[DEAD] Stand Against The Darkness: A Magical Girl Quest

[Kadmus]

Spoiler: AN

Roll results: 5 + 9 (Stat) + 4 (Ritual) + 4 (2 Assistants) = 22. Excellent success

Part 24
Sunday, Week 3

"I think, um, that this should be, um, pretty simple?" Shadows says, fidgeting in place. "Like, we, um, we have a base state that we, like, normally are? So returning to it should, um, should be easier than changing it?"

Light nods. "A ritual with all of us on the inside?" she says. "Something simple..."

She leans down and taps the rooftop with a single outstretched finger. Golden light spills out, and begins tracing a simple, elegant triangle on the roof. The edges are curved inwards, leaving a small interior space; the light continues moving, and describes a circle around the triangle.

"That should suffice," Light says. "Step into one of the jnkga v'lakh thu-"

She cuts herself off and instead stomps into one of the spaces between the edge of the circle and the edge of the triangle. There's a soft wash of light across the rooftop as liquid sunlight starts to spill out of her outstretched hands, and Shadows moves to stand in one of the two remaining spaces.

"Um, if you- um, stand in the last one, and pull out fire?" she says. "Shadows for change, fire for cleansing, and light for purity. It should, um, should work pretty well."

You join the other two Chosen in the circle, and raise your own hands into the air in front of you, palms up. You push your magic out through your hands, and fire spills out in response. It pools in your hands and trickles over the edges, slowly at first, and then in increasing volume as you push more power into it.

Shadows, meanwhile, is kneeling in her space, and her arms are stretched out to either side of her. Shadows congeal on the undersides of her arms and bead into fat, wispy droplets that fall onto the rooftop and form uneven heaps of shadows around her.

You can feel the power begin to fill the air around you, constrained and concentrated by the lines of the ritual circle, until it's almost painful to stand in your spot. The edges of the triangle begin to waver slightly, and the three elements start to ooze across the barrier and mix together in the centre. The sense of pressure builds as you pour more and more power into the ritual, until it pops like an overinflated balloon.

Shadows's wings burst into flame, and Light drops to her knees, clutching her throat and coughing out smoke. They don't seem to be in pain, and the wash of golden light that follows the flames disperses the smoke and ash. Finally, the circle erases itself, the golden light tracing its path backwards, removing the diagram as it goes.

"Shit, are you guys okay?" you say, stepping towards Shadows.

She waves you away and stands, rolling her shoulders with a smile. "No, I'm, um, I'm fine. Better than fine!"

Light's mask wiggles, like she's working her mouth under the mirror-sheen cover, and she too stands.

"It appears," she says slowly. "That my loquacious eloquence is returned to me."

You let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. I was a little worried when the, uh, fire started to, you know, burn you guys."

"It did not, thankfully, hurt," Light says. "Though I would have gladly suffered a little pain if it returned my speech to my control. I can still taste smoke, however."

Shadows nods. "Didn't, um, didn't hurt me either."

"Excellent," you say. "So, uh, how are we doing this warning system thing? Did you guys come up with a spell or anything?"

Light rolls her wrist, and the golden scale model of the city she used previously begins to form, filling in with sunlight from below, as though she's turned a tap filled with liquid gold.

"We decided, last I remember," she says, shooting a look across at Shadows, who looks away. "That we were going to have a distributed network. We would tie the spell to five tokens."

"Um, then each of, um, each of us could have one," Shadows adds. "The, um, the spell wouldn't, um, sit in any one place. It'd be like, um, like a web? Over the part of the city we'd be covering?"

"A net would be a better analogy," Light says. "Evenly spaced markers, which would detect disturbances in their vicinity. The token would let you know where the disturbance was, and, if the spell goes as planned, would also designate how urgent a response would be needed."

"So if, say, we had a Sin Chosen walking through the area, it'd go red alert?" you say, scratching thoughtfully at your chin. "That sounds really good. What's the catch?"

"We, um, we'll have to place all of the markers," Shadows says. "Um. Manually."

"Figures," you murmur. "Well! Have you guys got the markers set up? Or, uh, is it like some sort of easy spell thing to do?"

"It should be sufficient to place a cluster of magical energy," Light says. "One of us will need to stay at the centre of the area and link each marker as it is placed, and direct the other two to the right place for the next markers. They require careful sequential placing, so that the net is woven as tightly as possible."

