Pathfinding for Beginners (Pathfinder/Nanoha)

[Mizu]

"Still not used to hearing you speak, Nero. Half the time we're chatting it's via Skype, after all." I'm focused on an open tab as I talk, looking over the varied and complex diagram he's assured me is key to performing this correctly. "Although I do agree setting up and doing RP like this works much better when one can hear the other players in some manner or other."

"You don't need to take human you know? And you still sound different than I expect nearly every time we talk."

"Blame the accent nature gave me. People comment on it here as well, and I happen to have lived in Oz all my life."

'Am I asleep? This is the weirdest dream. I was… finishing…'

"...there are a good few near human races, but humans are pretty good mechanically. Elf might~ be better, but human is rarely a bad choice."

"Too late, made my choice!" I sing-song as I poke and prod.

"Thirteen? Are you playing magical girl again? ...wait, 13 years old, 180cm tall? The hell?"

"Weight's off too. Those numbers have never been something I'm the best at gauging, so I'm just gonna–" I trail off, querying the internet genie known as Google for the answers, –"fix it like so! Done! Thoughts on a deity?"

'...my head is killing me.'

"--Satanist magical girl, got it. The item lets you cast one spell from your book per day, even if you don't have the spell prepared. You can also enchant it at half price and without having the feat to do so."

A couple boxes on the sheet light up before filling in. "Okay, next is feats and traits. You get two feats, one for being level one, the other for being human."

"Do I get to select them?"

"Yeah, as long as you have the prerequisite stats."

'Phone alarm's going off. Time to wake up.'

 

[Mizu]

Australia has a number of pretty birds scattered through it. Big ones, small ones, colourful ones, drab ones, curious flying critters totally fine wandering into university and housing areas for food and the complete opposite who'd flee as soon as people approach.

Seagull are flying rats, they don't count.

But the one fact of life, I've found, is that you tend to learn the local birdsong when it goes off outside your bedroom window every morning during the summer. If only because it's functionally impossible to tune out due to just how loud it can get.

"Craak! Craaak! Craaeark!"

The one I'm listening to right now? Sure as hell isn't something I'm used to, and not even kookaburra are as awful on the ears. Sounds like a cement mixer and broken glass got together and had a kid, with double the lung capacity of both parents combined as nature's gift to the union.

"Craak! Craak! Craa–" I fumble about near my head, hand closing on a suitable projectile, then toss it wherever the sound's coming from in the vague hope it'll work. Probably gonna miss seeing as I didn't aim and all, but–

"Craa-ick!" *THUNK*

Ooor I can spook it enough it flees even with a miss. That works too.

...Wait. Why's there a rock near my pillowcase? And when did I ever sleep on grass? Or feel the wind blowing across me in the morning?

Looking up, I see a colourful bird flying towards me, the extended claws thrust in my direction hinting it's more~ than a little pissed off from my action just then. Crap. Being that lying down when the birdy arrives to presumably maul my face off is a terrible idea on par with sticking one's hands in boiling water, I promptly do the smart thing and scramble to my feet in order to dodge. Or fight. But probably dodge, as birdies are small and I have no weapons bar another rock.

I glance again. This birdy is surprisingly big.

...Seeing as there are no more rocks in hands reach, looks like it's dodging time! I tense up, fingers clenching around my dagger as I watch the birdy carefully as it closes in preparation to strike, before ducking just as it's about to impact. Pressure rests against my left shoulder, feather-light for but a moment, before the avian's zooming past with a caw and gust of wind.

I scuttle backwards, watching the skies as it circles back around for a second go, glancing downwards for another rock to toss and… what? Dagger? When did I get a dagger? Where did I get a dagger? It's a pretty sharp dagger, admittedly, all pointy iron tip and a solid wooden grip I'm grasping it by, but last I checked I went to sleep in PJs and weaponless not holding a dagger and dressed in what seems to be a gods-darned silken dress thingy Silken Ceremonial Armor with little pouches strapped everywhere on it! And a backpack! What the heck happened to cause this, eh? People don't just up and have this happen to them! I demand an explanation, in some shape or form, and seeing as the only thing here is the birdy I'm really doubtful I'm going to be getting it!

A line of crimson pain and blood tears across my shoulder, cloth ripping and parting alongside the bird's screech of victory, and oh yeah the birdie is a thing. Birdie is a thing. Right, screw it, I can focus on the changes after Feathers McRainbow isn't trying to maul me, time to see if this knife is as pointy as it looks to be! I crouch, watching as it circles back around for another run, and slash opening my hand and pushing with the Hand of the Apprentice, spending one of my six uses.

The birdie caws as the knife slices the feathered menace, before I catch the blade as it returns. How did I do that? Why did I do that? Why did it wo-No, not getting into this, we're in combat, not freakout-land.

Feathers lashes out again, hitting the armored pad on my shoulder as it zooms past. Upside, it didn't cause a second wound. Downside, I didn't kill the birdy yet, and I want revenge! Get back here you flying rat, you're as bad as the seagull who steal my chips! I gesture with my dagger again, hoping whatever I did before shall work once more, and push the dagger from my hand, a blue aura shrouding the steel as it soars after the target.

The dagger stabs into McRainbow, halting its wings, before flashing back to my hand. The bird flops to the ground, dead via massive-to-it stab wounds, and I have a distinct feeling of 'I am awesome' both for fending off the birdy and doing whatever I just did which grants me ranged dagger attacks. Somehow. Magic? Could it be magic? Either magic or psychic powers, and I'm going with the first until proven wrong.

Now. Me. Where am I exactly, first off, and why the heck am I waking up here instead of my bed? A quick glance around expands my initial assessment of 'grassy area' to 'grassy area with trees', possibly some form of forested clearing depending on whether the plants number past thirty, and my current clothing set has changed as mentioned from PJs into silken robes.

Now scuffed silken robes, with a tear in the upper left shoulder from birdy claws. Just like the tear right below it, and the one in my shoulder bleeding crimson tears of blood. And oh yeah there's the pain Ow Ow Ow. Why's it hurting this much? It's a shoulder wound, a few centimeters deep, why the heck is it hurting this much?

Looking at the injury itself, there's nothing really visible due to a combination of the angle and being soaked in blood, so I toss my backpack off my shoulders and begin searching through the thing in the hopes there's something to patch myself up inside. Bedroll, mess kit, silken rope of undetermined length, hooded lantern, soap, trail rations, waterskin, grappling hook, mirror-

Mirror! It's tiny, a basic hand-mirror composed of nothing but a plain wooden oval with reflective glass or metal embedded in one side, but performs the duty of reflecting my wounded shoulder perfectly well. It's as bloody as expected, and more importantly feels, yet after numerous wincing attempts to clear the blood off I finally get to see the wound itself; a long, thin cut across most of my shoulder, extremely tender and sore with blood flow slowly ceasing as the wound crusts over.

Phew. Not as bad as I thought, guess it was just the whole 'not used to pain' thing making it hurt as much as it did. I'm not even sure it needs bandaging presently, it seems to be healing well enough just over the past five minutes, but-

The mirror glints, sunlight shining off the surface as I begin putting it back in the bag, and I catch sight of my appearance for the first time since I woke up here. More accurately, my new appearance. My new, scrawny, childish appearance, approximately six to eight years younger and at least twenty centimetres shorter in height. This...may take some getting used to.

The hair's brown, same as my original shade, so there's one element the same as prior. A second would be the eyes, as green or possibly greener than my greeny-hazel, and skin tone...I can't tell with skin tone. It isn't dark or noticeably different? Bleh.
As previously mentioned I'm wearing a silky robe thing Silken Ceremonial Armor and a belt of pouches tied across my waist, with the only new addition to that list being a tiny circular pendant I'm just now feeling dangle about my neck. My Bonded Object, tied to my arcane powers.

The necklace has a pattern within, the classical pentagram used to symbolize magic users in a majority of media, and combined with the whole long-range-dagger just a few minutes ago I guess that makes me a mage of some sort now? Somehow? The spells held ready for release seem to point to that.

