thenearshore | 38 - Power Palette Swap

Entry tags:

38 - Power Palette Swap

Who: Everyone!
What: Power Palette Swap Event!
When: April 15th - April 18th 2017 (March 1st - March 8th 2019)
Where: Throughout the Far Shore and Near Shore
Summary: A couple of intrepid magical investigators unknowingly trigger some mishaps among the New Gods and Shinki.

For two weeks, the Ama investigators have been combing the compound where Cultists were dealt a heavy blow by the New Gods and Shinki. Among them, two in particular had been looking to move the Crystal that the cultists had in their basement, the stand that it sat on, and the dolls nearby. Combined with Waver's analysis, Judar succeeds in using his magic to transport the Crystal out of the basement.

As they manage that, a ripple effect washes over the New Gods and Shinki. There is a slight sense of Vertigo for some, a stronger wave for others, and then things start to change...

As It Happens: April 15

Everyone was minding their own business. Perhaps they were on the Near Shore helping complete a prayer, or they were in the Far Shore attending to various godly duties. Regardless of where everyone was, it's around noon when some things start to change. A mild sense of vertigo happens to those who start to experience physical body changes, while a stronger wave seems to wash over the God or Shinki's skin if their powers are changing, or perhaps even a sudden stop-in-your-tracks deadening of feeling if being depowered entirely.

April 16

Later in the afternoon, through no extra effort of the Crystal-movers, a loud noise like a subwoofer kicking into effect issues from within the Crystal, knocking anyone away who was near it by several feet. The one-shot noise reverberates in the ears of all New Gods and Shinki, triggering another change for some. At the Crystal, the black color that appeared when the former Goddess entered the Crystal fills more of it.

April 17

Closer to 7pm, once more, the noise issues forth from the Crystal, louder and knocking people back several yards this time. The Crystal fills with black and grey. Some might swear they can see a face of the white-grey against all of the black, resembling an Inkblot / Rorschach test style picture.

Aftermath: April 18

Around 10am, the black coils from within the Crystal settle down into more of whispy smoke, much harder to see in it. There's a slight tug in the direction of the Crystal regardless of where New Gods and Shinki stand, and with that pull, the change effects go away and all are returned to as they were.

In Summary:

Swap powers with another character!
Gain or lose powers!
Swap physical appearances with another character!
Use or abuse the changes while you can!
Investigate who and what is responsible!
Have fun~

Questions? Leave us a question on the OOC Plotting Post and we'll do our best to answer ASAP.

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[Iskandar is looking at the crystal with suspicion. If it was his call he would have the damned thing burned to ash. Or destroyed in any manner sufficiently permanent enough. Still, he’s absolutely sure that if they’ll to leave it to Amaterasu’s investgators in the end they won’t hear a single word of explanation.
Considering that the amount of questions he has about the cult quadrupled after the compound raid? He would really like some explanation.
At least for the fact the damned thing ate a goddess!!
That one thing alone means it needs to be studied because what guarantee they have this is singular event? If cult is able to pull off stunts like that? They’re certainly more dangerous than he thought them to be.
Luckily he’s in company of two people uniquely qualified for such line of inquiry.
It’s just... he would prefer a safer place for that. ]

What exactly are you planning to do?

Are you thinking of your teleportation spell? That might bypass the warding against a god's teleportation.

[Waver asks Judar, since he's seen it twice by now. His attention swings to Iskandar, grave. They discussed what he was able to get out of the cultists.]

We need to take this thing out of here, before the cult comes to reclaim it or it disappears into other hands. We know there are other compounds and likely other crystals. However, we need some place safe, and not on a Temple's grounds. There could be some very serious consequences from Amaterasu if so.

I am not sure exactly how things went down, but Lord Ebisu had knowledge of the masks. It ended with him executed and his Temple massacred. So...

Oh, I already know it does. I've done it to teleport to one of the bathrooms here instead of walking over from the temple, or staying glued to one of the investigators.

[ Judar. They could've known that before, instead of now.

