The Mystery of the Cane Sword (Bob Barton)

by **Bob Barton** on November 19th, 2011, 9:19 am

YAY TURTLE!!!Hah! What makes you think I want to get something this awesome "fixed?"

Safe in Sunberth. Bob's eternal quest to find but the closest he got to was the Pig's Foot as long as everyone else follows the rules that old Merv had set down for them. Why was it not the library? That was because it already had the quiet thing going for it and quiet in Sunberth does not necessarily mean safe. It could mean that instead of no one around there are just people you cannot detect ready to silently take you down with a dagger like "that woman!" sneaking up behind of Eridanus. Oh wait, that was "my mistake" because all he did was return a book to it's shelf. It was a bit surprising to think there was other people in the library today let alone read the book. Bob got a little bit curious about what book the woman was reading and squinted past Eridanus to have a better look. Of course he would make the mistake. It was a book on "an analysis into the history of Sunberth politics?" and besides the title there was only a picture of a dagger. That got Bob even more curious as to why a book on politics would have a dagger to represent it.

Eridanus is probably oblivious to everything that just happened being so focused on the canesword yet again and the only thing he found out was that "my canesword is scarred? What the petch are you on about Eridanus? I am sure that the experience with the muggers" and Bob's own little joke "might be mentally traumatic enough to scar a person but I thought you would be more man" or whatever it is he would like to be called in his nightly form "about it instead of suggesting it through an object." When it came to excuses this was the worst Bob had heard and his own excuses were pretty bad at times and there was more. "Its structure and property has changed?" Puzzled, Bob looked at the rat skull again but without auristics the only change he could tell was "it is stained by blood. A little bit of water would get that off later tonight." Not sooner because Eridanus wants Bob to find his own rat. Unfortunately for him "I am all fresh out of rats. You should have gotten to me a few days earlier" before the rat races and before Bob messed with the rat mother and the severed rat head.

"It does not have to be a rat I guess..." because Koffurn started him off with a choice of a wolf or weasels "but what we make has to have something to do with what we choose in the form of a story" only Bob chose the rat skull because he thought that it was impressive. Bob thought for a while of what they could use which is not a rat and is full of stories of its own when an idea struck him. "We are in a library so let's use it." It is only the treasure trove of stories and information of the city so "you look up for something interesting that you can use and I will do the same" so that at least there will be some time to rest and not talk. Using Bob to study the process? Not really a good idea because he barely even knew the significance of what they were doing here. Practically, they were going at it like lost little boys in the forest but that could actually work to their advantage because then they would not be held down by conventional ideas and set knowledge like other people find themselves forced to work with. Bob took this as an opportunity to learn a little bit about the other denizens of Sunberth and headed over to another part of the library shooing Eridanus away because "we spread our resources better if we look for different things."

by **Eridanus** on November 19th, 2011, 2:26 pm

Bob made his joke, but the Vantha ignored it, for he learned early on that the midget was prone to make inappropriate comments. It was fortunate that he was used to interactions with these mortals, and it was easy to simply ignore them. The man did raise a good point though, and he did say that it was not necessary to be a rat. He suggested using the library to get more ideas, and that was exactly what Eri proceeded to do. The library was his home ground, his turf so to speak, and he was pretty familiar with the way the books were located.

Bob shooed him to another spot of the library, and he went straight to where he would expect to find books on animals. Smaller ones, of course, for there was no need to go into great danger to hold an experiment. If it was true that this strange phenomena could be replicated on other animals besides rats, he might possibly try to see what kind of effects would result then. For now, he would probably go for little animals, and he skimmed through the books, seeing if there was anything about the fauna in Sunberth.

Eri walked pass an entire shelf, seeing information about various migratory patterns for birds, types of fish in freshwater, a debate on whether whales were mammals or fish, and an entire trunk load of academia on the topic, yet it had no use for him, for he was not interested in them. Perhaps if he felt in the mood, but now he only wished to seek for ideas, for inspiration, and he let his finger run down the covers of the books displayed, wondering if there was some way that could let him absorb knowledge with a single touch. That would be a most useful ability indeed.

He decided that Bob would probably find it anyway, since he was supposedly more experienced in the matter. He slowly broke away from that section of the library, finding himself in the fiction section.

Ooh... what's that. The Monkey's Paw?

