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79 Rising 599 (or 10 July 12606 AD); presuming time is flowing along back home, the date there is the 23rd of February, 2012 AD. The Terrans are in the city of Hanzhou, in the Aleif system.

The citizens of Hanzhou, capital of the Roman Empire, consider the current date to be:   Year of the Rat, in the 611th year of the reign of Emperor Huan Ken, 29 August of the 2280th year after the birth of Christ. The Christian calendar is mostly used for calculating the date of Christmas, Lent, Easter, saints' days, etc.; but the date "A.D." is known to educated folk.

Apparently Huan Ken came to Hanzhou almost 250 years ago, having escaped through "the Ivory Gate of Dream" from the Underworld, with his knights (who were mostly demons from the Chinese underworld). The story of his arrival and rise to rulership in Hanzhou is very long and full of symbology; it resembles the Aeneid, the story of King Arthur and the Round Table, the tales of Paul Bunyan, or the story of Tangun the Sandalwood King (founder of Korea). It's full of journeys, battles, feats of wit and skill, strange allies and opponents etc. His three siblings are mentioned (as antagonists). One odd feature of the Tale of Huan Ken:  it's pretty clear that Aleif was already a relatively high-tech world when he arrived.

The Terrans are informed that they will be presented in the Imperial Court tomorrow. They spend the day reading about history, finding costumes, getting etiquette lessons, and trying to fit in. Black's lack of any real Mandarin language ability is quite a nuisance.

80 Rising 599

The Terrans are led to a majestic audience chamber, high in the central tower of the city. About a thousand people are present (and a few dozen demons or Vaylen-created beings), most of whom are servants, musicians, and other "staff". About 80 or so persons are being presented, including about a dozen Thunder Knights. His Imperial Majesty is Asian in appearance, not particularly tall, very muscular, and dressed (as might be expected) in quite an amazing getup. The presentations take a couple of hours in total; afterwards, most of the presented folk mingle with members of the court for a bit. Burns' half-dozen new titles presented to the Emperor, by King Barack of Vinland, are warmly received (although "Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla" gets a couple of raised eyebrows). While nobody present considers the location of Vinland to be very important, McClellan's title of "Colonel in the Space Marines" excites some comment. He quickly explains that marines work underground, and the "space" refers to "inner space".

The Terrans claim to have come on a quest; their king of Vinland demands that they each bring a demon horn in order to wed his five daughters. Quite chivalrous! The court is abuzz, and the Emperor is clearly pleased with this ridiculous story.

One of the aristocrats present is the Grand Duchess Wei-Ling; she makes some vaguely appreciative noises towards O'Reilly, who reciprocates, and they agree to meet that night. However, this overture is resented by a member of the court, Baron Norbert from the city-state of Nalanga. O'Reilly finds himself challenged to fight a duel the next morning; Sir Yveltrim is Norbert's second. O'Reilly chooses knives as the weapon.

That evening, the Terrans discuss helicopters with a salesman ...

81 Rising 599

In the morning, O'Reilly rises early to be ready for the duel at dawn. The Terrans detect something "off" about their breakfast, and avoid being poisoned. At dawn, on a 12 meter diameter platform about 2 kilometers above the Moat, the duel begins -- and ends quickly, as Norbert is grotesquely skewered by O'Reilly.

The Terrans arrange for a banquet in the evening; one of the guests is a masked woman (the Grand Duchess of course). Sir Hadrian Black is offered 50 ducats by the Sleshniv Commune for the inheritance rights to the grav sled owned by the Terrans (if they don't return from the Ivory Gate of Dreams). The Grand Duchess and O'Reilly leave together.

82 Rising 599

As O'Reilly returns to his quarters about 3 a.m., he is shot twice by an assassin! Fortunately, Hadrian Black is able to reach him in time, but he barely survives; the Terrans use up about 24 doses of Foam to heal him (most of what they brought away from the Neola's Claws). The assassin escapes unidentified.

