[X] Ask Kyubey if he can introduce you to any friendly, more experienced Magical Girls in the area who would be willing to help you on your first hunt.
-[X] If there aren't, ask when they'll be available and how to contact them. After all, what's a magical girl without a team?
[X] Go hunting, either with Kyubey or with another Magical Girl, depending on if anyone else is available.
-[X] Experiment with your powers on the way there, being careful with how much magic you use. See what your instincts tell you and ask how to learn what you can do more efficiently.
-[X] Let Kyubey or whoever else accompanies you take the lead.
Hm... there are a few relatively nearby, though I wouldn't want to intrude on their privacy by telling you their personal information. Tell you what, if you become a magical girl, I could try and introduce you to them if you'd like!
Don't forget this little snippet as well, take that as you will.
Also I can guarantee that Kyubey isn't trying to get Hinako killed or get her to Witch out or anything by taking her out on an introductory Witch hunt, don't worry.
Hmm, alright, so Soul Gem and Grief Seed are straight-up said in another language. That just leaves the physical similarity and the fact Grief Seeds absorb the 'dark stuff' from Soul Gems.
Though, given Hinako already knows Witches are "born from humanity's despair"... she's more likely to come to the conclusion that Magical Girls just make it easier for Witches to be 'born', especially if she encounters anything like Evil Nuts.
I'm still kind of hoping there's a Magical Girl / Witch Girl running around, purely because that'll be interesting. That, and who doesn't want an eldritch horror in the shape of a human for a best friend?
[X] Ask Kyubey if he can introduce you to any friendly, more experienced Magical Girls in the area who would be willing to help you on your first hunt.
-[X] If there aren't, ask when they'll be available and how to contact them. After all, what's a magical girl without a team?
[X] Go hunting, either with Kyubey or with another Magical Girl, depending on if anyone else is available.
-[X] Experiment with your powers on the way there, being careful with how much magic you use. See what your instincts tell you and ask how to learn what you can do more efficiently.
-[X] Let Kyubey or whoever else accompanies you take the lead.
It's doubtful that anyone Kyubey guides us towards is on antagonistic terms with him. In all likelihood they don't know the darker truths of the system, so this is probably just going to reinforce her trusting Kyubey. On the other hand, Ruri has no IC reason not to trust Kyubey and several reasons to want to meet local meguca.
I'm still kind of hoping there's a Magical Girl / Witch Girl running around, purely because that'll be interesting. That, and who doesn't want an eldritch horror in the shape of a human for a best friend?
I mean, there's always the many Kazumis from Kazumi Magica, but that's set in an entirely different prefecture (in the Miyagi Prefecture, much like Kazamino and Mitakihara).
It's doubtful that anyone Kyubey guides us towards is on antagonistic terms with him. In all likelihood they don't know the darker truths of the system, so this is probably just going to reinforce her trusting Kyubey. On the other hand, Ruri has no IC reason not to trust Kyubey and several reasons to want to meet local meguca.
Oh, for sure. At the very least though, having a friend group to help us cope with things is ideal regardless. At the end of the day Kyubey wants to isolate girls or turn them against each other so they're easier to manipulate to meet his own ends, so we should try to form bonds that last as soon as we can. Plus, we might be able to find out about other girls that do know the secrets of Magical Girl life through networking with others who may know those types.
[X] Ask Kyubey if he can introduce you to any friendly, more experienced Magical Girls in the area who would be willing to help you on your first hunt.
-[X] If there aren't, ask when they'll be available and how to contact them. After all, what's a magical girl without a team?
[X] Go hunting, either with Kyubey or with another Magical Girl, depending on if anyone else is available.
-[X] Experiment with your powers on the way there, being careful with how much magic you use. See what your instincts tell you and ask how to learn what you can do more efficiently.
-[X] Let Kyubey or whoever else accompanies you take the lead.
[X] Ask Kyubey if he can introduce you to any friendly, more experienced Magical Girls in the area who would be willing to help you on your first hunt.
-[X] If there aren't, ask when they'll be available and how to contact them. After all, what's a magical girl without a team?
[X] Go hunting, either with Kyubey or with another Magical Girl, depending on if anyone else is available.
-[X] Experiment with your powers on the way there, being careful with how much magic you use. See what your instincts tell you and ask how to learn what you can do more efficiently.
-[X] Let Kyubey or whoever else accompanies you take the lead.
Alright, time to roll the first rolls of the quest. This should be interesting!
