Iku Quest P?t: A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Face south and aim for any opening between trees we can find roughly ten yards from our current position.
> Try to fire a bolt at that spot.

[Hello Purvis]

>So, there's fire issuing from parts of the forest that we're not even close to? And whose shots don't even seemed to be aimed at us?
>Do parts further north or south, at least, seem to be free of this?

>Yes; it seems to be just general flak, but there's enough of it to make things worrisome if you tried to go that way.
>It's hard to tell, doesn't seem to be.

> Face south and aim for any opening between trees we can find roughly ten yards from our current position.
> Try to fire a bolt at that spot.

>You direct some lightning to the south. You're not sure if it hit exactly where you wanted it to.
>Some fire is directed toward where the lightning fell from, but not much out of the huge morass over the forest.
>You're starting to see some shots coming uncomfortably close to you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Keep flying east. Break past the forest entirely, and out of range of any pursuing shots

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep flying east. Break past the forest entirely, and out of range of any pursuing shots

>You keep going east, leaving the forest behind entirely. Along the way, you feel a few raindrops on your face.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Oh. Huh. That's probably what the charge in the air was.
> Read the atmosphere.

[DracoOmega]

>So, the shots have stopped?
>About how high into the sky were the shots reaching, while we were above the forest?

[Hello Purvis]

> Oh. Huh. That's probably what the charge in the air was.
> Read the atmosphere.

>Perhaps so. There were rumbles of thunder earlier.
>You really can't read the atmosphere here; you aren't used to how Makai's weather works; for instance, there's that distortion in the sky that you simply have no idea how to make sense of. And the fact the clouds ands the sky kind of blend together make it hard as well. Yumeko said to expect a storm, though.

>So, the shots have stopped?
>About how high into the sky were the shots reaching, while we were above the forest?

>After a little but, they seem to fade out.
>They were getting some distance up, rather high in fact. You doubt it would be accurate at that distance, but, they seem to have made up for that with volume.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>But we are certainly still capable of getting even higher than that, correct?
>Given that we sometimes swim about in storm clouds, natural lightning does not pose a threat to us, correct?

[Hello Purvis]

>But we are certainly still capable of getting even higher than that, correct?
>Given that we sometimes swim about in storm clouds, natural lightning does not pose a threat to us, correct?

>You are.
>Lightning is not attracted to you, so you should have no problems.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Get at a good distance from the forest, if we aren't already. Out of range of their shots from our current position, in case ascending attracts renewed attention
>Ascend well above what we believe is the effective range of the fire we were under earlier. Give ourselves a nice comfort zone
>Fly west across the forest at this height

[Hello Purvis]

>Get at a good distance from the forest, if we aren't already. Out of range of their shots from our current position, in case ascending attracts renewed attention
>Ascend well above what we believe is the effective range of the fire we were under earlier. Give ourselves a nice comfort zone
>Fly west across the forest at this height

>You give it a little more distance, then ascend.
>You head west again, as the rain starts to fall steadily and the day's light ebbs away. The forest begins to pass under you with no incident.
>"Get away from my clouds you little shit!" comes a voice from above; jarring you badly enough that you nearly lose focus on your flight for a moment.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Look up
>"I'm sorry. I didn't know these were anyone's in particular..."

[Hello Purvis]

>Look up
>"I'm sorry. I didn't know these were anyone's in particular..."

>You look up, and see a sleek-looking youkai with gray hair and dark eyes. She wears a red and brown layered dress, and a peaked bonnet. She is fixing a rather mean look at you at the moment.
>"Damn right your sorry!" she says, shaking a fist in your direction. "Now get outta my air before I pitch you a beatin'!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm just trying to avoid passing through the forest below. I assure you, I will be past your skies as quickly as I can travel. No intrusion was intended."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm just trying to avoid passing through the forest below. I assure you, I will be past your skies as quickly as I can travel. No intrusion was intended."

>"Well maybe you didn't intend it, but you sure went and made it happen! Eh? Eh?! Do I go running roughshod in your damn air? No! Go through the forest, you skinflint!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps you failed to notice the impressive lightshow that happened when I attempted that a few minutes earlier?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Perhaps you failed to notice the impressive lightshow that happened when I attempted that a few minutes earlier?"

