Kogasa Quest - Surpriseing Galore!

[Cirque De Trois]

> Try to look the cutest we possibly can.
> "Will there be a problem if I asked for both? If not, well, maybe about the book on Dark Magic?"
Who knows, the more skills at our disposal, the better, right?

[Raikaria]

> Try to look the cutest we possibly can.
> "Will there be a problem if I asked for both? If not, well, maybe about the book on Dark Magic?"
Who knows, the more skills at our disposal, the better, right?

> You pull the puppy dog-eyes. All three of them. Or one.

> "Well the books that belong to me are my research of as of unfinished forms of elemental magic; experiments on combining three or more elements; and also combination of the upper elementals and the lower elementals. It is always useful to find new uses for the same combinations; and aside from one spell; I am yet to master using three or more elements at the same time." Patchouli said. "I'm not sure what Marisa wanted with the books. She ignores her elemental affinity anyway."

> "As for the other books; well; it would be rude to pry into someone else's magical books any more than needed to identify the owner to return them. Alice's books cover issues of making dolls; puppetry and attempts to infuse them with a soul. The book on dark magic covers magic that is daemonic in nature. It's not Necromancy like what Seiga wields. As for the library books; folk tales and myths."

> Patchouli thinks.

> "I'm a little curious why Marisa targeted these books in particular... she's up to something. Knowing her she wanted the knowledge to find a new way to blow things up."

[capt. h]

> "I'm a little curious why Marisa targeted these books in particular... she's up to something. Knowing her she wanted the knowledge to find a new way to blow things up."

> "Does Marisa need another reason?"

> "Huh. If not from you, and not from Seiga, I can't think of anyone else who'd even keep a dark magic book for Marisa to steal. Any ideas where Marisa would have to go to steal daemonic literature?"

[Raikaria]

> "Does Marisa need another reason?"

> "Huh. If not from you, and not from Seiga, I can't think of anyone else who'd even keep a dark magic book for Marisa to steal. Any ideas where Marisa would have to go to steal daemonic literature?"

> "I'm not sure." Patchouli said. "Marisa is insane. It's hard to predict what she is thinking."

> "If I had an idea who the book belonged to; I would have said so already." the magician said, before Koakuma flew over after she made a mention with her hand.

> "You're a demon; do you recognize this?" she asked.

> "Nope." Koakuma said, before she flew off to return to whatever task she was doing before.

> "I would have guessed if not Seiga it could belong to either Alice or Byakuren; however, the text does not match that of Makai; so it can't be from their time there." Patchouli explained. "And even then; I am aware that the only book from Makai Alice has is very distinctive; and Byakuren needs no books; everything is contained in her scroll which she always carries and is impossible for even Marisa to steal; since it can cast spells to defend itself of it's own accord."

[capt. h]

> "Betcha it came from hell."

> "They have a satori, right? Think she likes books?"

[Raikaria]

> "Betcha it came from hell."

> "They have a satori, right? Think she likes books?"

> "Former Hell." Patchouli corrected. "I guess it might be some book from down there. I personally have not been there; I do not know much about the residents other than what I saw when connected to Marisa's magic, giving her remote backup when she went to investigate that incident."

> "Yes; there are actually two who live down there. But Satori are mind-readers; not the types who would use daemonic magics."

[Nash Fais]

> Can you somehow use magic to trace back to the owner of the book?

[capt. h]

> "Well, the last thing I want is to wake up one morning to a surprise a demon army on my doorstep. Wanna bounce ideas off each other?"

> "You say it's not yours, and I imagine you'd know if it was Remilia's or Koakuma's."

> "You don't think a Satori would keep this, and from what I've seen of oni, I doubt they'd have an interest."

> "That hell cat that pops up at funerals asking for corpses, she seems to know a LOT about demons, you think this belongs to her?"

> "Or if you have a tracking spell, I suppose that works too. Must say, this thing has my curiosity."

[Raikaria]

> "Well, the last thing I want is to wake up one morning to a surprise a demon army on my doorstep. Wanna bounce ideas off each other?"

> "You say it's not yours, and I imagine you'd know if it was Remilia's or Koakuma's."

> "You don't think a Satori would keep this, and from what I've seen of oni, I doubt they'd have an interest."

> "That hell cat that pops up at funerals asking for corpses, she seems to know a LOT about demons, you think this belongs to her?"

> "Or if you have a tracking spell, I suppose that works too. Must say, this thing has my curiosity."

