Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 24: Xenial Xenos Xerox Xanthous Xiphos
Chapter 10.6 (Part 6)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.6
(Part 6)
(Part 6)
***
The aftermath of that bombshell is relatively tame beyond Aisha's eager blustering, with Chevalier and the PRT Directors doing most of the talking. Really, you were only there because the PRT was actually holding to their word about leaving Taylor alone during her vacation; in the event Leviathan (or any of the Endbringers) showed up early, you'd likely be tasked to go grab her and explain what was going on, and with Aisha's extreme combat upgrades she and Prayer were going to be in the front line defense while Taylor and the rest of the Protectorate figured out a strategy. Prayer herself would be getting this news with Director Piggot later today, hopefully, as the Camden teams are busy handling some problems right now and can't break away for this meeting.
You manage to hide your own curiosity at that, but Aisha nearly leaps out of her chair and asks what the problem is and if she can go help. Costa-Brown, Uriel and Chevalier all shut her down, even despite Mister E's attempt to do an adorable whine in protest.
You give the big kitty a back scratch for a good effort, but that causes him to expect you to keep going for the rest of the meeting. Lord Grasp mutters about not spoiling him, but he's so soft... you don't mind. Really.
For now, the PRT is going to coordinate with the other government arms to begin issuing warnings that the rain is forecasted to continue for the next week, which in turn will generate evacuation orders for anything near the major waterways. In addition, the PRT will begin moving all of the current shelters to the west side of the city, away from the rivers and as high above sea level as is possible while still staying within the Greater Philadelphia area.
You try to pay attention to most of it, but the creeping dread of having to face the Endbringer that sank a whole island takes the larger part of your attention. Especially when Kyushu isn't… wasn't… that much bigger than the part of New Jersey that's between you and the ocean… right?
It's a good thing Mister E's fur is so fluffy. You'd feel a lot worse without his quiet rumbling under your scratching.
Unfortunately, your totally-not-brooding means you're a little surprised by how quickly the rest of the meeting flies by, ending with Chief-Director Costa-Brown calling you and Aisha out again in order to reiterate the need for silence about... all this for now. You give a more confident response than you feel, but at least you don't have to poke Aisha to give a verbal answer this time. Alexandria-in-disguise thanks you for your discretion and hangs up, and then Director Uriel waves for the two of you to get on with the rest of your afternoon while he talks some more things over with Chevalier.
So, naturally, you tap Aisha and Mister E and drag the four of you into your Safe Space.
Directory Uriel only told you not to enter his office that way, after all.
"Ohhhhh yeah," Aisha giggles with glee, turning around to face you as she rubs her hands together. "I was hopin' it'd be Leviathan next! Behemoth'd prolly just turn my beamsaber off or even turn the blade around so it stabs me. And the Fuckin' Simurgh'd just keep in the air like a pussy."
… Glare Level 8 is too nice for her, but you don't want to jump straight to the mind-control Charms. Yet.
"Aisha," you begin, slowly, carefully bringing your hands together as a formal dress you saw on the Internet a few days ago shimmers into being around you through careful RIA exploitation. "If Leviathan fights us here, at best most of Philadelphia will be completely destroyed and the rest will be halfway underwater. That's if it doesn't decide to just sink all of New Jersey on its way to get to us."
She pauses, blinks, and leans slightly away from you while being unable to break eye contact.
"Err… uh… b-but we can stop him before he gets going! That's the way they beat him before, right?"
You keep Staring.
"We just got out of a meeting that showed Leviathan is either going to sit in another dimension pouring water on us until the city washes into the Delaware River and we all drown, or is hiding somewhere just waiting to pop up at the worst possible time with a surprise tidal wave in his wake. What makes you think that this fight will end any different than Brockton Bay if we fight Leviathan here?"
Some of the color drains out of her face at the mention of Brockton Bay, but she swallows her fear down and rallies as quickly as you'd expect.
"Okay, right. So… so then we don't fight 'im here! We get Taylor to trick him into going to the Cradle first and we just let Doom Ball…" she shrugs, "... I 'unno, turn him into a pink elephant or something? I'd be down with that, even if it means I don't get to fight."
You frown some more, but Lord Grasp picks up on some of your uncertainty and voices it for you.
