Keine Quest II - Shikigami Trio

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"I have no need for that much... extravegance."

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"I have no need for that much... extravegance."

She gives a small smile. "Ah... you really are nothing like my friend. But if so, then this should do. Sakuya, I don't actually think I'll need your abilities for this - I managed to find the tool I was looking for." Sakuya nods but says nothing more than "Of course." Patchouli then turns to you. "So then, Keine, if you could lead me to your house and take out anything you particularly value? This magic will alter the inside completely, so anything other than furnishings, clothing, and food should probably be taken out if you wish to keep them. I cannot guarantee their existence otherwise."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Of course."
>Let's lead her there, and call on Shiku and the others to help in removing our important non-furnishings.


(This is a teahouse. I'm referring to the Chinese definition though.)

[IdiotsOpposite]

(This is a teahouse. I'm referring to the Chinese definition though.)

(Oh, okay. I think I can manage that well-enough. Maybe.)

You know the teahouse in question serves a wide variety, including a few considered "rare", usually involving some import berry that's hard to grow here. Your particular favorite is a strawberry-and-mint-flavored tea called "Jirai Tea", after the person who came up with the combination. You know the recipe contains more than just strawberries and mint, but you haven't yet gotten the teahouse to tell you what... they're secretive about some of their recipes.

>Nod. "Of course."
>Let's lead her there, and call on Shiku and the others to help in removing our important non-furnishings.

The four... er... six of you head to your house, and while Patchouli begins setting sticks into the ground, you and the three youkai begin emptying the house of things of value. There really isn't TOO much there, since you tend to be frugal and so not buy decorations, but you do make sure to grab the alarm clock you bought from Rinnosuke and a few pictures you have on your wall. Eventually, you come out and Patchouli's using a strange staff to draw a black magic circle on the ground around the house.

"It's a special sort of staff," Sakuya says, suddenly behind you. "It basically generates magical ink that Patchouli can dispel at will... hence, useful when you don't want to leave a mess. The staff's a good hard bashing weapon too."

[Hanzo K.]

>"My, I wonder if one can create a pen like that? I know Akyu would certainly love to have something like that."
>Let's watch the fun!

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"My, I wonder if one can create a pen like that? I know Akyu would certainly love to have something like that."
>Let's watch the fun!

(Wah! My avatar's a koishi with spoons for eyes! WHAT HAPPEN)

Sakuya laughs. "Well, you could always ask her, I suppose. I don't know if Patchouli found it or just created the thing, after all. But magic staffs were quite popular in Europe once upon a time, so it's probably from there."

You watch as Patchouli makes several circles around your house, drawing a triple-lined circle with several elaborate symbols, including kanji, hexagrams, and some of the Latin symbols, along with what looks to you to be pure gibberish. Some magical runes, no doubt.  When she's done, she turns to you.

"I... this will take some time, so try to keep yourself entertained... Sakuya, if you brought the new set of knives I crafted for you, perhaps you could play with Neneru a bit." Sakuya nods with a smile and a statement, "I'll find something, Patchouli, there's no need for advice." That said, Patchouli turns to you.

"It's proper etiquette for a magician in this situation to ensure final permission. Keine, is this truly what you wish?"

[Hanzo K.]

(TSO's pranks happened.)

>Nod. "Of course."

[IdiotsOpposite]

(TSO's pranks happened.)

>Nod. "Of course."

Patchouli nods back and kneels down just outside of the magic circle, touching it with two fingers. Then you see the entire circle glow, then shine, then erupt into a wall of rainbow light about 30 feet high. Honestly, you didn't think this spell would involve a beacon... Patchouli is concentrating absolutely on the spell at hand, but Sakuya approaches you.

"Well, this'll take a little while, so what say you and Neneru take me on in a practice battle? It'll be good for me to see how she fights."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Alright, let's do this above the village though. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt by stray Danmaku."

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Nod. "Alright, let's do this above the village though. I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt by stray Danmaku."

