Matou Shinji and the Broken Chains (HP/FSN CYOA)

[alfheimwanderer]

They have reality bending powers, the world is full of Muggles to take advantage of for the pleasure of both parties, Ministry is not omniscent and the laws are not up to date. Also, Arthur broke the laws for the sake of his hobby, so.

Certainly he broke the law (or, to his mind, exploited a loophole), though of course you then have the problem that he's not the sort to take advantage of Muggles and that socially, a lot of the things that could have helped keep him from sinking into poverty (i.e. duplicating all of his outfits, or textbooks, or other items) are probably held to be in bad taste. After all, a true wizard would be able to afford to pay for things, to support his family with something real, not waving a wand around. That, and its quite possible there are anti-duplication spells for books (MRM - magical rights management).

You cannot convince me, alf. This is a hill I am willing to die upon.

Well, if you're certain then. At least its less spiky than a hill of swords.

---

Choice 284: [X] Pick a few leaves from the Niffler's Fancy and try to gather Wiggentree bark, which is quite useful for healing potions (More time needed, which could be a problem if the roar was heard - or the loss of the constructs felt)

---

Time was of the essence, Matou Shinji knew. Yes, he'd defeated the creatures that had emerged from the shelter to attack him, leaving the clearing free of enemies, yet who knew how long that state of affairs would last? He'd never dealt with a defense that spawned transfigured beasts before - hadn't known such a thing was possible.

But then, it did no good to underestimate his opponents, and who knew - perhaps that was only phase one of the trap. Perhaps there was something else they'd rigged up, leaving the Niffler's Fancy and Wiggentrees as the bait for something even deadlier than those constructs had been.

'Even so, I've come all this way. It would be folly to just leave with rare ingredients like this in sight...'

Especially since Ka'aukai had still be unconscious when he'd left. Surely getting the ingredients to make the Wiggenweld Potion - something to heal and wake his injured colleague - would be a good thing, right?

Thus resolved, Shinji plucked a few leaves from the Niffler's Fancy, feeling almost as if something was watching him as he did so, though nothing attacked - and Zelkova reported no abnormal movements from within the shelter.

'Maybe its not a trap?'

It could be that the Niffler's Fancy had just been left here because neither of the Champions in the shelter knew what to do with it.

'Their loss, then. Onto the Wiggentree bark.'

Once he obtained that, he could leave, though where he would go he didn't quite know yet.

'First things first though. Let's get the bark before I make plans beyond harvesting.'

With Zelkova guiding him, he made his way towards a somewhat remote specimen, borrowing his familiar's senses to see if there were any--

'Aha. Bowtruckles.'

Yes. There were two of the hand-sized, insect-eating tree dweller on the trunk, looking almost like a piece of bark - a sign that the tree they were perched on was of particularly high quality (and its ingredients of great magical potency).

If he approached, they would attack - either tossing bark at him, which he wouldn't mind, or jumping at his face and trying to claw out his eyes, an outcome he would rather avoid.

Choice 285: What does Matou Shinji do?

[ ] Have Zelkova collect some bark while invisible - they won't notice a spirit
[ ] Use ofuda to bind them, while he harvests the bark - if someone is watching, they probably aren't expecting eastern arts
[ ] Try to commune with the bowtruckles - he has Zelkova for a familiar, so it shouldn't be too hard, right?
[ ] Draw his wand and use the Confoundus Charm on them - the Hogwarts approved way of dealing with bowtruckles
[ ] Leave the area - No need to take unnecessary risks

[Malorius]

feeling almost as if something watching him as he did so, though nothing attacked

Huh. That's not good.

[neophyte]

[x] Leave the area

Let's ask Admiral Ackbar's opinion. Underestimating two potions prodigies won't do.

[Malorius]

B-but the healing potion...

[x] Draw his wand and use the Confoundus Charm on them

Oh no! Evil bowtruckles, don't you dare throw that bark at me. It's my only weakness!

We need that potion, stat.

Seriously, we are already watched. If we try to walk away, we can be attacked. If we stay we can be attacked. It's already in the works, only flow-walking (i.e. ending exploration) will help. On the other hand, what the additional time for preparation will give those guys? I assume that Zelkova is monitoring their prana output closely, so he will warn us if they start casting complicated spells or initiate a ritual. So, nothing will really change if we stay - if we won't get Shinji eaten alive by bowtruckles or something.

How fast does Zelkova harvest ingredients again?

[Haunter]

[X] Draw his wand and use the Confoundus Charm on them - the Hogwarts approved way of dealing with bowtruckles

[alfheimwanderer]

How fast does Zelkova harvest ingredients again?

It depends on the ingredient. Bark doesn't take an excessively long amount of time

[Malorius]

I guess if we let Zelkova focus on the gathering we will lose our most important advantage - senses. Not worth it. Let him cover our back while we are fighting a losing battle against little forest creatures.

It's an old and beloved tradition since the times of "Return of the Jedi", or so I've heard.

[alfheimwanderer]

Choice 285: [x] Draw his wand and use the Confundus Charm on them - the Hogwarts approved way of dealing with bowtruckles

---

'Well, at least I remember learning about how to deal with these...' Shinji thought to himself. It had been in one of his Defense Classes, he thought - or maybe in Potions from last year - but regardless, he remembered that all he had to do was cast the Confundus Charm so they wouldn't notice his approach. 'Right. They're easy enough to deal with if you see them. The trouble with bowtruckles is that they are hard to see, not that they're particularly resistant to magic.'

It wasn't as if they were wood trolls or something.

So the boy drew his wand, and with a quick muttering of Confundo, put the bowtruckles into a daze.

