Without going the extra mile to make a human-like homonculus, this thing here-
-is about what he'd be able to make. Not too much more than animated magic in a bottle. Also not terribly useful.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
Without going the extra mile to make a human-like homonculus, this thing here-
-is about what he'd be able to make. Not too much more than animated magic in a bottle. Also not terribly useful.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
I mean, they can help around the house, probably hold a gun, and probably act as sacrifices for spells
How to make friends
This was, clearly, one of the worst ideas Alchemist had come up with!
So far!
He ducked around a corner at speed, just barely missing another badly aimed shot possibly meant for his spine.
He was also out of MP, all of it burned through in a dangerously incomplete ritual.
Cheap, magical assistants made out of an Erlenmeyer flask and a bit of magic, what could go wrong?
Security? Sure, that's not a terrible idea. They had hands and thumbs, why not give 'em a gun?
Use 'em like little living mana batteries? Well, it wasn't exactly efficient but sure, why not?
Oh, right. The part where he gave them all guns.
He peeked his head around the corner and nearly lost an eye for his trouble.
He took one deep breath, then another and pulled a grenade out of his inventory.
No more of these guys, nope.
He was not doing this a third time!
So far!
He ducked around a corner at speed, just barely missing another badly aimed shot possibly meant for his spine.
He was also out of MP, all of it burned through in a dangerously incomplete ritual.
Cheap, magical assistants made out of an Erlenmeyer flask and a bit of magic, what could go wrong?
Security? Sure, that's not a terrible idea. They had hands and thumbs, why not give 'em a gun?
Use 'em like little living mana batteries? Well, it wasn't exactly efficient but sure, why not?
Oh, right. The part where he gave them all guns.
He peeked his head around the corner and nearly lost an eye for his trouble.
He took one deep breath, then another and pulled a grenade out of his inventory.
No more of these guys, nope.
He was not doing this a third time!
- Location
- United States
Uhhh.. What?
- Location
- The House of Moon and Star
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think you'll want to put an apocrypha threadmark here.
Krazyfan made a suggestion for Alchemist to use homonculi for a variety of reasons. Assistants, security and magical sacrifices.
This is what happens when he tries to use them for all of those reasons.
You are quite right, and it has now been done.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Yup. He forgot to put the loyalty spell in.
That actually requires a very, very specific mix.
And, y'know, a lot of chemical X.
Otherwise you end up with-
-this.
And I'm not sure how to explain that in a way that wouldn't end up with Alchemist losing lab privileges.
Prestigitation has certainly been buffed. It's now more powerful than the 2nd Edition 1st level illusionist spell "Ghost Sound" which explicitly isn't precise enough to mimic human speech. There is a 2nd level spell that does ventriloquism.
The spell itself is fairly buffed, actually. It's reached level 24, and it benefits from a further 40% boost from one of Alchemist's perks.
The goal really is finding different ways to use it without delving too deep into the numbers.
At its maximum level with maximum buff... Well, I won't make it do anything new, just increase the magnitude of what it already does. In this case, it went up from making faint music to making recognizable noises.
Imagine if he'd done that with Ghost Sound though. Might have been able to do multiple voices, increase the creepiness factor of having Dennis just be the strongest voice while there are others whispering just at the edge of Slades perception.
- Pronouns
- Gralan
Creepy dolls.....omg he going CHUCKY!!!!
Depending on how far Alchemist wants to escalate his harassment of Lex Luthor, I'd recommend Bestow Curse, both for creating cursed items and inflicting non-lethal maladies onto his enemies.
For Lex Luthor, a good 'minor' curse would be a -6 penalty on all Bluff checks, hindering Lex's ability to lie, misdirect, and manipulate. A bad poker face would be a huge setback.
OTHER OPTIONS:
Distracting auditory hallucinations of the "Cats" soundtrack on a continuous loop.
They pee themselves every time they said a trigger word.
Lex Luthor: "I'm cursed to urinate whenever I say a certain word."
Mercy: "What word?"
Lex Luthor: "Alien." (*wets his pants*)
"DANG IT!!!"
- Location
- Paradise, Hawaii
OTHER OPTIONS:
Distracting auditory hallucinations of the "Cats" soundtrack on a continuous loop.
