“We’ve partially evaluated Ms. Alcott,” Alexandria said. “I had a team meet her and Mr. Hebert at the airport, but she was confident she was safe.”
Which means that the problem is here. And inside the PRT and Protectorate. Emily seethed at the thought. What it said…
“A thinker like you described would be very useful to any criminal group,” Armsmaster said.
Alexandria nodded. “Especially due to another thing. It appears The Investigator h...
2024-07-16 01:24:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
Madison got up. You were only allowed to shower under supervision. Even in this part of town, even in the best juvie, bad things could happen if you left people alone. You walked in, and there were little cubicles, and the female guard would stand by while you got your four minutes of water. That was it, and they’d turn the water off if you took too long.
You had ten minutes total to shower, clean up, do your hair and walk out.
Madison put her clothes on, and walked out to her c...
2024-07-09 03:23:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
Coil didn’t split his timelines. In both he was working, with some highly encrypted lines keeping him in touch with the tracking team he was using to keep track of Dinah. If only I had three timelines, he thought. But “safe” timeline was a misnomer when you had two, especially if you had to work in both timelines.
He’d learned that, nearly the hard way, more than once in his early career. Killing a person in a throw-away timeline was a simple, easy way to work out stres...
2024-07-06 05:48:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
The plan didn’t take long to get ready and the diner owners were only too pleased. But I gave Aisha strict instructions. If the men in the van got out, she wasn’t to confront them, even as a number.
But when three numbers came running out of the diner, each one wearing a quickly made cardboard placard, and started doing over the top stunts, a crowd gathered. One Number, quite by accident, jumped onto the van I’d picked out and began extolling the virtues of the Diner. “And i...
2024-06-26 23:13:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
And lots of brownouts so the next chapter should be tomorrow.
2024-06-26 07:13:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
The diner I chose was a nice one, not so nice that a group of teens would be looked upon oddly, but nice enough, and most importantly, it had deep booths, where I could observe the outside via my bugs, but where we could not be observed.
“I have to…” Dinah was looking around, like a hunted animal.
“What do you like?” I asked. “Soda… no, you’ve been running around. Water, and I think milk. Ham and Eggs, perhaps?”
She blinked, then nodded.
An import...
2024-06-20 21:47:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
The problem with my scheme was that it took time. Rushing forward, trying to convince them to get new cameras, say, causing mass malfunctions in a short period of time, would just raise suspicion. It would be days before I saw any return. Meanwhile I continued my little patrols at night, and sometimes in the day, both in person and by using some of my little remote pheromone/speaker/sensor combos. The pheromone to attract bugs and the other two to play a convincing role as “Orb Weaver...
2024-06-17 23:32:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Over the next week, things went pretty well. I focused on lone crimes, including both Empire and ABB, using my Orb Weaver identity. I even took a picture of a “giant hellspider” as one man claimed, pulling a would-be mugger into an alleyway for some talking to.
I would create an “Orb Weaver” ID right after I created “The Investigator” as a verified rogue on PHO. I would have to remember to keep both accounts on separate physical computers.
Also, Greg was involved with ...
2024-06-09 04:34:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Going after low-level Empire thugs might not seem like a big deal, but…
I was poking the Empire. My initial attacks had been easy. Too easy.
Then I’d walked into a Master’s lair.
Overconfident. Stupid.
A lesson.
One I would not forget.
The Empire was well organized. And I noticed as I watched and listened, changes in their procedures. Empire members were now calling in before they went out on patrol.
A day after my little show let ...
2024-06-05 02:58:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Gloria?” Michael asked. “What am I…”
“You came in,” Gloria said. “You were sick. Didn’t you…”
“No, I got bit by a rat… I was thinking of getting a rabies shot but then I…” He blinked. “What is on your face?”
Gloria looked over at the mirror, and shook her head. The glowing stylized twilight symbol ws fading, but it was still there.
How do I know it’s a twilight symbol… But there was a resonance to it. A powe...
2024-06-03 06:41:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
The room was quiet. Well there were whimpers, but it was quiet. A group of E88 gangers with some drugs, mostly, I judged for personal consumption, and several parole violations. The city was still on edge, FEMA and other agencies were working to get housing for the people, so I wouldn’t start out… loud.
Besides, I had some new ideas and toys to try out and the men here would be my test subjects. They should feel special.
They didn’t seem to agree. My first new idea was to cr...
2024-05-29 05:52:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
At school, Gloria handed the charm to Stacy.
“So, this’ll like, make him love me?” Stacy asked.
“No.” Gloria shook her head. “No. Nothing can make you love.”
Well, there were texts she’d read that implied you could make someone show love, but they hinted it wasn’t real love, and her Grandmother had pulled out the pages talking about it. From the few comments that were left…
Gloria got the feeling the things you were calling to weren’...
2024-05-28 19:48:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
jI was posting my WOD/Exlated story here, but wouldn't be by my computer until today, so I set it to authopost Friday.
Right day, right month, wrong year... So they'll be up later tonight.
Sorry!
2024-05-26 23:28:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Well, it's a new book, and this chapter will be public from the start so everyone knows I'm not dead :). Taylor gets a gift!
****
After the explosion, the Master, and our trip to the miniature golf park, Arcadia seemed to be a vacation. I quickly ran through the day, talking a little bit with some of the other students. I I would be ready to go out again as Orb Weaver tonight, and I had some plans for the Empire. There was a chop shop that was Empire affiliated, and it was time t...
2024-05-22 05:19:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
I blinked as the small girl dodged out of the alley as we left Arcadia. She wasn’t an Arcdia student—she was too young.
