Yukari Quest II - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>What points are left and how strong are they feeling?

>Point one still remains, but it is barely there.
>Point two regained a weak grasp, but it too is barely there.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Finish off point 1 then.
>If nothing unusual happens then finish off point 2 as well.

[Hello Purvis]

>Finish off point 1 then.
>If nothing unusual happens then finish off point 2 as well.

>You finish off point one. With it's connection to point two, that one falls as well. You can feel the roots grip on your tool fade, and it is easy to take it away.
>You open a small gap over your hands, and your hourglass falls into your waiting fingers.
>You obtain: Yukari's Hourglass.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> What did our hourglass do again?

> Take a moment to revel in this small victory.

[Yaersulf]

>Make sure we don't accidentally revel onto a root though.

[Hello Purvis]

> What did our hourglass do again?

> Take a moment to revel in this small victory.

>Make sure we don't accidentally revel onto a root though.

>Yukari's Hourglass
>This basic timekeeping device assists in maintaining gaps. With it, you can leave gaps open for longer, and without having to physically concentrate on them.
>You take a moment to savor the joy of getting your tool back. It is enough to overcome the horribly oppressive atmosphere, and the overwhelming stench of earth.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>We still don't want to stick around here though, make our way carefully over to the gap.

[Hello Purvis]

>We still don't want to stick around here though, make our way carefully over to the gap.

>You pick your way back toward the gap, trying not to rush.  Your moment of victory quickly passes as you make your way back. You can feel the weight of the roots upon you as surely as a stone on your back. The hollow feels as though it is closing around you, and you find yourself glancing around to be certain this isn't truly happening. The stench of the earth makes it hard to focus, you are trying not to break into a fit of coughing as you cross between and around the roots.  After a minute, far far too long, you reach the gap, and you need to leave now. There is no question.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Do so, promptly.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do so, promptly.

>You open the gap, and practically leap through it.
>Emerging back into the field of fronds, you expel a breath you did not notice you were holding and sink to your knees. Your heart is hammering, you gasp for breath, your limbs are shaking, you notice that you're covered in sweat; You feel like you've been running for an hour nonstop, The memory of the odor of earth haunts your nose, and the weight of the air here reminds you much too much of the oppressive aura of that that place. The renewed ringing in your ears doesn't help either.  You feel drained, manipulating gaps there was so much more difficult than it should have been, it was so hard to keep focused, surrounded by everything there.
>It takes you a few minutes before you are ready to move again, both physically and mentally. That place took a toll upon you, but you should be ready to continue now.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Mental list of so-far-unexplored gaps.

[Mr. Sacchi]

Have we been to any places besides the Field of Fronds, the Crystal Palace and the Cave of Awakening? (I'll just call it that because it sounds cool  :V) I mean. Aside from the root forest we were just in to get our hourglass back.

As for things to do... There's the gap at the water chamber in the Crystal Palace, but we need our pliers, there's the Purple Light at the Cave of Awakening, but that's probably our ticket to the endgame, there was a gap at the Statue Chamber, if I'm not mistaken, and the insight point takes points us to the statues anyway, if I'm not mistaken, we haven't 100% explored the Field of Fronds yet, anything I missed?

With our hourglass and our screwdriver we should be able to make temporary warp points if we need to, so we should be able to travel freely between the cave of awakening and the Frond Field (something tells me not to open a gap directly to the darkness around the crystal palace).

> With our screwdriver and hourglass, could we make a "permanent" gap between the Field of Fronds and the caves?

> Can we even make a gap between these two?
>> If we don't know, try making one, just as a test.

[Yaersulf]

There's also the other gap that we were walking toward when we found the door, if we just meet back up with the weird fold thing we should be able to find it relatively easily.

[Hello Purvis]

> Mental list of so-far-unexplored gaps.

>Thus far, you have not explored the gap in the statue room, or really even examined it. You haven't used the one in the unstable room in the caverns, but you know where it leads. You haven't really seen where the gap that exists near where you awoke leads; your last attempt did not work so well. There is a disparate gap at a center of the fold going through this place, and one you have not examined near one of the ends of it. The last one you haven't explored is an unfixed one near where you found the piece of Materia Prima.

> With our screwdriver and hourglass, could we make a "permanent" gap between the Field of Fronds and the caves?
> Can we even make a gap between these two?
>> If we don't know, try making one, just as a test.

>You don't think so; you are reasonably certain they are separate "worlds" entirely, and you would need your Astrolabe to do that. In terms of long-lasting gaps, you could probably leave one open for a good hour without any real effort.
>You attempt to open a gap back to the caverns, and fail to find any purchase. It's distance from here is too complicated and multidimensional to figure out without a great deal of work.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Do we remember exactly where the gap we were heading towards before we found the gap that lead to the hourglass is?
>> If so, go there.
>> If not, and if we remember where the "fold" is, proceed towards it.

