This is a collection of notes and other details from and about Neil's cyberpunk game:

• Cyberpunk Session 1
• Cyberpunk Session 2
• Cyberpunk Session 3a and 3b
• Cyberpunk Session 4a and 4b
• Cyberpunk Session 5
• Cyberpunk Session 6
• Cyberpunk Session 7a
• Cyberpunk Session 7b
• Cyberpunk Session 8
• Cyberpunk Session 9
• Cyberpunk Session 10
• Cyberpunk Session 11
• Cyberpunk Session 12
• Cyberpunk Session 13
• Cyberpunk Session 14
• Cyberpunk Session 15
• Cyberpunk Session 16
• Cyberpunk Session 17
• Cyberpunk Session 18

(Played on 9^th June 2024)

CCTV Image of Maria Estoban

From Tremen's Notes¹

Follow up on Hayato Kita's contact

As described in the second set of notes, Hayato Kita had a note in his appointment book for a meeting in Shinchuko station with a Maria at 12:30 tomorrow. Maria would apparently be wearing a pink carnation. Spooky examined the CCTV footage which showed there was indeed a lady waiting in Shinchuko station at the relevant. She stayed for about 15 minutes and then walked out with an annoyed and disgusted expression. Checking with facial recognition reveals she is Maria Estoban, the daughter of a Mexican businessman who is a executive for Pemex. She has since returned with her father to South America. Spooky then made a phone with Maria and confirmed that the meeting was set up for her to meet with Hayato Kita and to be shown a good time but was stood up.

Kuroi tsuki

The Underground braindance studio is actually not all that underground. It's actually well known in the right circles (Celebrities, Politicos etc). and I decided to pay the club a visit during the morning. The building is relatively small and somewhat more upbeat and presentable than the surrounding buildings. Ground floor has no windows with a door next to its car park (with about 15 parking spaces) and while the upper two floors do have windows, the first floor windows have been blocked off on the inside. The windows on the top floor are also blacked out. After using the intercom I'm ushered in and taken to the manager. Overall impression is of a business that is legitimate if sailing somewhat close to the wind. The club is being tidied up from the previous night's activities. The manager is somewhat relieved when the topic of conversation is revealed to be about Kendo Ita whereabouts². The manager and staff doesn't recognise him but are able to confirm that no bodies have been found at the club for a while.

Hoga Itami

Tharbinsan follows up on Hoga Itami's rap sheet which showed arrests for GBH and robbery for which he served some time in jail. His current whereabouts are unknown. Tharbinsan arranges for a facial recognition scan and alert to be made for Hoga - initially indications are that he is still in the city but no specific immediate trace of his location is available.

Kendo Ito

Wakiya looks for more information on Kendo Ita. He worked for an arms manufacturer as a programmer of emergency protocols for vehicle operation. The company's records show that he was staying at the Negoya Hotel (the hotel used by the company when staff are in the city).

The best image I could persuade the image generator to come up with.

Later in the evening

After taking a short rest we are alerted that there has been another body found with the MO of Sergeant Masher. The body is in the Dajima district and we head over there. As we cross the bridge into the district there is an emergency call from the team tracking Hoga. He has been seen in the company of two women and we are given the rough location (only a rough location as the CCTV coverage in that area is somewhat patchy). Hoga walks out of a bar with a woman on each arm. One of the woman's heads explodes and Hoga takes a couple of seconds to react, dropping the body of the dead woman. As he does so the stomach of the other woman explodes and Hoga dives into the shocked crowd and disappears into an alley after three more civilians are butchered. Several people are bumped as if by an invisible person and we head to the location of the alley.

On location, just beyond the alley, there are two ground cars (the nearest merely has a smoking engine, the further one is a wreck!).

It's a week after we get back to Section 9 and report. Shadow recovers well (with many thanks to Tharbin's medical expertise) and joins the rest of us in the office as it seems things are getting back to normal allowing us to do a little research and recovery time. There are more reports that Sergeant Masher¹ is still active and causing trouble. We also note scientific papers about the spate of stars going nova (including that there have been more of these than earlier reported). Some of us also do some more specific pieces of research including:

Tharbin

There are several rumours/conspiracy theories about big spiders (including around the Inagawa Kokusai farm).

Tremen

is reportedly sane despite his paranoia about his mental health!

Wakiya

Her pictures and photos from our trip to the icy world. They all match her memory and seem to be good photos. All that is apart from the photos of the mural which still cause a chill and a shudder when viewed.

Nameraka

Researches european myths and fables about mothers and finds there are many but none match the statues under the temple on the icy world.

At the end of that working day, Savan, (the taller of the two gentleman working directly with Kitsune arrives in our office and tells us that Kitsune-san wants to talk with us. He then immediately leaves and we scramble to follow. Arriving in Kitsune's office she informs us that she has some new information for us, but that it is best if we get it directly from her contact and she gestures for us to accompany her. She leads us to a short corridor we haven't been down before and through a curtain that is across the corridor. From behind the curtain wafts a smell of cooking that reminds each one of us of our childhood. We follow Kitsune through the curtain...

