(RC) Mujina - Ch. 3

Summary: While Kemosiri delves into the mystery of the ancient Japanese scroll, Gei Ho, Tenzin’s sleepwalker retainer, begins visiting another cabal and inadvertently brings home a dangerous mind eating spirit.

Recap:

Two weeks after arriving in Kyoto, the Cabal has settled into a routine. Tenzin is teaching Gei Ho the rigors of his Bon Po legacy (what a Sleepwalker could reasonably learn). However, Gei Ho is chafing against this. Every night, Gei Ho ventures out and unbeknownst to the Cabal, has been making his way to Kyomizu-dera to talk with the mages of the Hagakure Kyodai. Sa-an, a young female mage of the Hagakure Kyodai, has lured him there and has surreptitiously been gaining valuable information about the Cabal from him.

This particular day begins with Gei Ho failing to meditate to Tenzin’s liking. He is thinking about the Tigers Baseball game Duncan is taking him to. Before he leaves, Gei Ho gives Tenzin an onamori (good luck charm) as a gift for all his teachings.

Kemosiri and Kontonshin are still researching the scroll. Kontonshin cannot translate anything – the writing is too archaic and she cannot discern their meanings. Kemosiri tries drawing some of the Kanji onto another piece of paper in the hopes of giving it to a Sleeper Professor who might know how to translate the Scroll. Akio Ogawa gives him the name of a Chinese Professor of Archeology at Kyoto University.

Mori, in the meantime, is trying to make deal with Itako for learning the Japanese.

Kemosiri makes an appointment to see Dr. Wu at Kyoto University and present copies of the Kanji. Dr. Wu says that they are unrecognizable as Kanji and wonders if someone is playing a joke. He wants to look at the scrolls more closely and believes that they might be a valuable find. Kemosiri agrees to return the next day.

Meanwhile, Tenzin, Kontinshin and Mori are at sanctum and begin to get a weird feeling that an unknown power is at work. They begin to use Mage Sight and Mori senses Awakened magic. He feels they are being scryed on and before he can examine any further, the scrying window disappears.

Kemosiri returns to the Sanctum and lets Kontonshin know that their kanji copies did not look like anything to the Professor. Kemosiri begins to scan the scroll with his laptop computer’s scanner and it comes out garbled. Confused, they use Mage Sight on the scroll and get an aura of powerful Magic, but nothing else – no other quality is present.

Duncan arrives back at the Sanctum. He dropped off Gei Ho near Kyomizu-dera. The others let Kemosiri know of the scrying and they begin to look for Gei Ho. They find him near Kyomizu-dera. Tenzin chides him for being out late and for consorting with other Mages. Tenzin tells Gei Ho not to do such a thing again. After getting Gei Ho back to the sanctum, he runs away during the night.

The next day, Kemosiri and Kontonshin go to visit Dr. Wu – this time with the actual scroll. They give Dr. Wu more copies of the Kanji. Dr. Wu becomes annoyed that he has been given more copies of things he cannot recognize. Reluctantly Kemosiri and Kontonshin show him the real scroll. Dr. Wu examines it and can recognize several words – Kojiki (the Japanese creation myths) and Nihongi (the early history of Japan). He also recognizes words he pronounces as Shinwa Taisen. From the context, Dr. Wu surmises that this is another historical document written in conjunction with the Kojiki and Ninhongi (The Kojiki and Nihongi were written in approximately 800 AD under the rule of Empress Pimiko). The characters find out nothing else. Both begin to detect something unusual with their Unseen Senses and decide they must leave.

Kemosiri and Kontonshin decide to speak with the Itako whom they believe will be able to give them more information. As they arrive at the subway station, their Unseen Senses go off. Something is following them. Kemosiri turns on Spirit Sight sees a humanoid shaped Spirit materialized in Twilight. It is almost nine feet tall and completely black. However, where its head should be, Kemosiri sees a skull with its face ripped off. In that faceless void are hundreds of squirming maggots.

