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

Whenever Possible · Jan 15, 2025

I could see Ahri'ahn trying to do something similar to what Harun al-Rashid did with moving his kingdom into the dreaming and creating a sort of memetically idealized version of itself.

Maybe overlaying an/his idea if Atlantis over the real Atlantis, leaving the people as quasi-sleepwalking puppet/citizen/servants?

Ngamer11 · Jan 15, 2025

Whenever Possible said:
I could see Ahri'ahn trying to do something similar to what Harun al-Rashid did with moving his kingdom into the dreaming and creating a sort of memetically idealized version of itself.

Maybe overlaying an/his idea if Atlantis over the real Atlantis, leaving the people as quasi-sleepwalking puppet/citizen/servants?

That guy accomplished that thanks to Dream's permission. Ahri'ahn would dislike Dream on principle alone, so whatever plan he has should only affect the physical world.

Whenever Possible · Jan 15, 2025

Ngamer11 said:
That guy accomplished that thanks to Dream's permission. Ahri'ahn would dislike Dream on principle alone, so whatever plan he has should only affect the physical world.

Would Ahri'ahn let his dislike for Dream stop him from trying to exploit the Dream for his benefit, though?

And he was interested in Paul's mention of the Dreamstorm, which could be just arcane curiosity but might also be foreshadowing.

Ngamer11 · Jan 15, 2025

Whenever Possible said:
Would Ahri'ahn let his dislike for Dream stop him from trying to exploit the Dream for his benefit, though?

And he was interested in Paul's mention of the Dreamstorm, which could be just arcane curiosity but might also be foreshadowing.

Probably not. Dealing with Dream of the Endless himself goes against his beliefs, but making use of the Dream itself for his own ends is perfectly fine with him, so he might be doing something with it now or he might not.

Mr Zoat · Jan 15, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
Steven turns to Robert as the three of us swim after her.
...clearly having a direction in mind...
She looks mildly disappointed, but snatches the stone...
I hold up my left hand for a moment, showing my ring.

Thank you, corrected.

BR549 · Jan 15, 2025

Ngamer11 said:
Probably not. Dealing with Dream of the Endless himself goes against his beliefs, but making use of the Dream itself for his own ends is perfectly fine with him, so he might be doing something with it now or he might not.

Of course, doing the latter will, eventually, inevitably lead to the former being required, not requested, by a rather annoyed Morpheus...

Vaermina · Jan 15, 2025

monochromaticPrism said:
My point is that either AIs are either perfectly safe to operate as long as their systems are insulated from warp energies or even just physically kept away from chaos or, if AIs have enough "personhood" to generate a warp presence, then only a % of AIs comparable to the standard for sentient populations would be expected to fall to Chaos, leaving plenty that could still operate normally.

It's the first.

However the problem is only the Necrons and Empyric Engineers can insulate technologies from Warp energies.

And the only things capable of physically keeping Chaos away are Necrons, Wards, and Blanks.

For everything else it's just a question of how much Chaos wants to get you. And I'm not exhagurating about that either, as the Chaos Gods once reached into the Emperor's heavily protected secret lab to scatter the Primarchs across the galaxy.

Actually strike that, it doesnt even have to be Chaos wanting a thing, it could literally just be someone uploading a copy of a Chaos Tome onto the local datanet, because that happened once and basically destroyed an entire alien species.

Stsword · Jan 15, 2025

Darko said:
He's...cutting himself to feel alive...

He's probably using blood magic, hence the reminder of Lamprey, the Crime Syndicate world version of Kaldur who uses shark-person blood magic.

Prince Charon · Jan 16, 2025

Ngamer11 said:
Aqualad's counterpart from Earth -14. He ate his version of Tempest and is married to Aquagirl's counterpart against the latter's will.

She might kill him eventually (or it could have already happened off-screen) because of that, but we won't know for sure unless the author says something.

Ngamer11 · Jan 16, 2025

Prince Charon said:
She might kill him eventually (or it could have already happened off-screen) because of that, but we won't know for sure unless the author says something.

She tried, but due to her arrogance and ignorance, she used poisoned food. As such, it did nothing and he subsequently ate one of her eyes, ears, and fingers. He can now see, hear, and feel whatever she does whenever he wants.

Prince Charon · Jan 16, 2025

Ngamer11 said:
She tried, but due to her arrogance and ignorance, she used poisoned food. As such, it did nothing and he subsequently ate one of her eyes, ears, and fingers. He can now see, hear, and feel whatever she does whenever he wants.

Ah. I'd forgotten that until now. Of course, he could still get killed by someone else.

Mr Zoat · Jan 16, 2025

7th May 2013
03:16 GMT -1

"What happened when the Anti-Life broadcast happened?"

