Things get off to a bit of a rocky start, in large part because today is Bloody Sunday for Cypress, following upon the grisly heels of Black Friday. And to make things even better, Bruce (Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs) gets called in to the fab just in time to diss everyone else for lunch. To their credit, Chuck, Mike (Jack Smith), Paul (Kumar Singh), Chris (Michael Sangaree) and Tim (Serpentine!) pretend not to notice. They also do their best to not notice that last session's summary is still written in incomplete sentences.
Kumar Singh looks around to find that he is a passenger aboard a dirigible heading across the Pacific Ocean. He asks the other characters, "Maybe I wasn't paying attention last session. Why are we going to China?" The other characters roll their eyes and urge him to take a look at the session summary from last time, dealing as it does with Maku Island and the things that might be upon it.
Michael Sangaree completely ignores this exchange, preferring instead to calculate travel times. He determines that it will take the Flying Dutchman five days to make it across the Pacific Ocean. Kumar Singh once again pipes up, "But I thought we were taking a plane?" Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs points out that the characters are actually taking two planes: one slung underneath the dirigible and one in the cargo bay. Kumar Singh goes off to the cargo bay to sulk.
But it is clear that his bemusement is spreading, as Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs is quite surprised only a moment later when he learns that there is a monastery on the island. Michael Sangaree looks at him as if he had just announced that he just recently wakened from a twenty-year sleep.
During their journey, the characters spend hours upon hours deconstructing the virtues and flaws of various plans for approaching Maku Island. Their initial desire is to reach it without tipping their hand to the locals, a desire that is complicated first by the fact that the Flying Dutchman is a huge dirigible and second by the fact that the nearest convenient place to hide it is Imperial Japan.
They eventually hit upon the idea of using cloud cover to hide the dirigible's approach. The Flying Dutchman will approach the island above the cloud layer. Serpentine will dangle down beneath the vessel upon a very long rope, and report what he can see from underneath the clouds. Serpentine grouses that he was selected for this duty for no reason more noble than the fact that he has the highest Athletics pool (9) and the highest Awareness pool (also 9).
Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs does his best to solve the problem of talking to Serpentine during his suspension by making up a quick electrical intercom. This doesn't prevent the other characters from making up a very elaborate series of rope-tug codes for Serpentine to use. They decide that 29 tugs means "pull me up"; 34 tugs means "immediate trouble"; 921 tugs means "send me a snack, preferably a sandwich"; and the pattern "long-short-long-long-long-short-long-short-short-short-long-short" means "Rope too long - I'm hanging in shark-infested waters!" Serpentine stands out of the whole affair, grousing, "I hate you all."
During the approach, Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs decides that weather might be an issue. He decides to try his hand at weather prediction. His initial efforts are none too impressive, but he eventually manages to determine that the situation around Maku Island doesn't look too good. He thinks that a typhoon might even be possible. This persuades most of the other characters that they should forge ahead without any change in plans, except to ensure that Michael Sangaree is at the controls. Serpentine is a bit dubious, primarily because he realizes that he may end up serving in the role of lightning rod from his vantage point a couple of hundred feet underneath the dirigible. He tries checking his resistivity.
Jack Smith becomes the only serious holdout. He advises landing immediately at Maku Island and weathering the storm there. Everyone else stares at him with incredulity, as they'd just been discussing ways to examine the island without being spotted.
The characters finally decide to approach the island anyway, into the teeth of the typhoon. It will be much more dramatic that way. Michael Sangaree prepares to roll Piloting at a +5 difficulty. He announces that he made a total of 11 successes with an Inspiration-supported roll (6 beyond the needed number). With the Flying Dutchman yawing and twisting about like a crazed butterfly, Serpentine lowers himself down on his rope, attempting an Athletics roll (also at +5 difficulty). He manages to hang on and avoiding pulling a Dojango. He tugs at the rope to indicate that he would like some coffee and a sandwich.
Pulfrey-Downs has tremendous success in his impromptu effort to develop a special typhoon-proof container for sandwich and coffee. He invents the ziplock bag. Kumar Singh makes the sandwiches, understanding that it would be a bad idea to let his boss try this task. They send the results down to Serpentine. Serpentine tugs back, "Got sandwiches and coffee, enjoyed very much. Then threw up. Please send more sandwiches and coffee."
In between lunch breaks, Serpentine is able to report several features of Maku Island. Most obvious, the place is a tiny rock outcrop without a lot of local vegetation or signs of human occupation. The monastery is visible on the north end of the island, and a single light can be seen in an upstairs window. Below the monastery, Serpentine is able to catch glimpses of a cave in the rock face. It is low enough to the water that he suspects it is only visible at low tide. Further south, a dilapidated dock reaches tentatively into a small cove. Most of the northern shoreline is jagged cliffs, while the southern half of the island is bordered by a rocky beach.
