Atma
Be Attitude For Gains: Fight For Truth
- Location
- Somewhere: It'd be Specified, but....
Was that the Buddhist Palm!?
Outside Context Power; AKA Thunderstruck (GOTs SI) (ENDED)
- Thread starter Mr. Cloak
- Start date
- Crossover
Was that the Buddhist Palm!?
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
More like the Midnight Elephant.
Thunderstruck 24- In which Gaara tries to keep a low profile
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
-
Lesseah, mother of three and now empowered with Water, shot awake as she felt a *ripple* pass though her newly-bistowed power. She sent out the 'pulse' as Gaara had taught her, and saw the man standing over her baby.
She thrust herself out of the furs that she had been sleeping in, the jug of water next to her bed exploding into a blast of water, shooting towards the man standing over her baby, before slamming into the man who her power was now saying was made of… Stilled water?
He shattered as the blast hit, pieces flying everywhere as the knife clattered to the floor, it's shining blade bouncing on the wooden planks worn smooth by years of walking.
A series of surges of power, one water and many others that she could not tell from each other, awoke the baby and her other children.
Gaara was awake.
-
OOOOOOWWWWWwwwww…..
Okay, I will say this- wounds made by magical bullshit HURT! Seriously, what is this thing? It only reacted to Electricity, not Fire or Earth or Metal could touch it. As it lifted into the air, the tip glistening with my blood even as the wound healed over in moments.
I was not… Entirely sure if I could die here. Conduits had frankly impressive levels of power even by Wildbow's standards, and were incredibly hard to kill without being killed or drained by another Conduit.
Normal armaments could kill us- in theory. Sustained machinegun fire, sustained mortar or artillery fire- all of these could kill me. Most of them would be very hard to kill me if I had the right powers active, but I was not fooling myself- I understood how my ''immortality' worked.
It was actually really simple: so long as I could regenerate from the injury, I could survive it. It was a basic concept, but I could FEEL it- that dagger in my chest had gone through the bone, and was touching by still-beating heart, giving a minute cut every time it beat.
It was unsettling, and scary- not to mention painful. But it was informative- and I know how we can die.
Well… Another way.
Magic weapons are scary-effective.
It was weird really- the dagger had an area, a volume around it where my powers became somewhat 'fuzzy'. All of the elements were effected- Fire, Earth, Air, and Water all saw a 'blurry' area within about a handspan of the blade, as did Electricity. The pommel actually poked out of this area, and there my resolution was normal.
Electricity, while unable to get better than normal resolution over the same area, moved normally within the blurry area, and could pass through the metal as I willed it. Whatever magic was on these blades, they prevented the weapon from melting, being shattered, being frozen, cut by high-pressure water (all of the thrice-boiled and filtered water I had kept in a bowl on the floor near my bed compressed down into a hair-thin spinning disk), or being crushed.
Didn't stop electricity, or magnetism from effecting it though. It even conducted the same amount as normal steel. I mean, sure it was Damascined and very pretty, but other than the magical indestructible knife bit, it was just a nice dagger.
Albeit one that could go through elemental-gained resistance.
I'm a call you my +1 Dagger of Stabbyness!
A thought collected the metal dust around the room (and my spider-friends, who had been watching the whole 'get stabbed thing', and were now poking at the body on the floor) into the gourd-shape I now liked for travel.
The +1 Dagger was placed in a dedicated slot, and my Magnetic abilities held it there.
Only then, did I decide to down at the smouldering corpse, and wow. It's face had layers. LAYERS! What was this, an ogre? Or an onion?!
I didn't want to touch the body- and neither did my spiders, both of which *hissed* at the corpse before jumping back into the gourd. Their control was getting better- they seemed to jump in perfectly straight lines now.
Then, working together, they created a silk covering, then closed the hatch on top of the gourd, one which I soon covered in metal sand.
I needed more defenses to deal with this crap. I reached out, to the wealth of arrowheads I had stored in the wagon's undercarriage unlocked themselves, sliding out of the groves they embedded themselves into, and flitting like a swarm of flies along the edge of the building, before sliding up the wall silently, and zipping into my room. A handful of them touched down on my hand, dissolving into motes of dust when touched with my Metal power, before refusing into a handle around other arrowheads. In moments, I had a sword as big as I was, made entirely out of metal arrowheads, and shivering as my power animated the new sword Sharkskin.
I could not spell Samehameda to save my life, and the reference would probably be lost here anyway. But the design of the sword will dissuade others.
This was, of course, the moment where one of the people who ran this tavern entered the room, the bartender Sallys I think his name was, barging in through the door.
"What's happenin….." He trailed off through the word, and stared at the extra-crispy corpse on the ground. "A Faceless Man?! Oh…. The Glove Partnership- they are the only ones that could, and would buy the services of the Faceless Men against humble folk like us." He looked a little wild-eyed, but he turned to the doorway. "The man on the floor in goodsister Lesseah's room must be one of them- I found a Valyrian Steel dagger there."
"It's better than calling it the plus-one dagger of stabbyness." I muttered, and flicked the dagger out into the air for a moment. "Like this one?" It hovered in the air, and Sallys backed away, before his eyes widened and he knelt. "Lord of Thunderbolts- I forgot to whom I was speaking for a moment."
I couldn't help it- I facepalmed. "No. Not this again. Get up!" I snapped. "I will not be knelt to."
He shook his head, and stood back up. "I understand… But…" He sighed. "I do not understand as well. How can you have such power and not want people to kneel to you?"
I groaned. "I was not raised with people kneeling to me. The ONLY reason anyone would ever bow to me, would be if I was teaching them. Then it is with respect, and in turn I would bow, to show I acknowledged their respect, and would meet their expectations as their teacher." I sent out another pulse, and saw that Lesseah, the baby, Harralana and Lazarys all were fine, being fussed over by Charlandr.
There were guards approaching the building. They were armed, and I could feel their hearts racing as they ran. Of course, they were coming from nearly a quarter of a kilometer away, but they were hustling.
Sometimes I loved my elemental senses.
"Guards are moving here." I deadpanned. "I think it's time to leave."
"I agree my…" Sallys corrected himself. "… I have forgotten your name."
To say I was surprised is a little bit of an understatement- although I will admit that I too do the same thing. "I forget people's names too. I am Gaara."
"No title?" He looked a little more confused. "I… Expected more."
"I wanted to be a <Certified Fraud Examiner>, and my <Degree> doesn't mean anything here." I started to walk down the hall, SharkSkin 'tethered' to my back after I placed it there with a 'chain' of arrowheads. "Otherwise, I have no titles."
