Kobold King

You'll get no complaints from the King of Delays over here. I'm looking forward to reading them, but take all the time you need.

What a sad world we live in where that's a solid piece of advice for a woman with a gun. Looks good to me! The City Guard vehicles would have a distinctly military appearance and couldn't really be described as "police cars," but other than that's it's perfect.

It's not about who's best for any one job. Down that path lies only madness. Just from what I can see of you on this forum, you are an extremely capable woman. You are kind to a point I could never hope to aspire to, which makes the idea of your not being cut out for taking care of a pet just about laughable. As for your writing, well, I'd kill to string words together with the grace you manage. You're only deluding yourself if you think you're a useless human being, because I assure you you're anything but. You are a glorious creature. Your existence is one of brilliance and beauty. I beg you from the bottom of my heart not to believe anything other than that. Don't believe the words of nasty people who aren't your friends, and don't you dare heed whatever poison that harpy that gave you birth is filling your head with. You are wonderful and deserve every word of our praise and support, and not an ounce of the self-deprecation you heap upon yourself.

I used to play a video game in which they were constantly referred to as "skulking vermin," so maybe I'm a bit biased myself.

Is there anything wrong with the post? I can delete it on a moment's notice if there is.

I'll do that then. Vondra / Mistwraith / Deathwish post up. I may or may not have been secretly wishing to write for Mistwraith at least once for the entire RP, so I lived my dreams a little bit. I'll leave her in mail-mi's capable hands for the duration of the fight, if only so I'm not playing both sides of the duel now.

Shiny Sparkle was beginning to go back to her barely cooperative self. “Well, if you’re talking about that Reader guy, I would prefer not having to talk with that Slontze again,“ she began. Vondra couldn't fault her for that. Reader wasn't even allowed in the same room as Vondra, if only for security reasons. “I’m alright with telling you what you want to know but didn’t I already tell you that my name is Shiny Sparkle?" the woman continued, her voice almost seeming confused. "I think it fits me rather well, actually.” Vondra felt his anger ice within him, though he didn't let it show beyond narrowing his eyes. Of all Epic habits, it was the names that frustrated him the most. "I'm not hiring 'Shiny Sparkle'," he said softly, yet still loudly enough for the woman to hear every word. "Epics give themselves new names to match their new selves. Steelheart. Snowfall. Night's Sorrow. They think they're something above a normal human being, and refuse to go by a normal human name." He glanced out the window and hardened his tone. "To me, 'Deathwish' is just Edgar Hawk. A cheap biker who's gotten too big for his britches. Daniel Dewhickey started going by 'Arsenal' a few years back, but I call him by the same name he had before Calamity shone over his head. When I ask you for your name, miss, I'm not asking for the title you chose to call yourself by. I want to know what your mother named you when she held you in your arms. What name people called you before you were able to kill them without a second's thought. I want to know the name of the woman that 'Shiny Sparkle' left behind." BusDriver looked angry even despite Mistwraith's apology. He must be under a lot of stress. "It doesn't matter where we're going if we aren't going to get out of this sparking city alive," he snapped, concentrating on the road in front of him. "Can you keep up with this bus in your mist form?" Can I? She'd never done it, but she hadn't had much of a chance to cut loose and see what she could do yet. She felt like she could. She felt a thrill at the thought as her hair was blown about the wind pouring in through the shattered window. What if she could be part of that wind...? The bus driver seemed content with her lack of an answer, flipping a switch and making a gap slide open in the roof. "Good. Now get out there and protect this bus." Protect it from what? They're not shooting at us. Despite her confusion, the thundering air right above her head made her heart soar. She'd just now managed to get back to being a human, but who'd want her skinny little body when she could be a wind with claws? Her smile and her face melted into pure mist as she rose up, bristling with sharp tendrils as she joined the crashing air as a cloud of murky gray over the speeding bus. She had no eyes but she saw everything around her, every passing building, every truck in pursuit, every helicopter... She saw the shape of a man in a black leather jacket speeding towards the bus, a long lethal looking sword in his hand. He was going fast, faster than the bus; he was speeding alongside it, smirking at BusDriver through a front window before zooming ahead of it. Protect this bus. Mistwraith grew longer tendrils with clever loops at their ends, her misty body swirling like an angry storm cloud as she extended herself. A thrill shot through her like lightning, as she realized her chance to prove herself was finally upon her. The loops shot outwards, and Mistwraith put mental words to her excitement. I'm going to kill my second Epic. Deathwish smirked at the bus's driver as he flew by, earning a scowl as the man went back to focusing on the road ahead of him. Scowl all you want, you gray-haired old slontze. They'll be wiping you off that seat with a towel when I'm done with you. He accelerated ahead of the vehicle, slowing down as set into motion the death of the driver and the end of the chase. He pointed the sharp wooden blade in his hand into his chest and positioned himself directly in front of the bus's grill. He slowed to a stop with a smile on his face--the bus would ram him with all the force it carried, propelling this sword straight through his chest and utterly annihilating his heart and lungs. Of course, it would be the scowling driver who paid the price for running over Edgar Hawk... Suddenly, the cloud of smoke over the bus's roof flared to life. Deathwish felt cold, wet air wrap around his neck, and then-- Snap. His neck dislocated as he was jerked bodily from in front of the bus, swung through the air like a rag doll and thrown in an arc into the side of a concrete building. His body struck the hard wall front-first, his bones breaking apart as he slid to the still street with a bloody trail above him. Slightly dazed, he cricked his neck back into shape and peered down at his chest. The razors he'd taped on had just saved his life, and were now shoved most of the way into his lungs. He pulled them out as his body healed, regaining awareness of where he was. That cloudy slontze could have killed me. If his power hadn't factored the snapping of his neck as part of the same attack as shoving the razors into his chest, the crem-wad would have succeeded. Deathwish flew back into the air, flourishing his sword and straightening the razors back under his jacket. His eyes zeroed in on the bus, now way ahead of him, and the mist that was wildly thrashing and swirling over its roof. It is on now, you storming smoke puff. It seemed to straighten itself once more as Deathwish approached, and its tendrils shaped into lethal looking hammerheads as they shot through the air towards him. ...Alright, it will be on as soon as I get some backup.