"Anti… Life." He glances at Steven. "We've got defences against that sort of thing and it blew right through them. Have you ever seen a fish drown?"

"No, but I know it can happen if there isn't any oxygen dissolved in the water."

"Have you ever seen a fish drown because they shut their gills?"

"No I didn't think that was something Atlanteans could do."

"I didn't, either. Things were bad on the surface, too?"

"Yes. We'll likely never know how bad. Where did the shields come from? If it blocked the Anti-Life, we could have really used something like that."

"A rushed implementation of an old spell."

"One of Ahri'ahn's?"

"Probably. Or it might not have been. People have tried to raise Atlantis before, and it used some of the preparations they made. I think the High Queen was the spell's focus… There might be a handful of other people in Atlantis who could handle it."

"Which explains why Venturia was included. What did the shield do, exactly?"

"'Exactly'? I don't know. That sort of magic is far more advanced than anything I've studied."

"Roughly, then. John Constantine managed to cut Reformation Island out of the world and protect it that way, but that didn't seem to be what happened here."

"The shield we used didn't cut the cities out of the world, it cut a dome out of the world around the city. Nothing got in or out. It stopped the Anti-Life, though we weren't eating all that well for a while."

"And King Orin was still around when that happened?"

"He was. Because of how the shield worked, all the cities could still send messages to each other. It wasn't-."

"And where were you?"

"Here."

"And King Orin was in Poseidonis?" He tilts his head slightly to the side. "Then you saying that he was in communication is what we on the surface call 'hearsay'. There are a lot of ways to fake messages with magic."

"That's possible. Lori, was High King Orin around then?"

She thinks for a moment. "I… I'm not sure. I didn't see him, but everyone was busy setting up the new farms or feeding power into the shield spell. I don't know. He's the king; we didn't see him very often when things were normal."

"And what about Queen Mera?"

"She was definitely there, but she was… Exhausted. Most of our teachers were. Creating and maintaining the spell took a lot of effort."

"Why did you leave it up for so long? It took us a month to remove the Anti-Life, but it's been four months since then."

King Sha'ark snorts. "It wasn't my decision. But it made sense. We didn't have much of an idea what was happening outside, and most of the people who could have scryed past it were working themselves to the bone just keeping it working."

"You didn't feel what we did to end the broadcast?"

He blinks. "I still don't know what you did to end the broadcast."

"Basically, we used Mannheim's own network to broadcast… The essence of emotionality across the world. It broke Darkseid's hold on Mannheim himself and destroyed the Anti-Life fragment he was using."

"And it's just… Gone?"

"No, it's just not being broadcast over Earth anymore. The Anti-Life is actually an ever-present fact of life, a thing… Built into the universe? Things… People can break in certain ways, and by studying that Darkseid is able to project a state of brokenness over an area. He used a criminal called Bruno Mannheim as his vessel."

"And now he's dead."

"No."

He grits his teeth. "Why not?"

"Mannheim may have voluntarily come under Darkseid's sway, but he wasn't in control of his actions after that point. He's alive and well and has thoroughly learned his lesson."

Atlantean law is a lot better about covering magic-induced corner cases than surface world legal systems. A person who got involuntarily possesses isn't guilty of the crimes their domitor committed, though they might be detained out of concern that its control could be reasserted. A person who is voluntarily possessed on the other hand might be partially or wholly guilty depending on the circumstances. As such, what I'm telling King Sha'ark isn't something that he would consider completely unreasonable, unlike most surface world people who hadn't heard of Bruno Mannheim until the broadcast.

"What about Darkseid? Did he die?"

"I doubt that Darkseid himself even felt it. Darkseid is a… Long term target. Very long term. Human civilisation collapsed because he turned a tiny fragment of his attention our way. We are not ready."

He glowers. "I don't like that."

"You're not supposed to." I shake my head. "So where is Queen Mera now?"

Miss Lamaris shakes her head. "I don't know. The 'impure' were moved out of the city before the city was raised out of the water."

"Before or after the shield went down?"

"Before." She nods. "So she was probably still there until then."

"It's more of a lead than we've got on King Orin. How do Atlantean succession laws work?"

She twitches slightly, her eyes flicking to King Sha'ark. "By default, she would be Prince Artur's regent, but only if King Orin is dead. She couldn't just take over if he actually appointed Ahri'ahn to govern while he is away."

"And is it actually Ahri'ahn?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Ahri'ahn died thousands of years ago. How would we know?"

Miss Lamaris shrugs. "He's powerful, and he knows a lot about magic. I don't think it matters whether it's actually him or not."

I nod. "When did he show up?"

