Question Ashes and Steel

The triumphant return, or is that conclusion, to Eldritch's story...

Yeah. There's some really strong life and death duality there.

"the fourth and final part of "Ashes and Steel"

... Is that a renaming? Or something? I've never heard of any other parts of this "Ashes and Steel" series...

Cool to see everyone going out to help!

Sandra's hopefully will get better at lawyering if she wants to be a lawyer...

Thanks JG for such a swift resolution to such a fine story arc/series.

The other parts are Instructor, Walking Alone, and New Friends, New Problems. Eldritch's "origin story."

I had always thought that the tattooing would be a more solemn affair, involving the destruction of the engagement ring, getting help from her friends to tattoo her back and be very reflective.
Instead it's solemn with a dislocated shoulder, gunfire, mines and blood. SO MUCH BETTER!

Having securities first reaction to the knowledge that bad things are coming, being to haul out the mines is something I've missed from Whateley. All the authors have their strengths and weaknesses, but JG hits the high notes for balls to the wall when it comes to security.

Ashes and Steel comments
Caitlin going off to fix herself, we finally get to find out what happened. Yay! The Grove, good grief, she needs some serious mystical power for her ritual to go there. Love the description of the trail she is taking to the Grove, gives a feel of magic and mystery to the whole place. Senior magic class students have to go in or near the Grove as part of training, dang. Salt lines ground out magic energies, interesting new detail on WA universe magic.

Something may come at her or them, this ritual definitely is a lot more risky than I originally thought. A firing line and mines, dang, wonder how much experience each of these security guards has had with supernatural threats. Everything with an emotional link to her past life, interesting ritual requirements. All these details for the ritual, so well thought out and well-written, love it.

The reactions of Nephandus, Fey, Aunghadhail, Sara, Jadis, and Nacht as so vivid and so different, interesting. Bladedancer, Pern, Elysia Grimes, and even Caitlin's reaction to it all are even more telling, such a surge of immense magical power, but more than that in many ways. Living her old life that way, yikes, don't anyone with a weaker will would come out of that intact.

All those memories, Erik Mahren had an interesting life, too bad about his parents. The horrors he faced as one of the Dragonslayers, fighting mutants like that who could kill without a second thought or were ragers and not in control. Dealing with Englund, losing Cat on Halloween 2006, tried to kill Englund for bringing them there and getting Cat killed but being held back, standing up to Nikki, meeting a new student in Outcast corner. Having to relive all this, it is a wonder she didn't snap. In trace putting on the tattoos and seeing the voodoowolves, eldritch creeping things, and manifested spirits the security guys are blasting away at. Dang, without wards on their visors by Caitlin and Nikki those guards would have been toast.

All those magic course students trying to get to the Grove, smart thing to have security keep them back. Oh boy, Nikki is getting Diamondback to round up the boys to go help Caitlin despite Delarose's warning. Only to stopped by Mrs. Carson, she knows them too well. *eyes bug out* Diamondback actually told Carson no. Threaten to expel them if they defy her a third time and Diamondback still will go to help Caitlin, that is true friendship. Poor girl heads to Twain with tears in her eyes, Carson testing the resolve of her students like that, one of these days it's going to backfire.

Carson is shocked to hear Nikki's reason for wanting to help Caitlin, finding out she knows who Caitlin previously was. Ah, gotta love Diamondback even more for protecting their secret and knocking Sharisha on her ass. Finished talking with Carson and off to get the boys and go help Caitlin, so far an emotional story for all sides involved.

*eyes bug out again* Taking out one of the voodoowolves like that, we see some of the skills Erik Mahren had and Caitlin retained. Yikes, if she could become machine-like in mind permanently, that is far than enough of a reason to protect her humanity with tooth and nail. Seeing Caitlin like that, in that physical, emotional, and other states which feel wrong, I would wonder what was going on as well. All they can do is protect her and hope everything works out as Caitlin planned, rough.

Raw physical strength with rage and frantic action from Diamondback, supported by careful and focused fighting with Malachim's Feather by Fey, I pity anyone who tries to take on such a team. Mrs. Carson with her Rod and more security, this is a major offensive on both sides. Every major player in security and the magic department are there, along with Chou ready to keep her promise to Caitlin if the ritual doesn't work as intended.

