Whispers of Oblivion
| Whispers of Oblivion | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Asahiro Kunitoshi | Temple Guardians, | Free-Spirits | ||||||||
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Black Samurai Canis Deimos Shine |
Guardians Free-Spirits | Free-Spirits | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| 2 Guardians slain. | 3 Spirits, disrupted or slain. | |||||||||
| The sword Sohayamaru, a powerful weapon focus, is delivered to Asahiro Kunitoshi | ||||||||||
Summary
Black Samurai, Canis, Deimos and Shine are summoned to Shiawase' Auburn facility by Asahiro Kunitoshi, who does not introduce himself by name. They accompany the Shiawase princeling to Japan, and there retrieve a powerful weapon foci from the storied Honnō-ji Temple near Kyoto.
Background
Asahiro Kunitoshi has identified Pump-King Jack as a major existential and meta-physical threat to the entirety of the 6th World. As a traditionalist samurai and adherent of Bushido, he considers it his solemn duty to destroy Jack, and believes that obtaining Sohayamaru, a powerful weapon foci, is one means to such an end. Naturally, he does not share these motivations with the Runners.
In order to further his goals, he sends four Seattle Runners to Chiba, Japan, where he believes that a shard of the sword Sohayamaru lies beyond a Torri gate in the famous Honnō-ji Temple, a gate beyond which lies a mirror of the true temple, wreathed in eternal flames believed to symbolically represent the original Temple at the time of it's destruction at the hands of Shogun Odu Nobunaga, during his war against the Sohei warrior monks of Japan. The mirror temple is said to be the resting place of a Sohayamaru shard, believed to be either one of the Five Legendary Swords or else the blade wielded by Oda Nobunaga himself.
The Meet
Black Samurai, Canis and Shine arrive for their meeting dressed in appropriate corporate fashions and by conventional means designed to avoid attracting attention to their presence. Deimos arrives by Pegasus and wearing full body armour beneath her ceremonial robes. She levitates to the ground outside the Shiawase facility, in and around which guardian and watcher spirits abound. The four are led to a meeting room, in which they converse with Asahiro Kunitoshi, who does not introduce himself either by name or by title, who appears at least somewhat appreciative when Shine addresses him as "Naka-udo-san," the form of address Shiawase corporation uses internally for their Johnsons.
Naka-udo-san explains his needs, and when the runner's agree he grants them five hours to return to the facility, upon which they will depart immediately for Japan in his private het. He instructs the runners to travel light, and bring only that equipment which will fit inside a single foot-locker each. Deimos graciously concedes much of the space in her locker to Shine, so that she can bring the entire contents of a Rating 6 med-kit on the run.
Travel
The runners travel inside RPP-treated body-bags, concealed in the cargo hold of the private jet. After several hours of flight time, the jet lands in Tokyo and the team are immediately transported to the forests around by temple by SUV. The driver stops at a drop point some 7 kilometres from the temple site, and informs them that a different colleague of his will return each night at 1am for five days. After which time, if their mission is incomplete, they shall be abandoned to their own devices in Japan.
Finding a camp-site is complicated by Deimos' infected condition, being as she finds herself surrounded by objects of a wooden nature to which she is deathly allergic, but thanks to the map-softs thoughtfully purchased by Black Samurai and Canis before they departed Seattle, a suitable location is soon found. The night passes uneventfully, with Canis spending much of it performing matrix legwork and Deimos watching over the camp.
Legwork
Canis uncovers a great deal of useful information concerning the site, most pertinently the fact that it's mortal guardians are exclusively awakened personnel -whose strength varies from being merely aware to actual mages- and that it's spiritual guardians are likewise powerful. He also uncovers much of the Temple's history, including discovering that as little as eight years ago, the Torri arch became a gateway through which the mirror-Temple is visible even to mortal, un-awakened eyes, and that a terrifying hellscape with spirits in the shape of oni is visible beyond.
Black Samurai and Shine reprise their familiar role as a romantically involved couple visiting a location of cultural interest Fortunate History in order to tour the location while physically and astrally scouting. Shine understandably has no trouble portraying herself as a culturally clueless gaijin love-interest and Black Samurai equally and understandably finds it very easy to portray himself as her occasionally somewhat exasperated partner. Meanwhile, Canis walks around as a solitary tourist, before finding himself a suitable bench to relax in before inspecting the place closely in the matrix. Meanwhile, Deimos, being dual-natured and this somewhat noticeable given the sheer number of spirits and aware guardians present, watches and monitors events in the astral from the treeline, discovering layers of wards in place around the Temple.
Black Samurai and Shine in particular are fascinated by what they see through the Torri, their astral perception affording them both a far greater level of detail than that afforded to most mundane viewers. They spent some time touring the sacred site, before separating just before Canis begins his host run. Shine departs for the local market in order to acquire food for the night, while Black Samurai remains behind with Deimos to afford Canis some protection should he be discovered. Crucially, Canis is able to obtain the guard roster while remaining un-detected.
The Plan
The team re-groups at their camp-site and makes their plans. Informed by the knowledge of their pick-up time and guard shift changes, they elect to make their move at 10pm, when the late shift will be tired, the sky will be dark, and allowing them around 3 hours to hike the 7km through the woods (in the dark) to their pick-up point. They decide that Canis will provide overwatch and matrix support from the treeline, protecting and being protected by Deimos. Shine and Black Paladin will infiltrate the temple with the assistance of RPP and a Conceal spell that Deimos will drop before they cross the wards. They will cross through the arch into the mirror-Temple, fetch the sword, and exfiltrate without initiating violence.