Magical Girl Quest - The Fire That Burns

"Of course I'll fight, this is why you brought me here isn't it?" You don't bother commenting on the fact that you would destroy these things on your own, even if she hadn't told you to.

Karen nods, serious face on as she hands you a sheet of paper. "Then you'll need this. Who you'll be working with, where you'll be going and some supplementary information." You nod as you start reading through it. "Make sure to read through it properly. I don't want your first mission to go tits up because you didn't read the briefing."

You read it as you head back towards your room, shifting your things around and getting ready. Morgan isn't going to be coming with you, and that felt strange, for her not to be there, so you leave Una in her care for now. You should only be gone for six or seven hours at the most, so you make your way out and tell them to put dinner on for the normal time. You take a passage out of the city, one that takes a minute to walk but crosses at least ten miles, useful. From there you are driven further south, an hour on the motorway and twenty minutes going through side-roads, and you were there.

A group of four greet you as you pull into the village, directing the driver over to a house a minute into it. When you climb out of the car, you get a good look at them. Two of them are women, the other two are men. One of the women was tall and had mousy brown hair while the other was a little shorter and had plain blonde hair. Both of the men were about the same height, pretty tall and brown hair, though one of them has a bushier beard than the other. The bushier beard guy calls out to you as you stand.

"Hello there, you our exterminator then?" The people with him laugh, but you and the driver both stay silent. You do nod though, holding up the briefing in one hand. "All right then. Follow me and we'll get started." His group walk back into the house you were in the drive of, an old two story house of some sort. When you enter through the door, you feel a slight tingle of magic coming from a corner, one where the group are moving towards. They move a rug over and open a hatch, a short ladder leading into a wine cellar of some sort.

When you are standing down there, slightly on edge, they flick the lights on to reveal a messy room. There are two sofa's and a big table in the middle, it's stacked with piles of paper, a quick glance tells you that this one is an autopsy. Drained by a Scamp is the cause of death. You quickly look up as they all settle into whatever seat they choose. "Right then, first things first. You know what you're job's gonna be? We'll smash em apart while you burn every little piece of them to ash, contain the fires while your at it too yeah?" You nod as he scribbles something on a notepad. "Good, me an George will lead the way through while the rest of you keep an eye open. We're not sure where the new ones are coming from, but we think we've got an idea, with you here it'll be a breeze to just walk through and light em all up."

He seems extremely confident that this will be an easy job, despite your initial urge to speak up, you decide to leave the leading to him for now. He's been doing this for years now, he certainly knows better than you. "You know more about fighting them than I do, how do you fight them best?"

You see other bearded man smile at that and speak up. "S'not really a problem, they're pretty hardy and hit hard, but they are so slow you can walk faster than they can run. Just stay outta reach and set 'em on fire, let them burn down. It takes a minute or so and if you spot 'em trying hit themselves, it's cause they are trying to throw a bit away to re-grow. Gotta catch em before they do." The rest of them nod at his words. It's not really a guide, but at least you know that they won't be an enormous issue.

They start shifting pieces of gear from around the room onto themselves now, mostly armour. "Right, we've got people up in the village to make sure they don't notice, best get this out of the way now. If the sun goes down, we'll never find 'em." You nod as you let them get ready, you already have all of your gear on you, seeing as you create it. You follow them when they climb out of the hole, flicking off the lights as you go. They lead you through the village and down one of the side paths. As you are walking, you stretch your sense to it's passive range and blink as you notice something.

"Hey, is there supposed to be a big bundle of heat underground?" They look back to you from where they are about to scale a gate. "I can sense temperature."

You see, what was your name? It was in the briefing. Whatever. You see big beard man rub his chin for a second as he thinks about it, before shaking his head. "No... there shouldn't be. I suppose it might be heating, they've got this big boiler somewhere 'cause one of the residents is rich enough to own this huge heated pool. Can you get a better look at it?"

You stretch your range to encompass the whole thing. "It's... four or five metres underground, three metres square and it's pretty hot, maybe two hundred degrees?"

Big beard guy shakes his head as you go. "Nah, that's nothing important then, probably just a tank of water." You take his word for it, but keep a spare eye on it as you go. The bundle of heat does absolutely nothing. Your group walks for a minute or so outside of the village, still within easy sight, before you enter a forest.

(Taller Woman: +23 Fireball, +4 Dice = 29 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Surprise = 25 Damage Reduction

Woodland Scamp: 350 - 4 = 346)

You make it three steps in before one of the women, the taller ones, spins around and throws out her arm. There is a flicker of flame in your sense, then suddenly she's thrown a small ball of fire. You quickly turn your head to follow it, with your senses and your eyes, and see it impact with a tree stump. The second said tree stump starts slowly creeping it's way to it's feet, you realise it's not a tree stump.