Aww crap, seeing Caitlin in that state and thinking she is gone, poor Diamondback and all her friends, everyone who cared for her. All that done to protect her and now it is like a statue just sitting there, like a nightmare for all involved. All that, a memorial to Caitlin and Erik, all of them hurting at the loss of a dear friend and loved one. And with the first rays of the sun she draws her first breath, Caitlin Bardue is alive.

A great finish to her journey from being Erik Mahren to Caitlin Bardue and ensuring her freedom in her new life.

Great story, although the numbering is a bit confusing. By my reckoning, the Caitlin saga goes roughly like this:
0. Parkour Jam Hooligans.
1. Upheaval (divided in three chapters, named Instructor, Walking alone and New Friends, New Problems - sometimes they are listed as three separate stories.
2. Call the Thunder (7 chapters), which follows directly into...
3. Ashes and Steel.

And, of course, in parallel to that there are the three stand-alone Outcast Corner stories, focusing on Razor, Diamondback and Jericho.

By the way, J.G. came back just in time to weave the scenes from "Yet Another Day as an Outcast" into the beginning of the new school year...

Okay, I rarely log in here any more but this story existing is reason to give a big "WOOOOT". Thanks JG!!!

Having said that, I should now go read it so I can actually comment intelligently about it. But I had to do this first. Be Back Soon....

Edit: Although, I'm now wondering if I should reread the previous part first before diving into this one....

Edit2: No disappointment here. Welcome back, again, JG. Thanks for the Thanksgiving Day gift. I'd be curious about when this happened during the Spring semester. It was great seeing the Outcasts, Chou and Fey in action, too.

To be precise, the action is probably occurring on the night between the 14th and the 15th of December, 2006. The last scene in "Call the Thunder" (when Caitlin has the insight of what she needs to do) takes place on the 14th, and the beginning of "Ashes and Steel" suggests that she is acting immediately, with no considerate planning -- so, still the 14th.
There's a minor problem I'll choose to ignore -- the phase of the moon is wrong for mid-to-late December, 2006. I'll just postulate that it's a parallel universe and the calendars are a few days out of phase with ours. It was probably something in the transition from Julian to Gregorian calendar.

Very good conclusion to her beginnings.

When I saw the story in the canon forums for review, I KNEW there were going to be squeals of delight. And i was right - I could hear them coming from afar!

I helped JG with a little bit of editing - and was called a (shudder!) ... and English Major (cringe, shudder, whimper)! Oh the shame, the stigma upon my character!

Really, it was an easy edit. The action was tight and necessary without having extra padding. It got in, hit the point, hit the emotions, and finished. The ending was absolutely classic - looking like a tragedy, and then simply "she opened her eyes". That's it - no big post-awakening scene. And it was masterful! Amateur and fan-fic and WhatIF writers could learn a lot here. So much punch in a short story, such an ending that just fit perfectly. A master at his craft.

Now he's got to read a few million words of Whateley that was published while he was taking time off. That's okay; we have the forums and a chat room where he can ask questions and we can give him the 'cliff notes' versions. And he can write more! YAY! (and there was much rejoicing.)

Great story

I posted a note that "JG is Back! JG is Back!" on BCTS, and a few people came over to read (hopefully they'll come back for more). Anyway, they left the following comments on my blog post announcing "the Return of JG":


Submitted by Bibliophage on Tue, 2016/11/22 - 12:20pm
That is VERY good news. I'm happier about him being back than about him bringing a story along.


Submitted by Sammi on Tue, 2016/11/22 - 1:45pm
Oh WOW, Was it the Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning? either way it's a great story but Kleenex is a must.


Submitted by jkoc on Tue, 2016/11/22 - 3:30pm
Great story! Please pass it on to JG. Thanks

Even though we knew Cait would be all right in the end I was still holding my breath and had my fingers crossed.

Joe, you still got it.

First off, Thanks JG for the conclusion, Cait getting her tats is an important part of her story.

I'm actually a bit surprised Fey didn't bring Tennyo in as well though, since Tennyo eats mythos creatures for snacks and can stand up to the punishment of that battle easily.

