[X] [Blood] Police Brutality - Aoi Tachibana: Chiwa can focus her attention on the Killing God with Saya Shirayuki. Take the God out, and every Maj in the building will respect what you have to say.
R E C R U I T I N G
[X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
I don't know what Labyrinth radiation is, but I don't like the sound of it. I'm expecting something like the Witch agitation whatever from the main quest
It means the presence of a Witch Labyrinth, or signs associated with that presence. The sixth sence megucas have that allows them to find Witches seems to have some pseudo-scientific basis in the setting, allowing one to greatly enhance their Witch-detection capabilities, examine people for corruption etc.
She is telling us that "something witchy is going down", and that usually means lots of casualties and other unpleasantness.
[X] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
[X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
[X] No
[X] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
[X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
We really shouldn't use the Executive Action now, as not only we would be blowing the favor we've just got from Shirayuki, but we don't really have any good actions we can use her on, so it really would be a better idea to save the favor for later when we have better actions for our supposed "boss" and only then use the Executive Action.
Reminder regarding Executive Actions and Favors...
You players also have an Executive Action, which can be used for any of the four actions, ignoring Momo's Rank limit. The Executive Action can only be taken by the Boss of an organization. If you ask them to take one, you owe her a favor. This favor will lock in a specific action somewhere down the line, usually Momo's Personal.
Chief Yagami (or any Boss) will sometimes ask you to do certain things. If you do them on the turn she asks, she'll owe you a favor (a free Executive Action use).
If another Maj is made Boss, they would gain the ability to take an Executive Action. This includes Momo.
FYI: given your choices, Momo is best qualified for Smooth and Smarts actions. Chiwawa-senpai is best qualified for Blood and Shine, as is your guest Boss, Saya Shirayuki.
[X] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
[X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
[X] No
...and what does that do? Normally I would expect a list of actions to be there if we are to direct her, but it could be something she decides on her own initiative, in which case... how do we know what to use it for?
If Yes won for an Executive Action, I would make another post with options Saya can take. Given the situation, it would be like how Chiwa and Momo's actions were set up in this vote. This would entail Saya doing Saya things, Saya assisting either Chiwa or Momo's most recent action, or Saya calling in another PV member to assist our heroes, most likely Cheech or Monomin.
If Saya is chosen to take her Executive Action, Chiwawa vs the World won and Chiwawa succeeded, the pre-update vote would have both Chiwawa's extra action choice and Saya's Executive Action.
I would probably suggest putting it under a spoiler for the future. People don't have a reason to pick "Yes" if they don't know there would be something good on offer, and they won't know until they pick it. Already we have voices saying that there is nothing we could use it on, and it is hard to say otherwise without seeing anything.
It's fine in a tutorial combat we are unlikely to lose, but it might become an issue later on.
...actually, I'd consider putting Chiwa's extra action vote in the same turn/phase. Like so:
[ ] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
-[ ] [Smarts] Assault Tactics: Momo can use her Shadowlings and Shadow Self to secure routes to her extraction and assault points, near-guaranteeing the success of either or both.
Unless I misunderstood the option, it lets us swap 1 Chiwa action for a Momo one with a 80% CoS. Why have a bonus round at all, unless the nature of the actions changes?
Unless I misunderstood the option, it lets us swap 1 Chiwa action for a Momo one with a 80% CoS. Why have a bonus round at all, unless the nature of the actions changes?
[X] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
[X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
[X] No
Sorry for being late, I was researching more CKII quests. Also actual CKII.
So, Chiwa succeeded by the slimmest of margins: this gives Momo an extra action from the previous choices. I'm definitely doing this in a different way moving forward, at least outside of full CKII mode.
☆☆☆
[ ] [Smarts] Assault Tactics: Momo can use her Shadowlings and Shadow Self to secure routes to her extraction and assault points, near-guaranteeing the success of either or both.
CoS: 85%
Success: Increased CoS of extraction and assault for all affiliated Maj.
[ ] [Smooth] Shadow Slip: Using Kagematsuri, take Nakajima-senpai and run for the extraction point. A hero of justice knows discretion is the better part of valor.