[X] Ask Kyubey if he can introduce you to any friendly, more experienced Magical Girls in the area who would be willing to help you on your first hunt.
-[X] If there aren't, ask when they'll be available and how to contact them. After all, what's a magical girl without a team?
[X] Go hunting, either with Kyubey or with another Magical Girl, depending on if anyone else is available.
-[X] Experiment with your powers on the way there, being careful with how much magic you use. See what your instincts tell you and ask how to learn what you can do more efficiently.
-[X] Let Kyubey or whoever else accompanies you take the lead.
Saturday, January 1st 2011
[Soul Gem: 0/1750]
"That'd be great, Kyubey!"
You're really excited to try out your magic, even if it does come with the caveat of fighting presumably scary monsters. It's magic after all.
Excellent!
Kyubey takes this time to hop onto your shoulder, hanging off of it effortlessly. Oh, he really is cuddly, who'd have thought?
"Ah, Kyubey, could you maybe try and introduce me to any friendly and more experienced magical girls in the area? Any that might be willing to help me on my first Witch hunt, I mean. It would be nice to have another magical girl around in case I need help, right?"
Kyubey rubs his head affectionately against your shoulder and responds.
Why, of course! Just give me a moment while I check with the local magical girls to see if any of them are still awake and willing. Magical Girl Luck Roll: 21
After a few moments of concentration, Kyubey looks back at you.
I'm afraid that there aren't any other magical girls available, I'm sorry.
... Oh, that's a real shame. And you were really looking forward to meeting a magical girl senpai too!
"I-It's alright Kyubey, thanks for checking anyway!" You always have needed to be taken care of after all... maybe this is for the best?
No problem! Now let's go find ourselves a Witch!
"Um, Kyubey, before that, could you tell me when they're next available?"
Hm, I could arrange a meeting some time in the future for sure, but I can't give you any personal information you must understand.
"Ah, okay then!"
Perhaps you could try and meet one of them tomorrow, or sometime after school on Monday?
Still dressed in your magical girl regalia, you make your way out of your bedroom, grab your house key, and exit your new home locking up behind you. Now, where to put your key...
Oh, your robes comes with pockets, neat! You slide your key into one of them and make your way out onto the streets below. As this is a housing district, there isn't exactly any traffic at this time of day - or rather night you suppose. Streetlights bathe the roads in light. You think you can make out a glint coming from one of the streetlights.
???: 14
As you make your way past the sidewalk and onto the road, your footsteps leave a temporary trail of pixelated light that makes you giggle at the novelty of it. Almost skipping down the road as you walk, you turn to Kyubey who has comfortably positioned himself on you shoulder aided by your very comfy robes.
"So... how do I know if I've found a Witch? You said something about using my Soul Gem to... follow it's trail, right?" You caress you Soul Gem with your left hand as you ask this.
That is correct. Once you've gotten near enough to a Witch, or a path where a Witch had recently passed through, your Soul Gem should lead you right to it!
"Oh, okay!"
A solid fifteen minutes pass in near silence as you make your way towards the city. You can see the city skyline sparkle like stars ahead of you, and you end up playing with the smart road by tracing designs with your feet eventually. Pixelated indicators help mark civilian crossings and road markings, you notice.
During this time, you can't help but wonder what you can do with your magic. Most magical girl shows put a focus on willpower and instinct, right? You try to focus really hard at a nearby wall, but nothing happens.
... Maybe you're going about this all wrong. Perhaps you should start with something a bit more obvious, like your silvery rod... thingie!
Bringing it up to level, you focus your will into it... and that obviously isn't enough. Maybe if you...
This kind of looks like a handle, right? Maybe you could shoot magic from it... or something?
Aiming it up in the air, you try and push some magic into the handle and out the end, and to your surprise- energy coalesces and gathers through the rod and near the tip, and it seems almost reluctant to leave the tip of the rod but with your will
-a near silent small ball of emerald green light shoots off into the night sky. Kyubey just idly watches all of this without much of a reaction at all.
[Soul Gem: 2/1750]
You can't help but give out a little *squee* at that, much to your embarrassment. You did it! Witch Roll: Coobie Interrupt
All of a sudden, your Soul Gem starts blinking and a trail of ethereal green sunbursts start gathering towards a nearby alleyway. This must be the Witch! You quickly make your way down the alleyway, dodge around an unfortunately placed metal trash bin, and find yourself in front of... something.
