Keine Quest (Part 2): Broken History

[DracoOmega]

>Wait for a good opportunity to snag a few more, then open fire.

>You and the spirits exchange some more fire, and after a few more moments, you think you've taken out the last of them. You've sustained a few more impacts, however, and your back is still throbbing from that first burst. This has not been a good night for you. Mokou looks like she might be in worse shape, though.

>"Thanks for the hand," Mokou says. "Now we really ought to move. I don't care where we go; it's gotta be better than here."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thanks for the cover."
>Back up until we hit the divide. Call ahead to Rumia from time to time so she knows we're coming.
>Right self at the divide, and go rightwards.

[DracoOmega]

>"Thanks for the cover."

>"I just hope this ends up being worth it," she mutters.

>Back up until we hit the divide. Call ahead to Rumia from time to time so she knows we're coming.

>Moving backwards proves to be far more awkward than moving forward was. You can see Mokou ahead of you, bumping into things and muttering.
>"Ok. Hurry up...." Rumia responds as you let her know that you're coming.
>Eventually, you make it back to the divide, which you are now able to see. It looks like the main body of the tunnel continues to the right, while a smaller stream from the side connects to the left, and rises upwards some.
>Mokou makes a seal with her hands, then slams her palms against the opposite sides of the tunnel at the junction point. The space between her hands bursts into flame. "That should give us at least a little bit more breathing room," she says.

>Right self at the divide, and go rightwards.

>You turn and continue into the right tunnel. It seems to be gently sloping upwards, although it twists back and forth. After a few minutes, you start to wonder if you'll ever emerge from it again. Certainly you no longer any idea where you're going.

[Hello Purvis]

>Onwards. It has to end somewhere.

[DracoOmega]

>Onwards. It has to end somewhere.

>You keep on moving, since there really seems to be nowhere else to go at the moment. Finally, after maybe another 10 minutes or so, you think you see a tiny bit of blue light filtering in from somewhere up ahead. Once you get closer, you realize that you've reached the end of the line. The passageway narrows, and at this point the solidified lava that you've been crawling over all this time seems to have bubbled up to fill most of the opening it poured out of. There are gaps around it that the light is shining through, and there appears to be some sort of open area beyond it, but unfortunately, the gaps are much too small to fit through.

[Doll.S CUBE]

> Can we blast our way through without collapse?

[DracoOmega]

> Can we blast our way through without collapse?

>Collapse shouldn't be a concern, given that it's only on the 'floor' that's in your way and not something which is holding anything up. However, you don't think your own danmaku has enough punch to make the required dent in solid rock.

[Hello Purvis]

>Listen. Can we hear anything through the hole?

[DracoOmega]

>Listen. Can we hear anything through the hole?

>You listen closely. You think you may be able to hear water dripping. There are no obvious sounds of life or activity.

[Hello Purvis]

>Is it possible to devour the history of magma have been here? Or would this overextend us?

[DracoOmega]

>Is it possible to devour the history of magma have been here? Or would this overextend us?

>You're feeling rather beaten up as it is, but the larger problem is that you don't even know where here is, other than 'underground', nor how this lava connects with other bodies, or really anything about its history at all, other than that it was here, and then it solidified. That's not much to work with.

[Hello Purvis]

>Sigh.
>"We have tjree options. Either Rumia looks through and screams for help, we try to shuffle so Mokou can blast through it, or we backtrack. I could try to make it so the lava never hardened here, but...I really don't know enough about this tunnel or how large it to have a good shot at it."

[DracoOmega]

>Sigh.
>"We have tjree options. Either Rumia looks through and screams for help, we try to shuffle so Mokou can blast through it, or we backtrack. I could try to make it so the lava never hardened here, but...I really don't know enough about this tunnel or how large it to have a good shot at it."

>"Um," Mokou says, "if you made it so the lava never hardened here... wouldn't that mean we'd all be lying with our stomachs on a river of it right now?"
>You see Rumia poke her head up by the gaps and look around. At some points, they really are almost as large as her head, anyway. "Rumia doesn't see anybody out there," she calls back.

[Hello Purvis]

>Would it work like that? It should just remove things, not cause cascaded paradoxes. Otherwise, taking out the village would have been a disaster...
>Presuming it doesn't: "It wouldn't be like that. Just the lava would be gone. Do you think you could get through it, Mokou? In particular, get through it without hurting us?"

[DracoOmega]

>Would it work like that? It should just remove things, not cause cascaded paradoxes. Otherwise, taking out the village would have been a disaster...

>Well, you did say 'so that the lava never hardened', meaning it would presumably revert to the state it would have been in if it hadn't hardened: molten. Not to say that it couldn't be removed entirely by eating some other part of its history than that bit.