They pee themselves every time they said a trigger word.
Lex Luthor: "I'm cursed to urinate whenever I say a certain word."
Mercy: "What word?"
Lex Luthor: "Alien." (*wets his pants*)
Would Lex say Alien or Superman more?
Broovian
The Patriarch of Oblivion and all it contains.
- Location
- The cesspool of New York and Loving it!
What is up with lex anyway? He's got a problem with an alien acting the hero so he's going to invite an alien faction to take over the world?
There are a bunch of spoilers in that explanation.
Why would you give Constantine any of your blood? That's a good way to wind up sold to a demon and or used as collateral.
nullptr
Mostly Harmless
- Location
- The 906
"No", "Hell no!", "No fucking way!", these all pale in the vehemence with which I would deny John-fucking-Constantine a sample of my blood.
I just looked things up, and apparently things have changed since I played 2nd Edition.
Ghost Sound is now a cantrip on par with Prestidigitation, and Ventriloquism is now a 1st level spell.
However, prestidigination still explicitly says it can't duplicate other spell effects, and to do what he did with the talking dummy you need the "Ventriloquism" spell.
It's pretty much the same in 2nd edition.
It's still something that a 1st level illusionist (or even a regular mage. In 2E they'd need to be 3rd level to get ventriloquism) could pull off, but they'd need Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, and Ventriloquism. Maybe Ghost Sound.
Last edited:
Chapter 72
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 0.7.2
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Karen Winters woke up with a splitting headache, a sour taste in her mouth and a feeling like her tongue had been reupholstered in her sleep.
A bit too common for her, recently.
She could hear some noise in the kitchen, but she didn't feel like dealing with things right now. Leslie could make his own...
She jolted off the couch, stumbling and nearly falling over as the world swam around her, blurry and out of focus. She stumbled into the kitchen, bile rising, lights burning her eyes but she had to see, she had to.
There were empty bags on the table and her son was standing at the sink, washing dishes.
Leslie hated washing the dishes.
"Why are you here?" It was him. That-that thing wearing her sons face.
"Hi Karen." There was a clink as he set a glass he'd been scrubbing into the drainer, alongside a lot of other ones. He turned around to face her and...
He looked so tired.
"Are you alright?" Was she alright? Was she alright?! This- He- He... He had a pair of goggles pulled up into his hair and he looked worried. Tired, worn out and worried. The eyes were the wrong color, and the expression hurt something deep in her chest. "Why don't you sit down and let me get you some water? We need to talk."
She didn't know if it was the hangover or the confusion, but she sat down at the table. Her eyes never left him.
He was right there, so close she could touch him. Hug him. Hold him and never let go- but it wasn't Leslie.
"Why are you here?" She repeated. She couldn't stand to look at him, keeping her eyes locked on the glass of water he'd given her.
"I've made a lot of progress on getting out of your sons body." She lifted her cup with trembling hands. Cold, pure, refreshing. It almost felt like her headache was fading with just the one sip. "I'm pretty much down to the last step, though I don't actually know how long it'll take me to complete it."
"Is that why you're here?" She finally looked back up at him, at her sons face. "Just to give me an update that you don't know how much longer you'll be?!"
"...No." He slumped down in the chair across from her, just like Leslie did when he was hiding something from her. "I'm here to talk about a few things for when he's back."
There was certainty in that statement. It actually sounded like bringing her son back was a matter of when, not if.
She hated how hopeful it made her feel.
"I've started taking anti-depressants. When he's back, Leslie should probably keep taking them." That was it? He'd just- He'd just come in from who knows where to tell her he'd put her baby on drugs?! "I'm putting a lot of effort in to bringing him back and I'd like to make sure he doesn't, well, decide things were better wherever he is."
And just like that, whatever flicker of fury was building in her gut had its heat ripped away.
"And what do you expect me to do about it?" She winced after the words spilled from her mouth. It was a lot more confrontational than she'd intended.
"Keep on him about taking them. By the time he's back, we-he-I-" He sighed, struggling with the wording. "the side effects should be over with. So far that's been more insomnia and more depression."
