I was commenting on the fact that the distinctive look Cassiel has in unison mode will most likely trigger the reveal to Vista of her Ziz origins.
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
Lab_Accident
A 2D 1D4
- Location
- Your dreams
Also dingoes, jackals.
My understanding of that was that her power was supposed to be used with wolves, but dogs were close enough that they worked as well.
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
Now I half suspect it'll be Dragon and Tim and there will be many awkward stuttering about how Unison isn't sex, it's just a close intimate bond where one partner combines with another and... yea, awkward hilarity.
- Location
- Georgia
Part of it is certainly that the shards have very little understanding of the world, but the problem with that idea was that it was definitely a dog that was drowning when Bitch triggered, so her powers should have been focused on dogs before anything else. Her shard would have used her own understanding of what the dog was to define what it was trying to affect, and only then looking out to the rest of the world to fill in the gaps.
That could be fun.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Eh, being able to send emotions via telepathy is mostly limited to mages and their GBs. It's why in all the character sheets it talks about the telepathic connection being "especially strong".
Non-combat Guardian Beasts? Heretic!
But honestly, that is exactly what a Familiar is. It's a much simpler ritual than a Guardian Beast because they don't start out with any programmed spells, so they can develop however they and their mage want. They also don't have the same insta-kill reaction that GBs of the Sword and Rifle do.
Yes, with the caveat that I've never played Gears of Destiny, so currently it's based off the Eltria depicted in the Reflection movie.
- Location
- Georgia
We should see if we can get the familiar ritual from the TSAB ship, then. Asking for a way to give people LESS firepower might be something Erga in particular might be willing to give--err, "let slip". Frankly, I'd have almost no problem with Plan Pokemon if we weren't giving super powered war machines to random people.
The familiars might still be able to offer a degree of assistance understanding and dealing with social situations. Just having an ally who will always be with you and always have your back in a figurative, civilian sense would do wonders to alleviate social anxiety disorders.
Naw, if her power works better on a wolf than on a dog, she was PROBABLY with a wolf pup at her trigger.
Wolves and dogs are close enough to crossbreed.
And seeing a kid playing with a wolf pup is shit inducing
Wildbow confirmed Rollo wasn't a dog in a reddit thread speculating on Rollo being a wolf but also mentioned the poster's theory about Rollo being a wolf wasn't quite right but on the right track. Hence why the idea Rollo was a coyote came about.
Still not entirely sure what this has to do with this thread though.
Still not entirely sure what this has to do with this thread though.
- Location
- Estonia
I think the original question was whether Rachel could enhance Guardian Beasts that were created from dogs/other canines and the discussion drifted from there.
- Location
- Georgia
The real reason it started, and why we kept talking about it, is that we're, or at least I, am bored and we didn't have a better topic at the moment. Whether Rachel can boost other canines is an interesting topic for me. A Familiar that could help with her shard induced autism* would be a game changer for her. Combining that with her powers is just the natural course of that line of thought.
*A complete inability to read social and body language cues isn't a part of all autism, but she clearly falls on the autism spectrum. That she is able to function at as high a level as she does with how severe her handicap is is one of the many fascinating aspects of the character. Shame we didn't get involved with her, but with how badly this Taylor reacted to Tattletale's attitude in this story, we'd never have put up with Bitch. I'd still love to see if she could boost dog GBs and what that would look like.
I remember seeing a one-shot somewhere in which Lisa suggested treating people like her dogs, and she actually became the team face.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
"Let's start from the beginning," Director Piggot said. "You got the message that the Undersiders are robbing bank. You arrived on the scene. What happened next?"
Aegis started to explain, "Bitch came out from the bank and-"
"Hellhound," Armsmaster corrected him.
"Bitch," Aegis insisted. "It's wrong to call people wrong names."
"Fine," Piggot waved Armsmaster off, "Bitch came out from the bank, and? What she did do?"
"She said if we start fight, we'll break something or hurt somebody and people will be mad at us." Aegis explained. "They'll call us bad boys and leave us without treats. Considering how many lectures about collateral damage we were forced to listen, I couldn't really disagree."
