(The following is the subjective date – to the players it appears to have stopped)
July 3rd 2000, Monday
1:35 pm
(The following is the chronological date)
August 14th 1614, Sunday
12:00 pm
Unnamed Village at Akumagajikko1 Mountain Pass, Ishikari Mountains, Japan
Within the first few days of getting stranded in the past Angelique tells the rest of her team to retrieve all the spent ammo casings and bullet fragments. Gathering up all their modern equipment she waits for Jestinius to arrive. But before that can happen, another stranger enters the encampment, going only by ‘Yojimbo’ (Japanese for ‘bodyguard’) he brings as geisha and her son who escaped the carnage at Koriwayama. Saski Aika asks to see General Yuki-me and introduces her son, Saski Fuyunoko, to him asking for shelter (which he grants). His task completed he patiently waits for Yuki-me to pay him, impressed by the man’s stature and obvious warrior spriit pays for him bringing Saski Aiki and her son and offers him a job amongst his men which Yojimbo agrees too.
The team begins to blend in with the locals, while Angelique continues using her supernatural abilities to help the downtrodden refugees. First, blessing the fields, earth, and land of the two mountains that the village straddles, then bringing a seemingly endless bounty of food to the starving villagers (the food in turn ‘blesses’ the malnourished masses allowing the sick to be healed and the infirm a renewed vigor). She does this for several days, even convincing the otherwise meat-poor villagers and samurai to eat her ‘tandori chicken’ – a instant treat. Many of the refugees that hid in the woods when Koriwayama Castle was taken began to trickle into the offered safety, food, and warmth. After Jestinius shows up wearing the body of his younger self2 he takes all modern weapons and equipment that could not otherwise be repurposed into something that would not cause a temporal paradox (melted down lead and brass, gunpowder from the bullets, etc.) and disintegrates them with magic. He then instructs Angelique to get her team to learn how to use the native weaponry and offers to help Jonathan and Alex with their plans creating more houses for the refugees before winter sets in. Angelique meanwhile asks General Yuki-me if he will get some of his retainers to help train her ‘retainers’ (e.g. her team). Yuki-me, in gratitude for what she and hers had done for him, offers to do it himself. Gelar, however ends up helping Madoka Kou (the local tender of the Shinto shrine) clean and repair the shrine, eventually getting taking onto the south side mountain where the old preist finishes the training that Gelar’s previous teacher had left half-finished. Several months pass by and while the team trains and learns new ways they also help build the small refugee camp which quickly becomes walled in thanks to Angelique and Jestinius’s magic. Each night they raise a wall from the bones of the mountain making it appear as if it were multiple stones and done with masonry rather than magic. Eventually the camp is surrounded by fortified walls and towers.
(The following is the chronological date)
November 6th 1614, Sunday
5:00 pm
Unnamed Village at Akumagajikko1 Mountain Pass, Ishikari Mountains, Japan
1 The locals who had seen the battle take place against General Yuki-me began calling the mountain pass ‘Akuma-ga-jikko’ (trans. literally as “Demon’s Run”) since the oni the mahotsukai summoned ran away from the PCs and their allies.
2 In this setting physical time travel was thought impossible/ But sending your mind back into your body (or more rarely someone elses) is possible but exceedingly difficult. Jestinius being long-lived and quite talented in many supernatural arts was able to pull this off despite its difficulty. In his case he used a potent spell and traveled along his lifeline shunting his younger mind into a darkened corner of his conscience while he ‘took over the wheel’. Being that he knew the exact date of when the team was trapped in the past he sent his mind back two and a half years and using his immense wealth and influence effectively bought himself a lordship as well as lands in the hinterlands of Hokkaido (he did this by getting the rightful lord to adopt him and then took over). From there he built up a fairly large and efficient fighting forces as well as the necessary infrastructure to maintain them.