So in the information Waver shares, Judar looks over from him to the giant redhead. It's kind of a joke to call this a plan, but it's definitely going to be something. ]

Right, no temples. I need some kind of location, though. Then I can set the points and move the one that's over here through the crystal to get it moved and we join in. Those idiots mess with the field all they want, and see an empty space.

[Iskandar scratches his beard. He recently acquired a garage. Alright, maybe calling it a garage is being too gracious. It’s an old workshop. Rented to be precise. It belonged to a carpenter but then he retired and his children weren’t that interested in the carpentry being in the finance and all... eh.. long story.]

I might just have a place for you. It’s a bit off the beaten path. Near Shore. Not central Tokyo but close. What’s important in current circumstances I would be very impressed if anyone was able to track this place to me. Or anybody for that matter. It’s in a kind of legal limbo.

[The amount of paperwork he had to go through... you wouldn’t believe it’s humanly possible... and he did it all by himself. He didn’t want to bother Satya with something that’s basically his whim. He might get bored by it quickly and then all her hard work would be in vain. Also he’s only kind of renting it but to be totally honest there’s a lot of bureaucratic will to just forget the place even exists.]

That would work. We'll have to ward the place up afterwards, but it'll work.

[Is it the place where they took the van to do some repairs? He didn't know Iskandar had taken such a keen interest in it.

If that's so... Satya and him could absolutely make it legally disappear entirely if needed. Especially if there's bureaucratic will to forget the place exist... there's a way!]

[ The near shore works- it takes a lot less energy to teleport between places on the same 'shore,' and it sounds obscured enough to have people want to pretend it doesn't exist. That works. As Judar thinks it over, he nods a bit in self-assuring himself of this being possible. ]

It'll have to. I need to see the location on a map, at the least, to get an idea of where I'm linking the second point to send everything.

[ Never mind how hard it would be to set up a second point he hasn't actually been do. After realizing he could just think 'set distance in set direction' instead of actually visualizing the location and where it was in the world, it made these kinds of things easier.

Ah. Hopefully this place is just one big and empty room. ]

[No, it's a different location. The one they used then was temporary. The place he's referring to? He hasn't shown it to anyone yet. He wanted it to look... more presentable first. But he has no problem to give Judar the address entirely from memory.]

I can draw you how it looks on the inside and the outside if it helps. Just find me a piece of paper and a pen.

[No, he didn't take pictures. He would also prefer not to mark this place's location on a map on his Heaven's issued phone either. Especially considering it's intended uses now.]

[Hmm. Waver searches inside his coat for said items to hand to Iskandar. It's not a big notepad, so hopefully it works.]

This should do.

[He's going to inspect the altar with Discerning Eye while they work on setting up the spell. Looking for anything that would mystically interfere or cause other problems.

He doesn't want anyone ending up like that goddess.]

Sure. That and as much about the location itself. Like direction and distance from a major landmark or something.

[ The gods could teleport by imagining the location- his is more around precision, in some ways. It's magic, but with more math, so it's never as easy as he'd like, or as easy as he makes it look. ]

I've only got a small idea from you saying the city, and I'd rather not put this in the middle of a street.

[Iskandar takes notepad from Waver and starts drawing.
First goes a map of the area. He marks all the major spots there: an elevated highway, the Keiyo rail line, the racetrack right in front of the building, the mega shopping mall LaLaPort on the left, IKEA megastore, a cluster of thirty floors high apartment buildings arranged in neat triangle right next to it on the other side of the rail tracks and Minami-Funabashi station not far away from it.

The former carpenter's workshop sits just at the very edge of racetrack grounds. Only a single street separates it from the car parking belonging to the mega-mall. By some irrational fluke of a bureaucratic whim the ownership of the plot the building stands on is irrationally complicated. It may be on the racetrack grounds but not only the railway company has some claim on it but also the owners of the nearby mega-mall. The plot is too small to make any difference for anyone other than the carpenter so there is no will on part of any of the three companies - the mall, the railway and the racetrack - to engage valuable resources and personnel in a dispute over such insignificant piece of land. Hence the limbo continues.
Iskandar hands Judar the map.

