Maribel Quest Abridging - A Z-Machine Adventure

[DracoOmega]

>Back up a little and focus on dodging around the blue and green waves
>Fire another quick burst when we have room and concentration to do so

OH! Bolt of Silk!

I've got it. ZA WARUDO, close to melee range, oil of vibration, then bolt of silk over her face. From there, pummel her til she's unconscious.

Fuck danmaku.

While that sounds great, that's a lot to get done in 3 seconds. I'm still in favor of buying time first, and hoping for an external distraction to help with this.

[E-Nazrin]

These are not mutually exclusive, UK. Comparably ruthless would be to use timestop to hug her from behind and latch on while shooting danmaku into her stomach at three millimeters.

... that or it could make a decent gift for her if it's left unharmed. Maybe.

>What sort of container is the Oil of Vibration in?

[DracoOmega]

One other trick I feel I ought to remind people we can do is get a temporarily larger power boost from the bracelet. Marisa mentioned if we opened ourselves up to it, and let us flow into it, rather than vice versa, we could pump out a much larger burst at the cost of our own fatigue. Sadly, we hadn't tested this earlier (at the time we got the bracelet, I didn't want to risk exhausting ourselves right before the battle. Turned out we had many more hours than that, but by that point I'd forgotten about >.>)

[Hello Purvis]

>Back up a little and focus on dodging around the blue and green waves
>Fire another quick burst when we have room and concentration to do so

>You back away to give yourself more room, and try to slip between the waves. It's difficult to concentrate on both sides at once, but you do so. At least, until you feel a burst of pain in your shoulder when one of her doll's shots clip you.

>What sort of container is the Oil of Vibration in?

>It is a glass vial; you could see the contents swirling inside.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Grit teeth and don't let the pain distract us from the larger shots in front of us
>Spare a quick burst of danmaku towards any dolls that are flanking us, or otherwise at an angle that makes them difficult to read while concentrating on Alice
>If there are no dolls in such a position at the moment, fire at Alice

[UncertainJakutten]

You do realize once she's blinded we can pummel her at will, making it progressively harder for her to defend, meaning 3 seconds isn't as much a problem.

But yeah, shooting her in the gut might work too.

[Hello Purvis]

>Grit teeth and don't let the pain distract us from the larger shots in front of us
>Spare a quick burst of danmaku towards any dolls that are flanking us, or otherwise at an angle that makes them difficult to read while concentrating on Alice
>If there are no dolls in such a position at the moment, fire at Alice

>You grit your teeth and ignore the flash of pain. Thankfully, it seems to be receding into a dull ache.
>Most of the dolls are flanking you; they spread out into position while Renko was retreating to the library.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Are we in a hallway or an open space?
>Are there doorways nearby we could slip into, to reduce the ability to us to be flanked?

[E-Nazrin]

Actually, if Alice can summon danmaku out of thin air, hug from behind might not work very well - she'll just have to aim for her own back, essentially, and Mary wouldn't be very mobile.

On the other hand, using it for a sudden approach to mini-Master Spark her in the face at that range could work.

[DracoOmega]

I agree. Byakuren essentially said we only need to use our hands to shoot from because we're new at this. And even if we DID succeed in immobilizing ourself and Alice at the same time, there's a ton of dolls left to shoot at us unhindered.

[Hello Purvis]

>Are we in a hallway or an open space?
>Are there doorways nearby we could slip into, to reduce the ability to us to be flanked?

>You are in the foyer of Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's fairly open.
>You have the door to the Library open behind you, and there are doors to the west wing are open to your left and ahead. The latter would require you to get past Alice.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to back up a little, and shift out of direct line to the library
>Fire a cloud of danmaku towards some dolls that are flanking us at the sharpest angle (ie: the hardest to see from where we are)

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to back up a little, and shift out of direct line to the library
>Fire a cloud of danmaku towards some dolls that are flanking us at the sharpest angle (ie: the hardest to see from where we are)

>You back up a little and move directly  away from the library, trying to keep the doll's shots in mind.
>There are five of them currently active, while the rest seem to be waiting just outside the front door. You aim a cloud at one that is to your right and little behind you, and are pleased to see it knock the doll out of the air.
>The next wave of blue and green shots are upon you, and Alice is already creating a third.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to evade the incoming wave. Shift away as needbe to assist with this.
>Try to keep an eye on the dolls as best we can, although they get lower priority than the larger waves
>Launch a faster burst at Alice if we have a spare moment

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to evade the incoming wave. Shift away as needbe to assist with this.
>Try to keep an eye on the dolls as best we can, although they get lower priority than the larger waves
>Launch a faster burst at Alice if we have a spare moment

>You do your best to work your way through the colorful shots and the dolls' attacks, but it is difficult and you find are quickly being forced under the balcony and against the southern wall. 
>You find a moment to counterattack, and launch a small but speedy burst at Alice, she moves aside, but one shot clips her in the arm. She doesn't seem to be especially perturbed by it.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

Try to close in on her, No, this isn't a parser command, just a voice suggestion.

