Occulturation #8.5 Council of the Grave
Minutes Report: Date: Year: 18,618 (Fey), Month: 2nd (Kwanteer), Week 4th (Incorporeal), Day: 1st (Undead) [Notice: the month is Kwanteer, the founder of the Shifters, the second month of the year, this is less than a month before Garesh performs the ritual that summons Millie and his other Incorporeal]
Council of the Grave: Topic: Trikylor (The three-headed werewolf pack leader)
Representatives:
Vampire Lord Ulkroth as a representative of Undead.
Werewolf Pack Leader Hylee as a representative of Shifters.
Witch Nefud as a representative of Fey.
Witch’s familiar Rogil as a representative of Incorporeal.
Human ambassador of Screamer mitigation Charklon Eyree.
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Vampire Ulkroth: “Representatives, the world will thank you for your attendance here today. This will prevent the extinction of both man and monster. Yes, humans and Screamers must work together to stop this danger.”
Werewolf Hylee: “Enough with the drama, just get to it already!” Vampire Ulkroth’s eye twitches at werewolf Hylee’s lack of decorum and propriety. Ulkroth takes a deep calming breath, though this is mostly for show since he doesn’t breathe or so easily lose control of his temper.
Vampire Ulkroth: “Thank you, Hylee. You’re right. Let’s get right to the root of the problem. As Pack Leader Hylee is likely quite aware, there is a threat to our world in the form of Werewolf Pack Leader…”
Werewolf Hylee: “I knew it!” Hylee screams, interrupting Vampire Lord Ulkroth. “I knew it! You’re trying to turn them against me so you can take my hunting grounds! Don’t listen to him. I measure my kills. I don’t over-hunt. And my pack only feeds once per month.”
Witch Nefud: “Hylee! Quit your blathering! Ulkroth wasn’t talking about you.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Indeed, I was referring to Trikylor, the three-headed werewolf. He is a threat to the human population. He has wiped out entire villages and is now seeking even greater targets. It’s only a matter of time before he comes for the cities. We must discuss how to prevent that.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Lord Ulkroth, could you give us more details concerning this threat? If it’s just a werewolf, then I don’t understand the concern. Pack Leader Hylee holds the highest title and rules over the largest number of werewolves, so what’s the big deal about Trikylor?”
Witch Nefud: “Didn’t you hear that he destroyed your villages and how he might go after your cities? Isn’t that enough of a concern?”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Witch Nefud, it is a concern. But clearly, Lord Ulkroth believes this to be a greater danger than merely a rogue pack of werewolves. The fact that he brings this to the council’s attention means that he has already tried to resolve this problem himself and failed. Lord Ulkroth, please tell us more concerning the threat of this werewolf Trikylor.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Um, yes. As Ambassador Charklon Eyree has observed, I have tried and failed to stop Trikylor.”
Werewolf Hylee: “Ha! You failed! You can’t stop werewolves. I told you we were stronger.” He continues laughing as Vampire Lord Ulkroth begins speaking.
Vampire Ulkroth: “Hylee, Trikylor has learned how to absorb the essence of other werewolves.” Werewolf Pack Leader Hylee stops laughing.
Werewolf Hylee: “You don’t mean… oh dear.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Ah, so that is why… yes, it all makes sense now.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Yes, it’s only a matter of time until he realizes that he can absorb the essence of Screamers other than werewolves as well.”
Familiar Rogil: “Vampire Ulkroth, I’d like to hear a full report of your failed attempt to subdue this monstrosity. If Trikylor has been … [Incoherent] … other werewolves, then he must be terribly mutated. His abilities must be unlike that of any… [Incoherent. Seriously, how am I supposed to take minutes for a familiar? It’s so hard to understand its raspy voice].”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Ah, yes. Trikylor has learned how to supercharge his powers by draining his satiation on human souls. Supercharging his powers allows him to produce two additional clones of himself.”
Werewolf Hylee: “What! He can produce more werewolves just with his own power?”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Yes, but he can only do this when he has just consumed a human soul and creating those duplicates brings him to the point of starvation where he must eat within a few minutes or he will expire.”