The view behind the curtain

And we're in the past and in the middle of a street market! Kitsune is in her fox form. Unsurprisingly we all feel out of place (but the passers-by do not treat us as unusual). Most of us get distracted by a stall selling tempora but eventually we all follow Kitsune into a small store where a gentleman greets Kitsune in English². He gives Kitsune a manila envelope in which there are five reports:

1. A report on the Sample from the leg. The leg was from some sort of spider although there is no correlation to any known spider in the earth database. As whatever this belonged to is an unknown more time will be needed to make a better assessment.
2. The vials of stuff we collected. Four of the vials contain common ingredients bu the fifth contains an unknown substance.
3. A translation of the parchment. It was written in Maithili³ and its translation lists the following: Mount Everest, Olympus Mons, Mons Huygens, Skadi Mons, and Point Hermes⁴.
4. A second document has not been translated as it's in an unknown language (unknown even to the gentlemen and (presumably) his contacts.
5. The notebook was initially considered to be just rambling. However further examination revealing that all the rambling are about dreaming

As we absorb this information we are jolted by a general alert: Masher has struck again but the New Port City PD (NPCPD) have managed to corner him. He is holed up in the storeroom of a supermarket but he has three hostages. The NPCPD have set up a cordon outside the building. With Kitsune's permission we leave her and gentleman and quickly head back to our office, grab some kit and race to the site.

The supermarket as we arrive

The officers on site are relieved to see us (since it means backup has arrived) and happily hand over command to us. They report that about 5 to 10 minutes ago there was a scream from within the building.

After disabling the beep from the main door Wakiya and Shadow cautiously enter the supermarket. There is a spilled basket of shopping on the floor and a small trail of blood leading to the storeroom at the back of the store. Meanwhile Nameraka moves to the alleyway behind the supermarket to cover the fire exit from the store room.

Wakiya finds a swipe card for the store room and hands it to Tremen so that she and Shadow can burst into the room while Tremen uses the card to open the door for them. This done Shadow and Wakiya find that the room is dark and the floor is slippery - slippery enough for Shadow to lose his footing for a second or two. Wakiya spots a woman crying huddled next to a mangled mess of body parts. Two other people are also there - the first is a man in flight or fight mode and definitely would be fleeing if it wasn't for the second man. He is wearing a businss suit and is obviously squeezing the first man's head. This second man says Don't let me do it again!.

Wakiya fires - her shot hits and takes down that second guy while simultaneously knocking him back. She calls for Termen to get and remove the two remaing hostages who does so.

The body of that second guy is still twitching as if his cyberware (or something) is still trying to move his body. As the body has a jack plug Wakiya calls for Tharbin to jack into her own jack plug to monitor her and pull her connection as she jacks into the body.

Her impression at first is that everything is dark and then she hears an agongising scream. Following the ghost line leads her to a defensive barrier which seems to have many minds. Wakiya pushes through the barrier and gets the image of many hands squeezing her head. She quickly retreats but has managed to trace the ghost line to an apartment in Dejama.

Checking the body of that second guys shows him to be a corporate wage slave with an apartment in Dejama.

Tremen organises for forsenics to attend, thanks the local police on the scene (assuring them that he will be handling the paperwork). We all then pile into our vehicle and Shadow rushes us to the building housing the Dejama apartment (rattling Tremen and Nameraka around the vehicle in his haste to get us there). Dejama is an island originally used to house refugees.

Rough floor plan of the apartment. There is a power generator and computer in the bedroom.

The apartment block is 15 floors high with the ground floor housing reception etc. and with parking below. The top floor is used for service equipment such as heating. The apartment we're interested in is floor 12. After worrying some of the other residents we enter the apartment and start to search it. It appears unoccupied. The Bedroom has a power generator (still running) powering a computer.

The bedroom also has a builtin closet and Wakiya opens the door to the closet....⁵

The cavern and the statue

As we continue to move down the unexplored path it's hard to tell exactly how much time as past - even with checking our watches it's still uncertain and the cold is continuing to sap the warmth from our bodies. The murmuring ahead has a rythmic chanting feel to it. Shadow and Wakiya lead the party - using the technique of one moves, one covers even if there's no cover in the passage for them to use (the rest of the group lag behind to give them the room to do this).

The chanting gets louder and the passage brighter and the last few steps lead out onto a flat surface and a balustrade overlooking a rough hewn cave. On either end of the balustrade is a flight of steps leading down onto the bottom of the cave. Looking into the cave we see a cobweb-strewn floor with carved columns on either side of the cave. At the far end of the cave is a statue of some sort (from this vantage point it's hard to distinguish of what the statue is).

A quick radio check shows that those are working (in gact, working better than they did on the surface since it seems that the interference from the weather conditions is actually minimised.

We split up three and three to take the two sets of stairs in tandem (trying to keep roughly in step as we descend). The cavern is lit by candles set into alcoves in the left and righthand walls of the caves. The floor itself looks like a sheet of ice (i.e., smooth and highly polished, it's not actually made of ice!).

