video | un: wvelvet

[tryhard]

Name: Waver Velvet & Cú Chulainn (Caster)
Date: Aguril 20
Format: video | Caster in blue ; Waver in green


Hello, everyone. There's something important you should know.

[ A rare public appearance from Waver Velvet?! Not for long... He turns the camera to his companion, Caster, who continues seriously. ]

Some of you might remember the ghastly, skinless creatures we faced in the forests surrounding Dorchacht. They terrorized their Wilders, and many of us have helped them deal with the threat — but these creatures can hold a grudge like no one else and, seeking vengeance, they found us here in Aefenglom. They crossed the entire continent to get even, but that means they now pose a danger to the Wilders and people in the Slums.

[ Waver turns the camera back to himself for a moment to nod in agreement. ]

They're incredibly tenacious, and they will follow any prey they set their sights on as far as possible. They've been getting closer lately, right up to the edges of the city.

[ Hence, Caster's point of the danger the Slums are now in, not to mention the Wilders. ]

I propose we help them. The Wilders are organizing efforts to hunt and trap these creatures around the Northern Outpost. People in the Slums are in need of protection. And if you can't fight, and think that makes you useless... you're wrong. Preparations are underway, and any set of hands helps.

[ Waver adds: ]

I'd also like to mention that they don't seem to be affected by the Cwyld, despite having crossed huge stretches of Wilde to get here. As such, I think we should at least try to study them. I doubt it'll be easy to capture one of these things, but I found out that they can't cross running water.

If we can build some sort of enclosure using that information, it would give us a chance to study one of them. The plan is to do so near the Northern Outpost.

We're looking for engineers, builders, Witches specializing in enchantment and barriers, especially those with an affinity for water -- anyone who is willing to help. And, of course, anyone who is working on researching the Cwyld and Cwyld-resistant organisms.

The Wilders have organized a night hunt on the evening of the 26th in a few days. We need to have the enclosure done before then.

Contact me if you’re interested. We’ll need as many hands on deck as possible at the Outpost, and of course the Slums could use protection too.

Thank you.

Comments

un:ma voice

[stopfen]

Do you have any advice on how to fight them? Fire?

[Anything really would help. She'd not been able to fight for a while, but she'd been looking at the edge of the city, the safer parts of the city where the Cywd was less of a problem.]

voice.

[tryhard]

I haven't tried fire. Frankly, I personally haven't tried much more than running and putting distance and running water between it and myself.

People I know who've fought it said the only thing that really worked was decapitation -- though I'm not actually sure of which head, since it does have two.

[ Sorry he's not. super helpful?? he's doing his best. ]

I can't imagine it enjoys fire...

What did you have in mind?

[stopfen]

At the moment, nothing. I have blades but until I see one I won't know. Until you mentioned it, I didn't know they had two heads. [That made a lot of questions come to mind. But she wasn't going to think to hard on that.

Just Aef things.]

Most things don't like fire... How do they know it doesn't carry Cywd? It'd be bad if someone got close to cut it's head off and it was infected.

voice

[ua_duibhne]

Consider the first spear of the Fianna yours to wield. Where would you have me stationed?

[tryhard]

Diarmuid...

[ Waver sounds relieved. ]

No need to sound so formal.

I think the Northern Outpost. I'm planning on being there to help organize and work on the entrapment. Even though I can't do much...

[ Sigh. As usual. ]

In any case... It sounds selfish, but I'd prefer to have you close. Plus, we're anticipating the most action in that area. These things seem to be drawn to clusters of Mirrorbound, so we're acting as hunters and bait at once, in a way.

[ua_duibhne]

As you wish.

[Even after all this time, he has to fight the urge to call him "Master" or "my lord". The words haven't left his lips in any serious capacity for over a year now and yet-]

I can't say the idea of you as "bait" gives me any great comfort but I appreciate it has to be done. The trap is key in this plan. [He pauses.] ... and personally speaking, I would also rather stay close to you. I trust you can take care of yourself but...

voice; un: bearoness

[moneytwin]

Are these things undead? Do they have any particular weaknesses we should be aware of?

[tryhard]

I... think so? I'm not sure. I would classify them similarly to 'undead' in the parlance of my own world's study of magical creatures, but I'm afraid I don't know well enough how they would be technically considered here.

Does it make a difference? [ He's not asking this to be rude; he's genuinely curious what she has in mind that the question would crop up. ]

As for weaknesses, beyond the running water I mentioned, my understanding is its main weakness is... well... beheading. If there's anything more convenient than that, Caster and I don't know about it.

[moneytwin]

Hnn. Yeah, it can. It can change what sort of attacks you might use against it, and how effective holy magics might be. [a sigh] Though given that paladins and clerics don't really seem to be a thing here, that may well be an irrelevant line of attack to change anyway.

