(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 3)

[DracoOmega]

>All right, wanna gain some ground? How about all of it.
>Stop circling the more wounded spider and charge at the one chasing us.
>If it rears up enough to expose its underside, try to stab it in the guts.
>If it stays nearer to the ground, stab in the head again, try to get a better shot than the last time.
>Whichever act it takes, prepare our offhand kunai to ward off its counterattack, so we can stab it with our main hand.

>And should it try to spring on us and pin, try to slide and bring both our knives up to let apply that momentum in stabbing itself.

>You switch direction and charge the other spider. This is a very short charge, it being no more than a couple feet away from you at this point. As you move towards it, it raises its forelegs. This action doesn't raise its body off the ground much at all, nor expose its underside, so you rush for its head instead. As you crest the edge of its reach, its limbs slam down hard from above and behind, trying to push you towards its waiting mouth. You shift aside from one leg and pivot to stab, but another two limb collide against your back and knock you to the ground. The spider's mandibles are upon you immediately.
>It is only by the narrowest of margins that you manage to drive a blade up into the underside of its head before they tear into your side. The spider recoils as it meets sharpened steel rather than soft flesh, pulling your arm up along with kunai still embedded in it. Its mandibles continue to shift, the motion unsettlingly near to your arm. It could probably rip it apart if you moved a few inches forward...

[Oldmansour]

All right, this is all I got, so if anybody else has any ideas, then feel free to counter me.

>Stab upwards with our other kunai as hard as humanly possibly! See how he likes having three kunai imbedded in its head.

[Hello Purvis]

>Before we act, can we roll aside?
>Could we grab the knife we threw from this position, and wrench it?

[DracoOmega]

>Before we act, can we roll aside?
>Could we grab the knife we threw from this position, and wrench it?

>You can roll aside, although you might need to let go of the kunai you just stabbed the spider with, depending on how firmly embedded it is. There are limbs on all sides of you, but some room to maneuver within them, and you could probably make your way out past them, provided it doesn't try too hard to stop you. It's a little distracted at the moment, what with the knife driven up into its head.
>No. The first kunai is on the upper side of its head and you are on the ground below it.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's roll away and get back to our feet. Take the second kunai with us if we can, but if it is wedged in, leave it for now.

[Oldmansour]

Agreed. Even if my plan had worked, and we'd killed the thing, it probably would have fallen on us and pinned us.

[DracoOmega]

>Let's roll away and get back to our feet. Take the second kunai with us if we can, but if it is wedged in, leave it for now.

>You roll to the side, trying to wrest your kunai free with the same motion. You feel the blade shift within the wound, the spider shrieking anew as the blade further rends its inside, but it doesn't fully dislodge. In fact, the motion also pulls its head and mandibles closer to your arm. You release you grip before it decides to clamp down on you, then tuck your limbs close to make it through a gap in its legs. One steps towards you and closes the gap up just before you break free. Shifting your momentum, you push a palm out and pivot your legs around it, then spring to your feet again. You're clear!
>At the edge of your vision, you notice the other spider is very close by and shambling unsteadily towards you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move away.
>"You sure you wanna keep going? I'd let you go easily, you know."
>Are there any trees close by?

[DracoOmega]

>Move away.
>"You sure you wanna keep going? I'd let you go easily, you know."
>Are there any trees close by?

>You move away. It tries to speed up in response, but seems to be having some difficulty coordinating its limbs and almost stumbles on a bush. You think you could probably outrun it in its present state without too many issues..
>The spider makes no sign of acknowledgment, continuing to advance on you.
>There are plenty of trees close by, in nearly any direction you care to name.

[Oldmansour]

>From what we can recall of their climbing speed before they were injured, is it possible for us to climb a tree, at least for a few feet, before they could catch up to us?
>Glance about for the tree that looks the closest and easiest to scamper up.

[Hello Purvis]

Rather than climb a tree, use them to get in the spiders' way.

[Oldmansour]

As in, dash behind one, wait for it to come 'round, then stab it in the head?

[DracoOmega]

>From what we can recall of their climbing speed before they were injured, is it possible for us to climb a tree, at least for a few feet, before they could catch up to us?
>Glance about for the tree that looks the closest and easiest to scamper up.

>You have never seen these spiders climb any trees. In fact, you expect their size might make that impossible on any that were not significantly stout. The smaller one you encountered earlier could climb faster than you can, but it also appeared to be a different variety of spider entirely, and not just a smaller specimen of this one.
>You have a quick scan about the wood, and find a suitable climbing tree about 12 feet to your left, in the opposite direction of the other spider.

[Oldmansour]

>Based on what we can observe about the spiders' current mobility, can we reach that tree before they catch up to us?

[Hello Purvis]

I'm thinking more, use them as obstacles to the spiders' mobility. They can step around them, but it takes time and coordination we don't have to worry about ourselves.

[DracoOmega]

>Based on what we can observe about the spiders' current mobility, can we reach that tree before they catch up to us?

>You're pretty confident you can.

[Oldmansour]

That sounds much simpler than my idea.
I was gonna climb a tree for leverage, then jump off and throw our kunai at the head of the one we were riding earlier. Then I was gonna land on the first one, the one with our kunai stuck in its head, yank it out, and finish off that one.

[Oldmansour]

>Still coming, eh. In that case, I think it's time to get at least one of my kunai back.
>Turn to the left and make a dash for that tree.
>If there's any sturdy-looking low-hanging branches we can leap and make a grab for, do so.
>If not, scamper up it as fast as possible.
>Get as high up as we can, then wait for them to get within a couple feet.

