Kobold King

Right. Because Calamity looked at Michael Jager and said "Oh, what the heck. Let's make him super-strong and immortal." At the very least, Calamity is criminally negligent.

Is it worse than Lightwards'?

"Children of the Night," sung by Kate Covington. Which may or may not be very fitting at all.

Imagine Calamity singing this and you will never sleep again.

Möbius is a pretty, freckled woman in her late twenties, with long black hair and blue eyes. She wears fairly rugged clothes, most noticeably hiking boots and a flannel workshirt. Slaughterhouse is in his late thirties, with a square and clean-shaven face. His eyes are very large with wide, black pupils, the result of his personal body modifications. They are often compared to the eyes of sharks. He wears a white medical coat.

That's the best kind of demigod.

“From what I heard, the most troublesome contestant would be Corpsemaker. You have the means to deal with him and I would like to hear how you´re going to use them.” Lightwards frowned, leaning against a wall thoughtfully. The truth was, he had no idea how he'd go about toppling CorpseMaker. By Altermind's account, CorpseMaker was impervious to all harm, capable of killing with nothing but a stare. Those powers, coupled with the armies of robots and powerful minions, made CorpseMaker one of the most powerful Epics on the North American continent. With a single glance, CorpseMaker could send him back to the dark void, blindly squirming for the light while deaths flashed before his eyes... "CorpseMaker is an... obstacle," he said finally, feeling his fists clench. "My current plan is to cement my control over this region before launching a coordinated assault. Perhaps speak to the people again tomorrow." The answer was unsatisfactory, and he knew it. But realistically... what could he do against the man? CorpseMaker was a god among Epics, like Steelheart of infamy. Like Möbius. Like Doctor Funtimes. You will die so many times you'll forget you were ever alive. And then it hit him. Earlier that day, he had witnessed an unkillable Epic rendered powerless. Standing knee-deep in tar, his abilities useless to protect him. High Epics could be trapped. Lucentia could control the flow of crystals. Lightwards began to smile. "Lucentia," he began, hoping to sound idly curious. "Have you ever engulfed a man in diamond?" Nighthound was a slontze. Obviously no Epics were particularly cuddly, but there was something inherently wrong about Nighthound. He wasn't just a sociopath. He was like everything cruel and hateful in the world rolled up in a single person. It was like Calamity had found the creepiest, most disgusting serial killer on the planet and said 'Oh, what the heck. Let's make him super-strong and immortal.' She and Revolution stopped on the jungle path, looking at the pair of female Epics that had gotten away from Nighthound. Well, the one hadn't actually gotten away. Ray stood in the clearing with rage and loathing still flashing on her face, the dog collar still digging into her neck. "Ray's from your part of town, right?" Revolution asked quietly. Sam shrugged. "Yeah. I've seen her around before." "How bad is she?" "She's an Epic." Sam's reply was immediate, but the look on Revolution's face made it clear she was looking for more detail. "She's not as bad as most," Sam sighed finally. "She's done some property damage, and Jack Tithers claims he saw her vaporize a stray cat once... but no, she's never killed anyone." Her voice softened a little bit. "I could think of far more deserving targets for Nighthound's affection." Revolution nodded before smiling. "Let's go say hi."

I like CM's Epics. They're the only fighting force in Oregon that can resist the combined efforts of Thoughttown and the Empire, and I like having a Steelheart-tier High Epic assisting in Oregon's devastation. Heh. Now I wonder what would happen if Thoughttown and the Empire declared war on Newcago...

Nope, it was Phoenix's Coelophysis that pushed him off. Even with essentially unlimited dinosaurs it's not enough. CM's mechs will tear them apart.

Well, he should be happy nonetheless. There are about a dozen raptors, of which only one is of Wes' aggressive breed. There are quite a few large herbivores in his collection, including Stegosaurus and Triceratops, and he has three different Allosaurus and a T-rex. Still though, I can't help but wonder what she did with the missing skeletons. Did she turn them into dirt to keep him from getting more zombies, or did she do something more flamboyant with them?

Not if the exhibition rooms were all turned into unrecognizable jungle clearings. Sam and Revolution are still meeting Ray and Voidgaze, right? I forgot to set that up last time I posted.

