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Story Hour
The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1881280" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>Sorry for the long delay. Posting is going to be rather spotty for the next two weeks... its finals, and I've got about 60 pages worth of papers to type up.</p><p></p><p>Oh... and that said... yeah, I sorta planned on the party rushing pell-mell about with no regard to safety... those parties are fun to play with *evil grin*.</p><p></p><p>===================================</p><p></p><p><strong>A Hunting We Will Go... *hack* A Hunting We Will Go... *cough*</strong></p><p></p><p>Felonca stifled another cough as the party slinked through the woods, the darkness of the impending night growing ever closer. She turned to the side and spat, and her throat had a momentary period of clearance before the next piece of mold began growing and tickling its delicate flesh.</p><p></p><p>“Bloody hell! We aren’t going to be able to see <em>anything</em> soon!” Nayu groaned quietly. Felonca felt a small chuckle rise to her lips, one that was which combined with a cough to make an unusual croak. </p><p></p><p>Nayu turned to look at her, and his eyes went wide.</p><p></p><p>Felonca could only imagine how emaciated she looked, or her face’s resemblance to a leering skeleton now that the mold was stripping away her inner flesh, coursing through her blood. </p><p></p><p>“I...can...still...see...” she reassured and teased him at the same time. Her cat-like eyes flashed with a touch of mirth, which seemed, for a moment, to push away the sea of sadness that had dwelled there. “I’ll...take...point...”</p><p></p><p>“No!” Nayu said a little too loudly, “I’m fine! I can see fine!” Worry was still in his eyes.</p><p></p><p><em>Let me help!</em> Felonca’s mind wanted to snap back.</p><p></p><p>“It...will...be...okay...big...brother... ” The final two words Felonca delivered with the biggest rolling of her eyes that her face could manage, which was more than enough to convey her sentiment. “I...am...a...big...girl...” </p><p></p><p><em>And we NEED to find this monster! I am the only one in the group that can see decently at night without firelight! It does no good for the blind to lead me!”</em></p><p></p><p>Despite her weakened state, she easily slipped outside of Nayu’s reach and to the front of the little column. He started to come after to put her back into the safety of the middle of the group, when her cat-like eyes stared at him.</p><p></p><p>He backed up.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Some hours later, Felonca resisted the urge to scratch her neck with a paw as she slinked along the forest trail, her panther-form close to the ground. It felt easier to move in this form, and she knew she would be quieter... panthers were built for silence, and even her coughs were whispers in the forest.</p><p></p><p>Her eyes flicked about, constantly searching, her nose constantly sniffing, despite the dull pain it caused to her lungs. The day creatures of the forest were just readying for sleep, while the creatures of the night were stirring, and the late dusk cacophany covered the noises the rest of her less quiet companions made.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, she caught a whiff of something. It lasted only an instant, but it smelled dark and dank, like the earth, coupled with the stench of maggots. Her head immediately turned, and within seconds she had leapt off the trail and into the woods.</p><p></p><p>She heard her companions hissing at her to slow down, but to her pleasure, she could only <em>barely</em> hear their crashing through the trees, desperately trying to keep up.</p><p></p><p><em>I need to find this thing, and kill it! Then I’ll be healed!</em> her mind focused, as she padded to a halt on the edge of a large clearing.</p><p></p><p>Carefully, she slinked forward, belly pressed to the ground, ears flatted on her head, until her eyes could make out what was causing the nauseous stench that assaulted her nose.</p><p></p><p>It was a large beast, some three times the side of a horse. Its lizard-like tail was short and stubby, and from its flanks issued great ulcers and sores, yellowy bones showing the wounds in the last rays of the already set sun.</p><p></p><p>A crash of leaves broke above the noise of roosting birds and stretching owls and night-walkers, and the beast suddenly spun around... <em>facing her.