Really, it was their own fault for being pushy.
The day had started pleasantly enough for Yan Lo... The Feng Shui of the abandoned Guild camp in the deep forest was quite enjoyable. The stacks of barrels and trees scattered about were a bit of a hinderance to his walk, but the same hinderance that made him have to keep pushing through the underbrush also sculpted the Chi of the area into a useful source of energy.
For once, he didn't have to spend his own energy to sustain his form.
Too, the bones below the earth were close at hand in the event of trouble. Once Guild workers, they had probably been eaten by some Neverborn or another. All in all, it made a perfect Hidden Fortress. His current project was the resurrection of Seven Samurai to defend it. But good things could not last, and voices through the fog of the early morning drew him toward the center. Blinking, he saw a group of men in dusters running away from hissing, sparking bundles scattered across the forest floor. Curiously, he walked over to one bundle and picked it up. Long sticks, with burning cords attached to them.
"UNCLE!" Chiaki came running from behind the trees, the clanking of her bodyguard, the mighty Izamu, following close behind her. "NO, THAT'S DYNAMITE!"
He shrugged, and put it down. "Fireworks of some sort. Yes, would be painful to lose a finger or two to fireworks."
She explained very tersely what dynamite could DO, and Yan Lo's eyebrows furrowed. "What? That would disrupt the feng shui of this entire area! Inconcievable!"
"Er, very concievable, Uncle. That word, I do not think it means what you think it me-"
He waved a hand, and scowled at the burning fuses.
"Well, then, it is easy enough to deal with." A flick of his wrist, and a blurring as he focused upon the path of spirit, and ghostly images of his right hand blurred into life over the five bundles. As one, they bore down and snuffed the fuses, grinding ectoplasmic digits together until the sparks were out.
-----
Meanwhile, several hundred feet away, the Ortegas crouched under the bushes. And crouched. And waited. "Er," said Santiago. "Wasn't there supposed to be a boom about now?" They all looked at Papa, who was eating a sandwich. He stared back. "Que?"
"You, er you got the fuses right, Papa?"
He scowled, and shoved the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. He wasn't going to risk the PB+J that they had bribed him with to set those fuses!
Nino shook his head, and squirreled up a tree. After a second, he called back. "Hey, there's some viejo out there. He's maybe doing something with the dynamite."
Francisco palmed his face. "Great. Is what we need. Some old crazy cabron messing with dynamite. Well, another one."
Papa glared at him, still chewing his sandwich. Beside him, Juan the latigo gunhand gulped, nonplussed. This was his first trip out with the family on serious business, and being this close to Papa Loco still made him nervous. But when Perdita calls, you don't say no. So Juan put on his best red shirt and followed the family out.
Perdita sighed. "Come on. Let's go tell him to clear out." They all shut up when Perdita spoke, and followed her out into
the fog.
-----
Yan Lo was pondering the question of what to do with the bundles of explosives, when the strangers came out of the fog. He shook a bundle of dynamite at them, ignoring Chiaki's cringe and sudden scramble for cover. "These are yours? Insolence! Total disruption of harmony, heaven and earth would not forgive you!"
"Easy old man." Said Perdita, holding up a hand, and assessing the situation. In addition to the old, hermit-looking man, there was a pretty young girl in ceremonial robes, and a towering figure wearing a massive suit of eastern armor. The girl was using all of her weight, trying to drag the armored person back into the trees. It was slowly letting her. "There are dangerous things in those barrels, too dangerous to move. We need to blow them up so that the Neverborn don't steal them. Please, put that down and leave."
Something was off about the armored figure. She studied it, as the old man ranted.
"Pah! This is my place now, none of your Neverborn shall come while I guard it. I care not for the contents of the barrels, depart and trouble yourself no more with this."
Behind Perdita, the rest of the Ortegas jogged up, Santiago glowering at the annoying geezer. "Oy! Old man! Didn't you hear her? You know who we are? We're the Ortegas! Get lost! Pierdete!"
And then Perdita drew, covering the old man. The others stopped, and looked at her.
"Dita?" Francisco asked.
"That armor... There's no one in it." Said Perdita, nodding toward the figure.
Her eyes were only off Yan Lo for a split second, but when they snapped back, the old man was flying, FLYING back into the trees!
