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Mammoth Apostate vs the World 1: "Lost in the Mist"

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Glass decides with all the buzz of the enemies use of micro-jaegers and Councillor KnightDisciple moving heaven and earth to plan a rescue of some of the pilot candidates from a life of mental conditioning and invasive surgeries the periphery of the Black Keep would be a worthy stop.

Caution must certainly be used with the Deacon's palatial estate bordering the training field /dormitory for the juvenile pilots, but if Glass dampens her 'inner flame' maybe the Deacon and the other elite magically aware forces in his service would fail to notice her -or- at least not single her out as a threat.

At this point I'll need a 1d10 rolled, for how effective her 'magical stealth' is...

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Nixeu said:
Would that still apply to pulling from a battery, rather than the source of the electricity directly? Also, could we use sunlight, focused or otherwise? What about drawing from the energy of some exothermic chemical process, like burning thermite? Could we create thaumaturgical "safety nets" that convert all energy of a specific type in a specific area into fuel for some spell? As an example, a spell that absorbs fire applied to munition storage facilities or manufacturing plants, making them much safer by completely preventing fires from starting in the first place.
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Very interesting thoughts... sadly although I would love to pull the curtain back further I'll have to stick with: you just don't know... & RESEARCH ANYTHING!


 
Smithsguild said:
What a lot of people don't seem to realize is thaumaturgy although -very- versatile has a major drawback; it is reliant on external power usually nearly proportional to the effort to accomplish things via more mundane means. In medieval times they used water wheels, harnessing the ocean, or tapped a raging river.
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And this is what I realize, thus why my plan was to use thaumaturgy to take some input power, and use that to convert the forces of the world around us to our purpose. Could we, by using a generator to produce lightning, or some sort of mechanism to rip static electric charges from the earth beneath our feet, a thaumaturge then use the principle of contagion, once together, always together, to reunite the static charges beneath their feet with the charge ripped from the earth, creating a massive ball of lightning? Actually, that seems like a terrible idea, as it could potentially rip out all the electrons in range from the atoms they are attached to, with catastrophic consequences.
Edit: Rolling for the stealth thing I guess
dgr11897 threw 1 10-faced dice. Reason: Stealth roll Total: 8
8 8
 
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dgr11897 said:
And this is what I realize, thus why my plan was to use thaumaturgy to take some input power, and use that to convert the forces of the world around us to our purpose. Could we, by using a generator to produce lightning, or some sort of mechanism to rip static electric charges from the earth beneath our feet, a thaumaturge then use the principle of contagion, once together, always together, to reunite the static charges beneath their feet with the charge ripped from the earth, creating a massive ball of lightning? Actually, that seems like a terrible idea, as it could potentially rip out all the electrons in range from the atoms they are attached to, with catastrophic consequences.
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I think just carrying some batteries on your person is enough to power a few spells. The amount of energy on a car battery can seriously ruin a person's day, and you can carry two or three on a backpack quite easily.

A Jaeger can do one better and carry dedicated capacitor banks to achieve similar results on K-scale combat.
 
Highwind said:
I think just carrying some batteries on your person is enough to power a few spells. The amount of energy on a car battery can seriously ruin a person's day, and you can carry two or three on a backpack quite easily.

A Jaeger can do one better and carry dedicated capacitor banks to achieve similar results on K-scale combat.
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Couldn't the principle of contagion be applied to the light of the sun? Or the movement of the moon? Or the sound of lightning? We don't need to personally use much energy, when the world around us is full of it.
Edit: I wonder if big bang theory is still applicable here. Because if so, then all things were once together, so they are always together, and if this is how all universes arise, then we could exile kaiju back to the anteverse, reuniting them with the universe they were once together in.
 
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Actually, @Nixeu you do know some of that upon reflection. The Sunlight is a lock as demonstrated by the ritual building Glass is using currently.

Burning thermite? Yes, historically bonfires were used causing them to burst up in a sudden conflagration and burn to ash in moments... thermite would work orders better as that tends to be its nature.

dgr11897 said:
Couldn't the principle of contagion be applied to the light of the sun? Or the movement of the moon? Or the sound of lightning?
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Yes, with varying degrees of success. @Highwind s omake went in great detail as to 'how' the forces of sunlight were being captured and redirected.

