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Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Sakuragi Miniatures on 16 March 2025, 03:14:53 PM
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The Moon Over the Ruined Castle
(reskinned "Enemy Patrol" from China Station)
Hanamura Case Files No. 4
Abunakajima, East China Sea
1932 (Showa 7)
(My apologies if this prologue has become a bit of a novella, you can skip through to the next bold part if you want to get into the action.)
Tsubaki and Natsuko were in a pinch, to say the least. An hour ago, they and Tsubaki?s sister Yuri had been aboard a rust bucket steamer striking south with the cursed gold monkey. They had been told a Tokyo Imperial University professor working on Okinawa may have more information on its origins and, against Tsubaki?s better judgment (and begging and pleading), Yuri had chartered ?Capt. Redding? to take them south with no questions asked and a cash payment. He had boasted the Kyushu Queen was the fastest steamer ever built on the Clyde and modified in Nagasaki for the express purpose of moving goods and people without question for cash; which in retrospect seemed oddly specific.
They departed at nightfall and all was well for the first few hours. Natsuko made green tea and served it to her friends, so they could enjoy it under the light of the full moon. Their captain did the same, though with a bottle of Suntory?s shirofuda (white label) whisky he pulled from a crate on deck. The steamer was small, but they scooted away from the strong smoky scent wafting off his breath.
"I've been meaning to ask, but what's that worth?" He said, eyeing the sack with the golden monkey.
"I thought we paid extra for no questions asked," Yuri retorted. "Or do we get a refund?"
"It?s a fair question, since it has no true value." Tsubaki cut in with a content smile as she watched the moon. "The real question is: why would someone paint a lead monkey gold and pass it off to a rabid, murderous cult? That's what I want to know, so here we are."
It was a bold faced lie and she wasn?t the best at selling lies, so hoped her nonchalant response (looking away so he couldn't see her face) worked. She wasn't sure if he bought it, but the captain shook his head and called them all crazy but well paying.
A watery red explosion off their bow ended the peaceful scene. A fast moving shape knifed toward them from behind. Spotlights sprang to life and danced across the water as their captain, never one for being shot, at sprang to action. The little steamer shot to full speed and zigzagged wildly as geysers of red-colored water exploded around them.
"Rapid fire salvos, those are quick firing guns, a Kaba!? That's not right!"
The Kyushu Queen narrowly avoided a killing blow with a hard juke that had a domino effect through the small craft. The loose wooden case of unpopular whisky went flying and struck Natsuko, who lost her grip on the gunwale and tumbled over the side. Tsubaki grabbed for her hand but it slipped away as Natsuko plunged into the sea.
Natsuko flailed in panic, she couldn't swim and fully clothed felt herself being pulled down into the cold depths. Distant booms vibrated the water and made her want to puke; she gave up precious air as she went down. Any closer and the explosions would be deadly, rupturing her internal organs. It was over and it wasn't going to be quick and painless.
Something warm clamped down hard on her wrist, Natsuko flailed back harder before a quick chop to the head discombobulated her enough she stopped struggling. Her head broke the surfaces and she began sucking air; she was being held firm from behind as a familiar voice attempted to sound calm.
"It's okay, I have you. I have you. Sorry about the chop, it's harder to pull a drowning victim up when she?s struggling."
Natsuko coughed up salt water as she exclaimed, "Tsubaki! I'm so sorry! It's my fault!"
"Stop apologizing!"
"You first!"
They shared a strained laugh; as her brief pulse of spiritual energy began subsiding Tsubaki pulled them over to the floating whisky crate and they both held tight. Once again, alcohol was the cause and solution of life's problems.
"I jumped in after you, because you can't swim. You... we... won't die alone."
The destroyer and its prey thundered in the distance and there was one final flash before all fell silent again, leaving the girls and crate alone in the water.
"Do you think they escaped?" Natsuko asked.
"I don't know, but I know Yuri. Shooting her won't kill her, it just makes her mad."
The bespectacled castaways made landfall less than an hour later. They were tired, briny and parched, but alive. The island was pure jungle around the fringes but terrain rose sharply and just off the beach was a hard-packed dirt road hemmed in by tropical shrubbery that would hide it from passing ships. Neither girl was a naval expert but the captain had called their attacker a "Kaba," a Japanese name meaning ?birch tree.? They may now be on the bad side of the Imperial Japanese Navy and would have to lay low.
