Pale

{{#if: | {{{image}}} }} {{#if: May 5 2020 | | Date posted || May 5 2020 }} {{#if: Pale | | Link || Pale }}

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Chapter guide
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Pale is the fifth web serial written by Wildbow, and is set in the same universe as Pact.

Synopsis

There are ways of being inducted into the practices, those esoteric traditions that predate computers, cell phones, the engines industry, and even paper and bronze. Make the right deals, learn the right words to say or symbols to write down, and you can make the wind listen to you, exchange your skin for that of a serpent, or call forth the sorts of monsters that appear in horror movies.

One of the common ways is to be born to it. These words that bring forth nightmares and these symbols that speak to the wind are the product of centuries of deals being made, repeated until they become expectations and assumptions, provided the person has been awakened to that world and made the necessary agreements. Families are very good at keeping these traditions going, establishing that repetition, and ensuring that each successive generation is appropriately awoken and given everything they need. But the drawback to that is having to deal with family, and old families have their own problems.

The second way is to stumble onto it. To find a book hidden in a library, or an object both strange and powerful at a crime scene where the deceased was killed by something not human nor animal. The risks are pretty cut and dry when you’re going it alone and ignorant in a world where people feel it’s necessary to hide arcane texts, or where one’s predecessor was killed by something Other that might come after them and their new trinket.

The last way, the old way? The road we’re going down? To make that deal directly. Find or be found by the fey things, the goblin things, the things that used to be ghosts and became something more, the things that used to be human and became something less. Strike those deals. Make those compacts. Those strange Others can give up shares of their power and teach their secret knowledge.

Power, knowledge, and promises. Who could say no? After all, Others and those inducted into Other ways cannot lie, and they say it’s okay. Why would anyone say no?

Perhaps because of the drawback; that nothing comes for free, and this power, this knowledge, and these promises come with an expectation.

“Something terrible happened, of a scale that words cannot easily convey. We need you to look into it. No need to solve it. Simply… look into it.”

Plot

Verona Hayward, Lucy Ellingson, and Avery Kelly are inducted into a patronage with the Others of Kennet in order to solve the mystery regarding the Carmine Beast's death, and to protect the Others of Kennet from outside practitioners who have taken an interest in Kennet.

Chapter List

• Pale Chapter List

Extra Material

Every week, supplementary material for the story was posted on the site.

• Brochure, 'Experience Kennet'
  • Features a map of Kennet and a sticky note listing supplies for Awakening.
• [1.2 Spoilers] Notes on Others
  • Basic rundown on all the Others in Kennet.
• [1.4 Spoilers] Notes on Practices #1
  • Notes on magic circles, Elemental Runes, an Awakening ritual circle.
• [1.6 Spoilers] Flyer & App
  • The Hungry Choir's flyer and Class_RankR app.
• [1.8 Spoilers] Inventories
  • Lucy, Avery and Verona's gear, and a Hungry Choir website.

• [2.1 Spoilers] Interview Notes 1
  • Notes on the Carmine Beast, Charles Abrams, John Stiles, and the Hungry Choir.

• [2.3] Spell notes #2
  • More advanced Runes and the Forest Ribbon Trail
• [2.5] Gifts Collected
  • Emails between the trio discussing and listing which gifts they've received so far
• [2.7] Location Diary
  • Details of Realms the trio have visited - Spirit World and Ruins
• [2.9] Trail Comic aka End of the Trail
  • What's happening to Avery on the Forest Ribbon Trail after 2.9

• [3.1] Interview Notes #2
• [3.3] Timelines
  • Handmade calendar and timelines of significant events in the investigation
• [3.5] Gifts Received (#2)
  • A checklist of gifts received so far.
• [3.7] Confiscated Items
  • Technomancy items Zed gave to Brie that was then confiscated by the goblins.
• [3.9] SunnyDay Logs
• [4.1] Information Packet
  • Information packet on the Blue Heron Institute, and the trio's discussion on what to do.
• [4.3] Packing Up
  • Clothes, items, and tools the trio is bringing with them to the BHI.
• [4.5] Bedtime Reading
• [4.7] Student Guide
  • Map of the Blue Hero Institute and list of students attending.
• [4.8] Dossiers
  • List of Aware Bristow has under his command.
• [4.10] Spell Notes #3
  • Further details on new diagrams.
• [5.b] Phone Conversations
  • Sharon's text conversations.
• [5.2] Faerie Courts & Goblins
  • Notes on the Faerie Courts and Goblins.
• [5.4] Outgoing Call
  • Verona and Bristow have a little chat over the phone.
• [5.5] Kennet Newsletter
  • A newspaper on recent events in Kennet.
• [6.1] Famulus Text
  • An introductory textbook on Familiars.
• [6.3] Implementum Text
  • An introductory textbook on Implements.
• [6.5] Demesnes Text
  • An introductory textbook on Demesnes.
• [6.9] Binding & Countermeasures
  • How the trio would counter and bind the Kennet Others.
• [7.3] Borrowed Eyes Comic
  • Wye and Alexander go for a little drive down to Bristow's apartment.

Trivia

• The original title of the story was Poof, as in air or breath, however this was changed after the first chapter due to it being a homophobic slur in some regions of the world.