To make people actually remember, here's it once for posterity: Minako is nonbinary and uses they/them. This message will be pinned so you people stop getting it wrong and pissing me off. If you get it wrong in the future I'm going to be much less nice, considering you have to scroll past it just to read the quest.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms. -[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
I'm sorry, I can delete it if you'd like.
If I had a plan I'd post it. If I'm asked to post a plan when I don't have one I'll post a sarcastic one.
Please don't mistake my sense of humour for a lack of care.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms.
-[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms.
-[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
[X] Plan with Takane.
-[X] Be Relentless, hit her with the hardest attacks first, and don't let up or give her any space. -[X] Lethal. [+1 ACCURACY] - But are you ready for that?
This is a Base Difficulty 2 Action: you and Takane can absolutely barrage Emiko with as much force as you can muster. The problem is that Emiko's skillset can survive a whole hell of a lot of damage.
The "Lethal" modifier makes this a Difficulty 1 action.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms. -[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms. -[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
Dice seem to be assholes this winter, so I'll hesitate for a vote that has difficulty mods. Emiko's skill set seems good for defense from Moid warnings. I think a chase might negate that, but I'm not too certain of our ability to drag her into a trap, so...
[X] Plan Strategic Regrouping
-[X] You and Takane pull her away from the apartment and towards a less populated area. Kite along the way
-[X] Once there, stall. Call moms for support.
-[X] Lethal. [+1 ACCURACY] - But are you ready for that?
They're not ready to kill, honestly. But they can fight with their all until the cavalry appears, or maybe even win.
I still don't know what this meguca's purpose is. IIRC, Rin wants Mina for... something.
Unless I'm misremembering hard.
So I doubt Emiko is here to kill Mina? Is she meant to be a test?
We kind of know Rin has some fucked up thing about killing. Is that what this is about?
My first thought was that Emiko was goading Mina into trying to kill her to set her up for manipulation later. Or maybe if we don't go for lethal, Rin will be most pleased?
I'm perhaps overthinking things. I'm pretty bad at this.
[X] Plan Strategic Regrouping
-[X] You and Takane pull her away from the apartment and towards a less populated area. Kite along the way
-[X] Once there, stall. Call moms for support.
-[X] Lethal. [+1 ACCURACY] - But are you ready for that?
They're not ready to kill, but it's too risky for them to hold back.
[X] Plan Strategic Regrouping
-[X] You and Takane pull her away from the apartment and towards a less populated area. Kite along the way.
-[X] Once there, stall. Call moms for support.
-[X] Lethal. [+1 ACCURACY] - But are you ready for that?
[X] Plan Strategic Regrouping
-[X] You and Takane pull her away from the apartment and towards a less populated area. Kite along the way
-[X] Once there, stall. Call moms for support.
-[X] Lethal. [+1 ACCURACY] - But are you ready for that?
They're not ready to kill, but it's too risky for them to hold back.
After binge-reading the entirety of SayakaQuest 1 over the past week, it was such a blast to find this actually in progress!
As it so happens, I would rather not have joined the vote squad mid combat with such a terrifyingly badass antagonist, but there seems to be a pretty good bandwagon going with regards to kiting Emiko away long enough to get the parents involved, so may as well.
[X] Plan Strategic Regrouping
However, are we emotionally ready to kill this gun-toting Rin fanatic if it should come to it?
Regardless, we will keep this disaster youth alive.
And also, this is a really kick-ass story! Following Moid's writing has been a heck of an inspiration!
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms. -[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
I still don't know what this meguca's purpose is. IIRC, Rin wants Mina for... something.
Unless I'm misremembering hard.
So I doubt Emiko is here to kill Mina? Is she meant to be a test?
We kind of know Rin has some fucked up thing about killing. Is that what this is about?
My first thought was that Emiko was goading Mina into trying to kill her to set her up for manipulation later. Or maybe if we don't go for lethal, Rin will be most pleased?
I'm perhaps overthinking things. I'm pretty bad at this.
[X] Emiko meet SharkFace.
-[X] Attack relentlessly, keep Emiko's focus on you and your Witch.
-[X] Stall the fight. Get support from your moms. -[X] Nonlethal [+ 1 DIFFICULTY] - She is way more experienced than you.
Her hand explodes out of the stump of her arm, a skeleton of hardened bone flashing into existence among the flame. The coat around her bursts into life as the air turns so hot that you think that the bullet-witch is beginning to melt.
