Cyberpunk Session 25

The crystal shattering started from the interior and then slowly spread to the surface. Once there it appeared to get sucked back into the centre and then appeared to warp and twist outwards again.

As we progress (on the train) down the tunnel strange cracks appeared in the tunnel walls in which creatures can be seen appearing and disappearing (staying inside the purple energy field effect). At their appearance Tharbin feels truely nauseous and sick. He is able to attempt to treat himself using his medical supplies but this has no effect (could he have forgotten to pack the anti-nausea pills?)

The fierce beast appearing from the strange cracks in the wall

The creatures are not affected by the purple energy field and begin to follow us as the energy field continues expanding and following us down the tunnel. As we reach the lift we all pile into it and press the up button. Both the purple energy field and the creatures follow up the lift shaft with the creatures climing the walls of the shaft with ease. The lift reaches the top of the shaft and we move into the corridor that led to the top of the lift shaft with some jostling to determine the party order.

We reach the living area and proceed towards the entrance area. Shadow closes the door between the living area and the corridor that we just left. However energy field flows through the door and the creatures follow it through the closed door. This leads Shadow to abandon his attempt to rescue those in the dorm rooms.

We get back to the portal well ahead of the energy field but by the time we help Tharbin to enter the portal the energy field is catching up with us. This time the trip through the portal is different to our earlier experiences - normally the trip is characterised by a sense of the colour of the portal (in this case red) as the short transistion is made. However this time the transistion feels to have taken longer than before and there is a brief sensation of purple in the middle of the transistion¹.

The room we arrive in looks the same - but different. We are all each confused by the six people around us - we're all now wearing simple linen clothes and with simple tools (stone mason tools for the men and artist brushes and paints for the ladies). The room is now lit by candles and the walls of the crypt are now just stone work (i.e., there are not lined as before). The portal has been replaced by a bas relief of a basilica on the wall which has been painted to show red doors.

We are, at least, all mutually comprehensible. We return back through the corridor to the large room. This room too is now lit by candles. Shadow is the most conscious of us in that he's very aware of losing his weapons. Taking the lead Tremen moves towards the corridor leading westwards. It seems that the layout of the underground complex is the same as before - even if the decor is both newer and older (newer in that there is less sign of wear and tear but older in style). Some of the cells that previously contained sarcophagi are now empty (but some of those nearly the entrance to the surface are not). Tremen hears voices ahead - european in sound but not english. It's a pair of male voices - one of whom seems to be expounding on some topic or other while his companion sounds more disinterested. After waiting quitely at the dogleg in the corridor two figures can be seen further down one of the corridors. They are wearing metal breastplates and have rapiers at their hips. They continue their journey through the complex - luckily taking a route which means we can continue to leave the complex without having to pass them.

The view arriving at the jetty

The exit is now up a flight of stairs (rather than the ladder and trapdoor we originally used to enter the complex). At top of the stairs the sun is shining and it's quite warm. We're clearly somewhere still under construction. The immediate area is surrounded by a wall and leads to a small jetty onto a lake. On the opposite side of the lake is a small asian-style village. There are three boats tied up to the jetty. Two of them look in place, matching the style of the village across the lake while the third looks out of place. As we board the two boats that look in place, the two figures arrive behind us. One of them asks, in halting Japanese, Are you finished for the day?. Tremen replies, bowing low, Yes sir but doesn't elborate. The two gentlemen board the third boat and start to row to the stream that exits the lake. Looking in that direction we can see a ship and smell the scent of seawater.

We row across the lake (Shadow doing an excellent job in one of the boats, while Namerake is less so in the other boat). Looking back at the construction site we see that there is a christian cross painted on the archway over the jetty. When the boats get to the village side of the lake we disembark. As we do so we get glances of a mixture of curiosity, attention and disapproval² for a few seconds before the onlookers look away. That said our style of dress does fit in with the locals.

A man in a slightly smarter looking set of linen clothes bustles up to us and asks (in Japanese) if we're stopping for the day and if so why. Shadow explains that Tharbin suffered an accident in the complex. The man³ hands Shadow a small pouch that chinks with the sound some coinage and says that he will speak with the gaijin⁴ about the need to prop up the dangerous piece of construction. He also says that he assumes we'll be in the hostel down the road. We agree!

At the hostel we are housed in two dormitory rooms (one for the men and another for the ladies). These are communal with other guests at the hostel. This does mean it is tricky to get a chance for the seven of us to have a discussion about the situation but, by discussing over the wall dividing the communal garden, we do make some tentative conclusions:

• We're probably in Japan's past - presumably several hundred years⁵
• Assuming Kitsune is immortal [1.an almost reasonable suggestion given our prior interactions with her] perhaps our best hope is to figure out how to get in contact with her in this time - that's going to take thought!

Also on Tremen's mind:

• Is claiming that there's a dangerous part of the complex going to cause trouble with the european gentleman or the foreman we met?