Iku Quest Cztery: A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

Well, I assume that if we just whip out a spellcard, they'll assume we're starting to attack, and will immediately swarm us.

[Hello Purvis]

>Determine if we are completely surrounded by fairies.

>You are not completely surrounded, but they do have your front cut off, and would cut you off if you tried to go left.

>What are the effects of our present spellcards?
>Do the fairies seem to be getting ready to surge, or did that one just cry out a suggestion?

>You spellcards are:
>Spine Sign: "Acanthodii of the Thunder Clouds"
>This spellcard engulfs you in a shield of electricity. It can be broken with enough force, and only lasts for a short time before it must be renewed
>Light Orb: "Dragon's Gleaming Eyes"
>This recreates an image of one of The Dragon's physical manifestations in lightning and sends it out.
>Cloud Realm: "The Thunder Court in the Sea of Abstruse Clouds"
>Fills the air with webs of lightning, but leaves you motionless.
>Dragonfish: "Dragon Palace's Messenger Swimming Shot"
>Sends electricity spiraling out from you, but leaves you defenseless.
>They aren't surging yet, but it seems imminent in the next few seconds if something doesn't happen.

>_

[Blitzer]

>Look up.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look up.

>You look up.
>The sky is slightly cloudy and free of shrine maidens and magicians. You think you see a tiny island overhead; it wouldn't be more than a couple yards across.

>_

[Blitzer]

>Fly upwards, and fast.

[Hello Purvis]

>Fly upwards, and fast.

>Up you go!
>From the cries and sounds of danmaku, you are quite certain this has goaded the swarm into action.

>_

[Blitzer]

>Is Tenshi following?
>Send out wide arcs of danmaku that can hit multiple opponents at once.
>Graze the danmaku in an unspecified way, because you can't usually graze nonillustrated danmaku in a specific way.

>Holy shit are they forming a Guy Made of Fairies?

[DracoOmega]

>Keep ascending, and try to shift laterally to lead the fairies away from the people still on the ground
>Look back down to the fairy swarm, and gauge incoming fire in preparation to dodge
>Are all the fairies following us?
>Try to get some distance and hopefully spread the swarm out before returning fire

[Hello Purvis]

>Is Tenshi following?
>Send out wide arcs of danmaku that can hit multiple opponents at once.
>Graze the danmaku in an unspecificed way, because you can't usually graze nonillustrated danmaku in a specific way.

>Holy shit are they forming a Guy Made of Fairies?

>You glance down, and don't see Tenshi following. You do see a couple dozen faeries swaming up at you, and a lot of random danmaku leading the way.
>Unfortunately, you're not so good at wide arcs of danmaku. You can send out some widish curtains of lightning, but they aren't nearly so good as a thick screen of danmaku.
>You may have trouble with that, the stuff coming is hard to read.
>There's a hivemind for ya.

>Keep ascending, and try to shift laterally to lead the fairies away from the people still on the ground
>Look back down to the fairy swarm, and gauge incoming fire in preparation to dodge
>Are all the fairies following us?
>Try to get some distance and hopefully spread the swarm out before returning fire

>You keep going up and try to lead them away a bit.
>Looking down, you can see there isn't a lot of fire coming your way, but there's no real pattern to it. Trying to read may not work so well.
>You...think so. At least a majority are.
>You keep ascending. As you expect, the faeries fan a bit to try and fire on your more effectively. Then you see a couple keystones tear through their numbers from below.

>_

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Scan for the closest fairy that is also near others and launch a bolt of chain lightning
>Keep an eye on incoming fire. If it's hard to read, then try to tune out bullets that don't seem to be coming especially close to us, and try to use quicker movements to evade the fire that comes in closer
>Try to shift such that they can't fan out all around us. Try to sweep out to the side against their efforts to encompass us.

[Hello Purvis]

>Scan for the closest fairy that is also near others and launch a bolt of chain lightning
>Keep an eye on incoming fire. If it's hard to read, then try to tune out bullets that don't seem to be coming especially close to us, and try to use quicker movements to evade the fire that comes in closer
>Try to shift such that they can't fan out all around us. Try to sweep out to the side against their efforts to encompass us.

