(Witch House) Wild About Erich

[Mhairi Ankaa]

The Revelation leaves Mhairi numb.

She stares at Morgan's bandit masked face in horror.

...What could they do? How could they fix this? Him? What Dread plot was at work here? And Where they being here in Erich Zahn's dreams a part of it?

First, the Dread Queen's mind travels, desperately along the lines of knowledge that she possesses...

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-13 23:48:11		Mhairi Ankaa rolls 5 to What can be done? (Int 2 + Occult 1 + 1Pledge + 1A.Mantle) (10 Again)		1, 5, 10, 7, 1, 10, 8		3 successes

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan's bandit mask was barely visible due to how wide her panicked as had gotten, "Not good," she gloriously understated things.

Erich Zahn was the source of his own dream poison? She didn't know what was a worst possibility: Erich Zahn being a 100% ignorant fae, a fetch, or a mortal. She seriously hoped mortals couldn't create dream poison. "How, nay what to do next?"

Morgan too scoured her mind for knowledge. If she couldn't get it she might use Favored Fate for it but she'd rather save that for the "siphoning" out the dream poison if that was the plan. Or for confronting Erich if he wasn't a mortal.

[roll=3 successes]73675[/roll

[Yumyumcrow]

The two Ashen Courtiers know what they have to do with a sinking feeling weighing down their hearts.

If this is a case of Dream Poison - and all the indications are that it is - then the only solution is to scrub away the source. And that would necessitate the cleansing of Erich Zahn's dreamscape and quite possibly a confrontation with whatever entity generated the poison-dream in the first place.

It may also be that they would need to do something similar within their own dreams.

This is the task ahead of them. This would be the root of Erich Zahn's continuing nightmares and his inability to finish his work. Perhaps once he could rest and focus on his work, the rest of this strange incident would resolve itself.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

In the moments between entering Erich Zahn's dreams, staring at each other in horror.

Mhairi knew they were both on the same page here.

But Mhairi really, really wished it wasn't the chapter on dream scouring and fighting enemy-Them.

"I guess we need to find the root...and dig it out. Cut our ties - the ones tying us to him. Once we start....who-whatever's the cause. Will probably be able to tell. It might be a Frick thing all over again."

Mhairi floats up in the dream-sea, "I guess...we should get going..."

There was no use delaying in their task anymore.

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan wasn't happy with the news either. But, "Recall, we sent Frick running," the first time, "And we know what will come this time." she floats after her queen, "If stealth tis out then we should go full throttle. Favored Fate shalt give us an edge in Oneiromachy this time."

It was the only good plan Morgan had for doing this. "Now onto the search, yes?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"That we did." the Wisp smiles at the memory. Even if their second encounter didn't turn out so well. "I need to learn that Clause. I have Fickle Fate, but I haven't yet snagged the second Clause."

Mhairi shakes her head, lamenting her lack of Clause wouldn't help them now.

Instead she floats deeper and deeper into Erich Zahn's dreams.

Searching, seeking, hoping to find the root....

...so they could cut it out.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-15 22:59:06		[04] Mhairi Ankaa rolls 4 to Searching the Dream! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1) (10 Again)		7, 7, 5, 6		failure
2017-04-15 22:59:06		[03] Mhairi Ankaa rolls 4 to Searching the Dream! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1) (10 Again)		6, 10, 2, 10, 8, 1		3 successes
2017-04-15 22:59:06		[02] Mhairi Ankaa rolls 4 to Searching the Dream! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1) (10 Again)		1, 3, 5, 3		failure
2017-04-15 22:59:06		[01] Mhairi Ankaa rolls 4 to Searching the Dream! (Wits 3 + Investigation 1) (10 Again)		9, 6, 7, 4		1 success

[Morgan Bellanar]

"I'll teach ye later then," she grins at joins Mhairi in scouring the dream for the poison. They needed to be thorough about this.

