Yukari Quest IV - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Yaersulf]

>Approach the black line, but not so close that it begins to affect us strongly.
>Begin emitting a powerful sense of clarity and understanding, drawing upon such things as our deep knowledge of Gensokyo, and our unique insight into the nature of borders.

[Hello Purvis]

>Approach the black line, but not so close that it begins to affect us strongly.
>Begin emitting a powerful sense of clarity and understanding, drawing upon such things as our deep knowledge of Gensokyo, and our unique insight into the nature of borders.

>You draw closer to the black line, focusing upon the deep understandings you possess about Gensokyo's nature and the true nature of how borders react with each other.
>The black line begins to shift around as you focus, twisting and bunching upon itself into a sort of tangle. Its color lightens to a charcoal gray, and you note the other gray dots are gravitating toward it. Within moments, the dots collect within the tangled mass of the line, becoming one spot of charcoal gray. It feels complete, now.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Mentally (do we even have a brain right now?) compare this grey line with the gap we use to leave this colour-dimension.

[Hello Purvis]

>Mentally (do we even have a brain right now?) compare this grey line with the gap we use to leave this colour-dimension.

>You are not certain if you have anything like a brain right now, but you are able to think, so that's good enough. The two spots are quite similar, both are definitely gaps.

>_

[Serela]

>Examine the gap. Does it seem usable now?

[Hello Purvis]

>Examine the gap. Does it seem usable now?

>Yes. You immediately noted that it feels complete.

>_

[Serela]

>Well, then it's time to get a move on, isn't it~? Open the gap and proceed through!

[Hello Purvis]

>Well, then it's time to get a move on, isn't it~? Open the gap and proceed through!

>You activate the gap and pass through it.
>You step outside, nearly stumbling as you find your feet, and discover that you are surrounded by greenery. The ground is covered with thick, leafy plants, while trees are everywhere. The trees, however, do not resemble trees that exist anywhere in the world you know. Some look relatively normal, with leaves that bear an odd shape. Others have limbs near the base of the ground rather than the top, bear needles and leaves together, or trunks that look more like the utility poles of the outside world. As Maribel stumbles out behind you, your eyes turn upward, and you are not terribly surprised to see the sky is a swirl of rainbow colors that slowly twist and flow into each other. You're certain, now, that this is the place that holds the tiny shrine.
>You have gained one insight point.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>"Maribel this is most excellent, I recognise this place."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Maribel this is most excellent, I recognise this place."
[/quote

>"Really?" she says, as she looks around. Glancing upward, she says "Ah, the sky's the same."

>_

[Yaersulf]

>"Yes, this is but another of these many worlds in which we find ourselves. It is however better than ending up in yet another place we haven't see before, don't you agree?"
>Look around for clearings or paths.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes, this is but another of these many worlds in which we find ourselves. It is however better than ending up in yet another place we haven't see before, don't you agree?"
>Look around for clearings or paths.

>"I guess so," says Maribel. "So what is this place like? Is there anything to eat?"
>You look around,  and find the place you are in is wholly unremarkable. You do not see any paths or the like. But, you do note some places where the vegetation isn't quite so thick and you can walk. If you recall your directions correctly, you should be able to travel south.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Do we remember seeing anything edible when we were last here?

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we remember seeing anything edible when we were last here?

>You have not seen anything that you know would be edible, or you likely would have eaten it. There have been some plants that bear some superficial resemblances to edible things, but given you have yet to see any plants you recognize here you are hesitant to say they would be edible.

>_

[日巫子]

> "I haven't seen anything edible here...yet.  It would be better to err on the side of caution for now, at least."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I haven't seen anything edible here...yet.  It would be better to err on the side of caution for now, at least."

>"That's a shame," says Maribel. "Then I guess nothing lives here, either? Well, aside from the trees, I guess."

>_

[日巫子]

> "Not that I've seen."
> Start walking south.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Not that I've seen."
> Start walking south.

>"At least the air is clean," says Maribel, as she starts following you. "Is there anything interesting here?"

>_

[日巫子]

> "Last I recall, there was a little shrine here."
> Although we don't know how exactly to get to it...

[Hello Purvis]

> "Last I recall, there was a little shrine here."
> Although we don't know how exactly to get to it...

>"Oh, neat," says Maribel. "Maybe we could visit it? I could use a nice place to sit and really rest a bit. What was enshrined there? Anything?"

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> "I mean 'little' as in 'toy-sized'."

> "Though if I do recall, there was a border somewhere that would bring you down to its size."

> Remind me what we know about that shrine.

[Hello Purvis]

> "I mean 'little' as in 'toy-sized'."

> "Though if I do recall, there was a border somewhere that would bring you down to its size."