Granted. The apocalypse destroys all of civilization's infrastructure, including the school system. I wish for all fire ants to disappear.

Granted, but he immediately gains Lightwards' resurrection on top of his old powers. I wish to be a leprechaun.

I still think we should have our own sub-forum. "Question 3" will be... let me count... the seventh thread connected to the Oregonverse. And that number is planned to only grow. But alas, we are off topic. Welcome back lwd, and I'll be sure to bring ponies and waffles to the ball!

It's certainly within the realm of possibility. And Lightwards has been meaning to replace his elderly Warriors with younger, fitter individuals any way. Why, if I might be so bold?

...Um, I thought so? Maybe? Most of the big ones, anyway...? Aw sparks. Something terrible is going to happen now. #epicfail

No, he's in Calamityville. ...I'm guessing these reasons were more than just smoothing ruffled feathers from the gasoline incident?

What was left of Hotwire's corpse. Off-topic, but does anyone else think it's hilarious that Backtrack's the first one to get his name said out loud by Reader? Considering this whole thing started when Backtrack greeted Lightwards as "Professor Cardinal"?

I first conceived of Lightwards' mission as a dark inversion of Reed Richards is Useless--Lightwards fundamentally believes that he's using his powers for the betterment of mankind. There's obviously a heck of a lot of self-serving going on in this reasoning, since his vision of utopia involves him as the Emperor of the Galaxy. But he considers himself a benevolent leader at heart. Funtimes' powers... working on corpses... I'm completely unsure of this. We know she can make living things out of inorganic matter, but she's never been seen using her powers on anything that had once been alive. That I can remember. I envisioned Glamour and Redlight as having gained their powers post-Koschei, and Deathwish was out of town scheming against him at the time. So none of mine.

Sounds good to me. I guess we're waiting for Voidus before we begin the conversation? I don't even know what the twins' real names are. Oh, the Empire's already going to take a sharp turn downwards here soon. If Lightwards finds a way to have Upgrade's effects transferred to him, whether by a Phoenix device or by a severed hand necklace, then the Empire will be a very nasty place to live. If Lightwards had his limit removed, I do not exaggerate when I say he would kill every last living citizen and turn them into Warriors. Yep, let's endeavor to make OTP stop standing for "One Terrible Pervert" when Backtrack's around.

The word most people would use to describe Koschei is "psychopath." The word Lightwards would pick is "visionary." Even fairly minor Epics like Mitosis declared themselves to be gods--honestly, it's a wonder there aren't more Epics in Oregon who preach their own divinity. Backtrack/MV is kind of adorbs... you know, provided Backtrack stops groping her at every opportunity. He may have to tone down some of his more creeptastic vibes if he's ever going to find true love.

Backtrack didn't open his mouth for a while. It wasn't because the guards would probably shoot him if he said anything--though that was definitely a consideration. There was a more pragmatic, visceral reason for keeping his mouth closed. If he opened his mouth, he would probably throw up again. And then the guards would assume he had lethal projectile vomit or something, and then they would kill him. Besides which, he didn't want to throw up all over the memorial floor. When he was finally capable of swallowing his nausea and speaking, he gave only a hoarse whisper to the twins. "I know you're still mad at me," he began, "but this is important. If you see a tall blonde man wearing a circlet... run. Just turn around and run and don't look back. He's worse than Nighthound." Was Koschei the Deathless still alive? He had no idea, though the moniker "Deathless" made it unlikely he'd gone down easily. With his luck, the man would probably sweep into the church any minute now, purple cloak billowing over his shoulders, The Dalles soldiers bowing and scraping before him... He was interrupted from his paranoid reverie by the voice of a soldier. "Reader is ready to see you now. Report to the office now or you will be terminated." "Congratulations," Backtrack snapped irritably. "You're the world's most trigger-happy receptionist." The guard looked particularly trigger-happy after this remark, so Backtrack hurriedly got to his feet and followed the soldier down the halls. Lightwards had torn an old man to ribbons. Why hadn't he felt this sick when he saw that? Was it because he hadn't peaked into the necromancer's head? Now that he remembered the incident, he was beginning to feel a hint of nausea all over again. They stopped outside the door to what seemed to be a large office. The soldiers seemed to eye the door with what could only be described as loathing. Whoever inhabited this office was not well-loved. "Enter the office," a soldier barked. "Do not attempt to harm Reader. Attempting to harm Reader will result in immediate termination." He paused for a moment with an obvious grimace on his face, as if harming Reader was a personal dream of his. "Right-o," Backtrack said nervously. "I'm not big on being terminated..." He cautiously turned the doorknob, letting himself and the twins into Reader's office.

