Started working on update. These rolls obviously indicated Kinematics was right that Keiko had restocked her kitten machine. 9 rolls, average: 70.7, 6 rolls over 80.
Less fortunately you did not beat the DC on convincing Nagoya to engage pairs of 3s at a time, it was a pretty significant DC because while they could easily take out 2 if they grouped up, they aren't fond of the idea of more of them arriving in pairs to join the party. Plus your credibility had taken a bit of a hit.
Unfortunately you've failed the last roll really badly and I'm now debating just how to handle it. I'm surprised at the lack of specific to this event omakes. I may be rolling some death tables, though I must admit that the shift in the quest design makes even me hesitant to do so.
Unfortunately you've failed the last roll ridiculously bad and I'm now debating just how to handle it. I'm surprised at the lack of specific to this event omakes. I may be rolling some death tables, though I must admit that the shift in the quest design makes even me hesitant to do so.
Unfortunately you've failed the last roll really badly and I'm now debating just how to handle it. I'm surprised at the lack of specific to this event omakes. I may be rolling some death tables, though I must admit that the shift in the quest design makes even me hesitant to do so.
Well... not sure exactly on the details of what is happening, but more generally on quest design I know named deaths due to failing a single dice roll tends to not go over well. Dying due to multiple dice roll failures tend to go over better. Basically it feels more like "we did everything we could" and "the universe was out to get them."
Well... not sure exactly on the details of what is happening, but more generally on quest design I know named deaths due to failing a single dice roll tends to not go over well. Dying due to multiple dice roll failures tend to go over better. Basically it feels more like "we did everything we could" and "the universe was out to get them."
Hmm suppose I could just break at that point and give you another decision tree.
Basically your plan succeeded quite well straight down to last planned lure and crit failed. Currently this is plotted as essentially a pack teleporting directly into your group of squishy vets, in addition to the pair you intentionally pulled. Which is basically the point where you get total pandemonium in your group which isn't precisely combat hardened. Granted in such a scenario, most of your girls would activate their teleport escape, but it wouldn't be an instant reaction.
Unfortunately you've failed the last roll really badly and I'm now debating just how to handle it. I'm surprised at the lack of specific to this event omakes. I may be rolling some death tables, though I must admit that the shift in the quest design makes even me hesitant to do so.
Basically your plan succeeded quite well straight down to last planned lure and crit failed. Currently this is plotted as essentially a pack teleporting directly into your group of squishy vets, in addition to the pair you intentionally pulled. Which is basically the point where you get total pandemonium in your group which isn't precisely combat hardened. Granted in such a scenario, most of your girls would activate their teleport escape, but it wouldn't be an instant reaction.
Hmm suppose I could just break at that point and give you another decision tree.
Basically your plan succeeded quite well straight down to last planned lure and crit failed. Currently this is plotted as essentially a pack teleporting directly into your group of squishy vets, in addition to the pair you intentionally pulled. Which is basically the point where you get total pandemonium in your group which isn't precisely combat hardened. Granted in such a scenario, most of your girls would activate their teleport escape, but it wouldn't be an instant reaction.
If there is pursuit by teleporting demons, the support team will join with Serena & Co. to destroy them. If the number of teleporting demons is greater than five, then there is a full retreat by teleporter to Gotenba, and a teleporter is sent to the main headquarters of the Serenes to prepare additional forces for commitment to battle in case the demons continue moving out of Tokyo.
So I think that the plan was to run by teleportation. Gotenba was the second forward base (not the one we were luring the demons too).
So we ought to have prepared at least a little bit for this. Not to say that everyone will follow the plan or that things can't go FUBAR, but the girls ought to have a set action they are supposed to take in this situation.
That doesn't actually account for if you're engaged and then the reinforcing teleporters engage. You can't actually sweep the area quickly enough to spot teleporters long-jumping into the zone remember?
Presumably you'd all try to teleport out, but it would still give them engagement round.
That doesn't actually account for if you're engaged and then the reinforcing teleporters engage. You can't actually sweep the area quickly enough to spot teleporters long-jumping into the zone remember?
