Hatate Quest Kaksi

[Oldmansour]

>"I guess so. I mean, there's nothing I can think of to further prepare."

>With a flourish, Patchouli produces a black-bound tome. "I suggest, then, you get your camera ready." Celes suggests as Patchy opens her book in front of her, a small multifaceted orange gem floating above the fluttering pages. With you documenting the spell, Patchouli utters a brief yet strong verse, and the gem flashes with light. The Greed-created shield shimmers into view, an opaque dome of orange energy concealing Marisa's house. The click of a shutter behind you tells you that Renzu is also taking the opportunity for a picture or two.
>The shield seems to fade out slightly, weakening, and then the top of it spirals up and out like a ribbon of light. Similar sections of the shield split off from the main body of the thing, each ribbon spiraling out and down towards the jewel above Patchy's tome. The jewel absorbs the shield energy like a sponge, and in relatively short order, the barrier around Marisa's house has been swallowed by the orange jewel of Patchouli.
>"And every wall still standing." Patchy states simply, snapping her tome shut. She has a rather self-satisfied little smirk on her face, but it doesn't last long before Ranka drops down below her, dropping her hands onto the mages' rather frail shoulders.
>"Aren't you a powerful little thing." the flighty wind spirit teases Patchy lightly, her golden hair wrapping around her lithe frame and brushing Patchouli's ankles. "What else can you do?"
>"Leave off, you." Patchy demands.

[Hello Purvis]

>"You wouldn't like her, Ranka. She almost never comes outside."
>Approach the door. If nothing seems awry about it, open it up.

[O4rfish]

>Insert "from what I hear" into that sentence, as this is our first time actually meeting Patchy.

[Oldmansour]

>"You wouldn't like her, Ranka. She almost never comes outside."
>Approach the door. If nothing seems awry about it, open it up.

>Insert "from what I hear" into that sentence, as this is our first time actually meeting Patchy.

>"True, I can tell." The wind spirit giggles as Patchy feebly wrestles in her grasp. "But I can already tell she's fun to tease."
>"I'm warning you, elemental.." the archmage says ominously.

>Leaving the blonde to torment the purple-tressed magus, you take a more proactive role, walking up Marisa's front walk towards her door. Celes, you note, keeps pace just behind you, the ring that was glowing before lit up once again. With the shield down, nothing more impedes your progress to the egress of the Kirisame house. Celes gives you no indication that anything is wrong, nor can you sense or see anything out of place, so you test the doorknob.
>The door is locked.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Locked."
>Call back: "Hey Patchouli, want to kick it down? I'm sure you'll enjoy the turnabout!"

[Oldmansour]

>"Locked."
>Call back: "Hey Patchouli, want to kick it down? I'm sure you'll enjoy the turnabout!"

>The archmage would certainly answer, but she is still being harassed by Ranka.
>Celes looks upon the scene with some sympathy. "Unfortunately for Patchouli, this may go on for some-" The steward is then interrupted by the sound of electricity crackling, and the sight of Ranka being rather suddenly electrocuted in mid-molestation. Her exceptionally lengthy hair flies out in all directions under the electrical torrent, and when Patchy lets up, the stunned and smoking wind spirit simply falls backwards onto the ground.
>"I did warn you." Patchouli says simply, straightening out her shirt before walking in your direction. "Now, then, Himekaidou-san. Despite the circumstances, I do not 'kick'. I shall, however, Knock."

[Hello Purvis]

>"You okay, Ranka?"

[Oldmansour]

>"You okay, Ranka?"

>Ranka's leg twitches twice, before the flirty wind spirit sits up. "I think I need a comb." she moans as she examines her frayed hair.
>"I don't think she meant any harm, Patchouli." Celes says to the archmage.
>"Neither did I. ?dro." she intones with a raise of her hand. A cloudy ball of white energy flies from her fingers and splashes against Marisa's front door like a bubble. You hear a distinct clinking sound from the lock. "There."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Shame I didn't bring mine, then."
>Head inside.

[O4rfish]

>Don't take that action just yet.

Purvis, you were pushing that romance pretty hard and now you're just going to leave her there? How about something like
"Sorry, I didn't bring a comb. You're okay though, right?" without opening the door.

I want to explain how this is better but I can't think of how to do that right now.

[Hello Purvis]

Sorta. We do have to stay IC, and she has been kinda a dick to Tengu as a whole, which brings the attractiveness level way down. At this point, it'll hinge on whether she cares to redeem herself.

[O4rfish]

I agree with that. My reaction to your command was that it seemed too flippant without explicitly giving a reason. We could say something for example "You'll be OK" or "Yeah she deserved it" which would address the situation.

[Oldmansour]

>"Shame I didn't bring mine, then."
>Head inside.

>Ranka runs a hand through her frizzled hair. "Thanks anyway. How'd you do that without shocking yourself?" she asks Patchouli.
>"Practice." the mage answers.

>The smell of spoiled food wafts across your nose as you pull Marisa's door open, meat that's been left out for too long. Marisa's porch is relatively free of clutter, but the hallway beyond is a different matter. The floor is practically covered with all manner of objects, save for a very thin path where the rubbish has been pushed aside, just wide enough for a small person to walk if he did so carefully. To your right is an open closet, packed full of clothing and other objects with little order to it. You can see that some things inside have been pushed aside, perhaps in an attempt to organize it or gain access to the items beyond, but little more than a token effort.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around, does the place seem ransacked or just messy?

[Oldmansour]

>Look around, does the place seem ransacked or just messy?

