Here is the updated inventory and ability list:

Merchandise in dimensional bag:
Audio expulsion device (1)
Cellphone strap accessories (8)
Lighter (2)
Lava Lamp (1)
Deck of Cards (1)
Full body armor (1)
Jenga Game (1)
Yo-Yo (2)
Department Store Catalogue (1)
Nice hat (1)
Pumpkin (1)
Sweater (1)
Herbs and leaves tea set (2)
Exorcism Arrow (RESERVED, 1)
Fireproof Clothes (RESERVED, 1)

Personal items on hand:
Grappling hook (Consists of hook and rope, 1)
Toolkit
Food Rations
Various Currencies
Blade

Seals:
[Seal 1P] Arm strength
[Seal 2P] Locked
[Seal 3P] Locked
[Seal 4P] Locked
<Seal 1M> Locked
<Seal 2M> Locked
<Seal 3M> Locked
<Seal 4M> Locked

[x] Open the lid slightly and peek out at the current situation

inb4 we get dream sealed.

[ ] Get out of the box, you can probably handle whatever is out there if sweeping is the only noise you can hear.

[x] Open the lid slightly and peek out at the current situation

[x] Open the lid slightly and peek out at the current situation

He was inside, and now he's outside. This makes no sense, so it should be natural to be cautious.

[x] Open the lid slightly and peek out at the current situation

The box you are in seems to have moved itself without you realizing it, sending you to an unknown environment with who knows what sweeping out there. At times like these one has to be patient, but one should also make sure they know their environment in case some sort of action has to be taken.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, you lift open the lid of the box somewhat and take a look around. The first thing that garners your attention is the girl sweeping over on the path leading to the shrine. Her black hair and petite frame are normal enough, but what catches your attention it the clothing. A red dress with frills all around and a matching bow in her hair give the girl a striking appearance. But perhaps the oddest thing you notice is the fact that the white sleeves of the dress seem to be detached, leaving her upper arm and shoulder exposed.

Moving your attention away from the uniquely dressed female, you observe the general area. The donation box is sitting outside of the shrine, which on further inspection cannot be the same shrine you held in. The one you sneaked inside of was on the verge of falling apart, while this one looks as though it was only recently built. Additionally, the grounds seem to be at least somewhat better maintained then where you originally were. No two shakes about it, you are no longer in the same place that you were.

Sitting back down inside the box, you think about how to proceed from here. Should you chance surprising the maiden outside? Or should you wait until she leaves and sneak out in the interim.

Both questions become moot when a shadow crosses the top of the donation box and the woman in question looks down upon you. She regards you for a moment with a look of surprise on her face.

“Well, this is odd. Never received a donation in the form of a human before. Wonder if some Youkai are playing a prank…” She mulls over this for a bit before turning back to you with a sharp look. “Or maybe you are just some kind of common thief, coming to steal from my donation box?”

[ ] Explain your situation in full; it would be a dishonor for an honest merchant like yourself to be considered a thief.
[ ] Lying is never the best policy, but these turns of events might not give you much choice, so make up something that sounds plausible
[ ] You’ve been caught! Get out of there as fast as you can!
[ ] How could you steal anything if the donation box was empty in the first place?

[X] Explain your situation in full; it would be a dishonor for an honest merchant like yourself to be considered a thief.
-[X] But ask if you can get out of the box first.

[ ] How could you steal anything if the donation box was empty in the first place?

[X] Explain your situation in full; it would be a dishonor for an honest merchant like yourself to be considered a thief.
-[X] But ask if you can get out of the box first.

We need to be able to book it incase she doesn't believe us anyway.

[X] Explain your situation in full; it would be a dishonor for an honest merchant like yourself to be considered a thief.
--[x] How could you steal anything if the donation box was empty in the first place?

All for honesty but i cant resist the 2nd option! Old but its a classic.

[X] Explain your situation in full; it would be a dishonor for an honest merchant like yourself to be considered a thief.
-[X] But ask if you can get out of the box first.
--[x] How could you steal anything if the donation box was empty in the first place?

To be sure, this is a very strange situation that most people wouldn’t believe. However, your integrity as a merchant wouldn’t allow you to lie for no good reason.

“I can assure you ma’am, I am no thief. I you could just give me a moment to explain myself, I’m sure I could…”

“HAH! That’s exactly something that a thief would say! And I should know, a certain thief shows up here every single day! What do you have to say to that?”

You rack your brain for an appropriate response and come across a piece of logic that makes her argument invalid; “How could I steal anything if the donation box was empty in the first place?”

The woman visibly recoils at that statement, and when she looks back she has a sad yet accepting look on her face. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Haven’t had any worshipers since I last checked, and in any case it isn’t like anyone donates in the first place.” She grumbles on for a bit before turning back to you. “Alright, you’re no thief, but then why are you in the shrine’s donation box?”

“It’s kind of complicated, but I will try my best to explain. Ah, but first would you mind if I asked you something?”

“What is it?”

“Would you mind if I got out of this box first?”

---

“So you hid inside the box, fell asleep, and then just found yourself here?” You and your hostess are sitting on the stairs that lead up to the shrine’s alter, as you regale her about your escape.

“That’s right. I have no idea how it happened either. One second I’m hiding inside an old shrine, and the next thing I know I’m here.”

“Hm, well it’s not really as odd as you might think.” She replies, “ The shrine in the outside world and this one both lie on the border of Gensokyo, so going inside of one and walking out of the other isn’t unheard of.”

“Gensokyo?”

“The name of this land. A pocket dimension of the outside world, if that makes any sense.”

A pocket dimension? That’s both intriguing and inconvenient at the same time. On one hand, there is a very good chance that rare items are just crawling all over this place, just waiting for you to find them. On the other hand, it’s generally tough to leave a pocket dimension without a good amount of effort.

“Excuse, me Ms, ah…”

“Hakurei, Reimu Hakurei, just like the name of this shrine.”

This shrine is also called Hakurei? Well, you suppose that if the two shrines are connected that it would make some sort of sense. Moreover this girl must be a shrine maiden if she has the same name as this place, even if you have never seen a shrine maiden dressed in such a way as she is. Still, local custom.

“Ms. Hakurei, then, you wouldn’t happen to know an easy way back to the world I was from would you?”

“Ah, well if you need to leave quickly, this is the place to do it. In fact, this is probably one of the few places in Gensokyo where one can easily come and go. Just continue past the shrine and you should eventually come to the Hakurei shrine on the other side of the border.”

Hearing this, you breathe a sigh of relief, but quickly afterword you realize something. “But hang on, hubbub that got me here in the first place is probably going to take a while to die down, and in any case I can’t just walk out the way I am now, wandering patrols probably have my description.”

“Guess you’re stuck here for a while then,” Reimu shrugs. She gets up from where she is sitting and walks over to where you are. “So before we go any further with this, I’d like to make sure I’m not letting some maniac into this land. Mind telling me who you are?”

Column A:
[ ] Write in a name. No anonamerchant for us, this guy needs a moniker. If no names are given or if I don’t like what’s available I’ll come up with something, though, so no pressure.

Column B:
[ ] I’m ____________, the hero you’ve never heard of.
[ ] I’m ____________, past hero, current merchant.
[ ] I’m ____________, and right now I’m just a humble merchant.
[ ] I’m ____________, and I’m no one to be concerned about.
[ ] Write-in

[ ] I'm Jean-Luc, past hero, currently just a humble merchant.


Last name can be whatever. Option needs to be said with a little humor.

[x] I’m Kraft Lawrence, and right now I’m just a humble merchant.

[ ] I'm Jean-Luc, past hero, currently just a humble merchant.

[x] I’m Kraft Lawrence, and right now I’m just a humble merchant.

Would you mind not making a new thread so damn often? Its annoying to keep track of.

>>30669
Indeed, the writefag should know that the thread limit is 250 posts before it starts to autosage, usually it's considered good manners not to start a new thread until that number, or something very close it is reached. Exceptions do exists though, but this is definitely not one of them.
[x] I’m Kraft Lawrence, and right now I’m just a humble merchant.
Might as well, not enough spice and wolf references around.

>>30675

Alright, I'll keep that in mind from now on.

[X] I’m Kraft Jean-Luc Picard Lawrence, and right now I’m just a humble merchant.

“Ah, sure. My name is Jean-Luc Lawrence, and right now… well right now I’m just a humble traveling merchant.”

“A merchant, you say? What kind of merchandise do you carry, then?”

“Oh, just odds and ends that I pick up here and there. I’m really in it more for the travel then the profit, so I mainly just try to find items of unique value wherever I go.”

She thinks about this for a second, and then nods. “Alright, that sounds fair. But you said you were a traveling merchant right now, but that implies that you were something else before. Care to elaborate?”

This time, it’s you who flinches back. Man, this girl is sharp. It looks like your attempt to gloss over your abilities isn’t going well, so you try to figure out what you should and shouldn’t tell Reimu about your abilities.

“Come now Reimu, you shouldn’t be so prying into things that want to be kept secret.” An amused voice catches your attention, and you turn around to see… a dimensional portal? No, it looks like one, but as it opens up you catch brief glimpses of a purple space overflowing with eyes, all staring at you. Whatever that portal is, it isn’t something that you are familiar with.

“It’s rude to stare,” Says the voice, as a woman comes out of the space as she leans on the border of the portal. (How is she doing that?) She wears an ornate purple dressed fringed by white, as well as a hat topped with an ornate ribbon. Another wearer of ornate clothes, it would seem. Aside from her clothes, she smiles as though the circumstances occurring now are perfectly natural, but at the same time you feel a chill that suggests that this person isn’t someone you should take on.

“Oh, it’s you, Yukari.” Reimu says with distate, “Let me guess, you’ve been here since you felt someone come through the border.”

“Bin-go” She says as the portal draws closer to you. “Quite a catch, if I do say so myself.” The portal circles around you as she assesses your profile. Her gaze lingers on your biceps, and she gives another mischievous smile. “Quite a catch indeed.”

“Hey, if you’re going to ogle him, then he’s you’re responsibility.” Reimu says as she heads towards a house located behind the shrine. With Yukari still looking you over, and that chill you felt earlier still persisting, you kind of wish she would stay.

“Ara, don’t worry about that girl,” Yukari says, “She just wants to make sure you won’t create any work for her in the future. But from what I can see, you aren’t going to do anything that would upset the balance in this land, are you plane hopper?”

“Ah…no, I suppose not.” Having your true nature exposed just like that is somewhat offsetting. This person is definitely more than she seems, and since she seems like a lot already that is saying something. You had better keep on this person’s good side, but you can’t help but ask how she knew that.

“Hints here and there presented themselves. For example,” She says as she reaches into a new, smaller portal and pulls out an audio expulsion device, “A dimensional bag is generally a good hint that someone is more than he seems, and the contents inside can reveal wonders about a person.”

It takes you a minute for the pieces to click, but you quickly realize that the audio expulsion device in her hands is from your bag. She’s handling the merchandise!

[ ] Let her have it, it’s not like it has any significant value to you.
[ ] Ask her if she would like to purchase the item in question.
[ ] Ask her if she could give that back.
[ ] Hey, no handling the merchandise!
[ ] Write-in

Obviously, this is what he must look like.

A couple of things, first, grammar:
"You're" is a contraction of "you are", your is the possessive form of you. Don't mix them up. Same goes for they're and their and other similar cases.
Secondly:
Using japanese type honorifics and speech patterns like "ara" you used is frowned on here. Please try to avoid them, preferrably replace with closest english equivalent or gloss them over. This applies to all the gimmicks like Marisas "ze" and, for example "Yuyuko-sama" etc.
[x] Ask her if she would like to purchase the item in question.
Ever so smooth.

>>30687

Ah, sorry about the typo, I was a bit rushed when I wrote the last post. And thanks again for the advice, I'm still figuring out the culture around here a bit.

>>30688

Learn it, lest you end up like
>>30683

x] Ask her if she would like to purchase the item in question.

Smooth like a baby's ass.

x] Ask her if she would like to purchase the item in question.

She isn't getting a damn thing for free from us, even if she's giving us bad vibes.

[x] Ask her if she would like to purchase the item in question.

Your dimensional bag is filled to the brim with tricks and traps, and half the time even you don’t know how it works. The fact that Yukari is able to reach into your bag while circumventing all of you fail-safes while doing it just further shows that she is not to be messed with. And she obviously performed this act in order to garner respect for what she can do to you.

All of this things quickly pass through your mind, but in the end only one thought persists; the fact that there is a potential customer interested in your merchandise.

“Ah, I see you’ve chosen the audio expulsion device, a very fine choice. Would you perhaps be interested in purchasing it? If not, maybe something else from my collection might garner your attention.”

Yukari only stares at you as you put down your pack and begin to rummage through it. Suddenly, you hear laughter coming from her direction. Looking up, you see her grabbing the boundary in order to keep herself from falling out from laughing too hard. A moment later she calms down, though clearly she is still in good spirits.

“Oh my, you really do have the mind of a merchant, don’t you?” she asks while twirling the device in her hand. “Perhaps you might even give our local merchandiser a run for his money.”

“Not like that would be very hard,” you hear Reimu’s voice say, “It isn’t like Rinnosuke does any more work than is required to keep himself afloat.” She comes back around the corner with three cups of tea on a tray, sits down on the shrine’s steps, and begins sipping.

“I could say the very same thing about you, Reimu.” Yukari retorts as she steps out of her boundary and heads over to where Reimu is, getting a glare in return for her retort. Yukari gestures you to follow with the hand holding your devise, and you comply. Yukari sits down and puts the device in her lap, handing you one of the cups of tea. You look over at Reimu, but she doesn’t seem to mind, so you go ahead and try it. You find that the tea has a taste that is both plain and refreshing.

“Now, I suppose that I will purchase this device from you.” Yukari says, gesturing to the device in her lap. “It will go very well with my collection of such devices.”

“Speaking of which, you got something similar from Rinnosuke, didn’t you?” Reimu says as she glances over at the device.

“Indeed, which is why it’s going straight into my collection,” Yukari explains as she stuffs the device into her clothing. “Now, as for your compensation, I’ll give you a choice. I could of course just compensate you through currency, but you will probably find that monetary compensation will only get you so far in this land. Instead, I could give you some advice on the best way to proceed through this land, including the area that are most likely to have interesting items at, as well as places where humans aren’t hunted during the night. Or perhaps,” she says as she pulls out what looks to be a card of sorts, “you would be more interested in calling upon the favor at a later time. After all, you never know what sort of situation you might find yourself in. Ah, but don’t worry, regardless of your choice I will make sure that you start off on the right path at the very least. After all, it wouldn’t be any fun if you were to end your journey here too quickly.”

[ ] Take the money. After all currency is a merchant’s best friend. <Increases currency on hand, recommended for experts only>
[ ] Take the advice. Knowledge is often the most valuable commodity a merchant can have. <Expanded knowledge of the norms and locations of Gensokyo, initial leads on good items>
[ ] Take the favor. Having someone like Yukari at your back will certainly come in handy later. <Gain ability to summon Yukari for help in the future, +1 spell card attack>
[ ] Write-in <Effects unknown>

[x]Take the money.

[X] Take the advice.

We don't want to encounter anything hostile just yet.

[x] Take the advice. Knowledge is often the most valuable commodity a merchant can have. <Expanded knowledge of the norms and locations of Gensokyo, initial leads on good

[x] Take the advice.

[x] Take the favor. Having someone like Yukari at your back will certainly come in handy later. <Gain ability to summon Yukari for help in the future, +1 spell card attack>

Must saw it was tough deciding which one since info is also a great choice. But i think even im a tame Gensokyo we need someone watching our ass.
Plus im just a sucker for Yukarin~~

Alright, writing now

[X] Take the advice. Knowledge is often the most valuable commodity a merchant can have.

You never really became a merchant for the money in the first place, so really it’s a choice between the info and the favor. It’s a tough choice, but in the end you figure that the knowledge of what to do first currently outweighs any future benefits a favor from Yukari might give you (you hope).

“I think I will take your advice on what to do in this land, then,” you say to Yukari.

“Suit yourself.” She shrugs as she puts the card back from wherever she got it in the first place. “Now, if you would like, I could just implant all of that knowledge into your mind within a couple of moments.” A wide, mischievous grin appears on her face. “I promise it won’t hurt a bit.”

“Ah, that’s alright, I think that I would prefer to learn it the old fashioned way if that’s alright with you.”

“You’re no fun,” she pouts, but after that she begins to teach you the basics of Gensokyo, with Reimu giving the occasional snarky comment on the side. You learn that the world consists mainly of Youkai, creatures and monsters of old that left the old world due to various circumstances (Yukari doesn’t get into the details of what those circumstances are). She explains how disputes are settled through a complex “Spell Card” system that basically entails two parties agreeing on certain rules and then blasting each other with magic. (Again, she doesn’t get much more specific than that). And then she goes into the basic geography of the land.

“Gensokyo isn’t that large of a place,” she explains, “but if you are not careful it is still very easy to get lost in from the ground. Speaking of which, can you fly?”

“Um, no, I can’t, at least not right now.” This is the absolute last time you leave your ring of flight back in storage.

“A pity, it would have made travelling much easier for you. But in any case, there are many areas that you would probably find interesting within the land itself. Ran!”

You jump as a portal opens up and a woman in what appears to be white and blue servants clothing (and, of course, a nice hat) leans out. “Yes, Ms. Yukari?”

“Fetch me an up-to-date map of Gensokyo, would you?” Yukari asks.

“Of course, I’ll get it immediately.” The servant steps back into the portal, which stays open for her eventual return. Yukari gets back to her discussion while you wait.

