Level up Baleful Eclipse is only for the reason that we instant knock out the enemy and why would we need to see more of their sheets? It wont matter in the way of changing our aproach. Chi is good at spying how they organize themselves and to say where our main-targets (the enemy MG´s) are. I dont see a reason to warn them beforehand because even if we want to help them (what we do), it would be better if the UES thinks they got captured against their will.
Back to Truth, she can only look at them and tell us things, but after that she cant help us anymore. We cant change our team and dont have enough EXP to use any possible weaknesses AND we dont have infinite time in that mission. A timed knockout for the first MG and using Prison of Silk to immobilize as many as possible would be a strong start. Soul can take on everyone who evaded that without getting killed even if we dont know their abilitys and spells (except they have something that can absolutly prevent us from dodging in general, but then we would be in deep trouble anyway).
In other words while the twins and Chi already did something and most likely cant act much more, Soul in close combat cant be ignored, but at the same time she is the one which can draw attention and get away with it because of her dodging. They dont go different ways, they can easely support each other. Besides the fact that Soul is able to hold back enough and not kill someone. (Because i doubt that Ana can hold back enough after 1! trainings session.)
She can hold back enough as long as she's sticking to her weapon attacks in human form (no spells and no Caterpillar). That's why she got a sizeable chunk of EXP earlier.
Also, the thing to remember is that high power that can be held back enough to not be lethal is extremely good for this mission (Ray attacks from Soul or Eater).
Take a look at the original draft of Unyielding Paladin's sheet. Specifically her spell (which has an invalid description due to the original post not understanding what its ability actually does).
That is an extremely powerful defensive buff if it has been leveled. Damage Barrier does NOT raise Resilience. Instead, it reduces End Damage. This means that things like Juggernaut and Armor Removal don't do anything to counteract it. Even at level 1, it reduces End Damage received by 500+1d250 for everyone on Paladin's team.
If the spell is level 5 now? It means it reduces End Damage by 2500+1d1250. At that point, even leveling up Baleful Eclipse once would mean that it hardly does any damage at all unless Paladin gets a really garbage dice roll.
Level up Baleful Eclipse is only for the reason that we instant knock out the enemy and why would we need to see more of their sheets? It wont matter in the way of changing our aproach. Chi is good at spying how they organize themselves and to say where our main-targets (the enemy MG´s) are. I dont see a reason to warn them beforehand because even if we want to help them (what we do), it would be better if the UES thinks they got captured against their will.
Baleful Eclipse is not really a valid option for an alpha strike, because Sun and Moon glow really brightly. They can't do stealth. Only the other party members we bring would be capable of doing stealth.
Why in the world would the UES think the independents got captured by us unless we stage a fight between us and the independents? I think they would jump to 'rescue attempt' or 'coincidentally passing by and decided to help' much quicker than that.
Back to Truth, she can only look at them and tell us things, but after that she cant help us anymore. We cant change our team and dont have enough EXP to use any possible weaknesses AND we dont have infinite time in that mission. A timed knockout for the first MG and using Prison of Silk to immobilize as many as possible would be a strong start. Soul can take on everyone who evaded that without getting killed even if we dont know their abilitys and spells (except they have something that can absolutly prevent us from dodging in general, but then we would be in deep trouble anyway).
We don't know the rest of Truth's sheet. She might have other ways to help, even if they aren't direct offense. Big reason to bring her would be to ensure that whatever alpha strike we do before we get noticed goes off without a hitch. For instance, if we brought Truth + Chi we would be able to know in advance if anyone would be able to detect Chi's spiders and determine who is the biggest threat to Sun+Moon. Chi then does a stealth takedown of biggest threat or two (probably Brave Heart because her spell is bad news for Sun) and Sun+Moon go mop up the rest (preferably alongside the independents).
Edit:
Also, I actually wouldn't be even the slightest bit surprised if Soul was capable of soloing this entire mission herself.
She can hold back enough as long as she's sticking to her weapon attacks in human form (no spells and no Caterpillar). That's why she got a sizeable chunk of EXP earlier.
Also, the thing to remember is that high power that can be held back enough to not be lethal is extremely good for this mission (Ray attacks from Soul or Eater).
Take a look at the original draft of Unyielding Paladin's sheet. Specifically her spell (which has an invalid description due to the original post not understanding what its ability actually does).
