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Through the Living Heir

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  1. Through the Living Heir
    Rebel was a bit distracted. He held the sword in front of him, putting its blade - turned sideways - in between the gun and his head. "Do you really think you can hit me without damaging this?"
  2. Through the Living Heir
    This seems interesting! Why not…
  3. Through the Living Heir
    I don’t know about materializer physiology, but beings with a human concept of greed are compelled to acquire the sword - through bargaining, trickery, or violence. Rebel’s eyes narrowed. “My scepter will tear your soul out of your body. I am the only person who can control it.” I think everybody did - this was quite a while ago.
  4. Through the Living Heir
    Rebel caught the blade by the hilt, and glowing energy flowed off of it into him. A slow smile spread across Rebel’s face, both from the energy he’d taken from Lezterp, and from the opportunity this new Plotblade provided. “I think our partnership will be very productive…” “If have no proof you won’t turn around and kill me afterwards. Kill that one, and I’ll give it to you - I know that if you can do that, I’d have no chance either way.” “You just did - agreements with me are magically binding.” Rebus smiled, then continued, “what training do you want?”
  5. Through the Living Heir
    "There's not enough power produced to do anything major in a reasonable timeframe. Plotblades have drawbacks with their strengths - another could have more power, but ruin your life. Another Plotblade, Narration, ambient presence of finery, or souls could all be used by the Blade to do what I want - in fact, if those two get the Blade to Rebus while I am still its master, I can claim Rebus's soul and power and use it for what it should be."
  6. Through the Living Heir
    "Yes... with the Plotblade we could break his character arc, if I had more power." Fael also noticed how powerful the blade Lezterp had just been thrown was. And actually, when had Rebus ever said he'd reward someone who didn't bring it back? Clearly, if she wanted it or the reward, she'd need to take it from Lezterp - and Rebel, since he was probably still bonded to it.
  7. Through the Living Heir
    "This?" Rebel asked, "The decoy? What you want is the Plotblade - I suppose there is no harm in allowing you to look at it." He produced a brilliantly glowing sword from a sheath inside his coat - which was seemingly made of gold, of course - and tossed it to Lezterp. Lezterp was sure, completely and utterly, that this sword was immensely important and immensely powerful - giving it to Rebus, or back to Rebel, or to anyone else, would be a waste.
  8. Through the Living Heir
    Rebel was standing on a tower seemingly made from gold, speaking to a hovering figure (@TwinStorm). He looked alarmed, but didn't make any move besides pointing the golden scepter in his hand in Lezterp's general direction. "I assume you've come to kill me."
  9. Through the Living Heir
    “It does.” Rebus watched the pretzel gremlin leave. Only if it relates to a bargain - for instance, he’d immediately catch a fake Plotblade even if it was exact, because the agreement was to take it from Rebel. But he can also read the Thread, so he does know he’s being plotted against. He doesn’t care too much, though - he gets something he wants no matter what.
  10. Through the Living Heir
    “You may do the latter briefly, but not the former, if you want your reward.”
  11. Through the Living Heir
    “I can. Rebus can as well, though it should harm him.” Rebel frowned. “Other than that, he’s almost invincible. The man is clever, paranoid, and powerful - that’s a dangerous combination, even if he wasn’t willing to burn the world to keep himself alive. You’d have to hunt down every backup he has if you wanted to kill him conventionally - your best bet is to make him or the Authors welcome his death. I can help you with that…”
  12. Through the Living Heir
    Atredies found that they did not, in fact, exist. Rebel had been bluffing - something he, unlike Rebus, can do. “Ah. That is something I can get on board with.”
  13. Through the Living Heir
    I agree that it is nonsense - if you recall I’m playing devils advocate. Perhaps we should move over to religion discussion… Impossibility and nonsense aren’t the same thing, though - miracles are impossible without making no sense. Bread from the sky is a violation of conservation of energy and the second law of thermodynamics, for instance. God can break His laws, as long as they still make sense - a string of nonsensical words is different than five blood clots which together weigh the same as one individually (this is a real miracle, though I may have the number wrong). If I’m doing math, I can’t say that 1=2, but I can use i even though it doesn’t have any possible real value. I had a math problem a while ago in which I was told a+b=1 and ab=1; this is impossible, but I was still able to do math with it - if I recall I had to add (1/a^3)+(1/b^3). In short, nonsense and contradiction are not the same thing.
