Seonid

Paladin and his followers would, I am fairly certain, have rather strenuously objected to Koschei's rule. Paladin, in particular, would have seen Koschei as a complete vindication of his conspiracy theory-like beliefs about Epic-worshiping cults, and would have stopped at nothing to eliminate Koschei and his worshipers. Dark!Paladin would have taken this so far as to kill every person who had ever been willing to call Koschei their god, no matter the amount of duress they were under. Even if it meant killing every person in Portland. Guardian and Ranger might have been able to stop him from doing that. And, of course, he might have died and reincarnated in the process of trying to kill Koschei, which would have tempered his executioner's tendencies. Whether or not he would have been successful at the attempt to dethrone Koschei...that's another matter. Probably not on his own. Koschei alone would have been hard if not impossible to kill, and being surrounded by the Epics who served him...well, three powerful but not High Epic level folks just aren't enough to handle that. (Although I do have a hilarious headcanon of Paladin trying to play whack-a-mole with Koschei's continually resurrecting body.)

Paladin charged onto the platform. This was not how things were supposed to have gone. A shadowy bullet ripped through his chest. Deadeye. Ranger was supposed to have taken care of him. But no, he'd told them all to wait. Rusting wonderful. He jumped forward, tucking his knees into a roll as the solid bullet passed through where he had been, along with the sound of a sniper shot. Torch was about 25 feet in front of him. Too close, and also too far. He came out of the roll, crouching, with his sword in one hand and the other resting on the grainy wood of the platform. He needed another edge. He focused his concentration, counting the heartbeats. One, two, three. And he Saw. Torch suddenly became surrounded by a shadowy image. His future actions. Paladin rose, stalking forward. A cloudy fireball arced from his hands towards Paladin's head. He lazily stepped to the side, watching it sizzle past. Then he exploded in a burst of speed. Torch's eyes grew panicked, and he stepped backward. Suddenly Torch's shadow-image lifted off the ground, accelerating superhumanly fast. No! You will not get away! Paladin leaped even before the now-Torch had even left, but he knew it was hopeless even so. His arms grazed the bottom of Torch's shoes, and then he tumbled to the ground. The flame Epic burst alight in the sky. A shadowy bubble impacted him, throwing the cloudy image of an explosion of force. He lurched out of the way. Out of the direct path, he hoped, but he couldn't get out of the blast radius. As the now-bubble hurtled into the platform, Paladin felt himself lifted up by the force and slammed face-first into the wood. * * * * * * * * Ranger watched in morbid fascination as the chairs in front of the platform began to fall into an ever-widening hole. Suddenly, he realized that Paladin had leaped up and was charging the earth Epic. He cursed and brought his gun up. Storming Epics! Paladin had cut down the Miner and was jumping on to the platform. A shot rang out and he jumped forward into a roll. Ranger frantically brought Deadeye into his sights. There he is. Calm. You can do this. He wished that the sniper Epic were within bow range. He was always more comfortable using his longbow. As Deadeye raised his rifle for another shot, Ranger pulled the trigger. The powerful rifle kicked back. One down. He turned his attention back to the platform just in time to see Torch lift off. Things were going to Damnation in a handbasket quickly. With Torch in the air, the assassination had just become exponentially harder. Things hadn't gone this bad since facing Firelord himself. Thinking of Firelord was not a good thing for his mental calm. He ejected the clip and the bullet in the chamber from the gun. Bubbles had just fired an exploding bubble of force at Paladin, catching him in the blast radius. Paladin still hadn't summoned his armor, and the blast went off too close for comfort. Steady. You've still got this. His hands shook as he pulled out the specially-made bullet. Bubbles was supposed to have a sort of danger sense. Something like Paladin's precognition, but much less powerful. But still, it would let her sidestep any shot he made. Or, more likely, interpose a force bubble. The silvery bullet rolled in his palm. Aluminum. Expensive to have made, and even more expensive to keep it a secret. Paladin would have killed the manufacturer, he was sure, if Guardian hadn't been there to stop him. But as expensive as the bullet had been, it would prove to be worth far more if their informant had told the truth. He loaded it into the rifle, turning back to the platform. Paladin was dodging force bubbles, apparently doing his best just to stay out of the blast zone. Even from a quarter-mile out, Ranger could see the blood dripping down his face where the splintered wood had sliced open his cheek. Bubbles, a thickset woman with short cut hair and a T-shirt ripped off at the sleeves, faced him, preparing another force bubble. The platform was splintered and pocked with holes where others had impacted. He slid the aluminum bullet into the chamber, replacing the clip. There wouldn't be time to load a second aluminum bullet. He had only one shot at this. Fortunately, she was standing still. He pulled the trigger just as she moved forward. The aluminum took her in the shoulder instead of the head, spinning her around to lie face-down on the wood. Ranger cursed silently again as he brought her back in his sights. He fired again, hoping desperately against hope. Bubbles jerked as the second bullet cut through her spine. Apparently the informant had been right. Hers had been the only weakness the man had known, but they had felt it more than worth the price. Two down.

