Lol, according to the PRT we are an Endbringer Lite.
edit: I would also like to know what they think about Iluontar being well over 4 millennia old because that has implications. And the reaction of the thinker who figured it out.
I'm kind of assuming there's also political shenanigans going on in the report. Like, sure, we're really powerful and they know it. But so are Endbringers, and they do actually form strategies against those instead of essentially saying to let them do what they want.
I'm thinking it's a sort of thing where we're so valuable that they're willing to just give up a city or let us blow up a small segment of countryside, but they can't directly say that in an official government report. After all, being vital in killing an Endbringer is worth at least ten cities.
This will probably change to some extent if/when we actually start taking over large numbers of cities and countries.
The first Endbringer was Behemoth who showed up out of nowhere in 1992, who was very large (50-45 ft. tall), not the most (apparently) mobile, and didn't appear to have particularly much in the way of tactics or cleverness (just sort of walked directly at the target and hit it, in summation), but had a major resistance to Thinker powers, with extreme durability and destructive power.
Then came Leviathan who showed up out of nowhere about 4 years later, who was fairly smaller than the last one (about 40% smaller at 30 ft.), more mobile than the last one (aquatic movement and speedster), and smarter/cleverer than the last one (throwing waves, some of the ways he uses his water echo, etc.), while still retaining resistance to Thinker powers & durability and destructive power, if that destruction isn't as simple/obvious as making things explode, being a bit more precise.
Then came Ziz who showed up out of nowhere about 6 years later, who was fairly smaller than the last one (about 50% smaller at 15 ft.), more mobile than the last one (outright flight, full 3d movement), and very obviously smarter/cleverer than the last one, while retaining resistance to Thinker powers & durability and destructive power, if not as simple as throwing big waves at stuff and eroding stuff, being a bit more precise.
Then comes Iluontar who showed up out of nowhere about 10 years later, who is smaller than Ziz (about 40% smaller at 9 ft.), way more mobile than Ziz (land speed, burrowing ability, flight, and teleportation), very obviously extremely smart/clever, while also being largely resistant to Thinker powers, while demonstrating immense destructive power, if not as simple as mass manipulation/brainwashing and throwing buildings around, being more precise.
Do you see a pattern here? There's a few Thinkers who probably did, but won't confirm, and have come into an odd and sudden influx of expendable income.
Now, sure, we know how the Endbringers actually work, especially with Tohu/Bohu/Khonsu/'You needed worthy enemies' to work off of. But they sure don't. And the few people who might have any possible way to figure things out are kind of in full conspiracy mode, and also don't quite know what's up, other than that unless someone has been hiding something, that's not actually a C53, but they are muddying the waters of where C53's come from which is at least somewhat in their favor.
Now, Iluontar doing a number of things none of the other Endbringers have done, especially helping to kill another one and seemingly remaining perpetually 'active' doesn't quite fit. But the other Endbringers have also done stuff that appeared to break what people thought they did.
That, paired with taking a consideration of just who in particular added the Endbringer Truce part to the file, and anything they might have going on at the moment as well as assistance they have, might paint something of a picture- especially since for actual Endbringers, you evacuate the nearest people, in the town actually effected, rather than an odd mid-range where those immediately affected people are to just hunker down.
Also, unrelated fun-fact! The mountains surrounding Brockton Bay begin about 14-15 miles away from the city center, due to complex geological reasons! Isn't nature fascinating?
Also, unrelated fun-fact! The mountains surrounding Brockton Bay begin about 14-15 miles away from the city center, due to complex geological reasons! Isn't nature fascinating?
"Don't bother fighting Iluontar in this region, he won't randomly go stabbing people in his city and neither will we fight in collateral damage radius"?
I do realize that when it says "Individuals" in the ranges, it more means "Civilians" or "Non-PRT/Non-Parahumans", probably could've tightened up that word choice
Before I forget, while It's on my mind: I counted the other one, and y'know what, I'mma count this as an Omake too. Do as you will, including the previously mentioned omake reward, and if you'd like it threadmarked, let me know.
Scheduled vote count started by Sckribe on Mar 7, 2024 at 4:56 AM, finished with 18 posts and 1 votes.
