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While you are given the opportunity to speak with a demon directly, you decide to ask him some more questions about his kind.
Quin Ataraxis: "I'm not a scholar, but we can chat."
You nod, and start by asking about demon villages.
Quin Ataraxis: "Most of us lesser demons live in towns for the same reasons other ponies do: to grow food, build defences, trade, and so on. The rules are different — for one, nothing is free —, but other than that, it's about what you'd expect of any pony settlement."
You ask if demons get along with each other any better than they do with other ponies.
Quin Ataraxis: "Some do, some don't. I'd say we demons don't get hurt by each other's antics as much as others do."
Curious, you ask Quin Ataraxis about the kinds of food they eat.
Quin Ataraxis: "Depends on the region. Here in the Nan Yunjishan province, we mostly grow angelica, bracken, mountain asparagus, butterbur, mugwort, and of course bamboo shoots. I might be forgetting a few, but I'm a housepony, not a farmer."
Moonflower: "Oooh! We got a lotta food to try out!"
Quin Ataraxis: "Ha ha ha! Well, since you're in a Kirin city, you get to try the local foods with a side of rice or beans from Taihon-Nonchan, or wrapped in red algae from Shui-Ti. You don't get that kind of luxury outside of a trigon."
Speaking of the Kirin, you ask how come they don't have cutie marks while he, a demon, seemingly does.
Quin Ataraxis: "That's a good question. If I had to guess, I'd say the Kirin lost their cutie marks when they sacrificed part of their equinity to become half-dragon. As for me, well, I'm just a regular demon."
Moonflower: "Ohhh. So demons are jus' ponies, but meaner?"
Quin Ataraxis: "Bah ha ha ha! That's one way to put it. I realize that even to foreigners like you, we demons seem out of place — and you're not wrong. We may be ponies, same as you, but we're also creatures of darkness from the Underworld. Some would even say we don't belong here in the Overworld.
But the truth is, the two worlds aren't all that different. You'd think the Overworld would be the world of light, but it's not. The influence of darkness is strong, and that's why demons are here. That, and well, there's nothing to keep anyone in or out of either half."
Honourshine: "Do you... know anything about why that is?"
Quin Ataraxis: "Why the power of light is weakened, you mean? I can't say I do. But I know someone you could ask: Lexicon Anathema, a hermit who lives about a day's walk east from here."
You tell Quin Ataraxis that you are not allowed to leave the trigon without protection.
Quin Ataraxis: "Ahh, that's how it is for you, isn't it? Well, it's probably for the best."
You nod, and say that you'll consider visiting the hermit should you ever be permitted to. On an unrelated note, you ask the demon if he has heard anything about a foreign bard recently.
Quin Ataraxis: "A bard, you say? I think some of my patrons mentioned something like that. A hornless fellow who performed along the coast of Shi-Wan, was it?
Strangely enough, he never came to Yinshin-Pintai, and I didn't hear anything from Taihon-Nonchan either. A questionable decision in the eyes of any businesspony, but if I had to guess, I'd say he couldn't afford the same kind of guide you did."
Enter a comment
Also ask him about demon dating rules and if demons follow similar rules as the Kirin do. If not, drop some subtle hints that you wouldn't mind getting more familiar with such a handsome stallion as him and see if he shows interest.
Though, if this command doesn't get picked, I suspect the info was important enough that the QM gifted it to us. Lexicon Anathema might be the demon we need to see, if he's known to know about light and darkness.
Don't worry, I'm sure that sooner or later one of your commands to write a letter to Twilight will win the dice roll.
It's always a matter of prioritization. Arguably, for the last update, I could've said "actually, let's leave Moonflower and Honourshine to play a game and write the letter now" instead of forgetting to submit a command, or something like that. But I do like to keep the constraint of acting "in character" and not like we're extremely distractible/random/indecisive, so that's been pushing it lower in immediate priority when I've been writing my commands lately.
1. Clarify that he's a demon, but not an eater, and what's the difference between these two kinds of creatures.
2. Do demons really eat a plant called 'angelica'? That name doesn't sound very demon-friendly...
3. Does he know what happened to Dirt after his performances?
Nan Yunjishan province? We should ask Quin or Tsu-Ko if one of them can draw us a crude map (in a scroll or our notebook) so we can orient ourselves. (And know roughly where that hermit lives.)
Let's make time for adventuring-related paperwork. Send a report to our guildmaster (perhaps with some… overtures 😘) and update our journal.
Ok, what Quin said about Dirt's whereabouts is more interesting than I realized it would be. So he only performed along "the coast of [the] Shi-Wan [sea]"? That would suggest he barely left Shui-Ti? How big a region are we talking? I'm guessing there was more than one town involved or it could scarcely be called a proper tour. I feel like then we should go back to looking more in Shui-Ti. Not to say our lead in Taihon-Nonchan is a red herring, but there may be more leads in Shui-Ti since we're doubly sure he spent most of his time in that area.
So demons and eaters are different, got it. Can't conflate the two. We also got some interesting lore about them — it seems they're a lot like ponies. I suspect we can assume they're not immortal and are conceived the usual way we know? And interesting that Quin says there's nothing to stop Overworld creatures from going to the Underworld — I wonder if there are any immigrants from the Overworld to the Underworld then.
They are at least very long-lived. Quin mentioned having founded this gambling house centuries ago.
Also interesting that the enforced separation between demons and kirin is relatively recent, historically speaking ("some few centuries ago").
Come to think of it, it seems kinda drastic to banish all demons from Kirin villages because a princess ran off with a demon. They're basically blaming all demons for something she and her lover did. I guess there already was some bad blood between them and that was just the last straw?