That is an extremely powerful defensive buff if it has been leveled. Damage Barrier does NOT raise Resilience. Instead, it reduces End Damage. This means that things like Juggernaut and Armor Removal don't do anything to counteract it. Even at level 1, it reduces End Damage received by 500+1d250 for everyone on Paladin's team.
If the spell is level 5 now? It means it reduces End Damage by 2500+1d1250. At that point, even leveling up Baleful Eclipse once would mean that it hardly does any damage at all unless Paladin gets a really garbage dice roll.
Baleful Eclipse is not really a valid option for an alpha strike, because Sun and Moon glow really brightly. They can't do stealth. Only the other party members we bring would be capable of doing stealth.
Why in the world would the UES think the independents got captured by us unless we stage a fight between us and the independents? I think they would jump to 'rescue attempt' or 'coincidentally passing by and decided to help' much quicker than that.
We don't know the rest of Truth's sheet. She might have other ways to help, even if they aren't direct offense. Big reason to bring her would be to ensure that whatever alpha strike we do before we get noticed goes off without a hitch. For instance, if we brought Truth + Chi we would be able to know in advance if anyone would be able to detect Chi's spiders and determine who is the biggest threat to Sun+Moon. Chi then does a stealth takedown of biggest threat or two (probably Brave Heart because her spell is bad news for Sun) and Sun+Moon go mop up the rest (preferably alongside the independents).
Edit:
Also, I actually wouldn't be even the slightest bit surprised if Soul was capable of soloing this entire mission herself.
1. Thats why we need to level up Baleful eclipse more than just 1 level, then dont forget that Brave Heart as an example doesnt have that much HP. Even our glowing wouldnt be that problematic because our mission will be in daylight. In other words the night is worse for us. (Despite the fact, that if we use Prison of Silk to stop then moving we still have the advantage.) The Alpha-strike should take out a MG instantly (ideal situation). Which we can do with a leveled up Baleful Eclipse.
2. Ana did destroyed less, but it was nowhere stated that she can held perfectly back. More so if you consider that she didnt trained that before, therefore it would be REALLY surprising if she could hold herself back enough, without dealing too much dmg. But even if she could Soul is in the overall situation better.
3. I never said we need to go stealth. Chi can use her spiders to scout. It would be more like an ambush. Which we can pull of ... at least if it is in broad daylight.
4. (which isnt just towards you, but to the people who wants to inform others beforehand) In my idea we will FIGHT the UES MG´s. Naturally if we try to inform them before hand, we would need to stage a fight IF they are willing to help. Dont forget Brave Heart thinks that MG´s are evil and the other two doesnt necessarily need to coorperate. More so if you look at the first page and the discription of Paladin.
That shows us, that the UES has her little sister. That means she would NEVER endanger her willingly. Every approach on that part is doomed from the start. Therefore capturing them would help her and us, because the UES cant really say something against it.
EDIT: if it was what you meant, because using Chi to inform the fleeing MG´s seems rather strange if they have contact with Kibo. Normally they would be informed that way.
5. I never said that we pretend to take the fleeing MG´s as prisoners, you seem to misunderstood something there. Look the point above.
6. Even Naron stated that she cant help much and like I stated in my other post: Even if we know such things, they wont help us that much, because we have too little means to adapt.
If possible we can chain down every enemy with Chi (which i doubt because doging or something different). Then we Knock out Brave Heart right at the first turn/strike. Soul can tank the enemy without getting hit (no surprises of suddenly giant dmg) and we can knock out one after another with Eclipse. Depending on which MG is more dangerous, but most likely Paladin.
The independents would be helpful, but only if they can do something which doesnt kill the enemy´s. Besides that not all of them are independants, some of them are from Kibo.
1. Thats why we need to level up Baleful eclipse more than just 1 level, then dont forget that Brave Heart as an example doesnt have that much HP. Even our glowing wouldnt be that problematic because our mission will be in daylight. In other words the night is worse for us. (Despite the fact, that if we use Prison of Silk to stop then moving we still have the advantage.) The Alpha-strike should take out a MG instantly (ideal situation). Which we can do with a leveled up Baleful Eclipse.
2. Ana did destroyed less, but it was nowhere stated that she can held perfectly back. More so if you consider that she didnt trained that before, therefore it would be REALLY surprising if she could hold herself back enough, without dealing too much dmg. But even if she could Soul is in the overall situation better.
