I'm more focused on how these characters are deeper than I had originally intended. Originally this quest's story was supposed to be rather simple. Now it's grown into this vast beast with all these twists and turns...
I'm both simultaneously proud and horrified at the same time. Mostly because I'm scared I'm imitating the Urobutcher.
Dunno who is Urobutcher, but I came here to share a video I just watched.
CW... I just watched video that made me scared of fairies.
Fairies. The cute miniture humanoids with wings and magic that can do no harm...
Those fairies.
I watched a video that made me more scared of them than any other fantasy race.
It made me scared of fairies that at most have flight magic.
And yes the argument falls apart a little bit but it still made me go from:
"fairies are cute and would pose no harm to me"
to
"OMG keep those things far away from me! give me antifairy potions! antifairy shield! I'll make deal with the damn devil but KEEP THOSE FAIRIES AWAY FROM ME!"
These guys are functionally what happened when min-maxing munchkins from Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity band together on the sole idea of keeping their god alive and pounding anyone stupid enough to piss them off into sludge.
Humanity might as well have nothing more than sticks and harsh language in comparison. If that. In total the White Kingdom's collective power is almost equivalent to a Starstream to low-Galaxy class Divine Being. They're the giant
Starshine theoretically could be useful leveling all the way to Level 65 at which point it's doing 3,459,129,872,000 Damage per shot (157,233,176 [Base Damage] x 11 [Rain of Light] x 4 [Quadra-Magic] x 500 [Target: Army]) and can quite literally take out an entire Legion of three billion demons in a single shot. In practice we'd almost certainly run into range limitations well before that point so most the damage would be wasted. So personally barring some game changing Ability I figure Level 20 and it's 151,722,000 Damage (6,851 x 11 [Rain of Light] + 500 [Hostile Divinity] x 4 [Quadra-Magic] x 500 [Target: Army]) are more then enough for anything we can successfully target with Starshine.
I'm thinking that we might get the upgraded/evolved form of starshine which I am happily going to call starfall, a spell with auto target, auto fire and persistent effect, which makes the sky go a silvery white colour from were pebble to boulder sized blasts/pulses drop from at her/the enemy.
It also comes with a perception ability that allows her to selectively observe everything in its continent sized range.
Yes and no.
Affinities comes from people, but do not define people.
This is why people with good affinities are not automatically good people.
It means that Amanda might have had a horrible childhood as child soldier fighting...or simply be a person that enjoy the rush of fighting, or a daughter of a soldier and so on.
Saying that Red Rose exists to fight is at the same time accurate and completely wrong, as Ni *My whole power set scream Demon Lord but i'm simply desperate and SOMEONE HELP ME!* demonstrate.
But yeah, for a person that can't help but survive, her affinities really seems to scream "Yo sis, your fate is simply winning".
...
But yeah, Red Rose probably thinks that.
The second part, while true, i think it applies more to Gold: Red Rose is not someone that changes battlefields or win great engagement.
For two reason
1) Amanda quite literally already accepted that, she is a veteran of many battle, she already knows that the war is big and she can't change it and was never expected too.
It's painful...but something she lived with from before hope, from when she started being a magical girl.
She is not a Goddess, those have dreams.
Not saying it isn't an issue, simply that it's something she probably accepted.
2)Her issue with the battlefield is a magnitude worse. I'm gonna expand on that.
She wins, but can't help other people.
She survive, but can't protect other people.
She kills, but can't save other people. Red Rose whole deal is that she doesn't win battles, she brings victory.
With Red Rose is---->People die, but she still complete the mission. *Victory*
Gold is ---->She arrives, wins the battle and chill, saving everyone and everyone is happy.
In truth...Red Rose never "Wins", not in her minds, for a simple reason.