Miss Lamaris's eyes dip. "A few days after the shield went up. I saw him hanging around the Conservatory a few times before the announcement. I didn't know who he was."

"How did he react to you?"

"Because of my tail?" I nod. "He was surprised that I was a student, but that was about it. He didn't start shouting at me for being impure. I think-."

"You're not supposed to be here."

I jerk my head around as.. a couple of King Sha'ark's guard start moving towards us, the shark woman who first blocked us taking the lead.

King Sha'ark bares his teeth. "Their place is where I say it is. Stand down!"

"You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here."

Their eyes are slightly unfocused and.. their desires occluded.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Something's affecting them-.

The shark woman lunges!

Darko · Jan 16, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
know if can happen

"it can"

Mr Zoat said:
"Have you ever seen a fish drown because they shut their gills?"

"No I didn't think that was something Atlanteans could do."

"I didn't, either

Well Kaldur's people may be able to do it.

Mr Zoat said:
"Probably. Or it might not have been. People have tried to raise Atlantis before, and it used some of the preparations they made

I'm guessing the shield was in place in case of a backlash.

Mr Zoat said:
And is it actually Ahri'ahn

Heh.

Well it certainly wasn't in the show.

Mr Zoat said:
You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here."

That's not creepy at all.

Chojin Patriarch · Jan 16, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
7th May 2013
03:16 GMT -1

"What happened when the Anti-Life broadcast happened?"

"Anti… Life." He glances at Steven. "We've got defences against that sort of thing and it blew right through them. Have you ever seen a fish drown?"

...That would take an impressive amount of suicidal impulses. A person can't commit suicide by holding their breath, because instinct forces them to breathe long before they'd run out of oxygen. One might try to swim for the surface and beach itself, but only if it were close enough to realise and try...

"No, but I know if can happen if there isn't any oxygen dissolved in the water."

"Have you ever seen a fish drown because they shut their gills?"

Again, instinct will kick in long before they suffocate themselves. But with an outside influence driving them... It could happen.

"No I didn't think that was something Atlanteans could do."

"I didn't, either. Things were bad on the surface, too?"

So much worse. Try 'people not even bothering to eat.' levels of apathy.

"Yes. We'll likely never know how bad. Where did the shields come from? If it blocked the Anti-Life, we could have really used something like that."

"A rushed implementation of an old spell."

Let me guess, something Ahri'ahn left around in case of future danger.

"One of Ahri'ahn's?"

"Probably. Or it might not have been. People have tried to raise Atlantis before, and it used some of the preparations they made. I think the High Queen was the spell's focus… There might be a handful of other people in Atlantis who could handle it."

But they would be few and far between...

"Which explains why Venturia was included. What did the shield do, exactly?"

"'Exactly'? I don't know. That sort of magic is far more advanced than anything I've studied."

And so we still only have Ahri'ahn's word for what it did.

"Roughly, then. John Constantine managed to cut Reformation Island out of the world and protect it that way, but that didn't seem to be what happened here."

"The shield we used didn't cut the cities out of the world, it cut a dome out of the world around the city. Nothing got in or out. It stopped the Anti-Life, though we weren't eating all that well for a while."

Like a vacuum flask, creating a buffer of non-existence against outside influence.

"And King Orin was still around when that happened?"

"He was. Because of how the shield worked, all the cities could still end messages to each other. It wasn't-."

And dolmen gates, supposedly. Presumably a matter of synchronising frequencies, so to speak.

"And where were you?"

"Here."

"And King Orin was in Poseidonis?" He tilts his head slightly to the side. "Then you saying that he was in communication is what we on the surface call 'hearsay'. There are a lot of ways to fake messages with magic."

ah. So Orin could have been nobbled early on, and someone else speaking using his voice, if they even got vocal messages instead of tossing texts through.

"That's possible. Lori, was High King Orin around then?"

She thinks for a moment. "I… I'm not sure. I didn't see him, but everyone was busy setting up the new farms or feeding power into the shield spell. I don't know. He's the king; we didn't see him very often when things were normal."

And as a warrior, he wouldn't have been much use in the shield operations. So no reason for him to hang around anyway.

"And what about Queen Mera?"

"She was definitely there, but she was… Exhausted. Most of our teachers were. Creating and maintaining the spell took a lot of effort."

With many of the students contributing their own energies to help sustain it.

"Why did you leave it up for so long? It took us a month to remove the Anti-Life, but it's been four months since then."

King Sha'ark snorts. "It wasn't my decision. But it made sense. We didn't have much of an idea what was happening outside, and most of the people who could have scryed past it were working themselves to the bone just keeping it working."

And given the effects, it was either 'hope they fought it off' or 'the outside world is probably dead, we may as well join them...'

"You didn't feel what we did to end the broadcast?"

