Rifts Japan

[Eonivar]

Ando gives Hongo a weary and somewhat unsure nod, and then turns and looks at the Major who was addressing the unplanned presence of the tiger being. He gives the Major a nod and then proceeds over to the transport stopping in the doorway and giving the whole thing a thorough inspection for clues and evidence. He toggles his communication system to the team tac net.

"Could I get one of the team here with me to do an ultraviolet, heat and thermo-imaging scan of the transport interior and exterior, there maybe hidden prints or clues. Also can I get the the list of profiles and manifests of who was on the transport when the Branch was brought on board, the exterior and interior camera feed history from the transport, as well as its computer and navigation logs?"

 

[Purr]

Waving the hovering security guards away, she says, "I was expecting a fox-spirit, not a tiger. In any case, I am Major Kelly Izumo, the field commander for the response team for the Ministry of Metahuman Affairs. Who are you, and what's your story? Are you supposed to be replacing the Kitsune in my team?"

Hongo feels he has to keep this conversation full but relatively short. The dead were not knowing for always hanging around waiting before they left the Earth forever. Once gone, they took their knowledge and any chance at inner peace with them. And any clues that might help the living.

Being the Demon Queller that he was, he nods in approval to this Izumo calling off her guards. "Not 'supposed' to... unless you dismiss me, I am taking his place."

Hongo speaks with pride and confidence to the female human, his animal passion heavy in his every word. "I am Hongo the Bright Storm, shoki of the Tora clan. 'The kitsune' you refer to is an honored ally of mine. He seems to think I am better qualified to help you here. I agreed, so here I am. You might call it... a private matter of honor. As the leader here, are you not curious as to why your people just killed their own trusted people? Their own squadmates? Their fellow Japanese?"

Hongo glances towards Detective Ando whom he has noticed has wisely paused at the ramp to the ship. This was potentially good. Hongo felt it would tell him just what kind of detective this Ando was - is he a puppet of Izumo or his own man out for the facts?

He indicates the recently dead, all wearing Hiroshima security uniforms. "Lest you doubt 'the kitsune,' major, here is a little taste of how I can help you fix this problem." While the dead are (hopefully) still here, and having just paid his respects, Hongo activates his View Ghost Drama for the sake of the dead and the living that they do not join the dead too soon. He studies the nearest Japanese corpse and begins there. View Ghost Drama should create a psychic scene for all to see, not just Hongo. The scene should show the silent victim - up to a few minutes before his death - along with all other people and physical elements that were there at the time. If they are lucky, then perhaps the scene includes any spirits or demons along with him too that were here then?

Hongo hopes to find out if the dead fellow was acting strangely before he opened fire. Were there signs of his possession? Drug use? Someone snapping something electronic on the back of the guy's neck? Or did he seem to act out of his own free will (implying they were spies)? Hongo looks for anything out of the ordinary. He hopes Detective Ando, this Major Izumo, and the dragoness Kimi will make use of this too.

 

[Psychie]

Kimi decides to head over to the Juicer first, saying to the guards there, "I can help with his injuries. Make sure he's restrained and I'll start to work on him."

Using her psychic powers, she starts out with a psychic diagnosis to best understand the extent of his wounds. Then once she knows what needs to be dealt with first, her hands move quickly, setting bones and stopping any bleeding.

Once done, she sits back on her heels and asks, "I trust you have somewhere sufficient to be able to secure him in? He will be difficult to hold otherwise."

 

[Sherwood]

Once Kimi is done with her psychic surgery, the now healed man looks at her with fear in his eyes even as he is being taken away in heavy restraints. One of the soldiers escorting him says, "Don't worry, ma'am. We have a solid cell to put this one into until it is time to interrogate him."

The prisoner is lifted up and placed on a stretcher before being strapped in tight on top of the other restraints on his arms and legs and rolled away with six guards in escort, and the same is being done for the other man that lost his arm. Soon both are out of sight, leaving the rooftop to the crime scene technicians to reconstruct what happened.

But before they can get too far, Hongo begins his own psychic communication with the few spirits still in the area from the fallen men and women that lie still on the landing pad.

