[Mirrinus]

Allow me to present Chapter 1:

Spoiler

Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 1

Good evening. I am Sakuya Izayoi, loyal maid to Lady Scarlet. Today I am writing following our first venture into the bizarre space that has appeared above Gensokyo. It is a most peculiar place, one whose very presence has wrecked havoc upon the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Unfortunately, my participation in this expedition has left a mountain of duties piling up back home.ba

Someone was going to die for this.

Thankfully, I am not alone. My mistress and her close friend Lady Patchouli boldly stand by my side. As it is dangerous to leave her alone in the mansion unattended, the young mistress Flandre has joined us out of necessity, in the hopes that we could channel her destructive tendencies towards more useful endeavors. Also by our side is the indolent shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei, who must assuredly atone for this disaster that she had helped wrought through her own negligence.

In addition, the disgraceful thief Marisa Kirisame has finally managed to do something beneficial and recruited several others to our noble cause. The first is Lady Moriya, one of the goddesses of Youkai Mountain, who has righteously identified the threat to Gensokyo and has pledged her assistance. Second is Lady Ibuki, an old friend of Yukari Yakumo's, who is concerned for her friend's connection to this incident. Our third compatriot is Miss Shameimaru, the nosy reporter of Bunbunmaru fame, whose limitless curiosity has brought her to the scene of the incident. Lastly is Lady Kazami, the Flower Master of the Four Seasons. I believe she said she just wished to kill things.

Marisa accompanied us on our journey, but chose to keep her distance from us. She did mention something about coming only to "loot precious things".

I recall being apprehensive about our missing gate guard, who had disappeared around the time the hole in the sky first appeared yesterday, but little do I know I'd soon find the answer to that mystery. Regardless, I relished the thought of what punishment she deserved for her absence. Leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion to the care of a few fairy maids, we set off for the strange distorted space.

Upon our entrance, we were greeted not with the raging pits of hell, but rather the serene grace of a tranquil woodland clearing. This is certainly not what we expected, although I would by no means complain. Best to ease oneself in, after all.

A few steps in, we ran into the first of many bizarre features of this dungeon: the event flag "!". Apparently, these mark special spaces where certain events would occur, be it treasure chests, special switches, elaborate puzzles, or character encounters. Boss battle events will be marked with a menacing violet facade...or at least, most of them will be. Since we can only see one space ahead of us, we must tread carefully, lest we walk blindly into a deadly ambush.

Fortunately, no such ambushes were to be had at this stage of the game. The local wildlife may have looked out of place anywhere else, but not in Gensokyo. Living plants, minor demons, ghostly wisps, and annoying fuzzballs infringed upon our advance, but we mercilessly swatted them away. Milady in particular demonstrated incredible strength and grace as she tore them apart with her energy spears, her light hair shimmering in the scarlet glow, her small but well-tuned muscles exerting enormous might as she let out the most adorable grunt with each blow that illicited such a response from...

Ahem, moving on now. During our expedition we came across three events of interest. The first was the discovery of a peaceful spot basking in the warm glow of the sun, although I have no idea how the sun is even shining in this place. I'm not sure how this is significant at all, but my companions seem to think this was notable.

The next interesting event occurred when the space around us rapidly darkened for a few moments. It only lasted a short while, but it was certainly not natural. Lady Patchouli warned us to be aware and take note of our surroundings lest a similar incidence catches us again.

The last, and most significant, event was when we overheard someone crying some distance away. I immediately recognized the distinct wimpering as a very familiar sound that has graced my ears many times before. Milady confirmed my suspicions, and we set off to find the source of that noise.

To no great surprise, we come to find our gate guard, cowering in hiding and muttering something about everyone from the mansion being dead or some other sort of nonsense. Milady graciously tried to comfort her and snap her out of it, but in her delerium she had the impudence to accuse us of being malicious spirits, and in her terror, attack us!

If there's one thing I can commend China for, it's her ability to endure an impressive amount of punishment. Unfortunately for her, she can't return the favor to any degree. Reimu started off the fight by putting her barrier powers to good use, summoning up a sturdy wall of spiritual energy to shield our allies. China's attacks were unable to put much of a dent into our defenses, and we soon had her cornered. She tried to get a second wind going with her healing chakra, which undid much of our efforts, but even that was not enough to halt our unwavering assault. After beating some sense into her (and a few familiar knives to the back), China was finally willing to listen to what we had to say. Milady forcibly conscripted her into our party, reasoning that the Scarlet Devil Mansion was too damaged to need a gate guard anymore anyway. I was just glad we had a suitable slab of meat to safely stand behind.

Shortly thereafter, we returned to the mansion to initiate our newest member. I cannot speak of what such an event entails, as I left as soon as it began to record this transcript. Although, I do hear a punctuated scream every so often coming from the other room.

Speaking of which, I still must rejoin them in welcoming our newest ally. Just as soon as I finish sharpening these knives.

~ Sakuya Izayoi

And some gameplay notes:

Spoiler

Although I will be using Alice and Cirno in this playthrough, they both join relatively early in the game, so I felt it was easier to just write them in when I first meet them. Aya also joins fairly early, but since no battles are involved, I'm just going to skip the (very very easy) sidequest to get her in this playthrough. Flandre and Suika normally join very late, but only the former requires a battle. Same goes for Suwako, only she joins about 1/3 into the game. I'll write those fights in when I get there. Yuka is an extra character from the post-game content after beating the final boss, so I might as well use her now or never. Reimu, Remilia, Sakuya, and Patchy are all starting characters.

I won't be using Marisa, but she appears in a lot of cutscenes, so she'll still be around...somehow. This actually goes for a lot of characters, even if you don't use them.

Gameplay-wise, the normal enemies on floor 1 are pretty easy to sweep with Patchy. Just don't use Satellite Himawari, as many enemies here are resistant to Nature spells. Many enemies drop SP Rec + gear, which is useful for helping Patchy recover her low SP. When everyone starts at level 1, they all have the same base 100 speed, so if you need Patchy to go first to use focus while everyone else finishes the sweeping for a round, put her in an early spot, as characters with identical speed will move in row position order. Just don't let her get hit while you do this, because she dies very easily.

Meiling, as the game's first boss, is pretty easy. Her attack power isn't very good, and she only has single-target attacks, so put Remilia in front to tank and use Reimu's Great Hakurei Barrier to protect everyone. When she gets low on health, she will use Colorful Rain to heal about 1600 HP. I've never seen her use this more than once in battle, though. Maybe she can use it again, but as long as you pile on the attacks you should be able to overcome it. It should be a fairly easy fight so long as your party is at least level 4-5. Meiling has a 25% chance of dropping an Unwavering Will, which is an OK piece of equipment at this stage of the game (HP, DEF, MND +12%; REC +4%). It's notable for not being dropped by any other enemy, with the only other version of this found in a single treasure chest.

Next chapter will be a bit shorter, so it should be up in a day or two. It takes me much longer to type this up than to actually play it.

One other thing: I haven't really decided how I plan on portraying each character yet. Some characters, like Patchy, Cirno, Yuka, and Flandre, I've already had ideas for, but I haven't really figured out how to write for some of the other characters. So, if anyone wants to suggest ideas, I'm open to considering them.