[X]Write-In: Leave Her To Me
-[X]Hiyori's Destination: Sinon
--[X]Run with Cats of Ulthar while releasing Decoys AND cast Masukukaja twice [5 SP Cost]
-[X]Gwen: Assign to XeXeeD
--[X] Watch over him with camo, and sneak attack any enemy that looks like they'll kill them or if he looks like he's in trouble.
-[X]Lugh: Assign to XeXeeD
--[X]If possible, have the group discussed a signal method for Lugh to use if XeXeeD appears to be about to be killed by Death Gun. If sighted, Hiyori has told them she plans to use Lightless Crypt to plunge the battlefield into complete darkness.
Besides me investing too much into XeXeeD to just let him die here I don't think double-teaming Sinon with Gwen will be a good idea. Sinon is deadset on fighting us and she won't take it well if we just blindside her with a doubleteam. Defeating her like that could easily cause her to rationalize a reason to keep fighting us since we didn't fight her one-on-one and Kuro's current build is perfectly anti-sniper already with Urmetezoan and the Cats of Ulthur. We'll hit her hard and fast while relying on the power of minio-uh, I mean friends to protect our problem child.
For fighting Sinon she's made it clear that she's gunning for us no matter what and her sniping makes her a dangerous monkey wrench to any plan we make if we don't deal with her any plan to hunt Death Gun is liable to fall apart. So best to have Kuro beat her up until she's sober or becomes our friend.
On top of that having both Gwen guarding XeXeeD with Lugh since she's closer to him is insurance in case Death Gun targets him because if he does that's a big point in Death Gun's favor that Kyoji's joined the conspiracy and if whoever attacks XeXeeD can take on him and Gwen that at least means they can hold out longer until Lugh arrives.
Personally, my plan for Gwen is ideally she doesn't involve herself at all and we defeat Sinon ourselves. She's there in case things start going sideways. Admittedly that means in my ideal case her presence is wasted in that she won't do anything, but since Sinon's situation is my priority here I wanted to have the extra safety net. I agree Sinon will be upset if Gwen intervenes - and we're explicitly told that! - but if it does come to that I'm willing to try and salvage it by refuting Sinon's idea of strength, being harsh if necessary and mocking the idea that there's such a thing as "fair" in a real battle and that we simply availed ourselves of a source of strength that she foolishly closed herself off to. But again, ideally it does not come to that - no idea if it would work the way she's acting lately.
While I admit I can't shake the hunch that Death Gun isn't actually here for XeXeeD - that's all it is, a hunch. Even I wouldn't be comfortable going all-in on the idea. I do wish Lugh at spawned closer to him so it doesn't feel like my sending him there feels more like sending a clean-up crew to an accident than genuine assistance but... I guess I'm just hoping XeXeeD isn't all talk and can hold out in an actual fight. Death Gun has the cloak, sure, but that should be a known quantity to some extent. XeXeeD really ought to know what is available in ZASKAR's P2W shop and hopefully should be able to connect the dots when Itsuki pointed out that the lobby was seemingly missing two players that that's an explanation. I don't know so much if there's a great counter to "lol invisible" as Gwen points out, but if there's any meta to dealing with such an opponent he should be one of the ones to know.
But to turn back to my Death Gun musing, what really gets me is how if we suppose for a moment he's not here for XeXeeD it's hard for me to determine what he is here for. With his new MO for killing being dependent on the target appearing to be using a NerveGear rather than their canon plot of being a two man team who sends someone to the target's IRL location it really complicates matters. I think the three players we reasonably think are using them at this moment are Hiyori, Sinon, and XeXeeD. Hiyori's use of one should be unknown to Death Gun (or Itsuki.)
...Uh-oh. So while I've been turning this over in my head, I decided to re-read more of the Seven Bullets Interlude and actually one idea that crossed my mind seems a lot more plausible. See, I started thinking that perhaps what Death Gun was after wasn't a murder this time. Because of the above it's plausible he would not have a target he could be confident enough in to use - besides, suppose he did? It would just be covered up again, right? So, instead, what if he used it to make an announcement to the GGO playerbase and I don't mean a metaphorical one - I mean quite literally take over the airwaves. See, this loops back around to Itsuki and Taipan (his ZASKAR GM collaborator in the gamesverse.) In the games, at one point, when Itsuki starts up his grand yandere plan he kicks it off by contacting Taipan and having him crash the GGO server and cause a service outage. So it's not implausible to me that Itsuki and Taipan could interfere here and use the GM tools to help here (the egging on of XeXeeD in the same 100% comes off as Itsuki's voice to me and it's backed up in how they've been discussing this.) So back to the interlude and over to Zeliska's section of it:
<Of course Master. Chief Taipan needs you to perform maintenance on the server communication infrastructure, there are signs that someone is tampering with it.>
You sigh. Same problem, different day. "It's probably just some young ones trying to bypass the banned word filters again. Can we please deal with it tomorrow?"
