Keine Quest (Part 2): Broken History

[Hello Purvis]

>"Here they come, give us a mark, Mokou."
>Try to dodge around and invoke some familiars.

[DracoOmega]

>"Here they come, give us a mark, Mokou."

>"Roger!" You hear the sound of another marker being placed.

>Try to dodge around and invoke some familiars.

>You quickly dodge out of the way, and Mokou and Rumia scatter away from the shots in different directions. You see several more bursts launched towards you as you conjure some familiars. None of them is especially complex, but there's four spirits firing on your group, and at least a dozen more almost within range, now

[Hello Purvis]

>Fly up, and let the familiars do their thing. Focus fire on the nearest ones, first.

[DracoOmega]

>Fly up, and let the familiars do their thing. Focus fire on the nearest ones, first.

>You ascend and lay down fire. Soon the air between you and the spirits is dense with interlocking bullets. A few of your lines sweep through spirits, and they sizzle and waver, a few of them dissipating completely. The spirits don't seem to be able to move well enough to dodge effectively. Some of them do swerve around the bullets, but this seems mostly incidental; a side-effect of their usual wobbling trajectory.
>Several more spirits launch short bursts at you and the rest of your group, seemingly at random, while a couple larger spirits that have just come into range spray a spiral of dense bullets in all directions.
>Mokou turns around a flings a wave of amulets at several nearby spirits, cutting through them easily. They flicker out of existence. Rumia contributes some fire as well, although her aim is a little lacking

[Hello Purvis]

>Let Mokou handle herself. Hell, just stay out of her way.
>Try to fly over the spirals, and between if needs be.
>Back up Rumia, and keep the large spirits in our sights if Mokou doesn't go for them.

[DracoOmega]

>Let Mokou handle herself. Hell, just stay out of her way.
>Try to fly over the spirals, and between if needs be.
>Back up Rumia, and keep the large spirits in our sights if Mokou doesn't go for them.

>You leave Mokou her side of the group and move to evade the spiral waves, while attempting to keep yourself between them and Rumia. Most of what the spirits had thrown at you so far was pretty simple, but this takes a little effort. Still, you're managing alright so far. Your shots take out another smaller spirit or two, and several blast through the larger one. It seems angered by the impacts - well, at least as angered as a wispy ball of light can manage to look - but doesn't slow its fire. You hear Mokou launch a few more waves off to the side.
>Several more spirits sweep in towards your flank, and a second larger one starts shooting another spiral pattern. It suddenly becomes much more difficult to navigate, with the two of them crossing over each other

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to focus on the big one we damaged.  Stay in the open spots. Let incidental fire take out the rest for now.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to focus on the big one we damaged.  Stay in the open spots. Let incidental fire take out the rest for now.

>You try to concentrate your fire on the larger spirit that you've already hit, while you dart back and forth between gaps in the two intersecting patterns. It's getting pretty hectic! You see a couple other smaller spirits get taken out, while the large one wavers a bit. Then the small ones to your side launch a couple smaller bursts. You hear Rumia yelp. Then a spread of amulets slams into the large spirit and it disappears in an angry flickering burst.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thanks, Mokou!"
>Sweep across the smaller ones, then focus on the other big one.

[DracoOmega]

>"Thanks, Mokou!"
>Sweep across the smaller ones, then focus on the other big one.

>"No problem," she calls back, as she turns and takes out another couple smaller ones near her.
>You turn your fire towards the smaller ones by your side, and dissipate a few of them. With the first large spirit destroyed, evading the second's pattern becomes a little easier, although a few of the bursts from the smaller ones are hard to dodge while inside it. You see Rumia score a hit on a spirit, and destroy it.
>With most of the little ones thinned out, you switch your fire to the larger one. It wavers under a few of your bullets, and then several more amulets connect with it, and it dissipates as well.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look around, any others seem to want to scrap?

[DracoOmega]

>Look around, any others seem to want to scrap?

>You seem to have destroyed all the ones in your vicinity. Although... you think some of the ones further away are looking a more agitated. Maybe it's just your imagination?

