Kisume Quest VIII - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> Stop moving.

>"So," says Kasen, "that was your doing?"
>There is a sigh from the speaker. "You may open your eyes now, too. Well, unless you would like to keep them closed? That is fine, as well."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Open our eyes and take in what's going on.

[Hello Purvis]

> Open our eyes and take in what's going on.

>You open your eyes and find yourself standing outside a modest-looking house near worn dirt road, in the middle of an field of grass. A tall blonde-haired youkai stands nearby, wearing a white gown and resting an open parasol on her shoulder, watching you and Kasen with an unreadable expression. Kasen glares at the youkai, while massaging her head with her unbandaged hand.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Have we seen her before?

[Hello Purvis]

> Have we seen her before?

>You have not. But you are reasonably certain, but having a few moments to center yourself, that you are outside the home you had hitherto been doing your best to avoid based on Nue's warnings.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "What the..."
> Look around for the Kosan team and Sariel with a look of mind confusion.

[Hello Purvis]

> "What the..."
> Look around for the Kosan team and Sariel with a look of mind confusion.

>You look around, and do not see them at all.
>"Now," says the youkai, "I think we can converse comfortably here, and I'm sure you both have quite a lot of explaining you would like to do for me."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Look back to the woman.
> "How much do you already know?'

[Hello Purvis]

> Look back to the woman.
> "How much do you already know?'

>"Hmm, well, I'm a little behind the times," says the youkai. "But, allow me to summarize. I am well aware that the vessel you arrived on has passed into Gensokyo before, and left it. I'm also aware that it seems to have come with quite a few soldiers carrying weapons quite a bit out of place, and that the two of you seemed to be aiding them."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take off the translator and frown.
> "Of course it looked that way. I'm not so amazing that I could just tell those guys I was going to stab them in the back and survive long enough to actually do it."
> Shrug.
> "But I'm guessing that's not really what you want to hear right now, is it? The gist of it is that the one guy in the fancy-pants cape is the ruler of a massive outside world empire. They've been scouting Gensokyo for a while with the intention of conquering it, but it sounds like those plans got put on hold once he found out that the blue winged woman had been feeding him lies about Higan for years in an effort to trick him into getting revenge on Higan for her through military conquest. We were actually on our way to dump her off at the Sanzu."

[Hello Purvis]

> Take off the translator and frown.
> "Of course it looked that way. I'm not so amazing that I could just tell those guys I was going to stab them in the back and survive long enough to actually do it."
> Shrug.
> "But I'm guessing that's not really what you want to hear right now, is it? The gist of it is that the one guy in the fancy-pants cape is the ruler of a massive outside world empire. They've been scouting Gensokyo for a while with the intention of conquering it, but it sounds like those plans got put on hold once he found out that the blue winged woman had been feeding him lies about Higan for years in an effort to trick him into getting revenge on Higan for her through military conquest. We were actually on our way to dump her off at the Sanzu."

>"Blue-winged woman?" says the youkai.

>_

[O4rfish]

>"Sariel, a shinigami."

[O4rfish]

>"She was angry with Higan, and wanted this empire to invade Gensokyo as revenge. We managed to convince the emperor that she was untrustworthy, so he was bringing her here in order to get more reliable information. "

[Kilgamayan]

> "She was the unconscious one being dragged along by a couple of those soldiers."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sariel, a shinigami."

>"She was angry with Higan, and wanted this empire to invade Gensokyo as revenge. We managed to convince the emperor that she was untrustworthy, so he was bringing her here in order to get more reliable information. "

> "She was the unconscious one being dragged along by a couple of those soldiers."

>"Ah, is that where Sariel got off to?" says the youkai.
>She waves a hand to Kasen. "You may sit down, the grass over there is dry. I would have warned you to close your eyes, but I image that you didn't want to risk letting the soldiers know what was happening. "
>"Fine," says Kasen. "I'm through with today, anyways."
>"Now," says the youkai, looking back to you and giving you a smile that belies her tone, "do elaborate a bit on that invasion, please?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "The emperor wanted to make an historical name for his country by punching a hole in reality and beating up the strange magical creatures on the other side. What you saw before you did whatever you did is just a drop in the bucket of his forces. Of course, since his country is a dictatorship and he's a narcissictic megalomaniac that hasn't appointed a successor yet, all we have to do is cut off the snake's head and the body will die."

[Hello Purvis]

> "The emperor wanted to make an historical name for his country by punching a hole in reality and beating up the strange magical creatures on the other side. What you saw before you did whatever you did is just a drop in the bucket of his forces. Of course, since his country is a dictatorship and he's a narcissictic megalomaniac that hasn't appointed a successor yet, all we have to do is cut off the snake's head and the body will die."

