SW10/HCC: Summer of Discontent #4: The Myth

Andrew Perron pwerdna at gmail.com
Mon Sep 26 13:13:26 PDT 2011


On Sep 18, 8:20 pm, Scott Eiler <sei... at eilertech.com> wrote:

> "We know Americans will gain it sometime this year.  We *believe* they
> gained it six days ago."
>
> "Why did it not come *here* the way I summoned?"
>
> "It was destined for the city of New York in December.  You were mighty
> to even divert it to June.  But the place is still New York."

...did I miss a bit of exposition here?

> Swordhand said, "What you *mean*, dead?"  His energy blades extended
> from his hands.
>
> "American swordsman.  You challenge me in my throne room.  Your life is
> forfeit."  The Dragon King drew his own swords.
>
> In less than a minute it was over.  Rad Man and Rolling Thunder used
> their own energy powers against their enemy, but they'd been weakened by
> a month of captivity.  Swordhand was dead.

Maaaaaan!  What a rip.

> "*This* says I will!"  Before he could speak, the Asian visitor held her
> amulet up.  "The *true* Dragon King of Vietnam sliced your Demon Dogfish
> ancestor into three pieces, and cast its *corpse* into the sea!  *You*
> are descended from whatever fertilized its floating eggs!"

Interesting.

> Rad Man spoke aside to Rolling Thunder, "What's an amulet got to do with
> anything?"
>
> "Some magic treasure hunt crap, the way things work..."

Heh heh heh.

> The engineers of The Trillions were working in the control room.  They
> looked curiously at the intruders for two seconds, then went back to
> work.  The U.S. party quietly found one unoccupied computer station.
> The Marine with the computer plugged a cable in.  Five minutes later, he
> quietly said, "Got it!"

...you know, this whole time, I've been vague on what they're actually
trying to *do*.

> One Marine broke in.  "My dad told me, Vietnamese had amulets for lots
> of stuff.  Lots of them were in the name of their real king.  Lac Long
> Quan.  The Commies must have taken away lots of the old amulets.  This
> fake king must have tracked down all the other ones he could find.
> Except this old one.  It just made the difference."

Interesting.  Makes sense, though I'd have figured a dollop of actual
magic in there.

> I *do* have disposable characters:  two hundred or so from the archives.
>   And I can always make more.  But they will not sell their lives
> cheaply.  I hope I made the disposition of Swordhand and the nameless
> Marine both mean something.

Neither death was cheap, definitely.  However, I think they both
needed more buildup; in particular, I would've liked to see some setup
for the whole "weakened in captivity" thing.

> I often get concepts which demand to be included in stories.  The
> artifact from 1911 is one such.  Its story is not even started.  Look
> for it in December.

Aha.  I think I see?

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, doot doot doot doo


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