[X] Mr. Hebert potentially has a perspective on the city that will be less skewed by personal desire for power, organizational obligations, or various special cases. After talking about Taylor, use him to feel out what you could do in or for the city that would make people support you coming to power. Smaller-scale monsters to kill, infrastructure to build, cultural icons to recover, that sort of thing.
Scheduled vote count started by Sckribe on Mar 7, 2024 at 4:56 AM, finished with 18 posts and 1 votes.
[X] Mr. Hebert potentially has a perspective on the city that will be less skewed by personal desire for power, organizational obligations, or various special cases. After talking about Taylor, use him to feel out what you could do in or for the city that would make people support you coming to power. Smaller-scale monsters to kill, infrastructure to build, cultural icons to recover, that sort of thing.
With a click, the man who must be Mr. Hebert that you can tell is on the porch by your tremorsense unlocks the door, and it isn't for a few steps after locking it behind him that he seems to notice you all at once, despite the fact that you are taking up a rather unignorable amount of space, habit you supposed.
He looked very much surprised, quite caught off guard. Mildly tall, both his hair and frame fairly thin, said hair being fairly dark, if not to the extent of his daughter's hair, and he seemed to have naturally large eyes similar to the young Ms. Hebert's, though at this particular moment you weren't entirely certain if that was simply his natural state of being or just due to your unexpected presence in his living room.
For a moment, you consider throwing said Ms. Hebert the smallest of metaphorical bones and audibly informing her that her father's here, she certainly already knew, but it would possibly make the interaction a touch less surreal on their part. So, of course, you look up from your laptop, make full glasses-to-glasses eye contact with the man, do no such thing, and with laptop still open having recently stopped going over the PRT files on you, you instead turn back to it to promptly check your email for the first time in quite a while.
After only a moment of typing, Taylor promptly brings herself back downstairs, having elected to go back up and from what you could tell, go between both her planned cape notes and a spot of homework.
Before Mr. Hebert has a chance to speak, he turns when he hears, then sees, Taylor walking down the stairs, cape notebook in hand.
She says, "Hey, dad."
He says, "Heya there, kiddo. I didn't know we had a, guest, over. Especially a famous one."
Taylor awkwardly fidgets a touch in place, and says, gesturing between you two, "Yeah. This is- uh- Iluontar the Mountain-Smith. Mr.?... Mr. Mountain-Smith, this is my dad, Danny Hebert."
You pause from checking your email- a very large amount of news organizations reaching out to try and arrange an interview, which you could do if you found yourself interested in such, a good few asking about merchandising deals and the like, and only a very small few about more immediately useful matters such as from the PRT that your official US ID card (& complimentary wallet) were available at PRT ENE when you could pick them up, that one having been sent a while ago- and proceed to look up.
Then, you look pointedly at Taylor, and return to going through your more recent emails.
Mr. Hebert sounds a bit affronted, fairly so, when he says, "Hello?"
You open up an email from Dragon from some while back, containing forwards from both the US and Canada patent offices- apparently she had actually gone ahead and started the patent processes on fire-forged, pyre, and fire-forged pyre steel on your behalf, which while small, was still rather touching on her part- while with your upper hands used one to mime the 'zip shut' motion, and the other to simply point at Taylor.
Mr. Hebert now just looked a touch bewildered in addition to the affront, and- interestingly to you- doesn't actually turn until Taylor says, "You really are just going to sit there and point. Can't make this any easier on me, can you?"
Taylor takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and a small group of flies, bees, and mosquitos start flying around her head in a clearly unnatural circle, like a halo of bugs, and she says, "I-" she cuts herself off and takes another breath, "I'm a parahuman, dad."
There's a long moment of silence, particularly since with that you actually turn your laptop off and put it away, before Danny is the next to speak, "Oh. So, how long…" he trails off.
Taylor picks it up, after a pause, "Since the hospital."
My goodness, you may be an earth-aligned elemental, but the sheer awkwardness of these two necessitated some form of intervention, even if simply for the sake of getting anything done in a timely manner.
So, you adjust yourself from sitting to standing, and speak, "Pardon me for earlier, I had already stated that I wouldn't be speaking until the young Ms. Hebert had informed you of her parahuman status yourself. Allow me to properly introduce myself, it is good to meet you, Mr. Hebert. I was hoping to speak with you for a few minutes, if you have the time."
