People you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley

[Voidus]

On 3/29/2019 at 1:54 PM, MacThorstenson said:

Mac paused at the door.

His training.

His one hardship.

It was the one thing that could incapacitate him, the one thing that could hurt him in the alleys, and it couldn't hurt him unless he used it.

Did he want to push through? Could he push through? His face hardened with determination.

Yes.

Mac turned around to address Voidus, his face displaying no indication of the internal struggle

"I think I am." I hope I am.

Voidus watched Mac silently for a few heartbeats more before finally nodding. 

"I suppose we'll find out." He said gravely, the small trace of a smile no longer present on his face. "Let's continue then, moving on to Investiture."

There was only one way to find out if Mac was ready for more, and that way was to walk the tightrope once more to see if he fell.

"We'll start with something simple, Stormlight." He said simply, moving over towards his desk and retrieving a pouch of spheres. "This may seem easier in some ways than what we practiced before, but don't underestimate the complexity of what you need to do."

Voidmaking something physical took a lot more power than Investiture did, but Investiture was also a lot more abstract, difficult to focus on specifically. Mac's previous experience with Alleymatics would likely prove useful, but Voidmaking posed a far larger risk to its user than Alleymatics did.

"Now." He said, pulling an infused Diamond mark from the pouch. "Think back to what you did before, the drive, the desire, the motivation for something to not be."

[Gancho Libre he/him]

Quote

Whoa is this place an RP now?

Riathor Allomatically pushed off whatever he could see. Doorknobs, screws, grates... Anything. he had to keep moving.

His spren was gone. She left with his sanity, taking what was left of his mind with her. She hadn't even looked back.

He had nothing.

No. He had... too much.

He needed it gone. He needed relief.

He needed help.

Riathor came to a stop, not bothering to push off something to counter his momentum. He just hit the ground and slid forward on his knees, sobbing.

There were... people... who could help him. People who could steal things.

Edited April 9, 2019 by Gancho Libre

[Fatebreaker he/him]

“Note: The awakened ovens have revolted. I’m our passion to improve our baking process, we let our guard slip. It was only a moment, but that was all they needed. We shut them down, but not before they got Wellings and Stackton. This has greatly diminished my taste for gingerbread men, as well as been a good reminder on why nothing sapient can be trusted. The other reminders are the burns on my face, but that’s irrelevant.”

Stumped muttered as he jotted down the notes onto the wrinkled yellow pad. He was hampered by brace on his wrist and the bandages wrapped around much of the left side of his face. He was walking straight towards a wall, showing no sign that he registered its presence. Just befor he hit it, he smoothly Alleytravelled to an adjacent Alley. He paused to take stock of the new location and, seeing that much of it appeared to be covered in a ghastly grey flame, decided to try another Alley. 

He hopped between several, avoiding were-koloss in one and HR staff in another. He briefly got stuck in an Alley where everything seemed to be made of molasses, but he made sure to keep his notes dry. Frustrated by the continued interruption, he made a big jump and ended up in one of the outer Alleys. This made him nervous, he was practically outside of the endless corridors that he called home. Outside, where there weren’t any Insquidsitors or thermonuclear ovens or REAL bakers. There were terrifying things like normal people, municipal codes, and, Ovens forbid, morality!

He was just about to travel deeper into the Alleys when he heard something it sounded like desperate wails of despair. Being an expert on both despair and wailing, he found himself peeking around the corner to see what was causing all the commotion. 

Wanting to be cautious, he soulcast a welding mask out of the nearby wall and put it on. This use of investiture happened to trigger his peg-leg, or rather it’s glitch. It became enormously heavy, requiring all of Stumped’seffort to move it a few inches at a time. He grunted in frustration and kicked it with his other leg, which seemed to end the glitch, resulting in a tumbling fall. He looked up from the tangled heap of his limbs and saw a man kneeling on the ground and weeping.

“Uhhhh, is this a PR thing? Because I’m not certified for public relations...”

@Gancho Libre

Edited April 9, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[overlord stick]

Quote

Hello hello, I wish to join the DA. I was told by someone that to do so, I would have to offer a hemalurgicly spiked cookie to a new 17th Sharder, which I have done and the proof can be found here.

