Remilia Quest Dh?

[Oldmansour]

>Shrug. "She's far too lazy, plain and simple. Sloth embodies laziness. It was a simple matter for her to possess Reimu as she is now."
>Chuckle. "Ironically, Sloth was the most cordial and polite of the three that have been encountered so far. Envy was a spiteful little woman, with a sharp tongue. And from what I've heard of Gluttony, who showed up in the Human Village, only thought about one thing. Devouring and consuming all things edible. It was from Sloth that I learned about the other sins. She stated that Wrath, Pride, and Greed in particular are the more dangerous ones. So far, I'm inclined to believe her on that matter, given how even I haven't escaped the effects."
>"But at any rate, as you were saying?"

>"Saying? Oh, yeah, the spores." Nitori looks slightly annoyed at herself, but points to the smaller device in her hand. "This one did, yeah. They're blowing in on the wind, from the northwest."
>"And they're probably what's causing that blossom scent in the air." Minamo adds, followed by the sound of a tool being used. She continues after a moment. "Which is driving my nose crazy."
>Glancing across the way, you see Koryu and the bear lift off from the roof with the spinning woman, and heading your way.
>"I don't know WHAT the source is." Nitori continues. "But whatever it is, it's definitely coming from that way."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Well, you wouldn't happen to have any way to block spores and pollen from getting into one's nose, would you? Because I feel we may need something like that the closer we get to the source. Approximately how far away do you suppose it is?"
>Let's keep cool until Koryu and the Bear arrive then.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "Well, you wouldn't happen to have any way to block spores and pollen from getting into one's nose, would you? Because I feel we may need something like that the closer we get to the source. Approximately how far away do you suppose it is?"
>Let's keep cool until Koryu and the Bear arrive then.

>Nitori shakes her head.
>"Wouldn't do you much good, either." Chiyo supplies as she takes a wrench to a pair of bolts. "As near as I can tell, these spores will affect you on contact with skin. They don't need to be inhaled. They just smell strong."
>"You might be able to get above them, though." Nitori offers. "We think they're heavier than air, if only just. As for how far, we're not sure. It can't be TOO far, but with the equipment we have, we can't tell for sure."
>Your companions join you only seconds after Nitori finishes her sentence, a somewhat cocky smirk on his face. "I just met a Goddess." he declares.

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod, with an equally cocky smirk. "Well, Koryu, I've gotten a lead on what's causing the anger in the area. There's something to the northwest that's producing spores of some kind. Though these fine Kappa say they may be heavier than air, which means if we fly high enough, we can escape the effects. Any thoughts on what might be in that direction? Such as a forest, or some sort of garden?"

[Oldmansour]

>Nod, with an equally cocky smirk. "Well, Koryu, I've gotten a lead on what's causing the anger in the area. There's something to the northwest that's producing spores of some kind. Though these fine Kappa say they may be heavier than air, which means if we fly high enough, we can escape the effects. Any thoughts on what might be in that direction? Such as a forest, or some sort of garden?"

>The young man ponders that for a moment. "Northwest of here.... I think there's a swamp up that way. Well, not so much a swamp, more of a bog, really."
>"You were talking to Hina?" Nitori asks him, and Koryu nods in response. "How's she holding up."
>"She's holding. For now." The young man then turns back to you. "When you say spores, you mean like plant spores?"
>"What other kind of spores are there, human?" Minamo snaps at him. Both Koryu and the bear snarl in reply.
>All this pointless aggravation. Someone should shut them up.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Everyone, just keep calm. Before I make you be calm."
>Sigh, and press a hand to our forehead. "These spores are making everyone angry. Koryu, why don't we take our friend and fly as high as we can, then make for that bog?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Everyone, just keep calm. Before I make you be calm."
>Sigh, and press a hand to our forehead. "These spores are making everyone angry. Koryu, why don't we take our friend and fly as high as we can, then make for that bog?"

>"Try it." Chiyo dares you, standing from her work. Minamo, now behind the rear of the machine, also stands.
>"Nobody talks to us that way. Not even a vampire." she declares proudly, hotly.
>Nitori, however, stretches out her arms and gestures them downwards, towards her fellow Kappa. "Put your energy to better use, and get this machine finished." She takes her own advice, and puts down the scanning device in her hand, and picks up a hammer from the roof. "If you want to fight her, do it once this problem's solved." Both kappa give you dirty looks, but they heed Nitori's words, and return to the machine.
>As well they should.

>Koryu, however, seems to have been lost in thought since you told him of the spores. "Do you think you can handle Wrath without me, Remilia?" he asks you. "I think I just might be able to help more here."

