Kisume Quest VIII - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Try to be discreet as we look, too.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look to the right a bit. If we don't notice anything, assume Kasen will explain, and wait for her to do so.

> Try to be discreet as we look, too.

>You look over as discreetly as you can, and nothing catches your eye at first.
>"That footprint," says Kasen.
>...Oh, there is a footprint, isn't there? Huh, it looks a bit small, certainly no soldier made it.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is there just the one?
> Is it fresh?
> Are we and Kasen in the rear of the group, or are there Kosans behind us? Other than the group guarding the Model Seven.

[Hello Purvis]

> Is there just the one?
> Is it fresh?
> Are we and Kasen in the rear of the group, or are there Kosans behind us? Other than the group guarding the Model Seven.

>You just see the one, you don't know if the rest of the ground is soft enough to hold more.
>You really have no idea, footprints weren't much of a thing in Higan or Underground. It doesn't seem to be old.
>You have been trailing near the back; there's a couple Kosan soldiers that are roughly abreast with you, and VIVIT, who is trailing behind a bit.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take on an equally quiet voice.
> "Yep."

[Hello Purvis]

> Take on an equally quiet voice.
> "Yep."

>"Someone was here," says Kasen says. "Recently."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yep."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yep."

>"So, do you think it means anything?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Maybe. Might just be a fairy."

[Hanzo K.]

>Does it look like it might be the size of a fairy's foot?

[Hello Purvis]

> "Maybe. Might just be a fairy."

>She nods. "That's probably not for the best, if it is so."

>Does it look like it might be the size of a fairy's foot?

>It could be. If it were, it'd be a fairly sizable faerie. But you have encountered such.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

I'm honestly not sure of the optimal path here. We could keep quiet and try not to get whoever it is involved, or we could point it out so the rest of the group doesn't freak out when they run across someone unfamiliar.

I have a sneaking meta suspicion it's Kogasa, because wouldn't that just be the greatest luck ever.

[Hanzo K.]

I was thinking it was Cirno or something, given our proximity to the SDM. Isn't she always around that lake anyhow?

[O4rfish]

I vote we do nothing. It's a footprint, and we just landed here after a trip of who knows how long. How can we put that in perspective if we don't know the situation?

[Hanzo K.]

Well, why don't we ask Kasen how recent she thinks it is?

[Kilgamayan]

Hmm, we might be able to get away with that without losing anything.

> "How recently, do you think?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "How recently, do you think?"

>"It seems very fresh," says Kasen.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

Hmm. That change any minds?

> Does anyone else appear to have noticed the footprint?

[O4rfish]

It's still just a footprint, and not a very distinctive-looking one. We kinda have more important things to deal with, don't we?

[Hello Purvis]

> Does anyone else appear to have noticed the footprint?

>"Not that you can tell."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Go to bed and get better, parser.

I have to admit a meta-itch to pursue this footprint. I don't think Kasen would be making a deal out of it if it wasn't important. (Also, as loathe as I am to feel this way, especially since we've gone so long without anyone trying to angle toward this conclusion, a small part of me wonders if it's Koishi.)

On the other hand, pursuing this could get someone needlessly involved in this entire mess, and there's no telling how much it would delay our trek to Higan.

On the other other hand, we don't actually need to reach Higan - if the Model Seven gets busted up, then all major good guy goals are accomplished and all that's left is the mop-up duty of making sure the soldiers are declawed so they don't wreak any sort of havoc on their way down. If whoever this is (apparently likely to not be a fairy) can help with that somehow, then it'd be worth the delay to the place we may end up not needing to visit anyway.

[Hanzo K.]

Funnily enough, Koishi was also on my considerations list. Strange minds think alike, as they say.

[Kilgamayan]

After pondering it some more, I'm not sure how much time this would actually lose, nor am I sure it would actually get an innocent involved, so I'm going to go ahead with it.

> Give a terse nod, then point at the footprint and take on a normal tone.
> "Heads up, folks."

[Hello Purvis]

> Give a terse nod, then point at the footprint and take on a normal tone.
> "Heads up, folks."

>"What did you find?" says Sombraluz, as the group's general attention turns your way.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Give a small jab toward the footprint with our pointing finger for a little extra emphasis.
> "Someone's been here."

[Hello Purvis]

> Give a small jab toward the footprint with our pointing finger for a little extra emphasis.
> "Someone's been here."

>"Do you have any idea who?" says the Emperor. "Or merely someone?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Don't know. Unless they added something to the water here while I was gone, that footprint's too big to be a fairy's. But doesn't exactly narrow it down a lot."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Don't know. Unless they added something to the water here while I was gone, that footprint's too big to be a fairy's. But doesn't exactly narrow it down a lot."

>"You heard her," says the Agent, looking to the soldiers. "Stay wary, we're looking for someone approximately three and a half to four feet fall. Do not underestimate such a person if you encounter him or her, we've seen what even the small ones can do."
>With that, the troops resume their course.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

Well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been.

> Follow along!

[Hello Purvis]

> Follow along!

>You follow along. The soldiers continue ahead, keeping wary. After a few minutes, you hear. "Up ahead, twenty degrees west, in the tree!"
>"Why hello there, young one!" comes a squeaky high-pitched voice, distant enough to be a little difficult to hear properly.

>_