Nue Quest II: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> "Here's fine. If she wants to go somewhere more comfortable, we can decide that when she gets here."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Here's fine. If she wants to go somewhere more comfortable, we can decide that when she gets here."

>The Tengu nods, and looks to one of her subordinates. "Please go fetch the wind priestess."
>"Yes ma'am," says the tengu, as she breaks from the formation and starts up the mountainside.
>The leader looks back to you. "Can we trust you to remain here? It would be preferable for us both that you be left in peace, I think?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Cross our arms and frown some more.
> "Don't really have a choice, do I?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Cross our arms and frown some more.
> "Don't really have a choice, do I?"

>"You could disagree, and we'd be obligated to sit here and watch you," says the tengu with a frown.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Shake head and wave our hand dismissively.
> "Don't worry about it, I'm not going anywhere or starting anything. Do what you need to do."

[Hello Purvis]

> Shake head and wave our hand dismissively.
> "Don't worry about it, I'm not going anywhere or starting anything. Do what you need to do."

>"Alright," says the tengu, bowing her head. "Miss Kochiya should be here shortly."
>With that, the Tengu depart, leaving you alone on the mountainside.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

Sorry Vic. Blame the tengu for being jerks. :V

> Well we've probably got several minutes to kill. Let's work on filling our torso out enough so that we could reasonably make a small pouch there.

[Hello Purvis]

Sorry Vic. Blame the tengu for being jerks. :V

> Well we've probably got several minutes to kill. Let's work on filling our torso out enough so that we could reasonably make a small pouch there.

>You set yourself to work adding some weight to your midriff. This process takes a few minutes; thankfully your dress is made to accommodate such things, though it does become a bit confining.
>As you get it to a satisfactory point, you can see someone flying down the mountainside toward you. You can tell it is Sanae from the color of her hair and clothing. She waves from a distance.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Shoot. We'll have to practice that some other time.
> Begin the process of slimming our midriff back down.
> Wave back and wait for Sanae to arrive.

[Hello Purvis]

> Shoot. We'll have to practice that some other time.
> Begin the process of slimming our midriff back down.
> Wave back and wait for Sanae to arrive.

>You begin to slim yourself back down. Sanae arrives well before you can finish, and looks at you oddly. "...Are you okay?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yeah. Just experimenting with new ideas. Sorry I couldn't greet you as you, but I'm not in the best of moods, even in comparison to everyone else around."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yeah. Just experimenting with new ideas. Sorry I couldn't greet you as you, but I'm not in the best of moods, even in comparison to everyone else around."

>Sane frowns. "It's okay. Things have been pretty topsy turvy, I've heard Lord Tenma punched through a wall. I I guess that's why you're on the surface?"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yep. Here's the lowdown."
> Breathe.
> "The gems in place of the money are roughly equal in old market value to the money they replaced. Everyone everywhere in Gensokyo was affected, all at the same time, and even adjacent realms like Hakugyokurou didn't go unscathed. Satori was affected and didn't hear the perpetrator. Nazrin's donation box was affected and she watched it the entire time, where no one touched it. The source is somewhere topside, but Nazrin's dowsing can't get more of a fix on it than that. Too much weird interference. Ran felt a very small, very light sensation at the time of the transformation, one she couldn't solidly identify. Byakuren's not sure if she sensed something. No one else has mentioned feeling anything. Ran also thinks the source isn't magic 'as we know', whatever the hell that means."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yep. Here's the lowdown."
> Breathe.
> "The gems in place of the money are roughly equal in old market value to the money they replaced. Everyone everywhere in Gensokyo was affected, all at the same time, and even adjacent realms like Hakugyokurou didn't go unscathed. Satori was affected and didn't hear the perpetrator. Nazrin's donation box was affected and she watched it the entire time, where no one touched it. The source is somewhere topside, but Nazrin's dowsing can't get more of a fix on it than that. Too much weird interference. Ran felt a very small, very light sensation at the time of the transformation, one she couldn't solidly identify. Byakuren's not sure if she sensed something. No one else has mentioned feeling anything. Ran also thinks the source isn't magic 'as we know', whatever the hell that means."

>Sanae nods. "I suspected much of that, but hadn't had it confirmed, yet."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "And now I'm here, hoping that you aren't like most of the rest of the assholes in Gensokyo who are happy to take the information I have and slam the door shut in my face without giving me anything in return, information or otherwise."

[Hello Purvis]

> "And now I'm here, hoping that you aren't like most of the rest of the assholes in Gensokyo who are happy to take the information I have and slam the door shut in my face without giving me anything in return, information or otherwise."

