Iku Quest Sechs - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, I see. ...what else did she tell you about what happened?"

>"Nothing, really," says Maribel.
>"What she said was, in total, 'Stay here, it's too dangerous!'" Renko says. "Then she ran off. We figured if she was in that much of a hurry, it must have been pretty serious."

> "And what sort of state was she in? I am glad to hear Reimu's report substantiated that she managed to escape the same capture, but I worry for her all the same, especially if she is alone. If she was not at Nitori's, and she is not here...where could she have gone?"

>"Panicked," says Renko. "And no idea. I think she ran off north, but there's a lot of north."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I'll fill you guys in on what happened. I'm glad she had the forethought to come back and warn you, at any rate."
>"Oh, Parsee, did Utsuho explain about the poltergeist to you?"

[Suwako Moriya]

> Poor Tenshi. We've really done a number on her today.
> Mental check: what is to the north? Specifically, would the Dragon Palace and HinanaiShrine be in that direction?
> "Did Tenshi at least still have her sword?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I'll fill you guys in on what happened. I'm glad she had the forethought to come back and warn you, at any rate."
>"Oh, Parsee, did Utsuho explain about the poltergeist to you?"

>Parsee nods. "I don't buy the whole thing with it being the Brocken Spectre, but she told me what she could."

> Poor Tenshi. We've really done a number on her today.
> Mental check: what is to the north?

>She did get kind of strung along.
>Northward, you would find the human town, the Yakumo residence (a bit east as well), the Hakurei Shrine (very east), the Dragon Palace, the Hinanai shrine, the entrance to Hakugyokurou (also very east) and eventually the Sanzu River.

>_

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> "I suppose it's possible it isn't the Brocken Spectre, but the evidence lends itself to that theory very strongly, given the nature of poltergeist creation."
> "Did Tenshiat least still have her sword?"

So that seems to have not been a help. I imagine Tenshi's flight path to be Turtle House -> Hakurei Shrine -> , which gives us no new information.

Off to Bhava-Agra once we're done here, then?

[Hello Purvis]

> "I suppose it's possible it isn't the Brocken Spectre, but the evidence lends itself to that theory very strongly, given the nature of poltergeist creation."
> "Did Tenshiat least still have her sword?"

