Author Topic: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 3) (Read 85179 times)

Oldmansour · « **Reply #780 on:** July 17, 2011, 01:50:46 AM »

>No sign of webbing, or unusual tracks? ... Or cow parts?
>Are there any people in sight?

DracoOmega · « **Reply #781 on:** July 17, 2011, 01:53:20 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 01:50:46 AM

>No sign of webbing, or unusual tracks? ... Or cow parts?
>Are there any people in sight?

>You see no sign of webbing or unusual tracks, and the only cow parts visible are those currently attached to apparently living cows.
>You can see two or three of them in the pastures from here.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #782 on:** July 17, 2011, 01:55:48 AM »

>Move in their general direction.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #783 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:26:46 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 01:55:48 AM

>Move in their general direction.

>You proceed in the general direction of the ranchers, roughly northeast. None of them seem to take more than the usual notice of you, nor do you see or hear anything else unusual on the way. The cows look about as unperturbed as ever, lazily moving across the grass or eating it.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #784 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:41:14 AM »

>Do these ranchers appear familiar to us?

DracoOmega · « **Reply #785 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:43:27 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 02:41:14 AM

>Do these ranchers appear familiar to us?

>You think you recognize all of the ones you can see at the moment from earlier in the day, although none of them were among those you spoke to.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #786 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:46:48 AM »

>Good, they might know us, then.
>Approach and see if we can flag the attention of at least one of 'em.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #787 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:50:45 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 02:46:48 AM

>Good, they might know us, then.
>Approach and see if we can flag the attention of at least one of 'em.

>It does seem that they might.
>You approach the nearest of them, a tall man with a rather stark countenance. He eyes you without seeming to move so much as a single facial muscle.
>"What is it?" he asks.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #788 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:52:20 AM »

>That's a neat trick.
>"Place seems a bit emptier than it was earlier on the day. Where'd everybody go?"

DracoOmega · « **Reply #789 on:** July 17, 2011, 02:59:00 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 02:52:20 AM

>That's a neat trick.
>"Place seems a bit emptier than it was earlier on the day. Where'd everybody go?"

>Perhaps he could moonlight as a scarecrow.
>"Well, that's your doing, ain't it?" he says, sounding somewhat less than pleased about this. Although, perhaps he always sounds that way? With a face like that, it wouldn't surprise you.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #790 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:00:36 AM »

>"Ah. Word's spread, I take it."

DracoOmega · « **Reply #791 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:03:04 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 03:00:36 AM

>"Ah. Word's spread, I take it."

>"I'll believe it when I see it," he says.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #792 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:08:14 AM »

>"And I don't blame you. I won't keep you, either."
>Assuming her doesn't stop us, resume our original course.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #793 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:46:16 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 03:08:14 AM

>"And I don't blame you. I won't keep you, either."
>Assuming her doesn't stop us, resume our original course.

>He nods.
>He makes no effort to stop you as you turn and continue northward, over the hills and towards the forest. You see another scattered cluster of cattle on the way, although they remain similarly thin or perhaps even moreso.
>Given that you approached the spider's lair from two different directions and fled via a third route, none of which was entirely direct, how do you wish you proceed?

Oldmansour · « **Reply #794 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:51:18 AM »

>From the first direction, the way we were going before we got ambushed by the big ones.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #795 on:** July 17, 2011, 04:57:02 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 03:51:18 AM

>From the first direction, the way we were going before we got ambushed by the big ones.

>Do you wish you retrace your original route from the other side of the river to the west, or attempt to head northward and pick up a later part of that trail from a likely closer location?

Oldmansour · « **Reply #796 on:** July 17, 2011, 05:08:10 AM »

>'Likely closer location' sounds promising, let's try that.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #797 on:** July 17, 2011, 05:36:34 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 05:08:10 AM

>'Likely closer location' sounds promising, let's try that.

>You make a rough estimate of where your original path might have taken you after it headed east from the river and aim in that direction, heading northward. This is a very rough guess indeed, but you hope that once you pick up the scent again, you'll have a good enough signal to go by.
>You traverse the rest of the pasture, past what few more cattle remain, and slip into the woods beyond them. As you do, you raise your guard for unusual noises or other things you've come to associate with the spiders. Still, your previous flight from the woods was spider-free for quite some distance north of the pasture, and the return trip appears to be similar. It takes some time before you get any useful wiff of the scent you were originally tracking, but it does eventually happen, perhaps 15 minutes after entering the woods. You aren't certain if you've ended up north or south of your original route, but the lair, or at least what you believe to be it, is definitely northeast of you now and still quite some distance away. You've yet to see any signs of spider activity.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #798 on:** July 17, 2011, 05:42:58 AM »

>Emphasis on the yet.
>Any signs of human activity since we entered the forest? One of the farmers that heard the story might've come up and tried to be a hero himself.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #799 on:** July 17, 2011, 06:02:18 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 05:42:58 AM

>Emphasis on the yet.
>Any signs of human activity since we entered the forest? One of the farmers that heard the story might've come up and tried to be a hero himself.

