- Location
- USA
Yep, though it seems it was more XaXa just seeing her on the street than anything more fancy.
Persona: HEAVEN (Persona/Sword Art Online/Isekai Multicross)
Vs XeXeeD: Battle -strength- 2nd Bullet
- Location
- The Sea of Souls
[X] Plan: Last Surprise
-[X] Keyboard Warrior Default
-[X] Customize Your Approach
--[X] "Lugh, if I can keep him distracted can you get close again and finish this?"
--[X] Turn 1: Buff Lugh with Tarukaja (X-CALIBUR/Mithras Liturgy)
---[X] If not in the effective range for the X-CALIBUR vs. XeXeeD, move to do so
--[X] Turn 2: Stay in effective range and use Zio on XeXeeD (Same)
-[X] Keyboard Warrior Default
-[X] Customize Your Approach
--[X] "Lugh, if I can keep him distracted can you get close again and finish this?"
--[X] Turn 1: Buff Lugh with Tarukaja (X-CALIBUR/Mithras Liturgy)
---[X] If not in the effective range for the X-CALIBUR vs. XeXeeD, move to do so
--[X] Turn 2: Stay in effective range and use Zio on XeXeeD (Same)
Once upon a time, before SAO, there was a girl who still enjoyed wasting an afternoon on video games. The little computer in your room was like a second home for you. Dad was always worried about you growing up 'digital' but he was fighting against a wave that had long since conquered the world. Games and the like were inescapable throughout junior high, not to mention the constant rumors about cursed video games every other classmate dared you to play.
SAO was not just the first VR game you've ever played, it was also the first massively multiplayer one. You recall a few odd arcade fighting games, in which you almost always lost, as the only exposure you ever had to player-on-player combat before you were proverbially thrown into the deepest of the deep ends. Yet you still remember a few faint fundamentals. Of how combat between equals broke down into mind games, and that victory went to the player who understood their opponent first.
You don't know XeXeeD, by reputation or otherwise. There are a few educated guesses you can make— his rifle, his preference to stay in one place, even the fact that he preferred to position himself partly out in the open instead of huddled behind cover like you were.
It points to someone who wasn't afraid of being shot at. Someone who trusted his superior weaponry to blast you into bits before you ever had the chance to reach him.
You could charge him— engage where he was weak and you were strong. But you'll have to close the gap through a hail of automatic fire, a prospect that would be rapidly fatal. At the same time staying at a distance and trading shots wouldn't work against an opponent you're certain is just a plain better shot than you.
Lucky for you, there was someone here who understood this sort of combat well.
"Lugh, I'm going to need you to close in. I'll cover you!"
"Understood. Make some noise."
You feel a chill as Lugh's voice practically materializes behind you. You see XeXeeD, his shades hiding his eyes as they flick between Lugh and you. He's much more wary of your partner than he is of you, and he's not allowing any of you to catch him in a pincer.
Any further planning is interrupted by another burst of automatic fire, XeXeeD chewing through ammunition in an attempt to force the two of you into cover. Lugh is the one who returns fire this time, but he's not aiming to hurt XeXeeD, just to cause him to duck and break the line of sight for the briefest of moments.
"Hey, jackass! I've got some questions for you!" You scream out, blasting the X-Calibur Rifle in a wide, chaotic burst. Shelves, stray metal scraps, and the odd stove pot go flying every which way, the bright lights of your weapon lighting up the dark warehouse like a cheap disco.
"You make it a habit of running your mouth off in the middle of a firefight!? You can ask your questions once you're dead!" XeXeeD snarls, his attention focusing back on you for a fraction of a moment, a burst of his rifle lost in the clatter and sound of your lasers.
You do a quick scan of the room, Lugh has predictably already flanked to the side. You can't even make him out anymore. Now if you can just keep XeXeeD's focus on you a bit longer then...
"What happened to Usujio!?"
"WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME YOU BITCH!?"
...Or maybe you'll make him so mad he'll tilt. Whatever works.
"YOU'RE ALL THE SAME! DOING THE SAME SHIT TO ME THAT YOU DID TO USUJIO! THAT YOUR FUCKING MO!? YOU BEEN SMURFING THE WHOLE TIME!?" XeXeeD screams, projecting his voice across the arena, causing the sound to reverberate through the warehouse.
"I have no idea who you're talking about! I literally started playing this game today! YOU KNOW THIS! YOU'VE BEEN CALLING ME A NEWBIE! HELL, YOUR STALKER GOON IS THE WHOLE REASON WE'RE IN THIS MESS!" You shout from behind a nearby pillar. It was, in hindsight, not exactly something that made you sound all that innocent.
"YOU FOOLED ME ONCE!" XeXeeD's shrill, rage-fueled voice shouts back at you. "THEN YOU PULL OFF THAT BULLSHIT MAGIC SHOT! THEN YOUR BOYFRIEND TURNS OUT TO BE SOME FUCKING NINJA WANNABE! AND I SEE THE WAY YOU MOVE! HOW MANY GUNS ARE HIDING UNDER THAT COAT!?"
The answer to that question was more than needed. You're starting to get the sinking suspicion that you're probably just going to stick with one gun for the majority of the fight, gigantic arsenal notwithstanding.
"I needed the weapons to fight you! I just bought them today!"
"And you're a goddamn wallet warrior to boot!? Shitbags like are you gonna ruin the game! Whatever happened to fair play, huh!?"
Why was everyone so pissed off about buying stuff in a game? Isn't that what it's there for? Grinding for money IRL and then exchanging it for game resources seems much more efficient than playing 50 hours for ¥500 worth of junk!
"Well excuse me for having a job!"
"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR NOT BEING A PAY2WIN HACKER SMURF!"
Your back and forth is interrupted by more jostling for position. XeXeeD spams another grenade into your vicinity, but you shift to the side, ducking behind your pillar and giving the blast a wide berth. You're already moving faster, responding quicker. It's not just the Persona. Now that you know where to look, and where to focus, you can feel the instincts behind GGO's odd branch of combat imprint in your mind. The little details you hadn't realized: how to hug a wall, how to slide into cover, how to use the terrain to your advantage...
Just by focusing on your gun, on the anchor of GGO's fantasy, you're slowly learning the rules of this world. It's like flight and swordplay all over again, the SEED teaching you second by second, bullet by bullet. The Persona opens your mind to the collective unconsciousness of humanity, and in doing so manipulates the false world you find yourself within. But the reverse must be true as well. It was as ETTEILLA feared.
ALO had its own branch of the collective unconsciousness. One manipulated and ruled by OBERON, but fundamentally based on the shared fantasy between every individual player.
GGO has much the same. Wilder, more untamed, but still present. GGO didn't need you to love the world, the lore, or anything of the sort— just love your gun and the world will respond in kind.
A pause in the crossfire. You peek out the left and see XeXeeD seething in rage, fumbling for a new magazine. You have no idea where Lugh even is right now, which is exactly where you need him.
"So who are you really!? Don't you think I won't find out! Not that many chicks in GGO!"
"You gonna try and dox me now!? Go eat shit you rat-faced bastard!" You retort. Argh, you're acting. Trying to rile him up on purpose, not trying to stoop to his level! It doesn't help that right now you want nothing more than to rip his tongue out.
"«Zelinksa»? Nah, too much of a white hat. «Sinon»? No, she'd start the fight off by running away for half an hour..."
"I'M NOT A SMURF!"
"I get it now. Cheating bitch who can't shoot her way out of a wet paper bag? Overcompensating for shit skills by buying a hundred fancy schmancy new guns? That you Pito!? I knew I smelled trust fund brat! This your 10th alt or something!?"
"I DON'T KNOW WHO ANY OF THESE PEOPLE ARE!"
You're done listening to this asshole! You roll out of cover for the briefest of moments and aim a full stream of laser fire straight in front of XeXeeD's smug ass face. But the moment you exit your roll you see the last thing you wanted— XeXeeD giving you the biggest shitting-eating grin, the hollow barrel of his rifle pointed straight into your chest.
Did he just... trash-talk you out of cover?
"Gotcha, darling," his voice comes out smooth, almost laughing.
You see the bright flash of XeXeeD's rifle fire before you can even begin to react. You're caught prone, in the worst possible position.
And that's when Lugh pounces.
There's an audible cry from XeXeeD as Lugh drops from the ceiling, a knife in one hand and the rapidly receding wire of his grapple in the other. Lugh's hip has landed straight on XeXeeD's head, the boy using his legs to lock around his target's neck, causing his firearm to widely miss your head.
XeXeeD thrashes, his head banging against the metal floor and backward into Lugh's body, but the boy doesn't let up. Without any scream or any fanfare at all, he drives the tip of his knife under XeXeeD's collar.
There's a brief gurgle, XeXeeD clawing at Lugh's wrists despite his extremely awkward positioning. Remarkably, raw strength accounts for more than expected, and even backward with arms at the completely wrong angle XeXeeD can arrest the momentum of Lugh's strike.
Yet Lugh retains his leverage. With a grunt of exertion, the boy leans his entire body weight into the blow, the brutish and effort-filled act appearing at odds with Lugh's typical fast and precise motions. It's just force versus force, and Lugh finally sinks the tip of the blade past XeXeeD's guard and deep into the crook of his neck.
XeXeeD groans and you're soon greeted with a fountain of red pixels. It's not blood, but the way it sprays out of XeXeeD's avatar it's clear that ZASKAR has done everything it can to mimic blood effects in a game hard-coded to avoid them.
Lugh should've won. Right then and there. But there's one problem. XeXeeD wasn't human.
And a single knife strike to a critical area? In GGO, that wasn't necessarily fatal.
Once again Lugh is the one to be surprised. XeXeeD releases his hold on Lugh's knife and wraps his thick, gloved hands around Lugh's ankles, the boy's legs still wrapped around his neck like a noose. XeXeeD falls forward, trying to ram Lugh's head into the metal floor, but Lugh holds on for dear life and the pair falls onto the floor in a mass of entangled limbs and weapons, XeXeeD's brute strength fighting against Lugh's technique.
You can't shoot into this melee, you'll do more damage to Lugh than XeXeeD, the larger player almost certainly having more HP to lose than Lugh does.
But there's more than one way to help.
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Mithras Liturgy]. ReferenceID:10.Droit
The Keyboard of your laser rifle unfolds in front of you, oriented at a 90-degree angle from the axis of your rifle. A holographic screen projects over the pink and black surface.
Perhaps in another world, one more immersed in fantasy, you would've unraveled a scroll and spoken the words of magicians eons past. But though the medium may shift, the words remain ever eternal. Though you have no pen to scribe, you have more than one way to convey the words you need.
<I have consecrated you, that your essence may be useful to me. IE IA E EE OY EIA, that you may prove useful to me. For I am PHOR PHORA PHOS PHOTIZAA.>
Your fingers dance across the surface of your keyboard, the hologram transforming the text from a series of simple Katakana characters into an impenetrable maze of Greek symbols. The power of your spell surges forth, and with a brief, if strange overlay effect, Lugh's form cloaks in a field of glowing red.
System Call: Enhance Physical Element. Append to PlayerID.
This time there's no more struggle. The battle of strength vs precision was no longer a contest once one side possessed both. Lugh's knee rams straight into XeXeeD's stomach, lifting the man's large form a solid half of a meter off the floor.
XeXeeD's eyes open in shock, his sunglasses knocked ajar in the process, revealing the dilated pupils of a man who couldn't believe what he was seeing. His tongue hangs out from his mouth like a panting dog, spittle and streaks of red pixels spilling out of him.
