Super long update time, brought to you by me overdoing it with the screenshotting!
Hourai Chapter- Part 1: Investigate the Village!That sounds like a level name that would have come out of MaGLX. I'm not sure if it was, though.
Oh hey there's a television in Gensokyo apparently.
"The search for missing persons in the west human village continues, but our search has turned up nothing."Well that's what we're investigating... not that we've done much of anything yet.
"North, west, and south villages, watch out! We wanted to hear from the Hakurei shrine maiden, known for her resolving of incidents.
One of our reporters sent to the Hakurei Shrine to meet its maiden, Reimu Hakurei (age unknown), and interview her on these events."Oh, maybe Reimu is aware of something?
""Some things you should just settle yourselves rather than rely on me for," she commented."So helpful, Reimu. So freaking helpful.
"It still seems it will be a difficult road until the ultimate resolution of this affair.
In other news...
Recently, the number of spirits passing through the Sanzu no Kawa has dropped tremendously."Huh? That's weird...
Would less people be dying or something to that extent? That's all I can think of...
"We interviewed the star of TV show "Assaulting Neighboring Celebrities," Komachi Onozuka (age unknown) to get the facts."...Do I even ask about what that is?
Komachi: "Yyyep, no one's been comin'... Now I ain't got no job to do, dangit! 'Least now I'm free to slack off..."Typical Komachi.
"No one's been coming? A distressing omen. Could it be as severe as another incident? Let's hope it won't come to that...
...The resolution of comparably small incidents falls to the Gensokyo Patrol Organization. Here's what they have to say."Oh yeah, the GPO is going to kind of show up quite a bit across the game.
""It's too soon to say anything for sure. But as soon as it's an established incident, we'll begin taking action.""And you're not considering mass human disappearances at all an incident? Helpful!
"In other news...
The Memento Mor, the space ship which was launched two weeks ago to investigate the surface of the moon..."And the TV cuts off before we can find out what happened with that ship. Oh well, we'll find out more about that in Return Chapter.
Oh, who's here?
Shinobu Tohdoh: 7-year old girl
Father: Missing Mother: Died four years ago
Brother: Vanished three years ago
Takashi Kakizaki: 7-year old boy
Father: Missing Mother: Missing
No siblings
Kaede Hirasaka: 7-year-old girl
Father: Missing Mother: Divorced, no info since
No siblings
Tomoya Watanabe: 7-year-old-boy
Father: Missing Mother: Dead
No siblingsI guess when your school essentially is forced into becoming a boarding school, it's a good idea to have records on family so that they can return to them... at some point.
Hmm?
Uh, sure.
Wonders of Gensokyo
- Forgotten Mansion -
They say there's an uninhabited mansion deep in the bewildering forest. The forest rabbits have written a hint...
"Usa sama usa usa hima usa."
At least, it sounds like a hint, but... Well, we have no idea what it means.Huh, interesting. Maybe it's a code or something?
A local typographer asked to see the hint and performed an analysis of the rabbits' naturally-sloppy handwriting.
"I feel somehow certain it's indicating a path. But I haven't quite figured out how the message might connect to directions.
As messy as the writing was, something about the "u"s in particular didn't look quite right.
The "ma"s were written quite neatly... A little too neatly, to be honest. The lines were oddly straight.
And "hi" and "sa"... Unfortunately, they've both left me completely clueless."
A vague, generally inconclusive, yet commendable effort. Can anyone decipher this code? If so, write in!Err... to be honest, I thought when I first played I knew what it meant, but I haven't exactly figured it out. Seriously, I'm clueless as to what this even does. Is it like... a red herring?
Oh man treasure in drawers.
Why the exclamation like that?
Seems like this yukkuri isn't doing too well...
You're a human, so... it's not exactly doable.
They are, aren't they?
Talking to children like a creep!
Mokou: "Eh, nothin' in particular...
Hey wait, where'd that girl with the black hair go?"
Kaede: "You mean Shinobu?"Oh yeah, Shinobu. The girl we rescued. Did she wander off or something?