Purr before I get too far into this, how exactly does this spirit power work? I don't want to botch my roll as Storyteller and get this all wrong.

 

[Sherwood]

From the point of view of the dead man, things were running smoothly up to the point that he is overwhelmed by the absolute certainty that the transport is a critical danger to not just him, but to everyone on the roof and all Hiroshima. He responds with a sense of shock, then a calm comes over him as he raises up his rifle to shoot that transport down.

Another ghost, this one is from one of the fallen Juicers, had a similar feeling about Prime Minister Xu and Minister Feng. They were evil, and they had to be eliminated. That was why he volunteered for the Juicer upgrade; he had to do it to get close to the oni that were about to kill them all.

That last one doesn't seem to make much sense. Apparently he was recently given the Juicer harness to stop the two demons, but he didn't know they were demons until the others started their attack on the transport. The timeline had many holes in it.

 

[Psychie]

Kimi To looks and listens to the display from the spirits with interest. She looks to Hongo, saying, "I know little of the power you are using, and I am curious. Is there reason to suspect that the images you receive are false in any way, or are these truthful representations of what they were seeing and thinking prior to the attack taking place? If they are telling the truth, it would seem to me that the men were under the effect of some kind of mind control."

 

[Kikimura]

Tula spat on the concrete roof, stretching a bit as her arsenal of weapons shook. She made her way to one of the prisoners, fighting the urge to break him as she took out her medkit; doing her best to stabilize the prisoner.

(I assume I roll here? Ping me in ooc to what)

 

[Eonivar]

Ando had turned from his inspection of the transport to look back at Hongo's display of power, watching the displayed projections of the dead. "Based on this display, it appears that something or someone has placed some sort of compulsion or domination in their minds. From my understanding and experience, they could have been controlled via psychic abilities, maybe magic, or even via some sort of cyber-hacking? Can we get profiles on these three? Did they have any cyber enhancements? Also Kimi-san...shoki Hongo..anyone else, is there any magic we can use to see if there has been any magic at work here?"

There was a lot happening at the moment and a lot of information to be analyzed. "I am going to return to my investigation of the transport."

Ando does a good inspection of the interior of the transport before entering reminding the team and the Major for his request for the data from the transport. He then steps in to the transport and picks up the fake branch of the Millennium Tree, holding it in both hands reaching into himself and then reaching to the branch to find its history and any clue as to the real branch or who switched it.

<Ando uses his psychic Object Read power>

Spoiler: Ando's Stats

MDC: 170
Absurr Life Node MDC: 300
Kuru Street Armor: 75
ISP: 195
Current ISP: 195-30 = 165-50 = 115-50=65-6 (Object Read) = 59

 

[Sherwood]

Tula spat on the concrete roof, stretching a bit as her arsenal of weapons shook. She made her way to one of the prisoners, fighting the urge to break him as she took out her medkit; doing her best to stabilize the prisoner.

(I assume I roll here? Ping me in ooc to what)

One of your many mental abilities is Psychic Surgery, letting you perform detailed and complex operations with just your bare hands. Here is a copy of the power:

Psychic Surgery is used to repair broken bones, and internal injuries, and for the removal of foreign objects (bullets, arrows, etc.) using only one ' s bare hands; no tools or instruments. Can also be used to heal a character who has suffered so much damage that he or she has lapsed into a coma (zero Hit Points or less). Psychic Surgery is the equivalent of "professional hospital" treatment. The recovery from a coma (near death) is equal to treatment from a hospital, 1 -66%. Note that there is minimal bleeding and pain, and absolutely no scarring from Psychic Surgery (no pain if the Deaden Pain ability is used). Note: A Psychic Diagnosis must be made before surgery is possible.

You can clearly see the damage done to the prisoner in the form of the blasted remains of his arm. With this power you are able to easily stop the little bit of bleeding that is going on, but there is not enough of his arm left to save other than a stump. Assuming he is willing to have one, he could get a cybernetic arm in place of the now treated stump.


