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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Ugolino said:
Which is why we solve this without doing anything particularly monstrous or that'll needlessly paint us in a bad light, yes?
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Impossible. Like I said, no vote really supports that, and nobody wishes to follow the plans that would help. Not even if releasing Rin results in no combat, which seems not possible atm, for we'd still have tried to turn Rin against Sendai.

I feel like this SpaceGrief discussion is going in circles.....
 
The current winning vote does- and follows a plan that will. We're trying to turn Rin against Sendai- but we're doing it indirectly and in a way less likely to alienate them.
 
Ugolino said:
The current winning vote does- and follows a plan that will. We're trying to turn Rin against Sendai- but we're doing it indirectly and in a way less likely to alienate them.
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From a neutral perspective, releasing Rin and asking her to plead for peace would be fine - positive, even.

However, like I said above, it is not neutral at all. This will be third time we try to undermine Sendai during these negotiations, following the heels of Kato/Lich prodding.

"First she lichbombs Rin, then she drives Akiko to the edge, then she tries to undermine Akiko through me and Yumi, then she goes on to try to drive Rin against Akiko, with ominous ultimatum of being unwilling to stand aside for fight."

She already accused us of being anti-Sendai. Frankly, as great help as Sabrina has been, even in this conflict, I can see how she would perceive that.

It is better for relations than the combat alternative, but the message it bears isn't going to be taken well.
 
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Then she let Rin go as promised being the alternative to "and then she went back on her word and helped those girls hold her hostage".
 
Ugolino said:
Then she let Rin go as promised being the alternative to "and then she went back on her word and helped those girls hold her hostage".
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Prisoner, not hostage - but ideally, we're going to hold her and her team prisoner after beating them either way after that - and that will be even worse.

Clarification: I'm not arguing here for dropping everything to support Sakura, but that Sakura perceives Sabrina very badly - enough to have a major arc on fixing that. We can't talk her into being an express around the Japan over biweekly tea and cleansing, especially given our entrance to this situation was in grief jet.
 
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Semantics are unhelpful. Telling Sakura, "She's not a hostage, she's a prisoner. Technicalities lulz" is not a good way to keep our word and have our cake too. We have to let her go because we already said we would.
 
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"We've Got Hostiles" pt. 31
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    • Well then.

    You close your eyes again, plans crystallizing and cascading through your mind in spinning drifts of thought. Mami's comforting warmth at your side, steel in her spine, and the pulsing sensation of the other, uneasy puella magi on the roof.

    It feels like an age passes before you next open your eyes, gaze steely and steady even as your thoughts continue to churn uneasily. You straighten, and an effort of will pulls the masses of Grief idling on the far roof to you. It flows across in a cascade of deep purple spheres of varying sizes, and they settle into a wide, drifting orbit on the rooftop.

    The casual display of power draws cautious, discomfited looks from the University girls.

    You gently take the umbrella from Mami, holding it to the side, and you smoothly spin a disc of Grief into existence to take its place. The umbrella you hold out to Rin, who's soaking wet by now, hair and clothes alike plastered flat against her skin by the rain cascading down.

    Her hand shakes as she accepts the umbrella.

    Your gaze rakes across the University Group. "Transform, please," you say quietly.

    Light strobes out across the roof, the familiar weight of your mantled coat settling on your shoulders, and another blaze is Mami transforming before she steps back to your side, arm winding around your waist again.

    More novas of light flicker out across the darkness of the night as the University girls transform.

    Rin doesn't.

    Stark worry is etched on her face. Her gaze darts, fever-quick, across the University girls.

    "Miss Sabrina?" Chouko asks, taking a step forward and tilting her umbrella back slightly.

    "I'm going... we're going to need to go after Akiko herself, if this is to end," you say meditatively, mindful of Mami at your side. "This all hinges on her. So I will." Your gaze focuses on Chouko. "Miss Tsubaki, will you come with us? To confront Akiko? Will you all?" Your eyes sweep across Haru and Rei, and Yuko.

    Chouko opens her mouth, and then closes it slowly, pressing her lips together. "May we discuss this? This is... not an easy decision."

    "Of course," you say, with a small wave of your hands, and Chouko turns back to her comrades, the small cluster of umbrellas shifting. You eye them for a moment before turning to Rin instead.

    "Rin," you say, voice still pitched barely loud enough to be heard over the pattering of rain off concrete. "I'm not going to lie. Things have gotten pretty serious. You're... at a crossroads, and you may need to make an important choice very soon."

