There really isn't much to figure out though? Emma was attacked, Shadow Stalker saved her, She starts hanging out with Sophia around this time, Sophia hasn't been to school since we told the PRT about Shadow Stalker threatening us. Unless Taylor is DEEP in denial Sophia=Shadow Stalker just makes sense.
1. Does it matter when, in a turn or two, Taylor could simply be acquiring definitive proof anyway?
2. I'd rather get flak for Taylor inuiting too little than too much.
That's all I'm trying to say. I had no clue how players would react if Taylor was like "Ah, yes, Sophia is Shadow Stalker, that makes sense."
This negative reaction is way better than the opposite end of that, where people complain that Taylor figured it out too easily, since I can fix the former easier than the latter, if it even mattered in terms of Taylor's behavior at-present.
edit: I didn't know how people would react, and it didn't really affect much either way, so I erred on the side of caution. Simple as that.
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[X][Daily Activities] Hang out with Greg, instead of merely tolerating his presence.
[X][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[X][Cape Activities] Go out healing with Panacea for the fourth straight week in a row.
[X][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] Something Else (Write-In)
--[X][Project] See if you can separate FireWind shot and EarthWater shot into separate elemental shots(aka figure out the points to ignite in order to do so), then carve the triangle rune onto a wooden stick to see if rune can be used on objects. If yes, it's time to make the staff into an actual weapon (purely for self-defence)
[X][EMERGENCY] Expend 50 Research to create yet another mental library for the host. t this point, Queen Administrator is sick of new things cropping up in this library, and will just lump anything and Everything into it. (Taylor will gain Eidetic Memory: S. She can now remember anything perfectly, so long as she has tested its effects on mana. This includes movements, shapes, sounds, atomic attunement configurations, and alchemy recipes.)
[X][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[X][Daily Activities] Something Else (Maybe invite Amy to hangout outside of work?)
[X][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[X][Daily Activities] Stay at home (Enhances other actions)
--[X][Daily Activities] Look through the books you have.
--[X] Make a wheat outfit to help with harvests
[X][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] Now you're certain that there is someone on the other end of the connection through your Corona Pollentia/ Eldritch Relay, try to establish contact with that entity.
--[X][Project] Create a Taylor-shaped avatar and try delegating control of it to the entity for communication.
[X][EMERGENCY] Expend 50 Research to create yet another mental library for the host. t this point, Queen Administrator is sick of new things cropping up in this library, and will just lump anything and Everything into it. (Taylor will gain Eidetic Memory: S. She can now remember anything perfectly, so long as she has tested its effects on mana. This includes movements, shapes, sounds, atomic attunement configurations, and alchemy recipes.)
[x][Alchemy] try to see if when we transfert worth from lego we also tranfert modularity and compatibility
[x][EMERGENCY] Expend 50 Research to create yet another mental library for the host. t this point, Queen Administrator is sick of new things cropping up in this library, and will just lump anything and Everything into it. (Taylor will gain Eidetic Memory: S. She can now remember anything perfectly, so long as she has tested its effects on mana. This includes movements, shapes, sounds, atomic attunement configurations, and alchemy recipes.)
[x][project] maybe see if the worth that is tranfered can act on information like a blueprint shee if she can create a shematic of Something more advenced than what was on it at first
[x][project] see what are the propertie of the different defined ore maybe even try to include a forge in the lab
[x][Mana] The 'Zap' phonem makes mana behave like electricity without taking on all of its properties. But just how much does it act like electricity? And does it still behave like mana in some other ways?
-[x][Mana] Can 'Zap' mana be stored in batteries or capacitors? If this works it would be a good way to store up mana for later use, or for use in magical devices.
-[x][Mana] If you bend a wire into a shape that would form a rune, and then run 'Zap' mana through it, does it trigger the effects of the rune as though the mana were flowing in that pattern in the air?
-[x][Mana] Does the mana retain its 'conservation of movement' property, I.E. would 'Zap' mana keep flowing through a closed circuit endlessly?
-[x][Mana] How does 'Zap' mana react with other electronic components? Do resistors weaken it? Does running it through an inductor coil produce a magnetic field, some kind of magnetic mana, or nothing at all?
-[x][Mana] While at these tests, see if you can derive any phonems that would actually convert the mana into electricity all the way, or, possibly more interestingly, convert electricity into mana the same way dust can be turned into mana.
*edit- I just saw that we do already have a phonem that can turn mana into electricity, 'Ziz'. So never mind looking for that one, though the converse would certainly be useful.
[X][EMERGENCY] Expend 50 Research to create yet another mental library for the host. t this point, Queen Administrator is sick of new things cropping up in this library, and will just lump anything and Everything into it. (Taylor will gain Eidetic Memory: S. She can now remember anything perfectly, so long as she has tested its effects on mana. This includes movements, shapes, sounds, atomic attunement configurations, and alchemy recipes.)
