[]The Valhallan Front (Operation: Canned Whoopass)
Heaven and Hell have been enemies since before they formed from prayers and broken promises. Even now, their legions clash with fevered force across the fields of Valhalla. Once the realm of glorious warriors, where the Norse Gods would bring the greatest of heroes in preparation of Ragnarök. Though the souls of those legendary few do not rest upon these shores, it does not mean that Ragnarök has not come. Rumor has it that Shiva-Sil is on the move. The Maidens of the Apocalypse have been sighted across Valhalla hunting... something. One of the WEAPONs is also in the area, and she's been clashing with Unified Darkness forces on and off for the last few days herself. They're all up to something, and Hero isn't saying a thing, so Alaya needs someone to go there and figure out what's going on, and do something about it.
Known Allies: ???? WEAPON, Team RIOT
First things first; I think it's fairly safe to assume that whatever the Maidens want isn't something we want them to get their hands on. With a stated goal of "We just want to watch the world burn" and Shiva-Sil's general goal of at least wiping out humanity and probably wiping all life they aren't the type of people you want getting a hold of
anything they want.
Normally I'd be suspicious of how Hero* isn't saying anything and that we might have to work against ???? WEAPON since Gaia is only interested in seeing humanity growing stronger and as such her goals will not always line up with ours. However given that ???? WEAPON is listed as a "Known Ally" It
may be safe to assume she's on our side. I suppose it depends upon how IC and how OOC this info is.
*
@crystalwatcher - Shouldn't that be
Angel WEAPON since she's the one stationed in Firebase Momo?
Doing some research into Valhalla I have identified some people things that the Maidens could be hunting. First off is Eikþyrnir, the stag from which all water comes from in Norse mythology, which fits quite well with how they are described as hunting something rather then searching for something. Another possibility is that they are seeking to destroy the tree which sits atop Valhalla, Læraðr, as certain descriptions of Læraðr suggest it may in fact be Yggdrasil, tree at the center of creation, which would be quite bad. A third possibility is they might be seeking Gullinkambi which is one of the three roosters whose cry will signal the beginning of Ragnarök.
Given what we know of the setting I'd guess that Gullinkambi is the most likely target for the Maidens since it could quite easily be interpreted as a magical beast whose cry causes great chaos where ever it is heard. Such a weapon would appeal to Shiva-Sil since IIRC they still have that portal generating mirror which would make deploying Gullinkambi as a WMD quite easy.
Odds Operation Canned Whoopass would involve direct combat against the Maidens. Likely in an environs in which they can safely deploy their spells, unlike our previous fight. This could be quite the challenge but both Sega and (hopefully) ???? WEAPON will be sufficient to render the fight winnable. Aside from them I suspect we'll probably have to deal with Unified Darkness interference but I suspect they'll be padding consisting primarily mooks with few or no high tier opponents since this strikes me as more a continuation of the Shiva-Sil plotline then the Unified Darkness one.
As for our allies ???? WEAPON would obviously be quite useful against the Maidens but Team RIOT just aren't really up Team GEAR's level. They'll be good for dealing with the Unified Darkness' forces, and will probably end up in a "We'll stay here and hold them off, you go on ahead and stop the Maidens" situation, but they aren't up to the task of taking on the Maidens. What's more is with the possible exceptions of Sora's Reader of Fate's Tapestry for predictions and Beastly Maiden's enhanced smell for tracking the team, much like Team GEAR, isn't really well suited to finding two girls, or their target, that could be
anywhere in an entire realm.
Overall I'd say this is a very high priority since there just aren't many group outside Team GEAR who are capable of stopping the Maidens and it's not really something that can afford delays since every day the chances of them succeeding goes up.
[]The Reluxus Super Gate (Operation: High Tide)
The Elves' Super Gates create a trans-dimensional super-highway that allows them to move resources and manpower across their kingdom at a rate that is nearly equal to Humanity. The problem is that there are very few of them, and they are nearly prohibitively expensive to build. Reluxus, before it's fall, had the only Super Gate the Elvin Empire had at the battle front. If they are to bring their full might to bear against the Darkness, this Gate must be retaken. The Elves are unable to build a new Super Gate in time for the Offensive, even with the aid of Humanity. So if they are to help pull this insane plan off, the Reluxus Gate must be reopened. Otherwise, the Unified Light will drown underneath the sheer numbers their enemies can bring to bear in their place.
