Sword Quest IV - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

> How does the fairy layout look now?
> How much effort does firing "from nondirect sources" take?

>There aren't really in any formation or anything, more of a generalized group.  The ones in back are the ones firing upon you directly, though.
>That depends on how much you want to fire. You do find it quite difficult to maintain more than two of them at a time, though.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How far away from ourselves could we place these nondirect sources?
> How do the nondirect sources fire? Do they fire a bunch of shots in a predetermined straight line, can we change their aim after setting them up, or do they fire in a rotating circular pattern? Or do they work some other way entirely?

[Hello Purvis]

> How far away from ourselves could we place these nondirect sources?
> How do the nondirect sources fire? Do they fire a bunch of shots in a predetermined straight line, can we change their aim after setting them up, or do they fire in a rotating circular pattern? Or do they work some other way entirely?

>You can place them some yards away.
>You establish the pattern as you make them, then they are set.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is the cloud of fairies within our placement range?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is the cloud of fairies within our placement range?

>You are not close enough to place anything within the group. But you can certainly hit them with shots fired indirectly.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> What kinds of bullets can we fire from these nondirect sources?

[Hello Purvis]

> What kinds of bullets can we fire from these nondirect sources?

>Nothing particularly fancy. You've favored knife-like bullets in the past.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Set up two nondirect sources to each fire a single horizontal half-circle wave of knife bullets. They should be placed one to our left and one to our right as close to the fairies as we can get them, making them each form roughly a 30 degree angle away from ourselves (using a straight line ahead of us as a basis for judging this). The half-circles should start firing toward each other and sweep out-to-in toward the fairies; this means that the left source will start aiming to its right, then sweep aiming toward its front, and end aiming to its left, and the right source should mirror this.

[Hello Purvis]

> Set up two nondirect sources to each fire a single horizontal half-circle wave of knife bullets. They should be placed one to our left and one to our right as close to the fairies as we can get them, making them each form roughly a 30 degree angle away from ourselves (using a straight line ahead of us as a basis for judging this). The half-circles should start firing toward each other and sweep out-to-in toward the fairies; this means that the left source will start aiming to its right, then sweep aiming toward its front, and end aiming to its left, and the right source should mirror this.

>It takes a moment to set this up, but you do so without too much difficulty.  The knives sweep out notably faster than your exploding shots. Some of the faeries panic and break from the cloud as the weapons come, while others cut into the the group and thin the numbers considerably, perhaps 2/5s of the original group remains, and the damage is quickly done to the web of bullets holding you in place, opening a number of holes in it.
>The faeries in the rear adjust aim toward your new position, but their numbers have dropped enough that they cannot keep up a constant stream of their shots, and notable gaps are quickly obvious in it.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> That's what you get.
> Now that the artillery fairies have adjusted their aim, move a bit more to the left. We should have a little bit of space that way, since at worst we are back to where we first started dancing inside the web.
> Set up another pair of nondirect sources, placing them in the same location relative to our current position as the last ones were relative to our previous position. They should also fire a single sweeping horizontal half-circle wave, but this time, they should both travel out-to-in instead of in-to-out like the first ones.
> Once these nondirect sources are released, reassess current position within the web, particularly noting the space we have to our left.

[Hello Purvis]

> That's what you get.
> Now that the artillery fairies have adjusted their aim, move a bit more to the left. We should have a little bit of space that way, since at worst we are back to where we first started dancing inside the web.
> Set up another pair of nondirect sources, placing them in the same location relative to our current position as the last ones were relative to our previous position. They should also fire a single sweeping horizontal half-circle wave, but this time, they should both travel out-to-in instead of in-to-out like the first ones.
> Once these nondirect sources are released, reassess current position within the web, particularly noting the space we have to our left.