“Whoah,” Aisha said. “No running—“
“Please, I need help!” the girls said. She had brown hair, and she looked…
Desperate.
“Um, I can give you the Protectorate’s phone number or we can take you to the teach—“
“No! 90 percent chance I get taken if you give me to the protectorate, 90 percent chance I get tak...
2024-05-19 01:54:35 +0000 UTC
View Post
At school, Gloria handed the charm to Stacy.
“So, this’ll like, make him love me?” Stacy asked.
“No.” Gloria shook her head. “No. Nothing can make you love.”
Well, there were texts she’d read that implied you could make someone show love, but they hinted it wasn’t real love, and her Grandmother had pulled out the pages talking about it. From the few comments that were left…
Gloria got the feeling the things you were calling to weren’...
2024-05-17 03:58:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
There is no hope in the World of Darkness. The Vampires speak of an eternal age of blood, the Garou of final battle before the Wyrm drowns creation in blood, the dead look as their lands grow ever fuller. Some look to it with joy. Some with fear. Some... from Pentex to the teaming Ratkin, seek to tear it down themselves.
But before the World of Darkness was an Age of Glory.
And it's champions are returning.
It is impossible to save the world.
But the Exalted? They...
2024-05-15 03:51:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
As some have noted, the Taylor Orb Weaver story has had some... irregular publishing. Part of that is due to outside cases, others are due to the fact that it's getting longer. 140K words. Yay!
Unfortuantely that means for a lot of stuff I have to go back and make certain that I'm keeping things organized, and not accidentally changing stuff. Also, I'm having a meeting with my doctor, and it's not... super serious, but it may need some changes in lifestyle.
So! This is not ending...
2024-05-14 22:50:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
I wondered if it was a comment on me that I was faintly surprised there were no gang fights, explosions, or capes as we drove to the park.
Wacky John’s Park ‘O Fun had been a fixture in the Bay since forever. It had an arcade, games of chance, a little water park, which I had no intention of ever setting foot in, and the miniature golf course.
It was also under Truce. First under Marquis, and then when the Empire and ABB had started fighting over it, the owner, Wacky John, had...
2024-05-14 05:59:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
Will be up tomorrow, and absolutely no miniature golf courses burn down!
2024-05-12 04:30:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
We ate dinner out. I didn’t talk much, and neither did Dad. Mostly just small talk. Stuff about school.
Which, for the first time in a long time, I could talk about. Arcadia was nice. Even if Winslow was much better I…
I could never go back there. I would never trust it, or the students, and the more I thought about it, that was actually unfair. The school had changed.
But so had I, and the ...
2024-05-07 20:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
I knew this would be unpleasant. I had researched anti-Master tactics, after all. Many Masters directly controlled their victims. Others utilized methods that changed the perception of their victims.
The PRT had two methods of checking for Mastered individuals. The first was brain scans using a variety of equipment, mainly to detect changes to the brain chemistry. The second was an interview, while being examined by a variety of equipment.
An interview that would be very, very unp...
2024-04-29 02:37:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
I woke up in a chair with a man looming over me.
Pointing a gun at me.
Stupid, stupid, stupid—
“Don’t move!” he said, and suddenly my body went rigid.
Definitely a master. My bugs were still in the vents, away from the room. I hadn’t wanted to risk bringing them all. After all, if anyone had come up, I would have had time to gather them.
Stupid. I started bringing them, but he had only to pull the trigger. My armor w...
2024-04-22 09:16:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
Is kicking my ass, so expect to see it a little later this weekend.
2024-04-20 08:41:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
For a game of mine, Endless Forest. Systemless, with the rating system i used in the above posts. These are obviously very basic, not much touch up, but I thought they'd be interesting.
2024-04-19 09:47:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
He had a small apartment, in a good part of town. But not an expensive apartment. I’d gone over public data. No real complaints. No sign of disturbance.
But a clever master would be quiet.
Granted, a clever master wouldn’t blow up a factory.
I lifted one of my small receivers, cradled in spider silk, though the ventilation shafts and to a place right above the living room. Other bugs charted the empty rooms. Bedroom, small kitchen, dining room, and the livi...
2024-04-15 04:14:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
A little thing I've been working on. I love writing RPG scenarios, and some of my stories come from them, but my muse runs screaming when I stat things. So wanting to make some filthy lucre, i've been considering systemless modules. And here is the first part, how to "genericize" any conflicts and characters:
Welcome to Abstract Vistas, a series of system agnostic settings and adventures. From the stars to the spooky castle on the hill, the sky is the limit—and you don’...
2024-04-13 07:33:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
One problem was that most of the workers who had been on site were dead. There was very little evidence that there had been a larger conspiracy, but…
Money was missing. Or maybe, money was missing. Normally, if someone embezzled money, it ended up going somewhere. But here…
Fact. They were skimping on maintenance.
Fact. The holding companies had no idea.
Fact. There is no sign that anyone in the Bay benefitted.
A foreign power? ...
2024-04-07 03:13:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
I spent several days working, both as The Investigator and as Orb Weaver.
Criminals were becoming nervous. The rumor was that something had… irritated Orb Weaver.
If only they knew, I thought as I looked through the paperwork as The Investigator. The problem was that materials were both hard copy and online, and I had to compare them. The hall of records allowed me in, but… I stared at the stacks of records around me, while bugs worked on the modified cell phones I’...
2024-04-03 04:30:52 +0000 UTC
View Post
probably be sunday. For the first time in over a year, I get to hit a convention this weekend. YAY!
2024-03-29 07:51:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
