ashikagi. Please call me Yasei. My father, Shōgun Ashikaga, has sent me to be your mamorimasu, in honor of your mutual friend, Chubby-san. I am here at your service."
Yasei slowly bows deeply towards Crispy again. Returning from her bow, you can see the hint of a smile at the edge of her mouth. That quickly dissipates, however, and she lowers her head in sorrow and begins to stare intently at the ground.
Crispy stared at Yasei for what seemed like days, trying to sort through this new information when she finally spoke, overwhelmed with sorrow for her dead best friend. And now this?
"What?" She said, weakly. "At my service? What does that even..are you the girl the Shogun was...?" Crispy sighed, frustrated, trying to process it all. Then she said to herself, "Mamorimasu..?" Then she looked back to Yasei. "I don't NEED anyone to take care of me, or watch over me. Chubby should have told you I can take care of MYSELF! Didn't he tell you ANYTHING about me?! I'm trouble. I'm dangerous. I'm broken. People around me get HURT. I had to make a DEAL with demons just so I could SLEEP!! Not to mention I haven't seen Nia in WEEKS, and i've LOST my best friend." The last part she almost screamed, and people around were starting to stare.
Yasei said nothing. Crispy glared at her with curiosity, surprised her words didn't affect her demeanor. After the Ishassara mission, Crispy started working for the Demon Lord of Nia's mother. Yes, it got Crispy part of what she wanted, which was nightmare less sleep. But, the Demon Commanders had her working like a dog, and so far Crispy had help up her end of the bargain. Killing, slaughtering, murdering. It was job after job after job, and Crispy's endurance was starting to wane. What was more curious is that the Demons gave her 2000 years of natural life, something else she wanted, and that was time. Time to find out the truth about her murdered father and why he was haunting her. But, so far, nothing.
"Is..is that..is that money from Chubby's business?" She asked, breaking from her destructive thoughts.
Yasei, in a rather neutral tone of voice, mumbles from rote memory: "Money is something that one can borrow from people, but a good man cannot suddenly be come by. One should sustain a man kindly and well from the first. And in having retainers it will not do to nourish oneself alone. If you divide what you have and feed your lower ranks, you will be able to hold good men."
She continues: "Chubby-san's will granted you his full inheritance. The Shōgun desires you to have it, on one condition...that you honor Chubby's memory and service to the Shōgunate by nourishing your soul and those around you with it."
Two retainers quietly pads up from behind Yasei, and drop a silk covered elegant wooden box (called a Senryōbako) in front of Crispy. Pulling off the silk covering and opening the lid, you see the box is crammed with shiny gold coins ("bu") which have an unusual rectangular shape surrounded by finely beaded borders that is reminiscent of a miniature bar or ingot. Covered in exotic calligraphy and stylized paulownia flowers, the coins give off a warm, soft glow that accentuates the intricate details of the pieces, giving them a compellingly tactile sensibility.
Crispy's inheritance from Chubby totals 5,000 GP.
In Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, there's the Wealthy feat: start with double the maximum gold, and then sometime between 6th and 10th level you come into an inheritance of 1000 GP x character level. So, since Chubby ended the game at 10th level, that would be 1000 GP x 10 = 10,000 GP. That seemed a little excessive, so I figured I'd cut that in half to account for the inevitable taxes I'm sure the Shogun would charge!
Crispy was there when she walked into that tavern so many years ago, late at night, when Chubby was being harrassed by drunk thugs. She defended him and made a best friend, a father figure she always wanted, for life. He was old even at that time.
She was there when Chubby and her took the Ishassara Contract, where Crispy met Nia, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life, and loved her deeply. They stopped a terrible evil, and, with Nia’s help, Crispy made a deal with demons to try and solve the wounds of her past. But, the nightmare continued, it just took a different shape. She became a demonic servant.
She was there after the Contract, where Chubby and Ruven grew wealthy beyond imagining by mastering a recipie of ale based off island ingredients. She was elated for Chubby, it was a dream he always had. The name of Chubby’s brew was known all over the land, but consumed with personal problems, Crispy could not offer more help, and the money didn’t interest her.
She was there the day Liam translated the letter explaining Chubby’s death, and the overwhelming sadness and grief she displayed shook the city, it was nothing short of a miracle that no one was hurt from her eventual sorrow, and then, rage. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of hell, her murdered father’s soul laughed and celebrated.