I have absolutely no clue what is going on, why I am suddenly a kid, nor where the heck I am. This is...vexing, to say the least.

0–––––––––––0​

After packing everything back into the backpack and bandaging my shoulder, courtesy of a few strips of silk rope combined with the remnants of my shredded shoulder-armour, I found a nice tree to rest against and began perusal of one of the items I woke with in this strange, enemy-filled new land. My spellbook, to be precise.

It's pretty small, about the size of the average paperback novel, and approximately half of it contains nothing but blank pages. The bits containing actual writing number from the first page through to almost the middle, listing a mixture of diagrams and instructions, each one increasing in complexity as I move from one page to the next, but with copious blank pages in between.

There's simple, easy to read and understand spells such as creating light orbs, igniting flammable objects and repairing minor object damage. Utilitarian and slightly trickier ones to endure heat and cold, create air bubbles around your head, perfect memorization of a page of information, or causing magically-induced slumber. Dense spells to lock chests and doors, blind enemies with glittering dust, summon minions to protect and fight for you, read surface thoughts or prevent notice of your presence. Complex spells to dispel magic created by others, form a barrier of force, speak and understand any language, create fireballs and fly. Spells so tricky to parse I can't understand one word in ten; instructions on how to teleport short distances, scry objects from a distance, create illusionary walls and shapeshift form rapidly.

The set after those I could only understand the names for, spells such as Darkvault, Cloudkill, Mind Fog and Sending. The writing got so thick and full of technical terms by then I suspect I'd need a magical dictionary to figure half of them out, and considering the pattern and empty pages it's likely anything further on only gets worse. Mages evidently need to be geniuses to hit the higher-level spells under whatever magic system I'm using; this effectively disqualifies me automatically.

I'm sure not a genius, after all.

To change topics, I managed to find a spell known as 'Hand of Apprentice' listed in the book early on, and it seems to match up with the phenomena around my dagger suddenly gaining the reach of the average spear for a few seconds. I think. Are spears 30ft long?

Before I can ponder this question in more detail, possibly via crafting one out of a stick for testing purposes, I hear rapid footsteps pattering across the ground as something new approaches my prone form.

"Grrr!"

I look over at the source of the noise to see a rather thin dog growling at me, pelt a mottled shade of brown and dark blue; Feathers McRainbow drops from its maw in a cloud of blood, meat chunks and dog spit. Oh come on, what did I even do to piss it off this time? I was just sitting here! Just sitting here!

"Good doggie…" I mutter, slowly climbing to my feet as it continues growling slowly; with luck this tactic will actually pay off. Daisy sure never got like this, but I can't quite expect domesticated animals to match their wild counterpart. "Calm doggie, good doggie, I'm not a threat so please don't try and maul me–"

The dog barks, evidently disagreeing with this statement, before dashing straight towards me. As it gets within 5ft its teeth begin to glow, drawing my eyes, and a moment later I'm cursing up a storm as a flash of light bursts from between jagged, browny-yellow teeth.

After-images flicker in my sight, everything blurry and white barring vague shadow blobs in various shapes or sizes, and I rapidly blink my eyes in a failed attempt to clear the Flare's effect. One blob is moving towards me, quickly gaining distinction and size, and I thrust out my dagger desperately-

Which actually ends up paying off, metal sinking slightly into the animal's flesh as it tears at my armour, cloth compressing and ripping before the mutt yelps and dances away once more. I'm not in pain, nothing's twinging in agony like the last time, so unless the sheer amount of adrenaline flooding my veins is numbing my everything it seems I'm uninjured.

That said, melee for a wizard is generally considered a terrible idea, and it sure isn't working out for me either. A point-blank blasting in the face as it approaches seems like it'd be better though, and I even have the perfect spell for the job; Go, acid! Melt the mutt's skull into soup! I tug on the cantrip lurking in my mind, flicking my fingers and muttering the verbal component.

The acid splashes against the grass, a sharp scent filling the air as plant matter meets poison goop in a deadly embrace. The dog, contrary to where I thought it was, turned out to be the blob of shadow to the left of where I aimed. What I hit instead was once a bush and now a puddle of green melted stuff. It whuffles, glancing at the dissolving acid formation warily, and moves a few steps further away while keeping the tiny blob I believe is its head pointed directly at me while doing so.

Curse this blindness, curse it! I swear I can hit stuff when everything isn't shadow and light, Rainbow McBirdy is my witness! Gotta try again, preferably before the mutt manages to gnaw my arm off, and with luck I won't miss a point-blank shot this time!

Mutt comes about for round two of 'munch the mage', barely seen as a fuzzy black dot between eyes full of watery tears. Barely doesn't mean not, though, and I have enough vision left to sidestep the furry beast's lunge by inches. Counterattack, go!

I extend the fingers on my left hand, aiming at the mutt's side as I finish the prepared Tier 1 spell, "Magic Missile!" A burst of azure light ripples from my fingers to blast into the creature's flank. Misfortunately, this also gives it a chance to counterattack, which it does with gusto via the wonderfully effective method of its teeth meeting my extended fingers.

There's a crunch, a second's delay as I stare at the jaw encasing and digging into my digits, before pain proceeds to hit me like a freight train and I scream in agony. "Ahhh!"

This didn't pay off, this didn't pay off! Why didn't I cast defensively?! Vision blurring even worse than before, wracked with shudders, I barely manage to wind up and kick the mutt free of my hand before it bites down once more. Blood splurts free, squelching onto the grass, and I clutch my heavily bleeding hand to my chest as the dog snarls and snaps at me in retaliation; he misses, barely, and retreats to lick his wounds with an angry growl.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, armour! Armour! Screw the silk stuff I'm wearing, where's a proper set of chainmail or plate when it's needed! With the extremely important gauntlets, useful for purposes such as protection of the hands so dogs don't try and gnaw fingers off. Gah!

I scramble backwards then invoke my remaining Tier 1 spell, Eschew Materials eliminating the need for the leather component, the prepared spell activating with a ringing sound as plates of force affix themselves to my slight frame.

As I blink, both at the fact requesting armour actually got a spell to occur and an attempt to clear rapidly-watering eyes, the dog snarls and leaps at me once more. Jaws open wide, stained red from my lifeblood, he proceeds to...bounce straight off me and into a bush, scraping against the magical shielding as I almost bend in half in a cringing attempt at protection.

Huzzah for happy discoveries and all that, but the battle's not over yet, and I feel a grim smile stretching across my lips as I splay my uninjured hand for a counterattack while I have a chance. Magic ranged dagger, stabbity stab!

The dagger slashes out, whistling through the air before digging deep into the mutt's muzzle, causing a whimpering cry of pain and it's very own injury blood spurt as it returns to me. It looks close to death, one more hit should be enough.

Expecting the animal to retreat now I've injured it, I watch warily for the inevitable fleeing doggy-tail, only for mutt to decide to mimic Japanese Samurai and go out with a warrior's death. It clambers out of the bush, whimpering as leaves brush against the injured snout, before growling and snapping its teeth at me as a prelude to another charge.

And quite honestly, considering how everything is getting fuzzier instead of brighter as the fight goes on, I'm not entirely sure I'm gonna make it much longer without emergency first-aid of some sort. My head's ringing, the ground sways from side to side gently, pain is gripping me like a bear-hug from an actual bear–

If only I could use that missile spell again, make sure it was a hit!

Taking a few steps, I curl my fingers around the pendant, invoking its power. My spell book glows where it lays on the floor and I whip my uninjured hand out, spontaneously casting "Magic Missile!" from my Bonded Object.

The dog's neck snaps back at the missile of force smashes into it, the light flickering out in its eyes. Finally, finally, finally the thing is dead, and now for a desperate attempt at… something before the shadows fill my vision entirely. What was it again? My hand's cold, damp, and there's something slimy and slippery sliding out past it.

