Chapter 17 - Issues of the Divine
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Issues of the Divine
After a brief sidebar, the Demon-Slayers returned Johnny Buddha's offer in the affirmative. At the same time as Spike discussed the specifics with the man, Brick and Zane wandered off to pester the Noodle Man and Hephaestus about their wares; the former seemed almost ecstatic to have new faithful customers and agreed to the favor return for a twenty-pack of his restorative ramen noodles. Meanwhile, Hephaestus seemed to be a little anxious at the prospect of such a serious job, saying that she'd accept the contract and do her best. After briefly moving outside to handle payment, all of them returned back indoors to find the conference had started in truth.
Standing in the middle of the room, and seemingly having waited for their return, was a youthful man with blonde hair, no older than maybe twenty-five. He wore a heavy cotton suit, dark blue, with a dress shirt and no tie.
"Hello. I welcome all present to the second Conference of Cards. My name is Dionysus, I am the owner of this establishment, and your host for the evening. Now that everyone's attended to their private matters and conversations, let's tackle the issues at hand for tonight."
He clapped his hands, and in the wake of that sound, flakes of purple starlight burst into existence like an abrupt flame arising next to him. As they faded, they left behind a small post on which a map of New York and its surrounding areas was hung. Standing in front of the map, there was a tilted table with an extensive collection of cards arrayed in rows, facing the room and vaguely reminding Zane of a solitaire board in the middle of play. Above each of the rows of cards, there was a factional or personal symbol in the case of the independents, and then, even further above it, there was a scoreboard.
As if prognosticating the weather, Dionysus extended his finger and started showing off various areas, "As you can see, during the last month, the Old Gravesend Demons have expanded northwards, across from their former residence of Williamsburg and..."
For another five or so minutes, Dionysus spoke purely on matters of claimed, reclaimed, or contested gang territory, and the recent changes in such, as if bringing people who couldn't gather the information on their own up to speed. None of the gangsters in the room seemed to react with offense. As he spoke, the map shifted its colors to react appropriately, marking the areas owned by the Old Gravesend Demons with a red color, marking purple the lands of the McNessa family, and various other colors for other minor and unremarkable gang territories. And for areas where organized crime was below one-third of the average activity per the city, there was no color at all. Every deed he named either caused the scores of a given faction to decrease or increase, through some arcane gathering mechanism that Zane found difficult to find the logic in.
At the end of his speech, the scores were pretty awful. The McNessas had scored in the high two-thousands, with the Demons around three-hundred points behind them. The Manhattan Wardens lagged behind completely, barely peaking above one-thousand, while the Not-Police Faction barely, and seemingly miraculously, pushed past five-hundred. There were scores for various independents and out of those, Johnny Buddha's seemed to be the most impressive, standing at a solid five-hundred, a few points below the weakest faction of those gathered - marking him, in pure capacity for deeds and action, at least, as valuable as three other Godcard bearers.
"And finally, and perhaps most remarkably for this season thus far, there are new players on the board - and they have already made their first move."
There was an audible whoosh in the room, as the Brooklyn docks on the map experienced a cartoonish explosion with a thick-fonted, 'BANG' in red letters. All of the cards on the table shuffled to make place for three new additions, with a factional symbol represented by a demon's skull with a black dagger stabbed into its eye socket.
All of the scores on the board shifted. The Gravesend Demons dropped almost a thousand, the McNessas fell down a few hundred, to below where the Demons used to be, and the Not-Police Faction rose by three-hundred and fifty. Above the new symbol of the Demon-Slayers, a score manifested, combining the harvested losses they'd caused to the gangs, and then a few extra points, for a total of over a thousand and five-hundred.
"As I'm sure you've heard, the Demon-Slayers, also known as the Black Knights, have taken out a major artery of the Old Gravesend Demons' city import, dealing a critical strike. And they have done this on their own, three against forty men, with only two Godcards shared between them. Would the chairman of the Demons like to speak?"
Mephistopheles looked across the room, as heads turned to look back at him.
It felt, almost, like he was going to make excuses for a moment - like, 'I had reallocated my men elsewhere,' or 'I wasn't expecting such newbies to do something like that.' It was like the entire room was expecting it, even, from the vibe that Zane felt.
Instead, Mephistopheles simply reached into his pocket, pulling out a box of Coca-Cola flavor tic-tacs.
"Touché," he ended up saying, as he poured a few of the white candies into his palm.
"And, of course, it should be for the record stated that these new members of our community claimed their Godcards by right of combat, from the Zuchezzi Brothers of the McNessa family. Would either of the brothers or the chairmen of the McNessa family like to speak?"
As with Mephistopheles right before them, everyone turned to address the four people that Dionysus had pointed out. The woman in the carnival mask was fast to state, haughtily and confidently, "We make full intent to reclaim our possessions." She didn't even look at the Demon-Slayers as she said it; she was addressing the room.
"And finally, would the Demon-Slayers have anything to say?"
Zane was about to turn to Mephistopheles and say, 'In your face,' but Spike was faster, and maybe wiser, too. "No comment. Although I'll mention we do not intend to pursue any violence. The Zuchezzi brothers attacked us of their own accord and lost, as did Mephistopheles."
"Strange," Mephistopheles said, biting down on one of his candies with a cringe-inducing crack. "That's not how I remember it happening."
"The sudden manner of your appearance and the contents of your speech was interpreted as a form of attack," Spike retorted unabashedly, making up an excuse on the spot with the skill of a trained politician. He'd always been the social guy and the brains of their trio for a reason. And, to Zane's satisfaction, he followed it up. "Next time, don't wax rhapsodic at people who have no clue what's going on, and maybe you won't get kicked in the face."
"Don't worry. There won't be a next time," Mephistopheles promised, in a very agreeable tone, venom under layers of silk.
"In other moderately remarkable news, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, the Not-Police Faction is sporting a new member."
"I'd like to state for clarification, that we are not the police," the man in the Anubis mask said.
"Good evening," the man with the cane introduced himself due to being called out and chose to remain quiet after that, observing the room. It seemed that whatever he was looking for wasn't here, because even under the mask, one could sense his dissatisfaction.
"Now then, given these recent events, we must take a vote to fairly decide whose involvement in recent events grants them ascendancy. Let's begin the voting as usual."
"As chairman of the Dionysian Seat, I'd like to offer all fifteen of my votes to the Demon-Slayers. As host of these proceedings, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers. As free trade representative of Olympus, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers. And finally, as the independent bearer of Godcard Dionysus, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers, for a total of nineteen votes." And for every vote, their score increased by a flat one-hundred.
After several turns of speech, with every major organization and independent in the room speaking, the scores ended up changing a lot based on people's votes. Unsurprisingly, most of the members in each group voted for one another, although it seemed like the Manhattan Wardens were willing to hand over some of their score to the Black Knights instead, boosting them up high enough to be number one.
"And now that we've decided the score," Dionysus promptly redirected everyone's attention. He clapped his hands, prompting a Maenad with a silken cushion to enter the room. "Let the auction begin."
As was explained to them, the auction was the night's last event. After summarizing everyone's score and voting on performances, the various groups in the room could use their gathered points in order to purchase surplus magical items or objects offered by the Olympus Corporation. Unlike most of the auction processes that Zane was familiar with, Dionysus first showed off all the available items for the night, and then, once everyone in the room was aware of their capabilities, the betting had started.
---
Currently, you've got about 3,600 Auction Points, as well as 12.2 Ambrosia. Instead of using Auction Points to purchase anything, you can use them to Cash Out and convert them directly into negotiable US currency at a rate of 1 AP into $25, or vice versa, although converting money to bolster Auction Points can only be done up to the limit of doubling your natural earnings for a given turn. (As soon as the boys make the realization of the amount of cash they can have, they almost crap their pants in sheer disbelief.)
However, this doesn't alter the fact there are quite a few interesting items available for them to acquire. Pick any of the below, with a plan which numbers your choices based on their importance, and the Black Knights will attempt to make acquirements accordingly.
Aside from those listed below, the Auction contained about twenty (20) other items that were uninteresting or useless, more like novelties, such as a version of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that could read itself aloud, or sunglasses that let you see in the dark as if you weren't wearing sunglasses.
According to Dionysus, this Auction's particular theme is, "Computation."
[ ] Substance-Purifying Spoon - A silver-encrusted dinner spoon with a handle partially made from polished bismuth, bearing miniature, iridescent engravings of a man sitting at a table and eating from a bowl using the spoon in question. Approximate weight of seventy-four grams, well-fitted for an ordinary human hand.
It has the power to remove poison, toxin, taint, or impurity from any substance placed within the spoon's bowl and enrich its nutritional value to a nearly paranormal level, feeding an ordinary person with a few spoonfuls of ordinary tomato soup for a day. If an "inherently non-edible" substance is placed within, such as gold or silver, it will be purified of any material minorities at the atomic level and made anomalously edible and, furthermore, dietetically vigorous, providing an ideal ratio of daily nutrient supplies for the healthy development of the exact, precise average human male of around twenty-five years of age (although its balance is almost-perfect for all other humans, aside from those suffering from rare conditions.)
*Base Value: 500 Auction Points.
*Interest: Low. It seems the Wardens desire it.
[ ] Osteotronic Cubes - A set of two, anomalous, customizable biocomputers measuring approximately ten centimeters along each dimension and weighing approximately half a kilogram each. They consist of an outer layer of ossified tissue surrounding a core of soft tissue, composed primarily of cardiac, nerve, and muscle cells.
These units use a form of massively parallel DNA computing to provide processing speeds equivalent to roughly 2 terahertz of conventional computing power. Each unit also possesses 400 terabytes of core memory and up to 500 gigabytes of RAM. They require no electricity to run, doing so in perpetuity, and contain a universally-adaptable jack that can expand or retract as needed in order to correctly work with any plug which is placed within. There is no possible way to hack or break into these devices using ordinary 21st-century software hacking methods. They require an external terminal to manipulate the data within.
*Base Value: 2,200 Auction Points.
*Interest: High, but most of the people involved are likely to surrender fast given the price. You're about the only person in the room that can defeat anyone else here.
[ ] Sash of Electronic Concealment - A perfectly ordinary sash - the sort that's tied around the midriff - the color of peerless and twinkling, passionate electric blue, around the size for an adult human.
As soon as such a sash is tied around a person, animal, or object, it will start to emit a subtle, invisible (to the human eye) electromagnetic interference which causes all forms of electronic equipment to break down temporarily when observing the wearer - cameras will display glitchy static and fail to record for the duration, and microphones will only record a grainy thumping as if someone was beating the microphone repeatedly against a wall or table. This interference also, coincidentally, scares away insects and lesser animals (such as mice or rats, but not cats and dogs,) and provides modest protection against mundane electricity and magnetokinesis, slightly absorbing electric currents into itself.