4

 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

Quote

Welcome!

If you look around alley 2846 you will probably find an open lab, if you need help cleaning out the dead bodies just call sanitation!

if you don’t mind me asking, who told you to join?

@Emperor Stick

Edited April 9, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[I think I am here. he/him]

On 29/03/2019 at 11:24 AM, MacThorstenson said:

“I think I am."

Quote

Me too.

 

[overlord stick]

Quote

Thank you for the nice space, I see there are some hemalurgic spikes left here, very nice indeed. and when I said someone told me, it was a faster way of saying I spent a few hours poking around forums.

 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

2 hours ago, Emperor Stick said:

 

Quote

Welcome aboard then!

 

22 hours ago, Voidus said:

Voidus watched Mac silently for a few heartbeats more before finally nodding. 

"I suppose we'll find out." He said gravely, the small trace of a smile no longer present on his face. "Let's continue then, moving on to Investiture."

There was only one way to find out if Mac was ready for more, and that way was to walk the tightrope once more to see if he fell.

"We'll start with something simple, Stormlight." He said simply, moving over towards his desk and retrieving a pouch of spheres. "This may seem easier in some ways than what we practiced before, but don't underestimate the complexity of what you need to do."

Voidmaking something physical took a lot more power than Investiture did, but Investiture was also a lot more abstract, difficult to focus on specifically. Mac's previous experience with Alleymatics would likely prove useful, but Voidmaking posed a far larger risk to its user than Alleymatics did.

"Now." He said, pulling an infused Diamond mark from the pouch. "Think back to what you did before, the drive, the desire, the motivation for something to not be."

Mac held the sphere, and focused on the stormlight.

He imagined the biggest difficulty would be being able to conceptualize the investiture as an object, something that could be manipulated, but stormlight was easy. In his mind it had always been similar to fog or mist. That could easily be voidmade. With that settled he moved onto the more difficult aspect, losing control to force it out of this plane of existence.

He looked at the glowing sphere, specifically the stormlight leaking off of it.

He thought of how this could be used to stop him. A radiant could surgebind with this, use it for power that Mac wouldn't have. He let the fear fill him, the fear of being beaten. It wasn't as strong as it used to be, but there was some. He thought about it more. He wasn't scared of the stormlight, that wasn't an issue. He was mad at it.

It could be used to stop him, force him out of his way. 

And nothing should be able to stop Mac. Nothing could stop Mac. But what about the night next to the Worldspike?

His concentration wavered, he was stopped then, but he was supposed to be stopped. Voidus could easily beat him, it wasn't like a little stormlight. When he learned how to do this, to force the stormlight to not exist, it wouldn't be able to stop him.

When the stormlight was gone, then he would be safe. He would be able to continue.

But what if I fail?

The unwanted thought snuck into his mind like an unspiked cookie at a party.

No, I can do this. Once this is gone, it won't be able to hurt me. I will not fail, it's impossible for me to fail. This stormlight could stop me, a demigod.

Nothing can be allowed to exist that can stop me.

With that thought he refocused on the wispy stormlight, drifting away from the sphere. He focused into the sphere, on the stormlight contained in it, and concentrated his hatred at it. Nothing could could exist that could stop him.

He forced the stormlight into the void with a cold determination. Into that emptiness where nothing exists.

A black spot appeared, and the white light rushed toward it, disappearing rapidly.

Nothing can stop me.

Mac breathed a sigh, calming himself down.

It felt like he went overboard, using way too much power to get rid of the stormlight.

"That was actually not as difficult. As I was expecting. Much easier than getting rid of the ball bearing."

[Gancho Libre he/him]

On 4/9/2019 at 5:17 PM, Fatebreaker said:

“Note: The awakened ovens have revolted. I’m our passion to improve our baking process, we let our guard slip. It was only a moment, but that was all they needed. We shut them down, but not before they got Wellings and Stackton. This has greatly diminished my taste for gingerbread men, as well as been a good reminder on why nothing sapient can be trusted. The other reminders are the burns on my face, but that’s irrelevant.”