You can't quite see the... barrier, you think it was called, however it seems to be almost pulsing in time with something. As you reach your fingers towards it, it bursts open showing you a scene of angrily flapping silhouettes of what appear to be birds against a roiling background of intertwining colors.
Don't worry, all you have to do is step into the barrier and you'll be brought into the Witch's Labyrinth! Most Witches don't have anything particularly dangerous in their Labyrinths right at the entrance, so you should be fine.
Hesitating a bit, you steel yourself and step completely into the Witch's Labyrinth and what is this?!
You fall(?) through some rickety wooden gates which open as you pass through them, surrounded by a background of random colors roiling in the void(?). You can almost see a countdown on the gates as you pass through this fever dream of a Labyrinth before you blink and you find yourself on your feet in the weirdest place you've ever been.
Surrounding you is a pathway, at your sides are floating panels that depict flapping birds trying to break out of them as if they were right out of a zombie movie, and you hear the ambient noise of high-pitched laughter. This is so freaky! Between those panels is nothing but the rainbow-like colors that continue to shift in this dimension.
Walking down the path before you - which you find to be made up of large colorful stones - you encounter what must be your first familiar.
It's a horrific thing, you think. It's a horrible amalgamation of a giant bobblehead-like plastoid head that bobs with each of it's movements with a malignant expression on it's unmoving face, with the body of a giant stick that splits two ways towards the ground as well as the multiple layered arms of scissors.
So like any reasonable person would do in this situation, you scream, look away, shut your eyes, and blindly shoot at the thing.
[Soul Gem: 10/1750]
You hear a few dull impacts before finally a loud crash emanates from the familiar. Opening your eyes, you see that it's in smoking pieces and appears to be dissipating into flecks of dark energy.
... Oh, that wasn't too bad!
Nice job! That was one of this Witch's familiars. Familiars aren't usually that strong, though they can make up for that in numbers. It's quite fortunate that you managed to catch this one all by itself!
Nodding your head in acknowledgement, you bring your rod back up to you again. Okay, you owe this thing an apology, this is a great weapon! You just don't know how to use it yet... probably.
What you didn't notice before, however, was that it was now glowing with a soft silver light as in reaction to something. Huh, strange.
Hm, maybe you can do more with this thing than just shooting with it? You step up to the dissipating familiar and try jabbing it at the stick part of it, and to your surprise it almost burns through the familiar with great ease. Well, you say burn, but it isn't really lighting anything on fire or anything. But still!
As you make your way deeper into the Labyrinth, you run into a group of three familiars loitering about that seem to be in deep conversation with one another. In fact, you can hear strange sounds emanating from these things that you don't like at all.
And so this time, you aim ahead with your rod towards the unsuspecting familiars with your eyes open and you shoot at them.
Your first shot misses, and so does your second, but finally a loud bang sounds off the walls as one of the familiars falls apart in a splash of emerald light. This seems to bring the other two out of their stupor, as they screech and rush towards you with little abandon.
You fumble a bit at the ferocity of their approach before continuing to shoot at them.
One, two, the second one hit! The last familiar is nearly upon you and you try shoot at it but you miss.
Look out!
Looking up you can see the familiar prepare to backhand you with one of it's scissor hands and you drop and roll away in a panic. Your heart is beating rapidly as you see that the spot where you once were is cleaved into. T-that was scary!
Thumbing your weapon, you shakily aim it at the thing while still lying prone on the ground and you fire off another three shots, the second one hitting the familiar and taking it out.
[Soul Gem: 28/1750]
Still slightly shaking, you sit up and try to catch your breath, your adrenaline not exactly helping in this situation. Y-you won! But you nearly got hurt! What, and you think Onee-chan hadn't gotten hurt while protecting you all the time while you were growing up?
Kyubey gives a sigh of relief as he comforts you by rubbing his head against your cheek.
Well done! A magical girl's first fight is always a trying one, but once you get the hang of it you should be dispatching familiars left and right in no time!
Not exactly the thing you wanted to hear, to be honest, but it's still reassuring and you reach up your left hand to pat Kyubey on the head as if reminding yourself that you aren't alone in this scary place.
[Soul Gem: 35/1750]
You wipe your slightly watery eyes and stand back up. You hope that there aren't any more of those things in here, but if only you were so lucky.
Making your way even deeper, you find your path starts to widen, and before you know it you encounter another group of familiars while rounding a corner. This time there's twelve of them. You quickly hide back behind that corner and try to formulate a plan.