CoS: 65%
Success: Successfully disengage from combat.
[ ] [Smarts] Path of Flowers: Using Kagematsuri, herd the Idol Threats towards the assault point, into the jaws of the Marui-gumi and the Pretty Killers.
CoS: 85%
Success: Heavy casualties to the Idol Threats, Marui-gumi reputation increases.
(NEW!) [ ] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
CoS: 85%
Success: Large Momo bonus to Smooth and Smarts actions vs. selected target, small RF6-wide bonus to Smooth and Smarts involving selected target.
(If selected) Choose Target:
-[ ] Aoi Tachibana
-[ ] Beatrice Black
-[ ] Saya Shirayuki
-[ ] Usagi Tsukinoura
[X] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
-[X] Usagi Tsukinoura
Doesn't break cover even if discovered. Long term potential.
@FourthWall does the bonus from Shadow Tag apply to Seek and Destroy?
[X] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
-[X] Usagi Tsukinoura
Gotta play up that kitsune bit! Stacking up the deck in our favor while no one is looking so that we can fuck with our opponents plans seems to be plenty in line with that.
[X] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
-[X] Usagi Tsukinoura
[X] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
-[X] Usagi Tsukinoura
Chiwawa: [X] [Blood] Chiwawa vs the World: By fighting everyone she can close in on, Chiwa Nakajima can create enough of a distraction to give her fellow RF6 officer time to work. Or she can get her ass beat.
Chiwa Success!
Momo: [X] [Smarts] Seek and Destroy: Track down where Usagi went and destroy the cause of the Labyrinth radiation.
Momo Success With Style!
Momo Extra: [X] [Smooth] Shadow Tag: Thanks to Nakajima-senpai's rowdiness, you have a perfect chance to sneak a Shadowling on a high-value criminal. Many secrets are spoken only to the shadows.
-[X] Usagi Tsukinoura
Momo Success!
Saya: [X] No
☆☆☆
You're surrounded by a rave's worth of very angry Maj. They threaten you and Nakajima-senpai with weapons that easily double as glowsticks. You're pretty sure you see one girl wielding oversized glowsticks as nunchaku.
Yep, you do. She's in a black and highlighter yellow inverse Bruce Lee catsuit. Her Soul Gem glows amber on her right hand. She's a good step or two in front of the other Idol Threats.
Nakajima-senpai points at her. "Dibs."
"Take your fill, senpai," you say. +I sense Witch activity downstairs. I'm going to go check it out.+
Nakajima-senpai shifts her stance. +Stick to me, rookie.+
You bow. +I apologize for not requesting to back you up first+
Nakajima-senpai scoffs out loud. "I don't need backup." She clanks her metal gauntlets in a challenge. "I want you to watch this."
She beckons the glowstick girl forward, Kung-fu style. The girl obliges with a flying kick, a dragon-shaped nimbus of light engulfing her. Nakajima-senpai blocks, cross-armed and smiling.
You duck behind Nakajima-senpai, instinctively seeking shadow. Behind her, you draw invisible arrows and aim for the knees of Idol Threats around you. You want to keep your Shadow low, so as not to get burned by glowstick girl.
Your Shadow travels like a snake, curling up to strike and tangle. The confused and panicked yelps of Idol Threats show you've struck true. Glowstick girl's light makes your Shadow's binds weaker; they're still enough to get the job done.
You don't want anyone to interrupt this fight. Nakajima-senpai wants to show off; as a dutiful kouhai and RF6's shadow, you will do all you can to allow her indulgence.
And indulge she does, clashing fists with the glowstick girl's weapons. Her style is simple boxing, unshackled by a ring and honed with experience. The glowstick girl's style is as flashy as her armaments, all strange angles and bold moves.
But for all the glowstick girl's force, all her motion, all her trickery, Nakajima-senpai is unfazed. Nakajima's left hook is an unstoppable force, her right jab is an immovable object.
