(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 12)

[Oldmansour]

>Produce map and writing instrument.
>Do we know what the term 'Grau' means? If not, ask.

[DracoOmega]

>Produce map and writing instrument.
>Do we know what the term 'Grau' means? If not, ask.

>You produce your map and a pencil and hand them to the captain, who accepts them without comment.
>"One of the rivers," she says. "Looks like they didn't bother to name it on this map, but why would they anyway?"

>Sekibanki examines your map stoically. You have to think that her collar must make it really hard to glance down at anything and actually see it, but she seems to manage well enough somehow.
>"It's half-decent," she says after a few moments. "But it won't help you much past the first day or so; wherever the garden is, it's a lot further out than this."

[Oldmansour]

>How long can we estimate it would take us to travel 50 miles in the conditions Sekibanki described?

[DracoOmega]

>How long can we estimate it would take us to travel 50 miles in the conditions Sekibanki described?

>It's hard to say. 'Rough and forested' could range from a few hills beneath good shade to a mountainous slog while searching for gaps between the trees large enough to shift through. Assuming something somewhere in the middle, you'd guess at least 3 days - maybe more in your current condition. And that's assuming you don't get caught in some terrible summer storm either, to say nothing of time spent flailing around trying to find it once you're in the general vicinity.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's be optimistic and assume three days to get there. That also means three days to get back. Including travel time back to Val R, what is the total travel time we can expect, if all goes perfectly?

[DracoOmega]

>Let's be optimistic and assume three days to get there. That also means three days to get back. Including travel time back to Val R, what is the total travel time we can expect, if all goes perfectly?

>By the sounds of it, another week and a day.

[Oldmansour]

>Won't that be too long?

[DracoOmega]

>Won't that be too long?

>It had better not be.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's try that again.
>Adding up the time we've been traveling since we got infected, and the estimated time of travel to and from yuka's to Val Razua, that would be.... 20 days?

[DracoOmega]

>Let's try that again.
>Adding up the time we've been traveling since we got infected, and the estimated time of travel to and from yuka's to Val Razua, that would be.... 20 days?

>More like 16. Which shouldn't be out of the question, you hope, but even Minoriko couldn't give you a specific figure for how long you'd have.

[Oldmansour]

>Sag, then pass a hand over our eyes.
>Not enough to give in to despair. .... Yet. Straighten up, mouse.
>"Do you have a larger map we could consult, then?"

[DracoOmega]

>Sag, then pass a hand over our eyes.
>Not enough to give in to despair. .... Yet. Straighten up, mouse.
>"Do you have a larger map we could consult, then?"

>Despite yourself, you can't help but sag a little beneath the weight of what still remains before you. You try to keep it brief. You're sure Sekibanki probably noticed anyway.
>"We have good charts out to 30 miles and bad ones for another 15 or so. Beyond that it's mostly hearsay or scribbles older than half the fort. Nobody goes out that far because there's no point. Normally. All the same rocks and trees of your backyard only with a hundred times as much walking. Very technically some of it is privileged information, but anyone who bothers to restrict public knowledge of boulders and fallen logs clearly has nothing of value to do with their life."
>With a short and discontented sigh, she paces back over to the east-facing window and wrenches it open; its hinges protest this disturbance with a rasping groan. A cool breeze tickles your nose as the night air is let into the stuffy space. Then, without further adieu, Sekibanki's head floats right on out the open window and disappears.

[Oldmansour]

>Blink. That's a neat trick.
>Nothing... falls out, does it?

[DracoOmega]

>Blink. That's a neat trick.
>Nothing... falls out, does it?

>You find yourself momentarily at a loss for words.
>You didn't get a very good look at the underside of her head before it disappeared out the window, but the rest of the captain's body seems very much as it did a moment ago.

>"Glenworth!" you hear her voice call from somewhere outside. "I need to see the charts of the forest west of here. All the way out - as far as they go. And that includes the Halstrom expedition and anything else you can dig up from back then. Standard topographical and patrol survey - the best ones you trust a guest to be able to read."

[Oldmansour]

>Are we acquainted with any sort of youkai that can so casually and effectively behead itself?

[DracoOmega]

>Are we acquainted with any sort of youkai that can so casually and effectively behead itself?

>Not specifically! And certainly nothing you've ever seen.

[Oldmansour]

>"Uh... Can you hear with... that part of you?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Uh... Can you hear with... that part of you?"

>You try asking Sekibanki's torso a question, but it doesn't appear responsive. It isn't quite still either, though - while you are speaking, it appears to stretch a kink out of the arm that just worked open the window.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's just.. give her a minute, then. To pull herself together.

[DracoOmega]

>Let's just.. give her a minute, then. To pull herself together.

>You stand quietly in the room with the unsettlingly headless body. It seems none the worse for wear for the absence, though it does make for rather taciturn company. Before enough time has passed to leave you feeling truly awkward, Sekibanki's head floats back in the window again, trailing a faint wispy energy behind it. For just a moment, you catch the briefest flash of a leer in your direction, and then her expression vanishes behind her collar again as her head returns to where heads are normally expected to be.
>"I've got someone fetching maps for you," she says calmly, as if nothing in particular had just occurred.

[Oldmansour]

>"I.. heard. Thanks."

[DracoOmega]

>"I.. heard. Thanks."

>"Good ears," she says, then closes up the window again.

[Hello Purvis]

>Well this is socially awkward as hell. Not like we can say 'So what's the deal with the horrible death wound there? You took it like a pro, looks like!'
>"Thanks. Thank you very much. You've probably been one of the most helpful people I've met in the past few weeks."

[DracoOmega]

>Well this is socially awkward as hell. Not like we can say 'So what's the deal with the horrible death wound there? You took it like a pro, looks like!'
>"Thanks. Thank you very much. You've probably been one of the most helpful people I've met in the past few weeks."

>You wonder if the captain's deadpan look makes it less awkward or more.
>She snickers dryly. "My sympathies."

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's not even an exaggeration. I've had to deal with some real pains in the ass and deliberately unhelpful people. It's just refreshing to see some good folk in the world."

[DracoOmega]

>"It's not even an exaggeration. I've had to deal with some real pains in the ass and deliberately unhelpful people. It's just refreshing to see some good folk in the world."

>"Heh. Thanks, I guess." The dry cynicism never quite leaves her voice.
> She walks over to her desk. "Grab a seat if you want. It'll take a few minutes for them to dig the charts out, even if they hop right to it, which they probably won't."

[Hello Purvis]

>Have a seat and get to waiting.
>"So, is this the most excitement you get in a day?"

[DracoOmega]

>Have a seat and get to waiting.
>"So, is this the most excitement you get in a day?"

>You take the offered chair and Sekibanki takes the one at the other side of the mostly-bare desk. It's surprisingly comfortable, despite its plainness.
>"Nah, you're pretty tame. I know what you're thinking," she adds quickly. "But you'd be surprised. Sure, we haven't had a pitched battle in a few lifetimes, but you get all kinds of weirdos trying to slip through customs, and then there's poachers and fairies and drunken idiots - some of whom even pretend to work for me," she mutters caustically. "But if nobody here ever has to end up a corpse or turn anyone else into one, that's just fine by me. I don't give a rat's ass what Val R or anyone else thinks of us, so long as they keep the paychecks coming."
>She pauses and seems to frown slightly. "You're not a rat, are you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Mouse. You can do whatever you want to rats, they're the worst."

[DracoOmega]

>"Mouse. You can do whatever you want to rats, they're the worst."

>"Heh. Noted."