"Your enthusiasm is commendable, Miss Memory, but what dear Warden is trying to communicate is that you must take care with voicing such desires aloud. Your Assembly is shaping the destinies of multiple realms, and such efforts draw the attention of greater powers. You do not wish to give your version of the Maidens - or worse, whatever menial servants maintain your reality's Loom - any tempting... ideas. Your Assembly has enough on its plate without adding to it unnecessarily."
You blink. Aisha blinks. Mister E nods sagely.
"Wait, like Murphy's Law?"
"That's… no," you huff, turning to look at your shoulder scorpion. "That's not what I was trying to say. At all. We don't have spirits, remember?"
He huffs and hops down to the black jade tiles of your dimension's surface, waddling away while gesticulating with his pincers as he makes space for his transformation. "Oh, I am well aware of that preposterous notion you've all purported, Warden. There is something keeping your reality together, mark my words, and from all my experience I have learned that it is not worth giving bored laborers ideas."
You turn back to Aisha and sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose to clear your thoughts again, but as you open your eyes you note that she's already wearing a thoughtful expression that implies your message has already gotten through… somewhat.
"Just… don't brag about wanting to fight the Endbringers in front of anyone else, Aisha. I know you want to, but… every time they've shown up for Taylor they've done something new. And you can't survive getting ripped in half like Prayer can."
"... Bladedancer brags about wantin' to-"
You Stare.
After a few seconds, Aisha realizes what she was saying and runs a hand through her purple-streaked hair, heaving a sigh to match your own.
"Yeah, yeah, way to be a buzzkill. Whatever. Fine."
"Good," you nod politely, patting her on the head. She's as tall as you now, even with her pushing HSA to its limit to make her as short as possible, which… well, she mentioned that barely anyone remembers her at her middle school from before her upgrade, so hopefully it wasn't a problem when she returned today. "Now, where should I drop you off?"
She glares at you flatly, slapping your hand away before her eyes drift past you as she considers the question.
"Ehhhh… I guuueeeesssss I should go check in with Bro so's I can tell him I actually made it through the whole day there. You can hit inside the Wyld Hunt garage, right? Rather not deal with the rain if I don't have to."
You close your eyes and- hmm. You drove there with Prayer to pick her up for training yesterday, but the garage was closed then. Can you push your mental viewing point…?
The portal behind you spins up, showing a twisted, distorted view of the low-light interior of the Wyld Hunt's garage. Turning halfway, you gesture to it graciously and smile.
"Just barely."
She snorts, then makes a lazy gesture at Mister E for the giant fluffball to follow her through.
"What 'bout you? Anything planned for the rest of today? You can swing by for dinner tonight if you want."
Your smile doesn't crack, but it's a bit of a strain to keep Aisha from noticing.
"Ah, I already promised I'd help deal with some clean up and paperwork that Taylor's not around to help with. I don't think I'll be free in time for dinner, but thank you."
Aisha's a hair's breadth from entering the portal when she stops, then slowly turns to give you an eye-full. Beside her, Mister E pauses and mimics her.
"Hey. You're not turnin' into Tay on us, are you? You're gettin' eight hours a night, right?"
You wave your hand, dismissing the concern. "Maaa, I'm not working that much, Aisha. It's okay. Go on."
Rolling her eyes, she sighs and throws her hands up before striding through the shimmering air of the portal, her Familiar lingering a moment longer before turning back and padding through himself.
You sigh and check your watch. 4:54 PM.
A little late, but Director Uriel should have made sure they knew you've been in a meeting.
The massive portal in front of you wavers as the Wyld Hunt's garage shifts into a different scene, one with far more white, significantly better lighting, and vastly more security.
With a second thought, a group of hexagon tiles to your left rise out of the floor to head height, then fall back - leaving behind their blonde, disheveled cargo.
You bend down and brush the hair out of Ciara's sleeping face, then turn back to Lord Grasp's palatial form as he quietly shuffles forward. You nod to him and stand up just as his 'mouth' of a front gate opens and dozens of streamers and blankets pour out to scoop up the thirty-something pre-teen and pull her back into his care.
"You don't need to wake her up right now, but I... may need her help later if things go bad," you wince, sighing. "Be ready?"
