Nue Quest 7 - Serpent Isle: A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"You're not so bad, yourself."
>Shift laterally, towards his right, attempting to rotate the line of engagement so that the fence is no longer directly behind us.
>If he moves to bash with his shield and we have room to do so, dive to the left with a burst of flight and try to scatter a blast of danmaku at his exposed side. If possible, follow this in with a thrust. Prepare to engage a counter from his sword on the attempt.
>If we otherwise get engaged before we've freed ourselves room to maneuver, dodge upward.

[Kilgamayan]

>"You're not so bad, yourself."

> Say this with a small smile, since he can't understand us.

[Hello Purvis]

>"You're not so bad, yourself."
>Shift laterally, towards his right, attempting to rotate the line of engagement so that the fence is no longer directly behind us.
>If he moves to bash with his shield and we have room to do so, dive to the left with a burst of flight and try to scatter a blast of danmaku at his exposed side. If possible, follow this in with a thrust. Prepare to engage a counter from his sword on the attempt.
>If we otherwise get engaged before we've freed ourselves room to maneuver, dodge upward.

> Say this with a small smile, since he can't understand us.

>You smile as you move, he gives an amused-sounding "Hmph!"
>You move leftward, and he responds by bringing his sword around for a low slash toward you legs as you do.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Fly up and over the slash, tucking our legs away from the blow and continuing leftward.
>Bring our trident down towards his sword as we do, to block any attempt to shift it to follow us.

[Hello Purvis]

>Fly up and over the slash, tucking our legs away from the blow and continuing leftward.
>Bring our trident down towards his sword as we do, to block any attempt to shift it to follow us.

>You take to the air and pull your legs up, letting the weapon pass under you as you continue leftward.
>You bring your trident down on his sword, but it has already passed you by; Sir Kay seems to have made no further effort to follow you, instead recovering from his strike.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Bring ourselves around so that the fence is to our right and there's a little distance between us
>Whatever became of those bubbles?

[Hello Purvis]

>Bring ourselves around so that the fence is to our right and there's a little distance between us
>Whatever became of those bubbles?

>You shift to bring the fend to the right, Sir Kay pivots to face you and puts the fence at his left; he's already coming at you with another stab; this one toward your torso.
>Not much; Sir Kay closed in on you before they could be a real issue; you were too busy moving and defending to see what happened after that with ones on the outer part of the bubble rain.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Wait for his trust to be committed (but early enough for us to have time to perform the following properly)
>Fly upward
>Simultaneously, thrust down with our trident to catch his stab and push it down towards the ground. Ideally pin the blade between its tines.
>With trident held in position, pivot around in the air and fire a blast of frontal danmaku at his head

[Hello Purvis]

>Wait for his trust to be committed (but early enough for us to have time to perform the following properly)
>Fly upward
>Simultaneously, thrust down with our trident to catch his stab and push it down towards the ground. Ideally pin the blade between its tines.
>With trident held in position, pivot around in the air and fire a blast of frontal danmaku at his head

>You wait as long as you can, then take to the air and bring your trident down on his weapon. He lowers the blade as you catch it, swinging it back and downward, sliding it between the tines. At the same time, his shield clips into your hip, painful but tolerable for the moment given how bad it would have been if you weren't pivoting. You try to send some danmaku toward him, but he is already moving away from the main burst, pivoting as you have, and is bringing his sword up at you!

[DracoOmega]

>It was noted that setting up a heavy danmaku rain requires a fair bit of concentration. Is that just to start or also to maintain? If we had a few moments to spare, could we create a bubble rain that would last at least a short while, and then be able to follow that up with melee while it continues?

[Hello Purvis]

>It was noted that setting up a heavy danmaku rain requires a fair bit of concentration. Is that just to start or also to maintain? If we had a few moments to spare, could we create a bubble rain that would last at least a short while, and then be able to follow that up with melee while it continues?

>That depends on how many bullets you pour into it; you can allow for some delay and then be active if you don't make the danmaku too dense with bullets.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>About how much ground area could we expect to reasonably cover with a rain that allows us to be active?
>Would additional prep time let us boost the size/density of this field, or is it primarily a limitation of what we can maintain while active?

[Hello Purvis]

>About how much ground area could we expect to reasonably cover with a rain that allows us to be active?
>Would additional prep time let us boost the size/density of this field, or is it primarily a limitation of what we can maintain while active?

>You could cover as far as you can see; making the area too wide would make it too spread out to be of any use.
>Extra preparation would help with amount of bullets and such, but you'd soon run into a wall of what you could do without actively maintaining it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Are we in a position to catch his sword from below, while flying over on top of him in the process?
>If so, attempt a parry while on the move up and over
>Launch a burst of danmaku at his head once we get a clear shot

[Hello Purvis]

>Are we in a position to catch his sword from below, while flying over on top of him in the process?
>If so, attempt a parry while on the move up and over
>Launch a burst of danmaku at his head once we get a clear shot

>You image trying to fly over him while keeping his sword pinned would quickly result in the trident shaft hitting his body and giving you difficulties; as well as giving him ways to pin it. Doing that with one hand doesn't give you much confidence with how much control you could keep while having to shift grips.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Just to clarify, this needn't be so much flying past him from above, as flying so that we have a shot at him from above, while still being in trident range. Does this change anything?

[Hello Purvis]

>Just to clarify, this needn't be so much flying past him from above, as flying so that we have a shot at him from above, while still being in trident range. Does this change anything?