Okay, okay, okay. So you can shoot tiny magical bullets at those things, but your bullets can take them out in just about one shot, you think. You know that you won't be able to take out all of them before they swarm you, so you have to come up with some other kind of attack to take them out.
Alright, so what do you know about laser beams? M-maybe you could make a continuous beam instead of just shooting at them individually? That might work!
You relay your thoughts to Kyubey telepathically to get a second opinion.
Hm... that might work! I must admit every magical girl's abilities vary quite a bit from one another, so I couldn't tell you what you can do. I would however recommend that you test this out by going back a ways away in order to make sure that it will work as intended!
T-thanks for the advice, Kyubey! you return to him with a slight smile.
You make your way back, far enough anyways that you probably won't attract those familiars by making too much noise, and then you experiment.
Bringing up your weapon, you channel energy through it seeking the form of a beam... and it worked! Kind of? Wait, why won't it leave the "barrel"? You try shaking it up and down, but no, you can't dislodge the beam of emerald energy emanating from your rod's end.
[Soul Gem: 55/1750]
It extends nearly the length of your arm out of the rod - handle now? - and it silently crackles with power. Wow! So you guess you have a sword now! But wait, you don't even know how to use a sword!
You sigh, before slicing it at one of floating panels. It moves through it like a hot butter knife through butter without any resistance. You gape at this, before you hear screeching down the hall that you left that group of familiars at. Out of the corner of your eye, you think you see the birds in the panel escape into the rainbow void.
Hinako, be careful! Breaking that must have attracted the familiars!
"T-that would've been nice to know earlier!" Well, you guess you shouldn't break the Witch's things in the future, without some sort of plan.
Um. Oh no, what do you do?! You can hear the familiars clamoring down the hall towards you, and-
-oh, you just had a thought! You run back down the path until it tightens up enough that the familiars will only be able to come at you a few at a time. You can do this!
The screeching doesn't abate, and in fact becomes shrill as they presumably find the remnants of the panel you slashed through. You hear more clamoring as they deduce where you went, and you prepare for battle!
The first two round the corner, and with a battle cry that most certainly wasn't pathetic you cleave through them both in a single slash before jumping backwards and wow can you jump far now that you've become a magical girl!
Landing on your feet, another two step over and through the two dead familiars as they dissipate and charge at you. This time you fumble a bit and only get one of them before the second one slams into you.
You're knocked back away from it with more force than you would have expected of these things and you slam against one of the surprisingly sturdy panels, losing all of the breath in your lungs from the impact. You idly note that you're bleeding now, as cuts cause your robes to stain with your blood.
You shakily stand back up as the familiar momentarily stops to observe it's handiwork before you leap at it and skewer it on your emerald blade. It dissipates almost immediate, as if extended contact with your blade hastened the process of it's deterioration after death.
Another familiar makes its way down here and another familiar falls to your blade before your blade winks out of existence. O-oh. Oh no.
You run back further as you hear more familiars converging on your location. Kyubey is still hanging onto your shoulder for dear life with his eyes closed as you try and think of something that you could do.
Aiming your rod over your right shoulder, you start taking potshots at the quick familiars, and you manage to fell another three before the rest reach you.
[Soul Gem: 91/1750]
Thinking quickly, you try and create another blade, and it works!
[Soul Gem: 112/1750]
Slicing at the nearest familiar, it falls to pieces and the last few familiars pile up one after another as they trip over their fallen comrade. Taking this opportunity, you quickly start slashing down at the last three remaining familiars over and over again until they're nothing left but specks of black energy.
You wipe away the tears running down your face as your sword winks out of existence.
[Soul Gem: 119/1750]
Hinako! Are you okay?!
You sniffle in response, and fall to the floor on your butt with a thump. T-that was... As you take in your condition, you realize that the cuts made by that familiar's attack aren't actually all that deep, and the bleeding stopped long ago. It seems like you were only cut slightly by happenstance as a result of its charge. Onee-chan would've been fine with tiny cuts like these.
You take a few moments to catch your breath, and Kyubey seems content to wait on you staring at you with a seemingly concerned look.
"I-I'm fine, Kyubey. I think..."
You hadn't expected fighting these things to be so scary, and yet you should have expected it when you recall Kyubey telling you how these things eat people. And yet, you can't find it in yourself to overly regret it, as what's a few shallow cuts in comparison to someone's life?
Getting back on your feet, you slowly make your way back towards where those familiars originated from, your weapon outstretched in front of you like a protective charm.