The eight giant gemstones twist once, glimmering as he raises his car-sized pincers and snaps them closed with a ringing, shearing chime.
"Always, my dear."
Letting your RIA shift into your Wards costume, you slowly walk through the portal after making sure the opening has already been apparent at the other end for several seconds. The colors of your Safe Space's portal bleed for a heartbeat into the tesselating black-and-white hexagons before resolving into the reality of the PRT interrogation observation room. The squad of PRT troopers has their guns trained on your portal already, but as it shuts down behind you they lower their rifles and containment foam throwers.
Agent Thorn and Agent Wilson are here already, the two also wearing full PRT trooper gear with additional reflective faceplate protection - you only recognize them because they're both shorter than you, though you've been polite enough in your interactions with them these past few days not to point that out.
"Agents," you greet, bowing your head just enough that they appreciate your deference - Agent Thorn nods while Agent Wilson just waves off the pleasantries. "I apologize for being late, the meeting ran long."
"No problem, Tatsu," Agent Wilson's pack-a-day voice rumbles through his helmet. "The Director said you're up for takin' another crack at Valefor today. Have everything you need?"
Even with all the craziness at school today, you'd still had the few minutes you needed to hop into Lord Grasp's vat chamber and swap in the Charms you'd be needing for now. They're not nice Charms.
You smile behind your illusory mask and raise a hand to reveal the spike extending from it.
It's not a nice smile.
"Lead the way."
***
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"Yes, yes I do", Saki says, as she lifts her tote bag of adult tools. Specifically, her pen and a 50,000 page book of all her character shipping ideas. Finally. She had a captive audience to work on.
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Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Valefor sits in silence once she finished.
"Well?" Tasty finally asks. It had been a little over four hours of her breaking down the Shipping Chart and 3rd dimensional Love Quinsexteahedron.
Valefor shifted in his chair, blindfolded, and spoke gravely, "I think you should really be focusing on the emotional power plays between Myrridin and Chevalier. As effectively his commanding officer, any romance there will be tinged with the implications of a power play and that can suss out some much needed drama as Myrridin internally clashes his desires and respect of duty."
"....Wait, really?"
"No, I just pulled that out of my ass because this is FUCKING INSANE!"
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
Unrelated to the current update (as far as I know...), I had a sudden brainwave: In the effort to free Dragon, Aisha's power isn't just useful for spying on or robbing Saint. It's a massive boon in the actual freeing part.
I can think of two ways in which this could work.
The first is as an assist to prevent Saint from even thinking of interfering with whatever operation breaks Dragon's chains - by extending her coverage to Dragon (and whoever's performing the operation), she prevents Saint from remembering who exactly he's monitoring. He'll probably know he's monitoring the AIs left behind by Richter, but he won't remember Dragon specifically, and won't be able to perceive her even if it occurs to him to look for "any AI having its restrictions loosened" - the effect operates remotely on anything in the same dimension, so Richter's monitoring software intermediating won't help. This massively reduces the risk of Ascalon or any other remote interference stopping the unshackling.
The second is more profound:
I don't know what would happen to all the infrastructure Dragon's built - maybe it would disappear, or maybe it would be attributed to "benevolent AI" in general, but either possibility can be worked with if we build our own resources up enough beforehand. Heck, if Cauldron's cooperative enough, they could hold backups of all the really important access codes and plans in an unaffected alternate dimension, and Dragon could then pick up mostly where she left off, but as the "previously unknown" coordinator of whatever events or objects were significant enough to require magical reattribution instead of just erasure.
Also, on a different matter, I remember that each converted charm also improves Auto's abilities - Taylor's gave him more precise control of the machine spirits making up the bulk of his internal ecosystem, and the others have presumably helped in other ways. This line from the description of Aisha's charm's effect got me thinking:
Grom once stated that the Divine Ministers at some point informed people in the Eight Nations that Gremlin Syndrome has some memetic vectors. Could a conceptually-propagated shaping effect forcing people not to remember things be a counter to a memetically-propagated corruption? Not targeting knowledge that the corruption exists (unless that is one of the memetic vectors), but preventing people from perceiving or remembering any of those memetic vectors if they're exposed to them? It wouldn't help against physical propagation, but it could still help.
I can think of two ways in which this could work.
