Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
So, did we manage to avoid death? And will Kine's omake be useable towards avoiding dead girls?
Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)
- Thread starter inverted_helix
- Start date
So, did we manage to avoid death? And will Kine's omake be useable towards avoiding dead girls?
I've been racking my brain for awhile, but I've got nothing. I've had a rough outline for the last couple of weeks to an aftermath of the Rules omakes:
- Seto, contemplative after doing her solo hunt for the day, pops back to the house to drop off her haul of cubes.
- Note: Still down on herself over not being able to handle the Aura, but flinches away from trying it again.
- Runs into Mami, who reminds her it's been six months since her group joined, and it's time for the referendum on whether or not their group stays.
- Seto surprised it's been so little time/feels like she's been part of the group forever/can't imagine leaving/etc.
- Mami quips she didn't remember herself; her calendar had to tell her.
- Anonymous ballot scheduled for next day; neither leader thinks it's likely they'll break up.
- Next day Seto's votes are tabulated.
- No surprise: unanimous vote to stay. Big surprise: not one girl stayed anonymous. Each girl did something to show off their "Stay" vote: signatures, drawings, aspiring member of quant team doing detailed workflow analysis.
- Try to find individual personality descriptions for girls in Seto's group.
- Seto brings votes to Mami; Mami points to collage on her desk.
- Again, not one girl stayed anonymous.
- Kyoko's "Meh, keep 'em. A couple are not even terrible in a fight,"
- Yuma's "No! Don't take them away! Seto's the only person I can call 'Imoto' without everyone laughing at me!"
- Two quant team members who didn't even bother to write votes on the actual ballot, just stapled the ballot to several-page essays on hunting modifiers and business expansion plans.
- Tokyo nomads? Not sure.
- Seto & Mami agree to combine the ballots and post the collage.
- Seto: "We have a good group, don't we?" Mami: "Yes, yes we do."
The last bits sort of write themselves, but the lead-in is killing me.
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Honestly, I can barely cope with my own quest and being mostly unable to access SV now just makes it more unlikely. 
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Better than what I have. All I can think of is some non-canon stuff about Nagisa dying and Madokami offering her a choice to go to puellahalla or wreck Class 3 face as Charlotte.
Attack on Tokyo 3
Attack on Tokyo 3
You decide to slow down your attack cycle to ease up on the evolutionary pressure and give yourself more time to scout things out.
Sending KyoClone to scout things out in advance turns out really well, she slips in and about Tokyo with contemptuous ease, and while she can't exactly slip into miasma undetected, it's required that they try to attack her to figure out their powers anyways. She acquires a lot of information to work with for targeting further demons. She definitely proves herself the most skilled of your fighters time and again over the weeks, avoiding even false death against anything thrown at her.
Though granted that's with never attacking at all, but you'd never guess that from her crowing about it. The gloating is good for her though: alternating exposure to supernatural positivity and negativity is definitely stressing her out even if she's trying to hide it. So you can listen to her boasting to you.
The first operation against a pair goes fairly well. Serena's team is more than able to handle the pair. One of the two is a teleporter and they try to focus it down first, but there efforts really aren't that rewarding. While it doesn't immediately flee like it had previously, a bit braver with its friend there, it's still very skittish and flees before taking too much damage, leaving the other behind to die.
The second attack goes a bit less well, the opponents significantly more dangerous with a barrier using teleporter much more capable of withstanding their attacks and staying in the fight while the other laid down heavy supporting fire while they tried to put down the teleporter. They ended up calling in the support team, which helped overwhelm the shields, but the teleporter simply fled when it was endangered.
You explain the situation to the squad leaders of the groups that Nagoya lent you and tell them to pass it on to their superiors as needed during your normal updates with them. They're a little disappointed with your reduced optimism but you're still doing a good job. They can't risk engaging directly now though. While generally they consider it safe for a squad of elites to hand a class 3, there's too much danger that if they engage one pair another pair will arrive to reinforce and that could quickly shift the situation dangerously. They can still handle a defensive deployment as it isn't too likely if demons flee for them to be that coordinated, but attacking would be too risky.
