... Homuraaaa, Actually Satan is getting weird again!
So, killing time. Any plan beside "fill it with arrows until it dies?". Speaking of which, I just wondered... labyrinths are essentially some sort of reality marble, right? How would that interact with Archer's own?
Well, before we can fill the witch with arrows, we have to find the witch. And this being, you know, a labyrinth, that means we're going to have to go searching for her.
I have no idea what would happen if you opened a Reality Marble inside of another Reality Marble, so you may want to wait on that until someone more knowledgeable can answer your question.
I actually don't know of any canonical witches like this except for Charlotte, and momoe already got ganked. But I do know that very few things survive a Broken Caladbolg to the face. So,
[X]Search for the witch.
-[X]Look out for ambushes and keep on the move to avoid being ganked.
-[X]Apply Broken Caladbolg to face on sight
I actually don't know of any canonical witches like this except for Charlotte, and momoe already got ganked. But I do know that very few things survive a Broken Caladbolg to the face.
Only about... Half, I think, of the 'canon' witches ever actually appear in full in the original series, and the ones that do often don't have well-publicized names. Suleika, for instance, is a witch that we can only infer the existence of, because we only ever see Mami destroying its familiars. This current witch appears for all of one panel in the manga adaptation, and it's easy to miss her because of how well she blends in with the panel.
That's why I always include little blurbs for the witches and their minions when we encounter them, so that you don't have to have read the production notes, guidebooks, and the wiki for information in order to know who they are and what they can do.
[X] Stalk through, keep a low profile until you find the Witch.
-[X]Look out for ambushes and keep on the move to avoid being ganked.
-[X]Apply Broken Caladbolg to face on sight
You try to recall what each of the previous labyrinths you've had to suffer through have been like. The first, the one with the witch stuffed inside the birdcage, had looked like something out of a drunk Russian's nightmare. Then there had been the one that was literally just a playground, but completely covered in darkness. The most recent one had been a giant rose garden with hideous wallpaper plastered over the walls. And now this one is made of cotton candy.
Your sanity would probably appreciate if you stopped trying to understand these damned things. That's easier said than done though, since no matter how little you try to think about them, you just can't shake how dangerously close the concept of a witch's labyrinth comes to a reality marble. You don't know much about how reality marbles first came to be, or who the first mage to create one had been. For all you know, it's entirely possible that the first reality marble had been an attempt to replicate a labyrinth, though why any sane-minded individual would want to attempt to recreate a place like this... Oh, right. Most mages aren't typically the kinds of people you would call "sane".
... Yourself included, given how willing you had been to sell your soul to an immaterial concept for the chance to be a hero... Huh, now doesn't that sound familiar?
Well, you're not going to stop this witch by standing around naval gazing like this. It's time to get to work.
This being a labyrinth, you are unsurprised when the cotton candy walls morph into a maze-like structure. What does surprise you, however, is that trying to hack down the sticky spun-sugar walls accomplishes all of nothing. Kanshou easily gets stuck in the sticky sugary cloud, forcing you to abandon it and Trace another as you are left with no option but to try and find your way through the maze.
Granted, you could always throw up a Caladbolg or two and just try to brute force your way through, but that could just as easily backfire on you. What if your projectile got stuck and accomplished the same nothing that Kanshou did? Or worse, what if your attacks serve to anger the walls, and you wind up stuck instead? Best just to move on and try to conquer the maze the way it clearly wants you to.
Several wrong turns later, and you find yourself coming face-to-face with a group of minions, strangely-proportioned claymation fashion dolls. You assume a defensive stance as you prepare for their attack, but they don't move. In fact, they don't seem to have acknowledged your presence one way or another. They're just standing there, revolving in place, somehow without moving their legs. You poke at one of them with Kanshou, and it crumbles to pieces like dry Play-Doh.
Before heading along on your way, you do the same to the others, on the off chance they come to life and attack while your back is turned. They too crumble to pieces, and you head back out to try your luck in the cotton candy maze once again.
After a few more encounters like that, you finally manage to make your way to the witch. In keeping with the rest of the labyrinth, this witch is a slender white poodle with a giant tuft of cotton candy covering its head, with coloured candy wrappers serving as decorate bows adorning the candy mane. It's absolutely adorable. So adorable, in fact, that you're having trouble keeping your bow steady. You don't want to attack it, you want to run up and give it a big hug.
No; no, you don't. This feeling of wanting to hug it isn't natural. It isn't yours. In life you might have been a mediocre mage with only one trick up your sleeve, but you'd still be able to recognize a curse anywhere, and this witch is packing a really potent one. If you let your guard down for even a second, you're almost certainly toast.
Do you
[ ] Try to power through the curse and fire off a Caladbolg; if you can land a single clean hit, this witch should likely fall, curse or not
[ ] Abandon your plan to use Caladbolg and just use regular arrows; you can't keep yourself steady enough to hit it with just one projectile
[ ] Abandon your plan to shoot it entirely and slash it with Kanshou and Bakuya; close-range strikes will be easier to land than projectiles
[ ] Other (write-in)
?
NEW
Minor characters unlocked!
