TwiLyghtSansSparkles

The Dalles thread is up! ….I'm torn between wondering if I made Koschei too creepy or not creepy enough.

This thread is now closed to Epic characters, though anyone is welcome to adopt a non-Epic player character. This is not as lame as it sounds. Being a town run by normal humans, The Dalles arguably presents more opportunities for non-Epic characters. Besides, if you join as an Epic, your character will either join one of two gangs trying to conquer the city, work for the City Guard, or be shot on sight. Your options are kind of limited there. If you're set on adopting an Epic, check out the Salem thread. Late November, two years ago Koschei the Deathless marched into the farmhouse, pistol in hand, purple cloak billowing behind him. Snowflakes fell, catching on his cloak and sticking in his hair, and he irritably pulled up the hood. Barrett Springfield had betrayed him. A hole in his stomach and a slit throat, and he had chosen a killing shot for Haze over a wound for his brother. When he ordered Haze and Headshot into the farmhouse, Koschei had been certain their mortal wounds would keep the Springfields firmly under his thumb. Yet Barrett had betrayed. Two mortal wounds, and he still betrayed. Koschei wished, not for the first time, that he could raise the dead. Were he graced with this gift, he would have raised Barrett a dozen times to kill him again and again. He slammed the door open. “What do we have?” Two vanillas knelt in the living room, hands behind their heads as Headshot held a pistol to each of their skulls. Tank had a dark-haired toddler in pink pajamas folded in his arms, who let out a wail the moment she spotted the newcomer. Koschei winced. “Shut her up, will you?” “Just calm down, Gloria,” her mother cooed. Her own voice was thick with tears. “Please, sweetie, just stop crying. Everything’s going to be fine.” Gloria’s wail increased in volume. Tears flowed down her mother’s cheeks as her father added his voice in a desperate attempt to comfort her. The noise, the voices, the tears—it pounded at his skull, tearing through his resolve, he had to do something quickly or he would shoot them all and be down a family— Koschei’s revolver was trained on the child in a heartbeat. “Shut her up or I’ll shut her up for good!” Her parents fell silent. Even Gloria ceased her wailing, easing into a low, pitiful whimper. “Please,” her mother pleaded. Her voice was soft now, wavering. “Please, don’t shoot her. We’ll do anything you want.” Her father swallowed. “I’ll tell you where we keep the weapons. The code to the safe. Anything.” Wheels turned in Koschei’s mind. His Epics had little need of weapons at the moment, though they would certainly be a boon, and Tank could simply tear the door off the safe. If this man was willing to give him the code, it meant he was breaking. He lowered his revolver. “Tell me the code.” He rattled off a string of numbers, which Koschei committed to memory. “It’s in our closet. Second door down the hall. Ammo’s there, too.” “Set Gloria on the floor,” he told Tank, “and see if they’re telling the truth.” He returned a moment later with the safe in his arms. Koschei entered the code and opened the door to half a dozen rifles with an adequate supply of ammunition. His smile was genuine. “Thank you,” he told the father, “for telling the truth.” The man relaxed slightly. “Come here, Gloria. Come here and sit with Papa.” “Tank, bring Gloria to me.” “You have the guns,” her mother said pleadingly. Frantically. “We gave you what you wanted, and you said you wouldn’t hurt her.” Ignoring her, Koschei holstered his pistol. Tank carried a squirming, kicking Gloria to where he stood. “Tilt her head back.” He did so. “You have the guns.” There was no demanding note in his voice. No anger. Only fear. “You said you’d leave her alone.” “I said nothing of the sort.” “Please!” Her mother’s whisper was frantic and urgent. “We’ll do anything!” Koschei paused to give the couple a smile, drawing a dagger from his belt. “I know you will.” One quick slice and he slit the child’s throat. Screams. Pleas. Koschei calmly placed his hand over the wound. The edges drew together. Blood ceased flowing onto his palm. The screams fell silent. “Your Gloria will live,” Koschei told the couple, sheathing his knife and taking a cloth from his pocket. He wiped the blood from his hand as he faced them. “Provided you do as I say. For what I give….” He wiped the blood from her throat and withdrew a small amount of the power he had given. A short, narrow red line appeared on her throat, drawing a frantic whimper. “I can also take away.” Koschei regarded the couple for a long moment, struck by the contrast between them and the Springfields. Where that family had glared from the moment they were healed to the moment Koschei named the price of his gift, this couple stared. Not in outrage. Not in shock. Only terror. The woman bit her lower lip, sobbing quietly, not daring to avert her gaze from Gloria. Her husband’s eyes flickered from Koschei to his daughter. Perhaps there was a spark of anger, but it died the second Koschei touched his knife. A smile curved his lips. These people were broken. Thoroughly broken. And he owned them.

