Maribel Quest Adjoining: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>Go drop off our dishes wherever seems to be the appropriate place to do so
>Listen in on what Renko's saying, without being a distraction

>You drop off the dishes at one of the few remaining places still serving breakfast.
>Getting close to Renko, it seems she is lecturing the faeries on what various commands mean, and why they're important. The faeries seem to be listening with rapt attention.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Make ourselves comfortable until she finishes the lecture. Don't want to distract the genetically distractable, after all

[Hello Purvis]

>Make ourselves comfortable until she finishes the lecture. Don't want to distract the genetically distractable, after all

>You have a seat, and wait for Renko to finish the lecture.
>It takes a few more minutes, as she explains the concepts of scattering and closing up on command, and on the focusing fire and scattering it on an order.  Afterward, she sends them up into the air to test it out. You might be able to speak with her now.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Does Renko still seem to be drilling them, though? If she's giving commands, don't interrupt
>Otherwise: "Just thought I'd let you know I was back."
>How do the the fairies seem to be performing?

[Hello Purvis]

>Does Renko still seem to be drilling them, though? If she's giving commands, don't interrupt
>Otherwise: "Just thought I'd let you know I was back."
>How do the the fairies seem to be performing?

>She gives them a command to move left, and they seem to be doing so in a more or less orderly fashion. Afterward, she commands them to ascend forward, and they manage to do this in a fairly orderly way.
>You're pretty sure you can at least let her know you're back without ruining things.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Hey, just thought I'd let you know I'm back."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hey, just thought I'd let you know I'm back."

>"Your meeting go okay?" Renko asks. Then she looks back to the formation and shouts "Back!"
>This is a little cluttered; trying to get the faeries to reverse directions as one is difficult. They do their best, you're certain, but there are several mid-air collisions.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yeah, it did. Marisa was mighty pleased with herself about it, too. Here, look."
>Show her the bracelet
>"I think she was up all night making it. I gave her accidental inspiration when I was talking to her last night. It's a power amplifier."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah, it did. Marisa was mighty pleased with herself about it, too. Here, look."
>Show her the bracelet
>"I think she was up all night making it. I gave her accidental inspiration when I was talking to her last night. It's a power amplifier."

>Renko glances back at it, as the faeries try to sort themselves out. "Huh. Looks nice! Didn't think mushrooms were your style. Just a moment."
>She looks back toward the faeries and says, "Forward!" They do well responding to this one.
>"You can make those? Didn't know that."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, actually I don't think Marisa knew you could do something quite this either until last night. Like I said, accidental inspiration. And I'm pretty sure it's made with mushrooms. Well, clay mixed with magical mushrooms. The, uh, non-hallucinogenic variety. I think."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, actually I don't think Marisa knew you could do something quite this either until last night. Like I said, accidental inspiration. And I'm pretty sure it's made with mushrooms. Well, clay mixed with magical mushrooms. The, uh, non-hallucinogenic variety. I think."

>"Really?" says Renko. "Wow, good job. You're a muse."
>She looks back to the faeries, and calls out "Back!" The group reverses itself, with slightly less chaos than before.
>"I guess they must be special, though, if they are able to enhance magic. Well, I guess Alice better watch her back now."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I still hope we don't have to deal with her. Bracelet or no, I can't imagine I have much chance in a straight-up fight. But I'll do my best to make sure it's not worth it time. You know I'll give her everything I've got, Renko."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I still hope we don't have to deal with her. Bracelet or no, I can't imagine I have much chance in a straight-up fight. But I'll do my best to make sure it's not worth it time. You know I'll give her everything I've got, Renko."

>"Damn right you will," she says, grinning. "You got anything else lined up?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I don't really think so, to be honest. Nothing important that can't just as easily wait until later."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I don't really think so, to be honest. Nothing important that can't just as easily wait until later."

>"Forward!" Renko calls out as you finish speaking. The faeries move forward, not having any problem with it.
>She looks back to you "Alright, It'll be awhile. Need to make sure these guys have everything straight. But if you wanna kill time around here, it shouldn't be a problem."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"They're managing formations pretty well. I hope they keep it together once the fighting starts. It'll be quite the show, don't you think?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"They're managing formations pretty well. I hope they keep it together once the fighting starts. It'll be quite the show, don't you think?"

>"Back!" Renko calls out. The faeries are anticipating it this time, and do a pretty good job reversing themselves.
>"That'll be the test, alright. But I have faith in them," says Renko. "They want this as bad as I do."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

So we've got several options right now, since it'll be some time before the invasion proper starts and it would be stupid to just fast-forward to noontime in the name of impatience.

* Most obvious is checking in with Reimu, to see how Plum Flower has held up so far.
* We might want to check up on our new house again, just to make sure it's in the same condition we left it in. If something else has moved in, we have the firepower to evict it.

Things get a little shaky after that, since, while we have a good chunk of time, it's not unlimited by any stretch, so we're probably not going to get everything here done.

