Maribel Quest Followthrough - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Wait, Renko's been here for two days? Didn't we just wake up this morning?
> "Well, I ask, because I was having a moral dilemma about it all day. Science or no science, we left people behind. Can we really abandon them so easily?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I don't see how the outside world is any less real or more fake than this one. They both have things about them that are wondrous and miraculous to people from the other side. Our technology and their magic are both amazing things to those who aren't used to them. I'm sure there are people here who would be just as excited to find themselves suddenly in the outside world."

[Hello Purvis]

> Wait, Renko's been here for two days? Didn't we just wake up this morning?
> "Well, I ask, because I was having a moral dilemma about it all day. Science or no science, we left people behind. Can we really abandon them so easily?"

>...Hey, that's right!
>She shrugs. "Sad as it is to say, I think I'd miss this more than I'd miss them. Then again, my family really didn't care for me dropping everything to become a detective."

>"I don't see how the outside world is any less real or more fake than this one. They both have things about them that are wondrous and miraculous to people from the other side. Our technology and their magic are both amazing things to those who aren't used to them. I'm sure there are people here who would be just as excited to find themselves suddenly in the outside world."

>"I meant, the stuff the outside is built up on is a sham. We've know there's been more to the world than that for years, and now that we've ripped the cover off of it, why go back to pretending none of the things we've seen there exist? I'd rather embrace it and live with the truth, wouldn't you?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I really don't know, to be honest..."
> I do know, however, that I'd rather NOT live here as a might-makes-right personality.
> Do we have any sort of attachment to our previous life? Family, friends, etc?

[Hello Purvis]

> "I really don't know, to be honest..."
> I do know, however, that I'd rather NOT live here as a might-makes-right personality.
> Do we have any sort of attachment to our previous life? Family, friends, etc?

>"Well, I hope you decide to stay with me," she says. "That's about the only attachment I have outside that I care much about."
>As for outside attachments, you do have family. It's kind of a dysfunctional family, insomuch as divorces and such go, but they've been good to you. You didn't have many friends since going to college, you met Renko, started the Sealing Club, and the rest is history. Some of you old high school friends you kept track of online. Upon arriving at Gensokyo Isle, you made some acquaintances, but you little time to really pursue anything; detective work, getting the store/home spruced up, searching for paranormal stuff, and the like ate up most of your time.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Honestly, if I could choose, I'd like to be able to travel freely between both worlds. I think there's a lot of value in both of them. But... I realize that I don't really have that option."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Honestly, if I could choose, I'd like to be able to travel freely between both worlds. I think there's a lot of value in both of them. But... I realize that I don't really have that option."

>"It's pretty much designed so that can't happen, yeah," says Renko. "Not that I blame them. The way I hear it, if the barrier went down, this place would pretty much go kaput."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> What was Renko's family like?

[DracoOmega]

>"People can get out, though. I've been told of at least one person who can do it. And I think it's possible to get back under very specific circumstances. I... hadn't really made up my mind about what I was going to end up doing. I'm certainly not leaving for a while, yet. But, long term... it feels like a bit much to make that commitment yet, you know? But if you're already set on it..."
>How close are we to the entrance to the underground, anyway?

[Hello Purvis]

> What was Renko's family like?

>You don't know. The topic has never really been given any real discussion. You know they exist, but aside from that.

>"People can get out, though. I've been told of at least one person who can do it. And I think it's possible to get back under very specific circumstances. I... hadn't really made up my mind about what I was going to end up doing. I'm certainly not leaving for a while, yet. But, long term... it feels like a bit much to make that commitment yet, you know? But if you're already set on it..."
>How close are we to the entrance to the underground, anyway?

>"Yeah, I don't think I'm going back," she says. "Maybe visit. Maybe. But definitely not going back."
>You can see it up ahead now.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"So, did you say you ended up getting into some danmaku duels with the faeries?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"So, did you say you ended up getting into some danmaku duels with the faeries?"

>"Yeah, for fun, and to get used to it," she says.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I've had a couple myself, although in my case, each of them pretty much involved just being attacked out of the blue."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I've had a couple myself, although in my case, each of them pretty much involved just being attacked out of the blue."

>"Did you win?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, all of them, somehow or another. Might have been more fun if they didn't just come off as random acts of aggression."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, all of them, somehow or another. Might have been more fun if they didn't just come off as random acts of aggression."