You only see this for a brief second before Lugh's knife, still dug deep into XeXeeD's body, carves a trough through the neck and down his exposed abdomen, like he was slicing through the belly of a whale. But even as his body is being carved into ribbons... Even as XeXeeD is caught in the worst possible position... Even as he's stunned and on the verge of death...
XeXeeD never stops playing.
A pin is pulled.
And a bandolier of grenades drops out of XeXeeD's coat.
Lugh's eyes go wide, but he's too close.
A light engulfs the world.
The bright searing light of two avatars disintegrating simultaneously, brighter than the sun itself, illuminating the warehouse like a supernova. You raise your sleeve in front of your face, trying to avoid the blinding effects of XeXeeD's final suicide trap—
"KURO HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
You look up at the last moment, the flash finally starting to clear up and see XeXeeD's large form sprinting away, desperately trying to put some more distance between himself and Lugh.
You realize what just happened. That wasn't some last-minute suicide by a sore loser, it was the last gambit of a player digging deep into his bag of tricks. In this case? A point-blank flash-bang to force a disengage. At least now you know why he insisted on wearing sunglasses indoors.
"I told you losers already, you're not the first to try that trick on me. Do you think I don't have a playbook for you ninja wannabes? If it worked on Sublitzer it'll work on you assholes!"
Lugh appears at your side, voice tinged with barely suppressed frustration. He's squinting, fruitlessly rubbing at his eyeballs. "He should be dead. Why don't people here die when they are killed?"
"He's high level. GGO doesn't treat its stats as heavily as other games, but it doesn't mean it has no stats. We should expect our enemies to at least be able to take a few bullets before they drop."
Lugh scowls. "Troublesome. Fine, I'll adjust my approach. He got me with that flashbang, it'll take me a few moments to recollect my wits. Tch, I'm losing my touch— we might need to reconsider our approach."
"That said, there's no way you didn't do a ton of damage. Can you pull that trick off again?"
"I can try, I'm certainly in no position to be shooting at him. But I can still make out his shape... and this immense strength... Where is it coming from? I don't feel... human..." Lugh says, marveling at his body's newfound strength. You can tell he's not entirely happy with the power boost, not after he lost his eyesight just moments ago, but this was no time for complaints.
"Don't think about it too hard, I barely understand it myself." You weren't going to give Lugh the lowdown on what exactly a Persona was in the middle of a fight. Luckily GGO's implementation of your powers was much more subtle than giant glowing Stands materializing around you. "I'm going for a charged shot. This time it's your turn to keep him busy."
Lugh grunts but doesn't say anything else, instead crouching low to the ground and charging XeXeeD once more.
"Fuck off, you think I'm gonna play by your rules!?"
XeXeeD's rifle swings behind him, the man out in the open and still running a dead sprint away from the charging Lugh. A grenade launches out of the FN F2000's under-barrel attachment. But there's little Lugh can do when the grenade detonates on his side, some preternatural instinct allowing Lugh to roll with the explosion but leaving his coat singed and a brow that was getting more creased by the second.
"Kuro! I can't get close!"
"On it!" You weren't sitting by idly as Lugh made another pass at XeXeeD. After all, even as Lugh's dodging around XeXeeD's fire, you've never stopped typing.
<O Bright Lightener, PROPROPHEGGE EMETHIRI ARTENTEPI THETH MIMEO YENARO PHYRCHECHO PSERI!>
Light and lightning converge around the barrel of your laser rifle, a sphere of power and electricity condensing in the barrel before erupting forward with a burst.
<DARIO PHRE PHRELBA!>
System Call: Generate Fulminant Element. Form Element, Bullet shape. Fly straight. Discharge.
With a crack of lightning and a thundering boom, the concentrated ball of plasma collides with XeXeeD's back, the shock of the impact briefly arresting his retreat. But it's not XeXeeD's body that has stopped your attack. It's something else entirely: shimmering, bright, and oh-so solid. And so you see the bane of your existence in a game you only just started playing.
The Optical Shield.
It blossoms into a honeycomb pattern that envelops XeXeeD's form like a protective bubble, your plasma blast harmlessly absorbed into its structure. You could almost see your attack being eaten away, the concentrated ball of magic disappearing into mere motes of floating dust.
"Haaaa... hahaha... definitely smurfs. Fuck, you're getting me all hot and bothered!" XeXeeD wheezes out. His large frame turns, revealing his maniacal face, a strange metal rod gripped tight in his hands. "Gotta give you guys credit, if I knew you'd be this hard, I would've brought my XM29 along..."
You frown. What the hell was up with this guy? First, he's all talk and no action, then a mewling coward at the first sign of danger. But the moment the bullets started flying he becomes some trash-talking juggernaut, unfazed by getting his ass handed to him by two newbies.
...
Ah. That's probably it.
"He sounds insane," Lugh says.
"He sounds like he's having fun," you clarify.
Lugh cocks his head and raises a questioning eyebrow.
Maybe he's just a paper tiger. Some dumb content creator whose only claim to fame is bragging loud enough everyone starts believing his bullshit. You started off thinking XeXeeD was more like Sigurd, a guy in it for fame, external reward, personal satisfaction...
But maybe he was more like Leafa?
XeXeeD's grenade launcher drops to the ground and disintegrates in a flash of pixels. The strange metal rod snaps in place underneath his rifle in place of the under-barrel launcher, the new attachment looking reminiscent of a shotgun. With a glancing look in your direction, XeXeeD then proceeds to smack the circular device dangling off his coattails, his optical shield flashing yellow.
It takes you a second to realize what he's doing. Optical Shields could be programmed in this game to deal with different elemental attacks, something the ArFA shopkeeper warned you about. That last attack must've struck a bit too close to comfort for him.
"Alright. Hey, I'll say it. I was wrong. You guys are worth killing. Hahaha, man, I haven't gotten that slammed in fucking ages! But I got your number now. You're the weird ass hacker with the lasers and you're the little ninja shitbag. Fine. Wasn't what I was I was expecting. But you know what?"
He cocks the under-barrel shotgun and laughs.
"I'm the goddamn champion. There's nothing you losers have thought of that I haven't seen before."
His sunglasses clatter to the floor, shattering into pixels, revealing beady black eyes that rapidly dilate to the dim light of the warehouse.
"Now look alive! I want to see your faces before I smear them over the wall!"
Initiative:
XeXeeD: 4 + 3 AGI = 7
Kuro 5 + 3 AGI = 8
Lugh 5 + 3 AGI + 2(Real Deal) = 10
Lugh HIDES. +1 Movement.
Lugh moves 3 UNITS towards XeXeeD.
Lugh is HIDDEN and avoids OVERWATCH.
Kuro STAYS PUT.
Kuro casts Tarukaja on Lugh.
CHT = 3, so 3 TURNS
XeXeeD STAYS PUT.
XeXeeD fires at Kuro.
7 Accuracy - 1 (ArFa) = 6 Dice, rolls 6d6e6 = 1 2 1 3 3 2 → 0 successes against 6
COMPLETE MISS
ARENA: [K][ ][ ][ ][L][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Turn 02
Lugh attacks!
3 Accuracy + 2 Tarukaja + 2 STR + 2Real Deal = 9, rolls 9d6e5 = 4 3 1 5⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 2 → 5 successes against 5
XeXeeD tries to dodge! Denied VIT!
XeXeeD rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 3 1 → 1 success against 5
4 + 3 (Assasinate) = 7 SLASH DAMAGE!
XeXeeD uses Flashbang! rolls 4d6e5 = 1 2 1 6⊕ → 1 success against 5
Kuro defends: rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 4 2 → 1 success against 5
Lugh defends: rolls 4d6e5 = 4 1 2 3 → 0 successes against 5
Lugh is BLINDED next turn!
XeXeeD moves 2 UNITS away from Lugh!
XeXeeD uses Grenade!
5 Accuracy unmodified!
XeXeeD rolls 5d6e5 = 6⊕ 6⊕ 2 6⊕ 1 → 3 successes against 5
Lugh defends: rolls 4d6e5 = 3 6⊕ 1 6⊕ → 2 successes against 5
1 + 2 (Explosive) = 3 BLUNT DAMAGE!
Kuro is at bottom of priority from OVERLOAD!
Kuro moves 2 UNITS towards XeXeeD!
Kuro uses Zio!
4 Accuracy + 2 Overload + 5 Magic = 11, rolls 11d6e5 = 2 3 3 3 5⊕ 4 4 1 4 4 3 → 1 success against 5
XeXeeD doesn't roll as his defensive barrier ablates the 1 point of damage!
ARENA: [K][ ][L][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
XeXeeD: 4 + 3 AGI = 7
Kuro 5 + 3 AGI = 8
Lugh 5 + 3 AGI + 2(Real Deal) = 10
Lugh HIDES. +1 Movement.
Lugh moves 3 UNITS towards XeXeeD.
Lugh is HIDDEN and avoids OVERWATCH.
Kuro STAYS PUT.
Kuro casts Tarukaja on Lugh.
CHT = 3, so 3 TURNS
XeXeeD STAYS PUT.
XeXeeD fires at Kuro.
7 Accuracy - 1 (ArFa) = 6 Dice, rolls 6d6e6 = 1 2 1 3 3 2 → 0 successes against 6
COMPLETE MISS
ARENA: [K][ ][ ][ ][L][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Turn 02
Lugh attacks!
3 Accuracy + 2 Tarukaja + 2 STR + 2Real Deal = 9, rolls 9d6e5 = 4 3 1 5⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 2 → 5 successes against 5
XeXeeD tries to dodge! Denied VIT!
XeXeeD rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 3 1 → 1 success against 5
4 + 3 (Assasinate) = 7 SLASH DAMAGE!
XeXeeD uses Flashbang! rolls 4d6e5 = 1 2 1 6⊕ → 1 success against 5
Kuro defends: rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 4 2 → 1 success against 5
Lugh defends: rolls 4d6e5 = 4 1 2 3 → 0 successes against 5
Lugh is BLINDED next turn!
XeXeeD moves 2 UNITS away from Lugh!
XeXeeD uses Grenade!
5 Accuracy unmodified!
XeXeeD rolls 5d6e5 = 6⊕ 6⊕ 2 6⊕ 1 → 3 successes against 5
Lugh defends: rolls 4d6e5 = 3 6⊕ 1 6⊕ → 2 successes against 5
1 + 2 (Explosive) = 3 BLUNT DAMAGE!
Kuro is at bottom of priority from OVERLOAD!
Kuro moves 2 UNITS towards XeXeeD!
Kuro uses Zio!
4 Accuracy + 2 Overload + 5 Magic = 11, rolls 11d6e5 = 2 3 3 3 5⊕ 4 4 1 4 4 3 → 1 success against 5
XeXeeD doesn't roll as his defensive barrier ablates the 1 point of damage!
ARENA: [K][ ][L][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
ARMORY
-Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
-Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
-X-CALIBUR [Mithras Liturgy 3 Weight]
-Bahauser GMA [Maneki-Neko 0 Weight]
-Varmit Hunter [Helena 0 Weight]
-Procyon [Urvashi 0 Weight]
-M1 Garand [Urashimo Taro 0 Weight]
XeXeeD appears heavily damaged.
XeXeeD has swapped out his GL01 Grenade Launcher for a Knight's Armament Masterkey!
XeXeeD has adjusted his Optical Shield's RESISTANCE! [It flashed YELLOW]
XeXeeD has revealed the passive: [Combat Trick: Once per chapter, at will, launch a status effect grenade at all nearby targets].