"And what happened then?" Piggot asked.
Aegis blushed. "She called me a good boy and scratched me behind my ears. Then she returned to the bank."
"And then?"
"Glory Girl came down from the bank's roof. She asked us about our talk with Bitch. Then she started to insist we should attack immediately and something about Panacea. Gallant tried to calm her down with no avail. She got very agitated and said she'll attack right now, with or without us. So to prevent collateral damage I ordered Clockblocker to freeze her."
"And while you were dealing with her, the Undersiders got away." Director concluded the story.
"Yes ma'am." Aegis nodded, averting his eyes.
Piggot sighed heavily, massaging her temples. "On the one hand, you let villains to get away without even trying to stop them. That's really bad for our image. On the other hand... It hurts me to agree with a villain, but Bitch was right. An attempt to attack the bank with hostages inside would have been a disaster, double so if you'd have let Glory Girl to do it." Piggot made a pause, drumming her fingers on the table. "Ultimately, you made a right call."
"So..." Aegis asked hesitantly. "Am I a good boy?" he looked at Director hopefully.
Piggot sighed. "Yes, you are, Aegis. Yes, you are."
Aegis beamed.
- Location
- Georgia
Do we have much of a description of Lacey? I can only recall for certain that she's been described as "burly"?
@Silently Watches How much did her appearance change with getting her template? You described changes for both Taylor and Tim, but what I recall of Lacey getting her powers focused instead on the default barrier jacket. I have an omake that might see the light of day at some point, and wanted a bit more of a description of her current looks to go off of.
@Silently Watches How much did her appearance change with getting her template? You described changes for both Taylor and Tim, but what I recall of Lacey getting her powers focused instead on the default barrier jacket. I have an omake that might see the light of day at some point, and wanted a bit more of a description of her current looks to go off of.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
We don't have much of a description of Lacey from canon other than that she was tall (for a woman) and unusually broad in build. I picture her as being one of those burly, muscular women who look like they would be at home on a farm or a construction site; the kind who growing up would have been called "manly" by the popular kids because she has more of a stereotypically masculine build.
Her appearance did not really change when she received her template. It isn't going to make her magically slender and willowy because that isn't what those changes are for. The physical changes that come with a template are really more of a tune-up than anything else; it's why Taylor lost her little paunch and Tim went from being weedy to wiry.
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
Now I'm imagining the woman from the Women's Day Brawny paper towels... Not heavy, but the kind of woman that wouldn't look out of place next to Smallville's Clark Kent.
Bonus pun I didn't want to post on it's own but didn't want to delete:
Any conversation taking place at sufficient velocity is bound to suffer some drift.
- Location
- Erebus
This thing?That was a pretty good series. Hilarious because it got better after the lead actor puchased the series from the studio and kicked out the writers/directors.
Supergirl coulda benefited from that.
Cloudy Skies 11.16
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
[] To each their own
-[] Master meets Blaster
-[] Tank v. Blaster
-[] Five finger death punch the unknown
Cloudy Skies 11.16
Missy points at the man standing beside the Master cape. "Anyone have any idea what he does? If we were back home, I could maybe take a guess based on his costume, but here…"
You shake your head, as does Samantha.
"I could attempt postcognition on him, but the utility would depend on when he last used his powers. More than three days, and it would be beyond my sight. I would in all probability spend more time determining this than would be required to defeat him," volunteers Cassiel. You, in turn, blink in surprise. You knew that her powers had been altered during her conversion to Device-dom, but you never would have guessed that it was to this degree.
"So he's a total unknown. Okay. I'll deal with him." Missy looks at you and gestures to her gleaming metal arm, as though she thinks she needs to convince you of her plan. Which, considering how the Wards have been treating her, she may think she does. "Of the four of us, I have the most experience fighting capes, and my power makes me a hit and run powerhouse. Samantha, you take on Blaster."
"That's what we're calling her?" the Guardian Beast asks in a droll voice. "Not even a nickname, just her threat designation?"
