You get that Kurt was the least morally corrupt member of Cauldron that was fully read in on their activities right? I mean that literally. This is taking into account his past as a member of the S9.
Cauldron deserves the spotlight focused on them. Like, holy shitballs they were needlessly monstrous
He wasn't the least, that was Legend and maybe Eidolon only because he was compliant to a lot stuff. I wouldn't say "needles" it all serve a purpose don't add things where doesn't belong, cauldron doesn't do thing for no reason despite how much fanon it always surrounds it. What you did is shift from a Kurt topic to the rest of cauldron to Defend your point, which you're still doing.
Yeah no, while Bitch did help bring him down, it was the poisons in his system that made that possible. His regeneration was forced to focus on the toxins as the worst injury, making all the other injuries actually lasting. And that was when he was nearly ramped up to the point of having wings.
Repeating the process upon his near waking up while still in baseline state? He was fucked.
I already said the poison made it possible, but a repeated he wouldn't be fucked since he would still been a gather steam while being more careful against bugs which will force him to either use his flames while still growing or retreat, since Taylor wouldn't have a method to actually physically restrain him except for harassing again with her bugs
Edit: forgot to add this for his base state
His base state has super strength, durability, regen, and pyrokinesis, with an altered voice
Interlude 22 said:
"Yes," he answered, his voice a rumble. His power had granted him additional strength, durability, regeneration and control over fire even in his ordinary form, but the changes to his body had altered his voice.
Tranquilizers could weaken Lung to allow venoms to hurt him
Wildbow said:
The thing with Lung involved overdosing Lung with tranquilizers, overwhelming Lung's healing abiltiies by forcing them to focus entirely on fighting off the drug. This is why Skitter's venoms did the damage they did.
He wasn't the least, that was Legend and maybe Eidolon only because he was compliant to a lot stuff. I wouldn't say "needles" it all serve a purpose don't add things where doesn't belong, cauldron doesn't do thing for no reason despite how much fanon it always surrounds it(which I suspect you probably believe tho I could be wrong) . What you did is shift from a Kurt topic to the rest of cauldron to Defend your point, which you're still doing.
I'm not "defending" my point to shift from a Kurt topic, I'm making my point. My point is that Kurt was the least monstrous member of Cauldron that was fully read in. Legend wasn't fully read in; he was intentionally kept clueless by the others. And yes, they were needlessly monstrous. Consider the Nemesis program for example.
They also kept up the vial trials long after they were able to safely sell vials -- and they made no efforts whatsoever to restore humanoid form to those worst-cases they kept on ice, nor provide any semblance of normalcy to them while keeping them contained. And then there's the horseshit they pulled with the Elite in their attempts to push non-involved capes into the Protectorate's arms.
And so on, and so on, and so on, and so on. None of it was actually necessary; they just were so enamored of being hard men making hard decisions while hard that it became a downright caricature.
Kurt spent his time as Numberman balancing the world's economies and mitigating the worst of Cauldron in general's socioeconomic harms, and preventing the collapse of the world's economy.
I already said the poison made it possible, but a repeated he wouldn't be fucked since he would still been a gather steam while being more careful against bugs which will force him to either use his flames while still growing or retreat
His flames couldn't stop the bugs when he was fully ramped up. How the shit would they stop them when he was in baseline form? And retreat? Good luck retreating when you don't have eyes with which to see. And his eyes wouldn't regenerate while he was fighting off being flooded with lethal toxins -- that's literally what kept him down in the first place.
So yes. He was capital-F fucked. Because what worked to take him down when he was ramped up would be 10x easier when he was just waking up from being unconscious. Don't pretend otherwise.
(Also: the "do the damage they did" thing referred to Lung's dick rotting off. That's not part of this conversation.)
None of it was actually necessary; they just were so enamored of being hard men making hard decisions while hard that it became a downright caricature.
So yes. He was capital-F fucked. Because what worked to take him down when he was ramped up would be 10x easier when he was just waking up from being unconscious. Don't pretend otherwise.
Wildbow said:
The thing with Lung involved overdosing Lung with tranquilizers, overwhelming Lung's healing abiltiies by forcing them to focus entirely on fighting off the drug. This is why Skitter's venoms did the damage they did.
And don't pretend otherwise, the rest is you underestimating Lung and overestimating Taylor
Edit:he wouldn't be lacking eyes at that point an even then it would already regenerate, also you're the one that brought the dick not me
Also just checked he did have eyes up until he got knocked out while fighting Rachel dogs
Gestation 1.5:
Even the one eye that he had open looked metallic, a glowing, almond shaped pool of liquid-hot metal.
Lung's dick rotting off happened because of the tranq's. Lung already being unconscious when tranq'd obviously did not happen because of the tranq's. The drugs weren't retroactive.
No, it was happening before then and he was unconscious before than because of Rachel knocking him down, and then it was then Taylor venom which the tranquilizer made sure said damage remain with venom to keep him down
I literally listed unnecessarily cruel things they did in canon. There's 0% fanon by volume there. Full stop. There was nothing about the objective of Cauldron that was served by them doing the nonsense I listed as unnecessarily cruel. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nyet. Nein. Nil.
No, it was happening before then and he was unconscious before than because of Rachel knocking him down, and then it was then Taylor venom which the tranquilizer made sure said damage remain with venom
There's 0% fanon by volume there. Full stop. There was nothing about the objective of Cauldron that was served by them doing the nonsense I listed as unnecessarily cruel. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nyet. Nein. Nil.
