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

[DracoOmega]

>"Almost...I can almost be certain that those gates lead to the places where land was taken from Gensokyo. But not perfectly certain. All the history in here is just nuts, none of it makes any sense or can be read."
>Try to get the pillar's history.

>Mugetsu frowns. "I'm... actually surprised you can sense that much. Though your normal perception of objects in here likely makes them seem like the waking world, they are made of very different things. Every element of this world beyond ourselves is a construction of our minds, created and destroyed at will. It has no permanence."
>You try to read the pillar's history. You sense some connection to the world outside through it, but little else. Being largely of the dream, you have difficulty understanding it.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Even creations of the mind have a beginning, middle, and end. This pillar connects to the outside world, too. I'm tempted to throw something at it and see what it does. But for now, let's try to lure in the rest of Gengetsu."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Even creations of the mind have a beginning, middle, and end. This pillar connects to the outside world, too. I'm tempted to throw something at it and see what it does. But for now, let's try to lure in the rest of Gengetsu."

>Mugetsu nods. "Yes, let's. Take hold of my hand, Maribel."
>One of the Maribels walks over and does so. The other looks over uncertainly.
>"You as well," Mugetsu says. "Don't attempt to open the borders yourself, but you can help guide your counterpart. Reach out and sense all the spaces in this place. Do you feel how this is connected to it all?"
>"I... think I might," she says tentatively, walking over and taking Mugetsu's hand.
>"This is the center of the dream," Mugetsu says, closing her eyes. "All roads touch here, and you will open all of them. You can do this. Have faith that you can do this. Your power here is bound only by the limits you place on yourself."
>"Right," Maribel nods, her face determined.
>"Feel each of them," Mugetsu says. "Feel all of them. And bring them here."
>There is stillness for a time, as neither Maribel nor Mugetsu move or seem to breathe. Marisa looks about nervously. Then the column near you starts to glow brightly and a web of veins and cracks traces itself across the air above and all around you. It branches out from the center, rising and cresting above you like a great dome, then sweeps out across each side, enveloping your group in its web. There is a pause again. You can see each of the three intensely focused; one Maribel in particular seems to be straining with all her will. And then the seams open, and you are surrounded by a sea of shifting purple.
>Wisps of shadow and light start to stream in through them. Some barely the size of your finger, others nearly as large as the shadow you met by the lake. More and more and more, until the air seems cluttered with them.
>With an angry screech, a battered and injured but still furious figure bursts through the boundary. Veins of shadow trace across her form and streak through her wings. She lunges towards Maribel.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move to intercept and punch it in the face if needs be!

[DracoOmega]

>Move to intercept and punch it in the face if needs be!

>You quickly move to intercept the fragment, ready to pummel it quite directly. As you interpose yourself, it flares its wings and sends a spread of danmaku towards you and the Maribels behind you.

[Hello Purvis]

>You quickly move to intercept the fragment, ready to pummel it quite directly. As you interpose yourself, it flares its wings and sends a spread of danmaku towards you and the Maribels behind you.

>Has it stopped moving, or is it it still coming?
>If it's stopped moving, just dodge for now and see if it's planning anything. Prepare to administer physical violence as needed.
>If it's still coming, get ready to intercept and deck it.

[DracoOmega]

>Has it stopped moving, or is it it still coming?
>If it's stopped moving, just dodge for now and see if it's planning anything. Prepare to administer physical violence as needed.
>If it's still coming, get ready to intercept and deck it.

>It's still moving forward, although its speed has decreased a little.
>It sweeps a little bit to the left as it approaches and lays down several lines of blue danmaku that stretch out towards your position.
>You shift to intercept as it closes in, moving between the lines of its first barrage and charge at it. It tries to slip around you, but you swing your arm out in with a forceful hook and connect solidly with its face. It cries out angrily and stumbles backwards, floundering in the air.
>Some of the first spread of danmaku that you evaded moves past you and strikes the group behind you. You hear Maribel cry out. You also hear a splintering sound as a crack tears through one of the boundary walls near you, and part of the boundary itself seems to waver and contort.
>"Focus!" Mugetsu cries.

