(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue to work at it with the torch and the knife.
>"How? How are you going to do it? What's your plan?"

[Oldmansour]

>When was the last war around here?
>Are we aware of any records of conflicts or infestations involving giant spiders before this one?
>Try to stand and move away from her, tense up the webbing to make it easier to cut.

[DracoOmega]

>Continue to work at it with the torch and the knife.
>"How? How are you going to do it? What's your plan?"

>The webbing creeping across you is too tight against your body to set torch to without also burning yourself. It might be somewhat hard to cut at it without cutting yourself, as well; certainly it would require some care and finesse. Aside from that, there is one thick tether remaining, stuck to your knee and twisted around your lower legs. Seeing as this presents the only easy target for your torch, you bring it around and set it against a clear spot a safe distance from your knee.
>"Next time I'll be quicker," she says.

>When was the last war around here?
>Are we aware of any records of conflicts or infestations involving giant spiders before this one?
>Try to stand and move away from her, tense up the webbing to make it easier to cut.

>As far as you know, Estval has never seen open warfare since it was settled. As a major port and mining operation, Braston has been peripherally involved in a few conflicts, but its physical isolation and the influence of Val Razua has kept most real fighting away from it. Although you're no history buff, you think most of the Outer Freelands have had a peaceable history outside of perhaps a few proxy skirmishes  for the major nations, particularly in the early colonial days.
>You don't believe so, and certainly not anywhere in this area.
>You try to bring yourself to your feet and pull the last tether taut. The youkai pulls against it as you back up, but you manage to maintain your balance this time.
>Tendrils of webbing upon you neck grasp towards the strands descending upon your cheek, while other threads inch inward, towards the underside of your eye. Another swath brushes past your side, mostly missing you, though a few more threads find purchase. The weave of the first webbing that landed upon you is starting to look almost solid.

[Oldmansour]

Just so y'all know, for those that haven't read the postscript of Magical Lotus, I'll be leaving in a few hours' time on the family vacation, where I'll be incommunicado.

>Got to get our arm free. She'll have us coccooned at the rate she's going.
>Press the torch against the webbing around our right arm and try to cut it at the time. Cuts and burns can't be as bad as the alternative.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Quick enough? You have...maybe three hours until they notice I'm gone. By tomorrow, the first wave will be here, people from my organization. They know about this place, they know about the spiders. How many of your spiders are you going to sacrifice on them? Ten? Twenty? Do you even have that many? Do you think all those little ones in the cave back there are going to be able to take care of themselves? Because once they find what happened to me, that'll it. And if you're really unlucky, they'll have a magician."
>How close are we to that stream?
>"And that's just the first wave. Braston's home to thousands of people, with hundreds of trained soldiers. Soldiers who are not going to be happy there is a hostile force nearby. What're you going to do, when a spider cannot even show it's face without being killed from a distance, even faster than your acid spitters could hope to do? What are you going to do when your fangs and claws can't get through their armor? You aren't the only person on the island, and you're certainly not the most powerful, if even little old me can cause the damage I did. And don't even get me started if an oni decides to wade in."
>"You have to make a choice. Do you stop now, while we can agree this is all misunderstandings, or do you bring about the beginning of the end? You have neighbors, and you can't pretend we aren't here.  The worst part is, you might not have even needed to steal those cows, if you had just tried to work with everyone. But you didn't, and here we are. Are you going to stay on that course? Or do you want the rest of your friends to live and be happy?"

[DracoOmega]

>Got to get our arm free. She'll have us coccooned at the rate she's going.
>Press the torch against the webbing around our right arm and try to cut it at the time. Cuts and burns can't be as bad as the alternative.

>It certainly does seem that way...
>You bring the torch about and press it against the webbing binding your right arm. The warmth of the flame soon turns to an uncomfortable heat and then a painful one as you keep it held close, but you see the webbing start to pucker. You try not to wince too obviously although you suspect this will soon become difficult. The thin tendrils creeping in to strengthen the weave quickly shrivel before the flame, effectively halting its growth, but you won't have enough leverage to bring the kunai to bear against it until you can free your arm at least a little more.

