Trapping Fae...?

Jodotha · Feb 23, 2009

OK, this is still sort of vague, even in my storyline, but it's giving me a headache

My characters need to trap a fairy - a malicious, semi-intelligent fairy, sort of like a boogie-man type. HOW do two mortals trap something like that? What could you trap it in or with? It's a shape shifter, so they can't just tie it up or something with iron chains. Boo. HELP? It's repelled by iron, but not incapacitated by it. Rather like insect repellent I guess.
Iron is the typical recourse with Fae, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Ideas?

Sophia · Feb 23, 2009

Would it be possible in your world to hold it within an iron box, or could it magic itself out of it? If it could be held, you could perhaps have a trap: an iron box, camouflaged with something, with something inside it that the fairy might want. It would go in, and the door would snap shut behind it.

dclary · Feb 23, 2009

brownies made with mandrake and nightshade, with a sprinkle of napalm mixed in for good measure.

The mandrake roots him to this plane, the nightshade prevents him from teleporting, and you tell him to his face that if he shifts, you'll light the napalm and blow him to hell in flaming particles.

That's how we've always done it in my family, anyway.

Captshady · Feb 23, 2009

Couldn't you make it where in your world, when the fae are in metal containment, that they're powers are taken away or weakened?

Another idea, maybe a metal filament aerosol, that would prevent them from using majic, or would incapacitate them for awhile.

Jodotha · Feb 23, 2009

dclary said:
The mandrake roots him to this plane, the nightshade prevents him from teleporting, and you tell him to his face that if he shifts, you'll light the napalm and blow him to hell in flaming particles.

That's how we've always done it in my family, anyway.

LOL. That's awesome.

Unfortunately, I'm working within an urban setting - 1900 New York City. So there are limited tools, as far as napalm goes ;-)
Probably should have mentioned that....

The iron box would probably anger it, but I'm not sure where they'd get one. Hmm. I do like the idea of trapping it in something, but something less literal?
Bonus: This takes place in/around a church. This fairy is freaking Chuck Norris.

What have I done? heh.

thanks all for your consideration!

sunandshadow · Feb 23, 2009

What about a chalk circle with runes sort of set-up? Or perhaps fairies have a weakness to mirrors, or cats, or gemstones...

RainyDayNinja · Feb 23, 2009

What about iron bullets? Perhaps they would incapacitate the fairy, or at least make it loopy enough to catch in a box. Plus, gunfire makes everything more exciting! Of course, nobody uses iron bullets for normal shooting, so they would have to me custom-made. Any professional fairy-hunters in your world?

Smiling Ted · Feb 23, 2009

I suppose no one's suggested a butterfly net? Really, it's standard operating procedure.

Okay, okay. They trap the shapeshifting fae the same way Menelaus trapped Proteus. It ain't easy, it ain't clever, and it ain't pretty...but it is exciting.

nevada · Feb 23, 2009

iron box, 1900 NYC. you find a blacksmith, they had plenty of those still, and you get him to make you one. sheesh. how hard is that?

waylander · Feb 23, 2009

I second the net idea, Maybe reinforce the threads with iron/steel wire.
You could use iron bullets/shot with an old muzzle-loading gun.

Izunya · Feb 23, 2009

The traditional way to cope with a shapeshifting fairy is to grab them and hang on like hell.

Of course, in Tam Lin, which is what I thought of first, the shapeshifter is (a) a human under magical influence, and (b) doesn't actually want to hurt the woman who grabbed him. Still, the implication is that sooner or later, the energy for shapeshifting runs out (or else the fairy queen just ran out of ideas, but the energy idea is better for your purposes). Make it an endurance contest. If your humans can force the bogeyman to shift again and again and again, then maybe they can exhaust him.

Maybe shooting at him, or at least attacking him repeatedly with iron, would force him to shift in order to defend himself. I mean, iron might not be his kryptonite, but maybe it does hurt. Of course, your humans would have to make sure he doesn't decide the fight is unwinnable and fly away—maybe there's something they know enrages him, the way red flags are supposed to irritate bulls? (They don't. Mythbusters proved that bulls hate flappy things and/or matadors, not red things.)

Also, if he's intelligent enough, he could fake exhaustion. But you don't want it too easy.

