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Under the Open Sky (CWMGQ Spinoff)

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Wave Force is atrocious against anyone who has flat DR and small health pools (ie MGs). It's also bad against anyone who has defenses that require doing >X% of their health to even do anything. That's what Panoply is for.

It would be criminal to get pigeonholed into "only one tool" and then die when a hard counter to that shows up.
 
kelllogo said:
As you hover out you wonder why no one seems to care this much about what you do with the wrecked tanks.
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There are tanks aplenty. While making one is certainly expensive, losing one is less of a loss than losing unique and irreplaceable experimental equipment. Plus, the stuff was probably highly classified.
kelllogo said:
A draft of bitterly cold air snakes in from outside. Zoe, your mistress's ally, keeps writing on her sheaf of papers while tapping her foot. She doesn't react to the chill, so you slowly rise to re-tighten the tent flaps and push a little of your magic into the air to heat it back up.

You hope the mistress returns soon. Lisa was quite kind to her subordinates, but every time Zoe appeared upheaval followed. If the visiting Magical Girl pointed you out as disloyal you would be swiftly killed. It's enough to make the back of your neck itch to think that she could have you disposed of on a whim. It will be better when the mistress returns and you can go back to heating homes and forges with your talents.

You crouch back into the corner furthest away from Magical Girl Silver Regent. If you just do your job of keeping the tent warm she can keep ignoring you.

Zoe stops writing. She stops tapping her foot and bites the end of her pen while holding something to her ear.

"Stay safe out there." she remarks to the empty-except-for-you tent.

Nesting behind the mistress's bed still feels like a good idea, you keep doing that.

"She's empowered then. You know what to do."

"Shit. Act friendly, Anna should see that she's outmatched and submit."

"Good one."

Definitely not talking to you. Not that you've seen her say much other than 'disloyal' to demons of your stature.

Zoe jumps up from her seat, "On it!" she runs out through the closed tent flap, tearing the cords keeping it closed.

You start pulling out new cords to retie it. It wouldn't do for the mistress to have a damaged tent. If things are right she might lose face, or be angered. You've seen her impale an intemperate demon ten times her size and walk away unscratched when she became angry, you don't want to be the first subordinate to discover what roses that anger.

Quickly you have everything put together, the tent flap is closed, the air is reheated to a comfortable level, and everything is put away. You back into your corner and hope the mistress returns soon.

A bubble of smoke appears from nowhere, then pops to deposit a figure covered in blood and smoke unto the rugs covering the ground.

No, not a figure -- you recognize what remains of her long golden hair.

"Mistress!" you wail.

Zoe bursts back into the tent -- snapping the cords of the newly-retied entrance -- and dives to grab mistress.

"Lisa! Hold on!" she glares at you, "Hold her stumps closed. Keep her from losing more blood!"

You leap up and wrap long fingers around where the mistress's legs end in ragged stumps.

All for naught. She lets out a pained gasp and becomes still.

This is almost certainly the end for you. Even the Magical Girls that had been brought to heel delighted in killing lesser demons like you when frustrated or bored. Mistress was dead and could no longer protect you, mistress was dead and Silver Regent's plans had failed. You keep pressure on the stumps of your mistress's corpse not knowing what else to do.

"I'm not going to kill you, you sniveling rodent." Zoe says flatly, "Carry her. I'm going to have to visit Goddess Red on her terms."

She looks away and speaks under her breath, "Damn you Anna."
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I'm really wondering how the hell we saw that. If it were from a human's perspective, I would've figured that it was Gaia up to some shenanigans, but the viewpoint of that snippet was from a minor demon. How does that work? Was the demon born from Anna breaking a promise? Is this part of how the Dark is tracking Anna?
kelllogo said:
If Night Sky is awake she'll probably want to pick up where she left off yesterday. A quick look around should spot her if she's out. Or she could be sitting on the roof of the Magical Girl quarters -- like she is right now. With Reinforce actually smiling as Night Sky uses her arm to point at people below.

What is she doing?

When you hover nearby Night Sky lets go of Reinforce and waves you closer, "Hi friend! Did you see all the craters we made?"

