#Holdout Clock and Internal Events — The Device of Endured Time

Contents

Scene Tool. The 04-01 defense and holdout guide defines "what counts as a resource," and this document handles the progression device that depletes those resources. The clock is not a numerical system, but a GM operating device — as boxes fill, the players visually count the time remaining. Advancing the clock itself does not roll dice. This volume sets aside only two d100 devices — this holdout d100 internal event table (§Law 4) and the ruin d100 table bundle (06-02).

#Scent — The Well Bucket Rises Late

The sound of barring the castle gate changes every kind of time inside the castle.

On the first day, the well bucket was light. After seven days, the bucket rises later and heavier — not because the rope has grown longer, but because the water has moved farther away. The hand counting sacks grows shorter by one box each day, and the eyes on the watchtower do not leave the eastern ridge. In a holdout, the enemy is not a sword. The enemy is time, and time wears down the inside first.

#Mode Overview — The Question the Clock Answers

Central question: which arrives first, relief, escape, or surrender?

The clock stops when it reaches one of these three (§End Conditions). The defending side is trying to reach one exit before the clock fully fills, and the attacking side is trying to run the clock to the end and dry resources down to 0.

The tick unit is fixed as the scene. Do not use rounds or turns — rounds are the combat progression unit inside one scene (Energy is the action economy of one round), and the clock is one layer above that, at scene scale. Do not mix the two layers.

Day Conversion Box. Only when connecting to domain seasonal actions (co-03-10, loosely convert one clock box ≈ half a day to one day (GM discretion, not a rule). The clock's real unit is always the scene.

#Law 1 — Clock Ticks

Clock = a track with a fixed number of boxes. The number of boxes is the upper limit on "how many scenes can be endured."

Dial	Boxes	Tone
desperate holdout	5 boxes	There is no relief — endure and collapse, or escape.
standard holdout	8 boxes	Default. Relief, escape, and surrender compete tightly.
relief imminent	12 boxes	If it holds long enough, a road opens — but the inside festers first.

Filling a tick is advancing one box — it is not tied to d10, d100, or 2d10. Clock advancement is a GM operating device that does not roll dice (probability is rolled only on the internal event table in §Law 4). Draw the boxes on paper and show them to the players — when remaining time is visible, "choosing to endure" has weight.

#Law 2 — Clock Advancement Conditions

Four triggers advance the clock by one box:

Trigger	Advancement
scene ends	whenever one holdout scene (supply, defense, search, etc.) ends: basic 1 box
pressure acceleration	successful fire attack, gate pressure, or Barrier destruction by the siege side (`03 siege`): additional 1 box
failure acceleration	failed core check by the holdout side (secure supplies, contain public sentiment, search): additional 1 box
resource 0 acceleration	when any resource reaches 0: immediate additional 1 box + forced internal event (§Law 4)

There is no slowing or rewinding — as a rule. The single exception: only a scenario-scale event such as a relief-force signal or decisive negotiation success recovers 1 box. Do not add a constant recovery device — if pressure can be released routinely, the clock loses meaning.

Advancement is common and slowing is rare. That is how time functions as the enemy.

#Law 3 — Resource Depletion Linkage (Spine)

Track 6 resource types drawn directly from the canonical co text (no new numbers). One clock box is not an abstract countdown; it is a concrete loss.

Resource	Source Canon	Cost on Advancement	When It Reaches 0	Linked Skill
food and well	`supply depot` + `02-02 well`	1 step consumed	hunger and dehydration — Wounds recovery limited, supply depot effect disappears	Survival·Perception(poison)
public sentiment	`co-03-10` (1~10)	-1 from refugees and reduced rations	0 = uprising; ≤2 squad cohesion -1; loss of ≥7 militia +1(cohesion 4)	Agitation·Negotiation
forces	`co-03-10`·`co-06-06`	squad losses and cohesion drop	abandon defense zone (no squad to defend it)	Military Science·squad order
Barrier	`Barrier` (upkeep 1 Energy/lull)	unpaid upkeep and accumulated attacks	destroyed → `Spiritual Taint` enters	Barrier·Exorcism
wounded	Wounds recovery (`co-03-06 lull`)	recovery resources occupied	combat-capable personnel exhausted	Medicine·Herbalism
collusion	Perception(opposed by Infiltration), lies, Negotiation	failed searches accumulate	forced event: gate opened or well poisoned	Perception·Intimidation

