Good point, but... I'm pretty sure the reason Lord decided to not add more companions is because there's already way too many characters in this story.
Nope, he never said it. He said that there will not be more companions, because paliko perk is the only one in this version of the forge that gives item that also counts as "companion". Companion being a specific term in jumpchain. Beside jumper, only companions can get perks.
All creatures, no matter their sapience, if not explicitly stated to be "companion", counts as an item. Garment is an item. Tetra is an item. Avid Glove is an item. Wishes are an item. Titans are derivate from an item. Kerbals will be an item. Forge might have an objectification problem.
The point is: there will be more characters from forge, but there will be no more "Companions". Edit: No, more like : Lord's statement regarding "companions" have no bearing on characters in general.
Anyway, here's the question: how would "Whispered" function without Sophia being in Tau wave to whisper? Perk is paid for, so it's supposed to work no matter wha... Wait, I got an idea, if Tau wave is spread throughout all time, then even after Sophia saved, there still will be Sophia in Tau wave, because she was there, which means she is there and will be there.
New question! How many Sophias can Joe pull out of Tau wave?
So, just in case anyone else is like me and mainly uses TvTropes to check on WoG. Lord is still responding on Ao3, but whatever kind person takes the time out of their day to archive it, just hasn't been doing so recently, yet the info is still there. That being said, there were some highlights from this week's WoG for this chapter that I wanted to share outside of the amazing meme which I see someone beat me to.
1 Uppercrust will be getting a Simurgh blocker.
2 Joe's current casual crafting projects outstrip the powers of A-Class capes.
3 "Joe is still in the process of feeling things out with Uppercrust. They're off on a good foot, but their relationship will depend on how he handles the aid Joe offered and what happens with the house cleaning. If things go well there's the possibility of Uppercrust being brought closer into the fold of the Celestial Forge and maybe even given a look behind the curtain. That would be the minimum that would need to happen before he could start interacting with Aisha as anything other than the Celestial Forge's terrifying stranger."
4 Alec will be calling "soon" in universe.
5 Joe has a sufficient amount of perks that when he makes Tetra into a Kamui, the resulting item will be beyond what a Kamui is even theoretically capable of.
6 The remaining perks that Joe can roll to help with the Kamui are Titan's Blood, Monstrous Strength, and Unnatural Skill Weaving.
7 Joe will be able to save the Tau Wave conscious+ meme. See post I was Lethed on for further details.
LordRoustabout actually mentions another important thing that is missing from this list:
Items that Joe makes are legendary even without the benefit of his enchantments and technology. Add in those features and you get a whole new level of power. For Taylor's case, it's possible that Joe could make something divinely enhanced to be harmless, meaning no matter how creative Taylor got with it, it wouldn't be able to hurt people. Of course, if she knew that she could go all out without risk of hurting people you'd probably see even more reckless behavior on her part.
Good point, but... I'm pretty sure the reason Lord decided to not add more companions is because there's already way too many characters in this story.
Regarding the whole discussion about Aisha and Brian.
Yes, it is something that is stressing Aisha out, but I genuinely don't think Joe or any member of the Forge, or even Brian will get that angry about it. She was less mature and she saw it as a joke, but she still didn't say anything. Now, yes it is stressing her out, but I think the others would see her not talking about it as respecting the Unwritten Rules (while they know first names and faces, they don't know last names - Joe would already know about Aisha if they did), rather than not wanting to talk about it. After all, she hasn't told Brian about Joe either.
Honestly, when it comes out, Brian is more likely to be pissed off that his sister triggered than she hid it from him. Granted, once he has time to calm down, he's likely going to feel like crap since having Joe in her life as a mentor/big brother-like figure, even disregarding all the cape crap, has helped Aisha become a better person. Moreso than he or his dad ever did. Granted, part of that is from Apeiron likely healing Aisha's ADHD during that first healing spree (when he saved her from dying via Bakuda bomb when she was trying to spy on the ABB), but Brian likely doesn't even know about that, or would even consider it without someone prompting him to first. Hell, if she really is adjusting better and her situation with her dad isn't poor anymore... Brian really doesn't need to fight for custody other than for his own pride at this point.
