Voidus

"Sorry." Laurelai replied, shaking her head. "I could make some, but it reverts back as soon as you start burning it." It was something she'd experimented with when she first joined the DA, wondering if she could help with supplies for their allomancers. She'd read the previous research on the subject but replication studies were important after all, not enough researchers focused on confirming that previous findings were reproducible. But it had turned out that dissolving metal tended to interfere with the Stamp pretty quickly, unless it was kept outside the body. But that either meant swallowing a metal wire and leaving part of it exposed or stamping the person themselves. The former wasn't practical and the second was too difficult to maintain for any length of time. "If you start running out let us know." She continued distractedly as she pulled out a map of the city to look over. "Tin isn't exactly expensive but it saves a trip to find a metallurgist." She flattened out the map and began looking towards the areas around plasmacore, devoting as much of it to memory as she could.

Whisper landed lightly on her feet, using a nearby rooftop to take a break and glance around. The nearby creatures all seemed to be dealt with for the moment, others were still roaming around the streets but the area around her and Kumiko seemed clear for now. Keep fighting? She asked, sending the message to Laurelai and Lita as well. Plenty more on streets. Clear here for now though. Or continue looking out? Groups of people seemed to be gathering in the streets as well, forming large mobs that began roaming around. A coloured haze seemed to hang around these groups as they travelled, picking fights with others they met. None of those were nearby either for now, but they seemed to be spreading throughout the city. Something else too. She sent. People attacking each other. Strange haze. She leapt back down from the roof, next to Kumiko. Or continue to building? She signed, looking up curiously. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurelai frowned as she received the reports, trading a glance with KanMien. "Why would you unleash something like this? Even a basic cleanup team could deal with them in half an hour." The Kandra asked. It was unusual, creatures like that did little other than add to the chaos of the city. She'd heard about something similar happening in the seven days war but the intention then had simply been to warn off the invading armies. Was this Plasmacore trying to warn the guilds off from attacking? But the guilds already had a strong presence inside the city this time, chaos everywhere would do little other than distract their forces to deal with them before proceeding. "Stalling for time?" She suggested. "Or possibly trying to frame us for it? Cause more conflict between the DA and other guilds. But to what end?" She sent another report on towards Mac, including some speculation but trying mainly to keep to the facts. "Can you ask them to continue with the infiltration?" She asked KanMien. "There are plenty of others who can handle the fighting in the city, they're the ones who are closest to PlasmaCore right now, we need intel." Her mind was whirling, trying to connect the pieces and make sense of what the goal might be, but a sudden movement distracted her. A reply from Mac and Voidus. Take those you have with you, need you to speak with someone in TUBA to let them know we haven't released anything yet. Don't want them to get jumpy and start distracting us. Stay out of combat. Keep safe. She hesitated before repeating the message aloud for Lita and KanMien. The tone had seemed a little unusual, in all her time with the DA she hadn't been told to keep safe before. She'd been told to be careful, be cautious, but that was generally to avoid ruining an experiment or operation, not out of concern for personal safety. She dismissed the thought, spanreed signals couldn't be falsified after all, they could only send and receive to what they were connected to. @kenod, @ZincAboutIt

Depends on what exactly the object is, but yes probably.

Whisper scanned the message quickly before connecting gazes with Kumiko again. She gave a small nod before stepping back out of the way of another frying pan as it hurtled between them. Seem slow. But large numbers. Couldn't count. Couldn't see any different ones. She brought her knee up and slammed it into the face of one of them, catching it just after a downswing. Seem fragile enough. Not healing or harder than others. The pen continued to spin in her hand as her feet danced around underneath her ocasionally spinning up for a counter but mostly just dodging, leaping and keeping some distance. Haven't seen spikes.

There's something of a war going on in the main city of the RP at the moment, things haven't yet gotten to heated but that's an obvious place to start. Otherwise we have a lot of location threads but I think it might be easier for people to recommend a thread for you once you've got an idea for a character, some threads will be more suitable for cetain types of characters than others and having an idea of who you can interact with might also be good. Hope you have fun and let us know if you have any questions

