Kisume Quest V - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> "I wouldn't object to borrowing a replacement bucket."

>"Huh?" she says.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "You saw that bucket I was in back at the prison, right? If you don't want me floating everywhere, you'll need to get me another. Unless you expect me to crawl everywhere."

[Hello Purvis]

> "You saw that bucket I was in back at the prison, right? If you don't want me floating everywhere, you'll need to get me another. Unless you expect me to crawl everywhere."

>"Oh, um...maybe I have one," says Ruukoto, frowning.
>"Did you bring her back?" calls a high feminine voice from the hall.
>"Yeah!" says Ruukoto.
>A young woman with thick blonde walks into the room, wearing a white shirt and white shorts. She looks at you and gives a nod. "Welcome to the base," she says. "I'm Chiyuri. And and Yumemi are really interested to meet you. Come on in, I'll introduce you."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Floating around's not an issue, is it? Because the alternative right now is crawling or rolling."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Floating around's not an issue, is it? Because the alternative right now is crawling or rolling."

>"Can't walk?" says Chiyuri. "Well, I guess flying is okay."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "'Kay."
> Float on in!

[Hello Purvis]

> "'Kay."
> Float on in!

>You float in, as while she leads you down the hall that she emerged from. Keeping up with her and not wearing yourself out does not leave much time to take in the details; it's clean and has walls made of strange smooth materials you don't recognize, but feel rather proper for this world, given what you've seen. She leads you into a room off to the side. This one is darker than outside, featuring three benches full of machinery that seems to be, glass screens, and and other such things. A tall woman with dark red hair and matching dress and cape is there, fiddling with something.  She looks up as you float in, and says, "Ah, you've made it. Excellent, exactly as I expected. Come in, tell me your name. Why have you come here?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Land on some empty floor space and have a seat.
> "Moniker's Kisume, and from what I gather, you know why I'm here a hell of a lot better than I do."

[Hello Purvis]

> Land on some empty floor space and have a seat.
> "Moniker's Kisume, and from what I gather, you know why I'm here a hell of a lot better than I do."

>You practically collapse onto the floor. The red-haired woman frowns for a moment, then looks to Chiyuri. "Go make sure that Ruukoto doesn't burn down the laundry."
>"Yeah, sure," says Chiyuri, as she leaves the room and closes the door.
>The woman ponders for a moment, then nods. "I am none other than Yumemi Okazaki, but you are one of the few I would expect not to know that. As for why you are here, I can only guess. I am most certainly aware of how you got here, but that is not the same thing."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "If you know how I got here, then you have to know who else was on that thing and what it was doing in my home."

[Hello Purvis]

> "If you know how I got here, then you have to know who else was on that thing and what it was doing in my home."

>"I am well aware it was that rat Sombraluz," says Yumemi. "And while I indeed have some educated guesses on what he was up to, I do not have them confirmed just yet. And you, I can only surmise."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Long story short, we've been playing cat and mouse ever since he threw me headfirst into a stone wall when I tried to waylay him. Whatever nonsense he's responsible for here, he's provoking shenanigans back home, too. I was tracking him when I found your thing with his maid in it, and after getting drugged by her, now I'm here."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Long story short, we've been playing cat and mouse ever since he threw me headfirst into a stone wall when I tried to waylay him. Whatever nonsense he's responsible for here, he's provoking shenanigans back home, too. I was tracking him when I found your thing with his maid in it, and after getting drugged by her, now I'm here."

>"Hmm," says Yumemi, running her chin. "I see. yes. Mmm."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "He was working closely with a woman with blue loopy hair. It sounds like she has a bunch of jiang shi thanks to him. I don't know how, though."

[Hello Purvis]

> "He was working closely with a woman with blue loopy hair. It sounds like she has a bunch of jiang shi thanks to him. I don't know how, though."

>"Ah, I am not familiar with such a person," says Yumemi. "One of your people?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I guess. Thinking back on their conversation and knowing what I know about the guy now, it did seem like he was in a hurry to leave and she didn't want him to go, so it's very possible. She was trying to wake up a prince, or something. Didn't get very far with her before all this."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I guess. Thinking back on their conversation and knowing what I know about the guy now, it did seem like he was in a hurry to leave and she didn't want him to go, so it's very possible. She was trying to wake up a prince, or something. Didn't get very far with her before all this."

>"Ah" says Yumemi. "Well, I could scarcely  what he'd want with a prince; the empire interests rum more toward other toppling governments than supporting them. Unless they promised something? Hmm. Perhaps use of those jiang-shi you mentioned?" She frowns, looking in the distance. "No... yes?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "He didn't seem to care all that much about this prince. I'd guess he didn't care about the blue-haired woman at all if I could think of an explanation as to why he was associating with her in the first place."

