Overshadowed[Young Wizards/Worm]

[CaesriusPolybius]

It was a standard day in New York. People milled around, doing various things. Stray animals roamed, looking for their next meal. A flying man in an oddly-colored-and-patterned outfit tackled a thug, surrounded by people with their phones out…

Wait, what?

One bystander viewed the event with a bemused expression, before ducking into a nearby empty alley. He glanced about, checking for observers. Seeing none, he made a motion like he was pulling down a zipper in midair, and then reached in the general direction that he had made the motion. His arm disappeared up to the elbow for a few seconds, and then he pulled it back out, a large book in his hand.

He opened it, and checked something. His expression changed from bemused to pained as he flipped to several other pages, and he put the book back before 'zipping' upwards.
This is going to cause a lot of headaches, thought Carl Romeo as he walked back to Grand Central Station, but I suppose there are worse ways to end work trips…

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Character info:

Juanita 'Nita' Louise Callahan

> Standard human physiology
Despite all the fancy tricks you can pull, you're still a human at the end of the day, with all of the associated squishiness.
> Wizardry
The most versatile of tools. Wizardry is the process by which you speak to reality, and convince it to bend to your will(temporarily). This is done primarily by spells(See General Info/On Spells). You maintain this as long as you adhere to the Wizard's Oath.
> Specialty: Sight
You have an oracular talent, primarily in the form of prophetic dreams, or other forms of inspiration. The information granted will often be seemingly nonsensical, but it will still be informative enough for you to understand the warnings before they are too late.
> Specialty: Plant life[DEGRADED]
When you started out as a Wizard, you seemingly had a talent in working with plants. Over time, your specialty shifted, but you still find plants relatively easy to work with.
> Practiced: Kernel Manipulation
The Kernel is, in essence, the operating system for an independent area. Control over it allows for control over almost all laws of reality, though excessive manipulation can be disastrous even for one with experience working with Kernels.
> The Speech
The method by which you apply your wizardry, the speech is a Language of Power, Language of Truth type thing, with a universal translator tacked on- the most common form of wizardry is the Speech(though the speech does have a sign-language form{which you don't know}) structured together into code-like spells. The written form is usually invisible to nonwizards. When speaking in the Speech, it is impossible to lie(and for Wizards, dangerous, as reality may sometimes change to fit their lie), but all things understand the Speech, from the most complex civilization to the least of all rocks. Similarly, through the Speech all things can be understood(communication-wise, that is), again from civilization to rocks. Nonwizards can learn the speech, but the more esoteric functions are blocked off from them.
> Applied Speech
Though Spells are more reliable and energy-efficient, in a pinch a Wizard can convince things to do as they ask directly. The difficulty of this varies depending on the being of choice. That said, nonliving things often have only a 'desire' to accomplish the purpose that they were made for, and thus can be very stubborn at times.
> Specialty: Plant life[DEGRADED]
Though plant life is no longer your talent, you learned of their quirks and gained better understanding of them, such that you find is marginally easier to convince them to work with you.
> The Peridexic Effect
The spirit of wizardry thought your mind looked comfortable. The Peridexis of Wizardry, which you call 'Bobo,' is able to perform all manual functions, as well as assemble wizardries. However, you prefer to not use him at most times, instead building your own spells. He also will provide access to words of the Speech that you don't know.
> Telepathic Link[DEGRADED]
You have a natural telepathic link with your wizardly partner. However, due to events in the past, it is mostly closed off. You can still feel their presence sometimes, but it is still largely absent. A more complex version can be opened with any wizard temporarily by a spell.
> Personal Temporospatial Claudication
You have pinched off a section of spacetime to serve as storage space. It is accessed by unzipping it and reaching in, and is often cluttered.
Important contents:
> Manual
As the name implies, it's essentially a manual for the universe which you work to maintain and defend. It contains, among other things, a Speech dictionary, a list useful spells, tips, a messaging system that works for any wizard in the same universe as you, and a 'white pages' for wizards. Pages automatically update for what you need, and thus will not be consistent manual-to-manual.
> Spell Matrix [5/9]
A static wizardry that you constructed while studying kernels, the Spell Matrix is able to hold 9 ready-to-fire spells, and each spell can be used an indefinite number of times. That said, each spell takes more of your energy and focus to maintain. By now, you can safely maintain 5 at at a time without major focus. It currently takes the form of a charm bracelet. It can be expanded to hold more spells; however, it must be checked over and authorized by a wizard of Senior rank or higher before being used after this.
> Shapechange: Whale
You are able to turn into a whale by believing that you are a whale. Should you lose yourself in the whale shape, you will start to believe that it's you, and become stuck in whale shape.
> Certainty of Self
Due to instinctive knowledge of your Name, and Belief that it is who you are, effects that would change your Name will be passively denied, to varying effect. If you know what's happening, you can actively resist them( to a far greater effect.) Larger attempted changes to your Name will be passively resisted to a greater degree, while smaller attempted changes are less so.

JLC Spell Matrix [5/9]

SHIELD

A relatively standard quick-activation shield spell, the true strength this wizardry is its versatility; while active it can be varied in strength, size, and specification, allowing it to be efficiently used in many situations. At its maximum, strengthwise, it can block an ICBM, though extreme specialization or specification can increase this maximum considerably, as regards the forces specified.
Modifiable: Barrier Size; Forces Specified; Strength.

ONE-SHOT LINAC

A point-and-fire wizardry with enough vested energy for a single shot, this linear acceleration wizardry projects a high-velocity particle beam in the direction it is pointed.
Modifiable: Range cap

EXTINGUISHER

Sets temperature of everything within a 10 meter area to 308.15° Kelvin for an instant, then caps temperature there. Excludes [JUANITA CALLAHAN, CHRISTOPHER RODRIGUEZ, ARHU], as well as any items on their person at time of casting.
Modifiable: Field size; Temperature; People Excluded.

REFLECTION SHIELD

A field with a radius of 1 meter that applies a 180° vector change to objects entering it with a speed greater than 3 miles per hour.
Modifiable: Field Size; Vector Alteration; Exclusion Speed

MASK

Converts a specially-marked extraneous outer layer of your jacket into a generic, face-covering mask(you're reminded of Spiderman's mask, if Spidey's mask was pitch-black and lacked the web lines). Does not function if outermost torso garment lacks a marked extraneous layer and no marked layer is within a 5-meter spherical field of the caster.