<Chief Taipan says it's urgent. Disable all automatic communications and set it to manual GM entry only for this coming Sunday.>
Of course it's the comms issue again. And because this was a SEED game and you didn't have access to the dev room that meant physically dragging your virtual butt through a giant metal corridor to access the console they hid in the heart of Glocken. Because why should tech support be easy? "Sunday? Isn't that the BoB? Can't it wait till after?"
<Negative. He doesn't want notification errors going on during a major tournament. Furthermore, he says he has a data package from ZASKAR he plans on playing as a global advert during the BoB.>
A global advert? A new update? You hadn't heard about this, but they don't keep grunt mods like you informed.
There's a lot to unpack here. Evidence of tampering, Taipan having the system changed to manual GM entry for the BoB, A "global advert" during it? This stinks to me of being a way to get a Death Gun broadcast up. Now, granted, Death Gun could very well have another killing be part of the broadcast as well but I dunno. My hunch keeps telling me it's a red herring and he's going to announce the previous murders and hype up the Real Deal tournament. Or that his real target is some rando (to us) like another veteran player. Though, again, even I am not sure I'd want to bet everything on this hunch. I can be almost completely right and still have XeXeeD dying be part of Death Gun's plan.
Also, I just noticed now, but I think Taipan and Zeliska referring to BoB as Sunday ended up being wrong. It's currently Saturday (so just their dialogue there is wrong AFAIK, all the timestamps on today's update and everything is good to my knowledge.)
Also, I just noticed now, but I think Taipan and Zeliska referring to BoB as Sunday ended up being wrong. It's currently Saturday (so just their dialogue there is wrong AFAIK, all the timestamps on today's update and everything is good to my knowledge.)
*Gwen emerges from a time machine*
"Lux, come quick, we need to stop WW3!"
LOL, I only noticed because I try to be timely with my calendar updates so I had it in my mind that it was Saturday - and started worrying that maybe I was the one who altered the timeline.
[X]Write-In: Leave Her To Me
-[X]Hiyori's Destination: Sinon
--[X]Run with Cats of Ulthar while releasing Decoys AND cast Masukukaja twice [5 SP Cost]
-[X]Gwen: Assign to XeXeeD
--[X] Watch over him with camo, and sneak attack any enemy that looks like they'll kill them or if he looks like he's in trouble.
-[X]Lugh: Assign to XeXeeD
--[X]If possible, have the group discussed a signal method for Lugh to use if XeXeeD appears to be about to be killed by Death Gun. If sighted, Hiyori has told them she plans to use Lightless Crypt to plunge the battlefield into complete darkness.
Bullet of Bullets - TURN 01
"Argh! Open! Up!"
You pound your shoulder against the reinforced glass, every thud of your body adding to your growing frustration. All this ArFa nonsense was neat at the start, but it's rapidly become more trouble than it's worth. GGO, in its infinite wisdom, thought that the only appropriate place to spawn an ArFa was in a stasis pod. But of course, the pod was locked. But of course, the space was so tight you couldn't even draw a gun. But of course, a stasis pod can't be opened from the inside.
"Open! Sesame! You piece of—"
<EMERGENCY OVERRIDE PASSCODE DETECTED. PLEASE STAND BACK FROM THE OPENING DOORS.>
"Waaah!" Your shoulder check carries you forward, the lid of your stasis pod snapping open with a hiss and puff of smoke. You reach your arms out and desperately search for purchase— anything— and manage to catch the bottom of the opening lid with a flailing finger.
Only to slam it down right on top of your head.
You're slumped over the stasis pod, half your body awkwardly dangling out of the front like laundry left to dry on a rope. What an auspicious start to the Bullet of Bullets! At least you're glad nobody's here to witness your great escape, much less— You can climb back in. You know, give it another go. Make it more dramatic.
"Shut up," you say out loud, just to make yourself feel better.
It is, of course, sunset on the «ISL Ragnarok», the instanced island map where the Bullet of Bullets is being fought. You find the name quite auspicious, though you suspect ZASKAR just picked the name to sound edgy.
You're in the middle of a ruined city, the building your stasis pod spawned in long toppled over from either natural erosion or some alien superweapon. An orange haze tinges everything in a sleepy heat, and around you lies urban decay that gradually fades into a rocky desert.
