The Cycle of Reversion - Gearing Up for the Next investigation
Going through the goodies in the Vampire Hotel
To start the story from the beginning:
Previously in the Cycle of Reversion:
The Emerald Palace Hotel in Tokyo was built by Vampires to withstand the changes that would take place when the Cycle of Reversion struck again. It is an 800-year cycle that Changes from Technology to Magic and back again. Vampires live long enough to observe the cycle and prepare for it. Thus, the Hotel was built by them and for them.
Now Satoshi Watanabe, the Hotel Manager, is working with those who have new abilities, like the Wizard Jack Adams, the Navajo shapeshifter Desert Wind, and his security guards, the troll Franz and clever gnome Oka.
Now, they are investigating disturbances in the hotel to make it safe for the future. Having just discovered that there are ten floors of storage rooms beneath the hotel, they are getting ready to investigate the latest problem. Something broke a hole in one of the heavily fortified windows twenty stories up. They need to find out what it is and if it is a threat to them all.
The Story Continues:
Satoshi turned to the others and said, “Hiro, go get the steward, Akira, and join us in the lobby as soon as possible.”
Hiro bowed, “Yes, Sir!” and immediately left the room.
Jack looked at Desert Wind and said, “This investigation worries me. Something about that broken window makes me think that we are dealing with something more than your standard threat. Please be careful!”
Satoshi said, “We need to prepare more before this one. Let’s talk once we are all together in the lounge.
Once Hiro left, Oka turned around in his chair, pulled out a small board with pieces on it from a drawer in the desk, and started examining it.
Jack asked excitedly, “Is that a chess set?”
Embarrassed, Oka said, “It’s nothing!” and moved to return it to the drawer.
“No!” Jack exclaimed. “Do you play Chess?”
Oka shook his head, “There’s no one here to play with that is worth setting up the pieces.” Then, he finally registered Jack’s enthusiasm. “You play?”
“Only when I can find someone worth setting up the pieces for.” Jack rejoined.
Oka smiled and said, “I’ll play white.”
Desert Wind shook her head, and Satoshi said, “Jack, we don’t have time for this.”
Glancing wistfully at the board, Jack replied. “Yeah. I know. Oka, I’ll catch you later when we aren’t trying to save the hotel, planet Earth, or something like that.”
Oka nodded. “I’ll keep it set up for you. Don’t get killed. It would be awful to lose the first decent competition to some wandering monster that happened by.”
Satoshi and Desert Wind practically dragged Jack out the door.
About ten minutes later, all five of them met in the lobby. They were Satoshi, Jack, Desert Wind, Hiro, and Akira. Satoshi began, “The room where this attack happened was on the twenty-fifth floor. It was far too high for anything from the ground to reach up to break the window. It was too high for something thrown from the ground to break the window. To my mind, all that leaves is that something flew up and broke the window under its own power. It must have taken incredible strength, size, or both to break these reinforced windows.”
Jack asked, “Are there any birds of that size here in Tokyo?”
Satoshi responded, “Well, there certainly didn’t used to be, but now, who can say?”
Hiro asked, “Has anyone reported seeing any such bird or creature since the change?”
Satoshi answered, “No one has reported anything like that to me.”
Desert Wind asked quietly, “What about someone with magic?”
Jack responded, “Well, anything is possible with magic. All I can suggest is that we go to the room and investigate, and if I sense any magical residue, we will know.”
Satoshi said, “Well, that settles it. We need to head up there now. Before we go, would anyone like to pick up anything from the Armory? Either weapons or armor?”
Akira jumped in quickly, “Yes! That would make me feel much better. Right now, we are vulnerable.”
Satoshi said, “Very well. The sisters passed on a map to the underground rooms and a special key. Let’s go look at what we have been provided.”
Even Desert Wind appeared interested in this.
They rose and followed Satoshi. He led them to a seldom-used hallway with a large storage closet. When they reached the end, an elbow in the hallway went about another ten feet. At the end was a doorway to the closet on the right. But instead of facing the door to the closet, Satoshi turned about and faced the opposite wall. He took out the unique key, felt the bricks with his other hand, and located a slight depression in one. He pushed it, and a keyhole opened. He inserted the key, turned it, and with an audible click, the entire wall slid back an inch and slipped into the wall to the right, leaving an opening with stairs leading down into the dark. There was a light overhead, but it was not lit.
Jack looked up at the light and said, “Permanent Light!” He could feel the extra drain on himself from casting that spell. He hadn’t realized how much making something permanent added to the energy cost.
On the ‘bright’ side, the stairs were now lit.
The stairs led down about twenty feet and ended at a platform at the bottom. Opening onto the platform was what looked like an elevator door. Rather than electronic buttons, however, was a lever. When they threw the lever, the doors opened, and inside was a freight elevator with a large wheel attached to one wall with hand spokes sticking out of it, much like the wheel of an old sailing ship. They entered the elevator, and Jack turned the wheel, which was amazingly easy. There must have been a pully system behind the wall because the room started dropping steadily as Jack turned the wheel. As they descended, a pointer above the doors displayed a range from ‘-1’ to -10. It now pointed between -1 and -2.
Jack asked, “How big is this place?”
A mechanical ‘ding’ sound came from the wheel when they reached the second level.
Jack asked Satoshi, “What level is the Armory?”
Satoshi replied, “Level -2”.
Jack noticed another moveable lever on the side of the wheel column. He reached over and threw that lever. There was a clunk, and the wheel locked in place. He said, “It looks like our stop.”
With the wheel secure, Satoshi threw the lever beside the doors, and they opened into another broad hallway.
