Track 12: Crystal Blue Persuasion

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

By the time the big mess in Venice is all cleared up, and the weary investigators have had a chance to unwind from all their adventures, it's the middle of 1969. There's time to pay attention to trivial things again. Sci-fi buffs may mourn the final episode of the American television series Star Trek, which was never very popular. In a real-life incident that sounds like science fiction, a chunk of a Soviet satellite fell to Earth and hit the Japanese freighter Dai Chi Chinei, seriously injuring five members of the crew. Zara, still experiencing the strange feeling of emptiness that began with the demise of the blood-draining energy being, produces drawings of the incident, all done in bright blue ink.

[jp1885]

Is this a convenient time to level-up maybe?

P relaxes in his own way: tinkering and pottering (and occasionally berating Otto in the manner of an exasperated parent against a recalcitrant child).

Expressing a polite interest in Zara’s drawings, he approaches her one evening.

“Might I ask: how did you become attached to the entity?”

[Mr. Handy]

Liz has been spending time in the lab doing research too, but she has also made time for a social life. She is keeping an eye out as the date of the concert disaster in Altamont approaches, knowing that they'll have to intervene to prevent it. "Looks like we're going to need to investigate this Soviet satellite incident," she says, examining the drawing. "These drawings are always significant."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

A little research reveals that the incident involving the Japanese freighter occurred while the vessel was passing through the Strait of Tartary, a narrow body of water between the island of Sakhalin and the Russian mainland. A glance at the map reveals this to be an area likely to be closely watched by both Soviet and Japanese governments.



Whether or not Zara is able to provide an explanation for her connection with the entity, she feels as if something else is trying to connect with her, in an unexplained manner.

[jp1885]

At some point, depending on when or if Zara replies, P will study the map with a frown.

“Diplomatically fraught - very fraught. I must call Tony and see how he is: perhaps he can furnish us with a contact in Japan, who can help us get to the strait undercover, so as not to alarm the Soviets, hm?”

[Mr. Handy]

"Good thinking," says Liz. "It will be good to talk to him again, too. Sakhalin Island was previously owned by Japan, but when the Soviet Union jumped into the war against Japan in August 1945 they seized and kept it. Very rich in oil, Sakhalin."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Spoiler:

Just now saw the comment about leveling up. Sure, go ahead. Here's the Player's Handbook for reference.

https://engineoforacles.files.wordpress ... ee-pdf.pdf

I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

A series of phone calls to Agent Jack Carson, on secure lines, yields the following information, as well as some warnings.

"Since it looks like the good old USA is going to get to the Moon first in a month or so, God willing, the Japanese have dropped their secret program to get there before the Americans. The Kōanchōsa-chō (Public Security Intelligence Agency), the Japanese intelligence bureau, has therefore warmed up to the CIA a little bit, so we've been working on this falling space junk incident with them. We could use some feet on the ground, so to speak.

"I believe you had contact in the past with Takara Electronics. They're doing some hush-hush stuff for the PISA; fancy gadgets and such. I can get you passes to pay a visit to the Sapporo regional office of Takara Electronics, on the island of Hokkaidō. That's about as close as you're going to get to the Strait of Tartary without drawing undue attention from the Soviets. From there, maybe you and the folks at Takara can figure out a way to get you near the area where the incident took place.

"But be careful. Takara and PISA may have something else up their sleeves. Good luck."

[jp1885]

Thanks Vic, I’ll take a look at levelling up P when I have time. Does Otto improve too?

“We need to know the ‘terrain’, as it were,” P declares. “I shall do some research on the area, it’s inhabitants and their customs.”

[Mr. Handy]

"I've worked for Takara before, as assistant to Professor Hinkley," says Liz. "I quite liked him, and I hope we meet him again. Zara was working a secretary, and Tony was in sales. I'll help with the research. I know Japanese too, which will help."

I may need some time to finish leveling up too. I definitely want to increase my Wisdom again, but it'll take me a little while to see what ritual and asset I want to add.

I'd guess Otto doesn't improve, as Ivan never has.

[SunlessNick]

Zara tells the others that she can't feel the entity any more, and it seems to be gone. While this might be expected to be a relief - and she appears to mean it when she says it is - she doesn't really act like it. She goes back to drinking heavily, spending evenings at the Sospiri, nights obsessively paining slightly abstracted Venice street scenes [rolls a 12 - not bad ones, though not her best work] and days sleeping. All as if she is trying to fill some kind of void.

