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Entry tags:
- * quest,
- bloodborne: lady maria,
- critical role: percy de rollo iii,
- fallout: the lone wanderer,
- fe: soren,
- ffvii: cloud strife,
- fha: caren ortensia,
- fz: diarmuid ua duibhne,
- fz: waver velvet,
- gangsta: worick arcangelo,
- johnathan strange: john childermass,
- sekiro: wolf,
- the witcher: geralt of rivia,
- trails: fie claussell,
- trails: lloyd bannings,
- trails: towa herschel
quest log | wilder training
Who: Those who signed up for the High-Risk Quest "Wilder Training"
When: 08/09 to 08/12
Where: A camp on the south-western edge of the Wilde.
What: From the quest information itself: "Outside of the recruitment, the Wilders are also offering training for anyone who'd like it regardless of bonds and experience. They'll be taken into a safe, slightly infected area in order to hone skills of magic (both Witch and Monster based), how to handle different weapons available, have lectures on things to look for in the field, and finally a test to see what they've learned. No notes allowed."
Warnings: None in the log post itself; if anything comes up, let us know, and we'll make sure to add it here.
The Way There
Training Camp: Sauf
When: 08/09 to 08/12
Where: A camp on the south-western edge of the Wilde.
What: From the quest information itself: "Outside of the recruitment, the Wilders are also offering training for anyone who'd like it regardless of bonds and experience. They'll be taken into a safe, slightly infected area in order to hone skills of magic (both Witch and Monster based), how to handle different weapons available, have lectures on things to look for in the field, and finally a test to see what they've learned. No notes allowed."
Warnings: None in the log post itself; if anything comes up, let us know, and we'll make sure to add it here.
- The training camp party gathers just outside of the city's walls before the sun begins to rise; once heads are counted and everyone is accounted for, Yvette Tressa - the same Witch who led the expedition into Smugha Cave - will start the march through Dead Man's Land, following the river. It isn't quite dark at this period of dawn, the bare landscape painted a washed-out blue by what small light there is, and as the sun settles into the early morning sky they reach their first destination - the edge of the Wilde. Rowboats large enough to fit five or six people (or a few significantly larger people) bob gently up and down where they're tied, the runes marking around the area marking it as protected by a barrier; keen eyes will notice these are the same as what the Wilders and the Coven have been setting up around Smugha Cave.
The party is herded into the boats and sent up the river into the Wilde, the boats gently rowing themselves against the current. The trees of the Wilde have slowly, almost imperceptibly, been shifting to a new color as summer turns into fall outside of it: browner and fully dead, with fewer leaves hanging from their branches, as if winter has finally come. The air is also significantly cooler the deeper they row into up the river, the breeze a sharp string of cold when it blows, and several Wilders shiver despite their being used to it. The journey is a quiet one, the river ducking out of the Wilde when the sun is at its highest point - the area is changed from the familiar fields around Aefenglom around this small bend, with dozens of flowers waving their faint scent in the still chilly breeze. No two flowers look the same, but the boat ride doesn't stop there: it continues back into the Wilde, leaving the sweet smell behind them.
The sun is still visible where they dock, noting it as a little later in the afternoon; further ahead, the river splits two ways, and it's to the left side the party will be guided. As they come upon the split's left side, the trees begin to thin in a way similar to the area around Smugha Cave, their branches cleaned up and the start of infection scraped from their sides - and then abrupt barrenness as it becomes clear just what the trees now suddenly missing have been used for: A fortified camp, well-protected by its high, sturdy wooden walls, the tops of them sharpened to a point. As the party draws closer, runes of protection are easy to notice, carved line after line in the thick, wood logs.
- Located on the edge of the Wilde (the red dot; the navy dot is Smugha Cave, for a point of reference), Sauf is a fairly large camp equipped with all of the basic necessities. Used year-round for various training exercises, Sauf is home to around twenty "permanent" residents - that is, those who have volunteered to stay the year - and otherwise hosts trainees, instructors, researchers, and so on. Look-outs are positioned all around the camp's edge, manned by at least one pair of Wilders, and a large communal fire pit sits in the middle of the camp. The main entrance is on the south side, with smaller ones located on the other three sides.
