INTRO (please do not skip this)

◕ Fatale Albion is a Spin-Off of Lumina Canima’s “Meguca Royale”, taking place in the U.K. Three players have already been selected in the first thread, and they each will answer to their own prompts with their own characters. This Quest will have major spoilers for PMMM, so if you haven’t watched it yet and don’t want me to ruin it for you, watch it right now or else. If you still want to read and participate in this quest then I’ll have something to show you.

◕ The update format this quest has followed is ‘Updating then immediately falling to sickness for a week’. When not falling to sickness it will likely take 1-2 days to update.

◕ In the previous thread, all girls have had their Wishes come true. One has been adopted by a large and happy family named the “Imeredalas”. Another has finally been able to get a date with the one guy she’s always wanted to be her boyfriend. And the last one is a girl from the Victorian Era who has been transported to the modern day in order to survey Humanity’s progress.

◕ They are now fighting a Familiar in a Witch’s Labyrinth after a Friend-turned-Sister, a Boyfriend in the making, and a Freshly picked servant became lost in the forest that is this Witch’s Labyrinth.

OTHER STUFF

>Nigga, are you going to get sick again?

My immune system has been checked and I’m fine now. It would take a curse for me to get sick again.

>Do you know who archived the last thread?

No. I have to find out so I can thank them myself.

>Can I also join in the suffering?

Oh, sure. I believe I can accommodate two more players. (Maybe)

Just fill out this Contract Form and you can try and fit in.

Name: (The name of your character. Shameless Self-Insert or not)
Appearance: (The garish looks of your character. Clothing descriptions are also welcome.)
Quirks: (Personality traits, how they behave. Examples of how they act in specific situations are good. This space is vague intentionally, but remember: Simplicity is power and Brevity is the Soul of Wit.)
Wish: (The Wish that you made with your Incubator. Your magical ability and theme is influenced heavily by your Wish. Make sure to be careful, some wishes have unforeseen consequences.)

Our current Terrible Trinity is as follows:

Name: ф Stephanie Smith ф

Appearance: A tall and skinny girl, with a pronounced slouch. She has black hair styled in a messy ponytail, due to a lack of means to properly take care of it. Wears thick prescription glasses. Previously did not own many clothes aside from a pair of school uniforms, so her fashion sense is still catching up.

Profile: Being previously an orphan, Stephanie puts on a jaded, cynical, and self-serving exterior—aided in no small part by a rather foul vocabulary—, while in truth being quite soft and sensitive.
Though loathe to admit it, she will go to great lengths to help someone she even remotely considers a friend, and especially those she considers family. Like her current one, the Imeredalas, and her Friend-turned-sister, Megan.

Her Wish was “To have a loving family, loyal friends, and a place to belong. Maybe a pet dog. Or a cat? Both?”

Stats
>£ Physical Affinity: 12
>λ Magical Affinity: 12
>彡 Dexterity: 14
>メ Perception: 12
>⸫ Wisdom: 10
>π Intelligence: 10
>ღ Charisma: 10
>φ Mind: 14
>Ω Constitution: 14

>Abilities

Stephanie can be able to make herself, objects, and other people, adopt qualities from other matter nearby. She can make her body as hard as a steel wall and a rock as soft as a pillow. Turn her body into fire or water.
But she has to be wary of the consequences. If you turn your body into water, how will you hold something?
Stephanie can use Physical Affinity to force objects and people to gain the qualities of other objects. If the target is against the change being done, then Stephanie’s PA Vs. Target’s Con will be tested

Stephanie can manipulate similar, discrete matter. A large pile of rocks can be freely manipulated. As can water, blood, flesh, and others that your imagination can think of.

Name: 𐤌 Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Appearance: A girl with a standard build, long, brown hair that is let down and not styled in any particular way, and many freckles. She likes to wear long dresses and otherwise modest clothes.

Profile: A shy girl that speaks with a slight stutter. Whenever she’s overwhelmed by emotions and nervousness she can barely speak a complete sentence and retreats into her mind. But strong passions lay beneath the surface that flare when needed and cause her to spring to action.

Her Wish was that "I'd really like it if Oliver was my boyfriend..."

Stats
>£ Physical Affinity: 10
>λ Magical Affinity: 14
>彡 Dexterity: 12
>メ Perception: 14
>⸫ Wisdom: 10
>π Intelligence: 10
>ღ Charisma: 12
>φ Mind: 14
>Ω Constitution: 8

>Abilities
Soul-Mate

Abigail can link her mind (and soul) to another person. When this link is established, each person knows exactly where the other is at all times, and each person can communicate past all language barriers. Including, relevantly, stuttering and mutism.
Abigail can scan the thoughts and memories of a person she is linked to with an MA check.
Abigail always has a link to Oliver that can never be broken.

This connection can be made easily if there is consent between both participants. In the event where a non-consensual connection is made, Abigail’s MA Vs. Target’s Mind will be tested.

A necessary secondary ability to make use of her primary is that Abigail knows exactly where her thoughts end and others’ begin.
She has an acute awareness for what she is thinking at all times and whether or not those thoughts are normal for her, making forceful mental manipulation impossible.
Abigail cannot be mentally influenced by Magic that does not originate from herself.

Name: Ө Viktoria Walker Ө

Appearance: A girl of somewhat short stature, with massive golden hair that cascades down her back, and what people in the modern day call a “Resting Bitch Face”. She is also blessed with bafflingly big breasts.

Profile: Being born among the Victorian Era's elite nobility, she was endowed with bafflingly high standards of personal conduct and morality. She knows nothing of the current era, but will impose her views on others regardless. She is very picky and very annoying.

Despite being a time-errant girl, she still has a good head on her shoulders when it comes to what people want and how they will behave accordingly. She can also figure out the mechanics of some modern inventions if they are simply improvements of things seen in the past.

Her Wish, stated to Kyubey, was: “Feline, send me two hundred years into the future.”

Stats
>£ Physical Affinity: 16
>λ Magical Affinity: 8
>彡 Dexterity: 10
>メ Perception: 14
>⸫ Wisdom: 14
>π Intelligence: 14
>ღ Charisma: 14
>φ Mind: 10
>Ω Constitution: 8

>Abilities

Viktoria can freely manipulate time within an area. Time can be stopped, accelerated, and rewound at any moment using a PA Check. The maximum area of this Ability only potentially covers her whole manor. (currently)


A side-effect of her time-manipulation is that Viktoria always knows exactly what time it is at all times, even through time-travel and manipulation.
Viktoria is also immune to any kind of Time Manipulation that doesn’t come from herself.
She knows exactly where she is relevant to any known location, and how fast any object is going.

Due to all of this knowledge about locations, timing, and speed, Viktoria uses Intelligence in addition to Dexterity whenever a Dexterity Check is made

Interruption!!

>>6130947
Nice try, lady. Next time you should use you time-manipulation... faster.

Speaking of, I never did get your actions last thread.

>>6130953
I will simply remain on guard in case the current enemy gets out of control. My magic is area based, so friendly fire is easy.

Rolled 1, 3, 4, 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4 = 31 (12d6)

Alright.
This is, in order:
Megan playing Support and making weapons (MA 14). Yeah, Stephanie was right when she said that Megan was fucking stupid for rushing in. Megan is made for Support but she was panicking.

Riko shooting the Familiar with specialised arrows (PA 20 (16+4)). Riko has a lot of specialised tools for the hunt.

Harriet trying her best with the weapon that Megan made for her (PA 18 (8+10)). Yep, this is a completely regular person trying to bat at a Familiar. Think of early Sayaka with her gaudy club.
If anyone is wondering why the hell she has a +10: Megan rolled 10 Successes on making a weapon for Harriet before anyone arrived.

Normally everyone would roll Dex for initiative. But the Familiar has Become Tree, courtesy of Stephanie, so the Trio, et al goes first and the Familiar doesn't get to move.
Instead, the Familiar is trying to escape its arboreal fate. (PA 16)

>>6130972
I will note that you can localise the effect and make it as small as you want. So long as you can see the location.

>>6130937
Hello bong menheras(bongheras?) I'm glad your quest lives and wish you all a wonderful suffering!

let's gooooooooooooo
observin eagerly, you got this marie-san, show your immune system who's boss

Welcome back to the MEAT GRINDER! Stiff upper lip, or whatever you Brits say. Consider this thread monitored by one half of the Gruesome Tuesome

File: GRQAv7mW0AA3SJp.jpg (259 KB, 900x1600)

259 KB JPG

>>6130937
Terrible fucking OP, not very easy to tell apart in the catalog. Besides that wow, you are still in this?

Good to be back, QMbey.

ᛗ The Trio, et al

The Familiar was now standing on three legs, still no less an abomination to all nature. Megan had just told Stephanie that it needs to be put down.

“Yeah, Megan. You’re right.”
Stephanie reluctantly looks away from Megan’s body, and towards that ugly-ass motherfucker trying to find its footing. Megan tries to rise but Stephanie pushes her back down.
“Wha-”
"You stay put. What the hell were you thinking, rushing in like that? Were you just trying to show off in front of me? Fucking stupid. Watch my back. I'll deal with this ugly piece of shit thing."
Megan snickers. “Fine, I’ll stay down. Just don’t blame me if you end up getting killed.”
“Well, considering I’m only here because you’re here…”
“Oh, fine. It’s all my fault. Now go slice that chimera’s arse open with the discount Soul Edge!”
”The hell’s a Soul Edge? Whatever.

Stephanie adjust her glasses, then looks around at the trees. The trees root into the ground, preventing movement but giving them nutrients.
”I just need to see the qualities of the object and move them huh? Real simple, innit?”

While the Familiar is finding its footing, its legs and paws catch on something. Roots made of sinew and skin grow into the ground, providing no nutrients but preventing movement. And the Familiar can’t oppose this transmogrification.

>>Ө (M1 PA £ Roll: 10 (Target: 12) = 2 Successes)<< (Transform the Familiar’s Legs)

With that done, Stephanie prepares to rush in for a blow. But she hears a voice in her head before she can move.
”Hey! You can hear me, right?”
What the-
>>𐤌 (M3 Perception & Charisma メ & π Roll: 7 & 12 (Target: 14 & 12) = 7 Successes)<< (Link Stephanie, Viktoria, and Harriet Together.)
”Yeah, I can hear you…. Who are you?”
”I’m Abigail, that girl in the painter outfit. I’m linking our minds using my magic.”
”Speaking of: Viktoria, you’re being silent.
”My ability has a very large range with extremely disruptive effects. I will remain on guard in case this beast goes out of control. I will send my servant to fight in my stead for now.”
Abigail’s mind goes blank for a moment.

”H-Harriet, are you okay with being thrown to the wolves like this?!”
”I am completely okay. I have far more experience in this than all of you.”
”Oh! You’re a Magical Girl as well? That would explain the weird-ass maid uniform you have on.”
”No, I am not a Puella Magi. The maid uniform is my work clothing.”
Abigail makes a quick note to pry into her mind one day to find out how she has more experience than all of them while simultaneously not being a Magical Girl at all.

”Abigail, do you have a plan? Otherwise I’m just going to try to cut this motherfucker in half.”
”W-well, hmm...”
Abigail was sweating nervously, she can’t think of any good plans!

As she’s desperately scrambling in her mind to search for at least some words of advice, Abigail sees a bright light above her.

>>Э (M1 MA λ Roll: 8 (Target: 14) = 6 Successes)<< (Regalia: Create Equipment for Abigail)

And from that light comes a hat. A beret to be specific.
Megan leans up, still sitting in the pile of flesh that Stephanie pushed her in. Surely for her own safety.
“Wear it! It’ll help offset your weaknesses!”
Abigail complies and...

𐤌 Abigail Fulson 𐤌
π Intelligence: 10 > 16

She feels smarter, somehow. Like she can properly sort and articulate her thoughts faster.

>>𐤌 (M1 Intelligence π Roll: 15 (Target: 16) = 1 Success)<< (Create a plan to take down the monster.)

Abigail goes over the scarce information she has. This thing is a Chimera, a combination of multiple animals put together in some magical way. But it’s still an animal, it has anatomy just like all others.
This means it must have weak points, certain organs that it just can’t live without. It doesn’t have any sort of fast regeneration like what she’s seen in some fantasy books, so that’s a blessing. Most animals can’t live without their head, that’s easy, but…
This thing is also just a patchwork set of limbs from creatures.

”Everyone, aim for the joints! Its body is just a bunch of body parts sewn together, carving them apart should be easy!
”So do what I was already going to do, but smarter. I like it.”
”Did you hear the message, Harriet?”
”Yes, my lady.” Harriet takes a surprisingly combat-ready stance with her spear.
“Why are you all just standing around and staring at each other?” Riko was flabbergasted at how everyone had suddenly gone mute but still going through the motions of a conversation.
“O-oh, we’re communicating mentally using my magic.”
“Hmm, you’re going to be a pain in the future.”
“But for now-”

Riko draws her bow, a trophy, a bird-shaped ornament, shines red and the arrow bursts into a powerful flame. Unlike any natural flame that the girls have seen, it’s a bright, harsh red that grows as Riko draws the arrow back further.
“This is the Trophy of Patricia, Brimstone Arrow.”
“Make sure to aim for the vitals!”

>>Ꜻ (M1 PA £ Roll: 8 (Target: 20) = 12 Successes)<< (Trophy of The Hunt: Patricia’s Brimstone Arrow.)

Riko looses the arrow and it streaks through the clearing like a star, combusting the air around it. The acrid scent of burnt flesh and blood fills the nostrils of all in the clearing, while the arrow’s flames grow as it travels, somehow gaining more power over time. Flouting all laws of thermodynamics.
The arrow impacts the Familiar’s head and explodes, destroying its head. The Familiar slumps onto the ground, defeated-

{%<<£{=!%<: 45 HP > 21 HP

The creature still gets up. Headless, but shambling
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking with me!”