Whisper ducked at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a frying pan as it whistled past her head, she bent deeply at the knee and then sprang up soaring eight feet into the air and rotating, her left leg spun out as she began to drop, adding to her rotation and slamming into the head of the creature that tried to attack her. She let the recoil of her kick push her away to gain some distance, looking at the now cracked skull of the creature as it stood, no longer moving. She took a sharp intake of breath, streams of Stormlight pulled out of various pouches around her body, only to be sent twisting into the air again and forming a myriad of images that began dashing in all directions. Whisper wove in and out of her illusions, taking swipes as the strange creatures were distracted or misled. She cracked a shin, then spun with the recoil, using her hand on the ground to pivot around she swept her other leg out, tripping several others nearby before managing to land on her feet, crouching down again and then leaping for a nearby rooftop to gain a vantage. Lots. She sent to Kumiko as she watched her taking a picture of herself with one. More coming still. All over city. She looked over the masses of creatures swarming the nearby streets. Attack? Defend? Retreat? She asked as she leaped back down, punctuating the final question by stabbing the spike she was using through the back of the necks of one of the creatures. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurelai scanned the photo and began thinking back to her times in the department of records, her eyes began darting around the room as she recalled file after file. Bird-type abominations we have in plenty, bird-humanoid hybrids are less frequent. Bird-humanoid hybrids whose favoured weapon is a frying pan? Her eyes darted around three more time before finally settling. No, definitely not us. "Can you ask them to check if any of them are Invested, and if so what percentage approximately." Laurelai asked, turning to KanMien. "Ideally we'll need numbers, abilities, any varieties or physical differences, if any spikes are present, standard threat level evaluation." She reached into a pocket to pull out her pen but caught Lita out of the corner of her eye, already spinning her pen in Alleycant. "Thanks." Laurelai said with a nod. "Looks like the time for subtlety may have passed us by, but for now we should continue passing intel." She downed the last few dregs of port in her glass and set it down on the table before picking up her own pen and beginning to send messages to contacts in the department of records, just in case anything like these had been seen previously.

Whisper looked out, straining her eyes to try and see what Kumiko was detecting but couldn't manage to make anything out. Any gaps? She signed to Kumiko. Should look around to check. She kept a cautious eye out on the area that Kumiko had indicated but didn't lessen her vigilance towards the rest of their surroundings, an attack could still come from any direction. She began walking a little closer, keeping the same pace as before and trying to remain inconspicuous as they moved. Any people? She asked Kumiko as they began circling around the building.

Yep. So with 18 votes and a fair amount of time allowed for people to vote in I think we can call this one, it's a very close poll so I'd ask you to try to limit involvement to a degree given that some people seemed to have some concerns about the character, but approved for use. EDIT: Result of the poll was in favour of 'Yes', with votes at: Yes (10), No (8) for 'Should Allak be approved? (Page 80)

Whisper took a deep breath in, tasting the cool air around them, the faint humidity. She kept all her senses alert for anything that was approaching but kept her silhouette as small and unnoticeable as possible. She sniffed at the air, trying to see if there was anything which might evade sight or sound and trying to pass it off as a small sniffle when she paused, looking back at Kumiko and frowning. She paused in her step for a moment before shaking herself and moving on, eyes back on the ground. Coincidence. She thought dismissively, but kept a closer eye on her companion.

Yeah bonding with the Nightwatcher would be problematic given that they need to remain on Roshar and I don't think you could leave your spren on another world and still have access to your surges.

Whisper nodded, hunching her shoulders forward a little, the cloak that she wore hung forward, obscuring her figure a little more. She looked down at the ground, only glancing up to give quick, furtive glances at their surroundings as though nervous and began scuttling forwards through the streets. The streets were mostly empty here, the residents had gone inside either due to the sounds of fighting or possibly due to Scadrian superstition at the mists. Whispers feet padded gently against the ground as she walked, trying to keep an eye on Kumiko as they traveled.

Just wanted to say that this post is a perfect example of how responses to intro threads could be done and still potentially invite people in to the Alleyverse. It's not only about the AV, not too aggressive in approach, mentions plenty of other sections of the site in case they might also interest the OP and is non-generic which is always good as well. So yeah, posts like that ^ are what we're aiming for.

There certainly are limits but there's no easy line in the sand I could point to, part of it is going to be based on not having an OP character though rather than necessarily limitations of the Nightwatcher (Of which we don't really know) so if you said that your Boon was holding the Shard of Cultivation then that'd be a firm no.

Yep. For record-keeping purposes, vote was closed and final tally was Yes: 9 No: 3 For 'Should Galvris be approved'

Whisper walked silently out of an Alley with Kumiko, she'd taken on a different appearance as they travelled and Kumiko had stopped by a Stranger for a moment, somehow copying one of their abilities. As they exited the Alley she pointed to the top of a nearby apartment building, it had a flat roof, high up and was close to PlasmaCore without being right next to it. Good vantage. She signed briefly in Alleycant. Walk around first? Or look from above? @kenod

