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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Dec 25, 2023 19:02:40 GMT -5
It’s been a long time since nightmares have plagued Astrid. With things in her life going particularly smoothly for the most part, nightmares and worries have largely subsided. She sleeps heavier and more soundly, especially when at home. Granted, some things have been particularly stressful and upsetting in the last few weeks such as learning about the death of someone important to her, but with how her dwarven ancestry makes her stubborn, she boldly marches on. The last few days, Astrid has spent time away from home working on new construction in Hearthside Village in Dragon’s Cradle. Things have largely settled down while reconstruction efforts in Darkveil have continued and most refugees have spread out and found homes, but the village continues growing, and there is always something to be done. Still, sleeping away from home means she sleeps less soundly, and her dreams have been particularly stressful. As such, her days working with construction means her small mistakes have increased in number, which is unsettling for the people working with her. At this rate, she might just go home. Maybe everyone needs a break because they’re all pretty tired here lately, which she figures is from overworking to get things done before the cold of winter settles into their bones. When another nightmare wakes her, Astrid startles awake, breathing heavily, and takes a moment to ground herself in her surroundings. She pulls her knees up, pressing her forehead to them while she tries to calm down, and then she decides that sleeping is really just not worth it now, so she gets up to heat some milk by the fire and try to recreate her dad’s hot cocoa recipe to help her get back to sleep. When she hangs the kettle over the fire, she notices Javal there too. “Heya, Javal,” she says tiredly. “Havin’ trouble sleepin’ too?”
Quest details: Quest Name: Dance with Death Participants: Two or more Location: Anywhere Post Requirements: 8 posts per person, 250 words per post Reward: +50 security to your home region, Choice of 1 Unique crafting material Description: Charon is a dangerous place and is filled with more threats than one can keep track of. Natural disasters, savage monsters, and crazed cultists are just a few of the things trying to take your life on a daily basis, and sometimes, they succeed. Luckily, Charon is home to brave, powerful warriors who have earned their reputation, constantly putting their lives on the line for someone else. To complete this quest, all player characters participating in the topic must be knocked unconscious or killed at least once. The details of the quest can be entirely up to you, as long as each character suffers a devastating wound and is brought to the edge of death.
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Dec 28, 2023 4:39:16 GMT -5
It’s the same nightmare again tonight, the same anguish and pain as every single other night before it. Javal considers himself to be a fairly strong person, not the strongest but strong enough to protect the ones he cares about. At least that’s what he keeps telling himself day in and day out. Even then the nightmares cause him nothing but searing pain no amount of blood or bruise matches it.
It’s a simple dream. First Javal is sailing on the high seas with a sandwich in his hands as he tells his crew to set sail for home. Everything usually goes well until he sees Thorock in the distance; that's when the dream shifts and changes. His sandwich fell from his hand and ruined the sandwich unsalvageable. The ship changes from his own to the Maw of Xebec and he’s back to his old pirate clothes. He tries running around desperately looking for anyone only to find himself alone on the ship. Soon the floor under him begins cracking and the ship gets destroyed completely. He feels himself fall into the water below he desperately tries to swim back up to get air but something tugs at his feet stopping him. He looks down and sees his captain pulling him deeper into the water. It feels real; he feels the water enter his throat and he struggles to breathe.
His captain’s voice echoed in his head, “You failed us, I wanted you to follow us into battle. I was testing you and you failed. You were the man who killed us, the boy who couldn’t save a single soul. You’re not strong, you're just a weak pathetic idiotic man”.
He wakes up panting heavily gasping for air, his skin feels as if he’d just come out of water but oddly he’s not wet. He stands up from his tent, walks over to the campfire, and sits eyes just blankly peering into the flames. It was moments like these that made the fellblood doubt himself, of course, he was riddled with soul-eating guilt but he managed to tuck that away deep into his brain and ignore it always seemed to work.
