caekdaemon - Al-Aris [-]:
Al: "Those rules sound like common sense to me, so we definitely shouldn't have any problems. But."
You fold your arms and nod towards the still asleep man on the ground.
Al: "What about this one? Will they be waking up anytime soon?"
As if on cue, the man sits straight up, then looks around in confusion.
Al: "Ah."
Johnny: "Good news, he's up. Which means you're ALL up. Excellent."

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [-]:
Dunrim: "Do you have any tips on how to survive? Also, do you have any tips on how to control and use our powers?"
Johnny: "Don't start a fight you can't finish, stick with your allies, use your powers inventively. Especially you three with the elements. Decay, Energy, and LifeDeath sound good on paper, but you'll probably have trouble using it directly on enemy Embodied. Even normal living things will resist them somewhat. Remember, your power embodies the whole of the concept.
You can decay not just living things, but also stone, or buildings, or weapons. Or, if you're really good, you might be able to use it to decay memories, or 'decay' something in a specific way, like decaying off the dull edge of a knife, leaving a new sharp edge. Just for example.
You yourself won't have as much trouble, Energy can be used in a lot of useful ways.
Oh, and powers vary in how they get stronger. Some pretty much just improve their ability to control stuff, usually Elements. Others make new knowledge and abilities known to the user as they get stronger. Characters do this a lot. That means you two, Paladin and Seafarer. Usually, you could find those yourself if you're inventive, but the Embodiment specifically makes the ability known to you."

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [-]:
Ignoring the others and this Johnny fellow, you walk out of the alley and look around. Yep, you're in a city. It's a small, 2 lane street, with no cars and nobody on the sidewalk. A good place for sneaky business. Well, at least nobody will come along and freak out about the devil man. Though, upon consideration, maybe you should be doing that. Eh, you can handle that later. For now, what's the situation with these powers? It looks like you can make a Chart, and mark Land and Sea on that. You can also traverse Sea easily, whatever that means. And walk on water, which is pretty cool.

Appearance: A square man in a heavily starched uniform - white, blue, and yellow, battered radio and a flare gun hanging from his belt in a plastic crate. His face is creased with lines of worry. He bears papers and codes of many navies, corporate and scientific contracts, stamped, sealed, filed as paid.


CaveCricket48 - Linna [-]:
Searching around your mind, you find that you know about your powers somewhat. Apparently, you can summon a holy shield. Makes sense for a Paladin, they are all about defending people. With a crack of sound and a flash of light, a steely kite shield with bronze banding along the rim appears in your hand, strapped to your arm. Just holding onto it makes you feel more sturdy, and a bit more confident as well.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [-]:
You quickly scour the alley for anything alive. Or slightly less than alive. Plenty of garbage, but you don't think you can bring a half eaten hamburger back to life. And if you could, that would probably be horrifying. Instead, you find a small wilting weed behind a trash can, growing from a crack between the asphalt and the brick building next to it. You crouch down, cradling the plant, and will it to die. To give up its fight for life, or rather, against life, and the inevitability of its end. It does so pretty easily, the leaves falling over even further. You can tell that the plant is now fully dead.
And now, back to life.
...
Nope. Sorry little plant, looks like bringing you back from death is too much. Maybe it would work if you had tried to energize it first, but then you probably wouldn't be able to kill it. Hm.
It looks like right now, you can only fully affect things that are in between life and death, in the grip of both forces simultaneously. With that, you can nudge either into being the winner, but not pull it back out of that.

Appearance: Remarkably lean but still muscular machinist. Wears aviators, a white t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans over leather shoes that look way too expensive for his line of work. Has been suffering from multiple personality disorder ever since his brother died.


Paedichorrhea - Matt [-]:
"Hmm... I don't know. I keep to myself a lot and I guess it would be nice if I could get people to just forget about me and leave me alone sometimes.
I can't really ask for much in return. I've never really met "the one", so a guess I would like to meet a woman I could get along with."