Her power-set is not made to help other people...nor to support, nor to save....so every battle she enters have heavy casualties because
1)She is sent to high-level battlefields
2)She can't help the more squishy people from exploding like us. Meaning Red Rose victory, are quite literally on a pile of bodies every time...unless she deploy solo that bring credence to the "You're destined to be alone" thingy.
It's not only that her victories are useless in great scheme of things, but that she hate her own brand of victories that everyone is happy about.
But you're right, your point about the battlefield probably became a big issues after Hope, albeit something the UL collectively shared.
...
Now i feel bad
My next rant will be about someone happy,ok?
I'll do Lucky Star and Armageddon Hound Gabriel(Old)Goddess Gold Solid Core...Someone. or my next rant will be on Goddess Gold because @Faraway-R post inspired me (thank you Faraway).
...
Let's concentrate on Red Rose happy ending now!
Unless the next update is "Everyone dies", in which case.
Bad GM,Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Yes and no. Affinities do not define people - but they do influence them.
IIRC it's a known factor in MG psychology - the existence of the "corruptive" affinities.
Also, it's a known fact that habits we have cling to us greatly - and "using spells and weapons in a specific set of ways" can and will become a habit. It shouldn't be overestimated, but neither should it be overlooked.
As for "Red Rose wins engagements" - she is the second most powerful UL Magical Girl, and is also very nearly THE most potent solo combatant. Her ability to inflict high profile asset denial on the enemy, to remove enemy trump cards, cannot be overstated. You are right that Gold can and has reshaped battlefields and destroyed armies. Red Rose however has slain like a dozen Dark Lords or even more, causing entire invasions to lose driving force, facilitating her side's success on the battlefield. And yet, she can only be in one place in one time - the only ones who could even hope to stop her are the enemy's champions, not the armies - but in the same way she can only stop champions, not armies. And the Unified Darkness has no compunction of throwing billions of demons at her just to bypass her and slaughter those she is protecting.
CW... I just watched video that made me scared of fairies.
Fairies. The cute miniture humanoids with wings and magic that can do no harm...
Those fairies.
I watched a video that made me more scared of them than any other fantasy race.
It made me scared of fairies that at most have flight magic.
Technically San has rejoined Rei. Just like Sega is only here for Nepgear. But point taken.
And, incidentally, San also seems to be a bit less... AOE-capable than her sisters.
Technically San has rejoined Rei. Just like Sega is only here for Nepgear. But point taken.
And, incidentally, San also seems to be a bit less... AOE-capable than her sisters.
She's a literal force multiplier though. Your minions get more actions, the enemies get less. That turns an already killy human army into a mass murdering blob of genocide.
Okay, seriously, have you ever seen a regular human (as in a non-empowered, non-enhanced, non-magical soldier) carry around a blade twice their own size?
Calm down, they're not as dangerous as you're making them out to be. For one, they're not going to be zipping around like a hummingbird because they don't have wings, so they're going to be a lot slower.
Second, the only way they could take you down is by surprise in an enclosed space with a mob of them. Otherwise the chance of them surviving the encounter drop significantly.
Third, they're not going to easily get the weak points in your armour if you're not acting like an idiot. This is also tied to them not having a speed advantage over you.
Now, if magic is involved, then you're on your own, cause all bets are off in that case.
@Crystalwatcher , I hope you don't mind my question, but how do you make a slide? I think yours looks awesome, and I'd like to have one for my quest, but I copied your format and it doesn't seem to be working.
@Crystalwatcher , I hope you don't mind my question, but how do you make a slide? I think yours looks awesome, and I'd like to have one for my quest, but I copied your format and it doesn't seem to be working.
Several soldiers carefully maneuver the unconscious forms of the Old Guard into the back of an IFV, the medics admirably stepping into the role of emergency responders for their sudden charges. White Soul is the only one that is actually restrained more than is necessary for a moving vehicle.
"Where are they going to take them?"
Rei looks over her shoulder at your question, the Goddess' exuberant grin still on her face and still looking out of place. "We're splitting them up for now. Once they recover and the soldiers at the bases they'll be brought to fill them in on everything that's happened, we'll give them the option of returning to an active status... except for White Soul."
