The Sea and the Sun's Shadow - New Fic
42 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:Crabtacular! Mantisifant!
My girl Kudaka taking names and doing stuff, gotta love it.
That was remarkably cool.
I want to see the symbol on the armour! Let's hope it isn't this.
23 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:I want to see the symbol on the armour! Let's hope it isn't this.
This was a good showcase of Shadowlands organization. A Watchtower was seized, manned by Lost Samurai to maintain the deception at a distance, and the monster troops are noticeably well-equipped and mobilized under a single banner. Given the amount of time needed for a tower to not check in, the Crab get worried, hire the Mantis, and sail upriver, was this their full expeditionary force? Or have they been moving groups of Shadowlands troops through that breach into the Empire proper since they first made it?
3 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:This was a good showcase of Shadowlands organization. A Watchtower was seized, manned by Lost Samurai to maintain the deception at a distance, and the monster troops are noticeably well-equipped and mobilized under a single banner. Given the amount of time needed for a tower to not check in, the Crab get worried, hire the Mantis, and sail upriver, was this their full expeditionary force? Or have they been moving groups of Shadowlands troops through that breach into the Empire proper since they first made it?
That sounds depressingly plausible.
1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:That was remarkably cool.
I want to see the symbol on the armour! Let's hope it isn't this.
I personally hope it /is/ that.
11 minutes ago, KakitaKaori said:I personally hope it /is/ that.
Or this
Just need to track down a Sukune
26 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:Or this
Just need to track down a Sukune
I'm cool with it being a very much longer, and more torturous road before we ever reach that point, but if the story does get there, then...I hope Sukune is someone we love and are heartbroken about that he should have such happen to him. And the story could be wild and amazing.
It could happen with time.
For now, A unifier in the Shadowlands...a tiny foretaste of what might come.
I'm still quite happy with Oguri & Kudaka as characters, and I like their interactions. "That snort" was a nice touch. If theirs were the marriage that made the alliance, I'd be ok with that. I'm still voting Oguri for Crab Clan Thunder.
Has FFG said anything yay or nay about a playable Shadowlands faction? I could see this being a tease for that, even if you (and the symbol on their clothes) are "Named Oni's Horde" not "the Legions of Fu Leng."
Also, that second-to-last line. Gaze not too long into the abyss, Crab-san...
They haven't said anything about as I know about shadowlands as a faction. Same for minor clans. I don't think there's a need or plan to do it anytime soon. Both shadowlands and minor clans are being left as neutral cards here and there
Well, that was a fun punch-up.
Finally we left the focus away from Crane-Lion-Scorpion drama. Not that I don't like that drama, but I want to see what else is happening in the rest of the Empire.
I was kind of hoping that they might pick up Asako Tsuki on the way up the river, but there's still hope for the twins to find her, I suppose.
I hope there's not a Shadowlands playable faction, but it could be super cool for L5R to get a cooperative version of the card game where the players go against a prebuilt/self run kind of Shadowlands deck.
Ok, so... organized ogres and goblins? Yeah, that ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," seems to have struck the Crab with full force.
3 hours ago, KakitaKaori said:I hope there's not a Shadowlands playable faction, but it could be super cool for L5R to get a cooperative version of the card game where the players go against a prebuilt/self run kind of Shadowlands deck.
I'd like some kind of Stronghold/s for building a Shadowlands deck. Like give the Crab Clan a Stronghold called "Big Stink*" that supports building a Shadowlands deck.
* a Hiruma fortress that got overrun by Goblins who turned it into a city.
4 hours ago, KakitaKaori said:I hope there's not a Shadowlands playable faction, but it could be super cool for L5R to get a cooperative version of the card game where the players go against a prebuilt/self run kind of Shadowlands deck.
A reverse Archenemy as a multiplayer format vs 2+ Clan decks. The clans play provinces normally, but the Shadowlands deck has a replacement, say, individual hordes, that need to be broken instead before the provinces get overrun. Unique rules for 'corrupted' rings if they're won by the Shadowlands player.
58 minutes ago, Mangod said:Ok, so... organized ogres and goblins? Yeah, that ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," seems to have struck the Crab with full force.
I'd like some kind of Stronghold/s for building a Shadowlands deck. Like give the Crab Clan a Stronghold called "Big Stink*" that supports building a Shadowlands deck.
* a Hiruma fortress that got overrun by Goblins who turned it into a city.