>It does seem likely that will change soon enough...
>None that you've seen, although there's quite a lot of forest up here, and the odds of you bumping into even someone's trail would be slim, given that you have no idea where they might have entered or where they might have been heading.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #800 on:** July 17, 2011, 06:17:04 AM »

>That'd make the day complete, wouldn't it, having to save some wannabe hero on top of everything else.
>Proceed in a northeasterly direction, senses sharp. And keep a solid grip on that pitchfork.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #801 on:** July 17, 2011, 07:59:51 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 06:17:04 AM

>That'd make the day complete, wouldn't it, having to save some wannabe hero on top of everything else.
>Proceed in a northeasterly direction, senses sharp. And keep a solid grip on that pitchfork.

>Hopefully no one's planning to be quite that foolish today...
>You continue to the northeast, making your way carefully through the trees. You keep a firm grip on your pitchfork and a sharp ear for any sounds of motion that could possibly be attributed to a spider. Several times a noise gives you pause, but turns out to be no more than an ordinary forest creature rustling through the brush. Progress is slow and somewhat tiring for your vigilance, but you continue to approach your target and several more minutes pass without event.
>You think you're closer now than you were during the original ambush, although likely approaching from a slightly different angle. If anything, the lack of spider activity is making you more edgy than if you'd seen several already. The ground is growing hillier again, first in gentle slopes and then somewhat steeper ones. The trees thin somewhat as the ground grows less even, although the canopy remains dense. Some distance ahead, it looks like the terrain starts to rise up sharply. You may either be in for some climbing, or have to trace along the edge of the hill.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #802 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:04:07 AM »

>Still no signs of webbing about?
>Sniff the air. What does our nose tell us?

DracoOmega · « **Reply #803 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:09:50 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 08:04:07 AM

>Still no signs of webbing about?
>Sniff the air. What does our nose tell us?

>None that you've yet seen.
>You take another good sniff of the area. You're definitely getting quite close at this point. In fact, you suspect what you're looking for may be among those very hills, although you can't yet localize it with certainty; you would need to move closer. There is also a faint hint of the acrid smell you've come to associate with the spitter, although not strong enough to suggest that one is in the immediate vicinity.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #804 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:22:16 AM »

>About how far would we have to circle around to avoid heavy climbing?

DracoOmega · « **Reply #805 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:26:51 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 08:22:16 AM

>About how far would we have to circle around to avoid heavy climbing?

>You can't tell. In fact, you can't really see the hill clearly through the trees; if it didn't cover so much of the horizon, you might not even be aware of it yet.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #806 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:30:25 AM »

>Continue on the way we're going, carefully. At least until we get to the point where we'd need to start climbing or start cicling. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #807 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:51:27 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 08:30:25 AM

>Continue on the way we're going, carefully. At least until we get to the point where we'd need to start climbing or start cicling. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

>You continue forward, making your way up the rising terrain, and soon enough find yourself facing an increasingly steep slope. The edge of the hill is poorly defined among all the other inclines that form the local terrain. In front of you, the incline is quite sharp - too much so to walk up - though it looks like it may be gentler at some points further along, at least from what glimpses you can catch through the trees.
>The scent actually grows fainter as get close to the hillside, though you're fairly certainly you were moving in the right direction. You think this may be due to the hillside itself blocking the breeze, with you standing its shadow. This suggests that what you're looking for is either higher among the hill somewhere, or on the other side of it.

Oldmansour · « **Reply #808 on:** July 17, 2011, 08:57:43 AM »

>Walk apart a ways, try to find a less steep part of the hill to scale.

DracoOmega · « **Reply #809 on:** July 17, 2011, 09:08:07 AM »

Quote from: Sourfang on July 17, 2011, 08:57:43 AM

>Walk apart a ways, try to find a less steep part of the hill to scale.

>In which direction will you search? The steep slope in front of you is running very roughly from northwest to your left and southeast to your right. The scent you are tracking appeared to be emanating from somewhere to the northeast, although the hill itself makes it difficult to determine this confidently.