You switch over to having your support team handle demons while Serena just stays safe and negates the demons aura. It's a lot more dangerous than the previous method, and alpha strikes simply aren't as effective as you'd like. Too many pairs have at least one barrier power between them , plus they can simply absorb much more damage than a magical girl could and heal it back up. You still manage to deal with two more of them in that fashion though.
You adjust again to having Kyoclone bait demons into a prepared ambush location. The first two goes on that work quite well. Having the advantage of a free shot from stealth really helps in tilting the fight in your favor. You're still only getting one kill at a time though as the teleporter will abandon the other when it shifts too much against them and you've not had a good shot at any pair without a teleporter yet.
The third attempt at baiting them in is where everything goes wrong though. The idea was perhaps too predictable. Just after Serena teleported in and you began the attack four more demons appeared. Possibly stealthed, possibly teleported in you had no idea. Your own body felt like you were going from a hot tub to an ice bath, Serena's and six Class 3 demons' auras hitting you at once practically sparking across your gem in a sensation you shove to the back of your mind.
Spears, bones, acid, bolts of every color of the rainbow, tentacles and more smash against the layered barriers protecting your group. Your vision from within the barrier is virtually nonexistent, the attacks lighting up the whole surface and effectively cutting off your view of the battlefield. You launch your own attacks through the shield completely blind in a desperate attempt at distraction. You really hadn't considered how everyone being under the same dome would let attacks blind you like this.
Taya and Kyouko leave the shield at angles to the attack and engage the enemies while you begin shouting for everyone to retreat. Half your girls teleport out, while the other half just fires back. The second barrier vanishes even before the first one fails as the girls maintaining it abandon it in favor of launching their own attacks. The first barrier buckles as one of its own casters teleports out. At least the third barrier stands strong, both casters managing to stay focused on what they're supposed to be doing and it shines against the withering firepower breaking upon it.
After a few more seconds of yelling at them, most of the girls have teleported away, though you end up just dragging a couple less coherent ones with your ribbons as the barrier girls retreat their shield depleted.
You twist out of the way of a fireball on instinct and deflect a splinter of bone with your shield. The girls tied up in your ribbons providing somewhat comical covering fire. You make your way towards Serena as her group attempts to flee in some semblance of a formation with no teleporter appearing to extract them. The only other girl you can tell is still in the miasma is Kyouko and she's spun off dozens of images which are playing distraction, you can only hope that she's got a clear enough head to stay safe. Unlike the girls you're still dragging around wildly, perhaps you could use some practice with this as defending yourself and the two wildly flailing roman candles of spells is leaving them both worse for the wear and they show no sign of feeling like teleporting.
The vision of the world in the miasma is starting to twist like a funhouse mirror, reality seeming to warp under the metaphysical weight. With no words exchanged you and Serena's group have the same idea and are simply zig-zagging the same general direction trying to get out of the miasma while trying to slow down your pursuers.
They break through your ribbons fairly quickly, but they take longer to break them then it slows you down to control them. But at least half of them can teleport, and you're trying to push away a school of teleporting piranha with a sphere of whirling ribbons as they tear bits off your flesh. You dig into the ground for a second at a mental word from Amelie and she fires a blast of solid air directly at you pushing away the swarming fish for a moment, but it was hardly worth it with how it tore open the small tears into larger ones.
You take the breathing space to glance about. The demons seem to have given up on attacking Kyouko images for the more reliable targets.
Then you realize that the ribbon holding one of your errant girls has broken and you watch in horror as she takes on a monster that seems to be ninety percent mouth and teeth with her giant fountain pen. You double back and try to reach her but just manage to lose an arm reaching for her as the demon tears her apart.
You kick off against its face and tourniquet off your shoulder; you don't need arms that much anyways. You still have other girls to defend though, not least the one you're still dragging around. You can cry after. You fumble some grief cubes from your pockets and throw them at your gem as you summon another set of muskets and blind fire them behind you through a dust cloud conjured by Amelie.
