Murasa Quest - Go Get 'em, Captain!

[UnendingEmpire]

>Examine items carefully. Ask shopkeep if he knows how to use them.

The items are certainly diverse.  You ask the shopkeep if he knows how this stuff works, but he replies with a hearty "Nope.  All I know is what it is and what it does."

>Try to keep Kyouko from destroying the world by screaming into the megaphone

You keep an eye on the megaphone.  You're not quite sure what it does, but something tells you Kyouko getting her hands on that thing can only lead to disaster.  Better make sure she doesn't get it.

[Oldmansour]

>Does it violate our precepts or any of Hijiri's standing rules to have possession of a dirty magazine, even if only for the purposes of bribing someone with it later if the need arises?
>Can we see in the dark? I mean, we are a ghost, after all. Mostly.
>Weapon proficiencies beyond our trusty anchor.

[UnendingEmpire]

>Does it violate our precepts or any of Hijiri's standing rules to have possession of a dirty magazine, even if only for the purposes of bribing someone with it later if the need arises?

Hijiri's rules only say you can't use the dirty magazine.  Owning it is sort of neutral territory since, after all, who would have one and not take a peek?  Simply having one to bribe with later should be fine.  Even if it weren't, what Byakuren doesn't know can't possibly hurt her.

>Can we see in the dark? I mean, we are a ghost, after all. Mostly.

It's weird and kinda depends, though for the most part, no.  Unless there's literally zero light, your sight is just as good as a human's in the dark.  Not to mention Kyouko can't see in the dark anyway, and she's probably scared of the dark knowing her.

>Weapon proficiencies beyond our trusty anchor.

Well, you were a pirate.  You know your way around a sword, and your accuracy is pretty nice with ranged weapons too.  For some reason, though, you never really could get a grip on how guns worked.

[Oldmansour]

Reccomendation:
Digital camera, Boomerang, Megaphone, Dirty magazine. Leaving us five grand for later.

[Nash Fais]

Reccomendation:
Leaving us five grand for later.

You mean three right? Because I added all the items you recommended and it was 7000.

[Oldmansour]

Leave me along, I'm drank.
But seriously, after nine hours at work, getting within two thousand with mental math isn't too bad.

[Nash Fais]

Point taken.

Any reason why we need the digital camera? I understand the others you chose though.

[Oldmansour]

I can't actually think of anything immediately. But I've played enough of these type of games to figure that it'll be useful at some point in the future.
If for nothing else, we might have cause to trade it with Hatate or Aya later. Or take some 'select' pictures of Aya if the opportunity arises. Assuming this universe's Aya is anything like the one I've portrayed in my own works.

[UnendingEmpire]

Any reason why we need the digital camera?

If I may interject from a perspective where I'm pretending like I don't actually know where things can and very likely will end up going, a camera could be pretty helpful.  Say you pass a set of runes you've gotta memorize, for one.  Just take a picture, and then you can just look at it later.  Of course, this is a non-Touhou (or at least, non-Murasa Quest) example, so...

I'd like to get at least two more posts on what each person's top four or five choices are, then take it from there since this is kind of a big choice.

If for nothing else, we might have cause to trade it with Hatate or Aya later. Or take some 'select' pictures of Aya if the opportunity arises. Assuming this universe's Aya is anything like the one I've portrayed in my own works.

That too.

[an unmatched sock]

I'm good for that item selection.

Although I think the threat of Kyouko shouting into the megaphone would win us the entire game, if used liberally and excessively to get whatever we need accomplished. But the other things could be useful, too.

Especially leftover moneys. Always good to have leftover moneys.

[Nash Fais]

I also have no objections with the selected items.

Especially leftover moneys. Always good to have leftover moneys.

maybe we can ask Byakuren to lend us a bit more money?  :V
But I doubt it though xD.

