White_Warlock

If I recall correctly (and I would need to go play through the arc again to confirm) he is mentioned in Laura Lockhart's story arc (one of the new I22 mid level arcs). Though she refers to her superior officer in a mission brief as Colonel Taggard (as opposed to Captain Taggard).

Given the resolution of the arc I imagine he was either intended to be the contact you talk with to end the arc, or a contact for a sequel arc.

Beautiful vid Michelle; though you *do* realise this is just going to result in a bunch of us asking when we are going to get our next TCOSR fix right?

Seriously though keep up the awesome work; and devs - hire this woman already!

Aye, I was actually talking with some friends the other day about how CoH really could do with a shopping mall as it would a) be a good place for putting some enhancement shops and an ICON together, b) make for an awesome site for a mayhem mission and c) be excellent for RP purposes. Plus also - are you seriously trying to tell me that Paragon city *doesn't* have at least one shopping mall?

Wouldn't mind the instructions on this as well.

Cheers

Mark me down as a potential. All depends on finances and other RL stuff closer to the time mind; that said I do hope to finally make it to one of these. Also as the way things currently stand would need my own PC (assuming I don't stumble over money and acquire a gaming laptop between now and then which is fairly unlikely it has to be said)

Just for context I play a peacebringer who in theory is tri-form but in practice is human/dwarf (slot crunch limitations and generally preferring the extra resilience in human form compared to the squishiness of nova) and as such do not have a huge amount of experience as regards Nova form.

Anyhow I'm just throwing out a suggestion regarding a possible improvement to dwarf form that came to me whilst I was dosed up on co-codamol earlier today (so make of it what you will ).

What if we gave Dwarf form an inherent slow and -recharge resistance (because -recharge is a real killer when you have as few powers as you do in Dwarf form and it also fits the mental image I have of Dwarf form being this implacable mountain of muscle and momentum that is the proverbial unstoppable force).

This makes Dwarf the go-to when facing lots of enemies throwing out web-grenades like confetti and also helps keep the dwarf attack chain from stalling totally from a single -recharge.

Another idea is possibly (and this a slightly off the wall idea that I'm not totally convinced of myself so feel free to take it apart and say why it wont work/is-a-bad-idea-because) add a global recharge bonus whilst in dwarf form.

At a stroke it smooths out the dwarf attack chain, helps out with the slot crunch (less need to slot recharge enhancements in the dwarf form powers) and also helps some of the human form big-hitters recharge quicker; which might encourage a more flowing style with regard to form shifting (at least as regards peacebringers - we already know why form-shifting works well for Warshades when done right). Admittedly it would likely also need a change regarding the human form toggles and shifting to be properly effective but that has already been discussed to death.

wow; thanks Night Hornet. I honestly didn't expect that quick of a turn around I have to admit. But yeah, love the picture.

What the heck, figure I'll stick a couple of mine up incase anyone fancies having a go.

Starwhisper (Peacebringer) - (http://union.virtueverse.net/wiki/Starwhisper)





Static Radiance (Elec/Shield scrapper) - (http://union.virtueverse.net/wiki/Static_Radiance)

Just a note on behalf of Zortel - she currently has no internet due to a line fault. The current expected fix by her ISP is approx Tuesday 8th november. Apologies on her behalf to people whose plots she is currently involved in.

Unity Station; 2 hours before impact

Alex leant back into the high-backed chair in the office aboard Unity Station and scratched at the lightly-armoured jumpsuit he was currently wearing. In theory once it was bedded in it would be very comfortable…as it was however it just felt subtly wrong.

Reaching over he tapped a small button set into the desk which lit up and a moment later a feminine voice sounded in the room.

“Yes Alex?” asked the synthetic voice of the Unity Vigil’s OverAI.

“BODICIA, seeing how we have nothing better to do can you bring the astrophysics platforms to ready mode and resume the data recording from the last stellar point. We may as well get some more information for this thesis.”

“Understood, do you want a real time data-stream or would a compressed summary in an hour’s time be preferable?”

Alex paused and tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment before replying “Compressed summary format but if you can give us a live feed on the meteor shower it would provide a nice background whilst we handle this paperwork.”

---

Outside Unity Station a trio of tethered platforms shifted into new positions and began once more actively scanning the night sky.

---

Unity Station; 1 minute before impact

Alex finished filling out the form and glanced over at the data feed on the monitor, paused for a moment, blinked and then slapped the button on the desk

“BODI, is there a problem with the platforms? Only the asteroid telemetry has shifted and I’m not seeing any ejecta or sudden increase in gravitational fields to explain it.”

“Running astrophysics monitoring system check. Negative, monitor systems are functioning properly.”

Alex suddenly swore as the astrophysics platform tracking the asteroids finished computing the new projected course. The red line showing the likely movement of the flock of asteroids no longer grazed the earth’s atmosphere, instead plunging down through it and terminating somewhere on the US’s eastern seaboard.

Fingers flying over a holographic keyboard floating several inches above the desk Alex rattled off a sequence of commands that caused the display to zoom in and highlight the expected impact point.

“Centre of Paragon…figures. BODICIA…damn, too late to give them any useful warning, alright give me the location of the nearest external airlock”

“Understood. Nearest external airlock is the number 8 lock located in the western quadrant of this level.”

Leaving the office at a sprint Alex darted between a pair of startled Unity Vigil members as he hurtled towards the airlock, flickers of kheldian energy already surrounding his body in a faint radiance.

Arriving at the airlock he slapped the open key and stepped inside, the door shuting behind him as the airlock began to cycle slowly. Too slowly.