You jump back, floating slightly as you summon your armour, skipping the words entirely to be protected sooner. Your sword is summoned in the same instant, then you reach out and grab the fire on the little thing, cranking it up as far as you can go. Which, as it turns out, is barely ten degrees hotter. Before you can so much as stumble over your failure, the other three turn to the Scamp and also cast fireballs.

(Shorter Woman: +21 Fireball, +6 Dice = 27 Total Damage
Gerorge: +17 Fireball, +10 Dice = 27 Total Damage
Bearded Man: +32 Fireball, +17 Dice = 49 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Burning = 25 Damage Reduction

103 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp: 346 - 103 = 243)

It instantly bursts into flames, slowly crawling it's way to it's feet as you hurriedly contain the fire from leaking off of it, even without your ability to control the flames on it. You take two steps forwards and raise your sword, the edges heating to their maximum as you pulse your reinforcement, just as you swing downwards.

(Ignition Knight: +27 Infinity Edge, -7 Semi-Competent, +2 Dice = 22 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Surprise, -10 Burning, -9 Armour Pierce = 6 Damage Reduction

Woodland Scamp: 243 - 16 = 227)

Your swing is fast and straight, your sword screaming forwards to hit the Scamp. It digs partway into it's arm and lodges there, setting it's arm on fire and drastically speeding up the process. It takes a swing at you with it's other arm, but it's so slow that you have more than enough time to yank your sword out in a spray of bark and jump backwards. Remembering their words, you make sure that the fire spreads over the bark chips, which don't resist your ability at all. Strange. You hop back a step further and summon two spears of fire at ear level, they solidify quickly and you shoot them forwards into the flaming mass of wood.

(Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +4 Dice = 79 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +3 Dice = 78 Total Damage

157 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Surprise, -10 Burning = 15 Damage Reduction

Woodland Scamp: 227 - 142 = 85)

They hit and pierce right through it's front and out the back, before they leave it's body, you force them to lose cohesion and they just turn into rampant flame, burning away at it's insides merrily. It shakes silently, tearing a piece of itself away, the second it leaves it's grasp, you focus on it and incinerate it to ash. Apparently, once it leaves the body it doesn't have the same sort of resistance to you. It takes a long waddling step forwards, in your direction, before four different fireballs slam into it's face.

(Taller Woman: +23 Fireball, +5 Dice = 28 Total Damage
Shorter Woman: +21 Fireball, +5 Dice = 26 Total Damage
Gerorge: +17 Fireball, +3 Dice = 20 Total Damage
Bearded Man: +32 Fireball, +16 Dice = 48 Total Damage

Scamp Hunters: 122 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Burning = 25 Damage Reduction

1% Damage Inflicted by Burn

100 Final End Damage

Woodland Scamp: 85 - 100 = -15)

It explodes into a conflagration of fire that you quickly contain, burning every scrap of heated wood you feel try to leave the fire. A minute later, the burning mass no longer resists your efforts and it is turned into a pile of ash shortly.

Now that the fight is over, you see them all giving you a look, probably your armour and enormous blade. "Well, how was your first fight?" George says as he walks back to his group. "You sure you got everything?" He starts peering into the ash, looking at the other piles of ash around the wooded area.

"I think so, I couldn't directly control the flames on it's body, but I caught any piece that wasn't attached any more." They all nod, looking slightly disappointed. Apparently your job wasn't going to be that easy. Still, they lead you further in, until you come across a small rocky outcrop. It really stands out in the middle of the field it's in, as does the wooden roots that have clearly pushed it to the surface. "This is why we had you called over. They apparently had a den under here the whole time, we probably did finish off a bunch of them and more of them kept crawling out of the woodwork."

You nod as you walk closer, shifting your sword to a resting position on your shoulder. "I can set everything around me in an area on fire, but at the moment I can't control it to not effect allies. It would be best to let me go first, then you follow in after." They thing about it for a minute before bushy beard gives you a nod and waves his arm.

"Be out guest, just give us a shout if you need us there now all right?" You nod back as you move into the entrance, your Aura moving from it's position just under your skin, to flaring out at it's maximum range. You are surprised when you see three separate things hiding in the shadows start moving, the flames growing over their wooden forms as you light up the dark tunnel.

(Ignition Knight: +62 Aura = 62 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 1-3: +35 Base Resilience = 35 Damage Reduction

27 Total End Damage

Woodland Scamp 1-3: 350 - 27 = 323

1% Total Health Damage Inflicted by Burn

Woodland Scamp 1-3: 323 - 3 = 320)

They drop down from their positions, half buried in the walls and start moving towards you. You fire a pair of fire spears at the one closest to you.

(Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +4 Dice = 79 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +5 Dice = 80 Total Damage

159 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 1: +35 Base Resilience, -10 Burning = 25 Damage Reduction

134 Total End Damage

Woodland Scamp 1: 320 - 134 = 186)

The spears pierce it and move to engulf it, as it had the last and you swing your sword as it closes into range.

(Ignition Knight: +27 Infinity Edge, -7 Semi-Competent, +1 Dice = 21 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 1: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze, -9 Armour Pierce = 14 Damage Added

35 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 1: 186 - 35 = 151)

Your strike hit cleanly and digs into its leg, halting its movement as it tries to reach you from beyond the range of your sword. The other two close on your left as you leave this scamp to its fate.

(Woodland Scamp 2: +40 Base Damage, - 10 Burning = 30 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 3: +40 Base Damage, - 10 Burning = 30 Total Damage

Scamps: 60 Total Damage

Ignition Knight: +22 Base Resilience, +22 Dice = 44 Damage Reduction

16 Total End Damage

Ignition Aura: -10% Reduction

14 Final End Damage

Ignition Knight: 200 - 14 = 186)

They both manage to hit you while you are trying to pull your sword out of the other Scamp, their hits sent waves of pain up your side, but they don't breach your amour. You are certain you're going to have a nasty bruise there before you can regenerate it. You finally manage to pull your sword out of the scamp and call back behind you. "Fire from the entrance, don't enter my Aura." You don't hear any confirming calls as you turn your eyes back to the Scamps in front of you.

(Ignition Knight: +62 Aura = 62 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 1-3: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze = 5 Damage Addition

67 Total Damage Apiece

Woodland Scamp 1: 151 - 70 = 81
Woodland Scamp 2-3: 320 - 67 = 253

2% Total Health Damage Inflicted by Burn

Woodland Scamp 1: 81 - 7 = 74
Woodland Scamp 2-3: 253 - 7 = 246)

The one on the right is still immobile and is shedding wood, though your Aura is burning it all. The two on the left are still a threat. You knock the one closest to you back with a quick swing.

(Ignition Knight: +27 Infinity Edge, -7 Semi-Competent, +1 Dice = 21 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 2: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze, -9 Armour Pierce = 14 Damage Added

35 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 2: 246 - 35 = 211)

Your blade doesn't get lodged this time and you knock it to the ground, it doesn't set it on fire, because it can't be any more on fire. You quickly call your spears into existence over your shoulder and nail the other one.

(Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +7 Dice = 82 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +5 Dice = 80 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 3: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze = 5 Damage Addition

167 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 3: 246 - 167 = 79)

Your spears shred it's insides, tearing massive chunks of wood from it's body and leaving a gaping hole through the middle that rapidly starts to burn.

(Ignition Knight: +62 Aura = 62 Total Damage
Woodland Scamp 1-3: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze, = 5 Damage Addition

67 Total Damage Apiece

Woodland Scamp 1: 74 - 67 = 7
Woodland Scamp 2: 211 - 67 = 144
Woodland Scamp 3: 79 - 67 = 12

Burn: 3% Total Health

Woodland Scamp 1: 7 - 11 = -4
Woodland Scamp 2: 144 - 11 = 133
Woodland Scamp 3: 12 - 11 = 1)

All three of them are completely immobilised for the moment it takes you to recover, the first scamp crumbling into a pile of burning wood as you summon two different sets of spears and fire them at each of the still living Scamps.

(Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, 10 Dice = 85 Total Damage
Ignition Knight: +75 Thermal Spear, +3 Dice = 78 Total Damage

163 Total Damage

Woodland Scamp 2: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze = 5 Damage Addition
Woodland Scamp 3: +35 Base Resilience, -40 Ablaze = 5 Damage Addition

167 Final End Damage Apiece

Woodland Scamp 2: 133 - 167 = -34
Woodland Scamp 3: 1 - 167 = -166)

The scamp you had hit with your sword is pinned to the floor, shattered pieces of flaming wood exploding off of it whilst the one that was already holed is torn into three pieces, wood quickly turning to ash as they died.

Whew. You take several deep breaths as you let your Aura run, making sure that these things are burned completely. When there is nothing at all left, you cut your Aura and look around. The rest of the cave is completely empty, your Aura reached into every corner. It's only then that you notice the distinct lack of help from your allies. Some fucking help they were. You turn towards the exit of the cave, the bright light briefly blinding you as you step out and look around.

The first thing you notice is the blood, the second thing you notice is the big Scamp.

Oh fuck.

Battle Plan
[] Search for your Allies
[] Attack the Big Scamp

+12xp 4 Scamp Kills