Wednesday, July 11, 2018, 11:30 AM Norfolk, VA
I woke up this morning, having received a redirection of focus, from the Elemental Maelstrom to Heward’s Halls, with a conceptual thing in front of me. A way to get things done faster, even if the elemental energies of this world changing spell would be held back from my mind for a period of time longer, but there needed to be more done faster to help the world. I need to be able to pump out a bunch of the life saving gear as quickly as possible. I figured that I would step out and start building the creations that I needed to make for this, and I might have to put some resources from the armor fabrication, but getting ready for the future upgrades. I looked into what I needed, and started making my way towards someplace called 757 Makerspace.
On the way there, I encountered a group of three thugs, who were trying to ambush a young woman in an alley and take her. I quickly focused up and hit myself with just a Haste and Displacement, especially important as my original armor was STILL being repaired from that damage taken by the Supervillain. I was in my Stance of Piercing Rays and immediately jumped forth and started firing. I took down the first one fairly quickly and a second one with my Solar Reflection shot, leaving only the last person. They tried to make a grab towards the woman, whom I stopped by glancing a shot off of their watch. It didn’t damage them, but it did leave a distinct message. I dropped them in a second afterwards as they tried to raise their own gun towards me.
I told the woman to go get the police to charge these thugs, and tied up the three unconscious villains, before checking them for cash and jewelry. The charity fund needed bumping up, and continued walking on after dismissing the Displacement. I got a text almost immediately from Jonathan after I stepped out of that alleyway, saying that the city had agreed to the deal, and that they had delivered the safety goggles, gloves, and visors for enchantment, so that they will be exactly what they already are used to. I thanked him and told him that I was currently walking to 757 Makerspace, but would be available to talk once I got there. Jonathan texted back that he’d meet me there, in about half an hour.
On my way there, I was trying to figure out exactly what I was going to start making the bodies out of for what I had seen the night before. I knew it was going to take me a while, but I had this idea running through my head, that it would make everything easier, and I was going to see it through. I remembered how, back at the school, David had three different ones that he had made early on in his quests. I wish I had spent more time with him in the focus of crafting those, but I was never at the point where I could even learn from that craft while I was at the school. I got inspiration from a storefront that had a pricey 1:4 scale model of the Ironman armor and another one of Captain America.
There were seven current Avengers that I knew of, that I could work from; Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Ironman, and War Machine. There were multiple different forms of the Ironman armor, so I decided to have one that was Blue and Silver, just to have a bit of uniqueness and differentiation. I studied the figures a bit and headed onto the 757 Makerspace place not too far away from my Storage Unit. After I got there, I found that there were a LOT of different crafts that could be done here, something that I took some mental pictures of to increase my possibilities for the warehouse/factory. After a period of time, Jonathan got there, and walked up to me as I was looking around.
He approached me and asked if there was a reason why I was here, in a fairly respectful way. I told him that I was going to need to avail myself of making some pottery figures here in the very near future, and that I needed to get an idea of what was available in the surrounding area. Jonathan nodded and asked if I’d be okay with heading back to the Storage Unit, as he had some things to discuss with me. I agreed and we got into his S.H.I.E.L.D. issued Acura car, and drove back to where I had just left from. As we passed the alley, we saw that the cops had gotten there and were moving the thugs into the backs of their cruisers.
Jonathan asked if that was me, and I shrugged, saying that they were trying to abduct a young woman, and probably had nefarious plans after that, so they could spend some time behind bars. Jonathan nodded to that and it wasn’t long after that, that we arrived back at my “Lair”. We got into the Tent, Jonathan noting how low my salt reserves are getting, and asked me if I had been getting up to anything. I told him that I had met with Pepper Potts and Wong, who had some questions about some recent events, and it turned out that I had something that Tony Stark could find useful, so I enchanted something that generates the effect for him every time he gives it the command word.
Jonathan listened and whistled when I had admitted that I had given something to Tony Stark that HE needed. Then he came back to that, reflecting on how Pepper Potts and Master Wong showed up at the Norfolk Homeless Shelter to deliver the last one of the five magical boxes that produce voluminous amounts of food and water every day. Jonathan admitted that this was something big, and that S.H.I.E.L.D. higher ups really wanted to know if I could make more of them, and how many of them I could make. I told Jonathan that I could make one of the boxes a day currently, but that I was going to have to focus on something else, so that I can increase the output of what I can make, but it is kind of an issue of trying to solve the problem at the problem, rather than at the root. Jonathan was following along, so I told him that I had a way to make it so that I can increase the crop yields with a different item, but it will require a technological solution to assist with that, the same with water, I can find a way to purify it faster, but it will need to work with the existing infrastructure, rather than just making an item that creates an amount of water a day. But, I continued, to do either efficiently, I need to make some things first.
Jonathan apparently had been briefed to be receptive about helping with whatever I needed, so he asked, and I told him about needing some kind of clay that can be made rock hard without a kiln, or I needed to be able to do magic and such in a place where there was a kiln. Jonathan said that he would reach out to see if there were any answers from any S.H.I.E.L.D. resources. He asked if I would need anything else. I told him I couldn’t go wrong with a set of eight close to matching one eighth carat emeralds, a bunch of framework metal, and about a ton of salt, over a few days. Jonathan dutifully wrote all of that down, and asked if that was all.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I thought for a minute and told him that yes, for now it was, but that all he needed to do was contact me again and I would be either here, or working with the Ambulance crew. Jonathan nodded and agreed that he would look into getting all of this, and then asked if I would be able to start on the things for the City. I told him that I was going to start on them as soon as I got access to the functional Dedicated Wrights. Jonathan nodded and asked if it would be sixty days after that. I told him that if I can swing it, after I finish enchanting the Dedicated Wrights I might be able to get them finished in just eight days.