Serena's group slows to let you rejoin them before you continue to run, but it doesn't seem to be working though as your sense of the edge of the miasma isn't getting any closer, the teleporters keep extending it.
Finally Shinobu appears on your location and mass teleports the whole group of you away.
Delayed as a result of many distractions, and much depression. Also was torn on how to handle casualties, decided to post this before fully deciding. Hence the ambiguity. At present you're looking at 3 dead. Ultimately was tough choice since I've grown attached too, but there has to be risk.
Hopefully I'm past a block again and I can work on the main turn again.
Hopefully I'm past a block again and I can work on the main turn again.
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Well, there goes our near zero fatality rate. This is a significant setback, and I'm predicting quite the uptick in cube usage to ward off grief spirals.
Ugh.
And that's with 4 omakes consumed on casualty mitigation, on top of Serena's effect. (Actually, our last three omakes (and one mini-omake) aren't on the front page list.)
Of course I've been stuck recently as well, unable to come up with something to write, even though I know it's important. And a few other people just the other day mentioned this as well. How much do you think you can write in one afternoon?
Regardless, this was 6 demons attacking as a unit. If they'd been split up, it still would have been possible to deal with them, but for some reason they all focused on the support team as the first threat (not Serena?), allowing them to break 3 elite-class barriers, despite the severe weakening from Serena's aura. Even ignoring the casualty issue, this does not bode well.
And that's with 4 omakes consumed on casualty mitigation, on top of Serena's effect. (Actually, our last three omakes (and one mini-omake) aren't on the front page list.)
Of course I've been stuck recently as well, unable to come up with something to write, even though I know it's important. And a few other people just the other day mentioned this as well. How much do you think you can write in one afternoon?
Regardless, this was 6 demons attacking as a unit. If they'd been split up, it still would have been possible to deal with them, but for some reason they all focused on the support team as the first threat (not Serena?), allowing them to break 3 elite-class barriers, despite the severe weakening from Serena's aura. Even ignoring the casualty issue, this does not bode well.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
I guess the perpetual no-sell from Serena caused more extreme evolutionary planning than expected.
On the plus side, if we had a tele-cancel trick, the evolution probably would have been even worse than it already is, and 6 man telepacks are pretty bad by themselves.
On the plus side, if we had a tele-cancel trick, the evolution probably would have been even worse than it already is, and 6 man telepacks are pretty bad by themselves.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
@inverted_helix
I don't suppose you could consume some of the Non-Canon omakes for casualty mitigation? I doubt @TheEyes would mind if you used Rules pt2, or @Kinematics if you used Doctors for it. Fools Rush In is even applicable, in that it's dealing with the tokyo situation.
As is I'm actually considering burning Legendary Meguca on this if you'll let me, although I'm still not sure it's better than using it on Homura.
I don't suppose you could consume some of the Non-Canon omakes for casualty mitigation? I doubt @TheEyes would mind if you used Rules pt2, or @Kinematics if you used Doctors for it. Fools Rush In is even applicable, in that it's dealing with the tokyo situation.
As is I'm actually considering burning Legendary Meguca on this if you'll let me, although I'm still not sure it's better than using it on Homura.
The remaining deaths would take a prohibitive number of omakes to save. Generally how it works (because it's a guideline not a stone tablet) is first omake added to a roll is +10 and further omakes on the same roll are +5. Which means that when you roll way below, throwing more at it really isn't that effective.
In this case there was essentially an initiative roll. Rolls on breaking your barriers. Roll on how many teleport out in the initial seconds. Rolls on each of the people that failed to teleport out surviving. It's on that final roll that casualty mitigation was allowed for from omakes. (I basically run what rolls can benefit from general omakes by fiat, specific omakes are more likely to get specific bonuses.)
Me? Not much. I'm an incredibly slow writer. There are sloths that are faster than me.