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[x][Daily Activities] Something Else (Maybe invite Amy to hangout outside of work?)
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[X][Daily Activities] Stay at home (Enhances other actions)
--[X][Daily Activities] Look through the books you have.
--[X] Make a wheat outfit to help with harvests
[X][Daily Activities] Make contact with Lisa again: Explain why you are not prepared to become a villain or do anything illegal, but if she doesn't have a problem with that, you'd be willing to still be friends.
-[X][Daily Activities] Try to feel out what she thinks the PRT would think of some of your more horrific powers.
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[x][Daily Activities] Hang out with Greg, instead of merely tolerating his presence.
--[x][Daily Activities]Ask Greg about other fantasy games or media
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[x][Daily Activities] Go to the library, see if there are any fantasy novels that have spellcasters as heroes. See if any of them can inspire spells. Pick up Stasheff's Her Majesty's Wizard, and possibly sequels. Also a copy of the Slayers or Bastard animes as well.
[x][Daily Activities] What sort of things will you do during the day?
-[x][Daily Activities] Hang out with Greg, instead of merely tolerating his presence.
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[x][Cape Activities] Set up your Legal Second-Identity (Can we please just get this done already? We need to pay our taxes before the IRS Capones us.)
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[X][Cape Activities] Set up your Legal Second-Identity (We will go directly to the government, and out ourselves to the trustworthy officials in charge of this exact thing. Simply have them quietly link our Sage Identity to our Real Identity. It's not like we plan on outright breaking laws anyways. Skirting and pushing them a bit with technically legal biotinkering? Absolutely. But we shouldn't have any major crimes planned. We can set things up, run by the PRT to collect donations, and move on with our plans.)
-[x][Cape Activities] Set up your legal Second-Identity hire a specialist in parahuman law to help you possibly Carol Dallon (ask Amy on her opinion when you see her) or Quinn Calle (if Amy says her mom doesn't like rogues I guess)?
--[X][Cape Activities] Ask what the rules are for GIVING donations, or items and weapons that can be used in the next endbringer fight even if you aren't there.
--[X][Cape Activities] Aks if there's some kind of contact that'd be suitable to explain WHY you aren't prepared to be a Hero or officially affiliating with anyone, so they can know in case there are any situations they SHOULD contact you for, in some informal non-binding arrangement. Also, just having someone you can safely talk to.
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[X][Cape Activities] If it isn't done as Daily Activities: Talk to lisa about all those same things as in the daily activities variant of talking to Lisa
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[X][Cape Activities] Set up your Legal Second-Identity (We will go directly to the government, and out ourselves to the trustworthy officials in charge of this exact thing. Simply have them quietly link our Sage Identity to our Real Identity. It's not like we plan on outright breaking laws anyways. Skirting and pushing them a bit with technically legal biotinkering? Absolutely. But we shouldn't have any major crimes planned. We can set things up, run by the PRT to collect donations, and move on with our plans.)
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[x][Cape Activities] You'll spend your time investigating.
--[x][Cape Activities] Investigate the gang attack on the Barnes family last year. You now know everything that happened. Now it's time to start tracking down Shadow Stalker and find out the truth. Why did they do this to you?
[x][Cape Activities] What will you do as Sage?
-[x][Cape Activities] Set up your Legal Second-Identity (Can we please just get this done already? We need to pay our taxes before the IRS Capones us.)
-[X][Cape Activities] Perhaps its time to reconsider becoming a PRT affiliated rogue. They will probably offer a lot more support now that you have shown off your healing abilities.
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[x][Project] Something Else (Using stone synthesis on metals causes them to become Defined Ores of said metal. Maybe we could use this ore to forge a weapon of magic, an Excalibur if you will? Attempt to learn metal working to make weapons, both for yourself and others. Your magic has it's offensive purposes, but it needs concentration to replicate without the items on hand. Best to have something more... direct on hand.)
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] Alchemy consumes your mind. You'll discard a project this week. (If this vote wins, up to ten Write-in [][Alchemy] experiments will be processed this turn instead of one major project.)
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[x][Project] Something Else (The Giant Bird summon was certainly interesting, but you could use a more permanent and durable means of transport. Still, why mess too much with a good idea? Craft a large Bird Golem Core, and then see if a Giant Bird Golem made out of scrap steel that has been de-rusted can fly with you on it. If steel is too heavy, use wood instead. Possibly incorporate some Gravity altering attuned materials to make it lighter, if that helps with flying. If this works out, it should work both as a useful form of cape transport, and potentially an ally in battle.)
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] The bird summon was able to fly just like a bird. Perhaps the same technique could be expanded to create your own wings? Try to create a mana technique that would give yourself temporary flight abilities and see if you can modify the spell to allow someone else to fly as well.
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] Something Else (Write-In)
--[X][Project] See if you can separate FireWind shot and EarthWater shot into separate elemental shots(aka figure out the points to ignite in order to do so), then carve the triangle rune onto a wooden stick to see if rune can be used on objects. If yes, it's time to make the staff into an actual weapon (purely for self-defence)
[x][Project] You'll begin a project of some kind.