Sakuya nods. "Well, of course. Let's see... we'll have to establish some ground rules, obviously. How about two spellcards each? Except... Neneru, do you have any spellcards?" The catgirl gives a glowing smile even as she shakes her head and says "nope!" The maid nods, muttering to herself "As expected..." So she turns to you. "Two spellcards each, I suppose? Hopefully Neneru not having any cards will be balanced by the fact that it's two against one?"

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Hmm....Actually, I'll loan her one of my own. I think 'Three Treasures - Jewel' will suit her nicely."
>"You see, each of the three treasures holds a different Virtue. The Sword is Courage, the Mirror is Wisdom, and the Jewel is Benevolence. Or Kindness one might suppose."

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Nod. "Hmm....Actually, I'll loan her one of my own. I think 'Three Treasures - Jewel' will suit her nicely."
>"You see, each of the three treasures holds a different Virtue. The Sword is Courage, the Mirror is Wisdom, and the Jewel is Benevolence. Or Kindness one might suppose."

Sakuya nods. "A lesson in Japanese legend, hm? Always welcome, Keine-sensei," she jokes. Neneru jumps a bit and shouts "Thank you, Keine!" as you lend her the spellcard. Sakuya selects two of her own, but keeps them hidden from you. Then she beckons you as she begins to float upwards. "Come, Keine. Let's give the villagers a show."

[Hanzo K.]

>Spellcards?
>"Of course. This shall be quite the show, won't it? Neneru, I'll use the first one, to show you how it's done."

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Spellcards?

You have your entire arsenal available to you, since you had to pull it out of the house anyway. Unfortunately, your EX and Last Word cards probably won't get to be used today, but you have the following cards to use:

[Spiritual Birth] First Pyramid
[Origin Sign] Epheremality 137
[Ambition Sign] Yoshimitsu Crisis
[Land Sign] Three Sacred Treasures x2 (this card has three varieties, Sword, Jewel, and Mirror. You specify one upon use.)
[Pseudo-History] The Legend of Gensokyo

Choose two.

>"Of course. This shall be quite the show, won't it? Neneru, I'll use the first one, to show you how it's done."

Neneru nods. "Okay! Then I just gotta use this one and beat her with it right?"

[Hanzo K.]

>"Alright,  I trust you wouldn't be averse to me starting things off, to show Neneru how it's done?"
>Let's pick Mirror.

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"Alright,  I trust you wouldn't be averse to me starting things off, to show Neneru how it's done?"
>Let's pick Mirror.

Sakuya nods, pulling out about 8 or so knives from her outfit. "Go ahead. I'll start my first card after I see yours."

You declare your spellcard, swooping a series of familiars. After flying a short distance, they start to unleash their danmaku - you don't need to do much with this spellcard other than fire waves of familiars, fortunately, which is good when you need to dodge. Sakuya smirks, shouting "The World!" She fires a short wave of danmaku, which begins to approach you.

You are now surrounded by knives, a rather dense screen of them in front of you. What do you do?

[Hanzo K.]

>Would it be at all feasible to drop to avoid the danmaku?

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Would it be at all feasible to drop to avoid the danmaku?

(Just woke up *yawn*)

It would certainly get you out of the path of a lot of the knives, although you've faced Sakuya before and so know that a lot of those knives will be going every which way. It'll make them easier to dodge, though.

[Hanzo K.]

>Alright then, we can use our Familiars to parry, yes?

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Alright then, we can use our Familiars to parry, yes?

They'll certainly help take some of the knives. And during this spellcard, you can always summon another wave if you need to.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Neneru, drop with me!"
>Drop, and use the Familiars to parry the knives, taking care to parry for Neneru too.

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"Neneru, drop with me!"
>Drop, and use the Familiars to parry the knives, taking care to parry for Neneru too.

