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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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derpydude9001 said:
..... Every time I decide to not read the chapter as soon as it goes up and instead decide to read it later, it turns out to be a delay.... Is this my doing? Have I been unwittingly cursing us all, or do I have some some sixth sense when it comes to delays?
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We found the cause. Everybody get your torches and pitchforks from the supply closet and form an orderly mob.

Narsauce said:
I'm pretty sure that's in regards to new info rather than old info. As in, Contessa/Scion/Ziz could build an "Apeiron" approximation based on previous showings and behavioral models, but they'd never be truly accurate or able to predict everything he could do. OCP from M/E just flat up says "No, no precog/simulation/any of that bullshit" as Fiat, so they'll not able to precog him even if they actually put their back into it.
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Well, he said that before he got OCP.
 
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Hide Where They Don't Look (Knaka)
  • Apocrypha
    • LordRoustabout said:
    Skidmark didn't take off his costume at the end of the day and go home to some suburban split level. You were your cape name, and that was it.
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    LordRoustabout said:
    The main point was that nobody from the summit had contacted me yet. Oh, there had been messages claiming to be from capes, some of which even looked like they might be legitimate, but with a lack of any details of the specific agreement and the ability to preternaturally track connections it was easy to see through even the most dedicated ruses. I mean, unless Skidmark actually operated out of a high-end split-level south of Downtown, I don't think it was actually him, despite the impressive vocabulary of profanity on display.
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    Ah, it's time for another omake. I've had this idea in my head for a while, but I kept putting off writing it.

    XXX

    Hide Where They Don't Look

    Skidmark smiled as he relaxed on his luxury sofa. Things were looking up. The Merchants were on the rise, having greatly increased their membership and holding territory in over half the city.

    Some people might think this was a temporary situation, or a lucky break for the Merchants, but Skidmark knew better. Most people assumed he was stupid, a belief that he took no effort to correct. Being underestimated was an advantage. Skidmark was the leader of the Merchants, and you didn't become a gang leader by being stupid. His rise was not due to dumb luck, he was skilled at taking advantage of opportunities whenever they presented themselves. No matter how much people tried to plan or scheme, you couldn't account for everything. Sooner or later, unexpected things happen, and the key to success was taking advantages of opportunities whenever they presented themselves.

    The aftermath of the recent summit at Somer's Rock was an excellent example of this. Skidmark had rolled with things as much as he could during the meeting. The presence of Aperion's team was a surprise, and he honestly expected more push back from the Undersiders, but overall, things went over fine. Unfortunately, the Merchants had arrived just too late to be affected by the Empire's truce violation, which meant they weren't entitled to any reparations, but these things happen.

    Despite that unfortunate turn of events, the members of the summit were all given a valuable opportunity. Aperion had opened a line of communication for them. Skidmark knew that most of the other attendees would wait some time before contacting Aperion in order to avoid seeming desperate. Fools, all of them. You had to strike while the iron was hot. Whoever contacted Aperion first would have an advantage. Thus, Skidmark had sent a message as soon as he could.

    He hadn't heard anything back yet, but it had been less than a day. Aperion was obviously a busy man. Nevertheless, the fact that he had sent the first message would likely mean he was the first that Aperion would respond to. He had a real chance of getting a contract with Aperion. After all, the Undersiders had been able to do so, and he was certian that he had more resources than them.

    People looked down on the Merchants. He understood why. It was arrogance. The other groups in the city thought that the nicer, cleaner areas were more profitable. Merchant territory wasn't desirable, but it was full of potential. His peeps made good money pushing product, and product was always in demand. Everyone thought that the Merchants were poor and desperate. No one knew he owned over a dozen homes, from a suburban split level that he used every so often, to a huge mansion downtown. He also owned several luxury apartments like the one he was relaxing in right now. It was also an excellent hideout, after all, no one would be looking for Skidmark in luxury housing.