Huh? That doesn't have to do with clairvoyants or warning before teleporters show up. It's just a failsafe on how hot the battle is. If too many demons show up on the battlefield, it's time to run. So there would be a plan to run.
We even had a plan for running if teleportation was cut off for some reason:
Hopefully the eyeball isn't there and teleportation is an option.
Now that does not mean that things can't go wrong. Girls can panic. Demons can get in lucky shots. Girls teleport out in the wrong order. Serena and friends need to get together and teleport together.
I mean, for the Lure plan we had the Support Team under tandem stealth. Did the stealth fail, or did the demon pack just teleport in assuming that there was a support group there for an ambush (since we'd done it a few times already?)
If the first, then the demons probably get some surprise advantage. If the second then we probably have a few seconds to respond before the demons start picking targets.
I'm now seeing that I didn't explicitly say to setup layered tandem barriers while waiting for the ambush. Dang, it, and after being careful to say that elsewhere. So I'm not sure how you want to rule on whether we had barriers up or not. But if we do, then that's another thing the demons will have to do, is break through the barriers.
I'd assume that part of the more detailed planning for a retreat would be for the barrier girls to hold, while every one else teleports out, and then the barrier girls teleport out.
Of course there are things that can go wrong:
Demons saw through stealth, don't need time to pick targets
Barriers were not all up properly
Barrier girls panic and flee early before other girls can teleport out
Serena & Co. not teleported in yet, so demon aura effects. (Although we had Kaoru to have specific instructions to start playing anti-aura effects music if we were ever w/o Serena's aura).
Serena & Co were off to the side? Not fully protected?
Serena & Co. need to teleport together, so we need a teleporter to teleport them out (or is the teleporter that teleported them in still there?)
We were already engaged, so stealth was broken, and we are not in a cohesive position.
Girls panic and don't teleport out because they are not used to using charms to teleport themselves
Kyoclone is cut off from everyone else
That's all I can think of at the moment.
So I mean... I feel like we aren't completely unprepared for this, but there is still plenty of stuff that you can do to screw us over.
So there question becomes, did the bad failure just mean that a large pack of demons attacked us? If that's all, then you can start rolling for all the other circumstances I guess? Or GM fiat the ones you think shouldn't be rolled for?
Probably roll initiative for the demons and the girls. Might want to differentiate between barrier girls and the rest of the girls. Made also have Serena' team as separate, and maybe the "hero units" (Elite) as well? If demons win initiative, roll to see how bad they hit countered by a barrier roll (depending on whether they are up). Who do they target. Dodge rolls.
That's the sort of thing I would expect.
And if it all goes badly, well... then I'd expect some deaths.
Or are you making that one dice roll determine the outcome of the whole battle?
I actually started two, but they got derailed by changes in understanding of how things worked. I have another in my head that I haven't gotten written down yet, but that actually would be appropriate for this; it was the one with the demon ranking adjustments that nobody but landcollector commented on. Plus been distracted by a few other things that have been eating up a lot of my time.
"Hey you! Blue top," Segawa Urako's voice cracked like a whip in the hallway of the apartment complex. Taura smoothed her face into neutrality before turning to face Urako. Taura had just been dropping off some new assignment details to the Tokyo girls in their apartment. Unfortunately Urako had been home alone, and so was for the short term without a leash.
"Yes Segawa-san?" Taura did not react to Urako's displeasure at being addressed so familiarly. Urako was such a headache to deal with. Her thoughts were always near the surface, and there were so many of them. Sometimes openly contradicting each other. Taura knew that keeping her off balance was her only hope of getting away quickly.
Urako for her part decided to ignore the ice princess' typical mind games. "Look, what's really going on around here? We've been here long enough, we're obviously not gonna bail on you, and I know you know the truth."
Taura raised an eyebrow while considering her response. So it was the cynicism again, how to handle this. "What do you mean?" Taura stalled for some time while she plotted how best to guide the conversation. Ah, of course...
