Doll Quest - Foundation

[Neovereign]

> "There's a few reasons why. To take something else, rather than many things in one trip. To seem innocent, since you could try report that the place was ransacked when you got there, or even pin it on someone else. You certainly don't seem to be here on nice terms."

[Philosopher]

>Raise a finger as we name off reasons

[raikaria]

> "There's a few reasons why. To take something else, rather than many things in one trip. To seem innocent, since you could try report that the place was ransacked when you got there, or even pin it on someone else. You certainly don't seem to be here on nice terms."

>Raise a finger as we name off reasons

> The maid dosen't respond to you; instead, her eyes seem to shift to a red color as she mummers "three enemies."

> "Oh no." Marisa says.

> A spellcard appears in the maid's hand. "Illusion Ghost: Jack the Ludo Bile"

> The maid releases a cone of large bubble danmaku, then without warning; she suddenly teleports somewhere else in the room, and among the bubble danmaku is a massive quantity of knives [You... don't know where she was storeing that many...]; which start moving towards yourself; Marisa and Reisen.

[Philosopher]

>Use our float powers to flip the desk on its side then take cover behind it

>"Home wrecker!"

>Do we see any doll shields or weapons?

[Neovereign]

>Try not to wreck our home more.
> Do try to duck behind something for cover, though.

[raikaria]

>Use our float powers to flip the desk on its side then take cover behind it

>"Home wrecker!"

>Do we see any doll shields or weapons?

>Try not to wreck our home more.
> Do try to duck behind something for cover, though.

> Since you are small; you dart behind the leg of the workbench for cover. The knives; unlike the ones before; vanish when they hit a surface, although they cause minor damage. It appears these knives are danmaku and not the real thing.

> There are quite a few dolls with small weaponry or bucklers. And of course, there's also the large doll with it's blade-arms.

> "Ugh; I can't really fight back with my magic in here." Marisa complains. "One errant spark and the whole place could go up!"

> "What do you mean?" Reisen asks as she evades the wave of knife danmaku.

> "Most of the dolls are filled with gunpowder."

> "WHAT?!" the rabbit says with a face-fault expression.

> The maid's attention now seems to be on the other two, as she is throwing knives at them and they are focusing on evasion, apparently reluctant to fight back due to the gunpowder-filled dolls. However, each time one of Reisen and Marisa heads towards the door; they're cut off by the maid either throwing knives or teleporting. It seems she knows she has the advantage indoors.

[Philosopher]

>Nod to ourself
->Grab a buckler and try to give our comrades cover.

//Maybe we should make an exit through a window

[Neovereign]

//It seems like Sakuya considers us the least to worry about, so she probably won't stop us if we try to escape. But it's already a 2v1 and Sakuya's still got the upper hand. We need to tip the scales somehow for a turnaround.

> Declare our first spell, Olympiad: Danmaku Shotput. At least it should surprise her, and give the two time to get out in the open.

[raikaria]

>Nod to ourself
->Grab a buckler and try to give our comrades cover.

//Maybe we should make an exit through a window

> You grab a buckler that fell off one of the other dolls near the workbench leg.

//It seems like Sakuya considers us the least to worry about, so she probably won't stop us if we try to escape. But it's already a 2v1 and Sakuya's still got the upper hand. We need to tip the scales somehow for a turnaround.

> Declare our first spell, Olympiad: Danmaku Shotput. At least it should surprise her, and give the two time to get out in the open.

> When the maid teleports near the door to cut off Marisa again, you declare your spellcard.

> You feel energy gather in your free hand, before you make a throwing motion. A single; large opaque danmaku fires from it; three times the size of your body; towards the maid; who is caught off-guard, being focused on Marisa and not expecting the spellcard.

> The danmaku shotput knocks the maid backwards; out of the door; with several; smaller danmaku flying off on impact. You see Marisa and Reisen quickly make a break for it outside.

> Your spellcard is still in effect, you can feel the energy gathering in your free hand to launch another shot.

[The spellcard is a very basic one, it launches one big danmaku that would erupt into smaller ones, like dirt being thrown up by something impacting the ground. After all; you're a complete newbie.]

[Philosopher]

>Move to the door
->Keep the maid out of the house with our danmaku until the spellcard runs out

//Please tell me it is shaped like lightning.

[Neovereign]

//Please tell me it is shaped like lightning.

//We'll probably start understanding how to make more varied shapes and effects for our danmaku the more action we see.

>Phil
> Make sure not to drain ourselves too much. If we can only get one more use out, that's fine.

[raikaria]

>Move to the door
->Keep the maid out of the house with our danmaku until the spellcard runs out

//Please tell me it is shaped like lightning.

/// No it's just a sphere. It's... a shotput.

> You move to the doorway.

//We'll probably start understanding how to make more varied shapes and effects for our danmaku the more action we see.

