1250/A Fateful Rescue

A Fateful Rescue
Date of Scene:	22 March 2016
Location:	Plot Room #3
Synopsis:	A witch's labyrinth forms, capturing Nicola within. Fate and Arf arrive in time to protect Nicola, destroy the witch. After a bit of talking, they go separate ways.
Cast of Characters:	158, Fate T. Waldia

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Nicola Esprit has posed:
There's a magical signature near Seishou, a few hours after school close, that might draw attention from magical figures. Nicola doesn't quite notice until she gets too close, right as the source of this magic awakens and forms a Labyrinth, drawing the girl into its nightmare world.

Though relatively close to the entrance, Nicola is immediately surrounded by little cat-like critters with fierce looking claws. They approach her slowly but menacingly, and the poor girl curls up into a terrified ball.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate isn't really looking for Witches tonight. She's looking for Jewel Seeds, as her usual method of operation. Arf, on the other hand, couldn't care less about the Jewel Seeds and so she's a bit more aware of the other kinds of magical goings-on of Tokyo. The two of them hover in the air together, Fate's melancholy eyes looking over the city as her tiny hands run through the mane of Arf's wolf form.

    Arf perks up. Something is going on nearby. She can feel it, and it disturbs her.

    "What is it?" Fate's voice is soft.

    "There's a monster nearby." Arf pulls away from Fate's brushing, and dives towards the center of the labyrinth.

    "It's not our business," says Fate, looking away, wine-red eyes going back to the skyline.

    Arf turns around to regard Fate with her animal eyes. "Don't you want to do more than this? Looking for Jewel Seeds for a mother who doesn't even appreciate you?"

    "You shouldn't talk about her that way," is what Fate starts to say, but she trails off when Arf dives towards the Labyrinth instead. Soon, she follows soon after, entering the labyrinth and seeing a group of familiars surrounding Nicola. Arf moves first, and Fate quickly follows, attacking the monsters with fangs, claws, and scythe.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
These monsters aren't too bad, but then they're only some of the outermost ones, border-guards. Their destruction doing little to the Witch's ability to defend herself beyond letting it know there are intruders.

Still, it means Nicola is no longer in immediate danger. "Thank you." She says softly, her accent showing strongly in even such a simple phrase, and the girl starts to look around. There's fear in her eyes, fear and confusion. "What's doing on?"

That's when more of the same come through, this time accompanied by two much larger-catlike critters. These ones are holding what look like basic explosives, the fuse already lit. Nicola instinctively hides behind Arf.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate glances sideways at Nicola. She doesn't really have the chance to face her fully while they're under attack, but she does at least look in her direction. "Don't mention it." Her voice is almost a mutter, and barely audible.

    Arf spreads her paws forward, snarling her teeth at the second wave of monsters as they come around her, standing protectively between them and Nicola. It's Arf who explains what's going on, as strange as it might be for the wolf to talk. "You're in a Witch's Labyrinth. These monsters are trying to kill you." Wolf eyes glance back at Nicola. "I take it you have some magical power, if you're even able to see this without passing out."

    While Arf explains, Fate flies upward and her Intelligent Device transforms. <Staff Mode> She aims the axe-like staff at the two bombs, and begins to launch her next attack. <Photon Lancer>

    A barrage of golden spheres fly from the tip of her staff-like device, launching at the cat-like creatures and especially aiming for those explosives.

    Arf meanwhile casts a completely different spell. A glowing orange magical circle appears around her feet, and an orange magical shield covered in runes appears between her and the monsters.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola looks at Fate, and Arf, and the magic. The way she looks seems to suggest that this feels somewhat familiar, and the question probably proves that it is, she's looking at Arf, still looking terrified. "Are you her familiar?" She asks, softly.

The golden spheres incinerate the cat-like creatures, but not before one of them manages to trow its bomb, it's headed straight for Fate, and should explode within two inches of impact, if it's not otherwise stopped. Nicola flinches when she sees it happen.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Arf glances back at Nicola and nods. Her Familiar-ness is pretty obvious. "I'm Arf. My master's name is Fate." The twin-tailed blond doesn't respond to the introductions, being not-a-people-person and being focused on the combat. Arf on the other hand is more than content to keep talking-- at least until that bomb is thrown at Fate. "Watch out!"

    Fate is watching the enemy closely, but the flashing magic of her own attack obscures her vision of the targets. That moment of blindness allows that bomb to fly straight at her, and even with her speed she doesn't have the chance to dodge it. It explodes next to her even as she leans to the side to avoid, and the blast knocks her back, twintails trailing behind her as she smashes into the ground.

    Arf rushes towards her, turning into her more humanish form, and Fate grabs her Familiar's offered hands in order to get back on her feet.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola keeps hiding behind the other two, even as Fate gets thrown back, and adds in her own introduction, "I am Nicola Esprit." She doesn't seem to be trying any magic, despite apparently knowing enough to recognize a familiar for what it is pretty easily.

She also seems quite scared, and the fact that the three-headed dog that's approaching carries on its back four more of those bomb-flinging cats only seems to make her more scared, "Why is this happening?" She asks, not knowing anything about witches apparently.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    "You really don't know?" asks Arf. How odd. She knows about magic and what a familiar is, but she doesn't know about Witches and she isn't defending herself.

    It's now that Fate speaks up, offering the best explanation she can. "Not a lot is really known about Witches. They're creatures born out of despair, and they attack and kill humans in order to feed."

    She knows that much, at least, from Riventon's experiments. There's little way she wouldn't know at least that much about them. That said, it isn't much. "Are you from around here? Arf and I are from Midchildia."

    Fate flies towards the three-headed dog. Bardiche becomes a scythe again, and she aims for the dog itself.

