Sinon has escaped the river!
Kuro is still underwater. Attacking Sinon from below the water will be heavily penalized unless justified in a Plan.
Unless planned around, exiting the water will leave Kuro exposed to an immediate enemy attack with ADVANTAGE.
[x] The Most Overblown Flashbang in the World
-[x] Jump out of the river at a different point. Make sure you're facing Sinon.
-[x] After doing so, use Nephren-Ka and cast Lightless Crypt. Blind her.
-[x] Switch to the Garand and attempt to pierce her with the bayonet.
[X][PLAN] A Normal Flashbang
-[X] Switch to Helena and cast Kouga in front of Sinon as a flashbang.
-[X] Get out of the river
-[X] Switch to Urashima and vorpal strike!
@Underdog Emiya As a skill, Vorpal Strike should benefit from the +2 dice that Urashima has as an NSS vet. Bayonet won't.
Gah, I KNEW we should have gone for something more intricate.
For starters, we NEED to get out of the river so we can see any signal Lugh or Gwen send.
As it is, here's something I think should work:
[X] Plan: Jabberwocky
-[X] Speech: Why are you running?
--[X] *after Kuro has gotten out of the river* "All you've done so far is run away from me! And you haven't even managed to hurt me that much! How does that make you strong when I clearly have the advantage?! Are you playing some kind of 5D chess only you understand?!"
-[X] Combat: Splash Star
--[X] Use Kuhleborn's curse to throw a large amount of water up on both sides of the river to try and obscure both Sinon and Aimoptis' vision
--[X] Switch to Urashima Taro and use Tamatebako. Spam Vorpal Blade afterward, regardless of success or failure.
[x] The Most Overblown Flashbang in the World
-[x] Jump out of the river at a different point. Make sure you're facing Sinon.
-[x] After doing so, use Nephren-Ka and cast Lightless Crypt. Blind her.
-[x] Switch to the Garand and attempt to pierce her with the bayonet.
Problem with this is that we NEED Lightless Crypt in case it looks like the actual Death Gun will succeed at killing XeXeed, and we lose the effect as soon as we switch Persona.
Hmm. Running out of time on the Aimopotis count. Okay, similar idea to Muroxxas but I want to stick with Helena for the whole plan if possible since Persona changing within a plan/scene is a Determination cost (I know, silly thing to be concerned about now.) i am apparently in my own HEAVEN where i read different mechanics than the ones from reality
Kouga to create a flashbang effect to create an opening to escape the river, then Faux-Megido to hopefully end it.
[X]Plan: Almighty Flashbang
-[X]Talk to Sinon: You musn't run away.
--[X]"Strength this, Real Deal that! All you're doing with your so-called strength is RUNNING AWAY! In the real world, in GGO; from what was done to you, from all the hurt! That isn't strength! That's the desperation of a girl who has been treated like shit by the world trying to cut herself off from it because she's afraid to trust in others anymore!"
-[X]Combat
--[X] Use Helena's Kouga to create a flashbang effect above the river to blind Sinon and Aimopotis to break the Hawkeye effect and give an opening to escape the river
--[X] Faux-Megido on Sinon
Pros:
Faux-Megido is Almighty, so if we can just hit her with it there's no dodging or reducing the damage.
Hoping that the speech can get under her skin enough to maybe provide us an advantage on the Faux-Megido roll. Not sure it will but hey.
Not 100% sure how it works but Bracing might give us a free basic attack on her if being blinded counts as making her an open target, though not many dice so would not rely on it.
Should break Sinon and Aimopotis's snowballing accuracy bonus
Helena resists Fire, so if we somehow face an attack from her we can probably shrug it off.
Cons:
Still a curse weakness, still might be a problem - but I do think it'd be a bit odd if Sinon figured it out quickly enough for it to matter. She's on fire still.
Very arguably the pre-built plan for Helena where we don't flashbang and instead intentionally tank an attack could shake her more in terms of providing an advantage on the Faux-Megido roll. I'm hoping the speech can do that but IDK.
Sinon's CHT value is unknown. Possible it could be good enough to beat our roll even without bad luck on our part. OTOH, maybe it sucks.
Well, my plan went horribly wrong and I don't have much to say about the deadlock this chapter.