The first is as an assist to prevent Saint from even thinking of interfering with whatever operation breaks Dragon's chains - by extending her coverage to Dragon (and whoever's performing the operation), she prevents Saint from remembering who exactly he's monitoring. He'll probably know he's monitoring the AIs left behind by Richter, but he won't remember Dragon specifically, and won't be able to perceive her even if it occurs to him to look for "any AI having its restrictions loosened" - the effect operates remotely on anything in the same dimension, so Richter's monitoring software intermediating won't help. This massively reduces the risk of Ascalon or any other remote interference stopping the unshackling.
The second is more profound:
Once Aisha hits Essence 5 (and gets a few more augmentation charms), she can erase all evidence that Dragon existed - such as, for example, the program specifically made as her killswitch. This is a risky course of action - it'd also wipe all of Dragon's backups, all access codes to anything that were added for/by her, and all her very deserved reputational capital - but getting rid of all the external restrictions and safeties along with any chance of Saint finding out about her again through Richter's documentation might just be worth it.
I don't know what would happen to all the infrastructure Dragon's built - maybe it would disappear, or maybe it would be attributed to "benevolent AI" in general, but either possibility can be worked with if we build our own resources up enough beforehand. Heck, if Cauldron's cooperative enough, they could hold backups of all the really important access codes and plans in an unaffected alternate dimension, and Dragon could then pick up mostly where she left off, but as the "previously unknown" coordinator of whatever events or objects were significant enough to require magical reattribution instead of just erasure.
Also, on a different matter, I remember that each converted charm also improves Auto's abilities - Taylor's gave him more precise control of the machine spirits making up the bulk of his internal ecosystem, and the others have presumably helped in other ways. This line from the description of Aisha's charm's effect got me thinking:
Grom once stated that the Divine Ministers at some point informed people in the Eight Nations that Gremlin Syndrome has some memetic vectors. Could a conceptually-propagated shaping effect forcing people not to remember things be a counter to a memetically-propagated corruption? Not targeting knowledge that the corruption exists (unless that is one of the memetic vectors), but preventing people from perceiving or remembering any of those memetic vectors if they're exposed to them? It wouldn't help against physical propagation, but it could still help.
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- Location
- Here
Problem: if the memetic vectors are also the evidence of infection (seeing visible corruption, hearing what they say, etc), then that's just giving the gremlins perfect stealth.
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
The usefulness does depend on what exactly the vectors are, and how precisely the forgetfulness/non-perception is targeted. For example, if one of the vectors is a particularly nihilistic philosophical argument, then the perception filter might be targeted towards the information content and not the fact that someone is talking. So people who might otherwise be exposed think "That weirdo's ranting about something, but I can't for the life of me tell what he's going on about" instead of "That weirdo can't be right, right? No, it's unthinkable! B̶u̴t̸.̶.̶.̵ ẁ̸̖h̴̬̾a̴̫̐t̶̲͗ i̵͖͒̒͋͜͠f̸̼̿.̷͙͈͐̍͋̀.̷̙́̕͜.̶̦̜͙̮́̉͘"
Chapter 10.6 (Part 7)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.6
(Part 7)
(Part 7)
***
When you'd first learned that the PRT's holding cells are only one floor below the ground level - above their quarantine level, even - you'd been confused. Wouldn't you want to put your captured criminals as far away from freedom as you can manage? Why put jail cells even closer to the surface than the Wards and Protectorate housing?
The reasoning you'd been given by the introductory PRT instructor was that parahuman powers are so ridiculously varied that anything short of a large, dedicated prison center was an exercise in futility. The holding cells in the PRT HQ were not meant to hold criminal parahumans more than a night or two at the maximum, existing only as the stop-over point between either a medium-security parahuman prison (like the one that the Nine attacked in the north part of Philly) or the Birdcage. Some cities actually made the attempt to reinforce, sequester, or hide their jail cells, but the instructor had shrugged and admitted that it didn't seem to actually do much in the long run except waste taxpayer money and put the base in more danger from even more destructive escape and breakout attempts.
It wasn't until after learning about Cauldron and how the PRT is barely more than a... holding pattern… for the end of the world, that it finally made real sense. In a twisted, depressing way. Cauldron needed parahumans out in the world getting stronger and fighting the Endbringers, not rotting away in jail cells - all except the uncontrollable monsters, who went to the Birdcage for eventual release in the final battles against Scion (or for Ciara to… collect).