Remembering your training, you immediately lower your profile and sequester yourself behind the nearest cover. You can already hear the distant sounds of firearms across the island— there's a battle going on not far from your current position, and you're not here to waste your time on pointless fights. XaXa is here, and you have to find him. Let XaXa faff around on his own. We got other places to be!
...XaXa was likely to make a beeline straight for XeXeeD. The three leaders of Laughing Coffin all had their preferences for combat operations, and you have a sense of XaXa's particular style.
Despite the casual nature of his leadership, you know that in his heart, PoH is a plotter. A man who would sooner trick, coerce, or deceive his way to his goal. A man who killed after he stacked the deck, not before.
Johnny Black was an unpredictable agent of chaos. Random attacks, dramatic games, and a simple sixth sense for causing as much mayhem as possible. Nothing but maximum chaos.
But XaXa? He was direct. Predictable. He would stalk, isolate, and then fight. Left to his own devices he always gave his opponents a chance— not that it was ever truly a fair fight.
How could it be when one side was terrified of death and the other reveled in it?
If Death Gun is XaXa you have to stop him... yet you made a promise with Sinon. She's waiting for you, you can't just... You're afraid of him.
No! Sinon comes first. You have no idea what you're—
No. Damn it, you're not going to argue with your shadow about this! You have to... to...
Red eyes staring back at you. Like a curious child wondering why it shouldn't squash an ant.
You were useful to PoH. You knew that, everyone knew that, it's what kept you safe. Johnny Black didn't care. You were no fun, and he was dependent on your deliveries. Even he recognized his dependency through his sheer insanity.
But XaXa didn't care.
The only reason he allowed you to live...
Was because you were too weak to be worth his time.
Go to XeXeeD. Confront... the man with the red eyes.... confront XaXa...
It's...
Damn it, you'll start with Sinon!
It's slow going through the ruined city. You couldn't afford to run full tilt, not unless you wanted to get shot at by 30 murderous contestants all waiting to spill first blood. Already you've had to pause at the sound of gunfire in the distance. It seems everyone was naturally gravitating toward the center of the map, which puts them in the way of you and Sinon.
You quickly glance at your Satellite Scan map. Gwen was close, but Lugh spawned all the way to the northwest— literally isolated from every other player and unlikely to be of any immediate help. Adjacent to the map you see a single glowing number highlighted in red— 29.
Someone has already died. It hasn't even been a minute.
Whoever it was must be the unluckiest bastard in the world.
You told both your allies to prioritize hunting down Death Gun over engaging Sinon. Considering they both witnessed the same scene you did, no doubt the pair were making a beeline towards XeXeeD's position. He had all but declared war right then and there— the type of challenge XaXa would be utterly incapable of resisting.
If you didn't confront XaXa— Death Gun— your teammates would. You'll have to trust they can hold their own while you go to Sinon.
Fear rises as you note the sheer size of the map you're forced to traverse through. With the frequent Satellite Scans and the constant threat of another enemy encounter, the odds of reaching your goal without interference were almost infinitesimal.
...
Unless...
You look above you, watching the camera drones whizz overhead. Nothing was pointed at you, the spectator cameras focused on areas of action to make a 30-man death match readable to the audience, and nothing you're doing is even remotely interesting enough to be worth the attention of the masses.
You duck behind a ruined building. You pull out a simple pistol— the Procyon. It reminds you of an arcade light gun, insanely weak in hindsight and minimally effective in combat, but easy enough to channel your Persona into. If you need a way to travel at speed while remaining inconspicuous... one single Persona wouldn't cut it. No single power could grant you the edge that you so desperately need.
But multiple?
"System Call: Cats of Ulthar."
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Cats of Ulthar]. ReferenceID:14.Droit
You instantly feel a thousand eyes staring at you. From every corner and crevice, through every crack and window, cats peer from the shadows, their pale eyes glowing in the fading sunlight, unblinking, unmoving, and utterly uncaring.
But you don't cower. You don't panic. You don't give them the satisfaction. You don't even react.
You just don't care. After all, you were all... just cats lounging in the sun.
System Call: SpawnID: Category:[AddMob] Quest Chain:[ERROR] NPC ID:[Cat of Ulthar]
From just out of sight, two cats round the bend, slowly prancing into your hiding space. They're attracted by the spiritual energy you offer— that or simple curiosity. The white fluffy one yawns and immediately curls in on itself, while the calico with black markings peers up at you, paws stretching.
They will listen... if the mood strikes. And if they don't get hungry. Or sleepy. Or distracted. Perhaps not the best choice of allies, but you were hardly in a position to refuse help.
"System Call: Mithras Liturgy."