>"No way," says Parsee. "The Spectre is still out there. Even if there's some pissy little shadow thief trying to pretend she's the real thing."
>Renko shrugs, "I didn't look."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, Brocken Spectre or no, she is still who she is, and a very dangerous person at that. For the moment, it may not matter whether it's true or not. This situation needs to be resolved in either case."
>"Here's what happened after Tenshi and I left this place, this afternoon."
>"We were about halfway to Nitori's when the spectre woke up again. I tried to talk with her a bit, but her attitude towards me was hateful to say the least. Whenever I could coax her to speak at all, she mostly just made threats. She said she was going to make everyone disappear. I questioned how she planned to do that in her current condition, and, well... I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think she trapped me in her own shadow. She didn't move or touch me, or do anything I could see, but suddenly the world around me went black and I was elsewhere. I'd assumed she'd captured Tenshi as well, but I guess she managed to escape, and I am glad to hear of it. I don't know quite how I escaped, myself, and I'm not at all confident we could count on it working like that a second time."
>"I met Nitori inside there. Or her shadow, rather. She seems to be fine, despite being imprisoned and decorporialized. I couldn't find Kogasa, however. I suspect that whatever place those shadows go may be partitioned somehow. Or there's something else at play. I don't really know."
>"In any case, while I was inside I somehow fell through some sort of hole in the shadow world and ended up in Makai, and eventually back here. Nitori didn't end up travelling through with me. I suspect she may not be able to, being only a shadow, but I'm not sure. I don't think we can expect anyone inside to find a way out on their own though. It seems very much like it's meant to be a prison, to me. "
>"I spoke with Reimu when I got back, and apparently Tenshi went to her for help. They searched the forest again, but couldn't find the spectre. I don't know where she went, and the last thing she told me was that she planned to make everyone disappear. Given what she did to me, I have no doubt she's fully capable of it, and she's still out there, somewhere."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, Brocken Spectre or no, she is still who she is, and a very dangerous person at that. For the moment, it may not matter whether it's true or not. This situation needs to be resolved in either case."
>"Here's what happened after Tenshi and I left this place, this afternoon."
>"We were about halfway to Nitori's when the spectre woke up again. I tried to talk with her a bit, but her attitude towards me was hateful to say the least. Whenever I could coax her to speak at all, she mostly just made threats. She said she was going to make everyone disappear. I questioned how she planned to do that in her current condition, and, well... I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think she trapped me in her own shadow. She didn't move or touch me, or do anything I could see, but suddenly the world around me went black and I was elsewhere. I'd assumed she'd captured Tenshi as well, but I guess she managed to escape, and I am glad to hear of it. I don't know quite how I escaped, myself, and I'm not at all confident we could count on it working like that a second time."
>"I met Nitori inside there. Or her shadow, rather. She seems to be fine, despite being imprisoned and decorporialized. I couldn't find Kogasa, however. I suspect that whatever place those shadows go may be partitioned somehow. Or there's something else at play. I don't really know."
>"In any case, while I was inside I somehow fell through some sort of hole in the shadow world and ended up in Makai, and eventually back here. Nitori didn't end up travelling through with me. I suspect she may not be able to, being only a shadow, but I'm not sure. I don't think we can expect anyone inside to find a way out on their own though. It seems very much like it's meant to be a prison, to me. "
>"I spoke with Reimu when I got back, and apparently Tenshi went to her for help. They searched the forest again, but couldn't find the spectre. I don't know where she went, and the last thing she told me was that she planned to make everyone disappear. Given what she did to me, I have no doubt she's fully capable of it, and she's still out there, somewhere."

>The others listen. Even Luna looks up from her scribblings from time to time. Parsee has a seat beside Utsuho as you speak. Every so often you note her giving a sidelong glance toward Maribel and Renko, then snuggling up to Utsuho. Utsuho clearly done't mind this.
>"So," Parsee asks, "Have you figured out how to beat this thing?"

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

Idea the Second: I've been playing around with tactics in my head with the group we have now, trying to account for firepower, knowledge, attitudes, relationships and a few other things. I assume you'll agree that finding Tenshi is Priority One, and given what we've talked about I'm assuming you're fine with starting the search in Bhava-Agra.

When it comes time for us to leave, I would like to ask Renko and only Renko to come with us, but to make it an option for her so it doesn't seem like we're trying to rip her away from Maribel, as I would be okay with searching solo. I don't want Utsuho traveling with us in the interest of power distribution, I don't want Parsee traveling with us because she's most likely going to be a bitch about Pocky and Brocky being who she is (and thus possibly useless as a source of knowledge), I don't want Luna going with us because I don't want to keep track of an 8-year-old with a ten-second attention span, and I don't want to take everyone with us because that leaves Nitori and Kogasa completely unguarded from everything, including non-poltergeist shenanigans. That leaves Renko and Maribel, and Renko is more useful by virtue of being much more heavily invested in the Brocken Spectre project.
 
Random side amusement: I think this is the greatest number of player characters that have ever gathered in one place - we have exactly 50% of the ones to date in this house.
 
---
 
Idea the Third, since Parsee's question reminded me: If possible, I'd also like to grab any PrismReznors we can get our hands on (Lunasa being the best option for obvious reasons). They'll have the most knowledge on what it's like being a brand new poltergeist, and that could help immensely in getting Pocky and Brocky to calm down.