So sleepy, can barely keep my eyes open. Naptime. Just gonna lean back, rest against the soft grass, and-

I feel a rush of energy, a single moment of clarity amidst the pain-induced haze I'm sinking into, and force myself upright once more. Agony wracks my frame, forcing another shriek from my lips, but the extra sensation chases the shadows free for a few seconds more and makes me realize what's going on.

Namely, I'm bleeding out. Bleeding out very quickly indeed, in all likelihood, and I've probably got at most five minutes until I lose consciousness and die, less if I'm wrong about exactly how much blood I've lost in that battle and the bird fight earlier. I...had rope in my bag when I checked earlier, right? And a tent of some sort, protection from the elements?

I don't know how to set up a tent, I'm bleeding rapidly, and the closest thing I have to bandages is my armour, clothing underneath and some sort of silk rope to tie it all together. If I manage to keep myself awake and survive the next hour, it'll be a miracle.

Freyja give me strength.

 

[Mizu]

General Characteristics:
Name: Mizuki
Player Name: Mizu
Alignment: Neutral Good
Race: Human
Deity: Freya
Base Size: 0
Current Size: Medium
Gender: Female
Age: 13
Height: 160cm (5 foot 2 inches)
Weight: 45.8 kg
Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Eye Colour: Green
Homeland: ERROR [Earth]

Spoiler: Appearance

Status
HP: ??/17
Damage: ??
Class: Wizard 2
EXP: 4400/6000

 

[Nero200]

GM reporting in~
Any rules mistakes in the chapters are likely my fault, though some stuff might just be general house ruled stuff that I always run.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Wow, your rolls Mizu, your rolls. Be thankful you didn't get attacked by a cat.

 

[Baughn]

That was fun, although I hope there'll be a little less mechanics in the future. It got a bit in the way of the story. Okay, so...

I'm not sure if that counts as a death world. It certainly wouldn't have, to a MGLN mage. To a scrawny thirteen-year-old, though? I guess it does, seeing as you got attacked twice in a few minutes. At that rate, I would expect some beastie to finish you off next chapter, assuming you don't just bleed out first.

Although, if you're going by Pathfinder rules, then bleeding mostly isn't a thing?

You could excuse that with some cantrip, or enchantment on your robes. If not, there are a lot of scientists in the TSAB who will want to take a look at you. I mean, more than usual, if only for the novelty.

...the TSAB is definitely way up there, on almost any standard for power or technological advancement. That might be good, since at least there isn't likely to be anyone who wants to take advantage of you. Mizu's new self is, quite frankly, a little pathetic by their standards.

---

Oh, and you picked Freyja for a deity! That's great; she's one of my favorites. Although there's a lot of emphasis on human sexuality, she's actually the goddess of farming, romantic love, fidelity and marriage as much as the less high-brow parts[1]. Since you're likely to be her only worshipper in this very interesting area of the multiverse, she might even take a personal hand. Maybe give you some tips.

...er. Did you not want to have your goddess shipping you with cute boys? Too bad.

(1: Since she's a norse goddess, the "less high-brow parts" also include, er, war and death. Might come in handy someday. She's the leader of the Valkyries, in whose ranks you are probably doomed to end up.)

---

@Nero200 -- Any relation?

---

(I noticed that the eyes of your image weren't, in fact, green. So in a desperate attempt at procrastinating on my writing, I fixed it.)

Spoiler

 

[Mizu]

Wow, your rolls Mizu, your rolls. Be thankful you didn't get attacked by a cat.

Click to shrink...

Nero was getting pretty concerned when I became close to death on my second mob, and began giving me hints on ways I could save myself. Apparently wizards are very squishy at low levels

That was fun, although I hope there'll be a little less mechanics in the future. It got a bit in the way of the story. Okay, so...

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I was noting the mechanics made flow a bit weird when writing those up over the past few weeks. I'll tweak chapter two so it hopefully flows a bit better, while still keeping the effects of whatever roll I scored obvious to reader.

Or were you suggesting I remove the mechanics mention from the story itself, so they're only in my GDoc writeup and not the posted chapter?

I'm not sure if that counts as a death world. It certainly wouldn't have, to a MGLN mage. To a scrawny thirteen-year-old, though? I guess it does, seeing as you got attacked twice in a few minutes. At that rate, I would expect some beastie to finish you off next chapter, assuming you don't just bleed out first.

Click to shrink...

I was actually envisioning the 'sit down and read the book' thing to cover at least twenty minutes, but seeing as that wasn't mentioned I can see why you figured Mizuki got mobbed twice in short succession. As for the death world element, while it doesn't match in the general sense of 'thirty-foot worm with teeth along with constant hurricane and tsunami' it is a Non-Administrated Planet in the Nanoha-verse section of the multiverse, and thus contains nothing but wild animals in most cases. In this case, said animals can use magic.

Being that I'm an urbanized human, I don't have any skills relating to wilderness survival either, so that kinda ups the stakes. Mizuki herself, on the other hand...

Although, if you're going by Pathfinder rules, then bleeding mostly isn't a thing?

Click to shrink...

Indeed, Pathfinder adventurer are free to function at full capacity despite being wounded, or so Nero told me. I'm interpreting this as them still getting wounded though, with the blood and body damage this involves, it just doesn't prevent you using a dagger with broken fingers unless said fingers happen to be sitting in a dog's stomach instead of attached to you (to give one example).

And yes, I'm gonna be a big bag of mystery for the TSAB when we meet one another, in a number of ways.

Oh, and you picked Freyja for a deity! That's great; she's one of my favorites.

Click to shrink...

As the prologue indicated, I mainly picked the deity at random just from scrolling down the list of them on this website, so it sure wasn't planned I got that particular person as the deity Mizuki follows.

I knew she was the goddess of more than human romance alone, but leader of the Valkyries is a new one for me. As for getting her attention from being the only worshipper in the Nanoha-verse, that's a good point, and not actually something I'd planned on up till now; mainly as I didn't know what deity choice meant beyond background fluff for the campaign for anything but Cleric players.

Wonder if swearing in her name would grab her attention quicker? As Mizuki's done that a fair bit recently

(I noticed that the eyes of your image weren't, in fact, green. So in a desperate attempt at procrastinating on my writing, I fixed it.)

Click to shrink...

Ooh, thanks, didn't actually realize that was the case till you edited the picture I was using. I'll swap that into the Character Sheet post now.

 

[Baughn]

Nero was getting pretty concerned when I became close to death on my second mob, and began giving me hints on ways I could save myself. Apparently wizards are very squishy at low levels

Click to shrink...

And at higher levels. I played a gnomish wizard for... some time, and even after the alienist prestige class gave me immunity to criticals, he still died a little too often. It was beginning to become a concern.

This might bite your backside in this story, since MGLN mages are the exact opposite of squishy. We've seen Nanoha get back up from being slammed through a concrete wall, even before getting her barrier jacket up.

Yeah, I was noting the mechanics made flow a bit weird when writing those up over the past few weeks. I'll tweak chapter two so it hopefully flows a bit better, while still keeping the effects of whatever roll I scored obvious to reader.

Or were you suggesting I remove the mechanics mention from the story itself, so they're only in my GDoc writeup and not the posted chapter?

Click to shrink...

Whatever makes most sense to you. You're already taking it partially out of the flow by right-aligning the mechanics, and you could improve matters further by e.g. just having more plot happening between each instance. On the other hand, so long as you're playing by the rules and not tweaking (much), it makes sense to show us what happened mechanically. I could argue about the sanity of writing a story this way, but so far you've made it work.

Since the story hopefully won't be as combat-heavy overall as the last two chapters have been, i.e. "All combat, all the time," you probably don't have to worry about it.

I was actually envisioning the 'sit down and read the book' thing to cover at least twenty minutes, but seeing as that wasn't mentioned I can see why you figured Mizuki got mobbed twice in short succession. As for the death world element, while it doesn't match in the general sense of 'thirty-foot worm with teeth along with constant hurricane and tsunami' it is a Non-Administrated Planet in the Nanoha-verse section of the multiverse, and thus contains nothing but wild animals in most cases. In this case, said animals can use magic.