Christopher 'Kit' Kellen Rodriguez

> Standard human physiology
Despite all the fancy tricks you can pull, you're still a human at the end of the day, with all of the associated squishiness.
> Wizardry
The most versatile of tools. Wizardry is the process by which you speak to reality, and convince it to bend to your will(temporarily). This is done primarily by spells(See General Info/On Spells). You maintain this as long as you adhere to the Wizard's Oath.
> Specialty: Technology
Ever since you first started practicing the Art, you've been able to work with technology more easily than other things. As a side effect, technology that you are near often may start to gain more of a personality. Like your home theater setup did.
> Practiced: Translocation
Your chosen translocative spell has been refined greatly from the basic one you started with, and you can now move from location to location nearly silently and with little more than a slight gust of air. This wizardry is automatically shared with Juanita Callahan, though she tends to leave it as is, barring double-checking before utilization.
> Practiced: Tactical Application
After the Pullulus Crisis, you and a group of friends started a wargaming group. This has granted you increased tactical acuity, and increased speed of spell application/execution.
> The Speech
The method by which you apply your wizardry, the speech is a Language of Power, Language of Truth type thing, with a universal translator tacked on- the most common form of wizardry is the Speech(though the speech does have a sign-language form{which you don't know}) structured together into code-like spells. The written form is usually invisible to nonwizards. When speaking in the Speech, it is impossible to lie(and for Wizards, dangerous, as reality may sometimes change to fit their lie), but all things understand the Speech, from the most complex civilization to the least of all rocks. Similarly, through the Speech all things can be understood(communication-wise, that is), again from civilization to rocks. Nonwizards can learn the speech, but the more esoteric functions are blocked off from them.
> Applied Speech
Though Spells are more reliable and energy-efficient, in a pinch a Wizard can convince things to do as they ask directly. The difficulty of this varies depending on the being of choice. That said, nonliving things often have only a 'desire' to accomplish the purpose that they were made for, and thus can be very stubborn at times.
> Specialty: Technology
Convincing technology to do as you wish is easier than non-technological things, though attempting to convince it to go against its purpose is still very difficult.
> Telepathic Link[DEGRADED]
You have a natural telepathic link with your wizardly partner. However, due to events in the past, it is mostly closed off. You can still feel their presence sometimes, and you are starting to rarely get their surface thoughts again as you open up to each other again, but it is still largely absent. A more complex version can be opened with any wizard temporarily by a spell.
> Personal Temporospatial Claudication
You have pinched off a section of spacetime to serve as storage space. It is accessed by unzipping it and reaching in, and is often cluttered.
Important contents:
> Manual
As the name implies, it's essentially a manual for the universe which you work to maintain and defend. It contains, among other things, a Speech dictionary, a list useful spells, tips, a messaging system that works for any wizard in the same universe as you, and a 'white pages' for wizards. Pages automatically update for what you need, and thus will not be consistent manual-to-manual.
> Affinity: Canines[LESSER]
Due to having once had a dog(who you spoke with daily in the Speech), you have learned things about canines that most other people never will. As such, even without the speech you understand better their quirks and behavior, and with the speech you can speak to them directly, like any other creature. You do not gain any direct control over them, though convincing them is made easier by your understanding.

Arhu

> Standard Physiology of the People
You're a cat. Where you're from, this grants you Stringsight, Sidling, and (as a wizard) Nondominant Wizardry. You're still very squishy.
> Wizardry
The most versatile of tools. Wizardry is the process by which you speak to reality, and convince it to bend to your will(temporarily). This is done primarily by spells(See General Info/On Spells). You maintain this as long as you adhere to the Wizard's Oath.
> Specialty: Sight
You have an oracular talent, primarily in the form of prophetic dreams and other inspiration. The information granted will be seemingly nonsensical, but it will still be informative enough for you to understand the warnings before they are too late.
> Trained: Worldgate mechanics
Due to your training, you are (mostly) consistently competent in worldgate manipulation.
> Manual variant- The Whispering
Unlike your human cousins, your Manual takes the form of the Whispering- the information, as requested or needed, is whispered directly into your ears, softly enough that no one could possibly overhear it.
> The Speech
The method by which you apply your wizardry, the speech is a Language of Power, Language of Truth type thing, with a universal translator tacked on- the most common form of wizardry is the Speech(though the speech does have a sign-language form{which you don't know}) structured together into code-like spells. The written form is usually invisible to nonwizards. When speaking in the Speech, it is impossible to lie(and for Wizards, dangerous, as reality may sometimes change to fit their lie), but all things understand the Speech, from the most complex civilization to the least of all rocks. Similarly, through the Speech all things can be understood(communication-wise, that is), again from civilization to rocks. Nonwizards can learn the speech, but the more esoteric functions are blocked off from them.
> Applied Speech
Though Spells are more reliable and energy-efficient, in a pinch a Wizard can convince things to do as they ask directly. The difficulty of this varies depending on the being of choice. That said, nonliving things often have only a 'desire' to accomplish the purpose that they were made for, and thus can be very stubborn at times.
> Stringsight
You are able to see the laws of physics in effect as 'strings'. You are able to manipulate them to a minimal degree with both the Speech and the original form of Cat's Cradle. This is also the main way you manipulate worldgates.
> Sidling
You are able to slip behind the 'strings' of reality, dropping out of visibility.
> Ninelived[1/9]
Due to the nature of the People's Choice, your lifetime is split into 9 portions- when one body dies, you are reincarnated elsewhere. You do not keep your memories, and though you may eventually regain them, it is not guaranteed. The entirety of time for your nine lives are taken into account by wizardry, not just the length of your current life.
> Nondominant Wizardry
Despite what the People may prefer to think, felines are not the dominant landbound species on Earth. Because of this(probably), feline wizards tend to be weaker than a human wizard of similar seniority.
> Youth
For your species, you are young. This translates to increased power compared to species, though this will decrease as you get older.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

So, first quest! … First thing I'm writing at all for the general public, actually… With one work that I barely remember, and another that an astonishingly low number have even heard of… This should be interesting…


EDIT: All topics listed currently filled- list truncated.

Spoiler: Young Wizards Info

Spoiler: The Wizard's Oath

"In Life's name and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so — till Universe's end."
This oath defines how your wizardry should be used; should it be consciously used otherwise, your Art will fade.

Spoiler: On Spells

Spells are basically requests for the laws of physics to do as you ask, and are built in a similar manner to software. It is possible to also make things do as you ask by simply asking them, but this is considerably more difficult and time consuming, and requires convincing the object in question. As such, it is unwieldy to use on anything more complex than a lock, though it's handy if you don't have the time to check and doublecheck a wizardry.

Spoiler: On Choices

A Choice is the point in time where a species is offered the Gift of the Lone Power: Entropy. It, naturally, dresses said gift up very nicely, and has at least one wizardly advocate. The manner in which the Choice is resolved changes how Entropy effects your species; humanity's Choice resolved with them having about 100 years of continuous life, while the Choice of the People gave them around the same amount of time, split across nine lives(with a rare immortal superpowerful tenth life of serving Life if you were very good).

It is possible for a species to redo their choice, but the Lone One is crafty; even knowing the outcome, there's no guarantee that you'll get something better.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Over their time as worldgate technicians, the Manhattan Primary Worldgate Management Team had learned that, no matter what one tried, the 'gates would still do as they wanted from time to time, and one just had to work around it.

The majority of the Grand Central Terminal gates (and the few intercontinual gates housed in Penn Station) had been acting strangely of late. Thankfully, it was seemingly restricted to the Manhattan gates, so anything on a larger than interstellar scale could be redirected to one of the few other intercontinual gates on Earth while the Manhattan teams ran a series of diagnostics and quick fixes on each gate in sequence(So far, they hadn't gotten anything truly informative yet; just something about a propagating barrier).

Thus, when (on the sixth consecutive hour of work) the monitoring spell linked to the Grand Central worldgates whispered in his ear of a requested incoming transit to one of the yet-unchecked gates and requested resolution, Urruah (the 'emergency handler' for the hour) grumbled, yet made haste towards the aforementioned gate.