Quickly enough that you suspect he's glad for the temporary out from the incoming awkward conversation with his Daughter, he takes your offered hand for a shake, and says, "If it's to do with Taylor, I have time, yes."
You nod once and say, "My thanks to you. I was hoping to speak with you about the matter of offering the young Ms. Hebert an opportunity to work with me in her capacity as a parahuman. More specifically, in the long term I am hoping to offer a full Apprenticeship, however that is conditional on both fairly decent performance and her own maintained willingness to work with me up to that point. For now, in the interim period, I am offering her a sort of general trainee position on some general matters of cape activity, generalized training that ought to be more or less useful in a variety of the situations that may occur in cape life."
You allow a pause as if you were taking a breath, before continuing, "Of course, what with you being her parent, it is only reasonable that I sought speak with you about the matter first."
With that, Mr. Hebert nods once, and with a thinking look on his face, says, "Thanks. I only know a bit about cape stuff, but I know that things being hushed up is normal for them-" his last word is clipped, as he turns immediately and says, "Shit, sorry, kiddo."
Taylor just says, "No offense taken."
While he's still facing her, he asks, "Are you set on this?"
Taylor's swarms starts moving in rather interesting patterns, as her awkwardness smooths a touch into confidence, and she says, "Yes. I mean, you've seen the news!" Without looking she gestures with both arms at you, "It'd be like having Michael Phelps teach me how to swim. Unless one of the Triumvirate is about to walk in, I don't think I'm going to get a better chance at learning how to be a cape."
Danny looks a touch pained, as he says, "And, you're sure you want to be a cape?"
Taylor just nods, and Danny sighs, and simply says, "Alright."
He turns to you, and, "Now, you can tell me just what, exactly is enough to constitute 'fairly decent performance', and maybe we can work something out from there."
Oh, young Ms. Hebert's 'spine' isn't first generational, as you'd almost thought. Sure, there's a fair but of bluffing on Mr. Hebert's part, but to even try bluffing in the face of you speaks to something. That paired with what you could best figure by a gut intuition was a touch of fury, seemingly simply at circumstances and contained and directed rather well, was shaping this to be a rather interesting family. Although, he clearly wasn't the scholar of the family, that would have to be the late Ms. Hebert then. Hm, perhaps as an Apprenticeship present or for some other occasion you could resurrect her- a thought for later.
For now, Mr. Hebert wanted the precise details. While you were on the base immediately able to give that Apprenticeship would be a full-time thing, to the point that you yourself would teach young Ms. Hebert and/or hire tutors from your own pocket in the event you couldn't cover anything yourself, due to the time demand and commitment of Apprenticeship necessitating nothing less than full attention that oughtn't be split between the more rigid schooling structure already in place- something you notice Taylor keenly focus on as and after you say it-, you hadn't quite decided yet on the full specifics otherwise.
Thankfully, you have many trains of thought, and think very, very fast.
Danny Hebert wants to know the specifics of 'What counts as decent enough for Apprenticeship', the Schedule of 'How frequent and how long is the trainee work', and 'How are you going to compensate Taylor for her time'?
Well?
[ApprenticeQuest] Defeat 2 Medium Earth Elementals in combat alone, in 3 minutes or less.
[ApprenticeQuest] Fill a 50-page journal end to end with original (to her, at least) research & observations, with no more than the equivalent of 5 total pages of illustrations, all of which must contain useful information. (Margins excluded in all counts)
[ApprenticeQuest] Come out successful in 4 meaningfully different Parahuman-centric encounters in a row, in the span of 1 week.
[ApprenticeQuest] Without anyone's help, learn the language of Terran, purely from you occasionally speaking and writing it.
[ApprenticeQuest] Without your help, arrest 256 criminals without them causing any harm to her.
[ApprenticeQuest] Something of equal or greater difficulty (Write In, will be rejected by Iluontar if not of comparable or greater in difficulty or merit to the above.)
Or, if you were feeling like giving her a particular challenge,
[ApprenticeQuest] Remain conscious for 24 consecutive seconds in a fight against you on a field of her choosing, with you massively holding back. (You use no magic, do not hide in her own shadow, no equipment beyond a single non-magic quarterstaff & 5 alchemical items, and start 20 feet out, while blindfolded.)