The north side of the camp is where characters will find their living quarters for their weekend stay: large, sturdy tents designed to hold several dozen people comfortably. Given the Wilde's chill, these are kept toasty and warm through the use of small piles of heat stones similar to the larger ones found in the city during the snow last month. Also on the north side is the mess hall, where characters can get some grub or hang out and mingle with their fellow trainees, mirrorbound and native alike.
The east and west sides of the camp are where the training takes place. Each side has a different function, however: the east side is for more individual-based training, with dummies and moving targets, both magically-repairing, and instructors, while the west side is for arena-based training - that is, fighting one another. Any type of match-up is considered fair and reasonable, and fights go on intermittently over the days, as does betting.
Finally, the south side of the camp is home to the meeting hall, a large stone building; while not currently in use, it remains an important fixture nonetheless. The healer's wards are also located here as two tarped areas that hug both walls, which provides medical help for those coming in or who have been injured during training, and protection for those venturing out.
I. A Primer On Witches
- In addition to weapons training - which, specific to Witches, comes in the form of long-reach weaponry such as lances, quarterstaffs, or halberds - they offer instruction in spells that come in handy while needing to defend oneself and others in the Wilde.
- • Abjuration 1: Barriers, shields, alarms.
• Abjuration 2: Healing (both lower level and advanced courses), dispels.
• Alchemy 1: Potion-brewing for healing draughts, magic draughts, potions that can cure basic ailments (poison, paralysis, sleep).
• Alchemy 2: Arrays to create on-the-go bombs (palm-sized) of the offensive and smoke varieties, weapons of various types, all from materials able to be found around and on oneself.
• Conjuration 1: Temporary camps (tents and campfires), various magical weapons, food and water (not very filling nor hydrating, essentially as a just-in-case thing).
• Conjuration 2: Living creatures such as animals and insects, a variety from the harmless/watcher-type to more offensively-based ones.
• Divination 1: Scrying on the fly using pocket mirrors, running water as a medium, speaking with animals (sometimes not extremely helpful given their lower intelligence).
• Divination 2: Finding magic via a scavenger hunt, how to enter a dream-like trance to access the subconscious and interpretation of signs found there.
• Enchantment 1: Charm spells that work against either humanoids, Monsters, or animals, which make the target more friendly or a straight-up ally; some target will know they've been charmed.
• Enchantment 2: Strengthening spells such as for physical, mental, or magical power, as well as elemental imbuing for weapons and other objects.
• Evocation 1: Single-target elemental spells and how to control them, particularly fire and ice for the latter, with elements also including earth/stone, water, lightning, and wind.
• Evocation 2: Multiple-target elemental spells with the same instruction and types as above, as well as multiple-target healing spells.
• Illusion 1: Visual illusions (people, animals, items), larger illusions (areas, buildings, bigger varities of aforementioned types).
• Illusion 2: Audio illusions, how to tie them together with visual illusions.
• Transmutation 1: Transforming oneself or one's items and back again, as well as mending minor objects.
• Transmutation 2: Transforming other people or other people's items and back again, as well as how to do it sneakily.
- In addition to weapons training - which, specific to Monsters, comes in the form of short-reach weaponry such as swords and axes - they offer instruction in the special traits and perks each Monster has, particularly ones that come in handy when defending oneself or others in the Wilde.
- • Arachne: Speed/jumps and web-spinning, either as traps or in use as rope, whip, etc.
• Chimera: Fighting blind and/or deaf to avoid charms, illusions, and curses.
• Dragon: Breath abilities, both how to use them and the finer points of control.
• Fae: Creating illusions and seeing through them, with a heavy focus on landscape and areas rather than creatures or objects.
