>You are Toyosatomimi no Miko, Gensokyo?s finest hermit!
>Yours is a curious case; once emperor of this entire nation (except for Hokkaido, Okinawa, and such), you retired away to undertake a ritual to grant you immortality and bring you closer to perfection of being. It worked beyond your wildest expectations, transforming you to the person you?ve become today. One might complain about how long it took, but the results have been worth it. You live in seclusion with your retainer, Futo, and your former consort, Tojiko, refining your mastery over the art of the Hermit and catching up on the 1500 or so years of your nation?s history that you've managed to miss out upon, and trying to understand the nature of this land of Gensokyo. You are not certain which of those two fields has managed to shock you more.
>You have stepped down as a ruler and renounced your birthright, but you do try to maintain a noble?s gravitas. Your interests these days involves perfecting your hermitry, and eventually ascending to the ranks of the celestials. While you no longer have a true interest in leading the masses, you do feel that Gensokyo need to be united under a single leader. At the very least its human population will not do particularly well in its currently weak and disunified state against the likes of the youkai, one cannot depend on corrective measures such as a shrine maiden forever?
>Of late, you have learned of a growing unrest within the human village and on the urging of Futo and Tojiko, have visited to assess the situation. To your mild surprise, you have found that a small handful of villagers have some interest in Taoism. While you have no intention of taking on any pupils, you are contemplating giving them some basic instruction and seeing how it goes over. You've also heard some rumors of a contest regarding some bit of lost onmyoudo lore. Your investigation has led you to spend the evening in town, or rather, just outside of it. A kind farmer offered to loan you some space for the evening. This space, you were a little dismayed to discover, was her barn. However, it would have been rude to spurn her offer, so you graciously accepted and spent the evening on a pile of clean straw; thankfully the barn is currently free of livestock. Perhaps someone will build an inn someday?
>You awoke to find your sword stolen and your attendents missing. Eyewitness accounts have said that Tojiko and Futo have been going around, carrying a wrapped bundle in the shape of a sword. You have been searching desperately for them, following a trail that has lead through through the village and into the Forest of Magic with a detour through the Bamboo Forest. You presently travel in the company of Reisen, who hopes to resolve a dispute at Eientei in favor of the rabbits, and are visiting with Alice, who seems to have had a conflict with your rogue companions. Eventually, after some pleasantries, you found that they went toward the underground.
>Following Reisen there, you descended, and soon found the earth spider she was seeking out. As well, you found that earth spider tending to a bucket youkai who had been recently ambushed and had a wand of hers stolen by an unknown assailant. Pressing onward, you entered the Ancient City of the oni, and wandering its streets searching for your comrades, learning they were there from a youkai cat, then having a tense meeting with one of the buddhists to narrow down the search. You finally found them in a dancehall, where you learned they were not the ones who had taken your sword, but rather that they had been chasing the thief themselves, with little success and much blundering, ending with Futo taking a rather nasty beating from one of the oni. They presented you with a wonderful cloak as a gift, and resolved to stay there and rest up while you searched. You decided to try to investigate the city more, and visited the establishment of Nue Houjuu, who was all too happy to sic her patrons on you. In the escape, you've been drawn into a battle with an oni whose sister you unfortunately kneed in the back. >After a protracted but victorious battle, she directed you toward the lair of one of the Devas, an oni styled Kay. The Deva's information helped you decide that your weapon almost certainly wasn't underground, or at least not in the city. Returning to the surface, you encountered Youmu, who had much to say about your former teacher and cohort, Seiga, doing something to the Saigyou Ayakashi that resides within the Netherworld. You agreed to look into it, and also found yourself roped into some sort of stage production that the Ghost Princess is planning, after learning the Buddhist's leader was going to be involved. You then visited Reimu, who agreed with some reluctance to allow your cohorts to stay at her shrine, and suggested that you speak to either Sakuya, Marisa, or Mystia about the key you bought from Kourindou. You then proceeded toward the Netherworld, and have encountered a belligerent woman in red with a floating black box, who seems to be rather keen to chase you out.
> Frown.
> "I'm afraid I cannot do that."
>"Naw, I'm pretty sure you can do exactly that," says the woman in red. "Just do all the things you did to get here, but in reverse."
>_
