Chronos, Chapter 19 (Patreon)

Chapter 19 – Woman Scorned

I spent the next few days teaching my priestess about the magic she now had. She still wished for revenge against her rival and her former boyfriend, and I was more than happy to guide her in that. But first, I made sure she learned the most important rule of taking revenge with magic, subtlety.

Well, at least subtlety as far as it looked from the outside. Your actual spells could be about as subtle as a brick to the forehead to the one affected, but to the outside, there should be as few traces as possible. If you did your job right, then no one would be sure whether you’ve done anything at all. Even if tragic accidents happened to those who wronged you, there should be nothing that connected you to those events.

With that in mind, Yahlonda created three artifices over the next couple days. I gave her some guidance, of course, and checked her work. After all, I had promised to help her get her revenge, and I wouldn’t want to be a liar.

Artifice   Effects

Mental   Transform 1 – Alter Mind

Feats:   Innate, Subtle 2 (Unnoticeable)

Extras:   Duration (Continuous), No Saving Throw, Range (Perception)

Flaws:   Action (Full), Charge Power (Partial if Distracted), Check Required   (Knowledge: Arcane Lore, DC 11), Distracting, Limited (Only to change sexual arousal),   Side-Effect 2 (Stun, Always)

Drawbacks:   Noticeable, Power Loss (Must speak incantation), Power Loss (Hands Bound)

Cost: 1   PP

Total   Cost: 1 PP

Design/Craft   DC: 11

Design   Time: 1 hour

Time   to Craft: 4 hours

The first was revenge on her ex. For him, she devised, with my help, a curse that would allow her to truly punish the very macho, very alpha male boy who had broken her heart. She would need to be able to see him (though he didn’t need to see her), and be free to take a couple moments speaking the incantations and using the hand signs I taught her, but, when it was done, the talisman she created would make it so that her ex no longer got aroused by anything other than the male form. He would still be attracted to women, but only the idea of having sex with other men would allow him to have an erection. The worst thing was that he would know that something had done this to him, as not only would he be aware of the change, but a tattoo would appear on the top of his penis, spelling the word ‘LOSER’ as it ran down his length, arranged so that he could read it clearly any time he looked down at himself. But he would never have any idea who had done it to him.

The second, aimed at her rival, was just as nasty, in my opinion. Like with the boyfriend, she focused on the girl’s sex drive to punish her. Unlike the boyfriend, she wanted to ensure that the girl’s reputation was utterly DESTROYED! Since this was the more personal of the two targets, she gave it a more personal touch.

Artifice   Effects

Illusion   1 – Visual and Sound

Feats:   Progression (Area) 1 (10ft area), Slow Fade 3 (20 min)

Extras:   Duration (Sustained), Independent, No Saving Throw, Selective Attack

Flaws:   Action (Full), Feedback, Range 2 (Touch), Thematic (Only empty shower room)

Drawbacks:   Focus (Talisman), Power Loss (Mist be able to speak), Power Loss (Must be   naked)

Cost: 1   PP

Mind   Control 1

Feats:   Progression (Area) 1 (10ft area), Slow Fade 3 (20 min), Subtle 2   (Unnoticeable)

Extras:   Area (Burst), Duration (Sustained), Independent, Insidious, No Saving Throw

Flaws:   Action (Full), One Command (Don’t want to take a shower now), Range 2   (Touch), Side-Effect 2 (Stun, Always)

Drawbacks:   Focus (Talisman), Power Loss (Mist be able to speak), Power Loss (Must be   naked)

Cost: 3   PP

Total   Cost: 4 PP

Design/Craft   DC: 14

Design   Time: 4 hours

Time   to Craft: 16 hours

She planned to corner her rival, a fellow student at LCU, in the showers in the student gym after her usual workout. There were few women in the gym at that time, but she had a plan to keep anyone from interfering. A warding talisman placed on the archway between the shower room and the locker room would create an illusion that the shower room was empty, masking sights and sounds from beyond, and would subtly influence anyone approaching the showers to decide that they didn’t want to bother with a shower right then, decide to go home. The talisman’s power would only last for twenty minutes, but that was plenty of time for what she had planned.

Artifice   Effects

Mental   Transform 1 – Alter Mind

Feats:   Innate, Subtle 2 (Unnoticeable)

Extras:   Duration (Continuous), No Saving Throw

Flaws:   Check Required (Knowledge: Arcane Lore, DC 11), Limited (Target must be   naked), Range (Touch), Requires Grapple, Side-Effect 2 (Stun, Always)

Drawbacks:   Noticeable, Power Loss 2 (Must be naked)

Cost: 1   PP

Total   Cost: 1 PP

Design/Craft   DC: 11

Design   Time: 1 hour

Time   to Craft: 4 hours

The true revenge would be what happened next. She would have to take a talisman, and force it inside her rival. It didn’t matter which of the three options she chose, just so long as she was able to force it in. The talisman would then dissolve as its magic activated, and changed the unfortunate girl.

Artifice   Outcome:

Mental   Transform

Reduce   INT by 2. (+2 PP)

Reduce   WIS by 2. (+2 PP)

Reinforces   individual’s pride in self, and heterosexual preference. Instills knowledge   of how to suppress Mind Reading effect. Removes memories of this encounter.

