Kisume Quest VIII - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> What's the current bullet layout looking like?

>The bullets are not very dense, but they are close enough together to be reasonably dangerous, They are mostly curving from right to left at various angles, most of them are making long, gentle curves, but you can see a couple to the left and that are taking sharper curves and cutting between the rest.

[Kilgamayan]

> Any obvious openings?

[Hello Purvis]

> Any obvious openings?

>You can see three ways that will carry you close to the familiar. On the right side, close to the wall, is a fairly tight fit between several shots. Near this, you can see a relatively wide way filled with shots that don't seem like they'll be getting any more narrow than they already are. To the immediate left of this middle path is another open way, this one tighter, but you note that some bullets may be about to snake though it from outside.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Head through the second opening listed.

[Hello Purvis]

> Head through the second opening listed.

>You make your way through the somewhat wider gap, and make your way through the mass of gently curving bullets. Things go reasonably well, until the line of bullets you saw in the leftmost passage pass through the danmaku and fly right toward you! You don't have have the room or the time to get away from it, and a couple of the shots graze along your unhurt side before you can get away, leaving sparks in your vision and yourself struggling not to bite your tongue.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Damnit, aren't we at that familiar YET?

[Hello Purvis]

> Damnit, aren't we at that familiar YET?

>You're reasonably close now. Just you took some hits along the way.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Where is it relative to us?

[Hello Purvis]

> Where is it relative to us?

>You are just below it now by a few yards.

>_

[O4rfish]

>Make like a flamethrower.
>Edit: a flame ... thrower.

[Hello Purvis]

>Make like a flamethrower.
>Edit: a flame ... thrower.

>You conjure a wisp of demon fire into your hand, and toss it at the familiar. The moment it makes contact, the familiar ignites into flame, and burns away within a second, leaving the spot it occupied free of bullets. Within a few seconds, the storm of bullets should be past.

>_

[O4rfish]

>Are all magical creations this flammable?

[Hello Purvis]

>Are all magical creations this flammable?

>You don't think so. This is really you're first time seriously dealing with familiars, though.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How free is the path between us and the area where the familiar sat?

[Hello Purvis]

> How free is the path between us and the area where the familiar sat?

>You would have to dodge around a couple of oncoming bullets, but one you are there, you think it should be fine.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How feasible are those dodges?

[Hello Purvis]

> How feasible are those dodges?

>You feel confident in them.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Head into that space, making said necessary dodges.

[Hello Purvis]

> Head into that space, making said necessary dodges.

>You make your way into that spot, making an S-shape route around the bullets.
>You see that Kasen has moved to the other familiar's spot, and is gathering a number of shots near herself. Sariel seems to have taken the time to retreat a bit further down the hallway and seems to be in the process of creating a couple more familiars with her wand.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we still make out any of Sariel's details? We seem to be quite a bit far away from her now.
> Well, now that we know how to deal with these fuckers, let her make 'em. Hunker down and prepare to play some defense. Kasen's better than us for offense anyway.

[Hello Purvis]

> Can we still make out any of Sariel's details? We seem to be quite a bit far away from her now.
> Well, now that we know how to deal with these fuckers, let her make 'em. Hunker down and prepare to play some defense. Kasen's better than us for offense anyway.

>You can see that she isn't much worse off than she was before that whole onslaught, if at all.
>You prepare yourself to play defensively, as Kasen releases a few round orange shots that curve to and fro smoothly, while gathering more of them around her. Sariel releases a pair of new familairs; these ones float to her sides and a little behind her, and quickly begin to release waves of moderately speedy bullets.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How much longer does the hallway extend behind us?
> Do the waves look like the first ones we had to deal with?

[Hello Purvis]

> How much longer does the hallway extend behind us?
> Do the waves look like the first ones we had to deal with?

>It goes on for awhile, you think it probably runs much of the length of the palace, if what you internalized from your map was accurate.
>They do not. At a glance, these ones have more space between them; but the sets created by each familiar overlap in ways that make things complicated. They are composed of relatively mid-sized spherical shots, the left set being light blue and the right set being dark blue.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Are we on the opposite hall wall from Kasen?

[Hello Purvis]

> Are we on the opposite hall wall from Kasen?

>You are, roughly. Neither of you are immediately next to the walls, but you're both reasonably close to opposing walls.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Begin heading forward along the wall, then.

[Hello Purvis]

> Begin heading forward along the wall, then.

>You make your way toward the wall, as the shots start to rain down on you. The wall does block out some of the light blue shots, while the rest of them come at you from the side, which makes things a little trickier as you progress, you have to start and stop repeatedly, and it's hard to feel that you're safe with your attention split both ways.
>You gain a few yards toward Sariel, while Kasen's lines of danmaku snake their way toward Sariel, curving out further each time; thankfully you don't think they are going to come as far as the walls. The former shinigami slips around the first set of them, then levels her wand at Kasen and fires a bullet, coming slightly faster than the waves that her familiars are creating.  You find yourself wondering what a single bullet is supposed to do, Kasen floats around it easily. Then the bullet explodes, catches Kasen before she has time to dodge away. In the wake of it, she looks markedly worse than before.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How close are we to the familiars?

[Hello Purvis]

> How close are we to the familiars?

>They are probably a good ten or twelve yards away.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Can we throw fire that far?