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.
(Note: Welcome to our quest log! Sign-ups are still on, so if you've read the log and decided you want in, you can still go do so. Any questions can be asked here.)

Comments

lloyd bannings | ota

[cspd]

i. magic training: divination 2
[ If you're teaming up with Lloyd for the magical scavenger hunt, you might get your A without actually doing shit on the group project, because this is clearly Lloyd in his element. He's attentive, good at picking up on the small things, and zeroes in on things like a bloodhound on the trail.

He also clearly enjoys the hell out of finding all this stuff. You clearly made a good choice, partnering up with the detective for this exercise.

Except eventually, he looks at you, and laughs a little awkwardly. ]

I should really stop monopolizing this and let you get some practice too, huh?


ii.magic training: illusion 1
[ This, on the other hand? Is clearly not his strong suit.

He starts strong, to be fair! His illusions have a lot of attention to detail, a lot of the little things that make them seem more real.

They just...don't ever seem to last very long, and after the seventh one fizzles out, he sighs. ]

If only this were as easy as divination.


iii. weapons training
Lloyd has a weapon and he's very comfortable with it, thank you very much - but options are never a bad thing, so he's perfectly willing to set aside his tonfa and go a few rounds with a quarterstaff.

...he keeps trying to close in. Too close for the staff to be that effective, really. ]

Sorry. I guess I'm too used to fighting closer than this.


iv. wildcard me
[ I'm always open to someone else's excellent ideas! ]

iii

[sylphid]

[Fie decides to try something a little different than normal, which is why when she steps back (again), she lets an axe rest at her side.]

You're not trusting the weapon. [Wow, Fie, that's pretty insightful.] No wonder it hates you.

[That's better.]

[cspd]

[ Wow, that's...blunt.

But she 100% has a point, so there's little point in arguing. Lloyd's generally the first person to admit to his own flaws. ]

I've gotten pretty set in my ways. Any advice?

[sylphid]

Yeah-- [She lifts the axe again and readies a swing.] -- duck.

[Good thing the cop has decent reflexes, because she's using the momentum of this thing to her advantage, following the one-armed swing up with a punch headed his way directly following the blade.]

[cspd]

[ -- sweet Aidios.

Nobody's been quite that blunt in a training session with him since Douglas was instructing him at the police academy, but he can't deny that kind of thing is effective even if he's screaming internally. He leaps backwards, staff whirling in an arc to deflect the punch before it can connect. ]

[sylphid]

[Oh, nice. There's a little grin forming now, she appreciates that move.

In a silver blur, the bracer sinks down into the spin the momentum is creating. The staff blocks her punch, so she lets herself spin in a crouch, sticking a leg out beneath the arc of the staff in an attempt to knock Lloyd off balance.

And if that doesn't work, hey, here comes the axe again.]

[cspd]

[ He keeps his balance, but as the axe comes, he brings the staff up perpendicular to her swing, catching it head on. He's not as strong as Randy, but...hopefully he can bring enough force to bear to counteract her. ]

[sylphid]

[Good. It's been a bit since she's had a good training fight. Of course it took time in Class VII to make her give stuff like this her all, she's definitely putting more into this than she would have two years ago.

While he's strong, so is she. Fie yanks on the axe handle, head now comfortably trapped by his weapon, and if it doesn't pull the staff from his grip, it definitely pulls her forward enough to launch a (possible) surprise attack at super close range.

Oh hey, where'd she get that knife?]

[cspd]

[ The staff slips from his hands, but the glint of cold steel (har har) catches his eye soon enough for him to take the only evasive maneuver he can manage in that position - he leans back and rolls to the side.

Conveniently, that roll takes him right over the spot where his tonfa have been waiting patiently on the ground for him to stop flirting with other weapons, and he snatches them up as he comes up in a crouch.

Yeah, okay, so this is supposed to be training for other weapons, but what, did you think he was just gonna let himself go unarmed? ]

ii

[fiddlestick]

[Admittedly, Illusion wasn't exactly Elliot's strongest class either. Though considering Divination was his worst class? He gives a little laugh]

Haha...can't say I feel the same. But hey, that last illusion lasted a little longer!

[cspd]

I wonder if I just have a mental block about obscuring the truth...instead of finding it.

[ Because man, this feels ridiculously apropos for him, to the point that it's almost funny except he's trying so hard here? ]

[fiddlestick]

Haha, well that's a noble way to put it...though not sure if the teachers would appreciate it.

[Don't make them sound like liars!!]

Maybe...instead of thinking of it as obscuring the truth...think of it as another way to share information?

[cspd]

You know...

[ That is actually...a really good way of reframing it. ]

...I like that a lot better.

[fiddlestick]

[He smiles] Aha, thought you would.

Last month there was a story-based music concert where people would use illusions to express visually what was the music was saying. Made me really rethink what you can do with them.

[cspd]

That sounds like a pretty good show. I'm sad I missed out on it.

[ He's a complete layman in terms of musical anything, but he can still appreciate. ]

[fiddlestick]

Yeah, it was a lot of fun! Maybe they'll have one again sometime.

Anyway, maybe you can practice illusions with that in mind. Like you're using them to show people something! For...er, police investigations?

[HE'S TRYING HERE]

[cspd]

I can think of a few times when that would've been useful.

[ Aidios knows sometimes laying out his deductions feels like he could be doing a much better job of explaining himself. ]

II

[overworker]

Don't worry-- I'm sure you'll get it.

[She'd watched him earlier, so she wonders if maybe she can offer some helpful advice.]

Hmm... Your attention to detail is really strong, but it takes a lot of energy to maintain something like that-- so why not try working on a smaller scale to start with? That will give you room to fine tune those details, but be a little bit easier on the energy consumption.

[cspd]

I'm not sure it's even on purpose, to be honest. They say to think of what makes your thing a thing, and...all of that just pops straight into my head.

[ Noticing things is what he's all about!

A pause, and then - ]

...I think my problem might be more of an...issue with what an illusion is, if that makes sense.

[ He's too honest for this shit. It feels deceptive! ]

[overworker]

Mr. Bannings...

[He’s too honest... it’s so cute.]

To be honest, abjuration miiight fit you a bit better. Using your sharp eyes to see through people’s illusions and dispelling them away— sounds cool, right?

[cspd]

It does sound more...well, me. But I wanted to give everything a try before I decided to commit to anything too deeply.

Divination is a no-brainer, since that's come the easiest by far. Illusion's definitely giving me the most trouble.

[overworker]

Spoken like a true hard worker.

That doesn't seem like an easy hurdle to jump over though.

[She would like to help him though...]

Well... why not try to think of some practical uses for it? It doesn't feel great to deceive people, but in the right situation you might be able to use it to help others. For instance... to try and keep people from entering a dangerous area.

[cspd]

It could be useful for explanations...demonstrations?

[ He's had to draw some diagrams to explain his theories of how crimes went down before, not having to draw them sounds useful and three dimensional. ]

[overworker]

Oh! I think you might be on to something. Some people respond better to visuals than they do other forms of information.

[If he hadn't brought it up, she never would have thought of any of this.]

I never realized it but... there are a lot of different ways to use magic. It really says a lot about a person.

[cspd]

Right, and having a visual that isn't bound by the limits of just drawing on a piece of paper...

[ Three dimensions! Changing in real time without having it cluttered up by the old marks! This would be the best thing ever for every "my theory, let me tell you it" he's ever had to do. ]

It's a little easy to just write it off as something for fighting, given how most arts work...but that seems so limiting, don't you think?