Episode 9 "Enter the New Empire"

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December 21, 101 P.A.

After the party crosses the 9th Ring barrier, M.C. Hammer climbs off the wall. As soon as he climbs off, The wall begins to reform. Then Takeo, Trevor, and Shonen see M.C. Hammer and his motorcycle start fading away. M.C. Hammer says, "Guess I'll be seeing you guys later" as the others fade away. An effect of the 9th barrier is a time warp spell that will send all who cross 3 months into the future. M.C Hammer being a Psi-Nulifier was not affected and neither was his motorcycle as it is TW enhanced to e unaffected by magic. Almost the second M.C. Hammer fades away a group of 10 men on horses come riding up. The men are wielding bows, swords and one of them holds an old rifle. The man with the rifle speaks, "Who are you? How did you get through the barrier?"  Takeo tells the man their names and that her is a demon queller, Trevor tells him they blasted a hole through the wall. The man replies, "Impossible the demon quellers dont exist anymore and you can't simply make a hole in that wall, why you cant even touch it. However you did it, you didn't completely bypass the magic barrier. For you see anyone who crosses that magic wall is teleported 3 months into the future. So, we knew you'd be here because you crossed 3 months ago. Anyway your are clearly powerful and he is clearly a monk (points to Shonen), so come with us quick before the shogun's samurai arrive."

As the party gets into their ATV it begins to snow. The men shout, "Hurry! Now!" and they ride off. Trevor begins to follow them, they hear a loud roar. The three look out the windows into the sky and see a large ice dragon overhead. The ice dragon comes swooping in and blows its frost breath, freezing 3 of the horsemen solid. They begin attacking back firing arrows, Trevor makes for his power armor in the back of the ATV using his Telemechanic Operation to drive while he moves away from the controls. Shonen and Takeo activate their chi (for MDC skin). The Dragon swoops back in and freezes 2 more horsemen as they try to flee and casts a wall of ice in front of the speeding ATV. Trevor expertly (high skill roll) maneuvers the ATV into a drift and avoids the ice wall. Now the dragon is raining down ice shards at the remaining people, another horseman goes down. The man with the rifle stops his horse, and so do 2 other horsemen, he tells the party to continue following the last horseman still riding. As they drive off following their guide, they hear the other three horsemen start casting a spell.

They follow the last horsemen for awhile and realize the dragon is no longer following them, after a little while longer they arrive at a fishing village. The party meets the town elders Pin, Pi, Po and are told they are in Oni-Chan Village. The party relaxes and shares their stories with the villagers. One of the village elders Pin tells them, "We use to be a very nice fishing village, very prosperous, with enough to go around for everyone. But... Ever since the return of the Emperor things have become very bad. First the Emperor had his mages put up the 9 rings of the New Empire. Each ring is different but they all do the same thing keep the rings isolated. He also replaced all the shoguns of our lands with new ones. He said it was for our protection against demon invasions, but now we can't even access the water to do our fishing and food is scarce because it is illegal to hunt in the shogun's woods. Rumors say the Emperor has deployed troops in search of the Millennium Tree and is importing all sorts of magic creatures in hopes that they will help locate it. Many believe that the shogun here has mind controlled the samurai of our land and forces them to do his dirty work. We could use the help of those as powerful as you, as could all the New Empire." Takeo asks the elder if he knows of the Millennium Tree in Kyoto. The elder replies, "Ah yes, the millennium tree why everyone knows.................. sorry what was I saying?" Takeo asks the elder again and receives the same response. Takeo's magic lore makes him aware the Spells of Legend exist and possibly one. In effect in this case, it seems to cloud the minds of the people of this land and anyone that begins to speak of the Millennium Tree forgets what they are talking about. Takeo gives up trying to inquire about the Tree and they sit back and have a few drinks.

Trevor receives a note in his drink. It simply says, "Meet in the pig sty at midnight for information on your next mission, if you so choose." Trevor tells Takeo of the note. Takeo says he know Rukia and that its so of her to put a note in your drink, and has a chuckle. So they wait til midnight and they go to the pig sty. Upon entering the pig sty Orihime body flips Takeo, throwing him across the room and into the mud, laughing."Takeo, your reaction time is slow." Orihime then reveals herself to them and tells them to call her Kiki Lo now, as she is getting closer to her target she must change her identity again. Orihime tells Trevor, "I have been hired by a mutual friend of all of ours, Chaz. Oh, I mean Urihu, that's what he wants to be called now. Here you go." She hands Trevor a envelope with a wax seal and an eagle imprinted on it. He opens it an find instructions, a memory card and a cred stick for 10,000. The instructions read, "Trevor, your weapons system's targeting worked flawlessly. If you are willing I would like you to pick up a power aromor for me in Ulo Town for Kuchiki Han, and smuggle it in to the 5th ring for me. I will find you there. This is very important, and I know someone with your skill set can get it done for me. Inside is an advancement.This note will be incinerated in 5 seconds." Just as he finishes reading the note burns up.Trevor put the memory card in his computer and they see its a map to Ulo Town. They travel there first thing in the morning.

Along  the way the party encounters 4 lesser demons, which Takeo can not resist attacking. The party dispatches of the demons with ease. and continues to Ulo Town. Once they arrive they try the local bars for information on Kuchiki Han. They go in and start asking around for Kuchiki Han. At first they get no replies from people but finally someone tells them that he is a weapons dealer in town. As they are talking to their informant a group of guys walk up. "I hear your asking about Mr. Han" they draw weapons. Immediately one of the guys falls to the ground, then the next and the next. Afterward a little old monk comes out of the shadows in the corner. "Ryoko!" Shouts Shonen. The old monk chuckles, "You boys are always getting into trouble." They leave the bar and go to the weapons shop. Trevor goes in his power armor, when he gets there he meets Kuchiki Han. Han tells Trevor he must leave his power armor and in exchange he will receive 2 more. The one Mr. Urihu ordered and another one for Trevor. Trevor accepts the deal and leaves his armor. The staff at the weapons shop loads the power armors on the wagon and they take off toward the shogun's palace.