Blizz

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

The Eleventh Path

ELEVENTH.PATH
............................................................ "A sanctuary between the stars."	In the absence of a safe place in which they could work and hide from the dangers of St. Portwell, Jack Hawthorne, Kenshiro Murakin, and Emperor Tennogama put their capabilities together to create a pocket dimension. Nestled between the boundaries of the All-Verse's realms, the Eleventh Path is a manifestation of their work, and a mix of two very different aesthetics. The exterior is a simple japanese estate, with a long staircase of stone leaning down to an open field. The surroundings are dense, lush foliage of moss and trees, resting atop a sheer cliff of vibrant stone. The sky above the Eleventh Path is the All-Verse itself, flowing around the space like water around heavy rocks. One can stare into the open air and see all of the cosmos swirling within their view, held at bay by the work that went into the sanctuary. The interior of the building consists of two floors, each containing of rooms tethered to the “anchor” or the foundation, that can be reshaped and rearranged however Jack or Kenshiro choose, using their purple Lux. The first floor contains a library, private areas for Jack and Ken, and a meeting room for others to gather and plan their actions.

To a guest, or a potential intruder, this area might seem like little more than fancy decoration. But this is a trick to mislead. The Eleventh Path is a place created by purple Lux, meaning it can be folded in on itself like origami to conceal other areas. One of the several windows in this area unfurls to reveal a circular storage area, intended to house artifacts and other objects of interest. The only way in or out of this space is to distort the reality with purple Lux, something only Jack and Ken are normally capable of. On the first floor, there is a large staircase of stone leading downwards and out to a secluded walkway. Beyond a massive torii gate adorned with toad carvings lies a humid, damp field of moss and scattered pools. These stone springs are the resting place of the Toad Emperor, who spends his days in peace alongside his royal subjects who tend to, and defend the Eleventh Path as needed.

In order to enter the Eleventh Path, one must be granted access by either Jack or Kenshiro. This will put them on a whitelist, guaranteeing them safe passage so long as either of the two consent to their presence. In accordance with the contract that was made to build the space, no one is permitted to be there unless Jack or Kenshiro are present with them.

Joint Spells

Moonfoot Assassins ⫻ The elite assassins of the Toad Emperor's ranks. The Moonfoot clan are mysterious toads that can only be summoned with a joint cast between Jack Hawthorne and Kenshiro Murakin. These shadowy killers move through the darkness unseen, and can strike in the blink of an eye. The shadows bend to their will in a way similar to Jack's Umbramancy. They are tall, wispy toads with skin black as a starless sky. This spell summons five Moonfoot Assassins, equipped with various killing weapons.

Limits: Moonfoot toads thrive in the darkness, and depend on the Lux of their summoners to remain here on Shimmer. Therefore, any light brighter than a candle will deter them. Jack or Ken must remain within five yards of them, or they will flicker out of reality.

FASTER THAN A SHADOW ⫻ Jack take's Aryin's hand into his own, and supercharges her with both colors of his Lux. This grants Aryin a layer of shadowy armor that makes her close to weightless, and able to shrug off some magical attacks. This is essentially the Night Terror spell given a boost with Ayrin's green Lux to compensate for Aryin's lack of mobility, and allows her to move absurdly fast. Certain attacks, such as sharp blades or acid will bounce right off of the shadow armor.

Limit: With the exception of the defensive boost, Aryin's shadow armor will function on the exact same principles as Jack's Night Terror spell. The stand-out nature of being a shadow means it is almost pointless useless in broad daylight, and spells such as pyromancy or lumomancy will tear through it like a hot knife through butter.

DARKNESS, FALL UPON THEM ⫻ A spell designed to get rid a things that can't be punched or sliced into submission. Jack channels purple Lux into Aaron's Spirit Bomb, turning it into a wormhole of tangled space. When this bomb is thrown, anyone and anything caught in the blast is cast out into a random place far from the point of contact. It could be a hundred feet away, or it could be a mile away. This displacement can be extremely disorienting for those who get caught, since it feels like getting flashbanged.

Limit: Jack and Aaron have absolutely no control over where the bomb displaces people or matter to, and they can be swept up along with it if they are caught in the explosion.

SHOCK AND AWE ⫻ A spell involving three people: Stormy, Aaron and Ayrin. First, Stormy and Aaron join their hands to blend green and yellow Lux into one, causing Aaron's internal energy to align with Stormy's. This charges a Spirit Bomb, but only counts for half of the spell. Next, Aaron switches to Aryin who, in the blink of an eye, is changed from the form of a human being to a glowing, diamond-shaped shield. Stormy then throws this new shield with all his might, and once it hits someone, it explodes with the force of a regular Spirit Bomb. Once the explosion is finished, Ayrin drops back into her human form completely unharmed and ready to beat the absolute shit out of anyone who survived the initial blast.

