Blackhoof

Iconoclast would be the churchy political guy alternately posting links to church websites and criticizing Obama. Later on he deletes his account, and emerges later ranting about the government, linking to anarchist sites and asking if anyone wants to sell him a copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook.

Note to Deathskull- always keep your eye on the ball

Part 1 of 2 Blackhoof takes grey OLIVIA CIPHER COMMENTARY IN THE HOUSE Venture takes red Lady Deathskull opened her eyes. After relaxing in her hotel room for a time, she had decided to return to the arena- the next round of fights had begun. She had loved that team battle in the dome- such excitement! Such a climactic ending! Although it hadn't felt right that any Epic should be defeated by any mortal, even if he had technically won the fight. After that fight, it had been her turn once more. Two winners from the morning were to be pitted against one another- and apparently she would fight someone called Inhuman. Soulcaster had taken his place in his personal box, surrounded by guards and fellow Epics, including the evil-looking woman who had negated Deathskull’s power earlier. An announcer had then introduced the combatants, and with a wave of his hand Soulcaster had plunged them all into the next world of dreams. And so Lady Deathskull found herself, after opening her eyes, in a barren plain. Transferring into the Dreamstate was tough. It kind of hurt, but it also didn't. It was like sliding into Jello mixed with steel. Inhuman walked down the corridor, escorted by 2 Epics, to his next battle in the Dreamstate. Inhuman felt the energy pumping through him and he cracked his knuckles. " The odds are against you winning," the guard on Inhuman's left said. " Deathskull is powerful. " Tell me something I don't know, Inhuman thought. It was time to fight. There was nothing but dirt in all directions. Around her, she could see a faint, ghostly outline of bleachers filled with people, and she could hear the voice of the commentators. A fair distance away, stood her opponent. Bits of random junk lay scattered in a circle around her, and she could sense that they were all metal. She smiled. “A metal manipulator like me facing a close-combat opponent across an empty field, with plenty of metal? This fight will be easy.” “Welcome to Deathskull versus Inhuman!” Olivia called out. “This setting is a plain field and that looks like metal everywhere. I think. At least someone in this arena is!” Pause for dramatic effect and then the crowd laughed at her jab at the contestants. “Oh, no, not plain any more.” She thought too soon, however, as soon the field began to change. Little green shoots began poking up between the dirt, quickly blossoming into plants of all shapes and sizes. Deathskull looked around, bewildered, as twigs sprouted and turned into trees in mere moments. She felt something moving beneath her feet, and looked down to see leaves and mulch forcing their way out of the ground, piling muck around her feet as if she had been standing in under-brush. She shook her feet clean in disgust. The sky darkened, as a thick canopy of tropical trees formed, leaves and branches intermingling to block out the sun nearly completely. “In the jungle! The mighty jungle! The Epics sleep- well, beat each other up- tonight!” She belted, extremely off pitch on purpose. “It looks like Soulcaster’s not letting us have a clean playing field. Well, let’s zoom in on the action over near Inhuman.” She squinted and immediately felt her vision clear. Obviously, Soulcaster was giving the spectators a better view. In seconds the once-empty field had become a thick, muggy, vine-choked jungle.She could barely see six feet in either direction. She could certinly not see Inhuman anymore. With a sigh, she realised that this would be a harder fight than she had anticipated. Inhuman was surprised by the jungle. He had been dreading the open ground, but the jungle gave him the advantage. He looked down at his armor. Leather and Kevlar, no metal in sight. Instead of blades, he had 2 carbon fiber batons. Soft leather boots covered his feet and a bow and quiver were slung over his back. The arrows were obsidian tipped, with deadly poison coating them. “Look at that weaponry. No metal at all for Inhuman. Old fashion long range weapons- just like both of you guys. Look at that fashion sense. It’s dreadful. Oh, now Inhuman’s on the run.” Inhuman picked a direction and started running, jumping over roots and bushes. After about a minute, he saw her. Deathskull was standing her armor, her