Yukari Quest II - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> What on Earth...
> We were watching where we were going when we entered the frond field,yes? Which means we weren't watching the cloth?

>You keeping an eye on the path ahead of you. Not that you can really sense through the gaps without your mirror and such.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Oh, so Gensokyo isn't visible through the gap?

[Hello Purvis]

> Oh, so Gensokyo isn't visible through the gap?

>No. The gaps are quite opaque to the naked eye. Were it not for the current state of the borders, you could sense through them a little, even now.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

Well, that's deeply bothersome. Not only did we (okay, I) vaporize our life partner AND the Hakurei shrine maiden, crossing over by one millimeter is apparently enough to vaporize something that's anchored to Gensokyo.

I might want to bring one more rock with us just to watch the vaporization in action, but otherwise, I think we may need to stay abyss-side until things start coming back.

[Kilgamayan]

> Let's try this one more time...
> Head back to Gensokyo, pick up a rock, then head back through the gap to the frond field, holding the rock out in front of us at roughly eye level so we can see what happens to it.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's try this one more time...
> Head back to Gensokyo, pick up a rock, then head back through the gap to the frond field, holding the rock out in front of us at roughly eye level so we can see what happens to it.

>You pick up a rock and hold it out in front of you, then enter the gap. It seems to pass through the gap properly, but you can feel that It isn't. It just vanishes when it passes through, and you cannot feel it on your hand anymore past that point. There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about it it's vanishing, none of that grayish mist or anything. It simply ceases to be as it passes through the boundary.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Is this the real life?
>Is this just fantasy?
>So if we had our magnifying glass solving this mystery would be a lot easier?

[Hello Purvis]

>Is this the real life?
>Is this just fantasy?
>So if we had our magnifying glass solving this mystery would be a lot easier?

>You have died in a landslide.
>You are certain of this. Though you are also certain you can get to the bottom of this without it, you feel you're close to a breakthrough.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

"You're close to a breakthrough."

I guess this would be one of these situations where spending an insight point would give us an information but wouldn't actually use it that Purvis spoke about. Not that I'm actually yhinking of testing that considering we only have one left.

Now, Kilga, mind sharing your thoughts on the subject? As far as we know it seems like Abyss-Side is a completely different plane of reality, or completely outside of reality as we know it. I have little else of thought and I'm pretty much as stumped as you are, I believe.

We also need to give that place a proper name, Abyss Dimension fine by you guys?

> List of Gaps we still haven't checked in this weird place.

[Kilgamayan]

I haven't had the time to sit down and thing about the situation properly and I won't until next Monday at the earliest. The one thing I want to figure out is why certain things have not gone poof. We're still wearing our dress, and our tools are fine, but the underwear and socks we previously had on within the abyssal dimension vaporized alongside everything else that came from Gensokyo. There must be a pattern, I just have no idea what it is.

[Mr. Sacchi]

You mind if I chase after whatever lead purvis gives us in the next post? Or do you want to keep testing more stuff with rocks through the border and the like?

[Kilgamayan]

I'm good for the time being. The only things left I'd consider doing would require a witness, and I'm not dragging more people into this than absolutely necessary.

[Hello Purvis]

> List of Gaps we still haven't checked in this weird place.

>There are a few. There is the one in the crystal palace, which you will need your vice grips to open. There is one where the fold in the field of fronds was thick and you did some repairs to borders there. There is one that leads back to the caverns, which is very unstable. There is one near the chasm in the caverns which you were unable to hold open long enough to use previously, and there is one you have yet to investigate in the statue chamber.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>List of what has disappeared in transit, and what hasn't, over all gappings to this place.

[Hello Purvis]

>List of what has disappeared in transit, and what hasn't, over all gappings to this place.

>Do you mean moving between Gensokyo and the abyss? If so: You have seen several rocks vanish, your hat, a brassier, a length of cloth, and two of the people you regard most fondly.
>If you mean when intially coming to the Abyss, you lost your tools and your clothing. Granted, you weren't actually wearing the latter when you came here, as they were rather strewn about during prior activities. But you've found some of them, which leads you to believe they followed you here. You did have your blanket when you awoke here; you aren't sure if that means the futon followed you or not. It would help if you had some idea how you actually arrived, but there have been no clues thus far...

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

>There are a few. There is the one in the crystal palace, which you will need your vice grips to open. There is one where the fold in the field of fronds was thick and you did some repairs to borders there. There is one that leads back to the caverns, which is very unstable. There is one near the chasm in the caverns which you were unable to hold open long enough to use previously, and there is one you have yet to investigate in the statue chamber.

> You're... not really giving us many options here, purvis :V

> What would we need to make the border between here and the caves stable?

> Proceed to the gap where the fold in the field is thick. Use to fold itself to get to it if necessary. We can't afford to get lost.

[Hello Purvis]

> You're... not really giving us many options here, purvis :V

> What would we need to make the border between here and the caves stable?

> Proceed to the gap where the fold in the field is thick. Use to fold itself to get to it if necessary. We can't afford to get lost.

>You ain't no Vic Viper, son.
>You aren't certain, you would need to examine it.
>You begin your trek back toward the gap where the fold is thick. By this point, there is little to do to fill the time and the field hardly provides much in the way of stimulation, you've gotten sick of trying to find some pattern to the pink motes of light. You try not to let your worries about Ran and Reimu get to you too strongly, but it's hard not to think back on it. You are certain they have to be okay, there's no way the gap could have actually harmed them. Unless the strange nature of this place has affected your gaps in some way you cannot detect in the slightest, they can't have come to harm. It must be a question of whether they were taken elsewhere or whether they ere actually there at all. However, the possibility of something affecting your gaps outside of your notice, however improbably, does leave you uncomfortably queasy.   You find yourself almost grateful that the food you had didn't sate you, you are starting to feel peckish, and serves as a good distraction.
>You don't know how long it takes for you to get back, closer to two hours than one, you estimate. You can feel the gap here, now that you know to look for it, spread out among the  fold. It should be easy to use now that you have your pliers.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> What was the reason we couldn't use this gap before?

