Question

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I can see the awesome on the horizont.

 

Sure, that would be more eventful. My contribution is Headshot an Epic that.... wait Deja vu. Maybe shooting energy bullets like from a finger-pistol, called pistolero.

Anyway, are you going to start the attack on the shop soon?

My two ideas were:

Blowdart: He can fill his lungs to extreme capacities. He can exhale very sharply. He also has a secondary power of being able to turn his breath to be poisonous. His weapon of choice and namesake is the Blowgun. Pre-Calamity he was an avid hunter and frequent shopper at the SW.

 

Duckcall (pending name): He can imitate any sound he hears. Blowdart's brother. Less deadly, but more vengeful and angry.

 

I doubt a escape would be very likely for PP.

No escape from the TTC. All eight of us will hunt you down and kill you. In so many different ways.

 

I just listened to the newest episode of writting excuses and tried using that I Ching they talked about. The results are interesting, to say the least. I´ll give you the boiled down versions/interpretations.

 

The first one was a more general question what to do next. The answere wasn´t exactly helpful but an alsmost perfect description of Lightwards and his empire.

It talked about the "uneasy Seat of power occupied by the conqueror" and how his early success (dinosaurs and flying museum) thanks to his current excelent balance of power (our WB), could lead to disorder as soon as the inevitable change happens. This change will be caused by an approching danger (most likely the other Epics) and it is up to his influence on others whether he can shape the world after his will or it all breaks down in chaos, which is why he has to carfully decide on his every move. It also advises him to work step by step

 

My second question was what kind of Epic I should let Nighthound fight. While it ignored said Epic it gave a very unexpected way for Nighthound to develop. 

Baisically, it told me to have Nighthound make up with people of his past (Lucentia as planned), then have him start to give away his power in earnest instead of enslaving people, so he can turn into an good Epic, and break up the empire of Light.

Next, I Ching wants Nighthound to carfully manipulate the now seperated members into becoming better and gather them back together.

Now with the band put back together he´s supposed to lead them and slowly put things into "their proper place," which I would interprete as ending the rules of the Epics.

I´ll be honest, I could not have made that up myself.

 

Last question: Will it be revealed that Nathan isn´t an Epic? I have two ways to interpret this one.

Either, he doesn´t get discovered and becomes a master actor (the more likely one in my opinion both from a storyteller perspective and from the reading itself) or he turns into a proper Epic (It might also be possible that an Epic gifts him his powers). One way or another he manages to resist the temptation of letting the common people suffer and improves their living conditions, to the point where he boecomes a hero figure.

It also hints at an fallout with Funtimes and him thinking back to the good old time.

This is what I got asking if AM will survive this:

You are working at cross-purposes with another.

The distance between you is very wide.

The gap can be closed, however, with no compromise of your integrity.

You are not adversaries in this case -- just two persons addressing individual needs.

Ask yourself: are these needs mutually exclusive?

Is there common ground here?

Must there be one winner and one loser?

Could you become partners in seeking a solution that would allow for two winners?

I think this is possibly about Sightline or Voidgaze. They seem to be the two that this fits best. 

[Voidus]

Hey what about PP believing his cover story! He's less credible just because of the voices in his head?... and PTSD... and belief that he doesn't need sleep... and paranoid delusions about an invisible Epic...
Ok, so maybe he's not the best witness in the world but I mean, look at that beard? How can you ignore the beard?

Edited August 15, 2014 by Voidus

[Edgedancer he/him]

Wow. First of all, I'm flattered that you guys seem to think I'm a better/more detailed planner than I actually am. You know that saying, "No plan survives the battlefield?" Well, in my case, it's more, "No plan is ever completed before TwiLyght reaches the battlefield because she gets too excited and just starts writing before she loses the idea." 

 

Reformed Nighthound….if you think you could carry it, it'd be interesting to see. Very strange, though. Strange in…well, in the words of the Newsboys, "Dull as dirt, you can't assert/ The kind of light that might persuade/ A strict dictator to retire/ Fire the army, teach the poor origami." But I for one would pay good money to see Nighthound surrounded by children, teaching them how to fold a paper crane. 