[UnendingEmpire]

> Dirty magazine
> Megaphone
> Boomerang
> Digital camera

You pick up four items from the shelves around Kourindou.  A magazine with a...well, questionable image of two women on the cover.  An item the shop has labelled as a "megaphone," a camera like that tengu reporter's but a little different, and an item labelled as being called a boomerang.  Bringing the selected items to the counter, Rinnosuke rings up your choices, and says "Your total is 7,000 yen."  You hand him the 10,000 yen bill with Byakuren's face on it, and he gives you your 3,000 yen in change.  Then he speaks up about the Jeweled Pagoda and what he knows about its whereabouts, and even gives you a large paper bag to keep your purchases in for free.

"It was here.  That tiger girl - what's her name, Shuu? - left it on the counter after making her purchase.  Then I went into the back of the shop to make a cup of tea, and when I got back, it was gone.  Marisa was also here the entire time, so knowing her she probably took it.  I probably couldn't get a good deal for the pagoda anyway, and I can never seem to find the temple, so I just let her have it.  If I had to guess, more likely than not it's either on her person, or in her house."

Removed from inventory: 10,000-yen bill
Added to inventory: 1,000-yen bill x3, Digital camera, Boomerang, Megaphone, Dirty magazine, Large paper bag (contains Digital camera, Boomerang, Megaphone, and Dirty magazine)

Although I think the threat of Kyouko shouting into the megaphone would win us the entire game

Assuming she doesn't kill you or Byakuren with it.  Plus, there's a fair few people who would be able to get it from Kyouko and break it, so overuse may not be the best idea...assuming you even decide to keep it.  I'm sure there are some people in Gensokyo who would love something like this besides our cute little yamabiko.

[Oldmansour]

>Note to self. This guy just fleeced us outta seven grand.
>Which.... Maybe we can get back? Hmmm..... We are forming a plan.

>"So, sounds like Marisa's 'borrowed' things from you before, hm?"

[UnendingEmpire]

>Note to self. This guy just fleeced us outta seven grand.

No way he's getting good karma for that.

>Which.... Maybe we can get back? Hmmm..... We are forming a plan.

Girls are now formulating.  Please wait warmly until they are ready...

>"So, sounds like Marisa's 'borrowed' things from you before, hm?"

"Yes, she has.  What of it?"  He already looks irritated by this subject.  The shopkeep also looks like he could go on all day about customers just taking what they want, but his exact expression says he'll save that rant for somebody who - unlike yourself - doesn't pay for their things.

[Failure McFailFace]

Assuming she doesn't kill you or Byakuren with it.

B-but, you're a ghost, right? That you can't die twice?

>Go to Marisa's house.
>Ask Marisa about the Pagoda.
>Follow her instructions, if she's there. Otherwise, go to places where Marisa often goes to.
>"Perhaps we could get Kyouko to force the information from [INSERT OCCUPANT NAME HERE]...?"
>"No, that won't be good for our reputation."


*mental image of Kyouko with megaphone, with [occupant]'s ears shooting out blood*

[Oldmansour]

>Go to Marisa's house.
>Ask Marisa about the Pagoda.
>Follow her instructions, if she's there. Otherwise, go to places where Marisa often goes to.
>"Perhaps we could get Kyouko to force the information from [INSERT OCCUPANT NAME HERE]...?"
>"No, that won't be good for our reputation."

Hold on just a second there, boyo. I saw in your post in the sticky above that you don't come around here much. First, welcome to RPG. Second, it's customary to take command posts such as those one at a time in situations like this. For instance, ">Go to Marisa's" would be sufficient for a command. That way, the parser has a chance to set up the scene there for us to react to. One can't do everything at once, after all.

>Before we leave, reconsider our plan. Sure he might have fleeced us a little, but money is only money. And optimistically, we thought the pagoda might be at Marisa's anyway, and having one's suspicions confirmed never hurts. Byakuren would probably rather us let the matter alone, so, we probably should.
>And besides, we can always mention this little encounter to Nue, see if SHE'D like to settle up with our grey-haired shopkeep here.
>"Okay, sorry I asked."
>Have a look around for something out of the ordinary that Byakuren or our fellow temple residents might be interested in.
>Then we can depart. After collecting Kyouko, of course.

[UnendingEmpire]

>Go to Marisa's house.
>Ask Marisa about the Pagoda.
>Follow her instructions, if she's there. Otherwise, go to places where Marisa often goes to.
>"Perhaps we could get Kyouko to force the information from [INSERT OCCUPANT NAME HERE]...?"
>"No, that won't be good for our reputation."

