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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. BrotherofaStudio

    BrotherofaStudio Know what you're doing yet?

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    Working with dwarves from Warhammer is evidently quite the challenge for Paol as he is trying to help settle the grudges. Something I am wondering about, Paol is dating queen Khalida, but what about that dark elf he was with towards the beginning of his time in the Warhammer world? Did they break up? Is he somehow dating both of them with their consent if not blessing? On that note, I'm looking forward to seeing how he gets along with other significant characters from Warhammer like Karl Franz.
     
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  2. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Yes. Multiple wives and concubines were common in Nehekhara back in the day, so him having an elf lover isn't going to bother her. Aranei is working under the assumption that as a minor sorcercess in the employ of someone as powerful as him, he's obviously in a position to do whatever he wants. The weird thing is that he's being so nice about it. Remember how worried she got when the HIgh Elves turned up?
    I'll have to reread Drachenfels to brush up on his characterisation.
     
  3. BrotherofaStudio

    BrotherofaStudio Know what you're doing yet?

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    Ah, yes, that does clear things up. I really wish that TVTropes would update their recap page so that it's possible to see which versions of Paul show up in which chapter. They've already started but haven't finished or really made a lot of progress last time I checked.
     
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  4. thatguy3367

    thatguy3367 Know what you're doing yet?

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    dwarves, gotta love em
     
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  5. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    It might be easier if you look up Alternate Universe, then check all ages related to it. Afterwards, just search for With This Ring, and it should give you all the recap pages that currently have that trope, meaning all the episodes that either have Paul or the Renegade go to other universes, or show alternate versions of them, like Paol or Baul.
     
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  6. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    They can get it back when they get the Phoenix King to go through the flame without resistences. But that'll never happen because Malekeith is the only true king of the Elves.
     
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  7. iamnuff

    iamnuff Connoisseur.

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    I haven't seen people floating, but minor pathing issues are common in stuff like fallout or TES too.

    Most games break when you hack them.

    Edit: To clarify, the first time you meet Adam is in the middle of a scripted cutscene where you have no ability to attack, and would need to noclip through a wall just to be in the same room as him.

    The second time you meet him is the exact same. You'd have to noclip through a garage door instead of getting in a car, then walk into a scripted cutscene without triggering the scripting to actually play.

    When you aren't deliberately breaking the game on purpose, it doesn't have these issues.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2022
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  8. Steelplaza

    Steelplaza Custom Title

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    I've seen some sources saying the dwarves would give it back any time since they won the war, which technically settles the grudge-as-grudge (but doesn't make them like elves any better). All that's required is for the elven high king to present himself at Karaz-a-Karak, apologize and take responsibility for the war, and they'd hand it to him personally. That's the real "how badly do you want the Phoenix Crown back" question.
     
  9. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    No, the game wasn't hacked. You get a brief opening to hack him, and if you kill him with it -which apparently wasn't all that hard- the game left you stuck in the apartment.

     
  10. iamnuff

    iamnuff Connoisseur.

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    I don't have time to watch the full video right now and I can't find the bit you're talking about by skimming, but i've played through The Heist multiple times (although only once on 1.5+) and I've never been able to hack Adam Smasher. (not that it would actually make any sense for you to do that, given the context of the mission, given that you're hiding from him.)
    I suspect that either that guy encountered a rare bug that you aren't likely to see yourself, or he modified his game somehow.

    The only real "Yo, this shit isn't done yet." i've seen (aside from a couple of crashes) is way up on Trash Mountain in the dump outside of the city, where you look down and can see that half the garbage that you're climbing on is only textured on one side and you can see the bare untextured earth underneath.
    It's like... yeah, that's the sort of thing that you normally don't start seeing until you go out-of-bounds, and here it's just in the middle of a playable zone.
    Although to be fair, I did have to Skyrim up a garbage dump to get to it, so... maybe that's just not supposed to be climbable?

    If you want to wait then wait. There's a big DLC coming out and supposedly an update to melee combat and the police system up next. You might be better grabbing it after that anyway. *shrug*

    If you do get it, everything will probably be fine and you will probably have a lot of fun with it.
    Just be sure to rotate your saves, so that if you do softlock yourself or break a save-file, it doesn't fuck up your whole run.

