Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying - Helpful Eagle-Stylist
Throne of the Outlaw King
Roberto waved Dan away, because this was between him and the Outlaw King, so he went to help Mike fight Leonardo instead. Both of them kicked at Leonardo, but he dodged the first and parried the second, before responding to Dan with a Rapid Strike Feint into a kick which inflicted little injury. Roberto and the Outlaw King both continued Evaluating while stepping towards each other, and downstairs, Ryuji continued to eat Po.
Roberto then Giant Stepped up to the Outlaw King and spent his Evaluate to make a highly Deceptive Dual-Weapon Mighty Blow, but his foe Retreated and parried both attacks with a Feverish Defense. The Outlaw King then Feinted him, flung his Weapon Bond knife away and into a training dummy with a crit Disarm, and struck him with the staff in the neck hard enough to knock him down then Stamp Kicked him while he was down. He then berated Roberto for daring to face him alone, as he knew every Technique, and was undefeatable.
Dan and Mike both fell back with an All-Out Defense, while Leonardo taunted Mike for needing someone else to save him and leapt at Dan, but failed to connect. Dan put Leo in a
While Roberto lay on the ground, the Outlaw King used his staff to Push him 2m away from his throne's podium while telling Roberto to stay down. Instead, Roberto Fast-Drew a knife and made it to his knees while the Outlaw King Evaluated and did the Matrix "come get some" gesture. Roberto stood up and went at him with another highly Deceptive Dual-Weapon Attack, but missed both (even after rerolling a crit fail with Luck).
Meanwhile, Leo tried to Acrobatic Stand but predictably failed thanks to his shattered ankle and ended up sitting. Dan moved in and, after making sure that Mike wouldn't "ruin this", hit with an Exotic Hand Strike that Leo parried anyway. Mike then went for his other foot with another Lucky kick, but didn't break it. Leo went for a Scissors Hold on Dan, but failed due to his broken ankle again.
The Outlaw King then Feinted Roberto again before Sweeping his knees with the staff and sending him back to the floor, though he did at least manage to parry the follow-up kick to the skull. Roberto struggled back to his knees just in time for his head to get hit by a Spinning Kick that knocked him right back down. Before Roberto could recover, the Outlaw King sent him flying backward with an All-Out Push Kick.
Dan attacked Leo in the skull with an Exotic Hand Strike, but got parried again, while Mike missed a Committed Mighty Blow of his own. Leo missed a kick, and then a pair of kicks from Dan and Mike were enough to finally break his other foot. While screaming "My leeeeegs!", Leo surrendered, and Mike tried to convince Roberto to let them help. Despite having not landed a hit yet and being on the brink of death, he refused, so Dan and Mike shrugged and ran downstairs to help free Po, who was still being eaten by Ryuji.
The Outlaw King Evaluated, and let Roberto regain his feet; but when Roberto started searching his bag for a sinchu root, the Outlaw King flew at him with an All-Out Pole-Vault Kick for max damage. Roberto managed to stay standing this time, and exploited his foe's lack of defense with an All-Out slash across the neck, though he missed a second. Unfortunately, the Outlaw King also kept his feet, dropped his staff, and bombarded him with a quad Rapid Strike of Pressure Secrets blows to the torso for 28 injury, knocking him past 3 death checks, but he was able to Shake it Off, though he did end up stunned and prone.
Dan and Mike sprinted down the stairs to the second floor, interrupting Ryuji from eating Po, and Dan challenged him to a 1v1 showdown. Ryuji said that he would accept his challenge, but only after he was finished eating Po; Dan declined. Mike Jump Kicked at him and hit for max damage, but Ryuji didn't seem to care. He sat on Po, keeping him Pinned, while trying and narrowly failing to grab at Mike due to a Lucky Dodge.
With Roberto at his feet, the Outlaw King shouted that he would now see what a true master looked like, and began charging Power Blow. The entire building began to shake, causing oil lamps to flicker and dust to fall from the rafters. Roberto got barely to his knees when the Outlaw King directed a critical hit Power Blow-boosted Exotic Hand Strike Mighty Blow into his spine for... 9 total damage thanks to a really bad roll. The Outlaw King then kicked Roberto while he was down with a Stamp Kick, sending him past -5xHP and killing him.
Dan Giant Stepped in with an Exotic Hand Strike at Ryuji's skull, but did no damage after DR and Ryuji taunted him ("Ho ho ho, you cannot defeat me! Now, get in my mouth"). Mike was able to kick him in the neck, but only for minimal damage. Ryuji spun around on Po and grabbed at Mike, but he made a Retreating Acrobatic Dodge, then kicked him in the groin. Dan struck at his side with a pair of Defensive Exotic Hand Strikes, but one was parried, and the other barely did any injury.
Ryuji tried to All-Out Judo throw Dan, but he was able to avoid his grasp, and landed another pair of Rapid Strikes in retaliation, followed by another two kicks from Mike. Ryuji was unphased and grabbed at Mike, but was critically dodged, lowering his defenses. Despite this, Dan and Mike both missed strikes at his neck. Ryuji failed another grab at Mike, Dan failed another punch at Ryuji, and Mike accidentally kicked Dan, though he was able to dodge out of the way.
Reports of Her Death...
Meanwhile, back upstairs, Roberta woke up in a pool of blood just in time to see a man that looked a lot like her father get beaten to death by another man she vaguely recognized as her master. Confused and in severe pain, she slowly stood up as the Outlaw King turned away from the body and started back toward his throne. Roberta ran to her dad's side and mourned for a turn (like father like daughter).