"Then you might begin thinking of one." He deadpanned. "Because if word gets out, people will give you one."
"I have no intention of that." I tried to change the topic as we walked into the room with the other people in the house/tavern. "So… Some guards are coming."
Harralana frowned, closed her eyes, and nodded. I felt the pulse ripple from her, through the building, and out into the streets. "I can feel them coming. They are hurrying this way."
"Your range is improving." I tousled her hair as the young Earth-conduit blushed- and the frequency of her pulses increased. "Lesseah? Larazys? Can you feel them?"
Lesseah looked at me like I had a second head. "A man, a Faceless Man comes into my sister's h-house, and tries to kill us, and you want us to use our abilities to look at some guards?"
"Yes." I deadpanned. "Now is the best time. You NEED to use them to see- otherwise, how can you get used to using them at need?"
Lesseah glared, then closed her eyes, and I felt the pulse of her Water-power ripple out. After a moment, she opened her eyes, and wasn't glaring any longer. "I… I can feel them. Like tubes… Is the world always like this?"
"Somewhat. Different elements give different feelings." I glanced at Larazys. "Well?"
He groaned, then took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. The flame that began to flow from his mouth startled his uncle and aunt, but his eyes closed as he kept the flame going. After almost ten seconds, he sighed (the flame flaring slightly as he did so). "I can feel nothing but the flames in the buildings around us- most nearly dead to my sight. Are you sure I should be able to feel these guards?"
I inhaled, and began to breath, stoking my own flames. In moments, I had blue flames licking along my skin, and winding out of my mouth as the air crept out. Yes, I could feel the people in this room… And in the houses around me. Their breath and bodies seemed dimly lit with light- but they were faint.
I could just barely feel the guards, and that was partially knowing where they were. With the bright sources of light that torches, braziers, and fireplaces (even just glowing embers in stoves or burnt-down wood), I could understand that he might be having issues with 'seeing' things.
"We will work on it." I stepped into a corner, leaning against SharkSkin and the wall- which creaked alarmingly, so I stopped leaning on the wall. "Now- should we leave the city?"
"I think we have to." Sallys sighed. "The Glove Partnership are the only ones that might want us dead. They have been trying to buy our tavern for years- and stopped trying two months ago. I guess they have had enough of waiting."
"Your rivials actually try to kill you…" I groaned. "Why am I not surprised. This place is full of <asshole fucknuggets>. So… Where do we go?"
"…" Sallys and Charlandr both shared a look.
"Well?" I motioned for them to talk. "While I could probably destroy your enemies outright, I think you might not like the aftermath."
Sallys cleared his throat, as his wife gave him a pointed look. "… I may have an option."
Everyone waited, until I pointedly looked out the window. "The guards are still coming… Although slower. Running in armor is hard for most."
"Five days ago, one of the Dark Riders walked into the Grinning Cat." Charlandr said slowly. "She quietly told us that in the next fortnight there would be a visitor. One who could kill as easily as he healed. She had been told that, if, or when we almost lost everything, we could go to the Dark city. The city above Vos Dothraki… Hidden in the Dothraki Sea, even Vos Dothraki is several months away on foot."
"We would need to sell everything to get halfway." Sallys began tapping on an exposed beam. "Then we would need to survive the Dothraki hordes. It is not an easy trip, and worse ends than death may await us."
I smiled. "We can handle transportation- now, can't we Harralana?"
She looked at me with the widest eyes a little girl can have. "You are going to teach me Earth-Riding then?!" She was really, really excited.
"Yup!" I only had the vaguest idea of what I wanted to do, but it was enough for the other powers, so why the hell not.
Sallys looked at Charlandr, and the two had the sort of silent conversation that few couple have. However, after some silent glances, blinks, and other expressions, the two nodded once.
"We will get what we need." Sallys walked out of the room.
Charlandr began gathering the blankets. "We will load as much as we can onto your wagon. We should have enough supplies to get to Selhorys, and if you can get us there quickly, we will be able to sell our excess stock. Besides- boats are often cheap going upriver."
I tapped my chin. "If it's a boat, I think we might be able to encourage them to pay US to take us upriver... For free."
Charlandr and Lesseah both looked askance at me.
I sighed. "Lesseah, we can control water. We can just move the boat upriver."
The dawning look of clarity managed to show me that yes, people even here can learn. Wow that thought was cynical- I need a nap.
-
Lesseah, mother of three and now empowered with Water, shot awake as she felt a *ripple* pass though her newly-bistowed power. She sent out the 'pulse' as Gaara had taught her, and saw the man standing over her baby.
She thrust herself out of the furs that she had been sleeping in, the jug of water next to her bed exploding into a blast of water, shooting towards the man standing over her baby, before slamming into the man who her power was now saying was made of… Stilled water?
He shattered as the blast hit, pieces flying everywhere as the knife clattered to the floor, it's shining blade bouncing on the wooden planks worn smooth by years of walking.
A series of surges of power, one water and many others that she could not tell from each other, awoke the baby and her other children.
Gaara was awake.
-
OOOOOOWWWWWwwwww…..
Okay, I will say this- wounds made by magical bullshit HURT! Seriously, what is this thing? It only reacted to Electricity, not Fire or Earth or Metal could touch it. As it lifted into the air, the tip glistening with my blood even as the wound healed over in moments.
I was not… Entirely sure if I could die here. Conduits had frankly impressive levels of power even by Wildbow's standards, and were incredibly hard to kill without being killed or drained by another Conduit.
Normal armaments could kill us- in theory. Sustained machinegun fire, sustained mortar or artillery fire- all of these could kill me. Most of them would be very hard to kill me if I had the right powers active, but I was not fooling myself- I understood how my ''immortality' worked.
It was actually really simple: so long as I could regenerate from the injury, I could survive it. It was a basic concept, but I could FEEL it- that dagger in my chest had gone through the bone, and was touching by still-beating heart, giving a minute cut every time it beat.
It was unsettling, and scary- not to mention painful. But it was informative- and I know how we can die.
Well… Another way.
Magic weapons are scary-effective.
It was weird really- the dagger had an area, a volume around it where my powers became somewhat 'fuzzy'. All of the elements were effected- Fire, Earth, Air, and Water all saw a 'blurry' area within about a handspan of the blade, as did Electricity. The pommel actually poked out of this area, and there my resolution was normal.
Electricity, while unable to get better than normal resolution over the same area, moved normally within the blurry area, and could pass through the metal as I willed it. Whatever magic was on these blades, they prevented the weapon from melting, being shattered, being frozen, cut by high-pressure water (all of the thrice-boiled and filtered water I had kept in a bowl on the floor near my bed compressed down into a hair-thin spinning disk), or being crushed.
