Iku Quest P?t: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm afraid I don't think I really understand..."
>"Was she kneeling?"
>"Was she doing something to the ground?"

>She points at you again. Judging from the motions of her arm, she's jabbing her finger in your direction.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Was I there at the time?"

[Kilgamayan]

> "Was I there at the time?"

> Assuming this does not receive a positive response, say the following:
> "Or...was she dancing?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Was I there at the time?"

> Assuming this does not receive a positive response, say the following:
> "Or...was she dancing?"

>She shakes her head both times, then smacks her forehead. She stands up again, gestures at you with both hands, then kneels down and extends finger toward the ground. Then she points at you again with her other hand, then holds that hand at head level and lowers it to ground level. Then she points at you again.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I'm sorry I'm this clueless. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be. But I have some other ideas."
> "...Do you want me to mimic what you're doing?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "I'm sorry I'm this clueless. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be. But I have some other ideas."
> "...Do you want me to mimic what you're doing?"

>She nods vigorously.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Get into a kneeling position.
> Place our ear against the ground and listen.

[Hello Purvis]

> Get into a kneeling position.
> Place our ear against the ground and listen.

>You kneel down; Nitori is pulled from her current position, then kneels down with you.  Nitori gives you a thumbs up.
>Then you place your ear on the ground, bringing Nitori down with you. Afterward, she sits up again and smacks her forehead again. Then she starts vigorously shaking her head, and resumes her prior position, kneeling with a finger pointed at the ground. With her other hand, she points to her arm, then to you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Point at the ground with whichever of our arms seems like it's attached to the one she's currently using to point at the ground.

[Hello Purvis]

> Point at the ground with whichever of our arms seems like it's attached to the one she's currently using to point at the ground.

>You mimic her pointing. This requires you to lift yourself off the ground a bit, which ends up forcing Nitori into a reclining position on the ground similar to yours. She shrugs, then gives you a thumbs up with her free hand.
>Your find, and the shadow of her finger are now touching. She slowly draws hers across the dirt, then points to you with her other hand.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Follow the motion of her finger with the one of ours that was touching it a moment ago

[Hello Purvis]

>Follow the motion of her finger with the one of ours that was touching it a moment ago

>You follow her motion; almost but not quite leaving a line in the dirt. She gives you a vigorous nod, and makes another line, touching the one you just made.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Keep going. Press a bit harder so that it leaves a clearly visible line in the dirt

[Kilgamayan]

> Assuming she keeps making finger-drawing motions, follow each of them until she's done.

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep going. Press a bit harder so that it leaves a clearly visible line in the dirt

>You follow Nitori's directions, and find you are writing a proper message in the dirt.
>"She was sneaking around."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Did she seem to be searching for something, that you could tell?"
>"After you saw her, am I correct in assuming that you asked what she was doing or who she was?"
>"And she responded with immediate hostility? Something about you 'knowing too much'? Would that be about right?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Did she seem to be searching for something, that you could tell?"
>"After you saw her, am I correct in assuming that you asked what she was doing or who she was?"
>"And she responded with immediate hostility? Something about you 'knowing too much'? Would that be about right?"

>"Not exactly," she directs you to write. "I sort of thought she was a thief trying to break into my warehouse, since she was sneaking around. So I kind of told her to stop sneaking around and get out of there. She shot at me, I shot back. She was pretty lousy at it. Then she did something, I don't know. Hurt a lot. Then I woke up here."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ah. I believe I know what you experienced. She tried to do that to me as well, although I narrowly managed to force her to stop before it fully took hold. But that was when she tore your shadow away from you. And... took it here, I guess. I don't know if we're inside some part of her, or somewhere else."
>"She has stolen shadows for other things, and in each case, the physical part of it that was left behind was left obviously unwhole. A tree withered and seems to be only clinging to life. Bhava-Agra fell from the sky when she consumed its shadows. She tore Kogasa's shadow away, similar to your own."
>"I found her, fought her, and defeated her. But when I was talking to her after she regained consciousness, she did something to me. The world went black, and here I am. It's clearly not the same thing that was done to you. I admit I'm not fully sure what it is, yet."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ah. I believe I know what you experienced. She tried to do that to me as well, although I narrowly managed to force her to stop before it fully took hold. But that was when she tore your shadow away from you. And... took it here, I guess. I don't know if we're inside some part of her, or somewhere else."
>"She has stolen shadows for other things, and in each case, the physical part of it that was left behind was left obviously unwhole. A tree withered and seems to be only clinging to life. Bhava-Agra fell from the sky when she consumed its shadows. She tore Kogasa's shadow away, similar to your own."
>"I found her, fought her, and defeated her. But when I was talking to her after she regained consciousness, she did something to me. The world went black, and here I am. It's clearly not the same thing that was done to you. I admit I'm not fully sure what it is, yet."