"Yes I did. It almost seems odd that Team ATLANTIA was sent to help you."

Night Sky's chipper mood dampens slightly, "Only because a bunch of them had magic that stopped my best spells." she perks back up, "I heard you exploded the fire demon in single combat. What spell did you use? Reinforce is sure your weapons wouldn't have been enough, I want to see your spell!"

"It's a very dangerous spell. Until quite recently it damaged me when I used it." you begin.

Reinforce butts in, "If you could discover how to protect yourself from your own spell it should be simple for you to teach us how to do so."

There's something in her voice that puts you on edge.

She continues, "And if Night Sky is being targeted by fiends that protect themselves from Darkness it may be dangerous for us to not know your fancy spell."

"I was hoping to hear some more pointers on casting from Night Sky." you say.

"I can help you more if I see that spell!" Night Sky grins.

All around you is a small hive of activity and security. A mishap in Wave Force could cause a rather dramatic explosion. Right in the face of the caster -- as you are quite aware. You need a better spot. And you need to silence that part of you that thinks Reinforce is hoping that will happen to give her an excuse to kill you, it's probably false, or Night Sky will try to save you at least.

The whole situation seems to get measurably worse when you think it over. Is Night Sky angry that you didn't let her touch you? Is Reinforce angry about that? You've been sleeping within a hundred miles of the black-winged Epic girl, which is starting to feel much too close.

No. That's no way to think. Reinforce is probably just stressed from a frustrating fight. And you're sure she has worse spells than Wave Force she could cast on you.

"Let's head somewhere that won't break too many things while we practice." you answer.

"Great! We'll go to that mountain pool. I can warm it up and we'll all be able to relax after some spellwork."

Reinforce gives an ornate bow and picks up Night Sky in a fireman's carry before darting ahead. You follow as she flies north, Shifting to keep up with her rush of speed. Soon the three of you arrive at a small plateau with a moderately deep pool of springwater on one side and a cliff face on the other.

You quickly go over your spell in your head, trying not to think about how far medical attention and witnesses just became.

"When I cast the spell I yank in a bunch of boundary space until I've got a handful that's… double taunt. As much as I can get. Then I stretch it out more to make it get cold. While it's stretched I shake it lots, like gating, but short. Once it's hot you twist it really fast, then let go to let everything retract and spin away. Right before it splashes back you need to slam into where it's going to manifest so it goes where you want. If you don't slam it it wastes a lot of the power and it hits you just as hard as your target." you explain with your panoply generating illuminating pictures.

Reinforce blinks. Night Sky looks bewildered. They look at each other and rearrange themselves to stand behind you.

"We'll keep that in mind. Now cast it!" Night Sky orders.

You quickly gather the forces and set them loose with a shout, "Wave Force!"

A crooked line of sparks shoots out from your palm. All around you the aftershocks of your attack manifest as twinkling sparks spilling from nowhere.

Behind you Night Sky gets a flat expression, then she steps back and starts pushing black clouds around her hand while sticking her tounge slightly outside her mouth.

"Ah ha! Good idea." Reinforce starts copying Night Sky's actions.

You quickly run to the cliff face to get away from where they might hit with a targeted blast.

Nothing happens for a few minutes. They talk to each other in incomprehensible snippets. You think Night Sky is adapting your effect to work with metaphorical darkness and light by the way she makes a cloud of Darkness dance for her spellwork.

Then Night Sky gives a triumphant shout, "I got it!"

She emits a cloud of dark magic, then draws it into a tightly-bound knot of interlocking filaments. The filaments shudder like guitar strings, then she flattens it and sets the whole mass spinning so quickly it blurs.

She lets go. The disc of darkness shudders as it becomes a hoop, then contracts back on Night Sky's outstretched hand, "Wave Force!"

A perfect line of light shoots out of her palm. Traveling about two thirds of the distance your own Wave Force can reach. Night Sky somehow changed the aspect to Light when she was adapting your spell, but it feels like she's gotten the essence of it.

"Wave Force!" Reinforce produces an exact copy of Night Sky's performance.

"You already got it. That was fast, it took me more than a month to get that idea to do anything. And longer to keep it from just exploding in my face." you state.