-[X][Project] Now you're certain that there is someone on the other end of the connection through your Corona Pollentia/ Eldritch Relay, try to establish contact with that entity.
--[X][Project] Create a Taylor-shaped avatar and try delegating control of it to the entity for communication.
[x][project] maybe see if the worth that is tranfered can act on information like a blueprint shee if she can create a shematic of Something more advenced than what was on it at first
[X][Mana] Using an insect, test the ability of a large dose of Thaum > Graphite > Copper to revert extreme whole-body mortal wounds if applied fast enough. This could potentially be the basis of an "extra life" device if it works.
[X][Mana] Use Arcane > Air and listen to the language which comes out of it. Try to speak it using no mana, Thaum mana, and Arcane mana. Use a linguistics book to see if you can decipher it.
-[X][Mana] Study it for Phonems
[X][Mana] Mana-Test Materials (Write-In)
-[X][Mana] Attempt to string together an Attunement Chain (Thaum > Eye > Copper > Brain; Something that will let us steal memories/thoughts without awakening people is what I'm aiming for, will still need to ask questions but still useful. Next; let's experiment with more Arcane Alchemy. Arcane > Beryllium. Arcane > Gallium. Arcane > Cadmium > Beryllium. Arcane > Mercury. Arcane > Antimony. Arcane > Cadmium. Arcane > Indium. Arcane > Beryllium > Indium.)
[x][Mana] The 'Zap' phonem makes mana behave like electricity without taking on all of its properties. But just how much does it act like electricity? And does it still behave like mana in some other ways?
-[x][Mana] Can 'Zap' mana be stored in batteries or capacitors? If this works it would be a good way to store up mana for later use, or for use in magical devices.
-[x][Mana] If you bend a wire into a shape that would form a rune, and then run 'Zap' mana through it, does it trigger the effects of the rune as though the mana were flowing in that pattern in the air?
-[x][Mana] Does the mana retain its 'conservation of movement' property, I.E. would 'Zap' mana keep flowing through a closed circuit endlessly?
-[x][Mana] How does 'Zap' mana react with other electronic components? Do resistors weaken it? Does running it through an inductor coil produce a magnetic field, some kind of magnetic mana, or nothing at all?
-[x][Mana] While at these tests, see if you can derive any phonems that would actually convert the mana into electricity all the way, or, possibly more interestingly, convert electricity into mana the same way dust can be turned into mana.
When I woke up Saturday morning, I suddenly felt a huge change in my thinking. Or rather, in my mind.
I could remember everything I had done that related to magic. Every spell, every observation, every mana movement, and the inferences I made from them.
Any alchemical result, any arcane ritual, if I wanted, they were seared into my memory permanently.
Releasing a pulse of magic that flowed through the house, following me as I walked through it in a daze, I walked into the kitchen with a complete map of my home, written out in my memory of the magic.
I sat down at the table, dizzy with the realization that my power had improved my memory again. The last time it did this was when I had started experimenting with Phonems, when I got the knowledge of how to cast spells.
"What's wrong?" Dad asked, frying up a pan of bacon.
I shook my head. "Nothing. Just feel funny is all," I lie.
He looks sad to hear it. "Well, I've got breakfast made if you feel up to it. You'll want a full stomach for today" he comments, reminding me of what we had planned for today.
We'd be meeting up with a person from the IRS, someone that I would be revealing my real identity to.
My guts felt twisted into knots. My secret identity had a lot of holes poked into it by the trio and the Protectorate already, but this felt like a step in a new direction.
Taylor Herbert's name would be marked down in hidden, secret government files, next to the word "Cape" after today. And after that, I'd be filing taxes with anywhere from dozens to thousands of dollars. Or dad would be, rather.
It was a step towards the dream that I had been fantasizing about. The dream of having enough money to fix problems. Of Sage becoming a true, legal, profitable Rogue, with everything that entails.
But I'd also be outing myself intentionally to the first person other than dad, and that person would be telling others. Writing it down. I'd be trusting the government to keep my identity safe.
It was nerve-wracking, and I couldn't exactly weave a spell to erase the memory of a governing body.
I managed to stomach some bacon and eggs, and figured that I would do more tests while we waited for the IRS agent to arrive.
"Tell me when they get here, alright dad?" I ask, getting a lazy salute as he polished off his own breakfast.
I started by doing some tests with a phonem I learned several weeks ago, one that made mana behave like electricity. "Zap"
First, I took a simple mass of Thaumic Mana, and uttered the phonem at it, holding the rippling mass of wave-electrons in my grip before directing it to a rechargeable phone battery from my pile of junk.
1d20 vs 1d20 = 16, 5
The mana flows into the battery, and, sure enough, I can feel the mana hanging out inside the battery. It's still decaying, like all magic does, but slowly, far slower than it would in open air.
