Nue Quest 9 - Ascension: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Stop.
> "What what?"
> Give ourselves a quick visual inspection.

[Hello Purvis]

> Stop.
> "What what?"
> Give ourselves a quick visual inspection.

>"What...the fuck happened?" says Mokou, picking up her jaw a bit, but not completely.
>You look yourself over. You are pretty thoroughly soaked, again. Your shoes are fairly muddy, as are your knees.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "You mean the giant red beast to the west? And I hope you do, because that at least tells me it's not a product of my imagination."
> Unsheathe the sword, then point back at the beast with the umbrella.
> "Anyway, that thing..."
> Raise the sword a bit (in a non-threatening manner).
> "...was in this thing. I would love to tell you it's some embodiment of evil, but right now it seems to want to avoid me more than anything else. Which I'm not going to complain about, given ten minutes ago it tried repeatedly to gore me, trample me, and scare me out of my sanity, and I'm pretty sure it broke something when it did manage to stomp on me once."

[Hello Purvis]

> "You mean the giant red beast to the west? And I hope you do, because that at least tells me it's not a product of my imagination."
> Unsheathe the sword, then point back at the beast with the umbrella.
> "Anyway, that thing..."
> Raise the sword a bit (in a non-threatening manner).
> "...was in this thing. I would love to tell you it's some embodiment of evil, but right now it seems to want to avoid me more than anything else. Which I'm not going to complain about, given ten minutes ago it tried repeatedly to gore me, trample me, and scare me out of my sanity, and I'm pretty sure it broke something when it did manage to stomp on me once."

>"Uh, yeah," says Mokou. "We kinda saw. Think Tenshi might've wet herself, the way she ran off."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "She ran away? Where did she go? I wanted her and her group here just in case while I or we figure out how to deal with this thing."

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "She ran away? Where did she go? I wanted her and her group here just in case while I or we figure out how to deal with this thing."

>"Away," says Mokou with a shrug. "She didn't want any kind of piece of that thing, and I don't blame her. I think your tanuki friend is hiding in the pub."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Shake our head.
> "And here I went toe-to-toe with that thing while it beyond pissed at me specifically. I'm going to knock the heads of those two together something fierce when this is all over. Anyway, at least you're still here. Can I assume your teacher friend knows about this thing? And is Alice still around?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Shake our head.
> "And here I went toe-to-toe with that thing while it beyond pissed at me specifically. I'm going to knock the heads of those two together something fierce when this is all over. Anyway, at least you're still here. Can I assume your teacher friend knows about this thing? And is Alice still around?"

>"Uh, Keine might." Mokou shrugs, while her eyes follow the behemoth. "I can ask, I guess. And...you know, I think I lost track of Alice."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Put a hand to our forehead.
> "This day just keeps getting better. All right. I don't know how much time we have. This thing doesn't seem malevolent right now, but there's no guarantee it won't change moods, so let's make this quick. You get Keine, I'll get Byakuren, we both grab any other Buddhists or puppeteers we might wander by in our tasks, and then meet up at the pub with Mamizou where I can dump info and we can decide on an action plan. Sound reasonable?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Put a hand to our forehead.
> "This day just keeps getting better. All right. I don't know how much time we have. This thing doesn't seem malevolent right now, but there's no guarantee it won't change moods, so let's make this quick. You get Keine, I'll get Byakuren, we both grab any other Buddhists or puppeteers we might wander by in our tasks, and then meet up at the pub with Mamizou where I can dump info and we can decide on an action plan. Sound reasonable?"

>You put a hand to your forehead.
>"Yeah, sure," says Mokou. "I'll get her."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Drop the hand.
> "Great. See you there."
> Fly on over to the Temple at a decent clip.

[Hello Purvis]

> Drop the hand.
> "Great. See you there."
> Fly on over to the Temple at a decent clip.

>"Yeah, I'll be there."
>You fly toward the temple, passing over several buildings along the way.  Landing near it, you can see the behemoth a bit to the south, likely intending to pass near the back of the temple grounds.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Near is okay.
> Enter the Temple, place our shoes as appropriate, and make our way back to the room where Byakuren was sleeping.

[Hello Purvis]

> Near is okay.
> Enter the Temple, place our shoes as appropriate, and make our way back to the room where Byakuren was sleeping.

>You enter the temple, quickly kick off your shoes, and go to the room where Byakuren was.  She is still there under the blanket you draped on her, head resting on her arms on the table and dozing.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Move over to her and gently shake her while taking on a soft voice.
> "Byakuren, wake up."

