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Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

Reader mode
So, lot of mixed feelings about this chapter. I think I'm just going to try listing them out.

Team BITN staying out of the fight was a mistake, a big part of why Capes are allowed to get away with so much and receive the protection of the unwritten rules is because they attend Endbringer fights. Them not showing up to an Endbringer fight in their own city even if it was just to make a showing and not otherwise do anything will ruin their teams reputation-

-is what I would say if they were from any city other than Brockton Bay where people actually followed or at least at the bare minimum paid lip service to the unwitten rules. Honestly the gangs of Brockton Bay wouldn't have changed their behavior either way so yeah, them sitting out the fight was definitely the smart call here. Just felt it worth bringing up.
Also side note, I'm personally of the stance that Shadow Stalker could with either a sufficiently powerful Tinker tech weapon and/or Trump support allowing her to safely get in range, like Othala's invulnerability, attack the inside of their core and kill an Endbringer.

Side side note, I'm also of the stance that while Endbringers are powerful, should be treated like a proper threat, and that most Endbringer fights should end with the Endbringer winning, they are not straight up unkillable and making them so is just plot contrivance

Low Key serving as med evac was definitely a better use of her power than personally fighting an Endbringer, but I was hoping she'd use the Truce as an excuse to work with Bitch to send out a giant Fenrir.

Really sad Parian died, mostly cause I was looking forward too Taylor realizing that while she was going through all this trouble infiltrating the gangs to study their powers there was a Cape putting on free public power based shows she could have attended wherever.

I do not like the way Fenrir died in this chapter. Even if it's temporary, and I do really hope it's temporary, him dying while he and Taylor were on med evac purposely staying out of the fight simply because Taylor forgot to dodge Leviathan's follow up attack from his water shadow, an attack she noted existing earlier in the chapter right before learning his attack range was even longer than that via water laser, honestly feels like plot contrivance forcing Taylor to hold the idiot ball.
 
People die during endbringer fights. Even innocent people and people who deliberately tried to stay out of the fight.

Taylor getting drive by'd is perfectly believable to me.

And she DID perfect dodge. Fenrir just cant.
 
Vealie said:
What power did she get from ballistic?
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That will be revealed as soon as she uses it, but she has other things on her mind right now.

Ruy said:
So she rammed Armsmaster halberd into Leviathan's ass?

Nekomancer will probably end up uniting everyone to kill Scion then.
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Allow me to clarify: She had just as much business being in an Endbringer fight as canon Taylor, and none of her plot armor.

Yes, I'm aware that Wildbow claims to have rolled a die to see whether Taylor survived the Leviathan fight. I'm prepared to believe that. But having done that, he then had the option of writing a fight that Taylor plausibly survives.

He did not exercise that option.

Silvercrystal said:
It should be gone now.
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Thank you.

ses said:
The Heroes don't have leftover Bakuda bombs though due to her workshop getting amethyst'd. Does that mean Dauntless survived?
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I only wrote out a select handful of such announcements. Dauntless is in fact dead (it will be mentioned later in-story).

ses said:
@author did Nekomancer never get a chance to get the hookup from Joe Exotic of Tiger King fame? If she rode into battle on a tiger that would have been awesome.
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I haven't watched Tiger King, but I remember hearing about it. I don't think that guy would get along with (read: survive meeting) someone with Nekomancer's unshakeable belief in love and justice.

Alathon said:
A Leviathan chapter instead of an arc? Something of a relief.
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Inorite? Though it is not mercy that stays my hand, merely self-interest - if you dread having to read such a thing, imagine having to write it.

Alathon said:
Well crap... people are saying Fenrir will respawn, but if he died after dematerializing I don't get how. Oh well, will hope for derp even if it looks grim.
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If you're confused, you should ask one of the exalted-knowers in this thread to explain the process of spirit respawn, and the two requirements for it to happen.
 
Daniel Snuts said:
If you're confused, you should ask one of the exalted-knowers in this thread to explain the process of spirit respawn, and the two requirements for it to happen.
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Ah fuck it requires a year and a day to respawn, and also a Sanctum? I've never actually played 2e and my experiences with 3e were very much "Me only barely knowing the setting running it for friends even less familiar than me with no one to correct how wrong I am". After hours of trying to look it up and failing because 1 INT, I finally just PMd a friend. I'm still not completely clear on what a Sanctum is and how it applies to this fic, but a year and a day means RIP Fenrir. I hope Taylor at least knows all hope is not lost. Does a Sanctum require Taylor build him a shrine in realspace or does he just have an Elsewhere pocket dimension by default? My attempts to look it up were unclear. If it requires a cult than the E88 segment rebranding itself as Fenrir's Chosen after Kaiser's death takes on a whole new meaning.

Daniel Snuts said:
I only wrote out a select handful of such announcements. Dauntless is in fact dead (it will be mentioned later in-story).
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RIP Dauntless. Hopefully he just got Amethyst'd during an attempt to lure Levi-chan into the zone paralleling canon. Then at least Taylor might learn Order-Affirming Blow in the future.