"I... Couldn't I just give them to him with his Adderall?" He sighed again at her question, though this time it was very different. A long-suffering sigh like she'd missed something obvious.
"He was never taking those. His art teacher had been buying them, god only knows how long. I've been up here for a bit-" He brought up his fist and rapped the knuckle against his temple. "-and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have ADHD."
"But the doctor said he had all of the signs! And his grades got better after he-" She stopped and actually thought about what he'd told her.
As well as what he'd told her in the car, so long ago.
"A lot of childhood family doctors say every kid has that and needs medicated. It's easy for them to say it, and the drugs work pretty much the same across the board. Loss of appetite, loss of interest and general zombification, but at least the kids are quiet and not asking questions." Karen winced, remembering the weeks after she'd started her son on his medication and seeing all of those things. "...I'd suggest getting a referral for a neurologist. But I guess that's for later."
He leaned back in the chair, looking up at the off-white ceiling. Karen, feeling nervous, choked down some more water.
It really was helping with the migraine. Weird.
"Karen." He finally said after a moment of painful silence. "He's going to need a home when he's back, you know that right?"
"Is this- Is this some plan to take him from me again? Just- Just dangle the possibility in front of me, tell me he-"
"No." He interrupted her, calm as could be. "I'm referring to the drinking and the overdue bills I just paid."
She wasn't actually sure what to say to that.
"He thought he had friends. Addicts and complacent cowards, it turns out. He thought he had someone who loved him, but she was screwing someone more than twice her age for cheap weed and cheaper beer." Karen felt her eyes prickling at that, tears threatening to spill. She'd known Tiffany since the girl was a toddler, and hearing about that felt almost like hearing it about her own child. "So he's going to need his mom when I get him back."
Karen swallowed heavily and let that sink in. She looked down at her dirty clothes, could feel her grimy hair.
She didn't want to imagine what she smelled like.
"You're manipulating me." She finally said as she got her thoughts in order.
"Yes." He admitted. "By telling you what I want, and why, as well as what I've done."
She choked out a laugh that was more sob than joy. It was something Leslie would've said, her baby boy being blunt as a hammer when there was something he wanted.
He let her cry it out before putting a piece of paper in her hands, a couple of cell phone number. "If you need me for anything, call, please. And if you can't get to me, the second number is for my boss, Batman."
She stared at the numbers for a moment when he said that. She understood the words, they made sense... Just not put together.
"You... You work for Batman?" That couldn't be right. She knew he was real, everyone knew he was real, but nobody could contact him!
"Well, yeah? I'm a forcibly incorporated spirit. My options were Batman or Jason Blood, and Batman doesn't have a poorly leashed demon to feed me to."
It was a good thing she was already sitting down, she was already feeling faint and-
Wait. What did he mean by 'Demon'?
-----
Robin paced back and forth, keeping an eye on the too-big windows on one side of the room, and the narrow door with a big window on it at the other side of the room.
There were two people with him in the room. Power Girl, calmly sitting at a desk and staring out the window at -something-... And a young blue eyed, blond haired woman furiously typing away at a computer.
Doctor Serling Roquette, a nano-robotocist who had been missing for a little while now. The team had been directed to her by an anonymous call that had gone straight to the mountain instead of the Justice League. Whomever had been on the other end, possibly a girl, had used a voice synthesizer to make tracking them incredibly difficult.
Serling had refused to elaborate on who rescued her, and even mentally connected the woman was difficult to understand.
Numbers and logic and hooks, referencing one thing and calling out to another.
The rest of the team was spread around the campus of Happy Harbor High School, trying to keep an eye out for infiltrators and assassin's from Infinity Island.
-Do you believe in magic, in a young girl's heart!-
Robin ripped the communicator from his belt. "Alchemist, what is it?!"
"Hey, uh, Robin? There's this goopy grey cloud eating Waynetech. Do you guys know anything about it?"
"We're aware of the situation, Alchemist. Is there-"
"It's not grey goo!" Serling yelled from her computer. "It's an incredibly advanced nano-tech information extraction technology!"
"Does it self-replicate?" That... Was a very good question.
"Alchemist is asking if it self-replicates." Serling stopped typing for just a moment as Robin relayed the question at a slightly higher volume.
