((I could have sworn that I wrote a post... Well, here's an action, at least.))
Tooru moves around the hill towards the side opposite the one she attacked from. She tries to assess damage dealt, then dashes to the nearest cover. Midway through, if it seems feasible, aim another Cheap manabolt at the joint of one of the witch's "wings."
[Joy]You allow yourself to carefully slide a little further down the hill, back towards the mansion. As soon as you feel like you're far enough down to be fully behind cover, you return to your feet and transition to a quick trotting pace, making your way counter-clockwise around the hill. It's much more difficult to stay on your feet now that you've stopped singing--the ice is slick now, and you're continually just on the edge of losing your footing and tumbling further down, but you manage to avoid that long enough to move past the pier, and then you deliberately fall into a fast, barely-controlled slide.
[Creativity]Your feet hit flat ice a moment later, the mansion somewhere off to your right, and you break into a hard sprint for the frozen lake's edge. It's easier to maintain your footing on the level ice, and as you run you look back at the witch, expecting to see
some kind of damage. Your heart falls when you fail to spot any differences, aside from her being even
larger; the many tiny shards of glass that make up her two-dimensional form are still swirling chaotically around each other, reshaping impossibly as they change positions, but as far as you can tell none of them are cracked, or burned, or damaged in any way.
You must have missed. She can't be invulnerable. [Joy]You squeeze one of your last two talismans into a ball, and throw it overhand at her wing, randomly guessing that she's still outside the ashen area. The motion sends you into a spin on the ice, but you skillfully manage to remain upright, recovering and resuming your sprint after a single revolution. Your throw flies true, the glowing talisman arcing out into the distance, before suddenly colliding with the base of the witch's wing and detonating in a bright orange flash! The witch screams, her wing entirely severed, and reaches one arm up to grasp at her wound--and then, as soon as the outlines of her arm and falling wing meet, the shifting glass begins to exchange between her two limbs, the base of the wing growing back into her body and reattaching, though it looks slightly smaller than her other wing now.
You trip and stumble as you reach the edge of the frozen lake, falling down onto all fours and burying your hands elbow-deep into a pile of ash. You pause for a moment, tired and scared, before forcing yourself back to your feet. Just up ahead is a line of crumbling walls, and... Alida and Asha! They're taking cover behind the walls themselves, Alida stepping out towards you, waving her arms frantically while looking towards the witch. The shadows stretching from the wall she's behind start to retreat away from you, slowly at first, and then within the space of a half second accelerate so fast it's like they're leaping away from you--and then you hear a shattering explosion from behind as the witch collides with the ice hill your song created.
[Bravery]
[Mercy]
You twist around to look, and get only a moment's look at her, even more massive than the five-story hill you were standing on top of maybe fifteen seconds ago. And then she screams, and a wall of force slams into you, picking you up off of your feet and sending you flying through the air. You spin rapidly, unable to control your flight, before landing hard in the ash, your already-injured back screaming in pain. You grit your teeth and sit up, disoriented, trying to figure out where you are. Before you can, you feel Alida's hands grab you beneath the shoulders and start to drag you backward, into the cover of a wall. She drops you roughly on your back, which makes you squawk in protest, before Asha leans over you and pokes at your arms with a worried expression on her face. You swat the girl's hands away and struggle to your feet on your own, not so injured that you can't fight. Alida's standing next to Asha, watching you, and... another Alida is standing just behind them, leaning out and peeking around the wall at the witch.
You're behind cover, you can't see the witch and she can't see you, but judging from the short glance you did get, she's not exactly injured, and is absolutely enormous. At least your attacks do seem to hurt her."Thank you Asha. I was worried I was alone there."
With that, Alida hugs Asha.
"Thank you.. I don't know what I was going to do there for a moment."
"But.. we gotta get moving. I know we can't make it much longer, and Tooru is worse off than I am."
Get moving. Try to stay in cover/hiding from the witch, but get closer to tethergirl range. Try to find the rubber ribbon as well. In either case, activate Effigy, as I'll need to attack soon.. Tooru can't hold out much longer. If I do find the rubber ribbon, tie on on my leg and then activate effigy.
(After spotting the witch.)
<Dammit, why are they always so huge?>
(Quick answer until I find time and motivation to fluff it up)
Asha helped Mina stands up, and ran to return to the center of the action, where her help could be needed. If there was any familiar blocking the way, she would use her Close-Combat powers to dismiss them.
She ordered to Aleksandra:
"Get away from the Witch's path! Take cover and resume providing support fire!"
[Creativity][Joy]Asha helps Alida to her feet, and the blonde immediately spins in place, trying to spot the ribbon Asha made for her. It's immediately apparent to the girl that she's not going to find it; she's standing in a miniature crater which her body made when she hit the ash, and there's no similar impacts anywhere nearby. Even if the ribbon wasn't vaporized outright by the witch's attack, it's probably in too many pieces to be useful even if she
could find it. Frowning, Alida glances at Asha for a moment, and after the girl nods at her, the two rush off towards the nearest ruined building, Asha having to make a conscious effort to slow down and keep pace with her slower friend.