Continuing to mourn the loss of Nekomancer. Gone too soon. I'm not even memeing I'm genuinely far more emotionally attached to this throwaway joke character than I should be and I don't know what's wrong with me. She's just too perfect.


Daniel Snuts said:
For just a moment, your brain malfunctions - you see that the tail-strike will end up well short, and relax. You forget what he can do with the water shadow. Fenrir throws himself in front of you.
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>for just a moment your brain malfunctions

Hmmm
 
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Daniel Snuts said:
Allow me to clarify: She had just as much business being in an Endbringer fight as canon Taylor, and none of her plot armor.

Yes, I'm aware that Wildbow claims to have rolled a die to see whether Taylor survived the Leviathan fight. I'm prepared to believe that. But having done that, he then had the option of writing a fight that Taylor plausibly survives.

He did not exercise that option.
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That's kind of a shame. I would have loved to see Nekomancer inexplicably continue the Canon worm storyline in the background of Taylor casually munching down on powers. Would have been hilarious.

ses said:
>for just a moment your brain malfunctions
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Nice catch.

Though it also annoys me.

Because the only time Taylor fails in this story is when the hand of god reaches down to personally lobotomize her.
 
Daniel Snuts said:
...You're talking about powers, of course. Rune and Dragon comes close, but Ballistic's power is ever so slightly larger. You keep your eyes shut and admire its form inside your soul. So thick and veiny - okay, maybe you're reaching a bit now, but the essence channels of this particular golden construct are notably thicker than most.

Sure, it makes sense that supersonic projectiles would be more energy intensive than, say, the passive scanning of sorcerer's sight. But on the other hand, the power draw is also much larger than Labyrinth's power, which transports you into another dimension. Powers only ever make sense in order lull you into a false sense of security.
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I know this is supposed to be a hint and author really wants me to guess right for Ballistic's charm but the only charms I can find that's exactly 80 hours of training time (Confirmed to be exactly 80 hours and not 88 by the statement "slightly more than rune/dragon") AND costs more than the 20 motes of Hell-Walker Technique are Oath-Shattering Strike and Shroud-Crossing Miasma, the capstone for Infernal Monster Style and an Abyssal Sail charm to let you enter the Underworld. But those are the most completely pointless charms possible, and there's no tortured logic I can find to even vaguely link it to Ballistic. There's no Underworld in the Wormverse, and the only thing Oath-Shattering Strike does is let Taylor break her own vows and get got for that, which she can manage just fine on her own. Is the joke that she'll use OSS to unchain Dragon? That seems extremely unlikely to me and again, not even vaguely in the same realm as Ballistic even with Simurgh shenanigans.

This is driving me insane. Please have mercy. Speaking of Martial Arts charms though, Horizon-Hurling Tactic/Crack the Sky would be absolutely metal and I really really hope that it's the martial arts charm that lets you throw somebody literal miles because that's awesome. Actually wait, you can throw inanimate objects too. Okay that's my new top guess even though it explicitly fails the "Draws more power than Hell-Walker Technique" hint.
 
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Daniel Snuts said:
By day she worked with animal shelters and did photo ops handing out adorable kittens to cute little kids. By night she patrolled the mean streets of Albuquerque, and whenever she encountered criminals she'd request that they "surrender in the name of the light!"

They almost always did, these days. Nekomancer would say that it's because there's a ray of goodness in even the darkest heart, but mostly it's because everyone who wasn't inclined to surrender had already been buried under several times their body weight in suicidally aggressive feral strays and eaten alive.
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A true hero! Batman lost a fine mentor figure in this chapter :(

It's this kind of behavior I imagine every time I think of a realistic "hero of light" figure that gets things done outside of PR sessions. Could be a fine comic relief character too.
 
ses said:
I hope Taylor at least knows all hope is not lost. Does a Sanctum require Taylor build him a shrine in realspace or does he just have an Elsewhere pocket dimension by default?
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Taylor still can, at any point, give herself dots in Exalted lore, and find out for herself IIRC. She just need to stumble on the idea first.
 
Entirely unrelated question: Can Taylor learn charms from folk stuck in Greyboy bubbles? (Assuming their powers were active as they were caught. Because I could easily see Cauldron 'feeding' her that way, as her absolute belief in the notes would make her rather easy to recruit if not control.)
 
Since Nekomancer didn't have plot armor, and actually murdered several people in horrific ways while caping, she wouldn't have lasted long on the streets anyway. Death by an anonimous sniper maybe?
 
