(Broken Cycle) Night Terrors

[Saber Sloth]

The Ashen King, and the Dreamhealer Queen, know something is wrong.

They hadn't needed the News, the other rumours, to know that there was something creeping and grasping. While they sleep they can make out the agonized howls of others trapped. No power, no agency, no escape.

They meet in the Autumn Hollow, and make ready to sink into their minds, and drown in their dreams, before swimming outward, to see, to find, to know, just what has happened to the dreamscape surrounding them.

Gonna need some Meditation rolls, Composure + Wits + equipment, you'll each need 4 suxx, and when you do achieve proper meditation, you can feel free to describe your individual dreams.

Rhodes Xadun Seraphina Orianna

[Seraphina]

For once, in her Dreams, it hadn’t been her screams that she heard. It was others. Others agony tearing at her heart.

Walking into the Hollow, she was dressed for comfort over fashion. There was no telling what they would find, or who long it would take. Hence, she had on black yoga pants and a black tank top. She had tied her long hair into a ponytail, and had brought plenty of pillows for both her and Rhodes. Laying on a hard floor any length of time was just painful.

Giving Rhodes as kiss, “See you in there.” She says with a small smile and lays down on the pillows.

Her entering into a deep sleep was easy now. All a matter of putting a bit of her Glamour into it and she was there.

Her Dreamscape had changed slightly over the past year. The dreary clouds and crashing waves had given way to bright rays of sun poking though, some white, some pink, some blue. All illuminating an ocean that matched her eyes. There were still bits and pieces left, cages, some broken, some on tall marble pedestals scattered around. Her swing remained, but the tree wasn’t dead anymore, there were little green leaves growing as well as pink flowers.

But off in the distance, ever remaining, was darkness. A pure black that bled out slightly into whatever surrounded it. Trees and flowers were black and dead, caught in whatever was in that darkness. And it seemed to pulse with a heartbeat all its own.

Sera was standing on a covered dock, oversized chairs spread around, but also various snow globes. A long white gauzy dress danced in the spring breeze around her. White material wrapped around her fingers and all the way to her elbows. The brown stains were faint up her forearms.

[Rhodes]

The kiss is returned, and Rhodes strokes Sera's hair. "Stay safe. We don't know what's in there right now. I love you."

The Dread Lord watches as Sera drops straight into a deep sleep with a twinge of envy he struggles to shake from his mind. Laying on his back next to her, he focuses on calming his mind.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-30 05:01:17		Rhodes rolls 5 to Meditation - Comp+Wits (10 Again)		9, 7, 7, 7, 4		1 success

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-30 05:01:31		Rhodes rolls 5 to Meditation - Comp+Wits (10 Again)		10, 1, 10, 3, 3, 6, 9		3 successes

Eventually, he begins drifting.... drifting......


Rhodes was stood on a balcony of a grey-stone tower, looking out over a mountainous landscape at sunrise. To the side, the courtyard could be seen. He smiled lightly. It made sense that entering the Dream with Sera would make him think back to their first dream together.

Turning his back on the outside, he viewed the room. A mirror was on the wall, and rugs covered the stone flood. the dying embers of a fire were in the hearth. A grand four-poster bed was covered in red blankets. A shape beneath them stirred, and gold hair became visible. She was, with this particular dream. Seraphina propped herself up, sapphire eyes watching happily.

"You're up early," Dream-Sera said, a perfect reflection of his partner. "Is everything alright?"

He smiled, walking over to her. "Not exactly. I have to go, sweetheart. There's some things I need to do. But I'll see you very soon, I promise." The Flowering leans over and kisses her, and heads out of the door.

Now. Where to head next.

[Saber Sloth]

Where to go next, the Dread Lord asks, even in his dreams, where he is lord and master, there is something foul seeping passed the boarders of his dreamscape. The same grotesque foulness, that marks the antagonizing screams that Seraphina hears passed boundaries of her mental landscape.

