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Suuri stopped in front of the mirror of their office. They stared at it, noticing a few imperfections that were not here before, shades of purple, red and gray barely visible beyond the void they took great care to coat themselves with.
Mortals care a great deal about appearances, both for social and cultural reasons, and in a way, spirits were no different, even if many would argue against it. Spirits will carelessly copy fauna and flora features, not as a way to fit in but as a way to cement their existence. A bird would be in the sky, a worm in the earth, a fish in the sea, by taking these shapes, the universe is most likely to recognize their existence as 'correct'.
Suuri dispels the black mist around their face to reveal what's underneath. A head not too unlike a rabbit, stitched up eyes, long ears that form a toothless crocodile maw, bleeding what seems to be grey mucus. These shapes used to be more coherent, once, Suuri used to look like something. Something simple, something that wasn't a horrible amalgamation of the many spirits they killed to reach their goal.
...
Suuri failed, they were very much aware of that. Perhaps one day, they could try again, under other circumstances, but their enemy was prepared now, they were expecting it, and they knew no one would be willing to take their side. Could the war be an opportunity? Times are changing in more ways than one, but would that be enough to turn the tides?
Suuri missed the days where its purpose was already fulfilled. When entropy progressed as it should, but now...
Now all that could be felt was M's attempt to keep the world spinning forevermore.
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You've managed to convince the human to join your side to arrest that crazy guy with the anti-magic birds, but you could use more on your side. The next best option is a bodyguard, specifically one that protected caravans. You read up on their profile a bit more and you realize the bodyguard profession might be more serious than you expected.
Their job expects a lot of Life spell usage to boost yourself, which as you’ve been warned, tends to have drawbacks, especially when overused. Now, as a student who tends to use weaker Life spells meant for beginners also under the supervision of your teachers, you haven’t suffered many side effects, but this bodyguard wasn’t as lucky. The spells they used were fine in the short term, but with repeated use, slowly started eroding their mind and body. Past a certain point, they were more danger to the one they protected than anything else, and had to retire. Their conditions worsened, and the only ‘cure’ that was found was to reset both their mind and body, so now they’re suffering amnesia with very little memories of their time as a bodyguard.
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>>6359157
At first, it makes you think that this will make them useless in combat, but while most of their memory has been wiped, the notes mention that they still have very good muscle memory and reflexes, along with excellent survival instincts. In other words, old habits die hard. It’s worth a shot, you suppose.
You knock on their door, it’s a simple house, but not as badly maintained as the human one, this one looks like it’s actually being lived in. As you’re waiting for them to open, you glance at the window of said house at your side. Weirdly enough, the inside of the house has a weak tint of blue, before you can take a closer look, the door opens, and you understand what’s up with the building.
The person before you is much like Dill, a fish-person, or was it Piscius? Something like that. More importantly, UNLIKE dill, the interior of the house is flooded with water, it’s like a giant aquarium, except the floor, walls and furniture don’t look damp at all, nor are they floating around as expected. The water doesn’t flow out of the door despite it being wide open, obviously, some magic must be at play.
The bodyguard has a more feminine body than expected, considering the insistence on gender-neutral terms in the notes. They’re wearing a loose shirt with a rope tied around their waist, maybe to stop the shirt from flailing around while swimming. They’re also wearing shorts, exposing their scarred but still overall healthy looking legs.
Your point being, this isn’t what you expected a veteran bodyguard to dress like, but this is a casual outfit at home, so it makes sense.
“Excuse me,” you clear your throat. “I’m here to ask for your help when it comes to a situation that may require your skills.”
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>>6359158
They pout. “Nuh-uh, not joining the army, I thought I made that clear. Got plenty of money to last me until the day I die. Do you know how ANNOYING the drills are?” They swim to position themselves upside down.
“Wait, we have an army? Like, officially?” You ask, confused.
“Kindaaa? Not officially, but some citizens get pressured into taking training courses for fighting, and we know what that’s gonna be used for. Did you know they’re even making students do duels now? Fucked up, if you ask me.”
“I know, I’m a student too.”
“...what? Aren’t you human? What?” Their confusion is insulting, but understandable. There hasn’t been a human mage in ages after all. “Anyway, so you’re not from the army? What’s it for then? Huh?” They swim in circles up and down waiting for your answer, you wonder if that amnesia didn’t screw up some other part of their brain too.
“Yeah, it’s so we can get help with a case. There’s a good chance some madman with anti-magic birds is going to attack the town, and for time reasons, we find it easier to solve this with combat capable citizens.” You try to explain yourself without sounding like a madman, but you aren’t very successful. Thankfully, the ex-bodyguard look like they believe you.
“Cool, what do I get in exchange? Not money, I have enough of that.”
“You get to not have your entire town ransacked overnight.”
They pout harder. “But aren’t your teachers gonna take care of that anyway? Not sure why I’ve got to do anything about it.”
You sigh, this is going to be more difficult than expected. “What do you want, then?”
They make a creepy smile. “I want-”
“No,” you cut them off immediately.
“I didn’t even say anything!” They reply, offended.
“You were going to ask for something weird, I’ve seen that kind of smile before. Ask for something reasonable, please.”
“It wasn’t even going to be THAT weird, but fiiine, I’ll help for free, if I have to.”
“Wait, what? Not even asking for anything?”
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>>6359160
They giggle. “I was messing with you, gotta stop taking everything so seriously, you know? It’s my town, of course I don’t want to see it destroyed. I’ll be there if you need me, I’m not as good as I used to be, or so I’ve been told, but I’ll do my best.”
They stick out their tongue at you and close the door. You hope they’ll behave on the mission, but if they’re capable, it might be worth dealing with their eccentricities.
You come back to an exhausted detective, documents littering the desk. He speaks to you in a hurried tone. “Okay, please tell me you found people to help, we don’t have time anymore.”
“What do you mean? The bodyguard and the human will help, they seem good enough, but there’s still a few other candidates-”
“I don’t know how, but the bird guy seem to have figured out we’re unto them, but that can only mean one of two things, the first is they’ll move somewhere else, the second is they’ll attack early. We don’t know for sure which will happen, on one hand, an attack is suicidal in their current state with the teachers around, but that man looks unstable, so we can’t write it off, if he moves out, then finding him again will be a nightmare. We need to capture him now. Tonight, no delay, any more and he might be gone. I’ll scrounge up what I can of the police force to make a perimeter, but the strike team will have to be comprised of you and the other citizens you got on your side, I’ll also be there to make sure it goes smoothly.”
“You’re suddenly trusting me with a lot, shouldn’t the police force help us as part of the strike team?”
“To be completely honest, I don’t trust these idiots to do anything dangerous like this without chickening out. They’ll try to help you by closing in if things get really bad, but don’t count on it.”
You try to process the situation. Things are moving faster than expected, but you do have backup, this isn’t a shot in the dark like last time, you’re prepared. Yet, the seriousness with which the detective treats it still puts you on edge; only now are you realizing that someone could actually die here if you do it wrong. That was always a possibility, whenever you went in the forest, even back in the zero zone, but now it feels more official, maybe because someone with an official rank like the detective is taking it seriously.
“What plan do we have?”
“As far as magic formation goes, we’ll take the tried and true HPF, or hero party formation. It’s called that because most hero’s tales have a defensive mage, a ranged one, a melee one, and an info one. Self explanatory, each role covers the weakness of the other without having to multitask and interrupting each other’s spells.”
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>>6359161
One of your party member is hardly capable of magic, but they’ll have to fit. Let’s see what we have here…
Human Assassin:
-Good usage of ranged weapons.
-Can fight in melee if necessary, his guns work just as well from up close.
-Good natural stealth.
-No reliance on magic.
Dark elf Detective:
-Good with Divination
-Fast and agile, excellent in melee, but gets quickly exhausted.
-Also good at info, although the instructions might not always be clear.
Piscius Bodyguard:
-Wild card, as good as ranged as they are in melee.
-They’re a bodyguard, so maybe they’re also good at defense too?
-Might be the most capable unit in your team, hard to tell.
You:
-You probably know yourself well enough by now.
Your team looks solid, looking at your team, the most logical conclusion is to put the assassin in range, the detective at info, and the bodyguard in defense, which… would leave you in melee range.
Is that the best though? You’ve fought in melee before, but that means nullifying your magic if you fight too close to the birds, is that really okay? You could always ask Table for help, the attack will happen during the night, when she won’t be busy. You also can’t rely on your armor, as it’s inherently relying on loops to figure out how to protect you, something that the birds might nullify due to them being semi-immune to Divination magic. You’ll have to ask for more conventional armor from the detective.
>Change formation (input new formation)
>Keep formation
>Make up a new formation (may have reduced performance)
>Another plan? (Write in)
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>>6359162
(sorry for the delay, not many excuses except my habit of struggling to get back into things when I take a small break. Also what the hell are these new captchas, why do I need to go through 3 of them for each post. Is AI scraping and the bot problem really getting that bad)
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>>6359162
Oh shit, we're back! Glad to see you return, QM.
