Nue Quest 10 - The Lost Levels: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> "Sure, I can explain. You'll have to bear with me, though, since it'll probably seem outlandish."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Sure, I can explain. You'll have to bear with me, though, since it'll probably seem outlandish."

>Reimu groans. "Fine, let's hear it."
>"We were outlandish!" says the faerie. "The sky was all red and there were weird faeries and a shark!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> A shark? What on Earth...
> "Okay. The long and short of it is that things are largely fixed, but there's a long road of recovery ahead that you and Marisa will probably need to help. If you're not interested in the details, just zone out until I get to that part the end, or whatever."
> "So Rinnosuke swapped everyone's money. He wanted to use Gensokyo's economy and the shapeshifting power in my cards to alter the economy of reality or some crazy shit. Dude was completely out of his gourd, which Patchouli can explain in further depth. In order to beat his faith, I needed a stronger faith, which I found in a sword from a completely different continent from Asia. The specific place was called Avalon, which Marisa has probably studied, in the continent of Europe. Anyway, the entity in the sword kinda made me go loco with conceit and I kinda sorta shattered his will and made him a vegetable. Then the entity in the sword told me to kill him, but I managed to resist it long enough to get it really pissed at me and manifest itself as that giant ox, causing the human village to collectively shit itself in the process. They're fine now, though. I fought the ox, it stepped on me, I yelled at it until it went back in the sword. Suwako has it now, and she'll take care of it until the ox entity is gone."

[Hello Purvis]

> A shark? What on Earth...
> "Okay. The long and short of it is that things are largely fixed, but there's a long road of recovery ahead that you and Marisa will probably need to help. If you're not interested in the details, just zone out until I get to that part the end, or whatever."
> "So Rinnosuke swapped everyone's money. He wanted to use Gensokyo's economy and the shapeshifting power in my cards to alter ~*~the economy~*~ of reality or some crazy shit. Dude was completely out of his gourd, which Patchouli can explain in further depth. In order to beat his faith, I needed a stronger faith, which I found in a sword from a completely different continent from Asia. The specific place was called Avalon, which Marisa has probably studied, in the continent of Europe. Anyway, the entity in the sword kinda made me go loco with conceit and I kinda sorta shattered his will and made him a vegetable. Then the entity in the sword told me to kill him, but I managed to resist it long enough to get it really pissed at me and manifest itself as that giant ox, causing the human village to collectively shit itself in the process. They're fine now, though. I fought the ox, it stepped on me, I yelled at it until it went back in the sword. Suwako has it now, and she'll take care of it until the ox entity is gone."

>The faerie seems to sense your bewilderment and adds, "She flew!"
>"Wait, what?" says Reimu by the time you get about a sentence into your explanation, sitting up and giving you an incredulous look. She listens as you continue, frowning and furrowing her brow. "That made no sense. You're saying Rinnosuke was behind this? The merchant? He couldn't hurt a fly!"

>_

[Hanzo K.]

>"Crazy as it sounds, he was the guy behind it all."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Crazy as it sounds, he was the guy behind it all."

>She frowns. "I always thought there was something a little off about him, but this is a lot to swallow."
>"He hates faeries!" the little faerie cries. "Whenever he sees us he scares us off!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "He pulled it off through faith in the idea of equality. He believed in it so strongly that it started messing with his head, at which point he started thinking he could do certain things by gathering power through transactions. And that deluded belief eventually manifested itself through sheer will and devotion, and he started actually doing what he thought was doing. Patchouli compared it to why your sealing talismans work."
> Grin.
> "And then Eirin compared to why magic at all works, which I imagine Patchouli wouldn't have been too happy to hear."
> Resume a normal exppression.
> "But where the founders of magic and shrine maiden faith succeeded, Rinnosuke seems to have failed, because here we are with our money."

[Hanzo K.]

>"To make a long story short, he went nutty and basically said 'Screw logic, I'm going to become a god of trade!'. Or something like that."
>Shrug. "Well, he didn't actually say that per se, but he was pretty close to doing that once his scheme went as he intended it."
>Grin. "Sadly for him, it didn't go exactly as planned."