Dakkah said:
Entirely unrelated question: Can Taylor learn charms from folk stuck in Greyboy bubbles? (Assuming their powers were active as they were caught. Because I could easily see Cauldron 'feeding' her that way, as her absolute belief in the notes would make her rather easy to recruit if not control.)
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She could.

ses said:
Ah fuck it requires a year and a day to respawn, and also a Sanctum? I've never actually played 2e and my experiences with 3e were very much "Me only barely knowing the setting running it for friends even less familiar than me with no one to correct how wrong I am". After hours of trying to look it up and failing because 1 INT, I finally just PMd a friend. I'm still not completely clear on what a Sanctum is and how it applies to this fic, but a year and a day means RIP Fenrir. I hope Taylor at least knows all hope is not lost. Does a Sanctum require Taylor build him a shrine in realspace or does he just have an Elsewhere pocket dimension by default? My attempts to look it up were unclear. If it requires a cult than the E88 segment rebranding itself as Fenrir's Chosen after Kaiser's death takes on a whole new meaning.
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The passage you were looking for may be found in Rolls of Glorious Divinity: "A slain god without domain or sanctum perishes utterly, as if slain by the Ghost-Eating Technique." ('god' and 'spirit' may be used interchangeably in exalted)

Idoneior said:
For a familiar then, I would guess some sort of limited "fate-based" protection against the familiar dying exists, but e.g. it would still be possible for Bubbles to sacrifice his life to save Taylor's own.
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Look at this chad prediction master, who's getting a cookie I've been waiting three months to hand out.

Oh dear, it looks like they accidentally used salt instead of sugar in the recipe.

ses said:
Continuing to mourn the loss of Nekomancer. Gone too soon. I'm not even memeing I'm genuinely far more emotionally attached to this throwaway joke character than I should be and I don't know what's wrong with me. She's just too perfect.
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Snatch had the ability to freely teleport objects within ten yards of herself, as long as they were smaller than a cubic foot and weighed less than two pounds. She triggered very young, and her villain career consisted entirely of bragging about her shoplifting exploits on social media.

She found out that the name she innocently picked for herself was a noun as well as a verb far too late to change it.

ses said:
Hmmm
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Daniel Snuts said:
I only wrote out a select handful of such announcements.
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"God, Theo, you are so fucking pathetic! Do you think you're ever going to get me off with this pathetic little worm of a dick!?"

"...no..."

"Don't you wish you had a giant wolf dick to nail me with? Don't you wish you could take me doggy style all night!?"

"...Wait, what?"

"Don't you wish you had a giant wolf dick!?"

"...yes, but please don't tell me why I want one..."

Theo cries out in pain as his pants rip...
 
So Bubble's is permanently dead now, well I hate that. I liked this fic enough up to this point to keep reading and see where this goes but, yeah.
 
Dakkah said:
Entirely unrelated question: Can Taylor learn charms from folk stuck in Greyboy bubbles? (Assuming their powers were active as they were caught. Because I could easily see Cauldron 'feeding' her that way, as her absolute belief in the notes would make her rather easy to recruit if not control.)
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Again, Contessa can I-win-button you regardless. The notes don't open any attack avenues to Thinkers that don't already have God powers.

Dread Pirate Gilligan said:
"God, Theo, you are so fucking pathetic! Do you think you're ever going to get me off with this pathetic little worm of a dick!?"

"...no..."

"Don't you wish you had a giant wolf dick to nail me with? Don't you wish you could take me doggy style all night!?"

"...Wait, what?"

"Don't you wish you had a giant wolf dick!?"

"...yes, but please don't tell me why I want one..."

Theo cries out in pain as his pants rip...
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This requires Scoured Perfection of Form, Verdant Emptiness Endowment only makes you peak human by maxing out your stats and skills. It doesn't achieve anything that can't be theoretically achieved by working out and gitting gud.
 
ses said:
Again, Contessa can I-win-button you regardless. The notes don't open any attack avenues to Thinkers that don't already have God powers.
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Oh I know, once you start involving the utter bullshit that's Contessa or Simmy there's very little that you can't rationalize in story. However, once you start theorycrafting along the lines of GB feeding, you have to take it a step further and think about *how* she would get into such a position, since I kind of doubt that such horrors are left not only exposed but unguarded (Though I suppose she could go for another Lung Harem infiltration.)
 
So Taylor is about to go either very depressed or very vengeful.
Maybe both.
Narrative forces indicate rage, but I reckon Snuts has the writing chops to put together a compelling sad sack arc.
Not sure which will be more painful to read though :/
Further slide into the realms of "like the S9 but smaller" or many pages of tears and self defeat /harmful activities.

Please don't keep us guessing, but that grim dark tag has me nervous
 
Alucard 109 said:
Something I haven't seen anyone considering is, where is Tay's place in the Empire without fenrir? As far as they know, she's unpowered now
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Kaiser's dead and she has Purity mastered, which means she's the secret power behind the throne of one of the two splinter factions. I've been wondering whether she's going to attempt to keep the two halves together.
 
obv it's not really a problem for Low Key but the death of 'Fenrir' makes me curious about whether capes ever lose their power

like for example what if the Siberian wasn't an indestructible immovable object? if the projection was poofed would Manton have simulated a replacement? are there capes with a one-chance-only type of power?

there's Leet who is canonically the closest to a cape losing his power (Eidolon doesn't count)... and he is notably absent from the recruitment list for everyone except Bakuda

be sad if Low Key is kicked out after all the successful indoctrination ooooooooooor I guess she can just be Theo's full-time girlfriend now?
 
Alucard 109 said:
Something I haven't seen anyone considering is, where is Tay's place in the Empire without fenrir? As far as they know, she's unpowered now
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She can empower another beast I believe. Just wouldn't be Fenrir. She still has the power, the dog itself however is dead.
 
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