Part 25: Turmoil on the Lake Part 2 - Part 2

The game doesn't even say where the next scene happens, though it's kind of obvious.



Bird feathers at 12 o'clock, one, two, three of them... This aura is that of a bird monster... Crows who have lost their way while returning to the nest.



...It is I, Sanae. I have returned, Lady Yasaka.

Oh, it's you Sanae. You took longer than I thought. I had sensed crows in the area, so I thought they had invaded the premises.

Kanako Yasaka here is a literal goddess from the world outside of Gensokyo, and one of the two deities Sanae worships. Why she's in Gensokyo is the story of Touhou 10, but this is Touhou 6 so now's not the time.

I was spotted by the tengu at the destination. Thus, I have been under strict observation since I have returned to the mountain. I apologize for causing you undue worry and stress, Lady Yasaka.

Oh, it's fine as long as everything's okay. So what was the Hakurei shrine maiden like?



She possesses quite a bit of power, that much is true. But her lack of consciousness as a shrine maiden is unpardonable. I would never think of leaving the matter of faith to a shrine maiden like her.

Hmm... So the shrine maiden at the ground was like that?

Yes, I excelled over her in a danmaku battle as well.

You tied.

So please wait a little while longer. I, Sanae, will make your wish come true.

...Mm, that would be the best result for Gensokyo. Do as I trust you to, Sanae.



...I will be counting on you. Now then, I shall present you your next duty, Sanae.



That would then lead to her distancing herself from her fellow humans. If the rumored improper behavior as a devotee of Shinto is true... Then her acts have brought sacrilege onto her shrine's god.

Reimu doesn't even know who her shrine's even built for, so I think that's the least of her problems.

...Which means...

You are to proceed to the Hakurei Shrine and confirm the veracity of such claims.



Akyu could use the company.

All for the purpose of arresting the culprit in the act!

Ah, um, you don't need to perform a stakeout... But I guess it'll become that. If the rumors turn out to be true, feel free to convey what I had said to her.

...Understood. I will pay a visit to the shrine later.



It is only a matter of time before the reputation of the Hakurei shrine declines.

Uh, you're a bit late for that.

Yes, but there's no need to be in such a hurry. Do your best, but don't aim for the impossible.

...I appreciate your concern, but there is nothing that is impossible for me. Lady Yasaka's wish is my wish. I will use all of my strength to make it come true.

...



I love the sudden mood shift here.

...Lady Yasaka?

...Hm? Ah, oh yes. There were leftovers from yesterday, weren't there? We can finish those up today. Go and rest for a little while instead.

Thank you very much. Please excuse me, then.

...



...! Suwako, where have you been?

I've just been lazing around all over the place. It's boring when you and Sanae aren't around.

Suwako Moriya is the other goddess Sanae worships.

...Ahh, that's right. The talks with Tenma dragged on so long, that I completely forgot about you.

My my, even you have been becoming a little clumsy and forgetful lately, hm?

Oh, shush. You should try to get involved in these politics sometimes too.

I'll leave that stuff to you. I'll do things I'm comfortable with.

Good grief, you don't think much of others' feelings...

...



But let her do as she wants for now. We haven't been here for very long. She's still not very experienced yet, so doing her best is important.

Sanbondo's gone with the fanon characterization of Kanako and Suwako as being pretty much Sanae's parents.

...I know that. But she still takes things a bit too quickly, don't you think? I'm glad she's giving it her all, but I'm worried that she'll overwork herself.

...Talking about it won't help things though. We were prepared for this to happen.



Negotiations have just begun, so there's no telling how it'd go yet. But at the very least, they don't seem to want to aggravate the situation. There's a possiblity that the talks could go quicker than expected.

That would be prudent of them. It's not like we're trying to absorb them all anyway.

...The results of these negotiations will become the forecast for our futures.



I'm not scared of oni, but I'll pass on the snake bit. ...I'm hoping that it'll end up fun.

Music: The Dream is Here



Owowowow, ouch...

Hey ma'am, I know you're doing this for me, but could you make it hurt a li'l less? That medicinal plant is effective, but your way of applying it...

Sorry, I'm used to nursing, but applying medicines is a bit out of my scope. So just deal with it a little longer.

Geh, it stings, it stings!

Marisa seems to be in such pain. Does that medicinal plant really sting that much?

Quite a bit, actually. It might well make you cry.

S-Surely not. I am not a child...

...All right, that should do it. Alice, bandage Marisa up please.

Ehh, let me see the wound before you bandage it up.

No way, what do you wanna see it for?



You can say that, but you don't know just how much this stings cuz you're a youkai.

Such pain makes no distinction between human and youkai. Medicine just happens to be for humans to use.

