Vae Dormienti

[Woe]

52nd of Zi'da 720


The Dreamscape tested Woe this night. He was traveling through a field of stars. Since Olga’s unfortunate murder in Quacia, in her very own backstage rooms, suspicion was high in the Lair and indeed all of Quacia. At first the attention had been focused upon the Ithecal slaves of the city, the ones that had plotted the demise of the Duke of Lair. Then, with the murder of his famous mistress, more Ithecal skulls decorated the pikes of Quacia’s walls, the thinking being that they were also responsible for the beloved actress’ murder.

They were wrong about the identity Olga’s murderers, however. Woe knew the blame for that crime laid on another’s feet.

Woe, for his part, grieved for the loss of his would-be mother-in-law. She was had been an intriguing woman, full of vivacity and appreciation for the finer things in life. She was a very fine actress as well, by his estimation, from what he’d saw. Her rendition of Duchess Callisto was entirely on target. Such a sad loss for the performing arts.

But back to the matter at hand, Woe was struggling in his travels through his dreamscape. The dreamscape presented him with a set of steps, a staircase that ever brought him farther up in the planes of that realm. Whether this was a literal or figurative ascension was of little matter. The way dreams worked sometimes took many skews to those experiencing it, this was but it’s latest incarnation to present to the mortal born.

Wisps of dust and starlight gathered as he approached the end of the stairs, climbing ever higher, he managed to make it to the top. Once there, a flash of light signified that he’d come to the threshold of another’s dreamscape. Curious, but not committed to enter the dream, Woe cleared the clouds of dust and glittering lights, and looked inside.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to disrupt his dream by walking into that of another dreamer.

Nevertheless, he watched, and waited, and may enter when he had a better idea of what lay within that dreamscape.

He turned his eyes to the north, seeing a star in the far north that signified his brand in Viden. He also had Llyr on brand, but hadn’t seen it in some time. He could only hope the Archmage was alright.

He almost didn’t realize that in his musings, he’d begun to drift through the threshold of the dreamer. Before he could fight his entrance to their dreamscape, he found himself tumbling down in through the threshold of it. Very soon, Woe found himself in the midst of the dreamer, in all his mutated glory.

[Elisabeth Black]

The nightmares hadn’t really gone away. Elisabeth was simply better at getting through what she needed to in order to get to the other side. That’s just the way it was, and she had no control over any of it. Her sword sliced through the last of the flameborn manifestations, letting them disintegrate into the nothingness they came from. Sweat dripped off her forehead as she leaned up against the side of the cavern…and waited. There was an awareness that came with doing the same thing time and time again. It wasn’t lucidity for she had no control... but a mere acceptance of the series of events to take place. The recognition and analysis of the dream always came at a later point.

When were the nightmares going to stop? It had been long enough but every night, the flameborn waited for her. Elisabeth had trained and trained and trained, hoping against hope that if she became good enough, trained hard enough, the nightmares would cease. It appeared that plan was failing miserably. Balthazar had suggested meditation, but she simply hadn’t had the time to begin exploring that option.

There was a bit of a silver lining though. Once she defeated the monsters, Elisabeth was always gifted with something of a dream. The scene wasn’t always the same and sometimes didn’t make sense, but it always was far better than fighting flameborn.

The scene shimmered, changing into something quite unexpected. She stood in the middle of the Prime Atheneum – the library at the Academy in Viden – yet it wasn’t quite what she remembered. Having grown up there, she knew every inch of the space and while she understood why her dream took her there, it was the other pieces that didn’t make sense. Soft snow floated down, caressing her bare shoulders and causing her to regard what she was wearing. Instead of the training clothing from the nightmare portion, she was now wrapped in the beautiful ball gown from the Mummer’s Ball in Rharne. Her long dark tresses were drawn up elegantly upon her head and any trace of the fight previous was simply gone. The chill of the air was noticeable but not intolerable in the least.