>Phil
> Make sure not to drain ourselves too much. If we can only get one more use out, that's fine.

> You're not really sure how many shots you have. You know from when the spellcard formed that they have time limits.

> You launch off another shot, but this one is easily evaded by the maid in the more open area. When it hits a tree, the smaller danmaku spheres emanate; but the maid is never really in the area of them.

> She is, however, also now dodgeing attacks from both Reisen and Marisa, and seems to be getting overwhelmed. Shots from those two are frequently grazing her, and she is getting little; if any; chance to counter-attack, mostly doing so after teleporting; which she is doing noticeably less often and for shorter distances.

> You feel like you can maybe hurl two more shots before the spellcard times out.

[Neovereign]

> One more shotput then. Try to land it on her at it's end, rather than mid-flight

[Philosopher]

>Neo

[raikaria]

> One more shotput then. Try to land it on her at it's end, rather than mid-flight

> You decide rather than quantity, to wait for the right moment to strike. You've noticed between your successful hit and her movements slowing, that the maid cannot teleport immediately after teleporting.

> Marisa releases a spread shot of star-like danmaku, which combined with a stream of bullets from Reisen; forces the maid to teleport near a tree. You pick that moment to launch your last shot.

> The maid evades the primary orb, but this time is close enough to the impact site that the lesser danmaku catches her in the side. This causes her to grimace and be knocked ever so slightly off-course, and Marisa nails her with a thin beam right in the solar plexus.

> The maid buckles over and drops her weapons.

> "Are you gonna listen to us now instead of making assumptions?" Marisa asks. "You're smart enough to know you can't take us all on Sakuya."

> The maid looks venomously at Marisa; but dosen't say anything.

> "I was going to see Patchy to see if she could help Alice; the person who's house this is." Marisa explains. "And it turns out their Grimoire's been stolen too."

> "That dosen't make you innocent." the maid grunts.

> "Listen Sakuya, I borrow Patchy's books yeah. But there's a huge difference between borrowin' the general magic books and knowledge from Patchy, and stealing her personal Grimoire. A Grimoire is a magician's life's work. It contains all of the magic knowledge they have. A thing like that's too important to borrow even for a period as short as my lifetime, ya' know? Even I have a Grim..."

> Marisa pauses. A look of concern spreads on her face.

> "Hey. If Patchy's Grimoire has been stolen, and Alice's Grimoire has been stolen, you don't think someone would be dumb enough to try and steal a regular human's Grimoire right?" Marisa remarks; sounding actually concerned instead of her regular happy-go-lucky.

> This causes the maid to look at Marisa with surprise. "You being a victim would clear your name... I suppose."

[Neovereign]

> "Someone trying to frame you would, maybe? Or do you think someone's trying to learn better the complicated way from all of you magicians?"

[Philosopher]

>Do we know where the key to the house is?

[raikaria]

> "Someone trying to frame you would, maybe? Or do you think someone's trying to learn better the complicated way from all of you magicians?"

> "'Dunno; but if someone's stealing all the Grimoires it can't be for anything good." Marisa remarked. "And there's also the fact that they decided to strike right after Alice was incapacitated."

>Do we know where the key to the house is?

> No.

> By this point, the maid has gotten back up. "If you would lead the way then, Kirisame. Let us see if you indeed do have proof of your innocence."

> Marisa looks a little sheepish. "It's not like I've had a chance to check my house to make sure with you hot on my tail."

> "Well now you have one." Sakuya says curtly.

[Neovereign]

> "Might just be me, but I don't feel the best about letting her in your house after how she treated Alice's... I hope she behaves this time in someone else's home."

[Philosopher]

>Float over to Reisen
->Lay on her shoulder

[raikaria]

> "Might just be me, but I don't feel the best about letting her in your house after how she treated Alice's... I hope she behaves this time in someone else's home."

> "My house isn't filled with gunpowder-filled dolls." Marisa responds. "Besides, who said I'm letting her inside?"

> Reisen looks at you with slight surprise as you claim her shoulder again. As Marisa leads the maid; Reisen follows.

> It dosen't take very long to reach a house that looks significantly shabbier than Alice's. There is a sign on it that reads "Kirisame Magic Shop".

> Marisa opens the door, and... how can anyone live inside that? It's basically a garbage heap inside there. Both the maid and Reisen look mortified at the sight.

> Marisa; however seems to know exactly where to look; and heads for one of the few places where someone might be able to find something, a shelf. She flicks through a few books on there.

> "Nope; mine's gone too." she says.

> "It could be anywhere in that garbage heap." the maid protests.

> "Come on Sakuya, you should know from Patchy that even I'd look after my Grimoire."

> The maid grumbles.

> "Three magicians, all with their Grimoires stolen. This is starting to look like an Incident." she remarks.