3. I never said we need to go stealth. Chi can use her spiders to scout. It would be more like an ambush. Which we can pull of ... at least if it is in broad daylight.
4. (which isnt just towards you, but to the people who wants to inform others beforehand) In my idea we will FIGHT the UES MG´s. Naturally if we try to inform them before hand, we would need to stage a fight IF they are willing to help. Dont forget Brave Heart thinks that MG´s are evil and the other two doesnt necessarily need to coorperate. More so if you look at the first page and the discription of Paladin.
That shows us, that the UES has her little sister. That means she would NEVER endanger her willingly. Every approach on that part is doomed from the start. Therefore capturing them would help her and us, because the UES cant really say something against it.
EDIT: if it was what you meant, because using Chi to inform the fleeing MG´s seems rather strange if they have contact with Kibo. Normally they would be informed that way.
5. I never said that we pretend to take the fleeing MG´s as prisoners, you seem to misunderstood something there. Look the point above.
6. Even Naron stated that she cant help much and like I stated in my other post: Even if we know such things, they wont help us that much, because we have too little means to adapt.
If possible we can chain down every enemy with Chi (which i doubt because doging or something different). Then we Knock out Brave Heart right at the first turn/strike. Soul can tank the enemy without getting hit (no surprises of suddenly giant dmg) and we can knock out one after another with Eclipse. Depending on which MG is more dangerous, but most likely Paladin.
The independents would be helpful, but only if they can do something which doesnt kill the enemy´s. Besides that not all of them are independants, some of them are from Kibo.
1) We're bright enough that the glowing actually is a problem even in the middle of the day. That's the reason why I said that Sun and Moon themselves can't be part of the alpha strike. Baleful Eclipse can't be the sneak attack.
By independents, I mean the trio that are not from the government. Independent = Fleeing. The trio that includes Judge, who is listed in the Allies section. Judge herself has a Lockdown spell, which makes her excellent for non-lethal takedowns.
2) Succeeding at non-lethal is why she got EXP for it. If you want more proof, look at this from Discord shortly after Friday's update.
Vertex - Last Friday at 11:35 AM
So how effective was Eater's training?
Can Eater now do non-lethal AOE, or does holding back the lethal hold back the AOE too?
Naron - Personalised Kyubey - Last Friday at 12:15 PM
Ahem.
```+6xp Hey, You Can Do Something That Does Not Kill People! (Only Ana)```
Vertex - Last Friday at 12:18 PM
I saw that. I was asking for specifics about that something @Naron - Personalised Kyubey
Naron - Personalised Kyubey - Last Friday at 12:19 PM
Ugh... maybe I should just stop making these things if people still ask if what they imply heavily is actually the case. Yes, Ana can do non-lethal with her bubbles.
Naturally, popping instead of exploding lowers their AoE somewhat.
3) Like I mentioned in 1, stealth only works (regardless of day or night) if Sun and Moon don't participate in the stealth (or remain untransformed for the stealth portion).
4) I was saying use Chi's spiders to inform the independent MGs without the UES MGs noticing at all, so that both us and the independents can sneak attack at the same time from different directions.
My point about Unyielding Paladin is that her buff makes it so that its actually really freaking difficult to do any damage at all to our enemies. Even at level 1, her AOE buff spell makes all the regular soldiers tankier than a typical MG.
The fleeing MGs don't have contact with Kibo as far as I'm aware. We have this mission because Bianca passed info to Strength. Bianca is the boss of the UES MGs.
6) "Not Much" =/= "Nothing". And knowing things makes a huge difference. It greatly changes target priority and prevents you from doing something that makes sense based on the info you have but gets countered by something you didn't know about. As a perfect example, think what happened because we didn't know that Hunter could hide from Ana's Life Sense, and think how our plan would have been different if we had known about that in advance.
As for the independents being helpful, as mentioned above, Judge has a Lockdown spell.
1) We're bright enough that the glowing actually is a problem even in the middle of the day. That's the reason why I said that Sun and Moon themselves can't be part of the alpha strike. Baleful Eclipse can't be the sneak attack.
By independents, I mean the trio that are not from the government. Independent = Fleeing. The trio that includes Judge, who is listed in the Allies section. Judge herself has a Lockdown spell, which makes her excellent for non-lethal takedowns.
