Rumia Quest 7: Chasing Shadows

[Raikaria]

>"Well, maybe somewhere else then. Either way, I'm ready to go."
>Let's get going!

> You follow Shinki into the Makai Portal, and enter Pandemonium.

> You see Yumeko, with some large black cube in front of her.

> "I got her, I used my space manipulation and trapped her in this room, which I then brought here." Yumeko says. "You really should watch the portal better Shinki..."

[Hanzo K.]

>Chuckle slightly. "Nice job corralling her, that student of mine's got a habit of getting into trouble for her own amusement."

[Raikaria]

>Chuckle slightly. "Nice job corralling her, that student of mine's got a habit of getting into trouble for her own amusement."

> "Yep, now let's give her back..." Yumeko says, opening a wall, with a sword ready.

> Seiga is not there, there is a note:

"You obviously don't know I can pass through walls, if you thought that would capture me."

> Yumeko turns red.

> "She can pass through walls... of course."

[Hanzo K.]

>Facepalm. "I'd forgotten about that."
>What do we know of any way to impede Seiga's little passwall trick? Surely we learned the weakness over the time we've trained and taught?

[Raikaria]

>Facepalm. "I'd forgotten about that."
>What do we know of any way to impede Seiga's little passwall trick? Surely we learned the weakness over the time we've trained and taught?

> She has to use the chisel she uses as a hairpin. If that can be prevented from being used, she cannot pass through walls or other solids.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Well, if we find her, we just have to take that hairpin away from her. She uses that to pass through walls."

[Raikaria]

>"Well, if we find her, we just have to take that hairpin away from her. She uses that to pass through walls."

> Yumeko looks ashamed.

> "I'm sorry Lady Shinki, how could I overlook such a simple fact?"

> "Don't worry Yumeko." Shinki says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Looks like someone needs a hug. But, all we have to do is catch her, and drag her back to Gensokyo. No problem."
>Smirk a bit. "Can't be considered a way of stopping me from teaching her if it's me dragging her back to Gensokyo in the first place after all."

[Raikaria]

>"Looks like someone needs a hug. But, all we have to do is catch her, and drag her back to Gensokyo. No problem."
>Smirk a bit. "Can't be considered a way of stopping me from teaching her if it's me dragging her back to Gensokyo in the first place after all."

> "My idea of a hug involves swords perforating things." Yumeko says flatly. The maid-doll-thing is even more serious and death-obsessed then Sakuya in most cases, although is more prone to emotional outbursts too when something happens.

> "Go dragging her back to Gensokyo isn't stopping you from teaching her dark energy." Shinki confirms. "Well, would you like Yumeko to come along?"

> "... If I go, who's left to watch over you?" Yumeko asks.

> "Yuki and Mai are still guarding the... oh. We better check up on them." Shinki says. "Seiga either got stopped by them, or she got through them."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Knowing her, she probably bum rushed them. Let's go check on them."
>Let's roll!

[Raikaria]

>"Knowing her, she probably bum rushed them. Let's go check on them."
>Let's roll!

> You rush to the portal the leads to the only way in or out of Pandemonium without Shinki making a temporary one.

> You see the fields of Ice and Fire, and Yuki and Mai are on the ground. They don't seem hurt, but they're locked to the ground with chains made of dark energy.

> Oddly, Mai is the one of the two who seems most annoyed by this situation. In fact, she has her wings batting madly to get loose. You figure if her mentality about her wings is anything like Mystia's, that would explain why the usually quiet Mai is like this.

> Yuki just seems annoyed that her hat has rolled off her head and is out of reach more than being pinned to the ground.

> "What happened to you two?" Yumeko asks.

> "We don't expect intruders to come OUT of the castle." Mai snaps. "That's your area! What happened to you?!"

> "... She tricked me." Yumeko says.

[Third Man]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand caught up. This is much easier to join in on than those 'Z-Machine' ones, because holy hell that's a lotta threads. These are pretty shrot, comparitively.


>"She can go through walls. Yumeko didn't know that."

FYI, I'm new to these text-adventure-style things, so please let me know if I do anything wrong.