A holographic screen erupts from a panel in the Procyon. You mumble out the magical words and feel the alacrity of Hermes granted by the secrets of the cult suffuse your body. You repeat the spell, over and over again, overloading the spell to extend its duration, granting you the speed you need to reach your destination as fast as feasibly possible.
If the cats feel your magic suffusing their forms they don't react.
That's step two.
And finally...
"System call... Urmetazoan."
System Call: Incarnate PERSONA [Urmetazoan]. ReferenceID:07.Droit
You have no idea what this is, the word barely even registers as legible. MAXWELL assured you it was a weak, ineffectual Persona, more of an accident than something of actual worth. The awe-inspiring strength and hunger of Khodumodumo turned inward upon itself, transforming the living mountain into a pile of mush, almost a parody of a Persona. A fractal of animal parts stuffed into a shape that made no anatomical sense. A blob of feathers, sinew, and offal.
At times you suspect it may reflect your current thoughts about Mikami and his desperate desire to revive two of the games that have so consistently complicated your life. But it is still your power. And distorted, strange or not, you can still feel the shape of it, the edge. It yearns to answer your call. To be with you, because it was you.
Your ancestor, your progenitor. That which you formed from, and the anchor to that line of blood that links you to every human on earth.
But Nature flies from the infinite, for the infinite is unending or imperfect, and Nature ever seeks an end.
"Vhuuuvzzggh...."
You can't speak. You feel wrong. The world feels wrong. Undefined.
You can be anything but right now you are nothing. Nothing but a blob, a simple mass of meat and sensation that wants nothing more than to eat, sleep, and propagate.
Hollowed eyes stare from inside and outside, uncountable mouths slathered with fur and scaly wings. Gnarled bone gives way to a gleaming carapace. Talons morph into slimy fins, ungulated hooves fall into shriveled tentacles.
It doesn't hurt. It doesn't like anything. It feels like the absence of everything. It feels... good. You could live out the rest of your life like this, a primal, simpler being, devoid of conflict, and of pain. A serene denouement.
But as always... you still have work to do.
You try to focus on the infinite possibilities. You can be anything, but you can't control anything. If you allow your Persona to change your brain—your mind, you'll gain the instinct to control any shape. But you can't afford to relinquish your human mind. So what can you control right now?
A two-armed, two-legged primate. Not ideal in this circumstance.
A lion? You've had many hours learning how to move every muscle of that alien body— each joint and sinew now so attuned to your soul you could serve tea and biscuits.
Too conspicuous.
Then how about the same shape, just... smaller?
Just like... the two creatures staring at you right now.
System Call: Loading Memory from Server:[Earth//???] ReferenceID:[Urmetazoan]
Rebuilding PERSONA. Package [Spontaneous Generation] Loaded. Enhance Armament.
You blink. Infinite possibility coalesces into a singular form. Everything seems taller now, the drone of the satellites overhead giving you a headache and the sheer texture of the rubble beginning to make your fur bristle. Everything was loud and sharp and...
The two cats next to you stare in recognition. Immediately your new body bristles and snarls back in response.
"Nya!" The calico yowls, dancing around you, tail swishing around. The white fluffball next to you rolls and— plops onto its back, just as disinterested as it was when you first met it. Complex orders were wasted on this pair, but all you needed them to do was to disperse and mind their own business. Decoys instead of combatants.
There's no more time to waste. One android entered this building and now? Three cats leap out of it.
Bullet of Bullets - TURN 07
The sniper's job is to be patient. To snuff out that growling beast of impatience, to wait forever if need be for that one shot. To be as ice.
It's quiet, nothing but the desert breeze rustling the fabric of your muffler. You focus on your breathing, slowly bringing your heart rate down. Your vision narrows through the lens of your scope, darting between every crevice and every ledge a target could use as cover.
The PGM Hécate II sits heavy in your hand— cold, sterile, and fully loaded. Ready to end the life of anyone who crosses your scope.
You already claimed one prey.
He spawned in close to you, practically within pistol range.
Itsuki, a fellow sniper, though not one has specialized as you. Once you would have stepped away, wasted precious seconds observing him, refusing to engage until you had a perfect shot that would never come.
Like ice you would've waited, and like ice you would've melted.
But now you understand, you have been enlightened. You know that all you've been doing is deluding yourself. Trying to justify your own cowardice— your own inaction. It's not about the wait or the anticipation. It is about the moment. The opportunity. The kill.
He's distracted. Eyes focused on the Satellite Scan, his peripheral vision clipped by the device in his hand. You see him smile, you hear him laugh. He's plotting, his eyes dancing across the device in anticipation of some grand revelation.
