MGP Vignettes/Plot

The following is a synopsis of each MGP Vignette. These vignettes are short stories that accompany the plot of *Magical Girl Policy*.

## Monster Insurance

Five hours after the battle against Polygal at Loose Change, the arcade's owner, Mr. Parker, sees his employee Eli along with Robert and Cory exit the building since questioning by the police has concluded. Having finished their business at the scene, the police also get ready to leave, though an officer tells Parker that the Overwatch Insurance agent Ms. Chamis has arrived to see him. Parker had called her as soon as he heard of the monster attack five hours earlier, but Chamis was held up by a training meeting about Overwatch's "anomalous creature" riders, colloquially known as monster insurance. The two get to business discussing how the insurance payout will be handled, with Parker surprised at encountering none of the complications he's faced with other insurance providers. When asked about this, Chamis explains that due to the rapidly expanding and highly competitive monster insurance space, Overwatch must refrain from typical insurer tricks in order to maintain a superior reputation, a sentiment that Parker shares about his own businesses. Thinking about how well Eli handled evacuation in the face of a monster, Parker decides he'll have to reward him with a bonus.

## Officer Hester

Seven to eight hours after the Day LaMode attack at Rale Valley Mall, police officers Officer Hester and Lieutenant Sanders have finished leading and interviewing evacuees. Hester is frustrated that he could not enter the scene himself nor do the police force attempt to combat the monsters in any meaningful way, though Sanders counters that monsters have shrugged off gunfire and caused officer injury in the past. With the pair's task done, they enter the mall, passing Commissioner Mitchell speaking to news outlet about the incident. At the food court, they find the forensics team led by Devin Dante, casually chatting instead of working. Hester is about to lecture the group for their behavior, but Sanders talks him out of it. They all talk about how their work went: no injuries were reported and only a few had "that sickness" (symptoms of getting one's Investiture drained). One witness said she had seen a group of boys (Robert, Cory, and Eli) getting chased by LaMode's mannequins, but since the boys could not be located, she is believed to be mistaken. Dante mentions another assumedly mistaken account: one of the boys attacked by Polygal had told an officer called Woodson about someone (Robert) glowing. Forensics couldn't find any security footage of the Spirit Guards or LaMode as it appears to have been deleted, so the hard drives are to be analyzed by Siekert Security, a firm with more specialized computer expertise that's been partnered with the KCPD. Though Hester is still unhappy that the defense of Kessia City is left to the mysterious Spirit Guard vigilantes, he decides to stop pressing Dante on the matter.

## Dungeon Direct Response

Two minutes after Day LaMode reveals herself to Robert and friends at Rale Valley Mall, Dungeon Direct employee Devon (effectively the manager due to the owner's long-term absence) is looking for a comic for store regular Frank when mannequins from nearby stores become LaMode drones and rush past the storefront. Devon has Frank get out of the mall while he locks up the store, deciding it is safe to do so since the mannequins ignored them. Taking note of the chaotic crowds of evacuees, Devon reconsiders joining them and instead shuts himself inside Dungeon Direct. He sees Spirit Guards Tenacity and Valor speed past the store and cheers for them. He then moves to the storage room and passes the time watching *Throne Gambit* on his laptop.

## Round Object Enthusiasts

Two years before the start of *Magical Girl Policy*, it is Club Week at Schuyler Adamson University. SFEERS officer OmniDrive presents a new sign she, along with her friends and brothers, made for the Club Week booth to the club's president, Esper. The idea to make a sign featuring numerous recognizable characters had come from OmniDrive's brother Eddie after she complained about SFEERS's small size of about thirty members. For the booth's first shift, the plan is for it to be run by OmniDrive, her new cosplayer friend GalleyGirl, and the sophomore SaltStorm, who is currently starting up an *Aspect Realms* guild for the club. Esper and OmniDrive would like SaltStorm to run for video gaming officer since the current one, BlackNovember, often provokes arguments with his immature attitude. Thinking about his own station, Esper has no idea who could become president after he graduates this year, as SFEERS members, himself included, are largely reluctant to run for leadership positions. On behalf of Eddie, who plans to go by Fretribution in SFEERS, OmniDrive asks that he be assigned to the recruitment booth as well, as though he is a freshman that has yet to attend a SFEERS meeting, he already has much enthusiasm for the club, and Esper agrees. Esper thinks it will be a good idea to befriend Fretribution, who might make a good club officer. He has also been infatuated with OmniDrive but too nervous to ask her out, and feels that knowing her brother can only help.

