The Dullahan (Worm CYOA SI)

[Cryptix]

This is the first post of my newest story of several, the Dullahan. This uses the Worm CYOA v5 Update Gimel, which was released May 5th, 2017. My CYOA choices are below. After this post will be a table of contents, followed by the first story chapter.

Spoiler: My Character

Dullahan
Scenario, Path, and Origin
Gestation (+15, +15)
Villain
Drop-in(+3, +3)

Costume and Skills
Bodysuit (-1)
Martial Arts (Free)
Marksmanship (-5)
Strategy (-5)
Tactics (-4)
Parkour (-2)
Investigation (-2)

Shard, Perks and Flaws
Zion (+3)
Follower (-3)
Endbringer Target (+5,+4)
Money (-3)
Mooks (-2)
Nemesis (+4)
Secret Lair (-2)
Power Slot (1) (-1)
Voice in my Head (-2)
Case 53 (+4)

Powers
Kingmaker (-10)
Paramount (-10)
Peak Condition (-1)
Revenant Blade (-2)

 

[Cryptix]

Resurrection - 1.a
In which I get used to my new life in Brockton Bay and slowly set up the Unseelie Court.
Resurrection 1.1
Resurrection 1.2
Resurrection 1.3

 

[Cryptix]

I knew something was wrong when I felt the rain on my face.

I was cold, dizzy as hell, and on the street, with no idea how I got there. When I went to bed last night, it was in my own home, next to my loving wife. I remember the last thing I did that night was check Sufficient Velocity on my phone and - wait a minute my phone!

I checked my pockets - these definitely weren't the clothes I went to bed with - but I found nothing. Then I saw the bag lying next to me - I unzipped the largest pocket, but only found what looked like an armored bodysuit. The next pocket contained a deep navy blue trench coat, complete with hood, made of a softer version of the material in the bodysuit. It was in the last pocket that I found my phone, an older Samsung model that nevertheless worked fine, as well as an unmarked credit card. I soon found however that my phone had been wiped - the only non-default application was a digital tarot card app, and my only contact was labeled "Call for drop-off." After a moment of deliberation, I dialed the number.

An clearly scrambled voice picked up after 4 rings. "We have your location. Wait there, and don't let anyone see you. We'll be sending someone in to pick you up." With that, the person on the under end hung up, leaving me as confused as I was before. Still, I moved to follow his instructions, finding shelter out of the exposed alleyway in a one of the doorways. Looking at the walls on either side, they were covered in gang signs and warnings for other groups to stay away. The gangs featured were what confirmed my greatest fears: I interpreted the pair of stylized 8s to mean Empire 88, and the letters ABB obviously meant the Azn Bad Boys.

I was in Worm. I knew I shouldn't have done that CYOA before going to bed. I spent some time panicking internally, but after a bit of introspection I calmed down. If I remembered correctly, I chose the Payoff ending, which meant that if I played my cards right, made the right allies, and bided my time, I could kill Scion and go home to my family. Too bad I chose villain as my path. I had the strange feeling I was forgetting something important.

True to their word, after about 30 minutes of waiting, a black van pulled up on the street, the back doors popping open automatically. A few seconds later, I received a text from my mysterious benefactor that just said, "Get in, and prepare yourself for a shock." Perplexed, I entered the vehicle and sat in one of the several padded seats in the back. The door closed as quickly as they had opened, and a small compartment popped out of the wall behind me. Inside was a small mirror, which I picked up and looked at. When I saw my head, I dropped the mirror in shock - specifically, because I had none. There was literally nothing above my neck. I had no idea how I was seeing or talking, and the only thing that felt weird was my continued dizziness.

I looked back to make sure the driver couldn't see me - thankfully, there was no sort of window or camera - before breaking down once again. There was no way I could go anywhere without people knowing I was a cape, or recruit anyone to work for me without covering up my lack of a face somehow. Still, I forced myself to calm down. I had bought the secret lair perk, which must be where the truck was taking me, and I knew the credit card must have the cash from the money perk on it. I had the Paramount and Kingmaker powers as well, so I could use Paramount to give myself that 1-cost shapeshifter power for going out in public, even if it meant I couldn't use any other power at the same time.