2) Succeeding at non-lethal is why she got EXP for it. If you want more proof, look at this from Discord shortly after Friday's update.
3) Like I mentioned in 1, stealth only works (regardless of day or night) if Sun and Moon don't participate in the stealth (or remain untransformed for the stealth portion).
4) I was saying use Chi's spiders to inform the independent MGs without the UES MGs noticing at all, so that both us and the independents can sneak attack at the same time from different directions.
My point about Unyielding Paladin is that her buff makes it so that its actually really freaking difficult to do any damage at all to our enemies. Even at level 1, her AOE buff spell makes all the regular soldiers tankier than a typical MG.
The fleeing MGs don't have contact with Kibo as far as I'm aware. We have this mission because Bianca passed info to Strength. Bianca is the boss of the UES MGs.
6) "Not Much" =/= "Nothing". And knowing things makes a huge difference. It greatly changes target priority and prevents you from doing something that makes sense based on the info you have but gets countered by something you didn't know about. As a perfect example, think what happened because we didn't know that Hunter could hide from Ana's Life Sense, and think how our plan would have been different if we had known about that in advance.
As for the independents being helpful, as mentioned above, Judge has a Lockdown spell.
IF they are in the condition to help. Dont forget that they are retreating a few days now. If they can help it would be great, if not my plan will work out either way.
On notice for you: I am not part of that Discord-group and cant read that.
Even Paladins Buff wont make the enemys tanky enough to tank something like 20k DMG, esspecially Brave Heart shouldnt have that much defense from this buff. Paladin and the other MG wont be able to defend completly against it either if Chi and Soul are helping. Soul even has the adventage of having much more experiance in fighting and can therefore control herself even better, as like helping bringing them low enough, that we can shoot them down with Eclipse.
Because of the Alpha-strike: there will most likely be places which give cover and if we use Chi for scouting (why should the enemys doubt a spider) we can transform and while we raise we can attack, thx to her informations. With that we would have still the Alpha-strike. Naturally that wont work if we stay in plain sight somewhere or fly wuite obvious towards them. But even then they dont know our growth-rate. If they use the informations from Brave Heart they would rate us at most as Story. They wont expect something like Baleful Eclipse to be that strong.
The help of the independant MG´s is (like already stated) helpful, if they can do it/afford it. Judge seemed good at 1on1 Situations but this time we have many enemys, which could be a problem for her.
Naturally Truth can help us with that and more informations would be nice, BUT in the overall situation and possibilitys the combination of Chi and Soul is the most effective.
Like stated several times (even if you are somewhat ignores it): Soul can dodge literally EVERYTHING. That means even the strongest of their attacks wont help, because they cant hit her.
Casting Prison of Silkwill most likely take them by surprise, the same moment our Twins can come out of their cover and Knock out Brave Heart in the first round (I do consider her the biggest problem, because of her Spell).
Meanwhile Soul can take on any opponent which escaped the prison. Naturally someone like Judge could help, but again we dont know their condition then. Extra help would be nice if they can, but nothing lost if they cant.
After that we can get any enemy down even if it takes more than 1 hit.
Besides the point that their focus will be mostly on the fleeing MG´s and therefore they would get supspicious if they change their path too obvious. Which means if they suddenly stop, that they would be in reach to help us, the UES could get alerted from that.
In the end the usefulness of Chi and Soul (in combination) outclasses the use of Ana and Truth. Taking Ana with us would be just greedy and like Dark Souls always reminded us what greed will do ... it will punish you for it.
This time is not different. Why disregard the nearly surefire method, just because of greed or something that would be a great IF.
Because there is even the possibility that the informations wont change our priorities.
Which would be: Brave, Paladin, Tech and then the soldiers. Because I doubt that the soldiers can withstand the prison and Brave Heart was stated to be the strongest/best of the UES-MG´s.
If we could take a third or a fourth MG with us Ana and Thruth would be great, but that isnt the case. (besides the case that taking soul with us would be a good distraction for her and show her that she can still help others)
In the end the usefulness of Chi and Soul (in combination) outclasses the use of Ana and Truth. Taking Ana with us would be just greedy and like Dark Souls always reminded us what greed will do ... it will punish you for it.
Then why dont use it. I doubt that Naron will lower our EXP and even if he does, it wont be that much, because we arent just standing there and let her do all the work. In our last mission we still got enough EXP for the things we done and doesnt just stood by.