He landed far out of range of their guns, and at the limit of Perdita's sight, and as he did so he cast small terracotta tokens into the earth. Two bony, armored forms clawed free, and he gestured to Chiaki. She nodded, and began playing the flute, as the Ashigaru shambled over to flank her. The elder necromancer then frowned at Izamu, who smashed his gauntlets together in joy. With a nod, he called the Soul Porter out of the aether, and assigned the little goblin to herding the ancient armor.
"Insolence! Unforgiveable! Chiaki, you take the Ashigaru and hold the south. Izamu, the center is yours. Listen to the porter's directions. I shall carve my way through the north, and come back to ensure our victory. They shall not dymanite my
grove!"
"Er, it's Dy-Na-Mite, uncle. And can you hold the flank yourself?"
"Bah! They have awoken the sleeping dragon!"
"Dragons can still be shot with long rifles, uncle. You aren't a spirit yet!"
"True, true. Very well, then." Detaching a bead from his bracelet, he crushed it, and the Onryo moaned as it swirled into existence. "She shall assist me. Remember, keep them from setting off the dyma-dynar-The explosives. Once we're done, go make sure the bonsai tree past their lines is okay, and that they have not stomped on it or something with their clumsy feet."
"Er... Yes, Uncle."
-----
Meanwhile, on the other side of the trees, Santiago cursed and started to charge after the flying geezer... Only to be stopped by Perdita's upheld hand. "Wait. It's a resurrectionist of some sort. He'll have an army back there."
"So what? We have bullets!"
"Si. So take it slow and cautious, and cover your family, comprende?" Santiago swore, and awaited orders.
She rubbed her chin. "Nino. Take the north. Francisco, go with him, make sure he doesn't get jumped. Santiago, Juan, Papa, go to the south. Hold off undead while papa sets the fuses. I'll take center."
"Alone?" Protested Francisco.
She smiled. "Never. You'll be close enough, we have trouble. But if it makes you feel
better, stick between me and Nino."
The Ortegas nodded, then drew, clashing their gun barrels together. "Vamanos, mi familia!" And they ran.
As they moved into position, Nino. "Oy, Hermano. You make sure Perdita doesn't get hurt, eh?" Francisco smiled. "Just keep those dead things out of our backfield, comprende?" They nodded, and then it was too busy to talk for a bit...
(The scenario: A line in the sand! (30 points) I was playing ten thunders, and felt like trying out Yan Lo for the first time. I ended up as the defender. The terrain was scattered woods and piles of barrels... Lots of cover and obscuring terrain, but not many ways to hide. It seemed like an uphill battle ahead, especially against the ortegas...
My force:
Yan Lo
Chiaki
Soul Porter
Izamu
2 Ashigaru
1 Onryo
Schemes: Stake a claim on a far tree, and the other scheme was sacrificed for soulstones, which got turned into chi, along with one more. Two steps along the path of spirit, giving Yan +1 movement overall and flight.
The enemy force:
Perdita
Francisco
Nino
Papa Loco
Santiago
and a Latigo Pistolero.
Schemes: Bodyguard and holdout.
Didn't think to take pictures, sadly. Anyway, on with the show.)
Chiaki, her flute sounding eerie tones through the fog, led the two Ashigaru forward on the southern flank, only to hold up short as she saw the grinning form of Papa Loco over near the dynamite bundle. Behind him, Santiago and the gunhand raced to keep up. She blinked as Papa hoisted out a stick of dynamite and judged the angle, and she panicked!
"Go! Spread out, don't let him..."
Then the world was white. When she came to, she saw falling bones and bits of armor slowly pattering to the ground, one after another. She picked herself up off the ground, bruised and battered, and glanced right. The remaining ashigaru fastened its skull back on and gave her a bony thumbs up. "Er. Yes." She said, not hearing her own voice. "You go stab him. I shall be... Over there. WAY over there."
Yan Lo sighed as he felt the chi massage his soul, then frowned as he recognized it as one of his minions. Ah well, more where they came from.
(Turn 1 was a lot of manuvering. On turn 2, Papa got a shot in, throwing dynamite and cheating to take out one of the Ashigaru, and lay three wounds into Chiaki. Fortunately, she's tough.)
