The War Has Begun

[Diemos]

I had posted earlier that our psychics were fortelling of attacks. They have apparently begun. Of the 4 precogs that we have in our employee, 3 are dead. Cause of death was unknown, they seemed to enter comas and just waste away as if something was consuming their life essence from within.

No one seemed to be able to sense anything attacking them. So we were all set to high alert. Just last night, on the night of the full moon I was attacked. It started with about 8 punks with tire irons and knives attacking me. They didn't seem to want anything, just attacked without reason.

I quickly put them down, but then realized that it was a distraction. Four beings in dark robes were watching the events. One was wielding a large sword, the others were just standing there. I was prepared to fight the one with the sword, but he just stood there.

I had signaled to my backup group for assistance, when one of the other three leaped foreward, covering about 30 feet in a single leap. His hand flashed out before I could react. He had fur and claws. This would have gutted me, but the body armor I wear is a combination of kevlar/chainmail just in case of attacks by supernatural critters.

I punched him in the gut, hard as I could then did a snap kick that would have broken the neck of a regular human. He shook it off. As he did, the hood fell back, and I recognized him. It was Bearshaman. His face was still human enough to recognize, except for his eyes, which were solid black.

I must have been lucky that night, my back up came flying around the corner in the SUV with guns blazing. Bearshaman, leaped back to the others, while the bullets whined off an invisible shield of somekind. Apparently they had a mage working with them, as they all teleported out after that.

Just a warning to the rest of the Society, beware.

[Ron Caliburn]

And people don't believe me when I tell them there's no such thing as a tame werebeast.

[Shadowstalker]

Nobody ever thought Bearshaman was Quote "Tame" but he was on our side.
Right now I think we can assume that someone, or something else, has control over him. Likely that means anything Bearshaman knew about us these new players also now know.
Right now I am thinking if anyone has the chance, see if you can do a capture of Bearshaman. But not at the risk of yourself or others. If someone can catch him, maybe we can find out what is going on.

[Ron Caliburn]

Capture a werebeast?

Even if Bearshaman is being controlled, that's a hard enough proposition that putting it down is the much saner choice

[GhostSpider]

It's possible. Difficult, but possible.

I recommend capture as well. If we kill him, we might never know what the hell is going on.

[Shadowstalker]

I know that capture is a tall order Ron. But it is possible.
But barring capture, I would ask that for anyone from Lazlo that finds themself face to face with Bearsham should try to avoid outright deadly force unless there is no choice.
Ghost please give me a call, maybe with your help we can work something out sooner.

[Diemos]

I agree with Ron. He isn't human, kill him. Mostly because he struck again, got one of my associates, bit off his little finger then ran before we could stop him.

We took Jose down to the infirmary, and got him on antibiotics just in case of infection, but he is doing well so far. He said Bearshaman just walked up to him on the street in street clothes. He didn't recognize him at first, when he finally did, Bearshaman shifted to his hybrid form and bit off his little finger on his left hand. Does that sound like a normal person to you?

[Shadowstalker]

No it doesn't sound like a normal person, but I will point out that your associate is still alive, and only minus a finger.
I think it is a safe bet that if Bearshamman had intended to kill your friend he would be dead now. You did say that your associate didn't even see anything wrong before the attack.
Also who is to say that the wounding of your friend instead of killing him, wasn't Bearshaman showing that his is not totally under the control of whoever, or whatever may be pulling his strings right now?
Here is extra tidbit to think on Diemos. If you kill Bearshaman without even trying to avoid deadly force. You will find yourself in a worse place than you are already.

[DarKnyht]

Let's not lower ourselves to level of threats and start yet another round of infighting. That isn't going to solve anything, nor will it help Bearshaman in the least.

IF, and that is a big if, we can capture Bearshaman without serious injury or loss of life then we owe it to him to do so. He has helped more than enough of us to deserve that. I am not saying that anyone that doesn't feel this way should be involved in the attempt, but the should respect they those of us that want to enough to let them try.

At the same time, there should be a point in time when we say, "We have attempted our best to save him and now we need to look at stopping the threat." Police would not hesitate to use deadly force when all other options are exhausted, and we need to be willing to do the same if necessary. Those that are advocating capture need to come to terms with the fact that this very well might be what needs to be done.