Ahuh whatever you say, I doubt I'll change your mind even if I were to seriously try to argue those points but I rather not start a cauldron debate here maybe in PMs if you want, that way we can avoid possible mod
Same for yours too two post back, eventually the venom would left Lung system if the tranquilizer hadn't been injected without there being anyone to physically restrain him since it would only take a matter of minutes like it would happen with something like Newter own fluids
Hive 5.9:
It was a surprisingly apt question, coming from her. Did we just leave him here? He'd be all better in a matter of minutes.
Nahh. Those are literally neonazi (and OG Nazi) colors.
A cape wearing the colors of the dominant criminal gang in the city that cape is active in is readily assumed to be making a statement of affiliation unless there's specific reason to exclude that statement.
It's the same in the real world as if you went around dressed in cholo aesthetic with black and yellow as the main color theme. That's straight up announcing yourself as being a Latin King.
Nahh. Those are literally neonazi (and OG Nazi) colors.
A cape wearing the colors of the dominant criminal gang in the city that cape is active in is readily assumed to be making a statement of affiliation unless there's specific reason to exclude that statement.
It's the same in the real world as if you went around dressed in cholo aesthetic with black and yellow as the main color theme. That's straight up announcing yourself as being a Latin King.
America, China, the UK, the Netherlands, South Africa, Mexico... it's not like medieval lordly/courtly pageantry used to be, but generally speaking if there's a street gang, cartel, triad, or such they'll have a way of being visually distinguished as to what group they are affiliated with. Especially in areas where there's more than one such entity active.
That you've never noticed it largely just means you've never spent much time in the places where these folks do their daily.
Yeah, I'm currently working in the backlog of posts right now. I'm definitely upgrading the amount of words required for a given roll to be 2k after the first interlude, and there's not going to be any rolling till the end of that to present what he took during the interlude. I'm not as interested in having the rolls be so often, so it'll probably have to be something I work on. This is the first fanfiction I've written in upwards of a decade, so I'm learning a lot of things during it.
It's still early so it's fine, and as you said you haven't been writing in a long time.
Though does that mean you haven't been reading CF fics either?
Most authors simply follow the rules, find out 1k words perk is too much and disruptive, then they increase to 2k and once even that is too much, some increase to 3-5k.
I am baffled, you're the author, don't follow stupid rules. Perk per chapter or whenever you want to match the pace. No one does this, but you should consider caping perks at 20. Another fun restriction is 10 perks, but they can be swapped to design a good build.
Once MC's established, I see no reason not to share information with Cauldron. He doesn't have to work with them, but if they could be less dumb, that'd be great.
They could stop doing so many evil and cruel things if SI just talked to them, instead they're usually ignored by OP SI until they enter a confrontation.
They could start Earth Bet on to the road to recovery, knowing they don't need to keep shit tier parahumans for the big fight, hell even A tier capes are useless for that.
No more kiddy gloves, funding goes back to police and military, stupid capes get shot.
Fighting them is a lose lose, because even if MC wins it causes chaos and it leaves no one literally controling the world. What's MC gonna do, go country to country to help them? Why, when they could do that with one of the Paths to Victory.
Another thing is not freaking fighting the Endbringers and definetely not killing them. Just minimize the damage they do, get Eidolon therapy, kill Jack Slash, and take the time to prepare for fighting Zion. It doesn't have to be mere 2 years! It could be 10 or even 20, do a timeskip.
So many SI's kill the Endbringer and end up fighting Zion too early, or they get new Endbringers and good luck with that, it's easy to fight those they know.
I was kinda ambivalent at first about this character since he seems way to cautious. But I love the reference to the total war warhammer book of lore. So I'll continue to keep reading out of interest.
Once MC's established, I see no reason not to share information with Cauldron. He doesn't have to work with them, but if they could be less dumb, that'd be great.
They could stop doing so many evil and cruel things if SI just talked to them, instead they're usually ignored by OP SI until they enter a confrontation.
They could start Earth Bet on to the road to recovery, knowing they don't need to keep shit tier parahumans for the big fight, hell even A tier capes are useless for that.
No more kiddy gloves, funding goes back to police and military, stupid capes get shot.
Fighting them is a lose lose, because even if MC wins it causes chaos and it leaves no one literally controling the world. What's MC gonna do, go country to country to help them? Why, when they could do that with one of the Paths to Victory.
Another thing is not freaking fighting the Endbringers and definetely not killing them. Just minimize the damage they do, get Eidolon therapy, kill Jack Slash, and take the time to prepare for fighting Zion. It doesn't have to be mere 2 years! It could be 10 or even 20, do a timeskip.
So many SI's kill the Endbringer and end up fighting Zion too early, or they get new Endbringers and good luck with that, it's easy to fight those they know.
Cauldron are a thorny thing to deal with because they are strong and have a lot of resources including ptv which makes them very hard to deal with since it's shown multiple times in canon being used to manipulate people. They are also generally both really stupid, pointlessly cruel and fairly lazy piling up mountains of atrocities to stockpile options to use against scion in ways that have obvious logical problems only for them to not actually use that many of them against scion and worse several of the groups they helped set up for it like the yangban, elite and fallen worse than just sitting out the fight chose to act as brigands atking and stealing from people including from the fight scion effort.
Even thinking about them is a pain for most people let alone actually incorporating them into a fic to say nothing about actually considering helping them or risking being strongarmed by them or manipulated by ptv.
While the endbringer thing is also somewhat fair you are forgetting that even aside from how a lot of these fics mean the protag grows fast enough to not really have to worry about future endbringers once they are strong enough to fight one most people haven't read post levi. That means a lot don't know about more turning up once one dies and if they do they think it's just the canon 3 (or 17 if they have been tricked by the fanon) without knowing about how they had counters against what killed Behemoth.
