Keine Quest (Part 2): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>"So if she's odd by oni standards, Suika may be more willing to hear us out..."
>"What about the city itself?"

[DracoOmega]

>"So if she's odd by oni standards, Suika may be more willing to hear us out..."

>Orin shrugs. "It's possible. Hard to tell with her."

>"What about the city itself?"

>"What about it? Same as always. Except colder. Lots of oni, lots of drinking, lots of noise. No one else ever comes down this way. Old bargains I think, or something. Or just no one cares to."

>You reach a large and solid double-door at the end of the hallway, and Orin opens it; a chill wind blows into the palace.
>"And the it is," she says, stepping outside. There is a long cobblestone path leading away from the palace, flanked by some drab and ill-kept greenery on either side. Some ways in the distance you can see the Ancient City itself; a series of low-roofed tiled buildings, piled up almost on top of each other. It is brightly lit by what appear to be lanterns, and you can see tiny figures walking to and fro among it.

[Hello Purvis]

>"So I see. Would you know anybody who knows the caves well?"

[DracoOmega]

>"So I see. Would you know anybody who knows the caves well?"

>"Well, one of them might. Like I said, I don't go out past the Ancient City, so it's not a topic that comes up much for me."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, let's see if Suika has anything to share. She is rather friendly, as I recall."

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, let's see if Suika has anything to share. She is rather friendly, as I recall."

>"Sure. I can show you where her place is. No promise she'll be there, though, if there's anywhere else interesting to be."
>Orin leads you down the long path towards the Ancient City. It doesn't take long before the bustle of the place becomes apparent. It may be the middle of the night, but you get the impression that's only when things get started up around here. There's plenty of oni milling about, drinking and carousing in small, and sometimes not so small groups. The buildings form a series of narrow angular streets and alleyways, and Orin leads you purposefully down them. You note that the buildings are actually in kind of in better repair than you'd expected for a city full of oni.
>You draw a lot of curious stares from oni as you go, Mokou in particular, although for her part, she glares back more than as good as she gets. Everyone seems to give you space, just the same. Rumia seems to simply be enjoying the new scenery, and looks rather oblivious to the interpersonal dynamic entirely.

>Eventually, you reach a small, single story dwelling. It would be entirely unremarkable among the nearby homes if it were not set apart a small distance, and partially enclosed in a stone fence.
>"This is the place," Orin says.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around for a knocker or a bell or some such.
>Presuming no such thing, approach the door and knock.

[DracoOmega]

>Look around for a knocker or a bell or some such.
>Presuming no such thing, approach the door and knock.

>You search around, but find neither a knocker nor any analog, so you decide to knock on the door directly. You get no response, however.

[Hello Purvis]

>Ponder the likelyhood she is hung over or asleep.
>Knock again.

[DracoOmega]

>Ponder the likelyhood she is hung over or asleep.
>Knock again.

>Given what you know of her, both seem distinctly possible.
>You knock harder this time, but still receive no response.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I suppose she's not home. We'll probably just have to look for a wild party."

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose she's not home. We'll probably just have to look for a wild party."

>Orin frowns. "I suppose we could."

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around. Does it seem like anyone is giving us weird looks for loitering in front of a Deva's house?

[DracoOmega]

>Look around. Does it seem like anyone is giving us weird looks for loitering in front of a Deva's house?

>It doesn't seem so. At least, no weirder than the looks they were giving you elsewhere. There actually isn't a great crowd around here, compared to some of the other places you walked past. It seems to be towards the southern outskirts of the city.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, there goes the hope of nosy neighbors..."
>"Actually, what is there to see around town, Orin?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, there goes the hope of nosy neighbors..."
>"Actually, what is there to see around town, Orin?"

>"Well, the usual town stuff: houses, shops, bars. Actually, I swear half the shops sell some kind of alchohol, too. There's a surprisingly decent restaurant or two. If you don't mind deep fried stuff, anyway. Can't say there's a lot of tourist attractions considering there's never any tourists. If you're wondering where the best place to find her would be, well.... Oni parties are kind of a spontaneous thing. They seem to spring up whenever the number of drunk oni on one street reaches critical mass, and just kind of spread from there. But I can show you where some of the better bars are." She sighs. "If you insist."