 

A crisis could easily come when the other factions see the Empire of Light and Yak Meat growing in number, and not just from Lightwards' recruiting. Think about it: You have two areas you can live in Portland—Thoughttown or the Empire. Thoughttown has utilities, but also a stringent entrance exam, and if at any point you fail a subsequent exam, you're essentially abandoned in the middle of downtown Portland. And then there's the Empire which, although run by a megalomaniac who could very well kill you and turn you into a zombie, has dinosaurs and a right-hand woman who is more likely to give you free yak meat than she is to kill you. Entrance exam <<<<<<<< yak meat. That's a serious threat right there.

 

Finally, as far as Nathan goes, I have no real master plan. ("No plan ever survives TwiLyght because she sees the shiny chance to write and runs off distracted before the plan can have its say.") Immediately, I was going to have the guy in the wife beater teach him how to shoot, at Funtimes' urging, probably in the privacy of their cottage. If she can't swing that, they'd use the "he's new to this whole Epic thing" as an excuse. 

 

Later on, though, I could see a couple of things happening. 

 

1. He remembers that he told Alice to think, tracks her down, and she teams up with him and the guy in the wife beater. Any sort of serious team-up would probably happen after his cover was blown, as the Epic whisperer, the thinking zombie, and the last surviving member of the NRA wander through a mostly-destroyed Portland to take down the most powerful Epics there. A team-up with Joe/Sightline would probably happen here as well. 

 

2. His cover is blown, he's back on the table in a white robe, Funtimes intervenes at either the last minute or when it's already too late, and Lightwards and Nighthound have themselves a scary new enemy. (Of course, if Nathan is killed, you must know up front that you would be subjected to an unknown number of posts from Funtimes' perspective. ) 

 

3. He becomes so good at pretending to be an Epic that while some might suspect something, they never guess, and he uses his position in the Empire to help the common people. This, I think, is the most likely if Lightwards and Nighthound believe his cover story. It seems like they do. 

 

4. He gets powers. This….while it could be likely, I don't know if I'd go for it. If it did happen, I see him becoming frightened and disturbed at the changes Calamity brings to his personality, and barely using his powers as a result. If forced into it, I'd imagine he'd become something of a recluse, too scared of himself to manage more than a few interactions with Funtimes, at the very most. 

Given that we work on this together this is pretty much discovery writting for all of us.

 

I don´t know if I could pull it of. A big part of Nighthounds personality comes from Calamity, so it´s not impossible but I would still need a reason for him to gift his powers without taking control. Maybe some kind of arrangement with Nathan and Funtimes.

 

One way or another, somethimg will happen.

 

My two ideas were:

Blowdart: He can fill his lungs to extreme capacities. He can exhale very sharply. He also has a secondary power of being able to turn his breath to be poisonous. His weapon of choice and namesake is the Blowgun. Pre-Calamity he was an avid hunter and frequent shopper at the SW.

 

Duckcall (pending name): He can imitate any sound he hears. Blowdart's brother. Less deadly, but more vengeful and angry.

 

No escape from the TTC. All eight of us will hunt you down and kill you. In so many different ways.

 

This is what I got asking if AM will survive this:

You are working at cross-purposes with another.

The distance between you is very wide.

The gap can be closed, however, with no compromise of your integrity.

You are not adversaries in this case -- just two persons addressing individual needs.

Ask yourself: are these needs mutually exclusive?

Is there common ground here?

Must there be one winner and one loser?

Could you become partners in seeking a solution that would allow for two winners?

I think this is possibly about Sightline or Voidgaze. They seem to be the two that this fits best. 

They look good.

 

That thing has a pretty good hit chance or it´s just vague enough for us to interprete something in it.