Jonathan perked up at that, and asked if I was going to focus exclusively on that, and I told him that I really needed the extra space, so taking 8 days to get life-saving gear made doesn’t seem like a bad trade. I mean, I will still be working with the Ambulances and Tony and Bruce can keep cranking out the “Phoenix Cores”, so while I won’t be making food creations, I can probably set aside something to be made early on and still make my schedule date. I mean if something major comes up, then I can easily stop for a day or two, make what is needed, and then come back to creating the items for the city. Jonathan nodded and told me that he would get me the items as quickly as he could arrange it, so that we can maximize your output. I thanked him again, and wished him well for the rest of his day.
I realized that there wasn’t that much else to say, and Jonathan must have about the same time, so he got up and said that he would get back to me when he learned more. I wished him well, and escorted him out of the tent, before burning a bunch of my remaining spell slots on more Unseen Crafter spells, after all, I figured that I would be dealing with more difficult enemies sooner, rather than later. Then, I decided to start the creation of a new magical item, one to help me through part of the process for the Dedicated Wrights. I knew that I was going to have to deal with a LOT of blood loss, and it was all going to have to be fairly quickly timed with each other. I can wait until the enchantment to add the blood, but that will mean that I need to “donate” multiple pints in a day.
Just something I think I will have to figure out later. Right now, I needed the capability to actually have this blood recover quickly. So, I got it in my mind of what would be needed, and since it was still early, I did a search online and found that the store that I had purchased alchemical components from earlier would have the stone that I needed. It was close enough that I could ride my S.H.I.E.L.D. bike to and purchase it. Back to the Velvet Witch, I guess, just to go pick up a few stones for different purposes.
I made my way there and found about a hundred dollars in different stones that would be useful for what I need for future purposes. The most important one was thankfully there, so I had what I needed. I made my way back on my bike and started on the crystal’s enchantment. Immediately, I started focusing on it and bonding myself to it, since I knew that I would need to do so to get the crystal implanted so that it wouldn’t cause problems, in the way of being caught. It will take me three days, but I figure that I can get it implanted without much in the way of issues in three days.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018, 9:00 PM Norfolk, VA
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After I got back with the Crystals, and started on the process of making this Ioun Stone, facets started to shave off of the milky white quartz, until it got multiple to look like a flattened teardrop. The process was slow enough that it wasn’t exactly visible to the casual glance, but when one looked away and looked back after a while, the changes in facets would be obvious. After two hours, it looked fantastic, and we went through over three hundred pounds of salt, but the process worked! The stone had an internal glow, and I was completely in tune with what I had just made, so I made a difficult decision. With shaking hands, I removed my shirt and laid myself down on the marble table.
The next part in the procedure was… difficult, and time consuming, but very worth it. After preparing the area around my breastbone, I got to work. I cut a small slit in the skin above my breastbone, to the bone, with a scalpel (what lovely sharp knives this world has for medical practice. I stemmed the bleeding as best I could without damaging the process, and then placed the stone against my bone. I gritted through the pain and invoked the Stick cantrip, not specifically needed, but it couldn’t hurt.
With the Ioun stone implanted, I felt a little weak and woozy, probably from the effort and mental focus of the surgery, but I knew that I would have to struggle through it for the rest of whatever I could do to help with the Ambulance crew until I was going to get to rest. I got cleaned up and I knew that the stone was now working its magic on me, and would be until it was directly attacked somehow. Now I have the resources to recover, slowly, but I shouldn’t need to worry about a fight that doesn’t kill me anymore. I notified Rex where I was going, and headed to the Hospital, after sparing a singular charge from my belt to heal up any minor damage to my chest from the surgery. The ride was fairly uneventful, except when I noticed that same pickpocket from before.
This time, he wasn’t in the process of attempting to lift a wallet, however, he was just standing around and he looked to me to greet me. I slowed down and he thanked me for putting him on the path to go to the Shelter. I told him that it was only what I felt would be the most useful for him going forward. He told me that he was going to be working with the Shelter and learning what he, too, could do to help. I thanked him for paying it forward, and headed on to the Hospital.
At the Hospital, David was on shift, but noted that it was a fairly quiet night, not having had as many problems since the area knew that we were cracking down on gang activity. I told him that I was glad, but that I was still focusing on getting everything I could prepare, because I was going to be going into more of a seclusion for a period of time, to try to get the area, and then the world, in a better condition. Then, when there was a lull, I offered to show David the new addition to my gear. He was a bit taken aback by the “body jewelry”, but saw the green energy inside the crystal emanating through the pearly white color. When I told him what it did, he was amazed, but when I told him the limitations, and the process for the implantation, he curbed his enthusiasm.
Over the shift, which I begged off early, I cast a few Cure Light Wounds for minor injuries that we got called to, and used my medical knowledge to provide unusual, but effective, solutions. After I left, I made my way back to the storage unit, and got my gear on their storage areas inside the tent. Any minor repairs for wear and tear would be repaired, even if slowly. The armor was taking form, now at least most of it was getting much closer to what was needed. I estimate that if I only cast two more Unseen Crafters, I would have everything done within two weeks, much less if I continued on my path.
I knew, however, that I was going to end up needing to use more of my limited spell slots to enhance more firearms soon. Bob had not contacted me yet, but I just had a feeling. It had been a bit too long from when I had last had the commission, and I wondered to myself if he was holding off from sending me any information due to my possible injury. I decided that I might call him if I didn’t hear from him in the next day or two. For now, sleep was calling and I decided that submission to the siren song was just the right thing right now.