>Keep formation
I'm surprised the detective is willing to let a student be a frontliner after the lecture he gave us last time, but I have no better idea.
100% do NOT bring our extremely magical girlfriend to the anti-magic fight, though. Last time we negated her magic temporarily, didn,t she nearly die?
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>>6359181
>>6359171
>>6359170
You formulate a plan. "I'll be in melee, the other human can be in range, the bodyguard in defense and you can be in info, how does that sound?"
"Sounds as good as anything else. I don't like relying on people I barely know like this, but this situation is peculiar enough to warrant it. Anti-magic means having two humans puts us at a distinct advantage, assuming everything goes according to plan." The dark elf readjusts his sunglasses.
"And the plan is...?"
"As I said, we're a strike team. The goal is to surround the perimeter and ask for surrender, if that doesn't work, and it might not, we'll try to take them by surprise. If they hide in the cave, we'll need to go in too."
"Can't we wait outside until they starve and need to get out?" You ask.
"No, they might have a way to teleport out, or a smaller tunnel to leave by. It's unlikely all the birds will be able to, but extracting that chimera guy is the most important part, the info he holds might be invaluable."
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>>6360064
With a sigh, you go out to gather the new recruits. The bodyguard and the assassin are annoyed by the fact they're called into action the very day they've been hired, but they don't take too long gearing themselves up.
You ask the detective if there's any melee weaponry you can use, but a lot of them are, unsurprisingly, running on magic. You could use a sharp blade or knife, but something more advanced would be good considering how close you'll be to the action. You could, of course, grab the shotgun. Unlike what most video games would lead you to believe, shotguns are much better at medium range than what you might think. You wouldn't use it to hit a target that's miles away, but you won't have to in such close combat. Since you'll be fighting in the front, you also won't have to worry about friendly fire, meaning the spread won't be an issue either.
You've never used a shotgun before, and you have to be given a few pointers on how to hold and reload it properly first, which you hope will be good enough. The bodyguard also gives you a pretty big looking sledgehammer to defend yourself with. It's light, but only because it has a Lighten rune active on it, in other words, you'll need to cast strength on yourself to properly swing it when the time comes, since the rune will surely deactivate the moment it hits one of those birds. You ask if a Strength spell would deactivate on contact with the feathers, but it seems like no one really knows, and you probably don't want to find out.
In other words, don't get hit.
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>>6360065
Everyone is getting acquainted with each other as we get closer to the evening. You're all stressed out; except for the bodyguard, who's treating this like a game.
When the time is right, you all leave to the forest. Every creak and branch snap makes you flinch, but no one else seems to be bothered by it, they must all have their fair share of experience in dangerous territory, in a way, so do you.
You arrive to the cave before midnight. The detective talks to himself, you catch a few words about 'formation' and 'on his signal'.
He turns to all of you. "Everything's ready. Remember, don't show fear, always act like you have the upper hand even when you don't, animals like this are sure to flee if they sense the situation to be too dangerous. If we can take enough of them down in a short time, we might take care of this without a scratch. Stay here."
He clears his throat and steps out of the hidng spot you were in, close to the cave's entrance. "We have under good evidence you are plotting an attack against the town, the area is secured, if you do not come out peacefully-"
His speech is quickly interrupted by two birds from each side, with a sigh, the detective deftly dodges the first, and the rest of your team knocks away the second.
"He expected us. Someone must have informed him," He steps back to a safe distance, and you replace him in the front lines. You see more birds pop out of the dark of the cave, but instead of charging at you, they spread their wing-arms as if trying to intimidate you. They're not doing anything else, they might be stalling.
Your weapons did good damage to the birds, but apart from the guns, the sledgehammer isn't capable of breaking their bones as well as you thought, you might need to crush their legs or their head to take them down.
The bodyguard steps forward, and smirks at you. "Hey, buddy, get in and start swinging, trust me."
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>>6360066
You inhale, and ignore the nagging voice in your head telling you that's basically suicide, and charge in. The birds don't waste a second to jump you, but spikes and walls made of rocks manifest between the ones you can't hit. You almost expect the sudden change of environment to make swinging your weapon harder, but somehow, it's as if you always know the optimal way to strike your foes despite the chaos of battle.
"Hey, how do you even use magic that close to them, anyway?" You ask the bodyguard.
"The rock itself isn't magical, and I'm pushing it from deep enough that the feathers don't affect it, just because something is made magically doesn't mean the end result is magical, know what I mean?"
"Huh, yeah, that makes perfect-"
"Can we focus." The detective's voice rings in your head. "I'm using spells to enhance your spatial awareness, but that doesn't mean you can fight on autopilot."
Despite his words, this is surprisingly light work thus far, you've taken down about ten of them in a short amount of time with no real harm done to your side. The cave is narrow enough to give your smaller number an advantage too, since they can't fight you all at a time.
Soon, the birds seem to get the message that despite their overwhelming number, they can’t charge in without being slaughtered. Instead, they retreat deeper into the cave. Some of them get shot, but most flee out of sight behind a corner.
“I managed to get vision of the fleeing birds,” the detective says. “I can’t actually see the birds, since they mess with the spells, but there’s nowhere else they could’ve gone. It’s a big open area, and I can see their master talking to someone over a rune. Can’t hear what he’s saying, but he might be calling for backup, be careful.”
You all move deeper inside, some straggler birds get past you, not even trying to fight. You don’t bother with chasing them, it’d be a waste of time. Eventually, you find the path blocked off by a wooden door, the first sign of a building you’ve had thus far.
You’re given the go ahead to bash it down, and you make your way in effortlessly. Surprisingly, you’re not immediately attacked upon entering, but find the chimera master along three, much bigger, sturdier looking birds. Of course, you can count more regular ones around, but the exact number is meaningless, let’s say about 30. The area is a big, dome like room with basic living amenities and a lot of magic looking equipment.
The assassin points his gun at your target. “Give it up, you’re not winning this, no matter how big you make them.”
“Ha! Humans!” The man groans, his eye twitching in annoyance. “No, it’s fine, I should’ve made them to resist human tech too, of course, OBVIOUSLY!”
“So, are you giving up?”
“Maybe, kinda, perhaps? W-What do you propose?” He keeps looking over to his left side, as if expecting something.
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>>6360067
The detective furrows his brow. “He’s stalling for something, we can’t afford to talk this out,” he transfers the message to your minds.
The assassin understands the message, without a second to waste, he shoots one of the bigger beasts in the head, but instead of dropping dead, it dodges the shot by quickly lowering its head. An annoyed ‘tch’ can be heard from the assassin, and a wicked smile from the madman at the heart of it all.
“Its head didn’t move faster than the bullet, of course, but it was able to figure out where I was aiming before I shot even with a quickdraw, these ones are smarter.”
“Hehe, sure they are...”
Despite what the chimera guy says, he’s still not making a move. He’s definitely stalling, which means you need to engage first.
This, however, will be a bit harder to fight than the others. Not only is this place more open, but with their creator around, they will fight as a more cohesive unit.
Numbers of chimeras left: 30
Big chimeras left: 3
State of the team: Unharmed
Turn left before ??? arrives: 5
>Keep using the strategy you did through the cave, it worked this far, hasn’t it?
>Focus on disrupting the master’s thought so his chimeras fight unoptimally.
>Let the bodyguard forsake your defense for the sake of going all out against the bigger birds, you can take care of the smaller ones.
>The assassin can spread his shots to take down the weaker birds, you’ll fight with the bodyguard to keep the bigger birds in check.
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>>6360068
>Let the bodyguard forsake your defense for the sake of going all out against the bigger birds, you can take care of the smaller ones.
We can deal with them, I think he'll do well if he's allowed to go all outI still want to know what was gonna be his request. It made me curious.
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>>6360090
+1
We need to run interference so our allies can assume situational control and thin the numbers. We are in the den and in the chimera guy's zone, so we need the advantage quickly. With him disrupted, some of the lesser birds could see the opportunity to give in to their instincts and flee, like how groups of birds in flight follow the ones closest to them as the leader. If one flees, the domino effect rippling through will cause the rest to also flee or be way more likely to surrender passively
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>>6360129
As what the detective boss said
>Remember, don't show fear, always act like you have the upper hand even when you don't, animals like this are sure to flee if they sense the situation to be too dangerous.
So if the chimera guy is disrupted then the birds could easily lose their training. One dead bird alone spreading its scent through the enclosed area on top of the smell already clinging to the group could contribute to the fear factor
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>>6360067
>"Hey, how do you even use magic that close to them, anyway?" You ask the bodyguard.
>"The rock itself isn't magical, and I'm pushing it from deep enough that the feathers don't affect it, just because something is made magically doesn't mean the end result is magical, know what I mean?"
