Iku Quest Drei - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, I've been trying, although it's been a bit of a difficult day all around. I was just curious if you might have heard anything, that's all. I imagine you do get your share of traffic through here, after all."
>Wait for Tenshi to finish up

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, I've been trying, although it's been a bit of a difficult day all around. I was just curious if you might have heard anything, that's all. I imagine you do get your share of traffic through here, after all."
>Wait for Tenshi to finish up

>"Well, there's been a lot of Underground people here," says Mystia. "I think they've been up to something. Umm...I'm pretty sure Renko has been one of the major organizers of the effort to find the Brocken Spectre." She frowns at the grill. "Um, I think Alice has taken up whittling. I don't see her much, but she's been by once or twice, and she's always carving up a piece of wood. That's about all I have."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Thanks. I don't mean to grill you. ...no pun intended. It's just that there's been so little information to go on so far; every little bit can be helpful."
>"Oh, and thanks for the meal. It was tasty, as ever."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thanks. I don't mean to grill you. ...no pun intended. It's just that there's been so little information to go on so far; every little bit can be helpful."
>"Oh, and thanks for the meal. It was tasty, as ever."

>Tenshi finishes off her skewer.
>She nods. "I guess you'll just have to go with what you can find."
>She smiles at your compliment. "Thanks!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, we probably should be heading off now. The sooner we can find some answers, the better for everyone involved, I think. Have a pleasant day, Mystia."
>Head off a little, in the direction of the main road
>To Tenshi, once away: "So, what now then?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, we probably should be heading off now. The sooner we can find some answers, the better for everyone involved, I think. Have a pleasant day, Mystia."
>Head off a little, in the direction of the main road
>To Tenshi, once away: "So, what now then?"

>"Good luck!" says Mystia as the two of you depart.
>You ask Tenshi what now. She shrugs. "I dunno. You're the investigator."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps, but I don't want to act as though you're just someone for me to drag along, either. Is there anything wrong with asking your opinion?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Perhaps, but I don't want to act as though you're just someone for me to drag along, either. Is there anything wrong with asking your opinion?"

>"No," says Tenshi, "I just said, you're the investigator. Don't you think if I knew something, I'd say it? Do what you think we need to, geez..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

Ok, I feel there's a bit of a conflict at the moment.

The most obviously useful thing to do at the moment is try to meet with Hina, and find out if she's learned anything about Nitori's condition. Unfortunately, we were also supposed to keep the entire thing about Nitori secret from everyone, and I'm inclined to think Tenshi also falls into that category. Unfortunately, given our recent encounters with her, we're also in a bad position to tell Tenshi essentially 'sorry, but I can't trust you with this, and need to go on alone'. I shudder at the reaction we might get from her if we tried that.

Can anyone think of anything else worth doing, or some pretext that could separate us briefly, without engendering any bad feelings? In fact, I'm a little wary of the potential fallout of splitting up at all, so quickly after last time, although if we can find a good reason for it...

Alternately, we can simply let Tenshi know, but, all things being equal, she's one of the last people in Gensokyo I'd trust with sensitive information. And even if we DID trust her fully, it's still something of a betrayal of our promise to Utsuho and Parsee to tell her without a better reason than 'sorry, couldn't ditch her'.

Opinions?

[Kilgamayan]

I've been thinking about this problem ever since it occurred to me about a week ago, and have yet to find what I feel to be a concrete answer. (Which I suppose is the point of being put in that situation in the first place.)

At this point, I think our best course of action is to bring Tenshi along for the ride. In doing a risk-reward assessment, I've concluded that Tenshi has everything to gain by being trustworthy, because it will work toward validating her stance that she's not below others, particularly us.  She also has everything to lose by not being trustworthy - she'll lose a good deal of face by proving everyone right in that she isn't as good as the others, and then she'll lose the rest of her face once Utsuho and Yuugi break it off. She didn't like being zapped by a restrained Iku in the early game, there's no way she wants to deal with a pissed off Okuugi tandem that will be liable to forgo danmaku in favor of a straight-up beatdown due to how personal the issue is. As long as we're up-front about how big a secret this is and backhandedly threaten Tenshi with Okuugi by pointing out they're involved and that we're already betraying their trust to a degree, I think she'll get the message.

Given all that, the worst that happens to us is Nitori's friends get somewhat agitated that we told someone, and I think we can placate that a little bit with how we "can't betray a friend" and pointing out to them who either of us would have to answer to should this info leak out further.

[DracoOmega]

I've been thinking about this problem ever since it occurred to me about a week ago, and have yet to find what I feel to be a concrete answer. (Which I suppose is the point of being put in that situation in the first place.)

Yeah, likewise. Was kind of hoping something would present itself, but nothing really has, so...