>She frowns again. "Well, perhaps. My goddesses feel it was another deity at work... Does that help?"

>_

[Blitzer]

>"Can you give me any details about this god?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Can you give me any details about this god?"

>She shakes her head. "No. I don't think they know who it was, or how exactly it was done. But, they felt something that they said was like a significant manipulation of faith."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "That's what we're up again? Wonderful. I don't suppose it was possible to tell where this manipulation came from?"

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "That's what we're up again? Wonderful. I don't suppose it was possible to tell where this manipulation came from?"

>"They think it came from somewhere within Gensokyo," says Sanae. "They've been looking for it since then, but they've not had any luck so far. I've kind of spent all day helping deal with the tengu panicking over their homes being invaded."

>_

[E-Nazrin]

Let's go back to an earlier topic!

>Do we have any seeds of non-identification handy?
>Were all of the ones we own or know of accounted for, and where?
>Would it be possible to use Seeds in a way to pull off this coin-to-gems conversion, or at least make it look that way?
>Is there a specific aspect of our Nue-like powers/skills that makes it unrealistic for others to use the Seeds, or is it some aspect of our nature that can't really be described? Would we be able to recognize that potential in others that might be able to pull it off?

Also, the part about theft being a hobby makes me wonder. Doing something like this, even temporarily, would be hells of a bragging right. But the jeweler guy would be hit too hard by it to be realistic on his part...

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we have any seeds of non-identification handy?
>Were all of the ones we own or know of accounted for, and where?
>Would it be possible to use Seeds in a way to pull off this coin-to-gems conversion, or at least make it look that way?
>Is there a specific aspect of our Nue-like powers/skills that makes it unrealistic for others to use the Seeds, or is it some aspect of our nature that can't really be described? Would we be able to recognize that potential in others that might be able to pull it off?

>You have both of the unused seeds handy
>There are two that have not been used and one that is presently acting upon Shuuei. There are a few stored in the Myouren Temple, used to disguise pieces of the floating ark as flying toys. All the rest have decayed or broken.
>You could disguise a coin to look like a gem. And with such a small object, it would be easy to replicate texture and such. But that would be one coin.
>You believe that it's your shape shifting that allows you to empower and use them, as empowering them detracts from your shape changing, but doesn't seem to affect anything else. You don't know if you'd ever recognize another shapechanger if you met one. As far as you know, you're the only one who can do so freely, as opposed to moving between set shapes.

>_

[E-Nazrin]

>What kinds of youkai do we know that can switch between set shapes? And/or individuals?

Should mention Reimu's activity to Sanae at least. Uh I don't have any other good ideas

[Hello Purvis]

>What kinds of youkai do we know that can switch between set shapes? And/or individuals?

>You know that many kinds of beast youkai can. It's rumored that some tengu can, but you've never seen it happen. You've gotten a few beast youkai to try empowering a seed in the past, and it never worked.

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

Should mention Reimu's activity to Sanae at least. Uh I don't have any other good ideas

We could, but we don't really know anything about them aside from "Reimu's looking into it"

[E-Nazrin]

On the other hand, I certainly think Reimu would like to hear what Sanae has to say about the matter, and the two should be aware of that.

[Kilgamayan]

> "So if they think it came from within Gensokyo, does that mean they've ruled Bhava-Agra out as the source?"

Shame we couldn't get to the Moriya Shrine directly, but "significant manipulation of faith" is pretty valuable in that it narrows the suspect pool dramatically (and reinforces my belief that this act was not malevolent in nature). If we're going to trust Byakuren (which we should imo) and 'Nakko and Wakko rule out The Dragon then I would honestly have to guess OC, unless they're trying to pull Gensokyo Isle Redux for some reason and are being all hush-hush about it around their own miko. I don't see any other named characters having the power/faith combo to pull this off.

Amusing crazy theory: The heretics are behind this somehow. <_<

[Hello Purvis]

> "So if they think it came from within Gensokyo, does that mean they've ruled Bhava-Agra out as the source?"

>"...I think so," says Sanae, frowning. "I mean, I assumed that they meant just Gensokyo and not anyplace else...but, well, I didn't specifically ask about Bhava-Agra."

>_

[communist unity (comm-unity)]

could be the moon people since they're so apt at screwing up stuff. The watatsukis can summon gods, or something.

[Kilgamayan]

> "I suspect they would have said Bhava-Agra if they meant it. But ask them about it anyway, ruling Bhava-Agra out as a suspect is important."