Maybe he needs a bit more help?
She focuses on his hands, almost willing to put a weapon where there was none, to no avail. For the dreaming resists her attempt at imposing a logic.
failure
Maybe he needs a bit more help?
She focuses on his hands, almost willing to put a weapon where there was none, to no avail. For the dreaming resists her attempt at imposing a logic.
failure
"Right, right," Circe nods and TRIES to leave a message.
1 success
Graffiti in the form of Freehold tags give instructions on where the hatch is. "Got it, kid won't know the tag but Star Girl should," she assures Ram as she pulls the hatch open, "If this is another wrong turn, I shall be nettled."
And with that very Summer line, Circe jumps into the hatch.
In order to keep everything straight and allow a little more freedom of posting, I'm going to split these scenes up. This will be the main plot objective - Titania will continue here.
The Summers leap through the trapdoor, Circe's graffiti blending with the other exotic marks of Funderland's decoration.
They emerge in a suburb which to the Blueberry Elf could be literally anywhere in America. A small slice of the classic Americana. The attire of the locals pin it as somewhere in the late 80s or early 90s. A small crowd is gathering in the street, looking at - no, through them. Sirens are blaring, very close and getting closer.
Ram looks up and down the street, seeing a sight he has not looked upon in many, many years. Memories of pain and abuse dredge them selves, unbidden, as he pieces the images together.
This street. This lawn. He knows it all. He knows it because he grew up here. Either this was the dream of someone who knew this place, intimately, or.... this was it.
As Ram also sees the crowd, the pair look around at the source of their attention. In fact, it is the house behind them, flames licking the roof and bursting from both the upper and lower windows.
The house he grew up in, up in flames.
For Circe, the Intensity is 2. For Ram, the intensity is zero. Try not to think too much about that. I'm sure it is fine and completely unrelated.
Ram will not notice this until he tries to manipulate or search the dream in some way, but it better you have the OC information for progression.
"That's... that's my house," Ram whispered, sounding almost surprised. He didn't remember much about his life before. Had a hard time piecing things together. Yet when he saw the burning building he... recognized it. And it was on fire!
The Ogre gave a short soft growling shout as he held back his rage at seeing his childhood home burning. It felt like another slap across the face or punch to the gut. One more thing Fairie was trying to take from him just as he had found it again. Even if those things held abuse and pain, they were his!
But as much as he wanted to extinguish the flames and as much as he felt they had finally arrived, he let his vision narrow. First things first.
"Standard recon, I'll check for prophecy first, you check if it's a memory." he muttered.
Was this the future or the past? He needed to know, even if either answer meant the fetch still died.
3 successes
It was, that was great that they finally found it! On fire. Well. Shit. "Cazzo," that is a good summary. "Sure, if it is prophecy we'll figure out how ta keep if from happening. Period."
Whilst Ram works on the future, Circe looks to the past. And despite the risk of the link being broken, Circe puts some of her focus into the effort. Because she wasn't going to screw this up for Ram. Why was oneiromancy such a pain?
4 successes
Ram reaches out, and it strikes him how easy it is here. The resistance to his touch is minimal, almost negligible, as if he is tweaking a dream of his own. Certainty, no dream he has passed through or tried to sense or alter has felt like this. There's an ineffable connection here, he can feel it. It's all around, and the Ogre is sure he could tell most things by touch. For instance, this dream is certainly not prophetic. Also, there are no doors as he had found whenever he reached out in the other dreams. The Oneiroscope ends here.
Always one to give someone their due, Circe follows Ram's lead. It's his mission, after all. By focusing, really focusing, it's amazing what small details one can notice. Here, memory permeates the dream - it is rife. This street, the buildings, even some of the people are build out of it. Even, now she looks, the fire. But there are more features than just memory. There is a feeling of recurring familiarity, as if this dream has been visited, over and over. And coming from the house, a sense of lingering Fear.