Then why dont use it. I doubt that Naron will lower our EXP and even if he does, it wont be that much, because we arent just standing there and let her do all the work. In our last mission we still got enough EXP for the things we done and doesnt just stood by.
That is an extremely powerful defensive buff if it has been leveled. Damage Barrier does NOT raise Resilience. Instead, it reduces End Damage. This means that things like Juggernaut and Armor Removal don't do anything to counteract it. Even at level 1, it reduces End Damage received by 500+1d250 for everyone on Paladin's team.
I think you are misinterpreting the Boost-All again; to reiterate that discussion from Discord, it is not a wide-area buff. It simply indicates that a given buff can be cast on both allies and yourself.
I think you are misinterpreting the Boost-All again; to reiterate that discussion from Discord, it is not a wide-area buff. It simply indicates that a given buff can be cast on both allies and yourself.
A) I am pretty sure I said there that my personal interpretation is "single target unless specified otherwise"
B) You know fully well that I changed the description because I actually posted it there
A) I am pretty sure I said there that my personal interpretation is "single target unless specified otherwise"
B) You know fully well that I changed the description because I actually posted it there
Actually completely forgot that the edited version's description was posted there, and wouldn't have paid attention to that part of it at that time since the Damage Barrier ability is what we were talking about. Searching for things in Discord to check back later is......painful.
As for the personal interpretation thing, that was only ever said before the workshop chimed in with a ruling.
Edit:
Either way, not being AOE makes it only a minor concern. I was worried about things like the soldiers all getting a 3000 reduction to End Damage. Makes the mission far easier than I was planning for.
Edit:
Either way, not being AOE makes it only a minor concern. I was worried about things like the soldiers all getting a 3000 reduction to End Damage. Makes the mission far easier than I was planning for.
...why would I even offer to bring noobs with less than that much damage and few other means against the opposition if they could not even do anything?
Then simply specify otherwise. I have thoughts about a following spell and I think it would work well as an example, even if I am not sure it is valid as designed:
Helping Hand Lay your hands on two targets. They automatically synchronize their base attacks and benefit from improved combat ability. Weapons with Auto Assault and/or Autonomous Combat count as valid separate targets.
Level 1
Base Damage: 5
Base Resilience: 5
Magic Modifier: 10
Affinity: Imitation
Ability: Boost-all | Synchronize | Double Cast
This spell specifies the need to touch the targets, and uses Double Cast as the implied medium for its linking two targets at once.
It might not look very powerful, but the x2 synchronization boost makes it a very useful boost to stronger allies.
There are upgrades to Target-by-Level, Omnipresent, and Target-Army later, to make it a mass combat AOE version.
Along the way, it is replaced with/evolved into Call to Arms as it makes the leap from touch range to (voice-based?) AOE.
On a note here: Besides her dodge, Soul isnt that much stronger than us. Even if she is within the top 10.
Soul even would have a problem against such enemys without our "All is Equal". Especially Brave Heart is a threat.
We will do contribute enough to this mission. Soul only will block the enemys which escape the Prison and is because of her dodge good enough to evade 1-shot spells from the enemys, like the one from Brave hearth.
Naturally we can go for the EXP and take another MG with us, but again that would be greedy. I believe that doing the mission perfectly will get us more EXP than taking the rather big risk and messing something up.
Besides the fact that it has a chance to help her somewhat in general.
...why would I even offer to bring noobs with less than that much damage and few other means against the opposition if they could not even do anything?
Because they could be useful in other ways (like support), especially since they have unrevealed portions of their sheet? Also if a stealth takedown of Paladin is performed before she sets up the buff.
Then simply specify otherwise. I have thoughts about a following spell and I think it would work well as an example, even if I am not sure it is valid as designed:
Helping Hand Lay your hands on two targets. They automatically synchronize their base attacks and benefit from improved combat ability. Weapons with Auto Assault and/or Autonomous Combat count as valid separate targets.
Level 1
Base Damage: 5
Base Resilience: 5
Magic Modifier: 10
Affinity: Imitation
Ability: Boost-all | Synchronize | Double Cast
This spell specifies the need to touch the targets, and uses Double Cast as the implied medium for its linking two targets at once.
It might not look very powerful, but the x2 synchronization boost makes it a very useful boost to stronger allies.