As he was lost in his thoughts he then noticed a familiar voice call out to him, he gave a wicked tired smile, “Why hello there Astrid what brings you here you should be asleep at this hour. Oh me, yes I couldn’t fall asleep anymore after waking up I was thinking of just using the time to get some extra training time in”.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 2, 2024 18:54:52 GMT -5
Taking a seat on one of the logs near the fire, Astrid settles in to warm up while the cold winter night bites at her extremities. Her breath fogs up in the frosty air, clouding her vision. Even through that, she can see Javal’s signature smile reflecting the fire’s light. She offers a small smile of her own in return, but it’s as tired as his. Seems like neither of them have slept well.
“Aye, I’d like ta be asleep,” she says with a little shrug. Her knees bend, pressing her legs against her chest, and she hugs her arms around them. “Seems hard ta do this week. Keep havin’ bad dreams. Maybe I’m homesick, I dunno.” Homesick. The concept seems foreign to her now. Most nights, she simply returns home and uses her potion to come back the next day, but making Elsewhere Juice is taxing, and she’s not far from home if she needs to go back. Traveling by normal means isn’t too bad in the moderation she does it.
“Figured a bit a’ cocoa might help me sleep better.” Astrid’s eyes flicker golden in the darkness, peering through it like a cat wandering around at night as she looks over at Javal. “What about you? Ya’ve been workin’ yerself ta the bone out here. Can’t be good that yer up this late either.” It’s hard to sleep in the cold, but the tents, fires, and sleeping bags have overall been a good way to stay warm.
Night vision
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 3, 2024 4:10:11 GMT -5
Javal changes his focus from the campfire in front of him towards Astrid, “Oh I’m sorry you’re not able to sleep my friend. Bad dreams you say? Homesickness? Is Cantio feeding you and giving you enough support my friend?”, the man says concerned for his friend, “Apologies for that I’m sure Cantio does provide more than enough. Hot cocoa sounds delightful my friend, if you'd like I can try to make some right now?”, the fellblood says his voice is a little tired but still trying to sound like his normal cheery tone.
He then shrugs as Astrid asks about him, “Eh I wouldn’t say that my friend, I tried to sleep but I ended up having a bad dream that shook me up”, he chuckles softly, “I was eating this sandwich, and then for some random reason I dropped it and the next second it was ruined. It made me wake up in a panic and now I’m here”, Javal is attempting to keep it light-hearted, he doesn’t share his inner turmoil with anybody in the entire world much less Astrid, a child.
For the fellblood, the idea of letting other people in letting them know how he feels is an odd one. He can’t help but find it very strange, preferring to just keep it to himself, store it inside his brain, and not think about it anymore. That way he can pretend like it’s gone…but it never is, not really. But he’d rather just hold his wide smile and not think hard pretending that everything’s alright than let another soul be witness to his burdens.
He takes out his katana from his waist and holds it up, “I was thinking since I was up and couldn’t sleep again to get some super extra training. After all one could never be too ready for any threat that appears”.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 5, 2024 21:56:59 GMT -5
A small smile crosses Astrid’s face. “A’ course da feeds me plenty! He’d go broke if I didn’t make money from adventurin’.” It’s hard not to laugh at the idea that Cantio wouldn’t do his best to take care of her. He’s very good at doting, and honestly, she appreciates that about him. “I’ve got the kettle on ta heat up some milk fer cocoa. I’ll mix ya some up if ya like.”
For a moment, Astrid wonders if it’s rude to chuckle at his bad dream. Without the rest of the context of the dream, it simply sounds like the nightmare was because of his dropped sandwich. “Sounds like somethin’ me friend Wolfe would dream about,” she says. If they dreamed, that is.
When the milk inside the kettle comes to a boil, Astrid pulls on one of her gloves and removes the hot metal from the fire and then pulls out a long twisted spoon and a bit of chocolate to mix into it and create a frothy hot drink. She pours them each a mug and offers one to Javal before taking her seat and sipping at the steamy drink whilst considering something.