*Base Value: 1,500 Auction Points.
*Interest: High; Mephistopheles definitely wants it, and it seems the Police Faction wants it so he won't be able to get it.
[ ] Blue Tooth - A blue plastic replica of a human molar that acts perfectly as a replacement for such.
When a person's natural molar is removed and this prosthetic is placed within, it seamlessly connects to the nervous system and melds with the bone of the jaw as if it were a natural tooth, feeling only mildly awkward for a week. After this is done, the bearer of the Blue Tooth can mentally access any electronic communication systems within the ordinary Bluetooth function range, accessing their data and downloading it directly to the brain. A user can, in a similar manner, send his own thoughts onto nearby devices in a nearly-indecipherable .ndm format, which requires a special program to read (the software necessary is included with this purchase as a free bonus.) It can't connect to an Osteotronic Cube, at least not directly.
*Base Value: 1,250 Auction Points.
*Interest: Moderate, although it seems everyone wants it at least slightly.
[ ] Socket Stickers - A sheet of six stickers that look like normal household power sockets. Each sticker can be peeled off and stuck to a flat surface, it then becomes a real power socket. An electronic device can be plugged into the socket and supplied with power for an hour as long as you already have the necessary charging cable. After an hour the socket stops working and returns to being a normal sticker that peels and flakes away from the surface.
*Base Value: 250 Auction Points.
*Interest: Very low. You can probably grab it without any issues.
After a brief sidebar, the Demon-Slayers returned Johnny Buddha's offer in the affirmative. At the same time as Spike discussed the specifics with the man, Brick and Zane wandered off to pester the Noodle Man and Hephaestus about their wares; the former seemed almost ecstatic to have new faithful customers and agreed to the favor return for a twenty-pack of his restorative ramen noodles. Meanwhile, Hephaestus seemed to be a little anxious at the prospect of such a serious job, saying that she'd accept the contract and do her best. After briefly moving outside to handle payment, all of them returned back indoors to find the conference had started in truth.
Standing in the middle of the room, and seemingly having waited for their return, was a youthful man with blonde hair, no older than maybe twenty-five. He wore a heavy cotton suit, dark blue, with a dress shirt and no tie.
"Hello. I welcome all present to the second Conference of Cards. My name is Dionysus, I am the owner of this establishment, and your host for the evening. Now that everyone's attended to their private matters and conversations, let's tackle the issues at hand for tonight."
He clapped his hands, and in the wake of that sound, flakes of purple starlight burst into existence like an abrupt flame arising next to him. As they faded, they left behind a small post on which a map of New York and its surrounding areas was hung. Standing in front of the map, there was a tilted table with an extensive collection of cards arrayed in rows, facing the room and vaguely reminding Zane of a solitaire board in the middle of play. Above each of the rows of cards, there was a factional or personal symbol in the case of the independents, and then, even further above it, there was a scoreboard.
As if prognosticating the weather, Dionysus extended his finger and started showing off various areas, "As you can see, during the last month, the Old Gravesend Demons have expanded northwards, across from their former residence of Williamsburg and..."
For another five or so minutes, Dionysus spoke purely on matters of claimed, reclaimed, or contested gang territory, and the recent changes in such, as if bringing people who couldn't gather the information on their own up to speed. None of the gangsters in the room seemed to react with offense. As he spoke, the map shifted its colors to react appropriately, marking the areas owned by the Old Gravesend Demons with a red color, marking purple the lands of the McNessa family, and various other colors for other minor and unremarkable gang territories. And for areas where organized crime was below one-third of the average activity per the city, there was no color at all. Every deed he named either caused the scores of a given faction to decrease or increase, through some arcane gathering mechanism that Zane found difficult to find the logic in.
At the end of his speech, the scores were pretty awful. The McNessas had scored in the high two-thousands, with the Demons around three-hundred points behind them. The Manhattan Wardens lagged behind completely, barely peaking above one-thousand, while the Not-Police Faction barely, and seemingly miraculously, pushed past five-hundred. There were scores for various independents and out of those, Johnny Buddha's seemed to be the most impressive, standing at a solid five-hundred, a few points below the weakest faction of those gathered - marking him, in pure capacity for deeds and action, at least, as valuable as three other Godcard bearers.
"And finally, and perhaps most remarkably for this season thus far, there are new players on the board - and they have already made their first move."
There was an audible whoosh in the room, as the Brooklyn docks on the map experienced a cartoonish explosion with a thick-fonted, 'BANG' in red letters. All of the cards on the table shuffled to make place for three new additions, with a factional symbol represented by a demon's skull with a black dagger stabbed into its eye socket.
All of the scores on the board shifted. The Gravesend Demons dropped almost a thousand, the McNessas fell down a few hundred, to below where the Demons used to be, and the Not-Police Faction rose by three-hundred and fifty. Above the new symbol of the Demon-Slayers, a score manifested, combining the harvested losses they'd caused to the gangs, and then a few extra points, for a total of over a thousand and five-hundred.
"As I'm sure you've heard, the Demon-Slayers, also known as the Black Knights, have taken out a major artery of the Old Gravesend Demons' city import, dealing a critical strike. And they have done this on their own, three against forty men, with only two Godcards shared between them. Would the chairman of the Demons like to speak?"
Mephistopheles looked across the room, as heads turned to look back at him.
It felt, almost, like he was going to make excuses for a moment - like, 'I had reallocated my men elsewhere,' or 'I wasn't expecting such newbies to do something like that.' It was like the entire room was expecting it, even, from the vibe that Zane felt.
Instead, Mephistopheles simply reached into his pocket, pulling out a box of Coca-Cola flavor tic-tacs.
"Touché," he ended up saying, as he poured a few of the white candies into his palm.
"And, of course, it should be for the record stated that these new members of our community claimed their Godcards by right of combat, from the Zuchezzi Brothers of the McNessa family. Would either of the brothers or the chairmen of the McNessa family like to speak?"
As with Mephistopheles right before them, everyone turned to address the four people that Dionysus had pointed out. The woman in the carnival mask was fast to state, haughtily and confidently, "We make full intent to reclaim our possessions." She didn't even look at the Demon-Slayers as she said it; she was addressing the room.
"And finally, would the Demon-Slayers have anything to say?"
Zane was about to turn to Mephistopheles and say, 'In your face,' but Spike was faster, and maybe wiser, too. "No comment. Although I'll mention we do not intend to pursue any violence. The Zuchezzi brothers attacked us of their own accord and lost, as did Mephistopheles."
"Strange," Mephistopheles said, biting down on one of his candies with a cringe-inducing crack. "That's not how I remember it happening."
"The sudden manner of your appearance and the contents of your speech was interpreted as a form of attack," Spike retorted unabashedly, making up an excuse on the spot with the skill of a trained politician. He'd always been the social guy and the brains of their trio for a reason. And, to Zane's satisfaction, he followed it up. "Next time, don't wax rhapsodic at people who have no clue what's going on, and maybe you won't get kicked in the face."
"Don't worry. There won't be a next time," Mephistopheles promised, in a very agreeable tone, venom under layers of silk.
"In other moderately remarkable news, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, the Not-Police Faction is sporting a new member."
"I'd like to state for clarification, that we are not the police," the man in the Anubis mask said.
"Good evening," the man with the cane introduced himself due to being called out and chose to remain quiet after that, observing the room. It seemed that whatever he was looking for wasn't here, because even under the mask, one could sense his dissatisfaction.
"Now then, given these recent events, we must take a vote to fairly decide whose involvement in recent events grants them ascendancy. Let's begin the voting as usual."
"As chairman of the Dionysian Seat, I'd like to offer all fifteen of my votes to the Demon-Slayers. As host of these proceedings, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers. As free trade representative of Olympus, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers. And finally, as the independent bearer of Godcard Dionysus, I'd like to offer my vote to the Demon-Slayers, for a total of nineteen votes." And for every vote, their score increased by a flat one-hundred.
After several turns of speech, with every major organization and independent in the room speaking, the scores ended up changing a lot based on people's votes. Unsurprisingly, most of the members in each group voted for one another, although it seemed like the Manhattan Wardens were willing to hand over some of their score to the Black Knights instead, boosting them up high enough to be number one.
"And now that we've decided the score," Dionysus promptly redirected everyone's attention. He clapped his hands, prompting a Maenad with a silken cushion to enter the room. "Let the auction begin."
As was explained to them, the auction was the night's last event. After summarizing everyone's score and voting on performances, the various groups in the room could use their gathered points in order to purchase surplus magical items or objects offered by the Olympus Corporation. Unlike most of the auction processes that Zane was familiar with, Dionysus first showed off all the available items for the night, and then, once everyone in the room was aware of their capabilities, the betting had started.
---
Currently, you've got about 3,600 Auction Points, as well as 12.2 Ambrosia. Instead of using Auction Points to purchase anything, you can use them to Cash Out and convert them directly into negotiable US currency at a rate of 1 AP into $25, or vice versa, although converting money to bolster Auction Points can only be done up to the limit of doubling your natural earnings for a given turn. (As soon as the boys make the realization of the amount of cash they can have, they almost crap their pants in sheer disbelief.)
However, this doesn't alter the fact there are quite a few interesting items available for them to acquire. Pick any of the below, with a plan which numbers your choices based on their importance, and the Black Knights will attempt to make acquirements accordingly.
Aside from those listed below, the Auction contained about twenty (20) other items that were uninteresting or useless, more like novelties, such as a version of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that could read itself aloud, or sunglasses that let you see in the dark as if you weren't wearing sunglasses.
According to Dionysus, this Auction's particular theme is, "Computation."
[ ] Substance-Purifying Spoon - A silver-encrusted dinner spoon with a handle partially made from polished bismuth, bearing miniature, iridescent engravings of a man sitting at a table and eating from a bowl using the spoon in question. Approximate weight of seventy-four grams, well-fitted for an ordinary human hand.
It has the power to remove poison, toxin, taint, or impurity from any substance placed within the spoon's bowl and enrich its nutritional value to a nearly paranormal level, feeding an ordinary person with a few spoonfuls of ordinary tomato soup for a day. If an "inherently non-edible" substance is placed within, such as gold or silver, it will be purified of any material minorities at the atomic level and made anomalously edible and, furthermore, dietetically vigorous, providing an ideal ratio of daily nutrient supplies for the healthy development of the exact, precise average human male of around twenty-five years of age (although its balance is almost-perfect for all other humans, aside from those suffering from rare conditions.)
*Base Value: 500 Auction Points.
*Interest: Low. It seems the Wardens desire it.
[ ] Osteotronic Cubes - A set of two, anomalous, customizable biocomputers measuring approximately ten centimeters along each dimension and weighing approximately half a kilogram each. They consist of an outer layer of ossified tissue surrounding a core of soft tissue, composed primarily of cardiac, nerve, and muscle cells.