Didn't stop electricity, or magnetism from effecting it though. It even conducted the same amount as normal steel. I mean, sure it was Damascined and very pretty, but other than the magical indestructible knife bit, it was just a nice dagger.
Albeit one that could go through elemental-gained resistance.
I'm a call you my +1 Dagger of Stabbyness!
A thought collected the metal dust around the room (and my spider-friends, who had been watching the whole 'get stabbed thing', and were now poking at the body on the floor) into the gourd-shape I now liked for travel.
The +1 Dagger was placed in a dedicated slot, and my Magnetic abilities held it there.
Only then, did I decide to down at the smouldering corpse, and wow. It's face had layers. LAYERS! What was this, an ogre? Or an onion?!
I didn't want to touch the body- and neither did my spiders, both of which *hissed* at the corpse before jumping back into the gourd. Their control was getting better- they seemed to jump in perfectly straight lines now.
Then, working together, they created a silk covering, then closed the hatch on top of the gourd, one which I soon covered in metal sand.
I needed more defenses to deal with this crap. I reached out, to the wealth of arrowheads I had stored in the wagon's undercarriage unlocked themselves, sliding out of the groves they embedded themselves into, and flitting like a swarm of flies along the edge of the building, before sliding up the wall silently, and zipping into my room. A handful of them touched down on my hand, dissolving into motes of dust when touched with my Metal power, before refusing into a handle around other arrowheads. In moments, I had a sword as big as I was, made entirely out of metal arrowheads, and shivering as my power animated the new sword Sharkskin.
I could not spell Samehameda to save my life, and the reference would probably be lost here anyway. But the design of the sword will dissuade others.
This was, of course, the moment where one of the people who ran this tavern entered the room, the bartender Sallys I think his name was, barging in through the door.
"What's happenin….." He trailed off through the word, and stared at the extra-crispy corpse on the ground. "A Faceless Man?! Oh…. The Glove Partnership- they are the only ones that could, and would buy the services of the Faceless Men against humble folk like us." He looked a little wild-eyed, but he turned to the doorway. "The man on the floor in goodsister Lesseah's room must be one of them- I found a Valyrian Steel dagger there."
"It's better than calling it the plus-one dagger of stabbyness." I muttered, and flicked the dagger out into the air for a moment. "Like this one?" It hovered in the air, and Sallys backed away, before his eyes widened and he knelt. "Lord of Thunderbolts- I forgot to whom I was speaking for a moment."
I couldn't help it- I facepalmed. "No. Not this again. Get up!" I snapped. "I will not be knelt to."
He shook his head, and stood back up. "I understand… But…" He sighed. "I do not understand as well. How can you have such power and not want people to kneel to you?"
I groaned. "I was not raised with people kneeling to me. The ONLY reason anyone would ever bow to me, would be if I was teaching them. Then it is with respect, and in turn I would bow, to show I acknowledged their respect, and would meet their expectations as their teacher." I sent out another pulse, and saw that Lesseah, the baby, Harralana and Lazarys all were fine, being fussed over by Charlandr.
There were guards approaching the building. They were armed, and I could feel their hearts racing as they ran. Of course, they were coming from nearly a quarter of a kilometer away, but they were hustling.
Sometimes I loved my elemental senses.
"Guards are moving here." I deadpanned. "I think it's time to leave."
"I agree my…" Sallys corrected himself. "… I have forgotten your name."
To say I was surprised is a little bit of an understatement- although I will admit that I too do the same thing. "I forget people's names too. I am Gaara."
"No title?" He looked a little more confused. "I… Expected more."
"I wanted to be a <Certified Fraud Examiner>, and my <Degree> doesn't mean anything here." I started to walk down the hall, SharkSkin 'tethered' to my back after I placed it there with a 'chain' of arrowheads. "Otherwise, I have no titles."
"Then you might begin thinking of one." He deadpanned. "Because if word gets out, people will give you one."
"I have no intention of that." I tried to change the topic as we walked into the room with the other people in the house/tavern. "So… Some guards are coming."
Harralana frowned, closed her eyes, and nodded. I felt the pulse ripple from her, through the building, and out into the streets. "I can feel them coming. They are hurrying this way."
"Your range is improving." I tousled her hair as the young Earth-conduit blushed- and the frequency of her pulses increased. "Lesseah? Larazys? Can you feel them?"
Lesseah looked at me like I had a second head. "A man, a Faceless Man comes into my sister's h-house, and tries to kill us, and you want us to use our abilities to look at some guards?"
"Yes." I deadpanned. "Now is the best time. You NEED to use them to see- otherwise, how can you get used to using them at need?"
Lesseah glared, then closed her eyes, and I felt the pulse of her Water-power ripple out. After a moment, she opened her eyes, and wasn't glaring any longer. "I… I can feel them. Like tubes… Is the world always like this?"
"Somewhat. Different elements give different feelings." I glanced at Larazys. "Well?"
He groaned, then took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. The flame that began to flow from his mouth startled his uncle and aunt, but his eyes closed as he kept the flame going. After almost ten seconds, he sighed (the flame flaring slightly as he did so). "I can feel nothing but the flames in the buildings around us- most nearly dead to my sight. Are you sure I should be able to feel these guards?"
I inhaled, and began to breath, stoking my own flames. In moments, I had blue flames licking along my skin, and winding out of my mouth as the air crept out. Yes, I could feel the people in this room… And in the houses around me. Their breath and bodies seemed dimly lit with light- but they were faint.
I could just barely feel the guards, and that was partially knowing where they were. With the bright sources of light that torches, braziers, and fireplaces (even just glowing embers in stoves or burnt-down wood), I could understand that he might be having issues with 'seeing' things.
"We will work on it." I stepped into a corner, leaning against SharkSkin and the wall- which creaked alarmingly, so I stopped leaning on the wall. "Now- should we leave the city?"
"I think we have to." Sallys sighed. "The Glove Partnership are the only ones that might want us dead. They have been trying to buy our tavern for years- and stopped trying two months ago. I guess they have had enough of waiting."
"Your rivials actually try to kill you…" I groaned. "Why am I not surprised. This place is full of <asshole fucknuggets>. So… Where do we go?"
"…" Sallys and Charlandr both shared a look.
"Well?" I motioned for them to talk. "While I could probably destroy your enemies outright, I think you might not like the aftermath."
Sallys cleared his throat, as his wife gave him a pointed look. "… I may have an option."
Everyone waited, until I pointedly looked out the window. "The guards are still coming… Although slower. Running in armor is hard for most."
