Maribel Quest Adjoining: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> "WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE! YELLING INEFFICIENT!"

[Hello Purvis]

> "WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE! YELLING INEFFICIENT!"

>"Fine," Alice shouts back.
>The faeries around Renko fire upon Sakuya, doing their best to keep her pinned down. Their best, unfortunately, isn't much as Sakuya twists and dodges around the hail of bullets, tossing her knives into the gathered faeries. More faeries gather around Renko, while the disorganized forces fire randomly, run around, and sometimes shoot each other by accident. Sakuya seems to be focusing on faeries near Renko, as they are clearly the most dangerous. With their organization, her own actions are limited. You can also hear the sounds of danmaku fire distantly now, as though they were miles away
>"What were you trying to say?" says Alice, glancing over, the look on her face seems to suggest she is still talking loudly, but not shouting anymore.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Adjust voice level as appropriate.
> "I talked to Marisa about you. Not about this, of course. She doesn't know. I haven't forgotten."
> Point to eyes.
> "She had a lot of good things to say about you. I've thought about it since. For whatever it's worth, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

[Hello Purvis]

> Adjust voice level as appropriate.
> "I talked to Marisa about you. Not about this, of course. She doesn't know. I haven't forgotten."
> Point to eyes.
> "She had a lot of good things to say about you. I've thought about it since. For whatever it's worth, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

>Alice glances toward you while you speak from time to time. Then she says, "That's nice."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Uh, well, okay then."
> Check back in on the fight.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Uh, well, okay then."
> Check back in on the fight.

>It's difficult to know what she meant by that...
>Looking back toward the fight, you see that quite a few more faeries have gathered near Renko, and are spreading out to make Sakuya's attacks less effective. The maid is having difficulty picking her way through all the varied attacks, as the faeries move out to flank her. You feel another sense of prodding, then Sakuya vanishes, reappearing outside of the worst of the danmaku pinning her down, but also looking worse for wear. This is it, you realize. Sakuya can't have many more tricks up her sleeve, it she's taking those kinds of measures to escape. It should just be a matter of time.
>"I assume you're the one who gave her the Essence of Void?" asks Alice.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "It came from Kourindou."

[Hello Purvis]

> "It came from Kourindou."

>Alice chuckles. "I see."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Yeah. Interesting effect, to say the least."
> Check in on the fight.

[Hello Purvis]

> "Yeah. Interesting effect, to say the least."
> Check in on the fight.

>"Rather a waste, many would say," says Alice. "But it worked well."
>Sakuya is slowing down, you quickly notice, and has taken several move hits. Renko has regathered her forces, and has sent Dai out to lead her own squadron of faeries. Sakuya is flying close to the ground, caught between the two forces. Still, she does her best to fight them off, sending out knives and danmaku. You feel her freeze time a few times, but with the faeries spread out, she can't hit many of them at once anymore; and each time she breaks from of their danmaku, she takes more damage. It doesn't take long for attrition to wear her away, and she falls to the ground, thankfully not from a great distance.
>Another cheer raises from the faeries, while Alice slips from the walls and moves closer in.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Where are you going?"
>Don't let her get too far ahead of us

[Kilgamayan]

> Wait, we were on the outer wall? I thought we were still near the forest for some reason.
> Well, whatever.
> Follow Alice.

[Kilgamayan]

>"Where are you going?"

> Ask this in an inquisitive tone, not an accusatory one.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Where are you going?"
>Don't let her get too far ahead of us

> Ask this in an inquisitive tone, not an accusatory one.

>"To get a better view," Alice calls back, "This is going to be good."

> Wait, we were on the outer wall? I thought we were still near the forest for some reason.
> Well, whatever.
> Follow Alice.

>Alice was on it, and you kept close to her.
>You follow Alice, as she hovering over the statue garden, not far from the faeries. Where Renko once had hundreds, she is now followed by dozens. It is still a formidable-looking force, but not nearly as overwhelming-looking as before. She is trying to get them to regroup, but as excited as they are, she's having trouble.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I guess there's still one challenge left, then."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I guess there's still one challenge left, then."