The Terrans are invited to meet with the Emperor, in regard to their plan to enter the Underworld.

83 Rising 599

Mid-day, the Terrans meet with Emperor Huan Ken. He's dressed in chromed plate armor, with crimson robes over. Something like this, but gaudier, and with some bizarre Oriental bits added. He's really buff - apparently not a demon, but still somehow STR 21, and probably a master swordsman as well. Who says a fighter-mage can't be high level? He asks them about Vinland, the court of King Barack, and their quest.

It seems that residents of the Underworld have been kidnapping offspring of human-demon hybrids from the Roman Empire. Not important offspring -- those are usually carefully guarded -- but there have been 5 or 6 generations of demon-human hybrids born around here, numbering (by now) in the thousands. The kidnappings have all been within the last year or so, and always involve children with a particular birthmark:

Not all part-demon children have this birthmark, but it's considered proof of demonic heritage. The Emperor offers to help the Terrans get to the Ivory Gate of Dreams by helicopter; he hasn't been through the Gate for about two hundred years. Officers of the Butterfly Guard join the meeting, to make plans for transporting the Terrans. Aircraft involved will be:

• two heavy cargo helicopters (think "Sea Stallions")

• two recon helicopters

• four attack helicopters

• several fighter aircraft as escorts

• an airborne radar and communications relay blimp

Aleif doesn't have much of a magnetic field, and of course there are no communications satellites available to the inhabitants. Thus, long-range radio is weak and unreliable (one reason for the height of the Palace, in fact -- line-of-sight systems are important). The Terrans mention that they will need to pick up some more gear left stashed (vaguely) near the border of the Rezllipi Republic. 

Afterwards, the Terrans contact the Neola's Claws by radio (from a platform high on the Palace), and tell the crew to leave the Gate Ripper, the other Iron suits, more Foam, and other gear at a pick-up point near the border of the Roman Empire before dawn. The crew provide some news in reply:  they were contacted by the monitor, and told someone in Hanzhou has been sending signals to the Vaylen ships in orbit over the last 24 hours (well, technically the monitor doesn't know who the signals are for, but they're not for him!). The encryption is pretty good, but the messages were fairly large (probably included some images or short video).

84 Rising 599

With some media attention, the Terrans depart Hanzhou. They are flown by Roman helicopters to near the border, where the Gate Ripper, three Iron suits, etc. have been cached; all the Terrans get into their Iron, and load the Gate Ripper onto one of the helicopters. 

From there, they fly to the wildlands near the Ivory Gate of Dreams. The Gate Ripper is landed, assembled, and left under guard by MacDougall. The Roman helicopters fly off, to wait for the pick-up notice. Burns, O'Reilly, Black and MacClellan proceed to the Ivory Gate, which is in the form of a large arch made from two huge tusks (easily large enough to move the assembled Gate Ripper through), and enter.

In the Chamber of Wind and Thunder

Various large and small demonic creatures are seen moving about. The landscape is rocky and lifeless, a maze of jagged rock. Strong winds and small tornadoes whirl among the tops of the rocks; the cloud deck is only about 150 meters above the ground. Lightning strikes nearly continuously at the tops of the rocks. Some sort of subterranean demon lurches out from the ground menacingly, but is blown in half by bombers, coil rifle, etc.!

A structure can be seen a few kilometers from the Ivory Gate; but halfway there, the Terrans are ambushed by a pack of gnarled marauders and manglers. An "iron bomb" hurled by Burns destroys most of the demons, but almost kills McLellan, too! The manglers can produce some sort of chi-beam, which ignores the Iron suits and severely injures Burns and Black. The Terrans decide to press on towards the Thunder Pagoda.

The Thunder Pagoda has been fortified with a heavy wall around it. Some of the windows of the palace are barred; children can be seen at the windows. The various demons and other things of the garrison have clearly become aware of the Terrans' advance; thus the party quickly returns through the Ivory Gate.

on to Journal entry 16