Known Allies: Team ROUND TABLE, Silver Chevalier, White Knight, The Four Horse(wo)men
A simple and straightforward mission; Go to Reluxus, slaughter everything in sight, reclaim the Super Gate. Or at least that's what this mission
appears to be at first glance.
If you stop and think about it for a minute it quickly becomes obvious that
can't be the case. Reluxus is an entire
world and one of immense strategic value given both the Super Gate and it's position right next to both the D9-0 Front and Hope. As the mission briefing saying if we don't take Reluxus back then an entire planet's worth of demons could flood in from it to Hope. So there is no way a team of just
six magical girls backed up by an Elf, and Fairy, and Angel (oh my!), plus five "regular" humans could hope to take back the entire planet or even just the city(?) the gate is in. Even the first Gabriel fell to sufficient numbers.
No I suspect the plan is to portal in as close to the Super Gate as possible, commando our way to the Super Gate, and hold the line until the Super Gate can be reactivated. At which point the endless armies of Elves will come flowing through. We'll probably end up helping them retake the city(?) afterwards, because mass destruction is a specialty of Team GEAR, but the rest would probably be left in the Elves' hands.
Of our allies Silver Chevalier is a solid Legend level character with some nice party boosts. White Knight is a solid Legend level character pretty much on the same level as Silver Chevalier but with only one party boost. The Four Horse(wo)men are low tier Epic characters, the only things that really stand out are Death's necromancy (good since we'll likely be killing lots of enemies), War's party boost, and Pestilances pseudo AoE DoT spell. Team ROUND TABLE are pretty meh, as to be expected of fairly normal humans.
Overall I'd rate this as a fairly high priority. It's vital to the war effort but I don't see any reason it couldn't wait a day or two for us to teal with the Maidens. Unless
@crystalwatcher says they'll be going today with or without us I think it can safely wait.
[]The Ultimate Weapon (Operation: Starborn)
When Hope Fell, Humanity had thrown everything they had at the Darkness in a mad attempt to save it. If it wouldn't end in long-lasting environmental effects, we used it. But it wasn't enough. We failed, and the shining monument to our future called Hope was torn down over the course of a week... So this time... We hold nothing back. Humanity will draw our most terrible swords, our most frightening weapons, and we will see our enemies burnt to ash before we're done. The Akashic Pillar is pulling out all the stops. They're calling on every reservist, every volunteer, and every gun they can. Entire scrap yards are being melted down, entire waste dumps are being combed over. If it can be converted for military use, they're scraping it together. But this kind of mobilization can't go without notice. We're going to far as to even bring out our most terrible weapons, in numbers that have never been seen before. Nuclear warheads are being unburied by the thousands, and everyone is aware of it. The Unified Darkness has somehow snuck kill teams onto Earth in an attempt to neutralize our most powerful weapons before we can use them upon our enemies. But we know where they're targeting first. And it would be a simple matter to stop them.
Known Allies: Judgement Drive, Judgement Core, M.E.C.A. Force
I said it before and I'll say it again. This is a
terrible mission for us. Nepgear, and to a lesser extent the rest of Team GEAR, works best when we have plenty of enemies to kill and no worry about collateral damage. JD and JC should be able to handle without our help.
So with all that in mind:
[X]The Valhallan Front (Operation: Canned Whoopass)
[x] Spend EXP
[x] Base Plan No Shinies
-[x] Increase Purifier Beam to 15 (140 xp)
-[x] Increase Indestructible Core to 10 (300 xp)
-[x] Increase Flight to 11 (450 xp)
-[x] Increase Celestial Severance 8 (130xp)
My rational for Plan No Shinies is quite simple. We are going to be facing the Maidens very shortly yet have nothing that can damage West, unless we manage to knock her shield askew, and both she and East have pretty significant Health pools. Severance Echo and even Omni-Caster aren't going to be useful here. Celestial Severance 8 bumps the Base Damage up to 6,400 which doubles again to 12,800 thanks to Double-Cast. More then enough to penetrate West's shield even if it can, somehow, ignore CS's Unstoppable ability. Flight 11 also means, as others have pointed out, that no one without HSC Lvl 2 can see/touch Nepgear while in flight. That is a
massive advantage, especially when combined with Supremacy Zone.
Meanwhile Plan Fundamentals is buying Severance Echo, on average equal to 1 level in CS but way more expensive, and has no hope of getting Omni-Caster this voting session. While I agree they are important I think right now they are less important then Flight 11 and bumping up CS's damage.
