Hatate Quest

[Oldmansour]

>Where was Momiji going?

>She was simply accompanying you.

>Any organized sports the Tengu play? Yakyuu, perhaps?
>What I'm trying to ask is do Wolves chase balls?

>Baseball never really caught on amongst the Tengu. The White Wolves, being the most naturally atheletic caste, have taken the most to organized sports, such as football, rugby and field hockey. The favourite sport amongst Crow tengu is a variant on tennis played in the air. Aya, you know, is rather adept at this game. Frustratingly so, in fact. Neither the Long-Noses nor the Dai-tengu are generally given to athletic competitions, though there are of course always exceptions.
>White Wolves are Tengu, not mere canines. Once they grow past a certain age, chasing thrown balls entertains them no more than it does a human child.

[Hello Purvis]

>"How long are you going to be around?"

[Oldmansour]

>"How long are you going to be around?"

>"Around here, you mean?" Honoka asks.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yes."

>"That rather depends on Sanae." Honoka says with a glance at the wind priestess. "I have no pressing need to depart, but I also don't know how long I may stay."
>"As long as you like." she answers with a smile. "As long as you keep in mind that Suwako-sama might challenge you again as soon as she lays eyes on you."
>The cloaked youkai answers Sanae with a sharp anticipatory grin.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Looks like we both picked up a subscriber."
>What kinds of travel times are we looking at to get to significant regions of Gensokyo from here?

[Oldmansour]

>What kinds of travel times are we looking at to get to significant regions of Gensokyo from here?

>Which particular signifigant regions were you thinking of?

>"Looks like we both picked up a subscriber."

>"Beings like the earth goddess are one of the reasons I travel." Honoka informs you. "I greatly enjoy testing myself against beings of great power, and especially so since the advent of the spellcard rules. And Suwako-sama has great skill and power." She gives Momiji a nod. "And I would welcome a chance to test myself against a Ranger of the Tengu."
>"You know of us?" the White Wolf asks.
>"This is not my first time on Youkai Mountain, Ranger. I have tangled with your caste before, and have seldom been disappointed."

[Hello Purvis]

>The major ones; human village, SDM, Eientei, Korindou, Kappa Town, the Ancient City, Hakugyokurou, the Sanzu river, and so on.

[O4rfish]

the Hakurei Shrine, cat planet Mayohiga, Garden of the Sun, Bhava Agra, Lunar Capital

[Oldmansour]

>The major ones; human village, SDM, Eientei, Korindou, Kappa Town, the Ancient City, Hakugyokurou, the Sanzu river, and so on.

>the Hakurei Shrine, cat planet Mayohiga, Garden of the Sun, Bhava Agra, Lunar Capital

>From your present location, it'd be somewhere over an hour to the human village, a few minutes more than that to the Hakurei Shrine and a few minutes less to the Myoren Temple. Kappa territory from here should be no more than fifteen minutes away. You believe the Scarlet Devil Manor should be just about an hour's flight, given its location just north of the Misty Lake. The Ancient City of the Underworld can be hard to determine, to be honest, as it depends on how one gains access to the Underworld. Bhava Agra floats above Youkai Mountain, but it doesn't quite occupy the same space as Gensokyo proper. Aya was able to access it, and you were able to follow her, but how she did it, you're not entirely sure.
>Some locations, you're not actually certain how far away they are, as you've never been there. Such locations include Hakugyokuro, Makai, Mayohiga, the Nameless Hill, Higan and the Sanzu River. The Lunar Capital is inaccessible to you at the moment, as you are unable to achieve escape velocity.

[Hello Purvis]

>"It'd take me a few hours to go everywhere I'd like to, though. Is that okay?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It'd take me a few hours to go everywhere I'd like to, though. Is that okay?"

>"Sanae?" Honoka asks the miko.
>"Like I said, as long as you like."
>"I thank you." the cloaked youkai answers with a shallow bow to Sanae. "There you have it, Himekaidou-san. Barring any unforseen developments, I shall be here when you return. I might add, though, that I myself am rather curious as to why Marisa Kirisame was nowhere to be seen on the Night of Rage. Should you choose to investigate that yourself, I should very much like to accompany you."
>"You just want to fight her again." Sanae teases the tanned woman.
>Honoka nods depreciatevely. "I can't argue that."

[Hello Purvis]

>Bloodthirsty, ain't she? We may have to page through some criminal reports someday...
>"Got any suggestions to add, Sanae?"


Do we have more to ask?

[Oldmansour]

>Bloodthirsty, ain't she? We may have to page through some criminal reports someday...
>"Got any suggestions to add, Sanae?"

>You make a note to explore the criminal history of one ruddy-faced youkai with a nice cloak.
>The wind miko hmms for a moment. "Have you talked to Reimu today?" she asks.

[Hello Purvis]

>Shake head. "Not yet."

[Oldmansour]

>Shake head. "Not yet."