“To begin with, there is the human village, which is generally friendly to outsiders, especially the human ones like you.” She says as she gives you a gentle nudge in the arm. “It’s generally located in the center of Gensokyo, so it makes for a good landmark if nothing else. Also, there is a good chance that you will be able to find a temporary place to stay there, and some of the villagers might be willing to look at your merchandise. The House of Kirisame might be a good place to start if you are looking for general goods.”

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘generally’ located?” you ask.

“Ah, well, sometimes new areas just pop up from time to time. Gensokyo was designed to accept all manner of fantastic things, after all.”

“And it always means that I have to go and rein someone in from causing a fuss.” Reimu grumbles as she drinks her tea. You have to wonder how she actually goes about doing that, considering she’s just a girl going up against ancient monsters. But you leave that thought aside as Ran returns holding a roll of parchment. As she steps out of the portal you notice that she actually has nine tales that you didn’t notice earlier. She walks over to Yukari and hands her the parchment.

“Thank you, Ran.” Yukari says as she opens up the parchment. Ran bows to Yukari, then takes a few steps before disappearing into the portal once again, which closes up after her. You still can't get used to those portals just appearing and disappearing like that.

“Now, just outside of the village, right before you hit the forest of magic,” Yukari says as she points to the map, “is where you will find an antique shop of sorts called Kourindou, run by a man named Rinnosuke.” As she speaks, a circle simply appears on the map. Is there anything this woman can’t do, or is the map simply enchanted? “I’m sure that you can find some unique items to trade with your own. Ah, speaking of the forest, if you do decide to wander in there, you might want to check out the Kirisame Magic Shop.” As another circle appears within the forest area of the map, you make a mental note of the similarities of the names of the store in the forest and the store in the village. “It’s hard to find, but there are dozens of items there that could potentially be priceless if you can search through all the junk inside.”

“Be careful, though,” Reimu says, “That shop is owned by a certain thief, and if you aren’t careful you can kiss that bag of yours and everything in it goodbye.”

Considering how easily one person has managed to get inside your bag, you suppose that you should probably take that warning seriously, even if the chances of it being stolen for too long are slim.

“Aside from that,” Yukari says, “there aren’t really any other major stores that you can readily access. Ah, wait, there is that bazaar that the kappa run, it might be a good place to peddle your own wares or find items of a mechanical nature. Aside from that, there are various places in Gensokyo that you might consider visiting for the sake of finding items or customers. I’ll mark them on the map for you.” A number of circles appear on the map before Yukari rolls it back up and hands it to you with a wink. “Is that appropriate compensation, then?”

Your mind is reeling a bit from the massive information inflow, but you still manage to thank her. “Uh, yeah, thank you very much, that was very helpful.” You shake your head for a bit to clear it up.

“Oh no need for thanks, that was just my equal compensation, remember?” Yukari says as she stretches her arms. She then turns to you once more and asks, “So, now that you know the general area, mind telling us what you are going to do first?” Reimu attempts to look like she isn’t paying attention, but she isn’t doing a very good job of it.

That’s a good question. First things first…

[ ] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[ ] Establish an area where customers can meet you as you come and go. The sooner customers know where you can generally be found, the quicker you can start making sales.
[ ] Meet the local merchants. First impressions are important, and the sooner they are over with the sooner business can be conducted with said business owners.

Do you tell this information to Yukari and Reimu?
[ ] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[ ] You aren’t one to just broadcast your intentions. Let’s just keep it to you for now.

And finally, before you leave the shrine, should we leave a donation for Reimu in thanks for being so accommodating?
[ ] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.
[ ] No, she didn’t really do anything to help, and you doubt she’s that desperate for donations.

<ITEM ACQUIRED> Map of Gensokyo

[x] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

[x] Meet the local merchants. First impressions are important, and the sooner they are over with the sooner business can be conducted with said business owners.
[x] You aren’t one to just broadcast your intentions. Let’s just keep it to you for now.
[x] No, she didn’t really do anything to help, and you doubt she’s that desperate for donations.

Kourindou first. Yukari and Reimu gave the impression that he will be our only competition in Gensokyo. We must scope out his wares, and see if he is a rival to be.

[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

I'm fine with whatever for the first option and can't really decide what's best. They're all things that need to be done eventually anyways.

[x] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

The forces of altruism and frugality clash, but I think being a dimension walker would make Lawrence kind enough to donate a little.

[X] Establish an area where customers can meet you as you come and go. The sooner customers know where you can generally be found, the quicker you can start making sales.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

[x] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

best to establish a home base of sorts before doing anything else and perhaps those two might help.

[x] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

[x] Find a place to stay. If what Yukari said is true, then staying outside during the night is a really bad idea.
[x] Why not? You doubt that they would do anything to stop you.
[x] Yes, she’s been at least somewhat helpful, and it’s kind of sad that the donation box is so empty like that.

If what Yukari said is true, then you do not want to be outside when night falls. Meeting the local merchants is important, but first things first; we need a place to stay.

“I suppose that I’ll look for somewhere to stay first, then,” you tell Yukari and Reimu, “Would you happen to know any good spots where I can find a place for the night?”

“Hmm, If I told you that then you would owe me a favor, wouldn’t you?” Yukari asks as she leans over Reimu to look you straight in the face, much to Reimu’s annoyance. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“Ah, no thanks, I think I’m alright” You quickly reply. Having Yukari owing you a favor is one thing, but you get the feeling that under no circumstances would you want things to be the other way around.

Placing her hand on Yukari’s face, Reimu shoves the gap youkai back, sending her reeling off of the shrine. Before she hits, the ground, though, another gap opens up to catch her, and she is soon hanging in the air, giving sullen looks to Reimu.

“In any case,” Reimu says, “You should probably get going if you are going to find a place to stay before dark. And let me just say now that you can’t stay here. I have enough people leaching off of me as it is,” She says as she gives another glare to Yukari, who just smiles in return.

Fair enough, you have spent a good amount of time here, so it’s probably time to depart. You stand up from the shrine’s stairs and begin heading towards the exit when a thought pops into your head. Walking back to the shrine, you pull about 2000 yen from your pack. Reimu stares in disbelief as you smile at her and say, “In thanks for your hospitality.”

You attempt to exit the shrine area once more, when you here a shout from behind you.

“Hey, Wait a second, alright?”

You see Reimu rush behind the shrine. A moment later she comes back with some items in her hands.

“Here, take these,” Reimu says as she hands you three cards that look similar to the one that Yukari pulled out earlier, except that these are entirely blank. “I get the impression that creating a spell card might be a bit out of your league right now, but you could probably find someone else to create some for you.” Considering that your magic is not readily accessible at all times, you end up having to agree with her on that.

“Not all spellcards are Danmaku, either,” she says as she hands you another card, this one with a picture of a talisman on it. “Some of them can up your abilities temporarily. I suspect they would suit you more than Danmaku would in any case, so it wouldn’t hurt to be on the look out for them either.” Spell cards based on merchandise items? Heck yes!

She mulls something in her head for a bit, before reaching into one of her sleeves and pulling out a stack of red paper with red markings on them. “Here, take these too, just in case you run into more trouble than you can handle.” Wondering where the heck she pulled them from, you accept the charms she hands to you and put them into your pack. You doubt that there will be any sort of trouble that you can’t readily handle, but it never hurts to be prepared.

“And listen, if you are looking for a place to spend the night, you’re best bet is to either talk to Keine in the human village or to head over to Temple of Myouren and ask for shelter. If neither of those options are to your liking, head over to Kourindou and tell Rinnosuke I sent you; at the very least he should put you up for one night.

Giving Reimu your thanks, you head past the Torii of the shrine and begin your decent down the stairs. Yukari waves goodbye to you with a smile, and as the shrine drops from view, you hear Reimu shout, “Thank you, please come again!”

----------

“My, that was very generous of you, Reimu.” Yukari says as Reimu waves frantically goodbye to Jean-Luc as he heads down the stairs. The moment he is out of sight, however, she immediately rushes to the donation box and opens it, grabbing the 2000 yen note from within. She inspects it critically for a moment, and then breathes a sigh of relief as she determines it to be valid, clutching it to her chest. Giving Yukari a look of disdain a moment later, she retorts, “It’s always good to encourage worshippers to come back again later.” With that she stuffs the yen note up her sleeve and takes up her cup of tea once again.

“That would help if this place ever had any worshippers in the first place,” a voice from overhead says. Moments later, a girl dressed in white and black drops down from the sky, dismounting from the broom she was riding on. “Yo, Reimu, how’s it going? Ah, you’re here to Yukari.”

“I’m always here when witnessing young girls in love,” Yukari says as she takes out her folding fan and directing it towards Reimu, “You should have seen the young gentleman here just now, he left an impression on her that few would ever consider appropriate around here.”

“Gave her a donation, huh?” the white-black replies, “But I’ve seen you put a donation in that box from time to time as well, Yukari, so what does that say about you?”

“Who knows?” Yukari says as she opens the fan up to cover the smirk of amusement on her mouth. Reimu just continues drinking her tea, ignoring the comments directed at her.

“Anyways, that guy must really be something if you were checking him out, Yukari,” the black-white says as she switches gears, “Mind telling me about him?”

--------

Walking down the stairs, you pull out your map in order to figure out where you should begin your search for shelter:

[ ] The Human Village; the more people around, the more likely you are to survive if something comes in the night.
[ ] The Temple of Myouren; A temple probably wouldn’t charge you for staying with them, even if you probably would have to help out in return.
[ ] Kourindou; Staying with a fellow merchant could prove beneficial in the long run, and even if he won’t let you stay you can introduce yourself and view what merchandise he has.

<ITEM AQUIRED> Blank Spell Cards x3
<SYSTEM CARD AQUIRED> Spiritual Strike Talisman
<ITEM AQUIRED> Hakurei Charm x12

[X] The Temple of Myouren; A temple probably wouldn’t charge you for staying with them, even if you probably would have to help out in return.

Yay Byakuren.

[x] The Human Village; the more people around, the more likely you are to survive if something comes in the night.

Not really a fan of the Temple's group except sexy Nue. Plus this seems a bit better to setup at for the business. Im quite interested im staying or at least visiting the SDM also.

Now that i think about it, who is gonna be our Horo? Yukari? Hell maybe even Flandre would work.

Isnt it sad Aki sisters? ;_;

[X] The Temple of Myouren; A temple probably wouldn’t charge you for staying with them, even if you probably would have to help out in return.

Better way of getting to know Youkai.

[x] Kourindou; Staying with a fellow merchant could prove beneficial in the long run, and even if he won’t let you stay you can introduce yourself and view what merchandise he has.
TRADE

[x] The Human Village; the more people around, the more likely you are to survive if something comes in the night.

Hmm... Alright, I want to finish this next part before morning, so I'm calling an executive decision on the split vote. Writing now.

[x] The Human Village; the more people around, the more likely you are to survive if something comes in the night.

You consider the temple for a while under the premise that it might be sanctified to ward off the dangers of the night, but in the end the village wins out. People tend to gather together for a reason; when the world around you is full of danger, there is safety in numbers. You plot a course for the village, which isn’t that hard considering that the path you’re on right now should lead you straight to it.

As you head towards your destination, you enjoy how nice the day is. Compared to the extreme urban setting you were just in, Gensokyo is literally a breath of fresh air. Nature surrounds you in its entirety, and as you step off of the last of the stairs that lead back towards the shrine, you enter a path of trees that seem to guide you to your destination. As you proceed, you encounter a creek that comes alongside your path, which according to the map is called the creek of Genbu. You stop to take a drink, and are amazed at how pure the water seems. As you look to the sky, you wonder if the rest of this world holds as much natural beauty as what you are seeing now.

Suddenly, a black dot appears in the sky from over the trees. It’s sporadic in its movement, and you can’t help but stare in amazement as it wanders around the sky as if it didn’t have a single care in the world.

Suddenly, the dot seems to pause in midair for a moment, before changing its course to around your location. As it descends down from the sky, you determine that the dot is in fact a sphere of what seems to be pure darkness. As it gets closer and closer, you feel your sense of apprehension growing. When it gets within 60 meters of where you are, the orb flies into a tree. You notice that the sphere seems to absorb part of the tree upon impact right up until it reaches the center, at which point you hear a thud and a yelp of pain before the sphere bounces off, with the tree seemingly being no worse for the wear.

After what seems like a moment’s hesitation on the part of the sphere, your sense of apprehension comes true as the ball of darkness resumes its movement, this time making a beeline straight towards you. Remembering what Yukari said about beings that lurk in the dark, you prepare what you think would be an appropriate response:

<IMPENDING ATTACK DETECTED: SEAL 1M TEMPORARILY UNLOCKED >

[ ] Don’t do anything; the tree didn’t come out any worse for the ware, maybe you won’t either.
[ ] Jump out of the way of the sphere; maybe you can get it to run into something else.
[ ] Create a ball of fire to dispel the darkness <Seal 1M required>
[ ] Spell Card Attack <Specify card to use>
[ ] Use item <specify item to use>

(Note: Items in your inventory that are marked “RESERVED” have been put aside to fulfill a client order that you are currently working on. You may use them if you wish, but be warned that in doing so you may have to find a new item, or else abandon the order completely. If you abandon your order, your reputation as a merchant will drop, so be careful.)

Tough one... Hoping we'll be left alone like the tree is a certain bad end incoming. Ball of fire may actually hurt Rumia, but this could make her want to hunt us more. I don't see any item working well except the exorcism arrow and it's reserved. No need to break it out now.

[x] Jump out of the way of the sphere; maybe you can get it to run into something else.

She's blind in her own darkness and she probably won't dispel the darkness while the sun is still out, so this should be doable. If she does dispel it, well, ball of fire. Worst come to worst, we can try throwing rations at her or use one of Reimu's charms.

Btw Realmhopper, since spellcard option is useless since all are blank, shouldn't that option be marked as locked or impossible right now?

>>30741

I'm currently using the that option for all spellcards on hand, including system cards like the one received from Reimu. I might decide to make the system more specific later on if/when more cards become available, but for now let's just keep things simple.

[x] Jump out of the way of the sphere; maybe you can get it to run into something else.

[x] Jump out of the way of the sphere; maybe you can get it to run into something else.

Forgot to ask, but what happens if the option picked fail? Should we pick a secondary action to fall back to in such case? (Like this: if it fails, there's still enough distance to try something else).

>>30746
Don't ask stupid things. If the option we picked fails, we will learn about what happens in the next update, and vote accordingly. Are you retarded or something?

>>30746

Fail is a very subjective word

--------------

[x] Jump out of the way of the sphere; maybe you can get it to run into something else.

You leap out of the path of the incoming darkness in an attempt to avoid it, but unfortunately you don’t manage to miss it completely and get engulfed by one of the edges. Fortunately, just like the tree you say before the darkness doesn’t seem to hurt you as it passes by; good fortune to you that there don’t seem to be any immediate after affects, at least.

The ball continues forward for a bit before it seems to realize that it missed you. After a few moments, it veers around and comes at you once again. With your seal open, you could just see if a burst of fire does the trick to dispel the darkness, but you get the feeling that nothing short of pure light would do the trick here. Instead, you try to figure out a way to discourage pursuit.

You run ahead with the orb making quick pursuit, and hide behind a tree. Just as the orb nearly reaches you, you start running forward again. The orb hits the tree right on with a satisfying smack, and a yelp of pain emerges from the orb, which you pinpoint as coming right from the center of the sphere.

You repeat this process a number of times, but the orb is fairly persistent in its chase. Eventually, after who knows how many times, the orb seems to decide that it isn’t worth it to chase after you anymore, and drifts back into the sky. You wait until it is out of view, and then slump against the tree you are currently leaning against and catch your breath. That took a lot longer than you thought it would, and you need to take a moment to get you mind back on track.

You get up off the ground to head back to the path, only to realize that you have no idea which way the path might be. The trees around you are much more dense then they were back on the path, and in your little cat and mouse game with the orb of darkness you have lost any sense of direction you might have had.

It isn’t quite evening yet, but at the same time you know that you do not want to be stuck out here come nightfall.

<Threat is no longer apparent – All open seals have been locked>

[ ] Try to head back the way you came; you couldn’t have gone that far off the path.
[ ] Keep heading forward; might as well try to head in one direction and see if you can’t get out of the forest that way.
[ ] Try to figure out which way is north; that way you can just use your map to find your way out.
[ ] Just pick a random direction and head that way.

[x] Try to figure out which way is north; that way you can just use your map to find your way out.

Let's try to at least have an idea of the direction we're going... At least the sun is reliable to help us find north.

[x] Try to figure out which way is north; that way you can just use your map to find your way out.

[x] Try to figure out which way is north; that way you can just use your map to find your way out.
Or, throw a stick to the ground and go into that direction. A perfect way to not get lost if you don't do it twice.

[x] Try to figure out which way is north; that way you can just use your map to find your way out.
-[x] Or, throw a stick to the ground and go into that direction. A perfect way to not get lost if you don't do it twice.

Wait wait wait, let’s not get ourselves panicked over nothing here. We aren’t completely lost, not yet anyways. As long as we have the map, so long as we can pinpoint which direction is which, there shouldn’t be a problem. At the very least, you should be able to make your way back east towards the shrine if time becomes an issue.