"K-Kyubey, when are we going to f-find the Witch?"
Kyubey garners a pensive look before responding.
Hm, usually the Witch is at the deepest part of it's Labyrinth, and when you get deep enough you'll enter it's lair. We should be nearing that point however, so don't fret!
T-that's... that's good, you suppose.
Making your way into the more open path that the familiars were congregated at, you find that the path ends here, simply peering out into the rainbow void. What is here is a lone window sitting the in middle of where the familiars were congregated at, not seemingly connecting to anything at all.
Walking up to it, you bring your left hand up to it and all of a sudden it swings backwards, revealing a portal not unlike that of the barrier's.
This is it! The entrance to the Witch's lair!
[Soul Gem: 123/1750]
Okay, okay, you can do this! You take a shaky step into the window's "portal" and you find yourself in a wide arena. Well, you say arena, but around you is a giant bird's cage surrounded by that same flowing rainbow-like void.
In the center lies a giant paper mache bird stained as if covered in an entire paint set with a beak made out of nightmare fuel - that is to say you can't really understand what you're looking at when peering at it and it's quite frightening.
Around you and the "bird" are dozens of portraits - both broken and ripped, and new - lying in haphazard piles. You can't quite make out what's on any of them. The ground itself is made out of white, smooth, checkered marble.
The giant bird beats its wings, rises up into the air a bit, and gives out a shuddering "CAW" that shakes the entire lair in its resonance. Out of its beak, FIRE starts shooting out of it and into the air towards the "ceiling"... what?!
That's the Witch, Hinako! Prepare for battle!
So you find yourself fighting your first Witch, what do you do?
[ ] (Write-in)
So, you've encountered your first Witch, congrats!
I can say right now that Hinako has no idea what she's doing, and with the lack of direction in the vote on what she should test out, she could only figure out two very simple applications:
I'd advise everyone to get creative when it comes to figuring out her abilities proper. And there are hints peppered throughout this chapter on some other potential applications/consequences of her abilities, if you really look for it.
I will also say that her abilities aren't restricted to only her rod, so have fun figuring that out.
Also, the magical girl roll was obviously to see if the friendly nearby magical girls were available, and the ??? roll you don't have to worry about for now. Witch fights aren't really luck based outside of very specific situations where something is uncertain, by the way.
Ah, I see Hinako is a Jedi! Good, good... That means we can Sith out for superpowers.
[X] That looks like it would be hard to attack up close. Gather your courage and point your staff at it, then start blasting it as much as you can until it's dead. Make sure to keep moving to avoid it's attacks too. If the Witch moves too quickly, try to lead your shots a bit for better accuracy.
-[X] Be sure to keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any suggestions, he'd probably know better than you what to do after all.
This is my working plan of attack. If there's anything I've learned from watching my buddy play mages in video games, it's that this plan is waaay more effective than it should be.
Just popping in to inform everyone that I went back through each chapter and added some background music. Also updated the character sheet.
If we can get enough votes, I should be able to start on the next chapter whenever. Be careful though, as you might have to plan around certain elements that the Witch has already showcased in order to get Hinako out of there without much injury.
[X] That looks like it would be hard to attack up close. Gather your courage and point your staff at it, then start blasting it as much as you can until it's dead. Make sure to keep moving to avoid it's attacks too. If the Witch moves too quickly, try to lead your shots a bit for better accuracy.
-[X] Be sure to keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any suggestions, he'd probably know better than you what to do after all.
-[X] Also be sure not to get too close to any of the portraits. You have a bad feeling about them...
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots, as it may attract unwelcome attention.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] If it starts moving too fast, try to lead your shots for better accuracy.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots and stay away from them, as you don't know what they might do.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] Keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any advice.
Frankensteining votes since I think everyone so far has good ideas. I like the idea to attack the wings. I'm not sure how much it'll do for sure, but it's better than just shooting wherever, I think. I also think it's worth combining listening to Kyubey, leading shots, and avoiding the portraits alongside not hitting them from Maximum Power and Shadowhisker's votes.
This sounds like a hint at another skill we have - maybe we can charge our shots for a stronger burst or something like that - though I'm not sure how much we should experiment with it right now. It's probably better to wait until we're not in immediate danger and we have a Grief Seed or two to fall back on.
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] If it starts moving too fast, try to lead your shots for better accuracy.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots and stay away from them, as you don't know what they might do.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] Keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any advice.