"Mocking nicknames are for banter or hammy-type heroes. I'm not that good at either. Anyway, you have the best defense out of all of us, which may help counter the effects of her power. Plus, she might not be able to change you at all since you aren't fully human, but don't take any unnecessary risks. I'll be honest, she's the most problematic of the three of them. Capes with powers that let them change people into other forms are incredibly rare. There's no way to know what will happen.
"Taylor, you get Master. You can put her down the easiest out of all of us."
"Because I can attack multiple targets at once," you guess, looking at the several dozen gigantic insects flying and crawling around. "Which means I get the joy of dealing with the wasps."
Missy nods. "Be careful with them, though. We just saw them make those wasps out of people, so they are victims more than anyone else. I don't know if the change is permanent or not or if they're conscious or not, but either way they deserve not to be burnt to death."
"I can try holding them down with telekinesis, but I don't know if I can get all of them. It depends on how much they weigh."
"I can assist with that." You look over at Cassiel, who is staring back at you with her arms crossed. "One of my abilities is empowering another's telekinetic effects. Should we enter Unison, we would enjoy greater strength than either of us has alone, and I could devote my attention to the containment of the wasps while you focus on the cape."
"Unison is where you merge with my Linker Core, right?" Tim had explained that to you at one point while he was building Dragon's new body, though it was not your main interest at the time. "How do I know you won't screw something up while you're in there?"
"I will be cautious," she says, though she immediately proves this promise a smokescreen for Missy's benefit. «You continue to assume I have a hidden agenda and will betray you given the most meager opportunity. You, Samantha, Timothy, even Dragon to some extent. I tricked the world. I manipulated you. I do not deny these actions. I have, however, no need to further deceive you. Thanks to your actions, I have what I wanted. Antagonizing you is of no value, not when you and your allies are both my greatest threats and my greatest opportunity for entertainment.» She smiles, the expression alien on her face. "All I ask is that you lend me the most minor degree of trust."
You are going to regret this, you just know it. "Alright. Let's give it a shot."
The wicked fairy gives you a look that is pure Ziz and begins to glow with a gentle white light before slipping inside you. The presence of the Unison Device creates a disturbingly pleasant fullness in your core, and you stumble as warmth washes through your limbs. A lock of your normally black hair falls in front of your face, now bleached to a pure snow white. "Oh."
«Indeed.» You can all too easily visualize Cassiel, her wings spread out as she hovers in the middle of a pulsing red background. «This is Unison, a merge that grants both of us power beyond what we are otherwise capable. There will be minor cosmetic changes as a result of our magics mixing. Do not be concerned; they are not permanent. Now, let us crush our enemies.»
"We want the wasps left alive, remember," you remind her. Raising your staff over your head, you look down at the capes and captives below. "We move on three. One… two…"
Missy and Samantha brace themselves against the base of the wide open window you all stand within, and a distortion appears in front of the former.
"Three."
They push off their perch and fly through the air, and your arm and staff swing downwards. You can feel the magic streaming from your Linker Core swell as Cassiel adds her own push to the spell. Without warning, every single one of the wasps falls to the ground. They wiggle and push, but they cannot rise back into the air. That is also when your allies reappear and everything turns to chaos.
Another gesture on your end rips the spears away from the guards and slings them towards the Master. The spears cross paths and dig into the stone walls, pinning the villainous cape in place. Without weapons, the guards cannot stop the half-naked prisoners from standing and shoving them away before running for safety.
A flicker grabs your attention, and you watch the man Missy is desperately trying to punch in the head collapse into a column of flickering ghostly flames at the same time that another burst of flames heralds his reappearance. A short-range teleporter, and one with a power all too reminiscent of one of the Butcher's abilities. Fantastic. Missy dives at him again, but this time instead instead of faintly blue fire that greets her it is an explosion of the real thing. The flames part when they reach her to reveal the younger heroine crouched behind her green hardlight shield. A look around herself, and the chase begins again.
Samantha, on the other hand, seems to be comfortable blocking the Blaster's attacks with her blade, though you get the impression that she is playing with her food just a little bit.