Kaede: "Have you checked Marisa's room?"Err... sort of?
Mokou: "Marisa?"
Kaede: "She's a yukkuri we keep as a pet.
But she's not doing too well right now..."Yeah, I kind of saw that...
Well, let's go see if Shinobu's with Marisa, then.
She is!
Shinobu: "Ah, you're the ones from earlier!"Indeed we are!
Kaguya: "What are you doing, Shinobu?"
Shinobu: "This is our pet, but she hasn't been feeling well...
I think she might die..."Oh noes, the yukkuri!
Mokou: "Reminds me of jelly donuts... Not interested."Hey, Mokou, don't be like that!
Kaguya: "So I see!
Perhaps Kourin can assist in some way!"How do you know Rinnosuke? You like... don't often leave Eientei.
Kaguya: "To Rinnosuke's Kourindou, to the north!
Mokou, let us head there and discuss this matter with him!"
Mokou: "Yikes, ya don't need to shout!
...Sheesh. Since when do you like kids, anyway?"Beats me. Maybe she's just excited to be outside the mansion?
Oh man we're outside. Let us celebrate being outside.
...Okay we're done here. Move along.
So "world map," in a sense. Kourindou is to the north, but let's fight some enemies first. You kind of want to clear the map a couple times... which I fail to do, which kind of ends up biting me in the ass later on in this update.
Here we have a Neo Gladys and two Giridas. The Neo Gladys is rather easy to kill with two Pyrokinesis attacks. The Giradas, being tanks, are kind of tougher to kill, and they hit like a truck. You can bypass some of the challenge though, by...
...Causing Break Down. Break Down, which I think only appears in this chapter of the first seven, happens when you kill the "leader" of a group of enemies. The rest will instantly die, but don't drop any items, I believe. This is how you will be killing off most of the battles to make it easier on yourself, because otherwise killing them all the usual way is difficult.
Also, this chapter, being more of a traditional JRPG, has actual level ups. A bit of grinding is needed.
Another new enemy here. The Blizzard Dogs can hit you with an attack that leaves a 3x3 grid of Ice tiles behind. Be careful about that.
Buzz-Buzzs are not that strong, but have an ability that they use almost instantly to raise practically all of the stats of the entire enemy party. Go for the Neo Gladys quickly before they go crazy with the buffing.
After clearing the map, we're finally set for Kourindou.
Lot of junk you got there, Rinnosuke.
Silent Patchy is silent. Oh well.
How is the drum nostalgic?
Okay...?
...Uh... okay.
Whoa, settle down, buddy.
Is someone in there...?
Mokou (thinking): Ewww, I touched it......Do I dare ask?
...
Rinnosuke: "Uh, hi..."
Mokou: "W...
Wash your hands!"...I won't dare ask.
Errm... maybe we should ask someone else.
And then a Kaguya from nowhere.
Rinnosuke: "What's that!!
Well, you can leave that to me!
Don't think I'm JUST the simple owner of an antique shop...
With my great knowledge of the outside world, I'm always on the cutting edge in Gensokyo!"Says the guy who can stare a piece of 21st century technology in the face, say what it does, but have absolutely no idea how it actually works.
Rinnosuke: "I'll give that yukkuri thing another chance at life!"Good freaking luck...?
Rinnosuke: "I'll head to the basement and get there on my man-powered flying contraption!"Okay...
Well, we need to go after him in order to progress with the plot.
And here it is.
I'm beholding it... and I am unsure of what I see.
Oh, it lifted off. Hurray!
...Or it can crash land!
Rinnosuke: "Hack, cough...
I... don't feel very good. You go on ahead."Sure thing. We'll let Shinobu know you're coming.
We might as well look around first, though, such as at the busted flying contraption that I figured would be useless.
Back at the school, oh man, that's quite the sandbox you've got there, Takashi.
Rinnosuke blew himself up, but other than that...
Kaguya: "Not to worry. Rinnosuke is coming to help."
And there's the man himself. Looks like he took a bath in the process.
Rinnosuke: "I ended up having to hoof it."No, really?