How large are these creatures? And how well protected are their heads?

un: nero; video

[demonass]

Okay, for those of us who are still relatively new in town, is there a cliff notes version of what went down? Or should we just be on the lookout for some weird skinless creeps wandering around being a general nuisance?

[tryhard]

Not the most pleasant welcome for you, is it?

[ He shakes his head, making the perky dog ears on his head bounce gently. Luckily, it seems he at least understands what cliff notes means! ]

There's not a whole lot to recap. Some Mirrorbound seem to have disturbed these things in the Wilde around Dorchacht. That's another city some ways away, though we do have a teleport now. If you haven't heard of it, I'm sure someone else would be happy to explain.

[ Not him. He's keeping this short. ]

In any case, these creatures either followed someone all the way here or they just appeared in our Wilde in general, but however they got here-- yes, you should be on the lookout for skinless creeps. More than a 'general nuisance,' though, I'd say they're definitely dangerous.

I don't think they can make it past the Bright Wall, but if you frequent the Wilde in any way, be careful.

[demonass]

Yeah, it's been amazing.

[ Can't say there's a hint if sarcasm when the entire sentence is dripping with it. ]

Gotcha. I'm out in the Wilde often enough these days but I'd say that's a good enough motivation to pay them a visit. Might as well try to knock 'em down to "general nuisance" status.

[ That's better than running around finding lost cats, anyway. ]

So these things are a product of the Cwyld, then?

text; un: magicowl

[getting_better]

I can help with barriers if my wind affinity is no good against them. I'm also an old hand at scouting if you need someone to track their movements and relay information back quickly.

[tryhard]

Thank you for responding. Your assistance would be appreciated at the Northern Outpost.

As for elemental spells of any sort, I don't believe they're weak to anything like that (considering what others have tried so far), so you shouldn't expect wind spells to do much. The best ways to force them back or kill them are all physical attacks, as far as I know. Hence, if your spellwork isn't generally focused on such offensives, you'd likely be safer and of better use helping with barriers and scouting. I think our best bet will be to lead them somewhere we can be ready for them.

[getting_better]

That's good enough for me but I'll try to avoid direct fighting if I can, especially if capturing one for research is on the table. I take it the idea is to box them in with water. I can scout for a place where could corral them if there's enough folks willing to make that effort.

voice;

[quickwhip]

Don't remember whatever the hell it is you're talking about but if they're looking for trouble, I suppose something should be done about it. What are their weaknesses?

[tryhard]

That's the problem... No one's been able to find a particular weakness, as far as I know. I talked to Caster, who fought them, and I've done my fair share of running from the damn things a few times now.

They die if you cut their head off -- either one, maybe? -- but honestly, most things do. And getting that close in the first place is bad news.

Oh, but they don't like running water. I don't know if it'll hurt them, but they don't want to cross. I found that out thanks to Hector...

[ Hmm... someone else brought up an interesting question, though. One that Trevor may be personally equipped to answer. ]

Hey... don't be offended. I have something to ask you.

Vampires are considered 'undead' in this world, too, aren't they? Would you be able to tell if another being is similarly undead?

voice, un: ALPHYS

[textsfromhotland]

Soooooo I'm a robotics engineer. I dunno if that'll be helpful for making an enclosure but if you're looking for something that might be able to restrain these things, o-or make it easier to observe them from a safe distance, I could try and whip something up?

[tryhard]

Robotics? I see...

[ Wow. He didn't expect this. ]

Your skills are probably in short supply in this place. I'm sure it'd be a great help.

The idea right now is to use a combination of natural barriers and magic to craft an enclosure for one of the beasts so it can be observed, and of course we'll need to be able to take tissue samples. Some have been taken from corpses, but none from the living ones for obvious reasons.

Do you think you can create something that would make it easier to interact with one of them without putting the person trying to collect samples in harm's way?

voice; UN: Berserker

[curruid_coinchenn]

...

I'll slaughter every single one that comes across my path.

[tryhard]

...Berserker?

[ So. That was a more... intense... reaction than he'd expected. ]

You all right there?

Video | un: no

[knowledgeordeath]

[The boy he rescued... His eyes narrow as he listens to the rest of the information. This is serious.]

I will volunteer my services to aid you. Abjuration and Evocation have been what my studies have been focused on.

[tryhard]

Abjuration and Evocation would be very useful.

[ Waver had seen him use some barrier magic. That was promising. ]

And you already know what I'm talking about since our... unfortunate little meeting. So you know these things are no laughing matter.

I suspect we'll need a number of Witches to lend their magic to barriers.

voice

[wordsinthesoul]

That's quite a grudge they're holding, then. [Mm. He's definitely not going to expect this will be easy, then.]

I suppose we'd want a dam, then, to release at the right moment… Has anyone been able to determine rough numbers?

[tryhard]

Yes, something like that. A way to isolate one of them and trap it inside an enclosure surrounded by or made of running water.

As for numbers... honestly, I have no idea. And I can't tell if some of them are the same one seen several times or different specimens entirely.