Keine Quest (Part 6): Broken History (Complete)

[Hello Purvis]

>"It could be either way. It is based off an actual mansion back home, though."

[DracoOmega]

>"It could be either way. It is based off an actual mansion back home, though."

>"Oh." Maribel peers at it. "How would I have known that, I wonder? If is this more things I'm not remembering properly?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"You might have seen it during your normal dreams."
>Approach mansion!

[DracoOmega]

>"You might have seen it during your normal dreams."
>Approach mansion!

>Maribel frowns. "I suppose if I didn't remember the meeting with Gengetsu, I have no way of knowing how many other things I don't remember. ...I'll try not to dwell on that too much."
>You walk towards the mansion, Maribel and the shadow in tow. Geography continues to follow conventional rules while you approach, somewhat to your surprise and relief. Grass does not suddenly transform into marble tile, you don't find yourself spontaneously underwater, and walking uphill does not leave you at a lower elevation than you started. You arrive at the gates of the mansion without incident.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello?"
>If there's no reply, keep going.

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello?"
>If there's no reply, keep going.

>You call out and wait a few moments, but receive no reply.
>You open the gate and proceed inside the grounds. The gate also decides to function in a perfectly Euclidean manner, connecting with the space immediately behind it, and not, for example, the top of a mountain.
>"So if I made this..." Maribel says, looking around her. "I wonder if I could..." As she speaks, you watch the building rapidly transform into the Azure Devil Mansion. Then the Viridian Devil Mansion. The... Polka Dot Devil Mansion? Oh, Remilia would have a fit if she could see this now. Maribel giggles.

[Hello Purvis]

>"....If you ever meet the woman who owns this actual manor in reality...Never ever tell her about that. She would have a fit."
>Scan the grounds. Any signs of life?

[DracoOmega]

>"....If you ever meet the woman who owns this actual manor in reality...Never ever tell her about that. She would have a fit."
>Scan the grounds. Any signs of life?

>Maribel laughs softly. "Oh, but what's there to complain about when the paint jobs are this quick and painless?"
>You scan the grounds of the Tiger Stripe Devil Mansion. You don't see signs of anyone else.

[Kasu]

> Proceed towards the front entrance.
> "i wonder if you would be able to summon my friends here, considering its your dream and all."

[DracoOmega]

> Proceed towards the front entrance.
> "i wonder if you would be able to summon my friends here, considering its your dream and all."

>You walk up to the front doors of the Plaid Devil Mansion.
>"I, uh," Maribel takes a moment from her budding career as an exterior decorator and looks at you, frowning. "I'm not sure I know how to do that. I don't actually know them. I've just been making little tweaks to things that are already here."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Let's not worry about it, then."
>Enter!

[DracoOmega]

>"Let's not worry about it, then."
>Enter!

>"Maybe I'll be able to think of something," Maribel says.
>You open the main doors and enter the Tie-Dye Devil Mansion. Wow, that one makes you dizzy just looking at it.
>Inside, the architecture is rather tamer and more suitable for a mansion someone would actually choose to live in, although its resemblance to the original is only in passing. Certainly the accouterments of western aristocratic design are all present, but the layout seems speculative. Perhaps Maribel never saw the interior of the original? You are in a large foyer, with a hallway extending to the east and west while a grand stair ascends northward to a mezzanine running along the edges of the room. You believe you see a second pair of hallways on the floor above you, also leading east and west.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello?"

>You call out, but get no response

[Hello Purvis]

>Any visible entrances to the basement?

[DracoOmega]

>Any visible entrances to the basement?

>None that you can see from the foyer.

[Hello Purvis]

>Pick a direction, and keep an eye out for such an entrance. Or people.

[DracoOmega]

>Pick a direction, and keep an eye out for such an entrance. Or people.

>You take the left hallway and continue along it. Several doors line the hall at intervals, framed by subdued wood paneling with tasteful scrollwork. Looking ahead, the hallway seems to end in a pair of heavy-set double doors. Nothing obviously screams 'basement entrance' to you. Maribel examines the interior thoughtfully as you progress.
>"I was thinking," she says. "Doors are a sort of border between one place and another, right? Normally they only lead to what's behind them, but this is a dream, so who says the rules have to be the same? I made this place. Or, at least some part of me that doesn't remember did. Maybe I can make it a little different. What are we looking for?"

[E-Nazrin]

>"If previous unexpected changes of scenery leading me from a forest to underwater are any indication, that would actually be more sensible than some of the other changes I've seen. Feel free to try, though I might want to see where this is 'supposed' to go, first."
>"... hm, why did you describe it as a 'border,' though?"

