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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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I kinda wish we knew more about Sakura's teleport beyond 'takes concentration' and 'can be disrupted by pain'. I mean, if she needed to focus on an image or concept of where she wanted to go, we could scream PINEAPPLES in her head at a critical moment and she'd end up in Hawaii.
What was that about sanity?
 
Guilop said:
If she can create muskets from ribbons, why not tea cups?
Just greet them with a nice slice of grief cake and a steaming cup of grief tea that we warmed up in our grief microwave.
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The teacup was filled with tea. That she drank. You're telling me that the tea was ribbons too? Is it ribbons all the way down?!
 
New theory. Mami lost her original body ages ago, and has been just using ribbonclones ever since. This is impossible for several reasons, but its my theory.
 
How much do you want to pretend that we aren't doing things an overlord tyrant would do?

If/when Akiko and Sakura are captured, we're at the stage where we dictate terms. We can dress it up however we want, but that's what we're going to be doing. Yes, we have to manage image. But that only goes so far when you have however many souls in your pocket.

How do we design terms that are both enforceable and that they will accept? We need information to do so. If we allow telepathy, that information will be managed. Not to mention risks of escape attempts, hiring rescuers...

I'm not saying keep it to one at a time for the duration of captivity. But it's hypocritical to capture them all by knockout, then somehow when combat is over it becomes terrible to continue using that tool.
 
[X] Go quietly.
-[X] With advice from Mami for stealth.

Asking Mami to take the lead seems really abrupt. Not exactly sure what everyone is angling for there, don't see how it will break her dependance on us (see last para for that). I'm thinking something along the lines of "Hey, Oriko just told me the last few Sendai members are going to be at that radio tower soon to bring in reinforcements. I don't want to spook them off and change locations, do you know how to approach quietly without tipping them off? You know I don't do subtle well. Also can you tell me when my grief doesn't show up on your very acute witch senses anymore? If someone as good as you can't sense it then they probably can't either."

One thing that concerns me with going quietly is that it may end up taking more time meaning we arrive too late. Of course thats mitigated by giving earlier warning with the go loud option. But the thing they're doing might not be something that could be easily moved. On the other hand if it can then Sakura could teleport to the other side of the city and put us back to square one.

Some thoughts on the current vote. I notice theres a lot of arguments for quiet but very little for loud. I'm playing devils advocate to hopefully give some insights.

Is Sakura currently in transit? Then if so we could gank Akiko fast if she stayed behind (maybe she negotiated with Ueda by phone?). Though if she went with Sakura to negotiate with Tokyo that would mean leaving Rin alone with the bodies... Perhaps they took Rin as well? (Since healing is no longer a concern). Maybe... we could telepathy Rin and ask her if she's alright? Are the bodies hurt badly? Some innocuous questions, but if she answers that could make her slip and reveal if she's in Sendai city or not. And if she's in Sendai we can infer that she probably wouldn't be unguarded... so we could have an opportunity to gank while Sakura is in transit. Also if we go fast now then we may be able surprise Sakura (and maybe Akiko if she went) when they teleport back. (Whats Sakura's max transport capacity? At least 3 people or much more?). If Rin isn't in Sendai then go loud since no one has been left behind apart from Metals and set up an ambush at the radio tower quickly.

But, if Sakura hasn't left yet then that speaks well for going quietly. We don't want to spook them into retreating completely. Sakura being still here would give Akiko options, so going quietly could head all this off completely before Sakura can go to get reinforcements. Yet... I find myself doubting it since it kinda stretches my suspension of disbelief that Akiko can summon reinforcements this fast. This is the equivalent of saying "drop everything right now and come" literally right this second. Organising the MG's to gather in one place (and I highly doubt they can get a full group that fast) and teleport back is going to take several minutes minimum (and probably cost a ridiculous amount since Tokyo are being asked to drop their lives immediately). Sakura probably teleported to Tokyo just now or a minute or two ago imho. That leaves some time to rush in guns blazing while Akiko is relatively immobile.

Weighing the options and the arguments made by everyone, I'd say that going quietly edges out going loud since it mitigates the worst risks though it might miss out on some juicy opportunities.

Lastly I think the best way to break Mami's dependance on us is to gradually introduce her to other friends. Go to Kasamino in try to unfuck the relationship with Kyouko would be a nice start. Not exactly sure how to do that, I remember leaving Kyouko in somewhat amicable if tense terms. Maybe a face to face meeting and mention that Mami is in a bad place? Kinda at a loss for options here.
 
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Question: If Sakura manages to bring the reinforcements in, are we gonna try to talk to them before further developing our jewelery collection?

