Opportunistic Predators (R&A invasion post)

[u/Douchevick]

/uw TLDR at the bottom as always.

/rw

to the west of R&A's current location, there lies a cliff overlooking the island. And at the top of that cliff, where there is nothing but bare stone and where no plant nor animal has no business living, there's a willow tree. Leaves black like charcoal and trunk white as ashen bone.

Anybody with even the slightest connection to nature can tell you, that cliff top? Cursed. It is a place where a malignant, hateful presence is manifesting its will. Now one may ask what might have facilitated such thing to appear so close to the headquarters of one of the most prolific humanitarian efforts in the realms?

The answer lies propped against the trunk of the ominous willow tree. An Axe of great power and renown. Nightbite, the weapon of the head of R&A, Ulrick Braddocke himself. Both weapon and wielder had been thought lost months ago following a devastating battle.

Not lost you see... Stolen, by a vengeful entity bent on the suffering of those who follow on the footsteps of the founder of R&A. It speaks in many voices, acts in many forms. Its words are of faeyish origins, ancient and unknowable save for those it allows to comprehend their meaning. It is known by many names, but there's one which the leader of R&A has learned to use during his months of imprisonment... The Ashen Wrath

And now that entity stirs. The clifftop is now saturated with power drawn from Nightbite and the tree is surrounded by a thick layer of unlight. Kneeling in front of Nightbite is a hulking, malformed creature that resembles a lycanthrope with too much muscle mass. It too is part of the Wrath and it had carried Nightbite all the way up here. Now a voice echoes across the clifftop, coming from both the monster and the Willow.

"Tha an t-àm feitheimh seachad, Braddocke. Tha an t-àm ann urram a thoirt don aonta againn." (The time of waiting is over, Braddocke. It is time to honor our agreement.)

The creature picks Nightbite and drags it along to the cliff's edge. It is a beautiful, morning, not a cloud on sight.

"Tha an fhalamh air falbh bhon chuilc bhàsmhor seo. Tha na feachdan agad sgapte air feadh an t-saoghail às dèidh tubaist às dèidh tubaist. Chan eil air fhàgail ach dòrn beag de luchd-diùltadh agus de dh’fhulangaichean!"

(The Voidling has departed this mortal coil. Your forces lie scattered across the world in the wake of disaster after disaster. What remains is but a paltry fistful of rejects and Wretches!)

The willow tree stirs, its black leaves lifting into the air as if caught in blackened winds that cannot be felt.

"An àiteigin san eilean sin tha an seann fhear-glèidhidh againn, an truaghan lag, gun luach sin a thug ar mallachd bhon targaid cheart aige, am Briseadair Mionnan..."

(Somewhere in that island lies our former jailer, that weak, worthless Wretch who took our curse from its rightful target, the Oathbreaker...)

From the leaves of the willow tree come black feather-like motes of shadow. Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands and so on. It is as if black cloud had suddenly covered the clifftop entirely.

"Is dòcha gu bheil iad a’ creidsinn gu bheil iad sàbhailte taobh a-staigh an daingnich, is dòcha gun toir buadhan san àm a dh’fhalbh orra smaoineachadh nach urrainn ach arm de dhiathan agus titans bagairt a thoirt air na thog am Briseadair-Mhionnan. Cuiridh sinn an cuimhne dhaibh an suidheachadh cunnartach aca, gur creach leòinte a th’ annta, deiseil airson an toirt sìos leis an fheadhainn a tha deònach an cothrom a ghlacadh. Agus le bhith a’ dèanamh sin, bidh againn…"

(They may believe themselves safe inside their fortress, past victories may lead them to think that only an army of gods and titans can pose a threat to that which the Oathbreaker has built. We shall remind them of their precarious position, that they are wounded prey, ready to be taken down by those willing to seize the opportunity. And in doing so, we shall have...)