Kemosiri gives Kontonshin the scroll and tells her to run. She runs down the stairs towards the Itako’s sanctum. Kemosiri hobbles down the stairs, but the Spirit catches up with him, materializes, grabs him, and exhales thousands of maggots onto him. Kemosiri panics, but manages to free himself of the Spirit’s grip. He hobbles down the stairs and rushes through the steel door just as the Spirit reaches him. They slam the door in the Spirit’s “face”. Kemosiri tries hard to brush the maggots off his body, but still finds them in his clothes days later.

The Itako tells Kemosiri and Kontonshin that the spirit they encountered was a Mujina, a Faceless One. She also mentions that the wards against Spirits she has up seem to be working against it.

When asked about the term Shinwa Taisen, the Itako asks Kemosiri and Kontonshin where they had heard them. She is surprised that foreigners who had only been in town for two weeks could have heard of such a thing that up to this time, she had only heard in whispers.

The Itako tells them that she does not want anything to do with the matter. She then tells Baka to show them out the back way. Baka leads them through the sewers to an outlet along the Kamo River.

In the meantime, Mori and Tenzin are out searching for Gei Ho. They go to Kiyomizu-dera where they believe Gei Ho has been going. Sa-an answers the door and denies having seen Gei Ho that night. She tells them that he had been come to her Sanctum a few times and that she regarded him as a fine young boy. Before they leave, Sa-an refers to Tenzin by his True Name and she smiles.

Kemosiri and Kontonshin return to the sanctum. Kemosiri is still brushing maggots off his clothes. The others still do not know where Gei Ho is. Suddenly, the door opens and Gei Ho walks in. He seems non-chalent about running away and asks if he can go upstairs to bed. They let him go but not before Tenzin chides him once again. Gei Ho shrugs it off. The rest confer about the scroll and about the days events.

Soon, they all begin to retire for the evening. Before he goes to bed, Kemosiri decides to scrutinize the sanctum with Spirit Arcana for anything unusual. He does not want to get scryed upon again. He enters Gei Ho’s room and sees Gei Ho standing up on his futon. Kemosiri further scrutinizes the room and finds a Spirit seemingly controlling Gei Ho. He quickly calls for the others. When Mori and Tenzin arrive, they see the Mujina standing above Gei Ho, maggots erupting from its faceless void entering any open orifice they can find.

The Mujina lets Gei Ho go and he collapses to his futon. It then attacks Kemosiri as he did before, by grabbing him and exhaling thousands of maggots onto him. This time, however, the maggots crawled and squirmed their way into his mouth, nose and eyes. At the same time, Kemosiri could feel the presence of another mind forcing its way into his consciousness.

While Kemosiri is immobilized, Tenzin tries commanding the Mujina. It just shrugs off his commands. Mori, now able to see the Mujina in Twilight, strikes at the Mujina with Celestial Fire and essence drain. The Mujina tries to lash out at his attackers. It is eventually banished back to the Shadow leaving Kemosiri a heap on the tatami mats (most of which will have to be disposed of because of maggots).

When the Cabal tries to take care of Gei Ho, they discover that the Mujina had stolen Gei Ho’s memories and that a part of his Soul was ripped out as a result. The Cabal fears that whoever sent the Mujina after them would be able to gain valuable knowledge about them through Gei Ho’s memories.

The Cabal decides that they MUST get Gei Ho’s memories back. They visit the Itako who tells them that the only one she is aware of with the power to get him back is Ane-san of the Kokuryu-kai.

They visit Ane-san’s sanctum, which is the top floor of the Umeda building in Osaka. They trick their way in and make a deal with her – she will open a gate to the Shadow and then they can call the Mujina using Gei Ho as a sympathetic connection. Kemosiri begins the ritual to tear Gei Ho’s soul from the Mujina. When he is ready, Ane-san casts a spell to call the Mujina and Tenzin calls the Mujina to the Gate. Kemosiri tears Gei Ho’s soul from the Mujina and Mori drains the Mujina of all its Essence and Corpus destroying it forever.

As a price, Ane-san asks the Cabal to get a personal item from Raiden, the head of Gyochisa, and deliver it before the next Consilium meeting.

Next: Idoru - Ch 4