“I was not expecting this thing to have central motor generators this powerful. But I suppose that’s magic for you.”
The chimera exerts its strength to break away from the roots its legs have become.

>>? (M2 PA £ Roll: 8 (Target: 16) = 8 Successes)<< (Break free of the roots.)

It manages to break free. But instead of going for the girl that trapped it in the first place, it goes after the most inactive person in the clearing.
Viktoria. It must have mistaken her contemplation and patience for inactivity and powerlessness.
The beast makes an impressive pounce across the clearing, which Harriet, being the closest to Viktoria, attempts to intercept.

>>H (M8 PA £ Roll: 7 (Target: 18) = 11 Successes)<< (Intercpet the Familiar. Protect Viktoria.)

The Familiar looks like something straight out of Viktoria’s nightmares. A giant headless creature that is a perversion of nature brought about by Witchcraft. Thankfully she has someone watching over her.
Harriet shoves Viktoria out of the way and braces herself. There is no way she can muster the same amount of force as the Familiar is a purely human body, so it’s best to simply allow it to break itself on her weapon.
The monster cannot stop itself in time and gets a spear lodged in its torso for its troubles.

{%<<£{=!%<: 21 HP > 10 HP

If the beast still had a head it would be yowling in pain. Harriet withdraws and makes sure that Viktoria is okay.
“Sorry for shoving you, my lady.”
“I understand. You were simply trying to protect me. As any good servant should do.”

The beast still gets up after that. Injured beyond fighting condition and outmatched, it attempts to flee the clearing.
Riko prepares another arrow.
“Wait!” Abigail stops her.
“It’s likely going back to whatever it considers its den. Do any of you have any ideas on what this... thing might consider its home?”
“Most probably the location of the Witch that created it.”
“Uh, how important is this Witch? Should we follow it?”
“Well, if we kill the Witch then this whole situation will be resolved. Following it to the Witch’s location will heavily cut down any hassle, especially since this Witch seems to be distorting the space of this forest to make it more difficult to navigate.”
“Grea-”
“But then we’ll have to deal with the Familiar again. In addition to any that Witch has near her as protection. There’s also the well-being of Oliver to think about, shouldn’t we confirm he’s okay?”
“Right, Oliver!”

Abigail reaches through that invisible, invincible bond between herself and her lover. She needs to make sure he’s okay, that he hasn’t been mauled to death or something!

Oliver’s feelings at the moment were heart-warming and slightly calming.
”Where am I? I was hoping to visit Abigail to tell her about the party, but then I got lost in these woods.”
”I hope she’s okay. I don’t want to see her sad. Maybe she thinks I don’t like her or that I’m tricking her by telling her about the party but not where it is or anything.”
”Maybe… She was trying to visit me and got lost too? I hope not, I don’t want to see her hurt. She’s the most cute when she has a smile on her face.-

Abigail comes back to reality by Stephanie snapping her fingers in front of her face.
“-Gah!”
“Earth to Abigail? What were you daydreaming about back there? And why is your face so red?”
“W-well, I have a bond with my b-boy- my-.”
“The boy you have a crush on, alright.” How did she figure it out so fast?! Is she that obvious?!
“Yes. I was checking on him through the bond to see If he was alright.”
“And?”
“He’s fine. He’s lost in this forest like many others, but otherwise untouched. And he’s ironically worried for my safety.”
Megan stands up and looks towards Abigail incredulously. “He’s completely untouched? How? There are giant monster animals hunting down people in these woods!”
“I don’t know!”
Stephanie scoffs. “They’re probably not that big of a threat if we sent doggy over there crawling back to its bitch of a mother.”
“You are all Puella Magi, you are specially equipped to deal with them. Regular people are not so lucky.”
“Speaking of ‘doggy’, we need to decide: Kill it now or follow it to its Witch?”
Riko shares her opinion. “I recommend following it to the Witch. Any good hunter knows that stalking the prey before killing it makes it taste better. Besides, do we really want to wander around these woods for a Witch?”
Megan glares at Riko before rebutting. “Killing it now means we get rid of a threat we have to face when we’re dealing with the Witch. With how dangerous Witches inherently are, I would rather not deal with more obstacles when facing one.
Harriet simply stands guard next to Viktoria. “I have no real opinions on which course to take. As we, especially Viktoria, get out of here alive, I’m okay with anything.”

>Following it to the Witch. Killing it now to not deal with it later. Maybe even searching around to evacuate people like Oliver. There are a few crossroads here. And not all need to choose the same option.

>>6131904
Yes, I am (un)fortunately still in this. A shocking development for some, I am sure.

>>6132211
Yes, very good. Let's get this Witch-hunting Meguca-suffering party started!

>>6133334
I could see it either way really, but I think I lean towards following it to the Witch. We have no idea how hard it is going to be to find the Witch if we don't have a convenient tool like this, and if it takes too long we might end up with extra casualties.

In the meantime, I'll talk a little over the Oliver bond:

"Oliver, this is going to sound really crazy, and it is, but this is Abigail. There's no time to explain right now, but you are in danger. I'm with a group of people coming to... remove the threat. Don't worry about me, these people are *really* strong! There's even that crazy bow lady! Anyways, you just need to hide. There are terrible things in this messed up place, it's not the normal forest like we remember. I know it's all really weird and hard to believe but *please* trust me. I'm not playing a game, it's very scary, and this is real, but we can make it out of this. You need to hide and make sure nothing finds you. If you need to run, focus on me and the link we share, and run as fast as you can to me, you should be able to know where I am if you do. Stay safe Oliver, I'll see you soon."

>>6133332
>>6133332
Create a fast-time zone between me and thee Familiar and shoot at it post-haste. No chatter.

Regarding >>6133334, I do wonder why this would be un-fortunate.

>>6134570
Are you sure? What's your plan for finding the witch?

>>6134668
Walking. I shall not have these threats accumulating.

>>6133332
"The girl with the bow has the right idea. Let's follow the ugly fucker to the cunt that's causing all this and kill her! If there are more of those fucking things around her? We'll have a go at thrashing them like we did with this one!"

if you two want to follow the creature, you may want to try to stop viktoria from immediately blasting it to oblivion
while the question may have been posed democratically, all you menheras are really just in control of yourselves!

>>6135145
There's not really a lot I can do. I guess I can yell "no stop" but I doubt Viktoria wouldn't blast a monster she intends to blast just because a random girl told her not to.

>>6134711
>>6134570

That's... A very simple but understandable action and reasoning.

This is simple. Just roll a 6d6 if you want to shoot with an accelerated zone. One set is for the zone, the other is for the actual shooting. Don't worry, it is impossible for you to miss.

The successes on both sets will be pooled. If you somehow don't do 10 Damage with PA-16 and two sets of 3d6, then you are cursed. Perhaps more than me.

And about finding the Witch without tracking, it will be difficult. As you might have expected. It's not impossible but it will be a pain, and you may get jumped by more minor Familiars if you get lost.
Not to mention the chance that the Witch might be a bitch and forcefully manipulate the space of the forest to split you up...

If Viktoria ends up killing this Familiar, then everyone will have to do an M4 Perception Check to find the Witch. Failure means getting more lost. Unless Viktoria somehow gets an absurdly high PA roll.

>>6135356
>>6134711
Yeah, sounds like shooting the familiar is just going to lead to us encountering more familiars. Seems counter productive to "not having these threats accumulate".

Rolled 4, 3, 5, 4, 5, 1 = 22 (6d6)

Seems counter productive to simply assume it's leading us to the lair it's meant to protect.

>>6135442
I don't see how? We came to that conclusion as a result of a successful intelligence check, and it's a natural thing to assume anyways. Meanwhile you are killing our only lead and we will otherwise need to pass perception checks just to not get lost, let alone find the witch, and we're likely to run into more familiars from taking so long to find the witch, which you initially said your goal was to avoid.

>>6135475
Which we'll take out one by one, individually. Let's have fun exploring our newfound powers.

>>6135500
That's all well and good from a player perspective, but in universe that's pretty callously evil. Might be a good character moment for the Viktorian noble to act uncaring of the commoners dying as a result of her wanting to have fun and explore her powers but this will probably have social consequences.

Rolled 5, 1, 1, 6, 1, 3, 3, 3, 4 = 27 (9d6)

>>6135442
The funniest (and worse for some) part is that you rolled the exact amount of damage needed to kill. Impressive.

Now that you have killed a defenceless, dying monster, everybody needs to do an M4 Perception Check.

HOWEVER:
Abigail's link between all of you (Viktoria, Stephanie, Harriet, Riko) allows all of you to know exactly where each other are at all times, so you won't get split up, and if one of you happens to find the Witch, then the others will be there shortly. Praise be to Abigail.
Megan... She's not so lucky.

These are the Perception Checks for:
Riko (メ Per-12)
Megan (メ Per-12)
Harriet (メ Per-10)

Rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8 (3d6)

>>6135659
Your definition of evil is quite bizarre, so I do not care for it.

Rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16 (3d6)

>>6135679
"What the fuck did you do that for?! We were going to follow that one to its mum and then do the whole lot in! Awww, come onnn...!"

>vs 12 メ Perception

Rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11 (3d6)

>>6135679
"People are dying out here! Why would you kill it! I said to wait! It was already crippled, what good could possibly come from killing it when we have no idea where the witch is?! You need to be more careful with that cannon! That carries a lot of power, you can't just go shooting it at everything you want to."

ah yes, some delicious guca conflict is brewing

>>6135693
"As you can very clearly see, I'd rather we take the fiends one at a time. We struggled enough with just one."

>>6135765
"I can, and I will, because I want to. Save that anger for the Witch. We've got a contract to fulfill."

>>6135814
"Wha-con-- did you hear me? People are *DYING*. You want to talk about duty? Why would we be here unless it was to save peoples' lives?! I don't know how you can dismiss this so easily, but people's blood are probably on your hands now. However, the one thing you are right about it is that we do need to fight that witch. Let's just hope we can find her quickly."

>>6135815
"...What an odd individual, isn't she, Harriet? Or did the centuries do this to everyone? Let us move for now. We have plenty to discuss tonight."

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>6135693
>>6135691
>>6135765

Well, this practically writes itself.
I still have to create the words though, I'm writing now.

And this roll is for nothing at all.

ᛗ The Trio, et al

Before anything, Abigail decides to warn Oliver of the situation he’s truly in.

"Oliver, this is going to sound really crazy, and it is, but this is Abigail.”
”Abigail? Are you talking with me through my mind?”
”There’s no time to explain right now, but you are in danger. I’m with a group of people coming to… remove the threat.”
”The threat? Also, if I’m in danger then shouldn’t you also be?”
”Don’t worry about me, these people are really strong! There’s even that crazy bow lady!”
”Wait, her? You guys came to an understanding over the whole ‘almost shot you with a bow’ situation?”
”Yeah, we actually… came to a truce to protect you.

”Anyways, you just need to hide. There are terrible things in this messed up place, it’s not the normal forest we remember.”
”Hmm, it looks the same to me but I’ve never gotten lost here before. Even when I was a wee lad.
”I know it's all really weird and hard to believe but please trust me. I'm not playing a game, it's very scary, and this is real, but we can make it out of this. You need to hide and make sure nothing finds you.”
”What, are there monsters in these woods hunting people down like in a bad horror film?”
”E-eheh...”
”No fucking way, there’s no way.
”Oliver, I swear-”/i]

”Do you remember that time you came to my workshop and asked me about my work?”
”Y-yeah. I wanted to know more about what you do, to take interest in your hobbies.
”Do you remember what you actually did when I tried to answer you?”
[I]”...I looked away from you and put my head in my hands...” Abigail remembers that day. Another failure caused by her nerves.
”And why did you do that?
”I-I was worried that I would come off as weird or creepy by walking up to you and asking you about what you were doing! What kind of girl just goes up to someone and plays Twenty Questions with them?! God, I was such an idiot! Why couldn’t I have just cut the pretense and just say-”
”I love you” AAAHH. HE SAID IT! Well he thought it, but there’s not much difference here.

”That was a test. You passed. Only the Abigail I know could be so cute while being so embarrassed.”
Abigail became flustered. How could he be so smooth?! And why the test?!
[i["Shut up, you stupid face!"
"Awh, but you love my stupid face."
"No! I'm not going to talk about how cute your stupid face is!"
Abigail’s mind pauses when she realises what she just thought.
”Wait I-”
”Ah, no! No rewinds!”
”Anyhow, I’ll be hiding in a hollowed out tree.”
”There’s just a hollowed out tree near you?
”No. I made it hollow.”

Well. At least now Abigail knows Oliver is likely safe.

“So, what’s the deal with the monster? I’m pretty sure animals like this aren’t born normally.”
“Witches create Familiars to aid them in protecting their Labyrinth and often capturing people. Familiars are usually completely obedient to their parent Witch, but I have heard stories of Magical Girls with mind-altering powers turning them onto their side.”
“So if we stalk this monster, it’ll lead us to the Witch?”
“Very likely, yes.”
“Great!”

Stephanie waves her hands in front of Abigail’s face.
“Hey, lovebird! What do you think we should do about the Familiar?”
“Hm- ah!”
“W-well we should follow it. Hunting down this Witch and resolving the situation will save the largest amount of people the fastest. Even if we have to deal with some more Familiars with the Witch, I would happily go through that to expedite this.”
“I agree. Tracking this one and killing the whole lot is more efficient on the face of it.”
“What about you, Vikkie?”

“My decision is clear.”
Viktoria holds the cannon like one would hold a mini-gun, and preps to fire.
“W-wait, no!”
“Fucking Hell, don’t do it, you bint!”
Abigail and Stephanie’s protests fall on deaf ears, as Viktoria fires with no hesitation.

