Another Topaz Championship - Part II

Bayushi Sugai was not a happy bunny rabbit (Great art by Ray Tiburon)

So another day and another Topaz completed. What exciting titbits can be gleaned from this thrilling adventure...

The 2nd Day of the competition

All the pressure was on Mirumoto Sakura who had two points and needed six to complete this she managed by one solely by doing well in the archery (but not too well) and just succeeding in the hunting. Both Matsako and Yoshi went into a high competition to win out but both ended with literally the same points total (an equally impressive 13). Masako doing unexpectedly well in the Poetry competition.

The celebration meal

This went swimmingly with some unexpectedly disgusting gifts. Sakura's was the most successful with a Chotoku with Cranes on the scabbard. This pleased Toshimoko which was lucky because Yoshi presented the most hideous vase ever. If it is a vase no one could quite work out what could go in it.

Yoshi's vase

Masako completed the presentation of gifts with a oversized dagger of limited use liberally decorated with Lions. This naturally went down like a bowl of cold sick.

Toshimoko was not impressed

Hitoshi's outburst was a surprise to all. Well I say to all Masako just raised an eyebrow and leant back to watch while Sakura decided to 'wait'. It was only Yoshi who leapt into action and utterly failed to convince Hitoshi to sit down. Under the mistaken assumption that any duel would be duel to the death he decided to take the unsubtle approach of telling Hitoshi about his ancestry in front of the entire room.

That kind of Dad

Thus simultaneously embarrassing Hitoshi and both Toshimoko and his hosts the Crane Clan in one horrific diplomatic snafu. Hitoshi can probably thank his lucky stars he wasn't wacked with a wooden Bokken instead.

Yoshi's diplomatic skills needed work

The final day

The dispatching of Hitoshi by Rikku was  also unexpected and was so unexpected that rather than chase Masako decided to 'watch Hitoshi dying'. Luckily she was ordered to follow by the current champion...To a certain extent it helped as Masako seemed to be the only one capable of following Sugai. By the end of the chase Yoshi hadn't managed to leave the duelling academy and Sakura had only just managed to get over the bridge.

So we moved to the fight. This almost went badly wrong. Masako was quickly incapacitated though after a couple of turns 'calming breathed' her way back to alertness. Yoshi piled in with his fists but Sakura was the real hero of the fight. Taking on two she dispatched one of the ronin before knocking Sugai out of the fight. Yoshi gets next place for clearing up her own ronin and then helping Sakura. Masako DID take on two of them but was basically a meat shield for the rest of the party..

Masako was feeling slightly outnumbered

The Competition

We decided to see if anyone could beat Rikku and Rikku was rolling hot. Yoshji went first and got within one bonus success of drawing. Masako (after being healed) did not fair well but was admittedly still woozy after all the magical healing. This just left Sakura and Rikku for the final. Again we went for a full duel. Rikku easily out paced Sakura's staredown and struck efficiently to win the Topaz Championship.

GM Notes

Strangely my combat app was less useful in a ftf game. For the next scenario I may throw up some cards to hold combat data. If I do make some I will post the concept up here at some point. Combat is difficult to make run smooth and even more so when the group is new. Things will run smoother and faster when everyone is comfortable with the options.