"Five days ago, one of the Dark Riders walked into the Grinning Cat." Charlandr said slowly. "She quietly told us that in the next fortnight there would be a visitor. One who could kill as easily as he healed. She had been told that, if, or when we almost lost everything, we could go to the Dark city. The city above Vos Dothraki… Hidden in the Dothraki Sea, even Vos Dothraki is several months away on foot."
"We would need to sell everything to get halfway." Sallys began tapping on an exposed beam. "Then we would need to survive the Dothraki hordes. It is not an easy trip, and worse ends than death may await us."
I smiled. "We can handle transportation- now, can't we Harralana?"
She looked at me with the widest eyes a little girl can have. "You are going to teach me Earth-Riding then?!" She was really, really excited.
"Yup!" I only had the vaguest idea of what I wanted to do, but it was enough for the other powers, so why the hell not.
Sallys looked at Charlandr, and the two had the sort of silent conversation that few couple have. However, after some silent glances, blinks, and other expressions, the two nodded once.
"We will get what we need." Sallys walked out of the room.
Charlandr began gathering the blankets. "We will load as much as we can onto your wagon. We should have enough supplies to get to Selhorys, and if you can get us there quickly, we will be able to sell our excess stock. Besides- boats are often cheap going upriver."
I tapped my chin. "If it's a boat, I think we might be able to encourage them to pay US to take us upriver... For free."
Charlandr and Lesseah both looked askance at me.
I sighed. "Lesseah, we can control water. We can just move the boat upriver."
The dawning look of clarity managed to show me that yes, people even here can learn. Wow that thought was cynical- I need a nap.
-
AzureShogun
Tanks are better than Mechs
- Location
- United Kingdom
Thanks for the update! Just wondering, what game/movie or whatever do the conduit powers come from? They're quite interesting and I'm hoping there are more stories with them.
AzureShogun
Tanks are better than Mechs
- Location
- United Kingdom
Worm next? Can't see why else you mentioned it instead of GRRMartin's dragons
- Location
- USA
Conduits come from the Infamous game series. The first and second Infamous game's main character was Cole McGrath with electricity powers. The game also gave you moral playstyle as you play. Whether you terrorized and killed, or if you saved and spared. Which built up to paragon or renegade endings.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
Only a small percentage of the population will do that- although most of the population in a medival settinv is farmers, so... Meh.
He does have limits, and he, as the title implies, is trying to be discrete.
The Infamous game series, and I am being a bit more liberal with them.
Worm next? Can't see why else you mentioned it instead of GRRMartin's dragons
Nah- just did an omake of that.
I am not going to have the moral playstyle thing, but the Conduit's emotions do have an impact in how their powers effect the world.
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
- Location
- London
It's finally back !! Been waiting for this forsometime now.
!! Been waiting for this forsometime now.
KhalKhan
Knightly Knight
- Location
- seychelles
Infamy of the dead, over on questionable questing, though it's a crossover with High school of the dead and is in the NSFW section, it's well written and the author has already thought out his plot, regular updates too.
Thunderstruck 25: In which Gaara ends up feeding fish.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
WARNING: Somewhat graphic violence.
-
Getting a ship was actually really easy. Boats on this river, at least at the top of the waterfall, usually needed to be pulled by teams of oxen against the current, and only usually had cargos of salt and salted fish in addition to some cheaper goods.
They were not exactly super lucrative trips- Salt was lucrative, but they had to carry the salt in such a way that it wouldn't get wet, which took up a LOT of the cargo hold. There were also decent-quality tools, in various metals (mostly cheaper iron, and copper), arrows, and some other small good…. But, as an hour of watching the dockworkers activity showed, most of the towns upriver provided food that was distributed around Essos.
The only really valuable part of the cargo (besides the salt), was in a type of lime and something that the locals called 'Water Glass', both of which were used to preserve eggs and seal cans (as well as wax).
Most of the boats in Valysar above the waterfall were docked in a dedicated fjord that had been dug out along the side of the river around a hundred meters before the falls, and they were mostly sitting in lock-like drydocks.
Sallys chartered the boat, having sold a great deal of their possessions within the last couple hours (and their tavern to the people he expected had sent the faceless men after them) and thus having quite a bit of money to burn. Of course- they were not planning on leaving quite yet, the boat still being loaded with cargo, but Charlandr and Lesseah had joined him (with the children as well) to do some shopping.
Harralana had decided she would find me some better clothes- for some reason.
I didn't really see it, but she wanted to do it, so I didn't argue. I did, however, make it harder by not going with them.
The city, I had seen, seemed to be FULL of slaves. Everywhere I looked, I saw people with tattoos on their face. Tears, wagon wheels, hammers, flies, and other designs… And then people asked started propositioning to Sallys to buy ME.
ME! I was somewhat pissed- and when I caught a glance of my face in a puddle, I sort of understood why someone might think I was a slave. I did have what looked like a tattoo in the middle of my forehead- the third-eye of Combustion.
It did have some similarities to the other tattoos the slaves had- and I could not will it away. I wasn't directly utilizing my Combustion ability, but it was still there.
In any case, as I didn't want to kill the city YET, I chose to stay on the ship.
Ten minutes in, I realized this may have been a mistake.
-
"She's a pretty one."
I was currently leaning against the 'gourd' of compressed metal, feeling my spider-bro Ananzi move around in the hollow space, tending to their egg and resting as far as I could tell, with Charolette rubbing her pedaples over the egg, as I continued to relax, enjoying the sunlight on a clear spot on deck.
"I don't recognize the mark. Think she's a pleasure slave?" That was a different one.
There was a grunt as someone began tying something off. The sound was fairly distinctive, and I had heard it quite a few times now. "Not sure if she's a she, but she might be an enslaved witch. Never seen that mark before."
… They're talking about me, aren't they?
"She was just left with us! Come on capt'n- we can just take her, and the payment. An exotic slave like that- we could sell her to the Dothraki upriver for a nice price… Maybe even her weight in gold!"
There was a slap. "Dumbass- we can't get that sort of price for her, even if we managed to restrain her." Good man- keep thinking. You can give me a reason not to kill your entire crew. "At least, not from the Dothraki."
Bad human.
"Come on capt'n- let's just shove off." I could see this one standing over me, his nervous system and muscle groups lighting up to my electrical sense. "I'll restrain the whore, since the rest of you seem too chicken."
Well, now I want to know where this is going. Are you going to force me to kill you all?
"I ain't had any since the last run." A new speaker piped up. "We can always break 'er in."
