hatthevar | blood rains

[groundrules]

Drawn to undead creator Matthias, the party heads into Hatthevar — former wasteland of myth and superstitions, now city of ghosts.

The first log of Hatthevar spans until 31 January.

A small part of the event is open to players both in and out of the game, who can bring dead characters in the bazaar!

HATTHEVAR

---

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The party enters blood-rained Hatthevar during a daily one-hour truce between the citadel and the undead forces that assail it. At the gates is undead Lord Rathakku of the Brotherhood, keen to usurp his distracted maker Matthias; in the skies dart the forces of dead wind lord Anurr, who has no love for the Brotherhood.

Hatthevar’s ghostly champions — including enormous ghosts that consume men and floating spirits that strangle with chains — defend the grounds. Matthias neglects the war, persistently summoning spirits from various worlds and points in time to revive them.

KNOCK, KNOCK

Wispy, shadowy silhouettes closely watch the lone gate of Hatthevar. The party infiltrates at sunrise.

Characters who have died, practise necromancy or are death-touched enter freely. The living must consume Karsa’s foul potions that absorb their shadows and partly mute their powers to pass for dead. Holders of Matthias’ severed limbs or organs, or of dark mirror shards or dark water, are closely watched by the dead and perhaps pursued.

Everyone must create new names and stories covering their identity and circumstances of death. Crafty ghost sellers will try to learn your true name to capture you in slavery.

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Spend a few days acquainting Hatthevar, its constant rains, vicious gambling dens, bazaars, oracle halls, wish shops and nests of memory thieves.

Show kindness to the newly revived spirits who struggle to remember themselves and roam in the citadel’s bazaars of curiosities.

Optionally, some characters are struck by misfortune. Capture a crafty, palm-sized spirit rabbit to improve your luck… or stumble upon a larger, dark hopper to ruin it.

Most sleeping quarters are available at downtrodden inns or in lavish gambling dens, for exorbitant prices. You can’t shake the feeling of someone watching through holes in your walls.

MATTHIAS

Three days after arriving, the party receives a note from Matthias that reveals the origins of his pact with the dark water to propagate the dead in Akhuras. Matthias says he has been working to bring the spirit of his dead daughter Cosette through the beacon for revival. She materializes briefly in Hatthevar but disappears before he can find her. Retrieve Cosette, and he will surrender the party his power over the undead.

Full note

” Well, hello! Is it nippy beyond the walls? Not cold here, just… the rain. Tried wishing it away, but… waste of money, those wish shops. Not like, what is it you call it? The dark water? It’s ancient. Back in Ellethia, we thought it came from the sea. All began with a mirror shard. That, and constant pressure to race against decades of Taravast research into curing death. We got there first! That’s… my claim to fame: I wished death gone. It was work. Work ate me. Then, the dead woke up, killed everyone, and there wasn’t much of a profession left. Or of Ellethia. The dark water wants flesh, so… I’ve made it death lords and armies, and I’ve left parts of me to anchor it. In return… it gives me revival. But, look. I had a… daughter. Cosette? Blonde and eyes green and blue and like her mother’s, and only five summers old, but she thought she was so clever, kept telling her doll so. That’s all you’re left with. Memories. She died, of course. I’ve been working to resurrect her, and her spirit shows up every few days in Hatthevar. She disappears before I can find her. I’m not… good at bargaining. I’m a magical engineer, really. Tinkerer! But my time’s running short, isn’t it? Just look outside. And all I want is Cosette. You want the beacons? Have them. You can have my power whole. I’ll give it. Some of you will need to help hold the walls up, and others might want to look into the funny business in the lagoon, if it’s linked at all to Cosette, though I doubt it. But, truly. Bring me Cosette, and the deed’s done. You can have everything.”

The Merchant distrusts Matthias’ proposal, but sees potential leverage and urges the party to investigate the girl and the lagoon. From here onward, everyone heads to their assignment:

COMBAT

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Assigned: Bucky Barnes, Carol Danvers, Deimos, Emilia, Jiang Cheng, Luffy, Natasha Romanoff, Nynaeve, Stephen Strange, Wrath, Wrathion, Zoro

The first line of defence against the swarming undead, you must hold off swathes of enemies across three territories:

THE WALLS

Despairingly tall and uncomfortably narrow, overseen by Matthias’ ghostly cannibal titans, who neglect to discern between friend or foe in their broad, relentless strikes. Blood rains pour down thick and nearly blinding. From the skies, you face the frost-breathing 10-15 meter-tall wyrms of undead blizzard lord Anurr, unaffiliated with the Brotherhood. Stick together: when alone, Anurr’s winds speak to you of your deepest doubts and fears, compelling you to surrender — or to let go of restraint, briefly berserk, and attack your own.