• Faun: Plant growth, with a focus on naturally revitalizing plants and ones with more offensive uses, such as bomb-nuts and carnivorous flowers.
• Harpy: Singing lessons, as well as flying lessons with the use of wind magic should one have it.
• Merrow: Water magic, with an experimental focus on purifying it for drinking or bathing purposes.
• Naga: Speaking to water and empathizing with it, as well as instruction on the proper and ethical usage of hypnosis.
• Puca: Impersonation practice, with shapeshifting into someone they know or see and mimicking their voice and way of speaking.
• Turnskin: Sense training, particularly smell and hearing, with the use of blindfolds.
• Vampire: Casting thralls, and proper measures to take against the sun.
- Skills and spells are both useful while out in the Wilde, but one's biggest asset is their partner - or partners, plural. The Wilders will pick at random two or three people to partner up and do a variety of things in order to build trust and clear communication, such as your ordinary trust-falls or a game of telephone, as well as things that might be a little more on the side of seeing just how far they can go: clothes-switching (you don't know a man - or Monster - until you've walked a mile in their shoes), taking care of an inanimate object together, and being connected to one another for several hours, courtesy of some enchanted pair bracelets that won't allow their wearers to move more than a foot from the other half of their pair.
Outside of that, they'll be offering up the opportunity for those without Bonds to try temporarily Bonding to whoever their eyes land on first (with a quick, non-ceremonial shot of silver liquid), as well as fighting together against other pairs or tamed beasts (with or without the Bond) in the arenas.
- On the final day of the weekend training excursion, everyone is once again gathered - this time for the test promised to them. It isn't a pen and paper test, however, but one to test how well they've retained the training offered to them. In the early morning, the group will set out north-west of the camp; the path begins well-trod, but overgrowth soon begins to get underfoot. Patches of frost begin to show up as well - perhaps it's the Wilde's odd season at work.
Or perhaps it's something else.
Entire trees are encased in ice, their branches looking like arms reaching out or twisted around themselves; the bark resembles faces, with hair curled to their chins, and while some may have the sinking feeling that appearances might not just be appearances, the humanoids frozen mid-stepping from similarly frosted trees may all but confirm it.
Dryads, frozen in time, the Cwyld dark and trapped beneath the ice - or maybe those are remnants of the fire that was an attempt at culling the infection before it could begin. Some of them are cracked and broken, their limbs lost, while others are perfectly preserved.
There won't be too much time to stop and stare, however; this is a test, and the enemies of the day become apparent:
- • Ice wolves. With a chilly bite and a tendency to work in pairs and groups, it's worth doing just the same to take them down. Their paws are black and crusted with mud and Cwyld infection, their eyes bright and unseeing - and though they may be blind, the rest of their senses have become even stronger in response.
• Snow elementals. Large and actually made of a mix of ice and snow, their patches of Cwyld streak across their white bodies - it makes them easy to see in all the white, but gives them some resistance to the traditional use of fire to melt them. They primarily rely on ice spikes and other related magics, ut will throw a heavy punch if gotten too close to.
• Withered ents. Ordinarily peaceful, these normally massive moving trees are as tall as a one-story house due to hunching over from the cold and ice that covers them. Similar to the wolves, their large, gnarled hands are covered in the black of the Cwyld, but only one eye is the blind white that marks infection - the other is hollow and sunken in. Roots and heavy earth shakes are their primary skills, being otherwise slow to move, and they avoid fighting where there are dryads.
no subject
It wouldn't be of particular concern to me if it did.
[After all, in another time- one that feels an age away from even the life he had before arriving here- he was a father along with all that entailed. Strange to have those memories while not being the same person. Regardless-]
But it's a lot more fragile than most babies. That's the part that-
["You didn't that that was all there was to it, did you?" The witch watching over them has a mischievous glint in her eye as she continues. Oh no. "I'd like for you two to make it back to base camp with that egg intact. There might be a few surprises along the way, though."
Oh no.
