Maribel Quest Abridging - A Z-Machine Adventure

[UncertainJakutten]

Well, if our arms are fine we'd be ok. But getting behind her is optimal

[DracoOmega]

Even if our arms are fine, you really want to try holding a full-sized wildly trembling person as a human shield? Who will probably still be mobile enough to TRY to resist us. Or shoot us. It's hard to miss at that range.

[UncertainJakutten]

Shooting assumes she can concentrate. I think the vibration screws that up.

[E-Nazrin]

You can lash out without having to think about it. You just can't AIM while panicked or disoriented.

[Hello Purvis]

> Shoot her in the gut
> Tackle her, pushing her and us prone.

>Note the line of fire of the dolls behind her
>Shift to the side, and try to get out of the way while still moving towards/past Alice.
>Fire at the dolls while moving

>Don't do this. If there's oil over her face and torso, we'll almost certainly get some on ourself

>You shoot Alice in the gut as she stumbles back. She grunts in pain.
>The dolls are mostly aiming toward you, but you do note Alice has blocked off some of their aim.
>You move to the side and try to keep going as the dolls let bullets fly! Most of them go past you or above you, but there is a cloud of converging bullets coming at you.
>You also fire upon the dolls. At this distance, you are able to hit a couple of them.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Can we shift past the other incoming bullets while still moving forward towards Alice's back?
>Do so, if possible. Otherwise, focus on dodging without gaining ground.
>Fire at whichever dolls we have the best shot angle on

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we shift past the other incoming bullets while still moving forward towards Alice's back?
>Do so, if possible. Otherwise, focus on dodging without gaining ground.
>Fire at whichever dolls we have the best shot angle on

>You are able to shift forward and continue you momentum, still firing on the dolls. You hit a couple more, as more fire comes toward you, mainly streams and clouds of bullets.
>Alice manages to regain her footing as you slip around her.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>At the angle fire is incoming, would we probably be safe if we hit the ground?
>If so, fire at Alice from behind, and then tackle her to the ground, taking care not to touch her hands
>Otherwise, shift out of the way of incoming fire as best we can, and then fire upon Alice

[Hello Purvis]

>At the angle fire is incoming, would we probably be safe if we hit the ground?
>If so, fire at Alice from behind, and then tackle her to the ground, taking care not to touch her hands
>Otherwise, shift out of the way of incoming fire as best we can, and then fire upon Alice

>You think so, for the moment.
>You hit the ground, as Alice looks over her shoulder toward you, and throws herself against the wall, as she starts to tremble violently. "H-hold them off-f!" she shouts.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Quickly get to our feet
>Access incoming fire
>Try to find a momentarily safe position and shift towards it
>Fire at Alice. Try to let our power flow into the bracelet again, in case we never did it correctly the last time.

[Hello Purvis]

>Quickly get to our feet
>Access incoming fire
>Try to find a momentarily safe position and shift towards it
>Fire at Alice. Try to let our power flow into the bracelet again, in case we never did it correctly the last time.

>Thankfully, you didn't tackle so hard that you landed flat on the floor and are easily able to regain your footing.
>Looking back toward the dolls, you see most of their prior shots are gong by you, while they are focusing new streams at you, as well as a couple dense clouds in your general direction.
>You fire at Alice, trying to let your power flow into the bracelet in the process. You think you might be missing some aspect of this, it doesn't feel any different than before.
>Regardless, you create an roughly cloud of danmaku and sent it flying at Alice. She moves aside, trying to dodge and move further down the hall, but she is trembling badly and it impedes her motions severely, allowing several of your shots to hit her.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Shift a little away from the streams, and put some more distance between us and the dolls to make the clouds easier to dodge
>Try to aim a longer stream of danmaku at Alice, taking advantage of her impaired mobility

[Kilgamayan]

> Do Alice's dolls seem more or less steady in their flight paths and actions?

[Hello Purvis]

>Shift a little away from the streams, and put some more distance between us and the dolls to make the clouds easier to dodge
>Try to aim a longer stream of danmaku at Alice, taking advantage of her impaired mobility

>You shift away from the streams, and the keep coming, shifting with you. You back away, which gives you enough time to judge the general direction of the clouds. Two of them you don't think you'll have to worry about. The other, you can either try to dodge around now, or wait for it to reach you and try to move through it.
>You aim a stream at Alice. She continues to back away from you as quickly as she can, holding the wall for support while trembling violently If you didn't know any better, you'd think she was very ill. She manages to move awya from your attack for a moment or two, before stumbling, having to catch herself, and taking several hits around her torso.

