>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. Things quickly went sour, but you were able to salvage them with some quick thinking.
>After cooling your heels for a bit with the Prismrivers and learning a great deal about nothing, Youmu managed to convince them that you weren't a threat, and you were allowed into Hakugyokurou. There, you were able to confirm what happened to the Saigyou Ayakashi, and claimed Yoshika's Talisman in order to try and track Seiga. This lead you back to Scarlet Devil Mansion, and to Patchouli. She was able to give a vague hint about Seiga's location, enough to confirm she was somewhere in Gensokyo. You deduced that she might well have gone to the Garden of the Sun, and went back to the Hakurei Shrine to share this and, after a brief flare-up with Reimu, go to investigate this. You met Yuuka, and had a somewhat tense, but largely polite meeting with her, learning that she did indeed host Seiga for some time, before she moved away the prior month.
>With that in mind, there was little to do but split up and search for Seiga. You started with Youkai Mountain and found nothing, but learned a few things about the iron key you had bought. From there you made your way toward the Bamboo Forest again, and found your way toward Eientei once more after a run-in with some very excitable faeries debating the nature of cute animals. The rabbits protesting outside Eientei mentioned that they had seen Seiga visit, and with some asking around, you found one willing to lead you to her home.
>Coming to Seiga's home, you met your estranged advisor, and found your fears confirmed as she confessed to stealing your sword, as well as the Saigyou Ayakashi's life force, and vesting them both in a swordswoman named Meira, who was of the noble house that once ruled this land, long before it separated from the outside world. Her desire was to help this person take control of Gensokyo and unify it under a proper leader, convinced that it would serve your interests and hoped you would let her return to your good graces. The two of you debated this for awhile, and while you could agree that her desire was correct, her methods were completely wrong, which she didn't agree upon.
>Armed with this knowledge, you reported back to Reimu and Youmu, the latter of which who set out to deal with Meira. Having little to do, you went to speak with the person who found the key, and learned she found it somewhere around the forest at the base of Youkai Mountain. Returning back to the Hakurei Shrine, you met with Youmu's companion, who reported success in defeating Meira. However, she was still possessed by the lifeforce of the Saigyou Ayakashi. You've stepped forward to deal with this, taking her back to the tree itself to set things as they should be. During the ritual, you have round yourself brought elsewhere with the tree, as it tries to interfere with your efforts in its own ways.
>Currently, you have taken position under it, as it tries to uproot itself and flee, freeing itself from being confirmed to anything.
> Is there any way for us to re-purpose the ritual on the fly like this, so that it's more resistant against... resistance?
>You aren't sure. Given the situation, you aren't certain how you can affect the ritual itself.
>_
