[HS6E] Hawaii Action - (Session 9)

It's a matter of time
one of us walks out that door- Carlos Santana (featuring Eagle Eye Cherry), Wishing It Was 
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Sometime in last session, Jumpshot "assigned" Freestyle the job of checking out local wuji shops in an effort to find anything in the way of information on leylines, or the funky symbol that was at the bottom of one of the notes Lisa found. (Why did he assign this job to Freestyle? Freestyle is the only born & bred local, and the thinking was that he'd have a better shot at finding something than some outsiders.)

So Freestyle & Jumpshot go their various ways to try to find something helpful. Jumpshot uses the ever-popular "yellow pages" search method, while Freestyle looks around the old fashioned way. Using both the phone book and Freestyle's knowledge of the area, they eliminate the "obvious" touristy places and narrow their search down to three shops.

They are as follows (with silly in game nicknames following):

Kamaimai's Chest (Mayonnaise Chest)
Olone' Books (Alone Books)
Legends of the East (Legends of Yeast)


They visit Kamaimai's Chest first. Jakel takes a look around and finds "no hippie shit", so he hopes it is a good option. It smells OLD, with towers of bookshelves with various old books in assorted languages all over the place. A middle aged Hawaiian woman works the counter. She's pleasant enough, but the store doesn't seem to have anything Jakel is looking for, so he heads on to the next location, which is around the corner.

The next store is Olone' Books, whch is everything KC was not. It's clean and well lit, with dedicated sections for various types of books- and an exceptionally helpful staff. Jakel finds 3 or 4 books on the "Dragon Roads" at this location, and finds out he wasn't the only one to buy one specific book. This nugget of information is not immediately helpful, but definitely interesting to Jakel. Meanwhile, the young lady working the counter flirts with Freestyle to no avail.

[If you know the dragon roads, you can use them like other roads and step onto it. It will take you to other locations touched bny the roads.- Example of info from books. All theory, no proactical examples.]

The two part ways at this point and Jakel finds his way to the next shop, Legends of The East. It is settled in the Chinese section of town, and looks like this:

 

The traditional looking Chinese curio shop is tended by a short, elderly Chinese man with a long, white beard.  (Think Pei Mei.) He greets Jakel and the two talk for a while. At some point, Jakel starts inquiring about the "Dragon Roads"/ley lines, and the Chinese man talks a bit about how the ley lines work and so forth. We have a winner, folks.

Further discussion reveals that the old man is quite adept at using perceptions to his advantage. He continues discussing the dragon roads and tells Jakel that he can open doors into the paths. Jakel calls Lisa to tell her the news, and she makes her way over to visit the guy in person. 

We discover that his name is Paiyun Fo, and that he is the former owner and current Master of the Hiping Su school of martial arts. This same school will be hosting a tournament shortly, and Steel Warrior is very interested in attending the tournament, as the Master is very well known and regarded in the marital arts community. 

Lisa arrives and chats with Paiyun Fo, who displays tendencies of some form of mental abilities. Lisa wants to know what the gentleman will want in exchange for opening a door, as she's entered into some dubious deals lately and is not in a hurry to start again in the deal making. 

Paiyun Fo talks about  the concept of guānxì, which at the very simplest translation equates to "a favor for a favor". He explains he wants no payment now- just the assurance that the Ultras will offer him a favor in return at some future date. 

He says that making the token to open the door will take about a week, and that if 'Nani is still on the island, she is in the volcano, where only ley lines can reach. He asks Lisa for some personal item of 'Nani's to gain a sense of her essence to help make the token, and he tells Lisa that she should be more forthcoming with the remaining Ultras about her relationship with 'Nani and what's really going on. He also indicates the weird symbol on the note was a signature- a needlessly complicated signature. Paiyun Fo believes the person that left probably thinks he is smarter than he truly is.

The group thanks him for the hospitality and tea, and leaves for the remainder of the evening. 

Other things that took place:

SteelWarrior walked out a "map" of the ley lines (which we will get as soon as the GM draws it)

Lisa got a copy of the last agreement made by 'Nani with the Japanese firm (but hasn't read it yet)