<em>A week after the the woman had approached the compound a mysterious bamboo box appeared appeared at the foot the castle in which the Rivervally bandits had taken up residence. No one saw from whence it came, but it was fairly innocuous, both unmarked and plain. But upon opening the box one would find a mass of stinking rice, black and white with mould, and in the centre partially concealed under congealed mass was a head. It was so badly decayed that that it was impossible to tell who it might of belonged to, but clear in the thin flesh on the middle of the forehead was the Mon of clan Aka ka, branded black into its skull.</em>