Rinnosuke: "She's in bad shape..."Well yeah, we kind of figured that.
Rinnosuke: "But the filling inside this yukkuri can still be extracted!"Uh... okay...? Wouldn't that kill her, though?
*is not up to speed on yukkuri memes and shit, go figure*
Rinnosuke: "And then..."
Oh, umm... so we're essentially putting her consciousness and such into a robot because her body is about to die?
Uh... seems legit? Maybe?
Kaguya: "Whitey-empty-ivy...?"
Mokou: "Flewed an' droyed...?"Oh right, these two are like from waaaaaaaaaay back, so these kinds of things are essentially Peanuts adult speak. I forget exactly when the period where the Fujiwara family had influence was, but I'm sure it was at least a few hundred years ago.
Rinnosuke: "Yukkuri Droid Marisa Type IV! But YDMT-IV for short."Can I just call it Marisa still? That might be a bit hard to remember.
Rinnosuke: "I can't explain fluid androids too well. It's too scientific even for me..."And yet you're the one who's like "I SCIENCE THINGS GOOD"? Geez, I'd trust Kanako or Sanae's word over you on outside world technology and such. At least they had the experience of living there.
Rinnosuke: "We need some electricity..."Hmm... well... seeing as I believe the underground nuclear power plant also fuels the human village, we should have some form of electricity somewhere...
Errm... find it yourself?
Mokou: "Outlet?"You're trying to ask a person who's lived hundreds of years without modern convinences to know what one is.
I guess?
Mokou: "Okay..."
...Did we kill him?
Apparently not. That's a relief. Kind of. Also, hey, it worked!
I wish I could!
YDMT-IV: "Take it thankfully, madams! YDMT-IV is joy of joys!"No problem! I'm not one for yukkuri abuse. Unlike a decent portion of the Touhou fandom. *stares with disdain at said portion*
Mokou: "Was it changing her body that made her start talking in third person...?"No clue.
You okay?
Rinnosuke: "Science is spectactular!"Uh huh.
Rinnosuke (thinking): Hm... wait...
If I apply this same theory...
(speaking): "Why, that's it!!"Huh? Rinnosuke?
I've got just as much of a clue as you do, Keine.
Shinobu: "It worked!"
Kaguya: "Is it doing better now?"Those two lines were from me talking to the two of them. Well, yeah, it worked.
We were resurrecting a yukkuri by stuffing it in a robot. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Keine: "What are you guys doing?"I just said...
Oh, um, okay?
Mokou: "H... hey, wait!"It's okay, YDMT-IV is actually a decent party member. Also agh that's going to be so annoying to type out every time.
Mokou: "You gonna follow me?!"I guess so.
Kinda.
Mokou: "Following us's more like it... That alright with you, though?"
Keine: "Well, you can consider it a sort of payment for accepting my request."Oh man, we get a yukkuri as a reward for investigating things we haven't even really investigated yet.
Keine: "I'll tell the kids about it, so... See you."Okay...
Will do! I only let yukkuris get hurt if they are the Strawberry Bose variety, because those ones give me a lot of XP. Speaking of which, King Yukkuris in Nightmare of Rebellion are hilariously easy to kill if you got the one Doppel with Damage Net. They don't even do the thing like in Devil of Decline where they cast Regeneration to clear the field effect. And their version of Face Smash is hilariously weak.
So we have a yukkuri in our party. We'll go over stuff in regards to skills and such later. Just to let you know, YDMT-IV can't level. Keep that in mind. For now, let's continue investigating stuff.
Oh hey Keine. Again.
Keine: "Hm? Uh, just reading.
It's a good sunny day to read. It feels really nice out here."
Mokou: "So what're you reading?"
Keine: ""The Legend of Heroes and Demons.""
Mokou: "Oh, I know that one."You do? What's it about?
Mokou: "At the start, he's a hero doin' stuff for peeps, but then his best friend and fiance betray him, so he becomes a demon?
That's an old one. Sure liked it, though!"Oh huh... someone actually wrote what happened during you-know-what. That's weird.
