WriterDude

We've all heard it when we were younger. "Don't be afraid of the dark. The dark can't hurt you." Well, what if it could? What if there were creatures made out of darkness itself that tried to kill you? How would you be able to defend yourself and kill the creatures?

I need a few tips about that, but first, let's get the basic "rules" out of the way.

1. No, you can't just switch on the light. Light will weaken them, but not killed them. Switching on the light to kill them are just so... lame.

2. They are not physical beings, so physical attacks won't work. You can't shoot them, stab them, run them over with your car and things like that.

3. The creatures are literally darkness. If there are absent of light, this darkness can gather into a semi-physical being and attack. But as darkness minus the darkness is still darkness, we can have an unlimited number of them from any source of darkness. Shadows, dark corner, the night... It's the same way you can't get rid of a whole in the ground by removing the emptyness. It will only make the whole bigger.

4. No magic allowed. I was about to say "it's a modern world, so no magic", but you can have magic in a modern world. D'oh. Just not this one.

5. No unique, special, überweapon to destroy them. Either all weapons can kill them, or no weapon can kill them.

Thanks for your advice.

__________________

SparkyLT

Yow, thread title scared me...I just finished a novella titled 'My Darkness'...

I would say, burn`em.

__________________
My novella, Darkness: Part 8 & 9? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I love the sentiment \ but it's really how he says it
I return crits with a link; this one, I leave you ... ... ... I love the picture \ but it's really how I dream it
Dragons Anarchy Club MSPaint? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...I love the tone \ but it's really how we hear it

Sam Winchester

The light that kills darkness is only artificial light, created by humans. It only disperses darkness by lighting a particular area. The only way to completely kill these creatures would be to use non-artificial light - i.e. sunlight. That's all I can think of, Dude.

__________________

Don't unlock doors you're not prepared to go through.

alanmt

hehehe

the first thing to pop into my mind is a giant press to squeeze the darkness through which will kill the darkness critters as it presses the darkness, so only empty, harmless darkness comes out the other side.

Since they are not physical beings, I assume they are not making physical attacks. What kind of attacks do they make?

__________________
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum europe vincendarum

JHB

Blot them out with more shadows? Or suck them up with a vacuum and press them into paintings?

Foxee

Hm, what about a philosophical attack? Since they're darkness = absence of light = essentially nothingness if you can get them to realize that maybe they stop existing since they didn't to begin with anyway.

Catch their lack of reflection in something shiny?

Throw a blanket over their head? (after all, that's what kids do to hide from monsters so maybe we need to trap the monsters in a blanket)

Create a metaphysical vacuum cleaner

Peanut Butter! (not quite sure how it might work but it has possibilities)

Bait a bag with dead batteries and when they climb in staple it shut and leave it outside for the morning sun to burn them up?

Reversing the process that creates an image on your TV screen...this would have worked better with older tvs

Take their picture. (heck, it's supposed to trap someone's soul....why not darkness beings?) but it has to be with an old-fashioned film camera or it won't work.

Bacon. The cholesterol might kill them too slowly for your story, though.

__________________
By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

slayerofangels

I've heard the dark is afraid of spiders so you could use those... But seriously, sunlight, or artificial light with the same UV intensity as sunlight would seem the most logical choice. Of course then your char's electricity bill would be apocalyptic.

__________________

For Sale: One soul. Mint condition, never been used.

Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster. And if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

WriterDude

The #1 rule is you can't use light (artificial or not) to kill them, only weaken them, so that's a no-no. Throwing them in a bag, bloting them out with more shadows and things like that doesn't work either any more than you can put out a fire by making the fire bigger.

Not sure what kind of attacks they have yet. Maybe they could become more or less physical when they attack, perhaps. That way they could maybe be killed if you hit them when they are physical.

Thanks for the tip, though. I'm open for more suggestions.

__________________

Foxee

In that case I'm quite firm on the idea that you should go with peanut butter.

__________________
By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

WriterDude

Well, peanut butter really goes with anything, so why not?

But how do you suggest I use it? Feed them expired peanut butter and hope they get sick and die? Throw peanut butter at them and hope it's flamable? Hope they are allergic? Hold up a jar of peanut butter and make funny comments about their "peanut brains"?

__________________

Foxee

LOL...you're the writer, right? I bet there is a way to make peanut butter work to save the day.

Peanut butter traps? Draw arcane symbols out of peanut butter and they disappear if you get them to cross over them? (especially if you put a maraschino cherry in the middle of the design)

__________________
By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean. ~Mark Twain

WriterDude

Maybe I should change it a bit. What about a monster made out of peanut butter? If nothing else works, at least we could eat it to save the day.

__________________

MiloDaePesdan

Well like Foxee said, you could smother darkness in a blanket. Why not trap it in an ink bottle? Or you could whack it with a gigantic key and proceed to do massive combo attacks:



Or you can just play Kingdom Hearts.

I say ink bottle. Like attracts like.



Milo

__________________

WriterDude

I think it's kinda obvious I have a creature like this in a book, so my current solution is to burn down the entire apartment building to kill it. Whatever works...

But thanks for your tip so far.

__________________

JHB