Ando's investigation into the tree shows that the fake was planted before the transport took off from Kyoto. You have a good mental picture of the person that loaded the fake onto the airship, but he is not a person you recognize. But if you were to see him again, you would be able to recognize him.

 

[Kikimura]

I saw "phsychoc surgery" but my dumbass thought it was an attack and decided not to read it. Instead I opted for the bandage cuz I am dumb dumb °^°

 

[Sherwood]

I saw "phsychoc surgery" but my dumbass thought it was an attack and decided not to read it. Instead I opted for the bandage cuz I am dumb dumb °^°

You are not dumb, just new and inexperienced in this game. No worries!

 

[Kikimura]

You are not dumb, just new and inexperienced in this game. No worries!

Should I fix it or just leave it as a first aid?

 

[Sherwood]

Should I fix it or just leave it as a first aid?

It is up to you. If you wish to simply use a first aid kit, that's fine. Or you can speed the recovery process of the wounded man with the psi powers you have.

 

[Purr]

Eonivar GunMan2 Kikimura Psychie Sherwood Steve Freeling

Spoiler: Instrumental mood music.

"Cyberpunk 2077 - The Rebel Path (Silverhand Nukes the Arasaka Building)" composed by P.T. Adamczyk, Marcin Przybyłowicz, Paul Leonard-Morgan.

Kimi To looks and listens to the display from the spirits with interest. She looks to Hongo, saying, "I know little of the power you are using, and I am curious. Is there reason to suspect that the images you receive are false in any way, or are these truthful representations of what they were seeing and thinking prior to the attack taking place? If they are telling the truth, it would seem to me that the men were under the effect of some kind of mind control."

The Bright Storm replies to Kimi, his heavy voice filled with solemn confidence. "What you are seeing are the perspectives of the dead - the truth as they knew it surrounding their last moments on Earth."

From the point of view of the dead man, things were running smoothly up to the point that he is overwhelmed by the absolute certainty that the transport is a critical danger to not just him, but to everyone on the roof and all Hiroshima. He responds with a sense of shock, then a calm comes over him as he raises up his rifle to shoot that transport down.

Another ghost, this one is from one of the fallen Juicers, had a similar feeling about Prime Minister Xu and Minister Feng. They were evil, and they had to be eliminated. That was why he volunteered for the Juicer upgrade; he had to do it to get close to the oni that were about to kill them all.

That last one doesn't seem to make much sense. Apparently he was recently given the Juicer harness to stop the two demons, but he didn't know they were demons until the others started their attack on the transport. The timeline had many holes in it.

You can feel free to talk to the three spirits and see what they say.

Hongo sneers in disgust at the dead man's mere mention of oni, but otherwise he watches calmly, trying to see the facts for what they are without his opinion getting in the way. The humans showed signs of mental or spiritual manipulation; every shoki worthy of the title knew there was no shortage in Japan of evil creatures that possessed such terrible powers of illusion and trickery. How Hongo longed to sink his fangs into the necks of cowardly bastards that forced these Hiroshimans to slay their very own!

The Tiger-spirit's snarl carries across the rooftop. He makes no attempt to disguise his raw hatred and distaste for the true killers. "Do you see, humans?" He peers intently at anyone who watched - or caused - the last dying moments of the security guards. "These warriors of yours did not act out of their own free will. Seek not to hurl their remains into the nameless graves of the traitorous dishonored. Instead, see them as they were - victims of evil! For only two kinds of creatures can do this to your people - demons and the demon-hearted!"

He clenches his fist with a fierceness. Yes! Something was definitely here in Hiroshima and having a damned good time at the expense of innocent humans! But the dead. He wondered inside. and calmed himself. He hoped the dead could shed more light on this story. Hongo approaches the corpses and looks for their names on their badges or uniforms. If he does not find them, he asks the other humans what the fallen were called. Then (if all goes well), he speaks with a solemn expression, his whiskers twitching.

Hongo addresses anyone who took part in the battle. "These ghost visions must fade if I am to speak with the fallen. I will ask my questions aloud so that you may hear them. Then I will repeat their answers. Here, I ask for your aid! Give me your own questions - I will try to pass them along to your dead warriors while they are still here."

