Witchmare, n. A boss creature we presume is markedly different from regular Nightmares: on defeat it releases a usually unconscious person, and a gem-like object. 'Witchmare' is an ooc given name by the community for these creatures, who have not be confirmed to be Witch or Nightmare (or neither) by the mods.
For new joiners and future debates on pacifism, here're some trends I've noticed of past Witchmares to aid decision-making on how to deal with future instances.
OCCURRENCE > Witchmares have been bosses every month since March, to the date of this post (May.)
NIGHTMARE OR WITCHMARE? > It is currently impossible to tell for sure until its defeat: Nightmares do not release the aforementioned person + not-soul-gem thing. > An boss event with unprecedented circumstances tends to be an indicator that the boss is not a normal Nightmare. > Nightmares are established to be: limited to an area within a barrier, and unable to physically change things outside that barrier. E.g. Febuary's Nightmare had a dungeon solely limited to one area, Magi had to enter it to fight. VS April's Witchmare flooded the town, and physically transported the Magi from within the school to outside. It seemed to move freely through the town without being limited to one specific spot. > ^So, if it doesn't fulfill those conditions, it's probably a Witchmare.
FIGHT / MERCY? > Witchmares that only fight in defense have been shown to require a non-violent resolution for the best endings. (e.g. March, May's Witchmare was only attacked for one turn but its response text was "an attempt to sweep the magi off their feet", explicitly a reaction without intent to harm.) > Conversely, a Witchmare that immediately attacks without provocation (May) required straightforward fighting to defeat. > Boss Battles preceded by hidden messages, runes needing to be translated etc. have so far favored non-violent solutions. (e.g. March, May)
> For March and May, violence resulted in some signal that the approach was incorrect (Mar: NPC hostages died, May: Witchmare explicitly said to react "as if in terrible pain".) I don't quite remember the language used in April and whether it's similar to May, so I'm unsure about this point. > I believe some mod mentioned somewhere that the April Witchmare was purposefully different from March and May's? I forgot if that was in reference to the crab or the actual Witchmare though, correct me if I'm wrong. Therefore we might want to be careful when referencing April's event in our theories.....???
WITCHMARE TRENDS
For new joiners and future debates on pacifism, here're some trends I've noticed of past Witchmares to aid decision-making on how to deal with future instances.
OCCURRENCE
> Witchmares have been bosses every month since March, to the date of this post (May.)
NIGHTMARE OR WITCHMARE?
> It is currently impossible to tell for sure until its defeat: Nightmares do not release the aforementioned person + not-soul-gem thing.
> An boss event with unprecedented circumstances tends to be an indicator that the boss is not a normal Nightmare.
> Nightmares are established to be: limited to an area within a barrier, and unable to physically change things outside that barrier. E.g. Febuary's Nightmare had a dungeon solely limited to one area, Magi had to enter it to fight. VS April's Witchmare flooded the town, and physically transported the Magi from within the school to outside. It seemed to move freely through the town without being limited to one specific spot.
> ^So, if it doesn't fulfill those conditions, it's probably a Witchmare.
FIGHT / MERCY?
> Witchmares that only fight in defense have been shown to require a non-violent resolution for the best endings. (e.g. March, May's Witchmare was only attacked for one turn but its response text was "an attempt to sweep the magi off their feet", explicitly a reaction without intent to harm.)
> Conversely, a Witchmare that immediately attacks without provocation (May) required straightforward fighting to defeat.
> Boss Battles preceded by hidden messages, runes needing to be translated etc. have so far favored non-violent solutions. (e.g. March, May)
> For March and May, violence resulted in some signal that the approach was incorrect (Mar: NPC hostages died, May: Witchmare explicitly said to react "as if in terrible pain".) I don't quite remember the language used in April and whether it's similar to May, so I'm unsure about this point.
> I believe some mod mentioned somewhere that the April Witchmare was purposefully different from March and May's? I forgot if that was in reference to the crab or the actual Witchmare though, correct me if I'm wrong. Therefore we might want to be careful when referencing April's event in our theories.....???