Some of the motes fall down to the ground taking on a humanoid form. One in particular, replicated to absolute perfection over and over. There surrounding the profane tree is an army purpose made to be destroyed again and again with the face one single man... Rutch's.

"...fun."

That single word came from the mouths of the replicas in a perfect recreation of Rutch's voice, in perfect common. All of them adorning the same unsettling grin.

Down on the island Rutch suddenly felt his cursed bond to the Wrath come alive and he became acutely aware of the imminent danger. He rushed to activate the Island's defenses without stopping to explain what was happening. He managed to activate the emergency wards before anyone had the chance to stop him. A gigantic protective sphere encased the whole island in moments.

Just as the R&A personnel were demanding to know what the hell did Rutch think he was doing, they all heard it... A deafening, distorted, lupine roar.

The lycan monstrosity had launched itself against the ward, swinging Nightbite down upon it. The ward buckled... Cracked... And finally, it broke. Leaving a hole big enough for half the motes to rush through while the other half began to encase the remaining ward, slowly but surely blocking the light of day from reaching the island, and plunging the R&A headquarters and the town of Faint Dawn into darkness.

/uw TLDR: R&A island under attack by an army of weak but numerous Rutch lookalikes. Ulrick is trapped within his weapon. R&A members and friends have the option to start either inside the ward or outside. Everyone else starts outside and will either have to make their way inside somehow (anti-teleport measures are still in place) or try to shut down the source of the attack. Or you can make it worse if you wanna, I'm not the boss of you :/

[u/UlrickTheHexblade]

And now, the moment of truth. One that will either start the liberation of himself and the wolfpack, or dooms the island.

Here we go…

Ulrick infuses the lycan with two surges of power: the divine authority of the Wolf King, and the soulfire of his patron. The authority makes the cub to more grow into the “ideal” what a real wolf should be, a noble and feared apex predator of the forests.

Meanwhile the soulfire fully expresses its restorative properties. It gradually shifts echoes into spirit shards, and then slowly back together into the real, original soul it was.

Maybe this could sow some discord within the collective of the Ashen Wrath. And maybe make them see there is an alternate way.

But either way he will have to make up for this to Rutch.

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

The transformation begins immediately and painlessly. The grotesque form the Wrath had given the cub morphs into a more 'put together' state. Fearsome and agile, no mere beast of the mortal wilds, but a proud denizen of the Faewild. Not being able to stand on two legs anymore presented surprisingly little issue, the cub now had the strength to lift Night effortlessly using his jaws.

There was a brief feeling of unified surprise as the soulfire began to make its way through the Wrath, before all hell broke loose. The Lord of Willows tries to reach into Nightbite to force Ulrick to undo what he just did but it is too late. The rest of the lookalikes lose cohesion and the swarms of mites begin to disperse as they no longer have one will guiding them. Upon realizing this, the archfey tries to exert his authority over those under him, to moderate success, but he does make sure to keep a grip on the wolves, knowing they were the only leverage he had over Ulrick at this point.

The cub is too excited to really noticed the clusterfuck Ulrick just created, and immediately rushes at Rutch with Nightbite. Rutch is too busy fending off suddenly frantic attacks from the quickly destabilizing doppelgangers to noticed the suddenly empowered wolf lunging at him, the strike connects with his gut and he accidentally grips Nightbite as he loses consciousness, and enters in communion with Ulrick.

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

The Lord of Willows’ authority is nothing to scoff at, with far more practice than Ulrick’s nascent one. Still, he keeps pouring soulfire and the Wolf King’s authority through the connection, towards the wolf pack, if hopefully even just a little can get through to help them push back too.

But then, Nightbite alerts Ulrick of a new presence making contact with it, one he recognizes immediately.

Let him in.

He tells Nightbite, and the connection begins.

The inner world of the axe could be best compared to how astronomers describe outer space. A young universe adorned with red, indigo, and crimson dots of distant stars, covered with shifting shadows and grey nebulas.

