Speaking to the spirit belonging to the victim of a murder was a tried and tested method for Kairos, proven invaluable to him in the past.

It troubled him that his proven techniques were being eschewed in favour of something he had no experience of before, but knew to respect the wishes of the monks and assist where he could.

"What do you need me to do?"

Huoshui shows Kairos how Huoshui has arranged candles near the elder's body and incense is being burnt around him also. These elements shall be used to focus the energies of life and spirit into the body.

He also explains how mind energy is focused towards the elder who is in the center of a mandalas formed using the candles and incense.

"I am sorry this is probably a bit out of the norm for how you would do this but all experiences can only make oneself better and stronger is some manner."

With that he attempts to start the ritual.

The ritual takes some time but the burst of images from the revitalized mind give grate insight.

There is a grate deal of pain, pleasure, sex, and struggling, but his mind touches on her's.

He tries to send a message out but he grew too weak as she drained his life away.

But searching through his last thoughts the message is there, unsent...

The image of the Shinkoto Industries logo and the following 7 runes:

Huoshui rushes to grab a piece of parchment and drawing out the symbols.

After having hurried to get this down on paper he breaths out deeply. Finally something.
"We have something. Well done people."

He takes his drink out, pulls the top off with his teeth and takes a large swig. Wipes his mouth and stares at what he has drawn.

Noticing the one that kind of looks like a 7, then worryingly stares at the others.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:08, Sun 29 Jan 2012.

One of the students is clearly unsettled. "there SEVEN of those things hiding here!?!"

Huoshui continues to sit but now grabs two small cups.

"There maybe seven but we must remain calm. I have my suspicions, but we should not jump to conclusions."

He pours out his alcohol into the two cups. Gesturing for Kairos to sit with him.

"Come sit I must thank you for helping this temple"

Holding out one of the cups.

"Well this is something we can take to that friend of yours." He says while gesturing with the other hand to the symbols.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:27, Mon 30 Jan 2012.

Kairos sits with Huoshui and takes the offered cup of what appears to be red wine.
He swiftly knocks back the whole contents into his mouth, Kairos had been awaiting his first drink of the day and didn't want to wait any longer.

"Gah, ahah!"

Kairos let out an audible gasp, not expecting the strong kick and unfamiliar flavour the monk's wine possessed. Kairos is impressed and he has new levels of respect for the man, the grin that spreads from the corner of his mouth is impossible to hide.

"That's good stuff!"

Kairos sets the cup down and collects himself to discuss the events.


"What's the whole story? What has happened here and how does it relate to these symbols?"

Huoshui pours another cupful for himself and Kairos.

"Well the elder of this temple was visited by a woman. From what I was told she had this symbol tattooed on her." he gestures to the second one (looks like a 7) "After her visit he was found dead."

Huoshui takes another drink.

"This is when I arrived and shortly after that the authorities. The mermaid was among them, but she left saying she had something to do before the meeting. They had begun their investigations but I felt that we could do some more, and this is why I called for you."

He puts his hand on top of the parchment.

"And I feel calling you was a good idea. This and the whole station stuff are most likely linked. We have more information that we did before. We even have a company logo."

One of the students supplied Kairos with a data pad. "here I made a copy of what the elder was working on for you"

(see bottom of page 9 link to a message in this game)

Kairos takes the second cup and this time drinks it slower to enjoy the experience.
While reading through the information on the datapad.

"I really don't know what to make of all this just yet, and these symbols..."


Kairos furrows his brow, takes a sip from his cup and takes out his own datapad with the information that Mrs. Kensington gave him.


"This symbol, this one belongs to Shinkoto Industries, they make Rejuvenate and  are so wealthy I doubt any of the governments attending would be able to outbid them. I've been meaning to contact the representative of Taisho Sōshin to discuss a way we can...AHA!"


Kairos cuts himself off mid-sentence as he finds the information on the pad he was looking for.

"Shinkoto's representative for the auction, one Luxuria Wakahisa. What we know about her is that she's very attractive, supposedly sleeping her way to the top and almost almost always seen with a very large and odd looking bodyguard"

He attempts to find pictures of the mysterious woman, to identify her.

"Need to find out why the logo of her company was in his head, along side the killer's tattoo and the other symbols. How are they connected?"

"I only have a loose knowledge of the company, may have to investigate this company further. This Miss Wakahisa, I feel we need a word. I can say that her aura was one of primordial lust which could have been a factor when it unsettled the students here. As for connections the only thing we have is that the elder was thinking of all of these things during his last moments. We should certainly put this forward to the mermaid, shouldn't we be meeting up with her soon?"

Huoshui takes a sip from his cup and continues.

"Representative for Master Sōshin would be Miss Boreh. She is of our order but I can't say she has visited the temple, or made much contact with us for that matter."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Tue 31 Jan 2012.

Luxuria dose have black hair, however attractive is and understatement she has an appearance of 8.