Most self inserts do also have kill Jack and the nine on their priority list because most of them are written out of dissatisfaction with the verse and the desire to clean it up or just because it's a verse where they can run wild without many complaining.
Cauldron are a thorny thing to deal with because they are strong and have a lot of resources including ptv which makes them very hard to deal with since it's shown multiple times in canon being used to manipulate people. They are also generally both really stupid, pointlessly cruel and fairly lazy piling up mountains of atrocities to stockpile options to use against scion in ways that have obvious logical problems only for them to not actually use that many of them against scion and worse several of the groups they helped set up for it like the yangban, elite and fallen worse than just sitting out the fight chose to act as brigands atking and stealing from people including from the fight scion effort.
Even thinking about them is a pain for most people let alone actually incorporating them into a fic to say nothing about actually considering helping them or risking being strongarmed by them or manipulated by ptv.
That's because the Grimderp grimderped. I'm sure they can be reasoned with in fanfiction. MC can ignore them until he starts growing a replacement Protectorate, which they start sabotaging, or he can talk to them and be left alone.
While the endbringer thing is also somewhat fair you are forgetting that even aside from how a lot of these fics mean the protag grows fast enough to not really have to worry about future endbringers
Still most of them get dragged into plot and escalations, instead of controlling it. Sure they win, but even with OP cheats, they get into life and death battles they win coz of plot armor.
It'd be nice to see one SI play it smart.
Movies and television had spoiled me in regards to how long stakeouts actually took, and how extensively law enforcement had to investigate the individuals they were legally stalking. Every night since I'd revealed my status as a Cape to Rio, I'd gone out to Merchant territory, flying high or perched on rooftops as a raven. Studying them, getting a good handle on their social dynamics, and who the movers and shakers were.
Eventually, the fact that I could transform into a bird would probably get around the Brockton Bay community, and would spoil that disguise for me…until I just transformed into a rat, or something else small. For now, I felt like the best kind of voyeur as I spent my idle hours of the night listening in on conversations and making an increasingly detailed series of notes on who went where.
This wasn't a full-length investigation, but just enough to get me the info I needed. Houses that were confirmed to have criminal activity based out of them just from talks and slang bandied about, or that I could form a strong suspicion about. A few were crossed from the list, but eventually, I had three addresses selected that I had good feelings about for my plans.
Doing this profiling helped me come to terms with some facts about the Merchants as well. How the hell were these bozos still in business?
It was the worst kind of barely restrained, aimed chaos, with the street-level dealers rarely being in situations that were much better than those that bought products from them. Inherently they were the byproduct of economic depressions and the sort of environments they created, a group with few aspirations to speak of. Their Capes at the top had few ambitions to speak of, and until the way Leviathan had gutted the local Cape community later in the year, they didn't act on the ones they had.
Using their powers to make risky business less dangerous seemed to be the only tying thread between them, besides hedonism and the admittedly small profits I saw them making. Compared to the Empire being the backend operation of a sizable pharmaceutical corporation that also served as a money laundering scheme? Or the way the ABB had become unfortunately adept at human trafficking and prostitution, importing and exporting presumably elsewhere in the world?
No, the Merchants were not a particularly profitable operation at this point in the timeline.
That being said, the money they did make was guarded. Not as rigorously as I imagined other syndicates guarded their own, but my beady raven eyes didn't manage to miss a thing at the end of the day. Their complete lack of operational security was to be bemoaned, but in the end was beneficial to me.
It allowed me to narrow down three different potential locations for stash houses, or at the very least, labs. Honestly, I was more concerned about the drug labs, because meth houses were pretty famous for going up in smoke. That meant I'd have to refrain from my usual tricks of setting things on fire or electrocuting people. Mostly.
While I hadn't been too surprised to see that Rio's idea of scouting as a raven had been effective, it still justified in my mind the decision to share with him. We hadn't known each other for very long in the grand scheme of things, but I had the general shape that he wasn't going to rat me out to anyone. Until something changed, he had some trust from me.
All the while this was merely one-half of the preparations I'd made over the next three days, as March 19th rolled around.
Evolution was a pretty game-changing perk for me. It gave me a boost to my strength, although it only doubled the existing amount, and made me something of a permanent Brute 0, maybe 1. That rating only had the promise to naturally grow the more I worked out though, which brought a new feverishness to my training, helped along by a bemused Rio. Running was a mainstay to my routines in the morning, but the seemingly endless font of stamina presented to me allowed for additional exercises later in the day.
Each day was something new, but given I was able to do five equivalent days' worth of exercises in one session? My body was beginning to change, and when I looked at myself without a shirt on, it was easy to tell. That body fat I'd started with when I slotted into Odell's body had long since started to completely fade away, bit by bit. I wasn't at an average weight yet, but people looking at me would think 'bulky' before they thought 'fat'.
Looking at the magical benefits was just as nice. Focus was essentially just a neat, even flow of magical energy, which was worth the entirety of the perk on its own. I wasn't going to be calling down massive cataclysms of magic like some of the Ghur spells in my library, but not needing to be so paranoid about my varying amounts of energy was a massive relief. The hydrokinesis parts of the perk were…interesting.
Even if it made me suspicious that my copy of the Grimoire had something of a hydrokinesis obsession, given the other perks I'd been offered so far.
First among them was the fact that manipulating the water inside of my body, or turning magical energy into water, was easier. When I tried to connect that ability to Clever Craft's Frostbite spell, my control over it seamlessly increased. If anything, I suspect that a lot of the Destruction spells that relied on ice would be a lot easier for me to learn, coming to me more naturally just as a byproduct of my increased inclination towards the element of water.