You look over to Shadows, who shrugs at you. Yeah, you don't know how to interpret what she actually wants to do. "So, uh, I'm definitely gonna be running around placing markers. Who wants to stay and co-ordinate?"

Shadows just steps closer to you.

"Yeah, you'd probably be the best choice for that, Light," you continue. "You're the best at magic, and it sounds like this is mostly your baby? You good to direct and tie it all together?"

She tilts her head towards you, and you can see calculation going on in her shadowed eyes. "It will be slow and tedious," she says finally, sounding slightly put out. "But it would indeed be best for my talents to be used there. At least you recognise my skills for what they are."

You shrug. "Hey, I call it like I see it. Okay, where do we need to set you up so that we can get this done?"

Light leans over the wireframe model and taps one of the buildings in the centre of the area you've all decided that you're claiming. It's a supermarket, with a wide flat roof.

"Here. There will be plenty of space to set up the ritual space, and I can expand the diagram so that I can precisely direct your efforts," she says. "Be aware that once we begin this, we will need to continue on until it is done, else it will fail and we will be required to start over again. Are the two of you able to work for the next few hours?"

"I, um, I am," Shadows says.

"Yeah, no problem," you say, studying the map. "This is gonna be a slog, isn't it?"

Light just tilts her mask so that the light catches the lips and casts a smirking shadow.

Seven hours later, you regret everything, but the net is placed.

What's the plan for Monday? School is still on.

[] Spend time with a friend.
- [] Who?
[] Hang out with one of the other Chosen.
- [] Angel.
- [] Shadows.
- [] Miz.
[] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
- [] Which?
- [] With who?
[] Hunt Sin-Eaten.
- [] What kind (Any but Lust and Envy)
[] Hunt a Sin.
- [] Sloth
- [] Tactics? You have Angel, Shadows, Champion and Miz.
[] Investigate a Sin.
- [] Which?
- [] With who?
[] Write in.

 

[Nevill]

"It appears," she says slowly. "That my loquacious eloquence is returned to me."

Click to shrink...

Ah, the sacrifices we must make for the common good.

Should we investigate what the rest of the Sin Chosen are doing/planning?

You spend most of the night sat on a nearby rooftop, watching the city, and listening out for trouble. There are six Sins left out there, and they're all still fuelling the emotions of the city. You don't like how relatively peaceful it's been.

It makes you worried somebody's planning something.

Click to shrink...

I don't like the lull in the fighting. Maybe we could pay Pride or Gluttony a visit? The numbers aren't on their side anymore.

I don't want them to get a drop on us.

I have a couple of ideas about how to isolate Greed, but that'd be a 3v1 fight at best, and Jake nearly flattened us, so... don't know if we want to take on any of the remaining Chosen before we level up on Sloth.

...unrelated to that. Our magic supposedly can eat anything. Can it eat nightmares/dreams/insomnia to afford us a dreamless sleep? Might be a cop-out, but we haven't had a good shut-eye in two weeks.

 

[veekie]

[X] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
-[X] Gluttony

 

[Andres]

[X] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
-[X] Gluttony

 

[Nevill]

Eh, sure.

[X] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
-[X] Gluttony

 

[Archeo Lumiere]

[X] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
-[X] Gluttony

 

[Nevill]

Don't we need to specify how many people we take on investigation, too? All of them? Everyone who is free on that day? Just friends?

I'd rather not do it with less than three.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

[X] Investigate a Sin Chosen.
- [X] Gluttony

Part 25
Monday, Week 4

The night passes like a series of moon-drenched still images. You close your eyes, sleep takes you, and then you're covered in blood and smiling and you wake up again. You close your eyes, and you fall asleep, and then you're choking and suffocating and freezing and you wake up again. Over and over, until at around four in the morning you give up on the idea of sleep and try to quell the shaking in your hands.

You end up sitting on your bed and playing with your flames, in an attempt to calm yourself down. You roll a sphere of fire around on your palm, throw it into the air and catch it on the back of your other hand, roll it up to the tip of your fingers and spin it. Ever more complicated patterns, until you stop thinking about suffocation and murder, and have to completely concentrate on the fire.

