Iku Quest Dos - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"....what?"

>"It's pretty obvious, when you think about it," says Marisa. "If you were going to try to take over Gensokyo, you'd need allies. And who better to serve as allies then your own fellow sky people? Too bad for you, I just took out their general. Now, I just need to take out your general..."
>And suddenly, the sky is full of star-shaped danmaku.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Back off
>Try to find some open space among the danmaku
>"That doesn't make any sense at all! They're no more our fellows than anyone else down here. I don't even know how to get to Eientei! And if we were trying to take over Gensokyo, don't you think we would have taken some aggressive action by now?"
>"And by general, do you mean Eirin? I had a message from Patchouli for her, too! I didn't even finish giving you yours, either!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Back off
>Try to find some open space among the danmaku
>"That doesn't make any sense at all! They're no more our fellows than anyone else down here. I don't even know how to get to Eientei! And if we were trying to take over Gensokyo, don't you think we would have taken some aggressive action by now?"
>"And by general, do you mean Eirin? I had a message from Patchouli for her, too! I didn't even finish giving you yours, either!"

>You back away, as Marisa fills the air with wave upon wave of stars. You think you should be able to stay between the waves, but it'll be difficult to move through them; the stars' shimmering makes it deceptive.
>"We've been too busy stalling you, obviously," says Marisa, as she pours on more waves of stars. "And I'll get the message from Patchouli later, no worries."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Shift into an open space between waves, and keep on eye on the next set of waves. Be ready to shift into the nearest accessible gap in them, once the first have passed us.
>"We're innocent! Think this through for a moment. You're right right that Remilia and Yuyuko didn't think their plans through, and they had side-effects outside their own intent, but they were at least moving towards their own aims in the process. If this was our plan, what have we done except injure our own people?"
>"I have no intention of fighting you. We're on the same side!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Shift into an open space between waves, and keep on eye on the next set of waves. Be ready to shift into the nearest accessible gap in them, once the first have passed us.
>"We're innocent! Think this through for a moment. You're right right that Remilia and Yuyuko didn't think their plans through, and they had side-effects outside their own intent, but they were at least moving towards their own aims in the process. If this was our plan, what have we done except injure our own people?"
>"I have no intention of fighting you. We're on the same side!"

>You move to an empty space and keep your eyes on the next waves.
>"And you weren't?" says Marisa. "Got your forces down here, didn't you? Just not in the condition you hoped."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"There's a village on that island. Did it look populated by fighters ready to strike? Have any of us struck out at all, except when people have brought fighting to us?"
>"What can I do to convince you we're innocent?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"There's a village on that island. Did it look populated by fighters ready to strike? Have any of us struck out at all, except when people have brought fighting to us?"
>"What can I do to convince you we're innocent?"

>"Just like I said, things didn't go according to plan," says Marisa.
>You are starting to get hemmed in by the stars, the waves are converging on you.
>"You sound like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar, you know that?" Marisa says, as she creates more waves.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to back up a little further, and look for another opening in the waves to shift towards
>"Will you not listen to a word I have to say? I have had people I care about injured, the harvest I am responsible for devastated, my home flung from where it's supposed to be, and have had to put up with nearly everyone I meet believing I am responsible for this. Or worse, firing at me before I've barely opened my mouth. Will you stop, at least for the moment, and listen? Have you noticed that I am not firing back?"

[Kilgamayan]

> "Did you also not notice that I came up to you directly after you fired off that gigantic laser instead of simply hiding from you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to back up a little further, and look for another opening in the waves to shift towards
>"Will you not listen to a word I have to say? I have had people I care about injured, the harvest I am responsible for devastated, my home flung from where it's supposed to be, and have had to put up with nearly everyone I meet believing I am responsible for this. Or worse, firing at me before I've barely opened my mouth. Will you stop, at least for the moment, and listen? Have you noticed that I am not firing back?"

>You back away, discover a likely opening, and shift through it.
>"Not going to fool me so easily, Eirin already spilled the whole story!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"She what?! What story? I've had no involvement whatsoever with Eientei. What did she say?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"She what?! What story? I've had no involvement whatsoever with Eientei. What did she say?"

>"She confirmed everything I just said!" Marisa says, grinning with obvious pride.
>There's an awful lot of waves coming your way. You're growing less and less sure of your ability to get through them.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>One wonders if that 'confirmation' required very selective hearing...
>"This is nonsense! If she said this is an invasion, she's simply wrong. Is she said we're working together, she's just plain lying. We have no connection whatsoever, and I'm doing my utmost to put things back. I can't very well do that if you incapacitate me! And the islands aren't going to magically ascend just because you do so!"
>"If I was truly guilty, do you think I would approach you when I could have easily avoided you?"
>Keep up the dodging for the moment, and try to read a clear path to quickly descend into the forest below once it gets too thick to stay here

[Hello Purvis]

>One wonders if that 'confirmation' required very selective hearing...
>"This is nonsense! If she said this is an invasion, she's simply wrong. Is she said we're working together, she's just plain lying. We have no connection whatsoever, and I'm doing my utmost to put things back. I can't very well do that if you incapacitate me! And the islands aren't going to magically ascend just because you do so!"
>"If I was truly guilty, do you think I would approach you when I could have easily avoided you?"
>Keep up the dodging for the moment, and try to read a clear path to quickly descend into the forest below once it gets too thick to stay here