A bit of a macabre trick I learned about was dehydrating a cockroach to take its moisture for myself. A bit of a grim ability, but it had its merits on why it'd be important to use it if I was ever pressed against the wall. So as Saturday came around I had a solidly expanded list of capabilities, and the Grimoire seemed intent on handing me something before I went out into the fray.
Monster Maker(600CP) - Monsters are creatures that are not given birth to through evolution like normal animals but are rather birthed by mana. Though after that, they can reproduce normally. The birth of a monster has two stages: first is the catalyst, where elemental mana comes together in certain quantities and patterns, which then triggers stage two, the gathering and formation of other mana types to create the body, such as fur, bone, or blood mana. And now, you know three methods of causing the same process yourself.
The first is simply drawing together the mana manually, whether that is through a Druid's affinities or a Mage's spells. The second is to draw runic spell formation circles to gather the mana. This can be used in various ways, such as simply making ones to gather and store the mana types you want and then create a number of monsters at a trigger, or to just spawn them endlessly the moment enough mana is gathered to level up at a fast pace.
The third is Summoning Magic, which you are decently good at. It works through the same principles as the first two methods to create monsters, but as teleportation magic is part of it, you can also use it to do things such as actually summoning monsters or other beings and things within a certain radius matching your specifications to you, teleporting yourself, or creating contracts (forced or willing) to easily summon creatures or their spirits, in case you killed them and placed a mark on their body before they died. Another thing to mention would be that in this world, Dungeons are also a kind of monster, which you would of course also be capable of creating.
Now, those are some useful skills, but the one thing separating you from others capable of doing the same is your talent for creating and designing an entirely new life, whether that is monsters or animals. With careful study, you can find the right mana combinations for nigh-anything you might want to create, whether that is a hermaphroditic moose reproducing with itself throughout all of time and space or simply a fluffy fox girl. As a last bonus, anything you create will be loyal to you. It would be pathetic to die to the improved version of the Lunar Titan you made, right?[/i]
The Grimoire couldn't even hold onto something that big though, not with its current charge. I was of two minds about the loss of the perk. My current strength was not enough to keep people from giving me the side eye once they found out I could create biotinkered life that could replicate, so removing the temptation for me to even do so was for the best. Even if I sort of did want to create a fox girl.
My inner weaboo would have to remain unsatiated.
Before I headed out, I left the dusty old notes of the dead magus with Rio. He was skeptical of the idea that anything my power created would work with him, but at the very least promised to start looking at the journal entries and descriptions of Formalcraft. If memory served, it used the mana of the world rather than an iota of the Prana inside of someone's body. Vastly more time-consuming than other forms of magecraft, but extremely useful as a tool for those without any magic circuits.
I wanted to look into grafting magic circuits to people without killing them, but that was a slippery road to go down. It's one thing to hand someone a magical item, but another to change their very body, and introduce a strange and unusual brand of magic to the world for countless generations after. My actions could have long-lasting repercussions for Earth-Bet, even if I wholly planned on being immortal and living long enough to see them through.
The first house was roughly two stories tall, with a porch that's seen better days. With a wooden front that was slowly rotting away with the years, it was the picture-perfect representation of the sort of urban decay omnipresent in this part of Brockton Bay. Windows that were scuffed, or boarded over in places, and generally the sort of locale that immediately screamed that its inhabitants wouldn't be here if there was any other sensible option.
I'd just seen two of the drug dealers I'd been tracking up to this point and followed them on their route back to the given building I'd earmarked before. If anything, that solidified to me that it was a site worth raiding, and I observed it a bit longer, trying to make an honest guess of how many people were inside.
Five? Maybe six, total? I didn't think I was going to be running into any higher than that, and if I did? I'd be ready.
My options weren't as limited in terms of combat abilities as I used to be, which was a pretty big reason why I wasn't as nervous. I knew I'd been picky about some of the perks and abilities I chose, but it was nice to see that everything was starting to come together in a cohesive whole. Evolution gave me the juice to cast around low-level spells all day with ease, a far cry from when I had to be significantly more mindful of rationing my various pools of magical energy. It didn't hand me something new, so much as it buoyed the existing ones, and made them a little more efficient.
With an errant moment of concentration, I felt Oakflesh solidify over my body. Then I moved on focusing on the Ghur spell, The Boar's Hide, feeling that sensation of thickening and solidity settle on myself once again. When you could layer defensive spells, why even take the risk and not do it?
For a brief moment, I was tempted to go for Claws of Fury, but that was probably a bridge too far. It didn't stop me from bringing forth Cujo though, on my heels as I walked towards the front door of the stash house in front of me. Each step brought me closer, getting that feeling of roaring blood in my ears, as the world around me began to fade away.
Standing in front of the door, I knew there wasn't any going back, not if I was going to march onward to my goals. A more well-balanced person would have felt nervous, instead of this anxious, eager itch on the back of my hands. It was something I'd been somewhat aware of back in my old life but had never actually gotten to act on. At least, not with the right kind of outlet that a world like Earth-Bet provided.
I think I might like fighting after all.
No, that's not quite right. Deep down, I knew enough about myself to confirm that I was a bit of a coward. But there was something freeing about just letting go of the fear, the indecision, the worries of the day-to-day doldrums and losing yourself in a flurry of violence… To be clear, I'm not a psycho or anything, but it was times like this when I could see the appeal of being a battle junkie. Like the worst behavior of people, there were times and places when those uncomfortable vices could be put to good use.
That felt a little hypocritical of me when I liked to pontificate and monologue internally about higher standards for heroes. Oh well. Nobody's perfect.