INTENT & PREPARATION are the foundations of good magic.
 
Highwind said:
I think just carrying some batteries on your person is enough to power a few spells. The amount of energy on a car battery can seriously ruin a person's day, and you can carry two or three on a backpack quite easily.

A Jaeger can do one better and carry dedicated capacitor banks to achieve similar results on K-scale combat.
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Depends on the spell. the below is a crucial yardstick...

Smithsguild said:
it is reliant on external power usually nearly proportional to the effort to accomplish things via more mundane means
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dgr11897 said:
Couldn't the principle of contagion be applied to the light of the sun? Or the movement of the moon? Or the sound of lightning? We don't need to personally use much energy, when the world around us is full of it.
Edit: I wonder if big bang theory is still applicable here. Because if so, then all things were once together, so they are always together, and if this is how all universes arise, then we could exile kaiju back to the anteverse, reuniting them with the universe they were once together in.
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I suppose the Big Bang could be a valid Contagion-based thaumaturgic link, in theory. I don't think it would be an especially strong link by itself, since there are many other more recent and significant links between just about everything on this planet. Or this solar system.

Links between the matter that form our planet and the Sun, for example, are more recent and just as valid in theory. The same goes for links between the Earth and the other planets and celestial bodies in the solar system. In a way, these links could very well be the key part of any thaumaturgy that makes use of astrology, and are combined with the idea that those celestial bodies still exert a significant influence over us since we're all part of the same immense system.

Smithsguild said:
Depends on the spell. the below is a crucial yardstick...
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I know, I meant that in the context of a simple and direct offensive spell that does roughly what dgr suggested (create a ball of lightning) by using the energy in a battery. I don't expect us to be able to call down a bolt from the blue with the energy in a car battery, but you could probably do the equivalent of an overcharged taser, or a to-scale imitation of TacitQuest's Electromagnetic projector.

...Though I imagine a Jaeger would be fully capable of causing a bolt from the Blue to fall on top of a Kaiju by using the electricity stored on J-scale capacitor banks to shift the static buildup on the Kaiju's skin or on the ground beneath it. How strong or effective the bolt would be at damaging the Kaiju is a whole other kettle of fish, of course.

Calling down lightning of any sort would be even easier to do during a thunderstorm, of course, but then we run on the issue of controlling the spell.

Magic is hard. :V
 
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Stealth roll of *8*.

Fortune smiles upon Glass. Although there is some cursory heads turned in the palace, with her 'inner fires' dampened it is assumed she is no more than another person who through exposure to the magic rich environment of Charleston is on the cusp of awakening.

Notes are made to step up localized testings to ferret out the source for future 'recruitment'. Then they go about business as usual.

Glass buzzes over to Summerall Field where she can hear the clamor of large caliber weapons fire. It isn't exactly the image her imagination had formed. Instead of the 20-30' human form micro-jaegers she had expected to see there are multiple lesser trainer vehicles. Hybrids between main battle tanks and the expected robotic sight. They are split into 2 teams of three vehicles to a side, and they appear to be firing massive (30mm) paintball equivalent rounds. The fights are conducted at breakneck speeds 60-90 mph, grazing collisions and other 'dirty' tricks are encouraged by much cheering of the cadets awaiting their turn in the trainer.

The outer skin of the vehicles are covered in a micro-mesh net that registers the specific impact points of the 'paintball' and in response simulates real time battle damage impairments to the vehicle, it also provides the struck pilot candidate with excruciating neural feedback of phantom pain as a form of negative reinforcement.



Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans TK-53 Mobile Worker
​

The winners of these mock battles are praised as heroic, the losers are treated as a waste of valuable resources and if they weren't going to try, then they needed to step down and make room in the program for those that would. They were reminded a lifetime of drudgery in the workhouses awaited the mediocre. It was blatant, it was brutal to watch, and it appears to be a very effective manipulation of the adolescents being targeted.