The canine witch with a craving nature. She has taken on the form of a dog in the vain hope of being loved by all. Humans who enter her barrier can't help but embrace her in concern. One hoping to defeat her can do so by feigning love.
The canine witch's minions, whose duty is interior design. They have no will and are simply mannequins who revolve in place. A canine witch, unloved by anyone, was unable to create minions with free will.
You know, I don't think my notification system flags your posts any different from the others. Maybe if you wrote like a hundred words, but that sounds like a chore.
You know, I don't think my notification system flags your posts any different from the others. Maybe if you wrote like a hundred words, but that sounds like a chore.
Unfortunately. But you're the OP, most rules don't apply to you. I'd say that making a wall of text with one word would be best. A few hundred words should be enough. That way, you can just copy+paste, and we can skip it.
As for the vote,
[X] Abandon your plan to use Caladbolg and use Hrunting.
-[X] If that fails, just use regular arrows; you can't keep yourself steady enough to hit it with just one projectile.
We can't afford to waste prana in case we get supremely unlucky and run into Lancer right after the Witch.
You know, I don't think my notification system flags your posts any different from the others. Maybe if you wrote like a hundred words, but that sounds like a chore.
Unfortunately. But you're the OP, most rules don't apply to you. I'd say that making a wall of text with one word would be best. A few hundred words should be enough. That way, you can just copy+paste, and we can skip it.
Step 1: Write the sentence "There's a new post"
Step 2: Copy+paste that sentence 50-100 times
Step 3: Threadmark your post
Step 4: Wait a few minutes
Step 5: Delete the threadmark from your post, then edit your post so that "There's a new post" only displays once
My mistake. My only knowledge of that witch was from a fanfiction, but apparently it's a canon, if obscure, one.
[X] Abandon your plan to use Caladbolg and use Hrunting.
-[X] If that fails, just use regular arrows; you can't keep yourself steady enough to hit it with just one projectile.
That's fine. Like I said, a lot of the canon witches don't actually have full or coherent appearances. But, recognizable or not, all the witches here will be from some official source. I've got enough on my plate without having to make up distinct OC witches or to borrow ones from fanfiction.
[X] Abandon your plan to use Caladbolg and use Hrunting.
-[X] If that fails, just use regular arrows; you can't keep yourself steady enough to hit it with just one projectile.
[X] Abandon your plan to use Caladbolg and use Hrunting.
-[X] If that fails, just use regular arrows; you can't keep yourself steady enough to hit it with just one projectile.
Under the effects of the witch's curse, your entire body trembles as you struggle to stay on target. It desperately wants you to lose yourself, to abandon all sense of reason and to run towards it, arms splayed out, to embrace it. But you cannot let it win.
Your bow is drawn, but your aim is shaky. Tentatively firing a single arrow reveals that there is no way you'll be able to hit this thing with Caladbolg; you're just as likely for your shot to go wide as you are to have it hit home... But perhaps you don't need to worry about it hitting home. You had gone into the labyrinth under the pretense that you would be using Caladbolg as soon as you encountered the witch, so the point where the thought of using other Projections never even occurred to you.
But Hrunting doesn't care whether or not your aim is true.
Even your mouth struggles to obey your commands, such is the overpowering nature of the witch's curse. With great difficulty, you chant "I am... The bone of... My sword...", materializing the jagged black blade into your grasp. You can feel your strength fading as the seconds tick by. You have to finish this fight, now, or else what little strength remains in your body will fail and leave you powerless to resist the curse. Your whole arm shakes as you nock back the jagged projectile, and as you expend the energy necessary to perform the action, you find that your legs have begun to walk you closer to the witch of their own accord. Step by step, you draw closer, completely powerless to stop the movement of your legs as you divert all your energy and willpower into this one action.
The moment that Hrunting collides with the witch, the fight is over. Its poodle-shaped body erupts in a roaring sea of flames, burning away the cotton-candy mane as the candy wrapper decorations take flight like a swarm of butterflies, desperate to escape the conflagration. With the curse broken and your body placed back under your control, you have no difficulty in dispatching the candy wrapper butterflies with your arrows.
As the last of the candy wrapper butterflies falls to your arrows, a single black gem slides out of the melting pile of goop that had once been the witch's cotton candy mane. Slick with melted sugar, the Grief Seed is just as sticky as it looks, but at last the fight is over.
"Master, I've just finished dispatching a witch."
"Good work. Can you tell me which one?"
"It was a poodle made of cotton candy with an incredibly powerful attraction curse. Even though it went down in one hit, I was only just barely able to defeat it."
"A poodle made of cotton candy? I can't say that's one I'm familiar with. Still, you've done well."
"There are still two places left I wanted to check out. Did you need me to come home right away after this, or should I continue my search?"
"Do whatever you feel is best."
Whatever you feel is best, huh? Well, that all depends; what do you think is best?
[ ] Head home; you've taken down a witch and claimed its Grief Seed
[ ] Keep up the search; it's only two more locations
[ ] Other (write-in)
?
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
THERE'S A FOOKING UPDATE!!!
(That's a yes)