    In other words, treat it like a bethesda game, I guess.
     
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  11. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Ah, no, sorry, that's a general bugs video, not the 'kill Adam Smasher' video.
    The last Bethesda game I played was Morrowind.
     
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  12. Khettien

    Khettien Perpetually confused

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    Correct me if I'm wrong, but while matter transmutation via Power Ring is charge expensive, it's certainly possible - and when you have the entire Warp as a battery to draw from, I'm pretty sure Paulos can literally make all the gold he wants. Since he's paying debts off with it, tho, I suspect he keeps that fact under his hat.
     
  13. FuzzyZergling

    FuzzyZergling Getting out there.

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    glare to Harl
     
  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  15. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    We also use "sorry" when we hear that bad things have happened that we had nothing to do with, as a way of expressing sympathy. Do dwarfs have a word/expression for that?
     
  16. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    No.
     
  17. Chaoswind

    Chaoswind Lord of nonsense

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    The context of this is that Paol is settling grudges related to perceived human debts to the dwarves clans to get them on board with his project, not settling all the grudges dwarves have with everyone (because Elven parties are long lived enough to settle their own shit and he doesn't care to settle debts from evil assholes) or at least that was my read on the situation using previous warhammer chapters as context.


    Remember Paol is building infrastructure of both the mundane and magical kind with armies of undead and human workers. The Elves may be aiding him as well, but nothing concrete was written in an update.
     
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  18. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    Well, you can always make a TVTropes account and contribute to the page. Like I should
     
  19. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

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    Ah. So the elf-king would have to swallow his pride to get the crown back? No wonder the Dawi still have it.
     
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  20. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    One of the possible meanings for Kol is somber, and the -al suffix indicates that the root word applies to a group, so Kolal would be a word to indicate communal somberness, letting the Dwarf addressed know that they aren't alone in their woes. Khazalid is explicitly stated to be impacted heavily by modifying suffixes, on page 73 of the 6th edition army book, which sits before me in dead tree format.

    Undammak would be the word for assuring that a grievance will be made right.
     
  21. Threadmarks: Pete Tong (part 2)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    30th December 2012
    16:14 GMT -5


    "Hm-hmmmm-hmmmm hm hmm-hmm-hmm-."

    I frown as I pick up the letter in the letter basket inside Jade's flat's door. From the Alliance, apparently. Not sure why they're writing to me. My home address isn't exactly a secret, but I've been spending more time in my own home in Bir Tawil lately. I've had a few people writing to me, but for the most part they don't bother.

    That's actually a little sad. I know that letter writing has dropped off immensely since the invention of e-mail, but surely there are at least a few people desperate to write to me? I honestly get more advertising fliers than requests for help.

    Quick check for anything untoward-

    Letter clear.

    -and I open it up. Ah… Oh, the first part of their teleportation array is going to be put into operation tomorrow. When was this-? Ah, yes, I suppose that I haven't been checking the door-. I mean, if I'm just coming here to sleep I just appear in the bedroom, so…

    I sigh.

    Not only am I invited to the grand unveiling, but they want to give me access to their network just in case I ever need it. I've got a big enough reputation that they think a background check is redundant; I'm clearly not going to use it for cheap holiday travel or anything.

    And I haven't RSVPed.

    I mean, I don't need it, but it's a nice thing for them to do.

    I turn to the second page. The itinerary. It's… Only a couple of hours, start to finish. I should put in an appearance. I mean, I'd honestly prefer it if this sort of international effort was organised by a government, but I spend most of my time in America. The superheroic tradition here is passionately independent, and… So am I. And if the private sector wants to fill a need the government won't, good for them.

    Ring, contact Alpha Centurion.

    Compliance.

    Might be worth me checking in with Blitzen beforehand. I honestly don't think there's any skulduggery going on. At least, no more than in any large organisation. Everyone I've looked at who's joined the Alliance has been pretty well motivated-.