Not much else here to see. Glass is forced to revisit her early choices:

[ ] The Vortex leading to the Black Flame Furnace.
-or-
[ ] A nondescript barracks (Steven Barracks) that seems to host the Training of SOCOM style troops. The signage outside the Building reads "House of the Holy".
 
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[X] The Vortex leading to the Black Flame Furnace.

This gave us some insight on how they're manipulating those kids, but not much actionable intel. The trainers are interesting, but not particularly useful unless we can use them to break those kids out.
 
Actually there was some actionable intel gained by Glass, even if she didn't know what she was looking at...

(It is hard enough to write her as a former scientist became the Amazing Kreskin; making her a trained analyst as well just was a bridge too far... ;) ).

The military will insist on debriefing her upon her safe return, and ask rather pointed questions about things like physical security: Gates, Guards, & Gun Emplacements. How closely were the children supervised? What were the ratios of authority figure versus pilot candidates? How closely were other large troop contingents located? Are there higher priority targets nearby that can be threatened to draw reinforcements away? Etc.
 
Highwind said:
[X] The Vortex leading to the Black Flame Furnace.

This gave us some insight on how they're manipulating those kids, but not much actionable intel. The trainers are interesting, but not particularly useful unless we can use them to break those kids out.
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Actually @Highwind I think knowing about the presence of at least 6 highly mobile platforms sporting 30mm cannons is useful, no one said that the trainers were limited to paintball rounds. I for one like knowing about some uber tanks present and possibly hostile.
 
I'll need a d10 rolled for Glass's protective protections before proceeding Down a Twisted Rabbit Hole.

Edit: As always a good write up can stack the odds in your favor.
 
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Earlier Smiths, you mentioned she had mastered the Voorish Sign and the variant used by Sammael to not see something? Time to work that puppy!

No seeing Black Flames and anything they conceal or reveal.

Rolling the safety dice!
BadKatt85 threw 1 10-faced dice. Total: 6
6 6
 
Glass works the Voorish Variant successfully then heads towards the Vortex to peep inside.

The vortex towers 30 feet above the great chancel window, a slow languid thing that tugs so gently downwards and seems so easily escaped. But five foot within the mouth of the funnel everything accelerate to maelstrom speeds. Glass is a mere astral projection and physical formations should hold no sway but the Vortex is also a creation that spans the astral (as well as several adjacent magical dimensions) and she is but a twig spun by the maelstrom. Dragged deep too quickly; beyond an ability to comprehend the danger, let alone resist.

The sudden darkness of depths, the loss of equilibrium from the the rapid spinning of her transition combined with a sense of vertigo as the bottom of the world drops from beneath her as she plunges downward faster than terminal velocity covering seventy feet at the speed of thought.

Destination reached, with a lurch all motion stops, inky darkness of the maelstrom's funnel is replaced with a sourceless light that cast no shadows and steals all color from the chamber. The first and most natural reaction is to look around to regain her bearings, she resists.

Apsis's solemn warning is clenched to tightly, a rock for her to cling upon. " The Furnace of Yeb, at all costs avoid looking upon its heart and the black flames therein. "

The danger is real, she can sense a physical presence within arms reach. The presence radiates a sense of ageless antiquity and of pending malice.

The Furnace of Yeb. An alien symmetry forms this chiminea of obsidian that houses a heatless Black Flame, its three mouths allow unobstructed view from nearly every angle of the flames that burn eternally within.

Surrounding the furnace are a multitude of steel rings set in the stone floor (for securing prisoners) about 10 feet apart. Enough to secure 20 prisoners at a time.

Glass feels the tug of an untested ability she did not know she possessed, Richard would label it "Psychometry" reading moments from the History of Items and places. The places/items must be focal points for something of importance or no link can be made.

Two valid choices exist -
[ ] Attempt to read the Furnace. (The hairs on the knape of Glass's neck stand straight up at the notion)
-or-
[ ] Read the room.
 
A small distant buzz begins inside Glasses mind... It builds quickly in intensity before Glass blocks it out. Alien voices coming from inside the depths of the furnace understandable only because thought transcends language.

