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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Ahaha! YES!

...

Ejem. Hey! Re-reading a bit, it's sad that Mami hasn't had the luxury of walking around half-asleep for a while.

Morning ablutions done, you wander over to the kitchen. "Good morning, Mami!" you greet cheerfully.

This early in the morning, Mami's hair lies limp and slightly bedraggled instead of her usual drill style. "Hm? Good morning, Sabrina," she replies, somewhat blearily, eyes staring dully at the mixing bowl in front of her. Her hands move with practiced motions, and yet... you watch as she misses the edge of the bowl with an egg twice in a row.

Not a morning person?

"Here, let me help with that," you say, gently grabbing the egg and bumping Mami out of the way. "Pancakes?"

You take the muffled grumble Mami makes as a yes, supressing a grin at the distinctly un-Mami noise. Not a morning person, then. She wanders off into the living room and collapses on the couch.

Two minutes later, she apparently startles awake, and bustles back into the kitchen, this time looking considerably more alert. "Ah, Sabrina? You shouldn't..."
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You know, I really like the colour purple.

*hint hint wink wink*
 
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[X] Okay, well, I think we know all we can figure out at this point. All that's left is to go save Sayaka.
[X] Say goodbye to Oriko and Kirika, and ask Mami to withdraw her ribbon.
[X] Check Sayaka's home first.
[X] Head off towards the industrial district, find the witch, and start looking for Sayaka around the barrier, then inside.
 
[X] Okay, well, I think we know all we can figure out at this point. All that's left is to go save Sayaka.
[X] Say goodbye to Oriko and Kirika, and ask Mami to withdraw her ribbon.
[X] Check Sayaka's home first.
[X] Head off towards the industrial district, find the witch, and start looking for Sayaka around the barrier, then inside.

EYE-SEARING FOR THE EYE-SEARING GOD! BLUE FOR THE BLUE THRONE!
 
If "Feathers" is involved, then we're going to be facing an unknown enemy with unknown abilities who is stronger than Walpurgisnacht and who is holding one of our friends hostage. That is a bad situation to walk into blind, even if "Feathers" is acting indirectly by using Elsa Maria as a catspaw. We have timestop, so that's helpful, but "Feathers" almost certainly knows that we will be using it. If we're not going to ask Oriko for more information, let's at least try to leverage our grief abilities to reduce our odds of falling into the trap, and to survive if we trigger it anyway:
1. Full armor: Magic Enhancing Gauntlets, Wings, Plate Mail, Enhancement Harness. All of these have been tested, so we know that they work.
2. We can offer to enhance Mami and Homura as well; the enhancements should work for them as long as they stay within 100m.
3. Mental protection and telepathy would be good too, though we haven't yet tried creating items to do that.
4. Create sensors to increase our range: grief sensing (to find the witch), human sensing (to find Sayaka), and magic sensing (to find anything else)
5. We should also use remotely controlled constructs to go ahead of us so that any proximity based traps are triggered on the constructs rather than on our squishy human bodies. We were already attacked once (in timestop) using this trick: we should take measures to prevent it from working a second time.

The current vote specifies that we search for Sayaka everywhere, including the inside of the barrier without taking any of these precautions.
 
landcollector said:
@boonerunner
If "Feathers" is involved, and if it can get around time stop, what good will armor do?
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It would protect us from being exploded by a proximity mine.
It would protect us from being pincushioned by Elsa Maria's Tentacle Attack.
It would protect us or help us dodge any physical attack and most magical ones.
Armor is generally useful.