There are upgrades to Target-by-Level, Omnipresent, and Target-Army later, to make it a mass combat AOE version.
Along the way, it is replaced with/evolved into Call to Arms as it makes the leap from touch range to (voice-based?) AOE.
On a note here: Besides her dodge, Soul isnt that much stronger than us. Even if she is within the top 10.
Soul even would have a problem against such enemys without our "All is Equal". Especially Brave Heart is a threat.
We will do contribute enough to this mission. Soul only will block the enemys which escape the Prison and is because of her dodge good enough to evade 1-shot spells from the enemys, like the one from Brave hearth.
Naturally we can go for the EXP and take another MG with us, but again that would be greedy. I believe that doing the mission perfectly will get us more EXP than taking the rather big risk and messing something up.
Besides the fact that it has a chance to help her somewhat in general.
Soul still has a ton of unrevealed sections of her sheet. We know absolutely nothing about her spell or four of her abilities. That's more than likely a ton of extra power we don't know about.
Because they could be useful in other ways (like support), especially since they have unrevealed portions of their sheet? Also if a stealth takedown of Paladin is performed before she sets up the buff.
All in all we should defeat Brave Heart first anyway and then Paladin. Thats makes he most sense. Despite that AGAIN: Even if we know their sheets it most likely wont change the aproach of the battle.
Taking out Paladin first will have the risk of Brave Heart goin direct at the start all out, which will defenitly kill us or one of our mates.
If we take out Brave Heart first and Paladin has such a spell, we are dead too. At least if we dont have someone who can be hit from that or can get the attention and then evade it like Soul.
In the best case all of them are instantly chained down, which I truly doubt. Alone because we saw Judge there.
Soul is in this Scenario our life line and will ensure that even if things go out of hand, we still have a rather good chance. Together with other possible benefits it should outweight a few lost EXP. I dont believe that Naron will make us loose nearly all of our EXP.
BTW the benefits besides that are:
- showing strength (once more) that we can make logical and tactical decision, which can earn us more of her respect (and trust in this area)
- Soul has a distraction and will see, that she still can help others (with luck she will realize that she isnt helpless or is still good enough to help someone, in other words helping her with her trauma)
- dont need to do unecessary harm to the targets, which can help us if we are back at Kibo (mostly Brave Heart, who will need to admit that MG´s outside the UES aren´t evil)
We know that Brave Heart is the elite MG of the UES, thats why I doubt that Tech has a higher priority (besides the fact that Brave Heart can 1-shot us).
Paladin has her buff like you said, but you are right that we dont know much about her, besides a few informations back at the start of this quest.
Iron mentioned her if I remember it right.
Maybe knowing her sheet will make her the second target and thats why I said that "MOST LIKELY wont change the targets". There is still a chance, but with Soul, this risk is much lower.
We can still screw up, but from the pure tactical and logical aspect it wont change that much. Even more so if Tech isnt immune to lockdown-spells. (ok that counts for everyone, but Brave Heart experienced such a thing already and is like stated the elite MG, if she would evade that it wouldnt be THAT surprising)
Ah, the magical girl I'm cooking this spell up for actually has an Auto Assault weapon - her own animated shadow. The most basic use of this spell is to sync the MG and her shadow, so Boost-all rather than Boost-other is a requirement. The MG's stats are also mostly pathetic so the stat boost is very appreciated too. The spell is also supposed to be "one instance at the time" so without Double Cast... Is actually working in the exact way I envisioned target-by-level working. That is, several people all hold hands and the caster lays their own on the handshake. (In case of MG and her own shadow, clapping hands together works).
You know how sports team stands in circle and everyone is reaching their hand into the center as they agree on the plan, putting hands one on the other? Like that.
Ah, the magical girl I'm cooking this spell up for actually has an Auto Assault weapon - her own animated shadow. The most basic use of this spell is to sync the MG and her shadow, so Boost-all rather than Boost-other is a requirement. The MG's stats are also mostly pathetic so the stat boost is very appreciated too. The spell is also supposed to be "one instance at the time" so without Double Cast... Is actually working in the exact way I envisioned target-by-level working. That is, several people all hold hands and the caster lays their own on the handshake. (In case of MG and her own shadow, clapping hands together works).
You know how sports team stands in circle and everyone is reaching their hand into the center as they agree on the plan, putting hands one on the other? Like that.