[Hello Purvis]

>Bear down on it, don't let it stagger away!
>Follow with a hook to it's chest, ideally the Solar Plexus. Should this make it's head jerk forward, headbutt it. In the nose.

[DracoOmega]

>Bear down on it, don't let it stagger away!
>Follow with a hook to it's chest, ideally the Solar Plexus. Should this make it's head jerk forward, headbutt it. In the nose.

>You put yourself back in Gengetsu's face once more, then follow up with a sharp hook to her solar plexus. You are rewarded with a darkly satisfying gasp as you feel flesh sink beneath your fist. Gengetsu curls forward, bringing her head towards you and you respond by slamming yours into it. Though the angle didn't give you a shot at her nose, you score a solid impact against her forehead. She cries out weakly and falls dazed to the ground.
>"Ah, hell," you hear Marisa yell out behind you, followed shortly by several sharp cries of pain.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look back.

[DracoOmega]

>Look back.

>You look behind you and see Marisa standing in front of Maribel and grimacing, while streams of danmaku from Gengetsu's last barrage pass along either side of her and safely out of the way of the group.
>The crack in the border starts to shrink back a little.

[Hello Purvis]

>If there are no other threats, assess Creature Gengetsu's condition. If she's still moving, put a foot on her to pin her down to the ground. Not too savagely, though. No need to be a sore winner, and that beatdown was refreshing...

[DracoOmega]

>If there are no other threats, assess Creature Gengetsu's condition. If she's still moving, put a foot on her to pin her down to the ground. Not too savagely, though. No need to be a sore winner, and that beatdown was refreshing...

>Upon closer inspection, you note that this Gengetsu looks the same as the violent Gengetsu you fought earlier in the woods. You don't see any obvious other threats around. Most of the fragments filtering in are barely tangible shades that just seem to be drifting about. Gengetsu herself tries to move weakly, but seems barely capable of this at the moment. Still, you use your foot to pin her to the ground.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look back to Marisa. "Good save!"
>To Violent Gengetsu. "I thought you were someone else for a moment. But what did I tell you? I told you to settle down, young lady, or I would settle you down."
>If only Mokou were here to see this.
>"By the way, coming in here and shooting like that? What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you might have just messed up?"

[DracoOmega]

>Look back to Marisa. "Good save!"
>To Violent Gengetsu. "I thought you were someone else for a moment. But what did I tell you? I told you to settle down, young lady, or I would settle you down."
>If only Mokou were here to see this.
>"By the way, coming in here and shooting like that? What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what you might have just messed up?"

>Marisa tries to chuckle, then winces. "Hey, not in a hurry to get swallowed by one of those things, ya know?"
>Gengetsu just groans, although there is still an undercurrent of anger to the sound.
>You think she'd be simultaneously impressed and a little frightened. Although you know she'll be sorry she missed it, just the same.
>"You... were in the way..." it groans. "I... will... get out..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Of course you're going to get out. What have I told you the whole time, you big dummy? We're going to help you get better. I know you remember more than just this. Why don't you try?"
>Can we feel how Shadow Gengetsu is doing, right now?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Of course you're going to get out. What have I told you the whole time, you big dummy? We're going to help you get better. I know you remember more than just this. Why don't you try?"
>Can we feel how Shadow Gengetsu is doing, right now?"

>"I remember I am trapped here," she says, breathing heavily. "I remember that she trapped me here. Nothing else you say matters."
>You have a hard time sensing her here; she seems lost among all the others smaller shades and wisps. The space is beginning to feel a bit crowded, in fact.
>You see another familiar fragment step through the boundary; one side of her body void and discordant.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Everything I say matters, because if you don't listen and give it due consideration, I'll be forced to discipline you further, young lady. And you'd do well to remember it as long as you live."
>Glance over to summoner Gengetsu. "Hey! Come here for a moment, I need to talk with you!"

[DracoOmega]

>"Everything I say matters, because if you don't listen and give it due consideration, I'll be forced to discipline you further, young lady. And you'd do well to remember it as long as you live."
>Glance over to summoner Gengetsu. "Hey! Come here for a moment, I need to talk with you!"