[Hello Purvis]

>"I hope I was able to give you some decent cover, Mokou."
>Find the marker. Proceed!

[DracoOmega]

>"I hope I was able to give you some decent cover, Mokou."

>"Eh, don't worry about it," she replies. "Those things just better learn to keep to themselves."
>"Those things were scary..." Rumia adds. It looks like she may have sustained a hit or two, but nothing serious.

>Find the marker. Proceed!

>You find the marker easily, and continue to proceed in the direction you were previously traveling.
>You very shortly grow convinced that it was not your imagination at all, as various wisps of light in the distance flicker angrily and start to dart about more rapidly. You think a great many of them may be drifting in your direction.

[Hello Purvis]

>"It seems the whole room has a problem with us, now."
>How long until they reach us?

[DracoOmega]

>"It seems the whole room has a problem with us, now."

>"Yeah, well I've got a problem with them, too," Mokou snaps. Rumia just frowns and looks around.

>How long until they reach us?

>It's hard to put a figure on it, since many are coming from various directions. You could move faster than any of them have so far, if you tried to dash, but many of them are before you, or above you. Thankfully, the majority of the clouds of lights don't seem to be moving after you, but there's still a very significant number. There are a couple groups in the distance behind you. One is somewhat close. The others might take several minutes to reach you even if you stayed where you are. There's a couple fairly close ahead, and to the right, and some more at various points in the distance. The most worrisome are the groups hovering around the ceiling, however, since they seem to be spread across a large part of the cavern, and many of them are now descending. It is hard to judge how well you could evade many of them, considering you still have no idea where the exits to this chamber are.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I would hate to drain a spellcard on this, but it seems I may have no choice. Mokou, would you pick your favorite, dear? You've a much idea how to minimize this issue than I do."

[DracoOmega]

>"I would hate to drain a spellcard on this, but it seems I may have no choice. Mokou, would you pick your favorite, dear? You've a much idea how to minimize this issue than I do."

>"So, just gonna stand here and give 'em hell, are ya?" She grins a little, and pulls out a spellcard.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Running is much more of a gamble, I would think, and frankly I'm a little frustrated tonight. I'll take the ones to the right."
>"Rumia, stay with that Talisman that Mokou put on the floor, so we don't lose it."

[DracoOmega]

>"Running is much more of a gamble, I would think, and frankly I'm a little frustrated tonight. I'll take the ones to the right."

>"Would help if we knew where we were supposed to run to," Mokou comments. "And good enough."

>"Rumia, stay with that Talisman that Mokou put on the floor, so we don't lose it."

>"Ok," she walks over to the talisman and stands on top of it  " ...are we going to be ok?" she asks after a moment. "There's a loooot of scary ghosty lights."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Rumia, dear, this is nothing for Mokou. Oh, and be sure to dodge when you need to."
>Toward the right group. Set up a double layer of familiars, because patience is out.

[DracoOmega]

>"Rumia, dear, this is nothing for Mokou. Oh, and be sure to dodge when you need to."

>"Ok. Rumia will do her best," she responds, with rather less enthusiasm than usual.
>"Heh. Thanks for the vote of confidence there," Mokou comments snidely.

>Toward the right group. Set up a double layer of familiars, because patience is out.

>You conjure a dense array of familiars for a frontal assault on the incoming spirits. They may be remnants of the souls of the damned, but you're an irate schoolteacher, and everyone knows which of those two is scarier.

>The spirits you're facing continue to close, darting in and around each other and flicking cold light. It's hard to count exactly how many are there, but there's at least a dozen or more in the first group, while the significantly more numerous mass from the ceiling continues to descend. Mokou has turned to face some of the ones coming from behind.

[Hello Purvis]

>Once they are in range, let the ones in front have it. Keep half an eye on the ones above.

[DracoOmega]

>Once they are in range, let the ones in front have it. Keep half an eye on the ones above.

>You wait for the right moment to strike, and as soon as the spirits come within range, you tear into them, launching a dense spray of bullets. They respond with fire of their own: several rapid streams towards you, and some slower shots with a wide spread. Your bullets reach them first, and destroy a couple small ones in the front, but more surge forward and take their place almost immediately. You hear Mokou engaging a couple spirits behind you.
>Sparing a glance to look at them, a few of the spirits that were directly above you will be in range in a few moments, although most are still further away. The waves coming towards you in the distance look almost like a swarm of angry fireflies.