'Good. Let's gather the bark and get out of here,' he thought to himself, only to be yanked backwards by an invisible force as Zelkova pulled him out of the way of an immense branch that was swung at him by...

'What? How...'

--the Wiggentree itself, a fierce, unrestrained blow which would have shattered his bones, had it hit.

The Russian. This had to be the work of the Russian, perhaps with the tree bewitched to "come to life" if foreign magic was used anywhere close to it

'Master. The other Wiggentrees in the clearing. They're beginning to move. They're uprooting themselves and coming this way!'

Just as the one before him had uprooted itself and was swinging at him with strength and speed greater than that of any man.

And if that were not enough...

'Something is happening with the shelter. An opening is forming.'

Choice 286: What will Shinji do in the face of the sudden arboreal onslaught?

[ ] Flow-walk and get out (The safest option)
[ ] Send explosive ofuda into the shelter - and use some to sever a small branch to collect - then get out (Riskier, but potentially quite rewarding)
[ ] Use ofuda to freeze the water in the clearing (With all the ambient water due to the storm, this would be a very powerful move against any living thing)
[ ] Try something like the Killing Curse, the Blasting Curse, or Fiendfyre, against the walking tree (He has his wand in hand, and it might work)
[ ] (write-in)

[DRaily]

The fact that Broken chains is actually written as a CYOA story was a bit of surprise to me. The fact that it's in RPing forum rather than fanfiction one most likely added to that as well(and that I last logged in here like three months ago...)
Super mixed feeling for it now, do I ignore it and continue reading in ff dot net, do I switch to this site where I additionally to my ramblings can pester you with drunken memes as well? Do I double tap it like insane person and forego sleep all together in exchange?

[Malorius]

This is bullshit. How much time did they spend trapping the clearing. How can we get our hands on such advanced time management techniques? There will be no stopping us from learning all the magic then!

Subtlety against efficiency dilemma always ends with explosions in my experience. Ugh.

[x] Send explosive ofuda into the shelter - and use some to sever a small branch to collect - then get out

We are getting that healing potion, damn it. Time to be a fast and agile (if crippled) Assassin. Saves prana too!

[alfheimwanderer]

This is bullshit. How much time did they spend trapping the clearing. How can we get our hands on such advanced time management techniques? There will be no stopping us from learning all the magic then!

Not actually that much time - awakening trees is a fairly standard Russian technique, and they only did it to the Wiggentrees, not to every tree in the clearing. They pretty much arrived, set up the shelter, and then bewitched the trees. Whereas Shinji and co went to some ruins, fought a deadly beast, took an hour to recover, then headed out again.

Super mixed feeling for it now, do I ignore it and continue reading in ff dot net, do I switch to this site where I additionally to my ramblings can pester you with drunken memes as well? Do I double tap it like insane person and forego sleep all together in exchange?

You can double tap it. :P

[DRaily]

You can double tap it. :P

Visited as promised, but as most of my fanfiction reading happens on my phone I will most likely just wait for complete chapters on ff.net
Still, it's a new place to pester you about the story time by time, though I will try to keep my random tangent nonsense in PM as always after this, no need to cluster the thread.

[neophyte]

Hmm. Funny thing - the trap didn't activate when we used elemental corruption. The more reasons to grind chuuni powers if we'll manage to survive the championship.

[x] Send explosive ofuda into the shelter - and use some to sever a small branch to collect - then get out

Not leaving empty-handed after all that happened.

[Malorius]

Do we need to focus on target continuously to send ofuda, or are they a "shoot and forget" thing? Previous explanations point to latter, but can we actually multitask?

[Perverse Transcriptase]

[X] Flow-walk and get out (The safest option)

We should not attack two full strength competitors while they are within their defensive perimeter when Zelkova is unavailable for offense and we are severely weakened.

Explosive ofuda, unless it kills Stukov, shouldn't deactivate the enchantment on the trees. At best, it would probably only encourage him to command the trees to fall back and protect the shelter. The opening in the shelter means that more bears and Stukov/Agarwal are either going to see or fight us.

We've already collected a rare magical ingredient and learned the position and some defensive capabilities of a competing team. We've had an incredibly successful first scavenging/scouting run, so we should quit while we're ahead and not get greedy. Also, this is only a trial so there is no need for us to risk demonstrating more of our abilities and gaining another enemy for so little of a marginal gain.

[Malorius]

...You understand that we can just distract them right? Then we either snatch a valuable ingredient and leg it - or fail to snatch it and leg it. Possibly a bit more beaten up, but I doubt it. Shinji is a pretty good at the whole "Dodge!" thing, even if he is tired.

"Assassins" are great like that.

[Haunter]

[X] Use ofuda to freeze the water in the clearing (With all the ambient water due to the storm, this would be a very powerful move against any living thing)

[Perverse Transcriptase]

Shinji is a pretty good at the whole "Dodge!" thing, even if he is tired.

Shinji has just failed to notice two life threatening attacks and didn't even attempt to dodge. It was Zelkova (further straining his energy in the process) that just saved us twice in the past few minutes. While we might be protected by the Plot, that does not mean that there will be no cost for acting recklessly.

We do still have ~7.5 hours left until sunrise and we will have Ka'au as back-up soon. What we've already gained is enough for Ramona to get started and for our team to come up with a strategy.

[Malorius]

Actually, there just was no need for dodging. Opponents didn't come close enough for it to matter.

Anyway, we want the bark for a reason, and that's to get that healing potion as soon as possible. Because it will give us more actions (otherwise used for rest and recovery) and will remove rebuffs. Worth the risk, I think.

[alfheimwanderer]

Just a heads up. I'm going to be busy at the Game Developers Conference this week. You have until tomorrow evening PDT to cast your vote (aka 24 hours from now).