That being said, I was also supposed to have a Follower and a Nemesis and the CYOA never mentioned when I would meet them. I remember that I made my Follower a Brute-Mover combo to cover my weaknesses as a Trump, while my Nemesis was an robotics Tinker-Trump hero that could counter powers and make his creations temporarily invisible. I could deal with the semantics once I got to the base however - all the excitement had me feeling tired, and I just wanted to rest. After I changed into the surprisingly comfortable bodysuit, I wadded up the trench coat as a pillow, laid my non-existent head on it, and closed my invisible eyes.

* * *​

I woke up to the sound of the doors opening. Apparently, getting to wherever we needed to go took all night, because the sun was just beginning to rise. We were outside an abandoned warehouse that if you knew what was really important was actually quite fortified. There were cameras watching every blind spot that mattered, every window that wasn't intact covered in iron bars, and there was hidden turrets in the piles of rubble placed to have optimal firing angle at all of the entrances.

Nice to see that Strategy skill coming in use.

I put on my now slightly ruffled coat and grabbed my bag and phone, before dismounting the van. My ride, which I now realized was an automated vehicle, drove down the driveway after I closed the door, and went a little bit onto the broken street beyond before exploding. It was a good thing I had that conversation with my shard during my nap, to show me how to use Paramount and equip Technopathy.

I drifted in a dark space, the only light source far, far away from me but fast approaching. It took a while, but it eventually got close enough for me to see its approximate silhouette.

It was a jack-o-lantern. It was a motherfucking jack-o-lantern.

At this point I was convinced the universe was playing a joke on me.

Eventually, the jack-o-lantern loomed over me, a good ten times bigger than I was. Then it started speaking, as if my life wasn't hard enough, in my mother's language of russian. For the purposes of the story, I'll just translate what it said.

"Welcome my friend. I am the Supremacy shard, and this is my world. Due to the circumstances surrounding your entry into the great experiment, your corona pollentia has been connected directly to your hippocampus, meaning I can speak to you directly through your memories, and therefore your dreams." It was really bizarre looking at this thing speak, which if I understood the Russian correctly was my shard.

I wanted to speak back, but my mouth wouldn't move. The jack-o-lantern chuckled. "Apologies friend, I forgot you are not experienced in your own mind. What you think is what you shall be."

I followed my shard's advice, thinking what I wanted to say instead of saying it. "HOW IS THIS MY-" I paused, cranking the volume of my thoughts way down. "How are these my memories? I don't remember this at all."

The jack-o-lantern responded, "You may not remember this, but your mind does. This is the image of the first time you opened your eyes, in your mother's womb. Of course, we can change this is if you wish, but considering this is our first time meeting I thought it appropriate."]

I shook my mental head. "This is fine. So, are you here to show me how to use my powers?" Supremacy nodded in response, stating, "Normally, newborn parahumans have this conversation subconsciously while they're unconscious, and wake up with a knowledge of their powers." The scene suddenly shifted from the darkness around us to my very first dojo. I was in my latest gi, black belt around my waist, and the jack-o-lantern had grown a generic body from the neck down with his own gi and white belt. The shard said only three words before coming at me: "Let us begin."

* * *​

I didn't remember what happened after that, but I woke up knowing how to use the Kingmaker and Paramount power. For some reason, I still didn't know how to use the Revenant Blade power, but I was sure it would come in time as I talked with my shard more.

Now, to settle into my new home.

 

[Cryptix]

The first thing I noticed about the warehouse was the biometric lock. I had to spit into it to even open the door, but I had no idea how the hell they got my DNA to put in it. Once inside, I realized the outside made it look a lot worse than it actually was. The bottom floor comprised of a kitchenette, two bathrooms, an office, and a large garage. The office had a computer desk, a fairly powerful desktop pc, and a large closet that held several TV monitors. It took me a moment, but I realized about half of them showed the view of security cameras outside, while the other half showed locations around Brockton Bay. From what I could see, the Rig, Boardwalk, Boat Graveyard, Trainyard, and the Dockworker's Union HQ were all represented.

It honestly felt kinda creepy.

Moving on from the office, the kitchenette had enough supplies to last me about 6 months, even if they were mostly MREs. I picked up one labeled "Bacon and Cheddar Sandwich" and opened it, and brought it up to where my mouth would have been...before I realized there was no point.