[DracoOmega]

>Still coming, eh. In that case, I think it's time to get at least one of my kunai back.
>Turn to the left and make a dash for that tree.
>If there's any sturdy-looking low-hanging branches we can leap and make a grab for, do so.
>If not, scamper up it as fast as possible.
>Get as high up as we can, then wait for them to get within a couple feet.

>You turn and dash for the tree, the spider shambling after you. Despite its awkwardness, it still covers ground fairly quickly, though not as quickly as you. Glancing back, you see the other spider has collected itself and is also chasing towards you. It's moving quite a bit more deftly than its companion, but you both have a substantial head start on it.
>You spy a suitable branch and leap towards it at a run, scrabbling onto it and then grasping out at another. You've scaled perhaps 10 feet by the time the first spider reaches the base of the tree. It rears up a little and paws at the trunk, but you appear well out of its reach. The second spider closes in behind the first and then starts to move around to the side of the tree.

[Oldmansour]

>No guts, no glory.
>Leap off the tree, falling towards the spider with the kunais stuck in its head.
>Before we lose a shot at the first spider, throw a kunai at its head.
>Assuming we land on the spider's back that we're falling towards, grab ahold of the kunai on top of its head, yank it out, and give the thing a good stabbing.

[DracoOmega]

>No guts, no glory.
>Leap off the tree, falling towards the spider with the kunais stuck in its head.
>Before we lose a shot at the first spider, throw a kunai at its head.
>Assuming we land on the spider's back that we're falling towards, grab ahold of the kunai on top of its head, yank it out, and give the thing a good stabbing.

>You shift around on the branches to get a good position on the spider that still has your weapons embedded in it and then you leap off! While falling, you flick your hand out and send your last kunai sailing towards the other spider's head. The angle doesn't afford you a very good shot and you don't get a chance to see it connect as the lower boughs of the tree block off your vision, but you hear a satisfying shriek and see the spider shamble a few steps backwards.
>You land on top of your target with a jarring impact and almost immediately get tossed off as the spider rears up and shakes itself. Before you slide off, you reach out and grab the kunai still shallowly embedded in the side of its head. Your own weight combines with gravity to rip a deeper gash along it, splattering more blueish fluid across your hand and arm. The spider shrieks and flails, but you dig your other hand into the curve between its head and thorax for grip, the rip the knife free and puncture one hole after another in its head. It is a tortured sound that hurts your ears to listen to. It you had to put it into a single word, that word would be 'panic'.
>In the side of your field of vision, you catch a glimpse of another spider skittering through the undergrowth towards you, coming from vaguely the same direction as you encountered these two initially. It is much smaller, and you think somewhat different-looking than these two, but you didn't get a very good look at it.

[Hello Purvis]

>How do we feel about our footing and the other large spider?

[DracoOmega]

>How do we feel about our footing and the other large spider?

>Your footing is very poor, and in fact you're doing more hanging on with your hands than your feet at the moment.
>The other large spider doesn't seem to have done much in the last few moments, at least. You can't see it clearly at the moment, with the tree you climbed still in the way.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to regain our footing, in case we need to abandon spider.

[Oldmansour]

>Not before giving it at least one more good jab, see if we can get it to stop thrashing, at least.
>Glance about for that third spider we saw a moment ago, see if we can tell if it's the same one we chased out here.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to regain our footing, in case we need to abandon spider.

>You try to regain your footing. The main issue is that the spider seems to keep trying to rear up - probably to dislodge you - and its body is near upright at points with aid of the tree trunk for support. This doesn't give you a great deal to stand on. However, abandoning it should require little more than letting go and rolling aside.

>Not before giving it at least one more good jab, see if we can get it to stop thrashing, at least.
>Glance about for that third spider we saw a moment ago, see if we can tell if it's the same one we chased out here.

>You puncture the spider once more, but if anything, this prompts more thrashing rather than less.
>You glance around for the third spider, but it seems to have gotten lost behind foliage again. You're fairly confident it's not the same one you chased here initially. The coloration is quite different: the first was deep mottled green, while this looked more gray.

[Hello Purvis]

I don't like that third one. But we're kind of a sitting duck here.

[Oldmansour]

The first one didn't seem to anxious to grab while we were on its' mates back, I'm not certain a smaller one will be anymore anxious to try it. And even if we can't see it, if it makes a charge at us, we'll be able to hear it coming.
I think we should stay where we are for at least one more post, and see if we can put this one down. I mean, we've stabbed it repeatedly in the head. It's got to go down sometime.

[Oldmansour]

>Keep our ear open for sounds of the othe two spiders heading our way, then drive our kunai into one of the deeper-looking wonunds we've made, and start twisting.
>"FALL, already!"

[DracoOmega]

>Keep our ear open for sounds of the othe two spiders heading our way, then drive our kunai into one of the deeper-looking wonunds we've made, and start twisting.
>"FALL, already!"

>You pull your weapon free again, then drive it into a deeper-looking wound and twist. The flesh makes a sickening sound beneath your blade as more gooey fluid smears across your hand. The spider continues to flail, though you think its motion is weakening. At the very least, its spasms are more discordant.
>With the spider still shrieking next to your ears, you think you'd be hard-pressed to hear any motion that wasn't either very loud, or very near to you. You can see the other large spider's legs shifting around the other side of the tree, but there's still no sign of the third.