Out of curiosity, Eri picked up that book, planning to check out the first few pages to see what the book was about. However, it was like the book cast a spell on him; he could not tear himself away. He read on, horrified, as the book threw one terrifying twist after another. It was about a dried monkey's paw which supposedly granted wishes, and when a wealthy merchant family acquired it, their son (a renowned alchemist in the region) had - out of disbelief of the effects of the said item - and wished for a large bag of gold-rimmed mizas. Nothing happened, and no gold appeared from thin air. The next day, the family received news from a courier that their son had been gruesomely killed in an accident in an alchemical experiment gone wrong. The academy who had commissioned their son to go forward with the said alchemical experiment decided to compensate them for their loss, and presented them a large sack of gold-rimmed mizas. The family was horrified, and in grief the mother wished for her son to return on impulse. When the father returned home that night, he found out about his wife's wish and was horrified. Soon after, they were greeted by a heavy thudding on their door followed by a strong rotting stench. The father did a calculation to find that the time it took to walk from the nearest graveyard to their house was roughly the time when his wife made the wish after their son was buried to now.

Eri read on, engrossed by the gripping tale, and he would have continued if Bob had not shook him violently from his entranced reverie.

by **Bob Barton** on November 20th, 2011, 7:49 am

Fiction, ever the best place to get a good read and Bob was in it even if he was looking specifically for animal stuff. First he took out a book about the origins of the term "curiosity killed the cat. Interesting stuff" but nothing really worth knowing except for fun. All the story was about is a cat which passed by a certain stream each day and each day it looked into it only to find another cat always looking right back at it. It never failed until one day it decided to try and touch its steadfast friend where it lost its support and fell into the river which dragged it as long as possible until it died. "Not even nine lives could save it the poor cat..." It was very depressing and Bob does not think that he wants to find a cat. It reminded him too much about the wolf which ate the weasels and both ended up dead just as soon as they got something good for themselves. Bob was not the superstitious sort but he was a gambler and that made him have the instinct of not wanting to test his luck whether it was because of idiotic beliefs that items have power in them just like malediction is said to work.

Bob went on to more books trying to find some material that he could use but it could be that the librarian really knew how to do her job in organizing the books in a way that the readers could use or Bob was just really that lucky in finding books that could help him because after a few more book of animal idioms, he found himself in the section with the history of Sunberth. However just because the subject of the books were so closely related he did not realize the shift until many books that "I don't think these are about animals anymore..." They were about people who lived and died in Sunberth with strange items used to help them even since before the Valterrian. As unbelievable as they seemed to be on first glance, the sheer detail of it much like the other books that Bob had studied in Zeiltiva before told him that there is no way that they are fake or the figment of the writer's imagination.

One of the books that he had found was about the main activity of Sunberth as a mining center. With the underlying danger of cave-ins and gas leaks which would cause the death of the workers or disappearances or escapes by some of the more important and experienced workers that the Alaheans would like to keep, they used a strange practice that Bob would not even have imagined possible. Instead of posting guards which was said in the book as a very dangerous position that no one in their right mind would be because of the volatile nature of the workers proven more dangerous than the mines they work in themselves, those in power started taking body parts. A fingerbone or a toe which would most likely not be missed by the select few that were identified as deeply rooted to their co-workers and maybe even charismatic enough to control them. These tiny parts were carved on with details of their owners "much like that legacy stuff..." and dipped in blood sealing it like a contract. When installed into a undefined device, the Alaheans used it as a compass to find these people in case anything went wrong in the mines.

"Hahaha..." It is only the uneducated Sunberth people that will believe in this. "Fortunately I come from a better place where we actually place importance in a good education" and it all comes from good books unless you were lucky enough to get under a good teacher. Bob put away the book and went on to another few giving the same creepy, bloody history of Sunberth until he came to another one which went a level beyond. "The Legacy..." a subject which is very much on his mind after all he has been reading "...of Berthal?" Bob flipped through the book thinking that it would be something normal that he is used to happy to see the beginnings of a biography of a boy growing up in an oppressive environment to do whatever those in power wanted him to do just because they had the power and did not care for whatever other people thought about them or felt because they could just put them to death or worse. "A lot of this going around lately..." Bob commented to himself knowing that no one would actually care about what he had to say either. Then after that it was that theme all over again.

Berthal's father died, Berthal got mad. Berthal knew it was the Alahean's fault and continued but continued to work for them, his anger rising daily fueling him when he practiced how to fight in secret. One day he went to his father's grave and took the bones of an arm, giving it to someone he knew to make it into a weapon that would always be beside him so that he could take his father's revenge together. He got his sword, described by the book as beautifully and masterfully made. Blade sharp enough for the body and carvings sharp enough for the eyes. All over scenes highlighted in prominent circles about how his father was trying to go against the Alaheans enough to get their attention and his death as Berthal wanted. The craftsman told him that once the sword has drawn blood Berthal would never be able to stop. The poor man should not have said it because it made him the first victim and once the blood seeped in the bone it was said that Berthal became a merciless machine of vengeance cutting down everyone and anyone right until he was put down.

