Eriko cast a glance at Nishida for a moment before she took a seat as ordered, fixing her outfit after she did. She cleared her throat to adopt a formal voice before speaking.

"Agasha-sama, as a Kuni, my heritage and ancestry are often filled with all sorts of interesting fates and occurrences. I've almost made it a hobby to constantly research it and often found a lot of curiosities. It was a matter great coincidence that I found myself on the same planet as one of my departed ancestors who serve honourably as a member of the Imperial Explorers. Kuni Emi had unfortunately passed away with the other Imperial Explorers almost two centuries ago. The matter of honour, and admittedly misadventure, was too great to pass up, especially when her daisho was never recovered."

She nodded deeply, "So, I set off to the ruins in hopes of finding the daisho so that I could properly put a piece of my ancestry to proper rest as it served. I was successful without great incident but unfortunately, just when I was about to leave, the power to a two-hundred old ship turned back on. The entrances began to close and I was funnelled into a trap where fungal monstrosities descended upon me. Despite the local fungi growing on them, my training had taught me to recognize these monsters for what they were. Zombies created with shadowlands influence."

"I managed to fight my way out and escape but before I left, I heard a distinctive male voice who gave orders to these things and there was another monstrosity, one created from a combination of many of them. I thought I was outmatched and quickly made my escape so that I could properly report to the authorities on my findings, despite my obvious disregard of the rules. My duty comes first and foremost, it is my priority to see these things vanquished."

Kaori listened to Eriko, nodding even as her fingers danced on the densai on her desk. "Mhmhm-Mhmhm." The lord-magistrate looked rather upset, though she remained seated. "Daisho, I see. Mhmh. I guess I can see why Kuni-san might think we would not have given her permission to venture into the grave." she nodded. "I understand, but I don't really approve."

"Impossible. We turned everything down. We took the reactor out." she squinted her eyes. "Though, if Kuni-san insists it happened, we will take her words down as her testimony." Kaori added, sighing softly. "Fungal monstrosities." She seemed aghast. "Again, Kuni-san's words are recorded as testimony." Everyone present could hear the doubt in Kaori's words. "Shadowlands? Isn't that but a legend from Rokugan? Something the Crab scare their children?"

"Male voice, I see. Thank you." Kaori's fingers danced on the densai, the magistrate finally looking up. "Obviously we will have someone look into this. Please do not leave the city meanwhile, Kuni-san." Kaori's yes sought out Eriko's.

"Oh, one last thing. Who were there with you, Kuni-san?"

"It happened, all right," she give a curt nod on the matter. "Might have been some hooked up generator or something. This is less a ghost story and more of a blasphemous crime in progress, I assure you, Agasha-sama. I never expected to see something from the Shadowlands here. Perhaps another coincidence linked together but my search had brought me face to face with it. It is very much not a legend, I assure you."

"If it were me, I'd storm the ruins with earth shugenja capable of jade strike and fire units to be sure. There is an investigation that needs to be cleansed from the ship, that's for damned sure. I would imagine that if the Asako Inquisitors were here, they would have a thing or two about this claim too," she said on the matter, hoping to remind the Phoenix that they had a department for this and they even didn't see it as a joke.

"I...uhm..." she said as she glanced to Nishida, wondering if he had mentioned there were other people there. Her story omitted the mention of other people, hoping the magistrate would focus on her only. "I...was merely brought to the ship with my intended mission..."

Day 7, Late Morning: Courtier/Awareness to talk around the subject with void spent: 3d10 12

"Well, my people will get at the bottom of this." Kaori nodded, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Thank you for your testimony so far, Kuni-san." She leaned into her desk, focusing her gaze on Eriko. "Now, this is not about what Kuni-san would do. But, if it makes Kuni-san feel better I'll tell my men to bring a priest with them." Somewhere, some poor Asako shugenja cursed her luck. "The inquisitors have never been here." Kaori smirked. "We have mega-fauna attacking people, not widespread blasphemies." Or so she thought. However, she also believed that. "I find this... testimony outrageous. But, but... a samurai's word is as good as true. So we will act as if this happened." Which was to imply that if Kaori's people found no evidence, the Kuni and her partners in crime would be hosed.

"Uhum is not a name, Kuni-san. Yasuki-san here testified that there were people there with you, Kuni-san. Did Yasuki-san give a false testimony?" Her fingers drummed the table. "Names, Kuni-san. I want names."


_______
Etiquette / Awareness TN = 12: 6d10o10k3 24

"He did not, no..." Eriko murmured when her gambit to redress the situation clearly failed. She crossed her arms and tapped on her elbow in thought. She did consider trying to pull another fast one on this but it was perhaps better to cauterize the wound than risk further bleeding. She didn't have to be a medical Kuni to know that and this was a big gaping wound.