The glowstick girl gets serious, then desperate; her fists and feet fly urgently. The strobing streak of her nunchaku makes you ill; your nature gives you a bit of light sensitivity.
One of your Shadowlings steals a baseball cap from a fallen Maj and brings it low over your head. You stroke behind its ears. Another returns shortly after, having finished scouting the Witch radiation. You'll need to move quickly; your Shadowling tells you a Witch is about to hatch.
+Pardon me, senpai. I feel the basement situation is urgent.+
+Then I'll make this quick!+ Nakajima-senpai's voice is bright with confidence.
+Please do,+ you pulse, shielding your eyes from the glowstick girl. She's going through a complex kata and glowing gold. Her light sears your Shadow at the edges, you feel it as pinpricks on your fingers.
+Got it!+ Nakajima-senpai ducks, rocketing into the glowstick girl's guard. With a featherweight's speed and a heavyweight's power, she rolls her over with rights and lefts. Nakajima-senpai's turbines howl with each strike, the steam from them glittering in glowstick girl's light.
With a guttural yell and an overhand right, Nakajima-senpai punches the glowstick girl into the dancefloor. The force makes the floor shake, splinter, shatter.
There's stunned silence from the Idol Threats. There's an approving whistle from Saya Shirayuki.
Nakajima-senpai faces the Idol Threats and Pretty Killers, flexing her fingers and taking a boxer's stance. "Round two!"
Scores of Idol Threats rush her, hoping to overwhelm her with numbers. You splay your fingers wide and squeeze your eyes tight, cocking back your invisible bow. Cherry blossoms play behind your eyes; you release your Shadow in a wave.
Inky tentacles bloom like the cracks in the dancefloor, picking off stray Threats. You don't catch all of them, but you catch enough. You pay special attention to Beatrice and Aoi, hanging back in the shadows. You summon Shadowlings at them; a wave of cuddly death smothering the twin bosses of the Idol Threats. They won't kill or even seriously injure the two, but they'll keep them distracted.
Without the threat of other bosses, Nakajima-senpai and Saya Shirayuki are free to gleefully take on the remaining Maj.
"Awww, I can take all of 'em," Nakajima-senpai says. You can barely hear her over the sound of hissing steam and metal on flesh.
"I ain't lettin' my underlings hog all the fun," Saya Shirayuki says, blood and magic splashing around her.
+My apologies, senpai.+ You pulse, putting yourself firmly behind the two violent femmes.
+Never apologize for doing a good deed, Momocchi.+ She gives you a thumbs up, showing off her broad, toned back. +Now do your thing.+
+Roger!+ You nod, wondering how long it took for her to look like that and how long it'd take you to look like that.
Your wondering doesn't last too long, there's work to be done.
You step backward into your Shadow. It envelops you, flattens you into the floor. It's like swimming in a river, currents of magic carrying you through the shallows of shadow. It's much faster (and much cooler) than walking or running but naturally relies on shadows. Most of your abilities do, which is why you train Aikido every day and study strategy every night.
But with infiltration and reconnaissance, you can take full advantage of your abilities.
Which you do here, dipping into a little-used stairwell that takes you downstairs. The Witch radiation leads you to the basement, and Usagi Tsukinoura.
It's pitch black here, the only light from emergency signs and Usagi's brooch. She's alone and untransformed, looking for something. You follow her from above, head submerged from your Shadow, moving with absolute silence.
Usagi stops, clutching her brooch. It glows white and you instinctively dip into your Shadow. When you peek your head out again, you see she's transformed. She sticks her hand into the beginnings of a Labyrinth and pulls out a slip of a girl.
The girl's Maj. Her costume, a white, purple and gray pastiche of a schoolgirl's outfit, is torn to pieces. Blood stains her pale face, her cracked glasses, her ruined costume. Her butt-length black braids are frayed and burnt. Her right arm's broken, a buckler that looks like Cerberus's chew toy hangs uselessly on it.
Usagi sweeps her for traces of Witch. You don't need to; you can sense it from here.
This girl, looking like a discarded doll, reeks of it.
You move directly above Usagi and the girl, close enough to see and hear Usagi speak.