He's not focused on you. He's not focused on the fight. He's not focused on his own survival.
Which makes him prey.
That was several minutes ago. The next Satellite Scan would be starting any second now, and since then nobody has approached your area. You see flashes in the distance, combat occurring in the central city. Once enough time has passed the tournament organizers will start narrowing the play area, but until then you will stay vigilant.
You check your inventory. PGM Hécate II— your partner, your weapon. With the sheer size of your anti-material rifle, you normally couldn't equip anything stronger than a simple sidearm alongside it.
But during your last fight, you ascended. The Behemoth, that oversized brute with his ridiculous gun... he was smiling. Having the time of his life shredding your team to pieces and leaving you cold and broken amongst the rubble of his rampage.
And there it answered. A new power.
It sits in your side holster. A weapon you could never bring yourself to purchase, even within the world of GGO, but one gifted to you by that stranger with the Red Eyes. He called you weak. That you were not ready. He was right.
But he didn't kill you. He didn't turn and go solve your problems for you.
He simply placed it upon your paralyzed and broken body before vanishing like the specter of death itself. You sat there for what felt like an eternity, cradling that object in your hands. That day it all came into perspective. All that anxiety, all that... pointless fear. How ridiculous.
The real fear lies not in that gun. It's to be the person you used to be. Innocent, happy, stupid, prey. You fear becoming that more than a simple weapon.
And now it sits in your holster, a constant reminder of who you once were. It's hardly GGO's most effective weapon. Its shoddy construction is reflective of its sordid real-world reputation. No muzzle break, no compensator, and no options for even simple customization. Inferior in every way to the current meta pistols.
But you know this weapon. You see it in your nightmares, you feel the etching of the Black Star upon your palm. The thought of this gun used to fill your mouth with bile and your head with regrets. You crushed those thoughts with ice, seeking to bury them in the recesses of your soul until you finally believed yourself strong enough to finally forget them.
But the Red Eyed stranger showed you another path.
That you did not need to fear. That weapon was not your enemy.
It was your power. Your conquest. Your strength.
And now that strength is manifest. The once near-crippling weight of Hecate is now almost completely alleviated. Your very soul reaching out and carrying the weight of your weapon. To your immense surprise, ever since that day when you called upon the power of the Black Star, everything has seemed easier. Sharper. The limitations on your avatar are broken with your will, bypassing even GGO's stringent weight system, turning the anti-material rifle into a weapon as light as an SMG. It was enough that you could even equip a second sniper rifle, your PGM Mini-Hecate, purchased with the money Hiyori gave you.
Money that she earned saving you.
You will not let that debt go unpaid. You will show her that you haven't been standing still. That you are strong, that you no longer need any help, that you are the...
A buzzing at your hip. Another Satellite Scan is incoming.
Players were concentrating in the middle of the map. Another hot spot to the east around XeXeeD's position. Ritchie the Camper has set up to the north. And Kuro...
Kuro was...
Nowhere to be found.
You frown, checking the current player count. 30 players remaining.
Itsuki was alive!?
No. No wait, that's impossible. You confirmed his death yourself. It's already the second scan, how could it be that no one else has lost?
The map... your eyes shift from name to name.
And you see it. The name is hazy, etched into the map as a smaller font, faded so that you didn't even notice it at first. 27 players and 3... hazy, irregular figures. It wasn't Japanese or English, it wasn't even a letter. Instead, it was just a jagged line, almost looking like scratches made on a wooden post. One was lounging around in the center of the map, another wandered west toward the edge of the island.
And the last one... was right behind you.
Your instincts scream. Your heart is pounding in your chest and your mind is shouting in alarm. Something is coming. Something is going to kill you. You made a rookie mistake and got spotted, but that doesn't mean you're cornered yet!
You grasp the Black Star, whipping your arm around as you bring the pistol into a firing position. The gun swings wide, scanning your surroundings. All you need to do is nail them before they nail you. A battle of speed, killer instinct and...
...Is that a cat!?
It's a black cat with golden eyes, languidly staring at you. It meows, its cry somehow tinged with urgency. Is it trying to communicate?
"Kitty, get out of here." you wave your gun at it, the cat only snarling in return. If you shoot this stupid animal all it'll do is draw attention!
"Get lost! Shoo!"
It doesn't move. It just sits there and stares, as if it was waiting for something.
Waiting... for you?
ARMORY
Your carry capacity is 5 POINTS.
Your Optical Shield requires 1 POINT to equip.
Your Armor requires 1 POINT to equip.
You have caught Sinon off-guard. Your first strike will be made with ADVANTAGE should you choose to attack immediately.