We're going into a situation that we know is dangerous. Why shouldn't we armor up?
 
boonerunner said:
If "Feathers" is involved, then we're going to be facing an unknown enemy with unknown abilities who is stronger than Walpurgisnacht and who is holding one of our friends hostage. That is a bad situation to walk into blind, even if "Feathers" is acting indirectly by using Elsa Maria as a catspaw. We have timestop, so that's helpful, but "Feathers" almost certainly knows that we will be using it. If we're not going to ask Oriko for more information, let's at least try to leverage our grief abilities to reduce our odds of falling into the trap, and to survive if we trigger it anyway:
1. Full armor: Magic Enhancing Gauntlets, Wings, Plate Mail, Enhancement Harness. All of these have been tested, so we know that they work.
2. We can offer to enhance Mami and Homura as well; the enhancements should work for them as long as they stay within 100m.
3. Mental protection and telepathy would be good too, though we haven't yet tried creating items to do that.
4. Create sensors to increase our range: grief sensing (to find the witch), human sensing (to find Sayaka), and magic sensing (to find anything else)
5. We should also use remotely controlled constructs to go ahead of us so that any proximity based traps are triggered on the constructs rather than on our squishy human bodies. We were already attacked once (in timestop) using this trick: we should take measures to prevent it from working a second time.

The current vote specifies that we search for Sayaka everywhere, including the inside of the barrier without taking any of these precautions.
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Now is not the time for science, and we haven't tested enhancements on other people. Let's just go look around. I don't think the stuff we already know how to do will be that helpful pre-prepared.
 
Gadjo said:
Now is not the time for science, and we haven't tested enhancements on other people. Let's just go look around. I don't think the stuff we already know how to do will be that helpful pre-prepared.
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We have already tried the Magic Enhancing Gauntlets, the Wings, the Plate Mail, and the Enhancement Harness on ourselves. It's not science any more, it's application. Being able to better defend ourselves better in actual combat was the entire reason for doing the science in the first place.

When it comes to using them on other people, I would prefer that Homura and Mami be protected as well, but whatever. I can see why some people might not want to try out something new right now.

But at the absolute least we should armor up Sabrina and turn on our sensors. Is there any reason not take this simple, easy step?
 
boonerunner said:
We have already tried the Magic Enhancing Gauntlets, the Wings, the Plate Mail, and the Enhancement Harness on ourselves. It's not science any more, it's application. Being able to better defend ourselves better in actual combat was the entire reason for doing the science in the first place.

When it comes to using them on other people, I would prefer that Homura and Mami be protected as well, but whatever. I can see why some people might not want to try out something new right now.

But at the absolute least we should armor up Sabrina and turn on our sensors. Is there any reason not take this simple, easy step?
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Well, the witch stuff freaks Mami and Homu out, so preferably avoid that. As for Armor? We can armor up next vote. I doubt we'll just be getting slammed on the way there. I don't know about you, but I don't think we're going to literally meet the feathers there. Just get clues for what it is and what it does. For the most part? It's just not worth messing with the vote. We can do it next update.
 
Gadjo said:
Well, the witch stuff freaks Mami and Homu out, so preferably avoid that.
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We're going into combat. Witchy stuff is inevitable. Mami and Homura know that our combat style is designed around witchy stuff. We've gone over this in the past: as long as we warn them ahead of time about what we're doing so that they aren't surprised by it, it's fine.

Gadjo said:
As for Armor? We can armor up next vote. I doubt we'll just be getting slammed on the way there. I don't know about you, but I don't think we're going to literally meet the feathers there. Just get clues for what it is and what it does.
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I would prefer to armor up along the way, because we don't know where we might meet resistance, but at the very least we should armor up before entering the barrier, and the current vote has us searching around inside the barrier without taking any safety precautions at all (apart from Timestop, which we should not rely on).

Also, the vote has us looking around for the witch and for Sayaka without using any of our sensory equipment. This means that it will take longer to do the search and it might be less thorough. We're in timestop, so that's not an Earth shattering difference, but it would save time to make the sensors, so why shouldn't we?

It's just not worth messing with the vote.
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Why shouldn't we "mess with the vote"? When improvements are suggested (and people can agree that they are improvements - or even when some people think that they are improvements and others are neutral), then votes ought to be changed. It's only when people are actively against the changes that there's a question.