We stop on the bottom step of the staircases (there's about 20 metres between the two staircases). Nameraka cautiously touches the floor - it is cold, but not ice cold. Shadow moves onto the floor and hugs the wall as he moves deeper into the cavern. The room itself is symmetric (the statue at the far end, while centred in the cavern is not symmetric). The light is quite blue and bright with the polished floor being quite reflective (so much so that we can easily see our own reflections. We cautiously move up the room (along the walls) towards the far end of the cavern. Neither our footsteps nor the chanting is echoing.

The columns are made up of hundred if not thousands of bones, it is hard to tell it they compose the whole column as there is no way you can see past them, you have no idea what sort of animal the bones came from. These alcoves have been carved out of the rock - but using relative old techniques (no evidence that power tools were used). In the alcoves stand blood-red candles with red flames. The candles stand between one-and-a-half and six inches tall and are about two inches in diameter.

From a distance the statue seems to be carved out of a rocky base but as you get closer you can see detail in what you thought was bare rock. The base is made up of hundreds of small children, each raising the arms towards the statue, although there are no facial features it seems they are begging for attention. The statue itself is in the female form hands lowered towards the children, hands open wide as if ready to grasp. Again the face is featureless but it hard to overcome the feeling of dread that emanates from it. As we approach the statue the chanting stops and a very strong breeze blows from the hole above the statue. The candles flutter but don't go out. This lasts for a few seconds and then the breeze stops. There is a sweet smell to the breeze.

Ricky approaches the statue and looks up through the hole above it. The light is from it is dazzling in comparsion to the light in the cave and is coming from moss and crystals lining the hole which continues upwards beyond the moss and crystals. The cobwebs look like a cloak drapped around the statue.

Behind the statue there is no sign of any additional tunnels but to see the back of the statue requires climbing over the statues of the small children (they stretch the whole way either side of the main statue). Wakiya does climb over them but that doesn't reveal anything odd or strange about the back of the statue if you ignore the cobwebs.

Nameraka approaches the altar in front of the display of statues. This altar is made from black stone and there is a single blood red candle in the exact centre of the altar. Wakiya remarks that, to her at least, the chanting was coming from the small statue of the children. This leads Nameraka to closely examine the small statues - they are extremely detailed - except that their faces are blank. The clothing on the small statues is old-style european (i.e., not modern and not japanese). Nameraka now takes the glove off of his human hand¹ and, using a glancing touch, touches one of the small statues. He is freaked out to hear the word Father in his mind and a few seconds after that Nameraka keels over and collaspes.

Tharbin tends to Nameraka who is in shock and brings Nameraka round though he remains a little shocked. Wakiya now takes a more determined touch of the children and gets the same response (i.e., a mental sound of the word Father and then collapsing after a few seconds). She is in a worse state than Nameraka and takes several minutes to come round (during which time her face is caught in a rictus of terror).

I am now considering (a) whether we have any way to destroy the statue and (b) whether it would be a good idea to do so (as it could be cause of the portal). On reflection the team decides that returning and reporting to Kitsune is the best course of action at this point. As we leave Shadow sweeps the candle from the altar to the floor. The altar now shows no sign of ever having the candle on its surface nor is there any indication of the dead centre of the altar.

We return to the entrance of the temple. The amount of time that's passed seems to be different to our internal body clocks but, as it's night time, we camp in the relative warmth of the courtyard of the temple. During the night there is minor earthquake².

In the morning we head back towards the cave with the portal. This takes two days and on the second day we can see the cave and, looking back, Shadow sees a shape entering the temple (and this isn't the same shape(s) we saw leaving the temple on our original journey towards the temple). Looking more closely at the shape through binoculars Nameraka is able, after throwing up the remains of his breakfast, that the shape seems to be horrible and enormous spider.

Could this be the cause of the rustle and the webs?

We return to the portal and travel through it. Shadow sets up a shaped charge to attempt to destroy the portal. The explosion does cause the portal to flicker but when the dust clears it's obvious that the portal is undamaged and still operational. The same can't be said for Shadow who clearly mishandled the charge and is very badly injured and requires hospitalisation. As we return down the hill and through the second Torii, Wakiya spins round and sees both the rustle of leaves and some fresh webbing.

At the farm there is still many Section 9 operatives and they quickly call for medevac transport for Shadow. The rest of us move to return to base and report to Kitsune.

Kitsune, as seen by Tremen when he was giving his report

We return to the farm where there is now plenty of Section 9 activity (the normal parts of Section 9, not that part of it to which we have been assigned). After retrieving our gathered cold weather equipment we head up to the track that leads up the hill (attracting strange looks from the operatives in the area - but they know better than to inquire). We soon pass the first torii where, again, we get the feeling of being watched. This feeling only intensifies as we head further in and past the second Torii (Ricky reports that the feeling is no longer of unconstrained hatred but now has a tinge of restocking the larder about it).

Now we're far away from prying eyes and ears (or, at least, those of Section 9 and the general public), Tremen shares his experience reporting to Kitsune and her apparent change in appearance. The consensus is that this is more evidence of the secret world that is really behind what is going on in the world. In addition we also conclude that we need to investigate the temple we saw on the other side of the portal and then find a way to deactivate that portal (preferably with us on this side of it). If we don't then Kitsune is going to have to do so herself and that is likely to be a lot more violent than any closing solution we're likely to come up with.

