Hatate Quest Nelja

[Oldmansour]

>You are Hatate Himekaidou, owner and editor of the Gensokyo newspaper Kakashi Spirit News.

>Embarking on a quest to locate the missing journalist Aya Shameimaru, your investigations have led to very unexpected development. You, Momiji Inubashiri, and the steward of the Cobalt Keep Celes d'Arquien, were pulled into a phantasmal Gensokyo created by a magical book, a world, Celes claims, was based on the desires and dreams of the other people trapped within, which includes Aya herself, Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid and Ran Yakumo. This version of Gensokyo seems to be at least fifteen years ahead of the one you left, Alice has a daughter, Marisa has a number of wives, Ran has embarked on a project to change the very nature of the Great Hakurei Border, and Tengu society has been turned upside down by a revolution, leading to the removal from power of the Dai Tengu in their entirety. Now a council rules the tengu race, made up of representatives from all five castes, which evidently is something Aya desires deeply.
>According to Celes, this book is one of the many traps left behind by the previous owner of the Keep, a being called Ebon Regal, whose mere name made the entire world shudder in terror. The Ranka of this world warned you desperately not to speak that name, something which Celes agreed. From what Celes said, if the other trapped here stay trapped into their little false slices of paradises, their souls could remain trapped here forever, and even though you and your two companions seem to be immune to the enchanting effects of the book for the moment, there's no telling what could happen the longer you stay here. While you're curious about parts of this world, you know you need to get out, the sooner the better. Despite losing your virginity to, well, yourself.

>Mortally offended by these changes and wanting to take it out on someone, you have resolved to go talk to Aya, both to try and wake her up to the fact that she has been bespelled by this book like the other three, and to yell at her for the world you've found. If you succeed at the former goal, you'll need her help to try and find a way to escape this book, which you suspect may lie in this Gensokyo's version of the Cobalt Keep. A place which, evidently, is the most dangerous place in the whole of the world.

>"....Maybe. But I am thinking maybe just a step before that."

>"Well good." Ranka replies. "I don't like that kind of rolling in the dirt."

[Hello Purvis]

>Nod.
>"Alright, let's get Momiji, then start this thing."

[Oldmansour]

>Nod.
>"Alright, let's get Momiji, then start this thing."

>As though summoned by your words, Momiji and Celes emerge from the Moriya temple door just as you look towards the entrance yourself. The two part ways, and Momiji heads in your direction. "All set?" she calls out.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ready as we'll ever be."

[Oldmansour]

>"Ready as we'll ever be."

>"Right. Then let's be off. Or, do you know where Twilight's is?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we? If so: "Is it where it usually is?"
>If not, shake head.

[Oldmansour]

>Do we? If so: "Is it where it usually is?"
>If not, shake head.

>You do, though you have never been there. In your world, you'd never have been allowed in.
>"It is."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Okay, then yeah."
>Take to the air in that direction.
>"So...what's it like here?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Okay, then yeah."
>Take to the air in that direction.
>"So...what's it like here?"

>"At Twilight's, you mean?" Momiji asks as the three of you take to wing.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yeah."

[Oldmansour]

>"Yeah."

>"Very classy. It's not a place to land on after twelve hours in the fields. I'll be honest, I sort of felt out of place there. Though, a lot of that was probably because I couldn't stop thinking, 'I'm not supposed to be in here.'" The white wolf smiles. "I have to admit, Hatate, I sort of like that there's no Dai-tengu only places here."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I could warm up to that, I'll admit."

[Oldmansour]

>"I could warm up to that, I'll admit."

>"Why do you suppose those kinds of establishments still exist in our world?" Momiji asks. "I know the Dai-tengu are superior to us, but places like really do rub our noses in it, when you think about it."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Could be a few reasons. I personally don't see the need for 'em, they have their own homes they can host private stuff in."

[Oldmansour]

>"Could be a few reasons. I personally don't see the need for 'em, they have their own homes they can host private stuff in."

>"But they'll be there when we get back." Momiji replies, sounding rather weary. "And no other caste does that, not even the Yamabushi. They're stand-offish, but they don't bar any other caste from their lands and homes."