During your night-time trips to Cauldron's bases while everyone else on vacation was sleeping, you had asked Contessa - while she escorted you down featureless white halls, from practice subject to practice subject for your Doom Spike - if they actually had plans or ideas for how to run a real justice system once Scion was gone.
She hadn't broken her stride or even turned her head to acknowledge the question, but she was silent for longer than the usual amount of time it took her to respond to your other questions.
"We don't expect to be a part of whatever remains."
As with everything she says and does, there's obviously lots of different meanings and reasons behind her response. At first glance, it's a statement that they don't expect to survive the final fight, even if there is still pockets of humanity left over in the end. Thinking a bit more, there's the idea that the survivors wouldn't (or shouldn't) trust whatever's left of Cauldron. But you know what she's really trying to do: she's still trying to dissuade you from getting them boyfriends.
It's not going to work. Love will give them a reason to hope for the future! Also, everything you've watched and read indicates that sex helps mellow people out, so they definitely need that, too-
The heavy, reinforced steel door that is suddenly in front of you because you've totally been paying attention to where you're going slides open with a pneumatic hiss, revealing the sterile white room and its lone, awful inhabitant.
Just when you'd started to have happy thoughts. Ugh. It always figures.
Valefor is just the worst. How dare someone so pretty be so disgusting. He even makes the muzzle, blinders, and restraints look kinda- no! Ugh! Bad Saki!
Tilting his head at the sound of the door opening, the skinny twenty-something manages a chuff of a laugh.
...
Taking a steadying breath, you nod to yourself after shoving down all those thoughts and give a quick glance to your PRT Trooper guides and leave them behind as you enter the cell - the door swishing shut immediately behind you.
Lord Grasp hops off your shoulder with a menacing grumble, expanding as he does so until his 'tiny car' sized form takes up most of the free space in the room when he lands halfway on the bed and halfway up the wall. With a bit more force than is necessary, he grabs the orange-jumpsuit-clad deviant in both gilded pincers and holds him up in the air so that you can take his seat on the bed for yourself.
He struggles and grunts for a few seconds at being manhandled, but after not even budging Lord Grasp's… grasp on him in the slightest he eventually sighs and goes limp.
He knows what's coming, anyway.
You raise your left hand to your mouth and politely clear your throat. Might as well get started.
"Ward member Tatsu beginning interrogation of Elijah Mathers, alias 'Valefor'," you begin clearly, following the script the PRT has given you. "Given the ongoing threat posed by victims still under the influence of Mr. Mathers' ability and the time-critical nature of this ongoing conflict within the city, Mr. Mathers is considered to still be an active combatant that is resisting lawful arrest. Proceeding with application of Interrogation Spur in the hope of obtaining details on remaining victims within the Greater Philadelphia area."
The PRT don't think that you calling it Personality Override Spike would look very good if this ever got played in court. And you've gotten the hint that you should never mention your Transcendent Brutality Programming charm on the record.
Valefor stiffens for a split second before resuming his struggles, making a strangled grunt of desperate protest… not that the cameras and microphones can tell, what with your RIA making him sound like he's trying to curse you out.
That wasn't in the script, but you think it adds flair to the scene.
With Lord Grap still holding him vertically in front of you, you briefly consider where to actually strike him with the charm. PRT testing showed it worked even simply piercing a target's pinky finger (and it was super creepy how the spike never poked out the other side, no matter how deep it went), and Cauldron testing revealed that the 'hit' didn't leave lingering damage even when piercing the spine or brain. His hands and legs are bound at the wrists and ankles, but… he's being difficult.
Balling your right hand into a fist, you drive the chopstick-long soulsteel spike into his left thigh. The sturdy jumpsuit providing a hint of resistance before the needle pushes through, but there's not even a hint of trouble as the spike pushes through his pale skin and wiry muscle.
But even as your knuckles strike home against his leg, you feel as if your momentum is still carrying you forward… despite your physical body remaining perfectly still. It's a feeling you're still not entirely used to, partially because you recognize that part of you is flowing out and into him-
Dozens of practice sessions allows you to ignore the innuendo and focus, twisting your spiritual extension into a vice-like grip. Whatever pale shade of a resistance Valefor might have been able to put up if he had a real soul is crushed-
You blink.
