Sith_Rose

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My point is that the complaints on this aren't worth merit...

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Well it's not just that but Doc Buzzsaw and her ilk as well. I didn't get the bling badge til I was past her level range...

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You what might be a good idea for the Devs to consider investing the time in, for "tech"?

1. What about simply removing level caps on contacts? 2. Why not have all missions simply scale to the level of the mission holder?

What could be unbalanced or bad with this?

Also: boom, instant flash-back.

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Hmmm. It's a good idea on the surface, but I do see several problems with this idea, not the least being the level cap of the enemies in question. For example, the Bonefire story arc...you fight Skulls. Skulls cap at level 14. In order to effectively raise that level cap for the contact, you'd have to raise the level cap for the bad guys in the arc...which would require completely reworking them, as level 14 bad guys just don't have the same nastiness available to them as level 45 bad guys do. And do you REALLY want to fight level 40 Vazhilok? Um...NO!

I like the idea. I'm not sure it's feasible without a *lot* of work due to mob level caps. It doesn't do much good to raise the level cap of the contact when you can't raise the level cap of the enemies the contact offers.

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The problem with that argument is what if those lower level people want to earn the Bling badge for Doc Buzzsaw or want to earn the Midas Touch badge for the Television? Basically you have people going from 1-25 in SG mode and then dropping out immediately after and staying out.

So as a result, you're getting maybe 100k Prestige from them during those 25 levels AND you end up with multiple sugardaddies in the SG. If they want to do the content for these two contacts, this is pretty much how they have to do it. Or grind for multiple days on end.

If you have people in your SG that absolutely don't care about content, then that's one thing and they can stay in SG mode longer, but otherwise, it's one or the other.

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I wouldn't say that. I ran my villain main in SG mode until level 26, then I dropped her out so she could afford some SOs. She had Bling just before she hit level 29. Not so bad, that, that's only about two and a half levels where I'm not earning prestige. If I've got a sugar-daddy, I can switch right back into SG mode the second I get Bling and not worry or stress about affording my mid-level enhancements.

It's pure silliness to try to get the Midas Touch badge by earning Infamy through your 30s and early 40s - You're just not making half as much infamy as a level 45+ character does. In a purely logical sense, it is FAR more effective AND FASTER for a 45-50 character to drop out of SG mode and work towards Midas Touch than it is for a 30-45 character to do it, you make 3-4 times the infamy at the upper levels than you do at the mid levels.

Let me put it this way. I started a Citadel TF with my level 50 hero last night. She had 400K of debt on her to start with, and three deaths during the course of the TF. When exemplared, I go into SG mode when in debt and out of SG mode if not in debt. She earned 2.5 million influence during the course of the task force. There's 11 missions in the Citadel TF, and we did stealth as much as possible. Y'know? I just earned a full tenth of the requirements for that badge in eleven missions. *Without*, I might add, mission bonus influence, since exemplars don't get mission bonus on live at the moment.

Let me see here. My level 32 villain doesn't earn that much in THREE LEVELS worth, much less a single short afternoon of work. Why on earth would I grind for Midas Touch in my mid-30s when it's infinitely faster to do it in my high 40s? That's just *silly*. In my considerably less than humble opinion, of course. *grins*

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Looking at the Prestige I've earned on my 40's, I would estimate this would deny my SG 150,000 Prestige if I went out of SG Mode long enough to get the badge.
If a SG was offered a series of 6 missions at a cost of 150k, would they think this was a good cost? That would not go over well at all, I think. Imagine if the SG SF cost 150k to start!

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I think that the loss of prestige is being rather overstated. Let me put it more this way.

20 million infamy is sufficient to supply 10 characters in your SG with enough infamy to purchase all enhancements up to level 22. In other words, it's enough for two full loadouts of DOs *and* a full loadout of level 25 SOs on TEN characters, with quite a bit left over.