Well I guess this entire part of the warehouse was pretty much useless to me. After I trashed the open MRE, I moved onto the garage. Inside, there were 2 more of the same vans that took me to the base, but besides those the garage was practically empty, and even the vans took up maybe 25% of the space. Spying some tables in the corner, I made myself a makeshift workbench, complete with some tools I spied on the walls and loose sheet metal. I mentally tapped into the Tinker power tree using Paramount...but nothing came. I was concentrating exactly as Supremacy had taught me, but the normal rush of adrenaline I got when using a power wasn't coming. Slightly worried, I waited for the 15 minute cooldown to end by testing out the limits of my new body. I was pretty fit before, but now I was in peak shape for my height and weight. Unfortunately however, the loss of my head meant I lost some of my beloved height, now coming at only about 5'11".

Thinking my time limit was probably up, I decided to switch back to Technopathy. Now I felt the somewhat familiar surge of power, as well as the tingle in the back of my head of the many nearby electrical devices I could control.

I, like an idiot, decided to switch to another master power, the Ace power, forgetting about my time limit. Immediately, the tingling sensation in my head weakened but didn't go away entirely, while a very large and imposing humanoid figure appeared in front of me motionless. I assumed this was the representation of my Ace, but what interested me more was the fact that not only was I able to switch powers when 15 minutes hadn't passed. Testing, I focused on one of the systems nearest to me--the computer in the van in the garage--and with a flick of my wrist, the engine turned on. Intrigued, I tried to switch back to the Tinker power I was attempting to activate before, but I still felt nothing and both powers I activated before fell away.

After about two hours of testing, (Seriously, screw that stupid time limit.) I discovered that several things differed from the original description of my Paramount power. In particular, I didn't seem to have access to any powers from the Striker, Shaker, Tinker, Brute, Blaster, or Changer trees, which put a damper on any plans I had to go outside. On the other hand, for the powers I did have access to, I could have up to 3, making the power more like Eidolon's. I don't know what caused the deviation, but I suspect it had something to do with my lack of a head.

The constant switching of my powers had left me somewhat tired however, and so I went to look at my monitors. Everything seemed to be going alright, but one thing that I didn't understand was why the Dockworker's HQ and Boat Graveyard were among the places being surveilled. Yes, the dockworkers were once dominant in the Brockton Bay workforce, but there weren't that many jobs on the...oh.

This could be an opportunity. But first I needed to prepare, and that meant working out my powers first and foremost. If I couldn't make a large team of followers right off the bat to go head to head with the Empire and ABB, I could make it seem like I did.

* * *​

"This is indeed intriguing. I have no idea why your power is behaving in your manner, but it may have something to do with your corona pollentia." explained Superiority, as I consulted him in my dreams once again. This time we were at my childhood church, sitting in the higher pews as we watched choir practice.

"My corona pollentia?" I questioned. Now I remember what bugged me before about how I was connected to my shard. "I don't have a head, how the hell do I have a corona pollentia? I know shards are bullshit, but they aren't that bullshit." Superiority seemed to ponder that for a little bit, the flames in his jack-o-lantern head temporarily flaring up. "Well considering that I exist and can talk to you, at the very least your brain and nervous system are still connected, and while it's possible your brain is in some kind of protective containment, it's more likely that it's still within your skull. And if it's in your skull, I see no reason why your head couldn't be fully intact yet separated from you. I've seen stranger mutations even among my own kin, and who knows how whatever you used to enter Earth-Bet affected you." I thought about that for a minute, before standing up. "I'll try to research things back in the real world and see what I can find." I finished as I clapped twice, returning me back to my regularly scheduled dream.

I woke up soon afterwards, and began researching cases of severed heads found recently. Most of them were victims of the Teeth up in New York - God that last one with the dog teeth was disgusting - but I found what I was looking for eventually: a John Doe's head that turned up on the same day I did, a clean cut that seemed to be perfectly preserved when it was found. There was no photo for obvious reasons but I suspected this was the one because it was the only case in downtown Brockton Bay, outside of E88 territory, and even then the E88 weren't ones to behead random black people. There was only one problem.

My head was in PRT custody.

 

[Cryptix]

I had a plan to get both my head back and the assistance of the Dockworkers as my minions. But in order for the plan to succeed, I needed to keep Taylor out of the Undersiders and Lisa, and through her the rest of the gang, to work for me. Fortunately, I could do both at once. Unfortunately, it meant beating up Lung. Thanks to my knowledge of the story, I knew that Lung was only after the Undersiders because of the casino job they pulled; if I could get him off their ass and knock enough of his gang out of commission I could both acquire their expertise in getting my head back and get one of the most dangerous capes in Brockton Bay out of circulation.

