powersthatbe | Shade's Retreat privileged info

You've been hunting monsters for years. While you might have started out with noble goals regarding the protection of innocents, somewhere along the line your motivations have settled firmly into destroying the guilty. You have a deep loathing for the monsters of Chiaroscuro's wilds, and of all of them, you feel the Shades are the very worst, whether out of personal trauma, fear of just what they're capable of, or some other reason entirely.

You picked up the scent of your current quarry a few weeks back, and have managed to stay on its trail through several hosts. It's worn the current one for longer than is usual, and you recognize the signs of a bound spirit when you see them. Now that you've caught up with it, you're determined to destroy it before it can escape again, even if it costs the lives of everyone in this inn. You're sure your wardcraft can keep them pinned - unlike the other Chiaroscuro wardsmiths, during the Walkabout you're able to tether your wards to yourself, keeping them from expiring at sunrise.

The murder mystery portion of the plot will kick off when you corner the Shade on the first night at the inn and attempt to exorcise it from its current host. You know the host is unlikely to survive the experience, but a disembodied Shade is far more vulnerable to your purification magics, and you want to be certain you've destroyed it for good. You're not expecting the host to die as badly as he does, but you're not particularly torn up about it - it was a necessary evil, and the Shade would have consumed him alive anyway, along with countless other victims if you don't stop it.

Please get in touch with Tobi's player to work out how the confrontation goes down, and let us know before November 20th, since it will shape the second mingle.

Note: since the hunter is the source of the ward keeping everyone on the grounds, they need to stay alive and unpossessed for the majority of the Walkabout - they can be killed or taken over during a final confrontation, but not before.

Edited 2018-11-12 01:54 (UTC)

Checking in and a question!

I'm thinking about the personal trauma being that he lost his family to a Shade - wife, parents, children, whatever there was. He was the only survivor, managed to kill the Shade (potentially in the process having to end the life of whoseever body it was occupying at the time) and then vowed to make sure that as few people as possible would have to suffer the same.

The question is, how does Saffron come in. I could simply not infiltrate her at all, but I'd rather keep her with him, so I'm wondering if ghosts exist and if Laughs could be having one around - aka, could Laughs' overlay have in his desperation latched onto the only one of his family members who developed a ghost, his youngest daughter, and have been lugging her around with himself ever since?

Edited 2018-11-14 16:32 (UTC)

Ghosts exist! Ghosts are...not really looked upon favorably by hunters, any more than other supernatural beings are, but if he bound her to something he carrying with him to render her safe, he could probably get away with it by virtue of reputation. Especially since Shade victims almost never leave ghosts - it pretty much only happens if the Shade is interrupted while feeding, so it would be an interesting anomaly in the eyes of the locals.

That'd work quite well then.

What would her mental state be (ie as it was in life or would it have detoriated, or...) and if she's bound to an item, would the ghost just hover over that item, or would she be able to move it if it was something movable (like a doll or something)? Or if she was bound into an animal would she be able to exert control over the animal?

Given that she'd be a relatively fresh ghost, having died within living memory, her mental state wouldn't have deteriorated so much as stayed largely the same. Ghosts tend to be static, so she wouldn't be able to mature or to learn from experience - she'll be the little girl she was when she died until she moves on, or lingers long enough to start losing her grasp on who she was when she was alive.

If she's bound to an item such that she's able to move around, she'd have to stay within about ten feet of it. If there's a way to bind a ghost so that it could manipulate an object or control an animal, it's not something Laughs would have conceivably been able to learn, and would be considered pretty dark necromancy - shades of the horrors conjured up by the last Emperor in the bad old days.

Cool, thanks!

So question. After the disaster with Body, Shadwell would probably try to purify the Shade without extracting it first, either the second or the third time. Harder to do, but potentially less running away. How would that go?

He can try if he can catch another Shade victim, but it's likely to go poorly, since possessing someone offers the Shade protection against purification magic.

Please give us a summary of how the confrontation with Body went down so we can use the details in the next mingle post.

they caused some ruckus, and the shade exploded its host from the inside, shadwell didn't get hurt

thread here: https://synodiporia.dreamwidth.org/234239.html?thread=103280639#cmt103280639

sorry im working and don't have much time i can try to give a better summary later

So! Shadwell got the Shade out of Maxwell's body by being snoopy and cornering it without knowing if it was really in Max's body, so the Shade decided to retreat and find a new host.