You may choose to engage at your leisure. You are currently within MELEE range. If requested there is no reason you cannot engage at a different range, just specify in the plan.
Sinon appears to be armed with an anti-material sniper rifle. You are currently outside of its effective range.
You suspect that Sinon has a way of rapidly increasing her distance from you.
You feel the spectre of hidden power currently possessing her Anti-Material Rifle.
Sinon has made mention of a 2nd Sniper Rifle she purchased with the funds you obtained from Endou.
Sinon has brandished a pistol at you, which you recognize as the Type 54 Black Star.
You currently do not have any in-universe knowledge of the Type 54 Black Star's relationship to Sinon's past.
You currently do not have any in-universe knowledge of Death Gun's association with the Type 54 Black Star.
You currently only recognize the Type 54 Black Star as a weapon Itsuki gave to you that seems to resonate with a dangerous Persona.
You are currently in the body of a Cat of Ulthar.
STR C / AGI C / VIT E / CHT X
You cannot do anything except use Feral Claw (Slash Melee) or Devour (Blunt Melee).
Using any other ability will break your disguise. You also cannot talk.
You are currently in DANGER thus your combat passive of Regenerate and Invigorate are currently active.
Order of Operations:
1d6 + AGI to roll initiative.
First on initiative MOVES and FIRES. Then everyone takes turns.
Then the turn repeats.
ONLY ONE TURN WILL BE SIMULATED.
DO YOU DELAY ENGAGEMENT?
[ ] Delay for 1-3 TURNS You are currently in COMBAT and Urmetazoan PASSIVES are active.
Regenerate 2-6SP.
DO YOU ATTEMPT TO ENGAGE IN DIPLOMACY? [Takes up your TURN]
[ ] Try to talk to Sinon. Cats cannot talk, thus you must reconstitute your original body to do so.
Surrenders the combat initiative to Sinon. WRITE-IN speech.
WHAT IS YOUR ALPHA STRIKE? (Please make sure you have an appropriate Persona and mutually exclusive with Diplomacy)
[ ] Done with this shit Turn 1: Hama early, Hama now.
[ ] OPEN YOUR THIRD EYE Turn 1: Nephren-Ka > ENHANCE ARMAMENT
[ ] Free Command
-Write in what you want to do!
[ ] STUNT [5 DETERMINATION+]
Do something outside the rules and perform a *COMPLEX* write-in option. Do something unexpected that's BEYOND just talking to your opponent or directing your party members!
SUBMIT IN PLAN FORMAT FOR THE LOADOUT AND KURO's ACTIONS!
HOWEVER, CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH IS OUTSIDE OF THE PLAN!
STUNT SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING! IF A STUNT WINS DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MECHANICAL DETAILS!
Unfortunately, I fear we're beyond the point of talking to Sinon here. We have to defeat her first to have a chance of her listening to us.
I think we definitely should take:
Armor (1 Weight)
Gravity Saber (Putana) - With Putana it's 0 weight, and I like it as our best opener.
SAA Cavalry (Paladin) - It's free real estate! Also, with the note that we think Sinon can quick achieve distance... well Embracer lets us automatically move to Melee range.
After that...
Optical Defense Shield - 1 weight.
M1 Garand (Urashima Taro) - 0 weight with Urashima Taro, good range.
Nanbu Type 97 (Undine) - 0 weight with Undine, decent range, Once More
Betelgeuse (Alice) - 1 weight with Alice, decent range, Once More, Alice is a good persona
Black Star (Sokushinbutsu) - 1 weight, might get in Sinon's head?, Meditation is a sure-hit ALMIGHTY 2 damage that recovers HP/SP. Hamaon panic button.
Procyon (Cats of Ulthar) - 0 cost with Cats, lets us spawn more kitties.
Colt SAA Varmit Hunter (Nephren-Ka) - 0 Cost with Nephren-Ka, in case we need to use Lightless Crypt, also we're sticking Nyarly into a joke weapon don't tell me it's not funny.
Bahauser GMA (Mithras Liturgy) - 1 weight, we have a point left over
This brings basically our entire arsenal of weapons, leaving out only the keyboard gun (surprisingly heavy) and the Maxim Gun (very heavy, basically would need Putana assigned to it to be viable but given where we start I like the Gravity Saber more here.) Definitely open to ideas/Persona changes/etc but I think this should give us a lot of options in a fight even if I have an idea of how I want to approach this: Open with Gravity Saber and Collapse (Maximum Sword) and try to keep at close range. If Sinon uses her hinted at ability to gain distance, chase with Embracer (or spawn kitties.)