XeXeeD has taken off his sunglasses, dramatically increasing his accuracy! Passive: [Modern Firearms Expert: +2 ACCURACY to MODERN firearms]
Estimated Effective Range:
[-][ ][X][X][X][X][ ][ ][-][-]FN2000 [Possesses OVERWATCH] [Accuracy: 7]
[X][X][ ][-][-][-][-][-][-][-]Knight's Armament Masterkey [Ignores AGI when in RANGE]
Revealed Stats:
STR: ?
MAG: ?
AGI: 3
VIT: 5
CHT: 4
ARENA: [K][ ][L][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
K = KURO's position [16/16]
L = LUGH's position [11/14] Tarukaja (2 Turns), Blind (DC to break = 2, roll starts next turn) [-2 to ranged accuracy, cannot defend using AGI!]
Order of Operations:
1d6 + AGI to roll initiative.
First on initiative MOVES and FIRES. Then everyone takes turns.
Then the turn repeat.
TWO TURNS WILL BE SIMULATED.
What does KURO do?
[ ] Act Freely
Turn 1: Urvashi in the Procyon, advance to Pistol range and curse XeXeeD with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Trade Shots
Turn 1: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and cast Masukukaja.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Heal/Support
Turn 1: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and fire Dormina bullet.
Turn 2: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and bless Lugh with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
[ ] Full Assault
Turn 1: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire ReBufu bullet.
Turn 2: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire Vorpal Strike.
[ ] Free Command
-Write in what you want to do for the next two turns!
Write-in an APPROACH
[ ] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
This is the new write-in option. You can tell LUGH what to do, taunt the enemy, attempt to communicate with them mid battle or do something cool! An APPROACH will be narrative and possess bonuses as the QM sees fit for the circumstance.
This is how you control your party members. Examples for what I'm looking for would be something like:
>Lugh use a pincer attack! (Lugh will delay his initiative to match yours and attack simultaneously, giving a circumstantial bonus)
>Lugh, back off and only attack when you see an opening!
>Lugh, just duck and cover!
Otherwise your party members will act as they see fit.
This is also your free action to give a speech.
Basically don't worry too much about the details and write in what you want Kuro to do or what you want her to say!
[ ] STUNT [5 DETERMINATION+]
Do something outside the rules and perform a *COMPLEX* write-in option. This is say... throwing your guns on the floor and surrendering. Channeling electricity into a metal shelf and then throwing it at XeXeeD. Hypnotizing yourself to see what will happen. Do something unexpected that's BEYOND just talking to your opponent or directing your party members!
SUBMIT IN PLAN FORMAT FOR THE LOADOUT AND KURO's ACTIONS!
HOWEVER, CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH IS OUTSIDE OF THE PLAN!
STUNT SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING! IF A STUNT WINS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MECHANICAL DETAILS!
So in essence the CUSTOMIZE option is there for narrative beats and you can vote for an option outside the actual combat mechanics. Give your GM an excuse to make interesting stuff happen.
-Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
-Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
-X-CALIBUR [Mithras Liturgy 3 Weight]
-Bahauser GMA [Maneki-Neko 0 Weight]
-Varmit Hunter [Helena 0 Weight]
-Procyon [Urvashi 0 Weight]
-M1 Garand [Urashimo Taro 0 Weight]
XeXeeD has swapped out his GL01 Grenade Launcher for a Knight's Armament Masterkey!
XeXeeD has adjusted his Optical Shield's RESISTANCE! [It flashed YELLOW]
XeXeeD has revealed the passive: [Combat Trick: Once per chapter, at will, launch a status effect grenade at all nearby targets].
XeXeeD has taken off his sunglasses, dramatically increasing his accuracy! Passive: [Modern Firearms Expert: +2 ACCURACY to MODERN firearms]
Estimated Effective Range:
[-][ ][X][X][X][X][ ][ ][-][-]FN2000 [Possesses OVERWATCH] [Accuracy: 7]
[X][X][ ][-][-][-][-][-][-][-]Knight's Armament Masterkey [Ignores AGI when in RANGE]
Revealed Stats:
STR: ?
MAG: ?
AGI: 3
VIT: 5
CHT: 4
ARENA: [K][ ][L][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
K = KURO's position [16/16]
L = LUGH's position [11/14] Tarukaja (2 Turns), Blind (DC to break = 2, roll starts next turn) [-2 to ranged accuracy, cannot defend using AGI!]
Order of Operations:
1d6 + AGI to roll initiative.
First on initiative MOVES and FIRES. Then everyone takes turns.
Then the turn repeat.
TWO TURNS WILL BE SIMULATED.
What does KURO do?
[ ] Act Freely
Turn 1: Urvashi in the Procyon, advance to Pistol range and curse XeXeeD with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Trade Shots
Turn 1: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and cast Masukukaja.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Heal/Support
Turn 1: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and fire Dormina bullet.
Turn 2: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and bless Lugh with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
[ ] Full Assault
Turn 1: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire ReBufu bullet.
Turn 2: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire Vorpal Strike.
[ ] Free Command
-Write in what you want to do for the next two turns!
Write-in an APPROACH
[ ] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
This is the new write-in option. You can tell LUGH what to do, taunt the enemy, attempt to communicate with them mid battle or do something cool! An APPROACH will be narrative and possess bonuses as the QM sees fit for the circumstance.
This is how you control your party members. Examples for what I'm looking for would be something like:
>Lugh use a pincer attack! (Lugh will delay his initiative to match yours and attack simultaneously, giving a circumstantial bonus)
>Lugh, back off and only attack when you see an opening!
>Lugh, just duck and cover!
Otherwise your party members will act as they see fit.
This is also your free action to give a speech.
Basically don't worry too much about the details and write in what you want Kuro to do or what you want her to say!
[ ] STUNT [5 DETERMINATION+]
Do something outside the rules and perform a *COMPLEX* write-in option. This is say... throwing your guns on the floor and surrendering. Channeling electricity into a metal shelf and then throwing it at XeXeeD. Hypnotizing yourself to see what will happen. Do something unexpected that's BEYOND just talking to your opponent or directing your party members!
SUBMIT IN PLAN FORMAT FOR THE LOADOUT AND KURO's ACTIONS!
HOWEVER, CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH IS OUTSIDE OF THE PLAN!
STUNT SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING! IF A STUNT WINS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MECHANICAL DETAILS!
So in essence the CUSTOMIZE option is there for narrative beats and you can vote for an option outside the actual combat mechanics. Give your GM an excuse to make interesting stuff happen.
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Hm...not great, not terrible in terms of results...
It looks like Lugh is still trying to get used to fact that this is, nominally, a game.
Also, does Laser Girl only apply when using Optical Weapons without using Skills?
Anyway, a plan:
[X] Divine Wrath
-[X] Customize Your Approach
-[X] 'Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it! And keep him off of me for a second!'
-[X] Get into shared range of the M1 Garand and Varmit Hunter, then cast Re-Bufu
-[X] Follow up with Faux-Megidola when you think XeXeed is off guard
Essentially, this plan tries to leverage 'unconventional' attacks against XeXeed, in hopes of catching him by surprise.
It looks like Lugh is still trying to get used to fact that this is, nominally, a game.
Also, does Laser Girl only apply when using Optical Weapons without using Skills?
Anyway, a plan:
[X] Divine Wrath
-[X] Customize Your Approach
-[X] 'Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it! And keep him off of me for a second!'
-[X] Get into shared range of the M1 Garand and Varmit Hunter, then cast Re-Bufu
-[X] Follow up with Faux-Megidola when you think XeXeed is off guard
Essentially, this plan tries to leverage 'unconventional' attacks against XeXeed, in hopes of catching him by surprise.
[X] Divine Wrath
Let the fist of almighty descend.
Let the fist of almighty descend.
- Location
- The Sea of Souls
In hindsight probably should've given a +1 dice, but the roll was cursed anyway. Still trying to figure out balance.
- Location
- USA
[X] Divine Wrath
Jeez, talk about a bad roll.
[x] Divine Wrath
[x] Divine Wrath
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
[x] Divine Wrath
Vs XeXeeD: Battle -strength- 3rd Bullet
- Location
- The Sea of Souls
AN: Math correction time:
Kuro should've rolled 1 additional dice for Laser Girl.
I rolled 1d6 = 3, so with the additional dice no change.
Lugh should've rolled melee with advantage. So 4s are successes as well. Lugh only rolled 1 4, so XeXeeD has suffered an additional single point of damage.
"Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it!"
"What?" Lugh yells back, confused by the advice. He's squinting to see through the aftereffects of the flashbang, his knife clenched tightly in his hands.
"Just do something Hollywood!" You scream, making no effort to hide from XeXeeD. If there was time for complex plans and subtlety, it's long since passed. You try to wrack your brain for any obvious examples but you weren't exactly an action movie aficionado. "Like, I dunno, curving bullets? Or ricocheting them?"
"Bullets fire straight, that's the entire point of bullets. And ricochets are impossible to calculate even in controlled environments. Where are you even coming up with this?"
"Look, you think XeXeeD knows how a gun works!? But he's still managing to shoot just fine!"
The man in question is laughing in the background, blasting chunk after chunk of shotgun pellets in your direction. It's enough to keep the two of you pinned down just by itself. XeXeeD starts moving forward again, step by step, intent on bearing down on you with his modified weapon.
"Haha, I ain't like those morons who complain about realism— as if bitching about the balance will magically make them suck less. This is a MMO! It's not about raw skill, or experience, or your precious reality! It's about your ability to construct a build and adapt to the changing meta! It's about using what the system gives you— get it now soldier boy? You're outmatched, under-geared, and dumb as bricks! Besides, ricocheting bullets? Phff, hahaha... Good luck buddy. I've seen hundreds of players try to pull off that trick and only one jackass has managed it—"
You see the feral look in XeXeeD's eye reflecting off his scope as he raises his rifle to eye level. There's a glint of excitement in the lens, the reflection of someone about to witness his target getting shredded.
"—And you're no『 』!"
XeXeeD's gun recoils with the force of a jackhammer. He lets out a cry of victory, unloading round after round at Lugh's flimsy hiding place using his weapon's Full Auto capability. You see him fingering the under-barrel shotgun, his combination weapon a one-two punch of automatic fire to flush out his target then the shotgun blast to finish them off.
It was a smart idea, a sign towards XeXeeD's idea of a 'build', one that depended little on player skill and instead leveraged his higher stats to allow him to take bigger risks and simply out-blast his opponent. That shotgun must've been his answer to AGI builds, though you have no doubt he has a deep, deep bag of tricks for whatever opponent he might encounter.
Suddenly, a brief pause. XeXeeD stops to reload, ducking behind an overturned desk. It's the only opportunity you'll get.
You glance at Lugh, and mouth out the words 'Cover me'. Your partner, instead of trying any fancy trickshot, does the obvious thing.
He drops a smoke grenade, disappearing into the billowing cloud.
Surprisingly, this seems to take XeXeeD off guard, his voice carrying an audible grunt of irritation. "Really? The smoke meta, AGAIN!? You guys are sure fucking original! Did you pull that galaxy-brained move from the wiki!?"
"What, you got a monopoly on tactics!? If it works, it works!" You yell back, charging through the cover granted to you by Lugh, XeXeeD's interception fire unable to hit you through the haze.
"It's anti-fun, degenerate cheese and you know it!" XeXeeD calls out from beyond the mist. It seems like he's stopped firing, perhaps realizing there wasn't much of a point in wasting ammo. It's a thin smokescreen, already starting to melt away, likely a reflection of its poor quality. You doubt Lugh has anything truly high quality with the few miscellaneous purchases he made before jumping straight into the game.