Click to shrink...

"Scrawny thirteen-year-old". Yeah, the dog could use a cantrip, but Mizuki could just as easily have died to a plain old normal dog. The fact that it was on its own, and still willing to attack you, additionally suggests that it was either sick, or was for some other reason pushed out of its pack. Which means there's a good chance that you didn't just kill the sole predator whose territory overlaps your current location, and the next attack may be a whole group of them.

In which case Mizuki would go squish, and be torn apart. :O

Twenty minutes is a short enough period that I'd still call it "short succession", by the way. You provoked the bird, so there's a chance you just got unlucky, but that place you're in isn't somewhere I'd want to visit.

Indeed, Pathfinder adventurer are free to function at full capacity despite being wounded, or so Nero told me. I'm interpreting this as them still getting wounded though, with the blood and body damage this involves, it just doesn't prevent you using a dagger with broken fingers unless said fingers happen to be sitting in a dog's stomach instead of attached to you (to give one example).

Click to shrink...

You also mentioned "drops of blood," from a wound that should have been pouring and in need of immediate medical attention. You didn't do a very thorough job of describing your current state, but I'm imagining a downright grisly sight, with deep wounds everywhere. To be fair, 1 HP... you were, as described, on the edge of dying, and barely able to stay conscious.

Transcribing the rules to the MGLN "real world", Pathfinder characters appear to have a weak healing factor. Enough to very quickly stop bleeding, and then enough to pull your body back to normal in a matter of days or weeks so long as you survive and get sufficient food. It doesn't often come up, but you should be healing... 1d3 HP per night, something like that? And up to perfect health, with no lasting effects. You may be underpowered in other ways, but there are definitely people who'd be interested in that.

But here's the first real weakness of the story. All of that happened; you got attacked, you nearly died, and your body is now a mess of near-fatal wounds--which, if you know just how much it takes to kill a human, is rather disturbing--and yet, there was very little emotional reaction. If you're in the body of a thirteen-year-old, and possibly also the brain of a thirteen-year-old, then I'd honestly expect her to break down crying. I don't know what kind of training Mizuki's backstory has her as doing, but it's unlikely to include this.

(Brain? Well, Int and Wis are mental stats. So, to a large degree, is Cha. 17 Int, was it? That's solidly genius-level, and very nearly at "Smartest human who ever lived". I haven't played Pathfinder, but by D&D standards, 18 is the best that can be achieved by natural means. Luckily for the writer, low Wis means that bad decisions can be excused; she may be smart, but she's not experienced at all.)

As the prologue indicated, I mainly picked the deity at random just from scrolling down the list of them on this website, so it sure wasn't planned I got that particular person as the deity Mizuki follows.

I knew she was the goddess of more than human romance alone, but leader of the Valkyries is a new one for me. As for getting her attention from being the only worshipper in the Nanoha-verse, that's a good point, and not actually something I'd planned on up till now; mainly as I didn't know what deity choice meant beyond background fluff for the campaign for anything but Cleric players.

Wonder if swearing in her name would grab her attention quicker? As Mizuki's done that a fair bit recently

Click to shrink...

Heh. Heh heh...

OKay. I'll answer your questions if you drop by IRC, but here's a quick primer on the Norse gods, and on Freyja in particular. There are some factors you may not have considered. For instance...

• Of all the common pantheons, the Norse are probably the most human of the lot. They don't have vast cosmic powers, and in their backstory, the larger events--the creation of the world, etc. etc.--were mostly not their fault. They're people, basically, just trying to get by and keep Midgard running. The powers they do have, aren't inherent; they're the product of knowledge and artifice, only sometimes their own. Odin is an expert wizard--but he couldn't throw a magic missile; his style of wizardry involves runecrafting. Most of the other norse gods just use tools created by others. They don't even have eternal life; they rely on the Apples of Idun for that.
  
  But they are just people. They're not as larger-than-life as, say, the Greek gods, nor as arrogant. Oh, there'll be a bit of arrogance in there; they've lived for a long time, are a lot more experienced than Mizuki, and know it. More justified than usual, though.
  
  Translated to Pathfinder, they'd have to be uprated a lot to actually fit in the system, but the basic relation to other pantheons should remain.
• The Norse gods are, er, aliens. No, seriously--it depends on which of the stories you care to include in your canon, but in at least one take of it, they came from outside of the Nine Worlds. (Yes, it's specifically nine. Yes, Midgard is the third. Probably a coincidence...)
  
  There's a local set of gods, the.. well, in practice they're elves.. which they end up intermarrying with, after a war. It's an old way to ensure peace treaties hold, though I can't help but notice it got a bit one-sided. The norse gods are the better warriors.
  
  In MGLN terms, they're obviously just some set of Al-Hazardian refugees or other.
• Freyja is an interesting, sometimes by modern standards contradictory character. She's the goddess of fertility, romance, gold, magic, love, death and war... but, really, you might just say she's the goddess of life, and all the most important parts of that.
  
  It might be tempting to connect her the the greek goddess Aphrodite. This would be a mistake; they could hardly be any more different. Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, first and foremost, as well as lust; neither of those are part of Freyja's remit. (Yes, Danmachi got it completely, horrendously wrong. What do you expect?)
  
  This is to say that, although Mizuki should probably be described as 'plain', Freyja won't care about your appearance. She isn't that shallow, and she's one of the nicer gods in her pantheon. Not to the level of Balder, the god of peace, but Freyja is more... personable, perhaps. She is quite likely to take an interest; she has, in the past, been known to adopt orphans, and you'd likely be hitting each and every one of her "what a cute kid" buttons.
  
  Heh. For picking a goddess at random, you sure managed to pick the best possible one. I mean, I'm not sure that Mizuki will agree with that assessment right away, but... you found one who might, reasonably speaking, actually decide to mother you, and who'd do a good job at it. The one possible downside is that, as one of the Choosers of the Slain, Freyja wouldn't think it too troublesome if you end up dying in combat some day, and she considers combat part of a good life. Possibly quite the opposite. That way she'd have more direct access.
• That is to say: The Norse afterlife depends on how you died. If you died in combat, then you get to join the gods; as an Einherjar or, for particularly impressive females, a Valkyrie. Part of Freyja's role is to lead and pick the latter. If you died in bed, and not of wounds, then you go to hell.
• Also, though you avoided thinking about this, she totally will ship you with the most impressive cute boy you come across. She does that. *grin*

 

[Mizu]

ou also mentioned "drops of blood," from a wound that should have been pouring and in need of immediate medical attention. You didn't do a very thorough job of describing your current state, but I'm imagining a downright grisly sight, with deep wounds everywhere. To be fair, 1 HP... you were, as described, on the edge of dying, and barely able to stay conscious.

Click to shrink...

Ooh, yeah, that's my fault then. I pictured it as bite wounds to the fingers, and was under the impression that while that'd be fairly painful it wouldn't be massive blood loss unless said fingers got chopped off. I also forgot to cover Mizuki dealing with the shoulder wound beyond an 'ow, that hurt' reaction, but seeing as it was only one damage would likely say it was a long, but shallow cut which didn't bleed too much before beginning to scab over.

I heal at least one HP per night, yep, and the whole 'wait, how did I heal and set up a tent' thing is covered in-story thing in chapter two. You raise a valid point about my not really showing reactions to these events just yet though, neither the sudden plunk down into a new planet, the body change nor the 'attacked and near-mortally wounded' thing; I'll revise chapter two to focus on it a bit, and maybe cover the wounds in more detail.

It's CHA 15, INT 16, WIS 10, but yes it does prove handy in explaining my bumbling about in-verse - Mizuki/D&D me knows a lot about mechanics and such (as seen in slanted writing and the beginning of ch2 when I post that), but the practical elements aren't quite at the same level.

OKay. I'll answer your questions if you drop by IRC, but here's a quick primer on the Norse gods, and on Freyja in particular. There are some factors you may not have considered. For instance...