When he got there, he saw the hyperstrings associated with the restriction spell pulled taut, and ran a quick diagnostic, to check if it was safe for use. Though the other gate gave only the bare minimum required to ascertain if it was safe to receive from, it was enough to permit the transit(though the spatial coordinates were unfamiliar, and the data provided for 'time' was a bit odd - the format was correct, as (due to the ease with which one could work wizardries with it) most Sol III wizards used the ehhif Julian Date system - but it was [Vote: JULIAN DATE], which was a significantly different one from the one that was Whispered to him, 2455730.47435- at a glance, he'd say the date the other gate was providing was about half a local year behind. A switch to the absurdly long Multiplanar Absolute Time gave the same result as he got with a local query, though).

Urruah ran a secondary check on the gate, and got the same results back with the MAT matching. With a flick of his tail and an inclination of his head, he pulled on the 'strings that would temporarily release the restriction spell with an extended claw.

And through the 'gate stepped Carl Romeo, one of the local Advisories.

He should've gotten redirected to one of the European gates that was cleared for intercontinual use.

Urruah wasn't quite aware of what was going on, but he had a feeling that someone would have a headache at the end of it.

CHARACTER SELECT:
[ ] Rhiow: Feline worldgate mechanic for the Manhattan Primary Worldgate Management Team, Rhiow is a ffeih(Approx.-Neutered) with a decent amount of practice behind her. She is older, and thus less powerful, but her experience means that her wizardries will be more elegant. Being feline, she can become invisible at will. She also has more experience manipulating the 'strings' of the universe. She is on her fifth life of nine.

[ ] Arhu: Feline worldgate mechanic for the Manhattan Primary Worldgate Management Team, Arhu is a tom with a mild Oracular talent. Being feline, he can become invisible at will, and is young, making him stronger. However, felines are, in general, less powerful than humans in any case. He is on his first life of nine.

[ ] Christopher 'Kit' Kellen Rodriguez: Wizard with a technology specialty, you can hear the voice of anything more advanced than a drinking straw easily. You can hear other things as well, but that is more difficult. You are talented with translocation spells, being able to do so silently with little air displacement, and are part of a regular wargame group with other wizards, granting you increased tactical acuity and speed of spell application.

[ ] Juanita 'Nita' Louise Callahan: Wizard with a tetchy oracular specialty, you will sometimes receive prophetic dreams; in the tradition of such, they are as vague as they possibly can be while still giving you their intended message. You once thought your specialty was plants, but that slowly lessened, though you still have some talent working with them. You have experience in working with Kernels, and a spell matrix(in the form of a charm bracelet) that can hold pre-prepared wizardries, though each one is taxing on you to maintain. You also have the peridexis of Wizardry living in your head(you call it Bobo). It can create wizardries for you, but you prefer to build them yourself. Also, you can turn into a whale.

What Julian Date did the other gate return?
[ ] 2455543.474356 (12/12/2010, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)
[ ] 2455568.474356 (01/06/2011, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)
[ ] 2455582.474356 (01/20/2011, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)
[ ] 2455610.474356 (02/17/2011, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)
[ ] 2455656.474356 (04/04/2011, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)
[ ] 2455690.474356 (05/08/2011, by the ehhif Gregorian calendar)

AN:
Welp. I'd have just fixed what I needed to and moved on with the same entry point and chosen character(since other changes, background and otherwise, aren't really going to start until you enter the Wormverse), except that one of the things that I regretted was not having the cats at least be a choice for viewpoint, and another was the lack of non-vital entry points into the Wormverse. You were going to get an oracular fever dream, but that didn't come out all that well, so instead you get wizardbabble. Next update will be up to the first bit on Bet.

EDIT: Shuffled date choices to bottom of post, inserted [Vote: JULIAN DATE] where the choices used to be.

EDIT II: Fixed the Julian Dates- GC December 12. 2010 is no longer JD February 17th, 2010

EDIT III: Fixed timing to agree with Games Wizards Play.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

You look down at the paper in front of you, and sigh.

As a Wizard, a lot of your life revolves around wording; whether you're writing a Wizardry, convincing reality to bend just so, or writing an essay for a class, it's something that you get a lot of chances to practice.

And yet, now that you've sat down to write a letter to your Aunt Anne, you can't think of anything to write.

As you tap the paper with your pen, you hear a stray thought in your mind- a thought from Bobo, specifically. Also known as the Peridexic Effect, the spirit of Wizardry(you call it Bobo) had showed up during the Pullulus Crisis to grant those Wizards who still had their Art a power boost; after the Crisis, it had mostly faded, but for some odd reason it had stuck around in your mind. You're not complaining, though; it's rather helpful to have around- it can interface with the Manual, provide needed words in the Speech if you don't know them, check your spells to make sure they'll work properly, and can even cast pre-built spells in a very short amount of time(though you're loath to take advantage of that except in the most dire of situations; practice makes perfect, after all).

You have a new message. It's marked urgent.

Apparently, it could also connect to the Manual's notification service.

Right then, you reply, I'll check on it.

You grasp at the air in front of you for a bit, searching for the tag that you could open your personal claudication with. Upon finding it, you pull downwards, reach in, pull out your Manual, and set the book down on the table beside the paper.

You flip it open to the messenger pages with your left hand, absently doodling on the paper with your right.

[URGENT MESSAGE]: [JUANITA CALLAHAN], your presence is [REQUESTED] for [CONSULTATION/SCOUTING/INTERVENTION/CONSULTATION] on a newly discovered situation [SIMILAR TO ONE YOU PREVIOUSLY ENCOUNTERED]. Précis and [LIST OF PARTICIPANTS] is included. Presence requested no later than 2455734.29167 at the Grand Central Terminal Intercontinuual Worldgating Hub, Worldgate 1I9. [TASK] will likely be completed by 2455734.625.

Click to shrink...

You flip to the Précis, and skim over it- and blink in confusion. How, exactly, does overshadowing occur by proxy? Moreover, why is the phrase being applied to a universe, and how does such a thing lapse? Usually speaking, overshadowing applied to people, and were permanent; the idea of an entire universe being overshadowed was terrifying, but the idea of such a thing lapsing was…

Honestly, the whole thing is somewhat confusing. But, it looks like you'll only be needed for eight hours, and for nothing too complex; you see no problem in joining in.

You close the book with your left hand, and stop doodling with your right. You glance over at the paper.

And you drop the pen in surprise.

Though at first glance, it looks like pretty much any other absentmindedly-doodled-on paper(though admittedly, covering a bit too much of the page and with too many sharp angles), your eyes are instantly drawn to several designs, and you notice… something… in them.

A beast, colossal in comparison to its surroundings. Lightning flashes… no, it's more generic. Energy flows around it, shifting and twisting, to fire and movement.

Another one, only slightly smaller. Drawn with elegant curves, yet angular at the same time. Clouds and water swirl about, smashing and crushing.

