Okuu Quest : A Z-Machine Adventure.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I think that'd be good, yeah"

>She nods, and opens the door some more.  "Well, come in and make yourself comfortable."

>_

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

> Well, what are we waiting for? Nothing like good ol' southernmountain hospitality!
> Go inside.

[Hello Purvis]

> Well, what are we waiting for? Nothing like good ol' southernmountain hospitality!
> Go inside.

>You head inside.
>Heading inside, you see the place is rather bare bones. The walls are uncovered and unpainted wood, while the floor has a number of old rugs flung everywhere. The front room, as it were, seems to hold the shrine's altar. Reimu leads you off to the side of the room, where she has set up a dining room small behind a paper screen; a similiar screen hides the other side of the room. Beside it, in another wing, is a small kitchen; even yours is larger than that! Near the table; a low japanese style one, is a little TV on an old crate and a laptop sitting on top of a pillow. Reimu gestures for you to have a seat at the table, which you note only has one pillow. "Sorry," she says as she walks into the kitchen, "I don't have guests...well...ever."
>She returns with a large mug of coffee, and sits it on the table with a bowl of sugar and some milk. Then she removes the pillow from under the laptop and kneels on it. "So, let's start again," she says, as she piles sugar into her own drink, "Why did you come here?"

>_

[WHMZakeri]

>"Well... It all started with that feeling I told you about outside. The one that everything was wrong. Normally, I'd just ignore something like that since I know everyone would just think I had gone insane, but the feeling when I woke up this morning was ... strong. It almost paralyzed me in fear. Ever since then I've been looking into thing across the island.

>One of the first things I decided to do was on a personal level. I Had always wanted to become a Nuclear Physician, but I could never bother dealing with school, or math for that matter. I won't bore you with the details (OOC: Too late) but I've spent a large part of today working my way into University.

>But, somehow I don't think it's just my place in the world, but something much bigger than that. Because of that, I've started investigating supernatural things that happen in Gensokyo. I'm hoping those phenomena are the seems in reality that I'm hoping to get a glance at, just in case this feeling I have really is real.

>Finally, I've been turning to the various religions for an answer. I've already visited the other two temples. The first one tried to be helpful, but in the end, they had no idea what was happening to me. The other Shrine was too busy being superficial to do anything than give me a talisman for piece of mind, though.

>So, I guess that's what brought me here. Do you have any advice for my situation?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well... It all started with that feeling I told you about outside. The one that everything was wrong. Normally, I'd just ignore something like that since I know everyone would just think I had gone insane, but the feeling when I woke up this morning was ... strong. It almost paralyzed me in fear. Ever since then I've been looking into thing across the island.

>One of the first things I decided to do was on a personal level. I Had always wanted to become a Nuclear Physician, but I could never bother dealing with school, or math for that matter. I won't bore you with the details (OOC: Too late) but I've spent a large part of today working my way into University.

>But, somehow I don't think it's just my place in the world, but something much bigger than that. Because of that, I've started investigating supernatural things that happen in Gensokyo. I'm hoping those phenomena are the seems in reality that I'm hoping to get a glance at, just in case this feeling I have really is real.

>Finally, I've been turning to the various religions for an answer. I've already visited the other two temples. The first one tried to be helpful, but in the end, they had no idea what was happening to me. The other Shrine was too busy being superficial to do anything than give me a talisman for piece of mind, though.

>So, I guess that's what brought me here. Do you have any advice for my situation?"

>"Huh," says Reimu at length. "That's...Well, I guess I have to give you credit for actually finding this place. I'm going to be straight with you, I pretty much thought you were some kind of crank when you first showed up. But, well, that thing you told me you saw? That was just a little bit too much of a coincidence, you know? You see, my mom used to tell me bedtime stories about the forest spirit, and, um, you sort of described it..."

>_

[Kasu]

> "Forest Spirit?"
> Oh snap.  We mighta stumbled onto some thing awesome!

[Hello Purvis]

> "Forest Spirit?"
> Oh snap.  We mighta stumbled onto some thing awesome!