## A Sign of Things To Come

One year before the start of the main series, it is once again Club Week at SAU. Fretribution, now the president of SFEERS, finds SaltStorm, the new video gaming officer, attempting to console a crying OmniDrive. OmniDrive explains that some Student Association members suddenly came to the SFEERS booth and confiscated the sign, claiming that it's breaking the rules for having copyrighted characters drawn on it. SaltStorm recalls SAUSA antagonizing SFEERS last year over hosting anime viewing events on campus, and wonders if that incident and this one are due to some SAUSA member disliking SFEERS and abusing their power. Fretribution decides they should use the previous, simple sign as a replacement, and asks OmniDrive to retrieve it from Esper's home. OmniDrive is confused at this request until Fretribution reveals he knows she's been dating Esper, who has graduated but continues to visit SFEERS, so he guessed she has a key to her boyfriend's place. OmniDrive leaves for Esper's house. Since the SFEERS booth no longer has its eyecatching sign, Fretribution decides he'll bring his *Tour de Rock* setup to attract people instead, though he also plans to find the one who took the sign and get it back. He leaves to get what he needs and suggests SaltStorm call for more people to man the booth, so SaltStorm texts Zemiron, who he had played *Invokers* with last week. SaltStorm is uneasy over this social job but feels the others are counting on him, so he gets to recruiting at the booth.

## Call It A Knight

Six months prior to *Magical Girl Policy*, SaltStorm is at his apartment, which he now shares with Zemiron, when he receives a text from GalleyGirl, asking him to resolve an argument between Knights of the Spherical Table members BlackNovember and NightKnight. SaltStorm signs into the group's GuildTalk server, has BlackNovember log out and NightKnight move to another channel, then confirms the situation with the others, which is a familiar one: NightKnight started a PvP group, then BlackNovember joined and messed around to antagonize the temperamental NightKnight, who is often provoked by the bait that more experienced guild members learn to ignore. SaltStorm tells NightKnight that his hotheaded reactions to BlackNovember only serve to escalate things, so he suggests NightKnight block and mute the man as well as quit *Aspect Realms* for the night to cool off. SaltStorm gets another text from GalleyGirl saying BlackNovember has once again stirred things up in the game, so he decides now is the time to stop being lenient with him and exercise his administrative authority (implied to be threatening to ban BlackNovember). Predicting things will not end quietly, SaltStorm texts Fretribution to expect drama in the club soon but leave it to him.

## Cheer Itself

One month prior to *Magical Girl Policy*, summertime tryouts for SAU's cheer team have just concluded. One of the candidates, Stacy, follows a memo she was given and enters a gym where those who were added to the team will be announced this morning. Though she is only two minutes early, she finds the gym is completely devoid of people. She reflects on her time in tryouts: she felt her relatively plain appearance put her at a disadvantage compared to candidates like her new friend Lilly, so she sought to distinguish herself to Cammy, the captain Stacy had noticed from the start held considerable authority, by being willing and able to befriend even her less cooperative peers. Tanya, one of the officers, enters the gym and posts the list of new cheerleaders for Stacy to see, then leaves for coffee. Reading the list, Stacy is glad to find Lilly and several other friends have made the team. She then, however, realizes her own name is not present and is devastated. She runs to the restrooms in tears, as now that she's lost cheerleading, a major part of her life for six years, she is at a loss as to what she'll do now. Cammy enters and consoles her, then says Jodi must have made a typo on the list Stacy read because Stacy actually did make the team. Cammy also predicts Stacy will be the team's best promoter, and Stacy is determined to prove her right. The unusual circumstances and Stacy's uneasy narration suggests the the morning's events were a scheme by Cammy to isolate Stacy and make her emotionally vulnerable to the captain.