Diarmuid eyes first go to the egg and then up to Geralt's, wearing a nakedly dubious look the whole while. Somehow, he knew that was coming and yet he's still surprised.]
no subject
[ Geralt's yellow eyes narrow, and he shoots the proctor a look that says I'll remember this in your hour of need someday, lady. She doesn't care, obviously, perhaps just more delighted to be trolling these two Performatively Capable Dudes than anything else. ]
Fine.
[ F i n e. He cradles the egg in his hands, free of gloves in Lancer's fancy catsuit getup, and observes it archly. Geralt's raised a child before, but not from infancy. He won the single parent sitcom lottery with a pre-teen with superpowers. A far cry from .. Kayneth.
He looks up at his partner. ]
You got steady hands?
no subject
I think it- [A Look from their guide forces him to- reluctantly- reconsider his words.] -he might be safer with you for the time being.
[And that's it. With one final, cheerful goodbye and the promise that she'll be keeping an eye on their progress just in case, the witch takes her leave. In moments, she disappears into the labyrinth of bare trees around their clearing, either magic or hard-won survival skills helping her slip out of sight with ease.
Still, it isn't as though they're amateurs; Diarmuid is a veteran of battle and an accomplished hunter in his own right and Geralt has the sharp look of a man who cut his teeth on the same. There's something almost hawkish about his stare, even in the way that he eyes the egg. As far as partners go, he's already feeling at ease.]
... well. Would it be poor sportsmanship to enchant Kayneth? I know of a strengthening spell that would grant us a little more leeway in keeping him together.
no subject
As long as you know the spell well enough not to make fried Kayneth right away, [ he reckons, holding it - him - out awkwardly. Are they gendering an egg? Does Geralt know what that social concept is? (No.) ] I had magic at home, but it's been rough figuring out how it works, here.
[ Old dogs and new tricks. Geralt has a keen desire to learn in most things, but magic is proving to be a struggle; he can't break out of the path of trying to just recreate what he already knows. ]
no subject
[It's not entirely surprising that he knows magic but it still gets a curious look; he'd pinned Geralt down as a swordsman- a Saber so to speak- than a mage. Regardless, that seems to be how it goes for most spellcasters here. Adjusting to something you thought you were already familiar with must be frustrating in its own way. Diarmuid knows for a fact that it's been holding Caster back, particularly with regards to the runes.
Ah, the tribulations of being an Irish hero in a world with Celtic-But-Not-Quite traditions.]
Let's see...
[The Lancer holds his hands over Geralt's, palm just barely grazing the egg. Focus. He's done this before but never on something so fragile. For all he knows, he might overdo it and, as his partner suggested, cook the thing immediately.
The command, tinged with arcane energy, comes out in a soft murmur.]
Treisigh.
[Just for a moment, the egg glows white- and then it fades.]
(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
A conversation for another time, perhaps. When Geralt's not watching a large egg with hawklike attention.
The glow fades. Geralt shifts the egg gently in his hands. ]
Feels about the same, [ he says after a tense moment. ] Not-- warm or anything, I mean. [ Probably not cooked. He rolls it over to be mostly in his left hand, trying to judge if it feels as flimsy. Not quite. Maybe their eggson will be a little hardier now, in case of an emergency.
A beat later, he looks up. ]
Did you say 'dominate'? [ Sounded a bit like an Elder Speech word, or was he hallucinating that. ]
no subject
"Fortify". It was Gaelic- the language of my homeland. What did it sound like to you?
[Much like he's used to in a Grail War, they all seem to speak the same language by default but that doesn't make him any less curious about their native tongues. Particularly when they bear a resemblance, even just superficially, to his own.]
The runes here are familiar to me but hold completely different meanings. Perhaps this is something similar.
no subject
[ Geralt realizes he's half-rambling, having a weird nerd moment, and he shuts up abruptly. He does wonder about it, though. Humph. Alright. He straightens up, holding their ~child~ in his hands still. ]
There's probably an obstacle course or something in between here and the camp, huh?