Backtrack wishes he could put time in a bottle. ("Tragically adorable" describes him quite well, doesn't it?) Koschei is definitely a terrifying character--he's so awfully awful, he makes Lightwards look like a friendly Sunday school teacher. But I don't think he's too depraved, either. It seems quite rational that Oregon would have already had a few Epics like him in its past. (Depending on how many more deaths he has, Lightwards could very well end up as bad as Koschei was. He gets a little more delusional every time--it's only a matter of time before he starts getting the idea of godhood into his head... ) As for the Backtrack/Reader conversation, I could go either way. I could write up a short post describing Backtrack's horror before being called into Reader's office, or Mail-mi could write a post that starts with Backtrack and the twins being brought in. I can work both ways.

It's not quite as a bad as the time he developed a crush on a girl who lived during the 1930s... but yeah, his love life is rather pathetic at the moment. That flashback was horrifying, though I managed to upvote it with my shaking fingers.

"This is your fault," MV snapped to her sister. "Now we're stuck with this submissive attitude, and snivelly there is going to be even more worthless than he was before." Backtrack shrank back from the remark, scowling but saying nothing. He sat back against the side of the truck, following the twins' lead and glaring at the soldiers. The truck seemed to be having difficulty getting moving, prompting a nearby guard to grumble about a guy named Arsenal. Backtrack saved the name for later, not quite sure of its significance. "Having technical difficulties, huh?" he asked finally, directing the question at the head soldier. The head soldier, true to form, pointed the gun at him just as the truck jolted into motion. "No speaking," he commanded harshly. "No using Epic powers. Non-compliance will result in--" "Termination," Backtrack sighed. "Yes, we heard you the first dozen times or so." The guard's fingers twitched, but didn't shoot him. Regardless he kept the gun leveled firmly into his face. "No talking." Yes sir, Backtrack thought sullenly. It's not like I have any decent company in here anyway. The twins had both shown their displeasure with him through the power of sneering glares--there really wasn't anything more withering than a pair of identical twins scowling at once. Now they were treating him like he didn't exist, which was better in some ways. Hardly ideal, though. If only I knew what they were thinking, he though wistfully. If I could just figure out how to make things right with them... Wait. Duh. He peered about a minute into the truck's past, watching as the twins climbed into the back and took their seats. Ignoring the temptation to watch MV's skin-flashing incident on repeat a few times, he instead took a peak into the girl's mind as it was at the time. She gestured towards Backtrack but felt a twinge of pity as she did so. He had no abilities with which to fight armed men, he'd shown bravery enough just to enter that museum, and he'd even stayed once he knew about that creepy guy. Well, at least until said creepy guy took a personal interest in him, but then no one could be blamed for running from that... Backtrack frowned for a moment before settling into a wide smile that put the guards on edge. Pity's kind of like attraction, he thought contentedly. She likes me... He had the same grin on his face for the entire ride into town. --------------- "Sit on this bench and await your Reading," the soldier ordered, waving Backtrack and the twins into the building. Backtrack sighed but did as he was told. The building appeared to be an old church, though it seemed to have been converted into a combination memorial/office building. Soldiers seemed to swarm over the place with a hustle of activity, seeming on red alert. "Don't suppose we could get books or something?" he asked the pair of soldiers assigned to guarding them. "'Cuz waiting here is gonna get old fast." The soldiers merely twitched nervously, their guns still pointed at his face. "You will wait in silence until Reader is ready for you." "And who precisely is Reader?" "A slontze," came the soldier's distasteful reply. Backtrack sighed and began counting soldiers as they ran by. He tried sparking up a conversation with the twins, but they still seemed intent on ignoring him. And the soldiers kept threatening to terminate him if he talked too much. Oh well, he thought sullenly. Maybe I'll just find out why this place is a memorial...