> Remind me what we know about that shrine.

>"Oh," says Maribel. "Well, that's weird. Not that this is shocking, really."
>"...You can do that?" says Maribel.
>The Shrine was somewhere off from where you first entered this place, a gateway to the field of fronds. It stood a bit shorter than you, and featured a gap from elsewhere in the forest that deposits those traveling through it onto its pavilion as a proper scale to explore it. Inside, it was largely devoid of furniture, save for some impersonal tables and empty shelves. Enshrined within was a perfectly mundane boulder, holding no faith or any sacred nature at all. In the basement you found a cavern with a cave painting depicting something humanoid, you couldn't tell what it was. The painting contained fair deal of power, incomplete but related to motion in some way, and reacted when you touched it. The reaction did nothing, you suspect the sigil was looking for something to complete itself. In the attic, which you had to stack some tables to reach, you found a tiny piece of Material Prima. The whole shrine was set into a pavilion about teen feet across, which you found that you could move with some effort, and found another tunnel underneath.  This one lead to a chamber filled with soft, glowing moss, and a gap that took you to the mountains, where you found some disembodied music.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> That gap which brought us down to its size was the first we ever encountered of it, right?

> In which case, is this theoretically possible to happen?

> Did we try to move the pavillon while normal-sized or tiny-sized?

[Hello Purvis]

> That gap which brought us down to its size was the first we ever encountered of it, right?

> In which case, is this theoretically possible to happen?

> Did we try to move the pavillon while normal-sized or tiny-sized?

>You had never encountered one like it, and you don't really comprehend how it works. You theorize it is likely due to the broken nature of this place.
>Yes, in both cases. While tiny, it was more by accident than intention, as it happened while you were trying to pry open a gap between the edge of the pavilion and the earth it was set into. You came back later while at your proper size and moved the pavilion around a bit more and discovered the tunnel with the moss and the gap to the mountains.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> "Not under normal circumstances, no."
> Look up for a second, does the sky resemble the color space?
> "?Though this place is hardly what one would call normal."
> Bring Mary up to speed on what happened on the shrine, explain the bit about the Materia Prima, if necessary.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Not under normal circumstances, no."
> Look up for a second, does the sky resemble the color space?
> "?Though this place is hardly what one would call normal."
> Bring Mary up to speed on what happened on the shrine, explain the bit about the Materia Prima, if necessary.

>"I figured you would have abused something like that by this point," says Maribel, "But I had to be sure."
>Looking toward the sky, it doesn't really resemble the color space. The colors in are swirling together and slowly moving to create new patterns. It doesn't seem to contain any black that you can see either.
>You summarize your findings at the shrine. Maribel listens attentively, sometimes asking a small question here or there to clarify things. She giggles when you describe having to stack the tables to get into the attic. You aren't sure whether to be irritated about that or not. As you describe the materia prima, Maribel says, "That...sounds rather amazing. Can I see it?"

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> "Now now deary, who do you think I am to go around fooling with people's sizes?" Grin.
> Bring out the tiny piece of Materia Prima and show it to Mary, take whatever precautions necessary to handling it and warn her about those.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Now now deary, who do you think I am to go around fooling with people's sizes?" Grin.
> Bring out the tiny piece of Materia Prima and show it to Mary, take whatever precautions necessary to handling it and warn her about those.

>"I think that question answers itself," says Maribel.
>You show her the tiny piece of Material Prima. She takes it in hand, nodding as you warn her not to focus too hard on giving it form. She runs her fingers over it while wearing open expression of awe on her face.  "There's such power inside of this," she says, her voice lowered reverently "We could do so much with it back home..."
>You note, as you pick your way through the forest, that there seems to be another viable path to follow ahead, branching westward.

>_

[Mr. Sacchi]

> welp my edit didn't go through apparently ):

> Can we see anything on the end of the path we're on?
> Go up to the westward path, examine it.

> "We could indeed, but these things are better handled with care, don't you agree?"

[Hello Purvis]

> welp my edit didn't go through apparently ):

> Can we see anything on the end of the path we're on?
> Go up to the westward path, examine it.

> "We could indeed, but these things are better handled with care, don't you agree?"

>Whups. Editted.
>The southward path doesn't seem to be ending yet; the trees make it hard to see too far ahead.
>Taking a closer look at the western path, you see that it is much the same as what you are following; a line where the underbrush isn't too thick to be an irritating obstacle. You think you can hear a creek in that direction, however.
>"Oh, yes, of course," says Maribel. "Just, there's a lot the circle could do with this... Heh. We'd argue for years over it, probably. Assuming Alice or Patchouli didn't just try and take it."

>_