Limit: Aaron and Ayrin might be unharmed by the effect of their Spirit Bomb, but Stormy is not. If the bomb goes off too close, it can and will blow him away with whatever it was supposed to hit.

HALLOW BLAST ⫻ Stormy mixes his Phantombane aura with Aaron's spirit bomb, to create a huge green orb of energy. The Hallow Blast is an upscaled version of the two spells in one, and has the potential to do devastating damage to apparitions and people alike. Once the Hallow Blast lands, it leaves behind a debilitating Phantombane aura that spreads much further than its base variant, acting as a sort of nuclear fallout to deter Apparitions.

Limit: Hallow Blast counts as an active Phantombane aura, meaning the lingering field prevents Stormy from casting it regularly until it ends.

X-Men: GenetiX

Ryder didn’t stop walking. So Wolverine would just have to keep up with her. During the time she had spent here so far, Ryder didn’t see or walk through much of the mansion in person, but through her powers, she had the layout of the place memorized like the back of her hand. It was as simple as following directions on a map to her.

Wolverine’s bragging got on her nerves. Really? He thought he was remotely comparable to her? Him asking about Umbra was a step further than what she was willing to entertain. Ordinarily, she would just go off and do it herself, but these idiots were here, and more likely to get themselves killed than her. Admittedly, Ryder didn’t care that much, yet logically speaking, it was ideal since she planned on taking advantage of their naive generosity. Ryder wasn’t so blinded by anger that she couldn’t understand see a tactical advantage for what it was.

One hallway after another, she went deep into the mansion, until

She turned and opened the door to a space full of machines used to make things for the X-Men’s use. The Blackbird, their security systems, whatever they needed to be the so-called heroes of the day. Immediately, things from an adjacent storage room began flying towards her, floating around with her psychic powers.

”They only care for themselves and their disgusting little project,” She explained to Logan. A CNC machine whirred to life, as metal plates were tossed into it to cut some strange design out.

”They wanted something perfect, something they could use for their fucking goals.” Heavy capacitors and conductor coils orbited one another, strands of high-gauge wire slinked through transistors, and entire circuit boards were loaded up with microchips from the room’s reserves. Everything slowly melded together like watching a planet form out of cosmic debris.

The metal parts flew across the room, accompanied by bolts and plates of stock glass. ”They’ve got more than they let on, because they keep secrets from everything. They thought I didn’t know, but I know everything about them. They wanted a fucking weapon.”

Drill bits flew towards her, spinning up to an absurd speed and punching holes in the metal shapes with a precision that Ryder hadn’t demonstrated before. Bolts and screws were layered into them with metal brackets. And as if to punctuate her statement, everything slid together as if she were completing a thousand-puzzle in one fell swoop. A chain reaction of components finding a point of rest, all in the shape of a weapon.

A rifle.

”So I’m going to show those maggots what happens when they make a weapon they can’t control.”

Avengers Academy: Junior Year 💥

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Location: Who the Fuck is Baldur
Skills:
WHAT. THE. FUCK.

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It was weird to be stabbed in a body that she wasn’t familiar with. Leah had been stabbed a few times. But this just felt like an inconvenience, probably because she was in a video game and because she was really irritated about Ed putting her in a fucking dress. So even when she flicked out of existence, she wasn’t that panicked about it since she had two more lives.

”Oh, fuck you,” She said, rearing her fist back and swung a hook at the cultist’s face. He ducked it, and she rammed her elbow into his jaw. He was knocked over surprisingly easy for someone who just tried to gut her.

”Yeah, stay down.” Looking over the battlefield, Leah turned and ran over to the glass that stranger was trapped in, and started the slam the edges with her knuckles.

[color=ff94f]”Open the fuck up… Motherfucking piece of god damn fucking- How do I-“[/color] In the corner of her eye, Leah saw the cultist she just domed stand back up, and crack his neck like that blow didn’t even bother him. Knife still in hand, he was ready to keep going.

”You gotta be fucking kidding me. Alright, I guess we’re doing this...” Leah shifted her axe around into both hands and leapt at the guy, looking to split him in half down the middle.

Held roll

Roll to turn this fucker into firewood by cutting him the long way. Ain’t got a skill for axe fighting lol.

