Iku Quest P?t: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> Were there any trees on this island?
> "Huh. Not much here, is there?"
> Dip hand into the water.

>There are some here and there, but not enough in any one place to make a proper copse, let alone anything like a woods.
>You dip your hand into the water. It feels like normal water, at least.
>Nitori motions toward the ground with her finger again, already kneeling in mimicry of you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Pull our hand out of the water.
> Bring our finger to the ground and write out whatever she suggests.

[Hello Purvis]

> Pull our hand out of the water.
> Bring our finger to the ground and write out whatever she suggests.

>You pull your hand out of the water. Thankfully, it has not melted or somesuch.
>Nitori writes: "I don't think there IS anything here. It's probably why we're here, if you got in that poltergeist's way, too."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "This likely is designed to be isolation, yes. But there are still a couple of curiosities."
> "For one, the poltergeist has stolen shadows of inanimate objects. Surely these didn't interfere with her daily life. Hell, I don't even know how she got a hold of the Bhavagran shadows."
> "For another, I've seen her morph her shadow to other things, including Kogasa. I wonder if the times you were aware of what she was doing were because she was using you as a shadow for some reason. For this reason, I'm at least hoping to find Kogasa here. It is for this reason I suspect to a degree that we're inside the poltergeist somehow, though that could mean any number of things."

[Hello Purvis]

> "This likely is designed to be isolation, yes. But there are still a couple of curiosities."
> "For one, the poltergeist has stolen shadows of inanimate objects. Surely these didn't interfere with her daily life. Hell, I don't even know how she got a hold of the Bhavagran shadows."
> "For another, I've seen her morph her shadow to other things, including Kogasa. I wonder if the times you were aware of what she was doing were because she was using you as a shadow for some reason. For this reason, I'm at least hoping to find Kogasa here. It is for this reason I suspect to a degree that we're inside the poltergeist somehow, though that could mean any number of things."

>Nitori ponders for a moment, then writes, "Maybe, she didn't turn her shadow into Kogasa's, but rather she was actually using it?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I suppose it's possible. I watched her morph her shadow from a normal shadow into that of a rock during our fight. To be perfectly honest, though, I didn't see if she morphed into Kogasa's shadow or if it simply popped into place."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I suppose it's possible. I watched her morph her shadow from a normal shadow into that of a rock during our fight. To be perfectly honest, though, I didn't see if she morphed into Kogasa's shadow or if it simply popped into place."

>Nitori nods, then writes, "I guess maybe there's a rock shadow around here somewhere? Sounds like it'd be a pain to find."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I think there could be."
> Smile.
> "Not that it would help a whole lot, outside of possibly giving Tenshi further credence to call me fat."
> "Hmm. Since it was mentioned earlier, I don't suppose you know much of anything about the Brocken Specter?"

[DracoOmega]

>How deep into the pool can we see? Can we see the bottom?
>There would normally be more islands easily visible from our position than just the one we came from, correct?

[Hello Purvis]

> "I think there could be."
> Smile.
> "Not that it would help a whole lot, outside of possibly giving Tenshi further credence to call me fat."
> "Hmm. Since it was mentioned earlier, I don't suppose you know much of anything about the Brocken Specter?"

>Nitori writes: "Just make fun of her chest, that'll get her onto other topics real fast."
>When asked about the Brocken Spectre, she writes, "Sounds like a scam to sell newspapers to me. But I went looking with Parsee a couple times just to have something to do outside of the warehouse. Figured if there was one to be found after all, it'd be a nice surprise. I mean, we did build the thing everyone thought it was the first time, but there were stories about it in the forest."

>How deep into the pool can we see? Can we see the bottom?
>There would normally be more islands easily visible from our position than just the one we came from, correct?

>You can kinda see the bottom, but the water makes it hard to tell how deep it is. Maybe five or six feet?
>You think there might have been some small ones around here.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>But we can see the bottom well enough that it doesn't appear that anything out of place is down there?
>"Hmm... now that I think of it... in that dream, where the poltergeist was drinking with Suika, where were they?"

[Hello Purvis]

>But we can see the bottom well enough that it doesn't appear that anything out of place is down there?
>"Hmm... now that I think of it... in that dream, where the poltergeist was drinking with Suika, where were they?"

>You see nothing unusual at the bottom of the pool; there are some rocks down there. Their colors are off; even worse due to the water effect around them.
>Nitori writes: "I don't know. Some place with peach trees. I remember Suika was eating them."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Are there peach trees on Guest Island?

[Hello Purvis]

>Are there peach trees on Guest Island?