Show of hand: is anyone actively opposed to armoring up before we enter the barrier or using sensors to help search for the witch and for Sayaka?
 
Alright, allow me to be more frank: I don't think those things are necessary and so I'm not willing to go to the trouble of including them or convincing people they should be included, because personally I just don't think it's important.
 
boonerunner said:
It's not like Homura has ever forgotten that Oriko killed Madoka. That is the reason she's on edge right now. Bringing up the topic of Madoka's safety will not suddenly cause her to remember why she's angry at Oriko because she never forgot in the first place. However, it might assuage some of Homura's fears by reminding her that Madoka is safe right now.
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That's not the way trauma (or PTSD) works. It's not like Homura has ever forgotten that Oriko killed Madoka, but do you really want to trigger the exact memory (and experience, because PTSD, remember?) right now? And no, Homura is not on edge because she knows something, she's on edge because she's basically looking at the trigger for one of her worst memories/experiences right in the face, and is supposed to be acting normally even though said trigger is just as firmly tied into timestop--AKA, her personal refuge, primary power, and her only trump card against threats, all in one, as well as the only thing she has been able to rely on for aid against the many eldritch horrors, disastrous social situations, potential betrayals, and juggled challenges arrayed against her.

Homura is struggling to keep her mindspace out of those highly traumatic experiences/memories while ALSO trying not to panic or lash out at anyone at having her personal sanctuary, crutch, and best tool for surviving and combating threats being freely occupied by two living triggers for her that she is very wary of.

Bringing Madoka up won't assuage any fears. If she seriously thinks Oriko might be lying in some way, having Oriko focus on Madoka and say something about her current state is more likely to distress and provoke her further.

Look, I can relate, albeit to only a small degree, to what this kind of situation feels like to Homura, what it does to her. And the fact that the causes for my issues that would have comparable effects (to a far lesser degree) are nowhere near as bad as hers should tell you something, in light of how certain I am, here. When a person is severely anxious, unnerved, stressed, afraid/wary, tense, and struggling to keep themselves contained--especially when part of that struggle is keeping your mind from fully working itself into a panic or dwelling on the kinds of thoughts, memories, or emotions that further exacerbate your mental and physical state--you do not explicitly remind them of the main thing that's creating the reaction in the first place. If you're lucky, they won't blow up at you (or them), and will just worsen instead. Even if you are lucky, it will cause the person in question to take longer to cool down, and the aftereffects will be more severe still. If the experience was bad enough for them, it'll actually have lasting effects in the long-term.

Again, you are approaching the situation from a rational standpoint, but Homura's current state is anything but. Stop thinking about it rationally, and start empathizing with her. If you do, you'll start to realize:

A) Homura is feeling like hell right now, and wants to be out of this situation as soon as fucking possible.
B) Homura does not put much stock in what Oriko says, because she doesn't trust Oriko at all, and believes her to be a threat who is biding her time. Any further information Sabrina might try to look for right now, of all times, is dubious at best and most likely irrelevant.
C) Homura is not comfortable with Sabrina seeming to trust Oriko and Kirika so readily, and fears that Sabrina is rendering herself vulnerable to someone she believes to be very dangerous, very ruthless, and very cunning, and that by extension, Homura is compromising herself as well.

So trying such an insensitive and counterproductive token of placation, all for the sake of convenience, will absolutely rub Homura the wrong way and piss her off, to boot.
 
