The Young Pyromancer

How you going to worldhop?

Viktor Eventide waited patiently outside the house of a man named Oliver Woodsley. The man was currently inside, having lunch with his son Charles, his wife having been murdered 5 years ago. All in all, the man had had a reasonably comfortable life. That was not to last. Viktor heard a rattling at the door in front of him. The man stepped out, head turned to his son behind him. "Charles-" Viktor allowed the man to notice him as his head turned. He savored the sharp intake of breath, the quickening heartbeat, the realization. "What in the dickens-" Like a snake, Viktor struck, arm lashing out to grasp the throat of his prey. The rest of the man's words were cut off by the vise-like grip of the Epic. The child, Charles, froze just inside the house. "Do you know how hard it is to find someone who knows how to work a sundial these days?" Viktor's voice was as cold as his gaze as he stared unblinkingly at the struggling man in his hand, mouth flapping open and closed like an oxygen-starved fish. Power coursed through his hand, leeching hours of hard work and dedication in moments. "Very few still bother with such archaic methods of telling time." Contempt filled his voice. "Of course, you have one right in your backyard, don't you? You always had a knack for noticing minute changes in the angle of the shadow." Viktor checked his watch. Time was running short, and he wouldn't be able to drain the man for anything else. That was a pity. Viktor never was one to waste food. "Unfortunately, we may have to cut this short." He glanced down at the struggling man, his fingers growing weaker as they tried to pry apart the unyielding iron that was Viktor's hand. The man was able to breathe slightly, though he was still slowly suffocating. It hadn't been too long yet, but the power flow into Viktor's body was ebbing. The man's skill was running out. After all, one could only be so skilled at perceiving the time as shown by a sundial. But that was fine. Viktor already had excellent eyesight, and that would help a great deal. As the last dregs of skill left the man's body, a flick of the wrist brought a hidden dagger from the sleeve of his suit into a hand already moving to stab the man's heart. Viktor released the man just as his son screamed out in pain and denial. Charles rushed forward, embracing the fallen corpse, then glared with tear-ridden eyes the man who had killed his father. Viktor smiled bitterly at the boy, before stepping back. "Such is the circle of life, even though all of us sometimes wish it weren't so." Viktor Eventide stepped back into the shadows, as the boy let out a primal scream of rage. "All of us."

Hello?

Nicroburst spoke to Blindside without turning his head. ”Check your active. You know, the one where you look like you’re somewhere else. Any passives should still work.” Nicroburst was surprised at how friendly this Epic and her companion were. Nicroburst knew most Epics were either jerks or insane, but he had only ever been irritable sometimes. He’d assumed that all the other nice Epics got exploited and killed pretty early on. These people, however, weren’t too bad. He shot a glance at Blindside to see how she was taking everything. His hand casually gripped the hilt of his knife, in a way that wouldn’t be obvious, just in case. Nicroburst knew some Epics who had freaked out when they realized that their powers had stopped working. He still had some of the scars.

And it would also mess up the scene you were watching as well! I mean, the shadows overlapping would make it really hard to tell what was happening at either point in the movie.

Such a WASTE of Atium!

That's a meta-knack. So that would probably be denied. Or maybe you become an elim.

The GM will probably twist it.

You can always claim you don't have a soul. Anyone can.

Yay! I was on Shardcast! Oh wait, all of my clues would have worked on Vin's sister too.

I don't think so. I'd play it. Shouldn't the sorcery thing not work if they sold their soul? EDIT: Maybe it could be their soul possessing someone! Also, Flame on!

Kill murderers might be good.

Kirito thought about it. "Anvil's out because I need materials first, so I guess exploring?"

Now it's someone elses turn.

NP.

"Happy birthday?' the strange figure in the oil offered. The woman offered cake, which was recommended by her male entourage. Nicroburst thought about it. "You know what? Why not." He grinned. "I'm Nicroburst. I'd shake your hand, but, well, you probably wouldn't appreciate it. This is the aforementioned perception Epic, who doesn't realize her power has stopped working." He jerked a thumb at his covert companion.

Nicroburst was walking down the street with Blindside when all of a sudden three figures appeared in front of them. The one directly in front of them gestured, and the thing in front of her fell to the ground again. The woman folded her arms. "I can do a lot worse than that, if you don't explain why we're here instead of the place I picked." Nicroburst looked at the sky and let out a loud groan. "Of course, not one, not two, but three in one day. And if you count them individually, it's what, 8? First an ambush, then the sky blacks out, then I just have to be noble and help someone up, and they turn out to be a sparking perception Epic who gives me a headache, and then, when I finally get a handle on things, a pair of Epics appear from thin air and start a fight! Oh, and the whole thing happens to be on my sparking birthday!"

Jacklyn was terrified. Or was she? She was being escorted somewhere else. Meeting with someone called... Quietus? She checked the pamphlet. Head of security. The guards around her were giving her pitying glances. She was visibly nervous, and that might have contributed, but still... "So, um... who is Quietus?" The man walked through the base. It was tricky, what with the hidden paths, the pitfalls, and the spikes in the northern part. It was a pretty routine day, if any day working for a mysterious Epic overlord was routine. Still, he admitted with a smirk, he was pretty indispensable, if he did say so himself. He walked along the path, using a wooden stick, just to be careful. And then a woman walked out of a place the man knew to be a wall.

Viktor blinked. "You should probably avoid South Common, though it is not necessarily what it seems. The biggest powers are probably the Epic known as Epoch, The Belt, an underground motivator group that has been lurking about, and the Epic known as Typhon. There is also two other large groups, but they are mostly filled with rabble." Viktor allowed a note of condescension into his words. "There is a government of humans that only survives by bargaining with Epoch to the east, but they have barely any real power. Oh, and there's us." Viktor smiled and sipped his tea. "I would say the city isn't very dangerous if you don't draw attention to yourself. Most of the headstrong Epics left for Calgary long ago, or were 'disappeared'. If you went around the border, by which I assume you mean the part inside the bubble, a lot of it is no man's land." Viktor paused, considering. Of course, he didn't actually have to pause. He had already figured out the answer. Viktor would unsettle the man if he answered a question like that right away. "About five," he said slowly. "And as to the number of Epics, I have no idea." Viktor leaned forward. "Now, I have a question for you. What is your goal?" Oh, and please don't burn fractals in the carpet." Nicroburst shrugged. "They are normal people. They only survive due to making a bunch of deals with ERA. I heard they were planning on arranging something with Steelheart of all people, but, well, obviously that didn't work out. Honestly, I think they are kind of brave, to maintain independence like that." "So what's with you?"

A command that long on a sword would take a MASSIVE amount of investiture.

"I'm mostly fine. I would like to have access to a vocational caster though, to see if the rune system corresponds." Kirito checked her status page again. "Besides that, access to an anvil would be nice. I built my character to be mostly self-sufficient, so I can do most of the work myself. I can mine materials, and craft and smelt them into items , and then enchant them. I might be able to make specialized arrowheads, but they aren't included in the list of items I can make, so I'd have to make at least the first myself. Oh, and learning swordplay would be kinda cool, I guess."

Why have none of the Shards left the starcluster that is the cosmere?

"So, where do you want to go first?"

What's that?

Poke. Is anybody going to respond in-thread?