Of course, if we want to do the funniest thing we could take advantage of... well, our advantage, and use the Black Star's Hamaon to fire at another advantage and maybe log her out instantly. But I don't know if she'd count that as us having beating her, might blame her connection like a scrub.
[]Plan Bringing a Sword to a Gun Fight
-[]Loadout: How does she hold all these guns
--[]Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
--[]Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
--[]Gravity Saber [Putana 0 Weight]
--[]SAA Cavalry [Paladin 0 Weight]
--[]Garand [Urashima Taro 0 Weight]
--[]Nambu Cosmo Navy [Undine 0 Weight]
--[]Procyon [Cats of Ulthar 0 Weight]
--[]Varmit Hunter [Nephren-Ka 0 Weight]
--[]Betelgeuse [Alice 1 Weight]
--[]Black Star [Shokushinbutsu 1 Weight]
--[]Bahauser GMA [Mithras Liturgy 1 Weight]
-[] Maximum Sword (Gravity Saber/Putana > Collapse)
Edit: This is, uh, too much probably. Modified it to a slimmer version with some strategy changes a few posts below!
Uh...I'm pretty sure the Gravity Saber is supposed to have a weight of 3, not 5. It says so in our inventory, and it says so in the shop. Said so in the shop as far back as when it was first available for purchase, in fact...QM did you mix up its weight with its accuracy?
Assuming that's correct, given that it doesn't seem that Sinon has any optical weapons...
[X] Pistol Whipping, with style
-[X] Customize Loadout
--[X] Level 1 Armor
--[X] Nambu Cosmo Navy (Undine)
--[X] Maxim Gun (Putana)
--[X] Gravity Saber (Cats of Ulthar)
--[X] X-Calibur (Helena)
--[X] SAA Cavalry (Paladin)
-[X] Alpha Strike
--[X] Embracer (Paladin)
Does the selected loadout 'stick' until the end of the tournament?
I also noted that Sinon likely doesn't have optical weapons - it would make sense, GGO's PVP should heavily dissuade them - but IDK if her Persona might have a way of causing it so eh, better safe than sorry.
Also, Alcor, I'm worried QM might veto your plan by virtue of the fact that it uses almost every gun in our inventory. At the end of ALO, we could have up to five Personas 'active' at a time. I don't see any reason the QM has given, narratively or mechanically aside from the weight system, that that limit has been increased.
In fact, let's just drop it whether it's allowed or not and slim that down some.
[X]Plan Bringing a Sword to a Gun Fight Now With Less Calories
-[X]Customize Loadout
--[X]Akasha Shield [1 Weight]
--[X]Level 1 Armor [1 Weight]
--[X]Gravity Saber [Putana 0 Weight]
--[X]SAA Cavalry [Paladin 0 Weight]
--[X]Garand [Urashima Taro 0 Weight]
--[X]X-CALIBUR [Mithras Liturgy 3 Weight]
--[X]Procyon [Cats of Ulthar 0 Weight]
--[X]Betelgeuse [Nephren-Ka 0 Weight]
-[X] Maximum Sword (Gravity Saber/Putana > Collapse)
The same general outline of "Maximum Sword on Sinon, then chase if she flees with Embracer"applies. Made a few Persona adjustments based on some speculation on Sinon's affinities:
Lots of talk about Ice, so I'm willing to lean that she has Ice/Bufu type skills and we're likely looking at Pierce and/or Blunt from her weapons directly. She talks about how the way she used to be the ice would melt which makes me think fire weakness but whoops our only Fire spell is Ragnarok on Nephren-Ka so probably not something we'll take advantage of. So instead I looked to stocking up on Persona that resist what I think she'll have. Alice and Cats have Pierce weaknesses and I'm wary of taking that particular weakness into this fight, so dropped them both. Urashima Taro has Resist Pierce and Null Ice and is the MVP in this regard. Mithras Liturgy carries Resist Pierce and packs two elements so would be better for weakness fishing than most. Nephren-Ka still sticking around because I'm not sure if we need it in the loadout to use Lightless Crypt if Gwen or Lugh sends the signal.
Edit/Update: Added Procyon w/ Cats of Ulthar to the plan since it sounds like a sixth weapon is okay to take. Technically I could rework the entire set-up to account for being able to take more stuff but I'm lazy right now lol
As I've pointed out, I'm pretty sure the Gravity Saber is supposed to have a weight of 3, not 5, given what our Armory sheet and the shop says.
Given that, we'd be wasting 2 STR for carrying capacity. Alcor's loadout would also lose access to Prayer of Menes, which we can use as a panic button to catch Sinon off guard (We already have 2 cats out in the map. We'd create 3 on using Prayer of Menes and sic them all on Sinon for a total of 5 cats, and the only thing she has for 'close' quarters combat is the Black Star, which fires with disadvantage in melee range).