We continue through the cave entrance and into the cave. There is now a noticeable breeze in the cave and the temperature is colder than our previous visit (e.g., the mist is deeper and thicker). We continue to the portal and do through.

There is a storm raging outside the cave on the other side and we decide to wait it out (mainly because the ice crystals in the wind can be quite irritating. Shadow does take the opportunity to scout the downwards slope, but can't risk going too far.

The storm passes in a couple of hours and the day become crisp and clean (even if the sunlight is somewhat pale and wan). We gather ourselves together, ensuring we have a rope tether to minimise the risks if (when) any of us stumble. A check of our short range walkie-talkies shows these are working - albeit with a limited range and a bunch of static. The path down is, initially at least, relatively easy going. Shadow, for he has taken point, spots something ahead and signals for Wakiya to join him. Through her scope she sees five figures - all hooded and larger than human apart from one. They seems to headed for the distant mountains and don't seem to have spotted us. We resume the journey towards the temple that was visible from the cave entrance - but now being more cautious about being spotted.

A view of one route we examined and then decided to avoid

The terrain is relatively flat (there are small undulations in the snow but nothing too severe and definitely flatter (and easier) than the surrounding terrain). We do a quick check of the snow depth which shows it's at least four feet deep. Despite Nameraka struggling a little with the journey we feel we're making progress towards the temple, even if it's often a case of It's just over the next hill. It's at this point we realise that it might have been a good idea to record our route so we take some time to record the terrain of the hills we left together with some compass bearings.

As the day wears on, we reckon that (a) we've come about half-way and (b) we have to make a camp that will have to be snow shelter dug into the snow. Digging the shelter takes a lot effort - so much in fact that Shadow collapses from the effort and Tharbin soon suffers from the cold (if in a slightly milder way than Shadow). Nameraka takes charge of getting Shadow and Tharbin into the shelter and working on restoring their core body temperature by any means necessary (including sharing body warmth). An uncomfortable night is passed by all with a light, intermittent watch being kept by Tremen.

After breakfast the next morning (and we're relieved to see that there's no wind this morning) we set off - now with Wakiya taking the lead and Tremen stumbling at the rear.

After taking most of the day we actually arrive at the temple. Its entrance has a large arch over it and there's no snow on the ground around the entrance. We welcome a warming heat from the entrance that not only has melted the snow, but dissipates the chill within us as well. To Shadow reminds him of South American monuments such as Machu Picchu.

Inside the temple a green glow is coming from the walls - in fact from the lichen on the walls and a corridor leads onwards. Following it we soon come to a crossroads (i.e., passages to the left, to the right and ahead as well as the corridor we came down). Tremen stays to watch the crossroads as the rest of the team explores down the right hand passage.

This leads to a large room with four closed and empty cages in it. Tharbin reports that one of cages shows scrape marks from its cage door and there's a black goo in the scrapes. A sample of the goo is gathered and Ricky observes that the cage itself has moved - but the cage is too massive for any (or even all) of us to move. On the wall a worn and indecipherable bas-relief - possibly a picture of some kind. Wakiya takes a film camera picture of the bas-relief (with Ricky standing next to it both as a marker of scale and cast a light along the surface to highlight any remaining relief to the bas-relief).

The bas-relief in the left hand room

Tremen is able to distinguish a faint machine/mechanical hum coming from the left hand passage and with investigation of the right hand passage being completed the team heads across and down the left hand passage. The hum is coming from a generator that is powering a bank of freezers (well one freezer - the others are not powered on at this time) and some fluorescent lights. The room also holds a pair of benches with a sheet over something laid on the benches plus what is obviously some kind of rest area (cots and furs are strewn about). However it is another large bas-relief that catches the eye of both Tremen and Ricky. This one is in much better condition and, for a brief period, Tremen and Rocky are capitivated by it - until they rouse themselves and hastily leave the room complaining of a nasty headache (Tharbin moves to deal with this leaving the others in the room). The bas-relief is of some kind of building/temple that is vaguely familiar to Wakiya.

Nameraka examines the benches and lifts the sheet to reveal a large long segmented leg (approxiamately twice as long as Nameraka is tall). There is more black goo on the leg - presumably its blood and Nameraka surmises that it looks like it comes from a (huge) spider.
He also checks the working freezer and determines that it seems to have a frozen block of the black goo (a sample of which is also taken).

Ricky explores the rest of the room. In addition to the cots there's a ricketty desk (one that looks like it's a cheap flat-pack). On the desk is a test tube rack with a test tube holding a silver liquid within and two parchments. One parchment has a five item list, the other has unknown writing but with the logo of Neuf mères on it. There's also a leather satchel (containing a pack of cigarettes, a pen and notepad - inside of which is another five item list (including Moon Cow Milk), bad song lyrics and worse poetry).
Wakiya scoops up the parchments and test tube, puts them carefully into the satchel and then moves the satchel into her pack.

We now leave that chamber, head back to the crossroads and down the one unexplored path. This continues downwards and after a hundred metres or so it starts getting cold again. In addition the light cast by the lichen changes from green to blue. There's the murmer of some kind of indistinguishable language ahead.....