Barrier durability (destroyed by N attacks) is an explicit exception quoting the count convention in the co source text — ordinary durability is Wounds, and Energy is the action economy of one round, not a recovery or damage resource, so it is not used for the wounded track.

#Law 4 — Internal Event Table (d100)

This is the holdout side of the two d100 devices in this volume (the other is the 06-02 ruin table bundle). Whenever the clock advances by one box (forced on resource 0 acceleration), roll d100 and draw 1 internal event for that scene. d100 is read from the digits of 2d10 (co-03-01) — do not use a separate polyhedral die. Every effect in the table only triggers an existing co mechanism; it creates no new effect.

d100	Event Axis	Content (Triggers Existing co Effect)
01–18	supply	the well clouds — `supply depot` effect disappears 1 time / food spoils — next lull Wounds recovery negated
19–36	public sentiment	ration dispute — `public sentiment` -1 (if ≤2, squad cohesion -1)
37–54	forces	night attack casualties and desertion — 1 squad's cohesion -1 (`co-06-06`); if cohesion 0, collapse
55–72	Spirit Realm	Barrier crack — `Barrier` accumulates 1 attack; if broken, `Spiritual Taint` (Mental Save Courage ≥ 11)
73–90	collusion	secret letter discovered·internal response — immediate search scene (Perception opposed by Infiltration). On failure, gate opened or well poisoned
91–95	compound crisis	two of the axes above at once (GM choice) — the harshest scene
96–00	turning point	rare road — relief signal, enemy infighting, negotiation envoy. Clock recovers 1 box or takes one step toward an ending exit (relief)

Clock Position Modifier. If the clock is at 6 boxes or more, add +20 to the roll (cap fixed at 00). This is not a new check formula, but a table-entry modifier — later stages push events into harsher high bands (Spirit Realm, collusion, compound), and only at that very end (96–00) can a turning point be reached. The structure opens a rare window of relief only for those who endured long. Early on (no modifier), turning points almost never appear.

The distribution is intentional — negative events are the majority (01–95), and turning points are rare (96–00, 5%). The same single table produces a different story for each holdout, and its distribution guarantees "the longer time goes on, the worse it gets."

#End Conditions and Exits

Three exits stop the clock:

Exit	Condition	Next Scene
relief	external arrival signal before clock expiration (turning-point event or scenario)	siege lifts — sortie, pursuit, or reversal into `03 siege`
escape	secret passage (`02-02`) or night breakthrough	`05 Infiltration` (abandon the castle and slip out)
surrender/fall	clock expires or core resources annihilated	street battle and final honmaru (`Core Zone`) defense; after the fall, `06 ruins`

All three exits are entrances to the next mode. The holdout ends, but the story does not.

#Table Hooks — For the GM

Theme. The ethics of isolation, the weight of betrayal. "Are reinforcements really coming?" — the GM may decide in advance, or leave it to the clock's turning-point event (choose one).

Scenario Hooks:

Relief that does not come — the east remains quiet until the clock fills. If no turning-point event appears, that is the answer.
Clock filling from inside — even if the enemy cannot push one box, public sentiment and collusion alone fill the clock. The most frightening holdout.
Castle enduring through Barrier — it buys time by stopping yoma with the Barrier, but if Spirit Realm events (55–72) accumulate, something worse than the enemy enters.

Dial Readjustment. If the clock fills too fast → use a 12-box dial for the next holdout. If it is too slow and drags → use 5 boxes. The GM chooses the number of boxes to match the breath of one campaign.

"The moment the castle gate closes, the clock turns — and that clock is wound first by the inside, not the enemy."