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

[divineconfetti]

( when the familiar sound of the whistle (which he hasn't used since he came here from ashina) shatters into a hundred razor-sharp shards and echo around inside his skull, wolf knows that he has made a mistake. he had simply thought he was being tactical, using something he knew had worked back home when confronted with beasts. but he forgets that many and more of them are becoming more and more beastly by the day, and he hadn't even seen that one of them had an animal of her own.

the tempo of the battle lapses into a odd lull as the confusion ripples through the ice wolves and the effected monsters. wolf is still blinking through the whistle's effect on his own mind, lupine ears pinned flat against his head, as lex approaches. he looks up to her, dark eyes narrowing as they flick between her furious expression and the bared teeth of the dog as it catches up to her side.

he's repressing violent instincts. he's fought too many agents of the interior ministry and their wolves.

still, he bristles, the fur along the nape of his neck standing on end. when he speaks, his words are harsh, and he bares similarly-sharp teeth. ) This fight is not over. Do you really wish to confront me on this now?

( still reeling from the effects himself, he clearly hadn't intended for this to happen.

and as for the dog... well, that's just wolf's bad. in the fighting, he didn't see that they had any animals on their side, besides the monsters.

to illustrate his point, two now-quarreling ice wolves stagger closer to him, which triggers both to lash out towards the now-closest target. wolf can do precious little against both, fending them off by parrying their snapping jaws away with his sword. )

[lonewanderer]

[ Does she want to confront him now? No. Not logically. But with the whistle ringing in her ears and the adrenaline from the fight coursing through her veins - yes.

There is a moment, a clear moment, where she is wrestling with herself. Dogmeat has no such problem, whirling to snap the ice wolves. It makes Lex swear, disengaging with her internal conflict to deal with the one in front of her. ]

Fuck off, [ she snarls, and whether it's at the wolves or the situation or more is unclear. A second gun is pulled out, this one her magitech-upgraded combat shotgun; she's in close now, and the spread should work well against a pack.

And honestly, shooting them just kind of makes her feel better. ]

[divineconfetti]

( logic is ephemeral in battle — as loose and difficult to hold as sand, especially with the mind warping in the odd effects of the whistle. the turnskin wanted to snap at her, short-tempered and short-sighted, but the shinobi holds it at bay. it would just be falling into the trap that he had set for the rest of the beasts as they fall upon one another, regardless of perception of "pack." wolf does the same, defending from scything jaws and weaving in slices of his sword when the tempo of the battle permitted it.

he is not without the temptation, though.

he doesn't reply. there is just the hiss of slicing through air, the singing of the steel. out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of the shotgun. it reminds him of the firearms that the snake eyes had used (though, certainly, those were more like cannons), and he remembers the pain of their shot clearly.

she turns the weapon on the other wolves, though. best, for now. )

Keep your anger for after this fight, then. ( harried from the front by a duo of wolves, he misses one that has slipped behind him. he has to dodge out of the way of the icy teeth. he continues when he manages to get back to his feet and continue the fight. ) I will face you then, if it is what you want.

[lonewanderer]

An apology would work, [ Lex snaps - nearly laughs, dumbfounded. It's all so stupid. The whistle, the willingness to fight, the scrambled way their brains are working right now.

Instinct is instinct, Lex knows. But they're at least slightly better than that. Instinct doesn't like the sound of her shotgun, for instance, but it comforts her human brain. The wolves hate it, the sound and the feel as she shoots them. It's all a lot, but this is familiar to Lex, the ebb and flow of battle. ]

One that you mean, [ she continues, and it's her turn to whistle; something sharp but not too loud, something that calls Dogmeat back to her as he starts getting too thick into the pack. The Cwyld is something to be wary of, and she doesn't want to miss any injuries on her companion. ]

[divineconfetti]

( the boom of the shotgun rings through the corridors of wolf's memory - he remembers the sunken valley and how the snake eyes and their okami warriors had constantly shot at him as he tried to climb down. the downside to being "gifted" with immortality is that he remembered how the shots had felt, as well. discipline prevents him from reacting too much outwardly, but there is a twinge in his mind that reflects like a twitch in his movements.

still, between the wanderer's shotgun and the shinobi's katana, they make short work of both the wolves' numbers and their morale. the spirit of the pack breaks as soon as its integrity does, and they begin to scatter into the half-frozen undergrowth.

wolf grunts, though one might come to realize that it had been intended as a laugh, though a harsh and singular one. he thinks that her proposal is the absurd thing. he squints her out of the corner of a scarred eye. )

For what purpose? ( with the wolves largely scattered for the time being, he begins to clean the cold, hissing blood from the blade. ) It does not change what has already happened.

( if it was just for the sake of her feelings on the situation, then he didn't have much to contribute to that. not that wolf was that much of a jerk (he kind of is, though), but more that he puts very little faith in words just for the sake of words. he'd explained the consequences were unintentional and it's not like he'd gotten out of this scott free. still, his ears ring, his mind continuing to warp at the edges. )

[lonewanderer]

Because then you'll have acknowledged that it was fucking stupid and if you do it again, I'll be within my rights to physically confront you on it.

[ This sounds, even to her ears, absurd. She snorts, shaking her head; trying to shake away the wavering in her mind. ]

Aefenglom's all about peace and bonds and all that, [ with a roll of her eyes, ] and I'm not missing out on more trips into the Wilde because they disagree with my usual method of problem solving.

[ They're alive, at the moment, and that makes him less of a problem. Figuring out the Cwyld, the mysteries that Aefenglom's prominent bodies are keeping to themselves... now those are problems. This world is still alive; she'll be damned if she watches it become a wasteland like the one she left behind. ]

[divineconfetti]

You are within your rights to do whatever you see fit.

( what rules or laws exist for them here? aefenglom might embrace them as pseudo-citizens, but they are still unexplained transients. he doesn't think there would be any response from higher up if she decided to attack him. he certainly wouldn't care to report it. the world is a set of actions and reactions, and if this was her reaction towards what he had decided to do, so be it.

he breathes a short sigh, sheathing his sword and reaching for his prosthetic arm. there are a few clicks and then a snap as the whistle tool is removed. he would have to exchange it for a different one, later. maybe he should test them all out, just to make sure he didn't get any more surprises like this...

he shows the whistle to her, and then he puts it away in a pocket in his jacket. he clearly doesn't plan on using it again, especially since his ears are still pinned tight against his skull, ringing from a few moments before. )

Are you or your animal injured?