Then he winced as the Onryo twitched, a bullet hole in the center of its mass. Yes, there was a slight figure to the north, with a long rifle. Well, he'd get to the sniper in a minute. The sniper, in the meantime, was shocked to see himself bleeding from a wound that had come out of nowhere.
(Nino tried a headshot, but a few spent cards prevented that. His second shot just did damage, but Immediate Revenge did a damage back. This wound on Nino came in very handy later...)
He was more concerned with the figure in the center. The long-haired woman. He focused on her... And felt a strong will pushing him back. "Hm!" She would be impossible to influence. Well, not IMPOSSIBLE, with the right curse... He motioned to the Onryo, and the creature slashed an arcane sigil into the air with razor-sharp fingernails, trying to lay the Curse of Jigoku upon Perdita... Only to fail. His eyebrows shot up. She was THAT powerful a spellcaster? How totally unfair. "You must have some weakness, witch!"
(The Onryo couldn't land the curse on Perdita, so I couldn't suppress her Immune to Influence. Sucked for my "Weight of the Ages sucker-punch plan." Dammit, WHY is her casting value so high?)
Well, maybe brawn would suffice where spells had failed. He waved Izamu forward! Hanging onto his shoulders, the Soul Porter managed to steer the armor into a charge against the gunslinging witch... Which came to nothing, as it turned out she could
dodge about as well as the Monkey King after three bowls of wine.(The Soul Porter linked to Izamu can drive him like a motorcycle. Seriously, 4-8 inches extra for the cost of a fairly easy cast? Yes please! But Perdita is defense 8, and I must scream...)
Perdita responded by fanning the hammer, emptying the revolver into Izamu.
She blinked. Three shots, three holes. But it was still standing? She was not used to this.
(So, Izamu's got a neat ability. When you cheat your defense, the attacker's triggers don't trigger. This lead to situations where I was effectively cheating down my defense in order to prevent Perdita's critical strike kicking in. He had a LOT of trouble with that... 'Dita needs her critical strike to do good damage! Especially against an Object 2.)
And then Francisco stepped in. His duelling sword flashed in the fog, and the Onryo wailed as it fell, vowing to haunt the brave Ortega... But failing, utterly, against his stubbornness. As she fell, Yan Lo stripped her Chi of its spirit essence, and absorbed it into himself, glowing softly. "I am become a dream within a dream!" He explained, pleased. Then he frowned at Francisco.
(Goodbye Onryo. Felt like a waste, too. If she hadn't been dogpiled by Nino and Francisco, she might've done more. Will have to play more with her to see how it goes in the future.)
Meanwhile, to the South, the remaining Ashigaru had crept up on Papa Loco! Standing over the dynamite, it fended off Francisco and the insane elder with sweeping thrusts of its spear! The lone Latigo gunhand couldn't get a clear shot, and spent most of his time yelling to his relatives to watch out. Safely back from the conflict, Chiaki waited as she healed herself, waiting to snatch chi from the fallen...
(I kept Chiaki just far back enough that papa couldn't catch her in a sacrifice blast. It was a tricky situation for him... The Ashigaru are defensive speedbumps, but he didn't want to dump papa just to take down one of them. Especially since he'd hose santiago and the pistolero as well. This hesitation bought me a round or so in the south...)
After a few failed spells, and the death of the Onryo, Yan Lo howled in annoyance. "Now," he commanded the spirit porter!
The little goblin drove Izamu to the side, swinging wide around Perdita... Bringing the giant within spear reach of Francisco, who looked up, distracted.
Then the Soul Porter squinted south, and Papa Loco hiccuped, feeling funny. His already aged form withered a bit more, and his mustache grew to twice its length.
(Soul Porter + a Magical Extensioned Weight of Ages is a fun combo. Especially against the feeble-willed papa.)
As it turned out, he looked at the wrong danger. Yan Lo drew upon the Weight of Ages, crushing through Francisco's stubborn will, and the Ortega gasped as he saw his hands wither, and become spotted with age. Somehow the energy rolled off Izamu as well, and his peripheral vision caught his mustaches whitening and bleaching out, as suddenly old bones collapsed to the forest floor. He did not move again.