The Torii gate straddling the crumbling path

Following on immediately from the , previous sessionWe see there are many cobwebs in the trees and Shadow spots something off to the side of the path - something with many legs and purple and which disappeared almost as soon as Shadow spotted it. Shadow calls up Wakiya to see if she can see anything through the scope of her sniper rifle but there is nothing visible. As they do that Tremen watches the other side of the path and Nameraka examines the Torii in more detail. The ropes and strings visible on the Torii look very old. He touches the ropes with his cyberarm but all this shows is that the ropes are strong and relucant to move (quickly falling back into position).

The gully leading to a cave entrance

Continuing up the path through the Torii we soon pass into a gully at the top of the hill. A second Torii is at the start of the gully which leads to a third Torii behind which is a gated cave entrance. The gate itself is not locked, but is chained and the chain closed with an intricate padlock.

Wakiya examines the lock and notes that it is very very cold and drops the lock which clangs back against the gate. Nameraka then has a go at picking the lock (using his cyberarm and hand to hold the lock). After 30 minutes or so he succeeds and the gate swings open. While this is happening Shadow again feels as if something is watching. Again he asks Wakiya to scan with her scope and again she spots nothing¹.

We cautiously enter the cave. While not claustrophobic we need to proceed in single file with Shadow leading followed by Wakiya, Tremen, Ricky, Nameraka and Spooky bringing up the rear. The daylight only goes a few metres into the caves and we are forced to rely on flashlights for illumination. It is cold inside, colder than you would expect for an underground cave though not as cold as the padlock. The passage leads us on a wide downwards spiral with shallow steps and the passage becomes more regular². After what feels like twenty minutes we reach a crossroads. To the left we hear no sound, unlike to the right where we can definitely hear the sound of running water (in addition the right hand passage looks to be a more roughly hewn passage than any of the other routes. Ahead the passage continues downwards.

As we contemplate our choices Spooky feels a faint breath on her neck. She brushes away the touch and her hand comes back with a cobweb (which results in her paranoia spiking at this point). Nameraka confirms that there is nothing behind her. Spooky puts the web into an evidence pack for later examination. The passageways not not seem to have any cobwebs. One of Spooky's theories is that she has had a tracking device attached but her thorough search doesn't find anything.

Shadow leads us down the left hand passage. This passage seems to be spiralling back upwards and after twenty minutes or so we reach a balcony overlooking a large cavern. Some sconces spring into life as we enter the balcony casting a dim blue light. Spooky is sure she saw something something on the floor of the cavern (it seemed to move in front of a light source at the base of the cavern) but, yet again, there is nothing visible using Wakiya's sniper scope.

We return to the crossroads and cross overe into the right hand passage. After fifteen minutes we come to a midsized flow of water (move than a stream but less than a river). There is a narrow path along side the water with the sound of water over rocks some way further along.

Initial View of the cavern

This seeming a quite risky route we again return to the crossroads and turn right down the straightahead path. This continues to descend in a wide spiral and it is getting noticably colder. After another fifteen minutes or so it opens out into a large cavern. There is the sound of water falling from above and the floor of the cavern is covered in a mist. High above are two dim blue lights illuminating a balcony. This would seem to be the balcony we were on earlier and its plausible that the water falling from the ceiling is from the flowing water spotted in the right hand passage. The cavern floor has been leveled to remove the bigger rocks and obstructions. Visible at the back of the cavern is a small raised area (about two metres by one metre by one metres) with steps leading up to it. There are two dim blue lights on the edges of the raised area and, at the back of the raised area is an archway. Both Wakiya and Nameraka really feel the cold, particularly those parts which held the lock on the gateway (even Nameraka's cyberarm is aching).

Moving closer to the archway we first see strange runes on the arch and then there is a loud crackling sound and the view through archway changes from the back wall of the cavern to a view of the interior of a small ice cave. The surface of the view is rippling making it obvious that the ice cave is NOT here as such. Nameraka (being the bravest of us) puts his cyberarm to the image and it does, indeed, seem to be a portal and he moves through the portal (we can see him through the portal on the other side). Tremen and Shadow go through next followed by the rest of the party. Once through the portal Nameraka and Wakiya feeling of cold gets much worse. There is, however, an orange light ahead.

The view from the ice cave

We round a corner and we're in a cave above a plateau. The view ahead is of a cold landscape. There is a building on one of the hills ahead visible ahead and the sun in the distance is being eclipsed. There is no net or wireless access available here and Tremen takes as many pictures as possible on his mobile phone.

We head back and are very relieved to see that the portal is still operational and still shows the cavern and we return through it (taking more picture to prove (even only to ourselves) that it is a portal). We head back through the passageways back to gated entrance. The position of the gate has moved (it is slightly more open). Nameraka closes the gate, replaces the chain and (using the intricate padlock) locks it.

We reckon it's been about four to five hours and we return down the hill. As we do so Shadow again feels like we're being watched - this time she also feels a sense of hatred from whatever is watching.

We return to the farm and our van where there is no change or signs of interference. Nameraka and Wakiya's sense of feeling cold dissipates.