I was using the Blink power to cross the Boardwalk in a number of rapid jumps. I didn't know exactly where Taylor was supposed to stumble upon the ABB congregation, but I knew it was east of the Boardwalk and in the bad areas of town. Sure enough, the further I moved from the boardwalk the more dilapidated the buildings got, and the more kids in gang colors and knocked out druggies appeared on the street. It was like a parasite, the silent, unseen predator festering under the tourist's noses, waiting to consume those who looked too deep. And as everyone knows, the only way to deal with a parasite it to poison it, with utmost prejudice.

A lick of flame shot into the sky, revealing Lung's location - and presumably Tay-Skitter's as well. I made two more jumps to reach a nearby rooftop, where I could see that Lung had just flared up, presumably to wipe out Skitter's bugs, and was already ramping up. Meanwhile, Skitter, who was on the adjacent rooftop, was surprised at my sudden landing when she was so engrossed in attacking the gang leader, and almost immediately sent half of her swarm after me. At this point, I swapped out Blink for Animate Constructs immediately stomping down, hard, on the roof and making a wall for the swarm to slam against.

While she was still reacting to the new power, I jumped down and challenged Lung personally. "What's wrong fatass?" I taunted. "Can't handle a few bugs!" Lung simultaneously swung at me and tried to set me on fire, only to be surprised when neither I nor my bodysuit were harmed and I bent over unnaturally to avoid his fist. I chose the Immunity and Elasticity power for my other two slots specifically to counter Lung's abilities, and unintentionally Taylor's stinging bugs. Between my lack of a eyes, mouth, and nose to shove bugs into and my current immunity to poisons, she couldn't really do anything but bullrush me with insects. Taking advantage of his surprise, I swung under his overreaching arm and jumped on his back - he was already at about 7 ft tall, but I was also a pretty big guy so he was losing his balance. At the same animated the concrete under him in an attempt to bind the villain down, conjuring snakes of asphalt to slam him into the ground. It kept him down long enough for me to choke him out - thankfully, he hadn't ramped up enough for him to start growing metal plates, so that was all it took to put him to sleep. Just to be safe, I covered him completely with concrete, turning it into a cocoon, with several small holes so he could breath but not enough for him to start making fire in case he woke up.

I had been lucky so far, but I still needed to wait - I checked my phone's clock - another 12 minutes to swap one of my powers to Blink and get back to the base. Thankfully, Skitter played it smart and had taken out the gangsters while I distracted Lung - right now she was stabilizing one of the unconscious ones with an epipen while putting a zip tie on him at the same time. Her work done with that poor soul, she had a swarm of insects land on his face, both to notify her if he woke up and to serve as a threat if he tried to escape. She had done the same procedure on each of the gangsters, minus the epipen.

With the ABB restrained, I finally stood face--er, chest to face with the young heroine. "Who and what the hell are you and what are you doing here?" she asked in a gruff voice that did admittedly sound somelike a boy, if a prepubescent one. Thankfully, I had thought of an explanation before leaving. "I am the Changeling," I explained. "I can reshape whatever I touch, including my own body. As for the whole, you know." I pause for a moment, waving my hand to indicate the general head area. "I just moved my cranial matter inside. Keeps me safe and makes it so I don't need a mask." It was complete bullshit, but without knowing the specifics of the already imaginary power it fell in the general shard bullshit category.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here." Skitter noted, and I groaned internally. Time to run the goddamn gauntlet. I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Let's just say that I'm a friend of the Dockworker's Union. Tell Danny I said hi; you really should tell him about your power young lady." She backed away from me, probably unsure of whether she should fight me or run. Just to push her over, I waved her off, signalling for her to go and leave this for me. She seemed to heed my advice, and ran, looking over her shoulder the whole way to see if I was following her. With that out of the way, I could deal with the next stage of my plan. I checked that Lung was still unconscious and what time it was; 5 minutes until I could switch powers, which meant that the Undersiders should be showing up right about…

On the roofs above me, I heard a few loud thumps as Hellhound's dogs landed around me. Tattletale slid off of one, staying on the roof but getting close enough for me to hear her. "You were waiting for us!" she shouted. A statement, not a question. I shouted back. "I have a job for you!" I petted the supervillain trapped in concrete beside you. "I did you a favor, now you do one for me!" Now Grue came down to talk, his smoke already beginning to spread. "What kind of job!" the young man called out. I smiled, even though no one could see it. They were hooked. "How'd you like $50,000 each and some revenge on the PRT?"