Yukari Quest IV - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> Touch the stuff ourselves. Is it really snow?

>You touch the dust on the edge of your stick. It is soft and powdery and quite cold to touch like snow, but also has a kind of distinct gritty quality to it like extremely fine hail. Your fingers feel a little wet afterward.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Does it seem consumable?

[Hello Purvis]

> Does it seem consumable?

>It seems technically like something you could put in your mouth, swallow, and digest. However, the color heavily suggests it is likely none safe to eat. Then again, you can't really tell with this place.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "A shame. It seems this is not a viable solution to your hydration problem."

[Hello Purvis]

> Frown.
> "A shame. It seems this is not a viable solution to your hydration problem."

>"I...was thinking of going back for it anyways," says Maribel, pausing once her voice becomes too scratchy. "If things didn't improve by morning. I'm sure it's not safe at all, but better diseases than dehydration. But now that you're here, there's got to be a better way!"

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Let's say we step through this gap. How accurate could we be in returning to where we are now, given we wouldn't be able to see where we are now from there?
> Nod.
> "I will investigate. Stay here with the fire until I return."

[Hello Purvis]

>You should be able to return here with little issue, presuming that the state of the borders does not decay further.
>"Alright," says Maribel. "Please try not to be too long."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Of course."
> Brace for cold.
> Step through the gap.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Of course."
> Brace for cold.
> Step through the gap.

>You brace yourself and step through the gap.
The first thing you notice is that the air is markedly colder, and you are quite happy you found your dress long before trying this.  Even as it is you can feel gooseflesh on your arms and legs almost immediately and wish fervently for something to help warm up. Still, you should be able to endure it for awhile. There is a soft crunch of new-fallen snow under your feet as you step through. Looking around, you see slate-colored snow extending in every direction, covering the bare rock and cracks, and softening hard points of the crags that rise from the ground. Tall rocky poles, the same color as the snow, rise from the ground for a dozen feet or more, their tops spiraling into stony branches. You think you can see motion among the branches of a few of the nearby poles. Looking westward, you can see the distant glow of firelight on the horizon. You can feel something curious in the air, a kind of distortion in the borders here. You feel you may be close to a large fold in the space.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we tell where the fold might be?
> Can we tell what that motion is?

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we tell where the fold might be?
> Can we tell what that motion is?

>You feel it is further east, or perhaps northeast.
>Taking a closer look one of the rocky poles, you quickly note that a couple of the spiralling "branches" at the top one poles seems to be crumbling into fine powder.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Guess we found the source of the 'snow'.
> Open and step through a gap that extends a mile north-northeast of our current location.

[Hello Purvis]

> Guess we found the source of the 'snow'.
> Open and step through a gap that extends a mile north-northeast of our current location.

>It may be so. You find yourself wondering how long this has been happening, if it has managed to fill a tundra like this.
>You open another gap to the north by northeast. Stepping through, you find yourself in a plain similar to before. The ground here is more uneven, and the grayish powder on the ground does much to conceal it. You will have to walk carefully to avoid tripping or twisting your ankle here. In the air, you can feel that there is definitely a fold, a mere centered handful of yards from where you emerged.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Does it feel similar to the fold we found in the field of fronds that led to a gap?

[Hello Purvis]

>Does it feel similar to the fold we found in the field of fronds that led to a gap?

>At a glance, you would assume it follows a wildly different path, but it seems to reasonably similar in nature. You imagine you could feel through it as well as you could elsewhere.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we tell how large it is?

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we tell how large it is?

>At a glance, it seems to be on a similar scale to the one you have encountered before, running for some miles.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Slow and carefully step our way over to the fold. Be sure not to twist any ankles, now.

[Hello Purvis]

> Slow and carefully step our way over to the fold. Be sure not to twist any ankles, now.

>You make your way toward this fold in the borders, taking care to step over some uneven ground and avoid catching your feet upon it.
>Are you reach the edge of the distortion, you can feel that much like before, the fabric of the borders is especially weak here, and if you so desired you could unravel it enough to begin the eventual collapse of this world. Were such a thing to exist in Gensokyo, it would be a grave emergency indeed. Even within interacting with it, you feel that it extends for miles and miles in both directions, twisting and spiraling.

>_

[O4rfish]

>What sort of physical features or terrain can we sense through the fold?

[Hello Purvis]

>What sort of physical features or terrain can we sense through the fold?

>Taking some time to feel through the fold, you can feel practically nothing of the physical terrain. The last fold you encountered branched many times, touching the ground in many places and passing through a tree at one point. In comparison, this one seems to be a continuous thread that wends its way through the air, never touching the ground. All you can do it get a sense of scale, it seems to stretch several dozen miles, in a very loose crescent shape. As it does not seem to pass through any particular borders, you assume it is all contained within this particular world. At one point, though, it does seem to generally raise in elevation, which suggests that it may have risen to avoid the ground.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Does this mean that we cannot feel any gaps along it?

[Hello Purvis]

>Does this mean that we cannot feel any gaps along it?

>Switching your focus toward gaps, you think you can sense a few. There is one near the southern end of the fold, one along the southern curve, and another along the northern curve.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Which feels to be the closest?
>Can we work out their position enough to open a gap to where they are?

[Hello Purvis]

>Which feels to be the closest?
>Can we work out their position enough to open a gap to where they are?

>You think the one on the southern curve is likely closest. You should be able to open a gap there without any undue problems.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Do any of them feel abnormal, such as possibly damaged?

[Hello Purvis]

> Do any of them feel abnormal, such as possibly damaged?

>You cannot tell from here.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Open a gap to the southeastern gap, using the fold as a guide, and head on through.

[Hello Purvis]

> Open a gap to the southeastern gap, using the fold as a guide, and head on through.

>You open a gap and make your way toward the southeastern gap.
>Stepping out, you find the gray snow is gone, though the air is still a little cool. Dozens of columns of black glass rise from the ground here, towering many yards above you.  They are gathered in irregular groups; at a glance you cannot detect any patterns to them, though you get the feeling there should be a pattern. Weeds and brambles grow thickly where the columns have pierced the rock. and you note that cracks in the ground are plentiful here. From the cracks, there is a surprising a variety of muted flora, some even bearing tiny yellow blossoms that remind you of mustard plants. The fold twists around and between the columns, and passes over the gap you seek, which lies in between a set of three columns that are arranged in an irregular triangle. A slight breeze blows through the air, the first that you've noted here.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Inspect the gap. Does it seem reasonably openable and intact?