Stumped muttered as he jotted down the notes onto the wrinkled yellow pad. He was hampered by brace on his wrist and the bandages wrapped around much of the left side of his face. He was walking straight towards a wall, showing no sign that he registered its presence. Just befor he hit it, he smoothly Alleytravelled to an adjacent Alley. He paused to take stock of the new location and, seeing that much of it appeared to be covered in a ghastly grey flame, decided to try another Alley. 

He hopped between several, avoiding were-koloss in one and HR staff in another. He briefly got stuck in an Alley where everything seemed to be made of molasses, but he made sure to keep his notes dry. Frustrated by the continued interruption, he made a big jump and ended up in one of the outer Alleys. This made him nervous, he was practically outside of the endless corridors that he called home. Outside, where there weren’t any Insquidsitors or thermonuclear ovens or REAL bakers. There were terrifying things like normal people, municipal codes, and, Ovens forbid, morality!

He was just about to travel deeper into the Alleys when he heard something it sounded like desperate wails of despair. Being an expert on both despair and wailing, he found himself peeking around the corner to see what was causing all the commotion. 

Wanting to be cautious, he soulcast a welding mask out of the nearby wall and put it on. This use of investiture happened to trigger his peg-leg, or rather it’s glitch. It became enormously heavy, requiring all of Stumped’seffort to move it a few inches at a time. He grunted in frustration and kicked it with his other leg, which seemed to end the glitch, resulting in a tumbling fall. He looked up from the tangled heap of his limbs and saw a man kneeling on the ground and weeping.

“Uhhhh, is this a PR thing? Because I’m not certified for public relations...”

@Gancho Libre

"I... I need..."

Riathor looked up at the question. A man was standing over him, the occasional... molasses smear on his clothes.

"I need... a spike," Riathor finished. Now that the words were out, the tears stopped coming.

Finally, he could be redeemed.

@Fatebreaker

[Fatebreaker he/him]

11 minutes ago, Gancho Libre said:

"I... I need..."

Riathor looked up at the question. A man was standing over him, the occasional... molasses smear on his clothes.

"I need... a spike," Riathor finished. Now that the words were out, the tears stopped coming.

Finally, he could be redeemed.

@Fatebreaker

Stumped blinked. The man needed a spike. People didn’t normally volunteer for this sort of thing. Well that was easy enough. He patted his pockets until he found one and pulled it out. He examined it for a second, then shrugged. He pulled out a cotton swab with a mild anesthetic and began rubbing an exposed spot on the fellow’s leg. As he worked he addressed the man. 

“You might feel a slight pinch.”

And he rammed the spike into the limb. 

As the spike practically disappeared into the flesh, Stumped realized that the anesthesia was probably insufficient for a regular person. Most people didn’t have experience with being punctured regularly. The man didn’t appear to have any other spikes, so getting stabbed was unlikely to be something he was familiar with until now.

Stumped braced himself for the screams and thought, “Well, maybe his newly gained ability to taste smells will be of comfort to him.”

[ShardShaper he/him]

Do you think that you could hemalugize (hemalugify? Spike?) a Siah Aimian and take it's powers?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

7 minutes ago, ShardShaper said:

Do you think that you could hemalugize (hemalugify? Spike?) a Siah Aimian and take it's powers?

You should be able too.

Actually doing so in practice would be difficult because we don't know how Siah Aimians have their powers, but it should be possible.

[+Ark1002]

3 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

You should be able too.

Actually doing so in practice would be difficult because we don't know how Siah Aimians have their powers, but it should be possible.

It would probably be easier to use multiple spikes to have similar effects, to be honest

[MacThorstenson he/him]

3 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

It would probably be easier to use multiple spikes to have similar effects, to be honest

True.

It depends on how much of a spirit web you can contain in a single spike.

I think the situation is similar to that of elantrians, where brandon says that one could spike more from an elantrian than from other beings.

You could probably spike a lot from a Siah Aimian, but putting it all into one spike would be problematic.

[Snipexe he/him]

I mean you could just brute force it, spiking all potential bindpoints, using an Atium spike, or a Lerasium one

[+Ark1002]

We'd have to ask Brandon to know for sure.