[X] Plan: Jabberwocky
-[X] Speech: Why are you running?
--[X] *after Kuro has gotten out of the river* "All you've done so far is run away from me! And you haven't even managed to hurt me that much! How does that make you strong when I clearly have the advantage?! Are you playing some kind of 5D chess only you understand?!"
-[X] Combat: Splash Star
--[X] Use Kuhleborn's curse to throw a large amount of water up on both sides of the river to try and obscure both Sinon and Aimoptis' vision
--[X] Switch to Urashima Taro and use Tamatebako. Spam Vorpal Blade afterward, regardless of success or failure.
Gonna go with the all out attack plan this time. This uses both STR and CHT while the other plans rely only on CHT. Previously I was too simple this time I'm going to vote for the two-pronged assault.
Wait, I'm dumb. Switching Persona costs SP, not Determination (unless we're out of SP - which we are not). I am apparently hallucinating mechanics now. I don't know how the hell I got that in my head. I am not okay.
@Muroxxas, with this in mind I'm going to switch over to your original plan (Urashima Taro + Vorpal Blade after the flashbang) because I was dumb. I am very sorry for the confusion. There must seriously be something wrong with my brain lately I just can't keep making these mistakes.
[X][PLAN] A Normal Flashbang
FWIW, I think the Aimopotis count should figure into this. The plans are very similar in that they basically work around a distraction to escape the river (let's call this Turn 5 since I can't imagine using a Persona skill is a "free action" here) and then Vorpal Blade as the attack. However, using Tamatebako essentially adds another turn in which means if the dice hate us on the Vorpal Blade turn there then Aimopotis is getting its Seventh Bullet off. Now I don't know if that's a hard fail for us or if the "Death comes" is like... Mudoon. But the problem there is if it isn't an auto-lose due to time out it's screaming a Curse attack and we'll have a Curse weakness Persona up. Enervation is also listed as only debuffing offense so it shouldn't help the Vorpal Blade roll's chances. We'd be gambling on the poison ticks - which admittedly might be enough?
In Normal Flashbang, the Vorpal Blade attack comes with the 6th Turn/Bullet. So even if it misses we should either get a second shot at it on Turn 7 or else a Scene Break to desperately switch to Alice or something and hope we can tank it.
We already selected our Personas for this scene-we can't switch to Alice, and even if we could, she'd be in a starter pistol with no benefits.
Worst comes to worst, we could probably switch to Putana and spam Collapse. (Nephren-Ka using Ragnorak would probably be technically stronger, but given Sinon is USING fire now, probably not the best idea)
[X] Plan Refraction BS:
-[X] Use Helena's Kouga to perform trick shots on Sinon by using the river to refract the beams into her.
Not sure if it would work but I'm hoping that using Kouga from the bottom of the river can cause refraction backed up by SEED BS to strike at Sinon even if the angle is all wrong.
Not sure if it would work but I'm hoping that using Kouga from the bottom of the river can cause refraction backed up by SEED BS to strike at Sinon even if the angle is all wrong.
It'll work in the sense that this is something you can do, though there will be a roll involved. Going forward unless I explicitly veto a plan you can safely assume it's something Kuro can possibly do. Sacred Arts are flexible.
[X] Plan Refraction BS:
-[X] Use Helena's Kouga to perform trick shots on Sinon by using the river to refract the beams into her.
Not sure if it would work but I'm hoping that using Kouga from the bottom of the river can cause refraction backed up by SEED BS to strike at Sinon even if the angle is all wrong.
Problem with this is we're not going to have ANY degree of accuracy. Also keep in mind that Helena's MAG is only 2. Combined with Kuro's avatar MAG of 2, that's only 4 Dice to throw at Sinon, and we'll likely suffer disadvantage due to firing from underwater (and because your plan switches to a Persona that doesn't let us breath underwater, we're going to take drowning damage). In contrast, using Urashima Taro will give us not only his 3 STR dice and 3 CHT dice, but also a +2 bonus to all his abilities from the M1 Garand.
Alright back to Plan A, then.
[X][PLAN] A Normal Flashbang
-[X] Switch to Helena and cast Kouga in front of Sinon as a flashbang.
-[X] Get out of the river
-[X] Switch to Urashima and vorpal strike!