That sounds good. I'll post the next installment after a post or two then. I'm working on getting all of the posts up until they reach The Dalles prewritten, and then they'll be pretty consistent until we can start interacting all over the place. I'm still working on what they'll do when they get there, but I have the plan up until then.

And here is a Paladin pony (Most likely a Dark!Paladin version. Maybe a non-Dark version will show up later. Without a black hair streak.): Thoughts? Also, since I'm rather new to this, how many other posts should I aim for before I put a new one up?

That makes sense. Thanks for the correction.

Nope. It looks pretty good to me. I just wish that there was armor code for the pony creator... EDIT: Sorry for the double post. I was trying to edit my original post, but somehow this ended up in a separate post.

I like the Guardian pony. Definitely on board with that vision.

Sounds good. I will PM you tomorrow, after I'd had a chance to think it through.

And there is now a Paladin post up! These things take longer than I expected. I think I'm going to write in advance all the way up until my characters get into The Dalles, and then just post periodically. Also, I decided to start with Dark!Paladin first (contradicting earlier plans, I know). We'll see his lighter side in The Dalles, but I wanted to start by showing him at the worst he's been so far (which hasn't come off in this post, but should in one or two future ones) before showing his redeeming qualities. That sounds good. Quick question. When Koschei dies, what happens to all the vanillas he'd gifted with healing power? Do their wounds automatically re-open? Second question - how thorough were the Epics gunning down the folks in the church? Would they have checked all of the bodies to make sure they were dead, or could one have slipped through?

The swarthy, black-haired Epic smiled with a show of obsequiousness. "How many do you have left over, Ringmaster?" Paladin frowned to himself. The appearance of a new Epic threw a wrench into their plans. He was glad that he had whispered the quiet instructions to Guardian to delay the operation. He needed time to observe, to see how Miner could interfere with their plans. "Oh, about the first twelve rows should do it." The speaker, a tall, dark-haired man in a violet suit and top hat, was an imposing man. He called himself Ringmaster, and his primary power was hypnosis. He had control of at least 4 Epics, maybe 5 now with this new character. He sat in the second row, in front of the platform where RIngmaster was speaking, offset a little to the side. Torch, another of Ringmaster's Epics, stood directly in front of him. Ranger had said that Bubbles, another Epic, was off on the other side. The podium blocked his own view, however. They hadn't been able to locate Hammer, though. Something was wrong with that, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what. The new one, Miner, responded with a cruel laugh. "At your service," he replied. As he lowered his hands to the ground, Paladin suddenly realized what he was up to. This was going to be tight. He tensed in his seat, preparing to jump, brow furrowed as he summoned his blade. The ground began to crack beneath his feet. The seconds felt like they lengthened into eternities. The earth began to fall away into a widening hole. His chair was beginning to tip. And his sword appeared in his hand. It began with a hilt, as it always did, falling into place in his outstretched hand. The blade extended to its full length. Standing upright, the slightly curved sword would come up to his chest. He sprang in a powerful leap, knocking the chairs in front of them to the ground along with their occupants. A vanilla stood in front of him, trying to escape the growing pit behind them. Paladin shoved him out of the way, knocking him backwards into the deepening mine shaft. Just a citizen, he thought as he charged towards Miner. He's not important. * * * * * * * * Miner looked up in shock as he saw a large, muscular man with a shining sword leaping towards him. He started to stand, but the Epic was already there, slicing down at him. The blade connected with his left arm, just above the elbow. There was a flash of white light, and an enormous force threw him backwards. He shook his head, looking dazedly at the remnants of his arm. Blood was gushing from the blackened stump. Calamity! I'm bleeding out. Panic began to set in. That's a lot of blood! Too much. I'm going to die! No. Focus. Breathe. The pain hit him. He howled, then stopped short, suddenly realizing he was still out in the open. Blood still pouring from his wound, he rolled underneath the platform, wincing at even more pain. It felt as if he had broken a few ribs, too. He had to do something about that arm. He was going to die if he didn't stop it soon. Maybe it was already too late. Was he feeling dizzy? Those spots in his eyes were just from the explosion, right? He shoved his arm into the hard-packed earth, trying to stem the flow of blood. As if responding to an unconscious command, his stump sank into the dirt, which hardened into stone around it, constricting tighter and tighter around the severed limb. A stone tourniquet, he thought through an increasing fog. I hope this works. Darkness claimed him.