**Note:** Tanya's last name is West here, but the main series changes it to Tell in Chapter 31.

## Questing Solo

"Questing Solo" takes place in a high fantasy setting completely unrelated to the world *Magical Girl Policy*, and is governed by rules resembling tabletop role-playing games. A lone paladin named Sir Edgewood Lightblade steals into an abandoned outpost to rescue Lady Levina Lovelock from the dark priest Cortesh Dawnfall. He finds Cortesh performing a ritual on the enchained Lovelock, who in a trance aimlessly cries for help. Lightblade moves to strike Cortesh from behind, but the dark priest traps him using hidden runes on the floor, having heard him sneaking about. The spell switches the positions of Lightblade and Lovelock while leaving everything on their person where they were. Out of her trance and now aware of her surroundings, Lovelock demands answers from Cortesh, but he places a silencing effect on her so he may gloat to Lightblade uninterrupted. Cortesh had cursed the dress Lovelock was wearing, which he dubs the Damsel's Dress, to reduce the wearer's strength and repeatedly attempt to inflict a unique fear spell: each time one successfully resists it with their Will stat, their Charisma is increased and Will decreased. Now that it's on Lightblade, the enfeebling curse prevents him from breaking his restraints, and this place being a ruined temple to Umbrice, god of darkness and secrets, means Lightblade's gods cannot hear his prayers for aid. Such advanced magic should be impossible for Cortesh, but ever since the Deity Master left the world, it became possible for antagonists to increase their level through sacrifices to dark gods. Said gods specifically demand virgin noblewomen, leading to such women being poached by antagonists around the world, who are competing for supremacy. Qualifying women are now in short supply, so Cortesh kidnapped Lovelock, who is not chaste, to bait heroes to his lair until a chaste nobleman like Lightblade challenges him alone. Now that Lightblade is captured and his Will lowered by the curse, Cortesh is able to transform him into a woman to be sacrificed to Umbrice. Cortesh stabs and kills Lightblade, who regrets that refusing to bring allies along allowed this to happen.

## Crashed Party

One year\* before the start of the main series, Todd Walker is looking longingly at his paladin figurine when his roommate Fretribution walks into the dorm and asks what's wrong. Todd explains that the tabletop RPG campaign he has played in for three years suddenly ended after the Dungeon Master (DM), DataMiner, decided to quit after finding himself too busy. Todd is sad to have lost his years of progress with his Edgewood Lightblade character, and DataMiner's ability to plan such a long campaign and engage the players means he can't be easily replaced. Fretribution suggests Todd simply use what he's learned from watching DataMiner to head a campaign of his own. Todd shares his concept of a world featuring a trio of gods: a good god of knowledge named Noule, a neutral death goddess named Hraefn, and a dark god of death and secrets named Umbrice. The other two plan to have Umbrice killed and his powers divided, with the power of death going to Hraefn and the power of secrets to a dragon who worships Noule. The dragon is the head of an organization Todd describes as a magical counterpart to the real world's CIA. The players would be agents tasked with defeating Umbrice, as gods cannot directly attack one another, as well as gathering the items necessary for the dragon to ascend to godhood. Todd decides he can become a DM with this new campaign and makes preparations for it.

**Note:** Though this vignette's opening states that it takes place "1 month before the start of MGP", this appears to be an error, as Fretribution is a freshman here rather than a sophomore, and the sequel vignette "After Party" is set "1 year before the start of MGP". Additionally, Fretribution's real name is Eddie Korus throughout MGP Vignettes, but Eddie Hales in the main series from Chapter 57.

## After Party

After the events of "Crashed Party", Todd has led several sessions of his *Keeps and Kobolds* campaign. He tells Fretribution how he's disappointed that today's session hadn't gone the way he wanted, as it was going to feature R'gint, the head of the Argent Tower organization, reveal himself to be a dragon to the players, but chronically low player engagement led to Todd pushing back what should be a dramatic plot point. While Hambone was cooperative as usual, Travesty was bored by the lack of combat, BugReport favors strengthening his extremely powerful character over the story, and AegisBloom is silent most of the time. Fretribution suggests adding incentives for the group to roleplay during battle, and for Travesty in particular, a powerful cursed weapon that does something to make him engage with the plot. Todd could also fully implement the idea of his campaign taking place a century after DataMiner's, as BugReport had played the old campaign and would take interest if his character from back then was involved in the story. Todd takes note of this as he begins planning for next week's session.