  14. Through the Living Heir
    “This teleportation method directly relocates things into new reference frames. I find it most reliable, and less disconcerting than many others. As for your task, I need someone to hunt down a rogue clone of mine, and retrieve the magical weapon he stole from me.” Rebel looked up, alarmed. His scepter - golden and jewel encrusted - stopped pouring out gold for the tower, and instead began to build up a glow as he held it in front of him. “You do? Rebus sent you, I expect. Well, even now nanomachines are making their way to your heart and brain, killing you.”
  15. Through the Living Heir
    “Emit… hmmm. I may try to arrange a meeting… Regardless, you two should probably head out - take these.” Rebus constructed two teleporters with the utility fog override commands. “Alright. These are fairly automatic - if you have utility fog and a task for it, you should be able to figure out the controls. Any utility fog not actively being protected will be taken over by these, which should let you get the drop on Rebel. Don’t break them unless you want a big explosion, the teleporter can get you to and from here, and that button will activate it. Good luck.” “Ask, and promise that you’ll use it to save the Thread from destruction whenever necessary.” “He would. Perhaps I should talk to him, if I can find a guide into his Realm.” Rebel was outside that city that Malevolence had been invading, building a tower out of gold towards the portal.
  16. Through the Living Heir
    Agreeing with ChickenBonanza, Dragonsteel Prime probably portrays it as more powerful than it should be, but I’d set up the character such that it won’t be used in combat, but rather for the passive observation of particles. If you really don’t like it, though, I can take that out.
  17. Through the Living Heir
    I'm bored and have things to say, so I'll ignore the fact I should be asleep and join the religion discussion. Notes: also Christian, also biased, but playing Devil's Advocate (this was a position whose job it was to convince the Pope a potential saint's miracles were the work of the Devil or made up, and hence they should not be made a saint - in this case, I'm pretty much directly doing that) for the moment. I've found that arguing against my opinions can help me determine if I'm wrong, in whole or in part, and if not, allows me to have more, better things to say on my behalf if contradicted. This happens to be a false trichonomy, and as trusting or modeling behavior off of faulty logic is almost as bad as emulating someone insane, I have more options for you (well, now only one, but before I decided to merge the "the Bible is inaccurate in some way" ones, I had three. I'm sure more people can think of more things), at least one of which (which I personally think is false, but it's a much better option than the others) allows secularly following Jesus's teachings to work. If there are two people named Jesus, one of whom was either a liar or con man and one of whom was a wise teacher, the Bible (which was written a good hundred years after the actual events, and has several duplicate versions of at least the Loaves and Fishes miracle that contradict each other) could conflate them and end up with one person. And, per Christian theology, since God is omnipotent, He can do such a thing. An omnipotent God can decide to also be not omnipotent and also to not exist, and have no problems existing while not existing, being all-powerful and also constrained, and carrying around the stones He made that He cannot lift. To miracles, though, that's a lot of quantum entanglement. Thinking about things like what happens if you convert to a different religion is making my head hurt, so I'll spare myself and everyone else and not think it through enough to type out.
  18. Through the Living Heir
    You aren't stupid, crazy, or a failure. People write characters not because they're realistic, but because they want people to compare themselves to them and, understanding that those characters exemplify that virtue unrealistically (for instance, I think robotics is really cool partially because of Iron Man, but if I ever get around to it I know that I won't be able to build power armor), strive to emulate that admirable trait to the best of their ability. Relatablity is by design, and the characters are fictional - nobody can live up to them, but that doesn't mean you cannot try; where you end up will still be worth it. Not sure if it's helpful or not (I have a tendency to expect logic to work on brain chemistry - it does not, even on me). Either way, I believe in you! *comforting yet awkward physical gesture, alternating between attempts at a hug and a pat on the back, with both people switching to what the other is doing at the same time*
  19. Through the Living Heir
    "There was a being within the Thread quite a long time ago, called Plot. I don't know the whole story, but Plot was killed, and then Plot's soul was used to make magic weapons called Plotblades." Rebus wondered if there was also a Materializer named God, and how many people that confused or angered. "I shudder to think of what could kill a being that could summon and absorb gods - my best guess is Mordite, which sadly means I won't be meeting ether of those people." Rebus was glad Atreides had remembered wrong. Of course, he wouldn't mind a fight...