Expect a Paladin post in The Dalles thread later today. Also, I'm working on the vanilla who is Vondra's spy in Madras, searching for Ironmonger's weakness. I'm thinking of having him be an old friend who had his/her family killed by Koschei. Twylyght, do you have any particular vanillas in mind for your next flashback? I'd like to use one of the surviving ones if that's ok.

Hmm...I'm not sure on his exact limit. At the height of his last battle with the Ringmaster and his gang, he pulled a large portion of the metal in the city to him, turned it to iron, and left it 2000 feet underground. But that was in a massive, uncontrollable rage, similar to Steelheart's Transfersion (where he transforms a huge amount of Chicago to steel). Under his conscious control, he can probably lift a car or two simultaneously, or maybe a semi-truck. Not much more than that, though.

Madras, Oregon The sound of the crowd was nearly deafening, even from nearly a quarter mile away. Ranger spit in disgust onto the roof of the abandoned store. He'd always hated people; that's why he'd spent so much time in the forest ranger station in Homedale after Calamity struck. But if there was one thing he loved more than he hated people, it was killing Epics. He'd deal with the crowd any day for a change to sink an arrow or a sniper bullet into the forehead of some arrogant, bloody-handed, murderous... His thoughts were cut off as the receiver in his ear crackled. "Paladin is in position," a female voice said. "Stay alert." He nodded to himself. Their target was the hypnosis Epic known as Ringmaster, ruler of Madras.Together with his gang of minor Epics, they had pushed out the last ruler, a High Epic known as Ironmonger, nearly eighteen months ago. That titanic battle had nearly destroyed the city, and the last year and a half had not been kind to it. Most of the city still stood in ruins, only a few dilapidated houses and run-down stores still standing. Most of the population was used as slave labor in the iron mines. From the information he had gathered while scouting, it appeared that during the battle for control, Ironmonger had transformed nearly every source of metal in the city into pure iron, and sunk it deep into the ground as a last, defiant act against the newcomers. "Roger that, Guardian," he replied, tensing. "Torch and Bubbles are on the stand near Ringmaster. I've located Deadeye on the roof of a diner across the way. I still can't find Hammer. Keep your eyes peeled." "Excellent work. Alright, let's get this party started. Ranger, prepare to eliminate the sniper on my mark. 3...2...1...Hold it!" Ranger had brought his sniper's scope to focus on Deadeye, a minor Epic with a penchant for randomly sniping vanilla humans. Finger on the trigger, he paused. "Paladin says that they're introducing a new Epic. Hold your fire until we can assess the new situation. I'm patching his audio through." Guardian's voice was tense. She's worried, he thought. There's too much that can go wrong with this plan. But it had taken them nearly two weeks to set this assassination up, and their cover wouldn't last much longer. Soon, somebody would catch them as they hid from the mine work, and then they'd be forced into battle on their enemy's terms. They had to do this now. The voice of the Ringmaster suddenly sparked in his ear, mid sentence. The man had a smooth voice that left you feeling uneasy, as if he had once been a used car salesman. "...will inaugurate a new era of efficiency and prosperity for the city. Would you demonstrate, please?" Ranger swung his scope around to focus on the large platform with its podium. To his surprise, he saw a large rough block of stone sitting center stage. It must have weighed more than four tons. Even Hammer must have had difficulty with that one. The new Epic stepped up to the stone and pushed his hands into it. With a loud crack, the stone fell away, revealing a Volkswagen Beetle that looked as if it had been cast out of iron. "I am the Miner!" With a roar of triumph, the new Epic pulverized the remaining bits of stone, leaving only a fine powder. Ringmaster spoke again. "As you can see, we will soon have an overabundance of workers in the mines. Therefore, about half of you will be transferred to the grain fields, to provide food for our fine kingdom." A ragged cheer went up at that. The fields were work, it was true, but they were nothing compared to the drudgery of the mines. "Miner, how many workers do you think you need to recover the iron deposits?" The short, bulky Epic responded, "Oh, about two hundred, I'd say. I can expose the ore easily enough, but I can't bring it all to the surface on my own." A cruel smile began to spread across Ringmaster's face. "There are still workers left over, and I just can't abide unemployment. Miner, do you think that you can deal with them?" Miner answered with a cruel laugh as he placed his hands on the ground. "How many do you have left over, Ringmaster?" "Oh, about the first twelve rows should do it." The swarthy Epic's laugh grew heartier and more cruel. "At your service," he replied. As he laughed. the first twelve rows of chairs and their occupants began to sink into the ground, as a large mine shaft began to open up underneath them.