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] If it starts moving too fast, try to lead your shots for better accuracy.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots and stay away from them, as you don't know what they might do.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] Keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any advice.
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] If it starts moving too fast, try to lead your shots for better accuracy.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots and stay away from them, as you don't know what they might do.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] Keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any advice.
We've got a winner, folks. And who knows, maybe I could get another update out after this one today as well, if the votes roll in? 🤔
EDIT: WHY.
EDIT2: ... phew.
EDIT3: WHY.
EDIT4: WHAT.
EDIT5: WHY.
EDIT6: Welp.
EDIT7: Just another ??? roll, please ignore.
This is why I asked for creative power applications in the AN, otherwise Hinako just doesn't have the known setup to take on much of anything past familiars. Instead, power development was left to the dice gods and they found Hinako lacking. x.x
It's actually kind of funny in a way, knowing what I know about Hinako's powers and how they function even at a base level. By the way, this Witch is only Tier 3 in difficulty (21-30), and was only recently hatched, if you were wondering.
... On the plus side, Hinako will know how to heal herself now, and another certain Puella Magi-universal ability.
EDIT: I should specify that Hinako isn't getting any combat instincts when shooting her magic shots and using her beam "sword", and there is a reason for this. This is why I hinted in the last chapter that her aim isn't all that good with her magic shots and everything. That isn't to say that she doesn't have combat instincts with something or another, though.
[X] First of all, keep a wary eye out for familiars. You don't want to tunnel vision on the Witch only to get one of those scissor arms through your back.
[X] For now, stay long-range and hopefully out of the Witch's reach. Fire at it with your magic.
-[X] Concentrate fire on the wings, attempting to hobble and hopefully slow down or even ground the Witch.
-[X] If it starts moving too fast, try to lead your shots for better accuracy.
-[X] Take care not to accidentally hit any of the piles of intact portraits with your shots and stay away from them, as you don't know what they might do.
[X] Defensively speaking, especially beware of the Witch's fire-spewing beak. Even apart from the fire, the torn portraits hint it will use it that way.
[X] Keep an ear out in case Kyubey has any advice.
Saturday, January 1st 2011
Immediately you start dashing off to the side - making sure to avoid those mounds of portraits - as the Witch soar upwards into the air, giving you the stink eye.
T-this is crazy! What kind of creature is this, what with being made out of paper and breathing fire. Those things don't mix! They don't!
With Kyubey clinging onto your shoulder for dear life, you swing your rod towards the Witch and immediate begin firing off your magic bullets at it. It managed to avoid most of your shots, but the few that do pierce through the Witch leave sizzling holes through it's torso. Darn, you missed it's wings.
[Soul Gem: 141/1750]
Screeching out in pain, the Witch dives at you with unreal speed, flames licking out of it's beak in anger and talons poised to rend you to pieces.
"Aaah!" you yell as you dive to the side, rolling across the cold marble floor. The Witch flies into a pile of portraits and the portraits prompting burst into flame, with the Witch in it.
... Maybe that's a good thing? You stand back up and prepare your weapon while inching backwards away from the Witch.
The Witch bursts out of the pile wreathed in chaotic flames, seeming no more harmed than before it went in. Uh oh.
Hinako! Use your magic!
Taking Kyubey's cue, you start peppering shots at the Witch but the Witch somehow seems even faster than before, and before you know it you're having to dive way once more as the Witch's flames just barely clip you.
[Soul Gem: 156/1750]
You let out a yelp of pain as the flames burn your right side. It seems mostly superficial with rather mild first degree burns, but that hurt!
No, use your magic, Hinako! This isn't the extent of your magic, I believe in you!
... Kyubey's right! And if he believes in you, then you're sure that you could come up with something to help fight this Witch!
This Witch is steering back around after it's failed grab at you from before, so you'll have to make this count! Ingenuity Roll: 10
...
...
... Nothing comes to you, and you're forced to face this flaming behemoth with what you've got. With but a scant few seconds before it converges onto you, you channel your magical energy through your rod into it's sword-like form before chucking it right in front of you towards the Witch. Hail Mary Roll: 80
And it lands squarely into it's right wing, shearing it completely off it's body with ease. With this, the Witch spins out of control to your left and impacts the ground with a sickening crack, setting fire to another nearby stack of portraits.
[Soul Gem: 178/1750]
Scrambling towards your rod, you dash past the discarded wing of the Witch and rush to retrieve your rod. It is still glowing with emerald light as the sword persists until just after you pick it up, popping out with a wink like the last two times.