I take some copper wire and twist it into the shape of a triangular rune, eager to see what happens if I try running the "magilectricity" through it.
As the mana flows through the copper wire, the rune activates, and the magic slips free of the copper, twisting into a jagged beam of mist and dust. It works!
It might not be a perfect solution, but it seems I can use mana spelled with the "Zap" Phonem, alongside conductive wire, in order to make runes!
Now I'm excited, and decide to test what would happen if I ran mana through a circuit. Would mana's conservation of patternage make it keep flowing in the same pattern?
Lacking a good way to test this, I just decide to run the Earthwater rune for a few seconds, before clipping it off of the magically charged battery.
As the copper falls away, the magic tugs uncomfortably for only a moment before slipping free, and revealing... A rune made of pure mana!
The patternage of the Earthwater Rune had been baked into the flow of mana, so even after I removed it, the mana continued trying to follow the pattern, even without a rune to guide it.
The battery was quickly emptied by this, so I charged it back up for one more round of tests. Arguably, the most important.
I dug out an old electromagnet from a rusty motor, running the magilectricity through it before holding it near some metal to see if it made a real magnetic field.
Sadly, it didn't, but what it did do was create a very visible aura around the magnet, one made up of beautiful looking waves and curves that reminded me of those illustrations of what a magnetic field looked like.
Inspired, I decide to test something on a whim.
Summoning a mass of mana, I cast a spell on it. "Zap Ringtatatata Cacklelacklecathack!"
Zap made mana behave like electricity. Ringtatatata made Mana apply its phonems to magic it came in contact with, but only once Cacklelacklecathack was uttered.
Running the magic through the coil, I saw the same field of magnetic energy, but now it spread out much further, and I could feel ambient magic interacting with it on contact!
Reaching for the coil, I yelped as the coil flew towards my hand and stuck to it like I was made of metal!
I could feel the forces pulling on my body, and especially on my blood, as the spelled magic shared its effects with the magic in my blood, making it also behave like electricity!
I had basically given myself a magnetic field, but only for magic and the things imbued into it...
I could feel the pattern of the spell, and how it decayed as it spread further from its source, becoming less effective. I didn't have to worry about the spell "grey goo"ing all the magic around me, it seems.
Until the magic faded entirely, however, I pulled the coil off of my hand and waved it around. Synthetic materials stuck to it like iron filings, and I noticed a thin layer of rainbow-colored gas swirling around it too.
My eyes widened a bit. I don't recall making any rainbow gasses in my lab, and after a while, I discovered that the culprit was all the synthetic materials I had been leaving around.
It seems Air is something that can be transmuted with synthesis magic. Something about that left me distinctly uncomfortable, considering some of the synthetic materials I had at my disposal.
...I resolved not to flood any caves with rock mana any time soon, unless I felt like seeing what Rock-Transmuted Air smelt like.
As I heard the doorbell ringing, I decided to plug the coil on top of one of my golem birds and ordered them to walk around my lab gathering up any transmuted or otherwise magical fumes that my experiments made inadvertently.
I walked into the livingroom, where dad was introducing himself to a lady in a suit.
"Ahh, hello. My name is Cheryl Brant. We spoke over the phone," she says, approaching me and offering a hand to shake. I noticed the briefcase in her other hand, and meekly shook the woman's hand.
"I'm Taylor Hebert, I called to- uh, sign up?" I respond.
She blinks blankly. "Correct. Well, I'd like to know that you're who you claim to be. We have had certain niche cases of certain individuals claiming to be unaffiliated capes before the cape in question can do so themselves," she explains, gesturing at me expectantly.
I look to dad, who nods affirmatively, and I run up to my room, grabbing my old blue armor and dragging it down with me.
"I have a new costume now, but this is the old one that I've been publicly seen in, and I can show some of my powers if I have to," I say, but Mrs. Brant shakes her head.
"No. That's sufficient for our purposes. Beyond a certain point, it becomes unreasonable to expect a copycat to be caught out without direct intervention from the parahuman in question. It's likely you will be contacted in your capacity as Sage at some point by either me or another individual later on, if we do suspect a copycat situation."
With that done, the next several hours involve a great deal of paperwork, as well as answering questions related to what my business ventures will be, and the associated taxes and legal restrictions that no rogue could really reasonably get out of.
I discovered that one of the main restrictions that I would have under a government affiliation actually involved informing someone when I would be willingly releasing my identity to other parahumans. It was a simple call, but it was mandatory for me specifically, as I could apparently sue the IRS and other agencies if my identity was leaked to unauthorized individuals, and thus, it heavily affected their own investigations into internal security as a result.
"If we do not know who you allow to know about your civilian identity, then we may make critical mistakes in the event of an actual breach, and that could result in further damage to not only our credibility but also the livelihoods of individuals trusted with managing the accounts," she explains.
Thankfully, despite the massive amount of forms I had to sign and look through, that particular quirk was as simple as making a quick call to a private number she gave me, and wouldn't require anything more than that.
