A) Tinker Red
A) 'Tinker Red'. Safe. Effects: Grants a creation power, enhances memory, creativity. Powers are affected by user's emotions. Manifestations: mental, physical. Power Level: Average-Strong.
This tree is going to be so blessed. You've chosen a serum that generates powers of creation as well as enhancing various mental qualities. The user's emotions play a key role in the power's manifestations.
...most of which is entirely irrelevant, since the subject is a
tree. Not only does it lack emotions, it has no real memory and no creativity to speak of! You're hopeful that the serum finds a way to manifest that allows for something interesting, in any case. They can yield surprisingly useful results with something like this.
[MANIFESTATION: AVERAGE POWER LEVEL, MEDIOCRE ABILITY]The tree... remains a tree, more or less. It exhibits no external changes and exceedingly dull to observe. It doesn't even have a real mind to analyze. You're rescued from boredom when a bird hops onto one of the tree's branches and is promptly submerged in a shower of seeds that appears from absolutely nowhere. The startled bird proceeds to gorge itself on the ample food on offer before being caught and torn apart by a passing fox. At least it died happy, you suppose. The fox lingers for a while in the shade, and once the tree manifests an affable vixen for it out of thin air you begin to understand just what you're dealing with here. In the absence of emotion and thought on the tree's part, the serum appears to be drawing from the living beings around it - and giving them they want, it appears.
Once humans wander by the scene, you get a better idea of the specifics. First comes a lonely old man; he's met by an affectionate dog to lend him warmth and company. The second is a city-bound soldier desperate for the means to pay off his debt; they discover, quite by chance, an ancient pouch of golden coins spilled over in the bushes. The third is a bitter young man with the intent of ending his days in the forest; the tree manifests a noose waiting for him. The sight of it actually scares him off his attempt, funnily enough. Each visitor appears to get their heart's desire - their momentary heart's desire, at the least. After that, the tree has nothing more to offer them.
The locals talk, the story spreads. The Tree of Desires waits in the forest, so the talk goes. They come in a thick crowd to cluster around the tree - some searching for treasures, others (rightfully) convinced that the tree will grant them what they want. The group gets nothing, though - either the mass of different wants and emotions confuses the tree, or it's simply not powerful enough to grant all of them what they want at once. The disappointment keeps human visitors away from the tree, but not forever. They begin to trickle back in, each receiving a little something for what's on their heart. You note that their true, deepest desires don't actually get fulfilled - the tree lacks the power or means to bring people back from the dead or grant them powers of their own, but the little gifts it gives can be very valuable, if their recipients get lucky.
***
That's that. Time to move on.
Who or where do you wish to inject?A) Search for an individual fitting particular criteria. Specify the criteria - ie, 'a slave laborer', 'a scientist in Britain', 'a moral person exhibiting qualities of humility, courage and self-sacrifice', 'an amoral person of limited empathy', 'a young lion in Africa', etc.B) Inject the water supply in a small settlement or area. The effect will be spread among many in diluted form. You may specify a particular place or type of area, ie, 'in New York', 'a forest', 'an isolated village', etc..C) Pick a human at random. Should be entertaining!D) Pick an animal at random. Should be entertaining!What you want to see next are...A) Safe Serums. These Serums are tested and mass-produced, with well-known effects and power levels, though the exact details of how they manifest varies. You'll have Machine bring you a batch of them to choose from.B) Experimental Serums. These Serums are experimental and untested, with only the faintest hints of how they might manifest known. They tend to have a much wider range of possible power, and there is a danger of creating something that could be a problem to even you or something that might cause undue damage to the planet as a whole. You'll have Machine bring you a batch of them to choose from.C) Choose a known Serum. Machine has provided you with quite a few Serums already. You could use one of them before requesting new ones. Please choose from the list below.(Optional) There are further options you could consider...A) Request specific batch of serums. You could have Machine focus on particular kinds of serums - for example, serums which tend to grant growth or offensive powers, or which manifest in a specific way such as gravity or disease, or other similar criteria. Please specify one term to search for.B) Monitor an active individual more closely. Focus your monitoring on one subject you've injected. This yields more in-depth and detailed records and narratives of just what they get up to. Options: Naiche, the Horned Nightmare, the wandering cat, Christos, Eugen von Heeringen, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Safe
'Dowager Blue'. Safe. Effects: Grants a passive defensive power, a close-range offensive power, a sensory power, resistance powers, and severely enhances size. Manifestations: water, ice, mist. Power Level: Average-Strong.