"Don't give me that, I'm onto your secret now, I know you're reading my mind." Urako continues blasting away at Taura, oblivious to the smirk slowly spreading behind her mask. "Things can't be this nice. There's always a price, and I want to know what it is!"
"You mean the law of equivalent exchange?" Taura kept her tone even, as if she were making a meaningless comment on the weather. While tilting her head at just the right angle to trigger a questioning instinct in her conversation partner.
"What?" Urako suddenly felt confused. As if she had asked for the color of the sky and gotten 'rook to F-5' as the answer.
"Keiko discovered that early on during some of her first investigations." Taura prompted Urako unhelpfully, while letting a slight helpful tone enter her voice.
"Huh?" Urako was floundering, trying to decide if Taura was just playing again with her, or if she had actually gotten into a conversation about something important without knowing what she was doing. "That doesn't explain anything."
Taura decided to try out a new gesture she had been experimenting with, and brought her index finger to her chin while cocking her head. Urako's attention focused on her. Interesting response. "I thought you were talking about how for every hope brought into the world by a magical girl, there must be an equal amount of despair brought into the world." Taura pauses for a second to let Urako almost process that thought before moving on, "That's why so many wishes have such a high price."
Taura could almost hear the click in Urako's mind as she had the sensation of realization without understanding what she was realizing. Figuring out how to sound wise without knowing what you were talking about had been one of Taura's big advances in learning how to manipulate people. "We try to keep it quiet, since most girls can't handle the truth." Taura didn't smile as Urako's eyes locked onto her. Offer to bring people in on a secret and you could usually prevent them from thinking too hard about what you were telling them. "Can you keep it a secret? I'm sure Manami couldn't handle it, and even the others might be disturbed."
We're tougher than you think, Urako thought as she tried to prevent her growing excitement from fouling this up. And the others thought I was being paranoid, wait till they hear about this!
I'm serious about not telling people. Taura projected her thoughts to Urako, reminding her that trying to trick a telepath was not going to work. Even Mami doesn't know. You how that works Urako-san. Don't you have secrets you keep from Suzuko-san, if only for her own good?
Urako flinches as a few choice secrets slip into her mind. The fleeting smile on the blue hair witch's face let her know that her secrets were now out. Still, if the ice queen was keeping something secret from Goldilocks, then maybe she could still come out on top. "A secret for a secret."
Inwardly, Taura was rolling her eyes. As if Suzuko wasn't already aware of all those things. A frustratingly large number of Suzuko's surface thoughts were worries about something Urako had done that Suzuko was avoiding confronting her about. Outwardly though, Taura kept her face neutral, "Agreed."
Urako waits for Taura to speak. After a few seconds she losses patience, "Well?"
"Kitten mulcher," Taura looks bored, as if she were describing the dull brown paint on the wall.
"What?" Once again, Urako feels the conversation has become disjointed.
Taura raises an eyebrow, and then invisibly braces herself. "Keiko has a mulcher, she feeds kittens into it. Their screams of pain as their limbs are ripped off and their skulls are crushed-"
"Stop! Stop Stop!" Urako shouts. Even braced for the psychic backlash, it takes a significant amount of willpower for Taura to keep her face set and avoid a response. Even so, a few twitches slip out, but Urako is too distressed to notice. "That's horrible."
"That's the point," Taura manages to keep her voice level, "the horror of the kitten mulcher allows us to create more hope than usual in Mitakihara. That's how it works."
Urako just stares at Taura for a moment, "That's horrific..." she mumbles. In all her fantasies and conspiracy theories, Urako had never thought of this.
"I'm surprised," Taura actually was a little, and a bit shaken by how badly this had struck Urako, though by instinct she concealed it. Maybe I misjudged her? "You are more soft-hearted than I thought. Maybe I should not have told you."
"No," Urako shakes herself for a second. "I mean, I can handle..." Urako's attempt at bravado trails off as she thinks about the kitten mulcher again and shudders. It was horrible, like something you told ghost stories about to scare foolish little kids... wait a second.
Urako flushed as she realized how she was being played for a fool. "Ha ha, very funny. You have a sick sense of humor you know."