> Patchouli chuckled a little. "You have a doorstep?"

> "Koakuma is a lesser daemon. She would not have the power to write this book. She couldn't even fill a single page of a Grimoire with her magic. Grimoires contain the very magical essence from the writer. A mind can only hold so much at once; and a Grimoire is a repository. Opening it returns the knowledge stored to the reader while it is being used. Very useful for those who have too much knowldege for one mind. Writing a Grimoire is a sign of your power and knowledge as a mage." Patchouli then indicated to the library. "And this is almost entirely my work. If not for my illness I would not have to worry about Marisa at all."

> "M'Lady uses special magic; the magic of vampires. It borders on divine arts; and is a natural ability for her. She would not need a Grimoire."

> "An Oni; using magic? That's a good one." Patchouli said in a very sarcastic tone.

> "The Kasha? She is just doing her job. She collects the corpses to take them to the Blazing Fires to use for fuel. She can be creepy at times but isn't the type to be into demonology."

> Can you somehow use magic to trace back to the owner of the book?

> "I already tried. It is warded against that sort of magic to the degree that even I cannot overcome it. My specialty is elemental magic; not wards and charms and hexes. Either that; or the writer is no longer alive. If they have departed this world; that would explain why I cannot sense the source of the magic."

[capt. h]

> Well, if the writer's no longer alive, no sense letting their life's work go to waste.

> Browse the contents of the book.

[Raikaria]

> Well, if the writer's no longer alive, no sense letting their life's work go to waste.

> Browse the contents of the book.

> You try to open the book; but it is magically sealed. You guess only one attuned with magic can open it; since Patchouli managed to do so.

[capt. h]

> What good is having a daemonic summoning ritual book if we can't use it?

> "Wanna try it out then?"

[Raikaria]

> What good is having a daemonic summoning ritual book if we can't use it?

> "Wanna try it out then?"

> Well; you don't know it's a summoning book. You know it's dark; deamonic magic; but not nessicerily summoning. For all you know it causes a swathe of hellfire or opens a portal or something or is necromantic or any other list of things.

> Patchouli looks at you as if you just said the stupidest thing in the universe.

> "Why on earth would I want to try out random spells in a book of dark magic? Are you trying to get my library blown up? Besides; the magic in there is of a level that I cannot perform it. It is not elemental magic; and it is beyond my ability in other fields of magic. Magicians specialize."

> Suddenly' Patchouli seems to have a brainwave.

> "Wait a second, I think I know who's book this might be. A user of dark magic; magic that is beyond even my understanding. If this was a book written by most in Gensokyo I would be able to use it myself. My knowledge of even my non-primary magic feilds is that high. But I can't trace the writer; which means they are out of range for my trace; dead; or the book is protected against such charms. I have heard of someone who fits both the dead and power categories; although I've never met her first hand. I've only heard about her from Marisa."

> "This may belong to Marisa's teacher; Mima. She's an evil spirit."

[capt. h]

> "Ai, I'll make sure Mima gets it then. ...Just as soon as you tell me where this Mima girl lives, I mean."

> Did we surprise her with our stupidity? Not that we should try to surprise people with our stupidity, but as long as it's still a surprise...

> "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why wouldn't you want to try out random spells in a book of dark magic? Do the dark magic books have side effects that light magic books lack or something? I mean, if it's just the whole library blowing up thing, we could always try them out on the Misty Lake..."

> "Yeah, we're young. We don't know much about dark magic or why it has such a bad reputation."

[Raikaria]

> "Ai, I'll make sure Mima gets it then. ...Just as soon as you tell me where this Mima girl lives, I mean."

> Did we surprise her with our stupidity? Not that we should try to surprise people with our stupidity, but as long as it's still a surprise...

> "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why wouldn't you want to try out random spells in a book of dark magic? Do the dark magic books have side effects that light magic books lack or something? I mean, if it's just the whole library blowing up thing, we could always try them out on the Misty Lake..."

> "Yeah, we're young. We don't know much about dark magic or why it has such a bad reputation."

> "Mima dosen't live. She's a ghost." Patchouli said. "And I don't leave this place unless I can help it. Go ask Reimu or Marisa; Reimu fights her a lot and she's Marisa's teacher." Patchouli said.

> No. She just sighed. She expected you to say stupid things. Comes with the ego of having the second name 'Knowledge'.