Dan missed another kick to the neck, while Mike did another pittance of injury with a kick and Ryuji failed to grab Mike. Another flurry of blows from the pair inflicted a whopping 5 injury, which just knocked him below 0 and he promptly failed his first consciousness check and passed out. Po thanked them for freeing him, but said he was hurt from being eaten so much and needed a moment to recover.
Dan and Mike sprinted back upstairs to confront the Outlaw King and cried out at the sight of their dead teammate. The Outlaw King decried Roberto as a fool for fighting alone; he should have known that a true master of all kung fu techniques would be unbeatable. Noticing Roberta, he ordered "the girl" to kill them, but she stood and turned towards him instead. Stepping towards the throne, she growled "My name is Roberta... Roberto. You killed my father. Prepare to die." ("How about Robertson?" "Yeah, that's better").
The other two were confused about what was going on and hung back, letting Roberta move in on her own, repeating "My name is Roberta Robertson. You killed my father. Prepare to die.". The Outlaw King muttered that the hypnosis must have worn off, and started rotating his Hypnotic Hands in a mesmerising pattern. Dan, still confused, followed Roberta's lead, stating "My name is Dan da Ying. You're responsible for the death of Mr. Wilson. Prepare to die." and charged in.
The Final Battle
Mike took an All-Out Defense and moved up on the Outlaw King's flank, careful to stay out of his reach. Roberta Giant Stepped at the Outlaw King, but missed a pair of slashes with her knives, and he successfully used his Hypnotic Hands on Roberta, leaving her mesmerised so he could deal with the others. Dan stepped to the Outlaw King's side, "opened his eighth gate chakra", and launched his Secret Technique "God Talon": a sextuple Rapid Strike in a Flurry of Blows (which drained most of his FP).
Four were on-target, but the Outlaw King parried them all. Mike moved in from the other side, but the Outlaw King turned to face him immediately due to his Timed Defense; which distracted Mike enough that he missed both of a pair of kicks at the neck. The Outlaw King then tried to Judo Throw Dan, but he made the Feverish Retreating Parry. He stepped back, then sent a highly Deceptive Kick at Mike, but he managed to get out of the way with a Feverish Acrobatic Retreating Dodge.
Dan and Mike decided to hold out for Roberta to be back in the fight, and took an All-Out Defense (Parry) and Evaluate, respectively, while she shook her head and managed to recover from hypnosis. The Outlaw King went for Mike, the softer target, and launched a five-hit combo of kicks. Somehow, Mike failed the first Retreating Acrobatic Dodge (re-rolling a 17 into 17 and 18 with Luck, a 1:145,000 chance), and then got utterly pummelled by the other four. He managed to Roll with Blows all the first three hits, but still ended up taking 19 injury and was left prone and stunned.
Dan, barely clinging to consciousness from being below 0FP, continued to open the eighth gate and launched another sextuple Rapid Strike Flurry of Blows, this time only hitting with three. The Outlaw King failed to Parry one, and took... 1 injury. Roberta took advantage of Dan's distraction and launched a triple Rapid Strike Flurry of Blows of her own, hitting with all three, and one made it through the Outlaw King's network of Parries, knocking him into the negatives.
Reeling from his wounds, the Outlaw King moved to end the fight and launched his own Ultimate Technique: Hurricane Kick! He spun towards Dan, aiming to shatter his leg, but Dan critically Parried, holding his leg in the air and leaving him wide open! Dan retaliated with a pair of Mighty Blows Exotic Hand Strikes that sent the Outlaw King reeling, and Roberto finished him off with an All-Out Determined Mighty Blow Secret Technique Dual-Weapon Attack for two eye stab knocking him well past -5x HP.
Roberta uttered "I want my father back you son of a bitch", and started stabbing the Outlaw King's corpse. Mike got up, went over to Roberto's favourite knife, and gave it to Roberta, saying that he'd want her to have it. She asked who the hell they were, and he replied that they were just as couple of heroes. Out a window, they saw the sun begin to set, and then everybody passed out from their wounds.
Notes:
This session was played online, which resulted in more issues than usual in telling where people were in close combat. Due to a miscommunication, Po's player didn't end up making it.
Roll20 has removed the feature where negative health values cause the bar to go way off to the left. Lame.
Roberto shouldn't have been able to use Shake it Off to avoid death checks, but because I'm treating them as consciousness checks in this game, I'm fine with it.
Dan kept doing Defensive Attacks, which greatly reduced his damage output. Against Ryuji, for instance, he inflicted only 6 points of damage with 8 successful hits. He could have done far more damage had he just put him in an Arm Lock, and still punched him every turn with normal attacks.
I gave Dan and Mike Teamwork with Roberta, because she fought the exact same way as her father, but she didn't have it with them.
I instituted a "karma" system behind the scenes during this campaign to deal with "unheroic" disadvantages like Bloodlust. Roberto killed 3/4 gang bosses, which got him enough negative points to have his daughter not recognize him, and to die rather than be knocked out in the final confrontation.
In between sessions, I rolled for how much damage Roberto actually did to his daughter on his Bloodlust finishing attacks, and got double 1s, so she managed to cling to life.
After the session, we spent a while discussion what things didn't work for this campaign:
1) The Styles and Techniques in Martial Arts aren't very good for this type of game, as most Techniques fall into one of two categories: God Tier (Feint, Roll With Blow, Dual-Weapon Attack, Kicking), which are widely-applicable and used at every opportunity, and Trash Tier (the rest, but especially anything that requires a Committed/All-Out Attack), which will either at best accomplish less than just using Mighty Blows and at worst guarantee instant death. In the future I'd make fewer, more equally-balanced custom techniques.
2) The Teamwork perk doesn't do too much; it only really prevents hitting in close combat and allows you to transfer feints.
3) The way I tried balancing weapons resulted in them still being too strong compared to unarmed, so I'd have to come up with something else.
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