20 million infamy is enough to supply 10 level 32 or 37 characters with sufficient infamy to purchase a full loadout of level 35 or 40 SOs. This allows those characters to stay in SG mode for much longer at lower levels, when they would be earning less infamy than the level 50 is. However, they still contribute the exact same amount of prestige.

Mathematical logic suggests that having 10 level 32-37 characters in SG mode would earn your SG a great deal more prestige than having one level 50 in SG mode. Mathematical logic also suggests that it is much more effective to have lower-level characters in your SG working at the peak of *their* efficiency, something that is not possible at low levels without outside gifts of infamy.

Of course, I tend to have the odd idea that SG members should work with each other, and cooperate, and even share resources. I'm sure not everyone would agree with this. I'm sure there's people out there that insist that *every* member of their SG be in SG mode at ALL times, regardless of whether or not their members have anything resembling enough infamy to purchase their Enhancements. And I'm sure that there are many SGs where there are no entry requirements other than having a character, and some members are cordially disliked by half the other members.

All I can say is this...I'd rather rely on my higher level members, or BE the higher level member, to enable the lower level members to both earn Prestige *and* purchase enhancements. I'd rather have SGs where I actually care about the members, and don't mind donating infamy to them. The whole SG functions better.

Let me say first that I don't play a tank. I do, however, play a scrapper with Confront. (Spines version of Taunt)

I am in favor of letting Taunt enhancements also increase accuracy for PVP only. But - I can see where that would possibly be difficult to code. It would be a first, in that you would have an enhancement which has a dual purpose, but *only* has a dual purpose in PVP. While we do have dual purpose enhancements presently, the non-Hami ones are limited to corresponding abilities. I.E. End Modification handles both end drain and end recovery, Slows handle both -speed in the target/enemy and +speed in the ally/self. Taunt Duration and Accuracy are two completely different enhancements. I suspect that this will make it difficult to code any possible taunt/acc enhancement unless it's a new kind of Hami/Hero Origin. I also suspect that it will be highly unlikely to happen, given that this would make the Taunt Duration enhancement a non-complimentary dual purpose enhancement. Those have been reserved thus far for Hami, Hydra, and other specifically dual-purpose special origin enhancements.

I admit that I am presently unclear as to how this will affect the Scrapper taunt. As I recall, Scrapper taunts require a to-hit check, and thus can already be slotted for accuracy. (It's late. I'm tired. I'm not logging in to check. My Scrapper's isn't acc slotted yet, and I've never seen it miss. So I could be wrong. If I am, feel free to correct me.)

Based on my Dark Mastery Defender and my Dark Mastery Scrapper, the hold, recharge, adn end cost times are looking comparable to what Dark Embrace (EPP, Defender) and Soul Drain (EPP, Defender) do. I know for a fact that the Defender Dark Mastery shield costs considerably more endurance than the equivilent Scrapper/Brute Dark Armor shield. I also know for a fact that the recharge times for Soul Drain and Dark Consumption (Defender Dark Epic) seem approximately double the recharge times for the same powers from the Dark Melee set. Also, the Scrapper Dark Epic Petrifying Gaze is a definitely shorter hold time, about half, and about twice the recharge time, as the Dark Miasma Corruptor/Defender Petrifying Gaze.

In other words, looking at the PPPs comparatively with the EPPs, they seem approximately balanced based on the numbers that have been given thus far. Caveat - I do not have a villain high enough to test the PPPs.

The EPP/PPP power is NOT going to be as effective as the primary/secondary version of that power. Period. This is the case for Epics *right now*. It is something that the AT getting does not normally have available to them. It is a mistake to compare the Epic/Patron powers to their Primary/Secondary equivilents from the sets of other ATs. It is NOT a mistake to compare them to the equivilent power from the hero Epic pools. Brute Dark Blast should be compared to Scrapper Epic Dark Blast. Corruptor shields should be compared to Defender and/or Blaster shields. Compare the Epics from the ATs, Defender/Corruptor, Dominator/Controller, Blaster/Mastermind, Stalker/Scrapper, Brute/Tank. Granted, they will not be exact. The ATs are not, clearly, exact matches - They have different roles in CoV than in COH, as they should. But for very rough comparisons, that's what we should be looking at.