Sighing softly, Elisabeth knew – once she woke of course - that for the most part, her dreams were trying to tell her something. Two pieces of the puzzle were associated with Viden and her love of the city was well-known. The Mummer’s Ball dress, that was a bit harder to figure out. The night had been…. odd but in the end a memorable one. She just didn’t understand why she was being cast into that particular mix of memories. It would all be written down once she woke so she could retain the information but at that moment in time, she was helpless to do anything but go where the dream took her.

Stepping lightly forward, she cast her luminous sapphire gaze about the landscape, waiting for whatever the dream had in store for her. Emea was a strange place...

[Woe]

Was he... in the Prime Atheneum? Woe had spent a short part of Vhalar in Viden, studying psychology and other subjects of interest to him. He'd yet to complete his qualification, however, and had a class to teach before Zi'da was through. The odd shift of situation almost brought him down from lucidity, it was such a shock to his senses.

Woe wore a padded silk surcoat, colored charcoal gray with trims of darker colors. Beneath the surcoat, a simple, black wool shirt, brown leather trousers tucked into shin boots. Around his shoulders, a mantle of gray magpie feathers which was worn over a cloak of light, black velvet. It was his preferred outfit for excursions through Emea.

His white hair was much shorter than he was accustomed to, having cropped it close to his scalp in mid-Vhalar. Long hair just seemed to get in the way, more often than not. It was another inconvenience, a extravagence that needed to be divested.

While he dreamt here, his family, his betrothed and ward were making their way by boat to Viden. There, he would meet them in time. Whether travel by boat or otherwise was safer was a matter of concern. Woe had Fleaface accompany them most of the way, so he was assured they had the most capable protector with them, if unpleasant in demeanor.

But for now, none of those concerns out to strike him. He had a frequency open to Augusta in the waking world, that he could check in on her. He would know if any harm or misfortune befell her. Right now, he wanted to find the source of this interesting dreamscape.

Woe's hand traced along the books lining the shelves. Their letters obscured by half-lucid sight. He thought he heard heels clacking against the floor of the Atheneum. Another row of books traveled along, and Woe found himself in front of a woman in formal dress. There didn't appear to be any other people, constructs, around them. So he presumed she was the dreamer. Then again, the dreamer could've just as easily been one of the books he'd touched, or a chair, or the table.

Yet those couldn't be readily interacted with, so he would maintain a dialogue with the one 'object' that was capable of such. That being the woman in a ball gown.

"Hello." Woe said to her, rather nonchalant. For only a few seconds he searched for a potential opening to conversation. And so as Woe was never one for small talk: "Do you know where I can find books on the lineage and nature of the Immortals?"

He might as well wrap his studies of Immortalkind into this dream escapade. Perhaps something enlightening would come of it.

[Elisabeth Black]

As he found her, the snowfall seemed to increase, blanketing the dreamscape in a thin layer of snow. It was of little matter to the dreamer for snow always helped ease her mind. As it touched her bare shoulders, she barely felt the icy kisses against her skin. If they were to look up, they'd be greeted with the sight of twinkling stars.

The raven-haired young woman turned as she noted another with her, smiling as he addressed her. “Hello! Do we know each other? I’m Elisabeth. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her tone was light and welcoming, seemingly unconcerned with the curiosities and fantastical elements around and within her dreamscape.

“Lineage and nature of the Immortals? That’s a fascinating subject. Are you interested in anything in particular?” Sweeping her hand back out of the aisle, guiding him back into the main foyer. As they walked, he would notice a lingering smell of oranges and lavender. Whether it was connected to the young woman or the dreamscape was unclear. The snow was beginning to drift a bit in the library and as such, she was having some difficulty walking in the heels, so she simply kicked them off and continued through the wintery landscape barefoot.

“Do you live in Viden? I love it here. It always feels…peaceful.” She didn’t elaborate, choosing to wait to see what her new companion would reveal about himself. While she did choose to ask questions, she was just as happy to walk in silence if that was what he preferred. Sometimes people enjoyed silence instead of filling the void with nonsensical chatter. This, she understood....somehow.

Leading him up a flight of circular stairs, they found themselves on a golden landing, overlooking the entire library. It really was a remarkable likeness to the Prime Atheneum and the young woman’s luminous gaze seemed transfixed on the sight, simply standing there at the railing.