>"Huh, yeah, that makes perfect-"
Atlas NEEDS to remember this lesson if he gets out alive. This is a perfect idea for any human into magic to internalize and won't necessarily be easily considered by most magic people
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>>6360068
>Focus on disrupting the master’s thought so his chimeras fight unoptimally.
The fact that he has to stall means he isn't confident on taking us even with the numerical advantage + big birds, so let's make sure they aren't cohesive
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>>6360270
>>6360139
>>6360135
>>6360072
You glance at the detective, then back at the master. Wordlessly, you manage to formulate a plan: making sure he cannot communicate to his beasts properly.
You try to focus on your target, but using intrusive thoughts and reinforce belief when the feathers are everywhere is trickier than you thought, your spells fail to reach them whenever you try. The detective manages to redirect your spells towards him, and while the effects aren't as potent as when you used it on other students, they are still very noticeable. He orders the bigger birds to advance, then correct himself for only one of them to march, but again, he changes his mind, not that one, he says. The giant chimeras end up getting impatient, scratching the floor, their head tilting to the side, beaks clacking together in aggression, these are undoubtedly well trained, but that means nothing if the orders are incoherent.
Some small chimeras try to disrupt you, but they interpret the reluctance of their bigger cousin as a sign to be careful; a fatal mistake, as the assassin's machine gun's spread fire slaughters a dozen of them in seconds. Panic sets in, and at his wit's ends, their master ends up forgoing any more complex stratagem for a tried and true rushdown.
"J-Just kill them! Kill the blue one, they won't be able to survive two seconds without a defender!" He shouts.
The assassin steps back. "I need to reload, give me a second."
You don't have time to disrupt the master any further, no matter how good your bodyguard is at making walls, there's only so much they can conjure up before they're overwhelmed. Some birds shed their feathers and throw them in an arc, there's very little force behind the feathers, but a few still end up hitting you and the bodyguard.
Your strength spell wavers, and you can already feel the exhaustion setting in. You drop the sledgehammer and pick up the shotgun instead, you're weak, but you can still do that much. At least it wasn't enough to make either of you unable to cast magic, most of the feathers were still blocked after all.
The bigger chimeras, now being free to attack as they need, all start moving to their side of the field, not quite surrounding you, but still covering most angles of attack. They don't seem to be as keen on teamwork as their smaller counterpart however, they've kicked them out of the way when getting into position, and make their beak clack at any bird that showed issue with it.
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>>6360339
Numbers of chimeras left: 15~20
Big chimeras left: 3
State of the team: Mostly unharmed, magic buffs slightly disrupted.
Turn left before ??? arrives: 4
>The bodyguard needs to make a complete defensive wall surrounding us to give us time to recover. (Wastes a turn, lets the assassin reload and reapply buffs as needed)
>It's much better to focus your entire firepower on one of the bigger birds, it'll make the fight end up much faster.
>You could ask the bodyguard to rush and grab the master, maybe they'll stop fighting if his life is in danger, but going through a feather infested field safely isn't going to be easy, even for them.
>Reposition yourself so that the bigger chimeras are forced to fight near each other. Doing so might make it more likely for the smaller birds to get a few hits on you.
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>>6360340
>Reposition yourself so that the bigger chimeras are forced to fight near each other. Doing so might make it more likely for the smaller birds to get a few hits on you.
That seems like the best way to deal with'em
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>>6360344
They want to go for the bodyguard, so we need to deny them that. If the bigger ones are closer together, that exposes them to the almighty shotgun. We also draw attention so the assassin guy can reload and back us up. One more round of gunfire from the assassin and another dozen birds gone leaves like less than 10 alive, which should be reduced enough for us to handle the big chimeras better or perhaps even rush the chimera guy
But the problem is is the reposition option exposes Atlas to being hit
>You ask if a Strength spell would deactivate on contact with the feathers, but it seems like no one really knows, and you probably don't want to find out.
>In other words, don't get hit.
The antimagic feathers' effects are temporary. No way they aren't. Atlas already dropped the sledgehammer and swapped to the shotgun, which I feel is going to be way more useful here due to the spread. But Table brought up a grim possibility last thread
>"What do I- The birds? The anti-magic birds you knew were so potent, just a feather could dissolve most of your spells? What if you got killed? What if some bird struck you, and then you became unable to use magic for the rest of your life?"
So are we sure about this? I'm hesitant to +1 you
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>>6360340
>The bodyguard needs to make a complete defensive wall surrounding us to give us time to recover. (Wastes a turn, lets the assassin reload and reapply buffs as needed)
This is, ultimately, a summer job. I'm not sure we should risk life, limb, or magic ability for it any more than necessary,e specially with what we promised Table.
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>>6360344
>>6360465
>>6360473
>>6360523
You need to reposition. With a glance to the detective, he quickly picks up on your plan as you start moving to the left side of the room. You don't know what kind of spells he is using to pick up on your intents so fast, but it sure is useful when working as a group.
The assassin has to stick close to us as he reloads, which only gives more work to the bodyguard. Conveniently, everyone in our team has some proficiency in melee, which lets them avoid most of the bird's attacks. Some still go through, of course, a few scratches and pecks here or there, but none of them have any permanent effect.
A pack of 5 birds try to stop you from reaching the last point, but a few shotgun rounds are enough to make them scatter. Still, in their escape, they shed a bunch of feathers on your team, the damage is minimal except for the bodyguard.
They tap their arm, making quick signs to the detective. The detective nods, it seems like the rune the bodyguard uses to breathe air has malfunctioned due to the feather, they're going to need to spend some time fixing it with the help of the detective.
You double check yourself to make sure your magic isn't acting weird either, but you didn't have any buff active, and neither did the assassin, so you two can fight just fine.
"Reloaded," the assassin states before spreading his shots on the last few smaller chimeras that somehow still had the will to fight. Just like that, the only ones left are the big ones, and it's time to see if your plan is working as intended.
The giant birds try to get to you, but can't charge in a straight line without getting in the way of another. They're not attacking each other, but they can't land a solid hit on your team either, as each time they try, a few gunshots is enough to disturb their aim. This would be impossible to do if you had to fight them all at once, but in this state, you only have to fight one at a time.
The first one that took the most bullets is starting to stumble and waver, and without a second thought, it gets forcefully shoved out of the way by another, exacerbating its bullet wounds, it isn't going to be able to stand up again anytime soon.
The assassin keeps staring uneasily at his gun with each shots, often stopping to examine the gun more closely. Maybe it's because he had to reload it in a hurry, but it feels like he's not confident in the machine gun's current state.
Numbers of chimeras left: 0~2
Big chimeras left: 2
State of the team: Bodyguard disabled for this turn.
Turn left before ??? arrives: 3
>It's best to fight them both at once rather than focusing on one.
>Focus on taking one down as fast as possible, killing the last one should be easy enough.
>Focus on covering for the bodyguard and the assassin. It'll be hard to do by yourself, but a shotgun is basically designed to handle big, fleshy opponents like this anyway.
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>>6360904
>Focus on covering for the bodyguard and the assassin. It'll be hard to do by yourself, but a shotgun is basically designed to handle big, fleshy opponents like this anyway.
We hired professionals for a reason. We are, in the end, a college kid.
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>>6360904
>Focus on taking one down as fast as possible, killing the last one should be easy enough.
Now is the time to minimize risk by only making there be 1 opponent to worry about
And it's in the post
>The giant birds try to get to you, but can't charge in a straight line without getting in the way of another. They're not attacking each other, but they can't land a solid hit on your team either, as each time they try, a few gunshots is enough to disturb their aim. This would be impossible to do if you had to fight them all at once, but in this state, you only have to fight one at a time.
So the option to fight both at the same time is inviting damage. Covering for the bodyguard and assassin is also Atlas taking damage and I want to minimize risk to him. As long as the bodyguard and the detective aren't the ones being hit or having the birds close on them they will be fine. Assassin guy is human so he should be able to take a hit no problem as long as it isn't to a vital and he can be healed afterward
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>>6360907
>>6360910
>>6360951
>>6361062
You need to focus on taking down one of them first. Taking the last one on will be trivial after that.
A few signs to the assassin gives him the general idea, and with a sigh, he fires a few more bursts before, unsurprisingly, the gun jams. Unfortunately, this leaves the two others left open wide for attacks, and the rune repairs have to be left for later as they're more focused on immediate dodging.
The chimera you were focusing on, finally, starts to stumble, and while it doesn't get shoved away like the last one, simply pointing your (currently empty) shotgun at it is enough to make it step back in fear. It gets an order to advance by its master, but its hesitation gives you time to reload and fire one last shot. It stands still for a few long seconds, then steps forward, and finally, it falls.
With only your shotgun, it might be possible to take down the last one, but you can tell the last of your stamina is leaving you, you can't aim right, let alone dodge anymore, it's a miracle you're even standing at all. You're glad you worked on your cardio before, you wouldn't have been able to last as long as you did without it, but the drawback of the strength spell can't be ignored forever.