    I need to nag Batman about the Small League model again. And probably the others. With another organisation doing the Big League model, the choice of the correct way to organise the League is…

    More obvious. Should I give Vincent Edge a copy of the JSI's files? He doesn't seem like the sort to create that sort of organisation, but he's an old man, and the people around him might… Not be malevolent, exactly, but they might want to focus on efficiency at the expense of morality…

    I still haven't really worked that one through in my own mind. But I don't think that someone as afraid of Old Testament retribution as he is will go too far wrong deliberately.

    "Alpha Centurion."

    "Orange Lantern here."

    "Ah! You're back on Earth!"

    "Yes. Um, sorry, I just picked up my post-."

    "Did you know that there's no postal carrier in the world that delivers to Bir Tawil?"

    "I didn't, but I'm not surprised. As I said, sorry. If it's not too late, I'd like to attend."

    "Not at all. We'd be delighted to have you. Could we persuade you to use the relay system itself?"

    "I don't really… Yeah, yeah, okay. I can do that. Are you having problems with people not wanting to use it?"

    "A few. You and I both know that the technology is safe, but almost everyone speaks of 'telefragging'."

    "When if anything goes wrong what would actually happen is the person being transported and any local matter being turned into an undifferentiated plasma field."

    "That's hardly likely, within the confines of a single planet and with a network of towers to regulate the terminus."

    "I know. But if it did"

    "And they could be knocked down by a car crossing the street. Are you truly concerned about the safety of the system?"

    "No, no. It's not the system I would have gone for, but I know it has clear advantages."

    Mostly, in that it makes mass deployment from varying locations far easier. The League's more of a 'one riot, one hero' organisation, but if you need teams for everything then it's actually a better system.

    "Is this actually the first time that it's been used, or..?"

    "Of course not! This just marks it being put into service. We've sent both test samples and superheroes a dozen times now. It would be extremely foolish of us to risk anything going on at the public unveiling!"

    "Yes, I suppose it would. So should I just turn up..?"

    "Yes, I'll let security know that you're expected. I appreciate you putting in the time."

    "Happy to help. Orange Lantern out."

    Ring, contact Alan.

    Compliance.

    "Hey Paul. Forget something?"

    "No, I just found out that I've got an invitation to that… Alliance of the Just unveiling, and I was wondering if you were going?"

    "I thought I might as well. Everyone on the League got an invite, though I don't know how many are actually gunna turn up. Are you going?"

    "Yes. Alpha Centurion's even going to let me go through. I've never been teleported in this exact way before. And if there are any problems, I'm probably the best person to find them."

    "True. You know, something like this happening was kind of a dream for me, back in the forties. And now, rather than Captain Comet or Superman doing it, it's Vincent Edge of all people."

    "Would you prefer it was Lex Luthor?"

    "God, no. And I'm glad that Edge has found religion and straightened himself out. It's just not how I saw it happening."

    "Did you ever read that thing I wrote for Batman about structures for the League's expansion?"

    "Paul, everyone on the League reads everything you send us. Fool us twice… Let us fool ourselves twice, shame on us."

    "Did you have any thoughts on it?"

    "That's a worryingly vague way to put it."

    "I mean, now that the Alliance has gotten this far, I think that the Small League model is the one to go for."

    "A small, elite team? Yeah, I see what you mean. You wanna tell Ollie?"

    "If he doesn't want to augment himself, he can just… Be grandfathered in."

    "Honestly? I prefer it the way the Alliance is handling things. But if they're doing that then I guess you're right. See you tomorrow?"

    "See you tomorrow."
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2022
  22. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    They probably know what type of crazy crap you bring, so they don't want it.

    And now I'm thinking the teleporting incident is going to go wrong.
     
  23. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    What's the Small League model and why is it better for them? They have suoerheroes they have a teleportation network, sounds like the JL Light too me.
     
  24. FeepingCreature

    FeepingCreature Not too sore, are you?

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    Everyone is invited? So it's obviously a trap, right?
     
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  25. Agumentic

    Agumentic Not too sore, are you?

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    I think back when OL was advising the Justice League on which way to develop their current organization, he offered two ways - either a global organization with a lot of not very powerful heroes working across the planet solving city-level problems, or a small team of the most/uniquely powerful heroes on Earth who gather together when everything goes to shit for a coordinated response. With the Alliance so far stepping in to do the former job, the latter becomes the obvious choice for the League.
     
