(RC) Idoru - Ch. 4

Happy Holidays all. It had been a while since I last updated so I thought I would get this up before the new year. There is one more Chapter to update before the holidays end, and I hope to have it up on January 2.

Just so you know, each Chapter Summary is a summary of 2 or 3 gaming sessions.

Enjoy.

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Summary: The Cabal discovers more about the history of the Shinwa Taisen. Inspector Imada asks the cabal to investigate the suicide of three high school girls all of whom are linked to a falling J-pop star.

Recap:

Two weeks have passed since the events from Chapter 3.

Each of the Cabal Members is doing their own thing. Tenzin is cutting back on training Gei Ho just a bit. He tries to explain to him not to trust Sa-an or other mages who might do them harm. Kemosiri goes back to Dr. Wu to find out more about the scroll. Dr. Wu has ordered a book from Tokyo that will help in translating the scroll (he hopes – Kemosiri is not so optimistic). Dr. Wu is getting annoyed that he is only finding out about the scroll in bits and pieces.

Kemosiri and Mori decide to go visit the Kakumeiso to find out more about the Shinwa Taisen. Jizo agrees to see them and greets them warmly. He offers them tea and they sit and chat. When asked about the Shinwa Taisen, Jizo tells them that it was a document created in 800 AD under the reign of Empress Pimiko. She commissioned the creation of 3 documents – the Legends, the History and Magical History (Shinwa Taisen). Besides holding history, the document was also rumoured to be a grimoire and held powerful spells that apparently date back to the time of Atlantis. The Empress later decided not to release it as the knowledge it contained was deemed too dangerous. She then created a warrior class whose express purpose was to guard the Shinwa Taisen and keep it away from prying eyes. She named the warriors, Samurai.

Two Mage cabals, the Kodoshigisha and Hagakure Kyodai, became responsible for the Shinwa Taisen’s safety. It remained safe and secret until the 20th century and World War II. Fearing that others, including western Cabals, would find the Shinwa Taisen, the Kodoshigisha decided it was prudent to move it. Other Cabals objected, but as they were the ruling Cabal of Kyoto, they’re word held sway. En route to its final destination, the Shinwa Taisen was destroyed when the Americans dropped the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Many members of Kodoshigisha committed seppuku in shame and Gyochisa became the new ranking Cabal of Kyoto.

After hearing these revelations, Kemosiri and Mori thank Jizo for being so helpful and leave.

Meanwhile, Kontonshin tries to find an authentic samurai sword. As a Japanophile, she has wanted to find an authentic katana for some time. Her trip to Japan has given her just such an opportunity. After doing some searching around, Kontonshin finds a master outside of Kyoto who has made many and he charges $250K US for one. Balking at the price, she decides to come back later. She makes a hasty exit and runs into a weirdly dressed gentleman who introduces himself as Kaze. Kaze says he can sell her a Katana for $50K US. All she has to do is meet her at the Kyoto Cultural Centre the next day and he will have one. Suspecting this is all a set up, she talks to Det. Imada and tells him about the scam artist. He decides to investigate.

In the meantime, Imada has his own story to tell. He presents the pictures of 3 girls – they all died a month ago on the same hour at the same night. A fourth girl, Hoshi, is in a psych ward in Kyoto for trying to do the same thing. He would like the group to investigate this mystery as he does not know where else to go. Kemosiri recognizes the girls. He had seen them before on the first night he was in Kyoto and had intended to investigate them. He decides that now is as good a time as any.

The Cabal returns to the alleyway where Kemosiri first saw the “Suicide Triplets.” The Triplets pass by and the Cabal follows. The triplets turn a corner and one of them drops an CD for Satomi Shimizu a fading j-pop idol. The girls school is around the corner and Mori breaks in and goes to one of the girls lockers. They find a pic of a boy and a poster for Shimizu. They get out and go home.

More net investigation and they discover that Shimizu has been despondent lately – her latest boyfriend broke up with her and she is playing a small concert in Osaka the next night. Her star is fading fast. Her 4th album in four years only went to #20 on the J-pop charts.

They call Imada the next morning and he agrees to come to the school to assist. He also reports that there was a break in last night. The principal cooperates with them. The boy is no lead. Hoshi’s locker shows a pic of her and Shimizu.

They go visit Hoshi in the hospital. Both Hoshi’s forearms are completely bandaged. Hoshi is rough with the Cabal and does not want to speak to them. She says she was in the band as a backup singerabe fired when she giving Satomi flowers. She railed against Satomi for a while before Hoshi’s website was shut down by Satomi’s lawyers. That is all she would say.

The Cabal decides to attend her concert. After several hours, the concert ends. Then Mori vaults onto the stage attracting all the security guards in sight. He uses sleight of hand to perform distracting magic and allow Kontonshin and Kemosiri to get behind the guards and onto the backstage.

Kontonshin and Kemosiri get into Satomi’s room on pre-text that they are with a group with backstage passes. Their disguise slips and then they try to convince her they are reporters. Finally, they confess and tell Satomi they are paranormal investigators. Satomi kicks everyone but Kontonshin and Kemosiri out and then breaks down in tears. Through the sobs, she says ghosts are haunting her and they have been haunting her for the past month and a half. She is on verge of nervous breakdown. When shown pictures of the Suicide Triplets, she recognizes two of them.

Kemosiri and Kontonshin leave and return to the Chantry to do more research. They believe that Hoshi has something to do with things, but are not sure what. They come up with plan to scare her into telling them something.

The Cabal go back to the hospital. When they enter the hospital, Kemosiri sees several ghosts. As the Cabal predicted, Hoshi would have nothing to do with them and tries kicking them out. Kemosiri does a general ghost summons and attracts six ghosts who haunt the hospital. Some of them are not happy to see Kemosiri.

When Hoshi sees the ghosts, she screams and tries hiding under her sheets. Kontonshin and Mori pull the sheets off to make her see and then ask her again what she knows. Hoshi says she will tell them everything as long as they get rid of the ghosts. Kemosiri begins to dismiss the ghosts, but some of them are now rather pissed off that they were summoned in the first place. They begin hurling objects around the room and smashing lamps. Several light fixtures explode. Objects begin to fly at the Cabal. Hoshi screams and hides behind her now overturned bed. Mori tries to bar nurses and other hospital staff from getting into the room while Kemosiri and Tenzin command the ghosts to leave. When they are finally gone, security breaks down the doors. Mori explains that Hoshi had a temper tantrum and that she is all right now.

Before they leave, Hoshi gives the Cabal a wooden bowl. She explains that she received it in the mail after Satomi fired her but that she does not know who sent it. To use it, all she had to do was give the Buddha of the Bowl blood so it would perform her every wish. She apologizes and says she did not realize the ghost in the bowl would kill Satomi’s fans. She only wished to hurt Satomi.

When the Cabal returns to the Chantry, they use Mage Sight and determine that a Wrath Spirit is trapped within the bowl. They find out that that the “Buddha’s” former master stored it in a place called “Unit 731” more than 60 years ago. They also find out that the spirit was originally a Chinese Emperor who existed over 1000 years ago.

After interrogating the spirit, Mori drains it of essence enough to kill the spirit. Tenzin tries to object saying that the Spirit may be able to help locate the one who sent it to Hoshi, but Mori does not listen. The Cabal keep the bowl as it still has some resonance on it.

Next: Hashi no Kochou - Ch 5