You try to pinpoint where the sun is. It’s a bit difficult to pinpoint through the trees, but eventually you figure out where it is shining from. Now…where did the sun rise from in this world again? You were only in the city for around two days before coming here, and you never really had any reason to pay attention. As it stands, you can’t remember where the sun rises and sets each morning and evening here, so there isn’t much you are going to get from knowing the suns location offhand. So much for that…

Ah, wait! You just remembered that moss tends to grow on the south side of trees back where you’re from! If you look at the way the moss is growing around here, you might be able to pinpoint a direction to head in. You hurry over to the nearest tree to test this theory and are disappointed when you see that the moss around here does not seem to make any distinction about where it grows. (And what’s up with the huge number of mushrooms?)

Frustrated, you smack the tree, trying to figure out what to do. You could just head in the direction that the sun is in, but at this point any other direction is would be just as good of a decision in your mind. Grabbing a stick from the ground, you toss it up into the air, and then head in the direction that it lands in. No sense in sticking around, you suppose.

---

Evening approaches and you are still wandering the forest, your apprehension growing with every step. While this might not be the first time you have been lost in the woods, in the past you were generally never alone while doing so, not to mention that you could rely on your strength to fend off the creatures of the night. As the darkness approaches, so did the number of things rustling in the woods, and you knew that it was just a matter of time befor-

Right on cue, something rushes out of the brush from in front of you. It’s around half of your size, and looks like a mass of flesh that is wrinkled upon itself in layers. You can’t see any sort of features this thing might have, other than a pair of arms on its side and a giant mouth near the bottom of the mound. Letting out a roar, it begins to move towards you.

Your seals aren’t activating, meaning that you could probably handle this threat without outside assistance. On the other hand, that might delay you, and every second you spend fighting this thing brings you closer to the night.

[ ] Run
[ ] Fight
[ ] Spellcard <Specify>
[ ] Item <Specify>

Crap. Anyone has an idea on what to do?

[X] Run

Mutant Yukkuri?

[ｘ] Run
Well, if it's not a big danger, being able to outrun it shouldn't be a problem either.

[x]Item (Blade)
-[x]Item (Hakurei Charms)

Lets just hack the little thing dead and be on our way. Charms for if shit gets real.

Going to be on the road for a bit. Assuming no change in the vote status, expect an update late in the night.

[ｘ] Run

You don’t have time for a fight; with every passing second the sun drops lower into the sky, and if you were to stay and fight this ugly thing it might cost you the few precious seconds you need to escape this forest. Besides, Blade really isn’t useful when it comes to combat, so you would have to rely on your own strength, and since whatever means your seals use to determine threats isn’t responding, this creature is probably just not worth your time.

You charge the monster, making yourself look like you are going in for the attack, but at the last second you dodge to the side, clearing the creature by a good margin. The mound isn’t particularly quick on its… whatever it’s moving around on, and takes a few seconds before it is able to chase after you.

Surprisingly, while it isn’t very agile the creature is somewhat fast, and you find yourself having a hard time shaking it off of your tail. Once again you find yourself running from a threat in this land, and you are beginning to wonder whether or not it you would have had better luck with the authorities on the other side of the border. At least they wouldn’t have attempted to devour you from limb to limb. Not literally, at least.

Suddenly, the creature halts in its tracks, skidding to a stop in a hilarious fashion as it nearly trips over a layer of its own flesh. Surprised, you come to a halt yourself, wondering why it stopped chasing you so suddenly. The creature looks (?) in your direction for a while, before it decides to head off in another direction, away from where you are headed. Perhaps it’s thinking of cutting you off elsewhere? Or maybe it just senses a threat up ahead that makes continuing in that direction more risky? Either way, you keep your guard up as you continue on, not knowing what will appear next.

Up ahead, the forest opens up into a clearing, and you can make out what looks to be a house up ahead. Good, at the very least you should be able to find shelter for the night. As you get closer, the nature of the house is revealed to you:

[ ] Neat, clean and tidy, almost to the point of being suspicious; how in the world could someone maintain a house so well out here in a forest like this?
[ ] A mess; junk lying about all over the place, the yard unkempt, and the house itself looking like it could use a makeover.

[x] Neat, clean and tidy, almost to the point of being suspicious; how in the world could someone maintain a house so well out here in a forest like this?

Don't know for you, but choosing Marisa would bring all sort of trouble we don't need at this time (like robbing our bag since she would find it useful for library raids).

Realmhopper, do we have any time limit to deliver the reserved items? Considering that those orders were made out of Gensokyo, those two items will be with us for a long time unless we manage to get another favor from Yukari.

>>30776

Unless otherwise noted in the story, there is no need to worry about a time limit. Especially at this point of the story; right now the goal is to get our guy introduced to most of Gensokyo, so time isn't going to play a big factor in the story yet.

[x] Neat, clean and tidy, almost to the point of being suspicious; how in the world could someone maintain a house so well out here in a forest like this?

The last thing we need is Marisa borrowing all of our stuff.

[x] Neat, clean and tidy, almost to the point of being suspicious; how in the world could someone maintain a house so well out here in a forest like this?

[x] A smoking crater in the ground next to a half-torn house.
Surprise me.

[x]A tree; massive and resplendent in demeanor. Are those windows built into the tree?

Marisa and Alice is so uninspired. Let's go chat up the fairies.

[x] A tree; massive and resplendent in demeanor. Are those windows built into the tree?

I support this write-in.

>>30783
I liked this one so much that I decided to make an executive decision and just use it. I tend to favor originality in the votes, so that may be something to keep in mind.

>>30786
I like how you think, and I might have chosen this one instead, but by this point the 3 fairies have already moved behind the shrine, so it wouldn’t have made sense to find them in the forest. I could have gone with generic fairies but… Nah.
---

[x] A smoking crater in the ground next to a half-torn house.

Whoa, forget that thought about taking shelter here, there’s no way that this place is going to be habitable for a long time. The place is a burning wreck; half of the house has been blown clear away, and in the middle of the clearing is a large, smoldering crater that looks as though it had only recently appeared.

Moving closer, it seems as though everything within the crater and its near vicinity had been completely vaporized on the spot. You hope that no one was actually within that spot at the time of impact, but what on earth could have…

“Hold it right there!”

Turning around, you see a girl wearing a white shirt with a matching green skirt and bow. Her right leg is encased in what looks like stone there are wings growing out of her back that are covered by a cape that… looks into space from the inside? Most jarring about her appearance is what looks like a giant red eye in the middle of her chest. No, scratch that, the most jarring thing about her at this moment is that she is pointing what looks to be a long rod of sorts at you, the end of which is currently glowing with an amazing light.”

“You’re with them, aren’t you?” she shouts as the glow gets brighter.

“Um, with who?” you ask, keeping your eyes on the end of the rod.

“Yeah, you’re with those youkai who made fun of Ms. Satori, aren’t you! Well I’m going to make sure that you won’t be able to say anything bad about her ever again! Taste the power of nuclear fusion!”

Nuclear fusion?

[Border of Duel]

You feel a strange sensation as you see what looks like a cube form around yourself and the girl. You are guessing that these are the default spell card rules coming into effect. The next moment, the girl fires a blast from her rod, and a great ball of what looks to be fire comes barreling straight at you. You are barely able get out of the way in time before the blast hits the wall and dissipates. How in the world are you going to get out of this one?

<THREAT DETECTED: SEALS 2P (Leg Strength) AND 2M (WATER) ARE UNLOCKED>

Great, your seals have reacted to the threat, but you’re guessing that due to the interference of the border surrounding you, they perceive the threat as something less than it really is. Oh well, at least you have something to work with now…

[ ] Create a barrier to block her incoming attacks, then get in close and attack <2 Magic seals needed, requires breaking of seal M1>
[ ] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>
[ ] Get closer to her, and then use a blast of water to knock her off her feet. <Seal 2P, 2M required>
[ ] Concede defeat; there is no way that you can win this right now, and if she’s following the rules then she can’t kill you afterwards.
[ ] Use system spell card
[ ] Use Spell Card Attack <No spell card attacks on hand>
[ ] Use Item <Items cannot be used during spell card battles>

Oh great... Talk about a surprise.

[x] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>

Can I assume opportunity will result in blasting her with water?

Now, I'm going to guess that if she's anything like in UNL, she won't listen until she's beat or she has calmed down. On the other hand, going into offensive right away might give her the wrong idea.

Another thing I want to know is what happens if we start getting a reputation as a strong fighter. We may attract the wrong kind of interest and beating Utsuho or being able to keep up with her will sure as hell cause a surprise when others hear about it.

Is it too late to hear about seals? The last thing I want to see is hitting the limit at the wrong time.

>>30794

If I give away too much, then this won't be nearly as fun! I won't answer anything about your assumptions or what will happen if you take a certain action; you'll just have to trust your gut and pick wisely. But I'll still explain how the seals work if enough people bug me about it.

This is problematic. But unexpected. Not bad.

[x] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>

[x] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>

Hey, Realm. You may want to think very, very hard about getting a tripcode. besides deviantArt to get Touhou images, interesting though these may be. Danbooru and pixiv are your friends.

[x] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>

>>30806

Good advice on the tripcode there, hope the one I put into place serves well enough. As for the images... meh, I'm lazy.

Oh right, writing now, update should be up soon.

[x] Let’s play keep away with her for now and wait for an opportunity; there is no way we can survive a direct hit from one of those blasts. <Seal 2P required>

Getting up close and personal with this girl would probably get you fried in a matter of seconds. Until we can find an opportunity to strike, we need to hold our distance and focus on dodging. You get as far back as the barrier will allow you and get ready to move.

Naturally, the first thing she tries to do is close the distance. Fortunately for you, she isn’t very agile, and on the ground she seems to move very slowly. You, on the other hand, are able to move relatively quickly thanks to the open seal on your legs. Every time she tries to approach you on the ground, you leap over her head, and every time she tries coming at you from the sky you are able to run underneath her.

Her attacks prove a challenge, however. You can tell that any one of her blasts could easily knock you out, and unfortunately she utilizes them fairly often. Additionally, she attempts to score a hit with your rod, and judging by the way the ground cracks every time she misses you, her physical strength is just as impressive as her magic. Still, your enhanced strength allows you to consistently avoid her slow attacks, much to her irritation.

“STOP MOVING!” she yells as she lets loose a number of shining orbs throughout the duel space. You dodge all but one of them, which hits you square in your chest. The good news is that you guessed right in the amount of impact one of her attacks would have on you. The bad news is that yeah, you are pretty much sent flying across the field and slam into the border on the opposite side. Smiling, your opponent flies above you, making a loop in the air before plummeting towards the ground, specifically the piece of the ground where you currently reside.

You are able to get it together just quickly enough to notice the streak of green, white and black falling towards you at an alarming rate. Pushing off with your right leg as hard as you can, you essentially make a jumping slide away from her landing zone. She strikes the ground with a crash, and bounces back in the air. Now’s your chance!

You unleash the power from your second magic seal, which sends a stream of water through the air to collide with the winged girl. She hits the border and falls to the ground once more, but you don’t let up the attack as you rush up to her and use all of your strength to kick her in the torso. As you do, you hear a high pitched noise, and characters appear on the surface of the border.

[SPELL BREAK]

Naturally you can’t read them, but you make the assumption that they indicate that the duel is over. Breathing a sigh of relief, you move away from the unmoving body that you have created and attempt to leave the dueling space.

The border doesn’t dissipate, however, as you hear your opponent get back up on her feet. “Gah, didn’t think someone like you would have a kick like that in them.” Turning around, you see that she is pulling a card out of her clothes. “Mmm, didn’t think I would have to fight when I went out, so I only brought one with me today.” She brandishes the card above her head and gives you a look that seems like a mix of excitement and anger. “But I’m sure that one card will be more than enough to get you back for…whatever it is that you did!”

[SPELL CARD ATTACK! - Heat Sign “Break Prominence”]

She puts the card back into her clothing and then holds one hand above her head. Dots of energy begin to move about in the air in lines, forming a pattern of interconnecting curves. You begin to wonder what she could be up to with this until larger balls of energy fall into place on said lines. You yelp and hit the ground, just avoiding the spheres that were closest to you. After that, the girl jumps into the air, lands and begins the pattern once more.

Catching on to how the card works, you find safe spots within the lines and blast the girl with water as the balls fly by. Soon, you hear a sound like glass breaking as the spell shatters, knocking the girl into air. Taking the initiative once, again, you slide below her and let loose a blast of water, knocking her higher into the air. You then use all of the strength that you can muster in your legs and jump up into the air right next to her. Twisting your body around once, you smash into her with both of your legs at once, at which point you let gravity take over and stomp her into the ground as hard as you can. Once again, you hear that high pitched noise, and once again words appear on the border.

[KNOCK OUT]

This time the borders disappear soon afterwards, as you stumble away to catch your breath. The girl groans on the ground for a bit in discomfort before getting back up and rubbing her head. Turning to you, she asks, “Umm, hey do me a favor? Can you remind me what I was doing again?”

[ ] “We just finished having a duel after you accused me of something, remember?”
[ ] “You were taking care of someone who made fun of a person called ‘Ms. Satori’, remember?”
[ ] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”
[ ] Write-in

<No further threats detected: All open seals have been locked>

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

[x]"You were browsing my merchandise before you suddenly fainted. I am a merchant, after all."

Guys, wait...This is our chance! Utsuho is stupid, and easily placated. Lets sell some of our sweet wares to her. I'm sure she will be interested in our lava lamp. She might like the lighters as well. Hell, with a quick demonstration, she might even buy the Jenga.

[x] "You were browsing my merchandise before you suddenly fainted. I am a merchant, after all."
-[x] "You were quite interested in the lava lamp."

Run with it.

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

While I sure don't mind Utsuho browsing our wares, tricking her into buying something is quite another matter. This kind of thing will easily give us bad rep in the Underground once Satori learns what happened.

>>30818
I agree entirely, and I wrote the write-in.

KraftJean-Luc is an honest merchant. Though he may slightly overcharge, and exaggerate the effective value of his wares, as all merchants are wont to do, he will never lie, cheat, or con his way into a sale. At least thats the impression of him I hope to establish.

>>30819
Then why the heck... Oh, you're not >>30817. The problem I had was with the added part.

I would still put priority into getting to safety first, mind you. She can check our wares all she want after that. The only problem I can see then is that I doubt Utsuho took any money with her when she went on her revenge trip.

>>30820
Utsuho is the baddest thing around right now; I don't think we have anything to worry about, danger wise. Money is an addressable issue, though. Perhaps she can trade something of equal value? Though I doubt it, as Utsuho is dumb, but maybe she even has some information that we will accept in exchange for currency.

Personally, I hope to net her sweet cloak off of this, unless she doesn't wish to part with it for whatever reasons.

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

>>30821
The cloak!" As awesome as it would be, that would attract way too much attention.

And I know Utsuho is the strongest around right now. But if she leave us before we're out of the forest...

[x] "You were browsing my merchandise before you suddenly fainted. I am a merchant, after all."
-[x] "You were quite interested in the lava lamp."
-How much?
-Escort service throught the forest and one of the items in your possesions.

[x] "You were browsing my merchandise before you suddenly fainted. I am a merchant, after all."
-[x] "You were quite interested in the lava lamp."
How much?
-Your friendship.

It's like tricking Cirno, but you get some actual muscle out of the deal.

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?

This is exactly the kind of voting initiative that I love to see. And yes, I do mean all of you.

---

[x] “You were guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”
[x] "You were browsing my merchandise before you suddenly fainted. I am a merchant, after all."
-[x] "You were quite interested in the lava lamp."

Alright, Lawrence, time for some of that quality quick thinking that has kept you alive to this day. She can’t remember what she was doing just a moment ago, right? Well, maybe if we’re good enough we can kill two birds with one stone here….

“Ah, um, you were…guiding me to the human village when we ran into trouble, remember?”

“I was?” she asks, “I don’t remember doing anything like that… in fact I think I remember getting angry at someone for something that…”

“No, no, that’s not it at all!” The last thing you want is for this girl to attack you again. “Um, you, ummm… that’s right! You asked me about how you were going to get compensated for this job, so we stopped next to this house for a bit to talk about it.” You say as you gesture towards the crumbling structure. “We were then suddenly attacked by some youkai who were making fun of someone named ‘Ms. Satori’.”

“Hey yeah, that’s right!” she exclaims as a glow starts to appear on that rod of hers again. “I won’t forgive that doll woman for what she said, I’m going to make her take back-“

“Ah, no need for that,” you quickly interject, wondering who this ‘doll woman’ could be, “You already beat her down, remember?” You point at the wreckage, and she quickly deflates.

“Oh yeah, that’s right, I did, didn’t I?” The glow on her rod subsides as she scratches her head. “But then why was I walking with you again?”

GAH. This girl might be the biggest birdbrain you have ever met. It would probably be better to have her keep a reward in mind. You start rummaging through your pack to see what would be appropriate for someone who likes (or at least works with) thing like giant balls of fire and also has an incredibly short attention span… oh, this would work perfectly.

“Again, don’t you remember? I’m a traveling merchant of sorts, and you were interested in a particular piece of merchandise. You didn’t have any money on you, so we came upon an agreement. You take me to the human village, and I’ll give you… THIS!” You flip the switch on the lava lamp (thank god it works on batteries) and pull it out of your pack.

“Huh? But don’t I have some money on me right….whoa.” The girl’s eyes widen as the lava lamp comes into view. All she can do is stare as the globs inside the glass begin to rise up to the top, and by the time they begin to come back down she is fully entranced.

“Now do you remember our agreement?” you ask her, “You’ll take me to the human village, right?”

“Yeeeaaaahhh,” she responds, completely entranced by the moving, glowing objects. Jeez, just how simple minded is she, anyways? This almost feels like hypnosis.