Don't worry. I'll upvote it for you. Gotcha covered!

Working on my first Ranger/Paladin post right now. They're in Madras, a city north of Bend on the main road to The Dalles. They'll get there in a few posts (maybe 5 or 6), but I'd like to have them walk into a developing situation, not be a part of shaping the situation. I've also got two more High Epics that I've written up for backstory. One's disappeared, leaving no trace of his departure. The other was forced out of Madras a year and a half ago, but has been building up his forces and has his sights set on a bigger goal now. Here are their bios: The Lizard: Ironmonger The Lizard is almost completely backstory, but I wanted a bio of him up just in case I need a flashback or something. (And just in case I get bored and want another power player.) Ironmonger, on the other hand, I would like to be a kind of nebulous threat on the horizon, slowly moving in for the kill on an increasingly divided city. So now to my plot questions. Kobold, is it alright if I have a spy from Vondra in Madras, looking for Ironmonger's weakness? If Ironmonger is really out there moving slowly in, I think that it would probably be something he would do, but I don't know if that's really in character for him. Second, Fatebreaker, is it alright if I have Will O'the Wisp working for Quicksilver, waiting to try and intercept Vondra's spy with the weakness? This would, I think, nicely tie all of my characters into the plot. (Until I kill Will off, which is what I created him for. But I'd like to get some mileage out of him before he goes.)

Posted! Should we have a separate planning thread for The Dalles? Or will this one be good enough for now?