«You good?» you ask your passenger as you finally float down to ground level.
«Perfect. I would not be able to restrain all combatants like this without Unison. It is an exquisite feeling. It reminds me of what I was once capable.» Apparently she can feel your mouth twitch in disapproval because she continues, «My current body is a substantial improvement, as is my new freedom, but that does not prevent me from mourning the diminishment of my abilities. As you would be doing if you considered the options available to you had you a pet Endbringer at your side. Am I incorrect?»
«Not answering that question.»
The Master slips out from under the spears bracketing her in place, displaying a degree of flexibility that you are honestly envious of, and is now shouting at you. You can't understand a word of it, but if you had to guess it would be something along the lines of 'how dare you interfere in my total dictatorial control over these worthless normies'. Philadelphia, New York, and even Brockton Bay introduced you to the idea of honorable villains, but this chick does not appear to be cast from that mold. She rips one of the spears from the wall and rushes at you, clearly intending to sink the iron point deep into your unprotected belly.
Too bad for her that your Barrier Jacket is a full body forcefield. The spear skitters over your flank without so much as scratching you, and you switch the hand holding your staff so you can slam your fist into her face. Sometimes being as hard to hurt as a Brute just isn't fair. Once she is on the ground, you conjure rings of orange mana to hold her limbs in place with a nod. That should keep her in one spot for a while.
A scream interrupts your self-congratulations. Spinning around, you find Samantha lying on the ground, the Blaster standing over her focusing that dreadful emerald beam onto her. Far faster than the people the Blaster had changed, your Guardian Beast is replaced by a gigantic insect. Had the Blaster prolonged the transformation on the men just to torture them, or does Samantha's nature actually make her more vulnerable to this effect?
The Blaster turns to you, jagged and rotting teeth bared in a triumphant sneer, and raises her hand towards you. It is at that moment that her newest wasp explodes into a grey blur. A prehistoric raccoon the size of a bear slams into her chest and neck with a growl, strangling her cry for help, and a quick twist of the animal's head sends a splash of crimson flying into the air.
Samantha. Is. Pissed.
A few more rips and tears, and Samantha shifts back into her normal human shape. "You shouldn't have played around with her in the first place," you tell her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was expecting my own shapeshifting would protect me from her. Which was right; I just underestimated how much it was going to hurt." She grabs her sword from the ground and slides it back into the scabbard. "I'm just going to go help Vista out now."
You look at the cat-and-mouse game that fight has become and shake your head. "Let me handle it." The code for Ring Bind spins around and around in your mind, and as soon as he solidifies again you let the spell go. Fire flies everywhere, but when the effect clears he is still stuck in place.
Missy warps right in front of him and backhands him in the face with her prosthetic arm, sending a couple of teeth flying from the impact. "I hate teleporters! Taylor, tell me how you got him to stay put like this. I need to know."
"Ring Bind locks the target's wrists and ankles in one place in space. It keeps them from running away, but the mechanics keep them from teleporting too," you say with a shrug. It is not an effect you have needed often, mostly because teleporters do not grow on trees, but it is a nice contingency plan to have in your pocket.
"What is it with you making me jealous of your magic…" Missy trails off and frowns. "Do you hear that?"
You listen, and now that no one is talking or teleporting you can hear a dull buzzing that is steadily growing louder and louder. A glance up reveals the source: an immense cloud of insects that is starting to crawl its way down the walls of the temple. You look knowingly over at the Master cape, who stares back at you with a glare of naked hatred.
"Hey, Missy? Now that it's just us in here and the threat is above us, any reason not to go with the big flashy area attacks?"
She sends you a tight smile. "Be my guest."
A beam of yellow and orange fire rips through the swarm like sunlight through night, incidentally erasing the roof of the temple in the process. You shake your head; any chance of this being subtle – already unlikely considering you broke up an execution and let the prisoners scatter – is well and truly gone now.
