(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)

[Oldmansour]

>"Creative."

[DracoOmega]

>"Creative."

>"Pain in the ass," he replies, sizing up the offending door with keen eye and an irritated frown.

[Oldmansour]

>"That, too."
>Let's have a quick douse of the door. Unlike dude here, we can cheat.

[DracoOmega]

>"That, too."
>Let's have a quick douse of the door. Unlike dude here, we can cheat.

>You pull out your canteen and give the door a quick douse. This draws a strange look from the man, and you see him open his mouth to say something, but then he shuts it up again and takes a harder look at the door. Not only didn't it budge an inch as the water splashed against it, but something else isn't quite right. The water is dripping off it and onto the floor, sure, but it appears to be running though the doorknob, and when you look closer, sometimes running over small contours that don't appear to correspond to anything physically present in the door at all.
>"Try that a little to the left," he says without taking his eyes off the door.

[Hello Purvis]

Oh, good idea!

>Toss a bit more water on the left of the door.

[DracoOmega]

>Toss a bit more water on the left of the door.

>You toss another splash of water to the left of the last one. This has an even more obviously wrong effect. Droplets of water splatter against open air a short distance out from the wall the splash was aimed at, beading and dripping onto the floor. You shift your head to look at them from a different angle. It seems almost like they're resting on a small rounded surface of some sort, though quite invisible from either position. The man's eyes narrow as he stares at it, then he holds a palm out towards it and traces a small design with his other hand.
>As he speaks a somewhat halting series of unintelligible words, a slight hint of something golden glimmers beneath the water droplets, then grows. It... looks like a reasonable approximation of the doorknob he held in his hand a few moments ago. Looking like he expects it to vanish at any second, the man dives for the floating knob and grabs onto it tightly. You can actually see the look of relief on his face when it behaves exactly as any normal fixture would - that is, by exhibiting no behavior at all. He glances back in your direction and gives you a sheepish smile.
>"Thanks."

[Oldmansour]

>Glance between him and the bespelled door/wall/whatever.
>"Happy to help." Then mutter, under our breath, "I think....?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"So what's in there, guy?"

[DracoOmega]

>Glance between him and the bespelled door/wall/whatever.
>"Happy to help." Then mutter, under our breath, "I think....?"

>You glance between the man, the door to his right, and the floating doorknob in his hand which still does not appear particularly attached to anything. You find yourself feeling more than a little confused.
>The man gives you a little nod, then turns back to the... wall?

>"So what's in there, guy?"

>Your question has him craning his neck back towards you, a rather flummoxed expression of his face. "You mean you didn't- Uh, never mind. This is just professor Valenstern's office. Um, hopefully."
>Keeping a firm grasp on the knob, he knocks on the wall beside it - where a door ought to be, if only you could see one.
>"That's rather like cheating," comes a haughty female voice from the other side of the wall, "but I suppose you can come in anyway."

[Oldmansour]

I knew I was going to forget, glad I remembered. We should check our pendant while we're in the enchantment school. I recall it was mentioned that it may have been enchanted at one point, but isn't any more.

[Hello Purvis]

That is not a bad idea, once we get the important things out of the way.

>"Good luck!"
>Historyward!

[Oldmansour]

Agreed. Cure first. But while we're here now, it wouldn't hurt to ask about who would be the person to see, once we have time to spare.

[DracoOmega]

>"Good luck!"
>Historyward!

>You wish the man good luck, which he acknowledges with another sheepish nod, then you continue on your way. You catch just a glimpse of the clearly-not-a-wall swing open as you pass by it and continue on your way.

>The remainder of the trip proves uneventful - not that you would ordinarily expect a sparsely populated hallway to be especially eventful - and you arrive in front of the main office of the history department without further delay. Fortunately, this particular doorway makes not attempt to retreat from you as you enter it.
>You step into a relatively modest office, lighter in tone than the outer hall, though strictly functional in design. A wide wooden counter runs most of the width of the room, separating a small space by the entryway from the rest of the room. Beyond it, you see wooden filing cabinets and shelving units stuffed neatly with loose papers, bottles of ink and quills, and assorted other supplies of the clerical trade. An open door near the rear wall offers a glimpse of more office space, though you cannot see much of it from this angle. Closer to you, a small women labors at a lone cluttered desk. She looks up at you as you enter and gives you a professional, yet rather warm smile.
>"Can I help you?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I was hoping to be able to speak with someone knowledgeable- well, an expert, really, in the field of the early history of the Outer Freelands. Specifically, the Estval continent."

[DracoOmega]

>"I was hoping to be able to speak with someone knowledgeable- well, an expert, really, in the field of the early history of the Outer Freelands. Specifically, the Estval continent."

>Her lips purse thoughtfully. "Hmmm... how early?"

[Oldmansour]

>Did Minoriko give us any indication of how long ago the blight was an issue? Or how old the sword was?
>Or that pirate, for that matter, did she say anything about how old the blade might be?

