Fellowship of the Soeurs
1. Meeting of the Heroes
The summer sun broke into soft shadows through the slatted brise-soleil. A tower fan circulated the sultry air as clammy dew collected on seven glasses and a pitcher of iced barley tea. Seven young women assembled around a solid mahogany table.
The head of the table was cut off by a three-sided cardboard partition covered with text the size of phone directory print. A tall young woman occupied this seat. While fully Japanese, her round eyes, nose, and generous mouth looked almost Western, and those lips lit her comely face with a mischievous grin. Satou Sei was the most casually dressed in jeans and golf shirt embroidered with the cursive Lillian "L" emblem.
"So that's how it's played," the college student concluded a ten minute exposition.
To Sei's right, Ogarasawa Sachiko rolled a round rose colored die between in her slender fingers. Her face was scrunched like a kitten's upon encountering a ball of yarn for the first time. She set the many-sided polyhedron on the velvet that had been set down to protect the table top.
"I'm not sure about this," Sachiko set the die onto a velveteen cloth that had been lain down to protect the slick wood. "Most games that I've played have a board or cards."
Yumi flipped through a thick rules manual. Where her grande soeur was polished and elegant in designer capris and blouse, Yumi seemed soft and child-like in a simple summer dress. Her pigtail were pulled back in caterpillar green ribbons. "I'm willing to give it a try. Sei-sama said that she put a lot of work into this game."
"Yes, one can only wonder what that mind has dreamed up," Sachiko added cautiously.
"I'm game. I've heard of these role playing games from a cousin and wanted to try one," Yoshino replied from across Yumi.
Yoshino's gentle face was framed by raven hair bound into twin braids by small bow ties. She dressed in a Valentine's Day pink top tucked into white skorts. Her grande soeur Rei occupied the seat next to her. The handsome teen sat across from Sachiko. Her short hair, khakis, and blue short sleeve shirt enhanced the illusion of a pretty boy.
"Renge-chan's a little weird though, isn't she?" Rei referred to their mutual cousin.
The table was completed by a pair of porcelain figurines. Toudo Shimako could have compared to a French fashion doll from the nineteenth century. She was dressed a blue hydrangea print yukata. Her petite soeur Nijou Noriko resembled a traditional Japanese doll down to the mitered hair. Her yukata had a pink hydrangea print.
"I think that I understand the gist of it, Onee-sama," Shimako added in her airy voice.
"It's basically make-believe with rules," Nijou stated.
"That's right," Sei said. "Since Yoshino-chan seems to knows the most of the game, we'll start out with you two.
"The silence in the pine forest hung as palpably as the chill fog-"
Shadows shrouded the pines, though the sun had climbed halfway up the sky. The vast expanse of green was primordial and had not known the axes of men for centuries. Roots buckled the surface of a cobbled highway that intruded through the woods.
A pair of riders broke through the curtain of pearly mist. The lead rider was a knight clad in a heavy chainmail coat and hood. Her destrier was similarly armored. The device on her surcoat and shield identified the warrior as Sir Reiji of the Yellow Rose. She balanced the butt of her lance in a saddle cup. A wide broadsword was buckled to her left side.
The second rider wore a fine chain shirt. Studded leather braces and greaves protected her limbs. A bow hung from her saddle. She wore a lighter sword on her left hip and a hatchet at the back of her belt. Wherever Sir Reiji went, her squire Yoshi followed. Her green surcoat bore a small badge of the yellow rose.
"Yoshi, this fog is thick. It would be ideal conditions for an ambush," Reiji commented. Her powerful warhorse felt skittish.
"Let them come!" Yoshi called into the obscurement.
"It would be better to avoid a fight," Reiji answered.
"Roll a die for a perception check," Sei ordered.
"Perception check?"
"To see if your character notices something."
"Which one?" Rei asked. She picked up a smoky twenty-sided die.
"Any, they're the same. What's your intelligence?"
Rei scanned through her sheet. "14."
"That'll be a +2," Sei watched the die spin to a 17. "Pass, definite pass."
