Rumia Quest Revival - A New Beginning

[Raikaria]

>"Oh wow! You're getting better at surprising, Kogasa!"
>"They? Oh, so you know him, then? Or better yet, his boss? Does that mean you're from Makai or have travelled there in the past then? If you know anything about who he works for it'll help a ton. Perhaps we could exchange information?"

//Will be at work for the next 4-5 hours or so. I will therefore be slow to post a response to the next update and slow to respond to potential countermands until then.
//my break is in approximately 2 hours and it will be my first opportunity to do something other than read.

// I have to sleep anyway

> You don't hear a reply from Kogasa.

> "You pry too much Youkai..." the doll says, before it swings it's right blade, sending out an arc of danmaku.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Dodge, keep ourselves between the doll and Mayina.
>"I mean in our defense you did imply that you know him or those he works for. Anyway, can't we settle this peacefully? We can leave him out of the forest if you want "

[Tom]

> "We don't want to destroy your dolls you put so much time in to making!"

[Raikaria]

>Dodge, keep ourselves between the doll and Mayina.
>"I mean in our defense you did imply that you know him or those he works for. Anyway, can't we settle this peacefully? We can leave him out of the forest if you want "

> You dodge the danmaku wave. Being between the giant doll and it's target is not a difficult thing due to the doll's size.

> "Is there a problem with not wanting the daemons of Makai around?" the voice says. "Why are you even protecting a daemon anyway?"

> "We don't want to destroy your dolls you put so much time in to making!"

> "You realize I fill them with gunpowder, right? They are designed to be disposable, with few exceptions. And those ones are made of far higher quality material. What I have sent after you so far have been disposable dolls. Designed to be used in numbers for simple tasks."

> "A girl that plays with shapes and dolls, yet willing to throw them away... with a reason to not want daemons to know they're here.  I didn't think I would run into Alice of the Wonderland here..."

> "They can't know I'm here; it would bring calamity to Gensokyo!" the voice yells, swinging both swords through the air; forming two purple trails which begin shooting out wild blasts of needle-like danmaku.

===

> A short distance away; Kogasa is faceing down a rather fancy-looking magician who is clutching a bound book under her arm. One hand seems to be facing in a fixed direction, her fingers sometimes moving, while the other is controlling a single doll that is between Kogasa and her. At first glance looking at her, you'd say she looks like Rumia's big sister or something, wearing brighter colors.



Alice Margatroid [+ Shanghai]
Commander of the Little Legion

> "Goodness, to think that someone would wander off from your group and manage to sneak up on me... close-range battles are not my thing. It'll be difficult controlling Golaith and Shanghai at the same time, but I can't allow that daemon to know I'm here, or about the Grimoire."

// You have gained temporary control of Kogasa

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>List of abilities
>Opinion of Rumia.
>How much were we listening in on group conversations, do we know Mayina's objectives and why we're keeping an eye on him?

[Raikaria]

>List of abilities
>Opinion of Rumia.
>How much were we listening in on group conversations, do we know Mayina's objectives and why we're keeping an eye on him?

// Species Power: Karakasa - You are a far faster flier when catching the wind. You are significantly worse flying against the wind
// Species Trait: Karakasa - Your body is made up of two distinct parts. The umbrella proper; and your spirit you project. You take reduced damage from physical attacks on your 'human' body; and reduced magical/spiritual damage on your 'umbrella' body.
// Species Trait: Karakasa Vision - You have one functional eye. You usually look out of the eye upon your umbrella. However; closing this eye lets you see out of the red humanoid's eye.
// Personal Ability - Ability to Surprise people - No effect
// Personal Ability - Limited Weather manipulation - You can summon light rain and winds. You have no control of the direction of the winds, basically you can make it the environment where people want an umbrella! You make use of this in several spellcards.
// Learned Skill - Blacksmithing : You can do metalworking, with appropriate material.

> Rumia's a little odd. But you're finding this whole incident amusing, and besides, it's safer in a group.

> Listening? Umbrellas don't have ears; silly!

> You can actually hear. But you got bored and decided to think about how to surprise people again. Still; you think exterminating the daemon is a little extreme.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Did we at least overhear Mayina's objective during Rumia's interrogation?

[Raikaria]

>Did we at least overhear Mayina's objective during Rumia's interrogation?

> A powerful Grimoire; and evidence that the world was not worth Shinki's efforts.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Off topic, but what DID Sanae do to us, anyway? (Because I forget if we told Rumia or not.)

>"So... On a scale of 1 to 100, how good did I surprise you? I think I've been getting better since I met Rumia, but some outside feedback never hurts."