We return to Section 9. Tremen reports to Lady Kitsune while Shadow and Wakiya attend to cleaning and checking their weaponary (in Wakiya's case to check the calibration of her sniper snope).

On his return Tremen is obviously somewhat shaken and says that (a) we need to visit that building which was visible from the ice cavern and (b) he'll explain more once out at the farm and beyond most forms of survelliance and observation. The team start gathering the equipment and supplies needed to do the investigation while surviving the extreme cold of the location beyond the portal.

After a short break (of a few weeks in length) we all reconvene and are joined by Nameraka who has been on a long undercover operation. The short break has been very quiet - we've been getting on with paperwork and our investigation has continued but with no active events. Specifically we've been:

Tremen

Doing background research on the South American Mercenary Company and the South African publishing company (Both of whom are about 18 months old)

Ricky

Heads to the streets looking for rumours and hints about unusual activity (but is met with either spun yarns or with looks of perplexed looks)

Shadowdancer

Heads to the bars in a similar fashion to Ricky (if inside rather than outside in the rain and is met with similar wild tales or strange looks)

Spooky Witch

Scans the dark web and the real web for hits on anything related to the events in Cyberpunk Session 10 (She finds that Over the past couple of weeks several observatories around the world have reported that 5 stars that where thought to be stable and years before their time to go nova have disappeared. This unknown stellar phenomena has not been seen before and the scientific community are a buzz for it's implications. and The spree of murders attributed to Sgt. Masher have continued, the total is up to 27 and it is believed are there more as the homeless, immigrant and transient population cannot be fully accounted for.

Tharbin

Gives our american colleagues a nudge about progress on their research (and is relieved to learn that, while they can't add anything at present, that the investigation is proceeding).

Wakiya

Checks the Weirdo magazines but reports that she can't find anything directly relevant at this point

Ricky and Shadowdancer return to the office (Shadowdancer a little worse for wear) in the late afternoon and our conversation (which is just going around in around in circles) is interrupted by two burly gentleman enter the office and insist (in no uncertain terms) we accompany them. After Tremen checks their ID we comply. They take us to the elevators and, after the doors close, we are surprised (some less os that others) when the elevator goes sideways instead of up or down. When the elevator stops its right wall slides away to reveal a new lobby and we are led to a well-appointed office. (On the way Ricky and Tremen overhear part of a conversation: Perrrfect now we have some new blood and at least one member of our group is convinced they can smell food cooking behind a closed door - it smells good).

The office has a picture window showing a view of Sakura trees (bearing in mind our offices are up in a standard office block this is a liitle unusual but perhaps it's simply a generated picture though the image does look extremely realistic). We are greeted by a Smartly dressed woman in a Kimono. She is Lady Kitsune and says that Daisuke¹ has given me permission to move your squad over to my part of Section 9. She further explains that, while we may find her information unbelievable the daylight world isn't all that there is and that the the secret world of Yoki, Oni and the like is very real, the Illuminati, Templars, and Dragons to name but a few are all part of this Himitsu no sekai. She tells us that, for now, we should continue our investigation into the activities of Neuf mères in Japan and while we are to have access to this part of the building it has no cell, net or direct lines so any information must be handed over in person and that we may see things in this part of the building that are not normal.

CCTV view of the warehouse

She then tell us that the maid of Sato² has been found - more accurately her body has been found. She was killed with a single shot. The shot was from a gun believed to be a Pool gun³. The autopsy suggests she was killed in a different location and then taken to the location where the body was found.

She also tells us about a Warehouse where she believes that the gang using the gun uses and tells us that She wants the warehouse raided Now, no warrant, no notice.....

The Warehouse is in a rundown part of town. On the southeast corner of the warehouse is the entrance to a parking lot and a set of offices.

After a very short planning session we head to the warehouse and start the raid....

Following on from the events of the previous session, Spooky informs Tremen that even with her best efforts she could only get a few more details. SHe was able to reconnect to the Hilton's security system and ascertained the following:

The computer claims this is an image of Mr. Smith but who can know if it actually captured a proper image...

• Room 205 was in the name of a Mr. Smith
• An attempt to find security footage of this Mr. Smith shows a man walking from the lobby to the room
• There is no indication that he left through the front door
• From the security cameras the room is empty and looks unused, the only unusual aspect is the open window to the balcony
• Whenever Tremen tries to look at the face of Mr. Smith his eyes are always drawn away from it as if Tremen's body was trying to reject seeing it

Just as Spooky finishes showing Tremen the security footage there is a scream from the main room of the Warehouse - it is at this point when (as prevously recorded) Nameraka's arm slipped onto the black mirror. He immediately collapses and his left arm is missing as if sliced off by a very sharp knife. There is a pool of rust coloured melted ice on the floor between him and the black mirror.

Wakiya and Tharbin go to assist Nameraka (Tharbin leaving the small office) with Tharbin managing to stabilise Nameraka to at least the point where Nameraka isn't going to die. It's apparent that Nameraka's arm has been subjected to extreme cold (at least as cold as dry ice or, more likely, liquid nitrogen levels of extreme cold).