[Hello Purvis]

>Spellcards
>Edge away from the streams of shots, slip through the wide spread when safe. Try to circle around and get the spirits from above in our line of sight, too.
>Keep up the offense. Get closer if it feels safe.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Spellcards

>Your currently usable spellcards:

>Spiritual Birth "First Pyramid"
>Creates familiars which orbit the caster and spray bullets in an intricate pattern, while ocassionally launching targeted energy blasts, forcing the enemy into the denser parts of the pattern to evade them.

>Origin Sign "Ephemerality 137"
>Repeatedly launches clusters of familiars which explode into a spray of bullets upon contact with any solid object.

>Ending Sign "Phantasmal Emperor"
>Creates several rotating arrays of familiars which fire an interlocking pattern of lasers, while launching concentric rings of projectiles from yourself. Creates a dense omnidirectional pattern to navigate, but limits your own movement

>Edge away from the streams of shots, slip through the wide spread when safe. Try to circle around and get the spirits from above in our line of sight, too.

>You move aside from the incoming streams and weave between the fairly obvious gaps in the spread. Most of these aren't especially threatening individually, but when they start piling up...
>You attempt to circle towards a vantage that allows you to see both the spirits above you and in front of you as well, but this proves difficult given that the ones from above are not in a single cluster. You manage to get a slightly better angle, but some of the ones above remain out of your sight.

>Keep up the offense. Get closer if it feels safe.

>You continue your offense, picking off another smaller one or two. Several more come into firing range, now, sending a mixture of patterns towards you. There are several more direct streams, and a few spirits start scattering tiny bullets around themselves at random, forming clouds. You can see a larger spirit about to move into range behind them.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does First Pyramid have good upper coverage, as well?
>If possible, spread the shots around more. If only one or two in a pack are getting hit, we're concentrating far too much.
>Ascend a bit, if that'll help alleviate some of the pressure from the nearby stuff, but not too much, lest it tempt others.

[DracoOmega]

>Does First Pyramid have good upper coverage, as well?

>There are several concentric rings of familiars that can be set to rotate at different vertical angles. Generally, the wider a range of vertical coverage, the less dense the pattern becomes.

>If possible, spread the shots around more. If only one or two in a pack are getting hit, we're concentrating far too much.

>The pack itself is moderately spread out, and while the spirits are not especially good at dodging, they still evade some shots. Also, others have taken a few hits without being entirely eliminated. Considering that many of them are still not within optimal range, you're not sure how much better you can do on this front, at the moment.

>Ascend a bit, if that'll help alleviate some of the pressure from the nearby stuff, but not too much, lest it tempt others.

>You ascend a little, evading most of the directed bursts. Several of the smaller spirits scattering random bullets pick up speed and dart towards you, angling for both flanks. The larger one comes into range, and begins weaving a spiraling pattern, while you see a few more bursts fired at you from above. Your own web of bullets takes out a couple more spirits.

[Hello Purvis]

>Descend to throw off the ones approaching.
>Move toward the pack on the ground, to tighten up the bullets for defensive purposes against the charging ones, and try to take care of that big one in a hurry. Weave through stuff as we can.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Descend to throw off the ones approaching.
>Move toward the pack on the ground, to tighten up the bullets for defensive purposes against the charging ones, and try to take care of that big one in a hurry. Weave through stuff as we can.

>You descend and move forward, evading the incoming bursts, and trying to shift to a better position to fire. The smaller ones sweep around your sides, leaving trails of sluggishly floating danmaku in their wake. It isn't a threat, yet, but may impede your mobility as they lay down more of it. You slip through the first gap in the spiral and try to focus your fire on the larger target. Your bullets sweep through the gathering, hitting numerous spirits, and destroying a couple of them. Multiple bullets collide with the larger target, but its fire remains solid.
>More bursts are launched from the spirits above you, as several more come into range.