I'd actually prefer it be a role. Ignore or mitigate honor loss for playing shadowlands cards, but has a mandatory base loss each turn or when your Shadowlands characters leave play. Maybe add an effect similar to the OG Phoenix box where you can taint a character when they enter play to reduce their cost or add a fate if yo made the honor loss an effect of them leaving play.
What I dont understand and, perphaps someone more vversed on the lore might tell me, is: why dient the crab just send a detachment walking on the wall?
I mean, sailing by river is faster. Ok. But first you have to send the dude to the village.l, which takes time, risk negotiations failing, and then have him sail upriver. And you open yourself to another clan knowing youre having trouble in your duties (something which, from the phoenix, we know no clan wants). Wouldnt a crab detachment matching on top of the wall be fsatr? And theyre protrcted from random attacks that they might get in the river
5 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:I was kind of hoping that they might pick up Asako Tsuki on the way up the river, but there's still hope for the twins to find her, I suppose.
Didn't she escape in the vicinity of Kyuden Hida? And the twins are headed in the opposite direction, so not much chance of them meeting up.
9 minutes ago, RafaelNN said:What I dont understand and, perphaps someone more vversed on the lore might tell me, is: why dient the crab just send a detachment walking on the wall?
I believe the implication is supposed to be that the abnormally high Shadowlands activity means that the Crab don't have the forces to spare to investigate so they decided to hire mercenaries and if you're hiring Mantis you might as well pay for the use of their ship too.
55 minutes ago, shineyorkboy said:Didn't she escape in the vicinity of Kyuden Hida? And the twins are headed in the opposite direction, so not much chance of them meeting up.
The twins are heading back down Last Stand River to Earthquake Fish Bay. Tsuki jumped into the river at Kyuden Hida, which is where that river meets that bay. She specifically choose to head up the outside of the wall, because it was the one way that wouldn't be guarded.
1 hour ago, RafaelNN said:What I dont understand and, perphaps someone more vversed on the lore might tell me, is: why dient the crab just send a detachment walking on the wall?
From A Game of Promises , where Oguri hires Kudaka:
“Three weeks ago, the Watchtower of Sun’s Shadow in Ishigaki Province stopped sending reports to Hida Castle. It might have been nothing, but...” He cleared his throat, and coughed as the sweet-potato wine burned a line into his sinuses. “A team of scouts was sent to check the area, and none of them returned. Something might have gotten through the Wall. I need to bring in a force that’s swift and dangerous enough to find out—and to either take care of it or send a message back letting Hida Kisada know why.”
They did sent a team walking on the Wall, or riding next to it. They disappeared. An escalation in force was needed, and the Winter Court choice decided it. This was the Yasuki solution. Presumably, the Hida solution would have been a squad of heavies, the Kaiu a reinforced repair crew, the Hiruma would backtrack the organizing band, and the Kuni would have focused on the kansen.
Ah ok, I missed that. Thanks
So we've gotten the Dragon choice story (Kitsuki investigates Hantei's death), the Crane choice story (Kuzunobu's visit to the Fox), the Phoenix story choice (Why, Kuni Yori?!?) and this is the Crab choice story.
We're missing a story about the Moto (Chagatai?) managing newly acquired Hisu Mori Mura & Hisu Mori Toride, a Kitsu Sodan Senzo (communing with Arasou?) commanding the Emerald Legion, and a Yogo doing what's necessary to roll up the more assertive faction of the Scorpion. Interesting if that last one ends up being Asami, dismantling Kachiko's network as a show of loyalty to Shoju.
19 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:So we've gotten the Dragon choice story (Kitsuki investigates Hantei's death), the Crane choice story (Kuzunobu's visit to the Fox), the Phoenix story choice (Why, Kuni Yori?!?) and this is the Crab choice story.
We're missing a story about the Moto (Chagatai?) managing newly acquired Hisu Mori Mura & Hisu Mori Toride, a Kitsu Sodan Senzo (communing with Arasou?) commanding the Emerald Legion, and a Yogo doing what's necessary to roll up the more assertive faction of the Scorpion. Interesting if that last one ends up being Asami, dismantling Kachiko's network as a show of loyalty to Shoju.
I thought it was Moto Juro they but in charge.
3 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:The twins are heading back down Last Stand River to Earthquake Fish Bay. Tsuki jumped into the river at Kyuden Hida, which is where that river meets that bay. She specifically choose to head up the outside of the wall, because it was the one way that wouldn't be guarded.
*checks map*
Since when the f*** is Kyuden Hida anywhere near the coast!?
Well now I'm seriously questioning how the Destroyers were able to put it under siege if it was so close to naval resupply.