>Nitori nods, then writes: "I thought it was something like that. I have these weird memories of being with her in a cave and stuff. More like dreams."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "A cave? Did you recognize it?"
> "And you haven't seen Kogasa around, have you?"

[DracoOmega]

>"A cave? Do you remember what she was doing, while you were there? Or what you were doing, for that matter? Were you incapacitated?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "A cave? Did you recognize it?"
> "And you haven't seen Kogasa around, have you?"

>"A cave? Do you remember what she was doing, while you were there? Or what you were doing, for that matter? Were you incapacitated?"

>She writes: "Didn't recognize it. Think it's on the mountain somewhere. She was just lingering. Hiding, maybe? I was just there. It was like a dream. A really boring one. I didn't do anything at all. I've not seen Kogasa; that's the karakasa, right?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Kogasa is the karakasa, yes. I'm hoping she'll find her way here. But we can put that aside until she arrives, in the interest of time."
> "You say you weren't doing anything in that cave. Was she doing anything? Anything that you would have been able to do?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Kogasa is the karakasa, yes. I'm hoping she'll find her way here. But we can put that aside until she arrives, in the interest of time."
> "You say you weren't doing anything in that cave. Was she doing anything? Anything that you would have been able to do?"

>Nitori writes: "Hope she's on the island, then. I can't leave it."
>"She was just waiting around. I really couldn't do anything but lay there. The other dream was weirder; she was drinking with Suika."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

Haha oh man Draco's gonna be pissed that he left for bed right before that revelation

> "She what? That's...did she seem happy while doing it? And it was definitely her?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "She what? That's...did she seem happy while doing it? And it was definitely her?"

>"Not that weird," Nitori writes. "Suika will drink with pretty much anyone as far as I know. I'm pretty sure it was her; and she seemed more confused than anything."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "It's weird because it's in direct conflict with what I've seen of her personality. She's been nothing but unnecessarily belligerent, to the point where she assaults people and steals their consciousness at the slightest provocation. You've seen this yourself. I had it worse: I offered to help her find her book after she accused me of stealing it, and when I told her I had been following her because I had been hoping for information about a mystery, she went nuts. I've never seen her outright confused: she's always been a simple angry, or cocky when things were going well for her. To hear of her tolerating the presence of another, never mind actually socializing with them, is bizarre."
> "Whenever we get out of here, we'll need to find Suika. She could be the key to all this. But that will have to come later."
> "Can you estimate how much time you felt elapsed between the mystery pain and when you ended up here?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "It's weird because it's in direct conflict with what I've seen of her personality. She's been nothing but unnecessarily belligerent, to the point where she assaults people and steals their consciousness at the slightest provocation. You've seen this yourself. I had it worse: I offered to help her find her book after she accused me of stealing it, and when I told her I had been following her because I had been hoping for information about a mystery, she went nuts. I've never seen her outright confused: she's always been a simple angry, or cocky when things were going well for her. To hear of her tolerating the presence of another, never mind actually socializing with them, is bizarre."
> "Whenever we get out of here, we'll need to find Suika. She could be the key to all this. But that will have to come later."
> "Can you estimate how much time you felt elapsed between the mystery pain and when you ended up here?"

>Nitori shrugs, then writes: "You know her better than I do, it sounds like. Suika probably isn't too hard to find, though."
>You ask her how long she has been there; Nitori just shakes her head.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Hmm."
> "Uh...just as a quick aside, when I went to meet your body, back in reality, do you remember any of what I said to you there?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Hmm."
> "Uh...just as a quick aside, when I went to meet your body, back in reality, do you remember any of what I said to you there?"

>She pauses for a moment, rubbing her chin. "I thought I was daydreaming or something," she writes after a moment.

>_