Ohh, that's good to hear. As long as you understand what this pain's about! Put your hand out too, I'l plaster your wounds as well.

Yes yes, now stop moving about, or the bandages will come off.



I didn't know the bitter dumplings we used for dares were actually healing plants.

The plants have rejuvenated us. The fruits lying around have also helped.

I like to think that these are how Dai heals people.

...

...Nitori? You look troubled. Is something the matter?

Ahh, sorry. I was just thinking a bit.

What's wrong? Are you scared of returning to the mountain now after seeing how that tengu was?



After seeing that shrine maiden and how Momiji was like... I'm kinda worried about how the mountain is doing.

If you're worried, shouldn't you go back?

I'm not being blamed for anything, so I can go back anytime... But if I knew the situation at the mountain was so serious... I may never have left it to begin with...

Do you mean you know about that shrine maiden?

Oh right, I never did talk about it. Do you remember that really heavy storm right before the mist began to spread? Truthfully, on that night, a huge earthquake shook Youkai Mountain...



...Some people?

Yeah. The tengu were all in an uproar, and told us not to go outside... But there were some parts I wanted to search for. So in the midst of the confusion, I took the opportunity to sneak out.

I see. I had heard that you sneaked out of the mountain. But I didn't know the circumstances were like that.

Which means that those people who appeared... It is likely that they are somehow connected to the shrine maiden...

I don't know the details, and I can't exactly go back to the mountain to ask... And besides, I'm interested in the mist incident right now.



I see. We must resolve this mist no matter what. The humans of the village are suffering from the mist even as we rest now.

But we are still uncertain of the whereabouts of the enemy's stronghold... What should we do, Reimu? Can we not rely on your intuition to identify where the culprit is in a flash and...

I'm not a psychic, you know.



"I'm not a psychic, but let me just point us in the right direction."

Mm. Both of us met before we could inspect the lake. So if we want to continue, we should do that.

Yep. I bet Reimu didn't think that far though. ...Wait, the lake...?

(Now that she mentions it, that dream from last night said something about that... I figured I was gonna get teased if I said that, but if Reimu said that as well...)

Huh. you all are going over to that side of the lake?

Hm? Ahh, yeh, that's what we're planning. Why?



If you wanna go there, I don't mind leading the way.

!

What?

Wait, Cirno! You shouldn't interfere with Marisa and her group's objectives.

Ehhh, but I wanna have an adventure at that house too.

...A red house near the lake, along with this scarlet mist... It almost sounds like a joke, but it could be worth investigating.

It should be fine. Wouldn't that probably be where the enemy is anyway?

We'll find out once we go there. Well then, Cirno. We'll be relying on you to guide us after we rest a little longer.

(...I remember now.)



(My dream said that to me. Now that we've come here, the scarlet building is coming as well. So maybe, just maybe...)



Who's ready for some villain chat?

Milady really asks for such absurd things every now and then.

Yeah. If it wasn't for that, living here would be pretty enjoyable.

...Ah!!

Someone walks in.

W-Welcome back.



I'm back, fairy maids. I see you're doing a good job.

Are you looking for someone?

I have to deliver a report, but it seems no one's around.

Yes, um... The chief maid is currently very busy, Milady is resting...



No way, she went out?

I believe so. She was not in her room...

That's odd. If she was going out, she should've said something about it to me...

That youkai is in the dining hall.

!

Ah, Lady Patchouli.

Good afternoon, Patchouli.

It's been awhile. Have you been getting used to life here?

Yes. I've been a gatekeeper all this time, so this suits me well.

I see, that's good.

...

...



So, what are you going to report? I've been waiting quite a while for it.

(Ahh, that's right, this is the time for that...)

Yes, uh... On my way back here, I encountered two groups. They were searching for the source of the mist. They were two different groups acting seperately.

Not anymore they aren't. Sadly, nothing ever comes from this error, though it would have been kind of cool if Reimu and Marisa's groups attacked the SDM separately and joined inside.



...And?

I'm acquainted with both those humans, but they brought their allies as well. There were humans, youkai, and even ghosts added into the strange mix.

...A mish-mash of humans and youkai, along with a shrine maiden and a magician. That conforms with Sakuya's report as well.

Yes. At least the magician, and possibly more, knew about her... About Sakuya.



What shall we do?

I figured someone would be coming by now. The sun has started to set, so it's good timing as well. Stand by at the gate.



More of your familiars have been made, so please by as much time as you can.

Understood!

(...Those who dare to invade the scarlet dominion, the mansion of the devil...)



Um, let's see.


(They have done well to have gotten this far, but they will go no further. If they have trouble with the gatekeepers...)



And with that, the massive text dumps that are chapters 6 and 7 are done.