She was there when she met Yasei, presenting her with money Chubby wanted to give her. But there was more. It wasen’t just the money, Crispy was also getting Yasei. Crispy looked at the gold for a long while, wishing it would bring Chubby back. She looked back at Yasei for a while. She didnt know what to do. She wanted Chubby back, and instead got THIS?
“Hells. So, what are you, now, like, my babysitter or something? Fine. I will. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Get rid of this money, people are staring..!”
With a slight flick on her hand, the two attendants appear out of nowhere, scramble to close up the Senryōbako, and quickly disappear with it. Yasei, throughout this time, stares intently at her feet, quite shyly.
You hear a long, high pitched whistle from behind Crispy. “WoooOOOOOOooooo” shortly followed by “That’s a lotta gold!”. A familiar gruff, bouncy accent and heavy footfalls aproaches. A humanoid figure in a long, brown trench coat and a round acoubra hat. As this figure draws nearer, he lifts the brim giving a large, stony grin. B’garry shoots off a quick wink at Crispy.
"Wa-hey! I guess it's been a little while, but the big man finally went to sleep for good, eh? Well now, if you need a safe space for all that loot, you're welcome to store it in my bank! What? Oh! No, not MY bank... I own and manage a bank now! Like the building! After site foreman on Ruvan's successful retreat, it's opened the door for me and my architecture career!" He says smugly.
Crispy nodded, accepting the offer from B’h’jarry. Obviously, it needed to be stored somewhere, and Crispy promised Yasei she would make others happy with it. She told Yasei to see it happen.
It's slowed slightly- I'm almost finished publishing up temple of ishassara.
I've added a few things and will deffo share it with y'all once it's done. I'm just re-drawing the art for the module and drawing some location maps. Should be done soon!
If y’all like, I can give you some context for character creation. I can make the new campaign space so you can add your characters to it and start the thread when we get underway?
That’s a stupid question, I’ll just give it to you now. Welcome to my world of Eothia! This can totally go from level 1-20. It’s not a campaign so much, but more of an open world for you all to play in and see what we find!
I’m gonna start you all off in the wastes of the ‘Dead Zone.’
“Many people believe that life simply cannot exist out in the dunes of the Dead Zone. It is a barren desert of sand and sun, offering no escape from the oppressive heat. Monolithic creatures roam the desert in a slow search for a way out and lost wanderers end up being consumed by dust storms… Or worse.”
Being a homebrew setting, there are some similarities to Forgotten Realms, but I’m also getting a lot of inspiration from Ebberon and even Dark Sun. So I will ask you to throw all your assumptions of the game world out the window to discover this world as you go- there is no prior knowledge aside from stories you may have heard, as y’all be starting level1.
Create your character level 1, with no gold or starting equipment.
You can pick any background you wish, but no tools or tool proficiencies. (If this is essential to your character however, let me know and you may start with one.)
Point buy or standard array for stats. I know it’s boring but it just makes balancing easier. To make it up to you, you all start with the resilient feat for free.
You begin in the slums of the City of Rust. How you ended up here is your decision, but here is what your character knows:
How you got here:
Some were born here, some were found lost, wandering the endless sea of sand that surrounds the City Of Rust. Sledge is the ruler of the City of Rust to the north in the Dead Zone and his younger brother Krum, once ally now turned nemesis, is lord of the city “Arid” to the south.
Sledge has stopped trading clean water with his brother who, in turn has stopped trading precious metals and crystals from their mine. Nobody is sure why or how, but one day the delivery simply came in empty. Twice in a row. Sledge thinks it’s because he was daddy’s favourite.
“The Dune”
Both cities are connected by a haphazardly crafted locomotive “The Dune Express” (or “The Dune” for short) which winds through the dead zone between numerous abandoned outposts which are consistently contested by wild wasteland dwellers and creatures. The Dune rarely stops and is said to be driven by an imprisoned fire elemental. The Dune creates consistent sand storms which encircle the Dead Zone and collects up lost wanderers to take to one of the cities. It is manned by “Drifters”- A third party who used to be Dune Reapers, but decided to work on the train, gaining mutual benefits from either city as they trade what they pick up on the Dune runs and trade it in whichever city they are visiting.