Yan Lo smiled to himself, and drew in the Chi. "The path of Ash, I think." The Ortega's stolen health would help him heal any wounds he might take. Combined with his spirit form, he'd be nearly impossible to kill. Hopefully. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of that infernal woman's gunplay. She continued to plug Izamu, who struck back.
But THIS time, he managed to catch her once with the blade! She shrugged some of it off with a soulstone glow, but the cursed woman was limping, hurt. One severe strike would end it.... But would Izamu last?
(Success! Sure, it took like five tries, but I landed some hefty damage on Perdita, in exchange for a few nibbling shots. Still, the fight wasn't over yet, and Izzy was getting low on wounds.)
Frowning at the condition of the ancient armor, Chiaki started creeping forward... Only to stop cold, as a new sun bloomed in the south. Just out of the blast wave, she caught the three bundles of chi and with a slight effort of will, threw them toward Uncle Yan.
It took her a second to decipher what had happened. Squinting, she saw the charred remnants of her last ashigaru, Papa Loco, and the latigo gunhand lying about. Looks like Papa had decided to take them with him. Santiago was still standing, though, and he squinted down at the dynamite, which had miraculously not gone up...
(The ashigaru pegged papa for minor damage, while taking only a slight graze in return. Combined with the damage from the weight of ages, it was clear papa would fall next round, which would hurt his team pretty badly but NOT be enough drop the ashigaru. Sacrificing papa with "Take ya with me" ensured the Ashigaru's death. Amazingly enough, Santiago came out unscathed.)
Yan Lo crackled with Energy! But he was concerned that so many minions had fallen... Sharing a companionly gaze with the Soul Porter again, he launched down the path of Bone! Understanding, the Soul Porter darted over to stand on the southernmost bundle of dynamite, waving his spear in the surprised Santiago's face!
Meanwhile, Yan Lo strengthened his arms, flew over to the north, where Nino was trying to creep toward the far dynamite bundles, and CHARGED! A massive strike, followed by the Weight of the Ages, brought the young Ortega down.
(Path of Bone is BRUTAL. That (1) charge that targets wounded creatures... Well, the Onryo had guaranteed her revenge after all! Still, if I hadn't had mobility from the Path of Spirit, I couldn't have done it. They synch well together.)
But behind him, he winced as a sudden hail of gunfire spelled the end of Izamu. The massive armor fell to the ground, but Chiaki dived to grab an amulet that flew free of the relic's form, and with a whisper of magic, teleported it over to Uncle Yan. Then, sighing and knowing how it would end, she drew her knife and moved to stand over the dynamite bundle, defying Perdita...
Yan Lo shrieked in anger, as the infernal gunwitch shot his niece right in the chest.
She fell, hard. "Little Biikon..." he whispered, saddened at the loss.
Then his eyes filled with rage. Roaring, he flew to the south once more, pausing only to collect Nino's body. He could not close with the witch... But then he didn't have to, did he? Contemptously, he threw nino's body onto the pile of fallen armor, and held up the amulet, chanting! Perdita took a step back in alarm, as Izamu rose once more, nearly at full strength! Then, he gave the woman the ultimate scorn, and turned his back on her. Time to go check on that bonsai tree.
(Izamu is a large base. He drops three corpse counters when he dies. Yan Lo's relic reconstruction spell grants 2 health for every corpse counter spent, and they can be loose counters, so long as they're within 6 inches. Combined with dead Nino, that's 8 wounds and a peeved Izamu ready for another go...)
(Incidentally, this was turn 6. If we'd ended here, we would've tied at 4 and 4. Fortunately, the game went until turn 8, surprising both of us. But by 7, I had it won.)
Perdita managed to scoot back just far away enough to set the fuses on the dynamite, barely out of Izamu's reach.
The armor, enraged, charged. This time it did not miss. And Perdita fell, cut open and gasping for life.
Meanwhile, Santiago and the Soul Porter spent several minutes flailing at each other. Amazingly, the little spirit got the upper hand, though he couldn't quite seal the deal. The burly Ortega was hard to kill...
(He spent so many cards trying to keep Perdita alive... This, coupled with a bad hand, and bad luck meant that he couldn't kill the porter after three solid rounds of trying. It was a fluke, but I'll happily take it!)
