Sword Quest IX - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> How does the atmosphere and the energy of the land feel?
> Attempt flight.

>The air feels tranquil. There is a kind of murmur of desire in the air, but you cannot hear it.
>You lift from the ground easily.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How's our headache doing?

[Hello Purvis]

> How's our headache doing?

>It is pretty much gone now.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Gently remove our earmuffs and see if we can hear the desire in the air.

[Mr. Sacchi]

> Do we feel sleepy and/or tired?

Although I am fairly sure you already know this, it is quite possible the Saigyou Ayakashi is trying to lull us to sleep.

[Kilgamayan]

Actually, it's good that you pointed that out, because it's been a long time since I studied up on PCB lore.

[Hello Purvis]

> Gently remove our earmuffs and see if we can hear the desire in the air.

>You remove your earmuffs, and the desires come a little more into focus, but are difficult to read. You don't think they are complete enough to really be a person's.

> Do we feel sleepy and/or tired?

>Perhaps a little tired?

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Put our earmuffs back on.
> Take flight and head in whatever direction we're currently facing.

[Hello Purvis]

> Put our earmuffs back on.
> Take flight and head in whatever direction we're currently facing.

>You replace your earmuffs and take flight.
>You head forward...you aren't sure what direction it is, actually. Looking around, there doesn't really seem to be a sun here despite the daylit blue sky, so you aren't sure what compass direction this is. You fly onward, taking stock of the valleys around you. They are verdantly green, in the full glow of summer after a brisk rain. Forests line the lower parts of the valleys, giving way to brilliant green grasses further up the mountains. The peaks here are not very tall, as far as mountains go, mostly only reaching up several hundreds of feet. You yawn again, as you look around.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> We've already yawned twice since arriving here? Odd, we hadn't yet done so this day before now.
> Call out into the openness.
> "Miss Meira?"

[Hello Purvis]

> We've already yawned twice since arriving here? Odd, we hadn't yet done so this day before now.
> Call out into the openness.
> "Miss Meira?"

>This does seem unusual.
>You call out into the openness, and hear your voice echo slightly through the valleys. There is no reply.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Look around some more.
> "Saigyou Ayakashi, is this your doing?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Look around some more.
> "Saigyou Ayakashi, is this your doing?"

>Will you look around here in more detail, or move on?
>You call out again, and again receive no reply.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Forget looking around for the time being.
> Dive down to the trees below.

[Hello Purvis]

> Forget looking around for the time being.
> Dive down to the trees below.

>You make your way down to the trees in the valley. The forest is lovely to view from above, and as you make your way through the tree line and below, it is positively idyllic. The trees are in full vitality, emerald boughs practically glowing.  The underbrush is thick, but not so omnipresent that you couldn't find a path through. The trees grow in fairly dense copses, close together enough to make a proper canopy above, but far enough apart to allow you to move between them easily. Nothing particularly stands out, though it looks perfect for a place to relax.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Have we seen any water yet?

[Hello Purvis]

> Have we seen any water yet?

>You have not.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> What was the desire we first sort-of felt from the entity within Meira, when we were first examining her?

[Hello Purvis]

> What was the desire we first sort-of felt from the entity within Meira, when we were first examining her?

>You recall that it had a quality of attracting others to it.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Let's review, then. This entity had a quality of attracting others to it, and seemed to be very bad news in general. Now, in the process of trying to take it out of Meira, we've been whisked away to wherever-this-is, some very tranquil naturey place that almost seems designed to get us to relax, and now we're yawning when we weren't nearly that tired before coming here, and there's no water around to, say, splash our face to keep ourselves awake.
> This all seems awfully suspicious. This place seems exceedingly likely to be an illusion...trying to get us to relax and let our guard down, maybe?

[Hello Purvis]

> Let's review, then. This entity had a quality of attracting others to it, and seemed to be very bad news in general. Now, in the process of trying to take it out of Meira, we've been whisked away to wherever-this-is, some very tranquil naturey place that almost seems designed to get us to relax, and now we're yawning when we weren't nearly that tired before coming here, and there's no water around to, say, splash our face to keep ourselves awake.
> This all seems awfully suspicious. This place seems exceedingly likely to be an illusion...trying to get us to relax and let our guard down, maybe?

>You cannot deny that is a possibility, if not a plausibility.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take out our sword and poke a tree trunk with it.

[Hello Purvis]

> Take out our sword and poke a tree trunk with it.

>You poke at a nearby tree trunk with your sword. It feels like a proper tree, at least.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we feel any life energy from within the tree?

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we feel any life energy from within the tree?

>You would have to take some time to check.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Do so.

[Hello Purvis]

> Do so.

>You take some time to check, and the results are...strange. At first, you don't believe that there's anything there. Then you look a bit more, and find it easily. Nothing seems awry with it, and it is baffling that you had to look at all.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Inspect another tree the same way.

[Hello Purvis]

> Inspect another tree the same way.

>This time, there is no difficulty. Everything is as you'd expect.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Okay, something is definitely screwing with us.
> Head through the underbrush, away from the tree we just investigated.