"She's likely going to be imprisoned for a while. At first anyway," Red Rose takes over. "Depending on a psychiatric evaluation, we'll likely leave what to do with her up to Solar and Lunar Radiance. Especially considering how hard it'd be to imprison her regardless."
"With the shape the judicial system is in, most Magical Girls are remanded to the justice of their peers." Rei shrugs. "It's not very efficient or effective, and tends to seed a lot of discontent among the regular populace, but it lets us put each other back to work where we're needed most. Until the war is over, or at least calms down enough that the Pillar can focus more on things back home, there's not much else that can enforce any rules on Magical Girls outside other Magical Girls."
You nod to them, "So, if she's cleared by the Radiances, she'll likely return to the front lines?"
"Correct. Though she'll be under heavier watch than normal. Much like San currently is. It's a bit like probation, just your probationary watcher is a cruise missile with a hair trigger on the button."
... That actually made a bit of sense to you. Magical Girls were too strong for 'normal' law enforcement to fight against. So bringing a Magical Girl to justice falling onto the shoulders of her fellow Girls was likely the best that the Akashic Pillar could do in this situation. Even if they assigned a executioner or a literal cruise missile to keep them in line, such measures couldn't be available all the time. And not all Magical Girls would actually be threatened by such regardless.
"That makes sense... I'm planning on bringing my team back to base for the day. I originally wanted to ask if either of you wanted to ride back to base with us, since we're going in a helicopter."
Rei and Red Rose share a glance, before the older of the two shrugs. "You can go. I'm going to stick with the convoy to wherever they're taking them all. You'll probably see me around though, once they're all back up and on their feet. Take care you two." She grins—the first time you ever remember her doing so in your presence—and departs for the trucks.
Rei shrugs again, "I'll come with. No reason for me to stick with Red and them. I'd like to take a shower when we get back."
James and the rest of your team are already gathered near the Skybound, waiting for you. Brilliant Key and Insight are speaking with him and Sega, while Aquila stands with him. Gabriel and Sam are both already in the gunship, while Lucky and Mike are right outside the... hatch, you think it's called? Regardless, pretty much everyone is present.
"We all ready to go?" Your voice draws everyone's attention, though they focus more on Rei than you once they notice she's here as well.
Insight plants her hands on her hips, "Nah. Me and Key here are going to be going with Red Rose to wherever it is they're taking the Old Guard. We'll probably catch up with you separately later on though."
"Um... You might want to catch up to her then. It looks like they'll be leaving soon... Wait! Insight!" The older girl skids to a stop as you call out to her. Brilliant Key on the other hand keeps jogging away. "When we all meet back up at Momo, would you be willing to take a look over me, Judgement Core, and the Drives? I'm curious if there're any abilities we have that we're unaware of."
"I'd be fine with that..." she twists in place, shooting a look towards the 'caravan' that now housed the Old Guard, "But for now... I think your teammates should take a deeper look at that little... 'connection' you gave them." And with that, she turns again and runs for the jeeps.
You look at your teammates. "I'll see about taking a look... tomorrow." Lucky rubs at her eyes. "I just want to curl up and go to sleep when we get back."
You smile at her, "Then lets get going."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
The ride back to base is a quiet affair. The crew section of the Skybound, originally meant for ten Human soldiers in full kit, has grown a tad cramped, with three soldiers in power armor, three magical girls, two of which with rather bulky transformations, an elf, a fairy, and a freaking Angel who is nearly twice the size of a regular human already.
Though Gabriel did a really good job of keeping her wings folded enough not to knock anyone out the other side.
"Team GEAR, anyone still awake in there?"
"We're reading you Basilicom. Lucky's the only one who is snoring right now." Said Fairy twitches in her sleep, curled up against Mike. You smile. "What do ya need?"