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- Um, drones... No, this isn't a drone death complaint. We chased some villains back to their base. Someone drew out a drone as it was announced the AVs were in. I was close enough to get *hit* by the drone... but I didn't die (I was jumping away when it shot.) I was fully expecting a drone death... nope.

I sat there, phased and held, for several minutes. Had someone try to CM me. Had a stalker try to AS me. Had a brute try to beat on me. Nada. That hold/phase needs a timer. (No, I didn't have any break frees at that point, I'd used them.) I was fully healed from the sliver of health it had knocked me down to... by my own regen rate (as an elec/elec blaster, not a /regen scrapper) and still held and phased. Either it has to do SC buiding explosion type damage, or it needs a timer....

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The problem with the drones is very likely an unforeseen bug in the "no one-shot kill" code that they implemented with I7. Drones hold you, phase you, and one-shot you in that order. If they can't one-shot you...then you're held and phased. And right now, they can't one-shot you. I'm betting the same thing happens with the drones in the other PVP zones, but I haven't yet tested it. I probably should some time soonish.

The Atlas statue is definately a case of "Recluse's geometry there but invisible" when it's in hero-mode. I flew around it quite a bit and mapped out the areas that I couldn't fly into...and it matches the villain-mode version. I believe that's going to have to be a "Working as intended" answer, because I honestly don't know of any way they can make the switches otherwise. And frankly...It's really not that big of a deal. At least in my less than humble opinion.

All in all, this is a *really* fun zone, even for someone who is generally indifferent to PVP most of the time. I expect it will be much more interesting once there's more villains around, just as Siren's Call was. Oddly, I found that I didn't have a single problem with Stalkers all night - And my main PVP character is often known as Stalker-bait, being an Empath Defender. I suspect that Siren's Call will continue to be the Stalker hangout of choice, given my admittedly limited testing from last night.

GREAT zone. Great idea. More please!

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Um, ya know, you can take hover and fly too.... And hover negates knockback about as well as acrobatics. You get hit, you do a flip, keep attacking.
I use hover on my fire/fire tanker (42 currently,) and never have problems with knockback. Hrmmmm, two powerpool powers to get travel and knockback protection vs. 3 from leaping.... hrmmmmm. Think I'll stay with hover/fly.

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That's about how I feel too. Unfortunately, Hover is rather an underrated power by most of the speed players. I use it on my squishies, my Brutes...heck, I even use it on my /Regen scrapper for the combat maneuverability. *joins you in the Hover is cooler than the Jumping pool* camp.

Oh well. I haven't played the set enough to comment on anything other than that. But it looks REALLY neat in my short bits of playing.

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OMG I just watched the video, that is an overexaggeration if I've ever seen one. Taking the animation times down to more reasonable levels like 2 secs or even 1.67 or whatever is not going to make the set look stupid but it will make it perform better. I do like the posters idea about shooting on the run though, that would be acceptable as well, especially since no one can do it through ww anymore.

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I suppose now would be a bad time to mention that the good archers of old militaries fired approximately 12 arrows per minute...resulting in an draw and fire time of...let me see...60 divided by 12 is 5 seconds. Wait, isn't that the current average animation time for Archery/TA?

Yes, I know this is supposed to have a comic book feel, not an antique military weapons buff feel.

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Basically: if it was meant to be taken down by more than 1 team, it gives the badge. Mission versions are scaled down versions that are more like AV's, thus able to be defeated by a single team, and thus do not give the badge.

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You might need to buff Giant Monsters then. There's not one in the game that requires more than one team to defeat.

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Will do.

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Whoa whoa whoa. First off, Lusca does. Secondly, it can be REALLY hard to get ONE full team to take any monster down aside from Kraken. There are MULTIPLE instances of Lusca up at almost any time in IP because everyone who wants the badge has it and no one wants to put up with the difficulty of taking him down AGAIN.