People are inflating this as being big drama, but honestly, Joe is likely to just be like, "Hmm, well I guess that's funny. Small world." at this point. Brian will... react stronger, I suppose, but I don't really see this as being a big thing for Joe. There is likely to be a bigger thing since Joe has become a sort of up-and-comer at Laborn's gym, which Brian has either been avoiding or just has been too busy to stop by. Brian might see that more as Joe stepping into 'his' place, but Joe could just as calmly point out that he had been going to the gym long before getting powers, and that it was Brian's choice to spent time being a supervillain rather than working things out with his family.
Not that Joe is any real position to offer advice regarding family matters, but still.
No, there will be some drama when it does come out (if it ever does) but honestly, I don't think said drama is going to be between Joe and Aisha. It's likely more going to be some lingering resentment from Brian and maybe some sibling problems.
Honestly, considering Brian and Aisha never actually talk out things, even in canon, if Brian never finds out by circumstances coming together Aisha might even decide to never tell him. After all, even if they love each other that doesn't make communication any easier - Brian still sees Aisha as too immature to be able to decide anything for herself, while Aisha knows this and thinks Brian might overreact if he ever finds out. Joe finding out is one thing - she's afraid of disappointing Joe, not out of fear but out of respect, but Brian finding out is a problem, but not because she regrets not telling him first thing.
And Joe won't exactly encourage her either to make that step. Indeed, he of all people can't really give advice on how to deal with family problems, and Aisha is within her rights if she doesn't want to tell Brian, even if Brian told her his own secret. On the short run at least - once the Celestial Forge takes over Earth Bet and kicks off the uplifting, I imagine Aisha could take her time then to tell him. But not right now while the wires are hot and complicating things with personal dramas is a bad idea.
Don't worry, I'm sure Taylor can do something absurdly lethal with whatever Joe gives her! I mean, technically speaking a wand that magically knocks out everyone safely and with no damage can still kill if you stack enough unconscious bodies on top of each other right?
A smell bomb that can only release pleasant smells, she makes it smell like Ratatouille and while her opponent is distracted having a flashback of his mom's cooking she shoots him in the face.
Don't worry, I'm sure Taylor can do something absurdly lethal with whatever Joe gives her! I mean, technically speaking a wand that magically knocks out everyone safely and with no damage can still kill if you stack enough unconscious bodies on top of each other right?
Well actually, in canon one of the reasons Brian doesn't really confront Aisha or start to hash things out or work on their relationship is definitely got something to do with her power which she doesn't really have great control over to start. And it does prove to be inconvenient even after she starts to get a handle on it.
Here, Aisha deliberately goes out of her way to be pretty sparing with its activation, not even using it to troll people. In fact she seems to see it as her personal mission to be more mature and responsible, so that 180 switch of priorities will definitely be concerning for Brian. He's been in the Cape game for years by this point, so that screams Master Stranger Danger.
Well actually, in canon one of the reasons Brian doesn't really confront Aisha or start to hash things out or work on their relationship is definitely got something to do with her power which she doesn't really have great control over to start. And it does prove to be inconvenient even after she starts to get a handle on it.
Here, Aisha deliberately goes out of her way to be pretty sparing with its activation, not even using it to troll people. In fact she seems to see it as her personal mission to be more mature and responsible, so that 180 switch of priorities will definitely be concerning for Brian. He's been in the Cape game for years by this point, so that screams Master Stranger Danger.
I mean by the time he knows what her power is, he'll also know that Aisha is Lethe, the Strongest Stranger In The World who put a blade over Othala's neck before his very eyes as part of the Celestial Forge, so I think he'll have bigger concerns than a little OOC-ness.
To a certain extent, he already has. Brian and their father have noticed the sudden maturity, but Mr. Laborn convinced Brian that it's the result of a combination of the mugging and meeting Garment that convinced Aisha to shape up, and it's technically even true.
Heck Brian even noticed his own forgetfulness to a certain extent, but he had written it up to be the result of a rather stressful couple of weeks. I think it would need a reveal of Joe being a member of the gym to make things click.
Joe didn't trust her because of his power. He chose to trust her because she seemed to realize that she had fucked up following him back to his place, and he felt that showing her trust was the best way for her to prove worthy of it.
Joe also doesn't just take his passenger at its word regarding whether or not to like and trust people, and that's because of the Undersiders.
That reminds me, I still don't understand Leet's backstory. From what I remember he saw that Aleph-Leet made a game, and decided that he would copy that game, and then was surprised that he couldn't release it because it's just a copy?
