Okuu Quest Subsequently - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"A cape? Seriously? A tad theatrical, don't you think?"
>"But yeah, I'll be there. And thanks again."

>Wave goodbye to Nitori and head out
>Call Maribel

>Nitori shrugs.
>"No problem. Remember, 9 oclock tomorrow."
>You wave and make you exit, then you call Maribel. "Usami Investigations," she answers. "Maribel speaking."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>What's 9 tomorrow? The meeting that was at 7 tonight a moment ago? Or is that when we're due into work?

>"Hey, there. It's Utsuho. I'm off work, now. You want to get together, and I can fill you guys in on some of what's happened today?"

[Hello Purvis]

>What's 9 tomorrow? The meeting that was at 7 tonight a moment ago? Or is that when we're due into work?

>"Hey, there. It's Utsuho. I'm off work, now. You want to get together, and I can fill you guys in on some of what's happened today?"

>That would be when you're due in for work.
>"Okay, just swing on by the office."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Sure thing. I'll see you in a bit."

>Head to Usami Investigations

[Hello Purvis]

>"Sure thing. I'll see you in a bit."

>Head to Usami Investigations

>"Right, we'll be here. Don't worry about customers or anything, we've been closed all day.
>You head to the bus stop.  It is pretty crowded. Soon enough, the A route bus comes and you are on your way. It is crowded and noisy, you have the feeling that no one really is giving you more than a glance.
>Soon enough, you reach your stop, and disembark from the bus near Yukari's house. After that, it is a short walk to the north until you reach Usami Investigations.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Enter Usami Investigations

[Hello Purvis]

>Enter Usami Investigations

>You enter Usami Investigations, and find Renko and Maribel sitting at computers. "Hey extranormal magnet," says Renko, looking up from her work. "How's it going?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ah, not too bad, considering. A sight better than last night, anyway."

>"But yeah, a few interesting things have happened since last night."
>"When I was getting changed this morning, I took off that charm I was wearing last night. And as soon as I did, the spirit materialized behind me. Like, fully visible and everything. I guess it must have been keeping it suppressed, or something."
>"I can sorta communicate with it, at least in a vague sense. I can tell what it's generally feeling, and it seems to be able to do something similar to me. I think it was actually sorry for scaring the crap out of us earlier. It means well, I'm pretty certain, although it's still hard to be specific with it."
>"I took it back to the spot where I found it, in case maybe it had gotten stuck with me and couldn't return on its own. But I think it wants to stay with me. Feels like I'm a kindred spirit, somehow. I think it may feel the world is 'wrong', like I do. But it seems perplexed by a lot of what's been going on in the city. I'm not even sure quite how much intelligence it has, or if it's just very... alien."

>"I don't suppose you have any news, though?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ah, not too bad, considering. A sight better than last night, anyway."

>"But yeah, a few interesting things have happened since last night."
>"When I was getting changed this morning, I took off that charm I was wearing last night. And as soon as I did, the spirit materialized behind me. Like, fully visible and everything. I guess it must have been keeping it suppressed, or something."
>"I can sorta communicate with it, at least in a vague sense. I can tell what it's generally feeling, and it seems to be able to do something similar to me. I think it was actually sorry for scaring the crap out of us earlier. It means well, I'm pretty certain, although it's still hard to be specific with it."
>"I took it back to the spot where I found it, in case maybe it had gotten stuck with me and couldn't return on its own. But I think it wants to stay with me. Feels like I'm a kindred spirit, somehow. I think it may feel the world is 'wrong', like I do. But it seems perplexed by a lot of what's been going on in the city. I'm not even sure quite how much intelligence it has, or if it's just very... alien."

>"I don't suppose you have any news, though?"