  26. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    To be fair, anyone wanting to get in touch with you could try a phone call, contact the League, or otherwise poke the super-powered community. And given how often you're off-planet, it's not impossible that attempts to get in touch could go unanswered for days or weeks.

    Hey, be glad it's not a sheaf of bills to be paid. I expect the apartment is functionally independent of all city services, though...

    The joy of direct transport. For all you knew, someone could have been laying dying at the door one of those nights, and you'd probably not have noticed... Unless the Ring has standing programming for that sort of thing.

    ...I mean, it's probably not going to be a useful offer, given all your other options. But if you're trapped on Earth one day, without a ring or access to the Honden, like last Christmas...

    Yeah. And you never know... After all, you are the crazy prepared guy...

    Plus, government controlled super-teams tend to end up getting subverted or misused by whoever ends up in control of them. Or simply rebel against said bad leadership and go independent.

    ...If occasionally concerning on other aspects of their behaviour <cough>White Dragon<cough>. But that sort of thing tends to be self-correcting thanks to peer pressure.

    If only for them to have an example of what can go wrong, anyway.

    Never make assumptions. Who knows what he might be thinking at any moment. Or any of the people under his leadership.

    And it has been a few days since the last time we saw him. I guess nothing special-slash-screen-worthy happened in that time...

    I imagine the international postage costs would be a bit rough, if nothing else. And using a courier might be a challenge.

    Well, he can always show it's safe to use, if nothing else. ...He should have a backup clone ready on Earth, right?

    Pfft. As long as you're careful and the system has good safety programming, you should be safe enough.

    Yeah, coordinate drift isn't going to be too big of an issue at the local scale. A few centimetres at most? Best to have them pop into mid-air and drop a bit than appear too low, and... Pop.

    And given the travelling habits of some capes, I'd be more worried about falling from a rooftop anyway.

    Since the Alliance probably isn't going to be working with multi-talented individuals on the scale of Superman, after all.

    ...Well, that sounds reassuring enough.

    To be fair, I doubt security could stop him if he wanted in anyway. But that goes for just about any superhero with more-than-human capabilities... Barring the guards having their own powers.

    One Lantern would be good. Two? Well, if anything goes wrong...

    I could see them inviting every big name cape they could, just on principle. Wonder what the League's collective opinion on it is?

    After all, it's not the first time you'd have suffered total physical dissolution. :p

    ...God, I can just imagine him putting a genetic sensor in it that denies people with active metagenes or nun-human DNA.

    Though others have explained it better, the choice of a single small, power-heavy squad versus a distributed low-power, local-focused large organisation just feels a bit too binary. If nothing else, it's probably a good idea to have close ties between large- and small-scale groups to avoid any misunderstandings...

    I expect he'd be more on the side of small units. He remembers the larger organisations during World War II, of course. But that represents a wide spread of power levels, and it's easy fro the big names to dominate operations...

    So, keep the Big 7 as the core, with a rotating guest seat, and send the rest off to local branches?

    And to be fair, an ordinary guy with a bow and arrow... Won't be useful in a lot of the situations the League tends to find themselves in.

    New Year's Eve, huh? I guess 2013 will be a big year for capes.

    Well, there's a big event that's just begging for all manner of things to go wrong. Place your bets now, readers: How will things 'pete tong'? Teleport accident? Secret plot by someone involved in the group? Random dimensional intrusion? 5th-Dimensional Imp trickery? Some unknown write-in? So many possibilities, and so many ways for Mr Zoat to defy all our expectations...
     
  27. Duke Long

    Duke Long Glomerulus

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    Extraneous ‘a’
     
  28. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  29. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    All the discussion of the teleportation method makes me feel that something has got to mean something's up. But it's as subtle as a sledgehammer so maybe Zoat's doing a bait and switch and everything will go perfectly?
     
  30. BartlettMagic

    BartlettMagic peekaboo, you fucks you!

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    have i just grown overly cynical or is this triggering a sense of foreboding to anyone else?
     
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