>Most of the faeries are near others, it isn't difficult to send some chain lightning at them. Unfortunately, this also takes a moment to prepare, during which both the faeries and their danmaku closes in. Still, you feel a bit of satisfaction as the bolt hits one, and arcs on to zap a few more, knocking them from the sky.
>You keep an eye on incoming fire, but your previous activity has given it time to catch up with you, a couple of bullets hit your legs painfully before you can get a good enough idea of how to move to avoid the rest. Regardless, your tactic serves you well afterward.
>You keep moving sideways, which does make it harder for them to surround you. In the meantime, more keystones fly through their thinning ranks; and the fire, while still random, is less threatening than before.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Continue our evasive tactics
>Pick another cluster, wait for a momentary gap in fire directly around us, and fire another chain lightning

[Hello Purvis]

>Continue our evasive tactics
>Pick another cluster, wait for a momentary gap in fire directly around us, and fire another chain lightning

>You keep evading, as the faeries close in from below.
>There isn't much in the way of clusters now.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Then switch to tagging individual fairies with swift lightning bolts

[Hello Purvis]

>Then switch to tagging individual fairies with swift lightning bolts

>You sent out a couple of lighting bolts, striking a couple of faeries.
>The bullets are thinning out now, and as another keystone knocks out another faerie, they are clearly having second thoughts.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Keep up the offense/defense
>If the fairies start to scatter, let them leave and do not pursue

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep up the offense/defense
>If the fairies start to scatter, let them leave and do not pursue

>You keep up the offensive, gliding around a couple bullets, and the remaining faeries seem to have had enough, as one flees, a couple more follow, and the rest are quickly doing the same.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Descend towards Yamame
>Swing towards Tenshi on our way down
>"Thanks for the hand."

[Hello Purvis]

>Descend towards Yamame
>Swing towards Tenshi on our way down
>"Thanks for the hand."

>You descend back toward the clearing, and give Tenshi your thanks. "Well, if guess if you're going to piss them and get all the attention," she says, "I had to help out somehow."

[DracoOmega]

>"Nonetheless, I appreciate it. I'd hoped they wouldn't get agitated quite so quickly, but I guess this is one way to deal with it."
>Go over to Yamame
>"Are you alright? What happened?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Nonetheless, I appreciate it. I'd hoped they wouldn't get agitated quite so quickly, but I guess this is one way to deal with it."
>Go over to Yamame
>"Are you alright? What happened?"

>You go over to Yamame. She is currently laying on her side among the leaves.
>"Hey thanks, buddy," she says. "I'm okay, just I was heading that mountain, and then those guys were everywhere doin' everything."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"The faeries, you mean?"
>"Tenshi, could you cut her loose, please?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"The faeries, you mean?"
>"Tenshi, could you cut her loose, please?"

>Yamame nods. "Yeah, buddy. Guess that's what happens when you fly around during an incident."
>"Huh?" says Tenshi. "Okay." She walks over to Yamame and kneels by her.
>"Figured what'd I do," Yamame continues, "Was let 'em do their thing, then when one of 'em one, get her to let me go loose, then walk off after a bit."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Yes, I suppose that would probably have worked as well. We were actually looking for you, believe it or not. Utsuho was concerned that you hadn't showed up. Although, I will say this isn't quite the circumstances I expected to find you in. I'm glad you're alright, in any case."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes, I suppose that would probably have worked as well. We were actually looking for you, believe it or not. Utsuho was concerned that you hadn't showed up. Although, I will say this isn't quite the circumstances I expected to find you in. I'm glad you're alright, in any case."

>She frowns, while Tenshi starts working on Yamame's wrist bindings. "Yeah...kinda let her down. See, uh, actually I was kinda hungry, so I figured I'd get some lamprey, you know?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Weren't you meeting up with her for lunch in the first place, though?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Weren't you meeting up with her for lunch in the first place, though?"

>She fidgets a bit. "Yeah, but I was hungry, buddy..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"In any case, I wouldn't worry about letting her down after this. I'm sure she'll be happy enough that you didn't come to harm."

[Hello Purvis]

>"In any case, I wouldn't worry about letting her down after this. I'm sure she'll be happy enough that you didn't come to harm."

>Yamame nods, as Tenshi finishes cutting her hands free. "Yeah, she's good like that."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Where was it they attacked you, out of curiosity?"