These units use a form of massively parallel DNA computing to provide processing speeds equivalent to roughly 2 terahertz of conventional computing power. Each unit also possesses 400 terabytes of core memory and up to 500 gigabytes of RAM. They require no electricity to run, doing so in perpetuity, and contain a universally-adaptable jack that can expand or retract as needed in order to correctly work with any plug which is placed within. There is no possible way to hack or break into these devices using ordinary 21st-century software hacking methods. They require an external terminal to manipulate the data within.
*Base Value: 2,200 Auction Points.
*Interest: High, but most of the people involved are likely to surrender fast given the price. You're about the only person in the room that can defeat anyone else here.
[ ] Sash of Electronic Concealment - A perfectly ordinary sash - the sort that's tied around the midriff - the color of peerless and twinkling, passionate electric blue, around the size for an adult human.
As soon as such a sash is tied around a person, animal, or object, it will start to emit a subtle, invisible (to the human eye) electromagnetic interference which causes all forms of electronic equipment to break down temporarily when observing the wearer - cameras will display glitchy static and fail to record for the duration, and microphones will only record a grainy thumping as if someone was beating the microphone repeatedly against a wall or table. This interference also, coincidentally, scares away insects and lesser animals (such as mice or rats, but not cats and dogs,) and provides modest protection against mundane electricity and magnetokinesis, slightly absorbing electric currents into itself.
*Base Value: 1,500 Auction Points.
*Interest: High; Mephistopheles definitely wants it, and it seems the Police Faction wants it so he won't be able to get it.
[ ] Blue Tooth - A blue plastic replica of a human molar that acts perfectly as a replacement for such.
When a person's natural molar is removed and this prosthetic is placed within, it seamlessly connects to the nervous system and melds with the bone of the jaw as if it were a natural tooth, feeling only mildly awkward for a week. After this is done, the bearer of the Blue Tooth can mentally access any electronic communication systems within the ordinary Bluetooth function range, accessing their data and downloading it directly to the brain. A user can, in a similar manner, send his own thoughts onto nearby devices in a nearly-indecipherable .ndm format, which requires a special program to read (the software necessary is included with this purchase as a free bonus.) It can't connect to an Osteotronic Cube, at least not directly.
*Base Value: 1,250 Auction Points.
*Interest: Moderate, although it seems everyone wants it at least slightly.
[ ] Socket Stickers - A sheet of six stickers that look like normal household power sockets. Each sticker can be peeled off and stuck to a flat surface, it then becomes a real power socket. An electronic device can be plugged into the socket and supplied with power for an hour as long as you already have the necessary charging cable. After an hour the socket stops working and returns to being a normal sticker that peels and flakes away from the surface.
*Base Value: 250 Auction Points.
*Interest: Very low. You can probably grab it without any issues.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Ok. Sash seems like it has synergy with our Hephaestus order. It's Plate Mail after all. I'm still trying to figure out practical uses for some of these other items.
Well the electronics cubes are basically able to print money, assuming we can convince a company to rent them from us, and ensure that they actually pay for it. Because... that's a lot of processing power that's in a rather small area, with minimum requirements. The complete inability to hack it is also pretty fancy. I doubt we'd have a use for it outside of selling its use though.
- Location
- Poland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly uncertain here.
The Cube is most powerful, allowing us to make money (crypto mining, for example) and get info and just opening a whole new area of attack (like brute-forcing the password of Mephistopheles' email account)...
But Zane and co. are thugs, and won't be able to use it to it's full potential (to put it lightly).
The spoon is a neat item, as at it's lowest it just solves food as a problem and protects us from being poisoned through our meals.
That and a potential source of income, were we to place low-karat gold and get more pure version, for example.
Sash is rather useful for increasing our sneakiness, but we aren't criminals, so not that useful.
Blue Tooth is a good spy device... but we aren't spies.
Sockets are just a good idea to take on a long trip into wilderness.
[X] Plan Brute Force Computation
-[X][1] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][2] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Socket Stickers
-[X][5] Blue Tooth
The Cube is most powerful, allowing us to make money (crypto mining, for example) and get info and just opening a whole new area of attack (like brute-forcing the password of Mephistopheles' email account)...
But Zane and co. are thugs, and won't be able to use it to it's full potential (to put it lightly).
The spoon is a neat item, as at it's lowest it just solves food as a problem and protects us from being poisoned through our meals.
That and a potential source of income, were we to place low-karat gold and get more pure version, for example.
Sash is rather useful for increasing our sneakiness, but we aren't criminals, so not that useful.
Blue Tooth is a good spy device... but we aren't spies.
Sockets are just a good idea to take on a long trip into wilderness.
[X] Plan Brute Force Computation
-[X][1] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][2] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Socket Stickers
-[X][5] Blue Tooth
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Ok. The Substance Purifying spoon is something the Wardens want. We're trying to join the Wardens. Assuming they get it we may be able to persuade them for use of it later if something comes to mind. No particular plans come to mind beyond what PurposefulZephyr has brainstormed.
For the Socket stickers there may be value in using them for the bioshock pool of electrified water trick combatwise I'm not sure. Then there's what PurposefulZephyr just mentioned. Electrical outletwise the stickers are probably type F electrical outlets(which may or may not be the Norm in Godcard Earth's America), judging from a bit of discord conversation with Birdsie. For a reference of outlet types, go here(Plug & socket types).
Word of Birdsie regarding the Cubes and the Black Knights technical competency from Discord is that Spike knows a couple of potential Buyers for them at a higher than Auction point conversion rate price and the Black Knights have no concept of how to use one of them effectively.
For the Blue Tooth, there's a few classes of Bluetooth radio. Class 1 might under optimum conditions have a 100 meter. Class 2 would have a 10 meter range under optimum conditions. Class 3 would have a 1 meter range under optimum conditions. Apparently most bluetooth stuff is class 2, so a reasonable assumption of the Blue Tooth's range is 10 meters. Supposedly Bluetooth 5 can handle 240 meters though. If so that's pretty impressive. Besides the sneaky purposes direct to brain knowledge downloads help as a study aid for public knowledge. And this is before we get into signal repeaters which the tooth probably doesn't work with.
Sash is good, Tooth is good, Cubes are mostly a high value trade good for us. Stickers are ???. Spoon is ???.
For the Socket stickers there may be value in using them for the bioshock pool of electrified water trick combatwise I'm not sure. Then there's what PurposefulZephyr just mentioned. Electrical outletwise the stickers are probably type F electrical outlets(which may or may not be the Norm in Godcard Earth's America), judging from a bit of discord conversation with Birdsie. For a reference of outlet types, go here(Plug & socket types).
Word of Birdsie regarding the Cubes and the Black Knights technical competency from Discord is that Spike knows a couple of potential Buyers for them at a higher than Auction point conversion rate price and the Black Knights have no concept of how to use one of them effectively.
For the Blue Tooth, there's a few classes of Bluetooth radio. Class 1 might under optimum conditions have a 100 meter. Class 2 would have a 10 meter range under optimum conditions. Class 3 would have a 1 meter range under optimum conditions. Apparently most bluetooth stuff is class 2, so a reasonable assumption of the Blue Tooth's range is 10 meters. Supposedly Bluetooth 5 can handle 240 meters though. If so that's pretty impressive. Besides the sneaky purposes direct to brain knowledge downloads help as a study aid for public knowledge. And this is before we get into signal repeaters which the tooth probably doesn't work with.
Sash is good, Tooth is good, Cubes are mostly a high value trade good for us. Stickers are ???. Spoon is ???.
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- Location
- Florida
[X] Plan Stickin it to the Demon's
-[X][1] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][2] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Blue Tooth
-[X][5] Socket Stickers
[X]Plan Sash and Befriend the Police
[X] Plan Brute Force Computation
More than just flipping the bird to them it'd get us on the good side of the force, but if I'm being honest I just want that sash
-[X][1] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][2] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Blue Tooth
-[X][5] Socket Stickers
[X]Plan Sash and Befriend the Police
[X] Plan Brute Force Computation
More than just flipping the bird to them it'd get us on the good side of the force, but if I'm being honest I just want that sash
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- Location
- some computer lab
[X] Plan Stickin it to the Demon's
-[X][1] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][2] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Blue Tooth
-[X][5] Socket Stickers
-[X][1] Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[X][2] Osteotronic Cubes
-[X][3] Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[X][4] Blue Tooth
-[X][5] Socket Stickers
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Macnessas: 2500 to 3000 initially
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 2200 to 2700
Manhattan Wardens: Slightly over 1000
Not-Police: A little over 500
Johnny Buddha: 500
Then the Black Knights show up with over 1500 points
Macnessas: 2100 to 2600, 4200 to 5200 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 1250 to 1750, 2500 to 3500 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Manhattan Wardens: Slightly over 1000
Not Police: A little over 850, more if they dip into whatever funds they have but unlikely to reach 1700
Johnny Buddha: 500
Then Dionysus Gives us 1900 points worth of votes
Black Knights: 34xx points
Manhattan Wardens give us between 100 and 200 points, enough to put us at 3600.
Estimated final point counts:
Black Knights: 3600 Points
Macnessas: 2100 to 2600, 4200 to 5200 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 1250 to 1750, 2500 to 3500 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Not Police: A little over 850, more if they dip into whatever funds they have but unlikely to reach 1700
Manhattan Wardens: 800 to 900, financial boost prospects unknown
Johnny Buddha: 500
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 2200 to 2700
Manhattan Wardens: Slightly over 1000
Not-Police: A little over 500
Johnny Buddha: 500
Then the Black Knights show up with over 1500 points
Macnessas: 2100 to 2600, 4200 to 5200 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 1250 to 1750, 2500 to 3500 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Manhattan Wardens: Slightly over 1000
Not Police: A little over 850, more if they dip into whatever funds they have but unlikely to reach 1700
Johnny Buddha: 500
Then Dionysus Gives us 1900 points worth of votes
Black Knights: 34xx points
Manhattan Wardens give us between 100 and 200 points, enough to put us at 3600.
Estimated final point counts:
Black Knights: 3600 Points
Macnessas: 2100 to 2600, 4200 to 5200 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Gravesend Demons: Roughly 1250 to 1750, 2500 to 3500 if they cut loose with financial doubling
Not Police: A little over 850, more if they dip into whatever funds they have but unlikely to reach 1700
Manhattan Wardens: 800 to 900, financial boost prospects unknown
Johnny Buddha: 500
Financially we're 2500 into the money it'd take serious effort for us to scrounge up from the Platemail commission. If we did a full liquidation of our 3600 auction points for US currency we'd have 90k. 400 Auction points is sufficient to bankroll the platemail commission fully if converted into cash.