>You move further left, then unleash another set of indirectly fired knives. These are a bit less effective than the last set, the cloud has thinned a bit and the faeries aren't quite so off guard. Still, it has an effect and takes out a few of them, while others retreat.
>The web has fallen apart significantly with the decimation of the faeries holding it up, a number of the lines that served as barriers are simply gone now, and there is a fair amount of room to maneuver further leftward.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> How many fairies remain?

[Hello Purvis]

> How many fairies remain?

>There are seven now.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How many are web-weavers and how many are artillery?
> How are the speedy shots looking, in terms of dodging difficulty, now that the cloud has been reduced in number so?
> How much room do we have to move forward?

[Hello Purvis]

> How many are web-weavers and how many are artillery?
> How are the speedy shots looking, in terms of dodging difficulty, now that the cloud has been reduced in number so?
> How much room do we have to move forward?

>It looks like five of the former and two of the latter.
>They are still fast and dangerous, but they are a far cry from the walls that they were before. With good timing, you could easily slip between them.
>Some, but this would quickly put you face to face with the speedier shots.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

> How are the fairies spread out in terms of to our left, in front of us, and to our right?

[Hello Purvis]

> How are the fairies spread out in terms of to our left, in front of us, and to our right?

>They are all in front of you, though a bit spread out. None are flanking you.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> How much effort would it take to create a single nondirect source of danmaku that shoots bursts of horizontal half-circles in one-second intervals for five seconds?

[Hello Purvis]

> How much effort would it take to create a single nondirect source of danmaku that shoots bursts of horizontal half-circles in one-second intervals for five seconds?

>Some, but it should be feasible.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Could we still keep enough focus on dodging to avoid the speedy bullets while preparing such an attack?

[Hello Purvis]

> Could we still keep enough focus on dodging to avoid the speedy bullets while preparing such an attack?

>You should, but it would be best to dodge then set up while you have a moment.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> That's a good idea. Let's wait for the previous salvo (if it can still be called that) of speedy shots to be finished, and then dash back to the right. Use the same focus and timing as last time, though this time we don't need to also move backward, just rightward will do.
> Assuming this dodge is successful, prepare one of the aforementioned burst nondirect sources, and release it straight ahead of us, as far forward as we reasonably can.

[Hello Purvis]

> That's a good idea. Let's wait for the previous salvo (if it can still be called that) of speedy shots to be finished, and then dash back to the right. Use the same focus and timing as last time, though this time we don't need to also move backward, just rightward will do.
> Assuming this dodge is successful, prepare one of the aforementioned burst nondirect sources, and release it straight ahead of us, as far forward as we reasonably can.

>You sidestep away from the current salvo, then prepare another non-direct attack, as far ahead of you as you can. This places it reasonably close to the remaining faeries, and this is enough to break up what is left of their group's cohesion, sending them packing one way or another.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Take a moment to compose ourselves. But only a moment, since we're very composed by default.
> Do any other fairies seem eager to challenge us?

[Hello Purvis]

> Take a moment to compose ourselves. But only a moment, since we're very composed by default.
> Do any other fairies seem eager to challenge us?

>You look around. It's hard to tell from a distance, but there are a couple of other groups who may well be moving toward you. It's hard to tell whether they are, or are just moving around in general.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Is the southern shore still clear of fairies?

[Hello Purvis]

> Is the southern shore still clear of fairies?

>For the time being.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Circle our way around the lake to the southern shore, giving the lake and any fairies fighting over it a wide berth so as to not attract more unwanted attention.

[Hello Purvis]

> Circle our way around the lake to the southern shore, giving the lake and any fairies fighting over it a wide berth so as to not attract more unwanted attention.

>You make your way southward, taking care to give the faeries some distance. This is a little hard, there are also faeries over the forest proper, but you manage to stay far enough away from them that they do not take an interest in you.
>Approaching the southern shore, you can see the gates of Scarlet Devil Mansion are more or less as you left it. The guard is still there; seeming to be keeping an eye on the faeries.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Head toward the gate.