The City’s Operations
The City of Rust exists from a previous world, a previous life in the middle of these wastes. The fallen city now covered in sand is now home to helpless lost survivors, mysterious traders, crazed ‘believers’ and ruled by “Sledge, the Brute” himself. Water is scarce and the city works off a “trade and favour” economy. Water is rationed out to the people in the city and Believers do not need it. People say their dehydrated brains is what contributes to their fanatical personalities.
Believers are a mix of human, bugbear and orc, fully committed to Sledge’s leadership. His latest endeavour; overthrowing his brother in the city of Arid, to the south. Civil war would undoubtedly result in countless lives lost. Sledge instills in the Believers a reckless sense of glory for combat and bloodshed and they follow him on a spiritual level.
The most able-bodied slum dwellers are recruited (sometimes forcefully) to power mechanically operated machinery in a workshop known as ‘the furnace’ which produces flame to heat and boil sludge. The city’s artificers have found a natural reservoir which produces a toxic sludge. Heating it is part of the purification process in order to filter it into water. The leftover sludge is used as fuel for The Dune.
Really looking forward to spending more time with you all!
CRISPY MEETS YASEI.
Yasei no ōkiddo stepped off the boat. Gold was literally spilling off it's side.
Crispy was there, waiting, holding the note in her hand from Shōgun Ashikaga, the man from the Orient who told Crispy about Chubby. This must be the ship, she told herself. It was so obvious. Her face and eyes were wet with tears, and even though she didn't look a single minute older since the days of Ishassara, the weariness and pain was easily readable on her face. She missed Chubby. Why did he have to go? You should have went WITH him, Cora, but NO. YOU had to make deals with Hell. Find out about your stupid night terrors and about your father. Now you're locked in deep.
LOOK AT WHAT IT COST YOU.
As Crispy was deep in self destruction, Yasei approached her, and stood in front of Crispy, waiting for her attention. She was nothing like anything Crispy had seen before, and Yasei bowed deeply, and Crispy looked her over.
"Who.." was all she could say, tired. Heartbroken. Exhausted. "Who in the HELLS are YOU..?"
Coming out of her deep bow, Yasei addresses Crispy in a light voice, barely above a whisper: "Kon'nichiwa watashi no yūjin. My name is Yasei no ōkiddo...."
Seeing the confusion on Crispy's face, Yasei continues: "Yah-say no oh-kito." she sounds out, slowly.
She continues: "Formerly Yasei no Kimi Ashikagi. Please call me Yasei. My father, Shōgun Ashikaga, has sent me to be your mamorimasu, in honor of your mutual friend, Chubby-san. I am here at your service."
Yasei slowly bows deeply towards Crispy again. Returning from her bow, you can see the hint of a smile at the edge of her mouth. That quickly dissipates, however, and she lowers her head in sorrow and begins to stare intently at the ground.
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
Crispy stared at Yasei for what seemed like days, trying to sort through this new information when she finally spoke, overwhelmed with sorrow for her dead best friend. And now this?
"What?" She said, weakly. "At my service? What does that even..are you the girl the Shogun was...?" Crispy sighed, frustrated, trying to process it all. Then she said to herself, "Mamorimasu..?" Then she looked back to Yasei. "I don't NEED anyone to take care of me, or watch over me. Chubby should have told you I can take care of MYSELF! Didn't he tell you ANYTHING about me?! I'm trouble. I'm dangerous. I'm broken. People around me get HURT. I had to make a DEAL with demons just so I could SLEEP!! Not to mention I haven't seen Nia in WEEKS, and i've LOST my best friend." The last part she almost screamed, and people around were starting to stare.
Yasei said nothing. Crispy glared at her with curiosity, surprised her words didn't affect her demeanor. After the Ishassara mission, Crispy started working for the Demon Lord of Nia's mother. Yes, it got Crispy part of what she wanted, which was nightmare less sleep. But, the Demon Commanders had her working like a dog, and so far Crispy had help up her end of the bargain. Killing, slaughtering, murdering. It was job after job after job, and Crispy's endurance was starting to wane. What was more curious is that the Demons gave her 2000 years of natural life, something else she wanted, and that was time. Time to find out the truth about her murdered father and why he was haunting her. But, so far, nothing.
"Is..is that..is that money from Chubby's business?" She asked, breaking from her destructive thoughts.