The Cubes cash value floor is 55,000 USD. If we deal with the selling them to one of Spike's contact's we'll make at least that much. Presumably more.
The stickers and spoon come in handy if we're forced into Vagrancy from a conflict involving the Firestarter or something.
Money can be used to up to double our auction points at a 25 dollar to 1 point ratio. So if we made 65k on the cubes, we could theoretically put like... 20,000 on auction points next month(That's 800 points). 3600 is what we have because we did impressively/impressed people this month. We should consider the possibility of fewer auction points in the future.
I'd also like to remind people that these are minimum costs. Anything we buy is likely to cost more auction points than the base. The Sash of Electronic Concealment could well end up bleeding us dry if we make it priority 1.
Tangentially, do we have to vote on liquidating our remaining auction points, do they carry over between auctions, etc?
Plans I'm toying with
[]Plan Capital
-[1]Osteotronic Cubes
-[2]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[3]Socket Stickers
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Sash of Electronic concealment
Reasoning: Cubes and Spoon are for their financial prospects, Tooth and stickers are targets of opportunity in this plan. I'd Seriously consider liquidating our remaining auction points for cash after buying the cubes and spoon on this one. Constantine will probably want the spoon for charity work and we should definitely share it with him.
[]Plan Sash and Befriend the Police
-[1]Sash of Electronic Concealment
-[2]Socket Stickers
-[3]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Osteotronic Cubes
Reasoning: We're unlikely to be able to afford much if we have any auction points left over when it comes to the sash. Stickers over spoon because the wardens are buying too. We may as well consider liquidating our remaining points for cash if we somehow have any left.
[]Plan Infowar
-[1]Blue Tooth
-[2]Osteotronic Cubes
-[3]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[4]Socket Stickers
-[5]Sash of Electronic Concealment
Reasoning: The Blue Tooth may need a medical professional's help to extract and implant the tooth. The cubes are for money to pay the medical professional and then some. The Tooth has significant power for any plan involving Illusions/social engineering, along with being a training aid for academic subjects.
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Olivebirdy
mook.
[X] Tell the Not-Police that we're willing to buy the Sash and keep it from Mephistopheles if they give us their points.
-[X] Buy the Sash.
The Not-Police have only 500 points, they can't afford to keep it from Mephistopheles. They're out of luck unless someone else steps up. Let's give them an offer.
-[X] Buy the Sash.
The Not-Police have only 500 points, they can't afford to keep it from Mephistopheles. They're out of luck unless someone else steps up. Let's give them an offer.
- Location
- 1
of the plans so far I'm inclined for
[X]Plan Capital
-[1]Osteotronic Cubes
-[2]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[3]Socket Stickers
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Sash of Electronic concealment
The Osteotronic Cubes will effectively grant more resources than they consume, per spike, so unless there's something important we want from this auction, we should clearly get it. And on the whole, I got the impression that Hephaestus commissions and other Godcard-user-hirings were better uses of money- which Points are mostly equatable with- than these things.
As far as keeping the sash from mephistopheles... if we know mephisto bought the sash, and then wow, someone's doing theft and the cameras can't catch him, gee wilickers I wonder who that could possibly be, you know? It's only important if you can't use your knowledge of the Sash, like if it doesn't legally exist and you want to meet police standards.But since the Not-police faction is not the police, they don't need to worry about this and neither do we!
edit: the spoon is also more useful then it seems in that it enriches the substance almost-paranormally, meaning not paranormally, meaning the food is now as useful as the spoon enhances it to even after it's removed. So, you can use it to mass-produce your super-food and sell all the excess. Imagine the possibilities in conjunction with the noodle man!
[X]Plan Capital
-[1]Osteotronic Cubes
-[2]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[3]Socket Stickers
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Sash of Electronic concealment
The Osteotronic Cubes will effectively grant more resources than they consume, per spike, so unless there's something important we want from this auction, we should clearly get it. And on the whole, I got the impression that Hephaestus commissions and other Godcard-user-hirings were better uses of money- which Points are mostly equatable with- than these things.
As far as keeping the sash from mephistopheles... if we know mephisto bought the sash, and then wow, someone's doing theft and the cameras can't catch him, gee wilickers I wonder who that could possibly be, you know? It's only important if you can't use your knowledge of the Sash, like if it doesn't legally exist and you want to meet police standards.
edit: the spoon is also more useful then it seems in that it enriches the substance almost-paranormally, meaning not paranormally, meaning the food is now as useful as the spoon enhances it to even after it's removed. So, you can use it to mass-produce your super-food and sell all the excess. Imagine the possibilities in conjunction with the noodle man!
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
More like 850, they get 350 points after we show up but spirit of your argument remains accurate.
[x]Plan Capital
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Looks like votewise Plan Capital is currently in the lead by 1.
Cube First Plans(5 backers)
Brute Force Computation(2 Backers)
1. Osteotronic Cubes
2. Sash of Electronic Concealment
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Socket Stickers
5. Blue Tooth
Backers: PurposefulZephyr, RebelYell(Approval Voting)
Capital(3 Backers)
1. Osteotronic Cubes
2. Substance Purifying Spoon
3. Socket Stickers
4. Blue Tooth
5. Sash of Electronic Concealment
Backers: Joebob, OctarineShrike, Aabcehmu
------------------------------------------------------------
Sash First Plans(4 backers)
Generic Sash first plan/Try to get some of the polices points(1 Backer)
Backers: Olivebirdy
Stickin it to the Demon's(2 Backers)
1. Sash of Electronic Concealment
2. Osteotronic Cubes
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Blue Tooth
5. Sweet Stickers
Backers: RebelYell(Approval Voting), wrecksalot
Sash and Befriend the Police(1 Backer)
1. Sash of Electronic Concealment
2. Socket Stickers
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Blue Tooth
5. Osteotronic Cubes
Backers: Rebelyell(Approval Voting)
Cube First Plans(5 backers)
Brute Force Computation(2 Backers)
1. Osteotronic Cubes
2. Sash of Electronic Concealment
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Socket Stickers
5. Blue Tooth
Backers: PurposefulZephyr, RebelYell(Approval Voting)
Capital(3 Backers)
1. Osteotronic Cubes
2. Substance Purifying Spoon
3. Socket Stickers
4. Blue Tooth
5. Sash of Electronic Concealment
Backers: Joebob, OctarineShrike, Aabcehmu
------------------------------------------------------------
Sash First Plans(4 backers)
Generic Sash first plan/Try to get some of the polices points(1 Backer)
Backers: Olivebirdy
Stickin it to the Demon's(2 Backers)
1. Sash of Electronic Concealment
2. Osteotronic Cubes
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Blue Tooth
5. Sweet Stickers
Backers: RebelYell(Approval Voting), wrecksalot
Sash and Befriend the Police(1 Backer)
1. Sash of Electronic Concealment
2. Socket Stickers
3. Substance Purifying Spoon
4. Blue Tooth
5. Osteotronic Cubes
Backers: Rebelyell(Approval Voting)
[X]Plan Capital
-[1]Osteotronic Cubes
-[2]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[3]Socket Stickers
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Sash of Electronic concealment
Superpowered crime fighting is an expensive endeavour! Best make use of the resources.
-[1]Osteotronic Cubes
-[2]Substance-Purifying Spoon
-[3]Socket Stickers
-[4]Blue Tooth
-[5]Sash of Electronic concealment
Superpowered crime fighting is an expensive endeavour! Best make use of the resources.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I'd like to mention that we're going to be getting in touch with the rest of the Manhattan Wardens in the near future. There may be unforseen synergies the Tooth could help with, given they've got like... 5-6 godcards worth of powers, more if the notpolice are working with them.
Translation: I am just as fine with infowar as I am with Capital. Possibly more. I don't know. Maybe even a sash plan.
Translation: I am just as fine with infowar as I am with Capital. Possibly more. I don't know. Maybe even a sash plan.
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Chapter 18 - Steel Circuit
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
Steel Circuit
Following the auction, there wasn't much business to attend to. Dionysus approached them in order to personally congratulate them on such a strong opening, claiming not many had the chutzpah to simply get involved in magical politics and kick a renowned gang leader in the face, but that was about it.
"Are you serious? What are we going to do with these fucking cubes?" Brick complained as they walked outside, a minute after the Demons had left, with their prize of the auction in tow. Somehow, Zane felt it'd come back to bite them later in the ass.
Although it was vain to hope so, Zane had thought maybe they'd be able to acquire more than a few items - however, it was decided they should focus on claiming the Osteotronic Cubes in order to avoid the other groups getting their paws on them, if for no other reason. Alas, at a base starting value of 2,200 for the Osteotronic Cubes, they weren't able to acquire anything else of particular interest. Especially not after the McNessas drove up the price almost to the boundary with their bids, shortly before pulling out. Although they could've reasonably acquired one of the minor cosmetic trinkets, it made far more sense to cash out their remaining points.
"I know a few guys we can rent 'em to," Spike replied, as they reached outside, where the Maenad from before was still drinking a bottle of stale beer. As they filed out and walked to the side, he perked up, "Look alive."
Sharing conversation amongst each other, the Wardens had been the last party to linger and then leave the building.
After a moment of hesitation, Spike dispelled his armor of terror and approached them, drawing immediate looks. "Hey, sorry to bother you, Father Nicholas, or Constantine, or whatever. I realize we probably should've brought this up earlier, but we're interested in joining the Manhattan Wardens."
"Oh, man, this is gonna be something," said the redheaded girl with the grinning face mask.
"Ah." Father Nicholas smiled at him good-naturedly, before looking over at Zane and Brick. "I had thought this might be the case, although I didn't want to be pushy. I knew from the moment I looked at you three that you had good deep in your hearts."
"Right. We, former gang members, have nothing but purity and- ugh!" Brick stopped uttering blasphemy when Zane elbowed him in the ribs.
Father Nicholas chuckled for a moment, shaking his head. "Isaiah, chapter forty-three, verse eighteen: Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. And as John, chapter seven, verse twenty-four says: Do not judge by appearances but judge with righteous judgment. I do not intend to base my opinion of you on past deeds, only on what I perceive right in front of me - young men who'd like to do good and be free. Do you mind if I sidebar with the other members of my faction briefly?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
At the same time as the Wardens walked off into the distance to speak with one another, Spike came back and smacked Brick in the side of the head.
"Moron."
"Ow."
As the Wardens' sidebar progressed, Zane noticed the girl in the wooden mask occasionally glancing at him. Although he couldn't see her eyes well given the relative absence of light in the entire sub-district, he imagined that she looked thoughtful as she exchanged words with her allies.
A few moments later, Father Nicholas approached them with a nod. "The Manhattan Wardens are willing to accept you into their ranks. We are convinced that our decision will prove to be a fruitful one. Come this way. Our headquarters aren't far."
"You have a headquarters?"
