Author Topic: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)  (Read 58875 times)

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #60 on: February 06, 2014, 08:29:32 AM »
>Well, then.
>Stick arm into the river to gauge depth, if we cannot gauge this data from a visual assessment.
>Outside of cold feet, there's really no reason we couldn't just walk across the river, is there? Assuming it doesn't drop off in the middle.

>It's easy enough to see the river bottom by the shore, but it does descend visibly as you get further out and soon enough is hard to gauge, between the churn of the water and the lighting conditions. You couldn't really reach your arm out that far without wading into the river first, though.
>You strongly suspect you will get up to at least your torso, and quite possibly deeper; the current is likely not strong enough to cause you real problems, but isn't completely ignorable either.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #61 on: February 07, 2014, 05:16:27 AM »
>Well, if we can't swing across, could we use such a tether as a safety line? Or possibly as a way to help keep our balance as we try to cross across those rocks?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #62 on: February 07, 2014, 06:00:19 AM »
>Well, if we can't swing across, could we use such a tether as a safety line? Or possibly as a way to help keep our balance as we try to cross across those rocks?

>You suppose you could, though the main danger in swimming across seems to be becoming thoroughly wet; the current doesn't look strong enough to cause you any real issues. Unfortunately, beyond the problem of keeping balance on wet rocks (which you might be able to manage regardless), there are simply gaps between them too large to actually jump across. Maybe somewhere up or downstream would have a more convenient arrangement of them, but a balance aid isn't going to help you leap a 15 foot gap from a standstill.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #63 on: February 07, 2014, 06:07:38 AM »
What do you think, ford here or go for a walk to find a better place?

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #64 on: February 07, 2014, 03:43:00 PM »
Find a better place. Werewolfen gets to town easily enough.

>Let's mosey more toward our ultimate goal for now.
>And maybe dowse briefly to see if we can detect anything like a bridge in the distance; the worked iron in the nails ought to stand out.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2014, 12:58:20 AM by Chaos Purvis »

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #65 on: February 08, 2014, 01:41:58 AM »
>Let's mosey more toward our ultimate goal for now.
>And maybe dowse briefly to see if we can detect anything like a bridge in the distance; the worked iron in the nails ought to stand out.

>You follow the river southward for a little while, dowsing after a few bends in the path to see if maybe a bridge might lie ahead. You have to admit, upon reflection, that it's possible what you've been sensing all along is a bridge; it's near enough to the water relative to your distance from it that it could very well be. Though as you continue onward, you start to have your doubts again - at least if the river's path on the map you're holding is accurate. It somehow doesn't feel quite in the right position.

>After maybe ten minutes of walking, you come to a point where the river narrows slightly. But more importantly, there is a small rise in the opposite bank where the forest loam - and the trees rooted in it - extends much closer to the water than normal before descending steeply to the rocky shoreline below. There is the rock face itself to contend with, but the angle between the trees on each bank could certainly keep you above the water's surface from here.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #66 on: February 08, 2014, 03:40:28 AM »
>All right, now we're getting somewhere.
>About how far away is that reading we've been following now?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #67 on: February 08, 2014, 04:03:19 AM »
>All right, now we're getting somewhere.
>About how far away is that reading we've been following now?

>It's hard to say for certain, but probably at least another twenty minutes, you'd guess.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #68 on: February 08, 2014, 04:34:20 AM »
>Glance furthur downriver. Does the river narrow perceptibly any more down the line that we can see?
>Assess this location as a crossing point.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #69 on: February 08, 2014, 04:37:24 AM »
>Glance furthur downriver. Does the river narrow perceptibly any more down the line that we can see?
>Assess this location as a crossing point.

