Silus - Shard of Flame

Would it be a private board? How would you get in?

A Brandon written test about Schlock and Martians? BEST TEST OF ALL TIMES.

More Hunger Games spoilers.

Jack Mckinney He slips the axe from his back and pulls a katana from his belt. You aren't sure whether that was there before or not. He runs at you. He's not slow. River He chuckles at how flustered you are. "It's been a while since I got to freak someone out like that." He laughs, clamping his hand on your shoulder; the reassuring feel is comforting. "Also been a while since I've run an actual store. That's where I started out, you know, at the bottom, but I've been working my way up for almost fifty years now. Still, trying to sell something the old fashion way feels good. "Don't worry yourself too much. Your noble manner was just a little grating, you might want to do something about that. A little dash of humility goes a long way. Sure, presenting a solid front in a business arrangement is important, but a man's pocket reflects his thoughts, especially with people." He turns back to the display. "The Overdriver is a rare piece, likely you won't ever see another one. I'd put its price about...three emerald broams?"

"FirstRainbowRose, Awardless of 17th Shard, wore a Shallan cosplay on the day she was to stalk an Author."

I concur with this. Cobalt Guard is awesome.

Jack Mckinney The man glances at you, then grunts a greeting. He's massive, at least six and half feet tall and built like a bearmech. He has the palish complexion and streak of golden hair typical to Eastgaters, and he wears the pelt of a velocihound as a coat. Obviously a skilled hunter, since velocihounds are notoriously difficult to catch, though the large, double sided axe on his back couldn't hurt his chances. "This match: Jack McKinney versus Tank!" Jezebel is refereeing again, which seems to be a pretty easy job. "Ready!" He starts to shift, cracking his neck as he does so. "Set!" His aura fades, leaving him pretty similar to what he looked like before. "GO!" Ambrosius The magic shop is cleaner than you expected, almost pristine. The counter is shiny. The contrast with the wares on display is striking, the various incenses clashing with what might be disinfectant in the air. Ringing the little silver bell on the counter brings out a middle aged man with dark eyes and hair streaked with grey, with a pointed face and a brilliantly white lab coat pressed to perfection. The man looks you over with disdain. "Can I help you?" River The smile in his eyes disappears, but the smile on his mouth remains. His voice is low. "River of Riverheart, you seem to be suffering under the delusion that I need your business. And frankly I doubt you can afford it. You obviously don't know who I am, which doesn't surprise me, considering the backwards little house you come from. "My name is Garson Gustav." The name sends a small chill down your spine. You've heard of this man, the name whispered among the noble elite, the supplier of powerful Spheretech, who runs a world-spanning business empire. Even the most powerful of men knows not to cross Garson Gustav, who has more than a few Spheremorphs in his clientele. The smile is back, as if it never left. His voice back to its slightly accented, jolly self. "An Overdriver, my boy, is a powerful piece of Spheretech indeed. When you activate it, your Form is Evolved, for a short time, into one of its possible Evolutions. Once the Overdrive ends, you're automatically shifted into another Form, unable to use the Overdrived Form for a few hours, but the power boost is an edge that most would kill for. A Dynamic Overdriver is even better. Ya see, most Overdrivers have a set level of power and cost, but a Dynamic one lets ya pick. You can choose, say, between a first level Overdrive, which Evolves your Form once, or a third, which Evolves it three times, but with three times the burnout time. You could take that Black Mage Formsphere and Overdrive it to a Arcane Mage or an Elemental, but that depends on how much you're willing to risk on the luck of the draw." Eerongal "Tibbers may be dumb, but there's not much I can do about that, brains made of stuffing and all. And I'll pass on the tips. This tournament is knockout, one loss out, so I don't think I'll be doing much fighting. But I think I'll stick around anyway, maybe see somebody kick you around." She grins. The healer applies a salve on the smaller burns, which works remarkably fast. But she pulls out a fabrial for the worse ones. This surprises you, as fabrials aren't just rare, but incredibly expensive since they run exclusively on stormlight - the single most valuable form of raw magical energy in the world. This makes infused spheres, which hold and generate stormlight, more valuable than all other forms of currency. A single emerald broam is enough to keep a village of over a hundred people in food and luxuries for a month. Regardless of the expense, the feeling of your burns healing up is worth every ray. She frowns when you mention the Furies. "I've been in the group my whole life. Not much choice when you're-" She stops suddenly, then turns around and lays her head back down. "You're hammer gave me a splitting headache, Paladin, so I hope you don't mind if I sleep it off."