Using my left foot to brace myself on the ground, my right came up, before slamming on the space just below the doorknob and lock, my heightened strength sending the crappy wooden door swinging inwards from my kick. It was loud, there was no way they wouldn't hear it, and I knew that the moment I did it.
This was why I couldn't help but be glad the scarf on my face kept the idiotic grin on my face out of view. Yeah, here was me and my complicated relationship with violence coming to the fore.
One unfortunate man had the misfortune of being directly in my sight, halfway out of what had to be the kitchen, a fruit pop in his hands. His eyes were wide in confusion and shock, which only turned more alarmed with shrill panic when he saw me, and the spectral wolf at my side.
"CAPE!" The man screamed.
I responded with a more level response, based on the training I'd done with my familiar. "Quick Attack." Of course I named them after Pokemon moves. There was no copyright infringement for me to worry about on Earth-Bet!
With the two words, Cujo bolted off like a bat out of hell, a snarl on its lips. I'd done a bit of testing beforehand to ensure that trained commands stuck between iterations of the spell, and pleasantly enough? They did. I wasn't sure if Wolf Pack was supplementing that for me, or if it was just how the spell worked normally, but we'd gotten in some practice to ensure that the wolf took down people with as little damage as possible.
Granted, it was still a goddamn wolf biting down on someone's arm to drag them across the ground and manhandle them. Chances were the guy was going to walk away with some serious bruising, but on the bright side, it wasn't anything he couldn't walk off, or that I couldn't fix afterward.
I saw him dip out of sight in an instant, my familiar in tow as the two of them fell in a tumble of snarls and panicked shouts. That was one dealer wrapped up and occupied, at least for the moment, with the Grimoire chucking something haphazardly my way.
Magical Weapon Maker(700CP) - A thousand some odd years ago, magic was introduced to this world in the most dramatic way possible. As it turned out, magic was deadly and damaging to humans, leading to the destruction of the human race. Who could have guessed? But it's the nature of humans to adapt and learn when confronted with danger. And then weaponize that danger. Which is what the humans did all that time ago.
You now have the knowledge that those humans developed. You can now take innocent children and 'develop' them into magical weapons. Or monsters, if you want to be accurate/empathetic about it. The process is complex, intricate and for most folks, completely unconscionable. Besides bodily alteration, mental stress and what arguably constitutes, torture, you need to infuse the bodies of your new Weapons with maso, an extradimensional chemical that serves as the source of magic in Nier's world. (If future jumps you can substitute similar magical materials.) But if you completely ignore the moral issues, the results are worth it. Examples from canon include No. 6, a giant skeletal monster, No. 7, a boy with petrifaction powers, and the Grimoires, living books capable of using powerful magic called Sealed Verses. With some experimentation, you can come up with different variations too.
I'll even give you some samples of maso to get you started. Go on, get to work. You have Weapons to make.
Is this an intervention Grimoire? Do you have some sort of gripe with the way I release stress? I'm not even dumpstering these guys like Glory Girl!
That mental moment it took for me to reject the perk was enough to distract me as I entered the living room, not paying enough attention to my surroundings. One moment I'm fine, the next there's a guy with halitosis breath slamming me against the wall, eliciting a grunt from me as he did his best to hold me there.
Frenzied, overstimulated eyes stared at me from wild brown hair, as the dealer I'd missed yelled to his friends. "I've got him held dow-"
Sparks.
In an instant he was convulsing from what I had to imagine was a little under fifty kilovolts. I mean, that's about what I got when I tested it out with an voltmeter, courtesy of a hardware shop. It should be a bit under standard taser voltage according to the internet, and I was happy to see that it wasn't wrong.
He dropped to the ground, gaping and twitching like a fish on dry land. A solid kick to the chest was enough to make him roll over with a groan. I wasn't strong enough to cave anyone's chest in yet, but strong enough to kick like a mule and leave someone unwilling to get up? Yeah, I was getting there.
My willingness to fight did not translate into fighting experience, so I had to play things by ear. Still, that was proof enough that I wasn't using the appropriate amount of force to handle this situation. So be it.
With a thought, Conjuration and Projection intermingled to create a bastardized alteration from a conjured sword. A version that was more silvery gleaming metal than spectral and ghostly, with a thoroughly blunted edge. The weapon itself wasn't essential to me, so much as having it in my hands allowed me to activate weapon magic with an errant thought.
"Carthaginian Armory!"
If I had a bastardized noble phantasm, you'd better believe your bottom dollar that I was going to yell its name. Was this going to get me mocked when I eventually faced other Capes? Yes, but let's be real, I was always going to end up a slightly corny figure just by the dint of my magical abilities. No point fighting it when I could lean into my persona of Folklord, and have a bit more fun with it.
Swords blossomed out of grayish light all around me, coming out of thin air, gleaming in the low light of the home. Four, then five, six, hovering in a slow orbit around me. The fact that I wasn't cackling like a madman was a testament to the strength of will that kept me even remotely focused on the fact that I had a mission on my mind.
Casting my eyes on the room around me, the living room was empty. The guy in the kitchen was occupied, judging by the shouts and growls. Stepping out of the living room, it was only twitch instinct and the faint feeling of seeing something out of the corner of my vision that kept me from getting shot. And even then, it was a close thing.
"Get fucked! You can't screw with the Merchants!"
The gunman with the lovely handle of the English language at the top of the stairs was half descending with one hand on the railing, and his other hand occupied with his gun. That sort of chaotic worry for his safety was the only reason I hadn't gotten shot, and the bullets had mostly gone wild, even if they left my ears ringing from how close the gunshots had come. There was no reason to allow him to finish the job either.