A third, a thing of feathers. The air shifts, the water ripples, and a… A song? A song swims through it; a most beautiful, horrible song that draws in everything that hears-

[JUANITA CALLAHAN]

You jolt as your [NAME] crosses through your mind, practically shouted by the Peridexis. You shake your head and glance down at the piece of paper again, carefully ignoring the song as it dances about the page; looking at it from a different angle, it's much less elegant than it first appeared, choppy and fragmented.

No matter how much you focus, however, you can't properly see the patterns again. You think you notice around eighteen more angularly curved sections, and one of them, somehow, make you think of both howling and hope, but when you try to focus, the patterns slide out of view. You also notice an oddity; a stylized letter 'C' stuck here and there across the page.

Then something clicks, and becomes obvious behind it all. Something… no. A pair of somethings, tightly coiled around each other, less of a pair than a separated whole; the other parts of the image flowing both from and into the larger image. That part, once seen obscures the rest, and something is made glaringly obvious.

It's unfinished.

You sigh, and send a message, confirming that you would be there. You sit down again, and try to focus-but-not-focus on the paper, and place your pen on the line.

---

Four days later, you appear near gate 1I9, feeling a bit disgruntled. No matter how much you tried, you couldn't finish the page. As you appear, you notice the Manhattan Primary Worldgate Management Team near the gate, as well as several other people you know; Carl Romeo and Tom Swayle(Senior Wizards for the Long Island area), Ronan(an Irish Wizard who used to be a host for one of the Powers that Be), Filif([/font]ermanhathrhumneits'elhessaiffnth)(a Demisev Wizard who visited a while back on an exchange program), and Kit(your partner). You also see three people there who you don't recognize, but Bobo identifies them before you can check your Manual- Mariah Jackson and Edward Abbot, a pair from Albany, and Jack Cartman, from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Before you can greet Kit, though, Carl begins to address everyone.

"All of you, welcome. Two weeks ago, I was returning from business at the Crossings. Normally, this nothing special; 'gate from there to Grand Central, head home. However, due to a glitch in the gate, I ended up on a different earth. I did not realize this, however, until I was already out of the station, where I saw a flying man crash into another person.

"It was at this point that I actually checked where I was. Upon doing this, I discovered several fascinating and unnerving things. One- The world had no wizards. At all. Two- Despite this, it was similar enough that, even knowing it was different, I still saw no real differences after the flying person. Besides that, the Worldgate I entered the universe through was in the same exact place that it was supposed to be in in our universe, despite the aforementioned lack of wizards. And three- the map function of my Manual initially couldn't decide whether to auto-assign the planet as Aresh-hav, though in the end it refrained from doing so."

Though you're not really surprised that the Manual tried to assign the planet the designator 'lost' (any place with a universe-wide overshadowing, even a lapsed one, was unlikely to be a particularly nice place), you're still somewhat unnerved by it.

"In any case, we called you here to analyze this new world- Well, we called some of you here to do so. Ronan, Kit, Nita, and Filif, you're all here because of your service during the Pullulus Crisis; you have experience working in a fully Aresh-hav situation, and you should be able to return after initial data-gathering and comparison to the situation on Rashah. You are here mainly to examine the situation and ascertain how hazardous it will likely be.

"Rhiow, Arhu, and Urruah, you're here both to watch over and maintain the worldgate from both sides, and because you also resolved a similar situation not too long ago.

"Edward, Jack, and Mariah, you shall be sticking around, and shall be examining the situation to a more in-depth degree."

"For several reasons," Tom continued, "the connection can only be made for a five-minute period every twenty minutes. Furthermore, due to a general lack of stability, it is likely to be unsafe for more than three people to transit through at a time. As such, you will be going through in three sets of three. Ronan, Filifermanhathrhumneits'elhessaiffnth, you will be going first, with Rhiow. The second connection will be Nita, Kit, and Arhu."

"Edward, Jack, and Mariah, you will be going last, when the other gate is secured. Urruah will be on this side, making sure the connection stays stable."

They nod at this.

"The next connection should be able to be made shortly, so if you could prepare for transit?

Ronan nods, and Filif… sort of jingles, and the first three prepare for transit. The 'gate opens, and they hop through the gate. It collapses.

"Next three?"

You move to the gating area, and get ready to enter the gate. As it opens, you feel a slight sense of unease, but you dismiss the feeling and start to jump, to avoid the sharp edges.

As you, Kit, and Arhu jump through the gate, you hear Urruah yowl, "Oh fwau, something's off. Stop! Don't j-"

---

You appear in a somewhat dark, cold, and snowy alleyway. The gate closes behind you, and you hear Arhu hiss in surprise.

"Where'd it go? It can't do that!"

"Do what?" you ask.

"The gate just disappeared! As soon as it closed, it just vanished. Well," He adds, "not quite vanish. The moorings are still there…?"

As his voice trails off, an added note of confusion and curiosity present, you hear shouting, strange, metallic noises, and gunfire outside of the alley. You glance over at Kit, who nods back, and you let Arhu know that you're going to go see what's going on. He replies with a "Okay, I'm going to stay here and try to figure out what the Worldgate is doing. Well, what it did, anyways...", and you and Kit head carefully towards the sound, chanting quick invisibility spells.

… well, that was the plan, anyways. You both walk about half a foot before being distinctly reminded that you're wearing summer clothing in an area with snow. You both chant quick personal temperature-control spells, followed by quick invisibility spells, and head towards the noise.

What you see is most certainly not what you expected(though admittedly, you're not quite sure what you expected; you just know you don't see it).

The first thing you notice is someone in blue armor - make that blue motorized armor, if the way it's shifting is any indication - swinging a similarly blue, high-tech looking halberd at a humanoid wolf made of writhing metal blades. Similarly, you notice someone in white-and-gold armor and a helmet that, at the very least, was heavily inspired by that of the Spartans thrusting a spear crackling with lightning at one of the people wielding guns.

And there are quite a few people wielding guns- pretty much all of them bald with tattoos on their heads, wearing similar nondescript outfits- hold on. Was that a swastika?!

You glance over at Kit, bewildered, and see a similar look of confusion on his face as he looks at the scene unfolding.

So you have armed seemingly-gang-members and a wolf made of blades fighting someone in Power Armor and a Spartan soldier with a spear made of lightning.

What are you even supposed to do in this type of situation?

[ ](Write-In)

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

You need to get a closer look at what's going on; truthfully, you don't know enough to safely take action. You glance back out at the battle, and are reminded of what's going on by a bullet hitting the wall beside you.

You hand moves to one of the charms on your bracelet as you prepare to activate the shield wizardry prepared within, but you're stopped by Kit tapping your shoulder. Glancing over, you see he already has his Manual out and a spell circle on the ground, one you recognize- and though it is most likely the best one for the situation, you can't help but wince.

The spell Kit has laid out is a rather simple one, if power intensive. A general Binding spell(the same one that he had set up when you first met him, and that you used against your own bullies not long after that), it makes those not contained within its circle flat out ignore the people within the circle, and projectiles shot in the direction of it will be aimed such that they will not enter it. Due to the power cost, it is mainly used by wizards who either have yet to have their Ordeal or who are only just out of it, while older, powerful wizards in situations that require not being noticed (with very little margin for error) use a painstakingly-modified version that uses a powerful, quiet generator as a power source.