From the corner of her eye, Reiji noticed man shaped forms lurking in the woods. The knight pulled her mount up short as an arrow whipped a finger width past her nose. She lowered her lance and clapped her heels to the sides of her mount. "Ride!"
Yoshi followed as the dark figures shambled from between the trees. Yoshi's sharp eyes picked out a rope stretched across the path. She whipped out her hatchet and sent it spinning head over haft. The keen edge cleanly severed the tripping line.
"Yoshi, stay back," Reiji ordered.
Yoshi pulled her long sword from its scabbard with a steely hiss. The forest path narrowed and turned; the throwing ax was buried into a tree at the bend. She switched the blade to her off hand and snagged the hachet as she rode by.
Attackers blocked their path, their features were obscured by the mist. Reiji lowered her lance and speared a foe through the chest. The shaft snapped upon impact. The figure was hurled aside like a rag doll.
Yoshi slashed at the ambushers as she passed. A bloodthirsty war cry tore from her throat. The attackers closed in on them.
Reiji tore her heavy blade from the scabbard. The warriors rode down several more enemies before loosing the momentum of the charge. Yoshi milled into the melee with sword and ax whirling.
As the battle was brought to a standstill, the fighter could clearly see the rotted features and torn rags of their enemies. The attackers carried the stink of the grave with them. The walking dead wielded their arms clumsily, but relentlessly.
"D-dead?" Shimako shuddered.
"Zombies!" Yoshino interjected. "This game isn't half bad."
"Yes, the walking dead," Sei answered in her best Vincent Price impression. "Meanwhile, in Sachiko-san's and Yumi-chan's neck of the woods, they hear-"
The sounds of battle echoed through the forest.
Sagawara the sorceress was having her foot attended to by her traveling companion Soseki. Soseki finished wrapping the blistered foot in linens and then eased the boot back on.
"Could be bandits, milady," Soseki said.
"Someone could be in danger," Sagawara decided. "We should investigate."
Soseki sprang up. Her hands dipped into her oversized clothes and pulled out a well balanced dagger. The nimble figure darted between the trees. Her boots made little noise of the thick carpet of needles, and there was little underbrush to hamper her.
Sagawara's grimaced at the pace, but followed with her blue cloak flapping about her.She held a slender quarterstaff in her hands.
The pair stopped at the behind a clump of hedges at the fringe of a clearing. The clearing extended about ten yards to the edge of an escarpment. The rumble of horses, clash of weapons, and shouting sounded from below. A robed figure stood near the edge of the clearing; he was noticeably hunched over. His arms rose and wove about as he burbled primordial phrases. A pair of tall robed men flanked him. The mist obscured their other features.
"I sense foul magick at work," Sagawara intoned. Her voice was flat as were her onyx eyes.
A war cry rang out in a high pitched voice. "Hasekura!"
"For Aldis!" a deeper reply belted out.
"That would be the Knight of the Yellow Rose," Sagawara whispered. "We must help them."
"I'm going after the mage."
Soseki darted in before her mistress could say another word. Her short blade pulsed; it had been forged long ago during a old clan feud between wizarding families and had been enchanted to cut through magick.
Soseki darted to a tree closer to the trio, and then slipped behind some brush that was closer to her target. She waited for the distraction. Heartbeats later, an enormous thunderclap exploded at the tip of the escarpment. All three robes were thrown from their feet.
Soseki sprinted in, intending to hold the robed figure as a hostage. Though she ran like the wind, the pair of guards recovered swiftly and rose to their full heights, which measured at least two meters high each. They were skeletons, cracked with ancient wounds and stained by their long slumber on the forest floor. Pinpoints of ghastly light burned toxic green within their eye holes. One of them scooped up its master and placed him upright.
The mage was not human, though it stood man high. It had a pale underbelly that glistened with mucous. The rest of its body was a mottled gray. Three eyes slithered on tentacles above its mouth; they shined with the same ghastly light. The thing's arms were clumsily formed flippers. A twisted shell peaked from its back.
