(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 9)

[DracoOmega]

> Spread our arms out to our sides.
> "Go ahead. Kill me. Make your captain proud of you."

>Sotsu hesistates a moment, and then scowls at you.
>"Then put that sword away if you don't want to get cut up some more," she says, fingering the projectile in her hands.

>At the edge of your vision, you see Murasa yank her anchor chain back and send the weight at its end sweeping out towards the rotor strut. Her aim is good, but you think she's simply moving too fast to make the shot before she tumbles out of range. The wind-conjuring tengu, however, seems even faster. Moving almost at a blur, she streaks towards Murasa with her raven wings drawn tightly behind her. As she closes on the tumbling ghost captain, she falls into a dive and then pulls up sharply behind her, shedding her velocity in an aerial twist. She lashes out with her fan as she does so, the movement hard to make out amid the acrobatics. The effect, however, is obvious. Even as her anchor falls short of the Maiden, Murasa is propelled violently back towards the strut that she just missed.

>On the opposite side of you, Chisato continues to struggle against the other tengu, though it seems a futile contest as her opponent moves to pin the sailor's arms and securely grapple her.
>"Get the... hell... off me...!" she rasps. The fire in her voice seems oddly thin. Or perhaps not so oddly, given her condition.

[Kilgamayan]

> Resheathe the sword, then wordlessly go back to looking at Sootsu with our arms spread.

[DracoOmega]

> Resheathe the sword, then wordlessly go back to looking at Sootsu with our arms spread.

>You sheathe Kumokirimaru once more, then stretch your arms back out beside you. Sotsu throws you a peevish frown.
>"Now sit down and stay there," she says brusquely.

>There is a sharp clanging noise as Murasa collides with the rotor strut forcefully enough to shake some of the more flexible supports against each other. She lets out a loud cry as she impacts, and you can see her opponent diving in after her already.

[Kilgamayan]

> "You want me to bend this leg again? What harm am I gonna do standing with a busted leg and a sheathed sword?"

[DracoOmega]

> "You want me to bend this leg again? What harm am I gonna do standing with a busted leg and a sheathed sword?"

>"Then lie on your face or something," Sotsu replies.

>"Cut Ishi loose!" you hear Murasa yell through gritted teeth as she grabs hold of the strut to keep herself from falling. Then tengu dives towards her and lets fly another pair of windy crescents.

[Kilgamayan]

> Where is Ishi relative to Sotsu and ourselves?

[DracoOmega]

> Where is Ishi relative to Sotsu and ourselves?

>Ishi is still tied to the rotor strut, and is perhaps a dozen feet away from the both of you, on your left. Sotsu may be slightly closer to her than you are, though not directly in your way. However, you expect your relative angles would give her time to attempt an intercept if you ran for the kappa.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Can't really run around right now, captain!"

[DracoOmega]

> "Can't really run around right now, captain!"

>"Dammit, do it anyway!" Murasa cries as she tries to swing around onto the other side of the strut. She grunts as one of the wind blades strikes her side, though manages to evade the other and start to lower herself back toward the deck.
>"You're only going to make this worse on them, you know," the flying tengu suggests helpfully as she swings around to pursue.

>"Stop struggling!" you hear the third tengu say in a frustrated voice. "You're going to pass out if you-" Her words are cut off in a scream. Sotsu's head rounds towards the noise.

[Kilgamayan]

> Dash to Ishi while pulling the sword back out! The leg can hold out a dozen feet!

[DracoOmega]

> Dash to Ishi while pulling the sword back out! The leg can hold out a dozen feet!

>The moment Sotsu turns away, you break into a dash and draw Kumokirimaru free again. It's not too far. Your leg can hold up. Your leg will hold up. Grimacing against the pain and weakness and stumbling just a little with each step, you close the distance to the squirming kappa.
>"Hey!" You hear Sotsu's voice behind you, followed immediately by the shrill whistle of a blade thrown at your head. Then the sound of another's footsteps quickly close in on her from her own rear.

[Kilgamayan]

> How have her blades been flying in the past? Straight shots, spinning, etc?
> How big are her blades?

[DracoOmega]

> How have her blades been flying in the past? Straight shots, spinning, etc?
> How big are her blades?

>While the metal projectiles themselves have been spinning, the overall trajectory of the shots has been mostly linear. Several have been spinning at angles not parallel to the ground, however, giving them a large diagonal cutting surface.
>The metal at their core is perhaps 5 or 6 inches long, though the sharp wind that surrounds them extends for a decent few more inches on either side. Their profile is very thin, however.

[Kilgamayan]

> Turn our head to look behind us whilst bringing our sword up.
> Once we've got the blade in our vision, try to block it with the blade of our sword by holding the sword blade pointed straight up in the flying blade's path.

[DracoOmega]

> Turn our head to look behind us whilst bringing our sword up.
> Once we've got the blade in our vision, try to block it with the blade of our sword by holding the sword blade pointed straight up in the flying blade's path.

>You turn your head around to gauge the projectile's path and quickly raise your sword to block the incoming blade before it can reach you. However, as the edge of the vortex surrounding Sotsu's weapon meets yours, you feel Kumokirimaru being pulled forcefully sideways! With a deathgrip on its hilt to keep it from being torn out of your hands altogether, you try to tilt the tip of the blade back in towards the spinning shard of metal. You connect! But the block is poorly positioned and the trailing edge of the razor wind slices into your arm as you send Sotsu's weapon tumbling upwards. You can see the winds around it petering out as it loses the evenness of its spin.