Click to shrink...

Oh, interesting. I remember that they were immortal due to some apples, and a few books I've read had them as less high-and-mighty than the Greek pantheon, but the fact they're people using magic artifacts or tools is pretty neat. The fact they're people in general also means I can't just superimpose Greek-God arrogance and 'do as I say or you die' personality on Freyja, too, and would instead need to have her coerce me into doing something or other.

Need to check what her personality is said to be in myths before deciding, methinks.

Having the Norse gods as a set of Al-Hazardian refugee is one option, but I think Nero was planning on implementing them as something else. Same goes with the Pathfinder system in general, as something strange and /foreign/ to the Nanoha-verse as a whole. Doesn't stop said system from analyzing and recognizing Nanoha-style magic, mind.

Adoption by Freyja herself I can see going both wonderfully well and the exact opposite. It'd be someone who can teach Mizuki about the Pathfinder system and wizard skills better, for whatever I don't know from that 16 INT pre-adventurer studying, but there's also the whole 'does not mind if you die in combat' thing to take into account alongside the constant cute-boy shipping. Admittedly I'm more on the 'female-oriented bisexual' spectrum of gender preferences so it might not matter regardless, so I'd be more worried about my writing chops at romance scenes and whatnot than the 'girl-me is dating a boy' thing here.

 

[Mizu]

Step One, bandage my wounds.

With a grunt which rapidly becomes a low cry of pain, I manage to get my backpack off, chucking it to the ground as quickly as I can before clasping my hands over my injuries once more. That something slimy I felt earlier, in my half-dead daze, slithers and slips between my fingers, a chunk sliding out quick enough I spot what it is before I press it against me once more.

...I'm gonna need a lot of rope. Intestines kinda~ need to stay inside the body, after all. Unless they're pig intestines, think people eat those. Except cooked, like bacon, and pig snout, although I've never tasted pig snout and don't really know how well it'd go as a meal and–

I bite my lip, forcing myself to focus again, and flip open the bag before me. A second later and it's upside down, everything falling out in a clatter of material, rope and tent at the top of the pile courtesy of being the last things I pushed back in after my examination earlier. Can't use both hands, barely keeping the intestines from escaping with my injured one plus half the arm, and seeing as I kinda need both hands to manipulate rope or tent pegs this is somewhat of a problem.

Worry about it later, bandage wounds now.

More grunting, shortly followed by screaming, proceeds as I wriggle my way free of first the Silken Ceremonial Armour and then the Adventurer's Clothing underneath, a shaking hand cutting the material into uneven strips of cloth as quickly as I can manage. Flipping my injured hand over and over, trying to keep it and my elbow pressed against my chest as I can, the makeshift cloth envelopes my fingers until I can't tie it any tighter, knotted at the end just like I was taught.

Next up's the stomach wound itself, although I think the intestines are closer to the lower groin area. Suppose it doesn't matter overall, both involve my inside bits trying to get somewhere they shouldn't, and I'm only really debating this in the first place so-

Flesh squishes, slipping past my fingers for a moment, and I gasp in renewed pain before stuffing them back where they came. Moments later the cloth wraps around, tying off the wound like an oddly blood-coloured towel around my waist, which only turns brighter red the longer it remains. That's… probably bad, leaving them flopping about unattached inside me, but I sure as heck don't know enough medicine to do anything else.

I try and bend down, reaching for the tent by my feet, only to avert the action moments later from a combo of intense pain and slipping towel. Guess we aren't going that route, the whole 'manually setting up a tent' thing, so I point my uninjured hand at the cloth contraption and do it the wizard way. Forced concentration from extreme injuries or combat casting included.

"Mage Hand!"

The tent floats, moving up off the pile of objects and over to a clear patch of grass, where I set it down a moment later. Subsequent castings get the wooden tent poles inside the material, pegs embedded in the ground, roof lifted up to the point it actually stands on its own and the door flap open long enough I can block it with my frame. Everything else in my backpack gets dumped inside after that, including the pack itself, and as soon as it clears the frame and thumps to the floor I'm following it a moment later, the world going black before I even get around to closing my eyes.

I really hope I'll wake up from this.

0–––––––––––––––––––––––0​

I'd normally say this world is hell and death incarnate, but that's less the world and more how much of a squishy meatbag I am. Particularly my internal organs, presently, trying to escape as they were scant hours ago. Shame I can't get the real durability spells just yet, no matter how much poring over the book instructions for Defending Bone or Mirror Image I do; they're just too complex for me to grasp at my current level, so the alternatives of Sleep and Summon Monster I shall have to do.

The first so I can flee whatever's coming at me if I'm too squishy to fend it off presently, like functionally everything right now, and the second so I don't need to accumulate more wounds in the process of surviving in this strange new environment. Almost died from a bird and wild mutt, don't want to find out what happens if I encounter a group of the things; or worse, something tougher.

I'm just lucky I could only make bandage from my Adventurer Clothing, and not the armor on top. Being without armour of any sort in my present state would be even more of a death sentence than being with and badly injured.

Thank Freyja I lived through the night.

Upside to my opening my eyes to birdsong and sunlight? It's a pretty valid sign I lived, as were the aches and pains of my body. I wouldn't be hurting this much if I'd died, right? Right. The afterlife isn't like that.

Trying to minimize the tearing pain I feel in my gut at any movement, I pull my waterskin off of the ground where I'd abandoned it yesterday. I manage to swallow about half. Then I throw up.

The highlight of my second day on this world is relief that my vomit doesn't have very much blood in it, and that what was there is black, rather than red. Luckily, I manage to keep the second half down. Water is important.

The next few hours I'm gonna skip describing beyond saying they were filled with a lot of shaking, crying, staring at my hands in wonder or cursing anything I could think of at the time. The tent's going to need repairing after that, too.

Before packing up my tent, I reach for my spellbook from the pile of objects tossed about the area haphazardly yesterday and sit cross-legged for meditation. Flipping through the pages I study the instructions for Sleep and Summon Monster I, focusing on their mnemonic cues in my mind until they're embedded with a mental 'thunk'. Longing looks at the inscrutable Defending Bone may also have occurred during this period.

Once those spells are set, I do the same for a number of Rank 1 spells.

...That's so weird. I mean, immensely helpful that this body can auto-perform whatever rituals are needed for magic casting seeing as that kept me alive yesterday, but weird nonetheless. I can feel the different tiers of spell in my noggin, alongside the cantrips I have available, with a new one in the form of Light compared to yesterday's set. Rank 1 has Magic Missile removed entirely, in exchange for Sleep and Summon Monster I taking its mental place. Now two places.

I should experiment to see whether I can memorize a spell again after casting it for the day. Later. When I'm not horribly injured and desperately needing to find some form of civilization and medical aid if I want to live through the next week; seriously doubting my patch job shall hold for long.

Speaking of said patch-job, after clambering to my feet amidst tiny twinges of pain, I take a look and see exactly how badly everything is the day after playing Wilderness Surgeon. Surprisingly, it's not as bad as expected.

The wound to my intestines area has sealed up, barely, with a very tender scab of blood surrounded by skin almost the same shade. They're not fixed internally, as if I move quick enough they jiggle inside me – a very, very weird sensation – but they aren't falling out and that counts as progress. As for my hand wound, it's in much the same state of raw skin and tender scabs, minus the internal jiggling; can barely half-shut the hand before pain has me aborting, so holding stuff is gonna be relegated to my uninjured one for the foreseeable future.

Now, people. I can safely say I'm no longer on Earth courtesy of the Flare-breathing mutt, as while big birdies such as Rainbow can and do exist back home magic-using animals do not. Atmosphere's matching up to Earth norm as far as I can tell, containing a mix of oxygen-nitrogen due to the fact I didn't choke to death five minutes after arrival, and both the sun and native fauna seem similar enough to what I'd normally call 'trees' and 'bushes'. Flora sure as heck isn't in the same category, though.