You take the opportunity to access your inventory. GGO has its hammerspace variant with near-infinite capacity, but your actual carry limit was dependent on what equipment you had on your person or in a quick access menu you had to pre-populate. Swapping between storage inventory and on-hand inventory was possible with a few seconds of delay, but you were still beholden to the weight limit. Already, you were carrying around more than a half dozen guns of varying sizes and shapes, far in excess of what a player should be able to handle without penalty.
But even here your Personas were picking up the slack. Though many were so physically weak they provided no benefit at all, you feel the efforts of your Personas infused into each and every weapon, bolstering the literal weights with the figurative strength of their presence. Your X-CALIBUR laser rifle dissolves in a flash of blue particle effects, the shine momentarily cutting through the smoke. Your hand reaches through the blue window, floating in front of your avatar, and grips around a long wooden stalk.
Every Persona in your mind sings, almost pushing to be the one to inhabit this weapon. It's something the sea of souls recognizes, a firearm with enough history to be enshrined among the collective will of mankind.
The M1 Garand falls out of your inventory, the weapon smelling mildly of mildew and salt— a museum piece just fished out of a chest from the bottom of a sunken ship. It's one of the few guns you can recognize by sight alone, an old WW2-era semi-automatic rifle that MistCoin recommended when you mentioned an interest in antiques. It was a last-second purchase, one you're glad you decided on.
You burst out of the cloud of smoke, stark white hair, cyberpunk raincoat, and heterochromatic eyes calling clear contrast to the subdued, dusty rifle in your hands. A clip was already secured into chamber, and you slap the bolt on the side of the rifle, readying the first bullet for use.
"You serious!? Gonna bring out the musket next?"
Your Persona isn't visible, GGO wasn't a system that permitted such grand displays of fantasy. Yet as you hold your weapon, your mind feels clearer, your vision sharper, and your limbs strengthened to match your Persona's own might. A chill comes over you, the patience of a fisherman waiting for just the right moment. This weapon was as far away from a fishing rod as possible.
But it was still old. And that was more than enough for your Persona.
Your fingers crust over in frost. The metal of the Garand warps, the cold almost making the chamber itself shrink. For the briefest moment you're concerned— in this state could the gun even fire?
But if you can't trust your Persona, what can you trust?
You pull the trigger. With a force far exceeding what the gun was designed to handle, a stream of ice blue blasts from the tip of your gun, a cold beam of freezing death that crosses the distance between you and XeXeeD in the blink of an eye.
XeXeeD doesn't move, just rolling his eyes at the attempt. His Optical Barrier flares a brilliant white as it catches the ice attack. But there's no resistance, no indication that the effect was anything but visual. The solid bullet punches straight through, XeXeeD's eyes widening as the ice catches a glancing blow along his boots. He smirks, laughing in disbelief. "What, magic bullets now!? When did the Sailor Moon update go live? Shit, is this the best you can do!? Is that seriously all you can—"
"Seven more shots," you call out, the butt of your rifle propped up on your shoulder. You slam your finger back down on the trigger, firing another freezing shot after shot as XeXeeD scrambles behind cover, the sound of his laughter echoing behind him.
"Haha, all these stupid little tricks and you can't even hit me!"
You ignore his taunts and focus. GGO was forcing your Persona to express itself in ways it wouldn't otherwise, which in turn forced you to reinterpret what exactly the Personas of your heart did. Which leads to one simple question.
How exactly would GGO interpret an attack that recurs?
You tune out the sounds of the continuing conflict.
XeXeeD fires his shotgun into the remainder of the smoke, dispelling it with the force of his weapon. Lugh, finally managing to regain his vision, misjudges how long the smoke will provide him with cover and catches a stray shotgun pellet in the shoulder for his efforts. He grits his teeth and continues, ducking from cover to cover.
All the bullets you've fired, they haven't stopped. You told Lugh to try to think of this as a game, to do something cool, something unexpected. But that's a tall order to ask of a person you suspect may be ill-suited for that level of fantasizing.
So you'll take your own advice and try to do something dumb.
Because the bullets of ice you fired? The spell you cast that was somehow, supposed to strike again?
The bullets are still live.
Between the sounds of XeXeeD's shotgun and the chaos of the battle, they go unheeded.
Ice fills the room with each strike of a hard surface. A chip off a pillar there. Two bullets meet in midair and separate at odd angles. With every ricochet the magic within grows stronger, the bullets flying out with greater force. In your mind's eyes, they're not just bouncing off each other in raw chaos. The lines of blue they draw in the arena slowly converge.
You weren't fishing with a spear.
You were fishing with a net.
XeXeeD pauses, noticing the frost coating his body. "What sweet hell is this?" XeXeeD wastes no time questioning your abilities. He simply reaches into his pocket and pulls out yet another grenade, one with a universally recognized fire symbol on it.
Too soon. Not yet, you need a little more time!
"LUGH! HIS GRENADE!"
XeXeeD rips the pin off with his teeth, holding the live grenade out in his hands like it was no different than a bag of candy. "Enough smoke. Let's light this place up!" He yells out with a laugh, intent on throwing straight into the chaos of the firefight, hoping to cover the battlefield in napalm, trusting in his superior health to help him weather the fire.
You've waited long enough. Urashima's manipulation of the trajectories is reaching its limits. The eight shots of your rifle slowly converge into a spider web pattern, each bullet forming the point of a separate segment.
XeXeeD's arm lowers, and a wild look crosses his face. "BURN MOTHERFUCKERS!"
"LUGH, STOP HIM!"
Lugh tenses up, raising his pistol in a tripod grip despite the glowing wounds riddling his body. You see his instincts war against his will, the boy lowering his aim until you see his eyes align with his new target— XeXeeD's hand.
And XeXeeD... smiles.
"Psyche!"
The bullet flies at the grenade. But XeXeeD doesn't throw it, instead, he lets it fall between his fingers, the Lugh's bullet interceding where the grenade would've been a moment before.
The live grenade, timer ticking down second by second, lands on XeXeeD's steel-toed boot. With one casual motion that belayed weeks of practice, the thing goes flying with all the grace of a football being kicked by a child. Yet it's enough to drive it into the sky, sailing high into the air, almost a dozen meters over where the combatants were fighting below.
And straight into the path of your web.
XeXeeD's eyes widen, some preternatural instinct causing him to curl up within himself—
—as a cascade of blue rains down from the sky, a net of ice and steel converges from every possible direction, digging into XeXeeD like pellets from a hailstorm. Where each bullet strikes, the armor freezes solid, ice spreading out across the man's armor and his skin alike, coating every surface in a thin layer of rime.
For a brief moment, you're convinced it's over. That there was no way XeXeeD could've predicted your ability, that he had no way of avoiding such a hail of attacks.
But it ends as soon as it begins. Eight bullets, each coated with magical ice, and not a single one has hit a vital spot. They've managed to create patches of ice all across his armor, the ice rises across his ankles, up to his hips. But XeXeeD himself barely has a scratch on him.
He didn't dodge the ricocheting bullets.
But somehow, he still knew how to protect himself from them. Like even the bouncing bullets trick was something he has seen before.
"F-fuckin' hell, you almost had me. Holy shit!" He laughs, a strange joy in his voice as he praises your attack, shivering the whole while. "Don't tell me you're a 『 』smurf? Nah, that wouldn't explain your shit aim."
Lugh pulls out his pistol, intent on shutting up XeXeeD once and for all.
Like a hibernating bear, XeXeeD flexes. His ice-bound body breaks free with the crack of breaking bones, XeXeeD letting out an exhilarating cry as he pulls himself out of the frost, wildly firing his rifle into the distance. Lugh's body flies backward as he dives away from the assault, desperate to avoid taking any further damage.
"So cold~ I need some warming up. I could go for some smokin' hot babes— but I guess I'll have to make do with the hot lead I'm about to empty into your ugly mug," XeXeeD jokes as he starts firing on you with a laugh. The ice is slowing him down, that's for sure, but it's hardly stopping him from spraying the entire area with gunfire.
"C'mon! GOT ANY MORE TRICKS!? YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THE FREEZER BURN!? YOUR 『 』RIPOFF? YOUR SHIT EXCUSE FOR TEAMWORK? YOU HAVE TO RESORT TO THAT SHIT BECAUSE YOU KNOW! THAT I. AM. BETTER!"
More, you need just need a little more and you can shut this asshole up!
"SHUT UP! You haven't seen half of what I'm capable of!" You scream back, reaching into your jacket for another weapon, anything to shut this bastard up!
...
Your hand brushes against the Type-54. It's singing to you.
XeXeeD is wounded. This is a weapon you know he can't dodge.
The man is one foot in the grave. The soul sits trapped within the flesh of a truly heinous vessel, yearning for freedom. Grant it peace. Your sutra shall deliver XeXeeD his last rights, your prayers will carry him through to the next life.
Samsara will not be denied. For that is your purpose as the great sage.
The enlightened. The chosen. The «Real Deal»—
...
No. Your hand grips another weapon, your revolver, the gift from that strange NPC. A cheater's weapon for a cheater like yourself.
This time, there's no hiding what you were about to do. There's no way for the logic of the game to explain what was about to happen next. Freed from any pretense, nor any desire to hide what you were about to do, you sing to the new soul bound to your weapon.
"Helena!"
You are a goddess. The crowds swoon when you grace them with your presence, your very existence a divine light.
One day they will curse you. A malign heretic, not the emanation of god's wisdom, but a streetwalker in the robes of the divine.
Some days you even believe it yourself.
The supplicant before you has wronged you. He is deserving of naught but your wrath. You do not call out to the lord. What need is there of that when you are the lord's wisdom? You who are the emanation of Sophia, the light of the Pleroma, have no need to call upon powers beyond yourself.
The revolver discharges its rounds. Where it lands is none of your concern.
For your curse strikes XeXeeD's soul. His self, his very existence is denied. A hole in his chest drips not blood but pebbles of white, flowing through the churning wind like falling grains of sand. And it flows, oh how it flows! There's no scream, no pain. There's not even an acknowledgment that what you have done is wrong, that he's being denied. All he can do is watch in wonder as he slowly fades, as the man that was XeXeeD is erased from this world.
Leaving behind nothing but a pillar of salt—!
—The bullets strike you one by one.
Your chest, your leg, your arm.
Each impact knocks the air out of you. ALO's pain was felt more like a shock, a numbness that flowed from point to point. Paresthesia that felt akin to falling asleep on your arm— annoying, but hardly debilitating. The worst part of getting hit was the disorientation from your avatar rag-dolling through the sky.
GGO was different. There was no pain. But the force, the shock, was overwhelming. Your brain expected to feel pain and it was unable to catch up when that wasn't the case, paralyzing your body with the expectation of agony denied. You crumple to the floor, eyes unfocused and limbs barely responsive as you desperately try to regain control of your body.
It doesn't hurt. But it feels like it should hurt. It feels like getting shot, or what you imagine it must feel like.
"Nngh..." you struggle to raise your voice. As the haze resolves you see XeXeeD, intact and unharmed.
You realize what happened. He disbelieved your attack. Or perhaps you didn't believe it yourself hard enough to counter the logic of GGO.
"Gonna tell me why you just emptied your revolver into the sky for no reason? Whatever, bet your hacking bullshit's finally started to malfunction. Word of advice, darling, maybe don't zone out in a firefight? See, this is what makes you a dirtbag little hacker. When you were busy trying to break shit and paying your way to victory, I studied. I trained. I took my game to the next level! I became STRONG!"