>>Ө (M1 PA, PA £, £ Roll: 12, 10 (Target: 16) = 10 Successes)<< (Execute Familiar)

Usually a cannonball travelling at such slow speeds wouldn’t kill, even if the target was wounded. Conveniently, Viktoria was blessed with an ability that could generate thermodynamically impossible amounts of energy.
Between Viktoria and the Familiar, the colours of the surroundings become greatly saturated. Light is brighter and the red viscera on the floor has a sharper tone. The moment the cannonball enters this field, it suddenly moves as if it was four times faster.
The cannonball lops off the head of the Familiar, and it slumps on floor, inert.

Stephanie takes off her glasses and facepalms forcefully.
“What the fuck did you do that for?! We were going to follow that one to its mum and then do the whole lot in! Awww, come onnn...!"
Abigail just looks in shock. Before panicking.
"People are dying out here! Why would you kill it?! I said to wait! It was already crippled, what good could possibly come from killing it when we have no idea where the Witch is?! You need to be more careful with that cannon! That carries a lot of power, you can't just go shooting it at everything you want to."
Viktoria doesn’t even look back at them.
Viktoria gives Abigail a blank face. "As you can very clearly see, I'd rather we take the fiends one at a time. We struggled enough with just one."
Riko sighs. “I really should’ve stopped her before this happened. Besides, between all of us, we just need to act wiser in the future to deal with them. I’m sure your struggle with this one was the growing pains of your first fight with Familiars ever. Also, I agree with Abigail on that cannon: That thing has a strangely high amount of firepower for such a short girl to be holding it, let alone firing it.”
Viktoria glares at all of them while spacing herself. “Enough of this blather. If I want to fire this armament then I can, and I will, because I want to. Save that anger for the Witch. We've got a contract to fulfil."
Between the large cannon she’s holding, the military uniform, and her stern tone, Viktoria still looks threatening and commanding even though she’s the shortest person among them.

Despite this, Abigail approaches her. Keen on reminding her of the potential consequences of this rash (in her opinion) action.
"Wha-con-- did you hear me? People are DYING. You want to talk about duty? Why would we be here unless it was to save peoples' lives?! I don't know how you can dismiss this so easily, but people's blood are probably on your hands now. However, the one thing you are right about it is that we do need to fight that witch. Let's just hope we can find her quickly."
Abigail considers these words to be the last thing she’s going to say to her for now. She bets Viktoria is probably going to ignore them anyway.

Viktoria lets out a “tsk” and looks towards her dutiful servant. "...What an odd individual, isn't she, Harriet? Or did the centuries do this to everyone? Let us move for now. We have plenty to discuss tonight."
“If I may speak my mind, my lady, I believe that dear Abigail does have a point.”
Viktoria gives Harriet an incredulous look. “Wha- you too?! What’s in the food they give to you nowadays?”
“We will learn about modern food recipes later, my lady. I would like to talk to you about the potential consequences of your behaviour.”

“Although you are blessed with a power to fight against impossible odds, many are not so lucky. Some are accosted by Witches and Familiars with no proper recourse, with nothing but prayers and wishes unheard that they will live to see tomorrow. Puella Magi, actualisations of the concept of Wishes come true, are the only people capable of saving them.”

Harriet looks away from everyone. As if she can’t bear to look them in the face.

“In the event that Puella Magi cannot save them in time, they will suffer immensely through no fault of their own. They will cower in grief and despair, pray for saviours that never come, and then be cut off from this mortal coil with no fanfare. That is a fate we should avoid for these innocents, and we should take any chances of finding the Witch, or any Witch for that matter, faster.”
She looks at Viktoria, her eyes, her face… She looks like she’s going to cry.
“Please, my lady? For the future, please be more responsible?”

Viktoria looks at her servant’s face. That stupid, pitiable, cute face reminding her of her responsibilities. And she decides to acquiesce, slightly.
“Fine. I promise that when I end up finding the Witch first, I will inform you all of its position post-haste.”
“That’s what you should be doing anyway, bitch. Also, what makes you think that you’re going to find it first?”
“First, I was performing some Noblesse Oblige, you should be grateful I even tried, many didn’t in my day. Second, I know I’m going to find it first because I am the most perceptive out of all of us.”
“Not perceptive enough to realise the severity of the situation, apparently.”
Viktoria glares at Abigail, but decides to not antagonise her and instead fulfil her promise.

Travelling through a forest filled with killer monsters while trying to find their mother is not considered a good time by anybody sane. But some among this group are having a worse time than others.
Riko is the farthest away from the group, keeping to bushes and sometimes climbing trees for vantage points. Even when she doesn’t find anything, she doesn’t panic and simply rejoins the group with warnings of any nearby Familiars. Of which there were few.
Megan is staying near the middle of the group. Her skills were more suited for supporting others than scouting or acting as a vanguard. She did end up making a watch to check the time. It’s only eleven A.M. in the morning, and yet the sky in the forest is as dark as midnight.
Stephanie, Abigail, Harriet, and Viktoria are at the front of the formation. Viktoria tried to send Harriet to the back, but she showed a surprising amount of backbone, and Viktoria allowed her to stay.
Viktoria pushes past some bushes, and sees a clearing.
Viktoria feels like she just saw a Surrealist image of Hell.

>>Ө (M4 Perception メ Roll: 8 (Target: 14) = 6 Successes)<< (Locate the Witch.)

A large, humanoid feminine figure made of a combination of arboreal mass, flesh, and… felt(?) is in the middle of the clearing, with scissors and sewing needles suited for her size. Near the Witch is a pile of body parts from all sorts of animals, including humans, and she seems to be- Sewing. The Witch is sewing the body parts together to make a chimera.
Viktoria thinks back, that Familiar did look patchwork at the joints of the limbs, but she was not expecting it to be literal patchwork. This is a textile workshop out of her nightmares.
Surrounding the Witch are six fully completed Familiars. Unlike the previous one that was some combination of Canine and Feline, these were all sorts of combinations. One was a combination of a man and a tiger, another was a combination of a bird and a lizard, creating a draconic-looking creature. It’s a profane, motley menagerie over there.

”Everyone, I have located the Witch.”
”Great. Now can we kill that git, fast?
”Yes. The Witch is ten metres and twelve centimetres to the west of your position.
[I]”...Why that exact distance? Do you have a GPS in your brain or something, lass?”
”What is a GPS?”
”Enough chatting. We need to join up with Viktoria to minimize any chances of problems.”

As the group approaches Viktoria’s location, they hear rustling in the bushes and wingbeats. They all prepare their weapons for the oncoming threat.
Very large insects come out of the bushes, approaching the girls fast. Thankfully, they are only large relative to normal insects, and are midgets compared to the average human. This was a small mercy when there was an innumerable swarm of them.
“We have no time to be dealing with these gross fuckers!”
“If we just run then they’ll likely come after us, and we’ll have to deal with even more Familiars when fighting the Witch!”

Riko steps towards the swarm. “There is a solution to this predicament.”
“You can all go ahead to the Witch and Viktoria, I can stay here and deal with this swarm.”
Abigail was shocked at this suggestion. “But- Riko, look at how many of them there are!”
Riko draws her bow. “Hmph, small prey compared to the past. The real issue is that I will not be able to join you all in fighting the Witch until later.”
[i[“So the real choice is temporarily getting rid of probably our heaviest hitter, and in exchange we don’t have to deal with a swarm of Familiars.”

“Harriet, Megan, your opinions?”
Megan shrugs. “None, really. Although last time I said to kill that wounded Familiar, these Familiars are not wounded. Dealing with them won’t be as easy as going all Final Argument of Queens like Viktoria. But on the other hand, do we really want to deal with a giant insect swarm while also fighting deadly monsters?”
Harriet glances towards Viktoria’s probable position. “I would prefer we get to the Witch as soon as possible. Riko can probably take care of herself, given her implied experience.”
Abigail sees right through Harriet and knows that she is also suggesting this to get to her Lady as fast as possible.

”Viktoria, we’re delayed. Insect Familiar swarm.”
”Oh, how dreadful!”
”You can say that again. Do you want to support in any way?”
”Hmm… I could create a stasis field near you so the swarm is frozen in time. I do know exactly where all of you are through the link and can exclude you from the effects of the field.”
”You can just… do that?
”Yes. Though I may be just a bit inaccurate...”

Megan raises her voice “Regardless of what we decide, I might as well do this now. Abigail, Stephanie, Viktoria yes I know you’re listening in on this. I can create equipment to help you using an ability I call ‘Regalia’. I can only create a limited amount though, one for each person. I should make them now while we still have the time. What equipment do each of you want?”

>Megan can increase a single stat of any of The Trio by 6 until the Witch is defeated.
>The Witch has been located by Viktoria. But the rest of the party has been accosted by insects. Do you leave Riko behind to advance to the objective? Will Viktoria decide to perform Temporal support? Or will someone have a spark of imagination?

>>6140157
I really don't know what stat to increase, I don't have a lot that will help with combat. Is my int bonus still present? If not I might just renew that.

>>6142332
It is still present.
Choosing a new bonus will get rid of the old one. So increasing a different stat will get rid of the Int bonus.
Good call.

>>6130937
Almost missed this thread due to the OP image. I genuinely thought you'd given up on the quest, but I'm really, and I mean really damn glad you're keeping at it.
>Can I also join in the suffering?
I'm tempted to join the suffering that being british entails, if the offer's still up, that is.

>Name: Alba Appleton
>Appearance: The shortest of the short, with a surprisingly athletic body. Her natural ginger hair is a short unkept mess thanks to cutting it off with her scissors. She wears a green beret at all times... Which might as well be Theseus’ Ship with how much she’s had to sew and patch back together.
>Quirks: She's always felt unimportant in the grand scheme of things and overlooked - As a consequence, she's grown with an evident desire for other's approval and praise. Needless to say, she's also a reckless show-off searching for attention.
>Wish: "For real, furball?! Anything at all? Easy then, I've had this my mind for absolute ages! Go on now, turn me into a natural born prodigy!"

>>6130939
>>6142589
Meant to reply to this instead of the OP. Oh well.

>>6140157
>>6140157
"No cause for fucking around and doing things by halves, Meg. Give me something t' make me stronger and hit harder. It's called for, with six of those bastards all squared up around that nasty fuckin' slag there."
>Stephanie wants a PA boost.

Now, as for the insects. I'm all for Riko handling them, but I wonder if I could lend a hand. Can I use my ability on more than one creature and, as an example, endow a load of insects with the aerodynamic qualities of a nearby pile of rocks? If that's a bridge too far, could I alternatively manipulate the ground beneath them to shoot up in clods of dirt, disrupting them and making them easier pickings for Riko?

>>6142696
You can do both. Entirely within your abilities.
Changing a single quality of a person is simply an M1 PA Check. A group of insects is M2 (They're not that big, and they are particularly vulnerable to extrinsic forces.)
Usually they would roll Con to resist, but they have no Con.

>>6142589
Ah, another one ready for this. And an energetic one!
I will have mercy and let you decide: Do you want to "Coincidentally" be in the forest today, somewhere else in York, or somewhere else in the U.K. entirely?

>>6142717
Mercy? Hah! Rejected. Do whatever works best for the plot currently imo. Though, I'd be lying if I wasn't biased towards being somewhere in the forest.

It has been so long since my last prompt that I have forgotten about this quest in its entirety. That is not a good sign. I've decided to relegate my spot to our new player, Alba, so that the pacing doesn't suffer any further from having too many players. Do please turn little not so sweet Vikky into an NPC and be kind to her. I shall not participate any further.

Rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8 (3d6)

>>6142717
Alright, let's do it. Insect wings to rocks, please.

>Check PA.

>>6143586
Well that's a hilarous amount of successes.12 if we include the +6 boost from Megan. Those insects are petrified.

>>6142727
Alright then. This is probably a blessing for all involved.

>>6143537
Fair enough. I will be kind to good Vicky.

In that case, it is time to write.

ᛗ The Trio, et al

Stephanie looks at the swarm of insects heading towards them and comes to a simple conclusion:
They have to be stopped, now.

She turns to Megan. “No cause for fucking around and doing things by halves, Meg. Give me something t' make me stronger and hit harder. It's called for, with six of those bastards all squared up around that nasty fuckin' slag there."
Megan nods. “Give me your hands.”
Stephanie obliges. Megan caresses Stephanie’s hands and light envelops them. The light then dissipates to reveal a pair of gauntlets, perfectly made for Stephanie’s hands.

ф Stephanie Smith ф
£ Physical Affinity: 12 > 18

Stephanie flexes her fingers, then impales the ground with her blade.
“This is my edict upon the insects: Turn to stone!”

>>ф (M2 PA £ Roll: 8 (Target: 18) = 10 Successes)<< (Turn insect wings to stone.)

The effects aren’t obvious at first, and Stephanie almost panics, but eventually the swarm slows down. Surprising to Stephanie, their petrification develops further, and the entire swarm turns to stone. An entire swarm of insects, transformed into a modern art piece.
Stephanie makes a smug smile. “I was just aimin’ for their wings! Guess I’m stronger than I thought.”
“Great.” Abigail starts, “Riko, are you willing to break the statues?”
Riko shakes her head, “It would be a waste of time. Best to just join you in fighting the Witch before they turn back to their normal forms. If they ever do.”
“Good, let’s move then.” Abigail briefly thinks towards Viktoria, ”We’re heading towards your position, Viktoria. For real this time.”

The rest of group finally make it to Viktoria’s position. They hide in the bushes near the gathering of horrors in the clearing.
When Stephanie looks at the macabre textiles workshop, she can’t help but feel the absurdity of this all.

“I know you said there were six of those monstrous bastards and their slag mum here, but actually seeing it in person really cements how surreal this whole thing is.”
Abigail ponders for a moment, “I came here because I was told Oliver was in danger, which was true, and that distracted me from how strange the situation is. We’re using magic to fight monsters while wearing flashy outfits. I feel like if I told my dad about this then I would get sectioned.”