[Hanzo K.]

>Nod. "Hopefully I can. I think I might be able to drag it up to where it's spores are useless with my Aura Tendrils. I'll see you again after a while, hopefully without Wrath's effects."
>Let's take flight, and go as high as we possibly can! Since Vampires don't require breath, we can go quite high.

[Oldmansour]

>Nod. "Hopefully I can. I think I might be able to drag it up to where it's spores are useless with my Aura Tendrils. I'll see you again after a while, hopefully without Wrath's effects."
>Let's take flight, and go as high as we possibly can! Since Vampires don't require breath, we can go quite high.

>"Take care of yourself." Koryu bids you as he dismounts the bear.
>"And be careful." Nitori cautions you. "The effects of the spores'll probably be stronger near the source."
>Taking your leave of the gathered people, you take off and fly right up into the air. The bear, you note, also takes off, taking a more direct route northwest.
>As high as you can go would probably take you outside Gensokyo's barrier. But you note that the smell fades as you get higher and higher, dissappearing altogether once you pass two hundred feet or so.

[Hanzo K.]

>Alright, this is good. Most youkai can fly this high, correct? And certainly Reimu can.
>So let's make for the bog, and stop overhead.

[Oldmansour]

>Alright, this is good. Most youkai can fly this high, correct? And certainly Reimu can.
>So let's make for the bog, and stop overhead.

>Satisfied with your current height, you take off towards the bog spoken of by Koryu. In haste. Your anger actually grew as you flew farther up from the village, but stopped as you climbed higher and higher. The sooner you make someone suffer for daring to instill such unwanted rage within you, the better.

>It doesn't long for sights of interest to come into view in that direction.
>The first is a floating ball of darkness several dozen feet beneath you, flying casually in a northeasterly direction.
>The second is the sights of fires on the ground, and flashes of light in the air and on the ground. At least three humanoid shapes are fighting in the air above and around the bog, and there seems to be a vehicle of some sort on the water, discharging a mix of both bullets and lasers.
>The third is a very large.... THING, flying south from the bogland. It has to be at least ten feet tall, maybe more, a bulbous shape, growing more round and fat around the base of it. The top of it seems to be like a flower, but the petals are very pointy, almost more like fins than petals. A hazy cloud fills the air around it, and something seems to be whirling around under the base of it, though you can't see it from this distance.

>The time is now 2:00 AM.

[Hanzo K.]

>First, let's send down a trio of aura tendrils to grab those three figures unawares, and drag them up here.

[Oldmansour]

>First, let's send down a trio of aura tendrils to grab those three figures unawares, and drag them up here.

>Currently all three figures are no more than fifteen or twenty feet off the ground. You are more than two hundred feet off the ground. Your aura cannot stretch that far.

[Hanzo K.]

>Well then, let's goad them into flying a bit closer by launching one servant flier at each of them. But make sure they leave an obvious trail leading back to the source.
>...Perhaps Wrath possessed that plant creature...Let's try flinging a squad of Large Bat danmaku at it, and seeing how it reacts.

[Oldmansour]

>Well then, let's goad them into flying a bit closer by launching one servant flier at each of them. But make sure they leave an obvious trail leading back to the source.
>...Perhaps Wrath possessed that plant creature...Let's try flinging a squad of Large Bat danmaku at it, and seeing how it reacts.

>Opting to remain at this height, you unleash a bat for each one of the three, taking a better look at them as you do so. At least, as much as you can from this height. Your eyes are very good, but not that good. The one currently over the bog water, engaged in peppering the small vechicle with danmaku, has insectile wings sprouting from her back, beating furiously.
>The one closest to you, that being the one currently at the highest elevation, has an extremely long head of blonde hair, somehow wrapping around her body at her hip. Presently she is flying backwards and up, firing bursts of energy at the woman pursuing her. This one is shrouded in a long red cloak, with blue patterns emblazoned upon it, her hands put to use in throwing flaming energy at the blonde.

>At a distance of almost two hundred feet away, against highly mobile targets, a single shot of yours does not have the best of odds of striking its target. And indeed, both shots aimed at the cloaked woman and her blonde opponent go wide, and seemingly unnoticed by either.
>The winged one, however, you actually strike with your batmaku. Though this is probably due to her dodging a blast from the vechicle, which seems like a cross between one of those swamp-boats, and a boat-boat. With more armor. And gun emplacements.

>...Perhaps Wrath possessed that plant creature...Let's try flinging a squad of Large Bat danmaku at it, and seeing how it reacts.