[Yaersulf]

Possible explanation of why we our dress didn't dissapear unlike everything else: We've been finding pieces of our clothing as we go, and it is possible that this dress was pulled in with us. For that matter...

>Is this the same dress we were wearing the night before?

[Hello Purvis]

> What was the reason we couldn't use this gap before?

>It was dispersed too widely.

>Is this the same dress we were wearing the night before?

>It's certainly the same design, but you do keep a few of them. You think it may be the same one, though, now that you consider it.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Then proceed to work on the gap. With our pliers it should be no trouble, right?

[Hello Purvis]

> Then proceed to work on the gap. With our pliers it should be no trouble, right?

>You set to it, and quickly gather the gap together and open it properly. You feel relieved to have something work properly.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Go through!

[Hello Purvis]

> Go through!

>You step through the gap, mentally preparing yourself for what lays on the other side.
>The first thing you see are the trees. Trees everywhere, creating a vibrant forest. The air is fresh and clear, and much less heavy than the field of fronds, setting your ears ringing for the umpteenth time today. Looking around, you see trees everywhere, creating a thick canopy blots out the sky above. The trees do not look familiar at all, they certainly aren't the kinds you are used to back home, nor do they seem to really resemble trees that you've seen elsewhere. There doesn't seem to be any single kind, you can pick out several distinct types of tree just glancing around, but none of them seem like anything you've seen before. Some are tall and thin, others short and squat, some have many leaves, others only seem to have sprouted a few. Some a narrow, to the point of being unnatural, and others sprawl out more than any baobab you have seen.  Some of them have branches that extend at strange angles, others seem to have grown diagonally rather than vertical. Some seem to have mosses growing on them, others are quite clean of such things. 
>Through the ringing in your ears, you also notice that the forest is quiet, You cannot here anything like animal or insect life.  The borders are also the same here as they have been elsewhere.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Take a good moment to recompose ourselves.

> Once the ringing has stopped, take into the fresh air. A nice change, at least.

> Is there any path that we can see?

> Does it seem like we could crest the canopy?

> Attempt flight.

[Hello Purvis]

> Take a good moment to recompose ourselves.

> Once the ringing has stopped, take into the fresh air. A nice change, at least.

> Is there any path that we can see?

> Does it seem like we could crest the canopy?

> Attempt flight.

>You take a moment to compose yourself and take in the air while waiting for your ears to stop ringing.  The forest remains silent, and less immediately hostile than some of the places you have been.  Looking around, you don't see anything like a path, but there are a couple places where the trees are less thick and you could walk through easily. Normally you would use the moss on the trees to judge the direction, but it doesn't seem the moss here adheres to that rule so you decide to designate one to the north and the other to the east.
>You could probably find a tree to climb and look over the canopy; they seem to vary in height enough that some will tower above the majority of the rest. However, you would have to be careful, you can't imagine how humiliating it would be to fall out of a tree.
>You attempt to fly, and meet with no luck.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> We can deal with humiliation considering we're very likely to be the only ones here.

> Once our ears stop ringing fully, carefully climb one of the tallest-looking trees and look over the canopy.

[Hello Purvis]

> We can deal with humiliation considering we're very likely to be the only ones here.

> Once our ears stop ringing fully, carefully climb one of the tallest-looking trees and look over the canopy.

>You decide you're probably alone enough.
>Looking around, you don't seen any trees that are really suitable for climbing. A few civilizations have risen and fallen since you last did this, though, so you are a bit rusty at it. There's one might work despite your misgivings, but you aren't fully confident in it.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Sigh and let it be then, especially since we're rusty, last thing we want is getting unnecessarily hurt.

> Assuming that by "one to the north and one to the east" (this isn't completely clear tbh) you mean that there's a pseudo-path one each of these directions, proceed north but keep careful track of where we're going so that we can get back here easily, either to leave or go the other path.

> While walking, keep an eye out for a tree we assume is good enough for climbing.

[Hello Purvis]

> Sigh and let it be then, especially since we're rusty, last thing we want is getting unnecessarily hurt.

> Assuming that by "one to the north and one to the east" (this isn't completely clear tbh) you mean that there's a pseudo-path one each of these directions, proceed north but keep careful track of where we're going so that we can get back here easily, either to leave or go the other path.

> While walking, keep an eye out for a tree we assume is good enough for climbing.

>You decide that being injured in a situation that is looking increasingly like a survival situation is probably a poor idea.
>There are pseudo-paths northward and eastward; you proceed northward, keeping an eye open for a suitable tree to climb. The forest doesn't seem to be ending soon, or growing any less thick. Nor do they seem to be any less unrecognizable. Some appear to simply be normal trees that you've never knowingly encountered before, with unfamiliar leaf patterns and barks. Others are more strange, with limbs that grow downward or leaves that don't match the shape of any leaf or needle that yo have seen before. Below the trees you note there is a variety of plantlife, none of it particularly familiar. You can see some things that look vaguely like ferns and grasses, but others escape your classifications entirely.  You find yourself wondering if any any of them are edible.
>You have been walking for fifteen or so minutes, having little luck on finding a tall enough tree that feels right, when you catch a bit of red on the ground, obscured by the greenery.

>_