Numbers of chimeras left: 1
Big chimeras left: 1
State of the team: Bodyguard disabled for this turn too. Assassin's machine gun jammed, you are on the verge of collapsing.
Turns left before ??? arrives: 2
>Sap life from the assassin, he might not be happy about it, and you don't know how much of his stamina you'll need to recover.
>Give the shotgun to the assassin, he's better with guns than you are, isn't he?
>Tell the assassin to use that weird gun specialized in killing things in one shot, it's now or never.
>Something else? (Write in)
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>>6361165
>Give the shotgun to the assassin, he's better with guns than you are, isn't he?
I'm hesitant on the oneshot gun thing if it's this precious and important. I don't want to risk it having an aoe or lingering effect that could also harm us in the process like poison or radiation. Using Sap Life on the assassin guy is also a major dick move and I refuse to do it.
So we let the assassin guy have the shottie and finish the job while detective helps bodyguard with their breathing rune and Atlas tries not to collapse. I seriously think he's got better luck with the shotgun than Atlas ever does on his literal first day of using one. As for the rest, the dark elf detective needs to help the bodyguard with his breathing rune and Atlas is barely up after the strength spell's drawback. I can't complain too much about that though because the strength spell plus the sledgehammer did help a lot on the way down here. The assassin should be better off than us taking on the final big bird one on one; he's dealt extensively with single targets probably, otherwise he's a shit assassin. Once the bodyguard is up at full unimpeded power once again then he and the detective could rush the chimera guy and apprehend him by knocking him out.
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>>6361161
Whoops, my vote is here >>6361166
The assassin guy is such an MVP that almost all the kills are credited to him and his guns. Atlas was completely right in hiring him otherwise this assault would have been doomed. I hope this helps him feel better about being a resident of the town and that he gets a better quality of life for it
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>>6361169
1 turn for assassin to shotgun the final bird while the rest recover
1 turn to get in and apprehend the chimera guy and then get out?
Is that how it works? If so then we should all be out of this place before ??? shows up, right? I feel like we did the best we could with our options here despite the time spent to minimize damage and any permanent effects from antimagic risk
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>>6361171
Hang on I went back and checked the previous thread
>"What about this?" You point at the pistol.
>"Auto-aim. The gun itself starts beeping when it judges your aim is as good as it can get, then fires a penetrative round that could probably pierce a power armor. It can only hold a single round at a time, not because the round is big, but because most of this gun is hardware."
>"Damn, where did you even get this?"
>"Given to me for assassination jobs. I only have 3 bullets for this, and just because it's enough to kill most augmented humans doesn't mean it'll work with magical opponent."
Okay yeah it isn't an aoe/radiation thing. Also
>"The shotgun and machine gun are relatively standard. As I'm sure you know, if anything that isn't human tries to use it, it melts, then explodes for good measure, not always in that order. There's enough ammo here to fight for about 30 minutes, but if a shootout lasts longer than that, then you might be in over your head anyway."
It's probably been a while anyway, and the assassin kept checking his machinegun near the end as if he knew it'd jam even though he probably cleaned the shit out of it earlier? I wonder if that's a human-made gun thing in this world where guns intentionally have a short limit on their usage until repairs/maintenance is needed somehow?
OH SHIT I JUST WENT BACK AND REREAD THIS
>The assassin understands the message, without a second to waste, he shoots one of the bigger beasts in the head, but instead of dropping dead, it dodges the shot by quickly lowering its head. An annoyed ‘tch’ can be heard from the assassin, and a wicked smile from the madman at the heart of it all.
>“Its head didn’t move faster than the bullet, of course, but it was able to figure out where I was aiming before I shot even with a quickdraw, these ones are smarter.”
The hardware gun's auto-aim might be enough to overpower the big bird's desperate dodging. That's the key
>>6361169
I also reread
>“Maybe, kinda, perhaps? W-What do you propose?” He keeps looking over to his left side, as if expecting something.
Maybe whatever ??? is it's meant to teleport in from a spot at the chimera guy's left side in this cave arena? Then we might be able to escape in time before whatever it is can get us
>>6361161
Changing my vote from >>6361166 to backing >>6361165
If we all survive this mission without being caught and murdered by this ??? thing the chimera guy called in, then we can pull Atlas' influence in the human city later to get the assassin more ammo for his guns to replace all he used up here on this job
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>>6361213
>>6361174
>>6361165
>>6361166
You turn to the assassin. "The gun, the special one, use it."
"If I knew this expedition was going to cost me so many bullets, I would've stayed home." His eyes dart back and forth between the recovering bodyguard and his empty machine gun, with a sigh, he pulls out the weird looking handgun you saw before. "You'll need to handle yourself alone, I need a better aiming spot." He starts running towards a desk at the end of the room, and the chimera's eye locks unto yours.
You can't move, and with your arms trembling, all you can think of doing is point the shotgun at it. You could fire now, but the blowback of the gun alone might take away whatever strength you have left in your body. The chimera's intelligence works against it, as it starts moving at increasing speed to avoid your aim. You're starting to wonder if killing the other bird was a smart idea, since with no risk of collateral, it can fight at its full power--which turns out to be a lot. It gets behind you faster than you can turn around, and kicks a smaller dead chimera's corpse on you to tank a potential shot before going for wing swipe. You don't have time to react, all you can do is stare into its eyes fearlessly hoping the bluff will make it hesitate.
A gunshot from its side, a curving path with smoke and electricity can be seen through the beast's body, and leaving through its left thigh. You do one last desperate dodge backward, barely moving out of whatever momentum the wing's strike had left, The beast falls instantly, like a puppet losing its strings.
The chimera master is horrified. "HOW? IT HAD 3 DIFFERENT HEARTS! It- the body can work purely with its nervous system so even shooting the head shouldn't take it down that fast! H-how, HOW!"
The assassin slides down from a wall he climbed to get a better aim. "That's why the gun refused to aim for the brain? I thought the bird was really good at moving its head, but that makes more sense."
"Yes, and how- Ah!" He turns his head towards the wall next to him, a crackle can be seen, then, a portal slowly forming. "F-Finally! A bit late, but now...!"
The corpse of a bird crashes into the forming portal, and just like that, it dissolves. Turning around to see the source of the throw, you see the bodyguard holding your sledgehammer using it as an improvised golf club to perform the strike. "Home run!"
"Wait, you people have baseball?" The assassin asks.
"It's hitting a ball with a stick it's not something that requires human tech to perform, why are you surprised?"
The chimera master tries to sneak away, but his skills seem to not be geared towards direct combat or stealth, so he gets caught really easily by the bodyguard. "Aaaand done, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
The detective sighs. "You almost drowned, twice. I have to apologize, this wasn't supposed to be this dangerous, if I knew I would've asked the teachers for help."
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>>6361920
The detective grabs what documents he can, and gives back some stamina to you so you can move again. The chimera master is knocked out quite easily, and the portal is not reforming itself, it really is over. Once the adrenaline wears of, you can't help but be grossed out by all the blood and animals who are not quite dead but barely breathing. Sure, they attacked you first, and you'd do it again if you had to, but that doesn't make the sight any less pleasant.
---
The crystal woman watches in annoyance as the portal shuts down before she could step in. She thought of entering it early, but the risk of faulty teleportation is too grand, even for someone as strong as she is. She closes her one eye in thought. "Can you manage to teleport me outside the cave?" She asks, hopeful.
Her assistant's voice, another crystal person, answers her, "no, the chimeras had this habit to shed their feather in this area, it's a miracle I was able to make a stable portal inside the cave to begin with."
"Then, in the forest-"
"Forest spirits might take issue with it. We have to think of another course of action."
She glances at her notes. Even if she obtained plenty of useful knowledge from that man, no one could really raise, modify and control such complex lifeforms as well as he could, let alone ones immune to magic. If only he wasn't so hard to work with, always asking to work alone, refusing to be observed because it 'disturbs his thoughts', she should've sent someone to keep watch of him, but how was she supposed to know it would go this way? They acted the moment they found out the chimeras were about to move somewhere else, and they found the help of not one, but two humans, how?
She addresses her assistant. "What do we know of the two human, I know the bodyguard, met them before, but I have no idea who these two are."
"The first one seem to be a human mage from the school. Surprisingly adept considering the lack of mana often associated with humans, due to the newly enforced duel exams in the school, he may have gotten enough combat training to survive this encounter, as for the other one... he's not using that many spells, so our divination spells are more or less useless, all we know is he's lived in this town for a long time now, long before we even started our plans."
"So what, you're telling me two humans conveniently showing up to mess things up is a coincidence?" She asks incredulously.
"As insane as that sounds, it looks that way. The human mage has been known to go back to the human city occasionally, which might imply it's been done on purpose or under some orders, but it's hard to prove, a spirit is actively sabotaging our attempts at finding out more information. Should we... stop the attack?"
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>>6361921
"Delay it,” she orders. “We need to find a way to retrieve him without the teachers getting involved, and keep an eye on that human mage, might get involved again."