    The healer rocks back on her heels, looking like she's just been slapped. A spark of defiance flickers to life, and she glares half heartedly at you. "I know. I know. Y-you... don't have to dress it up in... dramatics, Miss Sabrina."

    You twitch your head in a minute shake. "Perhaps. Things cannot continue like this. If your group is unwilling to listen to reason... then they need to be stopped. I cannot promise that this won't come to a fight. I'd like to say I could, but I can't. I promise I won't hurt them anymore then I absolutely have to."

    That garners reactions from the University girls - a handful of dubious frowns, the Suzuki sisters swaying backwards and away from you.

    Your gaze shifts back to them. "Would you be willing to-"

    Mami sucks in a sharp breath, and with her cuddled against your side, you can feel her muscles tauten. "Something's wrong."

    Tension suddenly skyrockets. Eight sets of eyes snap to scan the surrounding rooftops.

    You can't sense anything, and you don't see anything.

    But...

    A low bubbling snarl that is Kirika, the girl peeling out of the awning and dropping into half crouch. Her claws, suddenly present, gleam at her sides.

    Rustles, and a dull crack. The Suzuki sisters, a thick vine with its roots sunk into solid creak and slips of paper fluttering restlessly.

    Chouko, delicate butterfly wings beating gently at the air.

    Rin, looking terrified and miserable. Not even transformed. And Yuko, standing unseen behind her.

    "Mami?" you ask.

    "I'm sure," she says, golden eyes scanning across the roofs. Her arm around your waist squeezes once, and she steps slightly to the side, holding herself lightly, on the balls of her feet.

    "Miss Sabrina, we're moving," Chouko's voice sounds in your head. "Are you coming?"

    [] Go with them
    [] Prepare to fight here
    [] Write-in

    =====​

    Time's up.
     
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    • Also, we really need to work on that six sense of ours. How the hell are we the only ones unable to pick up on this when everyone else is dropping straight into combat mode?
     
    Quest said:
    Did you see how distracted we were? *gestures at the last few pages*
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    I know, I was part of it! It's like the amount of natter in PMAS increases exponentially the longer it has been since the last update.

    [x] Go with them
    - [x] Set up the grief shields. Make sure that there is at least one grief shield accompanying each person at all times, preferably more. Don't ease up on the grief, it's not like you have a shortage of it.
    - [x] If combat starts, keep them outside of melee range. Overwhelm them with large masses of grief if they get too close.
    -- [x] Don't bother holding back. Avoid attacking their soul gems, but everything else is fair game.
     
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    *shivers* Brrrr, that hit the spot.

    I'm thinking there's a massive build-up of magic, probably from Akiko using the rain to prep an alpha strike on our group.

    If we really want to get out of the rain, we could always fly straight *up* and above the clouds.
     
    Should we move out and leave Rin behind? Consult with UG first or there's no time for that?

    Also, we should do something about the rain. Grief umbrellas and awnings are small things, we have a lot of grief to play with: We can totally use it to dry everybody and keep the rain from falling on us.

    EDIT:
    Rin, looking terrified and miserable. Not even transformed. And Yuko, standing unseen behind her.
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    Oh hey, does this confirm we can sense Yuko while she's invisible?


    Firnagzen said:
    "I'm going... we're going to need to go after Akiko herself, if this is to end," you say meditatively, mindful of Mami at your side. "This all hinges on her. So I will." Your gaze focuses on Chouko. "Miss Tsubaki, will you come with us? To confront Chouko? Will you all?" Your eyes sweep across Haru and Rei, and Yuko.
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    Firnagzen said:
    You gently take the umbrella from Mami, holding it to the side, and you smoothly spin a disc of Grief into existence to take its place. The rain you hold out to Rin, who's soaking wet by now, hair and clothes alike plastered flat against her skin by the rain cascading down.
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    I apologize for butchering the vote, CG.

    [x] Go with them
    - [x] Set up the grief shields. Make sure that there is at least one grief shield accompanying each person at all times, preferably more. Don't ease up on the grief, it's not like you have a shortage of it.
    - [x] Ask Mami to elaborate on what she sensed.
    - [x] Leave Rin at the rooftop with an umbrella. Contact Sakura via telepathy to pick her up
    - [x] If combat starts, keep them outside of melee range. Overwhelm them with large masses of grief if they get too close.
    -- [x] Don't bother holding back. Avoid attacking their soul gems, but everything else is fair game.
    -- [x] Like before: keep Kirika's anti-magic ability as a trump card.
     
