Maribel Quest Succeeding - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>Well, fly up to gain a bit of height, and see if any mountain seems particularly taller than the rest

[Hello Purvis]

>Well, fly up to gain a bit of height, and see if any mountain seems particularly taller than the rest

>You fly up, going up enough to get a good look around.
>In the distance, you can see a mountain range, green and forested. Some of them stand out a little bit. You think you note a taller than average one some distance to the northeast.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>We're still by the gates, correct? Go ask Meiling if that's the correct mountain. May as well make sure.

[Hello Purvis]

>We're still by the gates, correct? Go ask Meiling if that's the correct mountain. May as well make sure.

>Well, technically you're above them. But this is easy enough to correct.
>Landing, you find Meiling is currently holding and petting Flandre's basset hound. The dog "wuffs" at you softly as she she scratches it behind the ears. "Oh, that mountain?" she says, "I've never been there myself. Don't leave the mansion much. But I'm pretty sure it is. There's a road north of the forest that leads to it, I think."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Ok, thanks."
>Fly off towards the mountain. If we can eventually see this road leading north from the forest, follow it

[Hello Purvis]

>"Ok, thanks."
>Fly off towards the mountain. If we can eventually see this road leading north from the forest, follow it

>You take to the air again, heading northeast.
>There road from town leads North and South, but you don't think Meiling was talking about that one.
>Soon enough, you leave the forest behind. The mountain range comes closer and closer. Down below, you can see a road leading east past a lonely house, some distance south of the human town that is to the north of you. You can see another forest to the northeast, along the way to that mountain.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue towards the mountain

[Doll.S CUBE]

> Practice making barriers along the way

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue towards the mountain

>You continue on your merry way. As you start to fly over the forest, you notice a someone emerge from it and fly toward your direction.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Wave hi to Hina
>Assuming they don't seems hostile, let them approach

[Hello Purvis]

>Wave hi to Hina
>Assuming they don't seems hostile, let them approach

>She isn't firing upon you, at least.
>As she gets closer, you can see she is a short-haired blonde woman in a bright red dress. "Are you trying to fly over our forest?" she says, putting her hands on her hips.

[DracoOmega]

>"Is... that a problem? I was just headed towards Youkai Mountain. This is it, right?"
>Point towards it
>"I'm looking for the kappa."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Is... that a problem? I was just headed towards Youkai Mountain. This is it, right?"
>Point towards it
>"I'm looking for the kappa."

>"Of course it's a problem!" she says, throwing her hands to the air. "'Riko and I didn't work ourselves silly making a beautiful forest just so people like you could fly over it like it's not even there!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"You... made the forest?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"You... made the forest?"

>"And it took a lot of effort!" She says. Then she makes a gesture in your direction, and suddenly there is a wave of danmaku coming at you!

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Get out of the way!
>"Why are you attacking me? I didn't realize that this place was special to anyone! If you wanted to show it to me, you only had to ask!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Get out of the way!
>"Why are you attacking me? I didn't realize that this place was special to anyone! If you wanted to show it to me, you only had to ask!"

>Thankfully, the spread is really not a hard one to get around. Looks like that flight practice has paid off!
>"Because you're a disrespectful monster!" she cries, as she sends out a wave of little spheres, coming at an sharper angle than the previous wave of shots. They seem to be a bit faster than the previous ones, and not so numerous.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Descend out of the way of this one
>"I didn't mean to be disrespectful, honestly! And it really does seem like a nice forest. If you wanted people to appreciate it, how will beating them up help? I appreciate things much better when I'm uninjured."

[Kilgamayan]

> "Jeez, first Yuuka and now you? This whole place is really bizarre! I really wish there were caution signs for outsiders like me."

[Hello Purvis]

>Descend out of the way of this one
>"I didn't mean to be disrespectful, honestly! And it really does seem like a nice forest. If you wanted people to appreciate it, how will beating them up help? I appreciate things much better when I'm uninjured."

>You descend down, and find another wave of larger shots, a number of columns fanning out in straight lines coming toward you.
>"It's too late for apologies!"

> "Jeez, first Yuuka and now you? This whole place is really bizarre! I really wish there were caution signs for outsiders like me."

>She doesn't respond, simply adding another wave of little spheres to the pattern.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Shift between the path of the incoming columns

>Her danmaku seem significantly more powerful than anything we can summon, don't they?
>Consider a tactical withdrawal

[Hello Purvis]

>Shift between the path of the incoming columns

>Her danmaku seem significantly more powerful than anything we can summon, don't they?
>Consider a tactical withdrawal

>You move between the columns. This isn't too bad... You notice a line of two spheres coming for you between the columns.
>She's certainly worse than Plum Flower and her friend, but you think you're doing alright so far.
>You could probably flee, but she might end up following you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Ascend above the path of the spheres
>If we don't seem like we're entirely out of our league, may as well see if we can keep up
>"I really don't want to fight you, you know. If you want to call it off, so will I!"
>Fire some danmaku back at her

[Blitzer]

>"WILL. YOU. LISTEN. TO. REASON?!"

[Hello Purvis]

>Ascend above the path of the spheres
>If we don't seem like we're entirely out of our league, may as well see if we can keep up
>"I really don't want to fight you, you know. If you want to call it off, so will I!"
>Fire some danmaku back at her

>You ascend above the spheres. You then declare that you don't want to fight, and punctuate it by firing upon her. The firing comes to you more easily now than it had in the last battle, there's not too much delay between your gathering and your releasing now.
>A cloud of about ten shots flies from your hand, forcing your aggressor back and to the side, before she sends another wave of large shots at you.

>"WILL. YOU. LISTEN. TO. REASON?!"

>She doesn't answer, maneuvering around your attack and adding an spray of spheres to it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Close the distance between us, and then ascend above the large shots before they reach us
>Launch another burst of danmaku. Make it more focused than the last

[Hello Purvis]

>Close the distance between us, and then ascend above the large shots before they reach us
>Launch another burst of danmaku. Make it more focused than the last

>You close in on her, rising above the large shots, and also avoiding the smaller ones in the process.
>You send a concentrated burst at her; she moves aside before it its, and sends another wave of shots at you. Close as they are, it'll be harder than before to get around them.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Hopefully the 'harder to dodge' bit works just as much for us as against us
>Dive down and to the side
>Launch a concentrated stream of bullets at her. Push as much of our energy into the speed side of the equation as possible, even if this reduces the number of them

[Hello Purvis]

>Hopefully the 'harder to dodge' bit works just as much for us as against us
>Dive down and to the side
>Launch a concentrated stream of bullets at her. Push as much of our energy into the speed side of the equation as possible, even if this reduces the number of them

>You dive down and to the side. The red-dressed woman tries to follow you with her shoots, sending them down with you, but moving to the side gets you out for the way.
>You send out another stream of bullets. This one is faster, but has only half the bullets. She darts away, but not before two of them clip her in the side.
>"Gah! That's it!"
>She stops, and begins to launch waves of bullets at you in triangle formations. One of them is coming right at you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Dash backwards, then shift up and to the side
>Attempt to shoot a similar burst as the last one with one hand, but then stop short before the full energy is expended and then quickly follow it with a burst from the other hand, leading ahead of the direction where we expect her to dodge. Effectively, try to feint her into the second stream.