There was an amused sigh. "Alright boys- shove off. Pithus, tie up the wench. You can have some fun with her when we're underway to Selhorys. We'll have to get the other ones, but slaves always fetch decent prices, and we can castrate the men before we get to the next city."
A rousing chorus of 'Aye capt'n!' echoed around me, even as the man (Pithus I think?) grabbed me by the leg, and straight-up lifted me one-handed. I opened my eyes and verified that yes, this guy could give the Mountain insecurity issues.
If I hadn't killed him, at any rate.
At least 300 lbs of muscle grinned back at me, and expertly began wrapping me up- first tied up legs, then arms behind my back, and the remaing rope was tied to the mast.
I didn't resist- mostly because I still wanted to know where this was going.
Then he grabbed his crotch.
I sighed. "Captain." I spoke up, then looked directly at the man, ignoring the huge man holding me by a hand. "You really don't want to do this."
The scrawny man grinned, his half-rotten teeth visible. "Oh, I really think I do." He clomped over (he had a wooden leg from mid-shin down on his left foot), and pulled out a nasty bladed hook-think.
I think it was called a billhook, but I wasn't sure.
"See little girly, we want a better profit then just bringing your master and mistress's little party upriver." He hooked the smooth part of the inside of the hook around my neck, and tilted my head upwards. "So yes- I really think I do."
I heard the men on the bank begin shouting orders, and saw a mooring rope flop onto the deck.
Then he grabbed me by the hair, and I had to push down my instinct to electrocute the guy. He was still gloating, and I redirected most of my power to AIR. Time to start messing with him.
The winds died as I stilled the movement of air around the boat.
I heard a man in the crow's nest (or whatever they called it) suddenly become concerned, but so far noone else had noticed yet.
"So, little girl, the crew is going to have their way with you. Then I'm going to sell your services to as many as I can in Selhorys. THEN we're going to come back here, and I'll sell you through one of the bidding houses." He sounded almost gleeful about the prospects. "After all- exotic slaves sell very well"
"You made three mistakes." I sighed, and let the sound reverberate through what was now MY airspace.
Everyone on the ship stopped what they were doing as I spoke.
"First, you assumed I was a slave."
The temperature of the air dropped dramatically, and their breath started fogging up.
"Second, you assumed that I was an easy target."
The crew began trying to talk, but I muted them- it was easy when I could just will the air NOT to move.
"And third… You kept talking. Although, to be fair, the last error was probably the most pertinent one, and I must say, the second error was pretty bad too… But I will at least not feel guilty about this."
I swapped half of my power over to electricity and metal, allowing most of the gourd to unravel (not the parts the spiders were in), and let the ribbons of metal slide out, slipping over the ship like snakes to anchor the crew to the deck- only a couple of which had attempted to reach for weapons.
Those I anchored with both hands and feet.
A thin ribbon sliced my bindings, the sinuous metal twisting and warping in the same way swords don't, and I stood up, rolling my shoulders. "Or just cautious of strange people really. Now, I would let you live- people here often have families after all… But I don't want to. You are rapists, and I rather hate rapists." I shrugged. "So I guess I will just have to see what I can do to change that."
Then I whistled, letting the sound 'bounce' off of my wall of stillness around the ship, the sound growing tones and patterns that exceeded human hearing, getting louder with each moment.
Five seconds in, if I hadn't been shielding the spiders and myself, it would have been uncomfortable.
Ten seconds in, the mast and floor panels were vibrating.
Fifteen seconds in, the billhook (it was still around my neck), began to crack, and every piece of glass on the top deck (where I was containing the power) shattered. The captain and crew were screaming silently, as blood began to leak from their ears, nose, and eyes.
Eighteen seconds in, several of them shook and writhed in pain as their eyes popped from the pressure changes.
Twenty seconds in, I lowered the noise level, as two of the men had slumped over, their skulls looking far less solid as their heads laid on the ground then I was expecting. I could feel their bodies dying, and most of the others were having a hard time surviving this level of noise.
After thirty-seven seconds, I released them, and let the crew gibber on the deck, eyes, nose and ears all bleeding profusely, finally letting the noise die out.
"burgle..." gasped the captain, feebly crawling towards me as one of his eyes dribbled out of the socket. "burgle...."
I turned to face him, and recoiled. "How did you survive?... Nevermind."
Dropping the AIR, I pulled up WATER, and with a flick, I froze the water around the boat, the ice anchoring to the bank in moments as it loudly cracked in the snap-freeze.
Then I reached out, and pulled, the water in each pleading crew member suddenly, and irrevocably, under my control.
I closed my hands.
There was a snap, and each of them froze.
Now I just needed to get rid of the bodies somehow… A cracking noise reminded me that I needed to put the boat back in the dock, and my metal tendrils began moving the appropriate ropes around.
Wait, was I supposed to put that rope there?
A cracking sound of splintering wood told me that No, that probably wasn't supposed to go there.
Crap.
-
After hiding the corpses (that wasn't too hard actually- I tossed them into the river, sliced them into tiny chunks with WATER, and then floated the still-relatively clean clothes {calling this shit 'clothing' is being really generous} back up to myself).
I also had to scrub the occular fluid and blood off the decks, but some controlled WATER power was more than enough for pressure-washing out human body fluids.
Of course, once that was done, I had to deal with the fact that there was one surviving crew member. He was sleeping, in the cargo hold, and since I had silenced the exciting events, he had remained sleeping for the entire time.
I decided that he needed a wakeup call.
-
Tycan was not a deep sleeper.
It was why he had always volunteered to guard the cargo bay while in port. He could nap, and was a light-enough sleeper that anyone trying to sneak in through the crew door would wake him up immediately.
So when the sounds from above had stopped, Tycan took it as a good sign- after all, he could still hear the sea, and the city, so he though the crew were currently planning to get some more cargo, or just getting some food from one of the vendors on the dock.
In short, he took the opportunity to have a quick nap.
Some time later, he woke up as his hands and legs suddenly felt damp- then COLD.
Tycan snapped awake, and saw… A girl. Or very girly man-child, with the weirdest tattoo he had seen on his/her forehead.
And his arms and legs had been anchored to his seat by… Glass? It was very cold, and his skin was beginning to hurt where he touched it.
"There has been a… Disagreement." Purred the man/woman in front of him. "Your captain intended to leave without the rest of our party, and sell me as a slave."
Tycan struggled against his cold bindings on his seat, and glared at her. "When the captain comes back here, he's going to-"
"Do what? He already threatened to rape me." The voice sounded distinctly unimpressed. "Besides- last I saw of him, he was in ten pieces, sinking into the river. In fact…." The man/woman stepped forward into a beam of light coming from the grid-like wooden ceiling above them. "I have his hook."