Keep in mind, going for Faux-Megido is all or nothing, and we have no idea what Sinon's CHT stat is.
Helena's CHT is 4, plus Kuro's native CHT is 1, in addition to the +1 bonus from the Maxim gun gives us 6 dice.
We failed to damage Sinon earlier with Putana using Collapse due to shit luck, and that was with 8 dice total against a VIT stat of 4.
If Sinon has a CHT stat of 3 or higher, using Faux-Megido is VERY risky. And that's assuming we get any successes at all with how the dice seem to hate us.
That was my plan that I created because I can't read. The current flashbang plan switches to Urashima Taro and uses Vorpal Strike to attack, just as yours does.
The main differences between it and your plan are the manner of the distraction (Kuhleborn's Curse to raise a water wall vs Kouga to improvise a flashbang) and that your plan uses Tamatebako while the flashbang plan does not. Truthfully, I'm okay with either of them once my self-induced reading fail was cleared up.
Keep in mind, going for Faux-Megido is all or nothing, and we have no idea what Sinon's CHT stat is.
Helena's CHT is 4, plus Kuro's native CHT is 1, in addition to the +1 bonus from the Maxim gun gives us 6 dice.
We failed to damage Sinon earlier with Putana using Collapse due to shit luck, and that was with 8 dice total against a VIT stat of 4.
If Sinon has a CHT stat of 3 or higher, using Faux-Megido is VERY risky. And that's assuming we get any successes at all with how the dice seem to hate us.
[X][PLAN] A Normal Flashbang
-[X] Switch to Helena and cast Kouga in front of Sinon as a flashbang.
-[X] Get out of the river
-[X] Switch to Urashima and vorpal strike!
<Standby for GM Announcement>
<You are all nothing but fakes.>
The voice reverberates within your skull. You hear it projected from above the river, seemingly coming from every direction, but you also hear it echoing within your head as if the words were rising directly from your mind. The idle chatter of the local commentators fades away to silence, the rumbling of the distant gunshots dampens, and even the sound of the roaring river disappears in an instant.
Nothing but that voice. That synthesized, deadpan tone. One that only grows alive in anticipation of violence.
<You are all just playing a game.>
It peeks through the walls of steam still wafting up from the river. A distorted face projected across the very sky itself, a signal to all players in GGO that even you cannot ignore.
Two blood-red eyes affixed to an iron skull.
The invisible player you saw before the match started, those cold red eyes, even the cadence of his speech— it reeks of «Red-Eyed XaXa», Lieutenant of Laughing Coffin, and your onetime guildmate. Is he... speaking to you? No, he's always been a fan of the surgical strike. If he was going to taunt you he'd use something more personal. This was being broadcast to the entire BoB, maybe even the entire server.
It's just... XaXa was never a fan of theatrics. And Johnny Black only cared for the slaughter. The only one who liked his convoluted plots, who insisted on making everything a show, it wasn't XaXa...
<You lack true strength.>
A strange sound catches your attention. A soft, steady crackling noise grows from above you. A thin, almost invisible, layer of ice slowly spreads across the top of the river. Sinon's strategy takes a sudden, but obvious turn. She's going to trap you under the river— permanently. You see more and more blue particles building up in the air, the preheated water serving as your only solace against the whole surface flash-freezing.
Death Gun can wait, you've got to trust your allies to deal with him for the time being. In the meantime, you've got your own headache to deal with.
You don't need the bullet line to warn you what will happen once you breach the surface. Between the ice and her eyes, there's going to be absolutely no doubt as to where you'll be popping out— and where she'll be sending her next bullet. Sinon's back to her original strategy, that of a patient sniper, waiting for you to stick your head out. You're stuck right where she wants you, in a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole where the hammer was a bullet between the eyes.
So she's going to wait. Again. At least that means you have plenty of time to prepare.
<Do you not find it... dissatisfying?>
If only you could ignore this damn distraction! You cast the Nambu Type-97 into your inventory and bring out a weapon you purchased more out of curiosity than utility; a humongous behemoth of a gun, so heavy it's taking your full strength just to lift it out of your inventory. The Maxim Gun: an antique machine gun from before any war you know of, with no known modern battlefield applications. Stupidly large for the sake of historical accuracy and useless in current circumstances— the moment you brace it against the river bottom brackish water and mud rush in to fill all the gaps. You have no idea how accurately GGO simulates gun malfunctions, but you bet it wasn't about to let you fire a century-old machine gun underwater.