Izunya

tailstrike · Feb 23, 2009

A cardboard box held up with a stick with a rope attached to it???

dclary · Feb 23, 2009

chicken wire and bluetick hounds.

heretic_scribe · Feb 23, 2009

Just to be clear: The fairy can only change shape, right? It can't change state. It can alter its physical form, but it can't turn to water or vapor? When it changes shape, can it change into forms that are more or less massive that its true form? Can it be a fly one second and an elephant the next?

Nivarion · Feb 23, 2009

oil with iron shavings in it. or glue, maybe glue will work better. glue with iron shavings. and just throw it on him. it would be like a bug you sprayed with insect repellent.

Shweta · Feb 23, 2009

How's your fae deal with church bells? That's a standard faerie-weakening thing.
And what about crosses?

How about a circle (maybe with runes) of St. John's Wort, rowan chips, salt, or iron shavings -- left open till the critter enters it, then closed? If it's indoors, it shouldn't just be able to shift to a bird form and fly away, especially if there is... mistletoe or holly or rowan on the windows and door frames.

RainyDayNinja · Feb 24, 2009

Prussian Blue is and was a common synthetic pigment, used in blueprints, which contains iron. It's not in a metallic form, so I'm not sure if it still works in your world, but it stopping it with ink could be interesting.

Alex Bravo · Feb 24, 2009

A wood/iron cage. From the inside, and its middle, the fairy cannot see the iron bars because they are hidden by wooden bars. Only if she tries to pass the wooden bars, does the power of the iron bars repel her back to the middle. So my suggestion is a cage within a cage where the wooden bars would be thicker than the iron bars around it.

Can the people entice the fairy by telling her they can trap her? Obviously, an iron cage wouldn't work because she wouldn't go near it, so they try a wooden cage only. She escapes, to win a bet perhaps. So they try again, with the special cage. So when they place the lid, and she's asked to escape, she realizes she cannot.

Jodotha · Feb 25, 2009

Wow, lots of good ideas here. I have the unfortunate timing to finally log on when I'm dead tired, so I'll come back and look at these tomorrow.
Let me say though, you all are awesome - thank you for taking the time out to throw your ideas and knowledge my way!

BookStop · Feb 26, 2009

St John's Wort should be able to strip a fairy of it's will, so used in combination with an iron box might keep it imprisoned. Running water and bells are good fairy repellents. Cream and bread are used to attract fairies, so perhaps they would make a good lure, then lace the treats withthe St John's Wort, pluck it up and put in a cage, box, or iron net.

Jodotha · Feb 26, 2009

The iron box/net theory - This is pretty popular venture, but just not the right one for this MS. Aside from the fact that it just doesn't feel right, they're also kind of stuck inside a cathedral. If they leave, at least without some serious planning involved, they're leaving themselves vulnerable to this malicious fae. Also, the fairy itself has built up a slight immunity to iron from living in the city for so long. Kind of like people learning to live with pain over time. Iron's not it's favorite, but it wouldn't paralyze it either.

Bait - Totally have that covered. It's a person. XD

Probably should have mentioned the cathedral thing and the bait thing, huh? Sorry... >.>

Limits: Keeps it's basic mass the same. Can transform into LOTS of bugs but probably not a single bug. Could shift into something bigger, but less dense. An elephant you could possibly walk through... That said, makes me go "Hmmm...."

Shweta, I love the idea of church bells, even if they just paralyze him for a second, that could be very helpful...

All good ideas - they all make me go "Hmmmm..." THANK YOU! Going to go see if I'm not writing myself into my own little box....

heretic_scribe · Feb 28, 2009

yeah, the volume/mass issue can be a deal breaker. I like the way you relate the two, so that it's mass stays about the same.

Trapping Fae...?

Jodotha

Oh hey, I've been here before...

Sophia

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Captshady

What happened to my LIFE?!

Jodotha

Oh hey, I've been here before...

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal

RainyDayNinja

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

nevada

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Izunya

tailstrike

Thinking, always thinking!

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

heretic_scribe

CIA Roadsign Assassin

Nivarion

Brony level >9000

Shweta

gone

RainyDayNinja

Alex Bravo

Jodotha

Oh hey, I've been here before...

BookStop

Jodotha

Oh hey, I've been here before...

heretic_scribe

CIA Roadsign Assassin