</em></p><p></p><p>Its head looked to be like those of dragons she’d seen on Master Hsiu’s prints, save its maw was longer, the skin drawn tight over its skull. From its mouth, great yellow teeth bared bloody, for behind its massive form lay the shredded form of a deer. The beast gave a great huff as it sniffed the air, before turning back to its meal.</p><p></p><p><em>I’m down-wind... thank the ancestor’s grace!</em> Felonca thought as she barely heard four people draw up alongside her.</p><p></p><p>“You are really lucky... do you know that?” she whispered.</p><p></p><p>“Why? I only took a little tumble back there,” Chou whispered in reply.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“How are we supposed to take out that beast?” Nayu heard Chou whisper only a few seconds later.</p><p></p><p>“Its the size of a couple horses,” Li whispered, causing Nayu to frown in fury. It had been Chou’s idea to bring the still bound Captain along. Chou did not want to leave his bound father alone in the forest, and Nayu didn’t trust the man around the horses. The plan was perfect, until Nayu had time to think about it later.</p><p></p><p><em>It is neither living nor dead... but past experience shows that undead can still die...</em></p><p></p><p>“A powerful attack, that’s how we take it out,” Nayu whispered a moment later. “It doesn’t know we’re here, we have the drop on it. Felonca, you use your bow, and Chou, your crossbow. I’ll launch some magic.”</p><p></p><p>“And then I can run forward and fillet it with my sword... then we run off with its hoard,” Chou whispered. “Get it? Sword? Hoard?”</p><p></p><p>“Chou, sometimes...” Nayu started, before Li interrupted again.</p><p></p><p>“I can help. Lend me my blade, I can help you.”</p><p></p><p>“No,” Nayu hissed. <em>You are from the group that murdered my parents! I would no sooner trust you with a blade than I would call out to that beast!</em> “You... stay here, and keep quiet... bastard.”</p><p></p><p>“Nayu...maybe...we...should...” Felonca whispered, and gestured towards Li. Nayu shook his head vigorously, and instead motioned towards the beast.</p><p></p><p>“Everyone... take your positions... ready yourselves...”</p><p></p><p>The early evening chatter of nature was not disturbed by the quiet creaks of a bowstring and a crossbow being pulled, or two silent whispers or prayer and one of curse. The splatter of the beast feeding continued, right until Nayu’s shout.</p><p></p><p>A blazing line of fire leapt from Nayu’s hand, burning the back of the beast with magical flame. Twin <em>twangs</em> echoed in the forest as Felonca and Chou let loose, while Liu let forth a great shout that seemed to make the trees shiver (<em>shout</em>, obviously). The screeching of roosting birds was suddenly replaced by the thunder of their flight, and the terrified screams of forest animals darting away from the unknown light and thunder.</p><p></p><p>Save the great beast before them. It spun, its red eyes furious and deep. Already, a <em>shing</em> echoed in the air, as Chou leapt forward, armor jingling and blade high above his head. As Nayu’s chants slowly rose again, he noticed another shape dashing forward... one that was smaller and dark.</p><p></p><p><em>FELONCA!</em></p><p></p><p>Already the hengeyokai was racing ahead of Chou, her hybrid form clutching her warfans as her emaciated form leapt into the air, a silent scream coming from her lips as the blades flashed down, and she cartwheeled past the beast’s flank. </p><p></p><p>Chou then slashed into the creature’s flank, opening another fissure in its dead side. Moments later, another blast of scorching fire from Nayu’s hand crackled into the creature’s face.</p><p></p><p>And the beast when mad.</p><p></p><p>An enormous bellow, so loud and powerful it seemed to shake the roots of the very trees themselves, deafened the party’s ears. Its massive head suddenly swung hard to the right, catching Felonca as she sprung up for another attack. The side of its head crashed into her with the force of a cartload of bricks and Nayu watched in horror as her thin black form sailed through the air, crashing into the underbrush some thirty feet away.</p><p></p><p>Its head then snapped the other direction, and Chou, his metal armor silvery in the growing moonlight, cartwheeled in the air the opposite direction, landing with an ignominous <em>thud</em> in the dirt to the left.</p><p></p><p>Nayu did not need to look to know the crash of leaves to his right was Liu, charging off to heal the already battered Felonca. To Nayu’s horror, the beast’s enormous snout swung in that direction as well, its eyes narrowing on a new target dashing across the glen.</p><p></p><p>Another sharp burst of crackling fire slammed into the beast’s neck, as Nayu dashed out from amidst the dense undergrowth, and shouted.