...
It'll never fire with that kind of a defeatist attitude. With the Persona anything was possible, but once you've already believed something was impossible then that was it. You've got to think big, think bold, think positive.
You rest your foot against the gun's tripod, angling the barrel of the rectangular machine gun up toward the surface. Why can't this gun fire underwater? It's not like you know how guns work! You're absolutely brimming with confidence that so long as you can pull the trigger, it'll fire!
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Helena]. ReferenceID:03.Droit
Your Persona laughs in a carefree manner. You've been neglecting your audience for too long, not when you've spent most of the fight disguised as a cat and then spent the rest of it underwater. From the sounds of things first XeXeeD stole all the attention, and now it's XaXa coming to spoil your fun! Would anyone even remember your fight or were they gonna just ignore you in lieu of the Death Gun power hour!?
No way! Not on your watch. Even if no one knew you were the Edge Punisher that doesn't mean you can ignore your reputation! What else would your fans think? It's time to stop hiding. It's time for a spectacle!
Helena erupts behind you in a shower of blue, a phantom image. She waves to an audience only she can see, and places her hand on the Maxim Gun, now brimming with dazzling energy. Cold iron is replaced with silvered alloy, years of corrosion give way to golden filagree and the cold factory serial numbers warp into the flowing cursive of your autograph. The iron sights are replaced by shaped diamonds, the handles are wrapped in polished leather and the entire barrel is suddenly engulfed in strobing RGB lights.
System Call: Generate Luminous Element. Form Element, Firework Shape. Burst.
Now this? This is more like it. Light forms in your hands, flashing in all the colors of the rainbow. You slam it against the receiver and squeeze your hands over the trigger. Your voice, muffled by the water, still manages to carry across the entire battlefield.
"LIGHT EM UP!"
You roar loud enough for your fans to hear as the Maxim Machine Gun discharges a solid stream of fireworks straight into the sky. Tracers of every color whip out from the old turret and smash through the thin ice layer, continuing into the noonday sun. A burst of red flowers meets a spray of blue balloons. A four-leaved clover pattern precedes a purple starburst and soon the sky is covered in a vast panorama of fluorescence. Let's see Sinon aim through that!
<Fight. Kill. Die. Repeat. To what end?>
Damn it XaXa can you shut up for just one second!? It's as if the voice in your head is disrupting your Persona, threatening to pull away the source of your power.
The Maxim Gun sputters and bubbles, and all traces of finery vanish as the poor thing finally realizes you've just thrown it into a river. With an errant command, you pull the weapon back into your inventory— at least the fireworks were still lingering in the sky.
<It exists. Within each and every one of you.>
You call forth another self sleeping within you. Undine has proven particularly vulnerable to Sinon's main attack, but she's not the only Persona you possess that's proficient when submerged. You whip your feet in the water, reaching towards the lights in slow but sure strokes, finally catching sight of your erstwhile opponent.
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Urashima-Taro]. ReferenceID:20.Droit
"You— it's not enough Kuro! You won't beat me with such half-assed tricks! AIMOPOTIS!"
Sinon's new command threatens an attack, but you're a step ahead. You form a ball of ice in the palm of your hand and cast it downstream, the element creating a solid crack as it breaks through the surface of the water before Sinon's surprise attack immediately shatters your decoy.
All while you calmly float to the surface on an ice float of your own, observing Sinon wipe the tears away from her eyes.
"More stupid little gimmicks!" Sinon cries with bloodshot eyes, "I've still got you trapped!" She throws her hands out in front of her, sending a wave of cold flooding over the river. You shrug and don't even bother to dodge. The wave of cold dissipates against your raincoat without even leaving behind any frost, the blessings of the Dragon Palace protecting you from water in all its forms.
<Another you. A better you. A you... without weakness.>
Sinon's eyes widen. You finally step out of the accursed river, smashing through Sinon's trail of ice with a single swish of your Garand. "Are you quite done!?"
"No. No, I'm not through yet!"