[Hello Purvis]

> Do we remember exactly where the gap we were heading towards before we found the gap that lead to the hourglass is?
>> If so, go there.
>> If not, and if we remember where the "fold" is, proceed towards it.

>You do in general, but the problem is that this field makes it rather easy to lose your way.
>You proceed back toward the fold, heading roughly in the correct direction and finding it some minutes. Looking back, the silver light from that doorway is barely noticeable in the distance.  You then resume following the fold.
>Time passes, and it is difficult not to dwell on the things you've experienced, particularly the overwhelming feeling that you felt within the root chamber. You cannot remember feeling anything like this before, it was as though the entire place were aligned in such a way to be hostile to you in particular.  Or perhaps it was hostile toward living things in general? You do not know, but you could feel that it had the power to hurt you. Your shoulder and hand, though feeling much better now, are testaments to that ability. Trying to think of less disturbing things, you find yourself wondering about the piece of Materia Prima that you've found. How did it get here, and why is it here? Is it some leftover from the universe's forming, or did someone find a way to create it anew? You find yourself not favoring the latter idea, there hasn't been many signs that anyone was here.
>Minutes become tens of minutes, which soon give way to an hour, and then another. The fields do not change, feathery fronds sway as far as they eye can see, dotted by the occasional tree. Eventually, you can sense the gap you are looking for with your own senses; it is a stable-feeling one, though difficult to open. With your screwdriver in hand, it should present no issue to you. You cannot tell where it leads.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>We'll probably never look at roots the same way again.
>Might as well open the gap, no point in waiting.

[Hello Purvis]

>We'll probably never look at roots the same way again.
>Might as well open the gap, no point in waiting.

>You find yourself content with the idea of never seeing roots again.
>You open the gap, and find it does so as neatly and cleanly as you could hope for here.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Poke the tip of our hat through, just in case.

[Hello Purvis]

>Poke the tip of our hat through, just in case.

>You test the gap once again, feeling vulnerable without your mirror. Pulling the edge of your hat back through, you see that it is in good condition still.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Excellent, step through tentatively.

[Hello Purvis]

>Excellent, step through tentatively.

>You step through the gap.
>The first thing you notice as you step out is that the air here is so much less heavy, your ears start to ring ring again. The sky above is blue, and bears a proper sun, shining in an early afternoon position. You have stepped out near the slope of a mountain, and find yourself not too far from a forest whose advanced age is obvious to the eye. You frown for a moment, examining the forest, certain that it feels familiar. After a few moments, you think you can detect the barest hints of the Hakurei Shrine roof in the distance, just through the trees. Looking southward, you think you can see the peak of Youkai Mountain in the distance. You've made it back at last!
>Any joy you might feel upon returning home is quashed by the feel of the borders here; all of your hard work seems to have been destroyed and the borders here are just as erratic as they are elsewhere.  It is going to take a long time to fix all this, even once you get all of your tools back.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Might as well give it one more old college try!
> Try flying again.

[Hello Purvis]

> Might as well give it one more old college try!
> Try flying again.

>You attempt to take to the air.  For a moment, nothing happens, before you haltingly lift from the ground. It feels awkward, less like you're floating above the ground and more as though you're sort of hanging above it. You aren't certain why this is.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Odd.
> Drop ourselves back down and try to fire some test danmaku.
> Check our shikigami-connection with Ran. Is she here?

[Hello Purvis]

> Odd.
> Drop ourselves back down and try to fire some test danmaku.
> Check our shikigami-connection with Ran. Is she here?

>Odd indeed.
>You drop down, and try to fire off some danmaku. It takes a moment to manifest, but it does so as you would expect.
>You try to feel for Ran. After a moment, you can feel her. She is at home.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Howw far is home from here?
> Can we contact her through the connectiion?

[Hello Purvis]

> Howw far is home from here?
> Can we contact her through the connectiion?

>You estimate it is some ways away, you'd normally just open a gap to go there from here.
>You give her brief mental impulses, but nothing particularly complex. Enough to get basic one word or one phrase ideas through.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Better not do that. This experience requires more communication thaan that to convey properly.
> Let's open a gap and go there as per the usual.

[Hello Purvis]

> Better not do that. This experience requires more communication thaan that to convey properly.
> Let's open a gap and go there as per the usual.

>You decide it's better to tell Ran things directly, and open a gap to home. Given conditions, typically it would be rather difficult to do this, but you are familiar enough with home and the major sites in Gensokyo that even with things as they are, you can find them easy. The gap takes a couple moments to open, then you step through it and emerge near your cottage. Aside from the borders being a barely-functioning wreck, everything here seems to be intact and as it should be. You can just hear the sound of a broom beyond the door.

>_