[Hello Purvis]

> "He pulled it off through faith in the idea of equality. He believed in it so strongly that it started messing with his head, at which point he started thinking he could do certain things by gathering power through transactions. And that deluded belief eventually manifested itself through sheer will and devotion, and he started actually doing what he thought was doing. Patchouli compared it to why your sealing talismans work."
> Grin.
> "And then Eirin compared to why magic at all works, which I imagine Patchouli wouldn't have been too happy to hear."
> Resume a normal exppression.
> "But where the founders of magic and shrine maiden faith succeeded, Rinnosuke seems to have failed, because here we are with our money."

>"Huh," says Reimu. "He never concerned himself very much about equality. But that does sound like something Eirin would say, she really won't shut up about the old day if you get her going."
>"We can't even look at all that dumb neat stuff he has outside!" the faerie continues.

>"To make a long story short, he went nutty and basically said 'Screw logic, I'm going to become a god of trade!'. Or something like that."
>Shrug. "Well, he didn't actually say that per se, but he was pretty close to doing that once his scheme went as he intended it."
>Grin. "Sadly for him, it didn't go exactly as planned."

>"Really?" says Reimu. "I never got the feeling he was that kind of ambitious."
>"And he can't even purple!" the faerie says, shaking her hands. "That's how dumb he is!"

>_

[Hanzo K.]

>"Yeah, he ain't all crazed up on faith now anymore though, I kinda broke the poor guy."
>Grin. "I almost feel sorry for him, but that's what happens when you try causing an incident eh? You get your hat handed to you on a plate."
>"Well, he doesn't have a hat, but you get the idea."
>Glance over at the fairy and sigh amusedly, then laugh a bit. "That's right kiddo. Couldn't even purple. Not that orangeing would've saved 'im either. Come to think of it, maybe if he'd tried Violet, he could've had a shot."
>Glance over at Reimu with a grinning look that says 'Just go with it, fairies will be fairies after all.'

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, he ain't all crazed up on faith now anymore though, I kinda broke the poor guy."
>Grin. "I almost feel sorry for him, but that's what happens when you try causing an incident eh? You get your hat handed to you on a plate."
>"Well, he doesn't have a hat, but you get the idea."
>Glance over at the fairy and sigh amusedly, then laugh a bit. "That's right kiddo. Couldn't even purple. Not that orangeing would've saved 'im either. Come to think of it, maybe if he'd tried Violet, he could've had a shot."
>Glance over at Reimu with a grinning look that says 'Just go with it, fairies will be fairies after all.'

>"I'm not sure how Rinnosuke and faith really match up," says Reimu. "He's pretty much the laziest person I've ever met. When did he ever do anything faithful?"
>The faerie looks at you as you speak, a slow sort of dismay spreading on her face. "What is wrong with your wings?!" she says after a moment of silence. 
>Reimu shrugs back.

>_

[Hanzo K.]

>Let's just let out a good laugh, we need it after everything we've been through.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's just let out a good laugh, we need it after everything we've been through.

>You have a good laugh. The faerie screws up her face, then shouts, "What is wrong with your wings?!" Suika joins in with a loud guffaw.
>"Don't worry about her," says Reimu, as she sips her sake dish. "She's just all riled up after Makai."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Actually, I have an idea."
> Only the upper blade wing is sprained, right? Morph the tendril wings so they match the shape and color of the blade wings.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Actually, I have an idea."
> Only the upper blade wing is sprained, right? Morph the tendril wings so they match the shape and color of the blade wings.

>As your tendril wings are unhurt, you are able to change them to mirror your blade wings with a minute or so of concentration, finding the effort more time consuming than difficult. When you are done, your wings match each other, and feel slightly odd because of that. As you open your eyes, you see the faerie looking at you with her mouth hanging open. Reimu and Suika don't seem to have paid much attention.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Give a toothy grin.
> "There we go. All better!"

[Hello Purvis]

> Give a toothy grin.
> "There we go. All better!"

>"Problem solved!" the faerie says, giving a nod.
>"Let's get back on track," says Reimu. "When was Rinnosuke ever a little faithful?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "He was faithful to the idea of equality in exchange. He believed currency to be ugly as a concept and the natural paradox of exchange to be beautiful. Apparently, this was enough for him to gain power through delusion."

[Hanzo K.]

>"To sum it up, being crazy became power in his case."