    Skidmark stretched his neck and decided to enjoy some of the product he brought with him. As he felt the high set in, he considered the future of the city. Once he got a contract with Aperion, he could begin expanding. Skidmark knew that the Empire and Teeth would be going at each other, Kaiser's anger would ensure that. No matter who won, the other side would be weakened and vulnerable. As long as no one killed the Butcher, then she could be driven out of the city easily, after all, it had been done before. Coil was a coward, Faultline's crew were mercenaries, the Undersiders could be worked around, and the Elite, Travelers, and Lost Garden would be gone once they finished their business in the city. Honestly, he didn't even need to contract Aperion to fight for them, all he needed was for him and his team to remain neutral. Aperion clearly only cared that the gangs avoid impacting the recovery efforts, so that shouldn't be an issue. As long as he agreed to that, the contract might not even cost that much.

    Not that he couldn't throw around the cash if he needed to. While the Merchants were believed to be poor, the truth was that he was loaded. He had so much cash that he had to invest it in stocks just to avoid his peeps from getting any ideas. Skidmark knew that putting it all in the bank would raise questions of where it was coming from, but if he put it in stocks, he was just an 'enterprising investor' who made his money off of previous investments. He could admit that he was a little concerned last week when Aperion attacked the ABB financial center, but aparently, the government was only focused on ABB assets. No one was looking for the Merchant's stocks. Skidmark knew that most villains used the Numberman's services to protect themselves when it came to finances, but that always seemed stupid to him. The Numberman's fees were high and it wasn't like he would be able to do anything if someone skilled or a large enough group went after the money he was protecting. No, better to cut out the middleman and just buy stocks directly.

    Skidmark had a fortune invested in the market. While he had some money in companies across the country, most of his investments were here in Brockton Bay. He was actually the largest shareholder of Medhall stock in the city. Maybe. It's not like he checked how much other people held as he was only using it to store his money in the largest company in the city, but it was probably true. The point was he had enough money to buy Aperion's neutrality, clearing the path for the Merchants to be the top power in the city. Once Aperion responded to his message, things would fall into place.

    Skidmark leaned back into the sofa as the drugs flowed through him, giving him a high. Yes, everything would go fine.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Ayashi said:
    If there's anyone protag would consider as valid targets for slavery and/or soul harvest it's evil versions of himself, so I could see him testing out her cloning ability. See if he can make use of any of the resulting Clones of himself and/or Clones of his own Duplicates...
    I mean, detaining them just because possible easy in this very chap, and aggressively brainwashing "reconditioning" should be possible too since iirc echidna clones are always at least a bit warped compared to the original so there's no way they'd gain intact the delicate power that is Mental Fortress...
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    Joe stresses himself out about the extremely finite lives of the duplicates more than they do themselves. there is an exactly zero percent chance that he'd be okay with any sort of slavery or soul harvest. he's better than that.
    Treekin3000 said:
    Maybe he can claim to be a music and athstetics thinker, and reveal it was HIM doing Garment's music and helping Aperion's presentation.

    Doesn't sound like anything combat relevant, so not really of interest to any gangs, including the PRT and implies high level connections that should reduce chances at attempts of forced recruitment.
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    ah yes, Apeiron's ability to be constantly seen in the best possible light, position, and angles would be of absolutely no interest to gangs that rely largely on public perception for their recruitment(and more) and Certainly of no interest to the PRT, who pay probably hundreds of people to orchestrate the kind of scenic views and pictures that Apeiron seemingly generates as a byproduct of his presence. /s

    the point being that there are absolutely no tinkers that are "not of interest to any gangs, including the PRT".
    Anaja said:
    His whole idea behind calling Joe is to have an honest and straightforward conversation. A conversation where you just tell Joe upfront what's going on, and just ask him direct questions about the stuff you're wondering about. A conversation that's about communicating rather than social manipulation.


    He has no reason to though. He already considered it, and he decided that there wasn't really anything interesting in the power collection compared to what he's already received from the Forge.
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    slightly terrifying thought; Joe retains the rolls he's already received from the forge if he dies and revives, as per standard jumpchain rules, right? so if he hosts the butcher.. does he become the ultra-butcher? assuming that mental-fortress means that he maintains control over the mind/body of the new host.... he becomes effectively immortal as long as other parahumans are within the butcher's effective range, no? I believe that LordRoustabout has spoken on what happens if Joe dies before, and I think he retains the fiat-backing? my memory on the subject is a little foggy, though.
    dragon_cloud16 said:
    Matrix
    (The site of the sunken island of Kyushu)

    'Beginning analyst. Confirming requirements. Beginning restoration of island known as Kyushu.'