Her eye turns toward you, a gleaming blue among the blood-orange, and she whips her good hand around her head. A revolver flashes into existence with a spit of fire and ash, which she raises over her head. In her flame-hand a repeater materializes, flipping around once with an audible click.
"If you have more to show, then by all means, show it. Shock me, surprise me, knock me off my feet."
She raises her foot and jams the heel into Takane's gauntlet, hard enough to warp metal. Your girlfriend howls in pain as blood oozes onto the concrete ground; her hand's been broken badly enough to crush the fingers together. You can tell because they're not supposed to bend that much. The witch over your head snarls, teeth grinding together with audible sparks as the bullets glisten in the orange glow of the woman's flame.
And then you swing the bat. The woman fires a shot directly into the shark's mouth, knocking out several teeth. Several rifle shells bounce across the ground before it whips its head to the side and snarls. You whip your bat sideways and the witch follows, tearing through the brick wall, then the concrete sidewalk, then the asphalt. The woman flips the repeater, raises it up high and fires.
The shot glances off the face of the bullet-witch, which bites the end of the repeater and tears it out of the woman's hands.
Her fingers are splayed outwards, and she looks as though she's been caught off-guard, but she quickly whips her flame-hand to the hammer of her revolver. Six shots tear through your witch, shell casings ripped open as the witch screeches in pain. The brass begins to melt and gunpowder hisses and roils and threatens to erupt.
You force the witch forwards. Her soul gem isn't anywhere in sight, but you hope that it's not on her hand as your witch, on-fire, half-molten, screaming in agony, grips the magi's arm with all its might.
The magi winces, immediately pressing her flame-hand against her fleshy elbow. She tears it backwards, and before you can stop it, a deluge of flame erupts into the witch's mouth.
The explosion is loud enough to burst your superhuman eardrums and strong enough to blow you off of your feet. The ground ripples as dust is knocked about and glass shatters and lampposts are pushed backwards.
You hear a high-pitched whine as your back slides across pavement and you tumble across the ground. Bits of magical brass rain down from the sky as you finally come to a halt just twenty meters from a pitch-black scorchmark. Your girlfriend is probably screaming at you from across the street, and out of the corner of your eye you can see her stumbling onto her feet.
The cloud of smoke is pitch-black, but you can see flame flickering from inside. The magi's still alive.
That's good. You huff. You're not ready to kill. Not in any way. But you're goddamn ready to fight. You press your hands to the side of your head. Your hearing's coming back; even without your mom, you still have the natural healing of a magi.
And in front of you, the woman wipes the air with her right hand. At the top of her hat is her soul gem, a gleaming orange crystal in the shape of a simple flame. She huffs. "You're a tenacious one. This is more of a fight than I expected." Another wipe, and the smoke clears in front of her. "I think I'll-"
You cut her off with a shoulder check to the sternum. The flame is burning you, fire scorching your face and heat rippling across your vision. You spit, and the saliva immediately vaporizes. You charge, and you feel the woman struggling to get her footing before she plunges both feet into the ground.
Your initial force is slowed, and as you try to move, she simply grips you with two red-hot hands of flame. You feel her pressing you down into the dirt, your legs pumping against impossible force, your feet sliding into asphalt. She smiles, and it's a wide, toothy grin, illuminated by deep red and hellish orange.
"I was going to let you go, young one." Her grip on your arms tightens. The light burn turns into a sizzle, and your vision goes hazy.
There's a horrible, piercing shriek, a noise you can't begin to comprehend before you realize that your throat's going hoarse. Spittle flies into the air as your brain finally comprehends that that scream was coming from you.
"But you've inconvenienced me enough." She tightens her grip. You can't feel your hands anymore. There's a snap and a crackle, and then finally, she twists.
Your arms snap off of your body. She raises her head and headbutts you with enough force to send you sprawling onto the ground.
"You should have torn my head from my body," she says. "Shattered my gem. Killed me on the spot." She raises her hand, another revolver materializing in it. "But you had to drag it-"
She looks up. She fires again.
You hear your girlfriend scream in pain, and you turn your head to see her with an arm missing and a scorchmark on her torso.
"T-Taka-!" She presses her gun into your cheek. The metal is blistering hot.
"You could have done a million things differently. But you chose wrong."
She pulls the hammer back.
And then a shield smashes into her with enough force to pull her off of her feet. She slams into the wall, hard enough to collapse the brick and rip into a store. You close your eyes, the pitch-blue light blinding as a white cape billows into view. It's a cacophony of screaming violins, howling wind and visceral rage as armor clangs into the ground, as metal screams against itself and a shield the size of a car door crashes into the asphalt.
