(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[DracoOmega]

>Any furthur alcoves that appear to be birthing chambers like the one's on the other side?
>Proceed anyway, slowly.

>The tunnel does not appear to have any obvious alcoves or interesting passageways that you can see.
>You continue slowly forward, keeping wary of your surroundings. The tunnel continues to slowly narrow to the point where you can barely fit through it without walking sideways, but nothing leaps out to exploit your restricted mobility. Before the passage squeezes shut entirely, it gives way to open space.

>You are on a narrow ledge of rock overlooking a very large chamber, substantially larger than any you've yet seen. A sizable river rushes in the depths below and the chamber follows its course, extending out of sight in both directions. The air above is moist, with just a hint of mist. The river is largely without bank, though you spot a few small expanses of stone by the water's edge, perhaps 100 feet below you. While you can make out the opposite wall only barely, both sides of the chamber seem striped with rocky ledges; some of them are quite large, while others look too narrow even to stand on. Many disappear into sheltered alcoves in the chamber wall and perhaps tunnels beyond that, though you cannot tell for certain. Looking down, you see several larger ledges below you and along the rock face to your right, though no obvious way to reach them at the moment. Aside, perhaps, from an unpleasantly long fall. At several points, the chamber is spanned by large natural rock bridges. Most of them are likewise out of reach, either too low or too far away, but a narrow path extending along the rockface to your left connects with a sizeable one a little distance away.
>....it takes a moment for you to become aware of it, but you think something is brushing against your treasure sense.

[Oldmansour]

>Spider-horde? NOW we're talkin'.
>Any sign of webbing about?
>If our arm isn't so useless as to be immobilized, pull out our dowsing rods and have a scan.

[DracoOmega]

>Spider-horde? NOW we're talkin'.
>Any sign of webbing about?
>If our arm isn't so useless as to be immobilized, pull out our dowsing rods and have a scan.

>Would be nice to get a pleasant surprise down here, for once.
>You don't see any at the moment.
>While your left arm is not much improved, you nonetheless place a dowsing rod in that hand, and try to scan for the source of your sensation. It turns out that while your lower arm is not technically immobilized, moving it and particularly keeping it elevated for a prolonged time takes so much concentration that it interferes with the focus you need to dowse properly. And one rod on its own doesn't cut it. You're quite certain there's something out there, though. The reaction when you tried to dowse it was fairly immediate, even as impaired as you are. Something magical, in some sense. You think it's somewhere downstream, still fairly distant. With a tired and frustrated sigh, you let your arm drop again.

[Oldmansour]

>Follow that path to our left.

[DracoOmega]

>Follow that path to our left.

>You follow the path left, skirting along the rock face and ascending slightly. The ledge is quite narrow, but not so much so that careful passage is nerve-wracking. You really wouldn't want to have to make any sudden movements, though - it's barely wide enough to walk straight along.
>As you make it about halfway to the bridge, you think you hear a noise along the rock far above you.

[Oldmansour]

>Is this path going up or downstream?
>Look to the noise.

[DracoOmega]

>Is this path going up or downstream?
>Look to the noise.

>You are currently walking upstream.
>You turn to look to the noise and see a small stone crumble from a ledge far above and clatter down the rock face some distance ahead of you before falling into the water below. The sound of the river's rushing swallows any splash it might have made.

[Oldmansour]

>Just a falling stone? No figures moving? Look harder.

[DracoOmega]

>Just a falling stone? No figures moving? Look harder.

>The ledge is at too sharp an angle above you to see beyond its edge, but at the moment you can see only rock and open air. You spend a few more seconds staring closely in that direction, but neither see nor hear anything else of note.

[Oldmansour]

>Catch you next time.
>Continue.

[DracoOmega]

>Catch you next time.
>Continue.

>Vowing to catch whatever may be lurking above, you continue onward. Whether they retreated unseen into the shadows or really were just a stone, you cover the remaining distance to the bridge without further incident.

[Oldmansour]

>Hasty glance overhead for whatever that was the first time.
>Cross the bridge.
>Prepare to answer the questions 3.

[DracoOmega]

>Hasty glance overhead for whatever that was the first time.
>Prepare to answer the questions 3.

>You glance back overhead. The rock does not seem to have undergone rapid geological change since last you observed it.
>"What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen Night Sparrow?"

>Cross the bridge.

>You set out across the bridge. The rock beneath your feet is smooth and even, nearly as much as you might expect from a constructed bridge, though this is clearly a natural formation. Its width is more ample than the path up to this point, perhaps about 8 feet across. Below you, the river rushes steadily.
>As you process across, details of the terrain ahead become clearer. On the opposite side of the bridge is a wide flat area, covered by a low overhang. Several large columns of rough stone join rock above to rock below as the ledge sweeps further to the right and inward, beyond the dimming light of your torch. A rocky path also descends along the exterior slope, moving downstream. You don't know whether it would take you all the way towards whatever magical signature you were sensing, but it does seem to go a long way. Looking further to the left, you see another plateau even higher along the wall. A significant part of the cliff seems to have cracked away at some point, judging by the angular shear marks along the rock and rubble below. ...wait a moment. Is that...? You squint for a moment in that direction. It's small enough that you overlooked it several times, but you're growing increasingly convinced something on that plateau is not a natural formation. It almost looks like a... torii, or part of one, at least.
>You hear another noise from somewhere overheard.