Two years post-Koschei, near Mt. Hood National Forest: Will O'the Wisp smiled happily to himself, balls of light dancing around his head as he sat on the ridge overlooking a torn and broken highway. Not many travelers dared the road from Bend to The Dalles these days. He'd been following the two girls for nearly three days now, waiting to get to just the right spot. They were finally there. This forested area, nearly out in the middle of nowhere, had once been the domain of a powerful High Epic named The Lizard. He had dammed up several streams, creating a vast marsh in which he had bred various reptiles, intent on world domination. Three years ago, he had vanished mysteriously, but his swamp remained. Which was just the way Will liked it. His smile deepened as he gave one of his lights a push with his mind, and it bobbed off towards the little clearing just off of the highway where the girls had made their camp. As it approached, he could almost imagine what they were saying. "What is that?" The tall one with the brown hair would say. She was the dominant one of the two. The other barely said anything at all. She would probably answer her own question. "It looks like a floating ball of light." He peered over the edge to look down into their camp. As he had expected, he had their undivided attention. Now for the fun part. At his silent command the light started to bob, slowly, back the way it had come. The tall one stood up, pulling on her companion to follow her. Perfect. He had them. Only a very few people could resist the pull of the lights to begin with, except for Epics, and even fewer could stop following once they had started. As the light bobbed off into the marsh, Will pushed it faster, until the girls were almost running to try and keep it in sight. Carefully, he began to guide it to a special place he had just found last night, where the soil grew sandy and the water table approached the surface. The girl's boots were sticking in the muddy ground, leaving pools of water in their footprints, but they took no notice. Suddenly, the ground turned sandy beneath their feet, and before they could even cry out, they were sinking rapidly into the water-saturated sand. The short one disappeared almost immediately, but the tall one began thrashing around, trying to keep her head above water. Will shook his head, almost disappointed. Someone should have told her that the more she moved, the faster she would sink. Pity there wasn't anybody around who cared. Will chuckled softly to himself as the last ripples stilled. The girls had been distracted so quickly and so thoroughly that they had left their packs and belonging at their campsite. Maybe these were the ones that his employer had told him to watch out for. Perhaps they had the...he checked his thoughts quickly. That was a dangerous thought. The...thing he was looking for was definitely not safe. Not safe at all. Not even to think about. He would have to be more careful.

The Koschei creep factor was off the charts. And I mean that in a good way. I can't wait to see him get his due. Are we good to start posting in there? Or should we wait until you have more backstory up?

Icons!!! In order, Guardian, Paladin, and Ranger. Also, new minor Epics! Will O'the Wisp Quicksand Miner

Nah. All three characters are based off of characters from a book I'm working on. (Calamity-ified versions of the characters, of course). Ranger comes from a character named Asher Il'veradon of the tribe Ti'in Kitsara, who ends up being a ranger-type character. (Incidentally, Paladin is Samhain Seonid, the character I draw my forum name from, and Guardian is Ariel Kilbaen, his bodyguard.) A lot of the background was just finding real-world correlates to the fantasy world counterparts. I might start working on this stuff in the Creator's Corner eventually. I'm glad you think that the limitations balance out the powers. I was specifically aiming for that. Many powers, but all of them with limitations that constrain the usefulness. So my characters are going to start on the way from Bend to The Dalles. Their intent is to wipe out any Epics they find and also any nests of cultists (whether or not they exist). It's probably only been a few days since Paladin has died last, so he's not yet in DarkPaladin mode. Ranger and Guardian are both rather happy about this, because he killed about a hundred vanillas in Bend before he died because he was convinced they were cultists. (There were no cultists in Bend). If The Dalles has no high-power epics claiming it, it might be a good idea to have some on their way in to fill the power vacuum. It could be cool to see the badchull vanilla or minor Epic mayor playing factions off of each other, while all the time Paladin and his crew are lurking in the shadows, picking Epics off one by one. (Probably most of them will be of my own making, but feel free to make a lot of cannon-fodder Epics who are intended to die quickly, either in an Epic war or to assassination.) And I've a cannon-fodder Epic to start racking up the kill count from the beginning, and more to come. But not tonight. It's bedtime now. Safari:

I'll take a pony. I can show it off to my brothers (all but one of which are bronies too!). Can we put a white pony in scale mail with a sword? Or at least a sword for a cutie mark?

Thanks. PM sent. Thanks, Voidus. I like that idea. He can do normal self-preservation stuff while in camo, including getting out of the situation, but the camo requires too much concentration to make advanced tactical decisions. Another reason he only uses it when he has to.

It shall be done. He'll show up moving towards the Dalles. Should I PM you weaknesses? Final version (added a slight clarification to the armor section): Paladin:

That sounds good. It might be better to do that for my characters, once I can get them balanced. More tinkering to the new Paladin necessary? I could add more vulnerability during the reincarnation phase (like he could remain comatose for 6 hours, during which time he is vulnerable to being permanently killed...in addition to a normal weakness).