"Well, news finally came down from the top and I felt it'd be nice to give you a heads up. The brass finally decided on a staging ground for Answerer." That catches everyone's attention. (Minus Lucky who is still asleep.) "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are no longer Firebase Momo."
The Skybound shudders, and a flash of light from the horizon draws your eye... just as the base comes into view.
"Welcome to Staging Ground Ataraxia."
A wing of Angels blow past on their way out of the local airspace.
Ataraxia as a whole seems to have doubled in size since you had been here only a few hours ago... which now felt like ages. The dirt road that had led out towards the highway has been expanded to an almost hilarious degree. A steady stream of vehicles is coming in and out of the base, while dozens of construction teams perform their own fabrication rituals to place structures where tents used to be. The Fairy section of the base now stretches high enough into the sky to count as a flying hazard, even as the Angel grounds practically glow like a beacon.
The Elf 'camp' can no longer really be called a 'camp', considering it has nearly tripled in size.
"How long were we gone again?" Samael's voice is almost disbelieving, even as the Skybound steadily moves towards the greatly expanded airfield. "This is ridiculous!"
"Um... we left base a bit late in the morning... so about six hours ago, I think?" James scratches at the back of his head. "If they really are going to be turning this place into the staging ground for the entire offensive though, I can kind of understand. Everyone's going to be pouring resources into this spot like no one's business."
"Puts things into perspective, doesn't it?" Aquila is the only one of you still calm. But then again she was likely used to seeing such vast quantities of material and personnel moved so swiftly due to how mindbogglingly vast the Elf Empire is. The sound of battle horns echo across the 'plain' from the Elf camp, likely putting their soldiers through their paces.
Light from magical rituals dance throughout the pillar of the Fae camp, circles of magic fading in and out of existence as their masters ready their own rituals for the coming conflict. And above it all, entire flocks of Angels take wing, and fill the sky even as Human pilots skillfully guide their craft along restricted lanes through the chaos.
"Yeah." You reply. "It does."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
A hundred miles away, a significant time after the tomb that had once been upon the top of hill was wiped from the world, a small hole in reality opens up among the ruins. A slight churning of power that opens the way to another dimension. And through it, steps a handful of beings: three demons of indeterminate origin, a shadowed knight, and a young woman with white hair.
"What... is... this?"
"... Ah... It seems someone assaulted the Graveyard, Mi'lady."
"I can see THAT." The young woman's face doesn't lose composure, even as she yells. "Would you mind explaining to me how it got attacked?"
"... I wouldn't know? Mi'lady?"
For a second, all is silent... Then Goddess Red twitches violently, and her Knight promptly smashes the flat of its blade into the demon's head, knocking it to the ground, then starts to beat it to death.
Ichi Mitsubishi hears her sister's scream of impotent fury from the far side of the portal, even as her most recent... 'caretaker' locks up in fright. "Huh... seems like someone pissed Sis off. Might need to do something about that."
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"And the best part is, we managed to get back to base without anyone dying on our second mission!" Michael is happily relaying to Doctor Alexandra, who had met you at the newly expanded airfield for some reason...
"You know what just dawned on me?" You whisper to Sega, who is standing next to you. "I know... four? people that all share the name contraction 'Alex'. There's Alexandria, Red Rose and Brilliant Key are both Alexandra, and Doctor Alex right here. She's in charge of correlating the data gathered by the rest of my Team's power armor."
Sega blinks in surprise and looks down at you. "Really? Isn't there supposed to be some kind of One Steve Limit or something in quests? Doesn't that break a cardinal rule or something?"
"Sega, breaking the Fourth Wall is breaking a cardinal rule. Besides, I think it's more to help people keep characters straight if they all have different names... which can lead to some really weird names now that I think about it."
"Like Sega?"
"Exactly! Like- DAMMIT SEGA!" You whack her heavily over the head, even as Dr. Alex giggles to whatever it is Mike had been telling her.