Icicles and bullets alike rain down on you. The magic you ignore, while the wild gunshots of Sinon's sniper rifle you simply sidestep, the residual effects of your blindness causing her attacks to go wild. She's no threat, the true menace lies hiding in the mountains beyond.
"Go on. Any more tricks!? C'mon Sinon! I'm waiting!"
She tries to shift phases once more, but the fire within fails to answer her call. Was there some cooldown or limitation? Or did her soul realize it was finally time to admit defeat?
<But it lies hidden. Because you have yet to experience true evolution. You have yet to experience DEATH.>
"A-Aimopotis! K-keep firing. Keep..."
Sinon falls backward to the ground, her knees falling limp as you continue to press towards her.
"Not as easy as it seems?" you reply. "Takes a lot out of you. Every attack pulls on your soul. Overdo it and it'll feel like you're being stretched thin by a thousand mallets." You sidestep another shot from Sinon, reading her extremely predictable bullet line. "You're spent. It's time to give up."
"I— No. No." She brings her rifle of her own to bear, cocking the bolt back in a clumsy, tired fashion. And yet, her strength fails her as she can't quite raise the weapon fast enough, her grasp on the weapon almost comically loose in the air. "I— I need to. Can't..."
"Then it's my turn."
The Garand is raised to your shoulder. It's the same pose as if you were about to fire, but you instead pull on a memory from SAO. An image of a flashing blade flying through the air. Your bayonet becomes your bullet, and as you pull the trigger a flash of blue light is launched towards the stumbling sniper.
"AIMOPOTIS! KILL HER!"
<You know what you must do! You know where power lies! You know what must die!>
The crack of displaced air rips through the battlefield as your bayonet slams into Sinon, carrying you along with the charge. Sinon's Persona is too late, only managing to nick your raincoat with the attack, your forward momentum carrying you far out of the strike range. Sinon shudders as in the space of a moment you're pinning her to the muddy ground with the bayonet. Your eyes meet hers and you see what was once wild with confidence now struggling to stay open, the final traces of resistance fading from the red hues.
"I-I never had a chance, huh..." Sinon gasps with a shaking voice. For one moment you even believe you see the faintest glimmer of teal begin to creep back into her eyes. "Y-you never took me seriously from the start..."
"You're mad Shino. Whatever you're seeking, you won't find it in this... this... fantasy. This isn't true strength, this isn't even a true world." Even now why she won't even understand? "You've got to wake up. That's all I'm here to accomplish."
Another broken laugh escapes her mouth, "I thought... you were different... after all... you're wearing one too... right?"
The red brilliance pulsing behind her eye is all that explanation you need. She's corrupted, sick, and trapped in the throes of VR Psychosis. You lean your strength into the Bayonet, watching pixels ripple as you ready yourself to wake her up the only way you know how.
<That part of you that is weak! That part of you that is pathetic! That crawls along the earth like a worm!>
"W-why... couldn't you put... your life... on the line?" Sinon says as she struggles against your blade. Her voice is slipping, the last throes of her madness escaping her as a dry cough wracks her entire frame. "Y-you... this is just a game... to you..."
Enough of this. One last push, one last twist and— This must be a broken promise world record.
Your hands can't move. They can't. No matter how much strength you pour into your fingers nothing responds. This again. What now!? Why are you interfering!? To stop a mistake.
She's defeated! This was the plan all along, the whole purpose of this fight was to log her out! To show that this isn't true strength! You decided on this! I didn't do jack shit. It was you. It's always you. It's only ever been you.
No, it was your turn... this was your... idea? You... you can't remember... Remember your promise?
I... I wasn't going to let it happen to anyone else. I... I wasn't going to stand back and... Never again.
No. None of this makes sense. What are you even talking about!? Sino's in VR! Everyone you logged out of ALO was fine! This is how it works! We defeat her and that's it! It's over!
<Usujio was weak. Usujio could not overcome his fear. Usujio could not pull the trigger.>
A thousand pictures are beamed into your mind. The sky above alights with the sounds of battle. It's a man in camo paint and sunglasses. He moves between the trees like a practiced predator, his huge size belaying the sheer agility he demonstrates when he flits between shrubs with a combat knife clenched between his teeth.