...Was it the other way around? Flora for animals, or fauna? Always get them mixed-Not important! I'm on a different planet, am essentially without any means of defence barring my dagger and magic, and in all likelihood shall be stuck here entirely unless I find out people are a thing and have society and technology advanced enough to allow interplanetary space exploration. Preferably FTL, as otherwise the only way I'd be getting home in my lifetime is via whatever that 'closer to light speed, time goes slower for you than anything else' phenomena was called; even then I wouldn't be home, what with it being at least two century extra if I'm at best 2LY away, but now I'm babbling and moving on!

OK. OK. Focus on what to do, first step finding people. I can find people by looking for water sources, climbing mountains and trees for a high view of surroundings, avoiding wild animals so I don't get mobbed and torn to shreds, and other fun activities to fill out my day. Activity one being packing up the tent and other things.

Doing this with a single hand shall be fun.

0 ––––––––– 0​

So, good news! Mage Hand works wonders as a makeshift second hand for transporting things to my backpack, and the fact I only need one hand to use it is truly a lovely, lovely thing. Bad news, the whole 'climb a tree to get a bird's-eye view of surroundings' is kinda~ impossible due to my wound collection, unless I wanna bleed out in the process.

More bad news, water isn't anywhere nearby! Despite being in a forest, plant life fleshy and green enough you'd assume it exists. Unless it's an underground river? One trees access via burrowing their roots into the soil? Wouldn't explain how sapling and other small plants live, but I suppose with enough moisture from rainfall dampening the topsoil it's a possibility, although one I figured only happened in rainforest and other extremely hot, extremely damp places.

And~ I got sidetracked again, but who can blame me when I've spent half the morning climbing my way over roots and through various forms of leaf in an attempt to forge a straight path through forest? Stuff's boring, boring, boring some more, and nothing but green and peaceful birdsong!

Which is nice, but it doesn't help the fact that I think I might be lost. Possibly. As it turns out telling north isn't too effective when my compass spins randomly every mile or so – either the natural magnetic field of the planet's being screwed with by iron deposits nearby, I'm walking in circles due to the area looking Freyja-darn identical to everything prior, magic, or my personal favourite of 'all of the previous'. This world's been a jerk to me so far, after all, why not pile on the abuse some more! Come on, I dare ya!

"Hoot!" Hoot?

I blink, looking around at the unexpected cry, and spot a fluffy feathered creature sitting in the treetops above me. Seems pretty similar to what owls normally look like, the combination of feathers and white matching barn owls I commonly see in media, but last I knew the ruby eyes are new.

"Hoot?" I echo back at it. Who knows, could be it's like HootHoot and Noctowl, friendly timekeepers and guides to lost traveler. Except when they're tricksters and using illusions on them, where their eyes glow… red… crap. I pull my dagger free from its sheath.

The owl moves the second I reply, swooping down and extending its claws with a shimmer to claw at my skull, a lash of fire barely missing my head as it wings past. Crap, crap, was joking about that claim World, totally didn't want more things chucked in my general direction! In fact, here, have something tossed back at you! "Acid splash!"

With a glup the magic green orb of fun melty stuff materializes as I command, getting a small mental cheer that actually worked out of me at the same time, before proceeding to spiral through the air after the gliding owl swooping about the area.

The bolt of acid hits a tree trunk as it flutters out of the way, turning with fire flickering from its talons. It misses once more, but ignites the tree behind me with a burst of fire. Embers flicker, crackle and whoosh as the flames spread, heat burning at my back as smoke begins to obscure the air around us. Gotta end this fast, before smoke inhalation can do me in alongside the owl. Or exploding trees, but I haven't had that happen yet, thank Freyja.

Quickly ending something is best achieved if one can actually hit a target, and as I lack projectile weapons that have tracking of any sort whatsoever, I'll use the next best thing in a tracking spell. Go, "Magic missile!" I tap my amulet, drawing upon the artifact for recall as I cast the spell from memories of past attempts.

The missile of force hits the owl head on, smashing it into another tree with a burst of flame as its spell-like ability triggers. This, being something in the vein of flaming talons, only results in yet another tree being set aflame in the rapidly-crisping surroundings.

...Well, that was anticlimactic. Didn't even get hurt this time round, barring the whole tree being aflame behind me and oh gods move move move! A branch cracks, directly above me, and only a timely leap forwards prevents a mix of a beaning and being set alight.

Damn it, I don't have Snuff prepared!

As I gasp and wince in pain, a tearing sensation in my bandaged midriff promising bad things, wildgrass decides to join in the fun and games in a whoosh of heat and smoke. If it wasn't a forest fire before, the last few seconds sure as heck made it one, and from my memories of these fires – Australia being a land of deserts and kinda famous for this sort of thing – sticking about when it's ongoing is both a terrible plan and near-certain to get you killed. As is tossing anything aflame near something easily flammable, like say, burning wood on dry grass.

My memories are also informing me that hiding in water is more likely to get me boiled alive than save my ass, so escaping to higher ground or finding a dark cave to camp out in seem the best ideas of–

I backpedal, narrowly dodging another owl that is flapping its way out of the area as fast as possible, and elect to take a different route than the one flaming birds are moving in the spirit of keeping fire away from wherever I happen to be heading. I have no clue how that species isn't extinct if this sort of thing happens on a regular basis, and quite frankly if they live in a forest and fly about coated in flames it jolly well should be!

Huffing and wincing, my movements are reduced to little more than a slow jog, anything quicker doing nothing but sending a giant twinge of pain through me and worsening the tearing, stabbing sensation in my gut. A combination of heat and crackling is ever-present, burning wood snapping and hissing as flames set it alight, and the smoke's so thick I can barely see twice my arm length ahead.

The compass is shaking and shuddering in my grip, barely visible arrow flickering rapidly from one direction to the next, but I try and follow regardless in the desperate hope it'll lead me to higher ground and caves. Stumbling over a fallen log, I realize my navigational skills might have let me down, burning foliage breaking up above unseen till the very last moment.

"Aah!" I scream, whacking wildly at the incoming object before it collapses atop me, sending it thunking down just ahead of me at the cost of nasty hand burns. Tears spring into my eyes, I smell – oddly enough, pork? – as my injured hand hisses and reddens, but ignore all that in order to rapidly flap the flames away and resume my flight for safety and survival. Preferably both, but the second alone works too.

Compass isn't helpful, just gonna end up tripping over stumps like I just did if I try and glance at it during this flight. Gotta try and follow the roots instead, sense the direction of the ground from the very faint incline and dash my way upwards using it; what I wouldn't give for clear vision once more, this smoke's so thick I swear I'm about to run right into-

Cave!

Leaves and dirt make way for pebbles and rock as I stumble into the cool stone interior, coughing mightily as my vision blurs from irritation. My burned skin stings and hisses as I press against the wall, slumping down amidst fits of choking sludge back up from where it stuck in my throat. How it got there I don't have a clue, for all I know the smoke turned into slurry upon hitting my saliva.

The flames seem to be unable to pass through the small entrance, but I'm in! Safe from the burning death of heat and pain!

Taking a look around and ignoring the smell of pork, I notice that this cave seems a lot bigger than I first thought, at least the size of a small house for the section I can spot alone. Going by the slow slope downwards it likely continues deeper underground, possibly expanding into an entire complex of tunnels leading who knows where.

Wait, wait, not the important thing. Cave. Just dashed into a random cave, forest fire raging outside, probably better to wander further in just~ in case a log or something crashes through whatever is keeping the flames out so far. Beyond the fact it's all stone past the entrance and thus nothing but me to burn, I mean.

...Did I ever stop myself burning? Think I did, feeling no pain, gonna presume a yes until limbs start falling off or more pork drifts through the air. Which may be a terrible idea, but I plead the pain!

Now that I have time to properly look around, I start to notice glimmers of light on the walls. Runes, and while I don't know what they mean exactly, they seem to be warding sigils. I wish I had Detect Magic available to check, but I guess that's why the fire didn't follow me in.

