Yukari Quest V - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> "Ah, good. In which direction did you go to leave this area?"

>"I went that way," says Maribel, pointing deeper into the forest. "But I'd just go over there if you want to leave," she adds, gesturing toward the visible edge of the forest.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "That works. Shall we?"
> Head to the visible edge.

[Hello Purvis]

> "That works. Shall we?"
> Head to the visible edge.

>"Sure," says Maribel. "Not much point being in the shade when there's no sun, anyways.
>You pick your way through the brush, leading the path out. It takes a couple minutes to traverse through, but you soon leave the woods and find yourself walking into the empty, breezy plains that make up much of the island. Looking upward, you can see a number of floating islands above. You didn't quite commit their positions to memory, but at a glance, it seems thar you and Maribel did quite a lot to rearrange them. There certainly are two areas of conspicuously empty air that you can pick out. You can also pick out two islands, a large one and a much smaller one, that seem to have been forced together.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> That's probably them!
> "Aha, there we are."
> Gap ourselves to the larger one.

[Hello Purvis]

> That's probably them!
> "Aha, there we are."
> Gap ourselves to the larger one.

>"Looks like it," says Maribel.
>You open a gap to the large island and step through to find yourself in the middle of a field of flowers, stretching out in all directions. In the distance, toward the center of the island, you see the familiar mountain looming over everything else. Turning your eyes toward the drier regions of the island, you can see the smaller temple island floating along the edge of this island in the distance.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "And now the true adventure finally begins."
> Set out on foot toward the edge of our current island that is shoved up against the temple island.

[Hello Purvis]

> "And now the true adventure finally begins."
> Set out on foot toward the edge of our current island that is shoved up against the temple island.

>"That last part was pretty adventurous," says Maribel. "Well, at least kind of surreal."
>Maribel falls in step with you as you make your way toward the temple island. It takes the better part of an hour to make the trip, leaving the fields behind and crossing through the dusty wastes. The wind is not so strong here, which gives some relief from the clouds of dust tjat were prevalent last time you passed through here. You can feel the unstable border ahead with varying degrees of clarity for most of the trip.
>Ahead looms the temple island, the complex sprawling across much of the land. Much of it is comprised of stone columns, which were once set up in elaborate patterns, but now have largely fallen. You suspect that mostly wasn't you fault. You can see three sizable buildings at what you estimate are the corners of the complex, all of which are in varying states of collapse. That may be your fault. Near tne center is a large building whose roof is supported by columns, seeming more or less intact if quite old and slowly going the way of every other structure you have seen on these islands.
Ahead, you can see the edge of the temple island resting on top of this one, seeming to have lodged deeply into the dust. The surface of the island is a good five or so feet above the surface of the larger island's.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Let's make our way make our way to the edge and see if we can reasonably climb up onto the temple island.

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's make our way make our way to the edge and see if we can reasonably climb up onto the temple island.

>You approach the edge, and it seems like you ought to be able to pull yourself up easily enough. But Maribel will likely need a hand, unless she's stronger than she looks.
>"It really does feel nasty here, doesn't it?" she says.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Nod.
> "And yet I imagine you are only more excited."

[Hello Purvis]

> Nod.
> "And yet I imagine you are only more excited."

>"Well. It'll be nice to finally see what's in this thing, and having someone around in case something goes wrong," says Maribel.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Gesture to the height difference between the two grounds.
> "We must both get there, first. Will you need some help, or do you think you can climb up this on your own?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Gesture to the height difference between the two grounds.
> "We must both get there, first. Will you need some help, or do you think you can climb up this on your own?"

>"I could probably do it," says Maribel, "But I wouldn't mind a hand. No need to push too hard, given the circumstances."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "All right. Come here and I'll send you over the edge."
> Help Mary get up onto the temple island ground level.

[Hello Purvis]

> "All right. Come here and I'll send you over the edge."
> Help Mary get up onto the temple island ground level.