>How close are we to that stream?

>You are no more than a couple feet from the edge of the rock bridge. The river churns many dozens of feet below.

>"Quick enough? You have...maybe three hours until they notice I'm gone. By tomorrow, the first wave will be here, people from my organization. They know about this place, they know about the spiders. How many of your spiders are you going to sacrifice on them? Ten? Twenty? Do you even have that many? Do you think all those little ones in the cave back there are going to be able to take care of themselves? Because once they find what happened to me, that'll it. And if you're really unlucky, they'll have a magician."
>"And that's just the first wave. Braston's home to thousands of people, with hundreds of trained soldiers. Soldiers who are not going to be happy there is a hostile force nearby. What're you going to do, when a spider cannot even show it's face without being killed from a distance, even faster than your acid spitters could hope to do? What are you going to do when your fangs and claws can't get through their armor? You aren't the only person on the island, and you're certainly not the most powerful, if even little old me can cause the damage I did. And don't even get me started if an oni decides to wade in."
>"You have to make a choice. Do you stop now, while we can agree this is all misunderstandings, or do you bring about the beginning of the end? You have neighbors, and you can't pretend we aren't here.  The worst part is, you might not have even needed to steal those cows, if you had just tried to work with everyone. But you didn't, and here we are. Are you going to stay on that course? Or do you want the rest of your friends to live and be happy?"

>"Sacrifice!?" she cries. "How dare someone like you say that! You killed them! They were just hungry!"
>You grimace as feel what you assume is your skin starting to burn beneath the torch. The thinner webbing is withering much more quickly than the larger tethers did, though it doesn't quite give yet when you pull on it; you can't exert a great deal of force with your arm pinned as it is. The strands of silk start to reach across your nose and you feel your other arm being pulled towards your chest. Other tendrils begin to creep down your legs.
>Her voice wavers. "Why do you hate us? You could have left us alone. Everyone should just leave us alone!"
>Gritting your teeth against the pain, you pull hard against the webbing once more. You struggle for the first inch of movement and then the webbing suddenly gives way and your arm rips free!

[Oldmansour]

>Would we survive that kind of fall? And if so, what kind of shape would we be in?
>Don't scream at the pain of the burning. Don't give her the satisfaction.
>"Prey defends itself. That's the way of things. Hungry or no, I didn't want to die. I didn't want to kill, but I had no choice. I didn't hate them. I don't hate you."
>"I'm sorry it has to be this way. But I'm not going to die here, either."
>Would we be able to draw another kunai if we threw this one?
>If so, draw as much of a bead on the cord that she's swinging on, and let fly with that kunai. Draw another kunai afterwards and set that torch and knife back on the thether on our leg.

[DracoOmega]

>Would we survive that kind of fall? And if so, what kind of shape would we be in?
>Don't scream at the pain of the burning. Don't give her the satisfaction.
>Would we be able to draw another kunai if we threw this one?

>You would certainly survive it, though you can't imagine it would be even slightly pleasant. Depending on your form, the impact might range from hurting significantly to actually breaking things, but you're reasonably sure you could make a direct dive without serious injury, if the water's as deep as it seems.
>You're definitely not about to let yourself scream, given the circumstances, though a fierce grimace is proving hard to avoid at the moment.
>With your arm mostly free, retrieving the other kunai should be no issue.

>"Prey defends itself. That's the way of things. Hungry or no, I didn't want to die. I didn't want to kill, but I had no choice. I didn't hate them. I don't hate you."
>"I'm sorry it has to be this way. But I'm not going to die here, either."

>"Prey doesn't chase predators," she responds. "And it's already over. You won't escape a tsuchigumo's web."

>If so, draw as much of a bead on the cord that she's swinging on, and let fly with that kunai. Draw another kunai afterwards and set that torch and knife back on the thether on our leg.