* Yukari is still a top priority, and we have directions to her house now. Probably the best use of our time after Reimu, even ahead of our house.
* We haven't seen Mystia and Tokiko in some time. The latter, at least, is worth checking up on.
* Satori at least deserves an update on how our lives are going, since we completely vanished on her. She said she would be pretty sure she knew what it meant if we didn't return for dinner, but it's still the polite thing to do. Besides, as long as we're underground, we can check in on the Jerry Springer trio.
* Byakuren deserves a similar update, since we never went back to see her about getting anything last night. We could also ask for advice on Kisume's bucket thief; while I don't remember the exact wording of Rinnosuke's advice, I remember most, if not all, signs pointing to Nazrin. Even though Maribel doesn't know about Nazrin's tendencies, there are enough in-game circumstances that I believe asking Byakuren for advice is not out of the realm of reasonableness.
* If we go to the village to see Byakuren, we could probably stop by Keine's place to thank her for hers and, more importantly, Mokou's advice the previous night. We could also stand to warn her that Eirin wants to talk. We could also also let her know that Daipai will be absent from school that day, assuming it's a school day. (Could be worth going to Daipai herself and asking if she wants us to do anything on our behalf.)
* I kinda want to head back up Youkai Mountain, too, just to check in on Kanako. Given how late we were out yesterday, Sanae not appearing at all doesn't sit well with me. I wonder if Kanako lost track of us in the Netherworld.

[Kilgamayan]

Also, a thought: I wonder if Reimu could be brought along to spectate. This battle wouldn't be an incident per se, just a one-shot skirmish, and if Plum Flower has worked any sort of magic on her she might actually a little more inclined to not just right to the SDM's side. We would need to get her opinion of battles in genreral before suggesting it, though.

> Where is Daiyousei right now?

[DracoOmega]

All Rinnosuke said was 'someone who travels underground' and 'someone who would take an item with little regard for its intrinsic value'. Of note, in case you'd forgotten, Nazrin was sitting right next to her when we told Byakuren about the stolen bucket. The only reaction Nazrin had was to mention something about Murasa's temper. If she had any complicity, she was exceptionally good at not even looking slightly uncomfortable from her companion's point of view.

Kanako said Sanae would contact us if she found anything interesting. It seems quite possible she simply didn't.

I'd worry Reimu would feel obligated to stop it, if she was there to see it. You know, can't publicly let people get away with too much, and all.

[Kilgamayan]

Nazrin's been doing this for so long that I imagine she's probably developed a good poker face by now, but I can sort of buy into that argument nonetheless.

The question then becomes who it is, though. I highly doubt Marisa would do it and she's the only other klepto I can think of.

[DracoOmega]

I'm curious if I've forgotten something from prior quests, but does Nazrin actually have a reputation for stealing things? I don't seem to recall that, or know of it being a common fanon trait of hers.

[Kilgamayan]

It is entirely possible she steals things in this universe, given some of the events of Patchy Quest. At the very least, she is on record as having no moral issue with hawking anything she can find just lying around, whether or not it appears to be someone's possession.

[Hello Purvis]

> Where is Daiyousei right now?

>Typically, Daiyousei would blend into this crowd pretty well. But looking around, you can see her haranguing another group of faeries, arms flailing in all directions. You are vaguely reminded of video footage of WWII Era totalitarian leaders.

>_

[Kasu]

> Look around for Cirno and Star.

[Hello Purvis]

> Look around for Cirno and Star.

>Looking about, you can't see Star Sapphire anywhere. But she blends in rather easily.
>Flashes of danmaku catch your attention and draw your eyes to Cirno. It seems she is giving some sort of course or practice session on that.

>_

[DracoOmega]

Of the points Kilga mentions, while I agree that it would be good to check in with these people eventually, I don't see any pressing reason to do most of them pre-battle. A lot of them are essentially non-time-sensitive status updates, which are unlikely to give us any new information of use for the events at hand. Of these, I think Yukari is the most likely to have something relevant/interesting to say. Kanako is also possible, although less likely considering she did not already contact us herself. And if we're going to speak with Yukari, we may as well do so with as much free time to spare as possible, I think.

>"Well, I think I may go wander off for a little bit. I shouldn't be gone too long, I expect."
>Head towards Yukari's house, following the directions we were given

[Suwako Moriya]

None of them are particularly time-sensitive, no, but we have a few hours to kill, and doing something is infinitely preferably to doing nothing. I made a large list to give us choices to make.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I think I may go wander off for a little bit. I shouldn't be gone too long, I expect."
>Head towards Yukari's house, following the directions we were given

>"Down!" Renko says toward the faeries, resulting in a barely controlled plummet from some of them.
>"Alright," says Renko. "I'll try to wait up for you, but the group's getting really antsy. If you're not back by the time the sun's overheard, I'll have to go on without you."
>You leave the clearing again and follow the directions you were giving, flying along the road and heading west at the pond. This sends you on the course for Youkai Mountain.
>Soon, you see a smallish rectangular house with a peaked roof along the road, surrounded by gardens full of vegetables. It really wouldn't  look out of place in the human village.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>How close does the sun seem to be to being overhead, now?
>Go knock on the door