That reminds me, I still don't understand Leet's backstory. From what I remember he saw that Aleph-Leet made a game, and decided that he would copy that game, and then was surprised that he couldn't release it because it's just a copy?
No he made his own game but was given a cease and desist order because he and Alpha him shared the same name. So he was punished for the crime of his own name being the same as his alternate version. Which is bull, but hey that's the copyright system for you.
FYI, anyone looking for a good WoG repository should check the discord channel, which is meticulously updated with any updates that Lord give over the 3 sites.
Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.
No he made his own game but was given a cease and desist order because he and Alpha him shared the same name. So he was punished for the crime of his own name being the same as his alternate version. Which is bull, but hey that's the copyright system for you.
Specifically that his alternate is the type of game developer to put his name on the box, like "Tom Clancy's Call of Duty" in Aleph and then Leet makes a indie platformer with rabbits and just has his name on his Bet itch.io page (Games by Thomas Clancy!) and is getting a sudden Cease and Desist.
With the meeting finally concluded, I gathered Survey and we said hasty goodbyes. Once we exited the suite I surreptitiously grabbed my wand, her comforting presence was welcomed as a surge of concentration displaced us back to the Forge. I really wanted to get inside as quickly as possible, because I could feel the Reach starting a new crescendo. I didn't want to have them see another "Trance".
Luckily I was already in the Forge, two steps in and it happened. A speck that wasn't there before was wrenched and brought into my control, it was a moderately large sized speck, and I could swear I didn't have the reach just a moment before it hit.
A small rumble accompanied the knowledge that arrived in my mind. Someone, no, a specific person had built a machine looking for a partner, a friend; someone had built a machine to find him a friend. And once again the memory of my alternative trigger still lingered in the back of my mind, to be so lonely, so sad, that you would risk crossing dimensional boundaries to find someone that could understand you, at least this plan was better than the half baked idea of my to-be power granter.
The sadness that suddenly filled my heart in sympathy was tempered by the slight confusion and sense of hilarity that came from my power, it was also slightly marred by the knowledge that this man wasn't an upstanding citizen... Technically a villain... well, he was barely above mischievous, I'm sure that any of the Undersiders had made much worse, heh, Aisha probably did at least one worse thing in the short time since she got her powers and she got tangled with me....
Anyway, since I was close to the entry point I simply walked there, a door had appeared on the wall, it had a mixture of simple and clunky advanced technology at the same time.
Just as I opened the door towards me, almost by instinct, from the other side, the man pushed towards me. His long extremities tangled with mine, and while I had a host of special abilities that insured that I never did something so crass as to fall down, he wasn't so lucky.
Imagine arriving to a new dimension a tangle of arms and legs.
From the floor he stared at me, a long face with a very long and pointy nose, spiky, wild brown hair crowned a triangular head, big but extremely smart eyes looked at me in a mixture of awe, surprise, some hope, and a little hidden sadness. A covered effort between my power and his creation had brought a sentient being, a man, from another parallel Earth into my Forge.
I swiftly disengaged and offered my hand to help my new friend (wait, friend?) up from the floor.
- "Doctor Doofenshmirtz, I presume"
He opened a large mouth with perfectly straight teeth, which needed to be either a technological improvement or the man took very seriously his dental hygiene, I approved.
-"Emmm, yes? How do you already know my name?"
- "umm... It's on your badge..."
He looked at a classic printed badge for parties and mixers, with a "Dr. Doofenshmirtz" handwritten in large letters.
- "Oh, right, I forgot I made this. I can't believe the Find-a-bestest-friend-to-do-science-and-learn-frominator worked so well! I barely know you but I already trust you, and feel we can be buddies and build fantastic machinery!" He said excitedly, while getting up and looking around in fascination "I can already see some fantastic technology in this alcove, wait is that a map of this place? IS THAT A VOLCANO! YOU HAVE A REAL VOLCANO BASE!?! You really win at this thing of being the best villain!"
Something must have shown on my face because his smile dropped down fractionally, right after saying that. I made a motion to speak, but he was faster.
- "Wait, don't tell me, you are a hero, or at least neutral, you are not a villain... right... once again another inator completely and unexpectedly fucks me over..." he ended that sentence in a whisper, with a thoroughly dejected face.