So, the Bastard must know about Caitlin now... How many of the Voodou Wolves were killed? ... What is the spirit world like around the grove, due to the massive amount of spirit kills during the Defense of the Artificer?

Hmm... Defense of the Artificer as a new sim scenario??

So, we learned something about Erik's parents... And he's 'dead'... And Caitlin is 'born'... If they weren't happy with their feminimity before, they are now? ... I wonder if Cait just has knowledge of Erik's memories, like when Immortals of El Goonish Shive 'die'.

Hmm... How 'human' is she now? That 'human skin' thing is a bit confusing?

Actually, new info: Cait has (had?) a sister.

Dawnfyre wrote: First off, Thanks JG for the conclusion, Cait getting her tats is an important part of her story.

I'm actually a bit surprised Fey didn't bring Tennyo in as well though, since Tennyo eats mythos creatures for snacks and can stand up to the punishment of that battle easily.

The Grove and Tennyo don't get along. Billie might have been a distraction. Mule, Chaka, and the other Grunts are going to be disappointed they weren't invited.

Valentine wrote:

Dawnfyre wrote: First off, Thanks JG for the conclusion, Cait getting her tats is an important part of her story.

I'm actually a bit surprised Fey didn't bring Tennyo in as well though, since Tennyo eats mythos creatures for snacks and can stand up to the punishment of that battle easily.

The Grove and Tennyo don't get along. Billie might have been a distraction. Mule, Chaka, and the other Grunts are going to be disappointed they weren't invited.

point, it is just outside of the grove, on the far side of it from campus, so Tennyo and the Grove's poor relationship doesn't impact.
If it was in the groove, then the grove would be attacking the voodoo wolves now it is aware of them.

with the chance of voodoo wolves coming out, there is no way Chaka, Lancer, Phase would be there, the corrupting effects of seeing the voodoos would be detrimental. Jade is immune ( the cleaning of the end of the tunnel early on showed that. ) but doesn't have the heavy firepower developed to be useful in this battle.

The grunts, well yeah they could have been alerted by Fey, they would have needed time to get to the range bunker to get loaded up so missed the bus when Fey ported the outcasts and herself to the scene.

Bladedancer was only there to kill the golem if it failed to get the tattoos done.
Tennyo has the speed to get to the battle area, the sense when voodoo wolves are around in large numbers and the ability to fight them, she would have come anyway.

J.G. has already explained it, and I agree with him in an essential point (which works in-universe, not only in meta): "everybody who would be USEFUL" is very different from "everybody who is AVAILABLE or who can be found on short notice".

Regarding Voodoo Wolves immunity... we know from Ill Winds/Call the Thunder that the following characters have enough immunity to be able to fight the Voodoo Wolves and stay sane:
* Razorback
* Fey
* Carmilla
* Jericho
* Chaka
* Bladedancer
* Mule
* Bunker
* Tennyo
* Eldritch
* Deadeye

Furthermore, we know from "Hive's Christmas" that Sam Everheart does NOT have such immunity. She was sniping at the VW at the time, so distance is not an important factor.

Another interesting point... J.G. implied that the Security helmets had been enchanted to shield the wearer from the VW effects. That's probably something that the magic staff was working on while the Wild Bunch contained the threat in "Ill Winds/Call the Thunder" (of course they would), and they just got it ready in time for this. That, along with the massive losses the Bastard's forces have undergone in this story, might explain why there's no talk of Voodoo Wolves in later stories -- Security is taking care of it.

JG wrote:

Sir Lee wrote: might explain why there's no talk of Voodoo Wolves in later stories -- Security is taking care of it.

My my my, someone catches on QUICK!

Don't forget the Spring incident mentioned in Whisper where Whateley disappeared Friday 13th. Could be that the vast majority of the bastard's forces were wiped out in it forcing him to rebuild and easing the pressure on the weres and whateley. ( we know he wasn't completely defeated then because of Kodiak forming a group focused on defeating him later in the year. )

Dawnfyre wrote:

JG wrote:

Sir Lee wrote: might explain why there's no talk of Voodoo Wolves in later stories -- Security is taking care of it.

My my my, someone catches on QUICK!