>Presuming it doesn't: "It wouldn't be like that. Just the lava would be gone. Do you think you could get through it, Mokou? In particular, get through it without hurting us?"

>"I..." she stops and thinks. "I may be able to melt a bit of it. Going to have to make it pretty damn hot for that, though, so no promises."

[Hello Purvis]

>A point.
>"I was hoping you could create enough concussive force to blast it away. But if this is what it takes..."
>Is it at all possible to shift so Mokou is in front without lots of backtracking?

[DracoOmega]

>"I was hoping you could create enough concussive force to blast it away. But if this is what it takes..."

>"The rock looks pretty solid. No real breaking points to target. Besides, I'm not so good at concussive force anyway."

>Is it at all possible to shift so Mokou is in front without lots of backtracking?

>There's not really any room beside you, but she could probably crawl over you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Alright. You're going to have to crawl over me to get up there, though."
>Arrange self so there is space ahead, then flatten against the floor.

[DracoOmega]

>"Alright. You're going to have to crawl over me to get up there, though."
>Arrange self so there is space ahead, then flatten against the floor.

>"Um, er... ok, I guess."

>You feel Mokou shimmy up to you, and basically drag herself across your body. There really isn't room enough to be more tactful about this, and you're very glad that, of all the people you could have had to perform this maneuver with, it was with her. Especially when the tail end of her passes almost across your head. You can imagine the whole experience is probably rather more uncomfortable for poor Mokou.
>She hoists Rumia up over her, since she's small enough to do so, and props herself up against the offending rock mass.

>"You two might want to back off a bit," she warns.

[E-Nazrin]

>Do so.

[Hello Purvis]

>Ponder if our Mokou would be jealous, or just laugh and laugh and laugh?
>...Hey, we might actually have a story she hasn't heard a variant of beforehand, now.

[DracoOmega]

>Do so.

>You back up the tunnel, and motion for Rumia to follow you.
>Once you're at a safe distance, you see Mokou get to work. She conjures a flame in her hand and concentrates upon it. It starts to grow steadily whiter, until it is so bright and hot that it hurts to look upon. The air around Mokou seems to shimmer and ripple with the heat, and you can feel a hot wind blast against your face. Then she presses the flame into the rock and holds it there. Nothing seems to happen at first, but you can slowly see the rock itself start to glow; dimly at first, but steadily brighter. After a little while, Mokou lets the flame die out, braces herself against the rock and pushes. Part of it slowly gives way and more blue light floods into the tunnel. After a little more effort, the gap is sufficiently widened that someone could pass through it.

>Ponder if our Mokou would be jealous, or just laugh and laugh and laugh?

>You definitely think it would be more of the later than the former. Besides, it's not like you'd be adverse to re-enacting it, if she honestly felt she was missing out...

>...Hey, we might actually have a story she hasn't heard a variant of beforehand, now.

>This'll certainly make quite the tale if you can manage to get back to tell it.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Impressive! What do you see through there?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Impressive! What do you see through there?"

>"A whole lot more rock," she calls back, poking her head out through the opening. "And some funny glowing minerals on the walls. Seems to be a larger version of the place we were just in. At least there doesn't seem to be anything here that can shoot at us."

[Hello Purvis]

>Exit.

[DracoOmega]

>Exit.

>You move to exit the passageway, and Mokou holds her body against the still extremely hot rock so that neither you nor Rumia give yourself a terrible burn on the way out.
>With a little difficulty, you stand upright. Man, it feels good to be able to do that again, although it'll take a few moments for your legs to cooperate fully.
>You are in a larger passageway, the floor of which is also made of the solidified lava. You can see several smaller tunnels like the one you just came through along the sides. The soft blue light seems to be coming from a few luminous crystalline deposits along parts of the wall. You can still hear water dripping, although cannot identify the source. The tunnel seems to extend for a considerable distance to both your left and right.

[Hello Purvis]

>Examine the source of this blue light.

[DracoOmega]

>Examine the source of this blue light.

>The crystalline deposits themselves seem to be glowing with a soft and scintillating light. You don't know how, nor do you recognize what they are.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does there seem to be a loose one we could claim?
>"Have you ever seen anything like this, Mokou? Rumia?"

[DracoOmega]

>Does there seem to be a loose one we could claim?

>None of them seem obviously loose, and many of them are fairly tiny, and embedded into the cavern walls. You might be able to try prying one out, or breaking it off with danmaku.

>"Have you ever seen anything like this, Mokou? Rumia?"

>"Nope!" Rumia replies.
>Mokou shakes her head. "Don't think so."