(RC) Shadows of Nanking – Ch. 11, part 1

Summary: The Cabal prepares to enter a the last known place where the original Cabal disappeared.

Recap: The Cabal is onboard the ship for a month before arriving back in Osaka. During that time, they contact Duncan and have him construct a walk-in safe to store the larger scrolls in. When they get back to their Sanctum, Kemosiri places the 7 chapters of the Shinwa Taizen into the new safe, but keeps the one hidden chapter to himself and then goes to his hidden sanctum to speak with Sachiko (see Interlude). Duncan tells everyone that Ms. Ogawa has not come out of her apartment since they left for Hong Kong.

Dancer has already arrived. She stayed with the Bunny Warner’s for three weeks before she said she had to leave. She does not want to talk about why she left. She chose the Shadow Name of Hachi-ko (named after the Japan’s most loyal Akita dog).

After Kemosiri returns to the Sanctum, the Cabal decide what they are going to do next. Kemosiri suggests exploring the cave located in Kobe. He believes the Queen of Hell, who is prominently mentioned in the Shinwa Taizen, may be down there. To do so, they figure they need more information. The Cabal decides to visit Koya (the Yamada Taro mage located in the Mental Hospital), to get info regarding the cave, but when they arrive, the nurse informs them that Koya had been transferred a week ago. There was no destination given on the manifest.

The Cabal decides to break into the Psych Ward and confront the ghost. They use Ghost Gates to walk into Twilight and then enter the hospital and then exit Twilight. They exit Twilight in the hospital’s basement – the oldest part of the hospital, and try to summon the World War II ghost Kemosiri had met there. Despite pulling off the ritual perfectly, no ghost appears and no psychic remnant of the ghost remains. Kontonshin uses the Time Arcanum to find out who is responsible. She can only see a man wearing robes and a mask destroying the ghost. The Cabal believes it is Tatsu who destroyed the ghost, but beyond what Kontonshin saw, they have nothing else to go on.

Kontonshin uses the same ability to find out who took Koya and sees only nameless paramedics. Finally, they break in to the personnel office and find out who the nurse on duty was the night Koya was transferred. They find out she had not appeared for the past week. They get her address and head straight for her apartment. They find the apartment empty and discover that she had moved out less than a week ago. Kontonshin’s uses Postcognition and sees the faces of the same paramedics who transferred Koya from the Psych Ward.

Dejected, the Cabal returns to their sanctum. Detective Imada is waiting for them. Several mutilated bodies were found south of Kyoto in a field. He asks the Cabal to investigate.

Before the Cabal begins investigating, they go to Kiyomizu-Dera to confront Tatsu. They demand to know what he had to do with the disappearance of Koya. Tatsu vehemently tells them he had absolutely nothing to do with his disappearance and that if it had not been for the fact that they were foreigners, he would have challenged them to a duel of magic for their insolence. The Cabal leaves Kiyomizu-dera not believing anything Tatsu had to say.

The Cabal arrives at the gravesite Detective Imada had told them about. Four burnt, eviscerated and mutilated bodies are found in shallow graves. Kontonshin uses her Postcognition to see the sacrifice. She sees a group of robed and hooded people encircling the bound and naked bodies of Koya, the nurse and the “paramedics”. Then, their bodies are mutilated with a ritual knife and large chunks of their flesh are greedily devoured in an orgy of blood and viscera. No matter how many times the knife plunges into their bodies and no matter how much of their flesh is taken in the obscene ritual, the victims remain alive and they scream; their cries for mercy ignored. Only the sound of the ripping and tearing of flesh and the slurping of blood and entrails can be heard under the victims howls for relief. Their wails pierce Kontonshin’s heart and she struggles to keep watching - but she watches because she has to know who their leader is. Finally, the Cultist leader removes his hood Kontonshin sees the face of – Professor Wu.

Next: Shadows of Nanking, part 2