Sword Quest VIII - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we still be shaken around through, say, blade collisions whilst employing Faultless Guardian? Or is it literally impossible for another person to move it even one inch?

> Turn to face Meira and start sidestepping to our right, as if to cut off her circular path. We needn't go very fast, though, and actually cutting off said path is not our goal, only to get close enough to lock blades again.
> While moving, hold our left-hand sword horizontally out to our side and our right handed sword pointing at Meira. Our mindset should be to sidestep (to the right) a vertical slash and parrying (right-to-left with our right sword) a stab or horizontal slash.

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we still be shaken around through, say, blade collisions whilst employing Faultless Guardian? Or is it literally impossible for another person to move it even one inch?

> Turn to face Meira and start sidestepping to our right, as if to cut off her circular path. We needn't go very fast, though, and actually cutting off said path is not our goal, only to get close enough to lock blades again.
> While moving, hold our left-hand sword horizontally out to our side and our right handed sword pointing at Meira. Our mindset should be to sidestep (to the right) a vertical slash and parrying (right-to-left with our right sword) a stab or horizontal slash.

>You can be shaken, though it is harder. You can be forced back a little bit, but not much. After that, your bones will give before you do.
>You move to get close to Meira as she circles around, and position your weapons. Meira launches a quick stab!

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Quick-step and lean to our right (bend our right knee to help get our torso further away from the stab). While doing this, flick our right-handed sword up at enough of an angel to be able to catch hers and swipe it from our right to our left to parry her stab.
> If our parry is successful and we don't get a torso or a shoulder full of blade, bring our left sword vertically upward to catch her blade as we're parrying it to our left.

[Hello Purvis]

> Quick-step and lean to our right (bend our right knee to help get our torso further away from the stab). While doing this, flick our right-handed sword up at enough of an angel to be able to catch hers and swipe it from our right to our left to parry her stab.
> If our parry is successful and we don't get a torso or a shoulder full of blade, bring our left sword vertically upward to catch her blade as we're parrying it to our left.

>You move aside and sweep your blade, knocking hers away.
>You bring your leg blade upward to try to catch it, and for the moment you do. She is still moving forward, making this very tenuous at best.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is our right blade still on her blade?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is our right blade still on her blade?

>For the split second.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Angle our right-hand blade further upward as much as we can in the tiny amount of time we have to act.
> At the same time, holding each of our blades against hers (right-hand blade on the side facing us, left-hand blade on the side facing away from us), twist our torso hard counterclockwise and lean our weight further in the direction we were leaning before (our right before the torso twist).

[Hello Purvis]

> Angle our right-hand blade further upward as much as we can in the tiny amount of time we have to act.
> At the same time, holding each of our blades against hers (right-hand blade on the side facing us, left-hand blade on the side facing away from us), twist our torso hard counterclockwise and lean our weight further in the direction we were leaning before (our right before the torso twist).

>You arrange your blade and try to twist your torso, but you do not have time before the speed and momentum of Meira's steed force you back and break your hold. More urgently, her forearm is now mere inches from your face and closing.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Duck!

[Hello Purvis]

> Duck!

>You duck, and Meira's arm passes harmlessly by overhead. She circles behind you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Straighten up and whirl around, looking for Miko's sword first and foremost.

[Hello Purvis]

> Straighten up and whirl around, looking for Miko's sword first and foremost.

>You straight up and turn around in time to see her blade coming diagonally from the left and toward your neck!

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Bring both blades up vertically to block!

[Hello Purvis]

> Bring both blades up vertically to block!

>You snap your blades up, and her's crashes against Hakuroukan, the impact enough to knock it into a weak position.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> Which blade was knocked into a weak position, hers or ours?

[Hello Purvis]

> Which blade was knocked into a weak position, hers or ours?

>Yours.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Did her blade at least get knocked back from the impact, or is she pressing onto Hakurouken?

[Hello Purvis]

> Did her blade at least get knocked back from the impact, or is she pressing onto Hakurouken?

>Her blade was deflected.

[Kilgamayan]

> Swing a left-to-right horizontal slash at her with Roukanken while our Hakurouken hand recovers.

[Hello Purvis]

> Swing a left-to-right horizontal slash at her with Roukanken while our Hakurouken hand recovers.

>You slash at her as she continues to circle, and she snaps her blade over to catch yours before your swing has time to build much force. She circles around to your right, while you recover Hakuroukan.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take a step back while turning to our right.
> Cross our blades horizontally in front of us, with the intersection point being roughly in the middle of both blades (so that our hands are not also crossed).

[Hello Purvis]

> Take a step back while turning to our right.
> Cross our blades horizontally in front of us, with the intersection point being roughly in the middle of both blades (so that our hands are not also crossed).

>You take a step back and turn along with her. You cross your blades, while Meira repositions her's. She watches you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we tell if she has it held in a way that would make a quick forward stab easy?
> How fast is the horse going?

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we tell if she has it held in a way that would make a quick forward stab easy?
> How fast is the horse going?

>You think she could from this position, but it would favor a short slash more.
>It space is reasonably brisk, you are going to have to keep turning to face it, which is going to make proper footing hard to maintain.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> About how many steps away from slash range are we?

[Hello Purvis]

> About how many steps away from slash range are we?

>One or so.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take a quick step forward, and feint a horizontal slash with our right-hand sword, moving it a couple of inches.
> Then, as soon a we stop moving our right-hand sword, perform a full proper horizontal slash with our left!

[Hello Purvis]

> Take a quick step forward, and feint a horizontal slash with our right-hand sword, moving it a couple of inches.
> Then, as soon a we stop moving our right-hand sword, perform a full proper horizontal slash with our left!

>You feint, and Meira falls for it, moving to parry the attack. Then you follow through with with Hakuroukan, she does her best to move her blade to catch it, but there isn't enough time before you bite into her leg. The hit is a solid one, but more shallow than you'd like. She continues to circle rightward.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Given the number of times we've hit her so far, how well do our opponents usually fare at this point?

[Hello Purvis]

> Given the number of times we've hit her so far, how well do our opponents usually fare at this point?

>You've gotten a few glancing hits, and a couple decent ones. She's holding up pretty well, though. Her horse, however, seems rather harried.

>_