"Scary..." Bob told himself because "all this because of blood? Koffurn should have said that instead of trying to scare me by telling me how the stories would work" which was normally in the bad way. "I don't think I need to read this anymore" Bob reminded himself and went closer to the fiction section where he started from since he already wasted enough time on so many books just to know that blood does things especially in legacy but what happens? The first book he picks up is a journal about an old method farmers use to keep tigers out of their territory. "Well, even I would be scared if someone killed another human and displayed their corpse for me" and reading on "I would be disgusted if someone defiled another human's corpse too." Bob would rather sell the tiger's pelt, meat and even heart which he knows is a delicacy instead of writing things about why the tiger should keep out of the place until he smacked his head realizing why. He might have been more comfortable with drawing but he was also taught that it could use the written word but really, with all this "I am going to have to start off at the other end!"

by **Bob Barton** on January 12th, 2012, 4:05 am

Bob put away the books which distracted him long enough and looked for one that was on the lighter side of things and more relevant to what he wanted. "You can never have too much luck so what is one more rabbit's foot?" or two, or three. Actually if they were that good "why not the whole rabbit?" It was the Sunberth variation of the race story. A rabbit and a turtle had a race and as soon as it started the rabbit was off with a good start. The turtle was not happy with this and called on all its friends to try and stop the rabbit before it reached the end. A little before the finishing line the rabbit was surrounded by a lot of angry fire-breathing turtles and had to wait for a long time under pressure until he saw his opponent over the horizon. Because the rabbit wanted to win so badly he started stamping his foot over and over causing the turtles and Bob who was reading to laugh at just how ridiculous everything was going on but from the vibrations of the strong rabbit's foot, the finishing line started to wobble and in its fifty percent chance fell towards the rabbit and crossed over it for its victory.

This is why Bob read these funny children's stories even if they were so unrealistic but with what he had already learned today, it is possible that he can make it work. Bob shut the book laughing at the rabbit story but already planning on how to use it with everything he already knows. Of course as important as all the contents and stories were they would only determine what would the result be. Good or bad would not matter much, not unless the results are actually in affect and for that as he knew from all those books and journals he read through he needed blood. Something that he should have believed earlier to make things simpler but he was Bob and Bob does not believe in things unless there are proper evidences before him. Various different types of books from various different times converging together to one thing is one of them. Now he kind of has an idea of what to do, "rabbit's feet. Hehehehe..."

Now that he was done, Bob made his way over to the solemn Eridanus and his horrifying tale. He cleared his throat to get the vantha's attention without any luck and looked at the book he was reading before shaking him violently asking "are you serious? Do you know how rare monkeys are?!?" and he would know since he works in Killroys. Cats and rabbits were a lot more common and Bob really did want a lucky rabbit's foot if it could help him in gambling. Once he got Eridanus out of it he made a grab for a book just because "I want to see what nonsense you are reading" and it just cannot be as bad anything that Bob just read. He flipped the pages a little getting interested with the idea that "the monkey's paw grants wishes? If this a real Sunberth thing because we should use our time hunting for this instead" but after a while Bob decided against it. Either "monkey paws are dangerous..." or those people who made the wishes are really bad wishers which would make Bob stay away from it if he ever found it because he was unsure if he could avoid making the same mistake.

As interesting as the monkey's paw sounded Bob firmly told "Eridanus. We are hunting rabbits because their meat tastes great and their feet are lucky" and as such a useful creature, that means if their efforts fail, they would at least get a good meal out of it. Now however, failure was highly unlikely since Bob from this little trip to the library found out what he was missing. Something he looked at as superstition and eccentrics by both Koffurn and Eridanus. "We will do it tomorrow at the fields so get prepared. I am going back since I got what I need and more but you can stay here and read up more about rabbits I guess..." giving a shrug and leaving out the door unless Eridanus wanted anything else which Bob should start charging for after giving a wink to the librarian just to see what sort of reaction she would give. Bob already did his bit today and had more than enough of happy times with Eridanus. If the next day was going to be like everytime he was with the ethaefal then he is really going to need to rest and prepare himself.

by **Eridanus** on January 12th, 2012, 4:05 am

Hunting rabbits?

He had no idea where Bob had came up with the idea that their feet were lucky. He was certainly sure he would not want anything to do with the monkey's paw in the story though. It certainly granted wishes, but it sure as hell was unlucky to the core.

Finally, we get to it.

Eri had no wish to read more about rabbits, and he left the library together, asking him about whatever the midget read that said rabbits had lucky feet.

He wondered if the rabbit they caught had lucky feet, for it were caught it wasn't very lucky, in his opinion.

To be continued...

by **Ink** on February 27th, 2012, 12:53 am

And in the Aftermath . . .

The Rewards are Revealed.

Bob :

Eridanus :

Written in the ink :