After a few trills, she shook herself out of the state, turning to smile at him. “I apologize. I don’t know why I find the view so breathtaking. It’s like, I miss it. But I’m sure I’m here every trial so I don’t know how that could be. Anyways, Immortals! Follow me.”

A few stacks away, she turned into the row and looked up, running her lithe hand along the spines of the tomes present. “I think this section might be what you are looking for…”

[Woe]

In truth, Woe was only slightly lucid within the dream. Other aspects of traversing Emea became easier to grasp everytime he ventured into his dreamscape. Yet, for all that, the most elementary skill of lucidity or knowing that one was dreaming, often eluded him. He sometimes found himself half lucid, or caught helpless in one mood or another. Right now, he was more confused at his sudden arrival at the Prime Atheneum.

He was similarly caught off guard by her question, the confusion toward which tugged him slightly farther from a lucid state. Did they know each other? It was possible he'd run across her in Viden, but no, he didn't remember meeting her, or many people at all while in that frozen city. "I don't think we do. And yes, the pleasure is mine." He didn't smile as he said it in his blase way.

Then they came to the crux of his interest at the given moment. The request for knowledge was a shot in the dark, and one that he didn't expect to produce results. It was worth a shot, he supposed. The worst that could happen, he felt, was that the young woman was entirely ignorant to the Immortals, and wouldn't lead him to any understanding. Yet as she followed up from his question, she pried for more information.

He felt it safe to answer, she wasn't lucid, he didn't think, "I'm interested in the parentage of... Audrae in particular." He knew of Audrae enough to know that she was Sintra's sibling. He only included her in the query so as not to draw a link between himself and the Mother of Arachnids.

He'd been lax enough in his covering up for his status as a Mortalborn. Something that Sintra expressly forbade him to reveal. It was only recently that, dolt that he was, he realized recently the value of discretion. A lesson learned at great cost but well learned all the same.

"I don't live in Viden. But I have visited." Woe confessed, feeling some truth would leaven his words with credulity. "And yes, I've found it to be very peaceful." Woe shrugged at the choice of description for the city. The city of Viden was tightly controlled by the Immortal that ruled it, of course. Perhaps his mother was right in thinking that Etzos required an Immortal hand to guide it. He would disagree that the city was worth ruling, to his dying breath, but who could dissuade the Immortal of Manipulation?

He followed up her up the flight of circular stairs, onto a golden landing that he didn't remember from the Prime Atheneum. Perhaps a fancifull addition of the dreamer? Or perhaps he wasn't as familiar with the Atheneum as she. It was entirely possible.

"It's quite the view." He admitted, and was truthfully impressed with the composition of her dreamscape. It was very detailed, which spoke to a curious intellect.

Woe looked at the books on offer in the section she'd led him to. Curiously, he reached out, and took one of the tomes, leafing through it. A cascade of strange and disorganized characters floated upon the page, shifting and moving upon it as bugs would beneath a rock. He glanced up at her between moments spent trying to make sense of the words, and asked, "What do you make of the Immortals, living in a city like Viden? I grew up in a city that ignored them, largely. I can only imagine what it's like to grow up under the umbrella of their rule... Supposing you are from Viden?"

[Elisabeth Black]

If the young woman was bothered by his leveled response to her introduction, she didn’t show it. In truth, everyone was different, and it was really none of her business. People deserved her respect and kindness…up until the point they proved they didn’t. The man before her had given her no reason to believe he was not anything other than who he appeared to be – a curious mind.

There were drastic and subtle differences in the environment around them from the original Prime Atheneum – courtesy of the dreamer. Staircases that didn’t actually exist, fireplaces scattered around stacks, and the obvious lightly falling snow. One might wonder about the mind that created such fantasies. The dreamer didn’t consider herself creative in the least. A mind of logic. Perhaps the dreamscape was a way for her to express whatever imagination whirled within.

His comment regarding the Immortal Audrae was interesting. She had heard the name, of course, but not much else. At least she didn’t think so. “I’m not sure if you’ll find what you are looking for, but it never hurts to try. Audrae is not one I’ve learned much about but I’m happy to help you scour the shelves. I’m not busy right now.” Even in dreams, the young woman simply wanted to help people. She often wondered if that propensity to help would get her into trouble sometrial. Probably.