[Hello Purvis]

> Move over to her and gently shake her while taking on a soft voice.
> "Byakuren, wake up."

>You walk over and gently shake Byakuren's shoulder while calling for her to wake up.
>"Mmm?" she replies, lifting up her head a little and opening her eyes. "What?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "We have a serious issue. Not a lot of time to explain. Please, come to the tavern with me. We'll meet Mokou and others there. You'll probably see the issue for yourself along the way."

[Hello Purvis]

> "We have a serious issue. Not a lot of time to explain. Please, come to the tavern with me. We'll meet Mokou and others there. You'll probably see the issue for yourself along the way."

>"Huh?" she says, sitting up and shaking her head. She glances at the blanket on her shoulders. "Oh, I feel asleep... I'm sorry, there's a problem at the tavern? Please lead the way."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "The problem is outside the village. I'm hoping we can come up with the solution at the tavern. We should hurry."
> Head back down to the front room, put our shoes back on, and exit the Temple.

[Hello Purvis]

> "The problem is outside the village. I'm hoping we can come up with the solution at the tavern. We should hurry."
> Head back down to the front room, put our shoes back on, and exit the Temple.

>"Ah," says Byakuren, as she stands up and shakes the stretches.
>You lead her down the stairs and quickly put on your shoes, Byakuren following suit.
>Exiting, you are able to take two steps toward the road before you hear Byakuren cry, "What in the world!"
>You really don't have to look, but you can see out of the corner of your eye that the behemoth is near the southern outskirts of the village now, and seems to be keeping the same course it has been.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yep, there you go."
> Start making our way toward the tavern.
> "Is everyone else down in the Clinic?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yep, there you go."
> Start making our way toward the tavern.
> "Is everyone else down in the Clinic?"

>"I think you had better explain this!" says Byakuren, as you continue toward the tavern.
>"Yes," she says, as she moves to keep pace with you, keeping her eyes on the behemoth. "The situation sounded so bad that I thought they would need Ichirin and Unzan to help keep thigns under control..."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Figured. Oh well, we'll make do. The quick version is that that thing over there came out of this sword here. For a while it hated my guts and tried to kill me in some really messy fashions. Now it's actively avoiding me and not really doing anything malevolent, which is why I've taken the opportunity to get some extra heads together here in the village."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Figured. Oh well, we'll make do. The quick version is that that thing over there came out of this sword here. For a while it hated my guts and tried to kill me in some really messy fashions. Now it's actively avoiding me and not really doing anything malevolent, which is why I've taken the opportunity to get some extra heads together here in the village."

>"I...see," says Byakuren,

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yeah. Obviously we need to figure out how to either get that thing back inside the sword or just kill it off completely. While it was inside the sword, it put really nasty thoughts in the wielder's head, mine included. It almost had me spill blood in the Temple. Thankfully, I still had enough of myself to take the conflict elsewhere."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yeah. Obviously we need to figure out how to either get that thing back inside the sword or just kill it off completely. While it was inside the sword, it put really nasty thoughts in the wielder's head, mine included. It almost had me spill blood in the Temple. Thankfully, I still had enough of myself to take the conflict elsewhere."

>"Mmm. And why was it in the sword, do you know?" says Byakuren, as you draw close to the tavern.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I don't, sadly. I know someone who might, and they're at the tavern, but it's an extreme long shot. This sword actually comes from an entirely different continent. A place called Avalon. Maybe you've heard of it? Supposed to be a magician's dream or some such."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I don't, sadly. I know someone who might, and they're at the tavern, but it's an extreme long shot. This sword actually comes from an entirely different continent. A place called Avalon. Maybe you've heard of it?"

>"That's quite a bit more than a continent," says Byakuren. "But yes, I have heard of it. I have not heard of anything like that involving it, though."
>You reach the front of the tavern.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Well, let's get in and see what we have to work with."
> Enter the tavern.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Well, let's get in and see what we have to work with."
> Enter the tavern.

>You enter the tavern, and find that Mokou and the hakutaku there, the former with her hands in her pockets and the latter with her arms crossed and a look that suggests she ate something sour. You can see Mamizou looking out a window on the the north side of the room, frowning. As well, one of the celestials from Tenshi's gang is still here, sitting at a table and doing her best not to look worried.
>"So," says Mokou, "Think we can talk about this on the move?"

>_