I barely needed to look his way to send two of the summon swords his way, streaking through the air like blinding lines of light. Dodgeable, but not while he was on the staircase like that, and the magical weapons skewered him. Physically, he was fine…but monster magic didn't harm the body. It attacked the spirit, his DETERMINATION, and his will to do…much of anything. Compared to the other combat options at my disposal, this was significantly better when it came to taking down mooks without actually hurting them permanently.
What having your soul speared through with two swords was like, I didn't have the faintest clue, but it was enough to take him down. Not dead, but falling back and sliding down the steps, breathing in a pained wheeze as the swords disappeared out of his chest.
Pausing for a moment, I took in a breath, taking in the environment again and listening for signs of movement. No one was stomping or shifting around in the creaky wooden floors upstairs Not a sign or sound of anyone on this floor. Which just left the basement for the other three guys I'd been suspecting were here, probably holed up in the basement and prepared for a hostile Cape to come barging in.
Lovely.
Even I couldn't tell if I was grinning and gritting my teeth as I walked towards the basement door, my free left-hand lighting up in a Lesser Ward as a shield to prepare me for whatever was behind it. Sucking in a breath, I opened up the door-
BANG!
SHIT. GODDAMNIT. OW.
I didn't get shot, but I was somewhat worried about tinnitus in my ear now, after that bullet had ricocheted right past it, as the Merchant lying in wait at the bottom of the stairs took the opportunity to unload. Lesser Ward was, well, lesser than the upgraded version of it, which immediately made me painfully aware that I'd need to invest in learning it as soon as possible. It just barely managed to deflect under handgun fire, and not without making my reserves plummet precipitous for a brief moment.
"Screw off!" Swiping my hand down towards the guy at the bottom of the stairs was unnecessary as a movement, but it made me feel better. A tactile sensation to go along with the way two of my swords flew forth, all but pinning him to the wall with a pained squeal coming from him. He was out of the fight the moment they evaporated, leaving me with three left before I regenerated them.
All the while I was in motion, stomping down the steps to keep moving. It let me see the other two Merchants I'd been expecting, one of them a woman furiously typing away on a phone. Granted, I don't think any of the Merchant Capes would be able to get here quickly enough to stop me from doing what I wanted, but it was still good to be aware.
The other was a guy picking up a baseball bat, and menacingly swinging it as he came towards me, fury on his face. "You think Skidmark is gonna let you get away with this? Don't you know who we are?!"
"Bad jokes?" I responded, an eyebrow raised as I looked at the man.
That answer threw him for a loop, and I didn't hesitate to capitalize on the advantage. The basement wasn't all that big, so I didn't have to be precise, just overwhelming, as I tilted the blades and had them fly at the Merchants. It was only important they touched them, not cut them, with two going for the guy, and nearly laying him out, and the third going for the woman's phone hand.
In the back of my mind, the Grimoire fished around for another connection, and while it was something I could connect to, I rejected it all the same.
Psychic Abilities - Psychometry (Three Dots) - In the World of Darkness, psychic abilities and mythic sorcery are, at first glance, completely different. However, both manipulate the same powers, albeit in very different ways, and are both considered forms of linear magic. While a sorcerer utilizes numerous tools and ceremonies to harness supernatural powers, a psychic makes do with lots, and lots, of willpower. Furthermore, the majority of psychic powers are innate, and can be improved, but not gained, without outside interference, in stark contrast to sorcery.
The ability to pick up residual psychic energy upon objects, locations, or people and view their pasts.
[3] Impressions and dreamlike images of the most emotional incident involving the object are created, clearer than previously possible. Furthermore, the psychic can discern the approximate age, gender, and emotional state of the object's owner, in addition to what they felt at the time, and a general idea of the owner's personality.
(CG Note: Requires Psychic Abilities - Psychometry (Two Dots) - World of Darkness: Sorcerer first.)
Currently, I was in the market for far more useful abilities Besides that, I didn't have the prerequisites for it to begin with. There were situations where psychometry could prove invaluable, but those were well and truly in my future.
Utility could come when there was a lull in the pressing things trying to kill me, and that probably wouldn't be till the summer swung around. No point in mulling over all the things that were going to try and kill me in my future, though. I had enough pertinent threats and problems in my present as it was.
With that being said, I'd taken the moment to more or less take a breath and enjoy a few seconds of relative peace. Sure, my familiar was still upstairs on that one Merchant, but that was just how I knew he wasn't going anywhere. He'd be fine, and if he wasn't, I'd heal him up enough on the way out.
Instead, I took in my surroundings in what had to be where they were stashing their cash and some of their finished drugs on a nearby table. One of the neatest places I'd seen yet in the whole home, which said a lot about where their relative priorities were when it came to the lab itself. Mostly the arrangement of drugs that were present appeared to be crystal meth, which I immediately took some steps away. No point getting drug fumes in me.
Then I went for the money, to swiftly count it up and see what I was working with.
I wasn't walking out of here wealthy, but around seven-hundred and fifty-eight dollars in various denominations of bills was swiftly shoved into my backpack, while I grabbed the Merchant's phone off of the ground and lazily cleared out the numbers. Then I dialed 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"You guys might want to send someone to…" What was the address again? Oh, right, I stored it away in my circuits. Rattling it off, I didn't miss a beat in continuing. "This is Folklord, an independent hero. I just hit a Merchant stash house at that address, and I'm planning on hitting two more before the night is through, just as a forewarning. If you come now, you'll find a bunch of drugs and illegal guns all over the place."
I'd be amazed if any of these Merchants had permits to even own firearms, let alone the other charges they'd be able to get them on. A parahuman moving into a building was a great excuse for police to do 'welfare checks', especially after I'd kicked down the door.