  9 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-16 07:18:02		[04] Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Wits 3 + Invest 2 (10 Again)		5, 10, 6, 2, 6, 8		2 successes
2017-04-16 07:18:02		[03] Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Wits 3 + Invest 2 (10 Again)		9, 9, 4, 4, 8		3 successes
2017-04-16 07:18:02		[02] Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Wits 3 + Invest 2 (10 Again)		2, 8, 3, 6, 8		2 successes
2017-04-16 07:18:02		[01] Morgan Bellanar rolls 5 to Wits 3 + Invest 2 (10 Again)		8, 3, 3, 9, 5		2 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

They dove deep into the swirling mists of Erich Zahn's dreamscape, following the coiling black tendrils, sticky with ichor, to their source.

Around them the mists solidified into a vignette: a house with a garden. Summer light draws out the colours, makes the vibrant. The garden is well maintained with a rich green lawn. The house is full of laughter and the muddled babble of Adults talking. A boy runs upstairs with a new chemistry set. He runs into the inner sanctum of his bedroom - a place that seems far larger than the space it occupies. A cool wind wafts from the open window. Birds chirrup from outside. And as the boy settles on the bed the vignette melts...

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-16 16:57:30		Erich Zahn for Dream Intensity rolls 4 to Wits + Resolve - Situation Modifiers (8 Again)		2, 4, 4, 4		failure

... Into a library. Everything is cream coloured and dull beige. Shelves spring up like menacing trees, rank upon rank they vanish into a far horizon. Erich scours the shelves - he's looking for boxes. Old box warped and bent by time and neglect. Smell of dust lies thick in the air. Oppressive silence. Erich is excited as he closes on the forbidden tomes.

Ichor drips from a sticky stain that spreads across the scene in three dimensions. Down ignored passages between shelves, leathery ovoid shapes sit waiting.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-16 17:00:42		Erich Zahn for Dream Intensity 2 rolls 4 to Wits + Resolve - Situation Modifiers (9 Again)		8, 2, 10, 4, 10, 2		3 successes

@Mhairi Saber Sloth and Morgan Origins can tell that the Dream Poison ends here in this recurring dream. They had passed first into a recurring memory dream but on this night, it didn't take in the dreamer's unconscious. Just from looking at it, the pair can tell stain is a puncture wound from outside that has been sealed by a weeping, waxy, residue. This was the point of entry. The sticky trail ends here.

Morgan see's more...

A prey animal's sense, perhaps. Or dumb luck. There is more residue, now reinforced with solidity: it seeps and spreads into the adjoining stacks and rises upwards into the shadowed ceiling where there is a vague mass: a hideously puckered lip or nut. Within that mass is something shiny. Hint of arching thorax, fluttering wing case, hands, pulsating gills; a compound eye roves watchful.

[Morgan Bellanar]

Dream travel was always a little...interesting. Morgan glared at the occupied chrysalis when she spotted it. She pointed it out to Mhairi, "Three stacks to Erich's left, ye can see the infestation source. Tis a good name for it too. Coordinated attack? Or shalt we simply scour the poison with our brains?"

That was both an option. The Latter being faster for removing the poison, depending upon how strong the poison was.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Like Morgan, Mhairi's mind was on how interesting Dream Travel was, and just how personable it was. How vulnerable the Dreamer was to the Oneiromancer. Once more, Mhairi frowns, and realizes how vulnerable the Freehold was to attacks from this vector.

Morgan points out the source of the poison. "Belief is important. Attacking anything means we believe that it'll cause damage, willing something..." the Lost did a lot of wishing, and it hardly ever payed off, but this was a Dream, and if there was one thing the Lost knew within the depths of the ragged souls was Dreams. "But this is a Dream, and our will is strong, and I know we want to set this right more then whatever's poisoned the Dreams."

Mhairi's fell-flames glare, flickering at the Dream Poison, a mote, or several escape the Elemental's eye, only to catch an innocuous wick aflame. The Dream is solid, resistant to change, but Mhairi is a Lost, an Elemental, Fire is her soul, and so the candle falls, the flickering flame it bares now touching, igniting the ichor dripping bookshelf...

  1 success enviro attack!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-04-17 11:08:59		Mhairi Ankaa rolls 6 to Enviro Attack (Wits 3 +Empathy 1 +Wyrd 3 +2 Thematic - 3 Dream Intensity)		1, 6, 3, 5, 9, 6		1 success