>You pull yourself up onto the temple island. then offer Maribel a hand and pull her up as well.
>Now that you are on ground level with the temple island, you can see a number of small roads made of buried fieldstones that  pass between the bases of the fallen columns, winding and snaking this way and that. At a glance, many of them seem to lead nowhere in particular, and a few seem to lead back upon themselves. You can also see a fourth collapsed building in the distance on the far side of the complex. The ground is littered with the remains of columns of varying widths, having fallen every which way. Some, you note, are full pillars of stone that have snapped off at some point, while others seem to be made of stacked stone sections that have toppled to litter the ground with the disks.
>"Thanks," says Maribel. She looks around. "Do you think this place served any kind of purpose?"

[Kilgamayan]

> Does the architecture look at all familiar?

[Hello Purvis]

> Does the architecture look at all familiar?

>The style does, as it seems to be in line with what you would expect from temples, palaces, and public buildings in the Aegean Sea region, but the actual buildings do not seem familiar at all.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Let's start making our way toward the center building while talking.
> "It is quite possible. At the very least, there seems to be strong European influence on the design. Who knows how long it has been since anyone or anything was here, though? I have yet to meet any living creature other than yourself."

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's start making our way toward the center building while talking.
> "It is quite possible. At the very least, there seems to be strong European influence on the design. Who knows how long it has been since anyone or anything was here, though? I have yet to meet any living creature other than yourself."

>"Same here," says Maribel. "But I'm just thinking, have we seen any buildings that were lived in? That shrine was empty, for instance. And the other houses and stuff on the islands were just shells."
>There is a road that leads toward the center, but it winds this way and that, which  isn't really a problem, and is littered with column debris, which you can step over or pick your way around. Still, it makes travel a little more difficult and slower.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How run-down did the shrine look?

[Hello Purvis]

> How run-down did the shrine look?

>It certainly hasn't seen any maintenance in a very long time. Here and there a column has fallen and one seems to be rather shaky, but the structure itself seems more or less sound. The roof is tiled with flat shingles that are fairly typical of the west, made of some kind of stone. A few are out of place or missing, but the roof is mostly intact.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Have we seen any structures in good condition?

[Hello Purvis]

> Have we seen any structures in good condition?

>There haven't been any among the islands. In theory, the tiny shrine was in very good condition, but it also didn't seem like it had seen any use, given the absolute lack of anything like a personalizing touch. You suppose the crystalline structure where you first found water so long ago was intact, before you tampered with it.

>_

[Serela]

Really, everything seems like it was designed arbitrarily, as if from a dream; not just the structures, but also the worlds themselves. Nothing seems like it'd ever actually been touched by a real living creature (apart from the fact we've never seen one other than Maribel from Gensokyo) and some of the spots we've found our tools seem to have no purpose other than as strange placeholders for them, such as the... uh... misty tower thing?  But of course, all these places are very mysterious, as is the cause of this event in the first place.

Actually, I should probably reformat this into something we could say to Maribel, but I'm tired and lazy and other people may disagree with such a decision anyway.

[Kilgamayan]

Quite possible!

> "Indeed. The houses in the fake Gensokyo I found were unstyled and monotonous as well. It rather loudly proposes the questions of who, how, and why these buildings were constructed, wouldn't you say?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Indeed. The houses in the fake Gensokyo I found were unstyled and monotonous as well. It rather loudly proposes the questions of who, how, and why these buildings were constructed, wouldn't you say?"

>"Yeah, it does," says Maribel. "Do you think all these worlds even follow the same rules?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Stop, if we're moving at present.
> "The fake Gensokyo does not, at the very least. Before we go any further, however, there is something I need to check."
> Attempt to retrieve our magnifying glass.

[Hello Purvis]

> Stop, if we're moving at present.
> "The fake Gensokyo does not, at the very least. Before we go any further, however, there is something I need to check."
> Attempt to retrieve our magnifying glass.

>You stop, as does Maribel, and you retrieve your magnifying glass.
>"So we can tell it's different, I guess," she says.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> We are presently on the temple island, yes? So we were able to open a pocket border to get the Magnifying Glass with no difficulty, despite earlier feelings that such might not work so well here?

[Hello Purvis]

> We are presently on the temple island, yes? So we were able to open a pocket border to get the Magnifying Glass with no difficulty, despite earlier feelings that such might not work so well here?

>You were. It seems the gap was small enough to sustain itself long enough for your purposes, as it didn't take a particularly large one to fetch your tool.

>_