02/01/2010 | 01:21 - 01:21 PM
Location: Abandoned Trainyard, Northern Brockton Bay Area, Abandoned Factory
Damien hummed- He now had nine Priests, and some very basic knowledge of the world he was in besides his own Meta knowledge of the setting he had appeared in. Or sent to? He isn't sure. "Everything seems to match the bare basics, with some rather radical changes... But there might be things I don't know." His fingers tapped away at the table he was now sitting by, a table one of his priests had made for him! He experimented a little bit with what he could make his Priests do, and so far he learned quite a bit. Let me give you a list:
His first Priest, Luxian, was the Priest of the Everloving Hearth. He focused on Warmth (Healing and Fire), Protection, Home, and Cooking. He could slowly heal, shoot fire balls, cast a protective barrier around a home, and cook meals that instantly teleport others home. He quite likes to brew (not drink, brew) heavy alcohol and was apparently a war veteran. Would not say which war, though. His lack of an eye and scars clearly show that he's telling the truth though.
His second Priest, Elumena, was the Priestess of the Silver Moon. She focused on Illusion, Memory, Wards, and Protection. She could cast illusions that trick all senses, she can modify someone's memory and erase recently occuring events, and create a barrier that makes everyone ignore or forget whatever is inside it. She liked scaring people by making herself invisible and inaudible, popping up and screaming at them.
His third Priest, Olivan, was the Shaman of the Untamed Wilds. He focused on Hunting, Nature, Shadows, and Transformation. He is able to find whatever or whoever he wants by following their smell, he is really good at stealth and following things in the dark, and he can turn into a rather large black panther. He acts like a cat, and looks like one too- his powers have granted him panther ears even in human form, making him the Priest's official catboy.
His fourth Priest, Koyana Kizu, was the Shinto Priestess of The Unending Waves. She focused on Water, Waves, Movement, and Purification. She He can call upon the power of the waves to wash away disease and sickness from someone's body, he they can purify water easily, and they she is also a supernaturally good dancer- oh, and she he can apparently walk on water too. They, like water, are very fluid with their gender and will constantly switch it up- mostly to annoy Damien by constantly being "wrong pronoun", just for harmless fun.
His fifth Priest, Konn, was the Priestess of the Green Moss Boulder. She focused on Plants, Growth, Earth, and Healing. She can make moss and plants grow out of conjured seeds, she can manipulate wood and other plant material, she can manipulate earth and earthly minerals, and she can also use the very earth to heal injuries. She is also quite protective of smaller animals, mostly insects.
His sixth Priest, Whin, was the Priest of the Allmighty Forger. He was both priest but also a blacksmith, focusing on Metal, Shaping, Creation, and Fire. He is quite skilled in summoning metals, making weaponry, throwing melting balls of metal at faces when annoyed, and being able to put enchantments unto his crafted items, making them overall better than others. He is the silent giant type, not talkative at all and quite grumpy when not able to work his magic- it took him ten minutes to make a crude forge with what they had in the factory, immediately using [Telepresence] to send Damien a request for more materials.
His seventh Priest, Apollo Andromeda, was the Priest of the Evershine Sunbringer. He focuses on Light, Music, Healing, and Archery! A one by one replica of a golden retriever if given a human body, he is quite good at healing, being the fastest priest with healing, being able to conjure spheres of light to illuminate and blind people (as well as punch them), and being a very good harp player. His songs are also magical, being able to heal anyone who hears him playing. He is a bit narcissistic, but in a comedic way, and is surprisingly humble when it comes to music! When Damien told him that there were thousands upon thousands of different genres of music, he almost flipped.
His eighth Priest, Jun Sung, Priest of the Masked Mistress. He focused on Mysteries, Lies, Secrets, and Detection like his Mistress, with the useful abilities of; knowing whenever someone lied to him, of knowing whenever someone is hiding a secret he needs to know, of being able to hide himself and anyone else from both magical and mundane means by enchanting masks, and being constantly aware of everything around him. These four abilities made him the perfect Spy Master for Damien's empire, as he was spawned from the cauldron with that thought in mind.
His nineth Priest, Mannex, Priest of the Bloodied End of War. Focusing on Blood, Swords, War, and Death. His main ability was the power to summon a blade capable of cutting through steel like a hot knife through a piece of paper, quite chaotically and destructively setting it on fire as well. Whenever he got injured, he could absorb blood with his blade to heal himself, and the last power he had was to empower his blade to cause a withering effect upon attack, making living flesh decay, metals to rust, and other inorganic materials to turn to dust. Thankfully such spell doesn't last long, or else he'd turn everything he touches with his sword into dust!
