Nue Quest Vth Vanguard: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> "Not sure. Did Ichirin stay behind?"

>Byakuren nods. "I felt it was for the best."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "And what happened at the jeweler's?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "And what happened at the jeweler's?"

>"I left that for Mystia and came here," says Byakuren. "I felt she could handle it without my assistance."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "Did she forget to tell you I wanted you specifically to take care of that? Damn. So much for that plan."

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "Did she forget to tell you I wanted you specifically to take care of that? Damn. So much for that plan."

>"There was no reason for me to do it," says Byakuren. "If you were in trouble, I couldn't in good conscience be spending time doing what she could easily be doing herself. Why was it necessary?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I was really sending you there to get the attention of the jeweler's apprentice. She doesn't like Mystia very much because Mystia talks too much for her liking, but I know you can be trusted to keep secrets. I was hoping to have her along as well - If nothing else, there's no way Rinnosuke would have been expecting her."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I was really sending you there to get the attention of the jeweler's apprentice. She doesn't like Mystia very much because Mystia talks too much for her liking, but I know you can be trusted to keep secrets. I was hoping to have her along as well - If nothing else, there's no way Rinnosuke would have been expecting her."

>"Ah," says Byakuren. "Please accept my apologies for thwarting your intentions."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Don't worry about it, what's done is done. Maybe she'll figure it out regardless. I should probably apologize to her after all this is over, though."
> "Anyway, you ready?"

[Rin Kagamine]

> Size down our bust to its regular size

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>Do we know of anyone with power over distance? If not, ask Byakuren if she does.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Don't worry about it, what's done is done. Maybe she'll figure it out regardless. I should probably apologize to her after all this is over, though."
> "Anyway, you ready?"

> Size down our bust to its regular size

>You explain a little to Byakuren, then return your chest to its propoer dimensions. "If you would lead the way," she says.

>Do we know of anyone with power over distance? If not, ask Byakuren if she does.

>You've heard that the Shinigami can manipulate distance, but you have no idea about any of the specifics regarding it.

>_

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>Lead the way.

[Hello Purvis]

>Lead the way.

>You lead  Byakuren inside, and toward the stairway. She frowns at it; while for you it's barely a trouble, she's a bit large to deal with the tight space and comparatively tiny steps. She takes the lead, and it's a rather slow progress; she doesn't have room to hover properly and has to take it bit by bit. But, after a couple minutes, you manage to get down to the basement without any trouble.
>Rinnosuke is still there. You are certain he's not budged, and he says nothing as you enter. Byakuren looks around as she stands and stretches, eyebrows raised at all the wealth around her.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Do we remember where the Jacinth Tiger was?
> How big was it?
> How valuable would we estimate it at?
> "Hey, I'm back. Did some thinking, and I realized you were right. It would cause a lot of trouble to go out and tell everyone. So I figured I'd keep you company. I even found you another customer!"

[Hello Purvis]

> Do we remember where the Jacinth Tiger was?
> How big was it?
> How valuable would we estimate it at?
> "Hey, I'm back. Did some thinking, and I realized you were right. It would cause a lot of trouble to go out and tell everyone. So I figured I'd keep you company. I even found you another customer!"

>It is on the nearest pile to your left, at about eye level, it is fairly small, you suspect it's worth a few dozen ☼, but you're not as good at appraising art objects as you are at gems.
>Rinnosuke does not answer.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Byakuren, if you want to ask him about what's going on, go ahead. We're in a shop, so I think I'll go browsing."
> Look around a bit, then let our eyes settle on the Jacinth Tiger. Walk on over to it.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Byakuren, if you want to ask him about what's going on, go ahead. We're in a shop, so I think I'll go browsing."
> Look around a bit, then let our eyes settle on the Jacinth Tiger. Walk on over to it.

>Byakuren nods. "Rinnosuke, if I may, why are you doing this?"
>"It is as I said to your apprentice," says Rinnosuke. "I seek a better universe, an more beautiful one."
>You glance over the wealth, noting a couple other items nearby that you recall from the store, such as the Emblazoned Apron. You then approach the Jacinth Tiger.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Pick up the Jacinth Tiger and examine it while listening to the conversation.

[Kilgamayan]

Be back in 20 minutes. Don't wreck the place yet. :V

[Hello Purvis]

> Pick up the Jacinth Tiger and examine it while listening to the conversation.

