(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 12)

[DracoOmega]

>Of course, if we knew how out of the way, exactly, we'd hardly need to ask about it, but we can stow the snark for now.
>"Wish I could say myself. But I'm pretty light on the details."

>There is measured pause. "If it was particularly remarkable," she says, "then I suspect not. But one could certainly tuck away a garden in the woods if one wanted to, and expect few people to come upon it."

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "You can see my problem. Supposedly, it's a place where you can find about every kind of flower under the sun and then some, in bloom, and all year round. Or so the legend I heard goes."

[DracoOmega]

>Nod. "You can see my problem. Supposedly, it's a place where you can find about every kind of flower under the sun and then some, in bloom, and all year round. Or so the legend I heard goes."

>"Not a legend I'm familiar with," she says. "In fact, I found little of worth there at all, aside from some minor archaeological curiosities; certainly nothing that grandiose."
>Though if she thinks the idea laughable, she's good at not letting it show.

[Oldmansour]

>Glance around to see if the mention of that legend drew anyone else's attentions.

[DracoOmega]

>Glance around to see if the mention of that legend drew anyone else's attentions.

>You glance around; while some people seem to be listening in, no one seems ready to volunteer any useful information. Sheska is focused raptly on her game, and Sachi is at least looking in that direction rather than yours. Without question, the most attentive of the bunch is Kyouko herself, for all the good that does you now.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, at least she looks cute while being attentive.
>Let us be polite. "What sort of curiousities?"

[DracoOmega]

>Well, at least she looks cute while being attentive.
>Let us be polite. "What sort of curiousities?"

>She... she does, doesn't she?
>"Just some small bits of minutia from long-crumbled outposts," she says. "Bits of weathered foundation stone, fragments of ruined mining gear - most of purely academic value. Mostly, that is all that is left."
>"All that is left," Kyouko begins, "of what?"
>Riza's gaze turns slightly toward your companion and there is another, briefer pause.
>"There were once several small outposts and mining camps in that area," she replies, "Mostly they predate Val Razua altogether, but however many centuries ago their deposits ran dry, there is little there left to exploit."
>"Or somebody would already be doing it," Sachi adds with a snicker, then slides one of her soldiers towards its future victory.

[Oldmansour]

>Hmmm thoughtfully.
>Did either Bosqueverde or Daiyousei mention how long Yuuka's been around?

[DracoOmega]

>Hmmm thoughtfully.
>Did either Bosqueverde or Daiyousei mention how long Yuuka's been around?

>You don't think Professor Bosqueverde mentioned one way or the other, though Dai hesitated at the idea that is was an 'old legend' and seemed to suspect that her sisters had once visited the garden's location before a garden could be found there. Though she also admitted it may simply have been well-hidden.

[Oldmansour]

>Did she give any indication of how long ago said visit took place?

[DracoOmega]

>Did she give any indication of how long ago said visit took place?

>She did not, though you're not certain how reliable a fairy's sense of the passage of time would be anyway.

[Oldmansour]

>"Still might be useful to me. If this Yuuka is in full-on recluse mode, she wouldn't have set up her shop anywhere near sites where people might come around. Well, unless she's got some serious hiding magic, but, one bridge at a time."
>"Gotta know where not to look as well as where, sometimes, after all."

[DracoOmega]

>"Still might be useful to me. If this Yuuka is in full-on recluse mode, she wouldn't have set up her shop anywhere near sites where people might come around. Well, unless she's got some serious hiding magic, but, one bridge at a time."
>"Gotta know where not to look as well as where, sometimes, after all."

>"If you're thinking these sites are still traveled," Riza says, "largely they are not. Mostly they are even forgotten, and there was certainly not enough of exploitable value to attempt to reopen any of them. Unless you were referring to something else?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, you said 'academic value', so I figured the eggheads from the university might be out there now and then."
>Pause. "Unless they've picked it over by now."

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, you said 'academic value', so I figured the eggheads from the university might be out there now and then."
>Pause. "Unless they've picked it over by now."

>"I think they had largely satisfied themselves long before that expedition," she says, "and even that was years ago, at any rate. Perhaps someone does go there now and again, but the same could be said for anywhere else in that wood."

[Oldmansour]

>"Probably wouldn't be a place a reclusive youkai gardener likes to hang, anyway. Probably want a valley near a river, or something like that. Nice and out of the way."
>How recent were the maps we saw back at the library? Did they reveal anything like what we just mentioned?