Your blood freezes. XeXeeD shoves another tube into his under-barrel shotgun, cocking it backward mere meters away from your body. He aims down the sight, right at your heart.
"Sayonara. I'd say GG but I'd be lying."
Your hand's still gripped around your revolver. You raise it to eye level, but there's no response from XeXeeD.
That was because logic dictated you were out of ammo. Logic dictated that you couldn't fire. Logic dictated you were out of ideas, options, and time.
But you were a cheat. And logic has never stopped you.
"Go to hell!"
A fan of light cuts across the room, each of the shots scoring a clean hit to the torso of XeXeeD. The Optical Barrier explodes into action, but you were too close, the beams too closely bunched to allow a clean interception of each of the shots. The laser bursts through, and XeXeeD screams, the force of the shots driving his body backward into the air. The pulses shine against the ice on his body, the overlapping effects lighting XeXeeD up in purple and blue lights.
He lands on the floor, the frost coating his body making crunching noises as he rolls across the floor, now slick with meltwater.
You take a deep breath, rising to your feet. How the fuck is this guy giving you so much trouble? Is this the level of resistance you should expect from GGO? There was nothing even comparable in ALO.
"Heheheheh..."
"Oh for fuck's sake, can't you just stay down!?"
"STR and VIT build, darling. The secret to being the best is to stay in the game long enough for the other side to run out of tricks." XeXeeD starts to rise, the ice coating his body starting to fall off. "That's what strength is."
You could swear his eyes were starting to glow.
"A bunch of flashy gimmicks and no power behind them. No skill. That's all you are." He stands to his feet, taking one shaky step. Then another. "But math's a bitch and between the two of you jokers, I suspect you have the hit-point advantage. That's what I get for accepting a two on one. But see, I've got a bit of a reputation. They say ol' Uncle XeXeeD's somewhat of a sore loser. So let me tell you something you would've realized if you had bothered to fathom who you were fighting."
His rifle falls to the floor, dissolving into motes of blue light. He laughs, reaching into his pocket— a half dozen futuristic spheres of various shapes and colors fall out, clinking like glass as XeXeeD rolls them around in his hands.
"See, I may zero out from time to time. But I always win! EVEN IF I HAVE TO TAKE YOU ALL TO HELL WITH ME!"
Kuro should've rolled 1 additional dice for Laser Girl.
I rolled 1d6 = 3, so with the additional dice no change.
Lugh should've rolled melee with advantage. So 4s are successes as well. Lugh only rolled 1 4, so XeXeeD has suffered an additional single point of damage.
[X] Divine Wrath
-[X] Customize Your Approach
-[X] 'Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it! And keep him off of me for a second!'
-[X] Get into shared range of the M1 Garand and Varmit Hunter, then cast Re-Bufu
-[X] Follow up with Faux-Megidola when you think XeXeed is off guard
-[X] Customize Your Approach
-[X] 'Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it! And keep him off of me for a second!'
-[X] Get into shared range of the M1 Garand and Varmit Hunter, then cast Re-Bufu
-[X] Follow up with Faux-Megidola when you think XeXeed is off guard
"Lugh, remember, this is a game! If you think something is cool, but stupid, try it!"
"What?" Lugh yells back, confused by the advice. He's squinting to see through the aftereffects of the flashbang, his knife clenched tightly in his hands.
"Just do something Hollywood!" You scream, making no effort to hide from XeXeeD. If there was time for complex plans and subtlety, it's long since passed. You try to wrack your brain for any obvious examples but you weren't exactly an action movie aficionado. "Like, I dunno, curving bullets? Or ricocheting them?"
"Bullets fire straight, that's the entire point of bullets. And ricochets are impossible to calculate even in controlled environments. Where are you even coming up with this?"
"Look, you think XeXeeD knows how a gun works!? But he's still managing to shoot just fine!"
The man in question is laughing in the background, blasting chunk after chunk of shotgun pellets in your direction. It's enough to keep the two of you pinned down just by itself. XeXeeD starts moving forward again, step by step, intent on bearing down on you with his modified weapon.
"Haha, I ain't like those morons who complain about realism— as if bitching about the balance will magically make them suck less. This is a MMO! It's not about raw skill, or experience, or your precious reality! It's about your ability to construct a build and adapt to the changing meta! It's about using what the system gives you— get it now soldier boy? You're outmatched, under-geared, and dumb as bricks! Besides, ricocheting bullets? Phff, hahaha... Good luck buddy. I've seen hundreds of players try to pull off that trick and only one jackass has managed it—"
You see the feral look in XeXeeD's eye reflecting off his scope as he raises his rifle to eye level. There's a glint of excitement in the lens, the reflection of someone about to witness his target getting shredded.
"—And you're no『 』!"
XeXeeD's gun recoils with the force of a jackhammer. He lets out a cry of victory, unloading round after round at Lugh's flimsy hiding place using his weapon's Full Auto capability. You see him fingering the under-barrel shotgun, his combination weapon a one-two punch of automatic fire to flush out his target then the shotgun blast to finish them off.
It was a smart idea, a sign towards XeXeeD's idea of a 'build', one that depended little on player skill and instead leveraged his higher stats to allow him to take bigger risks and simply out-blast his opponent. That shotgun must've been his answer to AGI builds, though you have no doubt he has a deep, deep bag of tricks for whatever opponent he might encounter.
Suddenly, a brief pause. XeXeeD stops to reload, ducking behind an overturned desk. It's the only opportunity you'll get.
You glance at Lugh, and mouth out the words 'Cover me'. Your partner, instead of trying any fancy trickshot, does the obvious thing.
He drops a smoke grenade, disappearing into the billowing cloud.
Surprisingly, this seems to take XeXeeD off guard, his voice carrying an audible grunt of irritation. "Really? The smoke meta, AGAIN!? You guys are sure fucking original! Did you pull that galaxy-brained move from the wiki!?"
"What, you got a monopoly on tactics!? If it works, it works!" You yell back, charging through the cover granted to you by Lugh, XeXeeD's interception fire unable to hit you through the haze.
"It's anti-fun, degenerate cheese and you know it!" XeXeeD calls out from beyond the mist. It seems like he's stopped firing, perhaps realizing there wasn't much of a point in wasting ammo. It's a thin smokescreen, already starting to melt away, likely a reflection of its poor quality. You doubt Lugh has anything truly high quality with the few miscellaneous purchases he made before jumping straight into the game.
You take the opportunity to access your inventory. GGO has its hammerspace variant with near-infinite capacity, but your actual carry limit was dependent on what equipment you had on your person or in a quick access menu you had to pre-populate. Swapping between storage inventory and on-hand inventory was possible with a few seconds of delay, but you were still beholden to the weight limit. Already, you were carrying around more than a half dozen guns of varying sizes and shapes, far in excess of what a player should be able to handle without penalty.
But even here your Personas were picking up the slack. Though many were so physically weak they provided no benefit at all, you feel the efforts of your Personas infused into each and every weapon, bolstering the literal weights with the figurative strength of their presence. Your X-CALIBUR laser rifle dissolves in a flash of blue particle effects, the shine momentarily cutting through the smoke. Your hand reaches through the blue window, floating in front of your avatar, and grips around a long wooden stalk.
Every Persona in your mind sings, almost pushing to be the one to inhabit this weapon. It's something the sea of souls recognizes, a firearm with enough history to be enshrined among the collective will of mankind.
The M1 Garand falls out of your inventory, the weapon smelling mildly of mildew and salt— a museum piece just fished out of a chest from the bottom of a sunken ship. It's one of the few guns you can recognize by sight alone, an old WW2-era semi-automatic rifle that MistCoin recommended when you mentioned an interest in antiques. It was a last-second purchase, one you're glad you decided on.
You burst out of the cloud of smoke, stark white hair, cyberpunk raincoat, and heterochromatic eyes calling clear contrast to the subdued, dusty rifle in your hands. A clip was already secured into chamber, and you slap the bolt on the side of the rifle, readying the first bullet for use.
"You serious!? Gonna bring out the musket next?"
Your Persona isn't visible, GGO wasn't a system that permitted such grand displays of fantasy. Yet as you hold your weapon, your mind feels clearer, your vision sharper, and your limbs strengthened to match your Persona's own might. A chill comes over you, the patience of a fisherman waiting for just the right moment. This weapon was as far away from a fishing rod as possible.
But it was still old. And that was more than enough for your Persona.
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Urashima Tarō]. ReferenceID:20.Droit
Your fingers crust over in frost. The metal of the Garand warps, the cold almost making the chamber itself shrink. For the briefest moment you're concerned— in this state could the gun even fire?
But if you can't trust your Persona, what can you trust?
System Call: Generate Cryogenic Element. Form Element, Bullet shape. Fly straight. Discharge.
You pull the trigger. With a force far exceeding what the gun was designed to handle, a stream of ice blue blasts from the tip of your gun, a cold beam of freezing death that crosses the distance between you and XeXeeD in the blink of an eye.
XeXeeD doesn't move, just rolling his eyes at the attempt. His Optical Barrier flares a brilliant white as it catches the ice attack. But there's no resistance, no indication that the effect was anything but visual. The solid bullet punches straight through, XeXeeD's eyes widening as the ice catches a glancing blow along his boots. He smirks, laughing in disbelief. "What, magic bullets now!? When did the Sailor Moon update go live? Shit, is this the best you can do!? Is that seriously all you can—"
"Seven more shots," you call out, the butt of your rifle propped up on your shoulder. You slam your finger back down on the trigger, firing another freezing shot after shot as XeXeeD scrambles behind cover, the sound of his laughter echoing behind him.
"Haha, all these stupid little tricks and you can't even hit me!"
You ignore his taunts and focus. GGO was forcing your Persona to express itself in ways it wouldn't otherwise, which in turn forced you to reinterpret what exactly the Personas of your heart did. Which leads to one simple question.
How exactly would GGO interpret an attack that recurs?
You tune out the sounds of the continuing conflict.
XeXeeD fires his shotgun into the remainder of the smoke, dispelling it with the force of his weapon. Lugh, finally managing to regain his vision, misjudges how long the smoke will provide him with cover and catches a stray shotgun pellet in the shoulder for his efforts. He grits his teeth and continues, ducking from cover to cover.
All the bullets you've fired, they haven't stopped. You told Lugh to try to think of this as a game, to do something cool, something unexpected. But that's a tall order to ask of a person you suspect may be ill-suited for that level of fantasizing.
So you'll take your own advice and try to do something dumb.
Because the bullets of ice you fired? The spell you cast that was somehow, supposed to strike again?
The bullets are still live.
Between the sounds of XeXeeD's shotgun and the chaos of the battle, they go unheeded.
Ice fills the room with each strike of a hard surface. A chip off a pillar there. Two bullets meet in midair and separate at odd angles. With every ricochet the magic within grows stronger, the bullets flying out with greater force. In your mind's eyes, they're not just bouncing off each other in raw chaos. The lines of blue they draw in the arena slowly converge.
You weren't fishing with a spear.
You were fishing with a net.
System Call: Form Cryogenic Element, Net shape.
XeXeeD pauses, noticing the frost coating his body. "What sweet hell is this?" XeXeeD wastes no time questioning your abilities. He simply reaches into his pocket and pulls out yet another grenade, one with a universally recognized fire symbol on it.
Too soon. Not yet, you need a little more time!
"LUGH! HIS GRENADE!"
