Houchou

(   Houchou
Base item	spoon
Affiliation	chaotic
When carried	(none)
When thrown	instakill
When invoked	(none)
Base price	50000 zm
Weight	1

Houchou (pronounced /ˈhoʊtʃoʊ/ HOH-choh) is a chaotic artifact spoon in SLASH'EM. It is thrown at a target, and if it hits, it instakills the victim. There is no defense against Houchou, but if it hits a target, the tool itself is always destroyed in the process.

Save Houchou for a dangerous or difficult opponent, such as Cthulhu. (Or, alternatively, ascend with it. With a price of 50000, it equals about 28 dilithium crystals in score points.)

If thrown upwards, Houchou will kill you. Monsters will not throw Houchou, as they are not programmed to throw weapon-tools.

Being gifted Houchou unrestricts dart skill.

Origin

包丁 (hōchō) is Japanese for "kitchen knife".

In the Japanese RPG Final Fantasy IV, there is a kitchen knife that could be thrown to instantly kill or severely damage almost any monster. The English localization changed this item to "Spoon", but oddly (and humorously), its effect when used—instant, violent death—was kept. It is thus that SLASH'EM's Houchou is a spoon.