'Patron Blue'. Safe. Effects: Grants a defensive power useable on others, a long-range offensive power, flight or speed, minor altered appearance. Manifestations: lightning, energy. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Ghoul Red'. Safe. Effects: Grants a draining power, a mobility power and a resistance power. Powers are affected by user's emotions. Manifestations: physical. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Beggar Black'. Safe. Effects: Grants a concealment power, an illusion power, and a sensory power. Powers harm the user, usually mentally. Manifestations: mental. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Ranger Green'. Safe. Effects: Grants sensory powers, a concealment power and a mobility power. Powers are affected by user's surroundings. Manifestations: physical, earth, plant life. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Tinker Red'. Safe. Effects: Grants a creation power, enhances memory, creativity. Powers are affected by user's emotions. Manifestations: mental, physical. Power Level: Average-Strong.
’Consul Green’. Safe. Effects: Grants sensory powers, an extreme-range transportation power, and a resistance power, enhances intellect, empathy, social insight. Powers are affected by surroundings. Manifestations: plant life, sound. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Regent Black'. Safe. Effects: Grants a defensive power, a control power and a resistance power, enhances willpower. Powers harm the user, usually physically. Manifestations: water, mental. Power Level: Average-Strong.
'Jester Blue'. Safe. Effects: Grants an illusion power, a mobility power and an offensive power, enhances speed, reflexes. Manifestations: light, energy. Power Level: Middling-Average.
'Agent Orange'. Safe. Effects: Grants a concealment power, a close-range offensive power and resistance powers, enhances memory, perception. User is able to use powers only in separate transformed form. Manifestations: physical, extradimensional. Power Level: Average-Strong.
Experimental
’Maestro’. Experimental. Traces of planning, intellect, music, sound, communication, ego.
'Bruin'. Experimental. Traces of transformation, resistance, size, aggression, fear.
'Nova'. Experimental. Traces of light, aggression, zeal, domination, vision.
'Revelation'. Experimental. Traces of time, service, consumption, possession, intellect.
'Umbra.' Experimental. Traces of grief, darkness, transformation, intellect, change.
’Swift’. Experimental. Traces of metal, flight, transformation, insight, anxiety.
'Queen.' Experimental. Traces of space, transformation, containment, control, ambition.
'Crucible'. Experimental. Traces of creation, pain, death, disgust, subversion.
'Fiend'. Experimental. Traces of affliction, weakening, information, reaction, fear.
'Icarus'. Experimental. Traces of flight, fire, joy, discovery, pride.
Naiche: Subject 1. Mediocre. A young male of the Apache people. Injected with Patron Blue. Manifested ability to shoot lightning from eyes, create protective 'lightning cages' around an individual, and slightly superhuman speed. Active in the American Southwest.
The Horned Nightmare: Subject 2. Mighty with Drawback. A male American bison. Injected with Bruin. Transformed into partially non-physical entity fed and powered by the fear of others. Practically invincible in the presence of fear; however, also needs to consume fear to survive. Active in the American Midwest.
The Greek Four: Subjects injected with diluted Icarus at a digsite in Greece.
-Fire Heart: Subject 3a. Minimal. A female stray cat. Injected with diluted Icarus. Manifested ability to inspire others with dreams of ambition and flight. Active in Southern Europe.
-Christos: Subject 3b. Mediocre. A middle-aged male of the Greek people. Injected with diluted Icarus. Manifested ability to project his winged spirit from his body and explore the world unseen. Active in Greece.
-Eugen von Heeringen: Subject 3c. Legendary with Drawback. A middle-aged male of the German people. Injected with diluted Icarus. Transformed into a entity seemingly composed of extremely hot flames, with the abilities of flight, immunity to the elements and vacuum, and potentially more. Active globally.
-The Living Inferno: Subject 3e. Transformed. An apparently living, unending firestorm localized near a village in Greece.
Napoleon Bonaparte: Subject 4. Strong with Drawback. A middle-aged male of the French people, an infamous and brilliant conqueror. Injected with Queen. Manifested ability to manipulate space by shortening and lengthening distances between two points, creating cages of inescapable space and other tricks over small areas. Active on St Helena.
The Tree of Desires: Subject 5. Mediocre. An oak tree in the Black Forest region. Injected with Tinker Red. Manifested ability to create objects or simple beings for others based on their emotions and wants. Active in the Black Forest in Germany.
Author
Topic: Caveman's Arsenal [SG] (1820, Injection #5: The Tree of Desires) (Read 13923 times)