Nue Quest Alter Code 6: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> Would it be possible to dig upward without ruining the structural integrity of the tunnel?

>You honestly don't know. Given the dirt above is at least somewhat frozen, though less so than near where Cirno created the ice, you think that you can probably get through it without any thing worse than dirt falling on your face. However, you wouldn't be able to tunnel directly upward; you'd have to make a kind of ramp; your arms don't reach upward very well.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>All right. Let's stoke ourselves up for this. This is gonna be a thing.
>Start digging upward, leaving a little bit of dirt between us and him

[Kilgamayan]

> If we were to crawl through in our normal form, would we be able to bring the trident with us?

[Hello Purvis]

>All right. Let's stoke ourselves up for this. This is gonna be a thing.
>Start digging upward, leaving a little bit of dirt between us and him

>You start working your way upwards. The dirt grows a bit more stubborn and harder to dig into. Still, you are able to dig through it, it just takes more work.
>What do you mean by leave a little bit of dirt between you and he?

> If we were to crawl through in our normal form, would we be able to bring the trident with us?

>You think so.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Don't dig all the way through, though in retrospect we can't really shift until the tunnel is done, can we?

[Hello Purvis]

>Don't dig all the way through, though in retrospect we can't really shift until the tunnel is done, can we?

>You could, but it wouldn't be very beneficial. As well, it's difficult to estimate where the surface, as dirt is hard to see through.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>All right, I'll complete the tunnel

[Hello Purvis]

>All right, I'll complete the tunnel

>You continue to dig upward, trying not to hurt your paws dealing with the harder dirt, until some of it crumbles down on your face, and you feel a fresh wave of cold air wash over you! Thankfully, you've gotten into the habit of keeping your eyes closed to keep the dirt of out them.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Once the dirt clears, open eyes again and see if we got to the right place.

[Hello Purvis]

>Once the dirt clears, open eyes again and see if we got to the right place.

>You open your eyes, and can see the ceiling. Popping your head out of the hole, you can see Rinnosuke sitting at his table about two feet away; you are a bit behind him and to his right. From this angle, you can note he is holding your spellcards, his fingers are interlaced together, and he holds the cards in place against them with his thumbs. You have no idea if he's noticed you, he doesn't seem to have appreciably reacted yet. You also notice the air here is a little pungent; it seems he has not gotten cleaned up lately.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Retreat back through the tunnel.

[Hello Purvis]

>Retreat back through the tunnel.

>You draw back into the confines of your now significantly better lit tunnel.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Head back up to the side where we started digging.
>If Mokou is still there: "Can you take me back to my stuff?"
>If not, check to see if anyone besides Rinnosuke can see us

[Kilgamayan]

It just occurred to me that it's a shame we froze the room over, because his eyes may be closed, but he has inherent constant object detection. If it weren't frozen, we could've done the digging, then changed back into our normal self and surprised him due to being naked and itemless.

[Hello Purvis]

>Head back up to the side where we started digging.
>If Mokou is still there: "Can you take me back to my stuff?"
>If not, check to see if anyone besides Rinnosuke can see us

>You back through your tunnel, and emerge on the other side. Looking around, you've flung quite a lot of dirt around. It's scattered everywhere, piled all over the floor. Some of it is covering the stairs, where it has piled up to make an earthen ramp. Most of the ice is covered varying layers of dirt or mud. Mokou is still here, and you note her shirt, her overalls, shoes, and hand hands are all rather desperately in need of washing.
>"Yeah, sure," says Mokou, as she walks over, and lifts you up from the floor with a grunt, holding you like before. "You hit a big rock or something?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Almost. We'll talk upstairs."

[UncertainJakutten]

> Wait for her to take us up

[Hello Purvis]

> "Almost. We'll talk upstairs."

>"Got it," says Mokou, as she starts toward the stairs.

> Wait for her to take us up

>It's kind of a jarring trip, and you really find yourself not liking the fact that there is nothing to hold on to, but Mokou gets you back upstairs without any problem. You see Byakuren sittng roughly where she was before, your clothing and possessions sitting beside her. "Did it work?" she says.

>_

[Blitzer]

>"I managed to get close to Rinnosuke, so yes. I'm not sure if he didn't notice me, though."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I managed to get close to Rinnosuke, so yes. I'm not sure if he didn't notice me, though."

>"Don't think he'd show it anyways," says Mokou.
>"So we can reach him now," says Byakuren. "I suppose it is time to move to the next problem."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Right. We need to grab some air freshener or something. It stinks something bad in there."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Right. We need to grab some air freshener or something. It stinks something bad in there."

>"There's some pine needles outside," says Mokou, as she sets you down on the floor. "Probably should go make sure that fire didn't eat Renko or something, anyways."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Sounds like a plan. Need a private moment to be me again, though."
> Assuming no objections, trundle on back to the room where we changed the first time and turn back into ourselves.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Sounds like a plan. Need a private moment to be me again, though."
> Assuming no objections, trundle on back to the room where we changed the first time and turn back into ourselves.

>"Right," says Mokou, as she strides off toward the front you.
>You start to trundle off toward the front room yourself, before Byakuren says, "Wait, Nue! Don't you want this back?"
>She holds up your dress.

[Kilgamayan]

> Whoops! Thought we left that in the other room.
> Trundle on back to Byakuren and sheepishly take our dress back, then trundle back into our impromptu changing room and revert back to our normal selves.

[Hello Purvis]

> Whoops! Thought we left that in the other room.
> Trundle on back to Byakuren and sheepishly take our dress back, then trundle back into our impromptu changing room and revert back to our normal selves.

>You did. But she seems to have taken it along with your things.
>You walk back over to get it. Lacking arms to hold it, Byakuren merely drapes it over your back.
>You work your way back toward the front room, the hardwood floors proving to be annoying difficult to get any kind of purchase on after walking around on nice cooperative dirt. But you manage to get back to the front room, and quickly focus on changing yourself back in your proper form. Will you be restoring your wings as well?

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Nah, we can leave those out. Add the insulating hair back, though.

[Hello Purvis]

> Nah, we can leave those out. Add the insulating hair back, though.

>You focus on becoming mostly your normal self, with a touch more yeti than normal. It takes you a couple of minutes, a quick but rather intensive process. You find yourself happy for the extra hair by the time you're done; without the fur covering your face, you note the air in here is pretty chilly. You're quick to get dressed again just for that. As well, you note that your nails have been scratched and chipped quite a bit by your endeavors, and you have a fair bit of dirt clinging to you still.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Sacrifices must be made. We needed to get cleaned up after not washing or changing our clothes this morning anyway, so no real harm done.
> Head back out to the other room. Walk if we have our shoes, float if we do not.

[Hello Purvis]

> Sacrifices must be made. We needed to get cleaned up after not washing or changing our clothes this morning anyway, so no real harm done.
> Head back out to the other room. Walk if we have our shoes, float if we do not.

>It's been a lousy couple of days, that's for certain.
>You float back into the back room. Byakuren quietly puts your shoes on the floor as you do.

>_