Taken aback by her beauty, Kairos turns the pad round to share the image.

"Recognise her? Easy on the eye, certainly wouldn't be difficult to miss her in a crowd looking like that."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:40, Tue 31 Jan 2012.

They are a little unsure but think she's familiar, most apparently were not looking at her face much.

One of the students seams quite certain that's her though.

Huoshui looks at the picture, also rather shaken by the beauty displayed on the screen. He realised now why the students reacted in such a manner now.

He pulls his concentration from the picture and back to the symbols. This was unworldly.

"Well this brings us closer."

He takes another large mouthful of the wine. He is starting to show signs of unsteadiness. He hadn't stopped pouring more out for himself. The guilt was getting to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Tue 31 Jan 2012.

Between the drink and the picture huoshui finds himself a little lost in the image... perhaps he drank to much, or perhaps she really was just that beautiful, but he felt a little lightheaded and almost passed out.  But he managed to contain himself, reminding himself that she was a monster under that flax visage.

Huoshui unsteadily gets up and rolls the diagram up, then wonders over to a training area. He needed to work off this frustration, It was not the place of a brother to be overwhelmed with emotion. He had let it get away from him into past, he wouldn't let it get out of control this time.

He puts his bag down near him, takes his new staff in hand and begins a routine he learnt long ago when he first studied drunken boxing. Trying to combine his drunken boxing with the use of a staff which was something he hadn't tried before.

As normal for drunken boxing he his constantly swaying side to side, now also at some points leaning on his staff for support. He was truly drunk so the movements could be seen as genuine drunkenness or as part of the style.

After a while he puts the staff down and grabs his drink again. Now after every other movement he takes another swig, his movements becoming more and more random.

He had to work off this anger before the meeting.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:10, Thu 02 Feb 2012.

It takes a bit of the practice just to get focused through the haze of drunkenness, but huoshui is able to focus his mind again, and help direct his unfocused body with it. Rather he learns a lesson about drinking to much out of guilt and frustration is up to the player hehe =p.
This message was last updated by the GM at 18:15, Thu 02 Feb 2012.

Slowly following, Kairos could see the monk having trouble coping with what happened. He had the opportunity to  many times before to see people going through the stages of grief. He had seen people drowning their sorrows, to try to numb the pain inside, he had witnessed people throwing themselves into intense training in order to conrol their anger and igore the rest of the world.
This combination he had never witnessed until now. His random, drunken movements getting worse as he continued.

Kairos felt sorry for the poor man.

"Drinking won't help in the long run, sure it feels like it's helping now but you have to accept reality for what it is"

This was quite possibly one of the most hypocritical things Kairos had ever said, even at this very moment he craved another taste of the monk's brew.

"Look at you, you're in not fit to fight, there's a killer here on the station and you're in no state to help anyone. You need to come to terms with what happened."

Huoshui still in a mixture of anger and drunkenness. Didn't take too kindly to what he feels is a comment on his abilities.

Huoshui turns. Stops on the spot, still swaying, and calls out to Kairos.

"Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai... You insult my kung fu... then show me better." His voice slurred and with long pauses than should be. Looking like any other drunken person looking for a fight.

Picks up his staff in one hand, closes and ties his drink to his belt. After having a bit of trouble with the tying he takes his stance, gesturing towards Kairos.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:48, Thu 02 Feb 2012.

Huoshui's wrist com altered him it was nearly time for the meeting.

Huoshui looks at his wrist com. Shouldn't take long.

Huoshui readys his stance again.

Left hand stretched out in front of him still gesturing at Kairos. Staff held against his back as if ready for a sweeping motion. Overall a rather open and non defensive stance.


"I shall show you my ability. No one need worry about Huóshui Zuìquán."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:29, Fri 03 Feb 2012.

Damn fool, seems like this is the only way to stop him.

Kairos darts forward and attempts to grab Huoshui's arm.

21:02, Today: Kairos botched using 7d10 with the World of Darkness 2nd ed, Specialised system with a target of 7, rerolling 10s. Grapple Huoshui.

...

The student that that was taking over moved to a large gong and hits it rather hard. The resonance releases with the sound is a calming one but one that differently draws attention to itself. (only got 1 success on mind affect though)

"HUOSHUI, this is no way to honor the elder or this temple, you have found your foe and she is not in this room."

Huoshui makes no attempt to defend against the mental effect from the student. He knew he had to stop even if he didn't want to.

He drops his staff and falls to his knees. Punching the ground in frustration, he let it get to him again. He would never find enlightenment if he could get past his alcohol and anger problems.

He focus himself for a second. "I am sorry for the way I have acted. I should not have directed Zuì Quán at an ally. I have dishonoured myself."

"My apologies Kairos. We should go onto the meeting the others are probably waiting for us."

Huoshui's movements and speech already seem less slurred and more in control. Returning to his feet and collecting his gear. He begins to head off to the meeting.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 13:21, Sat 04 Feb 2012.