Finally, as the sun begins to rise, you can justify heading out of your room and taking a shower. There are dark circles around your bloodshot eyes, and you're having trouble concentrating properly, but you'll manage.

As you put together breakfast and a lunch for today, you consider what you should be doing after school finishes. You'd love to be able to spend time with Emily and Ostin, but it's probably not on the books this week. There are still six Sins out there, after all, and they've been influencing the city for more than ten weeks at this point.

You've met or seen every Sin Chosen save Gluttony, though, so perhaps you should remedy that? Once you've seen all the Sin Chosen you might be able to put together a plan to fight them; three on five is going to be dangerous and difficult, but potentially doable.

… Do you even need to fight the remaining Sin Chosen? You don't know if they'll care if you attack their Sins. No, it's probably too much to hope for. In any case, from what Jake told you, Gluttony eats people. Not someone you want to leave running around, even if you might not have to fight him.

You chew mechanically on your pancakes as you think. Miz knows about the Gluttony Sin-Eaten, you know that for a fact. Angel and Shadows would probably be happy to help you search. Light... is probably not worth bothering for this. She's maybe warming up to you, but there's no point in risking it for a scouting run.

You wash your plate and set it to dry, and head out of the door, head still fuzzy with lack of sleep. The checkpoint is crowded with people, and all around are signs reminding people of the strict nine o'clock curfew. You suffer through having your bag searched and through the suspicious, nervous eyes of the National Guards. You eventually get to the bus stop and pile onto the bus with the rest of the people waiting.

The city is unnaturally quiet, still, though it has livened up a little as people get used to the presence of soldiers on every corner. You sit with your head resting on the window as the bus drives through the city, the glass squeaking slightly every time the wheels go over a pothole and you slide against the glass. You feel yourself starting to fall asleep, and you can't stop it from happening.

You wake up, your heart hammering in your chest, and try to blink away the memories of dripping red. You missed your stop for school, and you have to jump off a the next stop and run the rest of the way back along the route, bag slapping against your side. You just make it in time to get to home-room, and you collapse into your seat a sweaty, panting mess.

Emily looks concerned as she smiles at you.

"Fell asleep on the bus," you say, fanning your face with one of your books. "Missed the stop."

She rolls her eyes. "Maybe try sleeping at night?" she says.

You shrug and turn away before she can call you on your evasion. The teacher walks in, anyway, so you don't have a chance to talk any more even if you wanted to.

The day passes slowly, now that you've managed to actually get to school. It's getting harder and harder to concentrate on your lessons, and you can't stop yourself from falling asleep again by the time the third class rolls around.

You wake up as your head bounces off your desk, and don't bother to sit back up again, instead rubbing at the sore patch on your forehead and trying to keep your eyes open.

It doesn't work. You're out again before you can do more than paw numbly at your head once.

Your sleep is filled with nightmares. You see the school burning as the students try to escape, but all the doors have been sealed. You walk through the smoky corridors with your axe in hand, removing arms and legs as you go, leaving your friends and classmates and teachers bleeding and screaming on the floor.

Death is too good for them.

You fall through the floor into the black, empty void of space, and tumble forever until you crash into the moon, sending up a silver plume of fine dust. You watch, paralysed, as Jake slowly pushes a portal through Shadows' chest, then drops Connie to the floor and bursts her head with a casual stomp of his foot.

It is no loss.

The starts spin above you and you feel sick, as the freezing emptiness surrounds you. You try to breathe, but there's no air to draw into your lungs. Your fingers and toes go stiff, then numb, then they start to crack apart as you watch in mute horror, shards of frozen flesh splintering off to float off into infinity.

You should shed this fragile shell.

You crumble to dust and bring your axe around in a single, smooth sweep, trying to take off Olivia's head quickly and painlessly, but you miss. She thrashes and wails and clutches at her neck, and you swing again, wide-eyed and horrified, trying to make it quick, to make her just die! Every strike is a glancing hit, as you slowly and painfully hack her to pieces.

Her blood is soothing.

You wake up in the nurse's office, and you don't dare to move beyond giving your thigh a bruisingly hard pinch. It hurts and makes you flinch, which is a good sign. You're actually awake. You sit up, rubbing your bleary eyes, and look around. The nurse is sat at his desk, typing away at his computer, and you slip your legs off the side of the bed to try and sneak out. You know there's a camera in here, but if you can avoid getting an earful...

