The fight goes quickly in our favor and the last enemy standing drops his knives and gives up. Slate demands that he take us to the Dragon of the Black Pool restaurant. He agrees with little persuasion.
The Chinaman takes us down several alleyways and finally comes to the restaurant. He asks if he can be let go now, and Slate says that he must lead us into the restaurant on pain of lead poisoning. We go in and there are only a few tables. As we walk in, a short old Chinese man runs out of the kitchen and yells to everyone to get down. We take cover and Slate pulls his pistol. There is a loud explosion from the kitchen that blows the windows out of the kitchen.
The man, who introduces himself as Egg Foo Chow, asks us if we want some tea. We agree and tell him that we were sent by Dr. Li and are looking for the Ruby Eye. The man reveals that the ruby eye is probably in Gao Fang’s personal vault at Golden Triangle Exports. Gao Fang employs petty enforcers around here, including the man we brought in with us. (He is unconscious as he didn’t duck when the explosion happened.)
He warns against going in the front door, as they have very high security. He is aware of tunnels under the city that could possibly get us into the building undetected. He says that we should wait until evening, and before then he will get us food. We agree and thank him for his assistance and hospitality.
After dinner we head out and he leads us through the streets to a nearby alley. He lifts a grate and motions for us to descend. He gives a small totem made of wood to Goodwin and tells him that it will protect him. As Goodwin takes a look at the totem, the wall behind us erupts in automatic gunfire. Egg brings out a flask from his jacket and tells us to get into the tunnels, and he will fend them off.
We look around and see that these are roughly hewn tunnels with some water running through them. It smells badly. The rocks we are walking on are very slimy and slippery. We try to find our way but Maiura can’t seem to get her bearings down here. Soon we hear a hissing sound, like a snake. Soon we hear laughing as well.
Humanoid figures jump out of the water; they are nearly naked and very skinny and gaunt. Their limbs are stiff and they have they have sharp claws and teeth. Ducard recognizes these as the “Hopping Vampires,” or Xixiegui. He also realizes that they do not like the totem that Goodwin carries, which must have attracted them. A battle begins. During the fray, Maiura falls into the water. Luckily she is an excellent swimmer. The vampires are soon defeated and Maiura is able to climb out.
After Goodwin heals Maiura, she tries to orient us which takes about an hour. The river breaks off into a tributary and goes 1/4 of a mile. We see two flames in the distance. The water stops at a large pool. Above this is a huge circular portal made out of green stone with Mandarin writings on it. We wipe the scum off of it and read the inscription: “Shang Di to life, life to death, death to Shang Di. Heaven holds the beginning and the end for the faithful. Pass as the wicked into the vault of ghosts.” Around the portal we see strung burnt human spine bones.