Update 2

> [X] Accept Yamame's advice.
> [X] On our way to Yuugi kindly ask her, because we are hazy on that, to refresh our memory about our "last time we went down there".
> [X] After that, exchange what we know about the "Surface's Incident".

Advice accepted. The bucket could just barely fit two youkai, and as Yamame boarded the bucket, you started to pull the nearby rope, causing the bucket to begin descending.

You ask the question about what had happened last time you ended up down in the Ancient City. "What happened that time? My memory's a bit hazy..."

Yamame shakes her head, explaining what had happened to you.

"It was a while ago. You ended up in the Ancient City one way or another, got lost, then you got roped into a drinkin' contest with another oni down there. Yuugi eventually fished you out after the booze started givin' you troubles. When she found ya, you were out cold on the ground, outside one of them oni bars. I had'ta go and find your bucket."

You could barely manage a mumbled response to that. That must have been embarrassing. You try to not think about it too much as the bucket continues to lower.

Eventually the bucket reaches the ground level of Former Hell.

As Yamame exits the bucket, you begin detaching said bucket from the assembly that had been used to get here.

Yamame asks some questions in the meantime. "So whatcha know about that surface incident that I don't?"

"Something, hopefully. We could exchange what we know."

"While I was looking for unsuspecting humans, I saw a couple humans, couple youkai - some I recognized, some I didn't - they looked important."

You rattled off the ones you had seen before. "Red-white, blue-green, black-white, Suika as well. There were some others that I didn't recognize at all."

The earth-spider youkai summarizes her knowledge of the incident, making a conclusion based on what you've found out.

"Damn. If it's more than just the shrine maidens and the spark magician trying to resolve it, it must be pretty serious... The rest of what I know is that it's involving current hell in addition to the surface. Yuugi said it was something about beast spirits... You thinkin' the same thing I am? Kasha's probably headed that way too, if that last part's true..."

Yamame proceeds to head towards the bridge that connects the caves with the Ancient City. You quickly follow behind her.

At the bridge is... nobody. How strange... Parsee Mizuhashi would usually be camped out up here, looking for an excuse to be jealous... but she isn't there. Yamame looks a bit confused at this, but regardless, the two of you cross the lengthy bridge, eventually reaching the other side.

The city is pretty quiet right now. Not many folks out and about. Looking around, Yuugi doesn't seem to be immediately apparent, but it shouldn't be too hard to find her... hopefully.

The Komeiji mansion is visible in the distance. It's farther ahead, still quite the walk from here.

There are paths going forward, as well as to the left and right.

"Which way?" Yamame asks.

(Which path?)

---

Update 3

> Before making a decision, tell Yamame that you would make a brief overhead lookout first.
> Keeping Yamame in your line of sight, and without being too conspicuous, float above and look ahead at each of the paths. Keep an eye out for anything unusual...
> ...and take a glance back at the bridge as well.



"Wait here a moment, I'm going to float up and see if there's anything from above," you explained, Yamame barely having enough time to acknowledge you before you started to ascend.

While a flying bucket would usually be fairly conspicuous, the general dark and dim nature of the Underground mostly counteracted this.

Looking to the left, this part of the Ancient City was especially quiet. Perhaps it had something to do with the incident...

The only exception was a burning building a bit further away. It seemed to have a group of oni - or at least figures that *looked* like oni from a distance - gathered around it watching.

Ahead on the forward path was the city center. With specially decorated lanterns, regular festivals, bars, shops, stalls, and so on, it was very much the busiest part of the city.
Again, the distant "shadow" of the Chireiden/Earth Spirit Palace loomed beyond.

On the right were buildings overlooking what could be described as "Hell's River". While not an actual river, the canyon and its absurdly strong winds were a draw for the stronger oni.

Looking back at the way Yamame and you entered from, it's still a barren bridge. There's no sign of Parsee.

Thick fog prevents you from seeing the other end of the bridge.

The bridge itself crosses a vast gorge that no other known method could successfully cross, being seemingly cursed in this manner.

Afterward, you descend again, returning to Yamame.

"Which'll it be?" the earth-spider youkai asks, waiting for your decision.

(Which path?)