"Awake, huh?" he says, not turning around. "You'd normally end up in detention for falling asleep in class like that."

You shrug uncomfortably.

"But the way you were screaming," he says, turning to give you a concerned look over his shoulder. "Well, we got you out of class real quick after that started."

You blink, shocked. "I was-" you rasp, and your hand goes to your throat. It aches, like you've been, well, screaming. "I was screaming?"

"Yeah," he says, and kicks his chair away form his desk to roll over towards you. "Had to chase your friends out and back to class, too. You've been out for the entire school day. Look, Miss Sykes, you really need to sleep. Sleep deprivation is serious business. You can end up hallucinating, get the shakes, end up making really bad decisions. You can even die."

He pulls a penlight out of his pocket and shines it in your eyes.

"Dilation's normal, at least," he says, and sighs. "Okay. If you're having trouble sleeping, you need to try some over-the-counter sleep aids. If that doesn't work, you're going to have to see a doctor."

"We don't have insurance," you mumble, still processing what's happened.

The nurse sucks his teeth and sighs. "Well, whatever's causing the problem," he says. "Talk to someone about it, okay? And try the sleep aids. It's a very bad sign when you're fast asleep and screaming like you're being murdered."

You nod, still feeling like your head's stuffed with cotton wool. "Can I go?"

He waves one hand towards the door. "Yeah, sure," he says, wheeling back to his desk. "You end up in here like that again, and you're getting written up, though. Take care of yourself."

You stand and lurch towards the door, your legs feeling wobbly until you manage a few steps and blood starts running through them again.

"Ah, your friend – Emily? - she's got your bags. Last class of the day finishes in about ten minutes, so she should still be around," the nurse says, typing away.

You nod again, and head out of the office towards your locker. You're starting to feel more awake, now, and by the time you reach your locker you're as alert as you're going to be. You don't feel rested at all, despite the hours of sleep you must've managed, and you lean against the cool metal of your locker. You rub your eyes with the heels of your hands and sigh.

Class lets out, and you wait there while the students stream past. Your hands clench involuntarily as you remember how it felt to dismember them, and you close your eyes so that you don't have to see them any more.

"Hey, Jen," Emily says, leaning her shoulder against yours. "Are you okay?"

You open your eyes again to find her on your left, and Ostin leaning against the lockers on your right. You try for a smile, but neither of them are buying it.

"Scared the shit out of me," Ostin says, looking worried. "You fell asleep, sure, but then you started screaming and thrashing."

"I haven't been sleeping well," you say. "Nightmares."

Emily bumps your shoulder with hers again. "Anything we can do?"

You shake your head. "No, it's... it'll pass," you say. "Once everything calms down, it'll pass."

Emily and Ostin share a look over the top of your head, and you scowl.

"Just let us know if we can help," Emily says. "We're your friends, Jen."

You run a frustrated hand through your hair. "Yeah. I just don't think there's anything you guys can do right now."

Ostin reaches over and pats you on the shoulder with his uninjured hand, then smiles and waves jauntily as he strolls off. Emily rolls her eyes, and pulls you into a quick hug.

"Are you going to go home and try to get some actual sleep?" she says.

"No. I've got stuff I need to do," you say. "We've got six to go, and no time to rest, Ems. I'll... I'll get you home, okay?"

She sighs, but she lets you escort her home. You don't know what you'd do if you lost her or Ostin or your grandma. You leave her neighbourhood and transform, jump up onto a nearby roof, and pull out your phone.

Who is coming to find the Gluttony Sin Chosen with you? (Pick as many as you want)

[] Shadows.
[] Angel.
[] Miz.
[] Light.
[] No-one.

I will also need 4 rolls of 2d6, please.

 

[Zaealix]

Sooo this would be my first time using the dice roller...halp?
But I'm thinking as much as it stings, as much as it sucks we might need to bring this up to the otehr girls and see if they have any ideas. The Exodusai or w/e the angel balls working with us might also have useful input, it'd be a great idea to check in with them as well.

 

[Varano]

rolling

Varano threw 2 6-faced dice. Total: 7

 

[Axel Fones]

Time to roll. Here's hoping.