Werewolf Hylee: “But as long as he had a steady supply of humans, he could quickly amass an army!”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Well, the good news is that his clones are exactly like him: they don’t want anyone to challenge their power. After devouring all of the humans in the immediate area, the clones fight each other until only one is left.”
Witch Nefud: “Alright, what should we do about this menace? I think he needs to die, but that’s going to be a difficult task.”
Werewolf Hylee: “I agree, this monster disparages us noble werewolves by desecrating our noble bodies with his unholy maw. This beast is no werewolf, he is far too mutated to be of the same name. He is no more a werewolf than a zombie is a vampire.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “I’m glad you are dedicated to handling this threat, Hylee. I must admit, I was worried that your blood ties to Trikylor would blind your wisdom, but as you pointed out, this monster is no werewolf.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “We don’t plan on naming him another subspecies of shifter, do we?”
Werewolf Hylee: “Ha! There is no point in names. He will have no prodigy.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “So I take it, the council is in unanimous agreement to do all in its power destroy this Trikylor?”
Human Charklon Eyree: “You don’t even need to ask. However, I must ask. How does he even have a pack? If he is eating werewolves, surely his pack members would notice the loss in their numbers and flee.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Oh, that’s right. This is the most despicable part of his acts. In order to join his pack, his initiation rites require the joining werewolf to bring two human captives. Then the joining werewolf will convert one of the captives into a werewolf. The captive-turned-werewolf then feasts upon the other captive. Then Trikylor consumes the newly-born satiated werewolf. This gives Trikylor the same Screamer DNA per say as the joining werewolf, giving him nearly absolute resistance to the powers of the newcomer.”
Witch Nefud: “That’s smart. A smart mutant monster is going to be a problem. It won’t take long for him to figure out he can consume other Screamers. All Screamers we send against him will have to be half-starved.”
Familiar Rogil: “What will we do about Trikylor’s pack? The initiation [incoherent] break our laws. This crime forces loyalty [incoherent] werewolves cannot rat out their pack leader’s crimes or [incoherent] own crimes would be made known.”
Werewolf Hylee: “I think we should pardon those pack members. Imagine their perspective. You are human fighting against blurs of fur and claws that came into your village and tore your friends in twain. You get thrown to the side, the gouge leaves you bleeding out. But as the ferocity of the hunt dies down, you hide in the debris of your once solid fortified house. Unable to sense anymore humans, the werewolves leave. Normally new werewolves join the same pack the spawned them, but to convert a human into a werewolf is a crime. This once-human werewolf may try to join the pack that attacked his town but get driven out or hunted in an attempt by the pack to hide their transgression against the law. The new werewolf flees. It’s nearly a month now. The werewolf finally works up the will to kill the things he used to be--humans. He kills and maybe even captures a few. He eventually finds a pack of vagabond werewolves led by a mutant monster. They don’t care about laws and are willing to accept him if he commits an even greater crime. He doesn’t want to kill an unnecessary amount of humans, but he knows that he can’t survive on his own, being so new. So he does the deed and brings in two humans, converting one into a werewolf to be fed and fed upon.”
Witch Nefud: “That’s a nice story, but why do you assume Trikylor’s pack members joined as freshly turned pups?”
Werewolf Hylee: “No self-respecting werewolf would abandon their pack to join that group of marauders.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Exactly, many of the pack members will have joined when they were young and ignorant, but others would have joined to escape punishment for their crimes in other packs. No self-respecting werewolf would align themself with a monster, but a convict might.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Yes, we can’t just pardon all of the werewolves in Trikylor’s pack. Once we manage to destroy their leader, the pack will have a bloody conflict in finding a successor. I can only imagine that, since Trikylor’s doesn’t hide his secret of mutation by making his initiation rites so obvious, every pack member would know just how to mutate into a monstrous being like Trikylor.”
Werewolf Hylee: “But then what shall we do? We can’t just kill them all? They’re werewolves, my efforts will be limited because of their resistance to their own racial powers.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “I would just as soon kill them if it were an easy task, but it isn’t. We could win in an all out war against Trikylor, but that would be damaging to all of us. They know the secret to Trikylor’s corruption, and they won’t assimilate into other packs peacefully because they fear reprisal for their crimes. Pardoning, while it would be an easy solution, would only cause future problems with the recurrence of Trikylor’s crimes when his successor rises.”
