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Marca Estrella: A Game of Chivalry in the Time of Archengines

Which extra materials do you want for the chapter end?

  • Warfare in the Guirlanda: Part 1

    Votes: 8 11.1%

  • Daily Life in the Holy Ispano Empire: Part 1

    Votes: 12 16.7%

  • Cofre Del Tesoro: A Brief History

    Votes: 2 2.8%

  • The Geneology of House de la Bota

    Votes: 4 5.6%

  • The Design of an Archengine

    Votes: 21 29.2%

  • Alien Races of the Guirlanda and Frontier

    Votes: 25 34.7%
  • Total voters
    72
  • Poll closed .
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[X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.
 
[X] Evade, and keep your distance for now, and tell Avagis to scan and tell you everything he can about Murgleys.


We don't know what other tricks he may have up his sleeve. Better to play it safe till Avagis reveals them.
 
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[X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.
 
[X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.

He has more tricks, yes, that's for sure.

Giving him time to get his bearings and put them to use would not be in our favor.
 
[X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.
 
[X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.
 
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Part Uno XXIV: Whose Eyes See Victory?
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    [X] Evade, with your mantella ready at high threshold and shoot him repeatedly until the spezzante reforms.


    You roll to one side, raising your mantella as the two projectiles leap in at you. You manage to get out of the way of one, the other deflecting high. You raise your pistol and fire, rounds shrieking off the heavy suits armour as it comes up to its feet. It raises its arm, rounds chipping the armour. One shot goes slips past his guard and almost strikes the optics, but suddenly stops mid-air and rolls off the armor harmlessly.

    He begins to advance as you find your magazine run out. "You know my dear Miriea, you're too clever by half. If you'd attacked me straight up, with fists, you would have taken me down while I was blinded by using Murgleys' grase."

    He surges forward and you're inspired to flick the pistol back to block the blow, the sheer force of it almost cutting you with your own saber as it deflects. "A girl like you shouldn't disobey her instincts."

    "Are you mocking me again?"

    "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You've fought in only two battles. You have no experience, so you need to rely on what's inside. The heart, not the head, that's the source of your strength." Another punch slides you back. You twist out of a way of a third, the saber bending under the force. You toss the useless weapon aside and swing up the now regenerated spezzante. You twirl it, flicking away each punch or forcing him back with the end, careful not to break it, looking for a weakness you can exploit for a killing blow.

    <<He's getting tired, and our performance is superior. We can wear him down>> Avagis sounds tired himself.

    You remember the Balduino muscles, the way he moved, and look at the amount of punishment the Murgleys has already absorbed. <<No, we can't. Sooner or later, he'll get lucky.>> It'll only take a couple of good hits from that fist and you'll be wrecked. Dodging and your shield will only help so much.

    <<Argh. I want full armour!>> Avagis snarls.

    <<Don't get frustrated, concentrate on the machine>>

    You circle left, then turn it into a roll, coming up facing him in the centre of the circle. "You're very quick. And you've gotten a lot less stiff. You're a natural talent Miriea."

    Even in your haggard state of mind, full of anger and fear and flight and fight, the flattery manages to get you to smile. It's true, you've always had something most people don't, the ability to make things in the physical world go where you want them too. Up until today, life had been rather easy. Without challenges you had become complacent, needing endless cajoling to continue your practice and improve your skills. It had become routine, another one of your exercises as a filial daughter.

    He comes in again, another hammer blow, right hand punch, switches to the compressa, slashing rapidly, then mounting a series of long, quick thrusts. He's trying to get you to commit to something so he can punish you.

    You stay on the defensive, making only a few stabs with your longer weapon, careful not to overextend yourself as you consider the options.

    If he thinks that's all you have.

    You can use it against him.

    Or is he trying for a double bluff, trying to make you hesitate and think of a plan? Everything in his stance says he's trying to get you to commit to an attack, but then if he didn't want you too wouldn't he do just this?

    You can't go in circles on this. He jabs again, and you barely deflect it off your shield. He snaps the other limb up and a heavy projectile thunders past Michael's ducking head. You need to end this now, before he gets lucky.


    How do you try to end this?

    [ ] Go with your heart, launch a furious flurry of attacks that overwhelm his defence and pierce his armour
    [ ] Put the setting sun at your back and blind him with it, then go for a killing blow.
    [ ] Pretend to commit to an attack, then, as he attacks you, play out your longer weapon and impale him on one of the glass ends.
     
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    • [X] Go with your heart, launch a furious flurry of attacks that overwhelm his defence and pierce his armour
     
    Hey, don't we have one of those eye lasers too? Ones that don't cause massive flash blindness? Can we use a laser powered headbutt at some point? That would be an awesome finisher.
     