Father Nicholas smiled and led them, and it seemed their headquarters weren't far indeed - sort of lodged between East Harlem and Upper East Side, closer to Conservatory Garden than Randall's Island. It was a demure area filled with short flats, a couple of scattered parks, and a few historic buildings such as the Museum of the City of New York; a boring if quaint neighborhood. Their headquarters were right next to several churches and a few high schools, at the top floor of a laundromat that Father Nicholas was apparently renting out for the very purpose of being their quarters.
The interior wasn't much to look at - a large table, a few scattered chairs, an old television from the early 2000s which was neither properly flat-screen nor wide, and a computer for general use. Although it was a bit crowded inside, there was enough place for everyone to have a seat. Most of the Wardens sat close together, with the Knights obliquely sitting opposite or sideways from them, aside from the hoodie guy's dog which seemed to be perfectly content lying in the corner of the room and barely paying attention to anything happening around it.
"Right, let's introduce ourselves. As you already know, I am Father Nicholas, and my Godcard is Constantine."
"We're simply going to reveal each others' identities and Cards like that?" Spike questioned, clearly surprised at the show of trust.
"I don't see why not," Nicholas replied with a coy shrug, unbefitting a priest of stature as serious as his own. "Rest assured, we have means of divining your intent. If you were planning to betray us or use this information against us in some manner, then you wouldn't have been invited here."
"I'm Yukari. Yukari Campbell - and I'm Athena," the redheaded woman said, pulling off her mask. "My Card is good for taking care of shit; I do all of our strategy and tactics. I'm basically the top dog here, so gimme some respect."
"Zane. Zane Li Black - and I'm Cardless," Zane said, pulling off his helmet and setting it down on the table. "My fists are good for taking care of shit; I punched the Zuchezzis and jacked their Cards to give to these goons. Oh, and I'm basically the top dog here, so gimme some respect." He smirked.
Contrary to his expectation, Yukari didn't scowl at him - instead, taking the satirical introduction in stride with a smirk of her own.
"Oof," said the guy in armor, before chuckling. He removed his own helmet. "Michael Hunt, I'm Arawn."
And so the introductions proceeded, with slightly less fun bickering - Jennifer Sibyll was the girl in the white plastic mask, with the Card of Hecate; the girl in the wooden mask, Helene Schuster, had the Card of Persephone, and the old woman - her grandmother, Muriel Schuster - was none other than Baba Yaga. Spike and Brick introduced themselves likewise, using their real names of Shawn Bryers and Brett Hall, rather than nicknames.
After that, there was some more conversation, mostly about how the Knights acquired their Godcards. It was Zane's time to shine, describing how he'd valiantly beat the Zuchezzis' shit - with only minimal embellishment, mostly in the form of removing the gory parts of the tale to make it more palatable to his audience - and how it slowly led up to their meeting with Mephistopheles and the subsequent attack on his warehouse in the docks. Brick and Spike used that opportunity to describe the rough gist of their powers. It seemed like Spike's powerset raised the most eyebrows, as did his compatibility.
"Out of everyone here, I used to be the only person with a hundred-percent compatibility," said Father Nicholas. "It's rather difficult to acquire a level above seventy percent, even after initial bonding, or so I'm told. I believe even Mephistopheles sits at around eighty, and he's been - I must admit - conscientiously attempting to embody his patron."
Zane was a little uneasy with how casually Nicholas used the bastard's name. Maybe his name-thing only worked under specific conditions? He resolved to ask later.
"Speaking of which," Zane brought up, raising a finger, "Why does your Card have that freaky thing on it?"
"Ah. 'Not a number' percent?"
"Yeah."
"It's a secret we've been doing our best to keep from the other groups. Give me a moment - I'd like to ensure that my sanctification hasn't dropped." Father Nicholas closed his eyes for a minute and breathed in, and then, a few moments later, opened them again and said, "Very well. It's rather simple. All of these Godcards represent the quintessential mythos of a given entity or deity. As I'm sure you've noticed, compatibility can be increased and decreased according to your actions, rising as you perform deeds the entity in question would consider desirable, and falling when you do the opposite."
Zane nodded. Behind him, Spike did the same, a little more eagerly.
"However, there is a secret method of breaking the limits of the Card in question - once you have achieved a hundred percent compatibility if you perform a deed that supremely recreates one of the legends concerning your patron entity, your compatibility limit of a hundred percent will shatter, letting you move up from that. However, this doesn't do as much as you'd think - rising from seventy to eighty percent can already be a slog for most people, let alone from eighty to ninety, or ninety to a hundred. A hundred to a hundred and ten? Almost impossible, I'd wager. It'd probably take months, and that's assuming you did nothing in the meantime to decrease the value."
"So what do you do?" Spike queried.
"It's simple - you build upon the mythos. In my case, the chain of Constantine's legend breaks with his deathbed baptism. And so, in order to mimick the legend of Constantine, I baptized myself anew, in Hudson's waters-"
"Ew," Zane couldn't help but vocalize.
"-and then, I continued his story. It was difficult to find the right event, but a few weeks ago, I did find the opportunity, when I became the chairman of the Wardens. It seemed that simply becoming the aspiring leader of the new group of protectors in the omphalos of the magical world sufficed. It bestowed me with far greater power than most, at the cost of forever removing my ability to bond with any other Godcard. I am only Constantine now, and only him."
"With Phobos, that might not be so easy," Spike murmured. "I read up on him. As a worst-case scenario, I'd have to accompany my dad and brother into an epic battle against Dionysus, and that sounds like a fucking joke. And I don't even have a brother! Even the best-case scenarios involve stuff like building a temple out of skulls or scaring the shit out of people on an industrial scale until they piss their pants at the mention of my very name. And that's just the mimicking part. Not even the part where I have to one-up my patron in some manner."
Brick snipped, "Or maybe we can slaughter a bull in your name and you'll bless us with the huge dick gift."
A few people looked at him.
"What? I read up on it, too."
"Whatever," Zane said, blowing their concerns away. "We'll figure it out as we go along. Just don't go Columbine."
"So, aside from getting me to level up, what's the plan? In general, I mean?" Spike asked Father Nicholas.
"For now? We bide our time and wait," Nicholas said. "To be perfectly honest, we don't make aggressive moves against the gangs. It's simply... well, unsustainable. Unlike us, they have a much larger structure, a lot of people who can take over. Right now, our best move is to wait and see how the situation in Queens changes. If the McNessas move in on the Demons' territory in the wake of the destruction you've managed, we'll need to undercut them."
"And keep the war going?" Zane reacted with surprise.
"Sadly, yes," Father Nicholas said with a nod. It seemed like he was deeply saddened by his own words, but resolute, unshakeable, in his faith they were correct. "If either side gains too much of an unacceptable advantage in this conflict, it means they'll seize the others' Godcards and lands. You saw the auction today, right? Imagine if the McNessas had double the Cardbearers, more deeds, and territory to fuel their point income and to spend on auctions. Already, they have a business empire raking in millions of dollars worth of blood money - not to mention a hegemony over the other groups.
"All they need right now is a spark - a single push against the Demons, in order to become completely undefeatable for all of the other Cardbearers in New York combined. Not simply us, but everyone. And that's not accounting for the rising empowerment of their leaders - in a few months, I suspect Arthur McNessa will be roughly as powerful as the projections for the Mangler's might during its last sighting. At that point, it wouldn't be out of the question for them to outright seize New York, mind control the bureaucrats, and become the undisputed rulers. It could be the same for the Gravesend Demons."
"And so," Yukari took over, "We need to keep them fighting, wasting their time and resources on a pointless war. It'll give us and the Police Faction enough time to power up, get their own network in place over Queens and the other locations, and to prep the damn feds on how magic works, and how to fight it. So long as neither side of the gang war completely dominates the other, we can keep advancing and do our best to keep up with them, and eventually bust their asses."
"What you did was admirable," Helene said, looking over at Zane, as if sensing the idea to attack the warehouse had been his own. "It weakened the Demons. However, if the McNessas choose to abuse this weakness, we'll have to weaken them as well; support the Demons from the shadows."
"Yes... And I suspect Mephistopheles has cause to believe the McNessas do intend to fight," Nicholas interjected, cupping his chin. "I saw him recruiting the Firestarter. It means he's become desperate, to hire that madman of all people. The blow you struck was deep, at the heart of his infrastructure."
"Shit," Zane muttered. "I made the gang war worse by accident, somehow."
"It's on us, too," Spike said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, bro, don't fear," Brick added. "We're all equally retarded."
"Brick," Spike growl-whispered. "Language. We're not in the hood right now."
Zane couldn't help but note the, 'right now.'
"Alright, it's getting late, and I have to prepare an action plan for tomorrow. See ya bitches later," Yukari said, standing up and stretching, raising her hands up into the air to click her fingers in a series of pops. She walked for the exit.
"It is rather late. Meeting adjourned," Nicholas agreed, looking at the Knights. "We'll meet back tomorrow, right before midnight, to continue our discussion."
"Don't be late, boys," said Grandma Schuster, winking at them from her seat. "Or I might hafta cast a spell on ya." She chuckled in that grim, threatening way that only someone with Baba Yaga as a Godcard could.
"We won't," they all chorused.
---
Here's the rough outline of powers for the members of the Manhattan Wardens. At least, as much as they've been willing to divulge:
Aside from the meeting tomorrow, you have a day off, vote by plan, and so on and so on; a maximum of five actions, as per the usual limited-effectiveness rules. Also you've got, like, 12.4 Ambrosia, not that it'll do anything since the Arc is ending soon.
[ ] Practice Martial Arts - Where and how? Visit the gym? Visit a dojo? Spar against Uncle Shen? Find a practice dummy? Beat up people?
[ ] Teach Spike & Brick - How to fight and be men! Uncle Shen's already got this, but practice never hurts.
[ ] Wander Around - Wander around somewhere aimlessly. (Which district of New York?)
[ ] Visit Uncle Shen - Uncle Shen appreciates your efforts in cheering him up, to be sure.
[ ] Go Shopping - And purchase what?
[ ] Call Mephistopheles - In bird culture, voting for this action is considered, "unsmart."
[ ] Write-in - Something else?
Following the auction, there wasn't much business to attend to. Dionysus approached them in order to personally congratulate them on such a strong opening, claiming not many had the chutzpah to simply get involved in magical politics and kick a renowned gang leader in the face, but that was about it.
"Are you serious? What are we going to do with these fucking cubes?" Brick complained as they walked outside, a minute after the Demons had left, with their prize of the auction in tow. Somehow, Zane felt it'd come back to bite them later in the ass.