Her companion replied to her babblings about Viden with measured niceties, which she appreciated. He was the quiet sort, she observed, but then again, something she had learned amongst academics was that talking wasn’t required all the time. As such, she allowed a comfortable silence to grow between them as they walked.

When he commented on the view from the landing, there was a flicker of light off to the side. A blue crystal shard, hanging in midair and strobing softly. Had it been there previously? That answer would not be obvious, but it was there now. The young woman turned her head to acknowledge it, seemingly unconcerned. A curious tilt of her head led to a question directed at the crystal and observation. “Hmmmm…you are still here? Strange. But maybe not. I don’t expect you’ll ever leave, will you?” She offered context to the situation. “A recent arrival here. I don’t remember extending an invitation, but it doesn’t do much, other than follow me. Sometimes I feel like it wants me to do things.” If Elisabeth had been awake, she likely would have realized what the blue crystal shard represented and why it imposed its presence in her dreams, but she wasn’t…so she didn’t. Those more familiar with magic just might.

The question he posed after they arrived at the appropriate stack made the young woman furrowed her brow in concentration, wanting to give him as complete an answer as she could. Grabbing a large tome and lowering to the ground, formal gown billowing out around her, she kept hold of the book as she glanced up at him to reply. “To be honest, I’m not sure what to think about Immortals. I’ve heard about them all my life and certainly, I’m curious. I feel though that to best know something and form an opinion about it, you must study it. In this case, I feel like I would need to meet an Immortal to know more. I mean, I think I’ve been in the presence of them, but I’ve never spoken to one. I doubt I ever will so I may never have an answer to that question. What logic tells me, in general, is that there are good and bad sides to everything. Immortals are tied to their Domains. Even the Domain of something like Love or Sadness (why had she picked those?) has a good and bad side. I think…people want to believe there is light and dark, but I don’t think it’s as simple as that. There are shades of grey to everything and it’s those shades of grey that make the universe messy.” Realizing she had just taken him down an unintended rabbit hole, Elisabeth smiled and apologized. “I’m sorry. I do that sometimes. My mind races off. I did grow up here, yes. I was found outside the gates when I was a mere arc old. The only thing I had with me was a necklace. That is the sole clue to my past or where I came from.”

Realizing she still hadn’t answered his question, she quickly made her way there. “I suppose it’s different when an Immortal has such influence over a city as not. I confess I was stowed away in a library most of the time so I can’t comment on the effects, but I would imagine it’s much like my opinion on Immortals themselves – shades of grey. Some light, some dark. Some good, some bad. But I won’t disrespect you by concretely speaking of things I know nothing of. Consider them musings of a silly mind.”

[Woe]

Woe nodded, and gave her a slight smile as she responded to him in equally measured tones. ”Audrae is the Immortal of Shadows, Deception, Fear, among other things… Her creations are the Naer. What interests me is not her daughters, however. But her Original Parent.. I know very little about the originals, other than their number, and a few of their names, half heard in whispered conversations around this place at times, and in other places.” Woe nodded as he followed behind her.

At a certain moment, a great crystal shard appeared, hanging in midair and emitting a pulsing light from its panes. Although Woe had slipped his ring of Paradigm on the moment he fell asleep that night, he still felt nauseated by the sudden lights shining upon him.

Woe quirked an eyebrow when she asked the shard whether it was still here, and why it wouldn’t leave. ”Is this… er crystal a permanent fixture then? Or just a passing imagining?” Woe became more tempted with every moment to try and bring this soul to lucidity, as he was sure this was the dreamer with whom he shared the visions therein.

”Wants you to do things…” Woe ruminated on the way she said that. While Woe wasn’t a stranger to using vagaries in everyday speech, in fact he thrived on it, he’d rarely met one that did the same. He didn’t know whether it was refreshing, or concerning.