X-Men: GenetiX

All of the psychic feedback that Ryder got from this disaster might've elicited something akin to sympathy or relief that no one had actually been killed. Umbra's soldiers were impeccably trained, after all. They were equipped to kill anyone that stood in their way, and they were not at all shy about attacking children. But Ryder wasn't sympathetic. She walked through the mansion and observed the real destruction that had occurred, following after Cyclops.

She walked into the library, and she was fucking disappointed.

Anger was not the word to describe her feelings. Anger was for people that weren't used to being wronged. Anger was for people who had the freedom to distinguish between right and wrong. No, what Ryder felt was the same thing she had felt for her entire life, violent.

Ryder was raised like an animal in a cage. She knew at the end of the day that she wouldn't be safe until the thing that caged her no longer existed.

Jean should've known they were serious when they came here. Jean had the chance and she spared a predator.

"What kind of fucking "mutant sanctuary" are you running here, where you let those fucking people get loose?!" She shouted, the moment Jean came into view. "You could've killed them all, and now they know what you're fucking capable of! How stupid do you have to be?!" She was fuming. These people didn't understand what it meant to fight for survival, to have everything held just out of reach until it was taken by force.

Ryder knew they'd come for her eventually, but the fact that these idiots were so full of themselves that they'd act like they were a big deal for mutants only to fold this easily... It pissed her off. If she was this weak, then Ryder wouldn't be freed from Umbra.

"Now they're going to come back. I'll do it my own damn self." Ryder turned and walked out, leaving them to figure things out alone.

X-Men: GenetiX

Ryder ignored the looks of shock and subtle fear as she loaded her sentinel core into the cockpit. She took a seat near the front of the jet so she could fly through the glass if another one of those machines got the drop on her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there had to be a reason that she couldn’t detect the sentinel on its approach. And there was usually only one explanation for why that was the case. The same reason Wolverine was ultimately unreadable, unbeknownst to Ryder so far.

She wasn’t in the mood for a conversation with the old man. Not that she was ever in the mood for a conversation.

”I’m gonna take it to pieces,” she said. ”Break it open and see if it’s useless or not.”

Recollections: The Compendium

BLACK.STAR
| Shard of Entropy | "Reality calcified, time and space crystalized. Entropy made manifest. Don't lose it out there." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Created by an Adept named Mortimer Zapata, as part of a transaction in exchange for a vast quantity of magical knowledge. | TYPE: | Protective Artifact | LOCATION: | Shimmer | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Jack Hawthorne | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No | .............................................................................	When Jack Hawthorne first entered the Void, he was vulnerable to its influence like anyone else. The horrors of unreality fascinated him, but a fascination didn’t stop his mind from fraying at the seams. He was lucky to have only caught a glimpse of them, but Jack knew deep down that he would not be satisfied without deeper answers for long. He drifted through the Void’s shallows, learning what he could before he could no longer safely study anything new. It frustrated him, not being able to venture further. So he returned to Shimmer, and sought answers back in familiar territory. Scouring through books, secluded libraries and the paranormal scenes of the country, Jack’s pursuit eventually led him to the doorstep of a man who called himself Mortimer Zapata. In exchange for a written copy of all the knowledge Jack had acquired in his life, as well as Jack’s discretion, Mortimer worked his magic to create a special object to accommodate Jack’s incursions into the Void. The Black Star is a non-Abstraction granting artifact created by Orange Lux. It is a small amulet made of polished black jade, rose gold, and African blackwood. Whoever wears it is rendered entirely immune to the harmful effects of the Void, allowing the mind to heal the worst of its damage. The Black Star’s protection even diminishes the effects of what Jack calls “Void Exposure,” or the mental erosion caused by the denizens of the Void. The artifact wards them off, acting as a deterrent so long as the user does not actively aggress or agitate the horrors. Anyone can benefit from the Black Star regardless of their Abstraction, but the artifact requires a brief period to “calibrate” itself to the unique emotional field of every person that wears it for the first time. This means that a person can wear the Black Star and still be ruined by exposure to the Void if they are not aware of its nuances.

