Maribel Quest Continuation: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"And are you supposed to gather this mist into some sort of container, then?"
>"Where can I find Hakugyokurou?"

>She nods. "A tightly sealed bottle should do."
>"In the mountains to the northeast," says Byakuren. "I would tell you more, but it's honestly been centuries since I was there."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ah, well someone else may know, anyway. I've heard the place mentioned by a few people already today."
>"Are there... any other possible downsides or provisos to this?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ah, well someone else may know, anyway. I've heard the place mentioned by a few people already today."
>"Are there... any other possible downsides or provisos to this?"

>Byakuren nods. "I do not think it is entirely uncommon for people to visit the ghost princess these days."
>"It will enhance your magical power, and your physical power quite a lot," says Byakuren. "Since it being cast second hand, the results will not be quite so dramatic as they were with me, but it might not feel that way to you. I am not certain if it will affect your life span as strongly as it has mine, but you will almost certainly see an immense benefit there as well. As you likely already know, you will become a youkai. There is simply no question about it. And, because you have done so willingly, the harm it will do to your karma will be immense. You will easily spend a long time laboring under it before you could restore it to where it is now."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"May I ask why becoming a youkai incurs a karmic debt? Youkai don't seem to be any darker than humans; at least not the ones that I've met. Why should becoming one count as a transgression?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"May I ask why becoming a youkai incurs a karmic debt? Youkai don't seem to be any darker than humans; at least not the ones that I've met. Why should becoming one count as a transgression?"

>"It is rejecting your prior karma," says Byakuren. "You and I were born humans, and meant to live as such. To reject that is to wound one's karma deeply. Many would say that this cannot be recovered from. I do not believe it is so."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"What about animals that have become youkai? Is it the same for them?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"What about animals that have become youkai? Is it the same for them?"

>"Not quite," says Byakuren. "Animals do not accrue karma quite as we do. Rather they live their lives and progress, step by step, until any sins of their old lives are gone. For them, becoming a Youkai muddles things a bit. Many would argue it is a step back for them, taking a lower place in the chain of being. I would say these people are exactly wrong. Whether it harms that youkai's karma, only the Enma could say for sure. But I do not believe it does. Sadly, they are the ones most likely to harm it themselves."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"And if I were to become a youkai eventually, even without this ritual, do you think the effect on my karma would be the same?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"And if I were to become a youkai eventually, even without this ritual, do you think the effect on my karma would be the same?"

>She nods. "Would it be the same? That depends. If you do not seek it specifically, the burden upon you would be great, but lighter. If you sought it out, whatever the method, it the burden would be the same."

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

> Tackle Byakuren out of the way and take a shanking for the team.
> "Hmm...that's definitely a lot to think about...how precisely does the weight of karma manifest itself?"

[Kilgamayan]

> Shank all of Parsee, Shou, Aya, Yuuka and Nazrin before they shank us.

[DracoOmega]

>"I... do not think I seek being a youkai for it's own sake, although I admit that I'm curious what it would be like to experience that. But there's so much about magic that I want to learn, and understand and be able to do. And if such a change would be inevitable if I were to continue to practice, anyway... Gensokyo feels like a place where having that sort of power can help do actual good."

[Kilgamayan]

> Shank Draco for posting something serious after the 1000th post.

[UncertainJakutten]

>Kneecap Kilga, Draco, and Purvis with a Flaming Piece of Rusty Rebar

[Kilgamayan]

> MATRIX BACKFLIP DODGE

[UncertainJakutten]

> Quantum Divide thread by overflowing it with explosive positive energy.

[Kilgamayan]

> Post after lock
> Annoy Purvis by locking thread before he's finished updating

[Hello Purvis]

> Tackle Byakuren out of the way and take a shanking for the team.

>"Oh, that reminds me," Byakuren says. "I'll also need one of your lungs. This will only take a moment..."
>You just got shanked by a broadsword. God damnit.

> Shank all of Parsee, Shou, Aya, Yuuka and Nazrin before they shank us.

>Too late!

> Shank Draco for posting something serious after the 1000th post.

>You have nothing sharp! Haw haw!
>Also he's doing a valuable service of giving the parser something serious to reply to in the next thread =[
>And the rest of yalls are too busy missing a lung to think of those kinds of things.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Post between locks
>Annoy Purvis further.

>Oh god Parsee is awesome!

[Kilgamayan]

> Regret nothing.
> Except lack of lung.