(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 11)

[DracoOmega]

>Inquire into the price of the seeds and quantity available for purchase.

>You could purchase a small packet of seeds for 5 guilders.

[Oldmansour]

>Deal!
>Wait, we'd need a flower pot or something to grow this stuff, wouldn't we?

[DracoOmega]

>Deal!
>Wait, we'd need a flower pot or something to grow this stuff, wouldn't we?

>You could probably jury-rig some sort of container for it out of a ration tin or something else if you had to, but a proper pot would certainly be most convenient.

[Oldmansour]

>Inquire into the price of an appropriately sized for our purposes pot.

And come to think of it, may as well as double check what I assumed early.

>Status on supplies and gear for travelling purposes.
>Available funds.

[DracoOmega]

>Inquire into the price of an appropriately sized for our purposes pot.
>Status on supplies and gear for travelling purposes.
>Available funds.

>This nursery has only a very modest selection of pots and planters for sale, but ensuring that your choice compliments your decor is the furthest concern from your mind at the moment. You find a suitably-sized one in plain terracotta retailing for 6 guilders.
>You have sufficient food for at least three days on the road, and possibly a little more if you're conservative. In terms of other traveling gear, you are in possession of a compass, rope, 2 glowsticks, 2 torches, a basic grappling hook, small heating stone, and two changes of clothing (though one is still somewhat battle-damaged), in addition to your assorted other possessions.
>You currently have 360 guilders.

[Oldmansour]

>Acquire one packet of seeds and one small terracotta pot.

[DracoOmega]

>Acquire one packet of seeds and one small terracotta pot.

>You place your order and the proprietor disappears into the storeroom with a mildly curious expression on his face. After a couple minutes, he reemerges with a thin packet of folded brown paper in hand, bearing a small handful of oblong seeds; their appearance rather reminds you of grains of rice. Tallying the cost of both the seeds and your pot, you give the man his 11 guilders and take your purchases in hand. You now have 349 guilders.

[Oldmansour]

>Take a moment to stare at the seeds. Can this really be the last ingredient? We're a Seeker, nothing comes easy for a Seeker. Certainly not us, not this past week. Could this really be the answer we need, no traipsing across the hinterlands to find a semi-mystical garden with a crazy dangerous hermit youkai gardener, no voyage into the north to find seeds among their normal sprouting area?
>Never mind. If it is, then it is. No sense getting emotional about it, one way or the other.
>That alchemist shop we visited before, did we note its hours of operation?

[DracoOmega]

>Take a moment to stare at the seeds. Can this really be the last ingredient? We're a Seeker, nothing comes easy for a Seeker. Certainly not us, not this past week. Could this really be the answer we need, no traipsing across the hinterlands to find a semi-mystical garden with a crazy dangerous hermit youkai gardener, no voyage into the north to find seeds among their normal sprouting area?
>Never mind. If it is, then it is. No sense getting emotional about it, one way or the other.
>That alchemist shop we visited before, did we note its hours of operation?

>You stare at the seeds for a moment, feeling more emotional than you would have expected from yourself. Is this really it? This simple, after all you had been steeling yourself for? But you brush this aside quickly enough; there are still practical matters to consider.
>You did not note its hours, and it will definitely be firmly evening by the time you can return there; perhaps not late enough for it to be closed, but you have to admit that it's a possibility.

[Hello Purvis]

>Recall what the instructions on the potting soil were.

[DracoOmega]

>Recall what the instructions on the potting soil were.

>Minoriko simply said that any seeds planted in it would grow swiftly and hearty; she gave no additional instructions about how to use it.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's find someplace out of the way, where people won't bother us with staring, then introduce the pot, soil, and seeds to each other. Keep in mind what we were told about proper planting of the seeds.

[DracoOmega]

>Let's find someplace out of the way, where people won't bother us with staring, then introduce the pot, soil, and seeds to each other. Keep in mind what we were told about proper planting of the seeds.

>While the density of traffic is appreciably lighter here than towards the heart of the city, it is still somewhat tricky to find a truly secluded spot. Eventually you settle for the shade of a modest oak on a small plot of green near a cobbler's, already closed for the day. You produce the sachet of blessed soil from your pack and empty its contents into the terracotta pot; it fills it up nicely. Then you dig a couple small holes in the soil with your finger, place a seed in each one, and fill them over again. If you were supposed to do anything fancier, Minoriko didn't bother to tell you, so you hope this will be enough; despite growing up in a farming village, you never really took to agriculture.
>Then you wait. A woman in green walks calmly past the shop while a fairy hovers alongside her, holding a parasol above the taller woman's head. A cat youkai saunters past, throwing a glance and a inquisitive sniff of the air in your direction; you remain impassive until she wanders off. The sun slowly sinks in the sky. Nothing appears to be happening.

[Oldmansour]

>Add water.

[DracoOmega]

>Add water.

>Grimacing a little at your oversight, you pull out your canteen and water your seeds. Sacred or no, the soil drinks deeply of it, growing rich and dark as the water trickles over its surface. You keep your eyes fixed upon the soil for any hint of a change... and still nothing. You sigh and lean back against the tree again; probably letting yourself get carried away here. You take another glance at the sun and ponder what to do if this doesn't pan out.
>Wait! Your eyes widen, despite yourself, as they catch a thin strand of green faintly poking its way past the soil's surface!

[Hanzo K.]