skull mask looking super grotesque. Quickly Inhuman analyzed her. She could shape her armor into blades and clubs. Any metal was her's to command. But he had advanced strength and healing. The battle would be a even match. Almost on command, he started adapting. Bone shot under his skin forming a second armor. Inhuman's knuckle bones thickened, and his lungs changed to adapt to the cloying jungle air. Now he was shapeshifting or something. “Okay, so now you’re changing shapes. Hey, Bone’s not the only one here who can change her bone structure. Huh. Didn’t realize that.” He started sprinting, balling up his fist. Deathskull didn't see him until his fist crashed into the side of her helmet. “Going through the jungle, Inhuman’s getting the jump on Deathskull. YOU KNOW YOU GUYS MIGHT AVOID GETTING JUMPED ON IF YOU ACTUALLY LISTENED TO ME.” She cackled as Deathskull completely ignored the warning and Inhuman was just about to… yes, just about to hit her. She looked around, trying to spot Inhuman. She raked her brain to remember his powers- strength, and…. stealth? No…. Strength and…. shape-shifting? Something like that. He could change his body somehow, that was for sure. Deathskull was woken out of her musings when she heard something behind her. Turning, she had barely registered the sound when something hard and strong slammed into her helmet, knocking her off her feet. She cried out and used her power to fly away from the ground before hitting it. Her helmet had been dented by the attack, and was digging into the side of her head painfully. With a thought, she repaired the damage. Looking down, Inhuman was nowhere to be seen. “Great, another coward who hides from me….” “Hey, making fun of your opponent is my job!” Olivia chuckled. “In case you missed it, Deathskull said ‘Great, another coward who hides from me…’ He’s not hiding, he’s winning.” She tried to fly higher, above the tree line, but the thick layers of branches and vines proved too hard to maneuver through. It appeared as though flying would not be much of an option. “Flying? You’re going to crash into the roof!” She noticed as Soulcaster was switching up the arena just as she was trying, though she doubted anyone else would notice. She rolled her eyes and ignored the commentator. Useless cretin. Settling closer to the ground, she levitated a few feet from the underbrush and scanned the trees. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…..” Deathskull smiled, her skull-helmet matching her in its horror. Suddenly, she formed her gauntlets into two sets of knives, and threw them all around her into the jungle. A dozen sharp knives shot away from her at high speed, impaling trees and cutting apart underbrush. When they had settled, she pulled them back, and threw them again. “Let’s see how you like this!” She hissed. “Ooh! Pointy things! I like pointy things!” Olivia smirked as she watched Inhuman get impaled. “Ouch! That looks like it’ll hurt.” Inhuman groaned, holding his side, and pulled the dagger out of his side. The wound started to close, blood clotting. Inhuman looked at his hand. All of the knuckles were broken, but they were healing. Deathskull's metal was hard. Inhuman tried to think back upon the words of his mentor, an Epic named Heatshift. Heatshift had taught him to fight quickly and ruthlessly. Inhuman had listened to Heatshift's advice, before he killed him. “But, some kind of healing ability? Hm. Good thing you had one or it would be GAME OVER.” Inhuman ear's adapted to the noisy jungle, allowing him to sift through sounds. He could hear Deathskull breathing. " It's time to strike," Inhuman whispered. It was his catchphrase in the arena. Inhuman started running, pulling out his baton's. Deathskull twisted and saw him, then raised her forearms in a X. His batons shattered. Inhuman cursed, throwing himself to the side, as Deathskull's fist shattered his ribs. The metal manipulator turned, her skull face grinning, and Inhuman knew he was in trouble. “As opposed to not being the time to strike?” Olivia quipped, her usual response to Inhuman’s catchphrase. “Or perhaps the time to strike being tomorrow?” Lady Deathskull gasped as she heard movement behind her, twisting just in time to see Inhuman leaping towards her, black batons arcing downwards. Without thinking she raised her arms in an X shape, and reinforced them as much as she could in the split seconds before the attack made contact. With a splitting crack, the batons shattered, and she punched the Epic in the side as he leapt away. “Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.”