Mind   Reading 6

Feats:   Innate, Subtle 2 (Unnoticed)

Extras:   Area (Burst), No Saving Throw

Flaws:   Limited 2 (Only surface thoughts about her), Permanent, Range 2 (Touch),   Uncontrolled

Drawbacks:   Power Loss (Lesbian Sex), Power Loss (Pet Play)

Cost:   4 PP

That talisman was an impressive bit of evil ingenuity. First, it lowered both the victim’s Intelligence and Wisdom scores by two, and used those points to give her a cursed, uncontrolled version of the Mind Reading ability. She would always ‘hear’ the surface thoughts of everyone in a thirty-foot radius, but only the thoughts that were about her. This power would only turn off when she had sex with a woman, or engaged in pet play, pretending to be someone’s pet animal, with a collar and all. But, once the act was done, or she stopped being a pet, the power would start back up again.

That, on its own, was not so bad. The bad part was the fact that she would retain her pride, and remain firmly heterosexual, but that her preferences would shift to the geeky, nerdy boys. The sweatier, more hygiene-deficient, the better. And she would gain major kinks for exhibitionism, gangbangs, degradation, and breeding.

Worst of all? When it was done, she would have no memory of Yahlonda doing this to her. She would know that someone had done something to her, but the memory of Yahlonda doing it would be wiped from her mind completely.

Honestly, I had little to do in coming up with the ideas for revenge. That was all my precocious little priestess. All I did was to guide her through the mechanics, helping her with the research and study. Made me glad that I had already tamed her, and made her utterly loyal to me.

I had just closed my section of the library for the day when I got a text on my phone. Hannah had dutifully texted me, just as I commanded her to, when Bronze headed out for the chemical plant to have a ‘talk’ with the manager. Excellent.

I got on my bike, and made my way to the plant. I could have frozen time, to get there faster, but there was no need. Flying vehicles, while not exactly rare, were not commonly used as part of the weekday commute, so I was easily able to get where I wanted to be.

And where I wanted to be at the moment was the rooftop of the nearby warehouse I had purchased (through a couple shell companies), to serve as the home for my cult. Interesting thing about the System was that not everything you bought with money counted as things you needed to pay for in points. If I bought a gun, the System wouldn’t let me use it until I put points down on it. But purchasing a new building? Nope.

My theory was that the System only required you spend points on things that could be used to attack, or were altered by the System. My bike cost points, because it could fly, and had other features built into it. My mansion cost points, because of all the enchantments and things on it. But, if I bought a normal car, or this warehouse? No points needed.

Not needing points for my shell companies was also a good thing. Most time travelers and immortals at least know the basics of creating shell companies, or have worked with people to set up shell companies on their behalf. The reason for that is simple. You can passively generate a lot of wealth, just by going and leaving things in a savings account for a hundred years. You need the shell companies so that people don’t start connecting the dots, and realizing that this one personal bank account has been active since 1780. That kind of thing raises too many questions for the average time traveler or immortal’s comfort.

This warehouse had been empty since the Pulse, as the chaos of those first few months had caused many businesses to go under, or ‘restructure’ to let go of properties in order to save on overhead. It was a fairly standard building of its kind, with nothing that the System would consider worthy of noting. Just like plenty of others of its kind.

Stopping time, I took a tarp that I had prepared previously, and covered the bike. From above, it would look like just a pile of junk on the rooftop. Not worth noting. Which is exactly what I wanted. Wouldn’t be good to have any incoming supers see it, after all.

That was part of the reason why I parked on the rooftop, instead of just parking on the street like a normal person. I didn’t know which direction Speedfreak would come from, or any reinforcements he might call, when he started getting in trouble. My bike would stand out in this area, and that would cause questions. Questions that I didn’t want to answer. So, hiding my bike was an obvious move.

Moving in the pocket of frozen time, I made my way down to ground level. Thankfully, since it was my building, I had keys for all the locks, which meant I could just take the stairs, like a normal person, instead of getting ‘creative’ with things.

That was a mistake far too many supers, on both sides of the law, made. They began to rely too much on their powers, for every little thing. I mean, by playing with time, I could teleport anywhere I’d been before, since time and space were two sides of the same coin. Yet, I still took my bike places, instead of doing that. Why? Because it kept me grounded, at least a little.

Not just that, but it also gave me options I wouldn’t have if I relied solely on my magic. The bike was technology-based, not magic-based, so I could use it, even when someone threw up a magic-dampening field. And, it denied any potential enemies information on my abilities. Every power that they didn’t know about was an ace in the hole I could use to get out of trouble, if need be.

I knew that I was putting far more effort into ensuring that I couldn’t be defeated, rather than actually pursuing my goals. But I didn’t mind that. After all, it was just as I quoted to the girls, when they came to ask me about my sword, “The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.” I focused on not letting myself get beaten, and then looked for opportunities to advance my goals.

And, as I slipped into the chemical plant, I was pleased to see that an opportunity had just presented itself. Speedfreak was already here, and charging at Bronze, looking to get the first strike in. Of course, by my perspective, they were frozen in place, since I hadn’t let go of time yet.

Time to set the field.