>Not appreciably, though you can only get a good view for another hundred or so feet, from here.
>In terms of swimming, it seems fairly comparable to the first point; the journey would be a few feet shorter, but that makes little difference in the scheme of things. And if anything, there are even fewer rocks to use as stepping stones than the last location. The height differential does make grappling across more viable, though it would still require some measure of acrobatics.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #70 on: February 08, 2014, 04:40:11 AM »
>A level of acrobatic beyond or within our current capacity?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #71 on: February 08, 2014, 04:49:49 AM »
>A level of acrobatic beyond or within our current capacity?

>You grudgingly have to admit that you're not in top form anymore, but you still think you could manage this. Aside from landing and securing the hold on the other bank, the trick will be not to simply careen straight into the rock face when you swing. If you aim to the side instead of directly across and learn your weight against the arc, you can probably swing clear around and miss it, then drop to the shore below. Probably. Assuming your grapple holds, of course.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #72 on: February 08, 2014, 05:08:56 AM »
>How confidant are we in getting a secure grapple grip on the other side?
>If the answer to the above is 'rather confidant' or above, make the attempt.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #73 on: February 08, 2014, 05:22:15 AM »
>How confidant are we in getting a secure grapple grip on the other side?
>If the answer to the above is 'rather confidant' or above, make the attempt.

>That really remains to be tested. It is liable to take several tries at best and probably quite a few more, and there's only so confident you can be about it bearing your weight if you can't actually inspect where it lands. You can at least give it a few good experimental tugs before hoisting yourself across the river by it, of course; you know how to be thorough, within the limits of what you have to work with.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #74 on: February 08, 2014, 05:24:24 AM »
>Several tries. Bah. We're Nazrin. We'll get it in one.
>Let's start with making that shot.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #75 on: February 08, 2014, 08:23:23 AM »
>Several tries. Bah. We're Nazrin. We'll get it in one.
>Let's start with making that shot.

>Feeling a bout of irritated confidence - you don't have time to be flummoxed by a river! - you produce your grappling hook once more, choose a suitable target on the opposite side - a nice stout oak with a few good protruding branches - move to somewhere with a clear shot, take aim, and fire! Sadly, this soon gives way to just plain irritation.

>Your first shot doesn't even reach the tree, instead clattering against the side of the rock face and tumbling down to the shore. You reel the rope back through the river and take a second shot, spray flying off the rope as it sails over the water again. Your aim is fair, but the grapple is a lot less aerodynamic than what you're used to throwing, and also heavier - particularly with so much rope trailing it. You put a bit more muscle into it and try a higher arc and this time it does come pretty close to the mark, but fails to catch on anything. You try a third time. There is a bit of hope on the fourth, but whatever purchase the grapple found in the oak branches gives way once you try throwing your weight against the rope - from the safety of the shore, at least. With a grumble, you press on.
>Possibly the worst part of all this is the utterly vexing tendency for the grapple to get caught on scrub on its way back - far too tenuous a grip to hold your body weight, but bloody well enough to be insufferable. Thus every second toss is followed by a wrestling match against ungainly plant life too far away to even see properly, letting go of the grapple only to grab it again a few inches later. It would almost be enough to make you quit if you hadn't nearly nail it last time. C'mon... just one more...

>Success! Tentative success. Need to really throw your weight against it first, you remind yourself - can't declare victory just yet. You bear against the rope as much as you can without actually being suspended in the air, and it holds fast. There is a slight rustle of leaves from the accommodating tree which you've been battering at for the last few minutes, but nothing gives the slightest inch and the branch itself looks sturdy enough to hoist a pair of oni, let alone you. You think you did it.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #76 on: February 08, 2014, 08:34:49 AM »
>How come that Skywalker kid could pull that trick on the first shot, and not us? Mice > Jedi.
>Grin.
>"No grappling hook can make me look like a scrub."
>Let's get our tarzan on. But, a well-measured tarzan, with 95% less shouting. We're a mouse, not an elephant.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #77 on: February 08, 2014, 09:18:22 AM »
>How come that Skywalker kid could pull that trick on the first shot, and not us? Mice > Jedi.
>Grin.
>"No grappling hook can make me look like a scrub."
>Let's get our tarzan on. But, a well-measured tarzan, with 95% less shouting. We're a mouse, not an elephant.