As the Witch struggles to right itself, you try and shoot at it with your magic shots, and out of the few that you manage to fly off from this distance a single one hits it near where it's wing was sliced off.
The Witch lets out a shrill "CAW" in your direction from it's beak, even more shrill than the last one, to the point that you can feel a hot liquid dripping down your ears with sound fading away into the background. The shockwave that comes with it comes as a complete surprise as you're knocked off your feet and fly back a few meters, landing on your back.
Hinako! Behind you!
You scramble onto your knees and get a good look at what's to come. Behind you, slipping into the giant cage from the rainbow void are a flock of multi-colored facsimiles of birds about the size of two or three ordinary large birds put together each.
Desperately firing off into the flock, you manages to kill a few of the leading ones causing the rest to awkwardly slam against one another before falling from the sky and into one of the portrait piles. That buys you some time, you think.
[Soul Gem: 190/1750]
Staring back at the Witch, it seems that it finally got it's bearings and is rearing it's beak back while looking in your direction, more flames than what is shrouding it leaking out of it's monstrous beak. Y-you can guess what's going to happen next.
Clumsily dashing away from your previous location, you just barely manage to escape the cone of fiery destruction that the Witch shot at you. The portrait pile that the smaller birds fell into ignites, and you suddenly get a bad feeling about this. Ingenuity Roll 2: 11
You have got to take Kyubey's advice to heart if you are to beat this Witch, but you just can't think of anything through the burning of your wounds and the almost dreamlike clarity that you're perceiving the world's sounds as. Hail Mary Roll 2: 80
With the Witch back on it's feet and flaming familiars just waiting to pop out from behind you, you have to do something. And so you rush towards the Witch, the flaming Witch seeming to be almost offended at your unarmed charge.
Creating another sword-like energy beam from your rod, you chuck it as hard as you can at the Witch's other wing, and somehow, against all odds, it cleaves perfectly through it's last wing causing the Witch fall on it's side in what seems like agony.
[Soul Gem: 213/1750]
Since the Witch seems to be rather incapacitated for the moment, you push yourself even faster in order to get to where your weapon fell at. Just behind you, you feel a slight shockwave and the temperature rises.
The familiars are out, and they're on fire too! Kyubey helpfully points out.
Scrambling just past the Witch - which seems to be scratching at the marble floor with it's talons as if to get a grip enough to steady itself - you scoop up your now beamless weapon and turn towards the flaming familiars which appear to be getting closer and closer to you as they dive bomb through the air.
Shooting some more magic shots at the incoming flock, you manage to fell another three before they get to you.
[Soul Gem: 220/1750]
Hinako quick, try and see if you can make something to block them! Ingenuity Roll 3: 21
But your mind is too addled to focus on anything at the moment. You let out a soundless cry and manifest another beam blade from your rod as you swing at the familiars intending to swarm at you. Hail Mary Roll 3: 19
[Soul Gem: 241/1750]
You manage to slash through one of the leading ones before the remaining five dive bomb into your body. Kyubey is sent careening off to the side as the familiars rake and burn you in their flyby before flocking just south of you, preparing for another run at you.
You feel horrible, but not anywhere near as horrible as you should be considering your brand new second degree burns peppering your body, and the gashes that the familiars' talons raked through you. Even still, you hate this pain and you try to distance yourself from it and... the pain fades away and you can finish this.
Dismissing the "blade", you shoot at the remaining familiars and manage to take out another three before the last two reach you again. This time you jump to the side, narrowly avoiding their claws, before landing and spending a not inconsiderable amount of wasted shots just taking out the last two.
[Soul Gem: 279/1750]
Turning to the prone Witch, you conjure another blade and step up to it, stabbing it countless times until it finally dissipates and you can rest.
[Soul Gem: 301/1750]
You fall down on your back and close your eyes as the Labyrinth frays to nothingness around you. You spend a minute like this, then two, and then you register Kyubey's voice calling out to you in the void.
Hinako! Are you alright?!
Opening your eyes, you find yourself staring at the night sky back in that alleyway you found the Witch's barrier in. You're laying in something wet, you idly note.
Sitting up, you can see that Kyubey has been pushing into your singed and cut up robes in order to rouse you.
"K-K-Kyubey...?" you manage to get out, yet you can't really make out your own words.
Hinako! Thank goodness, you have to heal yourself! Please just focus your magic on your hands with the intent to heal, and hold them over your wounds!