“Ya know… I couldn’t sleep ‘cause I was also havin’ a bad dream,” she admits. “An’... honestly, I’ve had a lot since sleepin’ here. That’s why I figure it was homesickness, but… if yer havin’ bad dreams too… I wonder if somethin’s causin’ it?” Astrid’s eyes flicker in the fire as she looks over her cup at Javal. “...I’ve got a spell that lets me enter in folks’ dreams. Wanna see if anythin’ weird is goin’ on?”
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 7, 2024 1:06:26 GMT -5
“Well, I’m incredibly happy to hear that my friend, I apologize greatly for doubting his parental skills even for a second. Cantio is a great father so it’s no wonder you are sick at home. I’d love some cocoa, my friend. Thank you for offering. It is greatly appreciated in times like this”. Honestly, part of him wished Astrid hadn’t already had the cocoa made. He was in all honesty hoping he would make the cocoa himself for the both of them. Javal just wanted to keep his mind busy as he often did when he felt it too difficult to push aside.
“Oh, Wolfe? I’ve never heard of that person but if they are a friend of yours I’m sure they must be strong and awesome”, he chuckles, “Although if it’s something your friend would dream about they have my deepest concerns. Such a horrid and dreadful dream is not easy for the faint of heart”.
Javal bows to Astrid, “Thank you my friend”, and takes the mug from Astrid sitting down and blows on the cocoa to cool it off a little before taking a sip.
“Oh, a bad dream? What was it about? Was it also as horrible as losing an incredible sandwich? If so, you have my deepest condolences. If something is causing the both of us to have bad dreams at the same time perhaps we’re being affected by the same thing”.
Javal lays his katana down next to him and scratches his chin to think, “Hm, maybe it’s the food we’ve eaten? Maye the cooks accidentally added some sort of dream potion to their food without telling us?”.
The fellblood’s eyes widen in excitement as he hears about Astrid having a dream spell, “Whoa what really? That’s incredible? Yes we should do that! After all the best way to get through a bad dream is through the source in this case we can do that”, he exclaims.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 7, 2024 20:29:31 GMT -5
Astrid’s head tilts in confusion when Javal says that she hopes that Wolfe hasn’t been dreaming of such awful things. Her brow furrows while she tries to figure out why on earth that would be so horrid besides something meant as a joke. When she finally meets his eyes again, she asks, “Erm, we’re not talkin’ about sandwiches in dreams, are we?”
No, they can’t be. As she hands him the cocoa and sits back down, she thinks about her own nightmare. It’s been a while since she’s thought about the pain of being left behind by her mother, and she wonders if the pain of losing Zarius might be attributing to it. That’s possible, but Javal is also having terrible dreams, so there must be some connection. A potion in the food? She shrugs at the idea. No one here seems the type to do that, but it’s a reasonable explanation. She simply can’t think of a potion that would do that in her mental catalog of things she’s learned from the Consortium.
“When ya fall asleep, I’ll go into yer dream then! If anythin’, I can at least make sure yer havin’ a good dream before I leave it an’ get back ta sleep meself,” Astrid offers with a smile. With her cocoa largely cooled off, she sips it until it’s gone, then she takes a deep breath and rolls her shoulders, finding a way to relax until Javal drifts off to sleep.
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 9, 2024 4:24:43 GMT -5
“Uhh, yes I believe that we are at this point friend Astrid. It is a very valid concern my friend after all sandwiches are very important and having a nightmare about losing great ones is quite terrifying. Whoever this Blue fellow is, I hope they do not have dreams as scary as that”, Javal says half-truthly of course he wasn’t going to tell her the complete truth, not yet at least. He wasn't going to burden her with his whole negative and guilt ridden story it wasn't honorable or brave. In fact if Astrid was going into his dream to check it out perhaps it was better if she saw for herself instead of him telling her. Although besides the guilt ridden dream he did think that the thought of losing a perfectly good sandwich was equally terrifying indeed. After all, he had already lost two very good ones at the hands of careless people which he would never forget about.
