Roleplaying game

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Chapter 9: A Ronin’s Path
Chapter 9: A Ronin’s Path
Skeletal Skirmish
At some point, no matter how the battle is going, the PCs must engage in 
combat themselves. This scene should happen after the second round of 
combat. Read the following passage as this conflict scene begins:
The battle rages all around you, the screams of samurai and mon-
sters alike coming from every direction. The Wall is covered with 
ladders, ropes, and creatures attempting to climb them, while the 
Crab forces continue to fight the creatures off. 
However, on a portion of the Wall where the defenders have fallen, 
a skeletal hand reaches the top, soon followed by the entire skel-
eton of a reanimated samurai, bits of armor still dangling from 
the bones. The creature is followed by others of its kind, and they 
unsheathe their weapons as they turn their empty eye sockets to the 
Third Watchtower, where Tomonatsu’s command is. There is no one 
to stop them—except you, if you hurry.
This scene should be resolved as a skirmish, using the rules on page 
163. Use the profile for Skeletal Bushi, on page 206. However, the 
circumstances of the skirmish will be affected by how the mass battle has 
been progressing. Compare the number of strategic objectives each side 
has achieved so far to determine if the Crab are losing, winning, or tied. 
Depending on the results, adjust the circumstances as follows:
Composition of the enemy group: If the Crab are winning, use one 
Skeletal Bushi per character. If they are tied, use one and a half as many 
Skeletal Bushi as there are PCs (rounding down). If the Crab are losing, 
add a leader to the group (preferably Moto Morikazu if he is still alive, 
but any of the leaders listed on page 217 will do). Note that if the Skel-
etal Bushi outnumber the PCs, some of them will keep going toward the 
watchtower while the rest are engaged in combat.
Assistance from the Crab: If the Crab are winning, soldiers the PCs 
encounter can provide the PCs with weapons; other items they need, 
such as rope; or quick medical assistance. If the Crab are tied, only one 
such weapon or item can be provided before the Crab must get back to 
the fight. If the Crab are losing, the corpse of a soldier returns to life as a 
PC passes by, and it attacks them! Resolve a single Attack action against 
the surprised character, using the Zombie Peasant profile, on page 204. 
Resolve the skirmish that follows, but remember that the zombie is suf-
fering from the Prone condition to begin with.
Terrain: If the Crab are winning, some fortifications on the Wall re-
main that can hinder the skeletons’ progress; the skeletal bushi begin the 
scene on the other side of two range bands of Entangling terrain. If the 
Crab are losing, the Wall is strung with debris and corpses: the PCs begin 
the scene in Dangerous terrain that extends one range band in the direc-
tion of their foes. If the two sides are tied, the terrain is hazardous, with 
pieces of the Wall broken or about to break. At the start of each round, 
choose a PC or skeletal bushi; the terrain within one range band of that 
character’s current location becomes Dangerous terrain.
The characters start the scene at range 3 of their enemies. The skel-
etal bushi begin at range 5 of the watchtower, moving toward it. If 
even one of the skeletons escapes, it will strike an unaware Tomonatsu 
and injure her, meaning she won’t be present in the next scene, which 
immediately follows.
Confrontation with the Oni
As the PCs reach the watchtower, hopefully after defeating the skeletons, 
read the following text aloud to them:
The stench of rotten blood and volcanic smoke fills the air, emanat-
ing from the watchtower. It overpowers anything else coming from 
the battlefield and is utterly sickening. Before you can enter the 
watchtower, a brilliant flash crosses the sky from the direction of 
the Shadowlands, and a thunder-like crack reverberates from the 
watchtower, causing the top battlements to explode into shards of 
masonry. A towering figure emerges from the smoke and dust. Sur-
passing thirty feet in stature, the monster dwarfs the Crab warriors 
before it. While it is roughly humanlike in shape, the glowing cracks 
in its gravelly skin point at its otherworldly nature. Its rumbling 
voice echoes across to you: “There is no Hida Kayo to protect you 
anymore! Centuries have passed, and I am finally free! Now I shall 
tear down this Wall once and for all!”
Kazanagan no Oni is now fully materialized in the mortal realm and 
aims to defeat the Crab once and for all. If Tomonatsu survived the previ-
ous scene, she is the oni’s first target; it aims to crush both the leadership 
and the spirit of the Crab. If she has been taken out of the fight already, 
the oni will instead use her blood to prepare a foul ritual that, if com-
pleted, will destroy the entire watchtower. This would not only serve as 
a blow against the morale of the clan, but create a breach through which 
Shadowlands creatures would be free to enter Rokugan and rampage 
through the countryside. The characters need to stop it!
This scene is resolved as a skirmish, using the rules on page 163. It 
takes place on the top level of the watchtower. The battlements have been 
destroyed, but most of the roof is intact. Falling is a genuine risk here; any 
PC who plummets from the Wall counts as falling six range bands (see 
Falling on page 171), but no PC should fall without a chance to resist 
with a TN 3 Fitness (Air 1, Earth 5) check.
Four main factors influence the ultimate battle:
Hida Tomonatsu’s Fury
The commander of the Crab forces is the main target of the oni. While 
she hasn’t been wounded at this point in the battle, she is still no match 
for the oni on her own. If the PCs advise her to flee or retreat, she nods 
and takes the stairs to the lower level of the tower, as she understands she 
needs to remain alive for the army to have a fighting chance. Otherwise, 
their best option is to join the battle, inflicting as much damage as possi-
ble on the oni or causing distractions to stop it from attacking her. Social 
skill checks can be used, depending on the PCs’ approach, to refocus the 
oni’s attention on the PCs rather than on Tomonatsu.
If Tomonatsu is Incapacitated, the oni is instead preparing a destruc-
tive mahō ritual. The characters only have eight round before it is com-
plete, after which the watchtower will crumble and they will certainly 
perish. Since the oni is focusing its power through the ritual, it ignores 
the PCs. If a PC inflicts a critical strike on it (or uses the Challenge action 
against it), it pauses the ritual to begin attacking the nuisance who drew 
its ire. The oni does not bother to attack Incapacitated or Unconscious 
characters unless they make it truly irate.
Managing the Skeletal Bushi
The skeletal bushi should probably be treated as a minion squad (see 
NPC Squads, on page 191), or potentially two minion squads if there 
are five or more skeletal bushi. Skeletal bushi are still aware enough 
of their surroundings to assess threats and accept challenges from the 
PCs (even if their response is little more than a horrible scream and a 
piercing stare from their burning eyes). They generally ignore Inca-
pacitated and Unconscious PCs, instead moving on to livelier targets.

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