[Kobold King he/him]

1. He remembers that he told Alice to think, tracks her down, and she teams up with him and the guy in the wife beater. Any sort of serious team-up would probably happen after his cover was blown, as the Epic whisperer, the thinking zombie, and the last surviving member of the NRA wander through a mostly-destroyed Portland to take down the most powerful Epics there. A team-up with Joe/Sightline would probably happen here as well. 

 

I've actually been thinking Alice might start tracking Nathan down. She remembers him very vividly, and her recovering consciousness may have focused itself on the kind man in the front seat. She might try to find her husband and her brother, but by the point her mind makes those connections, she'll likely realize it's a lost cause. Both of them were killed by Headshot during the museum heist, and Lightwards was too distracted by shiny dinosaurs to raise them back up. If he spares a thought for them, it will only be to feed them to Wanda the T-rex.

 

Nathan and Alice, Epic hunters, actually sounds really awesome. Two normal people who had the misfortune to fall in with Epics and endeavored to fight them from the inside out. Oregon's equivalent to the Reckoners. Sparks yeah that would be cool to see.

[Voidus]

So who's up next? PP is relatively anxious to stop falling

[Edgedancer he/him]

I've actually been thinking Alice might start tracking Nathan down. She remembers him very vividly, and her recovering consciousness may have focused itself on the kind man in the front seat. She might try to find her husband and her brother, but by the point her mind makes those connections, she'll likely realize it's a lost cause. Both of them were killed by Headshot during the museum heist, and Lightwards was too distracted by shiny dinosaurs to raise them back up. If he spares a thought for them, it will only be to feed them to Wanda the T-rex.

 

Nathan and Alice, Epic hunters, actually sounds really awesome. Two normal people who had the misfortune to fall in with Epics and endeavored to fight them from the inside out. Oregon's equivalent to the Reckoners. Sparks yeah that would be cool to see.

A zomby Reckoner, I´m sold. Would Funtimes be their Prof.? Oh, they could get Kyle to be their mechanic and/or mission control, depending on what exactly his craft is.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I've actually been thinking Alice might start tracking Nathan down. She remembers him very vividly, and her recovering consciousness may have focused itself on the kind man in the front seat. She might try to find her husband and her brother, but by the point her mind makes those connections, she'll likely realize it's a lost cause. Both of them were killed by Headshot during the museum heist, and Lightwards was too distracted by shiny dinosaurs to raise them back up. If he spares a thought for them, it will only be to feed them to Wanda the T-rex.

 

Nathan and Alice, Epic hunters, actually sounds really awesome. Two normal people who had the misfortune to fall in with Epics and endeavored to fight them from the inside out. Oregon's equivalent to the Reckoners. Sparks yeah that would be cool to see.

 

I think Joe mentioned a Reckoners cell in Portland, but an Alice/Nathan team-up would be awesome. I'd imagine it taking place after either he and Funtimes have a falling-out (unlikely, given his personality and her reason for stealing him) or after she thinks he's dead. That would send her into scary mode. Imagine: a tiny woman in a rainbow dress with glitter in her hair and an icy grin on her lips, singing a song about heartbreak as she turns every object within a three-foot radius of Lightwards and Nighthound into venomous snakes and the drinking fountain into a fountain of liquid bleach as one of them leans in for a sip….

 

 

A zomby Reckoner, I´m sold. Would Funtimes be their Prof.? Oh, they could get Kyle to be their mechanic and/or mission control, depending on what exactly his craft is.

 

Or, like Edge just awesomely suggested, Funtimes could be the Prof to their Reckoners. It'd be hard to talk her out of getting them to wear crazy uniforms, though. 

 

 

So who's up next? PP is relatively anxious to stop falling

 

Kobold, I think. I for one await Lightwards' reaction to his VP's speech with eager anticipation.  

[Kobold King he/him]

Or, like Edge just awesomely suggested, Funtimes could be the Prof to their Reckoners. It'd be hard to talk her out of getting them to wear crazy uniforms, though. 

 

Steelheart would have been a very different novel if David had joined their cell.

 

They might talk her into letting them wear utilitarian outfits while on missions, saving the fun stuff for formal occasions.

