White Cloud City IC

[Dorni]

"Ye- Yeah, I can do that," Nari answered Tsugiharu.

"He may be indelicate, but Izuka is right," Saori agreed quickly, before the other students could respond. The room had gone quiet at the unexpected command. Satomi's eyes had narrowed angrily at being compared less favorably to a peasant child.

"I'm sure many of you have prior training at this, but we're not used to working together in a team this size yet. We should keep our strategy simple. We draw the Hanyangi in this room and encircle it. Be careful when it focuses on you and attack when focuses on someone else. Circle and Cinch. Its simple and effective. We can do this." One by one the rest of the class started to nod in agreement.

"So who's going to be the third man in the middle?"

"I think-"
"I'll-"
"I will do it." Hitomi's declaration allowed no room for dissent.

"Hitomi, was it? Are you sure that-"

"Yes. Just another eyeless one."

"o...k..."

That settled, the rest of the class started to spread out around chamber. Satomi herself looked like she had something to say, but after a moment let it go and stalked to the edge of the chamber near Kaede. But just as the students were settling into position, a thought slid across Shiori's mental link. No echos.

Indeed, at some point during the strategy discussion the eerie howls echo from the tunnels had stopped. It comes.

Just as the thought slid across your conscious, there was a flash of movement. Not from the tunnels - but from above them. And then an ear splitting shriek that was almost physical filled the cavern, echoing off the walls of the enclosed chamber and sparing no one. Splitting pain filled your ears feeling like someone had taken a knife to them and the vibrations could be felt deep in your bones.

Weapons clattered to the floor as your classmates slumped to the ground, but you somehow managed to keep your feet. After what seemed like eternity the assault abated.

The Hanyangi hadn't approached from one of the tunnels along the chamber's floor. It stood at the lip of one of the tunnels connected halfway up the chamber's height. The beast dwarfed the hanyangi you had battled earlier, standing nearly twice the height of a man had it been standing. This was not merely a larger version of the beasts battled earlier. It had evolved. This beast was hunched over and so thick and muscled it looked like it had more in common with a bear than those younglings. The second set of limbs had grown, becoming as thick and strong as its main arms and ending in the same wicked claws.

The beast had its eyeless head cocked to one side as its ears swiveled, surveying the effect of its attack on the fledgling warriors below. Evidently it liked what it saw, because its lips pealed back from its fangs in an expression that was unmistakable. The monster bounded off the ledge, guided by its 4 wings to its prey below.

Spoiler: OOC

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Here we go!

There will be no surprise round. By GM Fiat, the monster will go first this encounter and will spend its turn doing the above. Also by GM Fiat, only one of your classmates will start the encounter not being Paralyzed by the monster. That ally is: (1d8)[8] Saori Also Also by GM Fiat, all PCs managed endure and be unaffected by the opening attack. These effects will cancel out and the team gains 1 floating Victory Point.

Spoiler

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1: Kaede
2: Satomi
3: Hitomi
4: Reiko
5: Jiyuna
6: Nezu
7: Nari
8: Saori

There will be some Special Rules in play.

Shake it Off: As a Standard Action, you may attempt to encourage, sooth, or otherwise induce an ally to shake off the effects of the Hanyangi Pack Lord's Paralysis. You may choose 1 ally currently affected by the Pack Lord's Sonic Screech. That ally receives a new save. You may spend a VP as part of this action to skip the Save and have the ally automatically recover from the Paralysis. The ally will act on the players' initiative next turn.

Evolved Demon Beast: The Hanyangi Pack Lord has absorbed so many soul stones that it has evolved to a new level. It may act twice on its initiative. However, its total movement may not exceed its normal total movement. It may double-move with 2 move actions, but it may not trade a standard action for movement and triple-move if it does so. It may not Run twice. If it is affected by a movement-impairing effect that effect applies across all its movement modes. The Evolved Demon Beast may not focus all of its attacks on a single target: if there are multiple valid targets that are within its reach and threaten the Evolved Demon Beast, it must spread its attacks among at least two targets. If there is only one such target within its reach, it may use all of its attacks against that target as normal. (DM Note: Translation - you will not get full-attacked twice or similarly focus fired unless you're the only available reasonable target.)

Easy Prey: The Hanyangi Pack Lord's shriek is capable of Paralyzing targets, making them easy prey. In any round in which there are no characters which threaten the Hanyangi, it will seek out a paralyzed target. You may spend a HP on the character's behalf to use the Heroic Resolve effect to reduce damage for an attack. This will have the additional effect of disallowing the Pack Lord from using Coup de Grace attacks for that turn. If instead the Pack Lord manages to slay an NPC, the PCs will gain a floating VP as a Complication.

This is the final battle of this adventure. Victory Points will reset after this.
Map
All PCs are on Turn