>"You... won't... stop me," she breathes. "I will... get out. I will get out...."
>Summoner Gengetsu takes several steps towards Maribel absently, but the expression on her face is confused and uncertain. She pauses and looks vacantly around the space. She doesn't appear to react to you.
>"Y'know," Marisa says, eying the new arrival warily, "I'm beginning to think a room full of these things isn't gonna be a very fun place to be."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I won't? Well just watch me. I don't have time for you anymore."
>Give her a solid blow to the temple to knock her out. If that doesn't work, reapply until it does.
>Once she's out cold, approach Summoner Gengetsu.

[DracoOmega]

>"I won't? Well just watch me. I don't have time for you anymore."
>Give her a solid blow to the temple to knock her out. If that doesn't work, reapply until it does.
>Once she's out cold, approach Summoner Gengetsu.

>You decide you've had more than enough out of her, and tell as her much, then follow through on your threat, striking her firmly in the temple. She grunts and then tries to thrash away from you, so you pull back and strike her again. She falls limp.
>"Geeze..." Marisa says, wincing. "Remind me never to get you that mad."
>You walk towards Summoner Gengetsu, who's still looking vacantly around herself.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Don't cause huge problems and it'll be fine."
>We'll not remind her how that night actually happened...
>Put a hand on Summon Gengetsu's shoulder. The one that's actually there. "Hey there."

[DracoOmega]

>"Don't cause huge problems and it'll be fine."
>We'll not remind her how that night actually happened...
>Put a hand on Summon Gengetsu's shoulder. The one that's actually there. "Hey there."

>Marisa chuckles. "You sound a little like Reimu, you know that?"
>You decide it's a memory best not dwelled on at this point.
>You put a hand on Gengetsu's shoulder and speak to her. "I don't understand," she says vacantly, not looking at you or making any other acknowledgment of your presence. "I came here to find her. But which her did I come here to find?"

[E-Nazrin]

>"All of them, I would presume. Would you like to remember more?"
>Where's Gruegetsu? Our friendly shadow fragment aside, she's probably the most sane one here.

[DracoOmega]

>"All of them, I would presume. Would you like to remember more?"
>Where's Gruegetsu? Our friendly shadow fragment aside, she's probably the most sane one here.

>"I... don't understand," she says. "I remember that I had to find her. I remember that it's important. There is... there is..." She keeps following the wisps with her eyes. "There is something wrong."
>You scan around and see Gruegetsu on the ground, a short distance from Mugetsu and the Maribels, and maybe a dozen yards away from you. She certainly has seemed far easier to talk to than most of the rest of these.

[E-Nazrin]

>"There is something wrong. We're trying to help fix it. Do you know what those wisps are?"
>C'mon, pick up on it, pick up on it...

[Hello Purvis]

>Lead her over toward Gruegetsu.
>Is there any sign of Shadow Gengetsu.

[DracoOmega]

>"There is something wrong. We're trying to help fix it. Do you know what those wisps are?"
>C'mon, pick up on it, pick up on it...

>"They are... They are not her. She is what is important. She is what I came here to find. They are not... Not... Why can I feel them?"
>You like to hope she's making progress, anyway...

>Lead her over toward Gruegetsu.
>Is there any sign of Shadow Gengetsu.

>You try to lead her towards Gruegetsu, but she makes no action to move and appears oblivious to your efforts to move her.
>You look around for Shadow Gengetsu. She is rather harder to spot among all the things that look a little like her. You think you can see her near a cluster of wisps a few dozens feet to your left, near the boundary.

[Hello Purvis]

>"C'mon, this way. It'll help you get everything sorted out."
>Toward Gruegetsu.
>"Those wispy things? They're parts of you. Your memories and such."

[DracoOmega]

>"C'mon, this way. It'll help you get everything sorted out."
>Toward Gruegetsu.
>"Those wispy things? They're parts of you. Your memories and such."

>"You will help me find the one of her I came here to find?" she asks.
>You try to lead her towards Gruegetsu, which mostly involves pulling on her arm until it's fully extended before her, while she makes just enough subtle movements to keep from toppling over. She still doesn't seem to be paying any particular attention to the direction you're pulling her in.
>"Why would they be part of me? They are not part of me. They are outside of me. They are not what I am searching for."