Wonder what sort of civilization made these, and placed them there? The fact I recognize them would hint that they used the same symbols as whatever my magic does, although how I'm parsing scribbles on rock as anything but pretty pictures I don't know; regardless, this fact alone means the planet isn't non-populated by intelligent life. People are here!

Possibly further inside here, actually, so with a groan of pain I unpeel myself from the wall and hobble further in.

0 –––––––––––– 0​

So, fun fact. Caves, even caves with a raging fire going on right outside them, tend to be rather dark and damp places. The fact this happened to be at least partially a magical cave didn't save me from those elements, and after a few icky situations involving bat poop and walking into stalactite, I remember I have a way to avoid this whole mess. I click my fingers, arcane energy imbuing a pebble with light.

The white light immediately catches on runes, more densely packed than in the first chamber. Extra-strong warding? The first set just prevent things beyond me coming in, so would these be made to prevent me going further?

...Nah. I've already walked over a bunch before lighting the world up, can't be that.

There's a flicker, the runes increasing in luminosity over the next few seconds, and shortly afterwards a click echoes from deeper into the cave. A set of runes begin glowing even brighter than the rest, creeping up a wall in a glowy white line, before creating a rectangular outline resembling a door on a suspiciously flat part of the stone wall. I wait a few seconds after this happens, slow hitches of pain hissing through my teeth, and when nothing else occurs toss my glowrock towards the outline gently; it vanishes upon collision, the runes flashing brighter yet again.

A familiar state of alertness kicks in, dagger slipping into my hand as I pull on the half cast spell, "Mage Armour!". Just like the last time I used this, a thin shimmery barrier forms a few centimeter from my skin, either frozen air or raw magical power manifest to protect me. Also like the last time I used this, it proves useful not a moment after the cast, as a dagger rips through the air, skimming against the edge of the field before bouncing against the ground.

Looking back at where it came from I blink as a small, maybe two foot high, doll steps out of the wall. It's wearing a similar dress to the one that Bloodborne doll had, mixed colours of black and red with a shawl cloak across its shoulders, alongside looking to be made out of some form of ceramic. Its eyes are glowing slightly, or at least catching the light in a disturbing manner.

A slip of knowledge enters my mind, a construct, not sure what type, but that means it probably has some immunities. Was it constructs that are immune to enchantment? Or do they just have damage resistance?

That feels really weird. Again. On the upside, I know ceramic is both tough vs blunt trauma and not so tough vs piercing, so the second question's got an answer which isn't from weird-knowledge; Or was that the other way around? It's a good heatsink, I know that much, and–

Wait~ a moment. The thing just threw a dagger at me, I can debate material when it's dead or I'm fled, not now! I tense, gripping my dagger tightly, and ponder tossing it just like it did to me before discarding that as stupid to the point of fire-owls in a verdant forest – throwing dagger work because you tend to have heaps on you at the time alongside high aim skills, not a single one and nil aim beyond arm's-reach.

I tap the flask of acid on my belt, muttering "Acid splash!" My green blob of dissolving goop, on the other hand, has none of these issues. Well, it doesn't have an ammo issue. Probably.

It flies free of my hand, hissing faintly through the air as it shimmers dark olive in my rocklight, and splashes directly against the doll's chest. There's a faint hissing as chews through the dress, providing two important facts to me from the action; Namely, that this doll is not anatomically correct, and acid works on porcelain just like ti does most things – with melty justice.

Melty, barely did a few centimeter of damage justice in this case, but eh. Can't win them all.

The mini construct makes a mournful clattering sound before holding up a tiny jointed hand, a blue glow surrounding it, the dagger from before flying back past me and into its palm in the same moment. Said hand was outstretched forwards to catch, mainly as the doll happened to start charging towards me as soon as it cast.

That was Mage Hand again, one of my most useful cantrips, but there are slightly more concerning things such as the incoming dagger-wielding doll to worry about right now! Limbs clacking and clicking as ceramic feet thud on stone, it barrels towards me, pulling its arm back for another go at 'poke the person' as it does.

I elect to do the smart thing, seeing as it's giving such a nice, straight-on target, and cast Sleep on the automaton.

Pulling on my second Level 1 spell slot, I target the doll with the enchantment, and side step as it collapses, sliding across the stone floor before coming to a stop. Its dagger slips free and bounces to a halt against the nearby wall. Oh yay, that actually worked; was halfway certain it was gonna fail what with being a puppet and not-really-alive and all. And seeing as it has worked and I'm not currently trying to fend off dagger to the face, the question beckons.

Dagger to the skull or flee? Sleep only lasts two minutes, so the second option probably won't help me gain any distance whatsoever; I'd either get stuck fighting against the cave entrance and flaming wildfire outside or lost further into the passage it came from.

"I suspect," I mutter, clenching my dagger tightly in my uninjured hand as I move to directly over the automaton's skull, "that if you weren't a puppet I'd find doing–" I stab "this–" The blade breaks through the ceramic in a shattering clink noise, "a lot harder than it is!"

The skull shatters, cracking into pieces from my blow, and as it disassembles I notice a shiny object glint from the attachment between head and neck. Reaching down, I tap it with the dagger just in case I've got a reviving puppet on my hands, before gripping and raising it closer to my face for examination once nothing happens.

This is… a Soul Gem? A Soul Focus, used to animate the construct with a piece of lifeforce. Such a focus could be used to make a new Doll. Shame I don't want a new doll, mind, so guess we'll go with option two and sell it for loot!

Presuming I find people. No, I mean when I find people! Onwards, deeper into the cave and people once more!

...But first, let's see if I can get another dagger. Heading to the wall, I start looking for the doll's weapon between rock cracks and pebbles around my feet, before throwing myself to the side as the ground shakes. There's a loud crash as a towering weight smashes down where I just was, creaking and groaning against the stone, and I scamper backwards on hands and knees looking at the enemy disbelievingly.

What… what the hell is that?!

The form twists on stilt-like legs as it towers over me, a windowless cabin swaying as it seems to glare down regardless of the fact it has no eyes. Knew it was too easy, knew it was too easy, nothing so far on this planet's been easy so why the heck will my second unscathed victory be different?!

A door's flapping shut as I scramble to my feet once more, dyed a dark maroon red with numerous wooden bruises scattered about the frame. Gonna presume that's the 'mouth' and it just tried to bite me, and seeing as it could just as easily squish me flat from the sheer size difference alone keeping out of melee range is a really good idea right about now.

I shake my hands, gesturing at the thing, and envision memories of fond Final Fantasy playthroughs and powerful spirit creation as I mouth my next few words. "Summon, Monster I!" My last Rank 1 spell slot expended, I pour the energy into the space created between myself and the new construct, selecting the biggest, baddest and strongest creature available to battle the House.

A Viper.

...I can't help but pause, staring at the tiny snake as it spawns in a puff of smoke and octarine light, comparing it to the sheer size and bulk of the House arrayed against it. "Gods, my summons suck."

Said house rears back, before slamming the edge of the door down on my summon, reducing it to paste against the stone.

"Suck. Really. Bad." The house squelches, rising up from the bloodstain which was once my sole line of defense, and I promptly proceed to flee down the door-passage and vacate the premises.

The cabin-monster follows, barely ten steps behind me as I throw myself through the illusionary wall and bolt down the glowing passage, barely noticing the ground changing to tiles as I flee. My gut wound's hurting like someone stuffed hot coals in there, and I'm feeling slithery stuff pressing against the cloth bandage as I move, but staying still to heal and near-instantly die is much less preferable to aggravating a terrible wound so I don't become mush on rock from massive crushing damage. I still might die, just not right away.

Arriving at a tee-junction, I hesitate for a moment, before something colored off-white and oddly rounded smashes against the wall beside me. Startling, I dart left, glancing back and nearly stumbling as I spot the cracked skull rolling slowly away from the wall; the House is growing louder behind me once more, evidently having paused momentarily for that last attack.