Recollections: The Compendium

MAP OF.THESEUS
| The Boundless Lexicon | "All that ever was, and all that will ever be, laid bare before us. Where would you like to go?" ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Created by dozens of paranormals, brought together across time and infinite distance. Those who built it are scattered across the All-Verse, many have been lost to history, and more have yet to be born. | TYPE: | All-Verse Navigation Device | LOCATION: | Unknown | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Hundreds, if not thousands have employed it across every era and rob from past to future, to travel the cosmos and chart the places unnamed by humanity. The greatest paranormal explorers to live since the All-Verse’s inception have relied on it to find their way. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No | .............................................................................	The Map of Theseus is the work of lifetimes. Entire rooms stacked wall-to-wall with cosmological data, chronomancers folding time itself into celestial origami to maintain business relations, orange, red and white Adepts painstakingly laying countless joint-castings into lattice structures of crystals to emit light in just the right sequences. Vast collections of bound Apparitions exploited for their Abstractions, all to boost the power of the makers, channelers burnt to ash from exertion. The Map of Theseus is as old as humanity itself, and has been constructed by people in the pursuit of perfection. Thousands of people have held this cube in their hands, and a thousand more have inevitably contributed to its capabilities. The original makers of this artifact cannot be identified, as they were united across different worlds and have faded away to history. But their work will never be truly over. The Map of Theseus is a small cube adorned with glowing blue lines etched across its surface. Concealed within is a geometrically fathomless depth of data, spell work and craftsmanship designed to catalog the All-Verse. It is a paranormal supercomputer with many libraries worth of maps, charts, celestial coordinates and geographic lore waiting to be accessed. The Map of Theseus was named such for its inability to ever be complete, for just as the All-Verse is ever changing, so too will its archive never reach capacity. To use the Map of Theseus, a person only has to hold in their hand, and the cube will respond to their feelings of curiosity, their desire to explore and to know something. The artifact simply knows that a person is trying to use it, and will respond in kind. The Map of Theseus currently has data for 7,892 unique worlds in the All-Verse, each with its own index ready for the owner’s viewing pleasure. Due to the sheer magnitude of the Map of Theseus' capabilities, and its specialized use as a tool for navigating something most people simply don't understand, it tends to attract a very particular brand of paranormals. Aimless explorers without a place in the simple world, knowledge hungry lunatics, artifact hunters with zealous ambition, and warlords looking to conquer entire realms.

Recollections: The Compendium

CARMINE.PEACEMAKER
| Blood-Stained Justifier | "The one good what your sinned blood’ll ever do, you old bastard." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Created by fusing an orange Lux channeler with the Abstraction of a dismantled Apparition. | TYPE: | Weapon | LOCATION: | Sonoran Desert, Shimmer | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Wielded by Harlan Ross, its creator. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No | .............................................................................	During the days of cowboys and outlaws, there was a man who they called Ghost-Eyed Solomon. He was a wanted criminal, guilty on charges of murder and witchcraft, having slipped the noose even as it was tightened around his neck. The American Southwest didn’t have many paranormal beings at the time, and the PRA didn’t have a presence there, so most people assumed Solomon was just a lucky man. But he wasn’t a normal man at all, he was an Apparition that had abscised his own body after death. He lived to kill others, spilling blood to sustain himself for years until he was finally stopped by an orange Adept named Harlan Ross, who went on to civilize most of the Wild West’s magic scene in the years to come. Ghost-Eyed Solomon’s abstraction was channeled into his "killer’s" pistol after his death. The Carmine Peacemaker is a single action revolver made from a blood red metal, polished to an almost mirror-like finish. When the wielder cocks the hammer back, the hammer pricks their skin and draws blood to form a bullet roughly equivalent to a .44 magnum round. Once fired, the bullets cause debilitating pain for the target, which cannot be dulled by mundane or magical means. The wounds caused by these bullets bleed far more than they should, and nothing will get better unless the bullets are removed by the target’s body. Even after a bullet from the Carmine Peacemaker has been removed, the target will still feel the pain as it slowly fades away with time.