They slide to a stop behind the ruined corner of the building, Alida leaning against the wall and resting for a moment--and
with barely a concsious thought, a second body splits away from her and peeks around the wall to check on the witch. She's still far away, and focused on Tooru's hill, so Alida has her disposable body run out of cover towards a row of ruined buildings near the nearest river's edge. A few seconds later, Asha and her main body follow along behind, both of them warily watching the witch as she continues to get closer, growing larger at an alarming rate.
Just before they get to cover, Asha spots Tooru slide down from the ice hill, and start sprinting across the frozen lake towards the two of them. Midway through her run, Tooru spins and throws one of her talismans at the witch, the glowing projectile flying for several seconds before hitting the base of the witch's wing, the explosion outright severing the limb! Both girls are excited at the surprising hit, but their elation disappears a moment later as the witch grabs her wing, and its shifting glass fragments promptly reattach to her main body, without her flight path even changing. They lose sight of the witch a moment later, having reached cover, and the two of them stop and take a breather while Alida's clone peeks out and watches Tooru's progress.
[Bravery] &
[Bravery]Tooru stumbles and falls over when she reaches the shore, and Alida quietly curses, before sending her disposable body out to grab the girl while Asha watches from cover. She doesn't make it four steps out before Asha and her other body realize that the witch has made it over the ash-covered area, and she shouts for Tooru to get down, while waving her arms and continuing towards the redhead--and then the witch slams into the hill behind Tooru, and unaware of the clone's expendable nature Asha leaps forward to grab Alida's body, yanking her back into cover moments before the witch screams and sends Tooru flying.
Alida roughly shoves Asha off of her a moment later, immediately running back out to retrieve Tooru while her main body plays sentry. Tooru was launched most of the distance towards their position by the blast, and as Asha confirms once she's safe behind the wall, is miraculously unharmed, or at least not harmed severely. However, the witch isn't any worse off; she's landed now, her two-dimensional body only given reference frame by the comparatively
small ice hill she's standing next to, and clawing at with her enormous, bladelike fingers, leaving deep gouges in it. It's clear that her body
does have shape, her far arm is partially obscured by it, while her closer arm is fully visible, but beyond that the separate portions of her body still freely trade glass.
"G-Guys, what can I do to help? I'm running out of ideas..." Mina said - calm, calm... she had these magical abilities, could she do something?
Try to think of what to do - if anyone offers something that seems plausible, do it.
(For Mina.)
Keep the first set of illusions active and drawing fire, for now at least. Use Semblance to grow wings, shrinking the body a bit to reduce the extra mass needed to be created, but not too much, as I'd like to carry the halberd and remain large enough to grab someone or be grabbed. Move into a position where I'll be ready to attack next turn, or can help one of the others do so.
((I'm gonna assume that Dev's action was stated IC.))You hunker back behind cover, trying to stay calm while you talk to the others. They're very quiet, worryingly quiet, and you tell yourself that it's just because they're busy with... with something other than not-dying. Thankfully, Alida eventually responds, quickly saying something about growing wings and reducing weight so you can fly and reach the witch. Ignoring the probably unintentional jab at your weight, you rapidly consider the idea; you turned your
hand into wings once, when you were looking at that bird, so maybe you could do that kind of thing again, but just on a larger scale? You turn around, leaning forward against the ruined wall, so that there's plenty of space behind you. You take a deep breath and focus, visualizing a pair of bright bird wings, the muscles and bones attached to your back.
Your magic takes effect immediately, bone splitting away from your ribcage just below your shoulders and forming two new joints. Muscle and bone grows from nothing, forming two dense lumps which swell outward, stretching your clothes for a few brief moments before two thin holes open in the back of your shirt, allowing the rapidly-expanding limbs to stretch out behind you unrestricted. Soon, the central spurs of bone begin to painlessly split into individual joints as muscle flows over them, forming the basic structure of the wings, before a collection of thin keratin needles sprout from the bone, lengthening and growing into full feathers several feet long. And then the growth stops, and you find yourself with a pair of large colorful wings attached to your back. You give them an experimental flap, a little surprised by just how
natural they feel.
[Joy]You push away from the wall and try to stand up straight, but immediately begin to tumble backward, unused to the extra weight on your back. You have to hunch over and lean forward a bit to keep your balance, an awkward stance, but you suppose that's worth it, if you can fly with these wings... You take a deep breath, tighten your grip on your halberd, then jump into the air while flapping your wings hard. The motion
launches into the air, far higher than you expected, but you immediately start to fall back down, spinning around vertically, and suddenly you're upside-down, your head pointing back down at the ground! You spread your wings out wide, and manage to recover, sending yourself into a chaotic and unstable glide, flying fast over ruined buildings. Just keeping yourself in the air is difficult, and avoiding crashing into the ground or one of the crumbling walls is all you can manage.
