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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9807064" data-attributes="member: 7041055">Voice of the Blue Lotus Countless knives raised in conspiracy!Devi’s been invited to her home state of Hyderabad by the Nizam. Who's he? Not only is he the richest man in the world (worth about $2 billion nowaday), but he has a few titles:  The state dinner is delicious, with biryani, lots of mutton,  vegetarian dishes, and too much saffron. Desserts include rice puddings and candied fruits decorated with silver foil. And you better bet it's spicy. Joining her are her lawyer Tácito Uriel Velasco, smuggler Ivo Kochev, and apologizing detective Zelda Saeki. Speeches are going well, albeit boringly, when the British representative Lord Grenville thanks the assembled for  There's silence in the hall. Zelda takes the podium with Devi's help, and tells the crowd that "sometimes the ignorant don't know that the term applies to them." Applause. Evening saved. After dinner, the group gets a better sense of the political situation; the Nizam is a Muslim leader who rules benevolently (with the support of the British), but is opposed by nationalists. Veladi Naveen is one voice of opposition: wealthy, but not nearly to the level of the Holy Protector of the World. Also at the party is the Viscount of Altamira, who flirts with Zelda. Besides the offensive speaker, nothing goes wrong at the party and the group gets their Z's at the Nazim's visitor palace. The next morning, they had a dinner invite from Veladi, and a morning invite to a place called 'the Blue Lotus School'. The note makes it clear that this is a "give us money" kind of visit, the kind guilty Devi can't say no to. Although she has given plenty of money to her province, it never seems to be enough, and despite the plaques and statues, no one has exactly apologized for being the type of place where her uncle could sell her to a cult for beer money.The school is actually a school for the blind. Prefect Rajiv, also an orphan, gives the tour as Principal Rao is busy dialling donors. Although well designed and proudly Hindu, the school is in rough shape and could use many improvements. The holiday of Maha Shivaratri begins that night, so Rajiv shows off the school statue of Shiva. It's adorned with an amazing necklace, all gold and gems, with three great pearls and a sapphire in the middle, blue like Lord Shiva's skin. Before they even get there, Zelda guesses it's been stolen. (She's right.)  And it wasn't an inside job, the thief came in through a high window. Tacito tries to calm Rajiv down, while the others search the crime scene. Luckily, there's a note.  Yes, the Basque cat burglar robbed the blind blind. *** The trail is quickly uncovered. The tailor who made the school uniforms was drunk in a pub, and a fancy man with a mustache overheard. It sounded like the Viscount, so the group dropped money at a local ritzy hotel. They found the Viscount, and when he tried to flee polite questioning, it turned out he was the Zephyr! After a dose of Devi's psychic power, she apologized and agreed to return the item and make a donation. Devi couldn't stay mad; much of her success was based on thievery. Tácito was much more of a stickler for the rules; while the ladies bonded, he called the police. *** Dinner with Veladi was sumptuous. Unfortunately, the proceedings were marred by his nationalist ravings. He said that once he found the blue lotus stone, he would enact the will of the Gods.  Tácito grabbed Devi's arm. But the former goddess of the Red Jasmine Cult would not be denied. She made eye contact with their host, and plunged him into a vision of his ethnic purge. He almost passed out from the psychic damage... But by the time he recovered, Ivo had already come up with a brilliant lie. One of the nearby idols must have been displeased with the heresy. Veladi and his servants all bought this explanation. *** After dinner, Devi wanted counsel from her lawyer, who had to balance his sense of justice with his powers as the Jade Jaguar. He looked thoughtful for a second, but the two were interrupted by far-off screams! The English manor was covered with dead soldiers and living cultists. Huge concentrations of energy were centered inside, and chaos ruled the streets. Tácito handed his jacket to Ivo and rushed into combat. Since the Manor was the seat of legal government, he was even more determined than normal to preserve it. And with Devi at his side, he couldn't be touched. He swept legs, elbowed throats, and teep-kicked cultists into each other's kukri's. Zelda swept up the rest, her Nambu flashing in the evening air. Inside, Grenville and his wife were imperiled. Principal Rao, using Rajiv as a mystical conduit, was trying to overthrow the Nazim and the British occupiers simultaneously. Devi pretended to join in... Just to get close enough to grab the focusing object, the necklace! (Turns out the group had returned it to its rightful owners who intended to use it wrongly.) This stopped the ritual and left everyone confused. Rao tried to grab a knife (but couldn't overpower the cultist carrying it), and refused to yield to logic. Devi, beyond frustrated, used 'The Whammy' one more time... To make the fundamentalist bow down to her. The confused cultists followed suit. The party looked on in a mixture of awe and fear as dozens of grown men prostrated themselves. Ivo and Tacito checked on the wounded. Observant Zelda disrupted the ritual by putting the necklace on a nearby statue. Rao, confident of his ability to regain control, told Devi how he had trained orphan Rajiv specifically as a mystical conduit. That was a bad move. Devi began kicking the enslaver in the face, then stomping him. No adult saw the need to intervene. Tácito, reluctantly, grabbed his client before she could send the man to his next life. After all the criminals were arrested, the Jade Jaguar had some quiet words with Devi. He told her, despite the social stigma, she might want to consider therapy. She, embarrassed, said that she had been seeing an analyst ever since the events of The Whisperer in Duluth!. He said that she might want to consider upping her sessions.</blockquote>

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