And then, Santiago glanced up from his struggles, to see Izamu standing over Perdita's fallen form, blade raised high...
"NO!" He shouted as it descended....
Cutting the fuse from the lit dynamite at her feet.
He blinked. Then he looked around at the battlefield, realizing the enormity of his loss. "No..." He whispered, falling to his knees... In despair, he threw down his guns and closed his eyes. With his family gone, he did not wish to live.
(6-0, Yan Lo! Tactical summary to follow in a bit. No one important REALLY dies in Malifaux, so we have to give them a happy ending, now don't we?)
"You. Mister Ortega." Santiago blinked at the old man's voice, surprised to be alive.
He saw the Armor standing over him, the groaning, pale form of Chiaki in its arms, and the little Soul Porter doing a victory dance on Izamu's helmet. Yan Lo, full of stolen Chi and looking like as dangerous as El Diablo himself, glowered down at him from the opposite side. "You are very, very fortunate. Your lady friend's bullet missed my niece's heart."
Santiago blinked, and shook his head. "What does it matter... Mi familia..."
Yan Lo tapped the Soul Porter, and it ceased dancing. It removed a lantern from its stick, and offered it to Santiago. Numbly, he took the glowing, not-quite-real orb.
"This contains their souls. Shake the lantern above each of their bodies, and they will be called back to the world of the living. The aging that slew some them will fade in a few days. Until then, I wish them the joy of experiencing total lack of bowel control. The cursed woman yet lives, but she will need healing, fast. So I suggest that you get a move on."
Almost as an afterthought, he poked Izamu in the ribs. The armor reached a hand down through its neck-portion, hauled out the remnants of Nino, and tossed the young sniper's body negligently into a mulberry bush.
Santiago stared at him, surprised. "Why? I don't get it!"
Yan Lo shook his head. And as they faded back into the fog, carrying the bundles of explosives safely away from the site, he called back over his shoulder.
"You were not put on Malifaux to GET IT, Mister Ortega!"
(Okay. First off, wow. That was an impressive test of Yan Lo and company, and I have to say that the old man impressed me. I was figuring that the Ortegas had my number, but as it turned out, the scenario played to Yan's strengths in a number of ways.
First off, chi gathering. With a Line in the Sand, you KNOW where the focal points are going to be. The dynamite tokens are right THERE, so keeping either Yan or Chiaki within 8 inches of potential dying targets is easy. I grabbed chi from almost everything that died, and Yan just got more monstrous from it.
Second off, like most resurrectionists, attrition favors Yan. Not in the fact that it gives him corpse counters to play with, (For he actually needs very little), but in the fact that as time goes on he gets nastier. If a foe neglects him and lets him build, then they pay for it.
Third off, Izamu is a damn near necessary build for most scenarios with Yan. When you remove offensive triggers from your attacker's equation, his assaults choke and sputter. When you throw Object 2 into the mix, he can tank damn near anything. Hence, lasting three rounds or so against Perdita.
Fourth off, the Soul Porter is a BARGAIN at 2 points. He can both drive Izamu like a tank, and drop the weight of Ages around here and there. Also, as a spirit, he's got SOME survivability. He couldn't have held off Santiago without that.
Fifth off, Chiaki plus a few Ashigaru is normally a solid investment. Didn't work out so well here because my foe brought Papa Loco to the table, but in a situation without such a volatile model in play, I think the rolling spearball has merit. As it was, Chiaki helped gather chi for Yan Lo, so I still got my five points worth from her. And 8 wounds meant that Perdita had to spend 2 actions dropping her, which prevented dynamite activation for that turn.
Sixth off, I feel the Onryo was a good investment. Normally, I don't play spirits with resurrectionist masters who aren't named Kirai. That's because they tend to interrupt the recycling flow of corpse counters... The way I usually play, Nicodem, Macmourning, and Seamus need to field models that drop corpse counters so I can be assured of a steady recycling stream. Yan Lo, though, doesn't usually care about corpse counters so much. So I'm free to field spirits all day long, even if he's not as good with 'em as Kirai they're still useful. Gonna try Datsue-ba at some point, and see if she can bolster his ranks mid
-game with some Gaki and Onryo.
All in all, a fun game. I look forward to more adventures with the formidable Uncle Yan!)