>"And it should be a good one," says Alice. "Remilia has quite a way of making a show of herself...Ah, there she is."
>Alice looks toward the roof.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Follow Alice's gaze

[Hello Purvis]

>Follow Alice's gaze

>You follow her gaze, toward the top of the clocktower. There, standing on the balcony, is a short woman in a frilly dress, carrying a parasol. She regards the scene below her calmly, then begins to slowly clap her hands. Sadly, this doesn't carry over the chaos of the cheering faeries, and Renko does not seem to notice her.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>How is she holding a parasol and clapping at the same time?
>Can we see her expression at all from this distance?
>Is there enough noise that we don't think Renko could hear us from here if we called out to her?

[Hello Purvis]

>How is she holding a parasol and clapping at the same time?
>Can we see her expression at all from this distance?
>Is there enough noise that we don't think Renko could hear us from here if we called out to her?

>You aren't sure; maybe she is just resting it against her wrist?
>Not very well. You would need to get closer.
>If you shouted, she'd have a good chance of hearing.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue to observe for the moment
>Be ready to consider shouting a warning if Remilia takes a sudden hostile action before Renko realizes she's there

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue to observe for the moment
>Be ready to consider shouting a warning if Remilia takes a sudden hostile action before Renko realizes she's there

>The woman, most certainly Remilia from the leathery wings folded at her back, continues to observe, ceasing her clapping.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Does she seem to be about to take any other sort of action?
>Is Renko (or any of the other fairies) still oblivious to her presence? Surely some among dozens must have looked up?

[UncertainJakutten]

> Well, keep an eye out and wait for the fight then.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does she seem to be about to take any other sort of action?
>Is Renko (or any of the other fairies) still oblivious to her presence? Surely some among dozens must have looked up?

>You suspect if anyone could be oblivious, it would be an excited faerie. But so far, Remilia simply seems to be observing. Until she steps from the balcony and floats down to the roof, flaring her wings and drawing quite a bit of attention.
>"We think, perhaps, that you have had enough time to revel," says the vampire, her voice carrying well. "We must admit, you've done quite impressively well."
>Renko doesn't answer her, instead shouting for the faeries to gather.
>"But alas, we, Remilia, are also not amused."
>Then she sends a wave of danmaku toward the army that looks very much like one of their own barrages.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Will as much good luck Renko's way as we can
>Pray that the bottle of light has a dramatic effect when employed

[Kilgamayan]

> Are Dai and Star still visibly active? Cirno theoretically went down against Sakuya...
> Of the Essence of Void and Bottle of Soft Light, which were directly suggested by us and which were Renko ideas?
> Turn to Alice.
> "'We'?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Will as much good luck Renko's way as we can
>Pray that the bottle of light has a dramatic effect when employed

>You will Renko as much luck as you can, and hope for the best with that bottle.
>Renko orders for her forces to fire on Remilia, focusing on her general location. The vampire cackles loudly as she breaks off her attack and swoops out of the way, curving toward the gathered faeries. Renko issues the for the faeries to spread out, then Remilia is already among them. Some of the nearby faeries manage to hit her, but she seems unphased as she conjures a spear of reddish energy. She swipes it at the nearby faeries, popping several of them, and continues the motion to fling it toward Renko.
>Renko falls back at the spear flies at her, but it clearly hits her int he torso and draws a pained cry from her. It doesn't seem to leave any damage behind, but it's clear she's hurt from it. The faeries spread out, focusing their fire on Remilia. She cackles again as she produces a spellcard and says, "Scarlet Sign: Scarlet Meister!"
>The air is suddenly red with bullets. You do not feel safe here at all!

> Are Dai and Star still visibly active? Cirno theoretically went down against Sakuya...
> Of the Essence of Void and Bottle of Soft Light, which were directly suggested by us and which were Renko ideas?
> Turn to Alice.
> "'We'?"

>You could not see Star Sapphire, but Dai was visible.
>You don't have time for the rest of this!

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

>Fly the fuck away, following Alice if possible.

[Kilgamayan]

> Holyshitfallback