In Alethi there is no word for a lord that doesn't make reference to being a lighteyes, the two are completely synonymous. Though Darklord Kaladin has a nice ring to it. "In corner number one we have Darklord Kaladin, slayer of Shardbearers and Radiant Knight! And in THIS corner we have... "STORMAGEDDON, DARK LORD OF ALL!" *cue crying baby*

If I were a gambling man I could probably make a pretty penny taking bets on your grades.

On your last point, a lot of the tales of his ridiculous healing are exaggerated, especially his injuries. He was never fully decapitated, and never reduced to a skeleton, or he would be dead, none of the Metallic Arts could save him from those. There's some things I wish I could say, but can't. Darn spoilers.

I have an ARC of AoL and it has the illustration of the Feruchemical table, but I was disappointed that it didn't have any information. Can't wait for the release! My guess is that the only way to seriously affect a normal human with Connection tapping would be if you're Compounding. Now I just want to know which metal it is! I doubt that you could totally control someone, though.

I started Startide Rising a while ago, but I couldn't get through it. The pacing was too slack for me.

Roving bandits, mainly, with a tendency toward burning out small villages, but that's off of a job. They're very effective killers, usually armed with magic or tech. Their leader is known as the Duchess of Wrath, who's said to be as beautiful as a sunset yet deadly as a Sun Wyrm - which is pretty freaking deadly.

River "Of course you're not! I see a distinguished character such as yourself has no need for such things as immunity from fire." The note of sarcasm is not lost on you, and you can see the look he gives your singed hair. "If you'll come around here-" he leads around to the other side of the display "-you'll see a Formsphere we have, with a nifty built in component." You see the Formsphere, a swirling purple color with a rainbow reflective sheen, connected to a silvery ring around it, a socket component similar to the orange tinted Fire Eater component from the last one he showed you. "The Formsphere isn't much, a Black Mage, but the component is the true beauty, a Dynamic Overdriver. If you're familiar with the piece you'll know that a Basic Form is the best option for such a component. Surely, a gentleman such as yourself-" his eyes sweep over your clothes, grubby from your travels to the meeting place and the match you just came out of "-would be familiar with it?"

It's true, the king's wife is back in the capital, but it doesn't inhibit the fact that there are quite a few prominent Kholins running around and calling them all by their surnames is simply impractical and confusing.

It's not actually up. They only have the first round on the brackets. The next rounds play a little differently, so you'll find out during the announcements prior to the second round, which starts at noon the next day.

Need to get to bed, so I won't go into detail here, but there's one thing I wanted to mention. Brandon said - and, Zas, catch me if I'm wrong on this - that TLR used Hemalurgy for the more extreme shows of power. So I'd consider the theory you label least likely to actually be most likely. Sure, the WoA could have something to do with it (I think that's how he has Allomancy at all), but Hemalurgy is probably how he did most of the big, showy things.

Most definitely. I'm looking forward to the movie.

