quest log | wilder training

[faileas]

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

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.

Training Camp: Sauf

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.

II. A Primer On Monsters


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.

III. Partnering Up


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.
IV. A Little Exploration


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.
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Comments

john childermass / ota

[atouts]

i. a primer on witches - shields

[ While a chance to see what lay outside the walls of Aefenglom was an equally important reason to get Childermass — who doesn't seem particularly well-suited to combat training in the wilderness — to sign on for the little training expedition, it was always a chance to practice this new magic and observe others doing the same that really fueled his interest. He's no stranger to hard work, though, so the trip out here make no real difference to him, nor do the bleak surroundings of the fort.

Now that they've arrived and moved on to actual training, however, he spends most of his time by the practice dummy side of things.

Initially, he's trying to work out strengthening the shield he'd been able to summon back in the dream, which doesn't call for practice dummies, and so he's off to one side, focusing on raising a faintly iridescent wall in front of himself. It flickers in the light, curving to cover both front and sides, though it isn't a complete circle yet.

He's been closing his eyes while raising it with one hand, picturing how he wants it in his mind first, but the real question is strength. Can it take a blow? To that end, once he has it raised, he turns to look for the nearest witch or monster practicing with either a weapon or some kind of spell they can throw at other things. Once he spots one, he'll call over to them. ]

You over there! [ Yes, you. ] Would you mind trying to hit me?

[ Odd request, he knows, and realizing that some people here might actually go all out, he adds, ]

Without trying to kill me, please. I'm not sure if my shield will actually hold yet.

ii. a primer on witches - scavenger hunt

[ And when it isn't about shields, he's gone ahead and joined the silly little scavenger hunt to help practice tracking magic. In this, he already has a talent, having been able to do a similar sort of spell back home. Magic has always drawn him towards it, here it turns out to be no less once he puts the effort in. Which means he may be one step ahead of the other seekers, even obnoxiously so. ]

Behind those barrels. [ He'll say just as he and another on the scavenger hunt step into the mess hall, already looking towards the barrels of who knows what kind of supplies pushed up against the far wall. Though even after saying that, he pauses, eyes narrowing a hint. ] I think...

[ Now that they're in the hall at all, he's realizing quite a few other sources of magic are pulling his attention towards the kitchen, too. ]

There's a lot of magic coming from where all the pots and pans are kept, too.

iii. wildcard.

[ There isn't any scenario he wouldn't be specifically avoiding, either, so if these two don't work, feel free to hit me with whatever you want to do. ]

1 - shields primer

[warfares]

( an unexpected request, maybe, but a quick glance the stranger’s way proves to be enlightening.

he’s seen shields like this before. had attempted to conjure one himself, once, out in the field; it had been a brittle thing, however. half-formed. nothing quite like this: pulsing and vibrant. )

Do you have a preference? ( a wave of his hand toward one of the weapon’s racks. )

[atouts]

Whatever suits you best is fine.

[ Childermass says that, glancing towards the weapon's racks as he does. Although he'd accept magic being slung at him, if this man wants to go with a physical weapon, it's no difference to him. ]

I'd hardly get to pick and choose in the cases where I'll actually need it.

[warfares]

( projectiles would be ideal.

except, of course, that they don’t seem to have anything of what he has in mind. it’s unfortunate though not unexpected. over a month spent in this city, on this planet, and he’s come to realize rather quickly just how limited it is. has learned to make due as best he can. )

True enough.

( and he can admire childermass’ pragmatism, at the very least. )

No choice— ( he selects a large, round looking stone from a box near a set of various slingshots. rolls it between his fingers as if weighing up whether or not it would be ideal for the purpose. ) — and no warning, generally.

( still, best to start somewhere. )

[atouts]

[ Childermass doesn't do much more than agree and keep his shield raised, trying to hold the form and strength of it in his mind and in actuality all at once. That Kylo is lingering over stones and slings doesn't go unnoticed, leaving him to consider just how strong a shield needs to be to deflect a stone.

Not as strong as with, say, a heavier weapon, perhaps? Or would the speed of a slung stone be just as deadly? There's a lot to take into account, too much for someone just starting with shields, and so he settles on a fairly rounded idea of a shield. Whether it's enough is yet to be seen. ]

Whenever you are ready.

[warfares]

( a smaller weapon to start, then.

the transition from rest to action is the space of a heartbeat: kylo palms the stone, his grip adjusting, and then the strike is delivered with a decisive snap of his fingers. tt fires through the air with the accuracy of a blaster bolt, hitting childermass in the middle of his chest with a velocity that would have left an impressive bruise were it not for the shield.

instead, the stone strikes and then ricochets, knocking into an adjacent weapon’s rack and startling one of the other trainees. a flurry of curses erupts. kylo's attention snapping, briefly, in the direction of it and offering only a quelling look and no real apology. this is a training ground, after all. surprises are to be expected. )

[atouts]

[ Even anticipating something being thrown, Childermass still gives a small jump when the rock strikes the shield. Pale light flickers across the surface of the shield and he can already feel it weakening at the point the rock hit. That has him furrowing his brow at it but also noting it, as a weakness to shore up later on.

As for the other trainees, well, he's about as sympathetic as Kylo is, barely sparing them a glance. ]

Well, at least I know it'll survive a single stone. That's a start.

[warfares]

Better a stone than something larger and less forgiving. ( not that a small stone couldn’t wreak all manner of havoc in the correct circumstances. mercifully, heavy artillery doesn’t appear to have caught on just yet. )

Though would an enchantment not work better? ( admittedly, he's no expert but it seems logical that the less energy put toward sustaining the shield would be better. )

[atouts]

[ Childermass won't argue with the stone being more forgiving than, say, a boulder, but on the topic of enchantment— ]

I imagine it would be easier, [ he admits with a shrug. ] But I would think less adaptable, too. Could you alter an enchanted shield in the middle of a fight?

[warfares]

[ if they were ever in a position where boulders were being flung at them — frankly they’d have greater concerns. ]

I wouldn't know. We do not have power like this where I'm from. [ it's become far easier to admit the lack of knowledge, something not that uncommon from what he's observed of the coven classes and even the primers held at the camp, but there's still something prickly about it. a sense that he's opening himself to threat. ]

[atouts]

[ As true as that is, it'd still be nice to be able to stop one. ]

No magic, then? [ Not too surprising. His own version of England barely had any until very recently. ] Well, something worth investigating, I suppose. Enchantments have always struck me as unmoving, however. You want to set it and leave it for the most part.

[warfares]

No magic. [ he repeats, because the force wasn't magic no matter how similar the two may appear.

when childermass shifts the conversation back onto enchantments, kylo is happy enough to indulge him. magical theory, while still a new concept, had given him plenty of food for thought over the recent weeks. ]

And I would think it down to the person doing the enchanting, rather than the spell itself. If technology can be adjusted to our need, why not magic?

[ it's an oversimplification. a symptom of coming from a universe where technology was prevalent and mysticism largely sidelined in favor of ... well, logic. for all that kylo ren was mired in the force, in the jedi and their ways, he was still very much his mother's son. ]

[atouts]

I don't think I could adjust my pistols in the middle of a fight and still come out in one piece.

[ Apart from reloading them but Childermass's grasp of technology is extremely regency era. He wouldn't even know what to make of what Kylo has seen. Still, the point may stand. Technology may be adjustable to some extent but in an instant? ]

But if the person enchanting it were anticipating needing the shield to change on a whim, then they might build that into the spell long before ever needing it to do that. So in that way, I suppose it is flexible, provided you plan for it.