>It certainly looks wrong, that's for sure, possessed or not. And since it's not only a much larger target, but moving much slower and moving in a straight line, you have no trouble whatsoever bombarding it with batmaku. The giant.... thing waves under the impact of your blasts, but remains in the air, neither slowing nor changing course.

[Hanzo K.]

(Well, this is an interesting occurrence~)

>Well, let's bombard the plant until it stops emitting that haze. Odds are, it's the source of the spores.
>We'll bombard the boat too, just so they notice us.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, let's bombard the plant until it stops emitting that haze. Odds are, it's the source of the spores.
>We'll bombard the boat too, just so they notice us.

>Intensifying your firepower, you focus your attention now on both the boat and the giant flying plant. The plant rocks and wavers under your fire, but it neither drops nor explodes, and the haze surrounding it fails to dissipate any. Although you do start to see the structure of the thing bend a bit in places, and traces of the floral scent cross your nose again.
>The boat, however, makes a much more nimble target, and it's driver seems to be more on the ball than the insect-winged youkai, as it turns almost on a dime 90 degrees and shoots away from your danmaku. Albeit not by much.
>The boat answers your fire with a tube mounted near the rear of the vessel. An object launches out of the tube, and detonates at about sixty feet or so in the air, into a blindingly bright flare of angry red light.

[Hanzo K.]

>Just the evidence we needed.
>"Well, strange plant, it's time to deal with you completely. Divine Lance - Spear the Gungnir!"
>Let's aim the lance at the plant, and add a scattershot of exploding orbs to the mix as well. That should be well within the allowances for this card.

[Oldmansour]

>Just the evidence we needed.
>"Well, strange plant, it's time to deal with you completely. Divine Lance - Spear the Gungnir!"
>Let's aim the lance at the plant, and add a scattershot of exploding orbs to the mix as well. That should be well within the allowances for this card.

>You take aim at the large plant, but since you were looking at the flare sent up by the armored swamp-boat, your vision is temporarily impaired. And your head hurts quite a bit, too. You THINK you can still make out the plant well enough to take a shot at it, but you can't be 100% certain. Do you still wish to fire?

[Hanzo K.]

>Let's take a moment to pull ourselves together, then we'll fire.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's take a moment to pull ourselves together, then we'll fire.

>Opting to ere on the side of caution (and in defiance of the growing rage within you), you press a hand to your eyes and give yourself a moment to let the blurryness and brightness pass. Damned boat with its damned flares. Wrath or not, you have a strong desire to rip the driver out of that scow and beat her with her own boat. Only a remarkable force of will prevents you from doing just that. You have another target to deal with first.
>Not wanting to let the flying plant get any furthur away, you conjure forth a giant glowing lance and hurl it towards the target, the polearm scattering danmaku along the way in an impressive display of crimson energy. The brilliant lance impales the mutated plant on its left side, towards the bottom. Never mind that you were aiming for dead center and missed, a clean hit is a clean hit.
>Gungnir penetrates the greenish lumpen hide of the thing and flies clear on out the other side, orb danmaku exploding both inside and outside the plant. The flying hulk of plantlife expands in places like a horrific balloon, a cloud of scarlet energy belching out the top of it, and then the whole thing explodes, raining a brackish goo and smoking shards of itself down over the ground beneath it. The smell of burning grass assaults your nose, even at this height. And the cast-off from the plant finally affords you a look at one of the things whirling around the bottom of it: a metallic blade. At least it LOOKS metallic.

>No gratitude tonight, though, as even as you watch the death throes of the mutant flower, the air around you fills with needle-shaped danmaku.

[SirChaotick]

>Dodge (of course).
>How are the three strangers reacting?

[Oldmansour]

>Dodge (of course).
>How are the three strangers reacting?

>Annoyed at the affrontery of one of the ones you're trying to help attacking you, you reverse through the air, but not before taking a glancing blow to your foot. You can't help but scowl.
>Looking down at the three flying youkai, the one with the insect wings seems to have been the one that attacked you, as she is presently rising through the air, flying right at you. Her right arm extended, she unleases a frontal cone of brownish-colored wedge danmaku.
>The youkai with the red cloak has found a new target, and is hurling fireballs towards the swamp-boat while a spread of oval-shaped danmaku fires out behind her towards the blonde. The blonde does not seem to care, though, and has her attention focused on the bug-winged youkai, chasing after her but not firing either at her or you.
>The boat, however, IS firing, but not at the cloaked youkai peppering her with fire. A trio of lasers blast out from the prow of the boat, two of them seemingly aimed at the bug youkai, and the left-most laser at you.