"That reminds me, there seems to be another human that showed up as a student for the school. She seems weirdly proficient in life magic and organism modification, despite a lack of formal education?"
"Another one? You must be kidding me, it’s rare for a single human to leave the city, but two, let alone ones learning magic, is almost unheard of. Do we know anything else about them?”
“They seem to be very enthusiastic about a specific kind of insect.”
“...what?”
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>>6361922
Once everyone is back in the office, you’re told by the detective that the guards will handle the rest of the dirty work, and that he’ll try to find a way to reward everyone that participated in the operation. Right now he can’t do much, as he needs to deal with a mountain of paperwork, interrogating the chimera master, and making sure whatever birds managed to flee the scene aren’t messing up the ecosystem too bad.
You’re told that for all intents and purposes, your internship is over and you’ll be given a glowing recommendation. This will be useful not just to show that you did your internship right, but for anyone that might doubt your abilities as a mage too, although the detective doesn’t know how valuable his word is, it hopes it’ll be enough for now.
You go back to your room, barely holding yourself together, and fall face first on your bed, it feels a bit more squishy than usual.
“Not even a hello?” Table pats your head from under the blankets. You didn’t see her at all. “You’re hurt.”
You don’t answer. You forgot you’d have to explain yourself to her, and you don’t have the energy to. You expect her to get mad, but all she does is ruffle your hairs calmly.
“You understand, right? That it worries me when you get back in this state,” she asks calmly.
“Other people backed me up, I wasn’t alone in this. It’s only mild scratches,” you answer, your voice muffled by the blanket pressed against you.
“The teacher told me the difference between life and material magic isn’t as big as you’d think, by the way. Life is better at handling things that change constantly yet still need some form of consistency, but if you’re good enough at Material magic, you can actually make modifications to your body that works well.”
You look up at her, wondering what she’s getting at.
“So, if I find your dead body somewhere, I’m reanimating the corpse and keeping it in a cage. Your consciousness will get locked up, and so will your soul, and you’ll be safe with me forever.”
“That’s a bit much, isn’t it?” You crawl up and wrap your arms around her, as you also get under the blankets.
“So is dying without telling me. I want to make it so there’s a consequence for your death that isn’t you getting away with it, so that’s what I came up with. You can come up with something for me too, if you want.”
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>>6361923
You snuggle closer to her, maybe she’s earned a few red flags, if you did die on her, you really would deserve everything that happened to you after that, so you’re okay with whatever she comes up with. You don’t know how sane of a thing that is to say, but you believe it with all your heart.
The next day, you find yourself with more time on your hand than you should. The detective is busy with the interrogation, and also trying to cover up how dangerous the strike team’s expedition truly was so your teachers don’t figure out a student almost got killed on what was supposed to be a safe training internship.
With the weeks being more open, and Table still being busy doing her own internship on the side, you wonder how you should spend that free time.
>Even though you really don’t have to, you can always help the detective with some of the side cases you didn’t get to yet.
>Spend that time upgrading another spell.
>Doing more research on the vault before the expedition might be smart.
>Something else? (Write in)
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>>6361920
>"HOW? IT HAD 3 DIFFERENT HEARTS! It- the body can work purely with its nervous system so even shooting the head shouldn't take it down that fast! H-how, HOW!"
Having him use the autoaim gun was the right play, what a finisher
>"Wait, you people have baseball?" The assassin asks.
I love this exchange also the mental image of the bodyguard fishperson hitting a dead bird with a sledgehammer in a golf swing and sending all its pieces flying at the portal to stop it
>You almost drowned, twice
I think the bodyguard is into that?
>>6361921
>a spirit is actively sabotaging our attempts at finding out more information.
Our lizard buddy running interference offscreen.
>>6361922
>new human student
Cool bug fact's, the autist human girl
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>>6361957
>>6361964
ReminderAtlas and the catgirl whose name I forgot ended up doing it in the biolab dungeon in the alternate universe what-if interlude. Perhaps Table will also go for it?
Though this does make me wonderwhat if all the different Atlases who are on different routes each end up meeting and having to duel each other as part of a plot by M the totally-not-FMA-Truth guy?
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>>6362047
>>6362012
>>6361963
>>6361955
>>6361925
Even if it's tempting spending that time improving your magic skills, you'll have the entire school year for that, so you're better off researching the vault before starting your expedition. First, the path to it, which is actually the easiest part, as your spirit is capable of finding a working route effortlessly, which lets you focus on the two other factors, the path's difficulty and the vault itself.
This requires a few trips to the library, some divination spells, and extra research on the other vault you now call a home. Each time you come back from one of those trips, Table checks your bodies for injuries, but she finds nothing as the only dangerous part of what you're doing is the need to travel through the forest to get to bunker, something you've done so many times by now you can basically name all the wildlife you encounter on the way here. Speaking of, it seems there are many more chimeras out here in the forest, but most of them don't have the anti-magic feathers of the others, making you think these might have been prototypes that were later released into the wild after having been considered failures.
Anyway, what you found is that the way to the vault has multiple issues. The first is a spirit of violence residing around the area of the vault. It's exceedingly rare for spirits to attack something in anything but self-defense, unless someone broke a taboo the spirit finds particularly offensive. A spirit of violence has no such reservation, and will instead seek every opportunity they can to create more fights. There's some good news, like the fact this spirit seems bound to the area, so it can't chase you past a certain perimeter, but you'll still need to find a way to distract it to get to the vault. Conveniently, spirit of violence are so active compared to others that they are very well documented, they are hardly the strongest spirits that exist, but they are still far beyond anything even a very experienced mage can take on safely.
The good news is spirits of violence will almost never kill. They see murder as creating fewer ways for violence to occur, as someone dead cannot fight, for the same reason, they have been known to heal dying victims if they sense cruel intents from them.
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>>6362280
This does not mean they are harmless, and in fact, the spirit itself might be the least of your issues, as areas around such spirits tend to be war zones of undying beasts and people, honed through decades of fighting they are not allowed to die or back away from. The area around the vault has hardly been explored because of this, and it is better ignored as there is nothing worth seeing here.
One thing of note, the spirit only started showing up a few centuries ago, which lines up around the same time the other vault has been created, meaning the area might have become violent because of the vault to begin with, and the spirit only stays here because it satisfies its needs.
You ask your spirit for help, but it says the best it can do is handle the violent spirit if it targets you directly, otherwise, the rest of the fighting will need to be done by yourself. If things really do get out of your control, it might step in to help directly, but only in dire emergencies.
You haven't used your handgun much, but the ammo you have will only take you so far if every critter you meet will want to gnaw on your skull. Unlike the birds, these aren't going to be immune to magic, so Table might be able to brute force this with her gigantic mana reserves, but is it wise to over rely on her like that?
Maybe you could learn something from your recent combat experience. What did they call it, the hero party formation or something? Maybe if both you and Table agreed on how you're supposed to fight together, things might go smoothly. You do need to account for the spirit's whim too however, it might heal you less if you do things in a way it dislikes.
>Shield and cannon. Table will purely focus on offense while you focus on protecting her. (Medium defense. Very high offense. No healing from the spirit due to increased chance of kills.)
>Double edged sword. Entirely disregard defense for offense. (Insanely high offense. Chances of angering the violence spirit from slaughter heavily increased.)
>Slow and steady. Fight together at your own pace, slowly and carefully. (Medium offense and defense. Heavily favored by the violence spirit, healing drastically increased.)
>Armored and ready. Table will focus on defense while you focus on offense. (Medium offense, very high defense. Atlas will be healed and favored by the spirit, but Table will not.)
>Challenge run. You and Table will fight with a handicap, and for as long as either of you can. (??? offense and defense. Massively favored by the violence spirit. Increased combat experience, and might annoy your own spirit. Table might dislike this depending on the result of the expedition.)
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>>6362281
>Armored and ready. Table will focus on defense while you focus on offense. (Medium offense, very high defense. Atlas will be healed and favored by the spirit, but Table will not.)
I *would* like a challenge run, but I'm not sure if we're quite capable of it. I don't wanna piss off table or the spirit.
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>>6362284
>>6362315
If this thing is all in on
>THE VIOLENCE HAS ESCALATED
>[OK]
then what if Atlas brings a recording device with him, records him and Table wrecking mobs in the biolab, then shows it off to the violence guy on their way back? Probably a stupid idea, but let's bear in mind we'll have to deal with the thing on the way out too
>areas around such spirits tend to be war zones of undying beasts and people, honed through decades of fighting they are not allowed to die or back away from
Sounds like a metal hellscape maintained by this one thing. All the random encounter creatures are forced to fight all the time and rarely get a break
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>>6362419
It is honestly an incredibly dangerous place for students to be going, but adventure calls! Your camera idea is inspired. Maybe we can even show it videos of a slasher flick or hyperviolent action movie or game? Though given it can sense cruelty in a person's heart, a facsimile on a recording probably won't scratch its itch...