And those were all- Oh? A new one popped out of the cauldron just as he was reviewing his troops! This Priest, however, was solely focused on the mind. Damien created this one focusing on the aspects of Mind, Thought, Memory, and Sensations with the idea that he could use some help taking care of the [Telepresence] network he was building thanks to the new sigil he chose after achieving Rank D with his Cauldron of Monsters-
[Command]
Any monster you place in command of other monsters will rapidly develop enhanced tactical and strategic acumen. The particular skills they acquire in this way are attuned to whatever will best help them lead the exact forces they command; the commander of a squad will gain an understanding of squad-level tactics. This slowly adapts to the current situation, granting your leaders an advantage equivalent to a significant amount of experience in similar situations.
Builds upon and compounds with, rather than replacing, other relevant skills.
-and this sigil? It changed a lot of things with the chain of command that he had first established, sharpening it into becoming a true chain of command. He himself was the Emperor of his future empire that he decided to call the Menagerie Empire, so he assigned Luxian of the Everloving Hearth as the First Pope of the Menagerie Empire and Head of the House of Healing, which would be responsible for all hospitals and houses of healing within his empire. He immediately saw the result of the sigil as Luxian took upon the responsibility he received with great pride, supernaturally quickly learning how to herd the other Priests and assign them their own responsibilities. That's how each priest became responsible for their own churches of their deity, which Damien promised to bring more believers into existence with the Cauldron of Monsters.
Damien paused for a moment as he read through the notes he had taken with the some newspaper he had found outside, using blood as ink and a knife as a pen. His notes were sporadic and nonsensical to anyone but him, since he wrote barely anything legible, only to organize things in his brain instead of bringing it to paper. He'll tear the bloody newspaper in pieces anyway! He began to mumble under his breath, reading the barely coherent scribbels on the paper: "Brockton Bay has the Teeth who is led by the Butcher who went to Boston and New York but came back after being beaten by Accord and Legend respectively, the Honored Ones that is now being led by the Red Queen who is the daughter of Marquis with Iron Rain who was the daughter of the All Father after her mom and dad were killed by Brandish of the New Wave movement, the Anz Bad Boyz is led by Lung after he came to Brockton Bay after fighting Leviathan with their fight sinking Kyushu, the Empire Eighty-eight led by Kaiser who is son of the All Father after his dad was killed by the Butcher and Jack Slash of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and the Merchants apparently became a big thing after they killed a member of the Empire Eighty-eight..."
"My king." A voice whispered within his mind through the [Telepresence] network, making Damien pause and send back a mental equivalent of a "go on", but as a feeling. A mental image of a pretty woman with bright long wavy blond hair appeared in his head, she was wearing a tuxedo that ended in a tail coat that somehow reminded him of a penguin: "I am Evelyn K'noth, Priestess of the Abyssal Mind Devourer. I am here to help you with this..." Her mental voice tool upon a tone of reverence and awe, she also actively sent those emotions through the mental link they shared: "-incredible network. I do not know how you managed to combine the feeble and weak psionic link to the soul weave array and somehow link it all the concept of your very existence and your place in the universe itself, but this... is a masterpiece of divine proportions! I truly believe not even my god could unweave this thread." Without him even having to ask for it, she sent a compact and somehow very informative explanation of her four abilities as given to her by her god. True Telepathy, Enhanced True Multitasking, Mental Illusions, and Memory Manipulation; The power to connect to minds was her main power, with the other three being auxiliary powers that helped her with using her first power properly.
"Very well, you are now assigned Head of Communications. Your main job will be to connect and use the [Telepresence] network to communicate with everyone- don't worry about being overwhelmed, you will receive help from other Priests in the future." He could already feel her presence through the mental network across every single monster under his command, he always felt them at the back of his mind, like a dream he had just forgotten but was still fresh in memory unless he focused upon the entirety of the network itself or onto a specific monster. He quickly looked through the supplies that came with the Priests, sighing in relief when fruits and bread were inside the package! No meat, sadly, but just enough food to satiate a single adult's hunger for a day. He rummaged through the fruits and pulled out a bottle of wine, it sounded fancy, but it was actually almost empty with just enough for a single cup- that came with the package.
"Huh."
He filled his cup- and then the bottle turned to ash once it was empty.
Time to grow his third monster.
[Dragons]
Takes 900 seconds to produce.
Choose an elemental aspect, such as light, shadow, darkness, sun, moon, earth, air, fire, water, or stone. This choice is shared between Drakes and Dragons. Dragons appear to be pickup truck-sized winged lizards, bearing a coloration correspondent to their elemental aspect. A few times per minute, they can release a destructive breath weapon based on their elemental aspect, potent enough to kill a dozen men. Dragons fly at approximately 80 MPH, and can carry well over a hundred kilos of cargo without strain. Dragon scales are protective enough to deflect small arms fire outright, and they are similarly tougher and stronger in other aspects.
Dragons are fully sapient and extremely prideful.