## Party Hard

Ten months prior to *Magical Girl Policy*, Todd and his group are playing his *Keeps and Kobolds* campaign at SAU's Agnes N. Volka Library. As Travesty's character, Rook the golem, is about to swing his new axe, the weapon is revealed to be cursed: when invoked, the souls within empower his attack but lower his Will in addition to having a mysterious spiritual effect on the automaton. With a personal choice attached to battle, Travesty is forced to think about his character more carefully than before. The situation invites the participation of the other normally disinterested players as well: the axe's souls were captured by BugReport's old character, and AegisBloom notices her character's Mind-mender abilities are relevant here, which will prompt her to take a larger speaking role. Rook's powerful attack defeats the group's fallen angel opponent, and the black goop that accompanies the blood splatter on Rook is said to take the golem's interest.

## Life of the Party

Eight months prior to *Magical Girl Policy*, Todd and co. are playing their campaign at Todd's dorm. By this point, the whole group has become significantly more engaged with the game. Over several sessions, the curse of Rook's axe has filled the golem with the souls once sealed in the weapon. When the other players try to remove his axe-hand so the curse may be dispelled, he refuses to part with the newfound souls and go back to feeling incomplete, so he challenges them to battle. Since the party does not wish to kill or abandon Rook, they plan to remove his axe-hand before the souls can finish spreading throughout his body, then take him to be purified. AegisBloom suggests that if BugReport's thief can grab hold of Rook, his lockpicking ability might allow him to detach the axe-arm.

## Blood-stained Curtains

The day after it was decided Robynne should infiltrate the cheer team, Free Unsecured Network bassist Greg arrives late to practice with the rest of the band in the garage of Marco the drummer's parents. Greg notices Dale is riffing, meaning he is thinking of a new song, probably inspired by yet another girl who's caught his eye. Dale has been telling Rex and Marco about the girl he met at his dorm yesterday (Robynne), and catches Greg up. She is apparently a cheerleader and thus not normally the type Dale goes for, but he finds her especially attractive, and her being unlikely friends with his nerdy roommates (Cory and Eli) is explained as her knowing the pair through the dorm's vacated fourth tenant (Robert). Thinking about Robynne's features, Dale considers titling the new song "Blood-stained Curtains" for her long scarlette hair. The others think Robynne wouldn't like having songs written about her, so Dale tells them not to let her know. With the whole band now present and Marco feeling better after yesterday, they get started on practicing for tomorrow's gig.

## Housewarming Party

Shortly after the events of "Life of the Party", Todd and co.'s very successful *Keep and Kobolds* session has finished, so Hambone, Travesty, and BugReport leave his dorm, while AegisBloom helps clean up the place like usual. When AegisBloom is about to go, she stops herself and surprises Todd by asking him out on a movie date. Todd wonders if her passive behavior during their early game sessions was because she was primarily there to spend time with him since she was too shy to ask him out. Todd decides it couldn't hurt to accept her offer, so they agree to see the newest *Dustfall* movie tomorrow, and AegisBloom leaves. Fretribution then enters the living room, having overheard the conversation and feeling vindicated that his suspicion that AegisBloom liked Todd was correct. Todd considers that perhaps her role-playing in the game helped her overcome her severe shyness enough to finally act on her feelings. Fretribution is curious about how the game went tonight, which Todd feels was even better than his time with DataMiner's campaign, so they plan to talk about it over a meal.