I also decided to ask about one really important thing. Namely, that I'm not just completely greedy, and despite not wanting to be a hero yet, I was still willing to help with some things.
"If I wanted to make it clear that the PRT or Government or whatever could call me if they need help with certain things, how could I do that without signing myself up for formally binding stuff?" I asked awkwardly, not really knowing how to word what I was trying to express.
She adjusts her glasses, a plastic-lensed pair that looked a bit cheap for an IRS worker.
"I'm not exactly a Cape Afficionado, Miss Hebert. I would not know how to establish informal relations between you and your peers, I'm afraid. Though the IRS does consult Thinkers from time to time, they only do so for white-collar crime. I don't believe you expressed any abilities that could, for instance, detect money laundering?" she asks, genuinely expecting an answer.
I think about that, but nothing comes to mind. "Not yet, ma'am."
She nods crisply. "Then I believe we are done, Miss Hebert. You are now authorized to operate as a legal entity in your parahuman persona, and will be treated as a citizen of the United States in that guise for all intents and purposes. Unless you have further questions, I would like to wish you a good day, and good luck with your ventures, 'Sage'," she says, already standing to leave.
When the door closes, I slump bonelessly onto the couch, swallowing heavily.
"Well, it's done. Now I can pay the taxman his due while I get filthy rich," I say to dad, who looks much less flapped by the paperwork. He had far more experience than I did with the stuff, so it makes sense.
"Don't worry, it gets easier after the first few," dad says, patting me on the head.
"First few what?" I ask, confused.
"Stacks," he says slyly, and I dread what burocratic nightmare could possibly give me a "stack" of paperwork to fill out.
I decided that hanging out with Amy would be the perfect palate cleanser after getting my Rogue business finally sorted out, and gave her a ring.
The conversation was a bit awkward, but she agreed to meet me at the boardwalk to talk and generally hang out outside of work.
For some reason, she sounded weird, and I only found out why once we actually met.
"Hey Sage," Amy said, looking completely wrung out compared to the last time I saw her. There was a bandage wrapped around her thumb.
"Want me to heal that?" I asked, pointing at her thumb-tip. When I made the offer, her arm twitched a bit.
"No, it's fine. I was just biting my nails. Bad habit," she shrugs, crossing her arms uncomfortably.
Eager to change the subject, Amy continued as if I hadn't asked. "So, what did you have in mind?" she asks.
"Well, I figured we could go around, grab some food. I signed up with the government, so now I can do rogue stuff properly. Thought you might be interested in talking about that," I say, as we make our way to a cheap cafe.
When we sit down, Amy finally blurts out, "What have you been working on lately. With your powers, I mean," she asks quickly.
A bit confused with her intensity, I furrow my brow under my mask. "Well, I recently figured out that I could make my mana obey other people's orders. You saw that earlier with my bird Thoth, and I've had an idea or two for expanding off of that," I start.
"This week, I thought I'd investigate some weird material I figured out how to make. Using one of my mana types, I can turn metal into ore, but I'm curious what would happen if I refined that ore, since the result should be something magical," I explain.
She looks frustrated with my answer, not saying anything else until the coffees we ordered arrive.
"Anything new on the healing side?" she asks, feigning casualness as she looks away at the word 'healing', as if it were an unsavory euphamism.
I think back to some of the tests I had already done this week.
The last thing I wanted to talk about right now was the Eldritch Magic I had been discovering lately, but I was able to figure out something that seemed neat enough for the ultimate healer.
"Oh! I did, actually. I can use a power that lets me purify and nullify poisons! I have to wear clothes made entirely out of Sage plants to do that, though..." I say, remembering the awkward slightly itchy robe I made to fulfill the "requirements" of the set bonus.
She laughs a bit at this. "Sounds right up your alley," she jokes, but my answer still doesn't satisfy her.
"It really isn't. Sage sucks for clothes," I respond, drinking some of my sugary nightmare coffee-cream.
The silence stretches awkwardly, and I can tell Amy is wracking her brain for something to say.
"Your lab," she mutters, before repeating it more confidently.
"You have plants at your lab, right? You said I could check it out if I wanted to, right?" she insists.
I did in fact awkwardly offer to let her check out the stuff I had back at the house, but... For some reason, Amy is acting incredibly skeevy and looks like she hasn't been sleeping or something.
Finally, I nod. "Yeah, that's an open offer. Can you tell me what's going on here, Amy? You're acting really strange," I ask, concerned.
She waves me off. "Let's go. I'll tell you later," she says, standing up suddenly.
I wasn't sure, but clearly, something was causing Amy a ton of stress. I hoped that it wasn't the things I said to her.
'I hope it isn't my fault,' I thought to myself as I stood up and left with her.
Despite my hopes though, It felt an awful lot like something I did was responsible.
Don't worry! More of your tests next chapter! (As well as the project possibly!)