Mechanically, you do as Kyubey says, bringing up your hands to the worst of the familiars' talon-inflicted wounds. Glowing emerald light emanates from your hands as the wound begins sealing up. You continue like this until you heal up all of the cuts, and begin working on your burns. You can feel something wet flowing down your cheeks throughout all this.
Ten to fifteen minutes later.. at least you think it was that long, you finish up healing your ears and suddenly a cacophony of sound assaults your senses. Dropping the healing light, you bring your hands up to your ears to cover them until you feel better about your hearing.
Kyubey touches your Soul Gem with a light glow, and suddenly you can feel every remaining ache that lingers from your strenuous activity.
I'm sorry, but I needed to turn off your pain nullification before you forgot about it. It isn't wise to rely on it in day to day life after all!
You let out a groan and stumble to your feet, feeling horrible and still covered... is that your blood?!
You whimper a bit at the sight, until you recall that you healed up all of your wounds. I-it's just a red looking liquid, let's go with that. You're fine now... right? Onee-chan, please help me...
Kyubey nudges at your feet to get your attention.
"S-s-sorry K-Kyubey," you stutter at him, not knowing exactly what you were apologizing for out of the many things that need apologizing.
Hinako! Don't worry, you'll be alright in no time.
Kyubey hops back onto your shoulder and rubs himself affectionately against you, and you can't help but stumble and lean back against the alleyway wall and take Kyubey into your arms and hug him like a stuffed animal to calm yourself down.
After some time, Kyubey speaks up again.
Hinako, you have to cleanse your Soul Gem. You'll feel better after you do it, trust me!
In response, you loosen your arms to check your Soul Gem as Kyubey escapes your grasp to go scurrying off somewhere.
[Soul Gem: 1023/1750]
O-oh, that isn't good.
Kyubey scampers back to you with something hovering in between his two ringed ears.
This, Hinako, is a Grief Seed, the egg of a Witch! You can touch this to your Soul Gem in order to cleanse it, and when it gets too full you can discard it before it hatches back into a Witch.
Kyubey holds it up for you to take it, and you do. It's a strange thing, a Grief Seed. A round ornate black and gray ball with a spike on top of it sits on a very long spike in particular, and it seems to passively hover over your palm.
Touching it against your Soul Gem that is on your chest, you let out a gasp as you feel the weight of the world lift off your shoulders, a weight you didn't even realize you felt.
Black wisps popped out of your Soul Gem, hovered in the air, before coalescing into the Grief Seed, filling it up a bit.
You spend a while just laying against the wall some more, trying to ignore the puddle of your own blood, before heading back home with Kyubey hanging onto your shoulder. You're crying, apparently. You were and still are. You can't help it, for as much as the idea of magic appeals to you you failed to use it to even save yourself. This is why you need to be taken care of by Mama, Papa, and Onee-chan. You Wish you could do more...
???: 45
With a low sob, you unlock your front door from the key that was stored away in your thankfully burnless pocket and you make your way back to bed, exhausted. The last thing you can recall before going to sleep is the buzzing of your phone, a flash of green light denoting the end of your transformation, hugging something, and the blissful darkness of slumber.
What do you do tomorrow morning?
[ ] (Write-in) [ ] Do you call back whoever tried calling you?
... Well then, that happened. By going into that situation without an idea on what she could possibly do to counter the Witch or it's familiars, she was beholden to the dice gods to determine whether or not she could come up with something on the spot. The dice gods said no, multiple times and with malice.
On the bright side, she managed to pull off some insane feats with what meager abilities she had available for use through the two identical "Hail Mary" rolls, which had equally identical effects due to the absurdity of rolling two 80s in a row for them.
Hinako now has experience in healing, as well as complete pain nullification.
She also has a half-filled Grief Seed now, so maybe experiment a bit before having her seek out another Witch tomorrow...? Please...? She obviously isn't good under pressure, if those rolls were anything to go by. 😅
And yes, she did go to sleep hugging Kyubey like a stuffed animal. And yes, her dependency on him is growing due to bad luck and the consequences of past votes. Welp. You gotta wonder why Kyubey is doing so much for Hinako.
I'm leaving the morning segment rather open, as there's tons of stuff that she could do tomorrow (Sunday). There's a whole city to explore after all, and it has all the things a city would have and probably whatever you could think of. Do note that Hinako might need a little break to gather her wits about herself, considering what just happened. Or at least, nothing Witch related.