[DracoOmega]

>"Unfortunately no. At the time she was bound, I considered it relatively safe. Clearly this was not the case. But I've only been back in Gensokyo long enough to start taking stock of things, again."
>"She does have some weaknesses. Her danmaku is quite easy to dodge. Unfortunately, it also hits with enough force to splinter wood. Moreover, she cannot fly under her own power. Unfortunately, these seem more than adequately compensated by her shadow manipulations. I still don't know the extent of what she's capable of, but would not be surprised if there are even more things she can do with this than she's demonstrated."

>"I... am not certain we can restore the shadows she's stolen unless we can convince her to do so herself. And, well... to say she was unwilling to co-operate would be putting it mildly."
>"I'm still hoping I we may be able to learn something useful if we can figure out why she's stolen some of the shadows she has. For Nitori and Kogasa, and her attempt on myself, this seems clear enough. She was trying to silence us. However, she has taken shadows from seemingly ordinary trees and rocks. Clearly she was not attempting to silence them. And I don't know what she wanted with Bhava-Agra, either. Moreover, its shadow seems only partially stolen, unlike all these others."
>"There is one other anomalous event I've learned of. She visited Guest Island a couple days ago - shortly after stealing Nitori's shadow, I believe. And she shared a perfectly peaceful drink with Suika. Not only is Suika the only person I know of who managed to come away from direct contact with her unscathed, but Bhava-Agra is very far from the forest that she's been so eager to remain concealed in. I still don't know what would have prompted her to go that far from home on her own. I suspect figuring out why may be important."

[DracoOmega]

I generally agree with your assessment of traveling companions. Assuming anyone but us wants to keep traipsing around at this time of night, of course.
As for the Prismrivers, although Lunasa is certainly interested in the poltergeist, you may recall that she was engaged with just as much hostility as us, when she tried approaching her. Moreover, we don't actually know specifically where they live.

[Suwako Moriya]

The PrismReznor thing is more a pipe dream than anything else - if we can find one, great, but if not, oh well - and I don't really need them as traveling companions so much as sources of information abuot what it's like being a poltergeist. We didn't even know how they came to be before asking, I'm sure we don't know what it's like being one. All I can imagine is that suddenly popping into the world with a limited list of preset knowledge and abilities and being told to run with it from there is not the easiest thing to do, especially when alone.

EDIT: I also wouldn't tell everyone why we're asking for only Renko when it comes to that unless they specificaly ask for it. A simple "I've been mulling over movement tactics" should suffice.

[DracoOmega]

Honestly, my intuition, given what caused the Prismrivers to exist, is that they would come into being as essentially the same people they were modeled after. I expect they wouldn't have had any of the same issues the spectre does, and might even have had a full compliment of life memories, too. Or, at least, approximations of such.

On the flip side, I believe they were actually alive while their human counterparts were, too. That... must have been odd, to say the least, if they ever met each other.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Unfortunately no. At the time she was bound, I considered it relatively safe. Clearly this was not the case. But I've only been back in Gensokyo long enough to start taking stock of things, again."
>"She does have some weaknesses. Her danmaku is quite easy to dodge. Unfortunately, it also hits with enough force to splinter wood. Moreover, she cannot fly under her own power. Unfortunately, these seem more than adequately compensated by her shadow manipulations. I still don't know the extent of what she's capable of, but would not be surprised if there are even more things she can do with this than she's demonstrated."

>"I... am not certain we can restore the shadows she's stolen unless we can convince her to do so herself. And, well... to say she was unwilling to co-operate would be putting it mildly."
>"I'm still hoping I we may be able to learn something useful if we can figure out why she's stolen some of the shadows she has. For Nitori and Kogasa, and her attempt on myself, this seems clear enough. She was trying to silence us. However, she has taken shadows from seemingly ordinary trees and rocks. Clearly she was not attempting to silence them. And I don't know what she wanted with Bhava-Agra, either. Moreover, its shadow seems only partially stolen, unlike all these others."
>"There is one other anomalous event I've learned of. She visited Guest Island a couple days ago - shortly after stealing Nitori's shadow, I believe. And she shared a perfectly peaceful drink with Suika. Not only is Suika the only person I know of who managed to come away from direct contact with her unscathed, but Bhava-Agra is very far from the forest that she's been so eager to remain concealed in. I still don't know what would have prompted her to go that far from home on her own. I suspect figuring out why may be important."