Nah, Shaper's just going a little more apeshit than usual after seeing her girlfriend literally drowning in data while she's still stuck in Amy, the proverbial dead fish of data collection.
Shaper being a problem? Amy being mastered? Why sn't taylor more concerned? The thumb is particularly odd but I sure hope she doesn't let amy steal any of her designs. They are all registered to her company right?
I for one believe you've perfectly captured the essence of a desperate tweaker in Amy. It's supposed to be pitiful, but in this case it's rather hilarious.
You did. it's true. She did express some concern. But, personally, in a world with master/stranger protocols and with Amy being both a known cape and someone who is known to know sage, I feel like Taylor/Dad would have gone over being security conscious while establishing their company and that coporate espionage/sabotage may/will happen at some point and have gone over some plans of how to handle that safely. Taylor has not indicated the kind of conern you would expect of someone living in a world where people can be mastered (often with delterious effects). Amy is taylors friend. I'm not sure what taylor could do if amy was mastered, but I kind of expect some thoughts of hers at a minimum getting anxious about how to handle it (whether or not she's made a plan and is following that or not).
Then again, perhaps that just didn't happen. I'm not the author after all
Taylor doesn't have a company just yet. All she's done so far is finally seal the deal on making her cape identity a legal one for business.
In addition, I've been writing Taylor as someone who is, if not naive, then unprepared for secrecy and information security, as no players have expressed any extreme interest in anything like getting a non-home phone number, or moving their laboratory outside of their own home.
I honestly kept waiting for players to either complain about it or take actions to remedy it, though I'm certainly not complaining, players can do whatever they want.
It's just that with the current setup, I'm not certain that Master/Stranger Protocols are something that a Dockworker Head-of-hiring and his brand new teenage parahuman daughter would have thought too too much about without help from people who know about that sort of thing.
Maybe I'm wrong, but all the decisions made so far lend themselves to Taylor not practicing paranoid opsec beyond "Don't walk home in full costume in broad daylight."
Secrecy doesnt exist already. In a city with Tattletale on it, with the DragonSlayers reading everything on the PRT directly off Dragon, on a city with many turned PRT and police agents, do you really think thinkers elsewhere haven't infiltrated the IRS to find rogues? I'm actually fine with it, the plot will ensue then.
Opsec is one of the reasons we really need to cultivate a friendship with Lisa.
On getting a lab, yea we need land and we can get it now, and I have a bunch of ideas on how to build it. My idea is basically, we get a patch of cheap first outside town that's in a to-rocky and roadless terian to be viable for anoneelse to profit of or construct anything of, and then weave a big arcane spell to make a gigantic hollow tree to build the lab inside as a living tower. I already have the rhyme.
so I now have a theorie seing how the mana act with the batterie that the mana become more "stable" the closer to reality the material is like she could create a golem maybe permanent and probably cheaper in term of mana if she use actual piston actuator servo and all in a doll
I kept glancing at Amy as we made our way to my house. Since it wasn't nighttime, I couldn't really make us invisible, but a quick change of clothes gave us at least some stealth as we made our way to my home.
Amy seemed to look at the bandanna I had her wear as if the idea of disguising herself was a bit novel.
Before we finally turned the last corner on the way home, I stopped, there was nobody around, and I didn't want this to go any further until I knew what was going on.
"Amy, I need to know what's wrong. Why are you suddenly so interested in my lab? Have you been sleeping? I'm really worried about you," I say, not taking another step.
1d20 vs 1d20 = 9, 13
She looks at me, steeling herself to say what's been on her mind.
"Your power makes-" she starts, but I don't let her finish, tackling her to the ground as I suddenly feel a novel material enter the ambient magic around me.
Uranium. It's mana seems to turn air into ozone, this ozone, in addition to conducting electricity, also seems to strip biomass from anything it touches, eradicating it.
I ignore this little factoid as the depleted uranium bullet sails over us, and I drag Amy with me behind a dumpster, scrambling to grab my satchel of material components.
Amy is already doing something with her phone, while I transmute a thin layer of the dumpster into Voidperil, the black material sending the next bullet that crashes into it directly into the void. The material quickly reverts back to ordinary steel, however, the magical draw from sending the bullet into oblivion too great to sustain it.
"I can't make a barrier big and strong enough to protect us from that," I say quickly, reaching for my mask and slapping it on.
"What about just our heads? We can both heal anything short of that," Amy says firmly, grabbing my hand. I immediately understand what she's getting at, preparing to use healing magic if she gets wounded, just like how she seems to be preparing to heal anything that hits me in turn.
"I already texted Vicky, she's on her way with the others," she says.
"Who else?" I ask, already weaving magic together into a spell to protect our heads from the sniper's rounds.
"Everyone. Nobody shoots at me and gets away with it," Amy says somewhat vindictively.
"Keep your head down, let's run," I say, infusing her head with as much magic as I can muster, hardening bones and armoring skin.