He starts sketching the building itself. It's a low structure looking more like a small warehouse than a workshop. It probably was a warehouse in times when the railway company was still the owner of the place. Most of the inside is one big undivided space with only some machines left near the walls. There are two small rooms separated from the rest of the building by thin walls. They must have served as the office and storage.
Judar gets both sketches of the outside and the inside.]

Is that detailed enough?

[... it's not drawing from the land or if it is, it's invisible to him. Waver scowls, looking for anything that'll set it off like when Judar tried to break the thing open to eat the goddess inside.

That had been a hell of a reaction right there. Darkness spilling out in defense, an angry swarm of blackened energy, while the bright energy of the goddess withdrew further in. Souls buzzing like angry bees while the vortex of energy tried to do its best to consume his Bounded Field.

But they don't want to shatter it, they just want to move it. Other than trying to outright destroy the crystal... the damn thing has been inert.]

[ No one could say that Rider lacked on detailed memory recollection, that's for sure. Whether or not it's to scale in some way, it paints a good picture, to where Judar can get a vague sense of the area. Looking over the map long enough, he gives another look between the two sketches before handing everything back. ]

Let's see. Hold onto that and teleport back to confirm where it goes. I'm focusing on this being one way to simplify things.

[ Getting his staff in hand, a golden circle of light, which seemed to have some corrupted version of a Solomon Seal, that was about ten feet high and long, but had no real depth, opened up. Going through it should have him arrive in the location given, but either way, it'd be going out the same kind of circle of light.

This time, unlike the last one that Waver was able to get a good look at the spell being cast, it didn't require the use of that third eye. Maybe it's used for desperation or an extra boost of power, but at this point, despite the huge drain and cost of energy, it was within his capabilities.

He seems to still be getting stronger and more skilled in some ways. ]

[Iskandar takes the papers from Judar and eyes the circle of light with suspicion. He cannot really identify the source of his unease but something about this magic seems a little, how to say it, off.]

You don't expect me to go through this?

[Because he won't. He may teleport wherever he likes but that strange magic? He's not touching it. Nope.]

I thought you wanted to just move the crystal.

[Or did he just understood you wrong?]

... you want to confirm you've gotten the location right, am I right?

[Waver looks up from his inspection.

... time he thinks of alternatives. Because Iskandar isn't going to have it, and if he won't have it, Waver isn't going to have it.]

... it's probably a good idea that no one jumps through the first time. That is a very powerful object of unknown arcane origins, this room is swamped in mystic energy, and while I can detect nothing that looks like it'll go off or interact with either of our arts, that doesn't mean this is risk free. We need to be going through this cautiously, assessing each step, and trying to manage any potential for danger.

Why not try this instead? We send a phone through that's video linked to Iskandar's and containing a tracking spell. We can confirm location that way, and if it's wrong, I can just hunt down the phone later. And if we lose the phone? It's a phone.

How does that sound?

[That's definitely more control than last time... and power. And skill. Which is good in one way...

... but with Judar's lack of displine and poor impulse control, that's worrying.]

[ .... Seriously. You two were doubting him after a couple of weeks of going back and checking no things? But really, it wasn't like he was suggesting this by some whim. It came from a place of logic. ]

How are you expecting to move the crystal without risking touching it as well?

[ But remember that impulse control thing? Judar shook his head and went through the portal himself, with the point disappearing a second afterwards. After another full minute, a new one that's similar but with different markings appears back in the room, with Judar walking back to where the other two servants were...

To quickly sit on the floor, as the portal disappeared again, letting the air of mystic energy repower him. It's nice to have the world love you so much that it resupplies you with what you need. He'll do enough to show something of a mirage of the site he landed at, which looked to be... outside the place Rider was describing. Then the image in the air disappeared, because he really wants to be regaining his energy.]

I have to adjust the location a little, but it works. I've been using this spell for weeks to get in past the guards and the wards on the compound, and in general for other things. Gods were being blocked from their teleporting with the wards, but after it worked around the old woman and god, I've played around with those ward's limitations.

[ He's already imagining them asking why he suggested Rider do that instead. Assuming they would, because that's the kind of personality he has.

