Sakuya Quest 4 - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>Hold fire, but stand ready.
>"Are you willing to end this unnecessary battle now ? I do not wish to harm you, yet i won't let anyone interfere with my duties, especially one like this."

>"I've only begun!" she says, as she puts away her scroll and picks out another with a smooth motion.
>She unrolls this one like before and begins to chant, this chant much deeper than before. It's a bit surprising her voice can go that low! A misty outline manifests behind her, easily more than twice her height. Its silhouette suggests heavy muscles and and in inhuman face.

>_

[Serela]

>Oof. Let's try to end this before it starts... and to save some knives. Stop time and throw several (up to four) streams of knives directly at her, then unstop.
>Begin moving away whilst observing both her and the results of the attack.

It seems likely she still won't be able to dodge, as she's probably in even deeper concentration than before. Initiative is key.

[Hello Purvis]

>Oof. Let's try to end this before it starts... and to save some knives. Stop time and throw several (up to four) streams of knives directly at her, then unstop.
>Begin moving away whilst observing both her and the results of the attack.

>You just stopped time a moment ago!

>_

[Monarda]

//Let`s not abuse of the time stop, it will likely backfire.

>Quickly fire more focused bursts and then back away to see what the figure will do now.

[Hello Purvis]

>Quickly fire more focused bursts and then back away to see what the figure will do now.

>You toss another knife and back away. The card's power absorbs them, but you can see it has affected the card a bit.
>The figure comes into focus, a huge figure dressed in flashy, striped kabuki robes, its face twisted into a furious snarl. It crosses its arms as you throw your knife, and slashes them through the air over Juza's head, leaving a trail of lingering green arrowhead danmaku in its wake. Then it thrusts its left palm in your direction, sending a line of fast-moving red pellet danmaku toward you.

>_

[Serela]

>Depending on the orientation of the line, either go sideways past it, or fly over it.
>Are the arrowheads going to come near us or are they just stopping us from getting too close?
>When not too preoccupied dodging, let loose knife steam(s) at Juza if we can.

[Hello Purvis]

>Depending on the orientation of the line, either go sideways past it, or fly over it.
>Are the arrowheads going to come near us or are they just stopping us from getting too close?
>When not too preoccupied dodging, let loose knife steam(s) at Juza if we can.

>The arrowheads seem to be floating forward very slowly, it would take then awhile to reach you.
>You move sideways, and find the line of danmaku is shifting to follow you.
>As you do, the image thrusts its other palm forward, sending another line of danmaku flying at you!

>_

[the old guy]

!!!!!
>are there trees nearby that we can hide behind?

[Hello Purvis]

!!!!!
>are there trees nearby that we can hide behind?

>Some, but using them is considered very poor taste. Not to mention it would invite your opponent to be more underhanded herself.

>_

[Monarda]

I wouldn't do for us to cowardly take cover behind an object like a tree, let us fight fairly.

>Use minimal movement while firing more bursts towards her, until the danmaku is close enough for it to be a imediate need to dodge.
>Which of the danmaku will arrive at what order ?

[Hello Purvis]

>Use minimal movement while firing more bursts towards her, until the danmaku is close enough for it to be a imediate need to dodge.
>Which of the danmaku will arrive at what order ?

>How will you be moving?
>The burst of red pellets is passing to your left, and streaming closer, showing no sign of slowing down. The burst of red pellets from its other hand is coming quickly toward you from ahead and the right. The green arrowheads are too far away to be a threat anytime soon, but will make it very difficult to get close to her.

>_

[Monarda]

>Use focused speed until the projectiles enter critical range, the make a swift dash to the right and then fowards to throw another knife burst.
>Can we use danmaku that's not knife-based as to save up on those ?

[Hello Purvis]

>Use focused speed until the projectiles enter critical range, the make a swift dash to the right and then fowards to throw another knife burst.
>Can we use danmaku that's not knife-based as to save up on those ?

>You can, sort of, but you're honestly not good at it. You do best when using it with your knife danmaku, and you're somewhat out of practice with it these days, due to semi-retirement and focusing on your specialties. You are better served by retrieving spent knives when you have an opening, or you've stopped time.
>You keep moving toward the right, and the streams keeps up with you. It seems to be more of an area control than an direct attack. The oncoming second burst close in on you, and you easily move around it. As you do, the image waves its hand again, and creates a dense wave of green arrows that zips toward you. In the meantime, you send more knives at Juza, and are pleased to see them hit home.