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    Let's try something a little bigger.

    [X] Go with them
    [X] Leave Rin. Telepathy the UG to tell them we can't get bogged down by a hostage, we need to concentrate on the enemy fighters. If they object, assure them that hostages won't help: This ends here.
    [x] Ask Mami to elaborate on what she sensed.
    [X] Warn everybody that you're setting up defenses: Set up a grief constellation. Every friendly including yourself should have an important fraction of your grief orbitting around them to serve as point defense and shields, and to attack enemies. Assure your allies that you won't hit them and that they can move freely.
    -[X] Tell Kirika to be ready to pull off the same move from earlier, at your word.
    -[X] Battlefield control. Concentrate first on defending your allies, then on attacking your enemies.
    -[X] Should you sense an enemy within your range, take their gems.

    This is nothing new. Remember Sabrina used to make constellations out of grief marbles before getting the sling bag. And while she herself had a little trouble crashing into random stuff, she somehow kept the grief marbles from hitting anything.

    defenestrator said:
    I apologize for butchering the vote, CG.

    [] Go with them
    - [] Set up the grief shields. Make sure that there is at least one grief shield accompanying each person at all times, preferably more. Don't ease up on the grief, it's not like you have a shortage of it.
    - [] Ask Mami to elaborate on what she sensed.
    - Leave Rin at the rooftop with an umbrella. Contact Sakura via telepathy to pick her up
    - [] If combat starts, keep them outside of melee range. Overwhelm them with large masses of grief if they get too close.
    -- [] Don't bother holding back. Avoid attacking their soul gems, but everything else is fair game.
    -- [] Like before: keep Kirika's anti-magic ability as a trump card.
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    Missed a []


    EDIT: Have we thought on how to disrupt light/shadow combo? I'm thinking of adding: [] As soon as your group is attacked make a grief flashbang.

    Perhaps messing with the lighting will also mess up their abilities, or at least their coordination.
     
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    [x] Go with them
    - [x] Set up the grief shields. Make sure that there is at least one grief shield accompanying each person at all times, preferably more. Don't ease up on the grief, it's not like you have a shortage of it.
    - [x] Ask Mami to elaborate on what she sensed.
    - [x] Leave Rin at the rooftop with an umbrella. Contact Sakura via telepathy to pick her up
    - [x] If combat starts, keep them outside of melee range. Overwhelm them with large masses of grief if they get too close.
    -- [x] Don't bother holding back. Avoid attacking their soul gems, but everything else is fair game.
    -- [x] Like before: keep Kirika's anti-magic ability as a trump card.
     
    [x] Defenestrator
    Onmur said:
    Have we thought on how to disrupt light/shadow combo? I'm thinking of adding: [] As soon as your group is attacked make a grief flashbang.
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    We need to know what the hell the combo even is first before we start developing countermeasures, and with our grief shields survivng the first strike shouldn't be an issue. Also, grief flashbang?
     
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    Cannongerbil said:
    [x] Defensetrator

    We need to know what the hell the combo even is first before we start developing countermeasures, and with our grief shields survivng the first strike shouldn't be an issue. Also, grief flashbang?
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    Light. Will grief to make lots of light.

    EDIT: Yes, I know that would blind our friends, we can warn them first.
     
    A flashbang might actually end up helping the light manipulator.

    Got an idea: eldritch shields

    Basically make the outward facing side of our shields/grief fort painful/disturbing to look at. Think lovecraftian imagery: fractal patterns, impossible geometry, Tzeentchian tapestry.

    It'll make our active defenses even more active by making our allies also hard to hit, plus give our enemies a delibitating headache to stop them from concentrating or performing complicated magic.
     
    defenestrator said:
    A flashbang might actually end up helping the light manipulator.
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    If they act in coordination, any surprising change is very likely to disrupt their work.

    EDIT:

    - [] Set up the grief shields. Make sure that there is at least one grief shield accompanying each person at all times, preferably more. Don't ease up on the grief, it's not like you have a shortage of it.

    We really should do a tad more than 'at least one grief shield' each.
    "I... guess I need to do something about that," you say to no one in particular. "Bit unwieldy." You reshape the enormous ring, dividing up the marbles into seven groups of fifteen marbles each, and move each group to sit at the points of half an icosahedron, centered on you. Each of the small groups of marbles form a small ring of fourteen orbiting the remaining one of their number.
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    We can do so much more. Seriously.

    At the very least, one shield to each side, one on the back and one overhead.
     
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