[Raikaria]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand caught up. This is much easier to join in on than those 'Z-Machine' ones, because holy hell that's a lotta threads. These are pretty shrot, comparitively.


>"She can go through walls. Yumeko didn't know that."

FYI, I'm new to these text-adventure-style things, so please let me know if I do anything wrong.

[It probobly doesn't help in catching-up terms that some of them are in Stored Games and some are about 5 pages down locked and completed in this forum. And don't worry, before this started up I was new to GM'ing ^_^. But yeah my style of GM'ing isn't walls of words, I operate on the basis [For now, I aim to branch out a bit soon] that what players want is a good story, and good interactions with characters. That's my main two focal points.]

> "Well that explains a lot." Mai grunts.

> "Tricking Yumeko isn't that hard~" Yuki says.

> "You realize I have swords and you're bound to the floor, unable to move, right?" Yumeko replies.

[Third Man]

>Do these chains feel anything like those ones evil-us had?

[Raikaria]

>Do these chains feel anything like those ones evil-us had?

> No. They seem to just be constructs of dark energy, you've used similar chains yourself before, and you should be able to dispel the dark energy too.

[Third Man]

>Let's do that.

[Raikaria]

>Let's do that.

> You dispel the dark enetrgy, with significantly more difficulty than you expected to have. It seems Seiga's improved again.

> When Yuki is freed, she picks up her hat, and places it back on her head. Mai almost smacks you in the face with her wing, although she does quietly apologize when she realizes this.

> "So, Lady Shinki, what are we going to do about this intruder?" Yuki asks.

> "Well, either you two or Yumeko go with Rumia, the other stays here with me in case she comes back. I don't want to get involved personally in the affairs of Gensokyo, so I'll just sit back and watch." Shinki says, after a moment of thought.

> "I don't mind whichever way." Yuki says, shrugging. "All I know is the direction she was headed would be towards the Fallen Shrine."

> "I wanna go after her." Mai says, sounding annoyed. It wasn't too long ago she'd have said the opposite just to get away from you due to the old stories about your evil self.

> "I need to make up for my oversight." Yumeko says.

[Third Man]

>"Yumiko, you can do space tricks to help keep her from running, right? I'll bring you."
>"Shinki, can you sense where in Makai she is? Because then you could just warp us directly there."

[Raikaria]

>"Yumiko, you can do space tricks to help keep her from running, right? I'll bring you."
>"Shinki, can you sense where in Makai she is? Because then you could just warp us directly there."

> "It's not that easy to lock someone in space, and it gets harder the stronger they are, and if you do that, they can't be moved either." Yumeko says. "Still, yes, I would be able to use my space manipulation to assist, or hinder her efforts to escape, even if I can't stop her moving completely."

> "I could just freeze her." Mai retorts.

> "Yeah, but that's not exactly easy either." Yuki comments.

> "I'm not going to interfere. Besides, I'm as interested in Seiga's goal as I am in how you stop her. I guess I can warp you to the outer regions of Makai, although not to her exact location, it'll be a lot closer." Shinki muses, before she opens a portal nearby.

> Yumeko sighs. "Always the spectator, Shinki."

> "Well it would be no fun if every time something fun happened I waded in with my unparallelled godly might, and absolute command over this realm, would it? It's not fun for me either. Much more fun to watch how things play out." Shinki says. "Don't worry, if she actually poses a threat to Makai, then I won't hesitate, and she will not even have time to realize her folly before she is erased."

> Shinki looks at you.

> "Putting it in your terms, it's no more interesting for me to deal with Seiga than it is for you to bat a nameless fairy aside, for all parties involved."

[Hanzo K.]

>"Hey now, if she's erased, then wouldn't that little contract kick in and take me with her? Just knocking her out is good."
>Sigh. "Still, dispelling those earlier chains was a bit tougher than I expected, she's certainly improved quite a bit."

[Raikaria]

>"Hey now, if she's erased, then wouldn't that little contract kick in and take me with her? Just knocking her out is good."
>Sigh. "Still, dispelling those earlier chains was a bit tougher than I expected, she's certainly improved quite a bit."