"Why won't it just st-" I'm cut off as a burst of green light appears ten steps ahead of me, shining brilliantly in a circle of shapes and symbols. Conjuration effect, teleportation, though I don't recognize the spell.

Not that it matters if they're allies. I'll take anything at this point.

"Transfer Complete, Miss." A voice sounds out as the woman turns in my direct, clad in a fancy blue uniform I don't recognize whatsoever. Before she can do anything else I'm racing past, reaching out an arm to tug her along as I do so – flee, flee, flee, and flee some more!

"Hi, giant monster, can't talk, keep moving if you wanna live!" I have no clue if half of that was understandable, either from rushed dialogue or language differences.

"Monster?" That was English! She keeps pace, the staff in her hand chiming as she does so, shaking her wrist free of my grip at the same time. "Oh, THAT!" Seems she spotted the House.

There's a pulse of conjuration energy from the staff – Magical Item – as she wraps her arms around me, half lifting me up. "Dimensional Transfer!"

I'm blinking the green light out of my eyes when I realise we aren't in the cave anymore.
Actually… Looking out the window across from us, I slowly come to the conclusion that we might not be on that planet anymore.

Success?

 

[Baughn]

I have to say...

Ouch. Owwies. Yowch.

...that doesn't really cover it, but yeah. It's not easy being the squishie when you have no meatshield.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

You may have been grievously wounded with your intestines rolling around in your stomach but you can rejoice! You managed to live through it!

Though I imagine people are going to look at you funny since you probably should have been dead by now because of said wound.

-shrugs-

Magic.

-edit-

Got to love being an adventure and not a civilian.

 

[InfiniteDaze]

"I'm going to have to go find that caption of Daze's.

Click to shrink...

Oh man does that take me back.



Context: There used to be a time when Mizu would not shut up about magical girl SIs. Specifically the Magical Girl CYOA.

The bug even hit me and Nero to, though I was the first to come out of it with Nero following after. Mizu? Oh no he would go on and on about it. It got to the point where it took six months to actually get productive on the first Multi-SI fic of ours, Undermining The Scientific Method With Murder. Which, by this point, he's mostly forgotten about.

Again.

So in the dark time and it being like, one am. I equated Mizu to Saten and made this caption.

And that is what Nero is talking about.

 

[Prospalz]

Avoided being eaten by a Gazebo.

Surely, a mark of great future and potential.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

Mizu's always struck me as a bit... "Oh! Butterfly! ...What were we doing?" At least that's what I picked up from that Mabinogi LP he tried... poor Eliwan.

It looked like they were both having fun at the time though, so it was all good.

 

[BobtjeNORMALguy]

Mizu's always struck me as a bit... "Oh! Butterfly! ...What were we doing?" At least that's what I picked up from that Mabinogi LP he tried... poor Eliwan.

It looked like they were both having fun at the time though, so it was all good.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like me the first time I walked into a natural history museum..

 

[Mizu]

Mizu's always struck me as a bit... "Oh! Butterfly! ...What were we doing?"

Click to shrink...

I can be remarkably scatterbrained, alongside easily distracted, yes. This tends to have bad influence on my retaining focus for fanfic unless I plot out stuff and force myself into a schedule. Or get poked into it from friends.

Tell me, readers. How do you feel about ViVid and Force for Nanoha canonicity? Base concepts or how the authors handled producing it, either's fine.

 

[Baughn]

Avoided being eaten by a Gazebo.

Surely, a mark of great future and potential.

Click to shrink...

Thanks to Shade's latest horrorshow, I'm imagining something like this:

You may have been grievously wounded with your intestines rolling around in your stomach but you can rejoice! You managed to live through it!

Though I imagine people are going to look at you funny since you probably should have been dead by now because of said wound.

Click to shrink...

And you're assuming that she isn't, in fact, dying. The original wound was bad enough, but running around and fighting the way she's been doing? I wouldn't be surprised if the next chapter starts with her dropping unconscious on the floor.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Honestly, this is making me want to create my own pathfinder character and throw them into a different world. Problem is, it' been so damn long since I've done anything DnD wise that I'm out of touch when it comes to such things.

Like how many feats do you get per level and spells and such. Though that is probably covered in the rule book.

-shrugs-

I'll deal with that later.

And you're assuming that she isn't, in fact, dying. The original wound was bad enough, but running around and fighting the way she's been doing? I wouldn't be surprised if the next chapter starts with her dropping unconscious on the floor.

Click to shrink...

Adventurer, she'll be fine with a nights rest from what I understand. Wounds don't generally inhibit their actions much, as long as they have 1 hp left they would be fine.

Though that may depend on the GM.

 

[Baughn]

Adventurer, she'll be fine with a nights rest from what I understand. Wounds don't generally inhibit their actions much, as long as they have 1 hp left they would be fine.

Click to shrink...

We spent a lot of time discussing this. The current state is, if I understand correctly, that Mizuki runs far more on fluff than on crunch.

She's a character from a Pathfinder world, and/or an SI. She doesn't have hitpoints, as such. And you've already seen her being hobbled by wounds; rules that make sense in a game don't always work well in a story.

 

[ltmauve]

Tell me, readers. How do you feel about ViVid and Force for Nanoha canonicity? Base concepts or how the authors handled producing it, either's fine.

Click to shrink...

Vivid maybe, FORCE no.

The lack of knowledge what the heck the Hucksters in FORCE are doing, along with the tonal shift and poor writing, make me consider it non-canon.

Vivid is okay, but apparently "lolis punching each other" outweighed "look into the implications of the plot" thing, plus Einhart apparently popped out of nowhere. There's also the fact that the flashbacks in Vivid show the Belkan wars as a bunch of soldiers running around in a forest with swords, aka "Tenna pre- StrikerS target practice" level of force, while Ollie is revered as some kind of battle goddess for ending this horrible war. And this is a universe where the Book of Darkness destroys a planet at least once a century and they could only spare one ship to deal when it popped up the latest time.

I would not take either of them at face value. And I would outright ignore FORCE as being part of reality, maybe have it be in-universe fanfiction written by a fan of the White Devil.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Force is currently canceled due to lack of popularity or something, so there isn't much to go by in it. Vivid probably would be better as a canon source since it's still ongoing.

 

[Baughn]

Speaking of the TSAB, how do you think they'll react to finding someone like Mizuki?

Alternate forms of magic aren't exactly rare, in their organisation, and neither are orphans unfortunately, so i don't expect there'll be much confusion on what to do with her, but that still leaves questions open.

Like, how much scientific interest is she likely to gather?

Her system of magic being significantly weaker than the local one may actually be an advantage here, if the goal is to be left alone. At least, Jail won't be... /too/ interested...

 

[Mizu]

Vivid maybe, FORCE no.

The lack of knowledge what the heck the Hucksters in FORCE are doing, along with the tonal shift and poor writing, make me consider it non-canon.

Click to shrink...

I did note both general themes and how they actually got executed, you know. The fact antimagic became a terrible threat even the protagonists couldn't blast through ala StrikerS seems to be an interesting concept, for example, forcing a tonal shift from magitech society involving magic for takedowns into 'magic if no antimagic, non-magic if antimagic'. The TvTropes wiki had other examples too, IIRC, but overall the ideas introduced there have potential at the least.

At least, Jail won't be... /too/ interested...

Click to shrink...

Uh, about that...

 

[ltmauve]

The fact antimagic became a terrible threat even the protagonists couldn't blast through ala StrikerS seems to be an interesting concept,

Click to shrink...

Except what did they do? They gave the protags new weapons and the antags regeneration so that the heroes could blast away same as before without worrying about killing them. It wasn't a tonal shift or anything, it was just a nerf so that the most powerful mages in the setting would not instantly walk all over the villains.

Making it interesting would have meant something like making the protags face the concern of accidentally killing the antags by applying a tiny bit too much force, or hitting in the wrong area. Or something like that. Not, "X, but with details changed. And darker and edgier," which is what they did.

Uh, about that...

Click to shrink...

And how would Jail find out about you?