He blinks. "I still don't know what you did to end the broadcast."

Huh. So all of Atlantis missed the White Light event.

"Basically, we used Mannheim's own network to broadcast… The essence of emotionality across the world. It broke Darkseid's hold on Mannheim himself and destroyed the Anti-Life fragment he was using."

"And it's just… Gone?"

A simplified version, but even if they're decent magic students, there's a wide gap between the knowledge needed to fully understand things and the cliff notes version.

"No, it's just not being broadcast over Earth anymore. The Anti-Life is actually an ever-present fact of life, a thing… Built into the universe? Things… People can break in certain ways, and by studying that Darkseid is able to project a state of brokenness over an area. He used a criminal called Bruno Mannheim as his vessel."

Of course, I'm amazed no-one's realised that if there's an anti-life equation, then there must be something for it to be 'anti' against. Then again, we haven't seen much beyond OL's perspective. Who knows what minor event could be happening somewhere else?

"And now he's dead."

"No."

still seems an oversight, be he was utterly repentant...

He grits his teeth. "Why not?"

"Mannheim may have voluntarily come under Darkseid's sway, but he wasn't in control of his actions after that point. He's alive and well and has thoroughly learned his lesson."

Though I expect some still feel a little vindictive towards him if they know what happened. That's just human nature.

Atlantean law is a lot better about covering magic-induced corner cases than surface world legal systems. A person who got involuntarily possesses isn't guilty of the crimes their domitor committed, though they might be detained out of concern that its control could be reasserted. A person who is voluntarily possessed on the other hand might be partially or wholly guilty depending on the circumstances. As such, what I'm telling King Sha'ark isn't something that he would consider completely unreasonable, unlike most surface world people who hadn't heard of Bruno Mannheim until the broadcast.

A sign the surface world has a long way to go in laws concerning supernatural events and influences.

"What about Darkseid? Did he die?"

"I doubt that Darkseid himself even felt it. Darkseid is a… Long term target. Very long term. Human civilisation collapsed because he turned a tiny fragment of his attention our way. We are not ready."

Darkseid turning up is not so much an invasion as a sentient natural disaster, in some ways. Especially if he unleashes Anti-Life again.

He glowers. "I don't like that."

"You're not supposed to." I shake my head. "So where is Queen Mera now?"

And what of the rest of the royal family? Artur, and any new royal children we might have missed?

Miss Lamaris shakes her head. "I don't know. The 'impure' were moved out of the city before the city was raised out of the water."

"Before or after the shield went down?"

"Before." She nods. "So she was probably still there until then."

Using dolmen gates, of course. If the Raising was known about beforehand, it'd be ostensibly because Poseidonis would be above water, to avoid suffocating water-breathers, but...

"It's more of a lead than we've got on King Orin. How do Atlantean succession laws work?"

She twitches slightly, her eyes flicking to King Sha'ark. "By default, she would be Prince Artur's regent, but only if King Orin is dead. She couldn't just take over if he actually appointed Ahri'ahn to govern while he is away."

They really need checks and balances if a bad actor is set in place...

"And is it actually Ahri'ahn?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Ahri'ahn died thousands of years ago. How would we know?"

Good point. Can't even rely on fashion sense, he may just have liked waistcoats and frockcoats back then.

Miss Lamaris shrugs. "He's powerful, and he knows a lot about magic. I don't think it matters whether it's actually him or not."

I nod. "When did he show up?"

If he's got the power to do this, he's got a good claim to the name...

Miss Lamaris's eyes dip. "A few days after the shield went up. I saw him hanging around the Conservatory a few times before the announcement. I didn't know who he was."

"How did he react to you?"

"Because of my tail?" I nod. "He was surprised that I was a student, but that was about it. He didn't start shouting at me for being impure. I think-."

Better behaved than Orm's purebloodist faction, at least. Then again, he may have been seething inside.

"You're not supposed to be here."

I jerk my head around as.. a couple of King Sha'ark's guard start moving towards us, the shark woman who first blocked us taking the lead.

That's for your boss to decide, I would think.

King Sha'ark bears his teeth. "Their place is where I say it is. Stand down!"

"You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here." / "You're not supposed to be here."

...Ah. Somehow, I suspect King Shark is no longer the one in their heads as 'boss'.

Their eyes are slightly unfocused and.. their desires occluded.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Definitely mind-control. Looks like Ahri'ahn's caught on.

Something's affecting them-.

The shark woman lunges!

Which can be very nasty, given shark teeth and their swimming speed...

Welp, looks like the infiltration's gone belly-up. Hopefully they aren't causing an international incident now. Because I foresee Ahri'ahn holding this over the League's head as leverage to force concessions out of them. Heck, given he seems to be able to divide his attention, or let a spell handle them, he might be doing it right now.