    All this goes through the Divine Hive Mind that is Matrix in less then a second before he combines his knowledge of alchemy along with his own nanobot capabilities.

    Waves rise up in a furious motion as the very ocean itself is forced to obey the will of the power created by Apeiron's divine hand and skills. Within minutes, what was once buildings start to appear from the depths. As minutes go by, more and more of the land mass reappears from the seas to return to gaze upon the glory that is the sky once again.

    'Buildings are no longer fit for habitation within standards approved by Survey, Aisha, and Creator. Beginning upgrade process upon the land,' is the following thoughts before he begins the process of improving the island to stand greater then before.

    A entire day passes as he works on this "vacation project." By the time he returns to the Workshop, the entire island will stand stronger then before. And sitting upon a place of value, the Three Regalia will be reborn with Divine Power being empowered within them.
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    The matrix uses they/them on account of being a sentient mass of genderless nanomachines.
    Klick-Clak said:
    You guys think he got a really good 600 point power? Some of the other delays were because of the fact that he wanted to meet justice with these powers.
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    the call with tattletale is next chapter isn't it? i'd assumed the delay was due to that - it's the next step in the actual plot of the story, and a rather delicate situation. could also be a real big power though.
     
    Klick-Clak said:
    You guys think he got a really good 600 point power? Some of the other delays were because of the fact that he wanted to meet justice with these powers.
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    Stark40763 said:
    He might have finally got Truth or something like it, and that's not something that can be taken lightly.
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    Lord has said that this week was a bad one for writing. It could be that a power exacerbated the issue, but it's more than likely just that LR didn't have much writing time this week.
     
    MagicalAmbitions said:
    the call with tattletale is next chapter isn't it? i'd assumed the delay was due to that - it's the next step in the actual plot of the story, and a rather delicate situation. could also be a real big power though.
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    The call should be at the start of the next chapter, the last ended with her calling and it ringing but there'll probably be a bit of descriptive stuff before they start talking. I also agree the security and star trek skills wiped the bank so getting a big power point wise is pretty unlikely tho there are lower cost ones with big impacts remaining like synchronicity event which is only 300.
     
    You are one of best writters in this site take as much time as you need your story is great and its plot acutualy moves forward pleas rest as much as you need
     
    Tiz Goldeneye said:
    Now honestly, a lot of this is me being dramatic as Joe tends to take things slow.
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    Joe does tend to do things slowly and carefully... until he suddenly starts smashing through walls and using FTL vehicles as bullets.

    There are multiple ways that Joe can find out about Dinah. I have a mental image of Joe then discovering the 12 year-old girl being played with by the sadistic asshole, being condescendingly referred to as "pet", and Dinah doing whatever Coil wants to get in order to get her next dose of drugs.

    Cue Godzilla roar.

    While Joe has an incredible number of options for subtly responding to the situation, I want to see the brute force approach at maximum velocity.

    In canon Lisa's longterm planning and manipulations allowed her to walk away from the situation with Coil's money, resources, and his amoral group of mercenaries.

    I doubt Lisa will benefit as greatly this time around.
     
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    That depends on how you count gains. Make no mistake Lisa's schemes in canon were very important but there were other factors involved too like luck and plot armour along with abusing Coil's flaws like his overconfidence to get the spoils she did but you have to question how useful is it? The mercs can't be trusted because not all of them will turn on Coil since he likes the ones with socially unacceptable vices like paedophiles that he is willing to supply and the ones she does turn by virtue of paying them more in canon as expected flip on her when paid even more. There is the factor of Joe meaning if they flipped they'd need a really good reason to risk getting on his bad side but Joe would want them to pay for their crimes as he would per wog for if someone like Purity wanted his protection and to be a hero.

    As for the money and resources she gets they are honestly far less useful in bcf than canon because of the heat on the undersiders, the city and Joe. At this point the most important resource is Joe's goodwill because the undersiders are too unstable and have too much attention on them to handle it without him and if they get on his bad side he can pretty much instantly take them down but Lisa is too hooked on being the mastermind.
     