Recollections: The Compendium

DOOMSAYER’S.DECK
| Harbinger of Pyrrhic Fate | "The truth hurts." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Originally the channeler of a white Lux Adept, made into an artifact by a curse. | TYPE: | Scrying Artifact | LOCATION: | Shimmer | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Verona Nash | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No | .............................................................................	Long ago, a white Lux Adept known only by the name of Katherine used a deck of cards as a medium for her spells. She specialized in augury, the art of seeing the future and telling fortunes. Katherine used her Lux to create an inner circle of trusted allies who protected each other while they pursued political interests. One member of this circle became so trusted by Katherine, that she believed they would never even consider crossing her. But this member used blue Lux, and laid a curse upon Katherine’s cards one day. This curse forever warped the deck’s capabilities, and one bad prophecy after another led to Katherine’s downfall. No one knows exactly what happened, but stories imply it was bad. The Doomsayer’s Deck answer questions about the future, specifically the questions about the bad things that will come to pass. The cards will not answer questions about winning the lottery, or what position someone gets promoted to. Rather, it warns that an individual will lose everything chasing a jackpot, or that they will lose their job to another person. The readings are consistently accurate, and if the user is clever, they are more reliable than most forms of fortune telling. But there is a catch, every possible future in which a tragedy can occur is inevitably made worse when it is divined by the deck. If someone was destined to burn their dinner while cooking, the cards could exaggerate the situation into a fire that burns their house down. To receive answers from the deck, one must draw three cards with a question in mind. The first card determines the context of the outcome, the second determines the medium through which it happens, and the third determines the aftermath. Each card has its own meaning, which must be interpreted and memorized by the user. Cards are divided into three suits, representing elements, animals and objects, but may be drawn in any combination depending on the reading. Flame: Destruction, outbursts, blast radius, literal fire. This card symbolizes explosive downfall, which will only get worse unless stopped quickly. Wave: Suffocation, unstoppable forces, loss of strength, literal water. This card symbolizes things that simply cannot be avoided, or things that are taken without hope of retrieval. Stone: Insurmountable odds, immovable objects, overwhelming difficulty, literal rock. This card symbolizes things too great to be overcome, and things that are beyond one’s own power. Gale: Absolute chaos, surprise, disorienting problems, literal wind. This card symbolizes confusion, and things that catch someone off guard. Star: Revelation, sudden fear, Icarus complex, literal light. This card symbolizes a discovery that is more trouble than it’s worth, or a grave error. Moon: Loss, silence, disconnection, literal darkness. This card symbolizes a void, or a removal of one thing from another. Mare: Obsession, individualism, the one, narrow mindedness. This card symbolizes a hyperfixation, or a desire to do something one specific way. Stag: Indignation, rage, pride, overbearance. This card symbolizes aggression, and protectiveness over something. Dragon: Greed, immense power, tyranny, ambition. This card symbolizes sabotage, and putting one’s own well-being above that of everything else. Moth: Trickery, betrayal, adherence, trust. This card symbolizes the following of some greater will, or being led on by something two-faced. Tortoise: Exile, distance, exploration, aimlessness. This card symbolizes a journey being taken, or being unable to return to somewhere. Mantis: Consequence, retribution, penance, vindication. This card symbolizes an eye for an eye, or failure caused by actions. Blade: Faith, conviction, ideology, brotherhood. This card symbolizes morality, or standing up for something that you believe in. Anchor: Stasis, burdens, confinement, neglect. The card symbolizes a lack of action, or a loss of agency. Clock: Ontology, cause and effect, All-verse constants, entropy. This card symbolizes a greater design, and things that were always or never meant to be. Glass: Harsh truths, inner conflict, warped perception, fragility. This card symbolizes things that one must be forced to see, or the twisting of something mundane. Cairn: Mutiny, bloodshed, interpersonal struggle, war. This card symbolizes dissention in the ranks, or a wedge driven between friends. Hammer: Invention, creativity, wit, forwardness. This card symbolizes a direct approach, or something being created.

Recollections: The Compendium

STASIS.HAMMER
| Arbiter of Stillness | “Handle it with care, or don’t handle it at all." ORIGINS & CREATIONS: | Made by an Apparition as part of a deal for protection | TYPE: | Tool of Lasting Impact | LOCATION: | Its current location is unconfirmed, but it most likely resides in Glint at the moment. | NOTABLE OWNERS: | Many people have used it over the years, too many to count. | ABSTRACTION-GRANTING: | No | .............................................................................	The Stasis Hammer is, as the name implies, a hammer with a five foot long shaft, made of solid, tarnished silver and wrapped with black fibers. It was created in a universe known as Glint, by an Apparition that made a deal with a mortal to grant power in exchange for protection. The paranormal who first wielded the Stasis Hammer is currently unknown, as the deal was made within the last century, and it has changed hands many times. The artifact has been moved from one world to the next by those who have made use of it, and some collectors suspect it is still in Glint at the moment. It contains the power of its creator, and anything inflicted on the world by whoever wields the Stasis Hammer becomes very difficult to undo, through mundane or magical means. Breaking someone’s arm with the Stasis Hammer, for example, means that their bones will not heal in the slightest even after a year of recovery, and most magical healers would not be able to accomplish much. Similarly, if someone were to break down a door with the artifact, any attempts to repair that door or replace it would ultimately fail. The magic of the Stasis Hammer prevents these changes from occurring once the action has been taken, and the hammer itself cannot undo these changes. But this also means that one can use the Stasis Hammer in a constructive way. A person could hammer stones into the ground to create an unshakeable foundation, or sink nails that will never come loose.