Procession at the Summit of Mount Ooe
| Procession at the Summit of Mount Ooe | |||||||||
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| Part of Meatgrinder | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | MCT | ||||||||
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Bunny Hop Caliban Dango E-Mad | Shuten Douji and His Ilk | ||||||||
Summary
We're fucking KILLING shuten douji.
Background
Ms. Johnson had people look into shuten douji before. It's blocking the way to Hachi Zetto Shiyon, and she's decided the best way past it is through it. She's hired runners to eliminate Shuten Douji from the equation - violently, and with prejudice.
The Meet
The runners met with Ms. Johnson in a matrix bar, space themed. She offers 40k nuyen and some baseline information on the job, the host's location, the beast's last known stats, and information gleaned from decker 'interviews.' She offers 40k, nuyen, though the runners somehow negotiate that even higher, as well as for some bonus information.
The Plan
Recreate the myth of Shuten Douji - research the divine sake, get some good simsense, and go inside. Caliban has more direct ideas though she does like this plan, to go inside herself to see, and Bhop insists she follow to make sure she doesn't kill herself. After briefly resting away some fade, the other two finish research and follow along as well.
The Run
Inside the host is a large, medieval Japanese city inside a huge cave lit by lava. The runners look around inside and find that the exit out of the host moves with every new entrant. Searching for more information regarding the host sculpting, they enter a torii gate, and encounter a group of yokai feasting on human remains. Combat ensues. E-Mad goes into the large skeleton mouth in a bid to try to escape the situation, and after a brief scuffle, the rest of the team follow. It leads out into dark catacombs - running water and the distant sound of revelry echo from the walls. The team explore the maze-like depths of what they quickly deduce to be the interior of Shuten Douji's castle. Traversing is dangerous - hacking locked doors open risk alarming guards at every turn, to say nothing of the risks that lurk beyond.
After bypassing a number of threats and mapping all but the throne room itself, the runners exit through the front entrance disguised as traveling monks and make their way toward shelter for the evening to regroup and plan their proper attack. To the East, as day becomes night, they come across a shrine with a lone maiden. Despite initial hostilities and thrown hands, however, she's able to be talked down and welcomes the runners inside for the evening. They ask who she is, and though she has softened to them, she is not able to say. Opsec, or something or other. She does clarify, however, that all five of them are stuck inside this host from now on, to the runners' disbelief. Before further elaborations can be made, however, the shrine is attached by one of the many demonic AI roaming this land. The runners fight back and eventually kill the demon, and with their time here running thin, they extract crucial data from the divine well within the shrine. With this, they are able to compile a sake that can down even Shuten Douji and his demonic might.
The four of them set off once more for the demon king's castle, this time right up to the front door. They are travelers, entertainers, who bring with them an offering for the Demon King and seek his blessing to travel his lands. They are admitted into his eternal revelry and asked to perform for his entertainment - and some do, and some don't. Caliban performs impressive feats of marksmanship, but is ultimately not one for such things and sneaks away with E-Mad while Bunny Hop and Dango fulfill their duties as artists in his court. Bunny Hop sculpts a traditional carving in his likeness. Eventually they bring him off his guard enough to present their prize, a sake like no other, alcohol fit for royalty and no other. He demands a drinking partner, however - a competitor, one who can match his prowess, and the deceptively cute Dango steps forward to fulfill this challenge. She takes him shot for shot, and brings him to the brink of consciousness, so out of his wits he does not notice Caliban sneaking behind him. She spins some brief remorse about the necessity of his death, and snaps his neck.
Their escape is well planned, having mapped the path out prior. A decker trapped in a prison cell convinces the crew to let her free and to escape alongside them, and with her help, they are able to travel relatively unimpeded to the exit, despite Shuten Douji's guards' best efforts.
Aftermath
With Shuten Douji dead, those personas trapped inside the host's architecture are now free to leave. They each, the four of them, come into possession of a piece of the source code that makes up Shuten Douji's core. The decker they'd freed, this woman who oozes corporate privilege, leads them away, and once free, assures them that spiders will descend on this place with no time at all to spare. She makes a tempting offer - the technomancers will almost certainly have their resonance signatures made, but she can stay behind and ensure no such record is ever put to page, for the right price. That bit of source code - just one should do. Bunny Hop bites the bullet for her team, and trades that code base for the three technomancers. A bittersweet decision, of course, when she reveals she is MCT, and that this knowledge will go back into protecting the mystery of Hachi Zetto Shiyon.
Nonetheless, the team have completed their task without casualties. That alone is reason to celebrate.
Rewards
--- Run Rewards for Procession At The Summit of Mount Ooe (Deadly, 20 x 1.83x Runtime = 36 RVP)
- 40,000 Nuyen (20 RVP)
- 10 Karma (10 RVP)
- 1 Street Cred (1 RVP)
- 12 CDP (5 RVP)
- Orichalcum Chain Link Tattoo for completing a Meatgrinder run (optional)
- **Optional Quality:** Better on the Net (Firewall) for Caliban at chargen rates
- **Optional Quality:** Good Looking and Knows It for Dango at chargen rates
Dango can get a Mundane Ascension and use Gear Rates on the 40,000 Nuyen for upgrading her cyberdeck. E-Mad can use this as a Submersion Ordeal Sealed Shard of Shuten Douji can be kept by Dango, E-Mad or Caliban as a Rating 6 Agent. -1 MCT Reputation +1 Erika Reputation for E-Mad if he surrenders his fragment to Erika
--- Run Consequences
- Shuten Douji's no longer active in the Mount Ooe host. Shadowy research into Hachi Zetto and its entryways are now open and proceeding.
- Mitsuhama retains one of Shuten Douji's four fragments and utilizes it in troubleshooting Mount Ooe's Foundation issues.
- True to her word, one of the operatives related to Mount Ooe has the Resonance Signatures within erased to get hands on the fragment in the first place.
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
E-Mad: Somehow more magical than matrix Magic, not necessarily in a good way. So first off, Johnson was basically a ghost, there was nothing to track them by. Then we went into the host, *filled* with AIs, like so many AIs, all there to get high and munge. Apparently the place also hinged on resonance? There was also a thing watching us? I really need to get better at this job... a *lot* better...