Javal then stands up from his previous sitting spot on the log and pumps his hands in the air, “Why that sounds like a most incredible idea, my friend. Hopefully whatever it is that’s in my dreams is not as horrific as losing a sandwich. So what do we do now? Is there an incantation? Should I fall asleep where I stand I can attempt to do that”.
Javal then immediately drops to the floor and holds his katana in his hands trying to fall asleep as fast as he can muttering, “Mimimimimimi'' to help speed up the process.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 9, 2024 18:34:49 GMT -5
In all honesty, Astrid can think of a lot worse things than losing a sandwich in her dreams. Heck, even when she was at her hungriest, there were worse things that could happen and worse things she dreamed of. It isn’t her place to judge the things that upset people, and she doesn’t think less of Javal. In fact, it makes her a little jealous that the worst thing the man can think of is losing his lunch. Things must be simple for him.
“Well, if there ain’t nothin’ there, I’ll make sure ta manifest a feast within yer head so ya don’t lose nothin’ when I end the spell,” Astrid says with a smile. “Ya can just lie down. I’ll hafta wait fer ya ta go ta sleep before I can do anythin’.” Unsurprisingly, Javal drops to the floor and closes his eyes to fight wakefulness like any good warrior.
After a while, things settle again, and when Astrid is sure Javal is asleep, she goes over to sit beside him. Gently, she touches him, her hand glowing softly with magic. When she makes contact, her consciousness goes into his mind, and she falls asleep on the ground beside him.[1]
This is only the second time Astrid has ever entered someone’s dreams, and this time she doesn’t have a storm of rage in her chest to influence things. No, she just wants things to settle down or see what could be influencing the dream. But this isn’t something to do alone, so she takes a look around the scene Javal’s subconscious sets for her then starts looking for the fellblood.
1. Cyran’s Dream Walker
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 10, 2024 3:16:39 GMT -5
After a few moments of trying his best to sleep, Javal is successful and loses consciousness fairly easily. The darkness of slumber enters his mind as the world becomes dark in his mind and he is transported into a dream almost immediately.
He’s in the mountains of Dragon’s Cradle his backpack is filled with sandwiches and he’s running up the Dragon’s Spine. It’s a familiar sight to him, a memory of the distant past when his sensei made him carry a bag that was equivalent to his weight. As the fellblood reaches the top of the Spine the ground from under him is gone and he begins to fall through the sky with seemingly no ground for him to hit. After a moment of free following the sea appears under him and suddenly he is now standing in the middle of his ship. Javal’s overjoyed to be back home and begins running around looking for his crew but no one appears to be there. There is no sound of partying, fighting, or cooking. After a few minutes, he simply stands on the deck a little saddened, that is until Astrid appears in front of him.
“Astrid?”, he calls out hoping that she is real, “Did it work? Are you real? Or is this my mind creating you in my dream because you said you’d be in my dream”.
After hearing her answer Javal looks around, “Well I’m sorry it’s a little boring at the moment, want to get something from the kitchen? Thankfully this is a dream so Meryl isn’t here to stop me from finding the cookies and eating as much as we'd like”, as he takes a step forward the ship begins to break as his footsteps on the floor. The ship’s wood begins to crack, the sails begin to tear and rip and it isn’t long before the Sword of Abaddon is a destroyed wreck.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 10, 2024 18:04:45 GMT -5
It’s a strange thing, to be in the dreams of someone else. Sometimes it feels like it makes sense, and then suddenly gravity shifts and you’re falling up, down, or sideways. Rather than interfering with the dream, Astrid floats along with Javal until finally the both of them land on the ship. Travel by sea is not Astrid’s favorite way to move, so she feels her subconscious seasickness. Suddenly, the sea and the ship are still without any rocking. This is the first time she interferes in the dream.
