Tengu Reporter Quest (Touhou) (World 7 - Wheel of Time)

[x] Stay in Belnago at least for the rest of the day.
- [x] Grab some more photos of the aftermath for use in your articles.
- [x] Check on Hatate and make sure she's doing alright.
- [x] Prepare to head to Alnus early tomorrow.


"I think we'll leave tomorrow morning," you say, and Giselle gives you a wry look.

"Celebrations are canceled, so you don't want to stay anymore?" You shrug and stretch your legs.

"I want to see what's going on at Alnus, make sure nothing problematic is going on with the other side of that Gate." Giselle laughs and shakes her head, but you cough meaningfully and glare at her. "I take it you've never met anyone who can beat you?" She blinks, looks at you in confusion, and you can almost see her thoughts as expressions flicker across her face.

"You … do you really think think there could be something dangerous? Even for you?" You nod and her eyes widen. You look around quickly, then make a quick shield of air for privacy in case anyone really is listening in.

"I don't have much experience with worlds apart from my own, but yes, it is a concern. I've met people from other worlds who could kill me, although some of them would have trouble catching me. But more importantly, I'm someone really strong – but what about everyone else who isn't strong? What if there are things on the other side that are dangerous enough that I can't just wave my hand and make them go away, even though I can defeat them? That would make them a problem for societies." You shrug and pat her shoulder. "But first I have to know. And maybe the Empire isn't going to find anything dangerous, and I'm just worrying over nothing. We're still going to check, so we know." Giselle nods, looks away for a moment, and nods again.

"It might rain tomorrow, before dawn." You raise an eyebrow, and she smiles a bit. "It could miss Belnago and go south, or it might not rain. But if there is a storm, there'll be thunder." You frown and look up at the sky. Rain, you and Hatate can deal with; lightning … could be trouble. Not much can catch a tengu in flight, but lightning is one of them. Of course, you'll likely be out of the storm pretty quickly, so it shouldn't be that much trouble.

"Weather predictors, or are are you just familiar with the weather patterns around here?" She chuckles.

"Experience." You nod, then dismiss the air bubble and stand up.

"Thanks for the tip," you say, and Giselle stands up and stretches before scowling at her bloody robes; the seamstress will probably give her a lecture about the care she's taken with them. "I'm just going to head in and tell Hatate to be ready to leave, then go and get some pictures of the attack." She turns an unhappy look on you, and you hold up a hand to forestall any objections. "I got some action shots, and those are much better for articles, but if there are any species I missed, or if they have any particular identifiers, I can use those images as references." Actual photos of carnage are pretty poor taste among most of your readers, even the youkai. Of course, that's mostly because they can't participate, but you could use a good bloodbath shot to drive up support to move here …. Giselle relaxes, then stands back awkwardly as you head into the temple. Hmm; if she doesn't have anything to do, you could, possibly, borrow her for your trip to the Gate. Might even let you look around officially instead of just dashing through, and she'd be a nice little wall if there is anything troubling on the other side. But first you'd have to ask her, and she'd probably need permission from Hardy, and you'd be sharing information – especially if there is trouble on the other side and you have to go all-out. … She'd have to leave the dragons behind, too, because you're not waiting around for them.

"It's my arm, isn't it?" Mora sounds stronger than you'd expected, but part of that is probably sheer stubbornness. Pale as she is, she has to finish falling over sooner or later. "I want to keep it, so if you can't at least try, I'll find …." She does fade a bit, then manages to shake herself awake.

"Okay, Mora, okay, now will you please get some rest?" Her assistant begs unashamedly, tears streaming down her face – and Mora puffs up before finally letting herself go. Hatate cradles her gently until the healers carefully take her away. You're not sure working on her arm while she's laying on the altar is the best move, but ….

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Hatate is looking at the blood on her arm, so you can't see her face, but she sounds like she's looking for reassurance. You look around the room again, the corpses stacked against one wall, the lightly wounded moaning on the intact benches. It looks like someone started moving the badly wounded to some other place where they're out of the way.

"... She'll probably live," you say, in Japanese and your voice low. Hatate looks up at you, and, yep, she looks pained. - Oh, dear, does she shut herself away so she doesn't get attached to people? Or is she just that inexperienced? "Whether she keeps the arm, I don't know. I haven't seen much to get excited about from their healers so far, but if it was brought up as reasonably possible, I believe that woman knows what she's talking about. But we'll be leaving for Alnus tomorrow morning." Hatate's shoulders slump. Ah, right, she's young … around the time some of the stories started changing. Yes, if she's caught more of the newer stories, of tengu as guardians, that would explain things. Not many crows caught that – your kind tend toward nastiness, after all – but if Hatate got it, then the only problem would be if she decided someone else deserved her protection instead of the tengu.

"Right, I'll … I'll get cleaned up, and … should we keep these clothes?" She probably doesn't want to, by her tone, but you shrug and slip back into the local language using the necklace.

"I'm sure we can get them cleaned when we get back home. Or trade them for something decent." You probably won't be allowed to leave the mansion – that would be too easy – but they ought to take care of you while you're there. Laundry wouldn't be out of the question, and Sakuya ought to know how to get bloodstains out of silk if anyone does. "Anyway, I'm going to go back to where the raiders hit, get a few pictures for references, then probably head back to our room." She nods dully and you start to turn away. "Oh, Hatate? If you weren't here, what would have happened?" She blinks, starts to respond angrily, then looks at Mora. Mora, who's still alive, and who was arguing about whether or not the healers should try to save her arm instead of merely having a complete ruin where her arm used to be. You turn away again as Hatate looks back at you, and she doesn't follow you.

Jeez, a reporter should just report on what's happening! Who ever heard of a reporter who interferes with a story?


You end up taking quite a few pictures of the corpses you find, mostly to get size references to accompany your notes, both for the people who died and for the creatures that served as mounts. And you do some questioning, too, about the attackers. The horse-men – one of a number of mercenary tribes – are apparently well-known for their sudden attacks on smaller villages, so youkai who can 'ride herd' over them could do well for themselves. Similarly, the winged horses and the eagle-lions and the simply very large birds are known entities, although not much scholarly knowledge is available here. In Rondel, on the other hand, or perhaps even Cicero's little library ….

Well, that's for later. As the grieving populace erect bonfires for the fallen, you return to the hotel. The staff is a bit thin on the ground, but otherwise act normally. You even get a complimentary basket of cool fruit as apologies for any potential disruption of service due to the staff shortage. Hatate had a basket, too, although between her and the crows, most of it's gone, and she smiles at you as they perch hopefully on the bed and caw pitifully. You watch them carefully as you wash your arms and face in the little bowl of water, then start eating. Of course you give them some. The parts you don't like.


What do you do?

[ ] See if you can bring Giselle with you to Alnus.

[ ] Go to Alnus without Giselle.

[ ] Other?