>Even as you wince from this new wound, Sotsu is following in after her shot and readying a second blade to toss. But there is a third person chasing after her. Though unnervingly pallid and slick with her own blood, Chisato is somehow managing to sprint at the tengu's rear. The spear seems to once again be in her hands, and it's clear what she intends to do with it. Unfortunately, the distraction you're providing does not seem to be enough to mask the redhead's footfalls entirely and her quarry starts to turn about before Chisato can get close enough to thrust. You see the tengu's arm start to make a tell-tale motion....
>Chisato hurls the spear at Sotsu before the latter has a chance to throw her own weapon or even fully turn around. It's a quick motion, even if a little lacking in force and aim. But the tengu is simply faster. She kicks off from the deck and banks smoothly to the side, letting the spear pass harmlessly beside her. ...or perhaps not.
>With a quick hand gesture and a look of fierce concentration, you see a brief shimmer of green light form around Chisato's palms. And then there is a mighty snapping noise as the haft of the spear literally explodes, sending a flurry of wooden splinters in all directions. Sotsu glances towards the weapon as it fragments, but doesn't even have time to raise an arm to properly shield herself before pieces of jagged wood dig into her face and shoulders and side. Several of her feathers are torn loose as other bits of shrapnel rip through her wings. And there's even some coming your way!

[Oldmansour]

>Now that's not bad for a human in that shape.
>Is there enough frag coming at us to do any real damage?

[DracoOmega]

>Now that's not bad for a human in that shape.
>Is there enough frag coming at us to do any real damage?

>You're actually sort of impressed she's still going at all, given that she's only human.
>Serious damage is unlikely, though you may take a couple sizable splinters unless you try to move out of their way or shield yourself somehow.

[Oldmansour]

>Is there anything close to duck behind?
>Has Sotsu got too far off the deck yet?

[DracoOmega]

>Is there anything close to duck behind?
>Has Sotsu got too far off the deck yet?

>The strut itself is probably the nearest thing, though you don't think you can put it between you and any fragments in time.
>No more than a foot or two.

[Oldmansour]

As much as I'd love to cut something important off Sotsu, I'll restrain myself in the interests of not doing any furthur damage to the pirates ourselves. Aya sees us cutting up her crew, even Sotsu, might go against us. And if the fight ends up stopping, I hope that Aya's good on her word and helps us patch Chisato up. Odds are she needs it pretty bad, or will soon.

>Sidestep to the left to avoid the flying shrapnel.
>Spin on our heel as we meneuver to the left and resume our course towards Ishi at best possible speed.

[DracoOmega]

>Sidestep to the left to avoid the flying shrapnel.
>Spin on our heel as we meneuver to the left and resume our course towards Ishi at best possible speed.

>You try to quickly scramble out of the way of the shrapnel while pivoting towards Ishi. Your leg buckles beneath you as you twist, but you grit your teeth and right yourself before you topple over. A small splinter or two strike you in the shoulder and arm, but they're ignorable and you press onward without delay.
>As Sotsu staggers back from the sudden explosion with an irritated grunt, you see Chisato falter and then collapse face-first onto the deck.
>"Chisato!" Miyuki cries.
>"Dammit!" Murasa snaps as she swings around to the inside of the strut, with the tengu swooping in to meet her.
>You make it within arm's reach of Ishi.

[Oldmansour]

>Chisato must have lost more blood than we'd thought...
>Where does it look like Murasa's going?
>Quick assessment of Ishi's bindings. Would it be quicker to cut them or untie them?

[DracoOmega]

>Chisato must have lost more blood than we'd thought...
>Where does it look like Murasa's going?
>Quick assessment of Ishi's bindings. Would it be quicker to cut them or untie them?

>It's possible, though it looked like whatever she just did took a lot of exertion as well. You really can't blame her for being exhausted after all this....
>You're not really sure. She may be working her way down the strut, but she may also simply be maneuvering around the metal to get cover against the tengu attacking her. You're uncertain if there's an overarching plan here.
>Ishi is, in general, tied less comprehensively than you were, but is also secured directly to the strut on top of that. You would definitely get her down quicker with a blade than by attempting to untie things, though.

[Oldmansour]

>"Ishi, when I cut you free, free Miyuki and Neu. I'm going to help Chisato."

[DracoOmega]

>"Ishi, when I cut you free, free Miyuki and Neu. I'm going to help Chisato."

>The diminutive engineer glares at you and mumbles incoherently into her gag.
>"Just do it!" Murasa says.
>"Not going to work!" the flying tengu adds in a cheerful tone.
>You can hear more footsteps approaching from the rear; Sotsu or the other tengu must be recovering themselves. And is that some from... the stairs? Great. Reinforcements are the last thing their side needs right now.

[Oldmansour]

>One problem at a time...
>Get to work on those ropes!

[Kilgamayan]

> With the sword, rather than untying them.

[DracoOmega]

>One problem at a time...
>Get to work on those ropes!

> With the sword, rather than untying them.

>You put the impending arrivals to one side for the moment and quickly sever the ropes keeping Ishi tethered to the rotor strut. You catch the kappa as she tumbles free and carefully slit through the ropes around her wrists.
>Then a shadow passes across your right as Sotsu lunges at you with a swift slash of her sword.

[Oldmansour]

>Better that than another one of her knives.
>If we simply dodged, would the sword hit Ishi, assuming she didn't go evasive as well?
>For that matter, do we have to to get out of the way at all?

[DracoOmega]

>Better that than another one of her knives.
>If we simply dodged, would the sword hit Ishi, assuming she didn't go evasive as well?
>For that matter, do we have to to get out of the way at all?

>You'll take whatever small blessings you're given, though her sword is still plenty capable of inflicting serious damage.
>There's a small possibility, though she doesn't seem to be directly in the line of attack.
>If you do not do something, her blade will hit you solidly in the torso.