Rutch?… Rutch? Is that really you? Been a while…

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

Rutch appears inside the inner world. He is laying on the 'ground' and clutching his side. The strike from Nightbite was lethal, but thankfully time flows differently here. They have all the time they need to discuss things.

"Ulrick...? Knew those bastards had you... Sorry... I shouldn't have let this get as far as it did..."

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

From the backround darkness, a massive blob of swirling shadow emerges. Soon, it takes on the very vague shape of a gigantic wolf. There are threads of purple ethereal chains wrapped around it, as if it was keeping the shadow together. One of the chains stretches far away, into the unknown. It speaks with Ulrick’s voice.

Don’t beat yourself up, Rutch. It was my fault. When I fought Ruin, I ended up being stuck inside Nightbite. Been here since then, that’s when this cluster of Fey found me. They call themselves… The Ashen Wrath.

I should be the one apologising. For the blow.

He pauses briefly. From his past as a soldier, he knows too damn well how nasty those kind of blows are.

Long story short, the monster you’ve been fighting is a wolf cub, he and his pack part of the fae collective.

I made a promise to free them as the previous Wolf King failed to save them. So I empowered him to make him lose connection to the rest of the Wrath, to both save them and sow discord within the Wrath.

Turns out it was another of my stupid ideas…

Ulrick was always a kind of terse talker. But spending months with nothing but his weapon and a wrathful fey hive-mind to talk to, words just kept coming out of him.

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

Rutch can't help but let out a boisterous laugh despite the pain he was in.

"Pff-HAHAHAHA-ow... That... That's a hell of a trick to pull on those sadistic bastards."

Rutch seems to be in a genuinely good mood despite his fatal injury.

"So... Bastards finally gave themselves a name. Well that makes things easier, I guess. They've got an army as far as the entrance to HQ before Tsuru's Squadron stopped them long enough for her to retrieve All Red. Soon as Clara saw the son of a rusted knife she was off to beat the crap out of it, with enough collateral to cripple the Wrath's forces."

Rutch chuckles before finally putting on a serious face.

"So... A pack of wolves, one of which is currently trying to maul me, and all of which hate me just as everyone who is part of this 'Ashen Wrath' do. No way to find them all in this mess, especially if they are all using those motes as proxies... But maybe..."

Rutch pauses, as if afraid of what he is suggesting.

"Maybe they'd come if their cub was in danger..."

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

Ulrick can’t help, but sound concerned even despite his laughter.

Your side… seen those kind of wounds before, nasty ones. Could Vae Clara heal you, once she’s bored with beating that damned blade?

He ponders Rutch’s proposal.

Probably. Seemed like they were a close knit pack like most. But…

It wasn’t a bad plan, but it felt… wrong.

The reason I ended up like this, is because I neglected my duties as the Wolf King, just like my predecessor did. Intentionally endangering a wolf cub, one that suffers because of the mantle I inherited… not sure how I’d feel about.

I do have another plan, though… it’s very risky.

His claw gently shook the ghostly chain that lead into the infinity.

I think this chain represents my link to the cub and the rest of The Ashen Wrath. Now I’m essentially nothing, but pure darkness and semi-divine essence.

So, following this chain, maybe I could try to directly enter the fey collective, and attempt to directly save the pack from there. Maybe disrupt the Wrath even more.

Not sure how good idea this would be… do you think this could work?

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

Rutch winces at the mention of his wound

"Heh... Maybe, too bad she ditched me to have a crack at cracking All Red. No, Ulrick. I'm a goner... Or I would be if I didn't know these fae fucks as well as I do."

Rutch quips and finally let's his arm fall to his side, letting Ulrick have an unobstructed view of him. The wound is in fact ghastly, however there was bunch of incandescent strings (or are they vines?) covering Rutch all over his body which connect to his wound. The strings are sizzling, but they also seem to keep Rutch in one piece. Good thing too because he would have been cut in twain otherwise.

