Iku Quest Sechs - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>"How could the book possibly be a trick? You clearly recognized it. I was under no obligation to offer it to you, and I did so freely, because, and only because, I knew that it mattered to you. Because I honestly cared."
>"If you are uncomfortable to move to retrieve it, I can bring it to you. I left it where it was because I thought the distance would be less threatening."

>"You can leave," she says. "Do it!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Let Tenshi go. I will not leave without her. That is non-negotiable."
>Get ready to fire, if she so much as moves to harm her again

[Hello Purvis]

>"Let Tenshi go. I will not leave without her. That is non-negotiable."
>Get ready to fire, if she so much as moves to harm her again

>"So you can both attack me?" she says. "Go!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"And if I leave now, what becomes of Tenshi?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"And if I leave now, what becomes of Tenshi?"

>"That will be up to her," says the poltergeist.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Up to her, how?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Up to her, how?"

>"Don't be stupid," she says, "It depends on what she chooses to do!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"And you would let her leave unharmed, too? If she did not try to harm you in return?"

[Suwako Moriya]

> What does Tenshi's facial expression seem to be?

[Hello Purvis]

>"And you would let her leave unharmed, too? If she did not try to harm you in return?"

>"That will be up to her," says the poltergeist.
>"There ain't going to be no unharmed!" says Tenshi between heavy breaths. "I'm about to knock her ass to the moon capital!"

> What does Tenshi's facial expression seem to be?

>Not quite pained, but certainly not comfortable. But most certainly furious.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

C'mon, Ten-chan, what are you doing? :|

[Suwako Moriya]

Well, as long as she's being this talkative, might as well give it a shot. Veto it if it doesn't fit with whatever you're doing, though.

> "And if I leave you, what will become of our home?"

[DracoOmega]

C'mon, Ten-chan, what are you doing? :|

I don't honestly think we could hold Tenshi back now, even if we were here and in control of the situation when she is freed (one way or the other). And we sure as hell can't if we're not. And Tenshi WILL lose, if she tries to fight her on her own. She's far too hot-headed, especially at the moment.

At one point, I had idlely entertained the thought of offering ourself as hostage in Tenshi's place, so that we could see her to safety first. But, even if we could get the spectre to agree, I suspect Tenshi will ruin it by being unable to restrain herself, and the gesture will have been for naught.

[Suwako Moriya]

I'm more annoyed at her total inability to assess the situation. Far too many people in this game have been blinded into single-mindedness for their own good.

[DracoOmega]

I hear ya. It does seem a rather long list when you sit down and think about it. Although, to be honest, I was surprised that Tenshi had not been uttering threats and curses at her long before this point >.>
Of all people, she's not exactly known for her situational awareness.

[Hello Purvis]

> "And if I leave you, what will become of our home?"

>"I don't care," she says, "Leave! I'm not saying it again!"

>_

[Blitzer]

>Consider using an Armor Piercing Question. Would it anger her into attacking?

[Hello Purvis]

>Consider using an Armor Piercing Question. Would it anger her into attacking?

>Trying to invoke "The Rules", as opposed to an actual in-story solution, is probably the  fastest way to ensure failure.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I know how much your book meant to you. You wouldn't have stopped until you'd got it back, would you? Well, my home and the shadows of the people you stole mean just as much to me. And I also cannot stop until they are restored to their proper place. Surely you can understand that? You can understand what it means for something important to be stolen from you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I know how much your book meant to you. You wouldn't have stopped until you'd got it back, would you? Well, my home and the shadows of the people you stole mean just as much to me. And I also cannot stop until they are restored to their proper place. Surely you can understand that? You can understand what it means for something important to be stolen from you?"

>"Then you people should have left me alone!" says the poltergeist. "Do you want it to keep happening? Go!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Of course I don't want it to keep happening! All that I have done is so that I can prevent that. But what has already happened must also be undone."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Of course I don't want it to keep happening! All that I have done is so that I can prevent that. But what has already happened must also be undone."

>"And you've only made it worse," says the poltergeist. "Leave!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Is there anything that could ever be done, by anyone, even in theory, that would make you willing to release them?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is there anything that could ever be done, by anyone, even in theory, that would make you willing to release them?"

>"I am done with you and your lies!" she shouts. "Leave!"

>_

[Janitor Morgan]

Thinking out loud here.

We know that the poltergeist pretty much hates our guts. After speaking to Purvis, I think I came up with a few possible reasons for this, and they all happened before we were cast into the void:

1) The part where we threatened to drop the poltergeist if she struggled. This may have made her think that we were strictly malevolent, if she didn't already. Though she was glaring at us even beforehand, so this probably wasn't it.
2) Taking her out of the forest in the first place. That's where she was hiding from everyone, so being forcefully taken out of her element was have been a very negative thing. Though this couldn't be helped, because we needed to find some way to get the shadows back.
3)

"Many others already know all that I do. Can you track them all down? This doesn't end if you stop me."

Even if the poltergeist was able to stay in the forest, this line would have told her that someone was out spreading information about her. This is probably the thing that set her off the most. ...Though she was already attacking us at the time, so...

If nothing else, I think this whole situation has been approached the wrong way. Some of it probably can't be fixed, but there has to be at least one thing that can. ...If I were a more analytical sort, I might be able to help more, but as it stands, things don't look good.

[Dormio Ergo Sum]

I'm not sure if this was asked in the previous encounters with the poltergeist, so, well.

>"You claim that you do not want others to find out about you, yet your actions contradict this behaviour. If you truly did not wish to be found, why would you do something like causing Bhava Agra to fall?"
>"You claim that I am the one responsible for making others search for you, however, if you had not stolen the shadows would this have happened?"
>"I would have been perfectly fine with leaving you alone had you not damaged my home. I would not have had to tell others about you if you had not stolen the shadows of their friends and presented yourself as a threat to us. Surely you must have known that both a large scale incident such as Bhava Agra falling and smaller incidents where residents of this land are turned into vegetables would cause people to seek out the perpetrator of these incidents."

[Kilgamayan]

It was largely avoided because we didn't want to go on the offensive like that. :C

[Dormio Ergo Sum]

Feel free to disregard what I say.
It doesn't seem like the poltergeist is going to listen to Iku though.
And she's already plenty mad anyway.

[Kilgamayan]

Actually, you know what? Why the hell not. Let's go with it. I've privately wanted to ask those questions for about 3 threads now anyway.

[Jana]

Honestly, I'm really wondering why we're wasting so much time trying to reason with the poltergeist instead of taking matters into our own hands already. :\