The moon is currently new, allowing the characters a chance of an undetected approach. It is, however, still going to be quite difficult to land the dirigible on the island without being spotted by anyone in the monastery. So the characters go for the unsubtle route. They decide to have Michael Sangaree land the cargo plane on the island. In broad daylight. With the sun at their backs. And the engines cut back to nothing.
Nobody has to convince Michael Sangaree to agree to this plan. He thinks that deadstick landings on tiny, uneven patches of ground in bad weather are a really good idea. And the more he drinks, the better the idea looks.
The plane noses in towards Maku Island at an angle sharp enough to make even Kumar Singh green at the gills. Nobody likes the way Michael Sangaree is lurching back and forth in the pilot's seat, and they're not really fond of the way the plane is lurching either. Sangaree makes a careful approach, estimating that he will need to make a Piloting roll at a +4 difficulty. Everyone holds their breath as he drops the landing gear and kills the engines...
…Then exhales as Sangaree howls out, "Woohoo! We don't need to make new characters, it looks like. Eight successes! Count 'em and weep! Inspiration is great, ain't it? This is bound to be a surprise to the guys in the monastery. Wouldn't it be funny if there wasn't anyone there?" Nobody else thinks that this would be particularly funny.
The characters stagger from the plane right into the monastery's front yard. They are met by a very surprised-looking group of eight men in a chain gang with six guards. Pulfrey-Downs steps forward and calls out a greeting in Chinese: "I say, fellows! What's up over there?" He is carrying nothing more threatening than a briefcase, though neither the prisoners nor the guards seem impressed by his good intentions. The fact that the other characters are pouring out of the plane behind him, armed to the teeth, does nothing to help his case. Undaunted even by the most ludicrous difficulty, he tries using his Etiquette to persuade the goons that he is interested in nothing more threatening than some directions. This has no particular impact except to allow the other characters to get into better firing positions.
Michael Sangaree looks for blue tattoos on the guards and sees nothing. He takes aim at one guard and waits to see what happens to Pulfrey-Downs. A second later he loses patience and shoots the nearest guard once in the left eye and once in the right eye. The man drops like a poleaxed steer. Jack Smith follows on Sangaree's lead by firing a single mighty shot from his elephant gun, shooting clean through two guards at once. Serpentine is so shaken by the sound of Smith's gun that he forgets himself and throws a knife at a fourth guard. Fortunately, it turns out that he's really good at this sort of thing: the guard staggers out from the impact.
It is at this point that the characters discover that the guards are carrying guns. Fortunately, they are none too adept in their use. One of them manages to give Jack Smith a killer bruise.
With bullets whizzing all about them, Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs comments to Kumar Singh, "You know, Gobey, I've noticed something interesting. None of those chappies over there are shooting at us. They're all shooting past us." Kumar Singh muses, "I wonder why..." Pulfrey-Downs approaches the nearest chained man and asks him, "Good gracious, sir! What is going on around here?" He behaves as if there is no gunfire going on around him. To his credit, the chained prisoner does behave as if there is gunfire going on and pays no attention to the deranged Englishman, preferring instead to dive for cover.
The characters continue milling their way through the guards, only impeded by minor troubles like jammed guns and empty magazines. They discover that there is actually quite a supply of the fellows hiding inside the monastery, a supply that pours out through the gates in a river of fanaticism and nifty uniforms. The chained prisoners lurch from side to side, desperate to escape but unable to decide which way to go. Serpentine takes advantage of this to hide among the chain gang, using them as cover. Kumar Singh runs right past one tong mook to launch himself into a crowd of new arrivals, explaining that one opponent is just not enough to interest him: he needs at least four.
Things start to look dicey when a real live Blue Dragon Ninja emerges from the monastery and attacks Kumar Singh. Pulfrey-Downs unloads a couple of submachine gun bursts into the Blue Dragon, learning that he has both Untouchable and a lethal soak of 4. All Pulfrey-Downs manages to do is soak up both of the ninja's dodges, though this is enough to give Kumar Singh a chance to stab him twice and knock him down.
Serpentine finds himself surrounded by three mooks, fresh from Mook Monastery. He decides that enough is enough and turns on his Cloak of Dread. Almost in response, Jack Smith, Michael Sangaree, and Pulfrey-Downs peel the mooks away from Serpentine with a torrent of gunfire. Serpentine takes the opportunity to rush up the monastery ramp and lay about himself with the Claw of Apepi. He flattens one goon with the claw, then swings about to whack the next one over old school. And as a final act, he sends the Claw skittering across the ramp to wrap around a third mook's leg, pulling the man over and knocking him out against the flagstones.
A moment of silence ensues. Michael Sangaree looks around the scene and counts. He tells the others, "Hey, that was like eighteen mooks and one super ninja we took out!" Serpentine asks if the characters need to make Athletics rolls to make it up the blood-slicked ramp.