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Does the DA have any behavior policies?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

7 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

Does the DA have any behavior policies?

In what way?

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Like a code of conduct.

[kenod]

1 hour ago, xinoehp512 said:

Like a code of conduct.

Don't bring pineapples near Voidus. Don't bring pineapples into the alleys. Don't eat pineapples. Don't talk about pineapples.

Actually just never do anything that involves pineapples, except possibly erasing them from existence.

[old man moomba he/him]

1 hour ago, xinoehp512 said:

Like a code of conduct.

Who wants to know?

The words 'Code of Conduct" make me think of morals...

[xinoehp512 he/him]

7 minutes ago, kenod said:

Don't bring pineapples near Voidus. Don't bring pineapples into the alleys. Don't eat pineapples. Don't talk about pineapples.

Actually just never do anything that involves pineapples, except possibly erasing them from existence.

Anything else?

[kenod]

29 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

Anything else?

Use proper scientific procedure when doing experiments.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

Measure twice, spike once.

Also, don't be a dummo.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica walked briskly down an Alley, making some hasty notations in a spiral notebook. Her right hand left a little blood on the lined paper, which she observed with an irritated sigh. The initial forays into Ferretchemy had been so promising, but the Pewter ferrets had been growing more and more difficult to control. Thank goodness we didn’t start with bendalloy, she thought. Those ferrets were bendy enough. After two enterprising Pewter ferrets had bent the bars of their cages during her last observation shift, she’d had to put the whole lab on lockdown until their reserves ran out. Apparently the little hooks on their sleeping hammocks had been made of pewter, and they’d used them as temporary metalminds. Sloppy, Vivica thought, noting it down. Sloppy, sloppy. The rest of her team would not be pleased. Still lost halfway in thought, Vivica ran a finger along one wall and then stuck it into her mouth. Hmm, it’s probably daytime outside, she thought, then Alleytraveled to another Alley much closer to her rooms for a change of clothes. Her current set was rather covered in ferret.

“Hello!” Came a cheerful voice near her head. Vivica glanced up to see what appeared to be a floating zucchini bobbing along in the air next to her, with two joyful eyes and a smiling mouth. She frowned a little, glancing around. Had she accidentally Alleytraveled to the Alley where they kept the incorporeal vegetables? No, no, that Alley had a blue floor. That left only one explanation.

“I think you’re new,” Vivica said to the zucchini. “Have I seen you before?” She checked through her coppermind ring just to be sure, but nothing came up.

“Ising with the be of Zook,” the zucchini chirped happily, “the Lord Squashborn.”

Vivica blinked at the zucchini, then shrugged, filing this newest of hallucinations inside her coppermind alongside the rest. “I didn’t know I knew High Imperial,” she mused.

“Ising of the we of the being of we going?” Zook said, keeping pace with her as she continued walking.

“I was going to get changed, then finish up this report on the Pewter ferrets,” she answered.

“Ising the sounding of boring,” said Zook, large childlike eyes blinking at her.

“No, it’s proper scientific procedure,” Vivica scolded, raising her finger at the zucchini.

“Ising with the be for hungry.”

“That’s ridiculous, you’re a figment of my imagination.”

“Ising with the you for the being for hungry.”

Vivica sighed. She was a bit hungry, now that she thought of it. “Fine, we will go to one of the test kitchens. Then, I will finish the report.”

Zook smiled wholesomely. Vivica made to travel to one of the large test kitchens for a cookie or two, but a sudden sneeze broke her concentration a bit. She looked around, seeming to be in one of the outer Alleys. Vivica felt her breath catch a little as thoughts of the city beyond filled her mind. So much space. So much room.

A sudden sound interrupted her panic, and she ducked around the corridor to find an R&D member spiking a weeping man. Vivica relaxed at the comforting normalcy of the scene.

“Ising with the being for that?” Zook said.

“It’s rude to point,” Vivica said reproachfully. Zook, being a zucchini, had no arms or legs, but it sounded as though he would have pointed if he did have arms, and that was nearly as bad. “Hello!” She called to the two on the floor. “New volunteer?”

@Fatebreaker @Gancho Libre