> voting not enabled yet

Update 4

> Answer Yamame by picking the path on the right. The odd burning building is a bit suspicious... could it be related to Yuugi, or the Incident?

The back and forth conversation between you and Yamame proceeded as follows. "...Off to the left I saw a burning building, and a group of... I assume they're oni, but they were gathered around the burning building, just standing still."

"Might be connected to the incident, though."

"It could be... but oni aren't exactly *easy* opponents, you know? If Yuugi's elsewhere, let's not get ourselves into a fight we can't win."

"...hhhmmmmmm fair 'nough. Right path it is."

Heading along the right-side path, the winds that travel in the "Hell's River" canyon intermittently echo back.

Between the echoes, the noises of oblivious oni enjoying the canyon, and the generally ambient sounds of the city, the sounds of a call for help became audible.

Soon, its speaker made a turn, revealing the source of the voice... it's Yuugi Hoshiguma!

At the sight of you and Yamame, she begins briskly heading towards you.

"Kusodani-san? Kisume!? What brings you two down here again? If it's about the incident..." Yuugi seems more surprised at your appearance than Yamame's.

(Pick somethin' to say.)

---

Update 5

> Tell Yuugi that you had descended down to visit, ending up here as observers to this situation, alongside Yamame, who was moreso here to prevent what happened to you last time. That, and Yamame was someone you knew and trusted.
> With the incident going on, perhaps it was time to repay the favor to Yuugi for getting you out of that mess all that time ago.

"Observers? While it's nice to see the two of you again, it's quite the mess down here. Satori is up in arms about Orin, who's disappeared again."

Yamame asks about the fire circle you had mentioned, to which Yuugi begins, "The fire circle... that..."

Yuugi proceeded to explain that she tried to get the oni to back up, but they didn't respond at all, as if they were in a trance. She tried to pull them away, but they either wouldn't budge or another oni would take their place.

Yuugi had also instructed a few oni to try and put out the fire, but the water would simply evaporate as soon as they got close to the burning building.

"Huh, how strange," you spoke.

"You could say that again. There's also been a couple disappearances. I'm not sure if it's connected to the incident or not, though. Mostly it's just been local residents, but Parsee's gone missing. I have zero ideas as to where she's gone."

You nodded in response, recalling the lack of the bridge-princess who normally lurked at the entrance.

> When it wasn't too much of a bother, ask Yuugi how related this is to the Incident on the surface.

"What else could it be? Listen, between the missing folks, the fire circle, and the incident as a whole... I'd like some help, as much as it pains me to ask. If you want to be of some assistance, here's some ideas."

> At this point Yuugi gave you (and Yamame) a few options.
> * Option one: Search for Parsee Mizuhashi and the missing Ancient City residents in particular.
>You'd have to collect any information on their whereabouts yourself (with Yamame's help).
> * Option two: Visit Satori and Koishi Komeiji at Chireiden, and seeing if they could use assistance, given their currently-missing kasha.
> * Option three: Look further into the burning building surrounded by the odd "trance-like" oni.
>Yuugi warned that, given the ongoing situation, she wouldn't be able to immediately help you or Yamame if either of you got in a fight in the process - whether with spellcards/danmaku or otherwise.

(Which option?)

> Voting not enabled yet.

[ X ] No, let's get going ASAP!

[ X ] No, let's get going ASAP!

[X] Yes, let's visit the city record keepers. The more information we have about the missing residents, the better.

I'm all for running off into the thick of it, but we don't even know who we're looking for (except parsee)

[X] Yes, let's visit the city record keepers. The more information we have about the missing residents, the better.

Yeah, kind of hard to investigate a missing persons case if you only know one of the missing people.

[X] Yes, let's visit the city record keepers. The more information we have about the missing residents, the better.

[X] Yes, let's visit the city record keepers. The more information we have about the missing residents, the better.

Can maybe triangulate the source, or at least see which direction the incident started from.

[X] Search for Kumiko first - head to Saigo Shudan.

Geographically, the last places Kumiko and Parsee were seen at are probably the closest if we assume we're about in the middle of the city. Parsee would be backtracking, so Kumiko's last location seems like a good first stop to me.

[X] Search for Kumiko first - head to Saigo Shudan.

[X] Search for Kumiko first - head to Saigo Shudan.