Spoiler: OOC for Sherwood.

Next up is Commune with Spirits psychic ability (Rifts Ultimate Edition, p. 172). This ability requires all other psychic abilities cease, hence the end of View Ghost Drama. He is basically able to ask 3 questions per use of the ability; he will spend all of the Chi/I.S.P. he needs to ask more. He continues to make use of Dragon Chi to lessen the cost.

Hongo the Bright Storm enters a kind of living trance. His jadeite eyes gleam as he reaches into the powerful recesses of his mind in an attempt to Commune with Spirits recently made dead.

He calls out their names, bowing in respect after each one spoken. Then he makes his own name known to them. "I am Hongo the Bright Storm, shoki of the Tora clan. You have ceased living because you were under the spell or psychic power of illusion. Your lives were stolen from you." Then he briefly explains the details of why he believes the spirits were misdirected and therefore slain by their fellow Japanese. "I am here to find the source of that illusion and theft." He begins with his three questions. He repeats their answers verbatim aloud. Then he waits to see if anyone else would ask.

1. "Who or what did this to you?"
2. "When and where did you begin to experience these illusions?"
3. "What else would you like us to know?"

 

[Sherwood]

As Hongo asks his questions, the first ghost replies:

"I was mentally attacked by the demon that called itself Grendel. It wrestled control of my mind from me and implanted the need to attack that airship."

"I did not experience these foreign thoughts until the transport was nearly landed."

"I wish to be buried with my ancestors at our family plot. Do that, and I shall rest in peace."

As Hongo moves on to the other ghosts still around, he gets similar answers; Grendel made them do this, and they are ashamed at the dishonor that they have brought to their families. They ask for forgiveness, and warn you that Grendel is powerful. Use extreme caution when confronting it.

Psychie Steve Freeling GunMan2 Kikimura Eonivar
Anyone else wish to add a question before the ghosts fade away?

 

[Psychie]

Kimi listens carefully as Hongo relays the words of the spirits to them, feeling angry that this demon would dishonor the memories of these good men and women in this way. She asks of the tiger man, "Do they know where this Grendel is now? I am also curious about the location of the Tree, but I doubt that these poor ones would know where it is."

 

[GunMan2]

Takuma glared at each of these men and it would not stretch of the imagination to see that this man was quite disappointed with the organics but decided it best to ask while he could. "If these spirits only know the truth that they perceive then maybe recordings from the juicers chip might shed more light on the matter." He went to the nearest juicer and begins to hack its systems to find the recording in its memory chip. But he listened when they talked about the demon as any information would be useful for future reference.

 

[Sherwood]

Takuma quickly learns that the computer on the Juicer's injection harness is very basic in its function, dealing solely with the job of regulating the blend of chemicals and nanobots inside the body of the man to keep him operating at peak output for as long as possible before burnout. The chip holds no information besides a record of the bio-functions of the man.

As the crime scene technicians work the area, they are able to positively identify the bodies of the fallen men and women through DNA sampling and comparing the results to fingerprints and their identification on the bodies. They are all who they are supposed to be, all members of the Ministry's defense force. Major Izumo is busy giving orders to the various technicians, then pauses as if she is listening to something. She then says, "Understood, sir. On our way." She turns to Hongo, Kimi To, Ando and Takuma, and says, "All of you, with me. Prime Minister Xu wants a briefing on what we have uncovered. Hongo, This is going to fall on your shoulders to try and explain the details of your communication with the ghosts to share what they told you. Lets go."

She leads the way to the elevators, and for those that are new arrivals to the building can see that the elevator car is large enough to fit a large number of people in it at once, and it feels very sturdy as you enter, probably able to easily handle several tons of weight at once without difficulty. The car descends quickly, heading towards the basement at high enough speed to make your ears pop. When the doors open up, you see that you have arrived at one of the underground levels, and you are faced with a group of full conversion Borgs, a par of Juicers, and a dozen 'normal' men, all heavily armed and armored. They are standing in the foyer, standing guard over what Ando and Takuma both recognize as the entrance to a shielded and armored conference and command center. Standing in the doorway is a woman in a business dress that the Hiroshima-ites know is the aide to the Prime Minister, a woman named Nike. She motions for you to come with her.