His eyes continued to scan the book he held, while she began talking about her impressions of the Immortals. He was surprised, and perhaps a bit skeptical that she said she’d been in the presence of Immortals. While such things weren’t unheard of, well, how much credulity could he really lend a dreamer? At any rate, he was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she had information that could be useful. ”That’s… remarkable. You’ve been in the presence of Immortals? I daresay it’s a wonder you managed that much. I feel anyone would lose their tongue if they met such grandious beings.”

She mentioned the Domains of Love and Sadness… Woe searched his memory for the Immortal that might embody them, but came up with nothing. He wasn’t educated in such matters, really, beyond his own personal interest in his Patron Immortals. Shades of gray, Woe nodded. ”Yes, indeed? But surely some matters of ethics and morality are ubiquitous. Every person I’ve encountered does seem to have a built-in expectation of fairness. Regardless of whatever laws bind them. One can grow in a society of slaves, but still find it in them to abhor the practice. It takes quite a lot of mental conditioning to consider that natural.”

Woe was conflicted on the issue, of course, having served a slaver once, and been an aid to one on occasion. It wasn’t a life he was proud of, but what was he really proud of in his life? Pride was a terrible hang-nail of an emotion, and too clingy to the other threads of a Tangle to be of any worth.

Woe shook his head when she tried to dismiss her own words. ”You shouldn’t so blithely dismiss your own views and opinions. Those are things have worth, value, and meaning. They inform your very world-view, and can be very informative in their way.”

Which brought Woe to the crux of his concern here, with the dreamer. She did seem to engage in vagaries quite a lot. And it made him wonder what she might be hiding. Or was it that she was insecure in her beliefs or thoughts? He wanted to encourage her to speak her mind. But then, he’d only shared a slight bit about himself. He supposed he had to give a little to get anything.

”Me for instance, I come from Quacia, the entire opposite end of the world from Viden. There, they revile the Immortals, and worship a mystery they know as the Wounded God. They worship him with blood rituals, sacrifice, and blind veneration. While their methods were distressing at times, their unshakable faith leaves one to wonder. How powerful is true, blind devotion? It could inspire them to acts that would horrify people on the outside. But can it also bring a God into being, from sheer imagination? Or does that require an already powerful shell to be filled?”

[Elisabeth Black]

Elisabeth listened intently to him, something he would notice were he paying attention to such things. The young woman was an eager student, interested in all types of knowledge. She listened as he spoke of the originals – a term she was vaguely familiar with – and Audrae. Smiling gently at him, she nodded, looking for the knowledge she knew she had but…struggled bringing forth. “Yes, I have heard of Originals before. There was a book I happened across some time ago. It contained the name ‘Fei’ and ‘Original’ within. I only got one look at the book before it vanished. When I conveyed that story to someone more knowledgeable than myself, I was told…” What had she been told? It was there…on the tip of her tongue. What did she know? “I was told that Fei was an Original, and that there were eight of them. She was connected to Scalvoris and rumored to be close to Faldrun. But that’s all I’ve ever been told about Originals. I know that doesn’t help you…”

The version of the dreamer that accompanied him was something of an enigma. The non-lucid version of Elisabeth wavered between what she knew to be true in the real world and what she wished to believe in her dreams. All the grace and kindness of the young woman who slept peacefully, but sometimes the specific knowledge Elisabeth Angelus possessed stayed behind, blissfully tucked away to allow her a measure of peace in her dreams, cavorting in a place she loved.

But…she was being pushed by her companion and there was an awareness of that. Part of Elisabeth wanted to resist, to stay in the vague oblivion she coveted during her slumber…but she couldn’t deny the attraction to a like mind and desire to converse on a deeper level than she allowed within her dream world. There was something there that was pulling her to him. He had already coxed her into delving into her knowledge and personality more than she would have liked but even dream Elisabeth had a curiosity that rivaled most others. As her mind slowly crawled towards lucidity, things around them shimmered, just a bit. There was still resistance – the mark of a somewhat-disciplined soul.