Villianside, Scrapyard is seen CONSTANTLY. It took me 3 sightings on my brute to finally get THREE teammates to help take him down. It is VERY hard to put together a Monster team, let alone multiple teams.

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A couple of points of note here...First, the DE Monsters in PI and the Hive are just that - Monsters. They are not Giant Monsters, according to their creature type. As I recall, this means that they do not scale to level as Giant Monsters do, but are distinctly Level 50 Monsters, with the associated to-hit and damage penalties that would come with someone of a lower level fighting them.

It is possible to take Lusca with a team of eight, even a team of 6. Yes, I have done it, several times. No, the teams were not 50s. One of them was level 6. I've tanked Lusca with my level 42 Scrapper, with the help of two very good Defenders, on one of those teams of eight that took Lusca down by ourselves. It does require tactics and careful approach to the monster, but it IS possible to do it with 6 people. Note. It is not possible to do it with 5 people. Yes, we tried, because we're insane. It might have been different if the Blaster on the team hadn't been the one that had left, though. Bear in mind also that this was not a pickup-group, but a group of friends that have teamed together for many levels and are virtually telepathic when it comes to anticipating combat strategies, and is thus NOT a representative sample of the population.

We tooled Scrapyard last night with 9 people. No deaths. Not even a serious injury. The minions were a greater threat to the two teams working on him than he was, and even then they didn't manage to kill anyone. Even the Paladin Construction can be killed by a single team, although this is *not* possible at the zone's level - There's simply too many clockworks that spawn for it to be done by a single team at lower levels.

If the Giant Monsters are supposed to require more than one team to kill, then yes, by all means buff them, the majority of them can be done with 4-5 people. I would recommend doing some careful looking into the respective difficulties of EACH Giant Monster, and buff them individually if possible, especially the Paladin Construction and Lusca, since they are special cases that are generally more difficult than most Giant Monsters.

The problem does go both ways. I believe in this case I'll lead off with a few examples from my own experiences on Virtue, which is a server that does not generally have severe problems with griefers and the like.

The other day in Bloody Bay, there were a number of villains camping the helicopter and hero contacts, and TP Foeing heroes away from the contacts into a death squad of Masterminds. Rather difficult to escape from, as they were doing hover-teleports into the water - My poor Defender was a victim of this several times while speaking to contacts, until we organized the heroes and went after them in force.

In Siren's Call, I've observed a late-night problem with the bounty system - If you are the only one of your side in the zone, you automatically become *everyone's* bounty. And once you're killed, it resets the bounty...back to you. I observed this happening to a poor villain (while I was playing my hero), and watched the 9 or so heroes in the zone who weren't on my team continually squash this poor person. (My team backed off entirely once we realized they were the only one in the zone, it's simply not fun nor fair to have that happening on either side.)

Conversely, if your bounty in Siren's Call happens to decide to hide out in the hospital, you can't get a new bounty unless they leave the zone. I realize that not everyone is as principled as I am, but I refuse to go into the other side's hospital area in search of my prey. (Open areas that aren't next to the contact or the hospital are fair game, however.) Siren's Call can get somewhat frustrating when your bounty target doesn't change and can't be reached except by tactics I consider griefing.

It is possible for a Scrapper using *only* Invisibility from the power pool to go into the villain hospital in Bloody Bay, camp *under* the villain contact, and teleport foe villains down to them. There is a blind spot caused by the catwalks and railings where the drones cannot reach. Any reasonably intelligent player who knows how line of sight and terrain work can do this - I've done it. (The hiding out under the villain contact, NOT the teleporting foe. I wanted to see what the contacts said to heroes. And while I would not do it, I'm more than familiar enough with TP Foe to know how it works - My Scrapper's used it widely for 36 levels, and a built-up inspiration-fueled Impale followed by Ripper will kill a squishy in very, very short order.)