When they entered, a corridor about 200 feet long with sliding metal doors led into it, much like a self-storage unit. At the entrance to the hallway, a plaque, written in English and Japanese, said " Armory.”
“Convenient”, said Satoshi.
“Which doorway is the armory?” asked Hiro.
Jack went to the doorway, which quickly lifted with the sound of chains. Inside were wall sconces with unlit torches. He summoned a magical flame and lit a torch.
The room was enormous. There were multiple racks inside. One held hundreds of swords. The next, hundreds of axes. Next came spears and halberds. Jack lifted the second door, and there was a room filled with the compound bows and crossbows. Beside these were barrel after barrel filled with crossbow bolts and arrows.
The next door had rows upon rows of armor. They were sorted by size.
Jack turned to Hiro, saying, “I think the armory is all of them. It is the whole level.”
Hiro whistled appreciatively.
Satoshi said, “Okay, get whatever gear you want. Remember that you must carry whatever you pick, and we are going to the 25th floor.
Buried in the back of the weapon racks, Jack found a stout 6-foot wooden pole. He pulled that out, and it felt natural and appropriate. He swung it around a few times and shouldered it like a rifle. “This will work”, he said.
Satoshi already had his Samurai swords but noticed that in the armor racks, there was a beautiful shirt of lightweight mail that he could slip over his clothes, and it felt like it didn’t weigh him down at all. Jack came over and examined it.
“It is titanium,” said Jack. “The modern equivalent to mithril.” And he laughed.
Akira spoke up. “Well, sir,” speaking to Satoshi, “I would like to take some real protection if you don’t mind.”
Satoshi smiled. “Help yourself.”
And that is what Akira did. He took an entire suit of Titanium plate armor with helm, arm, and leg protection. He took a kite shield that was made of light metal but still weighed about 8 pounds.
Hiro looked at him and said, “How do you plan to carry that?”
Akira grinned, revealing the carrying straps on the back, and slung them over one arm and onto his back. He jumped up and down, windmilled his arms, and demonstrated how he could still move and use both arms with the shield slung. He gave a thumbs-up signal.
Hiro frowned and asked, “How do you know how? Have you been taking classes or something?
Akira smiled and said, “I belong to the Marches in the Kingdom of the West in the Vale de Draco.”
Hiro said, “What are you talking about?”
Akira replied, “I have belonged to this group called the Society for Creative Anachronism for years. We make and dress in armor, fight with weapons the same size and weight as real ones, and learn to make and do things without the modern world. This is like a dream come true for me!”
Again, Hiro frowned. “Why do you do that?”
Akira replied enthusiastically, “For fun! We have tournaments, campouts where nothing modern can be seen, and our own King and Queen. I am a knight of the Vale.”
Hiro shook his head and returned to check out the equipment.
Akira took a long sword on a belt, a compound bow with 20 arrows, and an 8-foot spear for weaponry. For a finale, he took a pair of 12-inch daggers.
Jack looked at him and asked, “How do you plan to carry all that up all those stairs?”
Akira smiled and said, “One step at a time.”
Jack shook his head and said, “Okay. But I might be able to help there. You might all be interested in this. Has anybody seen a room with bags in it?”
Desert Wind pointed to one of the doors a few doors down the hall. “I think that one does.”
They all went to that door and opened it. Inside were bags, crates, backpacks, military tents, tarps, and blankets. “Good catch,” said Jack to Desert Wind.
He went to a bin filled with lightweight bags of various sizes. He picked one with a drawstring about 3-foot by 4-foot when it lay flat. He said to Akira, “Okay, young man, come over here.”
Akira seemed reluctant at first but came as he was bid.
Jack said, “This will hurt for a second. It is a necessary part of the spell.”
He pulled out a thin pocketknife and said to Akira, “Please give me your hand.”
Again, reluctantly, Akira held his hand out to Jack. Jack reached up and swiftly gave one of Akira’s fingers a tiny poke and a single drop of blood appeared on his fingertip.
Jack lifted the bag and used the drawstring to dab up the drop of blood. Under his breath, Jack said, “I wish this bag would hold more stuff.”
He handed the bag over to Akira. Jack said, “Load the bag with everything that you want to bring.”
Akira looked at Jack like he was crazy but shrugged, took the arrows, and placed them into the bag, which immediately went flat.
Akira yelled, “Where did my arrows go?” He picked up the bag and flipped it around. He was about to turn it inside out when Jack stopped him.
Jack said, “This bag will carry anything you can fit through the top. It will weigh nothing. You can even put your 8-foot spear in it. Make sure you put it in with the pointy end at the top. But there are a few rules in its use. First, it will only work for you. That is what the blood was for. It is tuned to you only. Even I cannot take things out of it that you put in there. Next, never turn it inside out, or you will lose everything. That is how I lost my shaving kit. I had to make another one. Next, do not let it get a hole in it. Please keep it in a safe place where it will not get burned, slashed, or mutilated. Otherwise, you may lose everything. So, protect it. Finally, to take things out of it, reach in and say the name of whatever you want. It must be something that you put in there already. As a word of caution, if whatever you take out is heavy or sharp, be ready for it when you say the name. It can be surprising. You will want to lay the bag on the ground when you fetch your armor from it. Oh yes, one other thing: never put your bag in anyone else’s bag. You may cause a space rift that swallows us all. Any questions?”
Akira grinned and said, “Can I get another one?”
Jack shook his head, “No way. I’m not taking the risk of someone accidentally putting one bag in the other.”
Hiro said, “I have a question. When do I get mine?” he smiled.
Jack smiled back and answered, “I am making one for each team member. I’ll make yours next.”