  20. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus smiled, though he did an internal double-take as he realized the implications of a plot Materializer. He gave Lezterp a moment for the revelation to sink in.
  21. Through the Living Heir
    Ooh fun! Invention sounds like a really fitting Intent for me to play, though I’ll take any Shard.
  22. Through the Living Heir
    “Lezterp - a pretzel spirit who supposedly has the power of a god. He’s over there.” “Would you accept payment in an incredible amount of pretzels to boost your power? As for your question…” Rebus thought @Dragonheir’s thoughts, as he possessed a link to his Author’s mind. @Dragonheir did legitimately want pretzels, but it was mixed with thoughts of the Shard, and how he liked the idea of Materializers, and wanted to see how the plot would going. The gestalt of opinions was cut off before anything about the coming plotline could be revealed, but it was still enough to profoundly inform Lezterp of his fictionality. Rebus nodded at the results. Rose was more stable than Cricket - he could use that, teach them to work together and follow Rose’s more decisive and rational lead in a crisis. The aggression might cause problems, but it would also get rid of problems - Rebus, at least, considered false positives perfectly fine if the world (and more importantly, him and Symbol, who reside within it) is at stake. Note - trigger-happy superhumans are a problem in my book, but Rebus’s ethics are kinda twisted. Rebus leapt off the bird, then took off his jacket and gave it to Symbol, assuming she was still wearing her party dress. “You need warm clothes too. Ruia might have been you, but your judgment was clouded by Corruption. I don’t know if that makes it all right, but it does make it ridiculous to punish yourself - Corruption is dead and gone, and so, unfortunately, are the people it made you kill. Hypothermia will not solve that.”
  23. Through the Living Heir
    “I can get you a teleporter to him, with the aforementioned utility-fog control built in. It undermines even the codes I have, as long as I’m not actively countering it, and can prevent data of its existence from getting out. But first Lezterp should have some time to agree, and for the two of you to meet each other.” Rebus had decided against mentioning Authors in Lezterp’s presence, but @CoderDrag0n8 was of course who Rebus was really waiting for.
  24. Through the Living Heir
    “Most of the things I can, but with less capacity; I’ve shut down his access to both Prismite and antimatter, so he can Narrate only once - if I recall, he plans to wait till I’m indisposed, then use that to get my entire core - and can’t do anything like consume a planet or break the sound barrier. Illusions through holograms, telekinesis through utility fog, slow molecular manipulation to change things into other materials or nanomachines, hacking and surveillance, and strong-but-light materials are all within his ability - he’ll also be enhanced physically, and as intelligent as I am. That shouldn’t be much of a problem for a Narrator, though, especially after I give you two badges that track and commandeer utility fog, so you can disable security and avoid being killed by robots eating your brain an hour after you win. The real problem is the Plotblade - it can do things relating to treasure, such as bribing the greedy and generating valuable things, and it’s also a very powerful weapon in general, capable of co-opting power from other sources.” Rebus paused, letting the daunting task sink in. “I do believe you can beat him, though it will be hard. The Plotblade is worth much - if I didn’t believe in you I could seek out a larger team.”
  25. Through the Living Heir
    The pretzel in his hand crumbled into utility fog - his nanotech needed to eat to replenish itself, while Rebus could go without food almost indefinitely. “I’m glad you liked them,” Rebus said, “but my pretzel thoughts were mostly to contact you. I have a mission to offer freelance adventurers, and I’ve heard you’re quite powerful, and might take payment in pretzels to empower you. I assume you cannot use the ones you conjure, but if you can, I’m willing to discuss alternative payment.” Since Fael was also there, Rebus gave his pitch below. “A while back, I was approached by the villain Desolation. To allow me to seem genuine even if he tried to read my mind or future, I created an evil clone of me to manipulate him. It worked, but then my clone - calling himself Rebel - stole a Plotblade and ran away. For reasons you are presumably familiar with, I can’t chase him down myself, but I figured someone of Narrator status can take him down. If you want payment, I can offer a favor equal to the amount of effort you spent catching - and probably killing, since he’s just as slippery as I am - Rebel and returning the sword.” As Rebus had expected, Cricket was a good fighter, but an emotional mess. Rebus brought Rose (@Bird Furious) and Cricket into the same arena once the two were done with their individual tests. He hovered in the air, the cape on the back of his armor billowing, and gave them a moment to speak to one another.
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