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>>6362569
>>6362419
>>6362315
>>6362284
>>6362283
You catch Table on the way back from her internship, which isn't very hard considering hers is inside the school. You try to explain to her the plan you have for the vault, the dangers, and the help you'll need from her. She gives you a strained smile.
"Atlas, are you absolutely SURE we can handle a thing called a 'spirit of violence'? I know you're saying it wouldn't fight us directly, but what if it does? Even veteran mages don't like engaging spirits in battle, let alone first years like us."
"My spirit said it'd handle it if we had a direct confrontation with it, which should be unlikely to begin with."
"Atlas, no offense to your spirit, but it's the size of a pear. What is it going to do? Find a stool to climb on?"
The spirit shuffles around your shoulder. You only notice it's there when it wants to be noticed. [Smaller fits in likewise spaces.] It 'says'.
"The spirit says it'll be fine," you lie. It's been getting better at using words you can understand, but it still enjoys being cryptic from time to time.
Table shrugs. "So, our plan is to slowly advance to our destination while I defend you, right?"
"Correct."
"Hey, Atlas, question. What if we ran as fast as we could and ignore any fighting? I can even put an invisibility spell!"
"From the research I've done, that kind of spirit seem to despite cowards that avoid all fighting even more, so we'll have to do some brawling no matter what."
Her shoulders slump forward, defeated. "Do we have the supplies for a trip like this?"
"I still have the tent I used to travel from the city, and food is cheap enough that we don't have to worry about it. I know you're not too keen on the idea, but if it's with you, I'm certain we can make it." You reassure her.
She looks back into your eyes, and sighs. "If you put it like that, how am I supposed to say no? Better than you going alone when I'm not watching."
And just like that, the plan is set in motion. You spend the rest of that time making sure you're in shape and that your last scuffle with the birds didn't mess with your magic in any significant way before the trip truly begins. It doesn't take long before Table's internship is over, and you can finally head out to the forest where the vault lies.
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>>6363241
The travel is uneventful for a while, as with the spirit's help, you know all the best shortcuts; abandoned tunnels made by long dead fauna, shallow water letting you cross large rivers without the need to swim, roads illuminated by ancient magical lamps, you're somehow getting to see both the scenic and civilized route without any compromises.
What could've been a week-long trip if done haphazardly only took a few days, but ahead lies the real challenge. A forest, which is really more of a jungle, stands before you. The trees are large and imposing, snarling can be heard from the shadows, for the next few days, this is going to be where you live.
You activate the expected spells: Bright Sight, Clarity, and whatever you think would be useful in such an environment. You step inside, and already, you can feel it. The sense that something's wrong.
No, it's much worse.
Something's right.
Your armor, unprompted, detaches bits of itself to slash apart small bugs that were attempting to bite you. The bugs, despite having been slashed by something many times their size, are still kicking, their wings and legs slowly but surely regeneration. Some that were cut in half are even crawling back towards the other half of their body to reconnect it.
You advance. A weasel is chasing a rabbit, but the rabbit, despite being the prey, suddenly swerves and attempts to bite the animal chasing it. The rabbit had plenty of space to flee, but it did not, it was simply repositioning itself for a better angle of attack. Nothing about the rabbit's body indicates it is a carnivore either, this is fighting for fighting's sake.
More scenes like this unfold, what strikes you most is not the violence, but that none of the beasts seem to be in pain. No, that's not right, they do feel the pain, but they don't mind it. They still scream and yelp, but their tails will start wagging like a cat playing with its favorite toy. Another fascinating thing is how bigger animals will never attack the weaker, smaller ones, something you're very thankful for, as bigger beasts would often take a look at you, only to ignore you to go against something more their size.
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File: wolf.png (4.7 MB)
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>>6363242
Eventually, you meet something willing to give you a challenge. A wolf, if you can call it that. Its jaw is cracked and bloody, and it has four eyes, one that seem more akin to that of a fly, and another regular one above it, peering into you with its red iris. Unlike how a predator normally would, it does not observe you by facing forward, but sideways instead. It's circling you, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
In an instant, it's upon you, but Table shoves it out of the way with a strong air impact. It recovers fast, and once back on its legs, jumps at you again, Table tries the same thing again, but it deftly dodges it by somehow using the impact to propulse itself faster at you. Your armor protects you by slamming bits of itself into its eyes and jaw--this does not stop the beast's momentum, and it still lands on top of you, albeit stunned by the attack.
Your armor would've normally tried to shove you out of the way, why does it feel like it's out for blood?
Maybe because it feels right?
For some reason, your mind can only conceive of reckless ideas.
>A Fire Flare combo at point blank. It'll knock it away, and it'll hurt it way more than it'll hurt you.
>Strenght spell, with the armor, you can take it down with your bare hands.
>Sap Life, and wrestle. It'll tire itself out eventually.
>Breathe
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>>6363243
>Strenght spell, with the armor, you can take it down with your bare hands.
If it's between a fire flare, which is a pretty standard spell, and strength + our armor, which is pretty damn strong, I'd say I prefer the armor.
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>>6363442
>>6363266
>>6363262
>>6363261
You cast a Strength spell, and proceed to pummel its face with all the force your hands and armor can afford. You don't have Remove Hurt active, the armor doesn't allow it, so you're forced to sense bits of sharp bones and teeth crash into you as it attempts to retaliate with similar ferocity. Deformed, destroyed, you could have pushed it away a while ago, but it's still moving, it still wants to fight, it's only right to oblige it.
The wolf is taken away from you by dirt spikes piercing it from side to side, suspending it in the air above you, then thrown away deep into the forest, or what's left of it.
"Are you doing okay?" She asks. "I couldn't find a good opportunity to help you without hurting you in the process. Sorry, I thought I could've stopped the attack, but-"
"It's fine," you answer nonchalantly. "I was winning, if anything."
She looks disgusted. "Please, don't smile like that at me again, creeps me out."
You wipe the smile you didn't know you had off your face. Said face is more wounded than you thought, you're bleeding everything, your left eye is bleeding, but the pain doesn't bother you at all. You know this isn't how you're supposed to feel, but every time you think back on the fight, the smile can't help but creep back on. You clear your throat, and get a hold of yourself.
"Hey," Table gets your attention again. "Remember, slow and steady, that's what we agreed on."
You don't argue further. "Isn't it getting to you too?" You ask.
"...? Yeah, the place weirds me out, but I don't think it's making me feel... whatever way you're feeling right now. Maybe because I'm not fighting, or maybe it's because I'm a forgotten, go figure."
[Find what you must seek.] The spirit reminds you. It seems it doesn't like your newfound attitude.
Table speaks up again as you hack your way deeper into the jungle. "Hey, you did cast Clarity on yourself before, right?"
"Yeah, what do you think I am, an idiot?" You bark back. "Do you think I'd get into a place like this unprepared?"
"I don't like your new tone. I know you're being influenced in some way, but maybe act like you're resisting it a bit."
"It's easy for you to say when you're not feeling it yourself!" You snap back.
The situation only grows more tense as you get closer to the vault. Small arguments blown out of proportions, fights denied for safety, your refusal to take a break because you feel fine. Every time you try to calm down and reassess the situation, something else comes up reigniting the belief that you're right.
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>>6363881
"Okay, that's enough," Table states firmly. "We're taking a break now." She looks around, a wide open area with few trees around, solid ground unlike the muddy floor you've been walking on for a while. "Good enough." She puts her hand to the ground, and lifts a wall of dirt twice your size, the material quickly solidify, and she repeats the process four times until the area is enclosed, with finally a makeshift roof to protect you from the elements. "I'll make small holes so we can get some air, but it should keep us safe for the night.”
“What if something breaks the wall and attacks?” You ask a bit condescendingly.
“Then- Then we beat the shit out of it? If the wall falls on us I can take it out with magic. We’ll be sleeping in a tent under that and reinforce it a bit so it can at least slow down the damage, how about that.”
“Good enough.” You say, a bit disappointed. Truth is you wanted to keep walking, you haven’t felt tired in the slightest for the 12 hours you’ve been navigating through this jungle, but Table’s clearly exhausted.
Table steps forward, closer to you. “Hey. Listen. I know it’s not your fault, okay? Whatever’s happening, when it’s all over, I’ll forgive you.”
You want to make a snide remark, but you can’t. Her earnest expression makes it impossible for you to get mad.
You inhale. You exhale. You regain some composure. “I’ll try to… listen to you more, Table.”
You both sleep in the same sleeping bag tonight, but you can’t sleep at all. The thoughts in your head are all about combat. Things you could’ve done better, ways to take less damage and inflict more, every time you try to think of something else, your mind drifts back to violence.
You fear to imagine what the mind of anything living here must be like if they’ve been here all their life.
The night goes on forever, but even that must end. Table wakes up, and seeing your restless states, decides to be the one to cook for the morning. Nothing special, boiled pasta in a pan, basic condiments, but the situation hardly allows for anything more elaborate than that.