>Renko and Maribel listen with rapt attention as you talk to them. "So," says Maribel, "You can see her? Right now?"
>"What's it saying?" Renko asks.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, no. She isn't visible to me unless she's also visible to other people. She seems to be able to hide herself. Orin did get a glance at her this morning, for a second, but the spirit's very shy. Doesn't like to show itself unless I'm the only one around. She vanished almost as soon as Orin opened the door."
>"And, uh... it would be a bit much to say that it 'says' anything. I can sort of feel that it's scared, or confused, or sorry, or such. Not really words."
>"I don't know if I can convince it to show itself, but I can try."

>Concentrate. Try to convey to the spirit that this is a safe place to show itself. That Maribel and Renko are friends, and that it's ok to be seen here.
>Can we get any sense of what the spirit is thinking at the moment?

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, no. She isn't visible to me unless she's also visible to other people. She seems to be able to hide herself. Orin did get a glance at her this morning, for a second, but the spirit's very shy. Doesn't like to show itself unless I'm the only one around. She vanished almost as soon as Orin opened the door."
>"And, uh... it would be a bit much to say that it 'says' anything. I can sort of feel that it's scared, or confused, or sorry, or such. Not really words."
>"I don't know if I can convince it to show itself, but I can try."

>Concentrate. Try to convey to the spirit that this is a safe place to show itself. That Maribel and Renko are friends, and that it's ok to be seen here.
>Can we get any sense of what the spirit is thinking at the moment?

>"Oh, I see..."
>You try to concentrate on the spirit. You can faintly feel it, and this feeling gets stronger after a minute or so; a distant feeling it's around. It is sort of like when Orin is in the other room, and you can't hear her or see her, but you know she's there.
>The forest spirit is...somewhere between scared and sort of weirded out. You try to transmit the feeling this is a safe place, and feel it is skeptical.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> "It doesn't seem completely convinced that it's safe. "

[MysTeariousYukari]

> "I'm trying to re-assure it that you two are fine, and that it's safe here, but it's not so sure."
> Try to focus on the spirit and try to ask it a question, specifically if it has a name.
> If the above does not work, trying moving into a different room and asking Maribel and Renko to give you a minute alone. Then try the above again.

[Hello Purvis]

> "It doesn't seem completely convinced that it's safe. "

>"What?" says Renko, "But we haven't even done anything..."
>"I suppose it's just shy," says Maribel. "And maybe we're rude or something?"

> "I'm trying to re-assure it that you two are fine, and that it's safe here, but it's not so sure."
> Try to focus on the spirit and try to ask it a question, specifically if it has a name.
> If the above does not work, trying moving into a different room and asking Maribel and Renko to give you a minute alone. Then try the above again.

>"Please," says Renko. "I really want to meet it."
>You focus again, and try to question it about its name. It takes a bit of time, but you think you get through to it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to understand the question.
>You are pretty sure this would go much faster if you had some privacy.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, I don't really think it's you, as such. Just anyone. I don't even really understand why it feels comfortable around me, and no one else. Don't take it personally."
>"Anyway, is there another room here or something that I could step into for a moment for some privacy? It might be easier to communicate with it if it felt we were alone. I don't mean to be rude or anything. If I can't really get it to understand, I'll come back out again, in a bit."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, I don't really think it's you, as such. Just anyone. I don't even really understand why it feels comfortable around me, and no one else. Don't take it personally."
>"Anyway, is there another room here or something that I could step into for a moment for some privacy? It might be easier to communicate with it if it felt we were alone. I don't mean to be rude or anything. If I can't really get it to understand, I'll come back out again, in a bit."

>"Oh, good," says Renko. "I don't want ghosts thinking I'm weird. There's just something elementally wrong with that..."
>"Sure," says Maribel, "Just pick wherever you like in back. Kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom..."

>_

[Seian Verian]

> "Heh. Well, it doesn't seem to be a human ghost so there would be the possibility of its standards being different."
> Try to find way to living room.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Heh. Well, it doesn't seem to be a human ghost so there would be the possibility of its standards being different."
> Try to find way to living room.