>Reimu nods, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, it's kind of old memories. Mom used to tell me that back when I was little and thought there were bears out there." She fixes you a look. "Shut up. Anyway, it was just one of those faerie tales, right? Supposed to make a kid feel less bad about being in the dark. It was just your usual kind of faerie tale; kindly spirit living in the woods, didn't like being seen by people, playing guardian angel in the background. That kind of thing..."
>Ha! You weren't crazy!

>_

[Kasu]

> "Was there anything about said Spirit disappearing into a tree?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Was there anything about said Spirit disappearing into a tree?"

>"A juniper bush, actually," says Reimu. "But that's pretty close to the same thing."

[E-Nazrin]

>"I... think I may have seen her do that, at least into a tree. I worked up the courage to touch it afterwards, and it felt warmer than the others in the area. I marked the tree with a towel on one of the branches, but I don't know if it'd still be there or anything like that."
>"Is there anything else about the spirit I should know in case I see it again? It... really scared me, so I don't want to anger it."
>"... assuming I'm not just seeing things, at least. But I don't think I ever heard about a forest spirit before coming to see you, so it seems like more than a coincidence..."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I... think I may have seen her do that, at least into a tree. I worked up the courage to touch it afterwards, and it felt warmer than the others in the area. I marked the tree with a towel on one of the branches, but I don't know if it'd still be there or anything like that."
>"Is there anything else about the spirit I should know in case I see it again? It... really scared me, so I don't want to anger it."
>"... assuming I'm not just seeing things, at least. But I don't think I ever heard about a forest spirit before coming to see you, so it seems like more than a coincidence..."

>"Well, Mom said she was a nice spirit, helping kids and animals and stuff from the shadows, just really skittish. And yeah...never heard about it anywhere else, either."  From the look on her face, you can tell she wants to add some profanity to the end.

>_

[Kasu]

> "Um...  Is the subject bothering you?  We can probably change it if you want..."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Um...  Is the subject bothering you?  We can probably change it if you want..."

>"Yeah sure. Just some black thoughts, that's all."

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>Wonder if they're about her mother...
>"What's the story behind this shrine? I think I've heard some of it from around town, but I'd like to hear the personal version."

[Hello Purvis]

>Wonder if they're about her mother...
>"What's the story behind this shrine? I think I've heard some of it from around town, but I'd like to hear the personal version."

>Yeah, must have been a piece of work.
>"It's probably the oldest building on the island," says Reimu. "What with the old base being torn down and renovated and junk. They made it back during the war, in hopes of both pleasing the gods of this island and keeping them out of the way of the military's hair. The were all kinds of worried about that back in the day. Anyways, time went on, the war ended, and they started building up the city to serve as a bulwark against the red menace. And we stayed here. No one really cared about this place, and to be honest it was so out of the way that the few who did, aside from us living here, seldom bothered with it. Don't think we've even had regular visitors since before I was born. So, it was forgotten. And that's fine with me."

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>"I don't suppose you have any idea about whether that fear of the gods was justified?"
>"There are a few investigators at town that recently moved in and would like to learn about the shrine. Is it okay if I tell them where it is?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I don't suppose you have any idea about whether that fear of the gods was justified?"
>"There are a few investigators at town that recently moved in and would like to learn about the shrine. Is it okay if I tell them where it is?"

>"Well, if you had asked me a few minutes ago, I would have said it was all superstition. Now...well...can't deny you either a mind reader or saw something."
>"Why do they care?"

>_

[WHMZakeri]

>"Well, they're investigators. They like searching for the unknown. This Shrine isn't pretty well known in the area, no one visiting, so it's on their list."
>"That, and they also like searching for paranormal stuff. I'm sure they'd be interested in hearing about the Forest Spirit."
>"Oh, but don't call it paranormal stuff. They tend to get huffy when they use that word. I forget what they preferred though. Supernatural or something?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, they're investigators. They like searching for the unknown. This Shrine isn't pretty well known in the area, no one visiting, so it's on their list."
>"That, and they also like searching for paranormal stuff. I'm sure they'd be interested in hearing about the Forest Spirit."
>"Oh, but don't call it paranormal stuff. They tend to get huffy when they use that word. I forget what they preferred though. Supernatural or something?"