A dart hits his arm. He stumbles but refuses to fall. His knife flashes in an instant and he's gouged out the dart along with a chunk of his flesh. He laughs and the roar of his machine gun shreds bark off of branches. This is Usujio Tarako, Death Gun's first victim.
A pixel flashes and an invisible hunter with red eyes lies exposed on his back. Usujio roars in triumph but his weapon clicks empty, all while Death Gun's bullet shatters the rifle. The final duel is a bloody flash of green and black. Limbs fly, pixels splatter and bones snap. Usujio whimpers, begs, and scrambles on all fours. All his bravado is forgotten and then he dies a coward, pixels sloshing out of the back of his head.
<So I was forced to do so in his stead.>
A brief flash of a twisted, broken corpse. A simple picture: the body of Usujio, complete with name and address, suddenly broadcast in the middle of the BoB using the GM announcement system.
<David was weak. David could not overcome his fear. David could not pull the trigger.>
A man in tan army fatigues laughs and mocks. Calls Death Gun a poser, a wannabe, a nobody. He doesn't even fight, he just sits and points to himself, daring his opponent to do his worst. This is David, Death Gun's second victim.
The two stare across the battlefield at each other. David doesn't even raise his weapon, spending the time making obscene gestures. He doesn't take this seriously, the whole thing to him is just a ridiculous joke. The Red Eyed man has no answer but that of his bullet. The man who once lived gasps, groans, and dies in a rictus of agony.
<So I was forced to do so in his stead.>
Another picture, another body.
Another damn distraction! It's just some prerecorded message meant to scare you. You can deal with it later. Sinon, you have to finish her off. It's the whole crux of this plan. You don't understand. Why can't you kill Sinon? Why can't you move? You still haven't realized? I gotta spell this shit out for you!? What do you think Shino's diving in!?
...It's not as if you haven't considered the possibility. Was that possible? All the talk about putting her life on the line, could she be meaning it literally? For what, just to fight you!? When she turned her pistol on herself, you know what she wanted. She wanted you to bear your fangs, to meet her challenge with one of your own, to use your full power. To pull the trigger just as she did.
"Shino. Y-you... you're using a NerveGear... just for this!? For nothing!?"
But so what? Gwen used a NerveGear. You've used a NerveGear! This wasn't SAO. You've died in a NerveGear before! You've logged out hundreds of players, all in ALO, all in NerveGears! It doesn't matter! So long as it's not SAO... so long as...
She grips your wrists, and drags herself closer along the barrel of your Bayonet, spraying pixels down her muffler. Her eyes glowing blood red take on an increased intensity, the echo of the man with red eyes overlapping with her voice. "I said it, didn't I? I have to put my life on the line. If I'm still too weak, then so what!? I'll kill that weakness. I'll be the one who's never afraid to pull the trigger, the one who's never afraid to do what is necessary!"
"Why is this so important, why are going this far!?"
"You know why! It's so I can survive! So that I won't be the stupid, weak Shino anymore, it's so that I can finally become the «Real Deal»!"
Those words once more. The Real Deal. It's a stupid statement. Words that don't mean anything, vague nonsense meant only to muddle your thoughts—
The goal of XaXa. Death Gun. This entire insane plot. This entire announcement is a calculated declaration to the entire world.
The NerveGears, the deaths rigged to look like NerveGears killed them. And this new world... GGO. A world with its own logic. Where thoughts synchronize and incarnate into reality.
A world unified through worship of OBERON. Through the songs of the Crowd Brain. Through the terror of Ragnarok.
This is the same thing. Align the will.
And Incarnate a new law upon the world.
<I hold within my hand true power! Power that can be yours! All you have to do is pull the trigger!>
A pistol emblazoned with the mark of the Black Star is raised towards the sky. Death Gun calls forth a new declaration. This weapon, his signature, is a gun that ends life and kills weakness. The skull-masked man slowly, almost gently, raises the gun to his temple. A demonstration and a promise.
Sinon has already pulled the trigger. That Persona, no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the version of Death Gun that lives within her soul was evoked into being. Aimopotis was a creature within the core of Sinon's desire for strength, seizing as its body her personal Anti-Material Rifle. This is all the «Real Deal» ever was.