Unlike the sea, the jungle teemed with unseen life that buzzed, breathed and cried in unrecognizable ways. They also discovered that in such a humid, warm place that fully drying off wasn't happening either. It was frightening but also a little exhilarating as neither had been to a jungle before and it aroused their natural curiosity.
They hadn?t gotten far when Natsuko stumbled across a pile of rocks, or more precisely a long and low rock wall mixed into the jungle. Under the full moonlight they could see gaps in the canopy where more walls and the remains of ancient structures lay.
"I think you found a castle," Tsubaki said.
"It?s a bit different than Osaka or Nijo," Natsuko replied.
"It?s Ryukyuan," Tsubaki explained. ?I?ve always wanted to see one. They built castles around sacred sites.?
This perked up Natsuko's attention, ?sacred like stones or sacred like fresh water sources??
Tsubaki was genuinely surprised by the insight. Natsuko continued, "I like to read too."
A pair of bright yellow lights followed by the sound of an engine broke the darkness; the girls hopped over the short wall and fell back into the jungle. It stopped short and a group of men disembarked. As they approached, it became clear by their clothes they were sailors, their hat tallies read "Imperial Japanese Navy Ship Sakuragi," and each carried a venerable Type 38 rifle with fixed bayonet gleaming in the moonlight. One muttered to the other, spitting out a slow stream of words with a minimum of lip movement that made it hard to understand.
"They look like Japanese sailors but..." Tsubaki searched for a delicate word. "Thuggish."
A sailor thrust his bayonet into a bush and a flurry of feathers fly everywhere as birds darted off in all directions. He raised the bladed weapon and shook the bird corpse off.
A stab first and ask questions later kind of night- they needed to get out of here now!
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Setup-10_1.jpg)
Red markers are search markers and blue are patrol markers; sailors will be used in the game proper.
The Scenario
Yuri, acting group leader, is searching the castle ruins for her missing comrades. Two patrols are searching near the center of the map on both sides of a shallow river and as per her luck a perilous area has decided to perch near a search marker! Her four search areas are the castle ruins, the remains of a shrine or temple, the other side of the river, and just in case, the pickup truck that brought in the sailors.
Edges are difficult terrain, and because it's night, low visibility is in effect, limiting line of sight to 12.? No less than three patrols will be on the board at the start of each turn.
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Setup-20_1.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Setup-11_1.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Setup-14_1.jpg)
ERRATA
"The Moon Over the Ruined Castle" is a famous song composed in 1901 by Taki Rentaro.
Abunakajima is "Danger Island" in the Nagasaki dialect.
Suntory's shirofuda (white label) whisky was Japan's first domestic whisky. It was introduced in 1929 but sold poorly; the Japanese did not take to the taste of smoky Scotch. The famous square bottle Suntory wouldn't be released until 1937.
Japan's Kaba-class destroyers were built in 1915; incidentally Japan also built 12 for France as the Arabe-class during the Great War. By 1932 all had been scrapped or were in the process of being scrapped.
Natsuko's inability to swim first came up in ?Strangers in the Night?
Japan is home to many distinct regional dialects and their associated localized variants. The two sailors? closed-mouth way of speaking is inspired by the northern Tohoku dialects, which are almost incomprehensible to outsiders, though I didn't want to say they are from there or anywhere else.
I may never state precisely where any of these girls are from, but I think of Natsuko as coming from a rural village in Kyoto Prefecture. To Kyoto City people, she is a dirty country bumpkin with an unrefined accent. Those from outside Kyoto Prefecture assume Natsuko is a city girl due to her polite speech and refined Kyoto accent. Natsuko wishes she was invisible to everyone.
For an idea on how Natsuko would sound, "Kyo-kotoba ("Kyoto language") features softer consonants and elongated vowels, which contribute to its gentle, more flowing sound. Specific pitch accents also help to give the dialect its unique musicality." (Enjoy-Kyoto.net)
On a flat hat or "Donald Duck hat," a hat tally is the ribbon around the headband and until World War II, sported the unit that the owner was attached to. As the Kaba-class was named after trees, this fictional ship was named the Sakuragi, as a play on the real world Sakaki.