On the whole, I think you may be trusting too much in Tenshi properly evaluating what she has to gain by being trustworthy, or even really caring about said consequences. You're right in that there's potential for gain by doing it; I think I may simply evaluate the risk as higher than you do. That being said, I don't necessarily have a better alternative to propose at the moment, either. The only other task that occurs to me to do at all, in the meantime, is see if Renko and Maribel have dropped back home yet.

[Kilgamayan]

Actually, that's not a bad idea to do in the meantime. We can ask Renko about shadows, too, to see if she has any leads.

If we finish our errand and info-gathering without any new paths and there have been no other objections, however, then we might as well show Tenshi what's going on.

> "All right, then. Let's head back to the new girls' place, to see if they've returned home."
> Head back to the new girls' place, to see if they've returned home.

[Hello Purvis]

> "All right, then. Let's head back to the new girls' place, to see if they've returned home."
> Head back to the new girls' place, to see if they've returned home.

>"Sure, I guess," says Tenshi. "Why?"
>You head toward the recently reclaimed house. As you do, you see the brown-haired girl, Renko if you recall correctly, emerging from it with a coil of rope around her arms.
>She looks toward you and frowns a little. "Oh, um, hello?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Hello again, Renko. I have a message from Patchouli for you and Maribel. Is she around?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hello again, Renko. I have a message from Patchouli for you and Maribel. Is she around?"

>"No, I was just making a run back to the house to get something. Um, what does Patchouli want?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"She was thinking about forming a formal magician's circle, and was wondering if the two of you would be interested in joining."

[Hello Purvis]

>"She was thinking about forming a formal magician's circle, and was wondering if the two of you would be interested in joining."

>"Wow," says Renko, raising her eyes, "that sounds really awesome!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Smile
>"Shall I take that as a yes, then?"
>"Patchouli said the first meeting would be this Hunter's Moon, at the mansion. I get the impression more details will be fleshed out then."

[Hello Purvis]

>Smile
>"Shall I take that as a yes, then?"
>"Patchouli said the first meeting would be this Hunter's Moon, at the mansion. I get the impression more details will be fleshed out then."

>"Wow, a real magican's circle..." says Renko, before giggling. "Um, is it okay if I bring Mary, too?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"The invitation was extended to the both of you, yes."

[Hello Purvis]

>"The invitation was extended to the both of you, yes."

>"Oh good," says Renko, "She'll be thrilled!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I'm happy to be the bearer of good news, then."
>"How's the exploring been, anyway?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I'm happy to be the bearer of good news, then."
>"How's the exploring been, anyway?"

>She nods. "Not as happy as me to get it. This sounds like it's going to be so cool!"
>"Pretty good. We've seen a lot of neat things."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"What's the rope for, anyway, if you don't mind my asking?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"What's the rope for, anyway, if you don't mind my asking?"

>"Oh, um, nothing special," says Renko, frowning a little.

>_

[Janitor Morgan]

Either they're using it to catch the Brocken Spectre, or...yeah. >_>

Is that everyone we needed to tell about the magicians' circle? If so, when would be the best time to go tell Patchouli? I'm not sure if bringing Tenshi along for that would be a good idea, especially if she learns that Patchy burned her dress.

[DracoOmega]

Either they're using it to catch the Brocken Spectre, or...yeah. >_>

Well, I'd assumed it was for some heavy lifting work of some sort in Bhava-Agra that Renko didn't really want Iku to know about. After all, it might involve someone else's property, etc.

Is that everyone we needed to tell about the magicians' circle? If so, when would be the best time to go tell Patchouli? I'm not sure if bringing Tenshi along for that would be a good idea, especially if she learns that Patchy burned her dress.

We only sort of half-told Marisa, since she started shooting at us afterward. However, we probably got the important bit across, and she said she'd go talk to Patchy about it herself later. We've told everyone else.

We could even go back to the SDM after this, I suppose. Although, all things being equal, I'd like to get to Hina as soon as possible. I don't think Tenshi would really be harmful to bring with us to the SDM. If Patchy, for whatever reason, decides to make a jab out of it, she'd be practically asking for it in her own library, and I doubt she'd do that. Otherwise, Tenshi doesn't seem to have a reason to misbehave while there.

>"I'm curious. Had you noticed the peculiarity with the islands' shadows?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm curious. Had you noticed the peculiarity with the islands' shadows?"

>"No," says Renko. "What's wrong with them?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"They're not nearly as dark as they ought to be."

[Hello Purvis]

>"They're not nearly as dark as they ought to be."

>She blinks, then walks around the house to have a look at the island not far away. She frowns at it. "Well, I'll be..." She glances back to you. "Never really paid that much attention to that. Why's it doing that?"

>_