Nue Quest 4th Ignition: A Z-Machine Adventure

[E-Nazrin]

Are there concerns about talking to Byakuren about the dream, its reliability, and possible implications, or am I just looking for ways to avoid leading that discussion?

[Kilgamayan]

Truth be told, I had completely forgotten about it at this point. >_>;

Go ahead and talk about it.

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>"Now, there is one more thing. You remember that broken sword I showed you? I had a dream last night that I think it may have had something to do with."
>Describe the dream. Also describe what happened when we tried focusing on the sword.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Right. Don't worry, I got this. And there are people that know approximately where I'm going, just in case."

>She nods.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"Now, there is one more thing. You remember that broken sword I showed you? I had a dream last night that I think it may have had something to do with."
>Describe the dream. Also describe what happened when we tried focusing on the sword.

>Let's not jump into this; given Tewi's description of the scenario we may want to be more subtle.
>"Speaking of investigating, I may have... stumbled on another rather juicy source, though I'm not sure of its reliability."
>Do a quick casual check for eavesdroppers.
>What sort of powers do our spellcards usually rely on, conceptually? Which ones were stolen, and was there anything special about them?

Here's what I have in mind, though I'd like to know if it's saying too much at this point:
"I had a dream about that sword we talked about yesterday - first as if I was its owner in the Ancient City, lording it over the oni as a member of some 'Celestial Hierarchy.' Then I was in a forest - I think it was the Forest of Magic - and felt the sword break and reform while I walked there."
"There any chance any of this could be believable or useful? There's a few coincidences about all this that are telling..."

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's not jump into this; given Tewi's description of the scenario we may want to be more subtle.
>"Speaking of investigating, I may have... stumbled on another rather juicy source, though I'm not sure of its reliability."
>Do a quick casual check for eavesdroppers.
>What sort of powers do our spellcards usually rely on, conceptually? Which ones were stolen, and was there anything special about them?

>You decide to be less blatant for the moment.
>You look around, see that there don't seem to be any eavesdroppers.
>"Go on," says Bykauren.
>Your spellcards tend to draw from your innate abilities and your talents for danmaku. Most involve some degree of misdirection or disguise.

>_

[GuyYouMetOnline]

"I had a dream about that sword we talked about yesterday - first as if I was its owner in the Ancient City, lording it over the oni as a member of some 'Celestial Hierarchy.' Then I was in a forest - I think it was the Forest of Magic - and felt the sword break and reform while I walked there."
"There any chance any of this could be believable or useful? There's a few coincidences about all this that are telling..."

>Say this

[Hello Purvis]

>Say this

>You do, only to notice you've developed a terrible Spanish accent!
>"That is a strange dream," says Byakuren. "Were things less chaotic, I would suggest that you meditate on it. But as it is, what are those coincidences? Do you feel you can trust the dream?"

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"I have no idea if I can trust it. But I tried to 'will' the sword back together after I got up, and while it didn't work, I did get a weird feeling that I'm betting is some sort of magical connection. I'm willing to guess that it had some effect on it, but I don't know if there's any precedent for artifacts like this to provoke insightful dreams."
>"As for the coincidences... the segment with the Forest of Magic matches up with Unzan pointing that out as the direction of where he felt some odd sort of 'exchange' when things went down, and where our... reluctant informant said she had visited recently."
>We have no idea what the Celestial Hierarchy is, right?

[Hello Purvis]

>"I have no idea if I can trust it. But I tried to 'will' the sword back together after I got up, and while it didn't work, I did get a weird feeling that I'm betting is some sort of magical connection. I'm willing to guess that it had some effect on it, but I don't know if there's any precedent for artifacts like this to provoke insightful dreams."
>"As for the coincidences... the segment with the Forest of Magic matches up with Unzan pointing that out as the direction of where he felt some odd sort of 'exchange' when things went down, and where our... reluctant informant said she had visited recently."
>We have no idea what the Celestial Hierarchy is, right?

>You're quite aware of the Hierarchy. It's the whole hierarchy of the cosmos that the Yamato imported with them, and forced the old deities into. In theory, it orders everything from the highest of the high to the most meager spirit. You're aware that the Celestials are rather highly placed in it. The oni, in general, have rebelled against it in one capacity or another; though it's been argued that is their purpose within it.
>"Hmm," says Byakuen.  "Do you feel it is connected to you? If so, that might well be some form of communication."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "The sword? It might well be. It was sufficiently prominent in the latter half of the dream, and was definitely present in the first half."