Proposed possession schedule (can be adjusted per player needs if necessary, amongst yourselves):
Day 1: Tobi
Day 2: Mamoru
Day 3: Allura
Day 4: Stone
Day 5: Casper

You've never been particularly fond of humans. You've never really considered them at all, except as a resource. They're food, nothing more, and while you don't agree with those of your bretheren who think misery makes them taste better, you don't particularly see the point of bonding with the slow, dull, short-lived things. You do try - not always successfully - to keep from killing the ones you feed on, because you know from experience that a trail of bodies makes it easier for their hunters to find you.

In spite of your best efforts, one of them has caught your scent - and unlike those you've dealt with on other occasions, they've managed to follow you through several bodies. You thought you'd lost them on your last jump, and bound yourself to the human you'd chosen so you could be sure of putting a little more distance between yourself and your pursuer before you risked exposing yourself to the second sight and the unpleasant magics that often come with it. Unfortunately, your assumption that you'd managed to escape was incorrect - not only has the hunter managed to track you down, they ripped you from your comfortable host and trapped you within a ward you can't cross.

Now, the only way to keep yourself from being destroyed is to hide within the humans penned in with you, jumping from one to the next before anyone realizes you're there - you can access your host's memories (though you can't communicate with them directly), but you're not a perfect mimic, and you're bound to be under a lot of scrutiny. You hope to find a way to escape in one of these bodies, or even better, find a way to turn the tables on your pursuer.

The first PC possession will begin at the start of the second mingle, on November 22nd, and the Shade will jump hosts roughly once per OOC week/IC day, though you're welcome to arrange a shorter stint for your possession if you want to. The Shade can't communicate with its host, and while it can use the host's abilities and access their memories, it can't share its own memories with them. The host will remember everything the Shade says and does while in their body, but won't remember anything it did before possessing them.

Details on how the Shade was caught and exorcised from Tobi will be provided once they've been worked out by the players in question.

I'm fine with being victim #2 and also checking in.

Things the Shade would know for this possession:

1) The Hunter doesn't have any problem with doing things that will get his own kind dead. You probably don't want to bind yourself to this host even if it would be convenient for feeding - being able to get out of this host and into the next fast will probably be better for your survival.

2) Speaking of feeding, you need an energy top-up fast. Getting away from that maniac took a lot out of you, and you need to be ready. Fortunately, there are a lot of humans to eat from so you don't suck this host completely dry and can possibly reuse him after he recovers, if you absolutely need to.

3) Some of these humans are really weird. You can't trust them, because who trusts a steak, but they might be useful if you have to resort to (ugh) fighting instead of running and hiding.

Please comment by next Friday with anything the Shade learns while possessing Mamoru that you think might be useful to pass along to the next victim!

Nothing useful here other than maybe "the ghost girl is highly observant".

Also is it safe to assume that Maxwell will likely need a lot of bed rest for a day or two to recover from this?

Edited 2018-12-01 04:20 (UTC)

That's safe to assume, yeah.

Checking in for final victim!

Will the Shade be able to use, say, the Network?

Shade, no. Victim, yes.

1) The Hunter doesn't have any problem with doing things that will get his own kind dead. You probably don't want to bind yourself to this host even if it would be convenient for feeding - being able to get out of this host and into the next fast will probably be better for your survival.

2) The Hunter has a ghost girl he's using as a spy, and she's rather observant for a ghost. You might be able to come up with a way to use this, but until you do, you should avoid her.

3) Some of the guests here are very definitely not human. Unfortunately, they're just as happy to murder their own kind as the Hunter is, so they're worthless as allies, but you might still be able to use them, if you can just pit them against the Hunter. That might crack the wards enough for you to escape - though the fact that some of them seem to have learned to detect you even when you're concealed within a host might make that difficult.

Remember, the Shade has access to Casper's memories, but not vice-versa - he'll recall what it does while it's possessing him, but can't give any insight into what it's done in the past or what it's planning. It also has access to any of his skills that aren't sourced from Liminal Space, the Network, or the Arcana. Touch base with Gail if you haven't already to decide how the Shade is transmitted from Stone to Casper, and enjoy!

We haven't totally figured things out and I don't know what to do since we haven't finalized things but I know time is running down.

Are you comfortable handwaving the details of the transfer based on what you have worked out?

I think so... pop it on the latest walkabout post, then?