"...Yes." The woman admitted.
"So it's grey goo." Serling's typing picked up speed as she heard, through Robin, what the other guy had said. "What operating system does it run on?"
"Alchemist wants to know-"
"I heard him!" Serling cut the boy wonder off. "It's a custom made operating system designed specifically to allow for it to disassemble and transmit data without actually reading or parsing it."
Robin reminded himself to check the perimeter as Alchemist took time to think of something.
"What about the computer receiving the data? Is it the same operating system?" Robin was the teams hacker, he felt a bit miffed that Alchemist was the one asking these questions.
"...No." The woman finally admitted, her typing slowing down further. "Those computers are running a simplified version of Windows. Everything except for the receiver program, a word processor, PDF viewer and media player had to be removed to maximize operation speeds... Although everything has been reskinned to look like the computers are running Windows 95."
"Wait, even the basic security suites have been removed?" Robin asked before Alchemist could. Knowing him, he would've gotten distracted by the comment on how it was made to look old.
"Especially that, actually. During the test runs, it kept on throwing up error screens about harmful programs and interrupting data reassembly." Robin didn't have a chance to repeat that before Alchemist hung up.
Rude.
Still, without Alchemist interrupting her, Serling was able to even out the pace she was typing at.
It was almost an hour later when Megan said the magic word. "--Contact.--"
"--Robin.--" Kaldur said through Megan's mental network. "--Remain with Serling. Power Girl will assist. Player One will engage in stealth and attempt to ambush. Kid Flash, do your best to corrale hostiles to Player One's position. Superboy, do your best to assist.--"
"--Roger--"
"--Got it--"
"--Understood--"
Came the various voices of his team mates.
Megan definitely needed to work on how well she could maintain multiple conversations while she had the team connected through her telepathy. As things got more violent and more heated, the words became more and more garbled and unintelligible.
It was making Robin nervous, and he could see Power Girl had started tapping her hand on her leg like Alchemist did.
"--Been shout!--" Megan mentally shouted, or at least that's what it sounded like. Robin didn't have much time to ponder over it before there was the sound of breaking glass in the air.
And choking, noxious smoke as well.
Robin tried to rush towards the door, the glass window on it now broken but he couldn't see. Powergirl was bent in half, hacking and coughing and Roquette wasn't much better.
He was knocked off his feet by a woman wearing a grinning cat mask who quickly crossed the distance between him and Serling while Power Girl was left wheezing.
Whatever was in the smoke, it was hitting her a lot worse than him.
The woman, Cheshire, he recognizes her from a briefing Batman had put him through a few months back. Of new, identified members of the League of Assassins. She doesn't waste time, she doesn't banter.
She doesn't even make a threat before she rams a sai into the robotocists throat.
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Karen Winters woke up with a splitting headache, a sour taste in her mouth and a feeling like her tongue had been reupholstered in her sleep.
A bit too common for her, recently.
She could hear some noise in the kitchen, but she didn't feel like dealing with things right now. Leslie could make his own...
She jolted off the couch, stumbling and nearly falling over as the world swam around her, blurry and out of focus. She stumbled into the kitchen, bile rising, lights burning her eyes but she had to see, she had to.
There were empty bags on the table and her son was standing at the sink, washing dishes.
Leslie hated washing the dishes.
"Why are you here?" It was him. That-that thing wearing her sons face.
"Hi Karen." There was a clink as he set a glass he'd been scrubbing into the drainer, alongside a lot of other ones. He turned around to face her and...
He looked so tired.
"Are you alright?" Was she alright? Was she alright?! This- He- He... He had a pair of goggles pulled up into his hair and he looked worried. Tired, worn out and worried. The eyes were the wrong color, and the expression hurt something deep in her chest. "Why don't you sit down and let me get you some water? We need to talk."
She didn't know if it was the hangover or the confusion, but she sat down at the table. Her eyes never left him.
He was right there, so close she could touch him. Hug him. Hold him and never let go- but it wasn't Leslie.
"Why are you here?" She repeated. She couldn't stand to look at him, keeping her eyes locked on the glass of water he'd given her.