[DracoOmega]

>"If previous unexpected changes of scenery leading me from a forest to underwater are any indication, that would actually be more sensible than some of the other changes I've seen. Feel free to try, though I might want to see where this is 'supposed' to go, first."
>"... hm, why did you describe it as a 'border,' though?"

>"Well, it might help if I knew where you were hoping to end up," Maribel says. "I don't know that anything is 'supposed' to be here at all. I think it only looks the way it does because that's what my mind thinks a mansion should look like."
>"Oh, I... well, I can sort of see the boundaries that exist between spaces. Between one place and the next, or... between one world and another. It's just something I've always been able to do. It's why I've always been certain there are other worlds out there beyond my own. Renko and I, we've been searching for... I guess you could call them gaps in the border between our world and others. One big enough to travel through."

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod.
>"I hope that, once this is over, we can arrange something on your behalf. But, in a very real sense, you've already found a way to do it through your dreams."

[DracoOmega]

>Nod.
>"I hope that, once this is over, we can arrange something on your behalf. But, in a very real sense, you've already found a way to do it through your dreams."

>Maribel nods. "I'd thought as much. Renko, well... I think it's a little harder for her to accept that dream mightn't be the opposite of reality. But she still believes there's other worlds out there. She's just grounded in the rational, the world you can see with your waking eyes, one you can study and measure."

[Hello Purvis]

>"As well, she doesn't experience it herself, so it is a little harder to believe."
>Call out: "Anyone here?"

[DracoOmega]

>"As well, she doesn't experience it herself, so it is a little harder to believe."
>Call out: "Anyone here?"

>"No, I understand that," Maribel says. "We just think a little differently about some things, that's all. Still, there's no one in the world I'm closer to than her."
>You call out again. There is still no response.

[Hello Purvis]

>"It shows. I am not sure if you are familiar with Ran, she is a fox youkai who accompanied me to your world when we first went there in search of the cause of everything. Renko was able to see through her glamour, and note her fox-like features. Even then, Renko preferred to stay with you rather than accompany is back to the point where we crossed over, and potentially learn more. I daresay she cares very deeply about you."
>Start opening doors at random.

[DracoOmega]

>"It shows. I am not sure if you are familiar with Ran, she is a fox youkai who accompanied me to your world when we first went there in search of the cause of everything. Renko was able to see through her glamour, and note her fox-like features. Even then, Renko preferred to stay with you rather than accompany is back to the point where we crossed over, and potentially learn more. I daresay she cares very deeply about you."
>Start opening doors at random.

>Maribel smiles a melancholic smile. "I'm sorry for all the worry I must be causing her. I feel bad not even being aware of it."
>You start opening doors in the hallway at random. The first is a tasteful sitting room, with embroidered chairs and several landscape paintings in thick frames, the next is a study lined with bookcases and a sculpted oak desk. There is a small dinning area behind a third door. Nothing seems particularly out of place for a house of this style, either in the contents of the rooms or their geometry.
>Maribel frowns thoughtfully, then closes the door to the study, and opens it again. There is now a small brook flowing past the other side of the door, framed by thin leafy trees.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Nicely done."
>Call through into the stream area, "Hello?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Nicely done."
>Call through into the stream area, "Hello?"

>Maribel smiles. "I didn't really do much. I just thought 'this door leads somewhere else'. I'm.. not even sure where else, to be honest."
>You call out into the stream area. You see a few birds scatter from a nearby tree, but otherwise get no response.
>Maribel opens another door next to you. Beyond it is a small rocky ledge extending slightly past the edge of the doorframe, followed by a sheer drop, probably hundreds of feet down. It looks like the edge of a cliff face. She eyes it warily.

[Hello Purvis]

>Close that door for her.
>"It was so much easier, last time, when Mugetsu just found me."
>Does Shadow Gengetsu seem to be reacting any differently now?

[DracoOmega]

>Close that door for her.
>"It was so much easier, last time, when Mugetsu just found me."
>Does Shadow Gengetsu seem to be reacting any differently now?

>You reach over and close the cliff door. "I wonder what would happen," Maribel says, "If I opened one of these doors into the bottom of a lake. Or a volcano, for that matter. Would everything spill in, or would it stop at the doorframe?"
>"Are you hoping she'll find you again, now?" Maribel asks. "Maybe we could try looking for her ourselves? ...not to suggest this isn't what you're already doing, of course."
>You've mostly been getting a vague sense of curiosity from it for a while, now. It seems to understand that you're looking for something. And it's looking for something, too. It wants to meet new beings. New beings may help it understand even more. It hopes that your search will help it discover new beings.