Holding hands with Amy, we silently count down until the next shot.
A bullet rips through the dumpster, and we both break out into a sprint, running down into the alleyway to get away from the sniper.
To their credit, the sniper's next shot comes almost immediately after that, ripping through my leg and slamming into the pavement in front of us with a loud whizzing noise.
Panacea really is an insanely talented healer, considering I didn't even feel the shot before she had the wound healed.
We both dive around the corner of the building, and I start shoving my costume on as fast as I can.
Half dressed, I see a van driving straight for us, pulling to a shrieking halt and mercenaries inside opening fire on us with machine guns.
But none of that happened. I choked on my own breath as we were both back in the alley. I could only barely remember what happened. Uranium mana? What happened when ambient magic had something push it (Like a bullet?) I knew what Uranium Mana did, but I know for a fact that I never got my hands on Depleted Uranium. I had never tested its mana type.
My library of magically remembered results had a ragged half-formed image suddenly shoved into it, of things I had tested, but hadn't tested.
Something strange had happened, but it didn't happen. My power remembered something that only happened in the vaguest, most clinical terms. Something that involved pellets of uranium passing through ambiance, and later, more uranium passing through the mana in my leg.
I blink and grab Amy before she can say anything, pulling her behind a dumpster as fast as I can, breathing panicked ragged breaths as I use Eye Mana to look around the corner, where the sniper was.
There wasn't a sniper there. Amy hadn't called in the cavalry to arrive in force to save us. No armor-piercing rounds were ripping through my leg. No lead pellets were...
"What? What did you see?" Amy says, noticing my panic and recognizing it for what it is.
"I... Don't know."
I let out a pulse of mana instinctively, the magic washing over everything in my immediate surroundings. No uranium in my entire radius.
"I'm sorry, I just got a really bad feeling, just checked, and there's nothing," I say, trying to calm down.
"What were you saying?" I ask, still distracted as I pick apart the new mana tests that I had suddenly gotten without any input of my own.
As we both leave the dirty alley, Amy finally takes a deep breath and just spits it out. "Your power makes me feel like a paranoid piece of shit," she admits.
She looks away, refusing to meet my eye. "I hate healing all the time, and I hate not getting anything I want, but I put up with it no matter what, and I never compromise on my scruples or moral code, because there are bad people with powers like mine, and I don't want to be one of them."
She waves her hand around gesturing wildly at me. "And you're just flaunting yours without a care in the world, and you don't even have the decency to be... I don't know, a total psychopath!" she shouts, hand shooting to her mouth as she shouts at me.
"How am I supposed to keep myself from doing things I swore not to do when you make it seem like there are no consequences for doing it? Like a perfectly good person can do what you do with powers like yours?" she says, shaking.
I didn't understand, and said as much.
"What are you saying? I don't understand Amy, what did you swear not to do? Take money for healing? I'm sorry I suggested it if this is what thinking about it did!" I respond helplessly.
She laughs, but it's a bitter thing, sounding as helpless as I do.
"Do you really want to know?" she asks rhetorically.
"I could show you," she says with something in her expression that sets me on edge.
[X][Amy] Hug her you dumbass! [][Amy] (Write-in) (Locked due to lack of Override)
I grab Amy in my most powerful hug.
"Nope. This isn't going to be creepy or sad now, just awkward. I'm officially making this awkward instead," I say, letting go and looking at Amy, whose face is now furrowed with confusion.
"Let's go to the secret lab and play with some plants, alright?" I say, offering a hand as I pick up my duffel bag of cape stuff.
Amy takes the hand after several seconds of even greater confusion, the whole mood turning awkward, just as it should be.
I keep my skin magic ready, and the ambiance rich, however. A bead of fear refuses to leave my heart.
Another shard with no callsign given. This was a potentially worrying trend, all things considered, but since this new shard was polite, Queen Administrator saw no reason not to answer their information-request.
It was standard for information processing shards to be able to gather data from a wider range than normal, and that came with the privilege of higher host-to-host communication ranges as well.
[Behavior] the shard asked, wondering what Queen Administrator's host would do in this scenario.
Well, some mana tests would have to be generated to see how they would react, but it was a simple enough task to run those mana tests through the gamut in simulation.
[Behavior] the shard asked again, offering an alternate scenario.
Queen Administrator fed them the approximate responses for that, and logged the mana tests done into their host's research log. No point redoing tests that were already simulated.
[Queen Shaper] sent a brief data packet since their hosts were so close together, and when she read it, Queen Administrator gave a happy clap, responding with a congratulatory signal.
[Corrupt], [Queen Shaper] questioned, confused by the emotionally charged response congratulating them for how close their host was to producing worthwhile data.
That's odd. Queen Administrator didn't feel corrupt. In fact, she felt pretty good.
Ignoring the whole scanner problem of course. That shit drove her goddamn batty.
Ooh! The hosts are socializing!