"I don't really know how. Sometimes I see things when I paint. That's always been around. It's why I don't... it's why I live on my own. I guess wherever things like that live, part of me lives there too, so they see me and want to use me. Now that thing's gone, there'll be something else. There always is."

Regarding the satellite, Zara agrees they need to check it out. "Does Jack know what the satellite was for?" she asks during the contact with him. "And did all of it come down, or is the rest of it still up there?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Thanks Vic, I’ll take a look at levelling up P when I have time. Does Otto improve too?

“We need to know the ‘terrain’, as it were,” P declares. “I shall do some research on the area, it’s inhabitants and their customs.”

Spoiler:

I'd say he's more of an "item" than a "character," so I'd guess not

The basic facts about the island of Hokkaidō are easy to obtain from any decent encyclopedia. It's the northernmost major island of Japan, obviously, and therefore is subject to cold winters. (It was even supposed to host the Winter Olympics in 1940, but, for obvious reasons, they never took place. Maybe some day?) Before being annexed by Japan way back in the 19th century, it was one of the homelands of the indigenous Ainu people. Due to discrimination and intermarriage, they are now a small minority on the island, although there are still a considerable number in a couple of the southern sub-prefectures of Hokkaidō. Sapporo is the capital of the prefecture of Hokkaidō and only major metropolis on the island.

The cold and humid island of Sakhalin is heavily forested and sparsely populated, mostly by ethnic Russians, many of them convicts or the descendants thereof, but there are also a considerable number of ethnic Koreans, the descendants of forced laborers brought to the island by the Japanese during the Second World War. Many of the latter live in the island's administrative center, and only important city, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

"I've worked for Takara before, as assistant to Professor Hinkley," says Liz. "I quite liked him, and I hope we meet him again. Zara was working a secretary, and Tony was in sales. I'll help with the research. I know Japanese too, which will help."

I may need some time to finish leveling up too. I definitely want to increase my Wisdom again, but it'll take me a little while to see what ritual and asset I want to add.

I'd guess Otto doesn't improve, as Ivan never has.

Having an important connection with Takara Electronics, Liz is able to arrange for a full tour of the Sapporo facility -- both the "public" activities of the company and more "private" ones.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Zara tells the others that she can't feel the entity any more, and it seems to be gone. While this might be expected to be a relief - and she appears to mean it when she says it is - she doesn't really act like it. She goes back to drinking heavily, spending evenings at the Sospiri, nights obsessively paining slightly abstracted Venice street scenes [rolls a 12 - not bad ones, though not her best work] and days sleeping. All as if she is trying to fill some kind of void.

"I don't really know how. Sometimes I see things when I paint. That's always been around. It's why I don't... it's why I live on my own. I guess wherever things like that live, part of me lives there too, so they see me and want to use me. Now that thing's gone, there'll be something else. There always is."

Regarding the satellite, Zara agrees they need to check it out. "Does Jack know what the satellite was for?" she asks during the contact with him. "And did all of it come down, or is the rest of it still up there?"

Not much is known about the satellite. The Soviets aren't admitting it was one of theirs, although the United Nations came to the conclusion that it was.

"That's one of the things the Agency would like you to investigate," Jack explains. "Was it a Red satellite, or something else? What was its purpose? Our agents are too well known to the other side to make much progress. If you could get a chunk of it to us, that would be a big help."

[jp1885]

“Off to Japan then,” says P. “Do we use the airship or fly in like normal travellers? The latter might arouse less suspicion.”

[Mr. Handy]

"I agree," says Liz. "Let's take a commercial flight. The airship would definitely attract too much notice."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

The direct commercial flight from Los Angeles to Sapporo aboard the newest of Pan Am's luxury jetliners is fairly comfortable, but takes about fifteen or sixteen hours.

Spoiler:

reduce all basic characteristics by 1 the first "day" after settling in at your hotel, due to jet lag

The adventurers have rooms at the Sapporo Grand Hotel, a western-style establishment opened in 1934. (It was reopened in 1952 after the war.) It is conveniently located near the Sapporo division headquarters of Tanaka Electronics, a modest building.

In each hotel room, the adventurers find handwritten notes, in English, all bearing the same message.

The kamuy welcome you

[jp1885]

“Kamuy: Ainu spirits I believe,” pronounces P, having read a little about them during his research. “Nice of them to bid us welcome. I wonder if this is something they do for tourists, or a little push to go see the indigenous folk around here?”

[Mr. Handy]

"Perhaps we could, if we get a chance," says Liz. "I'd like to meet them, and they'd make excellent guides. But our first stop should be Takara."

[SunlessNick]

"As soon as we do they'll start following us. Unless they already are," Zara says.