The schedule? (Note that Iluontar will hold himself to this, excepting only extreme circumstances. This is only for as a trainee, not an Apprentice.)
[Schedule] Every Weekday, for about 1-2 hours after school.
[Schedule] Weekends, for about 5-7 Hours (including a varying-length lunch break).
[Schedule] Weekdays and Weekends.
[Schedule] Some other schedule (Write-In, remembering this has to fit a normal human teen, who attends highschool.)
And lastly, though you recognize what Danny's trying to pull here, and he is fairly clearly not expecting this to work, you still consider, compensating Taylor for her time?
[Pay] You're already going to be teaching her for free, and it's taking your time too as is. Just the knowledge.
[Pay] Five dollars an hour, take it or leave it.
[Pay] If she doesn't bring her own, you'll pay for/supply lunch on weekends.
(No write-in accepted on this one.)
You aren't even going to consider bringing up the idea of paying for/handling injuries or the like, it's already your rightful obligation to do so if you're going to be training her, and will only be even moreso once she's your Apprentice proper. (Character sheet is Identical to last time)
Task
Timeframe (If Applicable)
Divinity Drive Tattoo Refresh
Saturdays, 11:48-11:59 PM
AN: Say hello to the newest thing, that I'll be giving it's own Informational post, your "Obligations, Oaths, & Promises"! Here's where I intend on sticking the various time-sensitive or consuming things (every Saturday from 11:48-11:59 PM, re-tattooing the Divinity Drive for instance), and especially noting the promises that you make, that Iluontar will not let you break. Formatting for it isn't totally set in stone just yet.
I like the "Fill a 50-page journal..." option or the "Without your help, arrest 256 criminals..." option, I'm willing to do either of those.
edit: maybe offer both and let her choose which one she likes more?
Hello! This is the information post for the character's various Obligations, Oaths, & Promises. To paraphrase myself, this is where I'll be sticking various things that are time-sensitive or time consuming, particularly noting things that the character will hold himself to! Beware of possible spoilers, if you've not caught up, similar to the character sheet post!
[ApprenticeQuest] Fill a 50-page journal end to end with original (to her, at least) research & observations, with no more than the equivalent of 5 total pages of illustrations, all of which must contain useful information. (Margins excluded in all counts)
I like this one, she has a decent int stat for becoming a wizard in addition her power open some interesting potential synergies and this quest is about seeing if she can put it to use, if Iluontar is to found his own multiverse spanning empire then he is going to need to have own wizards, so best get started also there is a saying about wizards "apprentices cast fire bolt, journeymen throw fireballs, masters call down flaming meteor storms and an Archwizards sends an apprentice" for that Iluontar as an archwizard needs an apprentice delegate errands and magical drudge work too as well as map out difficulties of setting up mage academies later down the line for his city-state by getting some hands on experience and figure out the challenges of teaching magic and setting a curriculum for a people who culturally view magic as purely fictional while having a relatively high level of general education
Possibly relevant mechanics footnote for people unfamiliar with the details of Pathfinder rules: Large Earth Elementals have innate Damage Reduction 5 where weak blows bounce off, but Medium Earth Elementals don't, so they can be taken down by a swarm of spiders and scorpions doing 1 damage each.
OTOH, they're immune to poison, so it would be a matter of piling up 1 damage stings.
This is the choice with the most obvious straightforward path to completion that Taylor could do without learning anything new, IMO, so let's avoid it.
I like this one, she has a decent int stat for becoming a wizard in addition her power open some interesting potential synergies and this quest is about seeing if she can put it to use
We should probably specify the topic so it's something useful to both Taylor and us though - would rather not get the equivalent of a research paper on underwater basket weaving, novel and useful it might be?
E: As for the quest, a combat/overcoming unfavourable circumstances component + a research component + a parahuman ideal component seems like it'd work?
[ApprenticeQuest] Remain conscious for 24 consecutive seconds in a fight against you on a field of her choosing, with you massively holding back. (You use no magic, do not hide in her own shadow, no equipment beyond a single non-magic quarterstaff & 5 alchemical items, and start 20 feet out, while blindfolded.)
