Maribel Quest Succeeding - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I'm looking for a kappa. I was asked to go speak with her. So, I assume this is the correct direction?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, I'm looking for a kappa. I was asked to go speak with her. So, I assume this is the correct direction?"

>She nods. "I don't know if it would be good to just let you go this way," she says, as she spins behind and around you. "The kappa don't like to be bothered, and the tengu aren't happy with others on their part of the mountain."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "I'm looking for someone, a human.  She's wearing a white shirt with a black tie and black hat, and I have reason to believe she might be with the kappa right now."
> "I also need an audience with the Moriya Shrine, isn't that also this way?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Are the tengu and the kappa on the same part of the mountain? I don't mean to intrude on anyone's territory."
>"Also, I'd like to think that I wouldn't be bothering the kappa. A friend of mind just asked me to check up on a friend of hers, since she hasn't been free to leave the city and come see her herself at the moment."

[Hello Purvis]

> "I'm looking for someone, a human.  She's wearing a white shirt with a black tie and black hat, and I have reason to believe she might be with the kappa right now."
> "I also need an audience with the Moriya Shrine, isn't that also this way?"

>She twirls in front of you, stopping to shake her head. "I've not seen anyone like that."
>She resumes her dance, leaping into the air, as she says, "I've not been told to expect you to the shrine. Are you a follower?"

>"Are the tengu and the kappa on the same part of the mountain? I don't mean to intrude on anyone's territory."
>"Also, I'd like to think that I wouldn't be bothering the kappa. A friend of mind just asked me to check up on a friend of hers, since she hasn't been free to leave the city and come see her herself at the moment."

>She lands on her toes, arms spread out, and says, "They are, the kappa live nearby, and the tengu near the peak." She leaps again, landing in another pirouette, whirling toward you right and stretching her hands over her head. "It's very dangerous, you understand. If you were to get on someone's bad side, you could be hurt badly! It's much worse than the forest here!"

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "It may be more dangerous, but I absolutely have to get to the mountain."

[DracoOmega]

>"Would the kappa honestly be that aggressive? Even if I was just delivering a message? I don't intend to get on anyone's bad side."

[Hello Purvis]

> "It may be more dangerous, but I absolutely have to get to the mountain."

>"Would the kappa honestly be that aggressive? Even if I was just delivering a message? I don't intend to get on anyone's bad side."

>She frowns at your insistence, looking toward you from her dance.  "Some kappa might, or some tengu. I really don't think I could live with myself if I let you pass and something happen. It's my responsibility to help humans, you see?"

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

> Sigh
> Make a barrier
> "And I can do things other than that. I'm not that powerful, but I still have SOME resources"

[DracoOmega]

>"If you consider it your responsibility to help, might it be possible for you to accompany me, then? I don't intend to be long."

[Hello Purvis]

> Sigh
> Make a barrier
> "And I can do things other than that. I'm not that powerful, but I still have SOME resources"

>You sigh, and conjure a small barrier that lasts a couple seconds. She spins close to it, frowning. "That's very nice," she says, "But I don't think it would do much, do you?"

>"If you consider it your responsibility to help, might it be possible for you to accompany me, then? I don't intend to be long."

>"I have much too much misfortune to gather, I'm afraid," she says. "But there is something faster I could do..."

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Your responsibility is to help humans?  Well, I'm a human and I need to find my friend, who is also a human.  I somehow crossed the border into Gensokyo and I need to find her, meaning that I need help."

[UncertainJakutten]

> "Well, that was just a demonstration that I have magical aptitude. I can use danmaku and familiars as well, among other things. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a generalist. While I won't be winning any fights should I be unfortunate enough to get into them, I can defend myself long enough to get away. I just kinda figured firing danmaku would not be the wisest demonstration"

[DracoOmega]

>"Something faster you could do? What did you mean?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Your responsibility is to help humans?  Well, I'm a human and I need to find my friend, who is also a human.  I somehow crossed the border into Gensokyo and I need to find her, meaning that I need help."

>"Hmmm, well..."