I'll have to agree with Namusour on this one.  If you went directly to Marisa's house from Kourindou, there's no telling what you might miss out on.  As a bit of an RPG fan, I'm the kind of person who likes to have plenty of things to do along the way to your ultimate goal, and zipping from A to B sort of makes you skip those things.  Like, say we went straight to Kourindou immediately after grabbing our spell cards.  Kyouko wouldn't be joining us then, would she?  As with real life, you gotta take things one step at a time here.  And yes, as Namusour also said, welcome to RPG (wow, I just realized those were the initials for Rumia's Party Games...)

>Before we leave, reconsider our plan. Sure he might have fleeced us a little, but money is only money. And optimistically, we thought the pagoda might be at Marisa's anyway, and having one's suspicions confirmed never hurts. Byakuren would probably rather us let the matter alone, so, we probably should.

After a moment of reconsideration, you decide it would certainly be best to just leave things be.  It's not like he fleeced you out of all your money, and as Byakuren has taught you over the years, two wrongs don't make a right.  And he at least confirmed your suspicions that the pagoda is with Marisa, and you got some pretty neat stuff out of it too.

>And besides, we can always mention this little encounter to Nue, see if SHE'D like to settle up with our grey-haired shopkeep here.

You make a mental note to let Nue know about what happened here.  She's...well, less into Byakuren's teachings than the rest of the temple residents, so she'll probably have less qualms with getting even for your 7,000 yen.

>"Okay, sorry I asked."

"She at least says she won't pay.  It's Reimu that's the real problem; always saying she'll pay up when she never actually does.  Your temple could do well to teach her a bit about punctuality."

>Have a look around for something out of the ordinary that Byakuren or our fellow temple residents might be interested in.

You take a quick second look around Kourindou.  Your budget may be smaller, but your interests are in things your fellow Buddhists may like.  The only thing really out of the ordinary is how ordinary the rest of the store's wares are.  Nothing worth note here.

>Then we can depart. After collecting Kyouko, of course.

Turning to inform Kyouko that the two of you are now leaving, you and her walk out of the store.  You learned that Marisa did indeed take the pagoda, and you got some pretty nifty things from your forced shopping trip.  Even if you didn't like his method of business, you can't say it was a bad trip altogether.  Time to head into the forest proper!  There's a rough path leading into the forest; made by one person walking the same route a lot of times given the look of it.

[Tapsa]

Man, we sure are hatin' on the bourgeois today.

>Aha! That path's just begging for our attention!
>"C'mon, Kyouko. This way."
>Follow that trail!

[Failure McFailFace]

derp  :derp:  bad steps, too tired

>While walking the path, see if there are any random youkai around to ask.
>Recheck inventory.
>Consider whether giving Kyouko the megaphone is a good idea or not.

[UnendingEmpire]

>Aha! That path's just begging for our attention!

That path has to lead somewhere.  You simply have to find out just where it's going; quite possibly right to Marisa's, even.

>"C'mon, Kyouko. This way."

Telling Kyouko to follow you, the two of you start down the path.  The Forest of Magic naturally blocks out a lot of sunlight, but there's still enough light to see where you're going.  It would probably be best to get out of here before nightfall, though.

>Follow that trail!

Step by step, you and Kyouko keep heading deeper into the Forest of Magic.  Lots of trees, plenty of odd mushrooms you've never seen before, and the rough path you've been following are pretty much all that's worth noting.

>While walking the path, see if there are any random youkai around to ask.

You check around for any other youkai.  Doesn't seem like there's anybody nearby, youkai or otherwise.

>Recheck inventory.

Murasa's inventory: Anchor | Ladle | 1,000-yen bill x3 | Capsize "Dragging Anchor" | Drowning Sign "Deep Vortex" | Ghost "Sinker Ghost" | Flood "Venus of the Bilge" | Blank card | Large paper bag (contains Digital camera | Boomerang | Megaphone | Dirty magazine)

Kyouko's inventory: Bamboo broom | Green apple x2 | Chocolate bar | Mountain Sign "Long Range Echo" | Piercing Sign "Piercing Circle"

>Consider whether giving Kyouko the megaphone is a good idea or not.