A bit more seriously, something like her picking the tops of two seperate buildings, reacting to the fight beginning faster than you, immediately throwing herself into the building she's on (and picking one you can't easily Earth Glide through like crazy), trying to slow you down/distract you with swarms, possibly get them to interfere with the alchemical items you bring, and generally being rather clever about it, while necessitating that she's closely watched you and figured enough out during her trainee period to, if not quite punch above her weight class, then prove that she has a chance to get out of dodge.
You ever seen or read a story with one of those old, extremely skilled kung-fu master types? Your 'catch a fly alive in your peripheral vision using chopsticks' type? Something like that.
Just, Iluontar standing a full twenty feet away, blindfolded, only a few pieces of gear on him, wielding only a wooden quarterstaff, looking way too poised still, with Taylor having an internal, "Oh, I am so screwed." Moment.
Edit: Also, the only conditions to each 'quest' are the ones explicitly given, so if she can somehow convince other capes to try and hold you back while she books it, that is also an entirely valid option. Using absolutely anything she has at her disposal, with you massively holding back, can she keep you from knocking her out for 4 turns?
I kinda want to give her a list like we just read and tell her that the seemingly extreme difficulty of some tasks is deceptive and we've judged that she is technically capable of all of them if she's clever about it, if with varying difficulty.
She's to think carefully and may attempt whatever test she's figured out, though we will of course consider the more apparently difficult tests to be more impressive on her part.
I kinda want to give her a list like we just read and tell her that the seemingly extreme difficulty of some tasks is deceptive and we've judged that she is technically capable of all of them if she's clever about it, if with varying difficulty.
She's to think carefully and may attempt whatever test she's figured out, though we will of course consider the more apparently difficult tests to be more impressive on her part.
God that sounds like it's going to lead to her going extremely overboard. I'm all for it, it'll be fun.
[X] [ApprenticeQuest] Provide her all possible Apprenticeship Quests (other than the first, including any write-ins), and let her know that the seemingly extreme difficulty of some tasks is deceptive and we've judged that she is technically capable of all of them if she's clever about it, if with varying difficulty. She may attempt any of them whenever she feels she's capable of them, and we will consider the more difficult tests more impressive on her part.
-[X] [ApprenticeQuest] Tell Taylor not to dismiss the research Quest out-of-hand, it's there for a reason - the skills you will need as our Apprentice isn't quite the same as what a Parahuman would need
I excluded the first one because it's the only one she could handle relatively easily, to the point of it flat out not being a good test. This isn't just to have her pick the hardest one, it also is intended to give insight into how well she can set her own bounds as well. Just going for the hardest one because it's there can be a weakness in and of itself, but so would going for one that's too easy.
Also, here's an extra option, to be included in the above if it wins, or to win flat out if people like it.
[X] [ApprenticeQuest] Discover the internal structures of the E88 and the identities of at least a quarter of their capes.
This is just to focus on the intrigue stuff, since that's what some of the trainee stuff.
[X] [Schedule] Weekdays and one weekend day. One day off.
This might be too onerous for us, but I'm willing to give it a shot if it's not us supervising actively for 100% of the time? Maybe we could use a Simulacrum part of the time. Also changing it to Parzival's idea.
[X] [Pay] If she doesn't bring her own, you'll pay for/supply lunch on weekends.
Lunch seems fine, five dollars an hour seems so low as to be a bit weird, at least pay a bit above minimum wage if we're giving payment.
[X] [ApprenticeQuest] Provide her all possible Apprenticeship Quests (other than the first, including any write-ins), and let her know that the seemingly extreme difficulty of some tasks is deceptive and we've judged that she is technically capable of all of them if she's clever about it, if with varying difficulty. She may attempt any of them whenever she feels she's capable of them, and we will consider the more difficult tests more impressive on her part.
[X] [ApprenticeQuest] Discover the internal structures of the E88 and the identities of at least a quarter of their capes.
[X] [Schedule] Weekdays and one weekend day. One day off.
[X] [Pay] Five dollars an hour, take it or leave it.
[X] [Pay] All work expenses, and food while working, will be paid. Take home, after taxes, will be at least starting wage for someone of her qualifications, to be renegotiated when/if she passes her test.