> Do Alice's dolls seem more or less steady in their flight paths and actions?

>You've noticed no loss of quality in their motions or their attacks.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How many dolls are visible? Are there scads of them or just a small amount, like four to six?

[DracoOmega]

>And what is their general layout

[Hello Purvis]

> How many dolls are visible? Are there scads of them or just a small amount, like four to six?

>You estimate there are about sixteen to twenty of them.

>And what is their general layout

>They are still split into two roughly equal groups along the walls, most of them in the air.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Are any of them directly between ourselves and Alice at this point?

[Hello Purvis]

> Are any of them directly between ourselves and Alice at this point?

>Not yet, but she's going to reach them soon while staggering back from you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take out the Dirty Bowl.
> Make a beeline for Alice. Absorb all glancing blows, but dodge bullets that will make solid contact, preferably to the left or the right instead of backward.
> Smash the bowl over Alice's head as hard as we can.

[Hello Purvis]

> Take out the Dirty Bowl.
> Make a beeline for Alice. Absorb all glancing blows, but dodge bullets that will make solid contact, preferably to the left or the right instead of backward.
> Smash the bowl over Alice's head as hard as we can.

>You take out the Dirty Bowl and wield it with both hands. dropping the Length of Silk as it would get in the way of this maneuver.
>You do your best to make your wan through the shots; moving more or less directly through the cloud, making a beeline for Alice. Still, a few bullets glance past your arms and sides painfully, while one smacks into your ribs pretty firmly. You try to fight off the pain, and close in on the retreating magician. She pauses as you draw close, eying you in that last second or so. Then you bring the bowl down on her head.
>You feel it connect, but you do not really see the results as you feel something slam solidly into your torso! You feel the wind fly from you as you stagger back form the impact. You can see flashes of blue and black below you, and your mind dimly pieces together that she just kicked you with those heavy boots that she favors.
>Regain you balance, despite the fierce ache in your stomach and shoulder, you find that Alice has fallen to the ground from your attack and clutches her head. You also see that the dolls are flying at you while you fight to regain your breath.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Stagger away a little, as best we can
>Try to snipe a couple of the closer dolls

[Hello Purvis]

>Stagger away a little, as best we can
>Try to snipe a couple of the closer dolls

>You stagger back a bit more, and try to fire on some of the closer dolls. Your danmaku is not nearly so impressive as before, you can only manage a few of shots in your current breathless state. Still, it's likely a sign of improvement that you can shoot at all!
>You shoot one of the dolls, while bullets from behind fly past your right and hit a few more. Then they are on top of you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Did the bullets from behind look familiar?
> How "on top of us" are they? Within grabbing distance?

[DracoOmega]

>How literally on top of us are they? Do they seem to be trying to physically swarm us, or are they just at point-blank range?

[Hello Purvis]

> Did the bullets from behind look familiar?
> How "on top of us" are they? Within grabbing distance?

>You are reasonably certain they are Renko's.
>Yes.

>How literally on top of us are they? Do they seem to be trying to physically swarm us, or are they just at point-blank range?

>Both.

[Kilgamayan]

> Have the dolls encircled us or just come up on us as a wall?
> Are we left-handed or right-handed?

[Hello Purvis]

> Have the dolls encircled us or just come up on us as a wall?
> Are we left-handed or right-handed?

>The latter, though the former is likely to follow in short order.
>Right-handed.

[Kilgamayan]

> As quickly as we can, grab the left-most doll in range of our right arm with our right hand.
> Swing this doll as hard as we can from our left to our right, making a quick sweeping motion. Using the doll in our hand as a blunt object, club as many of the dolls in the wall in front of us as we can in that single sweep.

[Hello Purvis]

> As quickly as we can, grab the left-most doll in range of our right arm with our right hand.
> Swing this doll as hard as we can from our left to our right, making a quick sweeping motion. Using the doll in our hand as a blunt object, club as many of the dolls in the wall in front of us as we can in that single sweep.

>You grab a doll charging you from the left by her arm, before she can react, you swipe her toward the right and smack several of the others rushing at you! The force of your strike sends them flying, while giving the others that were charging at you pause.
>Unfortunately, this does not phase the ones that were simply closing to point back distance and firing. They unleash attacks freely; mostly at your lower body.
>Renko appears at your right, and starts firing at them.

>_