The bug 'goddess' is back to screaming and cursing you in her language, but you have had more than enough of this. A mental command deploys an arc of mana from your staff, and you let the ten-thousand-degree blade sink a couple of inches into the ground before you start walking towards her. The stone floor is no match for the flare mana making up the spell, allowing you to carve out a trench as you drag the blade sideways to maximize the visual effect. The villain's diatribe trails off as you approach, and by the time you hold the blade up to her cheek so she can feel the unholy amount of heat radiating from it, all she can do is stare up at you with wide eyes. The hatred for your actions she previously held replaced by pure and oh-so-mortal terror.
"You aren't a god," you tell her. "You aren't something special. You're just another thug who had a shit day and gained a couple of tricks."
"Taylor, she can't understand us," Samantha reminds you.
"I know. It probably wouldn't matter even if she could."
Cassiel phases out of you, causing you to gasp at the sudden feeling of loss and emptiness. "Something strange is happening to the wasps."
"And we have company," adds Missy.
Indeed, people are starting to poke their heads through the doorways and out from behind curtains, no doubt checking out what they will be faced with now that the sounds of chaos have ended. Some of them are guards carrying swords and spears, but some of them look to be regular servants. There are even some of the prisoners mixed in! You suppose this is what happens when you dethrone a living goddess, but still—
One of the wasps starts vibrating violently, and you prepare to slam it back into the ground the instant it takes off when, instead of doing what you expect, it bursts into light with an ear-ringing pop. Where the wasp once was now stands a man in a loincloth, the same man you watched the Blaster transform in the first place. He looks around him in confusion for a moment before the memories of the last hour or so hit him. He flees the room and finds comfort in the company of his fellow prisoners.
Another wasp pops.
Is it because the Blaster is dead, you wonder as you watch the wasps change back to normal. They are not all men, either; several turn out to be women, and a couple of them even run to the guards to be greeted with hugs and kisses. "I don't think this was just a punishment," you whisper to Samantha and Missy. "They took these people hostage, too."
No matter how quiet your voice is, it still gets the attention of all the natives of this world. They stare at you before several of them drop to the floor and start another chanting prayer.
"Nope. We're not dealing with this." You give Samantha and Missy a telekinetic tug to draw them closer. "Cassiel, get down here. We're leaving."
"You don't want to stay and enjoy being worshipped?" asks Missy with a teasing grin.
"Not a chance."
"Dimensional Storage" added to Exotic skill tree.
"Gravity Manipulation" added to Exotic skill tree.
Because you finally got into another fight, even if only by authorial fiat, Taylor gets to learn another spell. Choose wisely, because at this rate you won't finish her skill tree before the quest is over.
-[] Master meets Blaster
-[] Tank v. Blaster
-[] Five finger death punch the unknown
Cloudy Skies 11.16
Missy points at the man standing beside the Master cape. "Anyone have any idea what he does? If we were back home, I could maybe take a guess based on his costume, but here…"
You shake your head, as does Samantha.
"I could attempt postcognition on him, but the utility would depend on when he last used his powers. More than three days, and it would be beyond my sight. I would in all probability spend more time determining this than would be required to defeat him," volunteers Cassiel. You, in turn, blink in surprise. You knew that her powers had been altered during her conversion to Device-dom, but you never would have guessed that it was to this degree.
"So he's a total unknown. Okay. I'll deal with him." Missy looks at you and gestures to her gleaming metal arm, as though she thinks she needs to convince you of her plan. Which, considering how the Wards have been treating her, she may think she does. "Of the four of us, I have the most experience fighting capes, and my power makes me a hit and run powerhouse. Samantha, you take on Blaster."
"That's what we're calling her?" the Guardian Beast asks in a droll voice. "Not even a nickname, just her threat designation?"
"Mocking nicknames are for banter or hammy-type heroes. I'm not that good at either. Anyway, you have the best defense out of all of us, which may help counter the effects of her power. Plus, she might not be able to change you at all since you aren't fully human, but don't take any unnecessary risks. I'll be honest, she's the most problematic of the three of them. Capes with powers that let them change people into other forms are incredibly rare. There's no way to know what will happen.