You hear the witch scream again, and after a moment of hesitation you spare a glance to look. The only thing you note is that she's even closer now, looming massive in the night sky ahead of you, uninjured but clearly angry. You look back towards the hill and notice that Tooru's gone--she must have ran for cover, which means she's somewhere in the open now! You shift one of the illusions of her to the top of the hill, where you saw her last, in hopes of distracting the witch, and then you return your attention to your flight, just in time to juke to the side and avoid colliding with one of the floating skeleton
things.
[Bravery]
You're only just starting to get the hang of gliding when the shadows below you rapidly twist around, warning you of the witch's movement just a moment before she collides with the ice hill. The only thing you can think to do is look up at her, just in time to see her bring one jagged hand down on top of your Tooru illusion. A moment later, her head splits open, her mouth filled with childishly-outlined rows of jagged teeth, and she
screams. You pull your wings in and brace yourself for impact, knowing you don't have time for anything more, and then the force of her scream hits you and bats you to the ground. You bounce off the ground once, spinning through the air for several more seconds before you hit again and slide to a stop in the ash.
You hold still after your impromptu landing, examining yourself with your senses. You're a bit bruised, but you actually didn't get hurt seriously, even your fragile wings survived the impact without damage. You roll over and give them a tentative flap. It hurts a little, but not so much that you can't fly. And the others probably need help...
Soul Gem: Glowing with a fading light.
Form and location: Medallion, pinned to her left breast.
Age: 14
Hair Color: Salt-stained blonde.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: A magically-lengthened club, tied to her arm with one of Asha's ribbons.
Totem: A fishing club.
Stats:
Bravery: Talented~
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Amateur...
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Skilled!
Creativity: Cursed ;-;
Love: Cursed ;-;
Abilities:
Mobility Lvl2
Close Combat Lvl3+1
Totem Manipulation Lvl2
Berzerker Lvl3 Active; Crippled! (Cheap discount to power use)
Painless Lvl2 Active; Cheap cost per turn!
Effigy Lvl1 Active; Cheap cost per turn!
Soul Gem: Glowing with a warm light.
Form and location: Ring, worn on her left ring finger.
Age: 13
Hair color: Ashen
Health: Wet, ashy, and with a bunch of glass and gashes in her right hand. Has a fair bit of living clay on her, mostly her clothes and right arm.
Inventory: A short rusty metal shiv, broken off from a longer piece.
Totem: A Ribbon. The one her late sister wore.
Stats:
Bravery: Skilled!
Joy: Cursed ;-;
Innocence: Cursed ;-;
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Talented~
Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!
Abilities:
Mobility: Level 3
Close Combat: Level 2
Totem Manipulation: Level 1 (+1)
Heal and Steel: Level 2 (Active; Next attack rolls on Mercy)
Soothe: Level 3
Flagellation: Level 3
Memento: Level 1 (Given to Aleksandra)
Soul Gem: Glowing with a dull light.
Form and location: Ring, worn on her right index finger.
Age: 14.
Hair Color: Bright green.
Health: Fine!
Body Modifications: Two large and colorful songbird wings.
Inventory: A halberd, which is an appropriate weapon for an angel!
Totem: A halberd.
Stats:
Bravery: Amateur...
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Amateur...
Purity: Skilled!
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Talented~
Love: Cursed ;-;
Abilities:
Mobility: Level 2
Close-Combat: Level 2 (+1)
Regeneration: Level 2
Sixth Sense: Level 3
Semblance: Level 2
Projection: Level 2 (Active; maintaining a bunch of Alida and Tooru illusions; maintenance cost 1/6th Major)
Soul Gem: Glowing with a shadowed light.
Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...
Age: 13
Hair Color: Bright scarlet.
Health: Has a bunch of shallow cuts across her back, and she's a little cold, to boot!
Inventory: One paper talisman, ready for throwing.
Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.
Stats:
Bravery: Cursed ;-;
Joy: Talented~
Innocence: Skilled!
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Amateur...
Love: Skilled!
Abilities:
Mobility II
Mana Bolt III (+I)
Regeneration I
Totem Manipulation II
Invigorating Passion I
Outburst II
Duet with Reality II (Active; Cheap maintenance.)
Ward: Glowing with a foolish light!
Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Scared and hiding.
Inventory: A cute blue ribbon tied into her hair. She's wearing Alida's coat, now soaked with water, and wielding her grandfather's AK-47.
Stats:
Bravery: Skilled!
Joy: Skilled!
Innocence: Talented~
Purity: Amateur...
Mercy: Cursed ;-;
Creativity: Cursed ;-;
Love: Amateur...
Gold X-mark (to the north, above the frozen lake): Alida, Asha, and Tooru
Red X-mark (to the northeast of the gold mark): Aleksandra
Green star (Southwest of the witch): Mina
The jagged mass of weirdly-colored six-pointed stars in the middle: The witch.
Author
Topic: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM (Read 149874 times)