Kisume Quest VII - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Kilgamayan]

> Start bouncing along down the hallway toward the fourth intersection.

[Hello Purvis]

> Start bouncing along down the hallway toward the fourth intersection.

>You move toward the fourth intersection, with agent Sombraluz and the soldiers following along. Once there, Yumemi directs you westward. This brings some grumbling about being lead in circles, until it is pointed out that you have been lead around an archive, which matches with your increasingly fuzzy memories from the map. Then you are directed southward again. The soldiers are mostly quiet, save for the aforementioned grumbling and the soldier relaying directions via his communication device to whomever is listening on the other side. They keep their weapons ready, and their eyes roving. Sometimes they twitch at little sounds, or imagined motions. Sombraluz moves lightly, with a small weapon in hand, similar to the ones that Ruukoto ruined in the medical lab, While he keeps his eyes and head moving, his motions are much more smooth than those of the soldiers around him. Ruukoto hasn't said a thing since you go onto the elevator, and quietly wrings her hands as she tries to stay close to you.
>As you proceed southward, a door to your left creaks open. You barely have time to look over toward it, as soldiers cry out and weapons discharge. You don't see anything but the partially open door, and you can just barely hear a light metallic noise before there is a small 'crack' noise, and suddenly everything has gone white and your eyes scream out in pain!

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Give our own shout of mixed surprise, pain, and anger with a profanity or two added. What the fuck is this?
> Duck down into the bucket and try to rub our eyes into some sense of betterness.

[Hello Purvis]

> Give our own shout of mixed surprise, pain, and anger with a profanity or two added. What the fuck is this?
> Duck down into the bucket and try to rub our eyes into some sense of betterness.

>You cry out in pain and garbled profanity while diving down into your bucket. You realize everything has gotten direly quiet as you rub your eyes, save for your ears ringing.
>After a few moments, the ringing fades, and your eyes feels a bit better, though they are still sore You hear shouts and weapons discharging over the ringing, and the telltale hiss of danmaku.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Keep our head down while trying to look around.

[Hello Purvis]

> Keep our head down while trying to look around.

>You try to look around without exposure your head too much. Your vision is still blurry and your eyes still sore, but you can see multicolored danmaku flying around, and quite a bit of motion. In particular, you can see a solid reddish blur moving from your right to your left, releasing more hazy shots into the air, while another person in red stands in the left doorway, firing off a few shots before ducking back behind it.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Both using danmaku? Interesting...
> Check what's going on behind us.

[Hello Purvis]

> Both using danmaku? Interesting...
> Check what's going on behind us.

>You look back to see the blurry and indistinct forms of several soldiers on the ground, and the air getting thick with danmaku. Those that have not fallen are moving to get away or get into better positions.  You think you see one fire his weapon in the general direction of the door that the red figure ducked behind a moment ago.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is there any obvious cover in the immediate vicinity?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is there any obvious cover in the immediate vicinity?

>At a glance, it seems that all the available cover; a weird statue with a bulb filled with water, and a black case with a glass front and small bags inside, are presently being used by the remaining soldiers, at least on the sides opposite of their attackers.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is the bucket still standing upright?
> If the bucket knocked over, how much of our stuff would spill out?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is the bucket still standing upright?
> If the bucket knocked over, how much of our stuff would spill out?

>You are still upright; you are a remarkably good at keeping balanced on the ground, even without the assistance of your scarf.
>You could probably keep all of your stuff in the bucket unless you were hit with a very considerable amount of force.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> What if we tilted it over ourselves while we were in it?

[Hello Purvis]

> What if we tilted it over ourselves while we were in it?

>You should be fine, as long as you don't lose your balance or make tight turns at high speed.

>_

[Yaersulf]

>Are we in danger of being hit if we remain where we are?

[Hello Purvis]

>Are we in danger of being hit if we remain where we are?

>You don't know! In theory, you're not close to any of the targets right now. But being caught by wild danmaku is always a problem when you're too close. You imagine stray shots are a problem for the weapons here, as well.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Tip ourselves over so we fall toward the red blurs, since they're probably our friends. Brace ourselves for impact, of course.

[Hello Purvis]

> Tip ourselves over so we fall toward the red blurs, since they're probably our friends. Brace ourselves for impact, of course.

>You tip backward and toward the red blurs, bracing yourself and guarding the back of your head. Overhead, you can danmaku flying in a pattern of interlaced lines that form diamond shapes.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take a few seconds and give our eyes more of a chance to adjust to the surroundings. Groan in irritation in the process.

[Hello Purvis]

> Take a few seconds and give our eyes more of a chance to adjust to the surroundings. Groan in irritation in the process.

>You let out a well-earned groan as you let your eyes come back into focus, while danmaku flies overhead, and then two strange black lines from the Soldier's side. You don't have long to contemplate this before someone in a green skirt leaps over you and toward the soldiers.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Did Kasen have a green skirt?
> How solid are these black lines?
> How are our ears doing?

[Hello Purvis]

> Did Kasen have a green skirt?
> How solid are these black lines?
> How are our ears doing?

>She did.
>They seem to be solid, and they seem to have fallen away in the chaos, somewhere off to the side.
>Your ears are still ringing a bit, but its not so bad now. You can definitely here a lot of scuffling and chaos and such about.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Look on either side of us for those lines.

[O4rfish]

>Examine pantsu.

[Hello Purvis]

> Look on either side of us for those lines.

>You look around, and find them laying on the ground some distance to your left. Glancing down their length, you think they are connected to a discarded weapon.

>Examine pantsu.

>The two lines lack pantsu. Scandalous!

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Does the weapon look familiar at all? Maybe like the thing that guard used on us earlier?

[Hello Purvis]

> Does the weapon look familiar at all? Maybe like the thing that guard used on us earlier?

>You are reasonably certain that it is the same kind of weapon.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> At least they're fighting non-lethally...
> Might as well bring our hands and arms over our head in something of a duck-and-cover position.

[Hello Purvis]

> At least they're fighting non-lethally...
> Might as well bring our hands and arms over our head in something of a duck-and-cover position.

>You take some solace in the fact that there probably won't be any corpses, and cover your face with your arms.
>Your hearing clears, and most of what you hear are angry shouts and grunts, danmaku whizzing overhead, and Yumemi crying out after a few moments.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Peek up at the rebel side. How are they holding up?