As many of you know, several Travancians traveled to Arkovnia during this feast weekend to assist with a few separate matters. (A full report of my team’s efforts will be documented separately for the Adventurer’s Guild.) At first it seemed these incidents were not connected, but it seems that they all stem from a rapidly growing doppelganger problem. Here's the knowledge I've been able to collect so far. (No formal research has been done yet, all of this is based on experience from the last 48 hours. Please feel free to tack on additional insights as we learn more.)
WHAT THEY ARE
- Doppelgangers are some sort of abberant creature. In their "raw" form, they appear to be faceless but otherwise humanoid shaped. More detail is needed.
- While assuming a form, they are physically indistinguishable from their victim, with all the victim's memories, skills, combat abilities, and (most concerning) magical powers. An autopsy of a doppelganger did not reveal any distinguishing features, though we only have one data point for this so far.
HOW THEY OPERATE
- These creatures put their victims into a deep sleep, more akin to a coma, before assuming their form. As far as we know, doppelgangers do not kill their victims, choosing instead to hide the original somewhere they won't be found and can stay asleep safely.
- They seem motivated to live "better versions" of their victims' lives.
- They seem to be able to recognize each other while assuming forms, but we don't know if they are actively working together. It's unclear at this point whether we're looking at an infestation of individual doppelgangers, or an invasion by a large group of them.
HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM
- Doppelgangers have all the memories of their victims, so asking them a question only the original would know doesn't seem like it would work, but more research is needed. People who know the victim very well seem to be able to tell that something is "off" about the doppelganger's mannerisms, but we have yet to establish a pattern.
- Shades (ghosts, etc) seem to be able to identify doppelgangers.
- A doppelganger was identified by going into its mind. (Anyone have a firsthand account of this?)
HOW TO DEFEAT THEM
- Since they have all the abilities of their victims, you can defeat a doppelganger the same way you'd defeat its victim. No extra abilities have been noted yet. The body is flesh and blood, just like the victim's.
- The original can only be woken once the doppelganger is killed. The sleep is much deeper than normal sleep and is more akin to a coma. We were able to wake two victims with smelling salts.
- A doppelganger that has assumed a form does not revert to its raw form after being killed, and the corpses appear to decay normally.
WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW
- Do not go anywhere alone. Exercise extra vigilance while traveling. If you can teleport, do it. If you can't, offer to walk your friends home. If you think you’re being watched or followed, don’t fight, run.
- As per Amhrán's missive, if you see "the faceless ones", don't look them in the eyes (or, rather, where the eyes should be) and don't let them touch you.
- If you find someone in a coma, immediately move their body to a secure location and alert your neighbors to search for their doppelganger.
- If you suspect someone is a doppelganger, do not attack them immediately. Find the victim's body first.
This is scary, Travance, but with cool heads and clear eyes we can figure this out.
Hi all, I've put up a separate post with updated information. Please refer to that from now on.
QUESTION -
have we determined if skills and abilities that target aberrants hurt these doppelgängers significantly more?
example - Negative Energy Fortitude Paragon - Aberrant specialist or Favored Enemy from Ranger
For the sake of making the most informed decisions about this as you can, these creatures can't be reasoned with in a way that ends beneficially. Dopplegangers are aberrations, which, like Blight, Schisms, Hellions, and the others, are a mutation of the supernatural - they are, factually, cancerous to the natural state of those powers and this world. Permitting a kind of complacency to their presence only allows the poison of their being to seep further into the world and damaging it. Because they are aberrations, however, there is another course that can be taken. Myrinod is a place accessible by Exemplars within the Weave built to contain and breakdown the cancerous mutations of aberrations, and then return that power - restored from its corruption - back into the Weave.
I understand the desire to seek a resolution of equity with them, but these are creatures whose very essence of their creation is that of poison and corruption. Please be careful not to let them use your empathy to their advantage. In Service to the Crown, Aleister Demirosz, The Phoenix
Amhrán, I know there's a high chance doppelgangers are able to read all of these messages. I came to that conclusion after dealing with them in Arkovnia. But unless they figure out how to edit their own memories, my assessment at this point is that they can't do much to change the behaviors and weaknesses we have observed, and we benefit more from sharing this information with everyone.
If there's a fatal flaw, we need to know it. Secrets are of no use here. They probably already know anyway.
Can we meet up to discuss? You probably know where to find me.
P.S. If you're a doppelganger reading this, hello! Can we talk? What are you searching for? Let's figure this out together. We can reach a solution that doesn't involve taking lives away from people who already have them.
Amhrán,
This may have been buried so I shall repeat it here on this posting. Our boards are protected. We can talk here safely to disseminate information to not only those who call themselves a hero but the commoners we protect as well. Using only word of mouth only leads to people mishearing and repeating the wrong information to others, and can be as easily heard by the doppelgangers if they overhear a conversation or someone tells them without knowing they are not who they are pretending to be.
-Dame Ebony Hale-MazoKisei
Now I know that dealing in secrets is something you don’t.
But our best option would be to keep the enemy uninformed.
Spreading our truths by word of mouth only for the time being. Keep them blind.
Public boards are accessible by the enemy as well.
Remember they are everywhere, and no I’m not just being manic.
And keep a close watch of those around you, look after those who can’t.
Correct you are, the copies think themselves better than the originals.
These creatures are nearly perfect copies. Are they? Not quite.
If they weren’t so fatally flawed, like a wet fused bomb.
But that information is too valuable to put on paper, far too valuable.
Remember, look everywhere for the patterns of irregularities, clad in mystery.
What is hidden shall be revealed, have open eyes, open minds, and let nothing go awry, See the lies.
- Amhrán
Notes from Ser Blue Kestrel and Julia Marcain's interrogation of a doppelganger who had assumed the form of Dr. Evander Crios:
- The doppelganger, nicknamed "Evilander", was identified using psionic magic. By looking into his mind, Kestrel and Julia found memories of Evilander enacting a plan to trap Kestrel, having the thought at the time that "she would make a good other one."
- They also found memories of the doppelganger thinking to himself about how much better he was than his victim. This adds to the theory that doppelgangers want to lead "better versions" of their victims' lives, and indicates they have personality traits of their own, separate from the traits they're imitating.
It's encouraging that we can use psionics to read a doppelganger's thoughts and determine their intentions, but until we know more, I'd caution against needless psychic inter