> "I wouldn't try out random spells from a book of 'Light Magics' either." Patchouli said. "Magic is an art; it requires knowledge and practice. If you randomly use a spell you do not know how to use and make the slightest error; the results can be disastrous. Generally explosive. Miscasts are bad."

> Patchouli sighed.

> "Although with the amount of explosions and lack of refined nature of Marisa's magic I sometimes wonder if her whole style of magic is just focusing her miscasts into a specific direction. Except a miscast is the result of inability to control the magic; so that's impossible."

> "Dark Magic in particular tends to have a bad reputation because it manipulates very dangerous things. On top of things like summoning deamons; it includes things like death magic; blood magic; raw destructive spells which are impossible to control; mental or body manipulation and Necromancy. There are also some powerful seals and hexes which tend to be of the kind 'If you break it you suffer or die'. If any of those things go wrong; the results tend to be far worse than any other type of magic. A miscast of a daemonic summoning could let loose an out-of-control monster. A miscast of of spell of Hellfire could become a wildfire that water cannot stop."

[capt. h]

> Lets decide to learn dark magic from Mima.

> Unless we can think of a reason not to do so. Such as 'we don't want to die when we miscast'.

[O4rfish]

I think it's not the most useful tool for surprising people if they have to be within range and still alive and not trying to kill us.

[Raikaria]

> Lets decide to learn dark magic from Mima.

> Unless we can think of a reason not to do so. Such as 'we don't want to die when we miscast'.

> You think it could be a good idea to try; but you'd also rather learn something more practical for surprising. Like water so you can splash people in the face with cold water and wake them up when they are taking a nap!

> Your carefree nature makes you not even bother to think about the repercussions of miscasts or even if you're capable of casting actual magic spells; being an umbrella, and technically; without your apparition; lacking arms and a voice.

[Cirque De Trois]

Hmm should we try asking Patchouli to teach us some elemental magic, then? At least the very basics, or a little training would be nice. Being an umbrella, maybe we have an affinity for water-based magic?

[capt. h]

> What we need is a spell that inherently makes people surprised. Maybe Patchouli has a recipe for comed-tea.

[O4rfish]

>We love making people surprised. A spell that just makes people surprised ... would this be the best thing or the worst thing?

[Raikaria]

> You don't think that there is such a thing as a surprise spell. Different things surprise different people.

> You ask Patchouli about elemental magic. She sternly says no. At this point; however; she looks around to make sure Sakuya is gone. The maid indeed had left at some point to attend to something else.

> "If you want to try and surprise the other people here; I might be able to help you out as payment for those books. I wanted you to see Koakuma so Sakuya would leave. No use helping you surprise Sakuya when she's standing right there."

[O4rfish]

>"I've already surprised Sakyua. How about Remilia?"

[Raikaria]

>"I've already surprised Sakyua. How about Remilia?"

> Patchouli looked curious.

> "I know something that will surprise her for sure; but it's dangerous. Very dangerous. There's a couple of other things but they may not work. Lady Scarlet has lived a long life; and has seen a lot."

[capt. h]

> One day the fact that we're a surprise youkai is going to kill me. "Well, you know, annoying scary people is an occupational hazard. What do you have in mind?"

[Raikaria]

> One day the fact that we're a surprise youkai is going to kill me. "Well, you know, annoying scary people is an occupational hazard. What do you have in mind?"

> "You go into the basement and surprise the one who lives down there. I'm sure that will surprise Lady Scarlet." Patchouli said. "The one who lives there is sealed in there for a reason; however. If you go down there it will be dangerous."

[capt. h]

> "Well, now I have to surprise the basement girl, now that you told me about her. Who is she?"

> We should probably find a psychiatrist about our OCD need to surprise people. Before we kill ourselves.

[Raikaria]

> "Well, now I have to surprise the basement girl, now that you told me about her. Who is she?"

> We should probably find a psychiatrist about our OCD need to surprise people. Before we kill ourselves.

> "The mistress' little sister; Flandre." Patchouli said.

> There are no psychiatrists in Gensokyo. It's a thing that happens when there is no such thing as common sense; and everyone is varying degrees of crazy. The closest would be Satori; but you don't technically have a heart or a brain; so you're not even sure if she can read you. It's an upside to being a sentient magical umbrella.

[capt. h]

> Smirk. "I'm in."

[O4rfish]

>Wonder if the Wonderful Wizard of SDM could give us a heart and a brain. Or at least a clock and a diploma.