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For the first time in a while, I'll actually be spending a while in the intermission screen! I've got a lot of points and graze to spend, and quite a few new units.



Speaking of my units, have a look at my final party! FMW1 gives you only 9 units to work with (not counting one chapter only units like Akyu), but at the same time it lets you deploy all of them on every map. So all of these girls are going to get some use, some more than others.



Upgrade time! I'm going to be spending my 20,000 points on getting Marisa's squad up to speed.



And just like that, the spoils of three chapters are gone in a flash. Too bad for Cirno, I bet she could have used some upgr-



Woah.

This is your prize for talking Cirno down: two upgrades in all of Cirno's attributes. This saves you 38,000 points, and does a lot to make Cirno actually usable.



Now for skills! Reimu finally gets Shotgunning,



and Marisa and Nitori rebuy their first skills.



Meanwhile, Alice and Keine still can't get their Support skills. Turns out that on try 23 of chapter 7, I forgot to have Keine kill two enemies.

Alice not having Support Attack isn't really a problem (as I said earlier I usually get it on her by chapter 9), but not having Support Defend on Keine is going to make chapter 8 tougher than normal.



I was about to get Berserk for Youmu, but I decided that for this playthrough I'm going to save up for Belief.



Jury's still out on Rumia. I could pick up Berserk or Random Dodge right now, or I could save up for a Movement skill, or maybe even Shotgunning. I don't intend to make her a Supporter though.



When did Dai get 10 Graze?



Finally, Cirno gets nothing because like Rumia she also starts with 0 graze. This hurts her just as much as it hurts Rumia, if not moreso since she comes three chapters later. Cirno also suffers from Dai's graze issue (though not to the same extent) in that it's pretty unlikely she'll ever kill anything unless you arrange things for her, so she has serious Graze problems!

P-Evade and Focused Movement are the obvious skills for Cirno to pick up, but if you don't want to save up graze for the latter she can get more use out of Random Dodge than anyone else in the party since she has the lowest Skill. If you decide to do the opposite and just pump her full of graze though, Cirno makes a surprisingly good Support Attacker!



I probably should've gotten Dai and Marisa's WP bonuses, but I want to show off everyone's first. Rumia's first WP skill will halve the hit rate of the next opponent she hits, while Cirno's will halve the Move of the next opponent she hits. Note that status effects will not stack on a single enemy!



My final action is to equip the Firefly Gem on Reimu and the Rat's Tail on Marisa.

------
Cirno
Initial Stats - Level 20 Stats


Personality: Resolute (Hit: +2 Power, Miss: -1 Power, Kill: +5 Power, Get Hit: +2 Power)

WP Bonus: Freeze Lvl 1-3 (L1: The next enemy Cirno hits will have halved Move for a turn, L2: The next enemy Cirno hits can not move for a turn, L3: The next enemy Cirno hits will have -40% Evade rates for a turn)

Spirits: Grit [15 SP, Level 1], Guts [35 SP, Level 1], Strike [20 SP, Level 14]

Cirno is an odd hybrid of Real and Super, having the overall stats of a Real and the attack properties and Spirits of a Super. This mostly works out very badly for her: she doesn't have Focus to boost her Hit/Evade rates to safe levels (and using her Support exposes Dai to the enemy), her SS size combined with her low defense means she's liable to die at any moment, and her best two moves being non-Post movement severely lowers her damage output unless you position her right in the middle of a group of enemies and have her counter all of them, which is a bad idea since again durability issues. It really says something about Cirno that possibly starting with two upgrades in everything only puts her up to the level where everyone else started the game. What saves Cirno from being worse than Rumia, however, is Grit. It's astoundingly cheap, gives her a safety net so you don't have to worry that much about her being attacked, and most importantly solidifies Cirno's role as prime bait. All enemies, including bosses, will go for the unit with the lowest HP, a qualification Cirno will usually pass with flying colors. So instead of an important unit getting hit by a boss' most powerful attack, Cirno will just take 10 damage (or dodge)! Admittingly this is a role that is far more useful in Hard/Lunatic than Easy/Normal, but it's still a plus.

In FMW2, Cirno got buffed a bit (most notably she got access to Ignore Size, helping her damage), but she also lost her Support with Dai for dumb game mechanic reasons and is no longer the only unit with Grit. Honestly, she's probably one of the worst characters in that game.

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Next time on Fantasy Maiden Wars E: Scarlet Boundary

At last, they reach the mansion painted in deep crimson, the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Their triumphant assault will be hard-fought, as two gatekeeper youkai stand in their way!

"Now! Come at us with whatever you've got!"

EDIT: Man how did I miss those mistakes in my proofreading?