Viktoria looks towards Riko and Megan, the presumably experienced Magical Girls.
“I myself was told that I would be fighting evil creatures called ‘Witches’. But how do you adapt to this? This must be stressful, even if it’s rare.”
Megan becomes puzzled, “Rare? Whatever. We adapt to it in our own ways. Usually by making friends that will stand by us and being very competent. Also, being calm. Freaking out is the worst thing you can do as a Puella Magi.”
Viktoria finds her choice of words interesting, “Hmm, you would think that the worst thing to do as a Puella Magi would be dying.”

“Abigail,” Viktoria calls, “Any plans?”
“Wha- why am I making the plans?!”
“You are the centre of our mind link and almost as intelligent as me. If you come up with the plan then it has the highest chance of succeeding simply due to the potential of co-ordination your magic has.”
Abigail wants to heavily object to her new, unwanted role as team leader.
“S-Stephanie how about you? Want to be our tactician?”
Stephanie gives Abigail a stony gaze, “I never once completed my studies in school. There’s not a high chance of me making a plan better than you can.”
Megan waves her hands as if it could dispel emotions, “Okay, everyone, how about we all discuss this between ourselves and then have Abigail co-ordinate us through our plan when it’s done?”
Abigail smiles, “That sounds like it would take a lot of pressure off me. I’ll be a great co-ordinator!”
Riko and Megan briefly give Abigail a look that’s definitely not friendly, but turn away to discuss tactics.

After a while of discussion, all Magical Girls involved (and Harriet) come forth with their plans.
“I believe that a strike against their leader would be most effective,” Riko starts, “As I’ve said before, killing the Witch will resolve this whole ordeal, and the familiars would be headless chickens if they don’t self-destruct immediately. Distracting the Familiars until then may be necessary, but we can have our heavy hitters focus on the Witch.”
Riko wanted to be expedient, and only mitigated risk for as much as necessary for all members to not accidentally die.

Megan has a more cautious approach.
“I think we should systematically take down each Familiar one at a time. I think we are very suited to one-on-one clashes when it comes to large Familiars. We could have Steph manipulate the Familiars’ attributes to debilitate them, then focus each of them down, until the Witch is defenceless.”
A slower, more cautious plan. It gets rid of any thorns before they can prick. It may be longer, and therefore have more time for mistakes to be made, but it’s also stable.

Viktoria clears her throat in a loud, showy manner.
“I have a suggestion that is not necessarily incompatible with the others. Abigail, you were able to connect our minds together using your magic, correct?”
“Y-yeah.”
“You were even able to do this without us asking or noticing, not that I would have refused. Now, how much information can you gain from this link?”
“As far as I know now, I can hear whatever you ‘think’ towards me. However, it seems that if I focus a bit, I can look into your thoughts, the surface ones, I think.” Abigail briefly remembers when she checked on Oliver before talking. She heard his thoughts even though they weren’t directed to her.
“Interesting. Now my suggestion: Try linking your mind with the Witch. Knowing how our enemy ticks is a great step to success”
Abigail’s face contorted into shock, then fear. “W-what?! That sounds terrible! Who knows what the heck that thing has in its mind? And how I’ll be affected?”
“Are you affected by any of our thoughts right now?”
“N-no…”
Viktoria’s face is an example image of smugness. “Exactly. You have the self-awareness to know where our thoughts end and yours start. You can do the same with the Witch, I know it. We should explore our abilities and push the limits!”
Riko chimes in, “For what it’s worth, I have seen others with magic like yours and they can manipulate Witches and Familiars. It made them pains to deal with. You might have some success despite being inexperienced.”

>Riko has suggested an expedient, risky plan. While Megan suggested a slow, stable one. And Viktoria has made a wild suggestion that may work, but the risks… Stephanie and Abigail have yet to put forth plans of their own, perhaps they can have a better one despite their relative inexperience.
>Speaking of inexperienced Magical girls…

Rolled 11 (1d100)

Alba Appleton

“Alright, everyone. Keep going this way and we’ll get out of this nightmare!”

A very large group of students were following one small, ginger-haired girl through their home town’s forest like their lives depended on it. Probably because it really did.
Alba Appleton was a very interesting girl to any observer. Despite her short stature and unkempt appearance, she was athletic and able to outpace most taller people, and was always doing something reckless and actually succeeding most of the time.
This strange juxtaposition between her appearance and skills had led to people trusting her ideas and actions even if they were outrageous simply because, well, she was still alive despite it all.
So, everyone thought “If this girl is saying she’ll lead us out of the forest, I’m going to trust her!”

Alba herself was not extremely skilled at hiking, but rather sports. However, she was surprising even herself with how well she was navigating the forest.
It could have something to do with that white fox she saw in her closet yesterday.

As Alba was leading the students, she noticed something strange ahead. One of the trees looked different. The tree looked like someone had cut it open, then put the exterior back together. She needed to investigate this. After she heard something about monsters hunting people here, she’s been on edge.
“Everyone, keep going forward!” Alba commands, “I need to check something.”
The students oblige. Alba thinks they’ll be fine, she believes that the exit to the woods is really close.

”Alright, time to check the suspicious tree!
Alba starts simple and knocks on the tree. It makes a high-pitched sound, which proves that the tree is hollow. She doesn’t think trees should be hollow? If only becoming a prodigy came with an education.
She decides to do something brash, and punch the tree. Alba’s fist actually makes a dent in the tree, but what’s more important to her is that she can hear shocked breathing.
“Hey, is anyone in there?” Alba receives no response.
Alba continues, slightly miffed, “I can hear you breathing, there’s no hiding from me. You’re, hopefully, human. So I want to help you.”
Alba hears a familiar, masculine voice respond to her.
“How can you help me?”
“I’m escorting people out of this death-trap of a forest. If you hid in here then you probably know you’re defenceless, so you need to get out of here as well. There’s no knowing if this freak situation will end.”
“I-I hid here because my girlfriend told me to. She said that her and her friends were going to solve this.”
Alba wonders what kind of girls can resolve a freak, maybe supernatural, situation like this.
“Uh huh. And who is your girlfriend? And you for that matter.”
There is a long pause before the voice responds again. “My name is Oliver. And my girlfriend is Abigail.”

Wait, Oliver? Alba remembers him from the workshops they both go to, and engineering classes. And Abigail? That was the girl that Alba would see trying to talk to Oliver about her crush on him. Alba always wondered whether Abigail or Claire, another girl with a crush, would win Oliver’s heart first. She knows the answer now.
But talks of crushes can wait later!
“Oliver, I can get you out of here safely! Trust me!”
Oliver speaks, and Alba can actually hear fear in his voice. “Abigail said there are monsters hunting people down here. I don’t think you can protect me.”
“I also heard about these monsters, but trust me! If any monsters come by, I can lay them out real fast, innit?!” Alba’s voice exudes confidence. And it has to, because she’s talking out of her arse.
Oliver, however, is much more wary. “Are you really sure you can? I haven’t been found or hurt yet, but leaving may cause the monsters to find us.”

Alba briefly ponders. Is she sure she can? She’s always ready to do reckless, brave things to prove her strength (and not just to be praised for it, absolutely not!). But she’s potentially putting someone else’s life at risk. She’s doing this to save them from a harsh fate, but can she really confidently fend off harm while getting him out of here?

>Alba CAN leave him here. If he hasn’t been hurt yet and his girlfriend (Abigail, still unbelievable) can really resolve the situation while he hides in the tree then he’ll be fine. But what if he actually gets found in here? She doesn’t think she can deal with someone getting hurt when she was able to do something about it.

>>6147697
I think I lean to Megan's plan. If I'm able to get into the Witch's head, I could subtly notify the group of any tricks coming our way, and we can adjust the plan as needed. It should reduce the risk of things going wrong over time. I'm a bit hesitant because I want to kill the Witch asap. If Steph has a good reason to go with the Riko plan or has her own I might change to that.

>>6147697
>mindlinking with a fuckin witch
metal
having watched rebellion, this can only go awesome
i expect the peak of schizophrenic writing if it happens

>>6147697
Megan's got the right idea. We should take things slow and leverage our superior coordination via the mindlink.

>>6147700
>Oliver GET!
Now this is a certainly a find.
>She said that her and her friends were going to solve this.
Wait... Abigail? ABIGAIL?! THE Abigail Fulson?!! I thought she was just a shy girl, a bit of a recluse... Drawing who-knows-what all day. I should take a peek at her stuff eventually. Waitwaitwaitwait. When did she grow bollocks to delve into a forest just like that? Nevermind what Oliver said about monster (which is totally a malformed stag or something. Yeah, for sure. Monsters aren't real.), all I'm hearing here is that she's going to get hurt if left with her imaginary friends to delve deeper in! This is place is nuts already, it's got to be a green hell in there!
>I don’t think you can protect me.
Pfffffft!! Drivel! I can to totall-- ...Huh? Drivel? When did that word become part of my dictionary? I was saying a lot of big words back there in the crowd as well, ugh... What's going on with me today? Aaaaanyways! It was by complete chance that I found him, right? And I'm supposed to find him AGAIN? Nope. Not happening. Noooot taking that kind of risk. I'm... Smashing this thing open. Yeah. Or prying it? Whatever. Smashing while prying? That works. I should just reunite these two lovebirds already.

>>6148097
>>6148297
Alright, that's a yes on Megan's plan.
Either of you can perform some preliminary sabotage on the Witch and her menagerie now, because you are hidden from them.
The key here should be heavily hampering the capabilites of the Chimeras (and Witch if you're lucky) you won't be fighting, or at least singling out the one you will.

And linking with the Witch is combination of MA and Mind Checks. Nothing can go wrong here.

>>6148615
Breaking Oliver out by force (Do not let Abigail know you potentially endangered her boyfriend). Got it.
If Monsters actually do exist, what would be your first reaction? Asking for a friend.

>>6148181
Hoo boy, I do not think I can give that justice. But it is definitely going to be a large set of incomprehensible sentences/paragraphs that begin to make sense once you start going insane

>>6148693
>If Monsters actually do exist
I'm not afraid of monsters. I'm sure I'm immune to their horrible fangs, sharpened claws, ghasting shrieks and... and... That shrub is looking mighty fine! It's almost inviting me to hid-- Ahem, get comfy inside! Just look at those... Leaves? I'll just lay in there, bask in the darkness and be as epehmeral as a shadow. I can admire the monster from afar... And, uhm, embellish the story of my encounter juuust a little when I recount it later, no? Just a tiiiiiny bit.
>If Monsters actually do exist (and Oliver is right by my side)
Though my life may be at stake, nothing, NOTHING is more important than saving face and reuniting Oliver with his (alleged) girlfriend. I proudly swallow my fear, force the jittering of my bones to cease, silently lock eyes with the beast with a hero's resolution and plant myself firm as a shield in front of Oliver... Or well, at least I TRY hard as hell to make him BELIEVE that as I freeze in fear right in front of him. He can't see my face or sense my willingness to run away, can he? H-Hey, I'm only human, I can only do so much with what I've got.

Rolled 5, 3, 5, 4, 2, 5 = 24 (6d6)

>>6148693
idk how a multiple stat check would work, but here's the roll for MA + Mind (both are 14). Do you roll 2 or just one set?

>>6149054
Each stat rolls one set. So MA + Mind is 6 Dice.
One set is set against MA, and the other is set against Mind.
In other words: What you just did is all that is needed.

Rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16 (3d6)

>>6148693
The root trick is nice. I'll do it again, targeting the first familiar we're going to be attacking as per the plan. Ideally this'll neutralize its DX and we can take it out with one big attack.
>Rolling PA. Target 18.

Rolled 2, 4, 3, 5, 2, 5, 5, 5, 5 = 36 (9d6)

>>6149948
>>6149054
>>6148615

Stephanie is running interference, Abigail is performing the Soul Hacking of a lifetime, and Alba is escorting a certain girl's boyfriend out of the forest that may or may not have monsters.

These Rolls are, in order:
Viktoria stretching her powers by freezing every Familiar, and Witch, nearby. (M4, PA 22)
Riko throwing caution to the wind and using a special attack. (PA 20)
Harriet preparing to intercept if anything goes wrong (DX 10)
Megan is occupied making Regalia for Viktoria (hence why her PA is 22), and so isn't rolling.

>>6150094
You still here, QM?

Alba Appleton:

Oliver’s saying something about monsters and his girlfriend, Abigail (Alba is not going to get used to that), solving this situation. But that doesn’t make sense, monsters don’t exist, and Abigail is a shy artist. Maybe he just needs some fresh air to stop talking nonsense!

“Stand back, I’m breaking this tree open!”
“Wait, no!” Oliver shouts.

Oliver’s objections fall on willingly deaf ears as Alba stretches her limbs and digs into tree bark. She pried the tree so easily that it surprises even herself. She was pretty fit (in more ways than one in her opinion), but not “break open a tree with her bare hands” strong. Something to experiment with later.
“Oh, Goddammit-”
Oliver was interrupted by Alba forcefully dragging him out of his arboreal hiding spot. How he managed to open and near-perfectly seal a tree is a question that Alba doesn’t think she’ll ever figure out the answer to. A testament to his skills, she guesses. If only she could be that good.
Oliver acquiesces to being dragged away by his classmate, and grabs his woodworking equipment from inside the tree.

Having only one person with her really made Alba aware of just how weird this forest is now. She feels like she would have noticed a forest where the sky turns dark at Ten A.M, and the trees seem to be trying to trap you in their clutches.
Winding paths that would no doubt be difficult to navigate without a compass and some friends extend before Alba and Oliver. They stick together so they don’t get lost, but they swear that if they turn away for even a second then they will lose their companion. Despite these worries, Alba hikes through the forest like a natural-born prodigy.
She has no idea how. She’s never even entered in this forest before.

Oliver’s starting to get exhausted with all of this hiking over shrubbery that seems to want him dead. He trips but Alba catches him, He coughs and Alba offers a handkerchief. And when he wants to leave…
Alba shouts out. “I can hear voices!”
Oliver panics for a moment. “Are they friendly?”
That earns him an incredulous look from his classmate.
“Do you really think monsters are the kind of entities that talk to their morsels?” Alba questions.
Oliver, for his part, actually thinks about that question. “No, I guess not.”
“Yep! And the only people I found around here are our classmates, so we should be safe.”