-is how it would work, if the spell made any sense; unfortunately, it's one of the few commonly-used spells that absolutely refuses to do so. Any attempts to modify it at all(beyond adding or removing the Names of the Wizards powering it), even just to change the power source to a non-wizardly one or make the effect follow the Wizards powering it, end up either reclassifying it as a far more costly psychotropic wizardry(which is a set that has its own unique set of problems), or making it not work at all, and attempts to study it just make the wizards studying it get headaches, since it conforms to almost none of the rules defining how normal wizardries work.

Ah well. The two of you working together should be able to power it for at least fifteen minutes while still powering other wizardries. You pull your Manual out and pull a copy of the shorthand form of your Name from within its pages, and hook your Name into the power portion of the spell. You and Kit begin softly chanting the spell, and thirty seconds and an amount of initialization energy best described as "too much" later, you and Kit drop your invisibility Wizardries and discuss, and agree that you should try to increase the amount of information available to you. Kit decides to take the chance to analyze the blue armor and weapon, the spear-wielder, and the wolf made of blades, and you try to focus on what's going on.

A closer look reveals that the design on the seemingly-gang-members isn't actually a swastika, but rather a stylized, angular 88 that, all the same, invokes the appropriated (and subsequently ruined) symbol of good fortune. You notice that several of the gang members are down for the count, seemingly unconscious, though in all truth you're too far away to tell.

Your examination (short though it may have been; really, it hasn't been more than 45 seconds) is cut short by Kit speaking up.

"I have a scanning wizardry set up to examine the wolf, the Spartan, and the blue guy; that spear isn't technological, from what I can tell, but we're too far away for me to be certain. The armor probably is, but again, between the distance and the fighting, can't really hear it."

"Okay," you reply. "None of them have said anything especially helpful for determining which side is the 'good' side in this situation; I'd run a check for their descriptions on the data from the Manual's data collation utility, but if this world lacks wizards…"

"There wouldn't be any input," finishes Kit. "Well, it looks like the gun-wielding ones are going to be fully out of the fight soon, but the wolf doesn't seem to be slowing; he-"

Kit falls silent as one of the gunmen shouted something over the din; though most of it is either too garbled or too soft for even the speech to translate, you manage to understand something that sounded a lot like 'dog fighting', and something about the blue guy and the spartan breaking it up.

You feel a flash of fury that isn't your own; a glance over at Kit confirms that it was his, if his enraged expression is anything to go by. Frankly, your own anger is quickly building, and while the spear and halberd wielders may not necessarily be good, the gunmen and wolf most certainly aren't.

Kit glances down at his manual, and back up at you.

"Though its still scanning the halberd-wielder and the Spartan, and still doesn't have much on the wolf, my scanning spell has at least found something interesting about the wolf. Apparently, the blades are extraneous; everything even vaguely important is contained within a relatively small sphere of organic matter that the blades are protruding from.

What do you do?
[ ] Intervene; the gunmen might be taken out shortly, but halberd guy doesn't seem to be doing much to the wolf.
-[ ] How? (Write-In)(You are able to run (1) wizardry.)
--[VALID SPELLS LOADED IN MATRIX: {SHIELD}; {SINGLE-SHOT LINAC}]
- Will you disguise yourselves before doing so?
--[ ] Yes; put up full-body decency shields around yourselves, to blur what you look like.
--[ ] Yes; use some other method (Write-In)
--[ ] No; you may not need it.

[ ] Don't intervene; your anger is effecting how you think, and in the end this isn't your fight. Instead you:
-[ ] Head back to Arhu and see if he's made any headway on the Gate.
-[ ] Other(Write-In)

Spell Matrix [3/9]

SHIELD

A relatively standard quick-activation shield spell, the true strength this wizardry is its versatility; while active it can be varied in strength, size, and specification, allowing it to be efficiently used in many situations. At its maximum, strengthwise, it can block an ICBM, though extreme specialization or specification can increase this maximum considerably, as regards the forces specified.

GCT TRANSIT[INVALID]

A pre-prepared transit spell that allows you to transfer to the Grand Central Terminal Worldgating Hub from anywhere on your Earth; due to your current location, this wizardry is invalid.

ONE-SHOT LINAC

A point-and-fire wizardry with enough vested energy for a single shot, this linear acceleration wizardry projects a high-velocity particle beam in the direction it is pointed.

---

Alright, then! If you should choose to intervene, keep in mind that it's easier for you to effect the laws of physics to bend than more complex tasks, though you can do quite a few of these as well. If a planned wizardry truly won't work, I'll let you know. Other than that, well, you can reshape reality through requests and injunctions. Have fun with it!

Also, wizardries from your spell matrix don't count against the number of wizardries you can run in your turn; they're basically already all but cast anyways.

Also also, 'Linac' is the term that Young Wizards uses for particle acceleration weaponry- the one-shot linac in your spell matrix shoots a high-velocity particle beam in the direction you point it.

EDIT: Dang, messed up the spell matrix. Fixed it here.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

You grab the charm that represents the Linac between two fingers, and prepare to activate it.

"You're sure that everything important is within the sphere?"

"Well, its actual eyes are in the 'head' area of the wolf," Kit replies, "but it seems that the sphere can create new ones in the same way that it can create new blades…"

"Right then. It looks like the Spartan's got the gunmen under control, so I'm going to hit the wolf's head with a particle beam." You say the activator words for the One-Shot Linac, and a rod of light glows into existence in front of you. You take hold of it, contemplating several variables.

"Wait," Kit interrupts. "We're going to want to interact with Halberd and the Spartan afterwards, but it might be a good idea to temporarily conceal our identities- worst case scenario, we just helped finish a fight between two gangs, and the two still moving about take offense at us for some reason. I was thinking a decency shield would be ideal?"

You think on the matter- decency shields are easy to cast, stable, and extremely cheap- and more importantly, though easy enough to drop by conscious decision, they'll stay active even if you should lose focus on it or fall unconscious.

You nod in agreement, and the two of you activate the shields with a pair of quick incantations- and fifteen seconds later, you both stand enveloped in visual distortions as the spell messes with light as it bounces off of you..

Kit says something about prepping to cast a spell if needed("The scanner should have enough to use on him soon; there's something extradimensional that it's pulling the needed libraries for."), and you point the wand at the ground.

You adjust some variables(you're in an enclosed area, so it can only go so far without causing trouble if you happen to miss, and you're going to want it to be moving with… that velocity), point the wand at the wolf's head, double-check the variables, and wait for your opening.

Halberd hops back, dodging a swing by the wolf, and you focus, causing the wand to project a beam of charged particles towards the wolf, the air ionizing in its wake. Near to where it strikes the wolf(slightly higher than you had intended, but that's probably for the better), the metal all but disintegrates; further away, it simply shatters, glowing ever so slightly with heat. The wolf's lower half begins to draw itself inwards; the top half having been mostly destroyed, and even showing part of the slightly charred sphere. Whoops. The wand fades out of existence.