>"Also what's so important about the Grimoire anyway? I really only heard snippets when Rumia was interrogating the demon, but apparently he was a scout looking for both a grimoire and evidence that this world isn't worth his goddess's efforts or something like that. I think I also heard something about his boss trying to change his goddess's mind? Eh, I dunno, Rumia would know more about it than me. Would it surprise you if I recommended that you talked to her rather than trying to shoot at us?"

[Raikaria]

>Off topic, but what DID Sanae do to us, anyway? (Because I forget if we told Rumia or not.)

>"So... On a scale of 1 to 100, how good did I surprise you? I think I've been getting better since I met Rumia, but some outside feedback never hurts."

>"Also what's so important about the Grimoire anyway? I really only heard snippets when Rumia was interrogating the demon, but apparently he was a scout looking for both a grimoire and evidence that this world isn't worth his goddess's efforts or something like that. I think I also heard something about his boss trying to change his goddess's mind? Eh, I dunno, Rumia would know more about it than me. Would it surprise you if I recommended that you talked to her rather than trying to shoot at us?"

[You still have control of Rumia by the way; this is two things going on simultaneously. Hence 'gained' control instead of 'switched' control. There's multiple 'intended' ways to resolve this conflict. And of course if you can find a way I think works that I've not thought of. ]

> You got beaten up by Reimu; Sanae and Maisa three times. For no real reason. Thing is; from the reputations of Reimu and Marisa; that's normal. However; no-one believes you when you say that Sanae was really enthusiastic when she was beating you, and took advantage of times such as when you'd just lost a spellcard fight against that Zombie. Everyone says Sanae's so nice. No-one believes you. It dosen't even surprise people!

> "Perhaps 42.85*. I really can't give someone who only uses three colors a higher score than that." the girl says.

> "No; she's doing the same thing." the blonde sighs. "But thank you for elaborating that he is indeed after the Grimoire." the girl says coldly. "Now there is no doubt in my mind; he absolutely cannot know that I am in this world, and since I don't know any memory-altering or sealing magic... the only way to ensure that is to exterminate him."

> The girl is moving the wires on the hand furthest from you with incredible dexterity while speaking. She's not even looking at them.

> "Shang-hai!" the doll nearest you says.

> "I mean no harm to you youkai, but I absolutely cannot allow the daemons to know. It's for your own good! I'll fight you off if I have to."

* 3/7; since Kogasa only has Red; Purple and Blue. White and Black are shades, not colors.

[Tom]

Kogasa:
> "What kind of calamity would it bring to the world if he knew you and that book were here?"
> "Also we cannot exterminate the daemon as they have a master who will likely launch an attack if he finds out we exterminated his subordinate, and we can't send him back either because he is in bad shape and his master will see what we did to him, so this is why we are keeping him with us"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Rumia:
>Dodge
>"Calamity? Is that so? Well then we can report it to an incident resolver like Reimu and let them handle it if it's that bad. Leave the demon be. He's in our protective custody and he's probably not going to be sent back home for a while anyway, if his little mission is as 'needle in a haystack-y' as I think it is."

Kogasa:
>"Isn't killing him a bit extreme? I mean, couldn't we always take him to someone who DOES know said magic? I mean, I don't think Rumia plans to return him any time soon anyway. We don't trust him enough to send him back to his world and not worry about him reporting to his boss."

[Tom]

Rumia
> Do we know Medicine?

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
> "What kind of calamity would it bring to the world if he knew you and that book were here?"
> "Also we cannot exterminate the daemon as they have a master who will likely launch an attack if he finds out we exterminated his subordinate, and we can't send him back either because he is in bad shape and his master will see what we did to him, so this is why we are keeping him with us"

> "The kind of calamity that would want me and the Grimoire back." the girl responds. "And would stop at nothing."

> This gives Alice a pause for a moment.

> "How do you know how she works..." she mutters. "Well; we can't let him go back either!"

Rumia:
>Dodge
>"Calamity? Is that so? Well then we can report it to an incident resolver like Reimu and let them handle it if it's that bad. Leave the demon be. He's in our protective custody and he's probably not going to be sent back home for a while anyway, if his little mission is as 'needle in a haystack-y' as I think it is."

Kogasa:
>"Isn't killing him a bit extreme? I mean, couldn't we always take him to someone who DOES know said magic? I mean, I don't think Rumia plans to return him any time soon anyway. We don't trust him enough to send him back to his world and not worry about him reporting to his boss."

> You dodge; and get grazed a fair bit. This is a pretty severe pattern, and the doll keeps slashing the air and createing more.