- "The only thing missing is Agent Perry ready to ruin my day more completely.... Well luckily, the only beings in this dimension are me, and the Professional Experimental Subject duck that I hired for this mission. Come here Terry! "
Coming through the door and closing it after he was through, came one of the weirdest things I've seen in some time.
And I say this as a superpowered being, imbued with the power of uncountable alternate universes, friends with a cat that doubles as the god of war for this locality, 3 Artificial Intelligences with the power to destroy the world, a sentient spirit of fashion and a sentient piece of fabric along with a variable evolutionary alien capable of consuming all life on earth, no, what came out of that door, Terry, was a green platypus haphazardly painted white, with a few feathers pasted on top, with paint still dripping from some of his features, wearing a surgical cap with a T printed on the front.
- "Cuack" said the obviously suspicious platypus duck. Said, not cuacked.
This impostor couldn't fake it any worse, but the good doctor was oblivious to it, or he didn't care; Then again this was the person so desperate for a friend that he built a machine to find one through the dimensional space continuity...
- "Quite right my employee, he is not a villain, but my inator brought us here, so probably we would still get along. I can try this heroing thing for a while, to see if I learn something at least."
The fake duck stared to the right impassively, Doofenshmirtz followed the impersonator's line of sight to a gesticulating dress and white gloves.
Oh, I hadn't noticed the team's arrival, so distracted I was by this out of sanity situation.
- "Well , who is this delightful invisible lady, my good man?" commented the doctor ignoring the crude language that Garment was using to describe the man's scraggy look, the state of his labcoat, his hair, the rest of his clothes were not even mentioned.
- "Ehh... This is Garment, another one of my good friends, she is an embodied spirit of pure fashion and she want's to offer... no she want's to force a makeover on your entire wardrobe, or she will permanently sew every eyelid in range of your clothes to spare the rest of the universe the suffering of witnessing your vissage.... rough translation..."
- "Oh, a woman who knows what she wants, and willing to change the world to accomplish it! Outstanding! She reminds me of my ex-wife." To Garment. "Of course my lady, I'll be left on your care as soon as I return my assistant to his home, is that allright?".
Garment gesticulated a moderate assent, conceding that if his assistant returned to his own dimension, he at least wouldn't have to suffer this affront to fashion, and that she was willing to concede some time for this.
- "She says yes"
- "Excellent, well, Larry, Let me just open the doo.... ack... it's locked!"
- "Here, let me" I said, at first using my normal strenght, then my inhuman strength, then my divinely increase strength, then I invoked the strength of those who forge and create in form of a door opening gadget that was built both in a millennia and in a femtosecond. The door didn't budge.
- "Oh... it's no use, the dimensional synchronicity has already expired." He turns to the clearly skulking not-a-duck that was nervously checking out the other members of the Forge, who were, judiciously, keeping their distance to allow me the introduction process. His life force, while concentrated and powerful in the Dragon Pulse, felt specially nervous, and it was directed at Tybalt for some reason. "I'm so sorry Larry, you are stuck with us, at least, until I can build a Return-Larry-to-his-own-earthinator.... Don't worry it probably won't be too long."
- "Ehem... ok..." I interrupted, trying to bring some modicum of order to this insanity conga, "Let me introduce the rest of my team Doctor, this is Aisha, Lethe when in costume" I said while I signaled the irrepressible teenager, that was the one closest to us from the "viewing area" that the others had distanced themselves to.
- "What a cute Platypus assistant Doctor! but Why is it painted white?!" Exclaimed Aisha after removing the helmet portion of her armor and moving to grab the now exposed Platypus.
- "What platypus? Larry is a duck!.... WAIT! ... NO!" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed with mounting horror.
Seeing the approaching teenager Larry jumped in the air towards a higher terrain in the form of a shelf, the sudden movement dislodged the white paint and several feathers came out flying, letting his leaf green fur exposed, Fleet and Tetra made a movement to step in, but Tybalt stopped them with a paw and a slight expression, coldly calculating the platypus every move.
- "IT IS YOU! ISN'T IT? YOU HAD TO FOLLOW ME HERE!!" Screamed the doctor in a crying and scratchy tone.
The impassionate platypus pondered probable paths that potentially provided perfect oportunities. He relaxed, put on brown fedora that was taken out of literal nowhere and with a tired look uttered "Rrrrrr".