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Interesting start to another adventure! I thought the Deep Ones were the ones grabbing Natsuko underwater... :o
Mike Demana
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Awesome! :-*
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I'm still writing the AAR and prepping the imagery, it'll be up within a few hours. For now, here's the references on the "ruined castle" that inspired this layout. This is Goranmagohachi Castle on Okinoerabujima in the Amami Islands halfway between Okinawa and Kyushu. I visited these ruins in 2019 during our road trip/move to Okinawa. You really feel like Indiana Jones here! I wrote about the island here if you're interested: https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/okinoerabujima-one-of-japans-hidden-tropical-getaways/ (https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/okinoerabujima-one-of-japans-hidden-tropical-getaways/)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/191125-264-Castle-Ruin.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/191125-289-Castle-Ruin.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/191125-323-Castle-Ruin.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/191125-334-Castle-Ruin.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/191125-285.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/191125-312.jpg)
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/191125-282.jpg)
This is the well that inspired Natsuko's line of thinking.
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Interesting start to another adventure! I thought the Deep Ones were the ones grabbing Natsuko underwater... :o
Mike Demana
Good! I wanted to ramp up the terror for her situation!
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(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Setup-6_1.jpg)
Yuri, bold as always, and maybe a touch cynical, hoped the patrols had rounded up a friend or two and left them in the truck. Perhaps even with the keys still in the engine? Not that she knew how to drive, but really, how hard could that be?
She froze at the sound of a distant shout!
?Over there!?
Had she been found?!
No.
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Game-1_1.jpg)
A turn?s worth of time later Seaman Tanaka asked Seaman Honda for a Golden Bat, if he had one to spare. Begrudgingly, he passed him the cigarette and as was the custom of sailors, began griping for no reason whatsoever.
?What are we even looking for??
?Who knows, maybe it?s another drill.?
?Did you see Toyoda is branching out into automobiles??
The patrol and the perilous area are halted for the rest of the game as they forget their jobs and complain.
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Game-4_1.jpg)
Meanwhile, Yuri?s search yielded a startling image- a deadly habu snake! She kept her cool and using all her might flash fried it with a burst of chi from a finger tip. As if that wasn?t bad enough another patrol showed up and was headed straight for the truck! She could slink away and try another spot, but her stubborn spirit refused her to quit the search until it yielded something! She tried using her brain, not her best asset, and narrowly avoided detection as the sailor milled about.
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Game-10_1.jpg)
Petty Officer Sakura Ayumu hopped into the back of the truck for a break and swig of sweet potato shochu from his canteen. The light, slightly floral liquor took the edge off of this sweaty search, it reminded him of his beautiful cousin-fianc?e, Sakura. When they married she would be Sakura Sakura, and that still made him smile. She told him to be safe, when he was discharged they would work at his uncle?s distillery and one day own it. He pulled out a Golden Bat his uncle-future father-in-law gave him as a parting gift for this tour of duty.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw eyes looking back at him.
?Need a light??
The point blank blast of spiritual energy was the last thing he saw.
Yuri struggled with the sailor?s heavy body, pulling it with a thud to the ground.
?Don?t worry, you?ll be up in no time,? she assured his deaf ears as she shoved his body under the truck. ?Well, provided no one runs you over.?
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Game-12_1.jpg)
Her fruitless search was frustrating, yielding pointless perils until after what felt like six turns of searching she saw Natsuko beckoning her from a clump of bushes. Somehow, the two (still) complaining sailors missed her bright yellow kimono in the darkness. She shook her head; Natsuko had the strangest kind of luck.
After a brief reunion, she pried herself out of Natsuko?s hug. They still had to find Tsubaki! Screwing up her courage, Natsuko crept toward the dilapidated old religious building. When she got split up from her friend, they were heading toward it. Yuri headed the other direction to continue the search, and if need be, cause a diversion.
Natsuko easily made it to the sacred ground, but as she did, the scenario ended with AN UNEXPECTED TWIST!
(https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/250316-Game-13_1.jpg)
Stay tuned next to for The Breakout!
Honestly, I didn?t expect to get bogged down on one search marker getting unhelpful card after unhelpful card. All that brush and river set up for nothing!
Golden Bat was a popular brand of Japanese cigarette that entered the market in 1906. Those made in Japan were typical cigarettes and stayed in production until a few years ago. During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and invasion of China, special ?export? versions laced with narcotics were sold to addict and pacify the Chinese.
The Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was founded in 1926 and soon branched out into the new craze for ?auto-mobiles.? In 1937 it changed its name to ?Toyota.?