Witch Nefud: “Yes, we know, Ulkroth. So what do you suggest we do?”
Vampire Ulkroth: “I have a plan. Pack Leader Hylee’s werewolves won’t be able to do much harm to Trikylor or his werewolves because they share the same Screamer DNA, for lack of a better word. However, Trikylor’s werewolves will have the same resistance in trying to harm Hylee’s pack. I’ve noticed that humans still manage to exterminate lawbreaking Screamers to hunt in the human’s sanctioned breeding grounds, their metropolises. If humans can kill werewolves with their special techniques and weapons, then werewolves can kill werewolves if they adopt the same methods.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “You want me to train werewolves as my Anti-Screamer Special Forces?”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Not just werewolves, my dear friend, all kinds of Screamers will be working together with you and your task force against Trikylor.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “What! My special forces hunt Screamers, they’re not going to get along well with your teams.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Luckily, most Screamers can hide their identity in the midst of humans. Those who can’t won’t be sent on this mission.”
Witch Nefud: “I don’t know exactly what you’re planning, Ulkroth, but I approve. I’ll join the special forces myself and bring the most capable witches and fey.”
Familiar Rogil: “I, [incoherent] oversee this operation personally, [incoherent] can expect the aid incorporeal units as well.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Hylee, I would have your audible approval of this plan, your werewolves will be the bulk of this operation after all.”
Werewolf Hylee: “I don’t like it. We usually stay in our true form if we can help it. So before I agree to something as disagreeable and send some of my pack to pretend to be humans, I want to know exactly what we are hoping to accomplish with this. We need to separate Trikylor from his pack, but this hypothetical strike force seems no better than calling an all out war against him.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Hopefully, hidden among humans in the strike force, our Screamer units can get in close to Trikylor’s pack. If we can get in close to the pack, we will have options. The easiest option is out of the question. We will not create an abomination by allowing a Screamer to consume one of each type. If we did that, we would actually be worse than Trikylor. I don’t think I mentioned this, but I’m sending in vampires and other undead into the strikeforce too. One possible move once we’re surrounded in the pack is to try and turn his pack against him by revealing our werewolves within the pack. Perhaps an argument that Trikylor can’t lead their pack because he isn’t really a werewolf anymore? But please, I would like to hear ideas.”
Witch Nefud: “If I can get close to Trikylor, I can snatch some of his fur and make a poppet out of it to…”
Vampire Ulkroth: “Ooh, sorry. I forgot to mention. Trikylor doesn’t have fur.”
Witch Nefud: “Oh. Um, that’s okay. I can use something else from him. Claw clippings, blood, flesh.”
Familiar Rogil: “If we overfeed him humans, he would form a lot of clones. After fighting each other, the surviving clone should be wounded and easy to kill.”
Human Charklon Eyree: “If that worked, then surely his pack would have killed him in his wounded state by now.”
Familiar Rogil: “Do you have a better plan, human?”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Yes, actually, I do. Instead of placing the strikeforce in the middle of the pack, surrounded by enemies, we should split the strikeforce into multiple groups. Then we will set them up around the pack. Instead of attacking, we will wait for them to come after one of the groups. Attacking one of the groups will leave them open to attack from all other sides. They probably won’t be used to facing so much resistance from what they assume to be humans. They would underestimate the groups that are attacking from their sides. They’ll be forced to engage with multiple groups at the same time. Since they won’t view humans as a threat, they’ll ignore their attackers. Only the werewolves that are close to their attackers will bother fighting back. Soon, the pack will be forced to flee while the only group that may be totally destroyed is the group that the pack attacks to trigger this trap.”
Werewolf Hylee: “That plan would have us kill Trikylor’s pack!”
Human Charklon Eyree: “Not necessarily. It’s rather hard to kill a Screamer, so my special forces typically focus on methods to render a Screamer harmless first, rather than dead. We’ll most likely incapicitate most of the werewolves. I’m not saying some won’t die, but this method probably will spare more werewolves than any other plan.”
Vampire Ulkroth: “I like this plan. I support it. Do we have an agreement that this is what we will do?”
All representatives confirm their support.
Meeting ends.