>_

[Monarda]

>Can we find any cracks on the streams ?
>Fire two more bursts while we have time then retreat and focus back on small movements and waiting dor the next big chunk of danmaku.
>Is our time stop ready again ?
>Knife count.

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we find any cracks on the streams ?
>Fire two more bursts while we have time then retreat and focus back on small movements and waiting dor the next big chunk of danmaku.
>Is our time stop ready again ?
>Knife count.

>There are no cracks that you can see in the stream that has been forcing you rightward. Its second burst has already passed you by.
>You have time to seen another line of knives toward Juza, before the wave gets worryingly close.
>You ought to be able to use it, if you feel you need to.
>You have nine knives left.

>_

[Suwako Moriya]

A general word of caution to be careful with using the time stop a lot. It's not guaranteed to last us indefinitely.

[Monarda]

I know, i was just checking, it's more of a backup plan.

>How far does the stream go ? Can we avoid it if we go forward ?
>Prepare a burst of knifes just in case.

[Hello Purvis]

I know, i was just checking, it's more of a backup plan.

>How far does the stream go ? Can we avoid it if we go forward ?
>Prepare a burst of knifes just in case.

>The stream crosses the length of the area, effectively cutting you off from the other side. It's quite tall.

>_

[Serela]

>The green wave is aimed at us, correct? Start/continue moving to the side just enough to stay away from it.
>Fire streams of knives at Juza once we feel safe that we're not gonna get hit in the immediate future.

[Monarda]

This is pretty much one of those spellcards where you can't wait and you must get sonw with it ASAP else it will overwhelm you.

[Hello Purvis]

>The green wave is aimed at us, correct? Start/continue moving to the side just enough to stay away from it.
>Fire streams of knives at Juza once we feel safe that we're not gonna get hit in the immediate future.

>Yes.
>The wave closes in as you are pushed rightward. You have a moment to analyze the wave; it seems to be made of a series of five crescents of danmaku that are offset so that the gap in one wave is covered by the next. However, there does seem to be a fair amount of space between the bullets. You don't think you have enough space to fully get around it.
>You toss another line of knives at Juza while moving rightward; see them hit home properly, but you are getting out of range.

>_

[Serela]

>Dash as far to the right as we safely can, stay there until the waves are being shot at this new spot, and then start slowly dodging them left.
>Assuming success in that, does it seem like the other waves will be out of the way (or at least sparse enough to dodge) before we're shoved back into them? If safe, it's knifing time again.

[Monarda]

>How much can we tolerate in danmaku hits ?

[Hello Purvis]

>Dash as far to the right as we safely can, stay there until the waves are being shot at this new spot, and then start slowly dodging them left.
>Assuming success in that, does it seem like the other waves will be out of the way (or at least sparse enough to dodge) before we're shoved back into them? If safe, it's knifing time again.

>You dodge rightward, but as you thought, you are not fast enough to get around the wave and several of the shots slam painfully into your torso.
>The stream at your right follows right along with you, but you note there are some gaps forming in it, through the pain.

>_

[Monarda]

>How much can we endure in danmaku terms ?
>Can we go through those gaps in time before they close ?
>Prepare to unleash another two bursts of knifes.

[Hello Purvis]

>How much can we endure in danmaku terms ?
>Can we go through those gaps in time before they close ?
>Prepare to unleash another two bursts of knifes.

>You can take a reasonable amount of punishment, but it does add up.
>You may be able to do so if you are quick.
>You draw another couple of knives.

>_

[Monarda]

>Then quickly advance there, if it doesn't seem like we'll make it, stop time for just one or two seconds to add in some extra distance.
>Once we're through let loose the two bursts of knifes on her.

[Serela]

Oh whoops. When I said right it was because I thought the waves were to the left, but Purvis had been talking about something else. Good job ramming Sakuya directly into a wave of bullets, me :V

[Hello Purvis]

>Then quickly advance there, if it doesn't seem like we'll make it, stop time for just one or two seconds to add in some extra distance.
>Once we're through let loose the two bursts of knifes on her.

>You cut through the stream with less room to spare then you'd like, but comfortably enough, putting it to your right and leaving a fair amount of room to your left.
>The image makes a sweeping gesture over its head, conjuring a thick field of danmaku overhead, which becomes to descend down toward you from an angle.

>_

[Monarda]

>Fire two more bursts of knifes.
>How many knifes would be retrievable if we used a time stop with half of our power/stamina/max limit for it ?