[GuyYouMetOnline]

>What do we know abuot Heida no Akyu, or the Child of Miare in general?

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but with her perfect memory and reincarnations and records and all that, Akyu mightknow something about the sword; maybe she'd be able to read the writing on the sword. Or, hell, she might even actually recognize the sword.

[Hello Purvis]

> "The sword? It might well be. It was sufficiently prominent in the latter half of the dream, and was definitely present in the first half."

>She nods. "Then I would keep that possibility in mind."

>What do we know abuot Heida no Akyu, or the Child of Miare in general?

>You have never heard of either of these things.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"I guess the question is whether the first part was a replay of some memory of its former owner, or trying to tempt me with an offer of power."
>"Either way, I'm not so sure what to do with this, now..."
>What entities are present in the Hierarchy, and what's the top... say 5-10% include?
>Review the Yamato.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I guess the question is whether the first part was a replay of some memory of its former owner, or trying to tempt me with an offer of power."
>"Either way, I'm not so sure what to do with this, now..."
>What entities are present in the Hierarchy, and what's the top... say 5-10% include?
>Review the Yamato.

>"I am afraid only you or it can answer what the dream truly was," says Byakuren. "And, what you do depends, I suppose, in how much you feel you can trust it."
>You don't know the names, but the top would be beings such as the Yamas at the lower ranks, and the great deities such as The Dragon and such. You imagine it may include Celestials as well.
>Review in what sense?

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>What do we know about the Yamato: Where they come from, what they've done, their general nature, any previous direct or indirect encounters, etc
>And their spaceship.

[Hello Purvis]

>What do we know about the Yamato: Where they come from, what they've done, their general nature, any previous direct or indirect encounters, etc
>And their spaceship.

>You're not sure where they came from, whether they came from the mainland or they were a small faction that rose up in a distant part of the nation.  Regardless, they are the ones that unified Japan into a single empire, and spread a single faith across it  This began the real rise of humanity and the Yamato deities and subsequent decline of youkai and the uncooperative native deities. It's hard to pin any one general nature to the empire, it changed from ruler to ruler, and era to era. But in general, it could be counted on to serve its own interests over those of youkai and often the humans at the peripheries of its empire's influence, such as the Ainu. You lived among it sometimes, and away from it in others, until you were eventually sealed away. You would sometimes rob shrines and harass the palace when you could saw the opportunity, mostly as acts of spite hoping to remind them that the nation wasn't their's alone.
>It had a bad run-in with the Soyokaze

[Kilgamayan]

So where were you going with this again, Maus? <_<

[Kilgamayan]

> "Mmm. I don't suppose you'd know anyone in the village good with history that might know theorigins of the sword if they saw it?"

[Kilgamayan]

Fun Fact: This phone autocorrects 'Mmm' to 'Mom'. What a fun mistake that almost was.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Mmm. I don't suppose you'd know anyone in the village good with history that might know theorigins of the sword if they saw it?"

>"Well, Miss Keine would almost certainly know," says Byakuren, "But she tends not to be available when the moon is full. I've heard the daughter of the Heida family is surprising skilled with history, but I'm not sure if she'd know anything outside of Gensokyo, such information is scarce."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Where can I find the second one?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Where can I find the second one?"

>"She lives in a large house on the southwest part of town," says Byakuren. "You should be able to find it easily, just follow the street past the grocer."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

We can reminisce about history on our way, right? :X

> "All right. I'll decide if it's worth swinging by there while looking for the jeweler ghost, and I'll hit you up again if I think of or learn anything important."

[Hello Purvis]

> "All right. I'll decide if it's worth swinging by there while looking for the jeweler ghost, and I'll hit you up again if I think of or learn anything important."

>Byakuren nods.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Back whenever."
> Give Byakuren a wave, then make our way back over to the jeweler's shop.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Back whenever."
> Give Byakuren a wave, then make our way back over to the jeweler's shop.

>You make your way back to the Jeweler's shop, slipping through the alley near the school and passing a housing row, and note some movement through the window. However, when you reach the front door, you notice a sign on it declaring the place is closed.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Head back to the window. Can we see who or what is moving?

[Hello Purvis]

> Head back to the window. Can we see who or what is moving?

>You look inside, and see that Shuuei is sweeping the floor.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is it particularly impolite to disrupt a jeweler when their shop is closed?
> If not, rap lightly on the window. If Shuuei notices us, point at her, then at ourselves, then mime a talking motion with our hand, in rapid succession.