Although it was vain to hope so, Zane had thought maybe they'd be able to acquire more than a few items - however, it was decided they should focus on claiming the Osteotronic Cubes in order to avoid the other groups getting their paws on them, if for no other reason. Alas, at a base starting value of 2,200 for the Osteotronic Cubes, they weren't able to acquire anything else of particular interest. Especially not after the McNessas drove up the price almost to the boundary with their bids, shortly before pulling out. Although they could've reasonably acquired one of the minor cosmetic trinkets, it made far more sense to cash out their remaining points.
"I know a few guys we can rent 'em to," Spike replied, as they reached outside, where the Maenad from before was still drinking a bottle of stale beer. As they filed out and walked to the side, he perked up, "Look alive."
Sharing conversation amongst each other, the Wardens had been the last party to linger and then leave the building.
After a moment of hesitation, Spike dispelled his armor of terror and approached them, drawing immediate looks. "Hey, sorry to bother you, Father Nicholas, or Constantine, or whatever. I realize we probably should've brought this up earlier, but we're interested in joining the Manhattan Wardens."
"Oh, man, this is gonna be something," said the redheaded girl with the grinning face mask.
"Ah." Father Nicholas smiled at him good-naturedly, before looking over at Zane and Brick. "I had thought this might be the case, although I didn't want to be pushy. I knew from the moment I looked at you three that you had good deep in your hearts."
"Right. We, former gang members, have nothing but purity and- ugh!" Brick stopped uttering blasphemy when Zane elbowed him in the ribs.
Father Nicholas chuckled for a moment, shaking his head. "Isaiah, chapter forty-three, verse eighteen: Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. And as John, chapter seven, verse twenty-four says: Do not judge by appearances but judge with righteous judgment. I do not intend to base my opinion of you on past deeds, only on what I perceive right in front of me - young men who'd like to do good and be free. Do you mind if I sidebar with the other members of my faction briefly?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
At the same time as the Wardens walked off into the distance to speak with one another, Spike came back and smacked Brick in the side of the head.
"Moron."
"Ow."
As the Wardens' sidebar progressed, Zane noticed the girl in the wooden mask occasionally glancing at him. Although he couldn't see her eyes well given the relative absence of light in the entire sub-district, he imagined that she looked thoughtful as she exchanged words with her allies.
A few moments later, Father Nicholas approached them with a nod. "The Manhattan Wardens are willing to accept you into their ranks. We are convinced that our decision will prove to be a fruitful one. Come this way. Our headquarters aren't far."
"You have a headquarters?"
Father Nicholas smiled and led them, and it seemed their headquarters weren't far indeed - sort of lodged between East Harlem and Upper East Side, closer to Conservatory Garden than Randall's Island. It was a demure area filled with short flats, a couple of scattered parks, and a few historic buildings such as the Museum of the City of New York; a boring if quaint neighborhood. Their headquarters were right next to several churches and a few high schools, at the top floor of a laundromat that Father Nicholas was apparently renting out for the very purpose of being their quarters.
The interior wasn't much to look at - a large table, a few scattered chairs, an old television from the early 2000s which was neither properly flat-screen nor wide, and a computer for general use. Although it was a bit crowded inside, there was enough place for everyone to have a seat. Most of the Wardens sat close together, with the Knights obliquely sitting opposite or sideways from them, aside from the hoodie guy's dog which seemed to be perfectly content lying in the corner of the room and barely paying attention to anything happening around it.
"Right, let's introduce ourselves. As you already know, I am Father Nicholas, and my Godcard is Constantine."
"We're simply going to reveal each others' identities and Cards like that?" Spike questioned, clearly surprised at the show of trust.
"I don't see why not," Nicholas replied with a coy shrug, unbefitting a priest of stature as serious as his own. "Rest assured, we have means of divining your intent. If you were planning to betray us or use this information against us in some manner, then you wouldn't have been invited here."
"I'm Yukari. Yukari Campbell - and I'm Athena," the redheaded woman said, pulling off her mask. "My Card is good for taking care of shit; I do all of our strategy and tactics. I'm basically the top dog here, so gimme some respect."
"Zane. Zane Li Black - and I'm Cardless," Zane said, pulling off his helmet and setting it down on the table. "My fists are good for taking care of shit; I punched the Zuchezzis and jacked their Cards to give to these goons. Oh, and I'm basically the top dog here, so gimme some respect." He smirked.
Contrary to his expectation, Yukari didn't scowl at him - instead, taking the satirical introduction in stride with a smirk of her own.
"Oof," said the guy in armor, before chuckling. He removed his own helmet. "Michael Hunt, I'm Arawn."
And so the introductions proceeded, with slightly less fun bickering - Jennifer Sibyll was the girl in the white plastic mask, with the Card of Hecate; the girl in the wooden mask, Helene Schuster, had the Card of Persephone, and the old woman - her grandmother, Muriel Schuster - was none other than Baba Yaga. Spike and Brick introduced themselves likewise, using their real names of Shawn Bryers and Brett Hall, rather than nicknames.
After that, there was some more conversation, mostly about how the Knights acquired their Godcards. It was Zane's time to shine, describing how he'd valiantly beat the Zuchezzis' shit - with only minimal embellishment, mostly in the form of removing the gory parts of the tale to make it more palatable to his audience - and how it slowly led up to their meeting with Mephistopheles and the subsequent attack on his warehouse in the docks. Brick and Spike used that opportunity to describe the rough gist of their powers. It seemed like Spike's powerset raised the most eyebrows, as did his compatibility.
"Out of everyone here, I used to be the only person with a hundred-percent compatibility," said Father Nicholas. "It's rather difficult to acquire a level above seventy percent, even after initial bonding, or so I'm told. I believe even Mephistopheles sits at around eighty, and he's been - I must admit - conscientiously attempting to embody his patron."
Zane was a little uneasy with how casually Nicholas used the bastard's name. Maybe his name-thing only worked under specific conditions? He resolved to ask later.
"Speaking of which," Zane brought up, raising a finger, "Why does your Card have that freaky thing on it?"
"Ah. 'Not a number' percent?"
"Yeah."
"It's a secret we've been doing our best to keep from the other groups. Give me a moment - I'd like to ensure that my sanctification hasn't dropped." Father Nicholas closed his eyes for a minute and breathed in, and then, a few moments later, opened them again and said, "Very well. It's rather simple. All of these Godcards represent the quintessential mythos of a given entity or deity. As I'm sure you've noticed, compatibility can be increased and decreased according to your actions, rising as you perform deeds the entity in question would consider desirable, and falling when you do the opposite."
Zane nodded. Behind him, Spike did the same, a little more eagerly.
"However, there is a secret method of breaking the limits of the Card in question - once you have achieved a hundred percent compatibility if you perform a deed that supremely recreates one of the legends concerning your patron entity, your compatibility limit of a hundred percent will shatter, letting you move up from that. However, this doesn't do as much as you'd think - rising from seventy to eighty percent can already be a slog for most people, let alone from eighty to ninety, or ninety to a hundred. A hundred to a hundred and ten? Almost impossible, I'd wager. It'd probably take months, and that's assuming you did nothing in the meantime to decrease the value."
"So what do you do?" Spike queried.
"It's simple - you build upon the mythos. In my case, the chain of Constantine's legend breaks with his deathbed baptism. And so, in order to mimick the legend of Constantine, I baptized myself anew, in Hudson's waters-"
"Ew," Zane couldn't help but vocalize.
"-and then, I continued his story. It was difficult to find the right event, but a few weeks ago, I did find the opportunity, when I became the chairman of the Wardens. It seemed that simply becoming the aspiring leader of the new group of protectors in the omphalos of the magical world sufficed. It bestowed me with far greater power than most, at the cost of forever removing my ability to bond with any other Godcard. I am only Constantine now, and only him."
"With Phobos, that might not be so easy," Spike murmured. "I read up on him. As a worst-case scenario, I'd have to accompany my dad and brother into an epic battle against Dionysus, and that sounds like a fucking joke. And I don't even have a brother! Even the best-case scenarios involve stuff like building a temple out of skulls or scaring the shit out of people on an industrial scale until they piss their pants at the mention of my very name. And that's just the mimicking part. Not even the part where I have to one-up my patron in some manner."
Brick snipped, "Or maybe we can slaughter a bull in your name and you'll bless us with the huge dick gift."
A few people looked at him.
"What? I read up on it, too."
"Whatever," Zane said, blowing their concerns away. "We'll figure it out as we go along. Just don't go Columbine."
"So, aside from getting me to level up, what's the plan? In general, I mean?" Spike asked Father Nicholas.
"For now? We bide our time and wait," Nicholas said. "To be perfectly honest, we don't make aggressive moves against the gangs. It's simply... well, unsustainable. Unlike us, they have a much larger structure, a lot of people who can take over. Right now, our best move is to wait and see how the situation in Queens changes. If the McNessas move in on the Demons' territory in the wake of the destruction you've managed, we'll need to undercut them."
"And keep the war going?" Zane reacted with surprise.
"Sadly, yes," Father Nicholas said with a nod. It seemed like he was deeply saddened by his own words, but resolute, unshakeable, in his faith they were correct. "If either side gains too much of an unacceptable advantage in this conflict, it means they'll seize the others' Godcards and lands. You saw the auction today, right? Imagine if the McNessas had double the Cardbearers, more deeds, and territory to fuel their point income and to spend on auctions. Already, they have a business empire raking in millions of dollars worth of blood money - not to mention a hegemony over the other groups.
"All they need right now is a spark - a single push against the Demons, in order to become completely undefeatable for all of the other Cardbearers in New York combined. Not simply us, but everyone. And that's not accounting for the rising empowerment of their leaders - in a few months, I suspect Arthur McNessa will be roughly as powerful as the projections for the Mangler's might during its last sighting. At that point, it wouldn't be out of the question for them to outright seize New York, mind control the bureaucrats, and become the undisputed rulers. It could be the same for the Gravesend Demons."
"And so," Yukari took over, "We need to keep them fighting, wasting their time and resources on a pointless war. It'll give us and the Police Faction enough time to power up, get their own network in place over Queens and the other locations, and to prep the damn feds on how magic works, and how to fight it. So long as neither side of the gang war completely dominates the other, we can keep advancing and do our best to keep up with them, and eventually bust their asses."
"What you did was admirable," Helene said, looking over at Zane, as if sensing the idea to attack the warehouse had been his own. "It weakened the Demons. However, if the McNessas choose to abuse this weakness, we'll have to weaken them as well; support the Demons from the shadows."
"Yes... And I suspect Mephistopheles has cause to believe the McNessas do intend to fight," Nicholas interjected, cupping his chin. "I saw him recruiting the Firestarter. It means he's become desperate, to hire that madman of all people. The blow you struck was deep, at the heart of his infrastructure."
"Shit," Zane muttered. "I made the gang war worse by accident, somehow."
"It's on us, too," Spike said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, bro, don't fear," Brick added. "We're all equally retarded."
"Brick," Spike growl-whispered. "Language. We're not in the hood right now."