Inside the room are several computer terminals with people stationed at them, all trying to gather up information in a neat and concise manner in which to give to their supervisor. Minister Feng and Prime Minister Xu are in here, having a quiet conversation. They turn and look up as you enter, and Nike announces, "Madam Prime Minister, the squad is here."

"Excellent. Perhaps I can finally get an answer on what the hell just happened up there. Who wants to go first?"

 

[Purr]

Hongo, This is going to fall on your shoulders to try and explain the details of your communication with the ghosts to share what they told you. Lets go."

"Excellent. Perhaps I can finally get an answer on what the hell just happened up there. Who wants to go first?"

Hongo becomes quiet and stays quiet. Taking a deep breath of self-control, he takes out his brush, inkwell, and journal and slowly, patiently begins to scribe the names of the dead. One in particular wished to be buried in his ancestors' plot in order to live in peace. Others had warned everyone about the dangers of this Grendel. Even in death, they served loyally. Hongo desires the matters of the dead, how they became possessed, and this Grendel to fill his mind instead of the treatment he has been shown by these disrespectful humans who bleated, wishing to be served and pleased...

...as if a Tiger-spirit shoki and a Kumo-mi dragon sohei - creatures of legend! - were put into this universe solely to debase themselves and squirm for these humans' pleasure!

This Major Izumo was treating them far below the manner of respected guests or even equals. As if they were eta among nobility! How glad was he that the honor-loving Snowfall was not here to see this! Here, Hongo on his own had uncovered precious details and truths impossible to come by for these haughty Hiroshimans, and this Izumo went from seeming like a decent human to calling out orders for all to obey! As if everyone present were her subordinates!

This was intolerable! What self-respecting shoki - the profession that hunted demons - could look himself in the mirror after being treated like the building's janitor? "Let's go?" Hongo now had to "try and explain?" How did the Americans say it? Oh yes.

FUCK THAT.

In truth, Hongo almost had not followed Izumo. After all, he felt he didn't need this ministry - instead this ministry needed him and Hongo knew it.

Now he wished he hadn't come along inside. Izumo's superior here, Prime Minister Xu, also a human who seemed totally clueless about the true nature of what appeared to be going on, now had the jade balls to demand answers from a shoki? As if Hongo and the others were their obsequious lackeys, born to lick their boots and beg? Let the others lick, beg, and apologize for all Hongo cared.

Xu was lucky he was not addressing his words to one of the shogun's own samurai - insults like these never flew among those proud people. And so... instead of opening his mouth and giving these "people" ammunition to fire on them all with, Hongo decided to go another route:

"To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." - Sun Tzu.

Hongo was not about to speak for the sohei, Kimi; after all, the beautiful and powerful dragoness could do as she pleased or she was no dragon at all. But he damned well could act in defense of his own honor, his own deserved self-respect. If this Izumo, Xu, and Feng wanted answers out of a shoki of the Tora clan, they had better play a more respectful tune - or they could find this supernatural evil without him. Hongo had signed no contracts, made no promises to these humans. Hongo was in Hiroshima alone for this Grendel who could certainly be an oni himself.

As Sun Tzu had taught, Hongo took not the path of arguing with haughty humans who clearly thought him their lesser, but instead, he decided upon the more noble path of ruminating upon all he had just learned. This Grendel probably thought Hiroshima was a Disneyland Tokyo for a supernatural evil such as himself - and so far, he had been proven right. Even while possessed, these loyal soldiers had died in the name of duty, honor, and loyalty - the very foundations of bushido - and yet their masters had not even bowed their heads in respect toward their loss. How their ghosts must feel. Their minds toyed with. Their lives lost. Multiple souls at once. This Grendel had power indeed. One few in Hiroshima could understand much less battle against. Left unchecked, this Grendel might one day conquer Hiroshima. Left unchecked, that is.