>You'd be inclined to say 'messy' yourself. Then again, Marisa is said to have one of the messiest homes in all of Gensokyo.  Being ransacked might have made it more orderly.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around for signs that someone's obviously been digging through stuff. Then consider where else there is to go here.
>Call back: "Well, the food's gone bad, I can tell that from here!"

[Oldmansour]

>Look around for signs that someone's obviously been digging through stuff. Then consider where else there is to go here.
>Call back: "Well, the food's gone bad, I can tell that from here!"

>The closest shows some sign that it's been gone through recently. Though if anything's missing, it doesn't show.
>The entrance way yields two paths beyond. Ahead and to the left is a large entryway, leading into what seems to be Marisa's living room. Slightly beyond this framed entry and to the right is a more narrow opening. The slim path pushed into the mess leads into the living room. The hallway to the right seems not to have been disturbed, at least not as you can tell. At the least, there is no pathway on the floor.
>Celes, not far behind you, wrinkles her nose. "Indeed." Her glowing ring is now blinking a bit, though why you're not sure. Patchouli seems to have taken a few steps back away from the steward. "Which is odd. Greed does not leave food lying out like that."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Then it's probably not food, and I don't wanna think about that."
>Let's follow that slim path toward the living room.

[Oldmansour]

>"Then it's probably not food, and I don't wanna think about that."
>Let's follow that slim path toward the living room.

>From behind you, you hear Momiji sniff the air. "It's nothing too grisly. Probably the leftovers from supper that's been left out."
>Marisa's living room can be generously described as a disaster area. The floor is completely covered by clothes, pottery, toys, appliances, a scattering of weapons, umbrellas, knick-knacks, doo-dads, and endless books of every color and shape you've ever seen, and then some. Even the path that had been formed on the ground has collapsed in places, like an overgrown trail. The only clean surface is a small, round wood table near the exit to the kitchen, on the north side of the room. This table currently holds only two things: a bamboo tea cup, and a large open book. The smell of spoiled meat is coming from the kitchen.
>"Heavens above." Celes gapes as she follows you in. "I've seen some messy homes in my time, but..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Marisa has problems."
>Does the mess seem to be ransacked, or just organically (or premeditatedly) placed?
>Make our way toward the kitchen, look around for things that catch our eye.
>"Any signs of Greed?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Marisa has problems."
>Does the mess seem to be ransacked, or just organically (or premeditatedly) placed?
>Make our way toward the kitchen, look around for things that catch our eye.
>"Any signs of Greed?"

>"Clearly." Celes replies emphatically.
>The mess in the living room appears to be nothing more than the result of the accumulation of junk over a long period of time. Except for the area around the table. It's still a wreck, but it seems that at least some effort was made recently to put a bit of order to it. The patch of floor in front of the open book is nearly visible.
>The book itself piques your curiousity as you carefully pick your way through the mess towards the kitchen. Greed, or someone else, seems to have gone through a bit of trouble to read it. But why that book, and none of the others? Of course, it could just be that that book was the latest of many read, but there are no other books in the mess around the table, at least none that you can make out.

>"Among others." Celes says, sounding a touch annoyed. "I'm getting multiple readings on my ring. There must be a number of magical items within this house, their auras are interfering with my ring. But Greed WAS here, that much I am sure of."
>"You say that like you're not sure he still is." Momiji remarks.
>"I'm not."

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's get a look at that book.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's get a look at that book.

>Craning your neck out, you take a glance at the open book. The writing is in a language you've never seen before, some combination of the alphabet and numbers in combination with symbols in the middle of words which make no sense to you. The right hand page also features a drawing of some kind, the kind of thing that would probably make sense to a wizard or a scholar, but it doesn't look like much to you.
>And then the drawing, and the writing on the spread pages, start to glow with a purple light.

[Hello Purvis]

>Back off.
>"Uh...that book is glowing."
>Be prepared to take flight and/or dodge if it starts doing something like firing out bullets.

[Oldmansour]

>Back off.
>"Uh...that book is glowing."
>Be prepared to take flight and/or dodge if it starts doing something like firing out bullets.

>You scoot backwards, hovering slightly to get above the debris on the ground. Momiji unslings her shield in response to your warning.
>Celes' attention, however, is fixed solely on her ring as the book's glow intensifies. The jewel on her ring has turned pitch black. Her face is contorted with abject terror as she looks up and screams as loudly as she can, "RUN!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Get out of there. ASAP, don't want to hold up the doorway for someone else!

[Oldmansour]

>Get out of there. ASAP, don't want to hold up the doorway for someone else!

>The book's glow expands rapidly as you turn and beat wings, purple light filling the room behind you. You hear Celes stumble over a piece of debris, but you hear Momiji catch her behind you. She says something, but you can't quite make out what it is. Your ears seem to be filled with a rushing noise of some kind, like the front end of a tornado, building and building.
>You are a tengu, child of the winds, and you are fast. But, there are times when you are just not quite fast enough. This, it seems, is one of those times. As you turn into the choked hallway leading towards Marisa's front door, the purple glow behind you explodes outward, and sweeps across you, deafening you with its sound, blinding you with its light. For a moment, you think you feel a little cold.

>Your head feels rather heavy as you return to awareness. You can feel a warm breeze in the air, and the uncomfortable sensation of something small poking you repeatedly in the ribs.

[Hello Purvis]

>Groan.
>"...Cut it out..."

[O4rfish]

>Was all of today just a dream?

[Oldmansour]

>Groan.
>"...Cut it out..."

>"D'hah! She's alive!" a small voice cries out in answer. Sounds like a fairy, you think.
>"ZOMBIE!" another voice answers, a faint fluttering sound accompanying the shriek. Definitely fairies.

>Was all of today just a dream?

>If it was, it would be the most vivid dream you've ever had in your life.