>>17370
We're actually closer to Yuko's last known location; as the records office was stated to be close to the path to Chireiden.
The hot springs are on the path north from there, apparently they're unmarked.
Not that I particularly mind going to Saigo Shudan first, we can just follow the bend north from there to get to the hotsprings from the back.
Just felt like pointing it out in case it matters to somebody.
Since we have two dissappearances in that general area, maybe that path inbetween I mentioned might be a place of interest.
That same path also houses the "Silent Temple"; being in the middle of two crime scenes is pretty suspicious, so we should probably drop by there after we finish at one of the two northern locations.
There's also the path into the wild unknown next to it, but let's not go on a complete walkabout through former hell of all places.

Backtracking for Parsee does seem kinda pointless, that cavern next to her bridge is the tsuchigumo cavern.
Not gonna assume Yamame would know what's happening there at all times; but Parsee moving from her bridge would be gossip amongst the other spiders, I'd say.
Not to say I don't want to find Parsee first, she's our friend after all.
Also, the description on the map at "Hell's river" (the canyon) might be a clue, since it says only oni can reliably cross it without using the bridge.
If an oni nabbed her, and she wasn't seen going into town, crossing the canyon might keep the crime out of sight.

[X] Search for Kumiko first - head to Saigo Shudan.
-[X] Make a mental note to check the Silent Temple if we pass by later.

If people really want to head to the closest thing I can change my vote to Yuko, but it doesn't really matter to me.
This current route also means we don't have to pass through Chireiden.

[X] Answer it yourself.

What's the fun in exposing someone else to danger?

Well, this is Narinari's house, so having her answer it is the logical and expected choice.

Which is why if this is the kidnapper that that option is risky.

However, I think that's what we should go with, with maybe some precautions.

We should have Narinari answer the door, with Yamame behind her to web her in case she gets nabbed; or already have her secured with webbing on the floor, for example.

Ideally we set Kisume up in such a way that she can potentially ambush (bucket drop) the guy outside if necessary.

However, getting her outside in the first place would be the challenge, unless Narinari's house has a chimney or something; going out a window would be too obvious.

Downsides: this is somebody who can kidnap oni. Some webbing might not deter them for long if at all.

This might be entirely paranoid, but I feel it's fair to be paranoid for somebody's wellbeing when said person is a close associate of a recent kidnapping victim who's been asking a lot of questions about said victim recently.

[X] Have Narinari answer
-[X] Have Yamame (stealthily) secure Narinari using her webs.
-[X] See if I (Kisume) can find a way to get outside without being noticed and position myself above the person outside, ready to drop if necessary.

>>17375
I will say this is my second choice if we can't properly safeguard Narinari.

[X] Have Narinari answer
-[X] Have Yamame (stealthily) secure Narinari using her webs.
-[X] See if I (Kisume) can find a way to get outside without being noticed and position myself above the person outside, ready to drop if necessary.
OR
>>17375

[X] Answer it yourself

Need a tiebreaker vote, thanks

Coin flip: heads!
Heads, [X] Answer it yourself
Tails, [X] Have Narinari answer
-[X] Have Yamame (stealthily) secure Narinari using her webs.
-[X] See if I (Kisume) can find a way to get outside without being noticed and position myself above the person outside, ready to drop if necessary.

[X] "Not right now. Was there something you needed from her?"

I feel like there's potential for a "maybe. Who's asking?" write-in here but I don't particularly feel like trying to word it right now.

[X] "Not right now. Was there something you needed from her?"

[X] Decline, but follow behind them once they leave.

[X] Accept.

Since when has trusting strangers gone poorly?

[X] Accept.

We youkai should stick together.

[X] Cave to the right

Obviously, these bones are meant to discourage you from going into the right cave. He wants you to go to the left cave and get ambushed.

[X] Cave to the right

> Heyo. My apologies for the constant delays.
> My scheduling ability has never been the best. Recent IRL goings-on have left me far less time to spend on things like Kisume Quest.
> I believe it would be best to formally put this thing on pause so as to not leave the thread (and y'all, for that matter) hanging.
> KQ will return once I have more time, probably within a few months - May or June, hopefully.
> Kisume and company will be exploring the right-side cave in the next segment.