"Taylor, you get Master. You can put her down the easiest out of all of us."
"Because I can attack multiple targets at once," you guess, looking at the several dozen gigantic insects flying and crawling around. "Which means I get the joy of dealing with the wasps."
Missy nods. "Be careful with them, though. We just saw them make those wasps out of people, so they are victims more than anyone else. I don't know if the change is permanent or not or if they're conscious or not, but either way they deserve not to be burnt to death."
"I can try holding them down with telekinesis, but I don't know if I can get all of them. It depends on how much they weigh."
"I can assist with that." You look over at Cassiel, who is staring back at you with her arms crossed. "One of my abilities is empowering another's telekinetic effects. Should we enter Unison, we would enjoy greater strength than either of us has alone, and I could devote my attention to the containment of the wasps while you focus on the cape."
"Unison is where you merge with my Linker Core, right?" Tim had explained that to you at one point while he was building Dragon's new body, though it was not your main interest at the time. "How do I know you won't screw something up while you're in there?"
"I will be cautious," she says, though she immediately proves this promise a smokescreen for Missy's benefit. «You continue to assume I have a hidden agenda and will betray you given the most meager opportunity. You, Samantha, Timothy, even Dragon to some extent. I tricked the world. I manipulated you. I do not deny these actions. I have, however, no need to further deceive you. Thanks to your actions, I have what I wanted. Antagonizing you is of no value, not when you and your allies are both my greatest threats and my greatest opportunity for entertainment.» She smiles, the expression alien on her face. "All I ask is that you lend me the most minor degree of trust."
You are going to regret this, you just know it. "Alright. Let's give it a shot."
The wicked fairy gives you a look that is pure Ziz and begins to glow with a gentle white light before slipping inside you. The presence of the Unison Device creates a disturbingly pleasant fullness in your core, and you stumble as warmth washes through your limbs. A lock of your normally black hair falls in front of your face, now bleached to a pure snow white. "Oh."
«Indeed.» You can all too easily visualize Cassiel, her wings spread out as she hovers in the middle of a pulsing red background. «This is Unison, a merge that grants both of us power beyond what we are otherwise capable. There will be minor cosmetic changes as a result of our magics mixing. Do not be concerned; they are not permanent. Now, let us crush our enemies.»
"We want the wasps left alive, remember," you remind her. Raising your staff over your head, you look down at the capes and captives below. "We move on three. One… two…"
Missy and Samantha brace themselves against the base of the wide open window you all stand within, and a distortion appears in front of the former.
"Three."
They push off their perch and fly through the air, and your arm and staff swing downwards. You can feel the magic streaming from your Linker Core swell as Cassiel adds her own push to the spell. Without warning, every single one of the wasps falls to the ground. They wiggle and push, but they cannot rise back into the air. That is also when your allies reappear and everything turns to chaos.
Another gesture on your end rips the spears away from the guards and slings them towards the Master. The spears cross paths and dig into the stone walls, pinning the villainous cape in place. Without weapons, the guards cannot stop the half-naked prisoners from standing and shoving them away before running for safety.
A flicker grabs your attention, and you watch the man Missy is desperately trying to punch in the head collapse into a column of flickering ghostly flames at the same time that another burst of flames heralds his reappearance. A short-range teleporter, and one with a power all too reminiscent of one of the Butcher's abilities. Fantastic. Missy dives at him again, but this time instead instead of faintly blue fire that greets her it is an explosion of the real thing. The flames part when they reach her to reveal the younger heroine crouched behind her green hardlight shield. A look around herself, and the chase begins again.
Samantha, on the other hand, seems to be comfortable blocking the Blaster's attacks with her blade, though you get the impression that she is playing with her food just a little bit.
«You good?» you ask your passenger as you finally float down to ground level.
«Perfect. I would not be able to restrain all combatants like this without Unison. It is an exquisite feeling. It reminds me of what I was once capable.» Apparently she can feel your mouth twitch in disapproval because she continues, «My current body is a substantial improvement, as is my new freedom, but that does not prevent me from mourning the diminishment of my abilities. As you would be doing if you considered the options available to you had you a pet Endbringer at your side. Am I incorrect?»