[Hello Purvis]

> "He didn't seem to care all that much about this prince. I'd guess he didn't care about the blue-haired woman at all if I could think of an explanation as to why he was associating with her in the first place."

>"Ah...oh, I understand now!" says Yumemi, "Yes, of course! Clearly he was using this person for his own designs! Now, as to the nature of these designs..."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "That I couldn't...well...hold on."
> Put on a thoughtful look for a couple of seconds.
> "...Actually, now that I think on it, he did seem to expect he would meet this prince at some point. I hear this Emperor putz in this place wants to invade Gensokyo. Maybe he thinks it will be a lot easier to have a resident prince on his side before he goes in?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "That I couldn't...well...hold on."
> Put on a thoughtful look for a couple of seconds.
> "...Actually, now that I think on it, he did seem to expect he would meet this prince at some point. I hear this Emperor putz in this place wants to invade Gensokyo. Maybe he thinks it will be a lot easier to have a resident prince on his side before he goes in?"

>"Ah, yes, that is certainly something he would do!" says Yumemi. "But...is there a prince? I don't remember such a person, when I visited..."

>_

[Hanzo K.]

>"How long ago did you show up last anyhow? Because a lot of stuff's happened."

[Hello Purvis]

>"How long ago did you show up last anyhow? Because a lot of stuff's happened."

>"Ah, a couple years ago," says Yumemi. "What sort of things have happened?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Shrug.
> "That doesn't really help my frame of reference, since I don't pay too much attention to regular Gensokyo activity. Maybe you could tell me what was going on when you were there?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Shrug.
> "That doesn't really help my frame of reference, since I don't pay too much attention to regular Gensokyo activity. Maybe you could tell me what was going on when you were there?"

>"That is a little tricky," says Yumemi. "I was only there for a few days, but everyone told me that I had been gone for months. Long enough for Canus to take over, at least..."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Do we still remember anything about the circumstances surrounding a particularly bizarre dream from a few years ago?
> "That's pretty strange. What did you do there?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Do we still remember anything about the circumstances surrounding a particularly bizarre dream from a few years ago?
> "That's pretty strange. What did you do there?"

>Oh, that thing! You've not thought about that in ages. You remember being in a weird city of huge stone buildings, living on strange stone streets as an aggressive beggar and sometimes mugger. You were human, but your legs were lame and you had to get around on a board with little wheels on it. You are sure there were other details, but they aren't coming to you.
>"It was for the sake of research, of course!" she says. "I expected to move around quietly and observe the world, but when we found that our instruments had been tampered with, telling us the date was wrong, naturally we came back before something else could go wrong. Then we found months had past, and Canus had dissolved Parliament!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Do we remember anything about the passage of time in regards to that dream? When it was before going to sleep, and when it was after we woke up? Perhaps how long the dream felt like it lasted?
> "Well, okay, but what did you do there? Did you visit the red-white shrine maiden, or maybe the black-white witch? Maybe the human village, or the mansion by the lake, or the mansion in the Bamboo Forest? I assume you didn't try to see the oni city underground, since I would've seen you on the way."

[Hello Purvis]

> Do we remember anything about the passage of time in regards to that dream? When it was before going to sleep, and when it was after we woke up? Perhaps how long the dream felt like it lasted?
> "Well, okay, but what did you do there? Did you visit the red-white shrine maiden, or maybe the black-white witch? Maybe the human village, or the mansion by the lake, or the mansion in the Bamboo Forest? I assume you didn't try to see the oni city underground, since I would've seen you on the way."

>You don't pay much attention to the calender, but you recall that being a fairly short spring...
>"Ah, I kept to the shadows," says Yumemi. "Well, I did visit a friend I made there, a Miss Rikako, to catch up on some things. But alas, she favors her solitude with her lover, so she could only tell me some basic things."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

If anyone wants to keep Yumemi conversation going while I am not around, I highly recommend brushing up on your Utsuho Quest history.

> "Huh. I'm not sure what there is to say, then. I know there was some nonsense several months back about money turning into jewels, and I think I heard about the sky falling a couple of years ago. Nothing weird about the passage of time in either of those cases, though. Hmm...the only thing I can remember that would have had a weird passage of time was a bizarre dream I had a few years ago where I was a human in a place that wasn't normal Gensokyo. There were a lot of tall stone buildings, for one thing."