To End the Madness [Event]

[Nira]

Yokoburi. This was a big city. From the looks and sounds of it, it was a dangerous place to be.

Well, obviously that's me, thought Tarah.

She wore a dark violet sweater dress. While her arms were lowered and swinging with the motion of her stride, the sleeves were long enough to cover half her palm—just past where her thumb began. The sweater dress’s hemline was in the middle of her thighs. Short enough to fight comfortably in, if it should come to that.

Tarah’s black hair, of a greater length than her spine, covered the entire back of the dress. The end of her hair was dyed a lighter shade of violet than what she wore. Her mid-calf boots were as dark as the rest of her hair—the pair she wore was lined with black fur and laced up on the sides facing out from her body. The soles were thick. No water puddles were getting water in her footwear.

Well, that was only a concern if the country lived up to its name, but it was a concern nonetheless.

Only a few patches of her pale skin were visible: face, neck, hands, and knees. She wasn’t wearing traditional clothing today, because she had no desire of standing out in an urban environment. She considered getting a hat to cover her forehead and hide her silvery gray eyes, but to some that might be suspicious or menacing.

Wealth is welcome in my pockets, Tarah smiled. And if they’re in gemstones, then it’s all the better.

But that reward was to be given if a task was completed. That was something wrong in the city that Tarah was arriving at. Solving a whole city’s problems, eh? Tarah came to a stop outside the entrance she planned to use to get into the city. Strapped to the right side of her hip was an umbrella. It was not an umbrella weapon, but instead an everyday, wooden one. However, it did contain a weapon. The handle of the umbrella was the hilt of a permanent, black crystal longsword. The umbrella itself was the sword’s sheath—a weapon for the battlefield, and a tool for the outdoor streets.

She might need one, the other, both, or none. The dim city that stood before her would determine that.

Tarah grinned. “Holder of the city’s throne, beware,” she whispered. “I’ve come to usurp you.”

And so she stepped forth.

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

TIME: 11:00 AM, First of Winter
LOCATION: Gates of Yokoburi, Ame no Kuni

---

Tarah would arrive to a rainy city indeed. In this early winter day, a cold drizzle left all feeling slightly uncomfortable. She would arrive at the outskirts of the city, only to find a roadblock between her and her destination. It was something like 11 AM, and traffic was beginning to pick up, but there were only two law enforcement officers on duty to examine people coming in.

The conversations she overheard would suggest to her that this was not the normal status of the entrance to Yokoburi:

"Damn mayor. Does he really think he can quarantine madness?"
"It's not about madness, you dolt. They just don't want anyone dangerous coming in to take advantage of the situation."
"Then why are they keeping people in too, huh?"

"Fuck this. The mayor's lost his god damned mind. I think The Madness has gotten to him too."

"This has nothing to do with the madness, I'll tell you. I think the whole thing is just a power grab, I'll tell you. Hell, I think they're behind this all the way to the top - I think the..."

Disgruntled citizens abound. Further, the observant Tarah would overhear that the guards at the gate were asking for names, affiliations, reason for coming to Yokoburi, and a list of materials (weaponry, chakra, divine, ritual and alchemical) being brought into the city, to ensure public safety and keep an eye on any unsavory types.

How would this facet of the multi-faceted one approach a bureaucratic delay in her plans?

[Nira]

Well, this was to be expected. Something was wrong with the city, and this was certainly one of the many ways to deal with it. Tarah frowned, and considered what option to take to reduce the amount of time it’d take to get into the city.

Perhaps a distraction? she thought. Two disruptive events on opposite sides—one to draw the first officer away, and a second to draw the other when the time runs out.

No, maybe it would be best for the officers to continue controlling the other people in line. If everyone took the opportunity to rush in and out of the city, then it would be a recipe for trouble.

Tarah sighed. She used her soul sight to check everyone’s emotions—she was looking for the portion of the line that seemed the most frustrated and uncomfortable. She’d focus her pitch at them. Then, she brought a hand up to her mouth shouted out to the whole line, “Hello frustrated people! I, like you, am in a hurry to get in the city. I would like to bargain for a shorter line in exchange for comfort.”

