(RC) Ubume - Ch. 2

Summary: The Cabal meets the Kyoto Consilium and must defeat a mage for possession of the ancient scroll. Meanwhile, Ogawa gives the Cabal their first assignment: to get rid of a ghost haunting a suburban Kyoto home.

Recap:

The Cabal finally arrives at their sanctum located across the Kamo river in Higashiyama-ku, a ward located in Central Kyoto.

The day after arriving in Kyoto, Kemosiri and Tenzin both wake up to find the rest of them meditating. They are anxious to confront Ms Ogawa about the gaps in their knowledge regarding the “original group” and the fact that Ms. Ogawa had not given the Consilium their Letters of Introduction.

Kontonshin had a dream the previous night. The dream seemed to place her in the body of a young school aged girl who appears to be going to a photography studio to do some "questionable" photographs. The stain of death appears in the dream and Kontonshin is shaken when she wakes up.

When she arrives, Ogawa complains about the mud in her office. The characters confront Ogawa about the first group. She explains that she did not want to tell the characters about the other group because she was afraid they would not accept their offer. She offers to send anyone who does not want to be there, a one way ticket home. No one accepts. She tells the characters that she gathered the last group from Tokyo and they were there for only a week before her Benefactor asked them to attend a lecture from a Geology Professor at Kyoto University. After the lecture, the Group called and said they were running a few leads and would be in touch. They never returned a call and none of their cell phones ever picked up again.

Ms. Ogawa said she has no clue whatever happened to them and regrets sending them to that lecture.

On the subject of why she never submitted their Letters, she explained that she was waiting for everyone to arrive before submitting them. The fact that they ran into a Consilium member was unfortunate.

Ms. Ogawa then says that their cover is Paranormal Investigators. She has arranged an assignment - their clients will meet them at a local Starbucks at 5:00 p.m. (it is 1:00 at the time).

No one in the group mentions the scroll they had found the night before or the Baku they had found guarding it.

The characters decide to visit Kiyomizu-dera to see the Consilium. A sleepwalker servant meets them at the door and hands them a scroll. The scroll charges the characters with two crimes against the Lex Magica. The first crime is not presenting themselves to the Kansai Consilium upon arrival, and the second is “wanton disregard for Consilium property”. This last charge has the PC's befuddled. Was the mirror Mori Memento had broken at the World Club the reason for the charge? They could not figure it out.

Since the summons was for that evening at 9:00pm., the characters had some time, so they go to the Starbucks to meet with their clients - the Kitagawa's. Mr. Kitigawa is a very well dressed businessman who the PC's found talking on his cell phone. Mrs. Kitigawa is also a very well dressed woman. Mrs. Kitagawa has a baby girl in a stroller. The baby is only a month old. The Kitigawa's are very busy people. When he is not running his business, he is expected to be a socialite and attend social events such as charity balls. Mrs. Kitigawa is expected to help out and the number of social events he attends is huge. They would like their problem to be dealt with quickly and discretely. They offer over $1M Yen to deal with it the first night and more when the players balk at the offer.

The characters tell the Kitigawa's that they have a previous commitment and might be a bit late getting to their place. The Kitigawa's agree and tell them that their Nanny will greet them at the door.

The characters then prepare for the evening session with the Consilium. They arrive at 9:00 pm. The servants introduce them to the five members of the Consilium Council. Then, the Council asks who speaks for the Cabal? Kontonshin is the one to reply (she is the only member of the Cabal fluent in Japanese). After that, the Provost reads the first charge - the charge of “not identifying themselves to the Consilium.” The characters accepted the charge and they were fined 5 mana, payable before the next meeting of the Consilium.

Reitaro, the owner of the World Nightclub, read the second charge. He had made a deal with a mage last evening concerning a scroll (that Mage was the one found dead the previous night). He charged that the PC's are in control of that scroll, and that he is entitled to it. The Consilium does not rule, but instead, Reitaro challenges the Cabal to Duels Arcane with ownership of the Scroll at stake.

Kemosiri steps forward for the cabal, and the Consilium adjourns for a short time giving the PC's time to prepare. The PC's quietly speak with some members of the Consilium, most especially the members of Kakumeiso, who are all from the Mysterium Order. They request an audience at some time.

At midnight, the Duels Arcane takes place. Reitaro, an Obrimos Adept, uses Forces for his Sword and Prime for his Shield, while Kemosiri uses Death for his Sword and Matter for his Shield. The first blow goes to Reitaro who drains Kemosiri of 4 Willpower in one strike. Kemosiri whittles away at Reitaro's Willpower. Reitaro never lands another solid blow before Kemosiri gives one final great effort and solidly knocks Reitaro on his ass, ending the duel. Reitaro, still smoking after the duel, gets up and storms out of the Consilium.

As a final function for the night, the Characters perform the Sakazaki (Rote for the Swearing an Oath Spell) ritual – they swear to uphold the Lex Magica of the Kansai Consilium and obey the elders.