Don't forget the Spring incident mentioned in Whisper where Whateley disappeared Friday 13th. Could be that the vast majority of the bastard's forces were wiped out in it forcing him to rebuild and easing the pressure on the weres and whateley. ( we know he wasn't completely defeated then because of Kodiak forming a group focused on defeating him later in the year. )

There is 1 problem with your theory, This incident happened in Whisper 2 which is still fan fiction and not canon. And i suspect will have a mayor rewrite

Sir Lee wrote: J.G. has already explained it, and I agree with him in an essential point (which works in-universe, not only in meta): "everybody who would be USEFUL" is very different from "everybody who is AVAILABLE or who can be found on short notice".

Regarding Voodoo Wolves immunity... we know from Ill Winds/Call the Thunder that the following characters have enough immunity to be able to fight the Voodoo Wolves and stay sane:
* Razorback
* Fey
* Carmilla
* Jericho
* Chaka
* Bladedancer
* Mule
* Bunker
* Tennyo
* Eldritch
* Deadeye

Furthermore, we know from "Hive's Christmas" that Sam Everheart does NOT have such immunity. She was sniping at the VW at the time, so distance is not an important factor.

Another interesting point... J.G. implied that the Security helmets had been enchanted to shield the wearer from the VW effects. That's probably something that the magic staff was working on while the Wild Bunch contained the threat in "Ill Winds/Call the Thunder" (of course they would), and they just got it ready in time for this. That, along with the massive losses the Bastard's forces have undergone in this story, might explain why there's no talk of Voodoo Wolves in later stories -- Security is taking care of it.

I'm not certain about Deadeye. He was shooting through a blizzard and never clearly saw his targets. IIRC.

Throw in the "mass production" of Jericho's antivenom, and while Security probably isn't happy about the job, they along with the Were's and the recent Were reinforcements...

I would guess that Shroud/J-Team would be immune, since they doesn't actually see. But Jade may or may not be.

Valentine wrote: I would guess that Shroud/J-Team would be immune, since they doesn't actually see. But Jade may or may not be.

The scene where Jade helps Morrey and Stan in the tunnel with the great seal in it shows that Jinn and the rest of the J-Team are immune to the effects, it also has Jade not feeling the same unease as Morrey and Stan while replacing the signs.

Then the possible side effect of whatever has Jade frozen in her aging stopping the class x taint from impacting her, coupled with the bit-slicer event that gave her the high level regen I would say Jade is also one of those immune to the visual impact of class x entities.

Dawnfyre wrote:

Valentine wrote: I would guess that Shroud/J-Team would be immune, since they doesn't actually see. But Jade may or may not be.

The scene where Jade helps Morrey and Stan in the tunnel with the great seal in it shows that Jinn and the rest of the J-Team are immune to the effects, it also has Jade not feeling the same unease as Morrey and Stan while replacing the signs.

Then the possible side effect of whatever has Jade frozen in her aging stopping the class x taint from impacting her, coupled with the bit-slicer event that gave her the high level regen I would say Jade is also one of those immune to the visual impact of class x entities.

Since whatever is there didn't have a permanent effect on Stan and Morrie, it doesn't show proof of immunity for Jade. Remember there was nothing to see there, except by Jinn's vision. Jade may have picked up immunity from her link to Tennyo.

It's also not the sort of thing you want to test.

If I recall from the Sewer Seal Story is that the place was that Jade was totally immune to the psychic effects of the gateway, but Jinn was not. Which is the exact opposite of what I would have expected, but I suppose it demonstrates that the effect is truly psychic (rather than a manipulation of hormones) and that Jade's mental defenses are physically based. It's unclear, I think, how a Jann who was touching Jade (and therefore psychically connected) would be affected.

That effect was weaker, I think, then the effect of the Voodoo Wolves, since Stan and Morrie were able to withstand biannual cleanings which I think they said usually took a few hours.

I'd need to re-read the story, but my memory of it was they were both immune, but Jinn could see it whereas Jade and her mentors could not (they just had a line of the wall they painted to tell them where the problem was), and seeing it freaked out Jinn, not the fear of the place.

I just reread that Jade story.
Jade 3: Being a girl near the end of the story.