"I've made a lot of progress on getting out of your sons body." She lifted her cup with trembling hands. Cold, pure, refreshing. It almost felt like her headache was fading with just the one sip. "I'm pretty much down to the last step, though I don't actually know how long it'll take me to complete it."
"Is that why you're here?" She finally looked back up at him, at her sons face. "Just to give me an update that you don't know how much longer you'll be?!"
"...No." He slumped down in the chair across from her, just like Leslie did when he was hiding something from her. "I'm here to talk about a few things for when he's back."
There was certainty in that statement. It actually sounded like bringing her son back was a matter of when, not if.
She hated how hopeful it made her feel.
"I've started taking anti-depressants. When he's back, Leslie should probably keep taking them." That was it? He'd just- He'd just come in from who knows where to tell her he'd put her baby on drugs?! "I'm putting a lot of effort in to bringing him back and I'd like to make sure he doesn't, well, decide things were better wherever he is."
And just like that, whatever flicker of fury was building in her gut had its heat ripped away.
"And what do you expect me to do about it?" She winced after the words spilled from her mouth. It was a lot more confrontational than she'd intended.
"Keep on him about taking them. By the time he's back, we-he-I-" He sighed, struggling with the wording. "the side effects should be over with. So far that's been more insomnia and more depression."
"I... Couldn't I just give them to him with his Adderall?" He sighed again at her question, though this time it was very different. A long-suffering sigh like she'd missed something obvious.
"He was never taking those. His art teacher had been buying them, god only knows how long. I've been up here for a bit-" He brought up his fist and rapped the knuckle against his temple. "-and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have ADHD."
"But the doctor said he had all of the signs! And his grades got better after he-" She stopped and actually thought about what he'd told her.
As well as what he'd told her in the car, so long ago.
"A lot of childhood family doctors say every kid has that and needs medicated. It's easy for them to say it, and the drugs work pretty much the same across the board. Loss of appetite, loss of interest and general zombification, but at least the kids are quiet and not asking questions." Karen winced, remembering the weeks after she'd started her son on his medication and seeing all of those things. "...I'd suggest getting a referral for a neurologist. But I guess that's for later."
He leaned back in the chair, looking up at the off-white ceiling. Karen, feeling nervous, choked down some more water.
It really was helping with the migraine. Weird.
"Karen." He finally said after a moment of painful silence. "He's going to need a home when he's back, you know that right?"
"Is this- Is this some plan to take him from me again? Just- Just dangle the possibility in front of me, tell me he-"
"No." He interrupted her, calm as could be. "I'm referring to the drinking and the overdue bills I just paid."
She wasn't actually sure what to say to that.
"He thought he had friends. Addicts and complacent cowards, it turns out. He thought he had someone who loved him, but she was screwing someone more than twice her age for cheap weed and cheaper beer." Karen felt her eyes prickling at that, tears threatening to spill. She'd known Tiffany since the girl was a toddler, and hearing about that felt almost like hearing it about her own child. "So he's going to need his mom when I get him back."
Karen swallowed heavily and let that sink in. She looked down at her dirty clothes, could feel her grimy hair.
She didn't want to imagine what she smelled like.
"You're manipulating me." She finally said as she got her thoughts in order.
"Yes." He admitted. "By telling you what I want, and why, as well as what I've done."
She choked out a laugh that was more sob than joy. It was something Leslie would've said, her baby boy being blunt as a hammer when there was something he wanted.
He let her cry it out before putting a piece of paper in her hands, a couple of cell phone number. "If you need me for anything, call, please. And if you can't get to me, the second number is for my boss, Batman."
She stared at the numbers for a moment when he said that. She understood the words, they made sense... Just not put together.
"You... You work for Batman?" That couldn't be right. She knew he was real, everyone knew he was real, but nobody could contact him!
"Well, yeah? I'm a forcibly incorporated spirit. My options were Batman or Jason Blood, and Batman doesn't have a poorly leashed demon to feed me to."
It was a good thing she was already sitting down, she was already feeling faint and-
Wait. What did he mean by 'Demon'?
-----
Robin paced back and forth, keeping an eye on the too-big windows on one side of the room, and the narrow door with a big window on it at the other side of the room.