"It's easy with a great teacher! I even stopped it from damaging me by making sure it stayed symmetrical." Night Sky beams.

"If you use your spear to empower this spell it won't stay symmetrical." Reinforce adds, "That would generate a spike flying back at you no matter what."

"I know that. That's obvious! Lets relax for a bit since Summit taught us so well." Night Sky deflects.

She steps over to the pool and puts her hand into the water. When she removes it a second later the pool is steaming hot. And a drop of blood falls from her hand, welling up from the point where her version of Wave Force touched her.

Night Sky pokes the bleeding patch gingerly, "Ouch. How did you come up with this sort of thing?"

"I was a prisoner in some kind of artificial dimension. There were some supports inside of it that pushed on space in odd ways, once I figured that out I found other things I could do and started trying to make it break from the inside." you explain while Reinforce grabs Night Sky's hand and applies a healing effect.

"How long did that take?" Night Sky asks while half-heartedly trying to get her hand back from Reinforce.

"A long time. When I managed to destroy the prison it exploded in the face of the demon that imprisoned me. He escaped before I could kill him." you frown, "Then I escaped into Hell until I found my way home."

And when you next see that snake you're going to make sure he can't run away. Then you will kill him, and it won't be because of what you've suffered. It will be an unselfish action to protect all the people that bastard would otherwise torture and dominate when you tear him six new-

Reinforce has pulled Night Sky behind her and is gathering darkness around her hand.

You stop scowling and assume a calm expression, "Bad memories."

Night sky scrambles around Reinforce, "Hey! Quit it!"

"She was preparing to attack." Reinforce says.

"She wasn't! Why do you do this!"

This is rather uncomfortable. And Reinforce is still holding a rather worrying amount of dark magic around her hand.

"Should I come back later?" you ask.

"No." declares Night Sky firmly, "You let us learn your spell so I'll help you with your magic. But first you two need to calm down."

She points at the slightly steaming pool, "So we'll relax in this makeshift hot spring until we've stopped being wound up!"

Is she serious?

Night Sky starts disrobing.

By all appearances, yes.
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Not wanting Night Sky to be upset you go along with her request -- to a point. It only took a few minutes for her to tire of trying to grope you, most of which you spent with both arms covering your chest. After that she initiated a brief conflict by splashing water around. In short order she was shouting for it to stop after Reinforce and yourself had dropped the pool by about a head's height with your waves.

It was actually rather fun to feel the water rushing when your Panoply displaced it. You had never considered swimming with it before.

The three of you had moved on to a less energetic contest. Night Sky standing up to take a ragged breath as you and Reinforce kept noses below the waterline.

You were, of course, cheating by expanding your lungs to hold a great deal of air. The thought of besting Reinforce appealing even in such a trivial way.

If you had a sister would you interact with her in this way?

The seconds tick by until two minutes have passed, which prompts your competitor to stand straighter as well, "She's cheating. She's got to be cheating." she says without a hint of breathlessness.

You start exhaling, making a stream of bubbles. And then keep exhaling.

Night Sky giggles, "You don't need to breathe and you still lost."

Reinforce rubs her face and leaves the pool, grabbing her clothing while you continue to exhale.

"Tell me." Reinforce asks while making the water on her evaporate, "What do you eat to get your breasts that size?"

That's an odd question. You're not, well, enviable in that respect.

"So Night Sky and myself can be sure to avoid eating those things." she finishes.

Ah, that makes some sense, you suppose. Night Sky starts giggling again.

"Crickets, tiny fish, and sometimes mud when I got really hungry." you explain.

Reinforce gives you an unreadable expression before pulling her clothes over her head.

"Um, never mind that. What were you trying to do with your magic?" Night Sky slides next to you.

"It's been strange lately. Mana Bolts." a pair of purple globes fly out of your Panoply into the evening sky above you.

"I already know that one."

"There was also something strange earlier today." you focus for a second on what you remembered.

You run through it in your head a few times before recalling the odd sensation and replicating it. A bright green spark dances in front of your face.

"Neat! That's some form of counter-magic, try to stretch it over something. I'm not very good at learning those and already have a spell for the job, so I'm not going to guide you through it."