>"Eh, I guess. They're gonna be disappointed, though. I don't go for all that superstitious crap." She sighs. "Well, usually don't."

>_

[WHMZakeri]

>"I'll be sure to tell them you're just a normal Shrine Maiden, then."
>"Oh, by the way, what time is it?"
>Quests

[Kasu]

> "While we're at it, do you have any other stories of interest?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'll be sure to tell them you're just a normal Shrine Maiden, then."
>"Oh, by the way, what time is it?"
>Quests

>"Well, I'm not even normal in that regard. You got no idea how many other shrine maidens yell at me online for refusing to anthropomorphize the unknown."
>She gestures toward a clock in the kitchen. It is three forty.
>Your Quests are:
>The World is Wrong
>You have an unshakable instinct telling you that something is critically awry with the world, enough to frighten you to the core of your being. You have vowed that you will find what it is. Having encountered something that looked a whole lot like a ghost, you may be onto something.
>Condemnation!
>You neighbor Miss Hieda's house has been condemned by those FUCKERS at City Hall. Nitori's friend established her plumbing was bad, but not below code. But it leaves the question of why she lives in such a place when she's in a good job?
>Werehouse
>You have taken an interest in a recent heist of a local importer at the docks. You've learned the Sheriff is looking into it personally.
>Parsing Parsee
>Orin has arranged for you to meet with a conspiracy theorist; any time after three, she said.
>Your Self Appointed Goals are:
>Chase the Dream
>You've vowed you're gonna get accepted into that stupid university! Now, you have to pass the entry exam...

>_

[Kasu]

> "While we're at it, do you have any other stories of interest?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "While we're at it, do you have any other stories of interest?"

>"Well, what's interesting to you? Mom told me all kinds of faerie tales, but I can't even guess which ones would be worth a damn. I'll tell you what, though. If you're looking for weird stuff, that military base and the Research Institute are where I'd go."

>_

[Kasu]

> "Ah.  I've been hearing a lot of rumors about those places lately."
> "Actually, do you have any stories related to the ocean around the island?  The Investigators had an area of interest marked on a map that was off a bit from the main island in a seemingly random patch of ocean."

[E-Nazrin]

>"They also had places marked for here and the place I found the forest spirit, actually..."
>"And I wonder if the Research Institute or military base have heard any stories about the forest spirit... probably."
>"Should I ask about your talks with other shrine maidens online? That sounds like an interesting niche."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Ah.  I've been hearing a lot of rumors about those places lately."
> "Actually, do you have any stories related to the ocean around the island?  The Investigators had an area of interest marked on a map that was off a bit from the main island in a seemingly random patch of ocean."

>"Not surprising. It's where science gets done, and that's where you find the really amazing stuff, I'd say."
>"The ocean, huh? Well..." she ponders for a bit. "Assuming it's not one of those war era ghost stories...well, mom always told me stories of a dragon out there. Keeps the fishermen safe, makes sure the ocean doesn't get too rough, and that sort of thing. But people go fish out there, and there's all kinds of commercial traffic, so someone would have seen either of those things."

>"They also had places marked for here and the place I found the forest spirit, actually..."
>"And I wonder if the Research Institute or military base have heard any stories about the forest spirit... probably."
>"Should I ask about your talks with other shrine maidens online? That sounds like an interesting niche."

>She shrugs. "Dunno where they would have heard it."
>She shrugs again. "It's just a story my mom told me, so probably not. But who knows?"
>"If you want. It's honestly mostly just crabby old women complaining about the youth of today wearing low cut shirts and speaking English in public and all that. I mostly get involved out of a sense of duty, it is a shrine after all, so I might as well try to do something right. They seem to like me, though, when I'm not taking apart their stories and superstitions."

>_

[Kasu]

> "I think they said something about that part of the ocean being more ghostly in nature, but you never know."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I think they said something about that part of the ocean being more ghostly in nature, but you never know."

>"Probably just a story then," says Reimu. "Hundreds of people died here, maybe thousands. What makes that one guy special?"

>_

[Kasu]

> Grin.
> "Who knows.  Maybe he's the only one to successfully manifest himself?"