We have no idea what has happened to Bearshaman. His mind may have been damaged beyond repair, and he would be better off dead. Everyone should remember there are far worse things than being dead. For all we know, he is trapped watching himself commit horrible crimes and we have no idea what that is doing to his psyche.

[Shadowstalker]

I have not leveled any threats DK. At least not yet.
I am not foolish enough that, I am telling Diemos that if he kills Bearshaman I will go after him.
I am however asking that he at least tries to effect a capture if possible. If BearShaman can be captured, it offers a chance to gain intel on who the enemy is. Always useful information. If however capture is not possible, due to the effort putting to many people at risk. I would then understand the need to use deadly force. I only ask that a effort is made.
I will be seeing what I can do in the mean time.

[DarKnyht]

I have not leveled any threats DK. At least not yet.
I am not foolish enough that, I am telling Diemos that if he kills Bearshaman I will go after him.
I am however asking that he at least tries to effect a capture if possible. If BearShaman can be captured, it offers a chance to gain intel on who the enemy is. Always useful information. If however capture is not possible, due to the effort putting to many people at risk. I would then understand the need to use deadly force. I only ask that a effort is made.
I will be seeing what I can do in the mean time.

I know where you coming from and understand exactly what you were saying. It was not so long ago that we had a similar conversation, with me getting the notice of the bond of friendship between members. Thankfully my opinions have somewhat changed as I have spent time in the world. That said, it would be easy for someone to assume (and yes I know how dangerous that is) and take your words the wrong way.

My point is that I would regret seeing this thread turning into what used to be a common occurrence around here when members disagreed (and yes, I regret my participation in those threads). It isn't constructive and it removes the focus from the true problem at hand. If everyone cannot play nice please take it to the private messages or start a thread specifically for it. Now I have no way of enforcing this other than to plead to your common sense of decency.

I also agree that we need to attempt to get to Bearshaman and help him if possible. Not just for the intel, but because he is a member of this society. Who and what he is should be secondary to the fact he is a member, saw us as friends, and has helped more than a few of us. If we are not going to be there for each other what is the point?

Now the question is, what is the plan (for those interested in doing so) to try and help Bearshaman?

[Ron Caliburn]

You fools!

He's done worse than kill him. Lycanthropy is transmitted by a werebeast's bite.

Deimos, keep your friend caged next few full moons and have a few shotguns full of silver ready. If your lucky you won't have to use them. This is more likely if the beast is dead by then.

[DarKnyht]

I will quote Bearshaman on two different occassions. Amazingly I found that Bearshaman would agree with Ron, and the first quote will show that. The other will put you a little at ease with the being bit part.

Greetings, hail and well met.

I am new to these posts as well, and seem to be one of the few, well, for lack of a better term, parahumans that post. Caliburn stated in his greeting that many think him bloodthirsty, but I tend to think he sides on side of caution. My species can be very dangerous and in fact, if you see one of my kind in our more beastial shape, don't take a chance. Error on side of caution.

Good luck in your hunting

Just to throw in my two cents, some lycanthropes are born as lycanthropes, to my family its a genetic trait, not a disease or curse to be cured. As for those who are infected, you can cure them, one of the cures is something that I have a bad reaction to as well as an infected lycanthrope, Wolvesbane. Yes its a toxin, but a potion, brewed from Wolvesbane, holy water and a few other ingredients can cure a lycanthrope if introduced before the next full moon. That part is absouletly essential, has to be done before next full moon, otherwise, its hasta la vista baby if they can't control the beast and harness the power. At least that is what my grandma taught me when I was a boy.

Deimos, I advise you take the wisdom imparted from the second quote to your friend.

[Diemos]

Thanks for the advice. We have our man under observation. We injected him with a possible cure to lycanthropy that we had developed, and are checking his blood work constantly for any changes. So far he is pretty normal except for the pain he is in. Strangely he is not responding to any pain killers that we have been administering. Either they don't work at all or the effect is quickly counter-acted.

Our few remaining psychics have been unsuccessful at blocking the pain either. This is becoming a mystery that our R&D are looking into.