</p><p></p><p>“Hey! Idiot! Pauper’s excuse for a chamberpot dragon! You! Over here, you outhouse smelling git!” The enormous maw swung back, and the beady eyes bore down on Nayu’s now exposed form.</p><p></p><p><em>Gods... had to be brave, didn’t you!</em> a small, insistent voice shouted in Nayu’s mind as he felt the ground begin to shudder as the great beast charged. </p><p></p><p><em>Well, someone needed to make sure Liu got over there to check on them!</em> another part of his mind fired back. The young sorcerer’s hand flicked towards his morningstar, and he gave a sharp tug...</p><p></p><p>...only to find it stuck in his belt.</p><p></p><p>“Daaaaammmmmiiit!” was all he could yell as he felt an enormous blow to his chest, and he saw the sky and ground cartwheeling around him...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Felonca... are you alright?”</p><p></p><p>“Meh.” A new pain filled Felonca’s chest and stomach, this one far more intense and insistent than the feeling caused by ragged mold in her lungs. <em>That hurt like hell...</em></p><p></p><p>Then she heard the beast’s thundering move, and her tired muscles felt new strength flowing in them... the wonderous powers of adrenaline made her body flip painfully to her feet, just in time to see Nayu and the bound Captain Li both cartwheeling through the air...</p><p></p><p>Her lungs hurt, her body was sore, but she heard her warfans click as she flashed them open. Vaguely, she heard Liu shouting for her to stop, to wait, but the shouts receded as she felt her legs pushing her, faster and faster. Her bruised ribs ached, her lungs screamed as pain and mold combined to form pain she’d never felt before. But she rushed onwards, her arms instinctively putting her fans in a ‘low-guard’ as the beast started to turn, its maw opening to bellow and bite...</p><p></p><p>For a second, her mind flashed back to the Academy, to the acrobatic moves they were forced to practice. Then, she’d regarded it all as showy... foolishness. Now, as she tumbled down under the great creature’s maw, she didn’t have the mind or time to be thankful.</p><p></p><p>Instinct guiding her arms, her hands, her body as it twisted and contorted out of the beasts way. She smelled a blast of foul air, fouler than any beast’s mouth, and suddenly she found herself in a perfect ‘striking adder’ crouch, her fans in the precise location to strike yet again.</p><p></p><p>The beast seemed to stand there, almost as if it were made of granite, its red eyes staring at her with... was it shock? Slowly, their beady forms rolled back, and with a great, rumbling crash, the mighty undead creature fell to the side, a last heave of the nauseous fume of the grave erupting from its form.</p><p></p><p>Felonca hissed, and fell back, the pain in her chest now unbearable, and the adrenaline and fear that had pushed her body suddenly leaving it. Her breathing came in sharp wheezes, as her ribs and lungs fought to breath through the mold and pain. She heard running feet, and in the moonlight, she made out Nayu hovering above her, the side of his face already turning black and blue from his hard landing.</p><p></p><p>“You shouldn’t have done that!” he hissed at her, a weak smile of thanks on his lips. “You... you’re weak. You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”</p><p></p><p>“Nah...I...strong...like...bull...” she hissed back over the next minute, forcing herself to speak through the pain. She could almost feel the heaviness in her chest now, as if parts of her lungs were slowing turning into stone. </p><p></p><p>"I don't care! You still shouldn't have done that... and... I'm pretty grateful you did," the young man grimaced. He was starting to feel the pain in his face.</p><p></p><p>“Any...loot?”</p><p></p><p>“Once a thief, always a thief?” Nayu replied, just as Chou’s loud complaints from the far side of the clearing could be heard.</p><p></p><p>“Ow! Who the hell made this patch of dirt so hard to... oh... I don’t think I landed on dirt...”</p><p></p><p><em>8,200 silver pieces and a ball of gold into a bag of holding later...</em></p><p></p><p>“There...last...of...it...” Felonca wheezed.</p><p></p><p>“Felonca? I still don’t think it was wise to sit around and gather up this silver! We’ve wasted an hour!” Nayu continued to fuss and worry.</p><p></p><p>“I...said...I...strong...like...bull...” Felonca repeated, not necessarily slowly to emphasize her point, but to breathe. “It...only...take...a...few...hours...to...get...back...”