He/she brandished said weapon, and then, after giving Tycan a moment to examine it, slowly began squeezing the metal hook. It bent around the figure's fingers, and Tycan shied away from the freakish man/woman.
"W-w-what do you w-want…."
The figure squeezed harder, and the hook seemed to fold inwards, until there was just a little bar of metal. "You will take us to Selhorys, and you will negotiate for the cargo to be sold to the normal buyer."
"I… Um… I don't know who the cargo is sold to." Tycan flinched as the bar suddenly flattened out, spreading over the figure's hand. "I can do everything else though!… If a few others can help with sailing."
"Sailing won't be a problem. I, and one other in our group, will move this ship upriver easily." The figure stepped back out of the beam of light. "I have cleaned the deck. Do not betray us."
That simple statement chilled Tycan, and he nodded quickly. "Yes Mistress!"
The figure twitched, and groaned. "Seriously? Do I really look that girly? What the FUCK?!" The screamed word was emphesized by a burst of flaming breath, the blue flame hot enough that Tycan started sweating.
"I don't mean to offend, Master!" Tycan bowed quickly to the grimacing figure that he now knew was male. "I'll not make the mistake again!"
"Thats… Good. Just…" The figure sighed. "I need some new clothes…. I do not look that <feminine> do I? Fucking ROB's and their sense of humor."
-
Several hours later, the rest of the group returned- and were understandably confused when I welcomed them to a ghost ship with one very scared crew member…. All while I was wearing the captain's left-behind clothes.
And yes… Harralana had gotten me some clothes.
They were dresses. I mean, sure- this was a very warm climate, and everyone wore breezy clothing yes, but I am not going to wear dresses.
So I was wearing the dead captain's pants.
And yes… One leg was shorter than the other.
BUT DAMNIT ALL, I WOULD HAVE PANTS… Even if I had to burn a city to get them.
I still didn't have a shirt... Or, at least, one that didn't feel excessively scratchy. DAMN YOU ROB FOR SENDING ME HERE IN MY PJ'S!!!
-
-
Getting a ship was actually really easy. Boats on this river, at least at the top of the waterfall, usually needed to be pulled by teams of oxen against the current, and only usually had cargos of salt and salted fish in addition to some cheaper goods.
They were not exactly super lucrative trips- Salt was lucrative, but they had to carry the salt in such a way that it wouldn't get wet, which took up a LOT of the cargo hold. There were also decent-quality tools, in various metals (mostly cheaper iron, and copper), arrows, and some other small good…. But, as an hour of watching the dockworkers activity showed, most of the towns upriver provided food that was distributed around Essos.
The only really valuable part of the cargo (besides the salt), was in a type of lime and something that the locals called 'Water Glass', both of which were used to preserve eggs and seal cans (as well as wax).
Most of the boats in Valysar above the waterfall were docked in a dedicated fjord that had been dug out along the side of the river around a hundred meters before the falls, and they were mostly sitting in lock-like drydocks.
Sallys chartered the boat, having sold a great deal of their possessions within the last couple hours (and their tavern to the people he expected had sent the faceless men after them) and thus having quite a bit of money to burn. Of course- they were not planning on leaving quite yet, the boat still being loaded with cargo, but Charlandr and Lesseah had joined him (with the children as well) to do some shopping.
Harralana had decided she would find me some better clothes- for some reason.
I didn't really see it, but she wanted to do it, so I didn't argue. I did, however, make it harder by not going with them.
The city, I had seen, seemed to be FULL of slaves. Everywhere I looked, I saw people with tattoos on their face. Tears, wagon wheels, hammers, flies, and other designs… And then people asked started propositioning to Sallys to buy ME.
ME! I was somewhat pissed- and when I caught a glance of my face in a puddle, I sort of understood why someone might think I was a slave. I did have what looked like a tattoo in the middle of my forehead- the third-eye of Combustion.
It did have some similarities to the other tattoos the slaves had- and I could not will it away. I wasn't directly utilizing my Combustion ability, but it was still there.
In any case, as I didn't want to kill the city YET, I chose to stay on the ship.
Ten minutes in, I realized this may have been a mistake.
-
"She's a pretty one."
I was currently leaning against the 'gourd' of compressed metal, feeling my spider-bro Ananzi move around in the hollow space, tending to their egg and resting as far as I could tell, with Charolette rubbing her pedaples over the egg, as I continued to relax, enjoying the sunlight on a clear spot on deck.
"I don't recognize the mark. Think she's a pleasure slave?" That was a different one.
There was a grunt as someone began tying something off. The sound was fairly distinctive, and I had heard it quite a few times now. "Not sure if she's a she, but she might be an enslaved witch. Never seen that mark before."
… They're talking about me, aren't they?
"She was just left with us! Come on capt'n- we can just take her, and the payment. An exotic slave like that- we could sell her to the Dothraki upriver for a nice price… Maybe even her weight in gold!"
There was a slap. "Dumbass- we can't get that sort of price for her, even if we managed to restrain her." Good man- keep thinking. You can give me a reason not to kill your entire crew. "At least, not from the Dothraki."
Bad human.
"Come on capt'n- let's just shove off." I could see this one standing over me, his nervous system and muscle groups lighting up to my electrical sense. "I'll restrain the whore, since the rest of you seem too chicken."
Well, now I want to know where this is going. Are you going to force me to kill you all?
"I ain't had any since the last run." A new speaker piped up. "We can always break 'er in."
There was an amused sigh. "Alright boys- shove off. Pithus, tie up the wench. You can have some fun with her when we're underway to Selhorys. We'll have to get the other ones, but slaves always fetch decent prices, and we can castrate the men before we get to the next city."
A rousing chorus of 'Aye capt'n!' echoed around me, even as the man (Pithus I think?) grabbed me by the leg, and straight-up lifted me one-handed. I opened my eyes and verified that yes, this guy could give the Mountain insecurity issues.
If I hadn't killed him, at any rate.
At least 300 lbs of muscle grinned back at me, and expertly began wrapping me up- first tied up legs, then arms behind my back, and the remaing rope was tied to the mast.
I didn't resist- mostly because I still wanted to know where this was going.
Then he grabbed his crotch.
I sighed. "Captain." I spoke up, then looked directly at the man, ignoring the huge man holding me by a hand. "You really don't want to do this."
The scrawny man grinned, his half-rotten teeth visible. "Oh, I really think I do." He clomped over (he had a wooden leg from mid-shin down on his left foot), and pulled out a nasty bladed hook-think.