There were two people with him in the room. Power Girl, calmly sitting at a desk and staring out the window at -something-... And a young blue eyed, blond haired woman furiously typing away at a computer.
Doctor Serling Roquette, a nano-robotocist who had been missing for a little while now. The team had been directed to her by an anonymous call that had gone straight to the mountain instead of the Justice League. Whomever had been on the other end, possibly a girl, had used a voice synthesizer to make tracking them incredibly difficult.
Serling had refused to elaborate on who rescued her, and even mentally connected the woman was difficult to understand.
Numbers and logic and hooks, referencing one thing and calling out to another.
The rest of the team was spread around the campus of Happy Harbor High School, trying to keep an eye out for infiltrators and assassin's from Infinity Island.
-Do you believe in magic, in a young girl's heart!-
Robin ripped the communicator from his belt. "Alchemist, what is it?!"
"Hey, uh, Robin? There's this goopy grey cloud eating Waynetech. Do you guys know anything about it?"
"We're aware of the situation, Alchemist. Is there-"
"It's not grey goo!" Serling yelled from her computer. "It's an incredibly advanced nano-tech information extraction technology!"
"Does it self-replicate?" That... Was a very good question.
"Alchemist is asking if it self-replicates." Serling stopped typing for just a moment as Robin relayed the question at a slightly higher volume.
"...Yes." The woman admitted.
"So it's grey goo." Serling's typing picked up speed as she heard, through Robin, what the other guy had said. "What operating system does it run on?"
"Alchemist wants to know-"
"I heard him!" Serling cut the boy wonder off. "It's a custom made operating system designed specifically to allow for it to disassemble and transmit data without actually reading or parsing it."
Robin reminded himself to check the perimeter as Alchemist took time to think of something.
"What about the computer receiving the data? Is it the same operating system?" Robin was the teams hacker, he felt a bit miffed that Alchemist was the one asking these questions.
"...No." The woman finally admitted, her typing slowing down further. "Those computers are running a simplified version of Windows. Everything except for the receiver program, a word processor, PDF viewer and media player had to be removed to maximize operation speeds... Although everything has been reskinned to look like the computers are running Windows 95."
"Wait, even the basic security suites have been removed?" Robin asked before Alchemist could. Knowing him, he would've gotten distracted by the comment on how it was made to look old.
"Especially that, actually. During the test runs, it kept on throwing up error screens about harmful programs and interrupting data reassembly." Robin didn't have a chance to repeat that before Alchemist hung up.
Rude.
Still, without Alchemist interrupting her, Serling was able to even out the pace she was typing at.
It was almost an hour later when Megan said the magic word. "--Contact.--"
"--Robin.--" Kaldur said through Megan's mental network. "--Remain with Serling. Power Girl will assist. Player One will engage in stealth and attempt to ambush. Kid Flash, do your best to corrale hostiles to Player One's position. Superboy, do your best to assist.--"
"--Roger--"
"--Got it--"
"--Understood--"
Came the various voices of his team mates.
Megan definitely needed to work on how well she could maintain multiple conversations while she had the team connected through her telepathy. As things got more violent and more heated, the words became more and more garbled and unintelligible.
It was making Robin nervous, and he could see Power Girl had started tapping her hand on her leg like Alchemist did.
"--Been shout!--" Megan mentally shouted, or at least that's what it sounded like. Robin didn't have much time to ponder over it before there was the sound of breaking glass in the air.
And choking, noxious smoke as well.
Robin tried to rush towards the door, the glass window on it now broken but he couldn't see. Powergirl was bent in half, hacking and coughing and Roquette wasn't much better.
He was knocked off his feet by a woman wearing a grinning cat mask who quickly crossed the distance between him and Serling while Power Girl was left wheezing.
Whatever was in the smoke, it was hitting her a lot worse than him.
The woman, Cheshire, he recognizes her from a briefing Batman had put him through a few months back. Of new, identified members of the League of Assassins. She doesn't waste time, she doesn't banter.
She doesn't even make a threat before she rams a sai into the robotocists throat.
Pretty Ruthless of Cheshire, but Alchemist will save the day anyway.
- Location
- Wisconsin
Couldn't he have used prestidigitation to clean off the dishes instead of washing them manually?