>Need more people shooting at you while you work, obviously.
>Rope in hand, you select a suitable tree on this side of the river and work your way up it without letting go. You take a moment to center yourself, line up with the angle you think you need to jump, and visualize what you're about to do. You can do this. Hell, this should be easy compared to landing that grapple across the river. Of course, you also only get one shot to do it right. Focus.

>You take a deep breath and leap! There is a rush of vertigo as the air takes you and you fall, the wind fluttering your hair across your face and misting you with spray flicking off the rope you're tightly clinging to. You brace forcefully to the right, throwing as much of your weight as you can to swing your path aside. You feel a tautness in the rope as you pull against its length and momentum rotates you around the point where the grapple is lodged upon the oak. You sail swiftly over the river and the other bank approaches rapidly. And so do the trees.
>You have only a second or two to pick your landing among the stolid pillars and the web of limbs between them. The edge of the river passes beneath your feet and you let go, tumbling against the soil as gently as can be expected - which is to say: not very. You come to rest against a cluster of obligingly springy bushes,  a startled bird rapidly departing the scene of your sudden arrival. Your shoulder aches.

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #78 on: February 08, 2014, 05:11:13 PM »
>Let's have a moment to relax, and rub our shoulder.  Then contemplate how we're going to get our hook back.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #79 on: February 09, 2014, 12:00:31 AM »
>Let's have a moment to relax, and rub our shoulder.  Then contemplate how we're going to get our hook back.

>You lie in the soft bushes for a moment, rubbing your sore shoulder and absently noting the various other parts of you that ache - though several of them were already doing so before that feat of acrobatics.
>Retrieving your hook should be easy enough, though. You can simply walk up the little hill next to you and untether it from the oak that you hooked it on; it is on this side of the river, after all.

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #80 on: February 09, 2014, 12:28:10 AM »
>Once our shoulder feels less murderous, grab the hook, then dowse again for that source of iron and such we had been following.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #81 on: February 09, 2014, 12:40:41 AM »
>Once our shoulder feels less murderous, grab the hook, then dowse again for that source of iron and such we had been following.

>It smarts a bit, but it honestly isn't that bad. You hoist yourself off the ground and walk up the hill to the oak that served as your anchor. You climb about halfway up, work the grapple loose, unwind the rope from around the branch it was coiled upon, then start to reel back the full length from where it's spread across the terrain.
>After gathering it all together, a quick dowse reconfirms the direction to your target; you have a clear enough path in that direction to head on mostly straight, if you wanted to.

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #82 on: February 09, 2014, 12:59:39 AM »
>Head straight for it.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #83 on: April 06, 2014, 11:35:59 PM »
>Head straight for it.

>You give your rope a few shakes to flick some of the residual water from it, then stow it in your pack and continue westward, following mostly near the river where the tree cover is less dense and movement easier. Being on this bank does allow you to cut quite a few corners, however, as the river bends back and forth in broad and languid curves. Leaves rustle faintly as you pick your way beneath a stand of jeuvenile maples, and the beat of tiny wings in the distance softly punctuates the unbroken flow of the Grau.
>Before too long, a faint but distinct wisp of wood smoke brushes past your nose. In the middle of a forest, such a scent might normally be alarming were you not fairly convinced you were approaching some kind of dwelling. And sure enough, the faint yellow glow brushing across one spot on the horizon could indicate little else - much too subdued for a wildfire at this distance, but in contrast to the dull grey moonlight, might as well be lit like a beacon. As you round a rocky hill upon which a stubborn pine has taken root at an improbable angle, a thin tendril of smoke can be seen lazily winding upward between a gap in the trees. Whether you're approaching the right place or not, there's almost certainly someone not too far ahead.