■ Serthica survivors may call their dragons to assist. Through Jon Snow, the party can also summon the giant, but slow and poor-sighted frost dragon Irenia to help on three occasions.

THE COLD PLAINS

Just outside of Hatthevar sprawls a desert-like cold plateau, where treacherous dunes shift to swallow you whole and the bestial forces of the Brotherhood’s most capable undead general, Rathakku, hide in wait. Hard-shelled, slippery and sleek his creatures lie buried and thrust up their arm-rows of hundreds of blades that cut into the legs of passers-by, drawing them into sand.

THE UNDERPASS

A series of subterranean tunnels connects Hatthevar with the cold sand outposts. Scour the myriad of dusty, tunnels and purge it of large scorpion-human hybrids that carry multiple weapons and whose sting leave men hallucinating. Oversized serpents abound, their venom prone to paralyzing their prey. You can make or procure antidote potions from Hathevar. Matthias’ ghostly titans are closing off all tunnel entrances to Hatthevar — don’t end up sealed in on the wrong side.

! Collectively, the party must kill at least one frost wyrm, one scorpion/serpent and one sand lurker to keep all three levels safe. Turn in your threads before 28 January… or let the citadel suffer in part II.

EXECUTION

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Assigned: Five, Lockwood, Mo Ran, Vanessa, Yelena, Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu

Your objective is to locate Matthias and secure the beacons that are currently in heavy use. Securing one or more beacons will help you get home.

■ Your best bet for intelligence are the treacherous networks of underground memory thieves and slavers, who attempt to steal your freedom or your recollections.

■ Your next option is the gang of Erkul, who ruled over local oracles and Hatthevar whole before Matthias’ arrival. Coarse, slippery but cunning, Erkul sullenly nurses his weight in wine at the gilded Sanctuary, Hatthevar’s foremost gambling den. Street sources say the establishment’s passcode each day this month is a fruit name. Erkul’s crew sell highly potent opiates.

■ Ransack some Whispering houses for information, equipment, poison or arsenal. Small, dusty, cluttered and often creaking, Whispering houses hold a wealth of dangerous artefacts, from haunting poltergeists you might accidentally release by reading out their names from tomes to flying rope that throttles you. Large dread hounds instil blood-curdling fear in anyone who looks into their eyes.

■ The five beacons of Hatthevar are only briefly active each day as Matthias makes his summons. They are guarded by swarms of colossal leonine-shadow creatures that only attack if they feel any fear in your soul (of it, or anything else), pouncing to claw and shred you apart. To claim a beacon, Karsa may provide a cold, coal-like token that must be placed in the middle of the transport dais, within inevitable sight of the shadow lions. You must wait 15 minutes in place for the token to take root. Report your conquest before 28 January!

■ Every six hours, Matthias sends ravens to check on the shadow-lions. You must either trick them, leave the lions alive or capture the ravens.

CARE

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Assigned: Allison, Eda, Hermione, Kamala, Lan Sizhui, Sanji, Winnie

Carer’s have the lion’s share of all duties — and the party’s few lingering resources. You must look after the group and the ghosts of Hatthevar: meandering, disoriented and fragile, the spirits who were freshly wrenched from death’s snare become easy prey for the Undead Brotherhood, the elements and the ghost slavers. Rescuing or attending vulnerable spirits can gain you allies.

■ comfort ghosts who recover from revival or struggle with their memories. Many are stranded in the Whispering houses or chained into servitude in the gambling dens.

■ rescue spirits from the immense slaver clan of Ras’Kalur, which tricks newly summoned, dazed spirits in the bazaars to sign away their freedom, promising someone to look after them. Ras’Kalur’s people often raid streets and shelters, forcibly dragging spirits back into their camps at the outskirts of Hatthevar.

■ barter to rent or buy abandoned taverns to give the party a resting space during their stay in Hatthevar. You may need to pay locals in favours, from helping them carry out petty acts of revenge to making up with a grudge-bearing wife or paying penance to their ancestors.