His question about the crystal was met with a much clearer answer than before. “It is permanent. A reflection of my state, I believe.“ She let the matter drop there, not entertaining his further thoughts on the matter nor the thoughts regarding her having been in the presence of Immortals. Those pieces of Elisabeth would certainly drag her closer to clarity than she desired to be then. She didn’t blame the man for asking his questions, but a small part of her…perhaps…was aware of what he was trying to do. Having been within a lucid dream before with Balthazar, the tiny little piece of Elisabeth with that knowledge was able to waiver there, fretting about becoming truly lucid.

It was then that the man launched into matters that truly waged battle upon her discipline. Elisabeth recognized intelligence when she saw it, and he was quietly relentless in his prodding of her own. The dreamer realized then that she had lost the fight, her true mind beginning to flood back to her with brilliance and semi-clarity. Turning her head to consider him, she sighed softly with a genuine smile. “The very definition of ‘shades of grey’. You are correct but everyone also has their own version of what they consider to be ethical and moral. In my experience, most people view their versions as the ‘right’ ones, born of their individual experiences and learned viewpoints. You call that ‘mental conditioning’. But which is really right? Yours? Or mine? Someone that grows in a society of slaves can either abhor the practice, finding it unethical due to the lack of rights, or they can believe the opposite and feel that they are doing the ethical thing by ‘taking care’ of a person that they feel couldn’t take care of themselves."

Looking up onto the library of her dream, Elisabeth gifted him a piece of her true self. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is help people. I feel deep in my soul that’s what I’m meant to do. But what constitutes ‘help’? Everyone has a different definition of that as well. So, if I refuse to help someone, say, steal something because it’s against my own beliefs, am I wrong? I don’t think so, but they might.”

The man reminded her of someone. Who was it? Oh…Doran. Doran also pushed her intellectually. He had been the first to appreciate her mind for what it was. The conversation reminded her of those she had participated in with the professor from Viden, smiling fondly at the thought.

And he sounded like Doran too. Doran had told her much the same thing regarding her thoughts and viewpoints. Don’t dismiss. They have worth. He had been the only one ever to tell her that though, so a look of surprise crossed her face as he spoke the words, but she didn’t comment upon it, other than to say a soft "Thank you."

True, blind devotion? It was terrifying to Elisabeth. “I can’t fathom or understand that type of devotion. Being unwilling to question something or someone? But as much as I can’t understand it, that’s what scares me about it because you are right – there is a power that comes with that. Power of belief so strong that it creates something out of nothing? Or, as you suggest, fills a void. I don’t pretend to know how the universe works, especially the divine, but there is nothing that scares me more than what you just described...and not just the piece about bringing a God into being. What scares me more is the fact that there are beings out there unwilling to use their minds, to question.”

[Woe]

Her thoughts and ideas about the Original were fascinating, but Woe had no real way to ascertain their validity. For one, he was talking to one dreamer who was not currently lucid. She could be telling him that candy canes held up the axis of the world and it would hold the same weight as anything she said to him now about the Originals. But… what she said sounded plausible.

Then again, many things were possible in dreams with a mind that wasn’t quite lucid. It drove Woe’s sense of wonder up into the very bounds of Emea, thinking what a dreamer might pull from the expanses of all Imagination, and how that might be applied to reality. One could be a grandmaster swordsman in Emea, for instance, and slay thousands upon thousands of foes with ease. All while under the umbrella that kept them separated from lucidity.

It was a sort of innocent that Woe himself had experienced, and enjoyed from time to time, exploring the possibilities of his dreams, although his tended to skew toward the rational and realistic. But there were elements of the fantastical in them, even so.

She said something very clearly about the crystal that had appeared, and Woe looked to the crystal momentarily, before turning back to the dreamer. ”I see.” Woe didn’t feel the need to probe further about that subject, for fear of pushing her out of her safe umbrella of lucidity.

Yet again, as she continued to address his points in a very lucid fashion, he had to wonder, and couldn’t help but think, if she was this coherent in her waking moments? If one could make such clear points in their dreams, how much more insightful must they be when in the waking world. Yet Woe found himself unable or unwilling to pass through to her end of the Veil. He didn’t want to disturb the dreamer, but only wished to explore the state of mind of a non-lucid person.

But for that matter, Elisabeth was anything but a proper test study in sussing out the average dreamer. She was far too advanced in her intellect, but then Woe expected that much of a Videnese person.

