Flandre's Quest (Touhou) World - (Madness Quest)

[X] Stay here; after all, if they close the portal, you won't even know where you are!
- [X] Clean up the forces around the portal and make sure nothing else gets through.


As much fun as it's been, wandering through strange portals with pretty much no idea of where they lead, it's probably not a good idea to keep doing it. You wouldn't know where you are, or even if you could get back without their help - or Patchouli and your sister's - and since it'll be almost as easy to hold them off from this side, you really don't stand to gain much from advancing through the portal. Instead, you turn and dive into the throng of night-demons that are still trying to fight Satsuki. Attacked unexpectedly, and unable to drag down your servant, they break quickly, wailing and fleeing to the portal. For her part, Satsuki simply stops, only keeping herself from collapsing through sheer force of will, and after a brief look around to make sure nothing is going to attack in the next few seconds, you squeeze her in a gentle hug.

"You did very well, Satsuki. I'm proud of you." She shakes her head slowly.

"F-Flandre-sama … I'm tired. I just - just want to …." You pat her shoulder and float around so you're facing her, smiling.

"This was your first time doing something like this, and in such an extreme situation. You did well, Satsuki. You'll need to learn about pacing yourself, but that's something that will come with experience and practice. For now -" you take out a precious remaining blood pack and Satsuki's eyes widen hopefully, "- just give me a moment to thaw this so you can drink it, and then you can take a break, okay?" She nods, eyes never leaving the blood pack, and once it's ready you hand it to her. She takes it almost greedily and sighs ecstatically after a long drink - then collapses into a sitting position and hunches forward. You look around, but nothing hostile seems to be nearby, so you turn so you can see the portal as well as Satsuki. The horde stands impatiently, some of the weaker creatures fidgeting and snarling as they wait.

Your clones still protect Schach and Deed in the burning park, although the cyborg sits half-collapsed, a mirror to Satsuki in her exhaustion. One of your clones floats in front of the weary Knight, attracting her attention, and smiles and curtsies before flying to your position. You leave the other two with them, in case there are more assassins, but they're probably going to be fine, and when your clone arrives to take up the watch on the portal you turn your eye to the devastated city and its environs. Flames burn wildly in the outskirts, and although it looks like the troops stationed on the wall have prevented most of the fires from spreading past the wall, some sections within the wall are burning as well. And, of course, the pillar near the Sankt-Kaiser still towers over the landscape. As you consider whether to do anything about that, however, a gleaming red meteor falls from the sky, slamming into the base of the pillar, and you grin as you imagine her terrible cry of rage. Then beams of energy start coursing down from the sky, white blasts of power - and where they strike, flames are extinguished and the ground freezes.

Perhaps finally realizing that something is wrong, night-demons start spilling out from the portal, eagerly whooping as they rush to engage you and your clone, their cries cut short as you return to work. Then, however, something seems to focus its attention on you, and the night-demons all recoil. It doesn't stop you from slaughtering the ones still on this side of the portal … but you also see the serried ranks bow deeply in the seconds before the rock formation crumbles and the portal vanishes, and with it the sensation of malice and fear. It seems you've won.

---

The next day is spent in recuperation and recovery, and as one of the few unhurt, relatively well-rested people in the area you find yourself drafted to help locate missing people and scour the rubble. Vita glowers at you whenever she sees you, at least until dinner when Alph scolds her, explaining that it was only your warning about the green assassins that kept them from slaughtering all the civilians, and that the injuries Fate, Carim, Verossa, and she had taken would likely have been fatal if they hadn't had that forewarning. Vita looks shocked, although whether it's because Alph is the one defending you or because she hadn't realized how bad the situation could have been, you can't tell; in any case, she approaches you a short while later and apologizes, quietly and privately. At least, it sounded like an apology, and she's stopped glaring whenever she sees you now.

Schach hasn't been cleared for even light duty yet - Carim ordered her to continue resting at least until she looks healthy - so you've also spent some time guarding the leader of the Church as she helps organize the survivors and begin restoration of the city. Unfortunately, that also means you're forced to, on occasion, meet the Sankt-Kaiser. Not that you've exchanged so much as a single word, which is probably for the best. Maybe it's a side-effect of her maintaining her adult form for such an extended period of time - not even Carim has been able to convince her to get some rest, let alone leave the planet - or maybe it's because Otto is still bedridden and Deed refuses to leave her sibling's side, but every time she sees you she clenches her fists and glares furiously for a moment before looking away and refusing to further acknowledge your existence. Which is why the meeting two nights after the 'victory' is enough to surprise you. Although, given that the meeting's purpose is to determine how to handle the situation, it's probably a better time than most.

"Does that really need to be here?" Satsuki stiffens and trembles in fury when she realizes that the Sankt-Kaiser is referring to you, but a discreet hand on her wrist ensures she doesn't do anything untoward. "It's all that thing's fault this is happening, anyway! If it hadn't come here, hadn't gone poking around waking them up, none of this would have happened! Do we even know it isn't actually working with them?" Hayate and Fate stiffen and pale, shocked at the brazen accusation, not to mention the blatant hostility from the Sankt-Kaiser, and Carim winces.

"Your Holiness, please. It may be that Miss Scarlet inadvertently woke these creatures up, but it is very unfair to blame her -" Vivio jerks to her feet and slams her fists onto the table, splintering the heavy native wood.

"Enough! Either that leaves us right now, or - or -!" Blazing red and green eyes bore into yours as the Sankt-Kaiser tries to come up with a suitable threat. Maybe she's just not used to no longer being the most important person in the room, but maybe she could use a good thrashing ….


What do you do?

[ ] If she's going to act like a whiny child, she should be treated like one. Send her to bed before continuing the meeting.
- [ ] With a glass of warm milk, of course.

[ ] Call her bluff, shut her down, and get on with the meeting.

[ ] Offer to let her fight you, then continue the meeting.
- [ ] Throw the match.
- [ ] Beat her.
- - [ ] Ruthlessly.
- - [ ] Knock her out.

[ ] If you aren't wanted, you can leave.
- [ ] Go to the forest you first met the night-demons.
- [ ] Have Fate teleport you back to Mid-Childa.
- - [ ] Ask Carim for permission to visit the Church's Grand Cathedral.

[ ] Ignore her and continue with the meeting.

[ ] Other?

(Subvote options for continuing the meeting:
- Offer to try meeting with the night-demons.
- Suggest evacuating the planet and using it for training purposes.
- Keep silent.
- Suggest militarizing the planet.)


DM Note: A variety of options, most of them insulting! Calling her bluff is basically Flan saying that, like it or not, she's a very potent ally for the Church and the Bureau - one that Vivio can't just ignore or push away because she doesn't like it. Throwing the fight is basically letting Vivio beat up Flan, and then having Flan get up as if nothing had happened - basically letting Vivio know that Flan doesn't consider her worth fighting, even in practice. Beating her ruthlessly means breaking out Laevateinn, and breaking some bones; both the ruthless and knock-out options mean that Vivio won't be coming back to the meeting.

… It should be obvious, but different choices will, of course, lead to different reactions from everyone else. Pretty much everyone will understand if being insulted and mocked leads Flan to challenging Vivio to a duel, but that doesn't mean they'll be happy that Flan beat down a little kid with very little practical combat experience.