"I- no. Sorry. The embodiment, that works fine. But the reward, no. I don't deal in Love. You want that, you'll have to make it happen yourself. Just like us gods. Pick something else. What about money? Want some gold and jewels? Or a tank. I can totally get a tank."

Appearance: Caucasian, but with a slightly darker complexion. He looks a lot like your dad. Or brother. Or maybe that one guy you used to know. He just has one of those faces. He has medium-length brown hair, but sometimes things get away from him and it gets kind of long. He wears a lot of t-shirts and jeans, but occasionally wears a collared shirt and dress pants for fancier occasions. A few pounds overweight, but still has an alright physique. Thirty-something in age.

[To En]: "No love, eh? I suppose the I'd like to discover a place that could be mine. Just mine. Nothing to fancy. Actually, scratch that, feel free to make it as fancy as you feel appropriate. Plenty of space to roam, nice large house-castle. I suppose a secret underground complex wouldn't hurt."

[mumbling to self]: "Who are these people... Why is the frat boy here playing with a plant...
I guess the square uniform over there looks like he knows what he's doing."

>Follow behind Nuñez, but with ample distance.

"I don't have many more questions, so I'll give them to you all in one go. How powerful are some of the enemy's Embodied compared to us? What are some of the Embodiments we might be facing soon? How long should we expect to have till we can engage the enemy, and how long can we expect this entire adventure to last?"

Al-Aris smiles fondly for a moment before a puzzled, confused look slips across his face.

"Oh...and have you seen...this woman, beautiful, with hair as bright as golden honey? She smiles a lot..."

Practice my power on anything insignificant in the local area, something that people won't mind or even need to replace.

Admire quality of Linna's shield. Go with group wherever we need to go.
That's one truly nice shield you got there girl.

To Paedichorrhea, I don't think there are many 30-ish year old frat boys who work as machinists.

caekdaemon - Al-Aris [-]:
Al: "I don't have many more questions, so I'll give them to you all in one go."
Johnny: "Hoo boy."
Al: "How powerful are some of the enemy's Embodied compared to us? What are some of the Embodiments we might be facing soon? How long should we expect to have till we can engage the enemy, and how long can we expect this entire adventure to last?"
Johnny: "Hm. Alright, in order. Very, hopefully none, hopefully a while, hopefully not a while."

Johnny chuckles while ignoring the deadpan look you're shooting him.

Johnny: "Kiddin, kiddin.

Alright, lesse. How strong are the others? Easiest one, very strong. That one wasn't a joke. The other Embodied can range from spoon-bending to level city blocks on accident. Good thing is, there aren't many of the really strong ones like that (and like me). Maybe a dozen that could bring out some real Armageddon if they went full throttle.

Who'll you be facing soon... Well, your first mission's not slated for going up against other Embodied, you're too green for that. Thankfully, the world's a big place, and there's plenty of interesting and useful stuff just lyin' around, waiting for an Intrepid Adventurer to come check it out. Which is what you guys'll be doing. This info's pretty fresh, but there's always the chance someone else knows. So, low possibility you'll see any real action this time.

How long... Well, you'll be facing other Embodied soon as you're ready. And it'll all take... well, a few months, maybe? Dunno. The game's been going on for a few years now, but now we're down to the final 3. Should end soon."

Satisfied with the answers, you decide to test out your Embodiment. You grab a soda can from the ground nearby, and try to Decay it. The can... does nothing. Hm. Aluminum is tough business, doesn't like to just break down, at least not without a catalyst. Though...
You grab a fallen leaf, and try decaying that instead. It quickly browns, then cracks apart, then crumbles into a course powder. So, it looks like you're limited to stuff that decays easily for now.
Putting that aside, you address your memories. Johnny said that they'd been sealed away, but there's one thing that keeps popping up in your mind, and very strongly. A woman. Apparently, she's the only thing important enough for your mind to hold on to it, even through the memory sealing. Maybe... Maybe Johnny knows?
Al: "Oh...and have you seen...this woman, beautiful, with hair as bright as golden honey? She smiles a lot..."
Johnny: "Wait, a broad? And you remember her? Crime on crutches, you must be really head over heels for something to be coming back THIS fast.
Hmm... I DO remember a pretty girl on the street a few blocks away. I mean, I remember a LOT of pretty girls, but I saw a bright blonde like you said when I was coming over.
Want me to bring her here?"