Darko · Jan 16, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
They really need checks and balances if a bad actor is set in place...

I don't think those would have done anything to someone as powerful as Ahri'ahn.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Good point. Can't even rely on fashion sense, he may just have liked waistcoats and frockcoats back then.

He could have also worn modern Atlantian clothing.

KyleDaScourge · Jan 16, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
Welp, looks like the infiltration's gone belly-up. Hopefully they aren't causing an international incident now. Because I foresee Ahri'ahn holding this over the League's head as leverage to force concessions out of them. Heck, given he seems to be able to divide his attention, or let a spell handle them, he might be doing it right now.

I'm... reasonably... certain that the High King of Atlantis doesn't have the power to unilaterally control the immigration / border / visitation policies of the various city states and he certainly doesn't have the power to enforce that control via mental manipulation of the armed forces of said city states.

EDIT - Actually, I'm pretty sure I recall the Venturian queen in the renegade timeline saying that control of foreign policy is one of the high kings actual points of authority... maybe he can. The mind control still seems an obvious step too far, and if nothing else we know Paul is open to helping enforce city state separatism, and he's got a king of one of the city states right there to request help with just that.

Vaermina · Jan 16, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
"You didn't feel what we did to end the broadcast?"

He blinks. "I still don't know what you did to end the broadcast."

"Basically, we used Mannheim's own network to broadcast… The essence of emotionality across the world. It broke Darkseid's hold on Mannheim himself and destroyed the Anti-Life fragment he was using."

I see a plot hole.

If the shield went up after the Anti-Life, and came down after the Life Equation broadcast, then they should all still be infected by the Anti-Life.

BR549 · Jan 16, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
King Sha'ark bears his teeth. "Their place is where I say it is. Stand down!"

Should be 'bares'.

...also I'm totally now hearing Nanaue Sha'ark as voiced by Frank Welker using his Transformers: Prime Megatron voice.

BlackCoat13 · Jan 16, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
Welp, looks like the infiltration's gone belly-up. Hopefully they aren't causing an international incident now. Because I foresee Ahri'ahn holding this over the League's head as leverage to force concessions out of them. Heck, given he seems to be able to divide his attention, or let a spell handle them, he might be doing it right now.

Well, A: I'm not sure he'd exactly care, but Paul is not a member of the Justice League so his actions can't be held against them unless it's in a 'why didn't you stop him' manner, in which case it's because he's pretty much impossible to track, divert, or halt, and can casually defeat teams of them at a time.
B: Paul was just visiting some of his friends and contacts, in an altered form to prevent himself from being... swarmed by his adoring fans (yeah that's it) to ask about / get a report about how they handled things under the Anti-Life broadcast. What's so incident worthy about that? Then the obviously mind controlled cops show up and defy their own ruler's authority. Really the wizard dude shot himself in the foot responding to the situation so obviously like that, even if this is just an automated response.

Darko · Jan 16, 2025

Vaermina said:
I see a plot hole.

If the shield went up after the Anti-Life, and came down after the Life Equation broadcast, then they should all still be infected by the Anti-Life.

Unless the whole "cutting it away from the world" or whatever they did the first time stopped it.

Or maybe Ahri'ahn did something during lockdown.

Mr Zoat · Jan 16, 2025

Darko said:
"it can"

Thank you, corrected.

Well it certainly wasn't in the show.

I stopped watching before that stuff happened.

BR549 said:
Should be 'bares'.

Thank you, corrected.

...also I'm totally now hearing Nanaue Sha'ark as voiced by Frank Welker using his Transformers: Prime Megatron voice.

James Arnold Taylor, sorry.

Doccer · Jan 16, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
could still end messages to each other

send

Mr Zoat · Jan 16, 2025

Doccer said:
send

Thank you, corrected.

Prince Charon · Jan 17, 2025

BlackCoat13 said:
Really the wizard dude shot himself in the foot responding to the situation so obviously like that, even if this is just an automated response.

I suspect it's automated, and I suspect that Ari'ahn is too arrogant to realize that he'd be shooting himself in the foot by doing this.

Mr Zoat · Jan 17, 2025

7th May 2013
03:20 GMT -1

Armour.

"Aagh!"

Steven's eyes widen as he twists in the water, ducking under a mouth-first lunge from one of the guards. His body is a good deal more slender and flexible than theirs are and he's got the agility to match, but he can't afford to take a hit. And delinquency aside, he probably hasn't had much training or experience.

I slam a construct pneumatic ram into the side of the mouth of a guard who's lunging at me and trigger it, the piston breaking his teeth and sending him spinning into the arena floor. Robert is creating layers of frozen water around any soldiers coming at him while King Sha'ark is wrestling with the female guard, arms clenched and teeth snapping.