> "Well, that was just a demonstration that I have magical aptitude. I can use danmaku and familiars as well, among other things. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a generalist. While I won't be winning any fights should I be unfortunate enough to get into them, I can defend myself long enough to get away. I just kinda figured firing danmaku would not be the wisest demonstration"

>"Oh, well!" she says, leaping back and pirouetting a a couple yards from you. "When you say it like that..."

>"Something faster you could do? What did you mean?"

>She withdraws a what seems to be a card from her dress and holds it up. "Dodge!  Wound Sign: Pain Flow Endlessly!"
>Oh god that is a lot of danmaku coming from her!

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> "Misfortunes?  Is that why I keep getting shanked?"
> Goddammit
> Are we in the air or still on the ground?

[DracoOmega]

>Dodge! Try to put a little distance between us to make that easier.
>"This seems like a strange kind of protecting!"

[Hello Purvis]

> "Misfortunes?  Is that why I keep getting shanked?"
> Goddammit
> Are we in the air or still on the ground?

>You really aren't having any luck with this.
>You are on the ground. There's not a lot of room here, between the road, the tree cover, and the the trees flanking the road.

>Dodge! Try to put a little distance between us to make that easier.
>"This seems like a strange kind of protecting!"

>You draw back, and see the blade-liked orange and purple shots are arranged in columns, somewhat like Shizuha's shots before. This should be too hard to slip through. You notice she emits them in a kind of spiral pattern as well, covering all the area around her and giving you time to see the next wave coming. Curiously enough, she seems to be translucent, as well.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Find a gap between the columns and get between it
>Move somewhat near a decent sized tree in case we need emergency cover, but don't use it yet if we can slip between them otherwise

[Hello Purvis]

>Find a gap between the columns and get between it
>Move somewhat near a decent sized tree in case we need emergency cover, but don't use it yet if we can slip between them otherwise

>You slip between the columns rather easily, and let them pass by either side.
>As the columns pass, you move to the edge of the path, and near a suitably mature tree. You notice that the underbrush is fairly thick, though. Walking through it it would be difficult, and flying would have the risk of catching your foot if you went too low.
>Another line of columns is coming!

[DracoOmega]

>Shift between the second line
>"Is this some kind of test, or something?"

[Rin Kagamine]

> How high above us is the tree cover?  Could we easily float between the underbrush and the tree cover?

[Hello Purvis]

>Shift between the second line
>"Is this some kind of test, or something?"

>You move between the second line. Easy!
>"Dodge~" she replies, pirouetting in place. You think you can actually see through her a little bit, due to that translucence.
>You see the third column coming at you, and...oh dear, thats not a column at all. The shots seem to be diverging subtly in various directions.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Even with the shots diverging, can we still find an open spot between them? If so, move there.
>Do they diverge less when they're closer to her? Could it be easier to dodge if we were closer to her?

[Hello Purvis]

>Even with the shots diverging, can we still find an open spot between them? If so, move there.
>Do they diverge less when they're closer to her? Could it be easier to dodge if we were closer to her?

>You think you can, they aren't diverging that much yet.
>You aren't sure. But you're pretty sure the columns themselves spread further apart as they get further from her.

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> Keep our distance and stay between columns.

[Hello Purvis]

> Keep our distance and stay between columns.

>You do this, and the third set passes by; the shots spread out, but not enough to threaten you. Already, though, you can see the next set, and it is even more disorganized, no longer really in columns at all. the shots seem to be converging and diverging all over the place.

>_

[Rin Kagamine]

> Figures that she'd catch on that we caught on.
> Stay back and watch for some kind of pattern to convergences.

[DracoOmega]

>Can we read them well enough to still move around them, if we try to be quick on our toes?
>Try to stay in the middle of the gap between the 'columns'. Be prepared to dash forward into an opening, if we see a gap ahead of us as the bullets converge and diverge
>Ponder whether using the tree counts as a disqualification...

[Kilgamayan]

> Figures that she'd catch on that we caught on.

It's not that she caught on, it's just how the spellcard goes.