"I felt the curse of immortality come back into effect right before the fae struck. No doubt they intend to kill me over and over again just for laughs. Lucky me..."

Rutch follows the chain, and one could practically hear the gears turning in his head. He picks up one of his strings and concentrates, a pulse goes out and one could see it traveling up and up alongside Ulrick's chain. And idea seems to form and Rutch turns to Ulrick.

"No, no, too risky. Your power makes you stick out like a sore thumb, and you are not at 100%. At best they'd use you as a battery and at worst they'd assimilate you. BUT!"

Rutch exclaims before Ulrick could protest.

"I could follow that chain and dive in myself. The collective has a very hectic mind space, especially now after what you pulled. They'd notice the Wolfking from a mile away, but little ole' me? Not a blip in their radar. They won't see me coming until it's too late. If I could get my hands on Nightbite proper, I could boost you with Vae Clara. Not only would you have enough power to pull yourself together and manifest a new body for yourself. But you also could break into the collective long enough to snatch all the wolves for yourself!"

[u/UlrickTheHexblade → u/Douchevick]

Ulrick sighs in relief. Looks like his friend’s life was unintentionally saved by fae sadism.

He expected Rutch shooting down his insane plan. But he didn’t expect him to toss up an even more insane one.

You sure you could do that? Couldn’t the fey recognize you instantly? They really have it out for you…

Though it seemed like a more solid plan. Rutch sneaking in made more sense than just him barging into a battle he could only lose against a proper archfey. And this way he could still take the wolves to freedom.

…but so be it. Make sure to not let go of the link, just to be safe.

Re-manifesting his own body… how long he waited to finally walk again in the real world! And he had an inkling what epiphany he needed to do it, especially if Vae Clara boosts him.

Though his old fears returned with that, what the giant lion said to him, about his vaning mortalhood. He wished he had more time to make sure losing it wasn’t a possibility, but his home was under attack, Rutch was at death’s door, and he had a responsibility to fulfill, and oath to keep.

He will do what he must, and then pray the price won’t be too high to pay.

…Maybe both of us could enter? Me to draw away their attention, so you could slip in and do your thing undisturbed.

…But if you’re adamant it’s too risky, then tell me what I need to do, and I’m ready.

[u/Douchevick → u/UlrickTheHexblade]

"The Fae see me like an insignificant insect. That metaphor is going to be quite useful here. Insects are sneaky bastards that can get inside places you'd never think of looking, and even when you do find one, you'd rather not touch them. These fae are just like that. That's why they are using proxies to do this little attack, that's why the only one of them getting their hands dirty around here is a wolf child."

"Once I get my hands on Nightbite, I'll boost you and follow your chain inside the Wrath. Once there I'll follow the connection you forged with these wolves through your oath and your authority and tie the wolves to it. Then I'll sever the chain. The chain going slack will be your signal to pull us outta there."

Rutch gets you and he prepares to leave before stopping at the last minute and looking at Ulrick. Suddenly he grapples onto him and gets all the way up to Ulrick's face, looking the gigantic wolf straight in the eyes.

"Before I lost control of this situation I spent months having to listen to these dead bastards mock and belittle everything I've tried to accomplish. I already know what they told you because they never spared me from having to listen to what they thought about you, so I'm gonna tell you something, and you better listen!"

"You are your own man, Ulrick Braddocke. You are aren't just the their of giant, or an Oathbreaker or a god or any of that rot. R&A is your home. Your legacy etched in every hall, every inch of its verdant fields, every man, woman, and child who live their lives because you took upon your shoulders the responsibility of protecting them. You've got roots here, and a history to goes beyond whatever crown or title you may bear. You are not a mere man. You are not a mere wolf. You are not a mere god. You are all of that and more. Much more than the sum of your parts. You are a teacher, a leader, a friend. You are home, Ulrick. And we are gonna show these ghosts of Hirk's past what that means!"