Well whatever. You flick the switch on the lamp and put it away. She snaps out of her funk and shakes her head a bit. She then grabs you by the shirt and yells, “I MUST HAVE IT!”

“Whoa! Well, uh, just keep up your end of the bargain and…”

“Right! Bargain! Thing! Comeoncomeoncomeonlet’sgo!”

“Ah, hey wait, I can’t GAAAAK!”

The girl pulls you into the air by your shirt, ignoring the fact that you aren’t keeping up with her in the sky, and zooms off. Oh well, at least this should get you to your destination before the sun sets.

---

The puppeteer walks through the forest, doll by her side, as she grumbles over how the day has gone by. First that hell raven came by to yell at her for something (which of course the puppeteer ignored; it isn’t like anything she said would be relevant) and then that thief came in and basically emptied out her library. The puppeteer had to pull out almost every doll she had from storage in order to first give the thief a beat down she deserved, then to get all of the books back afterwards. (How did she carry them all off in the first place? Maybe she convinced that damn gap youkai for a favor) Sighing, she walks into the clearing where her house is, intent on getting some well-deserved rest, maybe have a bath…

Or maybe not. Where her house once was, there is now only a smoldering crater next to some uninhabitable rubble. Staring at it, she feels the rage building up inside of her. Who did this? Was it the thief? No, it couldn’t have been, you were just with her. Then the hell raven? Yes, that seems more likely. Someone as simple minded as her would probably do something like this for petty revenge. When you get your hands on her…

She deflates as she lets her anger go. There is nothing to be done now; justice will be carried out at a more appropriate time, but right now even someone with her caliber needs to find a place to stay for the night. Letting out a sigh, the puppeteer heads back the way she came…

---

You are unceremoniously dumped in a heap outside of a wooden gate, just before sunset. Looking up, you see something of a town inside of the gates. That can’t be right, you asked her to take you to the human village, not the town… still, you can see humans walking around inside of it, so at least she got one of the two correct.

“Hey, we’re here! Now let me have it! C’mon, gimmegimmegimmegim-“

“Alright, alright, give me a moment!” Standing back up, you pull the lamp out from your pack and hand it to her. She frowns, however, and starts inspecting the item in detail. Sighing, you point out the switch on the lamp and flip it, sending her back into that stupor.

“You, um, might want to wait on turning that thing back on until you get back home, alright?”

“Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh…..”

Sighing again, you flip the switch once more. She snaps out of it again, and turns to face you with a goofy grin on her face.

“This thing is really neat, thanks!” she exclaims, “I can’t wait to show it to Orin and Ms. Satori!”

Ah, that’s right. “Speaking of names, I don’t think we were ever properly introduced. I’m Jean-Luc Lawrence, the traveling merchant.”

“I’m Utsuho Reiuji, but everyone just calls me Okuu.” Beaming, she holds the lamp in front of her. “I’ve got to get back and make sure that the reactor isn’t going through a meltdown, but I’m really glad that you gave this to me, thanks!”

There goes her one track mind again. “No problem, and if you get the chance, be sure to tell your friends about me, alright?”

“Ok! Bye Mr. Merchant!” Lifting off into the air, Okuu flies off into the distance. Can you really trust her to tell all her friends? Oh well, that doesn’t matter right now. You’ve made it to a human settlement, so finding someone to take you in for the night is your main priority.

<ITEM LOST – Lava Lamp>

[ ] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about
[ ] See if the House of Kirisame won’t take in a wandering merchant for the night.
[ ] Just sleep outside; as long as you are in the confines of the village then you probably won’t have to worry about being attacked
[ ] Write-in

[x] See if the House of Kirisame won’t take in a wandering merchant for the night.
Kirisame father, no?

[x] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about

[x] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about

Also, we might want to go get another lava lamp if we eventually make trips between the outside and Gensokyo. Because when you remember what too much heat + lava lamp result in...

[x] See if the House of Kirisame won’t take in a wandering merchant for the night.

Size up the competition, trade some wares; Become the best merchant in Gensokyo. It all starts here.

Also
>ITEM LOST – Lava Lamp
>Still no sweet cloak
God damnit. We have to return one day with something of real value, so that we can get that bitchin' mantle.

[x] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about

[x] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about.

Damn, that cloak was pretty awesome.

Update will be delayed tonight, I have to head back home and pick up something I forgot, a 2-hour round trip.

[x] Find this Keine person that Reimu told you about.

While in the past merchants have allowed you to stay at their premises overnight, you don’t know the owner of the House of Kirisame, and it might be seen as rude to impose yourself on such short notice. It would probably be a better idea to find this Keine person Reimu mentioned and see if you can’t find shelter that way.

Due to the fact that it is nearly night time by this point, there aren’t many people wandering the streets at this hour. Still, you can’t help but notice that the people you pass give you long looks, and you can hear others whisper to each other after you walk on by, with the word ‘outsider’ being the word you hear most often. Still, you aren’t directly confronted by anybody, so you are able to make your way around town unhindered. You notice an open food stall and stop to ask directions. The owner gives you a look of amazement (What, has he never seen another human before?) but he directs you towards the other end of the village.

You arrive at a large building that gives off the impression of a town hall. It’s hard to tell from the outside, but you would guess that the majority of the building is probably dedicated towards one large room. Aside from that, the grounds around the building are spacious and show signs of heavy use, meaning that a good amount of people must come here every day for some purpose…

“May I help you?”

You are broken out of your architectural studies by a woman approaching from the back of the building. She has white hair with what looks like a tinge of blue in it, and is wearing a blue and white dress. On top of her head is what can only be described as the most ridiculous hat that you have ever seen, seemingly a combination of a model pagoda and a model temple rolled into one. You can’t help but stare at the hat for a second longer than you should have, before tearing your eyes away.

“Ah, are you Ms. Keine, then?”

“Yes, that’s me. And who might you be?”

“I’m Jean-Luc Lawrence, a traveling merchant of sorts. Ms. Reimu at the shrine told me that you might be able to help me find a place to stay for the night.”

“Reimu did?” Keine says with a perplexed look on her face, “That’s odd, she usually keeps out of other people’s business on principle.” She mulls over this fact for a bit, but then shrugs and turns back to you. “So, you’re a merchant from the outside, Mr. Lawrence? Well if you need a place to stay then I’ll allow you to stay in the school overnight. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to take care of an outsider who suddenly decided to stay. However, there will be class in the morning, so I hope you don’t mind being woken up early.”

“Ah, that’ll be fine; I was planning on getting up early in any case.” So this place is a school, huh? That would explain why the ground around here looks so well used, since children must run about here come recess.”

“If I were you, I would look for something of a more permanent place to stay come tomorrow, though of course you are welcome to stay again if you can’t find anywhere on such short notice. The school is open to all, but because of that you probably won’t have much privacy when you wake up.” She directs you inside the building and leads you into the main room. Rows of low-standing tables are set up, with what look like cushion seats scattered about. She has you wait by yourself for a few minutes before she comes back with a roll of bedding which she promptly places in your arms.

“I hope you don’t mind setting things up for yourself, but I have a lot of work that I need to finish for tomorrow, so If you will excuse me.” She bows to you and heads back the way she came.

You are left standing in the middle of the room holding a futon, blanket and pillow. Not that you needed any of them, but you suppose that it’s the thought that counts. And hey, she’s letting you stay overnight, so you have nothing to complain about.

Still, it isn’t like you have to sleep on the bedding provided; your pack has an additional function that allows you certain comforts while on the go…

[ ] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[ ] Use the pack’s function; you doubt Keine would mind.

Speaking of bedding is it time to go to sleep, or is there something else that you want to take care of beforehand?

[ ] Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, and it would be best if we are as rested as possible to greet it.
[ ] We got lucky in today’s battle; we aren’t going to get very far in this land unless we can develop a spell card attack of our own.
[ ] Actually, I would like to get a couple of things set straight; let’s see if Keine wouldn’t mind answering a few quick questions. <Make sure to include the questions you want to ask>
[ ] Write-in

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] We got lucky in today’s battle; we aren’t going to get very far in this land unless we can develop a spell card attack of our own.

Don't know if we're allowed to give suggestions.

>>30842

And the write-in choice is..."

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] We got lucky in today’s battle; we aren’t going to get very far in this land unless we can develop a spell card attack of our own.

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] We got lucky in today’s battle; we aren’t going to get very far in this land unless we can develop a spell card attack of our own.

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, and it would be best if we are as rested as possible to greet it.

Guys, remember what Reimu said? Creating spell cards is not exactly possible for us with our magic locked most of the time. We need someone to do it for us and righ tnow, she's busy.

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, and it would be best if we are as rested as possible to greet it.

Well, our first day in Gensokyo is off to a bad start. I suppose tomorrow will be the beginning of our all-encompassing mercantile empire.

>>30852

Good catch

---

[x] Use the bedding; it would be rude to reject that which your host has provided to you.
[x] We got lucky in today’s battle; we aren’t going to get very far in this land unless we can develop a spell card attack of our own.
[x] Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, and it would be best if we are as rested as possible to greet it.

Using the travel bed in your pack might be more comfortable, but it might be considered very rude to do so after your host has already provided a means of sleeping for you. You roll out the futon on the ground and toss the cover on top. One sleeping arrangement, ready to go!

It’s been a long day, but you still have one thing left that you want to address. Sitting down on the mat, you take out one of the blank spell cards that Reimu gave you. For the most part it’s pretty unimpressive. On one side it is completely blank, and on the other side are what you presume to be instructions on creating the card itself. Since you can’t read the words on the back of the card, you flip it back over and begin contemplating on what would go into a really good spell card.

It’s needless to say that you don’t get very far. The realization hits you that since your magic is more often than not sealed up, you probably won’t be able to utilize the spell card system to its fullest. While the seal management system does seem to react to opponents when the spell card rules are in effect, the border that is created for the duel seems to make it believe that less effort is required to survive, and as such fewer seals will activate. In short, your seal system really holds you back in spell card creation.

Not like you would be able to do much with the seals, anyways. The physical seals might be useful in the creation of cards, sure, but you get the feeling that a spell card relies mostly on magic, and it is there that you are severely limited. The only thing that you are really capable of with the magical seals is either to release a destructive burst of magic at someone or else channel the magic through an object (such as a weapon) to take advantage of elemental weaknesses. The spell card you saw today, while simple, displayed a level of energy manipulation that you just aren’t capable of.

Sighing, you put the spell card down and think of ways to get around this limitation. You could get others to create a spell card for you, but you aren’t sure whether or not a spell card consists of an infusion of magic or if it’s basically a template for a person’s magic to run upon. Not to mention that it might be considered very rude to use somebody else’s attack without their express permission, perhaps even on the level of thievery. You could ask Ms. Keine on what she knows on the subject, but she asked to be left alone with her work, and you don’t really feel like interrupting her on this matter.

Oh well. Any experimentation with spell cards would have undoubtedly included breaking some seals tonight, which would have probably left you indisposed for most of tomorrow. You’re going to have a lot to do come morning, so we should get as much rest as you can now.

Keeping this in mind, you lock down your pack and set it next to the bedding. Crawling under the cover, you let the tension from today wash away, and fall asleep.

Goodnight.

[ ] Dream of the past
[ ] No, seriously, we got next to no real business done today. GET ON WITH IT!

----

As it usually does, real life is starting back up, and so updates are going to slow down just a bit. I’m still going to try for at least one update a day, though. Let’s see if I can pull it off.

[x] The dawn of a new day approaches, lifting and empowering our gaze with a promise of temerity and prosperity.

In other words, day roll time. It's time to wheel and deal. We must have that cloak, and I think it will take a bit more than a couple of yo-yo's to acquire.

[x] Dream of the past

[x] Dream of the past

Also Realm, while I understand you like write-ins, I do hope you won't always take it when it's only one vote against several for something else.

[x] No, seriously, we got next to no real business done today. GET ON WITH IT!
Not yet another dream sequence...

We're basically split half and half here. I'll leave it up for a bit longer and then break the tie if I have to.

[x] Dream of the past.
sounds good.

[x] No, seriously, we got next to no real business done today. GET ON WITH IT!

[x] Dream of the past.

“…you want to WHAT!?!”

You can’t help but flinch from Ailira’s shout. Man that girl can be loud when she wants to.

“What are you saying? Do you have any idea of what you are asking for?” She continues to yell as she walks around her desk to stare you right in the face. This is made somewhat more difficult for her by the fact that she is about half a head shorter than you are, but she still manages to pull it off.

“Look, I know that it sounds unreasonable, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I want,” You say, trying to keep yourself from breaking eye contact from her ever-piercing stare. “Compared to what you had me doing before, everywhere I go to now is just… well, boring. It’s all cityscapes and industry. I’m tired of this old routine, and I’m pretty sure that my skills can be put to better use in another fashion.”

“How in the multiverse do you think that being a merchant will contribute to bettering inter-dimensional relations? What, are you going to start trading giant robots for artifacts of cosmic power? You know that something like that is strictly forbidden!”

“What? No, nothing like that! Look, you’re thinking on way too large of a scale. All I’m considering is picking up low key items here and there and distributing them where they would most be needed…”

“Oh great, that’s just what we need, another trans-dimensional dope dealer!” Turning away from you, Ailira heads back to her desk and sits down, putting her head in her hands.

“And again, you’re just looking at it from the wrong angle!” You lean on her desk with both hands, and she picks her head up to look you in the eyes once again. “Think of it this way; I’ll go to random areas of the multiverse, finding new cultures and potentially new allies. I’ll make sure to keep a low profile, and all the while the power that I was granted will be restricted. I get to be the merchant that I always wanted to be, and you get new information on potential allies and resources.”

“That’s what the exploration teams are for, Jean-Luc.” Still, it looks like your arguments are getting through to her. You can see the two sides of the argument battling it over in her head. In the end, she sighs and opens a drawer, pulling a form out. “Alright, I’ll submit your request, but if I were you I wouldn’t get my hopes up…”

---

“Excuse me, but you need to wake up now, the class is going to start arriving soon.”

Blinking yourself awake, you sit up from the futon you are laying in and get your bearings. Keine is talking to you from nearby while she organizes the room, presumably for the class she just mentioned. Getting up, you gather the bedding you were just sleeping on and ask her where she would like for you to put it.

“Ah, hang them up outside on the line over there if you would, we need to let them air out in case you end up back here tonight.” Spotting the clothesline outside you walk over and hang up the futon and the cover, after which you head back and hand the pillow back to her. She thanks you and continues to set the room up.

You think you hear kids coming in the distance, which is a sign that it is probably time for you to be on your way. You give Keine your thanks and take your leave. As you head away from the school grounds, you go by a few groups of children. As you go past, you notice that almost all of them have their attention directed onto you, either in the form of staring or else in the form of extremely engaged whispering. Again, the word that you can pick out most often is ‘outsider’. Are the people of this settlement really that untrusting of strangers?

Oh well, not that it matters. It’s a brand new day, and there is business to attend to! You take out your map and find the four merchant locations that were pointed out to you yesterday: the House of Kirisame, the Kirisame magic shop, Kourindou, and the Kappa’s bazaar. (A lot of alliteration in the local shops, isn’t there?) At this point you are hesitant to head back into the forest without some means of preventing you from getting lost, so you figure that you’re first stop would most likely be…

[ ] House of Kirisame
[ ] Kourindou
[ ] The Kappa’s Bazaar

>>30895

Just missed your vote, sorry.

[x] The Kappa’s Bazaar

Mmm...

[X] House of Kirisame

We did get a recommendation for the place and we might want to see what the general goods consist of before checking the more... eccentric goods being sold.

[x] The Kappa’s Bazaar.

Let's see how Nitori is doing.

[X] House of Kirisame

Recommended by Yukari, so why not?

[x] The Kappa’s Bazaar.

SCIENCE

[X] House of Kirisame
Besides I would like to have Jean-Luc stick around to village a bit longer

[x] The Kappa’s Bazaar

[x] Kourindou

Everyone else is small-time. Kourin is the only man who has the tenacity, the audacity and sheer hubris required to be our rival. We must go to his abode first and make a lasting impression upon him.

>>30910
Err... we are staying no matter the choice as mentionned at the end. We're not returning in the forest until we have protection. Kourindou isn't that far.

[x] House of Kirisame

Eesh, once again the vote is split right down the middle. I wonder if this means that I'm good or bad at this...

Well anyways, I'm calling the vote and writing now.

[x] House of Kirisame

All three locations are located in the general vicinity of the village, but the house of Kirisame is the only one that’s located directly inside. It would make no sense to not stop there first so long as you are in the general vicinity. Making your decision, you ask directions from a person passing by, and after a few moments of gawking he points you in the right direction.

Walking through town, you notice that the atmosphere is almost completely different from the night before. The streets are packed with people going about their business, and you can see and hear many different things happening all around you. People making small talk on the streets, food vendors peddling their wares, and people gawking at you as you pass on by. Occasionally, you also see what you can only presume are youkai, who are often more elegantly dressed than those around them, as well as sometimes having horns, wings or other things of that nature. Surprisingly, most if not all of the youkai that you see seem to be female, and you begin to wonder why that is the case. The youkai are given wide berth by the villagers and don’t act like they are too interested in you, but nonetheless you can’t help but feel their stares as you go on by. So it’s not just the humans who are incensed by outsiders, huh?