She put down her umbrella, letting the rain briefly pelt her, and used both hands to perform some handseals. She activated her crystallization ability, and combined it with a range diminishing enhancement to save on chakra. It took a fair bit of concentration, because she was making a fairly complex creation and needed to order everything together in her head. Fifty cubic meters of crystals was her potential, and though that was a lot of crystal to work with, she didn’t want to overshoot.

Next to the line, she created several rows of simple crystal chairs—two hundred in total. A block of small, palm-sized crystal plates appeared next to the officers. There were two hundred plates numbered from one to two hundred.

Over the rows of chairs, a crystal roof appeared. It was slanted, so that any water it caught would run down the slope and fall several meters behind the chairs. The rooftop was propped up by four crystal poles anchored to the ground.

Tarah picked her umbrella back up.

“To those of you who aren’t in urgent hurry, I would like to offer these chairs that are protected from the rain. Please take one of the numbered plates starting from number one to mark your place in line for the officers to call you, and then you’ll be able to wait in a rainless seat instead of standing in a line. In return, those of us who are in an urgent hurry may have a shorter line to stand in.”

If she was able to successfully persuade people out of the line, and get the two officers to adopt the crystal plate numbers, then that would get her to the front faster.

Once she got to the front of the line, she switched to the personality of a past life that was more familiar with mental oddities—Elsie.

To the officers, she’d say, “My name is Elsie Veratrose. I am working unaffiliated, and have come to Yokoburi to fulfill a public contract for fixing its recent issues. I’ve this umbrella and the clothes on my back, nothing else. Oh, and the crystals will last for a full day. Let me know if you want to buy permanent ones.”

---

Crystal durability: 15 hardness, 80 armour points
Diminishing jutsu: Crystallization (“C”) chakra/handseals rank reduced by 1/2 rank
<Soul Sight, Supplementary: +20 to Sense Motive>
<Soul Sight Boosted—Sense Motive, 145 SP>
<Sense Motive Boosted—Persuasion, 150 SP>

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

There was... mild discomfort among the ranks of the people huddling into the city. It was obvious that blatant shows of magic were not the most popular thing, but the brazen multi-faceted charmer went ahead. Several people started to shout and run away as her crystalline chakra surged through the ground and created a series of chairs which would house the people of the queue. The startled people quickly ceased their muttering. A handful of people would exit the crowd, and others yet would be respectful of the young girl, allowing her to make excellent time through the line.

Her answers would satisfy the officers, although they would warn her gently. "Do be careful flaunting chakra arts in the street like that, ma'am. There are folks who think that people with superhuman powers are the cause of all this madness."

With that, she would be free to take her first steps into the city.

[Nira]

Elsie nodded. “Very well, I shall strive to depend upon natural solutions more often than supernatural ones.”

Now that the line was behind her, Elsie strolled into the city and took in the sights. She reached out a hand and felt the rain, seeing if there was any change now that she was someplace more synthetic.

In all likelihood, the folks the officer referred to were right—superhuman powers were a fair explanation for widespread madness. However, other possibilities were not beyond Elsie’s considerations. There was nothing she could do if the madness was caused by airborne poisons affecting the mind. She’d simply have to hope to notice the symptoms in her body as fast as possible, and then retreat from the area.

Another possibility was hallucinogens laced in food and drink. She’d avoid eating at any of the city’s restaurants until she found the origin, or if she was certain that the madness was caused by other factors.

Poison and other drugs could be ruled out if she visited a hospital—the doctors charged with caring for the mad might find traces or other signs of those effects. However, if the madness was caused by disease, then that wasn’t as good an idea.

No physical contact with the maddened. No physical contact with anyone, for now. That meant avoiding hospitals and other hotspots.

The first source of information on the city’s crisis had to be a location that could receive reports from all over the rest of the city. Newspaper and magazine businesses were a good bet, but Elsie wanted something higher. She was practically royalty back in her lifetime, after all. She liked regal solutions.