The creature begins to reform as a humanoid shape, and starts scrambling away; blue guy points the end of his halberd at the retreating form, and a dart shoots out and into the man, who promptly collapses.
You glance to Kit, and he nods. "He's still alive, just unconscious; I don't think he's going to get his eyes back until he shifts back to wolf-form, though…"

Blue guy shouts something at you; through the Speech, you hear, "Unidentified capes! Come out of the alley with your arms raised, and identify yourselves!"

You wince(and are instantly glad that that halberd can't see your face), and raise your hands, brushing one against the 'bubble' charm that represents a shield, and the spell, almost complete, arrays itself in your mind, needing only a few more words to activate. Beside you, Kit raises his arms as well.

"We're… wanderers, in this area by mistake. We heard one of the gang members mention you two breaking up a dog-fighting ring of theirs, and figured we could help you out," Kit explains. "We'd rather know who you are before doing anything, however; we'd rather not have helped take down someone related to dogfighting only to be taken down by someone as bad or worse."

Halberd seems to bristle for a moment, before calming again, and speaking.

"I'm Armsmaster, leader of the Protectorate East-North East branch. This is Dauntless, one of my team-mates."

You hear Kit reply, "Okay that name sounds official, but just to clarify, the Protectorate is…"

Armsmaster's lips twitch downward. "The Protectorate is the government sponsored hero team for the United States and Canada. Where are you from?

Before you can answer, however, Armsmaster holds one hand up to the side of his helmet, and then grimaces.

"Unfortunately, we've been called back to the Rig for a more important matter; a PRT squad has been dispatched to this location to deal with Hookwolf, and should be arriving shortly. They have been informed of your presence, and we would appreciate it if you would go with them to the PRT Headquarters, to answer a few questions."

[ ] Assure Armsmaster that you will go with the squad to the PRT HQ.
[ ] Tell Armsmaster that, though you have other things you need to deal with at the moment, you will get the location of the PRT HQ from them and head there shortly.
[ ] Politely Decline
[ ] Other(Write-In)

Spell Matrix [3/9]

SHIELD

A relatively standard quick-activation shield spell, the true strength this wizardry is its versatility; while active it can be varied in strength, size, and specification, allowing it to be efficiently used in many situations. At its maximum, strengthwise, it can block an ICBM, though extreme specialization or specification can increase this maximum considerably, as regards the forces specified.

GCT TRANSIT[INVALID]

A pre-prepared transit spell that allows you to transfer to the Grand Central Terminal Worldgating Hub from anywhere on your Earth; due to your current location, this wizardry is invalid.

ONE-SHOT LINAC

A point-and-fire wizardry with enough vested energy for a single shot, this linear acceleration wizardry projects a high-velocity particle beam in the direction it is pointed.

---

AN: Crap, I messed up how the Spell Matrix works. In canon, it does not have the one-use spells limitation. As such- yeah, since this is the first time it's been used, I'm just going to fix it so that it matches YW canon.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

"Though we will get the location from them and head there shortly, we have several things we need to do first," you respond.

Armsmaster seems to be about to respond to that, but grimaces again, and mutters, "Right. Don't have time…" With that, he clips his halberd to his back, and taps one of his gauntlets. You hear an engine, likely not far away, start up and approach. He mutters something, likely to whoever's on the other end of his radio.

The spartan (Dauntless, as you now know him to be called) looks towards you. He says, with a nod, "Thank you for the assistance. We'd normally wait for the PRT to get here, but duty calls."

You nod; you've been there before.

Before anyone can say any more, a riderless, high-tech-looking motorcycle comes into view, and stops in front of Armsmaster. He gets on, nods at you, and rapidly departs. With a wave, Dauntless…

"Huh. So there really are flying humans here."

"The spontaneously winged footwear is a nice touch, if a bit much," Kit agrees.

Once they're out of view, the two of you glance around to make sure that no one is staring, and quickly deactivate the Binding. Though there had been bigger things on your mind for the past few minutes, the lack of distractions made it clear that your fifteen minute estimate had been rather… optimistic. You can keep the decency fields and temperature-control wizardries active, but you probably won't be able to do much besides.

"Okay, the wolf should be out for a while; whatever was in that dart will keep him out that long, at least," Kit says. "The other gang members are seemingly going to be out for a while as well; though I don't have much info on them yet, I have enough to see that that spear did something to their nervous system that's slowly dissipating. It won't be gone completely for at least another hour, though, barring outside interference."

You nod. "We should probably see how Arhu's doing," you say.

Kit nods, and the two of you turn around and head back to the tuxedo cat in the middle of the alley.

"Any luck, Arhu?" you ask.

"Depends on how you define luck," he replies. "I figured out that the 'gate did in fact vanish. I figured out that it did in fact somehow leave the moorings behind without leaving any trace of itself. And I figured out that it did not move anywhere within this universe. The area is in some form of dimensional flux, centered around the moorings, but the Whispering isn't giving me much info in it beyond generalities."

"I also tried to send a message to Rhiow. When that didn't work, I tried to send out a general ping to any wizards within ambit of the messaging service. Neither was answered."

You blink, and you feel a sense of dread settle in the pit of your stomach. Before you can contemplate it, however, you hear vehicles approaching the location where the fight had happened.

It might not be the PRT, but if it is, you should probably be there to meet with them. You head back out of the alley, and see the trucks approaching.

You're going to be getting the location of the PRT HQ from the PRT troopers. Do you have anything else you want to ask them?
[ ] Yes
-[ ] What will you ask?(WRITE-IN)(Note: Any vote for this will be asked unless it is specifically voted against, or no receives enough votes)
[ ] No.

What are you going to do after receiving the location(and asking any questions you may have)?
(Can choose multiple)
[ ] Gather information.
-[ ] How? (WRITE-IN)
[ ] Work with Arhu more, to learn more about what's going on with the worldgate.
[ ] Modify your spell matrix.
-[ ] Remove Wizardry (Pick one from Matrix)
-[ ] Add Wizardry(WRITE-IN; See Note for details)
[ ] Other (WRITE-IN)

Spell Matrix [3/9]

SHIELD

A relatively standard quick-activation shield spell, the true strength this wizardry is its versatility; while active it can be varied in strength, size, and specification, allowing it to be efficiently used in many situations. At its maximum, strengthwise, it can block an ICBM, though extreme specialization or specification can increase this maximum considerably, as regards the forces specified.

GCT TRANSIT[INVALID]

A pre-prepared transit spell that allows you to transfer to the Grand Central Terminal Worldgating Hub from anywhere on your Earth; due to your current location, this wizardry is invalid.

ONE-SHOT LINAC

A point-and-fire wizardry with enough vested energy for a single shot, this linear acceleration wizardry projects a high-velocity particle beam in the direction it is pointed.

---

AN: And we're back. For the addition of wizardries to your Matrix, any that can be cast without needing to input any large amount of data can be added, up to a total of 9 overall, but any more than 5 and your focus will begin to drop.

Wizardries that come to mind include a standard atmospheric field, a 'phasing' utility, any number of personal shield utilities(including decency, temperature, and environmental), a wizardly 'blaster'(such as the Linac{one shot and multishot}, among others), and preset translocation wizardries, among others. The matrix can be modified at any time, though modifying it when you lack the environment, state of mind, or time to properly focus on it wouldn't be the best of ideas.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

After arriving, several troopers step out of the trucks. The first thing you notice is their helmets, namely the fact that they conceal the troopers' faces. It's slightly unnerving.