>"Well, that's not too bad, then," says Renko. "What happened?"
>You land at the mouth of the cavern leading Underground. Renko peers into it with obvious interest.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, her place is down this way."
>Walk on

>"And yeah, the first time was some faeries who thought I was being to the shrine maiden for... some reason or other. Another time, someone got mad at me for flying over the forest that she'd grown without appreciating it properly. Next time, it was someone who's job it is to keep humans from traveling to Youkai Mountain. For their protection, evidently. She wasn't actually angry with me, unlike the other ones. Just wanted to test me, I think. But I passed, so that's good."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, her place is down this way."
>Walk on

>"And yeah, the first time was some faeries who thought I was being to the shrine maiden for... some reason or other. Another time, someone got mad at me for flying over the forest that she'd grown without appreciating it properly. Next time, it was someone who's job it is to keep humans from traveling to Youkai Mountain. For their protection, evidently. She wasn't actually angry with me, unlike the other ones. Just wanted to test me, I think. But I passed, so that's good."

>You head onward, Renko following alongside of you, trying to look in every direction at once.
>"Oh! I bet know who that is. Plum Flower? Yeah, she fell head over heels for the shrine maiden a couple weeks ago, from what I hear. It's kinda cute, but I don't think anything is going to come of it."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, that's the one. She warned me not to be mean to her on the way in. I invited her along to make sure I behaved myself, but she said the shrine maiden would just stomp her if she saw her. But when I came back, she assumed that I'd been mean anyway, and well..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, that's the one. She warned me not to be mean to her on the way in. I invited her along to make sure I behaved myself, but she said the shrine maiden would just stomp her if she saw her. But when I came back, she assumed that I'd been mean anyway, and well..."

>"Yeah, that sounds about right. She probably thought you were trying to romance the Shrine Maiden out from under her. You weren't, right?"
>You descend down into the chamber where you met Yamame. The youkai doesn't seem to be here. but Renko seems happy enough to marvel at the web with the advertisement on it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Of course not. ....although, I suppose she did make me take a bath while talking to her. But that had more to do with the fact that I'd had bats in my hair not very long before that and wasn't smelling all that hot at the time. And before you worry, you're not going to run into any down this way. I just took a serious wrong turn my first time out. I've been up and down a few times since then without incident."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Of course not. ....although, I suppose she did make me take a bath while talking to her. But that had more to do with the fact that I'd had bats in my hair not very long before that and wasn't smelling all that hot at the time. And before you worry, you're not going to run into any down this way. I just took a serious wrong turn my first time out. I've been up and down a few times since then without incident."

>"I can't stand bats," says Renko, shaking her head. "There was this time we got one in the house when I was a kid, and...yeech. So what's down here, anyways?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"There's a whole city, just a little further down here. It's where Utsuho and her family lives, among other people, mostly oni."

[Hello Purvis]

>"There's a whole city, just a little further down here. It's where Utsuho and her family lives, among other people, mostly oni."

>"Oh, so that's where it is," says Renko, as you reach the point where the tunnels branch. "...There's a bucket up there."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Wow, she actually spotted it ahead of time? How come we could never do that?
>"Hey, Kisume! No mugging friends either, ok?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Wow, she actually spotted it ahead of time? How come we could never do that?
>"Hey, Kisume! No mugging friends either, ok?"

>Maybe Kisume's not hiding as well this time? Or maybe Renko is just better at it than you are?
>"I ain't doin' nothing!" the bucket says back.
>"Oh..." says Renko.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, have a nice day!"
>Carry on

>At a reasonable distance: "In case you're wondering, there IS a person in that bucket. I don't know that even Gensokyo has talking buckets."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, have a nice day!"
>Carry on

>At a reasonable distance: "In case you're wondering, there IS a person in that bucket. I don't know that even Gensokyo has talking buckets."

>"Yeah, you too," Kisume says.
>As you enter the fissure chamber, you tell Renko there was someone in that bucket. "I thought so," she says, "But really, I wouldn't be surprised to meet a talking bucket."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Maybe not. I haven't met anything that can talk yet, that isn't humanoid. Although I've seen books that appear to fly under their own power."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Maybe not. I haven't met anything that can talk yet, that isn't humanoid. Although I've seen books that appear to fly under their own power."

>"The mansion's library, right?" asks Renko. "The faeries from there told me all about that."

>_