>The source of the smoke comes into clear view a couple minutes later, nestled among some shady beech near a sheltered expanse of open shoreline. It is a log cabin of modest size, but surprisingly tidy construction, broad ruddy logs fitted together with careful evenness beneath a sharp gable roof and ringed around half its length by an elevated deck with a small logwork rail. Some distance to the side is a smaller outbuilding in a similar style - a shed, most likely - and not far past that is a triangular wooden rack suspended over an empty fire pit. An old wiff of smoked trout suggests its likely purpose. A warm flicking glow streams from the cabin's windows, dancing softly upon the wrought iron shutters which flank them. One might even call the place 'quaint' - it's certainly better-looking than some houses back in Braston.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #84 on: April 07, 2014, 01:24:19 AM »
>Approach the door and knock on it gently.
>While hoping for the best, let's mentally prepare ourself for the possibility this to be some crazy person who might come at us with an axe.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #85 on: April 07, 2014, 02:18:32 AM »
>Approach the door and knock on it gently.
>While hoping for the best, let's mentally prepare ourself for the possibility this to be some crazy person who might come at us with an axe.

>You approach the cabin's door, idly noting the large geometric design carved into its surface - a bit rustic, but executed with obvious care. From beyond you can hear a woman's voice very softly humming to herself; she sounds normal enough, for whatever that's worth. The sharp scent of woodsmoke tickles your nostrils.

>You give a little knock. The humming stops. There is a quick patter of footsteps, followed by a dull sound of metal scraping lightly against something. The footsteps approach.
>"Who is it?" the woman's voice calls out. She sounds slightly uncertain, but not overly pensive.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #86 on: April 07, 2014, 02:27:44 AM »
>Ah hell, she does have an axe...
>"Just a traveler, looking to ask some things. Heard about you in town."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #87 on: April 07, 2014, 03:19:47 AM »
>Ah hell, she does have an axe...
>"Just a traveler, looking to ask some things. Heard about you in town."

>If worst comes to worst, at least swords get a bonus versus axe-users
>The voice grows slightly more guarded. "Oh?"
>The door opens a crack to reveal a tall brown-haired woman with bold red eyes, the hint of a canine ear barely visible by the edge of the door frame. Her expression is a touch wary, but not enough to immediately inspire the same in you. What little you can see of the room beyond looks tidy and welcoming, all warm wood and simple accents. The crisp crackle of a wood fire issues from within.
>"What sort of things?" she asks.

Hello Purvis

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #88 on: April 07, 2014, 03:22:26 AM »
>"Stuff about the region. Word has it that you know your way around."
>Let's do a quick mental summary of what we've learned about our goal thus far.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 13)
« Reply #89 on: April 07, 2014, 04:17:00 AM »
>"Stuff about the region. Word has it that you know your way around."

>"A little," she says reservedly. You note her eyes rest upon your sword for a moment, then she looks back up at you with a quizzical expression. "Did someone really send you out here to me?"

>Let's do a quick mental summary of what we've learned about our goal thus far.

>Somewhere in the wilderness to the west lies a garden supposedly filled with all manner of flowers kept perpetually in bloom; the story has been corroborated by enough independent sources by now that you're fairly confident there's at least some truth to this. Dai claimed that some of her sisters had encountered it in person, and spoke in frightened tones about the youkai the garden belonged to - one by the name of Yuuka - trying gently to discourage you from investigating. Sekibanki apparently holds a strong suspicion that this is Yuuka Kazami, a notorious figure in the Wild Surge, linked with at least one massacre and presumed dead 50 years ago. Even she wasn't convinced this was true, but she didn't strike you as the type prone to flights of fancy. ...just flights of noggin, you guess. The garden cannot be found on any map you've seen, but Sekibanki indicated the region she believes it must occupy, based on some combination of reports and patrol routes which rule out its presence in other areas. This region is still larger than you'd like, but nonetheless narrows the terrain you'd have to search considerably. You could reach this area in approximately three day's hike from Isir's Cross, and you are a couple hours in that direction already now.