XeXeeD rips the pin off with his teeth, holding the live grenade out in his hands like it was no different than a bag of candy. "Enough smoke. Let's light this place up!" He yells out with a laugh, intent on throwing straight into the chaos of the firefight, hoping to cover the battlefield in napalm, trusting in his superior health to help him weather the fire.
You've waited long enough. Urashima's manipulation of the trajectories is reaching its limits. The eight shots of your rifle slowly converge into a spider web pattern, each bullet forming the point of a separate segment.
XeXeeD's arm lowers, and a wild look crosses his face. "BURN MOTHERFUCKERS!"
"LUGH, STOP HIM!"
Lugh tenses up, raising his pistol in a tripod grip despite the glowing wounds riddling his body. You see his instincts war against his will, the boy lowering his aim until you see his eyes align with his new target— XeXeeD's hand.
And XeXeeD... smiles.
"Psyche!"
The bullet flies at the grenade. But XeXeeD doesn't throw it, instead, he lets it fall between his fingers, the Lugh's bullet interceding where the grenade would've been a moment before.
The live grenade, timer ticking down second by second, lands on XeXeeD's steel-toed boot. With one casual motion that belayed weeks of practice, the thing goes flying with all the grace of a football being kicked by a child. Yet it's enough to drive it into the sky, sailing high into the air, almost a dozen meters over where the combatants were fighting below.
And straight into the path of your web.
The grenade freezes in midair.XeXeeD's eyes widen, some preternatural instinct causing him to curl up within himself—
System Call: Form Cryogenic Element, Net shape. Discharge.
—as a cascade of blue rains down from the sky, a net of ice and steel converges from every possible direction, digging into XeXeeD like pellets from a hailstorm. Where each bullet strikes, the armor freezes solid, ice spreading out across the man's armor and his skin alike, coating every surface in a thin layer of rime.
For a brief moment, you're convinced it's over. That there was no way XeXeeD could've predicted your ability, that he had no way of avoiding such a hail of attacks.
But it ends as soon as it begins. Eight bullets, each coated with magical ice, and not a single one has hit a vital spot. They've managed to create patches of ice all across his armor, the ice rises across his ankles, up to his hips. But XeXeeD himself barely has a scratch on him.
He didn't dodge the ricocheting bullets.
But somehow, he still knew how to protect himself from them. Like even the bouncing bullets trick was something he has seen before.
"F-fuckin' hell, you almost had me. Holy shit!" He laughs, a strange joy in his voice as he praises your attack, shivering the whole while. "Don't tell me you're a 『 』smurf? Nah, that wouldn't explain your shit aim."
Lugh pulls out his pistol, intent on shutting up XeXeeD once and for all.
Like a hibernating bear, XeXeeD flexes. His ice-bound body breaks free with the crack of breaking bones, XeXeeD letting out an exhilarating cry as he pulls himself out of the frost, wildly firing his rifle into the distance. Lugh's body flies backward as he dives away from the assault, desperate to avoid taking any further damage.
"So cold~ I need some warming up. I could go for some smokin' hot babes— but I guess I'll have to make do with the hot lead I'm about to empty into your ugly mug," XeXeeD jokes as he starts firing on you with a laugh. The ice is slowing him down, that's for sure, but it's hardly stopping him from spraying the entire area with gunfire.
"C'mon! GOT ANY MORE TRICKS!? YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THE FREEZER BURN!? YOUR 『 』RIPOFF? YOUR SHIT EXCUSE FOR TEAMWORK? YOU HAVE TO RESORT TO THAT SHIT BECAUSE YOU KNOW! THAT I. AM. BETTER!"
More, you need just need a little more and you can shut this asshole up!
"SHUT UP! You haven't seen half of what I'm capable of!" You scream back, reaching into your jacket for another weapon, anything to shut this bastard up!
...
Your hand brushes against the Type-54. It's singing to you.
XeXeeD is wounded. This is a weapon you know he can't dodge.
The man is one foot in the grave. The soul sits trapped within the flesh of a truly heinous vessel, yearning for freedom. Grant it peace. Your sutra shall deliver XeXeeD his last rights, your prayers will carry him through to the next life.
Samsara will not be denied. For that is your purpose as the great sage.
The enlightened. The chosen. The «Real Deal»—
...
No. Your hand grips another weapon, your revolver, the gift from that strange NPC. A cheater's weapon for a cheater like yourself.
This time, there's no hiding what you were about to do. There's no way for the logic of the game to explain what was about to happen next. Freed from any pretense, nor any desire to hide what you were about to do, you sing to the new soul bound to your weapon.
"Helena!"
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Helena]. ReferenceID:03.Droit
You are a goddess. The crowds swoon when you grace them with your presence, your very existence a divine light.
One day they will curse you. A malign heretic, not the emanation of god's wisdom, but a streetwalker in the robes of the divine.
Some days you even believe it yourself.
The supplicant before you has wronged you. He is deserving of naught but your wrath. You do not call out to the lord. What need is there of that when you are the lord's wisdom? You who are the emanation of Sophia, the light of the Pleroma, have no need to call upon powers beyond yourself.
The revolver discharges its rounds. Where it lands is none of your concern.
For your curse strikes XeXeeD's soul. His self, his very existence is denied. A hole in his chest drips not blood but pebbles of white, flowing through the churning wind like falling grains of sand. And it flows, oh how it flows! There's no scream, no pain. There's not even an acknowledgment that what you have done is wrong, that he's being denied. All he can do is watch in wonder as he slowly fades, as the man that was XeXeeD is erased from this world.
Leaving behind nothing but a pillar of salt—!
—The bullets strike you one by one.
Your chest, your leg, your arm.
Each impact knocks the air out of you. ALO's pain was felt more like a shock, a numbness that flowed from point to point. Paresthesia that felt akin to falling asleep on your arm— annoying, but hardly debilitating. The worst part of getting hit was the disorientation from your avatar rag-dolling through the sky.
GGO was different. There was no pain. But the force, the shock, was overwhelming. Your brain expected to feel pain and it was unable to catch up when that wasn't the case, paralyzing your body with the expectation of agony denied. You crumple to the floor, eyes unfocused and limbs barely responsive as you desperately try to regain control of your body.
It doesn't hurt. But it feels like it should hurt. It feels like getting shot, or what you imagine it must feel like.
"Nngh..." you struggle to raise your voice. As the haze resolves you see XeXeeD, intact and unharmed.
You realize what happened. He disbelieved your attack. Or perhaps you didn't believe it yourself hard enough to counter the logic of GGO.
"Gonna tell me why you just emptied your revolver into the sky for no reason? Whatever, bet your hacking bullshit's finally started to malfunction. Word of advice, darling, maybe don't zone out in a firefight? See, this is what makes you a dirtbag little hacker. When you were busy trying to break shit and paying your way to victory, I studied. I trained. I took my game to the next level! I became STRONG!"
Your blood freezes. XeXeeD shoves another tube into his under-barrel shotgun, cocking it backward mere meters away from your body. He aims down the sight, right at your heart.
"Sayonara. I'd say GG but I'd be lying."
Your hand's still gripped around your revolver. You raise it to eye level, but there's no response from XeXeeD.
That was because logic dictated you were out of ammo. Logic dictated that you couldn't fire. Logic dictated you were out of ideas, options, and time.
But you were a cheat. And logic has never stopped you.
"Go to hell!"
A fan of light cuts across the room, each of the shots scoring a clean hit to the torso of XeXeeD. The Optical Barrier explodes into action, but you were too close, the beams too closely bunched to allow a clean interception of each of the shots. The laser bursts through, and XeXeeD screams, the force of the shots driving his body backward into the air. The pulses shine against the ice on his body, the overlapping effects lighting XeXeeD up in purple and blue lights.
He lands on the floor, the frost coating his body making crunching noises as he rolls across the floor, now slick with meltwater.
You take a deep breath, rising to your feet. How the fuck is this guy giving you so much trouble? Is this the level of resistance you should expect from GGO? There was nothing even comparable in ALO.
"Heheheheh..."
"Oh for fuck's sake, can't you just stay down!?"
"STR and VIT build, darling. The secret to being the best is to stay in the game long enough for the other side to run out of tricks." XeXeeD starts to rise, the ice coating his body starting to fall off. "That's what strength is."
You could swear his eyes were starting to glow.
"A bunch of flashy gimmicks and no power behind them. No skill. That's all you are." He stands to his feet, taking one shaky step. Then another. "But math's a bitch and between the two of you jokers, I suspect you have the hit-point advantage. That's what I get for accepting a two on one. But see, I've got a bit of a reputation. They say ol' Uncle XeXeeD's somewhat of a sore loser. So let me tell you something you would've realized if you had bothered to fathom who you were fighting."
His rifle falls to the floor, dissolving into motes of blue light. He laughs, reaching into his pocket— a half dozen futuristic spheres of various shapes and colors fall out, clinking like glass as XeXeeD rolls them around in his hands.
"See, I may zero out from time to time. But I always win! EVEN IF I HAVE TO TAKE YOU ALL TO HELL WITH ME!"
Initiative:
XeXeeD: 1 + 3 AGI = 7
Kuro 4 + 3 AGI = 8
Lugh 4 + 3 AGI + 2(Real Deal) = 10
Lugh throws a SMOKE GRENADE. Provides cover against OVERWATCH and defends him for one turn.
Lugh STAYS PUT.
Lugh attempts to recover (DC2 with DISADVANTAGE) rolls 5d6e6 = 2 6⊕ 6⊕ 5 2 → 2 successes against 6 2
Lugh is no longer BLIND!
Kuro advances TWO UNITS! The smoke provides protection against XeXeeD's OVERWATCH!
Kuro casts ReBufu!
2 Accuracy + 2 MAG + 2 MAG (Urashima)
Kuro rolls 6d6e5 = 5⊕ 3 6⊕ 3 4 6⊕ → 3 successes against 5
XeXeeD rolls 8d6e5 = 1 6⊕ 3 5⊕ 3 3 6⊕ 3 → 3 successes against 5
No Damage!
XeXeeD gets coated in frost, suffering AGI penalties!
XeXeeD advances TWO UNITS closer!
XeXeeD fires on Lugh with the Masterkey! He is within range so Lugh cannot use AGI!
5 Accuracy + 2 Specialist
XeXeeD rolls 7d6e5 = 5⊕ 2 3 4 6⊕ 2 4 → 2 successes against 5
Lugh rolls 4d6e5 = 3 3 3 4 → 0 successes against 5
+3 from smoke rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 1 1 → 1 success against 5
1 Damage + 2 [Heavy Metal] = 3 Damage!
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][X][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Turn 02
Kuro's AGI bonus has increased, new initiative is 4 + 4 = 8. Still same order.
XeXeeD uses a Combat Trick and throws an Incendiary Grenade!
Lugh backs up TWO UNITS!
Lugh tries to do something fancy! He tries to shoot the grenade out of XeXeeD's hand!
4 Accuracy + 2 Real Deal
Lugh rolls 6d6e5 = 2 3 5⊕ 4 6⊕ 3 → 2 successes against 5
XeXeeD resists with CHT rolls 4d6e5 = 3 1 6⊕ 6⊕ → 2 successes against 5
XeXeeD manages to avoid Lugh's trickshot!
XeXeeD throws his Grenade at everyone!
XeXeeD rolls 4d6e5 = 5⊕ 2 2 3 → 1 success against 5
Kuro resist rolls 5d6e5 = 6⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 4 1 → 3 successes against 5
Lugh resist rolls 4d6e5 = 6⊕ 5⊕ 4 5⊕ → 3 successes against 5
XeXeeD resist rolls 4d6e5 = 5⊕ 4 3 3 → 1 success against 5
The Grenade fails to detonate!
