Bale Hounds

[HorizionAlwaysShifts]

"Then that's why they are able to operate normally in that place I'm guessing."

[Lexis Nexis]

Not a Gift... several Gifts... most of which we did ourselves...

*and he walks them through his eyewitness accounts and after action reports *

Okay, so first, someone on our side evoked a Gift to cause a Blackout, eliminating all sources of ambient light that do not come from the moon or the stars... Then someone else on our side summons a fog which obscures vision, provides concealment, and dulls the senses...

Then, and only then, do the Bale Hounds employ their Gift, known in the literature by a variety of names, all of which deal with the notion of an eclipse. All of these first hand accounts are consistent with an eclipse of the moon. On a well lit street, this would have been a dimming of the heavenly illuminations and result in dramatically reduced vision but because we'd already eliminated every other source of ambient light, it plunged the area into pitch darkness...

On the plus side, it's just darkness, not... *waves his hands in a spooky fashion, uses the Rick James voice* DARKNESS... It's normal shadow, created to mirror the spiritual darkness of a lunar eclipse, and can be pierced by flashlights, sunlight and so on... My notes indicate that no one tried a flashlight... or a Bic lighter... or any artificial light source; they just tried using other senses, a process complicated by the use of our other gifts.

My recommendation is that we carry simple, preferably non-technological sources of light such as lighters or torches, in case it happens in a tech warded area but otherwise, there is nothing special about the darkness. Ultimately, my advice would be to not attempt to use darkness to ambush Bale Hounds unless you know that you can see if it gets darker...

[Silent Waters]

"That seems like sound advice. Glad someone was keeping an account of what everyone was doing."

[Walks with No Feet]

Walker cocks an eyebrow at Lexis, "Dude I think you're talking about the time when we attacked the bale hounds. And yeah I think you're right that we just made it harder on ourselves. But...and tell me Im wrong if I am...weren't we talkin bout when Jason and I went back there to see what they were up to? Cuz that darkness was something supernatural. And all on its own."

[SpeaksWithMotherboard]

"Anyone want to let me know if they can tell me with absolute certainty that the thick *DARKNESS* the stick shit that fucks with all senses, is from gifts by the balehounds, or is it Numina of a spirit?"

[Howls the Maelstrom]

Howler cocks his head over. "I'm pretty certain Walker's right, and it's different. I was expecting to be told it was a Darkness gift or something."

[Lexis Nexis]

Okay maybe I am not being clear... It is a darkness gift and it will make a given area dramatically more difficult to see in on it's own.

What it doesn't do is affect the other senses; the loss of other senses were due to the use of other gifts by us. It's very real and very powerful in terms of creating darkness, but it's just shadow, not DARKNESS... Does that make more sense?

*He looks at Motherboard*

It's a Bale Hound Gift, or rather, a Gift known to the Bale Hounds from what we call the "Eclipse" group. I'd bet a testicle on it. For the record, I'd point out that there isn't anything inherently evil involved in it, it's just a Gift taught by a Darkness.

[Lexis Nexis]

*Turning to Walker*

I've done what I can to collect after action reports, but if you'd like to fill in some gaps, I'd be curious to hear what the differences were. I am absolutely certain that in the first case, it was this Gift I am referring too. Nothing in the secondary reports is inconsistent with what I have but... theories are not much good if they aren't open to revision in light of new evidence...

*He sighs*

To the best of my knowledge on this particular subject, which, at the moment, is fairly copious, there is only one thing a werewolf can do to create the conditions described and it is this gift. Also, there are credible and convincing reasons to believe that it was the work of a Gift. If it was a Gift, it is what I am describing...

[Walks with No Feet]

"The difference being that...." Thinks for a second.."You play D&D or Pathfinder? Its the difference between a darkness spell and a deeper darkness spell. The first one just made it dark..er. The thing I encountered was a lack of ability to see."

[Howls the Maelstrom]

Howler nods. "You have to understand, Walker is possessed of not one, but two different gifts for seeing in the dark. If he says it was different, it was different."

[Lexis Nexis]

Are those two gifts based on echolocation? Or perhaps Radar? I didn't say the darkness wasn't total; I said new sources of light could cut it. I didn't say that low-light or starlight night vision would work in it, I said a flashlight would cut it. We're getting caught up on a distinction here... I am saying qualitatively, it is no different from normal darkness. Quantitatively, it could well be the darkest dark you've ever experienced, which would be the absence of all light. If there was absolutely no light, you couldn't "see," not with your eyes anyway, so Gifts for "seeing" in the dark wouldn't really be effective...

OOC: I am just going off what the staff tells me. I wasn't there for the second scene so I, the player, cannot make as convincing an argument, but I am being told it is the same thing, so, that's what my PC is arguing. I have a book and page number on the Gift but I'm not the ultimate arbiter of how it works precisely.

[Walks with No Feet]

(OOC: Thats cool dude...still gonna argue a difference IC.)

"Thats what I'm tryin to say...it was an absence of light. An inability to see. I dont know how they work...radar or whatever...but I have a gift that lets me see in pitch black dark. I still couldnt see. So yeah there was an absence of light. Quantitative loss of light."