You leave your makeshift based after taking down the tent. Somehow, nothing tried to attack you. You’ve seen plenty of fauna big enough to easily topple over the feeble walls you set up, but maybe none of them thought you were worth the trouble.
You feel like you’re getting closer to your destination, but something’s off. Specifically, there’s no sound of fighting anywhere near you for once, or any animals for that matter; in a place like this, that’s more worrying than being attacked constantly.
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>>6363882
You ask the spirit if this is the right way, and you aren’t somehow leaving the jungle, but it says you’re on the right track. Annoying.
[Violent assimilation: 25%]
>Follow your instincts. (you will find what’s wrong, your violence will increase.)
>Use a spell. (Specify which one, results may vary.)
>Trust Table to find something by herself.
>Go through this area as fast as possible. If anything attacks you, you can just take them on.(Violence will heavily increase.)
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>>6363883
Could we maybe direct the violence towards defying the violence spirit doing all this as a way to spitefully retain ourselves? Directing the violence towards pursuit of the goal as a way to assert a degree of control or stability of the situation? Maybe venting at Table about what Atlas is experiencing could help.
>Every time you try to calm down and reassess the situation, something else comes up reigniting the belief that you're right.
This isn't good, not good at all. It's still a learning experience for both Atlas and Table, and both of them are aware it isn't a voluntary mental state either
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>>6364065
Mind spells are a bit fucky. If it's a life spell it actually messes with your brain directly, either via chemicals, replicating neural patterns, or what else. Divination will almost always instead try to alter things either externally or by trickery of the soul. Reinforce Belief is a spell taught by a spirit, and spirit spells tend to be a bit more 'primal' in their applications.
To put it simply, Reinforce Belief tricks the soul, which in turn affects the body, while Intrusive Thought directly messes with the target's brain.
Functionally, the main difference is some spells can only counter life or divination mind tricks, and the more extreme spells have different consequences.
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>>6364090
Thanks for clarifying.
>>6363242
>>6363243
>>6363881
All these piece of info in the updates imply that this violence thing is biological
>Some that were cut in half are even crawling back towards the other half of their body to reconnect it
>right, they do feel the pain, but they don't mind it. They still scream and yelp, but their tails will start wagging like a cat playing with its favorite toy
>bigger animals will never attack the weaker, smaller ones
>Your armor would've normally tried to shove you out of the way, why does it feel like it's out for blood? Maybe because it feels right?
>it has four eyes, one that seem more akin to that of a fly, and another regular one above it, peering into you with its red iris
>I don't think it's making me feel... whatever way you're feeling right now. Maybe because I'm not fighting, or maybe it's because I'm a forgotten
>"Hey, you did cast Clarity on yourself before, right?" "Yeah, what do you think I am, an idiot?"
>Every time you try to calm down and reassess the situation, something else comes up reigniting the belief that you're right.
>you haven’t felt tired in the slightest for the 12 hours you’ve been navigating through this jungle
>(Breathe) vote in bold text
Biology explains the altered wolf, explains why Table is completely unaffected while Atlas is going through it, explains why the animals are behaving in a hardcore sadomasochistic way despite still feeling pain, explains why the armor is responding to Atlas' instincts (remember the armor is based on an ant colony hivemind), explains why Clarity had zero positive effect on Atlas, etc. The entire violence jungle zone is centered on the biolab too
>>6362281
>the spirit only started showing up a few centuries ago, which lines up around the same time the other vault has been created, meaning the area might have become violent because of the vault to begin with, and the spirit only stays here because it satisfies its needs
Heavy biology themes on this entire mission so far
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>>6364099
>Heavy biology themes on this entire mission so far
Good thinking, anon! I do wonder if this bodes ill for it being helpful fro Table, though, since her issue is less biological than it is metaphysical and extradimensional.
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>>6364103
That's not quite true. The issue of the curse, at least in a "individual" level, is that her little worm things are the ones responsible for the curse, and we can't stop them because then she begins to get sick from "mana overfill". If we could trick them into, say, depositing the mana into some random empty dimension that had nothing in it, this would pretty much solve the curse.
Perhaps not entirely, of course, but it would be like if she had the bracelet at all times.
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>>6364037
>>6364027
>>6363904
Casting Intrusive Thoughts on yourself, would that work? The point of the spell is to trick someone into thinking a thought is their own, but if you're aware it's fake, isn't it just lying to yourself?
You try anyway, wondering what the effects will be, and as expected, a thought that sounds exactly like your inside voice forms. It's actually a bit unsettling how well it masks itself as a regular thought, if you didn't cast the spell yourself, you'd think it just another random thought.
Unfortunately, it's exactly what it is, a thought and nothing more, something that can be considered but easily discarded. You try to cast Extra on it, but all it does is make the spell's effect more apparent, instead of more effective.
Still, you try to guide your mind towards more peaceful thoughts, and while it's not working as well as you'd hoped, you find you can distract yourself longer from the violent thinking by simply forcing a peaceful thought that is very, very long, which is really annoying, but it keeps you on track.
Unfortunately, being distracted like that makes you a very easy target, something your armor notices as it converges towards your leg to absorb a blow coming from the dirt. A spider-like leg the same color as the ground, which skitters out of sight seeing its strike was not successful.
Table frowns. "Something's not right. Atlas, do the trees look right to you?"
"I just got attacked from the ground, who cares about the trees?"
"Look.at.them." She enunciates each word slowly to get your attention.
You look at the trees, at a glance, they look normal. Brown bark, perfectly still thick green leaves... wait, aren't leaves supposed to sway side to side from the wind? And the bark's color, it's the exact same color as the ground, it's not something you'd have noticed without Table pointing it out but...
A crack. You look behind you, and the splinter of a tree's bark detaches from itself, then another, then another. One by one, the flora disassemble itself and reveal why the area was so silent. The spiders are revealing their backside as they crawl out of each other’s embrace; Bright red, guts, and... metal?
You have to stop yourself from jumping into the fray, this is suicide. Even if you were to take down every single spider here, there's no telling how many of them there truly are, even the dirt you're walking on is starting to undo itself, it's as if they were hibernating waiting for someone to make the mistake to step foot here again. One attempts to stab your leg again, but stabs another spider that had the same idea. As is customary of this place, they end up fighting each other instead of you.
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>>6364824
A shiver runs down your spine. Maybe it was naive of you to think anything in this place would be capable of teamwork. The fight escalates as more collateral damage is done, you can’t run anywhere easily without stepping into a living battlefield, you need to think of something, and FAST.
[Violent assimilation: 15%]
>Let Table climb on your back, you’ll have to reinforce your body with magic and walk out of here by force.
>A portal platform would work, but some might climb on top of it. This will still require some fighting, and it’s very slow.
>Ask Table to make walls to separate yourselves from the swarm, maybe you can wait it out?
>Something else? (Write in)
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>>6364825
>A portal platform would work, but some might climb on top of it. This will still require some fighting, and it’s very slow.
Could we perhaps use Table's gravity spell to let it go faster? The issue is that we can't balance well, right? So just use that, and we won't have to care about balance.
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>>6364831
It's more that portals move really slowly. You could make more portals to jump on, but since that requires casting embargo on them too to make them solid, it'll still be a slow and annoying process as you'll also need to recharge your mana from Table often.
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>>6364844
You can, however it might make it harder for her to defend you since casting a spell and giving mana at the same time can be a bit iffy.
or at least it would be if she didn't have so much mana to spare it basically wasn't spilling out, so it won't alter her spells that much, but it would've on a less mana full host. So yes you can
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>>6364824
>at a glance, they look normal. Brown bark, perfectly still thick green leaves... wait, aren't leaves supposed to sway side to side from the wind? And the bark's color, it's the exact same color as the ground, it's not something you'd have noticed without Table pointing it out but...
>the splinter of a tree's bark detaches from itself, then another, then another. One by one, the flora disassemble itself and reveal why the area was so silent. The spiders are revealing their backside as they crawl out of each other’s embrace; Bright red, guts, and... metal?
>even the dirt you're walking on is starting to undo itself, it's as if they were hibernating waiting for someone to make the mistake to step foot here again.
Wait is this entire zone taken over by a mass of endless spiders?
>Bright red, guts, and... metal?
Are the spiders cyborgs? Or are the trees simply dead bodies and metal structures that the spiders covered and adjusted themselves in ways to make the outside look like trees and natural structures? How do they possibly know to do that or how it would look to an outside observer? How could they possibly have kept this up for who knows how long without trying to kill each other?
> One attempts to stab your leg again, but stabs another spider that had the same idea. As is customary of this place, they end up fighting each other instead of you.
Okay they're doing it now but not before. They must have been violently dedicating themselves to the bit
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>>6364886
Yeah but this is some seriously advanced camo
Also I went back to read the OP interlude
>Suuri missed the days where its purpose was already fulfilled. When entropy progressed as it should, but now...
