(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[Hello Purvis]

>Get air, submerge!

[DracoOmega]

>Get air, submerge!

>You don't think you can stop yourself coughing for long enough to hold a breath just yet.

[Hello Purvis]

>Kick away from the web, then.

[DracoOmega]

>Kick away from the web, then.

>You kick away from the web, darting laterally in the river and coughing all the while. You hear something sail very close past your right arm and then a frustrated growl from the direction the shot was fired.

[Hello Purvis]

>Keep clearing out those lungs, and if we can keep listening.



Edit: This is noteworthy; it's the first time Yamame's honestly missed us. Which suggests something is up on her side. Given we actually heard it coming, it must have other come very slowly or she's very far away. Might she be running out of ammo finally?

[Oldmansour]

>Grope around, try to find that sword. Using however much of our treasure sense we can given the circumstances.

[Hello Purvis]

>Grope around, try to find that sword. Using however much of our treasure sense we can given the circumstances.

>First let's focus on not drowning and freeing ourself, so we can actually dive down after it.

[DracoOmega]

>Keep clearing out those lungs, and if we can keep listening.

>You keep coughing; in fact, you doubt you could stop yourself if you tried. You don't feel like you're coughing up much beyond air at this point, but your lungs still feel very irritated. To say nothing of the rest of your body at the moment... Your head in particular is still pounding madly.

>Grope around, try to find that sword. Using however much of our treasure sense we can given the circumstances.

>First let's focus on not drowning and freeing ourself, so we can actually dive down after it.

>You decide to prioritize other things over groping around for the sword just yet. On the positive side, you can still feel it very nearby with your treasure sense. In fact, you're probably almost on top of it.
>You hear something else shoot through the air behind you. Wait, two somethings.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to force ourself to stop coughing, and dunk down into the water for a moment. Just a moment, long enough for those whatevers to miss.
>Turn the irritation from it toward dragging ourself a little closer to the web, to avoid surfacing into them.

[Oldmansour]

>If we think the sword is within reach while we're down there, make a grab for it.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to force ourself to stop coughing, and dunk down into the water for a moment. Just a moment, long enough for those whatevers to miss.
>Turn the irritation from it toward dragging ourself a little closer to the web, to avoid surfacing into them.

>You try to will yourself to stop coughing and sink down into the water. Almost as soon as your head dips below the river's surface you feel another pushing at your lungs, but you grimace and force your mouth to stay closed.
>As you pull yourself a little closer to the web, you hear something skim along the water next to you.

>If we think the sword is within reach while we're down there, make a grab for it.

>You grasp your fingers towards where you think the sword is, but they still find nothing but water. Just a little deeper, you think...

[Hello Purvis]

>Surface, resume trying to breath.

I wouldn't be too eager to just grab it, Sour. Most of it is sharp.

[DracoOmega]

>Surface, resume trying to breath.

>You surface again and let out the cough that you'd been suppressing. A couple smaller ones follow it, but you think they're settling down a little.
>You hear something skim across the water's surface and then whip through the air. In stereo.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do they seem to be coming toward us?

[DracoOmega]

>Do they seem to be coming toward us?

>Their course is hard to read by sound; they're not traveling quite predictable paths. One seems to be moving up at the moment, while the other is moving laterally. At least some part of the second seems like it might hit you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to get a breath and submerge again.

[DracoOmega]

>Try to get a breath and submerge again.

>You take another breath - a better one this time - then duck beneath the water again. If one of them was indeed about to hit you, you seem to have avoided it.

[Hello Purvis]

>Come back up just a little, let our ears lead and tell us the coast is clear first. If it is, get a breath.

[Oldmansour]

>Once we draw a decent breath, go under again, far enough to grab that sword.
>If we manage to grab it this time, slice ourselves free of that webbing.

Right now, all we're doing is bobbing up and down like a bloody lure. We need to get unstuck, and for that, we need that weapon.

[Hello Purvis]

I suspect we're going to have to reverse that order. And yeah, that's because drowning is super bad. Sometimes things take a bit of patience.

>Don't just grab it, though. No need to hack our hand open.

[DracoOmega]

>Come back up just a little, let our ears lead and tell us the coast is clear first. If it is, get a breath.

>You surface high enough to listen for more incoming attacks. You hear one tether being whipped back across the water's surface with another angling downward from above, but you think you have time enough for a quick breath. You take it, then submerge again.

>Once we draw a decent breath, go under again, far enough to grab that sword.
>If we manage to grab it this time, slice ourselves free of that webbing.

>Don't just grab it, though. No need to hack our hand open.

>You dive deeper, feeling around for the sword. Your treasure sense is frustratingly imprecise for doing this blind, but at least you know it hasn't been carried downstream. Your right hand scoops through the water, feeling for anything the sword could have landed on. Still nothing... nothing... You brush against a rock and quickly work your fingers across its surface. Still nothing... Your left arm is getting nearly as stretched as it can now, affixed to the webbing above you while you reach out with your other arm.
>You hear another sharp splash from somewhere above you, followed by something coursing through the water toward you.
>There! That's the blade! Your feel your fingers brush against the sharp edge, likely propped up along another fallen rock.

[Hello Purvis]

>Pull back from the thing coming at us, and give our left a break. And maybe get a breath, too, if the coast is clear.
>Do we recall if there's a wall nearby?

[Oldmansour]

>Before that,
>Stay down long enough to find the hilt of the sword and grab it.

[DracoOmega]

>Do we recall if there's a wall nearby?

>You believe you're a couple feet from a wall on the right, with another being rather more distant to the left.

>Before that,
>Stay down long enough to find the hilt of the sword and grab it.

>You feel quickly but carefully along the blade, searching for the grip. If it's edged on that side and curving in this direction, then the hilt must be...
>As your fingers brush against the guard, you feel a light impact against your arm. Your hand is immediately jerked forcefully away.

[Hello Purvis]

>Jerk it back, grab that sword from behind the blade if it's closer.

[Oldmansour]

>If we can't use our hand to grab the hilt and secure it, try our tail.

[DracoOmega]

>Jerk it back, grab that sword from behind the blade if it's closer.

>You jerk back hard, trying to pull your arm back down to the sword. You gain another couple inches and then start to lose them again. You strain and put as much force as you can into your arm, but unless something gives soon, this is clearly a losing battle.
>From the way the sword is lodged, the blade is not very much closer than the hilt is, certainly not enough to be useful.

>If we can't use our hand to grab the hilt and secure it, try our tail.

>While you wrestle for your arm, you twist your torso around and lower your tail towards the sword. You already know where the hilt is and it should be right around... there!
>You coil your tail a couple times around the hilt and lift. You're not about to win any swordsmanship contests with it held this way, but you've got it! At about the same time, you start being pulled upward and out of the water.

[Hello Purvis]

Man that's embarrassing. Forgot we could do that.

>Move sword to hand, and presuming there's a stand, slip the blade under it and cut through like last time, then finish the job on the web.

[DracoOmega]

>Move sword to hand, and presuming there's a stand, slip the blade under it and cut through like last time, then finish the job on the web.

>With your arm being pulled straight up like it is, you don't think you can bring the hilt high enough with your tail for it to reach your hand.

[Hello Purvis]

>Allow it a little give, then savagely jerk our hand back with the desperate strength of someone in a drowning panic situation and get that sword. Rock our whole body into the motion to give it extra strength.