■ heal, cook and provide for combatants on the walls, taking care not to fall in the crossfire or frost wyrms or of allied but negligent 12-feet ghostly titans.

■ as the least suspicious party members, negotiate for information or supplies on behalf of the group: make friends with gambling den owners and the two-bit shady crooks who know their daily passcodes to enter, or with the regulars of the Whispering houses.

INVESTIGATION

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Assigned: Ben Hargreeves, Benedict, Caitlyn, Cal Kestis, Jon Snow, Merrin, Nami, Rin, River Song, Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing

■ You know from Matthias that, as a result of his beacon summons, the spirit of his daughter Cosette appears every fifth day in Hatthevar for a few hours at midday. Despite this, a young girl matching Matthias’ description (5-6 years of age, green-blue eyes, blonde, prone to laughter) is never seen. Matthias alerts you whenever Cosette appears.

■ Day of first appearance: Matthias feels her presence in the bazaar, where the day’s main attraction is a puppet show that draws a heavy crowd. At midday, a chime sounds, and the puppet show performs the sad story of a daughter quarrelling with her father over his absences. The daughter-puppet flees into the woods, while the puppet-father refuses to reconcile and follow her. The girl is killed by animals, and the puppet-father grieves, heartbroken. All the women or girls in the crowd, including you, find they burst into tears.

■ Day of the second appearance: Matthias senses Cosette is in the alley of Whispering Houses. You notice the typical bustle of the alley and shady movements, as discreet, embarrassed, or desperate patrons scuttle. You see no small girls but hear of three trades that took place at the Whispering Houses, carried out by different women: one bought a memory, one sold one, one had a memory replaced. Pay for a memory trade to learn more.

■ Day of the third appearance: Matthias feels Cosette near the Oracle Hall. The hour passes by the time you climb the stairs and are received. The Oracle confirms only one person has visited — a blonde woman — and says to “tell your master that an hourglass keeps track of new time, but can’t give the old one back.”

You get three clue questions/character and should communicate with fellow investigators. Please share key findings by network before 25 January!

EXPLORATION

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Assigned: America Chavez, Buggy, Connor, Elayne Trakand, Lan Wangji, Licyn, Red, Wen Ning

The river Liu neatly divides Hatthevar, its clean waters progressively darkening towards the edges of the citadel, where they pour into a vast, serene and heavily misted lagoon. Veterans sense an eerie chill from the familiar dark waters that so often accompany the undead.

Like Matthias, Karsa says a strange power sleeps at the heart of the lagoon.

■ travel by raft with a companion through the lethargy-inducing fog, as tar-like people peer up from the waters or swim below, never quite attacking you unless you fall into water. They (and the currents) try to upturn your boat.

■ Scattered lit candles drift on water as you advance. Pick one up, and you find one of the floating creatures of Hatthevar has joined your raft, carrying a rope-chain. It says it and its kind are former oracles and truth-speakers of the citadel — and urges you to speak, pledging to kill the first person who lies before you leave water.

■ Farther out, you discover four half-sunken ships that have crashed into each other over time, their decks now forming a rocky square-like structure. You can carefully navigate your raft to reach this construct, or make your way by hopping onto floating deck parts and the debris of other rafts.

■ Once aboard the square structure, you find all the decks are heavily rotten, creaking and prone to collapse. You hear a maddening, shrill scream that steals control of your now convulsing body, until you find yourself driven closer and closer to the end of a plank or a deck hole against your wishes — unless you are physically detained until the shrieking ends.Sharp-toothed mermaids swim below.

■ Reach and explore the curious ships’ graveyard, to peer into the black well in the middle of the square infrastructure.

QUESTIONS

NPC INBOX

Comments

[reparo]

[ It's not that she flinches, it's that her whole body locks up in a blind panic, her breath locking in her throat. Not for the reasons one might think - Vanessa making no bloody sense, Vanessa licking bloodrain off her wrist, Vanessa actually confirming it's human blood, her wand hand trapped against the wall, her escape blocked.

It's the arm with the scar that Vanessa holds up to her mouth, Bellatrix Lestrange's torture and final macabre gift carved into Hermione's forearm. The gesture from the other woman pulls her relatively loose sleeve down to her elbow, and there it is, and Hermione sees it. MUDBLOOD, written out by blade, left behind and haunting her even now, and -

And the tragic thing is that Vanessa Ives now reminds her of the very witch that gave her that scar, and Hermione is locked in place, gasping for breath, panicpanicpanic - ]

Nononono, please - not that one.