Shock registered on Soseki's face, but she closed the last few steps with the closest guard. She managed to come to an arm milling halt as an rusted ax slashed in front of her. Her foot slammed down on the head of the ax, trapping it in the moist earth. Her double edged blade struck against the exposed elbow joint. The steel shined with an unearthly blue light as the edge cut through the dessicated marrow. A second slice left the skeleton armless.
Soseki sent the shambling corpse off of the cliff with a swift kick. A cry of protest sounded from below. The second skeleton closed. Soseki severed an arm but it managed to grab and jam her knife arm into its ribcage. The corpse's grip was unearthly strong. She pulled out a second knife and stabbed the mundane blade through the monster's head. It was trying to maneuver her to the cliff edge. Soseki tried a trip. The skeleton spun off balance, but used it greater height and leverage to force them to the ground. Soseki hung onto to both blades. Her right hand was still trapped, but she struggled with her free hand to keep the enemy from butting her with its bare skull.
"Yumi!" Sachiko stood up abruptly. She knocked over her tea when she planted her hands on the table.
"Soseki," Sei corrected.
"Let me clean that up, Onee-san," Yumi rose to look for a towel.
"You don't need to do that," Sachiko answered, but the energetic girl had already met a maid at the doorway.
"You needn't get so excited over a game," Sei said.
"Of course," Sachiko answered and gracefully resumed her seat.
Sagawara charged into the clearing to get a clear shot. The snail mage spun a net of acid green lightning and threw it at the sorceress. Sagawara slashed through the fabric with a bolt of hot fire. Her enemy brushed away the flames with a sweep of its malformed arms. Pure fire burned against the Snail Mage's putrid were-light.
"Ready, team three?" Sei asked.
"Yes, Onee-san," Toudo Shimako shifted in her seat. This was the first time she had introduced her petit soeur to her grande soeur. "But do I really have to say it like that?" she gestured to the printed character sheet.
"You can improvise, just put feeling into it. Ready?" Sei repeated.
Nijou Noriko nodded calmly.
Below the escarpment, the Yellow Rose and her squire fell back in a battle of attrition against the living dead. Above, Sagawara the Red Rose and her retainer struggled against the Snail Mage and his minion.
A wind stirred against the unnatural fog, sweeping away the stench of the dead. Liquid syllables sang above the din of the battle. Scattered sunlight fell through break in the dense canopy. The dead slunk deeper into woods, leaving the wounded and winded warriors on wary guard in the middle of the road.
A second voice rolled louder through the forest. "I, Shima of the White Rose, call upon the Powers of Light to free these souls from their nightmare! I bid thee to return to your dreaming!"
The speckles of sunlight coalesced into thick columns. The dead shied away from the brightness. Their shadows were thrown into sharp relief. The shadows of the dead fluttered and dispersed like incense smoke on the wind.
The skeleton that overbore Soseki froze as the bright light blazed down on it. The light in its eyes faded. Soseki scattered the bones away from her and sprung to her feet. The Snail Mage launched a tear drop shaped bolt at her. With a lightning attack, she reflected the arcane missile with her bespelled blade back to its source. The bolt blasted the mage from its feet. It pitifully writhed on the ground leaving glistening slime on the gross. Sagawara raked the figure with an arc of mage fire from the tip of her staff. The slender woman's hair fluttered in the wind like a war banner.
"No more," the smoldering necromancer croaked. "P-Please spare this wretched life," It flinched from her blazing eyes.
The small retainer returned to her mistress's side. She sheathed her mundane knife underneath the folds of her travel stained clothes, but kept the keen enchanted short sword at ready.
The sound of hoofs signaled the approach of the knight and her squire. They were the worse for wear, but not seriously injured. Out of the woods, a pair of doll-like priestesses emerged. A light-haired one wore a white robe, while the black hair one wore a green robe. And so the heroes gathered.
AN: Sei's campaign is loosely based on the land of Aldis from the Blue Rose: The Role Playing Game of Romantic Fantasy, which is published by Green Ronin Games. It's a Tru20 game, uses only a d20 for rolls.