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [-]:
Dunrim: "Thanks for the tips. Do we have anything we have to do right now or do we get to prepare for something?"
Johnny: "I have a mission for you guys, once you're ready. Pretty much just a retrieval, nothing a team of six beginners can't handle. It'll give you some time to get a handle on your new powers.
Some old artifact in some old burial ground a few miles outside town, needs to get brought back so we can use it. Or so that nobody else can use it. Either way."
Johnny shrugs.

Satisfied, you decide to test out your powers. Energy. Electricity's common, but that's... a bit advanced. Let's start with heat, that's easy. You direct some heat from the area around you into a tiny sphere a few feet in front of you. At first, nothing seems to happen, but you continue pushing. And eventually, you start to see it. The air around the sphere is shimmering. Excited, you get close to get a better look, and realize that holy crap, it's pretty hot. Not REALLY hot, but definitely uncomfortable to be close to. You focus on keeping the heat contained rather than drawing more into it, and the heat seems to fade. Neat!
The air around you doesn't feel cooler at all, yet the ball in front of you might even give you a mild burn if you touched it. A little bit of energy from a wide area gets to be pretty impressive when you compress it.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [-]:
Wassily: "Is there a first target for us in this war?"
Johnny: "Yeah, you've got a mission lined up. Pretty basic for your first time, but work's work, and it IS your first time.
But uh, don't call it a War, chief. En's touchy about that. S'not a war. Definitely more serious than a game, and there's battles and we're on opposing sides and all that, but it's not a war.
At the end of it, everyone's gotta go back to normal and be friends. If half the gods died and the other half hated each other every time this thing came up, nobody would ever get anything done. So yeah. Fight the other Embodied, definitely don't go easy on em, but... don't hate em.
Hate don't solve nuthin."
Huh. That was... surprisingly deep coming from a leather clad delinquent.

"♥♥♥♥, what've you got me spoutin? My boys'll think I've gone soft at this rate, heh."
There we go, that's more like it.
You try making a Chart. And just like that, a yellowed square of parchment appears before you with an 8x8 grid inscribed, areas filled in with sections of browns and blues with numbers representing depth dotting the map. Hm, looks like it converted the few blocks around here to a chart. The streets mostly seem to be Sea, while the buildings are Land. Makes sense, not too easy to just walk through a building. There are a few markings on here too. You recognize the navigational hazard buoy, some channel markers, but... Hrm. This map only shows a couple blocks around you, and nothing stands out as important or surprising. Guess it's a boring chunk of town after all.

Appearance: A square man in a heavily starched uniform - white, blue, and yellow, battered radio and a flare gun hanging from his belt in a plastic crate. His face is creased with lines of worry. He bears papers and codes of many navies, corporate and scientific contracts, stamped, sealed, filed as paid.


CaveCricket48 - Linna [-]:
Going from your success with the shield, you summon up a full suit of armor!
Or not. Your power fizzles, and you can tell something like that is still a ways off. All in due time. The good news though, you can summon three shields at once! One for each hand, and-
*clank*
...One for the ground. Let's stick to two for now, you decide. Or just one.

Linna: "How do we tell what god an Embodiment servant belongs to? Wouldn't be good to accidentally kill another person under En just because we've never met."
Johnny: "Ah, that. Yeah, that's... ehhh. You can sense an Embodied from a normal person, no problem there. But there's no big glowing tag that says 'Not our team', sadly. The next best thing, every Embodied has a sorta... signature? Their parent god leaves their own sort of fingerprint on the Embodied. It can be hard to tell sometimes, and it won't like, yell 'I BELONG TO OSFAR' or whatever. So yeah, you'll just have to remember what one god's goons 'feel' like, and look for that in any others you meet. Though don't worry about wiping out your allies, you'll generally feel sorta... good about other En people. Same signature and all, it's like a weird kinship. Also En can peek in on ya and confirm if you're really not sure."

