(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 7)

[Oldmansour]

>Sample the air for scents of food.

[DracoOmega]

>Gesture at the door.
>"What's in there?"

>"That's Chisato's room," she says, frowning a little.

>Sample the air for scents of food.

>You don't smell much distinct in that vein, at the moment; a faint olfactory ambiance from all the fruit downstairs is the most prominent. You're pretty sure the branch in the corridor ahead of you matches up with shaft you saw in the hold ceiling, so there's probably open access to all that cargo on the other side of the wall.

[Oldmansour]

>"She have any pets, that you know of?"

[DracoOmega]

>"She have any pets, that you know of?"

>She shakes her head. "Nope."

[Oldmansour]

>"Then she's had an unwelcome guest, and pretty recently, too."
>Tap nose. "The nose knows."

[DracoOmega]

>"Then she's had an unwelcome guest, and pretty recently, too."
>Tap nose. "The nose knows."

>Murasa frowns then sighs, her shoulders sagging a little. "You're sure?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Sure as I'm standing here. There's at least one mouse has either come out of, or gone into that room."
>Can we guess as to how recent this scent trail is?

[Hello Purvis]

>Knock on the door.

[DracoOmega]

>"Sure as I'm standing here. There's at least one mouse has either come out of, or gone into that room."
>Can we guess as to how recent this scent trail is?

>Murasa's mouth works as if she were about to complain, but she keeps silent.
>You think it's tracked along here at some point today, at least. Some of the scent seems a little older, but you don't think it's by too much.

>Knock on the door.

>You knock on the door.
>"Chisato's the one up there on deck," Murasa says. "Not much point in knocking."

[Oldmansour]

>"You mean that redhead you had watchdog me earlier?"

[DracoOmega]

>"You mean that redhead you had watchdog me earlier?"

>She nods. "Yeah, that's her."

[Oldmansour]

>Can we determine if the scent trail indicates something coming from, or going to, this room most recently?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we determine if the scent trail indicates something coming from, or going to, this room most recently?

>You can't really determine which direction it might have been traveling in, but you think it may have been inside the room for longer than it was outside.

[Oldmansour]

>"Huh. Well, she's got a guest. One I'd like to talk to. And one I'm sure you want off your ship. We need to have a look inside."

[DracoOmega]

>"Huh. Well, she's got a guest. One I'd like to talk to. And one I'm sure you want off your ship. We need to have a look inside."

>"'spose we do," she says with a bit of a heavy voice. With something of a resigned expression, she tries the handle. It appears to be locked.
>She pauses a moment, gives you another look, then sighs a pulls out a key. "Not sure if I hope you're right or not."
>She opens the door. The room beyond is both small and plain, with little furnishing aside from a simple wooden bunk and table. The floor is basically clean, but the bedsheets are in a bit of a state. A small window set in the opposite wall looks out on the harbor. No mouse is immediately visible, at any rate.

[Oldmansour]

>Search for holes, droppings, the usual signs.

[DracoOmega]

>Search for holes, droppings, the usual signs.

>You start to search the room for signs of its rodent occupant. The floor is free of any droppings or other telltale indicators of its presence, and a search along the walls doesn't reveal any holes large enough for even a small mouse to slip through. The scent is unmistakable, though.
>After tracing over most of the rest of the room, you brush aside the sheets to peer beneath the bed. The scent here is immediately more pungent, and while you don't readily spot any mice here, either, there is a small open-faced wooden box under the bed. You can't see its content from this angle.

[Oldmansour]

>Do we hear any sounds of activity within the box?
>Does it smell like the resident is home?

[DracoOmega]

>Do we hear any sounds of activity within the box?
>Does it smell like the resident is home?

>You hear nothing at all from the box.
>You're not certain.

[Oldmansour]

>Check from the other side of the bed. Quietly.

[DracoOmega]

>Check from the other side of the bed. Quietly.

>The bed is little more than a shelf built into the cabin wall. Approaching from the other side would require the ability to phase through solid matter.

[Oldmansour]

>Bats.
>Can we reach the box?

[DracoOmega]

>Bats.
>Can we reach the box?

>While there may or may not be a mouse in that box, you're fairly certain there are no bats.
>Easily.

[Oldmansour]

>Poke the box.

[DracoOmega]

>Poke the box.

>You reach a hand out to poke the box. Just as your finger is about to touch it, you find yourself hesitating slightly. You're... not quite sure why. Oh well, no matter. You tap the box lightly. There is no obvious response to this.

[Oldmansour]

>Hesitate?
>Check under the bed for mouse holes.
>Take a moment to scan the room, visually and with our extra senses.

[DracoOmega]

>Hesitate?
>Check under the bed for mouse holes.
>Take a moment to scan the room, visually and with our extra senses.

>Must have just spaced out for a moment or something. To say that it's been a stressful couple of days is kind of an understatement.
>You take a look a closer look under the bed and shift around to scan the opposite wall for mouse holes. There don't appear to be any you can see.
>You can't hear anything in particular aside from your own breathing and the floor creaking slightly under an occasional footstep from Murasa. Nothing else catches your eye, nor does anything really brush against your treasure sense. It's a pretty plain and unremarkable space. The scent of mouse is pretty hard to miss, though, and there's definitely more of it beneath this bed than elsewhere.

[Oldmansour]

>Try to turn the box so that we can see the insides. Carefully.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to turn the box so that we can see the insides. Carefully.

>Being under a low bed, it would be much easier to see inside if you actually pulled the box out. Barring that, you'd pretty much need to fully crawl under the bed, and it would be a very tight fit.

[Oldmansour]

>Very well, then, pull out the box.