He nodded along to her explanation of different perspectives. ”It’s difficult to argue the benefits of slavery, without some amount of logical conceit. On balance, I’ve come to believe that slavery is bad for mortal kind. One sector of a population, perhaps even a majority may benefit from the fruits of indentured labor. However, it introduces an imbalance of fortunes and power. An imbalance that may be swung back like a pendulum, once it reaches its apex. Such is the axis upon which civilizations spiral into ruin.”

It was an interesting thought and one that hadn’t occurred to Woe. He so rarely had a chance to talk on such spacious matters. In fact, the only time he’d managed such a deep conversation was arcs ago, when he had a chance run-in with Professor Thetys, as it happened.

Woe didn’t realize he felt that way about slavery, or iniquities of fortune, but there he was, arguing against an institution he once helped to defend.

In a way, that deeply held belief had been shaken when he faced the Mountain King with Yeva, Balthazar, and Victor. When Woe had tried desperately to free the Condemned of Ashan. If only to prove to himself that the worst possible Tyrant could be redeemed. And if they could, perhaps even Woe himself.

Her further thoughts on the nature of Divinity, even in non-lucidity were sublimely crafted. He had to wonder if the influence of Emea was bolstering her understanding of the cosmos, or if this was an example of candy cane pillars forming the world’s axis. Maybe even his own thoughts, which prompted her answer, were edging on the concept of candy cane axis…

He found her thoughts too enticing, and interesting. He had to stop before he lost himself in this dream. Besides, the breaks had flown, and he sensed something rustling him awake as he lay in slumber, on the ship route to Viden.

He only bid her farewell in this fashion:

”Such is the power of Emea, and it’s unbounded possibilities of imagination. This realm, that we walk through, may possibly be the source of magic itself. Through which whole realities can be corrupted, twisted, or alternately redeemed and put to rights by the will of mortals.” He sighed, ”In any event, I’ve enjoyed our conversations. But it’s time for me to awaken. I’d bid you do the same, perhaps.” So saying, Woe began fading, as he awoke in the cabin of the ship he’d made charter in. He would remember the dreamer, though it was uncertain whether the same would be true of her. Non-lucid awareness was a cloudy and uncertain concept. Some dreams may be remembered, and others…

[Jackalope]

]

Thread Comments: This is the first dream thread I’ve modded, and it’s one of few that I’ve read in ST. I did not realize that lucidity could be a matter of degree, or that dreamers could sense those; that notion has some interesting implications, and it sets up a tension in this thread that makes it fun to read.

Elisabeth

Experience: +15 xp

Rewards:
Non-lucid dream.

Skillplay: Approriate to level.

Comments:

It’s interesting how Elisabeth responds to her dreaming issues. She has recurring nightmares about fighting flameborn, so she tries training up her combat skills in Idalos to see if that makes a difference? It wouldn’t for a non-lucid dreamer, I suppose, but it was worth a try.

I enjoyed reading about her dreamscape, and the seemingly incongruous features, like the snow and the blue crystal, that persisted in it.

Elisabeth seems to have access to a fair amount of her knowledge and intellect in this dream, in spite of being non-lucid. Intellect is obviously a strength of hers. She alludes the tension and pull towards lucidity, yet chooses not to go there. This in spite of the fact that it would probably enable her to broke out those sword skills on those flameborn. I would be interested to see if she eventually changes her mind about this.

Woe

Experience: +15 x.p.

Skillplay: Appropriate to level.

Knowledges:
Interrogation: x 2
Detection: x 2
Rhetoric: x2
Persuasion: x2

Comments: I got the feeling Woe was pulling his punches a bit in this thread; he goes through it only semi-lucid, and does not push Elisabeth as hard towards lucidity as he probably could have, especially if he were fully lucid. I thought you did a pretty good job of conveying the notion of what partial lucidity would look like.

Woe’s curiosity about the Immortals, and his ambivalence about religious belief in general, seem to fit his intellectual and complex character well. It is telling that that subject would preoccupy him in a dream.

Let me know if either of you have any questions/feedback. Enjoy your rewards!