 

 

Kobold, I think. I for one await Lightwards' reaction to his VP's speech with eager anticipation.

 

I'm on it chief.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

So should we have this trio at the SW?

Maybe shooting energy bullets like from a finger-pistol, called pistolero.

Pistolero: Energy epic who shoots energy bullets from his finger

Blowdart: He can fill his lungs to extreme capacities. He can exhale very sharply. He also has a secondary power of being able to turn his breath to be poisonous. His weapon of choice and namesake is the Blowgun. Pre-Calamity he was an avid hunter and frequent shopper at the SW.

Duckcall (pending name): He can imitate any sound he hears. Blowdart's brother. Less deadly, but more vengeful and angry.

 

I'll post the beginnings of the raid sometime today.

[Edgedancer he/him]

So should we have this trio at the SW?

Maybe shooting energy bullets like from a finger-pistol, called pistolero.

Pistolero: Energy epic who shoots energy bullets from his finger

Blowdart: He can fill his lungs to extreme capacities. He can exhale very sharply. He also has a secondary power of being able to turn his breath to be poisonous. His weapon of choice and namesake is the Blowgun. Pre-Calamity he was an avid hunter and frequent shopper at the SW.

Duckcall (pending name): He can imitate any sound he hears. Blowdart's brother. Less deadly, but more vengeful and angry.

 

I'll post the beginnings of the raid sometime today.

You got my approval, Mailliw, altough I wonder if we should go in on a one vs. one basis and leave Flashpoint to keep watch or take him with us.

[Voidus]

Thankyou for that Kobold, at least someone is missing PP
I'm beginning to think you all just used me to get to my hat! 

[Kobold King he/him]

Thankyou for that Kobold, at least someone is missing PP

I'm beginning to think you all just used me to get to my hat! 

 

Now Voidus, does that sound like something we would do?

 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Now Voidus, does that sound like something we would do?

 

 

 

 

Be careful, Voidus. 

 

 

Men with eyebrows like that cannot be trusted. 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

And, after reading Lightwards' reaction, I can see we have two different leadership styles here. 

 

Lightwards' style: 

 

 

Funtimes' style: 

 

 

Which style will win out? Only time will tell….

[Voidus]

And here I thought we were using the 'yes that's right, I have a flying museum full of reanimated dinosaurs' style.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

And here I thought we were using the 'yes that's right, I have a flying museum full of reanimated dinosaurs' style.

 

I think that's Nighthound's style. 

[Voidus]

PP's style is what I like to call the Douglas Adams style.
'Oh and what's this big thing rushing up to meet me? It needs a big rough round sort of name like ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me? Hello ground!'

[Edgedancer he/him]

Thankyou for that Kobold, at least someone is missing PP

I'm beginning to think you all just used me to get to my hat! 

Oh please, does this look like us?

Anyway, if it consoles you, Nighthound doesn´t even care about your hat, even with all its style.

 

I really love the dynamic we have going on. With Lightwards kind of being the leader only because no one else has any concrete goals and the others just BSing around.

 

Also, just imagine those speches with Nighthound giving the "Screw loose" gesture in the background, it gets even more hilarious.

 

Just to ask for confirmation, you all want to leave Ray´s fate to the dice?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Sounds good to me. 

 

Am I up next? 

[Voidus]

Me thinks so, in the mean time I'll be trying to find out if wikipedia printouts make good parachutes XD

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Me thinks so, in the mean time I'll be trying to find out if wikipedia printouts make good parachutes XD

 

They do if Funtimes gets to them. XD

[Edgedancer he/him]

They do if Funtimes gets to them. XD

If funtimes gets to them the printouts might turn into a jet-pack or a ballon.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Edgedancer

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Or a jetpack balloon. 

[Voidus]

Jetpack balloons do not sound particularly useful, wouldn't the jetpack just melt the balloon? :/

[Edgedancer he/him]

Jetpack balloons do not sound particularly useful, wouldn't the jetpack just melt the balloon? :/

Maybe the ballon stores a gas that fuels the jetpack?