fandomhigh | Cryptozoology 101, Thursday, Period One

Class was once again meeting in the Danger Shop today, but there were no fields of flesh-eating horses waiting to devour the students when they walked in. Instead, they'd walk into an old-fashioned Irish-themed pub. There were hardwood counters and metal chandeliers, a giant fireplace and even a marble fresco on one wall, filled with heraldric devices.

"Welcome to The Dal Riata!" Trick greeted them with a brilliant smile, his hand resting possessively on the bar. "The Dal is an old bar, built just a little over a century ago, in my home city, in Canada." He didn't say anything, but his pride and affection for the bar likely made it clear to anyone paying attention that he owned the place. "I was feeling a little homesick and decided it might be nice to have class here today."

He gestured to the stools in front of the bar, wordlessly inviting the students to sit. There were tall mugs in front of each place, filled with a deep amber liquid. Anyone trying their mug would find that they contained ginger beer, not real ale.

Sorry, Kenzi.

"Today, we're going to talk about Redcaps," Trick continued when everyone had settled, ignoring any and all complaints about the non-alcoholic nature of their drinks. "Any Redcap you meet will almost certainly be Dark Fae. There may be Light Fae Redcaps, but I've never met one." Anything was possible? Just...not very likely. "They are an ancient race of Border Goblins, mostly hailing from Northumbria or thereabouts, though they have emigrated and can be found almost anywhere in the world. Centuries ago, they could be found in ruined towers and castles, though now, any place abandoned will do."

"Fortunately for mortals, Redcaps are easy to identify as such. Most of them have glamours to hide their razor-sharp fangs and talons, and the younger ones have even left off the iron-shod boots and pikestaffs of their elders. But the surefire way to tell a Redcap comes from the garment that gave the race their name. All Redcaps cover their head, be it with a bandana, kerchief, sock cap, or anything else. That cap is constantly wet and dripping; they dye it with the blood of their victims. Their preferred victims are trespassers or lonely travelers out late at night, but they can target anyone they choose. Part of the reason for this is because of the way their peculiar magic works. If their caps ever dry out completely, they will die. And so, to protect their own lives, they must murder others."

A charming people, really. Not that Trick judged. Much. "They are excellent predators. In addition to the fangs, claws, and pikes I mentioned earlier, they are also incredibly fast. It is a special and lucky mortal that can outrun a Redcap for very long. Furthermore, their skin is quite tough and resistance to piercing. They are not very bright, but they make up for that with a kind of fiendish, brutal creativity, and these days, most of them live in packs, giving them the benefit of strength and numbers. They don't necessarily fight well together, no real group tactics, but often they don't need to. They are easily outwitted, but difficult to outfight and all but impossible to outrun."

You guys knew where this was leading, right?

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No one saw that coming, right?

From either entrance (and a third next to the bar that led to a lower level), three groups of big, burly Redcaps stride into the bar. "Ahhh, excellent!" one says. "Time to dip our caps, boys!" The Redcaps in all three groups (including the females) grunt in approval.

The Redcaps are blocking the exits (and, worse yet, THE BOOZE BEHIND TRICK!) If you want to get out and/or drunk, you're going to have to fight the Redcaps. If you'd prefer not to fight, hopefully you know someone who will fight for you, because the Redcaps will target everyone (or go stand by Trick). There are plenty of weapons around, decorating the walls, and even more if you prefer improvised weaponry. Get to!

[While there are plenty of swords and things around, Redcaps are impervious to all but blunt force damage. So anyone using a pointed or edged blade isn't going to get far! *points to lecture*]

Edited 2012-06-07 07:55 (UTC)

Anna knew, intellectually, that the Redcaps weren't real, like everything else in this room. Her other half wasn't so easy to convince, and she barely even had time to think about keeping her cover as an ordinary, if pale and owning only one dress, living girl before she...changed. Her eyes turned black, like ink dropped in a pool, her skin went dead white traced with black veins, and her hair stopped behaving like hair and became more like smoke, or reeds drifting in the currents of a pond. And her white, lace-trimmed dress? That was soaked red and dripping with blood: Anna's, and that of everyone (save Cas) who had entered her house during her long imprisonment.

Redcaps, meet Anna Dressed in Blood.

Never let it be said the Redcaps had the brains to know when to run any more than Fandom High students.

"Get 'er, boys!"

"... you get 'er first!"

"It doesn't matter who's first," Anna said in a voice that almost...echoed, somehow. Like it was coming from deep within a cave. "Or last. I wonder, are we kin? Because if we are then you deserve to die."

One of the redcaps with even less brains than the others rushed toward Anna, claws and fangs out, snarling, while the others laughed and cheered him on.

Anna was just going to--reach out to rip the Redcap into pieces with her bare hands.

That was probably not how the Redcap had seen this going.

There was silence for a minute. Then, in an act of disbelieving stupidity, three other Redcaps ran at Anna, convinced she couldn't take them on all at once.

Possibly there was some fashion envy in there too.

Those were some extraordinarily stupid Redcaps. Anna was doing them a favor, really, by removing them from the Redcap gene pool.

The more delicate members of the class might wish to shield their eyes.

Kenzi couldn't be called 'delicate' if you referring to anything other than her build, but she did freeze, staring and trying not to gag.

"Oh, that's... okay he was just-- whooops, oh jeez..."

And now the rest of the Redcaps, instead of attacking Anna or the other students, were trying to run the hell out of the Dal. Shrieking.

Anna was now standing very still in the middle of a pile of body parts, and the Redcap blood, virtual though it might be, seemed to be...absorbing into her skin? She blinked a few times and then stirred, as if coming out of a trance, looking around and slowly transforming back into a normal-looking girl.

Her dress was still dripping and her eyes were still black when she said, "Oh. Dear."

"How you feelin' there, um. Anna?" Kenzi wasn't shaking visibly. Nope. Nope. Not her. Maybe a little more frozen than usual, though. "...can I get you anything?" She looked at the body parts and gulped. "Else?"

The black faded from Anna's eyes and her dress faded back to white, though a few patches of red stubbornly stuck around at first. She looked around her and said, "Oops."

"That was impressive! Go you, with the self-defense!" Kenzi punched the air, and did not look down, nope. "Hand-wipe, maybe?"

Anna looked down at her hands, which were--along with the rest of her, actually, despite the fact that she was standing in a puddle of the stuff--completely blood-free.

It was probably best if Kenzi didn't dwell on that.

"No, I'm fine," she said, delicately stepping over a Redcap arm.

It took a lot for Kenzi not to flinch backward. It helped that Anna's eyes looked back to normal. And her dress. And hair. And she'd *known* Anna was a ghost, but... right.

"Yeah? Okay that's good." Breath. And, woo! "Run, losers! Ruuuun!"

"Can we all just...agree not to talk about this?" Anna asked hopefully, but without much enthusiasm, since she figured the answer was totally no.

Kenzi didn't look at anyone else when she brightly said, "Talk about what?" Then she deflated a bit. "Umm... except, is that likely to happen, again?"

Cryptozoology 101, Thursday, Period One

OH NOES, REDCAPS!

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