>The others nod.
>"Maybe she went on vacation?" Luna says.
>"So," says Parsee, "You don't know how she did it, you don't know how to stop it, and you probably want us to help you fight her. well, I guess it's not the stupidest thing we've done."
>"Not at all," says Utsuho. "Be a bit more optimistic, Parsee."
>Parsee grumbles.
>"What do you want us to do, anyways?" asks Maribel.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"For what it's worth, I don't think a lot of her shadow attacks are effective against more than one person at a time. In our first encounter, when I managed to guard my shadow from her, she was not terribly adept at evading my spellcards. I imagine several people working together could have an advantage, if she can only attempt to incapacitate one of us at a time."
>"As for what to do now.... well, my first priority was to assess what's happened in my absence, and make sure everyone was informed. I really hate to say it in these terms, but like it or not, you may all be targets at this point. I still don't know what her ultimate plans are."
>"I also need to go find Tenshi. I have an idea where to look from her, and she also needs to know that I'm alright. Well, intact, at the very least."
>"As for after that... I wish I could say something more useful. We still don't know where the poltergeist is, which makes direct action difficult at the moment."

>"Luna, I don't suppose you remember anything about that book you said you saw the poltergeist reading?"
>"For that matter, I don't suppose you'd heard of any fairies finding a book around the forest, lately?"

[Suwako Moriya]

Posting this for potential use later, since I'm leaving for home and you snuck in a post before I did.
 
"If you can believe it after all I've told you...I'm not actually sure I want to fight her. I'll admit I'm operating under the theory that she's the Brocken Spectre, but, if she is, that means she was created with an inherent drive to hide herself at all costs, because that's what everyone believed the Brocken Spectre to be doing. She was basically made to be paranoid and angry, forced to be these things by outside forces instead of her own decisions. I...honestly feel a bit sorry for her, in that regard. I'd rather attempt to assuage whatever her paranoia's foundation is than simply kill her, assuming poltergeists can actually die. Of course, if she remains unreasonable and gets violent while around any of us, then we won't really have a choice."

[Hello Purvis]

>"For what it's worth, I don't think a lot of her shadow attacks are effective against more than one person at a time. In our first encounter, when I managed to guard my shadow from her, she was not terribly adept at evading my spellcards. I imagine several people working together could have an advantage, if she can only attempt to incapacitate one of us at a time."
>"As for what to do now.... well, my first priority was to assess what's happened in my absence, and make sure everyone was informed. I really hate to say it in these terms, but like it or not, you may all be targets at this point. I still don't know what her ultimate plans are."
>"I also need to go find Tenshi. I have an idea where to look from her, and she also needs to know that I'm alright. Well, intact, at the very least."
>"As for after that... I wish I could say something more useful. We still don't know where the poltergeist is, which makes direct action difficult at the moment."

>"Luna, I don't suppose you remember anything about that book you said you saw the poltergeist reading?"
>"For that matter, I don't suppose you'd heard of any fairies finding a book around the forest, lately?"

>"Well great," says Parsee. "Nothing like being hunted!"
>"Hush," says Utsuho. "But, I suppose there is a point to this. We'll have to come up with a good way to find her."
>Luna frowns for a moment as you ask her about the book. "Um...it had a brown cover? And...um...I think Ficus got some candy for giving the doll youkai a book a couple days ago! It was minty."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "The doll youkai? You mean the youkai who uses dolls or the youkai that is a doll?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "The doll youkai? You mean the youkai who uses dolls or the youkai that is a doll?"

>"The first one," says Luna. "I think it's the first one. I guess it could be the second one, but I don't know if that one would have candy."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Okay. Hmm, that makes sense. I could see Alice holding an interest in books. Probably more than Medicine, at any rate."