I think it was called a billhook, but I wasn't sure.
"See little girly, we want a better profit then just bringing your master and mistress's little party upriver." He hooked the smooth part of the inside of the hook around my neck, and tilted my head upwards. "So yes- I really think I do."
I heard the men on the bank begin shouting orders, and saw a mooring rope flop onto the deck.
Then he grabbed me by the hair, and I had to push down my instinct to electrocute the guy. He was still gloating, and I redirected most of my power to AIR. Time to start messing with him.
The winds died as I stilled the movement of air around the boat.
I heard a man in the crow's nest (or whatever they called it) suddenly become concerned, but so far noone else had noticed yet.
"So, little girl, the crew is going to have their way with you. Then I'm going to sell your services to as many as I can in Selhorys. THEN we're going to come back here, and I'll sell you through one of the bidding houses." He sounded almost gleeful about the prospects. "After all- exotic slaves sell very well"
"You made three mistakes." I sighed, and let the sound reverberate through what was now MY airspace.
Everyone on the ship stopped what they were doing as I spoke.
"First, you assumed I was a slave."
The temperature of the air dropped dramatically, and their breath started fogging up.
"Second, you assumed that I was an easy target."
The crew began trying to talk, but I muted them- it was easy when I could just will the air NOT to move.
"And third… You kept talking. Although, to be fair, the last error was probably the most pertinent one, and I must say, the second error was pretty bad too… But I will at least not feel guilty about this."
I swapped half of my power over to electricity and metal, allowing most of the gourd to unravel (not the parts the spiders were in), and let the ribbons of metal slide out, slipping over the ship like snakes to anchor the crew to the deck- only a couple of which had attempted to reach for weapons.
Those I anchored with both hands and feet.
A thin ribbon sliced my bindings, the sinuous metal twisting and warping in the same way swords don't, and I stood up, rolling my shoulders. "Or just cautious of strange people really. Now, I would let you live- people here often have families after all… But I don't want to. You are rapists, and I rather hate rapists." I shrugged. "So I guess I will just have to see what I can do to change that."
Then I whistled, letting the sound 'bounce' off of my wall of stillness around the ship, the sound growing tones and patterns that exceeded human hearing, getting louder with each moment.
Five seconds in, if I hadn't been shielding the spiders and myself, it would have been uncomfortable.
Ten seconds in, the mast and floor panels were vibrating.
Fifteen seconds in, the billhook (it was still around my neck), began to crack, and every piece of glass on the top deck (where I was containing the power) shattered. The captain and crew were screaming silently, as blood began to leak from their ears, nose, and eyes.
Eighteen seconds in, several of them shook and writhed in pain as their eyes popped from the pressure changes.
Twenty seconds in, I lowered the noise level, as two of the men had slumped over, their skulls looking far less solid as their heads laid on the ground then I was expecting. I could feel their bodies dying, and most of the others were having a hard time surviving this level of noise.
After thirty-seven seconds, I released them, and let the crew gibber on the deck, eyes, nose and ears all bleeding profusely, finally letting the noise die out.
"burgle..." gasped the captain, feebly crawling towards me as one of his eyes dribbled out of the socket. "burgle...."
I turned to face him, and recoiled. "How did you survive?... Nevermind."
Dropping the AIR, I pulled up WATER, and with a flick, I froze the water around the boat, the ice anchoring to the bank in moments as it loudly cracked in the snap-freeze.
Then I reached out, and pulled, the water in each pleading crew member suddenly, and irrevocably, under my control.
I closed my hands.
There was a snap, and each of them froze.
Now I just needed to get rid of the bodies somehow… A cracking noise reminded me that I needed to put the boat back in the dock, and my metal tendrils began moving the appropriate ropes around.
Wait, was I supposed to put that rope there?
A cracking sound of splintering wood told me that No, that probably wasn't supposed to go there.
Crap.
-
After hiding the corpses (that wasn't too hard actually- I tossed them into the river, sliced them into tiny chunks with WATER, and then floated the still-relatively clean clothes {calling this shit 'clothing' is being really generous} back up to myself).
I also had to scrub the occular fluid and blood off the decks, but some controlled WATER power was more than enough for pressure-washing out human body fluids.
Of course, once that was done, I had to deal with the fact that there was one surviving crew member. He was sleeping, in the cargo hold, and since I had silenced the exciting events, he had remained sleeping for the entire time.
I decided that he needed a wakeup call.
-
Tycan was not a deep sleeper.
It was why he had always volunteered to guard the cargo bay while in port. He could nap, and was a light-enough sleeper that anyone trying to sneak in through the crew door would wake him up immediately.
So when the sounds from above had stopped, Tycan took it as a good sign- after all, he could still hear the sea, and the city, so he though the crew were currently planning to get some more cargo, or just getting some food from one of the vendors on the dock.
In short, he took the opportunity to have a quick nap.
Some time later, he woke up as his hands and legs suddenly felt damp- then COLD.
Tycan snapped awake, and saw… A girl. Or very girly man-child, with the weirdest tattoo he had seen on his/her forehead.
And his arms and legs had been anchored to his seat by… Glass? It was very cold, and his skin was beginning to hurt where he touched it.
"There has been a… Disagreement." Purred the man/woman in front of him. "Your captain intended to leave without the rest of our party, and sell me as a slave."
Tycan struggled against his cold bindings on his seat, and glared at her. "When the captain comes back here, he's going to-"
"Do what? He already threatened to rape me." The voice sounded distinctly unimpressed. "Besides- last I saw of him, he was in ten pieces, sinking into the river. In fact…." The man/woman stepped forward into a beam of light coming from the grid-like wooden ceiling above them. "I have his hook."
He/she brandished said weapon, and then, after giving Tycan a moment to examine it, slowly began squeezing the metal hook. It bent around the figure's fingers, and Tycan shied away from the freakish man/woman.
"W-w-what do you w-want…."
The figure squeezed harder, and the hook seemed to fold inwards, until there was just a little bar of metal. "You will take us to Selhorys, and you will negotiate for the cargo to be sold to the normal buyer."
"I… Um… I don't know who the cargo is sold to." Tycan flinched as the bar suddenly flattened out, spreading over the figure's hand. "I can do everything else though!… If a few others can help with sailing."
"Sailing won't be a problem. I, and one other in our group, will move this ship upriver easily." The figure stepped back out of the beam of light. "I have cleaned the deck. Do not betray us."
That simple statement chilled Tycan, and he nodded quickly. "Yes Mistress!"
The figure twitched, and groaned. "Seriously? Do I really look that girly? What the FUCK?!" The screamed word was emphesized by a burst of flaming breath, the blue flame hot enough that Tycan started sweating.