You walk up to a fairly large building with a plaque standing next to the doorframe. You can’t read it, but you would guess that it’s the nameplate for the store. Walking inside, you take your first look at a Gensokyo store, and your first impression is… kind of underwhelming actually. Here you were expecting items of a fantastic nature; things that could perform such wonders as to knock your socks off, and all you managed to find so far are everyday items. On display are some unimposing articles of clothing which do not seem particularly fantastic in any way. The walls show off what look to be farming tools, and on the ground you can see what look to be sacks of some sort of grain. This place seems to be just a general goods store, which isn’t bad in and of itself (populations in general tend to rely on them to stay alive and comfortable, after all) but on the other hand it isn’t really what you deal in. Maybe they have some special items in the back, though…

“Ah, I apologize for the wait. May I help you?”

A young man comes out from the back and approaches you. When he gets a better look at who you are he pauses for a moment in shock, but quickly recovers and continues his approach. Looks like whoever this kid is, he has been trained well.

“I’m not sure,” you reply, “I just arrived in town, and I was looking to see if this shop would be willing to trade goods with me, but it doesn’t look like you carry the same type of items that I do. I think I might just head out and…”

“Ah, wait a moment sir!” The youth heads back to the counter and starts rummaging around behind it. “The items on display are only the goods for the general public; the good stuff is all back here.” He pulls out a box and begins to work with the clasps keeping it closed.

“This item in particular is one of a kind, and was supposedly forged by the kappa. While I can’t necessarily guarantee that to be true, I’m sure that you will agree that the quality of the item is unmatched.” Now this is what you are talking about! You wait in anticipation as the boy opens up the case and turns it around to show you… a farming scythe. Granted, it does look like a very well made scythe, but on the other hand nothing about it really stands out to you. Still, you can’t always judge a product’s true quality by initial appearances. You look up at the youth, who seems to be on his toes with anticipation, and…

[ ] Ask him what they are offering for it
[ ] Ask if it has any special qualities
[ ] Tell him that you aren’t really interested in such an item

MERCHANT UNLOCKED: House of Kirisame (General goods)

[X] Ask if it has any special qualities

Once we know what it is, then we'll start haggling.

[x] Ask if it has any special qualities

Sure, it may be forged by kappa, but this still looks like something anyone with forging skills could do.

...Come to think of it, we really need to visit Kourindou. We have some things he may be interested in (yo-yo or lighter maybe? He does like outside world stuff) or we can even help him understand how some of his merchandise works as a price.

[x] Ask if it has any special qualities

[x] Tell him that you aren’t really interested in such an item

Wait you guys. That isn't how dealing works at all. We have to pretend to not be interested in the slightest, in which case he will proffer information on his own provocation, in the hopes of drawing our attention. Only than can we discuss the Scythes true value and worth, and whether or not we wish to trade for it.

>>30947
Well, if there's nothing special about it, I pretty much imagine our guy will be less than impressed as it is.

Alright, writing now.

[x] Ask if it has any special qualities.

“So what’s so special about it?”

“Eh?”

“I mean, this is behind-the-counter merchandise, right? So it must have some special properties in addition to being well made.” In truth, from up close you can see that the forging of the item is probably top par, meaning that for a farming tool it’s probably very high quality. Still, you pretty much deal in items that are more out of the ordinary, so unless this thing can slice an entire row of grass in one swipe, it probably isn’t something that’s up your alley. Still, never ask, never know.

“Ah, well, um,” the boy starts to sweat, “I mentioned that it was forged by the kappa, right? That means that its quality is next to none in terms of workmanship, and-“

“You told me that you couldn’t guarantee that, though.” You interrupt, “And I’m heading over to the kappa’s bazaar soon enough, so if I want something of this nature I can probably get it cheaper and of guaranteed quality there. Is there anything about this particular item that makes it unique, aside from the workmanship, then? Because if there isn’t, then I don’t think that I would be interested in this.”

The boy is now visibly sweating. “Erm, well, you see…”

“Yoichi, that’s enough!” A voice rings out from the back, and the boy backs away from the counter with relief on his face. An older looking man comes out and approaches the counter. He has long, grey hair and wears a robe that is simple but obviously high quality. A cane rests in his hand, though surprisingly he doesn’t seem to be relying on it.

“Head into the back and continue with inventory.” At that command, the boy (whose name you guess is Yoichi) scuttles to the back. The older man turns to you and gives you a smile. “Sorry about that. The boy is very eager to help out, but he still has a way’s to go before he can handle a sale on his own. I am the head of this shop, Aito Kirisame. Is there anything that you are looking for in particular today?”
“Not really, no.” You say in reply, “I’m Jean-Luc Lawrence, a traveling merchant of sorts, and today I’m mostly visiting the local shops to get a good idea of the local items sold. I tend to deal in items of a unique nature, however, so I’m not sure that a shop like this carries what I am looking for.”

“Unique items? In that case then this probably isn’t the best shop for you, then.” Aito closes the box with the scythe in it and puts it back behind the counter. “This shop mainly deals in items for everyday life and survival. If you are looking for things of a more unique nature, then you would probably be better off heading to Kourindou, run by my old apprentice Rinnosuke.” That’s another recommendation for that Kourindou place; no doubt about it, you need to check it out as soon as you can.

“Alright, in that case I think I might head over there now.” You pick up your pack and prepare to leave before a connection you made earlier comes to the forefront of your mind. “Ah, before I go, I heard that there is a shop in the forest called the Kirisame Magic Shop. Is there any relation to-”

“I would ask you not to mention that place while you are in here.” The old man’s face went stony the moment he heard the words ‘Magic Shop’, and he is distinctly looking away from you, giving the impression that this is a topic that he does not want to talk about with someone he just met. Yeesh, looks like it’s a sore subject around here. You give your apologies and farewells to the old man, and he does so in return, though the look on his face remains. Reading the atmosphere, you quickly exit the shop.

Well, that was awkward. Still, you think that aside from that mishap at the end, things went pretty smoothly in there. No major sales were made, but at this point you are more concerned about learning about the local area than making any major deals. Speaking of which, where to next?

[ ] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.
[ ] The kappa’s bazaar is located the farthest from the village; if you want to ensure that you get back from it before dark, you should probably head there first.
[ ] Guide or no guide, this Kirisame Magic Shop has intrigued you; let’s brave the forest once more to see if we can’t find the place in question

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.

We may be able to get items there others in Gensokyo may be interested in. And like I stated earlier, we probably will be able to afford them be it money, trade or information.

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.

Lets see what Kourin's got.

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.
The kappa can wait another day and we need a guide for the magic shop.

[x] This Kourindou place has gotten recommendation after recommendation; it’s time to check it out and see what the hubbub is about.

When an honest merchant tells you about a store that he believes to be to your tastes, only a fool wouldn’t act upon that advice, and while he might be dealing with a family issue or two, you have no reason to believe that Mr. Kirisame is anything but honest.

Getting your map out, you get yourself oriented. It looks like all you have to do to reach Rinnosuke’s place is to head back towards the forest. Great, here’s another chance for you to get lost in the brush. Still, it looks like his shop is only just outside the forest’s fringe, so there shouldn’t be too much of a chance of getting lost this time, assuming no more giant balls of darkness come barreling through the sky that is. You get your bearings and head out from the village.

As you walk out from the gate you entered through yesterday, you look up at the cloudless sky, noting just how nice of a day it is today. Catching a glimpse of the sun, you recall how lost you were yesterday, and decide to at least try to keep yourself from getting displaced today. You ask the guard stationed at the gate in which direction the sun rises and sets. He gives you an odd look, but tells you that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, just like it always has. Let’s see… the east most location in all of Gensokyo is the Hakurei shrine, so at the very least you can attempt to head that way should you get lost. You still don’t have a compass, of course, but at least now you can make some attempt at direction should you stray off the path. Filled with a new sense of direction, you head on your way.

---

Now this is what you are talking about.

It doesn’t take long for you to see a small house coming into view, and already you can tell that this is a shop you will visit frequently. Items lie strewn about the store’s exterior, ranging from toys to electronics. A set of what look like golf clubs lie off to the side, an electric guitar is propped against the wall, and you can even see what looks to be a traffic sign lying against the side of the shop. (Where did that last one come from, you wonder?) Most of the stuff out here is junk, of course, but that’s probably because this is just the outside of the shop. The good stuff is probably all inside, so you quickly walk to the entrance. Worst come to worse, you could always try to sell some of your stuff off.

Walking inside, you are greeted with exactly the sight you are hoping for. All around you are different items of seemingly high quality, and you can’t keep your eyes still for a single moment in appraising everything around you.

In the back stands a counter, and behind it is a man with silver hair, dressed in blue. After glancing at you, you can hear him say, “Ah, a customer” as he marks the page of the book he was reading and puts it aside. “Welcome. It’s always good to see a customer come in; assuming you’re a customer, that is.”

Column A:
[ ] Of course you’re here to purchase; finding rare items is the main reason you came here, after all
[ ] Sorry to disappoint, but your main intention is to sell
[ ] Let’s not be hasty; we’ve got plenty of time, so who says that we can’t do both?
[ ] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now

Hang on; something just caught your eye:
Column B:
[ ] Something shiny, buried behind some items on a shelf
[ ] Something large, sticking out from a pile in the corner
[ ] Something seemingly ordinary, but only to the untrained eye
[ ] Something else… (Write-in)

Ah, right, in the case where you want an item sold, it would probably be best if you mentioned the item in question that you want to sell. In the interest of time, is all.

[X] Let’s not be hasty; we’ve got plenty of time, so who says that we can’t do both?

[X] Something else… (What ever wins for the Write-in)

[x] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now
[x] Anything at random.

Start off small, maybe pick something worthless. Patiently observe this mans methods, his presence, techniques, and the image he conveys. Only after judging his worth as a merchant may we proceed to high-stakes commerce.

Maybe we should all set some item as a goal? It might help facilitate our dealings and provide something for anon to work for.

[x] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now
[x] Something seemingly ordinary, but only to the untrained eye

On that note, with Reimu's comment that he barely keeps himself afloat and that we're smart enough to avoid being tricked by something unknown (unlike Sakuya during a certain chapter), that may not be necessary, but I suppose we lose nothing by looking around.

On that note Realm, can we correctly assume the bag also preserves perishable stuff (thinking about the pumpkin here)?

>>31001

Sure, I'll give you that assumption. We'll just say the items are cooled by the chill of the dimensional void or something.

You guys make it sound like being a merchant is comparable to being an international spy or something, geez. It's just selling and buying stuff.


[ ] Let’s not be hasty; we’ve got plenty of time, so who says that we can’t do both?
[ ] Something shiny, buried behind some items on a shelf

>>31005
Commerce is serious business. Not every random Joe can sell our top dollar yo-yos. It takes a special sort of person to close the deal on these high risk, high reward items.

[x] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now
[x] Something seemingly ordinary, but only to the untrained eye

[x] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now
[x] Something seemingly ordinary, but only to the untrained eye

A simple vissage can belie great and terrible wonders.

[x]>>31013

Real life is starting to play catch up, so don't be surprised if there is no update tonight.

[x] We shouldn’t give away our intentions so quickly; let’s just browse for now
[x] Something seemingly ordinary, but only to the untrained eye

It’s always a good idea to check out what the competition has to offer before making any sudden decisions. You never know what kind of devious merchant techniques this guy might pull out, so it’s best to just sit back and observe for now. Of course, one might argue that such techniques don’t actually exist, but that’s an argument for another time.

“Ah, maybe in a bit; for now, I think I’ll just browse and see what I can find.” The merchant, who you assume is the Rinnosuke fellow you’ve heard about, shrugs and goes back to his book.

You begin looking through the items around you, and initially you find yourself somewhat disappointed. There is a very large variety in the shop’s goods, but there isn’t anything that you would call spectacular or out of the ordinary. Still, this is the best chance you have gotten so far to find any sort of local merchandise, so you continue your search.

As you pass by one of the shelves, something catches your eye; a hand mirror of sorts, consisting of a silver reflection framed by a pink and white wooden frame. Most people wouldn’t have given it a second look, but your merchant senses (if those actually exist) picked up an unusual feature that this mirror seems to have; it doesn’t show your reflection. Picking it up, all you can see is a reflection of pure silver, showing neither you nor anything around you.

Taking the mirror up to the counter, you ask the merchant if he could tell you more about it. Glancing at you, the man puts his book down and takes the mirror in his hand, and after a moment, he speaks.

“Name: Mirror of Dreams. Purpose: Displays the dream of an individual. Yes, I remember this one; I could never get it to work, so I put it up for sale in the shop. Still, it is a good item, so I wonder if I shouldn’t take it back…” He begins to mutter to himself about whether or not the item is worth keeping while you can only stare in shock.

“Excuse me,” you ask, “but how did you know all that?”

“Hmm?” he murmurs as he first looks up at you and then back down at the mirror. “Ah, that’s just my ability. I can identify the name and purpose of any item just by looking at it. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I know how to use it, but…” he goes back into murmuring to himself as he holds the mirror in his hands.

The ability to identify any item? That’s extraordinary! Any good merchant would give his arm or leg to get that ability for him or herself. Of course, this does put you at somewhat of a disadvantage when it comes to selling your items off here; it would be hard to bluff someone who could tell the purpose of an item from sight alone. Still, if you became friends with this man he might be willing to use his ability for any items you might bring in, which could save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

Coming out of his stupor, Rinnosuke seems to have come to a decision. “Alright, I suppose that there is no point in hanging on to an item I can’t use if there is someone willing to purchase it. Let’s see… does 10,000 yen sound good to you?”

[ ] That sounds reasonable enough. It’s a pleasure doing business with you.
[ ] Come now, surely you can go lower than that <Write-in suggested price>
[ ] Perhaps I can counter that offer with something of my own <Select item>
[ ] On second thought, I don’t think I’m really interested in the mirror

Note: I’m ret-conning the currency in your personal inventory. From now on all currency will be assumed to be in yen, and it will be a set amount. Making money isn’t the central point of this story, but as any good merchant knows it’s one of the ways that you can keep score.

As of now, you have 30,000 yen. Use it wisely…

Gurk... I have no idea what kind of price we can propose really. And while it is an interesting item, what kind of person would buy it too?

And I don't see any item in our inventory being enough to trade for the mirror, unless Rinnosuke currently needs one in particular.

Still, it could always be interesting and we could get a good price for it if someone is interested (which I'm afraid would be ofthe peeping kind. Do we get bad rep for selling questionnable items?). Just... I'm not sure what price to name. Especially if we'll need money for food or logement for the night in the future.

[x] Perhaps I can counter that offer with something of my own <Department store catalogue>

Rinnosuke is a shrewd, intelligent half-person, with a penchant for outsider technology and goods. Unfortunately, as he lives in a bubble world, he cannot keep up with the latest tech and most popular devices. With our sweet catalogue, filled to the brim with the newest and latest trends for all ages, he can stay hip, and focus on collecting the toys that are all the rage. He'll love it; of this I am sure.

>>31048
You know, I imagined only Yukari (or maybe kappas too) could be interested in the catalogue but you make a good point.

The problem however is that he doesn't exactly follow trends: he gets what pass the border. And the stuff is usually things that people 'no longer have faith in', AKA out of trends stuff.

If you can defeat my argument, I'll follow your vote. Else, I'll either decide a money price or make a write-in to search for something else.

>>31050
excluding stuff Yukari directly imports to him, which she does occasionally.

[x] Perhaps I can counter that offer with something of my own <Department store catalogue>
-[x] If he accepts the offer, ask what he tried with the mirror. If I need to find out how it works myself, I may as well know what doesn't work right away.

You know what? Forget my argument, let's go for it anyway.

Even if he can't get them, maybe Rinnosuke will be simply interested in the knowledge of what is being sold in the Outside and the prices for the items. I don't know how is relationship with Yukari is in this (in canon, he is rather unnerved by her), but he can always deal with her if he really want to see something.

And if we're going to come often, why not suggest we can explain how certain items from the Outside works while we're at it if he ask? If we want to come for identification, then it's only fair to return the favor (and this can set the base for a friendly relationship).

Yeesh, slow voting. I want to keep things going quickly here, so I'm closing the vote and writing now.

MERCHANT UNLOCKED: Kourindou (Antiques, Variety, Basic Identification)

Should have done that in the last post, but oh well

---

[x] Perhaps I can counter that offer with something of my own <Department store catalogue>

10,000 yen? That’s a bit pricey for your tastes, honestly. You begin to wonder if there isn’t anything that you could offer him in trade for it. Bringing your bag to the counter, you begin rummaging around for something to offer. Rinnosuke waits patiently for you to finish, up until the point where you stick your entire upper body inside the pack in search of an equivalent trade.

“Say, that pack is quite-“

“The bag is not for sale,” you say to cut him off. Considering what you had to do to get this bag, there is no way you are going to give it up so easily. Besides, if you gave it up now you would have no way of carrying all your nifty merchandise. Rinnosuke backs down and continues to wait for you to finish.

Coming back up for air, you find yourself with a dilemma. You don’t have anything (unreserved) in your pack that could be considered equivalent value; even the suit of armor probably doesn’t come up to half of what the mirror is worth. Worse, there is no way that you can bluff this guy, due to his ability. Well, there is one item you could try, although it would be pretty chancy on your part…

Reaching into the pack, you pull out the catalogue you pulled out about a day ago. You honestly only took it out of mild curiosity, but if this man is as much of a collector as you suspect he is…

“I don’t think I have anything that could make the price you are offering, sorry. But instead, how about I cut you a deal? If you can find anything on this list that you would be interested in that is 75% of what you offered or lower, then I will go out and attempt to procure that item for you. We’ll call the other 25% a deliver fee. Interested?”

Rinnosuke takes the magazine and starts leafing through the pages. He keeps a disinterested look on his face as he goes through the catalogue, and you begin to think that he won’t find anything of interest until he stops at what looks to be the electronics section of the page. Taking out a pen, he circles an item.