"Any idea what's happening?"

I consider transitioning Steven out of the way -this is more than he signed up for- but I realise that I don't know where I could safely put him.

"Give me a-"

Sha'ark's scars gleam, his muscles bulging as he shifts his left hand to the female's snout and rotates, loosening the hold. He then shifts closer, locking her left arm and levering her face hard into the floor, though one of the problems with fighting in water is that physical attacks get a lot of the force sapped from them.

"-moment!"

A drawback he bypasses by chomping down hard on her back!

Another coming at me, and it looks like all of the sharks from across the arena are heading for us. Robert gets his flipper-hands on one who was going for Miss Lamaris and I hear the click-click of a short ranged electrical discharge. Miss Lamaris is putting some sort of spell together…

Leave her to it and hold their attention. A shark tears his way out of one of Robert's ice baubles so I redirect my pneumatic-.

He manages to get his teeth around it and bites down, shattering it before launching himself at me! I form a new one just in front of me and fire it upwards, the ram impacting his chest and sending him flying-

That's probably not the right word.

-upwards.

Miss Lemaris releases her spell, a wave of turquoise passing through the water. Nothing appears to happen.

She shakes her head. "I don't think they're being controlled by magic."

Sha'ark releases his mouth-grip, then rams the shark woman's head into the ground a few times just to make sure.

His teeth are shimmering. And his eyes-.

Ah, heck. He's out of it. Shield dome around him, construct-.

A shark who grabbed a weapon off the rack stabs my construct tower shield with his trident, a brief flare of blue light heralding its destruction.

Right, that actually makes sense, because-

I construct-drag myself aside as he stabs at me, then slam my right hand onto his shoulder.

-their weapons have to be able to destroy magic constructs and defences.

Brand.

Unable to-

His head jerks around, his knife held in his left hand coming at-

Construct clamp his wrist.

-my face as I swim under it, more clamps materialising as I try to pin him in place. Empathic vision doesn't show any particular anger or hatred. As far as I can tell, they're just acting out of professionalism.

-comply.

And their magic defences are good enough to prevent me branding them. At least without overpowering it, which might mess them up permanently.

Pithing needle.

The construct jams itself into his upper back, just in front of his dorsal fin. The moment it pierces his skin his body is locked into position… And some faint scars on his back shimmer and the construct shatters and he goes right back to trying to rip himself free.

"Let me out."

Sha'ark's snapped out of whatever that was and is focused on the fight. Between the blood and the fragments of ice, the water is getting far cloudier than it normally gets in an Atlantean city. I dismiss the dome from around him and he immediately comes under attack again. This time he doesn't grapple: he slashes with his fingernails and bites, deftly deflecting their attacks in turn.

"I'm not tasting any magic!"

Scan for chemical-

My construct shatters and-. And he's going berserk, eyes unfocused-

-residues-.

-and mouth wide as he comes at me-.

Sonic stunner.

The construct materialises above him and taps him on the top of his head. I hear a quiet 'woompf' as it discharges hard enough to rattle his bones, and he loses coordination and animation. I move aside as he crashes to the ground, unconscious. He'll be concussed later, and brain damage is a definite possibility-.

Well, if Atlantean healing magic isn't enough I can come back later.

No mind-altering substances found.

"Not drugs either." A shark comes up behind Robert and I give him another concussion discharge, sending him to join my attacker on the ground. "Anyone got an anti-telepathy spell?"

Miss Lamaris waves her hands, and translucent fish appear around the head of a shark holding some sort of harpoon launcher. He drops his weapon and starts pawing at them. She then turns her head towards me. "No?"

I-. Aah, shazbot, there's an actual phalanx entering through the main passageway. I don't think they're here to help us.

"Generic mental reinforcement?"

"Not for casting on other people."

Woompf.

"Anyone know anywhere we could hide?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Why? We may as well fight them here as fight them on the run."

"Because-."

The phalanx stops and parts, a grizzled-looking shark whose skin appears to be made of scars being revealed in the centre. He's wearing bone and… Flesh fetishes, and he grins faintly upon seeing us.

"You're not supposed to be here." He takes a step closer. "But it's been a while since breakfast."

King Sha'ark stills as those of our attackers who are still mobile back away from us, the scar-encrusted shark ambling closer.

"We should leave."

Darko · Jan 17, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
Miss Lemaris releases her spell, a wave of turquoise passing through the water. Nothing appears to happen.

She shakes her head. "I don't think they're being controlled by magic

So they may just be following orders.

Though it's possible that Ahri'ahn can hide his magic.