Kuro backs up TWO UNITS!
Kuro casts Faux-Megidola! rolls 5d6e5 = 3 2 4 4 2 → 0 successes against 5
COMPLETE MISS!
XeXeeD fires at Kuro with his assault rifle!
7 Accuracy - 1 Laser Girl - 1 Frosted + 2 Specialist
XeXeeD rolls 7d6e5 = 6⊕ 3 5⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 1 6⊕ → 5 successes against 5
AGI 1 + AGI 4 (Helena) + VIT 3 + VIT 2 (Helena) + 1 Armor
Kuro rolls 11d6e5 = 2 4 3 5⊕ 2 3 2 4 4 2 1 → 1 success against 5
4 Damage + 2 [Heavy Metal] = 6 Damage!
Rebufu refires! Given Advantage for catching XeXeeD completely off guard!
Rebufu rolls 6d6e4 = 6⊕ 4⊕ 4⊕ 2 6⊕ 1 → 4 successes against 4
XeXeeD rolls 8d6e5 = 1 5⊕ 4 3 1 6⊕ 2 4 → 2 successes against 5
2 Damage to XeXeeD!
Once More Ya Varmit fires!
3 Accuracy + 1 Laser Girl + 2 MAG + 2 MAG (Helena)
Kuro rolls 8d6e4 = 2 2 6⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 1 2 6⊕ → 4 successes against 4
5 Vit + 0 AGI (Frosted) + 2 (Barrier)
XeXeeD rolls rolls 7d6e5 = 3 2 1 5⊕ 3 3 1 → 1 success against 5
3 Damage - 1 [Barrier] = 2 Damage to XeXeeD!
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
XeXeeD: 1 + 3 AGI = 7
Kuro 4 + 3 AGI = 8
Lugh 4 + 3 AGI + 2(Real Deal) = 10
Lugh throws a SMOKE GRENADE. Provides cover against OVERWATCH and defends him for one turn.
Lugh STAYS PUT.
Lugh attempts to recover (DC2 with DISADVANTAGE) rolls 5d6e6 = 2 6⊕ 6⊕ 5 2 → 2 successes against 6 2
Lugh is no longer BLIND!
Kuro advances TWO UNITS! The smoke provides protection against XeXeeD's OVERWATCH!
Kuro casts ReBufu!
2 Accuracy + 2 MAG + 2 MAG (Urashima)
Kuro rolls 6d6e5 = 5⊕ 3 6⊕ 3 4 6⊕ → 3 successes against 5
XeXeeD rolls 8d6e5 = 1 6⊕ 3 5⊕ 3 3 6⊕ 3 → 3 successes against 5
No Damage!
XeXeeD gets coated in frost, suffering AGI penalties!
XeXeeD advances TWO UNITS closer!
XeXeeD fires on Lugh with the Masterkey! He is within range so Lugh cannot use AGI!
5 Accuracy + 2 Specialist
XeXeeD rolls 7d6e5 = 5⊕ 2 3 4 6⊕ 2 4 → 2 successes against 5
Lugh rolls 4d6e5 = 3 3 3 4 → 0 successes against 5
+3 from smoke rolls 3d6e5 = 5⊕ 1 1 → 1 success against 5
1 Damage + 2 [Heavy Metal] = 3 Damage!
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][X][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Turn 02
Kuro's AGI bonus has increased, new initiative is 4 + 4 = 8. Still same order.
XeXeeD uses a Combat Trick and throws an Incendiary Grenade!
Lugh backs up TWO UNITS!
Lugh tries to do something fancy! He tries to shoot the grenade out of XeXeeD's hand!
4 Accuracy + 2 Real Deal
Lugh rolls 6d6e5 = 2 3 5⊕ 4 6⊕ 3 → 2 successes against 5
XeXeeD resists with CHT rolls 4d6e5 = 3 1 6⊕ 6⊕ → 2 successes against 5
XeXeeD manages to avoid Lugh's trickshot!
XeXeeD throws his Grenade at everyone!
XeXeeD rolls 4d6e5 = 5⊕ 2 2 3 → 1 success against 5
Kuro resist rolls 5d6e5 = 6⊕ 6⊕ 6⊕ 4 1 → 3 successes against 5
Lugh resist rolls 4d6e5 = 6⊕ 5⊕ 4 5⊕ → 3 successes against 5
XeXeeD resist rolls 4d6e5 = 5⊕ 4 3 3 → 1 success against 5
The Grenade fails to detonate!
Kuro backs up TWO UNITS!
Kuro casts Faux-Megidola! rolls 5d6e5 = 3 2 4 4 2 → 0 successes against 5
COMPLETE MISS!
XeXeeD fires at Kuro with his assault rifle!
7 Accuracy - 1 Laser Girl - 1 Frosted + 2 Specialist
XeXeeD rolls 7d6e5 = 6⊕ 3 5⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 1 6⊕ → 5 successes against 5
AGI 1 + AGI 4 (Helena) + VIT 3 + VIT 2 (Helena) + 1 Armor
Kuro rolls 11d6e5 = 2 4 3 5⊕ 2 3 2 4 4 2 1 → 1 success against 5
4 Damage + 2 [Heavy Metal] = 6 Damage!
Rebufu refires! Given Advantage for catching XeXeeD completely off guard!
Rebufu rolls 6d6e4 = 6⊕ 4⊕ 4⊕ 2 6⊕ 1 → 4 successes against 4
XeXeeD rolls 8d6e5 = 1 5⊕ 4 3 1 6⊕ 2 4 → 2 successes against 5
2 Damage to XeXeeD!
Once More Ya Varmit fires!
3 Accuracy + 1 Laser Girl + 2 MAG + 2 MAG (Helena)
Kuro rolls 8d6e4 = 2 2 6⊕ 6⊕ 5⊕ 1 2 6⊕ → 4 successes against 4
5 Vit + 0 AGI (Frosted) + 2 (Barrier)
XeXeeD rolls rolls 7d6e5 = 3 2 1 5⊕ 3 3 1 → 1 success against 5
3 Damage - 1 [Barrier] = 2 Damage to XeXeeD!
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
ARMORY
-Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
-Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
-X-CALIBUR [Mithras Liturgy 3 Weight]
-Bahauser GMA [Maneki-Neko 0 Weight]
-Varmit Hunter [Helena 0 Weight]
-Procyon [Urvashi 0 Weight]
-M1 Garand [Urashimo Taro 0 Weight]
XeXeeD has broken out of his frost and is no longer hindered!
XeXeeD is heavily damaged. [8/20]
XeXeeD has his Optical Shield set at YELLOW phase!
XeXeeD has switched to Grenades!
XeXeeD's Combat Trick passive now extends to all Grenade Types!
Estimated Effective Range:
[X][X][-][-][-][-][-][-][-][-] Plasma Grenade / Stunmag Grenade / Ion Grenade / Fragmentation Grenade
Grenades deal large damage but only at the end of the initiative, and always 'fire' at the top of initiative.
XeXeeD can kick grenades to launch them farther at DISADVANTAGE!
Revealed Stats:
STR: ?
MAG: ?
AGI: 3
VIT: 5
CHT: 4
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
K = KURO's position [10/16 HP] [7/10 SP]
L = LUGH's position [08/14 HP]
Order of Operations:
1d6 + AGI to roll initiative.
First on initiative MOVES and FIRES. Then everyone takes turns.
Then the turn repeat.
TWO TURNS WILL BE SIMULATED.
What does KURO do?
[ ] Act Freely
Turn 1: Urvashi in the Procyon, advance to Pistol range and curse XeXeeD with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Trade Shots
Turn 1: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and cast Masukukaja.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Heal/Support
Turn 1: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, cast Diarama on Lugh.
Turn 2: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and bless Lugh with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
[ ] Full Assault
Turn 1: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire ReBufu bullet.
Turn 2: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire Vorpal Strike.
[ ] Free Command
-Write in what you want to do for the next two turns!
Write-in an APPROACH
[ ] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
This is the new write-in option. You can tell LUGH what to do, taunt the enemy, attempt to communicate with them mid battle or do something cool! An APPROACH will be narrative and possess bonuses as the QM sees fit for the circumstance.
This is how you control your party members. Examples for what I'm looking for would be something like:
>Lugh use a pincer attack! (Lugh will delay his initiative to match yours and attack simultaneously, giving a circumstantial bonus)
>Lugh, back off and only attack when you see an opening!
>Lugh, just duck and cover!
Otherwise your party members will act as they see fit.
This is also your free action to give a speech.
Basically don't worry too much about the details and write in what you want Kuro to do or what you want her to say!
[ ] STUNT [5 DETERMINATION+]
Do something outside the rules and perform a *COMPLEX* write-in option. This is say... throwing your guns on the floor and surrendering. Channeling electricity into a metal shelf and then throwing it at XeXeeD. Hypnotizing yourself to see what will happen. Do something unexpected that's BEYOND just talking to your opponent or directing your party members!
SUBMIT IN PLAN FORMAT FOR THE LOADOUT AND KURO's ACTIONS!
HOWEVER, CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH IS OUTSIDE OF THE PLAN!
STUNT SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING! IF A STUNT WINS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MECHANICAL DETAILS!
So in essence the CUSTOMIZE option is there for narrative beats and you can vote for an option outside the actual combat mechanics. Give your GM an excuse to make interesting stuff happen.
-Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
-Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
-X-CALIBUR [Mithras Liturgy 3 Weight]
-Bahauser GMA [Maneki-Neko 0 Weight]
-Varmit Hunter [Helena 0 Weight]
-Procyon [Urvashi 0 Weight]
-M1 Garand [Urashimo Taro 0 Weight]
XeXeeD is heavily damaged. [8/20]
XeXeeD has his Optical Shield set at YELLOW phase!
XeXeeD has switched to Grenades!
XeXeeD's Combat Trick passive now extends to all Grenade Types!
Estimated Effective Range:
[X][X][-][-][-][-][-][-][-][-] Plasma Grenade / Stunmag Grenade / Ion Grenade / Fragmentation Grenade
Grenades deal large damage but only at the end of the initiative, and always 'fire' at the top of initiative.
XeXeeD can kick grenades to launch them farther at DISADVANTAGE!
Revealed Stats:
STR: ?
MAG: ?
AGI: 3
VIT: 5
CHT: 4
ARENA: [ ][ ][KL][ ][ ][X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
K = KURO's position [10/16 HP] [7/10 SP]
L = LUGH's position [08/14 HP]
Order of Operations:
1d6 + AGI to roll initiative.
First on initiative MOVES and FIRES. Then everyone takes turns.
Then the turn repeat.
TWO TURNS WILL BE SIMULATED.
What does KURO do?
[ ] Act Freely
Turn 1: Urvashi in the Procyon, advance to Pistol range and curse XeXeeD with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Trade Shots
Turn 1: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and cast Masukukaja.
Turn 2: Mithras Liturgy in the X-Calibur, stay within effective range and fire Garu bullet.
[ ] Heal/Support
Turn 1: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, cast Diarama on Lugh.
Turn 2: Helena in the Varmit Hunter, advance to range and bless Lugh with ENHANCE ARMAMENT.
[ ] Full Assault
Turn 1: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire ReBufu bullet.
Turn 2: Urashima in the M1 Garand, advance to range and fire Vorpal Strike.
[ ] Free Command
-Write in what you want to do for the next two turns!
