Author Topic: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)  (Read 46926 times)

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #870 on: September 18, 2012, 12:20:06 AM »
>"Never heard of Prado del Sol, what is it?"

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #871 on: September 18, 2012, 01:17:53 AM »
>"Never heard of Prado del Sol, what is it?"

>"It is a... village," she replies. "Or rather, was - many years now since anyone could call it that, yes. Unless, I suppose, they had consulted a map from the wrong era. Yes, or maybe slept for curiously many years, all at once. Unusual, you may rightly say, but I have heard it happen nonetheless." She smiles weakly. "A beautiful wisteria, the town center had. Royal purple - very old. I... watched it burn."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #872 on: September 18, 2012, 01:50:05 AM »
>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up painful memories."
>Give her a moment if she looks like she needs it.
>If she seems well enough, ask, "That would have been part of Hanashibara, then, yes?"

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #873 on: September 18, 2012, 02:04:43 AM »
>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dredge up painful memories."
>Give her a moment if she looks like she needs it.
>If she seems well enough, ask, "That would have been part of Hanashibara, then, yes?"

>"Oh, no, not painful," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "Far too many years for that, yes. It is simply... what it is - a tragedy, of course, but life seems rarely to let one avoid such business altogether. One accepts. Or one does not, perhaps - many choose this also, yes."
>She looks much the same as ever to you.
>She straightens up starchly at this and addresses you in a chastening tone. "Some might take offense at that, I should say." She holds your gaze like this a moment, then relaxes into her previous demeanor again. "But I... am not one of them. No, no, it would be silly to be such. We were that, yes - one of the most remote and proudly independent of the federated states, but a part of that federation nonetheless, in fact and deed both."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #874 on: September 18, 2012, 02:10:02 AM »
>We're not familiar with these federated states, remote or local, are we?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #875 on: September 18, 2012, 02:14:44 AM »
>We're not familiar with these federated states, remote or local, are we?

>You couldn't rhyme the names of all of the member states of Hanashibara off the top of your head, but that's certainly what she's referring to. You understand that their government is slightly less centralized than most other nations, owing at least in part to the circumstances of its founding.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #876 on: September 18, 2012, 02:24:30 AM »
>"Sorry. Like I said, new to this continent. Haven't had a chance to pick up a map yet."
>Not that this territory would probably still bear its old name, though, if it was overrun decades back, on a modern map, anyway.
>"And this Garden you spoke of, it was purportedly in your.. state?"

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #877 on: September 18, 2012, 02:50:06 AM »
>"Sorry. Like I said, new to this continent. Haven't had a chance to pick up a map yet."
>Not that this territory would probably still bear its old name, though, if it was overrun decades back, on a modern map, anyway.
>"And this Garden you spoke of, it was purportedly in your.. state?"

>"Do not worry yourself. No, not at all. I do not however have... such a map to give you." She frowns slightly. "Somewhere else within the Academy, they may have one, yes. The library does, one can be certain - though you could not have theirs, either. Unexpectedly confounding, this is...."
>You don't think you recall seeing it there, anyway. The border of the Wild Lands is fairly vaguely defined, long, and open. As you understand, it tends to grow increasingly untamed and dangerous the further you venture away from the civilization that borders it, rather than having any firm cutoff where tame ends and wild begins. A lot of it was less wild at some point or another in the past, but in some cases those points were quite distant indeed;
>"Oh, no," she says, shaking her head. "Certainly not. Hiding such a thing as that would be hard there - very open, much of it is, yes. Or much of it was, at any rate, and I have no reason to suspect this has changed! The ones who claimed it are not, I do not think, greatly in the business of planting trees. Would that they were," she muses. "I might greatly like to think another wisteria were growing now in the soil left vacant by the elder's passing. Yes, a pleasant thought to imagine, that is. But at any rate, this garden is not there - I should know its very location to the foot, if it were. Yes, many would. Rather, it is - at least, as I have heard it told - west of Isir's Cross. Perhaps a short distance, perhaps longer, perhaps longer even than that - I cannot say. This could put it within the Wild Lands, yes, or leave it even within the boundary of Val Razua. The state, I mean, of course. Far from the city itself, this is."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #878 on: September 18, 2012, 03:10:59 AM »
>If we do not know what Isir's Cross is, ask.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #879 on: September 18, 2012, 03:33:27 AM »
>If we do not know what Isir's Cross is, ask.