"Actually, if you'd be willing to let us transfer you to the PRT line, I'm sure-"
"Nah, I'm good." Without a moment's hesitation, I hung up and dropped the phone, before moving to leave the building, and then spending the requisite energy to turn back into a raven. As much as I'd like to be more trustworthy with the right authorities, I wasn't planning on it happening on any other terms but my own. At least, if everything went according to plan tonight.
The next stash house wasn't any harder than the first, so I won't go into too much detail. There were lessons learned about clearing my corners and being perhaps a bit more subtle with my entrances, so I just manhandled the back door lock instead of kicking down the front and began to clear the place from room to room methodically.
Carthaginian Armory might have been the bootleg Gate of Babylon, but it gave me an extremely effective Blaster configuration against unarmored targets. If I was going up against Coil's trained mercenaries, or people with a bit more wits behind them like the other gangs, things likely would have been very different.
Financially, the second one was a bit more barren than the house before it. I'd only picked up three-hundred and eighty-two dollars, which was nice, but I had some pretty big ambitions for my Cape career. That, and the fact that whatever Formalcraft I did or helped Rio do later on was likely to wipe out whatever finances I did have when we got started. Why couldn't the Merchants be more successful drug dealers?
Take it from someone who was an adult for a while after being a teenager, money never really lasted as long as you thought it did. If I was a real teenager, this much would have seemed like a fortune. With the mind of a grown man, I could see it for the pittance that it was. That's when I came up to the last house, and this one seemed a bit more…secure.
There were cars in front of the three-story townhouse, and it at least promised to be a hub of activity in a way the other places weren't. Was it another stash house? A full-blown lab? Where some of the actual movers and shakers behind the gang were residing? I couldn't tell, but the Grimoire picked up on my anticipation as it groped in the void for something new.
Shard of a Heartbroken Wish(600CP) - This glowing blue shard carries a deep regret with it...spurned affections, forgotten friends, unspoken cruelty and despair. Despite this, it seems to have some kind of resolve behind it...corruptive and influences that seek to control the mind and heart are banished from your presence, unable to affect you so long as this shard is held close to you. You may 'burn' the shard, destroying it until the following month, to completely exorcise a location and all those within it of such influences and infections, and they will be unable to return or affect anyone within that radius for the next day.
Too rich for my blood for the effect that it holds, and I couldn't purchase it if I wanted to either. So that charge in the Grimoire was left unspent, beginning to build up to some silly levels once again. That boded well for my future, even if I was a little annoyed by not having any last-minute additions. Some big-ticket items in the Grimoire could seriously change things overnight for me, but I couldn't force the process as much as I'd like to.
Looking at the building in front of me, there was no way I was going to get in hidden this time. There were just too many people to go skulking around, and I hadn't figured out how to transform into anything smaller than a raven. Yet. Which meant I had to handle things fast and loud.
Most Merchants flat out didn't want to fight Capes. Oh sure, if you had them cornered they'd draw whatever they had, take a swing, cuss you out. But if you made yourself seem scarier than they could handle, chances were they'd split on the first sign of trouble.
Much like an animal making itself seem like it was much more dangerous than it was, that's what I had on my side in the upcoming engagement. Like the mighty frilled-neck lizard, it was time to puff myself up and seem a more genuine threat.
There was no way this plan could ever go wrong
This entire plan revolved around me dipping into Ghur spells, and an area of effect one as well. Crow's Feast was not a spell I'd usually pick to cast, but the bright side about it was that I could sort of flex out the hard and fast knowledge I'd gained about it. If I hadn't gained experience messing around with spells at this point, I don't think this would have worked.
Normally, the range was a tidy space of 48 yards, of aethyric crows that ripped and teared at the faces of whoever was unlucky enough to be in the radius. Not too shabby, but the amount of damage to people was unacceptable. But weapon magic could be very…loose...about what counted as a weapon, probably because Monsters in Undertale used all sorts of wacky, silly attacks all the time.
If you adjusted the spell just right and made it so that it was powered by my sense of DETERMINATION and SOUL, rather than just Ghur, the end composition of the spell could be modified. No one was going to go blind with the slight modification, but they would have to deal with what were violent projections that attacked whatever extension of their soul was on their face. They'd fly through inanimate materials to wreak havoc on the given Merchants and whoever else was inside, without having to deal with actual casualties. Just enough to set off some panic.
And I was reasonably sure that any drug lab shenanigans wouldn't go up in flames if interacting with magic! Like, ninety percent sure, which is a better ratio than most parahuman powers could boast!
Standing in a nearby alleyway, unlike most instances when this spell would be cast, I wasn't in any particular rush yet. It meant I could calm myself and focus on the fickle winds of magic, or more accurately, replicating Ghur with my magical energies and sheer grit. Like a pot set slowly to boil, I could feel that crescendo of barely restrained power bucking to be freed, with only my unnatural skill via the Grimoire's perks enabling me to stay in control.
Even then, that was a touch-and-go thing, requiring every iota of concentration granted to me by magic circuits over the flow of unnatural energies and mana. Ghur didn't want to be tamed, by design, and certainly not by any mortal mage. So when I let go, I felt a flood of relief, feeling my reserves plummet in the interim.
Which was right when the screams started.
Welp. No rest for the wicked.
I was already beginning to move around the hedge I'd been crouched behind, which gave me my first view of the clusterfuck I'd set into motion. Crows flooded forth from the earth, no manmade obstacle able to stop their chaotic tide. Caws and croaking calls filled the air, black feathery bodies bleeding red from phantom wounds, iron-shod beaks that gleamed in the streetlight. In a different situation, I might have called them beautiful, if it wasn't for their proclivity to go for the face.
