Kobold King

WHAAAT?!? You get to see it now? Nope, I haven't seen it. HOPEFULLY I'll be able to get into a theater and see the rustin' thing before it's too late. The marketing has certainly captured my attention by several light years more than Iron Man III or Thor II did.

On the bright side, Nathan got to meet Doctor Whooves. An uneasy alliance sounds like fun. Though we could also bring in the Sadrys and let Funtimes equip them with molten jelly-launchers or something (I doubt she'd be keen on supplying anyone with weapons that aren't fun-themed.) Also, how do you spell Nathan's Epic alter ego--Traveler or Traveller? One "L" is the American spelling, two "L"s is the British spelling.

I foresee "What Happened in Oregon" ending with most Epics surviving, and Funtimes creating a magical portal for them all to leave the charred landscape of Oregon. This provides the set-up for the exciting sequel, "What Happened in Equestria." On the "fight vs alliance" front, I could go either way. Lightwards wouldn't be happy teaming up with Nighthound, but he's not yet so irrational that he'd turn down a potential weapon. On the other hand, he's just a hair trigger away from trying to kill him right here and now.

She'll go all Celestia on him and turn him into a statue à la Discord. Do we have a specific post order in mind for Oregon? Because I'm honestly not sure whether Lightwards or the Ludicrous Duo is up next.

Hmm. I was picturing us further apart, but there's nothing in the text to back it up. Honestly, there's more to back up your point of view than mine. Good night! We won't kill Nighthound in your sleep, promise.

Eh, depends on how quick Nighthound is. Lightwards and Donald both have guns locked on him and are standing a couple of yards away at this point, so unless he can accelerate to around to 1.8 meters per second in a single instant, then he'd be filled with bullets before he could grab the gun.

Here's Nathan after he foolishly referred to Mars as a "dead planet" within Lightwards' earshot. Taken from Page 25.

And behold, Brandon Sanderson eventually saw this thread. And Calamity was the greatest novel ever written.

Just came in from the future. Here's an artistic representation of "What Happened in Oregon," Page 16.

Grinding Gears? Objects in Motion? I like Swimmingly's suggestion in particular, though. Also, be sure to link to the finished e-book. I for one would love to take a look at it.

Next turn he's going to resurrect every dinosaur skeleton on Earth and use them to storm Portland.

Right, posted. I worry that I've been showing a false impression of Lightwards' necromantic abilities. Each time he raises a body, he gains a slightly greater affinity for it. The first time he raised the vulture, when it was a piece of roadkill in the north of California, he had to touch it. The second time, it would have been very difficult to raise it without touching it. The third time, he was able to nudge it and raise it through his shoe and could theoretically have raised it if it was in his line of sight. The fourth time, he was able to raise it with some difficulty from a distance, because he knew roughly where it was. Hopefully this makes sense and is allowed. I try to be consistent with Lightwards' powers.

Nighthound didn't respond immediately. Annoyed, Lightwards was just putting his finger on the pistol's trigger when the ludicrous duo appeared a few yards away from them, between them and the house. "Good evening, Doctor, Traveller,," he said as civilly as possible. "I hope I didn't wake you. I'm merely enforcing noise ordinances." He tried to concentrate without closing his eyes. What he was doing now was difficult enough without being around so many Epics, at least one openly hostile. If wouldn't work at all if he hadn't raised the thing so many times. He felt around with his mind in the general vicinity of the vulture. It was in the house across the street from the Sadry residence, and dead. With a deep breath, he worked his miracle from a distance, seeing the dazed bird fly out a broken window in the dark. With any luck, neither Nighthound nor the other Epics would notice it perched across the street, giving him an avian secret weapon.

Edgedancer, do you want to go next, or should I?

Fights are great! Though I fear Lightwards might end up with another death if he goes head-to-head with Nighthound for too long. And that's a good idea. I'll look into it. Though I'm also toying with an idea called "The Diary of Doctor Whooves," so I'm not sure when I'll get around to it.

Are Nathan and Funtimes going to get involved? Or are we interrupting too often for TwiLyght to write a scene? Lightwards cursed inwardly, quickly stepping back and pointing his pistol at the man called Nighthound. Donald the zombie followed his lead instinctively. There were some Epics who maintained some hold on rationality. There were others who reveled in the power they held. Lightwards liked to think of himself as an example of an evolved human. Something brighter and better than the average Homo sapiens. But there were some Epics, such as this Nighthound character, who took a step backwards. They became feral beasts, traversing the landscape with no cause or purpose. Lightwards despised them. He'd briefly held an alliance with one before--an elderly Epic called Slaughterhouse. They'd ended up trying to kill each other after a mere day and night of working together. "Do you work for someone?" Lightwards demanded, "Or do you just roam about like a wild dog, killing where you please?"