Don't sweat it

So she'd basically be Elsa? well items that are more useful to more people are worth more, and are in shorter supply, are worth more. Things like weapons and other technology probably aren't worth much, since Arsenal can make them on the spot as required, but for normal civilians I'm not sure what he would make.

Atrophy sees Drainer's obvious lust for his servants like a very judgemental person would see someone who had a lust for dogs. Vile. ah cool, that clears it up for me.

Just as a sort of general curiosity, Cornucopia would spend a decent part of many days getting these crops going, wouldn't she? I assume she doesn't have to physically plant each item? That would be far too time-consuming. She'd have to plant the first of a type of items though, whenever the city need it.

Atrophy's brow furrowed as his phone began buzzing. He was getting a call? No-one ever called him. Nor did he care for them to, truthfully. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his mobile and tapped it, answering the call. "Is there some reason for this call?" He asked testily. "I am in the middle of very important business." An exciting scene had just begun in his book. A calm, male voice replied, "Excuse me sir, I assume that I am speaking with Atrophy?" "Most definitely. Now if you would be so kind as to get to a point....?" The voice, barely shaking as a vanilla's should have been, continued. "I am speaking on behalf of Queen Cornucopia. My mistress requires your assistance." Atrophy frowned. "Assistance? Assistance with what?" They never required him- thankfully. Most Epics, well people in general, detested him and preferred to have as little contact with him as possible. A situation that Atrophy was more than happy to maintain. "Queen Cornucopia did not inform me, as it was not relevant for either myself or you to know." Atrophy sighed. "Very well, I will help her with whatever little task she needs me for. Where does she want me to go?" "She said that she will come and pick you up." "Here? When?" "Immediately, sir." As the servant replied, Atrophy heard a helicopter in the distance, getting closer. He had heard it pass nearby not long ago, and had been faintly aware of it hovering over the north-eastern fields since. The sound was getting louder- soon it would be on top of him. Atrophy sighed, and terminated the call. Well, at least he could thank her for the lovely greenery now. Hopefully this task would not detract from his leisure time overly much. He was a busy, busy man. The skeletal Epic rose, and informed a servant in a nearby room that he would be gone for an unknown period of time, but would return as soon as possible after serving one of the Queens. Exiting the house, Atrophy waited in his front lawn, playing idly with a flowery bush, while the helicopter descended onto the quiet street, rotors now a deafening roar. The door facing him opened as the helicopter hovered mere feet above the ground, and a human leaned out, gesturing for Atrophy to come. rolling his eyes, the walking skeleton slowly made his way over to the copter and climbed in. Waiting for him was the regal Queen who supplied the city with all of its resources. "Queen Cornucopia," Atrophy smiled, bowing slightly as he sat down. "What a transcendent morning to be conscripted into menial tasks at short notice on. Oh, and thank you for all the greenery- the view from my windows is quite pleasant."

Nice post Mckee! also Voidus, Atrophy lives in the north of the city, in the same general neighborhood as Drainer. He knows and despises him, in fact. and in case anyone was curious or uncertain, I personally pronounce his name as At-row-fee, as opposed to At-row-fi. while I would pronounce the word atrophy (as in, "my muscles are starting to atrophy") as at-row-fi, but the different inflection at the end implies almost a different tense of the word. Muscles "at-row-fi", while someone experiences "at-row-fee". As Atrophy is a noun, and not an action, I'd personally pronounce it as "At-row-fee".

haha sounds good. Want to take it to PM now to plan their interactions, or just eave the PMing until you've made the post where she sends for him? Yeah I don't agree with the anti-GMO stance they take either.

I suggested an idea a few pages back, but it must have gotten lost amid all the chatter Firstly, he mildly wants to thank her for maintaining all the trees and greenery around Corvallis, so he can have a nice view. For an actual reason, what if she asks/demands his help in subduing the ghouls that she has captured? Obviously she has them well restrained now, but in order to move and study them it would certainly be safer to have Atrophy around, weakening or outright killing their arm, leg and mouth muscles. Do the Greens appeal to you at all, then? Thanks to our preferential voting system we can vote for whomever we like without the vote going to waste! yay!