>"I suppose," says Renko, "But that just makes being thought of as weird even worse..."
>You head into the back, and check through one of the curtained doors. You find what looks like an office, with an old beat up couch and a TV and such. A few posters hang up on the walls. This looks good enough.
>The Forest Spirit appears near you, not quite as opaque as usual.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> Try to convey that Renko and Maribel are friends, and the spirit can trust them.
> Also try to convey this about Satori and Parsee.

[MysTeariousYukari]

> Try to find out what it would like to be refered to as(a name basically)
> Try to find out if it would be willing to reveal itself to someone.

[Hello Purvis]

> Try to convey that Renko and Maribel are friends, and the spirit can trust them.
> Also try to convey this about Satori and Parsee.

>You try to convey to it that Renko and Maribel are friends.
>It doesn't seem to believe you. It gives you a feeling that it regards them as too alien to be friends. It seems to believe they think the world is okay, so they cannot be trusted, unlike you.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> Try to convey that just because they don't realize something is wrong doesn't mean they're untrustworthy. They also already know that the spirit exists, so showing can't really hurt.
> See if we can try to convey that they try to find strange things about the world, so they might actually be helpful in trying to figure out what's wrong.

[MysTeariousYukari]

> Try to understand what it thinks feels 'wrong' with the world.
> What does the spirit look like again?

[Hello Purvis]

> Try to convey that just because they don't realize something is wrong doesn't mean they're untrustworthy. They also already know that the spirit exists, so showing can't really hurt.
> See if we can try to convey that they try to find strange things about the world, so they might actually be helpful in trying to figure out what's wrong.

>You don't really understand its response to your reassurances. But it seems to think that if they can't see it, they can't do anything to it, or that they might tell others.
>You try to tell it that they seek out strange things. This seems to intrigue it a little.

> Try to understand what it thinks feels 'wrong' with the world.
> What does the spirit look like again?

>You ask it what is wrong with the world. It response seems to be nearly everything. It doesn't know what is wrong, only that something has been wrong for a long time, and that it thought it was alone in the world for along time. Meeting you seems to have been a great relief for it.
>It is a like the silhouette of a human woman, made of pale green...ghostly stuff. It has a set of horns on its head. Its body has no real marks on it, just the outline of a healthy female form. It has long hair, or at least the analogue of such.  It has horns, as well, long ones extending from its head. It does seem to have eyes, made of wisps of reddish ghost stuff, they look like little flames.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> Ask if it can pinpoint anything that's right
> Try to convey that they would know not to tell others, as most wouldn't believe them.
> Also try to tell it, roughly, that they try to search for things that seem outside normal science. They could be helpful in finding out what we need.

[Hello Purvis]

> Ask if it can pinpoint anything that's right
> Try to convey that they would know not to tell others, as most wouldn't believe them.
> Also try to tell it, roughly, that they try to search for things that seem outside normal science. They could be helpful in finding out what we need.

>It seems to consider you to be "right". It isn't sure about anything else. It doesn't seem to regard the forest as that wrong, though.
>You try to convey that no one would believe them, and you think you lose her.
>While it doesn't seem to understand the concept of science, it does understand the concept of normal. It seems to find them a little interesting, if still unsettling and weird.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> "Hm..."
> Try to convey that many people don't know about many things such as spirits. Many believe that such aren't real, and some even try to deny it even when shown proof, as illogical as that is.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Hm..."
> Try to convey that many people don't know about many things such as spirits. Many believe that such aren't real, and some even try to deny it even when shown proof, as illogical as that is.

>You Hm
>You express the idea of skepticism as well as you can. It seems confused by this, but not really surprised. It doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in people. It tries to relate its feelings better, and it gets a little confusing. As near as you can tell, it seems to be afraid they would focus on unimportant things, because they don't have the same understanding of wrongness the two of you do.

>_

[Seian Verian]

> Try to convey that having them around to help is better than having no one. We don't really have any real leads on what to look for next.

[Hello Purvis]

> Try to convey that having them around to help is better than having no one. We don't really have any real leads on what to look for next.

>It considers this, and seems to feel you may be onto something. But it doesn't understand what that has to do with it appearing before them.

>_