Yasei, in a rather neutral tone of voice, mumbles from rote memory: "Money is something that one can borrow from people, but a good man cannot suddenly be come by. One should sustain a man kindly and well from the first. And in having retainers it will not do to nourish oneself alone. If you divide what you have and feed your lower ranks, you will be able to hold good men."
She continues: "Chubby-san's will granted you his full inheritance. The Shōgun desires you to have it, on one condition...that you honor Chubby's memory and service to the Shōgunate by nourishing your soul and those around you with it."
Two retainers quietly pads up from behind Yasei, and drop a silk covered elegant wooden box (called a Senryōbako) in front of Crispy. Pulling off the silk covering and opening the lid, you see the box is crammed with shiny gold coins ("bu") which have an unusual rectangular shape surrounded by finely beaded borders that is reminiscent of a miniature bar or ingot. Covered in exotic calligraphy and stylized paulownia flowers, the coins give off a warm, soft glow that accentuates the intricate details of the pieces, giving them a compellingly tactile sensibility.
Crispy's inheritance from Chubby totals 5,000 GP.
In Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, there's the Wealthy feat: start with double the maximum gold, and then sometime between 6th and 10th level you come into an inheritance of 1000 GP x character level. So, since Chubby ended the game at 10th level, that would be 1000 GP x 10 = 10,000 GP. That seemed a little excessive, so I figured I'd cut that in half to account for the inevitable taxes I'm sure the Shogun would charge!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/761/Monte-Cooks-Arcana-Unearthed?it=1
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
Crispy was there when she walked into that tavern so many years ago, late at night, when Chubby was being harrassed by drunk thugs. She defended him and made a best friend, a father figure she always wanted, for life. He was old even at that time.
She was there when Chubby and her took the Ishassara Contract, where Crispy met Nia, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life, and loved her deeply. They stopped a terrible evil, and, with Nia’s help, Crispy made a deal with demons to try and solve the wounds of her past. But, the nightmare continued, it just took a different shape. She became a demonic servant.
She was there after the Contract, where Chubby and Ruven grew wealthy beyond imagining by mastering a recipie of ale based off island ingredients. She was elated for Chubby, it was a dream he always had. The name of Chubby’s brew was known all over the land, but consumed with personal problems, Crispy could not offer more help, and the money didn’t interest her.
She was there the day Liam translated the letter explaining Chubby’s death, and the overwhelming sadness and grief she displayed shook the city, it was nothing short of a miracle that no one was hurt from her eventual sorrow, and then, rage. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of hell, her murdered father’s soul laughed and celebrated.
She was there when she met Yasei, presenting her with money Chubby wanted to give her. But there was more. It wasen’t just the money, Crispy was also getting Yasei. Crispy looked at the gold for a long while, wishing it would bring Chubby back. She looked back at Yasei for a while. She didnt know what to do. She wanted Chubby back, and instead got THIS?
“Hells. So, what are you, now, like, my babysitter or something? Fine. I will. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Get rid of this money, people are staring..!”
With a slight flick on her hand, the two attendants appear out of nowhere, scramble to close up the Senryōbako, and quickly disappear with it. Yasei, throughout this time, stares intently at her feet, quite shyly.
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
You hear a long, high pitched whistle from behind Crispy. “WoooOOOOOOooooo” shortly followed by “That’s a lotta gold!”. A familiar gruff, bouncy accent and heavy footfalls aproaches. A humanoid figure in a long, brown trench coat and a round acoubra hat. As this figure draws nearer, he lifts the brim giving a large, stony grin. B’garry shoots off a quick wink at Crispy.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
“Hey B’Harry.“ Crispy says. “You can have it all if it would bring Chubby back. Instead of this..shy ninja warrior he never told me about.”
Crispy looks at Yasei as she stares at her feet, and wondered just what the Hells do I do with her now.
"Wa-hey! I guess it's been a little while, but the big man finally went to sleep for good, eh? Well now, if you need a safe space for all that loot, you're welcome to store it in my bank!
What?
Oh! No, not MY bank... I own and manage a bank now! Like the building! After site foreman on Ruvan's successful retreat, it's opened the door for me and my architecture career!" He says smugly.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Crispy nodded, accepting the offer from B’h’jarry. Obviously, it needed to be stored somewhere, and Crispy promised Yasei she would make others happy with it. She told Yasei to see it happen.