You fiddle with the sparks until you've attached a name to the effect. Night Sky supports your practicing by conjuring spheres of fire that your new spell makes disappear while you keep the sparks over them. It's a rather weak force at the moment, but you feel that there's a hidden effect that may become apparent if Quell becomes strong enough.

There's even a chance to have Reinforce and Night Sky offer observations and suggestions on how you use spells.

[X] [SPELL] Pick a Spell Development action.
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*facepalms* I have no words.
kelllogo said:
The first one was simple: Report to Signals after your next combat shift. This was corroborated by a message on your Datamine.
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Probably for a debrief on what went down at Moral High Ground as well as informing Summit of Flawless Paladin's status as a spy.
kelllogo said:
The second was a bit more lengthy. Magical Girl Machine Code thanked you for your efforts and recommended (demanded) that your time would be better spent on building wunderwaffen instead of repairing tanks. She added a map showing the two points where a towed Anti-Demon Tank would get stuck with suggestions for how to terraform or construct a lift at those spots.

She also stated that the effort you spent on tanks was just a political tactic for the Counter Force to claim less resources spent. Which had become extravagantly wasteful with Machine Code's judgement of your value as a builder.

Something to think about.
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So we could actually trivialize getting a lot of the tanks repaired by putting the task of repairing them on the factory instead of doing it ourselves. I don't think it's worth sending off the lightly damaged tanks, but the 3-5 action tanks? Probably worth it. I'm not entirely sure I agree with Machine Code's assessment that our time would be better spent on wunderwaffen. Historically, there's really only two wunderwaffens that actually worked. Their names were Fat Man and Little Boy. Outside of those, it's almost always been about who could field good equipment in as large quantities as possible and deploying them effectively.

A better idea would actually be to use Summit's manufacturing prowess to jumpstart new fabrication methodologies for general use. One gun, or even a handful of them isn't going to change much. An army's worth? That it will.

[X] [SPELL] Aggressive Absorption
[X] [NIGHT] Be Reactive
[X] [EXP] Plan Wave Force
 
The interesting thing in the interlude is that it suggests that Starlancer is actually a decent person. She treats her allies well, and she sounded like a nutty idealist when talking to us. She's going to hate herself if she's ever freed from reds control, poor kid.
 
[X] [SPELL] Aggressive Absorption
[X] [NIGHT] Be Reactive
[X] [EXP] Plan Wave and Rend

It'll take quite a substantial amount of xp to bring shifting and gating to lvl15. Seems better to go after lower lying fruit - Panoply 30 unlocks nice stuff like Danmaku, Multi-caster and Adamantine. And I think it'll give us one more level of Protean?
 
We might want to leave aside 700xp for 'To defy the gods' now that we have Quell.

On a side note, hopefully we'll get a chance to spend our merit after this. It'd be pretty amusing if we rack up enough in this battle for a week long trip to wunderwaffens and boneyards.

Though more practically we'll want the flak system for its Anti-air ability to get that sweet x6 damage to anything that flies.
 
kelllogo said:
So, to be clear, you are expecting to get gobs of xp for doing lots of stuff in the next couple updates. And you are also voting for Summit to hang back as much as she can get away with.
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I suspect more people are voting for that out of the belief that Summit will be able to be the first responder to whatever Bad Shit happens than to just hide somewhere.

(I changed my vote if that's how you're really viewing it, anyway.)
 
Since I noticed it, for those voted to buy Rend, it's actually an invalid purchase. Buying Emulate Blood is necessary first.
 
Spectrum said:
I suspect more people are voting for that out of the belief that Summit will be able to be the first responder to whatever Bad Shit happens than to just hide somewhere.

(I changed my vote if that's how you're really viewing it, anyway.)
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Correct. All diving in, against orders does is make us less ready for the bullshit interrupt in exchange for extra kills.

We should have learned that last mission
 
[X] [SPELL] Aggressive Absorption
[X] [NIGHT] Be Reactive
[X] [EXP] Plan Wave and Rend
I'll switch over to the panoply stuff
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by kelllogo on Sep 21, 2017 at 3:30 PM, finished with 1048 posts and 11 votes.
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