Shaking his head he allowed the field of kheldian energy surrounding him to flash into full visibility. “We must be insane to think this is a good idea. BODICIA, override airlock sequence and open external door. Override authority ‘AD-Gemini/Pandora’"

The external airlock door snapped open and the atmosphere inside the airlock burst out through the opening into the vacuum beyond, carrying the kheldian with it.

Taking a moment to orient himself, he launched off in pursuit of the asteroids. A streak of silver chasing the deeper crimson ones piercing the atmosphere.

nice to see kheldians (especially peacebringers) getting some much overdue love. Fixing Solar Flare so it can be used whilst flying is a great change and I like the look of the rest of the updates as well.

That said; whilst you are showing pb's and ws's some love...do you think we could maybe get the kheldian sash as a usable costume piece?

amen shad. seriously if not W.T.F?

Excellent as ever Michelle. I loved Andrea's snarking during the meeting.

Also damn now I have to wait for the next chapter....

aye, the cardiac alpha tree is made of win and awesome. I have it on my 2 incarnate lv50s; my other lv50 (a ma/sr scrapper who has unlocked the alpha and thats it) has muscular but then he has pretty much no end issues anyway.

Invasion commencement +10 minutes

Major Jeremiah Stark led the rest of his squad through the shimmering portal and allowed himself a savage grin of triumph. This was the day when he and the rest of the IDF proved Cole’s vision supreme, and got to stomp on some super-powered nancy-boys into the bargain.

As they emerged from the other end of the dimensional portal he brought up his right arm and armed the energy pulsar built into the power glove encasing his forearm. “Alright men, here’s how we do things. Olivier and Wicks you are perimeter detail, Veni and Reynolds get that portal support generator up. Everyone else, if it moves shoot it”

“Yo boss” chimed in Sergeant Wicks “got something odd here”

Glancing over Jeremiah noticed a rapidly spreading fog bank that appeared to be enveloping his squad’s arrival point.

“Probably just some sort of side-effect of the portal, the science guys said the tech wasn’t totally stable. Don’t worry abou-“

Another voice cut him off, one that seemed to come from all around them

“I don’t suppose I can convince you gentlemen to turn around and go home to call this foolishness off?”

“What the?...Who’s there? Show yourself!” barked Jeremiah to the fog bank surrounding them and triggered a couple of random shots from his glove pulsar into the swirling mist.

“I didn’t think so.” The voice continued “still, last chance offered. Turn around and go home.”

“Like hell we will. We are here to spread the glory and order of Emperor Cole to your pathetic little world.” sneered Jeremiah, “Now why don’t you come out from wherever you are hiding so I can blow your head off?”

The voice from the mist sighed once in resignation “It appears that reason and appeals to whatever conscience you possess are not going to work. So be it.”

Whatever reply the Major may have had was permanently forestalled by the sudden explosion of silver-blue flame that engulfed him and the entirety of his squad.

----

Michael Maxwell, aka the White Warlock, watched as the humanoid outlines stopped thrashing and grew still. With a single gesture the roiling silver flames snuffed out as if they had never been, leaving only melted ceramic armour and charred flesh as evidence of the Magefire’s former existence.

With a sad shake of his head, another gesture saw the bodies vanish and the mist begin to disperse.

“I think that Bertrand Russell said it best”, Michael remarked to the empty air “that ‘War does not determine who is right, only who is left’. Damn foolishness the lot of it”

With a soft pop the figure vanished leaving no trace as the mist dispersed, leaving only a covering of dew on the now blackened concrete.

10/05/2001 – 9:31pm Rolando Island

Michael sat in the room quietly as he watched his infant daughter sleep. It was not his daughter’s usual room; Michael had arranged for temporary accommodation on Rolando Island in anticipation of what was to come. Zorielle had been more than happy to set aside a pair of rooms for his use and not the for the first time he found himself thankful for her friendship. The wards on his flat in the Founder’s Falls district of the city were not designed with open warfare in mind and he was not willing to risk his wife and child in the event they failed. He had already lost Moira once and he had no intention of ever allowing it to happen again.

“I hope you never have to do what I fear I may in the near future. But then is that not what all father’s wish for their children, and all too often we fail in that.”, Michael shook his head sadly and reached out to gently stroke his sleeping daughter’s hair.

“Sleep well a leanbh”

Rising to his feet, Michael left the room in search of his wife.

changed from @White Warlock1 to @WhiteWarlock1...not a massive change but still slightly annoying as sods law dictates Im going to be e-mailing inf between alts and input my old global without thinking about it.

Someone mentioned Glowing Touch earlier in the thread having a 30ft range (which I recall being correct as well as a PITA at times when it came to providing emergency healing to keep a teammate upright and breathing), but when I was logged in on my PB tonight I noticed it was now listed as having an 80ft base range. I've checked and I cannot see any record of such a change being implemented in the last few sets of patch notes - any idea when this got snuck in?

to be fair Michelle it doesn't specifiy what type of love (romantic or that of a friend) so I wouldn't say it's an utter showstopper. On the other hand I might be a wee bit biased as I rather enjoyed TCOSR.

For what it's worth I'd love to see the story continue.

I know I was trying to run a BAF trial earlier on Union and pretty much every time the league loaded the map a significant number of the players transitioned from the loading screen to the map and the message 'lost connection to mapserver' - personally I must have made 5-6 attempts to get onto the map and only suceeded once; which was when the rest of the league had just left the map due to failing the trial.

I suspect part of the cause is most likely the sheer number of players hammering the mapserver due to the trials being all new and shiny. *shrug*

Possibly also look into shortening the recharge on Photon Seekers as currently it is rather long for what it actually does (300 seconds unenhanced - for reference Dawn Strike (the pb's actual nuke power) is 360 seconds unenhanced)

And totally agreed on the sashes - I want to let my pb have a proper Peacebringer uniform damnit!