[Hello Purvis]

> "He was faithful to the idea of equality in exchange. He believed currency to be ugly as a concept and the natural paradox of exchange to be beautiful. Apparently, this was enough for him to gain power through delusion."

>"To sum it up, being crazy became power in his case."

>"Well, that's nice and all," says Reimu. "But what did he actually do to gather anything? I'm trying to understand how this works and you're glossing over it."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Oh, that. Well, he claimed that every transaction of goods generated a 'spark', a byproduct of the natural inequality of exchange. He said he could harvest these sparks and more or less do whatever with them. Accordingly to Patchouli, such a concept of sparks is normally a total load, but he believed it so hard he actually started doing it somehow."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Oh, that. Well, he claimed that every transaction of goods generated a 'spark', a byproduct of the natural inequality of exchange. He said he could harvest these sparks and more or less do whatever with them. Accordingly to Patchouli, such a concept of sparks is normally a total load, but he believed it so hard he actually started doing it somehow."

>"Huh," says Reimu, as she takes another drink. "Well, when you look at it that way, I can see how it'd work, sorta. Though if the thing is based off inequality, then why are you saying he believed in inequality?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "Because I was never really able to fully wrap my head around it. I guess it was a combination of the equality in that both sides agreed to the deal, and inequality in that one thing was worth more to the person that got it than the other was worth to the other person."
> Shrug.
> "Maybe. I don't really know for sure. Faithy matters were never my strong suit. I've made a history out of getting away from your kind's threats, not studying them."

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "Because I was never really able to fully wrap my head around it. I guess it was a combination of the equality in that both sides agreed to the deal, and inequality in that one thing was worth more to the person that got it than the other was worth to the other person."
> Shrug.
> "Maybe. I don't really know for sure. Faithy matters were never my strong suit. I've made a history out of getting away from your kind's threats, not studying them."

>Reimu chuckles. "I can understand that. I'll look into it. So, what'd you do with him?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "He's currently at the Temple, over in the village. And this is where you, Marisa, and whoever else is available comes in."
> Sigh.
> "Byakuren says we'll need to rehabilitate him. And that the process could take a while. And that he may not be cooperative throughout. The Temple will do what it can, partly because that's what the Temple does and partly because, for all that this never would have happened had he never gone off his nut in the first place, his current condition is a direct result of my actions. But we can only do so much. We'll need people that are close to him or have known him for a long time. Their efforts will go a long way in getting back in the world of the not-braindead."

[Hello Purvis]

> "He's currently at the Temple, over in the village. And this is where you, Marisa, and whoever else is available comes in."
> Sigh.
> "Byakuren says we'll need to rehabilitate him. And that the process could take a while. And that he may not be cooperative throughout. The Temple will do what it can, partly because it's what the Temple does and partly because, for all that this never would have happened had he never gone off his nut in the first place, his current condition is a direct result of my actions. But we can only do so much. We'll need people that are close to him or have known him for a long time. Their efforts will go a long way in getting back in the world of the not-braindead."

>"Marisa went home," says Reimu. "She was dead tired, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear she passed out in her kitchen. But I'll make sure to tell her about that, she and Rinnosuke were about as close as anyone got to him."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "That's good. Hopefully she'll still be willing to kick in that level of closeness even if she may have to work alongside the potions shop owner in the village."

[Hello Purvis]

> "That's good. Hopefully she'll still be willing to kick in that level of closeness even if she may have to work alongside the potions shop owner in the village."

>"Potions Shop owner..." Reimu says, frowning. Then her eyebrows raise and she says, "Oh. Him. ...Yeah, that will definitely be a sticking point."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

 > "Maybe they can work times where they never have to see each other. But we can work that out later."
> Pull out the Disguised Apron.
> "Anyway, if you're going to relay this info to her later, would you mind returning this to her as well? I haven't been able to get back to her place to drop it off, and it sounds like now is not the time."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Maybe they can work times where they never have to see each other. But we can work that out later."
> Pull out the Disguised Apron.
> "Anyway, if you're going to relay this info to her later, would you mind returning this to her as well? I haven't been able to get back to her place to drop it off, and it sounds like now is not the time."

>"Where'd you get that?" says Reimu, frowning.

>_