>In this case, you actually do recognize the name. Isir's Cross is an outpost near the border between Val Razua and Hanashibara, along the road to the southwest of the city, and possibly the last before you leave the country entirely; the name presumably stems from the fact that it sits upon the intersection of several different roadways. The outpost itself is actually quite old - you think it predates Hanashibara being a united nation entirely - though you don't believe it's very militarized these days. For that matter, the road itself isn't used nearly as much as the water or sky routes and the southern end of Val Razuan territory is fairly rugged and sparsely populated. The land to the west of it is largely hill and forest, you think, with no real settlement and only an ambiguous boundary between the two neighbouring nations. If you kept going west, you might indeed eventually reach the Wild Lands, though it would probably be the single most arduous route one could take if that was their intended destination.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #880 on: September 18, 2012, 04:02:00 AM »
>Is access to this outpost and the area beyond limited to land access, or would water-way travel be more convenient? Or at least faster, if even possible.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #881 on: September 18, 2012, 04:14:20 AM »
>Is access to this outpost and the area beyond limited to land access, or would water-way travel be more convenient? Or at least faster, if even possible.

>You can certainly arrive near to it by riverboat, if not immediately adjacent, but travel westward would be limited to land. You don't think there's even any road to speak of in that direction, let alone an active waterway. Reaching the outpost itself would probably be somewhat faster by riverboat than road, even if it required making a slight detour through nearby settlements.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #882 on: September 18, 2012, 04:17:12 AM »
>Approximately how much travel time would we be looking at by boat, assuming no delays?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #883 on: September 18, 2012, 04:21:06 AM »
>Approximately how much travel time would we be looking at by boat, assuming no delays?

>You're not sure the pace they keep or how many extraneous stops you'd need to put up with along the way, but somewhere between one day and two seems a safe bet.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #884 on: September 18, 2012, 05:18:18 AM »
>Not an unmanagable time, all things considered, depending on how long things take here in town.
>Take a moment to organize what the professor has told us, and determine if she actually gave us something in the league of precise directions, or at least as precise as she could be for a place with an unknown location.
>Taking into consideration our own tracking and survival skills, do we have enough information to go by, should it become necessary to find this garden with the ancient youkai denizen?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #885 on: September 18, 2012, 05:35:11 AM »
>Not an unmanagable time, all things considered, depending on how long things take here in town.
>Take a moment to organize what the professor has told us, and determine if she actually gave us something in the league of precise directions, or at least as precise as she could be for a place with an unknown location.
>Taking into consideration our own tracking and survival skills, do we have enough information to go by, should it become necessary to find this garden with the ancient youkai denizen?

>A day or two doesn't seem likely to kill you at the moment, anyway.
>The directions she gave are closer to the opposite of precise, in fact. The area 'west of Isir's Cross and possibly all the way into the Wild Lands' would be several day's journey just to walk from end to end of it, particularly given the terrain. The fact that it's largely forested and hilly will also significantly impede spotting anything from a distance, not to mention that the area is broad enough that you probably couldn't see the whole span of it at once, even if it were clear and flat. It's certainly possible that you could pick up on some geographical cues about to the garden's location once you were out searching for it, but merely wandering aimlessly around that chunk of the continent hoping to bump into it could take weeks.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #886 on: September 18, 2012, 05:55:14 AM »
>Then we should see if we can get her to narrow it down a bit more, if she can.
>If not, we may need to ask around a bit. Rumors and legends of ancient youkai in eternal gardens, somebody gotta know something.
>"West of Isir's Cross. That's a lot of terrain to cover. It'd really help if I had some idea of even its general vicinity. Like, hidden in the shadow of a particular hill, tucked in a clearing of a remote and rugged forest, that kind of thing."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #887 on: September 18, 2012, 07:55:14 AM »
>Then we should see if we can get her to narrow it down a bit more, if she can.
>If not, we may need to ask around a bit. Rumors and legends of ancient youkai in eternal gardens, somebody gotta know something.
>"West of Isir's Cross. That's a lot of terrain to cover. It'd really help if I had some idea of even its general vicinity. Like, hidden in the shadow of a particular hill, tucked in a clearing of a remote and rugged forest, that kind of thing."

>That would certainly help.
>This may also be possible.
>"Oh, I certainly couldn't tell you that," the professor replies. "No, certainly not. Not even the country in which it stands, I fear, which is a great deal less specific than a particular individual hill, yes? Though I suppose even knowing which country within which it could be found would help little unless you knew also what country in which you could be found - no convenient boundary lines to cross in the middle of a forest, are there? But no, I'm afraid I may not have much else to say in this regard, of help or otherwise."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #888 on: September 18, 2012, 08:30:05 AM »
>"That's all right. I wouldn't have thought finding a garden like this would be in any way easy. Finding the elixir recipe used up a lot of my good luck. It just hasn't regenerated yet."
>"But finding information is a Seeker's duty, too. I'd wager someone here in a town this size has heard of this garden as well, might have a clue or two. If push comes to shove, I can ferret them out."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #889 on: September 18, 2012, 09:44:57 PM »
>"That's all right. I wouldn't have thought finding a garden like this would be in any way easy. Finding the elixir recipe used up a lot of my good luck. It just hasn't regenerated yet."
>"But finding information is a Seeker's duty, too. I'd wager someone here in a town this size has heard of this garden as well, might have a clue or two. If push comes to shove, I can ferret them out."