[DracoOmega]

>Did Minoriko give us any indication of how long ago the blight was an issue? Or how old the sword was?
>Or that pirate, for that matter, did she say anything about how old the blade might be?

>She described the sword as likely being many hundreds of years old, and the blight itself being even older.
>Karu merely said that the power in the blade was 'ancient'.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Hundreds of years back, preferably. An exact date is hard to give."

[DracoOmega]

>"Hundreds of years back, preferably. An exact date is hard to give."

>"Pre or post-settlement?" she asks, then frowns slightly. "I suppose it doesn't matter; our best experts in pre-settlement history are all on expedition at the moment. Hmmm... perhaps Professor Noritomo? Actually, may I ask what sort of information you're inquiring about?"

[Oldmansour]

>"An old disease, actually. Something called a blight."
>"And possibly information on a species of youkai that may have lived on Estval before it was colonizes."

[DracoOmega]

>"An old disease, actually. Something called a blight."
>"And possibly information on a species of youkai that may have lived on Estval before it was colonizes."

>The secretary's frown deepens further. "That's... not quite what I was expecting. I'm not sure we're even the right people to ask about that, to be honest. But... I suppose she'd have a better idea than I would. I'll go ask if she's available."
>With that, the secretary stands up and withdraws into the back room.

>"Excuse me," you hear her say in a polite hush that's nevertheless no challenge for your ears to pick up. "There's a woman here inquiring about old diseases and pre-colonial youkai in Estval."
>"Old diseases?" comes a new voice, slightly stuffy and perhaps just a touch rankled. "That's not exactly our department, now is it?"
>"I know, but I wasn't sure who I should send her to speak with. She's a Seeker, by the way."
>"Is she now?" You can't quite decide if the woman is intrigued or staunchly unimpressed. There is a pause.
>"Should I tell her you're busy?" the secretary asks. "Or maybe suggest she speak with Professor Hiromi instead?"
>"Now, now," the voice says chasteningly. "That's even less her specialty than mine. You know that."
>"Then what do I tell her?"
>"Short of suggesting she fly out there in person to pester Keine?"
>The secretary chuckles. "Preferably."
>You hear a slight sigh. "Well, I suppose I wasn't particularly busy, anyway."
>"So... should I tell her to come in, then?"
>"Yes, yes, send her in." You swear you can hear the dismissive hand-wave that doubtlessly accompanied that tone.

>The secretary reemerges from the inner room and gives you a polite smile and nod. "The professor can spare a few minutes to speak with you." She gestures towards the open door. "This way, if you'd please?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Certainly. Thank you."
>Entrez!

[Hello Purvis]

Damn you for jumping me, Sour!

>Oh he's gonna be real interested in a minute, if he knows what's good for him...

[DracoOmega]

>"Certainly. Thank you."
>Entrez!

>The secretary nods, and you step around the counter and proceed to the inner office.

>It turns out to be rather more spacious than you expected from the outside, though much of the space is taken up with shelves of books and bamboo scrolls and bundled folders of paper. There are a few decorative items, however, and some of them rather exotic looking; your eye catches upon an old astrolabe, considerably tarnished, a sphere of colored glass set in a weathered stone base, and a bronze figurine of a strange horned beast - crudely cast, but very old-looking. A few other curios are displayed here and there amid the academic clutter.
>Nearly towering over the desk at the far side of the room is a tall woman with speckled brown hair. It looks a touch unkempt, an impression not at all helped by two large tufts of it flaring upward on either side of her scalp. She wears a loose, but rather voluminous tabard in deep blue atop a plain black dress; the whole affair looks slightly frumpled. In stark contrast to the rest of her appearance is the gaze she fixes you with as you enter; her eyes are piercingly gold and unmistakable sharp. After a protracted moment's examination, she arches an eyebrow - quite an expressive gesture on so angular a face - and speaks in a clear and measured tone.
>"So, I hear you have an unusual sort of question for me."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes. Let's cut to the chase."
>Roll up a sleeve so he can see the veins
>"Do you recognize what this is?"

[Oldmansour]

>Let's not do that.
>"I don't know if it's unusual or not, kinda new around here. But I'm hoping you're the woman to talk to about it."
>"I'm looking for information on an old disease that once existed on Estval. One that infected both humanoids and crops."

[Hello Purvis]

Is there any reason we're beating around the bush with someone we know is looking for an excuse to dismiss us with a "Go read a book" or somesuch, rather than immediately impressing him with the severity of the situation?

[Hanzo K.]

Simple, doing something stupid like that is a one-way ticket to getting locked up like a lab rat.

[Hello Purvis]

He wouldn't lock us up because he knows we'd take him down with us if he tried. I can see where you're coming from, but we have nothing to gain and everything to lose by being coy and evasive, given he's already pretty much wants nothing to do with us. It's much better to be direct and capture his interest than tiptoe around and piss him off or just get dismissed.

[Oldmansour]

You DO realize it's a she, right?