</p><p></p><p></p><p>==============================================</p><p></p><p>The creature in this was a stahnk, which is found in the Creature Catalogue on this site. Very nasty, with the ability to basically knock people through the air up to thirty feet (witness Felonca, Chou, Nayu, Li). Felonca had some pretty big penalties assigned to her because of the illness to her Hide and Move Silently checks, but still managed to do stellar. SHe also had some penalties to her attack and damage, but managed to crit in a spectacular manner attempting to save Nayu (who was trying to distract the thing to save her). All in all, quite a heroic session. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1881280, member: 15043"] Sorry for the long delay. Posting is going to be rather spotty for the next two weeks... its finals, and I've got about 60 pages worth of papers to type up. Oh... and that said... yeah, I sorta planned on the party rushing pell-mell about with no regard to safety... those parties are fun to play with *evil grin*. =================================== [b]A Hunting We Will Go... *hack* A Hunting We Will Go... *cough*[/b] Felonca stifled another cough as the party slinked through the woods, the darkness of the impending night growing ever closer. She turned to the side and spat, and her throat had a momentary period of clearance before the next piece of mold began growing and tickling its delicate flesh. “Bloody hell! We aren’t going to be able to see [i]anything[/i] soon!” Nayu groaned quietly. Felonca felt a small chuckle rise to her lips, one that was which combined with a cough to make an unusual croak. Nayu turned to look at her, and his eyes went wide. Felonca could only imagine how emaciated she looked, or her face’s resemblance to a leering skeleton now that the mold was stripping away her inner flesh, coursing through her blood. “I...can...still...see...” she reassured and teased him at the same time. Her cat-like eyes flashed with a touch of mirth, which seemed, for a moment, to push away the sea of sadness that had dwelled there. “I’ll...take...point...” “No!” Nayu said a little too loudly, “I’m fine! I can see fine!” Worry was still in his eyes. [i]Let me help![/i] Felonca’s mind wanted to snap back. “It...will...be...okay...big...brother... ” The final two words Felonca delivered with the biggest rolling of her eyes that her face could manage, which was more than enough to convey her sentiment. “I...am...a...big...girl...” [i]And we NEED to find this monster! I am the only one in the group that can see decently at night without firelight! It does no good for the blind to lead me!”[/i] Despite her weakened state, she easily slipped outside of Nayu’s reach and to the front of the little column. He started to come after to put her back into the safety of the middle of the group, when her cat-like eyes stared at him. He backed up. Some hours later, Felonca resisted the urge to scratch her neck with a paw as she slinked along the forest trail, her panther-form close to the ground. It felt easier to move in this form, and she knew she would be quieter... panthers were built for silence, and even her coughs were whispers in the forest. Her eyes flicked about, constantly searching, her nose constantly sniffing, despite the dull pain it caused to her lungs. The day creatures of the forest were just readying for sleep, while the creatures of the night were stirring, and the late dusk cacophany covered the noises the rest of her less quiet companions made. Suddenly, she caught a whiff of something. It lasted only an instant, but it smelled dark and dank, like the earth, coupled with the stench of maggots. Her head immediately turned, and within seconds she had leapt off the trail and into the woods. She heard her companions hissing at her to slow down, but to her pleasure, she could only [i]barely[/i] hear their crashing through the trees, desperately trying to keep up. [i]I need to find this thing, and kill it! Then I’ll be healed![/i] her mind focused, as she padded to a halt on the edge of a large clearing. Carefully, she slinked forward, belly pressed to the ground, ears flatted on her head, until her eyes could make out what was causing the nauseous stench that assaulted her nose. It was a large beast, some three times the side of a horse. Its lizard-like tail was short and stubby, and from its flanks issued great ulcers and sores, yellowy bones showing the wounds in the last rays of the already set sun. A crash of leaves broke above the noise of roosting birds and stretching owls and night-walkers, and the beast suddenly spun around... [i]facing her.