[Hello Purvis]

>Contemplate if the ceiling is high enough for a good aerial look around.

[DracoOmega]

>Contemplate if the ceiling is high enough for a good aerial look around.

>There's plenty of room up there to get a view of much of the city.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is flight discouraged here?"
>If Orin allows for it, get an aerial view of the place.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Is flight discouraged here?"
>If Orin allows for it, get an aerial view of the place.

>She gives you a funny look. "Why would that be?"
>Figuring that implies no one's likely to object, you take to the air to get a better look at the city. It really isn't especially large, given how densely packed most of the buildings are. You see an open space that might be a market square, although there doesn't appear to be clearly defined residential and commercial areas, for the most part. You see several clusters of oni in different parts of the city, milling around what are probably bars or some other point of interest. The largest and most raucous of these is some distance to the northeast.

[Hello Purvis]

>Land.
>"There seems to be a pretyt lively party to the northeast. That seems to be a good place to find her."
>Head that way!

[DracoOmega]

>Land.
>"There seems to be a pretyt lively party to the northeast. That seems to be a good place to find her."
>Head that way!

>"Well..." Orin says. "Might be."
>You head off towards the gathering that you saw, while Orin ends up slinking towards the back of the group. Still, it proves to be surprisingly easy to find them; the noise becomes very evidently very quickly. You swear you can hear drinking songs from a whole block away. The gathering of oni become increasingly dense as you approach, and you're soon into the party proper. Or at least as proper as such a thing could ever be counted as.
>There are oni of every size and description, laughing, shouting and carousing. And getting into the occasional good spirited brawl, while bystanders laugh and cheer, and use it as an excuse to drink to something. Not that they seem to need one. The only oni without some alcohol in their hands seem to be either unconscious or using their arms for something else, and even then some of them manage.

[Hello Purvis]

>Linger around the edges of the party for now, try to pick out Suika-like shapes, assuming we know what she looks like.

[DracoOmega]

>Linger around the edges of the party for now, try to pick out Suika-like shapes, assuming we know what she looks like.

>You know what Suika looks like well enough that you think you could distinguish her easily enough. It helps that she's considerably shorter than most everyone here. Actually, maybe it doesn't help, since she could easily be obscured behind them. You don't see any signs of her yet, anyway.
>A  couple oni gesture drunkenly in your direction, and start to talk loudly among themselves. Of course, there's so much other noise that their volume doesn't really help you understand what they're saying.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do their expressions or body language suggest the general tone of what they're saying?

[E-Nazrin]

>Consider unleashing the power of dance.

[DracoOmega]

>Do their expressions or body language suggest the general tone of what they're saying?

>They seem rather plastered, so it's hard to tell for sure whether they're being disapproving or just boisterously uncoordinated.

>Consider unleashing the power of dance.

>You were never much of a dancer. Judging by what seems to be passing for entertainment here, though, you might get a few laughs, anyway. Or a drunken thump across the back. Still, they're already staring at you funny, so at least that part can't get any worse. Can it?

[Hello Purvis]

>Ponder if having our horns like we ought to would make matters better, or worse.
>Head into the crowd and try to pick out Suika if she's there to be picked out.

[DracoOmega]

>Ponder if having our horns like we ought to would make matters better, or worse.

>Aside from making you feel more comfortable in your own skin right now, you really don't know. No one ought to be able to confuse you for an oni.... then again, some of them might just be drunk enough to pull that off. And would that help you blend, or make you an acceptable target?

>Head into the crowd and try to pick out Suika if she's there to be picked out.

>You decide to head deeper into the gathering to look for Suika. While oni in the rest of town seemed to be making a point to give your group space, these either don't notice, don't care, or there simply isn't room around them to give. You make an effort to avoid drunken gesticulations and actual fistfights, although you end up with a little sake splashed over you from an overly exuberant toast.
>A large oni brushes shoulders with Mokou hard enough that the latter stumbles and has to catch her footing.
>"Hey!" the oni says, nearly slurring the occasional world. "What's one of your kind doin' done 'ere?"
>"Mind your own business," Mokou replies.

[Doll.S CUBE]

> Try and break this fight up before it starts, we don't want to draw too much attention