OOC: Afro - how's your new campaign coming along? Ready to let us have a whirl through it? Absolutely looking forward to it! :-)
Last to know and first to be blamed...
As a free action, can I regret my life choices?
It's slowed slightly- I'm almost finished publishing up temple of ishassara.
I've added a few things and will deffo share it with y'all once it's done. I'm just re-drawing the art for the module and drawing some location maps. Should be done soon!
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Awesome :)
Ditto!
Like, Blizzard "soon", or Afro "soon"? =P
Oooooo, a bit of both ;)
If y’all like, I can give you some context for character creation. I can make the new campaign space so you can add your characters to it and start the thread when we get underway?
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
Now we're talkin'.
That’s a stupid question, I’ll just give it to you now.
Welcome to my world of Eothia!
This can totally go from level 1-20. It’s not a campaign so much, but more of an open world for you all to play in and see what we find!
I’m gonna start you all off in the wastes of the ‘Dead Zone.’
“Many people believe that life simply cannot exist out in the dunes of the Dead Zone. It is a barren desert of sand and sun, offering no escape from the oppressive heat. Monolithic creatures roam the desert in a slow search for a way out and lost wanderers end up being consumed by dust storms… Or worse.”
Being a homebrew setting, there are some similarities to Forgotten Realms, but I’m also getting a lot of inspiration from Ebberon and even Dark Sun. So I will ask you to throw all your assumptions of the game world out the window to discover this world as you go- there is no prior knowledge aside from stories you may have heard, as y’all be starting level1.
Create your character level 1, with no gold or starting equipment.
You can pick any background you wish, but no tools or tool proficiencies. (If this is essential to your character however, let me know and you may start with one.)
Point buy or standard array for stats. I know it’s boring but it just makes balancing easier. To make it up to you, you all start with the resilient feat for free.
You begin in the slums of the City of Rust. How you ended up here is your decision, but here is what your character knows:
How you got here:
Some were born here, some were found lost, wandering the endless sea of sand that surrounds the City Of Rust. Sledge is the ruler of the City of Rust to the north in the Dead Zone and his younger brother Krum, once ally now turned nemesis, is lord of the city “Arid” to the south.
Sledge has stopped trading clean water with his brother who, in turn has stopped trading precious metals and crystals from their mine. Nobody is sure why or how, but one day the delivery simply came in empty. Twice in a row. Sledge thinks it’s because he was daddy’s favourite.
“The Dune”
Both cities are connected by a haphazardly crafted locomotive “The Dune Express” (or “The Dune” for short) which winds through the dead zone between numerous abandoned outposts which are consistently contested by wild wasteland dwellers and creatures. The Dune rarely stops and is said to be driven by an imprisoned fire elemental. The Dune creates consistent sand storms which encircle the Dead Zone and collects up lost wanderers to take to one of the cities. It is manned by “Drifters”- A third party who used to be Dune Reapers, but decided to work on the train, gaining mutual benefits from either city as they trade what they pick up on the Dune runs and trade it in whichever city they are visiting.
The City’s Operations
The City of Rust exists from a previous world, a previous life in the middle of these wastes. The fallen city now covered in sand is now home to helpless lost survivors, mysterious traders, crazed ‘believers’ and ruled by “Sledge, the Brute” himself. Water is scarce and the city works off a “trade and favour” economy. Water is rationed out to the people in the city and Believers do not need it. People say their dehydrated brains is what contributes to their fanatical personalities.
Believers are a mix of human, bugbear and orc, fully committed to Sledge’s leadership. His latest endeavour; overthrowing his brother in the city of Arid, to the south. Civil war would undoubtedly result in countless lives lost. Sledge instills in the Believers a reckless sense of glory for combat and bloodshed and they follow him on a spiritual level.
The most able-bodied slum dwellers are recruited (sometimes forcefully) to power mechanically operated machinery in a workshop known as ‘the furnace’ which produces flame to heat and boil sludge. The city’s artificers have found a natural reservoir which produces a toxic sludge. Heating it is part of the purification process in order to filter it into water. The leftover sludge is used as fuel for The Dune.
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk
I just de-activated the Ishassara campaign.
Crispy, I think the content sharing was great for our party. It's totally up to you if you wish to enable it again.
I've added more info about the world on the campaign page.
Campaign link:
https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/210480193250280
"CoS" Rumble- Tabaxi Shadow Monk