Voidus looked over the rapidly emptying Alley. Denizens had quietly begun to leave, either to return to important experiments or to prepare for what was about to happen. Mac was coordinating their intelligence, taking in reports and collating the information together before dispensing it to those who needed it. The Stranger had returned to some of his labs to check up on experiments, and a lucky thing, the last thing they needed to deal with was a rogue byproduct of his research into temporal anomalies wandering the city. And what do I do? Voidus thought as an area of space was left around him. We're taking the slow and steady approach for now so this isn't the time for grandstanding or elaborate displays. The other Denizens gave him a wide berth as they moved, many giving nods of respect, a few younger denizens straight up bowing to him. When did that start happening? He wondered for perhaps the thousandth time. He'd never made any pretenses of godhood, never asked for that kind of behaviour. But slowly it had grown over time, leaving him apart from the others. Well, Mac's coming along nicely and the Stranger's back at least. The thought gave him some comfort. But this still doesn't solve the problem of what to do. He could still feel it, that slight wayward pull against the Void, the sense of wrongness that might threaten everything. With a suddenness of movement that seemed to startle his surroundings, Voidus began striding along the Alley. As he moved he took out a small, slender metallic spike and gave it a little twirl. Checking on the Worldspike. Voidus signed to Mac as he vanished. Let me know if anything changes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appearing in a nearby Alley, Voidus took a deep breath of air. He usually preferred the closed off spaces of the Alleys or the darkness of his sanctum, but with this irritation hanging over him something drove him to action rather than his usual deliberate restraint. It felt good to be outside again for the first time in over a year. Walking up to the barrier, he inspected it carefully, running one hand smoothly against the air a short distance away and sketching a few Aons out of piercingly bright light.

There's a roleplay subsection of the site, things can get a little competitive between different factions in one of the roleplays and have a bit of a habit of derailing intro threads, but if you are interested in forum roleplaying games come check it out. And welcome to the Shard

As Renata reached the canopy she could see that the forest ended a short distance away on one side, the direction where it started thinning. Beyond that she could see a low cobblestone wall that extended along the boundary of the forest, the wall seemed to split at sections and form multiple fields which butted up against the base of the forest. Beyond that a small brick house could distantly be seen, a plume of smoke extending from its chimney giving its location away. Fields seemed to extend upon the other side of the house as well and very distantly something loomed in the distance, a series of cliffs or possibly a very large wall, too difficult to make out. To her left the forest extended a ways further, it seemed to end somewhere distantly in that direction as well. What lay beyond could not be seen but the sharp salty bite of seawater could be smelt upon a faint breeze from that direction. In the other two directions the forest seemed to continue without end, though there were a few small patches that looked like clearings.

Laurelai's eyes sparkled as she caught on to KanMien's intention. "Well I feel like that should be permissible." She said with a smile. "And certainly likely to come in handy, but would you be able to turn it on and off? I've read plenty of research notes on the Strangers but I haven't had to work with them much before." Strangers were unsettling at the best of times, you never noticed they were there until they were right in front of you, and even when all they were doing was handing you a file, having someone sneak up at you from right in front of your face was always a little unsettling. They were however, undeniably effective and useful. Whisper hesitated for a moment before silently nodding as well. "Well then." Laurelai said. "Sounds like the start of a plan at least, we can use this place as a meeting point. As long as we have spanreeds among us we should be able to arrange to meet back up. Final toast then?" She raised her glass of port towards the others, a little tense that they were about to be heading out into a situation like this, but satisfied that they stood a good chance of avoiding any direct conflict at least.

Whisper shook her head towards the suggestion, spike spinning once more. Agreement. No abomination. She looked up at KanMien as she signed. Could break promise? Might cause problems. "She's right, we did technically agree not to use any abominations with TUBA, and for the moment it seems like we're trying to maintain some semblance of a relationship so us violating that promise could cause some problems." Laurelai said, frowning a little. "I'd rather not be the cause for an all out guild war erupting in the city again, last time it didn't end too well for anyone."

Hi everyone, I've posted this in the PM as well but just so that I can make sure everyone's seen this and ideally get confirmation from people when they have (Just a quick reply is fine) thought I should post this here as well. There's been an increase of activity in the introduction threads recently, likely due to a number of new recruits to the Alleyverse and returning active members in recent months. This has caused a bit of an issue where people's introduction threads can be taken over by us, which can be a jarring first experience to the Shard. So in the interests of making sure everyone has a positive experience with the Shards I'd like to lay down some guidelines. Don't recruit for guilds in intro threads unless someone has asked about them. If you want to invite someone to the RP, try to do it in a general way like you would if you were suggesting they visit any part of the site. eg. 'We have a really cool roleplay section if you enjoy that kind of thing link' rather than 'TUBA is awful, they can't even bake cookies properly, you should join the DA so you can help us rule the Alleyverse!' (Not that I think anyone actually talks like that but hopefully you get my point) If someone has already recommended the RP don't post just to echo the invitation or provide support for the RP unless the original poster expresses interest or asks any questions about it. If they weren't interested the first time someone recommended it then spamming their topic is unlikely to change their mind. We have introductory and new player threads in our subforum, wait for people to post interest here before getting into any kind of in-depth discussions. Try to avoid back-and-forth debates between other members of the RP that aren't the poster of the intro thread, nothing worse than having your own thread taken over by something you might not want to hear about. In short: Try to keep Alleyverse discussions and recruitment to the Alleyverse, let people know it exists if they might be interested but don't derail the thread and if someone seems like they might be interested, let them know where the subforum is rather than discussing it at length in an unrelated forums. I'll keep an eye on intro threads for now and just remind people if they seem to be stepping too far or may not have read this, but hopefully that won't be necessary

... *Flips tray of cookies over and disappears in a puff of spikes*