Chen's Day Out - Wriggle Justice Edition

[Chaore]

>Give THE ROC a thumbs up.
>Wonder if Aya has gotten her bloody film yet.

You thumbs up. Chen approved.

Aya appears to be caught up in window shopping. You didn't know she was the type. You smack her and get her to get her bloody film.

[Kasu]

> Ask Tokiko how things're going.
> Tell Tokiko about the new shrine maiden if she doesn't already know.

[OkashiiKisei]

> Get Aya to but the darn film already.
> Pull Aya by the ear and drag her out of the store.

[Chaore]

> Ask Tokiko how things're going.
> Tell Tokiko about the new shrine maiden if she doesn't already know.

You fill Tokiko in. "Huh. I'll have to let Kourin know, whenever he gets back... And a slow day, really, I think I still have things from a few hours ago..."

> Get Aya to but the darn film already.
> Pull Aya by the ear and drag her out of the store.

You hurry Aya the hell up and drag her out. "Hey! I thought I was the impatient one, eh?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"You don't have to stare at a roll of film that long, I had time to investigate and make two purchases."
>Back to the Bird Forest, and the Raven's domain.
>Keep an eye out for a good long pokin' stick.

[Chen]

>Look out for traps.

[Hello Purvis]

>Quite, when the forest edge is reached, don't just blunder into that shit. Stop, look around, commence with stickpoking, let Aya lead the way.

[Chaore]

>"You don't have to stare at a roll of film that long, I had time to investigate and make two purchases."
>Back to the Bird Forest, and the Raven's domain.
>Keep an eye out for a good long pokin' stick.

"...well, true. Ah whatever."

You head to the Raven's domain, with a stick.

>Look out for traps.

You keep one eye out, alright.

>Quite, when the forest edge is reached, don't just blunder into that shit. Stop, look around, commence with stickpoking, let Aya lead the way.

You reach the DEAD ZONE.

It is far worse than you imagined. There is simply dirt and decaying trees all around. Nothing is living in this space.

Aya begins pacing around the perimeter of the DEAD ZONE. You poke a spot ahead.

A giant spike pops up, with an impaled body on it.

...

This is her idea of a warning trap?!

[Serela]

>Point out to Aya what the Raven's idea of a "warning trap" is, and then try to swear.

[Chaore]

>Point out to Aya what the Raven's idea of a "warning trap" is, and then try to swear.

You motion to the spike, but by the time Aya has turned around, it happens to be back in the earth.

She instead decides to marvel at your inability to swear. "...You need a swear dictionary or two."

[Serela]

>Well then while Aya is paying attention, poke the spot with the stick again to make the corpse'd spike appear. Aya needs to know that even at the very start, there's no fooling around.

[Chaore]

>Well then while Aya is paying attention, poke the spot with the stick again to make the corpse'd spike appear. Aya needs to know that even at the very start, there's no fooling around.

You poke the spike spot again. It pops out again. Aya raises a brow. "Yeesh. That IS rather brutal."

[Hello Purvis]

>Is the corpse recognizable?
>Look a bit more closely at the spike, and where it is planted, to see if there's any recognizable signs of the trap there.

[Chaore]

>Is the corpse recognizable?
>Look a bit more closely at the spike, and where it is planted, to see if there's any recognizable signs of the trap there.

Not at all. You suspect whoever it was has been dead for a while. The skin and flesh has decayed away.

You examine the trap a bit closer. It is rather well concealed, It somehow manages to pack dirt mostly over itself after popping up. There is a small part of a hole where the tip is, though.

[Hello Purvis]

>Draw Aya's attention to the bit of hole.
>Look around for others.

[OkashiiKisei]

> Keep poking that stick around. Throw some rocks around to see if there are any traps that activate from a distance.
> Idea: pull out the length band and let Chen and Aya each hold an end of it. Then let Chen use agility and carefulness to get past the traps, all the while holding on to that band. Once Chen is on the other side, let Aya jump up/stop putting force on the band, making her get pulled to Chen by the band's elastic force. This'll get Aya over to the other side without her accidetaly falling into the traps. And it'll finally give some use to that band.
> If anyone objects to this wacky idea then just let Chen and Aya get across the Dead Zone the normal way.

Question: How old does Chen look actually? i'm finding it hard to imagine her as older. I constantly see her as the same, little child from before the incident, about twelve or so. Does she currently look like fourteen or sixteen or something like that? How big is she compared to Aya for example? Is she still a pettanko or did she go through some development?

[Chaore]

>Draw Aya's attention to the bit of hole.
>Look around for others.

