Shade's Retreat privileged info

[powersthatbe]

If you're not playing the Hunter or a Shade victim for this walkabout, please do not read this post.

If you ARE, please check in here, pop over here to let everyone know who you're playing, and use this post to coordinate shenanigans. If you have any questions, please leave them here, and the walkabout runners will get back to you as soon as possible.

Comments

Hunter (Laughs)

[powersthatbe]

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.

[finalizes]

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?

[reallymean]

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.

[finalizes]

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?

[reallymean]

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.

[finalizes]

Cool, thanks!

Re: Hunter (Laughs)

[finalizes]

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?

Re: Hunter (Laughs)

[reallymean]

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.

Re: Hunter (Laughs)

[untailed]

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

Re: Hunter (Laughs)

[finalizes]

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.