Keine Quest (Part 2): Broken History

[DracoOmega]

>You are Keine Kamishirasawa, and the world around you is not the one you remember.

>Yesterday evening, you investigated a strange disturbance in the woods near the village. There you found an unknown human girl, and a mysterious white-winged youkai whose presence seemed to make you drift towards sleep. And then they spoke, and reality broke around you. You awakened to a world where some things are very different, and you've been trying to determine how to fix them.

>You have discovered the human village abandoned, and inhabited only by Hina and a strange human woman named Shiouko. The Spring Snow incident went unresolved, and Gensokyo endured an entire year of winter. The ensuing famine killed a great many people, including your close friend Akyuu. The surviving humans now live in a new village in the foot of Youkai Mountain, under Kanako's protection. Kanako is working with the Kappa to industrialize Gensokyo, and some of the fruits of this work can already be found in the human village.

>You have met and befriended Rumia, who has been following you around ever since.

>You have found a chasm where the Hakurei Shrine should be. Apparently Reimu disappeared with it, sometime after the Scarlet Mist Incident.

>You have fought off Mystia, who evidently held a grude against you for reasons you cannot remember.

>You discovered a house that belonged to your counterpart in this timeline, who seems to have lived a life that you do not remember. She seems to have vanished since yesterday; possibly when you awoke.

>You have realized that Eirin succeeded in sealing the moon years ago, thus preventing you from utilizing your hakutaku powers.

>You have witnessed a large explosion of unknown magical energy that appears to have removed a large patch of forest at a point between Yokai Mountain and the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

>You are currently speaking with Patchouli, in hopes of finding a way through the wards around Eientei so that you can force them to restore the true moon.

>"Do you know if the Hakurei maiden and Marisa were also involved in that investigation? And if they were....."

>"The Hakurei Shrine had disappeared a couple months before this. As for Marisa, I do not know. At the very least, Sakuya did not encounter her that day."

[E-Nazrin]

>"I probably asked before, but I assume you don't know how it disappeared?"
>"I think I may have encountered something related to that on my way here, though..."
>Give the story about the purple energy thing, and the possible connection it has to the purple stuff in the air at the Hakurei shrine crater.

[DracoOmega]

>"I probably asked before, but I assume you don't know how it disappeared?"

>"No, I'm afraid not. I found traces of very unusual magical energy there, but it was too dispersed at the time to figure out what it was. Although, honestly... I'm not certain I could have identified the cause even if it had been more recent."

>"I think I may have encountered something related to that on my way here, though..."
>Give the story about the purple energy thing, and the possible connection it has to the purple stuff in the air at the Hakurei shrine crater.

>You recount your experience with the wall of energy. Patchouli nearly rises out of her seat as you speak.
>"What!? Did you get a sample of it?"

[E-Nazrin]

>... shit, we had a thing for that, didn't we?

[DracoOmega]

>... shit, we had a thing for that, didn't we?

>Yes. Patchouli gave you a Crystal Lattice that can be used to capture samples of magical energy, for analysis or other purposes.

[Doll.S CUBE]

> Partial Lie "Well I was kinda blind for a while since Rumia was quite scared when it appeared and when she dropped the darkness, I saw what it was then when I went to get a sample it kinda just dissapeared"

[Hello Purvis]

>Don't lie. It won't help. And blaming Rumia? =[
>"I did not, unfortunately. I was too startled by it to actually do anything of the sort; I was trying to not get caught up in things. But, it was exposed to the energies a little bit, if it would absorb them on its own."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Or if there's any residue left on me..."

[Doll.S CUBE]

>Don't lie. It won't help. And blaming Rumia? =[

> It was a partial lie, Rumia did blind us, we're just lieing about our reation afterwards

[DracoOmega]

> Partial Lie "Well I was kinda blind for a while since Rumia was quite scared when it appeared and when she dropped the darkness, I saw what it was then when I went to get a sample it kinda just dissapeared"

>Don't lie. It won't help. And blaming Rumia? =[

>Technically, you did actually miss the initial stages of the explosion due to Rumia's nearly instinctive darkening when scared. But you decide not to mention this. She didn't mean any harm, and she's been getting a bad enough rap from some corners already today.

>"I did not, unfortunately. I was too startled by it to actually do anything of the sort; I was trying to not get caught up in things. But, it was exposed to the energies a little bit, if it would absorb them on its own."

>Patchouli puts a hand to her temples and sighs. "Unfortunately, it's specifically designed not to do that. It wouldn't be much good for precise work if it picked up the ambient residue of everything you walked through on the way to whatever you wanted to collect with it. Still, I suppose if the magnitude of the event was like you describe, it may have picked up a little, just the same. Can I have a look at it?"

>"Or if there's any residue left on me..."

>"I can check that, too, afterwards. Although I doubt it could be too concentrated or I expect I would already have noticed."