For Origins clarity, I'm going off the Analysing the Dream rules in the Primer. This dream is a recurring Nightmare, built out of memory - this was a real place and a real fire, but the nightmare means some specifics could be different.
The dream felt… fragile, like it was mocking his Render nature at how easily he could break it. At the same time, it almost felt like he was in his own dream with free reign to change things as on a whim. It was an uncomfortable contradiction.
“Not prophecy,” he mentions curtly, knowing what that probably meant “but this is definitely the dream. End of the line for the ‘scope.”
"What have you got?" he asked Circe. Ram didn't see the fetch yet, but didn't want to go searching till they had as much information as possible. After all, this wasn't an offensive mission. They needed to learn as much as possible. Try to find that could be used to identify and track the fetch. If there were any symbolic landmarks that could be tied to the real world. As he listened for Circe's reply, he poked at little things. Like the street signs to see it there was a name on it. The crowd to hear if it clarified things enough to hear names. Even the horizon in search of a recognizable skyline.
2 successes
It was a solid dream, to solid to be purely imagination. There were memories here, and familiarity. This was a regularly recurring nightmare/memory thing for the dreamer.
Good to know. Could be a lot of evidence and insights to it.
She nods as Ram explains his findings. And provides her own by pointing her gun towards the burning house before she stops, slings it, and uses her hand with a embarrassed smile. "Memory I am afraid. It's too solid. Too detailed ta be just a dream. And a recurring nightmare of the memory. Whatever is dreaming this, dreams it regularly."
Circe begins looking for mailboxes. "Might get an address if the memory is good enough. Details should be good if it regularly dreams this. But where's the fetch?"
Circe follows his lead in trying to learn of the dreamer.
2 successes
Should this be a teamwork roll with Ram in the lead?
Ram looks around and pokes the assorted features, looking for clues. The road, it seems, is called Maple Drive. With another pang of recognition, that must be the road the house stood on. It even feels familiar, as if rising through fog of time. The people themselves are mere background characters in the dream, their voices an indistinct hubbub of bit-parts in the dream - though there is a southern drawl to the background sound. There is nothing discinct about the skyline, no monuments he can make out... but there is a sence of familiarity everywhere. Ram can tell that he has been here, stood here. Not during a fire, but some of his own memories predating the durance flash to life. Suddenly everything looks taller as if the giant man has lost two feet of height. His hands are not the heavy worn fits of an Ogre, but the flesh-and-blood human. Behind him, the house feels more real, more distinct, and there is a swirl of emotion associated with it. Fear, certainly, but more potently, rage. An anger such as a Summer can only truly understand, one that burns in the very soul.
Circe also keeps her elven eyes peeled. Though to her this is any other dream, she reaches out and feels the the nature of the memory. There is a post-box with the name "Morgan" painted in fine letters outside the burning building, alongside the number 164. She also hears the drawl of the southern voices, though again nothing they say is distinct. The feeling the Summer queen gets is similar; anger, but in the sense of forging. Hate for what is around but the sense that it forged the being that they became, made them more resolute. The person in the dream has endured much, and that is reflected in their determination and strength.
These feelings are coming from inside the house.
For Ram, the Fetch's Vice is Wrath.
For Circe, the Fetch's Willpower is 6.
Circe notes the information she gains about the location. So, Ram was a southern gentleman? That swings.
"Firey rage, made this thing what it is today," she had to restrain herself, "Forged the Fetch ya could say," or mostly restrain herself. "Better note, got yer address number and family name, probably Morgan. Oh, and yer a southerner my friend," she tells Ram.
Circe walks around the dream, eyeing things to see what else she could see. Also, watching the "people" to make sure none react to her or Ram. She also tries to learn a little more.
failure
In the waking world, Circe's Mantle suddenly goes full blast.
In the dream Circe growls out, "cazzo pezzo di merda cazzo, cazzo di lavoro che maledetta merda magica Wyrd. Why is this so hard?!"
On the plus side, if the Fetch CAN notice them, it will probably notice Circe.