[/i] Its head looked to be like those of dragons she’d seen on Master Hsiu’s prints, save its maw was longer, the skin drawn tight over its skull. From its mouth, great yellow teeth bared bloody, for behind its massive form lay the shredded form of a deer. The beast gave a great huff as it sniffed the air, before turning back to its meal. [i]I’m down-wind... thank the ancestor’s grace![/i] Felonca thought as she barely heard four people draw up alongside her. “You are really lucky... do you know that?” she whispered. “Why? I only took a little tumble back there,” Chou whispered in reply. “How are we supposed to take out that beast?” Nayu heard Chou whisper only a few seconds later. “Its the size of a couple horses,” Li whispered, causing Nayu to frown in fury. It had been Chou’s idea to bring the still bound Captain along. Chou did not want to leave his bound father alone in the forest, and Nayu didn’t trust the man around the horses. The plan was perfect, until Nayu had time to think about it later. [i]It is neither living nor dead... but past experience shows that undead can still die...[/i] “A powerful attack, that’s how we take it out,” Nayu whispered a moment later. “It doesn’t know we’re here, we have the drop on it. Felonca, you use your bow, and Chou, your crossbow. I’ll launch some magic.” “And then I can run forward and fillet it with my sword... then we run off with its hoard,” Chou whispered. “Get it? Sword? Hoard?” “Chou, sometimes...” Nayu started, before Li interrupted again. “I can help. Lend me my blade, I can help you.” “No,” Nayu hissed. [i]You are from the group that murdered my parents! I would no sooner trust you with a blade than I would call out to that beast![/i] “You... stay here, and keep quiet... bastard.” “Nayu...maybe...we...should...” Felonca whispered, and gestured towards Li. Nayu shook his head vigorously, and instead motioned towards the beast. “Everyone... take your positions... ready yourselves...” The early evening chatter of nature was not disturbed by the quiet creaks of a bowstring and a crossbow being pulled, or two silent whispers or prayer and one of curse. The splatter of the beast feeding continued, right until Nayu’s shout. A blazing line of fire leapt from Nayu’s hand, burning the back of the beast with magical flame. Twin [i]twangs[/i] echoed in the forest as Felonca and Chou let loose, while Liu let forth a great shout that seemed to make the trees shiver ([i]shout[/i], obviously). The screeching of roosting birds was suddenly replaced by the thunder of their flight, and the terrified screams of forest animals darting away from the unknown light and thunder. Save the great beast before them. It spun, its red eyes furious and deep. Already, a [i]shing[/i] echoed in the air, as Chou leapt forward, armor jingling and blade high above his head. As Nayu’s chants slowly rose again, he noticed another shape dashing forward... one that was smaller and dark. [i]FELONCA![/i] Already the hengeyokai was racing ahead of Chou, her hybrid form clutching her warfans as her emaciated form leapt into the air, a silent scream coming from her lips as the blades flashed down, and she cartwheeled past the beast’s flank. Chou then slashed into the creature’s flank, opening another fissure in its dead side. Moments later, another blast of scorching fire from Nayu’s hand crackled into the creature’s face. And the beast when mad. An enormous bellow, so loud and powerful it seemed to shake the roots of the very trees themselves, deafened the party’s ears. Its massive head suddenly swung hard to the right, catching Felonca as she sprung up for another attack. The side of its head crashed into her with the force of a cartload of bricks and Nayu watched in horror as her thin black form sailed through the air, crashing into the underbrush some thirty feet away. Its head then snapped the other direction, and Chou, his metal armor silvery in the growing moonlight, cartwheeled in the air the opposite direction, landing with an ignominous [i]thud[/i] in the dirt to the left. Nayu did not need to look to know the crash of leaves to his right was Liu, charging off to heal the already battered Felonca. To Nayu’s horror, the beast’s enormous snout swung in that direction as well, its eyes narrowing on a new target dashing across the glen. Another sharp burst of crackling fire slammed into the beast’s neck, as Nayu dashed out from amidst the dense undergrowth, and shouted. “Hey! Idiot! Pauper’s excuse for a chamberpot dragon! You! Over here, you outhouse smelling git!” The enormous maw swung back, and the beady eyes bore down on Nayu’s now exposed form. [i]Gods... had to be brave, didn’t you![/i] a small, insistent voice shouted in Nayu’s mind as he felt the ground begin to shudder as the great beast charged. [i]Well, someone needed to make sure Liu got over there to check on them![/i] another part of his mind fired back. The young sorcerer’s hand flicked towards his morningstar, and he gave a sharp tug... ...only to find it stuck in his belt. “Daaaaammmmmiiit!” was all he could yell as he felt an enormous blow to his chest, and he saw the sky and ground cartwheeling around him... “Felonca... are you alright?” “Meh.” A new pain filled Felonca’s chest and stomach, this one far more intense and insistent than the feeling caused by ragged mold in her lungs. [i]That hurt like hell...