The Characters then decide that they should go and investigate the haunting.

Their first destination is the Haunted House, a large, but un-assuming house in the north end of Kyoto. Trees surround the house. There is a small wall and gate leading into the house. The lights to the two-storey house are on. The Cabal wakes up the Nanny. Gei Ho asks her to come out of the house so as not to disturb the PC's and the Nanny goes willingly.

The Cabal finds themselves in a large living area that has been very richly designed. Hard wood floors, elegant furniture and other very expensive accoutrements are strewn neatly throughout the house. There is a very large stone fireplace as well.

To start their investigation, the players activate their Mage Sight and look around. They see magic resonance where blood had spilled from the stone walls. Looking into the Shadow, Tenzin sees the remnants of an ancient Samurai castle across the street from the house. The other players follow the resonance into the baby's room. In the hallway outside the room is a clutter of desk furniture covered with plastic tarps. In the baby's room itself, it appears stark and bear with the exception of the crib at the other end of the hallway.

Kemosiri decides to try calling a ghost. He summons it in the living room. Instead of getting the ghost he was expecting, the ghost of an ancient samurai appears in Twilight and demands to know who had summoned him. Tenzin, now looking into Twilight as well, tries to speak in broken Japanese to the Samurai. Kontonshin is the only one who is able to speak with it and she cannot see him. Tenzin, in his vain attempts to try to speak with the Samurai, angers him. He charges Tenzin and using one of his Numina, puts Tenzin into Twilight. Now, the only person who can see Tenzin is Kemosiri. The only one who can speak with him is Gei Ho. It makes for some interesting communications difficulties.

In the meantime, the ghost they had been waiting for, materializes in the child's bedroom. The characters scamper back to the child's room. The ghost is checking out the crib. The characters feel a chill in the air. They see blood staining the wood walls of the child's room. They do not notice a weird iron symbol covered in blood that the ghost had shaken loose from the wall above the crib. They smell fresh dirt and foul smelling refuse. The ghost of a girl dressed in a school uniform turns to face them. Her face is dessicated and skull like and she appears to them pregnant. Tenzin begins a ritual of Exorcism. Kemosiri tries to command it, to no avail. Before anyone else can do something, the ghost shreiks and de-materializes through the wall.

Thinking that there is nothing else they could do that evening, the Cabal gathers everything up, grab Gei Ho and go back to their sanctum. Kemosiri begins a ritual to create a door into Twilight to get Tenzin back into the Material World. He completes it before noon, and collapses into a heap (he had been up for over 24 hours).

Later in the day, the Cabal begin investigating the ghost. The Kitigawa's apparently used an Adoption Agency that promised to get them a baby from a well to do family (to avoid any potential health related problems later). Kontonshin phones the adoption agency. The clerk said she could not give out information, but when pressed, looked it up in the computer. The computer had an entry stating that the baby was originally from the Tanakas, but that the Agent that did the actual transfer was not around to speak to her. Kontonshin then phoned the Tanakas and found out that they indeed had a baby, but when Kontonshin heard a baby in the background and asked about it, the Tanakas decided not to give the baby to the Adoption Agency.

Kontonshin relates the dream she had to the rest of the Cabal and they decide to investigate the Photography Studio where the girl in her dream went. It was easy to find, but it is located in a very seedy part of Kyoto. The Cabal formulates a makeshift plan to go in and coerce the photographer into revealing what is going on. To do so, they get fake ID identifying them as Japanese Police from Duncan. Duncan asks them not to lose the ID and not to ask where he got them.

Once they enter the “studio”, the photographer insists that Aiko Suzuki, the girl from Kontonshin's dream, was just an “enjo kosai” (Compensated Date). She was a high school student. They had ‘relations’ last year after a photography session in which she came alone (normal sessions included several girls and no sex). She came back to him a few months later saying she was pregnant and she demanded money. He could not tell if she was pregnant at the time and insisted that even if she were pregnant, it was not his child. He adamantly refused to give her any blackmail money and he sent her away. He had not seen her since. The Cabal left the studio and informed Detective Imada of the Photographer.

Now that they knew the girl’s name, the Cabal quickly found out where Aiko lived. She lived in a small apartment with her parents and younger brother. The Cabal speak with the mother. Mrs. Suzuki said she has not seen her daughter in over a month. Aiko and her father had an argument about her pregnancy. Aiko's father was very angry with her for getting pregnant - no one would want to marry such a girl. Aiko would also not reveal who the father was, but said it was not her current boyfriend. The father threatened to kick her out but Aiko stormed out yelling that she didn't need him. Mrs. Suzuki would like to know where her daughter is. She was afraid of what her husband might do. The Cabal left the apartment and attempted to come up with a plan of action.

Since garbage and the smell of refuse played such a prominent role in the haunting, the Cabal ventures to the local garbage dump. The Cabal finds out that, garbage in Kyoto is incinerated and that no suspicious body was found in the last month. Even using Mage Sight, the Cabal finds nothing. They decide to look at the Adoption Agency later the next day.