>"And what does would make a more beautiful universe?"says Byakuren.
>"As I've told your apprentice and she's no doubt told you, one free of the filth that is money, one where exchange needs no such abstraction and falsehood. One were a person may offer whatever he or she wishes of themself to get whatever they would like to improve. Or to abstain, as Miss Houjuu pressed upon earlier."
>You pick up the Jacinth Tiger, and feel your hand suddenly grow very cold.


>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Drop it back where it was.
> Was it a simple winter cold, or a frozen cold?

[Hello Purvis]

>You put the Jacinth tiger back down, and the feeling in your hand vanishes. It felt more like you just stuck your hand into an icy lake.
>"Perhaps you could explain why this is more beautiful?" says Byakuren.
>"I can try," says Rinnosuke. "But you understand, as crippled by the idea of money as you are, simply hearing it may not be enough."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Walk over to the Emblazoned Apron and pick that up. Drop it if it feels cold as well.

[Hello Purvis]

> Walk over to the Emblazoned Apron and pick that up. Drop it if it feels cold as well.

>You have to reach up to grab the apron and instantly drop it as your hand goes cold.
>"I'll try my best to understand," says Byakuren.
>"The beauty of the exchange, Miss Hijiri," says Rinnosuke. "It is said for every give, there must be a take. Is that not so? To have a fire, you must lose a log. Yet, the art of the deal defies it. Two forces oppose, yet what is the equivalence? An illiterate man may give me a rare book for a bag of beans. By the vulgar standard of currency, it plainly came out ahead. But this is false. The man who cannot read may treasure that food more than he ever did the book. He may plant the beans and have a great harvest. I may find the book to be useless tripe. Do you see the beauty in it, Miss Hijiri? This is every exchange. The same one can be made a dozen times, and each time it will be different. The same components go in, but the reaction is never the same!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Pick up a handful of coins. Drop them if they're cold.

[Kilgamayan]

Going to bed. Might be worth poking around a little more with the items while listening to the conversation. Byakuren's likely to ask smarter questions than us, though it would also be worth interrupting earlier on and asking Byakuren to ask about why our cards were necessary, since she claims they shouldn't have had the power to pull this off. At this point I would probably only start destroying things if we hit a stalemate or if somehow becomes obvious the process is almost complete.

[Hello Purvis]

> Pick up a handful of coins. Drop them if they're cold.

>You try to pick up some coins, and find that you hand can't get close enough to touch them. You get within an inch of them, and your hand just seems to slow down in the air. You can still feel it moving, but it is like going through thicker and thicker sand, making less progress as you put more force onto it.
>"I suppose I can see something in that," says Byakuren. "But is the pursuit of beauty worth the harm that has been done?"
>"Markets adjustments will occur," says Rinnosuke. "And it is not just the pursuit of beauty, Miss Hijiri, it is to spread the appreciation of it. To allow it to flourish among those cruelly trained away from it. That is my desire."

>_

[E-Nazrin]

I wonder if using Tewi's dress as a glove would do anything... block the chill, numb it, or maybe even freeze Tewi to death.

I suspect he had help with this, though what that help would be is difficult to say. Would the Yama and Komachi really cause this much trouble? Though I doubt she'd go along with Rinnosuke's de-facto megalomania, even if it's to try and remove the sins of money. Especially when every indication on Rinnosuke's part is that the problems of it will remain anyway.

More realistic guesses might be Yukari (they have connections, and it's in line with Tewi's story, for whatever that's worth anymore), a leftover from an earlier Quest (Patch's dreamsword? Golden Silver? Jeff? Reisen's gems? Secret items? Mary's youkai fetch quest collection? Something else from the god party at Eintei? Something I missed in Iku Quest?), or something entirely new.

Also important: What happened to Rinnosuke's stuff upstairs? If the furniture is being used for whatever this is...

>What's in the southwest part of the Forest of Magic? What's further to the southwest of it, if anything?

[Kilgamayan]

So I didn't actually go to bed because I saw an update was coming and I wanted to see what was up with the coins. But now bed for srs!

> Frown.
> Take out our trident and try to poke some of the coins.

[E-Nazrin]

We aren't going to hit anything with the trident, if nothing else; doubtful about danmaku as well. Tossing some dirt to see how this works and/or seeing whether he actually covered the non-obvious angles of attack from below or above might be worthwhile.

>How well can we dig?