Serpentine walks up to the door of the monastery and kicks it in. He strides inside confidently. He walks straight into two more Blue Dragon Ninjas, who very confidently kick his ass (four lethal damage between the two of them). He remembers just how good the Blue Dragon Ninjas can be. He gets ready to parry like mad.
Jack Smith and Michael Sangaree hear Serpentine scream like a girl inside the building. Jack Smith runs to help, toting his tremendously compensatory weapon on his shoulder. Michael Sangaree pauses for a moment to reload his guns, then follows suit. The other characters follow along, some of them making cracks about how Serpentine must be fighting crime.
Serpentine parries like crazy, which helps him not get his ass kicked some more. Kumar Singh dashes in and knifes one of the Blue Dragon Ninjas, doing enough damage to put the fellow on the floor. He muses that it is really incredible what a couple of accurately placed stabs can do. One to the shoulder, one to the neck, and the ninja pretty much just fell apart into pieces.
Jack Smith finishes off Serpentine's problems with two thundering shots from his elephant gun. The ninja hasn't even finished being flung to the floor when Smith smiles for the camera and says, "Holland and Holland: for the finest in big game sporting arms since 1802!"
Kumar Singh tells his boss, "You know what I hate about Buddhist temples? It's the smell." Pulfrey-Downs sniffs at the air and responds, "Smells like cordite and entrails to me."
Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs stops the escaping chain gang members and does his best to calm them enough to interrogate them. He does this as he puts a fresh clip into his submachine gun, which has exactly the effect any rational observer would expect: they become absolutely frantic. Margaret Lang also tries to interview them, but she doesn't speak Chinese, so she doesn't get very far: "I'm an American! Why can't you understand me!" Kumar Singh isn't able to do any better, but he does learn that the Chinese prisoners have heard about a crazy Englishman who is going to release them on a barren island and then hunt them. Kumar Singh gives up trying to explain the difference between Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs and his brother.
The characters ponder various nonthreatening ways to free the Chinese prisoners from their chains. None of these ideas sound all that good, until Jack Smith demonstrates that he can free the Chinamen easily thanks to his superhuman Might. It turns out that it isn't that hard to snap chains with your bare hands if you're the strongest man to ever leave the Foreign Legion.
The characters venture into the monastery. Behind the sacred hall at the front of the building they find a warren full of monastic cells, plus one set of stairs up and another set of stairs down. The second floor contains even more of the things, but no actual monks.
The characters venture downstairs, down a corridor that grows increasingly narrow and increasingly less finished. It is eventually obvious that they are walking down a passage carved from the living rock of the island. Jack Smith stands on point, with Kumar Singh behind him. And everyone else following along.
Some distance down the stairs, Jack Smith finds someone. And then another someone. Both of them seem pretty hostile, so he blasts one of them. Michael Sangaree holds his ears and yells, "If you shoot that gun one more time, I'll kill you!" This doesn't seem to have much impact on Smith, as he merrily blazes away at a pair of Blue Dragon Ninjas as they rather ineffectually beat away at him. It doesn't take long for them to be ended as a threat.
The characters emerge from the stairway into a larger chamber, possibly an old granary or a natural cave. The place is scattered with equipment, though no work is currently under way. The fresh scent of diesel exhaust permeates the air. Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs can tell that someone has recently been doing quite a bit of excavation. The overall effect is that of a very sloppy and amateurish archaeological dig.
The characters search the area for artifacts and clues. They don't find much, but Pulfrey-Downs does manage to come face to face with the single surviving Blue Dragon Ninja. The man rushes him with a grenade in hand. Pulfrey-Downs tries emptying a clip at him, managing to only barely wound the fellow. The grenade goes off, which takes care of the ninja, but only bruises Pulfrey-Downs.
After the run-in with the Blue Dragon Ninja, the characters continue the search. In a far, dark corner they find a pale, terrified figure shackled to a wall. Pulfrey-Downs is shocked to recognize the man as Dr. Reginald Davies-Forsythe. Jack Smith recalls that Forsythe has been missing from an expedition to darkest Asia for almost a year. Pulfrey-Downs barely cares, because he knows something even more important: Forsythe is a member of the Royal Geographical Society!
Michael Sangaree is none too impressed by these revelations, telling the other characters, "Well, obviously he's a doppelganger. BANG!" "You shot Dr. Reginald Davies-Forsythe!" "No, I shot his doppelganger. And if he's a doppelganger, then Queen Doppelopolous should be around here somewhere."
The other characters sincerely hope that Michael Sangaree recovers from his alcohol-fueled delirium soon.
The session ends with the characters face to face with the long-missing Dr. Forsythe, who may know the terrible secrets of the Maku Island Monastery! Each character gains three experience points.