When Javal spots her, she smiles. “Aye, I’m really here. If ya want cookies, I can just make a whole swath of ‘em, I think. Since nothin’s really real here, I can do just about anythin’.” As she waves her hand, a huge silver platter full of cookies, snacks, and sweets manifests in her hand, which she presents to him, but the moment he steps closer, the ship starts to break apart.
This isn’t her doing. She’s supposed to have full control over this dream if she wants. “Watch out!” Astrid cries, tossing the platter away and rushing to grab Javal if she can. With her will over the dream, she manages to keep him from falling, leaving the two of them floating in the air and watching the ship crumble into nothingness and fall below the waves of the dark sea.
Breathing heavily, Astrid looks at Javal with an air of panic on her face. “I didn’t make that happen. I’m supposed ta be able ta control everythin’!” And through all this, she starts to realize the skies grow dark around them, and the waves roll and roar as if the sea itself were a mighty beast. No, this isn’t right at all. Something has to be interfering!
With the wind whipping at them, the sea starts to spin into a swirling, hungry vortex below them. Even the gales try to pull them down despite the two adventurers floating safely overhead. The entire landscape, all of its imagery, the sky, clouds, ocean, and waves, all seem to be consumed by this vortex. It isn’t a whirlpool at all, but a drain leading to something dark and menacing below.
Note: Figured this would be a neat way for the Reincarnation of Fear to be consuming the nightmare.
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 11, 2024 4:05:44 GMT -5
“What’s going on?”, Javal manages to see before almost dropping with the ship but thankfully Astrid manages to grab him before that’s the case. He then floats completely worried and confused, “That’s new I’ll say usually the whole dark sea and ship getting destroyed isn't happy this soon”.
He then glances at Astrid, “It’s okay I trust you and this isn’t your fault at all, my mind a wreck this is my fault. I should have never let you in here, it's way too dangerous. Everything’s going to be okay. Astrid goes to wake up. I can handle this myself. It was a mistake for me to let someone try and help”, he then takes out his katana as he notices the change in scenery.
This isn’t like his other nightmares, it’s worse all the dark sea under them was whooshing and spinning into a large vortex. Suddenly from the dark waters below a giant pair of hands come through and grab Javal’s feet, a voice echoing from the drain, “Where do you think you’re going? You’re weak and pathetic just give it up already. Accept your doom and pay for your sins of being a failure. It’s your fault that we’re dead. I trusted you, I loved you like a son and this is how you repay me? Abandoning me and leaving me to die? You deserve to rot here in hell with me”.
The fellblood only manages to say, “I’m so sorry Astrid”, as he gets pulled from his floating position and heads towards the dark storm drain below them.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 20, 2024 16:31:33 GMT -5
Something isn’t right about this dream at all. Astrid should have control over it whenever she wants, so nothing happening could possibly be Javal’s fault. Something is very, very wrong, but they’re in a dream, so nothing here could truly hurt them, right? Suddenly, dark, twisted hands shoot up from the whirlpool and grasp at Javal’s legs, and the words that echo out of it are nightmarish at best. Astrid looks at Javal’s face and sees an expression that can only be described as resignation – similar to the expression she made when accepting her fate in the fight against the Ur-Beast. But this isn’t right! Before her eyes, Javal is dragged into the depths below. “No!!” Astrid shouts, forcing herself to fly through the air in an attempt to catch him. Her hand extends ahead of her in a desperate attempt to grab his, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t reach him. Black tendrils of water have wrapped themselves around Astrid, holding her back, pulling her away and keeping her from catching up. “JAVAL!!” she screams, pulling at the restraints. As he disappears into the darkness, the memory of watching her mother disappear into the crowded streets flashes through her mind. ”Ye’ll ne’er catch up,” a menacing voice in thick dwarvish says. ”Na matter how fast ye run, ye’ll fall behind. They’ll always be just oot o’ reach, ‘n’ there’s nary ye kin dae aboot it.”The sides of the whirlpool suddenly clash together, slamming into Astrid and filling her lungs with water. She can’t fight it. As hard as she tries to escape, to will magic into existence to get her out of this prison, she cannot. Every muscle in her body begs for oxygen, and before she loses consciousness, the last inkling of light above fades from her vision. Sopping wet and barely conscious, Astrid is dumped into a black void. The floor is knee-deep viscous liquid that sticks to all surfaces and makes it difficult to move or stand. Smoke and shadows claw at her vision. With bleary eyes, Astrid looks around and sees Javal has also landed here. And in the distance, a vaguely humanoid figure with skeletal features and the appearance of roots and branches approaches them.