    Spidey_phd said:
    There are multiple ways that Joe can find out about Dinah. I have a mental image of Joe then discovering the 12 year-old girl being played with by the sadistic asshole, being condescendingly referred to as "pet", and Dinah doing whatever Coil wants to get in order to get her next dose of drugs.
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    Then, I hope his various memory perks allow him to remember the following scene:

    LordRoustabout said:
    The newscast cut away from the bank story and suddenly I felt it. A spike of concern, worry, even terror.

    "Now? Seriously, fucking now is when you think something is wrong?"

    I was shouting myself horse to the empty hideout, but it was making me feel just the slightest bit better. Finally, after all of that my passenger finally felt something approaching concern for the situation. I ignored the TV droning on about an amber alert and focused on my passenger. There was actually a sense of urgency and borderline regret. Good. Fucking good that you finally are willing to acknowledge that there might be something less than ideal happening here.

    I couldn't figure out what part of this he was so concerned about. I had been given no hint of this coming and suddenly he realized something was wrong. I was too angry to be able to figure out what the associations were. To be perfectly honest I was taking some dark satisfaction from how agitated he was becoming. Suddenly there was something about the situation he had a problem with. I couldn't tell what it was so I sat fuming on the couch and watched my passenger cycle through various shades of panic and anxiety as the news played in the background.

    Eventually the news changed over from the story of the missing girl to a report on how traffic was being held up through all of downtown thanks to Grue's darkness choking the streets. My passenger's frantic panic slowly melted down to despair and then reservation. My own enjoyment at his distress was also giving way to the gaping question of what to do next.
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    Just so that he knows everything that Dinah has been going thru? Is all 100% totally his fault. His fault for providing the weapons for the distraction. His fault for totally ignoring his passenger warning him about this very event, but he was too angry to listen to it. It's the one thing that has happened in the entire story that I'm actually angry at Jozef about.
     
    AntaeusTheGiant said:
    Then, I hope his various memory perks allow him to remember the following scene:



    Just so that he knows everything that Dinah has been going thru? Is all 100% totally his fault. His fault for providing the weapons for the distraction. His fault for totally ignoring his passenger warning him about this very event, but he was too angry to listen to it. It's the one thing that has happened in the entire story that I'm actually angry at Jozef about.
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    I don't really think Joe can be held at fault for that? Drawing a link between one specific amber alert and a bank robbery is a bit of a stretch. At that point in time, even if Joe looked at the amber alert, he'd probably think his passenger was just overly concerned about the mayor's daughter for some reason; he wouldn't really have any cause to think the bank robbery was related to it, and his passenger couldn't communicate enough information to tell Joe that yes, there is a specific connection between the mayor's kidnapped daughter and this bank robbery I was just cheering on.
     
    AmberSlime said:
    he'd probably think his passenger was just overly concerned about the mayor's daughter for some reason;
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    That's just it.. he specifically didn't think that.. instead he just ignored what his passenger was trying to warn him about because he was angry at it. It's the same as if a person had had an argument and was in a bad mood, and then ignored the child playing in the street with a car zooming towards it.
     
    AmberSlime said:
    I don't really think Joe can be held at fault for that? Drawing a link between one specific amber alert and a bank robbery is a bit of a stretch. At that point in time, even if Joe looked at the amber alert, he'd probably think his passenger was just overly concerned about the mayor's daughter for some reason; he wouldn't really have any cause to think the bank robbery was related to it, and his passenger couldn't communicate enough information to tell Joe that yes, there is a specific connection between the mayor's kidnapped daughter and this bank robbery I was just cheering on.
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    Can Joe be blamed for not seeing the critical importance of that particular news article right after he was given a very good reason to stop relying so much on his passenger's directions and perception of things (ie the bank robbery)? Of course not.

    Will he blame himself for not seeing it at the time once he puts the pieces together, and FEEL personally responsible for everything she's suffered through at coil's hands?
    Absolutely.
     
    Dinah's personal situation in BCF should remind folks that this is still worm.

    On a happy note, at least all the precog blocking will mean her rescue will actually be a happy surprise for her, and Joe's healing should take care of the addictions...
     
    Coil comeuppance is probably a free space on a Worm Fanfiction bingo card.
     
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