“This,” he says as he points to what looks like a handheld gaming device of sorts. You can see that there are others like it on the same page, but you assume that he’s going for the cheapest, and thus most obsolete, of the choices available. “If you can manage to procure this or something like it for me, you can have the mirror in return.”

“Alright,” you agree, “If you can tell me what the name of the item is, as well as the cost displayed and the name of the store on the front, I’ll see what I can do.”

Rinnosuke looks at you with an odd look on his face. “What, can’t you read it?”

“Um, actually no, I can’t, sorry.”

“Amazing,” Rinnosuke says as he gives a snort, “I never though that the day would come where I would meet a merchant who is illiterate.”

“Hey, I can read very well, thank you!” You exclaim. “…In my own language,” you say somewhat quieter.

He doesn’t seem to have heard you, though, as he starts his description of the item. The item in question is called the Superboy XL, and it’s priced at around 6,500 yen. He tells you the name of the store, but you doubt that that will matter so much so long as you can find the item in question. Still, you jot the name down as a last resort.

“Very well, then.” Rinnosuke says as he puts the mirror behind the counter. “I’ll hang on to the mirror until you manage to get the item in question. Let me know if there is anything else that interests you.”

“Ah, there is one thing. I never quite caught your name, but can I assume that you are Rinnosuke, the owner of this shop?”

“Indeed you can,” he says with a smile, “for that is indeed who I am. And may I ask who you are?”

“I’m Jean-Luc Lawrence, a travelling merchant of sorts.” You offer your hand to him in greeting.

“Well met, Mr. Lawrence,” Rinnosuke says as he shakes your hand, “It’s always good to meet a fellow merchant.”

Deciding that you should probably give the store one more look-over before you head out, you head back to the shelves that you were previously inspecting while Rinnosuke goes back to his book. A few moments later, however, you can hear a commotion coming from outside, and then a voice.

“Yo, Kourin, you there?” A look of annoyance appears on Rinnosuke’s face as the front door is thrown aside, displaying what looks to be a blond-haired girl dressed in a white and black witch’s outfit, complete with hat. As she steps inside, you see that there is another girl with her. She is blond as well, and is dressed in a blue and pink ensemble, with a headband in her hair to top things off. Additionally, floating next to her shoulder is what seems to be a very ornate and well made doll. The first girl’s face has a look of excitement on it, while the second seems to be sharing Rinnosuke’s look of annoyance.

“Ah, there you are!” the black-white girl exclaims, “Alice here is in a bit of a bind, see, and-“ She cuts off her speech as she notices you. Staring at you for a bit, she then turns back to the shopkeeper and asks, “Yo, who’s this guy, Kourin?”

[ ] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation
[ ] Introduce yourself in name only
[ ] This girl is being a bit rude. Let Rinnosuke handle the introductions if she isn’t going to ask you directly


ORDER OBTAINED: Superboy XL (Rinnosuke)

[x] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation
-[x] Make sure the bag is properly secured. You were warned for a reason after all.

What the hell, we can't read?!

And, huh... Realm, if there's any other item that are for special use, you may want to mention it. It was strange enough for me to see a catalogue in there, but it makes way more sense if we use it to take orders.

Anyway, no reason to not introduce ourselves properly. We probably can't expect her to pay in money, but maybe a spellcard pattern? Still be cautious just in case.

>>31071

Alright, let me clarify then. The items in your bag are ostensibly yours, meaning that you can use them however you like. Of course, the item might become damaged after use if you handle it too roughly, meaning that you might not be able to sell said item later. And if you damage a reserved item that is intended for a customer, it could affect your reputation as a merchant badly.

Simply put, there are no items that are "special use" since the essentially can be used in any way that seems plausible. Everything in there is your inventory, and the only reason that personal affects are kept separate is to make it clear that those items cannot be sold.

[x] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation

If we don't spread our name and business, how will we ever get customers?

[x] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation
-[x] Make sure the bag is properly secured. You were warned for a reason after all.

[x] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation
-[x] Make sure the bag is properly secured. You were warned for a reason after all.

She robs from the rich and gives to the poor, of course the only poor person she gives to is herself.

>>31071 here

I just realized my add-on is meta stuff since Marisa hasn't introduced herself to him. Realm, is it possible to have it happen after Marisa introduces herself?

>>31079

I agree with you on the meta part. Our guy just doesn't know enough to suspect her for the thief that she is (unless he is paranoid, which his previous actions don't seem to show). And I don't think that I like the idea of a choice happening after the fact...

But don't worry. Every good merchant has a few tricks up their sleeve to keep their livelihood from being stolen. Writing now.

[x] Introduce yourself in both name and occupation

Rude or not, a potential client is a potential client. Turning to face her, you give her the standard introduction.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jean-Luc Lawrence, a travelling merchant of sorts.”

“A merchant, huh? That explains why you’re hanging around-“ Suddenly, she smacks her fist into her hand like a hammer. “Now I remember! You were that guy I saw leaving the shrine yesterday! You’re the new outsider!”

“An outsider, huh?” the word leaves a bad taste in your mouth, “I suppose that I am, given that most of the people in the village don’t seem very accepting of me.”

“Nah, they’re most likely just intimidated by you. We don’t get many people from the outside world, so most of the villagers are apprehensive of newcomers. I’m sure that they’ll warm up to you quickly as soon as they realize you aren’t going to maul them to death.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Rinnosuke says as he picks his book back up, a note of sarcasm in his voice, “But in all honesty she’s probably right. You just need to wait until someone takes the time to speak to you. Rumors pass through the village like wildfire, so it won’t long until the whole village opens up.”

“Ah, that’s comforting to know. I already spoke with a few of the villagers today, so hopefully that will be the case when I get back tonight.”

“You’re staying in the village?” The black-white asks, “Did Keine put you up for the night or something?”

“Yes, she was kind enough to let me stay for the night, although hopefully I’ll find some alternative arrangements soon. I don’t want to chance interrupting her classes just so that I can have a place to sleep.”

“If you need a place to stay, I have a guest room in the back that you could rent out for a small fee,” Rinnosuke says as he looks up from his book. “It’s not much, but it’s certainly better than letting it go to waste.” He seems to direct those words to the talkative girl, who gives him a pout back.

“Oh come on Kourin, you know you love it when I stay over! And besides that’s part of the reason I came over today anyways. Alice here needs a place to stay for a while, and I don’t feel like putting her up right now, so I thought you might be able to provide for her.” The girl named Alice seems to be ignoring this conversation, instead choosing to leaf through the catalogue on the counter.

“Is that so? What seems to be the nature of your predicament then, Ms. Alice?”

“Well, it’s like this; I came back home today after retrieving some items that the thief over there stole from me, when-“

“Yipe!” You, Rinnosuke and Alice all turn around as the thief in question draws her hand back from your pack, shaking it from the shock she received.

You sigh. “No touching the merchandise, please.”

“Hey, I just wanted to see what’s inside, no reason to shock me like that.”

“I wasn’t the one who shocked you. The pack has its own means of keeping thieving hands out.”

“How many times do I have to tell people that I’m not a thief!” Placing one hand on the brim of her hand, she states, “I’m just an ordinary magician, Marisa Kirisame!” She gives you a wink, and you could swear that you could see a star coming from her eye as she does.

“Kirisame? You mean…” Wait, didn’t Aito act in a negative fashion when the potential relationship between the stores was brought up? Better avoid that for now. “…the owner of the magic shop that I’ve heard about?”

“Yeah, that’s me! Kirisame magic shop, we handle all of your magical needs, whatever they might be!”

“Considering that few people would ever have need of your magic, I don’t know why you insist on keeping that store front to your thieving operations.” Alice retorts as she turns back to Rinnosuke. “But like she said before, the short version of my current circumstances is that my house is currently not a livable habitat, and as such I require other means of shelter. I am loath to share a space with that,” she says as she points to Marisa, “so I am hoping that you would allow me to stay until repairs on my house have been completed.

“Since you probably wouldn’t pay me for the use of my spare room,” Rinnosuke says, “I suppose the decision on whether or not you will stay lies with Mr. Lawrence over there.” Alice turns to you with a poker face expression.

[ ] Let her have the spare room
[ ] Take up Rinnosuke on his offer to rent a room


---

The next few updates are probably going to be short due to the number of upcoming choices that need to be made, but if the voting is fast enough I might be able to update more quickly.

[x] Let her have the spare room
-[x] Is your house the one burned by the forest? It seems like it will need to be rebuild from scratch. I apologize if it is a bad time miss, but could you be interested in a toolkit? Unless you have very strong magical means of rebuilding it (and even if you do) it can surely help you.

[x] Let her have the spare room
-[x] Is your house the one burned by the forest? It seems like it will need to be rebuild from scratch. I apologize if it is a bad time miss, but could you be interested in a toolkit? Unless you have very strong magical means of rebuilding it (and even if you do) it can surely help you.

Seems good to me.

[x] Let her have the spare room
-[x] Is your house the one burned by the forest? It seems like it will need to be rebuild from scratch. I apologize if it is a bad time miss, but could you be interested in a toolkit? Unless you have very strong magical means of rebuilding it (and even if you do) it can surely help you.

[x] Let her have the spare room.

Guys? I'm pretty sure that the list of personal items on hand are for our own use in case of emergency. It would be like selling our blade: we need it in case crap happens. If you really want to sell it, we'll have to buy another one.

Since she's looking at the catalogue, I was thinking of maybe adding something to ask if she wants to order something... but maybe it would be a bit rude to do so in Rinnosuke's shop.

>>31091

Correct. Personal items cannot be sold or given away. (Stolen, however...) I should have probably clarified that the toolkit is basically something akin to a Swiss-army knife.

Let's clarify its contents. Contained therein is a flathead screwdriver, a simple flashlight, a bottle opener, a simple knife and a campfire starter. I'll make sure that the item list reflects this in the future.

Also, I think I'll do one more post tonight

[x] Let her have the spare room.

It isn’t like you would be out on the streets if you can’t find a place to stay for the night, and you would be loathe to let someone who just lost their house to roam the wilderness.

“It’s alright, she can have the room.” Alice gives you a small smile as Rinnosuke seems to begin sulking about the coming turn of events.

“Thank you very much. I don’t think we were properly introduced. I am Alice Margatroid, resident magician and proprietor of the Forest of Dolls.”

“Forest of Dolls?”

“My house, as it was, located in the Forest of Magic. I occasionally do custom work for those I feel are worthy of it. Of course, some people attempt to get free service whenever they please…” You can see her eyes glare at Marisa as she says this, before they turn back to you. “Anyways, with my house burnt to the ground as it is I doubt that I will be able to open for business for a time. However, finish I finish both the repair to my house and administering appropriate justice, feel free to stop on by.”

Wait, house burnt down in the middle of the forest… it can’t be…

“In any case,” Alice says while turning back to the counter, “along with my temporary accommodations here, I’m also looking to see if I can’t replace some items that were caught in the destruction.” She picks up the catalogue and starts flipping through it again. “I was either fortunate or misfortunate enough to have most of my belongings stolen by a certain black-white before the destruction occurred,” another glare is sent in Marisa’s direction, “but still a few things remained that I would like to have replaced. Chief among those is this.” She stops flipping and points at an item. Coming closer, you see a sewing machine underneath her finger. “Would you happen to have one of these in stock, Mr. Rinnosuke?”

“A sewing machine? Let me check.” He heads into the back of the store for a few moments before coming back with a simple, plastic sewing machine in his hands. Putting it on the counter, he asks, “Will this do?”

Alice doesn’t seem impressed. “This doesn’t seem like any sewing machine that I’ve ever seen. Does it even work?”

“I’ve never been able to make it function, but perhaps you might have more luck with it.”

“Unlikely.” You interject, “This item runs of electricity, and while I’m not sure of the infrastructure of this land, I haven’t seen any means of distributing the necessary power to make it function. Unless you can find a way to substitute its energy needs with magic, I doubt that you would be able to make it work.”

“Electricity, huh?” Marisa joins in, “You mean the stuff the kappa and the mountain gods are getting all worked up about? Yeah, I doubt that you would be able to get that stuff all the way over in the forest, Alice. Seems like it would take a lot of work.”

Alice muses to herself for a bit. “But I really do need this item. While it wouldn’t be vital for my survival, it would make things a lot easier in my everyday tasks.”

[ ] Offer to look for a sewing machine for her during your travels, but give no promises
[ ] Ask her if she would like to place an order for a manually powered sewing machine
[ ] Don’t offer anything (Like you would really choose this option)

The fact that her house burned down is weighing upon you as well. You doubt your encounter in the forest and her house burning down are unrelated events…

[ ] She mentioned administrating appropriate justice, and we don’t need any more trouble. Stay quiet.
[ ] It’s only fair to let her know what you witnessed. Tell her what you saw.

[x] Offer to look for a sewing machine for her during your travels, but give no promises

This kind of item might be way more troublesome to find in the Outside. I even bet it we have more chances of finding one in Gensokyo than the Outside.

As for the matter with Utsuho... I'm not exactly sure what we should pick. Alice probably already know who did it anyway, so what we could add? However, it would be seen as a nice gesture on our part... So long as Utsuho doesn't decide to like us less because she heard we told Alice what happened.

Then again, it probably wouldn't take much to make up with her.

I'll leave the second option to others, but if you decide to tell, I do insist on a add-on:
-[x]Don't tell anything about the fight itself.

We're here as a merchant, not a hero. I'm pretty sure it will be very bad if our reputation as a fighter grows (and for beating Utsuho, you can be sure as hell it will) and we start getting challenges without having spellcards to defend ourselves more effectively.

[x] Offer to look for a sewing machine for her during your travels, but give no promises
[x] It’s only fair to let her know what you witnessed. Tell her what you saw.

It would be terribly rude to start dealing in Rinnosuke's turf. As for Utsuho, she attacked Alice's home for a reason, and we should probably get to the bottom of that so we can clear up this huge misunderstanding.

[x] Offer to look for a sewing machine for her during your travels, but give no promises
[x] It’s only fair to let her know what you witnessed. Tell her what you saw.


I don't see the harm and I think he can leave out the part about the fight as Okuu blasted the place before he arrived.

[x] Ask her if she would like to place an order.
[x] It’s only fair to let her know what you witnessed. Tell her what you saw.

Finally finished the majority of my work in real life. Update upcoming.

[x] Offer to look for a sewing machine for her during your travels, but give no promises
[x] It’s only fair to let her know what you witnessed. Tell her what you saw.
-[x]Don't tell anything about the fight itself.

“If you would like,” you say, “I could keep an eye out for such an item in my travels. I can’t give any guarantees that I would be able to find one, given the rarity of such an item, but if I do I will do my best to have it brought to you.”

Alice looks at you for a moment, and then nods. “I suppose that I can’t ask for any more than that. At the very worst, I should be able to commission somebody to make it for me. Of course, I could ask that gap youkai for a favor, but even a magician such as myself would not want to be in her debt.” She turns back to Rinnosuke, and says, “Alright then, if you would lead me to my room so that I might make myself at home…”

“It’s not like you wouldn’t make yourself at home even if I said you couldn’t,” Rinnosuke grumbles as he gets up to lead Alice off. The two are about to leave when you stop Alice for one additional thing. The house that you found in the woods sounds to be in a similar condition to Alice’s home, and you feel as though you should provide details on what you saw. Giving a brief description of what you saw brings Alice’s full attention back on you.

“Yes, that is what my house looks like, so chances are that the destroyed house you witnessed was indeed mine. By any chance were you able to witness the one who committed the destruction?”

For a moment you consider keeping that information to yourself, but you figure that it would probably be uncouth of you to withhold that information from someone who lost their house because of it. You describe how Okuu appeared in front of you after you came upon the rubble.

Alice puts her hand over her forehead and sighs. “Yes, I figured that she was the one who committed the acts. She seemed very agitated over a comment I had for her master the last time I saw her. This is going to make things complicated…” She goes back to muttering to herself while Marisa bounds up to you. “Wow, you managed to beat Okuu down? That’s a pretty impressive feat, if I do say so myself!”

You are about to agree with her when a though crosses you mind. If you affirm the statement that you beat the hell crow down, your reputation as a fighter might overshadow your reputation as a merchant in this land. People would come to you for fights rather than purchases, and the chances of items being damaged in said scuffles would probably increase in the meantime. The fact that you pretty much can’t use the spell card system effectively goes along with this as well.

“Ah, I didn’t actually fight her off so much as I did pay her off.” You say. “She was quite taken with one of my items, and in return for it I was able to get her to escort me out of the forest and to the human village.”

“Ah, is that so?” Part of her seems to deflate at this statement of nonviolence, but you could swear that another part of her inflates with increased curiosity of what you are carrying on you.

“In any case,” Alice interrupts, “I would like to thank you for the information, as well as your offer. I hope that we will cross paths in the future.” Saying this, she moves to have Rinnosuke take her to the back. You don’t see anything else in the store that catches your interest, so you bid farewell to both Alice and Rinnosuke and depart.

Surprisingly, Marisa follows you out. “So where are you planning on going from here, huh?” When you say that the only other place on your itinerary today is the Kappa’s bazaar, she lights up. “Nitori’s place, huh? If you want, I could give you a ride there. Could save you a lot of time, you know, and you might have time to check other places out afterwards.”

