Iku Quest On Iki - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> "In fairness to her, it does not seem the last person to disobey Lord Tenma made it look like an appealing life decision."

[Hello Purvis]

> "In fairness to her, it does not seem the last person to disobey Lord Tenma made it look like an appealing life decision."

>Aya shrugs. "She has everything to lose if she lets it go too far. We both know that."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Right. Which is why she is so agitated about the whole situation. You may think of her as how you have just stated, but in spending just a short amount of time talking to her, it's plain to see that she still cares about you, and that she is very unhappy with things as they stand."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Right. Which is why she is so agitated about the whole situation. You may think of her as how you have just stated, but in spending just a short amount of time talking to her, it's plain to see that she still cares about you, and that she is very unhappy with things as they stand."

>"Oh, I bet she's mad at me," says Aya. "And yeah, I know she still cares. But I also know what she's going to do regardless."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "She has said she's mad at you. And yes, I suspect that is at least partly true. Things would have been a lot easier if you had just stayed where you were and waited your time out before becoming a normal member of society again. But now all this has happened, and not only is her friend going to be unwelcome in both their homes for a long time to come, but she's been ordered to hunt that same friend down. She can no longer maintain any sort of contact with you, both because Lord Tenma will expect positive results from any interaction and because you will chance absolutely nothing in regards to any patrol tengu. And even with that, she still holds you in high regard. She had basically no expectation that I would be able to pull off anything close to getting a picture of you, and she spoke of my inadequacy with genuine respect, respect that practically portrayed itself as smugness, as she knew what I was getting myself into far better than I did. But this loyalty to you is now in direct conflict with her loyalty to her duty, and she is faced with a choice that is not really a choice, one that seems obvious now but will grow harder and harder over time. Can you imagine what that must feel like, to have two fundamental pieces of yourself that you hold very dear forced into mutual exclusivity?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "She has said she's mad at you. And yes, I suspect that is at least partly true. Things would have been a lot easier if you had just stayed where you were and waited your time out before becoming a normal member of society again. But now all this has happened, and not only is her friend going to be unwelcome in both their homes for a long time to come, but she's been ordered to hunt that same friend down. She can no longer maintain any sort of contact with you, both because Lord Tenma will expect positive results from any interaction and because you will chance absolutely nothing in regards to any patrol tengu. And even with that, she still holds you in high regard. She had basically no expectation that I would be able to pull off anything close to getting a picture of you, and she spoke of my inadequacy with genuine respect, respect that practically portrayed itself as smugness, as she knew what I was getting myself into far better than I did. But this loyalty to you is now in direct conflict with her loyalty to her duty, and she is faced with a choice that is not really a choice, one that seems obvious now but will grow harder and harder over time. Can you imagine what that must feel like, to have two fundamental pieces of yourself that you hold very dear forced into mutual exclusivity?"

>"I spent over a year locked in a cell," says Aya. "With no real prospect of getting out. I know what it's like to be forced away from things I hold dear. I feel bad for her, but I don't have any options."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "You did, but your choice and dilemma were clear-cut. There was an obvious good and an obvious bad, and there was an unlikely but obvious solution. And now that you're out, no one's going to catch you if you don't want them to. Where is her obviously good choice? What random-chance stranger will ever pass her by, solving her problem for her, releasing her from the prison of her own loyalty?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "You did, but your choice and dilemma were clear-cut. There was an obvious good and an obvious bad, and there was an unlikely but obvious solution. And now that you're out, no one's going to catch you if you don't want them to. Where is her obviously good choice? What random-chance stranger will ever pass her by, solving her problem for her, releasing her from the prison of her own loyalty?"

>She frowns. "I suppose you have a point there."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Of course, this is not to blame you entirely for the situation, since you haven't had the chance to meet with her since escaping, so you would not have seen what I've seen in the past couple of days, and thus would not have known. Out of curiosity, though, how long remained on your sentence?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Of course, this is not to blame you entirely for the situation, since you haven't had the chance to meet with her since escaping, so you would not have seen what I've seen in the past couple of days, and thus would not have known. Out of curiosity, though, how long remained on your sentence?"

>"About a year and a half, give or take."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Mmm. I can see how stressful such a thing would be on a person, yes. I can barely imagine being incarcerated for a week."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Mmm. I can see how stressful such a thing would be on a person, yes. I can barely imagine being incarcerated for a week."

>"Exactly," says Aya.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> "That being said...I may have little to no personal stake in tengu business, but I would be remiss if I did not at least make an attemp to take patrolwoman and escaped convict and reunite them as the friends they are supposed to be. And, again, I am here alone, so do not worry about being sold out."