Swert What do you think, Voidus? As a member of the Labor Party (the other party) I am also disappointed by the policies that my party has stuck to. However, they have promised better oversight of the detention centres, and a doubling of our humanitarian intake, so I am comfortable in supporting them over the Liberal Party. Bad things with some good bits are better than bad things with no good bits, after all. as others have said, I'm not sure this would work well. Given how Epics have reacted with their weaknesses in the past, I'd think she would be incredibly wary and paranoid about giving her weakness to anyone. Epics aren't known to be trustworthy after all. She is essentially giving him complete power over her. At any point he could kill her for good by using her weakness, and I can't see any Epic really tolerating that hanging over them, unless they have no choice, or are being otherwise dominated. Like Newton for instance, who couldn't really escape Babilar and Regalia even if she wanted to.

that is true.

hmm that does sound like more of a fanfic than anything. Still, in my humble opinion I don't see an issue with you writing something like that in this forum that is canon (well as canon as this RP is anyway ) in the setting of this RP. I think a sub-plot within another thread might distract from the action of that thread, and dilute your own tale at the same time. A separate thread within this forum would be best I think. But obviously the actual owners/creators of this RP have the more important say aha

That sounds pretty interesting. Although to be honest, Oregon is getting pretty crowded, so I think adding in more Epics and Epic-controlled cities (other than Eugene which we have a solid plan for sometime in the future) is stretching it in my humble opinion. What if these characters are teleported away from an existing city, and they have to travel primarily through other places (California maybe?) to get back?

yeah poor evil Epics of ours hahahaha

good idea! Atrophy did want to thank Cornucopia for maintaining the trees in Corvallis. For an actual reason though, maybe she asks/demands his help subduing the ghouls for better study? Obviously she can restrain them but its much easier to study them when they are not struggling too much. That would get him out of the house and interacting for a bit.

that is an interesting thought about his weakness being a fear of inadequacy. Maybe it would be triggered by a significant enough failure of his? Like he is trying to accomplish a certain goal and he fails, so he loses his powers for a time. It would fit well as a counter-point to the confident and calm exterior he projects most of the time Not sure if it would have been triggered during Firefight though, he certainly fails to kill David and Prof despite trying a number of times. Perhaps those failures are not significant or final enough (he can always kill them later, and their living is part of the plan anyway) or perhasp he personally didn't care enough for it to count. Or maybe, as you said, someone saying something that makes him doubt himself. That seems hard to achieve though, given his fanaticism.

haha thanks Atrophy is a little hard to write for, as I don't have a solid handle on how his personality manifests yet and he has nothing to actually do but I'm planning on getting him into interactions with Mestiv's characters when we catch up with them.

Atrophy yawned as he listened to Rainmaker's broadcast. Boring, boring, boring. The servants had all gathered around to watch- attendance was mandatory, after all. They all seemed at least a little bit more interested than Atrophy- his gaunt face and sunken eyes the very picture of apathy. The broadcast finished and the servants looked at each other, mumbling quietly amongst themselves. Atrophy yawned once more, stood up, and stretched. "And now, mortals, the time has come for you to return to your menial tasks and pointless endeavours. And someone go ask around for a new book for me. Preferably the next book in the Inheritance Cycle, but any fiction novel of any genre will suffice to entertain me, no matter how poor the penmanship." The servants scattered around to their tasks, and Atrophy sighed contentedly. A servant, Bronwyn, approached him, bowing her head and avoiding eye contact. "Excuse me master, but I was planning to go get the ingredients for lunch and dinner today. If I may ask, what would you like?" Atrophy considered the question, stroking his pointed chin. "As demeaning as the requiring of sustenance is for me, I do enjoy the taste and texture of chicken curry. I haven't had that since before I came here. Tell me human, do you know how to cook curry?" Bronwyn hesitated, and replied, "Well, I never have before, master, but I-" "Then find someone who can or learn. Be a darling slave and go fetch those food prerequisites, would you kindly?" Bronwyn nodded and quickly made her exit. Atrophy settled down and continued reading. Another peaceful, quiet morning in Corvallis.

Scribbler is redeemed forever!

Love the Epics, Comatose! and I like how you linked them with Insight's crew

That's such a Rainmaker thing to do- tell someone to do something they can't do yet and make them wait for her

I ship Nighthound with a painful death, myself Dead/hound and Night/dead are music to my ears!

yeah, its amazing how fast it must ahave been when it first started. Huge amounts of portland action just in august! I'm envious ah well, thats the nature of having more than a few people involved.