Jade could sense things behind the sigil, Jinn was seriously affected by it.

memory merge and Jade had to reconcile the different emotional impacts.

but Jade wasn't bothered by the class x site, it was Jinn ( the J-team ) that were.

This had less emotional impact on me because it's been so long since the old stories were posted, and I have so many million things to do now that I haven't even caught up since the Tansy fic. Also because I knew that Caitlin would be fine.

I did NOT expect 'Erik' to actually die, more or less. I mean, as a Hollow Man, he technically never had a soul, or never had a soul in his Hallow but was otherwise linked to him. But now it seems that Erik as Erik is gone and Caitlin is the Artificer soul with Erik's memories and none of her own, which is weird... I guess it's like an odd version of reincarnation?

On Sharisha outing the t-girls to Diamondback, why didn't the Spell stop her like it did Marty when she almost spilled the Poe secret beans to her boyfriend? Is it because she wasn't spilling the Poe secret, just those two's? That seems like a potentially problematic loophole...

Though I really wish the Kimbas and Outcasts could just get together and share t-secrets with each other already... I mean, there's got to be some kind of spell for that...

And yay for JG being okay! And back! Now for Babs, so Jade's story can be fleshed out more? When IS that resolution planned for anyways? All this stuff about new characters and reveals for them, but the old characters, the Kimbas, not really...

Thanks for coming back and finishing this, JG. So many webfiction authors don't do that.

The spell to protect Poe's secret didn't appear till Gen 2.

JG wrote:

Ginncaster5 wrote: I did NOT expect 'Erik' to actually die, more or less. I mean, as a Hollow Man, he technically never had a soul, or never had a soul in his Hallow but was otherwise linked to him. But now it seems that Erik as Erik is gone and Caitlin is the Artificer soul with Erik's memories and none of her own, which is weird... I guess it's like an odd version of reincarnation?

Magic is as much about symbolism and sacrifice as it is doing impressive things. Erik had a soul, but it was damaged. He never had a Hallow, the Artificer "Spirit" latched onto that damaged soul and started to force-merge. Ashes and steel is the story of one life ending and a new life beginning for the same soul. Don't always take what I write to the most literal translation or you'll wind up missing the intent entirely.

As far as the kimbas? No idea.

... I have GOT to reread that Hollow Man stuff again... So a Hollow Man is a person without a Hallow, but still with a soul sorta hanging onto them that is then vulnerable to spirits and such? And the Artificer is now a Spirit instead of a soul, sort of like Aung was, and now they've properly merged?

As for the trust taking time to build thing, I am aware, but it doesn't make it less frustrating that they can't find each other out yet.

Yolandria wrote: The spell to protect Poe's secret didn't appear till Gen 2.

I have not read Gen 2 yet. There is a story, I think with Loophole, that has Marty crying and stopped by a force before accidentally revealing the Poe secret, which Carson, I think, later confirms it to be a spell on Poe residents.

Ginncaster5 wrote:

Yolandria wrote: The spell to protect Poe's secret didn't appear till Gen 2.

I have not read Gen 2 yet. There is a story, I think with Loophole, that has Marty crying and stopped by a force before accidentally revealing the Poe secret, which Carson, I think, later confirms it to be a spell on Poe residents.

Canto 2 or 3 of Riddle of Sappho. Marty is freaking out and nearly spills the secret to Stronghold. Mrs. Horton casts the spell on him and then explains what it is.

Sharisha is only outing Chaka and Fey, not the whole Cottage. So the spell doesn't kick in.

JG wrote: It's also entirely possible that the spell would have been necessary BECAUSE Sharisha outted Fey and Chaka.

It could have been implemented as students returned from Christmas Break. You would have to ask your fellow authors.

Valentine wrote:

JG wrote: It's also entirely possible that the spell would have been necessary BECAUSE Sharisha outted Fey and Chaka.

It could have been implemented as students returned from Christmas Break. You would have to ask your fellow authors.

We're having a secret meeting of the cabal sometime this week to come up with a unified answer to this pressing matter. We might have to TEST the theory, so if you all find yourselves unable to talk about Poe on these forums for a while, we'll know we were successful

"Hey Joe! Where you goin' with that pun in your hand?"


It was good to see how you ended the story, and it was worth the wait.