Zane couldn't help but note the, 'right now.'
"Alright, it's getting late, and I have to prepare an action plan for tomorrow. See ya bitches later," Yukari said, standing up and stretching, raising her hands up into the air to click her fingers in a series of pops. She walked for the exit.
"It is rather late. Meeting adjourned," Nicholas agreed, looking at the Knights. "We'll meet back tomorrow, right before midnight, to continue our discussion."
"Don't be late, boys," said Grandma Schuster, winking at them from her seat. "Or I might hafta cast a spell on ya." She chuckled in that grim, threatening way that only someone with Baba Yaga as a Godcard could.
"We won't," they all chorused.
---
Here's the rough outline of powers for the members of the Manhattan Wardens. At least, as much as they've been willing to divulge:
Father Nicholas (Constantine)
Sanctification of Constantine - A 60-second prayer that requires immense concentration, mental rigor, and focus; it mustn't be interrupted. At the end of the process, an area up to a single city block in horizontal width and the height of several stories is 'sanctified,' conferring a number of defensive benefits. A sanctified area disrupts all forms of enemy activity on a conceptual level (induces tiredness, reduces offense, reduces defense, etc,) at the same time as it bolsters allies in a similar manner; useful for strategizing and meeting, as it makes allies more creative, intelligent, charismatic, etc, producing a higher quality of discussion.
It also disrupts enemy magic of both the passive and active variety, making esoteric effects such as scrying or telepathy almost completely unusable and rendering direct ones such as firing off energy blasts or flying massively ineffective, and repels anything which is undead or demonic, preventing teleportation, etc. A theoretically-infinite amount of sanctified areas can be maintained; however, sanctification decays over time and has trouble distinguishing what counts as an ally and what counts as an enemy when Constantine himself isn't present to direct its perception of such. If confused or uncertain, it defaults to marking people as allies, rather than enemies.
Baptism of the Final Hour - If Constantine anticipates an incoming conflict, he may conceptually baptize those allies in his vicinity, causing a brief flash of numinous blue flame to flicker in the affected people's chests. A group baptism of this sort confers a number of benefits, allowing the people in question to coordinate far better as a group, including some kind of 'subconscious telepathy,' which lets the members keep track of each others' position and status far better on an instinctive level. Furthermore, he may also grant up to half the baptized people a small blessing, such as improving their resistance to disease and toxin, slightly boosting their luck, etc. The baptism wears off immediately after combat ends. Has a cooldown of one hour.
Lesser Sign of Conquest - Allows for the opening of 'sky portals,' which fire holy energy blasts which resemble halcyon rays of pure sunlight. A single one of these blasts has sufficient power to destroy a two-story house, and a given sky portal can fire them with deadly precision and rapid, machine-gun frequency. Allegedly, Father Nicholas has never used this ability, because his inherent instinct tells him it'd be 'unsubtle' to the point of alerting half of New York to the fact that, "something is going on," so he's reserving this for the direst hour. Everyone in the group fears what the Greater Sign of Conquest might look like, with the prevailing theory being, "holy nuke."
Other - A few, lesser powers - more on par with the usual fare that Godcards offer to their users. Most notably, Father Nicholas' constitution, stamina, and patience are the stuff of legend. He can, through conversation, rouse the conscience and virtues of other people around him in order to motivate them into becoming better people. He's also highly, almost superhumanly, adept at matters of administration, bureaucracy, and oratory skill. The Godcard has also boosted his combat skill, although not to the point of mastery.
Michael Hunt (Arawn)
Enmity - At will, radiates a killing intent that scares opponents, often to the point of making them cast aside their arms and flee in fear, often abandoning shelter, preferring to run than to hide. Surprisingly, this power has a lot of fine control, letting him pick out specific individuals from a larger group, or affecting specific demographics at a time.
Hunter Sense - A supernatural 'sixth sense' that allows Michael to perceive the world as a dark red reflection of itself. In this state, he can outline a specific type of quarry, such as, 'deer,' or 'gang members,' and he will see tracks leading them to his victim as bright red marks, resembling footsteps or tire tracks, or whatever manner of track is appropriate for his target's mode of transport. As he uses this sense, Michael's skill with all manner of ranged weapons, including thrown implements, bows, and firearms will slowly increase; but he will lose faculties in other departments, such as speech or mathematics.
Hound of Annwn - Arawn can summon a Hound of Annwn to serve him. A Hound of Annwn is a red-eared bloodhound of incredible size and potent strength, capable of ripping men apart and surviving gunfire with barely a whimper. It serves its master obediently, intelligently, and unquestioningly. Can only summon one hound at a time; the longer a hound is summoned without dying and the more 'hunts' it participates in, the more powerful and big it becomes, although this growth plateaus after a while.
Jennifer Sibyll (Hecate)
Spellcasting - Upon shaking hands or touching a Cardbearer, she can gain a lesser copy of a single of their powers as a 'spell effect.' She has a hard limit of four spells that she can't exceed, but she can drop spell effects with a minute's concentration. These aren't exact copies, but rather, sorcerous versions of the natural divine effects the Cards grant. For instance, a sorcerous version of Constantine's Lesser Sign of Conquest allows her to fire a beam of supernatural hard-light, sufficient in power to crumple the side of a car. In order to cast most of her spells, she requires a few seconds of incantation (at least 4 seconds; 6 on average, 10 at maximum,) in order to prepare them. She has a fifth slot which is always irrevocably filled and lets her create floating, ghostly lights, up to a limit of four lights.
Substances of the Quantified World - She can identify poisonous substances, chemicals, and herbs, and their nature with a simple glance down to the rough molecular composition. All she requires is a single glance at the substance in question.
Helene Schuster (Persephone)
Life and Death Transcendence - Can infuse "life essence" into a given location, making plants sprout from any available surface and accelerating natural healing, or infuse "death essence" into locations, making the living creatures within slow, feeble and enervated, and wilting plant life. As she infuses her essence, the effects grow stronger and stronger, ramping up in a dramatic fashion, but doing that can take time, even minutes at a time, and far more so if she's attempting to swing a location over to the other side. It takes time for either type of essence to "decay" naturally, often days or weeks, and even longer if she frequently repeats this process. At her peak, a zone of life essence can rapidly heal wounds, so fast they seem to close up in front of the observer's eyes. She hasn't tried to peak a zone of death essence yet.
Princess of the Flowers - A fine-tuned and decently powerful control over all forms of plant life, allowing her to animate said plants and give them some amount of supernatural power. For instance, blades of grass under her control become far tougher and longer, fibrous and flexible, usable for tripping up opponents or even anchoring their ankles to the ground. Her own facemask was made by commanding a part of a tree's bark to pop off in a specific manner, to suit her needs. She can make fruit sprout suddenly and out of season on trees.
Queen of the Underworld - Her Godcard claims this ability lets her command the local ghosts through sheer force of personality. She's attempted to use it numerous times by calling out to the empty air and commanding the ghosts to show themselves or perform tasks for her, and it never worked; she even tried to do this in places that are, allegedly, haunted and never received a response of any kind. The philosophical implication of this fact makes a few people deeply uncomfortable.
Muriel Schuster (Baba Yaga)
Spellcasting - A power fairly similar to Hecate's, but of a different flavor. At dusk, as the sun's last rays peek over the horizon, she chooses up to five spells out of a set of thirty, to have the ability to cast for that day. Although the limit of her 'types' of spells is five, she can't cast more than twenty spells in total per day. Unlike Hecate's, her spellcasting is mostly instantaneous, with preparation time no longer than two seconds at most. Her power mostly includes classic spellcraft such as making objects levitate, with a slight focus on curses and enchantments; always keeps an "offensive" option, including a fire-stream or a ball of viridian mana on hand.
Kindly Old Lady's Smile - Aside from spells, she also has a superhuman ability when it comes to knitting and weaving, letting her use ordinary cotton to make bulletproof shawls, etc. All of the Lawkeepers have a few clothing items have woven by her, especially in their 'costumes.' She also uses this to make clothing for the homeless.
Yukari Campell (Athena)
Effortless Vision of the War Goddess - Nightvision, seeing through illusions, incredible visual clarity, capable of determining even the smallest detail as if observing via a microscope or a telescope. An active perception of several targets in her cone of vision at the same time, letting her focus on multiple events at the same time.
Alea Iacta Est - She doesn't trust you (or apparently, anyone,) enough to share the specifics, but, "she can see the future." How this works isn't certain, but Father Nicholas is willing to tell you that he's never seen her surprised when she's actively focused on using this power - recognizable by a slight intensity in her posture.
Hand-Arms of the War Goddess - Her left hand is a 'shield' that can block any attack, even ones from a supernatural source. She's confident that it'd be able to easily block the Sword of Terror without producing even a scratch. When channeling Alea Iacta Est, her prediction of the future apparently lets her use her left hand as a flyswatter against bullets. And on the other hand (ba-dum-tss,) her right hand is a 'spear' that can pierce any surface or material no matter how obdurate. She's confident that it'd be able to easily penetrate the Shield of Terror without even pausing. She calls her hands "absolute." Also bestows low-superhuman condition, mostly in the form of supernatural agility and reflexes, letting her perform the aforementioned bullet-swatting maneuver.
Sanctification of Constantine - A 60-second prayer that requires immense concentration, mental rigor, and focus; it mustn't be interrupted. At the end of the process, an area up to a single city block in horizontal width and the height of several stories is 'sanctified,' conferring a number of defensive benefits. A sanctified area disrupts all forms of enemy activity on a conceptual level (induces tiredness, reduces offense, reduces defense, etc,) at the same time as it bolsters allies in a similar manner; useful for strategizing and meeting, as it makes allies more creative, intelligent, charismatic, etc, producing a higher quality of discussion.
It also disrupts enemy magic of both the passive and active variety, making esoteric effects such as scrying or telepathy almost completely unusable and rendering direct ones such as firing off energy blasts or flying massively ineffective, and repels anything which is undead or demonic, preventing teleportation, etc. A theoretically-infinite amount of sanctified areas can be maintained; however, sanctification decays over time and has trouble distinguishing what counts as an ally and what counts as an enemy when Constantine himself isn't present to direct its perception of such. If confused or uncertain, it defaults to marking people as allies, rather than enemies.
Baptism of the Final Hour - If Constantine anticipates an incoming conflict, he may conceptually baptize those allies in his vicinity, causing a brief flash of numinous blue flame to flicker in the affected people's chests. A group baptism of this sort confers a number of benefits, allowing the people in question to coordinate far better as a group, including some kind of 'subconscious telepathy,' which lets the members keep track of each others' position and status far better on an instinctive level. Furthermore, he may also grant up to half the baptized people a small blessing, such as improving their resistance to disease and toxin, slightly boosting their luck, etc. The baptism wears off immediately after combat ends. Has a cooldown of one hour.