One of the troopers approaches you, and introduces themselves,

"Hello, I'm Sergeant Collins, PRT. Are you the parahumans that helped to take down Hookwolf?"

Parahumans? "Er, we're the people who forced him out of his wolf form, yes," you say, uncertainly.

"Great!" he replies. Several troopers have already gone to work, moving Hookwolf into the back of one of the trucks. They set him inside, and some nozzles come to life, covering him in a white foam. "Okay, standard procedure is for us to ask you to come back to the PRT headquarters, but I understand that you have things you need to do first, so I'm to just give you the address?"

"Yup," Kit answers distractedly. He follows with a, "Uhm, what are they doing?"

"Huh? Oh, the containment foam? It's a material that sprays like a liquid, but quickly hardens into a strong, heat-resistant substance when exposed to air. Useful for containing capes that we apprehend. Permeable to air, too, so the person being contained can still breathe."

Containing 'powered' criminals in it, for short periods at least, makes sense. You do have other things to ask, though.

"Are fights like this common?" you ask.

"Not from around here, then? They happen far more often than we'd like, honestly," is his answer. In response to the next question you ask, regarding what you should do if you find another, he says, "Well, standard thing we tell people is to call 911; they can get you in touch with the proper authorities. Another possibility is the protectorate hotline. As capes, however, there are other sets of laws that effect you if you, say, join the fight. They'll go over those with you at the PRT HQ."

As he was speaking, the troopers had finished securing Hookwolf. You hear a siren - most likely police - approaching.

"What if we don't have phones?" Kit asks.

"Usually there is a crowd of people watching fights between capes. If you don't have a phone to call with, try to convince one of the ones filming the fight to be useful and call 911 instead, if no one else in the crowd has already done so."

The sergeant gives you the PRT HQ's address, and you thank him and return to the alley in which Arhu still presumably sits. You and Kit both start invisibility wizardries and drop the decency fields, and a moment later, Arhu appears as he alters his own invisibility so that you and Kit can see him.

"Okay, we should get some information about this world before we meet with them. Knowledge is power, and all that," Kit begins. "I'd say a library, but we're going to want to seem inconspicuous; that means we're going to need clothing that's mostly weather appropriate. I have a couple of changes of clothing inside my claudication that we should be able to use the auto-tailor wizardry on. You have anything in yours?" he asks, opening his Pocket.

Absently glancing for and grabbing the tab, you open your claudication and reach in. Not finding much… a few more pens than you expected, and a notebook and a few books that you've been meaning to read, and is that a vase?, but nothing made of fabric…

Your searching is halted suddenly, when Kit abruptly speaks up. "Wait, is that… Why do I have a winter coat in here? I know I cleaned this thing out in April!" With his exclamation, Kit pulls a rather bulky jacket out of thin air. "… and beach towels. I don't even remember putting these in here…"

You feel his pain; you still remember that time you reached in to yours to grab your manual, only to painfully discover a set of jacks that, for some reason that had probably made perfect sense at the time, you had decided to keep with you at all times.

In any case, a couple of decency-shield activations (and, in your case, a running of the auto-tailor wizardry) later, you're both dressed in considerably more weather-appropriate clothing(transmuted coat included, for you). Now that you're both wearing sufficiently warm clothing, you drop the temperature control wizardries.

Arhu leaves the area after setting up some kind alarm wizardry on where the gate had been, saying that he'd "try to talk to some of the local People." You tell Kit that you're going to change the wizardries in your spell matrix, and with a nod he says he's going to find someone, and ask them where the nearest library is.

With Kit and Arhu gone, you focus on your spell matrix- you don't have much use for a transit spell that can't reach the destination, so you remove it, and a quick search through your manual finds you a couple of spells that could come in handy.

The first is, effectively, a kinetic reflection shield. Anything moving over a certain speed that enters a sphere of a certain size, centered on the wizard running it, is given a 180° vector change. Relatively cheap to keep running after initialization, provided that nothing enters the field with a greater force than expected(though even then, the field simply draws enough energy from the wizard powering it to shift the field to be able to handle that level and below, provided the wizard has enough power to handle said shift. You set up a default version (you set the sphere's radius at a meter, set the speed to around human walking speed, and for caution's sake set the default initialization energy at enough to handle a shot from an average tank- you doubt you'll need that much, but you can alter that one easily enough before casting, and underestimating what you'll need in a crisis is never a good idea.), and hook it into your matrix.

The second is an emergency extinguisher- rather than the relatively complex lines of specifications most extinguishing wizardries use, though, it utilizes a much simpler, if considerably less specific, 'set local temperature absolutely to a certain point, then cap local temperature at that point, excluding a certain list'. You keep the default temperature setting (and note the notes that it will cause most traditionally-fuelled devices to be shut down, and also note the warning that it may cause minor hypothermia to creatures adapted to earthlike environments that are within the field) and default size (308.15° Kelvin and 10 meters, respectively), and set the list to include yourself, Kit, and Arhu.

Having finished those, you think back. Though Dauntless's helmet made sense as a helmet, Armsmaster's helmet seemed designed in an odd way… Perhaps it's main function was to disguise his identity, with the role of protection being sufficiently secondary that leaving the lower half of his face open to the air seemed like a valid option?

Your logic is somewhat shaky. Nonetheless, it makes you realize something- as hardy as decency shields are, there are still a number of ways in which they can fail. Meanwhile, a simple face mask could achieve the same effect without requiring a constant (if admittedly barely noticable) power input. Kit isn't back yet, so you fiddle with the autotailor wizardry a bit.

By the end of ten minutes, you've successfully kitbashed together a wizardry for your matrix that converts a newly-added, specially marked(but non-obtrusive) extraneous layer of your jacket into a generic, face-covering mask. You'll have to stand still while it's running, and if you trade the jacket for something else you'll need to add a similar layer to the new garment, but the wizardry will do for now and can be modified later.

Having stored as many spells as you're comfortable with having in your matrix on standard occasions(for a moment, you consider switching the one-shot Linac for a multishot version, but you doubt you'll need something with that level of lethality any time soon), you shift it back into its charm bracelet form.

Not too long after, Kit returns. He apologizes for taking so long(apparently not many people wanted to be out and about in the middle of a snowstorm), and tells you that he got directions to the closest library- the main one for the city, apparently, and a decent distance away on foot. This wouldn't be a large problem, but you're certainly not feeling up to a transit wizardry. So, you start to walk.

It takes you about half an hour to get there(it would've taken you longer, but after the second time the two of you got completely lost, you asked Kit to hold on for a moment and ran the Manual's Mapping utility). Once you arrive, you say you'll try and get more info on the PRT and Protectorate, and Kit claims trying to find info about things that could be problematic, like local gangs. The two of you go inside and find computers, and after opening your manual to a 'notes' section, you open the browser and begin to search.

---

About 2 hours later(4:03 PM, going by the clock on the computer), you lean back and glance over your notes. You managed to find a decent amount of info on the PRT and Protectorate- not a stunning amount, but you probably know enough to deal with them, for the moment.