[Hello Purvis]

> "That being said...I may have little to no personal stake in tengu business, but I would be remiss if I did not at least make an attemp to take patrolwoman and escaped convict and reunite them as the friends they are supposed to be. And, again, I am here alone, so do not worry about being sold out."

>"Well, what do you have in mind?" says Aya.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I admit there aren't too many options...the most readily obvious one is to do everything I can to make it worth your while."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I admit there aren't too many options...the most readily obvious one is to do everything I can to make it worth your while."

>"Go on," says Aya.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Well, the readily obvious first thing to do is for me to take public responsibility for what was done. Since, well, yeah."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Well, the readily obvious first thing to do is for me to take public responsibility for what was done. Since, well, yeah."

>Aya nods. "Maybe, but it wouldn't really do much for me. You'd just get in trouble too."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "It would hopefully prevent your sentence from getting extended, which I understand were the consequences the last time something like this happened."

[Hello Purvis]

> "It would hopefully prevent your sentence from getting extended, which I understand were the consequences the last time something like this happened."

>"Not likely," says Aya, "It'd just get you in trouble too."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "A catastrophe had just befallen my home. I needed information about why, and all of the other tengu in the area were occupied elsewhere for some reason. With all due respect to Lord Tenma, I would like to see him or anyone else in that village be patient and choosy about whom to use for gathering information when all of Youkai Mountain collapses and sinks underground and the oni there assume them to be invaders and start retaliating."

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "A catastrophe had just befallen my home. I needed information about why, and all of the other tengu in the area were occupied elsewhere for some reason. With all due respect to Lord Tenma, I would like to see him or anyone else in that village be patient and choosy about whom to use for gathering information when all of Youkai Mountain collapses and sinks underground and the oni there assume them to be invaders and start retaliating."

>"Okay, that might work..." says Aya. "What else you have in mind?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Advancing your work and your hobby, as they are, to the best of my knowledge, your main driving forces in life. The former is easy enough. Once my home has been restored, or perhaps even before that, depending on timing, I will tell you everything I can about what happened."
> Small smile.
> "Truth be told, I had already done most of my necessary research into the catastrophe by the time we met this afternoon. There is a good deal more to what has gone on than what is readily seen by noticing the giant islands floating a handful of yards above the ground that weren't there two days ago."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Advancing your work and your hobby, as they are, to the best of my knowledge, your main driving forces in life. The former is easy enough. Once my home has been restored, or perhaps even before that, depending on timing, I will tell you everything I can about what happened."
> Small smile.
> "Truth be told, I had already done most of my necessary research into the catastrophe by the time we met this afternoon. There is a good deal more to what has gone on than what is readily seen by noticing the giant islands floating a handful of yards above the ground that weren't there two days ago."

>Aya nods. "I'm convinced there's something to those other shadows. I would have covered it more, but, well...I was trying keep a lowish profile, and meed up with you."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "You would be correct. The fallen islands and the trees missing their shadows are quite connected. I don't know if you noticed, because many people failed to until it was pointed out to them, but the islands are not casting proper shadows themselves."

[Hello Purvis]

> "You would be correct. The fallen islands and the trees missing their shadows are quite connected. I don't know if you noticed, because many people failed to until it was pointed out to them, but the islands are not casting proper shadows themselves."

>She nods. "I did. But that says to me someone's doing it. I haven't quite pieced together who or why, but I'm working my way through it."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "There is a culprit. But things would get sticky from there if that is the direction you would wish to pursue your interview, instead of one of the several other directions available. To put it mildly, this culprit very much values their privacy. I cannot betray their trust by talking more about them than, well, as much as I already have."

[Hello Purvis]

> "There is a culprit. But things would get sticky from there if that is the direction you would wish to pursue your interview, instead of one of the several other directions available. To put it mildly, this culprit very much values their privacy. I cannot betray their trust by talking more about them than, well, as much as I already have."

>Aya frowns. "So, I'm not supposed to look into the person that actually did it. Well, this will be fruitful, then."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "I cannot tell you anything about them, but if you want to look for them yourself, that is your prerogative. Should you decide on that path, however, I will warn you. Like I said, this person very much values their privacy, and as you have seen for yourself, they brought an entire spiritual realm crashing down. I will leave it to your imagination what they could and would do to a single journalist that actively went looking for them."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I cannot tell you anything about them, but if you want to look for them yourself, that is your prerogative. Should you decide on that path, however, I will warn you. Like I said, this person very much values their privacy, and as you have seen for yourself, they brought an entire spiritual realm crashing down. I will leave it to your imagination what they could and would do to a single journalist that actively went looking for them."

>"She's got to catch me, first," says Aya. "But we're drifting way off topic here."

>_