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boonerunner said:
If "Feathers" is involved, then we're going to be facing an unknown enemy with unknown abilities who is stronger than Walpurgisnacht and who is holding one of our friends hostage. That is a bad situation to walk into blind, even if "Feathers" is acting indirectly by using Elsa Maria as a catspaw. We have timestop, so that's helpful, but "Feathers" almost certainly knows that we will be using it. If we're not going to ask Oriko for more information, let's at least try to leverage our grief abilities to reduce our odds of falling into the trap, and to survive if we trigger it anyway:
1. Full armor: Magic Enhancing Gauntlets, Wings, Plate Mail, Enhancement Harness. All of these have been tested, so we know that they work.
2. We can offer to enhance Mami and Homura as well; the enhancements should work for them as long as they stay within 100m.
3. Mental protection and telepathy would be good too, though we haven't yet tried creating items to do that.
4. Create sensors to increase our range: grief sensing (to find the witch), human sensing (to find Sayaka), and magic sensing (to find anything else)
5. We should also use remotely controlled constructs to go ahead of us so that any proximity based traps are triggered on the constructs rather than on our squishy human bodies. We were already attacked once (in timestop) using this trick: we should take measures to prevent it from working a second time.

The current vote specifies that we search for Sayaka everywhere, including the inside of the barrier without taking any of these precautions.
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I just quoted this post because it has an example of the thing that I take issue with on it. I'm not saying this to insult you, or because I want to start a flame war/battle/argument-that-will-make-Fern-throw-his-hands-up-in-disgust, I'm just saying it because it may be something that you haven't considered.

My problem with your shadowruns is this: Your lack of faith is disturbing. You seem to think that Firn would do something like make an enemy "Lol-I-Win" without even giving us a fighting chance to combat it. This is incorrect, in my opinion, because he's a QM. The point of the quest, above and beyond whatever plot points may come our way, is to have fun. Is fighting Momlucifer fun? No, she'd crush us. Would fighting Walpurgisnacht-hiding-in-a-breadbox be fun? Bad question, it'd be hilarious, but the answer is supposed to be no.

Shadowruns have their place, and it's not paranoia when they really are out to get you. It's when you drive everybody away from any of your valid points because of how your arguments read that it becomes a problem. And that's what you are doing. Yes, we should be careful. No, we shouldn't detract from the effectiveness of the other party members on the off chance anti-magic happens. Trust that the GM won't pull horrible things out of nowhere because he can and/or is bored; he's not Moiderah. I'm sorry for sounding presumptuous and/or condescending, because I'm pretty darn bad at wording things, but that is what it comes off as, to the uninitiated forum-goer. Sorry.
 
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Agent Whiskers said:
Yeah we kind of have a problem with things like that, but we're working on it.
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Er, thing is...having discussions like this literally is the "working on it" part. Votes translate into actions. If you never try to point out to the relevant voters that they're wrong or consistently making some kind of mistake, and do your best to actually try to convince them (civility is important, though, of course), then you haven't really worked on it, have you? I mean, sure--you can wait for their own actions to blow up in their faces enough times and hope that they'll draw the right conclusions and change their beliefs or perceptions in the right ways, but is it really a good idea to learn everything in the hardest way possible?
 
Gadjo said:
Now, now. Be fair to Moid: he generally gave us logical threats that we could defeat. He's pretty fair. Now his dice on the other hand...
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's a quest I follow that involves no dice at all, but threw us into a situation that was already FUBAR beyond belief and had the odds stacked super far against us, and then threw in a villain who's such a master of gambit roulette that regardless what choices we had made before then, she could have twisted any of them into a speech that induces a Heroic RROD.
 
Gadjo said:
Now, now. Be fair to Moid: he generally gave us logical threats that we could defeat. He's pretty fair. Now his dice on the other hand...
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True, but he never once let us/you roll over a witch On-screen. Our witches are Elite Mooks, his witches were Colossi... literally, in a few cases.

justinkal said:
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's a quest I follow that involves no dice at all, but threw us into a situation that was already FUBAR beyond belief and had the odds stacked super far against us, and then threw in a villain who's such a master of gambit roulette that regardless what choices we had made before then, she could have twisted any of them into a speech that induces a Heroic RROD.
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Sounds like Witch Quest... What is it?
 
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