>You take a moment to line up a steady shot with your eyes, then quickly take aim with the kunai and fire! As the projectile leaves your hands, you feel a sharp tug on your knee and stumble forward. Quickly glancing up, you let out a small sigh of relief. Your shot held true; the spider was ever so slightly too slow in her response. Your kunai drives firmly into the drop line and embeds itself there, splitting the weave apart where it penetrated.
>The youkai turns her attention upward for a moment, ceasing to trace more webbing across the air. The strands already upon you seem to stop moving as well. You quickly draw your other kunai and shift the torch to the charred spot on the remaining tether line. As the silk begins to waver beneath the flame, you hear a loud snapping sound from above.

[Oldmansour]

>"Care to place a wager on that?"
>Torch and cut that last tether, before she can recover, and try to put some distance between us.
>If this webbing doesn't fall off, removing it could be a task.

[DracoOmega]

>If this webbing doesn't fall off, removing it could be a task.
>Torch and cut that last tether, before she can recover, and try to put some distance between us.

>You can just see yourself spending hours trying to pick all this stuff off...
>You keep the flame fixed over the tether and try to cut it quickly. Glancing up, you see the spider youkai plummeting towards the river, her torn drop line swaying from the ceiling. The tether goes slack for a moment as you try to work the kunai against it. Despite furious cutting, you fray only shallow scratches in the tightly corded silk; without more time for the flame to disintegrate its structure, it feels almost like trying to carve stone. Then the youkai falls past the bridge and a moment later the tether goes sharply taut again.
>You feel a heavy jerk against your knee as her weight pulls against yours, and you stagger. She's... surprisingly heavy. You fight to regain your footing, but the tethered knee buckles under the force and you tumble forward towards the edge of the bridge.

[Oldmansour]

>Oh, crap. That may have backfired...
>Lean backwards, stretch our tail backwards, try to regain our balance, all of the above!

[DracoOmega]

>Oh, crap. That may have backfired...
>Lean backwards, stretch our tail backwards, try to regain our balance, all of the above!

>This wasn't part of the plan!
>You stretch your tail back as far as it can go and try to lean against the pull, but it's too late. With nothing to brace yourself against, your joint simply isn't strong enough to resist this much force. Your foot slips across the mist-slick edge and the rest of you follows swiftly after. With a last desperate motion, you try to twist and grab onto the edge, but your fingers simply paw at the side of the rock. You feel your breath catch in your throat as the bridge shrinks away from you and you tumble through the open air towards the river below.

[Oldmansour]

>Is there anything around we can grab on to to break, or even slow our fall?
>Hope that tether stays attached and intact. No way she'd let us fall, certainly not if we're connected.
>If splashdown is inevitable, BRACE FOR IMPACT.

Well, that, uh... didn't go quite the way I'd hoped, but at least we're not coccooned by a pissed off spider youkai that wants to eat our head.
That'll be it from me for a week or so.

[DracoOmega]

>Is there anything around we can grab on to to break, or even slow our fall?
>Hope that tether stays attached and intact. No way she'd let us fall, certainly not if we're connected.
>If splashdown is inevitable, BRACE FOR IMPACT.

>The air beneath the bridge is completely open until the river. The only thing in arm's reach to grab is the tether itself, and a plummeting youkai doesn't make a very good anchor.
>You try to lean against the direction you're tumbling and straighten your fall. Below you, you see another thick silken cord flying upward from the youkai's extended hand. Its tip hits the underside of the bridge and clings fast, sending her fall into a wide swing as the webbing stretches beneath her weight, greatly slowing her descent.
>The tether attached to you goes slack again for a moment as you sink past her. It feels like the river is rushing upwards far more quickly than it should, the misty air streaming past your webbing-streaked face. You still haven't been able to break your tumble and can barely catch your breath. If you hit the surface like this, you're in for a world of pain...
>You feel another sharp jerk against your knee, bringing your fall to an abrupt stop and wince-inducing stop. The joint almost feels wrenched, though you imagine this is peanuts compared to the alternative. You flip upside down and mostly stay that way, swinging and twisting below the hanging spider like the bottom of a double pendulum.