Alba and Oliver cut through the last bit of shrubbery in front of them and are greeted by their schoolmates. They have never been so happy to see them until now.
“Hey, all of you!” Alba calls out “You’re all fine?”
They respond with nods and affirmations. But one, a dark-skinned girl with black hair holding a puppet, approaches with some bad news. “All of us are fine, but we’re missing some people. Eleven people, to be exact.”
“What-” Alba does a quick headcount, “Holy crap!”
“Now, as far as I’m concerned you have two choices. All of us are too inept at navigating these woods in its current state, except for you. You can go back in to search for the rest while we leave, or you can leave with us. Your choice.”

>Alba can leave with her classmates and just abandon the eleven left in the woods to their own fates, or she can go back for them. The real question here is whether she thinks she’s in danger by going back in, and if that danger is worth abandoning people.

ᛗ The Trio, et al

Abigail thinks carefully about the next actions to be taken. She does want to kill the Witch as fast as possible and get this nightmare over with, but she also doesn’t want one of them to get picked off by chimera. Being naturally risk-averse, she leans more towards Megan’s plan. And Linking with the Witch will give them invaluable intel.

“Stephanie, your opinion?” Abigail wasn’t good at making decision all by herself, and this was a team after all.
“Megan has the right of it. We have superior co-ordination thanks to you, we should leverage that and take them down individually instead of in one big clash.”
“Great.”

Viktoria exaggeratedly clears her throat. “Now that we have decided on our future plans, I have a request. Megan, bestow upon me a tool with which I can overcome these creatures of evil!”
“I already have one prepared.” Megan pulls out a Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle from the ether, which shocks Stephanie. Was Megan always the kind of girl that was into guns? That thing is way too detailed.

Ө Viktoria Walker Ө
£ Physical Affinity: 16 > 22

Stephanie looks towards the Witch. “Alright. Now that we’re all prepared, let’s advance forward!”
“Yeah!” Megan shouts.
“Let’s hunt them down.” Riko says calmly.
“Affirmative.” Viktoria says.
Abigail faints.

Harriet catches her, thankfully, but it puts a fright in all of them. The co-ordinator of their plan just fainted with no warning, putting her out of commission right before they were to advance.
Harriet inspects her face. “If it’s any consolation, she does not look to be in pain. Though, I do wonder what caused her sudden ailments.”
Stephanie, being one of the most proactive members of this team, makes an executive decision.
“We are going in whether she wakes up or not. We’re already slowing down by taking each of the monsters out individually, we can’t wait any more.”
The rest of the girls make murmurs of agreement.
Stephanie brandishes her blade. “Let’s go!”

The Orphan-turned-big-sister slams her sword into the ground. ”That rooting trick was pretty good against these last time.”
She aims for a chimera that looks very similar to the one seen before, its legs transform into vestigial roots before any creature near it can notice. Once they do however, they can’t even react.

>>ф (M1 PA £ Roll: 16 (Target: 18) = 2 Successes)<< (Transform Familiar.)

All of the girls can feel their adversary’s eyes on them, but then all of their opponents stop. Completely still. Not even the rooted one is struggling.
Almost as if they were locked in time.

>>Ө (M4 PA £ Roll: 9 (Target: 22) = 13 Successes)<< (Exclusionary Time Gaol.)

Viktoria throws away a crumpled watch. It seems she used that as a catalyst rather than her cannon.
Megan realises where she got that watch from, “Lass, did you really need to break the watch I made?!”
Viktoria shrugs, “Surely you can just make another one later, can you not?” She doesn’t mention that she’s likely to break that one as well.
Megan just grumbles about how it’s unfair.

Riko, not wanting to let the opportunity slip, ignores any complaints and launches a potentially devastating attack.
Flouting the laws of physics for a moment, she launches into the air with nothing but her feet. The air around her smells of ozone, and the rumbling of thunderclouds can be heard. Riko’s entire body crackles with electricity as she nocks an arrow and aims at the space between all of her targets.

>>Ө (M1 PA £ Roll: 12 (Target: 20) = 8 Successes)<< (Trophy of The Hunt: Astra’s Levinbolt.)

Thunder booms throughout the clearing as Riko looses her arrow, and the girls are sure that if they weren’t Puella Magi then they would be deaf right now. Purple lightning coats her arrow as it flies and strikes the ground. A moment later, the arrow summons lightning to strike around it, lancing the chimeras and the Witch with bolts.

Friendship: 45 HP > 37 HP
Bond: 45 HP > 37
Soulmate: 45 HP > 37 HP
Brother: 45 HP > 37 HP
Sister: 45 HP > 37 HP
Intimacy: 45 HP > 37 HP
Clarion, The Connection Witch: ?? HP > ?? HP

As Riko lands, all of the girls note something strange: They know the names of not only the Familiars, but the Witch as well. Riko, Megan, and Harriet are the most confused by this fact.
“I have never once been able to find out the name of a Witch before slaying them.” Riko begins, “I don’t recall ever knowing anything about this one either. What could have caused this?”
Megan ponders for a moment, before looking towards Harriet. Abigail is still sleeping soundly despite the storm happening nearby. “Hey Harriet, is Abigail still okay?!”
“Yeah!” Harriet raises her voice due to the ongoing lightning strikes. “She’s sleeping like a baby!”

Stephanie takes the helm again, and asks for details from Viktoria.
“So, they’re all frozen in time right now?”
“Yes.” Viktoria replies, “They should be like this for a while. Enough time for us to grievously wound them. Though-”
Viktoria looks at the Witch.
“That Witch may break out faster. And who knows what she will do when she is active again.”
Stephanie nods. “Good, good. Best thing to do now is to lay into all of them as much as possible. Who knows what will happen if they become active and Abigail is still under.”
“Yes, we still don’t know what caused her to faint…”

>All of your enemies are completely vulnerable. It would be prudent to deal as much damage as possible at this moment. Try to be as destructive as you can.

Abigail Fulson

]Abigail was sometimes told by her father that everyone was connected in a way. The limit was that you would need six connections max to find how one person is related to another. In the past, she found this a bit preposterous. How can she be related to another person that she knows nothing about?
]Unfortunately for her, she was very much connected to people she knew nothing about.

>>𐤌 (M? MA + Mind λ + φ. Roll: 13, 11 (Target: 14, 14) = 4 Successes)<< (Link to the Witch. Surpass Grief.)

Abigail looks down at the forest from high-above. She has no idea how she got here, but she somehow knows what she’s looking at. Lines criss-crossing all around the place. From Stephanie to Megan, from Megan to Riko, from Riko to who knows who in London. If it was just one person connected to another she would be fine, but they’re connected to THOUSANDS of people and even locations and objects.
Looking down at her own body, she sees, clear as day, a connection between herself and Oliver. That would obviously be there, but then she sees a link between Oliver… and The Witch.
Upon realising this, she remembers how she got here: She tried to link with the Witch! God, how was she supposed to know she would have an out-of-body experience?!

She flies down to the Witch, getting used to the fact that, whatever she is now, she has no mass, and witnesses Harriet carrying her own limp body.
She’s going to forget that as fast as possible please, God.
She tries to do cut out all of the background noise of every other connection in the universe and restrains her range to only the forest. To her delight, it works!

She looks at the Familiars. They’re linked to the Witch, of course. The Witch herself… Damn, that’s a lot of connections.
She decides to expedite her job. Hoping that once she’s done she can get back to her body. She… “touches” the Witch. She was expecting her hand to go straight through but it make a mental-not physical-connection. All she has to do is lean in and…

Abigail sees Oliver, and a girl she doesn’t recognise, talking to each other in a classroom.
???: “Oliver… I really like you. You make me more happy than any of my friends. You’re smart, resourceful, smooth, and cute. I want you to be my boyfriend!”
Oliver: “I’m sorry then.”
What?
Abigail can hear this girl’s thought reverberating through the room.
Oliver: “I already like someone else. She’s cute, creative, hangs around me even though our interests don’t exactly align, and I know she has a wellspring of willpower underneath her shy exterior. I’m worried she doesn’t like me because she runs away sometimes, but I’m going to ask her out someday!”
Abigail? That stupid, spineless waif?!
Ignoring the hurtful words, Abgail notices the gem in the girl’s necklace is getting darker for some reason.
Oliver: “I’m sorry, Claire. I know where my heart is, and it’s not with you. It has nothing to do with you personally, I just like her more. Maybe you’ll find someone else to be your soulmate.”
With that said, Oliver leaves. Leaving a heartbroken girl alone.
”I never did find someone, you know.”
Abigail’s heart rate spikes. That felt much more personal

”I was somehow envious of you, Abigail. I had plenty of friends, as a result of my Wish, but not one of them were worth it. I had no-one to share my feelings with, and when my heart shattered I had to try to pick up the pieces myself.
The girl in the room, Claire, waves her arms around.
”As you can see, I failed.
Abigail conjures a knife, the knife that she has in reality into her hands for self-defence.
Claire: “Wow, you’re already getting adept at this. I wish I was the kind of person who could just… get things, you know?”
Abigail is already piecing together the situation. She’s currently in the Witch’s memories. Apparently she was a girl named Claire and had a crush on Oliver, similar to Abigail herself. But Claire was more popular, she should’ve recovered from rejection just fine! And how did she turn into a Chimera-creating monstrosity?!

Claire crooks her neck. “Huh, I can’t hear what you’re thinking. Are you a P-Zombie?”
”What are you talking about?!
”Just a joke. Besides, you can’t be a P-Zombie. You’re here after all.
Abigail decides to be tactical. ”Speaking of ‘here’, where is ‘here’ exactly? I have a lot of other questions to ask as well.
”Ask away! Answering your questions is the most I can do while in this pitiful state. Especially since I might be going by into the Cycle soon.
Great. Abigail can stall for time while scanning Claire’s memories and thoughts in the background. She already got her name and the Familiars’ names. Sending more information to the others while in here was shockingly easy. Just stall for time. Try to disrupt her if she can. And maybe, just maybe, get back to her actual body.

>Ask questions to the Witch responsible for this nightmare. Although she probably won’t answer all of them, certain questions will bring certain thoughts into the fore-front. And those are free game.
>This is all to stall for time. You can be as verbose and/or annoying as you want.

File: MAKE WAY.png (227 KB, 500x375)

227 KB PNG

>>6153842
Maybe there was an eeny, tiny bit of truth to what Oliver was saying after all, and it wasn't just his nerves wrecking him over. More importantly, he followed me in tow for... What was it? Ten? At best fifteen minutes? And in that time everyone's already gotten lost in this mingin' forest? ...Haah... At least it seems like getting him out of the wooden pillbox was the right choice. Wait just a minute, how'd he even seal himself in there, what kind of witchcraft did he- No, no, absolutely no! Not the time to be thinking about this right now. A whole eleven are missing from the group! A whole... Eleven. That's a whole lot. Not good. Delving in there all alone would be like jumping into a trap purposefully set for me, with this newly acquired 'sixth sense' of mine lulling me into a false sense of confidence. But... This place, it's tarting to terrify me. But... I can't just abandon...
"Oh, thank you Alba! I thought I'd be forever stuck in here! Please get me out of here!"
I...
"Alba! Alba! My saviour! My only hope!"
I... I...
"Alba..! You're so brave and courageous and strong and--"
...
"I owe my life and my everything to you Alba!"
Wait a damn minute.
"Alba. You are the most heroic girl I've met in my life. Please marry me!
EUREKA! Yes! ELEVEN INDEED! A whole eleven that will be singing her praises once I undoubtedly find and rescue the whole lot of them! Fear?! Ha! Just a construct of my mind! Time to make it big, Alba! It's decided! I'll convince Oliver to tag alongside the remaining few and make sure they dart their way out of this inferno. Then... One by one, no matter the danger, I'll save the eleven and become the town heroine! Flaaaaawless plan!

Rolled 3, 3, 5 = 11 (3d6)

>>6153851
"The Cycle? What's that?"
"Your Wish? Did you make a Wish from the animal thing too? Are you a magical girl after all? The others called you a Witch, but, you're just Claire right?"
"What are those beast things anyways? How did you make them? Did you make them, or did you summon them, or how did they get here?"
"I... I didn't know Claire. I'm sorry, it shouldn't have been like this. You were given a rotten deal Claire, it wasn't fair. But, why are you doing this to the forest? Why are you getting all these people involved? Some of them don't even know you, and their lives are at risk from these... beasts! Won't you please make it stop? Return it to normal? I... my powers are new to me, but they seem to have to do with connecting people. I'm not much good with... boys... but maybe I can help you find someone. Please Claire, let's try to fix this. I want to help you."

I'd like to try a Charisma (?) check to try to have a heart to heart with Claire and convince her of the error of her ways in the midst of stalling for time. (vs Charisma 12)

Rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11 (3d6)

>>6153846
Thanks for the lightning strike, Riko. A lightning strike in a forest = fire. And our enemies are made of wood and cloth, at least in part, right? Wood and cloth + fire = fun and profit. Stephanie's brain is expanding at speeds thought impossible.

"Good moves, good moves, but you haven't seen shit yet. Watch this..."

The witch is gonna recover first, is that it? Well, let's lay out one of the little shits before she does. I'll pick the most flammable-looking one and hit it as hard as I can with my sword, setting the blade on fire at the moment of impact.

Reckon this is gonna be just a PA roll, what with the targets being indisposed. Rollin vs 18

[b]Alba Appleton[/b]

Alba can’t believe this. She walked away for a few (7, to be exact) minutes, and they already lost [i]eleven[/i] people?! That’s, like, a whole room if it was cramped!
Does she really want to go back into that forest to search for eleven people? It’s not like the forest is scary or anything, a-absolutely not, but it seems awfully convenient to any ne’er-do-well that she would have to go back inside the forest by herself. It’s like they made a trap specifically for her.