But hey, that personality also made him willing to take any risks upon himself. ]

It takes a lot of energy to set these up, and I wouldn't want to experiment with making it a two-way spell with what I'm trying to accomplish. Big and Beefy there knew the location best and could teleport to outside the compound and come back in again. I was just coming up with a solution that didn't involve us touching the damn thing.

[Iskandar rolls his eyes. Ζεύς, king of the Gods, I have no patience for this kid! It's not only his reluctance to hop straight into some foreign magic at play here.]

Did it occur to you, smartass, that me coming to the same building - and not any building, this building - twice in a row without leaving it in between would look a little suspicious to anyone that has better eyesight and focus than a demented mole?
I already get more scrutiny than you do.

[Because he’s a god. If anyone were to try anything funny like for example displace a certain crystal, it would be a god, right? Not just some mere shinki. But he doesn’t say any of this. They all know it. They’re using it to their advantage all the time.]

Which is good! I can claim ignorance until the end of the world and I wouldn’t even be lying ~~much~~! The only problem with it is that the first moment I do anything even mildly odd it gets reported.
With the crystal gone who do you think they would ask first? Me! I need at least some shred of substance to the denial I'm going to present.

They might be old fashioned, slow to react and painfully inefficient but they are not blind. Nor are they stupid.

[Yes, they look at Gods first because what is a shinki to the Heavens? No threat and of no worth. But since Gods are sinless beings, always Just and Correct in their decisions, it's the shinki at fault for not giving the proper guidance to make them more fitting for Heaven and it's the shinki usually that get eyed first for the blame. Waver's heard stories from Ebisu's shinki.

It's a glorious fucked up catch-22 that gets everyone and yes, they all try to work with what they can.]

Okay.

[Waver holds up his hands because he senses an argument coming and they need their A++ game with this thing in whatever they decide and that's not helped if things get heated.]

Let's take a moment.

[Yeesh. Judar. Impulse control. He didn't know if any poking by Amaterasu's people changed the conditions around the crystal.]

You're right that it's too risky to be teleport back here constantly. It increases the chance they can catch on to a point better avoided and we need all the plausible deniability we can muster.

Especially for you.

[Because you're in charge.

It's Iskandar's call if the risks suddenly outweigh the rewards and they need to stop. He can better weigh them for the bigger picture than Waver.

For the magic... that's on him and Judar. They're the advising experts.]

You're right on the method. We can't touch the crystal. We must keep the setup intact.

The trick is getting a precise location for the teleport and being able to confirm it without tipping anyone off we're up to Grand Theft Crystal. We just need to think of a way to make it work that everyone is comfortable with.

[Think Velvet.

... hopefully he can come up with a solution both can agree with.]

Okay first, if I can get you the exact location through a spell, would you be able to use that for yours?

Edited 2019-03-25 22:28 (UTC)

You wouldn't have had to come back and deal with the guards.

[ Why did it feel like they ignored what he said, or did? Then again, Judar was a shinki with enough pride and too much awareness of his own ability that people either didn't understand or focused on the access to infinite energy thing to exploit. Take away the memories, with the shinki having died right at their point of character development, and you have someone with the strength and smarts to do a lot, but that wisdom? It was barely a seedling compared to the rest of Judar's personality.

Basically, he's a teenager without the benefit of being a protagonist to round out that nature. ]

If you really think I need it...

[ There'd be a joke about hearing him rolling his eyes, but the kid's actually rolling his eyes. As if he hasn't already shown that he's a bit of a brat. This is probably the closest to him saying he'll cooperate and use it as you're getting. Maybe someday he'll act like he can be in a team or something. ]

Look, it's easy enough. You two can leave, as usual, and I'll get this side done. It's not like they know I'm here in the first place, so you'll have a set enough alibi without being blamed for anything.

[Iskandar nods. This actually sounds reasonable. Maybe he was wrong about the kid after all.]

All right. If you can handle things on this end, we can wait for you at the destination.

[Iskandar has an impression Judar looks a little paler now... But then he's not specialist on magic. If the kid says it's easy then probably it's best to stop questioning him.]

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38 - Power Palette Swap

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