@Firnagzen What does it take to establish communication with another meguca. I know we can't just call people at random, but could we talk to Kuvi Atsuko even though we've only seen her Katamari? What can you tell us about telepathy's mechanics?
 
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"They're still in Sendai?" you ask urgently.

"Yes," Oriko says. "They will be... near the big radio tower."
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They should both still be in Sendai at the moment.

I'd be for talking to any reinforcements Akiko might be able to bring in, since she probably told them a load of bullshit.
Who in their right mind would come to help in the current situation, if they knew all the facts?
Unless they owe Akiko some big favor or are blinded by greed, there's a high chance Akiko lied about something to get them on their side.
 
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SynchronizedWritersBlock said:
How much do you want to pretend that we aren't doing things an overlord tyrant would do?

If/when Akiko and Sakura are captured, we're at the stage where we dictate terms. We can dress it up however we want, but that's what we're going to be doing. Yes, we have to manage image. But that only goes so far when you have however many souls in your pocket.

How do we design terms that are both enforceable and that they will accept? We need information to do so. If we allow telepathy, that information will be managed. Not to mention risks of escape attempts, hiring rescuers...

I'm not saying keep it to one at a time for the duration of captivity. But it's hypocritical to capture them all by knockout, then somehow when combat is over it becomes terrible to continue using that tool.
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We are definitely going to have to dictate terms; we don't really have a choice at this point and Akiko will just keep up her stonewall if we try to negotiate (not to mention how hypocritical it will look). I don't like it after all introspection we've done about the control freak issues, but keep in mind we aren't entirely at wrong here; we just fumbled our handling of it- hard. Akiko must be stopped.

So far as terms? I want to give them the terms we demanded at the table, but that could lead to Akiko just hiring the rescue teams like you said. Our only hope outside of house arrest (not desirable) is to convince all her friends to agree to the terms so they can keep her in line.

I think constantly knocking them out again would just be counterproductive. I think they might be more reasonable as a group, with Akiko having to say her crazy bullshit right in front of them. Although we may have to separate them from Akiko before they'll be willing to talk about Akiko's issues.
Krecart said:
Question: If Sakura manages to bring the reinforcements in, are we gonna try to talk to them before further developing our jewelery collection?
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We should certainly try, as long as our introductions don't consist of an ambush.
 
Vote with unnecessary additions:
Kirika bounces on the carpet and pouts at you. "Aw, you were talking to Oriko and didn't invite me?"
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[X] Quick apology for Kirika because...
[X] To Mami: You spoke with Oriko: Akiko and Sakura will close to the radio tower *point*, to teleport out to Tokyo and get reinforcements. You want to stop them before that can happen, but going in loud will spook them if they're already close by, and you don't know how to stealth. Help?


Supposing we try to do this on our own:

[] Elevate your oppression fortress; hide from sight in the rain clouds.
[] Once there move over the tower and put all the extra grief that you can back into Aurora's seed (only if it doesn't take long). Dispell your wings and solidify the rest of the grief so it can't be sensed; keep the armor.
[]Have Mami spot Akiko and Sakura.
[]Once you're over them, drop. As soon as you're in range, use the most convenient source of grief on their persons to attack Sakura (cause pain; prevent teleport) and Akiko and yank their seeds; prioritize Sakura's seed over all and her pain after that.
-[] If there's not enough grief for that (clean gems and seeds left behind), simply drop on them and attack them physically with Kirika while Mami snipes. The armor should be good for something.


I'm kind of bummed that we put on the armor so late into the fight. It would have helped against Moe and also against Sasami if they hadn't ditch her. Sasami+Sakura's pretty damg strong. I'm kind of hoping Akiko forces Rin to try and backstab us by somehow using her powers in reverse and knock us out with a touch, only she can't touch us because armor. Just to get some damn use out of it.
 
SynchronizedWritersBlock said:
How do we design terms that are both enforceable and that they will accept? We need information to do so.
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I'm pretty sure we don't.
The one sticking point on any side is getting Sendai not to attack people.
Akiko's reasons for doing so are economic (which we remove) and personal (which she can suck the fuck up). Letting them know that we'll cleanse them and recycle seeds at need, but that the penalties for being unneighborly are unbelievably dire should cover all the bases.
 
Krecart said:
Question: If Sakura manages to bring the reinforcements in, are we gonna try to talk to them before further developing our jewelery collection?
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Will we have the chance? Tokyo aren't exactly going to ask for our side of the story, they'll us attack on sight since thats what they were hired to do. I'm all for trying though.
Guilop said:
They should both still be in Sendai at the moment.
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I dunno, that statement could be interpreted in different ways, look at the line before:
"Yes. She will be talking to... Miss Ueda." Oriko stops talking for a moment, but just when you're about to probe further, she continues. "One of the Tokyo groups. Sakura brings her in."