"...flesh so fine, so fine to tear,..
to gnash the skin; skin to strip,
to plait, so nice to plait the strips,
so nice, so red the drops that fall;
blood so red, so red, so sweet; Drink the blood and crack the bone.
Crack the bone and suck the marrow. Bitter marrow, sweet the blood.
Sweet the screams, sweet screams, pretty screams,
singing screams, scream your song, sing your screams..."

Paraphrased from "Wheel of Time's" Machin Shin, the Black Wind of the Ways.
 
Smithsguild said:
Glass feels the tug of an untested ability she did not know she possessed, Richard would label it "Psychometry" reading moments from the History of Items and places.
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Psychometry. Neat. And also potentially dangerous depending on what you're trying to read.

Smithsguild said:
A small distant buzz begins inside Glasses mind... It builds quickly in intensity before Glass blocks it out. Alien voices coming from inside the depths of the furnace understandable only because thought transcends language.

"...flesh so fine, so fine to tear,..
to gnash the skin; skin to strip,
to plait, so nice to plait the strips,
so nice, so red the drops that fall;
blood so red, so red, so sweet; Drink the blood and crack the bone.
Crack the bone and suck the marrow. Bitter marrow, sweet the blood.
Sweet the screams, sweet screams, pretty screams,
singing screams, scream your song, sing your screams..."

Paraphrased from "Wheel of Time's" Machin Shin, the Black Wind of the Ways.
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Yeah, not reading that furnace. The room is unlikely to be any more pleasant, but the furnace is bad news all around.

[X] Read the room.
 
[X] Read the room.

Reading the history of the object created by the spawn of Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath, who is also the parent of Tsathoggua and the aunt of Cthulhu, is probably not wise.
 
Locked by overwhelming consensus.

Roll 1d10 for how deep a reading Glass obtains.
 
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Glass opens herself to the room and her perspective shifts as if there is now a phantasmal overlay, like a layer in a cosmic version of photoshop. The room of 'then' has a certain opacity explaining a possible origins of the phrase "ghosts of the past".

Even when covered by a drop cloth this earlier incarnation of the Furnace of Yeb casts its directionless light, it is now however being supplemented by electric studio lighting. A handful of men and women in crisp slate gray uniforms scurry about wearing odd wrap around sunglasses (that look like they may have been stolen from a DEVO concert dressing room) readying a camcorder to document this first experiment.

Glass focuses tightly upon a pair of the sunglasses & like a movie on pause the action freeze frames as she zooms in. The sunglasses are the product of ritual magic, the inscriptions block the visual lure of the black flame and deaden the intrusive voices. To enchant this many with such potent protective enchantments would be the working of many months by a lone caster.

As Glass had crowded in to peep the eyewear, she notices the wearer is Awakened, the faintest of sparks but no doubt magically aware. A brief survey shows -all- the Gray Shirts are... only one compares in power to Glasses potential at her awakening, and he appears to be supervising.

They all pointedly ignore a prisoner chained facing the furnace, he is merely the lab rat for intentional exposure to the black flame.

No one dares to ask what deal Mordecai Bate (AKA 'The Deacon') struck to obtain this Relic, but they follow his lead for when the Deacon treats an item like it might suddenly become a viper in hand, it just might.

Once all is in readiness, the supervising 'Gray Shirt' sends word. In about a quarter of an hour the Deacon himself arrives, he has in tow an entourage. Proceeding him into the room is a handpicked squad of his cyborg personal guard, they glare murderously at everyone present as is their norm. Then comes Dr. Olav Minsk, the closest thing the Deacon allows to a second in command and only because the good doctor produces results on a consistent basis.

Glass is awed, the shade of the Deacon, its magical flame burns so bright it is almost physical. If Glass had to gauge it she would say half of her augmented level when the Tsunami was bested and at least 5-6x stronger than she is here & now. Dr. Minsk on the other hand is for no better term, terminally mundane, his potential for magic is non-existent.