Taura looks at Urako for several seconds without speaking, before suddenly responding in a monotone. "Ah. Yes. A joke. It was a joke." Taura hesitates a moment, "Very funny. Well, I need to get going." So saying, she turns and begins to walk to the stairwell. This is what she had planned for after all, to get away from Urako and her headache inducing thought process. And she was ready for the ending.
Freak.
She was ready for it. She was used to it. She had even deliberately triggered it this time. It hardly bothered her at all anymore. Hardly at all.
------------------------------------------
So I'd actually been thinking this one out for sometime. The reference to the Kitten muchler above reminded me of it. When I wrote it though, I discovered it was actually pretty fun to write it from Taura's perspective.
And interesting change as usually I write Taura from someone else's perspective, and so Taura is very mysterious. I hope writing Taura as someone who is very deliberate in controlling how they act and learning how a specific gesture can trigger different responses in others fits well. I figure Taura for being rather socially inept, and having wished to know what others were thinking. So it makes sense to me that she would be very artificial in how she acts with others.
Then ending though surprised me. Kind of depressing, but it fits so perfectly I can't change it.
A lone girl knelt silently in front of the shrine nestled behind the house. Her head was bowed, but her back was straight. A small candles burned gently, though placed notably away from the more flammable elements. Her movements carried the sense of ritual, rather than grief. After a time of meditation, she bowed more deeply, rang the singing bowl, and placed a flower in the vase placed in one corner. She then returned to her meditative pose.
The soft crunch of footfalls on the carpet signaled the arrival of a new individual, though they stopped a respectful distance away.
The girl at the shrine maintained her vigil, bowing and placing another flower, before finally turning to greet the new arrival. "Ah, hello," she said, even as she stood up and turned to face the other girl, stepping back to indicate that she would give up her space if the other girl wished to pay her respects. "Oh! You're, uh, one of the new arrivals. Sorry, I haven't really had a chance to see you. My name's Katana, by the way," she said, holding out a hand in greeting.
The short-haired girl snorted at that, but took her hand anyway. "Urako. And it's fine. We haven't been to this house much; just here for some training or something. Kaiya's inside with some redhead, and I'm just taking a look around."
"Ah. Of course. So, umm..." Katana paused, glancing around awkwardly. "Are you here to pray at the shrine, then? This is usually when I'm here, but — ah! But it's fine! I don't want to get in your way or anything." Katana yammered a bit nervously, holding her hands up to deny any ill intentions.
"What? No, I was just wondering what this was, is all," Urako replied, gesturing at the home-built shrine — somewhat sloppily built, but lovingly cared for. "Didn't look like what I expected, for something like that. Figured a shrine would be more..." She trailed off, equally uncomfortable with the subject.
Katana took a deep breath to calm herself, then turned and started explaining. "This is a shrine for those who have died — a remembrance for us. Even if it looks a little silly, it's important." She knelt down, gently pulling out a small plaque with a photo-booth sticker attached, and bright colored marker squiggles around it. "This is Keiko," she said, holding it out for Urako to see, and turning it over to see the girl's name written on the back, along with a date. She returned it, and pulled out another, this time with a proper 3x5 photo taped down with PreCure stickers. "Hitomi." She continued, repeating names for each of the other five plaques.
"Huh." Urako gave small acknowledgement, though her face scrunched up a bit as she tried to remember something. "Wait... Keiko? Isn't that—"
"No!" Katana interrupted, rather more sharply than expected. "Er, it's not Science-Keiko," she explained, face taking on a rather melancholy look. "She was..." Her voice trailed off.
"Yeah, sorry. Got it." Urako waved it off. "You have one of these at each of the houses? I don't remember seeing one at the other house."
"No, just this one," Katana answered, recovering from her funk.
"Huh. New, then?"
"New? No, we've had it for a couple years. Well, some of the drawings and decorations have been replaced, but it's still mostly as originally made."
Urako reached out a hand to flick one of the pinwheels, though her eyes didn't seem to quite focus on it. "Seven girls in a couple years? Well, guess it'll see some more use after your little trip to Tokyo."
