Iku Quest Sechs - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Suwako Moriya]

We may want to generally dismiss the group of the celestials, just so they know for sure we're done.

[Hello Purvis]

>Walk over to Parsee
>"Thank you for accompanying me, even if nothing untoward happened in the end."

>You approach Parsee, as the crowd begins to scatter. "Someone had to do it, I guess," she says. "So, are we done here?"

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> Well go ahead and make me look dumb, then.

[DracoOmega]

>"No further business, at least. But I don't have much left in me, and will likely have to turn in for the night shortly. As much as I wish I could continue to attend to matters, I cannot ignore my physical limits indefinitely."
>"That being said, I did promise to accompany you back, and don't intend to renege."

[Hello Purvis]

> Well go ahead and make me look dumb, then.

>What, did you think they wouldn't get the hint?

>"No further business, at least. But I don't have much left in me, and will likely have to turn in for the night shortly. As much as I wish I could continue to attend to matters, I cannot ignore my physical limits indefinitely."
>"That being said, I did promise to accompany you back, and don't intend to renege."

>"Don't bother," says Parsee. "It's pretty clear your poltergeist is hiding somewhere. I'll be fine."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Are you sure? I don't want to you just saying that for my benefit."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Are you sure? I don't want to you just saying that for my benefit."

>"Yeah, I'll be fine," says Parsee.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Very well. Thanks again, and I hope the rest of the evening passes peacefully for all of us."
>Head towards our room, Tenshi in tow

[Hello Purvis]

>"Very well. Thanks again, and I hope the rest of the evening passes peacefully for all of us."
>Head towards our room, Tenshi in tow

>"You too," says Parsee, as she waves and departs.
>"You know," says Tenshi, "I'd almost swear she was nicer these days."
>The trip back to the palace, and back to your chambers, is depressingly long. That relief is almost in sight just makes every step seem to drag on longer. The Palace itself seems to be less of a mess than the last time you were here. Much of the debris has been moved to the sides, and you can see a couple of celestials here and there sorting through it. That aside, there is little activity. While the Palace certainly calms down at night, it's typically not this quiet.
>Eventually, you get back to your chambers, you are relieved to see that someone has made a cursory effort to clean them up. The broken pottery had been cleaned away, the furniture righted, and much of the mess set off to the side. Best of all, the bed has been changed and made. Rather than looking like a mess, your room is just barren and a bit unrecognizable.

>_

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Let ourselves flop on the bed for a moment
>"Oh, you have no idea how nice it is to finally be back here. This has been one of the longest days I can ever recall."
>Do we know where we would fetch a spare futon from?

[Suwako Moriya]

Suggestion: When it becomes appropriate, offer Tenshi the bed.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let ourselves flop on the bed for a moment
>"Oh, you have no idea how nice it is to finally be back here. This has been one of the longest days I can ever recall."
>Do we know where we would fetch a spare futon from?

>You flop down on the bed. Never has there been a sweeter embrace...
>"Tell me about it," says Tenshi. "So, what'd you want, exactly?"
>There's a few storage areas, though you imagine they must be frightful right now. You're pretty sure Tenshi has her own, if she cared to drag it over.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> How big is our bed?
> Could two people sit on it comfortably without putting their backs to each other?

[Suwako Moriya]

Suggestion Redux: When discussing the potenti for a docile poltergeist, point out that she set to freeing herself after absorbing us, and left Tenshi alone. It certainly seems she's not mindlessly homicidal, even in the company of aggressors.

[DracoOmega]

Well, enough other things suggest she isn't mindlessly homicidal, but I don't think we can use this particular incident to mean anything. Tenshi was almost certainly out of range before the spectre had a chance to try it on her (assuming she couldn't do it to both at once), and long gone by the time she freed herself.

[Suwako Moriya]

But she started trying to free herself in Tenshi's presence. It makes me wonder how concerned she was about Tenshi's presence.

[DracoOmega]

She did? I thought Tenshi said she didn't get a chance to see her do anything?

[Suwako Moriya]

I recall it coming up at some point.

[Suwako Moriya]

> Did Tenshi or Reimu ever mention the poltergeist trying to free itself after we were captured?

[Hello Purvis]

> How big is our bed?
> Could two people sit on it comfortably without putting their backs to each other?

>You think so, but it's not much bigger than that.

> Did Tenshi or Reimu ever mention the poltergeist trying to free itself after we were captured?

>Tenshi said she ran while it was trying to get free.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Shift aside a little to make room for Tenshi to sit down
>Gesture towards the space: "Here, have a seat."