[groundrules]

It is, in fact, important! For science.

As Red is taking the pear-like spheres ~home~ (to the group), they will inevitably also catch Karsa's attention. What she can share:

— the well liquid is a result of a melting pot of memories. Clearly, memory extractors or individuals who have had their memories extracted then deposited said memories into this well for the closest thing to destruction and/or recycling. The liquid is just the sum of this memory debris.

— the liquid can be reconstituted to give you some of the memories that were poured into the cauldron.

— you now have the core ingredient that can be used for potions allowing individuals to regain or retain memories. This will allow Karsa to stitch together potions so that characters who wish to can keep their memories of Akhuras upon endgame departure. ( 'But it's only a small handful of pearls - ' 'Magic.' )

[groundrules]

Hello!

I won't 'charge' you for the first question, since it's a clarification — the Oracle is only saying that an hourglass cannot give back the past, it's only keeping track of the present.

Did the woman identify herself?
The Oracle cannot disclose the identities of those who seek her counsel, as all audiences require a certain degree of confidentiality. However, the Oracle can attest that the woman knows Matthias' heart very well, and the Oracle was moved by her plight. The woman is not of Hatthevar and does not wish to stay. She came to ask the Oracle how to prevent that, but the Oracle says the foolishness and stubbornness of men cannot be cured by reason. She has told the woman to resign herself.

iii.

[cosplayqueen]

[It is a devastating show. Kamala doesn't need any influence to cry for the girl in it. She has no idea if this is fact or fiction. It doesn't matter. She's a girl with big feelings and too much empathy to ever be truly safe. She rarely shies away from them despite the risk it poses to her.

The teen glances over at the woman crying near her. She recognizes her from the party. She doesn't hesitate to reach over to touch her arm. ] It's okay to be upset. What happened to her was terrible.

[Soft and reassuring.] What was your name again? I'm Aisha. [She has no idea if they can break character here so she doesn't.]

[groundrules]

Of course! Definitely don't give something too big — it's meant to pinch the character a bit so there's a sense of payment made, but definitely not cripple them.

Since I don't want you to wait on my timezone:

The sold memory that River procures through trade was extracted from the giver. It comes as pleasant rose-scented incense. The memory seller's instruction is to burn it to experience the memory.

When the incense is burned, River may see as if through the eyes of the original memory owner. This person has delicate hands, long braided blonde hair and wears a dress. She appears to be on a ship deck, in the middle of a raging storm at sea.

The person is in the middle of quarrelling over a pendant with Matthias, who appears 8-12 years younger than his current age. He says to calm down, stop being attention-seeking and to finally return home. The woman tells Matthias that she didn't make a weeks-long trip by sea just to crawl back, because he has now stepped away from work to remember he has a family. She says she is actually doing something meaningful with her life by finding the new magical supply sources that will help improve the lives of hundreds and thousands of helpless people worldwide. Meanwhile, he and his elitist colleagues bury themselves in a literal ivory tower to produce academic impossibilities. Sailors start coming closer, inviting the woman inside, as the storm worsens and the rain becomes impossibly, overwhelmingly harsh.

Matthias urges her to listen, go to her cabin, and stop this impetuous nonsense just to prove a point to him. She refuses to leave the deck, accusing him of probably only caring about her now because his institute workmates must be asking after his family. She turns the communicator off — just as sailors scream about storm damage to the ship.

Thus ends the sold memory.

[starlingroad]

( Lan Wangji gives his answer - and America would think the logic sound. She, for example, doesn't consider her ability the same as magic. It's something more biological and inherent to who she is. But, surely, what Lan Wangji speaks of is also different. Her eyes flicker to the creature, making sure it knows she finds this agreeable. She was just curious, and perhaps careless with it. )

That's fair. ( Her jaw clenches at the question, though. It feels a bit like tattling, since Wanda was here at some point, but alas. It is what it is. )

The Scarlet Witch. ( Not a lie, but not giving away Wanda as she was known here, someone who wanted only to protect her brother. )

[starlingroad]

[ America's eyes widen. ] Quiet. [ She nods her head, slowly and not looking very sure of this, at all. At least her voice is softer next she speaks. ]

I can totally be quiet. [ Right. She edges along, feet slow and careful - they can be quiet, but her mouth? Yeah, she's working on that. She's proven to be silent when necessary, after all. Just can't stop herself from gasping when one of the board feels like it gives out from under her. ]

[valeas]

He circles the frost wyrm, and it reveals there are two more of its brethren waiting in the wings (pun sort of intended), circling them back in turn. Her hands wrap firmly around Wrathion's spikes to hold herself in place, something volcanic building in her chest. The very thought they may have hurt Opal, or worse.