Yep, the best course of action would be to just leave the forest with the majority of people here, and go home. Maybe call the police? For some reason she hadn’t thought of that until now… But could she really just leave- no, can she really just abandon all of those people. They’re probably begging for help, [i]her[/i] help!
She can hear their thanks now:
[i]"Oh, thank you Alba! I thought I'd be forever stuck in here! Please get me out of here!"[/i]
“Hehe.”
[i]"Alba! Alba! My saviour! My only hope!"[/i]
“Ehehaha”
[i]"Alba..! You're so brave and courageous and strong and--"[i]
“Ahahaha!"
[i]"I owe my life and my everything to you! Alba, You are the most heroic girl I've met in my life. Please marry me!”[/i]
“Alright then, I’ll go back for them!”

The dark-skinned girl, Alba thinks her name was Marisa, nods her head slowly and looks at Alba like she’s insane.
“...Good to know that I was convincing enough that you would willingly go into danger.”
Alba adjusts her hat and stretches her limbs. “Hah! ‘Danger’ is not in my vocabulary! Only ‘Victory’ and ‘Glory’!”
Marisa holds back from gawking at Alba’s audacity.
“In that case, we- I mean [b]I[/b] will take Oliver off your hands. We need to get [b]him specifically[/b] to safety.”
Alba briefly ponders on why Marisa considers Oliver important. He’s not really special (except for his freaky woodworking skills, she’ll never get over that), and Marisa isn’t his girlfriend or anything-

Unless…

Marisa has a crush on Oliver as well! Oh crap, this is turning into a Love Quadrilateral! If Abigail isn’t just some shy artist any more then she’s going give Marisa hell!
“Y-yeah! You should both leave right now! I’ll go and find those stragglers!”
Alba then runs off quickly,. Confusing Marisa. In reality, Alba doesn’t want to get caught in the romance vortex manifesting around Oliver and turn the relationship chart into a Love Pentagon.

Alba jaunts through the forest like it was her backyard. Though If it was her backyard she would say that demons were haunting the place. She saw trees [i]curving in on themselves[/i] just to trap her! And the bushes were moving, she saw it with her own eyes!
Alba climbs up a tree and shakes her head. She’s personifying natural parts of the world. That’s a Cognitive Distortion! Wait how does she know what Cognitive Distortions are? She never had any Psychology classes…
Whatever, that’s not important. Alba starts to swing and jump from tree to tree like a gymnast, her body going through the motions like it’s a talent she’s always had. While swinging she keeps an ear out for any (Human) voices, and eventually hears some people.

Alba keeps getting closer until she’s right over the source of the voices and drops down, which makes the crowd of people let out shocked gasps.
“Do not fear, everyone! I have come to save you from the clutches of this dastardly forest! Come, and we shall-” Alba notices a major issue.
The group is made out of people from her school. Three of those people were staff members, while eight were classmates. Out of the eight classmates, [b]seven[/b] were currently tangled in thorny bushes. The one classmate who was [i]not[/i] trapped had been freshly freed, an obvious thing to notice given that she was plucking thorns out of body parts Alba wasn’t sure thorns could get into.

One of the staff members, a young woman, approaches the bushel of students with pruning scissors. Alba isn’t sure what grand plan she has, but she somehow doubts that those shears will be good enough to cut through those bushes.
To get those students out, Alba needs to get through those bushes. But she has no sharp tools on her. Maybe the other staff members have something that she could jury-rig into a better tool than large scissors?

>The fact that the bushes’ growth has incongruence compared to all of the other growth really gives credence to the notion this forest is living or something. Either way, Alba needs to break through thorny bushes without harming the students.

ᛗ The Trio, et al

The battle against the Witch of Connections is squarely to the advantage of the Magical Girls. All enemies are indisposed, and most of the girls that are able have no room for mercy. Only burning wrath.

Turning her figurative burning wrath into literal burning wrath, Riko nocks an arrow and glows orange. Stephanie nods and smirks.
“Good, good. The lightning strike combined with actual fire will make a really big bonfire. And cloth plus wood plus fire equals lots of fun!” Stephanie smiles as if she had uncovered a truth lost to Humanity
“But-” Stephanie rears back for a lunge, “You haven’t seen shit yet. Watch this!”

Stephanie rushes forward with nothing but the most destructive thoughts. There’s no need for any defensive or disruptive measures, just killing this piece of shit as hard as possible. She takes a breath, and hot, smoky air fills her lungs. She doesn’t cough, only exhaling steam, her body temperature increasing as she moves faster.
This run-up reaches its climax when she leaps at the rooted chimera (“Bond”, Stephanie knows its name now. Not that it matters). And slams down her blade.

>>ф (M1 PA £ Roll: 11 (Target: 18) = 7 Successes)<< (Autoignite.)

The moment Stephanie’s blade makes impact it combusts into flames and causes an explosion that engulfs the chimera and herself. Stephanie herself would probably be in a bit more pain if it weren’t for the fact Her entire body also bursts into flames for a moment. Stephanie would be more shocked about this but it’s completely painless and she feels awesome. So apparently she becomes immune to explosions when causing them? Cool.

>Bond: 37 HP > 23 HP

Stephanie also briefly takes in how strange the time manipulation interacts with her attack. The combustion itself subsided, but any flames on the chimera stay. It’ll probably feel it later.
Just as she’s thinking of the mechanics surrounding her and Viktoria’s abilities, Stephanie is engulfed in another explosion.

>>Ꜻ (M1 PA £ Roll: 10 (Target: 20) = 10 Successes)<< (Trophy of The Hunt: Patricia’s Brimstone Arrow.)
>Bond: 23 HP > 3 HP

“Yo, what the fuck, you bint?! You’re really lucky that I’m immune to explosions right now or I could’ve died!”
Riko makes a confused look. “How am I the lucky one?”
“Because if I died then I would’ve haunted your arse ‘til the rest of time.” Stephanie says.

Viktoria eyes Intimacy and prepares her rifle.
“Megan, I am going to lay this beast low. Join me so this attack will be more efficient.”
“Affirmative.” Megan pulls out a Lee-Enfield from fabricated light, and Stephanie just decides that she’s no longer going to be shocked. She’s just going to ask her about her interests later.
“Prepare yourself! We will move with Alacrity unheard of until now!”

>>Ө (M1 PA £ Roll: 12 (Target: 22) = 10 Successes)<< (Accelerate the Arrow of Time.)

Viktoria and Megan loaded their rifles. But everyone else wouldn’t have known unless they were looking directly at them while it was happening. It occurred in a matter of milliseconds, a testament to their new speed.

“Ready!” Viktoria shouted. Her voice was distorted to everyone else due to the speed difference, but Megan could understand just fine.
”Fire!”

>>Ө (M1 PA £ Roll: 9 (Target: 22) = 13 Successes)<< (Fire Rifle - Accelerated × 10)
>Intimacy: 37 HP > -93 HP

Intimacy is perforated by bullets from Viktoria loaded impossibly fast, an absolutely relentless assault from a talented shooter moving at ten times the speed of a regular person. By the time Viktoria is done, Intimacy looks like a bad sponge or Swiss cheese rather than a monster.
Megan, however, missed all of her shots
“Wha- I swear I’m usually better at this!”
“Do not worry, my fellow woman of arms, We have all the time in the world to do better!” Viktoria says smugly.

Harriet Skewers Bond, much like how one puts down a rabid animal
>Bond: 3 HP > 0 HP

“Abigail is still okay. Hasn’t made any pained sounds or anything. I also checked her reactions and it looks more like she’s sleeping rather than unconscious now.”
“Good. I wouldn’t know what to do if someone here died on my watch.” Stephanie says
“Everyone, look alive!”
The Witch of Connections, Clarion, becomes active again. None of the other chimeras have broken out of Time Gaol yet, which makes Viktoria ponder about what affects the jail time, but the Witch is likely the biggest threat anyway through a simple logic.
Viktoria prepares her rifle before she hears a voice in her head.
𐤌”Wait! Everyone wait!"𐤌

Everyone (except Megan) is shocked at the realisation that Abigail is still able to use her ability while completely knocked out.

ф”Abigail, you’re alive?!”ф
𐤌”Did you really think I was- whatever. I have a lot of stuff to tell all of you, a lot of important stuff, but the most pressing matter is this: The Witch said that she will… self-expire, if we leave her alone for today.”𐤌
ф”What, so the Witch will commit suicide if we just leave her be for a few hours? I want to believe that but considering that she trapped my sister in a forest I’m liable to just killing her with my bare hands now.”ф Stephanie would have some mercy. If Clarion hadn’t messed with Megan.
Э”I’m sorry did you just gloss over the fact that Abigail SPOKE with the Witch?! Not only that but she happened to convince the Witch to just… leave us alone and kill herself?"Э Megan had honestly never seen this happen in her years as a Puella Magi.
Riko is similarly confused and in disbelief. Ꜻ"I’m sorry but I just can’t believe that a Witch would willingly just end their terror after a talk from a girl who is quite literally required to kill her in order to continue living.”Ꜻ
Ө”Perhaps all of the people you’ve met haven’t been as charismatic as Abigail? Willing to listen to the potential anguish these Witches have went through? Assuming that these Witches are as complex as humans and not malevolent beasts, of course.”Ө Viktoria postulates.
𐤌”You can all choose to believe it or not. If she’s truthful then we get to go home to our loved ones relatively unharmed. If it’s not then we have another day’s worth of people getting stuck in this nightmare. If it’s truthful and we don’t believe her, then decide to attack, we will have to fight a Witch in her home when it was not necessary. I myself don’t have very positive emotions on this, and would rather it be a last resort.”𐤌

>A difficult choice to be made, all around. Unless a compromise can be done. But then, what’s the compromise between “I’m going to kill myself” and “I don’t believe you, I’m going to kill you”? Euthanasia? Some other option?

𐤌 Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail had plenty of questions to ask along with apologies to make. She can only hope that Claire can be truthful despite what she’s done to her.

𐤌"You mentioned something called ‘The Cycle’, what's that?"𐤌
ʘ“Ah, yes, The Law of Cycles. You see, one day a girl made a Wish to make sure that we Puella Magi would not suffer as Witches, and so created the Law of Cycles. When one would turn into a Witch, all of the despair and 'Grief in their Soul Gem will be absorbed into the cycle. The question then becomes why I am here, like this.”ʘ
𐤌“Yes, I am very curious why you, as a ‘Witch’ are here then. You would get put into the Cycle immediately, right? Assuming it works the way you say it does.”𐤌
ʘ”To put it lightly: This entire country is cursed.”ʘ
𐤌"What?"𐤌
Abigail had heard about Britain being ‘Cursed’, but that was usually said in classic British self-deprecating humour. Claire seemed dead serious in her statement.

ʘ”Somebody, or a group of people, have created a… Barrier of sorts, over the entire country. The Law of Cycles doesn’t take effect within this barrier. This means that we are all going to suffer long after we should have died, and there is no respite for any of us. No one will take on our burden and give us salvation. We will be doomed to our fates as soon as we make our Wishes.”ʘ

Abigail is trying to take in the words that Claire is telling her, but it seems very overwhelming. It’s like she was a fatalistic religious fanatic, as if being damned was the natural end-state of the life of her and everyone like her. So she decided to focus on the stuff she could infer from the earlier statements.

𐤌”You said ‘we’ Puella Magi and ‘our’ Wishes. You made a wish from that animal thing too? You’re a Magical Girl?"𐤌
ʘ”I was, yes.”ʘ Claire seems much more despondent now.
𐤌”Was? So you’re not any more? The others called you a Witch, but you’re still Claire, right?”𐤌
ʘ”That depends on whether or not you consider an emotionally compromised version of a person to be their ‘true self’ in any form. If a person, when consumed by anger, kills another person, do we say that person was acting in their right mind?”ʘ
𐤌”Oh, come off it.”𐤌
ʘ”Huh?”ʘ

𐤌 ”I am in your mind right now, and I see YOU. Not some monster who somehow creates unnatural beasts, or even a jilted girl, just a girl who’s wallowing in grief and letting it control her actions." 𐤌
ʘ ”What would you know?!” ʘ
The entire classroom is consumed by a black substance. Abigail herself is completely unaffected, as it twists and moves away from her.
ʘ ”Do you know how it feels like to have the one thing that you want constantly out of your reach?! To want the one person you love to say ‘I love you’ back and never hear it once?! Then, when your heart is in pieces, you only hear ‘that’s okay there are plenty of fish in the sea’?! You would never know how much it hurts to have your heart and soul truly crushed. Especially since you were the one who caused it!” ʘ

𐤌 "I... I didn't know Claire. I'm sorry, it shouldn't have been like this. You were given a rotten deal Claire, it wasn't fair. But, why are you doing this to the forest? Why are you getting all these people involved? Some of them don't even know you, and their lives are at risk from these... beasts!" 𐤌
ʘ ”Because… Because they deserve to suffer like this! They should be isolated, then ravaged like I was in the past!” ʘ
𐤌 ”Do you really believe that though?” 𐤌
ʘ ”Yes, yes I really do!” ʘ
𐤌 ”Then why are you in this forest?” 𐤌
ʘ ”What? What do you mean?” ʘ

𐤌 ”If you wanted to cause the largest amount of suffering possible while isolating people you could’ve just trapped them while they were in school. Individual rooms, largest amount of people together, Oliver would be there, a lot of things better with doing it there than in the woods. But you chose the woods anyway. Why?" 𐤌
ʘ ”...I-I don’t know. Or remember...” ʘ
𐤌 ”I can remember for you.” 𐤌
The Classroom, consumed by Claire’s Grief, washes out like a painting and is replaced by a scene from her past. Chosen by Abigail.
This is Claire. Moments before she transformed into a Witch.

Her Soul Gem was already almost pitch-black as she was running through the forest. She was trying to put as much distance from herself and civilisation as possible, before tripping and falling into a puddle of mud.
”Why did I have to be so weak? Why couldn’t I just make friends, or relationships in a regular way?" Claire’s past thoughts resounds through the space.