>Grin slightly, and get a closer look. Ol' Mino's got a knack for this stuff alright.

[DracoOmega]

>Grin slightly, and get a closer look. Ol' Mino's got a knack for this stuff alright.

>You cannot entirely suppress a grin as you watch the tiny seedling slowly emerge from the soil, twisting and growing steadily thicker. Its pale green flesh darkens as thin tendrils of new growth snake out from the sides of the stem. A few inches to the right, a second seedling rises tentatively to meet the setting sun. In absolute terms, this is still a very slow process, but for a plant - and one that supposedly takes years to mature - to grow fast enough to watch is an oddly captivating experience. Particularly, in this case, because of the promise it holds. You find your breath coming a little quickly.

[Hanzo K.]

>Let's splash our face with a bit of our water, make sure we aren't dreaming.
>"Man, Honey'd freak out seein' this." Hell, Marisa would too, wouldn't she?

[DracoOmega]

>Let's splash our face with a bit of our water, make sure we aren't dreaming.
>"Man, Honey'd freak out seein' this." Hell, Marisa would too, wouldn't she?

>You splash a little of the remaining water in your face, but the chief result of this is giving additional rain to your burgeoning seedlings; it seems you are fully conscious.
>You ponder what the diminutive sidekick-in-training's reaction to this would be. Marisa, at least, you're fairly sure would take it in stride - would find it impressive, no doubt, but she's oddly unflappable in the face of strangeness and she's probably seen far stranger than this.

>The sprout continues to grow and spread and the other seedling follow its lead. They are still very small - barely more than a handful of leaves the size of your fingertip - but they show no signs of stopping. At the rate they're growing, you wouldn't be surprised if they could match the bittercress at the nursery in less than an hour.

[Oldmansour]

>In retrospect, perhaps we should have done this after we found a place to lodge for the night, so we wouldn't have to lug these flowers around from shop to shop.
>Do we know enough about flowers and their growth to know if moving them would disrupt their growing pattern?
>Ah, never mind. We'd have to field too many annoying questions about carrying around rapidly growing flowers. Let's wait till they're done, then we'll move.

[Hanzo K.]

>At this rate, could they possibly end up blooming too?!
>Nah, that'd be TOO lucky. We aren't a rabbit after all.

[DracoOmega]

>In retrospect, perhaps we should have done this after we found a place to lodge for the night, so we wouldn't have to lug these flowers around from shop to shop.
>Do we know enough about flowers and their growth to know if moving them would disrupt their growing pattern?
>Ah, never mind. We'd have to field too many annoying questions about carrying around rapidly growing flowers. Let's wait till they're done, then we'll move.

>Yes, perhaps a cobbler's yard on the outskirts of town was not the most ideal place to camp out for a while, but you're here now.
>Your thumb is about as green as your eyes, so you have no idea whether bittercress would normally care whether it was jostled around or not - to say nothing about how Minoriko's touch could affect this. She's obviously given you something very special here since the farms of Easthaven certainly never grew anything at quite this pace.
>You decide to stay put and watch your plant grow rather than have to explain to anyone why it's doing what it's doing. And honestly, it's not so bad to be off your feet. All this walking seems to have taken a lot more out of you than normal, for some reason.

>At this rate, could they possibly end up blooming too?!
>Nah, that'd be TOO lucky. We aren't a rabbit after all.

>You try to refrain from declaring triumph just yet - this is too important to allow your hopes free rein - and content yourself with watching the process. Though not much more time has passed before you become very aware of how hungry you are; perhaps you've just been so busy moving that you've neglected to notice until now? You debate whether it's worth straying from this spot after all....

[Oldmansour]

>Glance around for signs of an eatery in the vicinity.

[Hanzo K.]

>A fruit cart or something of the like would also suffice.

[DracoOmega]

>Glance around for signs of an eatery in the vicinity.

>You take a glance around, but nothing of that nature is visible from where you are. You did pass several earlier, but the closest is at least a short walk away.

>A fruit cart or something of the like would also suffice.

>This you had not encountered; at least in the parts of Val Razua you've been through so far, formal shops greatly outnumber open-air stalls and vendors. The commercial districts had a rather different feel than Braston's, which usually had a bustling farmer's market and assorted smaller vendors filling the spaces in its various squares, most days. Though it would probably not be difficult to track down a grocer, if you wished.

[Oldmansour]

>About how long do we think it'll take for the flowers to bloom at the rate they're going?

[DracoOmega]

>About how long do we think it'll take for the flowers to bloom at the rate they're going?

>While you cannot speak to this specifically, the plants will probably be a similar size to the ones at the nursery in less than an hour.

[Oldmansour]

>But those weren't flowered, so, let's assume two hours to bloom....
>What time is it now?

[DracoOmega]

>But those weren't flowered, so, let's assume two hours to bloom....
>What time is it now?

>You take another look at the sun and try to gauge the time. It is perhaps... 7 o'clock or so, currently.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, we've been hungry before. No need to dive into our supplies.
>On the other hand, if this is the magic capital of the world, a rapidly growing flower probably wouldn't seem THAT out of place, would it? And even if we find an alchemist shop that's still open, we'd need the flowers formed anyway. That'll afford us a chance to find a bite to eat first.
>Let us, carefully, take up the flowers, and head in the direction of the local Seeker's guildhall, and find a place to grab a bite along the way.