[Hanzo K.]

>Let's slip away from the laser, and just charge up a large orb that explodes on proximity.
>Once we've got it set, fling it at the boat with as much force as we can muster.
>Once we've done that, shape our aura into a set of four massive wings behind us, not unlike the ones from that one comic about giant machines and angels that Patche obtained.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's slip away from the laser, and just charge up a large orb that explodes on proximity.
>Once we've got it set, fling it at the boat with as much force as we can muster.
>Once we've done that, shape our aura into a set of four massive wings behind us, not unlike the ones from that one comic about giant machines and angels that Patche obtained.

>You sideslip away from the laser easily enough, but ignoring the wedge-shaped danmaku was a bit of a mistake, as you end up eating a half dozen impacts to the torso as you charge that orb attack. They don't disrupt your focus or concentration, but they do make you very, very angry. Many more of those, and you might end up losing all control.
>Deciding to take it out on the armed boat, you hurl your Crimson Bomb down at the thing and empower your aura again. To remind everyone just who they're dealing with, and give them a sign how much pain you can bring.

>Before either your auraform takes shape, or your orb explodes, before any of the youkai can fire once more, the anger boiling in the pit of your stomach, the rage threatening to overwhelm you... fades. Vanishes as abruptly a unguarded book in from of Marisa. You are yourself again.
>Mostly. In the wake of that rage, you feel ill. Very ill, actually. You feel as though you're about to vomit. And judging by the looks on the bug youkai, and the blonde as well, they feel about the same way.

[Hanzo K.]

>Well, let's keep our composure as best we can, and float on down to them. Provided the boat isn't still firing.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, let's keep our composure as best we can, and float on down to them. Provided the boat isn't still firing.

>The boat and its driver have other concerns than firing at you. Although the driver managed to avoid a direct strike from your Crimson Bomb, the boat wasn't fast enough to outrun the explosion of energy caused by the bomb's proximity trigger. Your blast actually brought the boat out of the water a few feet and sent it skipping sideways across the surface of the bog. When it comes to a rest, the hatch on top of the thing pops open, and a young woman with brown pigtails sticks her head out. And vomits over the side of her boat.
>You try to swallow to fight back the vomitous urge, but something foul is forcing its way out of your system, and it won't be denied.
>The bug youkai vomits, as well, just as you turn away from her. You'll be damned if you'll be face on when this happens. The pressure in your throat becomes too much, and an incredibly foul fluid forces its way out of your mouth. But this is not any kind of normal expectorate. This stuff looks a great deal like blood, except a slightly different shade of red. It even tastes a bit like blood, but blood that's been spoiled, ruined by age and contamination. And it reeks, like overripe fruit that's been burned and served on hot tar.
>Judging from the sound below you, the cloaked youkai as well as the blonde are also expelling the contents of their stomach.
>You make a note to gloss over this part of the story when you're telling it to Flandre later, although you take some comfort in the fact that whatever caused this in you affected the others, as well.

[Hanzo K.]

>"...Ugh. Well, that was something I'd rather not repeat. That plant must have been the source of it all, and just as well that I disposed of it."
>We should have a spare handkerchief to clean ourselves with. After all, no lady goes without at least two.
>Do any of them seem possessed? And we should keep tabs on the area just in case as well.
>For that matter, how's our hunger status?

[Oldmansour]

>"...Ugh. Well, that was something I'd rather not repeat. That plant must have been the source of it all, and just as well that I disposed of it."
>We should have a spare handkerchief to clean ourselves with. After all, no lady goes without at least two.
>Do any of them seem possessed? And we should keep tabs on the area just in case as well.
>For that matter, how's our hunger status?

>After griping just a little, you produde a handkerchief and dap away the residual not-blood from your mouth. Rarely have you ever so devoutly wished for some mouthwash.
>Right now, all four of them seem only sick. You seem to have recovered your composure before the rest of them, both the bug and the blonde slowly floating back down to earth. Although the woman in the cloak seems to be pulling herself together.
>Despite the fact that this has been one of the more active nights you've had in quite some time, it hasn't taken a serious toll on your Hunger level. You are still Sated, albeit ever so slightly peckish.

[Hanzo K.]

>Let's float down to the one in the cloak then. "Well, tonight's filled with new faces, isn't it? I'll let you pull yourself together before responding, even though I'm rather pressed for time."
>Beat.
>If that plant was the source of the rage....Then that village will have quite the cleanup to deal with. Good thing Kappa are quite skilled with water control.