Well according to plan Serena wasn't transformed. So that drops her down on targeting priority list. It also meant their initial strike to break barriers with wasn't weakened. And 3 elite class barriers is nice, but C3s are above Elite class individually. Plus the third barrier fizzled early when one of the girls maintaining it teleported out.
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Ouch...
Well... this was a high risk action. Three girls dead in exchange for ten dead demons is probably the best outcome for Tokyo in a long while.
Geh... it's going to hurt though. Though if we manage to get through this (which I expect we will) it will likely become a mythologizing aspect of our history. (Similar to how WWII is for America).
Wait what?
In the ambush plan Serena was supposed to be transformed, and dropped in by teleport when we spring the ambush...
at least that's what I remember.
Dang... didn't specify. I just assumed Serena would be transformed (that's why I had her teleporting in just as we launch the ambush instead of lying in wait with the Support team).
Well... this was a high risk action. Three girls dead in exchange for ten dead demons is probably the best outcome for Tokyo in a long while.
Geh... it's going to hurt though. Though if we manage to get through this (which I expect we will) it will likely become a mythologizing aspect of our history. (Similar to how WWII is for America).
Wait what?
In the ambush plan Serena was supposed to be transformed, and dropped in by teleport when we spring the ambush...
at least that's what I remember.
Dang... didn't specify. I just assumed Serena would be transformed (that's why I had her teleporting in just as we launch the ambush instead of lying in wait with the Support team).
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My interpretation was that it was meant as untransformed to maximize the focus of the support group.
I'm curious what you mean by "mythologizing"?
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Likewise surprised that Serena wasn't transformed. I thought we'd already concluded that using non-transformed Serena wasn't a good choice for what we were doing?
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Also, my comment was assuming Serena was transformed. If she wasn't transformed, then yes, your statements would apply.
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Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
I thought the girls were untrustworthy drunks with the aura on full blast? It seems like even more of a tactical faux pas to have her transformed in a fight with the support team.
I... don't think it matters? The dice hit us, so down we go. We can't strategize our way to zero casualties here, so we're basically stuck with that old adage that no plan survives contact with the enemy.
I think what bothers me more is that, from an OOC perspective, the strategies we're going to have to take over the next 2-3 months to clear Tokyo are going to differ rather drastically from what our people would normally, rationally come up with IC. See, we know OOC that we just got royally screwed by the dice this month, with two bad rolls at the worst possible times: a bad roll early forced an early evolution to pair hunting, and then another bad roll late forced a mass teleporter ambush that killed a bunch of our girls. IC, though, we can't attribute these losses to chance, because IC these are intelligent enemies that are apparently strategizing against us, and there's no reason to assume that next month won't be just as bad or worse than this month.
I think what bothers me more is that, from an OOC perspective, the strategies we're going to have to take over the next 2-3 months to clear Tokyo are going to differ rather drastically from what our people would normally, rationally come up with IC. See, we know OOC that we just got royally screwed by the dice this month, with two bad rolls at the worst possible times: a bad roll early forced an early evolution to pair hunting, and then another bad roll late forced a mass teleporter ambush that killed a bunch of our girls. IC, though, we can't attribute these losses to chance, because IC these are intelligent enemies that are apparently strategizing against us, and there's no reason to assume that next month won't be just as bad or worse than this month.
They're functional, but only for a few minutes at most. Of course that's plenty of time to handle a battle.
It matters some, but yeah, we'll still have to deal with the aftermath.
Also, annoyed. Got an omake that I rather like, with a couple new characters that I like, but a certain fundamental part of it ended up OOC compared to known events, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Maybe just post the first half of it.
Well, whatever is best. I figured transformed worked well with the expected short duration of an ambush, but I'm sure you know the bonuses better.
Nathan Hale: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
John Paul Jones: "I have not yet begun to fight!"
"Nuts"
Stories of D-Day.
You know, a hundred years from now when talking about the founding of the Serenes I expect that the battle for Tokyo will figure prominently in the story, and that the names of those that die will be remembered. Just as Nathan Hale is remembered.