As far as I know, Double Cast doesn't actually accomplish anything on a Boost spell unless there's Stack By ______ on it. If you want the number of targets that can be affected by it in a single cast to be something that scales at a slower rate than Target By Level, you probably need to give her a personal ability saying how many people can be affected at once.
[X] You probably did not pay as much attention to your adopted sister as you should have done since including her. Time to play, Ana!
-[X] Don't forget to ask how the less destructive bubbles idea is working out.
[X] Training might be good
-[X] Another session of Soothing Moonlight training - at least one fourfold beam is a goal to meet.
-[X] More Dodge training with Soul, as well. Would also help Strength's request to keep an eye on her.
[X] Go on a mission
-[X] Lost Cradle
--[X] With Chitin Dancer
--[X] With Soul Queller
Class lets out way too soon for your liking. You made up your mind sometime in-between, it is time to get this over with.
The first thing you do after leaving the room is taking Ana aside, though. The two of you wander down the hallway and towards your first goal of the day. "Remember what I told you about the mission Strength offered to me?"
"Yes... are you going?"
A quiet nod is the only response you give. Be it either through the connection or because she is that smart, Ana can read what bothers you easily. "Without me?"
Another nod. Your sister pings you with disappointment, but also a sense of relief. "It's okay, I... I'm not sure I could do this. I mean, that other mission in China was hard and it only worked because I could concentrate on things that don't actually live. But... this would be fighting other people and..."
Ana's voice gets weaker the more she says until finally cutting off; you do understand what she wants to say, though. A girl so well-made for murder is not the best choice when your objective is to capture someone. She would have done it without hesitation if you asked her, though. "I know. I would love to take you, but I don't want to risk either you or them getting hurt. Brave Heart is crazy strong, so I'm going to ask Soul and Chi for help."
There is another surge of worry, but it is somewhat mitigated by understanding. Ana does her best to hide the frown behind a smile and almost succeeds. "That sounds good. I'm going to play with Flower and Flowey today, I guess... oh, and Sky wanted me to help her with something, too. So... I guess I'll leave you to it?"
""Okay. Have fun, sis~!""
Your sing-song has her blush and look around really quick to see if anyone heard, then she flashes you a pout and rushes off. It might even have made you feel bad, were it not for the fondness you can clearly feel coming from her.
. . .
Line Break Recognised . . .
Soul is not in her room. At least Igni is there, so you use the moment to chat and tell her about Flowey. You keep quiet about how Flower made her, but the general situation seems to catch Igni's interest somewhat. Maybe you can get her to go look by herself?
Either way, talking to her is getting a little easier after a few days of doing it. What you make sure not to mention at all is the fact you are seeing Brave Heart soon, though; bringing up the fight where your friend almost died would definitely not help.
At least she puts down her book and actually goes to eat lunch. She even tells you where Soul is, on the training grounds. So you make that your next destination before splitting up to save some time.
Talking to Soul is really easy, she immediately agrees to help. You pretend to not see the bitter expression worming its way on her face as she follows you to Strength.
Chi is not much more difficult to ask and much easier to find. She does pause from her sewing -with several hundred spiders spinning silk together into cloth- to talk to you. Once you bring up the mission and that you would like her to help, the older girl only thinks about it for a few moments; then she wanders into another room for a minute and comes back somewhat different... a bit smaller, maybe?
"What did you do?"
"Oh... uh... I'm parking my skeleton back here so I can go all-out properly."
You decide not to ask any more about the matter.
. . .
Line Break Recognised . . .
Once the four of you are together and Ludger is happily staying with Winter, Strength sits you down in her office. Chi and Soul eye each other curiously, though neither of them seems to object to the other's presence. They shook hands before and everything, so that is one moment of trouble averted.
"Okay, let's see... I already messaged Queen- ah, Clockwork Queen, I mean... she's leading our group in the field. Anyway, I told her to make camp on the border of Kursk for today; the city's been abandoned for years and with how far the pursuers are behind them, they will be somewhere further towards its center. That's where you can get them the easiest today."
Strength picks up a few sheets of paper -the same report she held last time you talked to her- and holds it out to you. "Here is everything I have on those three girls and a map of the city. You can make a plan on the way, it's close enough to use our hovercraft-" "Your what?"