«Not answering that question.»
The Master slips out from under the spears bracketing her in place, displaying a degree of flexibility that you are honestly envious of, and is now shouting at you. You can't understand a word of it, but if you had to guess it would be something along the lines of 'how dare you interfere in my total dictatorial control over these worthless normies'. Philadelphia, New York, and even Brockton Bay introduced you to the idea of honorable villains, but this chick does not appear to be cast from that mold. She rips one of the spears from the wall and rushes at you, clearly intending to sink the iron point deep into your unprotected belly.
Too bad for her that your Barrier Jacket is a full body forcefield. The spear skitters over your flank without so much as scratching you, and you switch the hand holding your staff so you can slam your fist into her face. Sometimes being as hard to hurt as a Brute just isn't fair. Once she is on the ground, you conjure rings of orange mana to hold her limbs in place with a nod. That should keep her in one spot for a while.
A scream interrupts your self-congratulations. Spinning around, you find Samantha lying on the ground, the Blaster standing over her focusing that dreadful emerald beam onto her. Far faster than the people the Blaster had changed, your Guardian Beast is replaced by a gigantic insect. Had the Blaster prolonged the transformation on the men just to torture them, or does Samantha's nature actually make her more vulnerable to this effect?
The Blaster turns to you, jagged and rotting teeth bared in a triumphant sneer, and raises her hand towards you. It is at that moment that her newest wasp explodes into a grey blur. A prehistoric raccoon the size of a bear slams into her chest and neck with a growl, strangling her cry for help, and a quick twist of the animal's head sends a splash of crimson flying into the air.
Samantha. Is. Pissed.
A few more rips and tears, and Samantha shifts back into her normal human shape. "You shouldn't have played around with her in the first place," you tell her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was expecting my own shapeshifting would protect me from her. Which was right; I just underestimated how much it was going to hurt." She grabs her sword from the ground and slides it back into the scabbard. "I'm just going to go help Vista out now."
You look at the cat-and-mouse game that fight has become and shake your head. "Let me handle it." The code for Ring Bind spins around and around in your mind, and as soon as he solidifies again you let the spell go. Fire flies everywhere, but when the effect clears he is still stuck in place.
Missy warps right in front of him and backhands him in the face with her prosthetic arm, sending a couple of teeth flying from the impact. "I hate teleporters! Taylor, tell me how you got him to stay put like this. I need to know."
"Ring Bind locks the target's wrists and ankles in one place in space. It keeps them from running away, but the mechanics keep them from teleporting too," you say with a shrug. It is not an effect you have needed often, mostly because teleporters do not grow on trees, but it is a nice contingency plan to have in your pocket.
"What is it with you making me jealous of your magic…" Missy trails off and frowns. "Do you hear that?"
You listen, and now that no one is talking or teleporting you can hear a dull buzzing that is steadily growing louder and louder. A glance up reveals the source: an immense cloud of insects that is starting to crawl its way down the walls of the temple. You look knowingly over at the Master cape, who stares back at you with a glare of naked hatred.
"Hey, Missy? Now that it's just us in here and the threat is above us, any reason not to go with the big flashy area attacks?"
She sends you a tight smile. "Be my guest."
A beam of yellow and orange fire rips through the swarm like sunlight through night, incidentally erasing the roof of the temple in the process. You shake your head; any chance of this being subtle – already unlikely considering you broke up an execution and let the prisoners scatter – is well and truly gone now.
The bug 'goddess' is back to screaming and cursing you in her language, but you have had more than enough of this. A mental command deploys an arc of mana from your staff, and you let the ten-thousand-degree blade sink a couple of inches into the ground before you start walking towards her. The stone floor is no match for the flare mana making up the spell, allowing you to carve out a trench as you drag the blade sideways to maximize the visual effect. The villain's diatribe trails off as you approach, and by the time you hold the blade up to her cheek so she can feel the unholy amount of heat radiating from it, all she can do is stare up at you with wide eyes. The hatred for your actions she previously held replaced by pure and oh-so-mortal terror.