You drop out of the way of Sakuya's knife screen a bit, sending a dense wave of familiars in front of yourself and Neneru, who looks deadly serious - for the first time ever, it seems. Neneru tries firing a wave of her own danmaku, which looks a bit like buckshot. It'd work really well if she got close, but at this range it's fairly useless. Even so, she deftly dodges what few knives make it past your familiars, and so do you, although one does fly perilously close to your ear. Your familiars start to work their purpose, which is to make life difficult for Sakuya. She seems to be doing just fine, unfortunately, dodging your familiars' danmaku with ease.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Not bad Neneru, once we break through this, try getting closer before shooting!"
>Let's keep this up until the cards time out, or break. Whichever comes first.

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"Not bad Neneru, once we break through this, try getting closer before shooting!"
>Let's keep this up until the cards time out, or break. Whichever comes first.

Neneru nods, ducking and weaving through the knife barrage. Another screen appears in front of you, but you dodge that the same way you dodged the last one. You notice Neneru's trying to get closer and closer, a few meters every screen. Eventually, both of your cards time out. Sakuya stands in the air, expertly flipping a knife in her hand.

"You dodge well, Keine. Well, I'm sure the familiars aren't helping, but even so. One more card... [Maid Secret Skill] Killing Doll!" she shouts, declaring her card first. You see an orb of knives appear around her and start flying out, mercifully avoiding the city below. However, once the orb's a little way out, it's hard to see, but you notice six or so knives coming straight at you very quickly. Another six are headed toward Neneru.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Neneru, activate the spellcard!"
>Let's keep up, and try to dodge. But if Neneru can't dodge in time, we'll take the hits for her.

[IdiotsOpposite]

>"Neneru, activate the spellcard!"
>Let's keep up, and try to dodge. But if Neneru can't dodge in time, we'll take the hits for her.

You duck to the left, narrowly avoiding your own wave of knives. You move to help Neneru, but she's a bit too far away for you to make it in time. Neneru moves to block the knives with her arms, but just before they hit, she seems to teleport a few feet upwards, out of range. Blinking a few times in confusion, Neneru quickly moves to declare the spellcard you lent her.

"Er... Three Sacred Treasures - Jewel!"

Instinctively, Neneru flings out a few familiars, getting herself closer to Sakuya, who was stunned for the moment. For good reason, you suppose. Sakuya quickly recovers, instantly recalling her knives and forming another orb. Now that Neneru's countering though, the orb appears to be a bit disrupted. A good push could break the card and earn you a victory.

[Hanzo K.]

>Chuckle a bit, because it seems we've found Neneru's power as well. Translocation perhaps?
>Alright then, let's barrage with our best Nonspell!

(Just a fancy way of saying 'To Teleport', but hey.)

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Chuckle a bit, because it seems we've found Neneru's power as well. Translocation perhaps?
>Alright then, let's barrage with our best Nonspell!

(Just a fancy way of saying 'To Teleport', but hey.)

(Well I was GONNA use the phrase "phased through the continuum", but decided that'd be somewhat too physics-y. And not really fitting what Keine would think she saw.)

You throw out a rather powerful nonspell (your best, unfortunately, isn't available to you right now, EX form and all that), which further disrupts Sakuya. Neneru pushes even closer and starts unleashing buckshot danmaku again, which proves to be too much for Sakuya, who disappears quite suddenly. You hear a soft voice behind you.

"That's enough, I concede. The best maids know when to give up on a task, after all."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Alright, maybe we've killed enough time as well."
>Let's land with the others, and see how much progress Patchy's made.

[IdiotsOpposite]

>Nod. "Alright, maybe we've killed enough time as well."
>Let's land with the others, and see how much progress Patchy's made.

You land along with Neneru and Sakuya, and while the glowing wall is still going on, Patchouli seems to be near finished. At least, you think she is, from the amount of sweat on her face. She's concentrating too much to even notice your presence, unfortunately. Neneru tugs on your sleeve a little.

"So, how'd I do? Good, right?" she asks, desperate for your approval.