Mr Zoat said:
The phalanx stops and parts, a grizzled-looking shark whose skin appears to be made of scars being revealed in the centre. He's wearing bone and… Flesh fetishes, and he grins faintly upon seeing us.

"You're not supposed to be here." He takes a step closer. "But it's been a while since breakfast."

King Sha'ark stills as those of our attackers who are still mobile back away from us, the scar-encrusted shark ambling closer.

"We should leave

I'm guessing this was Sha'ark's drill sergeant.

Chojin Patriarch · Jan 17, 2025

Mr Zoat said:
7th May 2013
03:20 GMT -1

Armour.

"Aagh!"

Simon's eyes widen as he twists in the water, ducking under a mouth-first lunge from one of the guards. His body is a good deal more slender and flexible than theirs are and he's got the agility to match, but he can't afford to take a hit. And delinquency aside, he probably hasn't had much training or experience.

Heh. Yeah, he's not exactly more than a school bully who lucked into a cool shapeshifting spell. Whereas these are professional soldiers, trained for underwater combat and far more in tune with their inner shark. He's in danger of being lunch.

I slam a construct pneumatic ram into the side of the mouth of a guard who's lunging at me and trigger it, the piston breaking his teeth and sending him spinning into the arena floor. Robert is creating layers of frozen water around any soldiers coming at him while King Sha'ark is wrestling with the female guard, arms clenched and teeth snapping.

There's definitely going to be a lot of blood in the water after this, and a lot of shark-folk trying to keep their heads...

"Any idea what's happening?"

I consider transitioning Simon out of the way -this is more than he signed up for- but I realise that I don't know where I could safely put him.

"Give me a-"

Seems a bit of a hassle. I'm guessing transitions without going along are a lot shorter-range... But if he has to go with the transitioned subject... that would leave Rob and Nanaue alone until he gets back.

Sha'ark's scars gleam, his muscles bulging as he shifts his left hand to the female's snout and rotates, loosening the hold. He then shifts closer, locking her left arm and levering her face hard into the floor, though one of the problems with fighting in water is that physical attacks get a lot of the force sapped from them.

On the other hand, they have enhanced strength in order just to move down here. Just means grappling is a better option.

"-moment!"

A drawback he bypasses by chomping down hard on her back!

...Good thing they are also durable to resist the pressure. And that sort of hit can be healed, given biomancy.

Another coming at me, and it looks like it's all of the sharks from across the arena are heading for us. Robert gets his flipper-hands on one who was going for Miss Lamaris and I hear the click-click of a short ranged electrical discharge. Miss Lamaris is putting some sort of spell together…

Short-range akin to an electric eel, I presume. Minimising the chance of friendly fire...

Leave her to it and hold their attention. A shark tears his way out of one of Robert's ice baubles so I redirect my pneumatic-.

He manages to get his teeth around it and bites down, shattering it before launching himself at me! I form a new one just in front of me and fire it upwards, the ram impacting his chest and sending him flying-

Not the best option, but certainly enough to make that one not a concern for a few moments.

That's probably not the right word.

-upwards.

'Torpedo', perhaps. Though I expect his hydrodynamics weren't the best at that angle, going broadside leading with his back.

Miss Lemaris releases her spell, a wave of turquoise passing through the water. Nothing appears to happen.

She shakes her head. "I don't think they're being controlled by magic."

Or at least by any strong, active magic, if that was a 'dispel ongoing effect' attempt. something that operates on a low-level scale, or is tied directly to their bodies...

Oh, crap, Ahri'ahn's using the spell that modified Atlanteans against them, isn't he?

Sha'ark releases his mouth-grip, then rams the shark woman's head into the ground a few times just to make sure.

His teeth are shimmering. And his eyes-.

...Uh-oh. Like I said, blood in the water. I would expect maintaining control of themselves in a fight is a major task for some Nanauveans

Ah, heck. He's out of it. Shield dome around him, construct-.

A shark who grabbed a weapon off the rack stabs my construct tower shield with his trident, a brief flare of blue light heralding its destruction.

Great, anti-magic weapons, which work equally well as anti-construct.

Right, that actually makes sense, because-

I construct-drag myself aside as he stabs at me, then slam my right hand onto his shoulder.

-their weapons have to be able to destroy magic constructs and defences.

Does make sense. If they're the shock troops of the Atlantean army, they'd need to be ready to fight hostile casters.

Brand.

Unable to-

His head jerks around, his knife held in his left hand coming at-

Worrying. It suggests whatever's controlling them is running below even the emotional level. ...Or they simply have really good defences against mental control 'spells'.

Construct clamp his wrist.

-my face as I swim under it, more clamps materialising as I try to pin him in place. Empathic vision doesn't show any particular anger or hatred. As far as I can tell, they're just acting out of professionalism.