>"Aya always seems to find some excuse to swing by and visit Reimu. Well, 'pester', Reimu would say." Sanae corrects with a wry grin. "If she's still gadding about, she might have popped by to visit. Aya, I mean."

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod. "I'll definitely have to keep that in mind."

Last call for additional questions.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "I'll definitely have to keep that in mind."

>Sanae gives you a nod.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Okay, I'm gonna go investigate. Try not to keep you waiting too long, Honoka."
>Once goodbyes are said, and assuming there is no other business, take to the air and head toward the Hakurei Shrine.

[Oldmansour]

>"Okay, I'm gonna go investigate. Try not to keep you waiting too long, Honoka."
>Once goodbyes are said, and assuming there is no other business, take to the air and head toward the Hakurei Shrine.

>The cloaked youkai gives you a shallow bow. "Clear skies, investigator." she bids you in an oddly formal tone. The phrase seems somewhat familiar, but the nature of this familiarity escapes you for the moment. To Momiji, she states, "Open trails, Ranger."
>Momiji starts visibly, then holds her hand up in front of her, fingers up and palm sideways. She mimics Honoka's shallow bow. "Safe journeys, traveler." she answers in that some formal voice.

>After the two of you depart and take flight, Momiji shakes her head in disbelief. "I haven't heard those phrases in years. I mean a lot of years. That youkai's met tengu before, and I don't mean just a casual 'hello' from Aya." She barks out a chuckle. "I might have been hanging around you and Aya too long. Now I've got my curiousity piqued."

[O4rfish]

>"It wouldn't be the same number of years that you haven't used a double-bladed sword in, would it?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It wouldn't be the same number of years that you haven't used a double-bladed sword in, would it?"

>She grins. "Maybe not quite that long. Although not all that far off, now that you mention." She flicks her tail back in the direction of the Moriya shrine. "What I mean is, those are old phrases, pretty formal ones, too. I wouldn't expect to hear those words from a Non-Tengu at all."

[Hello Purvis]

>Given we're kind of a schlub, what do we know of Tengu formality?
>"Think she used to hang around in the old days?"

[Oldmansour]

>Given we're kind of a schlub, what do we know of Tengu formality?
>"Think she used to hang around in the old days?"

>You wouldn't describe yourself as a 'schlub' as such, but you are rather young. Inexperienced, is a better way to put it. As such, you're sure there's a lot of nuances and formal jizz that you're not intimately familiar with. But then again, all that stuff's too stuffy for its own good anyway.
>"I'd be surprised if she did. Tengu society hundreds of years ago was even less open to outsiders than it is now." She pauses, pondering. "Well, except the Yamabushi clans, they've never really been as... isolationist as the bulk of society."

[Hello Purvis]

>What do we know about those guys?
>"Well, there you go then. We can always ask later."

[Oldmansour]

>What do we know about those guys?
>"Well, there you go then. We can always ask later."

>The Yamabushi are the fourth ranked caste among the Tengu, between the White Wolves and the Long-Noses. Their primary responsibly is the spiritual and mystical side of Tengu life. They are the clerics and the mages, the knowledge keepers of the Mountain. But they've always been a rather stand-offish crowd. The vast majority of the Yamabushi dwell apart from the rest of the Tengu, on another part of the mountain. While they don't regularly intermingle with the other castes, you believe they are somewhat more friendly with non-Tengu. You think they were actually employed as ambassadors for the Tengu to the other races once, but you're not sure if this practice still continues.

>"Oh, I very much intend to." Momiji assures you. "I'm not much fonder of an unsatisfied curiousity than you are."

[O4rfish]

>Given how we don't like to not know things, why have the Tengu been isolationist at all?

[Oldmansour]

>Given how we don't like to not know things, why have the Tengu been isolationist at all?

>Because the Tengu are better than the other races. Most tengu simply have no desire to interact directly with outsiders. Plus, after living under Oni rule for as long as they did, it's left Tengu a bit gun-shy about interacting with the other races. They'd simply rather be left alone. Tengu such as you and Aya are the exception, rather than the rule.

[O4rfish]

>How close are the Tengu and Kappa communities?
>Do many Tengu worship Kanako?

[Oldmansour]

>How close are the Tengu and Kappa communities?
>Do many Tengu worship Kanako?

>The White Wolves are the most friendly with the Kappa. Kappa are by nature something of a retiring people, and the natural arrogance of the Tengu grates on them. They don't mesh well with the upper castes. White Wolves, however, do not share that sense of racial superiority to the same extent the winged Tengu do, and thus the Kappa remain on good terms with them. Higher class Tengu do recognize their technical genius, of course, and contracts between Kappa and Tengu are not unknown, but these are usually negotiated through a White Wolf mediator.

>'Worship' might be too strong a word. A number of Tengu do indeed respect Kanako, perhaps as far as venerate, but not outright worship. The more spiritual Tengu devote their faith to the Winds themselves, rather than any one divinity of the wind and sky.