>"And who's damn fault is that, eh? Sure wasn't mine! But look here, I got some punk youkai all in my air like she's Shinki on a stroll!"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm simply heading for the mountains. If you can suggest a way to get there which involves neither your sky nor that forest, I'm willing to listen."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm simply heading for the mountains. If you can suggest a way to get there which involves neither your sky nor that forest, I'm willing to listen."

>"How about you stop being a damn skinflint and wasting everyone's time, huh?" says the youkai. "Maybe that's what you ought to do, instead of trespassing all willy nilly  like you're queen of the damn world! You ever think of that?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I am not withholding money out of a lack of generosity. Where I come from, we do not have such things. And I think I should be more than glad to return there, at this rate. I have given you my apologies; I have nothing more to give. Once I am gone from your sky, I expect you shall never have to see me again. Good day to you."
>Fly swiftly onward, but keep the youkai in the corner of our eye and be prepared to dodge any acts of aggression caused by our lack of descent

[Kilgamayan]

>Fly swiftly onward, but keep the youkai in the corner of our eye and be prepared to dodge any acts of aggression caused by our lack of descent

> Begin charging again while doing this.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I am not withholding money out of a lack of generosity. Where I come from, we do not have such things. And I think I should be more than glad to return there, at this rate. I have given you my apologies; I have nothing more to give. Once I am gone from your sky, I expect you shall never have to see me again. Good day to you."
>Fly swiftly onward, but keep the youkai in the corner of our eye and be prepared to dodge any acts of aggression caused by our lack of descent

>"Oh that's it," she shouts as you try to fly past.
>You don't need the corner of your eye to know she is coming, you can hear her shouting.

> Begin charging again while doing this.

>You begin charging again; you don't have the feeling you're going to be able to get anything useful before she reaches you.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Glance back. Does she seem to be getting ready to shoot anything? Or just get physical with us?
>How fast does she seem to be, compared to us?

[Hello Purvis]

>Glance back. Does she seem to be getting ready to shoot anything? Or just get physical with us?
>How fast does she seem to be, compared to us?

>It seems she prefers the latter; and she is moving quite swiftly, grinning broadly despite the obvious fury on her face.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Keeping an eye on her, wait until she gets fairly close behind us (but not too close to risk not being able to pull the following off without physical interference)
>Quickly spin around, and launch a heavy lightning orb towards her at close range
>Use our momentum to sidestep away from her charge as we fire it

[Hello Purvis]

>Keeping an eye on her, wait until she gets fairly close behind us (but not too close to risk not being able to pull the following off without physical interference)
>Quickly spin around, and launch a heavy lightning orb towards her at close range
>Use our momentum to sidestep away from her charge as we fire it

>You do not have to wait long, she is already uncomfortably close. You send the orb flying at her, and it connects with her firmly. She recoils a bit from the strike, but doesn't seem to be more than inconvenienced by the attack. Your sidestep serves you well, as she grabs at where you were at a moment ago, then seeing this fail, launches an elbow strike at you, while crying, "You really think that'd work on Sameko the Cloudswimmer!?"

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Do we also have some resistance to danmaku lightning? Or has that just never come up, in our own experience?
>Descend, while also shifting laterally from the elbow strike
>Fire a burst of conventional danmaku as we move

[Kilgamayan]

> Did that lightning orb use up our existing charge?
> Resume charging.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we also have some resistance to danmaku lightning? Or has that just never come up, in our own experience?
>Descend, while also shifting laterally from the elbow strike
>Fire a burst of conventional danmaku as we move

>You've not actually had to deal with it yourself, but you do.
>You keep moving and descend; the youkai follows through on her attack to face you and gives chase. You launch some danmaku, catching her in the torso with a few shots. But as you are both more or less following the law of gravity at this point, it really doesn't do much to dissuade her charge, as she closes in on you.

> Did that lightning orb use up our existing charge?
> Resume charging.

>It did; you resume charging.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Wait a moment for her to close to the proper distance
>Right before contact, quickly duck under the elbow strike, bracing ourselves against her, and use Sameko's own momentum and gravity to effectively throw her over ourselves
>If this succeeds, round on her, and fire danmaku at her falling form before she can catch her footing again