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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rolzup" data-source="post: 2822984" data-attributes="member: 10105">An Unusual Sort of Ink-PotHaving claimed yet another building as part of our spoils of war, we set about ransacking the place with a clear conscience.  I took charge of the Yu Sword, in hopes of analyzing it and discovering the origin of its powers.One of the others discovered a locked strongbox in a back room; almost certainly the property of Yu.  I examined the lock, and picked it without effort.  Opening the box, however, caused the manifestation of some weak Azikhani magic; a pale brown serpent materialized and struck at me.It missed, naturally.  My reflexes put those of a serpent to shame.AND YET, HE STILL HAS NO EYEBROWS.The box contained a book, and a black cloak.The cloak was cut in an Azikhani style, and therefore unsuitable for a gentleman of my standing.  Yu claimed that a rune scrawled upon the cloak was the "True Yu of the Serpent", and the cloak itself had been bathed in the "Black Blood of the Earth".Whatever the hell that means.  Snake-man magic, according to Wu.  He seemed surprised by this.The book?  Written in a foreign tongue, and thus objectively worthless.  Kenji translated the title as: "Three Frightened Cherry Blossoms: A humble dead man's account of the Yu-Sword, Yu-Bow, and Yu-Spear".  We had the Yu-Sword in our hands, such as it was, but these other weapons were admittedly of some interest.  Rackhir, for his part, was virtually salivating at the very thought of this "Yu-Bow".The madman, charmingly, decided to claim the now vacant building as his own lair.  In lieu of anyone else willing to declare ownership of the do-jo, I cheerfully granted it to him.  He proceeded to redecorate the place in the expected fashion, strewing garbage and sundries about until it looked much like a disused alley.His dog, I might add, entirely lacked any sort of hygienic training.It was at about this time that another incident involving the madman occurred, and it was unusual enough that I believe that it should be noted herein.It was early evening, and we were standing before the monastery gates speaking to King Daikon about the missing Joachim, and our plans for finding him.  The madman was there, contributing nothing to the conversation -- as was his wont -- when he suddenly became agitated.  Violently so.He was speaking to a cat, or so it sounded, who was not there.  Nothing unusual in this, as he generally carried on conversations with individuals seen only to himself.  But when he pried a cobblestone lose from the street, and began brutally smashing it against his own skull, I was forced to take notice.So taken aback we were by his actions, that none of acted quickly enough to prevent him from knocking himself unconscious.  He fell, bleeding profusely, as we stood stunned.  And as we moved to help him, we noticed something even odder than his behavior.His blood.  As we watched, the trickles of blood were actually forming words, intelligible words, upon the street.  I made a point of recording those words, for posterity’s sake, and shall now relate them.Hmmmm.Now, I’m sure that I had that somewhere about.  Underneath the girallon limbs, perhaps?No?  Check under the tendriculous cuttings, Abraxis!Still no?  There, on the shelf, next to the jars with the witch-dog hearts?Blast.  Well, it was a prophecy, and as such it was lamentably vague.  Beware of this, and defend that, and pay heed to some other...I do remember something about women, and about "protecting the bones", though.Well, what does it really matter?  It didn’t make any damned sense in any case, precisely as one would expect from something that came out of the madman’s head.But, duly enlightened, we tended to the now groggy madman and discussed the implications of what we had just witnessed.  I expressed some astonishment that his head had broken before the cobblestone did, and there was general agreement at this.Saguinary screeds aside, we had something of a problem.  The "Lady" Delphine.  Over the course of the past few days, we had discovered that Delphine was, properly, the Magnaeta Delphine Laxshmi St. Sous, daughter of Pavur-Pierre Arjuna St. Sous, owner of the Blue Star Shipping Lines.  The second richest man in Narayan, and thus one of the richest businessmen in CITY.And to his credit, the man was not one of those modern, "progressive" parents who are so busily ruining the very fabric of our noble CITY.  No, St. Sous was the sort of man who would illegally imprison his own daughter in order to keep her safe, virginal, and free of scandal.Bravo.Laudable though his actions were, they made our task somewhat more difficult.  Delphine was our only source of information on Joachim, and without her assistance it was clear that finding the lad would be all but impossible.  AND BURNE'S PAYMENT FOR "SERVICES RENDERED" MORE UNLIKELY.Fortunately, we had one last lead to follow.  And, what’s more, it would allow us the opportunity for some fine dining.  Before his disappearance, you see, Joachim had been employed as a chef at the famous Palm d'Whorl at the Narayan Arms Hotel, one of the finest restaurants in all of CITY.  It was more than possible that, through his cooking, he had made some influential friends...friends that we could prevail upon for aid.And if not?  An excellent meal awaited us.What did we have to lose?</blockquote>

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