Pop it wherever you want. There isn't going to be another official mingle, but you can post your own if you want to.

Checking in for Victim #3.

Mr. Body checking in!

Yo! What kind of character is Tobi's overlay, how well does the Shade keep up with their life, etc - essentially, what would Laughs' overlay be able to glance about them?

Tobias is a quiet man who mostly keeps to himself. He was an accountant, stuck to a regimented routine, didn't have many friends, liked to drink and read books and occasionally would say something that he clearly thinks is a joke that... no one else gets. When particularly drunk he would boast about a trick he'd pulled on his higher-ups at his last firm, but he'll never say what the trick was.

Right now he's looking particularly run-down, like he hasn't been sleeping well, and he's a little nervous. He sticks to himself, as per usual, but he hasn't been drinking as much - or rather, he comes down to the bar and will order a drink and apparently sip off of it, but he never gets more than one drink and he never gets properly drunk anymore. He keeps trying to awkwardly go sit with other groups and talk to people, but he's still just as socially inept so people mostly just side-eye him.

Stone checking in!

You say below that the Shade can't communicate with the network, but the host can... while possessed? So like, they could say "hey guess what something's controlling my body right now"? Or are they cut off for the duration?

The Shade can't access the Network. If it's possessing an Investigator, they can unless they're severed for some reason - they're conscious the entire time, they're just cut off from any ability to affect the physical world. Which the Network isn't.

Do you have plans for how Stone catches and loses the Shade, and would you like Shadwell involved somewhere?

I have no solid plans. I had vaguely thought something would happen with him and Allura, but I could have him just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and handy to jump to. He takes naps in weird places, and doesn't sleep as much at night as he should, so he could easily just be alone somewhere.

I do know he's planning on letting EVERYONE on the network know he's possessed, so investigators will probably converge on him. Or Gale, at least.

it could be interesting to have Shadwell observe him (if he is already behaving weirdly, Shade behaviour will probably stand out less so he'll be less sure if he's really possessed) and not do anything and then somehow witness investigators taking care of him?

like

let Shade!Stone has an awkward stalker

ahaha XD oh you should totally do that. since Stone is weird already it WOULD be kinda hard to tell, at least for Shadwell who doesn't know him that well

I'll put up a plurk later for plotting for the investigators! I'll ping you in it

excellent >D

Things the Shade would know for Stone's possession:

1) The Hunter doesn't have any problem with doing things that will get his own kind dead. You probably don't want to bind yourself to this host even if it would be convenient for feeding - being able to get out of this host and into the next fast will probably be better for your survival.

2) The Hunter has a ghost girl he's using as a spy, and she's rather observant for a ghost. You might be able to come up with a way to use this, but until you do, you should avoid her.

3) Some of the guests here are very definitely not human. Unfortunately, they're just as happy to murder their own kind as the Hunter is - one of them tore you last host's throat out with his teeth, how barbaric - so they're worthless as allies, but you might still be able to use them, if you can just pit them against the Hunter. That might crack the wards enough for you to escape.

Remember, the Shade has access to Stone's memories, but not vice-versa - he'll recall what it does while it's possessing him, but can't give any insight into what it's done in the past or what it's planning.

Please comment by next Monday with anything the Shade learns while possessing Stone that you think might be useful to pass on to the next victim.

Well, he's probably going to have picked up that some of these non-human guests have some ability to sense him, because they're going to corner him/Stone at some point. Not sure how that's gonna fall out yet. I need to set it up (tomorrow prolly, ran out of time today). Most likely Stone is gonna get dead and the shade jumps to Casper in the process, but not sure what all transpires to make it happen.

Is there anything that CAN kill or contain the shade, besides Shadwell's ritual magic?

With the caveat that this is knowledge the Shade has but Stone does not:

Wards or binding can restrict its movement for as long as the magic lasts, which is usually not past the next sunrise. Any purification magic could harm or potentially kill it when it's outside a host. Ritual is not required, nor is it particularly common. It isn't aware of other human magics that can harm it, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

It's also vulnerable to other predatory spirits (not ghosts) - Shades will occasionally eat each other in the absence of another food source, and there are much nastier things out there than Shades.

Shade's Retreat privileged info

Hunter (Laughs)

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Shade (Allura, Mamoru, Stone, Casper)

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Re: Shade (Allura, Mamoru, Stone, Casper)

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