> "P-perhaps we should go and inform Reimu?" Reisen suggests, a little sheepishly.

> "I would prefer to continue my investigation alone. Kirisame is far from the only thief in Gensokyo; even if she is the most prolific."

> "I don't steal. I'm simply borrowing until I die."

> "Without permission." the maid adds. "Which is stealing."

> "Anyway, I don't wanna get Reimu mixed up in this. I'm personally involved in this incident. If there's any incident I'm gonna beat Reimu to solving; it's this one! I'll find whoever's behind this and ..."

> Marisa pulls out the device she pointed at you before and mutters quietly to it; she then puts it away.

> "Is it even an incident if Reimu doesn't get involved?" Reisen asks.

> "It is if I say so~" Marisa responds.

> Reisen sighs. "What do you wanna do? You're not involved in this whole Grimoire-stealing stuff personally. Neither am I for that matter, although I guess since Master wanted that book you mentioned... I have been dragged into this haven't I?"

---

OCC: At moments like this where I feel like there is a potential major branching to the story; I'll provide a quick summary of the situation and "routes":


A crossroads seems to be before you in regards to the case of the Grimoire of Alice; a deeply important item to Alice that may be important in helping her:

- Stay with Reisen and go and inform this "Reimu" about the stolen Grimoires

- Go with Marisa and see what her plan is

- Go with Sakuya and investigate other known thieves

- Strike out on your own course [This could either be going after the Grimoire or deeming it unimportant and focusing on finding a solution to the damage to Alice's soul]

The choice will influence encounters for the next phase of the game. The other characters will follow their own goals regardless; although you will lose the ability to influence their routes as a result.

[Neovereign]

> "I need to know about more people and get someone who can help with Alice's issue. I believe in you being able to find Alice's grimoire, Marisa, so I'll leave that to you. Given Sakuya here wants to go after potential thieves alone, I guess I'll just have to do my best by myself."
> Consider places and people we know.

[Philosopher]

>Neo

[raikaria]

> "I need to know about more people and get someone who can help with Alice's issue. I believe in you being able to find Alice's grimoire, Marisa, so I'll leave that to you. Given Sakuya here wants to go after potential thieves alone, I guess I'll just have to do my best by myself."
> Consider places and people we know.

> "You'd probably just get in my way anyway." Sakuya remarks.

> "I'm not just lookin' for Alice's Grimoire. I gotta clear my name and get my own back." Marisa adds.

> "Your best by yourself? What about me?" Reisen asks sounding a little upset; the rabbit thinking she was forgotten.

> You don't know any locations other than where you've been. Although; that also means that pretty much any direction *except* Eientei would potentially bring up new leads.

> Sakuya curtsies. "I shall take my leave to investigate the Netherworld next."

> "Netherworld?" Marisa asks.

> "The gardener stole spring before, remember?"

> The maid flies off, heading upwards primarily.

[Philosopher]

>Say to Reisen, "You're helping? I thought with Marisa and Sakuya looking for the books you'd go back."
->Give her a hug

[Neovereign]

> "I'll gladly have your help if you aren't busy."

[raikaria]

>Say to Reisen, "You're helping? I thought with Marisa and Sakuya looking for the books you'd go back."
->Give her a hug

> "Master wanted to get something that might help her with the case. I'd wager a magician's Grimoire might help unpick whatever process she used to damage her soul, and we might be able to fix it with that knowledge."

> You're already hugging her shoulder.

> "I'll gladly have your help if you aren't busy."

> "Well; the first thing we should do is tell Reimu what's going on. This is getting a little bigger than just Alice." Reisen says. "Besides; quite a few people tend to gather at the Hakurei Shrine, so it's a good place for rumors. Almost every other incident someone ends up freeloading there."

> Reisen pauses for a few moments. "Also it's probably a good idea to get you introduced to Reimu in general. The Shrine is right on the edge of Gensokyo, so it's a fair bit away."

> Marisa hops onto her broom. "I'm gonna pick up where I left off. See Patchy without getting chased off by the maid. If magicians are getting targeted; it might be time to do that thing~"

> Marisa sounds quite excited as she flies off.

[Neovereign]

> "Alright... It's a step forward in the general direction at least."

[Philosopher]

>"What’s Reimu like?"

[raikaria]

> "Alright... It's a step forward in the general direction at least."

> Reisen nods, and takes off.

>"What’s Reimu like?"

> "Well; I don't interact with her too often. She's generally an alright person, although she can be a bit stubborn and lazy at times, she usually gets the job done. When something is going wrong in Gensokyo; it's usually Reimu who solves the problem."

> Reisen pauses. "Well; unless you're the one causing trouble. Then you should prepare for quite a bit of pain. But Reimu also has a habit of befriending her previous enemies. A lot of the types you'll see at the Hakurei Shrine are past troublemakers."