Elsie’s footsteps sped up, fueled by purpose and goals. She approached the center of the city in search for a particular building—the government offices. The first source she was going to try and get was the mayor. It’d be a single building, not the biggest but with some modest designs, and probably surrounded by displeased citizens.

The people outside had mentioned how the mayor had ordered the quarantines. Surely he would have the people under his employ bring as much information from across the city as possible.

Direct information wasn’t bad, either, so Elsie kept a lookout for any openly mad people along the streets.

---

Navigating to center of the city
<Navigate, 125 SP>
Searching for the government offices, or the mad
<Observation, 125 SP>

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

TIME: 11:15 AM, First of Winter
LOCATION: Government District, Yokoburi

---

Walking through the rainy city, Elsie was making good time. She had entered right into the center of what she was looking for - the government district. Police stations, office buildings - every edifice of political power one could possible seek. Some of the buildings seemed a little bit... vacant. Perhaps important people had been fleeing en masse due to the recent catastrophe. Perhaps it was just a slow day for the eternally grinding gears of Ame no Kuni's federal system.

Three buildings would strike Elsie as particularly promising. One building was the tall, black-glass building whose  sharp and post-modern lettering read "Yokoburi City Office." Perhaps that was the building where local officials - such as the capital's mayor - held their offices? It didn't seem particularly unreasonable, all things considered. However, there were other promising places.

Another was the capital - that tall marble building whose stature and surrounding gardens implied some sort of legislative, or at least advisory, body must meet there. With majestic spires and well-trimmed hedges, this must be the place whence the presiding daimyo exerts her authority. Of course, having read the bounty, Elsie would know that the daimyo was not in the city for the moment, so perhaps the mayor would be in there, as the chief executive over a city of many troubles.

Finally, in the brick and mortar world of bureaucrats, the multi-faceted woman would wander by a police station. Judging by the big brick building, the glass entrance, the carefully lettered sans-serif print on the front of the building, and the high foot traffic in the region, this would most likely be the primary police station for the city. Perhaps the mayor could be there, working with those enforces of his will to keep his troubled city safe.

[Nira]

Hm? Elsie stopped for a moment as she surveyed the mostly empty district. There were no obvious indications of where the mayor might be, but one of the three main buildings caught her attention more than others. Since her littlest soul sister, Tarah, was a member of her village police force, the police station caught Elsie’s consideration.

After all, there were those two offices out at the entrance. Even if they might be stretched thin, those officers meant that the police force still functioned in some capacity. If the mayor wasn’t found in the building, at least Elsie might find some facet of information from the police. It had noticeable foot traffic, too, so more people could be observed from up close.

Decision made, Elsie headed for the police station. She would keep her distance from as many people as possible and try to make her way inside to any front desk or reception she could find. While on her way in, she also inspected the brick building's walls to see if the bricks were genuine stone. She had the power to slip through stone, after all, so she had an extraordinary escape route if the walls permitted it. She folded up her umbrella as she entered the building, and shook out some of the water before strapping the tool to her waist with the handle facing forward.

“I have arrived to help solve the situation that’s challenging the city,” she said. “If I may be deputized for this crisis, I’m certain my skills would be of good use. I simply need information to work with—getting headings, so to speak.”

Still, she remained cautious. Her left hand was tense—ready to grab the umbrella handle in case she was in danger here.

[󠀐󠀐󠀐󠀐Y]

“I have arrived to help solve the situation that’s challenging the city,” she said. “If I may be deputized for this crisis, I’m certain my skills would be of good use. I simply need information to work with—getting headings, so to speak.”

Elsie had walked into the police station without a problem - several officers eyeing her carefully, but not maliciously - an appropriate level of precaution for a city facing such strange instability. She would speak to the clerk running the desk, who wore a uniform like the rest. The woman seemed a little bit distracted, shuffling notes around, closing folders et cetera - but she was clearly listening.

"We're not exactly looking to offer authority to strangers. There are... concerning patterns occurring." The woman would say, cutting straight to the chase. "You have to understand, with our trusted and trained officers, we can detect changes in behavior pretty easily. Take action as needed.

"What exactly are your qualifications? Maybe I can put in the right place, or point you in the right direction. After all - all help is appreciated."