... Touché. I don't think anyone in the game has set off Lightwards' weakness yet. But a day or two ago I was putting a story together in my head about Lightwards fighting Möbius, and I realized halfway through that she would have set off his weakness a dozen times over. (I've considered writing the story, but I'm hesitant to do so because of how the weakness factors in.)

He's not holding the vulture. It's sitting on the ground by his feet. You could kick it, but that would be a very aggressive move and would provoke a big street brawl (not necessarily a bad thing. ) I tried to make mine logical, after a fashion. Though I did make sure I didn't give him one that people would accidentally set off all the time. If anyone does set it off while near Lightwards, I'll make sure I give some kind of subtle hint to it.

Fixed that for you.

Lightwards stared at the man in perplexion before his face settled into a comfortable scowl. Making sure the other Epic could see it, he touched the vulture's carcass with a shoed foot, nudging it back to life. It gave a small shake as it righted itself, ruffling its feathers as it settled into a servantile posture. "If you want a buffet than you're in the wrong part of town. This is the Empire of Light now, and I am its emperor. I am Lightwards. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

Personally, I think the reanimation would work. But maybe weird things would happen if the new Warrior of Light tried to use his powers. EDIT: I don't know if you can answer this TwiLyght, but is the average Epic weakness in the game decipherable? Are most of them fairly rational and hinted at, or are most of them impossible things to guess like "He can only be killed if you sing Hungarian folk music from the back of an animatronic alligator"?

Alright, message received and understood. Good luck with your general busy-ness.

Donald slept. Wasn't he supposed to be somewhere? No. He was supposed to sleep. So he slept, if it could be called sleeping. He dreamed, if it could be called dreaming. As his mind--if it could be called a mind--shut down for the darkness, only one thought remained in it--assuming it could be called a thought. For it was not merely a thought. It was the key to his existence. If it could be called existence. The only voice in the universe rattled in his head. It told him to sleep. It told him to wake at the slightest disturbance. It told him to kill intruders. There were no intruders. So he slept. Crashing. There was a distant crashing. Eyes opened--his own. His slow head turned over the room. No intruders. Only others like him, eyes closed and oblivious. No intruders. But the crashing was a disturbance. It could not be said that a decision entered Donald's mind. But a course of action did. ---- Lightwards had halfway pleasant dreams for once. He dreamed he was in a lecture hall, gesturing towards a massive chalkboard on which he'd scribbled countless notes on ecology. How life arose, lived out its existence, propagated itself, and eventually passed away into dust. Back then he'd taught about how death was necessary for the continuation of life on Earth. He woke up still in the gloom of the night, thinking about what a weakling he'd been back then. Too occupied with the way things were to make things change. He sat up in bed slowly, rubbing his forehead. Donald the zombie was standing over him. "Calamity," Lightwards cursed, scurrying out of bed on the opposite side of the Warrior. "How the... you're supposed to be asleep." "Disturbance," Donald said slowly, without much conviction. Lightwards gave his Warrior a cockeyed stare in the dark. He listened, and sure enough, the distant sound of crashing could be heard in the surrounding suburb. And it was getting closer. Possibilities raced through the professor's mind. It was almost certainly an Epic. Was it an assassin? Some unknown ally of Traveler and Funtimes, coming to kill him? Another, completely unrelated killer who just happened to be passing by? Grumbling, Lightwards grabbed the pair of shoes meticulously placed beside his bed and pulled them on. "We'd better take a look at this," he sighed. "I hope you didn't wake up our guests stomping through the house." He jabbed his finger into the Warrior's chest. "I don't want to see any more thinking from you, Donald. It doesn't suit you." He took the pistol from beside his bed and tiptoed past the guests' quarters. The living room was still undisturbed, aside from the shattered window pane. He left the Sadry couple to their sleep, since he doubted they'd be much use. Instead he grabbed the vulture and put it on his shoulder, slipping out the front door as gently as he could. The suburb was cool and quiet, apart from the crashing that grew louder every second. It almost sounded as if it were coming from the rooftops of buildings. "Find the creature causing that crashing," Lightwards whispered to the vulture, "and rip out its internal organs." As the vulture flew into the night with a few struggling strokes of its wings, Lightwards smiled. Soon he'd have a fresh Warrior of Light and the rest of a good night's sleep.

Donald the zombie point-of-view segment for the win. Back to Oregon I go!

Aww. Cute couple. The Warriors of Light are, pardon me, light sleepers. Perhaps they should awake and alert Lightwards that someone is leaping on the rooftops?