[Oldmansour]

>African or European?
>How much longer before we have to ignite the other torch?
>Torii as in a torii gate? Like to a shrine?
>Does the treasure reaction seem to be coming from around or beyond the torii?
>The same kind of sound as before? Look up anyway.

[DracoOmega]

>African or European?
>How much longer before we have to ignite the other torch?
>Torii as in a torii gate? Like to a shrine?
>Does the treasure reaction seem to be coming from around or beyond the torii?
>The same kind of sound as before? Look up anyway.

>Neither! To the Gorge of Eternal Peril with you!
>It's getting pretty low, although you think you can get another couple minutes out of it before the flame gets too close to your tail to be safe holding.
>It does look a bit like that, although not fully intact. It's hard to tell much more at this distance.
>The sense is relatively non-specific, but when you dowsed for it, the reaction you got was clearly in the opposite direction.
>This noise was quieter than before, but you look up just the same. The ceiling here is far enough away that it's hard to make out and a few moment's careful observation turns up nothing but stalactites. Lots and lots of stalactites.

[Oldmansour]

Treasure or shrine?

[Hello Purvis]

Shrine.

>Can we see a way to reach this torii from here?

[Hanzo K.]

I say the shrine too, shrines mean gods or shrinemaidens.
And Shrinemaidens are Mikos, and Mikos often mean Healers. And healers means that this arm of ours gets fixed back up.
We can get the loot later, getting back in proper condition comes first.


>If there is a way to reach it, then go there. Maybe there's someone home who can lend us a hand?
>..Try not to cringe at the bad pun on our current condition.

[Oldmansour]

Sounds good to me.
My only concern was time, as we do have only a finite source of illumnation on hand. But, on the other hand, we might be able to find something in the shrine we can use in that capacity- an old lantern, a spare torch or two, ynever know.

>Apart from the noises above us and the water below us, what can we hear here? Specifically from the direction of the torii?

[DracoOmega]

>Can we see a way to reach this torii from here?

>Not directly. There is no visible path to the plateau on which it stands, but you cannot see very far into the interior from this height. It seems possible that one of the tunnels along the wall ahead might lead up there. Presumably whoever built it had some way of reaching it aside from scaling a sheer cliff.

>Apart from the noises above us and the water below us, what can we hear here? Specifically from the direction of the torii?

>You hear nothing in particular in that direction.

>If there is a way to reach it, then go there. Maybe there's someone home who can lend us a hand?
>..Try not to cringe at the bad pun on our current condition.

>Figuring that looking for a tunnel on the other side is probably your best bet for the moment, you continue across the bridge.
>Right now you'd gladly trade a bad pun for a good shoulder.

>After a few more feet, you hear a faint rustling in the air above you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move before another spider can drop on us!
>Assuming something of that nature doesn't happen, scan the ceiling.

[DracoOmega]

>Move before another spider can drop on us!
>Assuming something of that nature doesn't happen, scan the ceiling.

>You bolt forward! A moment later, you feel something land across the top of your head and back, almost like a heavy mesh.

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep moving, until it's off of us, and look up.

[DracoOmega]

>Keep moving, until it's off of us, and look up.

>You keep running, and feel whatever it is start to slide off from the momentum. Then you feel a light impact against your right arm, followed a sharp tug backwards.
>You look up. Suspended in the air above you is a blond-haired girl, dangling from the distant ceiling by a long silken tether. She is garbed in brown and black, with a brown ribbon her in hair and bands of dull yellow around the waist of her dress. A rope of webbing extends from her hand to your arm.
>The girl scowls darkly as you look at her, then flicks her other hand towards you. Another thick rope of webbing flies forth from it towards you.

[Hanzo K.]

I knew it.
Time for some conversation.

>roll eyes slightly. this is the last thing we need right now..
>dodge the other webshot as best we can.
>"I take it you're the one in charge of the spiders here, eh?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I take it you're the one in charge of the spiders here, eh?"

>Don't say this. Conversing requires some efforts to calm.
>"Wait stop! I don't want to fight you!"
>Do we see anything that suggests a civilized or non-civilized demeanor?

[DracoOmega]

>roll eyes slightly. this is the last thing we need right now..
>dodge the other webshot as best we can.

>As if you haven't had enough problems already today...
>You try to dodge forward, but the youkai jerks hard on your arm, pulling you off-balance and back towards her. As you see the second shot close in the corner of your eye, you shift into the motion and crane your neck aside. The webbing flies narrowly past your shoulder and sails over the side of the bridge. You hear the spider youkai hiss as she yanks up on the strand, sending it rippling back towards her.

>"Wait stop! I don't want to fight you!"
>Do we see anything that suggests a civilized or non-civilized demeanor?

>Her scowl deepens and she gives your arm another fierce pull, nearly toppling you over. You glace warily at the edge of the bridge, just a few feet away. As the second rope arcs into the air, she snaps her wrist down and lashes out at you again, almost whip-like.
>She seems obviously angry, but whether this implies a lack of civilizing or not, you can't be sure. Simply living in such a reclusive location might suggest she isn't, but that isn't always true.

[Hello Purvis]

>How long do we think it would take for the torch to burn through this web strand, given prior experience?

[DracoOmega]

>How long do we think it would take for the torch to burn through this web strand, given prior experience?

>It looks denser than the webbing you burned through earlier, though there's obviously much less of it . It would probably take several seconds, at least.

[Hello Purvis]

>Well fuck, two can play at this game.
>Yank sharply against the webbing and throw our weight against it. Either it's going to give, or she is.