In an instant the cheerful, casual mood of the house had been thrown into complete and utter chaos as crows pecked at faces, scratched at noses, and generally prepared to give everyone present nightmares about the event. They were so distracted in fact, that they did not pay any attention to the crappily-dressed Cape until I was right on them.
Escrima sticks, really solid bars of iron, were projected out of my hands as I ran up the walkway. Glowing mage circuits peeking through the cracks in my costume gave me a haunting glow as I whipped out indiscriminately at anyone in my way, aiming for arms and legs. Nothing that was actually all that hard or targeted given my lack of skill with weapons, but enough that the cries of additional pain were going to be nursing bruises come the morning.
And if there was anything worse than that, I could fix that when I was done. Restoration had been on my list of schools to quickly learn for a reason.
Chaotic as the moment was, it wasn't going to last forever, as I could already feel the aethyric creatures I'd brought forth beginning to fade. Thankfully, I didn't need them to last longer than to allow me to get inside, where the chaos was still reigning. Naturally, my presence didn't help things as the all-out, frantic call of alert rang forth.
"GET MU-!" Some guy cried out before a bird began pecking at his face, and his cry turned into a shrill scream.
Like a bomb had been dropped, the Merchants present by and large began to try and split, and for the most part, I didn't stop them. The rest had a moment of indecision, concern, and anger, which slowed their response time. It was kind of them to allow me to cast more spells, so I repaid them accordingly.
Oakflesh layered into my skin, as I tugged at weapon magic mentally and suddenly the air was full of gleaming, glowing rods. There's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm not as funny as Clockblocker or Regent, so I'd fall back on what I knew best. Immediate, ruthless violence, as the whizzes of weapon magic filled the air, spinning and waving about, smacking into whoever had the gall to stay around.
My initial blitz had them completely off-kilter, like when you kicked an ant hive and saw all the drones come out to investigate the assault. If there was ever an opportunity to address the presence of a Cape in the room, I didn't intend to give it to them. They came at me, yet the gulf between someone with even a low-level Brute power and completely baseline humans showed out at that moment.
Bats and knives came at me, most assuredly tearing at my costume, but leaving my flesh unmarred at best and bruised at worst…but never anything bad enough that I couldn't manage to do this. To fight my way to the kitchen, as I took slow, measured steps down the hallway.
One woman took a swing, only to end up with a magical baton to the knee, sending her crumpling to the ground in pain.
Another bright bulb got the sneaky idea to come up from behind, arms wrapping up around my arms, his friend coming in to capitalize with furious blows to my chest. Never had I been more grateful for Oakflesh than in that moment. Their reward for playing stupid games came in the form of stupid prizes, as I willed two of the floating batons to clobber them upside the head, freeing me from the impromptu ambush.
I was stepping through the threshold to the kitchen when the Grimoire chimed, alerting me to a new connection.
Pagan Science(600CP) - You've managed to uncover some of the secrets of old, the very same knowledge that underlies 'Sakurai Theory', the theoretical basis of the Symphogear system. With this knowledge, many of the more mysterious functions of the Symphogears become clear. You can repair and install new functions into Symphogears, that manipulate existing features, like forcing a berserk state or tuning it to raise synchronization coefficients. What's more, your glimpses into Sakurai theory indicate some possibilities of inducing Human-Relic fusion, but to complete the theory you'll need an existing test subject…
It was interesting, and I was pretty keen to get a Magitek perk eventually, but this one wasn't it. Maybe if I had a Symphogear I'd be more cross about not being able to turn into the magical boy I always knew I could be. For now, I'd have to bemoan my current fate as a gritty henshin hero.
Entering into the kitchen, I saw all the haphazard signs of a drug operation going on, which made me doubly happy I had a bandanna on. Preferably a better mask, but it was better than having absolutely nothing. Not the cooking part, which was probably elsewhere, but specifically the distribution and part of the operation. There was…an uncomfortable amount of methamphetamines on the table nearby, which likely played into that.
I was a tad more worried about the bald goblin in a diamond mask, currently in the middle of having his arm change into tendrils and combine with a nearby microwave. The number of parahumans who were starkly and profoundly unattractive was a surprisingly short list, given their active lifestyle, though most of the Merchants didn't get the memo. For example, the one in front of me.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Mush raged, impotent sounding, coming from someone arguably dangerous enough to make me cautious. If you let Mush get some momentum going, or get the wrong materials, he could be as dangerous as anyone else with power armor. My initial ambush had given him the opportunity and warning to assimilate an alarming amount of loose crap from around the kitchen.
And here I was, gawking and giving him those precious seconds.
Startling briefly, I began to lift my hands, electricity crackling briefly across my fingers. After whacking through all those mooks, I won't lie, I was feeling pretty good about myself. "I'm Folklord! Give it up, this operation is a bust! Put your hands above your head, and surrender!"
It wasn't even a good attempt at intimidation. Pressing people was just not my strong suit, and I didn't have the inherent raw charisma or acting ability of someone like Rio. This was probably why Mush did not surrender on the spot, and instead chose to do something more sensible from his point of view.
Like slamming his microwave-covered fist right into my face.
600CP in Reserve.
As usual, like, watch, tell me what I've done wrong, or how much you enjoy things. Thanks for reading!
IMO you shouldn't even allow the protagonist to see/purchase perks like Psychometry where he doesn't have the prerequisites.
Either reroll the perk, or show only that the connection failed due to missing prerequisites and possibly what the prerequisites were, or slide the roll down the missing prerequisites until it gets to one that isn't missing any. But there's little point in presenting the protagonist with the decision and the audience with the description if the effect when purchased is nothing.