Axel Fones threw 2 6-faced dice. Total: 5

 

[Axel Fones]

Sooo this would be my first time using the dice roller...halp?
But I'm thinking as much as it stings, as much as it sucks we might need to bring this up to the otehr girls and see if they have any ideas. The Exodusai or w/e the angel balls working with us might also have useful input, it'd be a great idea to check in with them as well.

Click to shrink...

Hit the 'more options' button on the bottom right of your post. There's an option to throw dice.

 

[Cornix Argentus]

Going to want to see about doing something about the nightmares at some point.

[X] Angel.
[X] Miz.

Cornix Argentus threw 2 6-faced dice. Reason: The Roll Total: 8

 

[Archeo Lumiere]

[X] Angel.
[X] Miz.
Only so-so dice rolls so far, let's see if I can fix that.

Edit: Oh F*ck me sideways.

Archeo Lumiere threw 2 6-faced dice. Total: 2

 

[Varano]

And that makes four rolls, let's hope nothing bad comes of this *looks at snake eyes roll*

 

[veekie]

[X] Angel.
[X] Miz.

[X] Angel.
[X] Miz.
Only so-so dice rolls so far, let's see if I can fix that.

Edit: Oh F*ck me sideways.

Click to shrink...

You sure fixed that alright...

 

[Andres]

Why don't we take everyone with us?

 

[Nevill]

Jen doesn't want to impose on Light for something less-than-essential. I am not sure why we aren't calling Shadows, but as long as we don't end up in a prolonged fight, we may not need a healer.

[X] Angel.
[X] Miz.

Also, extreme numbers might provoke extreme response. Not sure if that's a consideration, though.

As for sleep deprivation... we could ask Light, Shadows, or both for some magic pills that would remove our ability to dream. Crude, maybe, but it might prevent us from falling apart.

I've asked before, but our magical power is to 'eat through anything', right? We already ate distance to make a portal. Can we consume dreams to have a restful night without them? Could be worth trying.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler: AN

Vote results:
[X] Angel. - 4 votes.
[X] Miz. - 4 votes.

Roll results: 7, 5, 8, 2

Part 26
Monday, Week 4

You call up Angel first. She picks up, and you can hear chattering kids in the background.

"Yo, Jen," she says. "What's up?"

"Hey, Inoue," you say. "I was gonna go hit the shopping district, see if I could find the last Sin Chosen to observe. You in?"

"Uh, gimme..." she pauses and murmurs something. "Gimme an hour? I got to feed my brothers and sisters first."

"Yeah, no problem," you say. "I'll meet you, uh, on top of the Concordia Centre? That work?"

"Sounds like a plan. Who else you bringin'?"

"I was gonna call up Miz and see if she was available. I think she knows the area pretty well?" you say. "I don't exactly spend much time there myself."

"I know what you mean," she says. "Nice to go and look sometimes, though, right?"

You laugh. "Yeah, and even that make my bank account complain."

"Heh. Okay, I gotta get back to cooking. See you in a few!"

Inoue hangs up, and you stare out at the city for a few moments to gather your thoughts. Your head still feels like it's full of cotton, and no matter how you shake it the feeling doesn't go away. You sigh and ring Miz's phone.

"Champion," she says, answering after several long moments. "What're you after now?"

You roll your eyes. "I wanted to go see if we could track down the last Sin Chosen, see what we were up against. Gluttony's the only one we haven't seen yet."

"Mm, I can probably do that," she says, and you hear her slurp a drink. "I'm already on the outskirts of the shopping district. Sure, what the hell? It's not like I had any other plans today."

"We're meeting on top of the Concordia Centre in about an hour," you say. "You, me and Angel."

"Alright. See you then," she says, and slurps her drink again. "You need me to bring anything?"

You blink. "Uh, if you could bring some kinda... hyper-caffeinated coffee? I'm a bit out of it at the moment."

"Nightmares, huh?"

"How the hell did you know that?" you say.

You can hear her smirk. "I didn't, until you just told me," she says. "But I don't blame you. Shit's been weird, recently. Keeps me up at night, too. I can get you some stuff to take the edge off, if you want?"

"Uh, n-no. No, thank you," you say. "It's not that bad."