"Ara? Miss Akemi?" Usagi lifts the girl, gets a good look at her face. "You look so young. A little dirty, though."
Akemi? That's Homura Akemi, the Murder of Crows? Madoka Kaname's consigliere; the leading cause of death among Mitakihara Maj?
She's...kind of cute.
You submerge from the shadows, pulling out your smartphone. Going through the perp database, you pull up Homura's files. The pictures you have are of a lean woman with a lizard's langour. But you do find, at the very end, a picture of a mangy moe girl with black braids and red glasses. It's a perfect match.
Usagi caresses the girl's face tenderly, almost motherly. "You poor thing, you must be suffering." Her hand goes down to the girl's throat and squeezes. "If you tell me where Miss Kaname has run off to, I'll end your pain."
The girl stirs, struggles, and spits in Usagi's face.
You have a clear shot at both of them and have Usagi's shadow bugged. You can watch and wait, let the two tear each other apart and pick the bones. But that's not very heroic, is it?
Your police backup should be here shortly; the safest choice would be to call them in. Your superiors in RF6 have tangled with Usagi and her Pretty Girl Soldiers on many occasions; this would be your first. Calling them in for you would prevent them from apprehending the bosses up top, and put Nakajima-senpai's cover in danger.
You could apprehend Usagi on your own; she is a venerable Maj boss, but you have surprise and the shadows on your side. You would need to apprehend her in the first strike, or her moonlight powers would rob you of your weapons.
The girl who looks like Homura would be the easier one to apprehend. You could easily snatch her from Usagi and make for the extraction point. Away from danger, you could give her rudimentary emergency treatment. You've never carried a girl so close to Witching out in your Shadow, but your heroic spirit doesn't want to leave her to suffer.
Or perhaps, you could think of something else?
☆☆☆ CHIWA ACTION
[Chiwa is enjoying punching Maj too much to take another action unless forced to.]
MOMO ACTION
[ ] [Smarts] APB: Momo can activate the tracking device on her smartphone, allowing Nakajima-senpai and RF6 backup to assist you.
CoS: 85%
Success: Brings Nakajima-senpai and your backup to you. Able to apprehend both Usagi and Homura?, at the expense of casting suspicion on Nakajima-senpai and removing chances of apprehending Saya Shirayuki, Aoi Tachibana or Beatrice Black
[ ] [Smooth] Dark Side of the Moon: In a surgical strike, you attempt to apprehend Usagi Tsukinoura. She's much stronger than you, but defeating her would give you the authority you sorely lack.
CoS: 65%
Success: Apprehend Usagi Tsukinoura, Momo gains +1 Rank. Nakajima-senpai's cover isn't called into question. Maintain RF6's chance of apprehending Beatrice Black, Aoi Tachibana or Saya Shirayuki.
[ ] [Smooth] Midnight Rescue: Using Kagematsuri, extract Homura? and make for the extraction point.
CoS: 85%
Success: Homura? apprehended and added as a Hero-class Maj, increases Momo's reputation with the Marui-gumi. Maintain RF6's chance of apprehending Beatrice Black, Aoi Tachibana or Saya Shirayuki.
[X] [Smooth] Midnight Rescue: Using Kagematsuri, extract Moemura and make for the extraction point.
FTFY.
Also, anyone who wants to go up against Usagi alone with 65% cos is as insane as Queen Beryl. She probably wouldn't break under interrogation, and would be broken out by her crew before too long.
[X] [Smooth] Midnight Rescue: Using Kagematsuri, extract Moemura and make for the extraction point.
Aquire Moemura without losing our tail on Usagi. Lets us get out with a win and keep tabs on a Hostile Maj with minimal risk to our own safety. Why stab her now, when we can steal her shit, laugh in her face, and give her a curse for later?
We are a fox that fights for justice! Which of course means we need to fight for justice in an appropriately foxy manner. Cause mischief, fuck with peoples plans, run away before they can actually do anything about it. And while they're busy fuming over our bullshit? We stack the deck in our favor!