[Janitor Morgan]

Making some familiars might help with UK's suggestion, should we go through with it.

[DracoOmega]

>Do we have room to actually fly up onto the balcony? Or are we already underneath it?
>Either way, try to shift such that we aren't close to being pinned against a wall. Try to open up room to maneuver upwards if possible. Even if this means moving closer for a moment.
>Fire another similar burst at Alice if we get the chance.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we have room to actually fly up onto the balcony? Or are we already underneath it?
>Either way, try to shift such that we aren't close to being pinned against a wall. Try to open up room to maneuver upwards if possible. Even if this means moving closer for a moment.
>Fire another similar burst at Alice if we get the chance.

>You are just underneath the balcony, you might be able to fly up and maneuver around the edge onto it if you do it quickly.
>You can try to circle around Alice, but this would put dolls at you back. You have a brief bit of respite to move as the wave passes you by, which you take.
>You try for another burst like before; Alice seems to predict this and floats away from it easily.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Try to quickly get up to the balcony
>What doors / exists are there on this level?

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to quickly get up to the balcony
>What doors / exists are there on this level?

>You take this moment to fly up to the balcony!
>There is a large set of double doors behind you. These lead up the clock tower, if you recall properly.
>Alice hovers up to your level, as her third wave passes below you harmlessly. "It's time for the rest of you to come in," she says.
>The mass of dolls outside start to walk through the door.

>_

[UncertainJakutten]

You're gonna wanna Za Warudo soon and take her out

[DracoOmega]

>Where do the dolls seem to be heading?
>Roughly how many of them are there?
>Were there any other rooms, or branches on the way up to the clock tower that we recall? Or just a lot of stairs?

You're gonna wanna Za Warudo soon and take her out

I was really, really hoping for an outside distraction before using that.... I'm surprised we haven't heard SOMETHING already, since Renko made it into the library

[UncertainJakutten]

Well, either way, maneuvering closer to her before popping it would be optimal. The more time she has the better position she'll create for herself.

[Hello Purvis]

>Where do the dolls seem to be heading?
>Roughly how many of them are there?
>Were there any other rooms, or branches on the way up to the clock tower that we recall? Or just a lot of stairs?

>They are coming inside, and seem to be massing by the door.
>There are a couple dozen, you're certain. But the majority of them are busy carrying that burlap sack.
>No other rooms, but you passed a couple doors you think lead to other floors on the other wings.

>_

[DracoOmega]

I was thinking we could just stall for a while, but if she's going to bring the Goliath Doll out, we may not have the time to stay on the defensive. Although I'm not entirely certain she's just bringing that in to use against us considering it seems like... overkill at the moment. Maybe she just wants to stop wasting time?

Other options: retreat through the door behind us. That will provide cover for a while, and make it less likely for the dolls to be able to flank us. However, at that point, Alice may simply ignore us and go about her original objective. Although that may give us a chance to get a few items at the ready and follow her. Or perhaps not. And if she wants something from the library and that's where we meet her, we may be able to position the confrontation in a location where we will have at least some backup.

Really, this all depends on how fixated Alice is on us right now, and where her ultimate objective here lies.

[UncertainJakutten]

>How much are we being shot at on the balcony?

If not much, I STRONGLY suggest withdrawing the bolt and oil, a dash and then Za warudo right before we run into a bullet, as close as we can to her, and then oiling her hands and wrapping the bolt around her face. By that time time should resume, in which case we shoot as much danmaku as possible into her gut and beat her up if that's not enough. I mean punch her in the face til she drops.

Hell, smash her head with the yoyo til she goes unconscious.

[Hello Purvis]

>How much are we being shot at on the balcony?

>At this point, none. You expect this to change very very soon.

>_

[DracoOmega]

The issue is that I can't see 3 seconds being long enough to do both things. It seems barely long enough to do one of them.

[UncertainJakutten]

If there are no objections, I'm doing what I said, ok?

> Withdraw the bolt of silk and oil of vibration
> Open ourselves to the artifact's power
> Dash at her as fast as we can
> As soon as we are close to getting hit with a bullet of any sort, stop time
> Dash her after time is stopped, pour the oil on her hands quickly
> Wrap the bolt of silk around her head.
> Shoot as much danmaku as we can into her gut at point blank range
> If that doesn't drop her, start punching her in the face.

@Draco: We're doing the oil first then. And plus, we SHOULD be able to get more than 3 seconds with our power up. At least I'm hoping for it. This is an all or nothing attack really. If you want to stop it, feel free to countermand me.