She snorts. "Suit yourself. I'll see you in an hour."

"Yeah," you say, and then you end the call.

You stash your phone and stand, brushing off your gauntlets against each other. It's not a long way to the shopping district, and you've got some time to kill, so you hop over to the right general area, duck into an alley, and transform back to normal.

The streets are crowded with people at this time in the afternoon, but there are noticeably fewer than you'd normally see. A month ago, you would have had to shove through the crowds, making liberal use of elbows and the fact that your small size meant you could wiggle through small gaps between people. Now, it's clear enough that you can walk without any of that effort.

You head in to the biggest sportswear shop in the city and browse for a while, admiring the new line of sneakers – which you'll never, ever be able to afford – and considering the sports bras and spandex shorts. No, you probably couldn't pull off the same look as Inoue. You're a bit too short and lean to make it look good. You do pick up a fresh set of boxing tape, as your current set is on the way out from long hours of use, and it's only a couple of dollars. You can afford to treat yourself this once, even if you haven't had a chance to box in... it's been nearly a month, now. You grit your teeth as you slip the tape into your bag, and resolve to make time to at least practice going forwards.

You spend the remaining few minutes window-shopping through the various shops along the main road through the district. You spend a good five minutes trying to figure out whether or not you should go into the shoe shop and just try on the really nice boots you spot, but it'd be too painful to find something you loved and not be able to get it.

Eventually you tear yourself away, and head over to another out-of-the-way alley to transform back. Once you get a street or so off the main thoroughfare, the pedestrian traffic drops to almost non-existent levels, so it's not too hard to find somewhere to transform. You take to the rooftops and head for your meeting spot, hair trailing behind you like a streamer.

Miz is already there when you arrive, leaning on the lip of the roof with three paper coffee cups next to her on one side, and her helmet on the other. She waves as you approach.

"This one," she says, pointing at the cup marked with a large exclamation mark. "Is yours. Quad espresso."

You pick up the mug and take off the lid. The liquid inside is dark and smells sharply of coffee, and it clings to the side of the cup for longer than you think is entirely healthy.

"Just drink it already," she says, smirking at you and picking up her own cup. "It'll wake you up, that's for sure."

You shrug and down the drink, ignoring the slight tingle of the hot liquid as it passes your lips. Even if it was literally boiling, it probably wouldn't hurt you. It's thick and bitter and leaves a strong aftertaste. You scrape your tongue on your teeth a few times to try and get rid of the taste, wincing. Miz laughs at you.

"Ugh, what is that, rocket fuel?" you ask.

"Quad espresso. I said already," Miz says. "You wanted something to wake you up. Give that a few minutes, and you'll be buzzing. I, on the other hand, have got spiced caramel latte. It tastes like Christmas."

She slurps at her drink again. You place one hand on your complaining stomach. "Yeah, this is why I normally drink tea," you say, frowning. "Okay, once Angel gets here, we can get moving."

"Speak of the devil," Miz says, gesturing towards the sky with her coffee. "There she is."

You look up, and can indeed see Angel approaching in a slow, spiralling dive. She flares her wings just before she reaches the rooftop, slows to a stop, and drops the last inch or so to the floor.

"Yo!" she says, raising a hand in greeting. "We all ready to go?"

Miz hands her the last cup of coffee. "Iced black with three shots of vanilla syrup," she says.

"Huh," Angel says, looking at the cup. "Nice."

She gulps the drink down in what looks like three mouthfuls, and crumples the cup into a tiny sphere over the palm of her hand, then tosses it to you.

"That was good!" she says. "You can deal with the trash, right?"

You blink, and look down at the one cup and one paper ball you're holding. Oh, yeah. You can use fire. Your hands burst into flame, and the remnants of your drinks disappear into fine ash, and then into less than that. Miz drops her cup into your hands, and it follows suit.

"Instant garbage disposal," she says, settling her helmet back onto her head. "You are useful, Champion."

You shake your head and slap your cheeks to refocus yourself. "Okay. We're looking for the Gluttony Sin Chosen today. Anything we can find out is going to be a massive help."

"Yup," Angel says. "Then we can smash the last three of 'em and move on to the Sins without any resistance."

There's the sound of metal on concrete, a slow, dragging scrape, getting closer and closer. The wet spatter of some sort of heavily leaking fluid follows it, along with the jangling of chains. You turn, and the rooftop access door starts to melt.