>You still have some risk of the shaft being wrested away in one manner or another if he tries, and a bit of tricky (but not impossible) wrist play. Overall, it would be a weak position in regards to keeping the trident in control if he tried anything.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Dash back and laterally away from the blow, sending out a burst of frontal danmaku as we go, if we can see any opening at all for it to hit something other than armor
>Deposit ourselves on the other side of the fence from Kay
>Concentrate on forming a bubble rain encompassing a roughly circular area with the fence in its middle. Large enough that it couldn't be trivially stepped outside of, but small enough to make it usefully dense

[Hello Purvis]

>Dash back and laterally away from the blow, sending out a burst of frontal danmaku as we go, if we can see any opening at all for it to hit something other than armor
>Deposit ourselves on the other side of the fence from Kay
>Concentrate on forming a bubble rain encompassing a roughly circular area with the fence in its middle. Large enough that it couldn't be trivially stepped outside of, but small enough to make it usefully dense

>You slip away from the attack by a hair and fly back. Sir Kay recovers from the attack quickly and follows you, keeping his shield up and leaving you no easily accessible gaps that you can see. You danmaku does little but leave little burns on his armor.
>You glide over the fence, Sir Kay is not quite close enough to give you any difficulties with that, and you form a nice bubble rain in an area around the fence, taking the time to form it about as optimally as you can. As you do this, Sir Kay dashes at the fence, sheathing his sword, plants a hand on the railing, and vaults over it. You're reasonably sure you see the fence board sag or possibly splinter a little bit as the man lands heavily on the other side of the fence in a crouch, while your danmaku starts to rain down. His eyes flicker up for a moment, and he is already raising his shield over his head.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Quickly rush him with our trident. If we could get the blow in range before he can draw his sword once more, aim for the most obvious opening. Otherwise, aim for a joint in the arm and attempt to prevent him from fully freeing his weapon.
>If we still have any ability to do this while the rain is active, simultaneously launch a quick frontal burst towards his face while we charge, aimed from low enough that he couldn't shield himself from both it and the rain simultaneously.

[Hello Purvis]

>Quickly rush him with our trident. If we could get the blow in range before he can draw his sword once more, aim for the most obvious opening. Otherwise, aim for a joint in the arm and attempt to prevent him from fully freeing his weapon.
>If we still have any ability to do this while the rain is active, simultaneously launch a quick frontal burst towards his face while we charge, aimed from low enough that he couldn't shield himself from both it and the rain simultaneously.

>You rush toward Sir Kay, and launch a quick burst of danmaku. He leans to the side, putting down currently free hand to support himself, and keeps his shield up.
>You reach him without difficulty, he is starting to recover his prior stance and free up his hand from supporting himself. His right arm is exposed, as is his left leg. You can't clearly see his face as the shield is in the way.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Go for the arm! Thrust our trident at the exposed joint.

[Hello Purvis]

>Go for the arm! Thrust our trident at the exposed joint.

>You stab down at the man's elbow. The tines of your trident hit some kind of solid mesh that slows it a little, but the points find their ways through it that mesh and bit into the leather underneath, then into flesh. Your strike, one-handed and hampered by his defenses, is not especially strong, but you felt it hit home. His arm is forced back a bit by the attack, and it seems to have slightly hindered his efforts to stand.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Does our trident still have purchase against him, or has he pulled back from the contact entirely?
>How exposed is the hilt of his sword in his current position?
>And how well-positioned does his arm look to actually reach it?

[Hello Purvis]

>Does our trident still have purchase against him, or has he pulled back from the contact entirely?
>How exposed is the hilt of his sword in his current position?
>And how well-positioned does his arm look to actually reach it?

>He has pulled back, but it wouldn't be hard to strike again.
>It is currently obscured by his shield in this position.
>You don't think he could draw it without a second or two of delay.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Go for another strike at the same target
>If it gets purchase, add our other hand to the trident haft (effectively gripping both the hilt and the trident simultaneously) and add some more force to it.
>Be ready to quickly move aside if he tries to somehow ram / clip us with his shield

[Hello Purvis]

>Go for another strike at the same target
>If it gets purchase, add our other hand to the trident haft (effectively gripping both the hilt and the trident simultaneously) and add some more force to it.
>Be ready to quickly move aside if he tries to somehow ram / clip us with his shield

>You strike again, and quickly grab into the shaft to steady it, At the same time Sir Kay's free hand snaps up to grab the shaft and gives it a severe jerk to the right; had you not reinforced your grip, you would have had your hold on the weapon loosened or ripped away.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Was that his right or our right? In other words, did his hand move closer or further from his sword?
>How far up the haft is he gripping?
>How close are the tines to him, and towards what part of him?
>How exposed are his face and sword hilt?
>Is our danmaku still raining?
>Presumably we can't be injured by our own danmaku, right?

[Hello Purvis]

>Was that his right or our right? In other words, did his hand move closer or further from his sword?
>How far up the haft is he gripping?
>How close are the tines to him, and towards what part of him?
>How exposed are his face and sword hilt?
>Is our danmaku still raining?
>Presumably we can't be injured by our own danmaku, right?

>It was his right.
>He is gripping it just behind the head.
>The tines point toward his injured arm, and are a couple inches away.
>He still has his shield up, you cannot see his face.
>It is still raining danmaku, but already lightening up a tad.
>You cannot be injured by your own shots.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to force the trident back to the mark we were aiming for, shifting ourself and our grip on the trident forward in the process for better leverage, but be wary of stepping into easy shield bash range
>However, be ready for him to release his grip on the weapon and go for his sword
>If he does this while his arm is in a position where we cannot readily follow up simply by stabbing him in the joint once he releases and we're close enough to have a chance of this working (and without the shield being too much in the way, although it's already if we can't SEE what we're reaching for), quickly release one of your own hands off the trident and lunge it towards his hand. Ideally, try to get our hand on the hilt before he can, but otherwise simply grasp our hand on his and prevent him from drawing it free.