Cyberpunk Session 30

Wakiya leads the way out the back, followed by the rest of the team. We hear Screams, yelps and the sounds of panic from the room behind us. As Wakiya reaches the street she encounters someone trying to enter - she reacts instinctively and pushes the gentleman out of the way - breaking his nose in the process. The chaos behind us builds in intensity and the hooded figure with us turns, gestures and summons a new portal. Everyone through! Now! he says.

Our last view of Shadow

We do so but only six of us... Looking behind us reveal the shocking sight of Shadow being caught by one of the creatures

We arrived on something that feels somewhat reassuringly like concrete. Looking around us we see that we're in some kind of warehouse - there are fluorescent lights above us and a staircase leads upwards at the far end of the warehouse. We are still in our earlier clothing (stone masons and painters)

At the far end of the warehouse are some people dressed in black suits and ties.At the front of the group is a gentleman looking older than the others. He has a small black button about the size of a penny on his lapel. This shows a stylised red tree on a shimmering background. He is flanked by two younger men and a young lady standing to the side behind them.

Tremen approaches the group and the gentleman offers a business card using both hands to present it. Tremen apologies for not being able to offer his own card and takes the card (using both hands himself). The business card is white on black is a relatively technological card giving the name as Makoto Ryujin. He says that this warehouse and its supplies upstairs is for our use and is the only freebie his employers are prepared to give he expects us to do jobs for his employers as required. He turns to the lady with him and introduces her as Hana Kage Shimona. He explains that she will join us to assist. When we ask what has happened to Shadow he's unable to help. I was told to expect a group to arrive - you're a group!

Hana 'Kage' Shimona

He (and the two other gentlemen) depart and we explore our new surroundings. There is clothing for seven people and some equipment upstairs which we gratefully appropriate (even if the clothing is somewhat generic and not as stylish as some of us would like). There are non-perishable foods in a larder (sporting brand names we don't recognise even if we can recognise the rice, ramen etc). Adjacent to the larder and kitchen are other facilities including small rooms to be used as personal bedrooms for each of us. Also included in the equipment are smartphones and we can determine that we're in a place that calls itself Night City on the west coast of America and the year is 2020.

Nameraka explores the various news channels - there are several, revealing that there no major news events ongoing at the moment either in the world as a whole or locally. However one oddity is that under the news ticker there is a small red box that is apparently a lottery tracker showing the number of verified murders reported during the day (we see the number change from 79 to 82 as we watch).

Ricky explores outside of the warehouse revealing that the warehouse is in what Ricky calls a downbeat area (but not a slum). There is the smell of the sea which Ricky discovers is about two streets away and covers from a small seafront that hosts some small boats. There is traffic on the roads and behind the warehouse can be seen a city which, from the building we can see, is both bigger and richer than our warehouse district.

Tremen does web searches looking for any reference to Shadow (using his real name) - there are no hits, but on the other hand, there are no hits for any of the rest of us either.

We spend a nervous night with half (or more) of the team being unsure how much we can trust in this environment and with Shimona in particular - though checking the building shows it to be relatively secure (the roller doors, for example, are reinforced).

Next morning we have a breakfast and check our new equipment - which seems to be in working order if nothing special. We ask Shimona to take us to a nearby store where we can get some fresh food to go with the non-perishable foods already here. Wakiya stays at the warehouse while we go on this errand. The streets are busy and loud (which reveals that the Warehouse is somewhat soundproofed) complete with the sound of frequent sirens. Cyberware is a lot more obvious here that in Newport City - some people are effectively flaunting their use of it). The city scape is garish and somewhat overpowering. The roads all seem to lead towards the corporate centre of the city. However the roads hold not just ground vehicles but some aerial vehicles as well. We do see police walking beats but don't seem to be doing so in an oppressive manner - only a few can be seen at any rate.

Once at the store Shimona buys the fresh food and we start the return journey. As we return we hear the sound of a shot ringing out about 100 meters ahead of us. A guy runs out of a store at roughly that distance and, when someone gets in his way he shoots them down. Up to that point hardly anyone on the street took any notice, but at the second shot the people do react and take cover. Tremen asks Shimona Is this common?, she replies Not common - but it does happen now and then and explains that the corporate zone is safer.

The guy with the gun has run off so we get closer to the scene. The passer-by looks to have been injured in the leg by the shooter acting on reflex. The shot was to get him out of the way and wasn't to kill.

Since we don't want to get more involved we leave the scene and return to the Warehouse. We let Wakiya know of the morning's adventure and then there is a knock on the door....