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

[fiddlestick]

You did? T-That's a little extreme...

[He's kissed Prompto before, but Caren please]

Not...exactly, more there's just some things that have raised some questions. [He sighs] I don't have enough information yet to be sure. Really, I'm just slower to trust than you'd think.

[At least when it came to factions. He's been burned by them before]

[showsnopiety]

It did kick off a discussion or two. It didn't go where you think it did.

[You need to kiss him more Elliot, clearly, it leads to serious talks!!!]

That does make sense. People are dangerous. Groups of people, even more so.

[She might be joking. Maybe. Or she may be completely serious.]

[fiddlestick]

Aha, I didn't think it went anywhere.

[He means that. It took forever to get a kiss even when they both had drunk those spiced drinks]

Not sure I'd put it that cynically, but I can't disagree either....

[showsnopiety]

Just making sure.

[Because Elliot didn't know she could be a force. And Prompto...she was sure if he was given a push he'd go for what he wanted.]

Mm. Have you had some bad incidents before? Here or back home?

[fiddlestick]

Well...

[He bites his lip a little, wondering how much to share]

Yeah, you could say that. There was a civil war back home about a year ago. [...] Learned some hard lessons from that.

[showsnopiety]

Ah...I see.

A civil war....

[She shook her head.]

That sounds difficult to deal with. I've never had to deal with such a thing but-you have my sympathies.

[fiddlestick]

Ah ... thank you.

[He feels a little awkward. Usually when he mentions the civil war, it's to other Erebonians - people who also lived through it. Talking about it to non-Erebonians was a new experience, one he's still figuring how to navigate.

He focuses his gaze on the potatoes he's working on, continuing to peel as he talks.]

I'll spare you the details, but many times I saw how far some will go to get what they want. [Assassination, Kidnapping, razing towns, backstabbing ... the list went on] And sometimes it was from people who seemed perfectly nice before the war.

So... I wouldn't say I'm completely distrustful. I'm just a little slower at it these days.

[showsnopiety]

[Talking about other world stuff with other people is still really weird. It's a relief to mention something from her homeworld to find out they're from a version of her own.

She shrugs, glancing up at him even as she finishes peeling one potato and moving it to the done pile.]

The problem I've found is that people are nice because it's easy to be nice. Or they want something.

So...I can understand your being slower to trust. And maybe you understand my stance on kindness more then I thought.

[fiddlestick]

[He pauses, thinking it over. It was true that he could see Rufus being that way. Remaining nice and cordial because it made it easier to play both sides. Crow on the other hand...]

...For some of them, yeah. But...I don't think it's always that simple either.

[He finishes one potato, setting it aside before starting on another. His voice takes on a sad fondness to it]

Before the war, my class wanted to put on a concert for a school festival. I was in charge of planning it and I was happy to, but there was a lot to do in a short amount of time.

But luckily, someone volunteered to help me out. A second-year classmate. He helped design the costumes, plan the choreography, go over the music with me, contact people to get materials... he did a lot. We'd stay up night after night, working together to make the concert as great as possible. And thanks to him, we were able to pull it off.

[It was the happiest time in Elliot's life. Even now, after all everything that's happened, he still feels that to be true.]

Then a week later, the war broke out and we found that he'd been on an opposing side all along. We had even fought him a few times without realizing it. His plans had been in the works for years.

But...no matter how much I look back, I can't figure out a way that helping with the concert helped his plan. Second-years didn't have to help with the festival, so it wasn't to keep his cover. I didn't have anything he could want. I'm such a perfectionist that there's no way it could've been easy either. And he gave it his all, even though I'm sure he could've used that time to polish his own plan.

His kindness...it just doesn't fit into your stance. So I can't agree with it completely.

[showsnopiety]

[It's interesting what he tells her. About that one person who didn't have to do anything, but he did it anyway. Though...it being part of his plan to infiltrate....she hummed, and continued to peel her potatoes. ]

Maybe he could have used time to polish his own plans and such. But...

I don't know. Maybe he wanted to impress you? It's possible he had a crush on you.

[Or just wanted to feel normal. Maybe.]

[fiddlestick]

[ .... 💧 ]

Y-Yeah...there's zero chance that's true.

[showsnopiety]

Why not?

You're talented, intelligent, kind. Cute.

[fiddlestick]

Because he was really into women? And even if there was a guy he into, it was definitely another guy in our class.

Also thanks, but ... I hadn't hit puberty yet back then so I looked...pretty different.

[He's not sure he fully believes he's cute now, but boy. Those old class photos were something else]

[showsnopiety]

...it seems you and Prompto hold some things in common.

[She tsks softly under her breath, but she's smiling. Just a bit.]

People are also attracted to things other then looks. Just in case you didn't know.

1/2

[fiddlestick]

H-Hey! I'm not that bad! You don't even know what I looked like back then!

[Gosh!!!!]

[fiddlestick]

[He takes a deep breath, collecting himself and completely ignoring that the bit of pink is back in his cheeks]

No, I knew that. But that's not what it was.

It sounds more like you're trying to force a narrative on it that'll fit your world view.

[showsnopiety]

[She stifled a laugh behind her hand, watching as he composed himself. No, he didn't fall out of his chair, so he had one up on Prompto.]

You're right in that I didn't know what you looked like.

And maybe I am doing that. A little. I'm not against the idea of kindness from a spy. Just...it's difficult for me to hold in my mind.

[fiddlestick]

[He shakes his head] Oh, he wasn't a spy. A terrorist sure, but I don't think he ever leaked our private information to the Noble Alliance. Which I guess is another act of kindness.

We did have someone else who was a spy. Although she's from another faction and we knew from the start what she was. And I know we can trust her. She has our backs even now.

[His school life sure was something else]

[showsnopiety]

That is a good thing, considering how private information can be used and how much he could have gotten for it.

[Pragmatic one, that's Caren. Though having a terrorist and a spy in the class...Caren made a soft noise.]

Is she a double agent then? And...what kind of school has this sort of activity?

[fiddlestick]

Yeah, no kidding. We got pretty lucky there.

[The war would've taken a very different direction if Crow had shared a few certain tidbits, that's for sure]

Um...not exactly? I mean, sometimes she blabs intel she probably shouldn't, but it's not like we ever tried to get information out of her. She's just very...open for a spy.

[Millium is one of a kind okay]

A military academy? Though honestly, our class wasn't normal by any means.

[showsnopiety]

She...doesn't sound like a very good spy if she's open about intel like that.

[Or a really good one if they weren't accidental spills.]

How was your class different? If you don't mind me asking.

[fiddlestick]

Yeah, that's...fair.

[Sorry Millium he loves you but...it's fair. It's super fair]

Oh, I don't mind you asking, but it might get a bit long. Is that okay?

[showsnopiety]

[Yeah...yeaaaah.

She glanced up at him, and glanced at the potato pile, and back at him.]

We have a lot of potatoes left. It's fine.

[fiddlestick]

[Oh right, the pile. He gives a small laugh]

...Alright.

Well back home, there's a pretty strict class divide between nobility and commoners. It's...pretty much everywhere you go, in some form or another. At Thors Military Academy, the classes were divided up by social class. Nobles were in Class I and II, and Commoners in III, IV, or V.

Well Class VII, my class, was an experiment where they had noble and commoner students in the same class. We also help test technology that's kinda similar to Bonds, and once a month we'd go on Field Studies that'd give us a firsthand look at places in the empire.

[showsnopiety]

So...in short they were working with various kinds of technology that could be used by the military, as well as have possible military specialists and hostages...?

[Just to see they were on the same page and all.]