You take a moment to ponder on whether or not Kyouko should have the megaphone.  On one hand, it could greatly amplify her impressive vocal capacity.  On the other hand, it could become her new favorite toy, and that can only lead to disaster for everybody.  Your final conclusion is that it'd be best if you held onto it for now.

[Nash Fais]

>Wonder how can Marisa navigate her way out of the forest.

>How much time do we have left before it gets dark?

[UnendingEmpire]

>Wonder how can Marisa navigate her way out of the forest.

How does Marisa even get out of this forest to begin with?  You take a brief moment to figure that out.  You decide in the end that since she sort of lives in the forest and all, it's only natural she'd know how to get out.

>How much time do we have left before it gets dark?

Anywhere else, you'd have time to spare.  Since the Forest of Magic is darker by nature though, you've got...perhaps an hour.  Unless Marisa's house is deep in the woods, you should be fine though.

[Nash Fais]

> Our relationship with Marisa.

>Check if Kyouko is following us. It would be bad if she suddenly got lost.

[Failure McFailFace]

>Perhaps a map of the Forest of Magic would help with navigation.

No spellcards have been used yet.
>Wonder whether or not spellcards have multiple uses.

I guess they should be used for something:
>Use Kyouko's Mountain Sign "Long Range Echo" for echolocation as it gets darker.
Mundane utility, I guess.

[UnendingEmpire]

> Our relationship with Marisa.

You're still a little bitter about the time she stormed the Palanquin Ship and defeated all of you in danmaku when you were legitimately doing a good thing.  But Byakuren seems to like her, so you try to put up with her crap.

>Check if Kyouko is following us. It would be bad if she suddenly got lost.

She's still right behind you.  Her attention seems to keep bouncing from one tree to another, though.

>Perhaps a map of the Forest of Magic would help with navigation.

It would, but there are distressingly few cartographers in the Forest of Magic.  Your best bet for a map would be to ask Marisa if she can draw one up once you find her.

>Wonder whether or not spellcards have multiple uses.

Surely they must.  You recall seeing Marisa use the same Love Sign: Master Spark at least five times when she fought Byakuren in Makai.

>Use Kyouko's Mountain Sign "Long Range Echo" for echolocation as it gets darker.

You decide that when it gets darker later on, Kyouko's spellcards might be useful for echolocation.  Or her ability could do the same thing.  Or you could also...y'know...fly.

[Nash Fais]

>Any signs of progress or change In the environment that we are getting closer to our destination?

>Consider the probability of Marisa willingly give back the pagoda.

[UnendingEmpire]

>Any signs of progress or change In the environment that we are getting closer to our destination?

The path seems to be getting a little thicker.  There's also less mushrooms here than there were; that may be something if Marisa's reputation for loving mushrooms is anything more than a rumor.  Perhaps the biggest change in the environment though, is a fork in the path.  One option is to keep going approximately straight.  The other is to make a sharp right.

>Consider the probability of Marisa willingly give back the pagoda.

Not very likely.  She seemed pretty interested in it before, so it's no stretch of the imagination to say you'll need to come ready with an offer for the pagoda.

[Nash Fais]

>"Looks like we have a fork in the road."

>"Any ideas what path we should take, Kyouko?"

>Is there a notable difference in the environment on the two paths?

[UnendingEmpire]

>"Looks like we have a fork in the road."

"Oh?"  Immediately taking her attention off the trees, Kyouko observes the fork in the road.

>"Any ideas what path we should take, Kyouko?"

Kyouko eyes the two paths carefully.  She seems pretty stumped by all this, especially given this is an unfamiliar environment to her.  With a shrug, she replies with "Nope."

>Is there a notable difference in the environment on the two paths?

There is not.

[Nash Fais]

>"Let's take a right here. If we still have time left, we can go back here and take the other path."
>Go right.

>Do we know where Alice lives?

>Do we know the path to the Hakurei shrine?