Jack The sombrero man hollers to the other side of the shop. "Brother! Got an order!" A man, practically identical to the first except for the wide, conical hat, seemingly Old Asian if you've placed your lore correctly. The sombrero man confers with the cone hatted man, probably about your order. The cone hatted man's accent is Old Italian, if you've, again, placed your lore right. "We can have all three ready for the next round tomorrow," says the cone hatted man. He's about to go on, but a voice echoes through the room. "Jack McKinney to the Glyph Cavern, your match is about to start." It's the announcer from the Glyph matches you've seen. You remember her being pretty. "That's you, yeah? We usually don't get announcements in here, so it must be you." Eerongal The girl sniggers at "repairs". The spider just gives you a farewell wave of a limb, then grabs your armor and heads back into what you assume is the smithy, though what adjustments a giant spider would require is something you don't want to contemplate. You look around for an infirmary and locate a large red X over one alcove and head there. People in white and red bustle about, tending to a number of patients, some of which you recognize from battles you've watched. River's opponent is curled up on one cot, shivering, despite his lack of obvious injuries. No one tends to him. One of the healers rushes over to you, gives you a look over, and sits you down on a cot a little more forcefully than you expected. "You should have come straight from your match, I'm surprised they didn't send you immediately. Stay there." She then walks away, presumably to gather materials to treat you. Looking around, you see that the cot next to yours is occupied. The mysterious Darla, in her Furies reds, is still unconscious, though she looks no worse off from the fight. In fact, she stirs as you watch. Groaning, she half sits up, resting on an elbow. Then she spots you, and it's hard not to notice the flinch, but she slips into a nonchalant manner that you can tell isn't very well practiced. "Looking at you, then at me, I'd say it'd be easy to mix up who actually won. Good fight back there." Jay'el "Relax, you're as jittery as a flyrat." He looks over the Sphere. "For your first Spherecut? Not bad. I'll go fix it up while you get started on the next one. Don't screw that one up too bad and I say you'll pass. Here, I'll lay down the cuts for you." Yellow lines, but you can tell that he's speeding over something. Top There's no battle at the moment, but from the taught atmosphere, that could change at any moment. One of the competitors in the next fight is already in the arena. A rough cut guy, probably from Eastgate or thereabouts. Whoever's in the next match has their work cut out for them. River The long mustache pulls up in a broad grin, eyes crinkling. "I sure can! Nobody better! You're a Riverheart man, right? I have a knack for these things. So you obviously know a good Sphere upgrade when you see it. I have a brilliant little beauty over here I think would be just right for ya." He wraps an arm around your shoulder, not firm, but difficult to deny, guiding you over to a prominent display in the center of the room. There are a number of components here, and he gestures to one about halfway up the pyramid of glass compartment cases. "I call it the Pheonix. It's a combination Refresher and Fire Eater. If you get knocked out in a Form with this li'l gem equipped, it'll spring ya up, good as new, in another Form, but it'll also make it so that new Form not only is immune to Fire attacks, but is regenerated by them. How's that sound? Not quite as flashy as an Amalgam, but I can just tell that it would a swell addition to your surely impressive portfolio." His smile is almost fatherly, how could it not be sincere?

HOLY CARP. I am fishing out because I want to know about this so bad.[/fish puns] Get on that interview, Chaos! SHOO!

I just finished Mockingjay. And I just have to say that the ending was SPOILERSNOSERIOUSLYTHERESFREAKINGHUGESPOILERS Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah.

Jay'el "The bonding code between pieces is thicker than you're thinking, and has its own pieces within itself. Wherever you cut it inside the bonding doesn't matter, since we'll just have to match it back up in the integration process." Definitely a good thing, as you notice the multi-eyed goggles, trucker hat, and gloves around the end of its first four limbs. It clicks at the receptionist in what seems to be a language she understands. "Do you see that? I'm pretty sure that's burnt skin on the inside of that piece, no way am I touching that long enough to carry it to the back." More clicking, accompanied by vigorous leg gestures. "So? You wanting to hide out in the back isn't enough for that." What you could swear is a sigh, then more clicking. She slumps back in her chair, picking up her book - a battered copy of what seems to be Watchmen: The Return. "Tell him yourself." The spider, yes, rolls its eyes, then raises a leg to its neck, pressing a button on a silver collar you now notice. A computerized, disjointed voice speaks to you. "Don't mind my niece. She's just annoyed at being in a dungeon this long, even a hollow one. We'll have it ready by tomorrow morning. You do have another match, yes?"

This is a thing that I find entertaining. I am human, and humans share things they find entertaining with other humans. [/ix]

Heck, which episode is that from?

I'd say that depends on your physique. If you can pull off Captain Hammer, GO FOR IT. I don't have the funds for Halloween costumes right now...or anywhere to go on Halloween other than the front door to hand out candy. #Silus'sdepressinglife