I noticed the Gravity Saber thing too, but my strategy is to maximize the damage with it - Putana gives more STR die than any other option, and I focused on that rather than fret about Putana having 5 STR when the Saber is 3 weight - it's really only a factor when considering the Maxim Gun because Putana "wastes" STR on every other weapon in terms of carrying capacity, not just the Saber. I explained dropping the Cats because of my wariness of their Pierce Weakness - my concern is that we'd be giving her a great opportunity to lay the hurt on us by exposing that for the turn it would take to use it - unless we open with it right here and now in lieu of a damage skill. We can use Embracer to close the distance and stick to melee range if Sinon creates some real distance instead of relying on more cats.
If Death Gun is XaXa you have to stop him... but you made a promise with Sinon. She's waiting for you, you can't just... You're afraid of him.
No! Sinon comes first. You have no idea what you're—
No. Damn it, you're not going to argue with your shadow about this! You have to... to...
Red eyes staring back at you. Like a curious child wondering why it shouldn't squash an ant.
You were useful to PoH. You knew that, everyone knew that, it's what kept you safe. Johnny Black didn't care. You were no fun, and he was dependent on your deliveries. Even he recognized his dependency through his sheer insanity.
But XaXa didn't care.
The only reason he allowed you to live...
Was because you were too weak to be worth his time.
Go to XeXeeD. Confront... the man with the red eyes.... confront XaXa...
They will listen... if the mood strikes. And if they don't get hungry. Or sleepy. Or distracted. Perhaps not the best choice of allies, but you were hardly in a position to refuse help.
And now that strength is manifest. The once near-crippling weight of Hecate is now almost completely alleviated. Your very soul reaching out and carrying the weight of your weapon. To your immense surprise, ever since that day when you called upon the power of the Black Star, everything has seemed easier. Sharper. The limitations on your avatar are broken with your will, bypassing even GGO's stringent weight system, turning the anti-material rifle into a weapon as light as an SMG. It was enough that you could even equip a second sniper rifle, your PGM Mini-Hecate, purchased with the money Hiyori gave you.
I'm taking this as a sign that Sinon is really deep in drinking the Kool-Aid. Given GGO's focus on guns over everything else you'd suspect that the devs wouldn't program something as superfluous as a cat into a field and as a veteran player Sinon would be more suspecious unless she's getting reality and fiction mixed up.
I should have seen this coming, if there's a Persona skill that eliminates range there should be an opposite skill that gives it back for long-range fighters in a shooter.
Don't really know what to to for. I can see Putana's appeal with her sky-high strength being capable of taking out a big chunk of Sinon's HP easily but after all the SP spent to get the cats off just banishing them feels like a waste and given how much SP we spent on top of them being a perfect backup plan if Sinon gets away and I'm still partial to keep Urmetezoan on so we can get some SP back since Sinon's just the opening act here.
Uh...I'm pretty sure the Gravity Saber is supposed to have a weight of 3, not 5. It says so in our inventory, and it says so in the shop. Said so in the shop as far back as when it was first available for purchase, in fact...QM did you mix up its weight with its accuracy?
Also, Alcor, I'm worried QM might veto your plan by virtue of the fact that it uses almost every gun in our inventory. At the end of ALO, we could have up to five Personas 'active' at a time. I don't see any reason the QM has given, narratively or mechanically aside from the weight system, that that limit has been increased.
I should have seen this coming, if there's a Persona skill that eliminates range there should be an opposite skill that gives it back for long-range fighters in a shooter.
Embracer is more of a lunge than teleport. You still have to be in range of the SAA to use it, you can't teleport from miles away. That's exclusive to Doraemon and Slender.
Oh, hmm, Embracer's ability to close is more limited than I hoped then. Okay then, I'll add in the Procyon with Cats of Ulthar to my plan then to put the kitty option back on the table even if I personally remain wary of how that might go since it sounds like a 6th Persona/gun is okay and it won't cost any weight to do that. I could technically go back to something approaching my original plan that had ALL THE GUNS but I won't (for now, unless there's a desire for it) just to not clutter things.
Okay since we have the okay on more guns I'm gonna try my own plan. This is based around preparing for the future since Sinon is clearly only our first boss and we've burned through half of our SP, with Urmetezoan loaded we'll be able to get our SP back, and even without our optical shieldIng Urmetezoan will also let us heal if we get hurt offsetting the damage. This plan will also let us keep our cats out in case of emergency as well. I admit the lack of optical shielding is a risk but it's the most worthwhile risk in my opinion.