The sound of chains gets louder as a horde of hunched-over, emaciated men and women burst through the melting door. There are chains around their necks, loose at the other end, and all of them are drooling a thick, noxious yellow-green fluid which eats holes into the roof as they shamble closer.

"Deal with these intruders!" a man yells, deep and booming, the sound echoing up from the stairwell leading deeper into the Concordia Centre. "If you kill one, you get to eat it!"

You manifest your axe.

What do you do?

[] Stand and fight. You can handle a horde of Sin-Eaten.
- [] Tactics?
[] Run. You don't need to fight these guys.
[] Write in.

 

[Axel Fones]

[X] Stand and fight. You can handle a horde of Sin-Eaten.
- [X] Tactics? Burn them all to ashes. It sucks, but they're all dead people walking.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sin-Eaten are unsavable? Not like the Sin Chosen who are strong enough to survive having their Sin cooties removed.
I feel this is gonna suck for our mental health, but probably better than slicing them up and getting covered in blood.

 

[Zaealix]

[X] Run. You don't need to fight these guys.

I think we've been showing signs that this whole 'sleep deprevation' thing has been screwing us enough, I'd like to not enter combat as 2 and a half Magical girls when the other two think we've got three.

 

[Nevill]

You shrug and down the drink, ignoring the slight tingle of the hot liquid as it passes your lips. Even if it was literally boiling, it probably wouldn't hurt you.

Click to shrink...

I wonder, though, how drugs or medicine affects the Chosen. I mean, poison probably doesn't work on them. Wouldn't magic make them resistant to harmful effects just like the scolding liquid no longer burns them? Do they get to pick and choose which effects go through? Or is the entire thing handwaved away?

The wet spatter of some sort of heavily leaking fluid follows it, along with the jangling of chains. You turn, and the rooftop access door starts to melt.

Click to shrink...

I remember the time when Sin-Eaten and Sin-Chosen did their fights in their own Circles. But similarly, I remember that Cynthia and Lust fought in the city proper. Why do some do it one way, and others differently? Does a Circle provide some kind of benefits, or imposes some conditions on the fight?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sin-Eaten are unsavable?

Click to shrink...

At best they go catatonic. It's unknown whether they can be restored, although I suppose we didn't ask Leliel in-story, just Shadows. I can't imagine the thought didn't occur to any of them, thought, especially the natural healers.

A horde of Sin Eaten? How many is horde?

[x] Controlled Withdrawal
-[x] You need to know what these guys are capable of, but you have no healers except Miz' regeneration. Have Miz attract attention of the main horde while you and Angels finish off strays, but don't push your luck and retreat once things start looking difficult.
-[x] Gluttony is the main scouting target. Tag him with a couple of attacks, just to see how he handles it.

I'd like to know what to bring to the real fight once we take some time to prepare for it, but there is no reason to make a stand here, especially since we have no staying power. If that tactics works for that effect, great, if it doesn't - I'll pick another that amounts to 'make brief contact to find out their abilities and stats, then disengage'.

He's been waiting for us, so I'd rather not confirm if his friends are nearby or on the way.

Also, if our next choice is freeform, I am grabbing Shadows and Angel to work on the insomnia curing spell. If Midnight, Moon and Dawn can't figure out something related to sleep, then I don't know what else could help us.

 

[Axel Fones]

[x] Controlled Withdrawal
-[x] You need to know what these guys are capable of, but you have no healers except Miz' regeneration. Have Miz attract attention of the main horde while you and Angels finish off strays, but don't push your luck and retreat once things start looking difficult.
-[x] Gluttony is the main scouting target. Tag him with a couple of attacks, just to see how he handles it.

I like your plan. Thank you for the correction of them going catatonic.

 

[Andres]

[X] Stand and fight. You can handle a horde of Sin-Eaten.
- [X] Tactics? Burn them all to ashes. It sucks, but they're all dead people walking.

 

[Cornix Argentus]

Main worry I have about targeting Gluttony right now is that it sounds like they're still inside and don't intend to come out. So trying to hit them would require getting in there. Maybe they'd show themself if their minions go down, but basically we'd still need some way of finding him to see what their deal is.