> The doll dosen't respond; although it seems to hesitate in it's onslaught for a few moments.

> "Yes; but there'll be problems if he dosen't return as well. Frankly; this is a no-win situation." Alice responds to Kogasa.

Rumia
> Do we know Medicine?

> You know neither the youkai known as Medicine or any form of Medicine.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"I think Rumia intends to return him at the end of the incident or something like that. Though if she hears what you have to say about the Grimoire she might reconsider or come up with something better. You could also leave us alone right now, too. Unlike me, I don't think Rumia knows you have the Grimoire yet, and since the plan is to quote on quote 'help' him, I think she's probably relying on the fact that Gensokyo is big, a single book is tiny by comparison, and the incident might resolve before we find it."

Rumia:
>Continue dodging, defend Mayina when applicable.
>"Was that hesitation I saw?"

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"I think Rumia intends to return him at the end of the incident or something like that. Though if she hears what you have to say about the Grimoire she might reconsider or come up with something better. You could also leave us alone right now, too. Unlike me, I don't think Rumia knows you have the Grimoire yet, and since the plan is to quote on quote 'help' him, I think she's probably relying on the fact that Gensokyo is big, a single book is tiny by comparison, and the incident might resolve before we find it."

Rumia:
>Continue dodging, defend Mayina when applicable.
>"Was that hesitation I saw?"

> "If he returns, I get found out. If he dosen't return then someone comes looking. Either way we're in trouble... ah; this is the worst possible situation!"

> The attacks stop, and the doll stands still.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"Yeah... Maybe we could all put our heads together and come up with a solution? Leave him out of the conversation if possible? Or see if Reimu, Marisa or... t-that sadist... can handle it...?"

Rumia:
>"...I guess that was."
>Blink, but stay on guard.
>"So, does this mean you're willing to negotiate peacefully now, or is this just a ruse to get us to drop our guards?"

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"Yeah... Maybe we could all put our heads together and come up with a solution? Leave him out of the conversation if possible? Or see if Reimu, Marisa or... t-that sadist... can handle it...?"

Rumia:
>"...I guess that was."
>Blink, but stay on guard.
>"So, does this mean you're willing to negotiate peacefully now, or is this just a ruse to get us to drop our guards?"

> Alice sighs. "I loathe to ask for assistance, but I guess this won't be solved simply by disposing of him."

> The doll does not respond, but walks off.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"So what should we do then? Should I bring the others over? Or just Rumia? Or would you rather go over there? Should we have someone escort Mr. Demon a fair distance away while we chat?"

Rumia:
>"Huh... Did I get through to her? Did Kogasa do something?"

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"So what should we do then? Should I bring the others over? Or just Rumia? Or would you rather go over there? Should we have someone escort Mr. Demon a fair distance away while we chat?"

Rumia:
>"Huh... Did I get through to her? Did Kogasa do something?"

> "Leave." Alice says coldly. "It's best that he knows as little as possible and dosen't confirm his suspicions. I don't care what you do after that, as long as he dosen't get returned to Makai remembering this whole fiasco."

--

> "I dunno." Wriggle said. "Something someone said convinced her."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"Hmm... Rumia might want the group to stay in the forest for a bit, but would you let us do so if we left the demon out of the forest with someone watching him? You see, the main reason we're here is because we're escorting a tourist. Plus safety in numbers with the attacks... plus all the surprise opportunities. Does knowing that we're with a tourist surprise you at all, by the way?"

Rumia:
>"So... Should we wait for Kogasa to get back or should we look for her?"

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"Hmm... Rumia might want the group to stay in the forest for a bit, but would you let us do so if we left the demon out of the forest with someone watching him? You see, the main reason we're here is because we're escorting a tourist. Plus safety in numbers with the attacks... plus all the surprise opportunities. Does knowing that we're with a tourist surprise you at all, by the way?"

Rumia:
>"So... Should we wait for Kogasa to get back or should we look for her?"

> "A tourist? Is that Makai fairy a tourist? No-one else there should be regarded as any more of a tourist than you are." Alice says, in a puzzled tone.

---

> "Well; if the big doll stopped; Kogasa's probobly alright. If we go wandering off, we could all get lost." Mystia says.

> "I'm sure she'll show up when we most expect her." Wriggle adds.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"Oh no, the fairy was working with the demon, but I think her opinion of him changed considering he smacked her, pinned her to the ground, and exploded her... She's kinda like Rumia's friend Cirno, except angrier, without ice powers, and with more swearing. No, the tourist is the woman in the white dress and sunhat. Louise. Did you see her? Maybe she stepped aside to a safe spot like she did when we were fighting the demon."