[DracoOmega]

>"I know I already mentioned this to a couple of you, but the poltergeist was desperately looking for a book of hers when I saw her. She demanded I give it back to her, actually. It would be good to be able to find out what it was, in case it has some significance. But even if the book is mundane, it clearly has a great deal of significance to her. Maybe we might even be able to soften her attitude a little, if we could find and return it to her."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Okay. Hmm, that makes sense. I could see Alice holding an interest in books. Probably more than Medicine, at any rate."

>"And not as much minty candy," Luna adds, before going back to her scribbling.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I know I already mentioned this to a couple of you, but the poltergeist was desperately looking for a book of hers when I saw her. She demanded I give it back to her, actually. It would be good to be able to find out what it was, in case it has some significance. But even if the book is mundane, it clearly has a great deal of significance to her. Maybe we might even be able to soften her attitude a little, if we could find and return it to her."

> "Anyway, with the information we have now, I think it's time we started doing something. Before, that, though, are Nitori and Kogasa still awake, or at least as awake as they are in this state? I would like to see them momentarily."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I know I already mentioned this to a couple of you, but the poltergeist was desperately looking for a book of hers when I saw her. She demanded I give it back to her, actually. It would be good to be able to find out what it was, in case it has some significance. But even if the book is mundane, it clearly has a great deal of significance to her. Maybe we might even be able to soften her attitude a little, if we could find and return it to her."

> "Anyway, with the information we have now, I think it's time we started doing something. Before, that, though, are Nitori and Kogasa still awake, or at least as awake as they are in this state? I would like to see them momentarily."

>"It sounds like something to try," says Utsuho.
>"They should be," says Renko. "They're in back."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Thank you."
>Go back and check in on them

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thank you."
>Go back and check in on them

>You go to the back, and find a modestly appointed sitting room. Kogasa and Nitori are laid side by side on a blanket near one of the windows; Nitori seems to be staring through it. Kogasa just clutches her umbrella.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Walk over to them
>"I'm sorry I still haven't fixed things, you two. I'm giving it the very best I can, I promise you."
>Try taking hold of Nitori's hand. Our shadows were attached at one point. Maybe some shade of connection between us might still be possible?
>"I'm sorry I couldn't bring you out with me. But I'll still find a way. I won't stop looking until I do."

[Kilgamayan]

> Would The Dragon be able to find Tenshi with the power he wields?
> How do we address The Dragon directly?

[Hello Purvis]

>Walk over to them
>"I'm sorry I still haven't fixed things, you two. I'm giving it the very best I can, I promise you."
>Try taking hold of Nitori's hand. Our shadows were attached at one point. Maybe some shade of connection between us might still be possible?
>"I'm sorry I couldn't bring you out with me. But I'll still find a way. I won't stop looking until I do."

>You walk over to them and apologize. If nothing else, they don't seem to be actively condemning you right now.
>You take Nitori's hand. She shifts her eyes from the window toward you, but does nothing else. You're reasonably sure she isn't looking through you as she usually has in the past.

> Would The Dragon be able to find Tenshi with the power he wields?
> How do we address The Dragon directly?

>You are certain it could.
>Generally, you visit it. Prayer may work, but it tends not to directly respond to such entreaties without there being significant need.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take Kogasa's hand as well.
> "I can only hope you girls are hearing any of this. If you think it's a daydream, it isn't. Try to pay attention and remember as best as you can."
> "I don't know how she does it, but that poltergeist can use you girls somehow. If you ever feel like you're being used to fight someone, resist it. Try to resist it however you can. Resist her with everything you have. Do whatever it takes to disrupt her. We're trying to figure out a way to get her to restore you, but until then, fight her with every ounce of energy you can muster."
> Look back and forth between them as we talk.

> How do we address The Dragon when speaking? Sir, Lord, Your Honor, August One, something else?
> Would The Dragon be annoyed with us if we asked it to find Tenshi?