## Back To Basics

During this year's SFEERS opening social, Ignition has been roped by his roommates Zemiron and SaltStorm into running the event's *Mega Mash Family* setup. He is surprised by the huge turnout that dwarfs last year's closing social of over one hundred people. He is suddenly greeted by AcidicBase, a graduated SFEERS member who made the four-hour-long drive here when he heard fellow "Old Ones" (well-known SFEERS graduates) Esper and OmniDrive, who had gotten married over the summer, would be attending. AcidicBase remarks that he saw a pair of cheerleaders (Robynne and Vivian) enter the social just like last year, and is as shocked as Ignition was when he learns one of them is the Knights of the Spherical Table's newest PvP master. He notes that SFEERS's rapid growth must mean Fretribution is doing a good job as president, and jokes that he'll have Ignition put forward for an officer position as well.

## Image Problems

One week after the Day LaMode attack, high school student Lihua Lo excitedly enters her room, as she's managed to obtain a photo her friend Niu Hong took of Spirit Guard Felicity appearing before the police at the scene. Lihua runs an online blog about the Spirit Guard, though her friends and mother are not fond of her obsession with the heroes. When Lihua found out about the picture, she feared Niu wouldn't send it to her, so she secretly took her phone and emailed the photo to herself, and plans to have Niu believe the phone had been absentmindedly left behind in class. Looking at the photo on her computer, Lihua goes to compare it with the others she's accrued, but finds the images have mysteriously vanished from all of her caches as well as her blog. Distressed, she goes to find her backup hard drive, but sees it is accompanied by a strange envelope addressed to her. Inside is a letter from Spirit Guard Valor: she has been following Lihua's blog for some time and is impressed by her work, but fears the information it contains may become problematic for the heroes if seen by villains, so she had all of Lihua's Spirit Guard photos deleted and apologizes for the pain this has caused. She asks Lihua to discontinue the blog, and suggests she apply her analytical talents towards her education in pursuit of a career like forensics, criminal psychology, or investigative journalism. Lihua is saddened by the loss of her work, but decides to heed Valor's advice. She deletes the photo of Felicity and resolves to focus more on her studies going forward. Based on what is known from the main series, it can be assumed that Will was responsible for deleting Lihua's photos and Noriko for breaking into Lihua's home to find the hard drive and drop off the letter.

## Knight Shift

Two days after the Polygal attack, NightKnight is at his dorm, writing a message to SaltStorm, apologizing for his prolonged outburst yesterday over a Windwhisper (Robert) repeatedly killing him in *Aspect Realms*. He suddenly gets a knock at the door and finds it is Fretribution, letting him in. Fretribution asks him to help with putting up SFEERS fliers around this part of campus. The incident from yesterday is also brought up. NightKnight was making a message for SaltStorm since SaltStorm is the guildmaster and ergoAwesome, who was present at the time, is his girlfriend, but Fretribution tells him he's better off speaking to those who were there instead of involving SaltStorm. Fretribution encourages NightKnight to continue trying to lead and grow the guild's PvP group, but suggests he learn to vent his anger in ways that won't make those around him uncomfortable, even if the solution is as basic as enabling push-to-talk so others won't always hear him rage. NightKnight is unconfident, but Fretribution says the fact that ergoAwesome brought the issue up with the president instead of the guildmaster and continues to join NightKnight's games suggests she must be having enough fun to justify sticking with him, so the situation is not impossible to salvage.

**Note:** NightKnight's real name is said to be John Harvey here, but the main series changes it to Connor in Chapter 55.

## Missing Pieces

Immediately after Chapter 38, the cheerleader Sanvi has just left Cory, Eli, and Dale's dorm. Cammy had tasked her with watching the delivery man bring a bunch of computer parts Robynne had ordered and figure out the identity of the "Bluster" addressee. After speaking with the dorm's tenants, Sanvi is certain that "Bluster" refers to Dale, as she believes someone as beautiful as Robynne wouldn't bother associating with the less handsome Cory and Eli. She would like to know how Cammy learned of the delivery and why this job was assigned, but feels it would hurt her good standing with the captain, which she wants to maintain to improve her chances of succeeding Tanya as an officer. Sanvi noticed early on that Cammy's actions, from deciding which cheerleaders are moved up to the Pep Squad to who she associates with at parties and such, is all done with the apparent goal of surrounding herself with people who are rich, attractive, or well-connected. This upset Sanvi at first, but she decided such a scheme could prove useful and thus sought to become close to Cammy. Sanvi wishes to one day make the field of science more welcoming to women, and believes having such a powerful friend will prove invaluable for her career, in addition to short-term benefits like being invited to Cammy's parties.

