Session 11: Knights of the Living Dead Report

General Summary

Our session began with Aien who found himself trapped by the woman he was trying to take captive, instead now faced with a group of undead figures shambling towards him in a dark corridor. After trying to break out via the trapdoor through which he had entered, Aien quickly realised that he had been locked inside. Using his new ninjutsu techniques, he crawled his way across the walls and over the heads of the undead below. 
Eventually, after finding the woman's lab and what looked like several ancient cages perhaps used in the earliest dungeons in Toto, Aien discovered a secret exit to the tunnels. An exit that also proved to be a secret entrance into the castle itself.
Emerging from a painting into a hall filled with soldiers rushing back and forth, Aien had soon met back up with General Mak who explained the situation as best he could despite the chaos erupting throughout the city. He was told where to find his friends and sent back outside. As he left he saw hundreds of samurai preparing defences and getting ready to hold the main castle.
Outside, on the east wall, Jerry and Seto watched the horde approaching and streaming into one of the schools, which was quickly overrun. A pair of samurai had managed to escape, however, and ran for the gates, pleading to be let inside.
Jerry stood at the controls, asking if either of them had been bitten. One replied that he had, but that it wasn't too bad. "I'm sorry, I've seen what happens to those who get bitten. I can't let you in."  Jerry responded as the horde of undead grew ever closer. Outside the gate, the men pleaded until eventually, the bitten man offered a self sacrifice for the safety of his brother. In a moment of empathy, Jerry opened the gate to let the unharmed brother inside. However, this samurai had other ideas. He grabbed his brother by the collar and pulled him through the gates just as the horde was getting dangerously close.
As the argument downstairs broke out, Astrea and Seto were taking positions atop the wall and arming themselves with longbows. Joining them were the soldiers who had been resting in the gatehouse. As the archers took their positions and the horde grew close, they noticed something.
The light coming from what they had assumed to be torches was in fact coming from a series of burning flags tied to the backs of some of the undead. Below the flags were suspicious barrels, also lashed to the walking corpses. Barrels filled, with smokepowder.
An arrow was loosed into the crowd and the chain reaction was set off. A series of explosions detonated just far enough outside the wall so as not to do it's intended damage, instead blowing apart most of the attacking force and some surrounding structures.
Inside the gatehouse, Jerry was frantically trying to lower the gate as the explosions went off, filling the room with flames and shrapnel as the brothers were engulfed and set alight. Through their screams, Jerry formed a quick plan and launched himself into the air to cut down a counterweight full of sand. This caused the gate to drop closed despite the damage taken from the explosion and also sent sand spraying across the room, effectively dousing the two burning samurai.
As the smoke cleared, Jerry found one brother dead and the other severely burnt, but alive. He pulled the man back to safety before arming himself and running back into the gatehouse to deal with the zombies now crawling through the hole in the gate.
Up top, archers were letting loose, giving Seto a chance to climb down the wall and dash through the smoke and chaos to get a better vantage point across the way. In doing so he managed to kill a few more. At this point the herd was thinning out substantially and it seemed like our heroes were making a successful defence. That's when the wall began to crumble.
The damage from the explosion had proven too much and an entire corner of the gatehouse suddenly gave way, sending an archer posted up top flying down into the angry mass of gnashing teeth below. The other guards managed to scramble to safety and Astrea had already taken up a position from within the city itself.
A gaping hole had been left inside the gatehouse, allowing the undead to start pushing their way into the city. Thankfully, our mouse-folk friend was there to stop them. Slicing, cleaving and stabbing his way through each and every zombie that clambered it's way over the rubble.
From Astrea's vantage point she noticed the badly burnt brother who Jerry had tried to save stand to his feet and begin shambling down the road, deeper into the city. As she readied her bow to put the creature down, Aien was just rounding the corner to find his party engaged in battle with a horde of undead.
Seto, seeing that the herd had been thinned out, made an attempt to get back inside the city and clear any undead still standing. Drawing them to his position allowed him to pick them off like fish in a barrel, displaying his martial arts skill in the process.
When the party finally managed to halt the zombie advance they turned their attention inwards. Seto knew that holding this entrance was merely prolonging the inevitable as the undead second guard unit was already causing havoc near the medical tents and herbalist's shop. Thus, he and Aien made their way there to assess the situation.
On the way, Jerry and Seto each picked up a barrel of smokepowder. Though they have not yet found a use for them, they would no doubt come in handy at some point. Aien made an effort to contact one of the shinobi busy surveying the city from the rooftops and asked him to find them some oil or other flammable liquid. Astrea had a chat with ol' One Eye, the smithy. He was still in the process of investigating the party's gear and did not seem to care much for late night visitors but still helped where he could.
At this point, the horde forming at the medical tents had spread into the tunnel leading from the city square to the throne room and was filling up fast. Nearby, the tavern still operated loudly as normal, seemingly unaware of the giant blue dragon in the sky and whatever that meant. Though the tavern was filled with capable warriors, the warriors were also filled with sake. Without a warning, they would surely attract the horde and be quickly overrun.
Now our party finds themselves spread across the city once more with two minutes to midnight. Will they be able to work as a team and overcome the zombie threat? Will the citizens of Toto be able to protect themselves? Where the hell are all the samurai that train here?

Campaign

Kiga Shogunate

Protagonists

Seto

Level 9 Tabaxi Monk - Way of the Kensei

/ 66 HP

Jerry Abershaw

Astraea Karasu

Chaotic Neutral Thylean Satyr (Astraea) (Anhropologist)
Bard 13
Warlock 6

122 / 122 HP

STR
12

DEX
18

CON
14

INT
14

WIS
16

CHA
22

Aien

0 / HP

Player Journals

Zhi by Astraea Karasu

Report Date

19 Nov 2020

Primary Location

Kiga Shogunate