>The professor nods sagely. "Perhaps you might at that. Yes, perhaps you might at that, indeed. I would offer some suggestion where to look, but... I do not have any such suggestion at all. Apologies."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #890 on: September 19, 2012, 12:36:46 AM »
>Damn you, Rinnosuke, where are you when we need you.
>"Don't apologize. I wouldn't even know this garden was even rumored of if you hadn't told me."
>... Where were we going again?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #891 on: September 19, 2012, 03:04:19 AM »
>Damn you, Rinnosuke, where are you when we need you.
>"Don't apologize. I wouldn't even know this garden was even rumored of if you hadn't told me."
>... Where were we going again?

>Presumably in the same place as usual, though this does you little good at the moment.
>"I must remind you," she adds hastily, "that I can be sure neither that bittercress is found there, nor that it flowers there - well, that it flowers there now, of course. One assumes that if it is there, it flowers at the least when all those not there also flower, yes."
>You were heading back to the departmental secretary.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #892 on: September 19, 2012, 04:08:09 AM »
>In retrospect, if she remembered this garden, she would have mentioned if the school had a catalogue of seeds for sale.
>Assure her, "I realize that. But, every plan of action needs a fall back plan, after all."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #893 on: September 19, 2012, 04:26:48 AM »
>In retrospect, if she remembered this garden, she would have mentioned if the school had a catalogue of seeds for sale.
>Assure her, "I realize that. But, every plan of action needs a fall back plan, after all."

>It seems plausible.
>She nods. "Yes, yes, always a sensible thing, that."

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #894 on: September 19, 2012, 05:22:45 AM »
>Plan A first, then.
>Barring any further delays, let us take our leave of our helpful, if somewhat addled, expert in herbology, and depart to... Oh yeah, the first nursery she mentioned, the one nearest the school.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #895 on: September 19, 2012, 05:27:33 AM »
>Plan A first, then.
>Barring any further delays, let us take our leave of our helpful, if somewhat addled, expert in herbology, and depart to... Oh yeah, the first nursery she mentioned, the one nearest the school.

>She did not mention any nursery near the school; they were all to the city's southwest, by the river. The establishment she mentioned to the east of the school was some sort of herbalist or potion-seller.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #896 on: September 19, 2012, 05:28:27 AM »
>That'll do.

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #897 on: September 19, 2012, 12:05:48 PM »
>Pause for ten seconds after the first corner, just in case she forgot something again. Again.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #898 on: September 19, 2012, 08:52:39 PM »
>That'll do.
>Pause for ten seconds after the first corner, just in case she forgot something again. Again.

>You take your leave of the professor and head towards the front doors while the bird youkai shuffles back towards her office. A few moments after she's out of sight, you pause and wait, all but expecting to hear ambling footsteps pursuing you once more, as that scattered mind or hers recalls another pertinent (or not so pertinent) detail. Alas, it seems not to be.
>The remainder of your trip back outside is livened up by an alarming quantity of colorful smoke issuing suddenly from a nearby doorway as you pass by it, accompanied by a bizarre aromatic medley of mango juice and pencil shavings. You find yourself unable to decide whether the unconcerned tone with which the attendant alchemists discuss this occurrence is reassuring or vaguely unsettling in and of itself. With just a little more haste in your step, you exit the Flamel Building and then leave the Academy grounds altogether.

>Finding Prestor Row takes you several minutes, but presents no real difficulties. It is a relatively quiet and short street, mixing a few small commercial enterprises among more dour and stately civil institutions with columned facades accented by scattered manicured poplars. Locating your destination is even more straightforward, despite not being given a name or any other identifying feature; the painted sprigs of arlan and peppermint which frame the wooden sign hanging above its door are sufficiently telling, if the cheerful row of potted plants in the front window did not already suffice. You step inside.

>The shop's interior is a humble affair of brown and green, wooden shelves lined with small ceramic urns, vials of thick syrupy liquids, pouches of dried herbs and a modest array of seedlings, along with mortal, pestle, and other supplies of the herbalist's trade. Each shelf is meticulously labeled in a fine hand, but the display units are crowded just a little too close to comfortably accommodate any real traffic. Fortunately, the shop is only lightly populated at the moment - a short woman scrutinizes a collection of pale green sachets in one corner while a middle-aged man with tousled brown hair rearranges objects on the shelves behind a high wooden counter. The air is thick with a muddled and musky smell, pungent brews melding with the vernal aroma of a dozen different plants; it's quite potent.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)
« Reply #899 on: September 20, 2012, 12:16:23 AM »
>Do the shelves and displayed wares have proper labels?
>If so, have a quick scan for the items we seek.