    As for the bomber cats, Arf shouts, "Chain Bind!" and several magical chains come out from her magical shield, reaching out to grab onto those bombs and cats in order to tie them down.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I'm from, uh..." It seems Nicola seems unsure what she can say, "Another world. Those" some kind of Al-Furatiyyan insult "of the TSAB took me away and got me stranded here." That might explain why she knows about Mid-Childan magic styles, "They took my device."

Which then may explain why she's not defending herself. Fate slices off one of the dog's heads, and the creature falls, incapable of continued survival without them. Arf's binding forces the cats and bombs together; until the bombs explode, taking the cats with them.

And then finally, the Witch appears, a weird-looking feminine entity holding a leash that splits into countless leashes, each of them attached to some kind of weird pet-like critter, from dogs and cats to birds, fishes and even a couple horses.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate hears the description of the TSAB, but doesn't recognize the insult. Hm. "They took your device? I see. I guess you're stranded here because of the subspace storm, then."

    Well that bites. It reaffirms Fate's opinion of the TSAB, though.

    The dog and cats fall, and Fate has to jump back to avoid the shockwave of the explosion. The Witch soon makes herself known. A feminine figure with many leashes and... pets?

    "Maaan," complains Arf. "Why are these always so weird?"

    "I'm not sure what's 'normal' for a Witch." Fate's response is quiet. "If anything."

    Arf stays back to protect Nicola, especially knowing that the mage doesn't have her Device. She throws up another shield to protect her from potential attacks. Meanwhile Fate goes on ahead.

    She points the tip of her scythe at the Witch.

    <Arc Saber>

    Several electrical crescents fly from her scythe, some of them spreading out to fight the many 'pets' but most of them focusing on the Witch herself.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Yeah. They took it before we got stranded here." She sounds more than a little upset by the TSAB, so perhaps the opinion she has of them is shared with Fate. "It's scary." Nicola notes about the Witch.

It's not a particularly strong witch, Fate's attack cuts through many of the pets, and more importantly, destroys the Witch. Soon enough, the Labyrinth collapses in on itself, leaving nothing little more than a Grief Seed. Nicola lets go of a breath she was quite aware she was holding. "Thanks."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    The Witch goes down, perhaps a bit easy. Fate is a strong Mage, but from what Riventon has told her about them she thought there would be more.

    Still, a Grief Seed is here. Fate better deal with it. She floats over to it, lands, and then picks it up, looking at it in her hands. Riventon will probably want this, and these things are too dangerous to leave out on their own.

    Arf is standing next to Nicola, all smiles. "Glad we could help!" More seriously, "Are you alright? I hope they didn't hurt you too much. This world can be pretty dangerous if you aren't armed."

    Fate walks up next to Arf, peeking around her familiar to look at Nicola shyly.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I'm fine, thank you. You two got there pretty quickly." Nicola still sounds shaken, but she's right, that's all it is. She's just shaken. She forces a nervous smile, "I'm going to ask them about my device again." Her tone suggests she expects that to be a fruitless effort, that she doesn't think she'll get a different answer this time.

She looks around Arf to check out Fate, too. The girl seems to be about her age. "Fate, right?" She asks, trying to confirm she got the name right. "I'm not sure you heard it, so uh, Nicola Esprit."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate nods as her name is mentioned. "I heard it." She stares at Nicola for a moment, not really sure how to respond to the girl. Most of the people she knows she met through hunting Jewel Seeds. Eventually, she decides that Nicola is probably not going to bite her and she steps out from behind her familiar.

    She has to question. "Would they really give your device back? They aren't that reasonable most of the time." After a moment's pause, she glances both ways before leaning in to whisper. "If they don't, maybe you should steal it back."

    Standing up, she says, "It's yours anyways, right?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Probably not." Nicola agrees, and she sounds despondent about that. The loss of her device seems to mean more than just the loss of a valued tool to her, substantially more, in fact. Thus, Fate's suggestion seems to be given serious consideration. "Maybe I should." She sounds uncertain, but that seems to be more from nerves and a lack of plan than from a serious belief that it would be wrong. "It is mine."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Arf frowns at Fate's suggestion, but she can't really argue its logic. Neither one of them really respect the TSAB's authority at all. Without that credibility, they aren't much better than any other bully pushing people around.

    "Do you know where they're keeping it?" asks Fate. "... because they aren't that strong right now. They crashed here, and their organization just got absorbed into Virtue. Virtue might get in your way, but if you have your device you could probably get away."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"I don't." Nicola considers whether she should mention they claim they lost it, but decides against it. Just because Fate and Arf seem nice doesn't mean they can be trusted. "That's why I'm not sure. I wouldn't know where to start looking..."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate frowns. Arf and Fate frown at each other for a moment. Then they both look at Nicola. Fate shrugs. "Well, I'm not really in good standing with them. I'm pretty sure if I tried to demand it from them they'd just try to detain me." Fate is strong, but she doubts she could fight against those kinds of numbers.

    In the end there just isn't much they can do. It's not like they have an alternative to offer her.

    "Well... good luck." Fate smiles softly, almost apologetically, at her. "... and be careful. It can be dangerous around here if you don't have a way to defend yourself."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola nods, she doesn't look like she expected much anyway. Apparently the girl has gotten somewhat cynical about that for some reason. "I'll be careful, thank you." She looks off in one direction, and though she seems reluctant, says, "I should probably hurry before I get so late they'll start to ask questions."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    There just isn't much Fate can do. "Sorry. I wish I could help you more along those lines. Eclipse might offer you a device, but you'd probably have to work for them, or offer something of equal value." Eclipse is also probably not the best company to deal with, but Fate doesn't have a concept of that. She doesn't imagine that any other organization is much better.

    Arf nods. "See you around. Be careful. Even if you do get a device, this place isn't safe."