Except the dice did not screw us. We got several good rolls before getting a bad one.
Nebulous Omake
So, half an omake.
Kia casually dropped the cell phone on the table, picked up the glass of water, finished it off, and then with a wild, incoherent scream threw it at the opposite wall of the room, shattering it and throwing shards in amongst the other remnants of her rage — broken cabinet doors, torn notebooks, plate fragments, and other such things.
The door slammed open an instant later to reveal a girl in a green dress, glaive already forming in her hand. She looked around the room with sharp eyes, before relaxing and letting her weapon vanish. "We're going to run out of dishes if you keep doing that, Kia," she said, even as she made her way across the room to a closet, pulling out a broom.
Kia just snorted and collapsed back on a short couch. "White knights are at it again," was all she explained.
The girl in green just raised an eyebrow even as she started sweeping the floor. "And shouldn't we be grateful for that?"
"All they care about is getting the credit. Not interested in letting us help, or getting us out of this hellhole. 'Just sit tight and we'll let you know when it's safe to come help us,'" she added, in a sing-song voice. A flick of her wrist had a dagger protruding from the wall, where the glass had made impact.
"Well, can you blame them?" the other girl answered, shaking the fragments of the glass out of the broom in one corner where all the mess had been swept, but strangely not making any attempt to move it into a trash bin. "Imagine the glory of being the ones to save Tokyo. That's worthy of a wish, right there. And it's not like the Tokyo groups are all that trustworthy to begin with. After all, they're the ones who caused this mess in the first place."
"Buncha greedy bastards," Kia muttered. "Can't admit when someone else might do a better job than them, eh, 'tomi?"
'Tomi' just rolled her eyes, though she kept her face where the other girl couldn't see.
"Anyway," Kia continued, "they're just telling us how well they're doing, and that everything'll be all copacetic in a month or two. 'No need to worry.'"
Tomi turned after returning the broom to the closet, tilting her head slightly. "But you are worried, aren't you?" She then tilted her head a bit further as a knife whizzed past her cheek.
"I'm just worried about the mess they're gonna leave Tokyo in after they screw up!" Kia retorted. "We've already seen the demons starting to act a bit funny, since these girls started their little campaign. It was dangerous enough before; all they're gonna do is make it worse, before they all bite it and we're left with the aftermath."
"Hmm."
"Don't 'Hmm' me! Say what you mean, or get the hell out!"
"Just sounds to me like you want to drop in on them, and, well, show them what you're capable of, as it were."
"Feh. They already said they 'didn't need our help'."
"Since when have you ever done what someone else wanted?" Tomi said with a small smirk.
Kia narrowed her eyes at that, while Tomi quickly slipped out the door.
Kia casually dropped the cell phone on the table, picked up the glass of water, finished it off, and then with a wild, incoherent scream threw it at the opposite wall of the room, shattering it and throwing shards in amongst the other remnants of her rage — broken cabinet doors, torn notebooks, plate fragments, and other such things.
The door slammed open an instant later to reveal a girl in a green dress, glaive already forming in her hand. She looked around the room with sharp eyes, before relaxing and letting her weapon vanish. "We're going to run out of dishes if you keep doing that, Kia," she said, even as she made her way across the room to a closet, pulling out a broom.
Kia just snorted and collapsed back on a short couch. "White knights are at it again," was all she explained.
The girl in green just raised an eyebrow even as she started sweeping the floor. "And shouldn't we be grateful for that?"
"All they care about is getting the credit. Not interested in letting us help, or getting us out of this hellhole. 'Just sit tight and we'll let you know when it's safe to come help us,'" she added, in a sing-song voice. A flick of her wrist had a dagger protruding from the wall, where the glass had made impact.
"Well, can you blame them?" the other girl answered, shaking the fragments of the glass out of the broom in one corner where all the mess had been swept, but strangely not making any attempt to move it into a trash bin. "Imagine the glory of being the ones to save Tokyo. That's worthy of a wish, right there. And it's not like the Tokyo groups are all that trustworthy to begin with. After all, they're the ones who caused this mess in the first place."