That they might also hurt Wrathion because he swooped in to save her.

She shudders, though it is difficult to say if it's born from the chill, or her mounting rage.

The wyrm Wrathion wounded with his flame is rearing back with an awful, pained screech, but its two siblings remain circling them. The powerful whoosh of their beating wings almost threatens to push her back from where she sits, but when they snarl, Emilia snarls right back. Feels that terrible heat grow in her chest.

She summons a protective force field around them, intercepting a blast of cold air, and some claw attacks to go with it. Tries to communicate to Wrathion: "We need a better vantage point."

So they can rain down all their fire. In theory.

[downswing]

( He holds the pace. Later, it will strike him that, all along, this is all that was required of him — to match her, so that at least one of them might achieve their objective. For the second part of their assignment, as Red collects a... string of beads, colours dark and clashing and strange, it is Lan Wangji who must call his courage. Who must devise some manner of recourse, as he starts carefully to unsheathe his sword and...

...not wield it. Not precisely. But force it to hover before him, to the level of his knee, rigid and waiting. No Opal, this, but a permissible substitute, on days when winds do not batter them into the ground. )

Do you fear flight?

( Far too high above an uncertain terrain, ghouls and sirens only waiting for them to drop. A wonderful proposition. Lan Wangji too would spit upon it, if they were not on the brink of encirclement. )

[valeas]

Emilia does not sense these creatures as well as Wrath does, but there is a faint vibration in the ground under her that suggests movement —

His timing cannot be overstated.

A mere second before he transvenios them away, something sharp and unyielding very nearly sinks into her calf. Though it fails to, its jagged edge does scrape her leg to create a surface wound, the dizzying sensation of Wrath's teleporting magic almost dulling that brief moment of pain, but not quite.

When she looks back, she sees what wounded her: a creature with arm-rows of blades at either of its sides, sleek enough to move relatively fast, scattering ice crystals as it goes.

A long, vine-like whip covered in oversized thorns lashes out from her in an attempt to grapple.

[downswing]

Half women, half sea serpents. ( Yes, he thinks that a fair description — fairer even than the definition he has heard prior, characterizing the creatures as being part... fish. There is nothing so harmless in their shapes, nothing so innocent.

He pulls away from the deck's hole, just as Elayne slips in, nearly bringing them both out of balance, before Lan Wangji recovers his footing, teeth gritting. He wobbles back, dragging the girl beside him, wrenching them away from the sore sight.

No, better they do not dally here — ) Their voice often lures men to doom.

( ...a fine thing to remember, just as the mermaids begin their shrill, harrowing song. They are too close to this, and the deck behind them too threadbare to cross rapidly. They may only go forward, to flee. )

Jump.

:' )

[downswing]

Master Beitang.

( This, as Halut already begins to suspect aught amiss, waving his... nephew closer, and the nephews seem so very uncertain between reaching for spears and chains, or the doors —

This, as the girls scatter, drawing towards the corners of the room, the nooks and the crannies —

This, as Lan Wangji fully unsheathes his sword. )

I asked when you intend to flee the room.

[downswing]

( ...the Scarlet Witch. Some part of him, distant and fraught, remembers the name. Once upon a time, whispered beyond him, unintended for his ears —

He recalls something. What was it, now? Who...?

And he murmurs, eyes bright-white and feverish: ) What... was her name?

( He has known, somehow, this witch. It was not the one of Netvor, not they of Yancai or Taravast, but... ? )

[mustact]

[ Titles have never meant much to Ratonhnhaké:ton, so he doesn't react much to it, except with a nod of recognition. ]

I am Ratonhnhaké:ton, although most call me Connor.

[revengeisalie]

[ Rin shakes her head. ]

Not so far. Well, the play began soon after I arrived here, and... I don't know, it just pulled me in.

[ She gives a small, apologetic laugh. ]

But now it's time to focus!

[revengeisalie]

[ Oh, right, matches. Those are also an option. ]

In your luggage? So, not on you?