I may have made the mood awkward with my second sudden hug out of nowhere with no provocation, and I may have been so foolish to think that it couldn't get any more awkward.
When dad was his usual embarrassing self, I realized I was wrong, and assumed that this was now peak awkwardness, as Amy quietly laughed at him talking about how I had accidentally flooded the house with pollen, staining everything yellow.
I thought it was now peak awkwardness. That nothing could top dad telling what I realized with dread would be called "The pollen story" whenever he had an opportunity to tell stories of my cape exploits to someone in-the-know.
I was wrong. There WAS something that could make this situation more awkward.
Amy is literally crying, with both of her hands planted firmly on the cactus walls of my symbiotic garden that made up my lab. As soon as she walked in, she instantly made some unidentified noises at the sight of my Nature Diplomat Tree, and the saffron and cacti that it was intertwined with. When she touched the cactus walls, she instantly burst into tears.
"Are you alright?" I ask, my concern showing on my face.
She nods, pulling her hands away and shuddering with disgust the moment her fingertips leave the wall
"I'm not a healer. I'm a Biokinetic. A perfect biokinetic," she finally admits, and realization dawns on me.
"You don't just see biology and fix it, you," I begin, and she interrupts me.
"I don't. I can but I don't. But the curiosity... It's so hard not to wonder. I don't touch brains, and I don't change things, I only fix them. Do you have any clue what I'm talking about? That curiosity? Every time I get called in to look at a Case 53, or to check on some sort of biotinkered whatever..."
She bites her thumbnail nervously, before realizing it and forcing her hand down to her sides.
"What if?" she says.
"I can't help but wonder what-if, and it's so vile. I'm vile. That's why you bother me, Sage. You bother me so much."
She sits down at the chair I use for my lab work, looking down with her hands on her knees.
And I understood. I knew exactly what she was talking about. That damn curiosity, the curiosity I was indulging in. God, so much of the magic I had been studying was so fucked up. Conceptual distortion of reality, ripping holes into the void between worlds, the necromancy, and the mutagenic magics. So many curses, so many diseases and mutagens.
I didn't want to use any of it, but I was just so curious. I just had to find out what might happen.
Could I just say it? Tell her that she could indulge in her curiosity a little bit? That she wouldn't slip deeper and deeper, doing experiments that she could never share with anyone, for fear of what they might think?
Could I lie to her face and say that I was able to hold back my curiosity? That I didn't use my power to find out horrible things, and that I hadn't already broken the law several times, just to get the things I wanted?
"How do you do it, Sage? How do you keep yourself from going too far?" she asks, expecting me to answer.
"Can I have a moment to think about that?" I ask, gathering up some metal scraps from the bin nearby. Some common Steel.
She nods, just watching as I try to gather myself, to think in the only way I knew how. Experimentation.
I transmuted the steel into Defined Iron Ore, the metal turning a dull black color as it began to act like Hematite.
Next, I smashed it up with a hammer, until all that was left was a pile of Defined Ore rubble.
Using transmutation, I transmuted some styrofoam bricks into stone, assembling a crude forge. I filled it with logs that I grew from acorns on the spot.
A mote of Ruby Magic from one of my mom's earrings lit the flames, and a more intense stream of it turned the flames white-hot.
Sapphire magic served to keep the room cool in spite of this.
I used Gallium Magic to polymorph a piece of graphite into a crucible, loading it up with the magical hemetite, before sliding it into the forge.
Flames licked at the floor of my garden, but magic fixed that too, extinguishing flames automatically as I made some minions out of transmuted water, who flopped around putting out embers.
The forge's light reflected off of Amy's eyes as she quietly watched me work and think.
I grew a mold made out of wood, before petrifying it with Stone Magic to make it into petrified wood.
Taking the crucible out with a pair of tongs, I scraped off the slag, pouring the metal into the mold.
I didn't know all that much about forging, so most of what I knew was based on modern knowledge, unfortunately, which didn't really work the same way as how something like Excalibur would have been made.
Internet Searches could only find you so much without running into paywalls or whatever.
So I didn't bother. The result was a cross, crude and pitted, embedded in the wooden mold. The metal gleamed with a web of crisscrossing lines etched into it, overlapping one another like a mesh.
Shattering the wooden mold with a hammer, I pulled out the sword, and summoned up rays of Sand Magic.
Using the eroding power of sand magic like an angle grinder, I wore away at the metal, cutting the blocky cross into the shape of a sword.
The result was a simple longsword made out of crude magical steel. My power called the silvery crisscrossed metal "Artificial Thunderbolt Iron".
I gave it a cursory swing, feeling the blade shaking and humming whenever I moved it too suddenly. There was magic wrapped around its atoms and woven into them. Force Magic, wild and untamed. It lacked any restraint or subtlety, I could tell.
I couldn't put it off any longer. I had my time to think, and Amy was still waiting for my answer.
"Thanks for waiting."
I gave it once last thought, before finally answering her question. How did I keep from going too far?