She whips the saber over her head, stuck between you and the magi, before she quickly whips her head backwards.
"Run. Just run!"
You scramble to your feet and take a step back. "M-Mom-!"
"She's out of your league! Just run!"
[=]
Your name is Sayaka Miki-Sakura, and you watch as your child, arms burnt off of their body, barely holding onto consciousness, scorches on their face and their gear blackened, stumbles away. You turn to face your opponent as she peels herself out of the wall.
"If this was a distraction, then congrats. It worked. But this is a city with well over sixty magi. What the hell were you expecting to accomplish?"
"Bringing you here." She smiles. "My name is Emi-"
"The bitch who tried to kill my child," you interrupt. You wish you had your wife's fangs, but the years have lent you her tongue. "As far as I'm concerned, that's all you are. You are the bitch that tried to kill Minako. You had them to the ground, gun on their head, and you tried to kill a child."
"Haven't you, before?" She circles, flame lapping at her heels as she keeps her eyes on you. "It's kind of inevitable."
You follow her, keeping pace in her direction. She straightens her path, careful not to move too close. "Killing kids isn't inevitable. It's a choice."
"Yes. It is. But in the service of a greater-"
"Fuck that and fuck you."
You narrow your eyes. Water pools at your feet. The air around you turns moist. You can feel Oktavia in the back of your mind. The orchestra sings and howls, and what began as energy turns into a tempest.
Around the woman in front of you, the air turns arid. Your water meets her flame with a hiss of steam. "Where is your wife, by the by? Wouldn't she like to-"
She grins widely as she raises her revolver to your face, but you block it with a sideways swipe of your elbow. The shot glances across your cheek with a spray of blood, which you quickly wipe away with your free hand before slamming your forehead into hers.
There's an audible crack as her forehead splits open and flame bursts out.
"Ah-ah-ah! It'll take more than that!" She leaps overhead and yanks a repeater out of her palm , firing directly at you.
The first shot you slice in half, but the rest you have to block with your shield as you charge ahead. The thunk on the other side tells you that you struck true, but the flames wrapping around the edge tell you it's time to ditch the damn thing. You kick the shield with enough force to lift yourself backwards, your cape whirling around your head as the heavy shield slides across the ground and melts into slag.
The woman pulls the shield apart, molten metal pooling on the ground as she charges towards you.
You slice at her again, and this time the strike rips into her shoulder, deep enough to sever her arm. The bone dangles by a thread of flesh before she simply grabs it and tears it away.
Flame erupts from the wound, and she has two hands of flame. The heat is unbearable, hotter than any flame that Akane has conjured, but it's not enough to melt you, and you've felt worse pain.
You swing your saber, and a beam of bright blue races above the ground. She leaps overhead, just as you planned, as you do a soaring leap into the air and deliver an axe-kick directly to her spine.
She slams into the asphalt, hard enough to bounce, but that doesn't stop her from rolling across the ground and firing a full six shots directly into your shoulder pauldron. The first hit dents, the second pierces, the third rips into your shoulder, and the fourth tears your arm off.
Your right arm dangles uselessly, flame blasting out the back of your armor before you shove the thing back into place. You grip it tight, teeth clenched hard enough to draw blood as you jam your foot into her spine with enough force to shatter her ribcage.
And then, yet more flame billows out of her, fire blasting out of her mouth and out her nose and out her eyes as she rolls her body sideways.
There's no way this is going to end well.
SAYAKA VOTE:
[] GO FOR THE KILL. [NEUTRAL](This will always have consequences)
[] NONLETHAL. [DIFFICULTY 3] (She's too damn resilient. And frankly, you don't feel like she deserves the mercy)
[=]
Your name is Mami Tomoe, and something woke you up. It's the dead of night, and something is moving upstairs. Something heavy. Something dangerous. You take a deep breath and rise from your bed.
A quick flash of magic, and you almost put your hair back up in twintails, only to realize that you can't pull that look off anymore. You sigh and give yourself that new hairstyle. That new...undercut.
You try to keep yourself from being giddy about it. Because honestly, you have something else to contend with.
You creep into the hallway. Your hand slides across the ledge as the noise gets louder. To your right, Kirika has stuck her head out, too.
You hear whispering coming from upstairs. You glance to Kirika, and then you glance across the hallway. Several of the other magi in the complex have been woken up, too.
"Where's Oriko?" you ask.
Kirika motions back to her room. "Still asleep."
You keep an eye on her, then you face the stairway.