All of these things are problems. Given my own experiences, I would suggest the following as solutions:

First, treat the hospital, contacts, and zone exit, and a route in between them, as true safe zones, where PVP is flagged off by entering them, just as in Warburg. Given that when a villain enters a hero supergroup base, PVP is flagged off there, it is likely possible to do this. Personally, given that some of the hospitals are some distance from the zone exit and contact, I think it would be rather entertaining to have a marked "safe route" where if you stray off that route, you open yourself to attack.

I would *not* actually recommend that the entire base be made a true safe zone - only hospitals, exit, and contacts. It's quite fun to bring the fight to the other side and have epic battles at the gate, and the open layout of the bases, while problematic when dealing with griefers, makes it very easy to escape such localized battles, especially in Bloody Bay. I'd really hate to lose the ability to do that, but there needs to be that open space to allow people who aren't interested in such fights to leave the base itself.

My suggestion would be problematic in Siren's Call. What I'd recommend in that case is that if someone is in the PVP-off zone for more than, say, 10 minutes, that they are automatically removed from being eligible as someone's bounty just as if they had left the zone, until they have reentered the danger areas.

I'm uncertain if coding exists to prevent someone from being the bounty for every single person of the other side in Siren's Call, and I don't know if there is a good, workable solution for that. I think that's going to wind up being a hazard of the zone itself. Possibly a flag that prevents you from being eligible for bounty until you've been in the zone for 5 minutes...

I am perhaps fortunate to play on Virtue, where it appears that behavior of this kind is minimal.

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For those players who have reached the Salvage Limit with one or more pieces:

Is your SG capable of making a Worktable so you can consume some of that Salvage into the raw material? (Raw material has a limit of 99 currently).

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Not even close. Right now our base has an entry way, a decorative room, and an empty control room. It is on the default plot. We have 59,514 prestige in the bank, 9 characters actively earning prestige (two of which are alts of the leaders), and 18 total members in the SG. We have earned a total of 120,258 Prestige. The highest level character in the SG is 40, and most of the active members are in their upper 30s.

At this rate, we *might* have a fully functioning base some time in July of 2006. And by fully functioning, I mean a *basic* control room with basic generator, basic workroom with basic workbench, etc. That's not including any kind of extras like teleporters, medical things, inspiration vendors...Nothing but enough to make the workbench go.

This makes me sad, because I'd hoped we'd be able to create a semi-functional base in relatively short order. With these prices, we will have a very pretty RP base, which is good, we needed a nice RP base, and I'm definitely enjoying designing the base, but we won't be able to actually *do* anything other than RP and hang out there for quite some time.

I do understand that you have to balance for the people that spend all of their time playing as well as for people who play for an hour or two a week...but isn't there anything you can do to make it a bit easier for the SGs full of casual players with families and small children? Perhaps something along the lines of lowering the costs on the basic control, energy, work, medical, teleport rooms, and choke point defense rooms, and on the very basic functional items to put in them, but leave the fancier and PVP stuff at the current prices? That would allow small SGs to have basic functional bases, and would leave the very expensive and highly useful stuff as a thing to be worked towards in the longer term.

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{Storyteller's note: The song is "In Another World" by Michael "Moonwolf" Longcor, filk god extraordinaire and a very gracious and generous man in person. I hope he won't mind if I borrow his ballad and apply it to a different sort of "true love lost" story altogether. The protagonist below is female, as is her typist, but somehow the lyrics work best for this story if I don't rewrite them to female perspective.}

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((And may I just say that I really liked this story? Good descriptive writing, and a very nice mix of practical and emotional. Not to mention one of my favorite filk artists. )

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((All apologies to Sith_Rose; VNV Nation's my pick as well *hangs head in shame* "Genesis". Mamushi has a few, but she's not very helpful in narrowing 'em down. The Cape -- feel free to use/play.))