>Now all that could be felt was M's attempt to keep the world spinning forevermore.
So is magic supposed to be a bad thing then? Suuri the former supervillain whose ultimate goal was to destroy the entire planet or something... he is fundamentally opposed to M, who might be the god of magic or the source of all magic? Wasn't he implied to be responsible for divination spells? I forgot what the implied lore was regarding him from past threads, but Atlas encountered him in his mental time loop.
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>>6364855
>>6364847
>>6364831
>>6364832
You make a portal, and with the help of embargo, make it solid enough to walk on. You give your hand to Table to help her ciimb, but to cast spells, having both your hands free is better, and since you’ll need to cast a lot of portals for your plan, you’re going to need a steady supply of mana from Table, which requires touch.
“Table, climb on my back.”
She gives you an incredulous stare, but does as you ask. Realizing wrapping her arms around you makes it hard to defend you, she starts climbing higher until her legs rest on your shoulders in the form of a piggy back ride.
“Table, can you put your hands on my shoulder to give me mana? I’m going to make a bunch of portal platform to get out of here.”
“Atlas. You do know I have a mana portal, right? Wouldn’t it be simpler to use this rather than your pocket space?”
You kick out a spider crawling on the portal, they’re climbing over each other to get to you. Despite the chaos, they still consider you a high priority target. “Yeah, but it’s faster if you give me the mana directly, right?”
“I need my hands to defend you, so- okay, we don’t have TIME for that.” She throws multiple tornadoes around, which lifts a few in the air, before changing the trajectory of the wind outward so they’re thrown away from you. Some still end up falling on you, which you have to fight back.
She raises the legs of her pants up so that the skin of her upper thigh directly touches your neck for mana transfer. It’s distracting, but it works, you make portals after portals, jumping high enough that most of the spiders can’t reach you. Yet, no matter how high you go, some still manage to catch up, some jump, some explode upward, some make towers of spiders, you have to commend their dedication, but the laws of physics still apply to them, and as you soar over the trees, you get a nice view of the jungle from above, safe from everything in it.
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>>6366476
You make another portal platform, and another. As long as you make them close enough to each other, there’s no risk to fall. A few birds try to attack you, but Table is good enough at controlling wind she can easily protect you from here.
The process is slow, and even if you’re not running out of mana, there’s a strain to casting the same spell over and over. After what feels like hours of mind-numbing repetitive casting, you see it, the glint of metal between the tree leaves. You make a few portals down to end back into the jungle, which thankfully are devoid of those spiders.
The vault is surrounded by moss and vines, but the actual doors are oddly clean, as if they’ve been in use recently. You notice a few turrets, but they have all long been decimated by the wildlife, so you approach without worry.
Table squish her thighs against your head, you forgot she was still riding you. “Finally, whatever’s in there better be worth it.”
“Table, can you get down? You’re distracting me.”
“This is my way of getting back to you. Besides, I did cast a spell to make myself lighter, so I wouldn’t be too hard to carry, so it could be sooo much worse.”
You sigh, placing your hand against the cold, metal door.
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>>6366478
‘Only a-authorized ------ accepted into the vault. You may ask the [1] personnel of this facility for authorization.’ The voice coming from the door is robotic like expected of an automated message, but unlike the one before, it doesn’t let you in automatically. It says there’s someone left in the vault, but that can’t be right, it’s been hundreds of years, maybe something else resides in it now?
Out of idea, you show up your Anti-Magic Force badge against a scanner to the side of the door. After a few minutes, you hear a high ping.
‘Rank: Outside Magic Researcher. Section: AMF. Waiting for disapproval from the control team…. No disapproval, entrance allowed. Humanity above all.’
The door creaks open so slowly you think it’s about to fall apart at any moment, you quickly get into the small gap to enter the vault before the facility changes its mind, and begrudgingly, Table gets down from you so she doesn’t hit her head on the roof of the door.
You immediately feel a sense of relief when entering, as the influence of the spirit wanes. The reason for it becomes obvious, as you see hundreds if not thousands of shoddily made runes placed against all corners of the room. A cursory analysis identifies those runes as ‘Magic Flow Redirection’ runes, which would redirect most spell’s effect around the rune. Each individual rune is so weak that it would barely be able to stop even your weakest spell, but the sheer quantity of them makes Table and even the spirit unable to cross it. Maybe due to your lower mana, you can go through it effortlessly. Unfortunately, the rune’s amount only increase the further in you go, and you’d prefer it if the rest of your team could follow.
Destroying the runes would let the Violence’s spirit’s influence get inside, but it’s not like you can leave Table and your spirit near the entrance either.
[Fits in likewise spaces.] The spirit says, before, advancing slowly between runes, finding a path back to you. Table is not so lucky, the sheer amount of mana she has, and her size makes it impossible for her to get further in, what a pain.
>You can leave her outside.
>You can try to disable the runes to let her in and remake them behind her, even if it’s annoying.
>Maybe some spells could let her pass through?
>Focus on finding what the spirit wants, maybe whatever it gives you will let you bring her inside.
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>>6366481
Well, we can't leave her outside.
>Maybe some spells could let her pass through?
I can't imagine they'd consider a scenario where a *human* is working with an non-human to get them inside, so maybe we can find a workaround.
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>>6366482
+1, I think disrupting these runes is a serious trap. They're here for protection, so they need to stay put. Also now that we're out of the violence zone can Atlas apologize profusely to Table for his bad behavior on the way? It's literally not his fault his biology is being manipulated against his will to indirectly mindfuck him like all the other animals there.
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>>6366498
>[Fits in likewise spaces.]
Is the lizard friend giving us a cryptic hint? Table is technically a pile of amorphous spaghetti and jelly in a pliable flesh shell. Could we have her strip all her clothing, pass them to Atlas, try to get in past the runes through an air vent like a xenomorph, then come out further in the facility and put her clothes back on? Is the solution to use her biology effectively as an infiltrating stealth unit?
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>>6366499
That could work, but isn't the issue that she's kind of...too magical? That even a bunch of weak runes repels her because she's so overfilled with magic?
The vent idea is cool but we need to check it first for her safety.
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>>6366500
Yeah I think this option is the key
>"Atlas, no offense to your spirit, but it's the size of a pear. What is it going to do? Find a stool to climb on?"
>The spirit shuffles around your shoulder. You only notice it's there when it wants to be noticed. [Smaller fits in likewise spaces.] It 'says'.
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>>6366500
Also in the what-if interlude with Rin the catgirl (finally remembered her name!) she still got into the biolab facility with Atlas. You could say it's because she's not a walking mana dynamo like Table is, but if the catgirl can get in then there has to be a way for Table too
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>>6366507
Originally these runes must not have been here. Back in the prime of this facility the human researchers probably brought in magic beast corpses or specimens through the normal way where we are now, but at some point somebody or something put all these magic redirection runes to keep the violence force outside. Anyway, if Half-Life 1 taught me anything it's that fantasy setting secret science facilities all have at least one gaping security hole somewhere
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Also, to apologize for delays that might happen, you can get some what ifs I made a while ago but couldn't find the right moment to post (I usually like posting them when the character in question is relevant at this time in the story, but I let that moment pass so here they are late).
Mirabelle:https://rentry.org/eaiyegqx
Ivy:https://rentry.org/utnrv989
As usual, they're all smut because it's my favorite way of exploring relationships, not canon, you know the drill.
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>>6366523
>"Hey," Mirabelle leans forward, knocking some wooden chips over. "Don't stress out too hard, I'm a person too."
>"...what do you mean?"
>"I mean that you're overthinking things. You're nervous, and Rin said people only get nervous when they have something to lose. You're nervous because you're afraid whatever it is you're going to ask is going to piss me off, or make me see you differently, am I wrong?"
>You give her a sullen look. "Is it that obvious?"
>"It's how people are. I feel the same sometimes too, you know? When I tease you, or say something, anything, I often feel like I might go too far. There are times when I did make you mad, in fact, yet we always made up in the end, haven't we? So even if, somehow, you asked me something awful, that would disgust me to my very core, I think... I'd still forgive you. You need to take that risk, Atlas, the risk to offend others, or you're going to regret it later."
>"But I'm fine with the way things are now, is that risk really worth it?"
>"Only one way to know."
Powerful exchange, I love this bit probably the most out of these interludes because of how never-discussed such a meta thing is among real life relationships
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>>6366493
>>6366493
We can still apologize, and we ought to. It's not about fault, but about accountability an. Even if it isn't a "sorry," she at least deserves a "thanks for putting up with me while I was like that."
>>6366481
>Thank table for her help and tolerance
>Maybe some spells could let her pass through?
Looking at https://rentry.org/carzyq9g, I figure we can try Shortcut and if that fails... Maybe we can store some of Tabe's mana, have her wear the bracelet, and slip her through that way? Or in a pinch, create a pocket ecosystem, have her hang out there where it's safe, and then... Displace the spell to the other side of the barrier?