He simply must meet Funtimes posthaste.

We need a champion to fight his tyranny. Someone cheerful. Crazy enough to fight him. We need Doctor Funtimes.

O.o He can manipulate iPhones to spread the negativity! NO TECHNOLOGY IS SAFE. What did Jeff's note say again? How specific did he get when talking about his feelings toward Penumbra? (I will not ship it. )

Nooooo! Somebody upvote Voidus' last Oregon post because I have stupid fingers.

Nothing to do with it looking completely badchull, no, not at all.

Sounds good. And the power use limit sounds good too, I think--probably just the thing a leader who doesn't trust Epics would come up with, whether of not he knew that power use=corruption.

"The Little Engine that Could...what, Mommy?" *slams book shut* "You don't want to know."

Yeah, pretty much. The whole can't-gift-to-Epics thing was a bit of an obstacle, but if Koschei was good at one thing, it was overcoming obstacles. Which might have been inspirational had he not been so terrifying.

Koschei (not Korshei) was pretty aggressive about recruiting, so Hydron would have had to stay out of his way completely, perhaps even disguising himself as a vanilla, if he wanted to avoid joining him. An Epic with powers as useful as his would have been high on Koschei's "Join me or die" list. Other than that, it looks good.

I could bring in Snakehands. Don't know what he'd do except tick everyone off and say "I AM SNAKEHANDS! SERVE ME, LESSER MORTALS!" but I could bring him in.

Although that might be excellent for characterization and comedic purposes, it could also detract from the story's flow. So yes.

That would be really cool. I'll post it when I get off work, then, since I have it all written out on my laptop and re-typing it from memory on my phone might be a bit of a challenge.

Kobold, did you want to start WHiTD with Backtrack, or did you want me to start it with Koschei? Either way is fine.

Poor Phil. I kind of picture him as an AU Phil Coulson, who, instead of joining SHIELD, pursued a degree in psychology and tried to set Epics back on the right path. (That, and it's fun to picture Phil jabbing a syringe into Lightwards' neck and saying "It's nap time, Mr. Cardinal." ) I like him too! And Vondra's habit of referring to Epics by their real names just makes him more awesome to me.

I can see them getting along quite well. We must arrange a meeting. Mostly outdoor-type skills at the moment. I might add more once I do some more research as to what it is pre-Calamity rangers do.

I completely agree. Raised Baptist, now non-denominational. My headcanon for the ranger station is that there were Christians from a number of different denominations across the state (a few Baptists, a few Pentecostals, a few Lutherans, one Messianic Jew, etc.) and, with Calamity causing what it was named for, they put their differences aside and cobbled their various traditions together for church services and holidays. (Except for the Baptist potluck tradition. They got rid of that one pretty quickly, though they joked about keeping a few recipes for eggplant macaroni casserole around in case they needed to frighten off another Koschei. )

Here's mine:

I don't know. The town could last a while longer than you think if someone informed a certain matter manipulator how much fun "Vondra" is to say and how nice his beard is.

Images affect perception. Just imagine if, during Nightweilder's first appearance, Sanderson had included a picture of this fine gentleman. His characterization would have taken a much more, shall we say, colorful turn in the mind of the reader. On that note, choosing the picture of a tough but fair military leader for Vondra was a good choice. No, I like him. I think The Dalles will add a nice contrast to Portland.

As I was reading his bio, I kept thinking of Nathaniel Taylor from Terra Nova. And then I got to his picture, and now I won't be able to see him looking any differently. I like him.

Thanks. I know she probably doesn't do it on purpose, but it feels that way when I start to say something and she raises her voice to be heard over what I'm saying. I know I need to find a way to just live with it, but….it's just hard, I guess.