**Note:** The central character of this vignette is named Pari like in the original version of *Magical Girl Policy* Chapter 38, but Chapter 41 changes her name to Sanvi, with Chapter 38 later edited to use this name.

## Clean Up

One week after the Polygal attack, Harris Restoration comes to Loose Change to assess and repair the damage caused by the battle. The company's repairman, Travis, has had unusual jobs during his two months working there, but this is the first time he's dealt with the bizarre kinds of damage the Spirit Guard and monsters can inflict. The owner, Mr. Harris, has seen this sort of thing before and finds Travis's confusion at the pink scorch marks left by Spirit Guard Felicity amusing. Mr. Harris's son and right hand Roger notes the two trails of regular scorch marks left by Polygal's laser bullets, as well as marks left by her other attacks he read of in the insurance report. Mr. Harris notices the bullet marks are completely uniform, which Travis deduces is because that the video game monster's powers mimic common game behavior by utilizing bullet hole textures called decals, which in this case is a literal decal that can be peeled off, making it so the shot carpet won't have be replaced. Mr. Harris remarks that Travis is proving to be a better repair worker than his predecessor.

## Black Cats

One day in late October the year prior to *Magical Girl Policy*, Lauren is tired of a day working at Poltergeist Halloween, a shop selling Halloween decorations. Lauren had taken the seasonal job to cover Christmas expenses. Customers have been irritable recently, and a strange black cat decoration was placed at the storefront by an unknown person and has been annoying everyone with its frequent meows. Lauren notices four SAU cheerleaders exit a car and approach the store, though one of them, Angela, appears to have forgotten something and splits from the others. The remaining three come into the shop and are looking for costumes, but their talk with Lauren is interrupted by an alarm, as Spirit Guard Valor ripped out the emergency door in the process of entering. The cat decoration starts speaking and morphs into a monster called Tricky Streetcat. The cheerleaders flee at Valor's command, but Lauren is too stunned to move, confused at the strange cheerleader and monster before her. Tricky Streetcat has been draining Investiture from people in the store and especially likes how Lauren's work frustrations affect the taste, so she has grown attached to the woman and refuses to give her up to Valor. The heroine and monster begin to fight, and this time Lauren does as Valor says and runs to her car. As she drives away, Lauren takes these events as a sign she should quit her job.

## Holiday Memories

One day in early December the year before *Magical Girl Policy*, K.D. Schilling's Department Store is under attack by Winter's Wrap, who is fighting Spirit Guards Valor and Tenacity. While everyone else has evacuated the store, Donovan, a young man who was looking for a Christmas gift for his girlfriend, decided to hide from the monster instead and witnesses the battle from behind a coat rack. Winter's Wrap attempts to entangle Tenacity using Wrap Up, but the wrapping paper is easily cut by Tenacity's sword. The monster is pinned through each arm and its throat by Valor's shield, sword, and foot, allowing Tenacity to kill it using Intrepid Blade. Tenacity remarks that this monster was noticeably easier to defeat than the two others she had fought before and wonders if Platicore is getting desperate now that there are two Spirit Guards. Valor asks Tenacity to leave for debriefing alone, as she has to sort out her college living arrangements now that she's lost her scholarship and also see if she can take her last exam during her academic probation (these issues were caused by Angela and Cammy's recent falling out). Valor fears Tenacity will suffer consequences if she gets involved, and Ms. Kuna does not have the authority as a counselor to be of much help here. Noriko appears and suggests they not have this sensitive conversation in public, and she would like to get to work before the police arrive at the scene. After the Spirit Guards leave, Noriko calls Donovan out of hiding. She orders him to ingest a drug that will scramble his recollection of recent events, temporarily impair his short term memory, and knock him out. Noriko will bruise him so it looks like he hit his head during the monster attack, which combined with the drug's effects will make it appear as if he is suffering a concussion. Donovan does as he is told and passes out within seconds.