Katana's face hardened a bit. "We won't let that happen."
"Won't 'let' that happen?" Urako answered incredulously. "You do know what you're up against, right? I heard your group fought one of those killer class 3's a few months ago. Would think that'd be enough to give you a clue."
"Yes, we fought one," Katana replied, iron forming to replace previous hesitance. "The class 3—", she seemed to spit the word out, "it hurt a lot of people. But if Mami is going back into Tokyo, she has a plan. She won't let anyone die needlessly."
"A plan?" asked Urako incredulously. "There's no 'plan' against those monsters, except 'get the hell out'! Even Sae couldn't—" She cut herself off at that point.
Katana also stopped her own reply, staring at the other girl, who was now deliberately avoiding her gaze. "Sae?" she finally asked.
"Never mind. Was before your time. Doesn't matter. Look, the class 3s in Tokyo aren't going to just roll over for you, so don't go in there thinking like that, or you're just gonna get killed."
Katana narrowed her eyes, but allowed the subject change back to the original topic. "The class thr— gah, I hate that name! These... superdemons, or whatever, have to be dealt with. Even if we have to risk our lives for it, the thought of how many more in Tokyo are having to... to say goodbye forever to their friends, all the time. I just can't.."
"And what are you going to do about it?" asked Urako, more than a little bitterness in her voice. "You think another shrine is going to help?"
Katana's face was suddenly far closer than Urako was quite comfortable with. "Yes. We will fight, and we will pray, and we will remember," she growled out in a steely tone. "We will try to keep them safe. And if we can't keep them safe, will will never allow them to be forgotten. Because people will know that the ones they care about will always care about them, and that their memories won't be lost."
Urako stumbled back a bit, before shoving her hands in her pockets and snorting. "Yeah, sure."
"You still remember Sae, right?"
"So?" Urako scowled.
"Would you want her to be forgotten?"
"Of course not! But that has nothing to do with you! You never even knew her."
Katana stared at her for a long moment. She then turned and carefully pulled out three placards. "I never knew these girls, either. They were part of Seto's group, when they were attacked by the... the 'superdemon'." Urako gave her a strange look, and she explained, "It was what we called the first one that we encountered. Before Kyuubey came in and gave them numbers, like they weren't anything special. Just another line in their book of records.
"But these three... They're not just numbers, or names, or records. They were important to their friends, and to Seto. And they should be remembered. Sometimes Seto will tell a small story or two about them. It keeps them alive in our hearts."
Urako tried to look away, but kept being drawn back to the pictures, clipped out of other settings. What were they like? Smiling faces of people she'd never met, yet felt connected to somehow. It was nonsense, but still tugged at her. Finally she just gave a muttered, "Whatever," but that seemed to be enough for Katana, who replaced the plaques with care.
After a bit of awkward silence, with Urako milling about, not quite willing to leave, but not sure of an excuse to stay, she finally tried another change of subject. "So, what's your problem with the 'class 3' name anyway? Seems as good a name as anything. They're just demons."
Katana blinked, then shrugged. "I just don't like it. They have those same numbers for magical girls, you know? 'Class 2' for a typical veteran, stuff like that. Just feels too... impersonal. When we use it, it's like we're trying to hide things. Like, the importance of a person, or the danger of a demon. Like they're just a bunch of numbers on a spreadsheet.
"There's that saying, you know? 'One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.' If we just think of them as numbers, I think we start to forget about the real tragedy that they represent. We forget what's important."
"Sure, but what are you gonna call them, then?" Urako asked, hands shrugging in the air. "For us magical girls, they're just 'demons'. But they're definitely not the same thing as the normal ones we fight."
"I'm... not sure, really. I'm not good with naming things. Anything I've tried to come up with just sounded silly." She finally put the ritual paraphernalia away, and started walking towards the front of the house, Urako vaguely trailing her.
"Heh. Hmm. You know, there was this manga I used to read, a couple years back. Crappy little webcomic, really, but it had some cool fights. What do you think of....