[ She puts a finger to her chin, pondering. ]

Hmmmm. Oh! Do you have magic?

[ Rin may be a little too excited at the prospect. Look, it's all very new to her! ]

[revengeisalie]

Improvise?!

[ Tall other, Wangji! Rin frets for a moment, gnawing her thumbnail as she thinks of what to do. She follows Wangji's nod toward the puppets.

... hmmm. What if she just told her story, a little repackaged? It is certainly dramatic. And yes, she just said she has no particular talent in storytelling, but it's the best she's got right now. She nods to herself. ]

Alright, I'll see what I can do.

[ And off she goes toward the center of the crowd, where she climbs onto the stage and draws herself up to her full height, puffing out her chest. ]

Honored denizens! I, Yoshino Toki, am but a spirit now, as you are -- but in my previous life, I aspired to be a storyteller! Will you grant me this opportunity to hone my craft?

[ Many pairs of eyes turn toward her. Right, perhaps enough to serve as a good distraction. And so, Rin begins to spin her tale: of a brave warrior and his wife, brutally murdered for a crime committed by their forebears, and their lone daughter, left to seek retribution.

In the story, the daughter gets what she wants in the end. Hey, Rin has to get her kicks from somewhere. As she speaks, she makes sure to employ grand gestures and make sound effects where she deems it appropriate. She thinks it is very dramatic, indeed. ]

[revengeisalie]

[ Look who happens to be on the same mission! 'Tis a Rin. Who is not having much luck, either. Caitlyn immediately grabs her attention when Rin spots her; she remembers her from before.

Thinking that two people will get more done than one, Rin sidles up to Caitlyn. ]

Hey! I think we might be here for the same thing.

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda could comment on how she knows that, but she just smirks and raises an eyebrow. ]

Oh yeah? How'd you go about getting it?

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda just hears a loud splash somewhere near her and turns around just in time to see Five at his most humiliating moment -- and appropriately bursts out into snorting laughter. ]

Ohhh boy! Teleportation malfunction?

[clavesregni]

[It takes Caitlyn an embarrassingly long moment for her normally very quick brain to catch up with what's happening. Hermione is... They're going to pretend...

Oh.

Better lean into it, right?]

Y-yes. Yes, we're. [She fumbles for Hermione's hand.] Together.

[But the courtesan has already given up and gone off, and she's being tugged along by Hermione, who looks and sounds about as awkward as Caitlyn feels. And the awkwardness is only magnified by walking past a low stage where dancers are engaging in some sort of performance. For a moment, Caitlyn finds herself transfixed by a woman wearing hardly anything doing a very complicated dance move that shows off just how much she isn't wearing.

No. Stop looking. Too mortifying.

She hurries after Hermione (don't look back at the dancers, don't look back at the dancers ...she looks back at the dancers), still clutching the other girl's hand for dear life.]

Perhaps we ought to stay close regardless. [This is all... a lot.]

[clavesregni]

[At least together, they can't do any worse than Caitlyn is on her own.]

Cosette?

[Another huff.] I've been asking but no one will even acknowledge my questions, let alone answer them.

[daughterheir]

[Elayne herself falls quiet as she focuses all of her concentration on keeping her balance and not making too much sound.

She turns at America's gasp, reaching out to grab the other girl, but nearly loses her own balance in the process. Her foot splashes into the water and she feels sharp claws against her ankle before she's able to reach for the Source to steady herself.]

[captain_marvel]

"Copy that. Stay away from the teeth."

She's not looking to get pumped full of venom today. In the theme of staying away from the teeth, she pushes back towards the far wall. Her head tips to the side as she studies the scenario, giving the snake time to start writhing. She raises her fists, firing off two more photon blasts to push the snake back but force damage isn't going to get this done. They need to be more strategic about what they're doing, and she thinks his daggers might have the better bet.

If she can keep it's teeth out of his way, that is.

She floats over near his shoulder, scanning the room as she tries to calculate where best to pin the head down.

"Maybe instead of alternating we should combine efforts. I hold it down, you stab?"

[somebadnews]

[ He was looking at where the knife landed again, but there's something about calling it the 'last stretch' that lifts his gaze, and he nods slowly. ]

Always is. [ It's hard not to think of he and his siblings getting gunned down in the barn the one and only other instance he manipulated time without horrific consequences. They didn't have to know. ] I don't recommend relying on a failsafe. I'm only accurate up to a minute or two.