"I don't mean to offend, Master!" Tycan bowed quickly to the grimacing figure that he now knew was male. "I'll not make the mistake again!"
"Thats… Good. Just…" The figure sighed. "I need some new clothes…. I do not look that <feminine> do I? Fucking ROB's and their sense of humor."
-
Several hours later, the rest of the group returned- and were understandably confused when I welcomed them to a ghost ship with one very scared crew member…. All while I was wearing the captain's left-behind clothes.
And yes… Harralana had gotten me some clothes.
They were dresses. I mean, sure- this was a very warm climate, and everyone wore breezy clothing yes, but I am not going to wear dresses.
So I was wearing the dead captain's pants.
And yes… One leg was shorter than the other.
BUT DAMNIT ALL, I WOULD HAVE PANTS… Even if I had to burn a city to get them.
I still didn't have a shirt... Or, at least, one that didn't feel excessively scratchy. DAMN YOU ROB FOR SENDING ME HERE IN MY PJ'S!!!
-
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Kolarthecool
Hiding from the light of day.
- Location
- Calgary, Canada.
... go without a shirt? Or make a chest plate out of all the metal, at least then people would stop confusing him for a girl. But that's not as funny I guess, so keep with it!
- Location
- newcastle australia
Make pants out of metal.
Flair it out at certain spots to disguise your body proportions.
Easy to work around this issue. To the point I'm wondering why I'm reading about that MC struggling with it. Considering other issues that would've been more difficult to solve had been glossed over.
Flair it out at certain spots to disguise your body proportions.
Easy to work around this issue. To the point I'm wondering why I'm reading about that MC struggling with it. Considering other issues that would've been more difficult to solve had been glossed over.
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
It's a bit of a running gag.
Have you ever worn metal pants? I have, and the pinching was horrible! Seriously though, I went though hell in a handbasket to get any sort of pickyness about my clothes (I did not give a crap as a younger child, and that pissed off my parents royally), and now it's a bit of a habit. One that I spent a LOT of time working on, and one that would BUG me if I didn't have them.
It's petty, but my personality is bland already, so I try not to excise too many parts of what remains.
... Probably. I do have limits though, so I would wait until I had a few more water-benders/lesser-water-conduits to assist, but yeah.
- Location
- britain
i hope he starts to look more masculine soon, the pretty boy trap thing is a bit annoying after a while, didn't he start getting skinnier and stuff because he drained all his lightning beyond the wall and started using his biolectricity and it took his mass as fuel, so maybe have there be a big lightning storm and he drains 2 or 3 bolts from the storm and it turns into mass and stuff so he becomes taller and more muscular, maybe lean instead of buff. It would help him seduce the sexy widower
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
Yeah, I am aware.
Okay, look- as a kid, I looked rather androdygnous. When a conduit uses their own body to 'rebuild' bits of others, their own body optimizes to the smaller stature by deaging. Eating more will result in their forms re-aging, but with the Conduit abilities comes a lack of hunger as well, meaning they can easily forget to do so if there are sources of their elements nearby.
Gaara has hit all of this with barely any knowlege, and is working it out. It will take a little while.
Hopefully he won't go on a city scale genocide to regain his physical age. Also if he were to absorb a lot of people would he in theory become older than he was before or would his physique change by increasing his muscle mass and stature?
Mr. Cloak
Orchestrator of Paradoxical Apocalypse
- Pronouns
- I
I mean, it could. Absorbing people doesn't add much mass, but it does allow them to reconstruct what was lost. More like he would need to EAT a few people to regain his real age.
And no- Conduits age to their prime, and then stay there unless they have to heal someone who is missing a LOT of material. They would not age further beyond that. In Infamous Second Son, Augustine uses her powers in very specific ways- but all of them indicate that as she is then, she is as physically fit as she is going to get. There's an element of personal perspective (how you see yourself) that shapes some of that, but if you don't have a mental image of yourself (or particularly dislike how you look for one reason or other), your power will shape you to form along new patterns.
TLDR: A person who has significant body dismorphia would change to fit how they THINK they should look.
As it has gone on for time immemorial.
It's good to see this actually progressing again, but:
The only logical use of punishment is for rehabilitation, if you're going to eliminate humans as a threat, then just kill them. If you're going to take them prisoner, then treat them humanly as best you are able and willing. And with Conduits op-pl-nerf as the MC and his followers? That isn't particularly hard.
I don't object to straight up execution (differences of cultural ethics aside, they were a clear threat whose containment would be tricky due to numbers, or whose release could threaten his party)...but torture is a waste of time and energy. And risky with ToS to boot.
If the point is to express some developing character of the MC, or show how their stress is compromising their decision making... that's better, but I really recommend trying to find a different scenario to exemplify that.
Edit: While rehabilitation or deterrence ARE the only logical uses of punishment, I'm well aware that isn't true for rational or emotional motivations, both of which are vital in a story. I also don't have an once of sympathy for murdering rapist slavers and their accomplices...but I don't care about torturing them either. This was pretty (thankfully) sparse on details, but I cannot stress enough to step lightly considering SV's ToS and past...cases. I don't think the latest chap actually violates anything, but it's really not a pattern to repeat, and hardly lacking in other options for story-building.
Was there any point to this? To torture period? I cannot think of any context in this situation that requires the MC to use a prolonged method of execution, nor does there appear to be any motivation to let them go or take them captive. There isn't even any use as an example and deterrent since he's attempting to act subtly.
The only logical use of punishment is for rehabilitation, if you're going to eliminate humans as a threat, then just kill them. If you're going to take them prisoner, then treat them humanly as best you are able and willing. And with Conduits op-pl-nerf as the MC and his followers? That isn't particularly hard.
I don't object to straight up execution (differences of cultural ethics aside, they were a clear threat whose containment would be tricky due to numbers, or whose release could threaten his party)...but torture is a waste of time and energy. And risky with ToS to boot.
If the point is to express some developing character of the MC, or show how their stress is compromising their decision making... that's better, but I really recommend trying to find a different scenario to exemplify that.
Edit: While rehabilitation or deterrence ARE the only logical uses of punishment, I'm well aware that isn't true for rational or emotional motivations, both of which are vital in a story. I also don't have an once of sympathy for murdering rapist slavers and their accomplices...but I don't care about torturing them either. This was pretty (thankfully) sparse on details, but I cannot stress enough to step lightly considering SV's ToS and past...cases. I don't think the latest chap actually violates anything, but it's really not a pattern to repeat, and hardly lacking in other options for story-building.
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