>Perhaps so.
>"Naw, I think you were just trying to pull something, since you didn't  know I was onto your whole scheme!"
>You keep slipping through the waves, which are growing tighter and tighter.  You think, if you just drop down, you should be able to gt to the forest with minimal problems.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yes, my grand scheme of flying down here and getting assaulted by Reimu and Sanae and yourself whilst not retaliating! What a brilliant plan that was on my part, huh?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yes, my grand scheme of flying down here and getting assaulted by Reimu and Sanae and yourself whilst not retaliating! What a brilliant plan that was on my part, huh?"

>"Not sure why you expect me know to know that kind of trick you were up to just now," says Marisa as she creates more waves, "Aside from trying to talk your way out of a well-deserved beating."

[DracoOmega]

>"Well-deserved? So you are utterly convinced this is an invasion and that there is not even a chance you could be wrong?"
>"I will say one last time that I had no hand in this, and that I do not know who did. I will swear it on anything you care to name. I would stand firm in my innocence before the Yama herself, and you know that she cannot be deceived."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well-deserved? So you are utterly convinced this is an invasion and that there is not even a chance you could be wrong?"
>"I will say one last time that I had no hand in this, and that I do not know who did. I will swear it on anything you care to name. I would stand firm in my innocence before the Yama herself, and you know that she cannot be deceived."

>"You're trying really hard to pretend your co-conspirator didn't already rat you out," Marisa says as she creates more waves of twinkling stars.
>You try to slip between a wave, and get clipped in the shoulder. And then another wave is on top of you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Dive for the forest
>"There are no co-conspirators! Do you think I would be so foolish to sit here and protest if there were?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Dive for the forest
>"There are no co-conspirators! Do you think I would be so foolish to sit here and protest if there were?"

>You dive for the forest! You plunge through a wave below you, hitting your foot on the way down. It stings, but it could be worse.
>"You're not getting away that easy!" says Marisa, as you plunge through the bamboo. The stalks whip at you as you crash through them, causing some momentary pains.
>You are in the middle of the bamboo forest. The bamboo grows thickly here; barely allowing you room for flight, or the ability to see ahead very far. The clumps of the stuff form practically impenetrable walls of random size and design. It is dark here. Obvious exits are north, south, and west.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Do we have even a general idea which part of the forest Eientei is in? If so, head in roughly that direction
>If not, head in whichever direction looked the furthest from the edges of the forest, while we saw it from above
>Move as quickly as we can without injuring ourselves or worse, snagging and losing momentum. But be willing to suffer a scrape or two as we go, in the interest of speed.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we have even a general idea which part of the forest Eientei is in? If so, head in roughly that direction
>If not, head in whichever direction looked the furthest from the edges of the forest, while we saw it from above
>Move as quickly as we can without injuring ourselves or worse, snagging and losing momentum. But be willing to suffer a scrape or two as we go, in the interest of speed.

>You fly southward, not really knowing where Eientei is at all, as stars begin to rain down on you from above!
>Thankfully, you manage to avoid them and fly toward the south. Moments later, you hear something crash through the bamboo behind you.
>You're no longer bothering to really take stock of your surroundings, you just keep moving. Up ahead, the bamboo gets  too thick to fly through. To the west, it seems more clear, while to the the east it would be difficult to fly or see through, but possible.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Head east

[Hello Purvis]

>Head east

>You head eastward!
>The bamboo makes it difficult to fly, and you have to shield your face with an arm. It whips around as you pass, creating a cacophony of noise in your wake. It soon starts to get more and more dense. Sparing a look around, you then you can see more open paths to the north and south. South seems the less crowded of the two

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Head south
>Can we hear noise of pursuit behind us? And if so, can we estimate how close it is, without stopping?

[Hello Purvis]

>Head south
>Can we hear noise of pursuit behind us? And if so, can we estimate how close it is, without stopping?

>You head southward!
>You really can't tell if she's pursuing, as you flight is causing a lot of noise. You think she is behind you, though. You have idea how close she would be.
>This way is more clear, almost but not quite a path. You follow it as it weaves to and fro. Shortly, you lose your sense of direction.
>Up ahead, you can see the bamboo get too dense to fly through. To the left, the way is somewhat less dense. And to the right is a house.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Go for the house!
> What does the house look like?

[Hello Purvis]

> Go for the house!
> What does the house look like?

>You go for the house!
>It seems to be made of bamboo, and covered in daub and wattle. It's not very large or complex, reminding you of the Yakumo home that you saw earlier today, though made of different materials. There is a front door, also made of bamboo and currently closed. A few windows exist as well, currently covered with bamboo shutters.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Fly around to the other side of the house while listening for anyone else that might be around.

[Hello Purvis]

> Fly around to the other side of the house while listening for anyone else that might be around.

>You fly around to the other side of the house. There is a back porch here, with a bamboo canopy over it and a back door similar to the other one, as well as a few windows. You hear no one around.

>_