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((No! You may not use VNV Nation, I have laid sole claim...Ahem. Sorry. Evil Overlord peeking through there. I'm better now. Great band, aren't they? *grins*))

Have I no control, is my soul not mine?
Am I not just man, destiny defined?
Never to be ruled nor held to heel.
Not heaven or hell just the land between.

She looked out the window at the Refinery, sighing. Across the street, a group of Clockwork piled junk together in an untidy heap. One young hero ran up, recklessly attacking the mob of Clockwork. Chandra braced herself to assist him...but his companions followed rapidly, their attacks distracting the Clockwork from the more reckless hero. The battle was over in moments, the junk pile was scattered across the ground, joined by the pieces of half-demolished Clockwork. She could see bits of cars, old stereo equipment, fragments of broken or destroyed computers littering the ground.

Am I not man, does my heart not bleed?
No Lord, no God, no hate, no pity, no pain, just ME.
Comprehend and countermand.
Synchronous guidance. I choose my way.
Never to be ruled nor held to heel.
Not heaven or hell just the land between.

and am I not man?

Chandra Parker-Storm shook her head and turned her chair away from the window, thinking back on their operations last night. They had recruited a new member for the Technocratic Union, a young man whom she had met in Gemini Park. He had seemed intelligent, and dedicated enough to find a way for an un-augmented human to register as a superhero, even to holding his own against the paranormal criminals plaguing Paragon City. The boy was lacking in experience, but that would come with time. Still...Chandra had missed some of the easy camaraderie she and her husband had built with the other members of the new Union. Last night had been more formal, a reminder of previous missions they had undertaken back home. It was so very different here in Paragon City...

So why do I love when I still feel pain?
When does it end, when is my work done?
Why am I lone and why do I feel
that I carry a sword through a battle field?
So why do I love when I still feel pain?
When does it end, when is my work done?
Why do I fight and why do I feel
that I carry a sword, that I carry a sword?

Alexander Pavlidis had questioned her honor. That rankled still, even though she knew he had no way of knowing her, nothing but what little Laurie Pennington might have told him about the woman registered as Agent Storm. Nothing that would tell him that Chandra Parker-Storm had held to her oaths while all but a handful of her former allies had branded her a traitor for seeking peace in the face of greater threats, that she and her cabal had remembered that they were sworn to protect the Masses while the others had bickered and jockeyed for power.

She and hers had been proven right in the end. Too late to do any good, too late to stop what had come. Too late to do anything more than die with the others, uselessly, or to run, and pray that she could find somewhere that they could help, somewhere that the Betrayer could not follow them to. If she had stayed, if she had been able to convince the others to trust...But this was a well-travelled path of thought, one she had considered far too many times since she and John had arrived in Paragon City.

Like the path to heaven or the road to hell
our choice is our own consequences bind.
We are the kings of wisdom, the fools as well.
We are the gods to many, we are humble men.

They had proven themselves to Alexander, had passed his tests of honor and combat prowess. He had surrendered himself to their custody, and they had remanded him to the Hero Corps specialists. Chandra hoped she would be able to speak with him again. He reminded her a great deal of herself, placed in a situation his honor would not allow him to stay in, but unable to find a way out without breaking oaths. She made a mental note to check with Hero Corps and determine where he was being held. It might do some good for the both of them to speak with an ally of similar mindset. And she did want to be very certain that he was not being mistreated by the Paragon City officials.

A wry chuckle escaped her. Not that she expected them to do so. It seemed counter to every principle this city had been built on, but there were always the ones who hid themselves in the shadows of bureaucracy. It was so different here. For the first time in her life, she did not have to hide her abilities. The supernatural was accepted here, and worked side by side with the technological to protect the Masses from threats they could not themselves fight. It was what she and John had hoped to see happen in their own world, what too many centuries of distrust and outright war had prevented.

