People are talking in quotes and meme graphics lately. Ha ha. Larry the cover art of your partners' upcoming novel looks like your character Sigma when he was possessed by Alkarg / Gruumsh. Only Crom the Sage was actually completely frozen to death-death in the night by O-Yuki. Friar Hugo sustained a bargain from the ghostly spirit of freezing-death (have not heard from Hans in the past week though, to work out the exact roleplay). Here is a video that shows what happened to Crom and what the other PC's saw on your watch shifts in the coldest night: NOTE: Solid , this happened at the end of the session as you were leaving last week. WATCH: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnKiPAoubF0&index=" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnKiPAoubF0&index=</a>... That's the best clip I could find of her (Yuki-Onna) on YouTube. If you have seen the original movie, it's Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, the chapter called "The Blizzard" aka "The Woman Of The Snow", a Japanese filmmaker's impression of a dream about the figure of legends. QUOTING FROM A REVIEW (Re-imagine the scene roughly as your PC's): “The Blizzard” is one of the strongest segments of the film. Right from the start it’s more immediately dramatic than the first two segments as Kurosawa opens with a group of mountain climbers trudging through a fierce snowstorm, their every breath amplified on the soundtrack. The filmmaking emphasizes the difficulty of their situation by using slow motion techniques. The men stop from exhaustion amidst the near whiteout conditions and argue about how far they are from camp, where camp is, and whether it’s nightfall or simply that the storm is so intense that it makes it look as if it was night. In any event, they’re in bad shape and the men all collapse into the snow except for the leader (Akira Terao) who wants to continue. But even he drops into the snow eventually. Upon collapse, the leader finds himself covered with a blanket by a dark haired female spirit (Mieko Harada in the movie; O-Yuki in the homebrew game -DM). The Woman of the Snow urges the leader to sleep (Each PC as you're on watch -DM), telling him that the snow is warm and to accept sleep, as the wind whips her black hair around. Of course, sleep for the mountaineer will bring death and the drama is whether he resists or gives in. The black haired spirit is a mainstay of Japanese cinema, right up to today. Yuki-Onna, AKA O-Yuki, The Woman Of The Snow, floating ghost spirit of freezing death and a former flame of Yi-Bang (homebrew game). OH NO! She killed Crom! Ultimately, the man doesn’t succumb to the Woman of the Snow, fending off sleep (Except Crom -DM), and the woman flies away into the wind in a brilliant visualization as the storm breaks. (See the YouTube link in top of this post for the "brilliant visualization" of the snow spirit floating backwards and flying away! -DM ) The men find themselves only feet from their camp as they survive the worst that nature could throw at them. “The Blizzard” is one of the strongest segments of the film as it’s the first time that Kurosawa truly lets the images speak for themselves almost entirely. There is some necessary exposition, but it’s short and doesn’t spell out the themes which Kurosawa is able to convey visually. The use of slow motion is particularly striking as it gives an unearthly air to the proceedings as well as the audio design often focusing on the breathing of the mountaineers. The whole segment is dream-like in the best way possible. It’s also Kurosawa-like in the best way possible. There’s a strong leader thrown against nature and the will of the leader triumphs. Kurosawa often used weather to comment on the action in his movies, and now it takes a role front and center. The strongest segment is the men battling the elements to construct a shelter before night sets in, but the literal personification of a winter spirit tempting the leader to just give up provides a whole new dimension to that idea. Without the distraction of epic landscapes, the segment becomes much more personal and the small triumph of will becomes something much larger. Death is present, but it doesn’t have to win over man’s survival instinct. If there’s one wholly successful segment in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, it is “The Blizzard”. Still interested in this gal? 3 more cool O-Yuki links to click. Here is the Wiki about Yuki-Onna, with additional pictures, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki-onna" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki-onna</a> Here is Yuki-Onna with stats for AD&D 2E from Kara-Tur, (HINT: She's Chaotic Evil, 8th Level, high INT, reads your thoughts in any language at will, AC 19, gaze attack, ice attack, floating movement, elite morale) <a href="http://www.lomion.de/cmm/yukionna.