She does have a point. It’s still only around mid-morning, and riding with her would save you a great amount of time, meaning that you might be able to explore more of the land. Of course, there is the fact that she is probably wants something in return, this most likely being to see what’s in your pack (if not the pack itself…)

[ ] Politely reject her offer; the time saved might not be worth the cost
[ ] Accept her offer; the time saved is much more valuable in the long run than any one item
[ ] Hang on; she’s the owner of the Kirisame magic shop, right? We were planning on stopping by anyways, so why don’t we have her guide us there and back through the forest?

[x] Politely reject her offer; the time saved might not be worth the cost

Trade an item for something we could easily do ourselves, again? No thank you.

[x] Politely reject her offer; the time saved might not be worth the cost

[x] Politely reject her offer; the time saved might not be worth the cost

Aww, guys... Wouldn't that be an awesome moment for a write-in? Something like saying we heard some rumors about her, but that we are glad to see she is more generous than what they said? (see if she cracks or give up on our bag after that, hehe.)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how I would write it myself.

[x] Hang on; she’s the owner of the Kirisame magic shop, right? We were planning on stopping by anyways, so why don’t we have her guide us there and back through the forest?

We might be able to get more worth out of one of our items if we can see Marisa's stock as she has all sorts of things that even she doesn't know about.

[x] Hang on; she’s the owner of the Kirisame magic shop, right? We were planning on stopping by anyways, so why don’t we have her guide us there and back through the forest?

Wanna see Marisa's junk pile already.

Update should be coming later tonight, sorry for the delay

[x] Politely reject her offer; the time saved might not be worth the cost

How many times have you heard the word “thief” associated with this girl by this point? Now that you think about it, even Reimu warned you about a “certain thief” that she knew, and Marisa seems to have heard about you from her. This along with the fact that she has already tried to get into your pack means that she is probably someone who you want to associate as little as possible with, and that includes owing her any favors. Still, politeness is a virtue…

“Thank you for the offer, Ms. Kirisame, but I don’t think that a ride there will be necessary. If the map I have is accurate, it should only be an hour or two from here, and I don’t want to bother you.”

“No bother, no bother at all!” Marisa shouts as she pats her broomstick, now floating in midair, “C’mon, I’m sure that you want to get there as fast as you can so that you can see all of Nitori’s cool stuff!”

You wonder what she is referring to by “Nitori’s stuff”, but you stay adamant in your choice. “Thank you again, but I just feel like keeping my feet on the ground for now, if that’s alright with you.” Marisa gives you a shrug as you head towards your destination.

---

Around half an hour later you arrive at the human village, intent on passing through it as a shortcut. The trip was pretty much uneventful… so long as you don’t count the fact that Marisa announced her intent to follow you soon after you began and has been shadowing you ever since. Man, that girl just can’t take a hint. You consider trying to lose her in the village for a moment, but realize that since she knows your destination, coupled with the fact that she can fly, probably means that you aren’t going to have much luck with that. Sighing you continue on your way through the village, passing the school as you do. As you go by you make a mental note to return later and continue towards the mountain in the distance.

---

After about an hour and a half of walking through the mountain’s foothills (the trip was longer than you thought it would be) you arrive at the bazaar, located next to a river flowing down from the mountain. The place is abuzz with activity, and while there are a good number of humans mulling about, you would guess that the majority of the crowd are youkai. Marisa tries to be helpful by pointing out that the kappa tend to have blue or green hair and tend to wear engineering or working outfits. She also points out a few youkai she says are tengu. They seem to like to wear white in their outfits, as well as elevated shoes called geta. You thank her, and she says the advice she just gave out wasn’t free. What to do…

While deciding on what to do about Marisa, you also try to make a decision on where to start. There are all sorts of things happening about you, with the biggest draw to your attention being the numerous stands selling their wares. Towering over said stands seems to be a giant mechanical humanoid of some sorts which seems to be moving on its own accord; that might be worth checking out first. Of course, you could also take your time while you are here, perhaps try and listen into the opinion of the crowd, or maybe see if you can’t find something to eat before you start.

But first things first – should we reward Marisa for her advice?

Column A (Pick 1):

[ ] Fine, give her some sort of trinket for her time <Choose item>
[ ] Play it smooth; you never came to an agreement about said advice, so technically you owe her nothing
[ ] Don’t give her anything, she’s just trying to either mooch or else get access to your pack

After that, what should we do first at the bazaar? Since these tasks are somewhat interrelated, you should be able to accomplish two of them at the same time…

Column B (Pick 2):

[ ] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!
[ ] Let’s go see that giant humanoid; its design looks fascinating
[ ] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip
[ ] Its lunchtime, which means that it’s time to find something to eat! <Will cost around 500 yen for food, +- 200 yen depending on what you get.>

[x] Fine, give her some sort of trinket for her time <Cellphone strap>
[x] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip

Maybe Marisa will think we're not interesting if we give her a piece of trash.

[x] Play it smooth; you never came to an agreement about said advice, so technically you owe her nothing.
[x] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!

[X] Play it smooth; you never came to an agreement about said advice, so technically you owe her nothing.

The first will be like giving food to a wild animal, she'll just keep coming back. The third just seems like being a dick, so no.

And as Column B says pick 2...
[X] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!
[X] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip.

>>31177
She's following us because she's curious, not because she wants our junk. She doesn't even know it's mostly junk yet.

[x] Don’t give her anything, she’s just trying to either mooch or else get access to your pack
[x] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip
[x] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!

While her advice was certainly helpful, I can already read the writing on the wall. Marisa will continually pester us, or otherwise try and be "helpful" until we let her "examine" our wares, or give her some worthless bauble. We need to shut that shit down hard.

I wonder what sort of devious merchant tactics the kappa will try? From my understanding, they should be masters of exaggeration, so used to high techno-babble, and motormouth exchanges that they can swindle the laymen into buying just about anything. We will need to be on our guard around these heinous fiends.

[x] Tell Marisa you owe her an advice. Equivalent exchange: words for words.
[x] Giant humanoid

>>31179
Kappa worksmanship is pretty good, though the most exotic stuff might be a bit risky.

>>31183
I like that first line.

[x] Tell Marisa you owe her an advice. Equivalent exchange: words for words.
[x] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip
[x] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!

No picture for this one guys, couldn't find anything relevant.

---

[x] Tell Marisa you owe her an advice. Equivalent exchange: words for words.
[x] Tune your hearing towards the crowd to hear if you can’t hear any interesting pieces of gossip
[x] The stands are waiting! Time to get your merchant on!

She wants to play favor games, huh? Well then game on little missy!

“Alright, but if it wasn’t free then it is certainly of equal or lesser value. In exchange I will owe you a piece of advice or gossip of your choosing, alright?”

She blinks in response, obviously not expecting that line of thought. A moment later she recovers, however. “Aw come on, that’s a bit too complicated, isn’t it? It would be much simpler to just give me something, right?”

“Simpler or not, you did not lay out the terms of this deal beforehand, so I have no qualms in determining how I “repay” your advice.” You leave Marisa behind, who lets out a grumble and resumes playing your shadow. Apparently she doesn’t have anything that she wants to ask you at the moment. Well whatever, she can do what she wants; the stalls are call for you, and you will not waste any more time arguing with her.

As you make you way past numerous stands of the kappa, you find that everything that you have heard about the kappa’s workmanship is absolutely true. Everything that they are selling is of at least moderate quality, and the vast majority of the merchandise on sale is top notch. Almost everything is of a technological or mechanical nature, and you move from one stand to another, picking out items that you think could be resold elsewhere for a slight profit. Here and there you find a few trinkets that you consider economical enough to buy without too much consideration. These include a handheld (electric) fan for 200 yen, a pair of roller skates for 1000 yen (with what look suspiciously like rockets on the end), an extendable arm for 700 yen (you managed to haggle a good price there) and what can only be described as a doohickey for 400 yen. (The owner wasn’t sure what it was, she apparently picked it up somewhere. Maybe you can get it identified later) All in all a good catch, although you make sure to keep an eye on Marisa every time you deposit an item back in your inventory.

There are also a few stands run by tengu. These stands seem to specialize in books, scrolls, and other published goods. On one hand you are amazed at the sheer amount of printed material that is available. On the other hand you can’t read any of it, so it isn’t really of any interest to you.

As you make your way through the bazaar, you keep your ear open for things that are happening around the area. Most of it is just random gossip, but you hear of three things of significance that are occurring in the area. It would seem that one shop in particular located near the giant humanoid has a particularly good item for sale today. Additionally, you also seem to hear a lot of complaining about an “annoying crow” who is apparently harassing people for info by said giant humanoid. Finally, it would seem that there is an argument brewing in the food court, seemingly involving a pair of …goddesses? Did you hear that right?

…well in any case it would probably be prudent to head over to one of these places in order to see what the hubbub is all about. Of course, you remember to keep in mind that heading to any one of these commotions might mean that the other two become unavailable. The item at the stand might be sold before you get there, the “annoying crow” might fly off, and the …goddesses… might stop arguing and leave. So you had better put some thought into this decision…

[ ] The stand
[ ] The giant humanoid
[ ] The food court

[x] The food court

We might be a merchant, but we're also a scout. Let's check out these so-called goddesses.

[x] The food court

Knowing potential clients is important after all. That, and there's a very good chance they may want to order stuff from the Outside (not that our merchant know that bit yet of course).

Also, we may want to think of a way to satisfy Marisa after that. Going to her shop is a thing, sure, but remember that we'll be in her territory and she'll be the only way to get out of the forest safely once we're in.

[x] The food court.

Goddesses eh?

>[x] The stand
Nice item

>[x] The giant humanoid
Aya or Hatate?

>[x] The food court
Most likely Suwako and Kanako, but could be Hina and/or the Akis.

[x]Stand. I'm a sucker for collecting items

[x] The stand

Everyone else can wait, while this item is a one-off event. It wouldn't be very pragmatic to lose it for something we can always do later.

>>31215
Can't you read? They're all one-off events. Maybe.

>>31216
Because we will never have the opportunity to meet people ever again, right?

>>31217
Because we will never have the opportunity to track down and steal that item, right? We even have Marisa with us! It'd be a great bonding experience.

>>31218
Track down and steal items? Are you mad? I cannot think of a easier way to give us a reputation as a shitty merchant.

>>31219
You're assuming we'd be caught! Don't be so negative.

I won't be able to update tonight since I have to prepare for an interview tomorrow, so I'll just keep this vote open until tomorrow night and see where that takes us.

>>31217
Actually, meeting those two another time would be a bit more difficult than expected, since even we you wanted to go to the Moriya shrine and had that ring of flying, we would have to deal with the tengu first.

>>31224
>Deal with the tengu first

Than we are already half of the way there; Aya/Hatate are tengu. Besides, I'm sure if we said we are going to go visit the shrine they would react positively.

[x] The food court

In the past you have met elves, dwarves and demons alike, but never have you had the chance to witness an actual goddess. Sure, you’ve heard mention of them in passing, but no more than that. Getting a rare item is all well and good, but seeing a goddess in the flesh might be a once in a lifetime opportunity! Walking away from the stands, you make your way an open area of the bazaar designated as a food court of sorts.

It only takes a few moments to find the commotion you heard about. In front of a sweet potato stand (sweet potatoes? Isn’t it summer right now?) are two women locked in argument. One of them is a somewhat short blond, wearing a pink, white and black dress complemented by a hat with what looks to be a grape ornament set on top. The other is taller with blue hair, wearing an ornate red dress and a red headband. There is a crowd surrounding the two, and as you get closer you can begin to hear fragments of the argument.

“…look, all I’m saying is that if you join up with us, we’ll have the worship of all of Gensokyo’s farmers under our thumb. Besides, you and your sister barely get any faith in your own right.”

“For the last time, we don’t need that much faith! The worship we get around autumn is generally more than enough to last us the entire year! It isn’t like people stop believing in fall, so we don’t have any good reason to go with you!”

“Come on now Minoriko,” the blue haired one replies, “I’m a goddess of agriculture, which means that if we come together we would be unstoppable!” She raises her hands into the air, “With my powers over the land and air and your powers over the harvest, we could lead Gensokyo into a farming boom! Just think of it, our faith would skyrocket!”

This actually seems to get to Minoriko for a bit, but before long she retorts, “Look Kanako, right now isn’t a good time to be discussing this. My sister and I are getting ready for autumn to arrive, so there is a lot that we need to do right now. Come back in the winter and we’ll talk further, ok?” With that, she heads back towards her stand. The blue haired goddess crosses her arms in annoyance but backs down as a green haired girl come up to her and starts pleading with her not to cause a commotion.

“Aw geez, are the mountain goddesses trying to stir things up again?” asks Marisa, who seemingly materialized by your side while you distracted. (The side, you note, that has your bag. You quickly pull it around) “Well, nothing for it I guess, gods are more Reimu’s thing than mine. Besides, it doesn’t look like they are causing too much trouble. C’mon, let’s go say hi.” With that Marisa heads off towards the blue and green haired pair.

[ ] Alright…
-[ ] It’s not everyday that you get to meet a goddess. Let’s go say hi.
-[ ] You’re famished. Let’s go and get one of those sweet potatoes first, the goddesses will probably still be there afterwards.
[ ]Actually, no…
-[ ] The item might still be up for sale! Let’s hurry and see if we can’t snag it before it’s too late!
-[ ] Wonder if that crow is still around. Might be worth checking.

[x] Alright…
-[x] You’re famished. Let’s go and get one of those sweet potatoes first, the goddesses will probably still be there afterwards.

Divine sweet potatos. We have a bag that can keep them piping hot. They're going to sell like mad!

[x] Alright…
-[x] It’s not everyday that you get to meet a goddess. Let’s go say hi.

Well, we missed out on a rare item, might as well follow through and pitch ourselves at the goddess'. If we are lucky, they might even take an order or something.

[x] Alright…
-[x] It’s not everyday that you get to meet a goddess. Let’s go say hi.

[x] Alright…
-[x] You’re famished. Let’s go and get one of those sweet potatoes first, the goddesses will probably still be there afterwards.

[x] Alright…
-[x] You’re famished. Let’s go and get one of those sweet potatoes first, the goddesses will probably still be there afterwards.

Minoriko at least as chances are she was involved with the stand.

[x] Alright…
-[x] You’re famished. Let’s go and get one of those sweet potatoes first, the goddesses will probably still be there afterwards.

You haven’t eaten in over 24 hours, so a fact that is finally catching your attention away. How you haven’t noticed how starving you are is something you just can’t understand. While meeting the goddesses is certainly a worthwhile endeavor, perhaps it would be prudent to make sure that you won’t collapse of starvation mid-discussion.

“…alright, but I’m going to get something to eat first, I’m starving over here.” You head off in the direction of the closest food stand, which just so happens to be the sweet potato stand that Minoriko goddess is manning.

“Sound good!” Marisa replies as she heads over towards Kanako, “Get me something too, will ya?”

“Fine, but I’m considering us even if I do,” you shout back as you reach the stand. You decide that two for yourself should sate your hunger. “Three please.”

“Sure thing.” The goddess pulls three potatoes out of what looks like a fire pit with a pair of tongs and quickly wraps them in paper, placing them on the stand’s counter. “That will be 450 yen.” 150 per potato sounds like a fair price, so you pay up. As you make to leave, a thought crosses your mind. “I know this sounds strange, but why would a goddess need to run a food stand in the first place? I would think that they would be able to provide for themselves without upkeep.”

She shrugs as she accepts the payment. “My sister and I only have any real power during the fall, when people give worship for autumn’s natural bounty and beauty. During the rest of the year we need to conserve the power we saved up during that time if we want to manifest ourselves physically, which means that we need other ways of doing mundane tasks aside from divine power. Unfortunately,” she says as she gives a sigh, “We don’t have a shrine like Kanako over there, which means that we needed to find an alternative way of providing ourselves with income. Creating food takes very little of my power, since it is my domain, so it provides an ideal way of providing for ourselves.”

Huh. You guess that even gods have their financial problems. Ah well, not that it really concerns you. Your pouch isn’t really designed to keep perishables from going bad, so you try to avoid dealing in food. Giving your thanks to the goddess, you head back over to where Marisa is chatting with the blue haired goddess. As you do you take a bite into one of the potatoes, relishing in how sweet it is.

“Here,” you say as you toss a potato to Marisa, “This makes us even, alright?” Marisa shrugs in reply, which could honestly mean anything coming from her.

“So who’s this guy, Marisa?” asks the green haired girl. Up close, you notice that she is wearing an outfit similar in design to Reimu’s, except for it being blue and white instead of red and white. It still exposes her armpits, however. (Is that a requirement for shrine maidens in Gensokyo?)

“This guy here is Jean, a merchant from the outside,” Marisa says as she eats her food. “I think he might have some cool stuff on him, but so far he’s been pretty rude in not showing it to me.”

“The name is Jean-Luc Lawrence, and I would think that rude one would be the person who keeps trying to steel my wares.” Marisa sticks her tongue out in response as the green hair girl let’s out a giggle at the comment.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lawrence. My name is Sanae, and this is Lady Kanako, head deity of the Moriya Shrine.”

“You come from the outside world, huh?” The blue-haired woman replies, as she looks you over. “Is that so? I’ll admit that you don’t give an aura of a Gensokyo native, but there is something else about you…”

Wait, does she suspect that you’re not from the same dimension as the world outside of Gensokyo? That could be bad. If she figures out that you are a plane hopper, then word might spread about your true nature, especially if Marisa hears it. (You get the feeling she isn’t one to keep a secret) And if that were to happen…

Fortunately, she just gives a shrug and says, “Ah well, I guess it doesn’t really matter. Maybe your aura is just unique.” Phew, that was close. The prime directive is very clear on letting out your true identity, so it seems like you dodged a bullet there.

