Then it may be wise to read oh all the tread marks with the word Sesshicles as part of the name.
Not bad advice. The first post of this little fight arc started almost a year ago (Jan 28, 2016).
Notable things:
Sayaka demonstrated 'reinforcement' — ability to jump out from the second floor and land safely. Said she'd explain later. Also moves with unnatural speed, though not as fast as Sessh. Given what I remember of Hercules, should probably expect her to be slower than him as well.
When Sessh attacked and clawed her, she acted frightened and frozen, but that was apparently a feint. Further, the damage done from the strike was only thin scratches, rather than potentially disemboweling her as we might have feared. Reinforcement appears to be a substantial increase in durability, and we can expect Sayaka to act weaker than she really is.
Sayaka's sword was made for dealing with monsters like Sessh, and we should probably expect it to do rather well against Berserker.
She seems to do best when she has something/someone to actively defend.
Sayaka has been taking Homura's instructions more and more without any hesitation. She started with uncertainty, but now is running towards the construction site while Homura is still talking to Nanoha.
Making decisions based on Metaknowledge is not cheating. That said, Homura doesn't have that knowledge, and may be reluctant to do anything that seems foolish to her.
Remember that we can speculate with blue text.
Simultaneously, above, a massive crimson spear bursts from the apartment building, the hulking grey warrior impaled on it's head as Kyouko rides her serpentine weapon to the ground beneath.
Kyouko managed a solid hit with her spear, which was followed by a massive roar of rage. It's likely that she succeeding in taking at least one life, though if she did, we should avoid expecting to use that attack on him again. (And in fact, a few updates later, multiple 'normal' spears, and one enchanted spear, did nothing when she tried to strike him.) To check:
Kyouko managed to take at least one life from Berserker when she impaled him with her spear.
Some red truths:
Berserker has NOT died at least once since his time being summoned.
Berserker would not immediately recognize Sayaka's sword, if at all.
Berserker can lose more than one life if hit hard enough.
Note, the truth about Berserker not dying happened
before the update where Kyouko's spear hit him.
(And now digging through non-update posts without red truths to make them easier to pick out):
Just to let you know...Kyouko ran him through with one of her giant spears, enchanted with Lancia Rosso. He lost at least one life.
From Kyouko's perspective:
There's a meter-wide hole in his chest where you ran him through...and he's standing up. Worse, it's closing.
So there was a definite kill, there.
Kyouko took more than one life from Berserker when she impaled him with her spear.
And other relevant possibilities:
Berserker has a Master.
Berserker will cease to exist if his Master is killed (within a usably limited timespan).
We didn't use timestop on the retreat, but Berserker is still chasing pretty close behind. Tracking method? It's not like there's footprints in the dirt to follow. How did they locate Mami in the first place, anyway?
Berserker has some method of tracking our group beyond simple line-of-sight.
No controller has been found/noticed. Sachiel had no controller (and given meta knowledge on Homura's part, she wouldn't have expected one), but it was also merged with a witch. Is anything similar going on here? If not Berserker himself, what about his controller?
Berserker's Master could be just about anywhere in the city, given that Servants are not particularly limited in travel distance. On the other hand, Illyasviel always stayed close to him; smart, given their respective durabilities. The two monsters initially targeted Mami's apartment, and thus Mami. Possible corollary threat: Charlotte.
We passed on giving Mami and Kyouko energy boosts. Without them active, this is going to be ridiculously difficult.
I suspect Sayaka is our best bet for dealing with Berserker in melee. She is well-suited to act as a distraction while Nanoha snipes from the tower. Don't let her try for an actual kill until we get organized, though.
Nanoha is our ranged attacker, however she's also quite vulnerable in melee (as seen when she got grabbed). Both she and Kyouko were fighting Berserker, and pink blasts were used, but only Kyouko managed to truly hurt him. It's possible that Nanoha's normal attacks are below the threshold for damaging Berserker, and only a high-tier blast will be useful. On the other hand, it's likely to remove multiple lives, as well.
We need to capitalize on damage done. If we manage a kill shot, we have to keep attacking while Berserker is still capable of being harmed by that attack.
Homura herself has almost no useful tools. The weapons she has won't even get through Berserker's skin. She can do enchantment tricks like Kyouko did, though, that can give us a tactical advantage.
We need to get Kyouko active, if at all possible. Mind/soul link? The shared experience of creating the Lance of Longinus may allow a direct connection to wake Kyouko back up. We need time to do that, though (along with any attempt to create a new Lance).
Plan:
[x] Plan Defend, Revive, Kill
[x] Head to Sayaka. Find basic cover (a small outbuilding or similar that won't leave you visible simply due to Berserker's movements around the area), where you can place Kyouko and Mami. Don't waste a lot of time on this.
[x] Tell Sayaka that you need her to distract and delay Berserker. Nanoha will be acting as sniper and support. Make use of her mobility around the construction area.
-[x] She is
not to attempt to kill the creature, even if an opening shows up. She is to act as the defender of her teammates.
-[x] Make sure Sayaka is OK after the initial clash before switching focus.
[x] Homura, meanwhile, is to work on what she couldn't allow Nanoha to do — get Kyouko and Mami back on their feet.
-[x] Work on Kyouko first. The connection they made while constructing the Lance should allow Homura to more easily feed power to Kyouko, and help restart her mind/soul activity.
-[x] Work on Mami with Kyouko's help, assuming Homura feels she got a better grasp of the process while working on Kyouko.
[x] Assuming Mami is revived, she is to act as additional delaying support for Sayaka and Nanoha. Again, she is to delay and distract the attacker, not attempt to kill it. Play
extremely defensively.
-[x] If Mami is still distraught, reassure her that the only thing that matters right now is protecting her friends and keeping them alive.
[x] Finally, work with Kyouko to craft another Lance of Longinus. Once it's available, an all-out attack will be made by all the girls, with their best attacks.
Standard notice:
@Higure - Latest update isn't threadmarked.