"Anyway, I came out to meet you guys because the team finished up those weapon upgrades I had been telling Captain Roberts about. With how little you guys have used the Soul-Severer's long range functions and the pre-existing problems in it's design, we finally convinced the idiots that made it to come up with dedicated replacements."
Your merely mortal teammates all share a look with one another. "Sounds good to me." Michael nods to Samael's comment. "Unlike Mr. Doesn't Die here, I'm not that good with melee combat. I'd like to have an actually usable gun again."
James turns back to Dr. Alex, "We'll be by sooner or later to pick them up."
"Preferably later though." Lucky yawns. "I'm taking a shower and laying down. Don't wake me up unless the base is on fire." And with that, the fairy promptly spreads her wings and floats away. As soon as she's out of sight, Rei claps you on the shoulder.
"I'm heading after her to get a bath myself. After that, you'll probably be able to find me in the Command Center."
You turn to Sega as Rei departs. "Eh, I'm mostly okay for now. But I want to run down Rev and give her the good news about Alex. She's going to be ecstatic!" Your sister runs off.
"And the rest of us will head over to grab the new weapons then I guess." Gabriel scratches at the back of her head. "Except for James. Don't you have a report to write?"
"I guess so, yeah." He nods. "I'll be by to grab a new sword later. Commander Mason is going to want my report A.S.A.P."
"I'll probably wonder around the base, and see what all's changed." You announce. "If possible, I'll swing by to check up on you all later. Otherwise I'll see you at Rei's tent if it's still there."
You Have (3) Actions
Staging Ground Ataraxia has replaced Firebase Momo as your home port. After you have completed a Day's missions, you will return here for storyline based upgrades to your allies, and to confirm any changes your actions have made to the resources that can be focused into the coming Answer. Your time at base will be split into two sections, a (Morning) and an (Evening) split. At the day's start, you will have (10) actions, five for each phase of the day. Training will be the only action that will require you to spend more than one action in order to complete.
When choosing from the available actions, remember that storyline upgrades for your allies, or Anastasia herself can be obtained if specific actions are taken, and later followed up on down the road. While running around Ataraxia, you have the chance of making friends, enemies, rivals, or even finding yourself a student. As time passes, and Answerer draws closer, more actions will become available, while other actions might become unavailable. During this time bonus missions might also crop up, giving chances at otherwise unattainable information or simple closure for important characters.
[] Turn in for the Day -You're tired and it's been a long day. You should get some sleep. (Ends the day early, but gives a tiny chance for bonus events for the following morning.)
[] Visit Doctor Alexandra's Team -Alex's team responsible for the Frost Dragon made some new weapons and you're curious about them. (Witness Team GEAR attaining their new weapons while getting an explanation of their functions, and possible something more?)
[] Visit The Magical Girls On Base
-[] Write in 4 (List of Girls on the Base will be added to the bottom.) --With Answerer drawing closer, Magical Girls Independent and Aligned alike are gathering in droves. It's a concentration of sheer power that boggles the mind to think about. (Visit Magical Girls that have gathered for the Offensive. Possibly unlock new ally choices for missions, make friends, enemies, maybe even find yourself a cute little kohai to help!)
[] Visit the Command Tent -No more missions for the day, but you're curious about how the War is going. (Gain information about the Eternal War's current state, future missions, or even the effects of what certain missions might have.)
[] Visit a Friend
-[] Write in 2 --You've still got some friends around the base that you haven't talked to in a bit. Maybe chat them up and see how they're doing? (Visit people you already know and are on base to update their character sheets.)
[] No Rest For The Wicked -The aftermath of The Traitor's betrayal is still being cleaned up. As it stands, Truth's body isn't even in the ground yet, though her funeral has already been planned. But what about everyone else that had been at her last get together? (Unilaterally visit White Knight to see how she's doing.)