Darkness gathers beyond the distant mountains. Aimopotis is still out there, and its final bullet lies locked in its chambers. Come to think of it, her weapon, the PGM II Hecate is a bolt action rifle that chambers seven rounds. Six of them have already been fired. The final bullet, directed by the will of the devil, may strike whomever it pleases.
That thing was not a Persona. It wasn't even a Shadow. It is an Ideal. The cold, silent sniper and the raging fire all in one— Sinon's vision of Strength. The version of herself she wants to be, the version of herself she will become... if only she can cut away the weakness... Do you finally see it!? This shit shouldn't be new to you. There can only ever be one! So what happens to the spare!?
One more twist. One more lunge. You can kill Sinon, you can end this. This farce has to end. What happens if you kill Sinon in this state? You wanna take that risk!?
It worked out in the past. You... you just have to believe... What does Sinon believe will happen!?
<We will all become strong! Kill the weak fools before you! Purge the weakness within! With this Gun! The Gun of the New World!>
The two of you are locked eye to eye, connected by the tip of your blade. Yet you cannot finish the job. The barrel trembles in your grasp, but you're paralyzed by indecision.
Can't move. Can't finish the fight. No. No, what can you even do!? Sinon's final attack, the last bullet chambered in her gun, you feel its power building across the vast distance. Should she raise her sights, her gun will surely lock onto—
Pull the trigger.
Cut away the weakness.
...
The target of Sinon's final bullet... was...
<DEATH GUN!>
System Call: ERROR COMMAND NOT RECOGNIZED ERROR
Corrupt File Detected. Purging FLID [Sinon] from Main Visualizer.
Kuro uses Kouga and rolls 4d6e5 = 1 5⊕ 4 2 → 1 success against 5
Sinon defends AGI (3+1RD) rolls 4d6e5 = 6⊕ 1 2 2 → 1 success against 5 Sinon is Blinded! Hawkeye bonus breaks!
Aimopotis attacks. Disadvantage! (7Acc - 1 SysCrash +1 RD) rolls 7d6e6 = 5 6⊕ 3 6⊕ 2 2 2 → 2 successes against 6
Kuro defends VIT rolls 5d6e5 = 5⊕ 4 5⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ → 4 successes against 5
Aimopotis attacks, final desperation and rolls 7d6e5 = 1 2 2 5⊕ 1 2 1 → 1 success against 5
Kuro defends VIT rolls 5d6e5 = 6⊕ 1 6⊕ 4 6⊕ → 3 successes against 5
Sinon technically isn't defeated, but the QM will end the combat at this point as it's close enough.
Your Norinco Type 54 -Black Star- has evolved.
Death Gun [Shokushinbutsu]
Range: MELEE/CLOSE
Basic Attack [Semi-Auto Fire]: Empty your magazine into the enemy. [4 DICE / PIERCE]
Basic Attack [Execute]: Cut away the weak. [10 DICE / ALMIGHTY / HELPLESS FOES ONLY]
[Fatal Bullet]: Mudo spells fired by this gun can affect non-NPC targets.
[Mudo Boost]: +2 DICE when resolving Mudo effects.
[Incarnate: Black Star]: A target killed by this gun dies in real life.
[Evoke: Death Gun]: Put your life on the line. Gain [Real Deal: Survivor] for the remainder of the battle.
Death lies within the Black Star.
[ ] Let Sinon get hit by Mudoon. Never again.
[ ] Kill Sinon before Mudoon hits her. Don't do this. Don't take the chance. Never again.
[ ] Shove her out of the way. You've used spells like this before. There's no escape.
[ ] Log Out. You serious? You know there's only really one choice.
>Due to your active traits, your Shadow has automatically decided to take the attack head-on.
>You are being hit with the effect of a Mudoon spell.
>You have wisely already switched to Putana. Putana has the highest mathematical chance of resisting this effect out of your currently active Personas.
>Sinon has 3 CHT + 2 Mudo Boost + ADV (Mudoon Tier). The ADV is invalidated by Putana's resistance.
>This effect will resolve based on an opposed CHT roll.
>Unless you do something drastic.
[ ] Trust Yourself. >Take the attack head-on.
>ETTEILLA has 3/3 Bailouts remaining.
[ ] Trust Yourself.
>Your Shadow will roll on your behalf and suffer the consequences if need be.