The Deacon snaps his fingers. The supervising 'Gray Shirt' takes command of the camera while the rest of his subordinates clear from the room, the 5 'Redeemer' cyborgs form a circle facing away from the furnace constantly scanning the room for any danger (real or imagined), the Deacon and Minsk assume a position midway between the Furnace and the test subject who is restrained by 1/8" chain (safe work load 400# break rated at 1,600#). The cameraman shifts and moves trying for the best shot moment to moment of Deacon and test subject.

With a flourish the Deacon peels away the covering, even here in a shade from the past Glasses inverted Voorish sign is her saving grace. She had been watching the show too intently, where the flames should have danced is a tearful blur and some insidious desire to dispel the sign and look upon the glory of the Furnace unfettered. She averts her gaze and focuses on the prisoner.

The man is not stupid, he tries not to look. His captors would not have taken the cautions they had if the view was safe, nor would they taken him from his torments in the 'House of Pain and Penance' to view something safe and beautiful; the struggle begins. It is fated to be lost before it starts.

The black flame is insidious in that it casually draws the eye. Each time it is viewed it takes more willpower to look away. Until finally the viewer is staring unblinking into the heart of the flame. What is seen in these depths is unknowable as everyone who has plumbed the depths mind is near instantly shattered, reduced to a rage filled - bestial state.

Chains part like crepe paper, but there is an accompanying wet pop, muscles and tendons worked beyond safe limits give way. Shredded arms hang slack oblivious to the damage the body propels itself at the camera man knocking him prone and just as teeth threaten the soft flesh a Redeemer intervenes. Hydraulic arms lift the wriggling form from the ground and the servos whine in protest trying to compensate and keep its prisoner aloft.

The Deacon snears down at the Gray Shirted man. "Fool, to your feet. What Wizard worthy of the title is so easily bested? Challenge the beast as you were taught or be the next to host one."

The man scrambles up and rounds on the former prisoner "By the Compact I challenge you." without breaking gaze he addresses his rescuer, "Redeemer release it."

The duo square off like old western gunfighters, the Gray Shirt & the Bestial man. Concentration creases the gray shirts brow for only a second and then a sneer of disdain echoing the one the Deacon had earlier directed at him appears.

"My Lord Deacon, the Beast is mine... Long may it serve you in my name. During our contest I have gleaned much... They are a non-corporeal race, but they know of the pleasures of flesh and in the degradation of it. They are individually weak willed, but en masse they have toppled godlings.

They would trade service beyond the Compact's scope and serve not a year and a day but as long as their vessel lasts if we provide vessels for them to 'ride' to seek out the joys and suffering corporeal beings feel. Collectively they are known as the Banelings, for they have been the bane of many a poor world when released in large enough numbers."

The Deacon speaks, "Clueless Fool, do you think I would have allowed the transition without know that and so much more? My Patron Mighty Cthulhu, granted me the knowledge -BEFORE- he gifted the Furnace. It has lied to you, lifetime service is but the start..." The Deacon gazes at the creature, it bows its head and shrugs with its no longer useless arms. It soundlessly nods its head towards the furnace, inside dancing on a tide of Black Flame like a dandelion on a strong wind is a single luminous grain of Aetheric Effluvium.

Greedily the Deacons hand darts into the furnace and grabs the fleck, carefully thrusting it into a stoppered vial he quickly secrets upon his person.

Minsk wheedles "This creature is fascinating My Deacon! It overwrote the pain response and tapped the musculature to its full self destructive potential! It also evidences enhanced regenerative capabilities to have so quickly regrown connective tissue; I am sure I could learn so VERY much if I could but vivisect it."

The Deacon chuckles. "My dear Minsk why of course he is yours; and unlike most of your patients I'm sure it will find the process as enjoyable and entertaining as you do..."

He continues to nobody in particular as he sweeps out into the hallway "Upgrade these chains to the 5/8th automotive tow chains, we will be doing them in batches from now on. I want a squad of twenty to field test..."

------------Elsewhere in the world, in the aftermath of the field test ----------

Woman: Wait, you've never heard of Reavers?

Man: Uh, just the campfire stories, men gone savage from seeing things not meant to be seen, indiscriminate killing...

Woman: They're not stories.

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"...They'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."
 
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