"Buncha greedy bastards," Kia muttered. "Can't admit when someone else might do a better job than them, eh, 'tomi?"
'Tomi' just rolled her eyes, though she kept her face where the other girl couldn't see.
"Anyway," Kia continued, "they're just telling us how well they're doing, and that everything'll be all copacetic in a month or two. 'No need to worry.'"
Tomi turned after returning the broom to the closet, tilting her head slightly. "But you are worried, aren't you?" She then tilted her head a bit further as a knife whizzed past her cheek.
"I'm just worried about the mess they're gonna leave Tokyo in after they screw up!" Kia retorted. "We've already seen the demons starting to act a bit funny, since these girls started their little campaign. It was dangerous enough before; all they're gonna do is make it worse, before they all bite it and we're left with the aftermath."
"Hmm."
"Don't 'Hmm' me! Say what you mean, or get the hell out!"
"Just sounds to me like you want to drop in on them, and, well, show them what you're capable of, as it were."
"Feh. They already said they 'didn't need our help'."
"Since when have you ever done what someone else wanted?" Tomi said with a small smirk.
Kia narrowed her eyes at that, while Tomi quickly slipped out the door.
Kia is from one of the groups that Nagoya would have described as, "part of the problem". She's aggressive and confrontational, a bit like Kyouko might be if she had been in that situation. Underneath her gruff demeanor, she really does care about the people around her (mostly, more or less, but she certainly qualifies as a 'hero' type); she just can't understand why people won't admit that she's right, and do what she says. She tends to see only the very short term, though, and doesn't recognize her actions as contributing to the downfall of Tokyo.
Also, the "Didn't need her help" bit was a biased interpretation how she reacted to the initial recruitment, where she refused to sign up if she had to deal with a couple of the other locals.
'Tomi is her Alfred, able to see what she really means, and nudge her onto less destructive courses of action. She might possibly have been inspired by Hitomi. >.>
Anyway, I like the characters and their interplay. Just finding that extending this outward at the present time doesn't work too well, as it starts hitting several OOC barriers.
Also, the "Didn't need her help" bit was a biased interpretation how she reacted to the initial recruitment, where she refused to sign up if she had to deal with a couple of the other locals.
'Tomi is her Alfred, able to see what she really means, and nudge her onto less destructive courses of action. She might possibly have been inspired by Hitomi. >.>
Anyway, I like the characters and their interplay. Just finding that extending this outward at the present time doesn't work too well, as it starts hitting several OOC barriers.
I think the first OOC bit for me is that the Serenes' warnings would be less, "Sit tight and watch this!" and more along the lines of: "We're deploying the meguca equivalent of a chemical weapon that can cause instant grief spirals as a withdrawal symptom; please stand clear until the effects dissipate." That would probably change how girls like this respond.
As mentioned above, the good rolls were at points that they mostly didn't matter, but the two bad rolls were critical, because the first came at the very beginning and made the rest of the month more dangerous, and the second came at the very end when casualty risk was highest already. I'll grant that the law of total probability tends to amplify low-probability events over repeated trials, but the timing of our bad rolls were particularly bad for us, and sort of amplify how dangerous the month was even if the actual probability of injury was (theoretically) low.
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Going to go through in a bit and edit this post to include more replies probably, the most immediate reply though:
Still an interesting omake.
Rolls in general for this month were pretty normal, I haven't done any particular analysis of them but my eyeballing suggests they were actually a little above average. It is as you say though that the rolls as a whole were not bad, but the timing of your bad rolls was bad.
This was the way I interpreted it, players had previously seemed inclined to not use her full aura with the support team in play due to the risks.
This also applies.
Well assuming you survive, the difference will be that in a hundred years you'll still have first hand witnesses.
I haven't really specified what exactly you would have told locals, though it would be more along the lines of the latter than the former I think.
Still an interesting omake.
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