I keep getting confused what I'm supposed to be doing with Lightwards at any one time. Did I agree to have Lightwards meet with PP and Saccharine, or should I be getting him to the ground?

I'm writing a post now then, including a brief POV from Mistwraith to let our readers know that Winter's no longer her. If I need to stop and wait for this to be discussed further, just let me know. In addition, if I need to PM anyone a preview before posting it and making it official, I'd be happy to do that.

An intangible still has a body, just not one that can be touched conventionally. Mistwraith doesn't have a human body when she's in mist form. That's how I was rationalizing it, anyway. I was thinking that the pain would be intense but would subside more quickly than if she had a physical body. She doesn't even technically have a brain at the moment, so there'd be nothing to trigger her unconsciousness. The pain would just be a magical illusion directed at her consciousness. I really have nothing to base these thought of mine on, though.

Not in her mist form. Same principle as Shiny's failed castration attempt--if she doesn't have a body to be harmed, all she'll feel is a shot of phantom pain.

"Real name" is pretty precise for anyone who's not a delusional sociopath. If it's alright with you guys, in my next post I'm gonna have Deathwish make a move for the bus but get swatted into a building by Mistwraith. He'll heal, but then I'll wait until Mailliw posts to continue the scene. That okay?

Their vehicles do not come equipped with police sirens. (Arsenal is the one who supplies all the equipment.) There aren't many civilian cars on the road and what few there are are required to always give way to City Guard vehicles. The sirens aren't actually necessary, and the official story is that Arsenal got rid of them because of noise complaints.

I don't appear to have Mistwraith's... do you have it, Twi? My days of being a laid-back GM are finally coming back to bite me.

I hope she has fun, but it's sad she'll be gone from our midst for so long. That's about what I thought. Can she make mist-tendrils solid enough to use as spears, manipulators, or blunt weapons?

Alright, I suppose we'd better get to the sad business. Winter Cloud is leaving the Shard for a six-month hiatus, and her characters here are to become non-killable NPCs until her return. Would anyone in particular like to adopt them? Also, what is the extent of Mistwraith's ability? Is she essentially like Nightwielder but with mist, like I've been assuming?

The more the merrier.

Do I want to? Harmony's forearms, no. I'll be secluded in my cabin in the distant wasteland where Inquisitors never tread. I'm not going up against one of those things. I'm just saying, guns are pretty deadly even to Coinshots in the AoL era, so if you wanted to fight an Inquisitor you'd probably have pretty good luck with machine guns.

xkcd is awesome.

Unless of course we have access to modern weaponry, in which case we can spray him with too many bullets for him to avoid or pelt him with a few high-velocity explosives.

"I got a card that says 'I O U 1 FLYING MUSEUM.'" "Lucky you!"

And that's Backtrack™ brand, right? Right? * bursts into tears *

I shouldn't laugh at this. Really, I shouldn't. But I do.

There are some studies which suggest that people who are exposed to spoilers rate their fiction higher than people who partake in it blind. Regardless, I avoid spoilers like the bitter plague they are.

The name you take for yourself is a promise. The name "Kobold King" was a promise to stand up for all of fiction's most hated, most bitterly contempted races.