Keine: "It's just a fairytale, of course. Yet, it still has some truth to it."Like the fact that "Don't give up as long as one person believes in you" can be totally, utterly crushed because people can be dicks?
Keine: "And no one seems to know who wrote this story..."No known author? Odd... but that actually makes me wonder, did anyone write that down after the fact? Because it's more or less confirmed across this game that Live-A-Live already happened, but you know, besides the seven protagonists, didn't everyone in that era get wiped out by Odio? If so, who was able to write the story? It's not like the seven were told the whole story.
Keine: "That kind of mystery just makes the story even more interesting, doesn't it?"Mmm... well, I'm sure something like that will never happen again. Nope. Never.
Meanwhile, back at Kourindou, you need to go down this basement to continue the plot. Kind of a Guide Dang It moment, but this chapter is already sort of filled with them, so...
...What the hell.
Mokou: "W-What's THIS thing?!"
Rinnosuke: "It's just as I thought!"What is just as you thought?
Rinnosuke: "A liquefied creature would be the perfect fuel to move this giant robot!"...I'm sorry, did you say "liquefied creature"? That sounds... I don't know... disturbing?
Rinnosuke: "It'll be done in no time!"
: "Not so."Hmm?
Oh hey Patchy. I guess if the robot looks sorta like you, you would be involved in its construction...
Patchouli: "Patchouli Knowledge, of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
If you use a liquefied creature, it is that creature who will have most of the control."...Right. Again, freaking disturbing.
Patchouli: "So a simple animal won't do. It would have to be a human, you see?"Agagagagagagagagagagagagh. No. Please. Don't. Not in Touhou. Please. Youkai eating humans? I can take that. But something like that? Urgha...
Patchouli: "How can you be thinking about this nonsense when the cockpit isn't even complete?"Uh... wouldn't it be something you would have to worry about later anyways? Might as well strike the iron while it's hot... disturbing as it might be, in this case.
Mokou: "What's your part in all this?"
Patchouli: "I had the idea, did the planning, and constructed it... he just financed it."Rinnosuke isn't entirely useless... I guess?
Patchouli: "It'll take a couple months to finish anyway, so there's no rush."Fair enough. I guess in that time you can find an alternative power source, like nuclear power or magic. Because yeah, liquefied creatures? No just no.
Oh, well that's useful. We did find a couple of "Who Knows What" earlier, so...
Let's give some to him!
Do we need the circle effect?
Rinnosuke: "..........
....................
..............................
........................................
Yes, I've got it!"
Mokou: "Hey, it's...
A Missile Pod!"Oooo, that's something we can give to YDMT-IV! It gives her a skill.
We also get a Power Wrist and Fireworks from the other two things, so yay!
Next stop we need to head to in order to advance the plot is Eientei. So let's go there!
And here we are. You have to go through the Bamboo Forest, but all you need to do is walk left a bunch until you get here.
Fancy looking.
...That's what the paper here says.Looks like you're making some money, Eirin.
Hey Eirin, how's it going?
Indeed we are, although we still haven't found shit.
Eirin: "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At last... the princess, getting a job...
After so many long years of toil, my dream has finally come true..."Hurray, she isn't a complete hikikomori anymore. She probably will go back to it after this, though, so don't get your hopes up.
Eirin: "Take this as my congratulations!"
Mokou: "Hey, it's...
YagoCo Rapidrugs!"
Kaguya: "Thank you!
Well, I shall do my best!"Yeah, we should try actually doing some freaking detective work. Maybe. For once.
Eirin: "Good to hear it!"
Mokou (thinking): Guess I shouldn't tell her the truth...As to what we're investigating? How is that a problem?
So, YDMT-IV's skills!
Tackle: Single-target physical attack with a range of one tile in any direction
Smash Stomp: Slightly more powerful single-target physical attack with a range of one tile horizontally or vertically
Equipping that Missile Pod also gave her...
Rocket Launch: Single-target physical attack that has a range of one or two spaces in any direction
She's not that bad in combat, but again, she cannot level.