[Shadowstalker]

In theory Bearshaman wasn't able to pass on the curse of Lycanthropy.
Wait a moment!!!
Diemos keep your man restrained, and change any codes he knew. I think the intent was to gain info, and control of one of your people, not to kill him.
Remember they got a sample off Bearshaman in much the same way, before he was taken over.
You may want to think about setting up in all new digs, Just in case as well.

[Diemos]

I will contact the base and let them know your suspicions and worries, but Jose is a strong man. We don't think anything can really corrupt him, he has a lot of faith.

Besides, he is in the hospital ward, gaurded, straped down under observence from cameras, not a lot that can go on without us knowing ahead of time.

[Kei Nakamura]

The faith does not protect you when the sorcerer has a direct linbk to your body, via possession of some small part of it. That is why so many of my countrymen have the nailclippings and any hair from grooming burnt to nothing.

[GhostSpider]

You fools!

Ron, you feeling okay?

Okay, stupid question. Of course you're not.

Take it from someone who knows, if you're felling emotional, back off until you get your equilibrium back.

[Diemos]

Things are getting strange at the Church. The Triad, our leaders have been issuing strange orders. I have been forbidden to contact any members of the Society at all, and told to delete all records of the Society from my computer. I was ordered to no longer post on here, or even check messages.

Jose seems to be doing better, the docs say he is stronger than ever, healing quickly, humanly quickly for those who are worried.

Also, rumors are starting to abound about a new list of targets for termination. I have been trying to get a look at it, but its locked away behind firewalls and passcodes I don't have access too. Anyone good at hacking?

[Shadowstalker]

I have a guy on my team who is a fair hacker.

[Diemos]

PM and I will send you the information. This has be be very quiet, as I could be excommunicated from the Church for defying the Triad.

[Shadowstalker]

I had Harper look into that File Diemos was worried over. It seems he had good reason to be worried. Here is a Copy of the File.

The following information is to be held confidential and not be given to any member of the Church of Humanity expect for the following excommunicators: Marius, McCollough, Sybris, Ellson and Watts.

Termination of these members of a group called the Lazlo Society is imperiative. These members are not human and are high on our list of sinners that must be eliminated to bring about the survival of the human race. Due to psuedonym's being used on the site that we have gained access to through our immediary you will track them by the following names:
GhostSpider
Konthaak
Magdelana
Shadowstalker
Holister
Eilonwy Soliste
Hannah
Shang Li
Kei Nakamura
Michael T
Kelly
Celeste Darken
Arkaine
Chen Lung
Gabriel
Clarity Grace
Ethan Skinner

Due to the nature of these targets the restriction on human casualties has been lifted. You may consider any human that defends them to be a threat and treat them as an enemy.

NOMINE TENUS TRIAD

Seem we have yet more people after us.
Oh before someone asks, I have already been working with Diemos to get him and some people he trusts to a secure location. They should be relatively safe for the moment.

[Willie Long]

Looks like they had some bad intel; there are a lot of normal people on that list.

[BraveSirRobin]

Having at least one person on there twice seemed the most glaring error to me.

[Diemos]

I saw that. I wonder if they believe that Celeste and Eilowyn are two seperate people? I know that all of the people listed except for Celeste are human. Is there anything else that ties them together, something that they have in common? I am checking posts now to see if I can find a common thread.

[Willie Long]

Celeste and Loni are ... well, it's complicated. Moreso because someone has been posting as Celeste after she was confirmed dead.

As for the others, Kelly is allegedly a werewolf who bit Holister, Arkaine and Chen Lung claim to be immortal, and Gabriel is ...something.

[Shadowstalker]

Most times fanatics don't need much reason.

[GhostSpider]

Love how my name is topping the list.

[Ron Caliburn]

I wouldn't count on Hollister being human no more either.

There's an amazing number of death lists that come up featuring folks here on a surprisingly regular basis.

It's either an old list or they aren't doing their homework, a number on that list aren't around anymore. I'm surprised they didn't mention Bloodbane.

[DarKnyht]

Am I reading that message wrong or does it really say that they needed to pay someone to infiltrate a more or less public forum?

Please let it be that, it would amuse me to no end.