“So then Mr. Lawrence,” Kanako starts, “Have you ever seen a goddess before now?”

“No, I can’t say I have,” you say in reply.

“Well then, what do you think of your first glimpse of divinity? Not bad, huh?” she says as she strikes a pose that you think is supposed to be divine in its nature, but in reality only makes her look kind of silly. “Sanae, you pose too, you’re also a goddess after all.”

“What? B-but I’m only part goddess, and-“

“Come now, if you are ever going to get any faith of your own, you’ve got to act the part.” Kanako reaches out for the green haired girl, who seems to be intent in not getting caught up in this.

Your first impressions, huh? Well you have to admit that you are a bit disappointed in what you have seen. You were expecting beings of immense energy and power, and yet what you seem to have found are seemingly normal looking women who talk big. Of course, appearances can be deceiving, but…

[ ] Let’s get some proof of her supposed divinity - “How do I know that you are really a goddess? You only look like a normal people to me.
[ ] They are easy to talk to - “I’ll admit, I’m surprised at how human you all seem. It makes connecting with and understanding you much easier.”
[ ] Let’s embellish a little - “I’m impressed. I’ve never actually seen a real live goddess before, and you exceeded my expectations.”
[ ] Write-in

---------

I decided that in the end the bag can’t handle perishables. Sorry if I ruined any overarching plans for global agricultural domination, but I don’t want the pouch to have at least some limitations. I’m not considering this a retcon however since it wasn’t mentioned in the story officially until now.

From now on, assume that you will only need to find food for the purposes of survival, and unless something is otherwise stated as an exception assume that food or similarly perishable items are something that our boy tries not to carry as a rule.

And let me head off responses about the pumpkin currently in the inventory by saying that it's an exception, since it can last longer than most foodstuffs can out in the open.

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.

We literally just got done talking to Minoriko, who is a goddess, and than this all happens? What the hell, man. Don't look down on the Aki's like that.

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well."

A merchant goddess? Now there's a divinity Jean-Luc can get behind. Kanako's ambition would likely be off-putting to him, as well.

>>31299
>>31300
You guys do realize how Kanako may react to that right? (Then again, it's going to be awesome.)

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.

With Embellish, someone may just calll us on it considering how very little we've seen and the middle answer just seems a tad too mild. Still, we shouldn't make her too mad. She may be a future client after all.

[x] They are easy to talk to - “I’ll admit, I’m surprised at how human you all seem. It makes connecting with and understanding you much easier.”

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.
[x] They are easy to talk to - “I’ll admit, I’m surprised at how human you all seem. It makes connecting with and understanding you much easier.”

>>31306
I realize Kanako will be pissed. That's half the point.

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.

I like a write in, for once. Of course, this is said in a joking manner. Should be fairly obvious, but we can never be too sure with you writefags.

[x]Aren't we forgetting someone - "It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being who radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life. Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.

This goddess is obviously looking for either praise or faith from you, and honestly you get the feeling that feeding her ego here wouldn’t help anyone. Glancing at the potato in your hand, an idea forms in your head.

“It's breathtaking. To be in the presence of a being that radiates such strength, beauty, and charm is certainly a focal point of my life.” You then take another bite out of the potato.

Kanako smirks and gives Sanae a nudge with her elbow. “See, what did I tell you? Most mortals impress easily if you just-“

“Her potatoes are absolutely delicious, as well.”

Even Marisa raises her eyebrows at this statement. Kanako has frozen in misstep, staring at you with a look of incomprehension on her face. You know that look won’t last long, and seeing that she a look of anger is slowly replacing the look of comprehension, you guess that you will probably soon be in a world of hurt.

Totally worth it.

-----

Minoriko sighs as she watches the people pass by her stand. It’s been a slow day, meaning that there wasn’t much business to take care of. Not that she and her sister needed anything more than they made today, but still it’s pretty boring when it’s slow. To make matter worse, that blue-haired hussy came by again, trying to pressure Minoriko into joining her pantheon. Honestly, how many times is Kanako going to bother her about it? In theory it’s a good idea, of course, but there is something about Kanako that she just can’t stand…

Speaking of which, here she comes again. Does she never give up? Minoriko wonders what Kanako wants with her now when she notices that the wind goddess seems enraged for some reason. Uh oh. No matter how much Minoriko might not want to admit it, Kanako is much stronger than she is. Even during the fall it’s unlikely that Minoriko and her sister combined could even think of taking that god of war on. She seems to be dragging someone behind her… oh; it’s that person who bought some potatoes earlier. He’s looking a bit worse for the wear, to say the least. It probably doesn’t help his situation when Kanako slams his head against the counter facedown, despite his struggling protests. In the distance Minoriko can see the green haired shrine maiden and thieving witch trying to catch up.

“MINORIKO!” Kanako shouts, “How the hell did you manage to convert this outsider so quickly? It makes no sense, he’s totally enamored by you and he’s only seen you for a few moments! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!?!”

Minoriko is stunned, to say the least. This human is enamored with her? Wh-what? B-but she barely even knows him! “I-I don’t k-know, K-kanako. What did he say the reason was?”

Kanako opens her mouth and pauses, then turns to the man in question. “Hey, why were you so enamored with her anyways?”

“I’m not enamored with her; I’m not even holding that much faith in her as a goddess!” The man replies. Oh, well you suppose that makes sense. Minoriko only just met the man, so it wouldn’t make much sense for him have fallen in love at first sight. Still, she can’t help but deflate a little. If only…

“Well then why did you say she was the better goddess when I was right in front of you!?” Kanako exclaims.

“Because I didn’t want to fuel your ego any more thanACK,” Kanako pushes his face harder into the counter, “ANDANYWAYSWOULDNTITMAKEMORESENSEFORAMERCHANTTORESPECTAWORKINGGOD?”

Kanako lets go of him, a look of surprise and thought on her face. “A working god?”

Rubbing his cheek, the man goes on. “Well yeah, I mean I am a merchant after all. It would only make sense that I would find more of a connection to someone who sells items to others wouldn’t it?”

Kanako seems to be shocked by these words, as all she can seem to do is stare blankly at the man. At that moment the green-haired maiden finally catches up. “Lady Kanako, please! You can’t do things like this! The faith-“

“THAT’S IT! Kanako yells out. Grabbing Sanae by the arm and shaking her, she exclaims, “That’s how well do it! Come on, Sanae, there are preparations to be made!”

“What? But Lady KanaKYAAA!” Sanae’s protests are cut off as Kanako flies off at a high speed towards the mountain, dragging the shrine maiden behind her.

------

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. Ok, you are never going to doubt the strength of a goddess again. That hurt! Rubbing your cheek where she shoved your face against the counter, you attempt to recover from the assault.

“Damn, even I wouldn’t tell Kanako something like that to her face.” Marisa tells you, still having that wide eyed look on her face. Soon, however, a grin spreads across her face as she slaps you on the back. “You’ve certainly got guts, though, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve certainly been in worse spots than that.” Still, it definitely hurt. You aren’t going to be underestimating the power of the gods of this land in the future, that’s for sure. Speaking of which; “Hey, you alright over there?”

“Ah! U-um, yeah, I’m fine.” Minoriko doesn’t look any worse for the wear, even if she looks somewhat flustered. “W-what was that all about, anyways?”

“Ech, that goddesses’ ego was a bit much, so I thought I could try deflating it a bit, you know what I mean?”

“Heh,” Minoriko laughs out with a smile, “That’s true, isn’t it? Now that you mention it, that look on her face was priceless, wasn’t it?”

“Mmm, well in truth everything has a price,” you say, indicating your face, “but yeah, that was totally worth it.”

“Ah, are you alright there?” Minoriko asks, “She did hit you pretty hard there, after all…”

“Nah, I’m tougher then I look, this is nothing.” You reply, “It should be fine in a few hours.” Speaking of time, you should probably get moving if you want to see the rest of this place and still be back at Keine’s before dark. “Anyways, I should probably get going. I’ll see you around, alright?”

“Ah, y-yeah, see you later.” Minoriko waves goodbye to you as you walk away with a bright smile on her face. Waving back, you turn around only to find a Marisa with a sly grin on her face.”

“You’re pretty smooth, aren’tcha? First you get Reimu to help you, and now you’ve made friends with a goddess. Thinking of charming a vampire next?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Well, maybe you do, but what was that vampire comment about? Eh, it was probably nothing, and you’ve still got work to do in any case. It looks like the bazaar is starting to close up, but you can probably make one more stop before everything closes. Still, you should probably stick to the destinations you had in mind earlier so that you don’t get lost…

[ ] The stand
[ ] Giant humanoid
[ ] Actually, I think we’re done here
-[ ] Let’s head back to town
-[ ] Wonder if Marisa would still be willing to take us to her shop…

[x] Giant humanoid

Hahaha. Totally worth it.

[x] The stand

[x] Giant humanoid

Hahaha oh Kanako.

[x]The Stand

That incredibly rare item is surely still there after all that time has elapsed. Surely.
Now, due to my write-in we will have another rival in the near future, in the form of Moriya Miracle Manufacturers. My bad, I guess?

>Still, she can’t help but deflate a little. If only…
You teasing motherfucker. Now I'll be completely biased towards anything involving the Aki's.

Edits. Edits everywhere.

>>31330

Oh wow, that name is much better than anything that I've come up with so far. Not bad at all, I'll think I'll take it if you don't mind. I suppose that I should give you something in return, though... tell you what, I can make our hero a bit more lucky in his future endeavors by unlocking the LUCK ability. Anytime you select an option, you can put the word LUCK right before it, and things might be more likely to turn out in your favor. I'll give you x3 luck to start out, and there may be ways to earn more of it in the future, if you play your cards smoothly enough. Just don't expect it to get you out of every jam; sometimes a little bit more luck is still just not enough. Additionally, at least 4 people must agree that LUCK should be used in order for it to be activated. They do not necessarily have to agree on the same option, though.

And as for that last statement of yours, all I can say right now is; heh. heh. heh.

>>31330

Note: I was not referring to line about the edits in that last sentence. heh. heh. heh.

[x] Giant humanoid

For once the Akis got one over on the Moriya Shrine.

>>31332
So it IS merchant battles... I was hoping for Jean-Luc's superiors to invade Gensokyo or something, but this is fine too.

>>31335

Who says it can't be both?

[x] The stand

>>31335
I suppose it will depend on the report we'll give... But considering how Yukari warned us and what we saw so far, it would take a truly stupid report on our part or someone else thinking differently for that to happen.

And I say someone else and not the whole organisation because I very much doubt we worked with them for so long and have them not trust what we say.

>>31360
Whoa, hold up. Wheres all this serious business coming from? I thought the main draw of this story was high-stakes commerce with silly shit like yo-yos and pumpkins. If we have some shady organization war looming on the forefront, this story loses all of its appeal.

[X] The Stand

Hey, who says the Moriya Miracle Manufacturers have to be our enemies? We could form an alliance. We presumably hold access to one economic field no one but Yukari can use: the outside world. We could form a deal, trading the Moriyas outside goods to do what they want with in exchange for money and, more relevant to our preferred line of business, unique/rare goods. They are goddesses after all.

Sure, we'd probably get more money per item if we sold them directly, but not getting on a War Goddess's bad side should be decent compensation, and depending on how competent she (read:Suwako) are at managing it, and depending on how valuable some of the things they might be willing to trade are, we could even make a higher profit in the long run.

Besides, Jean-Luc flat out said he's in the business more for the travel and acquisition of unique goods (again, goddesses) than the profits.

>>31360
Who knows. It's not like we can predict anything with what we know now.
>>31361
Jean-Luc used to be a hero. It'd be weird for him to not get a chance to be a hero again in this story. Somehow. Preferably without going serious business.

>>31379

I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

It looks like we are just about to hit the auto-sage mark, so be on the lookout for a new thread come the next post.

----

[X] The Stand

We wouldn’t be much of a merchant if we left any stand unturned, now would we? You doubt that the crow you heard about is still around in any case, it’s been a while since you heard of her. Better to finish your rounds of the bazaar before heading back.

“Hey Marisa, do you know where one might find the stand ‘Made by Nitori’?”

“What, Nitori’s stand? Yeah, I visit there all the time, this way.” She walks ahead of you for a bit, and after a few minutes she points out your destination, thankfully not asking for anything in return.

The stand is about twice as large as the others around it, and contains a great number of technological marvels. From motors to lamps (and for some strange reason a good number of what look to be extendable arms), there seems to be every sort of machine somewhere in this shop. Additionally, a good number of tools are lying all over the place, though from the way they are arranged you are guessing that they probably belong to the owner and probably aren’t for sale. This hunch is given even more credibility by the girl crouching in the back, trying to repair something with the numerous tools around her. The thing that catches your attention the most, however, is that both the girl and the ground in front of the stand look as though they were recently scorched by something.

“Yo Nitori, what’s up?” Marisa says as she leans around the corner. The girl whips around, giving you a scared look as she sees you. As she turns her head towards Marisa, however, she seems to notably relax.

“Marisa! It’s great to see you again!” The girl comes up to the front and starts shaking Marisa’s hand violently up and down in greeting. Moving your eyes away from her beaming face, you take note of the fact that both her clothes and hair are of the blue nature (first the goddess and now this girl; does everybody have blue hair around here?). Speaking of her clothes, they seem to be of an engineering design. You also notice a backpack lying on the floor near where she just was, which for some reason reminds you somewhat of your own.

“Wish you had come earlier things were going crazy today first with the crow asking a ton of questions and then with the demonstration going awry oh man that was awful and by the way who’s this guy?” She doesn’t look directly at you, which gives you the impression that you are making her a bit nervous with your presence.

“I’m Jean-Luc Lawrence, a travelling merchant of sorts. Marisa here has been escorting me around today, and I asked her if she could show me your stand when I heard rumors of a ‘very interesting item’.”

“Oh, you must be talking about the refrigeration unit I was demonstrating today.” She indicates the hunk of metal in the back that she was working on before she arrived. “Yeah, that didn’t turn out the way I expected it to. It worked fine for about half an hour before exploding, though, so I’m definitely making progress here.”

“A refrigeration unit?” you ask, “Is it really that hard to build one of those?”

“Well not for a normal refrigeration unit, no, but us Kappa figured out how make those a long time ago. What I’m going for is something that will instantly cool any item placed into it. Think of it, you would no longer have to wait for your ice to freeze! Wouldn’t that be great!”

You honestly can’t say that your need for ice has ever been that great, but she seems to have lost that air of nervousness around her during her rant, and you don’t really think you should do anything that might bring it back. “That sounds, uh, great. Would it be alright if I took a look around? Your merchandise looks fascinating.” At least there you aren’t exaggerating, since it looks like there might be some very nice items in there.

“Hmm? Oh sure, knock yourself out.” She says, gesturing behind the counter. You step inside the stall as Nitori turns to Marisa and begins regaling her about the lack of metal in Gensokyo.

Looking around, you notice that the items in here are of higher quality than what you purchased at the other stands. On the other hand, however, most items don’t seem like they would be very practical in everyday use. Large fans that would blow somebody away if they were turned on, flashlights that blind you when you turn them on and something that you suspect might be a moonshine creator that runs off of plutonium. (It would certainly give the drink a kick like none other if it were) In the end, you find something that looks like it might actually do something useful. (You would never say those exact words to Nitori’s face, of course)

It’s a single piece of metal with straps on the back, and a range of buttons, dials and switches on the front. It looks like it straps right up against your chest, and you have the suspicion that it’s worth more than it looks.

“Hey Nitori, what can you tell me about this?”

“Oh, that’s just my old optical camouflage prototype.” she responds, “I’ve built a more efficient version, so I don’t need that piece anymore. Here, let me show you how it works.” She jumps away from counter and motions you to put it on. You do, maneuvering your bag around it as you put your hands through the straps. Nitori flips all the switches on the front on and fiddles with the some of the dials and buttons. A few moments later and you notice that your arm looks like it is trying to blur into your surroundings. It isn’t perfect, but it is certainly impressive.

“Hey, that’s pretty neat,” you say to Nitori, who beams in response to the compliment. You could probably find someone interested in purchasing this thing, or at the very least keep it for your own use. “How much for it?”

Nitori puts her finger to her lips as she considers. “Mmmm, well, no one seems to be interested in buying that piece for some reason, so I suppose I can let it go cheaply.” You can’t help but think that the reason no one might want to buy it might have to do with her explosion-to-success ratio, but you keep that comment to yourself as well. “Does 2000 yen sound alright to you?”

[ ] “Sure, I’ll take that price”
[ ] “That certainly is cheap, but a pretty girl like you can go even cheaper than that, can’t you?”
[ ] “On second thought, I don’t think I want it.”
[ ] “Would you be willing to consider an item trade?” <Select item>
[ ] Write-in

[x] “Sure, I’ll take that price”

No need to haggle. 2000 yen really is dirt-cheap, and we don't have anything that she would want. Hopper, make sure you post our update inventory in the new thread.

>>31384
Agreed.

[x] “Sure, I’ll take that price”

Like said, not perfect but still works. Perhaps we could even have her upgrade it if we find something she would want.

[x] “That certainly is cheap, but a pretty girl like you can go even cheaper than that, can’t you?”

I just want to see flustered Nitori.

[x] “Sure, I’ll take that price”

[x] “That certainly is cheap, but a pretty girl like you can go even cheaper than that, can’t you?”
Honestly the line is pretty lame, but the intention is in the right spot, so lets go with this.

We've pretty much crossed the autosage threshold here, so lo and behold a new thread hath been born.

>>31435