"They're still in Sendai?" you ask urgently.

"Yes," Oriko says. "They will be... near the big radio tower."
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This could mean Sakura, Akiko and Ueda are talking right now at the radio tower. If so thats good since the talk down approach can actually work if they're still in the negotiation stage (a point for going in fast). Alternatively it could mean Akiko and Ueda are talking while Sakura brings the rest of the group. Or (less likely) Akiko is still there while Sakura has gone to bring Ueda. We won't know until we get there.

Also, I'm not that sold on the armour tbh. It takes extensive training to use even basic armour properly, you can't just slap on armour and still move naturally. Yeah it worked in SQ, but thats because Sayaka could manipulate her transformation magic into changing her costume, pretty much cheating magically. Here, Sabrina has just used grief to form pieces of armour on herself. I'd be shocked if she could move anywhere near as fast as before or even properly walk.
 
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Emdeman said:
Also, I'm not that sold on the armour tbh. It takes extensive training to use even basic armour properly, you can't just slap on armour and still move naturally. Yeah it worked in SQ, but thats because Sayaka could manipulate her transformation magic into changing her costume. Here, Sabrina has just used grief to form pieces of armour on herself. I'd be shocked if she could move anywhere near as fast as before or even properly walk.
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We can coordinate a flipping orchestra and billion blade clouds of Grief. I think we have the coordination to manage armor.
 
Emdeman said:
This could mean Sakura, Akiko and Ueda are talking right now at the radio tower. If so thats good since the talk down approach can actually work if they're still in the negotiation stage (a point for going in fast).
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Actually, I see that as another reason to go in slow. Think about it: you're a merc getting a briefing and negotiating pay from a client, and suddenly the Mobile Oppression Fortress shows up. They would be stupid not to go into fight-or-flight mode.
 
Supposing Sakura and Akiko manage to teleport out, I think our next move will be asking Oriko where are they supposed to teleport back in and set up an ambush where we take Akiko and Sakura by their necks and snatch their gems. We make use of our grief wings and armour for intimidation and tell the mercs to wait for a moment while we have a talk with the two girls. If we do this quickly enough and we are intimidating enough, it's possible they won't fight us.

SynchronizedWritersBlock said:
How do we design terms that are both enforceable and that they will accept? We need information to do so. If we allow telepathy, that information will be managed. Not to mention risks of escape attempts, hiring rescuers...
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For the Fukushima, I don't know what you think of the idea, but I think we can play into their mentality and 'hire' them on a permanent basis, with a condition of exclusivity. We'd 'hire' them to: Not use their powers against other people, magical or not; hunt witches in their area, with the possibility to ask us for help in case they find a witch too damn strong. Our payment is obvious: We cleanse their gems and refresh their seeds for as long as they play nice. We warn them that we'll keep an eye on them to see that they don't get to any more mercenary business and hopefully build a rapport over time.


For the Sendai group, I feel Akiko is too much of a wildcard. We can't let her go. Arrest sounds not nice, but necessary.

The rest of them are too damn untrustworthy at best; they know Akiko's got mental problems, they know they are slowly but surely killing people and they only really know how to follow Akiko and not think about any problem they cause. I think separating them from Akiko will do them some good, as long as we show that we're treating her just fine.

Anyway, threats will be made. I don't think we can do this without threats.
 
Krecart said:
We can coordinate a flipping orchestra and billion blade clouds of Grief. I think we have the coordination to manage armor.
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If we're not wearing it then wouldn't a distraction have... painful consequences at the worst possible moment. It takes concentration to coordinate grief.
Gadjo said:
Actually, I see that as another reason to go in slow. Think about it: you're a merc getting a briefing and negotiating pay from a client, and suddenly the Mobile Oppression Fortress shows up. They would be stupid not to go into fight-or-flight mode.
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Devil's Advocate: Going slow could result in negotiations finishing and the combat team arriving (it was implied only Ueda is currently there). Showing up in the Mobile Oppression Fortress could intimidate them enough into backing out, especially if negotiations are not finalised.
 
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Emdeman said:
Devil's Advocate: Going slow could result in negotiations finishing and the combat team arriving. Showing up in the Mobile Oppression Fortress could intimidate them enough into backing out, especially if negotiations are not finalised.
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Counterpoint: We can take them on easy, and if we get sakura's gem, all the better. The mobile oppression fortress option will just cause them to run away and possibly allow them time to get the second reinforcement group.
 
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