[Doll.S CUBE]

> Hand her the crystal

[DracoOmega]

> Hand her the crystal

>You hand her the lattice. She holds in her hand and stares at it intently for a few moments. Then she moves her other hand across it, and starts invoking something. The lattice starts to glow and patterns appear in the air around it. After another few moments, she shakes her head and puts the lattice back down.
>"Nothing much of use, I'm afraid. A little residue, but that's mostly on the outside. All I can tell is that the energy involved is similar to what I observed at the Hakurei Shrine."
>She walks over to you, and performs a similar incantation. It reminds you of a much less intense version of the scan she performed on you yesterday. "And much the same here." She sits back down and sighs again. You can hear her muttering to herself.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Might there be something lingering there? I can go check right now."

[DracoOmega]

>"Might there be something lingering there? I can go check right now."

>She pauses and considers this. "It may be possible. When I investigated the fissure at the Hakurei Shrine, it had been days at least, since it happened. Perhaps weeks. It won't be as good as a sample taken during the height of the event. But it may still be better than what I've seen so far."
>She hands the lattice back to you. "Remember, aim the pointy end at whatever you want to capture. The activation should be simple enough. Just push a little energy into it, and it should respond automatically."

[E-Nazrin]

>"Right."
>What's Rumia up to?

[DracoOmega]

>"Right."
>What's Rumia up to?

>She actually seems to be sitting quietly near you. Either all of her fooling around with ink and fruit earlier today temporarily sated her child-like playfulness, or the encounter with the magic burst scared the enthusiasm right out of her.

[Hello Purvis]

>"We'll be back shortly."
>Out, and to the burst site! Bid farewell to Meiling, and tell her we'll be back soon.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"We'll be back shortly."

>"Very well. I hope it's not too late. And..." she sighs. "please have more situational awareness in the future. There is little point in me lending you valued tools if you fail to take advantage of obvious times to employ them."

>Out, and to the burst site! Bid farewell to Meiling, and tell her we'll be back soon.

>You head out of the library and the mansion again. Meiling gives a wry smile and shakes her head a little when you tell her you'll be back shortly. "This is more action than this gate has had in years, you know. But I guess if Patchy's found a reason to keep you around, you can't be all bad. Fine, fine..."  She opens the gate for you.

>You continue through the air for several more minutes, moving at a fast clip in the hopes of not missing anything. Soon, the chasm comes into view. Or rather, the black patch of empty in the middle of the woods, at this distance conspicuous only from what you can't see.
>"Why are we going back to the scary place....?" Rumia asks timidly. "You said we wouldn't go back here again..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Because I messed up beforehand. You can wait here."
>Head into the blasted area, lattice ready for the poking.

[DracoOmega]

>"Because I messed up beforehand. You can wait here."

>"N- no, it's ok. Rumia's not scared this time!" Her voice sounds rather more timid than her words, but you can't help but smile at her for them, just the same.

>Head into the blasted area, lattice ready for the poking.

>You fly closer to the site of the blast. As you do, you realize how similar it is to the chasm you found at the Hakurei Shrine. The shape is not exactly the same, but it's like someone just took a swath of the terrain and removed it somehow. You can see soil, and loose rocks at the edge of the fissure crumbling, and falling down into the blackness, but no obvious sign of any trees or other debris. You still can't see the bottom, in this light. But you do hear a rock hit it, so it isn't bottomless, at any rate.
>There is a similar visual effect to the violet shimmering you saw at the shrine, only more pronounced. At intervals, you think you can even see long thin slivers of this purple... whatever it is, wink in and out of sight.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to close in on one of those slivers, and give it a poke.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to close in on one of those slivers, and give it a poke.

>What do you intend to poke it with? A finger? Or the lattice?

[Hello Purvis]

>The lattice.

[DracoOmega]

>The lattice.

>You fly into the fissure, and try to get close to one of the slivers. This proves to be harder than you thought, as they seem to appear and disappear at random, and rarely stay anywhere for more than a second or two. Eventually, one appears within arm's reach of you, and you poke it with the lattice. It meets no solid resistance, but you notice that the tip of the lattice does not emerge on the other side of the sliver like it really ought to be doing, given how thin it is...

[Hello Purvis]

>Does it seem to be draining off anything?
>Do both sides of the sliver look the same?

[DracoOmega]

>Does it seem to be draining off anything?

>The lattice needs to be consciously activated to absorb anything. Or so Patchouli said, anyway.

>Do both sides of the sliver look the same?

>You try peer around the other side... and it looks more or less the same, although you can't see the lattice from that angle at all.

[Hello Purvis]

>Activate the lattice.

[DracoOmega]

>Activate the lattice.

>You will the lattice to activate, and although you can't really tell what it's doing, it does seem to be steadily glowing brighter.
>The sliver starts to narrow, again.

[Hello Purvis]

>Yank it out once the sliver seems to be in danger of closing around the lattice.

[Kasu]

> Consider that the interference may have transported the the area somewhere else due to the sliver's odd property.
> When finished, head back to the SDM with Rumia.