[/i] Then she heard the beast’s thundering move, and her tired muscles felt new strength flowing in them... the wonderous powers of adrenaline made her body flip painfully to her feet, just in time to see Nayu and the bound Captain Li both cartwheeling through the air... Her lungs hurt, her body was sore, but she heard her warfans click as she flashed them open. Vaguely, she heard Liu shouting for her to stop, to wait, but the shouts receded as she felt her legs pushing her, faster and faster. Her bruised ribs ached, her lungs screamed as pain and mold combined to form pain she’d never felt before. But she rushed onwards, her arms instinctively putting her fans in a ‘low-guard’ as the beast started to turn, its maw opening to bellow and bite... For a second, her mind flashed back to the Academy, to the acrobatic moves they were forced to practice. Then, she’d regarded it all as showy... foolishness. Now, as she tumbled down under the great creature’s maw, she didn’t have the mind or time to be thankful. Instinct guiding her arms, her hands, her body as it twisted and contorted out of the beasts way. She smelled a blast of foul air, fouler than any beast’s mouth, and suddenly she found herself in a perfect ‘striking adder’ crouch, her fans in the precise location to strike yet again. The beast seemed to stand there, almost as if it were made of granite, its red eyes staring at her with... was it shock? Slowly, their beady forms rolled back, and with a great, rumbling crash, the mighty undead creature fell to the side, a last heave of the nauseous fume of the grave erupting from its form. Felonca hissed, and fell back, the pain in her chest now unbearable, and the adrenaline and fear that had pushed her body suddenly leaving it. Her breathing came in sharp wheezes, as her ribs and lungs fought to breath through the mold and pain. She heard running feet, and in the moonlight, she made out Nayu hovering above her, the side of his face already turning black and blue from his hard landing. “You shouldn’t have done that!” he hissed at her, a weak smile of thanks on his lips. “You... you’re weak. You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” “Nah...I...strong...like...bull...” she hissed back over the next minute, forcing herself to speak through the pain. She could almost feel the heaviness in her chest now, as if parts of her lungs were slowing turning into stone. "I don't care! You still shouldn't have done that... and... I'm pretty grateful you did," the young man grimaced. He was starting to feel the pain in his face. “Any...loot?” “Once a thief, always a thief?” Nayu replied, just as Chou’s loud complaints from the far side of the clearing could be heard. “Ow! Who the hell made this patch of dirt so hard to... oh... I don’t think I landed on dirt...” [i]8,200 silver pieces and a ball of gold into a bag of holding later...[/i] “There...last...of...it...” Felonca wheezed. “Felonca? I still don’t think it was wise to sit around and gather up this silver! We’ve wasted an hour!” Nayu continued to fuss and worry. “I...said...I...strong...like...bull...” Felonca repeated, not necessarily slowly to emphasize her point, but to breathe. “It...only...take...a...few...hours...to...get...back...” ============================================== The creature in this was a stahnk, which is found in the Creature Catalogue on this site. Very nasty, with the ability to basically knock people through the air up to thirty feet (witness Felonca, Chou, Nayu, Li). Felonca had some pretty big penalties assigned to her because of the illness to her Hide and Move Silently checks, but still managed to do stellar. SHe also had some penalties to her attack and damage, but managed to crit in a spectacular manner attempting to save Nayu (who was trying to distract the thing to save her). All in all, quite a heroic session. :) [/QUOTE]
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The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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