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.lomion.de/cmm/yukionna.php</a> Here is another good short-story about her, this last story link relates to what Friar Hugo experienced and the bargain he was offered from O-Yuki, <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kwaidan/kwai12.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kwaidan/kwai12.htm</a> That last link is especially recommended-reading for Hans (or anyone interested in this Japanese winter spirit story). Eddyall (co-GM) introduced the Yuki-Onna concept to me for this game, for the Winter Sessions. Thanks! Excerpt from the last link Yuki-Onna story Mosaku and Minokichi were on their way home, one very cold evening, when a great snowstorm overtook them. They reached the ferry; and they found that the boatman had gone away, leaving his boat on the other side of the river. It was no day for swimming; and the woodcutters took shelter in the ferryman's hut,--thinking themselves lucky to find any shelter at all. There was no brazier in the hut, nor any place in which to make a fire: it was only a two-mat [1] hut, with a single door, but no window. Mosaku and Minokichi fastened the door, and lay down to rest, with their straw rain-coats over them. At first they did not feel very cold; and they thought that the storm would soon be over. The old man almost immediately fell asleep; but the boy, Minokichi, lay awake a long time, listening to the awful wind, and the continual slashing of the snow against the door. The river was roaring; and the hut swayed and creaked like a junk at sea. It was a terrible storm; and the air was every moment becoming colder; and Minokichi shivered under his rain-coat. But at last, in spite of the cold, he too fell asleep. He was awakened by a showering of snow in his face. The door of the hut had been forced open; and, by the snow-light (yuki-akari), he saw a woman in the room,--a woman all in white. She was bending above Mosaku, and blowing her breath upon him;--and her breath was like a bright white smoke. Almost in the same moment she turned to Minokichi, and stooped over him. He tried to cry out, but found that he could not utter any sound. The white woman bent down over him, lower and lower, until her face almost touched him; and he saw that she was very beautiful,--though her eyes made him afraid. For a little time she continued to look at him;--then she smiled, and she whispered:--"I intended to treat you like the other man. But I cannot help feeling some pity for you,--because you are so young... You are a pretty boy, Minokichi; and I will not hurt you now. But, if you ever tell anybody--even your own mother--about what you have seen this night, I shall know it; and then I will kill you... Remember what I say!" With these words, she turned from him, and passed through the doorway. Then he found himself able to move; and he sprang up, and looked out. But the woman was nowhere to be seen; and the snow was driving furiously into the hut. Minokichi closed the door, and secured it by fixing several billets of wood against it. He wondered if the wind had blown it open;--he thought that he might have been only dreaming, and might have mistaken the gleam of the snow-light in the doorway for the figure of a white woman: but he could not be sure. He called to Mosaku, and was frightened because the old man did not answer. He put out his hand in the dark, and touched Mosaku's face, and found that it was ice! Mosaku was stark and dead... By dawn the storm was over; and when the ferryman returned to his station, a little after sunrise, he found Minokichi lying senseless beside the frozen body of Mosaku. Minokichi was promptly cared for, and soon came to himself; but he remained a long time ill from the effects of the cold of that terrible night. He had been greatly frightened also by the old man's death; but he said nothing about the vision of the woman in white. Want to find out what happened to Minokichi next? Read the "sacred texts" story link, above. Next session: Winter Sessions continues Monday Don't worry there is still plenty more suffering (errr adventuring) and painful choices (read: Exploring) to endure on the road to glory, treasure, and XP. Find 1 or more of 3 bridges... Face the scenario from the cover of Dragon Magazine 140... and find a powerful place to destroy the evil Alkarg spear. Aepod plans to try streaming the game again on Twitch TV, and will work on getting all the voices piped in for proper audio mix.