They would need to follow this horrifying trail of poisonous dreams, to the root.

It was time to travel the Skein.

Time now to familiarize yourself with the Oneiromancy Primer, but to keep things simple as other ling STs have done in the past, everything except dream combat is just wits+wyrd+empathy.

So, as you both are still in your own dream it will be free to shape a gate out of your dream, but to travel from your dream to the next will be a wits+wyrd+empathy-3, unless you are travelling to each other's dream, then you can roll without the negative modifier to meet in either Rhodes or Sera's dream.

[Seraphina]

After gazing out at the sea, she knew it was time to move. Time to find Rhodes and time to find the source of those screams. And hopefully, silence them.

Closing her eyes, she steps off the dock onto the calm ocean. With eyes still closed, she allows her intuition and heart to guide her to him. Her feet seem to move without her thinking, moving in the direction she needs to go.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-30 18:01:58		Seraphina rolls 8 to Looking for Rhodes(Wits+Wyrd+Emp) (10 Again)		4, 4, 10, 1, 3, 1, 9, 1, 5		2 successes

[Rhodes]

As she walks, the trees give way to a stone corridor, and a large wooden door. Going through it, Seraphina emerges onto a very familiar battlement of a castle high in the mountains of some unknown country. The sun is setting over the far-off peaks.

The Dread Lord is stood there, looking out over the scene, wearing am immaculte suite and a cloak of autumn leaves. He turns, and smiles. "Hello, darling. Forgive me, but I have to check something. There's more that one of you in this place." He waves an arm out over the battlements. "Where are we, right now?"

[Seraphina]

Pausing in her steps, she smiles. This was one of her favorite places to be. Where she felt safe and like everything was perfect.

Seeing Rhodes, she moves toward him, “My my my,” she begins, “You’re looking quite handsome in that suit.” Compliments the Nix, “Think you should wear it more often.” But, she had to focus. On the screams. And the real reason she was here.

An eyebrow quirks, “Oh? More then one of me? Should I be worried?” she joked. Standing beside him, she looks, “Where? Paradise of course.” And she was being truthful, that’s where she thought they were. Then a sigh, “But we have work to do I’m afraid.”

[Saber Sloth]

The Lovers have met upon the battlements of the Dread King's dreams, the Oneirophysic is right, however, they have work to do. The agonized screams, echo from where Seraphina had come, and the dark tar leaks past the joins of the stone along the King's walls.

As this is Rhodes' dream he can make the Gate to the next dream, but to travel to it, I need a Wits+Empathy+Wyrd-3

[Rhodes]

Her complement makes his pride swell, as they so often did. The Dread Lord shakes his head slowly. "You are always with me in this place, darling - so I have to check whether you really are here." He sighs slightly and steels himself. "But the other Treasure here never seeks to leave, and as we do have a task at hand, I know it's really you. Welcome to a special dream of mine," he smiles, and kisses her softly.

The Flowering turns and faces the door, offering a hand to Seraphina, and sighs. "I suppose we should not linger."

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-02-05 17:05:46		Rhodes rolls 7 to Dream doors - Wits+Empathy+Wyrd-3 (10 Again)		6, 9, 7, 3, 2, 5, 3		1 success

Rhodes raises an arm towards the door. As the door opens, it becomes a warped path not into the castle, but a strange mystic portal. Inky black tendrils stretch from the edges, suffusing with the dream like a corruption, and the screams become more noticable.

Rhodes scowls. "Into the breach, my love."

[Seraphina]

A single nod, “Well, you’ve been affecting my own Dreams as well. I’ll have to show you sometime.” Her own place was warmer and more inviting.

The kiss was returned, savored before they faced whatever was going on.

Seeing the offered hand, she accepts it, finding comfort in the gesture and the familiarity of his hand.

Eyes close as the screams continue, she wanted them to stop. Needed them to stop.

A shaky nod, “So it seems.” A weak smile offered, she was as ready as she was going to be. A step was taken toward the gate.