It's just that you, Rob and Stevie are reading as 'hostile targets' right now, instead of nominal allies.

-comply.

And their magic defences are good enough to prevent me branding them. At least without overpowering it, which might mess them up permanently.

Probably a bad move, given you'll want them on your side later.

Pithing needle.

The construct jams itself into his upper back, just in front of his dorsal fin. The moment it pierces his skin his body is locked into position… And some faint scars on his back shimmer and the construct shatters and he goes right back to trying to rip himself free.

Oh, that's just cheeky. Protected against direct nerve manipulation too? Anti-biomancy measure, at a guess.

"Let me out."

Sha'ark's snapped out of whatever that was and is focused on the fight. Between the blood and the fragments of ice, the water is getting far cloudier than it normally gets in an Atlantean city. I dismiss the dome from around him and he immediately comes under attack again. The is time he doesn't grapple: he slashes with his fingernails and bites, deftly deflecting their attacks in turn.

Good, less chance of him berserking again.

"I'm not tasting any magic!"

Scan for chemical-

Rob or Nanaue? Either way, more evidence that whatever's doing this, it isn't the brute-force effects of modern magic.

My construct shatters and-. And he's going berserk, eyes unfocused-

-residues-.

Not surprising, with all that blood about.

-and mouth wide as he comes at me-.

Sonic stunner.

Probably the most effective weapon he's got, as long as he can keep the intensity low enough not to cause lasting physical harm.

The construct materialises above him and taps him on the top of his head. I hear a quiet 'woompf' as it discharges hard enough to rattle his bones, and he loses coordination and animation. I move aside as he crashes to the ground, unconscious. He'll be concussed later, and brain damage is a definite possibility-.

...Ow. Okay, probably a bit too late to be nice.

Well, if Atlantean healing magic isn't enough I can come back later.

No mind-altering substances found.

Could be tricky depending on scan data. but worrying that there's no pharmaceutical effects going on.

"Not drugs either." A shark comes up behind Robert and I give him another concussion discharge, sending him to join my attacker on the ground. "Anyone got an anti-telepathy spell?"

Miss Lamaris waves her hands, and translucent fish appear around the head of a shark holding some sort of harpoon launcher. He drops his weapon and starts pawing at them. She then turns her head towards me. "No?"

Heh. The equivalent of someone dumping an illusion of bees around someone's head above-water? Because things that close to your eyes is rather distracting.

I-. Aah, shazbot, there's an actual phalanx entering through the main passageway. I don't think they're here to help us.

"Generic mental reinforcement?"

Time to be leaving, OL. With all allies in tow, including Nanaue.

"Not for casting on other people."

Woompf.

Might want to learn some, Lori. You know, being prepared?

"Anyone know anywhere we could hide?"

King Sha'ark snorts. "Why? We may as well fight them here as fight them on the run."

Are you planning to fight your entire army? Because I don't think they're gonna stop until the 'intruder's are captured or dead.

"Because-."

The phalanx stops and parts, a grizzled-looking shark whose skin appears to be made of scars being revealed in the centre. He's wearing bone and… Flesh fetishes, and he grins faintly upon seeing us.

...Ah. That doesn't sound friendly.

"You're not supposed to be here." He takes a step closer. "But it's been a while since breakfast."

King Sha'ark stills as those of our attackers who are still mobile back away from us, the scar-encrusted shark ambling closer.

"We should leave."

Yeah, leaving sounds like a good idea. Get on that, OL?

Okay, this guy does not sound pleasant. If he's enough to make a boisterous bruiser like Nanaue Sha'ark pause and show fear, he's not to be trifled with. And if things are upset like this here, I hope the other Fish-Eaters are all right. They probably pass as young Nanauveans well enough to keep hidden, but if not...

Simon's eyes widen as he twists in the water...
I consider transitioning Simon out of the way...

Should be 'Steven'?

The is time he doesn't grapple...

This time he doesn't grapple...

BR549 · Jan 17, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
Okay, this guy does not sound pleasant. If he's enough to make a boisterous bruiser like Nanaue Sha'ark pause and show fear, he's not to be trifled with.

There are those who call him...Meg.

Old Knife · Jan 17, 2025

Wonder if this is the work of a third party.
Like why would the racist wizard want to take over instead of just fucking off and doing wizard things in his tower?
Is he still anti life infected?

Or does he not understand the cosmic threat that is Darksied?

Mr Zoat · Jan 17, 2025

Chojin Patriarch said:
Should be 'Steven'?
This time he doesn't grapple...

Thank you, corrected.

Old Knife said:
Or does he not understand the cosmic threat that is Darksied?

To be fair, very few do.

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