[] In Memoire - The White -You know Rei rather well now, but San is still mostly a mystery to you. Yet... something is pulling you to her. To learn. (Visit San Mitsubishi directly and hear more of her story. Possibly unlocking more of her character sheet.)
[] The Story of Peace -Sega's doing her crazy thing again. Though, with the fact Alexandria is alive again, Revolution will likely want to know that her friend is back. (Follow Sega on her rampage to find Rev to tell her the good news.)
[] Librum Of A Star
-[] Write In Magic Question (Relating to your own, or any others.) --Lucky is going to bed soon, but she also knows more about Magic than literally anyone you can think of. So if anyone can answer your questions, it'll be her. (Ask literally anything you can think of, but only one big question a visit. Branch questions based on the core question are allowed, but they have to be in-character and follow a simple logic path from the original question. Results from this can range anywhere from new spells for certain characters to completely rebuilding certain abilities based on the questions asked.)
Training
Power is something you now have in spades... but using that power properly is something else altogether. Most Magical Girls willingly stop expanding their power after a certain point, and instead focus on learning how to control it in ways it is not naturally capable of. With some work, and more than a bit of practice, you might also be capable of doing these things as well. (You can only choose one, and it will cost you two actions to do.)
[] Spar
-[] Write in who you want to challenge to one. (List of Girls on the Base will be added to the bottom.) If there was ever one thing you were good at, it's learning during combat. Challenge someone to kick your ass, and see how much they can teach you while doing so.
[] Practice
-[] Write in what you want to try. You've got ideas on what you can do. But you need to figure out how to actually do it. Some things might take more effort than others though, and still others will need a partner to practice with.
(Team GEAR has upgraded their abilities!
The Fragments of Peace have upgraded their abilities!)
███████ Thorn Warden
Magical Girl White Knight
Magical Girl Sundown Eclipse
Magical Girl Twilight Eclipse
Magical Girl Horseman of Death
Magical Girl Horseman of Famine
Magical Girl Horseman of War
Magical Girl Horseman of Pestilence
Magical Girl Fable Heart
Magical Girl Wild Heart
Magical Girl M.E.C.A. Force
Magical Girl Warped Mirror
Magical Girl Internet Explorer
Magical Girl Summer Queen
Magical Girl Winter Queen
Magical Girl Plant Queen
Magical Girl Dragon Queen
Magical Girl Game Queen
Magical Girl Beastly Maiden
Magical Girl Forest Guardian
Magical Girl Heavenly Destroyer
Magical Girl Melodious Siren
Magical Girl Shining Scholar
Magical Girl Dark Judge
Magical Girl Illuminator
Magical Girl Silver Chevalier
Magical Girl Ashen Saint
Magical Girl Pristine Saint
[x] Plan SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
-[x] Visit The Magical Girls On Base
--[x] ███████ Thorn Warden
--[x] Magical Girl Wild Heart
--[x] Magical Girl Fable Heart
--[x] Magical Girl Warped Mirror
-[x] No Rest For The Wicked
-[x] In Memoire - The White
[X] [EXP] Plan Upgrade
-[X] Upgrade Flight to level 29 (280)
-[X] Upgrade Celestial Severance to level 20 (170+180+190)
-[X] Upgrade Starshine to level 20 (170+180+190)
Total XP spent: 1360
Total XP remaining: 220
The action plan looks good to me, while for the XP plan, this finally gets us the next HSC level, increases our damage output, and reveals what Celestial Severance and Starshine get at level 20. After this, we should be good as far as offensive capabilities go for quite a while, and can focus on spending time learning to control our power.
Looks like Gaia and her weapons have gone elsewhere already EDIT: Still around according to later GM post. I'm not sure if visiting Silver Chevalier is a good idea because of how crazy her team is, but would like to see more of her anyways. Heavenly Destroyer and Dark Judge also look interesting (or at least have cool names). And Warped Mirror has some interesting abilities.