MikeHeph: "That's one truly nice shield you got there girl."
Linna: "Yyeeeah. It... is. "
Mildly creepy.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [-]:
Hm. She has a pretty nice shield.
MikeHeph: "That's one truly nice shield you got there girl."
Linna: "Yyeeeah. It... is."
Dammit Heph, why you gotta creep on her.

Appearance: Remarkably lean but still muscular machinist. Wears aviators, a white t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans over leather shoes that look way too expensive for his line of work. Has been suffering from multiple personality disorder ever since his brother died.


Paedichorrhea - Matt [-]:
"No love, eh? I suppose the I'd like to discover a place that could be mine. Just mine. Nothing to fancy. Actually, scratch that, feel free to make it as fancy as you feel appropriate. Plenty of space to roam, nice large house-castle. I suppose a secret underground complex wouldn't hurt."

"Ha! Much better. A James Bond villain base I can make happen. A nice castle, somewhere scenic with rolling green hills, maybe near the sea, or a private lake.
Hmm. May have to acquire one for myself.
I accept."

You wake up, and immediately bolt upright.
???: "Ah."
???: "Good news, he's up. Which means you're ALL up. Excellent."
Looking around, there's... six people. Doing god knows what. That guy over there is... messing with a weed. That chick has a shield. THIS guy's got freaking devil horns.
Ok, so you're still dreaming. Cool. Or... your dream just then was real, and this craziness is now your life.
Matt: "Who are these people... Why is the frat boy here playing with a plant...
I guess the square uniform over there looks like he knows what he's doing."

Appearance: Caucasian, but with a slightly darker complexion. He looks a lot like your dad. Or brother. Or maybe that one guy you used to know. He just has one of those faces. He has medium-length brown hair, but sometimes things get away from him and it gets kind of long. He wears a lot of t-shirts and jeans, but occasionally wears a collared shirt and dress pants for fancier occasions. A few pounds overweight, but still has an alright physique. Thirty-something in age.

>Follow the group, but tentatively so and at a safe distance.

caekdaemon - Al-Aris [-]:
Al: "Yes....yes, bring her to me, please. I'll know if she is the right one."
Johnny: "Alright, I'll send one of my boys over, he'll guide her."
Al: "Wait. Your... boys?"
Johnny: "Eeyup."
Johnny puts his thumb and index finger into his mouth, and whistles sharply. You give a small shiver at the sound for some reason, it has an almost otherworldly quality to it. Then, there's a small poof of thick black smoke from the ground in front of Johnny, and when it clears you see-
Uh.
Is that.
A tiny devil: "Sup boss. You need something?"
Johnny: "Yup. *ahem*
Bellhop, I command you, bring to this location safely, the pretty blond girl I saw earlier on the street, 6 blocks South of this location. And no messing around with her. Capisce?"
Bellhop? : "Ah, cmon Boss, there's no need to be all lawyer-y, you know me better than that by now!"
Johnny: "Yeah, I do, that's why I'm a stickler about that ya little red runt. Now get moving, this fine man's waiting for his lady."
The imp salutes, then vanishes in another poof of dark smoke. You're a bit concerned by the conversation, but at the same time, the imp was forbidden from "messing around with her", so it's... probably fine. Probably.
Noticing that the rest of the party has taken off, you make to follow after them along with the strange split personality man, not wanting to be left behind in the alley.