[Blitzer]

Maybe we should wait until a player comes along with words meant as an attempt to persuade Yamame to stop attacking us. That would be a better idea than not attempting to persuade her while trying to escape and dying when we could have argued our way out.

Unless you think that can't get us out of this situation.

[Hello Purvis]

Yeah...um...we kinda were getting her to come around. Oh well, maybe this can be salvaged.

>What is our situation right now, in regards to position, binding, and so on?
>"No one hates you! But they will if you keep this up. You talk about things like they're just predator or prey, but you know what? The world's more complex than that! I didn't come here to be predator or prey! I came here to try to figure out what is going on, and had to defend myself! If I hated you, why is that webspinner out there still alive? I had a clean shot at that one. How come I didn't smash the eggs, or burn the babies in that cave out there? If I'm your enemy, wouldn't I have done this? This isn't about predators and prey, this is about people! People are above that!"

[Hanzo K.]

We're still on the bridge right? I got a plan.
It might be risky, but even that spider oughta understand a show of faith and such.
See, I'm thinking that if we're still on the bridge, we can cross back to the side she's on, and put down our weapons, that will show her we're done with using combat to solve things.
See, she may still be uncivilized, but she should still understand a largely universal gesture.

[Hello Purvis]

I am reasonably sure we're dangling off the edge of it. Or rather, off the edge of Yamame's line. I'm also pretty sure we're too bound up to walk.

Otherwise, yeah, I'd do it. But I got an angle here.

[DracoOmega]

>What is our situation right now, in regards to position, binding, and so on?

>You are currently suspended about halfway to the river's surface, dangling from the tether connecting your left knee to the spider, herself swinging from a second tether stuck to the underside of the rock bridge you had been standing on moments ago. Both of you are swaying back and forth from the moment of the momentum of the fall; you in particular are still spinning as your attitude slowly rights itself.
>A dense mesh of webbing covers your right shoulder and part of your neck, while thinner strands stretch across your face, over your nose and below your right eye. At least half of your hair is plastered against your head by the sticky strands. You've torn your right arm mostly free of them, though some patches of webbing remain glued to its surface, while another band of webbing stretches across your chest and lightly binds your left arm against it. A loose mesh clings to parts of your torso, while tendrils of thin gossamer stretch down your right leg, not yet enough to appreciably constrain their movement.

>"No one hates you! But they will if you keep this up. You talk about things like they're just predator or prey, but you know what? The world's more complex than that! I didn't come here to be predator or prey! I came here to try to figure out what is going on, and had to defend myself! If I hated you, why is that webspinner out there still alive? I had a clean shot at that one. How come I didn't smash the eggs, or burn the babies in that cave out there? If I'm your enemy, wouldn't I have done this? This isn't about predators and prey, this is about people! People are above that!"

>The youkai glares at you as you speak, her own breathing heavy. "Stop it..." she hisses. "Stop it! I don't care what you say. They're dead! They're dead because you killed them. They were defending their home and you killed them!"
>She claws her hand against the air, sending more thin stands of webbing towards you.
>"You won't hurt another one of them now," she says, her words seething coldly.
>You hear a thin ripping sound from above you and glance towards it to see the part of the tether you had been cutting at start to snap under your weight. The youkai seems to notice it as well, her eyes darting away from you for a moment; she frowns.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I won't, in either event, unless I am forced to defend myself. But others will, which much greater ruthlessness than possible. You're still ignoring that you have neighbors, and that you don't have to do this. Think about it, did you find yourself with this marvelous ability to talk to other people just to go on like you always were? Don't you think there's more that you can do?"
>Keep an eye on that tether.

