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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9776257" data-attributes="member: 7041055">The Phoenician ConnectionZelda was only inches away from General Saeki’s bodyguard. The smell of Yoji’s sweat filled the pantry. But who held his loyalty: her or her father?A peace conference in Marseille. Viola Vitale, JP Diamond, Xiao Yun, and Zelda Saeki are on the way there, accompanying diplomatic daughter Alice Cavendish. The teen enters the woods to discreetly make water. Xiao delivers another perfect monologue about Chinese papercraft, when a hunter’s rifle goes off. It wasn't aimed at the team… But does Alice know that? And did anyone notice the sign in French that said minefield?![ATTACH=full]419495[/ATTACH]Zelda swings into action, chasing down the girl.Zelda keeps her calm, gets a running start, and leaps them both out of blast radius! The high strung pair agreed to keep this experience between them.In town, mobster Viola tries to work her way into the nascent French heroin scene. (The “peace conference” is a smokescreen to get a lot of international figures to an otherwise quiet seaside town.) Xiao helps Viola a little, only to benefit the Middle Kingdom; detectives JP and Zelda have bigger issues. His nemesis, the Sinister Skull, and her father, the ruthless General Saeki, are both in the city, and peace isn't on their minds.Viola and local honcho Claude Descombes rent out the Three Feathers Bistro for their meeting. Things are going well, until America's premier mobster Joey “Five Angels" Pentangelo makes an appearance. He's all smiles as he intimidates Claude. Only some cutting words and big promises keep the Sicilian/French alliance together. Joey storms off.***It's hard to keep a secret when Zelda or Josiah Patrick Diamond are in town. They play it too cautiously though; by the time they figure out their enemies' plans, said enemies are long gone.Turns out the Skull and the General were in town for recruitment. The General wanted to hire disaffected soldiers and legionnaires; the Skull was happy with smugglers and ne’er-do-wells. Their goal was the Sword of True Honesty. Battling-bookworm Xiao knew about the weapon: a relic of the Shona, it could command loyalty and cause traitors to drop dead. Useful for a military commander or a former spy! The detectives hit the stacks, and found out where the sword had last been seen: in the year 1600, in the city of Great Zimbabwe![ATTACH=full]419496[/ATTACH]Normally, the group would take Devi’s private jet, but she was occupied with company business in Australia. Instead, the group sailed, bribed, cajoled, and when all else failed, hard-marched to the heart of Rhodesia. There, they would meet their guerilla contact: Mambo Thokozani, and his army of irregulars, who would be happy to fight off imperialists for the rights to the city.Xiao noticed something strange: she put on her Robe of Endless Night to stave off the wind, and looked through it accidentally. When she looked through the fabric, she could see the abandoned city as it existed 400 years prior!Even stranger, Mambo Thokozani could act as if the city still existed. He could climb wood structures, draw blood from its cattle… and raid the ancient treasury! As he climbed empty air to the parapets, gunfire erupted. General Saeki’s force had arrived!JP was unable to do so, and went to guard a gate. Zelda let her signature Nambu pistol do the talking. But the range advantage was ephemeral. The guerrilla pointed the blade at her and yelled that if she was a betrayer, may her heart stop!***Nearby, Detective Diamond dodged gunfire and wished he was back at the peace conference. He shoved over a massive statue, giving his allies some cover, and delivered a flying tackle to one of the general’s goons. But something curious happened.General Saeki, who had bonded with Diamond over some booze back in Marseille, told his men to hold their fire. He told JP he would happily let the group live in exchange for the sword. Unfortunately, JP didn't have it…***Zelda willed herself through cardiac arrhythmia. She might've died in the dirt of Rhodesia, except for Xiao’s unrelenting offense. While she had faced swordsmen, the Mambo had never battled a practitioner of the three section staff. He retreated, trying to rally with his honor guard, but Zelda took half a breath and emptied her clip. He stumbled backward over pieces of broken statue, and then split in half, materializing in the middle of a building that hadn't existed for 400 years. It was a gory sight, and unfortunately the half with the sword was the one that vanished.***JP called on all his Southern charm, telling the General he wasn't hired, and therefore couldn't deliver the artifact. When pressed, he also admitted that he didn't have the artifact to give. The elder Saeki sighed, but smiled when he saw Xiao lead the confused local soldiers in retreat.The General's bodyguard ruined the moment.Diamond waited until the ride home to deliver his rejoinder. "Did that already, didn't take.”</blockquote>

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