Cousin marrying was really common back then and is still an acceptable practice today.
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Fantastic story. Love the little history lessons sprinkled throughout.
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Fantastic story. Love the little history lessons sprinkled throughout.
In full agreement with wolfen.
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I'm glad you're enjoying these. I love Japan's history and sharing it every chance I can get. I like to travel this country as much as possible and learning it's history; especially in the period between the 1860s and 1945. It feels that, except for the war, most people ignore this period of history doesn't get much love.
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A great way to game with the narrative and history mixed in.
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As usual, a very high standard of both gaming goodies, narrative and tidbits of history lessons. As a whole a very enjoyable read and quite different from other AAR's.
Regards
Legionnaire.
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"A stab first and ask questions later kind of night- they needed to get out of here now!"
Just the sort of game I like. You're on a roll with these games and I'm enjoying your story telling and as has been mentioned the historical bits about Japan. As you're posting quite regularly I wonder if a game number might be useful in the title so forgetful people like me know where I am in the sequence.
I need to look up sweet potato shochu because it might get introduced into the folk lore surrounding C Flight, a small group of misfits taking part in the 1st WW, flying over the Western Front. They had a run of missions in which planes caught fire on a regular basis, I put it down to the Potato Poteen they had been distilling and drinking on cold patrols. It was obviously highly inflammable. ;) One of the members of C Flight is the son of the Japanese Ambassador to Britain and I imagine he might introduce the rest of C Flight to Shochu.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Cheers
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Game numbering is a good idea, I'll add a number to the next one.
In Japanese, it's called "Satsuma imo shochu," the sweet potato isn't native to Japan and was introduced via trade into Japan's Satsuma domain first. (Satsuma imo = Satsuma potato) That should help with your research into it.
Fun side story, the last time I visited Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, I got to tour some local Kumagawa shochu distilleries. One of them popped open the floor and let me try a ladle of pure, uncut shochu. At 8 a.m. It was... potent.
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C Flight, a small group of misfits taking part in the 1st WW, flying over the Western Front. They had a run of missions in which planes caught fire on a regular basis
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/14g6PIAY8f6FeU/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9521l878y5r8wirw2aexhqf11i1pk6gge7f1yrmd9z3&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
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Game numbering is a good idea, I'll add a number to the next one.
In Japanese, it's called "Satsuma imo shochu," the sweet potato isn't native to Japan and was introduced via trade into Japan's Satsuma domain first. (Satsuma imo = Satsuma potato) That should help with your research into it.
Fun side story, the last time I visited Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, I got to tour some local Kumagawa shochu distilleries. One of them popped open the floor and let me try a ladle of pure, uncut shochu. At 8 a.m. It was... potent.
Thanks for the info, I'm using it in my current game report. Lt John Vagabond was shot down 3 weeks ago and his friend 2nd Lt Ichiro 'Taki' Takahashi has just arrived at the hospital with 2 bottles of Satsuma imo Schochu tucked down his trouser legs. He has to do this to hide the bottles from Nurse Eilidh McDonald. Now that Vagabond on the mend she?s become a bit of a Tarter as far as strong spirits are concerned. Eili is how her name is pronounced which means Ray of Light or Sunshine, Vagabond thinks it's more like Dark Cloud because she confiscated his last bottle of brandy, fortunately there was only the Angels Breath left so it wasn?t a complete catastrophe.
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/14g6PIAY8f6FeU/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9521l878y5r8wirw2aexhqf11i1pk6gge7f1yrmd9z3&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
Fram I don't want to derail Sakuragi's thread but I'm taking part in a long running campaign on the Wings of Glory site, the current campaign is been running for 5 years, 12 missions a year, each of us has a flight of 6ish pilots and Lt John Vagabond is the last of my original pilots the others are either dead or POW's, New ones come along to replace the casualties.
This is the report in which Lt Vagabond was shot down over the North Sea while rescuing a spy in a seaplane he stole from the RNAS. The hero is Binky the Pigeon.
https://wingsofwar.org/topic/36389-ott-fym-mission-6-no-one-left-behind-12th-may-1917-by-vagabond/ (https://wingsofwar.org/topic/36389-ott-fym-mission-6-no-one-left-behind-12th-may-1917-by-vagabond/)
Cheers
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Aha, a Wings of Glory campaign! Very nice.