[Hello Purvis]

>"We might just have to have something sharp to say about it. Show these folks how it's really done."

[Oldmansour]

>"We might just have to have something sharp to say about it. Show these folks how it's really done."

>"But isn't it odd that no one ever seems to talk about that? Or question why? Every time I can think of someone wondering why it is that Dai-Tengu liquor commands better prices than White Wolves, or why Long-Noses never get as good deals as Dai-Tengu, or why Dai-Tengu can go where no one else can, people just seem to shrug and say 'That's the way it is.' Like it's just a fact of life."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I always thought we were paying for the prestige, myself. But maybe I could give you a bit of article space to say something sharp about that, too."

[Oldmansour]

>"I always thought we were paying for the prestige, myself. But maybe I could give you a bit of article space to say something sharp about that, too."

>"Right now I'm just wondering why I didn't think more about it myself. Especially with all the time I spent with Aya. If all this came about because of what she most wanted, then why didn't she say anything about it? To me if no one else. I can keep a secret, if it was a secret. Did she ever say anything to you that might have led you to think she wanted this kind of change?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Did she?
>If not, say, "Not a word to me."

[Oldmansour]

>Did she?
>If not, say, "Not a word to me."

>She did not. She may have spent more time away from the mountain than any other tengu, but she never had anything overtly antagonistic to say about the regime.
>"All these years..."
>As Momiji shakes her head, ruminating on the current situation, Ranka, who had up until this point simply been following along behind you both, floats up to stand abreast from Momiji and lays her hand on the White Wolf's shoulder. "Be careful." she warns.
>"Careful? Of what?"
>"If you agree with Aya too much, if you start thinking like her, you could end up like her. Free but trapped."
>"What's that supposed to mean?" Momiji demands, slowing as she turns to face the wind spirit.
>"There's a force holding Aya, something I don't really understand. All tengu used to be repressed, the wind stifled and stagnant around them, but they aren't here. Aya was the first to change, but now it feels like something else is oppressing her, something.... something all around us." She shakes her head sadly. "I couldn't explain it very well to her, either."
>Momiji looks at you. "You were talking about this phenomenon?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sorta. I was about to suggest that maybe she didn't actually want it, and just got swept along with things."

[Oldmansour]

>"Sorta. I was about to suggest that maybe she didn't actually want it, and just got swept along with things."

>Ranka seems puzzled. "What do you mean?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, you know how people can kinda get swept up in a crowd, and end up getting involved with things they normally wouldn't. Maybe something like that happened here. Or maybe since she went way too far, she's telling herself the only place left to go is as far as possible? I'm just kinda guessing."

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, you know how people can kinda get swept up in a crowd, and end up getting involved with things they normally wouldn't. Maybe something like that happened here. Or maybe since she went way too far, she's telling herself the only place left to go is as far as possible? I'm just kinda guessing."

>"She CAN get carried away." Momiji adds thoughtfully, before smiling. "A little too easily, sometimes." The White Wolf then chuckles warmly. "Ah, I think I needed a laugh, too. Thanks for that, Hatate."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Okay, what scandal were you thinking about this time?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Okay, what scandal were you thinking about this time?"

>"Oh, I was just remembering something from around a century or so ago." the wolf replies, speeding up again now that the more somber topic of discussion has passed, for the moment. "It was when she was snooping on the Hakurei miko at the time. Aya was convinced the woman had some kind of deal worked out with Mokou, but she couldn't get any kind of details out of either of them, or anyone else, for that matter. But the idea was driving her crazy. It got to the point where she was annoying Mokou so much, the woman chased Aya halfway up the mountain one day, throwing fireballs at her the whole way. And after that, the Hakurei added her own two cents worth." Momiji grins broadly at the memory. "Aya was in traction for days after the Hakurei was through with her."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ha ha, wow! How did you ever let her live that down?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Ha ha, wow! How did you ever let her live that down?"

>Momiji seems about to protest, but stops, and actually blushes slightly. "Between you and me?" she asks quietly. "I managed to keep one of her singed tailfeathers."

[Hello Purvis]

>Snortlaugh.
>"Does she know?"