[DracoOmega]

>"I won't, in either event, unless I am forced to defend myself. But others will, which much greater ruthlessness than possible. You're still ignoring that you have neighbors, and that you don't have to do this. Think about it, did you find yourself with this marvelous ability to talk to other people just to go on like you always were? Don't you think there's more that you can do?"
>Keep an eye on that tether.

>You start to speak, but before you can get more than a sentence or two out, the burnt and withered cord of webbing tears violently apart.
>A look of alarm on her face, the youkai lets the strands forming at her fingers fall away and thrusts that hand towards you. A silken cord flies out from it as the tether against your knee snaps clear through. You plummet towards the river, the strand of webbing chasing swiftly after you. It takes no more than a moment's glance in both directions to know it won't reach in time.

[Hello Purvis]

>Take a deep breath, hold it, and prepare for impact! Hopefully it'll only be water...

[DracoOmega]

>Take a deep breath, hold it, and prepare for impact! Hopefully it'll only be water...

>You take a deep breath and hold it, twisting your position into the best dive you can manage under the circumstances and brace yourself. As the churning waters rush up at you, you hear the youkai above cry out in frustration. Then you hit the water's surface and plunge beneath, everything going black around you as your torch is smothered by the river. You feel its rushing current take you.

[Blitzer]

>Are we going unconscious or is it just dark?

[Hello Purvis]

>Struggle like hell, we need to get our limbs free and working.
>We do know how to swim, right?

[DracoOmega]

>Are we going unconscious or is it just dark?

>You're definitely quite conscious. The impact was fortunately no more than a little wince-inducing; your momentary perch helped straighten out your descent a little and cut the distance significantly. But the cavern is still pitch black.

>Struggle like hell, we need to get our limbs free and working.
>We do know how to swim, right?

>You struggle against the waters and try to get both of your limbs working. Your right arm is already about as free as you'd need it to be, but your left remains mostly immobile. As you struggle to move it, you think the spider venom may be wearing off a little, but it's still nowhere near strong enough to force off even the mild bindings upon it. You can move your hand and a little of your lower arm, and not much more.
>Yes. You haven't had a lot of experience outside wilderness tracking classes, but you're competent enough at it. Unfortunately, this current might be too much to fight even under the best circumstances. Without being able to see, you can only guess at how far you've moved already.

[Hello Purvis]

>We're going to have to use that right arm, then.
>Kick up toward the surface first thing!
>Do we know of any underground rivers in the region, or where they would lead?

[DracoOmega]

>We're going to have to use that right arm, then.
>Kick up toward the surface first thing!

>Seems so!
>You kick up towards the surface, fighting the turbulent current as it throws you from side to side and pushes you downward again. Your side scrapes roughly past against something and you grimace to keep from letting your mouth slip open underwater. Seems there are some rocks down here after all...
>After some more struggle, you break the surface of the water, spray lashing against your face.

>Do we know of any underground rivers in the region, or where they would lead?

>You do not, unfortunately. It's possible this might be connected to the river you followed part of the way here, but you don't know where that ultimately leads once it gets further from town.

[Hello Purvis]

>If possible, try to angle outselves so we're floating largely on our back and lead with out feet. They can probably take a hit better than we can
>Can we see anything?
>If so, try to look for something to grab onto.
>If not, the next impact we feel, try to latch onto it, if it feels like it's not fully below water.

[DracoOmega]

>If possible, try to angle outselves so we're floating largely on our back and lead with out feet. They can probably take a hit better than we can
>Can we see anything?
>If so, try to look for something to grab onto.
>If not, the next impact we feel, try to latch onto it, if it feels like it's not fully below water.

>You try to flip over onto your back and lead with your feet, but it proves very difficult to maintain a consistent posture as the current buffets you about. Waves crash across your face and you tumble beneath the surface again for a few moments. Fighting your way back up you grab a quick breath before more water slops against you.
>You still cannot see anything
>You tumble onward for a few more seconds without colliding with anything, though the ride is anything but smooth and the water is quickly growing unpleasantly chilly. You think you can hear a change in the acoustics ahead of you.