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Jan 22, 2024 2:21:02 GMT -5
The mangled hands pull Javal into the whirlpool he can barely hear Astrid call out but he can’t do anything about it he then gets pulled under. Water enters his mouth and he tries his best to kick and push upwards to escape, to do anything to escape. But it does nothing to help as he feels the immense pressure of the water clash against his body like the force of a million blows. Soon the water enters his lungs, and darkness enters his peripheral vision and takes over his eyesight as he passes out.
He then gets dragged into a strange void-like place he stirs back to consciousness coughing up the water in his lungs violently. As the smell of smoke and sulfur fills his nostrils his eyes dart around the room barely able to muster the strength to keep his eyes opened. He spots Astrid looking as weakened as he was a few feet away from him. Where are they? This place seems disgusting with the sticky dark liquid all around them. His heart sinks as he notices the figure in front of him, at first he sees him, Wilford, in the distance. His captain is covered in the black viscous liquid chains on his arms and legs his body looks rotting as a single disgusted look crosses his face, Javal tries to look away but he can’t. The figure then changes form to a monstrous ghastly dark skeletal one who walks towards them. He tries to yell for it to get away but he is far too weak, his voice hoarse, and only manages to mutter nonsense.
Something speaks to them in their minds, “KeEp FeEdInG, GiVe It To Me”
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Jan 28, 2024 3:22:08 GMT -5
As she drags herself to her knees, pulling her face and head free of the thick black void that tries to drag her down, Astrid coughs raggedly. This has been incredibly mentally draining, and yet despite the fact that this is just a dream, it feels physically draining too. Whatever this figure approaching in the distance is, it must be the source of their poor sleep over the last week. No wonder so many workplace injuries have happened because of tired laborers.
“J-Javal..?” Astrid calls, fighting with all her might to sit upright or even stand if she can. The murk makes it difficult, and she’s so exhausted… What if she just went to sleep again?
“Keep feeding. Give it to me.”
That’s not the dwarven voice of dissent from before. Finally, the figure makes itself apparent: a creature that eats nightmares, one that feasts on fears. That is what has taken over this dream. No, they can’t give in. They can’t give up.
“Javal!!” Astrid cries, dragging herself up from the slop. Tendrils of darkness cling to her, but she fights against it to stand. “Javal, it’s just a dream!” That’s right. She is the one in control of this. “Th-That thin’! It–” This is no use. They can’t fight it in its own domain. “Javal, I’m gonna wake ya up!!”
With all her willpower, Astrid musters up what little grasp she still has on the dream magic to cause a blinding flash of light to explode between the adventurers and the nightmare eater. It screeches in pain and retreats, and Astrid… wakes up.
Breathing heavily, she looks around alertly, ripped from the peace of sleep. She and Javal are exactly where they dozed off, but the sleep is deep. She can still feel the tiredness grasping at her eyes. If she wakes him suddenly, in a jarring way, that might chase the creature out so they can fight it on their own turf!
Sparks of electricity arc between Astrid’s fingers, and she grabs Javal. “Wake up!!”[1]
1. Jumpstart
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