Anyways, to continue with the plot, we needs to go back to Keine's school. Again, I have NO idea how you are supposed to know to do this, but...
Hmm?
Watanabe: "I've got something to give you later..."Okay...?
Watanabe: "Can you come to the storeroom?"I can do so right now, yeah.
And here we are.
What was it, Watanabe?
Watanabe: "U-uh, take this..."
Mokou: "Hey, it's...
Keine's Panties!"...No comment.
Mokou: "How'd you manage to pilfer these?"
Watanabe: "I didn't steal them!"But... you had them... and... agh, nevermind...
Watanabe: "Teacher got soaking wet one rainy day, and she forgot them here after changing!
I couldn't ust leave them there... But I couldn't give them to her either..."...So you took them? Okay then...
Mokou: "You weren't peeping on her, were you...?"
Watanabe: "Errr..."Watanabe, why. Just why.
Mokou: "Whatever... I'll take 'em off yer hands."
Watanabe: "Thanks, miss!
W-Well, I'll be going now..."Let's never mention this again. Please.
Anyways, we needed to do that in order to progress with the plot. Let's go back outside and see if we can actually find a lead...
What the?!
Mokou: "Keine!"Is she in trouble?!
Uh-oh, they found us...
I'm not exactly sure!
Keine: "Never mind me! They took Takashi!"That's what you get for being the hero of the sandbox.
Mokou: "Got it!!"
And MORE ENEMIES. This time we've got High-Gladys, which... are just kind of more powerful Gladys enemies. They're not overly hard, but make sure your party doesn't get torn to shreds.
Oh no you don't!
Hey, you can't just put motorcycles out of your ass! That's not fair!
...Or they can just ride off and ignore me. Great.
: "Ah, it's a beautiful day for a ride!"Who the...?
Uh, sorry mister, but uh...
Mokou: ".....
I'll just borrow this!"
Sorry, we have a child to rescue from... masked guys.
Keine: "Mokou, do you even know how to use that?!"Considering the time period she's originally from, I'd say no.
Mokou: "Who cares!"But it doesn't matter because yeah.
I swear now I should have called the update "Immortals on Motorcycles" because lol memes, but whatever.
Let's follow them. Thankfully they don't seem to be too far ahead...
...And they led us to the Bamboo Forest. I'm assuming there's a puzzle here, but essentially what I did was randomly wander around until...
...We enter a new area.
Yeah, we've got you cornered now!
Mokou: "Just give Takashi back quietly..."
Masked Man: "Hoohoohoohoo...
Do you think we were just running away aimlessly?"
Kaguya: "What do you mean?"Let me guess, a trap?
Masked Man: "Come!
Dead Soldiers!"Oh no...
Oh man battle transition.
The Dead Soldiers are... to say the least, difficult. They have actually a fair resistance to fire, to the point where using Low Kick with Mokou is actually better than using Pyrokinesis. This is why you might want to grind before this point. I did not do so.
As you can see, Kaguya kind of died by the end of it. Mokou mainly stayed alive through healing items and usage of Fire tiles to regen HP.
We did!
Masked Man: "Ack! Time to get desperate!"Not pictured: Another fight against four High-Gladyses. Mokou kind of died, but meh.
Gotcha. Again. Can you just give up now?
Mokou: "....."
Whoa, you're strong, Mokou.
Mokou: "...
I know all these kidnappings ain't your own idea...
So tell me...
Who's orderin' this!!"
Masked Man: "Ugh...
I won't tell you anything...
I'd rather die..."No, you will tell us something, or we thrash you harder, but not hard enough to kill. That's how it works in Gensokyo.
Mokou: "Hah!
That's how you want it? Then we'll do this my way..."Show 'em what happens when you fuck around with Fujiwara no Mokou!
Mokou: "...
Wearing those weird-ass helmets... Could be you're all jus' shy...
Or maybe you got somethin' to HIDE!"
...You're kidding...
Mokou: "Ain't these yer rabbits, Kaguya?!"Don't tell me Kaguya knew...