>"In any case, I wanted to fill you in on what's happened since we last saw each other. Although I may have found more questions than answers, I still have learned some things."
>"I met Nitori inside that shadow realm the spectre cast me into. Well, her shadow, at any rate, and her consciousness too, it seems. She's alright, or at least as alright as anyone trapped inside that place can expect to be. She told me what happened to her, the other night. For the most part, it was about what you'd expect. She bumped into the spectre by that hill near the village, asked her why she was sneaking around, and then the spectre attacked her and tore her shadow away."
>"What's more interesting is that the spectre went as far as the kappa village of her own accord. Further, even. Apparently she shared drinks with Suika on Guest Island afterwards. Nitori was vaguely aware of a couple things the spectre did since she was trapped; I suspect this is while the spectre is manifesting her shadow, although I can't be sure. It seems she never attacked Suika at all; I can only think this must be because Suika never bothered to ask her any questions about herself, although I'm still not certain why she would go to Bhava-Agra of her own accord in the first place, given how intent she's been on hiding."

[Hello Purvis]

>Shift aside a little to make room for Tenshi to sit down
>Gesture towards the space: "Here, have a seat."

>"In any case, I wanted to fill you in on what's happened since we last saw each other. Although I may have found more questions than answers, I still have learned some things."
>"I met Nitori inside that shadow realm the spectre cast me into. Well, her shadow, at any rate, and her consciousness too, it seems. She's alright, or at least as alright as anyone trapped inside that place can expect to be. She told me what happened to her, the other night. For the most part, it was about what you'd expect. She bumped into the spectre by that hill near the village, asked her why she was sneaking around, and then the spectre attacked her and tore her shadow away."
>"What's more interesting is that the spectre went as far as the kappa village of her own accord. Further, even. Apparently she shared drinks with Suika on Guest Island afterwards. Nitori was vaguely aware of a couple things the spectre did since she was trapped; I suspect this is while the spectre is manifesting her shadow, although I can't be sure. It seems she never attacked Suika at all; I can only think this must be because Suika never bothered to ask her any questions about herself, although I'm still not certain why she would go to Bhava-Agra of her own accord in the first place, given how intent she's been on hiding."

>You shift aside to make some space and gesture for Tenshi to sit down. She does so. She nods along as you tell your story, at one point saying, "Wow, Suika really can get along with anybody, can't she?"
>You ponder why she came to Bhava-Agra. "Well, she probably took it's shadow, right?" asks Tenshi. "So I guess that's why she came."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yes, but this was several days ago, so she must have left and came back again later. Suika didn't see where she went; she passed out while she was still there, but the poltergeist was gone when she woke up. In any event, she did not take its shadow until several days later, for whatever reason. I'm not certain it was her original objective when she went there first. For that matter, I still don't know why she took its shadow at all. Her usual motive doesn't seem to apply to a land mass that can neither know secrets nor speak them."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes, but this was several days ago, so she must have left and came back again later. Suika didn't see where she went; she passed out while she was still there, but the poltergeist was gone when she woke up. In any event, she did not take its shadow until several days later, for whatever reason. I'm not certain it was her original objective when she went there first. For that matter, I still don't know why she took its shadow at all. Her usual motive doesn't seem to apply to a land mass that can neither know secrets nor speak them."

>"Several days ago?" says Tenshi. "...Oh, your right, yeah. Nitori was a couple days ago. When did she meet Suika?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Sometime after that. I suspect it might have been that very night. Suika herself said it was a couple days ago, anyway. I stopped by Nitori's place looking for you, and thought I should speak with her while I was in the neighborhood. She confirmed what Nitori thought she vaguely remembered, and filled in a couple more details. Apparently the spectre was shy and harmless the entire time they were together, but Suika didn't have much else to tell us; she never asked her much. Quite possibly a good thing for her health, of course."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sometime after that. I suspect it might have been that very night. Suika herself said it was a couple days ago, anyway. I stopped by Nitori's place looking for you, and thought I should speak with her while I was in the neighborhood. She confirmed what Nitori thought she vaguely remembered, and filled in a couple more details. Apparently the spectre was shy and harmless the entire time they were together, but Suika didn't have much else to tell us; she never asked her much. Quite possibly a good thing for her health, of course."

>"Wonder how she got past the Tengu patrols?" Tenshi asks.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

Just FYI, I'd like to get in on this conversation before it ends.

[Suwako Moriya]

And yeah, Tenshi points out something I thought of earlier and forgot.

[DracoOmega]

>Would the Tengu normally intercept someone en route to Guest Island?
>Would it be plausible to slip past their notice if one were cautious?
>What about if one went above the cloud line before passing the Kappa village itself?

[Hello Purvis]

>Would the Tengu normally intercept someone en route to Guest Island?
>Would it be plausible to slip past their notice if one were cautious?
>What about if one went above the cloud line before passing the Kappa village itself?

>The patrols typically intercept anyone they don't recognize.
>You might be able to slip through, if you played your cards right. But you'd definitely have to know the patrol routes.
>They probably wouldn't bother you then, simply for not seeing you. But being up that high makes navigation a little difficult unless you are used to it.

>_