[DracoOmega]

>"Probably wouldn't be a place a reclusive youkai gardener likes to hang, anyway. Probably want a valley near a river, or something like that. Nice and out of the way."

>Kyouko nods. "Nice and out of the way."
>"An old mining camp wouldn't be my first thought on where to stick a garden," Sachi adds offhandedly. "But who knows? Maybe she thought it could use some sprucing up."
>"I wouldn't presume to guess," Riza says simply.

>How recent were the maps we saw back at the library? Did they reveal anything like what we just mentioned?

>You are not sure the dates on the maps, though they were certainly far more recent than any of these sites Riza mentioned would have to be. And while the sites themselves were not marked, there were some old trails that could possibly be suggestive of old settlement routes. Or perhaps they were just little-used hunting paths; you couldn't say for sure.

[Oldmansour]

Purvis, Hanzo, either of you think of anything else to ask this bunch?

[Oldmansour]

Oh. Duh.

>"Don't suppose there's someone around who'd be an expert on local legends like this, would there?"

[Hello Purvis]

I think we ought to be asking about Isir's Cross itself.

[DracoOmega]

>"Don't suppose there's someone around who'd be an expert on local legends like this, would there?"

>"I spent very little time in the village while I was there," Riza says. "And folklore wasn't something I inquired about."
>"Sumiko knows all kinds of old legends," Kyouko offers helpfully. "Stuff most people have forgotten all about."

[Oldmansour]

>Did she mention a village before?
>We didn't ask the elder miko about Yuuka, did we?

[DracoOmega]

>Did she mention a village before?
>We didn't ask the elder miko about Yuuka, did we?

>There is a village a short distance east from the fort, on the other of the river; you are familiar with its existence from maps, though you don't think it's very large.
>You did not.

[Oldmansour]

>"Sorry, should have phrased that different. I meant around town here, or among us Seekers."
>To Kyouko, "Think she'd know about an ancient youkai gardener who doesn't like visitors?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Sorry, should have phrased that different. I meant around town here, or among us Seekers."
>To Kyouko, "Think she'd know about an ancient youkai gardener who doesn't like visitors?"

>"You could try the Academy," Riza says. "Their information is greater than most."
>There is a pause. "She might!"
>"Ancient legends..." Sachi muses, absently sliding one of her pieces forward; her companion's gaze hardens, though the rabbit seems not to notice. "I'm no expert, but I got a pretty good memory and I don't think this one's ringing any bells, sorry." She snickers. "Fact, I think the last time I heard 'ancient youkai' and 'plants' in the same sentence was about that nasty business during the last war, down south."
>Sheska's stare bores holes into the army arrayed before her.

[Oldmansour]

I get the feeling I've asked this before, but,

>Do we know what war she's referring to? Or any idea what sort of 'business' went on in that area she might be referring to?

[DracoOmega]

>Do we know what war she's referring to? Or any idea what sort of 'business' went on in that area she might be referring to?

>You imagine she's referring to the Wild Surge, about half a century ago, where a nearly unprecedented level of coordinated aggression from the youkai of the Wild Lands threatened to overrun Hanashibara altogether. It was only through a military alliance with Higan that they managed to avert the worst, though it was still a bitter conflict and many outlying regions were lost and never regained. As for the 'business', a great lot of 'business' happened during that war and it isn't immediately obvious what Sachi might be referring to here, though your knowledge of those events is rudimentary at best.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "Academy was actually my next stop, after I was all done here."
>To Sachi, "What sort of 'nasty business?'"

[DracoOmega]

>Nod. "Academy was actually my next stop, after I was all done here."
>To Sachi, "What sort of 'nasty business?'"

>Riza returns your nod in composed silence.
>"Well, Vela Roja was torn apart by creeper vines, yeah? And the lasherblooms that cut off Shiromori until they burned the whole place down? Or the pollen at the Battle of Nemubochi?" Sachi snickers. "Not like it's a short list. Anyhow, rumor had it some incredibly old and powerful plant youkai was the mastermind behind all that. Not sure anyone ever found out who it was, though." She shakes her head and shrugs. "Assuming that's even right in the first place. Coulda been a magician of some kind, or even a half-dozen different people. It was a mess down there."
>Kyouko frowns, eyeing the bellflower in her hands a little sadly.

[Oldmansour]

>Where did that professor bosqueverde say she was from? And what do we know of it?
>Assuming she mentioned when it was destroyed, would that line up with the timing of the Surge?