[ ] Trust Sinon.
>Choose to believe that, despite everything... she doesn't want to kill you.
[ ] Make her see.
>Invoke Nephren-Ka and open your Third Eye.
>Will accumulate one STRESS.
[ ] Make nobody see.
>Invoke Nephren-Ka and turn off the lights.
>Will accumulate one STRESS.
[ ] Engage in Diplomacy one final time.
>Communicate a thought or statement to Sinon. One paragraph tops. Can affect the strength or even negate the attack, depending on your argument.
>Or do something unexpected.
[ ] Write-In.
>You may only use currently equipped Personas
>You may not deliberately attack Sinon AN: I don't want to resolve this with a dice roll, but I'm willing to if need be. This is a Persona fanfiction, give me something dramatic to work with!
Hmm. I'm torn between using Nephren-Ka's Third Eye and trying diplomacy.
I think Third Eye has the advantage of putting an infodump on her that we simply won't have the time to squeeze into a single paragraph through standard diplomacy - that we are similar to her and are probably closer to understanding her pain than likely anyone she's encountered so far. Where she has had to deal with the guilt of killing someone and the social stigma that has come with that when others end up learning about it, Hiyori has had to deal with similar guilt from her role in Laughing Coffin even if she didn't personally PK anyone, the difference is that Hiyori has largely had better luck in friends - like Sinon she was afraid of what people would think when they found out what she did, but Argo and sorta Asuna aside, most of her friends have accepted it and understand - while Sinon's own family essentially turned her into a pariah.
Additionally, they are also alike in that both have been struggling to find in themselves the strength to accept what they've done themselves. Sinon chose to immerse herself in GGO to the point of VR Psychosis. Hiyori had an identity crisis that spawned a shadow and nearly repressed the memories entirely (chargen.) However, I think this is somewhere where our previous votes/decisions are helpful. The dynamic Hiyori and Shino had was always a bit weird with respect to this conflict because Shino isn't necessarily wrong to have thought the path she was taking as Sinon and The Real Deal was similar to Hiyori since most of the impactful scenes they've had together was Shadow Hiyori who is in some ways a foil to Real Deal Sinon as a side of herself that rejected the guilt that Hiyori felt and essentially owned her SAO actions.
But over the course of the Alfheim Arc and our choices that Hiyori and her Shadow reconciled and chose to "never again" let someone die in front of them if they could help shows how Hiyori has, while faltering sometimes, chosen a different path for herself and how to move forward with herself - and a rejection of that kind of "Real Deal" mentality that Sinon clinged to and thought Hiyori shared (not entirely unreasonably) and can show Sinon another path and what answer Hiyori has currently reached in their similiar dilemma.
Over the course of trying to put my thoughts down to text I've basically convinced myself to use Third Eye here because I don't think we can credibly convey this to Sinon in a single paragraph. There was the short talk prompt I came up with in my ill-devised plan last round talking about how Shino's just been running from her hurt but even if I tried to refine that a bit to make it less confrontational (since it was written while we were still fighting) and more an offering a hand in friendship... I think it's just a lot more powerful emotionally if she uses Third Eye to basically show Shino how they are similar - just perhaps not in the ways she thought - and that like Hiyori was fortunate enough to find people who were willing to accept her - Shino can too, and Hiyori can be one of those friends.
One more twist. One more lunge. You can kill Sinon, you can end this. This farce has to end. What happens if you kill Sinon in this state? You wanna take that risk!?
The fact the shadow has to jump in and stop us makes me think this whole approach - finding Sinon and fighting her - was *not* was the players were supposed to do in order to save her.
While the dice say otherwise, the shadow interrupt feels like players being yanked back from making a critical mistake by the GM.
So, I'm just going to ask - what was the correct process to wake Sinon up?
[X] Trust Yourself.
[X] Engage in Diplomacy one final time.
-[X] "You have confused Power for Strength, Sinon. Power can come from without. It can be found in blades, coin, and the barrel of a gun. The Power to take from another."
-[X] "Strength - true Strength of Heart, must come from within. One must ask not 'What am I willing to do to hurt another?' but 'What am I willing to give of myself to save another?'. The Strength to give of oneself."
-[X] "That is the mark of a true hero. That is what it means to be the Real Deal."