Tremen concludes that the Hilton needs to visit as soon as possible and he and Spooky borrow a car from the forensics team and head straight there.

The suspicious tanker truck

Just as Spooky finishes showing Trem

Meanwhile outside Shadow continues examines the trucks. One of them is a tanker and tapping the side of the tanker with a metal pole discovers that lower portion of the tanker does not contain same as the top half of the tanker. Opening the hatches at the top reveals that the top half is indeed fuel. Careful examination of the pipes and valves of the bottom of the tanker reveals that one of the valves is connected to the bottom half of the tanker. With the help of Ricky this vale is cranked open with some difficulty. Once open a viscous liquid comes out, splashing them both.

Tremen and Spooky arrive at the Hilton and, with the help of the manager check out the contents of Room 205. It's just a normal hotel room, but there is a slight scuff mark on the railing of the balcony. The balcony looks out over a park (so there won't be any CCTV that will get a good view of the balcony). Checking the adjacent rooms (particularly those above and below) doesn't reveal anything else unusual and even checking the AV landing pad on the roof only reveals that the only flights were the normal airport shuttle runs.

The rest of the team, after getting Nameraka rushed to hospital maneuver the mirror back into its crate and then the crate into our van.

We all then head back to base¹ where we notice Lady Kitsune's department of the crate. One of her associates (who probably has a full body prosthetic) examines it. He is seen (by Shadow) to slap a piece of paper on the crate, but when his hand lifts from the spot there is no such piece of paper.

Tremen makes an in-person report to Lady Kitsune's department.

Two days later

Nameraka rejoins us - his arm has been replaced with a cybernetic arm and hand.

Research has revealed the following:

• The substance in the tanker is blood, but not human nor of any known animal
• The ash of the Zombie is just the pulped remains of a human and does not have the remains of any cyberware
• The adversion effect of the footage of Mr. Smith applies to any member of team (i.e. none of us can concentrate on his face. Interestingly this effect applies even to the still images from the security footage). However we do all agree on his clothing and general appearance

One of Lady Kitsune's associates delivers a manila envelope containing real paper and explains that Lady Kitsune wants us to investigate. The paper gives us an address of a farm and notes that by tracing the tanker movements via street cameras etc. this farm was the most recently (if 20 days ago) location which the tanker visited.

Suspiciously mutant cows at Inagawa Kokusai Farm

The farm, Inagawa Kokusai Farm, is a beef cattle ranch run by AI and owned by the agri-business CoAg.

We head out to the farm. From the road we see nothing unusual and it is obviously run by an AI. We are let in. There are two main building and several grain silos. The buildings are a bunkhouse (used by maintenance personnel and the evidence is that it was last used 10-15 days ago) and a machine room holding equipment and supplies for repairs.

The Torii gate straddling the crumbling path

Nameraka climbs one of the silo and spots a set of steps heading up into the woods behind the farm. We all head up these crumbling, but recently used, steps which lead to a Torii.

Three members of the team enter the office part of the warehouse (they'd like to think they're entering cautiously, but you can judge for yourself....)

Exploring the location of the warehouse we cautiously move into its surrounding courtyard. As we approach the loading bays at the back of the warehouse we become quickly aware of hostiles (gunshots are quite effective at that kind of notification). Shadowdancer get a hit on one of the hostiles, apparently downing him (this hostile had earlier shot at Tremen). Meanwhile Spooky has spotted a set of wires leading into the building and is able to ascertain that the data connection is not being used for significant amounts of data traffic (i.e., no major uploads or downloads are in progress).

Tremen enters the warehouse (via a door next to the set of wires and, for his trouble has to duck behind a forklift truck as several shots are sent in his direction. Shadowdancer, still outside the loading bays, continues exchanging fire with more hostiles, downing one of the hostiles, but getting badly wounded in the process. Tharbin gets to Shadowdancer (while still under fire) and performs first aid on Shadowdancer and enabling Shadowdancer to sort out the one remaining hostile amongst the trucks and vehicles in the loading bays. Nameraka assists in this part of the firefight (although Shadowdancer was concerned that Nameraka's help could be seen as being limited to acting as Mobile Cover!)

Ricky and Wakiya also move into the Warehouse and also come under fire, but from a different hostile than the one firing on Tremen.

Outside a final hostile is engaged by Nameraka and Shadowdancer, this hostile seems to be a somewhat different to the others that been encountered so far. Nameraka successfully wounds this new hostile.

Inside the Warehouse, Ricky and Wakiya deal with their hostile while Tremen's hostile moves off deeper into the Warehouse after being wounded.

The different hostile engaged by Nameraka and Shadowdancer moves into the Warehouse, but is brought down soon after (the hostile is not only followed by Nameraka and Shadowdancer, but is also engaged by Rikcy and Wakiya).

At this point, the warehouse is mostly secured (the hostile wounded by Tremen seems to have scarpered), so we can begin a (still cautious) investigation of it.

The warehouse seems to be a packing operation of some kind (there are workstations along side a conveyor belt leading to a some kind of packing station). It does look like what you would expect for that kind of commercial operation.