Kaguya: "W-What on earth is this?!"...Perhaps not...
Mokou: "Okay, I'm SERIOUS now! Who's orderin' you?! Was it Eirin?!
ANSWER ME!!
Unmasked Rabbit: "Guh...
Guhragoooh!!"What the...
Mokou: "They're...
They're dead..."...Okay, what the hell? Did we beat them too hard...?
Not happy about that turn of events, are you?
Mokou: "What the hell's going on here...? Why'd that guy have to die on me?!"Uh... if I knew I would tell you, but uh... I don't.
Well technically I do, but you know. Feigning plot ignorance to avoid spoilers. Sorry Mokou.
Mokou: "Crap!"
Kaguya: ".....
The slave drug..."Huh? Slave drug?
Keine: "Slave drug...?
I've never heard of that."
Kaguya: "The slave drug is a strong medicine which Eirin worked on.
Anyone who takes the medicine will become a slave to the person they see next.
But there's a terrible side-effect... If not provided with constant oxygen from a tank, their body will decompose like they're dead.
The effects are practically permanent...
If you drink it, you'll be a puppet for life..."...So not only are they mindless, they're literally on borrowed time? Damn... Eirin, you're sick.
Keine: "That sounds like a nightmare medicine..."
Mokou: ".....
Let's go...
Let's go to Eientei!!"...Yeah. That's our definite lead now. Those rabbits have to be from Eientei. If they took the slave drug, and that came from Eientei, then there's no other possibility.
Kaguya: ".....
But...
I cannot imagine Eirin is the criminal..."And why is that? You have proof?
Kaguya: "Eirin sealed away the medicine right after making it."Oh... but still, if she sealed it, wouldn't she be the only one capable of unsealing it? She's the freaking Brain of the Moon. She's probably got ancient magical techniques beyond the comprehension of even Yukari, and if the medicine was that dangerous, I'm sure she'd pull out all the stops to prevent anyone else from even being able to touch it.
Kaguya: "And after all...
The rabbits are practically family to us... Always so playful..."...
Cry-A-Live. That's all I have to say.
Kaguya: "Why would Eirin subject them to such a thing...? She couldn't have a reason for that..."
Keine: "Miss Kaguya...
The fact remains... the rabbits were given the slave drugs, and they caused the kidnappings.
Even if you don't want to believe it... we have to find out the reality... and the truth."
Mokou: "Thing is...
We can't really say yet if Eirin's a criminal here."We can't? For what reason...?
Mokou: "Someone might just be tricking her... or makin' her weak... and that's why she's usin' those drugs."So a second party? But who would be able to do that?
Kaguya: ".....
Right...
I...
I believe in Eirin...!"Yeah... there is still a chance for Eirin to be manipulated... somehow. If that's the case, then we should be able to find the real criminal. Right...
Keine: "I'd like to help, but I need to stay and protect the kids...
I believe you two can settle this and make things peaceful again!"
Mokou: ".....
Keine...
Thanks...
Well..."
Right! But man, we've already done so much in this update alone. Eientei will have to wait until next time. Is Eirin the criminal? Is she being manipulated? And if so, by whom? And to what end? Next time, we'll get all of the answers to that and more.
Summary:
Treasure: Jelly Donut x4, Cross Capsule x3, Saucepan Lid (Mokou), Mochi Mochi x2, Lighter (Mokou), Castella x3, Black Tea, Green Tea, Who Knows What x3, YagoCo Rapidrugs, Keine's Panties
Identified Items: Missile Pod (YDMT-IV), Power Wrist (Mokou), Fireworks
Skills Learned:
Self-Flame (Mokou): Heals self and might raise stats
Robe of Fire Rat (Kaguya): Magical fire attack with a range of exactly two spaces in any direction.
Firewall (Mokou): Fire attack that hits all enemies, but is severely weak
Swallow's Cowrie Shell (Kaguya): Heals everyone slightly.
TPKs: 0 this update, 0 this chapter, 0 overall
My god I am never doing that much in one update ever again. Maybe. We'll see.