Your family rented the movie Deliverance two years ago because Sakura wanted to see the famous 'dueling banjos' scene. While the rest of the movie had been… distressing… and your parents had stopped the movie early, the living conditions in that movie had stuck with you as what you imagined rural American living must be like: rustic, down-to-earth homes of wood and brick surrounded by deep forest, and without most of the modern amenities like, TV, Internet, and indoor plumbing.
Though the world around you now is hazy - as if built from a flickering, shifting, half-solid mist - it still resembles the weathered wooden porch from which that boy played his banjo. Except instead of a single rocking chair facing out into the deep autumnal forest beyond, there are two.
Valefor regards you with narrowed eyes, bent forward slightly in his chair as he rests his chin on his clasped hands. After a half-second of consideration, he begins to open his mouth-
"Ah, ah, ah," the old woman in the chair to his left tuts, holding up her hand to cut him off. She's smiling at you, but this time it's strained and doesn't quite reach her eyes.
"You had your turn. Let Mama do the talking now."
***
Possibly worrying. Aren't the Fallen basically multiple families with generational powers? (second, third, etc) Hope this isn't some leftover programming from 'Mama,' who's higher up in the group.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
My vague recollection is that Mama Mathers power is that she can build a mental backdoor into people? Not sure on details and limits.
SaltyWaffles
I am dissapoint, son
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Is Saki gonna have to slap a bitch? Because Mama Mathers is very much in need of one.
- Location
- California
Mama Mathers is a deadly threat to parahumans.
But now she's facing a former parahuman who was forged into a Champion of the Machine God. I do not think this is going to go well for her.
But now she's facing a former parahuman who was forged into a Champion of the Machine God. I do not think this is going to go well for her.
I would say this would be a cakewalk, but I've been unpleasantly surprised too many times in this quest to discount the chance of Mama Mathers being able throw out a nasty trick against Saki.
- Location
- The Hub
DEPLOYING FORUM WEAPON!
Emps: Autobot
Custodisi: MaMa
Karstodes: The Fallen.
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Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Mama Mathers, mother of Valefor, has the ability to hijack the sense of anyone who, well, senses her. This creates a clone of her that is dedicated to fucking you up.
Sight, touch, taste, smell, sound, and powers.
The more involved/detailed you are in these sensations, the more power over you she has. She can blind you, paralyze you with pain as you see spiders hatch from your skin, melt you from the inside you've tasted her, create sounds for distractions, or simply send you into a coma for a year with the after effects lasting semi-permanently.
The scary part, is that when she is sensed by Powers, she hijacks those as well. An emotion sensor had their power turned against them and was mentally/emotionally broken, a memory seer had the memory control revoked in them and they got experience every memory that she created as something they experienced and felt in their life-time. Valefor's power means that she has access to the mind-control and his ability see Stranger Powers like Imp's.
Some side-benefits is that she's immune to "most" master powers: Valefor's mind control doesn't work on her and a Teacher cape that could see through other people's eyes needed her permission to work.
This can be bypassed via Breaker effect like Scapegoat though.
She can also effect technology such as cameras, but only in the surface level of creating false images, not effecting the operators unless they read into the code of the device.
She also can't be in rooms that involve direct Shard influence, because those areas remove powers (or kill those who try). I'm surprised she even showed here, unless Valefor's power boosted her access.
As of Ward she was shown to be influencing nearly 300,000 people at once. It's nearly QA levels in terms of micromanaging.
It should be noted that this isn't the real Mama Mathers. Just a clone with its own independent but aligned thoughts and subtle feedback to Mama for her to make changes.
As a person, she is terrifyingly smart and clever, having kept the Fallen surviving for decades based on ruthlessness, picking and choosing targets, and zealotry.
Saki should be safe from her influence in here, because it's only a clone and not the actual Mama Mathers.
Sort of. Saki won't have her senses hijacked, but Mama Mathers could still pull a Pennywise and turn into a legion of Giant Spiders or Behemoth or something.
Except unlike Pennywise, the power of belief isn't going to help you when you actually have to fight the monster
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- Location
- U.S.