There were two groups you had researched- the Parahuman Response Team - the organization responsible for dealing with parahuman threats in the United States (and, thanks to a treaty, in Canada), and the Protectorate, the government-sponsored 'Superhero' team for the United States(and, again thanks to said treaty, Canada).

Also, Yeah. This world has Superheroes and Supervillains. At a ratio of about one of the former for every three of the latter, and disturbingly few who don't want to use their powers for purposes other than combat or crime.

But, you didn't come to this library to research parahuman (because that's what they call superpowered people here, apparently) psychology(though you got a few notes; you're no psychologist, but you did notice a trend towards… competitiveness on differing levels that could be helpful to know for future interaction); you came to get information on the people you would have to deal with soon.

The PRT is the actual controlling force, due to various reasons. It is split into around seventy American departments and an oddly smaller number of Canadian ones(not counting the quarantined zones), with the location you're in, Brockton Bay(PRT East North-East), being one given special attention to due to the high number of parahumans present, relative to the unpowered population.

Given what you've read on them, it seems likely that they're going to try to recruit you into the Protectorate- or, more specifically, the local Wards.

The Wards are the below-18 portion of the Protectorate- in essence, Scouts with a training program to help better control the members' powers. Well, also a system meant to keep young capes from being snapped up by gangs - due to the seeming obsession with either causing or battling discord in ill-thought-out ways that many capes have when they first show up, gangs have a tendency to find them easily, and can then use various methods to convince the cape to stay with them.

For the most part, the Wards aren't meant to see combat, just patrol about and look good (and thus do the invaluable jobs of both discouraging crime and making the public feel safer), but due to the many gangs in the Bay, the Brockton Bay Wards see conflict far more often than other places seem to.

You shake your head to clear your thoughts; you've gathered what is probably enough information on the PRT and Protectorate to do you for the encounter: the local Protectorate and Wards roster, information on their recruiting tactics, information on the local PRT Director(One Emily Piggot, who seemingly either fears or distrusts parahumans), and a few other useful things. You close the browser's window and walk over to Kit.

"I think I have enough for us to deal with the PRT safely," you whisper.

He nods uneasily, and responds, "Okay. I've found a few things as well. Discuss outside?"

You nod, and closes down the internet browser, followed by his manual. The two of you leave the library, and start walking towards the address that the PRT Officer had given you.

"Find anything major that we need to worry about?" you ask.

"Found a bit about the local gangs, roving monsters that they call 'Endbringers', and for good reason, and a few others. Most of them can wait, though we do need to remember to ask the PRT if we can take a look at one of the Gray Boy's victims."

You shoot him a questioning look, and he continues grimly with, "Trapped in short time loops of usually torturous situations, but their minds are allowed to keep going. Gray Boy himself is dead, thankfully, but his victims are still stuck. But that's something to ask the PRT about when we talk to them. Speaking of which, you're sure that you have enough to possibly deal with them?"

"Pretty sure," you reply.

"Okay. We should be fine to get nearby if we use a transit wizardry; it isn't a long walk, though"

Will you teleport, or walk?
[ ] Transit Wizardry: You're feeling up to it, and the sooner you talk to the PRT, the sooner you can get various matters settled. Like where you're going to sleep tonight.
Once you get there, how much will you reveal to them if they ask?
-[ ] Honesty is the Best Policy: The situation here is considerably past the point where the world being unaware of Wizardry is a useful thing. They have superheroes and supervillains. Learning about Wizards won't be terribly damaging. Also, if you want to work with them, them knowing what you're capable of would be a Good Thing.
-[ ] The Masquerade Exists For a Reason: They may have superheroes and supervillains, but if you flat-out tell them that you're a wizard, they're going to probably think you're crazy without sufficient proof (and given what they've already encountered capes doing, that level of proof may be hard to come by. You will need to be able to tell them what 'powers' you have, in a way that is both true and matching what they've already seen.
--[ ] WRITE IN[KIT]: What powers will you tell them you have?
--[ ] WRITE IN[NITA]: What powers will you tell them you have?
-[ ] Other Choice(Write In)
What will you do about Arhu?
-[ ] Ask Arhu to Join You: Shoot him a message asking him to meet you there; he's a part of your team too, and it's best that he be included in any negotiations.
-[ ] Don't Ask Arhu to Join You: Arhu was going to try and gather information, and the PRT is likely to think him a 'projection' power. He can join you later, after he's done with his own investigation.
Any questions to ask the PRT now?
-[ ] WRITE IN

[ ] Walk: It's not a long walk, and every bit of energy not used is energy you can use later. It will also give you a chance to talk things over with Kit; you can fill him in more on the PRT situation, and he can tell you more about the local gangs and these 'Endbringers'. You are worried that you might run across a crime, though.
If you run across a crime, what will you do?
-[ ] Intervene Quickly: You have your spell matrix for a reason; Deploy your masks, and use the spells on it to stop the criminals.

If you choose this and come across a crime in progress, the crime will be dealt with using spells from your matrix, without breaking for a vote on what to do.​

-[ ] Intervene Wisely: You are Wizards; if you get into a heated battle, you've already lost. If you come across a crime, take a moment to contemplate your actions and deliberate on a solution.

If you choose this and come across a crime in progress, the segment will stop for a vote, and the next segment will continue based on said vote. Matrix spells will still be an option.​

-[ ] Other(Write-In)

What will you do about Arhu?
-[ ] Ask Arhu to Join You: Shoot him a message asking him to meet you along the way; he's a part of your team too, and it should be interesting to see what he's found.
-[ ] Don't Ask Arhu to Join You: Arhu's in the middle of his own investigation; he'll probably send you a message when he's finished up.

[ ] Other: Have anything else you think you should do first? (Write In)

[ ] Alter Spell Matrix (Independent of other choices) (Write-In)

Spell Matrix [5/9]

SHIELD

A relatively standard quick-activation shield spell, the true strength this wizardry is its versatility; while active it can be varied in strength, size, and specification, allowing it to be efficiently used in many situations. At its maximum, strengthwise, it can block an ICBM, though extreme specialization or specification can increase this maximum considerably, as regards the forces specified.
Modifiable: Barrier Size; Forces Specified; Strength.

ONE-SHOT LINAC

A point-and-fire wizardry with enough vested energy for a single shot, this linear acceleration wizardry projects a high-velocity particle beam in the direction it is pointed.
Modifiable: Range cap

EXTINGUISHER

Sets temperature of everything within a 10 meter area to 308.15° Kelvin for an instant, then caps temperature there. Excludes [JUANITA CALLAHAN, CHRISTOPHER RODRIGUEZ, ARHU], as well as any items on their person at time of casting.
Modifiable: Field size; Temperature; People Excluded.

REFLECTION SHIELD

A field with a radius of 1 meter that applies a 180° vector change to objects entering it with a speed greater than 3 miles per hour.
Modifiable: Field Size; Vector Alteration; Exclusion Speed

MASK

Converts a specially-marked extraneous outer layer of your jacket into a generic, face-covering mask(you're reminded of Spiderman's mask, if Spidey's mask was pitch-black and lacked the web lines). Does not function if outermost torso garment lacks a marked extraneous layer and no marked layer is within a 5-meter spherical field of the caster.