Rumia:
>"Alright, we'll wait for her then. And I don't know about that, Wriggle, if what she did with the doll lady was any indication, she's getting better!"
>Drop the demarcation around Mayina if we haven't already.
>"So, sorry for trapping you in darkness for a bit there, but it shielded you from the lasers. Are you hurt at all?"
>Where's Louise?

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"Oh no, the fairy was working with the demon, but I think her opinion of him changed considering he smacked her, pinned her to the ground, and exploded her... She's kinda like Rumia's friend Cirno, except angrier, without ice powers, and with more swearing. No, the tourist is the woman in the white dress and sunhat. Louise. Did you see her? Maybe she stepped aside to a safe spot like she did when we were fighting the demon."

Rumia:
>"Alright, we'll wait for her then. And I don't know about that, Wriggle, if what she did with the doll lady was any indication, she's getting better!"
>Drop the demarcation around Mayina if we haven't already.
>"So, sorry for trapping you in darkness for a bit there, but it shielded you from the lasers. Are you hurt at all?"
>Where's Louise?

> "Louise? That dosen't sound like a fairy's name; or that of a male. I didn't see anyone matching that description.

===

> "Yes; but didn't she try the exact same thing with me?" Mayina says as you lift the barrier. "And I'm fine."

> Louise hasn't moved an inch since the start of the battle. She's a short distance behind the others; floating there, motionless, with a smile on her face. She's done this any time there's been combat, come to think of it.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"She must've floated off to the sidelines then. She's another demon, but she's not part of the attacking force. She's just here to sightsee from what I understand. She also seems to be a mage of some kind, she knows sealing magic and fire magic at the very least from what I've seen. And she was able to do something with the red clouds that the other Makai fairies we fought poofed into. She also has this pretty looking mirror familiar she can summon too."

Rumia:
>"Oh, no. Mystia's song only causes night blindness, which I'm surprised you recovered from so quickly without a lamprey. I actually created a barrier of pure darkness around you. Don't ask how, it's just something I could always do."

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"She must've floated off to the sidelines then. She's another demon, but she's not part of the attacking force. She's just here to sightsee from what I understand. She also seems to be a mage of some kind, she knows sealing magic and fire magic at the very least from what I've seen. And she was able to do something with the red clouds that the other Makai fairies we fought poofed into. She also has this pretty looking mirror familiar she can summon too."

Rumia:
>"Oh, no. Mystia's song only causes night blindness, which I'm surprised you recovered from so quickly without a lamprey. I actually created a barrier of pure darkness around you. Don't ask how, it's just something I could always do."

> "Great, there's another daemon that I can't even see." Alice complains. "And she sounds rather powerful to boot."

---

> "My song only lasts a long time when I make the curse last long." Mystia states. "And even then, it only really lasts long on humans."

> "Long enough to con them." Wriggle adds. "It's not the Lamprey that cures the humans, it's Mystia lifting the curse."

> "It seemed more to me that your barrier was repelling the light. But I suppose that's the same thing as darkness." the daemon comments.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Kogasa:
>"If she's very powerful, she doesn't seem willing to show that power yet, and she's been nothing but nice and well behaved so far. Besides, I think she's ideologically different from the other demon. Especially regarding their goddess."

Rumia:
>"Isn't darkness the absence of light, though? You know, but that logic I wonder if I can manipulate light as well. I don't think I can though, for as long as I can remember all I can do is cast that demarcation spell and make the area around myself darker."
>(Correct this if we're capable of more dark things.)

[Raikaria]

Kogasa:
>"If she's very powerful, she doesn't seem willing to show that power yet, and she's been nothing but nice and well behaved so far. Besides, I think she's ideologically different from the other demon. Especially regarding their goddess."

Rumia:
>"Isn't darkness the absence of light, though? You know, but that logic I wonder if I can manipulate light as well. I don't think I can though, for as long as I can remember all I can do is cast that demarcation spell and make the area around myself darker."
>(Correct this if we're capable of more dark things.)

> "Or she's just smarter." Alice remarks.

---

> "Yes; Darkness is the absence of Light. Cold is merely the absence of Heat; yet you have both Fire and Ice Magics." Maynia explains. "Magic is fickle."

[Tom]

Rumia:
> "Is darkness created by absorbing light or emitting darkness?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Rumia:
>"Well what about heat and cold magic? Of course fire can't make ice and vice versa, but if the magic was pure cold our heat, couldn't you logically make the other extreme by using it too cause an absence of its element?"