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [-]:
Dunrim: "So can you tell us where that burial ground is located? Just so we can go there when we are ready."
Johnny: "Yeah, here, let me uh... hmm. You got a smartphone?"
Huh. DO you? A quick search of your pockets confirms that yes, you DO have a smartphone! A quick search of the options also confirms the number. You rattle it off to Johnny, and a few seconds later you receive a text.
hey, testin. this work?
A quick reply...
Yup loud and clear.
Johnny: "Alright, cool. I'll send you a link to the map. Just gimme a sec. Stupid browser. Stupid 3 year old phone."

Dunrim: "So do you have any tips for how we should prepare ourselves?"
Johnny: "Uh... Not much else that I haven't already said. Be creative, practice with your powers, learn to work as a team. Everything else is jus' building off those three."
He's pretty caught up in that phone. You decide to follow the others, wherever they're going.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [-]:
Alright, let's try this Seafare out. You activate the second part of your Embodiment, and... woah.
This feels completely different. You can feel the subtle shift and flow of the area around you. The freedom of the streets, the impassibility of the buildings, the special facets of things all around you, the flow of the Sea from intersection to intersection, running down alleys and pooling in dead ends. This.
You can navigate this.
And navigate you do. You quickly find yourself, well, gliding across the streets. Your feet are still touching the rough asphalt, but all it takes is a gentle kick, and you sort of slide across 10 feet of ground effortlessly. You can tell that with a stronger kick, you could really zoom, easily matching the cars driving these streets in speed. And your maneuverability is amazing as well. Your momentum seems to be freely controlled, allowing you to turn on a dime and pull a 180 degree turn nearly effortlessly, with no loss of speed or even the normal g-forces you would feel from a turn. You've never felt so... so free.
It's all you can do to stop yourself from whooping in glee as you zoom through the city, bobbing and weaving through traffic and waving to shocked drivers. You positively feel 10 years younger as you speed towards a grassy hill you see in the distance, dotted with small boxes of grey. In just a few minutes, you've managed to cross half of the city, arrive at a large graveyard, and find yourself feeling absolutely amazing.

Appearance: A square man in a heavily starched uniform - white, blue, and yellow, battered radio and a flare gun hanging from his belt in a plastic crate. His face is creased with lines of worry. He bears papers and codes of many navies, corporate and scientific contracts, stamped, sealed, filed as paid.


CaveCricket48 - Linna [-]:
You see the Seafarer take off, and immediately realize that it's dangerous for him to go off alone.
...Or maybe that's the Paladin talking. Either way, you decide to follow him, for his own good. No sense in letting him run off and get killed. You dash out of the alley, only to find that he's... a block and a half away already. How the hell? Whatever.
You'll answer the "How the hell" question later. For now, you summon your other two shields; one for your left arm, one for your back, and begin following Wassily as fast as you are able.
Which, with 3 big metal shields weighing you down, ends up at about a brisk jog. Well, on the good side, you aren't getting very tired from the running. Maybe your Embodiment made you stronger? Well, you're probably going to need that strength, because Wassily is already so far ahead that you can't even see him anymore. Great.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [-]:
You sort of zone out for a bit, until you realize that everyone aside from you and Al have left. And Al is leaving. You decide to follow him, rather than being left behind with the devil on a smartphone.

Appearance: Remarkably lean but still muscular machinist. Wears aviators, a white t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans over leather shoes that look way too expensive for his line of work. Has been suffering from multiple personality disorder ever since his brother died.


Paedichorrhea - Matt [-]:
Hmm. Still not sure who these guys are, but from listening to them, you've got a good idea of what's going on. So, you decide to follow along, for now. At a safe distance.
You end up walking near the Paladin girl and the big shady guy while the Boat guy rockets way ahead and the strange looking guy runs past you after the Boat guy. You should learn some names.

Appearance: Caucasian, but with a slightly darker complexion. He looks a lot like your dad. Or brother. Or maybe that one guy you used to know. He just has one of those faces. He has medium-length brown hair, but sometimes things get away from him and it gets kind of long. He wears a lot of t-shirts and jeans, but occasionally wears a collared shirt and dress pants for fancier occasions. A few pounds overweight, but still has an alright physique. Thirty-something in age.