(RC) Yamada Taro – Ch. 9, part 2

Summary: The Cabal visits the Free Council group in Osaka, re-visits Koya in the Mental Institute and begins to seek out more fragments of the Shinwa Taizen.

Recap: The next day, the Cabal take Dancer to the Bunny Warner Appreciation Society. They go to BW’s Copy Shop – a dingy copy shop with 4 copy machines in various states of repair. Behind the counter are six networked computers with a few players at them playing various network games.

When the Cabal tries to get someone’s attention, a midget pops up from behind one of the computers and introduces himself as Shugo. When Mori tries to scrutinize him, Shugo recognizes that the group are Mages and quickly introduces himself as a member of the Bunny Warner Appreciation Society. He brings out Inu Yasha, a young former sumo wrestler who was ejected from his Nihon Sumo Kyokai stable for “inappropriate behavior” (he always farted during matches). Larva, the last member of the Free Council cabal, is a lanky man with long hair. He is the cabal’s Mastigos Mage and would train Dancer. Dancer seems reticent about staying with this Cabal, but agrees to stay for a month learning what she can.

The rest of the Cabal return to Kyoto and re-visit the Yamada Taro at the Asylum. With Kontonshin’s Mind Magic assisting them, they find out that the old cabal attended a Geology professor’s lecture and found a cave near Kobe considered the epicentre of the 1995 Kansai Earthquake. Koya mentioned that there was a creature in the cave that took out their cabal. Koya could not speak of the rest. The ghost also returns and tells Kemosiri that the Asylum was once a base for a Unit of the Kempai Tai (the Japanese government, not the Mage Cabal) that experimented on humans in China and Japan. The Unit at the Asylum was Unit 12.

The Cabal decides to pay Professor Nanakushi a visit. Professor Nanakushi shows them where to find the cave and also shows them photos of the cave. In the cave are Jomon age pottery as well as a World War II era jeep that does not look like it has aged through time. Finally, Professor Nanakushi says that after he was taken to the site to explore it, he was shuttled out and him and the rest of his team were not allowed back at the site. Since then, he has tried to get back but has not been allowed. He has reliable information that there are alien artefacts hidden in the cave and the government has been covering it up. He would like the Cabal’s help, but the Cabal does not promise him anything.

The Cabal learn that scrolls from the cave were taken by the Yamaguchi Gumi and they sold them for cash. The Yamaguchi Gumi are a minor Mage Cabal but a major Yakuza group. They are much more interested in Temporal Power and not Supernal Power and they use their Supernal Power to gain whatever Temporal Power they can.

After finding a contact with the Yamaguchi Gumi from the Kokuryu-kai, they visit Taro, the leader of a Bosozuka gang (Motorcycle gang). He tells them they sold a number of scrolls to Mages in Hong Kong.

Now, the Cabal has a choice: go to the cave in Kobe and find out what killed the former Cabal (as well as find more scrolls) or go to Hong Kong and find scrolls.

The Cabal chooses to first go to Hong Kong.

Next: Hell’s Kitchen