>"Mmm, we can't have that," says the youkai. "Now, what can you tell me about how they managed to arrive here?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "They used some weird machine created by a professor of theirs. Pretty egocentric herself, but she's fighting the good fight in this case, so no worries. She's actually been here before herself a few times. In fact, do you remember that weirdo dream from a few years ago? She was in Gensokyo when it hit and she got affected too. Sounds like that dream did something screwy with time, because she was gone from her home for several months because of it, and when she got back that emperor guy had taken over and suddenly she was persona non grata."
> Blink.
> "You knew who Sariel was without us naming her, maybe you've heard of her to. Yumemi Okazaki? You know that name? I think she's met the red-white before."

[Hello Purvis]

> "They used some weird machine created by a professor of theirs. Pretty egocentric herself, but she's fighting the good fight in this case, so no worries. She's actually been here before herself a few times. In fact, do you remember that weirdo dream from a few years ago? She was in Gensokyo when it hit and she got affected too. Sounds like that dream did something screwy with time, because she was gone from her home for several months because of it, and when she got back that emperor guy had taken over and suddenly she was persona non grata."
> Blink.
> "You knew who Sariel was without us naming her, maybe you've heard of her to. Yumemi Okazaki? You know that name? I think she's met the red-white before."

>"Oh, I familiar with that name," says the youkai, as her grin widens. "In fact, I would like you to tell me all about her and her work."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Uh, I don't know a whole lot about what she does, other than her seeming mighty impressed by this."
> Conjure some demon fire in one hand.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Uh, I don't know a whole lot about what she does, other than her seeming mighty impressed by this."
> Conjure some demon fire in one hand.

>She glances at your demon fire and says, "Well, that is very nice. But is that all you can tell me about her? What is her role in this whole debacle."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Aside from making that machine originally and then having it taken from her? She was the major and pretty much only rebel party against the empire. Her and her assistant, and a machine woman of theirs."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Aside from making that machine originally and then having it taken from her? She was the major and pretty much only rebel party against the empire. Her and her assistant, and a machine woman of theirs."

>"Ah, that is good," says the youkai. "I would have been very displeased if she went along with the idea."
>She smiles again. "I do believe you've quite made my day. I find myself in your debt."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Look slightly taken aback.
> "Oh, um, well...really? Well...thanks. Uh, what happened to the others, anyway?"

[Kilgamayan]

A few thoughts.

I would still like to dump Sariel off like a sack of potatoes on the Sanzu shores, half because I want to see that through to the end and half because I want to stick it to the 'rents. Assuming Yukari hasn't flat-out killed the Kosan team and is just holding them captive somewhere, I' also like to free VIVIT, because I feel kinda bad that she got caught up in this and we know she's not designed for combat so the damage she'd do, if any, would be minimal. There's also the consideration that Yumemi could take yer back to Kosa and upload her memory of this experience so as to serve as a warning to any fledgling megalomaniacs.

The rest of them I don't care enough about to put up a fight on their behalf. Canus obviously has to stay gone. The soldiers I can take or leave. I would kinda like to see Sombraluz go free but that's strictly because I think he's a neat character - I can't justify it in-character, especially since there's no way he'll ever trust us again after this.

Anyone else have any opinions?

[Hanzo K.]

Well, there is the whole fact that 'luz is just doing what he's paid to. I'm pretty sure we can rationalize that way. Bein' the sort who'd also 'just do what we're paid to.' That is, if we got paid to do things.
Sure, he did kinda get the drop on us, and drug us, but he hasn't really done anything else afterwards. Plus, he's been a pretty okay guy aside from the aforementioned bits. I'd think Kisume would be all '..Huh. Aside from the things he did a while back, he ain't so bad.'
Plus, him going free doesn't necessarily mean free in Gensokyo. He could easily get punted back to Kosa, we've got Yukari batting on our team for the time after all.

[Kilgamayan]

Perhaps. I do also worry slightly about him being a dangerous individual, Yukari or no Yukari. He could do some damage on his way down.

[Hanzo K.]

Possible, but there's a way to possibly get around that as well. 'Where there's a will, there's a way.' As they say. Yukari's a sharp one, I'm sure she's already got it all planned out on how to do it with as little risk as possible.

[O4rfish]

Sending the soldiers back without Sombraluz would lead to a power vacuum, and Yummy probably wouldn't be able to wrest control before chaos ensued. Sending Sombraluz back would give him an opportunity for a smooth government transition.
Of course, Yukari is able to mess around with Kosa how she wishes, but who knows how much she really wants to. She probably wouldn't be agreeable to further boundary modifications, meaning the ship has to be destroyed.

[Kilgamayan]

I agree that she'd likely be unhappy if unpleasant Kosan forces were allowed access to and from Gensokyo, but I wonder if she finds Yumemi sufficiently amusing that her visitation is permissible. (Remember her treatment of the heretics in MariQ?)

I had been planning on asking about Yumemi visitation, actually - I guess we'll find out when we get to that point.

(I also assume this means no one objects to releasing Sariel or VIVIT.)