Hai. It was far better to work in silence with what he had than to even speak with these "leaders." Unless they had something important concerning this case, Hongo found he had better things to do for the sakes of both these unworthy living before him... and the worthy dead beyond.

 

[Eonivar]

After his reading, Ando carefully placed the fake branch in an evidence pouch. Ando then watched all the events occur uneasily with Hondo's raising and questioning of the of the ghosts of the dead to the Kimi's psychic healing which was a familiar skill and technique. Ando felt uneasy though, the team those of the Empire and those of the Republic were on edge, still on adrenalin after an intense combat. He stepped forward giving a bow to the Prime Minister, the Major and the others, and then to Hondo and Kimi. "Why do not we take a breath here? We are all on edge and need to come off the intensity that was that combat, the intensity could be clouding our vision, judgement, and memory."

<Ando uses the Calm Minds Zenjoriki Power>

He looks at the Major "Major we should be respectful of the newcomer Hongo and thank him for the invaluable information he has been able to provide for us on this , I am not sure if any of our methods would have gotten such information so quickly."

He turns and bows to Hongo. "Thank you again for your assistance here Hongo. We will need all of us to work together to figure out this situation."

He then addresses everyone. "I have psychically read the history of this." He holds up the fake sapling, now in an evidence bag. "The sapling was exchanged before the transport left Kyoto by someone human."

Ando gives a description of who he saw in his vision here.

<Ando then searches his memory to determine if he had heard of this Grendel that was mentioned earlier, rolling Demons and Monsters skill 40% = 97%...and the name is not familiar to him>

 

[Psychie]

Kimi To looks over at Ando and says, "Don't forget that appearances can be deceiving. The man that you saw in your psychic vision may not have been a man at all. It may have been this Grendel in a shape shifted form."

She then thinks for a moment, then says, "If there is a way to make a picture of the man you saw, we might be able to identify him, assuming he is a real person at all."

 

[Eonivar]

Ando looks at Kimi, who is unchanged from the time he first met her those years ago when he was just a simple human and powerless beat cop in a small village on the border of the Empire.

"I am well aware that appearances can be deceiving Kimi-san. While I unfortunately do not have decent talent in art, I can however, with your consent of course, connect with you or anyone else with their consent telepathically and share the vision I saw when I read the history of the fake branch. Would this be acceptable Kimi-san?"

 

[Sherwood]

The calming effect of the Zenjorike power flows out like ripples of a stone dropped in the water, leaving peace as it goes by. You all feel the tension in the room fade as result.

The Major blinks and looks at Ando and says, "You are correct in saying that Hongo has provided some valuable information. You must excuse us when such things are very new to the people in the room, and it will take some getting used to. Ando, you have seen this man that placed the Tree into the transport. Can you share this image with others besides Kimi To? Perhaps he is responsible for the missing sapling, but we won't know until we can identify him."

 

[Eonivar]

Ando nods but seems a bit...reluctant.

"Yes Major, I can share my vision with everyone who consents to the contact. So who would like for me to share my vision telepathically with you?"

 

[Purr]

With the same passive body language and hidden mannerisms he had entered with, Hongo quietly looks about the room and sees that apparently everyone present not only was affected by the detective's surprising martial art power, but they did not even appear to realize they had been influenced. This major, evidently everyone nearby, and most importantly the prime minister of the Republic of Japan himself! They seemed completely unaware!

Grendel and whatever cronies the thing might keep must be having a field day in Hiroshima! Hongo knows he is brand-new to this city, but here within his very first hour, the tiger-spirit finds himself coming to the conclusion that unless the human in question had some kind of... what did they call it here? "Meta-human?" Some kind of meta-human abilities? The Hiroshiman humans are probably like fish in a barrel for the likes of the dreaded oni!

The tiger shoki realizes he could use all of the data he can get his paws on, even from a detective who has it in him to emotionally control his superiors evidently without their permission or knowledge. That was going to take some getting used to - this was not a thing in the New Empire or spirit world animal spirits like Hongo called home.

"Sure, sign me up," Hongo finally says with a feline grin. "The sooner we start working together, the worse it is for the likes of this Grendel."