>There certainly are. You think this may be part of why Suika wanted it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I think they were on Guest Island, in Bhava-Agra. Suika likes to spend time there, and there are certainly plenty of peach trees on it. Maybe that's where she was heading, when you saw her walking towards the mountain?"
>"Although that still doesn't answer the question of what she was doing this far away from her forest in the first place. She's seemed extremely reclusive, and didn't want to be seen or known of by anyone. She was extremely offended when I had taken her away from 'her forest'. This is a pretty long way away for someone like that to come of their own accord."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I think they were on Guest Island, in Bhava-Agra. Suika likes to spend time there, and there are certainly plenty of peach trees on it. Maybe that's where she was heading, when you saw her walking towards the mountain?"
>"Although that still doesn't answer the question of what she was doing this far away from her forest in the first place. She's seemed extremely reclusive, and didn't want to be seen or known of by anyone. She was extremely offended when I had taken her away from 'her forest'. This is a pretty long way away for someone like that to come of their own accord."

>Nitori shrugs, then writes, "I'm just telling you what I saw. Ask Suika?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I most certainly will, once I can find a way out of here."
>Do another once-over of the island, looking for anything that catches our eyes; perhaps a small cave in the mountainside, or some sign of motion

[Hello Purvis]

>"I most certainly will, once I can find a way out of here."
>Do another once-over of the island, looking for anything that catches our eyes; perhaps a small cave in the mountainside, or some sign of motion

>You don't see any caves, or any kid of motion. There's not even a breeze here to make the grass sway or the water ripple.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>And the island is small enough that we've seen more or less all of it at this point?
>Judging from the position of the one other island we can see, can we tell where some of the other larger islands would be, in the sky?
>Could they reasonably be far enough away that we couldn't really see them from where we are? As opposed to them simply not being there?

[Hello Purvis]

>And the island is small enough that we've seen more or less all of it at this point?
>Judging from the position of the one other island we can see, can we tell where some of the other larger islands would be, in the sky?
>Could they reasonably be far enough away that we couldn't really see them from where we are? As opposed to them simply not being there?

>You more or less have seen it all. It's feasible there's something hidden in some nook or cranny that isn't obvious without a close look, but you're reasonably confident there is nothing of the sort.
>With the last two islands you've been to, you are reasonably sure where several major islands are now. and they would likely be too far off to see from here. However, getting to them without any landmarks might be tricky.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>What is the nearest major island to our current location?
>How far away would Guest Island be, relatively speaking?
>And would there be any other major islands roughly along the way from here to it?

[Hello Purvis]

>What is the nearest major island to our current location?
>How far away would Guest Island be, relatively speaking?
>And would there be any other major islands roughly along the way from here to it?

>Probably Orchard Isle. There are a couple others, but you are only vaguely sure of their current positions.
>It would be some distance away. While you know the general direction, there is a lot of time that would allow for your course to go awry. There wouldn't be any major ones on the way to it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I'm going to try flying to where I think another island is, now. I apologize for likely having to drag you through the void again, but I felt I should at least give you fair warning."
>Ascend and point ourselves firmly in the direction that we believe Orchard Isle is in, from the positions of these two islands
>Keep moving straight forward, until we can see something in the distance before us
>Periodically look over our shoulder, so that we can get a sense of how much distance we're gaining on the island we're leaving, and not let ourselves get too disoriented for lack of landmarks

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I'm going to try flying to where I think another island is, now. I apologize for likely having to drag you through the void again, but I felt I should at least give you fair warning."
>Ascend and point ourselves firmly in the direction that we believe Orchard Isle is in, from the positions of these two islands
>Keep moving straight forward, until we can see something in the distance before us
>Periodically look over our shoulder, so that we can get a sense of how much distance we're gaining on the island we're leaving, and not let ourselves get too disoriented for lack of landmarks

>Nitori nods.
>You point yourself toward where you are sure Orchard Island is, then fly that way; north by a small bit of east.
>You periodically look over your shoulder, the island shrinking away each time until it is gone from sight. You aren't sure if it's due to distance, the oddities of color, or some trick of this place that makes distant things disappear. But with that, you are alone in the void.
>You keep going. Soon, you see something off to your left and below; another island. You are not sure which it is at this distance.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Fly towards this island

[Hello Purvis]

>Fly towards this island

>You fly toward it. Soon, you see that it is Orchard Isle, relieving a knot in your stomach that you weren't too aware of until just now, and at the same time bringing up a new concern; you nearly passed it. Fling without any visual markers is much harder than you thought.
>Color and lack of people aside, the Island seems to be about as you remember it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Fly about the island, and search for any signs of people, unusual shadows, motion, or anything else that catches our eye
>What other major islands would be near to here?

[Kilgamayan]

> Check in on Nitori, as well.

[Hello Purvis]

>Fly about the island, and search for any signs of people, unusual shadows, motion, or anything else that catches our eye
>What other major islands would be near to here?

>You fly about the island, and see no signs of people or motion or odd shadows. It does seem a bit more orderly than what you remember it being; perhaps it wasn't affected by the fall?
>You can see The Dragon Palace from here. The Hinanai Shrine shouldn't be too far from that.

> Check in on Nitori, as well.

>You are too high up to see any shadows you would be casting.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Fly towards the Hinanai Shrine