There is a tense moment of Soul and Strength staring at each other; it ends with the latter shrugging. "Well, yeah. A hovercraft, flies pretty smoothly to boot. It's not particularly high-ranged, though. Faster than most of the girls here."
You take that in with a curious nod before turning back to the report in your hand.
What to do...
Note: the plan you choose is counted as one that the whole team came up with. Having it consist of asking someone else for a plan will make it become "Wing it."
General Information:
-urban fighting is going to be a thing in this mission; the greenest areas you are going to find are smaller parks that start to overgrow surrounding blocks
-Clockwork Queen is combat ready in case she is needed, but prefers to protect the girls under her care; most of them have hardly any experience, ranging from age 13 to 16
--the only outlier is Magical Girl Judge, who went down with the flu just this morning and is not available to assist
-the weather is cloudy, with slight chances of rain later in the day
-your ride moves at 200mph, you will reach Kursk in a bit more than two hours (time of arrival: ca. 14:30)
-what little observation could be done from afar shows that a dozen regular UES-soldiers is with the opposing Magical Girls; they are organised in squads of four, each of which assists one girl.
--the UES-MGs usually move in a loose triangle with Unyielding Paladin at the tip, but a few dozen metres in-between each other.
Main Opponents:
(UES) Magical Girl Brave Heart
???
a.k.a.: The Champion of Europe
Stats
Health: 2,250
Base Damage: 495
Base Resilience: 600
Magic Modifier: 220
Affinity: Change | Justice | Story
Weapon
Blade of Judgement
Level 11
Attacks Per Turn: 3
Affinities: Change | Justice
Ability: Return | Prime Evil Slayer | Magical Girl Slayer
Spells
Avatar of Retribution
Level 45
Base Damage: 5,400
Magic Modifier: 5,400
Affinity: Change | Justice | Story
Ability: Slash Hell | Smite | ???
Heavenly Lance
Level 10
Base Damage: 500
Magic Modifier: 20
Affinity: Justice | Story
Ability: ??? | Juggernaut | ???
Abilities
Absorbing Aegis
-???
-If Total End Damage dealt to you is above 60% max. Health, reduce it by 90%
Inhuman Skill
-Sacrifice two moves to negate an enemy's action
Heroes Never Die
-The first damage directed at Brave Heart each turn is nullified
The Mighty Have Fallen
-Double Total Damage dealt against Magical Girls of higher growth
Tide of Change
Level 15
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience
(UES) Magical Girl Supreme Tech
???
Stats
Health: 2,400
Base Damage: 630
Base Resilience: 480
Magic Modifier: N/A
Affinity: Technology | Excellence | Story
Weapon
Future of Man
Level 9
Attacks Per Turn: 2
Affinities: Technology
Ability: Proxy Caster | Levitate
Magic bows Before Technology
Level 12
-???
-Up to 6 instances of Future of Man can be active at the same time; whenever there are less than the maximum active, spend an action to materialise up to three new iterations.
Finding the Unnatural
Level ???
-Capable of sensing active magic use within ???; ???
Radio Silence
Level 14
-Future of Man can not be remote-controlled further than from 140m away
Enhanced by the Means of Man
Level 8
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience
(UES) Magical Girl Unyielding Paladin
Alicia Alessi
Stats
Health: 22,500
Base Damage: 2,000
Base Resilience: 9,000
Magic Modifier: 2,500
Unwavering Shield Layer a defensive bulwark around an ally
Level 6
Base Damage: 3,000
Magic Modifier: 1,500
Affinity: Protection
Ability: Boost All | Damage Barrier
Healing Hand Lay your hand on a wound and have it vanish
Level 4
Base Damage: ???
Magic Modifier: ???
Affinity: Protection
Ability: Heal
Abilities
All-Enduring Plate
-???
Shieldwall
-Reduce Total End Damage by 50%; if defending another, reduce Total End Damage by 90% instead
Unyielding Resolve
-Immune to movement-impairing effects
Energy Surge (Active)
Level 15
-???
Rigid Armor
Level 15
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience
[] Write-in a plan?
[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it
(Unlocked Level 2 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Soul Queller)
=====
Seriously though, your team has four of the smallest girls that live in Kibo... even Flower is taller than Soul and Chi.
On a sidenote, I have decided to make finding Updates belonging to missions easier; each of those now has the mission's name added to the Threadmark.
