(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 8)

[Oldmansour]

>Damnations.
>Get Natsumi seated on our bed.
>Speak firmly, "Lie down. And stay quiet."
>Go back for Miyuki.
>Bring a kunai to hand in case those are tengu boarders up there, and one of them gets adventerous.

[DracoOmega]

>Damnations.
>Get Natsumi seated on our bed.
>Speak firmly, "Lie down. And stay quiet."
>Go back for Miyuki.
>Bring a kunai to hand in case those are tengu boarders up there, and one of them gets adventerous.

>You quickly grab your pillow off the floor, give it a shake, then toss it where it belongs and lay Natsumi down on your bed.
>You firmly tell her to stay still and she nods weakly in response.
>Then you dash back out of the room for Miyuki, kunai in hand. You find her already at the bottom, a more pronounced limp in her step than earlier but a fiercely defiant look on her face just the same. She holds up three fingers, then points to the deck and gestures downward.

[Oldmansour]

>Tough girl.
>Spare a quick glance back up the stairs.

[DracoOmega]

>Tough girl.
>Spare a quick glance back up the stairs.

>Certainly seems that way.
>You see nothing yet, but you don't expect it will stay that way for long.

[Oldmansour]

>Jerk head towards our room, and lead her that way.
>Keep an ear open behind us.

[DracoOmega]

>Jerk head towards our room, and lead her that way.
>Keep an ear open behind us.

>You jerk your head towards your room and Miyuki starts limping toward you. Unfortunately, she's no more than halfway there before you see a black-winged tengu swoop gracefully down the stairway. There's at least one more following behind her.
>The only other sound you can hear clearly at the moment is Natsumi rolling over in your bed. Wait, you think you just heard a yell from above deck; it sounded like Murasa.

[Oldmansour]

>Do we have a clear line of fire?

[DracoOmega]

>Do we have a clear line of fire?

>The lead tengu should be clear of any stair-related obstacles in a moment, though Miyuki is partially blocking line of fire down the corridor; although it's a rather narrow hall, you do have the leverage to attempt to fire around her if you wanted to.

[Oldmansour]

>Are these tengu armed?

[DracoOmega]

>Are these tengu armed?

>You can't get a good enough look at the second tengu yet, but the first is wielding a slender sword with a gracefully curved blade in her left hand.

[Oldmansour]

>Gauge the expressions on their faces.

They're pirates. They've shot at us. They've boarded us. I say we shoot first and sell the survivors later.

[DracoOmega]

>Gauge the expressions on their faces.

>You can't see the second's face at all, but the expression on the first's is focused and cold; it doesn't look openly aggressive so much as very serious.

[Kilgamayan]

Yeah, I'm all for going on the offensive. And don't forget that we have the Mouthful Katana.

[Oldmansour]

*chuckles* Japanese spelling not your forte, brother?
If it helps, I believe the sword's name roughly translates as 'spider cutter'
Something else that occured to me, though, is that once we dispose of these two, we'd best get back up on deck. Murasa and Neu can probably handle the other three, but there could be a lot more waiting behind them. And I for one would rather welcome them with blades wide open.
I'd also like to avoid drawing Kumokirimaru, if we can. We're not extremely good with katanas, and the last thing any of us wants is for that to get knocked out of our hands.

>These two picked the wrong stairway to fly down.
>Gesture to Miyuki that she should get down. Pronto.
>Fire a kunai at the lead tengu, then draw another one.

[Kilgamayan]

I'm not going to call it 'spider cutter', that's an idea I don't want to dwell on for longer than possible.

I could probably memorize the actual name, but I like Mouthful Katana better.

[Hanzo K.]

I'm more keen on firing it just slightly past the tengu, don't want to end up wrecking a possibly peaceful negotiation do we?
Sure, pirates, yes. But who knows?

[Kilgamayan]

I imagine that if anything peaceful were going on, Miyuki would have said something.

[Hanzo K.]

Even so, you guys have wanted to resolve things without much combat yes? So I'm just going with the flow.

[Kilgamayan]

In most cases. In the case of pirates, I'm more than happy to punch faces off of heads.

[Hanzo K.]

Well, guess we could always do a little 'Pirate Purchasing', and jack their rig for ourselves.
Sure, tengu rigs can really only properly be run by tengu, but we're also clever, and we've got backup.

[DracoOmega]

>These two picked the wrong stairway to fly down.
>Gesture to Miyuki that she should get down. Pronto.
>Fire a kunai at the lead tengu, then draw another one.

>You gesture for Miyuki to get down, and the instant she starts to duck you let loose your kunai. It cuts through the air towards the lead tengu, but she deftly turns aside and presses herself against the walls of the corridor. Her wings seem too large to spread fully in the narrow passage, but this evidently does not leave her entirely maladroit and your shot passes harmlessly by. The second, not yet in the confined space of the corridor, flares her wings and twists sideways, rising several feet above the floor as she finds herself in the line of fire instead. She evades your attack by an even wider margin and your kunai embeds itself in one of the steps behind her with a sharp thunk.
>"Stand down," the first tengu cries firmly, "and you have our word none of you will be harmed!"
>"But they-" her companion starts; there is an anger in her voice not present in the other's. The lead tengu cuts off firmly before she can give voice to her objection.
>"You heard what Aya said."

>You can hear what sounds like fighting on the deck above you, as well as footsteps on the stairs below; the latter are still quiet enough that you're not sure anyone else here could hear them.

[Kilgamayan]

> Stay tense, but don't draw another kunai yet.
> Any bows visible?
> "And what good is a pirate's word?"

[DracoOmega]

> Stay tense, but don't draw another kunai yet.
> Any bows visible?
> "And what good is a pirate's word?"

>You remain tense, but do not take further aggressive action just yet.
>You do not see any bows on the tengu, though now that you can get a better look at the second, she too is wielding a blade of similar design to the first's.
>"Aya isn't like the others," the first replies. "She has integrity."
>"And you attacked us first!" the other growls.
>"What are you talking about?" Miyuki says incredulously, taking an awkward step back and holding one hand against her bodice, partially concealed by her other arm. It looks rather like she's cradling an injury.
>The first thrusts an arm out in front of the second in a gesture that strongly suggests she's telling her to back down. With some reluctance on her face, she does so.
>"We have no desire for bloodshed," the first continues. "And you are already injured. Stand down."
>You can see a third tengu descending the stairs behind her.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Hold up. What makes you think we attacked first?"

[DracoOmega]

> "Hold up. What makes you think we attacked first?"

>"You want to go topside and look?" the second asks fiercely.
>The first frowns dourly. "We are often not.... well received."
>"I wonder why that could be...." Miyuki grumbles.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Did whatever's up topside happen before or after your ships tried to harpoon us twice?"

[DracoOmega]

> "Did whatever's up topside happen before or after your ships tried to harpoon us twice?"

>"We were not trying to sink you," the first replies. "Your captain nearly killed you all by trying to evade us."
>"She knew what she was doing," Miyuki says coldly.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Still an act of aggression. Unless I'm so culturally out of touch that harpooning and boarding each other is a common tengu greeting and I just wasn't aware."

[DracoOmega]

> "Still an act of aggression. Unless I'm so culturally out of touch that harpooning and boarding each other is a common tengu greeting and I just wasn't aware."

>"Give us the relic and we'll be on our way," the lead tengu says as the third files in behind her. "Or surrender and we'll find it ourselves. Either way, we will be leaving with it. Don't make this harder on yourselves than it has to be."
>The footsteps ascending from the hold stop.

[Kilgamayan]

> Do we know of any relics on this ship?