Now this was news to Abigail.
𐤌 ”Making friends the regular way? How did you normally do it?” 𐤌
ʘ ”That was my Wish. My Wish was simply ‘To have a lot of friends’. Pathetic, I know, but I was very lonely. I think I still was and just didn’t know." ʘ

Claire laid down in the mud, and cried. She bawled and lamented not only her fate, but the fate of others. She was going to transform into a Witch, and inflict suffering on them that they didn’t deserve. She might- no, she WILL hurt Oliver, and she was going to hunted down like the rabid animal she was by another group of Magical Girls, if any exist any more in York. Could she just put herself out of her own misery? She tried to think of how, but at that moment she was completely consumed by Grief.

𐤌 ”So you didn’t want to inflict suffering on others at first. You wanted to reduce the damage done but failed. You implied before that the actions you take when of sound mind is what represents you. This is what you did before turning into a Witch. You ran away, you lamented the suffering of others, and you even contemplated taking your own life to avoid hurting others.” 𐤌
Abigail reaches her hand out towards Claire.
𐤌 ”So please, won't you please make this stop? Return it to normal? I... my powers are new to me, but they seem to have to do with connecting people. I'm not much good with... boys... but maybe I can help you find someone. Please Claire, let's try to fix this. I want to help you." 𐤌

Claire takes Abigail’s hand in her own.
ʘ ”You don’t need to apologise. It wasn’t really your fault. Oliver chose you, I just needed to respect that but I couldn’t. That’s a ‘me’ problem. ʘ
ʘ ”I can stop this, but I’m afraid there’s no getting better for me." ʘ
𐤌 ”W-what do you mean?" 𐤌 Abigail was getting worried. Especially with the last thoughts Claire had in the past.
ʘ ”As far as I know, there’s been no case of a Witch going back to normal. Or even integrating into society. We terrorize and kill people as our Grief, anxiety, and hatred consume us. The best way of ending this would be… ending this" ʘ
𐤌 ”Wait, no! There has to be another way, you don’t need to do this! I-I could figure something out!” 𐤌
ʘ ”It’s cute that you have such optimism. It’s a sign of inexperience, but you should keep it. It will help you get through the future anguish you will go through. But for me? Hopes of the future are dangerous illusions." ʘ

>The future for Claire looks bleak. Can you even help a Witch? How? Try to convince her there is a way forward for her besides death.

>>6159050
"It might be true that no Witch has 'gone back to normal', but has anyone tried? Has anyone reached out to them to try to help them? Has any Witch tried to return to normalcy? Even if you feel completely alone right now, *I'm* here for you Claire. I am your advocate. I know you can get better, because I know your heart is good! You don't really want to hurt people. You might feel awful right now, but that doesn't mean there isn't a future! You are in control of your actions. You can choose to stand down. If you really feel like you are at the end of the line, then what's the harm in trying? If this is the end, then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from making the effort. Imagine the future friends you could make, the boy you could meet. Imagine what your example could mean for other Magical Girls falling into despair. You could be the first to show it *is* possible to live and be happy, even when life puts you down so harshly. Imagine the hope you would inspire, the lives you would save! I can't promise it will be easy, in fact it will probably be very hard, but I'm here for you. Please Claire, let me help you."

>>6159041
"Hold on. Hold the fuck on, now. You, with the bow. What the hell do you mean by 'kill her in order to continue living'? What's that all about?"

>>6159038
Pheeew! Good thing that all eleven of them are in the same place, that takes a whole lot of risk and scouting off my back. And that landing! Just what is going on with me today? Everything just feels so... Right. A lucky star's on my side, for sure. Or a lucky talking furball, at least - Those have to be lucky charms in some cultures. Weird that I've never heard of them. I can't say the same about those seven tangled messes. And that prickled lass... Owch. If that's the condition she came out of after being carved out by the teachers I definitively don't want to see the mess they'll leave behind. Okay Alba, use your newfound sixth sense... How do I get them outta there? Brute handiwork won't cut it here so I need to be smart. My reputation's also at stake after announcing myself to everyone in that, frankly, embarassing manner!
Think, Alba, think!
O-Ok. Ok... So this greenery is (as much as I hate to admit it) kind of cursed, right? That makes everything here stronger than your run-of-the-mill counterpart. Then, I supppose I could try to climb back up a tree, grab ahold of some of those inhumanly resilient vines and remodel them into makeshift rope. Shifting through the branches, I could tie a Constrictor Knot all the way up there, and then toss the rest of the cord downwards... Wait what the hell is a 'Constrictor Knot'? Ugh... Er-... ANYWHO. That thing. I'll make sure my mates catch the rope and try to help them climb up and outta' that pit one by one.. They might strain their muscles, but hey, it beats whatever mess the teacher would make with those little scissors.
>>6159044
>Britain is Cursed
Stating the obvious.

Alba Appleton

Okay, Okay. All eleven of the missing people are right here in this one spot. How serendipitous! Alright, now to think of a way to get those students out of there! It would be really embarrassing to not get them out after that showy entrance. She can’t be known as a fool!
In the wise words of… Alba can’t remember: “Think smarter, not harder”. As much as she takes pride in her body, she knows for a fact that these vines and bushes are tougher than they look, like they were magically enchanted or something…
That’s it!

Alba climbs back up the tree and grabs some branches and vines, some of them broke off naturally, for as natural as this greenery is. She stretches and twists the vines out to attempt to turn it into a tough rope. Move the rope into a Z shape, rotate 90 degrees, put them together and- ta-da! A Constrictor Knot!
Surely she knows how to make a Constrictor Knot due to her classes and no other reason. Right?

These vines are abnormally tough, so if Alba uses them as rope they’re unlikely to break. She ties one end to her waist, if she fails then she falls in with them, and throws the other down to the students.
“Hey! Grab on, I’m gonna pull you all out! Do it one by one!”
They comply. The youngest student grabs the rope first. This student is still taller than Alba, but is lighter due to a lack of muscle. Lifting him should have been easy but those thorns were being awfully clingy. Regardless, he still gets out.
One by one, the students are pulled out of the thorns. At first it’s difficult but it gets easier over time until the thorns just snap of the last student. Huh.

After Alba drops out of the tree, she asks the students and staff to follow her out. Since she has shown that she is probably the most competent person in the area (surprising to the staff), they all follow her out.
Unlike before where the trees, bushes, and vines were all trying to get her lost, this time they’re easy to push through when needed and stay completely still. Alba is dismayed that her situation is strange enough where trees not moving needs to be noted.

She finally sees a procession of students and staff leaving the forest and joins them. She does a quick headcount, then double and triple-checks it. All of people are accounted for, finally!
One of the staff, Alba’s science teacher she thinks, walks up her.
“I honestly didn’t think we were going to get the students out of there without harm. It’s my responsibility as a member of staff you protect you from threats, but a student did the job better than me.”
Damn right she did.
“I didn’t even know how to navigate this place anyway, you really saved our lives. This is going to sound cliché, but you’re my hero!”
Fuck yeah! Alba Appleton is the heroine of the Vale of York Academy! Long may her legend be told-

Alba’s thoughts of jubilation are cut short by an absolutely agonising feeling in her head. Like a combination of nails running over her brain and an emotional bomb blasting next to her. This feeling… it’s coming from a direction.
Alba looks towards where her heart leads her, and she sees a massive black spire in the middle of the forest. She feels queasy and sick just looking at it, like it was an amalgamation of negative thoughts that was threatening to implant itself into her.
Just as abrupt as it appeared, it disappeared.
What the fuck?!

“Y-you all saw that, right? Felt it?” Alba really wants to confirm she not tripping balls before panicking.
“Saw and felt what?” One of the students asks.
Alba is now much closer to panicking.
“A-ah, i-it was- The black thing in the sky?”
“What are you talking about, Alba? Is there something in the air? Did you get stung by something in the trees?”
Shite. Alba decides that both panicking and asking more questions will make her look like a loon, so she does what she does best: Salvage her reputation.
“P-phew~ I-I’m probably tired or something, I’ll get out of here and rest now. I deserve it!”
“Uh- alright. See you tomorrow!”

Alba moves through the crowd of students while breaking out in a cold sweat. That pillar of black… something, it couldn’t have just been a hallucination right? She’s seen people under hallucinations and panic attacks before, and she sure doesn’t feel like it. So what kind of explanation is there for what she saw and felt?
She’s so occupied with ruminating that she eventually makes it to the front of the group without realising it. That is, until she bumps into someone.

“I-I’m sorry!” Alba says with a remorseful face.
She looks a bit closer at who she bumped into. Dark skin, black hair, holding a puppet (why does she carry that all the time?), it’s Marisa.
Marisa looks at Alba with a deadpan face. “Don’t worry, I’ve suffered much worse than just a bump.”
“About that, I was just thinking about a lot of stuff and didn’t notice you.”
“…” Marisa raises an eyebrow in a quizzical look.
“What’s with that expression?” Alba feels like she’s going to be annoyed for some reason.
“In all of the attention-grabbing antics I’ve heard of you partake in, I never thought you would think so hard about something in your life.” Marisa says that like she’s actually surprised. Not even an intentional insult.
“Oi!” Alba’s being is inflamed with offence and she pouts. “I’ll have you know that I’m very good at engineering and materials!” Alba shakes her head, “Whatever. I think I saw something that I really shouldn’t have seen and I might be going crazy.”

Marisa crooks her neck. “A giant black pillar that looked like it was made of darkness and negative emotion?” She’s using a questioning tone, but it’s obvious that it’s a rhetorical question.
“Yeah!” Alba shouts in affirmation. “-Wait, how did you use such an accurate description?”
“I saw and felt it as well, of course.”
Of course? Of course?! Alba was losing her mind a moment ago because no-one else saw it!
Alright.” Alba crosses her arms and adopts an inquisitive countenance, “Since you seem to be a smart-arse, why don’t you tell me what you make of that pillar appearing?”
“I… have some ideas. I would normally be wary of sharing them with you but if you can see it then telling you is okay. That pillar is likely a large amount of Grief that has been released after previously being inside a standard, concrete form, a Witch, or a Grief Seed.”
“...What?” Alba thought that she was going insane, but now she’s not sure if this girl isn’t as well.
Marisa face contorts in consternation, then she reaches an understanding. “Right, I understand now.”
“Understand what? Why can’t you explain this clearly like a regular person?”
“Because you’re inexperienced and wouldn’t understand what my explanations.”

Marisa pulls out a business card, didn’t those things go out of fashion in the 19th Century? “This has my workplace address on it. Later, today or tomorrow, go there and I’ll explain everything.”
With that, Marisa walks away into the crowd. Alba looks at the business card, she recognises the address as a textiles shop that she occasionally goes to. Only Marisa runs that place, her parents are mysteriously absent.
What kind of world did she just stumble into? Where forests move by themselves, trees are alive and trying to make you lost, people call you a hero, and weird girls with puppets give you business cards?
Enough, Alba needs to recuperate after all of this. She fiddles with her earring a bit, and walks out with the crowd.
Uncharacteristically, she doesn’t bring attention to herself.

>You have evacuated all of the students of The Vale of York. During this, you have met a strange girl who is offering explanations for the strange happenings in this forest. Will you go to meet her soon? Prepare at home first? Or just ignore it and find answers at your own pace?

𐤌Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail looks at the girl in front of her. She refuses to call Claire a Witch at this point, it feels like trying to shove her into a box she really doesn’t belong. She was a girl swallowed by her Grief and despair, did actions in the name of revenge that she now regrets, and wants to make amends by… killing herself.
Abigail honestly believed that Claire shouldn’t have to be stuck like this. In the form of a mentally anguished girl who has no way out other than death. It’s unfair to her and everyone like her. Abigail doesn’t want to live in a world where people are dominated by their worst thoughts and are denied any chance of redemption!

Abigail gets closer to Claire. Her soul is resolute despite not having a concrete plan.
"It might be true that no Witch has 'gone back to normal', but has anyone tried? Has anyone reached out to them to try to help them? Has any Witch tried to return to normalcy?”
Claire gives Abigail a strained smile. “No. As far as Puella Magi are concerned, being a Witch is a one-way dead-end. We spread our labyrinths to inflict and gather Grief and suffering upon the masses, trying to help us will get you killed. Returning to normalcy was never on my mind, probably due to me being in my worst mental state.”
Claire’s smile somehow becomes even more strained, like she could cry at any moment and still smile. “It felt horrible, for me anyway. I didn’t believe everyone deserved this, but I couldn’t stop myself either. It felt like no-one else understood my pain of being alone with no-one to actually love you and I had to inflict that pain upon them. How could I recover from such a mindset?”

Abigail grabs Claire’s hand and puts them to her chest. Her heartbeat could still be felt despite her body not being physical.

“Even if you feel completely alone right now, I'm here for you Claire. I am your advocate-”

Claire clenches her hands. “How could you possibly advocate for me?” She was under the belief that Abigail would give up eventually, not be more persistent in her goals. I-is she really serious about wanted to help a Witch?

“Because I know you can get better! Because I know your heart is good! You don't really want to hurt people. You might feel awful right now, but that doesn't mean there isn't a future! You are in control of your actions. You can choose to stand down. If you really feel like you are at the end of the line, then what's the harm in trying?” Abigail meant this as a rhetorical question, but-

Claire actually thinks about this for a moment “...Nothing, really.”

“Exactly! If this is the end, then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from making the effort. Imagine the future friends you could make, the boy you could meet. Imagine what your example could mean for other Magical Girls falling into despair. You could be the first to show it is possible to live and be happy, even when life puts you down so harshly. Imagine the hope you would inspire, the lives you would save!”

Claire’s smile brightens up, and Abigail can tell it’s genuine happiness through the link.
“Abigail, you really are an interesting girl. A supernatural monster traps you and your boyfriend in a forest with the intention of killing you and you still think there’s hope for her.”