    Taiho said:
    Hey, don't we have one of those eye lasers too? Ones that don't cause massive flash blindness? Can we use a laser powered headbutt at some point? That would be an awesome finisher.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It's part of Michael's full suit of abilities, but we didn't repair it.

    Anyway, the only thing I can do here is follow my heart and it is telling me that Mireia should

    [X] Follow the heart.
     
    [X] Pretend to commit to an attack, then, as he attacks you, play out your longer weapon and impale him on one of the glass ends.
     
    [X] Go with your heart, launch a furious flurry of attacks that overwhelm his defence and pierce his armour
     
    [X] Go with your heart, launch a furious flurry of attacks that overwhelm his defence and pierce his armour
     
    Part Uno XXV: Staggered in the Attack
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    [x] Go with your heart, launch a furious flurry of attacks that overwhelm his defence and pierce his armour.

    You flash in, the point of the spezzante sweeping towards his chest, sure you'll hit.

    And then you hear him laugh. The point of his compressa comes up, then the blade extends out to whip form, knocking the spezzante to one side. You pull it back, but not fast enough. He steps inside the weapon and hammers a blow like a thunder bolt into the centre of Michael's armour.

    Damage alarms scream through the cockpit and you are thrown backwards, the force enough to almost make you vomit as you slide back, raising a huge trail of dirt. Somehow you manage to get your polearm down and arrest your movement a few feet from the edge of the circle.

    "I'm sorry Mireia. I really do like you, and you'll be a great duelist one day." He advances, slowly. "But I've committed years of my life to this. I'm not seeking some glorious defeat to get me out of my mad course. I'm going to win."

    You look up at him, speechless as he walks slowly towards you. You see shards of cloudy blue glass swim across the ground towards you as your spezzante regenerates, it'll be seconds before it becomes useable.

    <<Mireia. Are you alright?>>

    <<Yeah. No. I think my ribs are broken.>>

    "I can't help but give you some advice. You must never fight entirely with your heart, anymore than you can fight entirely with your head." di Gano touches his archengine's breast, then its head. "That is why there are two crew aboard, one in the head, and one in the heart. This is the true locus of…"

    You come back up, feeling the creak of Michael's stressed bones mingle with your own. "This duel isn't over!" You rocket up off the ground, swinging the haft of the spezzante at him low. It's enough, driving him back and you desperately race across the side of the circle, dust spraying up as you gain distance.

    "Sorry Mireia." He swings around, raising his other arm to fire the heavy projectile at you. You come up, raising your shield and the round deflects away. "You just don't have what it takes to beat me!" He storms forward, not fast enough to let you get him off balance now, just moving regularly, punching at you, trying to drive you out of the circle.

    You dodge back away from a compressa strike, then duck under another punch. He's pushing you back brutally, riding the edge. It's all you can do to get the escudo in the way.

    <<Spezzante in 5 seconds.>>

    For a moment, the world seems to slow. It's just you and your opponent and Avagis, time seeming to slow for you, you can see leaves blowing on the wind. You think, for an instant, of defeating your father this morning, blinding him with the sun.

    You can't let youself get caught up again, you need to think to win.

    [ ] Move as if you're trying to put the sun at your back, then rapidly reverse direction as he moves to block you, use the half of the spezzante to trip him forward and push him out of the circle.
    [ ] Purge Michael's armour and use the brightness of the sunlight off the armour to blind him, then make a rapid thrust as you did to your father earlier.
    [ ] Feint as if you're going to make another wild attack, then as he counter punches, jump over him with your augmented legs and back strike him out of the circle.
    [ ] When he comes in next, knock his weapons aside with the spezzante and punch him out with Michael's over the top output.
    [ ] Maybe it's time for your heart to listen to a cooler head. Ask Avagis for help before you make another mistake.
     
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    • [X] Purge Michael's armour and use the brightness of the sunlight off the armour to blind him, then make a rapid thrust as you did to your father earlier.

    He's a better duelist, and he's got our measure. Everything else either takes too long or tries to beat him at his own game.

    This is the option that best blends cunning with audacity, and fires off fast enough that he can't punish us before it comes to play.
     
    We've used the brightness of Michael's frame to blind someone in the past, so I'm not so sure that Baudino won't be able to deal with it.

    Being able to stop to ask for help is a useful skill that a lot of giant robot protagonists could use. Avagis is as much a part of Michael as we are.

    [X] Maybe it's time for your heart to listen to a cooler head. Ask Avagis for help before you make another mistake.
     
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