We who build great works just to break them down.
We who make our rules so we never fail.
So why do I love when I still feel pain?
When does it end, when is my work done?
Why am I lone and why do I feel
that I carry a sword through a battle field?
So why do I love when I still feel pain?
When does it end, when is my work done?
Why do I fight and why do I feel
that I carry a sword, that I carry a sword?

Thoughtfully, Chandra removed the small pin with the word "Negotiator" on it from her suit collar and held it in her hand. She pulled the new badge Laurie had given her when she had reported Alexander's surrender, and looked at the writing on it. "Redeemer", it said. Slipping the old badge into her pocket, she pinned the new one in place and stood up. The Technocratic Union as she had known it was gone, along with everything else she had known from her home.

Agent Storm walked out of the office building, giving one last glance at the scattered remains of Clockworks across the street. Agent Parker followed behind her, speaking quietly into his cell phone as he picked up their next assignment. He had called the members of the new Technocratic Union together, a Union of like-minded heroes who would try to make Paragon City a better and safer place...without the mistakes they had made in the past. Agent Storm touched the badge on her lapel and smiled faintly. "Redeemer"...perhaps they could redeem each other, in the course of their duties to the Masses. They had a duty, and it was time to get back to work.

(The song is "Joy", by VNV Nation. Agent Storm has several theme songs, but the stories around most of the rest are a bit more in depth than I want to put in a public forum just quite yet. I cheated a bit and combined August and September together, since I didn't have a chance to write one in August. Obviously, the badge in question would be Redeemer. *grins* Oh, and the Cape is welcome to play with this for Heroic Harmonies.)

((Oh man...And Viper's still researching to see if she can help Roy...Well written stuff, guys! I may have to play Viper tonight now...))

"It's not much. Might be enough, might not be. Least it'll let her know if something else tries to get in her head...or her soul."

Viper sighed and put the two small charms on her ritual table. They weren't much to look at, bits of clear quartz crystal and beads wrapped in copper wire, laced with fine, pure white hairs. The crystals would darken to blood red if the wearer was attacked by demonic influence. And they would shield Julia, for a little bit. Long enough for her to run, if she had to, or to call for help. Maybe both.

She curled up on the floor, putting her chin in her hands and staring at the low table. They'd told her it was a Lord of Chaos that was attacking Roy. It matched with what she'd heard Roy himself say, when she'd eavesdropped on him and Krickette. It matched, and it meant she might have no chance at all of helping her friend.

"A Greater Demon, I could deal with. It's just a question of finding who he'd made enemies of. Lords of Chaos...Even if it's got enemies, I'd have no idea if they were helping for a lark or planning to betray us later. That sort...Well."

She flicked her tail in frustration, trying to think of possibilities. Forty years ago, she'd been able to invoke shared blood to save another person dear to her. The price had been dear, more than it should have been. Her human face, her family's trust, her name...But her brother survived. Less than a month ago, she had called a Greater Demon to help rescue her beloved from the Envoy of Shadows...It had taken that much, even with the Envoy's True Name.

"So few friends...and I don't want to lose another. If I can...if the tools exist...I'll find a way. If it's possible..."

The woman known as Horned Viper sighed heavily. For now, all she could do was wait to see if Julia showed up. If not...Julia had no reason to trust her, they'd barely met. But it was the best she could offer, for now.

I'm...contemplating it. Well, I'm more along the lines of working up a story idea.

Hey, we've got plenty of month left, right? Besides, knowing myself, it'll wind up being a multi-part arc including other heroes. *grins cheerfully* And I have to decide *which* of my two main characters to write it about. Or maybe both of them...

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It's also possible to go a completly Machen route with it, where the fae folk of old legend were driven into hiding and, bereft of sunlight and the other good things of the surface world, degenerated into things of unspeakable awfulness. Or, depending on the story, were always things of awfulness that mankind intentionally forgot by masking them with tales of glory.

Or they could just be taking major liberties with it.


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Yes, but I must ask...

Could it be *worse* than White Wolf's Changeling? *grins*

"Look, shiny happy fluffy friendly Pookas!"