She let out a tense breath and admitted to some involvement, "...I convinced Hida Akemi-san and Shinjo Yul-san to come along on this venture. To be fair, I didn't tell them where we were going or what we were doing until we got there. They likely felt honoured-bound to help me and didn't want to see me get into danger on my own."

"Hida Akemi-san and Shinjo Yul-san, eh." Kaori nodded. "Hida-san I understand, but what on earth was an Unicorn doing there?" she asked, sounding perplexed. "Kuni-san might have not told them, but they chose to follow you beyond the wards, yes? It was not as if Kuni-san forced them at gunpoint?" the lord magistrate asked, having somewhat managed to calm down as she felt she was getting to the bottom of the matter.

"No..." she said wtih a tense breath, "I suppose I didn't. The only gunpointing I did that day were on some rather interesting zombies, pretty sure of that."

Nishida sat there, listening. Eriko had not told him who else was involved in the mission. But he hadn't expected Eriko to unpack completely, for him it was clear that Akemi would be named sooner or later, but a unicorn? He saked himself if Eriko hadn't let out another samurai he met yesterday, who was badly wounded,.... he needed to ask her about it later.

"Testimony has been given." The magistrate nodded. "I will of course talk to these two... samurai." As much was expected as the magistrate did have a responsibility to listen to all the sides. "And I will sen my people to the ship-wreck, already today." She hoped that that would placate the irrational Kuni.

"...I'm relieved this matter is given its rightful attention, Agasha-sama," Eriko said before bowing deeply.

It took a few days, but they got there eventually. Unfortunately, perhaps the last time she would consider filing things through bureaucracy and courtliness.

"It is given some attention, yes." Kaori harrumphed. "Now, I want to thank you both for your time and your testimonies." She added, looking at Nishida and Eriko. "One more thing." she cleared her throat. "This happened yesterday, yes?"

Careful now, Nishida.

He watched the lord magistrate intensively to see what she was provoking with that.

---
[D7:EM-LM] Vibe Check Investigation/Awareness TN26: 6d10o10k4 39

The lord-magistrate was furious, fuming and seemingly eager to strangle everyone in the room, with only her manners keeping her from doing just that.

Kaori looked like she could kill them any second. Nishida would not lie to her nor would he dare to correct someone above his station, especially when they were at the brink of loosing it. He looked to Eriko, gave her a glance, then bowed: "No, it was not" was his simple answer.

---
If needed:[D7:EM-LM] Etiquette/Awareness: 5d10o10k3 13

"Oh right. Yasuki-san did say day before yesterday, didn't he." Kaori frowned. "Then, why am I hearing about this today?" she asked, still just as agitated.

Tsk, that woman knew all to well that the gears of bureaucrazy stopped me from coming earlier into her office, but there was no way to tell her that without causing offense.

So he did the thing many samurai did before him when they were in his situation:

He bowed down deeply before Kaori and said:
"I ask Agasha-sama for forgiveness many times. Our inaction has hindered Agasha-sama's future work. Eriko-san and I are sorry for this, and I hope that Agasha-sama, in her great kindness, can forgive us one day. If there is anything we can do to please Agasha-sama, we will do so immediately."

Eriko cast a glance at Nishida, then at Kaori. She had wanted to run into her office and tell her right away after what had occurred but they had decided to go with the gears of bureaucracy. It wasn't perfect and they were easily some casualties. While Eriko started to wonder if it could have gone better on her own, she merely bowed deeply at Nishida's words to echo them as is.

Day 7, Willpower Roll: Void used: 4d10o10k4 37

"Well. I will have to see what the two others have to say." Kaori huffed, picking up an another densai from her desk. "I guess we are done for today, yes. I have calls to make." she looked markedly at Eriko. "Please stay in the city until my people come back - that would hopefully be tomorrow." Sighing, she shook her head.

"I believe we are done here."

_____

OOC: Eriko loses honor as she had committed a Blasphemous Breach of Etiquette.

He bowed deeply to Kaori again.
"Thank you for listening to our request, Agahsa-sama. May the Fortunes be with you."
Then he started to leave the office...

Actually, they weren't quite done yet. Just as they were prepared to leave, Eriko bowed deeply to the Agasha magistrate. "Agasha-sama, actually, I'd like to stay a bit if you would allow me. I think we're both aware of what comes next and I think I'd rather it happen sooner than later. I have the rest of the day if you have any openings in your already busy day, I'll wait as long as you need me."

She gave a nod to Nishida, looking quite serious. "Yasuki-sama, you probably don't need to linger around here for this. I'm sure you have meals to enjoy and pleseant meetings to attend. I think I got my big girl hakama for this."