Write-in an APPROACH
[ ] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
This is the new write-in option. You can tell LUGH what to do, taunt the enemy, attempt to communicate with them mid battle or do something cool! An APPROACH will be narrative and possess bonuses as the QM sees fit for the circumstance.
This is how you control your party members. Examples for what I'm looking for would be something like:
>Lugh use a pincer attack! (Lugh will delay his initiative to match yours and attack simultaneously, giving a circumstantial bonus)
>Lugh, back off and only attack when you see an opening!
>Lugh, just duck and cover!
Otherwise your party members will act as they see fit.
This is also your free action to give a speech.
Basically don't worry too much about the details and write in what you want Kuro to do or what you want her to say!
[ ] STUNT [5 DETERMINATION+]
Do something outside the rules and perform a *COMPLEX* write-in option. This is say... throwing your guns on the floor and surrendering. Channeling electricity into a metal shelf and then throwing it at XeXeeD. Hypnotizing yourself to see what will happen. Do something unexpected that's BEYOND just talking to your opponent or directing your party members!
SUBMIT IN PLAN FORMAT FOR THE LOADOUT AND KURO's ACTIONS!
HOWEVER, CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH IS OUTSIDE OF THE PLAN!
STUNT SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING! IF A STUNT WINS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MECHANICAL DETAILS!
So in essence the CUSTOMIZE option is there for narrative beats and you can vote for an option outside the actual combat mechanics. Give your GM an excuse to make interesting stuff happen.
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Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
This is getting dangerous, this guy is in quite a powertrip I think.
None of the Megidola hit.
Welp, I miscalculated, I thought our CHT was 1 Higher than XeXeed's with Helena.
A question, since Vorpal Strike is narratively considered long-range, does that mean we don't have to get in melee range to use it?
Also, some parts of both Maneki-Neko's passive and Release Recollection haven't been changed yet. For starters, Capricious Gold Cat still gives upgrade points after you axed that system, and you mentioned that Beckoning Gold would get balance changes to compensate for the new Mistcoin economy...
Here's another idea, hopefully one that's a little better. Granted, it's high-risk now that I think about it, but hey, narrative over mechanics, right?
[X] The Cinematic Approach
-[X] Customize your approach
--[X] 'Lugh, I cannot stress this enough, THIS IS A GAME! The HP stat alone invalidates, like, half of what would instantly kill someone IRL! I don't care whatever you did IRL to get so good with guns, but didn't you ever have a fantasy about doing something cool with them? Something you otherwise couldn't do? Well now's the time to try it out! Fancy poses, shooting while diving, stuff like that!'
--[X] Fire Vorpal Bullet in order to cover Lugh in case he gets inspired
--[X] Make a show of brandishing the Procyon and Bahauser in each hand before charging XeXeed in an attempt to channel similar scenes from action movies
--[X] When in effective range of the Bahauser, fire Kouha
Edit: gave Lugh specific things to try.
A question, since Vorpal Strike is narratively considered long-range, does that mean we don't have to get in melee range to use it?
Also, some parts of both Maneki-Neko's passive and Release Recollection haven't been changed yet. For starters, Capricious Gold Cat still gives upgrade points after you axed that system, and you mentioned that Beckoning Gold would get balance changes to compensate for the new Mistcoin economy...
Here's another idea, hopefully one that's a little better. Granted, it's high-risk now that I think about it, but hey, narrative over mechanics, right?
[X] The Cinematic Approach
-[X] Customize your approach
--[X] 'Lugh, I cannot stress this enough, THIS IS A GAME! The HP stat alone invalidates, like, half of what would instantly kill someone IRL! I don't care whatever you did IRL to get so good with guns, but didn't you ever have a fantasy about doing something cool with them? Something you otherwise couldn't do? Well now's the time to try it out! Fancy poses, shooting while diving, stuff like that!'
--[X] Fire Vorpal Bullet in order to cover Lugh in case he gets inspired
--[X] Make a show of brandishing the Procyon and Bahauser in each hand before charging XeXeed in an attempt to channel similar scenes from action movies
--[X] When in effective range of the Bahauser, fire Kouha
Edit: gave Lugh specific things to try.
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Well. That could have gone better. Okay, barring someone coming up with a clever stunt I think our best shot now is to just hope we can burst him down. I think our best option for that considering our range is the Armor Magnum. As long as we can hit (a big ask given how cursed our rolls have been) it's +3 DAMAGE on top of whatever it's supposed to do. It's locked to Maneki-Neko however and we should rule Zio out because XeXeeD's shield still seems to be spec'd against electricity. So that basically leaves Kouha. On the off chance that's a weakness (I doubt it) it would trigger a Once More but proceeding under the assumption it does not I think our best bet would then be to switch to the Procyon pistol with Alice and fire Eiga. If his shield auto-adjusts to optimize against BLESS in response to the first attack I think there's a decent chance it becomes more vulnerable to CURSE and again if a weakness comes through we get a Once More back to the Armor Magnum. Even if it's not, Alice's A-Rank Magic and Eiga being Tier 2 I think it's one of our best options.
Lugh... I don't think we can coach him through embracing his inner chuuni in the span of seconds (minutes?) this will execute in so I think we're best off just having him do what he's comfortable with - assassination. Use our death or glory attack to hide himself again and try to knife him again. Is it something we've tried before? Yeah. But maybe that helps? We've made a show of cycling through tactics and we go back to a (sorta) failed one! ...Okay, probably not but still.
I think if we get cursed rolls again we're probably dead but who knows.
[X] Plan: Light and Darkness
-[X] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
--[X] "Lugh, it didn't finish him off, but our best hit came when I distracted him and you snuck up on him. Care to try it one last time?"
--[X] Turn 1: Get to effective range with the Armor Magnum and use Kouha (Maneki-Neko)
--[X] Turn 2: If not already there, return to the shared effective range of the Armor Magnum and Procyon. With the Procyon use Eiga (Alice)
Lugh... I don't think we can coach him through embracing his inner chuuni in the span of seconds (minutes?) this will execute in so I think we're best off just having him do what he's comfortable with - assassination. Use our death or glory attack to hide himself again and try to knife him again. Is it something we've tried before? Yeah. But maybe that helps? We've made a show of cycling through tactics and we go back to a (sorta) failed one! ...Okay, probably not but still.
I think if we get cursed rolls again we're probably dead but who knows.
-[X] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
--[X] "Lugh, it didn't finish him off, but our best hit came when I distracted him and you snuck up on him. Care to try it one last time?"
--[X] Turn 1: Get to effective range with the Armor Magnum and use Kouha (Maneki-Neko)
--[X] Turn 2: If not already there, return to the shared effective range of the Armor Magnum and Procyon. With the Procyon use Eiga (Alice)
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I don't think switching Persona is an option because
A) Our loadout already seems to have been determined, including what Persona goes in which gun.
B) Switching to Alice would cause the Procyon to weigh 1, which would put us over our carrying capacity.
A) Our loadout already seems to have been determined, including what Persona goes in which gun.
B) Switching to Alice would cause the Procyon to weigh 1, which would put us over our carrying capacity.
...*cries*
Uh, switch Helena to X-CALIBUR to reduce its weight to 2 to free up the-*sigh*
If our Persona are not locked in Undine - Garu with the Procyon would work, albeit not as effective as I envisioned the Alice version to be. If they are locked I'll have to go back to the drawing board here.
Uh, switch Helena to X-CALIBUR to reduce its weight to 2 to free up the-*sigh*
If our Persona are not locked in Undine - Garu with the Procyon would work, albeit not as effective as I envisioned the Alice version to be. If they are locked I'll have to go back to the drawing board here.
The main problem is that XeXeed's CHT is too high. Otherwise I would try Sexy Dance with Urvashi.
Ooookay, let's fall back to the Joestar playbook. Run.
[X] The Kashiwazaka Family Secret Technique
-[X] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
--[X] "Lugh, it didn't finish him off, but our best hit came when I distracted him and you snuck up on him. Care to try it one last time, with it all on the line?"
--[X] Turn 1: If possible, play up the idea that you're scared and out of ideas to turn the tide. Switch back to the X-CALIBUR and run away from XeXeeD. Cast Tarukaja on Lugh.
--[X] Turn 2: Turn around and charge towards XeXeeD. If possible, reach Armor Magnum effective range and use Kouha (Maneki-Neko). If that is not possible instead use Garu with the X-CALIBUR.
The basic framework is the same as my original idea - try to reuse the Lugh ambush (maybe hope he gets hyped up with us saying it's glory-or-death this time) and pray it's enough. As for how it plays out, a lot of this depends on what XeXeeD does so I can't be completely sure what happens on Turn 2. But the ideal version is for Hiyori to feign panic and/or despair over XeXeeD not dying and the switch to grenades. Hopefully this baits out his arrogance as he sees another newbie "broken" before him. If he follows after us I think that guarantees the Turn 2 movement to be ideal but if he just stays put and kicks another grenade at us it may not - no way to know though.
On Turn 2 though we set-up the ambush and maybe damage him ourselves. Ideally we can reach the Armor Magnum's range to use Kouha for the +3 DAMAGE passive if we can manage a hit. If for whatever reason we can't then we instead go for Garu with the X-CALIBUR while Lugh hopefully can end it this time.
[X] The Kashiwazaka Family Secret Technique
-[X] CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPROACH
--[X] "Lugh, it didn't finish him off, but our best hit came when I distracted him and you snuck up on him. Care to try it one last time, with it all on the line?"
--[X] Turn 1: If possible, play up the idea that you're scared and out of ideas to turn the tide. Switch back to the X-CALIBUR and run away from XeXeeD. Cast Tarukaja on Lugh.
--[X] Turn 2: Turn around and charge towards XeXeeD. If possible, reach Armor Magnum effective range and use Kouha (Maneki-Neko). If that is not possible instead use Garu with the X-CALIBUR.
The basic framework is the same as my original idea - try to reuse the Lugh ambush (maybe hope he gets hyped up with us saying it's glory-or-death this time) and pray it's enough. As for how it plays out, a lot of this depends on what XeXeeD does so I can't be completely sure what happens on Turn 2. But the ideal version is for Hiyori to feign panic and/or despair over XeXeeD not dying and the switch to grenades. Hopefully this baits out his arrogance as he sees another newbie "broken" before him. If he follows after us I think that guarantees the Turn 2 movement to be ideal but if he just stays put and kicks another grenade at us it may not - no way to know though.
On Turn 2 though we set-up the ambush and maybe damage him ourselves. Ideally we can reach the Armor Magnum's range to use Kouha for the +3 DAMAGE passive if we can manage a hit. If for whatever reason we can't then we instead go for Garu with the X-CALIBUR while Lugh hopefully can end it this time.
- Location
- The Sea of Souls
No switching mid battle. It's like the Persona Roster, meant to be a bit of a limitation.
Vorpal Strike hits at long range and use STR dice.
Narrative trumps mechanics but I need something concrete to work with.
And listen I will try my hardest but a write in that's basically 'do something cool' doesn't give me a whole lot to work with. It's like yelling at somebody to go faster or win harder. It's also a poor way off communicating with a team mate.
Give me specifics or a strategy or a plan or something for me to write around, that's what the write in is for.
Vorpal Strike hits at long range and use STR dice.
Narrative trumps mechanics but I need something concrete to work with.
And listen I will try my hardest but a write in that's basically 'do something cool' doesn't give me a whole lot to work with. It's like yelling at somebody to go faster or win harder. It's also a poor way off communicating with a team mate.
Give me specifics or a strategy or a plan or something for me to write around, that's what the write in is for.
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Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
[X] The Kashiwazaka Family Secret Technique