"You aren't a god," you tell her. "You aren't something special. You're just another thug who had a shit day and gained a couple of tricks."
"Taylor, she can't understand us," Samantha reminds you.
"I know. It probably wouldn't matter even if she could."
Cassiel phases out of you, causing you to gasp at the sudden feeling of loss and emptiness. "Something strange is happening to the wasps."
"And we have company," adds Missy.
Indeed, people are starting to poke their heads through the doorways and out from behind curtains, no doubt checking out what they will be faced with now that the sounds of chaos have ended. Some of them are guards carrying swords and spears, but some of them look to be regular servants. There are even some of the prisoners mixed in! You suppose this is what happens when you dethrone a living goddess, but still—
One of the wasps starts vibrating violently, and you prepare to slam it back into the ground the instant it takes off when, instead of doing what you expect, it bursts into light with an ear-ringing pop. Where the wasp once was now stands a man in a loincloth, the same man you watched the Blaster transform in the first place. He looks around him in confusion for a moment before the memories of the last hour or so hit him. He flees the room and finds comfort in the company of his fellow prisoners.
Another wasp pops.
Is it because the Blaster is dead, you wonder as you watch the wasps change back to normal. They are not all men, either; several turn out to be women, and a couple of them even run to the guards to be greeted with hugs and kisses. "I don't think this was just a punishment," you whisper to Samantha and Missy. "They took these people hostage, too."
No matter how quiet your voice is, it still gets the attention of all the natives of this world. They stare at you before several of them drop to the floor and start another chanting prayer.
"Nope. We're not dealing with this." You give Samantha and Missy a telekinetic tug to draw them closer. "Cassiel, get down here. We're leaving."
"You don't want to stay and enjoy being worshipped?" asks Missy with a teasing grin.
"Not a chance."
"Dimensional Storage" added to Exotic skill tree.
"Gravity Manipulation" added to Exotic skill tree.
Because you finally got into another fight, even if only by authorial fiat, Taylor gets to learn another spell. Choose wisely, because at this rate you won't finish her skill tree before the quest is over.
- Location
- Russia
Wait. Did they actually kill the "Goddess" or did they leave her just sitting there in terror?
- Location
- Vancouver, Canada
Given that the "Goddess/Master" appears to have a copy of Taylor's cannon powers, I'm guessing with the wasps gone she's a lot less dangerous.
[X] Sabotage ShiftBecause you finally got into another fight, even if only by authorial fiat, Taylor gets to learn another spell. Choose wisely, because at this rate you won't finish her skill tree before the quest is over.
Although I'm tempted to take Divide Energy for the possibility of getting help using recursion field on an Endbringer.
Although I can't think of any other use for that spell off the top of my head.
- Location
- USA
Just, ahh... just gonna leave these quotes here. Always nice to be a bit vindicated with your plans, moreso when yours loses
Had a moment of worry that , depending on the mechanic, her human form might be stuck wasp... but even if the Blaster's death didn't end effect I suspect only her raccoon form would be vulnerable. (Form-shift being a new spell, which ends/replaces the transform-blast, but "back to default" might not be a spell per-say.)Likewise with Vista having trouble dealing with... well, teleporter is better than the flame-Breaker i first worried about with that description xD. Poor girl.... she could do with a debriefing to think up ways to handle that or something, so she doesn't feel toooo bad. But probably will be that much more keen if Tim offhandedly mentions a last chance way to get a Linker Core, neh?
Edit: oh right, voting.... man, Singularity might really just get Vista upset at us huh. Its uncomfortably similar to the role we tag-teamed with her for vs Cadejo, and what I'd suggested re: wasps and all....
Eh, honestly fine with either of Sabotage Shift or Crescendo, buuut the former is less needful for a Witch who cross-trained Knight compared to other combos.
[X] Crescendo
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If you guys just up and leave you'll end up ding the same thing as Don Quixote when confronting a man beating up his servant.