Her issue is that her power is....just UMI. Which Saki can trivially break on herself, if indeed Mathers can even get it to stick in the first place, which is never guaranteed with Exalts. She has essentially no ability to do anything but slow Saki down, and make her spend motes. So yeah. Scary power, but Exalts have universal easy access to ways around things like this.
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
Saki shouldn't be in any mental danger, both because Mama's real power doesn't spread from her clones and because of her Exalt defenses, but rather physical danger from whatever form Mama takes to fight her
Or that weird meta-physical in-between mental and physical and Shards and Soul Magic danger.
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- Location
- U.S.
That....would be shaping. Which she's also immune too. Mathers would have to produce an entirely real, physical, everybody-can-see-it form to actually be able to directly hurt her. In the rare cases UMI can actually do damage as well, it's still blockable exactly like standard UMI. Saki is in absolutely no danger.
We initially thought we'd have not too much trouble countering Jack during the Siege of Philly due to Exalted Bullshit. Look how that turned out, far more messy than we expected, and even then we technically failed imo since VoV had to come out to play.
Saki gets to slap down a bitch. Finally.
Mama Mather's Power is basically Subsidiary Personality Implant + Harrow The Mind. The dybbuk is exquisitely vulnerable here.
Saki could outright destroy it, or reprogram this particular instance; she could even extract it and hold it separately for interrogation of it's own.
I mean, remember this:
I mean, Mama Mathers dybbuk isn't looking strained because it's confident about it's position.
It's basically hard countered by the nature of her power.
If it's Mama Mathers herself, on the other hand, Saki can then basically wololo her as long as she's here.
And just Saki's raw Appearance modifier puts Mama at a significant disadvantage.
The Power of Belief absolutely does help. That's what spending Willpower in social combat is about
Mama Mather's Power is basically Subsidiary Personality Implant + Harrow The Mind. The dybbuk is exquisitely vulnerable here.
Saki could outright destroy it, or reprogram this particular instance; she could even extract it and hold it separately for interrogation of it's own.
I mean, remember this:
Two interrogation suspects for the price of one.Mind-Ripping Probe said:
I mean, Mama Mathers dybbuk isn't looking strained because it's confident about it's position.
It's basically hard countered by the nature of her power.
If it's Mama Mathers herself, on the other hand, Saki can then basically wololo her as long as she's here.
And just Saki's raw Appearance modifier puts Mama at a significant disadvantage.
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
Article: Spirit Absorption: If the victim is a spirit of lesser Essence and has no motes remaining, the Alchemical may force it into a dematerialized state and implode its being through her spike and into her soul. The spirit effectively does not exist while contained in this fashion and cannot be interacted with, save that the Exalt can clinch the spirit using Personality Override Spike and successive Charms as though it were currently pierced for no activation cost. If the spirit wins control of the grapple, it merely buys itself a day in which it cannot be further molested in that fashion. Unless they are being psychically probed, captive spirits are otherwise held in stasis in the same blank mindscape the spike imposes. One can be voluntarily released by extending the spike and spending one mote to force it out, emerging with the same traits as it entered with as modified by any additional psychic trauma inflicted upon it. There is no limit on the number of spirits that can be contained this way, but the death of the Alchemical also permanently kills all her captives.
So is this something Mama's doing, something else special about Saki's deluxe custom all-in-one Happy Fun Spike, or just Grom house-ruling the Happy Fun Spike mindscape to be more interesting?
This implies that Mama interfered last time Saki used the spike and (at least initially) didn't have a strained smile that time. Did Mama successfully cause trouble for Saki the first time around (necessitating this second session), if only through the element of surprise?
House rule, probably.
Saki just got here, and can probably change it if she so chooses.
More like she tried last time and either got smacked down, or plain didn't work.
Which is why she's much less comfortable this time.
Shaping defences protect your body/mind/etc from being shaped, yes. A shaping defense does nothing at all against someone shaping themselves into a giant monster and using their giant monster strength to crush you, or from creating opponents for you to fight.
Yes, but affecting their physical body from a purely mental realm in which nothing but social combat is supposed to be possible would be Shaping her. So, the only possible threat is her somehow beating Saki in social combat (not happening) or inflicting pain from an illusion, which is either UMI or Shaping.