You show Aya what you found. Scoping out for a few other holes and marking them. There are a few places without any holes along the way.

You're fairly sure there are a few other traps without the same tell tale, and to prove your own point, you toss a stick down one of your 'clear' paths, and it lands on a space that explodes, promptly reforming.

Frightening.

> Keep poking that stick around. Throw some rocks around to see if there are any traps that activate from a distance.
> Idea: pull out the length band and let Chen and Aya each hold an end of it. Then let Chen use agility and carefulness to get past the traps, all the while holding on to that band. Once Chen is on the other side, let Aya jump up/stop putting force on the band, making her get pulled to Chen by the band's elastic force. This'll get Aya over to the other side without her accidetaly falling into the traps. And it'll finally give some use to that band.
> If anyone objects to this wacky idea then just let Chen and Aya get across the Dead Zone the normal way.

Question: How old does Chen look actually? i'm finding it hard to imagine her as older. I constantly see her as the same, little child from before the incident, about twelve or so. Does she currently look like fourteen or sixteen or something like that? How big is she compared to Aya for example? Is she still a pettanko or did she go through some development?

You poke that stick around, finding a few more traps here and there. Pretty soon, you've found only one spot on the outer ring has no trap.

You contemplate an Idea, though it could be a bit over the top. You still need to find a way across the DEAD ZONE, anyway.

>AFTA (Answer from the Author): Early-Mid teenage years (Despite being rather older, Youkai appearance stems mostly from their mindset in CDO, after all.) So fourteen would be a good estimate. Compared to Aya... Well. Only half a head or so shorter. Aya herself is really still leaning towards the teenage years, being well...Aya. Chen is not Pettanko Chen, due to the age shift.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look at Aya
>"Welp, how you wanna do this?"
>Try to find any signs of the exploding thing's presence, if possible.

[Chaore]

>Look at Aya
>"Welp, how you wanna do this?"
>Try to find any signs of the exploding thing's presence, if possible.

You're a bit too far away, so you can't actually tell. You don't see anything really tell tale, though.

Aya huhms. "Well, We've got a spot to start on, don't we? All we need to do is go from there. Her path has to start there, after all!"

[Hello Purvis]

>"If this is what she uses at all. I wouldn't be surprised if she had another way entirely."
>Ponder for a moment.
>"Hey, do you know how often she goes to Mystia's place, and stuff like that?"

[Chaore]

>"If this is what she uses at all. I wouldn't be surprised if she had another way entirely."
>Ponder for a moment.
>"Hey, do you know how often she goes to Mystia's place, and stuff like that?"

"Not in the least!"

She didn't even pause. Wow.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Then you get to lead the way! Grab a stick."

[Chaore]

>"Then you get to lead the way! Grab a stick."

"Awww, fine, fine." Aya grabs a stick and pokes around the area without a trap. Three different traps shoot up to block your forward path. It doesn't seem possible to continue forward without moving to the side, where a trap is...

"...Man, I guess this is a false lead, then? You sure this is the only place without a trap?"

You're fairly sure. There is something unexpected to be done here.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around outside the trap ring for things of interest. Preferably something that could deactivate some traps.
>Failing that, formulate plan B: Hit that exploder until the Raven gets sick of hearing it.

[OkashiiKisei]

> Can't we summon Mackette and let her detect in the ground where the traps are? Sharks can detect quite alot of objects in water. Earth shouldn't be too different for a land shark.

[Hello Purvis]

No, familiars don't do so well in dead magic places.

[Spidere]

> Use incredible KITTY PARKOUR to flip over wall and use all of our KITTY SKILLS  to sprint through all the traps at high speed.

[Chaore]

>Look around outside the trap ring for things of interest. Preferably something that could deactivate some traps.
>Failing that, formulate plan B: Hit that exploder until the Raven gets sick of hearing it.

You got nothing.

So you chuck as many rocks as you can. Aya breaks first. "Can you cut that out?!"

> Can't we summon Mackette and let her detect in the ground where the traps are? Sharks can detect quite alot of objects in water. Earth shouldn't be too different for a land shark.

She'd deteriorate pretty quickly, and even if you managed to get her out, you'd rather not cause her the pain.

> Use incredible KITTY PARKOUR to flip over wall and use all of our KITTY SKILLS  to sprint through all the traps at high speed.

You don't think you could possibly manage this, besides, what wall?

[Hello Purvis]

>I said formulate, not enact ;_;

[Chaore]

>I said formulate, not enact ;_;

You formulated and enacted! But you stop, anyway.