- "I DON'T CARE IT WAS YOUR MISSION! I WAS LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND! VANESSA DOESN'T NEEDS ME ANYMORE! NO ONE DOES" the poor doctor screamed to the point of damaging his larynx.
The platypus looked ashamed "Rrrrrr.... Rrrrr".
- "WHAT? ... Are you saying you need me?" a flabergasted man looked at a despondent bird mammal, look the beak is confusing, ok?
Before this bizarre drama could continue, Doofenshmirtz was lifted off by his lapels and floated towards a retreating Garment, in the direction of her workshop.
Her movements spoke of enough time had been wasted in somethign that was not going to happen anymore, and that this level of Drama, capital D, required, nay demanded, appropriate clothes, she also signaled that she would be very grateful to anyone who "invited" the painting-splashing bird mammal to have a cleaning and to get to the clothes workshop, she promised The Fedora, capital letters too, would be left untouched unless the feathered spy requested so.
In a moment all the rising drama, that was a little too close to comfort if I'm being honest, was dismantled, Tybalt, in a completely unthreatening walking posture, approached the alert platypus and meowed some words of comfort,
- "Do not worry, warrior of justice, you are among friends here." translated Survey through speakers, using a tone of voice that was halfway between Tybalt's meowing and her own voice.
It seemed that we had gained two friends, instead of just one...
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One awkward makeover later
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"Oh sure your 'Power' brought me here to help you save the world. I'm a Evil Villain with a degree in Evil Science! What can you do?"
"Trans-dimensional folding technology, a computer that interacts with your soul, and advanced Alien technology that is closer to magic at times then what we currently have on Earth being powered by a Dyson Sphere."
- "Well at least you don't have platypuses running around."
- "Grrrr."
- "A platypus test pilot?"
The test pilot dones a fedora.
- "Perry the platypus test pilot?"
The bird mammal gets out of a Garment made pilot suit.
- "PERRY THE PLATYPUS!!!"
A beat.
- "Doctor, you already know he is here" said Joe 2, slightly exasperated
- "I tend to forget he is"
- "Are you sure he doesn't have a Stranger power?" Asked Lethe from behind the Think-of-a-taste-and-it-will-make-it-an-icecreaminator the doctor had whipped up while we talked.
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Some time later
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- "So how exactly did my latest inator do this again?"
- "Grrrrr."
- "How was I to know that putting a self destruct button right near the slushy machine would cause this!?!"
Two young female voices speak simultaneously: "Apeiron's the one that will save me." "Apeiron will be the one to save me."
- "Okay, Perry the Platypus now is the time to be afraid because they are doing the creepy twin speak."
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
An unlikely companion (400)
A conjunction of forces and events have aligned to provide you with help.
You get a smart, dedicated, ingenious and brilliant inventor and engineer, with only slight delusions and a tiny amount of megalomania.
They win a friend, well, you also get a friend.
A man tired of a lifetime of failures and near successes, after his daughter graduated and got happily married, she decided to move to Europe with his husband. Left alone in the city he grew up and could never conquer, this man decided to find friendship far from his home, far from his dimension. So he built a machine that would search among all realities for someone else that would be smart, intelligent, powerful, but most importantly a good friend to him, also if they were on the wrong side of the law it wouldn't hurt.
It worked! And that person is you!
You both feel immediate kinship and sorority for each other, and trust each other implicitly, you won't betray each other unless some really heavy conflict of interests arises.
There's a risk that a hidden law bringer follows this strange man from his dimension, what happens with such bird/mammal is up to both of you, but the doctor is oddly fond of this creature, perhaps a compromise can be reached?
You get THE Doctor Doofenshmirtz as a friend and companion, he won't fight (and if he does he will do so ineffectively), but he will build machines that are capable of doing almost anything, and most of the time they will even work correctly!!!
Perhaps some quality control and removal of self destruct buttons is warranted?
An unlikely companion's nemesis (Free)
You also get an animal law enforcement agent from the dimension the doctor is from. This creature is a master of disguise and a spy of unparalleled ability.
Although he fights for the law and all that is good, the doctor isn't that bad, so this spy isn't a stickler for the law either.
Furthermore, in this dimension they have no authority, so technically they can't arrest anyone.
No friendship or kinship is guaranteed, but civilized conversation and agreements can be made.
You can also fight, if you want. Careful, don't underestimate them... wait, where did it go?