They track down the Agent in charge of the Kitigawa file. She takes the Cabal into her office. After a brief conversation, the Agent confesses. She was “given” her current job by someone named Itako. The Agent was unemployed and almost penniless when Itako, a local soothsayer, told her to be at a certain place at a certain time and this job would just come to her. In exchange for this opportunity, all the Agent had to do was the odd ‘favours’ for her. Itako had given her 3 babies in the past few years to put up for adoption. She had searched for 2 years to find the Kitigawa’s a baby and had finally gotten a commitment from the Suzuki’s for theirs. When the deal fell through with the Suzukis and Itako gave her another baby for adoption, she decided to make a ‘substitution’. The Kitigawa’s would never find out, she thought.

The Agent tells the Cabal that she had met Itako and her “friend” at the Karasuma-Oike subway station.

The Cabal ventures to the subway station. They find a gated entrance to stairs going below the station. They find it blocked by punk kids who demand money. After a brief and heated conversation, the Cabal realizes that one of the gang members knew Akio and they try to question him. The other gangers block the Cabal and attack them. The Cabal fights and wins. Most of the gang runs away.

The punk who knew Akio was her boyfriend. He explains that he was not the father of her child and that he did not know who was.

The boyfriend goes on to explain his story. Akio and he were planning to run away together. She had saved a lot of money. Her father was mean to her and Akio did not want to live under his roof any longer. After a particularly vicious argument a month ago, she ran off, got her money and came to see him. When the other gang members saw how much she had, they attacked her. He tried to fight off the rest of the gang, but they were relentless and Akio was badly beaten. He eventually chased them off, but the gang had stolen all of Akio’s cash. When he returned to help Akio, she had disappeared. Akio was unconscious when he last saw her. He did not know how she disappeared, but he saw a trail of smeared blood leading down the stairwell passed the locked gate. Everyone, even the gangs, is afraid of what lies beyond the gate, so he never went any further.

The Cabal decides to go past the locked iron gate and down the cement stairwell. Behind the locked iron door at the bottom of the stairwell, they find Itako - a blind prophetess and mage who is the defacto leader of the Burakumin, a cabal of outcast mages. Her cabal includes Baka no Oashi (a mute and illiterate mage), several homeless Sleepers, and her.

Since only one person in the cabal speaks Japanese, Itako translates by using Mind Arcana. She tells the Cabal that the Burakumin are known to the Consilium, but for reasons of cleanliness, are not recognized as part of the Consilium.

Itako relates what happened to Akio. Baka heard the scuffle, found Akio, and dragged her downstairs. Itako was not present at that time. Akio seemed dead to Baka, so he buried her in a grave located in the sewers. The Burakumin cannot cremate bodies, as is the custom in Japan, for fear of attracting attention.

Itako told Baka to show the Cabal Akio’s grave. They follow him to underground garbage dump close to the sewers. Besides garbage, several other graves are there. Akio’s is the freshest. Baka digs out a wooden box from the grave. They lift the makeshift coffin out of the grave and open it. They find a desiccated corpse. There are signs of childbirth and deep claw marks in the wooden lid. Clutched in her bloody hand is a crumpled bit of paper. It had the name of the child (Takara) scrawled on it.

Itako enters the gravesite and explains that Baka heard the baby wailing and unearthed Akio to find her dead, but the baby alive. Baka took the baby to Itako who then contacted the Adoption Agency about putting Takara up for adoption.

At this point, the Cabal begins to wonder why the haunting is taking place. Akio’s ghost is protecting Takara and the reason for the haunting lay in the Kitigawa home.

The Cabal returns to the Kitigawa house to find the Nanny removing the child. They see she is wearing a weird symbol that is similar to the one they saw in the baby’s room. They initially ignored it. After some heated questioning, they believe the Nanny was going to kidnap the baby and take it somewhere. They coerce the Nanny into telling them where she was taking the baby. Reluctantly, the Nanny consents.

The Cabal travels to a warehouse district located on the south side of Kyoto. In an abandoned warehouse, they find a red magic symbol painted on the floor and an altar. They surmise that a cult was going to sacrifice the baby for some nefarious purpose. The Nanny denies any knowledge about what the baby was supposed to be sacrificed for, and then tries to escape from the Cabal. She does not get far. The Cabal sees the Nanny disappear out the door and then they hear her scream. When they find her, the Nanny had fallen into an open sewer. The Cabal can see the ghost looking down at the Nanny. It eyes the Cabal and then disappears.
Mori disenchants the magic symbol. The Cabal now knows a magic cult is in the city of Kyoto, but have no other information.

The Cabal offers to have Akio’s body properly cremated and returned to the Suzuki family. Some of them attend the small funeral but stay at a discrete distance. Tenzin dedicates part of his pay from Ms. Ogawa to the Burakumin.

Next: Mujina - Ch 3