Lesser Sign of Conquest - Allows for the opening of 'sky portals,' which fire holy energy blasts which resemble halcyon rays of pure sunlight. A single one of these blasts has sufficient power to destroy a two-story house, and a given sky portal can fire them with deadly precision and rapid, machine-gun frequency. Allegedly, Father Nicholas has never used this ability, because his inherent instinct tells him it'd be 'unsubtle' to the point of alerting half of New York to the fact that, "something is going on," so he's reserving this for the direst hour. Everyone in the group fears what the Greater Sign of Conquest might look like, with the prevailing theory being, "holy nuke."
Other - A few, lesser powers - more on par with the usual fare that Godcards offer to their users. Most notably, Father Nicholas' constitution, stamina, and patience are the stuff of legend. He can, through conversation, rouse the conscience and virtues of other people around him in order to motivate them into becoming better people. He's also highly, almost superhumanly, adept at matters of administration, bureaucracy, and oratory skill. The Godcard has also boosted his combat skill, although not to the point of mastery.
Michael Hunt (Arawn)
Enmity - At will, radiates a killing intent that scares opponents, often to the point of making them cast aside their arms and flee in fear, often abandoning shelter, preferring to run than to hide. Surprisingly, this power has a lot of fine control, letting him pick out specific individuals from a larger group, or affecting specific demographics at a time.
Hunter Sense - A supernatural 'sixth sense' that allows Michael to perceive the world as a dark red reflection of itself. In this state, he can outline a specific type of quarry, such as, 'deer,' or 'gang members,' and he will see tracks leading them to his victim as bright red marks, resembling footsteps or tire tracks, or whatever manner of track is appropriate for his target's mode of transport. As he uses this sense, Michael's skill with all manner of ranged weapons, including thrown implements, bows, and firearms will slowly increase; but he will lose faculties in other departments, such as speech or mathematics.
Hound of Annwn - Arawn can summon a Hound of Annwn to serve him. A Hound of Annwn is a red-eared bloodhound of incredible size and potent strength, capable of ripping men apart and surviving gunfire with barely a whimper. It serves its master obediently, intelligently, and unquestioningly. Can only summon one hound at a time; the longer a hound is summoned without dying and the more 'hunts' it participates in, the more powerful and big it becomes, although this growth plateaus after a while.
Jennifer Sibyll (Hecate)
Spellcasting - Upon shaking hands or touching a Cardbearer, she can gain a lesser copy of a single of their powers as a 'spell effect.' She has a hard limit of four spells that she can't exceed, but she can drop spell effects with a minute's concentration. These aren't exact copies, but rather, sorcerous versions of the natural divine effects the Cards grant. For instance, a sorcerous version of Constantine's Lesser Sign of Conquest allows her to fire a beam of supernatural hard-light, sufficient in power to crumple the side of a car. In order to cast most of her spells, she requires a few seconds of incantation (at least 4 seconds; 6 on average, 10 at maximum,) in order to prepare them. She has a fifth slot which is always irrevocably filled and lets her create floating, ghostly lights, up to a limit of four lights.
Substances of the Quantified World - She can identify poisonous substances, chemicals, and herbs, and their nature with a simple glance down to the rough molecular composition. All she requires is a single glance at the substance in question.
Helene Schuster (Persephone)
Life and Death Transcendence - Can infuse "life essence" into a given location, making plants sprout from any available surface and accelerating natural healing, or infuse "death essence" into locations, making the living creatures within slow, feeble and enervated, and wilting plant life. As she infuses her essence, the effects grow stronger and stronger, ramping up in a dramatic fashion, but doing that can take time, even minutes at a time, and far more so if she's attempting to swing a location over to the other side. It takes time for either type of essence to "decay" naturally, often days or weeks, and even longer if she frequently repeats this process. At her peak, a zone of life essence can rapidly heal wounds, so fast they seem to close up in front of the observer's eyes. She hasn't tried to peak a zone of death essence yet.
Princess of the Flowers - A fine-tuned and decently powerful control over all forms of plant life, allowing her to animate said plants and give them some amount of supernatural power. For instance, blades of grass under her control become far tougher and longer, fibrous and flexible, usable for tripping up opponents or even anchoring their ankles to the ground. Her own facemask was made by commanding a part of a tree's bark to pop off in a specific manner, to suit her needs. She can make fruit sprout suddenly and out of season on trees.
Queen of the Underworld - Her Godcard claims this ability lets her command the local ghosts through sheer force of personality. She's attempted to use it numerous times by calling out to the empty air and commanding the ghosts to show themselves or perform tasks for her, and it never worked; she even tried to do this in places that are, allegedly, haunted and never received a response of any kind. The philosophical implication of this fact makes a few people deeply uncomfortable.
Muriel Schuster (Baba Yaga)
Spellcasting - A power fairly similar to Hecate's, but of a different flavor. At dusk, as the sun's last rays peek over the horizon, she chooses up to five spells out of a set of thirty, to have the ability to cast for that day. Although the limit of her 'types' of spells is five, she can't cast more than twenty spells in total per day. Unlike Hecate's, her spellcasting is mostly instantaneous, with preparation time no longer than two seconds at most. Her power mostly includes classic spellcraft such as making objects levitate, with a slight focus on curses and enchantments; always keeps an "offensive" option, including a fire-stream or a ball of viridian mana on hand.
Kindly Old Lady's Smile - Aside from spells, she also has a superhuman ability when it comes to knitting and weaving, letting her use ordinary cotton to make bulletproof shawls, etc. All of the Lawkeepers have a few clothing items have woven by her, especially in their 'costumes.' She also uses this to make clothing for the homeless.
Yukari Campell (Athena)
Effortless Vision of the War Goddess - Nightvision, seeing through illusions, incredible visual clarity, capable of determining even the smallest detail as if observing via a microscope or a telescope. An active perception of several targets in her cone of vision at the same time, letting her focus on multiple events at the same time.
Alea Iacta Est - She doesn't trust you (or apparently, anyone,) enough to share the specifics, but, "she can see the future." How this works isn't certain, but Father Nicholas is willing to tell you that he's never seen her surprised when she's actively focused on using this power - recognizable by a slight intensity in her posture.
Hand-Arms of the War Goddess - Her left hand is a 'shield' that can block any attack, even ones from a supernatural source. She's confident that it'd be able to easily block the Sword of Terror without producing even a scratch. When channeling Alea Iacta Est, her prediction of the future apparently lets her use her left hand as a flyswatter against bullets. And on the other hand (ba-dum-tss,) her right hand is a 'spear' that can pierce any surface or material no matter how obdurate. She's confident that it'd be able to easily penetrate the Shield of Terror without even pausing. She calls her hands "absolute." Also bestows low-superhuman condition, mostly in the form of supernatural agility and reflexes, letting her perform the aforementioned bullet-swatting maneuver.
Aside from the meeting tomorrow, you have a day off, vote by plan, and so on and so on; a maximum of five actions, as per the usual limited-effectiveness rules. Also you've got, like, 12.4 Ambrosia, not that it'll do anything since the Arc is ending soon.
[ ] Practice Martial Arts - Where and how? Visit the gym? Visit a dojo? Spar against Uncle Shen? Find a practice dummy? Beat up people?
[ ] Teach Spike & Brick - How to fight and be men! Uncle Shen's already got this, but practice never hurts.
[ ] Wander Around - Wander around somewhere aimlessly. (Which district of New York?)
[ ] Visit Uncle Shen - Uncle Shen appreciates your efforts in cheering him up, to be sure.
[ ] Go Shopping - And purchase what?
[ ] Call Mephistopheles - In bird culture, voting for this action is considered, "unsmart."
[ ] Write-in - Something else?
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
This is more of blue sky science, but what effect would Persephone's Life Essence power have on the cubes?
What I'm thinking is that if we run... I don't know, Crysis, or some kind of performance benchmarking software on the computers to really push them to their limits, in a life essence zone, we may be able to flash train them into better computers. We may want to try plugging a cube into a computer's USB port to see if there's any kind of comprehensible software, what kind of data is on the cubes.
What I'm thinking is that if we run... I don't know, Crysis, or some kind of performance benchmarking software on the computers to really push them to their limits, in a life essence zone, we may be able to flash train them into better computers. We may want to try plugging a cube into a computer's USB port to see if there's any kind of comprehensible software, what kind of data is on the cubes.
- Location
- Florida
She's probably not bloodthirsty enough to unlock some abilities. She need's to learn to lay down the law in order to command them, or maybe she needs her hubby around and eating some certain fruit.
???
Either this is a different goddess/historical figure I don't know or this is incorrect since this looks more like Athenas abilities than Artemis's.
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OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet in thread, Persephone's power can be used to facilitate anime style training from hell if people are so inclined. In the meantime though, I'm going to float this plan.
[x]Plan Blue Sky Science
-[x]Try plugging a cube into a computer to see what comes up when you work them so if nothing else you can explain their capabilities more fully to rentee's/buyers
-[x]Discuss with Persephone the idea of seeing if the cubes can do the equivalent of pumping iron with Persephones power helping their regeneration. We'd need a program that could push the cubes limits though.
-[x]Get more information from Spike about potential rentees/buyers for the cubes
[x]Plan Blue Sky Science
-[x]Try plugging a cube into a computer to see what comes up when you work them so if nothing else you can explain their capabilities more fully to rentee's/buyers
-[x]Discuss with Persephone the idea of seeing if the cubes can do the equivalent of pumping iron with Persephones power helping their regeneration. We'd need a program that could push the cubes limits though.
-[x]Get more information from Spike about potential rentees/buyers for the cubes
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- Location
- a place
I'd really, really, would rather not throw three different actions into computer stuff to be honest. Couldn't we just get the required ppl we'd need to talk to in a room with cube and the computer and discuss this stuff while it's being plugged in?
- Location
- a place
[X] Plan Busy Day
- [X]Plug the cube in and discuss what to do with it with the wardens, bringing up potential applications of Persephone's power and their value as a source of money and/or income.
- [X] Practice Martial Arts - Spar against Uncle Shen and the other two 'Demon Slayers.'
- [X] Teach Spike & Brick - How to fight and be men! Uncle Shen's already got this, but practice never hurts.
- [X] Visit Uncle Shen - Uncle Shen appreciates your efforts in cheering him up, to be sure.
- [X]Plug the cube in and discuss what to do with it with the wardens, bringing up potential applications of Persephone's power and their value as a source of money and/or income.
- [X] Practice Martial Arts - Spar against Uncle Shen and the other two 'Demon Slayers.'
- [X] Teach Spike & Brick - How to fight and be men! Uncle Shen's already got this, but practice never hurts.
- [X] Visit Uncle Shen - Uncle Shen appreciates your efforts in cheering him up, to be sure.
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