Abigail frowns at Claire’s self-deprecating words. “Claire, you’re not a monster. I will say it until you believe it. You’re just a girl who needs a path forwards.”

Claire chuckles at the audacity of Abigail’s words. “But you do make good points. Thanks to your help, I’m at least able to look at my actions in this form and regret them. I feel like that’s a big step up compared to every other Witch. Maybe… Just maybe I can get back to a regular life. For as regular as I was back when I was a Puella Magi. It definitely won’t be easy though...”

“Oh that is absolutely true. I can't promise it will be easy, in fact it will probably be very hard, but I'm here for you. But-” Abigail holds her hand out for Claire, “Please Claire, let me help you."
Claire ignores Abigail’s hand-

And embraces her in a hug.
“I’ll let you. I want it to be possible. I want to be better!”

“I-I want to see it. The friends I could make, the people I could save, and-” Claire giggles, “The boy I could meet! I want to see it! Have it! Experience all of the pleasures that a new life could give me!”

Abigail’s soul brightens at her affirmation. “Yes! Thank goodness! Now-” Abigail detaches from the hug and thinks for a moment, “How are we going to get you to a more permanently stable form?”

Claire makes a face of consternation. “As long as I exist physically in the forest, I’m likely to subconsciously lure people here for their Grief.”
A second in and they were already at their first issue.

“How did you lure people into the forest anyway?”

“Oh, it’s a thing called a ‘Witch’s Kiss’, but I can explain that later. What I wanted to bring attention to is that I need to not exist physically, at all. That’s the only way I’m not going to harm people by merely existing.”

“Oh…” Abigail says in a disappointed tone. “How are we going to contain you? Unless you destroy your body, but we both know that’s not a real option.”

Claire makes a smug face. As if she’s hiding a treat from a friend. “Here’s a hint: I just need to have my Soul contained somewhere. That should mitigate most of the issues, but it will create whole new ones with the potential plan I have.”

Abigail is puzzled, “Potential issues? And what could contain your Soul-”
Then she realises.

Megan said that her Soul was no longer contained in her body. Her transformation- she was looking at… That piece of jewellery.
It appears in Abigail’s hand. Not because it’s the actual thing, but because she thought about it hard enough that it appeared in the forefront of her mind.
“This is a... ‘Soul Gem’?” Abigail was able to get the name from Claire’s mind, but no other details.

“Yep! As the name implies, your Soul is in there!” Claire says in an unfittingly cheery tone.

H-her Soul was in a piece of jewellery? Abigail didn’t understand- that’s a lie, she did but she just doesn’t want to admit to the mechanics of this yet. She needs more time to adapt to this revelation.

“So now we have a container for a Soul!” Claire exclaims.

“Yes, a Soul. Singular. There’s no way I can fit another person’s soul in here.” At least, Abigail doesn’t think so.

“Why not?”

“Huh?”

“Why can’t you fit another Soul in there? we’re currently in my Mind and Soul right now. You have around six people linked with you right now with no problems. Why can’t you just.. let me in deeper?”

Abigail ponders for a moment, “I actually don’t know. I’m completely new to my magic, just got it yesterday and only really used today. There might be a lot of things that are possible that I don’t know are.”

“This is why you have me!” Claire starts, “Believe it or not, my magic is very similar to yours. Or at least was when I was a Puella Magi. Connections, minds, it wasn’t as deep-cutting as yours, but I could still link with people, like you. Consider me your… mentor in that case.”

“That’s great. But how is this all relevant to my Soul Gem?”
“I’m just getting to that! But first I have to explain a lot of things to you.”

“Like?” Abigail wonders if she can create a notebook or something here.

“Well, first thing’s first-”

ᛗ The Trio, et al

"Hold on. Hold the fuck on, now. You, with the bow. What the hell do you mean by 'kill her in order to continue living'? What's that all about?"

Stephanie Smith was confronting Riko Inuyama in a cursed forest, surrounded by chimeric Familiars frozen in time like statues. Riko had just said something that caused her confusion.

Riko sighs, “I was hoping to save this conversation for later. It’s a very earth-shattering reveal for many people.” How long was she going to delay it for? Would she conveniently wait long enough to leave before explaining anything?

Stephanie huffs, “Too bad. You’re going to have to explain it now since I can tell this is important. And trust me, I do not like people withholding important things from me.”

Megan winces, “Y-yeah, you better tell her now. Or rather, WE should. I have a feeling she’ll be more willing to believe this if both you and her sister, me, tell her.”

“Is it really that far-fetched?” Stephanie asks.

“Well, that and it’s harrowing.” Megan says blithely.

Megan moves to unclasp and take off her right gauntlet and vambrace, hidden inside is a blue piece of jewellery in the form of an egg. It gives Stephanie a similar “Vibe” to her own piece. Does everyone here have one of those? She has one, Viktoria has one, Abigail has one, the only exception here seems to be Harriet.
“This is the most important part of us: our Soul Gem. As the name implies, it contains our Soul.”

Wait, what? What?! Stephanie quickly pulls out her Soul Gem, a slightly dark green. If what she’s saying is true, that explains that weird empty feeling last morning: Her Soul wasn’t in her body!

“When we signed the contract and became Puella Magi, that creature, we call it ‘Kyubey’, pulled our Soul out of our body and turned it into this thing. I once tried to ask it why it did this.”

“Its response?” Viktoria asks. She’s awfully calm, at least on the outside, despite finding out her Soul is not where it should be.

“It said some tripe about how human bodies are fragile to begin with, and it just converted our souls to a container less likely to be damaged. Always hated that fucking thing, I think it was lying like it always does. One plus side however is that as long as you’re in range of your Soul Gem and it’s not damaged, you can’t really die.”

“Wait, range?” Is Stephanie going to have to wear this necklace all the time? She’s not a necklace person and it might get stolen or lost!

“Yeah. The rough maximum range of a Soul Gem and your body is around 100 Metres. Once you go beyond that, you basically ‘Die’ due to the connection between your Soul and your Body being stretched thin. At least, that’s how I visualise it. But other than that? Your physical body is just something you, as in your Soul, is piloting.”

Stephanie starts breathing heavily, and eats from her food container in a bid to keep calm.
Soul mechanics. Megan is talking about Soul mechanics like she’s an expert on it- Wait, Megan has been a Magical Girl for longer than Stephanie herself. How did she not notice this? How many other people are like this?
“So we’re Liches with Jewellery Phylacteries?” Stephanie really wished she could’ve said that as a joke, but she can’t now.

“Yes. Thank you for paying attention.” Megan says like a proud lecturer.
She clears her throat performatively, “This next part is very important and central. Pay attention!”

Stephanie looks in grim fascination at her sister.
Viktoria looks at her teacher while standing behind Harriet, who’s not surprised by this talk at all.
Abigail is lying on the ground sleeping like a baby.

Megan starts her most important talk, “Whenever we use magic, sustain extensive physical damage, or experience strong negative emotions such as sorrow, or grief, our Soul Gems darken with impurity. We call this impurity “Grief”. Yes, it gets confusing sometimes.”

Riko continues where Megan left off, “If our Soul Gem becomes too impure, then it turns into a Grief Seed and we transform into a Witch.”

Viktoria lets out a gasp. She has enough decorum to not start screaming during a lecture.

“Wow, way to rip the band-aid off, Riko.” Megan says disapprovingly, “Yeah, we turn into Witches when our Soul Gems become too impure.”

Aren’t they way too casual about this?! How long have they been living like this?!
“So how do we make sure that we don’t turn into THAT?!” Stephanie shouts while pointing at Clarion, still frozen in time.

“Simple: We kill Witches and harvest their Grief Seeds. It can purify our Soul Gems and prevent that whole debacle.”

Stephanie puts together the dots while looking at her Soul Gem, which she notices is darker than it was last morning. Magical Girls inevitably gain Grief, so they hunt Witches for Grief Seeds, but they have to use Magic to do so and negative emotions and injuries are a fact of life, so Magical Girls inevitably turn into Witches, who are hunted by other Magical Girls for Grief Seeds, and the cycle goes on.

Who the fuck created this system?!

“Alright, I’ve understood it.” Stephanie says in a grim tone.

“I have also internalised this… lesson.” speaks Viktoria in a tone coloured with sorrow.

“Great,” Riko says, “Now you know why I said that we need to kill this Witch in order to continue living. Unless being a Witch sounds attractive to you?”

Viktoria was actually going to respond to the rhetorical question before all of the group heard movement. Yips, howls, and other animals sounds are heard as they realise that the Witch and her Familiars are out of their Time Gaol. But Stephanie notices something. Despite the sounds... They’re completely still.

Not hesitating for even a second, Viktoria hoists up her cannon and aims a shot.

“Wait!” Stephanie shouts.

Uncharacteristically, Viktoria actually waits.
“Hmph, if they approach then I can just stop them. What is it, Stephanie? We have important things to do, and Witches to kill.”

“About that: Remember what Abigail told us before about the Witch wanting to leave us alone and kill itself? The Witch and her Familiars aren’t even attacking us, so maybe the Witch was actually truthful when saying that.”

“Yes, the thing she told us before immediately going into relative silence again. I do wonder why you would trust a Witch.” Viktoria rebukes.

“Well- Witches used to be people like us-” Stephanie shakes her head, no way she’s going to be convinced by that. “If the Witch really were hostile, then she would have sicked her dogs on us the moment you raised your cannon.”

“Obviously they’re frozen in fear due to-”

“STOP IT!”

Viktoria was surprised. Not only because of the gall one had to tell her what to do, but also who it was that shouted at her.

Everyone, even the Witch looks in the direction of the voice and sees Abigail. Trying to Stand up. Awake. With a mood completely unlike someone who was knocked out, and more like someone who was given a mission to accomplish.

“Abigail!” Megan and Stephanie help her up to her feet. “Why were you out for so long?”

Abigail smirks. “Trust me, you would not understand a thing I told you if I tried to explain it. It’s even more complicated than the mess our Souls are in.”

“Oh, you got The ‘Soul Gem’ Talk?” That would save her another awkward lecture.

“Yep. But I had a different teacher.” Abigail omits the important information for pure fun.

“W-what? Who? Who could’ve told you everything while you were out?” There are not many Puella Magi in York to begin with, nearly all of them are in this clearing.

“Let’s just say I got someone from the other side.” Okay, now she’s just being mean. “And I need to meet with her.”

This confuses everyone.

Abigail runs as fast as her legs can take her towards the Witch- Claire. In response, Riko draws an arrows and Viktoria loads a rifle shot.

“Don’t hurt the Witch!” Abigail shouts, “We have a plan! An agreement!”

“Are you insane?!” Riko responds. “How the Hell could you talk to a Witch and have a good plan?! This will end badly, just watch!”

“I must concur with the Oriental Huntress, dear Abigail! This is a dreadful idea!”

Abigail ignores her and pulls out her shining blue Soul Gem. In response, the Witch reaches out for it. To the absolute shock of everyone, Abigail keeps running towards the monster completely unperturbed.

“Shit.” Stephanie starts running after her, and Megan follows thereafter. Given the talk they just had, having your Soul Gem in direct contact with a Witch cannot be a good thing.

Abigail makes it into the Claire’s reach. Riko and Viktoria give up on trying to talk her down and instead fire at the Witch’s hand in an attempt to bat it away.

They are too late by a few seconds.

The moment Abigail’s Soul Gem touches Clarion, an enormous pressure washes over everyone in the clearing, except Harriet. Clarion’s body explodes in a large black pillar, most likely of Grief.
Eventually the pillar reveals its true nature, a type of black “Light”. Said “Light” travels from the air.

And then aims directly for Abigail’s Soul Gem.

Everyone looks in horror as the “Light” seeps into her Soul Gem, until it is all inside of the phylactery.
The pressure dissipates and the sky clears, revealing a cloudy afternoon sky. They all get the feeling that the forest is less dangerous than it was before.

In a small miracle to everyone, Abigail is completely unharmed. Not even in pain.
That doesn’t stop everyone from worrying about her.

Stephanie and Megan catch up to Abigail and immediately start fussing over her.
“Mate, are you okay? I really don’t want to you turning Witch on us!” Stephanie says in a worried tone.

“Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in my life. Probably because no-one was stupid enough to put their Soul Gem right next to a Witch!” Megan says.

Viktoria show calls out from afar.
“Abigail, if you wish to recuperate from any… injuries that may have caused, then my Manor’s doors are open to you. I would hate to lose a budding tactician after such an interesting first meeting.”

Riko shows her concern in a different way.
Aiming her bow and arrow at Abigail, or rather her Soul Gem, she asks one question:
“What did you just do?”

>How will Abigail explain what she just did? It’s a first in Magical Girl history to absorb a Witch into your Soul Gem, at least in Britain. On a less urgent note, the Witch has been neutralised. Which means that this nightmare is over, and everyone is free to go about their day. Assuming nothing bad happened in that event, relaxation should come soon. If you can relax after all of this, that is.

>>6168359
"I did my job as a magical girl; I saw a terrified girl in distress, and I helped her. And I intend to keep helping her until she doesn't need me anymore.

That girl's name is Claire. She's scared, she knows what she's been doing is wrong, and she wants to do better. Claire is doing her best to stop anyone else from getting hurt, and that meant removing her physical presence from the world. And I know she means it, because I formed a link with her, I would *know* if she were trying to trick me. She's not. Claire means it, and so I'm giving her a chance no one else even considered giving her, and I'm going to do my best to return her to her normal life.

Do you think you are so different from her, Riko? Do you think life's circumstances won't catch up with you like they did with Claire, and make you do things you regret? Wouldn't you rather there to be another path other than becoming soul feed to the next generation of magical girls? Wouldn't you rather there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Claire might be a Witch right now, but she's also a *person*, one just like us at that. If she's willing to try to be better, we, more than anyone else, owe it to her to try to see it to fruition.

Claire is with me now, Riko, and you aren't going to hurt her, not before going through me."