> "Only if you do the erasing." Shinki says. "And, if she posed a threat to Makai, I wouldn't think twice about sacrificing you. You do not come before everyone else here."

> "Well if she wasn't good we'd have been able to break out." Yuki says.

[Hanzo K.]

>Sigh. "I'll just go handle her now..."
>Let's head through the portal and start searching for Seiga.

[Raikaria]

>Sigh. "I'll just go handle her now..."
>Let's head through the portal and start searching for Seiga.

> "Yes, and Yumeko will assist you." Shinki says.

> You and Yumeko go through the portal, and you enter a region of Makai you have not been in before. You have only been as far out from Pandemonium as Alice's old region. This, however, is further.

The area has the same red and black mist and overall shading as the rest of Makai you have been to, however, there is noticeably more black than red. In addition, debris of some sort seems to be swirling around randomly. Some fast, some slow.

> "The further away from Pandemonium you get, the more chaotic Makai is. If Seiga is headed for the Ruined Shine, we must pass through the Ruins of Vina to get there. The Ruined Shrine is on the very edge of Makai, as far from Pandemonium as one can reach." Yumeko explains. "The further out you go, the more feral, insane, and nasty the inhabitants tend to get as well, although they also get weaker in most cases. There is no issue with killing those beings if they become a danger, they are ones who came into Makai and went insane from Shinki's power, not her children."

> "Aw, now there's plenty of sane people around here Yumeko." a voice says.

> "The definition of sane changes from person to person, you dreamer." another replies.

> "Should have figured you two would come running when a portal opened, Louise, Sara."



Louise and Sara

Half-Ghost of Makai and Stranger

[Hanzo K.]

>"You guys seen a woman with blue hair in a weird pretzel-sort-of-hairdo? She's a student of mine from Gensokyo who escaped into Makai, and we're tracking her down to drag her back home."

[Raikaria]

>"You guys seen a woman with blue hair in a weird pretzel-sort-of-hairdo? She's a student of mine from Gensokyo who escaped into Makai, and we're tracking her down to drag her back home."

> Louise closes her eyes and thinks.

> "I heard someone say they saw her headed for the Ruins of Vina." she says. "Why anyone would wanna go there is beyond me though, there's only those three powerful beings."

> "The portal!" Sara says. "There's that legend, about a portal to a world of dreams."

> "Oh yes, the portal Sariel guards in the ruined temple, Shinki stationed Sariel there at the time of Makai's creation." Louise says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"I had a feeling Seiga was the one behind what Yukari warned me about, and this just proves it. I guess she couldn't get here or there via Senkai, so she timed her plan for when Shinki would be visiting."
>Look to Yumeko. "We'd better pick up the pace, if she pulls off what I was warned about, we won't be much different from a puppet dancing on strings."
>We know which way it is, right?

[Raikaria]

>"I had a feeling Seiga was the one behind what Yukari warned me about, and this just proves it. I guess she couldn't get here or there via Senkai, so she timed her plan for when Shinki would be visiting."
>Look to Yumeko. "We'd better pick up the pace, if she pulls off what I was warned about, we won't be much different from a puppet dancing on strings."
>We know which way it is, right?

> "What do you mean?" Sara asks.

> "Who's Yukari?" Louise adds.

> "I fail to understand what is so important, but I do agree, if her objective is something to do with that portal..." Yumeko says.

> You do not know the way, but Yumeko does. It seems Sara and Louise are going to follow you too.

[Hanzo K.]

>Well, let's follow along then! "Let's just say it involves the dream world."

[Raikaria]

>Well, let's follow along then! "Let's just say it involves the dream world."

> "Myself and Shinki know next to nothing of the Dream World. I am literally unable to sleep, being a doll, and Shinki is an insomniac." Yumeko says.

> "Oh, apparently someone's been attempting to change the dream world recently, and use it to their own ends. I spend a lot of time daydreaming, so I'm probobly the one here who knows the most, 'cept maybe Sariel." Louise says.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Yeah, Yukari said they might be trying to use it to basically control every person in existence subconsciously. I for one don't plan on letting that happen, I'll chase them to wherever they are and knock 'em down! If Seiga's after that...Well, looks like it'll be a simultaneous loss then."