Ricky reports the discovery of a box about the size of a suit case tucked away in a corner that contains valuables. These include watches, jewellery, and several wallets none of which have any money but one does contain an ID card (someone was careless when emptying it). The card belongs to an Amanda Orwell, it states that she was a purchasing manager for Neuf mères.

Tharbin finds a door secured with an electronic lock and calls over Spooky to open it. Inside is a small room with three people. They are barely alive. Some food and an overflowing bucket are also in the room.

As we continue checking the people, the offices, the crates (one of which has a collection of firearms), a deep resonating voice (more felt than heard) says:

That won't do. That won't do at all. Prey should know what it is, although more quick bodies for the fire is always a bonus.

The green thing.

The voice doesn't seem to be coming from any loudspeakers (partially because no loudspeakers are visible). We continue to check out the warehouse with Tremen and Wakiya in the back office (which is full of stuff that's basically junk).

However as spooky moves towards the office she spots of tthe corpses of the previously downed hostile. However two things strike her as odd: (1) The corpse is standing up and looking at Spooky and (2) its cyberware is glowing green!

Meanwhile Tharbin examines the three prisoners to ascertain their status - which is: Alive, not bleeding but not in good condition. Tharbin tends to them providing reassurance and ensuring that a paramedic team is its way to assist these victims.

The green glowing thing now giggles and spits a green acid blob/dart at Spooky hitting her and causing her status to change to Seriously Wounded. Hearing Spooky yell Ricky moves towards Spooky and sees the green glowing human near Spooky. Spooky pops a shot at the green thing and misses (at which it giggles again).

Nameraka, Shadow, Tharbin and Wakiya move toward the sounds of trouble - Spooky takes the opportunity to bravely run away, but not before taking a second pop shot, this time succeeding in hitting. In response the green thing just stands there, turns a little and spits at Ricky. Tharbin takes a pot shot and misses.

Tremen, seeing Wakia moving to assist in the fight and wanting to ensure that there's no surprises remaining in the small office complex that Wakiya and Tremen were checking out opens the one remaining unopened door in that part of the warehouse. Behind the door is ... a smaller office - in better condition¹ with a running desktop computer.

The team (including Tremen) converge on the green thing start to concentrate fire on it. Tharbin is the next to gain a hit. He notices that its skin seems to be acting similar to combat armour (despite not being obviously anything other than skin). His next shot also hits and causes actual damage. Wakiya also scores a hit.

Now that the thing is concentrating on Ricky, Spooky takes the time to try to recognise the green thing's cyberwear, but doesn't succeed.

More shots pour into the green thing until Shadow gets into a position where he can see the green thing. He takes a single pot shot at it mortally wounding it with that single shot. The body collapses to the floor and the glow disappears. The body then disintegrates into a pile of mush. What appeared to be cyberwear now just looks like bones. Realising that it's beyond what he can quickly examine Tharbin calls back to Section 9 for a forensics team.

Following this excitement we resume (again) our exploration of the warehouse. Nameraka discovers a locked crate suspiciously just the right size to hold a coffin.

Back in the small inner office Tremen examines the desk while calling for Spooky to examine the computer. In the desk are a set of outbound delivery notes. However these have been completed in a simplistic, even childish way - not even a slapdash delivery driver would find these notes useful.

The ambulance for the victims arrives and the paramedics are escorted in by Shadow and Ricky and Tremen assist the paramedics.

This makes room for Spooky and Tharbin to enter the small inner office. The screen of the computer shows a small red dot and as soon as Spooky touches the computer it shut downs. As the shutdown was triggered remotely Spooky is able to quickly jack in (with Tharbin as backup) and follow the ghost line of the connection. It is immediately apparent to Spooky that she needs all her defences but shes traces the ghost line to the Night City Hilton's security gate. This she easily bypasses and tracks the ghost line to Room 205 before the ghost line disappears and Spooky is attacked by the logo of Neuf mères. Her defences hold and, as the connection is broken, she hears a giggle.

Wakiya's investigates some more crates double checking the finding of wallets, purses and watches (both men's and women's watches).

Ricky helps the paramedics with the three victims. As a result he learns that the victims would, most likely, have died in a couple of days without our intervention.

Outside Shadow spots that only two of the parked trucks have been used recently. A red truck and yellow one as it happens².

Spooky picks the lock on the large crate found by Nameraka. Within it is a layer of packing about 5cm deep. Under that is a wooden shipping crate. The crate looks relatively old (not decrepit just old). Wakiya and Nameraka start to maneuver the wooden crate out of its outer container while Spooky watches on. As this is going on Tharbin and Tremen are assisting the forensics team which arrived shortly after thge paramedic team. Ricky is returning back to the warehouse as the paramedics depart and Shadow is investigating the most recently used trucks.

Using crowbars Wakiya and Nameraka attempt to remove the top of the wooden box. Unfortunately Nameraka fumbles on his side of the box and his left hand and arm slip inside of the box. His hand and arm hit something very cold and as Nameraka withdraws his arm it is covered in rime and ice. He falls to the ground in agony.

Inside the wooden crate is what would be a large full length mirror if it wasn't for the fact that the surface is black not reflective....