It suddenly occurs to me that I don't know if the shrine was inside or outside the house. For some reason I'd always assumed it was outside, but a regular memorial shrine would be inside. And the types of things used to construct it originally wouldn't last through the first rainstorm.
Katana is the girl who cracked after Keiko's death, and ran away, only lured back by blueberry pie. She's a pacifist, and hasn't been brought up since, so I figure she mostly fills in on various non-combat stuff, such as jobs and support training.
Did we ever get the names of the girls in Seto's group that died? I thought we had, but I can't find them anywhere.
Sorry for the delay on this. My roommate's mom ended up going to the hospital and hasn't been doing that well, so have been a little distracted.
Regardless, this was far harder to write than it should have been. It was hard to pull back the original idea.
"Sure, but what are you gonna call them, then?" Urako asked, hands shrugging in the air. "For us magical girls, they're just 'demons'. But they're definitely not the same thing as the normal ones we fight."
"I'm... not sure, really. I'm not good with naming things. Anything I've tried to come up with just sounded silly." She finally put the ritual paraphernalia away, and started walking towards the front of the house, Urako vaguely trailing her.
"Heh. Hmm. You know, there was this manga I used to read, a couple years back. Crappy little webcomic, really, but it had some cool fights. What do you think of....
Class names are one thing, but more importantly IMO we should strive to give each 3+ an individual name, like how meteorologists name every tropical storm.
I nominate the first one we fought be called Nightshade.
The one that forced the others to group up: Iselin.
Youma - Monster-of-the-week type stuff. Decent name for standard demons that we grind through. Fiend would also be reasonable.
Oni - Strong, solitary type. Also highly varied in their strengths. Reasonable for class 3-level demons.
-- Aside: Oni are commonly associated with tigers (see: Lum, Urusei Yatsura) because of certain onmyodo backgrounds. Tiger class (from the OPM idea) is also reasonable.
Yokai - This is more of an overly-generic term for all types of supernatural creatures. Probably not the best choice for a level category.
Dragon/Ryu class I'd reserve for the top-level stuff. Probably class 5, but I could see applying it to class 4.
Tengu is a reasonable step up from oni, and provides a good intermediary between that and dragon. Can't find a good name for the bird that a tengu resembles, though.
So something like:
Class 2: A fiend/wraith (singlular). Youma-class.
Class 3: A tiger/tora (singular). Oni-class.
Class 4: A tengu (singular). Tengu-class
Class 5: A dragon (singular). Dragon-class.
Class 6: A kami (singular). Ameterasu-class. (Sealed by Madoka)
Went with Tengu and Dragon for the names of creatures in each of those classes, as they're pretty unique, and would closely associate the class with the individuals. For lower tiers, the class name and the individual name split, as the individuals become less deserving of specific recognition.
Don't have anything on class 1, as that's sort of theoretical even to the Incubators.
Demon and wraith are rather dominant. I think it would be hard to change the common usage.
Easier to just add something new for the class 3 demons.
I would note that the Youma "Monster of the week" types actually had higher level animal intelligence, and often had unique abilities. That makes them a closer match for the class 3 demons.
...
Not to mention that means Serena would be fighting Youma to clear Tokyo...
I would note that the Youma "Monster of the week" types actually had higher level animal intelligence, and often had unique abilities. That makes them a closer match for the class 3 demons.
Class 2: A demon/wraith (singlular).
Class 3: A youma (singular). Oni-class.
Class 4: A tengu (singular). Tengu-class
Class 5: A dragon (singular). Dragon-class.
Pondering whether to leave Tengu as class 4, or drop Dragon to class 4. Given that we'll hopefully never have to fight a class 5, it seems a bit unfair to not be able to beat a dragon. And Tengu is a bit harder to consider as an opponent class (rather than a singular opponent).
So, just focus on the ones we have reason to deal with?
Class 2: A demon/wraith (singlular).
Class 3: A youma (singular). Oni class.
Class 4: A dragon (singular). Dragon class.
It actually goes down to Class 0, but I don't think there's much point in classifying demons below Class 3. Demon Strength is a much more useful measure.
